UK Rwanda asylum plan runs into trouble

Britain’s controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing has hit a snag at the European Court of Human Rights. The court ordered the UK not to remove one of the asylum seekers until a final decision has been made in ongoing judicial proceedings in the UK. The first flight had been scheduled to take off on June 14 with just seven passengers on board. There had been more due to fly but legal action enabled them to be removed.

The UK government responded angrily to the court’s decision. Human rights lawyer Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou unpacks the European court’s decision.

Caroline Southey

Founding Editor

Rwanda deportations: what is the European Court of Human Rights, and why did it stop the UK flight from taking off?

Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, University of Liverpool

The court blocked the UK from deporting asylum-seekers to Rwanda until after cases in the UK are decided.

Five of the world’s tiniest robots

Joao Filipe Ferreira, Nottingham Trent University

Robots a fraction of a millimetre small could swim around your eye or bloodstream for medical treatments in the future.

Juneteenth celebrates just one of the United States’ 20 emancipation days – and the history of how emancipated people were kept unfree needs to be remembered, too

Kris Manjapra, Tufts University

Known as Juneteenth in Texas, Emancipation Days symbolized America’s attempt to free the enslaved across the nation. But those days were unable to prevent new forms of economic slavery.
Four ways you can design social media posts to combat health misinformation

Anna Feigenbaum, Bournemouth University; Ozlem Demirkol Tonnesen, University of Southampton

It’s one thing to get ‘likes’ on a video of a cute dog or a photo of your weekend adventures – but another to create content that fosters understanding of complex topics.
5 things to know about the Fed’s biggest interest rate increase since 1994 and how it will affect you

D. Brian Blank, Mississippi State University

The Fed raised interest rates the most in nearly three decades to fight stubborn inflation. A finance expert explains what’s happening, the risks and what it means for consumers.

Justin Bieber: what is Ramsay Hunt syndrome, the condition affecting the singer?

Adam Taylor, Lancaster University

Bieber announced on Instagram that he has paralysis on one side of his face, caused by the varicella-zoster virus.

Has COVID affected your sleep? Here’s how viruses can change our sleeping patterns

Gemma Paech, University of Newcastle

Some people report insomnia symptoms, where they struggle to fall or stay asleep. Others report feeling constantly fatigued, and seemingly can’t get enough sleep. So what’s going on?
Summit of the Americas: Biden’s attempt to unite the region on migration gets off to a shaky start

Katia Adimora, Edge Hill University

The US president was hoping that the gathering of Latin American leaders would present a united front of migrants. But several key players were absent.
Northern Ireland protocol explainer: why the UK government’s plan to change it violates international law

Billy Melo Araujo, Queen's University Belfast

The government’s plan to override the Northern Ireland protocol breaches the UK’s legal obligations.
The inside story of Recovery: how the world’s largest COVID-19 trial transformed treatment – and what it could do for other diseases

Guilherme Pessoa-Amorim, University of Oxford; Leon Peto, University of Oxford; Mark Campbell, University of Oxford

Two years ago, the Recovery trial transformed COVID treatments around the world with a landmark finding that may have saved a million lives in just nine months

Jurassic World Dominion: a palaeontologist on what the film gets wrong about dinosaurs

Ben Igielman, University of Oxford

The biggest crime of the film was exaggerating the size of dinosaurs.