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President dramatically raised cost of visa for highly skilled workers in executive order last year
A US judge has invalidated Donald Trump’s $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications, ruling it an unlawful tax that violated federal administrative law and the constitution.
US district judge Leo Sorokin in Boston issued the 42-page ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging a fee Trump announced in September that dramatically raised the cost of obtaining H-1B visas.. The ruling vacated the sweeping fee, which was a 20-to-50 fold increase on existing rates, and the Trump administration is widely expected to appeal.
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© Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
© Justin Makangara for The New York Times
When 'BeKind' counter-protesters in Crowborough were invited by protesters against the town's migrant camp to join in a clap to remember Henry Nowak their nasty core was revealed, says Madeleine Gillies.
The post When ‘BeKind’ Protesters Were Invited to Join a Clap to Remember Henry Nowak Their Nasty Core Was Revealed appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Tom Homan says he made Kathy Hochul promise after governor signed bill protecting New Yorkers against ICE
Donald Trump’s hardline border czar has again threatened to dispatch a surge of immigration agents to New York City, as the administration vows to press ahead with its controversial crackdown.
Tom Homan said on Monday that he has reviewed a plan to expand Immigration Enforcement and Customs (ICE) operations in New York and deploy “more ICE agents than you’ve ever seen” in the city.
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© Photograph: Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
© Photograph: Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
© Photograph: Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
My name is Darina,” says an elfin teen, ponytail pulled through the back of her cap, and “next year I’ll be earning 150,000 rubles (nearly $2,000) a month.” Darina works at what she calls “the world’s largest drone factory,” helping to assemble versions of the Iranian Shahed drone. “My parents are proud of me. Wanna do the same?” She asks as she advertises a polytechnic in Tatarstan. The Russian government, in the face of war and looming demographic disaster, has been relaxing child labor laws since 2022, making it easier to put 14-year-olds to work. Now, legislators are open about the need to reform “outdated” restrictions on employing minors in industries that were “considered dangerous 20 years ago.” Drone production is not the only part of the war effort to which teenagers are being recruited. This month in a “content camp” in Moscow, soldiers and state media propagandists trained 120-plus teens on how to make videos, use AI, and grow their audiences as aspiring influencers. Vladislav Golovin, a former soldier and a leader of Russia’s Young Army Cadets National Movement, said the program had “created a huge team of kids who understand how to broadcast government values.”
But many young people, subject to year-round conscription, subject to internet shut downs and subject to surveillance, have little desire to spread propaganda. Instead, according to Google Trends data, growing numbers of Russians are seeking information on how to emigrate. A new exodus would accelerate Russia’s deep demographic crisis. Already, up to a million people are thought to have left Russia since the full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to one recent count, nearly 210,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the war with Ukraine, with other estimates suggesting over 1.2 million casualties, including 325,000 deaths. And Russian fertility rates are the lowest they have been for 200 years. Anton Kotyakov, the labor minister, has told Vladimir Putin that the country faces a labor shortage of 11 million people by 2030.
So concerning is this crisis that Rosstat, the national statistics agency, has stopped publishing monthly demographic data. State officials and local governors have been told to compete to come up with the most innovative solutions to a seemingly intractable problem. The pressure on Russian officials and the Kremlin is leading to desperate measures, including guidance from the Russian health ministry that women who say they do not want to have children should be referred to a psychologist. Nothing the Russian state has tried has worked, from financial incentives (extended even to schoolgirls under 18) to banning advertising that supposedly promotes “child-free” lifestyles and so-called “LGBTQ propaganda.”
Alongside “anti-woke” policies disguised as family values, is rising xenophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric that has led to a marked decline in the number of foreigners living in Russia. The Kremlin’s anti-migrant policies include a new system to monitor migrant workers through biometric registration, location tracking, and intensified police oversight. The Russian parliament is currently debating enhancing the number of offences that can be punished by deportation or substantially increased fines. Much of it is targeted at Russia’s Central Asian migrants who make up an overwhelming majority of immigrant labor. Some Central Asian governments, notably Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, have now urged their citizens to think twice about going to Russia for work.
Russia has been publicizing political stunts such as its “shared values visa” in which applicants from 46, largely developed, nations are given temporary residence permits if they profess to support “traditional Russian values.” The visa, the Kremlin has said, is “Russia’s response to what it perceives as the harmful effects of Western neoliberal policies.” But only a tiny fraction of the immigrants Russia needs will be Westerners who apply for such a visa; instead, Russia has been diversifying its pool of migrant workers by looking further east. Around 72,000 work permits were issued to Indian nationals in 2025, up from just 5,000 in 2021. Russian officials have signaled they are ready to accept “unlimited” numbers of workers from South Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.
While the Kremlin is looking to South Asia and Africa to address its immediate need for workers (and soldiers), the ambition in the longer term is to boost Russian birthr rates, despite the signal failure of ongoing attempts.
