Canadian officials have hit back against a UN report that says the country’s most vulnerable residents are going hungry.
Olivier De Schutter, the UN right-to-food envoy, has urged the government to do more to prevent malnutrition.
But Canada’s immigration minister said the UN was wasting its resources, while another minister said Mr De Schutter was being “patronising”.
The UN envoy has not retreated …

Immigration has leaped to its highest level in 16 years in Germany, according to government figures.
The number of people moving to Germany from Greece and Spain have seen particular jumps, with arrivals from Greece almost doubling.
Data from Germany’s statistics office showed that 958,000 people moved to Germany in 2011, while 679,000 left, the highest net inflow since 1996.
Most of the …

A computer error that led to the cancellation of 500 visa appointments early in May could happen again and may not be quick to fix, the head of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) has warned.
Rob Whiteman said UKBA computer systems are “prone to falling over”, and that the issue was “a constant frustration”.
His comments come as an immigration lawyer warned …

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres on Wednesday expressed alarm at new inflows of refugees this year into Rwanda and Uganda from fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
“The displacement level we see in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is already disastrous,” said Guterres in a statement released in Geneva. “Conflict there, coupled with very limited …

A first group of 326 South Sudanese was flown home this week after waiting for many months in a congested and increasingly tense site in Sudan.
The movement on Monday is a breakthrough for some 12,000 people of South Sudanese origin, some of whom had been stranded for more than a year at Kosti, a Sudanese town on the bank of …

Ministers have included overseas students in the government’s net migration count because they are more interested in playing the numbers game than with long-term migration, a leading thinktank has claimed.
The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) report says the refusal to exclude international students from the government’s drive to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands is damaging British …

Papa Tokpa Sadia, 45, is all smiles as he picks up a snail and explains how it is extracted from its shell to prepare a meal. “Snail meat is very delicious and nutritious,” says the Ivorian, who is learning how to rear and harvest the tasty gastropods.
Sadia is one of 30 refugees from Côte d’Ivoire, 20 of them women, studying …

The UK Border Agency is detaining children in “degrading and disgraceful” conditions at Heathrow, according to an official watchdog.
The Heathrow independent monitoring board (IMB) says children of all ages are being detained at the airport for immigration purposes almost every day, and are sometimes kept overnight. They are held in rooms that are small, stuffy and have no natural light. …

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has been excluded from qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix after stopping his car out on the track at the end of qualifying.
Hamilton qualified on pole but will start from the back of the grid.
Hamilton was told to stop because there was insufficient fuel in the car for him to get back to the pits and provide …

It may sound curious, but strike day at the UK borders may have been something of a relief. A relief for the travelling public, who have endured unacceptable delays, particularly at Heathrow; and for overwhelmed staff who have found themselves in an impossible situation. And it will all be down to extra resources drafted in from across Whitehall, and more …