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London — A new law against hate speech came into force in Scotland on Monday, praised by some but criticized by others who say its sweeping provisions could criminalize religious views or tasteless jokes. The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act makes it an offense to stir up hatred with threatening or abusive behavior based on characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Racial hatred was already banned under a law dating from 1986. The maximum sentence is seven years in prison. The legislation does not specifically ban hatred against women. The Scottish government says that will be tackled by a separate forthcoming law against misogyny. Scottish Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhian Brown said the new law would help build “safer communities that live free from hatred and prejudice.” “We know that the impact on those on the receiving end of physical, verbal or online attacks can be traumatic and life-changing,” she said. “This legislation is an essential element of our wider approach to tackling that harm.” Critics argue that the law will have a chilling effect on free speech, making people afraid to express their views. The legislation was passed by the Scottish Parliament almost three years ago but has been delayed by wrangling over its implementation. Veteran human rights activist Peter Tatchell said the law was well-intended but vague, relying on “subjective interpretation” of what constitutes abuse and allowing people to report alleged offenses anonymously. The Scottish National Party-led government in Edinburgh says the legislation includes free speech protections, including a specific guarantee that people can still “ridicule or insult” religion. “The threshold of criminality in terms of the new offenses is very, very high indeed,” First Minister Humza Yousaf said. “Your behavior has to be threatening or abusive and intended to stir up hatred.” “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who has called the law “ludicrous,” is among critics who say it could be used to silence what are known as “gender-critical” feminists, who argue that rights for trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female. In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, Rowling referred to several prominent trans women as men. Misgendering could be an offense under the new law in some circumstances. “I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment,” Rowling wrote. Scottish National Party lawmaker Joanna Cherry, another critic of the law, said that “if you are a woman, you have every right to be concerned.” “Biological sex is not included as a protected characteristic in the act, despite women being one of the most abused cohorts in our society,” she wrote in The National newspaper. Meanwhile, police organizations are concerned the law will trigger a flood of reports over online abuse. David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said the law could “cause havoc with trust in police.” And the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents wrote to lawmakers to express worry that the law could be “weaponized” by an “activist fringe.” The law is the latest case of Scotland's semi-autonomous government, which is led by the pro-independence SNP, diverging from the Conservative U.K. administration in London. In 2022, the Scottish Parliament passed a law allowing people to change their legally recognized gender through self-declaration, without the need for medical certification. The gender-recognition legislation was vetoed by the British government, which said it conflicted with U.K.-wide equalities legislation that, among other things, guarantees women and girls access to single-sex spaces such as changing rooms and shelters. 

We have revised Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, to provide a third gender option, “X,” defined as “Another Gender Identity.” We are also updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual accordingly to account for this form revision and other forthcoming form revisions that will add a third gender option; see the Policy Alert.

A Cambodian kickboxer in Southern California has inspired generations of fighters with his determination and his drive. Genia Dulot takes us to the gym with Oum Ry.

DUBAI — Iran's consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus was flattened on Monday in what Syrian and Iranian media described as an Israeli airstrike, a startling apparent escalation of conflict in the Middle East that would pit Israel against Iran and its allies. A Lebanese security source, speaking to Reuters, said one of the dead was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Iranian state television said several Iranian diplomats had been killed. Reuters reporters at the scene in the Mezzeh district of the Syrian capital saw smoke rising from rubble of a building that had been flattened, and emergency vehicles parked outside. An Iranian flag hung from a pole in front of the debris. The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers were both spotted at the scene. Israel, which has repeatedly hit Iranian targets during the six-month war in Gaza, declined to comment on the incident, following its usual practice. An Israeli military spokesperson said: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media." Iran's Tasnim news agency said five people were killed in the Israeli strike. Syria's SANA state news agency reported an unspecified number of deaths and injuries. Since the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Israel has ramped up airstrikes in Syria against Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia and Iran's Guards, both of which support the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

BALTIMORE — The U.S. Coast Guard is preparing a temporary, alternate channel for commercially essential vessels near the fallen Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, part of a phased approach to opening the main channel leading to the vital port, officials said.  Crews have begun the complicated work of removing steel and concrete at the site of the bridge's deadly collapse into the Patapsco River after a freighter collision last week. On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship, and workers in lifts used torches to cut above-water parts of the twisted steel superstructure.  The captain of the port is preparing to establish the temporary channel on the northeast side of the main channel. It will have a controlling depth of 11 feet (over 3 meters), a horizontal clearance of 80 meters and a vertical clearance of 96 feet (29 meters), officials said. A video released Sunday showed the Coast Guard dropping buoys in the water.  "This will mark an important first step along the road to reopening the port of Baltimore," Capt. David O'Connell, the federal on-scene coordinator of the response, said in a statement Sunday night. "By opening this alternate route, we will support the flow of marine traffic into Baltimore."  On Monday, the Small Business Administration is opening a center in Dundalk, Maryland, to help small businesses get loans to help them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.  The bridge fell as the crew of the cargo ship Dali lost power and control on March 26. They called in a mayday, which allowed just enough time for police to stop vehicles from getting on the bridge, but not enough time to get a crew of eight workers off the structure.  Two workers survived, two bodies were found in a submerged pickup, and four more men are presumed dead. Weather conditions and the tangled debris underwater have made it too dangerous for divers to search for their bodies.  The Dali is managed by Synergy Marine Group and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. Danish shipping giant Maersk chartered the Dali, which was on its way out of port when it lost power and hit one of the bridge's support columns.  Along with clearing the shipping channel to reopen the port, officials are trying to determine how to rebuild the major bridge, which was completed in 1977 and carried Interstate 695 around southeast Baltimore and was central to the city's centuries of maritime culture.  Congress is expected to consider aid packages to help people who lose jobs or businesses because of the prolonged closure of the Port of Baltimore. The port handles more cars and farm equipment than any other U.S. facility.

