New Human Rights Watch head Tirana Hassan says UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers is ‘cheap politics’

The UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda would “completely erode” Britain’s standing on the world stage, the new head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

Tirana Hassan, who takes over as HRW’s executive director on Monday, also said other conservative governments in Europe were considering following Britain’s lead and looking at African states as an offshore dumping ground for asylum seekers, potentially dealing further blows to established refugee protections.

Former chancellor boasted of his political career in hope of securing £10,000-a-day second job

Kwasi Kwarteng told representatives of a fake South Korean firm that he could introduce them to Boris Johnson – the “best campaigner you will ever see” – in the hope of securing a £10,000-a-day second job.

Kwarteng also indicated that Conservative whips would allow him to skip his parliamentary duties in order to further the interests of the fake firm, after apparently being duped by the campaign group Led By Donkeys.

Residents say village of Wethersfield ‘in the middle of nowhere’ is not a suitable place for 1,500 men

An Essex council is seeking an urgent injunction against the Home Office to try to prevent plans to house asylum seekers on an airfield close to a small village.

Braintree district council confirmed it was taking legal action to try to prevent the Home Office moving 1,500 asylum seekers on to Wethersfield airfield at a public meeting in the north Essex village on Sunday afternoon. It has a population of 700 and residents say an airbase “in the middle of nowhere” is not suitable place to accommodate such a large number of male asylum seekers.

Report says black children six times over-represented in strip-searches by police between 2018 and 2022

An official report accuses police of abusing their power to strip-search children, with black children much more likely than white children to be selected by officers for the ordeal.

Data collected by the office of the children’s commissioner found there were at least 2,847 recorded strip-searches of children pre-arrest across England and Wales between 2018 and 2022 under stop and search powers.

The brilliant Bukayo Saka made the first goal for Harry Kane and scored a spectacular second as England cruised to victory

“You are, as ever, correct,” says Richard Hirst. “FA Cup final 1975 - Alan Mullery No4, Bobby Moore No6. Never to be forgotten!”

You say that, but I’ve just had a look at Liverpool’s team for the 1986 FA Cup final and I could barely be more wrong if Bruce Grobbelaar had worn No722.

Government’s post-Brexit funding U-turn comes too late for councils to allocate money to keep them running

Back-to-work schemes across England previously paid for by the EU are being forced to close and lay off staff, despite a last-minute rule change by the government aimed at allowing councils to fund them.

Michael Gove’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) wrote to local authorities last week giving them the green light to spend their shared prosperity fund (SPF) allocations on job schemes, from April.

Yacht impounded over alleged breach of far-right government’s new rules for rescue vessels

Italian authorities have detained a migrant rescue boat financed by British street artist Banksy after it responded to a distress call in the Central Mediterranean.

The vessel, painted in bright pink and named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, was impounded in the port of Lampedusa on Sunday in relation to an alleged breach of new rules for rescue boats operated by non-governmental organisations, introduced by Italy’s far-right government.

Ex-president insisted he wasn’t afraid of the investigation into hush money payments even as he lashed out at the case

Donald Trump repeatedly insisted Saturday night that he was not upset by expected criminal charges that might arise from the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into his role in paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels as he returned from a campaign rally in Waco, Texas.

But the manner of Trump’s responses to questions suggested worries about potential damage to his image, and he came across as someone angry that his good vibrations with his Make American Great Again base in Texas could be interrupted by the reality of a possible indictment as soon as this week.

Kristalina Georgieva joins others in voicing fears about threat to world economy after recent bank collapses

The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economy faces risks to its financial stability because of the turbulence in the banking sector.

Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the Washington-based lender of last resort, said rising interest rates have put pressure on debts, leading to “stresses” in leading economies, including among lenders.

Calculation based on leaked offer to staff that implies firm valued at $2obn compared with $44bn he bought it for

Twitter is worth less than half of what Elon Musk paid for it six months ago having lost more than $20bn (£16.4bn) in value, according to calculations based on a leaked memo from the billionaire.

Musk suggested in memo to the social media company’s staff that it is now valued at less than $20bn. This compares with the $44bn he paid for it in October 2022.