Best photos of June 2: From a tomato fight to fog over Sydney
Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.
Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.
Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.
The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.
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Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
UK charity warned by regulator over fundraising video for Israeli soldiers
The UK's charity regulator has issued an official warning to a British charity which raises funds to support Israeli soldiers over a "distressing" video posted on its website. The Charity Commission said the London-based UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers (UK-AWIS) had 'breached their legal duties' after publishing a video appealing for donations to support Israeli forces involved in the war against Hamas. 'All of the trustees have failed to act in the charity's best interests and manage its resources responsibly by exposing the charity's reputation to unnecessary risk,' the commission said. 'This is a breach of trust or duty, or misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.' The video, which has since been removed from UK-AWIS's website, Facebook and YouTube pages, appeared to show a person being killed as part of a montage of footage featuring air strikes and combat scenes, similar to promotional content produced by the Israeli military. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters However, following a review, the commission concluded that while the footage did not depict a killing, it was distressing and inappropriate for a UK-registered charity. UK-AWIS is the UK branch of the Israeli Association for the Wellbeing of Israeli Soldiers, an organisation funded by Israel's Defence Ministry and closely linked to the Israeli army. Former British army officer Colonel Richard Kemp, a frequent commentator on right-wing media and UK news channels, serves as a director and trustee of UK-AWIS. The charity's stated mission is to support serving and former Israeli soldiers through education and the provision of leisure facilities. According to documents submitted to the Charity Commission, UK-AWIS raised approximately £292,358 ($394,937) in 2023. Within that total, it reported sending £43,000 ($58,087) to support 'the wellbeing of soldiers in various units as requested… with the beneficiaries being primarily lone soldiers and injured soldiers'. UK charity supporting disabled Israeli soldiers hit by £1m fraud Read More » In its report, UK-AWIS stated: 'Some of these projects were specifically undertaken to meet the wellbeing needs of soldiers, many of whom were reservists mobilised for the defence of Israel in the war against Hamas after 7 October 2023. This was the main reason for the significant increase in funds provided to Israel over the previous year.' Despite the surge in donations, UK-AWIS said it suspended the transfer of funds to Israel after the Charity Commission opened an investigation in December 2023. However, the charity resumed the transfer of donations in July 2024, following the submission of its interim report to the regulator. Before the Charity Commission began its investigation, UK-AWIS encouraged donors to "Adopt an IDF combat unit" and advertised "IDF Enlistment Festivals" on its website, which has since been taken down. Charities facing scrutiny Earlier this year, the Charity Commission issued a warning stating that "it is not lawful" for British charities to raise funds or send money to soldiers fighting for the Israeli army. The warning was issued against Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex Limited, after the charity received 180 complaints for raising money for a soldier fighting for the Israeli army in northern Israel. The fundraising page, which was set up in October 2023 and eventually removed in January 2024, raised approximately £2,280 ($2,804). From that amount, the charity sent £937 to an individual soldier. The trustees were unable to account for how those funds were spent. But the charity told the Charity Commission that the remaining funds were spent on non-lethal military equipment purchased by the trustees and sent to the same soldier in Israel. Since October 2023, the Charity Commission has opened more than 200 regulatory cases related to the war on Gaza. The commission said the investigations involved charities with different positions on the war. Israeli forces in Gaza have been accused of war crimes by rights organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The National
6 hours ago
- The National
Court backs citizenship ban for Afghan people smugglers
