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The British empire on which the sun never sets to Homelessness everywhere

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It is estimated that some 300,000 people in England are homeless. The number has tripled since the Conservative government’s tough austerity policy began. But a new law is aiming to prevent the problem before it arises.

“Sticky situation, and I got kicked out. So, I came here and started the hostel life,” says Brogan. She is sitting on a fluffy sofa. The sun is shining through the typical English bay windows into the lounge of the hostel for homeless young people. The organization that runs it, Roundabout, offers a home to 27 of them in Sheffield.

The charity Shelter estimates that there are 300,000 homeless people in England. Since the Conservative government’s tough austerity policy began in 2010, the number has risen sharply. Now the government is also focusing on the problem.

The government is counting on more prevention

In mid-August, James Brokenshire, Minister of Municipalities and Housing, presented a legislative initiative. The goal is that by 2027, no one should have to sleep on the street.

Since April, municipalities have been required to offer assistance the day a lease is terminated. Hospitals, prisons and job centers are obliged to refer people directly to social services if there is a risk of them becoming homeless.

With the “Homelessness Reduction Act,” the government is aiming to keep people housed by means of timely intervention.

Homelessness has risen sharply

The Conservatives have been under pressure on this issue for some time. Homelessness is no longer limited to London with its chronically inflated property market. Last year, Labour politician Andy Burnham won the election as mayor of Greater Manchester with the promise to take up the fight against homelessness.

Since then, he has, among other things, donated 15 percent of his salary for this purpose. Across England, 60 percent more people are living in emergency shelters than in 2011, and the number of people sleeping on the streets has more than doubled.

“MPs went home to their constituencies and found that people across the country were talking about homelessness. So, it’s one of these problems that people are talking about everywhere, both in the cities and towns, but also in the shires and the small towns,” says Jon Dean, who is researching the subject at Sheffield University.

Austerity policy has exacerbated the problem

Dean sees the reasons behind the current situation primarily in the cuts to social welfare and housing benefits. “So, the very hard sanctions that were brought in as part of austerity in order to get the welfare budget down to reduce the deficit did have a huge impact on rising levels of homelessness.”

Anyone who misses an appointment at the social security office or job center loses part of his or her social assistance. In addition, charities complain that in many regions of England, rents have risen more sharply than state housing subsidies.

Standard rental contracts in England expire after one year. This has become the main reason why many people end up homeless. Since 2011, the number of people losing their homes has tripled.

Turkish Dictator Erdogan repeats unfriendly statements towards Armenia in London speech

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YEREVAN, MAY 14, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is currently in the UK, delivered a speech in London’s Chatham House, the Turkish Milliyet newspaper reports.

Erdogan also touched upon Armenia in his speech titled “Turkey’s regional and global vision”, once again displaying his unfriendly position towards Armenia.

In particular, Erdogan claimed that Turkey is supporting all initiatives for establishing long term peace and welfare in the Caucasus and the Middle East, adding: “the only country absent from this picture in Armenia. We are waiting for the day when we will see a reasonable approach from the Armenian leadership”.

This is the second similar statement by Turkey about Armenia in the recent days, which once again proves that Ankara continues speaking in the language of preconditions with Armenia.

Earlier on May 11, Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirimn responded to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement on the establishment of diplomatic ties with Ankara without preconditions. However, the Turkish PM once again repeated their preconditions.

According to Hurriyet newspaper, Yildirimn has said that Turkey doesn’t want to be hostile with its neighbors. Nevertheless, Yildirimn essentially didn’t deviate from the traditional Turkish political line towards Armenia.

In particular, the Turkish PM said: “Certainly if Armenia changes its hostile stance towards Turkey, refuses from its ambitions towards Turkey’s territorial integrity and borders, refuses from it all, desires to open a new chapter, then we will examine details and respond accordingly. We don’t want to be in hostility with anyone, particularly with neighbors. If such an approach would exist, we will discuss it within the framework of the interests of our state”.

In response to a question from reporters in Artsakh, the Armenian Prime Minister had earlier said that Armenia is today also ready for establishing relations with Turkey – without preconditions.

“As you know, Turkey has preconditions in this issue, and these preconditions are illogical, because relations with a third country cannot be a preconditions for the establishment of relations between two countries”, PM Pashinyan had said.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator – Stepan Kocharyan

UK: Up to 30 injured in explosion at Jewish celebration in London

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Jewish celebration in London

An explosion during a Jewish celebration in London has left several people injured after crowds gathered to celebrate Lag BaOmer, a Jewish festive day on which bonfires are a tradition, Daily Express reports.

