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The government's proposed asylum law is "very concerning" and would block even those with a compelling claim, the United Nations refugee agency has said. The UNHCR's representative to the UK, Vicky Tennant, told the BBC the measure would break international law and was not needed to stop Channel crossings. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he is "up for the fight" to bring in the law and overcome any legal challenges. Labour has said the plans risk "making the chaos worse". On Tuesday, the government outlined a new law which would effectively ban anyone who arrives via an illegal route from claiming asylum in the UK. Anyone found to have entered the country illegally will also be blocked from returning or claiming British citizenship in future. The measure is part of attempts to address an increase in the number of people arriving in the UK via Channel crossings each year, which rose from around 300 in 2018 to more than 45,000 in 2022.

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A man is facing charges after he killed and skinned what he thought were two coyotes - only to find they were a family's pet German shepherds. Michael Konschak, 61, of Carmel, New York, told a court in Danbury, Connecticut, that he was ashamed of what he had done back in November. He said: "Please know that it was never my intent that morning to harm the victims' pets."

King Charles is 'evicting Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage leaving them without a UK home - and offering the property to Prince Andrew' The Palace purportedly chose to evict the couple after the release of 'Spare' Charles is said to want Andrew to move into the five-bedroom property Duke of York currently lives at massive Royal Lodge, paying a very low rent King Charles has decided to evict Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from Frogmore Cottage, their only UK home, it was claimed today. Buckingham Palace issued an eviction notice to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex days after Harry's memoir Spare - in which he made a series of sensational claims against the Royal Family - hit UK shelves in January, according to The Sun. The newspaper claims that the Palace wants to replace the pair with the disgraced Duke of York, who currently lives at much larger Royal Lodge. Story

It's been about four years since we have been back here in Hong Kong and I must say, we have missed you guys so much!" The statement from Blackpink's Rosé to the 14,000 fans packing out AsiaWorld-Arena is greeted by rapturous cheers. The K-pop superstars - Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa - have been on their Born Pink world tour since October. Fan Charlotte Hofstetter didn't hesitate to travel from Singapore to Bangkok, Thailand in January to catch them on stage. "My friends and I had a front row view of the stage, so we were able to see them really up close," she told the BBC. When pandemic restrictions were in place, Charlotte followed updates about the band on social media and even attended one of the group's virtual concerts.

Tesla is planning to build a new factory in Mexico, joining other carmakers bulking up their presence south of the US border. Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the plant for the electric car firm would be in Monterrey, which is about a three-hour drive from Texas. Tesla is expected to share more in presentation to investors on Wednesday. Mexico had previously raised concerns about how water demands from the factory might affect the region. But Mr Lopez Obrador said he had won commitments from Tesla boss Elon Musk that had helped ease those worries. Mexico is trying to position itself as a winner as tensions between the US and China disrupt traditional supply chains. "This will represent a considerable investment and many, many jobs," Mr Lopez Obrador said at a news conference on Tuesday.

There has been an intensification of violence between Israel and the Palestinians since the start of this year, with deaths mounting on both sides. Here is a brief guide to what is going on. What is happening? The current violence is mainly taking place in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - areas occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war. While the starting point is debatable, it began to escalate in March 2022. In a period of days, Israel was rocked by a series of deadly Palestinian attacks and the Israeli military launched an open-ended operation in the West Bank in response, resulting in near nightly raids into the occupied territories. How has it got worse? There have been many individual injuries and deaths resulting from Israeli military operations and Palestinian attacks over the past year, but what marks this period of violence out is both the scale of the loss of lives and the number of incidents in which multiple people have been killed.

Denmark's parliament has voted to abolish a springtime public holiday to boost spending on the military. Lawmakers voted 95-68 to scrap Great Prayer Day, a religious holiday observed since the 17th century. The cancellation will provide an additional three billion kroner (£355m; $427m) to be used on the defence budget, the government says. But there has been opposition from opposition politicians, trade unions and religious figures. At the start of the month, some 50,000 protesters gathered outside parliament in Copenhagen to protest the plan. "Stop the thief," Karsten Honge, a member of the Socialist People's Party, said during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. "The government is ordering people to work one day more."

