Last year alone, 10,500 people were killed in Northern Central America. Nearly 700,000 Central Americans are estimated to be internally displaced. Natural disasters also increase the need for humanitarian assistance in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Large communities face armed gangs, extortion, trafficking, child recruitment and sexual and gender-based violence.

The number of asylum applications from the North of Central America are only comparable with countries at war, according to UNHCR. In 2018, Hondurans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Mexicans were among the top ten nationalities claiming asylum in the world, alongside people from Syria, Venezuela, South Sudan and Afghanistan.

To leave or to stay and die is the only choice left for thousands inthe North of Central America. Inefficient, expensive and abusive border control measures in addition to counterproductive political rhetoric from the U.S. must be replaced with solidarity and support for their own vulnerable neighbourhood. We have to call a spade a spade: The U.S. and a number of European nations are now burial squads for the ancient right of asylum for fellow human beings who flee for their life, said Egeland.

Militarisation at the borders, cuts in humanitarian aid, restricted access to documents and non-functioning so called safe-third-country agreements make it virtually impossible for people displaced by violence to reach safe havens.

Despite the massive needs, NRC and humanitarian actors present in the region have little funding. The limited international aid is allocated to long term development and disaster-response programs.

Hope of a better future at home is leaving large and vulnerable groups of youth across this violence-stricken region. The misguided U.S. funding cuts for programs that provide education, livelihoods and local peace-making are enormously counter-productive. It will fuel the migration north. We therefore need a UN-led regional humanitarian response plan to mobilise funding and improve humanitarian coordination so people receive critically needed aid, said Egeland.

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US not facing deep crisis in own neighbourhood: Central Americans denied asylum and aid - Norwegian Refugee Council

The figures reflect a jump from 2010, when the global number was at 221 million, and currently international migrants defined as anyone who changes their country of usual residence make up 3.5 per cent of the global population, compared to 2.8 per cent in the year 2000, according to the latest figures.

Estimates are based on official national statistics of foreign populations gathered from censuses. These numbers reflect any person who is moving or has moved across an international border, regardless of citizenship status or motive - meaning the data encompass people who have moved either intentionally or involuntarily.

Europe hosts the largest number of international migrants, at 82 million; followed by North America, at 59 million; with 51 million in the United States alone - the largest number in a single nation. Finally, North Africa and Western Asia host around 49 million migrants, and along with sub-Saharan Africa, are seeing the most significant influx in foreign populations.

The share of international migrants in the total population varies considerably across regions, the report shows, where foreign-born individuals comprise 21 per cent of the population of the Oceana region (Australia and New Zealand included), and 16 per cent of all people in Northern America.

With forced displacements continuing to increase, refugees and asylum seekers account for close to a quarter of global increases, which have risen by 13 million in number from 2010 to 2017.

Although migration is global, most journeys are taking place within a limited set of countries, with the US, Germany, and Saudi Arabia making up the top three.

The link between migration and development is very well established, Director for DESAs Population Division, John Wilmoth told reporters at the UN, echoing the message from the Departments Under-Secretary General ahead of the report release.

The data are critical, Llu Zhenmin said, for understanding the important role of migrants and migration in the development of both countries of origin and destination.

Facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people will contribute much to achieving the Sustainable development Goals, he urged.

Mr. Wilmoth said as a general observation, the contribution of migrants both in host countries and countries of origin, includes sending valuable remittances back to countries of origin, and a major social contribution through transmission of ideas.

The United Nations is committed to supporting safe migration, through international agreements to safeguard refugees and people on the move at large. The Global Compact on Refugees, and Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, were adopted in December of last year. DESAs full 2019 migration data set, available here.

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Number of migrants now growing faster than world population, new UN figures show - UN News

"El Salvador is not safe for many of its own nationals and is struggling to meet their needs, which is why many seek asylum in the United States. It is unrealistic to expect El Salvador to be able to offer protection to asylum-seekers fleeing conditions comparable to those in El Salvador."

El Salvadorans are excluded from the agreement, according to the draft.

McAleenan, who called the agreement "a big step forward," and Hill Tinoco discussed U.S. assistance in making El Salvador a safer and more prosperous place for its citizens. Hill Tinoco talked about ending gang violence.

"I mean, those individuals threaten people, those individuals kill people, those individuals request for the poorest and most vulnerable population to pay just to cross the street," she said, adding that her country needs more investment from the U.S. and other nations.

The agreement, first reported by The Associated Press, could lead to migrants from third countries obtaining refuge in El Salvador if they pass through that country on their way to the U.S., Hill Tinoco said in an interview with the AP.

But she said most migrants who travel north don't pass through El Salvador, which is on the western edge of Central America and is much smaller geographically than its neighbor to the east, Honduras.

She told The AP the details would need to be hammered out, including border security, asylum procedures and potential aid from the U.S. She said the agreement is a starting point, and they expected negotiations on possible aid to continue.

"It has to be a real partnership," she said, which means the U.S. would have to give something.

The country's new president, Nayib Bukele, has made clear he wishes to be an ally to the U.S., Hill Tinoco said.

"It is a complete 180 in terms of foreign policy," she said.

McAleenan said the agreement advanced El Salvador's commitment to developing an asylum framework, with help from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

"This will build on the good work we have accomplished already with El Salvador's neighbor, Guatemala, in building protection capacity to try to further our efforts to provide opportunities to seek protection for political, racial, religious or social group persecution as close as possible to the origin of individuals that need it," he said.

Guatemala officials are still working on how to implement a "safe third country" agreement with the U.S. signed earlier this summer.

The arrangement with El Salvador was not described as a safe third country agreement, under which nations agree that their respective countries are safe enough and have robust enough asylum systems, so that if migrants transit through one of the countries they must remain there instead of moving on to another country.

The U.S. officially has only one such agreement in place, with Canada.

The Trump administration this year threatened to withhold all federal assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras unless they did more to end the migrant crisis.

The move was met by stiff resistance in Congress as experts had said the cuts would likely only exacerbate the number of migrants seeking to make the hazardous journey to the U.S. because of a further lack of resources.

On Thursday, the U.S. announced a plan to promote economic development in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as long as fewer migrants end up at the U.S. border.

Mauricio Claver-Clarone, national security adviser in charge of Latin America, said U.S. investment would occur soon but it was contingent on a continued reduction in the number of migrants. He didn't specify how much Washington plans to give to promote economic growth in those countries.

In June, the State Department announced that the Trump administration was reversing some of the cuts but would not approve future aid to those nations. The State Department said then that some $370 million from the 2018 budget will not be spent and instead will be moved to other projects.

El Salvador is plagued by gangs and is among the world's deadliest countries, with one of the highest homicide rates on the globe.

According to a 2018 State Department report, human rights issues included allegations of "unlawful killings of suspected gang members and others by security forces; forced disappearances by military personnel; torture by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of government respect for judicial independence."

(KR)

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US, El Salvador Sign Asylum Deal - DTN The Progressive Farmer

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It was unforgettable.

A little boy living in a refugee camp, essentially in exile. In a city known for kidnappings and murders, and in a shelter with inadequate resources and supplies.

Most striking were the circumstances: The child was an American citizen, yet the shelter he resided in was located a few miles from the United States. Why, then, was he not living in his own country?

This is the distorted result of Remain in Mexico officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) in which the administration forces asylum seekers from Central America to stay in Mexico to await their court dates, rather than allowing them to stay with sponsors in the United States.

In Mexico these migrants have nearly no access to family members, lawyers, or other support. Shelters and employment are woefully inadequate.

This child, a U.S. citizen, faced the heart-wrenching choice of either staying in the United States motherless, or remaining in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, with his mother, who was seeking refuge in the United States after fleeing violence in Honduras.

Asylum Under Threat

In international law, the principle of non-refoulement means that a person should not be returned to danger, whether in their country of origin or in another country.

Yet migrants are being sent to parts of Mexico with high levels of violence, as documented by Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First. Asylum officers from the Department of Homeland Security have themselves criticized the policy as unlawful, with some refusing to implement it at the risk of losing their jobs.

The outcome of a lawsuit from The American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Center for Gender & Refugee Studies is still pending. Meanwhile the numbers of people waiting in Mexico are growing both due to MPP, and to a process called metering, which limits the number of asylum seekers admitted each day.

And those are the people who at least in theory can be considered for asylum in the United States. Others opportunities have been curtailed by the Supreme Courts decision to allow implementation of a rule that makes people ineligible to request asylum in the United States if they have passed through another country without applying for and being denied asylum there.

This means that, with few exceptions, anyone crossing the U.S. southern border who is not from Mexico would not be eligible if they presented themselves after July 16, 2019. To further intensify the situation, the United States has signed an agreement with El Salvador and seeks to do so with Honduras in which migrants entering that country would need to seek asylum there, not in the United States. Given the intense gang violence in El Salvador, it is in little position to provide safety.

Courts in Tents

For those awaiting U.S. court dates in Mexico, what happens next?

The administration has opened courts in tents on the U.S. side in places such as Brownsville and Laredo, Texas. Lawyers have limited access, the hearings are not open to the public, and media have not been allowed inside. Judges are beamed in remotely through video conference.

Even more remote than the judges locations is the likelihood that any justice will be done.

Experts believe that nearly all claims to asylum will be denied, since the purpose of the courts is not to protect people from violence in their home countries, but rather to ensure that the claimants do not remain in the United States.

Of the tens of thousands in the Remain in Mexico program, nearly none have been granted asylum; one who has is facing his case being appealed. University of Texas at Austin professor Denise Gilman calls the tent court process a sham, saying it is not intended to adjudicate claims but rather to exclude and deny asylum.

As such, it is the reverse of asylum. The policy takes people who are fleeing violence, makes them wait at the risk of their lives in a dangerous environment, and then sends them back to their countries of origin potentially to their deaths.

Its vital to remember that arriving as an asylum seeker is not illegal. On the contrary, being able to request asylum is a right. What is in violation of the law are current policies that seek to deny this right.

Not fairly hearing an asylum claim, and sending people to unsafe third countries, clearly violates international treaties such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.

It also contradicts U.S. law, including the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Refugee Act of 1980. And trampling on peoples rights to a fair hearing violates the Constitution of the United States, which says in the 14th Amendment that all persons (regardless of citizenship) are to receive due process and equal protection of law.

How to Take Action

The violation of rights at the border and throughout the country is directed at people of color, as part of a larger racist and xenophobic bout of white nationalism in our country. The shooting at a Walmart in El Paso is but one manifestation of the hateful discourse labeling the arrival of immigrants as an invasion. White people and citizens need to acknowledge privilege, speak out, and take action lest silence amount to complicity.

Yet it is all of us who risk living in a nation where our rights are removed, laws are undermined, the safety valve of asylum is denied, militarization creeps further and further into the interior, and fascism is ascendant. If equal protection, human rights, and due process are not preserved, then we all lose rights that we ultimately need.

In this sense, the border is a harbinger of things to come for everyone and whats at stake is the soul of the country, as Fernando Garcia, head of the Border Network of Human Rights, has said.

Given current policy, should efforts be directed toward getting legal representation to as many Remain in Mexico asylum seekers as possible? Or does that in itself legitimate an illegitimate system?

Access to lawyers is essential for getting people out of U.S. detention centers and helping them obtain asylum. The El Paso Immigration Collaborative (EPIC) may be an important step forward in that regard. So are bond funds to get people released from detention such as the Fronterizx Fianza Fund.

