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UK To Deny Citizenship To Migrants Arriving In Boats, Vehicles In Tougher Crackdown

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The British government on Wednesday said it was toughening immigration rules to make it almost impossible for undocumented migrants who arrive on small boats to later receive citizenship.

Under new guidance migrants arriving by sea, or hidden in the back of vehicles will normally be refused citizenship.

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This guidance further strengthens measures to make it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally, including small boat arrivals, faces having a British citizenship application refused,” a Home Office spokesperson said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government is under pressure to reduce migration after Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party won roughly four million votes during the last general election — an unprecedented haul for a far-right party.

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But the change to the rules has been criticised by some Labour MPs.

If we give someone refugee status, it can’t be right to then refuse them a route to become a British citizen,” wrote lawmaker Stella Creasy on X, adding that the policy would leave them “forever second class”.

Free Movement, an immigration law blog, said the changes had the potential to “block a large number of refugees from naturalising as British citizens, effective immediately”.

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It called the updated guidance “incredibly spiteful and damaging to integration”.

The announcement comes after MPs this week debated the government’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, designed to give law enforcement officials “counter-terror style powers” to break up gangs bringing irregular migrants across the Channel.

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Legal and undocumented immigration — both currently running at historically high levels — was a major political issue at the July 2024 poll that brought Starmer to power.

On taking office, he immediately scrapped his Conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak’s plan to deter undocumented migration to the UK by deporting new arrivals to Rwanda.

Instead he pledged to “smash the gangs” to bring the numbers down.

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Some 36,816 people were detected in the Channel between England and France in 2024, a 25 percent increase from the 29,437 who arrived in 2023, provisional figures from the interior ministry showed.

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UK PM Says Latest Russia Strikes On Ukraine Shows Putin ‘Not Serious About Peace’

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned Russia’s barrage of air strikes against Ukraine on Sunday, saying they showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not serious about peace”.

READ ALSO:Russia Launches Massive Air Attacks On Ukraine’s Cabinet Building

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“I’m appalled by the latest brutal overnight assault on Kyiv and across Ukraine,” Starmer said in a statement. “These cowardly strikes show that Putin believes he can act with impunity. He is not serious about peace.”

 

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Teenager Angry, Poisons Uncle’s Soup Because He Snores Too Much

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A high school student in Japan has been arrested for allegedly poisoning his uncle’s soup in an attempt to kill him because he couldn’t stand his snoring, the country’s media reported.

The 18-year-old teenager from Ichibara, Japan’s Chiba prefecture, was arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly mincing leaves from a toxic oleander plant and pouring them into his uncle’s soup, because he had become exasperated by his loud snoring.

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According to the police report, on August 17, during lunch, the teen’s uncle sensed an unusual taste in the soup he was served and spat it out, but soon started exhibiting symptoms like mouth numbness and stomach pain, which required medical attention.

READ ALSO:‘My Husband Lied To Our Children That I Poisoned His Food, Cut Part Of His Singlet For Ritual’

Samples from his bowl of soup were found to contain a lethal amount of the toxic substance known as oleandrin.

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“I couldn’t stand my uncle’s loud snoring and decided to kill him,” the 18-year-old teenager allegedly told police during questioning.

Oleander is an evergreen tree that blooms with red or white flowers and is commonly planted as a street or park tree. Its branches and leaves are toxic.

Luckily, the teen’s uncle, a 53-year-old self-employed man who lived with the boy and his mother, made a full recovery.

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Six Dead, Others Trapped As Gold Collapse

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Six people have been killed and up to 20 others are feared trapped after a gold mine collapsed in northern Sudan, authorities said on Saturday.

The accident occurred on Friday in the Um Aud area, west of the city of Berber in River Nile state, said Hassan Ibrahim Karar, executive director of the Berber locality.

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“Efforts are ongoing to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble,” Karar said, without specifying the cause of the collapse of the artisanal mine.

Since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, both sides have largely financed their war efforts through the country’s gold industry.

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Official and NGO sources say nearly all of Sudan’s gold trade is funnelled through the United Arab Emirates, which has been widely accused of supplying arms to the RSF — a charge it denies.

Despite the conflict, the army-backed government announced record gold production of 64 tonnes for 2024.

Sudan, Africa’s third-largest country by area, remains one of the continent’s top gold producers.

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However, most gold is extracted through artisanal and small-scale mining operations, which lack proper safety measures and often use hazardous chemicals, resulting in severe health risks for miners and nearby communities. Buy vitamins and supplements.

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Before the war pushed 25 million Sudanese into acute food insecurity, artisanal mining employed more than two million people, according to industry figures.

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Today, mining experts say much of the gold produced by both warring factions is smuggled through Chad, South Sudan and Egypt before reaching the UAE — currently the world’s second-largest gold exporter.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced roughly 10 million people, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis. An additional four million Sudanese have fled across borders.

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