URGENT: Our deadline is hours away—will you help?

We need you to help us reach our goal. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 
 
 

Aaaaaaa,

We've nearly reached our $500,000 goal—and if we do, a special matching-gift offer means that we'll have raised $1 million to power our work to end cruel, deadly experiments on animals. Monkeys imprisoned in barren metal cages … dogs bred to suffer from a debilitating disease … rabbits exposed to noxious chemicals: They all need our help. But the deadline is midnight tonight.

Your urgently needed gift of just $5 or more will DOUBLE in impact to power PETA's vital work to END the use of animals in experiments. Donate now, before you miss your chance to take advantage of this matching-gift challenge!

Our deadline is at midnight—PITCH IN $5 NOW!

   
 
 

Dear Aaaaaaa,

PETA's Animals Out (of the Labs) Matching-Gift Challenge ends at midnight tonight—and we need your help to reach our $500,000 goal. I know we can get there—but only if enough kind people like you are willing to get involved before our deadline.

Every dollar that you give before midnight will be matched, dollar for dollar, meaning that you'll do twice as much to power our vital work.

Please, don't let animals' suffering be ignored.

Don't ignore the monkeys who cower in cages, anxiously mutilating themselves as they slowly go mad from being isolated and confined. You can do twice as much to help them if you give right now.

 
Monkeys need your help.
 

Don't ignore the dogs born into lives of misery and neglect in university laboratories who may never know what it's like to have a family who loves them. Every dollar that you give will double in impact for these suffering animals.

 
Dogs need your help.
 

Don't ignore the rabbits whose skin and eyes burn from the corrosive chemicals that are applied before they're killed by experimenters. Your gift can make a world of difference for a desperate animal.

 
Rabbits need your help.
 

Pitch in before midnight tonight and you'll do twice as much to help PETA campaigners, scientists, and researchers end painful and deadly experiments—and prevent millions of animals from suffering. Make your gift of $5 or more right now.

Every cruel experiment that we stop and every deadly test that we help replace with effective, non-animal methods is a powerful reminder of what's possible when people turn their compassion into action.

But when we do nothing, we achieve nothing.

Please use this last day of the matching-gift challenge to make twice the impact for animals suffering in laboratories. Donate before tonight's deadline and your gift will DOUBLE!

Donate Now!

 

Thousands of Venezuelans on Peru border ahead of residency deadline

The Refugee Brief, 31 October
 
By Kristy Siegfried @klsiegfried   | 31 October, 2018
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Thousands of Venezuelans on Peru border ahead of residency deadline. Reuters reports that some 6,000 Venezuelans lined up at Ecuador’s border with Peru on Tuesday, hoping to enter the country before a deadline set by Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra to grant temporary residency permits. Vizcarra said on Monday that Peru had already welcomed almost half a million Venezuelans and that his government could not give them residency indefinitely. He said Peru would grant residency to those who entered the country by today and requested residence before 31 December. Since January 2017, UNHCR reports that more than 110,000 Venezuelans have obtained one-year renewable residency permits in Peru granting them the right to work, study and open bank accounts. The growing number of Venezuelans crowded at the border town of Tumbes has reportedly overwhelmed local services, and humanitarian groups are distributing food and water.
Troops deployed to Yemen’s Al-Hudaydah. Al Jazeera reports that more than 10,000 additional troops have been sent to the Houthi-held port city of Al-Hudaydah ahead of a planned new offensive to retake the city. According to an unnamed official, the mission is expected to start “within days”. Al-Hudaydah is the only port held by the Houthis and serves as the entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s commercial imports and aid supplies. On Tuesday, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, warned that the humanitarian situation in Yemen “continues to deteriorate ”. In a briefing to the UN Security Council last week, Lowcock said worsening fighting around Al-Hudaydah had deepened the crisis by “choking the lifeline which the aid operation and commercial imports rely on”. On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both made separate calls for a ceasefire in Yemen.
WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR
Rohingya returns to Myanmar must not be rushed or premature, says UNHCR. Following yesterday’s announcement by officials from Bangladesh and Myanmar that repatriations of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar will begin by mid-November, UNHCR has cautioned that conditions in Rakhine state are “not yet conducive for returns”. UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said it was critical that returns were not rushed or premature . “We would advise against imposing any timetable or target figures for repatriation,” he told Reuters. Rohingya refugees living in settlements in Cox’s Bazar told the Guardian that “the situation in Rakhine is still unsafe” and that Rohingyas are still fleeing to Bangladesh in small groups.
Why Iraqi Kurds are attempting dangerous journeys to Europe. Mahabad Ismael is the sole survivor of a boat that was carrying 35 people as it set off from the Turkish coast on 9 October and headed towards the Greek island of Chios. The boat started filling with water half an hour after it left the shore and eventually overturned. Ismael watched the waves swallow her husband and five children before sea currents pushed her to the shore. She and her family, as well as 13 other passengers who died that night, were from the Kurdish region of Iraq. Al Jazeera reports on why large numbers of Iraqi Kurds have attempted the dangerous journey to Europe in recent years, putting their lives in the hands of smugglers.
Bosnia races to move refugees and migrants to shelters before winter. Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have transferred dozens of refugees and migrants camped out for days near the Croatian border to an accommodation facility in the town of Velika Kladusa. Several hundred refugees and migrants walked to the border last week hoping to cross into Croatia but were turned back by police. Last week, authorities unveiled two new reception centres that together doubled the number of available beds for refugees and migrants to around 1,700. But with temperatures dropping, AFP reports that many others are still living in tents and in abandoned buildings in Una Sana Canton in the northwest of the country.
Refugees in Pittsburgh shaken by synagogue attack. The Jewish refugee resettlement agency HIAS was the target of an angry social media post by Robert Bowers shortly before he allegedly carried out the synagogue shooting that left 11 people dead on Saturday. HIAS is among nine agencies contracted by the US State Department to help refugees resettle in the United States. The Washington Post spoke to some of the refugees who have forged new lives in Pittsburgh after receiving help from HIAS and its local partner, Jewish Family and Community Services. They described experiencing extraordinary kindness in the city but said they had also seen evidence of racial divisions.
Verification of refugee numbers in Uganda concludes. A country-wide effort to count and biometrically register all asylum-seekers and refugees in Uganda ended last week. The verification exercise followed allegations earlier this year that senior government officials had inflated refugee figures and mismanaged the funds meant to support them. The exercise found that Uganda is hosting 1.1 million refugees , rather than the 1.4 million previously estimated. A statement jointly issued on Monday by the Ugandan government and UNHCR said that many factors contributed to the reduced figure, including cases of multiple registrations at the height of the influx from South Sudan in 2016 and 2017. The statement said new food assistance procedures have been rolled out that mitigate the risk of fraud.
GET INSPIRED
Syrian refugee Aminda Aliako began working as a part-time cleaner at a market in Philadelphia last year. When the market’s manager offered her a full-time job six months later, she turned it down and instead launched a vending business selling traditional Syrian foods at the market.
DID YOU KNOW?
Since August 2018, some 2,000 Venezuelans have crossed the Ecuadorian border into Peru every day.
 
