Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is to announce details of a tightening of rules for migrants who have been granted asylum bringing their families to the UK.

As MPs return to Westminster, Cooper will also set out reforms to the asylum appeals system.

When a person is granted asylum in the UK, they can apply to bring their family too but Cooper believes changes to policies across Europe mean the UK is now out of kilter with its neighbours and restrictions are needed.

In the Commons this afternoon she is expected to set out the criteria that family members will need to meet - including tougher English language standards and access to sufficient funds.

Cooper will also say she intends to bring forward new legislation to reform the asylum appeals system.

In August 55 small boats crossed the Channel. It was the lowest figure for the month since 2019.

Yet the smuggling gangs seem to be putting more people on each boat - last month there was an average of 65 individuals per vessel.

The Conservatives say "Labour's claim to have smashed the gangs is completely discredited".

Reform UK say the "government's words aren't matching the reality".

Cooper will say the government's overhaul of a "broken" asylum system seeks to end the use of hotels for migrants arriving on small boats - an issue which has led to protests in recent months.

She will also highlight the National Crime Agency's efforts in tackling people smugglers, saying it led 347 disruptions of immigration crime networks in 2024-25 - the highest level on record and a 40% increase on the previous 12 months.

On Friday the Appeal Court overturned a temporary injunction which would have prevented the Home Office from housing asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel in Epping and it was seen as a possible precedent for legal challenges elsewhere.

Epping Forest District Council will meet later on Monday to decide its next course of action, including whether to take its attempt to prevent the hotel being used for asylum seekers to the Supreme Court.

In the Commons, the home secretary is expected to say the NCA efforts have led to "a significant and long term impact" on people smugglers.

The government's planned reforms to the asylum system announced in the last few weeks include a new independent body prioritising cases involving asylum accommodation and foreign national offenders within 24 weeks, and a new fast track appeals process.

Cooper will also give an update on the UK's returns deal with France, where some migrants arriving in the UK on small boats crossing the English Channel will be detained and returned under a pilot scheme lasting 11 months.

She is expected to announce that the first deportations to France are due to take place in the coming weeks.

"Our action to strengthen border security, increase returns and overhaul the broken asylum system are putting much stronger foundations in place so we can fix the chaos we inherited and end costly asylum hotels," she will tell the Commons.

Cooper will say the UK has a "proud record of giving sanctuary to those fleeing persecution" but the system "needs to be properly controlled and managed".

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the government had "lost control" and was "engulfed in a fully fledged borders crisis".

He said Cooper's statement was a "desperate distraction tactic", and pointed to the rise in asylum seekers being housed in hotels under the Labour government and the record number of arrivals in small boats so far this year.

A Reform UK spokesman said: "We have seen a record number of crossings since Labour came to power last year with no signs of it slowing."

Reform, they added, had a "detailed plan to deport over 600,000 illegal migrants" in its first term in office if elected. Labour sided "with foreign courts and outdated treaties" while Reform were "on the side of the British people".

A full High Court hearing to decide on a permanent injunction for The Bell Hotel is expected in mid-October.

The government says it plans to stop using hotels for asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament.

Ministers said the judgement on the legal challenge on the Bell Hotel, which was brought by lawyers for the Home Office and The Bell Hotel, would allow the government to do so "in a planned and orderly fashion".

But some councils say they are still pursuing legal action to stop asylum seekers from being housed in hotels in their areas.

Reform UK said all 12 councils it controlled should explore legal options to stop asylum seekers being housed in local hotels.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch urged Tory-run councils pursuing legal action to "keep going" and said advice would be issued to all Conservative councillors following the ruling.

The protests at the Bell Hotel began after an asylum seeker housed there was arrested and subsequently charged with several offences, including an alleged sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl.

Protests against the housing of asylum seekers at hotels - as well as counter-protests - continued to take place across England and Scotland at the weekend including in Epping, London, Gloucester, Portsmouth, Warrington, Norwich and Falkirk.

A 34-year-old British woman has been stabbed to death in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, local police say.

The victim was reportedly found with stab wounds in a garden in the Chamkar Mon district south of the city centre on Friday.

