Reuters, London
Net migration to Britain fell sharply in the 12 months after last year’s Brexit referendum, with more than three-quarters of the drop due to EU citizens leaving and fewer arriving, official data showed on Thursday.
Net migration tumbled by 106,000 to 230,000 people in the 12 months to June, the Office for National Statistics said.
Some 82,000 of the overall decline was due to EU citizens leaving Britain and fewer arriving after the June 2016 vote in favor of Britain leaving the European Union, leaving net migration from the bloc at the lowest level since June 2013.
Vietnam court upholds jail term for blogger
AP, Hanoi
A Vietnamese appeals court upheld a blogger’s 10-year prison sentence for Facebook posts alleged to be anti-state propaganda, her lawyer said Thursday, in the second tough sentence imposed on dissidents in a week that drew a rebuke from the U.S government. Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was convicted in June of spreading propaganda by distorting government policies and defaming the Communist regime.
5 rebels killed in Kashmir fighting
AP, Srinagar
At least five rebels were killed and three civilians and a soldier injured on Thursday in armed confrontations and anti-India protests in disputed Kashmir, officials said.
Four militants died in heavy fighting in southern Pakharpore village after troops launched a counterinsurgency operation on a tip that rebels were hiding in a house, said Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian military spokesman.
Argentine court sentences 48 in war crime trial
AFP, Buenos Aires
An Argentine court sentenced 48 former military personnel to prison on Wednesday for involvement in so-called “death flights” and other crimes committed at a notorious torture center when a junta ruled the country.
The trial is part of an effort to probe torture and crimes against humanity committed at the ESMA Naval Mechanics School.
Only a fraction of an estimated 5,000 opponents of the regime, which ruled from 1976-1983, survived being sent there.
Twenty-nine people were handed life sentences, 19 received sentences of between eight and 25 years, and six were acquitted.
