Selasa, 26 November 2019

UK banknote printer De La Rue fears for its future - BBC News

De La Rue, the company that prints the UK's banknotes, has said there is a risk that the firm will collapse if its turnaround plan fails to work.

The announcement came as it suspended its dividend and reported a loss in the first half of its financial year.

De La Rue said its warning was based on a worst-case scenario.

However, it concluded that there was "a material uncertainty that casts significant doubt on the group's ability to operate as a going concern".

UK-based De La Rue prints cash for about 140 central banks and employs more than 2,500 people globally.

All current Bank of England banknotes are printed by the firm at a site in Debden, Essex.

It is unclear what would happen if the firm got into difficulties, but it is likely that a rival would take over its Bank of England contract. Its main competitors are all based outside the UK.

The BBC understands that preparations have already been made for the launch of the new £20 note featuring artist JMW Turner, printed by De La Rue, which enters circulation on 20 February next year.

Shares in De la Rue fell 20% on Tuesday morning.

De La Rue has faced some big setbacks in the past two years, including the loss of the post-Brexit UK passport printing contract to a Franco-Dutch firm last year.

In May last year, it had to write off £18m after Venezuela's central bank failed to pay its bills.

The company is also under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office in connection with "suspected corruption" in South Sudan.

It appointed a new chief executive, Clive Vacher, in October as part of a management shake-up.

What is De la Rue?

Around 11% of the 171 billion banknotes issued globally in 2017 were printed by a handful of commercial printers. De La Rue is now the largest of these firms.

It began producing banknotes in 1860, first for Mauritius and then elsewhere. Today it produces enough notes each week that if stacked up would reach the peak of Everest twice.

Its main competitor, German company Giesecke & Devrient, produces notes for roughly 100 central banks, while the Canadian Banknote Company and US-founded Crane Currency are also major players.

'Teetering on the brink'

De La Rue reported a £12.1m pre-tax loss for the six months to 28 September, compared with a £7.1m profit in the same period last year.

In its results statement, the company said it was accelerating its restructuring plan, including a reduction in overhead costs.

It is also planning new banknote security feature products to bolster its position in the "increasingly competitive" banknote market.

"De La Rue is teetering on the brink," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com.

"Bad management and decisions seems to be the main reason for the malaise."

Investors sometimes wonder whether a company's board of directors can, in the short term, have much sway over a company's trading.

The scepticism is warranted: boards normally comprise a small number of executives and a larger number of non-executive directors, who have no involvement with day-to-day operations, and there are plenty of examples of companies going off the rails without the board suspecting anything was wrong.

Today's results from De La Rue show, however, that boards are vital. The banknote and secure-printing company turned in a disastrous set of numbers - a £10m operating loss, a string of one-off charges and mounting debt - which it blamed on falling demand and too many companies chasing too few contracts.

But it also admits that a period of unprecedented turmoil at the top has not helped, with the chairman, chief executive, finance director and most of the other directors changing in short order.

"The board believes that significant changes in the board and executive teams, along with a restructuring of the business, has contributed to the poor performance of the business in the period," the results statement says.

"This has contributed to a larger variance between forecasts and performance than has been experienced historically."

Management matters, and will matter even more in the next few months. The directors warn that if the revival plan put in place by (newish) chief executive Clive Vacher does not yield results, there is a threat to the company being able to continue as a going concern.

In plain English, that means it will have to find more money, either by renegotiating the terms of its bank loans or by asking shareholders to stump up more cash.

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2019-11-26 09:05:09Z
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Senin, 25 November 2019

Kidnapped UK man and wife rescued after Philippines gun battle - BBC News

A British businessman and his Filipino wife have been rescued from their abductors in the southern Philippines, the country's army has said.

Allan and Wilma Hyrons were taken from a beach resort on Mindanao island by four armed men on 4 October.

Their kidnappers - thought to belong to the IS-loyal militant group Abu Sayaff - fled after a gun battle in the nearby Sulu region on Sunday.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the couple were "safe and well".

Mr Hyrons, 70, who is a dual national, has lived in Mindanao's Zamboanga del Sur region with his wife since 2013.

On the day they were captured, the couple had reportedly been celebrating Teachers' Day at a nearby college.

Witnesses reported seeing them being taken from a hut and dragged to a motorboat.

They were given medical checks after their ordeal ended with the operation by Philippine forces at approximately 17:00 GMT on Sunday.

BBC News has been told that the UK military was involved in the rescue operation.

