Migrants leave US-Mexican border camps

Haitian migrants get off a truck as they arrive at a shelter. (AFP)

CIUDAD ACUA, Sept 25,(AFP) - Almost all of the mostly Haitian migrants who had gathered on both sides of the US-Mexico border have left their makeshift camps, ending a standoff that had provoked a major border crisis for the Biden administration.

At Ciudad Acuna on the Mexican side, AFP saw migrants packing up their belongings and getting into vans taking them to a shelter, after a deal struck with the Mexican government.

Just hours beforehand the United States had announced that the last of the migrants who were camping illegally under a bridge on the Texas side of the border had either left or been removed.

Iraqi Kurdistan conference pushes Baghdad-Israel normalisation

ARBIL, Sept 25,(AFP) - More than 300 Iraqis, including tribal leaders, attended a conference in autonomous Kurdistan organised by a US think-tank demanding a normalisation of relations between Baghdad and Israel, organisers said Saturday.

The first initiative of its kind in Iraq, where Israel's sworn enemy Iran has a very strong influence, the conference took place on Friday and was organised by the New York-based Center for Peace Communications (CPC).

The CPC advocates for normalising relations between Israel and Arab countries, alongside working to establish ties between civil society organisations.

Britain expected to ease visa rules as truck driver shortage bites

LONDON, Sept 25, (Reuters) - Britain is expected to announce plans to issue temporary visas to truck drivers to alleviate an acute labour shortage that has led to fuel rationing at some filling stations and warnings from retailers https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-resolve-trucker- shortage- swiftly-minister- says-2021-09-24 of significant disruption in the run-up to Christmas.

As queues started forming outside filling stations early on Saturday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said it was looking at temporary measures to address the shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers. Newspapers reported that the government would allow up to 5,000 foreign drivers into Britain on short-term visas, a measure that logistics companies and retailers have demanded for months but which the government had previously ruled out.