Macron facing rebellion after far-right backs French immigration bill

Macron facing rebellion after far-right backs French immigration bill
A general view shows the hemicycle during the questions to the government session at the National Assembly ahead of a vote by members of parliament on immigration bill in Paris, France, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 20 December 2023
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Macron facing rebellion after far-right backs French immigration bill

Macron facing rebellion after far-right backs French immigration bill
  • Various amendments have seen the immigration measures further tightened from when the bill was originally submitted, with the left accusing the government of caving in to pressure from the far right

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron faced a major rebellion within his own party from left-leaning deputies on Tuesday in a crisis sparked by the backing of a toughened-up immigration bill by the far right under Marine Le Pen.
Macron swept to power in 2017 heading a broad centrist movement that rallied together the left and the right, but that fragile unity now risks cracking over the legislation.
Various amendments have seen the immigration measures further tightened from when the bill was originally submitted, with the left accusing the government of caving in to pressure from the far right.
Le Pen endorsed the new-look bill but key left-leaning members of Macron’s Renaissance Party and allied factions indicated they could no longer support it, with several ministers reportedly threatening to resign.
“We can rejoice in ideological progress, an ideological victory even for the National Rally (RN), since this is now enshrined into law as a national priority,” said Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate who leads the RN’s lawmakers in parliament and is widely expected to stand again for president in 2027.
The RN had previously said it would vote against the bill or abstain.
Le Pen’s announcement came after a commission of upper-house senators and lower-house National Assembly MPs agreed a new draft of the bill, which had been voted down without being debated in the National Assembly last week in a major blow to Macron.
The legislation was, as expected, passed by the Senate but faces a far stiffer test in the National Assembly later Tuesday.
While on paper the government has the numbers for the legislation to be passed with the support of the right-wing Republicans, there are growing concerns within Macron’s camp.
Prominent left-leaning Renaissance MP Sacha Houlie said he would vote against the legislation and called on others to follow, with some sources saying that around 30 pro-Macron MPs could do so.
In a sign of the seriousness of the situation, Macron called a meeting of his ruling party at the Elysee palace ahead of the vote, party sources told AFP.
According to a participant at the meeting, Macron said he would submit the bill to a new reading rather than promulgate it if it were passed only with the help of the votes from Le Pen’s RN.
This means the government would not count the RN’s votes in support of the bill.
Health Minister Aurelien Rousseau, Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau and Housing Minister Patrice Vergriete were meeting Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and warned they could resign, sources told AFP.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, an ambitious 41-year-old who has spearheaded the legislation, had warned Sunday that Le Pen risked winning the 2027 presidential election if the bill were not passed.
The left and hard-left have reacted with horror to the prospect of the legislation being passed, with the head of Socialist lawmakers in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud, calling it a “great moment of dishonor for the government.”
Passing the legislation is critical for Macron, who cannot stand again in 2027 after two consecutive terms and risks being seen as a lame duck with more than three years left of his term.
The government does not have a majority in parliament since the legislative elections that followed his re-election in 2022.
“The political crisis around the immigration bill is a moment of truth where all the fragilities of Emmanuel Macron’s mandate are coming together,” the Le Monde daily said in an editorial.
Dozens of NGOS slammed what they described as potentially the “most regressive” immigration law in decades.
It is “the most regressive bill of the past 40 years for the rights and living conditions of foreigners, including those who have long been in France,” around 50 groups including the French Human Rights League said in a joint statement.
A key element is now that social security benefits for foreigners be conditional on five years of presence in France, or 30 months for those who have jobs.
Migration quotas can also now be agreed and there are also measures for dual-national convicts being stripped of French nationality.
“With this text directly inspired by RN pamphlets against immigration, we are facing a shift in the history of the republic and its fundamental values,” French Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel said.


Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India

Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India
Updated 23 sec ago
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Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India

Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India
  • More than 335,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded
  • The government said it deployed over 2,700 military personnel to help in relief operations
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan rescuers on Thursday recovered the drowned corpses of six children, taking the number killed in torrential rains to 12, as a powerful but slow-moving storm headed toward India.
More than 335,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded, Colombo’s Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.
It said two men driving a tractor and trailer which had been transporting the six children in the eastern Amara district when it was swept away in floods, were still missing. Searches continue for them.
Indian weather officials said there was a “possibility” that the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal could develop into a cyclonic storm.
Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific — are a regular and deadly menace in the region.
Having skirted the coast of Sri Lanka, it was now moving north toward India’s southern Tamil Nadu state.
The India Meteorological Department said it was expected to hit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry city’s coastline on Saturday morning as a “deep depression” with winds “gusting up to 70 kph (43 mph).”
Sri Lanka’s DMC said some 335,155 people were seeking temporary shelter in public buildings after their homes were swamped.
Nearly 100 homes had been completely destroyed while another 1,700 had been badly damaged due to rains as well as mudslides.
The government said it deployed over 2,700 military personnel to help in relief operations.
Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.

Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders

Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders
Updated 14 min 56 sec ago
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Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders

Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders
  • Andrei Belousov noted after his arrival that military cooperation between the countries is expanding
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent months has prioritized relations with Russia

SEOUL: Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday for talks with North Korean military and political leaders as the countries deepen their cooperation over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In announcing the visit, Russia’s Defense Ministry didn’t say whom Belousov would meet or the purpose of the talks. North Korean state media didn’t immediately confirm the visit.
Belousov, a former economist, replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in May after Russian President Vladimir Putin started a fifth term in power.
Photos released by the Defense Ministry showed Belousov walking alongside North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol on a red carpet at a Pyongyang airport. North Korean military officials were seen clapping under a banner that read, “Complete support and solidarity with the fighting Russian army and people.”
Belousov noted after his arrival that military cooperation between the countries is expanding. He applauded a strategic partnership agreement signed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following their June meeting in Pyongyang, which he said is aimed at reducing tensions by maintaining a “balance of power” in the region and lowering the risk of war, including with nuclear weapons.
The June meeting demonstrated the “highest level of mutual trust” between the leaders, Belousov said, and “also the mutual desire of our countries to further expand mutually beneficial cooperation in a complex international environment.”
North Korean Defense Minister No also praised the expanding cooperation between the countries’ militaries and reiterated North Korea’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, describing it as a “just struggle to protect the country’s sovereign rights and security interests.”
The visit comes days after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with a Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in the South Korean capital, Seoul, and called for the two countries to formulate countermeasures in response to North Korea’s dispatch of thousands of troops to Russia to help its fight against Ukraine.
Kim in recent months has prioritized relations with Russia as he tries to break out of isolation and strengthen his international footing, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War.”
The United States and its allies have said North Korea has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in recent weeks and that some of those troops were engaging in combat.
North Korea has also been accused of supplying artillery systems, missiles and other military equipment to Russia that may help Putin further extend an almost three-year war. There are also concerns in Seoul that North Korea, in exchange for its troops and arms supplies, could receive Russian technology transfers that could improve its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
“The Russian defense minister doesn’t visit North Korea just to celebrate bilateral ties,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “This visit indicates Putin and Kim’s military cooperation in violation of international law is about to increase further.”
Yoon’s national security adviser, Shin Wonsik, said in a TV interview last week that Seoul believes that Russia has provided air defense missile systems to North Korea in exchange for sending its troops.
Shin said Russia also appears to have given economic assistance to North Korea and various military technologies, including those needed for the North’s efforts to build a reliable space-based surveillance system, which Kim has stressed is crucial for enhancing the threat of nuclear-capable missiles targeting South Korea. Shin didn’t say whether Russia has already transferred sensitive nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technologies to North Korea.
Yoon’s office hasn’t said whether the two governments discussed the possibility of South Korea supplying weapons to Ukraine in his talks with Umerov.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, South Korea has joined US-led sanctions against Moscow and provided humanitarian and financial support to Kyiv. But it has avoided directly supplying arms, citing a longstanding policy of not giving lethal weapons to countries actively engaged in conflicts.
Yoon has said his government will take phased countermeasures, linking the level of its response to the degree of Russian-North Korean cooperation.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Belousov will meet with Kim, the North Korean leader. Last year, Kim hosted a Russian delegation led by then-Defense Minister Shoigu and gave him a personal tour of a North Korean arms exhibition, in what outside critics likened to a sales pitch.
That event came weeks before Kim traveled to Russia for talks with Putin which sped up military cooperation between the countries. During another meeting in Pyongyang in June this year, Kim and Putin signed a pact stipulating mutual military assistance if either country is attacked, in what was considered the two countries’ biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold War.
The Russian report about Belousov’s visit came as South Korea scrambled fighter jets to repel six Russian and five Chinese warplanes that temporarily entered the country’s air defense identification zone around its eastern and southern seas, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It said the Russian and Chinese planes did not breach South Korea’s territorial airspace.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it held telephone calls with Chinese and Russian defense attaches based in Seoul to protest the flights and urge the countries to prevent recurrences.


