Cincunri Sakia

Jumat, 24 Februari 2023

China's support for Russia taints Ukraine 'peace' plan, western officials say - Financial Times

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2023-02-24 15:11:49Z
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Kamis, 23 Februari 2023

European Commission bans staff using TikTok on work devices over security fears - The Guardian

The EU’s executive body has banned its thousands of staff from using TikTok over cybersecurity concerns, a decision the Chinese-owned social video app has criticised as “misguided” and based on “fundamental misconceptions”.

The European Commission sent an email to employees ordering them to delete the app from all work phones and devices, and any personally owned ones that use the commission’s apps and email. Employees have until 15 March to comply.

A spokesperson said: “This measure aims to protect the commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyber-attacks against the corporate environment of the commission. The security developments of other social media platforms will also be kept under constant review.”

The commission said it had enacted the ban in line with its “strict internal cybersecurity policies” and longstanding advice to staff to “apply best practices when using social media platforms and keep high-level of cyber awareness in their daily work.

“It is therefore our duty to respond as early as possible to potential cyber alerts,” the spokesperson said.

ByteDance, the privately owned parent company of TikTok, has denied there were any data security concerns related to its products and said it wanted to “set the record straight” with the commission.

“We are disappointed with this decision, which we believe to be misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions,” said a spokesperson for TikTok. “We have contacted the commission to set the record straight and explain how we protect the data of the 125 million people across the EU who come to TikTok every month.”

ByteDance said it was continuing to strengthen its approach to security, including recently announcing the establishment of three new datacentres in Europe to ensure users’ information was stored locally and not exported to foreign jurisdictions, such as China.

The company is also reducing employee access to data – an internal report released by ByteDance in December found that four employees violated policies by inappropriately accessing data on TikTok users in the US – and “minimising data flows outside of Europe”.

Governments and officials in Europe and the US have taken similar steps to the commission to limit use of the app by employees amid fears that data may be accessed by Beijing.

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Last summer, a lobbying campaign by Conservative MPs resulted in the closure of the @ukparliament TikTok account.

In the US, TikTok has been banned on all federal government devices, and most US states have imposed similar bans. Other countries including the Netherlands are assessing whether to implement restrictions on government employees using TikTok.

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2023-02-23 11:40:00Z
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Asylum backlog at record high, Home Office figures show - BBC

Child in blanket walks towards coastguard

By Mark Easton, Callum May and Judith Burns

BBC News

The number of asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their case in the UK has soared to record levels, with about 166,000 people in the backlog.

Almost 110,000 have been waiting for six months or more, according to Home Office data published on Thursday.

The new figures show about 89,000 people claimed asylum in the UK in 2022, the highest for 19 years.

On Wednesday the Home Office announced plans to streamline the system by scrapping interviews in some cases.

The move aims to reduce the asylum backlog which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to see largely eradicated by the end of this year.

Instead of a face-to-face interview, some 12,000 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen will fill in a 10-page questionnaire in English.

Applicants from these countries already have 95% of their asylum claims accepted, says the Home Office.

Officials say claimants will undergo a face-to-face interview if caseworkers are not satisfied with the information provided in the questionnaire.

There were higher numbers of asylum claims in some European countries than in the UK in 2022, statistics indicate. For example, there were nearly 218,000 claims in Germany, more than 137,000 in France and 116,000 in Spain.

The Home Office figures show in the UK overall, more than three quarters (75%) of asylum decisions made in 2022 were in favour of granting asylum, the highest in more than 30 years.

However the actual number of decisions made in 2022 was 10% below the level before the pandemic.

And the figures also suggest that while the number of asylum caseworkers has doubled since the pandemic, each worker is less productive. In early 2020, seven decisions were made by each worker each month, now it is four decisions a month.

Graphic showing sharp growth in asylum backlog since 2010

The 166,000 backlog includes people waiting for the outcome of appeals as well as for initial decisions. This figure is a rise of 60% on last year and is more than 160,000 for the first time.

Of those whose applications were refused, 2,192 people were returned - either forcibly or voluntarily - in the year to the end of September. This number is much lower than in previous years.

In 2010, 10,663 failed asylum seekers were returned, although Home Office officials say the way asylum returns data is collected has recently improved.

When forcible returns are considered separately, the figure for last year was 489, compared with almost 6,800 in 2010.

Conservative party chairman Greg Hands said: "We need to get to grips with the backlog... Absolutely we're committed to the safety and security of this country.

"There's still a very strong process in place. We're talking here about cases that would be granted, we're just going to do it more quickly in a more streamlined way whilst making sure that public safety is secure."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "After 13 years of failure, today's figures underline the shocking mess the Conservatives have made of the asylum system."

Ms Cooper said Labour would "take more decisions, secure new agreements with Europe, and crack down on the criminal gangs".

"Rishi Sunak needs to stop posturing and start getting the basics right."

Additional reporting by Maryam Ahmed, Harriet Agerholm and Jack Rodgers

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By Mattea Bubalo

BBC News

UN head António Guterres has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an "affront" to the world's collective conscience at a meeting of the General Assembly nearly one year on.

