The English Channel

Eurostar has been battling a series of challenges as Brexit, Covid, strikes and competitors threaten to derail operations.

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Inside Eurostar’s struggle with Brexit, strikes and competitors

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EUROPEAN UNION EU POLICY UKRAINE WAR PORTUGAL EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 2024 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT UNITED KINGDOM FRANCE

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A last minute strike meant Eurostar trains to and from London were cancelled on Thursday afternoon.

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Eurotunnel strike: London trains return to normal after shock walkout

Eurostar trains were cancelled on Thursday afternoon due to an unexpected walkout. The strike is now over.

21/12/2023

Migrants travel in an inflatable boat across the English Channel, bound for Dover on the south coast of England.

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One dead after migrants shipwrecked in Channel

A total of 66 people were travelling on the refugee boat which sank off the northern coast of France in the early hours of Friday, according to French authorities.

15/12/2023

Virgin Trains stopped operating in 2019 after more than 22 years.

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Eurostar could face fresh competition on its UK-France train route

Virgin's Richard Branson will reportedly be the next to challenge Eurostar's 30-year monopoly on cross-Channel trains.

13/11/2023

FILE: Migrants aboard a rubber boat being intercepted by French authorities, off the port of Calais, northern France, 25 December 2018

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More than 200 migrants rescued trying to cross English Channel

The Pas-de-Calais region where many small boats depart from, has been experiencing severe weather for the past ten days, causing very high flood levels.

13/11/2023

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Travelers walk past Eurostar trains linking Paris to London, at the Gare du Nord station, March 2019, Paris.

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Eurostar rival Evolyn is set to hit the tracks by 2025

Eurostar’s 30-year monopoly on cross-Channel trains could be about to end.

12/10/2023

Migrants cross the Channel in a small boat traveling from the coast of France and heading in the direction of England on 29 August

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872 migrants arrived in UK on Saturday - a new daily record for 2023

54 other migrants were rescued in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais by French rescue services and dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, after reporting an engine failure in their boat.

03/09/2023

Paramedics assist a migrant picked up at sea while attempting to cross the English Channel, after they were picked up by a British lifeboat.

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French police investigate Channel shipwreck that killed at least six

An overcrowded vessel attempting to cross from France to UK capsized this week, ending with the death of several Afghan exiles.

13/08/2023

Jersey islanders are considering collective legal action over ‘forever chemicals’ pollution.

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Could this European island be the first to sue over forever chemicals?

Toxic chemicals leaked into their drinking water supplies more than 30 years ago. Now residents want compensation.

04/08/2023

Tug boat Mercia pulls the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge into Portland in Dorset where it is due to house migrants after travelling from dry dock in Falmouth, UK.

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First look at UK barge set to house up to 500 asylum seekers

Access was granted on Friday to tour a vessel that will house up to 500 asylum-seekers in England after the UK Parliament passed its long-debated bill to curb migration.

22/07/2023

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right, speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, May 16, 2023..

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EU, UK agree to boost cooperation to tackle illegal Channel crossings

The deal, which still needs to be negotiated, comes just months after the two sides resolved the main issue dividing them: trade arrangements in Northern Ireland.

17/05/2023

This video shows Ethiopian Jews protesting in Israel in 2019

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Debunk: Did migrants block a road to try cross the English Channel?

Paul Golding, leader of the far-right Britain First group posted a clip which became viral supposedly showing migrants blocking a roadway in Calais. We've debunked the clip.

20/04/2023

Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman speaks with members of the media after a press conference following the launch of new legislation on migrant channel crossings at Dow

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UK interior minister in Rwanda for controversial migrant deal talks

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is set to underline her commitment to Britain's deal with Rwanda, which her predecessor Priti Patel struck in April 2022.

17/03/2023

Soccer broadcaster Gary Lineker arrives ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea, 11 March 2023

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BBC backtracks as ex-football star Gary Lineker returns to television

Gary Lineker will continue as the host of Match of the Day after the BBC reached an agreement with the presenter.

13/03/2023

A cold migrant is escorted ashore after being picked up at sea.

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UK government defends law barring 'illegal' English channel migrants

Critics have blasted the plans as unworkable, unethical and illegal.

07/03/2023

People believe to be migrants, onboard a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel, England, Monday March 6, 2023.

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UK government to introduce legislation to deport Channel migrants

The UK government is set to announce a bill that will bar asylum claims by anyone who reaches Britain illegally.

06/03/2023

Stand Up To Racism campaigners hold banners outside the High Court in London, Monday, Dec. 19, 2022.

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High Court rules UK plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is legal

Judge Clive Lewis said it was lawful for Britain to make arrangements with the Rwanda government to send asylum seekers to the country for their asylum claims to be determined there.

19/12/2022

Rescue workers hoist a body bag on a stretcher amid a rescue operation of a missing migrant boat, at the Port of Dover, in Dover, Britain December 14, 2022.

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Four people dead after small migrant boat capsizes in English Channel

Dozens were also rescued after an overnight emergency operation off the coast of Kent in southern England, where many small boats arrive carrying migrants from France.

14/12/2022

The fences surrounding the Calais truck terminal in northern France.

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French police dismantle gang smuggling migrants across Channel

Six people were arrested and taken into custody during the operation.

08/12/2022

A damaged inflatable small boat is pictured on the shore in Wimereux, northern France.

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Man arrested in UK over deaths of 27 migrants in English Channel

Ten members of a suspected smuggling group have already been charged in France over the migrant shipwreck.

29/11/2022

France hosts several tributes one year after 27 migrants drowned trying to reach the English coast.

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One year on, France remembers 27 migrants who drowned trying to cross English Channel

Tributes have been held in Paris and in the north of France for the 27 migrants who drowned trying to reach the English coast one year ago,

25/11/2022