The Londoner

Australia will fast-track residency for people who can invest at least $5 million in the country, under new rules to be introduced by the Federal Government. The Wall Street Journal reported  that the visa regulation overhaul, announced by the center-left Labor government on Friday, was designed to attract investors and entrepreneurs. Normally, would-be immigrants are assessed according to age, qualifications and English language skills, the WSJ wrote. They must also reside in the country for a period of time before they qualify. However, from July 1, those able to invest in state and territory bonds, managed funds, or directly into Australian companies will receive concessional treatment when applying for permanent residency. Several countries, including the UK, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand already allow migration on the basis of investment. Read the full story here. 

Immigration minister Chris Bowen last week granted the first of many expected Enterprise Migration Agreements, which allow for the short-term employment of foreign workers in the mining sector. It was given to an iron ore mine in north-western Australia, part-owned by the country's richest person, Gina Rinehart. It will allow for more than 1,700 foreign workers to be employed at the project over a three-year period. While good news for thousands of immigrant workers looking to gain employment in Australia's rich natural resources sector, there are fears among local workers that Australians will lose out. Mr Bowen said: "The government's first priority is always ensuring jobs for Australian workers, but there is a need for temporary workers to help keep our economy strong." Read the full story here. 

The UK economy has a bright future if we sell our services to the new global middle class Cycling across London on my way to a barbecue last Sunday, I couldn’t help feeling that somehow, we’ve got it all out of perspective. Every pub I passed was overflowing, and as the sunshine beat down, everywhere people appeared to be spectacularly happy. And yet it seems many of us believe that the United Kingdom is turning into a hellish place to live. According to one poll, 61 per cent think that Britain is getting worse, against just 6 per cent who think it is getting better. Even as we collect our Olympics tickets and prepare for Diamond Jubilee parties, we can’t stop talking about how everything good and worthwhile is going up in flames. Read the full story here. 

SCOTLAND  saw the biggest rise in foreign immigrants last year than at any other time in recent history, pushing the  population  to a record high, new figures suggest. An estimated 42,300 people, including asylum seekers, came to  Scotland from overseas in the year to June last year. The latest mid-year  population  estimates from the General Register Office for  Scotland  also suggest that 16,900 people left  Scotland  to go overseas. The net increase of 25,400 immigrants is the highest since estimates began in 1991-92. Read the full story here.  

Government’s immigration policy does not hinder genuine students from coming to the UK and instead benefits UK universities, the Immigration Minister Damian Green has said. The minister was responding to a letter from 70 heads of universities to the Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to exclude foreign students from the overall immigration crackdown. Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Lib Dem leader and St Andrews chancellor, Sir Richard Lambert, former head of the Confederation of British Industry and chancellor of Warwick among others, signed the letter. Read the full story here. 

The garden is in a grove of palm trees in downtown Baghdad, as clean and manicured as a golf course, and surrounded by a high wall to keep out the noise and filth of the city. Ahmed Chalabi, 67, a man the world once thought would eventually be running Iraq, is hosting an event in the garden of his recently renovated house in the city. There are no statesmen, ministers or diplomats in attendance, but there are two dozen students and a professor from the university. Chalabi has served his guests kebabs and rice, and he has promised them that he will put in a good word so that their poorly equipped university gets new blackboards, tables and chairs. Now they are lining up to pose for photographs with the former Iraqi deputy prime minister and oil minister, who is now a businessman. "Without Ahmed Chalabi," says one of the students, "Saddam Hussein would never have been overthrown." The building where Saddam was hanged more than five years ago is just a few...

The Muslim Brotherhood has quietly spread its influence far beyond Egypt in its 84-year history, but Arab revolts have opened broad new political horizons the group hopes will reflect its founder's vision for the Arab and Islamic world. "There is no doubt that Hassan al-Banna believed in Islamic unity and not just Arab unity. But with such a vision we must consider reality and what is possible," said Mahmoud Ghozlan, a member of the Brotherhood's executive bureau. Interviewed at the group's new headquarters in Cairo, he called such unity a "long-term objective", but seemed alive to the possibilities thrown up by a ferment in which Islamists are driving mainstream politics across North Africa and beyond. "This region is in a period of deep-rooted change," the 64-year-old said. "Starting from Tunisia and ending with  Syria , the nature of the region and alliances will change." Read the full story here.