[Music]
at 10:00. This is Sky News at 10. Our
top story, ministers brace for a raft of
legal challenges as the high court rules
that asylum seekers must be removed from
a hotel in Essex.
The hotel in Eping has been the scene of
protest for weeks. Nigel Faraj says the
ruling is a victory for concerned
residents.
Also tonight, no US boots on the ground.
Donald Trump sets out a red line on
security guarantees for Ukraine as the
White House rejects claims that he's
been swayed by Vladimir Putin.
Plus, a warning from history. Sky News
speaks to a former Ukrainian diplomat
who was part of the security talks which
saw Kee give up its nuclear arsenal in
199.
>> Mr. Trump uh if re he real believe Mr.
Putin's uh I think it will be very big
mistake Mr.
An Israeli official demands the release
of all hostages in Gaza, casting doubt
on the ceasefire proposal already agreed
to by Hamas.
Secret standoff. America's spy chief
claims the UK has dropped its demands to
access Apple News encrypted data.
A moving ceremony. One of Sweden's most
famous churches begins its three-mile
journey to a new site.
And we'll take a first look at
tomorrow's front pages. That's coming up
in our press preview from 10:30.
Hello there. Good evening. Asylum
seekers are set to be removed from a
hotel in Essex after the local council
won the backing of the high court. There
have been weeks of protests at the Bell
Hotel in Eping after an illegal
immigrant being housed there was charged
with trying to kiss a teenage girl. Now
the rest of the residents will have to
leave in three and a half weeks time
despite a lastditch attempt by the home
secretary to get the case dismissed.
Well, Nigel Farish called it a victory
for concerned parents and residents and
ministers will now be braced for more
legal challenges from councils across
the country. Our correspondent and
Ashton Hurag has this report.
>> The repurposing of this hotel as a
so-called hostel has now been halted by
a high court judge. And in Epic, they're
elated.
believing they have now set an example
as a temporary injunction means asylum
seekers will no longer be housed at the
Bell Hotel.
>> We put a lot of work into this by
protesting every week and getting out
there for the safety of our children and
our community.
>> This is what the people of Epin have
done. They've made a change. They've
come out. They've stuck together. The
community has showed how passionate we
are. And that is what's getting this
shut down.
>> The government is going to wake up
tomorrow. for the home. Who's going to
wake up tomorrow and realize what a
seismic ruling that was today? The job
is done.
>> I go to every hotel around the country.
I go around the whole country and do the
same. I will support every single hotel
in every single town city in in England.
>> Last month, the bell became a catalyst
for protests after two of their
residents were charged with sexual
offenses, one involving a 14year-old
girl. While some demonstrations
descended into violent disorder, the
voices behind the scenes grew louder,
forcing the council to confront the
hotel owners in a case that reached the
high court. Even an 11th hour
intervention from the home office wasn't
enough to stop the temporary win. But
the council leader sees this as a battle
he shouldn't have had to fight. What is
your message to the protesters in Eping
who may well see this as as you say a
victory or a small step in the right
direction? What's your message to them
and did you take into account their
strength of feeling when you went about
this case?
>> I took I took into account the strength
of feeling of residents in Eping Forest.
Um my local local people have been
contacting me directly and discussing
this issue over the recent weeks. This
is not a victory today. This is a a a
ruling for common sense
>> rather than common sense for those who
work with asylum seekers. It's more of a
damaging decision.
>> We deal with people like this day in day
out and we know them to be victims of
war, torture, persecution, conflict,
modern day trafficking, modern day
slavery, you name it. And to put them in
a position like this where they're under
threat is absolutely abysmal. It makes
you think, where's the compassion?
Where's the kindness? Where's the
decency? And the problem with this is if
violent disorder works here, where does
it stop?
>> But others have already been inspired.
Sky News has learned of more local
authorities planning similar action.
Many will be wondering if we'll start to
see a ripple effect of other councils
across the country seeking to block
hotels in their area. But this victory
hinged on a point of planning law about
how this site was being used rather than
being driven by unrest. The home office
and the hotel owners have 24 days to
file an appeal after their bruising
loss. In a statement, the border
security minister said, "This government
inherited a broken asylum system. At the
peak, there were over 400 hotels open.
