- Saturday, April 27, 2024
THE police have charged two men with immigration offences after five migrants, including a child, died when a small boat crossed the English Channel from France earlier this week. Three men, a woman and a seven-year-old girl lost their lives in the early hours of Tuesday in the sea near…
POLICE said Thursday (25) that they had arrested another man after five migrants, including a child, died this week trying to cross the Channel from France. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it arrested an 18-year-old from Sudan late Wednesday (24) on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the…
“Success is when the boats have been stopped”. He has been short of political victories in the past six months, but prime minister Rishi Sunak was not content to hail the Safety of Rwanda bill finally getting through parliament without continuing to raise expectations about how much he will achieve…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak promised to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks as the upper house of parliament finally passed required legislation, delayed for weeks by attempts to alter the plan. Sunak said the government had booked commercial charter planes and trained staff to take…
The winners of the 67th annual World Press Photo Contest have been announced. Handpicked from a staggering pool of over 61,000 submissions spanning across 130 nations, these captivating images serve as a poignant reflection of the pressing narratives shaping our world today. Covering a spectrum of issues including conflicts, climate…
The parliament is expected to approve a contentious law this week that would allow the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda, a significant policy spearheaded by prime minister Rishi Sunak. The law's passage appears imminent, yet it faces potential legal challenges that could delay or obstruct its implementation. Prime minister…
A MAN in Bordeaux, France, fatally stabbed one person and injured another before being shot by police as he attempted to flee. The incident happened on Wednesday in a tourist-frequented central area of the southwestern French city. Frédérique Porterie, the Bordeaux public prosecutor, said that the Afghan migrant attacked the…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame reiterated Tuesday (9) that they expect Britain to soon start sending undocumented migrants to the African country, despite fresh questions over the controversial scheme. Sunak hosted Kagame at his official residence in London just as a British newspaper reported that properties…
IF Britain is a more anxious, fragmented and polarised society than any of us would want, how could we change that? Dame Sara Khan’s review of social cohesion finds that two decades of inquiries have produced only “intermittent” government responses, with flurries of activity in response to crises, but a “continuing…
More than 4,600 asylum seekers have arrived in Britain on small boats so far in 2024, a record total for the first three months of the year. This is bound to put pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his 'stop the boats' plan. Provisional data from the Home Office,…
There is more widespread unhappiness among the people over immigration than at any point since the Brexit referendum, according to a survey by Ipsos and British Future. Nearly seven out of ten respondents (69 per cent) said they were dissatisfied with the government's handling of immigration, against just 9 per…
No issue has caused Rishi Sunak more trouble as prime minister than immigration. He identifies himself as a prime minister with a plan, determined to deliver. That has been a challenging battle on the economy and public services, but has been most difficult of all on immigration. The government has increased…
THE passage of prime minister Rishi Sunak's contentious bill to deport refugees to Rwanda may be delayed until at least next month after the upper house of parliament defeated the government and reinstated demands for greater protections. The government wants to relocate thousands of asylum seekers who arrive in Britain…
The passage of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's contentious bill to deport refugees to Rwanda may be delayed after the House of Lords defeated the government and reinstated a demand for greater protections. The government wants to relocate thousands of asylum seekers who arrive in Britain on boats to live in…
LEO VARADKAR said on Wednesday (20) he would step down as Ireland's prime minister and the leader of the governing Fine Gael party, in a surprise move, for "personal and political" reasons. Varadkar's departure as head of the three-party coalition does not automatically trigger a general election. He said he…
THE government's decision to reduce the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by moving them to sites such as military bases will end up costing taxpayers more money, parliament's spending watchdog said on Wednesday (20). Thousands of asylum seekers arrive on England's southern coast in small, inflatable boats every…
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's contentious bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda moved closer to becoming law after his government rejected all the proposed changes from the upper house of parliament. Under the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill, asylum seekers who arrive in England by boats would…
THE government’s controversial Safety of Rwanda Bill returns to the House of Commons this week, where MPs will debate amendments proposed by the Lords. Facing the conundrum of what to do with the Bill – which overrules the UK Supreme Court to deem Rwanda a safe place to which asylum seekers…
The UK government on Thursday unveiled a new definition of extremism, as church leaders warned it risked disproportionately affecting Muslim communities. The new definition comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned earlier this month of a "shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality" that risked the country tipping into "mob…
Failed asylum seekers will be offered up to £3,000 to move to Rwanda under a new voluntary scheme, The Times reports. The plan will be open to anyone whose asylum claim has been rejected by the UK. It is different from an existing voluntary returns scheme, where failed asylum seekers…
FRIDAY marks the fifth anniversary of the Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand. Some 51 people were murdered, at two mosques, where they had gone to pray. That is a stark reminder of the deadly threat posed by hateful extremism. Keeping citizens safe is the first responsibility of governments. Extremism…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak suffered his first defeats over his legislation to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after the upper house of parliament demanded greater protections to be introduced before deportation flights can take off. Under the Rwanda plan, which has yet to be carried out, asylum seekers who arrive…
THE British government's controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda might end up costing more than £600 million to deport 300 refugees, parliament's spending watchdog said on Friday (1). Under the policy first announced in 2022, asylum seekers who arrive on England's southern coast in small, inflatable boats would…
There has been a 60 per cent increase in Indian nationals using illegal small boats to cross the English Channel to enter the UK in 2023, reports Times of India. They pay around £100 to smugglers in Calais to undertake this risky journey and make asylum claims once they land…
British police are working with their Indian counterparts to trace a British Airways supervisor believed to be on the run in India after his role in an alleged £3 million visa scam from over five years came to light, according to a UK media report on Tuesday. ‘The Sun' newspaper…
THE Church of England (CoE) is considering updating its guidance to clergy on supporting and ministering to asylum seekers, amid concerns that religious conversions are being exploited by people seeking to stay in Britain. The Church's role in the asylum system has been in the spotlight since media reports that…
BRITAIN will gain access to the EU's intelligence on criminal gangs involved in human trafficking as part of a deal with the bloc's border protection agency, Frontex, in another sign of closer cooperation between the two sides after Brexit. The deal between Britain and the European Union will allow both…
A manager of an Indian restaurant and takeaway in eastern England has been handed a seven-year ban as a company director for employing three illegal workers from Bangladesh. Ikbal Hussain, 51, hired the workers at the Taste of Raj in the Stanstead Abbotts area of Hertfordshire before the restaurant was…
DOZENS of migrants reportedly landed by boat in a remote part of Western Australia, igniting a political row over the country’s zero-tolerance border protection regime. About three dozen foreign nationals were found by locals last Friday (16) as they walked in separate groups by the coast in northwestern Australia’s Dampier…
Britain's new legislation regarding its controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing was criticised by the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, on Monday (19), for undermining fundamental principles of rights. Turk said the moves to facilitate removals to Rwanda ran contrary to the basic principles of…
Rishi Sunak has embraced the challenge of narrowing the gap between the Tories and Labour in the current polls. Speaking to the Times, the prime minister emphasised his commitment to tax reductions, pledging to cut taxes when it becomes fiscally prudent. “At the beginning of this year there is a…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak paid £508,000 in tax in the last financial year after income from his investments dwarfed his official salary, a report by his accountants showed on Friday (9). Sunak is the wealthiest prime minister in British history through a combination of his past career in financial services…
THIS was a tale of two anniversaries. As Big Ben chimed 11pm on January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom had formally left the European Union. Yet the fourth anniversary of that moment passed without a great deal of fanfare last week. The media sparring between the remnants of the referendum…
In a huge relief for H-1B visa holders, many of whom are Indian technology professionals, the new White House-backed immigration bill will grant automatic work authorisation to about 100,000 H-4 visa holders, who are their spouses and children. The National Security Agreement that was announced on Sunday (4) after long…
Prime minister Rishi Sunak secured a victory in the upper house of parliament's first vote on his legislation aimed at reviving a plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda despite the bill facing several hours of criticism from lawmakers, who labelled it as unethical and unworkable. Under the Rwanda plan,…
Simon Clarke, a senior Tory MP on Tuesday (23), voiced his concerns regarding the party's leadership. He openly called for a change in the prime ministerial role, expressing his belief that under Rishi Sunak's leadership, the party is heading towards a significant defeat in the upcoming election later this year,…
HAVING survived the biggest Commons backbench rebellion of his premiership to date, Rishi Sunak made a pre-emptive strike on the upper house over his Rwanda Bill: “Will the opposition in the appointed House of Lords try and frustrate the will of the people as expressed by the elected House?”, he…
THE unelected upper house of parliament inflicted a blow Monday (22) to the government's controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda, by voting to delay ratification of the treaty with Kigali. The move is a blow for prime minister Rishi Runak, who had urged the House of Lords to pass…
Rishi Sunak urged members of the UK's unelected upper chamber of parliament on Thursday (18) to approve his controversial proposal to send migrants to Rwanda, asserting that it reflected "the will of the people." The prime minister survived a key test of his leadership on Wednesday night, fending off right-wing…
In a crucial test of his leadership, prime minister Rishi Sunak successfully navigated a key parliamentary vote on Wednesday (17), overcoming opposition from right-wing rebels for his controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda. Sunak, in power since October 2022, has staked his political future on the scheme, as Britain…
A Tunisian man who stabbed and killed his 19-year-old British Indian girlfriend in 2022 has been given an indefinite hospital order by a UK court. Sabita Thanwani, an aspiring psychologist, was stabbed in the neck by 24-year-old Maher Maaroufe at her student accommodation in Clerkenwell, east London, on March 19,…
Facing a crucial vote on the Rwanda bill, Rishi Sunak encounters resistance as two Tory deputy chairmen and a ministerial aide, namely Lee Anderson, Brendan Clarke-Smith, and Jane Stevenson, resigned to rebel against the legislation, seeking amendments for increased stringency. In a setback for the prime minister's authority, 60 Tory…
IT is a truth universally acknowledged that a political leader with an election to fight must be in want of campaign advice. As Rishi Sunak embarks on the most challenging re-election campaign of any British prime minister in living memory, there is no shortage of pitches about the best spells…
The spotlight returns to Britain's plan to send migrants to Rwanda as lawmakers debate the controversial scheme on Tuesday (16), testing the authority of leader Rishi Sunak with a general election around the corner. The prime minister -- in power since October 2022 -- has staked his political future on…
A House of Lords inquiry has conveyed that Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda treaty is unlikely to alleviate concerns raised by the Supreme Court regarding the country's suitability for sending asylum seekers. As the legal and human rights communities prepare for a showdown on the legislation, the Law Society, along with academics…
BRITAIN is on course to elect its most diverse parliament ever following the general election later this year, a thinktank has said, while a leading Conservative parliamentarian has urged MPs to better engage with ethnic minority voters. Based on current candidate selections, a record number of ethnic minority MPs are…
Rishi Sunak faces a brewing rebellion within the Conservative party as over 30 MPs from the party's right-wing bloc rally to change the bill next week regarding the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda. The proposed amendments aim to restrict the avenues for appealing deportation orders, showcasing deep divisions within…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak's legislation to block further court challenges to the government's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda will return to parliament next week. Sunak faced the most serious threat to his leadership when he saw off a revolt by dozens of his lawmakers during the first parliamentary…
Prime minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday (7) called upon voters and members of his party to "stick to the plan" for achieving "long-term change" ahead of an election he indicated would likely occur in the latter part of this year. After firing the starting gun on election campaigning last week…
Prime minister Rishi Sunak announced on Tuesday (2), that he had achieved his goal of clearing the nation's "legacy" asylum backlog by the end of 2023 and also defied the prevailing trend across Europe by reducing arrivals of illegal migrants via small boats by 36 per cent. The UK Home…
Nearly 30,000 migrants crossed the Channel to Britain from mainland Europe in small boats in 2023, an annual drop of more than a third, government figures released Monday showed. However, the unauthorised arrivals of 29,437 people on the southeast English coast remains the second largest yearly tally since officials began…
Police in India said Friday they were working to track down the kingpins of a people smuggling ring uncovered when French authorities halted a planeload of passengers bound for Nicaragua. The Airbus A340 was detained last week at Vatry airport, east of Paris, where it had stopped for refuelling. It…
TWENTY-FIVE Indian passengers from a plane grounded in France on suspicion of human trafficking have been released by a judge, prosecutors said Wednesday (27). The judge ordered their release on formal grounds, considering that the head of the border police at France's main Charles De Gaulle airport "had not referred…
A PLANE that had been grounded in France for days over concerns its roughly 300 mostly Indian passengers were part of a human trafficking scheme landed in Mumbai on Tuesday (26). The Airbus A340 initially had been bound for Nicaragua when it was detained last Thursday (21) at Vatry airport,…
A PLANE with close to 300 Indian passengers detained near Paris over suspicions of human trafficking took off on Monday (25) for Mumbai after being cleared for departure by French police. The Airbus A340 carrying 303 Indians had been bound for Nicaragua when it was detained last Thursday (21) at…
A PLANE with 303 Indian passengers detained near Paris over suspicions of human trafficking will be free to leave on Monday (25), French judicial officials said, though its destination remains unclear. The Nicaragua-bound Airbus A340 with its Indian passengers was held at Vatry airport, 150 kilometres (95 miles) east of…
In the last four years, a total of 23 asylum seekers are believed to have taken their own lives while in Home Office accommodation, marking a figure more than double that of the previous four years, as revealed by findings obtained by the Guardian. Research indicates that between 2020 and…
The family of the late Sikh activist Avtar Singh Khanda has urged the Home Office to appoint a police force for a comprehensive and impartial investigation into his sudden death last June, which took place at the same time as a murder and an attempted murder of Sikh separatists in…
A DESIRE to give a “voice to the unheard” led director Sue Buckmaster to create the play, Journey of a Refugee. Inspired by true stories of refugees and displacement, the play explores the journey of a migrant to the UK and the universal theme of people searching for a place…
WHAT did we learn from 2023 about the state of the nation? It was a year that showed how identity can both unite and divide Britain today, depending not only on events at home and abroad, but on how our public conversations are led too. If Britain needs more bridging…
PRIME minister Rishi Sunak hailed his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni's approach to tackling illegal migration, in a visit to Rome where they agreed to co-fund a project to help migrants return home from Tunisia. The two leaders held formal talks at Meloni's office on Saturday (16) and the British Conservative…
A LEADING Conservative parliamentarian has warned fellow Tory politicians they face a decision to either “unify or die” as party infighting threatens to derail the leadership of prime minister, Rishi Sunak. On Tuesday (12) Sunak narrowly won in his latest plans to send migrants to Rwanda. The way in which…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak avoided defeat in parliament on Tuesday (12) on an emergency bill to revive his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, seeing off a revolt by dozens of his lawmakers that laid bare his party's deep divisions. Sunak, who has pinned his reputation on the strategy,…
