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David Cameron, the UK prime minister, was guest of honour at the British Curry Awards on 26th November 2013. The event was held at the Battersea Evolution centre. 12 prizes were awarded; nine regional bests along with 'Best Newcomer and Best Takeaway' and a Special Recognition Award.
An opinion poll has showed that people in the UK are much more likely to view membership of the EU negatively than people in France, Germany or Poland. 26% of British people are broadly in favour of EU membership whereas 42% see Britain's membership of the EU as a bad thing.
By far the most unpopular aspect of EU membership among British respondents was immigration. Only 14% of respondents thought immigration into the UK from within the EU was a good thing whereas 64% thought it was not a good thing.
In the last year, Portuguese immigration has issued 318 'Golden Visas' under its Golden Visa and Golden Residence Permit Schemes. Most have been issued to Chinese nationals who have invested in property in Portugal. Portugal says it foresees issuing 400 Golden Visas each year.
Portugal opened its 'Golden Visa' scheme in 2012. Citizens of countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who purchase a property in Portugal worth at least €500,000 are thereby entitled to apply for a Portuguese temporary residence permit known colloquially as a Golden Visa.
The UK's immigration minister Mark Harper has told the BBC that spot-checks of people's immigration status at UK railway stations will continue. Mr Harper said that the operations were intelligence-led and 'successful in targeting people who have no right to be in the United Kingdom'.
He said that there were 'not based on racial profiling' but 'based on intelligence and on the behaviour of individuals'.
New Zealand's High Court has rejected a claim that a Kiribati man was effectively a refugee because of climate change. Ioane Teitiota was appealing against the decision of an immigration tribunal to deport him from New Zealand where he has lived since 2007.
Justice John Priestley told the court that the claim was 'novel' but dismissed the appeal saying 'By returning to Kiribati, he would not suffer a sustained and systematic violation of his basic human rights such as the right to life…or the right to adequate food, clothing and housing'.
On 1st January 2014, transitional controls preventing most citizens of Bulgaria and Romania from traveling to live and work freely throughout the EU will expire. The controls were put in place in 2007 when the two countries joined the EU. Under EU law these controls are only allowed to remain in place for seven years.
There is now growing pressure on the UK prime minister to extend the controls, despite the fact that this would be contrary to EU law.