We will continue working with local
authorities and communities to address
legitimate concerns. Our work continues
to close all asylum hotels by the end of
this parliament. We will carefully
consider this judgment as this matter
remains subject to ongoing legal
proceedings. It would be inappropriate
to comment further at this stage. There
are now some 200 hotels housing
migrants. Communities across the UK are
considering their next move. Asharinag
Sky News.
>> Well, our political correspondent Rob
Powell is with me now. Yes, that shift
from being a hotel to a hostel is the
critical point at law here, but it means
a real headache for the government.
>> Yeah, an interesting moment was how one
home office source described it to me
earlier. I think that's something of an
understatement because it is, as Asha
was explaining there, the risk of this
ripple effect. And you don't have to
take our words for it. Take the words of
the home office lawyer when they tried
to intervene in this case today. They
laid it out in court. They said there
was a significant risk, a risk that if
this injunction was granted, if it did
go in the council's favor, it could lead
to action in other parts of the country
which could aggravate the pressures
within the asylum system. 32,000 people
in hotels um at the moment. Uh, and I
think the real difficulty the government
could get into is if other councils do
pursue this legal route and we start to
see hotels emptying because councils are
getting court orders against locally
unpopular hotels. Remember, the reason
why people are in these hotels in the
first place is because there are no
other alternative accommodation options
really out there. That's why they're
having to put them in there. I think the
caveat to all that though as Ashner was
getting into as well is that this isn't
um a sort of legal point that hinges on
national issues or issues around
disorder. It's around planning law. So
there are lots of uh local factors that
factor into it as well. And if you look
at previous cases where councils have
tried to get injunctions against asylum
hotels such as one in Ipsswitch a few
years ago, they actually eventually
anyway went out of the favor of the
council because the judge ruled that it
would interfere in the legal
responsibility of the of the home office
to house asylum seekers. And that is
exactly the reasoning that the home
office is putting forward at the moment.
There's obviously a lot of politics
flowing around as well. This evening,
one government source accusing Eping
Council um of a politically motivated um
legal claim because they are a Tory
council and they didn't make this claim
when the hotel was open under the
previous Tory administration. On balance
though, this is clearly politically more
damaging for the government than it is
for anyone else. But it could have very
real practical consequences that flow
from it as well.
>> Yes, watch this space. Rob, thank you
very much indeed.
Now, Donald Trump says American troops
will not form part of security
guarantees for Ukraine. The US president
was speaking after hosting Vladimir
Zalinsky and European leaders of course
at the White House last night. And it's
been another day of talks, this time
behind closed doors as European leaders
discussed their next move. Well, let's
go live to the White House and our US
correspondent Mark Stone. No US boots on
the ground, potentially planes in the
air. Uh what have we learned today then,
Mark?
>> Yeah, planes in the air. That that's
interesting. I I don't think there's any
surprise uh that there would not be any
American boots on the ground. I mean,
remember the Donald Trump has shifted
massively since February. Uh the talk
yesterday and it felt so different
yesterday. So busy here. The circus
really was in town. It's much much
quieter today as all those leaders have
gone back to their their own capitals to
consult. But the the central talk and
the big win, the big takeaway was that
yes, the Americans would be willing to
provide security guarantees, something
Donald Trump was not willing to do back
in February. Why the shift? Well, I
think because uh honestly European
leaders have worked out over these few
months uh how to appeal to Donald Trump,
how to get him on side and collectively
yesterday uh with Yep. some some
flattery. Yes. Uh but but but unity as
well. They managed to do that. And they
managed to persuade Donald Trump that
the only way he's going to get what he
wants, which is peace as he sees it and
a and and a quick win that would look
good for him. um whether it be to stop
the killing or or or to provide uh um
you know cement his leg shore uh the
only way to do that is some sort of a
security guarantee to Ukraine uh long
term now it doesn't involve American
boots on the ground but speaking to Fox
News uh today in a phone interview a
lengthy phone interview he gave some
detail on what he thinks the Europeans
will do and what he thinks America can
do
>> they're willing to put people on the
ground we're willing to help them with
things especially uh probably if you
could talk about by air because there's
nobody has the kind of stuff we have
really they don't have but I don't think
it's going to be a problem I think if a
deal is made you know famous last words
right but I think if a deal is made I
think Russia's had it they've all had it
and for a very extended period of time I
don't think there'll be a problem but
there'll be some form of security it
can't be NATO because that was a that's
just not something that would ever ever
happen they couldn't do that.
>> Now, of course, you know, as he alluded
to there, this meeting, I mean,
extraordinary as it may seem, uh, given
that phone call yesterday with Putin, he
now seems to be suggesting, uh, that he
can broker a bilateral meeting between
Putin and Zilinski in the next two
weeks. Uh, he says it is not confirmed
yet. We don't know when it will happen.
We don't know the location of that
meeting. There is some talk of the
Vatican. We we've heard from Vatican
officials uh today uh that the pope uh
is heavily involved and has his teams
involved in trying to bring about peace
uh in Ukraine. What an extraordinary
moment that would be if it ended up
happening there. It's one of many many
locations uh that could be could be
chosen and then after that if it happens
and honestly that's a big if uh still
there would be a trilateral meeting
where Donald Trump would be involved as
well. Caroline Levit is his press
secretary. She gave a a press a news
briefing uh today. She was pushed on on
this meeting and on the idea of American
boots on the ground.
>> The president um has spoken to both
leaders about this and both leaders have
expressed a willingness to sit down with
each other. Um and so our national
security team will help both countries
do that. Ultimately, the president has
always said that there are areas of
disagreement in this war that will have
to be discussed and decided upon by
these two countries. And so he wants
these two countries to engage in direct
diplomacy. He's said that from the very
beginning, which is why he's agreeable
to the idea of having President
Zullinsky and President Putin get
together and I understand accommodations
for that meeting are underway
>> and she was very clear, no US boots on
the ground. In terms of where we go now,
well, clearly there needs to be some uh
detail on what these security guarantees
uh look like. And we have got uh some
clarity on that. We know that the um
defense chiefs from uh many NATO
countries including Britain uh the
British defense chief will be here. He
is in fact arrived this afternoon in
Washington for meetings uh tomorrow. So,
so much still to do. Uh the dust still
needs to settle on yesterday. Uh an
extraordinary day that it was
>> indeed. So Mark live there for us at the
White House. Thank you. And you can get
the latest twists and turns from
Washington with Mark and the rest of the
US team on the Trump 100 podcast. You
can listen to that wherever you get your
podcast from.
So after all of the talk then in Alaska
and Washington, now the hard part,
finding a solution on the ground that
offers Ukraine the protection it needs
while also being acceptable to Vladimir
Putin. Here's our military analyst, Sha
Bell. So what are the challenges around
providing security guarantees? One issue
is that the current front line is about
a thousand miles and it's even more if
you look up to the northern border with
Barus. It's significantly more. To give
an idea of how many troops you'd need if
we put the troops literally 60 ft apart
um which isn't really a credible
defense. You need a 100,000 troops to
provide that protection on the front
line. Now, if you're going to rotate
them every four months, one bunch
deployed, one bunch recovery, one bunch
training, that means you actually need
300,000 troops. Now, who on earth is
going to provide those troops? Well, the
British army might be able to stretch
itself to provide 10% of that number.
Likewise, it's possible the French could
pony up and actually provide another
10%. But Italy is not going to provide
any. Poland uh is going to be worried
about its own national defense not
providing them. And America, as
President Trump said earlier today,
they're not going to provide any troops.
So the vast majority of this would never
fill up. Even if it did, would NATO want
to commit all its forces into Ukraine
and therefore leave itself vulnerable
everywhere else. But this isn't the only
way that you can provide security
guarantees. Let's look at a couple of
others that have been talked about. One
of them is that you can provide no-fly
zones in addition to the boots on the
ground. No fly zones is an option as
well as well as potentially maritime uh
options as well. Now, this is where it
plays to NATO's strengths because the
Russian air force is significantly less
capable than NATO's. It will provide a
really credible deterrent. Another
option is intelligence. American
intelligence is probably
state-of-the-art. It's a gamecher for
Ukraine. The other advantage is that
Russia wouldn't know how much support it
was actually getting and therefore it's
not provocative either. The final one
that's been mentioned is logistic
support, but this is more of an enabler
of transporting stuff in and out of
country. Whatever happens, this is going
to be a key focus for European leaders.
And though it's great that we're seeing
the sort of first start of momentum in
this slight ray of hope for the future,
I have to say at the moment I am have
very low expectations of reaching a
peace settlement anytime soon.
>> Well, those guarantees are going to be
vital in bringing about an end to this
war with Ukrainians observing the
lessons of history as reasons to be wary
of any post-war settlement. Sky News has
spoken to one of Ukraine's top
negotiators on the Budapest memorandum
back in 1994. That agreement saw Ukraine
give up its nuclear weapons in return
for asurances on its security. Asurances
which were brushed aside 20 years later
from Kev. Our international affairs
editor Dominic Worn reports.
>> If yesterday's extraordinary events in
the White House are perplexing the rest
of us, try being Ukrainian. told they
must consider giving up land in exchange
for vague security guarantees. Like MP
Leia Vasilenko, they need so many
questions answered.
>> Who is going to be there backing Ukraine
in case Russia decides to revisit their
imperialistic uh uh plans and strategies
and in case they want to restart this
war of aggression.
>> For many here, there is an uneasy sense
of deja vu. In 1994, in the Budapest
Memoranda, Ukraine agreed to give up not
land but its nuclear arsenal in return
for security as assurances from Russia
and other powers.
>> Putin tore them up with his invasion of
Crimea in 2014
and once again with his full-scale
attack three and a half years ago.
>> Mr. Yelen,
Mr. Clinton,
Mr. Kushma and John Major. Veteran
diplomat Yuri Castenko helped lead those
negotiations in the '90s. Trusting
Russia now, he says, is laughable.
>> President Trump says that he believes
President Putin when he says he wants to
stop the killing.
>> It's It's not true. It's not true.
Russia never never It's my practice more
than 30 years. Russia never
stop their aggression plans to occupy
all Ukraine and I think that Mr. Trump
if re he real believe Mr. Putin's uh I
think it will be very big mistake Mr.
very big mistake.
>> This week's whirlwind diplomacy must be
set against the backdrop of Ukraine's
sacrifices over 11 years of war. They
have seen their hopes dashed many times
before.
Unlike in other European capitals, no
one here is talking up the chances of
success that lie ahead. Most people
reserving judgment instead. The one grim
certainty they can be sure of, of
course, is that the war goes on with
many more lives at risk. Ukrainians are
desperate for signs of progress but too
wary to hope for too much.
>> We still feel not sure, not confident
and we do not really believe that for
any good ending for us. We are all a bit
tired of the missile attack and the
drones
and we all aware that most probably it
will take some time again for us.
>> I felt the disappointment. I uh remember
that uh in any of the previous meetings
nothing changed after them. So uh I
don't expect much. While the diplomacy
moves on in an unclear direction, events
here are depressingly predictable.
Hundreds of drone attacks every night
and Russian advances on the front. If
Putin really wants this war to end, he's
showing no sign of it. Dominic Wagghorn,
Sky News in Kev.
Well, let's move to the Middle East now,
and an Israeli official says all
hostages still held in Gaza must be
freed for the war to end. It casts doubt
on the proposal for a 60-day ceasefire
already agreed to by Hamas that would
see 10 living hostages freed. Well,
let's bring in our Middle East
correspondent, Adam Parsons, in
Jerusalem now. So, how likely then is
this to lead to an actual ceasefire,
Adam?
Well, I think it's absolutely in the
balance uh at the moment, but the smoke
signals and they're always difficult to
read uh in this conflict probably
suggest that for the moment the Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is
going to continue playing hard ball uh
and may be verging uh on rejecting this
ceasefire. Why? Well, if you look not
just what people say, but at what they
do tonight, uh, a meeting of Zamir, the
chief of staff of the IDF and Isra, the
Israeli defense minister to talk about
the military plan to encircle and take
Gaza City, which is likely to involve
around 80,000
troops being mobilized. It is an
enormous military operation that is in
the offing and also a symbol of intent.
Now this plan uh is going to be put to
Mr. Netanyahu for ratification on
Thursday. And and there are clo those
close to him who say it is this military
pressure, this relentless sense of
pursuing Hamas in Gaza that is driving
these concessions that have been made in
this plan drummed up by the negotiators
in Cairo. Now, just to go into those
details, what that would mean is half of
the hostages being returned, rather more
actually, 10 of the 20 people who are
believed to be alive, 18 of the 30 who
are believed to be dead, those being
returned. It would also mean a 60-day
ceasefire, humanitarian aid uh coming
into Gaza. But crucially, it would also
see the establishment of a committee uh
to rebuild Gaza. And that committee
would be uh under the ultimate control
of the Palestinian Authority. The
Israeli government doesn't want Hamas.
It doesn't want the Palestinian
Authority anywhere to do this. And he
wants all of its hostages back now. And
if it doesn't get that, it may be that
Mr. Netanyahu chooses the other path,
the one that involves tens of thousands
of soldiers marching into Gala City.
>> Adam Parson's live for us there in
Jerusalem. Thank you.
Now, it's a secret standoff that could
be at an end. The UK government's
privacy row with Apple ministers had
asked Apple to provide a backdoor to
users encrypted data, something that was
unacceptable to the tech giant and the
government in Washington. Sky Science
and Technology reporter Mickey Carroll
explains.
For months, a battle between government
and big tech has been raging behind the
scenes. all over a top secret order the
home secretary may or may not have
issued to Apple. At the beginning of the
year, reports were circulating that the
government had issued the iPhone maker
with a technical capability notice, a
top secret order that would force Apple
to build a backdoor into its users
encrypted data.
>> This order would theoretically have made
it possible for the UK government to
access basically anyone's encrypted data
stored in this Apple service. So, it was
a huge sweeping power and this is the
first time we've known it to be used.
>> Although Apple legally couldn't confirm
or deny the existence of such an order,
it then pulled its advanced data
protection feature for UK users. That
meant they were no longer offered its
highest level of end-to-end encryption.
At this point, the US government got
involved with intelligence chief Tulsi
Gabbard asking the FBI, CIA, and other
US intelligence bodies to look into what
was going on. Now, the government seems
to have backed down. Tulsi Gabbard
posted on X in the early hours of
Tuesday morning to say the UK was
dropping its request for a backdoor to
Apple's data.
One of the big moments to look out for
now is whether Apple turns back on its
advanced data protection feature for UK
users. If it does, that might suggest
that the company is once again confident
that it can protect the data of its UK
users and that if the government had
requested a backdoor be built into its
encrypted data, that that request had
been withdrawn.
Apple hasn't responded to our requests
for comment and the government also told
us it can't comment on operational
matters. Although a spokesperson did
tell us, "We have long had joint
security and intelligence arrangements
with the US to tackle the most serious
threats such as terrorism and child
sexual abuse, including the role played
by fast-moving technology enabling those
threats. Those arrangements have long
contained safeguards to protect privacy
and sovereignty.
For now, civil liberty groups are
cautiously celebrating. The government
could have withdrawn its order against
Apple, but we may never know how many
more have been issued.
>> Mickey Carroll, Sky News.
>> A man whose daughter took her own life
after seeing harmful content online has
told Sky News that the UK's online
safety laws are not fit for purpose.
14-year-old Molly Russell died in 2017
and her dad Ian says the new measures to
protect teenagers don't go far enough.
Our political correspondent tomorrow
Cohen reports and a warning this story
does contain references to suicide and
self harm. It's been 8 years since the
death of Molly Russell whose exposure to
harmful content online put the spotlight
on social media companies. Now, research
by the charity her father set up in her
name suggests what teenagers are
watching is worse than ever. The Molly
Rose Foundation commissioned a review of
hundreds of Tik Tok and Instagram videos
personally recommended to the online
account created of a 15year-old girl.
Ian Russell says despite what was meant
to be a watershed moment, teenagers who
have searched for harmful material end
up being bombarded on a huge scale. It
is horrifying the harmful situation
uh that led uh in a more than minimal
way to the death of my daughter uh in
2017 nearly eight years ago um has got
worse rather than better. If you've
strayed into the rabbit hole of harmful
suicide self-injury content, the
platforms in particular Tik Tok and
Instagram will recommend to you
algorithmically. recommend more and more
of that content.