In the U.S., there have been several moves borrowed from the Kremlin’s playbook, including the restriction of abortion, the attempt to deny women birth control, and even alarm at the fall in teen pregnancies. But data released this month showed that women in the U.S. gave birth to 710,000 fewer babies in 2025 than they did in 2007, a reflection of two decades of steadily dropping birth rates. Russian demographer Salavat Abylkalikov, at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Germany, says “if the birth rate has fallen below the level of simple reproduction, it is almost impossible to raise it back.” Especially when financial incentives cover just a fraction of childcare costs.
In any case, Abylkalikov says, “in Russia, death is much more profitable than birth: in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, the government provides around 1,000,000 rubles (about $12,000) for each child, but if one person goes to war and dies, the family receives up to 12 million rubles in total. That's more than $120,000. This is the economy of death.” The evidence, from countries like Russia, Hungary and the U.S., is that appeals to tradition, to religion and to female “responsibility” do not work, when support for families is limited. And while migration is an obvious fix to demographic questions everywhere, it’s politically toxic.
Russia knows it is hurtling towards demographic doom but can do little to halt the momentum. Its policies are riddled with inconsistencies — a strong line in anti-migration rhetoric and bullying, while being forced to import workers and soldiers from Asia and Africa; a patriarchal view of women’s roles, mostly confined to the domestic, while increasingly reliant on women to take the jobs of the men who are fighting and dying in Putin's war; and encouraging more women to give birth, while employing children to build drones. With family values like these, no wonder young Russians are hesitant to procreate.
Natalia Antelava
The post Teens making drones: Russia’s demographic collapse appeared first on Coda Story.
Addressing lawmakers, Leo XIV also highlights migration at a time when Madrid is bucking European trends
Pope Leo XIV has used an address to the Spanish parliament to warn the world is undergoing “a deep spiritual and cultural crisis” and to urge the international community to tackle the causes and consequences of what he termed “the tragic drama of migration”.
In a wide-ranging speech delivered to lawmakers in Madrid, the pontiff also touched on conflict, artificial intelligence, the climate emergency, and the issues of abortion and euthanasia.
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© Photograph: Ciro De Luca/Reuters
© Photograph: Ciro De Luca/Reuters
© Photograph: Ciro De Luca/Reuters
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Donald Trump on Monday posted on Truth Social that “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting’” before claiming an hour later that Israel and Iran were “looking to do an immediate ceasefire” and that “final negotiations on peace” were under way.
While he did not provide any further details, AFP reports that Trump had called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
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© Photograph: Getty Images
© Photograph: Getty Images
© Photograph: Getty Images
Portugal has requested the intervention of Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, to secure the release of five Portuguese-Venezuelan political prisoners who remain detained in the South American country’s jails. The
The post Portuguese political prisoners still being held by Venezuela appeared first on Portugal Resident.
Former safeguarding minister says if ban came into force properly it could ‘basically eliminate’ problem
The government has highlighted work done by the internet safety firm SafeToNet as showing that the technology is already in place that would allow tech companies to stop children using phones to take naked pictures of themselves, or other people. The Home Office says:
Measures to protect children already exist within smartphones and tablets, but are applied inconsistently, often switched off by default and only blurring content rather than blocking it. But the government is working closely with technology companies — some of whom, like Apple, have already taken steps to implement protective features — to make this goal a reality.
Companies must introduce these measures without threatening privacy or collecting any data. The device should simply block harmful content across all apps and services. Over-18s will still be able to view adult content by providing proof of age.
The government is right to act. Children have been failed for too long. This news will be welcomed by parents across the UK and hopefully, will inspire other countries to follow the UK’s lead.
We can put an end to so much online misery with this approach. SafeToNet’s HarmBlock technology is a proven example that it is possible to make the device safe by default and not as some optional add-on.
The changes will apply to UK devices, including both existing and newly sold smartphones and tablets. Legislation could cover operating system providers and others in the supply chain, such as retailers, and will not affect the use of devices owned and used by adults who verify their age …
Apple recently introduced age checks for iPhone users, making it the first company to activate safety features by default for those who are not verified as over 18. This is a significant step forward following the government’s commitments to work with industry, and one this announcement builds on.
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© Photograph: Sam Hardwick/Hay Festival/PA
© Photograph: Sam Hardwick/Hay Festival/PA
© Photograph: Sam Hardwick/Hay Festival/PA
About 48 people rescued alive after vessel reportedly left Libya carrying about 60 passengers
Italian rescuers have recovered 10 bodies after a migrant boat capsized in waters off Malta, a coastguard statement said on Sunday.
The vessel, which had departed from Libya carrying about 60 people, overturned about 45 nautical miles east-south-east of Malta, the Italian coastguard said.
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© Photograph: Valeria Ferrario/AP
© Photograph: Valeria Ferrario/AP
© Photograph: Valeria Ferrario/AP
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