By Foreigner posted 2 November 05
UK: The new "Britishness test" for foreigners who apply to become UK citizens is being launched by ministers.
Immigration Minister Tony McNulty will unveil sample questions from the test, which becomes compulsory from Tuesday.
The curriculum was set out following recommendations by a Home Office panel chaired by Professor Sir Bernard Crick, and includes British history and customs as well as practical information on living in Britain.
Foreigners who wish to become British citizens will have to sit the test at one of 90 exam centres across the country.
Mr McNulty said: "The measures we are introducing today will help new citizens to gain a greater appreciation of the civic and political dimension of British citizenship.
"In particular, it will help them understand the rights and responsibilities that come with the acquisition of British citizenship.
"This will enable new citizens to play a full part in their wider community and will benefit both our society and economy."
The new initiative, which is formally called the Life in the UK test, comes after the Government introduced new requirements for applicants to pass exams in English language.
Mr McNulty is also speaking at a conference on the new naturalisation requirements in central London organised by the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration.
Ed: I've heard you can get a performance boost for the test by downing four pints of warm lager and scoffing a greasy plate of fish and chips first.
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By Rankin File posted 2 November 05
By 2008 Olympics who will win globalised union-busting industrial tyranny award ? 50-year-old internet commentator had been posting information online about the Chongqing steel workers' protests, which began in August this year. The workers were demanding that the company, which used to be one of China's top 500 industrial companies but was recently declared bankrupt, should pay them 2,000 yuan each in severance payment for their loss of employment. The Chongqing police cracked down violently on the workers' demonstration on 7 October, reportedly causing the deaths of two women protestors. In addition, 24 demonstrating workers were injured and three of their leaders were detained the same day.
Press Release: CLB Calls for Immediate Release of Internet Writer Detained for Publicizing Recent Mass Protests by Chongqing Steel Workers
A former textile-company employee turned businessman who posted online reports about a recent series of protest demonstrations by steel workers in Chongqing has disappeared and is believed to be in police custody.
Shi Xiaoyu was taken away by police from his home in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, on 20 October, according to China Rights Defenders and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The rights groups said Chongqing police traveled to his home in Zhejiang on 19 October and detained him, confiscating his computer and other materials the next day.
The 50-year-old internet commentator had been posting information online about the Chongqing steel workers' protests, which began in August this year. The workers were demanding that the company, which used to be one of China's top 500 industrial companies but was recently declared bankrupt, should pay them 2,000 yuan each in severance payment for their loss of employment. The Chongqing police cracked down violently on the workers' demonstration on 7 October, reportedly causing the deaths of two women protestors. In addition, 24 demonstrating workers were injured and three of their leaders were detained the same day. (For further information on the Chongqing steel workers' protests, see CLB's report of 14 October: Two Women Reportedly Killed, and Three Workers' Leaders Detained, During Police Crackdown on Mass Protest at Chongqing Steel Plant)
"Instead of simply 'shooting the messenger' by detaining Shi Xiaoyu for publicizing the police violence at the Chongqing Steel Plant, the Chinese authorities should instead be actively investigating reports that two innocent women died as a result of the police crackdown on the workers' protest," said CLB's director Han Dongfang. "Shi is not a dissident, and he was not even criticizing government policies. He was merely informing the Chinese public about a major case of labour unrest in his hometown," he added. "The authorities should be encouraging such public-spirited activity, not suppressing it."
China Labour Bulletin calls on the Chongqing police to release Shi Xiaoyu immediately and to cease participating in the official cover-up of the violent police crackdown on 7 October in Chongqing against peacefully demonstrating steel workers.
27 October 2005
China Labour Bulletin
By Peter Aldhous 1 November 05
IT SOUNDS like an open-and-shut case: a clear DNA match is made between semen from a serious sexual assault and a blood sample from a known criminal. Yet in a recent case from Alaska, the criminal in question was in jail when the assault took place. And forensic scientists had already matched the crime sample to the DNA profile of another person who was their prime suspect. It was only after careful detective work that the mystery was solved: the jailed man had received bone marrow from the suspect many years earlier.
This week, at a meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Abirami Chidambaram of the Alaska State Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory in Anchorage described the case to highlight the danger of miscarriages of justice. Given the retribution that can be doled out to sex offenders by other jail inmates, the consequences could be severe. "If you implicate the wrong person, they can be killed in prison," says Chidambaram.
"As forensic DNA databases grow and more people undergo bone marrow transplants, the risk of a miscarriage of justice increases"
When Chidambaram discovered the perplexing match, she initially thought there had been a sample mix-up. But there was no mistake. What's more, the jailed man and suspect shared the same surname.
Because medical records are confidential, a detective had to make further enquiries among family and friends of the two men. That revealed that not only were the convict and suspect brothers, but the inmate had received a bone marrow transplant from his brother. As a result, his blood was populated with cells bearing his brother's DNA profile.
It's an instance of life imitating art: in November 2004, US TV channel NBC broadcast an episode of Law and Order: Special victims unit in which a rapist nearly got away with his crimes because of a similar bone-marrow mix-up.
The chances of cases like this arising are very low. But as forensic DNA databases expand, and more people undergo marrow transplants, the risk of a miscarriage of justice will increase. "It makes sense for investigators to be savvy to this," says David Lazer of Harvard University, who studies the policy issues surrounding forensic DNA testing.
Until recently, bone marrow transplants involved destroying the patient's own bone marrow. In such cases their blood will contain the DNA profile of the donor alone. But some treatments in recent years, such as therapies to treat sickle cell disease, retain some of the patient's original bone marrow, so their blood can contain a mixed DNA profile.
Mixed profiles can also occur when DNA is collected from swabs taken from the inside of the cheek, rather than blood samples. This practice is already standard in the UK and is increasingly being used by US police.
Cheek cells of a bone marrow recipient will contain mostly their own DNA, but can become contaminated with the donor's DNA over time. So police may have to check both blood and cheek samples to be sure of spotting a transplant recipient.
Lazer believes it would cost too much to routinely check both types of sample to confirm whether a suspect has received a bone marrow transplant, and Helen Ng, spokeswoman for the US National Marrow Donor Program, based in Minneapolis, stresses that it would happen only very rarely. "I hope it doesn't prevent people giving patients what they need," she says.
But Chidambaram argues that potential marrow donors should be informed of the small risk of their DNA profile turning up in a crime database if the recipient later commits an offence.
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