News Headlines - 30 May 2014

▽Google allows Europeans to ask for links to be removed | The Guardian

At least 12,000 people have signed an online form asking Google to remove links about them from their search results in only 24 hours since it offered the service. Privacy activists have cautiously welcomed Google's decision to provide the form for Europeans to make the request.

▽BBC News - Japan inflation rate hits 23-year high

Consumer prices in Japan rose at their fastest pace in 23 years in April, following an increases in sales tax.
Prices rose 3.2% compared with the same period last year, beating analysts' forecasts of a 3.1% jump.
The government raised its sales tax rate from 5% to 8% on 1 April.

▽Drugs and prostitution ￡10bn figure is mere 'guesswork' - Telegraph

The calculation that prostitution and illegal drugs contribute around ￡10bn to GDP is little more than “guesswork”, a leading economist has warned.
Professor Stephen Pudney of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex has claimed that the data used by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has "a very large degree of uncertainty".

▽European Union: Illegal Immigration Rises as African Migrants Converge on Italy

The number of illegal immigrants making the journey to Europe has significantly increased, says the European Union border agency.
The Frontex agency reported that the sea crossing between North Africa and Italy is where most of the increase of illegal immigrants attempting to reach the European Union's shores was recorded.

▽Meriam Ibrahim had legs shackled when she gave birth in Sudanese jail | Mail Online

A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for marrying a Christian was forced to give birth with her legs chained, it has been revealed today.
Meriam Ibrahim was shackled as her baby daughter was born in jail in Sudan where she is awaiting execution for marrying a Christian U.S. citizen.