An Afghan people smuggler and his nephew who charged migrants £9,000 ($12,190) each to reach the UK have lost their appeal against being stripped of British citizenship. Judges have ruled that the Home Secretary was justified in depriving them of UK nationality on the basis that their people smuggling operation constituted serious organised crime. The penalty puts smuggling on a level with national security threats. The people smuggler and his nephew cannot be named for legal reasons and are referred to as D5 and D6 in court documents. Also involved in their criminal organisation was D6's brother, who is known as D7. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission agreed to strip D5 and D6 of UK citizenship and exclude D7 from Britain, after a hearing in 2023. They took their case to the Court of Appeal but judges Nicholas Green and Elisabeth Laing have now backed the SIAC decision. In their decision their said SIAC 'must take the same approach in cases' in which individuals 'have been deprived of their citizenship on the ground that they have been involved in and/or are likely to continue to be involved in SOC [Serious Organised Crime] as it must take in national security cases'. Priti Patel, who was home secretary at the time, was right to make the decision on the grounds that the presence of all three men was not 'conducive to the public good', the judges ruled. Claimed asylum SIAC was told that D5 first arrived in the UK from Afghanistan in 2001. He was joined by his nephew D6 in 2004 and both were eventually granted British citizenship after claiming asylum. D7 arrived clandestinely in 2007 and also given asylum after he claimed he faced persecution from the Taliban. He was given the right to remain in the UK permanently. They became involved in crime and began to attract the attention of the police, who in 2018 raided their homes where they found £12,000 in cash and 30 mobile phones. The National Crime Agency began an undercover operation involving two officers − codenamed George and Mark − posing as intercontinental lorry drivers who had fallen on hard times during the Covid pandemic. The officers met the brothers in a shop owned by one of them in February 2020 and struck up a conversation in which they told them how Covid was affecting their work. 'D6 ushered George out of the shop and then asked George if he knew anyone who could bring people back into the UK,' according to the three judges who presided over the SIAC hearing. Undercover sting George said that he did and they agreed to discuss it the following week and the two officers met the brothers at a petrol station in September during which D6 told George he wanted him to 'smuggle people from mainland Europe into the UK'. The pair made 'significant financial gain' from the smuggling and 'each migrant would pay some £8,000 to £9,000 to be brought into the country'. Many of those who were smuggled in were children who had been trafficked for the purpose of forced labour and were forced to work for D5. The uncle and nephew left for Kabul, but in the meantime the Home Office, at the request of the NCA, stripped them of their citizenship. D7 was also believed to be involved their operation and he was excluded from the UK while he was also out of the country. After being turned back from returning, D5 and D6 entered the UK clandestinely but were eventually arrested and brought to court. D6 is serving a 10-year sentence for people smuggling and helping his brother enter Britain illegally. His uncle, D5, was sentenced to five years in prison for entering illegally. D7 is believed to be in Finland.
Zawya
8 hours ago
- Zawya
Oil prices gain on US trade optimism, drop in crude inventories
LONDON - Oil prices rose on Thursday, buoyed by optimism over U.S. trade negotiations that would ease pressure on the global economy and a sharper-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude futures had gained 52 cents, or 0.76%, to $69.03 a barrel by 1040 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 60 cents, or 0.9% to $65.85 per barrel. "The U.S. crude inventory draw and the trade efforts are adding some support to prices," said Janiv Shah, an analyst at Rystad. Two European diplomats said on Wednesday that the EU and the United States were moving towards a trade deal that could include a 15% U.S. baseline tariff on EU imports and possible exemptions, potentially paving the way for another major trade agreement following the Japan deal. On the supply side, U.S. Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday showed U.S. crude inventories fell last week by 3.2 million barrels to 419 million barrels, exceeding analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.6 million-barrel draw. Oil had also seen some support from a suspension of Azeri crude exports from the Turkish port of Ceyhan and a brief halt to loadings at Russia's main Black Sea ports which has since been resolved. BP said that organic chlorides were detected in some of the oil tanks in the terminal at Ceyhan, adding that oil loading continued from some of the tanks with chloride levels assessed to be within normal specifications, while export activities via the BTC pipeline also continued. But analysts expect oil price gains to remain limited. "Uncertainty over U.S.-China trade talks and peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia is limiting further gains," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist of Nissan Securities Investment, a unit of Nissan Securities, predicting WTI would likely remain range-bound between $60 and $70 a barrel. Russia and Ukraine held peace talks in Istanbul on Wednesday, discussing further prisoner swaps, though the two sides remain far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders. "Next to watch would be the demand indicators as we are in the peak season and any upside or downside would impact refining margins," Shah added.
