There’s big money in smuggling people and entrapping them into servitude. Go read this story and about the elaborate underground system of gangs that funnels people thousands and thousand of miles through dozens of countries. Don’t think that those same gangs and their peers aren’t just as sophisticated getting people to the U.S.
Earlier this year, Vietnam emerged – abruptly – as the biggest single source of new migrants seeking to cross the Channel to the UK illegally in small boats. Arrivals surged from 1,306 in the whole of 2023, to 2,248 in the first half of 2024.
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Vietnamese migrants are widely considered to be vulnerable to networks of trafficking groups. These groups may seek to trap them in debt and force them to pay off those debts by working in cannabis farms or other businesses in the UK.
“The Vietnamese are not allowed to touch that part of the process [the crossing]. We just deliver clients to [the Kurdish gangs],” says another Vietnamese smuggler, who we are calling Thanh, currently living in the UK. He tells us the extra cash secures priority access to the small boats for their Vietnamese clients.
LONDON — The United Kingdom approved controversial legislation on Tuesday that allows the government to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda, with deportation flights expected to start this summer.
The so-called Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill completed its passage through the U.K. Parliament in the early morning after almost eight hours of debate overnight, clearing the way for it to soon receive royal assent and become law. The legislation, which aims to deter migrants from entering the U.K. illegally via small boats with hopes of claiming asylum once they reach the shore, had been stalled in Parliament for two months as lawmakers in both houses repeatedly proposed and rejected amendments.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who described the bill as “landmark legislation,” has promised that the first flights deporting illegal migrants to Rwanda, where their asylum claims will be processed, would take off in 10 to 12 weeks.
“We introduced the Rwanda Bill to deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs who exploit them,” Sunak said in a statement Tuesday. “The passing of this legislation will allow us to do that and make it very clear that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay. I am clear that nothing will stand in our way of doing that and saving lives.”
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The idea was first proposed in 2022 by former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who signed a multimillion-dollar partnership with the Rwandan government introducing the idea to have illegal migrants with asylum applications “deemed inadmissible by the U.K.” flown to Rwanda instead. But the U.K. Supreme Court blocked the deportation flights last November, finding the plan “unlawful” because the government couldn’t guarantee the safety of those being transferred to Rwanda.
In response, the U.K. signed a new treaty with Rwanda that increased protections for migrants and then, last December, proposed the current legislation, which declares the East African nation to be “safe” for asylum-seekers.
The laser was originally expected to be operational by 2032, but new reforms intended to speed up government procurement of weapons mean that it will now be ready five years earlier.
U.K. inflation unexpectedly jumped in February, as food and energy bills continued to rise, placing further pressure on households.
The consumer price index (CPI) increased by an annual 10.4%, above the 9.9% consensus forecast among economists in a Refinitiv poll and up from 10.1% in January. On a monthly basis, CPI inflation was 1.1%, exceeding a forecast of 0.6%.
“If you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here,” Sunak told parliament. “Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your asylum claim will be considered.”
Migrants arriving on small boats has become a major political issue for the Conservative government, particularly in working-class areas in the north and central England, where migrants are blamed for making it harder to find work and stretching public services.
Many years ago, Americans listened to Churchill speak with a conviction and moral clarity that we failed to find in our own leaders. We may be reliving that moment.
In his first foreign policy speech on Monday since taking office, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that the country’s “golden era” of relations with China was over, saying it’s time for U.K.’s relations to “evolve.”
Sunak referred to the past decades of close economic ties as “naive,” calling China a “systemic challenge” to British interests.
“We recognize China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves toward even greater authoritarianism,” Sunak said at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London.
He now wants to adopt an approach of “robust pragmatism” against close competitors, strengthening ties with allies including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Japan. With geopolitical shifts underway, Sunak said, “short-termism or wishful thinking will not suffice” against Russia and China.
