Lin Taylor

Britain's proposed illegal migration law will lead to more people missing vital medical treatment for fear of detention, large bills and deportation, charities and health workers say.

The Illegal Migration Bill, currently making its way through parliament, would prevent tens of thousands of migrants arriving in the country via irregular means from ever claiming asylum.

Lilian Makau was 17 when she started having sex with an older man in her neighbourhood in Kenya in exchange for something she desperately needed but could rarely afford: sanitary pads.

Within months, she was pregnant and had to quit school to look after the baby, her dreams of becoming a doctor shattered.

"It's the issue of pads that got me into this mess," Makau, now 20, told Context.

Facial recognition technology is helping feed hundreds of struggling Britons, letting them swap a face scan for food of their choice instead of making do with donations and castoffs.

With ever more families reliant on food banks to survive runaway inflation in one of the world's richest countries, the option of eating by app is a welcome new choice for many.

Marginalised groups in Britain including ethnic minorities and the homeless risk losing their right to vote due to government plans that require people to show a photo ID before voting, campaigners and lawmakers said.

Currently, voters need only give a name and address to vote, but from May 4, they will be asked to show some form of photo ID in a bid to prevent voter fraud. 

Britain's plan to deport migrants to Rwanda is unlawful because it is not a safe country, lawyers representing a group of asylum seekers told the Court of Appeal in London on Monday. 

Last year, Britain agreed a deal to send tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers to Rwanda, though the first planned deportation flight was blocked by a last-minute injunction granted by the European Court of Human Rights.

Britain diverted nearly a third of its foreign aid budget to domestic programmes in 2022, official data showed, as watchdogs called for cash to be safeguarded for the world's poorest.

About 3.7 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) that should have been used to help vulnerable people overseas was instead spent on hosting refugees in Britain, most of them Ukrainian, preliminary government spending data showed.

Greta Thunberg was detained twice in early March while demonstrating in support of Indigenous rights in Norway.

The Swede - whose name is synonymous with climate activism - joined protesters blocking access to government buildings in Oslo and demanding the removal of 151 wind turbines from reindeer pastures used by Sami herders in central Norway.

Over the years, Claire Anterea has waved goodbye to numerous friends and family members as they left the Pacific island nation of Kiribati for jobs in regional powerhouse Australia. She had never considered joining them - until now.

Australia will introduce a permanent residency option for Pacific islanders this year, and has also expanded its short-term labour programme - part of the country's wider efforts to counter China's growing influence in the region.

Europe's health systems are creaking under the strain of staff shortages, post-pandemic burnout and stretched budgets, prompting strikes from Spain to Belgium, including the largest ever national walkout by British health workers.

Nurses and ambulance workers have been striking separately on and off since late last year but this week's walkout involving both, largely in England, is the biggest in the 75-year history of the state-run National Health Service (NHS).

After two years being held in a British immigration detention centre, Mimi was so desperate to be released that she agreed to wear an electronic ankle tag. But her sense of freedom was short-lived.

Two months later, she said she attempted suicide because of the stress of being monitored while wearing the tag.