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South Africa has accused the US of using Kenyan nationals without work permits at a facility processing applications by white South Africans for refugee status.

Seven Kenyans were arrested after intelligence reports revealed that people “had recently entered South Africa on tourist visas and had illegally taken up work” at the centre, said a statement from South Africa’s department of home affairs.

Washington accused South Africa of “interference” in its efforts to admit white Afrikaners as refugees, in a response issued to Agence France-Presse.

The US is offering asylum status to Afrikaners as it says the community is facing persecution. South Africa’s government has rejected the claims.

The US has reduced its yearly intake of refugees from around the world from 125,000 to 7,500, but says it will prioritise Afrikaners, who are mostly descendants of Dutch and French settlers.

This is one of the issues that have caused a sharp deterioration in relations between South Africa and the Trump administration.

South Africa says the Kenyan nationals arrested in Tuesday’s raid will now be deported and will be banned from entering the country for five years.

They had previously been denied work visas but were found “engaging in work despite only being in possession of tourist visas, in clear violation of their conditions of entry into the country”, the statement said.

South Africa also expressed concern that foreign officials appeared to have coordinated with undocumented workers and said it had reached out to the US and Kenya to resolve the matter.

The home affairs department said the raid showcased the commitment that South Africa shared “with the United States to combating illegal immigration and visa abuse in all its forms”.

No US officials were arrested and the operation was not at a diplomatic site, it said.

While the State Department is yet to respond to the BBC’s request for comment, in a statement issued to US publications, Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesperson for the State Department, said the department was “seeking immediate clarification from the South African government” on the issue and expected “full cooperation and accountability”.

“Interfering in our refugee operations in unacceptable,” US publication The Hill quoted Pigott saying.

The processing of applications by white South Africans is being done by RSC Africa, according to the US embassy in South Africa. RSC Africa is a Kenyan-based refugee support centre operated by Church World Service (CWS).

The BBC has asked RSC Africa for comment.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that Afrikaners are being subjected to a “genocide” in South Africa, even though there is no evidence that white farmers are more likely to be the victims of crime than their black counterparts.

He offered Afrikaners refugee status earlier this year after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a law allowing the government to seize land without compensation in rare instances.

A first group of about 50 people flew to the US on a chartered plane – it is not clear how many others have moved, or are in the process of applying.

Because of the legacy of the racist apartheid system, the majority of privately owned farmland in South Africa is owned by the white community and South Africa’s government is under pressure to provide more land to black farmers. However, it stresses that no land has yet been seized under the new law.

South Africa has repeatedly tried to mend fences with the Trump administration, most famously when Ramaphosa led a high-level delegation to the White House earlier this year.

However, this backfired when Trump ambushed him with images, videos and news reports allegedly showing that the government was persecuting white people.

One video featured firebrand South African opposition figure Julius Malema singing: “Shoot the Boer [Afrikaner], Shoot the farmer”.

However, a South African court has ruled that this song, which Malema often chants at his political rallies, is not hate speech.

Last month, the US boycotted the G20 summit in South Africa and has said it would not invite South African officials to its meetings since it took over leadership of the grouping of the world’s biggest economies.

India will resume visa services for Canadians after they ceased in a major diplomatic row in September, India’s High Commission in Ottawa says.

At the time, India said the move was due to “security threats” disrupting work at its Canadian missions.

But the suspension came amid a serious dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

Ottawa accused India of being behind the killing – an allegation New Delhi has called “absurd.”

On Wednesday, officials said they will resume issuing some visas after reviewing the security situation at their missions, and in light of recent Canadian measures which they did not name.

Services will reportedly resume on Thursday, and will apply to entry visas, as well as business, medical and conference visas.

Relations between India and Canada reached historic lows after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the country of being behind the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader that was shot and killed in Surrey, British Columbia, in June.

Police at the time described it as a “targeted killing”, but no suspects have yet been identified.

Mr Trudeau has urged for India’s cooperation into the ongoing murder investigation, while stressing that Canada is not looking to escalate the rift with India.

Canada recently withdrew dozens of its diplomats from India, after the country threatened to remove diplomatic immunity for them.