A small team of British special forces personnel provided advice and planning support to help the search, a military source told BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale. The MoD has not commented.

Mr Raab thanked the Philippine authorities' "tremendous efforts".

"We are in particular grateful to their armed forces for their courage throughout a difficult operation which resulted in Alan and Wilma's release," he said.

"Foreign Office officials have been in close contact with Alan and Wilma's family throughout this ordeal. We request their privacy during this emotional time."

British Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce has spoken to the couple by telephone since their release, the Foreign Office said.

He tweeted: "Fantastic news! My sincerest thanks to all involved."

Who are the Abu Sayyaf group?

Abu Sayyaf is one of the smallest and most violent jihadist groups in the southern Philippines. Its name means "bearer of the sword" and it is notorious for kidnapping for ransom, and for attacks on civilians and the army.

The group is believed to have an estimated 400 members and, since 2014, several of its factions have declared their allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (IS).

In 2016, Isnilon Tontoni Hapilon, one of Abu Sayyaf's most prominent leaders, was recognised as the leader of all IS-aligned groups in the Philippines.

Read the full story

The UK government advises Britons against all travel to the area where Mr Hyrons was taken.

BBC Philippines correspondent Howard Johnson says the island has "several militant groups" operating on it.

In May, a 59-year-old Dutch hostage was reportedly killed by his captors on the nearby island of Jolo in May.

The Philippine army said Ewold Horn, who had been kidnapped in 2012, was shot as his captors fled a confrontation with troops.

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2019-11-25 14:17:02Z
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Minggu, 24 November 2019

General election 2019: Boris Johnson vows to 'forge a new Britain' - BBC News

Media playback is unsupported on your device

The Conservatives will "get Brexit done" and "forge a new Britain", Boris Johnson has said as he launched the party's election manifesto.

He vowed to train 50,000 new nurses and create 50 million more GP appointments.

Other "guarantees" include tighter immigration controls, more money to fix potholes, zero-net carbon emissions by 2050 and no increases in income tax and VAT rates.

The 59-page manifesto comes 18 days before the general election.

Speaking at its launch in Telford, Shropshire, the prime minister said the choice facing the country in this "closely fought" contest had "never been starker".

"Get Brexit done and we can focus our hearts and minds on the priorities of the British people," he added.

The manifesto, which the PM described as a "partial blueprint" for the future of the country, promises 20,000 more police officers and to "level up" schools funding.

The major new announcement is a plan to recruit and train 50,000 more nurses, through a mixture of new university places, apprenticeships and hiring from overseas.

Student nursing bursaries scrapped in 2016 will be restored, at an estimated cost of £760m in 2020-21, rising to £880m in 2023-4.

Other policies include:

  • Building "Northern Powerhouse Rail" between Leeds and Manchester and investing £28.8bn in strategic and local roads
  • A "triple tax lock", ruling out increases in the headline rate of income tax and National Insurance, as well as VAT, for five years
  • Raising the National Insurance threshold to £9,500 in 2020, with an ambition to raise it further to £12,500
  • Childcare: £250m a year, for at least three years, plus a £250m capital spending boost, for "wraparound" childcare - meaning after school or during holidays
  • Environment: £6.3bn for upgrades to homes, such as grants for improving boilers and insulation
  • £500m a year for four years for filling potholes - almost 10 times the amount promised by the party in an announcement in March
  • A new National Skills Fund of £600m a year for five years. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have announced similar plans

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said it was a pared-back, "take-no-chances" manifesto.

It rules out any changes to the Hunting Act, which bans the hunting of foxes and others wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales.

A plan to lift income tax thresholds for middle-earners to £80,000, announced during the Tory leadership campaign, has been dropped, with Mr Johnson saying this "was not the time" for such a move.

Brexit

The prime minister promised to bring back the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to Parliament before 25 December.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

The Conservatives want MPs to ratify the prime minister's Brexit deal before the UK is due to leave the EU on 31 January. After this there would be a "transition period" - during which the UK would continue to follow EU rules while the two sides try to work out a permanent trade deal.

The manifesto rules out extending the transition period beyond the 31 December 2020 deadline.

The House of Commons approved the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in principle in October. But it has to be reintroduced because Parliament was dissolved ahead of the election on 12 December.

Parking

The manifesto promises free hospital parking in England for people with disabilities, frequent patients, the gravely ill, families of long-stay patients, carers and NHS staff working night shifts.

