UK honors war dead in scaled-back Remembrance Sunday service
(Joe Giddens/PA via AP)LONDON โ In a scaled-back service, Queen Elizabeth II led tributes Sunday to those from the U.K. and the Commonwealth who perished in wartime, as most veterans paid their respects at home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The 94-year-old monarch looked on from a balcony at a government building above the Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London on the 100th year anniversary of the memorial's installation following the conclusion of World War I. Following a two-minute silence at 11 a.m., Prince Charles laid a wreath on the queen's behalf during the Remembrance Sunday commemoration. Though the service was very different, people up and down the land took time out to honor the war dead. โWe need to be conscious of those risks and thatโs why remembrance matters,โ he added.
UK flies air force plane over Channel amid migrant crossings
A Border Force vessel brings a group of people thought to be migrants into the port city of Dover, southern England, Sunday Aug. 9, 2020. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire( /PA via AP)LONDON A Royal Air Force surveillance plane was flying over the English Channel on Monday as the British government sought to curb the number of people crossing from France in small boats. An inflatable dinghy carrying about 20 people was met by a U.K. Border Force boat on Monday and escorted to the port of Dover. Some have turned to small boats organized by people smugglers because coronavirus lockdowns have reduced opportunities to stow away on ferries and trucks. The British and French immigration ministers are due to hold talks on Tuesday about the Channel crossings.
UK names 'Channel threat commander' as boat crossings surge
Many migrants have used small craft during the recent hot calm weather to make the dangerous journey from northern France, to cross the busy shipping lanes of The Channel to reach Britain. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)LONDON The British government has appointed a former Royal Marine commando to try to stop people crossing the English Channel from France in small boats. Migrants have long used northern France as a launching point to reach Britain, either in trucks through the Channel tunnel or on ferries. Some have turned to small boats organized by smugglers because coronavirus lockdowns have reduced opportunities to stow away on ferries and trucks. Human rights groups have criticized the British governments harsh rhetoric and accused officials of trying to blame France for the rise in the number of boat crossings.