After arriving hand in hand, the Bidens finally sat down in their places in the abbey at 10.05am. The schedule published by Buckingham Palace suggested the 500 invited dignitaries should have been seated between 9.35am and 9.55am.
Perhaps as a consequence of opting out of the buses taking other leaders from the assembly point at Royal Hospital Chelsea, the Bidens were also given seats 14 rows back in the south transept of the abbey.
The US president took his seat behind Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, and in front of Petr Fiala, the prime minister of the Czech Republic. Sitting to her husband’s left, Jill Biden sat next to Ignazio Cassis, the president of Switzerland.
LONDON (Reuters) -Liz Truss will become Britain’s next prime minister after winning a leadership race for the governing Conservative party on Monday, vowing to press ahead with promises of tax cuts and to deal with a growing energy crisis.
After weeks of an often bad-tempered and divisive leadership contest, Truss, currently the foreign minister, defeated former finance minister Rishi Sunak in a vote of Conservative Party members, winning by 81,326 votes to 60,399.
“I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy,” Truss said after the result was announced. “I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.”
Boris Johnson is set to resign as Conservative leader and will step down as prime minister when a new leader is found.
He quits Downing Street after less than three years in the job, despite having won a huge majority in the 2019 general election.
Outgoing prime ministers are usually expected to stay in office until a successor is found. But how does that happen?
Once a Conservative leader has stood down, an election for a new party leader is triggered. Under the current rules, candidates need the support of eight Conservative MPs to stand.
Once all the candidates have declared – if there are more than two candidates – Tory MPs will hold a series of votes until only two remain.
in the first round, candidates must get 5% of the votes to stay in the running (currently 18 MPs)
in the second round, they must get 10% (currently 36 MPs)
in the following rounds, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated
When two MPs are left, all Conservative Party members around the country – so not just MPs – will vote for the winner.
The timescale for each contest is decided by the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, and the committee could vote to change the rules before the contest takes place.
What’s interesting is that usually they will call an election to reset the Parliament to pick a new PM. But it looks like since he is stepping down without a vote of no confidence, the Conservatives will just choose a new leader. I may be reading that wrong. I’m not an expert in Parliamentary procedure. But if that’s the case, it’s a smart move by the Conservative Party. I bet the Dems in America wish they could replace their leader without going through an election.
Cineworld has cancelled all UK screenings of a film about the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, after it prompted protests outside some cinemas.
The cinema chain said it made the decision “to ensure the safety of our staff and customers”.
More than 120,000 people have signed a petition for The Lady of Heaven film to be pulled from UK cinemas.
The Bolton Council of Mosques called the film “blasphemous” and sectarian.
But House of Lords peer Baroness Claire Fox called the decision “disastrous for the arts [and] dangerous for free speech”, while Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he was “very concerned about the growing cancel culture” in the UK.
In an email to Cineworld, reported by the Bolton News, the chairman of the Bolton Council of Mosques, Asif Patel, said the film was “underpinned with a sectarian ideology” and “misrepresents orthodox historical narratives and disrespects the most esteemed individuals of Islamic history”.
The Ye Olde Fighting Cocks pub in St. Albans, England has been around since the year 793 A.D., according to the Guinness Book of World Records, but is finally shutting down due to hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christo Tofalli, the operator of the pub, shared the sad news in a Facebook post on Feb. 4, saying that they have filed for bankruptcy and have struggled during the entire pandemic.
“It is with great sadness that I have to announce that today, after a sustained period of extremely challenging trading conditions, YOFC Ltd has gone into administration,” Tofalli said in the post.
“Along with my team, I have tried everything to keep the pub going. However, the past two years have been unprecedented for the hospitality industry, and have defeated all of us who have been trying our hardest to ensure this multi-award-winning pub could continue trading into the future.”
The Bank of England’s new chief economist has warned that UK inflation is likely to hit or surpass 5% by early next year.
Huw Pill told the Financial Times that the Bank would have a “live” decision to make at its next interest rate-setting meeting on 4 November.
