British family pleads with French authorities to release body of relative who died in Channel

31 August 2026 at 16:36

Jasmeet Wadhwa, who fled Taliban persecution in Afghanistan, lost his life while trying to reach UK in April

A British family is pleading with French authorities to release the body of a relative that officials have held for five months after he died in the Channel in April.

Jasmeet Wadhwa, 32, died while attempting to reach the UK on a dinghy on 1 April with his mother, Harbans Kaur Wadhwa, after they fled Taliban persecution in Afghanistan in January.

Qantas ground crews vote for right to strike amid pay dispute – as it happened

World news | The Guardian

By: Achol Arok and Nick Visser

31 August 2026 at 10:48

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The Australian government is working with Russian officials in a bid to secure the release of Australian Oscar Jenkins, Matt Thistlethwaite says.

Speaking to ABC news breakfast, the assistant minister for foreign affairs declined to answer whether a prisoner swap was on the table.

Obviously, we try and negotiate as best we can on behalf of all Australians who find themselves in difficulties such as this. We obviously have to abide by international laws and we always uphold them. But the Australian officials on the ground will work with their counterparts to ensure that, hopefully he’s returned to Australia safely.

Deportees Sent to Liberia Recount Harrowing Details of U.S. Expulsion and Treatment by ICE

NYT > Top Stories

By: Emmanuel Akinwotu · Pranav Baskar · Genevieve Glatsky and Hamed Aleaziz

30 August 2026 at 14:32

Ten deportees said they experienced or witnessed what they called abusive or violent treatment by ICE. They spent months in detention, they said, before being sent to nations where they had no ties.

A plane carrying deportees from the United States at the international airport outside of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on Aug. 20.

Relative of Afghans Who Helped U.S. Military Is Deported to Africa

NYT > Top Stories

By: Miriam Jordan and Hamed Aleaziz

29 August 2026 at 19:29

The Trump administration has deported thousands of immigrants to countries where they have no ties. Dozens were on the latest flight, to the Central African Republic.

The Central African capital of Bangui, in 2024.

The battle over RAF Barnham: how ominous anti-asylum protests engulfed a small Norfolk town

The Guardian

By: Tim Burrows

29 August 2026 at 07:00

Thetford has a welcoming history. So why have there been so many demonstrations this summer over plans to house asylum seekers at a nearby military base – as well as nights of violent disorder?

‘I don’t talk to mainstream media,” says a young man in an Arsenal shirt. I’ve just asked what brought him to the latest protest against the housing of asylum seekers in Thetford, Norfolk, and his disdain is clear as he goes to warn other protesters of the Guardian’s presence. This isn’t exactly the unity promised by the flyer advertising today’s march: “Everyone welcome: families, friends, dogs. Including the media.”

The protest is planned as a two-mile march from Thetford’s market square to RAF Barnham, a site just over the border in Suffolk, which is due to house asylum seekers while they progress through the system. It is the latest part of a campaign that has lasted the whole summer. Banners line the square, the largest succinctly describing why people are gathering here today: “Thetford and Barnham says no to asylum seekers.”

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