Singapore hangs 4th person in 3 weeks

Singapore hangs 4th person in 3 weeks
Updated 29 November 2024
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Singapore hangs 4th person in 3 weeks

Singapore hangs 4th person in 3 weeks
  • The United Nations and rights groups say capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect
  • Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad, a Singaporean citizen born in the city-state to a Singaporean mother and an Iranian father, was convicted in 2013 for drug trafficking

Singapore: Singapore hanged a 35-year-old Singaporean-Iranian man for drug trafficking on Friday, its fourth in less than a month, despite appeals from Tehran to "reconsider" his execution.
The United Nations and rights groups say capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect and have called for it to be abolished, but Singaporean officials insist it has helped make the country one of Asia's safest.
Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad, a Singaporean citizen born in the city-state to a Singaporean mother and an Iranian father, was convicted in 2013 for drug trafficking.
Appeals against his conviction and sentence, as well as petitions for clemency from the president, had been dismissed. After he was informed of his impending hanging, Masoud filed an 11th-hour appeal to stay his execution, which was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.
Calling him "an Iranian citizen", Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi also appealed to his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan on Thursday to halt the execution.
"Araghchi expressed Iran's respect for Singapore's legal framework but appealed to Singaporean authorities to reconsider the execution of Masoud Rahimi, emphasizing humanitarian considerations," Iran's foreign ministry said on X.
However, Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) announced "the capital sentence of death imposed on Masoud Rahimi bin Mehrzad... was carried out on 29 November 2024".
"Masoud... was convicted of having in his possession for the purpose of trafficking, not less than 31.14 grams (1.1 ounces) of diamorphine, or pure heroin," CNB said.
Under the country's tough drug laws, the death penalty applies for any amount above a 15-gram threshold for heroin.
It added that "capital punishment is imposed only for the most serious crimes, such as the trafficking of significant quantities of drugs which cause very serious harm".
His execution was the fourth in three weeks in Singapore.
Rosman Abdullah, 55, was hanged on November 22 and two men -- a 39-year-old Malaysian and a 53-year-old Singaporean -- were hanged on November 15 all for drug offences.
So far this year, there have been nine executions by the Singaporean government -- eight for drug trafficking and one for murder.
According to an AFP tally, Singapore has hanged 25 people since it resumed carrying out the death penalty in March 2022 after a two-year halt during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UN this month reiterated its call on Singapore to review its position on capital punishment.


Macron offers first glimpse of post-fire Notre Dame

Macron offers first glimpse of post-fire Notre Dame
Updated 29 November 2024
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Macron offers first glimpse of post-fire Notre Dame

Macron offers first glimpse of post-fire Notre Dame
  • France is to offer the world a first look inside the restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Friday

PARIS: France is to offer the world a first look inside the restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Friday, over five years after the fire that ravaged the interior of the heritage landmark and toppled its spire.
Eight days ahead of the December 7 reopening of the cathedral, President Emmanuel Macron will conduct an inspection, broadcast live on television, which will provide the first official insight into how the 850-year-old edifice now looks inside.
Notre Dame will welcome back visitors and worshippers over the December 7-8 weekend after a sometimes challenging restoration to return to its former glory the great Paris cathedral badly damaged by the April 19, 2019 fire.
Macron at the time set the ambitious goal to rebuild Notre Dame within five years and make it “even more beautiful” than before, a target that the French authorities say has been met.
Some 250 companies and hundreds of experts were mobilized for a restoration costing hundreds of millions of euros in what was dubbed the “building site of the century.”
All 2,000 people who contributed to the work have been invited to Friday’s event, of whom at least 1,300 are expected to attend.
“This final site visit is an opportunity to thank them in particular — from wood craftsmen to those of metal and stone, from scaffolders to roofers, from bell makers to art restorers, from gilders to masons and sculptors, from carpenters to organ builders, from architects, archaeologists, engineers and planners to logistical or administrative functions,” stated Macron ahead of the visit.
Accompanied by his wife Brigitte, Macron is expected from 0930 GMT to inspect the key areas of the cathedral including the nave, choir and chapel and discuss the restoration in person with the workers.
The restoration cost a total of nearly 700 million euros (more than $750 million at today’s rate).
It was financed from the 846 million euros in donations that poured in from 150 countries in an unprecedented surge of solidarity.



