A UK Border Force vessel brings a group of people to the English coast on Monday, two days after six people died in a small boat crossing. PA
A UK Border Force vessel brings a group of people to the English coast on Monday, two days after six people died in a small boat crossing. PA
A UK Border Force vessel brings a group of people to the English coast on Monday, two days after six people died in a small boat crossing. PA
A UK Border Force vessel brings a group of people to the English coast on Monday, two days after six people died in a small boat crossing. PA

French MP calls for 50km exclusion zone around Calais to stop migrant crossings


Tim Stickings
  • English
  • Arabic

A French MP for the northern coast has called for police to ban illegal migrants from approaching the English Channel.

Pierre-Henri Dumont called for “more severe” measures after six people died in the latest fatal attempt to cross the Channel on a small boat.

Mr Dumont, an opposition MP who represents Calais, said deaths were inevitable when illegal migrants were camped near the coast.

He said French authorities should “understand that every illegal migrant” living in tents near the Channel “is a candidate for passage by small boat”.

Any illegal migrant near France's northern tip should be detained in a zone of “zero migrant tolerance” 50km inland from the coast, he said.

“We have to stop access to the coast. As soon as they are in Calais, as soon as they are in Dunkirk … it's too late,” he said in appearances on French radio on Monday.

“You cannot say you’re doing all that is necessary when at the same time you let tents be put up near the railway tracks.”

French police patrol northern beaches under an arrangement in which the UK pays hundreds of millions of euros a year to stem the flow of migrants.

But there have been calls in Britain for France to do more. Conservative MP John Redwood questioned why French police "are they finding it so difficult to see these obviously unsafe and overloaded boats preparing to leave".

British and French vessels were involved in a rescue mission after a small boat capsized on Saturday. AFP
British and French vessels were involved in a rescue mission after a small boat capsized on Saturday. AFP

Despite the patrols, more than 16,000 people have crossed the Channel this year including 775 last Thursday alone, a record for 2023.

The disaster on Saturday when six people died and dozens more had to be rescued after their boat capsized, was the latest in a series of deadly incidents.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman called it a "stark reminder of how dangerous these crossings are" and "how vitally important it is to disrupt these criminal gangs".

But he said a year-on-year fall in Channel crossings and the arrests of suspected smuggling ringleaders amounted to "tangible results because of the investment we’ve made.”

The alarm was raised early on Saturday when the boat got into difficulty near the French coast. Several warships and lifeboats from both sides of the Channel were involved in a rescue effort.

France is expected to unveil a new immigration law in the coming weeks to speed up deportations while offering some illegal migrants a route to work in the country.

Britain recently passed reforms that provide for people who arrive illegally to be denied residency. Ministers are also fighting legal challenges to their plan to deport failed asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Mourners held a rally in Calais on Sunday after the latest fatal incident in the Channel. AFP
Mourners held a rally in Calais on Sunday after the latest fatal incident in the Channel. AFP

The UK government suffered a separate setback when 39 asylum seekers it was housing on a barge had to be evacuated because of a legionella scare.

The barge, Bibby Stockholm, was meant to house dozens of male asylum seekers to cut the costs of keeping Channel migrants in hotels.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said nobody appeared to have fallen ill, amid accusations that the government brushed off health warnings.

He told Sky News the government would "both maintain safety standards but also reflect the pressure on the taxpayer position".

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Normcore explained

Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.

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Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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Company Profile

Name: JustClean

Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries

Launch year: 2016

Number of employees: 130

Sector: online laundry service

Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Other must-tries

Tomato and walnut salad

A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.

Badrijani nigvzit

A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.

Pkhali

This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.

Brief scores:

Barcelona 3

Pique 38', Messi 51 (pen), Suarez 82'

Rayo Vallecano 1

De Tomas Gomez 24'

Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Europe wide
Some of French groups are threatening Friday to continue their journey to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, and to meet up with drivers from other countries on Monday.

Belgian authorities joined French police in banning the threatened blockade. A similar lorry cavalcade was planned for Friday in Vienna but cancelled after authorities prohibited it.

Fixtures

Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs

Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms

Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles

Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon

Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon

Updated: August 14, 2023, 1:17 PM`