Close to 30 people have been injured following the explosion in Stamford Hill in north London, which may have been caused by a mobile phone.

Jewish news website Yeshiva commented on the event, saying: “It appears that the explosion was caused by fuel and not the smartphone, although there definitely were multiple smartphones placed inside the pile to be burned.”

Around thirty individuals are believed to have been treated for their injuries, with ten being taken to hospital.

Jewish ambulance service Hatzola and London Ambulance Service attended the scene to treat burn victims.

The severity of the injuries have not been confirmed.

Videos recorded at the event depict the bonfire being lit, followed by a large explosion which engulfed the crowd standing just a few metres from the fire.

Double-decker bus smashes into store in London

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A double-decker London bus has smashed into a store building in south London causing multiple casualties, police say.

The incident took place on Thursday morning, as one of London’s symbolic red buses drove into a shop in Lavender Hill.

Footage from the crash showed a heavy presence of police and medical teams rushing to rescue the bus’ passengers.

It was not clear what caused the crash or how many people were injured.

The bus driver was taken to a nearby hospital following the smash. The driver told one of the nurses that he “blacked out” before the incident.

“He doesn’t remember hitting anything,” the nurse said. “The paramedic told me they think he had some kind of fit.”

here were at least the two women trapped on the upper deck, who were said to be “conscious and breathing.”

“Avoid Lavender Hill SW11. Bus has gone into a building. We have no further at this time,” tweeted Wandsworth Police, responding to the incident.

“Two fire engines and three fire rescue units are at the scene of a bus which has crashed into a shop in Lavender Hill in Battersea,” London Fire Bridge said on Twitter.

UK: Students start fundraiser for Armenian lecturer who escaped London fire

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London fire

Photo: RICK FINDLER/GETTY IMAGES

Kind-hearted students have started a fundraising page for a Croydon lecturer, Mesrob Kassemdjian, who lived in the Grenfell Tower and lost of all his possessions in the fire, including research for his PhD, Croydon Advertiser reports.

Kassemdjian, known as Robbie to his students, managed to escape his 17th floor flat with his girlfriend and elderly auntie before the fire engulfed the building.

So far 79 people are confirmed to have died or gone missing in the disaster .

The teacher of criminology at University Centre Croydon (UCC), based at Croydon College, watched as the building “caught fire like a candle”.

Now, his students, who describe Robbie as “much-loved” are trying to collect £1,500 for him to replace his extensive book collection, laptop and equipment he used to teach and for research into his PhD, which were all lost in the blaze.

The fundraiser has been opened on the JustGiving website.

The fire has left the building almost completely charred, and there were concerns about the tower’s structural integrity, as it appeared to lean slightly to one side.

Search-and-recovery efforts were paused on Friday, June 16 over safety concerns, but resumed Saturday afternoon, police said.

Croydon AdvertiserPhoto: RICK FINDLER/GETTY IMAGESearted students fundraising for ‘much-loved’ Croydon lecturer who escaped Grenfell Tower fire

London Bridge terrorists who killed seven in van and knife rampage

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Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and a third jihadist drove a rented van into crowds before calmly strolling into Borough Market and stabbing multiple victims

Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and a third jihadist drove a rented van into crowds before calmly strolling into Borough Market and stabbing multiple victims

Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and a third jihadist drove a rented van into crowds before calmly strolling into Borough Market and stabbing multiple victims.

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Two of the terrorists who rampaged through London Bridge killing seven and injuring 49 have been unmasked.

Khuram Shazad Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and a third jihadist drove a rented van into crowds before calmly strolling into Borough Market and stabbing multiple victims on Saturday night.

The trio were gunned down by counter terror cops who neutralised the threat within eight minutes of being called to the scene.

Butt, also known as “Abz”, is believed to be the killer wearing an Arsenal shirt pictured lying on the ground outside the Wheatsheaf pub.

The former security guard and Transport for London worker from Barking, east London, was known to police after associating with extremist Muslim preachers.

He appeared on a Channel 4 documentary last year titled “The Jihadist Next Door” where he unfurled an ISIS-style flag in London’s Regent’s Park.

At least two individuals have claimed they reported him to the anti-terrorist hotline as his radical views emerged over the last two years.

Redouane, who also lived in the Barking and Dagenham area, is believed to have been identified from an Irish ID card found in his pocket after he was executed by armed cops.

He is understood to be of Moroccan descent and had previously been living in Dublin.

