[Music]
It's 10:00. This is Sky News at 10. Our
top story, more migrant misery for the
government. Asylum applications reach a
record high and figures show small boat
crossings and the use of asylum hotels
are both up under Labor.
Israel's prime minister set to grant
final approval for the operation to
seize Gaza City, even as he orders new
talks to free the hostages and end the
war.
Russia's foreign minister accuses
European leaders of trying to undermine
progress made by Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Students received their GCSE results
with a fall in pass rates in English and
maths as well as a persistent regional
and gender divide.
Smiling on death row, Sky News speaks to
an ISIS fighter captured by Somali
forces who says he has no regrets.
Plus, wildfire emergency. A major study
finds the number of people affected
worldwide is increasing by almost 8
million every year.
And we'll take a first look at
tomorrow's front pages in our press
preview from 10:30 right through to
midnight.
Good evening. The government says it is
restoring order to a broken asylum
system, but figures out today don't back
up those claims. Asylum applications hit
a record high in the year to June. And
more than 32,000 illegal immigrants are
currently being housed in hotels, up 8%
on last year before Labour took office.
The figures come just days after the
high court ruled that asylum seekers
should be removed from the Bell Hotel in
Eping and councils across the country,
including some controlled by Labor, are
considering their own legal action. Our
north of England correspondent Katarina
Vatsi reports.
Asylum seekers have been housed in this
hotel on the whirl for 5 years, but
protests only started three weeks ago,
driven by a proposal by the home office
to move out the families with children
who were here and house single men
instead.
>> We have got enough wrong ones of our
own. We don't need to be importing
anymore. If they were coming legally,
then that's fine. But coming on the
boats and then being put into areas
where there's schools, there's
nurseries, there's vulnerable children,
and we know nothing about them. I think
it's a risk to our local area. New
government data shows in this area
there's just over 700 asylum seekers and
numbers have in fact slightly dropped
over the last year. But for some local
residents, a feeling of an ease has
grown.
>> I wouldn't even have 100 English men in
that. You know, families, they integrate
into the population. go to the schools
along with every other child here, you
know, and I just think men on their own,
why have they left their women and
children there?
>> The Labourr run council said it was
asking the government to reconsider its
plan and would look at mirroring Eping
Council in a court challenge to get the
hotel shut. There seems to be this this
mindset of so-called good refugees and
bad refugees and a constant theme of
they're all uh young men of military
age. They're all um they're all rapists,
pedophiles, murderers. Uh you know this
sort of thing. We don't see that as a
charity. We are dealing with normal
people who are fleeing the most
appalling terrorists. War conflict,
persecution, modern-day slavery,
torture, you name it.
Only a very small number of asylum
seekers are housed in hotels in this
area. Only 5% in fact are in hotels. The
rest are in different types of
accommodation. But the protests here,
although rooted in very local concerns
when you speak to people, have become
part of this wider question about
illegal migration in general, but also
what the government is seen to be doing
about it.
>> There's no doesn't seem to be anything
to contail people. They say, "Oh, yeah,
we'll do that." And then nothing
happens.
>> It makes me feel really sad, actually.
Um, I'd like to see people be welcomed
in our country and looked after. And if
they're not meant to be here and they're
here for the wrong reasons, well, okay,
if we don't grant them asylum, get them
on the boats, put them back. That's all
I can say really. I get a bit angry.
>> You get a bit angry. What is it about it
that makes you angry? It just rs me to
think we've got our own problems and the
homeless and like I say in there given
everything.
>> The local council told us it wants to
work with the government to find
solutions that are fair and
compassionate. People outside this hotel
just want to see something done.
Katherine, Sky News, the whirl.
>> Well, the pressure on the government
over hotels comes as ministers also
grapple with record numbers of people
crossing the channel in small boats. Our
political correspondent Rob Powell has
been looking at the numbers.
>> There's been a lot of focus this week on
asylum hotels and boat crossings, and
we'll come to that, but it's probably
worth looking first at the overall
migration figures that include regular
legal migration, too. And you can see
it's coming down 30% fall in 2025 in
these figures compared to the 12 months
previous. down from the peak in 2023,
but still a fair bit higher than 2019
and the pre-rexit years. Now, what's
driving that? Well, it's predominantly a
drop in the number of work visas being
given out. That's this bar here, the
dark bar. You can see the big section in
2024. It's come down substantially in
this set. That in turn is being driven
by far fewer health and care visas being
given out. For care workers alone, the
drop is almost 90%. Now, a large part of
that is because of reforms put through
by the previous Conservative government,
but Labor has also been putting measures
through. Uh, and those should bring down
the overall broader numbers eventually.
If you look at the bottom though, the
bright blue bar down here, that is small
boat crossings. And you can see it makes
up a relatively tiny percentage of the
overall migration figure. They're
politically important though and this
data shows that they have gone up 38%
compared to the year before close to the
peak in June 2023.
Now that in turn has driven up asylum
applications. That's the green line
here. They are up to a record high. You
can see the black line is decisions,
initial decisions made by the home
office. They're doing pretty well. It's
higher than it has been, but because of
the backlog of applications and more
people appealing when they're rejected,
that all pushes up the number of people
that need to be housed. And that is what
has been causing issues with
accommodation. Until 2023, you can see
here, most people, the green block, were
in regular residential accommodation.
That's where asylum seekers were
generally going. But then you had small
boat crossings picking up, asylum claims
picking up, and hotels started to be
used, and they are far more expensive.
And we now know that 12 months after
Labour took office in June this year,
just over 32,000 people were in hotels.
Slightly down on where it was 3 months
before, substantially down on the peak
in 2023, but crucially 8% higher on one
year before when the Tories left office.
Rob Pal there. Israel's ambassador to
the UK was summoned to the foreign
office today over the country's plans
for a major new settlement in the West
Bank. It comes as Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu says he's set to give
final approval to the operation to seize
Gaza City while also negotiating the
release of the hostages and ending the
war on what he called terms acceptable
to Israel. Our Middle East correspondent
Adam Parsons reports.
[Applause]
On the streets of Gaza City, there are
glimpses of normality, a wet shave,
freshlymade falafel.
But all around the scars of destruction,
people here are beginning to gather
their possessions and move out. Aware
that Israel is about to encircle their
city. Many here are hungry.
>> Most are fearful and furious.
It's so tragic. Truly tragic. They're
negotiating while people lie out here in
the streets. This ceasefire should have
happened long ago. Every second, more
martyrs are killed, more homes are
destroyed, and more people are
displaced.
>> Israel's assault has started already. It
says it plans to flush Hamas out of this
city, and it's mobilized another 60,000
reser. This is a huge military
operation.
>> We will deepen the damage to Hamas in
Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental
and military terror for the terrorist
organization. We will deepen the damage
to the terror infrastructure above and
below the ground and sever the
population's dependence on Hamas.
>> Israel is also attacking other sites.
This is Der Albala. The government has
now said it will enter into negotiations
over the end of the war. But there are
no promises despite international
pressure.
>> It is vital to reach immediately a
ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional
release of all hostages
and to avoid the massive deaths and
destruction that a military operation
against Gaza city would inevitably
cause.
But Israel is unapologetic,
insistent that its show of military
might is what has forced Hamas into a
corner.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
adamant he will only sign a ceasefire
that sees the release of all the
hostages at once. And crucially, the
United States is still backing him.
>> Israel has to make this decision and has
to live with whatever decision they
make. But President Trump is fully
supportive of making sure that Hamas
knows that from the US perspective, they
have to disarm. They have to uh give up
and let all the hostages go. Back in
Gaza City, some flee, but most wait.
There are hundreds of thousands of
weary, hungry people here, aware their
city is once more in Israel's
crosshairs. Adam Parson, Sky News
Jerusalem.
>> The Church of England has apologized
after a former priest who ran a rave
inspired cult group was convicted of
sexual offenses against nine women.
