Wednesday, February 12

Day: December 29, 2016

Calais Jungle camp children legally challenge Home Secretary over handling of asylum claims
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Calais Jungle camp children legally challenge Home Secretary over handling of asylum claims

    Dozens of children who lived in the Calais refugee camp have launched a legal challenge against the Home Secretary for mishandling their asylum claims. The Government has a commitment to bring particularly vulnerable accompanied children into the UK, under the Dubs amendment to the Immigration Act. But the Home Office has failed to provide sanctuary to the most at-risk refugee children and not given proper written decisions in refusing these applications, their lawyers say. It was revealed in early December that hundreds of children who had expected to come to the UK had been refused asylum by the Home Office. Charities have previously taken legal action against the Government over its handling of minors asylum claims. But this will be the first time that children have lau...
Tories masking true scale of political cronyism with quiet rule change
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Tories masking true scale of political cronyism with quiet rule change

    The Conservatives have been accused of an attempt to hide party cronyism after quietly switching the way that the political affiliations of people given top public-sector roles are recorded. Ministers have admitted it will make it impossible to compare figures released in the future with those from the final year of David Cameron’s administration, which has already been marred by a damaging cronyism row. Critics claimed the switch in the way affiliations are recorded will mean Tories could hand top jobs to their mates, just months after officials blocked part of Mr Cameron’s resignation honours list in which aides and friends were handed baubles including a peerage and knighthoods. It comes just 24 hours after Theresa May’s administration was accused of making a separate c...
Migration Watch report criticised for risking British livelihoods
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Migration Watch report criticised for risking British livelihoods

    A right-wing think tank that campaigns for tougher immigration controls has been accused of risking the livelihoods of thousands of British people. In a recent report, the influential Migration Watch UK recommended a hard Brexit, claiming that immigration from the EU would remain high if Britain stayed in the single market. It is not possible to be both a member of the European single market and in control of EU immigration, it said. If the UK remains a member of the single market, EU migration will remain high and is unlikely to fall below 155,000 a year in the medium term. But the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, said it was no surprise that Ukip's favourite think-tank is pushing for a hard Brexit that would rip Britain out of the single market, costing jobs ...
Theresa May to campaign to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in 2020 election
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Theresa May to campaign to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in 2020 election

    Theresa May is planning on making the case to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) a central aspect of her 2020 election campaign, according to reports. She would reportedly plan to transfer the rights from the international body into British law, to be applied by the Supreme Court. Ms May will be looking for a solid mandate from the British public and a stronger majority in Parliament to proceed with the controversial process of leaving the ECHR. Critics have said the move, which goes further than David Cameron’s plans for a Britsh Bill of Rights, would weaken the rights of citizens. A government source told The Telegraph: A clean break [from the ECHR] is by far the best option and, if we put it in the manifesto, even those Tory MPs who are squeamish about...
Woman beheaded in Afghanistan for going out in city without her husband
Arab world, ENGLISH

Woman beheaded in Afghanistan for going out in city without her husband

    The 30-year-old was decapitated and stabbed to death on Monday evening in Lati in the Sar-e-Pul province of northern Afghanistan. The Middle East Press claims a government spokesman told them Taliban militants killed her for the infidelity act of going shopping without a male guardian. The Taliban, which occupies Lati, imposes fierce policies of discrimination against women which includes banning them speaking loudly in public and appearing in media. Punishments have included public lashings and executions in football stadiums. National broadcaster Tolo News reports that the provincial governor spokesman Zabiullah Amani said the woman’s husband is in Iran, and that they do not have children. It also claims Sar-e-Pul women’s affairs head Nasima Arezo has confirmed the incid...