RISHI SUNAK did not imagine that his premiership would end up like this. His intention was to lead an economy-first government, rebuild trust in politics and deliver on many fronts. Sunak has become the embattled leader of a single-issue government and mutinous party. Every week seems to be immigration week…
PRIME minister Rishi Sunak faces the biggest parliamentary test of his premiership on Tuesday (12) when MPs vote on his plan to send asylum seekers to live in Rwanda. The Supreme Court ruled last month that Rwanda was an unsafe place to send those arriving in small boats on England's…
RISHI SUNAK insisted Thursday (7) that his latest immigration plan would work, as the issue threatened to tear apart his ruling Tories, putting his premiership in jeopardy. Sunak came out fighting after his government's latest attempt to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda sparked the resignation of his immigration minister, who…
FORMER home secretary Suella Braverman said on Thursday (7) the government's proposed Rwanda legislation, part of a scheme to try to send thousands of asylum seekers to the East African country, will not work. Rishi Sunak is facing a revolt from the right-wing of his Tory party over efforts to…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak set out draft emergency legislation on Wednesday (6) which he said would pave the way for asylum seekers to be deported to Rwanda, but immediately suffered a major setback when his immigration minister quit. The "Safety of Rwanda Bill", published the day after Britain signed a…
BRITAIN signed a new treaty with Rwanda on Tuesday (5) which it said would overcome a court decision blocking its plan to deport asylum seekers to the East African country, a ruling that dealt a huge blow to the government's immigration policy. The Rwanda scheme is at the centre of…
Home Secretary James Cleverly arrived in Rwanda on Tuesday (5), to finalise a new treaty aimed at deporting asylum seekers to the African nation, following the UK's highest court ruling that declared the previous deportation scheme unlawful. The Rwanda plan is at the centre of the government's strategy to cut…
A House of Lords committee responsible for scrutinising bills presented in Parliament has expressed apprehension regarding the inclusion of India in the UK's extended list of safe states which would prevent individuals from India entering the country illegally from seeking asylum. The cross-party House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee…
Rishi Sunak said on Friday (1) that he had conversations with President Paul Kagame concerning plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda as he finalises his response to the block on the policy in the London Supreme Court. Sunak's government has said it is working on a new treaty with…
FORMER home secretaries Priti Patel and Suella Braverman are facing accusations of operating a secret policy to deny 1,600 victims of trafficking their right to remain in the UK, The Guardian reported. Despite a landmark high court ruling in November 2021, which mandated that confirmed trafficking victims awaiting asylum decisions…
Rishi Sunak has attributed the high levels of net migration to Boris Johnson. He said, that he "inherited these very large numbers" and is committed to reducing them. The prime minister pledged to take necessary measures to decrease net migration, facing pressure from the right wing of his party to…
Senior Conservatives have raised concerns that Rishi Sunak's stance against human rights laws, potentially enabling the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda, might jeopardise the Northern Ireland peace process. These MPs echoed worries expressed by the White House, underscoring that Downing Street's reported intentions to disregard parts of the Human…
AT LEAST two more boats carrying hundreds of Rohingya refugees set sail from Bangladesh this week, refugees and a monitoring group said, the latest in a wave of migrations that has seen more than 1,000 asylum seekers arrive on Indonesian shores. Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees,…
Phizzical Productions has announced the UK tour of Shahid Iqbal Khan's Olivier-nominated play, 10 Nights! Audiences will get to experience one man's spiritual journey of self-discovery after he decides to participate in Iʿtikāf - the Islamic practice of staying in a mosque and fasting for the last ten nights of…
James Cleverly is the first-ever Black British home secretary, though no national newspaper noticed enough to devote even a sentence or two to that fact. It would surely have made headlines five years ago. No Black or Asian politician had held any great office of state before 2018. Yet Cleverly’s…
Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant wanted in India to stand trial on fraud and money laundering charges, told a UK court on Thursday (16) that he could be in England for years as some ongoing proceedings prevent his extradition. The 52-year-old former billionaire appeared for a hearing at Barkingside…
The government on Thursday (16) said a fresh treaty for transferring migrants to Rwanda might be prepared for ratification within a matter of "days". This comes after a court deemed the previous agreement unlawful. The new treaty, which would then take at least three weeks to be approved by lawmakers,…
The prime minister has shown that “he has a backbone” by sacking his controversial home secretary, south Asian Conservative parliamentarians and grassroots members have told Eastern Eye. Rishi Sunak fired Suella Braverman on Monday (13), five days after she wrote a Times newspaper article in which she criticised the Met…
Amid a stir among right-wing Conservative MPs, Suella Braverman has joined the movement for emergency legislation challenging the Supreme Court's ruling on the UK government's deportation strategy regarding Rwanda. Following her recent dismissal as home secretary and her earlier criticism of Rishi Sunak, Braverman urged the prime minister to either…
Despite a significant setback in the country’s highest court, prime minister Rishi Sunak is attempting to revive his flagship immigration policy. However, legal experts express doubts about its ability to surmount the existing legal hurdles. The UK Supreme Court on Wednesday (15) ruled the government's scheme to send asylum seekers…
THE UK government has tabled plans to add India to an expanded list of safe states, which would speed up the process of returning Indians who travel from the country illegally and rule out their chance of seeking asylum in Britain. Draft legislation laid in the House of Commons on…
TO HER party, Suella Braverman was able to say things which the prime minister thought but could not voice. To his critics, Rishi Sunak was the man who stabbed Boris Johnson in the back and someone whose party did not elect him as its leader. Braverman gave him a shield…
Suella Braverman, the dismissed home secretary launched a personal attack on prime minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday (14), accusing him of betraying both her and the country. Popular on the right of the party, Braverman kept quiet on Monday (13) after being sacked but published a letter to Sunak on…
BRITAIN's government has already been working on a new treaty with Rwanda and could change the country's laws after the Supreme Court ruled that the plan to send migrants there was unlawful, prime minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday (15). "The government has already been working in advance on a…
THE Supreme Court ruling on the government’s Rwanda scheme to deport people seeking asylum in the UK to the African nation is crucial for prime minister Rishi Sunak, said independent migration Think tank British Future. The top court will deliver its ruling on Wednesday (15) on whether the government can…
How do you solve a problem like Suella? This was the week that Rishi Sunak changed his mind. Bringing Suella Braverman back as Home Secretary was a price he was willing to pay to secure the premiership unopposed, though it this was a coalition of convenience rather than conviction on…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak on Monday (13) sacked home secretary Suella Braverman, as he reshuffles his top team ahead of a general election expected next year. Sunak had come under growing pressure to axe Braverman, an outspoken right-winger, after critics accused her of heightening tensions during weeks of contentious pro-Palestinian…
THE Supreme Court said on Thursday (9) it would deliver its ruling next week on whether the government can go ahead with its controversial plan to deport migrants to Rwanda. In April, London's Court of Appeal said the scheme was unlawful because the east African country was not a safe…
THE government has tabled plans to add India to an expanded list of safe states, which would speed up the process of returning Indians who travel from the country illegally and rule out their chance of seeking asylum in Britain. Draft legislation laid in the House of Commons on Wednesday…
UNSUCCESSFUL attempts to rescue migrants from a sinking boat in the Channel in November 2021 were hampered by poor visibility and confusion over locating the right vessel, Britain's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said on Thursday (9). The accident, in which 27 people including a 7-year-old girl died, is the…
A record 96,917 Indians were arrested while crossing illegally into the US between October 2022 and September 2023, according to the latest US Customs and Border Protection (UCBP) data. Indians arrested while crossing the US border unlawfully have reportedly witnessed a five-fold increase in the past years. In 2019-20, 19,883…
MORE than 10,000 Afghan migrants rushed to the border on Tuesday (31), the last day of a deadline for 1.7 million Afghans to leave Pakistan voluntarily or face arrest and deportation. The government has said it would begin arresting undocumented Afghans and taking them to new holding centres from Wednesday…
In Quetta, an undercover BBC journalist recently encountered a people smuggler named Azam, orchestrating illicit passages out of Pakistan. Azam explained his business model, asserting that individuals aged between 12 and 18 were also viable clients. For a sum of 2.5 million Pakistani rupees ($9000; £7,500), a young man could,…
MIGRANTS last Thursday (19) began returning to an accommodation barge docked on the southwest English coast after it was evacuated two months ago over contaminated water supply fears. A coach carrying migrants was seen arriving at Portland Port where the “Bibby Stockholm” vessel is moored. The UK government’s decision to…
TORY government announced that it will start reducing the number of hotels housing asylum seekers following a drop in arrivals of migrants. The accommodation is politically sensitive due to the high price of the hotel contracts, which costs taxpayers about £8 million per day, according to official figures. Immigration minister…
ROCKING revolutionary Shammi Kapoor introduced the kind of swagger into Bollywood that enabled the Hindi film hero to connect with a more globalised audience. From his cool style and good looks to high energy performances, he became a magnificent movie icon and delivered marvellous musicals filled with magical moments. Then…
THE Supreme Court said on Wednesday (11) it would be a couple of months before it gives its decision on whether the government could go ahead with its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. Lawyers for the government have been arguing over three days this week that the court…
THE government has insisted that Rwanda is an appropriate place to deport failed asylum seekers, as it tried to overturn a court ruling that the policy is unlawful. Three Appeal Court judges in London blocked the controversial plan in June, assessing that the African nation could not be considered a…
A DELHI-BASED Catholic priest uncle of UK home secretary Suella Braverman has cautioned her about some of her language around immigration and urged her not to forget that she is a child of migrants herself. According to a report in The Times on Saturday (7), Father Ayres Fernandes told the…
GOVERNMENT lawyers will on Monday (9) tell the top court that it should overturn a ruling which declared unlawful a plan to deport migrants to Rwanda, one of prime minister Rishi Sunak's key policies. In June, London's Court of Appeal concluded that the scheme to send tens of thousands of…
A LEADING Tory parliamentarian has accused home secretary Suella Braverman of “betraying” her own culture and background with her claim that multiculturalism in Britain has “failed”. Braverman, in a speech last week at the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington DC, described multiculturalism as a “misguided dogma” that had allowed people…
IS BRITAIN “a fantastic multicultural democracy” emerging as a role model of how to make diversity work? Or do a toxic combination of immigration and multiculturalism pose an existential threat to our social fabric and survival as a democratic nation? Both arguments were advanced from the senior echelons of government…
BRITAIN's ruling Tories are gathered for their annual conference, with splits surfacing and leadership hopefuls jockeying -- just as the party needs unity heading into a general election as underdogs. The Tories, in power since 2010, kicked off four days of main stage speeches, fringe events and political networking on…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak has expressed his admiration for the country's 'fantastic multicultural democracy', directly contrasting the recent comments made by home secretary Suella Braverman, who claimed that multiculturalism had failed. Braverman faced criticism from fellow Tory MPs after she asserted during a speech to a right-wing US thinktank that…
GOVERNMENT is set to increase visa fees and immigration health surcharges for migrants in a move aimed at generating additional revenue. However, a minister has expressed concerns that these increases may not effectively reduce record-high levels of immigration, reported The Times. From October 4, the cost of most visa and…
NIRAV MODI, the fugitive diamond merchant wanted in India to stand trial on fraud and money laundering charges, has been transferred out of one of the largest and most overcrowded prisons in the UK to a privately-run facility in London, it emerged last Thursday (21). The 52-year-old former billionaire was…
THIS could feel like a long year for Keir Starmer. The Labour leader seems ever more likely to emerge as prime minister once the general election is eventually held, but whether he can seal the deal with the British public is unlikely to be put to the test any time…
HOME SECRETARY Suella Braverman will call on Tuesday (26) for governments to consider rewriting global refugee rules so they are "fit for the modern age" and do not deem being gay, or a woman, enough of a reason to qualify for asylum. Addressing the American Enterprise Institute think-tank in Washington,…
HOME secretary Suella Braverman will raise the "the unsustainable pressures" created by illegal migration when she makes a three-day visit to the US this week, her office said on Sunday (24). In a keynote speech, Braverman will present a blueprint for how countries can combat the crisis and highlight how…
Suella Braverman ceased the yearly inspections of immigration detention facilities like Brook House last year, shortly after government ministers were directly alerted about the lack of protection for vulnerable individuals, including torture victims, the immigration watchdog has revealed. The disclosure was made by David Neal, the independent chief inspector of…
CALLS for compassion for migrants suffering in North Africa and those attempting to reach Europe or die trying will be at the heart of Pope Francis's visit to Marseille this week. The pontiff is making a two-day trip to France's second-largest city, a historic gateway for immigrants, where he is…
Opposition leader Keir Starmer announced on Thursday (14) that under a Labour government, a new police unit would be established to address illegal migration. Additionally, he indicated an openness to exploring a returns agreement with the European Union as a potential solution to the crisis. How to tackle illegal migration…
FAMILIES seeking asylum in the UK face inadequate living conditions in government-provided temporary housing, affecting their mental and physical health and access to children's education, Human Rights Watch said Thursday (14). Releasing a new 100-page report based on joint research with UK human rights group Just Fair, HRW said they…
PUBLIC dissatisfaction with how the government is handling immigration is at its highest level since 2015, according to a new survey. In May this year, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data revealed that net migration to the UK reached a record high of 606,000 in 2022, driven by people from…
BANGLADESH authorities sacked a senior prosecutor after he condemned court cases against Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as “judicial harassment”, officials said Friday – prompting him to reportedly seek asylum at the US embassy with his family. Yunus, 83, is credited with lifting millions out of poverty but has fallen out…
THE government said it is introducing legislation allowing bone and teeth X-rays to verify the age of asylum seekers suspected of falsely claiming to be minors. The government is trying to curb what it calls "illegal" migration to the UK -- a highly contentious political issue. Legislation unveiled this week…
Migrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan are among those seeking protection in Europe, official figures released on Tuesday (5) showed. Syrians and Afghans account for nearly a quarter of asylum applications received so far this year, followed by those from Venezuela, Turkey, and Colombia. Between January and the end of June…
BROADCASTER and former EHRC chair Sir Trevor Phillips has said ministers should do more to encourage integration among communities. Sir Trevor, who in his previous role as head of the Commission for Racial Equality, warned in 2005 about Britain sleepwalking into segregation, said in an interview this week that minority…
The realm of migration and asylum has long been a topic of heated debate in the UK. The recent spike in the number of people awaiting decisions on their asylum claims underscores the situation's complexity. As of June 2023, more than 175,000 individuals were in the queue, marking a 44%…
THE head of a review into maternity care in Nottingham said there is a “recurring theme” of midwives not listening to women who say they are in labour, writes Anna Whittaker. Donna Ockenden is running the largest maternity review in NHS history at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH). As part…
BRITAIN's backlog of asylum applications awaiting a decision hit a record high in the year to June and the number of those applying was the highest in two decades, according to official figures published on Thursday (24), in a blow to the government. The Home Office said 78,768 asylum applications…
