0:10
Tuesday briefing: Inside Shabana Mahmood’s new UK asylum reforms
In today’s newsletter: As the home secretary details reforms to the asylum system, a look at the challenges Labour faces – and what better story could be told about immigration
Good morning. Last night home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, set out further planned reforms to the asylum system. A new means-tested scheme, which will see asylum seekers ordered to pay about £10,000 each for their state-funded living costs or be denied settled status in the UK, has been condemned by refugee charities for placing a tax on refugees fleeing war, torture and famine.
Over the weekend, briefings suggested Mahmood also plans to speed up the opening of safe and legal routes to claim asylum, like employer sponsorship, as she bids to quell backbench critics, including former deputy leader Angela Rayner – a belated acknowledgment that the absence of such routes has forced many to make the perilous Channel crossing in those small boats that have become a totem for public and political anxieties around immigration.
UK politics | Andy Burnham has set out his blueprint to transform the UK with a promise to improve living standards and restore faith in politics through the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has ever seen”.
Finance | Crypto firms operating in the UK will be forced to prove they can weather market shocks and hold capital against risky assets as part of sweeping new rules announced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Germany | Four women and two men have been killed in a shooting at a youth welfare facility in northern Germany, police said. Two people including the suspected shooter were arrested.
Heatwave | The heatwave wreaking chaos across Europe is a “dramatic warning” to reject climate naysayers, a European Commission vice-president says.
World news | A strong aftershock has rattled northern Venezuela, sending terrified residents racing on to the streets five days after the twin earthquakes that killed 1,719 people, left tens of thousands missing and triggered a growing humanitarian emergency.
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2:32
South Africa's Police on High Alert for Anti-Migrant Protests
South African police are on high alert for the anti‑migrant protests slated for Tuesday, saying they won’t tolerate intimidation or violence.
They’ve been gearing up after weeks of demonstrations that have forced thousands of African expatriates out of their homes.
Authorities say they’re deploying extra officers and monitoring hotspots to keep the streets calm.
The mood is tense, but officials stress they’re prepared to keep the protests peaceful and protect both residents and newcomers.
3:12
Volvic to appeal after French court rules green claims were misleading
The bottled water brand Volvic has been found guilty of “misleading commercial practices” by the Paris Commercial Court over environmental claims made on its mineral water bottles, including that they were “carbon neutral” or “100 percent recyclable”.
3:36
Court Rules Two Dan Sullivans Can Appear on Alaska Ballot
Two rival Republicans with the same name can now both compete in Alaska’s primaries after a ruling by the state’s high court.
On Monday, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled Dan J. Sullivan is qualified to run against incumbent Alaska Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan, and ordered election officials to include him on the August primary ballot, the New York Times reports.
Republicans feared that having two Republicans with the same name could impact the incumbent senator’s chances. They also accused former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who is vying to oust the incumbent senator, of orchestrating Dan. J. Sullivan’s campaign and trying to intentionally confuse voters.
Peltola and state Democrats denied the allegations, while former teacher Dan J. Sullivan, who has been labeled “Decoy Dan,” by Alaska Republican Kevin McCabe, admitted he had registered as a Republican. After announcing his Senate campaign in May, he insisted he was making a legitimate attempt to oust the other Republican Sullivan.
Republicans complained to Alaska’s elections division that Dan J. Sullivan was not a “good faith candidate” and claimed he was working with a Democratic strategist.
They also claimed that his campaign website resembled the incumbent senator’s and said he appeared to have a history of donating to Democratic candidates, including Peltola.
Peltola is seen as the senator’s main rival in the race, which features more than a dozen candidates.
Sullivan, 69, told the Associated Press on Monday he had grown frustrated with the incumbent and thought the timing for a run was right. “I just decided it was something I needed to do,” he said. “I will find out if it was the right thing or not, but I’m going to give it a shot.”
While he admitted he intends to take votes from Dan S. Sullivan, 61, he said, “no, I’m not trying to trick people.”
Also speaking to KFSK on Monday, Dan J. Sullivan said he felt confident during the court’s proceedings.
“It feels pretty satisfying,” he said. “I have to say, if they had ruled the other way, I would have been really surprised.”
He is now awaiting news on how his name will appear on the election ballot, with the ballots due to be printed on Tuesday.
“Once that’s done, then I can sort of start to move forward with getting my message out and moving forward with this campaign,” he said.