UK: Armenian Street Festival 2017, Hosted by Armenian Street Festival London

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London Armenian festivalThe ASF creates a great opportunity for the Armenian Community and its friends to get together and do what Armenians do best, HAVE FUN.

With popular Armenian music, A concert by famous musical artists Sibil and Andre Simonian (Beautified Project), A classical concert by the London Armenian Opera and soloist Anaïs Heghoyan in the Church, The Circle of Life Dance coordinated by Shakeh Major-Tchilingirian, Plenty of traditional Armenian dancing by our one and only Akhtamar Armenian Performance Group and lots more to come. There are also Cultural artefacts, stalls selling varying gifts and books etc, drinks and FANTASTIC FOOD where the Square will be filled with joy from 12 until 7pm.

Primates office for further inquiries if you’d like to hire a stall or if you are interested in volunteering.

Sunday, July 16 at 12 PM – 7 PM UTC+01

 

Armenian Street Festival London
Iverna Gardens, W8 6TP London, United Kingdom

https://www.facebook.com/events/1386551931404075/?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A%22[%7B%5C%22surface%5C%22%3A%5C%22messaging%5C%22%2C%5C%22mechanism%5C%22%3A%5C%22attachment%5C%22%2C%5C%22extra_data%5C%22%3A%7B%7D%7D]%22%7D

How Chechens selling arms to Azeris were killed in London

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In late February 1993, a high ranking Chechen official, an aide to rebel leader and the first President of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Dzhokhar Dudayev, 38-year-old Ruslan Outsiev and his brother Nazarbek, 20, were killed at their London penthouse. As it turned out later, the assassination was linked to the Armenian security service members.

PanARMENIAN.Net – According to the primary lead, the two were killed to prevent purchase of missiles for Azerbaijan. PAN has studied the publications in foreign and Armenian Diaspora’s media outlets and presents the key circumstances of the incident.

Official Grozny said at that time that the Outsiev brothers arrived in London as Dudayev’s envoys with a brief to arrange the printing of passports and banknotes for the new Chechen state. However, along with their public mandate to print the documents of the putative Chechen state, they had a number of other missions: to secure a $250 million loan from an American businessman for the modernization of Chechnya’s huge oil refineries; to conclude negotiations with the German energy company Stinnes AG for the quick sale of Chechen oil at world prices; and as investigators later discovered, to purchase 2,000 ground-to-air Stinger missiles.

Ruslan Outsiev was the volatile Dudayev’s most trusted adviser and a hard-liner in the faction-ridden administration. His brother was a martial arts expert and general muscle-for-hire, although, Grozny said, he left for the British capital to study English. In London, Ruslan Outsiev posed as Chechen Prime Minister, but he actually was a vice chairman of the supreme presidential council headed by Dudayev.

As it often happens, Ruslan Outsiev was also a criminal authority with haughty ways. He visited expensive restaurants, booked ‘elite’ prostitutes and bought a flat for £700,000 (according to some sources, he paid £1,000,000) in Sherlock Holmes’s reputed domicile at 221B Baker Street.

To embark on complex negotiations, the Chechen government representatives needed a skilled interpreter and fixer. Ruslan Outsiev remembered that he was once interviewed by a BBC producer, Alison Ponting, and he turned to her for help. She suggested her husband, Gagik Ter-Oganisyan, who lived in London since 1988 and was a swimming-pool attendant at Wandsworth baths, hoping, perhaps, that he would find gainful employment. Thus, Ter-Oganisyan was hired by Outsiev for his London trip as a translator, guide and adviser.

A student of Russian and Eastern European Studies at Manchester University, Alison Ponting, visited Armenia in 1984 for a training, when she met Ter-Oganisyan, fell in love and kept up communicating upon returning to Britain. In 1988, they got married in Yerevan and moved to London, where Gagik, a salesman, started working as a swimming-pool attendant. Later, with his wife’s help, he went into business, exporting computers, faxes and cheap clothes to the post-soviet state.

Ter-Oganisyan attended the meetings Outsiev held and witnessed signing of contacts. At some point, relations between the Armenian and the Chechens soured. Later, England’s Crown Prosecution Service insisted that Ter-Oganisyan had discovered that the Stinger missiles were destined for Azerbaijan to be deployed in the war against his home country, Armenia. Ter-Oganisyan alerted one of his friends, Armenian KGB member Mkrtich Martirosyan, to the Utsiev brothers’ activities. The prosecution also said that a couple of hitmen were dispatched from Los Angeles, the center of the Armenian Diaspora in the United States, to London.