Home secretary Suella Braverman is refraining from endorsing an asylum-support initiative backed by the UN, despite its being labelled a "more humane" approach. The initiative, funded by the Home Office, has gained recognition for its achievements in Bedfordshire, where it substantially curtailed expenses linked to housing refugees and migrants compared…
THE government’s recent anti-lawyer rhetoric is not new. It has used this in the past, unfairly describing lawyers as “lefty” and “activist.” This loose language is damaging to the vast majority of lawyers who work hard to uphold the rule of law and act in the best interests of their…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak on Tuesday (15) said that he was 'frustrated' over reports of a criminal winning funding to house migrants in Milton Keynes. The BBC on Monday (14) reported that the owner of Harben House Hotel in Newport Pagnell was convicted of offences linked to the operation of houses of…
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak blamed the "criminal gangs" facilitating small boat Channel crossings for the "horrific" deaths last weekend of at least six migrants, his spokesman said on Monday (14). Six Afghan men died and dozens more required rescuing after a small vessel bound for the southeast English coast from…
Ministers are confronting renewed demands to address the escalating boat crossings in the Channel, prompted by the tragic sinking of the vessel off the French coast on Saturday (12) that resulted in the loss of six migrant lives. The Labour Party has accused the government of being outmaneuvered by people…
Six people lost their lives when a migrant boat attempting to traverse the Channel from France to Britain capsized early Saturday (12) morning. Additionally, French authorities said that two more individuals are possibly missing. Rescue boats from France and the UK successfully rescued close to 60 migrants, transporting them to…
BRITAIN is taking a group of asylum seekers off a barge just days after moving them onto the vessel because Legionella bacteria was found in the water supply. The government began moving the asylum seekers onto the Bibby Stockholm, a barge anchored off Dorset on the south coast, earlier this…
In the midst of what Downing Street has labelled as "small boats week," the focus turns to the government's efforts to combat false immigration claims. Today, Tuesday (8) marks the spotlight on the “professional enablers taskforce” and though the taskforce has been operational for some time, the Home Office has…
BRITAIN began moving some migrants on to a large residential barge on its southern coast on Monday (7), as part of plans to save money and remove what the government called the "pull" of hotels for those arriving in small boats. Prime minister Rishi Sunak has made cracking down on…
THE UK government on Sunday (6) announced increased fines for employers and landlords who allow migrants without papers to work for them or rent their properties, as part of measures to deter migrant arrivals. The Conservative government, languishing in the polls ahead of a general election due next year, wants…
Singer and songwriter Charli XCX, whose real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchison, is celebrating her birthday today. Born on 2 August 1992, in Cambridge, England, Charli started posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which soon led to her discovery and she signed a recording contract with Asylum Records in 2010.…
Three law firms facing accusations of misconduct in handling asylum applications have been closed down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The affected firms are Rashid & Rashid in South Wimbledon, Kingswright Solicitors in Birmingham, and Lincoln Lawrence in Hounslow. The closure follows an undercover operation carried out by the…
IF there's one thing that unites the people of Portland, south-west England, it is opposition to the UK government's plan to house 500 asylum seekers on a large barge in its harbour. From a vantage point at the top of this small town of 13,000 inhabitants, the 93-metre- (305-foot-) long…
THE Conservative party’s controversial immigration policy could ultimately be the reason they lose power at the next general election, a group of leading academics have predicted. Plans to stop thousands of migrants landing on British shores in small boats were last month approved by the House of Lords. The bill…
THE UK government is planning to house migrants in tents to help deal with any surge in small boats crossing the Channel in the coming months, British media reported Friday (28). Tents able to house up to 2,000 migrants have been purchased by the Home Office, which plans to erect…
Muhammad Naeem Butt, a Pakistani man, spent several weeks in Libya attempting to reach Europe illegally. However, he decided to turn back, giving up on his perilous journey after witnessing a tragic incident at sea. The overloaded fishing trawler he had hoped to board sank off the coast of Greece,…
THE UK’s watchdog for solicitors said on Thursday (27) that it is investigating legal firms and individuals suspected of breaching rules in advising clients on making false asylum claims. The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) said it is looking to take “urgent action” after UK justice secretary Alex Chalk wrote to…
THE British government insisted a barge set to house around 500 asylum-seekers was not "a floating prison", amid concern at the plan from rights campaigners and some Tory MPs. The "Bibby Stockholm", which is now docked in Portland on the Dorset coast in southern England, will controversially begin hosting the…
PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak's highly contested plan to make it easier to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is set to become law after the government defeated attempts by parliament's upper house to make changes to the legislation. The Illegal Migration Bill had been stuck in a battle between parliament's House…
CHARITIES supporting Asian domestic abuse survivors are in a funding crisis with a lack of space in refuges and a shortage of trained frontline workers, experts have cautioned. They said further services are at risk of shrinking or closing due to a dearth of financial support. Research by the Refuge…
EU LAWMAKERS on Thursday (6) pushed for an independent probe into a migrant boat tragedy off Greece in which hundreds of people are believed to have died, calling an internal investigation by Athens inadequate. That stance, also backed by the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency, seeks to shine a light…
WHEN Rishi Sunak first heard about the Rwanda plan, he had his doubts. Since he was Chancellor then, he had a responsibility to scrutinise the cost. But the bigger question was whether the plan would work. Though of questionable legality and significant expense, the scheme was limited in its scale.…
A group of Conservative MPs called on prime minister Rishi Sunak on Monday (3) to do more to cut immigration, saying he risked further eroding the trust of voters who lent the party their vote in 2019 if he failed to take action. The group of MPs, many elected for…
The UK government said it would challenge a court ruling issued on Thursday (29) that blocks its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, a set-back to its controversial bid to cut migrant numbers. Three Court of Appeal judges ruled that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country,…
BRITAIN'S plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful, London’s Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday (29), in a major setback for prime minister Rishi Sunak who has pledged to stop migrants arriving across the Channel in small boats. Under a deal struck last year, Britain's government planned to send tens of…
LONDON'S Court of Appeal will rule on Thursday (29) if a British plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is lawful, in a verdict that could make or break prime minister Rishi Sunak's pledge to stop migrants from arriving by boat. Under a deal struck last year, Britain's government plans…
TODAY'S Britain is a much less racist society than the one which I grew up in. Yet I undoubtedly receive much more racial prejudice in 2023, more often, than I did thirty years ago. This is the paradox of racism in Britain today. There are fewer racists, because social norms…
BRITAIN'S plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda will cost £169,000 per person, according to the first detailed government assessment of a high-stakes promise to tackle record numbers of people arriving in small boats. Prime minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative government wants to send thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles…
LONDON mayor Sadiq Khan has opened an exhibition of photographs celebrating the lives of refugees to mark refugee week from 19 to 25 June. A Ukrainian doctor, a Kindertransport survivor and a girl who fled the Taliban are among those captured in photographs taken by Philip Coburn, a photographer for…
BRITISH home secretary, Suella Braverman, said the Home Office was unlikely to achieve prime minister Rishi Sunak’s objective of resolving a backlog of 92,000 asylum claims by the end of the year. But she added there should be a significant improvement in the speed at which claims are processed. Braverman…
THE number of people arriving in the UK in small boats has reached over 10,000 since the start of the year, UK government figures showed. The provisional total covering the period up to Saturday (17) stands at 10,139, according to data released by the interior ministry, the Home Office. The…
AVTAR SINGH PURBA alias Khanda, a prominent pro-Khalistani activist, died at a hospital in Birmingham on Thursday (15) morning after a prolonged illness, a UK-based Sikh organisation said in a statement. Sikh Federation UK said Avtar Singh was terminally ill with blood cancer. He was on a life support system…
HOME SECRETARY Suella Braverman has said that the Home Office is unlikely to achieve prime minister Rishi Sunak's objective of resolving a backlog of 92,000 asylum claims by the end of the year. She added that there should be a significant improvement in the speed at which claims are processed.…
HOW do you solve a problem like Boris? Rishi Sunak will hope to have fewer political headaches once the former prime minister leaves parliament, but will know we will all be hearing much more from Johnson. His statement resigning as an MP was one of his more Trumpian moments -…
SOME 200 migrants cast shadows in the faint early sunshine across the dunes of Gravelines beach in northern France, anticipating a police chase as they attempt to cross the waters before them to England. At least 7,610 people have been detected in small boats off Britain's coast so far this…
INDIA has released five videos and sought help from the general public in identifying suspects who attempted to vandalise the Indian mission in London in March this year. The nearly two-hour-long footage from CCTVs was posted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on its website and the link shared on…
EU NATIONS have reached agreement on a long-stalled revision of the bloc's rules to share the hosting of asylum seekers and migrants more equitably. Sweden, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency, announced the breakthrough on Thursday (8) after a fraught day of negotiations between EU interior ministers in Luxembourg. The…
BRITAIN has ordered two more accommodation barges to house asylum-seekers, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Monday (5). Sunak has pledged to stop crossings of the Channel from northern Europe made in small boats, after record numbers of people arrived last year. But huge backlogs in the processing of applications…
Kiln Theatre today announces that Indhu Rubasingham will step down as Artistic Director of the company, leaving early 2024, having led the company for over a decade. Indhu Rubasingham said today, “I never had an inkling of the journey ahead when I was first was appointed. I immediately felt the…
Britain's proposed illegal migration law will lead to more people missing vital medical treatment for fear of detention, large bills and deportation, say charities and health workers. The Illegal Migration Bill, currently making its way through parliament, would prevent tens of thousands of migrants arriving in the country via irregular…
The UN human rights chief has said that he has formally conveyed his concerns over a new British migration law to the government, saying he was worried it would bar people from seeking asylum. Stopping small boat arrivals across the Channel from France is a priority for prime minister Rishi…
BRITAIN on Tuesday (23) announced a package of measures aimed at international students, including a ban on some family members, as ministers come under growing pressure to cut immigration. After a drop during the pandemic, net migration has been steadily on the rise and is reportedly expected to hit a…
London mayor Sadiq Khan has said that he is suffering from a 'cumulative' type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to a combination of the regular death threats as well as dealing with the aftermath of disasters and terror attacks. Khan added that his doctor friend had told him about…
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has criticised the UK government's plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda. He called the policy 'morally unacceptable' and urged the government to abandon it. Welby spoke out in his role as a lawmaker in the House of Lords, where the government's plans are being…
Two teenagers have been sentenced to life in jail after they were found guilty of killing a 16-year-old boy who they mistakenly thought belonged to a rival gang. Vanushan Balakrishnan of Waylands and Ilyas Suleiman of St Jeromes Grove, Hillingdon, both 18-year-old, were sentenced at the Old Bailey on Wednesday…
“WHEREVER you may live in the United Kingdom, and whatever may be your background or beliefs, I shall endeavour to serve you with loyalty, respect and love”. A hereditary monarch does not need to run for office, unlike the candidates standing in England’s local elections last week. Yet his constitutional…
Better connections between ethnic minority patients and health care professionals can provide more positive health care experience, a study published on Wednesday (10) said. Patients want health staff to listen to them and allow them to talk, the survey found. Analysis of the social and cultural influences in the experience…
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said many migrants who have illegally crossed the Channel to the UK’s shores are “at odds” with British values. Her comment came after the House of Commons on Wednesday (26) passed the Illegal Immigration Bill which aims at barring the entry of asylum seekers arriving…
A new British law which seeks to bar the entry of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel was approved by the lower house of parliament on Wednesday, after the government accepted several amendments from rebel Conservatives. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping small boat arrivals one…
Legal services can be a necessary part of life, with many different types available to meet your legal needs. Knowing which type of legal service is right for you can be the difference between achieving justice and an expensive mistake. Here is an overview of the 10 most common types…
A local authority in the southeast of England failed in its attempt to prevent the British government from using a former military base to accommodate asylum seekers. The Braintree district council, located northeast of London in Essex, had requested a court order to block the Home Office from housing up…
The government on Friday (21) announced its intention to introduce measures aimed at restricting the power of courts to prevent the deportation of illegal immigrants. These measures are part of proposed legislation that will be presented to parliament next week. Prime minister Rishi Sunak has identified the prevention of the…
Two of the 17 Sikhs arrested in California over the weekend have been accused of committing murder in multiple cases in India, Police said on Wednesday (19). The authorities are searching for two others in connection with other criminal cases. The California Attorney General's spokesperson identified the two Sikhs facing…
India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) will investigate the incident involving protests and attempted vandalism of the Indian High Commission in London from last month, officials said on Tuesday (18). The case was previously registered by the special cell of the Delhi Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the…
Britain should take action over a violent incident during protests outside India's embassy in London last month, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Thursday (13). New Delhi has been upset about protests and vandalism by Sikh separatists - who seek an independent Sikh homeland…
India asked Britain for increased monitoring of UK-based supporters of a Sikh separatist movement following a "breach of security" at its High Commission in London, an incident that has raised tension between the two countries. At a meeting in New Delhi between senior British and Indian home ministry officials, the…
The UK has paused the expulsion of a group of Nepalese military veterans who worked at the British embassy in Kabul before being rescued when the Taliban rulers took over Afghanistan. Thirteen of the former Gurkha soldiers worked as guards at the high-security compound housing the UK and Canadian embassies…
Britain is spending almost a third of its overseas aid budget on supporting refugees and asylum seekers inside the UK, according to official figures published on Wednesday (5). The new figures provoked dismay from charities and the country's independent aid watchdog. Nearly £3.7 billion was spent internally on supporting refugees…
Britain said on Wednesday (5) it had leased a barge to house 500 migrants on its southern coast as part of efforts to reduce the use of costly hotels as temporary accommodation while asylum claims are being processed. Prime minister Rishi Sunak has made cracking down on illegal migration one…
THE home secretary is pandering to right-wing racists and putting south Asian lives in danger, MPs and experts have told Eastern Eye. It follows Suella Braverman’s comments over the weekend (2) that “vulnerable white girls living in troubled circumstances have been abused, drugged, raped, and exploited”. She highlighted cases in…
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has emphasised the importance of conducting a thorough investigation to uncover the truth behind the tragic incident on the US-Canada border that claimed the lives of eight individuals from two families of Romanian and Indian origin. He has also advised against making assumptions about the…
Former home secretary Priti Patel has backed a legal challenge against plans to turn an Essex RAF base into a migrant camp, the Telegraph reported. Patel has written to home secretary Suella Braverman to back Braintree Council's bid to scrap Essex migrant camp plan. The former minister's stand is a…
Anjana Vasan, Zubin Varla, and Waleed Akhtar won Olivier awards last Sunday. Vasan won for her performance in the critically acclaimed play, A Streetcar Named Desire. Paul Mescal, who was nominated this year for an Oscar and a BAFTA for his leading role in the film Aftersun, was named best…
