Author: Fatimah Idera

Asylum seekers will be denied the right to stay in the UK if they have been convicted of sexual offences, the government has announced. Any offender sentenced to more than a year in prison, as well as terrorists and war criminals, can currently be refused asylum and deported under the Refugee Convention. The government wants to widen the scope to include anyone convicted of a crime that places them on the sex offenders register, regardless of the length of their sentence. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said this would “ensure these appalling crimes are taken seriously”. Cooper said ministers would…

Cyclists who kill pedestrians by dangerous cycling could face life imprisonment in England and Wales under new amendments to the crime and policing bill. The offence of causing death by dangerous cycling would be brought into line with driving laws under amendments tabled on Thursday, the Department for Transport said. Dangerous or reckless cycling is usually punished with a maximum two-year jail term. The amendments renew a planned change of the law under the Conservatives that was derailed by the general election. The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, plans to close a loophole whereby reckless cycling was caught under legislation dating…

President Donald Trump’s administration said on Monday it was probing whether Harvard University and the Harvard Law Review violated civil rights laws when the journal’s editors fast-tracked consideration of an article written by a member of a racial minority. Information of the new probe came hours after a federal judge agreed to expedite Harvard University’s lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from freezing $2.3 billion in federal funding that the Ivy League school has warned will threaten vital medical and scientific research. The announcement of the probe by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services said…

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had touted the early results of his immigration crackdown despite concerns over due process, as Trump acted to take further steps while photos of alleged criminal offenders were displayed on the White House lawn. The president signed three executive orders on Monday. The first calls for the attorney general to identify cities and states failing to comply with federal immigration laws, the second relates to protections for law enforcement officers, and the third is tied to English literacy for commercial truck drivers. Trump launched an aggressive enforcement campaign after taking office, surging troops to the…

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals retained power in the country’s election on Monday, but fell short of the majority government he had wanted to help him negotiate tariffs with the U.S. President Donald Trump. The Liberals were leading or elected in 167 electoral districts, known as seats, followed by the Conservatives with 145, with votes still being counted. The Liberals needed to win 172 of the House of Commons’ 343 seats for a majority that would allow them to govern without support from a smaller party. “Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing…

Australia’s ruling Labor Party said on Monday it would raise visa fees for international students to A$2,000 ($1,279) if reelected, the latest measure aimed at the lucrative education sector that has been a major source of immigration. The visa fee hike, from A$1,600 currently, will bring in A$760 million over the next four years, Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers and finance minister Katy Gallagher said in a statement on Labor’s policy costings for Saturday’s federal election. “We think that’s a sensible measure that really prizes, I think, the value of studying here in Australia,” Gallagher told a news conference. ​The government…

The U.S. military said it will not reveal specific details about its military strikes in Yemen, citing what it called the need to preserve operational security, while also saying the strikes had “lethal effects” on Houthi rebels.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that American military and commercial ships should be allowed to travel through the Panama Canal and Suez Canal free of charge. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that “I’ve asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialise, this situation.” The Panama Canal crosses the narrowest part of the isthmus between North and South America, allowing ships to move more quickly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It carries about 40% of U.S. container traffic each year. The U.S. completed construction of the canal in the early 20th century…

President Donald Trump urged Russia on Sunday to stop its attacks in Ukraine while his top diplomat said the United States might walk away from peace efforts if it does not see progress. Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, Trump said he was disappointed that Russia has continued to attack Ukraine, and said his one-on-one meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the Vatican on Saturday had gone well. “I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump said of Zelenskiy. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile,…

Canadian prosecutors have charged a 30-year-old Vancouver resident with murder for killing at least 11 people aged between 5 and 65 and injuring dozens after he rammed an SUV through a crowd at a Filipino community festival in the western Canadian city, police said on Sunday. According to a post on X by the Vancouver Police, the man, Kai-Ji Adam Lo, was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder by prosecutors in British Columbia and further charges are anticipated. Lo appeared in court on Sunday, hours after police arrested him at the scene of the incident on Saturday evening. Authorities…