Removal site in Dunkirk will hold people of 10 nationalities trying to reach UK in small boats under new £660m deal with French

• UK politics live – latest updates

The UK will pay for 200 French officers to detain and deport people seeking asylum from some of the world’s most oppressive and war-ravaged regimes under a new UK-France deal to try to reduce Channel crossings.

In what is being billed as the first time the French government has agreed to target those heading to the UK in small boats, a removal site in Dunkirk will be used to hold people from 10 countries: Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam and Yemen. The Home Office said they were the top 10 nationalities who crossed the Channel by small boat last year.

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The merger will still require governmental approval and could be delayed by a lawsuit seeking to block it

Shareholders of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) voted “overwhelmingly” to approve the company’s $110bn merger with Paramount Skydance, the parent company of CBS News, on Thursday.

But shareholders voted against generous proposed compensation packages for WBD executives, including a $550m payout to the outgoing chief executive, David Zaslav.

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Woman raped by two men while a third filmed ordeal after she became separated from friends on night out

Three men have been found guilty of repeatedly raping a woman on Brighton beach in a “cynical, predatory and callous” attack after she became separated from her friends on a night out.

A trial at Hove crown court heard the woman was targeted by the men as she was “staggering in the street” and was “incapacitated” in the early hours of 4 October.

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Tehran has shown that its grip over the strait of Hormuz is its most potent deterrent – arguably more consequential than its now defunct nuclear programme

• Fawaz Gerges is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics

Donald Trump’s decision to go to war against Iran will be remembered as a grave strategic miscalculation – one that has reshaped the region in unintended and destabilising ways. With the ceasefire now extended indefinitely, we can see more clearly how the war has undermined the US’s standing in the world and failed to achieve its core objectives: it has neither brought about regime change in Tehran, nor forced Iran to submit to American demands. Far from it.

By inflicting economic pain far beyond the region and slowing the global economy, Iran has demonstrated that its grip over the strait of Hormuz constitutes its most potent deterrent – arguably more consequential than its now defunct nuclear programme. Control of the strait will be Tehran’s most powerful source of leverage in the years ahead.

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So. Farewell then, Liam Rosenior. After 106 days and a run of five consecutive league defeats without scoring a goal, Chelsea suits reactivated the revolving door marked Do One at Stamford Bridge and bundled him into oblivion. Rosenior lasted for 3.6% of his contract, which runs until 2032, by which time Chelsea’s coaching staff genuinely might be an army of analytical AI models in tracksuits. Rosenior’s reign began, if not with huge promise then at least a certain intrigue. Recruited from within the BlueCo matrix, the 41-year-old was flown to London for talks. An unassuming figure in spectacles and scarf, Rosenior resembled the “tech guy” in a boilerplate heist movie. Then he started talking. “The potential for this club, and for this group is limitless. And I won’t limit it,” Rosenior mused after watching a 2-1 defeat at Fulham, before adding he hoped his appointment would go down as “the best decision this club’s ever made”. Oof, this one actually aged faster than milk.

I started supporting Chelsea in 1970 because everyone else was supporting Leeds United and Leeds was a long way away. I enjoyed the Osgood, Hutchinson and Hudson years, endured the 1980s, got hopeful in the 1990s and smugly bathed in Russian money thereafter. In the meantime, I moved to Leeds, raised two Leeds fans and felt sorry as they grew more reliant to the minor horrors football support can inflict. Today, I nearly hope Leeds destroy Chelsea on Sunday. I am considering a transfer request, which is absurd so late in this narrative arc. Thanks Todd, you are the second worst American on the planet” – Jon Fogden.

So, Marc Cucurella’s barber leaked Chelsea’s lineup for their game against Brighton in a deleted social media disgrace post? Marc Cucurella has a barber?” – Leslie Hand.

I note with interest that in your piece on Leicester’s plummet to the third tier (yesterday’s Football Daily), you suggest they might have a trip to play the not-so-mighty Grecians next season. As any Exeter City supporter will tell you, not to mention having a quick glance at the table, that particular fixture is highly unlikely, given that we are two points adrift in the relegation zone. It seems Football Daily has more faith in us escaping the drop than we do. I’ll have a tin of what you’re drinking” – Jim Hughes (and others).

