From the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Don Pettit captured a stunning red aurora on camera. The color is uncommon because it occurs at 240 kilometers above Earth, which is a high altitude.
As the government develops new regulations set to be implemented by spring of next year, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Monday that she would “temporarily” suspend new applications for the refugee family reunion route.
She argued that the system must be managed and controlled according to fair and effective rules rather than by organized crime smuggler gangs, which results in chaos and exploitation.
If a person seeking asylum who has been granted an indefinite stay in the country can present evidence of a relationship lasting at least two years, they can bring in their partner.
Cooper told the House of Commons that the rising demand for housing across the nation had increased as a result of family reunion applications, with many requesting relocation within a month. One of the proposed changes would require longer application waiting periods.
Refugee organizations criticized the decision. Safe Passage, a charity that helps children who are refugees, accused the government of “faking far-right pressure,” calling on it to put children who are fleeing war and persecution in nations like Afghanistan, Sudan, and Iran “trapped in danger.”
SHOCKING: All new applications for family reunions of refugees have been temporarily suspended by the UK government.
The children we support will suffer the most as a result, as they have been denied access to almost every safe route to join their loved ones. pic. twitter.com/YErszylNft
The Refugee Council’s chief executive, Enver Solomon, stated that “these changes will only push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers in an effort to reunite with loved ones.”
Cooper made the announcement as Labour struggled to make a political return to Parliament following a rough summer break with anti-immigration protesters regularly threatening hotels in various parts of England, most recently Epping, northeast of London, on Sunday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that he will accelerate plans to empty the asylum hotels after being under pressure from Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party, which has sparked outrage over people arriving in small boats over the English Channel from France.
The government has been alleged to be moving too slowly, but it has been demonstrating that it is addressing a problem left by Conservative-led administrations by facilitating trade agreements with other countries and expediting asylum applications.
A “one in, one out” pilot scheme will be put in place between the UK and France later this month, according to Cooper, with the former sending refugees and asylum seekers there in exchange for approved applicants.
According to her, “applications have also been opened for the reciprocal legal route, with the first cases being subject to strict security checks,” adding that “family groups” would have priority under the agreement with France.
According to Cooper, the government will establish a new independent body to handle appeals because tens of thousands of asylum seekers are awaiting a decision.
Millions of people have been killed and millions have been harmed.
The worst flooding in Pakistan’s history has occurred.
Numerous people have been confirmed dead, and farms and livestock have been wiped out and homes and businesses destroyed.
A third of the nation was submerged in similar catastrophic floods just three years ago.
Pakistan, which accounts for less than one percent of emissions, is highly susceptible to the effects of global warming.
Should the nations that harm the planet most be compensated?
Or should Pakistan develop greater resilience?
Presenter: Adrian Finighan
Guests:
Ali Hasanain, Associate Professor of Economics at Lahore University of Management Sciences
Peter Newman, Curtin University’s professor of sustainability, is
Every minute counts when a new kidney can save your life. She was shocked when Jazmin Evans learned that she might have had a kidney four years earlier. She made an effort to warn others when she learned that a racial testing process was to blame.
As a range of policies put forth by US President Donald Trump’s administration have made tourists less likely to travel to the country, the number of foreign visitors to the country is still declining.
According to recently released preliminary government data, foreign visits to the US decreased by 3% year over year in July.
Since Trump took office in late January, a trend has been in place almost every month. The US has experienced a decline in foreign visitors for five out of six months.
Brazilian tourist Luise Francine, who is visiting Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera, “Everyone is afraid, scared. There is too much politics about immigration.”
Travelers from other parts of the world have been alienated by Trump’s tariffs, immigration crackdown, and repeated jabs about the US acquiring Canada and, according to experts and local officials.
According to Ryan Bourne, an economist at the Cato Institute, Trump’s rhetoric and policies are at the heart of the decline in tourism.
The president’s trade wars and some of the fallout from concerns about getting entangled in immigration enforcement can be blamed for the decrease, according to the statement.
Travel research firm Tourism Economics predicted last week that the US would experience an 8.2% decline in foreign arrivals in 2025, a decrease from its earlier prediction of a 9.4% decline, but well below the country’s total before the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the company, “the sentiment drag has proven to be significant,” noting that airline bookings suggest that “the sharp inbound travel slowdown” of May, June, and July are likely to continue in the coming months.
Although the numbers for neighboring Canada and Mexico are not taken into account, Canadian visitors have been declining in particular. Tourism Economics estimates that there are fewer Canadians visiting the US this year than there were during the same time last year in 2024.
More Americans entered Canada in June and July in a significant U-turn, according to Canada’s national statistical agency.
Statistics Canada reported that this was the first time this had happened in nearly 20 years, with the exception of two months during the pandemic.
Mexico, in contrast, is one of the few nations in the US to see an increase in tourism. According to US government figures, travel from Central America increased by 3 percent through May and that of South America, by 0.7%, compared to a decline of 2 % from Western Europe.
However, significant declines have occurred in nations that typically draw large numbers of visitors to the US.
Only two of the top ten overseas tourist-producing nations, Japan and Italy, experienced a year-over-year increase in July. Second-placed India’s viewership dropped by 5.5%, followed by China’s viewership, which dropped by nearly 14%.
A trade war and Trump’s (since-reversed) broadsides against Chinese students have raised concerns among Chinese tourists, while deteriorating relations between India and the Trump administration have turned out badly.
The US travel industry is plagued by rising travel costs, political uncertainty, and ongoing geopolitical tensions, according to Deborah Friedland, managing director of Eisner Advisory Group.
Trump has reined in some of the hard-liner measures that defined his first term since taking office for a second term in January, including a travel ban that targets primarily African and Middle Eastern nations, stricter visa approval regulations, and a rise in mass immigration raids.
Some people elsewhere perceived their own unwanted status as a result of the push for tariffs on foreign goods, which quickly became a defining feature of his second term.
Travelers from non-visa-waiver nations like Mexico, Argentina, India, Brazil, and China are hampered by a new $250 “visa integrity fee,” which will go into effect on October 1. According to the US Travel Association, the additional fee raises the total cost of the visa to $442, making it one of the highest visitor fees in the world.
According to Gabe Rizzi, president of Altour, a global travel management company, “any friction we add to the traveller experience will reduce travel volumes by a certain amount.” This will become a more urgent issue as the summer draws to a close, and we will need to factor the costs into travel plans and documentation.
According to the World Travel &, Tourism Council, international visitor spending in the US is projected to decrease from $ 81 billion in 2024 to $ 69 billion this year.
Due to the ongoing displacement and mass destruction caused by Israel’s war, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al Khalili has visited some of the Gaza’s fewer schoolchildren who are able to attend classes.