European countries suspend Syrian asylum decisions after Assad’s fall

Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and several Nordic countries said Monday they would freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians, a day after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad. While Berlin and other governments said they were watching the fast-moving developments in the war-ravaged nation, Vienna signaled it would soon deport refugees back to Syria. FRANCE … Read more

Global inaction for fourteen years ‘biggest trauma’: former Syrian political prisoner

FRANCE 24’s Yinka Oyetade speaks to Omar Alshogre, a Syrian man who was imprisoned and tortured under the Assad regime. He says that global inaction against Bashar al-Assad has been the biggest traumatic experience, adding that nothing is more depressing than seeing democracies around the world ‘not even caring about humans that are trying to … Read more

It is good that Bitcoin is no longer mandatory in El Salvador

Forcing someone to accept bitcoin is a fiat action. Literally fiat. Fíat in Latin means “let it be done”, it implies a decree. When El Salvador passed its Bitcoin Law and made it mandatory for businesses to accept BTC, it promoted Bitcoin from a fiat approach, not a bitcoiner. Therefore, not only is it not … Read more

‘Death camp’: the haunting history of Syria’s Sednaya prison

Syrian rebels led by Islamist armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham announced Sunday that they had liberated thousands of political prisoners after a dramatic 10-day military campaign that toppled the Assad family’s 50-year rule. As former prisoners reunited with their families, questions remain about the prison’s hidden sections and the full extent of its brutal history … Read more