The 19th-century gothic spire has now been resurrected with an exact copy of the original, the stained windows have regained their color, the walls shining after fire stains cleaned and a restored organ ready to thunder out again.
Unseen to visitors is a new mechanism to protect against any future fires, a discreet system of pipes ready to release millions of water droplets in case of a new disaster.
Notre Dame, which welcomed 12 million visitors in 2017, expects to receive an even higher figure of “14 to 15 million” after the reopening, according to the church authorities.
French ministers have also floated the idea of charging tourists an entrance fee to the site but the Paris diocese has said free admission was an important principle to maintain.
Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich told AFP last month that Macron will on Saturday, December 7 give an address inside Notre Dame to mark the reopening.
It is extremely unusual for a political leader to be allowed to address the faithful inside a Catholic religious building. France is by its constitution a secular country with a strict division between church and state.
World leaders are expected to join but the guest list has yet to be unveiled.
The next day, Sunday December 8, will see the first mass and consecration of the new altar, he added.
Macron in December said he had invited Pope Francis to the reopening of the cathedral but the head of the Catholic church announced in September, to the surprise of some observers, that he would not be coming.
Instead, the pontiff is on the subsequent weekend making a landmark visit to the French island of Corsica.
The French Catholic church has in recent years been rocked by a succession of sexual abuse allegations against clerics, including most recently the monk known as Abbe Pierre who became a household name for his aid to the destitute.
Over five years on, the investigation into what caused the fire is ongoing, with initial findings backing an accidental cause such as a short circuit, a welder’s torch or a cigarette.


UN talks struggle for breakthrough on plastics treaty as deadline looms

UN talks struggle for breakthrough on plastics treaty as deadline looms
Updated 29 November 2024
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UN talks struggle for breakthrough on plastics treaty as deadline looms

UN talks struggle for breakthrough on plastics treaty as deadline looms
  • South Korea is hosting delegates from about 175 countries at the fifth and final meeting of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee
  • Nations which produce petrochemicals, such as Saudi Arabia, oppose efforts to cap plastic production

BUSAN, South Korea: The chairman of talks aiming for an international treaty to rein in pollution from plastics issued a document on Friday outlining measures that could furnish the basis of a pact, in an attempt to spur discussions as a Dec. 1 deadline approaches.
South Korea is hosting delegates from about 175 countries at the fifth and final meeting of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) to agree globally binding rules on plastics, but this week's talks had moved at glacial pace.
The document, issued by committee chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso and viewed by Reuters, featured ideas such as a global list of plastic products to be managed and a financial mechanism to help fund developing countries act on the treaty.
"The high and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution ... represent a serious environmental and human health problem," the document said.
It mentioned, but did not confirm, some of the most divisive tasks, such as whether the treaty will set a global target to cut output of primary plastic polymers or skip it altogether, and left undecided how rich nations would contribute to a fund.
"A global target to reduce plastic production is in (the document)," said Graham Forbes, who led the Greenpeace delegation to the talks.
"Keeping this in the final treaty text must be a redline for any country serious about ending plastic pollution."
The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) representing makers of plastic, backs governments' efforts to finalise the deal, said its spokesperson, Stewart Harris, adding that the body wanted to hasten a circular economy for plastics.
Nations which produce petrochemicals, such as Saudi Arabia, oppose efforts to cap plastic production, despite the protests of low- and middle-income nations that bear the brunt of plastic pollution.
While supporting an international treaty, the petrochemical industry has also been vocal in urging governments to avoid setting mandatory plastic production caps in favour of efforts to reduce plastic waste, such as recycling.
The chairman's move came after several participants had expressed frustration at the slow pace of the talks, amid disagreements over procedure, multiple proposals and some efforts to return to ground covered in the past.