UK averts Brexit rebellion

Trafficking victims detained, denied support

LONDON, Nov 22, (Agencies): British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government averted a rebellion in parliament on Tuesday over plans to ditch the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, promising to review its approach and make changes if needed.

Parliament is debating legislation which will enact Britain’s exit from the EU in March 2019 and copy EU law into British law — described by officials as “one of the largest legislative projects ever undertaken in the UK”.

The bill is testing May’s ability to govern effectively after she lost her parliamentary majority in June, leaving her leading a fragile minority government and in charge of a Conservative Party divided on how best to manage the split from the EU.

On Tuesday, the focus of an eightday debate which has already forced May’s ministers into some concessions, fell on the government’s plan not to include the Charter of Fundamental Rights in its mass “cut and paste” of EU law.

The government, which says there is no need to copy across the EU charter because all it does is codify rights that exist through other legal instruments, headed off a potential rebellion by promising a review and possible technical changes later in the lawmaking process.

“We do recognise the strength of views ... and we are prepared to look again at this issue to make sure that we are taking an approach which can command the support of this house,” said the government’s Solicitor General Robert Buckland.

That was enough to dissuade dissatisfied members of May’s party from joining forces with opposition lawmakers to force an outright U-turn on scrapping the charter.

The government still intends to scrap the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, but says citizens will not lose any of the existing rights the document sets out.

was briefly blessed by a priest as mourners including his wife and three of his four children looked on, according to Italian media reports.

The cemetery was closed to the press amid a heavy police presence.

Riina’s son Giovanni, who is serving time in jail for four murders, was not given permission to attend. (AFP)

Blow for Danish PM party:

Prime

During the debate, critics — including members of May’s own party — argued that abandoning the charter was an unnecessary risk and in its current form diluted some citizens’ rights and created uncertainty over the protection of others.

The rights charter came into force in 2009 through the EU’s Lisbon Treaty and brings together the fundamental EUprotected right in a single document.

Meanwhile, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney on Wednesday said the arrangement linking Hong Kong with China could be a possible solution for addressing the fate of Northern Ireland after Brexit.

The border between EU member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland is becoming an increasing concern in divorce talks with Britain, with Dublin demanding that the frontier remain completely open, or risk endangering the peace process.

Fears

Ireland fears that any divergence of Northern Ireland from EU law will automatically require the creation of cross-border controls, hitting the economy and reviving memories of when military checkpoints split the island.

“Britain ... must take on their responsiblity to Northern Ireland ... and we will try to help them design that in a way that is fair to both communities,” Coveney told reporters while on a visit to a community centre in the Northern Ireland city of Belfast.

Drugmakers are racing to implement Brexit contingency plans to prepare for a jolt to their regulatory system as the European Medicines Agency is uprooted from London to Amsterdam.

Pharmaceutical companies, used to decade-long drug development cycles, and EMA staff face a mountain of paperwork to keep medicine supplies flowing without disruption.

Amsterdam maybe the least-worst option for staff retention, with 81 percent of EMA staff surveyed ready to

Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s Liberal Party suffered losses in Denmark’s local elections, a possible bellwether for the next national election, which is to be held no later than mid-2019.

The centre-right Liberal Party received 23.1 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s election, 3.5 percentage points less than in 2013. The Social Democrats gained 3 percentage points to 32.5 percent.

The Social Democrats won the leadership of four of Denmark’s five regions, move to the Dutch city, but there is still a real fear of bureaucratic logjams given the upheaval and ultra-tight schedule dictated by Brexit.

EU ministers selected Amsterdam from 19 cities as the new home of the EMA and its staff of around 900. It has been based in London since 1995, acting as a one-stop-shop for approving and monitoring the safety of medicines across Europe.

It must relocate to Amsterdam by the end of March 2019, when Britain leaves the European Union.

Rescued victims of trafficking in Britain are often detained at immigration centres rather than given support, with some convicted of crimes linked to their exploitation or deported, campaigners said on Tuesday.

Picked up in police raids on brothels, cannabis farms, car washes and nail bars, many modern-day slaves are taken to detention centres where they struggle to access support services for victims, according to charity Detention Action.

Rather than being locked up, victims should be referred to Britain’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which decides whether or not someone has been trafficked, and offers help through services from healthcare to housing, the charity said.

Yet victims are often left in limbo because Britain’s Home Office, or interior ministry, is responsible for both NRM referrals and deporting undocumented migrants.

“For far too long we have seen evidence that survivors of slavery with irregular immigration status are seen first and foremost as immigration offenders, rather than the victims of crime,” said Kate Roberts of the Human Trafficking Foundation.

“Not only does this deny justice to those individuals, it also means that the perpetrators of crime remain free to exploit others,” Roberts told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

and in at least 40 of the 98 municipalities, including the four largest cities. Coalition talks are still ongoing in some municipalities.

The results are seen as a boost for Mette Frederiksen who took over the Social Democratic leadership after former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt failed to extend her rule at the 2015 national election. (RTRS)

Danish divers find arm:

Danish police said Tuesday divers had recovered an arm in waters off Copenhagen, where the dismembered head, torso and legs of Swedish journalist Kim Wall were found in October.

“We have not yet determined if it is a right or left arm, or to whom the arm belongs. But we are working on the assumption that it is linked to the submarine case,” Copenhagen police inspector Jens Moller Jensen said in a statement.

Danish inventor Peter Madsen, 46, in October admitted dismembering the corpse of Swedish journalist Kim Wall.

She vanished after interviewing him on board his homemade submarine on Aug 10, and her body parts were later found in Koge Bay off Copenhagen.

Madsen is suspected of murdering Wall, but he has denied the allegations and said he does not know how she died. He has told police she died below deck while he was up on deck. (AFP)

Prosecutors have previously said they believe Madsen killed Wall as part of a sexual fantasy, then dismembered her body and threw the parts into the sea.

The arm is to undergo a forensic examination on Wednesday. (AFP)