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A teenager was among the four people who died in the English Channel on Wednesday and at least a dozen unaccompanied asylum seeker children were also onboard the small boat that capsized.

Kent County Council leader Roger Gough told Sky News one of the four people who died as they tried to cross the Channel this week was a teenager.

He also said the council has taken into care 12 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who were among those rescued from the boat after it capsized in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

They are among 39 people who were rescued from the chilly waters as temperatures plunged this week.

The boat was carrying up to 50 people when it ran into difficulty.

The Royal Navy, French navy, Coastguard and RNLI lifeboats were all involved in a major rescue operation off the Kent coast after authorities were alerted at 3.05am on Wednesday to a “small boat in distress”.

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Moment migrants rescued from sinking boat

A government spokesperson said on Thursday that the search continues with “aerial assets to ensure that everyone is accounted for”.

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Two casualties were taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, bosses there said. One was later discharged but the other had died by the time they arrived, it is understood.

On Wednesday, North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale told MPs some of the survivors were still in hospital “fighting for their lives”, including women and children.

Channel Rescue
Re: large search and rescue operation launched in the Channel off the coast of Dungeness, in Kent following an incident involving a small boat likely to have been carrying migrants

Fisherman woken up by migrants ‘screaming for help’

A British fisherman whose crew saved 31 people told Sky News he was woken in the early hours of the morning when migrants surrounded his boat “screaming for help” – and a French charity said they received a mayday call.

The boat’s skipper Raymond said he then counted 45 people holding onto the collapsed dinghy and surrounding his fishing boat.

He said those he rescued came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Senegal and India, and told him they had each paid £5,000 to a smuggler in France for passage into the UK.

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Why do migrants cross the Channel?

Charity received mayday call

A French charity which helps migrants in Calais said it received a 22-second WhatsApp voice note at 2.53am from a man on a sinking migrant boat begging for help as babies screamed in the background.

The man said people were in the seawater which had entered the vessel and begged the charity to “help us, help us”, according to Nikolai Posner, a spokesman for the Utopia 56 charity.

Dover and Deal MP Natalie Elphicke has urged Rishi Sunak to “meet urgently” with French President Emmanuel Macron to set up joint patrols in the Channel and on the beaches to prevent boats entering the water and to save lives.

The tragedy came a day after Mr Sunak unveiled a raft of new measures in a bid to curb Channel crossings as he told MPs: “We have to stop the boats.”

More than 44,000 people have made the dangerous crossing this year, government figures show.

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.

The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.

A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.

The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.

Pic: LNP
Image:
Pic: LNP

They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.

A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.

Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.

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There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.

More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.

Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.

Read more:
Sky’s Beth Rigby running marathon in honour of ‘dearest friend’
Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform

Pic: LNP
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Pic: LNP

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.

“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”

The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.

The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.

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Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week’s council elections

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Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week's council elections

Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out forming coalitions at a local level with Reform after the council elections next week.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Conservative leader did however categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.

“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she said.

However, she did not deny that deals could be struck with Reform at a local level, arguing that some councils might be under no overall control and in that case, “you have to do what is right for your local area”.

“You look at the moment, we are in coalition with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she said. “We’ve been in coalition with Labour before at local government level.

“They [councillors] have to look at who the people are that they’re going into coalition with and see how they can deliver for local people.”

She added: “What I don’t want to hear is talks of stitch-ups or people planning things before the results are out. They have to do what is right for their communities.”

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A total of 23 councils are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Thursday 1 May – mostly in places that were once deemed Tory shires, until last year’s general election.

It includes 14 county councils, all but two of which have been Conservative-controlled, as well as eight unitary authorities, all but one of which are Tory.

Ms Badenoch has set expectations low for the Tories, suggesting they could lose all the councils they are contesting.

The last time this set of councils were up for election was in 2021, when the Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson who was riding high from the COVID vaccine bounce.

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Counter-terrorism police investigating after two women injured in Leeds

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Counter-terrorism police investigating after two women injured in Leeds

Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.

Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.

Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.

The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

Officers guard one of the crime scenes in Leeds
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Officers guard one of the crime scenes

Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
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Officers inside the cordon in Leeds

Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.

“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.

“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”

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