The retired teacher has insisted he is a genuine candidate, however Nate Adams, a spokesman for the rival Sullivan, called the other Sullivan a “sham” and a “fraud” and was disappointed by the court’s ruling.
“That said, we are encouraged by the fact that the director of the division of elections will be able to use her expertise to best differentiate between the Petersburg fraud and the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan, ultimately to the benefit of all Alaska voters,” Adams said.
Source:
6:46
Demolition drive in village near Raipur sparks protest
There's a demolition plan covering about 15 hectares just under five kilometers from Raipur airport, right next to the new administrative zone of Nava Raipur.
The site sits close where the chief minister's house and the state assembly are being moved, so the development pressure is high.
Villagers have taken to the streets
7:14
Over 20 injured in fire at naphtha pipeline in West Bengal’s Haldia
So there was a fire at a naphtha pipeline in Haldia, West Bengal, and it's reported that over 20 people were injured. The injured were taken to the hospital, with five of them being moved to a different hospital later on. Of those five, two are in critical condition, according to a police officer.
The people who were hurt were initially taken to Haldia Sub-Divisional Hospital, and from there, some were transferred to Tamluk Medical College and Hospital for further treatment. It's not clear what caused the fire at the pipeline, but it's being looked into.
The situation is still being monitored, and more information should come out as the investigation continues. For now, the focus is on treating those who were injured and figuring out what led to the fire.
8:12
Trudeau says immigration relies on "shared values"
Justin Trudeau told a Finnish audience that immigration works best when it’s built on shared values and integration, not on ancestry, and he admitted Canada has made mistakes that need fixing. He said the country must adjust its approach.
The remarks stand out because he’s long defended his government’s immigration policy even as Canadians voice worries about housing, infrastructure and rapid population growth. Former MP Kevin Vuong says those concerns were raised repeatedly in Ottawa, and when he pressed the issue, Trudeau suggested the criticism was rooted in racism.
Vuong, speaking with Marc Patrone, argues the prime minister’s latest comments don’t move the needle. He says Trudeau is shifting his message now and shares his own experience of challenging the leader in Parliament.
9:10
The Last Monday At SCOTUS
With the end of this term of the Supreme Court in sight, Monday started off with a bang when the Justices declined to hear Donald Trump’s appeal of the $5 million verdict against him in the first of E. Jean Carroll’s two successful defamation cases. The case was listed as “denied” on the 28-page order list the Court entered this morning, taking a few cases but declining to hear most, as it did with Trump’s request.
The larger verdict, the one for $83.3 million, is still working its way through the courts. Many people have suggested the Court may be more interested in that one because Trump made a presidential immunity argument. But it’s an exceptionally weak one. For one thing, Trump waived his ability to make the argument by failing to raise it before the trial court. That’s called “procedural default,” and it’s a bar to raising an argument on appeal. He’ll argue he should get an exception, but the justification for that is weak. As for immunity itself, his argument, at bottom, is that a president has to defend himself from reputational damage, so his defamatory comments were an official act. But that argument proves too much; it would mean that there is no limit to conduct that is official, by virtue of the fact that it’s the president who is engaging in it. His comments were about an entirely personal matter that happened decades before he became president and that had nothing to do with the office he held. There’s no reason for the Supreme Court to take the case to consider lower court rulings that Trump’s immunity argument is a nonstarter here.
And that’s the point. In civil cases, review by the Supreme Court is discretionary. They take cases that present novel and important legal issues that no other court can resolve. There is another issue involving the Westfall Act, which gives employees immunity for certain acts within the scope of their official duties, that we discussed earlier in the history of these cases, but again, it would be a real stretch for the Court to take the case to reverse the lower courts.
Carroll’s lawyer, Robbie Kaplan, characterized what the decision means like this: “Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms once and for all the jury’s unanimous verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll. His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions.” That’s what it’s all about: Accountability. And it’s finally arrived on Trump’s doorstep.
Watson, the Mississippi Mail-In Ballot Case
I was completely wrong about the outcome of this case, as I noted earlier today, and I’m delighted about it, because the Court’s ruling actually made it easier for people to vote—something new and different. In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that a Mississippi law permitting mail-in ballots postmarked by election day and received within five days thereafter to be counted was valid. The plaintiffs had challenged the law, arguing that the federal law setting just one day as “election day” meant Mississippi could not allow extra days for ballots to be received. A contrary ruling would have invalidated similar laws in about 30 states.
