32 h. ago People traffickers sending migrant small boats to West Country beaches in bid to dodge tougher border patrols off Kent coast, police reveal

The Home Office has funded a new fast-response police boat to be based in Devon and Cornwall due to an expected surge in illegal immigration.

Events

56 h. ago Israel says ‘last opportunity’ for Gaza City residents to leave

Defence minister issues warning, while Hamas reportedly considers seeking amendments to Trump plan The Israeli military has issued what it said was its final warning for Gaza City residents to flee as it intensified its bombardment and offensive on Wednesday, while Hamas was reportedly considering requesting amendments to Donald Trump’s ceasefire ultimatum.Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said the warning was the last opportunity for people to move to southern Gaza as the military encircled the city. Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Wednesday that Israeli forces had killed at least 46 people, including 36 in Gaza City. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago ‘Most people are just toughing it out’: shortage of drugs leaves Gaza’s wounded without pain relief

Operations are being carried out without proper anaesthetics and what painkillers there are have to be rationed, say doctorsIn Gaza’s Nasser hospital, Mahmoud* lies with a gunshot wound to his left leg. His knee is shattered and the wound has become infected. The boy is writhing in pain but the doctors don’t have the painkillers to ease his suffering. He is given a nerve block, which stops him from feeling anything, and the relief allows him to sleep for a while. But once that wears off, the agony returns.More than 167,000 Palestinians have been injured in Gaza since 7 October 2023, according to Gaza’s health ministry. From burns and blast wounds to lost limbs and fractured bones, Gaza’s hospitals have been overwhelmed by patients in profound pain. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago High standard of English to be required for leave to remain, Mahmood to pledge

Home secretary to set out proposed tougher conditions including not taking benefits and ‘spotless’ criminal recordCriminals and people who cannot speak English to “a high standard” will be denied permission to settle in the UK, Shabana Mahmood will announce on Monday, in proposals intended to contain the growing electoral threat from Reform UK.In a speech framing herself as a “tough home secretary”, Mahmood will say people seeking indefinite leave to remain (ILR) will have to demonstrate they have integrated and “contributed” to society through national insurance payments and voluntary work, and not relied on benefits. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Starmer faces revolt by Labour MPs as he takes huge gamble on compulsory digital ID cards saying people cannot be 'squeamish' about tough rules

Keir Starmer confirmed the plans at a 'global progress' summit in London insisting it is an 'enormous opportunity' to get on top of illegal immigration.

Politics

9 d. ago ‘We are at our limit’: Gaza’s last hospitals overwhelmed as thousands flee south

‘Not enough of anything’, says surgeon, as Israel’s assault forces injured, sick and hungry people to leave Gaza CityThe few remaining hospitals and clinics in central and southern Gaza are being overwhelmed by a “tsunami” of injured and sick patients fleeing a new Israeli offensive in the north of the devastated territory, medics say.At both Nasser medical complex, in the southern city of Khan Younis, and field hospitals in al-Muwasi, the coastal “humanitarian zone” designated by Israel, staff are struggling to cope with large numbers of new arrivals forced out of Gaza City in the north of the devastated Palestinian territory. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Not even a quarter of people can spot all the mistakes in tough brainteaser image

A new brainteaser is challenging the nation to spot all the mistakes in the optical illusion - but only 23% of people can solve it. Can you join the small group of people that can solve it?

Politics

1 week ago IDF warns aid workers only hospitals are protected sites in northern Gaza

Israeli military says aid infrastructure could be targeted after order to ‘all Gaza residents and inhabitants’ to leaveHumanitarian workers in northern Gaza have been repeatedly warned by the Israeli military that only hospitals will be considered protected sites and all other aid infrastructure could be targeted.In messages and conversations with aid workers in recent days seen by the Guardian, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said an order to “all Gaza residents and inhabitants” to evacuate Gaza City, the biggest urban centre in the territory, applied “to all humanitarian locations [there], except hospitals” and warned that “to defeat Hamas [Israeli troops] will operate with great force”. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Senators say US is complicit in Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza

Democrats Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley reach ‘inescapable conclusion’ after fact-finding trip to regionTwo Democratic senators claim they have reached the “inescapable conclusion” that Israel is acting on a systematic plan to destroy and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza to force locals to leave, and they say the US is complicit.Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, both members of the Senate foreign relations committee, released their findings in a report on Thursday after returning from a congressional delegation to the Middle East where, they note, the destruction goes beyond bombs and bullets. They say they also found a systematic campaign to strangle humanitarian aid, which they call “using food as a weapon of war”. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Israel is forcing us to leave Gaza City. We know they might never let us return

The Guardian’s reporter in Gaza describes the dilemma facing her family and others, many hungry, penniless and without transportThe ninth of September is my sister Enas’s birthday, so we were happy this morning, drinking coffee as a family and telling jokes, until we saw the leaflets dropping down telling us to evacuate. So now, instead of preparing biscuits and cakes to celebrate, we are packing for another displacement.The Israeli army’s plan to occupy Gaza City sent me back to memories of the early days of the war: the tension, the terror and the psychological pressure. I am afraid the cycle of displacement will repeat itself again. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Israel’s expanded assault on Gaza City will endanger lives of ‘countless civilians’, charity warns – Middle East crisis live

Warning from ActionAid comes after Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli army told residents of Gaza City to leave Dan Sabbagh is the Guardian’s defence and security editorFifty-one Israeli arms makers and the US defence giant behind the F-35 fighters used to bomb Gaza are among the 1,600 exhibitors at the biennial DSEI trade show that begins in London’s Docklands on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Israel threatens ‘mighty hurricane’ in Gaza and warns residents to leave immediately

Israel's military told Hamas that Gaza would be destroyed if it did not disarm and release the hostages seized in 2023

Events

3 w. ago Netanyahu orders Gaza City residents to ‘leave now’ as six killed in attack in Jerusalem

Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire around 10.15am local time at people waiting at a bus stop near Ramot Junction at the northern entrance to the city on a road leading to a settlement, Israeli police said.

Events

3 w. ago ‘It’s my second home!’ Gen Z and the sudden, surprising boom of luxury gyms

Expensive fitness facilities might seem a tough sell in a cost of living crisis. But for young people in crowded or dilapidated house shares, the high price for a haven can be worth payingThe best part of Owen Willis’s day is his morning shower. Notes of lavender and eucalyptus waft through his private, stone-tiled shower room as he uses a £32 bottle of Cowshed bodywash. He dries off with a fluffy white towel before slathering on Cowshed body lotion (£24).This isn’t Willis’s home, however. It’s his gym. He belongs to Third Space in London, which calls itself a “luxury health club”. Memberships start at £230 a month for an individual site and go as high as £305 for access to all of its branches, including the Mayfair club, where gym-goers can expect “UV-treated fresh air” and “a Himalayan sea-salt walled sauna and steam room”. Continue reading...

Politics