Britain's home secretary Suella Braverman said she was convinced Rwanda was a safe country to resettle migrants who had arrived in Britain illegally but she declined to set any deadline for the first deportations to the country. The UK government is hoping to send thousands of migrants more than 4,000…
Eight people including two children were found dead in a marsh near the Canada-US border after trying to cross illegally into the United States, police said Friday. Their bodies were discovered near a capsized boat belonging to a missing man from the Akwesasne Mohawk community, officials reported. "A total of…
THE potential for early menopause is just one of the many significant health complications experienced by women subjected to female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and other forms of gender-based violence, the founder of a UK charity has said. Sema Gornall is the CEO of The Vavengers, a charity committed to ending…
Former England striker and BBC host Gary Lineker has won his £4.9 million legal battle with British tax authorities. Lineker, who turned host of the BBC's flagship Match of the Day television programme, was told he should have been classed as an employee of both the BBC and BT Sport…
Scotland's parliament on Tuesday (28) confirmed Humza Yousaf will replace Nicola Sturgeon as first minister, the devolved nation's youngest and the first Muslim leader of a government in western Europe. Yousaf, 37, narrowly won a Scottish National Party (SNP) leadership battle on Monday (27) to clinch the party's top job,…
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has struck a 'temporary ceasefire' with Tory rebels as he agreed to look at tougher measures in migrants bill to prevent the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) from blocking deportations to Rwanda, The Telegraph reported. The twist happened when more than 60 Tory MPs threatened…
PLANS by the British government to move migrants out of hotels and into military bases or even disused ferries are expected to be announced within weeks, Sky News reported on Saturday (25). Previous suggestions involving the use of holiday camps and student halls were less likely to be brought into…
Home secretary Suella Braverman came under fire Monday(20) for laughing uproariously in front of a future migrant camp and asking for tips on interior design during a trip to Rwanda. She was also criticised for taking only right-leaning media outlets on the weekend trip, refusing access to the BBC's London…
HOME SECRETARY Suella Braverman visited Rwanda on Saturday to expand a deal under which the east African country will accept migrants who arrive in the UK without permission, if British courts confirm that the proposals are legal. Britain's government wants to send thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away…
British home secretary Suella Braverman will travel to Rwanda over the weekend to discuss a proposal whereby the UK will transfer unauthorized migrants to the African country. Despite the plan facing legal challenges and controversy, Braverman is reinforcing the strategy, which involves sending tens of thousands of migrants to Rwanda…
“I NEVER wonder to see men wicked. I often wonder to see them not ashamed.” Had Jonathan Swift been alive today, he might well have had our home secretary in mind. Last week she showed no shame as her inaccurate assertion that “100 million people could qualify to come here”…
Home secretary Suella Braverman defended her policy to remove almost all migrants who arrive without permission, saying her political opponents were "naive do-gooders" and there had has been "too much" immigration in recent years. Prime minister Rishi Sunak has said that stopping asylum seekers arriving on the south coast of…
THERE has been a new Sunday morning routine in our house this year. Since my ten- year-old daughter got into football by watching Euro 2020 and the Lionesses triumph in the women’s Euros, the alarm goes off at 7.30am so we can get up to watch the early morning repeat…
The UK has recorded last year, there was a surge in the number of Indian nationals illegally crossing over into Britain through the English Channel. The latest "Irregular Migration to the UK" statistics from the UK Home Office for the year ending December 2022 reported that 683 mainly Indian men…
TIM DAVIE, the BBC's director general, has said he will not resign after the public broadcaster's sport service was decimated on Saturday (11) by a backlash over Gary Lineker's removal as Match of the Day host. "Everyone wants to resolve the situation calmly," Davie said in an interview with the…
Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant wanted in India to stand trial on fraud and money laundering charges, has claimed he has no funds and is borrowing money to pay the court-ordered legal costs amounting to more than £150,000. The 52-year-old former billionaire last year lost his legal battle in…
Prime minister Rishi Sunak and French president Emmanuel Macron on Friday (10) agreed a new pact to stop illegal cross-Channel migration after a summit in Paris aimed at overcoming years of Brexit tensions. Both leaders hailed a new start in relations between the two neighbours, after intense talks in Paris…
THE British debate on refugees is leading a strange double life. The government’s policy on asylum is getting ever tougher after a year when more people played an active part in welcoming refugees to Britain than ever before. It sounds like Groundhog Day in parliament when it comes to asylum. “Anyone…
ANYONE arriving illegally in Britain will be prevented from staying, prime minister Rishi Sunak said in an interview published on Sunday (5), ahead of new legislation which is expected to be set out next week. Under pressure from his own lawmakers to find a solution to the flow of migrants…
A NEW law to crack down on migrants arriving in Britain in small boats from Europe across the English Channel will be unveiled on Tuesday (7), with a senior minister saying "enough is enough", the Sun on Sunday newspaper reported. The British government has been promising to step up action…
FORMER Pakistan women's hockey player Shahida Raza was among at least 67 people killed on the weekend in a migrant shipwreck off the coast of Italy, officials in her home province said. The vessel, which authorities believe was carrying up to 200 migrants, sank in rough seas before dawn on…
THE COFFINS of 65 victims of a devastating migrant shipwreck off Italy's southern coast were laid out Tuesday (28) in a local sports hall, five of them small and white, containing the bodies of the youngest children that died. Flower bouquets adorned each coffin in the building in Crotone, while…
RISHI SUNAK had the best day of his premiership to date on Monday (27), unveiling his renegotiated Brexit deal in Windsor. It is just over a century since the Royal proclamation of 1917 rebranded the House of Saxe-Coburg as the House of Windsor and Sunak clearly took inspiration from that…
AS PARLIAMENT returns from recess, the government will bring forward a new asylum bill to deliver the prime minister’s pledge to “stop the boats”. The bill will say that nobody who comes to the UK via a third country deemed safe, such as France, will be eligible to claim asylum…
London mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday (24) announced funding for up to 600 new homes in London for people from Ukraine and Afghanistan who have fled conflicts in their respective countries and are either homeless, at risk of being homeless or living in temporary and unsuitable accommodation, a press release…
BRITAIN will scrap the requirement for around 12,000 asylum seekers to undergo face-to-face interviews and instead ask them to fill out a questionnaire, the government said on Thursday (23), in an attempt to clear record levels of backlogs. The Home Office said all asylum seekers would still be subject to…
ASYLUM applications in the EU jumped last year after Covid travel curbs were lifted, surging 50 percent over 2021 to the highest level since a 2016 influx of refugees. The preliminary data, from the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA), showed there were nearly one million asylum claims lodged in 2022…
Nearly 200 charities on Tuesday urged the UK's political leaders to "take a clear stand" against attacks on asylum seekers, days after an anti-immigrant protest descended into violent disorder. Clashes broke out when troublemakers disrupted a pro-refugee gathering outside a hotel housing asylum seekers near Liverpool, police said. A far-right,…
UK police on Sunday charged a teenager with violent disorder and assault after an anti-immigrant demonstration at a hotel housing asylum seekers, which saw protesters throw fireworks and set alight a police van. Merseyside Police said they had charged 19-year-old Jarad Skeete over the beating of an emergency worker, after…
British police said on Saturday (11) 15 people, including a 13-year-old child, had been arrested after a protest by crowds outside a hotel housing asylum seekers turned violent, causing injuries and a police van being set on fire. Offenders threw missiles including lit fireworks at police officers following an initially…
UK police have arrested three people on suspicion of violent disorder during an anti-immigration protest by far-right protesters outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers near Liverpool. Merseyside Police said "missiles" had been thrown at officers and a police vehicle was damaged but no injuries were reported after several…
PRIME MINISTERS are rarely short of advice. Few can ever have received quite so much of it as Rishi Sunak as he completes 100 days in office. There are now seven living former prime ministers, for the first time ever, compared to just three when Gordon Brown was in power.…
Britain wants to tackle the issue of migrants arriving in small boats while remaining compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said on Monday. The Sunday Times cited officials saying Sunak might consider leaving the ECHR if the British law were challenged by…
Britain's Home Office has said that Indians are the third-largest contingent of migrants who crossed the Channel this year, reported The Times. According to reports, as many as 250 Indian migrants crossed the Channel in small boats this year. The report added that Indian students now use a loophole that…
“I WAS clear when Wendy Williams published her Windrush Lessons Learned review that I would listen and act. I will be accepting the recommendations she has made in full”. That was what home secretary Priti Patel told the Commons three years ago. But last week, her successor, Suella Braverman, withdrew…
Britain's government Monday enacted new measures to accelerate the deportation of foreign criminals, clamping down on some who have claimed protection under UK law as purported victims of "modern slavery". It cited the case of one convicted rapist who appealed against a decision by the Home Office (interior ministry) to…
IN HER quest to carve a space for Asians in UK’s art world, photographic artist Arpita Shah hopes to elicit and celebrate the country’s multicultural history, with a focus on south Asian female identity. Commissioned by Birmingham-based arts organisation GRAIN Projects and funded by Arts Council England and Birmingham City…
Two hundred asylum-seeking children, including some aged under 16, are missing from temporary hotel accommodation in Britain, the government said on Tuesday, raising new questions over ministers' handling of migrant arrivals. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government is under pressure on two fronts over immigration: from those who say he is…
A perv who sexually assaulted a teenager has been jailed for one year at Hull Magistrates Court on December 1. Mahmood Noor Ibrahim, 39, was tracked down by the victim's mother soon after the incident, reported Birmingham Mail. He will also be registered as a sex offender for 10 years…
DOWNING STREET had a make-over last week. There were hanging lanterns in the staircases alongside the portraits of former prime ministers. Cherry blossom and auspicious orchids decorated the reception rooms. Rishi Sunak was celebrating Lunar New Year, noting that the year of the rabbit’s traditional association with peace and prosperity…
London’s High Court on Monday granted permission to a group of asylum seekers to appeal against a ruling that Britain’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda is lawful. Judges Clive Lewis and Jonathan Swift allowed a bid to take a legal challenge over Britain’s policy to the Court of Appeal.…
TWO years is a long time in politics, but only a short time in government. That challenge of political pace-making presented different dilemmas to Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, as the prime minister and Labour leader, respectively, gave keynote speeches last week to kickstart the penultimate year of this…
The Biden administration has proposed a massive hike in immigration fees, including the much sought-after H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers which is very popular among Indian tech professionals. Under the proposed rule, published by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Wednesday (4), the application for the H-1B…
Sri Lanka's ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country in July last year and then returned after nearly two months, has applied for restoration of his US citizenship after he failed to get asylum in any country, according to a media report. However, the US government is yet to…
Rishi Sunak struck a cautious note with his first New Year message as British Prime Minister on Saturday (31) as he warned that the UK’s problems won’t go away in 2023, at the end of an “tough” 12 months. The 42-year-old Indian-origin leader, who took charge as the UK’s Prime…
A UK Border Force official was arrested after concerns were raised over the legal status of the official who arrived the UK 20 years ago. The Home Office suspended the official who is believed to be in his late 30s, according to reports. He arrived the country from the Balkans…
The White House on Monday accused Texas Governor Greg Abbott of endangering lives after busloads of migrants from the southwest border in Texas were dropped near Vice President Kamala Harris' home in Washington, D.C., on a cold Christmas Eve. The Republican Abbott, a vocal critic of Biden administration immigration policies,…
Asylum seekers in the UK are set to get a 10 per cent jump in their subsistence allowance to compensate for high inflation after the high court in London admonished Home Secretary Suella Braverman for failing to fulfil her obligations. The increase will mean asylum seekers will get £45 a…
Leicester’s bishop Martyn Snow said the recent unrest in the East Midlands city demonstrated the need for “robust strategies” to support migrant integration. In his first address to the House of Lords during a debate on Britain’s asylum and refugee policy, he said it was “naive” to assume that “cohesive…
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has said he is “determined” to tackle the migrant crisis which is eating into the UK’s taxpayers’ money.As the number of migrants and asylum seekers illegally crossing the English Channel in small boats has already reached record levels, the government’s policy to deport them to Rwanda…
Britain’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda is lawful, London’s High Court ruled on Monday but upheld eight asylum seekers' individual legal challenges. The policy, which was announced in April, would involve Britain sending tens of thousands of migrants who arrive on its shores more than 4,000 miles away (6,4000…
Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Wednesday pledged to work hard to destroy the business model of "people smugglers" after the deaths of four migrants attempting to cross the English Channel to reach the UK border illegally in a small boat. As a major search and rescue operation was mounted,…
Britain on Tuesday (13) said it planned to bring in new legislation to prevent migrants who cross the English Channel from remaining in the country, as the government tries to control a surge in people arriving in small boats on its southern coast. The number of people arriving in England…
2022 was a year when decades happened. The year of three Prime Ministers and a Royal funeral, war in Europe and recession at home could fill many pages in the future history books. Boris Johnson was sure he could survive the pressure over rule-breaking in Downing Street. For six months,…
The convicted ringleader of a "large-scale" Kurdish people-smuggling gang, who is currently on the run, was on Friday sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison, Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Tarik Namik, 45, of Oldham near Manchester, northwest England, headed a "sophisticated, lucrative criminal enterprise" bringing Kurdish migrants…
Only four people who left Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power in the country have been resettled in the UK, official figures revealed amid the criticism of London’s “cold shoulder” to Afghans who “served British interests”. The government attributed the low number to challenges it faced in ensuring safe passage…
The United Nations refugee agency has criticised a centre-right think tank’s hardline report supported by Home Secretary Suella Braverman that proposed permanent detention of asylum seekers entering the UK illegally. The Centre for Policy Studies paper with the home secretary’s foreword called for barring migrants arriving in Britain illegally from…
Home secretary Suella Braverman has said the UK will bring operational and legislative changes to stop illegal migrants from abusing the asylum system.“We are finalising our plan”, she said without specifics in her foreword to a Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) report which proposes “indefinite detention” of all asylum seekers…
Many ethnic minority residents of Belfast including Asians have continued to experience “racism, isolation and poverty” impacting their social and personal life, new research has revealed. Researchers, who interviewed more than 100 people from black, Asian, minority ethnic and Traveller communities, found there were inequalities across education, work and access…
Britain’s former counter-terrorism head Neil Basu has criticised home secretary Suella Braverman’s “inexplicable” and “horrific” comments on migrants, drawing a parallel between her remarks and the ‘rivers of blood’ speech. “I find some of the commentary coming out of the Home Office inexplicable,” the most senior British Asian police officer…
The UK's most senior police officer of colour has said the duchess of Sussex faced "disgusting" threats to her life during her time in the royal family. Neil Basu said that as head of counter-terrorism, he had to deal with credible threats from far-right extremists against Meghan Markle and her…
According to health officials, compared to a single case of diphtheria in 2020, there have now been 50 confirmed cases of the disease discovered in migrants in the UK since the start of 2022. The 50 cases of this disease this year is a significant increase from last year, as…
Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai has fervently urged the UK government to “step forward more boldly” to support girls’ education and gender equality in Afghanistan. At the Action for Afghanistan rally in central London on Sunday, she accused world leader of going “silent” over the gender discrimination in the…
