At least 56 people survive after early morning rescue involving French coastguard, navy boat and helicopter
Four people died overnight trying to cross the Channel to reach Britain, French officials have said.
A rescue operation took place off Boulogne-sur-Mer on France’s northern coast after reports of people in the sea. Four of those pulled from the sea had drowned.
Continue reading...Group of masked men approached wooden vessel in dinghies, prompting panic during rescue by charity ship
A group of masked and armed men have threatened a wooden boat in distress in the central Mediterranean, provoking the frightened passengers to throw themselves into the sea.
The incident happened early on Tuesday morning as crew from Ocean Viking, a rescue ship operated by the charity SOS Méditerranée, were evacuating 93 people who had been crammed on to the blue wooden vessel in distress about 19 miles (30km) off the coast of Libya.
Continue reading...The Spanish archipelago has welcomed more than 19,000 migrants since the start of 2024
Hundreds protested on Saturday in the Canary Islands against an influx of migrants to the Spanish archipelago, which has welcomed more than 19,000 migrants since the beginning of 2024.
Located off the coast of north-west Africa, the Canary Islands have become an increasingly popular destination for people braving the perilous Atlantic crossing in the hope of finding a better life in Europe.
Continue reading...Dangerous Atlantic ocean route is gaining popularity because of increased vigilance by authorities in the Mediterranean
Nearly 90 migrants bound for Europe died and dozens more are missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania earlier this week, the state news agency and a local official said on Thursday,
“The Mauritanian coast guard recovered the bodies of 89 people aboard a large traditional fishing boat that capsized on Monday July 1 on the coast of the Atlantic ocean” about four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the country’s south-west city of Ndiago, the state news agency said.
Continue reading...Artist calls impounding of MV Louise Michel ‘vile and unacceptable’ after rescue of 17 unaccompanied children
A rescue boat financed by Banksy has been seized by Italian authorities after being involved in an effort to rescue 37 people from the central Mediterranean sea, the British street artist and the vessel’s crew have said on social media.
The move comes just days after an inflatable boat carrying dummy refugees was launched into the crowd during a set by the British rock band Idles at the Glastonbury festival, a stunt masterminded by the anonymous graffiti artist and criticised by the UK home secretary, James Cleverly, as “vile”.
Continue reading...Department of Homeland Security says it plans more such ‘large charter flights’, sparking concerns for safety of migrants escaping poverty or repression
The US has sent back 116 Chinese migrants in the first such “large charter flight” in five years, the Department of Homeland Security has said.
“We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States,” homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
Continue reading...New president José Raúl Mulino has vowed to close the route through which thousands of migrants travel to the US every year
The US will cover the costs of repatriating migrants who enter Panama illegally, under a deal agreed with the Central American country’s new president who has vowed to shut down the treacherous Darién Gap used by people travelling north to the United States.
In his first address as president, José Raúl Mulino promised to seek international assistance to find solutions to what he described as a costly “humanitarian and environmental crisis”.
Continue reading...Foreign visa holders account for more than 35% at Australia’s prestigious Group of Eight institutions
International students should not exceed a third of any university cohort and it is “damaging to the sector” for foreign students to make up 50% of students at any given institution, RMIT’s vice-chancellor, Prof Alec Cameron, has said.
The proposal to cap international student numbers was raised last month by Deakin University’s vice-chancellor, Iain Martin, as an alternative to the draft framework which would allow the federal education minister to implement different enrolment limits depending on the university or course.
Continue reading...PM says he ‘loves this party dearly’ and would always put himself at the service of it’
Rishi Sunak is speaking at a campaign event in Staffordshire. As the advance briefing predicted, he has just told his audience.
I tell you this: once you have handed Keir Starmer and Labour a blank cheque, you won’t be able to get it back.
We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.
There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.
[In politics] some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision maker. I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it …
Actually, it helps me, it takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me, and I think, actually, not only is it what I want to do as a dad, it is better.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Use of tourist visas not fit for purpose, advocates say, as Gaza man describes how coming to Australia on one has left him with ‘no rights’
The number of Palestinians applying onshore for protection in Australia has ballooned, prompting calls from refugee advocates for the creation of an “emergency uplift” visa rather than people fleeing conflict relying on tourist visas to escape.
Home affairs department statistics for May revealed 119 people from the “Palestinian Authority” had applied for onshore protection visas, up from 66 in April, 110 in March, 88 in February and 33 in January.
Continue reading...Australia’s charge out of step with competitors – ‘why would you waste that much money when you have more surety of going to the USA?’
The Albanese government has more than doubled the international student visa application fee from $710 to $1,600 in the latest measure to reduce arrivals to Australia.