ATHENS — Dozens of migrants found in a wooden boat on the Mediterranean Sea between northern Africa and southern Europe have been transported to the Greek island of Crete, Greece's coast guard said Monday. The boat with 74 people on board was found 25 nautical miles (46 kilometers, 29 miles) south of the small Greek island of Gavdos on Sunday night, the coast guard said, adding that a patrol boat transported the 73 men and one woman to Crete. It was not immediately clear where or when the boat launched or what countries the passengers were from. Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Gavdos, which lies 27 nautical miles south of Crete, and Crete’s southern coastline have seen an increase in migrant arrivals in recent months. In several cases, the coast guard said they had crossed the Mediterranean from the eastern Libyan port of Tobruk, having paid smuggling gangs up to $5,000 each. The influx has put pressure on authorities on Gavdos, a summer tourism destination about 29 square kilometers (11 square miles) in area that has just a few dozen residents in the off season.

Yaounde — Members of Cameroon’s opposition parties are encouraging citizens to learn from Senegal, where a 44-year-old politician was elected last week as the youngest leader on the African continent. They say it’s time for change in Cameroon, where President Paul Biya, now in his 90s, has ruled for more than four decades and is preparing to run for re-election. Nothing has generated debates on the streets, in offices, within political parties and in Cameroon’s media organs so much as Senegal's March 24 elections. Participants in a debate program aired by Equinox Television said civilians in central African countries, especially Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, Congo and Gabon should emulate the example from Senegal and democratically oust leaders who keep a tight grip on power and rule with an iron fist. Njamnsi Theodore is a 35-year-old teacher who hopes Cameroonians will get inspired by what just happened in Senegal. "The results of the presidential election in Senegal and the entire process sends a very clear message to Cameroonians especially the youths," he said. "Register and vote. If you don't register, you wouldn't vote and if you don't vote you wouldn’t have that chance of getting the leaders that you really want, so register, that is the clear message, that is the lesson we get from the Senegalese situation." Opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye is now Senegal’s president-elect after winning a first-round victory fueled largely by young voters. In Cameroon, opposition and civil society groups say voter apathy is high because elections are always marred by fraud. Ninety-one-year-old President Paul Biya has won all presidential elections since the return of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990 and is preparing to run again next year. The opposition says Senegal’s election shows it is possible to stop leaders from clinging to power. Senegal’s President Macky Sall attempted to postpone this year’s election but backed down after widespread protests. Mbang Boniface is a member of Cameroon’s Renaissance Movement Party. He says youth can remove Biya from power if they register as voters, choose their candidate, vote and defend their votes if necessary after the polls. He says Senegal’s youths massively voted for Bassirou Diomaye Faye because they believe only young people can effect changes needed on a continent where leaders are generally old and out of touch with the views and aspirations of the population. “Of course, Senegal is sending a very strong message to Cameroon," he said. "The Senegalese president is 44 years [old], meaning he is young and able to understand the problems of the youth. Here in Cameroon, we have a president who is 91 years. He started ruling when Faye was just born. Faye is able to understand the problems of the youths unlike here in Cameroon, where the youths will have to sort their problems by themselves." But Samson Websi, political analyst at Cameroon’s National Institute of Management and Technology says it will be difficult to oust Biya in an election. He says unlike in Senegal where government institutions are independent, Biya has loyalists planted throughout the government. "Senegal stands out as an example to what happens in Cameroon, where democracy is suffering from military involvement in politics," he said. "Parliament in Cameroon is virtually at the beck and call of the executive. The judiciary in Cameroon is not independent. The president of the republic [Biya] is the head of the judiciary. He is the one who guarantees the independence of the judiciary, which means that democracy is in trouble." Cameroon’s government insists that its institutions are independent, while Biya’s Cameroon People's Democratic Movement Party say the president has fairly won all elections. They say Biya enables young people to participate in decision-making through bodies such as Cameroon's National Youth Council. However, the opposition says Biya appoints only youths loyal to him to head the council. Cameroon’s presidential elections are set for next year. President Biya will set the date.