In the case of Remain in Mexico and the tent-court arrangement, some lawyers are refusing to participate, lest they legitimate the system. While appreciating the work that other attorneys do in representing clients who otherwise have scant access to legal representation and recognizing the vital role lawyers can plan in witnessing the court proceedings and bringing the problems to public light Gilman believes a priority is to protest and challenge the tent-system before it becomes institutionalized.

That could involve activism across communities by witnessing, documenting, and spreading the word about these abuses, including through a massive social media campaign and engaging politicians. Nationwide fury led to an executive order ordering the end of the family separation policy (although family separation itself has not ended), and a similar public response could have an impact here as well. One example is an action being organized by Catholic nuns for October 26 in Laredo, Texas.

Central to the work are organizations at the border, many of which have been active for decades. Among those engaged in the work are: the Border Network for Human Rights, the Hope Border Institute, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Al Otro Lado, The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), and the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR).

People I spoke to at various institutions during a trip to Texas for Moral Monday at the Borderlands highlighted the importance of education, saying that people around the country need to understand the politics and history of current policy, and comprehend what is actually happening as it unfolds. They emphasized that its crucial for allied groups throughout the United States to be in dialogue with border organizations.

Because there is no single solution to the crisis, ongoing conversation and relationships are vital. Witnessing, seeing, photographing, writing op-eds and letters to the editor, and sharing with others what has been learned plays an important role. Storytelling of peoples experiences is especially useful: It shifts the discourse from one that identifies migrants as threats to one that sees migrants as fellow humans; it replaces racist rhetoric with empathy.

And although people from different regions can go to the border to learn first-hand what is going on, they can also create welcoming environments in their own communities, as asylum seekers spread throughout the United States to join sponsors.

There are many concrete things to do funding bond and providing pro-bono legal services being priorities among them. Yet while physical donations like clothing and food can be useful, the main thing that can have an impact now is taking a moral stand against these atrocities and organizing for their transformation.

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The End of Asylum? - Foreign Policy In Focus

On June 2, Walter Lbcke, a German politician who had defended Chancellor Angela Merkels policy of welcoming migrants, was murdered by a right-wing extremist. The incident was one of several such attacks against European politicians who had advocated for generous immigration policies, and one of many more right-wing attacks perpetrated directly against immigrant communities.

In response to the disturbing trend, a number of policymakers in the United States and in Europe have suggested that immigrants, rather than xenophobia or racism, are at the root of extremist violence. Whether immigrants are the perpetrators or the victims of an act of terrorist violence and regardless of the ideological motivation behind the attack their presence is portrayed as the primary problem.

While the connection between immigration and Islamist terrorism has been challenged, the assertion that immigrants are also to blame for right-wing extremism is just as dishonest and dangerous. It creates a false narrative of blaming victims for crimes perpetrated against them.

Such rhetoric has been particularly noticeable in Europe in the aftermath of the migrant crisis that peaked in 2015-2016 and resulted in more than 1.8 million migrants arriving in Europe from Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa from 2014 through November of last year. European policymakers too often link immigrants and refugees to crime, even when immigrants are the targets of violence. And as is the case in the United States, these statements may directly feed into security policies that negatively impact immigrant communities, all while failing to adequately address the threat of right-wing extremism.

This phenomenon is one of two key conceptual problems that has resulted in the failure of policymakers to take sufficient measures against right-wing extremists. The first problem is that the security data relied on by those policymakers fails to accurately convey the threat of right-wing extremism, both due to a disproportionate focus on other forms of violence (e.g. Islamist terrorism) and also due to the lack of a universal definition for what constitutes right-wing extremism. The second problem is the pre-existing tendencies of policymakers to interpret right-wing extremism as a symptom of immigration, rather than as a problem to be confronted in and of itself.

The Failure to Correctly Assess the Threat

Despite the clear threat of right-wing extremism, European policymakers have largely failed to give this phenomenon the attention it deserves, largely because of the lack of clear data and assessment of the risk. First, security discussions are generally more focused on the threat of Islamist terrorism and outsider threats, often underestimating or ignoring threats from groups seen as internal to the EU. Second, there is a lack of consensus regarding how to define right-wing extremism.

Several highly publicized refugee- and immigrant-perpetrated attacks in the aftermath of the migrant crisis helped fuel the nationalist narrative that immigrants pose a security threat to Europe. In spite of the fact that EU security apparatuses have recognized that right-wing terror attacks have increased, much of their reporting has remained focused on jihadist terrorism.

This problem is further exacerbated by the lack of consistent data. While the use of overly-simplified or ill-defined terms (e.g., terrorism, right-wing extremism, hate crimes) is problematic, the lack of consensus as to how to define right-wing extremist violence has made it difficult to assess the risks posed by far-right groups. Such attacks often are not included in terrorism databases. The 2018 report from the EU law enforcement agency Europol, regarded as a key source for terrorism and security data, recorded only one right-wing terror attack across Europe in 2018 as opposed to 24 jihadist attacks. This may be because episodes of right-wing violence are often defined as hate crimes, or because right-wing attacks remain highly underreported to begin with. Failure to accurately assess right-wing extremism skews the data, helping fuel the inaccurate narrative that Islamic extremism accounts for most extremist violence in the EU, and undercounting attacks that actually target immigrants.

Europol and the European Council, the EUs political body made up of heads of state and government from member countries, rely on these data sets in determining security policy. Data that underestimates the threat of right-wing violence may push security forces to dedicate a disproportionate amount of their resources to the threat of Islamist terrorism, as is the case in the United States.

These resources could be more effectively utilized to address the threat of right-wing extremism. Currently, most of the EUs security policies implemented since the beginning of the refugee crisis have focused on border control, including reinforced checks at external borders, strengthened cooperation with third countries, and the construction of more border fences than anywhere else on the globe. Better data-gathering, and thus a more accurate assessment of the danger posed by right-wing extremism, would give security policymakers the information needed to more effectively allocate resources and develop policies to better address this real risk.

Immigrants as Scapegoats

But EU policymakers acute focus on immigrant populations as a key security threat is not simply the result of bad data. Policy priorities are influenced by broader, simplistic political narratives that frame immigrants as the cause of right-wing extremism.

This rhetoric is not confined to Trump. A range of mainstream politicians, and even academics, have embraced similar views regarding the inevitable connection between immigrants and rising right-wing extremism. Hillary Clinton stated in a November 2018 interview, for example, that Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame. While endorsing the generous and compassionate approaches of some European political leaders toward migrants, she argued that immigration proved fundamental to the election of populist leaders in the U.S. and Europe. Similarly, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has gone as far as to claim that immigrants in the United Kingdom must better integrate in order to mitigate the growth of far-right bigotry.

Such dangerously misguided responses may fuel further restrictions on migration. Political leaders who accept this assumption would, of course, focus more on curbing migration as a solution than on addressing the underlying racism motivating xenophobic violence.

The idea that right-wing violence increases with immigration has some merit, as demonstrated by Richard J. McAlexander in a study analyzing terrorism in Europe from 1990-2004. But this connection should not lead to the conclusion that immigrants are to blame, or that drastically reducing immigration is the solution. As Lorna Finlayson explains, efforts to draw a causal link between immigration and right-wing extremism get things backwards: they assume that racism against immigrants is caused by excessive multiculturalism, rather than being a continuation of racism already endemic in a society which, moreover, does not serve the interests of the majority of its people.

Refocusing Security Policy

Policymakers underestimation of the extent of right-wing attacks, coupled with a public discourse that operates on the premise that white supremacist ideology is an immutable aspect of Western society, contributes to a narrative in which immigrants are held responsible for the attacks against them. European policymakers, and the larger public, must move past these misconceptions in order to more effectively combat right-wing extremism. Rather than calling for reduced immigration, policymakers ought to fight against the underlying bigotry that gives rise to xenophobic violence and right-wing extremism. Until they do so, immigrants will continue to bear the brunt for EUs broad failure to take the threat posed by right-wing extremist groups seriously, leaving neither immigrants, nor Europe as a whole, any safer.

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Stop Blaming Immigrants for Right-Wing Extremism - Just Security

German Health Minister Jens Spahn on Saturday appealed to Mexican care workers to consider moving to Germany to work.

Spahn traveled to Mexico City last week as part of a recruitment drive aimed atredressinga shortage of nursing and ancillary staff in German care homes.

In a video posted to Twitter, he said the trip was about "helping to speed up the process by which nurses from Mexico can come to Germany."

He said visa procedures and the recognition of professional qualifications would be accelerated for qualified Mexican staff.

Read more:Conflicts grow in German care sector as more foreign workers come

The minister also met with 15 representatives of local training institutes and invited them to visit Germany to familiarize themselves with the German care system and recruit Mexican workers.

Sector shunned by workers

Germany's care sector is deeply unattractive for many domestic workers due to low wages, overworkandreports of mistreatment of staff and patients. The industry relies on thousands of foreign workers.

Read more:Nursing home abuse in Germany: 'I can't let my mother die of thirst'

Spahn said there were currently 50,000 to 80,000 vacancies in care homes and hospitals.

DW reported in January that the care sector was struggling to fill some 38,000 posts and that for every 100 vacant positions there were only 26 unemployed skilled workers on the market.

The German government hasset a targetto find 10% more trainees for the sector by 2023. Earlier this year, it tasked several ministries with addressing the shortage, prompting high-profile visits to countriessuch as Kosovo and the Philippines this summer.

Read more:Singapore 'maids for sale' ad sparks investigation

Aging population spurs action

Resolving the issue has become particularly urgent as the number of people who need care is expected to rise dramaticallyin the coming decades: from the 3.3 million in 2017to 4 million by 2030, and 5.3 million by 2050, according to official government projections.

The shortagepersists despite Germany's population growing by more than 2 million since2015, mostly as a result of Europe'smigrant crisis, which sawlarge numbers of people crossthe Mediterranean to seeka new life in Europe's largest economy.

mm/jlw (AFP, dpa)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.

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Germany looks to Mexico to help tackle nursing-care crisis - DW (English)

British immigration officials have warned migrants in northern France they are being lied to by people smugglers promising them a better life in the UK.

Their intervention comes at a time when the number of migrant crossings has been increasing, partly because of camps being cleared.

There was another clearance on Tuesday, when almost a thousand migrants were removed from a gym in a Dunkirk suburb.

Invited by the French authorities, the British officials' work in France includes "countering the misinformation being spread by other sources, including organised crime groups", the Home Office said.

Migrants are being warned that people smugglers are not telling the truth about the journey, or about what awaits them if they make it to Britain.

The Home Office said it was determined to stop "this reckless and illegal activity by stopping boats from leaving French shores".

Those removed from a gym in the Dunkirk suburb of Grande Synthe included several families with young children, the charity Care4Calais said.

Another charity, Help Refugees, said about 250 children were there, 150 of who were unaccompanied.

"These evictions are about political bravado rather than humanitarian concerns," said Maddy Allen, the charity's field manager for the area.

More than 200 police officers escorted aid workers from the site early on Tuesday, before coaches arrived and migrants were escorted on to them.

They are being taken to temporary shelters and will be allowed to apply for asylum.

According to French police, the evacuation followed concerns over security and hygiene.

But Care4Calais said it had been pointless because many of those evicted would soon be back in Dunkirk and Calais in their quest to reach the UK.

"Continual forced evictions don't affect the underlying issues that cause people to risk their lives crossing the Channel," said founder Clare Moseley.

"The men, women and children that we talk to every day do not want to take these risks; all they want is for their asylum claims to be heard."

Immigration minister Seema Kennedy said: "People thinking about making the perilous journey across the English Channel in a small boat are taking a huge risk with their lives and the lives of their children."

Meanwhile, 29 arrests have been made as part of an investigation into a large migrant smuggling network, Europol said.

