Emigrate.co.uk News » UK

British couple allegedly raped by Frenchmen in Thailand

Adam Owens — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:17:31 +0000

A British couple, celebrating the end of their year of vacation travelling around the world, were the unfortunate victims of gang rape while holidaying on Koh Chang, Thailand. Doctors in Thailand have confirmed the reports that the date rape drug – Dormicum was used to spike their drinks.
The couple reported that this horrific incident took place after they met an Englishwoman and three French men in a bar.
The couple, forty-two year old Richard and thirty-one year old Susan believes their drinks were spiked after they left the group for a while before they came back to the party. Things then reportedly started to get blurry and vague and Susan barely remembers being taken to the couples’ bungalow by one of the French men.
Richard asserts that he had to endure watching the assault on his wife. After committing the act, the French men allegedly retold the entire scene to Richard. Richard also claims that he too was assaulted sexually.
Thai authorities have initiated a full investigation that is currently ongoing. The couple have long since flown back to the UK to be with their families. The British embassy is in contact with the couple and the Thai police and is said to be keeping an eye on the investigations. Although the act took place in Thailand, Thai nationals were in no way involved in this abominable crime.

Share This

TNK-BP CEO needs working contract to obtain visa

Mathew Walters — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:22:07 +0000

The battle continues for the Chief Executive Office of TNK-BP, Robert Dudley. The joint venture between BP and 4 Russian billionaires has been in jeopardy over issues regarding the visas of its British employees, including CEO Robert Dudley. Without visas the British portion of the venture could lose operational control to the Russians.

Currently, the migration service of the Russian government said that they can not grant Dudley a visa because he does not have a valid working contract. Dudley did have a contract but it expired sometime last year. BP officials claim that according to Labor Code in Russia the contract needs to be terminated or else it automatically rolls over and therefore his contract is still valid.

A spokesperson for the Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Poltoranin said “We cannot grant a visa to Mr. Dudley before he presents a valid contract. The previous contract expired and we have no proof that it has been prolonged.”

Dudley’s visa was set to expire on the 19^th of July but the Russian government has issued him a transit visa that will allow him to remain in the country until the 27^th of July. Poltoranin said of the extension “He [Dudley] has been given 10 days to present a contract. We may extend his visa one more time, but without a valid contract, he cannot work in Russia,”

A source from within TNK-BP has said that “Obviously the pressure is mounting. The likelihood is that somehow they will try to engineer Dudley’s suspension this week so that the Migration Service can then say they don’t need to consider his visa request and he has to leave. It’s ridiculous but this is the reality.”

www.tnk-bp.com

Share This

Resolution for sanctions against Zimbabwe rejected by the United Nations Security Council

Helen Young — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:20:41 +0000

The United States and Britain went before the United Nations Security Council in an attempt to get support to bring sanctions against Zimbabwe. The measure failed and left the leaders of both countries feeling “disappointed” and “furious” respectively. The resolution sponsored by the United States and Britain was brought forth after President Mugabe won the election in Zimbabwe. Russia and China were the two countries that vetoed it.

Both Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Bush will continue to push for sanctions against Zimbabwe despite their vetoed resolution at the UN. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary in Britain said “We are looking at a deeper hit on the financial sector and a wider travel ban.”

There were unpleasant remarks made toward the Russian government because they vetoed the resolution. The Russian government released a statement that said “We consider such statements unacceptable. The statement added that “it was the presentation in New York of an inadequate draft resolution which is contrary to the collective approach”.

Also commenting was Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin who said “I have to question the character of our partnership with our British and US colleagues . . . when they suddenly come out with these absolutely unfounded accusations.”

China’s deputy ambassador Liu Zhenmin said they would continue to not support the resolution. Zhenmin said “The solution can only be achieved by the Zimbabweans themselves with the help of South African leaders. We are going to support the mediation efforts.”

www.un.org

Share This

Discussions about security occur between the UK and Pakistan

Helen Young — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:51:44 +0000

Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Jacqui Smith met with Rehman Malik, the Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior. Up for discussion were topics relating to terrorism, militancy, aviation security, and immigration.

This was the second meeting between the two parties although this meeting took place in London and according to Malik “It was an extension of our earlier meeting during Smith’s visit to Pakistan.” Malik also described the meeting that lasted approximately 45 minutes on Wednesday as “constructive and useful.”

Since March a new government has been ruling Pakistan. One change that can be noted is that the number of suicide attacks has tremendously decreased since then. Pakistani forces are also said to have complete control and that nobody would be able to challenge the new government.

We’ve had a very good meeting again following up the meeting that we had when I visited Islamabad earlier on this year. As then, we are completely clear that the people who we share and the ideas that we share make it even more important for us to work together particularly to counter the terrorism that threatens both Pakistan and the UK and I think we are very strong in our joint view of the continued work that we will able to do to tackle that and the very strong friendship and links that there are between our countries.”

