>> good afternoon britain. it's 12:00 on thursday the 17th of october. i'm tom harwood and i'm emily carver decision time. tonight's the night for the final two tory leadership contenders to battle it out to become the next leader of the conservative party. here on gb news. >> and the police have released a distressing nine 911 call requesting urgent assistance before one direction star liam payne fell 45ft to his death from a hotel balcony in buenos aires. tributes are flooding in mass amnesty. >> more than 60,000 migrants will be granted asylum in the uk in the next year. that's according to new analysis by the refugee council charity. isn't is this an amnesty in all but name and king charles and queen camilla are jetting off to australia today for their first

tour since the king's cancer diagnosis. >> what kind of welcome can they expect .7 expect? >> 60,000 approvals. that's 60,000 people who travelled to the uk illegally. yes. not irregularly. illegally. under the terms of the nationality and borders act, will likely now be granted asylum in the next 12 months. i mean , it's a pretty months. i mean, it's a pretty staggering number. yes. >> and this is just the analysis by the refugee council charity . by the refugee council charity. it could be much more. we know that approximately 120,000 people are in the system waiting who have come here illegally by dinghy or other means. is this an amnesty ? essentially, the an amnesty? essentially, the government will say no, they're

just dealing with the backlog much quicker than the conservative government ever did with getting through those claims. this is what's needed to end the use of hotels . but how end the use of hotels. but how high is that approval rate going to be? >> well, if you want to get through the backlog quickly, it's very, very easy. you're going to run into a lot less institutional resistance by just going approve approve approve approve, approve. >> and where are they all going to live? i mean, at the moment we have people , thousands of we have people, thousands of people all over the country living in hotels , waiting for living in hotels, waiting for their claims to be processed, either to be left here or to potentially be deported back to the country. they came from. so is it going to be social housing? is it going to be in the private rental sector? we know it takes rather a long time for people who arrive here as refugees and gain refugee status to, you know, find work. >> well, this is this is the point. if you come here as a on a work visa, you've got no recourse to public funds. in fact, you have to pay your own way. you even have to pay a surcharge to use the nhs. whereas if you come here as a refugee, even if some might say

that you came as an economic migrant, if your status is as a refugee, you get your housing paid for , you get all of these paid for, you get all of these benefits, you jump to the front of the of the of the housing waiting lists. it does strike me and i know this might be a little bit controversial. it does strike me that quite a few of the people who are coming across, who are granted refugee status would not be deemed to be refugees by other countries . refugees by other countries. perhaps they don't even think of themselves as refugees. they just want a better life. nothing wrong with wanting a better life, but my goodness me, the structures of this country mean that if you do it by that route, you get given so many things paid for by the taxpayer. >> you raise a good point. i mean, the acceptance rate is far lower in countries like france and germany. why is that? why is that anyway? get in touch, gbnews.com/yoursay. but let's get to the news headlines with sam . sam. >> tom. emily. thank you very much and good afternoon to you.

it's just after midday and we'll start with the story we've been following all morning that former one direction singer liam payne is being remembered today for his kindness and his compassion after his death in buenos aires at the age of 31. the trussell trust, just one of the charities paying tribute today, which he supported for four years, has praised the 31 year old year old for helping to fund over 360,000 meals for those in need. meanwhile, the x factor, where he rose to fame, has shared a tribute saying he will leave a lasting legacy on the music industry. auditions for britain's got talent have also been postponed following his death. the judge , the show's his death. the judge, the show's judge simon cowell, worked with liam on series seven of the x factor in 2010, launching one direction success. thousands of uk troops are being put on standby to deploy to estonia's border with russia, part of a crucial new agreement being

signed today by defence secretary john healey. it would mean that the army's fourth brigade will remain on high readiness to defend against rising tensions from the ongoing war in ukraine. currently, about 1000 british soldiers are in estonia and if called upon, the fourth brigade could arrive within ten days. equipped with advanced tanks and missile systems. whereas nato ministers gather in brussels this afternoon, the defence secretary said earlier that that new deal will enhance the group's defences in the face of escalating global threats. >> the uk's unshakeable commitment to nato could never be more important, and at a time of growing russian aggression and increasing wider threats , and increasing wider threats, today we will make the commitment to reinforce nato's eastern flank with a new plan alongside estonia for our forces there, and we will make a commitment , there, and we will make a commitment, a uk commitment, to

bolstering the future of europe's defences . europe's defences. >> staying with news out of that, nato summit, and we've heard in the last hour or so that the uk has hit russia with its largest sanctions package yet , targeting 18 oil tankers, yet, targeting 18 oil tankers, four gas ships linked to putin's so—called shadow fleet. that latest move blocks those ships from uk ports and maritime services , disrupting at least services, disrupting at least thatis services, disrupting at least that is the aim of a network that's pumped almost $5 billion into russia's war chest in the last 12 months. canada and the us have also joined the uk's call to action against that shadow fleet, now backed by 47 countries. foreign secretary david lammy says it's all part of a mission to strangle putin's energy revenues and to combat russia's threat to global security . and another line on security. and another line on russia today, russian spies are suspected of planting a bomb on a uk bound plane that caused a warehouse fire. the package, which arrived by air, sparked a blaze at a dhl warehouse near

birmingham in july but was quickly dealt with and no one was injured. investigators say they're now looking at potential links to a similar incident in germany. it comes after mi5's boss warned of continued russian aggression, including sabotage and arson targeting the uk. dhl has since boosted its security measures across europe in response to that ongoing investigation . kemi badenoch investigation. kemi badenoch says her bid for conservative leadership is a grassroots campaign taking aim at her rival robert jenrick. more media focused approach in recent weeks as the two contenders compete to replace rishi sunak , the shadow replace rishi sunak, the shadow housing secretary says the tories need to regain voters they lost to reform and the liberal democrats. meanwhile, robert jenrick has outlined his vision for a smaller state and lower taxes. he's also argued that returning the spend on benefits to pre—pandemic levels could help a tax cut. well, from 7:00 pm tonight, they'll be making their pitches to tory members in a special programme moderated by our political

edhon moderated by our political editor, christopher hope. and you can, of course, catch all that action live here on gb news seven till nine tonight in decision time. the race to lead. thousands of migrants could be granted asylum in the uk as the government pushes to clear a huge backlog of applications. the refugee council estimates the number of pending asylum claims could reach almost 120,000 by july next year , 120,000 by july next year, following labour's decision to scrap the rwanda plan. new analysis suggests that processing that backlog could see over 62,000 more people recognised as refugees in the uk. it comes as downing street says it's committed to ending the use of asylum hotels, despite recent reports that the home office may reopen some that were previously closed . a new were previously closed. a new report has claimed the world bank has lost track of billions of pounds in climate finance. oxfam says up to $41 billion. that's nearly 40% of climate funding from 2017 to 23 is

unaccounted for in the bank's records. the report suggests there's no public trace of how or if that money was even spent on climate projects. the world bank has yet to comment on those findings . bank has yet to comment on those findings. parliament's first bionic lord has pledged to battle the health secretary to raise awareness of sepsis battle the health secretary to raise awarenes