Last week, the National Crime Agency arrested six British men suspected of smuggling migrants.

Elsewhere, the Ocean Viking aid ship has picked up 61 people from a plastic boat off the coast of Libya.

At least two people have died and 14 are missing after a boat filled with migrants hoping to reach Europe capsized off the coast of Tunisia.

And Malta has refused to accept 90 migrants rescued by an Italian Coast Guard vessel.

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UK officials tell migrants in France: You are being lied to by people smugglers - Sky News

Asylum seekers on the Finnish-Swedish border in 2017.Image: Riikka Rautiainen / Yle

First-time asylum applications numbered 1,750 by mid-September, a fraction of the 30,000 applications Finland received during the 2015 migrant crisis, according to Migri, the Finnish Immigration Service.

Migris asylum unit director, Antti Lehtinen, said figures from the past months indicate that Finland may not receive more than 2,200 applications for international protection this year.

Internal border checks have made it far more difficult to move around Europe, which is apparent in the smaller number of people reaching Finland, Lehtinen explained.

The number of people seeking refuge in Finland has been decreasing since 2016, with a total of 2,409 people submitting first-time asylum applications last year.

Lehtinen told Yle that it was difficult to evaluate whether any domestic polices had influenced migrants decision to seek asylum in the country.

Finland is not any more attractive than other European states, he said.

Nationals from Turkey, Russia and Iraq make up the highest proportion of new asylum applications in Finland at the moment.

Migri currently has a backlog of some 8,900 asylum applications. Lehtinen said processing times had grown due to administrative courts sending appeals back to Migri for reconsideration. Appeals cases currently account for around half of the agency's caseload.

With a downward trend of people entering Finland, Migri has decided to shutter a number of asylum seeker reception centers, cutting a total of 800 beds.

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Fewer asylum seekers arriving in Finland | Yle Uutiset - YLE News

Migrants who arrived across the U.S.-Mexico border are pictured on a bus to their final U.S. destination with their host families. (Photo courtesy Sister Norberta Villasenor, OSF)Sept. 23, 2019Nicholas Wolfram SmithThe truth at the heart of the immigration crisis is straightforward, says Franciscan Sister Sheral Marshall.Were either all part of one human family and everyone deserves our respect, or certain people arent and if they arent, then we can do anything we want to them, said Sister Sheral, who is pastoral associate for liturgy at St. Robert Parish in San Bruno.She spoke Sept. 8 to about 50 people in the church sanctuary about her experience at the border. From Aug. 4-12, Sister Sheral volunteered at a Catholic Charities migrant shelter in Laredo, Texas, witnessing the humanity and gratitude of newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers.Theyre just ordinary people like us who happen to be born in a different place, she said.Part of her talk was to address the general confusion around migration and asylum, Sister Sheral said, emphasizing that both are enshrined in international law.People can emigrate if theyre in danger of persecution, or torture, or starving to death, she said.Sister Sheral also criticized an asylum process that has been made deliberately more difficult.Under a new Trump administration regulation issued on July 15, U.S. ports of entry have been closed to many asylum claims. According to the new rule, any person who failed to apply for protection from persecution or torture in a third country through which they transited en route to the United States cannot apply for asylum. If Central Americans, for example, cross Mexico without applying for asylum there, they cannot be granted it by the U.S.The third country policy was a violation of international law on refugees and has led to a severe decline in the number of migrants admitted, Sister Sheral said.One shelter employee told her only 16 people had been permitted to enter the country within a two-week span at the crossing in Laredo.As a result, she said, people have turned to coyotes, or smugglers, to take them across the border into the U.S where they turn themselves in to the Border Patrol. Desperation has led to steep costs for smuggling, she said, with the price of crossing as high as $8,000.Its an unbelievable situation, Sister Sheral said. If you hear people talking about illegal aliens, all I can think of is sci-fi movies. These people arent illegal, theyre undocumented, and they cant apply at the places they should.Sister Sheral also criticized the Trump administrations decision to end the Flores agreement, which since 1997 has limited the detention of migrant children to 20 days. Indefinite detention would have lifelong harmful psychological effects, she said.That its being done in our name is the horrible thing. Its not our values as a country, she said.The factors provoking immigration drought, violence, gangs and corruption, among others make it difficult to see how it will end, Sister Sheral said.Sending people back to the nations they fled is inhumane since they used all their resources to make the trip to the U.S., she said.Sister Sheral also pointed out that the violence and instability in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where many migrants have come from, exists in part because of U.S. involvement in their national affairs.Its such a mess and they dont deserve it, she said.Sister Sheral encouraged people to keep track of political developments around immigration, as well as to pray, write letters and donate to humanitarian organizations helping migrants.As for returning to the border, Sister Sheral said, I would love to go again but I dont know if anyone will be crossing.Franciscan Sister Sheral Marshall, seen during a recent visit to a migrant service shelter in Texas, said the migrants are given the address of the closest Catholic Charities to help find a lawyer for their immigration court hearing. (Photo courtesy Sister Norberta Villasenor, OSF)

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Franciscan sister says respect for migrants under threat - Catholic San Francisco

(September 23, 2019 / JNS) The history of Europe and the Jewish people is one that has seen some of humanitys most remarkable triumphs and darkest periods. Despite the Jewish population nearly being wiped out in the Holocaust, the story of Judaism and Europe is still being written today. The central European nation of Hungary, home to some 120,000 Jews out of a population of nearly 10 million, has historically played a large role in this storyone that it is still grappling with today due to its complex past, tense present and uncertain future.

When this government was first elected back in 2010, we had to obey the constitution. And in this constitution, we state that we are a Christian country, and we are very proud of that and our Judeo-Christian heritage, which is very strong in Hungary, Hungarian Ambassador to the United States Lszl Szab told JNS.

Szab, who has served at his post since 2017, said, We believe that the Jewish Christian heritage that the European civilization is built upon is strong and alive in Hungary. We believe Jewish Christian culture and origin of European civilization is the strongest foundation and our countrys survival over the last millennia.

Christianity has played a significant role in Hungarys history and identity after being adopted in the 11th century, and most Hungarians today still identify as such, despite the Communist era and increasing secularization throughout Europe. Unlike elsewhere on the continent, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn has been making the countrys Christian values and identity as a centerpiece of his government, even calling his country a Christian Democracy.

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Hungarian Ambassador to the United States Lszl Szab. Credit: Hungarian Embassy.

We believe this is something we need to preserve, and quite clearly, Israel is the torch in that battle, said Szab. We think that going back to the roots and this very foundation is the secret of a very successful society, and that is what we are trying to build.

The Judeo-Christian civilization that informs the right-wing government of Orbn has been a source of controversy throughout Europe. At a time when many Europeans have dropped their Christian roots, Orbn has embraced them, viewing himself as a defender of these values. These values seem to play a role in his embrace of Israel.

Last year, Orbn made a high-profile visit to the Jewish state and was welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a true friend of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn at the Prime Ministers Office in Jerusalem, on July 19, 2018. Photo by Marc Israel Sellem/POOL.

Earlier this year, Hungary became the first European country in decades to open a diplomatic trade mission in Jerusalem.

This is a very exciting moment for us because its the first European diplomatic mission opened in Jerusalem in many decades, and three Hungarian diplomats are going to be assigned to this office for trade purposes, said Netanyahu. Thats important for trade, for diplomacy and for the move that Hungary is leading right now to change the attitude in Europe towards Jerusalem.

Additionally, Budapest has defended Israel on the international stage.

On the platform of the United Nations and European Union, we have strongly supported pro-Israel positions or vetoed anti-Israel initiatives, said Szab. One of the most recent ones was when the European Council wanted to declare that it was a bad idea for the U.S. to move its embassy to Jerusalem. We were one of the first countries to veto it. Earlier this year, we decided to open our diplomatic mission in Jerusalem. We have not yet moved the embassy, but I believe this is a very important step that we are one of the first countries to open a diplomatic mission after the United States and Guatemala. We hope many other countries follow that path.

Indeed, countries in Central and Eastern Europe, such as Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Greece and Romania, have become strong allies of Israel, defending the country against anti-Israel resolutions in the European Union, such as the battle to re-label goods from Israeli settlements, or condemning the U.S. decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn (second from left) in the Old City of Jerusalem on the last day of a two-day official state visit to Israel. To his right is Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz; to the right of him is Hungarian Rabbi Shlomo Koves, July 20, 2018. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Judaisms millennia-old presence in Hungary

Hungarys emergence as one of Israels staunchest defenders in Europe is a remarkable feat considering the complex history of Hungary and the Jewish people. Still, news coverage on Hungary of late seems to focus on negative moves by Orbn, who has been accused of eroding Democratic institutions, using anti-Semitic tropes against political enemies and revising history, especially Hungarian complicity in the Holocaust. Yet given this, Hungary also has remarkably low levels of anti-Semitism and a thriving Jewish community that seems at odds with the accusations against the government.

While Jews first settled in the region during the Roman era, the modern community can be traced back to the medieval period during the formation of the Hungarian state. Like other European Jewish communities during the subsequent centuries, they enjoyed periods of prosperity and peace under various leaders, followed by persecution and even expulsions under others. Nevertheless, the community continued to grow, and by the eve of the 19th century numbered about 81,000 people.

In 1867, Hungarian Jews were fully emancipated and granted the same political and civil rights as their Christian compatriots in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, allowing them to play an active role in Hungarian commercial, financial and cultural life. In subsequent decades, Hungarian Jews made enormous contributions to culture, science, industry and even sports.

A view of the Dohny Street Synagogue, also known as the Great Synagogue, in Budapest, Hungary. It is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second-largest in the world. Photo by Yossi Zeliger/Flash90.

During the 1920s and 30s, Hungarian Jews began to face the first series of anti-Semitic laws and discrimination as the situation in Europe began to destabilize. Nevertheless, on the eve of the Holocaust, the community numbered about 825,000 people. Despite facing severe persecution under dictator Adm. Milkos Horthy and feeling the ramifications of German power throughout World War II, Hungarian Jews were nearly spared the fate of their brethren until the last year of the war. It wasnt until 1944 when the Nazis began to address Hungarian Jewry in full force, occupying the country in March, and rounding up local Jews in ghettos and deporting them to death camps, mainly Auschwitz, in what was described as one of the most horrifyingly efficient operations of the Holocaust even as the German war effort was starting to fail.

In the end, approximately 255,000 Hungarian Jews survived (Nobel laureate Eli Wiesel and former Californian Rep. Tom Lantos among the more well-known), less than one-third of its prewar population.

The Jewish cemetery and memorial for victims of the Holocaust at the Dohny Street Synagogue, also known as the Great Synagogue, in Budapest, Hungary, on Jan. 1, 2019. Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90.

For the survivors of the Holocaust, the ensuing Communist-era did not offer any sanctuary. While some Jewish communities were reconstituted, there were also a series of pogroms in the post-war period as well as the closure of Jewish institutions and arrest of activists by the communists.

Going in the right direction

In the 21st century, the Hungarian Jewish community has seen a remarkable comeback.

According to the World Jewish Congress, its population stands at about 120,000, making it one of the largest communities in Europe. Budapest, where most of the community lives, has a number of Jewish institutions, including museums, community centers and synagogues, such as the Dohny Street Synagogue, the largest in Europe. Budapest itself has more than 20 active synagogues that include the range of Jewish denominations from Orthodox to Reform, and a Chabad-Lubavitch presence. A number of Jewish organizations and youth groups are active in Hungary, and the country recently successfully hosted the European Maccabi Games in August.

Nevertheless, the modern Hungarian Jewish community faces challenges similar on the global scale, such as intermarriage, an aging population and growing anti-Semitism.

