Foreign News
Rishi Sunak sees off Tory rebellion in Rwanda bill vote
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has seen off a Tory rebellion over his flagship Rwanda bill but still faces a battle to get it through Parliament.
The legislation comfortably passed its first Commons hurdle with a majority of 44, but there will be further votes in the new year. No Tory MPs voted against but some critics on the right of the party rebelled by abstaining.
Rebels said they had been told the PM would consider “tightening” the bill. But this could risk losing the support of more centrist Tory MPs, who have warned they would oppose any future changes which would breach international law.
The emergency legislation was drawn up to revive the government’s plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda. The government say the scheme is designed to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats – something Mr Sunak has made one of his key priorities.
In a sign of nerves in Downing Street over the potential for a tight result, Climate Minister Graham Stuart flew back from the COP28 climate conference in Dubai to vote.
But despite some Tories on the right threatening to vote against the bill, in the end only opposition MPs did, and the bill passed by 313 votes to 269. Some 37 Tory MPs – including former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, who resigned over the legislation last week, and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman – did not record a vote.
The majority of these come from factions who earlier said they could not support the bill and are likely to have deliberately abstained. However, others may have been unable to attend to vote.
Shortly before the vote, five factions of backbench MPs – the European Research Group (ERG), the New Conservatives, the Common Sense Group, the Conservative Growth Group and Northern Research Group – announced they could not support the bill in its current form.
They plan to propose amendments and said they could vote the bill down when it returns to the Commons in the new year if the changes they wanted were not accepted.
ERG chairman Mark Francois, who was among those who abstained, told BBC News: “Our objection was that we don’t believe, as it’s currently drafted, the bill is firm enough to ensure that flights will take off to Rwanda. The prime minister had said that he would entertain tightening up the bill. We’re taking him at his word,” he said. “A number of MPs voted with the government tonight because they were told in private that there would be amendments later on.” However, agreeing to their demands would create new problems for the government.
The centrist One Nation group, which includes more than 100 Tory MPs, had recommended that its members vote for the bill, but warned it would oppose any future amendments “that would mean the UK government breaching the rule of law and its international obligations”.
Tougher legislation may also be more difficult to get through the House of Lords.
One Nation chairman Damian Green told BBC News the vote had seen far fewer abstentions than expected and that “if the government sticks to its guns then it can probably get this legislation through intact”.
Home Office Minister Chris Philp said the government would listen to ideas from MPs on how to improve the bill. “Like with any bill, government ministers will be talking to members of Parliament to see if there are ways of tightening this even further, to improve the drafting to make sure there are absolutely no loopholes at all,” he added.
The bill seeks to declare in UK law that Rwanda is a safe country to send asylum seekers to, after the Supreme Court ruled the policy was unlawful last month.
However, critics on the right of the party have argued it is not currently strong enough to prevent legal challenges to deportations.
A No 10 spokesperson said the bill was “the toughest legislation ever introduced to Parliament” and “makes clear that this Parliament, not any foreign court is sovereign”.
“We will now work to ensure that this bill gets on to the statute book so that we can get flights off to Rwanda and stop the boats,” the spokesperson added.
Labour voted against the bill, along with other opposition parties, and the party has said it would scrap the Rwanda plan if it wins the next election.
It says the millions of pounds given to Rwanda as part of the deal would be better spent tackling people-smuggling gangs.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The Conservatives’ civil war is continuing, and the country is paying the price for this chaos.
“Today’s debate shows how weak Rishi Sunak is with this Tory psychodrama now dragging on into the new year.”
(BBC)
An explosion set off by fireworks has killed at least three people in a residential neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii, marking a tragic start to the new year on the island of Oahu. Two were pronounced dead on the scene.
The blast happened just after midnight local time (10:00 GMT) on Wednesday, as revellers celebrated the arrival of New Year’s Day. As many as 20 others were injured
The explosion took place at a house, and drone footage of the blast shows a profusion of fireworks erupting into a column of smoke against the night sky.
Jim Ireland, the director of the Honolulu Emergency Services Department, said he saw many burns and “blast-type injuries” when he arrived at the site of the explosion, including from shrapnel.
“I’ve been in the EMS [emergency medical services] for over 30 years, and this is probably the worst call I’ve ever been on, as far as just the immense tragedy and amount of patients and the severity of the injuries,” Ireland said.
He explained that the injuries required a “massive response”. Ireland’s department deployed 10 ambulances, and he noted the presence of ambulances from the federal fire department as well.
The explosion took place not far from a joint base for the United States Air Force and Navy. Fire engines from nearby Pearl Harbor responded to the scene.
At a news conference, Justin Brownfield, a representative for the Honolulu Fire Department, said his agency also sent eight units and two battalion chiefs. He described “massive wreckage” at the site. “The initial units on scene were confronted by dozens of victims, including many who were critical,” Ireland said, describing his initial impressions of the scene.
The US government frequently warns about the risks associated with amateur firework use during the holiday season.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, a government agency,reports that eight deaths and an estimated 9,700 injuries were attributed to firework use in 2023 alone.
