Written By Unknown on Selasa, 10 Februari 2015 | 22.11
More than 1,000 UK prisoners had their rights breached when they were prevented from voting in elections, European judges have ruled.
But the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected the applicants' claims for compensation and legal costs.
The case considered by the court related to 1,015 inmates who were in jail and barred from voting in one or more elections between 2009 and 2011.
The three judges unanimously agreed there had been a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights - right to free elections.
This was due to the "blanket character" of the statutory ban.
Video:Sky Debate: Should Prisoners Vote?
The court made the ruling as it was identical to other prisoner voting cases in which a breach had been found, while no changes had been made to the law.
There has been pressure on the UK authorities to bring in legislation on prisoner voting.
The Council of Europe's Committee noted last September its "profound concern and disappointment" that a Bill had not been introduced.
Prime Minister David Cameron has previously said the controversial issue should be for Parliament to decide and not a "foreign court".
Sean Humber, the lawyer representing 554 prisoners fighting for the right to vote, welcomed the ECHR's ruling, but said compensation should have been awarded, particularly given the lack of government action.
Pointing out the ruling had confirmed the "unlawfulness" of the blanket ban, Mr Humber said successive UK governments had "cynically sought to drag the matter out through a succession of consultations during the last decade".
Mr Humber, from the firm Leigh Day, said: "Unfortunately, we seem to be in the sad position where the Government is taking an almost perverse pleasure in ignoring successive court judgments and is content to continue violating the human rights of thousands of its citizens.
"It should be worrying to all of us that the Government appears to have so little regard for its international human rights obligations or indeed the rule of law."
But the Ministry of Justice said the issue of prisoner voting should be decided in the UK.
An MoJ spokesman said: "The Government has always been clear that it believes prisoner voting is an issue that should ultimately be decided in the UK.
"However, we welcome the court's decision to refuse convicted prisoners costs or damages."
UKIP's home affairs spokesperson, Diane James MEP, said: "UKIP believes that it should be the British parliament which should have the final decision on which laws are implemented in the Britain.
"There should be no unwarranted interference in a national issue."
A 25-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged with assaulting disabled pensioner Alan Barnes, whose plight sparked a global fundraising effort.
Richard Gatiss was told that the charge, that he assaulted Mr Barnes with intent to rob him, can be dealt with only at Crown court.
Mr Barnes, 67, who is registered blind and just 4'6" tall, suffered a broken collar bone in the incident two weeks ago outside his Gateshead flat where he lived alone.
He can only see shapes a few inches away from him and he told police someone attacked him as he put out his recycling bin.
After Northumbria Police appealed for information beautician Kate Cutler, 21, who had never met Mr Barnes, started an online campaign to raise money to raise £500 to buy him new carpets and curtains.
News of the fund spread through social media, attracting donations from around the world until it reached £329,000 before being closed by his family last week.
Mr Barnes met the campaigner last weekend and described her gesture as "magic".
Mr Gattis, also from Gateshead, did not speak during the brief hearing and was remanded in custody to appear at Newcastle Crown Court on 24 February.
Chief Superintendent Andy McDyer, of Northumbria Police, said: "I'd like to reassure people that since this happened we've been relentless in our investigation and in following up lines of inquiry.
Mr Barnes has disabilities from birth after his mother contracted German measles when she was pregnant.
He is a well-known figure in Low Fell and is renowned for being able to quickly calculate how many days old someone is from their date of birth.
The UK's most senior police chief says he is reviewing the operation to guard WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because it is "sucking" their resources.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last week revealed the cost of the surveillance operation outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London had reached around £10m.
The Met's Commissioner wants to find 'the way forward'
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe told LBC radio: "We are reviewing the way forward there.
"There is no doubt it's a drain - we'll look to see what other opportunities we have, how we can do that in the future. It's sucking our resources."
Video:August 2014: Assange Reveals Plans
Mr Assange, who has been granted political asylum by Ecuador, has been living at the embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faces questions over claims of sexual assaults, which he denies.
Police officers guarding the building in Knightsbridge are under orders to arrest him if he leaves.
The Australian came under intense scrutiny after WikiLeaks began releasing a selection of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables passed to the whistle-blowing website in 2010.
The 43-year-old fears that if he is sent to Sweden, he could also be extradited to the US to face charges for leaking the documents.
He hinted in a news conference last year that he would leave the embassy "soon" after suggestions he needs treatment for lung and heart problems.
A motorcyclist who was thrown off his bike as he tried to do a wheelie at 70mph has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.
