No 10 backtracks on minister’s claim 500 asylum seekers could be on barge by end of week
According to a report in the Times, Liz Truss named 16 people on her original honours list – four for peerages, and 12 people getting other honours. Two people have declined, but there are still 14 names on the list, the Times says, one person for every four days she was in office.
The Labour MP Chris Bryant says resignation honours lists should be abolished.
Continue reading...Italian coastguard says two bodies recovered, amid reports of at least 30 people missing from two vessels that sailed from Tunisia
The bodies of a woman and toddler were recovered by the Italian coastguard after two shipwrecks overnight off the southern island of Lampedusa.
Fifty-seven people were rescued and more than 30 were believed to be missing as of Sunday afternoon in what was described as “more tragic news” regarding those making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in search of refuge in Europe.
Continue reading...UN Refugee Agency and IOM urge steps – including more legal pathways for migrants – to curb humanitarian crisis
International bodies have called for urgent intervention in the Darién Gap to prevent a further escalation of a humanitarian crisis as new figures showed that record numbers of people are risking their lives to cross the lawless 100-mile stretch of rainforest between Panama and Colombia.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also called for the creation of more legal pathways to migrate to the US in order to help reduce irregular migration.
Continue reading...Fire Brigades Union questions large numbers kept on Bibby Stockholm and lack of exit points
Suella Braverman is facing demands from firefighters for an urgent meeting over the safety of a giant barge meant for asylum seekers amid a deepening row over whether it is a “deathtrap”.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has questioned a lack of exit points, the narrowness of corridors and increased occupancy on the Bibby Stockholm in a letter sent to the home secretary on Wednesday. Originally built with 222 cabins, the barge is now expected to contain more than 500 people in Portland, Devon.
Continue reading...Four men traveled about 5,600km before being rescued by Brazilian federal police in south-eastern port of Vitória
On their 10th day at sea, the four Nigerian stowaways crossing the Atlantic in a tiny space above the rudder of a cargo ship ran out of food and drink.
They survived another four days, according to their account, by drinking the sea water crashing just meters below them, before being rescued by Brazilian federal police in the south-eastern port of Vitória.
Continue reading...Neil Para and his wife and two eldest children have been on a temporary protection visa since they arrived in Australia in 2012
For 11 years, Neil Para’s life has been riddled with uncertainty.
He fled war-torn Sri Lanka for Malaysia in 2008 in search of a safer life for his growing family, temporarily leaving his pregnant wife behind.
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Continue reading...Men held in Sicily accused of intercepting vessels and demanding cash, phones and vital engines
Police in Italy have arrested four Tunisians on charges of piracy, accusing them of intercepting migrant boats in the central Mediterranean and stealing their engines, leaving the vessels adrift.
Investigators said the four men would identify boats carrying asylum seekers to Europe and, with the help of other vessels, blockade them in international waters off the Tunisian coast, before boarding them to rob the passengers of money and phones and the boat of its valuable engine.
Continue reading...Brian Bell says ministers have let social care become reliant on low-paid and vulnerable foreign workers
Ministers have allowed England’s creaking social care system to become too heavily reliant on low-paid foreign workers who are vulnerable to exploitation, the government’s migration adviser has warned.
In a strongly worded intervention, Prof Brian Bell, who has just been reappointed by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, as chair of the migration advisory committee (MAC), called the government’s tacit acceptance of exploitation in the sector “appalling”.
Continue reading...Mayor of London hits back at prime minister over ‘pathetic gesture politics’
Rishi Sunak has failed to give his full backing to Sir Howard Davies, chairman of NatWest, in interviews this morning, PA Media reports.
PA says that Sunak did not back calls for the resignation of Davies in a pooled interview this morning – but also that Sunak would not say whether he had confidence in him.
What I said right at the start of this was that it wasn’t right for people to be deprived of basic services because of banking, because of their views.
This isn’t about any one individual, it’s about values – do you believe in free speech and not to be discriminated against because of your legally held views?
As a result of this policy, a dozen classrooms of children, including some of the most traumatised and vulnerable children in the world, have gone missing and, sickeningly for us, 50 children are still missing from the hotel used in Brighton and Hove.
Importantly the high court also makes clear that the home secretary already has the power to require local authorities across the country to take children into foster care via a statutory rota system called the national transfer scheme.
Continue reading...Jim McMahon, MP for Oldham and shadow environment secretary, criticises prime minister for tweet about Labour and immigration law firms
Michael Gove has been accused of showing how “disjointed” the government’s net zero strategy is by Greenpeace UK.
In a statement released after Gove’s media interview round this morning, in which the levelling up secretary appeared to firm up the government’s commitment to at least one green target, while signalling that others might be relaxed (see 10.04am), Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s director of policy, said:
Michael Gove has demonstrated how disjointed the government’s new strategy is. If ministers genuinely want to help lower costs for households, they should be doing everything in their power to switch our homes, energy and transport systems away from expensive, climate-wrecking fossil fuels and run them instead on clean technology and cheap renewables.
