Starmer braced for backlash from Labour MPs as Mahmood sets out asylum plans – UK politics live 17. November 2025 (11:56) Home secretary to announce a drastic tightening of rules, including requiring asylum seekers to wait 20 years before getting the right to permanently settle in UKMomentum, the leftwing Labour group, has also denounced the government’s asylum plans. In a statement it says:The home secretary’s new immigration plans are divisive and xenophobic.Scapegoating migrants will not fix our public services or end austerity.Draconian, unworkable and potentially illegal anti-asylum policies only feed Reform’s support.The government has learnt nothing from the period since the general election.Some of the legal changes being proposed are truly frightening:Abolishing the right to a family life would ultimately affect many more people than asylum-seekers. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Weather tracker: Storm Claudia brings more flooding to Portugal and Spain 17. November 2025 (11:51) Heavy rainfall hit Galicia region first before slowly moving across western parts of the Iberian peninsulaPortugal and Spain are again recovering from flooding after Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds last week. The storm developed from an area of low pressure that had earlier driven early season cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of Canada and the north-eastern US through early November.The system tracked eastwards across the Atlantic during the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, caught in the trough of an increasingly amplified, or wavy, jet stream. Spain’s meteorological service AEMET named the storm last Monday before the arrival of several bouts of heavy rainfall, which slowly pushed through during the rest of the week. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Explosion on Polish railway was ‘unprecedented act of sabotage,’ says PM – Europe live 17. November 2025 (11:50) Donald Tusk says ‘worst fears confirmed’ over damage on route used to ferry aid deliveries to UkraineOver in Berlin, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned about “a deep rift” in Europe’s relations with the US, the growing threat from China and the rapidly progressing systemic challenges to the world order that required a united European response.In a wide-ranging speech at the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Economic Summit, Merz said that Germany faced “a deep rift in transatlantic relations that calls into question almost everything that we have considered right and necessary for decades.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump continues Taylor Greene attacks despite his call to release Epstein files – US politics live 17. November 2025 (11:46) President repeats assertion that former ally is a ‘traitor’ even as he urges fellow Republicans to vote for release of documents relating to sex offenderPresident Trump is set to meet with the White House Task Force at 2pm ET today, as plans ramp up ahead of next summer’s soccer World Cup.The meeting will take place in the Oval Office at the White House. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Reeves could allow holiday tax on English hotel and Airbnb stays 17. November 2025 (11:44) Move to give mayors powers to raise funds through levies, but industry says it will ramp up prices and inflationBusiness live – latest updatesBritish holidaymakers could have to pay a nightly tax on hotel stays and Airbnb-style visits in plans expected to be announced by Rachel Reeves in the budget next week.The chancellor is reportedly preparing to give mayors powers to raise taxes by charging tourists on the cost of an overnight stay in their cities. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump urges Republicans to vote for release of Epstein files in surprise U-turn 17. November 2025 (11:31) US president says he backs efforts to release documents related to late sex offender because ‘we have nothing to hide’US politics live – latest updatesHow the Epstein row plunged Maga world into turmoil – a timelineEpstein emails: key takeaways from 20,000 pages of newly released filesDonald Trump has told his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in a sudden reversal of his earlier position.The US president’s post on his Truth Social website came after the House speaker, Mike Johnson, said previously that he believed a vote on releasing justice department documents in the Epstein case should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Ousted Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death for crimes against humanity 17. November 2025 (11:05) Hasina sentenced in absentia by court in Dhaka over deadly crackdown on student-led uprising last yearBangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Dhaka for crimes against humanity over a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.A three-judge bench of the country’s international crimes tribunal convicted Hasina of crimes including incitement, orders to kill and inaction to prevent atrocities, as she oversaw a crackdown on anti-government protesters last year. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Charlotte reels as immigration raids bring North Carolina city to a ‘standstill’ 17. November 2025 (11:00) Thriving business districts in North Carolina city now at a ‘standstill’ after at least 81 were arrested over the weekendMany communities in Charlotte, North Carolina, were reeling after federal Customs and Border Protection teams descended on the city at the weekend and arrested at least 81 people – while normally-thriving immigrant enclaves and business districts came to a standstill.Federal agents were deployed in what the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), calls Operation Charlotte’s Web, sparking protests. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘His role is to recruit’: the Sheffield-based propagandist for Sudan’s RSF militia 17. November 2025 (10:13) Abdalmonim Alrabea has appeared in hundreds of videos in which he expresses support for paramilitary group accused of committing genocideA British citizen based in Sheffield appeared in a TikTok live broadcast laughing along while a notorious fighter from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces group boasted about participating in mass killings in the city of El Fasher.The video, broadcast on 27 October, is just one of hundreds posted to social media in which 44-year-old Abdalmonim Alrabea expresses support for the RSF and the ethnically targeted atrocities it has committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Asylum seekers’ jewellery could be seized to pay for processing costs, says Home Office minister 17. November 2025 (09:52) Idea borrowed from Denmark is latest attempt to reduce number of people seeking asylum in UKAsylum seekers could have jewellery or other valuables taken to pay for the costs of processing their cases, a Home Office minister has said, in another detail of changes to migration policy likely to cause concern among Labour MPs.Speaking to broadcasters before the formal announcement of sweeping changes to asylum policy on Monday, the Home Office minister Alex Norris said while this would not involve seizing wedding rings, jewellery without sentimental value could be taken. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
