Anti-migrant protests persisted across Britain on Sunday outside hotels housing asylum seekers, a day after police separated demonstrators and counter-protesters in several cities as tensions over immigration policies grew.
Immigration has become the public’s top concern in polls, adding pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government to deliver on its promise to end the costly reliance on hotels, which runs into billions of pounds each year.
Recent weeks have seen regular protests outside hotels, fuelled partly by concerns about safety after a migrant housed east of London was charged with sexual assault. On Sunday, demonstrations took place in Epping, Bristol and Birmingham.
A court ruling last week ordered the removal of asylum seekers from a hotel in Epping, a site that has become a flashpoint for anti-immigration protests. The government has appealed the decision. Protesters gathered again there on Sunday, waving flags and holding placards reading “Epping says no” and “Stop the boats.”
Smaller anti-immigration rallies were also held on Saturday across towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales.
Official figures released on Thursday showed asylum claims have reached record levels, with more migrants in hotels compared with a year earlier.
Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform UK party which has topped recent voting intention polls, told The Times he would pursue mass deportations if elected, including leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, striking repatriation deals with states such as Afghanistan and Eritrea, and creating holding sites for 24,000 migrants.
On Sunday, the Labour government announced reforms to the asylum appeals process aimed at cutting delays, reducing the backlog of 106,000 cases, and phasing out hotel use. Under the plan, an independent adjudicators’ body would be created to handle appeals.
Interior Minister Yvette Cooper said the system had been left in “complete chaos” by the previous government and pledged to restore control. “We cannot carry on with these completely unacceptable delays,” she said.
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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his cabinet on Friday (3 April) in a bid to contain a growing scandal over the alleged fraudulent use of European Union farm subsidies.
One crew member from a U.S. warplane shot down over Iran has been rescued, U.S. officials said, as a search continues for a second crew member.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has sent a mid-level delegation to China for formal talks with Pakistan, as both sides meet in Urumqi amid efforts by Beijing to ease tensions between the neighbours.
Iran has strongly condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to bomb the country “back to the Stone Age”, calling his remarks an example of “war crimes and genocide.”
Fears of wider escalation grow despite President Donald Trump saying U.S. strikes on Iran could end within weeks. Meanwhile missile attacks, tanker incidents and rising casualties across Israel, Lebanon and the Gulf heighten risks to regional stability and energy routes.
Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck in Indonesia's Northern Molucca Sea on Thursday, killing one person, damaging some buildings and triggering tsunami waves, authorities and witnesses said.
President Donald Trump staunchly defended his handling of the month-old U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in a prime-time address on Wednesday, saying the U.S. military was nearing completion of its mission while also reinforcing his threats to bomb the Islamic Republic back to the Stone Age.
One U.S. crew member has been rescued after Iran downed a warplane, while the search continues for a second. At the same time, Iran has officially told mediators it will not meet U.S. officials in Islamabad in the coming days, calling U.S. demands unacceptable, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his cabinet on Friday (3 April) in a bid to contain a growing scandal over the alleged fraudulent use of European Union farm subsidies.
One crew member from a U.S. warplane shot down over Iran has been rescued, U.S. officials said, as a search continues for a second crew member.
Across China, people are taking part in a wide range of activities to honour fallen heroes ahead of the Qingming Festival, a traditional time for remembrance and paying respect to the deceased.
France and South Korea have agreed to strengthen defence ties and energy security cooperation following a two-day visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Seoul.
In a highly unusual move highlighting shifting narcotics diplomacy, the U.S. has handed over a Chinese fugitive accused of serious drug crimes to authorities in Beijing.
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