Lee Oliver, 38, and Lee Cunningham, 39, both from the Sussex town of Horsham, had cameras fitted to their motorbikes which recorded their journeys, as well as how fast they were going.
Video released by police shows Oliver being thrown from his bike while trying to perform the trick and then falling into the path of a passing van.
The driver braked immediately but Oliver was travelling so quickly that, while his bike skidded off the surface into undergrowth, he rolled and bounced along the road until he was hit by the van.
Oliver continued to slide along the road for another 49ft (15m) past the van, which had been forced to brake so suddenly that it was hit from behind by a following car.
Before he crashed, Oliver had reached a speed of 130mph on the Cockfield bypass while Cunningham had managed to reach 137mph at one point, as well as almost three times the 30mph speed limit on another stretch of the road.
The crash happened in May last year and was recorded by both the camera on his bike and a dashboard camera in the van that was travelling towards him.
Both were given an 18-month suspended prison sentence last week at Lewes Crown Court.
They were also banned from driving for four years and told to do 200 hours of community service. They were each also ordered to pay a £1,000 fine and £700 costs.
Sergeant Huw Watts, from Surrey and Sussex roads policing unit, said: "When you watch the video, it seems amazing that Oliver escaped with just minor injuries and concussion.
"If he had come off his bike just seconds later he could have gone under the wheels of the van and been seriously injured or even killed.
"Motorcyclists are vulnerable road users who usually come off worst when they are involved in a collision but this case shows how some can put themselves at risk by abusing the fact that their machines can go fast and perform stunts."
A teenager accused of planning to behead a British soldier told police he would cause harm to the Prime Minister, an Old Bailey jury has heard.
Burstholm Ziamani, 19, was arrested on a street in east London on 19 August last year, carrying a large knife and a hammer inside a rucksack.
The court was told that Ziamani, from Camberwell, southeast London, had been on police bail after first being arrested seven weeks earlier for allegedly posting extremist messages on Facebook.
At the time of his first arrest, at his home in Camberwell, officers found letters he had written to his parents, which the Crown claims "expressed his intention to wage war against the British government".
Extracts from his first police interview were read out in court by Detective Constable Dhaval Bhatt, a Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officer who conducted that interview.
Ziamani was asked by the detective: "What would you do if you saw David Cameron?"
The officer told the jury that the teenager replied: "I would cause him harm if he did not have security around him."
The court was also shown the weapons recovered from the Muslim convert when he was again arrested on 19 August.
The 12-inch kitchen knife and large hammer were passed to members of the jury for inspection.
A black Islamic flag was also taken out of its plastic envelope and unfolded for the court to see.
Giving evidence, the arresting officer Detective Constable David Atkinson said he had been in an unmarked police car with two other colleagues.
The officer said they were looking for the teenager to arrest him for allegedly posting more extremist messages online.
The detective told the court they spotted Ziamani on Settle Street in east London, just 200 yards from the East London Mosque at Whitechapel.
After his arrest, DC Atkinson said he looked inside the rucksack the defendant had been carrying and discovered the weapons and flag.
Although Ziamani refused to comment when interviewed by the officers, the court heard claims he later told a security officer at Wandsworth Prison that he had been "on his way to kill a British soldier at an army barracks when he had been arrested. He stated that he was going to behead the soldier and hold his head up in the air so that his friend could take a photograph."
Ziamani denies charges of preparing acts of terrorism. The trial continues.
Written By Unknown on Senin, 09 Februari 2015 | 22.11
Anger As BAFTA Fails To Remember Bob Hoskins
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Hoskins died in April 2014, aged 71
Organisers of Sunday's BAFTA awards have been criticised for forgetting to mention in their 'In Memoriam' feature the award-winning actor Bob Hoskins, who died in 2014.
Hoskins, 71, won a BAFTA in 1986 for playing George, the cockney chauffeur to a high-class prostitute in the film Mona Lisa.
The star died from pneumonia last April but was omitted from a montage which was played during the ceremony.
Viewers took to Twitter after the Long Good Friday star was not featured alongside other late actors such as Robin Williams, Mickey Rooney and Lauren Bacall who all died last year.
Hoskins retired from acting in 2011 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
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Gallery: Bob Hoskins: The Cockney Who Went To Hollywood
Bob Hoskins and Jaime Winstone share a joke as they attend the Made In Dagenham premiere.
Hoskins and Sally Hawkins attend the Made In Dagenham premiere in 2010.
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Bob Hoskins turns on the Christmas lights at St Paul's Cathedral on November 3, 2009.
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Hoskins with actress Kate Bosworth and actor and director Kevin Spacey at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004.
