Fleeing the frontline: Yemeni families cross Red Sea to Djibouti as Houthi conflict rages 20 October 2026 at 06:00

Fleeing the frontline: Yemeni families cross Red Sea to Djibouti as Houthi conflict rages

20 October 2026 at 06:00

Their overland routes to safety blocked off, several thousand people have boarded boats to escape gunfire, bombing and a dire humanitarian situation

Abubaker Saeed was fishing in the Red Sea off Yemen’s coast last month when he noticed explosions in the distance. His mind turned immediately to his wife and two children, and he raced back to his home village of al-Wahijah.

Aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemeni government forces had launched airstrikes in surrounding areas, targeting members of the Iran-aligned Houthi militia as its fighters approached the nearby port city of Mocha.

‘How do we welcome the stranger, with humanity or anger?’ The forgotten Germans who found refuge in Ireland 18 October 2026 at 02:00

‘How do we welcome the stranger, with humanity or anger?’ The forgotten Germans who found refuge in Ireland

The Guardian

By: John Kampfner

18 October 2026 at 02:00

A new play revisits the story of Ireland’s 18th-century German refugees, whose experience of prejudice and exclusion resonates with today’s debates over immigration

In the early 18th century, a few thousand Germans fled religious persecution and near starvation in their homeland and ended up in remote rural Irish villages. The Irish Palatines, as they were known, were poor, conservative homesteaders who couldn’t speak the language and were the object of suspicion and violence – precursors to the displaced Syrians or Afghans of the past decade.

Their story is told in Refuge, a co-production between Staatstheater Mainz and the Irish company Fishamble. Part love story, part social commentary, it is performed by a mixed cast, mainly in English but with some German interludes.

Eritrea accuses Shabana Mahmood of ‘political gimmick’ over visa ban threat 15 October 2026 at 12:40

Eritrea accuses Shabana Mahmood of ‘political gimmick’ over visa ban threat

The Guardian

By: Rajeev Syal and Diane Taylor

15 October 2026 at 12:40

Home secretary says she will block all Eritreans from UK unless a returns deal is agreed for rejected asylum seekers and criminals

Shabana Mahmood has been accused of launching a “perfunctory political gimmick” by the Eritrean government in a row over the return of rejected asylum seekers and criminals.

After the home secretary threatened to block all Eritreans from entering the UK unless a returns deal was agreed, the country’s embassy claimed the UK had failed to engage in “meaningful and appropriate” dialogue.

From black soldier flies to mealworms: farming insects for food, fodder and fertiliser in Uganda 14 October 2026 at 06:00

From black soldier flies to mealworms: farming insects for food, fodder and fertiliser in Uganda

The Guardian

By: Umberto Diecinove

14 October 2026 at 06:00

Cultivating the nutritious bugs means families can raise livestock and enrich their own food, while lowering pressures on the land

A few minutes’ walk from his home in the Kyaka II refugee settlement, Kanane Bikanyale feeds black soldier fly larvae to chickens in a coop above a fishpond. The larvae disappear in a scrum of chickens. Nearby, more larvae grow in modified jerrycans, while adult flies are kept in netted boxes.

Bikanyale kept chickens before he fled to Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But the cost of conventional feed and shortages of ingredients made them increasingly difficult to raise – a widespread pressure for millions of smallholder farmers whose margins are tight.

Kanane Bikanyale tends to his black soldier fly larvae in a rearing unit in the Kyaka II refugee camp in Uganda

Asylum Seekers Entering Legally Fell 99.9 Percent 13 October 2026 at 02:56

Asylum Seekers Entering Legally Fell 99.9 Percent

MetaFilter

By: kliuless

13 October 2026 at 02:56

President Trump Cut Legal Immigrant Entries 2.7 Times More Than Illegal Entries - "These cuts to legal immigration are harming US citizens seeking to reunite with their spouses, fiancés, children, and other relatives. They are also undermining US prosperity and increasing the US deficit. But they also illustrate the central misconception about the Trump administration's immigration agenda. It is not about stopping 'illegal' immigration. It is a broader assault on all types of immigration. As Americans debate the path forward on immigration, that's a reality everyone should understand."

also btw...