Justice Barrett, whose views were difficult to discern at oral argument, landed in the majority and wrote the opinion. She explained that the “election-day statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt, so they do not prevent Mississippi from counting ballots postmarked after election day yet received afterward.” The Court treated the question before it as a very narrow one: “whether counting ballots postmarked by election day, but received up to five days later, violates the federal election-day statutes.” Absentee voting wasn’t challenged, nor was the use of the Postal Service to transmit ballots, early voting, or certification later than the day of the election. But it’s hard to believe that at least early voting days, if not all of those practices, would have landed on the chopping block if the Court had ruled the other way, which makes this decision important beyond the situation that was before the Court.
Justice Alito wrote the dissent, which was joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch. Justice Kavanaugh joined in part. Justice Alito’s concluding comment equated counting lawfully cast ballots with a reason people should lack confidence in the outcome of an election: “And it creates a serious risk of further undermining public confidence in our elections and our system of self-government. I therefore respectfully dissent.” If only he understood what really undermines public confidence.
At oral argument, Justice Alito questioned early voting, too. But, as Justice Sotomayor reminded the Court then, the Constitution grants states and Congress, not the courts, the right to set policy in this area.
14:32
Megyn Kelly, 55, Melts Down Over ‘Supergirl’ Star, 26
Right-wing commentator Megyn Kelly spent Monday raging against the “loathsome” star of Supergirl, Australian actress Milly Alcock.
On her namesake show, Kelly, 55, declared that the newest superhero movie in the DC Comics universe was “woke” and several years too late to be relevant. Its 26-year-old lead, she added, was the “weird, short girl with the very strange look.”
“We’re over the forced-upon-us girlboss era. It’s not authentic. It’s not organic. We’re no longer buying it,” Kelly said. “It’s not that women can’t be empowered and fierce and all the great things. It’s just, stop forcing it on us in the form of Supergirl.”
Alcock, Kelly then said, “created problems for herself” with comments she had made about her time on Game of Thrones.
Kelly dismissively quoted an interview Alcock gave to Vanity Fair in which she said, “That experience definitely made me aware that simply existing as a woman in that space is something that people comment on. We have become very comfortable having this weird ownership of women’s bodies. I can’t really stop them. I can only be myself.”
Kelly denigrated Alcock’s role.
“You were in light porn. Game of Thrones... is soft porn. Who does she think she’s kidding?” Kelly said.
Kelly also criticized Alcock for how she responded to those who criticized her earlier comment, quoting her with the same dismissive tone.
“I didn’t even say ‘men’ — I said ‘people!’” Alcock told Variety. “And they got so angry. I was like, ‘You’re proving my point. You’re proving my point!’”
Alcock added: “And [the backlash] is from a lot of people whose profiles have no photo, who are burner accounts. Or someone’s name and then ‘Dad of four, Christian,’ which is hilarious to me. But I mean, whose opinion do you really care about? If you’re pissing the right kind of people off, you’re doing OK.”
Kelly, who relished how Supergirl garnered generally subpar reviews and a poor weekend box office debut, took issue with how the movie’s plot doesn’t have a male love interest of the title character—something Alcock had commended.
The actress told Variety, “I love how this film doesn’t center around any sort of love, you know? It doesn’t center around romance or anything like that at all, and she has such resilience.”
Alcock added the LGBTQ community is also “so resilient” and therefore could relate to Supergirl.
Kelly was livid.
“So, you can’t center around a love relationship... because that would be offensive and obviously disempowering. If you are in a love relationship with a man, as a woman, it’s disempowering to your superhero narrative. F that!”
She went on: “Virtually every woman on Earth who is straight would love to connect with a man, form a love relationship, and be buoyed up by it—not diminished, which is a Hollywood, weird, woke message.”
A rep for Alcock didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
17:47
Lalbagh gets modern glass restroom with QR entry and baby care facilities
Lalbagh’s newest restroom is a sleek glass pavilion, its reflective façade catching the garden’s light while skylights pour natural daylight inside. The space feels airy, with fresh ventilation and a discreet CCTV camera watching the entry.
You’ll step in through a QR‑scanned door, then find ramps that glide up to the main floor, making the whole area easy for anyone with mobility needs. Inside, there’s a dedicated stall for seniors and people with disabilities, plus a tidy baby‑care corner with a changing table and wipes.
All of this was rolled out this week, turning a simple bathroom into a thoughtful, inclusive spot that blends modern design with practical comfort.
