Current News

Manus Island: Refugees refuse to leave Australian centre Refugees held by Australia in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have launched legal action over the closure of a detention centre. Australia holds asylum seekers arriving by boat in camps on PNG's Manus Island and the small Pacific nation of Nauru. The Manus Island centre is scheduled to close on Tuesday after a PNG court ruled it was unconstitutional. Detainees argue the closure will breach their human rights by denying them access to water, electricity and security. Many are refusing to leave. The local authorities said that all electricity, drinking water and food at the centre would cease at 17:00 local time (07:00 GMT), and that PNG defence authorities could enter the centre as early as Wednesday. Refugees told the BBC that detainees planned to protest peacefully, and had begun stockpiling water and dry biscuits, as well as setting up makeshift catchments for rainwater. They claimed that local residents began looti...

Myeshia Johnson: Soldier's widow says Trump 'made me cry' The widow of a dead US soldier says Donald Trump could not remember her husband's name when he phoned to offer condolences. Myeshia Johnson, widow of Sgt La David Johnson, told ABC News the president's "stumbling" and tone "made me cry". But President Trump said that he had used Sgt Johnson's name "without hesitation" and described the conversation as "very respectful". Sgt Johnson was killed in Niger by Islamist militants this month. President Trump's call of condolence made headlines when Democratic congresswoman Frederica Wilson - who had heard it along with the family - accused him of insensitivity. Myeshia Johnson appeared to confirm Ms Wilson's assertion that Mr Trump had told her her husband had known what he had signed up for when joining the military. "The president said that he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyways....