Britain plans stricter laws for asylum seekers

The British government has set out plans for sweeping changes to its asylum system to address public concerns about uncontrolled immigration. Under the proposals, refugees granted asylum will have to wait twenty years before they can apply for permanent settlement instead of five years. Also in the programme: a planned auction in Germany of artefacts from prisoners of Nazi concentration camps has been cancelled; people in Ecuador have been voting in a referendum on on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases to help combat organised crime; and we speak to writer Jana Bakunina on her new book The Good Russian: In Search of a Nation's Soul.(File photo: A group of migrants on an inflatable dinghy leave the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the English Channel on July 17, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)