World

LONDON — An influx of asylum seekers into Ireland from the UK is evidence that London’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is acting as a deterrent, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

Ireland’s Minister of Justice Helen McEntee told a parliamentary committee this week that she estimates around 80 per cent of those applying for asylum in her country came over the land border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.

Sunak told Sky News, in comments released Saturday but that will air Sunday, that it showed his controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was “already having an impact” as a deterrent.

“Illegal migration is a global challenge, which is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships,” Sunak told Sky News.

“But what it also shows, I think, is that the deterrent is... already having an impact because people are worried about coming here,” he added.

“If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay there, much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”

The Rwanda bill cleared its final parliamentary hurdle on Monday, after a marathon tussle between the upper and lower chambers of parliament lasting late into the night.

Sunak hopes the bill will prevent asylum seekers from trying to enter the UK illegal by making small boat crossings of the Channel from northern Europe.

Immigration is set to be a key issue in a general election due this year, with Sunak’s Tories currently languishing in the polls.

LONDON — Britain's Royal Navy shot down a missile fired at a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden by Iranian-backed Houthis, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

The Houthis said their missiles had "directly hit" a British ship.

The HMS Diamond warship used a Sea Viper missile system to shoot down the missile on Wednesday, the British ministry said.

"The UK continues to be at the forefront of the international response to the Iranian-backed Houthis' dangerous attacks on commercial vessels, which have claimed the lives of international mariners," Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said.

"I want to thank the brave crew of HMS Diamond for her vital role in saving innocent lives and protecting international shipping from illegal Houthi attacks."

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree confirmed that a missile attack had been staged in a post on X, the former Twitter.

He said Houthi "naval forces" had "targeted a British oil ship [Andromeda Star] in the Red Sea with a number of appropriate naval missiles and the ship was directly hit".

The Houthis also said they had shot down a US drone on Thursday over Yemeni territory.

US and British forces on January 12 fired their first joint strikes at Houthi facilities targeting vessels in the key Red Sea trade route. The Houthis says the attacks are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war with Hamas.

The Houthis began targeting Red Sea shipping in November.

The US military has also carried out unilateral air raids, but the Huthis have vowed to continue their attacks.

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed legislation authorising desperately needed military aid for Ukraine, saying Washington would begin sending new assistance to Kyiv within hours.

The passage of the $95 billion package — which also includes aid for Israel and Taiwan and a measure to potentially ban TikTok in the United States — comes after months of delay that saw Ukrainian forces run short of ammunition and suffer battlefield setbacks.

"I just signed into law the national security package that was passed by the House of Representatives this weekend, and by the Senate yesterday," Biden told reports, saying he is "making sure the shipments start right away, in the next few hours".

"It's going to make America safer, it's going to make the world safter and it continues American leadership in the world and everyone knows it," Biden said of the legislation.

"It gives vital support to America's partners so they can defend themselves against threats to their sovereignty and to the lives and freedoms of their citizens".

The aid legislation only passed the House of Representatives after months of acrimonious debate among lawmakers over how or even whether to help Ukraine — which Russia invaded in February 2022 — defend itself.

A similar aid package passed the Senate in February, but had been stalled in the House while Republican Speaker Mike Johnson — heeding calls from ex-president Donald Trump and his hardline allies — demanded concessions from Biden on immigration policies, before a sudden reversal.

The United States has been a key military backer of Ukraine, but Congress had not approved large-scale funding for Kyiv for nearly a year and a half, and the financing of the war has become a point of contention ahead of a presidential election in November.

Ukraine’s military is facing a severe shortage of weapons and recruits as Moscow exerts constant pressure from the east, with frontline circumstances are expected to worsen in the coming weeks.

SKOPJE, Republic of North Macedonia — North Macedonia on Wednesday held the first round of a presidential election — the first in a series of votes that could decide whether the Balkan country will join the European Union.

It will be followed by a presidential run-off and a parliamentary poll on May 8.

The elections come amid a two-year standoff between the government and the opposition over how to deal with neighbouring Bulgaria blocking its path to EU membership.

Relations with Bulgaria have been strained for years by disputes over the two countries’ languages and history.

Sofia has refused to back the opening of accession talks between Skopje and the EU until North Macedonia recognises its tiny Bulgarian minority in the constitution.

President Stevo Pendarovski and the ruling centre-left Social Democrats (SDSM) are prepared to make the amendments but lack the numbers to win a parliamentary vote. 

The opposition VMRO-DPMNE Party says constitutional changes can only come after North Macedonia joins the EU, a stance the government says is unrealistic.

Wednesday’s vote puts the two opposing views on the ballot, with Pendarovski in danger of being unseated by Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, who is backed by the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE. 

After about six hours of voting, turnout stood at 26 per cent , according to the state electoral commission. 

Old rivals 

The long-time political rivals, who also faced off in the last presidential election in 2019, lead a crowded field of seven candidates.

Pendarovski and the SDSM have vowed to unlock the stalled talks with the EU and shepherd the constitutional changes through the parliament.

“The priority of the new parliament will be adopting the constitutional changes and I expect that process to start immediately after the elections,” he said.