Two trains have collided in northern Greece with the loss of at least 16 lives and dozens of people injured, emergency services say. Rescuers have been working to save passengers and extinguish a fire caused by the crash near the city of Larissa on Tuesday evening. The incident is said to have involved a passenger train and a freight train. Footage published on local news sites shows fierce flames and thick plumes of smoke rising from derailed carriages. The fire brigade said 17 vehicles were at the scene trying to put out the flames. It is not yet known what caused the collision.

BBC News Finland has begun constructing a 200km (124 mile) fence on its border with Russia to boost security. The Border Guard said it will be 3m (10ft) tall with barbed wire on top. Finland shares the longest European Union border with Russia, at 1,340km (832 miles). At present, Finland's borders are secured primarily by light wooden fences. Finland decided to build the fence due to a rise in Russians seeking to escape conscription to fight in Ukraine. The Nordic country also moved closer to joining the Nato alliance on Tuesday. Its parliament started debating a bill to speed up the country's bid, with a vote expected on Wednesday. Work on the fence at the Imatra border crossing started on Tuesday with forest clearance, while road construction and fence installation are planned to start in March.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nominating Julie Su, the current deputy and former California official, as his next labor secretary, replacing the departing incumbent, former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. Su, a civil rights attorney and former head of California’s labor department, was central to negotiations between labor and freight rail companies late last year, working to avert an economically debilitating strike. She also has worked to broaden employee training programs and crack down on wage theft. If confirmed by the Senate, Su would also be the first Asian-American in the Biden administration to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level. Biden, in a statement on Tuesday, called her a “champion for workers.” “Julie is a tested and experienced leader, who will continue to build a stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive economy that provides Americans a fair return for their work and an equal chance to get ahead,” he said. “She helped avert a national rail shutdown, improved access to good jobs free from discrimination through my Good Jobs Initiative, and is ensuring that the jobs we create in critical sectors like semiconductor manufacturing, broadband and healthcare are good-paying, stable and accessible jobs for all.”

A drone has crashed in the Moscow region in what was likely an attempt to target civilian infrastructure, the regional governor said. Andrei Vorobyov was speaking after the defence ministry reported downing two Ukrainian drones in southern Russia. Ukraine does not claim responsibility for attacks inside Russia. Russian energy giant Gazprom operates a facility near the village of Gubastovo, about 100 km (62 miles) from Moscow, where the drone crashed. Gazprom told Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti that its operations in the Kolomna region had not been interrupted. The target of the drone in Kolomna "was probably a civilian infrastructure facility, which was not damaged", Mr Vorobyov posted on Telegram. "There are no casualties or damage on the ground. The FSB (Russian security service) and other competent authorities are investigating," he added. Images shared by Russian media and officials show a damaged drone in a snow-covered field in front of a forest of birch trees. The area around the Gazprom facility is heavily forested.

President Biden will head to Virginia Beach, Virginia, Tuesday, where he will deliver a speech accusing Republicans of putting health care programs "on the chopping block" ahead of the rollout of his own budget proposal. The president's remarks will come as Congress and the White House are negotiating spending priorities ahead of this summer's deadline to raise the debt ceiling. House Republicans, in their new majority, are insisting that the Democratic-controlled Senate and Biden agree to cut spending before Congress approves raising the debt limit past $31.4 trillion.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine will become a member of the alliance in the "long-term", but for now it needs to remain independent in the face of Russia's invasion. Ukraine has sought to join the US-led military alliance for years. After Russia's invasion of the country, President Volodymyr Zelensky asked for that request to be fast-tracked. Ukraine also applied for EU membership days after Russia invaded, and gained candidate status in June. "Nato allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time that is a long-term perspective," Mr Stoltenberg told reporters during a visit to Finland's capital, Helsinki. "What is at issue now is that Ukraine can prevail as a sovereign independent nation." Ukraine, for years, has sought to join the military alliance between the US, Canada and 28 European countries, something President Vladimir Putin has described as a security threat for Russia. What is Nato and how is it helping Ukraine?