The Conservative Party says £78m per year will be provided, which it claims is new funding for extra parking capacity, or compensation for lost fees.

Labour wants to make hospital parking free for everyone in England, in line with Wales and Scotland.

'Care consensus'

The manifesto promises £1bn per year in extra funding for care for the elderly over the next five years.

The PM said he was willing to talk to other parties to come up with a long-term solution for funding the system.

Pensions

The Conservative Party is promising to maintain the so-called "triple lock" on the UK state pension - meaning it will rise the by the rate of average earnings, inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher - and continuing the older person's free bus pass.

Chancellor Sajid Javid told the Sophy Ridge on Sunday show on Sky News the manifesto had the "most detailed and most transparent costings ever published in British electoral history".

But Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, said the Conservatives' position on taxes could "come back to bite" the party, as it could limit the ability to deal with costs to the NHS from an ageing society.

What are the parties promising you?

Here's a concise guide to where the parties stand on key issues like Brexit, education and the NHS.


What are other parties pledging on Brexit, taxes and childcare?

Brexit: Labour is promising to negotiate a new Brexit deal within three months, based on close alignment with the EU. This would then be put to the public in a legally binding referendum, alongside the option of staying in the EU.

The Liberal Democrats have vowed to cancel Brexit if elected as a majority government, or otherwise campaign for a referendum with the option of staying in the EU.

The SNP wants Scotland to stay in the EU and the Brexit Party says the UK should leave immediately without an exit deal, but negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU.

Taxes: Labour has set out plans to raise income tax for the top 5% of earners and reverse cuts to corporation tax in order to increase public spending.

The Liberal Democrats would bring in a 1p rise in income tax to spend on health and social care.

The Brexit Party wants to scrap corporation tax for companies earning less than £10,000 a year, ditch VAT for fuel bills and abolish inheritance tax.

Childcare: Labour has pledged that within five years two, three and four-year-olds will be entitled to 30 hours of free pre-school education per week.

The Lib Dems are offering to fund 35 hours of childcare, 48 weeks a year for children aged two to four.


Do you have any questions about the election?

In some cases your question will be published, displaying your name and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.

Use this form to ask your question:

If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.

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2019-11-24 15:21:33Z
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UK police charge man with human trafficking offenses in Vietnamese truck deaths inquiry - Reuters

Police move the lorry container where bodies were discovered, in Grays, Essex, Britain October 23, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

LONDON (Reuters) - British police have charged a 23-year-old man from Northern Ireland with human trafficking offenses as part of their inquiry into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in the back of a truck near London last month.

The police said in a statement that Christopher Kennedy was arrested on Friday, Nov. 22, and that he is due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court in England on Monday.

The Crown Prosecution Service has authorized charges of conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the travel of people with a view to exploitation and conspiracy to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law, it said.

The victims, 31 males and eight women, were found in a truck container on an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, not far from docks on the River Thames, on Oct. 23.

The truck driver, who is also from Northern Ireland, has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, and money laundering.

Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise

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2019-11-24 11:22:00Z
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Sabtu, 23 November 2019

U.K. voters want Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘radical’ change. They’re not sure they want him. - The Washington Post

On Nov. 21, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn detailed an ambitious platform for the December 12 election, promising to deliver Brexit in six months and vowing to tackle climate change.

BIRMINGHAM, England — Jeremy Corbyn introduced his Labour Party’s manifesto in a little red book this week, calling it the “most radical” in generations by promising British voters free child care, tuition-free university, free fast Internet, alongside the nationalization of mail, rail, water and energy.

Corbyn said if Labour wins Britain’s December election, his government will seek to “transform society,” grinding away the sharp edges from free-market capitalism and rebuilding the United Kingdom from the factory floor to the corporate suite “for the many, not the few.”

Corbyn’s campaign is in many ways a 2019 test-drive of the proposals and thinking being pushed by liberal candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ahead of the Democratic presidential primaries in America.

Many of Corbyn’s plans — for a million new jobs erecting wind turbines, for home care for the elderly in need; for soaking the rich and Google — are popular with the public on both sides of the Atlantic.

But Corbyn is decidedly not.

The 70-year-old European-style socialist, who quotes Franklin Delano Roosevelt and used to peddle his bicycle to Parliament, is one of Britain’s least popular politicians.

Why?

“People don’t think that Jeremy Corbyn has got the chops to do the job as prime minister,” said Steven Fielding, a professor of political history at the University of Nottingham. “People have images of their leaders, and they just don’t see Jeremy Corbyn as the kind of person who can do that job.”