Christopher Br was the leader of the
9:00 service in Sheffield in the 1980s
and '9s. Yesterday, he was found guilty
of 17 counts of indecent assault. Our
Chief North of England correspondent,
Greg Milm, reports.
Chris Brain was the leader of the 9:00
service, a rave inspired evangelical
movement. But allegations he was in fact
a cult leader who sexually abused young
women featured in this BBC documentary,
Breach of Faith, with this admission.
>> For a priest in a church setting, I'd
have to say I was involved in improper
sexual contact with a number of women.
>> 30 years on, the former priest has been
convicted. His trial heard he dominated
and abused his position to sexually
assault women, isolating them from
friends and family and brainwashing
them. Throughout the 80s and 90s, first
at St. Thomas Church in Sheffield, the
9:00 service was seen as a
groundbreaking success story, bringing
in a congregation of 18 to 30 year olds
and encouraged by the Church of England.
By the time it moved to this larger
venue in the city, it was attracting up
to 600 people to its Sunday evening
services. There was talk of expanding
them across the country. Some saw Brain
as a prophet, his trial was told. In
fact, the prosecution said he spoke
psycho bababel to vulnerable young women
who'd suffered trauma, telling them they
could be healed through sexual contact
with him. The court was shown a list of
rules given to a team of women known as
the Lyra nuns set up to care for Brain
and his family. Detailed instructions on
how to prepare meals, clean the house,
and care for the family dog. Some of the
women were also expected to put brain to
bed. The former priest was convicted of
17 counts of indecent assault against
nine women. He was cleared of 15 further
counts and the jury was unable to reach
a verdict on five more.
>> This is a case that could and should
have been prosecuted 30 years ago.
Justice has been a long time coming, but
it's very good that there's been a
measure of justice for at least some of
the victims in this case. Uh these
events happened on the Church of
England's watch. uh Brain was their man,
he was their priest, they promoted him.
Uh and I think they have major questions
to answer about how this was able to go
on for so long despite the red flags
that were being raised along the way.
>> In a statement, the Bishop of Sheffield,
Pete Wilcox, said, "What happened was an
appalling abuse of power and leadership
that should never have occurred. Where
concerns were raised in the past and
were not acted upon properly, that was a
failing of the church. For those
institutional failures, I offer an
unreserved apology. The 9:00 service
collapsed in 1994 after allegations were
made about Brain. He resigned Holy
Orders the following year. He said the
allegations had destroyed his life. In
court, though, he was described as a man
who would pick off women he viewed as
vulnerable. He was, one woman said, a
predator hiding in plain sight. Greg
Milm, Sky News.
Russia's foreign minister has accused
Western countries of trying to undermine
Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week.
Sergey Lavrov accused the coalition of
the willing, the European countries
pushing for security guarantees for
Ukraine, of trying to shift the focus
away from solving what he called the
root causes of the war. Our Moscow
correspondent Iva Bennett has more.
I think these latest comments from
Sergey Lavrov make it pretty clear that
Russia is in no hurry to reach a peace
deal because for a second day in a row
now uh Russia's foreign minister has
poured some pretty cold water on Donald
Trump's attempts to end the conflict. On
the issue of security guarantees for
Ukraine, he called the current
discussions hopeless because they don't
involve Moscow. You might remember a few
days ago Washington said that Russia had
agreed to NATO style security guarantees
for Ukraine in the future, but details
still haven't been forthcoming. So,
everyone's trying to work out what that
looks like. Europe has raised the
prospects of putting boots on the
ground, but that's clearly not gone down
well in Russia with Sergey Lavrov
accusing Europe today of trying to
undermine the progress he said made at
last week's summit in Alaska between
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. I think
drive trying to drive a wedge there
between Europe and uh the US hoping the
the US president doesn't get swayed by
Europe's concern. And he said that the
only guarantee Russia would be willing
to accept is what is one that would
involve them essentially giving them a
veto over how Ukraine is defended in the
future. That's clearly not something KE
is going to sign up to. So an agreement
on security guarantees still seems as
distant as ever. And so does this
potential meeting between Vladimir
Zalinski and Vladimir Putin on that.