Conservative backbenchers have urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to make changes to modern slavery laws to enable the UK to send back “bogus” asylum seekers to their home countries easily.More than 50 Tory MPs including former minister David Davis and 1922 committee chair Graham Brady have written to Sunak saying…
An Asylum seeker has been sentenced for stalking and burglary after he terrified his victim by repeatedly calling her and threatening to burn down her house, according to a report. The Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that Noor Muhammed, 22, of Corporation Street, Stoke, became infatuated with a woman and even…
UK home secretary Suella Braverman has blamed asylum seekers for dangerous overcrowding at a migrant processing centre in Kent and denied responsibility for the crisis. The British government was under pressure over conditions at the site at Manston in Kent, which is operating at more than double its capacity, with…
This week marks the first anniversary of the biggest human tragedy in the English Channel for decades. On 24th November last year, a fishing boat spotted dozens of bodies floating in the icy water. A rubber dinghy had left the French coast the previous evening but capsized before reaching England.…
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said a new deal with France to tackle illegal migration across the Channel would "make a difference", but the numbers making the perilous crossing would not go down overnight. "I'm confident that we can get the numbers down but I also want to be honest…
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Monday signed a new agreement with neighbouring France, which will see enhanced French patrols to curb the rising number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel into England in dangerous small boats. The Indian-origin minister is in France to finalise the new arrangement, which…
Ten million people who were born abroad live in Britain today. The Office of National Statistics tells the story of the ten million in numbers. Foreign-born residents rose from 7.5 million, 13.4% of the population, to 16.8%, almost one in six. Just over a third, 3.6 million, came from the…
The government must embrace immigrants who take risks setting up businesses, create jobs, and contribute billions of pounds to Britain’s economy. That is the call from MPs and business leaders who have spoken to Eastern Eye. They have told this newspaper that the home secretary, Suella Braverman, should be ashamed…
Having begun his premiership with a public pledge to put integrity, professionalism and accountability at the heart of his government, Rishi Sunak’s decision to reappoint Suella Braverman as his Home Secretary, just a week after her resignation, plunged his government into its first major controversy. This was the deal that…
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his cabinet on Tuesday that the country is a compassionate and welcoming place for asylum seekers, but this is dependent on the country being able to effectively police its borders, his spokesman said. The Home Secretary Suella Braverman faced heavy criticism on Tuesday for…
British Home Secretary Suella Braverman faced heavy criticism on Tuesday for describing the arrival of asylum seekers as an invasion, with lawmakers across the political spectrum warning of the risk of using inflammatory language. Her comments came a day after a man used firebombs to attack an immigration processing centre…
An attacker on Sunday threw firebombs at an immigration office used to process asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats and was later found dead. The attack came as the government seeks to curb record arrivals. Kent Police said that on Sunday morning "two or three incendiary devices" were…
A lawmaker from the opposition Labour party in UK has sparked online outrage after claiming Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister is 'not a win for Asian representation' as he is immensely rich, according to reports. Nottingham MP Nadia Whittome said that Sunak was 'not on your side' as Britain’s first…
Since entering the contest to be British prime minister, Rishi Sunak has said little publicly about how he intends to run the country and how he would address multiple economic and political crises. Sunak ran unsuccessfully to be prime minister earlier this year, setting out a full policy platform. Although…
The British government is preparing a Rwanda-style plan to deport Tamil refugees seeking asylum from the British-claimed Chagos Islands to an undisclosed country, according to reports. Asylum seekers were told by government lawyers that they can either go back to Sri Lanka or to a third country, The Guardian reported.…
The Truss experiment is over. Her premiership may now prove the shortest in modern history. Yet its legacy in shifting the tectonic plates of British politics might endure for much longer. The mini-budget, pitched as an audacious break with Treasury orthodoxy, proved a reckless gamble. Its result was the triple…
Home secretary Suella Braverman is considering strengthening legislation to further deter companies from employing illegal migrants, a media report said as Britain grapples with a wave of asylum seekers crossing the English Channel dangerously. Under the existing laws, employers hiring illegal migrants can be jailed for five years and fined…
Britain’s Indian-origin Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has blamed the recent “riots” in Leicester following an India-Pakistan cricket match on uncontrolled migration into the UK and the failure of newcomers to integrate. In her first speech since being appointed home minister at the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday…
British interior minister Suella Braverman will set out plans on Tuesday for new powers which would ban migrants who cross the English Channel from claiming asylum, a government source said. The government has been under pressure to deal with the rising number of people making dangerous journeys despite plans to…
British home secretary Suella Braverman may ensure suspects anonymity before they are charged in a radical change to the existing criminal justice system, according to reports. The minister told a Young Conservatives event on Monday (3) that the government is considering such a proposal due to concern over the identification…
Britain’s home secretary Suella Braverman is pursuing a stalled deal with France that would allow joint patrols of beaches in northern France to prevent illegal migrants from taking small boats to the UK. Negotiations between London and Paris on tackling the English Channel crisis were reportedly derailed following Liz Truss’…
Britain has intercepted more than 1100 migrants illegally crossing the English Channel, taking the total number of people making such journeys to the UK well past 31,000 so far this year. According to the Ministry of Defence, 1,150 people travelling in 21 small boats were detected on Thursday. The figure…
A double agent believed to be involved in the trafficking of Shamima Begum and two other British teenage schoolgirls into Syria is likely to be granted political asylum in Canada following his release from Turkish jail on August 5, media reports said. Mohammed al-Rashed, recruited by Canadian Security Intelligence Service…
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took credit Thursday for sending two planeloads of undocumented Venezuelans from Texas to wealthy Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, as Republicans play up immigration issues before November midterm elections. Around 50 of the migrants, including children, landed Wednesday on the island, where Democratic presidents from John F. Kennedy…
Five people were arrested in Rome and Brussels for smuggling migrants from Turkey to western Europe via private jet in trips costing around 10,000 euros ($10,000), Italian police said Wednesday (14). The suspects, held on warrants issued by Belgian authorities, are accused of belonging to a criminal organisation aimed at…
Iran has handed down capital punishment to two female gay rights activists for “promoting homosexuality” on social media. Zahra Sedighi Hamedani and Elham Chubdar were convicted of "spreading corruption on earth" - a charge the Hengaw Kurdish rights organisation said was often imposed on people deemed to have broken the…
The makers of the much-awaited sequel to Todd Philips’ Oscar-nominated film Joker, which has been officially titled Joker: Folie a Deux, have added Get Out star Catherine Keener to the ensemble cast of the film in a mystery role. The musical sequel already features Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) and Lady Gaga…
Liz Truss, Britain's next prime minister, is expected to begin making key ministerial appointments soon after her formal appointment as leader on Tuesday. Below is a brief overview of the people likely to serve in key roles in her government. FINANCE MINISTER - KWASI KWARTENG Truss is expected to appoint…
BRITAIN will not get its first Asian prime minister next week, unless every prediction and poll has got it wrong. Former chancellor and Tory leadership candidate Rishi Sunak found himself in the wrong economy at the wrong time. Though he was Britain’s most popular chancellor earlier in the pandemic, the…
Greater Manchester’s Rochdale borough council has urged the government to evenly distribute asylum seekers across the country to ensure that no area is overburdened. In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, council leader Neil Emmott took serious exception to the shifting of migrants into hotels in the borough against…
A new book has claimed that Shamima Begum was smuggled into Syria by a Canadian spy to join Daesh (Islamic State group), according to media reports. The book 'The Secret History of the Five Eyes' by Richard Kerbaj has accused Canada of withholding information about Begum's whereabouts while the Metropolitan…
The Home Office spent more than £2.5 million this year to charter boats and crew from private offshore companies to help it intercept migrants attempting to cross the English Channel, media reports said. Contract disclosures reported by the Guardian showed that Aeolian Offshore, which works with the offshore wind industry,…
While the government is grappling with the issue of migrants illegally crossing the English Channel, Albanians are sneaking into the UK via Ireland exploiting the porous border between the two countries. All Albanians have to do to reach Britain is to get fake European Union identity documents and fly to…
EXPLORING the struggles of a gay Asian Muslim asylum seeker in modern Britain is the central theme in the Bush Theatre’s new work, The P Word, the playwright has said. It charts the parallel lives of two gay Pakistani men – Zafar, who flees homophobic persecution in Pakistan to seek…
Albanian police will be brought to the Kent coast to provide the UK authorities with intelligence and to help processing and removal of migrants. Britain on Thursday (25) said it would work with the southern European country to quickly process and repatriate the large number of Albanians who cross the…
Britain forcibly removed just 21 “inadmissible” asylum seekers to “safe third countries” in the first 18 months after it formally left the European Union, new data showed, as the influx of migrants illegally reaching the UK’s shores continued.The government said close to 16,000 asylum seekers whose claims were declared “inadmissible”…
EVERYONE now expects Westminster’s Game of Thrones to end with foreign secretary Liz Truss wearing the crown. The former chancellor and her opponent, Rishi Sunak, embraces his underdog status and pledges to fight to the end. The candidates’ fates are now sealed in the returned but unopened ballot papers. Top…
UK home secretary Priti Patel has made it clear that she wants to stay on in the role under the new leader, media reports said. She claimed that her 'record speaks volumes', adding that it's up to the next prime minister to take the decision. Boris Johnson’s successor will be…
British home secretary Priti Patel has signed a deal with Pakistan to deport criminals and failed asylum seekers to their home country. The Returns Agreement was signed by Patel and Pakistan home secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar and the country's High Commissioner to the UK, Moazzam Ahmad Khan in London last…
UK Home Office has said that more than 50 migrants over 30 years were registered as children after lying about their age upon their arrival in Britain in the past decade. Data obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) laws has revealed that a total of 52 managed to slip through initial…
UK High Court heard that Foreign Office officials have tried to block the Rwanda asylum plan over alleged 'torture and killings' in the African nation, media reports said. A government adviser raised concerns about Rwanda's human rights record weeks before the British government tried to send asylum seekers to the country, The…
The Royal Navy will stop migrant patrols on January 31 next year and will hand over operational control to Border Force, according to a media report. The Ministry of Defence has conveyed its plans in this regard to ministers, The Telegraph reported. Currently, the Navy coordinates Border Force and Coastguard…
Housed in a detention centre in southern England, Aladeen says he risked his life to travel thousands of miles from his homeland of Syria to escape being forced to fight in the military of President Bashar al-Assad. Now the 21-year-old is battling to stay in Britain and avoid being sent…
At least 20,000 people have illegally crossed the English Channel in small boats this year, almost double the amount that had made the crossing last year at this point, government figures showed Sunday. Another 607 people were detected crossing the busy shipping lane between the UK and continental Europe on…
Salman Rushdie was on a ventilator with a damaged liver and may lose one of his eyes after the Mumbai-born controversial author was stabbed in the neck and abdomen by a man on stage at a literary event in upstate New York. Rushdie, who faced Islamist death threats for years…
British attorney general has voiced her concerns against the European court of human rights, saying that extricating the UK from the influence of the court should be a ‘national priority’. Suella Braverman has also urged ministers to take 'radical action' to counter the influence of the ECHR, an international convention to…
The UK government will no longer try to house asylum seekers in a disused air force base in northern England following a backlash from local residents, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Tuesday (9). The home ministry had planned to place up to 1,500 asylum seekers at the site in the…
TRAFFICKERS are offering a TikTok 'summer sale' for a journey across the English Channel for migrants as the rate has been reduced to £3,500 per person from £5,000 earlier, it has emerged. This has resulted in an increase in channel crossings in recent weeks as another estimated 300 migrants reached…
Cricket comes easy to South Asian blood and Adnan Miakhel is no exception. The teen, who is obsessed with the sport, played on the dusty backstreets of his country Afghanistan with whatever he could get. As he bowled with a tennis ball for hours and made a bat out of…
The Home Office in the UK and the Ministry of Justice have created a new plan to monitor foreign offenders in the country. Under the plan, migrants convicted of crimes need to wear facial recognition smartwatches and should take photos up to five times a day, the Guardian reported. With…
Fifty years ago, dictator Idi Amin announced his intention to expel Uganda's thriving community of British South Asians. They were given 90 days to leave, or be rounded up in concentration camps. More than 27,000 ethnic Indian and Pakistani holders of UK passports made their way to Britain, which reluctantly…
Almost 700 migrants and asylum seekers crossed the Channel to Britain in a single day this week, a new record for the year, the UK government said Tuesday. The latest arrivals suggest the government's controversial policy to deport those attempting the dangerous crossing to Rwanda has so far failed to…
The Attorney General has warned government lawyers against dismissing policies as unlawful, according to a report. Last week, Suella Braverman asked lawyers to give a percentage chance that some policies may be challenged instead of rejecting them in full, The Telegraph revealed. The latest guidance is in the wake of…
MY FAMILY and I have been staunch Tory supporters for the past 40 years. Former chancellor Rishi Sunak is like Margaret Thatcher, willing to work hard and determined to put in the effort until he reaches the top. He is fiscally disciplined by way of economic background and has the…
LIZ TRUSS or Rishi Sunak will become Britain’s next prime minister in September. A fierce ‘blue on blue’ contest is underway, though the two candidates actually have much in common. As Boris Johnson’s foreign secretary and chancellor, respectively, they were the more experienced leadership candidates against insurgent rivals. Both are…
TORY leadership candidate Rishi Sunak has pledged to fix the 'broken' immigration system in the UK and added that he will make tackling Channel crossings a priority in his first 100 days if he becomes the prime minister, reports said. He also declared plans to introduce an annual cap on…
Rwanda can accommodate up to 200 migrants from the UK, Kigali said, in contrast to the British government’s claim that thousands of asylum seekers illegally crossing the English Channel would be deported to the east African nation.Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said Hope Hostel in Kigali was the only facility…
EXPERTS described the Dutch plan to house refugees arriving in the country on cruise ships as 'absurd and illegal', according to reports. The UNHCR Netherlands has also condemned the move as 'unacceptable'. In a controversial move, three large ships were commissioned by the Netherlands government commissioned for refugees. Reports revealed that…
An independent border inspection has slammed Britain's handling of migrants who arrive by small boats from France, calling it unacceptable, ineffective and inefficient.The number of people attempting the dangerous crossing over the Channel to enter Britain has risen sharply. The government is facing criticism from some quarters that border controls…
The race to succeed Boris Johnson as British prime minister was on Wednesday (20) reduced to the final two candidates, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, who will go forward for a summer of campaigning to win over the around 200,000 Conservative Party members who make the final decision. Below is…
BRITISH officials repeatedly warned the government not to pursue its plan to send migrants to Rwanda and the country was initially excluded from the shortlist of partner countries because of human rights concerns, London's High Court was told. Under an agreement struck in April, Britain will send tens of thousands…
The UK government’s headline-making Rwanda plan to relocate migrants has not stemmed the illegal movement of asylum-seekers across the English Channel, a parliamentary report has said, calling for greater clarity in the policy. The report, titled ‘Channel Crossings, Migration and Asylum’, has come up with figures to substantiate its observation…
