Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns has today (27 January) paid tribute to those who died in the Holocaust, and to the survivors working tirelessly to share their stories of courage with future generations.

Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January) is a national event dedicated to the remembrance of the victims of genocide and to the honour of the survivors of hatred regimes around the world. The theme for the 2018 commemorations is “The Power of Words”.

In 2018, with continued support and funding of the UK Government, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust will be reaching out to more people than ever before. It will be organising more events than ever before. And it will be publishing and sharing more words than ever before.

In his own words, Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns underlines the importance of learning lessons from the tragic events of the Holocaust.

Alun Cairns said:

The power of words cannot be underestimated. They can entertain us, educate us, unite us, and uplift us. But, also, how they can wound and divide us – and even drive some towards hatred and violence.

Every year we hear the words of genocide survivors, sharing their most harrowing memories so that we can understand the importance of saying no to prejudice.

In a fragile world, it is more important than ever that we listen to those words and to educate the next generation about the dangers of hatred.

This part of our shared history must be remembered and commemorated. On Holocaust Memorial Day, we must all take the opportunity to reflect upon the ways in which we live our lives and look at how we can create better, stronger communities together so that the events of our past are never repeated again.

The Holocaust Educational Trust works with schools, colleges and communities across the UK to educate about the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance.

Read more about Holocaust Memorial Day

Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis, Chancellor Philip Hammond, and Business Secretary Greg Clark have written to businesses setting out the UK’s ambitions for an implementation period following Brexit.

In the joint letter, the three Cabinet Ministers outline the Government’s commitment to providing businesses with the certainty and clarity they need to plan ahead.

Speaking a short time ago, Mrs Bradley commented:

It is excellent news that the International Trade Commission has unanimously found in favour of Bombardier. It is great that the company will continue to play a hugely important role in our economy as we build a Northern Ireland fit for the future.

I know Bombardier workers and their families have been waiting some time for this and I wish them well as we welcome this news together.

The UK Government has been working tirelessly to safeguard Bombardier jobs and argued from the very start this case was wholly unjustified.

En la tarde del día jueves 25 de enero, Richard Cooke, científico del Instituto Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales en Panamá, recibió oficialmente la Excelentísima Orden del Imperio Británico en la Residencia del Embajador del Reino Unido.

Este Honor es otorgado por S.M. la Reina dos veces al año en el marco de la celebración de su cumpleaños, y el Año Nuevo. Fue originalmente establecido en 1917 por el Rey Jorge V.

Los recipientes de La Excelentísima Orden del Imperio Británico (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire o M.B.E, por sus siglas en Inglés) son galardonados por sus contribuciones a las artes y las ciencias, contribuciones de caridad y el servicio público, fuera del servicio civil.

Cooke fue nominado a esta promoción por amigos y estudiantes británicos del Reino Unido, quienes reconocieron el impacto de sus contribuciones a lo largo de los años.

El premio fue anunciado por “The Gazette” – la publicación oficial del Reino Unido – en junio de 2017. La nota detalla que el Arqueólogo Cooke fue condecorado debido a sus “servicios a la arqueología y la intelección de la antigua Civilización de América Central.”

Durante la ceremonia, amigos y colegas de Cooke expresaron la magnitud del impacto de sus investigaciones al legado panameño por casi 50 años.

Acerca de Cooke:

Cooke nació en Guildford, Inglaterra en 1946. En 1968 obtuvo su licenciatura en Arqueología y Lenguas Modernas en la Universidad de Bristol. En octubre de 1969 llegó al país para trabajar en lo que resultó en su doctorado de la Universidad de Londres en 1972.

Los principales intereses de investigación de Cooke son: la historia de la pesca en aguas tropicales, la arqueología y la paleo ecología del puente terrestre centroamericano, además de la arqueo-zoología.