No details have been revealed about the cause of Wednesday’s fireworks explosion in Honolulu.
But Hawaii Governor Josh Green called out the use of unpermitted fireworks in a statement responding to the blast.
The use of aerial fireworks, as well as ground-based fireworks like sparklers and fountains, are considered illegal in Oahu. “Because combating illegal fireworks has been a priority, we established the Illegal Fireworks Task Force last year to identify and disrupt supply chains,” Governor Green said in Wednesday’s statement. “It has seized 227,000 pounds [103,000kg] of illegal fireworks to date, but incidents like this remind us of the ongoing challenges we face.”
The mayor of Honolulu, Rick Blangiardi, likewise issued a press release to local media pledging to pursue stiffer penalties against those who use fireworks illegally. “This incident is a painful reminder of the danger posed by illegal fireworks, which put lives at risk, drain our first responder resources, and disrupt our communities,” Blangiardi said in the statement.
“Year after year, a minority of individuals recklessly endanger us all. This is absurd and unacceptable. My administration remains committed to working with federal and state agencies to shut down this illegal firework trade once and for all.”
[Aljazeera]
A well-known American football player, a young aspiring nurse and a mother of a four-year-old are among the victims of the New Year’s day attack in New Orleans in which at least 15 people were killed.
Their names are being released by families and relatives before authorities complete post-mortem examinations.
Here’s what is know so far.
Martin ‘Tiger’ Bech
Martin “Tiger” Bech is a former football player at Princeton University.
His death was confirmed in a statement by the university.
“There was no more appropriate nickname of a Princeton player I coached,” Princeton football coach Bob Surace said in a statement. “He was a ‘Tiger’ in every way – a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend.”
Martin Bech’s brother, Jack Bech, posted a tribute on X alongside a news article reporting his death. “Love you always brother!” he wrote. “You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us.”
Mr Bech was a member of the 2016 and 2018 Ivy League Championship teams.
Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux
The 18-year-old was an aspiring nurse.
Her death was confirmed by her mother, Melissa Dedeaux, on social media. “I lost my baby just pray for me and my family pleaseeeeee!!! God I need you now!!,” the mother pleaded, along with a photograph of her daughter wearing a red graduation cap and gown from this year.
Ms Dedeaux – who is also a nurse – told local media outlet Nola that her daughter had been due to start her nurse training later this month.
She added that Nikyra had snuck out with a cousin and friend, who both survived.
Reggie Hunter
The death of the store manager and father of two was confirmed to CBS News, the BBC News’ US partner, by his cousin Shirell Robinson Jackson.
Ms Jackson described him as “full of life”, and said the 37-year-old had messaged the family minutes after midnight to wish them a Happy New Near.
He was with another cousin who was injured in the attack.
Nicole Perez
Kimberly Usher Fall, Ms Perez’s friend and boss at the deli store she worked at, called her a dedicated, smart and a “good-hearted person”, according to CBS.
The 27-year-old was also a mother to a four-year-old boy.
Matthew Tenedorio
The 25-year-old audio-visual technician had a “laid-back spirit and infectious laughter” that brought joy to those around him, according to a fundraiser his family set up in his name.
His mother Cathy Tenedorio, told US broadcaster NBC News, she last saw her son alive at 21:00 local time on New Year’s Eve, adding she remembered hugging and kissing him.
[BBC]
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has approved a law that abolishes the death penalty in the southern African state with immediate effect.
Rights group Amnesty hailed the decision as a “beacon of hope for the abolitionist movement in the region”, but expressed regret that the death penalty could be reinstated during a state of emergency.
Mnangagwa’s move comes after Zimbabwe’s parliament voted earlier in December to scrap the death penalty.
Zimbabwe last carried out an execution by hanging in 2005, but its courts continued to hand down the death sentence for serious crimes like murder.
About 60 people were on death row at the end of 2023, according to Amnesty.
They will be re-sentenced by the courts, with judges ordered to consider the nature of their crime, the time they spent on death row and their personal circumstances, the state owned Herald newspaper reports.
Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the abolition of the death penalty was “more than a legal reform; it is a statement of our commitment to justice and humanity”.
The death sentence was introduced in what is now Zimbabwe during British colonial rule.
Mnangagwa has been a long-standing critic of capital punishment, citing his own experience of being sentenced to death in the 1960s for blowing up a train during the guerrilla war for independence. His sentence was later commuted to 10 years in prison.
The Death Penalty Abolition Act was published in the government gazette on Tuesday after Mnangagwa signed it into law.
Amnesty said the move was not “just great progress” for Zimbabwe but also a “major milestone” in international efforts to end “this ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment”.
It urged the Zimbabwean authorities to “remove the clause included in the amendments to the Bill allowing for the use of the death penalty for the duration of any state of public emergency”.
Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF party has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
It has repeatedly been accused by opposition and rights groups of ruling with an iron fist in its bid to remain in power.
Globally, 113 countries, including 24 in Africa, have fully abolished the death penalty, according to Amnesty.
The five countries with the highest number of executions in 2023 were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and the US, the rights group added.
[BBC]
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