2 h. ago Giorgia Meloni faces awkward weekend at funeral of pope whose values she opposed

Italian PM and pontiff could not have been further apart on issues such as migration, climate crisis and economyIt is an awkward weekend for Giorgia Meloni. The Italian leader will host a gathering of world leaders to say goodbye to a much-revered pope whose public views – from the treatment of people fleeing war to the climate crisis – were diametrically opposed to hers.While Pope Francis was a staunch advocate for asylum seekers, and blessed the vessels that saved refugees at sea, Meloni once said Italy should “repatriate migrants back to their countries and then sink the boats that rescued them”. Continue reading...

Events

7 h. ago Starmer to rent out homes to migrants: Government now pleads with landlords to host asylum seekers, with five

Private contractor Serco - one of three working for the Home Office -  have offered five-year guaranteed rent deals to landlords, with the taxpayer footing the bill.

Events

8 h. ago Luton Town's Kenilworth Road on fire as crews tackle blaze at famous old ground

A fire broke out in the laundry room at Luton Town's Kenilworth Road stadium ahead of their Championship clash against Coventry City on Saturday

Events

11 h. ago TfL pledges 'better support' for asylum seekers applying for travel discounts

Commitment comes as Sadiq Khan’s transport deputy says the mayor is determined ‘to help vulnerable Londoners travel across our city’

Events

29 h. ago I'm a hotel expert and this is the one thing you should never go near in hotel rooms

Safety experts at Locksmith Dartford have issued a warning to guests staying in hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs to watch out for five spots in rooms that contain the most dirt.

Politics

38 h. ago Voices: Addiction, misinformation and bullying: Why Independent readers want phones banned in classrooms

With most Independent readers supporting a school smartphone ban, the overwhelming consensus was that phones are too distracting – though many believe deeper issues like parenting, education, and online safety must also be addressed

Events

50 h. ago ‘Who wept for these people?’ Francis’s papacy was defined by compassion for refugees

From personally promising to relocate vulnerable asylum seekers to speaking out against ‘cruel’ policies, the late pope was a voice for the marginalisedOn a glorious spring day almost a decade ago, an Airbus A320 took off from Mytilene airport on the Greek island of Lesbos. For what seemed like an age, a small group of bystanders, including officials and the media, watched in disbelief until the plane veered left over the sun-speckled Aegean Sea and its Alitalia livery could no longer be discerned. On board was Pope Francis, who had spent barely five hours on Lesbos, then at the centre of the refugee crisis on Europe’s eastern fringes.The whirlwind tour had been replete with symbolism but it was the pontiff’s fellow travellers who had caused such surprise. Moments after the head of the Roman Catholic Church had entered the aircraft, 12 refugees had also appeared, cheerfully making their way across the runway with expressions of stunned relief, their first taste of freedom after inca...

Events

65 h. ago Asylum seeker could be allowed to stay in UK after judge's ruling against 'purely fictitious' claim he was trafficked from Albania is overturned

An asylum seeker could be allowed to stay in the UK after a judge's ruling against the 'purely fictitious' claim he was trafficked from Albania was overturned.

Events

4 d. ago Pope Francis died of stroke and heart failure, Vatican doctor says, as tributes pour in for pontiff – latest updates

Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who was revered by millions of Catholics around the world, has died aged 88Pope Francis, groundbreaking Jesuit pontiff, diesPotential candidates to succeed Pope FrancisPope Francis: share your tributesThe Archbishop of York has paid tribute to Pope Francis as “holy man of God” who was “also very human”, PA News reports.In a statement on X, Stephen Cottrell said:Francis’s whole life and ministry was centred on Jesus who comes among us not to be served, but to serve.We saw that compellingly in Francis’s service of the poor his love of neighbour, especially the displaced, migrant; the asylum seeker, his deep compassion for the well-being of the earth and his desire to lead and build the church in new ways.I remember, in the brief times spent with him, how this holy man of God, was also very human.He was witty, lively, good to be with, and the warmth of his personality and interest in others shone out from him. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Berlin reports rise in attacks on refugees amid surge in far

Call for greater protection for asylum seekers and policies targeting rightwing violence as report sounds ‘alarm bell’Berlin has reported a marked increase in attacks on asylum seekers and refugee shelters, amid a sharp rise in far-right crime and a hardening of German migration policy.Official figures provided at the request of two local Green party lawmakers showed there were 77 assaults on asylum seekers and refugees in 2024 and eight instances of deliberate damage to residences housing them. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago The Accidental Spy review – remarkable story of CIA operative abandoned by his handlers

