Former UK Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi talks Gaza, Trump's UK visit and EU
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Arab News
27 minutes ago
- Arab News
UK threatens jail for people smugglers who advertise on social media
LONDON: People smugglers who use social media to promote their services to migrants seeking to enter Britain illegally could face five years in prison under plans announced by the government. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government is under huge political and public pressure to cut the number of migrants arriving illegally in small boats from France. More than 25,000 people have made the crossing so far this year. Analysis by the Interior Ministry showed around 80 percent of migrants arriving on small boats had used social media during their journey to find or communicate with people smugglers. Under a new offense, which will be added to legislation already passing through parliament, individuals who post online to advertise services that facilitate a breach of immigration laws will face fines and prison sentences of up to five years. It is already an offense to facilitate illegal immigration to Britain, but the government said its latest plan would give law enforcement agencies another option to disrupt the criminal gangs that profit from organizing the crossings. Last month, the government launched a new sanctions regime allowing it to freeze assets, impose travel bans and block access to the country's financial system for individuals and entities involved in enabling irregular migration.
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Julian Assange joins tens of thousands for Pro-Palestine protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday, closing the world famous landmark. Assange, who returned to Australia last year after his release from a high-security British prison, was pictured surrounded by family and marching alongside former Australian foreign minister and New South Wales premier Bob Carr. For the latest updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict, visit our dedicated page. France, Britain and Canada have in recent weeks voiced, in some cases qualified, intentions to diplomatically recognize a Palestinian state as international concern and criticism have grown over malnutrition in Gaza. Australia has called for an end to the war in Gaza but has so far stopped short of a decision to recognize a Palestinian state. But in a joint statement with more than a dozen other nations on Tuesday it expressed the 'willingness or the positive consideration... to recognize the state of Palestine as an essential step towards the two-State solution.' The pro-Palestinian crowd braved heavy winds and rain to march across the bridge, chanting 'ceasefire now' and 'free Palestine.' New South Wales police said it had deployed hundreds of extra staff across Sydney for the march. Mehreen Faruqi, the New South Wales senator for the left-wing Greens party, told the crowd gathered at central Sydney's Lang Park that the march would 'make history.' She called for the 'harshest sanctions on Israel,' accusing its forces of 'massacring' Gazans, and criticized New South Wales premier Chris Minns for saying the protest should not go ahead. Dozens of marchers held up banners listing the names of thousands of Palestinian children killed since the Gaza war broke out after an October 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas. Labor backbench MP Ed Husic attended the march and called for his ruling party, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, to recognise a Palestinian state. Assange did not address the crowd or talk to the media. Israel is under mounting international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The Harbour Bridge is over a kilometer long and was opened in 1932. Since then its twin parabolic arcs have become world famous, a symbol of both Sydney and of Australia.
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel PM Says in ‘Profound Shock' over Hostage Videos
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with relatives of two hostages held in Gaza seen in videos released by Palestinian armed groups, expressing his "profound shock" over the images, his office said. Since Thursday, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three clips showing two hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, looking emaciated after nearly 22 months of captivity, have sparked strong reactions among Israelis, fueling renewed calls to reach a truce and hostage release deal without delay. "The prime minister expressed profound shock over the materials distributed by the terror organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and told the families that the efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing, and will continue constantly and relentlessly," said a statement from Netanyahu's office released late Saturday. Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people had rallied in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv to urge Netanyahu's government to secure the release of the remaining hostages. In the footage shared by the Palestinian groups, 21-year-old Braslavski, a German-Israeli dual national, and 24-year-old David both appear weak and malnourished. The videos make references to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned a "famine is unfolding". Israeli newspapers dedicated their front pages on Sunday to the plight of the hostages, with Maariv decrying "hell in Gaza" and Yedioth Ahronoth showing a "malnourished, emaciated and desperate" David. Right-wing daily Israel Hayom said that Hamas's "cruelty knows no bounds", while left-leaning Haaretz declared that "Netanyahu is in no rush" to rescue the captives. Netanyahu, according to his office, spoke "at length" with Braslavski and David's families on Saturday, decrying "the cruelty of Hamas". He accused the group of "deliberately starving our hostages" and documenting them "in a cynical and evil manner". Israel, meanwhile, "is allowing the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza", Netanyahu said. Reiterating Israel's stance that it was not to blame for the humanitarian crisis, Netanyahu said "the terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving the residents of the Strip" by preventing them from receiving the aid that enters Gaza. The Israeli premier, who has faced mounting international pressure to halt the war, called on "the entire world" to take a stand against what he called "the criminal Nazi abuse perpetrated by the Hamas terror organization". Braslavski and David are among 49 hostages seized during Hamas's 2023 attack who are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Most of the 251 hostages taken in the attack have been released during two short-lived truces in the war, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody. The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,430 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN. Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza, already under blockade for 15 years before the ongoing war. Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, air raid sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the Gaza border, with the military saying that "a projectile that was launched from the southern Gaza Strip was most likely intercepted".