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Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988. Picture: Disney
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David Baddiel tweeted: "The omission of Bob Hoskins in the BAFTA remembrance montage seems symbolic of the erasure in modern times of the working-class actor."
@jackshebang wrote: "BAFTA Completely ignored: 1. Selma, a film about the rights of black people. 2. The life of Bob Hoskins, a distinguished working-class actor."
Piers Morgan called it "outrageous".
BAFTA organisers said Hoskins' death was included in last year's academy television awards - which traditionally run later in the year - and that it was common practice only to feature in one ceremony.
There have also been complaints that Rik Mayall was not included in the montage.
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Gallery: Red Carpet Glamour At BAFTAs
Stars arrive for the BAFTAs
Reese Witherspoon wore a plunging gown for the ceremony
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Mayall was mainly known for his television roles but did star in the films Drop Dead Fred and Guest House Paradiso.
In a statement, BAFTA said: "Due to the timing of his death in April last year, and the fact that his credits included television as well as film (he was BAFTA-nominated for Pennies from Heaven in 1979), Bob Hoskins was included in the televised obituaries package at the British Academy Television Awards last year.
"BAFTA features individuals in televised obituaries only once, sadly due to the number of people we'd like to recognise at any one time, and that means difficult decisions have to be made as to which ceremony they should be included in.
"As Bob died in April last year, just before the television awards, we felt it was right to remember his wonderful career then, rather than wait until last night's film awards."
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Anger As BAFTA Fails To Remember Bob Hoskins
We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.
Hoskins died in April 2014, aged 71
Organisers of Sunday's BAFTA awards have been criticised for forgetting to mention in their 'In Memoriam' feature the award-winning actor Bob Hoskins, who died in 2014.
Hoskins, 71, won a BAFTA in 1986 for playing George, the cockney chauffeur to a high-class prostitute in the film Mona Lisa.
The star died from pneumonia last April but was omitted from a montage which was played during the ceremony.
Viewers took to Twitter after the Long Good Friday star was not featured alongside other late actors such as Robin Williams, Mickey Rooney and Lauren Bacall who all died last year.
Hoskins retired from acting in 2011 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
1/16
Gallery: Bob Hoskins: The Cockney Who Went To Hollywood
Bob Hoskins and Jaime Winstone share a joke as they attend the Made In Dagenham premiere.
Hoskins and Sally Hawkins attend the Made In Dagenham premiere in 2010.
]]>
Bob Hoskins turns on the Christmas lights at St Paul's Cathedral on November 3, 2009.
]]>
Hoskins with actress Kate Bosworth and actor and director Kevin Spacey at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004.
]]>
Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988. Picture: Disney
]]>
David Baddiel tweeted: "The omission of Bob Hoskins in the BAFTA remembrance montage seems symbolic of the erasure in modern times of the working-class actor."
@jackshebang wrote: "BAFTA Completely ignored: 1. Selma, a film about the rights of black people. 2. The life of Bob Hoskins, a distinguished working-class actor."
Piers Morgan called it "outrageous".
BAFTA organisers said Hoskins' death was included in last year's academy television awards - which traditionally run later in the year - and that it was common practice only to feature in one ceremony.
There have also been complaints that Rik Mayall was not included in the montage.
1/32
Gallery: Red Carpet Glamour At BAFTAs
Stars arrive for the BAFTAs
Reese Witherspoon wore a plunging gown for the ceremony
]]>
Mayall was mainly known for his television roles but did star in the films Drop Dead Fred and Guest House Paradiso.
In a statement, BAFTA said: "Due to the timing of his death in April last year, and the fact that his credits included television as well as film (he was BAFTA-nominated for Pennies from Heaven in 1979), Bob Hoskins was included in the televised obituaries package at the British Academy Television Awards last year.
"BAFTA features individuals in televised obituaries only once, sadly due to the number of people we'd like to recognise at any one time, and that means difficult decisions have to be made as to which ceremony they should be included in.
"As Bob died in April last year, just before the television awards, we felt it was right to remember his wonderful career then, rather than wait until last night's film awards."
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Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has called on regulators to intervene after accusing firms offering free product trials of taking its customers for a ride.
The bank said that since June last year it had helped 37,000 customers halt charges, usually £80 a month, that were hidden in the small print in 30-day 'free trial' deals for beauty and nutrition products.
It said that the so-called deals - often advertised through social media - "took advantage of consumers" who believed they were only handing over a small fee for postage.
"Clever advertising and pop-ups on social media websites lure customers into what they believe to be a free trial of a cream or tablet.
"They are asked to enter their card details to pay a small fee to cover postage and packaging.
"In reality, by providing their card details and entering the free trial they are agreeing to a recurring subscription, if they do not cancel within the trial period.