The pro-Tory news media have been mocking Corbyn for years, depicting him in cartoons as a bug-eyed “red menace” in a Lenin cap. The front page of the tabloid Daily Mail on Friday announced the Labour plans as “the Marxist Manifesto” and claimed “Corbyn declares war on marriage, inheritance and business.”

Corbyn, who is supportive of the Palestinian cause, has also been accused of failing to root out anti-Semitism within his party.

And he has taken a wishy-washy stance on Brexit — saying he would remain neutral in a hypothetical second referendum — at a time when voters are seeking leaders with more decisive positions on whether Britain should leave the European Union.

[In first debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn, questions of trust dominate]

According to pollsters, Corbyn is the most unpopular Labour leader since Michael Foot in the 1980s. Foot resigned after Margaret Thatcher trounced Labour in a landslide victory in 1983.

After almost a decade in power, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party would seem to be prepped for a fall from power. Traditionally, that is the political cycle in Britain, as it is in the United States.

A further factor that should be working on Corbyn’s favor: The Tories have, by necessity and design, presided over a decade of austerity — the kind of belt-tightening budgets that hurt real people, that shutter libraries and take police off the streets.

Darren Staples

Bloomberg News

Labour supporters read copies of the party's general election manifesto during its launch in Birmingham on Thursday.

Under the Conservatives, London’s financial center has boomed, while the old industrial north of England has withered, with their once grand Victorian-era “high streets” now lined with shuttered businesses, alongside betting parlors, charity shops and pubs decorated by dust motes.

So Corbyn’s agenda — which like Warren’s would tilt power toward working people and away from corporations and billionaires — is highly appealing to many Brits.

Johnson’s Conservatives, however, are holding steady with a lead of 10 points or more in surveys of election intentions. The mop-headed, erudite, bombastic prime minister, with a proven record of stretching the truth, elicits strong opinions: Some love him; many don’t. But enough voters seem ready to back him that he is aiming to stay at 10 Downing Street with a majority government, promising to “get Brexit done.”

[Who is Boris Johnson? His life in photos.]

Marcus Roberts, director of international projects at polling firm YouGov, said, “It’s really interesting just how left-wing the appetite for change is, among so many British voters.”

A poll last week, for instance, found 51 percent of Brits said no one should be a billionaire.

Surveys suggest that while voters may like Corbyn’s agenda, they are concerned about how realistic and affordable the proposals would be, and they suspect it won’t just be the rich paying more taxes, but the middle and working classes, too.

There is also, Roberts said, “a disconnect between the popularity of its policies and the unpopularity of its leader.”

Labour leaders and supporters are anxious about their election prospects. And yet many in the party remain committed to their leader.

“I admire Jeremy Corbyn. He’s always stuck to his guns,” said Jean Brant, 69, a nurse in Birmingham who came out to support her party leader. “I don’t know what I’ll do if we lose this one.”

Brant acknowledged that the party was vulnerable. “Oh, they hate Jeremy, they do, the Tories. They say he loves the terrorists! But he’s the one who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland. They lie.”

Lewis Quinn, 18, a student studying politics at the University of Birmingham, was going to vote in his first general election. “Jeremy Corbyn is the real deal,” he said. “Agree or disagree, he’s always on the right side of history.” Quinn said college free of tuition is a brilliant idea.

Corbyn is perhaps an improbable leader of the Labour Party. For years — especially during the era of Tony Blair moderation — the member of Parliament for London’s Islington North constituency was outside of Labour’s mainstream.

From the backbenches, Corbyn opposed the Iraq War, criticized NATO and wrote articles for the Morning Star, a socialist newspaper founded by Britain’s Communist Party.

[In or out? Labour Party remains tortuously conflicted over Brexit and leader Jeremy Corbyn.]

By the time Corbyn ran for Labour leader in 2015, “Blair” had become a dirty word within the hard left of his party — his image tarnished by the Iraq War — and the country was tired of the cold austerity dishes served up by the Conservatives.

Many Labour lawmakers opposed Corbyn’s leadership, but he benefited from changes to the party voting rules that gave the grass roots greater say.

Under Corbyn, Labour has tacked hard to the left. The party’s agenda in the December elections is way more audacious than the one it proposed just two years ago, in the last general election.

His government would jack taxes on the rich, alongside Google, Facebook and Amazon, and punish “the tax dodgers, bad bosses and big polluters.”