Once you are in Budapest, you realize how much fake news is going around on Hungary. We are really unjustifiably blamed for being an anti-Semitic country, said Szab. This might have been the case 70 years ago, but if you walk around Budapest today, you can see that Hungary is one of the best places for Jews in Europe.

Jews in Hungary are not considered minorities; they are considered Hungarian. It is just a feature of them that they follow the Jewish faith, and there is nothing special about them, unlike other Western countries. They feature prominently in Hungarian society and are great contributors to our culture, said Szab.

Before the war, 5 percent to 6 percent of Hungarians were Jews, but 30 percent of medals were won by Jews, he said. We clearly see the contribution from sports to Nobel prizes. We are proud of that.

The ambassador continued, We are also proud that there is an interest by Jews in Hungary from all over the world. I am happy to say in 2016, Israel was second-largest investor in Hungary, including in real estate and industry. Obviously, you put your money where your mouth is, and I believe this is a good indication that something in going in the right direction.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, at Shoes on the Danube Bank Holocaust memorial in Budapest, Hungary, on July 20, 2017. Photo by Haim Zach/GPO.

According to Hungarian Foreign Minister Pter Szijjrt, more than 200 Israeli companies employ 5,500 people in Hungary. Trade between the two nations stood at $525 million in 2018.

We have approximately 100,000 people who claim themselves Jews, and in Hungary, there are no issues in practicing their religion. If you wear a kipah in Hungary, nobody cares, said Szab.

Much has been reported about the revival of anti-Semitism across Europe in recent years. While some has been attributed to the rise of far-right and far-left groups and parties, fingers have also pointed to the influx of Muslim migrants, particularly due to the Syrian civil war, and threat of Islamic terrorism.

This combination of Jew-hatred has become especially relevant in Western Europe, where far-left leaders like the British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn have cloaked anti-Semitic views with anti-Zionism, leading to scandal in his party and fears of him becoming prime minister amid the Brexit crisis. France, with a large Muslim community from North Africa that has historically rejected nationalist inclusion, has seen brutal Islamic terror attacks on the Jewish community, causing Jews to fear for its future and even sparking emigration. Similarly, Germany, which has absorbed a massive influx of Muslim migrants, has reported an almost 20 percent rise in anti-Semitism.

Far-left groups across Western Europe are also fueling the BDS movement that targets Israel. This movement is particularly forceful in Irelandone of Europes fiercest critics of Israel and the first E.U. country to vote to boycott goods from Israeli settlements. Similarly, many towns and cities across Spain have moved to boycott Israel and its goods.

Eastern European countries like Hungary have largely closed their borders to outsiders, and have refused to take in the waves of refugees from the Middle East and Africa. Hungary has refused E.U.-mandate deals for the allocation of refugees; opinion polls show the vast majority oppose accepting refugees. As a result, Eastern Europe remains largely homogenous as compared to Western Europe.

Hungary made headlines during the migrant crisis in 2015-16, when more than a million people crossed into Europe for its refusal to absorb migrants, who hailed mainly from Muslim countries across the Middle East like Syria, to the erection of a $476 million, 100-mile border fence along its frontier with Serbia, which is not a member of the E.U., to stem the flow. Hungary built a barrier along its border with Croatia as well. Leaders in Hungary have hailed the Serbian-border fence for protecting European culture and European values.

Szab believes that the Hungarian governments strong stance on the migrant crisis is tied to his countrys positive situation for its Jewish community.

Even though in Hungary we are not perfect, we are headed in the right direction. We believe that the irresponsible immigration policies that many countries decided to support is creating this new type of anti-Semitism. The huge crowds coming to Europe come from anti-Semitic countries; this is something that the governments are shy to talk about. We have to make sure that the policies and requirements of the E.U. have to be kept.

A tour boat on the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary. Photo by Isaac Harari/Flash90.

Indeed, surveys have shown that Hungarian Jews feel both safer and face less anti-Semitic attacks than their counterparts in Western Europe. A 2018 survey by the American Joint Distribution Committees International Center for Community Development found that Eastern European Jews (including Hungary) reported higher feelings of safety (96 percent) than their Western European Jewish neighbors (76 percent).

Western European respondents were more likely to consider anti-Semitism as a threat than were Eastern Europeans, and to report deterioration in the situation from earlier surveys, the report said.

Additionally, Hungarys anti-Semitic watchdog group, TEV, reported 32 anti-Semitic hate crimes in 2018, the lowest since it started tracking in 2014. For comparison, the United Kingdom, which has about three times the Jewish population of Hungary, recorded 1,652 anti-Semitic incidents in 2018, the highest total since it began collecting data in 1984.

The prime minister zero tolerance for anti-Semitism since he was elected in 2011, Szab said. Since then you can see the numbers, but Hungary has probably become one of the safest countries for Jews in Europe.

We are very proud of that. We believe that this is not only our moral duty, but also a competitive edge when it comes to politics, the economy, and culture. We believe this is something we can build on, he said.

While Hungary may not be facing the threat of Islamic terrorism and anti-Semitism that has taken hold in Western European, Eastern European countries have been concerned over the rise of right-wing nationalism, populism and historical revisionism.

In Poland, the issue of Holocaust revisionism led to tensions with Israel last year after the country passed a law to criminalize associating Poland with crimes committed by the Nazis during World War II. After a global outcry, Poland reversed itself on the law.

Hungary has faced its own controversy regarding the Holocaust under Orbn with his praise of wartime leader Horthy as an exceptional statesmen, as well as the concern over historical revisionism with its long-delayed House of Fates Holocaust museum commissioned by Orbn back in 2013.

There is a strong trend in Hungary today to present the destruction of Hungarian Jewry during the Holocaust as an exclusively German crime and, except for a small group of Hungarian thugs, to ignore the role and responsibility of the Hungarian authorities and society, wrote the director of Yad Vashem Libraries, Dr. Robert Rozett, in a statement on the museum.

Szab dismissed the House of Fates issue, saying it is a controversy created by the left liberal press, and that the country already has a world-class Holocaust museum, established in 1999 by the government during Orbns first term as prime minister.

The controversial House of Fates Holocaust museum in Hungary. Credit: Hungarian Government.

This current government wanted to have a new approach to it [the Holocaust] and the government provided space and money for the museum. This is where the controversy started. Some accused Orbn of wanting to change the past and to whitewash history; obviously, these accusations are completely unfounded, said Szab.

After years of debate and criticism, the prime minister said, OK, you tell us what should be in that museum. We contacted Yad Vashem and many Jewish organizations, and asked them for their input.

At the same time, Orbn and his Fidesz Party have been also accused of using anti-Semitic tropes against left-wing billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, who is Jewish and was born in Hungary, during his 2018 re-election campaign. Soros runs the Open Society Foundation, which has funded many left-wing organizations, including ones that are highly critical of the Jewish state, some of whom deny its right to exist.

I believe the whole thing is being orchestrated by George Soros. He has a lot of money, and the open society foundation is funding a lot of organizations. I think that because Hungary has a strong and solid conservative government, that it creates enemies all around the world. And especially in the liberal media, there are a lot of accusations. They dont base their judgement on fact, and it makes it very hard to fight it.

Typical accusations from Brussels and Socialist governments in Europe are that we are anti-Semitic, that we are Russian-friendly or China-friendly, that we are corrupt. They are never quoting facts. If you look at facts in Hungary, it is quite the opposite. I believe those accusations are completely unfounded. When it comes to George Soros, he is a speculator. He tried to ruin the British pound, the Swedish krona. He is an enemy of the people, and he is trying to destabilize many countries in Europe. He pulled out the Jewish card, nobody cares if he is Jewish or not, he is a speculator who went against Hungary and we have defended ourselves.

The track record for the Hungarian government on fighting anti-Semitism paints a different picture.

Orbn has been involved in establishing a national Holocaust Memorial Day and recently pledged $3.4 million to fight anti-Semitism in Europe, and is staunchly defended by some Hungarian Jewish leaders as not harboring anti-Semitism.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn tours the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on July 19, 2018. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90.

We also have mandated that all primary schools curriculums have Holocaust lessons, said Szab. All primary-school kids go through the Holocaust lessons. Hundreds of teachers have traveled to Israel to learn about the Holocaust. We believe we are on the forefront of this, and we have nothing to be shy about.

The ambassador said the world should talk to Jews in Hungary and see this for themselves. They are the best references for us, he said. If you look at their incredible culture and celebrations of Jewish life, the beautiful synagogueswe have some of the largest in the worldand even Jewish cemeteries being renovated. We are very proud of this.

Sometimes, we feel isolated from the rest of Europe and singled out by the media. But I believe the more you know about Hungary, the more you like.

Excerpt from:

What is the real story behind Judaism in Hungary? - JNS.org

Migrants from Central America in a Tijuana, Mexico, February 2019, wait to meet with U.S. immigration officials.(Photo: Nick Oza/The Republic)

TUCSON Acting Homeland Security SecretaryKevin McAleenan announced on Monday the end ofthe practice his departmentrefers to as"catch and release," with changes coming as early as next week.

Theterm refers to the process in which the federal government must release migrant families, mostly from Central America, apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border intothe interior of the United States to begin the process of seeking asylum. That process can take years, given themassive backlogs in the country'simmigration courts.

McAleenan made the announcement during prepared remarks before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.

"(The Department of Homeland Security)will no longer be releasing family units from Border Patrol Stations into the interior," McAleenan said."This means that for family units, the largest demographic by volume arriving at the border this year, the court-mandated practice of 'catch and release' due to the inability of DHS to complete immigration proceedings with families detained together in custody--will have been mitigated."

In doing so, McAleenan would be fulfilling President Donald Trump's campaign promise to end so-called "catch and release." It follows several steps the Trump administration has taken in recent monthsto restrict the ability of migrants to claim asylum in the U.S.

In a follow-up statement, the Homeland Security Departmentsaid the move is part of its"strategy to mitigate the loopholes that act as a 'pull factor'for family units seeking to cross illegally at the Southwest border."

The department said that if migrant families do not claim a fear of return, they will be "quickly" deported back to their countries of origin. But if they do express a fear of return, the families would be sent back to Mexico to await the outcome of their asylum proceedings under the policy known as the "Migrant Protection Protocols."

McAleenan noted there will besome humanitarian and medical exceptions.

There are many questions about how the program will work.

Phoenix church pastors help Central American migrants, who were dropped off by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.(Photo: Nick Oza/The Republic)

The announcementon Mondayfocused largely on Central American families processed by the U.S. Border Patrol. They've made up the bulk of border apprehensions this year.

To date, agents have processed nearly 458,000 migrants traveling as families this year, nearly all of them hailing from three Central American countries: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

But McAleenan did not say whether this change also will applyto the thousands offamilies who have spent months waiting at legal ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico borderto present their claims with Customs and Border Protection officials at the ports.

A report earlier this year from researchers at the University of California-San Diego estimated the number of migrants waiting in Mexican border cities at nearly19,000.

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Earlier this month, theSupreme Court allowed the Trump administration to implement restrictions at the border that would allow them to reject migrants who haven't first applied for asylum at another country they'vetraveled through.

The thousands offamilies waiting to seek asylum at the border also include a surging number of Mexican migrants who are fleeing cartel violence in their home states. McAleenan's announcement didn't address thatpopulation of migrants either.

While the Homeland Security Departmenthas expanded the Migrant Protection Protocols to five border cities andhas sent back about47,000 migrants, the program is not in place at many parts of the border, including at any of Arizona's border crossings.

It's unclear if the program will expand to these areas before families apprehended there are no longer released into the U.S.