"At its worst point, RBS and NatWest were receiving over 390 calls a day from customers to complain of charges of around £80 a month being applied to their accounts that they did not recognise.
"Customers receive the goods but don't know about the recurring costs associated or that they have to stop the trial.
"Subscription details and charges should all be laid out in the terms and conditions (T&Cs) of the agreement, but the bank has found instances where the T&Cs only appear after the customer has agreed to them, where they're hidden at the bottom of the page or where they're greyed out making them near impossible to find.
"The bank estimates that at its peak this was costing customers over £30k per day and over £2.9m in fees since June last year."
RBS said it had raised the issue with Visa, MasterCard and Cards UK and provided them with the details of merchants causing regular complaints and as a result over 1,000 companies had been stripped of their acquirer relationship.
Terry Lawson, head of fraud at RBS added: "Too many of our customers have fallen victim to these scams.
"We want to help raise awareness so that both our customers, and the wider public, are aware of these scams and look out for unclear or confusing T&Cs."
HSBC's Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers avoid tax and hide millions of dollars, according to a report by a network of investigative journalists.
The British banking giant provided accounts to international criminals, corrupt businessmen, politicians and celebrities, secret files analysed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) show.
The documents have led to criminal investigations in several countries and attempts to get the money back after being stolen by an IT worker in 2007 and passed to authorities in France.
David Cameron has today been forced to defend Lord Green, who ran the bank during the period in question and was appointed as a trade minister in 2010 - the same year HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) received data on potential British offenders in the files.
Lord Green, HSBC boss during the period, later joined the Government
Details of the 30,000 accounts, which hold nearly £78bn of assets, are coming to light after the files were obtained by the French newspaper Le Monde and analysed by the ICIJ.
The files are reported to include evidence that the bank colluded with some clients to hide accounts from tax authorities in their home countries.
Video:PM: Lord Green 'Did A Good Job'
While holding a secret bank account is not illegal, they have been used by some to deliberately conceal assets to dodge tax, which is against the law.
"HSBC profited from doing business with arms dealers who channelled mortar bombs to child soldiers in Africa, bag men for Third World dictators, traffickers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws," the ICIJ reported.
According to the files, the bank's clients included former and current politicians from Britain, Russia, India and a number of African countries.
Those named in the files include people sanctioned by the US, such as Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and Gennady Timchenko, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was the subject of sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
HMRC was passed the data - known as the Lagarde List - in 2010 and has since then clawed back £135m from some of the 3,600 Britons identified as potentially avoiding tax.
But some MPs have complained about HMRC's perceived slow progress and the fact that only one evader has been prosecuted to date.
The revelations have sparked a blame game between the Conservatives and Labour over the failure to tackle the problem of hidden accounts and tax evasion.
Video:Miliband: HSBC Tax Claims 'Serious'
Ed Miliband said there were questions over the appointment of Lord Green, a former chief executive and chairman at the bank.
He said: "I think this is a very serious situation and the Government has some serious questions to answer.
"We need to know why HMRC apparently did not act, apart from at the margins, on the information that they seem to have been given about what was going on.
"We need to know from the Government why they appointed Stephen Green of HSBC as a trade minister well after this information was passed to HMRC.
"I would like to see the Government explain what they did.
"We cannot have a country where tax avoidance is allowed to carry on and where government just turns a blind eye."
Commons Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge said she was "astonished" that Lord Green was not answering questions about the files.
Video:Green 'Cleared Up The Mess At HSBC'
She said the former HSBC chairman was either "complicit" or "wasn't on top of his job properly" and suggested he or current HSBC bosses could be called to face her committee on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister said Lord Green was an "excellent" trade minister who "did a good job".
City Minister David Gauke told Sky News he "was not aware of any evidence" that Lord Green had been involved in any improper activity.
Mr Gauke called on Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, who was City Minister in the years up to 2007, to make an urgent statement in the Commons about what he knew about the claims and why the Labour government allowed large-scale tax avoidance and evasion to take place.
Mr Balls said: "Nobody will fall for yet more desperate distraction tactics from George Osborne and the Tories when it is clear that this information was first given to the government in 2010."
The bank said in a statement that since the period in question, it had "implemented numerous initiatives designed to prevent its banking services being used to evade taxes or launder money".
"Although there are numerous legitimate reasons to have a Swiss bank account, in some cases individuals took advantage of bank secrecy to hold undeclared accounts," the statement continued.
Video:Hodge 'Astonished' By Lord Green
"This resulted in private banks, including HSBC's Swiss private bank, having a number of clients that may not have fully met their applicable tax obligations.