There’d be a million new jobs, Corbyn promised, in his Green Industrial Revolution to combat climate change, real honest physical labor: carpeting Britain with new forests, building electric cars and erecting wind turbines.

In the way that Warren is promising “big, structural change” in America, Corbyn’s slogan for 2019 is “It’s Time for Real Change.”

Like the Democratic Party in the United States, Labour has been at war with itself.

Tom Watson, the more moderate, centrist deputy of the Labour Party who clashed with Corbyn on Brexit and anti-Semitism, announced this month that he would be stepping down.

Ian Austin, a former Labour politician, made the rounds on television this month saying voters should vote for Johnson because Corbyn was “completely unfit to lead our country.” Austin said Labour’s struggles with anti-Semitism — and Corbyn’s public acts of solidarity with Hamas and Iran — led him to leave the party.

In a televised debate this past week, Corbyn called anti-Semitism “an absolute evil and scourge within our society.”

Labour loyalists hope their party can replicate its trajectory in the 2017 general election, which saw its popular policies boost support for the party and its leader.

In that contest, Labour was 20 points behind in the polls but surged forward and, with a surprise photo-finish, denied then-Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservative Party a majority in Parliament.

But there is no evidence, at the moment, of the tide suddenly shifting for Corbyn this time.

Roberts said: “With Corbyn not winning the TV debate, not closing the gap on who voters think would be the best prime minister, with him severely trailing Boris Johnson in the favorability stakes, it’s easy to see why popular policies from an untrusted, unpopular messenger aren’t connecting with voters … There’s still time for that to change, but that time is really running out.”

The Tories are drilling away at the public’s misgivings about Corbyn. In a newspaper column, Johnson compared Corbyn to Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator.

For his part, Corbyn frequently argues that a Johnson-led administration would put Britain’s beloved National Health Service at risk in a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States.

Corbyn won the loudest cheers from his supporters in Birmingham when he warned that Johnson could harm the universal state-run health service.

“We will never let Donald Trump get his hands on our NHS,” Corbyn said, prompting chants of “not for sale” from the audience.

Read more

Want to understand Boris Johnson? Read his incendiary journalism.

Can Boris Johnson win the support of Labour voters who want Brexit?

Can Boris Johnson keep his seat? A young Muslim immigrant is challenging the British prime minister.

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

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2019-11-23 14:44:00Z
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Jumat, 22 November 2019

Chagos Islands dispute: UK misses deadline to return control - BBC News

The UK has been called an illegal colonial occupier by Mauritius after it ignored a deadline to return control of an overseas territory to the island nation.

The UN had given the UK six months to give up control of the Chagos Islands - but that period has now passed.

Mauritius says it was forced to trade the small archipelago in the Indian Ocean in 1965 for independence.

The UK says it does not recognise Mauritius' claim to sovereignty.

Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) insists it has every right to hold onto the islands - one of which, Diego Garcia, is home to a US military airbase.

"The UK has no doubt as to our sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814," it said in a statement.

"Mauritius has never held sovereignty over the BIOT and the UK does not recognise its claim."

But Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was important to return the islands "as a symbol of the way in which we wish to behave in international law".

He added: "I am looking forward to being in government to right one of the wrongs of history."

The Chagos Archipelago was separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was still a British colony. Britain purchased it for £3m - creating the BIOT.

Mauritius claims it was forced to give it up in exchange for independence, which it gained in 1968.

In May, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelming in favour of the Chagos Islands being returned - with 116 states backing the move and only six against.

The UN said that the decolonisation of Mauritius "was not conducted in a manner consistent with the right to self-determination" and that therefore the "continued administration... constitutes a wrongful act".

The UN resolution came only three months after the UN's high court advised the UK should leave the islands "as rapidly as possible".

As the six-month period came to a close, Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said the UK was now an illegal colonial occupier.

Over the decades Mauritius has staked its claim, and finally - particularly after the Brexit vote - Britain's traditional allies in the international community have started to desert Britain, to abstain or to vote against it at the UN.

And the UN is now taking pretty significant steps to say: "Britain you are behaving appallingly, this is still colonialism - give it back."

Britain has ignored those calls - so what might any repercussions look like?

Sanctions would be slow, incremental and largely institutional - in the sense that Britain is going to find itself squeezed at institutions that it has traditionally seen as very important.

