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Five Arrested over Anti-migrant Protests in English Town

File photo: People demonstrating under the Abolish Asylum System slogan outside the Castle Bromwich Holiday Inn in Birmingham, England, on August 24, 2025. Jacob King, AP
File photo: People demonstrating under the Abolish Asylum System slogan outside the Castle Bromwich Holiday Inn in Birmingham, England, on August 24, 2025. Jacob King, AP
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Five Arrested over Anti-migrant Protests in English Town

File photo: People demonstrating under the Abolish Asylum System slogan outside the Castle Bromwich Holiday Inn in Birmingham, England, on August 24, 2025. Jacob King, AP
File photo: People demonstrating under the Abolish Asylum System slogan outside the Castle Bromwich Holiday Inn in Birmingham, England, on August 24, 2025. Jacob King, AP

UK police have arrested five people and escorted asylum seekers to safety in a town hit by three consecutive nights of anti-migrant protests, the regional force said Friday.

The protests, which took place from Tuesday to Thursday in the town of Thetford in eastern England, targeted buildings the protesters "believed were housing asylum seekers", regional police chief Paul Sanford told BBC Radio 4.

"On a couple of occasions, that required us to escort the residents of those properties away for their safety," said Sanford, chief constable of Norfolk police, adding some of the residents were asylum seekers.

The protests followed proposals to use a nearby disused military site to house asylum seekers.

The government has been struggling to find appropriate sites to house thousands of asylum seekers while it processes their applications.

The interior ministry has sought to reduce the use of hotels, which has proved to be a flashpoint for protests, as anger over immigration more generally has fueled support for the far right.

The government is legally bound to ensure access to accommodation and health care for asylum seekers.

According to The Guardian newspaper, more than 100 people protested on Tuesday and Wednesday after a list of properties allegedly linked to asylum seeker housing circulated online.

Three people were arrested then on suspicion of various public order offences, with police saying one officer was hit by a rock, another was bitten and a third was spat at.

Two more men were arrested on Thursday night, which police said was calmer.

Videos on social media of residents being escorted by police from targeted homes show dozens of protesters shouting "get out" and "refugees not welcome".

If police had not intervened, Sanford said it was "highly likely that the protesters would have got into the property... and really threatened the safety of the occupants".

Anti-migrant riots also hit the Northern Irish capital Belfast in June, sparked by a stabbing for which a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged.

Rioters targeted ethnic minorities and housing believed to be linked to migrant accommodation after lists of addresses circulated online.

Earlier this year, hundreds protested against plans to house asylum seekers at another former military barracks in southern England.

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World

US Imposes Sanctions on 13 Tied to Iran Weapons Procurement

The seal of the Treasury Department is seen before a news conference, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington. (AP)
The seal of the Treasury Department is seen before a news conference, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington. (AP)
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US Imposes Sanctions on 13 Tied to Iran Weapons Procurement

The seal of the Treasury Department is seen before a news conference, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington. (AP)
The seal of the Treasury Department is seen before a news conference, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington. (AP)

The US government announced fresh sanctions on Tuesday against 13 individuals and entities, including some based in Russia, China, Hong Kong and Pakistan, saying they helped Iran procure weapons and components.

The sanctions announced by the Treasury and State departments are part of the Trump administration's effort to isolate Iran economically and force it to negotiate an end to the war that began with a US-Israeli strike on Iran on February 28.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “Treasury will not tolerate any support to the ‌regime and ‌will continue to identify, expose, and isolate Iran’s ‌enablers.”

Treasury ⁠said the sanctions ⁠were aimed at degrading Tehran's ability to reconstitute its weapons programs, while increasing the costs for those who supported its procurement efforts.

Those targeted in Tuesday's sanctions announcements include:

* Seyyed Asghar Alizadeh Tabatabai, a Beijing-based representative of Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics agency, who Treasury said had coordinated ⁠the procurement of finished weapons systems and dual-use ‌components in China on Iran’s behalf.