Sergey Lavrov said that there are issues
that need to be resolved first.
Trottting out that common line we hear
that there all these caveats need to
need to be sorted out first and
basically Moscow doesn't see Zilinsky as
a legitimate leader of Ukraine and
Lavrov said that that needs to be ironed
out before any peace deal is signed. So,
uh, despite all this optimism we've had
this week from Donald Trump that we are
closer to a peace deal, two fundamental
stumbling blocks seem to remain and
Moscow is in in no obvious hurry to find
a way around that. And despite Russia's
talk of peace, uh, a lot of war remains
with this latest attack on Ukraine last
night uh, being the biggest in more than
a month. According to Kiev, Russia fired
574 drones and 40 missiles. And among uh
the sites hit was this American
electronics factory. According to
Ukraine, it produces consumer
electronics, coffee machines. Uh but
that was a site that was hit. A lot of
people injured there. It'll be
interesting to see how Donald Trump
reacts to that. All we've heard from the
US president is a fairly cryptic uh post
on social media in which he says it's
very hard, if not impossible, to win a
war without attacking an invader's
country. potentially he's signaling
there that um the door is open to more
US military support for Ukraine. We
don't know, but everyone's scratching
their heads and I'm sure the Kremlin is
as to what exactly Donald Trump means
there.
The proportion of GCSE entries scoring a
decent pass fell again this year. 67.4%
of entries were awarded at least a grade
four, down by 0.2% and the divides by
region and gender persist. Northeast
England had the lowest percentage
awarded a grade seven or higher with
just under 18% of entries. London had
the highest proportion of teenagers
awarded the top grades at around 28%.
Of the 16year-old students who took
seven or more GCES, 5.5% achieved all
grades of seven or above in England. Of
those students, just under 40% were
boys, while just over 60% were girls.
Our education reporter Anjio Bakos
reports.
Well, let's start here.
>> Good luck.
>> Mind the gap.
>> Thank you.
>> Girls are doing better than boys again
at GCSEs and it's a worry at the top of
government.
>> I got an eight in history. That's good.
Even though I thought I was like super
sick in the exam and I thought it was
just like right
>> psychology as well. The education
secretary, Bridget Phillipsson, has made
it clear that addressing the
underachievement of boys is a priority
with a focus on white workingclass boys.
>> It was what I expected mostly. There was
a bit lower than subjects and one mark
of a non math isn't that bad.
>> The day before the results come out,
we're all thinking about it and trying
not to talk about it. And then we came
in this morning and he had really high
hopes and so he's a little bit
disappointed with some of the grades and
it's hard to see him opening the
envelope and seeing his face drop a
little bit. But there are also other
differences and gaps that these results
show us depending on where you are in
the country. Bridget Phillipsson said,
"But while today are stable, once again
we are seeing unacceptable gaps for
young people in different parts of the
country. I'm absolutely determined to
make sure every young person wherever
they live has the opportunities they
deserve
>> and what comes next for the students who
have got their results today and what
are the options for those students who
don't want to do A levels.
>> I don't think A levels are um the be all
and end all for absolutely every child.
So the amount of options there are for
people out there is vast. Thinking
ahead, a lot of our students will want
to go to university. And universities,
it's expensive now. And I think
certainly compared to when I was doing
this, students know what they want. They
want to make sure they're going to
university for the right reasons. And
they're very conscientious about the
choices they make at a level
>> and the government say they want to
ensure that young people are able to
access a range of possibilities. lots of
opportunities being talked about um I
think at schools right across the nation
today whether it's A levels T- levels
apprenticeships which are a fantastic
route for uh a lot of young people and
also vocational qualifications that
they'll be able to take um so we really
want to make sure that as many
opportunities are available for young
people
>> are you happy I'm
>> today's results remind us that
educational inequalities still exist
because boys underachievement isn't just
an anecdote during results season. It's
an issue which could have far-reaching
implications for generations to come.