US immigration authorities raid home of Democratic Trump critic Ilhan Omar [ungated] - "Omar wrote on social media that the US government is being weaponized to target a political enemy of the president."[1]
New York City man shot in car with child present by ICE agents, mayor says [ungated] - "Federal immigration agents have shot at least 21 people since Republican President Donald Trump returned to office, 7 fatally, sparking protests across the US. Critics contend that Trump's push to ramp up deportations has led to an increasing number of violent confrontations, and accuse the administration of resisting accountability for the agents involved."[2] (previously)
Trump administration freezes green cards for Microsoft, IT firms, probes universities [ungated] - "Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has pursued a broad effort to reduce the number of foreign-born people in the US and curtail their pathway to residence and citizenship. Thursday's twin actions mark the broadest strike yet against skilled-worker immigration programs — potentially cutting off a common path to permanent residency for foreign tech workers — while putting some of the country's top research universities on notice."

Reform’s Zia Yusuf is sounding more and more like Trump every day | Zoe Williams 12 October 2026 at 10:59

Reform’s Zia Yusuf is sounding more and more like Trump every day | Zoe Williams

The Guardian

By: Zoe Williams

12 October 2026 at 10:59

On the Today programme, his comments were disconnected, cliche-riddled and unremittingly stupid. But to clog the collective consciousness with nonsense is exactly the point

Had Reform merely announced its intention to suspend the asylum system for an entire parliamentary term, I’d have just ignored it. Even to dignify its policy platform with a response is to enter its alternate universe, in which it’s preparing for government. I prefer, if only fractionally, this universe we’re in, where the party hangs by a thread on the results of a parliamentary inquiry into Nigel Farage’s £5m gift from a disinterested well-wisher.

Had Zia Yusuf, the party’s home affairs spokesperson, gone on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme merely promising a British version of ICE, I still would have ignored it, not due to complacency, more due to a bone-penetrating despair that anyone, even he, would look at the US’s shadow militia, performing staged acts of unfettered violence and inhumanity, and think: “That looks cool – I bet I could get some political capital out of that.”

At least 139 dead including children after migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti 11 October 2026 at 09:56

At least 139 dead including children after migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti

The Guardian

By: Carlos Mureithi in Nairobi

11 October 2026 at 09:56

Eighty-four others still missing from vessel heading to Yemen with 305 people onboard, UN migration agency says

At least 139 people, including 15 children, have died after a boat carrying 305 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

Another 84 people are still missing after the incident, which, according to survivors, happened near Guhere, north of the fishing town of Obock, during the night of 8-9 October when the boat was travelling from Djibouti to Yemen.

Is there a different way to fix the small boats crisis? 11 October 2026 at 08:00

Is there a different way to fix the small boats crisis?

The Guardian

By: Diane Taylor

11 October 2026 at 08:00

As ‘one in, one out’ scheme ends, refugees still want to cross the Channel despite French police aggression and hostile welcomes

The smuggler works quickly. Using a small shovel, he digs up a dinghy buried in a sand dune on a beach not far from Boulogne-sur-Mer, assembles it and affixes a motor in record time.

“I never saw anyone work like this,” says Amad, from Iraq, one of a group of about 30 asylum seekers waiting to cross the Channel. “The UK government wants to stop the smugglers, but they are smart. They have plan A, plan B and plan C, so there is always a way for them to get people across this sea. For as long as asylum seekers will pay them, there is too much money involved for them to give up.”

Surgeon faces deportation as Home Office revokes refugee status for Syrians 11 October 2026 at 05:00

Surgeon faces deportation as Home Office revokes refugee status for Syrians

The Guardian

By: Diane Taylor

11 October 2026 at 05:00

UK classifies Syria as safe to return to despite UN refugee body’s advice

A Syrian plastic surgeon is facing deportation from the UK after the Home Office revoked his refugee status, declaring it is now safe for him and his family to return to their home country.

Despite Foreign Office guidance advising against all travel to Syria because of the “volatile” security situation, the government has classified it as a safe place for refugees to return to.

UK accused of giving people of Gaza false hope over new refugee safe route 10 October 2026 at 02:00

UK accused of giving people of Gaza false hope over new refugee safe route

The Guardian

By: Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

10 October 2026 at 02:00

Only ‘very small number’ of people already in Lebanon or Jordan will be referred, says organisation running scheme

The Home Office is facing claims it gave false hope to the people of Gaza after it emerged that a new safe route for Palestinian refugees will only be open to those who have already escaped to Lebanon or Jordan.

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, announced the reopening of a resettlement scheme for refugees at Labour’s annual conference last month. A statement from her department said: “Around one in four referrals will be for Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees, fleeing war and persecution.”

Normal view