Disguised as the head of the Armenian chamber of commerce, senior KGB member Ashot Sargsyan arrived in London to prevent the bargain. With the help of Alison Ponting, who was, however, unaware of the goings-on, Martirosyan also got a UK entry visa.

Upon his arrival, Martorisyan met with Outsiev in Langham Hotel (Ter-Oganisyan was also present) to dissuade him from the purchase of missiles. However, Outsiev did not change his mind, thus, according to the British prosecutors, signing his own death-warrant. Determined to eliminate the Chechen, Martorisyan left for Los Angeles to hire a killer, Ashot Detmenjian. (In some documents the hitman is mentioned as Arthur, but he was presumably the same person, A. Detmenjian.) On February 20, Martorisyan returned to London, rented an apartment in a suburb and waited for the killer to arrive. However, due to certain visa problems, Detmenjian failed to reach Great Britain.

On February 26, Nazarbek Outsiev went into hospital for a sinus operation, providing the perfect opportunity for his older brother’s murder. The Chechen official was killed with three shots to the head in his luxury apartment. Two days later, Nazarbek was killed the same way upon being released from hospital. The only reason for killing the younger brother was, as it turned out later, to prevent inevitable revenge of the outraged Chechen kin.

After purchasing a fridge-freezer with a cardboard box to hold the elder Outsiev’s decomposing body, the Armenians paid two delivery men £450 to take “17th century statue” to a rented flat in London suburb. Unfortunately, the box split and the smell alarmed the men. By the time they contacted police, Nazarbek was also dead.

The policemen detained Martirosyan and Ter-Oganisyan, when they entered the Outsievs’ apartment with electric saw and sacks to disjoint Nazarbek’s body and take it away. The gun was also found at the site.

Alison Ponting was arrested as well. However, she was released after the police found out that she was completely unaware of the events.

The reasons for the double homicide were not immediately clear and the police initially thought that the brothers were killed in a robbery attempt, but the circumstances that were revealed in the course of the investigation prompted that the motive was different.

Days after the murder, Chehchen media outlets reported that it was masterminded by the Russian special services with a purpose to intimidate the Chechen leadership and make them sign the federal agreement. After the arrest, Ter-Oganisyan pleaded not guilty of killing the Outsiev brothers. The prosecution later said that he had taken a German translator on a diversionary shopping trip on that day.

Martirosyan, on the contrary, admitted the crime and confessed being a member of the Armenian national security service and acting by the order of Ashot Sargsyan. However, he later retracted, saying that the brothers were killed by a hired hitman. During the arrest, policemen discovered a small phial of snake venom under a bandage on Martirosyan’s wrist, apparently intended for his suicide. Shortly afterwards, customs officers intercepted another phial of snake venom sent by an Armenian in the United States to Ter-Oganisyan’s home presumably ordered by his wife. Alison Ponting was arrested again but soon released for absence of a crime in the act.

When in jail, Martirosyan had a visitor. According to some sources, it was Ashot Sargsyan, who gave him a flap dipped into snake poison to cut his hand and thus commit suicide. However, this attempt was also frustrated. Finally, Martirosyan hung himself in the prison cell.

The British police described Martirosyan as a clever man with a good sense of humor, despite being a brutal criminal. According to sources, the KGB threatened to settles scores with his family members in Yerevan. “The KGB will not forgive anyone,” Martirosyan used to say.

The man’s body was transported to Armenia by the request of his family. The employees of the Armenian embassy in London were not present at the trial and denied any connection of the national security service to the double homicide.

The police failed to find Sargsyan in the UK, however, he was killed in Moscow several months later in unclear circumstances.

As to Ter-Oganisyan, his direct involvement in the crime was not established in court. Although, the prosecution never knew who pulled the trigger as there were no fingerprints on the gun, Ter-Oganisyan was given a life sentence in October 2013. His wife suffered severe stress. In addition to his husband’s verdict she has become an object of revenge for the Chechens. Her life was attempted several times until her sister, Karen, who looked alike, was shot dead at the door of her house in April 1994. After the incident, Ponting was guarded by the police for a long time. There is no information available about her fate.