Mr Gove is right to reaffirm the government’s commitment to ending the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 – and Sunak should now do the same, whilst making the transition as easy as possible for people with extensive charging infrastructure and the promised mandate on manufacturers. But allowing more oil and gas drilling, delaying the phase-out of gas boilers and giving landlords longer to insulate the homes of renters will only keep bills high and continue to fan the flames of climate change.
The leaders discussed recent developments on the battlefield and the continued progress by Ukrainian forces despite the challenging conditions. The prime minister added that he was appalled by the devastation caused by recent Russian attacks on Odesa.
Discussing the Black Sea grain initiative, the leaders agreed on the importance of ensuring grain was able to be exported from Ukraine to reach international markets. The prime minister said the UK was working closely with Turkey on restoring the grain deal, and we would continue to use our role as chair of the UN security council to further condemn Russia’s behaviour.
Continue reading...North African country, which agreed €1bn deal with EU to stem irregular migration, says it will take back only Tunisians
Tunisia has said it will not be a “reception centre” for returns of sub-Saharan migrants from Italy or any other country in Europe despite a groundbreaking €1bn deal signed on Sunday.
Authorities in the north African country are determined not to enter a contract similar to that which the UK has with Rwanda and will take back only Tunisians who have made irregular entry to the EU.
Continue reading...Ursula von der Leyen hails deal as an investment in shared prosperity and stability
The EU has signed off on a €1bn (£860m) deal with Tunisia to help stem irregular migration, as the president of the north African country denounced those who offer migrants “sympathy without respect” for their goal to have equity in life.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, hailed the deal with Tunisia, including significant measures to stem deadly irregular migration across the mediterranean, as an investment in shared prosperity and stability.
Continue reading...Group numbering at least 80 discovered in uninhabited region reportedly without water, food or shelter
Libyan border guards have rescued dozens of migrants they said had been left in the desert by Tunisian authorities without water, food or shelter.
Hundreds of people from sub-Saharan African countries were forcibly taken to desert and hostile areas bordering Libya and Algeria after racial unrest in early July in Sfax, Tunisia’s second largest city.
Continue reading...Von der Leyen to return with Italian and Dutch PMs despite warnings over ‘breakdown’ of democracy under Saied
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is to return to Tunisia on Sunday with the prime ministers of Italy and the Netherlands to sign off the details of a €1bn deal aimed at combating people smuggling and supporting the country’s collapsing economy.
Sources have confirmed they are expecting to sign off on a memorandum of understanding only days after a group of politicians in the European parliament warned that Tunisia should not be handed a deal on a “silver plate” amid fears of a “breakdown” of democracy in the country.
Continue reading...Scientists studied jewelry made from now extinct creatures and theorize that humans arrived in Americas 27,000 years ago
New research suggests humans lived in South America at the same time as now extinct giant sloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the Americas earlier than once thought.
Scientists analyzed triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made of bony material from the sloths. They concluded that the carved and polished shapes and drilled holes were the work of deliberate craftsmanship.
Continue reading...Nigerian stowaways survived for at least a week under ship that voyaged from Lagos via Lomé, Togo
The Spanish coastguard rescued two Nigerian men who survived for at least a week balancing on the rudder of a ship as it sailed from the west African country of Togo to the Canary Islands.
The two men were rescued on Monday night in the port of Las Palmas, and taken to a hospital for medical checks. They were later released and were transferred back to the ship, which will return them to their port of origin, the port police tweeted.
Continue reading...NGOs behind report suggest minimal savings for Home Office if Bibby Stockholm barge used in place of £5.6m-a-day hotels
Controversial plans to house asylum seekers on a barge to reduce reliance on expensive hotels will save less than £10 a person a day, according to a report.
The report, Bibby Stockholm – At What Cost? from the NGOs Reclaim The Seas and One Life To Live, provides the first detailed estimated costings of the Bibby Stockholm, the barge the Home Office is planning to use in Dorset to accommodate asylum seekers.
Continue reading...Fearing defeats, government expected to limit plans to detain children and pregnant women arriving on small boats
Ministers are offering rebel Conservative MPs concessions on key anti-asylum legislation amid growing concern it could face defeats in the Commons.
The government is expected to limit plans to detain children and pregnant women who arrive in the UK by small boats and drop some of the retrospective applications of the illegal migration bill’s measures, the Guardian understands.
Continue reading...Research into loss of trawler with hundreds of deaths strongly contradicts official accounts – while finding a failure to mobilise help and evidence that survivor statements were tampered with
Attempts by the Greek coastguard to tow a fishing trawler carrying hundreds of migrants may have caused the vessel to sink, according to a new investigation by the Guardian and media partners that has raised further questions about the incident, which left an estimated 500 people missing
The trawler carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the coast of Greece on 14 June. There were 104 survivors.
Continue reading...Operation allegedly involved moving people from Syria to Spain on a circuitous route via Sudan and north Africa
Spanish police have broken up what they say is an organised criminal gang involved in a highly unusual people-smuggling operation involving the moving of migrants from Syria to Spain on an 8,000km trip via Sudan.
A year-long investigation, which was coordinated by Europol and involved dozens of police officers from France, Norway and Germany, uncovered a network of alleged people-smuggling cells across north Africa and northern Europe as well as the main nerve centre of the gang in southern Spain.
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