Law Education

A huge increase in state funding of political parties, worth up to £100m over a five-year parliament, is being proposed by a government-commissioned inquiry.

The funding, which would be shared out according to the number of votes each party receives in a general election, would be presented as a way of compensating them for a huge loss of income as a result of introducing new caps on individual donations to parties. It would also be seen as a way of repackaging state funding that already goes to opposition parties.

The Tories have argued that a £50,000 cap on individual donations would see their party lose as much as a third of its donor income.

The state funding idea has been pushed hardest by the Liberal Democrats, who currently have the least independent income and are likely to benefit the most from the proposals. T

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Stuart Walker’s body was discovered on an industrial estate in Cumnock, Ayshire, last Saturday. Photograph: Strathclyde Police/PA

Police investigating the murder of barman Stuart Walker have arrested an 18-year-old who was taken into custody on Thursday evening.

Strathclyde police confirmed the arrest on Friday evening. The man is expected to appear at Ayr sheriff court on Monday.

The body of Walker, 28, was discovered on Saturday at Caponacre industrial estate in Cumnock, Ayrshire. It is understood he had been beaten and burned. He had been at a house party with friends, and left without his glasses and coat.

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WASHINGTON, Oct 21 – The U.S. Appeals Court for the 10th Circuit ruled on Friday that the government properly designated millions of acres of national forests as off limits to logging and road construction, overturning a lower court ruling in a long-running battle over preserving the land.

For the second time, the appeals court, based in Denver, overturned a decision by a federal judge in Wyoming who had found the ban that covered some 58.5 million acres of forest lands exceeded the U.S.

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LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (AP) — A Prescott Valley man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping two teenage boys in Lake Havasu City.

Police say 50-year-old Michael McMillan was taken into custody Thursday night at a hotel near the Arizona-California border town.

Authorities say the 14-year-old boys claim McMillan grabbed them inside a bathroom earlier Thursday and told them he would harm them if they screamed or fled.

McMillan allegedly forced the boys to walk to a park, smoke a cigarette and get on their knees and pray. They later managed to run away and tell a citizen who called 911.

McMillan has been transferred to the custody of the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. He’s being held without bond on suspicion of kidnapping and child abuse. I

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SENECA FALLS — Cayuga Nation officials say a tribal dispute is behind an incident at the nation’s headquarters.

State Police say 24-year-old Eli Jimerson, of Seneca Falls, crashed a pick-up truck into the nation’s headquarters on State Route 89 Friday afternoon. They say he tried to steal file from the office. Jimerson has been charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.

The Cayuga Nation’s attorney, Lee Alcott, says Jimerson is part of a group that is fighting to be named in charge of the nation. Alcott says there is a power struggle between two groups, including a legal dispute through the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to determine which side will be recognized as the leader.

Alcott says a federal ruling would have changed the leadership to a different council.

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