News round-up: Children rescued from paedophile ring

March 6, 2008 in Community Care

UK children rescued from worldwide sex ring

Detectives in three continents believe they have broken one of the most sophisticated paedophile rings ever. Eight British children between six and 14 years old have been rescued and arrests made in the UK, Australia and the US.

Read more on this story in The Guardian today

Energy giants must act to avoid windfall tax

Gordon Brown warned yesterday that energy companies could still face a windfall tax unless they offered a much bigger rebate for the poor and pensioners facing big rises in fuel bills.

Read more on this story in The Guardian today

£63,000 for mother’s time with baby

A teenage mother whose baby was unlawfully removed from her within hours of his birth without a court order is to have a four-month residential assessment of her parenting skills which could cost the local authority nearly £100,000.
The 18-year-old woman, who can be named only as G, will spend four months with baby K at a mother and baby unit, costing £63,500, plus another £33,000 if the baby’s father accompanies her.

Read more on this story in The Guardian today

A life or death decision

A gay teenager who sought sanctuary in Britain when his boyfriend was executed by the Iranian authorities now faces the same fate after losing his legal battle for asylum.

Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2004 but later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged.

Read more on this story in The Independent today

Minimum wage increases by 3.8%

The UK minimum wage is to rise by 3.8 per cent from October, in line with an increase in average earnings but slightly lower than prevailing retail price inflation, prime minister Gordon Brown announced on Wednesday.
The rise in the adult rate, from £5.52 to £5.73 an hour, was welcomed by business leaders who had warned that increases above inflation would cost jobs in vulnerable areas such as hotels, catering and shops.

Read more on this story in The Financial Times today

NSPCC criticises school for censoring image on website

The NSPCC has criticised a primary school that decided to replace the faces of pupils on its website with cartoon faces.
Cann Hall Primary School in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, said it was blanking out children’s faces on pictures published on its website for safety reasons. But the NSPCC said the school “may have gone too far”.

Read more on this story in The Times today

Antisocial council tenants face radical eviction policy

A strategy to tackle problem families by evicting council house tenants who persistently misbehave has been drawn up by town hall chiefs.

Facebook campaign against Jersey minister

The chief minister of Jersey is facing mounting pressure to resign in the wake of the island’s child abuse scandal, with thousands of people signing up to protest groups on the social networking website Facebook.

95 children under eight hospitalised last year after drinking alcohol

Hundreds of children under the age of eight have been admitted to hospital suffering from the effects of alcohol, figures reveal. Last year, 95 under-eights needed emergency medical treatment for alcohol abuse, bringing the total since 2001 to 624.