Britain no longer has a judge on 14-seat International Court of Justice in The Hague, and it's going to start to see UN maps reflecting the legal fact that the UN sees this islands as belonging to Mauritius.

The deadline is not binding, so no sanctions or immediate punishment will follow - but that could change.

At the time of the UN resolution, the FCO said the UK did not recognise Mauritius' claim to sovereignty, but would stand by an earlier commitment to hand over control of the islands to Mauritius when they were no longer needed for defence purposes.

Between 1968 and 1974, Britain forcibly removed thousands of Chagossians from their homelands and sent them more than 1,000 miles away to Mauritius and the Seychelles, where they faced extreme poverty and discrimination.

Many moved to the UK in the hope of a better life.

Britain then invited the US to build a military base on Diego Garcia.

US planes have been sent from the base to bomb Afghanistan and Iraq. The facility was also reportedly used as a "black site" by the CIA to interrogate terrorism suspects. In 2016, the lease for the base was extended until 2036.

The UK has repeatedly apologised for the forced evictions, which Mr Jugnauth has said were akin to a crime against humanity.

In 2002, the British Overseas Territories (BOTs) Act granted British citizenship to resettled Chagossians born between 1969 and 1982. But the 13-year window has left some families divided.

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2019-11-22 12:03:00Z
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Chagos Islands dispute: UK misses deadline to return control - BBC News

The UK has been called an illegal colonial occupier by Mauritius after it ignored a deadline to return control of an overseas territory to the island nation.

The UN had given the UK six months to give up control of the Chagos Islands - but that period has now passed.

Mauritius says it was forced to trade the small archipelago in the Indian Ocean in 1965 for independence.

The UK says it does not recognise Mauritius' claim to sovereignty.

Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) insists it has every right to hold onto the islands - one of which, Diego Garcia, is home to a US military airbase.

"The UK has no doubt as to our sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814," it said in a statement.

"Mauritius has never held sovereignty over the BIOT and the UK does not recognise its claim."

But Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was important to return the islands "as a symbol of the way in which we wish to behave in international law".

He added: "I am looking forward to being in government to right one of the wrongs of history."

The Chagos Archipelago was separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was still a British colony. Britain purchased it for £3m - creating the BIOT.

Mauritius claims it was forced to give it up in exchange for independence, which it gained in 1968.

In May, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelming in favour of the Chagos Islands being returned - with 116 states backing the move and only six against.

The UN said that the decolonisation of Mauritius "was not conducted in a manner consistent with the right to self-determination" and that therefore the "continued administration... constitutes a wrongful act".

The UN resolution came only three months after the UN's high court advised the UK should leave the islands "as rapidly as possible".

As the six-month period came to a close, Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said the UK was now an illegal colonial occupier.

Over the decades Mauritius has staked its claim, and finally - particularly after the Brexit vote - Britain's traditional allies in the international community have started to desert Britain, to abstain or to vote against it at the UN.

And the UN is now taking pretty significant steps to say: "Britain you are behaving appallingly, this is still colonialism - give it back."

Britain has ignored those calls - so what might any repercussions look like?

Sanctions would be slow, incremental and largely institutional - in the sense that Britain is going to find itself squeezed at institutions that it has traditionally seen as very important.

Britain no longer has a judge on 14-seat International Court of Justice in The Hague, and it's going to start to see UN maps reflecting the legal fact that the UN sees this islands as belonging to Mauritius.

The deadline is not binding, so no sanctions or immediate punishment will follow - but that could change.

At the time of the UN resolution, the FCO said the UK did not recognise Mauritius' claim to sovereignty, but would stand by an earlier commitment to hand over control of the islands to Mauritius when they were no longer needed for defence purposes.

Between 1968 and 1974, Britain forcibly removed thousands of Chagossians from their homelands and sent them more than 1,000 miles away to Mauritius and the Seychelles, where they faced extreme poverty and discrimination.

Many moved to the UK in the hope of a better life.

Britain then invited the US to build a military base on Diego Garcia.

US planes have been sent from the base to bomb Afghanistan and Iraq. The facility was also reportedly used as a "black site" by the CIA to interrogate terrorism suspects. In 2016, the lease for the base was extended until 2036.

The UK has repeatedly apologised for the forced evictions, which Mr Jugnauth has said were akin to a crime against humanity.

In 2002, the British Overseas Territories (BOTs) Act granted British citizenship to resettled Chagossians born between 1969 and 1982. But the 13-year window has left some families divided.

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2019-11-22 12:00:22Z
52780444163727