Follow UNHCR
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UNHCR
Produced by the Communications and Public Information Service. 
Managing Editors: Melissa Fleming, Christopher Reardon and Sybella Wilkes
Contributing Editor: Kate Bond
Subscribe to The Refugee Brief or view recent issues


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Department of Transportation MARAD KP Newsletter Update

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U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

In the News

October 2018

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Message from Rear Admiral Helis

Dear Midshipmen, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, Parents and Friends:

As the fall leaves begin to turn and the edge comes off the heat and humidity of a hard summer, now is a good time to review events at the Academy since our last publication on the 4th of July.

USMMA has been a busy place this quarter. We finished up indoctrination for the Class of 2022 and were pleased with their determination and drive. They have since made their mark on the Regiment experiencing milestones like Acceptance, Swearing-in to the U.S. Navy Reserve and Academics. They are progressing through their training nicely, and have a lot to look forward to.

During Parent's Weekend, over the Labor Day holiday, we welcomed parents, families and friends from all around the country for a special weekend of events highlighting the great things happening at the Academy.  The first full parade of the season, briefings by Academy staff, Beat Retreat, and the swearing-in of the Class of 2022 into the U.S. Navy Reserve were the high points of the weekend that saw about 2,000 special guests come to visit the campus.

We also issued the new strategic plan in August. The plan is the result of an 18-month research and development effort. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Strategic Plan for 2018-2023: Navigating Towards the Future Together, is a true reflection of the collaborative effort we undertook to modernize and update processes and procedures at the Academy to increase efficiency and effectiveness in our programs. The Strategic Planning teams are hard at work defining the roadmap more thoroughly and developing their pathways to success by 2023.

We welcomed Dr. John Ballard to the Academy as the new Academic Dean and Provost in early September and we are thrilled he is here. Dr. Ballard and his family are settled in at the Academy and he is in the office full time. His impressive credentials are a great addition to the academic program and his energy is contagious. At a recent installation ceremony, we officially welcomed Dr. Ballard to USMMA, and we were able to say thank you to Captain Preston DeJean for his service as the interim Academic Dean.

This year marks the 75th Anniversary of our initial dedication. USMMA was originally dedicated, Sept. 30, 1943, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This year, we have focused on recognizing our first 75 years of service to the Nation. We will continue to recognize our 75th until the New Year, but during this quarter we held the 75th Anniversary celebration at a dinner in Delano Hall hosted by the Regiment and attended by nearly 1,000. The large recognition event was held during homecoming weekend and included a presidential proclamation, the unveiling of the original 142 plaque in Delano Hall, a candlelight vigil by the Class of 2022 and recognition of three members of the Class of 1943. It was a great event, and one we will remember for quite some time. Production was also the work of many people and while there isn't room here to recognize them all, I wanted to say thank you for putting together a world-class observance of an important milestone.

