All posts tagged: Migration

Ancient DNA reveals human migration patterns during the first millennium

Ancient DNA reveals human migration patterns during the first millennium

Advancements in genetic research have shed new light on the complex migrations and interactions that shaped Europe’s history during the first millennium CE. Using a groundbreaking method known as Twigstats, researchers have untangled the genetic threads of ancient populations, revealing details previously obscured by the genetic similarity of historical groups. Published in the journal, Nature, this revolutionary technique has reshaped our understanding of Europe’s genetic past, offering new clarity on how ancient peoples moved and mingled. At the core of this new approach is the analysis of genealogical relationships through f-statistics, which measure how mutations are shared between individuals. Twigstats refines these calculations by focusing on recent coalescences—points where genetic lineages converge. This time-restricted approach eliminates noise from older genetic events, offering a clearer view of recent ancestry without bias. F-statistics traditionally relied on observed mutations to map ancestry, but Twigstats leverages inferred genealogies, reconstructing the genetic tree with unprecedented precision. By examining the “twigs” of these trees, researchers can isolate recent genetic interactions, even when they occur between closely related groups. Simulations show that …

At the Gates of Fortress Europe | Caitlin L. Chandler

At the Gates of Fortress Europe | Caitlin L. Chandler

Druskininkai is a hilly, forested area in southern Lithuania, near the border with Belarus and Poland. Its name derives from druska, which means salt. Over thirty mineral springs pocket the ground. Since the nineteenth century residents of the capital, Vilnius, have flocked to spas there to bathe in the calcium-rich waters. Today the city of Druskininkai is known for its mud baths and amber therapies. In July 2021 the Lithuanian border security agency, VSAT, set up a makeshift encampment for detained asylum seekers not far from the city. A high metal barrier encircled the site, inside which a second chain link fence enclosed military-style tents. Armed officers patrolled the perimeter; surveillance cameras rotated on high poles. Inmates looking out could see a glimmer of the blue Nemunas River, which divides Lithuania from Belarus. Sajjad Mohammedhasan arrived at the Druskininkai camp on July 25, 2021. A twenty-four-year-old IT professional, he had fled Iraq two days earlier, flying to Belarus on a tourist visa and trekking through pine trees to the Lithuanian border. “I want to claim asylum,” he said …

At least nine people die, six missing as boat sinks off Tunisia | Migration News

At least nine people die, six missing as boat sinks off Tunisia | Migration News

Coastguard rescues 27 people on the boat when it broke down and took on water due to bad weather. Tunisia’s coastguard has recovered the bodies of nine people while six are still missing after their boat sank off the Tunisian coast, a judicial official says of the latest refugee boat disaster in the Mediterranean. The coastguard on Thursday rescued at least 27 people who were on the boat when it broke down and took on water due to bad weather. According to survivors’ testimonies, the boat had been carrying at least 42 people when it sank. Judge Farid Ben Jha told the Reuters news agency that a search was under way for at least six people who had been on the boat when it went down off the coast of Chebba. All people on the boat were from sub-Saharan African countries. Tunisia and neighbouring Libya have become key departure points for refugees, often from other African countries, who risk perilous Mediterranean Sea journeys in the hopes of better lives in Europe. In October, the bodies of …

In Darien Gap, Latino Protestant leaders see migrant journey firsthand

In Darien Gap, Latino Protestant leaders see migrant journey firsthand

(RNS) — Elket Rodríguez, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s global migration advocate, has served migrants on the Texas-Mexico border for years. But until earlier this month, he had never been to the Darien Gap, a dangerous jungle route many migrants traverse as they move from Colombia to Panama, most often en route to the United States. In early November, just days after former U.S. President Donald Trump was elected to a second term, Rodríguez joined a pilgrimage sponsored by Como Nacido Entre Nosotros, or “As Born Among Us,” an ecumenical Protestant Christian network working on migration issues. “It’s a level of vulnerability, even much higher than what I see at the border,” Rodríguez said of his experience. The trip brought 25 Latino Protestant leaders and pastors to Panama to help them understand the experiences of migrants who arrive in their communities and to explore opportunities to collaborate with Panamanian churches and other partners to support migrants. Participants came from 10 Latin American countries and several states across the U.S., and included representatives of Mission Talk, Latino …

Haitian authorities say 28 alleged gang members killed by police, residents | Conflict News

Haitian authorities say 28 alleged gang members killed by police, residents | Conflict News

Armed gangs attacked a wealthy suburb of the capital, police say, as part of an effort to bring down the government. The Haitian National Police have reported that 28 alleged gang members were killed by state security forces and armed residents in the latest clashes in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. A Tuesday attack targeting the upscale suburb of Petion-Ville overlooking the capital had been announced over social media by Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer turned leader of the powerful gang coalition calling itself Viv Ansanm (Haitian Creole for “Living Together”). The latest violence comes in the wake of the collapse of Haiti’s government last week and more than three years of constant turmoil following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021. Cherizier has called for the resignation of the Presidential Transition Council (CPT) now leading the country. “The Viv Ansanm coalition will use all its means to achieve the departure of the CPT,” Cherizier said on Monday. The police say that two vehicles carrying alleged gang members tried to enter Petion-Ville …