The government announced the move on Monday, confirming pre-budget speculation in the tertiary education sector that fee hikes will be used in addition to the international student cap as a means to clamp down on net migration.
Continue reading...Costs of trying to deport asylum seekers cannot be recovered if Labour wins and disbands policy
More than £320m spent by the government on the controversial scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is likely to be lost if the Conservatives are voted out of power at Thursday’s general election.
The sum has been spent on economic development money for Rwanda, along with set-up costs for the scheme, which cannot be recovered if it does not go ahead.
Continue reading...PM again declines to say whether he told Craig Williams in advance about his decision to hold the election in July
Rishi Sunak is returning to the campaign trail on Thursday, PA reports, after a two-day hiatus for the Emperor and Empress of Japan’s state visit and preparations for the final head-to-head debate with Sir Keir Starmer.
With one week to go until polling day, the deepening gambling scandal is still likely to feature heavily when he faces the media during a tour of the East Midlands and Yorkshire.
He is expected to visit a factory in Derbyshire and hold an evening campaign event in Leeds.
Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of using transgender issues “as a political football to divide people” during their head-to-head debate on Wednesday.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read our full report on this debate here
YouGov will have a snap poll on who won the debate, with the results available minutes after it finishes.
This is what Labour is putting out ahead of the debate, in a stateement from Pat McFadden, the national campaign coordinator.
Tonight, the British people will witness the choice at this election: five more years of chaos with Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives or change with Keir Starmer and Labour.
On 4 July, the British people will have the chance to vote for change. To stop the chaos, turn the page and start to rebuild our country with Keir Starmer and a changed Labour party.
Tonight, Keir Starmer has the opportunity to announce loud and clear to the British public what his intentions are.
Throughout this campaign we have challenged the Labour party, time and time again, to come clean on their plans for taxes. Time and time again they have declined to do so.
Continue reading...Victims were made to pose as well off but once in Europe they were confined to workplaces and severely exploited
Italian police have busted a trafficking network that used luxury cars to smuggle Chinese migrants into Italy before confiscating their passports and treating them like enslaved people.
The smugglers had the migrants pose as “unsuspecting Asian citizens, well-dressed, with little luggage, travelling in powerful and expensive cars driven by Chinese citizens who had lived in Italy for years and spoke Italian”, police said in a statement.
Continue reading...Prime minister faces claim Tories are ‘stealing the candlesticks’ on the way out of government
After a passage in his speech attack Labour on familiar grounds, Rishi Sunak also hit out at Reform UK.
[Reform UK] are not on the side of who you think they are.
Reform are standing candidates here in Scotland that are pro independence and anti monarchy.
Continue reading...Sir Anthony Seldon leads analysis that concludes that equality, growth and the UK’s standing in the world have all declined since 2010
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And here are some of the best pictures from yesterday’s campaigning. As more voting people than ever appear poised to turn away from the Tories, Sunak appeared in several photographs with sheep and lobsters as he visited North Devon, held by the Tories since 2015. The Guardian’s Archie bland named the sheep the “Dubious photo opportunity of the day”, after the sheep ran away:
Starmer, meanwhile, appeared on LBC where he clarified that Premier League Football Clubs would not be subject to a 10% transfer tax to fund clubs lower down the pyramid. “Let me just kill it dead, we’re not looking at that,” Starmer said. He also visited a tennis club and a pub in Reading West and mid Berkshire.
Continue reading...FOI reveals non EU migrants could be caught in ‘Windrush style scandal' at end of 2024 as Home Office struggles to contact them
More than 4 million non-EU migrants living in Britain will need to switch to digital “eVisas” by the end of this year or risk being unable to prove their legal rights, according to figures seen by the Observer.
Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) – given to all foreign nationals with permission to live in the UK for at least six months – demonstrate proof of an individual’s right to study, access public services and claim benefits. But they are being replaced under the Home Office’s digitisation programme.
Continue reading...Sharp rise, equivalent to population of London, means nearly 120 million have been driven from their homes
The number of people forced out of their homes around the world last year was the equivalent of the population of London, according to the UN’s refugee agency.
The latest annual assessment from the United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) said a sharp rise in the number of people forcibly displaced during 2023 had brought the total to a record high of more than 117 million. Conflicts were largely to blame with many, such as those in Ukraine and Sudan, showing little sign of ending.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation shows white powder trail linking hundreds of vulnerable African minors with ruthless gangs
Hundreds of unaccompanied child migrants across Europe are being forced to work as soldiers for increasingly powerful drug cartels to meet the continent’s soaring appetite for cocaine, a Guardian investigation has found.
EU police forces have warned of industrial-scale exploitation of African children by cocaine networks operating in western Europe in cities including Paris and Brussels as they seek to expand Europe’s £10bn cocaine market.
Continue reading...