Alan Travis
Kerry leads overseas
A poll conducted in 10 countries reveals strong public support for the Democratic candidate and growing contempt for the Bush administration.
George W. Bush has squandered a wealth of sympathy around the world toward America since Sept. 11, with public opinion in 10 leading countries — including some of its closest allies — growing more hostile to the United States while he has been in office.
According to a survey, voters in eight out of the 10 countries, including Britain, want to see the Democratic challenger, John Kerry, defeat President Bush in next month’s U.S. presidential election.
The poll, conducted by 10 of the world’s leading newspapers, including France’s Le Monde, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, Canada’s La Presse, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Guardian, also shows that on balance world opinion does not believe that the war in Iraq has made a positive contribution to the fight against terror.
Continue Reading CloseMigration squeeze
Under Britain's proposed immigration scheme, only skilled workers who speak and write English are welcome to settle permanently.
The British government is to close the door on low-skilled migrants from the developing world who come to Britain legally under existing work permit schemes, Home Secretary Charles Clarke disclosed Monday. The measure is part of the Labor Party’s five-year plan for immigration and asylum, which includes a “points system” for new migrants that critics fear will lead to a “two-tier guest-worker” labor force.
Skilled workers — those with qualifications equal to A-levels and above — will be able to settle in Britain with their families once they have worked for five years and passed an English-language and citizenship test.
Continue Reading CloseUnlawful discrimination
Britain's highest court rules that the unlimited detention of foreign terror suspects is "the real threat to the life of the nation."
A scathing judgment by the House of Lords, Britain’s highest court, condemning the indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects as a threat to the life of the nation left anti-terrorist laws in tatters Thursday. The ruling by an 8-1 majority held that the indefinite detention without trial at Belmarsh and Woodhill high-security prisons was unlawful under the European Convention on Human Rights. Constitutional lawyers called it one of the most important decisions from Britain’s highest court in 50 years.
Continue Reading Close