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.

A suspect in the fatal shooting of prominent Ukrainian politician Andriy Parubiy has been apprehended, the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The 54-year-old parliamentarian was killed by an assailant posing as a courier in the western city of Lviv on Saturday, sparking a manhunt.

Ukraine's interior minister Igor Klymenko said in a statement issued in the early hours of Monday morning that the suspect had been detained in the western Khmelnytskyi region.

Parubiy rose to prominence during Ukraine's Euromaidan mass protests, which advocated closer ties with the EU and brought down pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.

Klymenko said the preliminary investigation had found the killing had been "carefully prepared" with Parubiy's travel schedule and route mapped out, as well as an escape plan.

He added that Ukraine's national police force would provide further details later.

Unverified footage, purportedly of the shooting, appeared to show a gunman dressed as a courier approaching Parubiy on the street and holding up a weapon as he walked behind him.

At a news briefing on Saturday, Lviv police chief Oleksandr Shliakhovskyi said the gunman had "fired about eight shots from a firearm".

Sources inside Ukraine's law enforcement agencies told the BBC that the attacker had dressed to look like a courier for delivery company Glovo. The company said it was "deeply shocked" by the crime.

Parubiy, a member of the current Ukrainian parliament, had played a pivotal role in the Euromaidan movement, organising its "self-defence" teams who guarded the sprawling tent camp in the heart of the capital Kyiv during the protest.

"Socialism is good…" a pensioner warbles into a portable karaoke mic, slightly off-key and drowned out by her friends' chatter.

But they join her for the chorus: "The Communist Party guides China on the path to power and wealth!"

It is not the catchiest karaoke number. But it is an apt one to belt out as they look towards a horizon framed by cranes towering over ships of all sizes.

Suoyuwan park in Dalian, which juts out of north-eastern China into the Yellow Sea, has stunning views of one of China's largest shipyards, and is a place to gather and be merry.

But to White House analysts thousands of miles away in Washington, this cradle of Chinese shipbuilding is part of a growing threat.

In the last two decades, China has ramped up investment in shipbuilding. And that has paid off: more than 60% of the world's orders this year have gone to Chinese shipyards. Put simply, China is building more ships than any other country because it can do it faster than anyone else.

"The scale is extraordinary… in many ways eye-watering," says Nick Childs, a maritime expert with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. "The Chinese shipbuilding capacity is something like 200 times overall that of the United States."

That commanding lead also applies to its navy. The Chinese Communist Party now has the world's largest, operating 234 warships compared to the US Navy's 219.

China's explosive rise has been fuelled by the sea. The world's second-largest economy is home to seven of the world's 10 busiest ports, which are critical to global supply routes. And its coastal cities are thriving because of trade.

As Beijing's ambitions have grown, so has its arsenal of ships - and its confidence to stake a louder claim in the South China Sea and beyond.

President Xi Jinping's China certainly wants to rule the waves. Whether it will is the question.

A grand military parade in the coming days may reveal just how close it is to that goal. Xi will host Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un for the event in a defiant message to the Western nations that have shunned them.

The US and its allies will be closely watching the photo-op and the display of military might, which is expected to include anti-ship missiles, hypersonic weapons and underwater drones.

"The US Navy, while it still has significant advantages, is seeing the gap in its capabilities with China narrow and is struggling to find a way of answering that," Mr Childs says, "because its shipbuilding capacity has dwindled significantly over the past decades."

US President Donald Trump has said he wants to fix this, and has signed an executive order to revitalise US shipbuilding and retake America's maritime advantage.

That, Mr Childs adds, will be a "very tall order".

A navy to end the 'bitter memories'

Between 2019 and 2023, China's four largest shipyards - Dalian, Guangzhou, Jiangnan and Hudong-Zhonghua - produced 39 warships with a combined displacement of 550,000 tonnes, according to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

That is the volume of water they displace, which is the most common way of measuring the size of a vessel or fleet. In comparison, the UK's Royal Navy currently has an estimated total displacement of around 399,000 tonnes.

While China has the world's largest navy by number of vessels, the US fleet has a greater overall tonnage and is more powerful - with far more large aircraft carriers.