Anthony Wonke’s headlong documentary introduces Blerim Skoro, recruited in post-9/11 New York to become an inside man in the ‘war on terror’, then left in the fieldIn the movies, the classic hazard for the undercover operative is psychological meltdown after getting lost in their new identity. In real life, the dangers seem more prosaic: being treated as an expendable asset and dumped. That was the situation for Muslim Kosovan refugee Blerim Skoro who, despite years spent protecting US national security as a prison informant and al-Qaida mole, was threatened with deportation. His paymasters, the CIA and FBI, don’t emerge creditably from director Anthony Wonke’s headlong, if narrowly focused, account.Skoro seems to have a gift for being in the right or wrong place at the wrong or right time; it’s not obvious which. After deserting from the army during the 1990s Yugoslav war, he wound up as an asylum seeker in New York with a young family. But a new hustle, running drugs for the Alban...

Culture

5 d. ago Ten assaults a day on asylum seekers in Home Office care, figures reveal

Exclusive: There were 380 safeguarding referrals of victims of hate crimes from January 2023 to August 2024The Home Office is recording an average of 10 assaults a day on asylum seekers in its care, according to internal government data, amid harsh government rhetoric on those crossing the Channel.Figures reveal that there were 5,960 referrals of assaults upon asylum seekers while in the care of the Home Office between January 2023 and August 2024. There were also 380 referrals of victims of hate crimes to their internal safeguarding hub during this period.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Asylum seekers sleeping rough 'throw rubbish in flowerbeds and urinate in street'

Asylum seekers sleeping rough 'throw rubbish in flowerbeds and urinate in street'  Daily Express

Events

6 d. ago Hypocrisy row over plans to send failed asylum seekers to 'return hubs' overseas after Starmer scrapped Tory Rwanda scheme

Conservatives responded with fury to reports that ministers could pay countries in the Balkans to take Britain's failed asylum seekers - comparing it to the Rwanda scheme which Sir Keir Starmer scrapped.

Events

6 d. ago Asylum seekers sleeping rough outside London landmarks 'spotted throwing belongings in flowerbeds and urinating in public'

Asylum seekers sleeping rough outside London landmarks 'spotted throwing belongings in flowerbeds and urinating in public'  GB News

Events

6 d. ago Migrant camp takeover outside Westminster Cathedral: Homeless asylum seekers sleeping rough next to London lan

Migrant camp takeover outside Westminster Cathedral: Homeless asylum seekers sleeping rough next to London lan  Daily Mail

Events

6 d. ago UN backs plans to deport failed asylum seekers to 'return hubs' abroad as Labour considers sending migrants to the Balkans

Last month, Yvette Cooper discussed sending asylum seekers to 'return hubs' in Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia with the head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Events

7 d. ago UN refugee agency backs return hubs in boost to potential Labour plan

There have been reports that the UK Government could seek to send failed asylum seekers to overseas hubs in the Balkans.

Events

7 d. ago Denied, detained, deported: the people at the heart of Trump’s immigration crackdown

The White House is targeting people seen as opponents of its agenda – here are some of the most high-profile casesDonald Trump retook the White House vowing to stage “the largest deportation operation in American history”. The administration has set about further militarizing the US-Mexico border and targeting asylum seekers and refugees while conducting raids in undocumented communities and spreading fear.Critics are outraged, if not surprised. But few expected the new legal chapter that unfolded next: a multi-pronged crackdown on certain people seen as opponents of the US president’s ideological agenda. This assault has come in the context of wider attacks on higher education, the courts and the constitution. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Denied, detained, deported: the people ensnared in Trump’s immigration crackdown

The White House is targeting people seen as opponents of its agenda – here are some of the most high-profile casesDonald Trump retook the White House vowing to stage “the largest deportation operation in American history”. The administration has set about further militarizing the US-Mexico border and targeting asylum seekers and refugees while conducting raids in undocumented communities and spreading fear.Critics are outraged, if not surprised. But few expected the new legal chapter that unfolded next: a multi-pronged crackdown on certain people seen as opponents of the US president’s ideological agenda. This assault has come in the context of wider attacks on higher education, the courts and the constitution. Continue reading...

Politics