Afghan asylum seekers in UK ‘trapped in limbo’

Introducing your newly designed Daily Briefing newsletter [View online]( August 23, 2021 [Morning Headlines]( [1 / ‘Dysfunctional and problematic’: Home Office urged to grant asylum to thousands of Afghans stuck in limbo]( Thousands of Afghan asylum seekers are stuck in a “nightmarish limbo” after reaching the UK amid mounting calls to give them the right to stay in Britain permanently. The Home Office has refused to say if it has halted the processing of more than 3,000 live asylum applications from Afghans in the UK, despite deleting all key guidance documents used to decide them. The government said the documents were “no longer relevant to the current situation”, after the Taliban seized power following a rapid advance, but has not yet published replacements. Labour accused the government of endangering lives with its “chaotic handling” of Britain’s withdrawal from the country and subsequent Taliban takeover. 2 / [GPs facing torrent of abuse and violence as patient frustration boils over]( London GP practice reports receiving hate mail telling staff they would be ‘put on trial for war crimes’ 3 / [Flu jab could be less effective against some strains due to Covid restrictions, says expert]( Vaccines could be less effective due to sharp drop in flu sample shipments during pandemic 4 / [Labour commit to reducing rate benefits are scaled back in bid to tackle in-work poverty]( Party also vows to fight universal credit with ‘every tool’ at disposal 5 / [Russian independent TV boss rails against Kremlin crackdown]( Kremlin has continued its attacks on the media by designating Russia’s only independent network a 'foreign agent' The Big Question Will OnlyFans survive its shift away from sexually-explicit content? OnlyFans was launched as a content subscription platform in November 2016 by British entrepreneur brothers Tim and Thomas Stokely, who intended the site to be a place where creatives could sell access to their videos and pictures, essentially crowdfunding their wages from the monetary contributions of loyal followers. While in theory that output could be anything, from live gaming streams to acoustic guitar performances, in practice the site has come to be primarily associated with pornography, popular with adult performers, webcam girls and strippers who can earn income from their fans directly at a time when their content is otherwise commonly uploaded to X-rated streaming sites without permission and where they typically receive little or nothing by way of royalties. Now OnlyFans, which has an estimated 130m subscribers, has surprised its users by announcing a change of tack, declaring a ban on “any content containing sexually-explicit conduct” from 1 October in order to “ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform”. Can it survive without one of its key users bases? [Read the full story >]( Watch / [Hundreds arrested at anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne]( NUMBER OF THE DAY 8 The number of inches (or 20 centimeters) the global sea level rose in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and accelerating slightly every year. (NASA) QUOTE OF THE DAY “Even amid the heart-wrenching scenes we see today, I believe they should be proud of their achievements and we should be deeply proud of them.” – Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the British forces who served in Afghanistan since 2001 Other stories you might like [Twin toddlers among 22 dead after record rain as dozens still missing]( [What Tony Blair and other MPs said about Afghanistan in 2001]( [Travel test companies warned over ‘misleading prices’ on gov.uk site]( If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. [The Independent]( Join the conversation or follow us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's Morning Headlines newsletter. Add us to your safe list of senders. If you do not want to receive The Independent's Morning Headlines newsletter, please [unsubscribe](list_name=IND_Headlines_Masterlist_CDP). If you no longer wish to receive any newsletters or promotional emails from The Independent, you can unsubscribe [here](. This e-mail was sent by Independent Digital News and Media Ltd, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF. Registered in England and Wales with company number 07320345. Read our [privacy notice]( and [cookie policy](.