I have good and bad news for Leicester fans: the good news is you’re only two years from returning to the Promised Land. The bad is you’re only two years from non-league” – JJ Zucal.

In 2023-24, Luton finished 18th in the Premier League and were relegated from the Championship the next season. In 2024-25, Leicester finished 18th in the Premier League and were relegated from the Championship the next season. In 2025-26, remind me who’s 18th in the Premier League?” – Jim Hearson.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Een jonge man die een Capels echtpaar (71 en 72 jaar) meer dan tienduizend euro afhandig maakte, wordt nu herkenbaar getoond door de politie. Hij werd vorige week nog geblurd in Bureau Rijnmond, maar heeft zich in de tussentijd niet gemeld. De oplichter deed zich voor als bankmedewerker en is mogelijk minderjarig.

De vijf tieners die zijn opgepakt na een explosie bij een synagoge aan het A.B.N. Davidsplein in Rotterdam-Blijdorp blijven langer vastzitten. Dat is donderdag besloten, toen zij voor de Rotterdamse raadkamer verschenen.

Onze angst voor het donker voelt vaak kinderachtig, maar volgens evolutionaire biologen is het juist een van de meest hardnekkige én rationele reflexen die we hebben.

In de prehistorie was de nacht simpelweg levensgevaarlijker dan de dag. Paleontologen Robert Hart en Russell Sussman betoogden al in hun boek “Man the Hunted” dat vroege mensachtigen vooral prooi waren, niet jagers. ’s Nachts hadden roofdieren als leeuwen en luipaarden een enorm visueel voordeel: waar wij vrijwel blind zijn, kunnen zij bij weinig licht nog altijd prooi waarnemen en volgen. Wie na zonsondergang nerveus dicht bij het vuur bleef, had dus grotere overlevingskansen dan de zorgeloze avonturier die het donker in liep.

Die selectie heeft sporen in ons brein achtergelaten. De amygdala, het kleine amandelvormige gebied diep in de hersenen, verwerkt dreigingssignalen via een snel kanaal dat het rationele denken overslaat. Bij duisternis, als informatie schaars en vaag is, kiest dat systeem automatisch voor het “better safe than sorry”-scenario: liever een valse alarmreactie dan één keer een écht gevaar missen. Psycholoog Martin Seligman noemde dit in 1971 “prepared learning”: mensen nemen bepaalde angsten – zoals voor donker, slangen of hoogtes – razendsnel aan en ze zijn opvallend resistent tegen uitdoving door redeneren.

Zelfs onze ogen werken mee aan deze ingebouwde nachtwaak. In 2002 beschreven onderzoekers in Science speciale ganglioncellen met het pigment melanopsine, die niet ‘zien’ maar licht meten en rechtstreeks naar onze biologische klok en stresssystemen seinen. Zodra het licht wegvalt, gaat een hormonale alarmketen lopen nog vóórdat we bewust denken: “Het is donker.”

Opvallend is dat kinderen overal ter wereld tussen hun vierde en zesde jaar een piek in angst voor het donker laten zien, ongeacht cultuur of mythes. Dat patroon lijkt eerder op een biologisch programma dan op aangeleerde angst. En misschien voelt die volgende keer in de parkeergarage om 23.00 uur net iets minder gênant als je bedenkt: het is niet je volwassen ratio die faalt, het is een oeroud waarschuwingssysteem dat precies doet waarvoor het is gebouwd.

Gedreven door hoge tabaksprijzen haalt inmiddels een op de acht rokers tabak over de landsgrens. De accijnzen nog verder verhogen zal niet veel extra mensen verleiden te stoppen, denkt het RIVM.

If you want to surf elsewhere in the galaxy, it doesn’t actually look that promising. “Surfing on Titan would likely be a surreal, slow-motion, and tenebrous experience.” Or there’s also a planet with a sulfuric acid ocean?