Can music change perceptions about migrants and refugees? The Citizens of the World Choir in London is trying to do precisely that. Its members welcomed Little Amal to London -- at a very special venue.
A total of 213 migrants were rescued in the Channel on Sunday and Monday as they tried to cross from France to Britain in small boats, French officials said. The operation reportedly involved at least one helicopter and four vessels of the French navy and the National Society for Rescue at Sea (SNSM).
Britain's proposed new laws to deal with migration have been criticized by a group of lawyers, commissioned by the NGO Freedom from Torture. The bill has already passed its second reading in parliament.
Over 1,100 migrants crossed the English Channel on small boats on Friday and Saturday, the British Home Office has said. Some 410 people were prevented by French authorities from making the crossing.
Abdulrazak Gurnah, who was born in Tanzania, has been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee."
Newspapers are reporting that a group of eight Iranian Kurdish migrants were fired at by French police as they attempted to launch a boat on the French coast near Dunkirk. The migrants, who were hoping to make it to the UK, were hit by rubber bullets. At least two were injured.
After spending most of his adult life on the migrant trail, Alex, originally from Iran, tried to cross the English Channel from France twice. He talked to a French filmmaker and the film was posted just as the latest row broke out between Britain and France about how to stop people like him from attempting the crossing at all.
A lack of truck drivers has led to delivery bottlenecks and fuel rationing across the UK. Industry associations estimate Britain needs 100,000 more drivers to meet demand.
More than 16,000 migrants have made it over the Channel to the UK this year, almost double those who made it in the whole of 2020. The British government talks about sending boats back but since Brexit, returning migrants to France has become harder, and that is attracting more migrants to attempt the crossing.
In recent days, hundreds of people have tried to cross the English Channel from northern France. Taking advantage of nightly departures from relatively quiet towns south of Calais, migrants have been jumping into boats at the last minute.
According to a media report, several dozen Afghan refugees are stranded in the German city of Giessen. They allegedly lack the documents necessary to travel to Britain. Meanwhile, a measles outbreak has temporarily stopped Afghan evacuation flights from the US air base Ramstein in Germany.
French maritime officials rescued 126 migrants attempting to cross the Channel to Britain as tensions escalated over record arrivals on England's southern coast.