But Beijing is catching up.

"There's no sign that the Chinese are slowing down," says Alexander Palmer from the CSIS and author of the report, Unpacking China's Naval Buildup.

"Hull count [number of ships] is not the only measure of a navy's effectiveness of course, but the ability to produce and churn out warships has been extremely impressive and could make a strategic difference."

There are still limits on China's naval rise. Beijing may have more ships, but it only has two operational aircraft carriers, and its navy has far fewer submarines than the US.

Some analysts argue they are also not as sophisticated as the American ones, which have a technological head start going back to the the Cold War.

The Chinese subs are also largely built for the shallower South China Sea, where a game of cat-and-mouse with the US is already under way. For now, China's ability to travel far from its own coastline is limited.

But there are signs this is changing, and fast.

Satellite imagery obtained by BBC Verify from Hainan, a Chinese island province in the South China Sea, suggests Beijing is pouring significant funding into expanding its naval bases.

The base at Yulin has five new piers which appear to have been constructed in the last five years. It is thought China plans to base all of its largest submarines, the Jin-class (or Type 094), in this port. These new subs can carry 12 nuclear missiles each.

Photographs and footage of rehearsals, shared on Chinese social media, suggest that at least two new types of unmanned underwater drones, which look like large torpedoes, will be among the new systems on show at next week's parade.

These could allow China to carry out surveillance deep underwater and detect other submarines or even undersea cables without risking its own naval forces.

Much of the technology is still "unproven and the timeline of its capabilities is still unclear", cautions Matthew Funaiole from CSIS's China Power Project. "The big question is how long will it take for the technology to mature."

And that's why the US cannot overlook the threat China's shipbuilding represents, he adds.

The country's vast naval buildup is being propelled by a party that is still reeling from the pains of the past - and is more than willing to channel them to buttress its message of loyalty, power and patriotism.

Holding a massive military parade to commemorate the victory over Japan, and the end of its brutal occupation, is testament to that.

What the rest of the world sees as China's rise, Xi sees as its resurgence.

He has touted the value of a "strong navy to safeguard national security". He cites 470 invasions between 1840 and 1949 - as the once-powerful Qing empire cracked, China plunged into turmoil, revolution and civil war, bringing "untold suffering".

And he has vowed that his country will never again be "humiliated" or relive those "bitter memories of foreign assaults".

Where China has an undeniable edge is the dual use of shipyards. Many of those that support commercial production can also help produce warships for the navy.

Military and civilian shipyards work hand in hand in some places, which state media describes as "military-civilian fusion", a concept Xi has pushed hard.

Dalian, which Beijing calls a "flagship shipyard", plays a big part in this.

In full view of the picnicking pensioners waving karaoke mics are huge commercial ships, some as long as three football fields.

But just around the corner, berthed where no-one can take pictures, is a group of military vessels. There, a crane is lowering a helicopter onto the huge deck of a ship, as a marching band bellows in Suoyuwan park.

"This is a politically motivated agenda to merge both the commercial and military entities together," Mr Funaiole says. "There are efforts to bring the technology needed to build both into a centralised location – Dalian is one of them."

That is why even without powerful aircraft carriers or submarines, China's commercial fleet and its expertise in building ships quickly can be key during a crisis, he adds.

"In any protracted conflict, if you have shipyards that quickly produce new ships, this is a huge strategic advantage," Mr Funaiole says. "Commercial ships can transport food etc into any conflict zone. Without this, the US is in a position where it might not be able to sustain a prolonged war effort."

It boils down to a straight question, he says: "Who can put more assets into the water more quickly and readily?"

The answer, at the moment, is China.

'Hide your strength, bide your time'

But the world should not worry, says Prof Hu Bo, director of the Center for Maritime Strategy Studies at Peking University.

"We have no interest in interfering in the business of other countries, especially militarily," he adds. His message is that China is building big ships because it can, not because it wants to take over the world.

There is one island which China does not see as another country: Taiwan.

Beijing has long vowed to "reunify" with the democratic island and has not ruled out the use of force. In recent years, high-ranking US officials have declared that China will invade Taiwan by 2027, but Beijing denies there is a deadline.