Sadly, it is my duty to report that Peter Rackett, a member of the Class of 1961, passed away recently. Mr. Rackett had been active in Academy and Alumni affairs for decades. A local resident, he was a constant source of information and experience on everything to do with USMMA. Some even knew him as "Mr. Kings Point." We celebrated his life at a memorial service in the U.S. Merchant Marine Memorial Chapel in September. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and his many, many friends on his passing.

Finally, this will be my last newsletter. As you read this, I have begun the transition from Kings Point to the national capital region where I will start a new position at the Department of Transportation headquarters. As we go, Jan and I wish to thank those that have supported us throughout our six years at the helm of this great institution. From the instructor in the classroom, to the coaches, to the Commandant's staff, to the grounds staff, and to the public works professionals, I have always admired your ability to stay focused on the mission. It's that focus that has resulted in the great progress we have enjoyed here over the past six years.

To the Midshipmen of the Regiment, it has truly been my honor to lead the Academy and to see each subsequent class develop and grow. I have high expectations for each of you and I leave knowing that our Merchant Marine is in good hands. We should all be proud of Kings Point, and that pride should drive us to be the best we can every day. I am intensely proud of my time here, and it is because of all of you, and all you have done and will continue to do.

Jan and I will remember Kings Point and USMMA as a challenging and rewarding experience in which we were able to accomplish many things that supported the Regiment and made life better for Midshipmen. We will miss you Kings Point, and together, we wish you all fair winds and following seas.

BEAT COAST GUARD!

BE KP!

ACTA NON VERBA

Rear Admiral James A. Helis

 

 75th Anniversary

USMMA Celebrates 75th Anniversary and Homecoming

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point celebrated its 75th Anniversary during an event-packed homecoming last weekend. The centerpiece of the anniversary celebration was an evening dinner program attended by more than 900 people on Friday at Delano Hall. 

Click Here for Full Story

 

 Provost

USMMA Names Academic Dean and Provost

On September 12, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point (USMMA) announced that John R. Ballard, Ph.D., was named the new Academic Dean. In this position, Dr. Ballard will serve as the chief academic officer and principal advisor to the Superintendent in all matters relating to the academic program and faculty. He will also co-chair the educational priority working group for the recently released USMMA strategic plan.

Click Here for Full Story

 

 Parents Weekend

USMMA Celebrates Parents Weekend - Regimental Band Performs Ceremony of Beating Retreat

Midshipmen at the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Kings Point enjoyed the Labor Day holiday weekend with their families and friends who joined them for Parents Weekend. Close to 2,000 guests joined their Midshipmen for a weekend of activities that included tours, classroom and barracks visits, athletic events and a formal parade.

Click Here for Full Story

 

 Rackett

USMMA Mourns the Passing of Peter J. Rackett, Class of 1961

Yesterday, the United States Merchant Marine Academy learned of the passing of Mr. Peter J. Rackett, Class of 1961, a well-respected alumnus, shipmate and mentor to Midshipmen, staff and faculty alike. 

Click Here for Full Story

 

 Strategic Plan

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Issues New Strategic Plan

On July 18, the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Kings Point issued its new strategic plan. The plan, entitled, The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Strategic Plan 2018-2023: Navigating Towards the Future Together, was 18 months in the making and provides guidance and direction for the near-term future of the Academy. 

Click Here for Full Story


U. S. Merchant Marine Academy, 300 Steamboat Road, Kings Point, New York, 11024
www.usmma.edu Office of External Affairs 516-726-6048

 


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Don't ignore these animals (match deadline TONIGHT)

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Our deadline is at midnight—PITCH IN $5 NOW!

   
 
 

Dear Aaaaaaa,

PETA's Animals Out (of the Labs) Matching-Gift Challenge ends at midnight tonight—and we need your help to reach our $500,000 goal. I know we can get there—but only if enough kind people like you are willing to get involved before our deadline.

Every dollar that you give before midnight will be matched, dollar for dollar, meaning that you'll do twice as much to power our vital work.

Please, don't let animals' suffering be ignored.

Don't ignore the monkeys who cower in cages, anxiously mutilating themselves as they slowly go mad from being isolated and confined. You can do twice as much to help them if you give right now.

 
Monkeys need your help.
 

Don't ignore the dogs born into lives of misery and neglect in university laboratories who may never know what it's like to have a family who loves them. Every dollar that you give will double in impact for these suffering animals.

 
Dogs need your help.
 

Don't ignore the rabbits whose skin and eyes burn from the corrosive chemicals that are applied before they're killed by experimenters. Your gift can make a world of difference for a desperate animal.

 
Rabbits need your help.
 

Pitch in before midnight tonight and you'll do twice as much to help PETA campaigners, scientists, and researchers end painful and deadly experiments—and prevent millions of animals from suffering. Make your gift of $5 or more right now.

Every cruel experiment that we stop and every deadly test that we help replace with effective, non-animal methods is a powerful reminder of what's possible when people turn their compassion into action.

But when we do nothing, we achieve nothing.

Please use this last day of the matching-gift challenge to make twice the impact for animals suffering in laboratories. Donate before tonight's deadline and your gift will DOUBLE!

Donate Now!