South Korea prosecutors indict ex-president Moon Jae-in for bribery
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The Star
9 minutes ago
- The Star
UK faces more protests and legal action after asylum seekers hotel injunction
FILE PHOTO: Protesters attend an anti-immigration demonstration, in Epping, Britain, August 8, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) -The British government policy of housing thousands of asylum seekers in hotels was facing severe pressure on Wednesday, as opponents leapt on a court ruling to call for protests and legal action to have them all evicted. According to a regular tracker of voters' concerns, immigration has overtaken the economy as the biggest issue amid anger over record numbers of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel, including more than 27,000 this year. On Tuesday, the High Court in London granted a temporary injunction to stop asylum seekers from being housed in the Bell Hotel in Epping, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of London in the county of Essex. The hotel had become a focal point for regular protests after a resident was charged with sexual assault, a crime he denies, with large numbers of police separating anti-immigration protesters and pro-immigration groups. The injunction in the Epping case centred around a specific planning issue and could be reversed when the case is heard in full later this year. But other councils said they would also urgently seek legal advice on evicting asylum seekers from hotels in their areas. Nigel Farage, the leader of the populist Reform Party which is leading in opinion polls, said all the 12 local authorities his party controlled would do everything in their power to do so. "Let's hold peaceful protests outside the migrant hotels, and put pressure on local councils to go to court to try and get the illegal immigrants out; we now know that together we can win," Farage wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "No doubt we will be attacked as 'far Right' provocateurs for daring to suggest that people follow the lead of Epping's parents and residents by protesting peacefully." ASYLUM HOTELS Britain currently houses about 30,000 asylum seekers who are awaiting decisions on their claims in more than 200 hotels across the country and, although the government has said it intended to close all of these by 2029, it now faces a major headache if others are able to follow Epping's lead. In the court hearing, the Home Office (interior ministry) said the injunction would have a "substantial impact" on the government's ability to comply with its legal duty to provide accommodation, and security minister Dan Jarvis said they would look closely at the decision and whether to appeal it. "The big challenge remains, which is, we need to process asylum claims much more speedily and much more effectively than was the case previously," Jarvis told BBC TV. Critics say that housing asylum seekers in hotels, often young men who are not allowed to work, puts the local community at risk, and point to recent incidents such as in Epping and other locations where some migrants have been accused of serious crimes including the rape and sexual assault of young girls. They also contrast the facilities provided to migrants in hotels with the difficulties many in Britain are facing with rising living costs and shortages of affordable housing. However, pro-migrant groups say far-right groups and opportunistic politicians are deliberately seeking to exploit and enflame tensions for their own ends. Across Europe governments have struggled with how to house asylum seekers, with far-right and anti-migrant groups in France also leading protests against dedicated centres in recent years. During riots in Britain last year, hotels containing migrants were attacked when unrest involving some far-right supporters erupted after misinformation that the murderer of three girls in Southport was a radical Islamist migrant. (Reporting by Michael Holden and Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Alex Richardson)
The Star
40 minutes ago
- The Star
White House starts TikTok account as platform in US legal limbo
The White House account had about 4,500 followers an hour after posting the video. Trump's personal account on TikTok meanwhile has 110.1 million followers, though his last post was on Nov 5, 2024 – Election Day. — Reuters WASHINGTON: The White House launched a TikTok account on Aug 19, as US President Donald Trump continues to permit the Chinese-owned platform to operate in the United States despite a law requiring its sale. "America we are BACK! What's up TikTok?" read a caption on the account's first post on the popular video sharing app, a 27-second clip. The account had about 4,500 followers an hour after posting the video. Trump's personal account on TikTok meanwhile has 110.1 million followers, though his last post was on November 5, 2024 – Election Day. TikTok is owned by China-based internet company ByteDance. A federal law requiring TikTok's sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump's inauguration on January 20. But the Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media and who has said he is fond of TikTok, put the ban on pause. In mid-June Trump extended a deadline for the popular video-sharing app by another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States. That extension is due to expire in mid-September. While Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, he reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform – which boasts almost two billion global users – after coming to believe it helped him win young voters' support in the November election. Trump's official account on X, formerly Twitter, has 108.5 million followers – though his favored social media outlet is Truth Social, which he owns, where he has 10.6 million followers. The official White House accounts on X and Instagram have 2.4 million and 9.3 million followers, respectively. – AFP
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
South Korea blocks elderly ex-North Korean spy from border crossing
SEOUL: South Korean soldiers prevented a 95-year-old former North Korean spy from crossing the border on Wednesday after he pleaded for repatriation to the North. Ahn Hak-sop is one of six elderly former North Korean soldiers and spies who have recently intensified their demands for Seoul to send them back to their ideological homeland. These individuals were convicted in the South for anti-state activities and served decades in prison for refusing to renounce communism. Holding a North Korean flag, Ahn 'walked a few hundred metres toward a military checkpoint and was stopped by personnel,' a spokeswoman for a civic group campaigning for his return told AFP. Anh was taken to hospital. A photo carried by the Yonhap news agency showed Ahn holding the red-and-blue North Korean flag at the border -– an act that could be punishable under Seoul's national security law. The Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war. Ahn was captured during the Korean War in 1953 while on an infiltration mission and remained imprisoned until 1995, a lengthy term that could have ended earlier had he agreed to embrace democracy. The civic group representing Ahn and the five others argues they should be recognised as 'prisoners of war' and that their repatriation requests must be respected under the Geneva Convention. 'I am a prisoner of war who came here in a North Korean military uniform under orders from the Workers' Party,' Ahn said in a 2024 interview with local outlet Ganghwa News. 'But the South Korean government did not treat me as such, and I was forced to spend more than 40 years in prison, subjected to numerous tortures.' The civic group told AFP it would continue to press for the men's return. North Korea has yet to comment on the case. Seoul's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, told AFP on Tuesday it was reviewing 'various ways to address the issue'. The ministry official added that more former convicts in similar situations were expected to demand repatriation, though the government had no precise figure on how many remain alive. In 2000, South Korea repatriated 63 'unconverted' former prisoners through the border truce village of Panmunjom during a brief period of rapprochement -- the first and only such event to date. – AFP