"China already has the capacity to take Taiwan back," Prof Hu Bo says, "but China doesn't do that because we have patience. China has never given up on the prospect of peaceful unification. We can wait."

The bigger concern is that any attack on Taiwan could trigger a wider war, and involve the US. Washington is bound by law to provide arms to help Taiwan defend itself - support which is unacceptable to Beijing for what is considers a breakaway province that will eventually be part of China.

Earlier this year US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that China posed an "imminent" threat to Taiwan, and urged Asian countries to boost defence spending and work with the US to deter war.

So despite Prof Hu Bo's assurances, it is hard to ignore the fact that China's warships are beginning to sail further from the country's shores.

In February, they were seen circumnavigating Australia's coastline for more than three weeks where they staged unprecedented live-fire drills.

More recently Chinese aircraft carriers conducted naval drills near Japan, sparking concern - although it was in international waters, the move was unprecedented.

As Beijing grows bolder in its attempts to project power in the Pacific, China's neighbours, from Taiwan to Australia, are worried that its famous mantra is paying off: "hide your strength and bide your time".

But Prof Hu Bo believes that fears of a conflict between the US, whose allies in the region - Japan, South Korea and Australia - are often at odds with China, are overblown, because they all know it could be catastrophic.

"In the last three years, I think the signal is very clear that both sides don't want to fight," he says. "We are prepared for that, but we don't want to fight with each other."

'We defend our ocean dream'

Back in Dalian, around an hour's drive from the vibrant city, tourists are arriving by the coach load in the naval fortress town of Lushunkou, which also has a military theme park in the shape of an aircraft carrier.

Guides on loud microphones lead their groups into the park, pointing to the official notices warning visitors not to photograph the military vessels moored in the crescent-shaped harbour and to report any behaviour that might be construed as spying "to help defend the Motherland".

More military notices on bridges and walls declare, "united as one, we defend our ocean dream".

China has fostered pride in its shipbuilding prowess, especially here in Dalian.

At the theme park, which also overlooks the shipyard, a 50-year-old blogger dressed in the local fashion - a floral pattern shirt - is giving his followers their daily rundown of the latest ships being built in the port.

"I am very proud – really, look at what this city gives us," he announces to his followers. A mother and her seven-year-old daughter, on holiday from the neighbouring province, marvel at the ships. "I was amazed. It's huge. How does it sail, I wonder?"

The key question for the US and its allies is how far can China's war fleet sail, and how far from its shores is Beijing prepared to venture.

"At what point will they will break out and be able to really show influence further afield, for example, in the Indian Ocean and beyond, will be a key thing to look at," Nick Childs says.

"They still have a significant way to go, but they are that they are certainly pushing the boundaries."

The final phase of the largest-ever expansion of publicly funded childcare support has begun in England, as thousands of working parents receive more help with their nursery costs.

Those eligible are now able to access 30 hours of childcare per week during term-time, paid for by the government, for their children aged nine months to four years.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was a "landmark moment" for working families, and that the scheme would "put money back in working parents' pockets".

But parents say they are facing long waiting lists for places, with nurseries warning that staff shortages are limiting their availability.

• How working parents can get 30 hours of free childcare

Parents Josh Harper and Chloe Hart say their 18-month-old son Oakley's name was the first one on the waiting list at his new nursery in Altrincham.

The £240-a-month saving on fees, which are falling from £1,130 to £889 because of the scheme extending from 15 hours to 30 hours of funded care, "just releases that little bit of stress", mum Chloe says.

"It is a significant saving and one that does really help us," dad Josh adds.

Both teachers, the couple were keen to secure a place, aware that demand has been rising.

The government had estimated that about 70,000 extra places would be needed by this September to accommodate that increase in demand.

The number of spaces is rising but availability varies across the country – and nurseries and childminders say inquiries for places have "gone through the roof" from families eligible for the extra funding.

"A few years ago, the percentage of families getting the funding was probably 20%, now I'd say it's nearly 95% of families," George Apel says as he shows me around the newly opened Altrincham Day Nursery, the Apel family's seventh nursery.