Siljanovska-Davkova and the VMRO-DPMNE said North Macedonia — which had to change its name in 2018 from Macedonia to settle a separate long-running dispute with Greece — will not be pushed around on the issue.

“Only unity can push us forward... and make us feel proud,” the retired law professor and former MP told a rally on Monday night.

After voting, Siljanovska-Davkova remained confident saying, “the hour has come for this government to go”.

The message appears to resonate with many who are looking for a change. 

“From these elections I expect total change of the government and finally the interests of Macedonia to be protected,” Filip Zdraveski, 38, told AFP after voting in the capital Skopje. 

Wednesday’s vote will be closely watched as a barometer for the parliamentary elections, said analyst Ana Petruseva, head of the Macedonia branch of regional investigative reporting outlet BIRN.

“The presidential elections’ first round will be a dress-rehearsal for the parliamentary elections on May 8 and reveal the major political parties’ standings,” she told AFP.

Opinion polls have suggested Pendarovski is heading for defeat. 

Siljanovska-Davkova leads in the polls with 26 per cent  support followed by Pendarovski on 16 per cent .

The support of the five other candidates may be vital for the runoff, Petruseva added.

The five include Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, supported by the ethnic Albanian DUI Party — a partner in the ruling coalition — and Arben Taravari of the opposition ethnic Albanian coalition.

The DUI has offered its backing in the second round on condition that future presidents be elected by MPs, which it hopes would one day lead to an ethnic Albanian holding the position.

Albanians make up more than a quarter of the country’s population of 1.8 million.

Pendarovski and Siljanovska-Davkova have dismissed the idea, saying it is more democratic for the head of state to be selected through a direct vote.

Ordinary voters, however, seem more interested in making ends meet.

“I hope that whoever wins will improve living standards and make a better future, especially for young people,” civil servant Sanja Jovanovic-Damjanovska told AFP.

NAIROBI — Roads turned into gushing rivers and homes swamped by waist-high muddy waters: Storms and flash floods wreaked devastation across the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Wednesday, claiming at least four lives.

The East Africa region has been lashed by relentless downpours in recent weeks, as the El Nino weather pattern exacerbates the seasonal rainfall.

Across Nairobi, images posted by Kenyan media showed trucks, cars and motorbikes stuck in the deluge and people wading through floodwaters in slum areas of the city to try to reach safety.

An estimated 60,000 people, mostly women and children, have been “severely affected” by the flash floods, according to the Nairobi county governor’s office.

“Unfortunately we have lost four lives, and the search is on to locate six others who have been reported missing,” it said in a statement.

In one incident, police fired tear gas to try to disperse angry residents who had blocked a main highway with long queues of cars calling for government action over the floods.

Kenya Railways announced it was temporarily suspending commuter train services as a precautionary measure, while the roads authority said four roads in the capital had been partly closed. 

“The city is at a standstill because most roads are flooded,” said Uber driver Kelvin Mwangi.

“We are having to use longer routes and in some cases we can’t get to our destination.”

Homes were engulfed in the sprawling Nairobi slum of Mathare, where local media reports said residents were forced to sleep on rooftops overnight.

The Kenya Red Cross said it had rescued 18 people including seven children who were stranded in Mathare.

It posted a picture on X showing its workers, some waist-high in water, engaged in rescue efforts, as a man carried a young child on his shoulder.

In a dramatic rescue on Tuesday, Kenyan police said they had saved a five-year-old boy who had been marooned alone by floods in Machakos County south of the capital.

The youngster had been left behind by his father as the waters rose and was airlifted to safety by chopper, the National Police Service said on X.

The Red Cross said the Athi River, the second longest in Kenya that runs south of Nairobi to the Indian Ocean, had burst its banks, blocking roads and leaving residents stranded.

“Our response teams are on the ground in most of these areas, evacuating families to safety and providing other life-saving interventions,” it added.

Prominent opposition senator Edwin Sifuna said the situation in Nairobi had “escalated to extreme levels” and that the county authorities were “clearly overwhelmed”. 

“We need all national emergency services mobilised to save lives,” he said on X.

NAIROBI — At least 16 people are dead and 28 missing in a new migrant boat disaster off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

The accident occurred about two weeks after another boat carrying mainly Ethiopian migrants sank off the Djibouti coast, claiming several dozen lives.

“Tragedy as boat capsizes off Djibouti coast with 77 migrants on board including children,” the IOM said in a post on X, without specifying when the latest incident occurred.

“At least 28 missing. 16 dead,” it said, adding that the local IOM branch was “supporting local authorities with search and rescue effort”.

It was the latest deadly accident on the so-called Eastern Migration Route.

Another boat carrying more than 60 people sank off the coast of Godoria in the northeast of Djibouti on April 8, according to the IOM and the Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti.

The IOM said at the time the bodies of 38 migrants, including children, were recovered, while another six people were missing.

The embassy in Djibouti said the boat was carrying Ethiopian migrants from Djibouti to war-torn Yemen.

Each year, many tens of thousands of African migrants brave the perilous “Eastern Route” across the Red Sea and through war-scarred Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia, escaping conflict or natural disaster, or seeking better economic opportunities.