>> Despite promises by tech companies and
the government, it's worse than two
years ago.
>> The world, our world is taking too long
to react. It took nearly 5 years to get
the online safety act through
parliament. This isn't the right pace of
change to keep up with the lightning
fast pace of tech. Action has to come
from the government. It has to come from
Karma himself. Now, some people will
feel that maybe there isn't a technical
solution to this, that the internet is
so vast, maybe there isn't a way for the
social media platforms to to stop it.
>> It's pretty clear the social media
platforms don't want to stop this, but
it's possible to do something about it.
It's possible to save young lives and
the tech platforms are choosing not to.
>> Almost all the posts recommended for the
teenage user were judged to be harmful.
55% of those on Tik Tok and 44% on
Instagram was said to contain references
to suicide and self harm. Some had been
liked over a million times. The data was
gathered earlier this year before tech
companies had to comply with new online
safety codes for children from July. A
Tik Tok spokesperson told us these
findings don't reflect the real
experience of people on their platform
and their teen accounts have more than
50 safety features. Meta, which owns
Instagram, said they disagree with the
assertions of this report and the
methodology behind it. They said their
teen accounts offer inbuilt protections
limiting who can contact them, what they
see, and the time they spend on
Instagram. Both Tik Tok and Meta told us
they proactively remove 99% of violent
and selfharm content before it's
reported. The government told us new
measures would protect users from the
most harmful content which they said had
devastated young lives. For campaigners,
taming the algorithms can't come too
soon. Tomorrow, Cohen Sky News.
And if you've been affected by that
report, then you can contact the
Samaritans at any time on 116123
or email joe samaritans.org.
Now, the family of a British couple
detained in Iran are calling on the
government to do more to bring them
home.
Craig and Lindseay Foreman were arrested
in January while traveling through the
country on a motorcycle journey to
Australia. Their family says the couple
have had no consular visits since May
and last week they were informed that
Craig has been moved to the notorious
Evan Prison.
We spoken to them three weeks ago, so
you know, we haven't had an update since
then, but they're in two of the harshest
prisons in Iran. Um, separated from each
other. We did hear that my mum has
finally received some funds, which means
she can eat more than just rice, but so
far Craig hasn't received any money yet.
And um, you know, he's surviving in
45°ree heat with without food or
suitable clothing. And and that's the
reality that they're facing.
Fire crews are tackling a blaze at a
grade one listed building in Liverpool.
They were called to Walton Hall just
after 8:00 this evening with five fire
engines attending. People are being
asked to avoid the area and keep windows
and doors closed.
The chancellor is reportedly considering
plans to replace stamp duty with a new
tax on homes worth more than £500,000.
Homeowners would be taxed on the sale of
such properties with the buyer then
paying an annual levy. Stamp duty is
currently paid by those buying homes
worth more than £125,000
or £300,000 if you are a firsttime
buyer.
Now, a 113year-old church in Sweden is
being moved due to the expansion of the
world's largest underground iron ore
mine. The Karuna Church is being
relocated in its entirety three miles
away due to the risk of subsidance. The
structure has been hoisted onto giant
rolling platforms traveling at around
500 m an hour. The journey expected to
take 2 days.
Well, to another job that's not for the
faint-hearted. London Zoo carrying out
its annual weigh-in uh recording the
weight and size even of every single
animal in its care. From capy baras to
penguins and even giant tortoises, the
measurements help zookeepers monitor
health, growth, and even potential
pregnancies. There are more than 10,000
animals across 4,000 species at the zoo,
so it takes a while to get around them
all. Molly the giraffe was expected to
be heaviest, usually weighing 700 kilos.
That is 110 stone. Good luck with that.
And the spiders to be fair or
cockroaches perhaps too.
Well, that was Sky News at 10. Coming
up, we will take a first look at
tomorrow's newspapers in the press
preview tonight, joined by the
journalist and broadcaster, Sonia Soda,
and the deputy editor of Conservative
Home, Henry Hill. Welcome to both of
you. Well, among the stories we'll be
discussing this on the front page of the
Telegraph about tonight's top story here
on Sky News. Its headline, migrant
hotels facing closure. That and plenty
more when we come back.