I'm Jim Pier Bakos, Sky News.
The wife of a conservative counselor who
was jailed for stirring up racial hatred
on the day of the Southport murders has
been released from prison. Lucy Connelly
was sentenced to 31 months in prison in
October after pleading guilty to
publishing threatening or abusive
material on X. In an apparent reference
to asylum seekers, she wrote, "Mass
deportation now set fire to all the
hotels. If that makes me racist, so be
it."
A man has been charged with the murder
of ice cream seller Shazad Khan in
Wembley on Tuesday. Mr. Khan, who was
41, was pronounced dead at the scene
after police responded to reports of an
altercation. 26-year-old Zahir Zar has
been charged with murder and possession
of a bladed article.
The government has taken control of the
UK's third largest steel works in a bid
to save,450
jobs. Specialtity Steel, which is part
of the Liberty Steel Empire, had been
pushed into compulsory liquidation.
Ongoing wages and costs will be covered
by the government until a buyer is
found.
A teenager who planned to carry out a
terror attack at a mosque has been
sentenced to 10 years in custody. The
boy, who can't be named for legal
reasons, was 16 when he was arrested in
January when police caught him on his
way to burn down Imbly Muslim Center in
Grenok. Now 17, he pleaded guilty to
terrorism charges.
to Somalia now and the second of our
special reports into the hunt for ISIS
militants. Intelligence suggests the
north of the country is now home to the
group's global headquarters. Hundreds of
foreign fighters are being recruited and
trained in the mountains of Puntland and
it's from there that money is being
moved around the world to fund terror
attacks. As our special correspondent,
Alex Crawford reports,
>> it is one of the world's most dangerous
waters,
ruthlessly exploited by arms dealers and
people smugglers
and fantastically challenging to
control.
>> Now we have species.
>> Fishermen are often used as cover,
coerced, or paid to take part. We're
only a few hours boat ride away from
Yemen and this is a favored route to
transport weapons and fighters in and
out of Somalia.
>> Looks like they're just fishermen in on
this occasion. I think that's the
problem. It's such a large area and
there's so many boats around here.
>> Hard to know who is who is a genuine
fisherman and who's a smuggler.
>> Let's go. Counterterrorism officials
tell us the Yemeni Houthis are now
coordinating with ISIS cells based in
the north of Somalia. And this seaw
route is one of the ways they're
transporting new foreign recruits from
Yemen and across the world.
>> These people are not only local people,
but international terrorists who are
making money and selling the weapons.
Just a few months earlier, Islamic State
militants were causing mayhem in the
keyport city of Basu, setting off bombs
and extorting money from shop owners and
businesses to fund terror attacks in
Somalia and beyond.
>> Whoa. This is from D
>> shooting.
>> I was coming from beside the police
station with my groceries and they
detonated an IED.
The Puntland forces have taken the
battle to the mountainous north where
ISIS fighters have dug in, terrorized,
and taken over communities, forcing
thousands to flee.
The trail led them to dozens of hideouts
in caves. You can see how they've
chiseled into the rock. There's a cave
there, a cave there, one around the
corner there. Just really built in their
defenses. These are natural defenses.
There's a toilet here.
Along here
there's a cooking area where they did it
under the rock so that no one who was
flying above could have see the smoke.
Another little cave and inlet there. And
over all this area they had a bird's
eyee view and could keep control of the
people down below in the valley.
They have a lot of power in the area and
had this military offensive not started,
they would be an even greater threat to
the world today. For ISIS to exist here,
we must not exist and we're not going to
let that happen.
>> The Somali forces found hard drives here
filled with homemade videos filmed by
ISIS fighters with their families and
children.
It gives an insight into their daily
activities.
>> But there are also images showing them
setting off for battle.
