U.K. government shares video of first migrant detentions under controversial Rwanda plan, calls it a milestone
CBSN
London — The British government released video clips Wednesday of what it said were the first detentions of migrants in the country without permission under a highly controversial new program that aims to deport them to Rwanda. The plan, implemented by the country's ruling Conservative party, was approved by lawmakers last week after more than two years of political wrangling over its legality.
The video share online Wednesday by the Home Office, which oversees all law enforcement and immigration matters in the U.K., showed armed immigration officers taking handcuffed individuals from houses into waiting vans. All the individuals in the video, both the detainees and the officers, were heavily blurred to obscure their identities.
In a Wednesday statement, U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly called the Rwanda policy "a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration."
Kyiv, Ukraine — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that American military aid on its way to Ukraine will make a "real difference" on the battlefield, as the top diplomat made an unannounced visit to reassure an ally facing a fierce new Russian offensive. In increasingly intense attacks along Ukraine's northeast border in recent days, Moscow's troops have captured around 40 to 50 square miles of territory, including at least seven villages, according to open source monitoring analysts.
A trove of gold and silver coins that experts believe were swindled out of an ailing population by an 18th-century conman has been discovered in central Poland, officials said. Volunteer metal detectorists found the treasure hidden underground in multiple locations while exploring the Jeleniowskie mountain range with permission from the local government, and the fact that it exists seems to validate a centuries-old legend.
Tel Aviv — Nearly 360,000 people had fled the Gaza Strip's southernmost city of Rafah by Monday, according to the United Nations, in an exodus that tripled in size over just a few days. The Israel Defense Forces sparked the upheaval late last week, issuing evacuation orders by text messages and fliers dropped from the sky to people in the city's eastern half.
Russia's renewed ground offensive in Ukraine's northeast targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar fire, officials said Sunday. Thousands of civilians fled the Kharkiv region as the intense battle capitulated more land to Russian forces across less defended settlements in the so-called contested "gray zone" along the Russian border.
Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza's southern city of Rafah on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its operation and adding that it is also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped. More than 110,000 people have evacuated Rafah, the United Nations says, more than doubling in the past few days.