* ‌Iran-based Kavoshcom Asia R and D Group, which Treasury said had ‌procured electronics including connectors for Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company.

* ‌Hong Kong-based EC Mojo Technology Co Limited, which Treasury said had provided electronic components in support of Kavoshcom’s procurement efforts, and EC Mojo's China-based representative Li Fen.

* Pakistan-based Waseem Pasha Tajammal, who serves ‌as chairman of Cavalier Group, a privately owned defense company with locations in Pakistan and internationally.

* ⁠Joint Stock ⁠Company Experimental Design Bureau Named After A.S. Yakovlev, a Russia-based aircraft manufacturer.

* MG-Flot LLC, a Russia-based shipping company whose vessels transport weapons for the Russian government.

* Saha Airlines, an Iran-based airline affiliated with the country's air force.

Brett Erickson, managing principal with Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the latest sanctions action would do little to impede Iran's ability to launch missiles and drones in the Strait of Hormuz.

"This is optics management for the Trump administration to claim 'We're hammering them,' when the reality is we're poking them with a toothpick," he said.

World

Trump Says He Does Not Know if Iran Is Going to ‘Give Up Yet’

Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
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Trump Says He Does Not Know if Iran Is Going to ‘Give Up Yet’

Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he does not know if Iran is going to "give up yet" but cast the country as doing "very poorly" in its war with the US.

"I don't know if they are going to give up ‌yet but ‌they'll give up," Trump told reporters.

"They ‌are ⁠doing very poorly," ⁠he added.

A US blockade has cut Iran's financial lifeline - oil exports, and economic costs of the war have made life tougher for Iranians.

Iran's president told the UN General Assembly last ⁠week that Tehran would never surrender to ‌US pressure.

The rise in oil prices due to the ‌war has also become a major issue ‌for Trump's Republican Party heading into the November US midterm elections.

The war has led to the blockade of the Strait of ‌Hormuz, which carried a fifth of global supplies of crude oil ⁠and ⁠LNG before the conflict.

Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the Iran war that began on February 28 when the US and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

World

Ceuta Mass Migrant Crossing Handling ‘Responsibility of All EU,’ Spanish King Says

Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)
Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)
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Ceuta Mass Migrant Crossing Handling ‘Responsibility of All EU,’ Spanish King Says

Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)
Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)

European countries should have shown ‌more solidarity and offered more support to Spain after the mass arrival in Ceuta of tens of thousands of migrants, Spanish King Felipe VI said on Tuesday during a gala dinner to mark a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron.

In an unusually outspoken address reflecting the depth of the crisis facing Spain following the Ceuta border rush that took place two months ago on Wednesday, the king said what happened in the enclave on the North African coast was "unacceptable" and ‌generated an enormous ‌security, public order and humanitarian challenge.

"It's a ‌situation ⁠that ought to ⁠have as a consequence a reinforcement of collaboration between member states in resources and cooperation," he said. "The European countries that suffer the most pressure from being on the external borders of the European Union cannot alone bear a responsibility that also belongs to everyone."

The king spoke during a dinner at the Royal ⁠Palace in Madrid also attended by Spain's Socialist ‌prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, a rare ‌European proponent of the benefits of migration who launched a mass ‌regularization of irregular migrants that concluded in the summer.

Sanchez, however, ‌has proposed possible changes to asylum rules to return arrivals more quickly, which NGOs and lawyers say would violate human rights conventions.

Asked in a news conference about the plans, territorial policy minister Angel Victor Torres ‌said the government was "analyzing the possibility" of a legislative amendment but that it was "not easy" ⁠due to ⁠questions of international law.

Following the mass crossing of 72,000 migrants into Ceuta on July 30, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen commended Spain's swift action in returning most arrivals to Morocco. Other leaders were less understanding, however, with Italy suspending the European Union's border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain for one month.

European Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner unveiled a plan on Tuesday to strengthen EU border controls in the wake of Ceuta.

The plan, which requires the approval of member states, would strengthen the mandate of Frontex, the EU border protection agency, and give it a standing corps ready for immediate deployment.