Both parties have agreed to cooperate to solve issues related to terrorism and security in the country.

www.homeoffice.gov.uk

Share This

The UK is seeing the biggest population growth in fifty years

Helen Young — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:16:37 +0000

The pregnancy rate in the United Kingdom has not been as high as it is now for the last 34 years. The baby boom is the result of the immigration population that continues to grow. The Office for National Statistics, or ONS, notes that in England and Wales nearly 700,000 babies were born during the 2007 year. It estimates that 25 per cent of those babies were born to a mother that was not a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Visa and immigration expert Bryan Palmer with GobalVisas said “The UK is one of the most common immigration destinations, providing good job prospects and money making opportunities especially when a foreigner has sought after skills. The open door policy with the European Union has also resulted in many EU citizens starting a new life in the United Kingdom. This has clearly directly affected population figures.”

The population boom is expected to put further strain on the already stressed public services in the UK. The Office for National Statistics speculates that the United Kingdom could grow to 65 million people within the next decade which is approximately an additional 5 million people than the current population. 70 per cent of the 5 million additional people to call the UK home are the result of immigration in the country.

Because of the immigration and population boom immigration policies are tightening across the board. The UK has stricter visa policies sets in place and citizens now have to host visiting family members and claim responsibility for making sure that they leave promptly as their visa expires.

www.globalvisas.com

Share This

Abuse of immigration in the academic community

Anna Rowlands — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:06:09 +0000

It has been determined that they are people looking to obtain a UK visa by registering to attend academic conferences in the United Kingdom. People are sending fake applications to the academic conference in hope that they will be chosen to attend the event. Once they have been selected they file for their UK visa noting that they will be attending an academic event in the country. This improves the chances of their visa application being accepted.

Stephen Taylor who gives lectures on strategic business management at Strathclyde University has said in regard to the problem: “It is well know in academic circles that if you are holding a conference you are going to be targeted by people who will use it as a way of getting you to issue saying they are participating in a conference. They can then sue the letter to help them get a visa. It’s endemic.”

Taylor hosted an international academic conference this May and thought that of the one hundred applicants they received six of them had the potential to be false. Taylor said “In one case, we were contacted by someone from an African country saying they were the provincial of a resource based company that wanted to send three employees to the event. Straight away we knew this did not tie in with what we were doing, because it’s an academic conference. But they kept hassling us for three months to send them a letter. My colleague received one call a week from them. I suspect it was a fairly large scale operation.”

www.strath.ac.uk

Share This

Visa free travel between the European Union and Russia on the horizon

Helen Young — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:04:39 +0000

As Visa free travel is becoming more popular between various countries Russia is joining in by trying to make a deal with the European Union that would grant travel between the two without requiring a visa.

Russia’s representative at the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, remarked about the visa free situation that “A dialogue on visa-free travel is in progress. In the period since agreements have been in place on simplified visa rules and on readmission between Russia and the EU, which came into force on 1 July 2007, readmissions have not become of a mass nature. Unfortunately, this is not enough for visa-free travel.

Some things that have been suggested to help assist with the visa free process are upgrading current Russian passports. The new passports would need to be biometric. It was also noted that border facilities would need to be upgraded to accommodate the visa free travel.

Chizhov said “In particular, it is important to enhance facilities not only at the borders between Russia and the EU but also other sections of [Russia's] borders. For example, the border between Russia and Kazakhstan, which is 7,500 km, has been registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s longest land border. We will also introduce next-generation biometric passports and take some other steps.”

Konstantin Kosachev who is the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs predicted that visa free travel been the European Union and Russia would be possible in two to three years.

Share This

More Chinese students looking to Britain for education

Andy Scott — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:01:34 +0000

In one years time the total number of student visa applications that the British immigration department received from Chinese students had increased by over sixty five percent compared to the year prior. A British embassy spokes person located in China Ren Donghua commented “From January to March this year among all the 3521 student visa applications 1628 visas were granted accounting for forty six per cent of the total applications.” Overall the percentage of visa applications that get approved when taking into account all British visas permitted for Chinese citizens is about seventy per cent.

Many analysts feel the rise in Chinese students studying abroad in Britain is tied to the fact that their education system is more mature and as such can provide a larger variety of studies that result in degrees that are more globally recognized. In addition to their education recognition globally, the United Kingdom has also provided a wide range of incentives including their work programs and study programs which make it easier for students to enter the country and extend their residency past education and into a career.

A representative of the British Council commented “We organize activities each year in major Chinese cities to help students learn about British culture and get prepared for life and study there in the future.” This process of trying to pull in more students from foreign nations has been on the rise as the United Kingdom works to replace high skilled workers and an aging population.

www.britishcouncil.org

Share This