India has said Canada had many more diplomats in Delhi than India has in Ottawa, and has demanded parity ever since the row between the two countries erupted.

Twenty-one Canadian diplomats remain in India.

La nuova e controversa legge sulla sicurezza nazionale fortemente voluta da Pechino per Hong Kong è in dirittura d’arrivo, anche perchè il primo luglio coincide con la data in cui, nel 1997, l’ex colonia britannica passò sotto la sovranità della Cina. Tra Pechino e Washington, intanto, è scoppiata la guerra dei visti con l’annuncio, più d’immagine che di sostanza, della stretta per quelli dei funzionari americani che “si sono comportati in modo oltraggioso” sulle vicende di Hong Kong. Il portavoce del ministero degli Esteri Zhao Lijian, illustrando la risposta a un’analoga mossa di Washington, ha chiesto agli Stati Uniti di fermare le sue interferenze sull’ex colonia minacciando in caso contrario “forti contromisure”.

Venerdì 26 giugno, l’amministrazione Trump ha annunciato la stretta sui visti statunitensi per un certo numero di funzionari cinesi non precisati per la violazione dell’autonomia dell’ex colonia. Il segretario di Stato Mike Pompeo ha spiegato che le restrizioni si sarebbero applicate ad “attuali ed ex” funzionari del Partito comunista cinese “ritenuti responsabili o complici della destabilizzazione dell’alto grado di autonomia di Hong Kong”. “Il piano di ostacolare l’approvazione della legge sulla sicurezza nazionale non potrà mai prevalere”, ha aggiunto Zhao, secondo cui “per prendere di mira le azioni illecite degli Stati Uniti, la Cina ha deciso di imporre restrizioni sui visti agli individui americani che si sono comportati in modo oltraggioso sulle questioni” dell’ex colonia, ha notato Zhao senza precisare i soggetti nel mirino.

Stati Uniti, Gran Bretagna, Unione europea e agenzia dell’Onu sui diritti umani hanno espresso timori che la legge possa essere usata per soffocare le critiche a Pechino, con mezzi simili seguiti sul fronte domestico per reprimere il dissenso. La Cina ha affermato che la nuova legge prenderà di mira solo un piccolo gruppo di persone, mentre affronta separatismo, sovversione, terrorismo e interferenze straniere a Hong Kong con pene che potrebbero contemplare, secondo i media locali, il carcere a vita, parte di un testo ancora sconosciuto e che lo potrebbe restare ancora per diverso tempo. Domenica 28 giugno il Comitato permanente del Congresso nazionale del popolo, il ramo legislativo del parlamento cinese, ha esaminato la bozza del disegno di legge: i media statali hanno riferito l’appoggio schiacciante ricevuto. Il governo centrale ha “una determinazione incrollabile di portare avanti la legge sulla sicurezza nazionale e di salvaguardare sovranità e interessi nazionali”, ha detto la tv statale Cctv, citando un portavoce. La legge sulla sicurezza nazionale segna “la fine della manipolazione Usa della società di Hong Kong. ‘Un Paese, due sistemi’ continuerà, ma Hong Kong sarà sempre una città cinese. Non sarà enclave politico Usa”, ha rincarato su Twitter Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief del tabloid nazionalista Global Times.

Amazon, Uber, Google, Twitter e altre importanti società tecnologiche tutte contro il presidente americano Donald J. Trump perché ha firmato un ordine esecutivo il 22 giugno sospendendo nuovi visti per lavoratori stranieri, incluso l’H-1B per lavoratori altamente qualificati.

L’intento è quello di garantire opportunità professionali agli americani che stanno pagando pesantissime conseguenze a causa del Coronavirus. Le restrizioni sono entrano in vigore dal 24 giugno e dureranno fino alla fine dell’anno. I colossi della tecnologia hanno affermato che il divieto renderebbe le aziende americane meno competitive e meno diversificate e hanno definito l’ordine esecutivo “una politica incredibilmente sbagliata” che minerebbe la ripresa economica dell’America e la sua competitività.

L’H-1B in genere spinge i lavoratori del campo della tecnologia verso gli Stati Uniti in modo che possano aiutare le aziende americane a essere più competitive e aumentare la tecnologia e l’innovazione.