Author: News Desk

Shelter condemns ‘shocking’ 14% rise in homelessness across England Charity says soaring private rents, rising evictions and lack of affordable social housing are to blame Soaring private rents, rising evictions and a chronic lack of affordable social housing have led to homelessness in England increasing by 14%, research from Shelter reveals. The charity described its latest figures as “shocking” and “astounding”. They are contained in a report that estimates that on any given night more than 354,000 people in England are homeless, which is one in 160 people. That includes 161,500 children. An estimated 326,000 people, most of them families…

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Hundreds of thousands hit by ruinous carer’s allowance penalties, audit shows Campaigners say NAO report shows the impact of DWP staffing decisions and failure to address flaws in the benefit’s design Hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers were hit with ruinous penalties for minor breaches of carer’s allowance rules in the five years after senior welfare officials promised to fix the scandal-hit benefit, an official audit has revealed. Campaigners said the National Audit Office (NAO) report highlighted the scale of the misery and hardship inflicted on carers over the period as well as the extent of the failure by the…

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The Department for Infrastructure has said using public transport is “not usually a viable option” for minister John O’Dowd, despite urging members of the public to use buses and trains in a bid to prevent traffic congestion in Belfast.Mr O’Dowd and spokespeople for his department have made several statements in recent weeks encouraging people to use public transport as complaints around city centre traffic become louder.Belfast city centre has seen significant periods of traffic congestion since the opening of the new £340m Grand Central Station in October.The Stormont department has outlined a number of measures it is taking to address…

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A federal judge has rejected the sale of the conspiracy platform Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet.The ruling comes after Infowars’ Alex Jones claimed a recent bankruptcy auction was fraught with illegal collusion.The Onion was named the winning bidder on November 14 over a company affiliated with Jones, but Judge Christopher Lopez’s decision means Mr Jones can stay at Infowars in Austin, Texas.You got to scratch and claw and get everything you can for them.The Onion had planned to kick him out and relaunch Infowars in January as a parody.At the end of a lengthy two-day hearing in a…

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Judge Santiago Pedraz entering the headquarters of the National Court, last February.Juan Carlos Hidalgo (EFE)Santiago Pedraz, the judge of the National Court investigating one of the sons of the president of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema for kidnapping and torture of four opponents, has refused to extend to Interpol the evidence obtained during the three years of judicial investigation, evidence that this organization claims to process the international arrest warrants (OID) issued by its court for terrorism crimes.Interpol, an organization that brings together 196 countries, has sent the magistrate a request for more information, to which EL PAÍS has had…

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“Turull has described the pact of a motion of censure with the PP as ‘fantasy’ and that is a reasonable statement, but there are indirect ways” Read The siege of Sánchez

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