WORLD ROUNDUPThe Future of Dollar Hegemony | BRICS Expansion Is No Triumph for China | GPS Tagging Plan to Stop Migrants Fleeing, and more
· Electronic and GPS Tagging Plan to Stop Migrants Fleeing
U.K. Home Office acts over fear that U.K. will run out of space to detain illegal arrivals
· Do Something to Halt Migrants, Plead Coastal Towns on Med
Many try to slip across the border into France then attempt to cross the Channel - About 16,000 have crossed to the U.K. so far this year
· The Cheap Radio Hack That Disrupted Poland’s Railway System
The sabotage of more than 20 trains in Poland by apparent supporters of Russia was carried out with a simple “radio-stop” command anyone could broadcast with $30 in equipment
· Poland Investigates Train Mishaps for Possible Russian Connection
Poland has already ramped up security on its railway lines after foiling a plot by Russian intelligence to monitor railway networks and derail a train carrying weapons for Ukraine
· The Future of Dollar Hegemony
As BRICS leaders discuss ways to conduct trade in each other’s currencies, Washington should be wary of squandering the benefits of the U.S. dollar’s global role
· Demography Is Destiny in Africa
Rapid population growth is about to hit the countries whose economies and climates are least equipped to handle it
· BRICS Expansion Is No Triumph for China
But it is a warning shot for the West to end its strategic slumber in the global south
Electronic and GPS Tagging Plan to Stop Migrants Fleeing (Matt Dathan, Steven Swinford, and Geraldine Scott, The Times)
Migrants arriving illegally in Britain may be fitted with GPS tags to prevent them absconding under Home Office plans to deal with a lack of detention spaces.
The government has a new legal duty to detain and remove migrants who come to the UK illegally. However, the immigration detention estate can hold only 2,500 people. Officials have been asked to find alternative ways of ensuring that thousands of migrants who arrive illegally but cannot be detained do not abscond.
The asylum backlog has hit a record high, with more than 175,000 people waiting for a decision, at a cost to taxpayers of nearly £4 billion a year. This figure has risen by 44 per cent, from 122,213 in the year ending June 2022 to 175,457 in the year ending this June, despite efforts to reduce the backlog.
The surge has been driven by cross-Channel migrants lodging applications on arrival in the UK. The government is spending £3.97 billion housing and supporting asylum seekers, including £6 million a day to house 51,000 people in hotels.
Do Something to Halt Migrants, Plead Coastal Towns on Med (David Chazan and James Imam, The Times)
A record number of migrants arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa on Saturday, increasing pressure on President Macron to stem the flow across the border into France.
A total of 55 migrant boats reached Italy’s southernmost island, fewer than the 65 that landed on Friday, but each carrying more people. In total, 2,172 people arrived within 24 hours.
In France police have been intercepting 300 migrants a day near the Italian border, causing friction between central and regional administrations.
Most are from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Tunisia and other African countries.
More than 25,000 migrants have been turned back at the border or arrested in the Alpes-Maritimes since January, an increase of 22 per cent compared with the same period last year. According to the EU’s border agency Frontex, the number detected crossing the Mediterranean to Italy has more than doubled this year to almost 90,000.
Many of them try to slip across the border into France then attempt to cross the Channel. About 16,000 have crossed to the UK so far this year.