A woman, also a foreign national, has been arrested by the authorities in connection with the death.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told BBC News: "We are supporting the family of a British woman who has died in Cambodia and are in contact with the local authorities."

Local media say police spent around 17 hours investigating before making the arrest.

The British woman was reportedly renting a house in the city.

Queen Camilla was the victim of an attempted indecent assault as a teenager, according to a new book about the Royal Family. The Queen is said to have fought off her attacker using the heel of her shoe.

The attempted assault is recounted in Power and the Palace by the former Royal editor of the Times newspaper, Valentine Low.

He says the Queen told Boris Johnson the story of her experience in 2008 when he was mayor of London.

It is reported that the Queen was 16 or 17 years old when the incident happened on a train to Paddington Station.

The man is said to have been touching the teenage Camilla Shand when she took off her shoe and hit him with it.

It was, she told Johnson, something her mother had told her to do if she ever found herself in that situation.

When she arrived in London, she reported the incident to station staff and the man was arrested.

Buckingham Palace has made no official statement on the story but is not disputing the details of the account.

• Queen sent letter of support to Gisèle Pelicot
• Domestic violence should not be taboo subject, says Queen
• 'It's hard to leave abusive relationships'

Much of the Queen's public work in recent years has been supporting the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and rape.

She is patron of the charity SafeLives and has visited women's refuges and rape crisis centres across the UK and globally.

In a number of powerful speeches, she has spoken of the courage of those who have experienced domestic violence and why they should not feel fear or stigma in coming forward.

In a speech in 2020 she said: "Through my work, I have talked to many women who have lived with coercive control and domestic violence and, thankfully, come out at the other end as the victors not the victims.

"They are some of the bravest people I have ever met. Their stories are harrowing and have reduced even the toughest of their listeners to tears. That is why it is so vital that these survivors should no longer feel any shame or any blame."

And at a reception at Clarence House in April for SafeLives, she spoke of domestic abuse.

"I would not be standing here if it was 10 years ago because we wouldn't have been talking about it - it was a taboo subject. Nobody actually wanted to talk about it.

"But now 10 years later we've got survivors telling their story who years ago would've been too ashamed to come forward to tell their stories, but now they'll get up and talk and inspire others to talk."

Sources close to the Queen say she has not gone public with the attempted attack before to avoid drawing attention to her experience rather than to the victims she now works with.

They also say this episode did not motivate the Queen to get involved in supporting domestic violence organisations as that work stemmed from hearing victims stories over the years.

Royal sources also say if discussion around the Queen's past experience helps destigmatise what far too many girls still suffer today, then that would be a positive from what was a negative episode.

Details of help and support with child sexual abuse and sexual abuse or violence are available in the UK at BBC Action Line.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has been injured in a car accident in the US state of New Hampshire, his security guard has said.

Giuliani's car was struck from behind at high speed while travelling on a highway, according to a statement posted on social media.

"He was diagnosed with a fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg," the statement from security guard Michael Ragusa says.

Giuliani, 81, became known as "America's Mayor" after leading New York through 9/11. He later became an adviser and then personal lawyer to Donald Trump, though the two have since parted ways.

Giuliani was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, Mr Ragusa said.

The incident happened shortly after Giuliani had helped an alleged victim of domestic violence who had flagged him down on a road, his statement added.

"Mayor Giuliani immediately rendered assistance and contacted 911."

The BBC has approached local police for comment.

The thoracic vertebrae form the middle section of the spine, while lascerations and contusions are deep cuts and bruises, respectively.

First elected New York City mayor in 1993, Giuliani was in charge at the time of the 11 September attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

In 2008, he made an unsuccessful run for US president, and later became one of Trump's adviser during the latter's 2016 campaign. He joined Trump's personal legal team in 2018 and remained a part of it through to the 2020 election.

In the aftermath of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory over Trump, Giuliani spread baseless claims the election was stolen.

Earlier this year, he reached a tentative settlement with two former election workers who won $148m (£120m) in damages after they successfully sued him for defamation over false election fraud claims.