>> And despite the simplicity of their
lives in these remote areas, the SIM
cards retrieved from ISIS phones also
show they were moving tens of thousands
of dollars around the world to other
extremist groups. Our intel people found
that there have been evidence on crypto
communications by ISIS but they also use
other methods. I told you that they
extort the money from here locally. Then
they can send the money by goats for
instance to to other countries. they can
send in the money by gold and then when
they sell in Dubai or in other places
they again use that money for other
purposes for instance buying like drones
or explosives.
>> Multiple passports and dozens of IDs
have been retrieved from the battlefield
showing ISIS recruits from around the
world have been lured to the Horn of
Africa.
We've been given exclusive access to
captured foreign fighters brought from
prison to see us in a secure location.
The first is a Moroccan who says he
joined up for money, but soon realized
ISIS wanted him to be a suicide bomber.
>> When they told me I had to wear a
suicide vest and target Puntland forces,
I said, "This is different to what you
told me. I was told I'd make money. I
didn't want to die, so I escaped."
The second prisoner is considered more
dangerous. He's from Yemen, accused of
being an ISIS commander, sniper, and
part of a twoman bomb squad captured
while setting off the device inside Baso
City. His partner died, and he's now on
death row, awaiting execution.
>> I didn't come here to kill Muslims.
>> But you must have heard within the ISIS
community that you were killing people
because people were being blown up.
Yes, I know this. But they don't kill
all people.
>> What did you think about killing
anybody?
>> They don't kill everyone.
>> Only infidels.
>> He's just 24 years old and tells us he
has no regrets.
>> Like so many, he traveled the sea route
from Yemen. But the Somalis admit out of
hundreds of foreign fighters that
they've killed in the past few months,
they've no idea how many have returned
to their homelands ready to wreak
terror. Alex Crawford, Sky News in
Puntland, Somalia.
>> And the fulllength documentary, Hunting
ISIS, a warning from Africa, is
available to watch on demand. Scan the
QR code on your screen. That'll take you
to the documentary on the Sky News app.
And there's more from Alex Crawford on
the latest episode of the Sky News Daily
podcast. She speaks to Neil Patterson
about the rise of ISIS and what it means
for the UK. You can listen and follow
wherever you get your podcasts from.
New research has found that the number
of people whose lives or property is at
risk of wildfire has surged in the last
two decades. Analysis by an
international team of scientists found a
combination of climate change and
population movement into rural areas is
driving the increase. Sky science
correspondent Thomas Moore reports.
>> Wildfires have smashed records this
year. Los Angeles had the most
destructive inferno in its history.
No, no, no.
>> In Spain, smoke pollution reached the
highest levels in a quarter of a
century. And in Turkey, thousands of
people fled their homes. Now, new
research analyzing trends over two
decades has shown there's been a 40%
rise in the number of people at risk.
And it's not just because of heat and
drought from a changing climate.
>> In certain parts of the world, we're
also seeing people migrating more and
more into areas that are fireprone.
We're seeing that for example in the
western US where we see this very idilic
romantic image of living closer to
nature and that's a trend which is
essentially putting people closer to
fire and closer to fire prone
landscapes.
>> Scientists identified 18.6 million
recorded fires between 2002 and 2021
with a total of 440 million people
affected. And while fires in Europe and
North America gra public attention, 85%
of the people affected are actually in
Africa. But it is the growing intensity
of fires close to communities that is
causing concern.
Researchers say there needs to be more
warnings of risky activities like
barbecues in drought conditions, and
landscapes need to be carefully managed
with dry vegetation burned off in small
controlled fires rather than letting it
build up to provide fuel for an inferno.
Thomas Moore, Sky News.
>> Well, that was Sky News at 10. Coming
up, we'll take a first look at
tomorrow's newspapers in the press
preview. Tonight we're joined by former
conservative special adviser Anita
Watten and editor of the courier David
Kle.
Amongst the stories we'll be discussing
this on the front of the eye. Its
headline star faces growing unrest over
record asylum claims. We'll be right
back. Do stay with us.