The Homeland Security Departmenthas not responded to a request for comment.

We are still at crisis levels in illegal crossings at the Southwest Border and, until we change the fundamental laws governing our immigration system, we wont solve the underlying problem

In his remarks, McAleenan said policies such asthe Migrant Protection Protocolsand the new restrictions on asylum are having their intended effect. The number of migrants apprehended at the border has decreased after peaking in May.

Still, he stopped short of claiming success.

"We cant let our progress cloud our vision," McAleenan said. "We are still at crisis levels in illegal crossings at the Southwest Border and, until we change the fundamental laws governing our immigration system, we wont solve the underlying problem."

Have any news tips or story ideas about the U.S.-Mexico border? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.

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Trump administration announces the end of 'catch and release' - AZCentral

Welcome to the basementshaman.com. A website where you can ready in-depth articles about different herbs and mushrooms that have, or is claimed to, medical properties. The Shaman always looks at both the scientifically proven and the unproven.

The website feature information on both legal and illegal herbs and fungi. An example of this is that we write about cannabis sativa and ephedra that remain illegal substances in many jurisdictions.

The Shaman does not provide information on how to grow controlled herbs and fungi and will not help you find where to buy them.

Native populations the world over have used different plants, herbs, and fungi to treat various disease and afflictions. Some of these remedies have been little more than scams performed by hustlers who prayed on the sick. Some of these scam remedies were spread by well-meaning medicine men who thought the scams were real other natural remedies where very effective against the diseases they were designed to fight and could rival the effectiveness of our modern medicines.

Or in other words: The world wasnt too different back then. There were medical scams designed to trick people and well-meaning healers who just want to help. Just like now.

Many of the remedies that was used by native populations were closely guarded secrets that were passed down from shaman to shaman. Only a small part was common knowledge or written down. This, unfortunately, means that we have lost a lot of the knowledge about medical plants, herbs, and fungi that once existed. The knowledge we have retained is only a small part of what we once knew. This is especially true in certain areas such as the Amazon where the biodiversity is very large and where de-foresting means that we lose potential medicines every day.

All this lost knowledge and potentially lost medicines motivated me to devote my free time to medical herbs and lost knowledge. This website is a part of that work. And attempt to spread the knowledge gathered.

It is vital that everyone understands that I am not against modern medicine. I do not believe we should use natural remedies instead. I think both types of medicine have an important role to play and that both types can complement each other. We should devote resources to study both types of medicines and use both as is appropriate. There are a lot of medical problems that can be treated with natural remedies but there is also a lot of diseases that are best treated with modern medicine.

The most important example of a disease that should be treated with modern medicine. Never bet your life on a natural remedy that hasnt been scientifically proven to be effective against your disease. Always use modern medicine to maximize your chance of recovery. With this being said. There is nothing to prevent you from using natural remedies as well. Use them with modern medicine, not instead of. Always ask your doctor before starting taking a natural supplement if being treated for a disease. Some supplements can interact with the medicines and neutralize them or create dangerous side effects.

Scammers are attracted to all areas of society where there is a lot of money to be found. This is true for:

This is also true for the natural remedy industry.

The natural remedy industry has a big problem with scams. There are a lot of individuals that are active in this field that sell products that have no proven effect but they still promise that it will be good against everything from bunions to cancer. These individuals hurt our field and make it hard for a real scientist to do research on natural remedies. It is not a serious field. It is up to all of us to try to clean up the field and point out scams where ever we see them. It is time to turn natural medicine into a true science, not a faith.

The industry also has a problem with charlatans that claim that certain herbs have magical properties. Many of these charlatans offer expensive potions that are supposed to bring luck or love. All of these potions are 100% useless and have no magical properties. An example of this is a website (I will not give the website more exposure by posting the URL) that sells potions specially designed to give you luck when you gamble in casinos. It supposedly works for both online casinos and regular casinos. The same website also sells a digital potion that you can buy and download to get luck in online casinos. If that is not a scam I do not know what is. If you want to improve your chances of winning money, then you should learn how to play the games well and chose to play in a good, honest online casino such as this one.

The only way to get more luck in your life, to find love or to become wealthy is to work hard at it. Learn which games you can beat and train to becomes as skilled as possible when you play those games. Put your self out there and make a grand gesture to find love. Work hard to become wealthy and so on.

Go here to read the rest:

Medicinal plants, herbs and mushrooms - Basement Shaman

Photo credit: ronnieb from morguefile.com

Drug is a substance which causes medicinal, performance enhancing, intoxicating or other effects when taken to body. In pharmacology drugs are used in treatment sector, mainly in prevention, cure or diagnosis of a disease. For physical or mental well being enhancement pharmacologists prescribe drugs for patients suffering from various diseases. The name originated from the French word drogue.

The main difference between drugs and endogenous biochemical is drugs are introduced from outside of the body. For example take a consideration about insulin. Its a hormone which synthesized in body but when it is used from outside, its called drugs.

Complex drugs molecules most of the time consist numerous hydrogen and carbon atoms along with few oxygen and nitrogen atoms. Some may consist of chlorine atoms also like chloral hydrate.

From the very beginning of the mankind human being had always a desire to eat or drink substances which make them feel better and relaxed. From the curiosity and interest human being first took a giant step to take first medicine. From thousands of years drugs are being used in medicinal or relaxation purpose.

From the early Egyptian times wine are being used. Narcotics are used from 4000 BC and marijuana was first used in China as medicine in 2737 BC. As the time went by, to alleviate aches, pains and other ailments home remedies were discovered. Herbs, roots mushrooms or fungis were drunk, eaten or rubbed on the skin to get relief from the pains. Chinese scholar Shen Nung wrote a book about herbs and its use in medicinal purpose around 2735 BC. Its one of the oldest records found about the use of medicine and its effect in human body.

Since the dawn of our species drugs are being used with spiritual and religious values. The drugs which come with spiritual or religious use are known as entheogens. Some religions simply allow only certain drugs and theres a strict rule not to use some kinds of drugs.

Dont forget that if you are traveling abroad you may also need access to medication and drugs. You can find out about the side effects of drugs at Drugs.com and you can look up information on ailments at the Mayo Clinic site.

Follow this link:

alizyme Drugs & Medications for ailments

Very rarely does a single image cut through the clutter of the media to both shock and touch the heart. The wrenching photograph of a drowned 3-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach was splashed across front pages of newspapers around the globe, riveting world attention on the massive and often tragic immigration crisis threatening to overwhelm Europe.

In a Europe already in trouble following the tumultuous Greek debt debacle, the migration crisis has eclipsed all other concerns. It risks spinning out of control as successive waves of migrants head there. Border mayhem, lack of common response and the inevitable questions of who will pay have member states of the EU squabbling to defend their own interests, seriously jeopardizing deeper European integration.

Nearly 400,000 detected migrants have poured into Europe this year, up from 216,000 during all of last year. Over 3,000 have died or are missing on the dangerous journey. Many more are on the way.

According to an Italian newspaper report, reprinted in the Feb. 18, 2015, Daily Mail in the U.K., ISIS planned to instigate a flood of 500,000 migrants into Europe as a form of psychological warfare. They also wanted to use the movement of peoples to bring several thousand of their followers into Europes communities.

Whether or not this report is accurate, the fear of ISIS entering Europe through the thousands of migrants is real.

What are the implications and potential repercussions of this spiraling immigration crisis? Will the face and future of Europe change due to the caravan of humanity headed north?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, grappling with a humanitarian crisis whose scale and severity is unmatched since World War II, said, What we are experiencing now is something that will occupy and change our country in coming years. We want the change to be positive, and we believe we can accomplish that. Merkel believes the immigration crisis will define the next decade.

Europe is the closest safe, prosperous and accessible region to the Middle East and Africa. Some Middle Eastern countriessuch as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkeyhave taken in millions of refugees but are already overwhelmed and lack resources to take in more.

In stark contrast is the stance of wealthy Gulf countriesQatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrainwho have not offered resettlement places to their neighbors and cousins. (Saudi Arabia has, however, offered to build 200 mosques in Germany.)

The crisis now engulfing Europe began slowly in 2011 after the failed Arab Spring, when Tunisians risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean on rickety fishing trawlers to get to the Italian island of Lampedusa. The fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya emboldened desperate sub-Saharan Africans to attempt the perilous passage from Libyan shores in far greater numbers.

As the Middle East disintegrated and border controls increased, a shift began. Migrants began to use comparatively cheaper and less risky Balkan routes through Turkey and Greece.

The spike in migrants this summer coincided with an obscure Twitter comment from a government agency in Nuremberg noting that the German government pledged to take all Syrian asylum applications, regardless of how they reached German territory.

Tributes to German Chancellor Angela Merkel sprang up in the Arab social media, calling her the loving mother and Mama Merkel. But the move breeched the existing EU protocol and, in essence, opened the doors to Germany. Smartphones, Facebook posts and media coverage of friends landing in Greece or getting off trains in Germany has inspired the migrant rush to Germany.

The most cherished benefit and cornerstone of European integration is enshrined in the Schengen Agreement of 1985, providing open internal borders and enabling people to move from one country to another without showing documents once inside the EU.

This has caused EU members on the MediterraneanGreece, Italy and (to a lesser extent) Spainand the transit countries of Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to struggle as they attempt to control borders, register and fingerprint asylum seekers, as well as shelter and feed them.

The Syrian civil war has already devoured 250,000 people and displaced half the population, causing one in five Syrians (4 million people) to flee the blood-soaked country. Should the ruthless Assad regime fall to ISIS jihadists, then millions more Alawites and Christians would join the exodus.

While the overwhelming majority of migrants are Muslim, not all are refugees from Syria. Piggybacking on the crisis are migrants from other nations, stretching from Pakistan to North Africa. According to the United Nations, just 53 percent of the migrants are Syrian; The Daily Telegraph quotes figures as low as 40 percent.

The demographic distributionjust 15 percent children, 13 percent womenis telling. Rather than families fleeing persecution, the majority are young men fleeing war or poverty.

Four decades of war and Americas departure from Afghanistan and Iraq have led to more sectarian violence and revenge killings, driving many to Europes doorstep. An undercurrent of hopelessness in the teeming, disease-ridden, shanty megalopolises of Africa wracked with corrupt and tyrannical regimes is compounding the situation.

Hungarys minister for foreign affairs and trade Peter Szijjrt described the crisis bluntly in comments to the Hungarian Times. It is self-delusion to call this situation a migration crisis, warned Szijjrt. It is a massive migration of nations, with inexhaustible reserves. He predicted the crisis will continue for years and could see an astonishing 35 million migrants heading to Europe.

Other immigration policy experts see even greater numbers of refugees. According to Mark Krikorian, director of the Washington, D.C.based Center for Immigration Studies, There are hundreds of millions who would undertake the journeywhether jobs await them or notto ensure that their children grow up in Germany, France, England, or Sweden rather than Syria, Chad, Afghanistan, or Mali. What we are seeing is the vanguard of those millions calling Europes bluff (Where There Is No Border, the Nations Perish, National Review, Sept. 1, 2015).

Even more than other prosperous northern European economies such as Sweden and the U.K., the wealthy German colossus has become an enormous magnet for migrants. Registered asylum seekers in Germany are lodged and fed, provided medical care, have their children schooled or cared for, and are even entitled to pocket money.

As many as 800,000 are expected to apply for asylum in Germany this year, equal to 1 percent of Germanys population, and it is considering accepting another 500,000 annually for the next several years.