Sus trabajos y los de sus colegas nos brindan datos arqueológicos y de la genética humana, la lingüística y la ecología que nos muestra claramente que durante los 15,000 años del período precolombino, había sociedades humanas viviendo en tierras nacionales.

Ha brindado muchas oportunidades profesionales tanto a arqueólogos panameños como a centroamericanos, y de otros países.

Cooke es un incansable promotor de la arqueología panameña.

The criminal organisation was dismantled following an operation led by Immigration Enforcement’s Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) Team.

From late 2015 until June 2017, officers gathered evidence which ultimately led to the conviction of 7 conspirators from Coventry, Nottingham, Redditch and London.

Over the course of their investigation, officers unearthed wide-scale distribution of British passports, British residence permits, degree certificates and Constructions Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards – all of them fake. Prices ranged from £900 for a passport to £200 for the CSCS card and degree certificate.

The gang was led by Steven Kanaventi, 39, of Mulliner Street, Coventry, and Alfred Adekoya, 47, of Kingslake Street, London. They were jailed at Woolwich Crown Court today (26 January) and each sentenced to 3 years 4 months and 2 weeks imprisonment having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture a fake document at an earlier hearing.

Inspector Ben Thomas from CFI said:

The criminal business that Kanaventi and Adekoya were running was designed to undermine the fundamental immigration rule that if you have no legal status in the UK, you have no right to work. Their customers hoped that the fake documents would be enough to convince prospective employers that they were entitled to work, in turn allowing them to a build a life for themselves in the UK to which they were simply not entitled.

By bringing Kanaventi, Adekoya and their associates to justice we have stopped a concerted, systematic and financially motivated assault on the UK’s immigration system.

Adekoya was arrested on 20 June last year after making an exchange inside a betting shop in Woolwich with a man subsequently identified as Luke Nkanta, 29. When Adekoya was stopped and searched shortly after the transaction had been made he was found in possession of 3 counterfeit British passports.

When Nkanta, of Wordsworth House, Woolwich, was stopped he was found with an envelope containing a counterfeit British passport.

Also arrested on 20 June was Abdul Azeeza, 57. When officers raided his home address in Missenden, Inville Road, they found him in possession of a fake residence permit, a fake passport as well as some of the paraphernalia – including specially adapted tools for dismantling passports, threads for stitching, paint thinners and laminating equipment – used in the manufacture of fake ID documents. He also had numerous orders for fake documents, some on his phone and some completed on betting slips.

Kanaventi was arrested at his home address just over a week later on 28 June. Arrested on the same day, each at their home addresses, were 3 accomplices:

• Paul Kanaventi, 37, of Forster Street, Nottingham
• Victor Ariyo, 53, of Rye Hill Park, London
• Madalitso Majawa, 33, of Ombersley Close, Redditch

Ben Thomas said:

Steven Kanaventi was a particularly brazen operator, to the extent that his social media alias – Chris Namatchanga – was a clear play on words of ‘name changer’.

Kanaventi was involved in every part of the Midlands operation. He set the prices, he placed the orders with his forger Ariyo and he was even caught on CCTV posting the counterfeit documents to his customers.

Like Adekoya and Steven Kanaventi, Ariyo, Azeeza, Paul Kanaventi, Nkanta and Majawa had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing. Ariyo admitted conspiracy to manufacture a fake document and money laundering. Azeeza admitted possessing fake documents and possessing equipment with the intention of making fake documents. Paul Kanaventi admitted money laundering. Nkanta and Majawa both admitted to possessing fake ID documents with improper intention.

The full breakdown of the sentences passed today at Woolwich Crown Court are:

• Steven Kanaventi – 3 years 4 months and 2 weeks
• Adekoya – 3 years 4 months and 2 weeks
• Paul Kanaventi – 9 months
• Azeeza – 4 years
• Ariyo – 3 years
• Nkanta – 1 year 4 months
• Majawa – 6 months

CFI will now pursue the confiscation of £135,000 of cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act which was sitting in a bank account belonging to Ariyo.