"Parents are having to be a lot more flexible with their acceptance of what days are available. Before, parents could try to match their childcare to their job, now they're actually matching their job to their childcare availability."

For Rachael Darbyshire, who lives in Bolton, the search for a childcare place for her return to work next summer has proved challenging.

Although she started her search before six-week-old Gabriel was born, all of her local nurseries have waiting lists up until September 2026.

"It is a massive help and will bring our bill down from £1200 to around £800, but the biggest issue is that it is only great if you can actually get a childcare place," Rachael says.

"It's all well and good saying that there are these hours available, but if the childcare places are not there, then it's not really supporting women in returning to work."

Some parents are going to extra lengths to make themselves eligible for the funded hours as early as possible.

Rachel Williams, from Warwick, says she was thinking about the scheme before the birth of her twins in 2022, when doctors told her she would need a Caesarean four weeks early.

She opted to have the procedure at the end of that March, rather than the beginning of April, so she wouldn't miss the deadline for being eligible for funded hours at the start of the April term.

"My friends all laughed at me, but it was a really conscious decision and it's definitely saved us thousands and thousands of pounds," she says.

If the twins were born in April, they wouldn't have been eligible for funded hours until the September entry points.

"You shouldn't really have to be thinking about that," Rachel says.

Research from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) suggests that workforce issues could be a key barrier to delivering the promised offer to parents, with low pay and limited progression opportunities a constant challenge for staff.

It is estimated the sector needs 35,000 more staff to provide the funded hours expansion, and the NFER says even if that figure is reached, there are likely to be regional discrepancies.

The government says the number of staff delivering funded childcare in nurseries rose to 272,500 this year - up by 18,200 from 2024, which it said was the highest increase on record.

It has been offering a £1,000 incentive for new recruits, or for people rejoining the workforce in some areas.

But Mr Apel says "retention is arguably more important than recruitment".

The nursery has started its own recruitment company because of the struggle to bring in and keep early years workers.

The number of childminders has also been continuing its long-term decline, with Ofsted figures showing the numbers falling by 1,000 in the last year.

'Free' childcare

There has also been confusion around what is "free" as part of the scheme, and what has to be paid for.

The government-funded hours cover term-time only, and providers say the funding rates, particularly for children aged three and four, are lower than the costs.

It means many nurseries are putting up their prices. A University of Bath study tracking fees over the past 18 months found that they have risen fastest in areas with the lowest government funding, which it says could deepen regional inequalities.

"Parents are phoning up, they're looking for this thing that's been called 'free', and then they are met with additional charges, for meals or nappies," says Sarah Ronan, from the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, which represents childcare providers and charities.

"The sector has been tasked with rolling out the biggest expansion of childcare in history, and they're doing it in a really constrained financial environment."

She says without extra funding, providers may reduce the number of hours they can offer and pause their recruitment plans, further limiting the availability of places.

Joeli Brearley, founder of the Pregnant The Screwed campaign group and the parent support programme Growth Spurt, says there is "a tussle between parents and providers" who are both struggling.

"For parents, it's really complicated, it's not really working," Ms Brearley says.

"We are hearing from parents who are moving their C-section day in order to fit in with the funding criteria, we're hearing from women who say they've gone to their midwife for a sweep to try and bring labour on faster, and people that are asking for inductions earlier just so they can fit with the funding criteria - and that is madness."

A survey by Growth Spurt and Women in Data suggests that many parents are paying extra consumable fees of £15 a day.

The government has issued guidance saying any additional costs need to be laid out clearly and are optional, but nurseries say charging for extras is the only way to make up the shortfall.

There is also concern about those being left out.

Parents who are ineligible for the entitlements pay £205 per week more for a child under two, according to Coram Family and Childcare.

The charity says a child with working parents eligible for the entitlements will receive three times as much government-funded early education than a disadvantaged child by the time they start school.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the scheme was designed to give children "the best start in life", and provide a "huge boost" to the economy.

"And this is just the beginning," she added.

"My vision for early years goes beyond this milestone. I want access to high-quality early years for every single family that needs it, without strings and without unfair charges.