If Germany still had robust economic and demographic growth, it could absorb the influx. But it does not. While German unemployment appears low (4.7 percent), the economy is now growing at a paltry 1.6 percent annually. For the rest of Europe the ability to absorb a refugee influx is even worse.

For Germany, empathy and guilt for the countrys Nazi past are not the only incentives for the government (but not all Germans) to enthusiastically welcome an influx of foreigners fleeing violence in their homelands. Berlin needs replacement workers. Having the worlds lowest birthrate, Germany is shrinking rapidly. According to current demographic trends, it is due to shrink from a population of 81 million today to 68 million in coming decades.

What Germany is proposing, said syndicated columnist Rich Lowry, is undertaking a vast social and demographic experiment, with the rapid, bulk importation of Muslim immigrants into a country with an aging population (The Refugee Crisis Is Exposing Europes Folly, New York Post, Sept. 8, 2015).

With the number of Muslims in Europe increasing dramatically, Eastern and Central European countries are concerned. Their reluctance to take in Syrian refugees revolves around worries about integration of massive numbers of ethnically, culturally, religiously and linguistically different migrants. In August, the Slovak government said it would only accept Christians from Syria because in Slovakia we dont have mosques, according to an interior department spokesman.

Even beyond the menace of seeding ISIS-inspired terrorism, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn warned of the threat to Europes Christian character because everything which is now taking place before our eyes threatens to have explosive consequences for the whole of Europe.

Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders called the immigrant surge an Islamic invasion, one that threatens our prosperity, our security, our culture and identity.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy focused on economic factors. He described as folly the idea of taking on dozens of thousands of migrants for whom we have no jobs in Europe. With an unemployment rate exceeding 10 percent, France already has had deep problems with the assimilation of Muslim migrants. A toxic brew of resentment is likely to form in countries such as Italy that already have staggering youth unemployment rates above 40 percent.

British Prime Minister David Cameron recently pledged another 100 million pounds ($152 million) in aid to assist the crisis, bringing Britains total contribution to 1 billion poundsits largest-ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. But the U.K. has resisted attempts from diplomats in Brussels to mandate a quota to redistribute to each EU member country the burden connected with resettling just 160,000 of the asylum seekers.

In July and August Mr. Cameron was faced with near daily media coverage of migrants chaotically storming vehicles at Frances English Channel port of Calais in attempts to enter Britain through the Eurotunnel. All this came as he was preparing to negotiate more favorable terms for the United Kingdom within the EU. The EU response will play a part in the results of an anticipated referendum in Britain by the end of 2017 on whether to stay in the union. The images from Calais and fears of Britain being swamped by new arrivalswith the EU to blamemake a Brexit, or British exit from the union, a stronger possibility.

Diplomats in Brussels have been at a loss on how to respond adequately to the situation. The United States spearheaded actions during previous humanitarian emergencies and Middle East crises, but the current lead from behind mantra in Washington has left a leadership void in the region.

Europe today, wrote professor of foreign affairs Walter Russell Mead, often doesnt seem to know where it is going, what Western civilization is for, or even whether or how it can or should be defended (The Roots of the Migration Crisis, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 11, 2015).

As Europes frontiers have collapsed, the potential waves of immigration are so huge that European leaders are now contemplating alternatives other than fences and processing camps. Perhaps they will choose to deal more muscularly with the source of the problem rather than the aftermath.

Suddenly theres talk in Europe, wrote foreign affairs columnist Bret Stephens, about using military power to establish safe zones in Syria to contain the exodus of refugees.

Europe, even Germany, may have no choice, continued Stephens, except rebuilding its military and using hard power against unraveling neighbors (Farewell to the Era of No Fences, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 7, 2015).

Thus the explosive refugee crisis may prove to be the opening round of a direct European involvement in the Middle East. The scene is being set for a biblical time of the end development involving the king of the South and the king of the North (Daniel 11:40).

As shocking as the tragic events unfolding in the Middle East and Europe areand what they portend for the futurethe Bible has a message of good news for those willing to watch therefore, and pray always, seeking to discern the signs of the times (Luke 21:36; Matthew 16:3).

You can learn more about the good news of a much better world free of violence and hopeless poverty in our free booklet Mystery of the Kingdom.

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The Migrant Crisis: What Does It Mean? - Life, Hope & Truth

When you look up into the night sky, you catch a glimpse of the same universe ancient stargazers saw. Even the few thousand stars visible to the naked eye can evoke awe and wonder (Psalm 8:3-4).

Now with the tools of modern astronomy, todays scientists see a universe undreamed of even a century ago. While the full extent of the universe remains unknown, astronomers have peered out multiple billions of light-years. Within this known universe, there may be as many as 10 sextillion stars (a 1 followed by 22 zeros).

The size of some of these stars is also mind-boggling. Our sun is huge from our perspectiveabout 109 times the diameter of the earth. Yet some stars may be more than 1,500 times that diameter! Such a large star, placed at the center of our solar system, would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter.

The universe is far more amazing than the ancients could have imagined!

An explosion of knowledge began around a hundred years ago with the development of Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity concerning space, time and gravity. During the same period the construction of larger telescopes enabled astronomers to look deeper into space.

In 1929 Edwin Hubble used these tools to determine that the universe is not static but expanding. Further advances were spurred by new instrumentation, deep space probes and orbiting telescopes that can detect signals across the full spectrum of wavelengths.

This knowledge has led to the development of a generally accepted theoretical model for the beginning and growth of the universe. The model is referred to as the hot inflationary big bang theory or simply the big bang theory.

This theory is consistent with current observations and measurements of the observable universe; but as we will see, it doesnt really explain how the universe could have formed by entirely natural means. It requires us to accept certain premises outside the realm of the known laws of physics.

Can the origin of the universe be explained by purely physical means?

The other alternative is to accept that our awesome universe must have had a Creator and that this Creator must have had unimaginable power.

How can you know which alternative is true?

Many religious people believe in God, but have never proven His existence. When people are questioned about the reasons for their belief in God, typical responses are often more emotional than rational. Such responses include:

But God wants our belief in Him to be based on hard evidence, and He challenges us to do just that. Test all things, hold fast what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21; see also Romans 1:20).

This article is the first in a series that will help you answer that challenge by examining some of the physical evidence for the existence of God. A good place to start is at the beginningthe origin of the universe. What is the evidence for God as the Creator of the universe?

The missing ingredient in the big bang theory is the power source.

The implications of the big bang theory are staggering. In order to believe it, though, we are asked to accept certain suppositions that fall outside the laws of nature and physics. These suppositions actually support the existence of an all-powerful Creator God.

First, the big bang theory and the scientific evidence behind it imply that space, time and the universe as a whole had a beginning. Anything having a beginning must have a cause. What was that first cause?

Second, the big bang theory is based on the premise that something (the entire universe) suddenly came into existence out of nothing. How could this happen?

Third, according to the big bang theory, at the beginning all the matter and energy in the entire universe was compressed into an infinitesimally small point of almost infinite temperature and density. Where did this seed come from, and what force held it together and then released it?

Fourth, another suppositioninflationwas introduced in order for the observable data to match the theory. The premise was that inflation occurred within the first trillionth of a second after the bang. This inflation caused the minuscule universe to increase in size to something perhaps approaching 50 percent of its current size! This idea defies all known laws of natural physics, but it does enable the theory to be consistent with the universe as we see it today.

The unanswered question is: What caused this sudden inflation to occur?

The big bang theory asks us to just accept these suppositions. Objections raised about these unanswered questions are typically dismissed by stating that there must be natural laws explaining it all, but they just have not been discovered yet. This response raises the question of who is exercising more faith in their beliefs. Scientists? Or those who believe in God as the Creator?

Scientists begin with a fundamental assumption that only natural processes and sequences of events that are consistent with natural laws should be considered. As such, the idea of God creating the universe is ruled out as a possibility from the beginning.

But then they present a theorythe hot inflationary big bang theorythat is not consistent with natural laws! The description of that first instant of inflation cant be explained by the laws of the universe.

God addresses this issue by pointing out that the physical evidence of creation proves that He is God. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20, emphasis added throughout).

The missing ingredient in the big bang theory is the power sourcea source beyond any natural physical lawa source beyond our imagination. The God of the Bible claims responsibility for the creation of the universe. Could anything other than the Almighty God fulfill the premises upon which the big bang theory is based?

The very first words of the Bible are, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). But this scripture does not define how far back in time this beginning was. Scientific evidence suggests it was billions of years, and the Bible does not disagree. (See the Life, Hope & Truth article The Gap Theory for further explanation.)

A similar declaration of God as the Creator is found in other scriptures as well. For example, By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth (Psalm 33:6). This scripture perhaps poetically suggests inflation and the expanding universe as a part of the creation, as does Isaiah 40:22: It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

Notice the emphasis on Gods power several verses later. To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing (Isaiah 40:25-26).

This power to create is also emphasized in Revelation 4:11. You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.

Science agrees with the Bible on the idea that time had a beginning. Paul, referring to Gods promise of eternal life, wrote: In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:2).

This short article has merely scratched the surface of this huge subject. There is abundant physical evidence that the creation of the universe was a supernatural event. Scientists discoveries and theories point to a creation mechanism that cannot be explained by physical laws.

Only an all-powerful God could create something from nothing, constrain the energy of the universe in the palm of a hand, release this energy and inflate it in an instant to nearly the size of what we today call the universe.

The creation of this miraculous universe is only the first of many proofs of Gods existence. Next time we will explore a second proofthe design found in the universe. Could it have occurred without a Designer?

Learn more about creation as a proof of God in our Life, Hope & Truth articles Creation Demands a Creator, Does the Big Bang Theory Require a Miracle? and Is God Really the Creator?

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Does God Exist? Proof 1: Origin of the Universe - Life ...

by Isaac Khalil - November 26, 2018

The European Union (EU) is desperate for strong leadership. Several pressures are mounting on the EU, and there is a growing sense in Europe that new leadership is needed to solve these problems and lead the European project forward.

Consider some of the crises and challenges that have threatened to tear the union apart over the last few years.

Germany is at the center of many of these issues and has been a driving force to keep the EU together through many of these crises. Many wonder what a post-Merkel Germany and Europe will look like.

After experiencing so many crises, it is not surprising that two-thirds of Europeans feel the world is getting worse. What does the Bible say about Europes future?

The book of Daniel records a dream God gave to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon that revealed an overview of a succession of world empires that would continue all the way to the return of Jesus Christ.

In the dream he saw a statue of a man composed of different metals: a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay (Daniel 2:32-33). The prophet Daniel interpreted the dream for the king.

The book of Daniel, and history, identifies these kingdoms as follows:

To learn more details about this prophecy, read Daniel 2: Nebuchadnezzars Dream.

The Roman Empire collapsed in A.D. 476, but the interpretation of the dream of the prophetic statue revealed that there would be a revival of the Roman Empire during the time immediately before Christs return (Daniel 2:42-44).

Daniel 7 reveals Rome as a beast with ten horns (verse 7), representing 10 revivals of this empire throughout history (verses 20, 24). To date, nine revivalsall centered in Europehave come and gone.

We are now waiting for the 10th revival to arise in Europe. It will be one last attempt to unite the nations of Europe into a single force under one charismatic leader.

The European Union is likely the seed of a final revival of the Roman Empire.That brings us to today. The European Union is likely the seed of a final revival of the Roman Empire. It is very possible that this final revival will emerge out of the present EU or will be a system that emerges to replace it.

The Bible describes this final empire as iron mixed with ceramic clay that wont adhere to one another (Daniel 2:41-43). This perhaps indicates that the empire will be a composite of strong and weak nations that have a semblance of unity, but with underlying weaknesses and differences.