Senior Conservative parliamentarians have told Eastern Eye the country is ready for its first south Asian prime minister. They believe the days of the Tories being considered as the “nasty and racist” party are over. Four candidates of colour were among the eight nominated in the leadership race as Eastern…
Home secretary Priti Patel declined to attend a hearing of the Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday, citing the “recent changes in Government”.She was expected to face tough questions on the UK’s controversial policy on asylum seekers from the cross-party parliamentary committee which scrutinises the work of the Home Office and…
BRITISH athlete Sir Mo Farah has revealed that he was a victim of human trafficking as a child. The six-time world outdoor champion said even the name that appears in the record books is wrong. He is Hussein Abdi Kahin. It will be interesting to know what will happen to…
Olympic great Mo Farah won praise from across Britain's political spectrum Tuesday after the shock revelation that he was illegally trafficked as a child to the country and forced to work in domestic servitude.The 39-year-old distance runner, one of Britain's best-loved and most successful athletes, told a BBC documentary that…
Former Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya, who is based in Britain for over five years, Monday, expressed his disappointment at the Supreme Court verdict sentencing him to four months in a contempt case. The 66-year-old UK-based businessman did not comment further on the verdict handed down by a top court…
Britain's new prime minister will be announced on Sept. 5, with the first votes to begin eliminating candidates in a crowded and increasingly unpredictable and divisive contest to replace Boris Johnson coming this week. So far 11 candidates have thrown their hats in the ring to succeed Johnson as leader…
OLYMPIC great Mo Farah was illegally trafficked to Britain at the age of nine from Djibouti and forced to work as a child servant, he has revealed, saying his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin. The distance runner was flown to the UK from the east African country aged eight…
The race to succeed Boris Johnson as British prime minister has begun, with 11 candidates so far putting themselves forward for a contest which will ultimately be decided by around 200,000 Conservative Party members.Below is what the bookmakers' top three favourites have said on key issues:RISHI SUNAK - Current favouriteOn…
Prime minister Boris Johnson certainly went down fighting. Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak had decided that enough was enough, resigning last week from the Cabinet over Downing Street’s inability to tell the truth. Fifty ministerial resignations later, the refusal of the prime minister to accept that the game was up…
IN a major development, the Royal Navy has threatened to ‘walk away’ from Boris Johnson and Priti Patel’s plan to end Channel crossings, according to a report. The Guardian reported that defence chiefs are unhappy over the rapidly imploding plan of using the military to control small boats in the…
Priti Patel may be moved “sideways” from Home Office to being Conservatives Party chief to replace Oliver Dowden whose resignation has taken the Tories by surprise.Dowden put in his papers as the Conservatives chair earlier this week after the ruling party suffered crushing defeats in the by-elections to two parliamentary…
THE UK government introduced legislation allowing it to override rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), after a judge in Strasbourg blocked flights removing asylum seekers to Rwanda. Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab said the new 'Bill of Rights' would 'restore a healthy dose of common sense' to…
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday defended his controversial deal to expel migrants to Rwanda, telling critics to "keep an open mind". On the first day of a trip to Kigali -- which is hosting a Commonwealth summit this week -- he also heaped praise on Rwandan President Paul…
FOLLOWING high drama last week, a group of frightened, traumatised men seeking asylum in the UK received a last-minute reprieve from being shipped thousands of miles across the globe to Rwanda. But even with a legal injunction from the European Court of Human Rights, the UK government still hopes to…
BRITISH prime minister Boris Johnson said he was looking forward to visiting Rwanda on Thursday (23) to help people shed their "condescending attitudes" to Rwanda after criticism of the government's plans to deport asylum seekers to the country. Johnson will meet with Prince Charles in Kigali on Friday (24) on…
Britain will begin legislating on Wednesday for a new Bill of Rights to give the government the power to ignore rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which last week blocked ministers' plans to send migrants to Rwanda.Last Tuesday, the ECHR issued last minute injunctions to prevent a…
BRITISH prime minister Boris Johnson has defended government plans to electronically tag some asylum seekers who arrive in the UK in small boats or lorries, reports said. Earlier this week, the Home Office published guidance on a 12-month pilot using electronic tagging to monitor individuals who arrive in the country…
BY her own admission, home secretary Priti Patel's hard line on immigration would have stopped her own parents coming to Britain but it has made her a darling of the right. However, she is now in danger of alienating her conservative base after her plan to deter illegal crossings of…
Rwanda insisted Wednesday it was still ready to take in asylum seekers being deported by the UK under a controversial deal after a first flight was cancelled following a court injunction."We are not deterred by these developments. Rwanda remains fully committed to making this partnership work," government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo…
Britain's government cannot give a fixed date for when it will first be able to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, deputy prime minister and justice secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday.Britain's initial attempt to deport asylum seekers - part of a policy designed to deter dangerous sea crossings of the…
A European court ruling sparked an embarrassing climbdown for the British government by forcing the cancellation of Britain's first deportation flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda. The British government expressed fury at the decision. But it is legally obliged to implement rulings by the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights…
Britain is confident it can overcome legal challenges to its bid to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda following a last minute intervention by European judges that grounded the first flight minutes before it was due to depart late on Tuesday.The government had been forced to fight a series of legal…
THE UK government on Tuesday (14) defended its controversial policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, even as the entire senior leadership of the Church of England branded it shameful and immoral. According to Daily Mail, opening Cabinet this morning, prime minister Boris Johnson said, "What is happening with the…
SENIOR leaders at the Church of England have called the Home Office's plan to deport migrants to Rwanda 'immoral'. The Most Rev Justin Welby and the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, the senior leaders, alongside 23 bishops criticised the plan. "Whether or not the first deportation flight leaves Britain today for…
Oscar-winner Lady Gaga is in early negotiations to play Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie a Deux, reportedly billed as a “musical” follow-up to director Todd Phillips’ 2019 blockbuster. Last week, the filmmaker confirmed the sequel to Joker in an Instagram post, which also revealed that Joaquin Phoenix, who played the…
BRITAIN expects the first flight of asylum seekers to depart for Rwanda on Tuesday (14) and any person who avoids that flight due to legal proceedings will be put on a later one, foreign secretary Liz Truss said. London's High Court is due to hear final legal challenges against the…
London's courts will hear two last-minute legal challenges on Monday to block the British government's controversial policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda before the first removal flight scheduled to leave on Tuesday.Britain has agreed a deal with Rwanda to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda in return for an…
Britain's Prince Charles has called the government's plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda "appalling", a report said Saturday after it cleared a legal challenge. The UK government intends to fly the first planeload of 31 claimants to Rwanda on Tuesday -- shortly before Charles is due to represent his mother…
The British government's controversial plan to send migrants arriving illegally in Britain to Rwanda is unsafe and irrational, lawyers seeking an injunction to stop the first planned deportations told the High Court in London on Friday. The government announced in April it had struck a deal to send potentially tens…
Britain's government overcame a legal challenge to its controversial policy to begin deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda as the High Court dismissed campaigners' attempts to win an injunction and said the first flight could leave next week.Charities and a trade union had launched a challenge earlier this week against the…
As Britain pushes ahead with plans to send migrants to Rwanda, Hadi, a gay asylum-seeker who fled Iraq, said he would rather be sentenced to death.Under a controversial law passed in April, the UK plans to send asylum-seekers deemed to have arrived illegally on British soil to Rwanda, an East…
CAMPAIGNERS on Wednesday (8) launched a court bid to block the UK government's plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as it attempts to stop migrant boat crossings from France. The government in London said last month that it intends to fly a first planeload of asylum-seekers to Rwanda on…
More than a dozen asylum seekers detained in southeast England reportedly went on a hunger strike after it was revealed that they would be sent to Rwanda as part of the UK government’s border control measure.Britain last week said it intended to fly a first planeload of asylum-seekers to Rwanda…
The team has developed a normative framework which highlights that the prevailing international law is barely adequate to protect the entire class of forcibly-displaced people. The research has also been published in the reputed peer-reviewed journal WIRES Climate Change. According to officials, with climate change intensifying the push to migrate,…
BRITAIN aims to send a first group of asylum seekers to Rwanda in two weeks' time as part of a policy which the government says is designed to break people-smuggling networks and stem the flow of migrants across the Channel.In April, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government announced plans to send…
THE first batch of asylum seekers sent to Rwanda from the UK under a controversial new deal will likely arrive in the East African nation "in the next few weeks", officials in Kigali said. Since being announced last month, the agreement enabling Britain to send migrants and asylum seekers to…
UK home secretary has said that a series of last-minute legal challenges have helped more than 100 killers, rapists and paedophiles to avoid deportation to Jamaica, according to a media report. Priti Patel called the claims 'meritless' and blasted ‘political interventions’ for stopping the deportations, reported the MailOnline. It is…
AN AFGHAN asylum seeker, now jailed for violent attacks in London, had managed to return to the UK despite being sent back to his country twice.Morteza Ahmadi was on Friday (13) sentenced to 13 years in prison and a further five years on extended licence for sexually assaulting two women…
TWO major charities have raised red flags over Britain’s controversial plans to deport unauthorised immigrants reaching its shores to Rwanda.Under the new scheme announced by prime minister Boris Johnson, people claiming asylum in the UK are to be relocated to Rwanda, where their cases will be processed. If they are…
A FASCIST group co-founder has said he wants to see a pre-World War era Britain when it was “overwhelmingly white”. Alex Davies, who set up the now-proscribed outfit NS131, told Winchester Crown Court that his goal can be achieved by "compulsorily deporting" ethnic minorities from the UK “along the lines…
THREE-QUARTERS of asylum seekers in northern France said that they would still try to cross the Channel in small boats, according to a survey. The survey of more than 60 asylum seekers in Calais and Dunkirk was carried out by the charity Care4Calais, which provides practical support to asylum seekers…
MIGRANT women from south Asia are being sexually exploited due to being in legal limbo in the UK over their immigration status, charities have warned. They have supported victims who have been pressured into intimate relationships with an employer or landlord who have threatened with reporting them to the Home…
An asylum reform bill proposed by the British government is set to become law after overcoming a final hurdle in parliament on Wednesday. The House of Lords, the upper house of the British parliament, passed the bill and rejected a last-minute amendment to the text, meaning it will now become…
ACTOR Riz Ahmed has branded the UK government’s nationality and borders bill as “racist” and “immoral” in a video. Last week, Conservative MPs rejected amendments to the bill proposed by the House Of Lords which would have softened some of its measures. In a video posted on Twitter, Ahmed called for…
BRITISH home secretary Priti Patel has slammed the critics of her government’s controversial immigration deal with Rwanda and the BBC’s “xenophobic” overtones in reporting the matter.She was "taken aback" by the tone of BBC journalists' references to Rwanda after the agreement with the African country was announced, she told The…
Rwandan President Paul Kagame said Kigali was not "trading in human beings" when it agreed to a controversial deal allowing Britain to send migrants and asylum seekers to his country. The agreement announced last week has attracted a chorus of criticism from rights groups, opposition figures in Britain and Rwanda…
IT HAS been called illegal, immoral, and unworkable. So what does the UK government’s Memorandum of Agreement with Rwanda actually say, what are its stated objectives and what is the politics behind it? The agreement is about “the prevention and combating of illegally facilitated and unlawful cross-border migration by establishing…
PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson on Tuesday (19) apologised to MPs after he became the first British leader fined for breaking the law, but faced opposition calls to quit for the sake of integrity in politics. Addressing parliament for the first time since the April 12 fine, he reiterated that he…
BRITISH prime minister Boris Johnson will face angry lawmakers on Tuesday (19) for the first time since being fined for breaking his own coronavirus laws by attending a party at his Downing Street office.An embattled Johnson last week became the first modern British leader to be fined for breaking the…
Britain's prime minister said Rwanda is well-equipped to 'resettle' migrants and asylum-seekers to the UK despite some human rights groups describing the project as 'inhumane'. The controversial deal, announced on Thursday, is part of the government's strategy to clamp down on record numbers of people making the perilous journey across…
Rwanda has inked a multi-million-dollar deal with Britain to host asylum-seekers and migrants to the UK, the East African country announced on Thursday, as part of the British government's bid to crack down on illegal migration. "Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum seekers and migrants,…
LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer has defended his record on tackling Islamophobia, after a senior Newcastle councillor was suspended from the party for alleging a “Muslim plot”, writes Daniel Holland. It emerged last week that Joyce McCarty had asserted in a text message that Muslim councillors in the West End had…
INDIA’S hospitality technology platform OYO on Tuesday (22) said it will offer free accommodation to refugees fleeing Ukraine.Starting with Poland, the company has initiated efforts to appeal to its 600-plus Belvilla homeowners on its platform in Poland to open their holiday homes to refugees."These stays will be free for refugees…
After two successful and critically acclaimed seasons of its franchise Abhay, ZEE5 has released the trailer of Abhay 3. Directed by Ken Ghosh and produced by Zee Studios, Abhay S3 stars Kunal Kemmu, Asha Negi, and Nidhi Singh in returning roles and Vijay Raaz, Rahul Dev, Vidya Malvade, Tanuj Virwani,…
The Ukraine war has seen a surge in pro-refugee public sentiment. British Future’s six-monthly tracker of migration attitudes, conducted by Ipsos, offers conclusive evidence that this is underpinned by a long-term softening of attitudes to immigration. Most striking of all is the shift in people’s views on overall numbers. In 2016,…
HALF a century ago, it was the Ugandan Asians who needed sanctuary. Given just 90 days to get out by the dictator Idi Amin, it was not clear where they would go. At the height of the Powellite era, some MPs floated hare-brained schemes to send them all to the…
The much-anticipated Bollywood film Dhaakad, which was earlier scheduled to release in April, will now hit theatres on May 27, 2022. The film stars award-winning actress Kangana Ranaut in the lead role. Arjun Rampal, Divya Dutt, and Saswata Chatterjee also play important characters in it. The action spy thriller marks…
THE BROTHER of the 2017 Manchester suicide bomber and an Iraqi asylum seeker behind a botched London Underground train bombing had their sentences extended on Tuesday (22) after being found guilty of assaulting a prison officer.Hashem Abedi, 24, Ahmed Hassan, 22, and fellow convicted terrorist Muhammed Saeed, 23, were all…
Armed men stormed the home of a high-profile Sri Lankan television journalist critical of the government Monday, police said, sparking condemnation by local media rights groups. Chamuditha Samarawickrama, who had criticised the powerful ruling Rajapaksa family and their allies in recent broadcasts, including on YouTube, was shaken but unhurt after…
THE UK has a proud history of being open to the world. Global Britain continues in that tradition. Our society is enriched by legal migration and we are a better country for it. The Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill, back in the House of Lords and one step closer to…
EMBATTLED Indian businessman Vijay Mallya on Tuesday (18) lost a legal battle to hold on to his London home after a UK court refused to grant him a stay of enforcement in a dispute with the Swiss bank UBS. The 18-19 Cornwall Terrace luxury apartment overlooking Regent's Park in central London is…
AN arms dealer wanted in India on money laundering and tax evasion charges is pursuing a separate legal battle of his own in France over an alleged unpaid cut from a large Indian defence contract dating back more than 10 years, according to a report.Sanjay Bhandari, 59, has filed a…