"Over the next few years, that is my commitment to parents."

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A US judge has temporarily blocked an attempt by the Trump administration to deport dozens of unaccompanied Guatemalan children back to their home country.

District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan's order on Sunday was in response to reports children had been put onto planes and were about to be sent to Guatemala, where lawyers argued they would be at risk of abuse and persecution.

The children arrived in the US alone and are in government custody while their immigration claims are assessed.

Lawyers for the US justice department said the children were not being deported, but rather repatriated so they could be reunited with family.

The legal proceedings were sparked early on Sunday when immigrant advocacy groups asked for an emergency injunction, claiming around 600 children could be put on planes in Texas and deported.

Judge Sooknanan then issued a temporary restraining order barring officials from sending a group of 10 migrant children between the ages of 10 and 17 to Guatemala.

At a hastily arranged hearing on Sunday afternoon, Judge Sooknanan, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden, expanded the order to cover all unaccompanied children said to be at risk of deportation. The order will be in place for 14 days.

At the hearing, Judge Sooknanan sought assurances from Trump administration lawyers that planes had not already departed with the children on board.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign said all planes were "on the ground" in the US. He told the judge one plane may have taken off but had returned.

Ensign said the flights were not part of a deportation effort but for family reunifications with parents and other relatives in Guatemala.

He also said the Guatemalan government and the children's relatives had requested the reunifications. Advocacy groups said that was untrue in at least some cases.

In court filings, lawyers for the children argued the action was in violation of federal laws designed to protect children who arrive in the US alone. They said some of the children had pending cases before immigration judges and expressed credible fears about being returned.

"In the dead of night on a holiday weekend, the Trump administration ripped vulnerable, frightened children from their beds and attempted to return them to danger in Guatemala," Efrén C Olivares of the National Immigration Law Center, which filed the suit, said in a statement.

"We are heartened the court prevented this injustice from occurring before hundreds of children suffered irreparable harm."

White House immigration advisor Stephen Miller criticised the judge for blocking the flights.

"The minors have all self-reported that their parents are back home in Guatemala," he wrote on X. "But a Democrat judge is refusing to let them reunify with their parents."

Since the start of his second term, Trump has embarked on sweeping efforts to remove undocumented migrants - a key election promise that drew mass support during this campaign.

In June, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump to resume deportations of migrants to countries other than their homeland without giving them the chance to raise the risks they might face.

In a shopping plaza an hour outside Toronto, flanked by a day spa and a shawarma joint, sits a two-storey building with blue tinted windows reflecting the summer sun.

It is the modest headquarters of Canadensys Aerospace, where Canada is charting its first trip to the Moon.

Canadensys is developing the first-ever Canadian-built rover for exploring the Earth's only natural satellite, in what will be the first Canadian-led planetary exploration endeavour.

Models, maps and posters of outer space line the office walls, while engineers wearing anti-static coats work on unfamiliar-looking machines.

Sending this rover to the Moon is part of the company's "broader strategy of really moving humanity off the Earth", Dr Christian Sallaberger, Canadensys' president and CEO, told the BBC.

Learning about the Moon - which is seen to have the potential to become a base for further space exploration - is the "logical first step", he said.

"People get all excited about science fiction films when they come out. You know, Star Wars or Star Trek. This is the real thing."

The Canadian vehicle is part of Nasa's Artemis programme, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon.

As part of that overarching goal, this rover aims to find water and measure radiation levels on the lunar surface in preparation for future manned missions, and survive multiple lunar nights (equivalent to about 14 days on Earth).

The rover will also demonstrate Canadian technology, building on Canada's history in space.

Canada was the third country to launch a satellite, designed the Canadarm robotic arms for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, and is known for astronauts such as Chris Hadfield and Jeremy Hansen - the latter of whom will orbit the Moon on the Artemis II mission next year.

The 35kg rover is scheduled to be launched as part of a Nasa initiative in 2029 at the earliest. It will land on the Moon's south polar region - one of the most inhospitable places on the lunar surface.