Unity has been the greatest hurdle for the European Union to solve as it has tried to form a superstate made up of multiple nations that speak multiple languages and have unique histories and different cultures.

The Bible reveals this hurdle will temporarily be resolved when a strong leader, referred to as the beast, will arise and make a united Europe the worlds dominant economic and military power. It is likely this leader will be charismatic and portray himself as a savior of Europe (much as Hitler and Mussolini portrayed themselves in the 1930s).

While bringing a temporary prosperity, security and peace, this final leader will eventually cause war and destruction on earth and even try to fight the returning Jesus Christ (Revelation 17:12-14).

Jesus Christ is the true Savior, who will save the world from itself. His Kingdom will end the failed empires of man and usher in world peace!

Excerpt from:

Europe: Looking for a Savior? - Life, Hope & Truth

That seems to be the prevailing opinion of the world when it comes to the Christian religionanachronistic fuddy-duddies who set the bar too high for everyone and then consistently fail to meet it themselves.

The data agrees. During a recent yearlong research effort in Scotland, the Barna Group found that the five phrases Scots were most likely to use in describing Christianity included judgmental, hypocritical and out of touch with reality.

And its not just Scotland. Those phrases are the stones slung at the Christian faith from all corners of the worldand I cant say as though I fault those doing the slinging. If you were to lump all those who call themselves Christian into the same category, it would be hard not to look at the results with disappointment.

Look no farther than the Bible itself, and youll find Jesus Christ expressing frustration over those who call Me Lord, Lord, and [do] not do the things which I say (Luke 6:46).

The lesson? Not everyone who takes on the mantle of Christianity is an actual Christian. In Scotland alone, seven out of 10 self-identified Christians are legacy Christiansthat is, Christians who do not believe basic elements of Christian doctrine or express personal faith in Jesus.

Thats a contradiction in terms. The word Christian implies a follower of Christ. A follower of Christ who doesnt follow Christ is a paradox, not a Christian. With ambassadors like that, its little wonder so much of the world casts such a disparaging eye on the entire religion.

But what about those who are genuinely seeking to follow Jesus Christ? Theyre not exactly perfect, either. But is it right to expect them to be? And do their personal failures discredit Christianity as a whole?

What, in other words, is a true Christian supposed to look like?

We could spend weeks on that subject and only begin to scratch the surface. A Christian is many different things all at once, but so much of it comes down to action. The apostle James warned that faith without works is dead (James 2:20) because, when it comes to believing in God, even the demons believeand tremble! (verse 19). Believing in God is one thing, but unless we couple that belief with action, there isnt much that distinguishes us from the demonic spirits who call Satan master. The demons believe in God, they even fear God, but they refuse to obey God.

A true Christian doesnt stop at believing in God. A true Christian repents, is baptized and receives Gods Spirit (Acts 2:38). A true Christian pursues a relationship with God, studying His Word and speaking with Him in prayer, seeking to know Him better and better each day (John 10:27).

A true Christian is in a continual state of self-examination (2 Corinthians 13:5), perpetually looking for ways to improve and grow. A true Christian is attentive to the will of God, striving to understand Gods commands and expectations and then live up to them, regardless of the personal cost or obstacles involved (1 John 5:3; Matthew 7:21).

A true Christian is all of these things, but not only these things. In fact, theres at least one major attribute of a true Christian I neglected to include in this list. Its an attribute I dont think most Christians talk about as much as we shouldmaybe because were embarrassed by it or ashamed of it. I can understand that. Its not a pretty aspect of following God; but its vital for us to understand it, talk about it andeven if we cant exactly be proud of itaccept it:

A true Christian is still flawed.

It comes with the territory. No one likes to advertise their imperfections, but accepting the teachings of the Son of God requires first admitting our own sinfulness. Jesus came preaching repentance as the first step of His gospel message (Mark 1:15). He also said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance (Mark 2:17).

Becoming a Christian requires adopting Gods commandments as your own standardsstandards you know youll struggle to reach.

Becoming a Christian requires picking up the pages of Gods Word and saying, This is rightand then looking deep within your own heart and saying, Im not.

Becoming a Christian requires knowing that who you are is not who you want to beknowing that the final goal is always just ahead, that repentance and change and growth are processes requiring a lifetime of effort, not just a weekend.

Christians fail. Christians have shortcomings. Christians, from time to time, make terrible decisions and awful mistakes, because Christians arent Christ. They are flawed human beings trying to follow in the footsteps of a perfect God, and no one can do that without tripping from time to time.

In its most literal form, the Greek word for hypocrisy, hypokrisis, simply means acting. Theater productions in the time of Christ depended on the skill of the plays hypocrites, or actorsthe better the hypocrite, the more convincing the show. When Jesus accused religious leaders of hypocrisy, He was basically accusing them of being actorsplaying a certain character, putting on an entire performance for the sake of the audience, while in their hearts they were someone completely different. Their piety was a performance, not a genuine action.

God knows Hes called His people to do some hard things, and He doesnt expect them to make it through life without picking up some scratches and dings along the way.Two thousand years later, hypocrisy is a word we tend to throw around with a little less restraint. Rather than a word for clear cases of intentional deception, hypocrite is a label we apply to anyone who visibly fails to live up his or her own values.

Thats not always hypocrisy. Sometimes, thats just called humanity. All human beings have trouble living up to a set of standards that dont come naturallythe thing is, some of us just handle it differently.

When you encounter something thats broken, you can choose one of two responses. You can set about trying to find a solution, or you can convince yourself that the brokenness is an improvement and that it actually works better that way. Generally, the world tends to take the latter approachits easier and means nothing has to change besides some peoples opinions.

We live in a broken world filled with broken peoplebroken by our own sins, our own rejection of Gods perfect way of life. Every time it gets worse, the world seems to throw a party and say that the new brokenness is an improvement, the way it should have been from the beginning. Meanwhile, God is working with the broken people who are willing to admit that theyre brokenwho recognize that their brokenness needs to be fixed, not celebrated as the new normal.

And thats what a true Christian looks like: a faithful servant of God on a lifelong mission to work with God and repair whats broken and sinful in his or her own life. A Christians life isnt flawless or free of mistakes. Its not some shining alabaster monument to perfection; in fact, there are moments when its little more than an ugly, gritty mess in the process of being transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit into something special.

Looking for the church behind Life, Hope & Truth? See our Who We Are page.

God knows Hes called His people to do some hard things, and He doesnt expect them to make it through life without picking up some scratches and dings along the way.

As the apostle Paul was inspired to write, We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyedalways carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 16).

In this life, were going to get pummeled. Were going to fail and make mistakes and fall short of Gods perfect standards, again and again and again. But a true Christian refuses to let the story end there. A true Christian knows that a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again (Proverbs 24:16, emphasis added).

Its not about how many times you fall down; its about how many times you get back up.

No matter how much abuse the outward man takes, the true Christians focus is on whats going on insidethat the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).

And that, in a nutshell, is what it means to be a Christian. Followers of Christ arent made perfect on day onerather, day one involves acknowledging perfection as the goal. Every day after is about pressing toward it.

For more information on going on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1), read our free booklet Change Your Life.

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True Christianity: Imperfect People Striving Toward Perfection

CAPE TOWN (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - It was after nightfall when the folded sheet of paper was slipped under the door of the Mission to Seafarers building in South Africa's Cape Town harbor.

WEIDEN, Germany Omar Alnifawi was 16 when he fled Syria's civil war with his family. After four years working menial jobs in Lebanon to help pay for their journey on to Europe, he had given up on ever going back to school. |Video

CASTEL VOLTURNO, Italy (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Once a holiday dream for middle-class Italians, Castel Volturno is now a dilapidated seaside nightmare where Nigerians open their homes to migrants wanting cold beer and quick sex.

YAOUNDE/DOUALA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In early January, with Christmas lights still twinkling in the streets of Yaounde, Cameroon's capital, Christelle Timdi received the phone call she had almost given up hope of getting.

BERLIN Angela Merkel's face-saving deal with her conservative allies in Bavaria shows how indispensable the chancellor is to her party - even if she is weakened.

ZURICH Marco Bueter, a gastric surgeon from Germany, knows from his work at University Hospital Zurich and other clinics how much Switzerland depends on foreign doctors.

ROME In less than a month as Italy's combative interior minister, Matteo Salvini has won a reputation as Europe's Donald Trump on immigration.

DAKAR When Fatou Kine's failed attempt to reach Europe left her jobless and penniless in Algeria, she turned to an agency she had heard helped migrants return home. |Video

CARACAS/MADRID/LIMA Often arriving thin and penniless in South American capitals after long bus trips across the continent, many Venezuelan migrants blame President Nicolas Maduro for the crushing economic crisis that forced them to flee.

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Europe's Migrant Crisis | Reuters.com

President Trump says he will close the United States' Southern border, or large sections of it, next week if Mexico does not immediately stop illegal immigration. Here Trump speaks to reporters during a visit to Lake Okeechobee and Herbert Hoover Dike at Canal Point, Fla., on Friday. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP hide caption

President Trump says he will close the United States' Southern border, or large sections of it, next week if Mexico does not immediately stop illegal immigration. Here Trump speaks to reporters during a visit to Lake Okeechobee and Herbert Hoover Dike at Canal Point, Fla., on Friday.

Updated at 5:13 p.m. ET

President Trump's call to cut aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras is raising concerns among lawmakers and national security and development experts, who say cutting aid will exacerbate the migrant crisis that is already crippling U.S. resources at the Southern border.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Agency for International Development told NPR on Tuesday that the agency is carrying out the president's order to end foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle, the area that comprises those three Central American nations. The spokesperson said the agency is still finalizing the allocation of funds for 2019.

Trump has blamed the Central American countries for sending migrant caravans through Mexico to the U.S. border, an idea Trump has repeatedly promoted to raise the alarm about illegal immigration. In tweets on Saturday, Trump also returned to his previous threat to completely seal off the Southern border, blaming Democrats and Mexico for the turmoil at the border.

In an interview on CNN on Sunday, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney defended the administration's decision to stop aid, claiming U.S. funding to Central America isn't doing enough to stifle the recent spike in migrants coming from the region.

"The people say it's working, but the proof is in the numbers. It's not working well enough to help us solve our border crisis, and that's what the president is focused on," Mulvaney said. "And if we're going to give these countries hundreds of millions of dollars, we would like them to do more."

The U.S. has allocated $2.1 billion in aid to Central America since 2016, according to a report this year by the Congressional Research Service. Aid to Central America greatly increased under the Obama administration to promote economic prosperity and reduce violence in the region, with the idea being that achieving those two goals would mean fewer people would need to flee to the United States.

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson says that this investment is "beginning to show positive signs."

"Suspending aid to Central America, as President Trump has threatened to do, in my judgment, is the exact wrong thing to do," he told Morning Edition.

Much of the appropriated funding isn't sent directly to governments. Instead, it is sent to nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations that are working to deal with the root causes of migration, according to NPR international correspondent Carrie Kahn, who's based in Mexico City. The funds have supported efforts such as strengthening police forces, border security and judicial systems, as well as gang prevention and food security programs.

Aid groups worry that suddenly slashing funds will have big repercussions, according to Ken Baker, CEO of Glasswing, a nonprofit group working in Central America.

"One of the things that has been talked about is how, you know, that [these countries] aren't doing enough. But they really do work with us," Baker says. "They do work with the U.S. government. It is in their interests."

Many experts say it's too soon to determine whether those programs are working, but in El Salvador, officials have praised the country's cooperation with the U.S. for dramatically reducing migration. The number of Salvadorans detained at the U.S. border dropped by more than half, down from nearly 72,000 in 2016 to more than 31,000 in 2018, according to U.S. Border Patrol data.