ANDY MURRAY expressed concern for Novak Djokovic on Sunday (9), saying that other players were shocked and the circumstances surrounding the world number one's barred entry into Australia was "really not good for tennis". The Serb was hoping to win a record 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open later…
By Amit Roy and Sarwar Alam HAVING achieved Brexit, Boris Johnson’s new year’s resolution is to “Get FTA done” – a reference to the Free Trade Agreement that the British prime minister is pursuing with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi. Although no dates have been announced, the international trade secretary…
BRITAIN will seek to stop adults posing as children when claiming asylum by drawing up new scientific assessments to help determine an applicant's age, the government said. Adults were found to be posing as children in two-thirds of claims disputed on the basis of age, the government said citing data…
AN INDEPENDENT advisory panel of the government has favoured lifting the ban on asylum seekers from working in the UK. In its annual report unveiled on Wednesday (16), the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said care workers should be given access to fast-track visas. There was clear evidence of the harm…
THE Home Office has taken a U-turn on its plans to deport a leading Sri Lankan scientist and allowed him and his family to remain in the UK, The Guardian reported. Dr Nadarajah Muhunthan, who has done groundbreaking research into affordable forms of solar energy, and his family faced deportation…
COUNCIL bosses have been trying to hire more school staff from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities to reflect Glasgow’s population better. A meeting heard there has been success in recruiting more diverse workers and efforts are being made to improve their chances of promotion. Most higher earning roles…
British prime minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said he was horrified after at least 27 migrants died trying to cross the Channel from France, offering closer cooperation to tackle criminal gangs behind the practice. "I am shocked, appalled and deeply saddened by the loss of life at sea," he said…
A study has pointed out that the system for assessing who should pay for NHS services “incentivises racial profiling”, The Guardian reported. The study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has said that overstretched NHS staff sometimes racially profiled patients in order to determine who was not “ordinarily resident”…
SEVEN migrants were killed and eight injured in northern Greece after their car overturned as they tried to evade a police roadblock near the Turkish border, police said Friday (19). The six men and one woman were killed in the incident that occurred just after midnight on the highway between…
BANGLADESH'S former chief justice was on Tuesday (9) sentenced in absentia to 11 years in jail for corruption, in a case that opposition groups and supporters say is politically motivated. Surendra Kumar Sinha, 70, headed the Supreme Court when it ruled in 2017 that parliament could not sack judges, a…
A BANGLADESHI man who endured modern slavery and abuse from his father-in-law after being trafficked into the UK is now studying law to help asylum seekers. Mominul Hamid was tricked into an arranged marriage in Bangladesh with the promise of spousal documents that would help him travel to the UK…
A Sri Lankan scientist is facing deportation with his family after receiving contradictory information about his case from the Home Office, The Guardian reported. Dr Nadarajah Muhunthan, 47, his wife Sharmila, 42, and their three children, aged 13, nine and five, came to the UK in 2018 after Muhunthan, who…
BRITISH home secretary will now have powers to impose visa penalties on countries who do not take back failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals. Priti Patel could now be able to suspend visa applications from those countries, impose a £190 surcharge on their applications or increase visa processing time. The…
LEGENDARY Bollywood actress Asha Parekh will receive warm wishes from around the world when she celebrates her 79th birthday on October 2. One of the greatest leading ladies of all time was nicknamed the hit girl because she appeared in many blockbusters. To mark the marvellous movie icon turning a…
EMMA RADUCANU'S US Open victory is above all else an astonishing sporting triumph. To seize such a glittering prize by playing a flawless tournament shows an almost limitless potential to become a sporting legend. How far that is fulfilled is a future unknown, but she has already guaranteed herself a…
Politicians urge ministers to help Britons with relatives seeking to flee Taliban rule MPs HAVE revealed that they have been flooded with pleas from Britons to help evacuate their relatives from Afghanistan to escape the Taliban. Britain’s last military flight left Kabul at the end of August after helping more…
THE Blackburn-based Adhan Group has bought Preston’s St George’s Shopping Centre. The firm, founded by Salim Patel in 2003, paid an undisclosed sum for the city centre retail complex which opened in 1964. The Adhan Group – whose headquarters is in Preston New Road, Blackburn – set up a new…
DERBY “stands ready to help” Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban, with a city leader saying it welcomes them with open arms. Afghanistan is in the midst of a crisis, with the Taliban taking control of the country for the first time in 20 years. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan residents…
BRITAIN said on Friday (27) that it plans to complete its airlifts out of Afghanistan "in a matter of hours" as the frenzied evacuation effort out of Kabul airport draws to a close. "We will process those people that we have brought with us, the 1,000 people approximately inside the…
HOME SECRETARY Priti Patel has appointed former counter-terror police chief as the head of immigration enforcement after Channel migrant crossings hit new daily high, reported The Telegraph. Tony Eastaugh has been appointed as the new "interim" director general of immigration enforcement. Eastaugh will replace Tyson Hepple, who has spent nearly…
BRITAIN on Monday (16) announced it will soon launch a resettlement scheme for Afghans amid growing pressure to create a safe route for refugees from Afghanistan as the Taliban seized control of the country on Sunday (15). The government’s resettlement plans for asylum-seeking Afghans will be separate from the…
INDIA does not support any action by the international community that could cause further destablisation in Myanmar, India's permanent representative to the UN and president of UN Security Council for August ambassador T S Tirumurti said. Any instability in the Southeast Asian country will directly affect India, he said. The…
Tribute to British journalist and honorary Bangladeshi citizen Simon YOUNGER Asians born and brought up in Britain may not have heard of the British journalist Simon Dring, who died on July 16, at the age of 76. But for those who want to understand the circumstances leading to the secession…
A REFUGEE, who arrived in Britain after Ugandan dictator Idi Amin expelled Asians from that country, has revealed how the UK gave him and his family a new life. Mukund Nathwani, came to England in 1972 from Uganda at the age of 23. “We were emotionally very disturbed people…
THE London high court on Monday (26) declared fugitive Indian businessman Vijay Mallya bankrupt. This gave a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) a victory in the case related to recovering debt from loans paid out to Mallya’s now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The verdict also…
HEINEKEN has acquired an additional 39.6 million shares in United Breweries Limited (UBL), taking its shareholding in the Indian brewer from 46.5 per cent to 61.5 per cent, for £560 million. The sale was led by a debt recovery tribunal after the shares of the company, which owns India’s top-selling Kingfisher…
FUGITIVE businessman Nirav Modi on Tuesday (22) lost his appeal against extradition to India in a UK High Court. On April 15, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved Modi’s extradition to India in the estimated $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. In February, the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in…
AUSTRALIA'S conservative government bowed to public pressure and announced the release of an asylum-seeking Tamil family from island detention on Tuesday (15), after its youngest member fell ill. The Murugappan family of four has been held at the remote Christmas Island immigration detention centre since August 2019, as it fights…
PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson is alleged to have lashed out at home secretary Priti Patel over the soaring numbers of boats crossing the Channel, a media report claimed on Friday (11). Patel has also been facing the fury of some MPs over the use of Napier Barracks during the pandemic,…
KAMALA HARRIS in an effort to deter immigration from Central America has warned migrants to not come to the United States. In this regard, the US vice president on Monday (7) had talks with Alejandro Giammattei, the Guatemalan president. Since Joe Biden took charge in January, the number of migrants…
UK home secretary Priti Patel is set to unveil a new US-style digital visa regime at the country’s borders in order to measure immigration levels in and out of the country, according to UK media reports on Sunday. The cabinet minister is to confirm the so-called "sweeping changes" to the…
THE home secretary joined dawn raids carried out by police as suspected heads of people smuggling gang were arrested on Wednesday (19). The smugglers used minicabs and lorry drivers to move migrants in and out of the UK and Priti Patel said they were “treating innocent lives as a commodity…
TV HOST Adil Ray has faced online backlash over his tweet in which he slammed home secretary Priti Patel for joining a police raid. The Good Morning Britain star took to Twitter to post a picture of the home secretary, calling her out for ‘posing for a photo opp’ while…
CRITICISM over the death of a Sri Lankan student in Japan has forced the country to withdraw a bill that would have made it easier to deport failed applicants for refugee status. Members of prime minister Yoshihide Suga's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have abandoned their attempt to pass an…
By Nadeem Badshah BRITISH officers will work with Indian police forces to tackle people smuggling gangs, it has emerged, as experts welcomed the move and called for an overhaul of the immigration rules. National Crime Agency (NCA) officers are expected to work in cities, including in Delhi and in…
By Amit Roy LAST week I pointed out the potential for an Indian Windrush scandal because of a new immigration agreement that was signed between the UK and Indian governments. “The agreement will enhance and accelerate the processes to return Indian nationals with no legal right to stay in…
THE UK government has defended an immigration raid that inflamed tensions in Glasgow's Muslim community at the start of Eid al-Fitr on Friday (14). The government clarified that there was no connection to the Islamic festival. Thursday's deportation raid targeted a property housing two illegal immigrants from India, who were…
THE extradition coordination between Indian and UK has fundamentally changed and improved, said Britain's Home Secretary Priti Patel. A new India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) was signed between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Patel last week. MMP aims to cover the whole spectrum of immigration issues, including streamlining extradition…
A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) was back for a High Court hearing in London on Friday in pursuit of a bankruptcy order against embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, as they attempt recovery of debt from loans paid out to his now-defunct Kingfisher…
By Sailesh Mehta IT IS in the nature of all governments, whether democratically elected or autocratic, to amass more and more power until their citizens say “enough”. Ministers of state do not like protesters. Bad ones crush all dissent; good ones allow just enough steam to escape before the…
THE British government on Wednesday (24) launched plans for what it said would be the biggest overhaul of asylum rules in decades, saying the current system was 'overwhelmed'. Home secretary Priti Patel said 'The New Plan for Immigration' would be based 'on genuine need of refuge, not on the ability…
A High Court judge has condemned a law firm for "abusing the court system with "utterly hopeless' cases. Over three years, Duncan Lewis Solicitors received £20 million as legal aid work for asylum and deportation cases, according to a report in The Times (20). Dame Victoria Sharp said applications submitted…
BRITAIN is going to act tough and would soon stop adult migrants claiming to be children while seeking asylum in the country. Home secretary Priti Patel is set to bring in major changes to the asylum rules after refugees including a balding man in his 40s was found attending a…
By Amit Roy THE BBC’s flagship Panorama programme claimed last week that Indian commandos “kidnapped” Princess Latifa from her boat near the coast of Goa and allowed the drugged captive to be flown back in a private plane to her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of…
THE UK on Saturday(13) launched a new Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Plan to boost vaccine uptake in vulnerable and under-served groups. It describes how the government and NHS England are partnering with directors of public health, charities and the faith sector to increase vaccine take up and ensure equal access. Data…
Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya was granted access to around £1.1 million from court-held funds to meet his living expenses and legal costs by the High Court in London on Monday. Deputy Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Nigel Barnett presided over a remote hearing to rule over the level of…
By: Mohnish Singh Arjun Rampal, who was most recently seen in the thriller Nail Polish (2020) on ZEE5, has been roped in to star in the upcoming film The Rapist. The project will reunite the actor with award-winning actress Konkona Sen Sharma after a huge gap of eight years. The…
MIGRANTS living in Britain will be eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccines regardless of whether they have the legal right to live and work in the country, the government said on Monday(8), adding that getting the shot would not trigger immigration checks. The Daily Mail newspaper has reported that those living…
Vijay Mallya has applied to home secretary Priti Patel for "another route" to be able to stay in the UK, the liquor tycoon's barrister representing him in bankruptcy proceedings in the High Court of London confirmed during a remote hearing on Friday. The 65-year-old businessman, whose legal challenge to the…
By Murtuza Iqbal Yesterday, the makers of Dhaakad had unveiled a new poster featuring Kangana Ranaut and she had announced the release date of the film. Today, they have unveiled the character poster of Arjun Rampal who plays the antagonist in the movie. Arjun took to Instagram to share the…
By Murtuza Iqbal Kangana Ranaut starrer Dhaakad was supposed to hit the big screens on Diwali 2020. But due to the pandemic, the shoot was postponed and the film got delayed. Now, a few days Kangana started shooting for the film, and today, the actress took to Instagram to announce…
By Nadeem Badshah ACTIVISTS and MPs have called for a radical shake-up after it emerged the number of asylum seekers waiting longer than six months for a decision on their application has risen threefold. Figures show that there is a record backlog of 60,548 people waiting for an initial decision…
US Muslim groups pleaded on Thursday for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to speak out on China's mass incarceration of Uighurs, accusing the global body of abetting what some described as genocide. The OIC consists of 57 Muslim-majority nations and frequently takes up cases in which it believes Muslims are…
Ilford shopkeeper who killed his two children during lockdown has been detained in hospital indefinitely. Nadarajah Nithiyakumar, 41, of Aldborough Parade, Ilford was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Thursday(10) for killing his children Pavinya(19 months) and Nigish (3) in April this year. He admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished…
Report suggests reinstating birthright nationality and urges review of costs THE UK should celebrate citizenship and work to remove barriers such as “prohibitively expensive” fees, an inquiry found this week. The Barriers to Britishness report explored the difficulties faced by migrants who wish to take up UK citizenship, and it…
By S Neeraj Krishna THE UK Supreme Court president hopes to see a justice from an ethnic minority background before he retires in six years, observing that it will be “shameful” to ignore the lack of diversity in judiciary. Lord Reed, who succeeded Lady Hale earlier this year, also urged…
British home secretary Priti Patel on Sunday (4) promised the "biggest overhaul" in decades of the system for refugees seeking asylum in in the UK, which she says would be "firm and fair” in favour of genuine applicants and tough on those who are illegal migrants. The senior Cabinet minister…
BORIS JOHNSON faces mounting unease from his Conservative rank and file over the coronavirus pandemic as the party opens its annual conference on Saturday in a quieter virtual format. Instead of the usual tub-thumping speeches in cavernous halls and crowded drinks gatherings, the party faithful will follow proceedings online, depriving…
By S Neeraj Krishna PRITI PATEL has vowed to deport grooming gang members of dual nationality, asserting that the Conservatives were living up to the "party of law and order" tag. The home secretary noted that a series of "abhorrent" grooming crimes — mostly sexual exploitation by gangs of south…
by LAUREN CODLING A HEALTHCARE worker has revealed the “living nightmare” of being put on the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) immigration status by the Home Office, as migrant groups called for the condition to be scrapped. Sonia Rawal*, 36, has been put on NRPF twice after applying…
By Sunder Katwala Director, British Future IF THE Home Office “does not make decisions based on evidence, it instead risks making them on anecdote, assumption and prejudice”. That is the damning verdict of a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report last week, which found the department has ‘no idea’ what…
THE UK will open the country's first ‘migrant holding camp’ for people who have crossed the Channel in small boats from next week. The disused Kent military barracks were converted to camps where people will be housed during the processing of their asylum claims. According to reports, as many as…
Supporters of Julian Assange on Monday(7) protested outside a London courtroom, calling for the WikiLeaks founder not to be extradited to the US for leaking secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many brandished placards reading "Don't Extradite Assange" and "Journalism is not a crime!", as the 49-year-old Australian…