The meeting was debating a motion backed by Ukraine and its allies demanding Russia pull out immediately and unconditionally.

Ukraine hopes that by supporting the motion countries will show solidarity.

The Kremlin has accused the West of wanting to defeat Russia at any cost.

Vasily Nebenzya, the Kremlin's ambassador to the UN, said the US and its allies were prepared to plunge the entire world into war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent up to 200,000 soldiers into Ukraine on 24 February 2022 in the biggest European invasion since the end of World War Two.

The devastating war that ensued has left at least 7,199 civilians dead and thousands of others injured, according to a UN estimate, but that number is likely to be much higher.

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where mass executions are alleged to have taken place, estimated in April that 21,000 people had died there alone.

Russia and Ukraine have each seen at least 100,000 of their soldiers killed or injured, according to the US military.

More than 13 million people were made refugees abroad or displaced inside Ukraine.

Mr Putin's claim that his operation was needed to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine, a country with historic ties to Russia, was dismissed by Ukraine and its allies as a ruse for an unprovoked attack.

"That invasion is an affront to our collective conscience," Mr Guterres told the General Assembly. "It is a violation of the United Nations Charter and international law."

The possible consequences of a "spiralling conflict" were, he said, a "clear and present danger".

Mr Guterres said the war was "fanning regional instability and fuelling global tensions and divisions, while diverting attention and resources from other crises and pressing global issues".

There had, he said, been "implicit threats to use nuclear weapons".

"It is high time to step back from the brink," he said.

"Complacency will only deepen the crisis, while further eroding our shared principles proclaimed in the Charter. War is not the solution. War is the problem. People in Ukraine are suffering enormously. Ukrainians, Russians and people far beyond need peace."

Sixty countries have sponsored the resolution, which stresses "the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

The UN is likely to approve the resolution, which is not legally binding but carries political weight. However, it is unlikely that the vote will have much influence on Russia's actions in Ukraine.

Voting will take place later on Thursday, the eve of the invasion's first anniversary.

Over the past year, the General Assembly has voted on similar resolutions opposing Russia's invasion. In October 143 member states voted to condemn Moscow's illegal annexation of parts of Ukraine. Russia, Belarus, Syria, and North Korea opposed the motion, while India and China were among the 35 states that abstained.

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Mr Guterres was speaking after Russia's President Vladimir Putin gave a speech blaming the West for the war.

In his address to the nation on Tuesday, Mr Putin also announced Russia's decision to suspend a key nuclear arms treaty after US President Joe Biden, fresh from a surprise visit to Kyiv, praised Western democracy for standing up to Russian aggression.

Mr Biden has called the decision to suspend the treaty, designed by the US and Russia in 2010 to prevent nuclear war, a big mistake.

On Wednesday, Mr Putin met China's top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, in Moscow and said co-operation with Beijing was "very important to stabilise the international situation". The visit marked an end to China's claim to neutrality regarding the war in Ukraine.

Family outside destroyed building in Izyum

Rabu, 22 Februari 2023

Teacher stabbed to death by pupil in France - BBC

People stand outside the St Thomas d'Aquin school in south-west France

By Antoinette Radford

BBC News

A high school student has stabbed a teacher to death in a school in the French town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

French government spokesman Olivier Véran confirmed Wednesday's attack and said the perpetrator was 16 years old.

Police attended Saint-Thomas d'Aquin school with the local prosecutor, where the student was arrested.

French newspaper Sud Ouest said the attacker entered the classroom while the teacher was giving a Spanish class and attacked her.

The teacher was in her 50s and died of cardiac arrest after emergency services arrived at the school, local media reported.

French TV station BFM said the attacker locked the classroom door and stabbed the teacher in her chest.

Local prosecutor Jerome Bourrier said that an investigation had been opened by local police for assassination and the suspect was in custody. He added that the suspect was not known to the police or the justice system.

The prosecutor will give a news conference on Thursday afternoon to give further details about the investigation.

France's Education Minister Pap Ndiaye called the attack "a tragedy of extreme gravity" and expressed his condolences.

"Today is a time of emotion and a time for solidarity," he said on a visit to the school. "The whole nation is present here to express its sorrow and emotion."

Local media reported the student might have been suffering from mental health issues. They said at this stage of the investigation there was no suggestion the incident was terror-related.

In a news conference, Mr Véran said the government would support educators across the country in the wake of the incident.

"I can hardly imagine the trauma that this represents," he said.

The school is a private, Catholic establishment near the centre of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a well known French summer holiday location.

By lunchtime, students who had been told to remain in their classrooms were able to leave the school and many were collected by their parents.

Cincunri Sakia

Jumat, 24 Februari 2023

China's support for Russia taints Ukraine 'peace' plan, western officials say - Financial Times

What is included in my trial?

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Kamis, 23 Februari 2023

European Commission bans staff using TikTok on work devices over security fears - The Guardian

Asylum backlog at record high, Home Office figures show - BBC

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Putin rallies Russia at pro-Ukraine-war concert - The Times

Ukraine war: UN chief condemns invasion ahead of anniversary - BBC

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Rabu, 22 Februari 2023

Teacher stabbed to death by pupil in France - BBC

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