"The decision to cut funding contradicts the results of what we have accomplished together," Ral Lpez, El Salvador's vice minister of justice, said Monday. "The fact is that migration from El Salvador is declining, thanks to our work."

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a nonprofit that supports diplomacy in the U.S., found that in areas where the U.S. Agency for International Development worked in El Salvador, the homicide rate dropped by 45 percent on average from 2015 to 2017.

When homicides spike, so does migration. For every 10 murders in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, six children leave for the United States.

Liz Schrayer, president of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, told Here & Now's Robin Young that more work needs to be done in the region to hold these countries accountable and to support active diplomacy. But she warns that without aid programs, the migrant crisis will worsen.

"One thing we should not be doing is pulling out our aid programs. If we do that, it's only going to exacerbate the unrest," she says. "People will leave if the violence continues, if they don't have economic opportunities and if they can't put food on their table."

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U.S. Decision To Cut Central America Aid Could Worsen ...

Thousands trying to reach Western Europe are facing an ever increasing desperate situation as countries close their borders and are overwhelmed by the flow of migrants and refugees.

Here, a mounted policeman leads a group of migrants near Dobova, Slovenia, October 20, 2015.

Credit: Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters

Doctors and paramedics take care of a child who was later taken to the hospital following a rescue operation when a boat with migrants sank while attempting to reach the Greek island of Lesbos from Turkey on October 28, 2015.

The Greek coast guard said it rescued 242 refugees and migrants off the eastern island of Lesbos on October 28, 2015, after the wooden boat they traveled in capsized.

Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

A Greek Coast Guard helicopter flies over fishing boats trying to rescue refugees and migrants, after a boat carrying more than 200 people sunk while crossing part of the Aegean sea from Turkey, near the Greek island of Lesbos, October 28, 2015.

At least three migrants drowned and the Greek coastguard rescued 242 others when their wooden boat sank north of the island of Lesbos on Wednesday, authorities said. Four other boats sank the same day leaving at least 15 people dead, mainly children, in total.

Credit: Giorgos Moutafis/Reuters

A man holds three children wearing thermal blankets after their arrival in bad weather from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos , Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015.

With winter fast approaching, the danger grows and more are taking risky journeys.

Credit: Santi Palacios/AP

Mohammed Hasan, an 18-month-old Syrian toddler, is seen onshore after he was rescued by a Turkish fisherman after a boat of migrants sunk a few miles off the coast of Turkey, October 21, 2015. The boy was reunited with his mother in Turkey after he was revived with CPR.

Nearly 50,000 people have made it to Greece's coast in a few short days, but dozens more have died at sea, including 14 in this incident.

Credit: CBS News

Migrants protect themselves from the rain as they make their way to Slovenia from Trnovec, Croatia, October 19, 2015.

Thousands of migrants crossed into Slovenia after Croatia closed its frontier, October 19, 2015. Hungary sealed its border with Croatia the previous week. Many refugees are now facing deteriorating conditions as winter approaches.

The Balkans faced a growing backlog of migrants, thousands building up on cold, wet borders after the closure of Hungary's southern frontier diverted them to Slovenia.

Credit: Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters

A policeman holds the hand of a young girl as migrants are escorted through Dobova to a holding camp in Dobova, Slovenia, October 22, 2015.

Thousands of migrants marched across the border from Croatia into Slovenia as authorities intensify their efforts to attempt to cope with a human tide unseen in Europe since World War II.

Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Croatian riot police officers control the access to a refugee camp as more migrants arrive from the Serbian border on September 22, 2015 in Opatovac, Croatia.

Croatia built a camp to control the flow of migrants to Hungary with a capacity of 4,000 people.

Credit: David Ramos, Getty Images

Hundreds of migrants who arrived on the second train of the day at Hegyeshalom on the Hungarian and Austrian border, walk the four kilometres (2.5 miles) into Austria on September 22, 2015.

Thousands of migrants arrived in Austria over the weekend with more en-route from Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia. Politicians from across the European Union are holding meetings on the refugee crisis September 23, to try and solve the crisis and the dispute of how to relocate 120,000 migrants across EU states.

Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Migrants and refugees queue to register at a camp after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border near Gevgelija on September 22, 2015.

EU interior ministers were set to hold emergency talks to try and bridge deep divisions over Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II, as pressure piles on member states to reach an agreement.

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A local man surveys a huge pile of deflated dinghies, tubes and life vests left by arriving refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos on September 18, 2015.

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Migrants desperately try and board a train heading for Zagreb from Tovarnik station on September 20, 2015 in Tovarnik, Croatia.

Croatia continues to send buses and trains north to its border with Hungary, as officials have estimated that around 20,000 migrants have entered since September 16.

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The open-door policy of the Croatian government for migrants and refugees lasted just 24 hours. After an influx of an estimated 13,000 migrants and refugees in two days, the country said it could take no more, September 18, 2015.

A baby cries as migrants clamor to board a bus in Tovarnik, Croatia, September 17, 2015. Asylum seekers thwarted by a new Hungarian border fence and repelled by riot police poured into Croatia, spreading the strain.

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Migrants protest at the Tovarnik railway station, Croatia September 18, 2015. Migrants continued to stream through fields from Serbia into the European Union on Friday, undeterred by Croatia's closure of almost all road crossings after an influx of more than 11,000. Helpless to stem the flow, Croatian police rounded them up at the Tovarnik on the Croatian side of the border, where several thousand had spent the night under open skies. Some kept traveling, and reached Slovenia overnight.

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A migrant man remonstrates with security as he and other migrants try to force their way through police lines at Tovarnik station for a train to take them to Zagreb on September 17, 2015 in Tovarnik, Croatia. Migrants are crossing into Croatia from Serbia two days after Hungary sealed its border with Serbia, the majority of them want to reach Germany, amid divisions within the European Union over how to manage the ongoing crisis.

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Migrants force their way through police lines at Tovarnik station to board a train bound for Zagreb on September 17, 2015 in Tovarnik, Croatia. Migrants are diverting to Croatia from Serbia after Hungary closed its border with Serbia, with the majority of them trying to reach Germany amid divisions within the European Union over how to manage the ongoing crisis.

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Migrants wait near the train station in Tovarnik, Croatia, September 17, 2015. Amid chaotic scenes at its border with Serbia, Croatia said on Thursday it could not cope with a flood of migrants seeking a new route into the EU after Hungary kept them out by erecting a fence and using tear gas and water cannon against them.

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Policemen direct migrants during a stampede to board a bus in Tovarnik, Croatia on September 17, 2015. Croatia said it could not take in any more migrants, amid chaotic scenes of riot police trying to control thousands who have streamed into the European Union country from Serbia.

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A migrant taunts Hungarian riot police as they fire tear gas and water cannons on the Serbian side of the border, near Roszke, Hungary, September 16, 2015. The clash occurred after hundreds of migrants, stuck at the sealed border between Serbia and Hungary, protested and tried to break through.

Serbia condemned Hungary's use of water cannon and tear gas against migrants on their border, saying Hungary had "no right" to do so, the Serbian state news agency Tanjug reported.

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An injured migrant carries a child during clashes with Hungarian riot police at the border crossing with Serbia in Roszke, Hungary on September 16, 2015. Hungarian police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesting migrants demanding they be allowed to enter from Serbia on the second day of a border crackdown.

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Migrants protest as Hungarian riot police fires tear gas and water cannons at the border crossing with Serbia in Roszke, Hungary, September 16, 2015.

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Hungarian riot policemen escort a migrant woman and a child in Roszke, Hungary on September 16, 2015.

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Hungarian riot police watche from behind a fence as migrants protest on the Serbian side of the border, near Roszke, Hungary September 16, 2015.

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A migrant is hit by a jet from a water cannon used by Hungarian riot police on the Serbian side of the border, near Roszke, Hungary September 16, 2015.

Hundreds of migrants protested the border closure and tried to break through the sealed border.

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Migrants and refugees demonstrate as Turkish police block the road at Esenler Bus Terminal in Istanbul, Turkey on September 16, 2015.

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Migrants and refugees demonstrate as Turkish police block the road at Esenler Bus Terminal in Istanbul, Turkey, September 16, 2015.

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A refugee stands looks through the fence at the Serbian border with Hungary near the town of Horgos on September 15, 2015.

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Hungarian police officers stand in front of a fence on the Serbian side of the border after sealing it near the village of Horgos, Serbia, September 14, 2015, near the Hungarian migrant collection point in Roszke.

Hungarian police closed off the main crossing point for thousands of migrants and refugees entering from Serbia every day.

The number of migrants entering Hungary this year has risen above 200,000, police said September 14. Almost all of the migrants were seeking to travel onwards to western Europe, particularly Germany and Sweden.

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Police check the passports and papers of Syrian migrants at the border check point in the village of Szentgotthard, Hungary on September 14, 2015.

Two decades of frontier-free travel across Europe unravelled as countries re-established border controls in the face of an unprecedented influx of migrants, which broke the record for the most arrivals by land in a single day.

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A policeman guards migrants detained after crossing the border from Serbia near Asttohatolom, Hungary on September 15, 2015.

Hungary's right-wing government shut the main land route for migrants into the EU September 15, taking matters into its own hands to halt Europe's unprecedented influx of refugees while the bloc failed to agree a plan to distribute them.

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Migrants queue to board buses bound for Vienna from Hegyshalom holding center on the Austrian border after Hungarian authorities closed the open railway track crossing in Hegyeshalom, Hungary, September 15, 2015.

Hungary implemented new laws to cope with the influx of migrants which became enforceable on the night of September 14. Since the beginning of 2015 the number of migrants using the so-called 'Balkans route' has exploded with migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey and then traveling on through Macedonia and Serbia before entering the EU via Hungary.

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A railway wagon covered in barbed wire is placed at the Hungarian border with Serbia to stop migrants and refugees near the town of Horgos on September 15, 2015.

Hungarian police closed off the main crossing point for thousands of migrants and refugees entering from Serbia daily.

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Migrants wait on the Serbian side of the border with Hungary in Roszke, September 15, 2015. Hungarian police detained 16 people claiming to be Syrian and Afghan migrants early in the day for illegally crossing the Serbian border fence, a police spokeswoman said, as tough new laws took effect to guard the southern frontier.

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Policemen fix registration bands on the wrists of migrant children at a train station near the border with Austria in Freilassing, Germany September 15, 2015.

A total of 4,537 asylum seekers reached Germany by train September 14 despite the imposition of new controls at the border with Austria, according to the federal police. The arrivals brought the number of asylum seekers who have entered Germany by train since the start of the month to 91,823, a police spokeswoman in Potsdam said.

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A refugee swims towards the shore after a dinghy carrying Syrian and Afghan refugees deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos, September 13, 2015.

An estimated 309,000 people have arrived by sea in Greece, the International Organization for Migration (IMO) said September 11, 2015. About half of those crossing the Mediterranean are Syrians fleeing civil war, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.

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Migrants eat at a reception center after their arrival at the main railway station in Dortmund, Germany on September 13, 2015.

Germany re-imposed border controls on September 13 after Europe's most powerful nation acknowledged it could scarcely cope with thousands of asylum seekers arriving every day.

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Migrants wait to board busses in Nickelsdorf, Austria on September 14, 2015.

Thousands of migrants walked unhindered across the border into Austria from Hungary on September 14, where the frontier was kept open despite Germany's sudden reintroduction of checks.

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Syrian refugee Asmaa wipes her tears as she waits for a train on the platform at the main railway station in Munich, September 13, 2015.

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