A 27-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the mass stabbings in Britain's second city Birmingham that left one person dead and two critically wounded, police said on Monday (7). The man was held on suspicion of murder and seven attempted murders that were carried out after midnight Saturday,…
A British law enforcement agency tackling organised crime on Thursday said social media companies were hindering efforts to combat people traffickers. Rob Jones, director of threat leadership at the National Crime Agency, said police had asked for the closure of 1,200 accounts linked to "immigration crime" in the first five…
"Tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are," proclaimed the first bilingual Spanish and English campaign ad by Democrat Joe Biden after he announced his running mate would be senator Kamala Harris. "An ally, a champion of the Latino community," the ad said of the…
PARENTS of two minor children housed in a Birmingham foster care have appealed to British authorities to allow them to be reunited with their family in India. The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had recently won a major UK court appeal that prevented the children from losing their…
PRITI PATEL has described the volume of migrants crossing the English Channel as "appalling and unacceptably high", and called on France to help keep numbers down. The home secretary made her comments on social media the day after British border officials detained 235 migrants as they tried to cross the…
The US has quietly reopened a nearly 15-year-old political asylum case against a convicted assassin of Bangladesh's "Father of the Nation" Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, according to media reports. The current government led by prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been persuading the US to extradite former Bangladesh Army officer MA…
The UK government cannot set a timeline for extradition of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya though it is determined to ensure that criminals can''t escape justice by crossing national borders, British High Commissioner Sir Philip Barton said on Thursday. Asked during an online media briefing whether Mallya has sought asylum in…
A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) are pursuing their bankruptcy order against liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya in the High Court in England, as they seek to establish that any settlement offer made by him is now “dead in the water”. In a hearing…
The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that asylum seekers rejected in fast-track proceedings have no right to appeal in federal court, a victory for President Donald Trump. The ruling, supported by seven of the nine court justices, backed the Trump administration, which wants to accelerate the expulsion of thousands…
India on Thursday said it has asked the UK not to consider any request for asylum by fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya as there appeared to be no ground for his persecution in the country. Last week, the UK government indicated that Mallya is unlikely to be extradited to India anytime…
VIJAY MALLYA is unlikely to be flown to India anytime soon, with the UK government pointing to a legal issue that needs to be resolved before arranging his extradition. Last month, the fugitive tycoon lost his appeal to move the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to India to face…
By Harris Bokhari [caption id="attachment_91900" align="alignleft" width="300"] Harris Bokhari (Photo credit: Alastair Fyfe)[/caption] The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed some of the pressing racial inequalities in our society. BAME individuals have been over-represented; in Covid-19 related deaths; working in professions which put them at greater risk of contracting the virus; and…
THE Lancashire Police has launched a manhunt after a law student, 19, was shot dead in a “shocking and senseless” attack just 100 metres from her home in Blackburn on Sunday (17). Officers found Aya Hachem lying unresponsive outside a Lidl store on King Street, following reports of gunshots in…
A Pakistan journalist living in exile in Sweden who has been missing since March has been found dead, police said Friday. "His body was found on April 23 in the Fyris river outside Uppsala," police spokesman Jonas Eronen said. Sajid Hussain, from the troubled southwestern province of Baluchistan, was working…
A Pakistani journalist living in exile in Sweden has been missing for nearly a month, stoking fears that his disappearance is tied to his reporting on Balochistan, a press rights group said on Tuesday (31). Sajid Hussain went missing on March 2, according to police. Originally from Pakistan's Balochistan province,…
By Sunder Katwala Director, British Future IN NORMAL times, the Windrush Lessons Learned report would have dominated the national news agenda for days, being among the most extraordinary dissections of a major department that any government has had to publish. Home secretary Priti Patel published the independent review within a…
An Indian citizen, who worked as an Uber driver, has been sentenced to a year in prison for transporting individuals who had entered the US illegally in exchange for money. Jaswinder Singh, 30, most recently resided in Philadelphia. He was sentenced on Thursday to 12 months in prison for knowingly…
An Indian guest house worker who pleaded guilty to sexual assault on two female guests in the north of England has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison. John Guntipilli-Souriappan, 35, who worked at Avalon Guest House in Leeds, sexually assaulted one of his victims as she…
Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said Thursday the alleged kidnapping of a Swiss embassy staffer which triggered a diplomatic spat between Colombo and Bern had been concocted to discredit his election victory. A Sri Lankan national working for the Swiss mission in Colombo was arrested Monday for allegedly falsely claiming…
AN INDIAN-ORIGIN man convicted of being involved in a multi-million-pound money laundering operation has been jailed for eight years on Thursday (28). The Leicester resident was also disqualified from being a company director for eight years. Chauhan Vijay Yogendrasinh, 55, was the director of Belgrave-based Rushi Investments Limited - a company which appeared to…
RUKHSANA AHMAD’S NEW PLAY HOMING BIRDS RECONNECTS AUDIENCES TO THEIR ROOTS A STRONG year for British Asian theatre concludes with the powerful play Homing Birds, which recently had its world premiere at Tara Theatre in London and runs until December 7. Kali Theatre’s founder Rukhsana Ahmad returns to the company…
by LAUREN CODLING THE ruling Conservative and opposition Labour parties both outlined their respective plans for immigration during election campaigns this week, without committing to numbers or confirming if migration will increase or decrease after Britain leaves the EU. Policies regarding immigration and a control over numbers entering the UK…
by NADEEM BADSHAH TOUGHER punishments are needed for people trafficking gangs after 39 people were found dead in a refrigerated trailer, lawyers and charities have urged. They have called for a fresh clampdown on criminals convicted of making a fortune from smuggling migrants to the UK, and more investment towards…
THE Home Office has been funding faith and community organisations to help remove migrant rough sleepers from the UK, it was revealed on Tuesday (5). Thousands of pounds have been paid to faith and community groups to assist the Home Office with the removals. According to a list obtained by…
INDIA'S Manipur state government has decided to take action against two who declared Manipur's 'government-in-exile' in the UK. The state government has registered a police complaint and asked for a probe by a federal investigation agency. Manipur’s move has come after two people of the state - Yamben Biren and…
A NEW British government legislation came into force today (25), which will enable vulnerable migrant children to get quicker and simpler access to legal aid. Migrant children who have been separated from their parents will benefit from the legislation. The Legal Aid for Separated Children Order 2019 will bring non-asylum…
BRITISH police said on Thursday (10) they had charged the London-based founder of Pakistan's MQM movement, Altaf Hussain, with a terrorism offence in connection with a speech delivered in Karachi three years ago. Violence erupted in Karachi after the speech by Hussain was relayed over loudspeakers in the southern Pakistani…
A DERBY man has been jailed for coordinating a people-smuggling gang who couriered genuine British passports abroad to be used in illegal attempts to reach the UK. Mohamed Jamal Kawsara, 39, was jailed for three years at Derby Crown Court after pleading guilty to assisting in illegal immigration at an…
Gulalai Ismail's campaigns to empower Pakistani girls have won her international awards and recognition as one of her country's foremost activists. But when she spoke out against sexual violence and disappearances allegedly carried out by the army in northwestern Pakistan, her fortunes quickly changed. The 32-year-old said she feared for…
After delivering two successful movies – Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi and Judgementall Hai Kya – in 2019, Kangana Ranaut is making sure that the slate of her upcoming films for the year 2020 also looks thoroughly impressive. The three-time National Award-winning actress will kick-start 2020 with the release of…
THE British government has been urged to overhaul its systems to ensure that the Windrush generation mistakes are not repeated. Lessons Not Learned, the report published on Wednesday (18) by Freedom from Torture and seven other leading organisations, exposes the government's "historical and systemic failures of asylum decision-making." The report…
A MAN who was denied asylum in the UK because he was not "effeminate" enough will have his case retried, his lawyer has said. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was told by an immigration judge that he did not have a gay "demeanour" and did not…
by LAUREN CODLING ETHNIC communities in northern England have been “ignored” in light of the Brexit vote as politicians and media focus on the “white working class”, a new report has cautioned. Class, Race and Inequality in Northern Towns showed that the focus on the “mythical white working class” had…
FORMER Maldives vice president Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor has sought political asylum from India as he faces a serious risk to his life in his home country, a UK lawyer from the firm representing the politician said on Friday (2). Ghafoor Thursday (1) reached India via sea route on the…
BRITISH far-right activist Tommy Robinson yesterday (8) launched a public appeal for Donald Trump to grant him political asylum in the US. In an interview on InfoWars channel, the co-founder of English Defence League founder said he feels like he was "two days away from being sentenced to death in…
AN INDIAN singer who was deported from the UK more than eight years ago is set to return to the country to headline a music event later this year. Punjabi singing sensation Garry Sandhu is set to return to Birmingham to take part in Bhangra extravaganza E3UK Live at Arena…
A YOUNG woman who has been offered an opportunity to study at some of Britain's most prestigious universities, has appealed against an deportation order that will see her sent to Pakistan, where her father is demanding she marry her older cousin. The woman, whose identity is being concealed to protect…
THE population of Indian-origin people in America grew by 38 per cent in seven years between 2010 and 2017, a South Asian advocacy group has said in its latest demographic report. There are at least 630,000 Indians who are undocumented, a 72 per cent increase since 2010, the South Asian…
A six-year-old girl from India died of heat stroke in an Arizona desert after her mother left her with other migrants to go in search of water, a medical examiner and US Border Patrol said on Friday (14). The girl, Gurupreet Kaur, soon to celebrate her seventh birthday, was found by US…
The Dalai Lama on Tuesday (21) sought to defuse a diplomatic controversy caused by a new book which said the Tibetan spiritual leader and China's President Xi Jinping had agreed to meet in 2014 but India refused to host the event. In Defining India - Through Their Eyes, author Sonia…
A CHRISTIAN man is fighting a Home Office decision to deport him, saying he feared for his life if he returned back to Pakistan. Azeem Wazir arrived in Bristol four years ago after he was accused of dishonouring Islam. Multiple fatwahs were issued against him for his involvement in a…
A Christian woman who spent eight years on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy before she was freed last year has left the country for Canada. Her lawyer confirmed to the media that she has reunited with her family in Canada. “It is a big day,” Saiful Malook told the…
A group of eminent intellectuals in India has criticised the arrest of WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange, saying his arrest "attacks on freedom of the press and its right to publish." In a statement, the six public figures have also called for his immediate release. The statement was signed…
US president Donald Trump has said he is seriously considering funnelling detained illegal migrants into the self-declared sanctuary cities that oppose his tough immigration policies. Trump's announcement on Twitter reversed a previous White House assurance that the idea - criticised as political retribution against cities led by opposition Democrats -…
PAKISTAN prime minister Imran Khan has promised that Christian mother Asia Bibi will leave the country in a few week's time. Bibi was freed from death row on blasphemy charges five months back, and despite Canada giving her asylum she is yet to leave Pakistan. "There is a little bit…
by AMIT ROY THE Daily Telegraph journalist who tracked down Nirav Modi to an apartment in the Centre Point building next to Tottenham Court Road Tube station in London has spoken at length about the runaway diamond jeweller who has become a big election issue in India. In his reports,…
THE DAUGHTER of a Pakistani Christian mother freed from a blasphemy death sentence has pleaded her mother be allowed to leave the country. Asia Bibi's youngest daughter, 18-year-old Eisham Aashiq, has been living with her sister Esha, 21, in a secret location in Canada since December after prime minister Justin…
FUGITIVE billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi, accused in the $2 billion PNB fraud case, is living openly in a swanky 8-million pound apartment in London's West End and is now involved in a new diamond business, a British daily reported on Saturday (9). Modi, 48, is currently living in a three-bedroom…
A PAKISTANI Christian mother freed from a blasphemy death sentence in the country, is said to be "very unwell." Asia Bibi's health is failing and she is being denied access to medical care, MailOnline reported. Although Bibi is free to leave the country, her freedom is now being blocked by…
The Pakistani lawyer who secured the acquittal of a Christian woman facing the death sentence for blasphemy is himself seeking protection from European governments, his French lawyer told AFP on Friday. Saif-ul-Mulook has been targeted by death threats since his the spectacular acquittal of his client Asia Bibi, a labourer…
Pakistani religious hardliners called on Wednesday (30) for protests as Asia Bibi, the Christian woman at the centre of a years-long blasphemy row, was expected to leave the country having cleared a last legal hurdle. Although no protesters had yet gathered, a heavy contingent of police could be seen on…
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday (29) rejected a challenge against its decision to acquit Asia Bibi of blasphemy, igniting calls for the Christian mother to finally be allowed to leave the country where she still faces threats to her life. The ruling by the country's highest court paves the way…
In a dark alleyway no wider than arms' length, a single ladies' shoe is all that remains on the boarded-up doorstep of Prabhu Dhandapani, his wife and their eight-year-old daughter. Prabhu, 30, was one of around 50 residents of a refugee community in New Delhi who left the capital to…
Pakistan's Supreme Court will decide on January 29 whether to allow an appeal against its acquittal of a Christian woman at the centre of a blasphemy row, a lawyer involved in the case said on Thursday. If the court refuses to allow the appeal, it will remove the last legal…
President Donald Trump said he would make it easier for top-skilled workers to stay in the United States and become citizens, offering uncharacteristic praise for immigrants' contributions. Trump pledged to reform coveted H1-B visas, for which three-quarters of applicants are from India, most of them in the technology sector. "H1-B holders…
The Good Chance Theatre and the National Theatre have invited Home Secretary Sajid Javid to a special performance of The Jungle, a show on refugees based in Calais. This offer comes after Javid was criticised for questioning whether people risking their lives to cross the English Channel were "genuine" refugees.…
As India faces censure for repatriating a Rohingya Muslim family to Myanmar last week, an official told AFP that dozens of Rohingyas have already fled India for Bangladesh in the past few days. According to Bangladesh border officials and police, the fear of deportation to Myanmar has prompted the recent…
The UN refugee agency has sought clarification from India over its decision to repatriate a group of Rohingya to Myanmar. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has voiced concerns over the unconducive conditions for such returns. In a press briefing on Friday (4), Farhan Haq, the…
US president Donald Trump has urged foreign students from top educational institutions in the country to stay behind and help in the growth of America. Trump, addressing a press conference, said the US was "losing out on great minds" as the country has a "ridiculous" immigration policy. “We have…
by Amit Roy BRITISH foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt is quite right to announce that the UK will use its moral authority to speak up for an estimated 215 million persecuted Christians around the world. However, his words would carry greater conviction if Britain were seen to be less reluctant to…
Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman cleared of blasphemy charges, spent Christmas in a safe house in Islamabad, and it is not immediately known when another country will agree to take her in. Saif ul Malook, the lawyer who represented her, fled his country two months ago and he believes…
A PAEDOPHILE faces deportation to India after the home secretary revoked his UK citizenship after it emerged that the man lied on his application form. Known only as RSD, the man was jailed for 14 years after he was convicted in 2011 of 23 counts of sexual abuse of “a…
by Nadeem Badshah LEADING Asian lawyers have revealed the sexism and racism they have faced from clients and have called for more people in the industry to speak out. The issue was highlighted by Rehana Popal, Britain’s only Afghan-born female barrister, who wrote on Twitter she was forced to drop…