Wednesday 31 August 2005

By Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Rejected Iraqi asylum-seekers lose benefits

Hundreds of Iraqis who are refuse asylum in Britain could face
cuts in benefits if they refuse to return to their homeland.

The Home Office has ended new awards of “hard case”
benefits designed to give short-term support to failed
asylum-seekers from Iraq because officials insist there is now a
“viable route of return”.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 31 August 2005 page
11

Robot ‘housekeeper’ aimed at
elderly

A Japanese firm is to launch an £8,000 robot that can serve
as a house sitter and helper, sounding an alert if someone it does
not recognise enters the house or if its owner falls over and is
not responding. The 3ft 3in high yellow Wakamaru robot has been
developed by Mitsubishi.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 31 August 2005
page 2

Goths and chavs go to war in the woods in attempt to
keep the peace on the streets

Peterborough council defuses town centre tension with organised
“airsoft” war games between teenagers.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 31 August 2005 page
3

Muslims challenge life support ruling

The family of an 86-year-old Muslim war hero won leave to appeal
yesterday against a decision of the high court to allow NHS
hospital doctors to withdraw his life support. The man, known as Mr
A, is suffering renal failure and other life-threatening
conditions.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 31 August 2005 page
5

Bomb payouts increased

The London Bombings Relief Charitable Foundation Fund is to
double its payments, with a further £5,000 to families
bereaved in the July 7 attacks, and an extra £3,000 to those
who spent at least a week in hospital.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 31 August 2005 page
8

The battle for Charlotte

Last week the court of appeal ruled that Charlotte Wyatt,
seriously ill since her birth 22 months ago, should not be
resuscitated if she stops breathing. Yet her parents believe she is
making a recovery. They are intent on fighting on.

Source:- The Guardian G2 Wednesday 31 August 2005 page
9

Hunting for a miracle

A child has died after having controversial treatment for
autism. Sara Pennington on her own search for a cure.

Source:- The Guardian G2 Wednesday 31 August 2005 page
10

All planned out

If public services took green issues seriously they could make a
huge difference to the environment. But progress is patchy and
painfully slow.

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 31 August 2005 page
2

Murder charges

Two brothers aged 14 and 16 were remanded in custody after
appearing in court charged with the murder on Saturday of Zainab
Kalokoh, 33, at a christening in Peckham, southeast London.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 31 August 2005 page 2

Gambling parents

A couple who were addicted to online gambling left their four
children in squalor. When social workers in Angus found the four
children, the teeth of the eldest, aged 8, were so rotten that she
had to have them all removed. The couple, who were not named, were
jailed for three years by Arboath Sheriff Court.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 31 August 2005 page 8

Solicitor jailed

Anthony Bare, 48, from Droylsden, a solicitor who groomed a
client’s 12-year-old daughter for sex by giving her mobile
phones and clothes was jailed for three and a half years at
Manchester Crown Court.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 31 August 2005 page 8

Families fear for deported refugees who
disappeared

Human rights groups are trying to trace more than 100 Zimbabwean
asylum-seekers who have disappeared after being forcibly sent back
from Britain.

The government pledged to ensure that the deportees were not
mistreated on their return to Zimbabwe, but campaigners claim that
nothing was done to protect the 130 men and women who were
expelled.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 31 August 2005 page 20

Drunk at 8

Kids aged as young as eight are being found drunk at
school.

Teachers discovered one girl slumped at her desk. Revealing the
kiddie boozing crisis in Blackpool, Lancs, councillor Ivan Taylor
said the children needed “lessons on alcohol
abuse”.

Source:- The Sun Wednesday 31 August 2005 page 15

EU clash on deportees

Tony Blair’s plans to deport foreign extremists could be
hit by new European Union rules.

Tomorrow the European Commission will publish a blueprint for
rules to prevent deportation to any state with a poor human rights
record.

Source:- The Daily Mirror Wednesday 31 August 2005 page
2

Faster bail reforms after Rory killing

Reforms to the justice system will be speeded up in the wake of
lessons learned from the murder of Rory Blackhall.

First minister Jack McConnell said he had no doubt that concerns
such as the granting of bail and the time taken to issue warrants
would be reviewed after the main suspect was found dead.

Simon Harris, who is thought to have hanged himself, was released
on bail after appearing in court in February accused of sexually
abusing three young girls.

Source:- The Herald Wednesday 31 August

Pupils’ campaign to prevent deportation of second
family

Pupils who intervened to prevent the deportation of young asylum
seekers are appealing for another family to be allowed to stay in
Scotland.

Children and teachers at Drumchapel High School have initiated a
letter-writing campaign in support of a Kosovan family whose
request for asylum has been turned down.

They claim the Vucaj family, including three children, have become
valued members of the community since moving to Scotland in 2000
and that their removal would distress fellow pupils.

Source:- The Herald Wednesday 31 August

Online addicts left children to live in filth

A couple have admitted the “appalling” neglect of their
four young children after becoming addicted to internet
games.

Police and social workers said the case, in which the starving
siblings, aged from eight to 18 months, were left to fend for
themselves as their parents played online, was one of the worst
they had ever witnessed.

When social services visited the family home in Montrose, they
found the children were undernourished, living in squalid
conditions and lacking food, bedding and nappies. The children’s
care was so poor that the eldest child had to have all her teeth
removed as they were so rotten that she was no longer able to
eat.

Source:- The Herald Wednesday 31 August

Dungavel hunger striker to be treated in hospital

A Ugandan hunger striker in Dungavel detention centre who has gone
without food for nearly five weeks is to be treated in hospital on
the orders of the Home Office. Charity Mutewba, who has not eaten
for 34 days, has said she is prepared to starve to death rather
than be deported to Uganda, where she claims she had been tortured
and raped over her membership of an opposition political party. She
arrived in the UK in September 2003 seeking political asylum.

Source:- The Herald Wednesday 31 August

Child protection services ‘still not up to standard’

Social workers in Edinburgh lack confidence in dealing with child
protection cases four years after the department was heavily
criticised over the death of a baby, a new report has found.

The audit into child protection in the capital found many social
workers are still unsure about the criteria for deciding whether a
child should be placed on the “at-risk” register. The report, which
comes as a result of recommendations following the inquiry two
years ago into the death of 11-week-old Caleb Ness, stressed the
need for more clarity about who was responsible for making
decisions in cases and for more staff involvement in planning
services

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 31 August

Suspects’ mental health problems: cops quizzed Rory
killer at college

The prime suspect in the killing of schoolboy Rory Blackhall had
been questioned about sex attacks on children in the 1990s,
according to the Record.

Simon Harris was quizzed by police in Cardiff while attending
college there – but no action was taken. A relative believes he had
mental health problems and that he had ambitions to be a youth
worker.

Source:- Daily Record Wednesday 31 August

Welsh news

Top level of social care

Neath and Port Talbot Council has revealed that it only has three
vacancies for social workers despite there being a mass shortage
across Wales.

The council has one of the best levels of social care in the
country.

The leader of the local authority Derek Vaughan said that this had
been achieved by a large investment in the pay and conditions of
the social workers two years ago.

Source:- thisissouthwales Wednesday 31 August