On the front picture, you see Afghan Mujahideen with Stinger missiles during the war

Sources:

Independent. Armenian jailed for London KGB killings: Arms deal led to deaths of brothers from rebel Russian republic in luxury flat

The New York Times. “McMafia”

E. Mickolus, S. Simmons, Terrorism, 1992-1995: A Chronology of Events and A Selectively Annotated Bibliography , 1997 Kommersant. Chechens killed for attempt to help Azerbaijan

Armenian International Magazine, Mission unraveled. The macabre case of the Dead Chechens, 1993, December

Hyusisapayl. “How Chechens’ attempt to buy Stinger missiles was frustrated”

Samson Hovhannisyan / PanARMENIAN.Net

Angry Kurdish demonstrators tried to storm Turkish embassy in London

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london-kurd-protestLONDON,— At least one British police officer was wounded Friday when angry Kurdish demonstrators tried to storm the Turkish embassy in London in protest against the detention of leading Kurdish politicians in Turkey.

The protest that began relatively peacefully degenerated into violence as dozens of protesters tried to break through police barriers and enter the embassy, Rudaw reported.

Police sources said the injuries of the officer were relatively light and not life threatening.

Hundreds of Kurdish activists and demonstrators gathered in front of the UK prime minister’s office in Downing Street Friday before moving towards the Turkish embassy in London.

Larger demonstrations are expected in London and other European capitals on Saturday as lawmakers of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) remain in Turkish police custody, Kurdish activists told Rudaw.

Prominent HDP lawmakers including party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdaq were detained by the Turkish police Thursday night.

Turkish authorities have said the lawmakers were detained after they failed to respond to a court summons investigating terror charges.

The Turkish government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has fought an armed insurgency against the state for over three decades. The HDP rejects the accusation.

The Turkish parliament removed the legal immunity for a select group of lawmakers, including many from HDP, earlier this year, which has made it possible for the court to issue the warrants for their arrest.

The court also issued arrest warrants for three other HDP lawmakers on Friday after another four MPs were released on bail during the day. Police said 8 lawmakers, including the co-chairs, were now in custody.

In New York, demonstrations were held on Friday with hundreds of Kurdish protesters gathering in front of the UN headquarters.

The protesters demanded the UN condemn the arrests, but the world body has so far only “raised concern” for the crackdown on Kurdish politicians.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric condemned a deadly bombing that hit the largely Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday, hours after the arrests. But he stopped short of condemning the lawmakers’ arrests, saying that the UN was concerned.

The United States used similar language. In the daily State Department press briefing on Friday, spokesperson John Kirby said “the United States condemns the indefensible bombing in Diyarbakir.”

Regarding the arrests of the HDP lawmakers, Kirby said the US is “deeply concerned.”

He said that US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Under Secretary Ümit Yalçın and made it clear “that when democracies pursue legal action against an elected representative, they must do so in a manner that reinforces the public’s confidence in rule of law.”

EU, France, Germany and several parties in the European Union legislature have strongly condemned the detention of Kurdish politicians by Turkish authorities over “terrorism-related” investigations.

The European Union is “extremely worried” by Turkey’s arrest of Kurdish opposition lawmakers, the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Friday, “Extremely worried for arrest of (Selahattin Demirtas) and other (HDP) MPs,” she said. “In contact with authorities.”

The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 78-million population. A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels.

Sweden to interview Wikileaks founder

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free-wikileaksEcuador has agreed to allow Sweden to interview WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside its embassy. The Australian has been sheltering in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid arrest on a Swedish criminal warrant.

Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that “in the coming weeks” a Swedish judge will be admitted inside its diplomatic compound to take a statement from the 45-year-old Australian national.

Assange is wanted for questioning over a 2010 rape allegation in Sweden but has been inside Ecuador’s UK mission for more than four years in a bid to avoid extradition.

Assange denies the charge, saying the sexual contact was consensual and the charges politically motivated to retaliate over his role in Wikileaks, which publishes leaked data that is often embarrassing for governments and officials.

A long-running saga

Assange won an important victory before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Februrary which had found that Sweden and Britain violated his fundamental rights.

Ecuador has maintained it would allow Sweden to take custody of Assange if Stockholm guarantees that he would not be sent to the United States for prosecution over WikiLeaks’ release of 500,000 US diplomatic cables in 2010.

Since then the anti-secrecy group has continued to leak files gleaned by hackers including emails from within the Democratic National Committee that suggested collusion between top party officials and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The party’s chair and other top officials resigned following the revelations.

Wikileaks has also been criticized for dumping unfiltered data including a recent email dump from Turkey’s ruling political party that had little apparent public interest value but included the personal contact information of women voters in nearly every Turkish province.

jar/kl (AFP, EFE)

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/sweden-to-interview-wikileaks-founder/a-19464749