The vehicle does not have a name yet. The Canadian Space Agency held an online competition to select one, and is expected to announce the winner in the future.

Canadensys is currently working on several prototypes of the rover. The final vehicle, Mr Sallaberger said, would be assembled shortly before launch.

Each component is tested to ensure it can survive the Moon's harsh conditions.

Temperature is one of the main obstacles. Lunar nights can plummet to -200C (-328F) and rise to a scorching daytime of 100C (212F).

"It's one of the biggest engineering challenges we have because it's not so much even surviving the cold temperature, but swinging between very cold and very hot," he said.

Designing the wheels is another challenge, as the Moon's surface is covered with a sticky layer of fragmented rock and dust called regolith.

"Earth dirt, if you look at it microscopically, has been weathered off. It's more or less in a round shape; but on the Moon the lunar dirt soil is all jagged," Mr Sallaberger said.

"It's like Velcro dirt," he said, noting it "just gums up mechanisms".

The search for water on the lunar surface is especially exciting, considering the Moon was generally thought to be bone dry following the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 70s, the US human spaceflight programme led by Nasa.

That perception changed in 2008, Dr Gordon Osinski, the mission's chief scientist, told the BBC, when researchers re-analysed some Apollo mission samples and found particles of water.

Around the same time, space crafts observing the Moon detected its presence from orbit.

It has yet to be verified on the ground and many questions remain, the professor at Western University in London, Ontario, said.

"Is it like a patch of ice the size of this table? The size of a hockey rink? Most people think, like in the Arctic, it's probably more like grains of ice mixed in with the soil," he said.

Water on the Moon could have huge implications for more sustainable exploration. He noted one of the heaviest things they need to transport is often water, so having a potential supply there would open doors.

Water molecules can also be broken down to obtain hydrogen, which is used in rocket fuel. Mr Osinski described a future where the Moon could become a sort of petrol station for spacecrafts.

"It gets more in the realms of sci- fi," he said.

Canada has wanted to build a lunar surface vehicle for decades, with talk of a Canadian-made spacecraft even in the early 2000s - but it was not until 2019 that concrete plans were announced.

Canadensys was awarded the C$4.7m ($3.4m; £2.5m) contract three years later.

Founded in 2013, Canadensys has worked on a variety of aerospace projects for organisations like Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency, as well as commercial clients.

More than 20 instruments built by the company have been used in a host of missions on the Moon.

But there are challenges ahead - as even landing on the Moon is no easy feat.

In March, a spacecraft by commercial US firm Intuitive Machines toppled over onto its side during landing, ending the mission prematurely.

Three months later, Japanese company iSpace's Resilience lost touch with Earth during its landing, and eventually failed.

"That's the nature of the business we're in," Mr Sallaberger said. "Things do go wrong, and we try to do the best we can to mitigate that."

Space exploration has been a collaborative field over the years, with countries - even rivals, such as the United States and Russia - working together on the International Space Station.

But that might be changing, Mr Osinski said. As the prospect of a permanent presence on the Moon becomes more realistic, wider geopolitical questions have begun to swirl around the ownership of the satellite.

"There's more talk around who owns the Moon and space resources," Mr Osinski said.

In 2021, the US passed a law to protect the Apollo Moon landing site "because they had a concern that China could just go and grab the US flag, or take a piece of an Apollo lander", he said.

But he had some encouraging words about the Artemis missions, which are "even way more international than the space station".

The Artemis Accords, which is a set of ideals to promote sustainable and peaceful exploration of outer space, has been signed by more than 50 countries - including ones like Uruguay, Estonia and Rwanda, which are not traditionally seen as key space race nations.

Space is also becoming more accessible. Private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin have taken an increasingly important role and are able to take anyone with the money and barely any training - like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and pop star Katy Perry - into space for a few minutes.

But the Moon is the Holy Grail, as it opens up all sorts of possibilities.

Mr Sallaberger said that Canadensys is involved in longer-term projects, such as lunar greenhouses for food production.

Those still remain many years in the future, but the rover is a starting point.

"If you design something that can survive on the lunar surface long-term, you're pretty bulletproof anywhere else in the solar system."

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