Death in Nogales | S. C. Cornell

Death in Nogales | S. C. Cornell

On January 30, 2023, a forty-eight-year-old Mexican man named Gabriel Cuen Buitimea made his way into the Sonoran desert a few miles east of Nogales, Arizona, where the thirty-foot-high metal beams of the border wall abruptly drop into sawhorses and cattle fencing.1 Around noon Cuen Buitimea and a group of men hopped the sawhorses, set foot in the United States, and ran north. Some time later they heard what sounded like a Border Patrol car and fled in various directions. At 2:30 PM Cuen Buitimea was walking south with a Honduran man named Daniel Ramirez; they intended to return to Mexico and try to cross again later. They were on the Vermilion Mountain Ranch, a 170-acre property owned by Wanda and George Alan Kelly, retirees in their seventies. The border wall was visible on the horizon. The ranch house was 115 yards away, behind a thicket of bare mesquite trees. Ramirez later said he did not notice it, though he did see the Kellys’ skinny red horse in a nearby pasture. As the two men …

EU officials blast Hungary’s Orban over Ukraine stance, democratic decline | European Union News

EU officials blast Hungary’s Orban over Ukraine stance, democratic decline | European Union News

Lawmakers belt out antifascist anthem, prompting European Parliament president to declare: ‘This is not Eurovision’. Top European Union officials have slammed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over democratic backsliding at home and his Russia-friendly stance that has blocked military and financial aid to Ukraine. Orban, whose country currently holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, came under fire on Wednesday after warning officials gathered in Strasbourg, France, about the “migration crisis” and the war in Ukraine as he addressed the European Parliament. Leading the charge against Orban, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took aim at Budapest’s stalling of EU support for Kyiv and refusal to join Western efforts to arm Ukraine to fight off Moscow. “The world has witnessed the atrocities of Russia’s war. And yet, there are still some who blame this war not on the invader but the invaded,” said von der Leyen. “There are still some who blame this war not on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s lust for power but on Ukraine’s thirst for freedom.” In July, Orban stoked controversy when …

The winners and losers of the new European Commission – POLITICO

The winners and losers of the new European Commission – POLITICO

The decision to give the center-right Austrian People’s Party’s Magnus Brunner the internal affairs and migration portfolio could be read as Brussels’ tacit recognition of the scale of the migration challenge Europe has faced, especially in the wake of the so-called migration crisis.  Ireland There were signs Dublin might be lumped with a tiny portfolio after Prime Minister Simon Harris was the first leader to publicly defy von der Leyen’s demand for countries to send both a male and female candidate. That, coupled with the fact members of the European Parliament from candidate Michael McGrath’s party openly campaigned against von der Leyen, built up a sense of foreboding. But in the end, McGrath received the portfolio for democracy, justice and the rule of law. Not too shabby, all things considered.  Losers Glenn Micallef  The Maltese candidate’s lack of experience as a minister and short political career led to a portfolio with little relevance at the European level and even less clout. The youngest commissioner, 35-year-old Micallef, received the intergenerational fairness, youth, culture and sport portfolio.  …

Trump’s Old News | Fintan O’Toole

Trump’s Old News | Fintan O’Toole

In one seventeenth-century panoramic drawing of London, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is mistakenly labeled “Beere-bayting.” The mistake is understandable—the arena in which live animals were tormented was cheek-by-jowl with the one in which epic history plays were staged. A few centuries from now, those looking back on the TV debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris may well slip into the same confusion. This was a consequential episode in a drama of historic import. But it felt a lot more like a bear-baiting display. Trump was the arthritic old beast, tethered to his lectern, repeatedly goaded by Harris into striking out at thin air. Objectively, the debate was rather desultory. With so much hanging in the balance, for the United States and the world, it does not seem naive to hope for something a little more elevated. Climate change got a token acknowledgment right before the closing statements, with each candidate offered (literally) a minute on the subject. Discussion of America’s place in the world after the failures of the “forever wars” never rose beyond a …

Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

Berlin last year also announced stricter controls on its land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Those, and controls on the border with Austria, had allowed it to return 30,000 migrants since October 2023, it said on Monday. Ms Faeser said a new model would enable the government to turn back many more – but it could not talk about the model before confidential negotiations with the conservatives. The controls could test European unity if they lead to German authorities requesting other countries to take back substantial numbers of asylum seekers and migrants. Under EU rules, countries in the Schengen area, which encompasses all of the bloc bar Cyprus and Ireland, are only allowed to introduce border checks as a last resort to avert threats to internal security or public policy. Germany shares its more than 3,700-km-long (2,300 miles) land border with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told Bild newspaper on Monday that his country would not take in any …