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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s Central Bank announced it will offer low-interest loans for people and businesses wanting to install solar panels, as part of government efforts to reduce emissions and promote renewable energy, according to a letter sent to its licensed banks on Wednesday. Under the new guidelines, as seen by Rudaw, banks will […]

Police officers smash through the back doors of a bright, modern barber shop in the market town of Shrewsbury. Inside they immediately detain two men – who we are later told are Kurdish asylum seekers. Both men are later released. It is the first of six raids that day where police seize thousands of pounds

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdistan Region Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed attended the Border Security Summit in London on Monday to discuss combating organized immigration crime, particularly human trafficking and illegal migration. “At the official invitation of the UK Interior Ministry, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed has arrived in Britain to participate

People smugglers have exploited “fragmented” policing, border force and intelligence agencies to smuggle thousands of illegal migrants into the UK, the prime minister has said. Sir Keir Starmer said poor organisation had meant the UK was “a soft touch” on illegal migration, which smugglers took as an “open invitation”. The prime minister made the case

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Seven people from the Kurdistan Region who unsuccessfully tried to reach European shores through Libya will arrive in Baghdad on Saturday, Iraq’s acting ambassador to Tripoli told Rudaw. “We have completed the voluntary repatriation procedures for seven Iraqi citizens in Libya who were trying to reach Europe through illegal means,” Ahmed

by Mihnea Cuibus & Peter William Walsh A person who does not have the right to reside in the UK may be liable for removal – also known as return – from the UK. The government has pledged to increase the number of migrants being returned. This briefing note examines why returns declined during the 2010s, why they

A total of 5,512 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far in 2025 More than 5,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel so far in 2025, Home Office data shows. This is the earliest point in the year that crossings have reached that point since recent records began. A total of

Failed asylum seekers could be sent to the Balkans under plans being considered by the government. Home Office officials have discussed proposals to set up overseas “return hubs” to house asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected and all appeals exhausted. The proposals, which are at a “very early stage”, according to a government

Migrants depart by boat from France to cross the Channel to the UK on 17 January 2025. Almost 42,000 asylum seekers are waiting for an appeal hearing after the Home Office rejected their initial claims, according to analysis of official figures. The Refugee Council said the number is a five-fold increase in two years and

The Home Office is launching an advertising campaign in Iraq to try to deter people from crossing the English Channel in small boats. Similar campaigns were launched in Albania and Vietnam by the previous Conservative government in 2023 and 2024. On Sunday, 592 migrants in 11 boats crossed the Channel, according to figures from the