In the UK, the controversial Internet Security Act came into force yesterday, which is expected to force technology companies to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms. However, critics have raised concerns about the privacy implications.more
The system for issuing visas for people drawn from abroad to work as carers in the UK is being massively abused, with some agencies involved even being set up by criminals, Sky News reports today.more
Chancellor Scholz's government is strengthening deportation procedures - authorities will have more powers, regulations will be tightened. The government passed a bill to this effect in Berlin yesterday, dpa reported. According to the heads of the Interior Ministry of the Länder, dealing with the crisis requires more decisive steps, describes the portal of the daily Welt.more
Antisocial behavior has dropped by up to 36 percent in some high-risk areas as a result of increased police presence, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced yesterday.more
Germany's Interior Ministry wants to extend stationary border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland for another twenty days. The police union points out that border controls cannot be maintained for long due to a lack of personnel.more
The decision to deprive Shamima Begum of her British citizenship was unlawful, the Court of Appeal has heard.
Ms Begum travelled to Syria in 2015 – at the age of 15 – before her British citizenship was revoked on national security grounds shortly after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.more
The UK immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, has suggested that visitors to the country will be removed if they incite antisemitism, even if their conduct falls “below the criminal standard”.more
The cap on bankers' bonuses is being removed as part of a post-Brexit shake-up of UK financial rules, it has been confirmed.
The plan was announced by former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last year as a way of making London a more attractive place to do business.more
At a meeting in Luxembourg, the EU's '27' ministers responsible for fisheries agreed next year's catch limits. Importantly for Poland, there will be no ban on herring fishing in the Baltic Sea next year - this was previously proposed by the European Commission.more
Belgium's federal government has proposed a new plan of action following last week's terrorist attack in Brussels that killed two Swedish soccer fans. The plan is intended to solve long-standing problems for the police and justice system. Among other things, a database of all those ordered to leave the country will be created, Belgian TV station VRT reports today.more
Five Caribbean countries sold the citizenship of 88,000 people from countries such as Iran, Russia and China, said the European Commission, which announced tighter visa controls in connection with the practice.more
The government has announced a plan to change the definition of wine, scrapping old EU regulations and allowing producers to lower the alcohol content.
Current laws state wine must be at least 8.5% alcohol with most bottles on shelves between 11% to 13.5%.more
Vladimir Putin yesterday signed a law on Russia's denunciation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Radio Svoboda reported. The convention aims to protect national minorities from discrimination, promotes the preservation of their culture, religion and traditions, and ensures their right to use their language freely.more
Like Tunisian terrorist Abdesalem Lassoued, who shot dead two Swedes in Brussels, some 20,000 people refuse to leave Belgium each year, the daily Het Laatste Nieuws reported today. Experts estimate that 112,000 people are living illegally in Belgium.more
The European Commission yesterday proposed a review of the existing visa waiver suspension mechanism. It wants the ability to trigger the mechanism more easily.more
Under-18s are coming from England to Wales for Botox as there is no law preventing it, campaigners have said.
Cosmetic Botox and lip fillers for under-18s were banned in England in 2021, but no such law exists in Wales.more
England’s biggest cities outside London should introduce some form of congestion charge to reduce car traffic and boost their economies, according to the National Infrastructure Commission.more
Possessing laughing gas will be made illegal in three weeks, with those who repeatedly misuse the drug facing up to two years in prison. And dealers of nitrous oxide will face up to 14 years behind bars, the Home Office said.more
Phone companies are to meet London's mayor and the Met Police commissioner to discuss how smartphones can be designed to make them harder to steal.more