It follows recent comments from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey who said it “will have to act” on inflation.
The UK interest rate has been at a historic low of 0.1% since March 2020.
Recent data showed that inflation growth slowed to 3.1% in the year to September. However, it is expected to increase because of rising energy costs, higher wages to fill record vacancy numbers and supply chain disruption.
Mr Pill, who succeeded the Bank of England’s former chief economist Andy Haldane last month, said he would “not be shocked” to see inflation reach 5% or above in the coming months.
He told the Financial Times: “That’s a very uncomfortable place for a central bank with an inflation target of 2% to be.”
The Health Secretary revealed he’s already asked officials to get rid of travel testing rules, as they shouldn’t be in place for a second longer than “absolutely necessary.”
While the British press is portraying this as a scandal, Johnson’s alleged comments make perfect sense. It is a rational approach to managing a pandemic by balancing divergent interests and consequences. I wish he had stuck to his guns.
Boris Johnson was reluctant to tighten Covid restrictions as cases rose last autumn because he thought people dying from it were “essentially all over 80”, Dominic Cummings has claimed.
He also said the prime minister had messaged him to say: “I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff.”
Mr Johnson had wanted to let Covid “wash through the country” rather than destroy the economy, Mr Cummings said.
The claims came in an interview with BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
It is the first time Mr Cummings – Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser – has given a one-on-one TV interview during his career in politics.
In response, Downing Street said the prime minister had taken the “necessary action to protect lives and livelihoods, guided by the best scientific advice” throughout the pandemic.
And the government had prevented the NHS “from being overwhelmed through three national lockdowns”, a spokesperson added.
Travellers from England, Scotland and Wales are jetting off to some countries in what the crisis-hit tourism industry hopes is the start of a recovery.
Travellers can now visit 12 countries on the government’s green list, including Portugal and Israel, without isolating on their return.
The bosses of British Airways and Ryanair said confidence was returning.
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Bookings are up from 500,000 a week in early April to 1.5 million a week now. “The rate of bookings suggests there is a huge amount of confidence,” he told BBC Breakfast. “We are very optimistic for the next couple of months.”
The planned relaxation of Covid rules for Christmas has been scrapped for large parts of south-east England and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of England, Scotland and Wales.
From midnight, a new tier four will be introduced in areas including London, Kent, Essex and Bedfordshire.
Those in tier four cannot mix indoors with anyone not from their household.
Elsewhere in England, Scotland and Wales, relaxed indoor mixing rules are cut from five days to Christmas Day.
For tier-four areas in England, a stay-at-home order has been issued, with exemptions for those who have to travel to work or for education.
Social mixing will be cut to meeting one person in an open public space.
All non-essential retail will have to close, along with hairdressers, nail bars, indoor gyms and leisure facilities.
People elsewhere will be advised not to travel into a tier-four area.
The evidence is now clear that these types of lockdowns do far more harm than good. They have a mixed result in actually stopping the spread of disease, but they have a very certain result in terms of lost wages, depleted savings, hunger, poverty, mental health issues, crime, suicides, and countless other negative results.
(REUTERS) -U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday he did not want to see a guarded border between Ireland and the United Kingdom, adding that he had previously discussed the matter with the British and Irish prime ministers and other European leaders.
Biden had stressed the importance of protecting Northern Ireland’s peace deal in the Brexit process in a call with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier in the month, after Biden won the Nov. 3 U.S. election against President Donald Trump.
Johnson’s government is seeking a trade deal with the European Union but says it is willing to leave without one. That could complicate the situation at the sensitive Northern Irish border with Ireland – the UK’s only land border with the EU.
Biden told journalists in Wilmington, Delaware, that the border must be open.
“We do not want a guarded border,” he said, answering a question from a reporter on what he would say to Brexit negotiators.
I seem to remember the Left getting all in a tizzy about the Trump team talking to foreign leaders in 2016… but here we are.