Dakar, Sengal — After months of debate and political crisis caused by outgoing president Macky Sall’s decision to delay Senegal elections, the country pulled it off. Elections took place in a calm, credible and transparent setting, a new president was elected and is getting ready to be sworn in. Some say what happened in Senegal may inspire others in sub-Saharan Africa. The tensions of the last few months in Senegal seem to be fading away - to be replaced by the hope that Senegal’s reputation as a beacon of democracy in the region has been restored. Barrister Agbor Balla, president of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, told VOA, Senegal’s success may have helped turn the wave of military coups in the region. “If Macky Sall had stayed longer, it might’ve given rise to a coup d’etat look at the other countries around Senegal in West Africa, we’ve seen how civilian governments have been toppled by the military," said Balla. A feeling echoed by Ibrahima Diallo, founder of FNDC, National Front for the Defense of Democracy and Human Rights in Guinea, a country that recently experienced a coup. Diallo told VOA the lessons of democracy in Senegal have resonated. “I think the electoral process in Senegal has given more power and solid arguments to pro-democracy activists in Guinea and the rest of West Africa to say there are no other ways to follow but the democratic way for stability and development of our countries,” he said. Diallo said he and others were hopeful the junta led by Mamadi Doumbouya, who toppled Guinean President Alpha Conde in 2021 would soon organize elections, but it never happened. “We decided to demonstrate to remind the junta that when it took over, it had promised to transition the country into civilian rule, I was arrested and spent 9 months in prison without being tried only because I was asking the junta to respect what they had said by organizing free and fair elections to transition to civilian rule and go back to their military barracks,” he said. Prince Michael Ngwese Ekoso is the national president of the United Socialist Democratic Party in Cameroon, a country that has been ruled by the same leader for over four decades. “We’ve had a lot of setbacks on the watch of this current regime. Just like the Senegalese stood up and said we would follow the aspirations of the people and they would follow the institutions of the laws of the land, I am calling on Cameroonians especially young Cameroonians like me as well as other people to go and register massively in the electoral lists,” he said. At 48 years old, Ekoso hopes to one day replace his country’s president Paul Biya, 91, one of the longest-serving presidents in Africa. He congratulates the people of Senegal and President-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye whose victory in the recent election followed a political crisis sparked by outgoing President Macky Sall’s failed attempt to postpone the vote. Faye defeated ruling party coalition candidate Amadou Ba in the first round with over 54% of the vote.  

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Islamabad — A Pakistani appeals court on Monday suspended a 14-year prison sentence for former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife in a corruption case, but the couple won't be released because they are already serving prison terms in other cases, officials said. However, the court order was a legal victory for Khan, who was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in April 2022. Khan now has more than 170 legal cases hanging over him. The Islamabad High Court suspended the sentence for Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, after hearing an appeal from their lawyer, according to Zulfiqar Bukhari, the spokesperson for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. The court ordered the release of the couple on bail but under the country's laws Khan and his wife won't be freed because Bibi is serving a prison term in another case and Khan has been convicted and sentenced in multiple cases. The latest development came about two months after Khan and his wife were found guilty of retaining and selling state gifts in violation of government rules when he was in power. The couple's lawyer, Ali Zafar, said during Monday's court hearing that Khan and his wife did not get the right of a fair trial. He claimed that Khan was being politically victimized and the couple was not involved in any wrongdoing. The court will resume hearing the case later this month. Khan remains popular in the country despite his conviction in multiple cases. Khan's PTI party made a strong showing in the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections but did not win a majority of the seats in the National Assembly, or lower house of the parliament, though PTI says the vote was rigged.

We are revising our guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to align with the Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements Final Rule published in the Federal Register on Jan. 31, 2024, and effective on April 1, 2024.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Moscow — Russia's FSB security service has said that four people arrested Sunday in a foiled "terror" plot had provided money and arms for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall last month. More than 140 people were killed when gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall venue on March 22 before setting the building on fire in the most fatal attack in Russia for two decades. The FSB said in a statement on Monday that it had arrested a group of four a day earlier in the southern Dagestan region who "were directly involved in the financing and supply of terrorist means to the perpetrators of the terrorist act carried out on 22 March in the Crocus City Hall in Moscow." On Sunday, Russia's national anti-terrorism committee said it had apprehended three people who were "planning to commit a series of terrorist crimes." The FSB said Monday that four foreign citizens had been arrested in the operation in the regional capital Makhachkala and the nearby town of Kaspiysk. The Interfax news agency cited an FSB video showing one of the detained men saying: "I took weapons to them, these guys who attacked Crocus City Hall. I took them weapons from Makhachkala." Russian authorities had previously announced the arrests of 12 people they say are connected to the attack  including the four suspected gunmen, who have been identified as Tajik citizens. The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the massacre, the most deadly it says it has ever carried out on European soil, though President Vladimir Putin has talked up a Ukrainian and Western connection. Kyiv and the West have repeatedly denied any involvement and accused Moscow of "exploiting" the tragedy. Dagestan is a Muslim-majority region in Russia's southern Caucasus region. The FSB has come under scrutiny over its failure to thwart the attack despite private and public warnings by the US intelligence community that "extremists" were planning an "imminent" attack on "large gatherings" in Moscow. The agency regularly announces it has foiled alleged "terrorist cells," but in recent months has mainly announced the arrests of what it calls pro-Ukrainian saboteurs planning attacks on Russian military sites and infrastructure.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.