More than 10,000 People Reach UK on Small Boats since January

FILE PHOTO: Two inflatable dinghies carrying migrants make their way towards England in the English Channel, Britain, May 4, 2024. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Two inflatable dinghies carrying migrants make their way towards England in the English Channel, Britain, May 4, 2024. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/File Photo
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More than 10,000 People Reach UK on Small Boats since January

FILE PHOTO: Two inflatable dinghies carrying migrants make their way towards England in the English Channel, Britain, May 4, 2024. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Two inflatable dinghies carrying migrants make their way towards England in the English Channel, Britain, May 4, 2024. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/File Photo

More than 10,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Britain in small boats so far this year, updated government data showed on Saturday, underlining a key challenge facing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a July 4 national election.

The number of people landing on England's southern beaches after making the dangerous Channel crossing fell by a third in 2023, but the latest numbers on a government website showed 10,170 arrived between January and May 25, up from 7,395 over the same period last year.

Sunak, who announced the election date on Wednesday, said later this week that asylum seekers who come to Britain illegally would not be deported to Rwanda before the vote - casting doubt on one of his Conservative Party's flagship policies, Reuters reported.

The plan has been bogged down by legal obstacles for more than two years, and the opposition Labor Party, which is about 20 points ahead in opinion polls and seen on track to end 14 years of Conservative rule, has promised to scrap the policy if it wins the election.

Labor's shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said Sunak's government had not done enough to tackle the issue.

"Because all the government's efforts are now focused on getting a few hundred people flown to Rwanda, they have lost sight of the thousands more who are crossing the Channel every month," Kinnock said in a statement.

Labor has said if elected it would create a Border Security Command that would bring together staff from the police, the domestic intelligence agency and prosecutors to work with international agencies to stop people smuggling.

 

 

 

 

 



First Radioactive Rhino Horns to Curb Poaching in South Africa

A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
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First Radioactive Rhino Horns to Curb Poaching in South Africa

A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)

South African scientists on Tuesday injected radioactive material into live rhino horns to make them easier to detect at border posts in a pioneering project aimed at curbing poaching.

The country is home to a large majority of the world's rhinos and as such is a hotspot for poaching driven by demand from Asia, where horns are used in traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic effect.

At the Limpopo rhino orphanage in the Waterberg area, in the country's northeast, a few of the thick-skinned herbivores grazed in the low savannah.

James Larkin, director of the University of the Witwatersrand's radiation and health physics unit who spearheaded the initiative, told AFP he had put "two tiny little radioactive chips in the horn" as he administered the radioisotopes on one of the large animals' horns.

The radioactive material would "render the horn useless... essentially poisonous for human consumption" added Nithaya Chetty, professor and dean of science at the same university.

The dusty rhino, put to sleep and crouched on the ground, did not feel any pain, Larkin said.

The radioactive material's dose was so low it would not impact the animal's health or the environment in any way, he said.

In February the environment ministry said that, despite government efforts to tackle the illicit trade, 499 of the giant mammals were killed in 2023, mostly in state-run parks. This represents an 11 percent increase over the 2022 figures.

Twenty live rhinos in total would be part of the pilot Rhisotope project whereby they would be administered a dose "strong enough to set off detectors that are installed globally" at international border posts originally installed "to prevent nuclear terrorism", a pleased Larkin said, sporting a green hat and a khaki shirt.

Border agents often have handheld radiation detectors which can detect contraband in addition to thousands of radiation detectors installed at ports and airports, the scientists said.