Photo : Reuters
Photo : Reuters
By Padmashree Anandhan
THE UK
Parliament approves Rwanda plan to deport migrants
On 22 April, the UK Parliament approved the Rwanda plan to deport asylum seekers after a continued debate between the upper and lower houses. The bill skipped it first hurdle with no interventions from the House of Lords which earlier mandated modifications. Ahead of the vote, Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister assured to begin the deportation flights in the coming months. He added: “We are ready, plans are in place and these flights will go, come what may.” The vote held was a response of the UK government to the ruling given by the Supreme Court which found the deportation to Rwanda as a violation of international law. The bill would be a request to the court to reconsider Rwanda as a safe country and to allow UK the power to ignore the international and human rights law. In a statement, Council of Europe called: “The UK to abandon the plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, calling it an "infringement of judicial independence.” (“Rwanda plan: UK Parliament passes migrant deportation bill,” Deutsche Welle, 22 April 2024)
German Government urges UK to step up its defence
On 23 April, Politico reported on German government demand to the UK to increase its defence spending. The statement comes as Sunak is scheduled to visit Germany. Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor and Sunak are expected to discuss on defence spending after years of “real-term cuts.” The push for military spending has become intense since war in Ukraine and the NATO defence target was raised to two per cent. Till now Sunak has assured to boost the defence spending GDP to 2.5 per cent which is GBP nine billion but there has been no plan proposed to achieve this yet. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the Bundestag's defence committee said: “If Europe wants to be resilient on its own, the advance of Russia must also be stopped by Europe together with our partners. We need the British on board for this and with significantly more commitment.” (Stefan Boscia, Gordon Repinski, Esther Webber, Henry Donovan And James Angelos, “Germany urges UK’s Rishi Sunak to spend big on defense,” Politico, 23 April 2024)
Two men charged spying for China
On 22 April, UK’s Crown Prosecution Service reported on charging two men who were found breaking the UK’s Official Secrets Act. According to the report, the two were doing on behalf of China and will now be charged for providing prejudicial information and will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on 26 April. Dominic Murphy, Head of the Counter Terrorism Command at the Metropolitan Police said: “This has been an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations.” This has raised alert on Chinese spying activity and the UK government stated that it was being targeted by the Chinese intelligence. (“UK police charge 2 with spying for China,” Deutsche Welle, 22 April 2024)
TURKEY
Erdogan visit to Iraq seeks to ban PKK presence; Aims to forge cooperation
On 22 April, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s President visited Iraq after 2011. The reason behind the visit is to forge cooperation to fight against Kurdish PKK militants in northern Iraq. The relations between both are fluctuating since Turkey’s cross-border operations targeting PKK militants which Iraq observes as violations of sovereignty. In the joint conference with Shia al-Sudani, Iraqi Prime Minister, Erdogan affirmed to end the problem of the PKK presence in Iraq soon. Both leaders also agreed on a “Joint approach to security challenges” and a “strategic agreement” to source water. They also signed a framework agreement to collaborate on security, energy and economic cooperation. (“Turkey's Erdogan makes rare visit to Iraq,” Deutsche Welle, 22 April 2024)
REGIONAL
European Commission gives deadline for TikTok to share data on mental health risk
On 22 April, the European Commission announced a 24-hour deadline for TikTok to send the assessment of probable health risks associated with the app and on failure it will face a “daily fine.” The move comes as the social media company failed to give information in early April. The TikTok Lite, a condensed version was launched in France and Spain in March and was optimised for slow internet connection and less storage. This allowed user over 18 age to earn points to later redeem as gift vouchers. According to the Commission, it probes to know the mental health risk of this scheme. On failure of the company to give the information, will be subject to fine of one per cent of its annual revenue. (“EU sets TikTok ultimatum over 'addictive' new app feature,” Deutsche Welle, 22 April 2024)
Europe recorded the warmest in three years reports Copernicus
On 22 April, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) released a report indicating Europe to have witnessed the peak temperature with warmest three years since 2020 and ranked 10th warmest since 2007. It found a record number of largest wildfires, severe marine heatwaves and devasting floods. According to the report, one-third of Europe experienced “high flood threshold” impacting more than 1.6 million people. While weather and climate related events for resulted in damage of EUR 13.4 billion. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said: “The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our generation. The cost of climate action may seem high, but the cost of inaction is much higher.” Due to the rising temperatures and longing heat stress, the report estimates higher risk of health conditions such as exhaustion and heatstroke. (“Copernicus report shows year of weather extremes in Europe,” Deutsche Welle, 22 April 2024)