"We have taken significant steps over the past several years to implement reforms and exit clients who did not meet strict new HSBC standards, including those where we had concerns in relation to tax compliance," it added.
"We are fully committed to the exchange of information with relevant authorities and are actively pursuing measures that ensure clients are tax transparent, even in advance of a regulatory or legal requirement to do so.
"We are also co-operating with relevant authorities investigating these matters and we acknowledge and are accountable for past control failures."
HMRC said in a statement: "We have systematically worked through all the Lagarde data.
"As a result tax, interest and penalties have now been paid by those who hid their assets in Switzerland to get out of paying tax.
"The decision to prosecute is made by the Crown Prosecution Service based on the facts."
A teenage Muslim convert, who idolised the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, has gone on trial accused of planning his own attack on members of the British military.
Brustholm Ziamani, 19, was arrested on an east London street, carrying a rucksack with a large knife and hammer wrapped up in an Islamic flag.
On the opening day of his trial at the Old Bailey, the court heard Ziamani had later told a security officer he was "on his way to kill a British soldier at an army barracks" when he was detained.
The jury heard that Ziamani stated he was "going to behead the soldier and hold his head up in the air so that his friend could take a photograph".
Prosecutor Annabelle Darlow QC told the jury that Ziamani, a British national of Congolese Christian origin, had been a teenager with relatively normal interests who started a relationship with a 16-year-old girl in March last year.
A month later, he converted to Islam and according to the Crown, demanded his girlfriend should also convert, telling her that he "wanted to die a martyr".
He also referred to Michael Adebolajo, one of Lee Rigby's murderers, as a "legend".
Ziamani is on trial at the Old Bailey in London
Ms Darlow said his girlfriend ended the relationship a short time later.
The prosecution claimed the teenager began showing increasing signs of radicalisation, posting various extremist messages on Facebook.
The messages, in the defendant's own grammar, were shown and read out to the jury.
One post on 3 May 2014 read: "Sharia Law on its way on our streets we will implement it its part of our religion we will get Dem kufar soon we r soldiers of Allah TAKBIR."
Another message, relating to the murder Fusilier Rigby outside Woolwich barracks, was posted on Facebook on 12 June 2014.
It read: "Why are They acting like Lee Rigby's death was the worst death ever he just got run over and stabbed left right centre I bet if n Englishmen did it they wont say nuffin or make a big deal over it but two muslim brothers run over dis kaffar n now makin a big deal."
Lee Rigby (L) was killed by Michael Adebolajo (R) and Michael Adebowale
The Old Bailey was told Ziamani had been arrested in Camberwell, southeast London on 27 June last year.
Officers found a handwritten letter, apparently to his parents, stating he was about to do "Jihad holy fighting in Allah's cause".
Other extracts read: "Now we will take a thousand ov yours then ten thousands and send you all to the hell-fire you want war you got it British soldiers heads will be removed and burend u cannot deafet the muslims.."
The defendant's mobile phone was seized and analysed. It showed internet searches for army cadet centres and other military establishments in Camberwell, Lewisham and Blackheath.
Ziamani was later released on police bail and referred to officers from the Government's Prevent anti-extremism programme.
He was arrested again on 19 August, after a visit to his ex-girlfriend's house, where the Crown said he told her he was going to commit a "terrorist attack".
He was arrested on an east London street later that day, carrying his rucksack with a 12-inch knife and pick-style hammer inside.
The trial continues and it is due to finish by the end of next week.
Rescuers' pictures have been released showing a car on its nose and wedged between a house and a wall after crashing.
The driver of the grey vehicle was still inside when the emergency services arrived at the scene.
The car had come off the road and then fell three metres down a stone wall in Buckfastleigh, Devon.
Emergency services at the scene
The fire brigade said access was hampered and crews had to cut the top of the door and a strap to create some space.
They also used a ladder in the operation to free the man who was then taken to hospital.
It was a delicate operation to free the motorist
He was saved from serious injury by his seatbelt, firefighters added.
In a Facebook post, Buckfastleigh Fire Station wrote: "First priority was to secure the vehicle and eliminate the danger of the vehicle falling onto its side.
"Due to the location of the incident and position of the vehicle access was hampered and as a result crews cut the check strap and the top of the door with the hydraulic cutters to create some space.
The crash happened in Buckfastleigh, Devon
"The door along with the use of a short extension ladder, T bar and line was used to make a platform to allow better access for extrication of the casualty.
The door was cut off to create some space
"The gentleman was then conveyed to hospital via ambulance. The vehicle was made safe and the scene was handed over to the police."
