Month: June 2022

Senators voted to speed up the passage of the bipartisan bill, meaning it could be signed into law next week.

Although significant, the proposals fall far short of what many Democrats and activists have called for in the wake of a spate of mass shootings.

The measures include tougher background checks for buyers younger than 21.

The bill calls for funding to encourage states to implement “red flag” laws to remove firearms from people considered a threat. The act also includes $15bn (£12.2bn) in federal funding for mental health programs and school security upgrades.

And it closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole” by blocking gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners.

It is the first time in decades that proposed gun safety legislation has received this level of support from both Republican and Democratic party senators.

Tuesday evening’s vote passed 64 to 34 in less than two hours after the final text was circulated.

It still needs to be passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives before making its way to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Senator Chris Murphy, the lead Democrat in the talks, said on the Senate floor that the bill “will become the most significant piece of anti-gun-violence legislation Congress will have passed in 30 years”.

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement: “This bipartisan gun-safety legislation is progress and will save lives. While it is not everything we want, this legislation is urgently-needed.”

His Republican counterpart, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, described the legislation as “a common sense package” in a statement pledging his own support.

The National Rife Association (NRA) opposed the bill, saying in a statement that it “does little to truly address violent crime” and “can be abused to restrict lawful gun purchases”.

President Biden earlier this month said the proposals were “steps in the right direction” but are still not enough.

He has pushed for bigger reforms – including a ban on assault rifles, which were used in the Texas and Buffalo mass shootings – or at least an increase in the age at which they can be purchased.

The last significant federal gun control legislation was passed in 1994, banning the manufacture for civilian use of assault rifles and large capacity ammunition clips, but expired a decade later.

The US has the highest rate of firearms deaths among the world’s wealthy nations. But it is also a country where many cherish gun rights that are protected by the Constitution’s Second Amendment to “keep and bear arms”.

Previous efforts lead by Democrats to strengthen US gun control laws have been hindered by Republicans.

Nearly a decade ago, attempts to tighten US gun control laws after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut – in which 20 children and six adults were killed – failed to get enough votes in Congress.

The Senate, or upper chamber of Congress, is currently split – with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans – and legislation must have 60 votes to overcome a manoeuvre known as the filibuster – tactical delaying.

Ten of the 20 senators who support the new measures are Republicans, meaning the proposals had the numbers needed to progress.

All billpayers are paying about £94 more each to cover the £2.7bn cost of the failure of 28 suppliers which folded after wholesale prices soared.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said Ofgem had allowed a market to develop that was vulnerable to large shocks.

The regulator said it was already addressing the issues raised.

Meg Hillier, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Ofgem’s approach created an energy market built on shaky foundations. As a result, many companies simply collapsed under the shock of energy price increases.

“Once again, it’s the public who has to pay for the mistakes of those charged with protecting them. It’s unacceptable.”

The result of last year’s shock was that 2.4 million customers were automatically moved to a rival company when their own supplier collapsed. Typically, according to Citizens Advice, they had to pay an extra £30 a month for the duration of their original contract, as they were shifted to a more expensive tariff.

In addition, the cost of these failures totalled £2.7bn – a tab which was spread across all billpayers in Britain, not just those of the failed companies. This is before taking into account the potentially multi-billion charge that households could face due to the collapse of Bulb Energy, which is in special administration.

The NAO said that Ofgem had decided on a “low bar” approach for allowing new domestic energy suppliers into the market to encourage competition and choice for customers after the market had been dominated by six big companies.

The regulator had then introduced tighter rules for new entrants from 2019, but not for existing suppliers until 2021.

As a result, many suppliers lacked the financial resilience to deal with the six-fold increase in wholesale prices seen last year, the NAO said.

“By allowing so many suppliers with weak finances to enter the market, and by failing to imagine that there could be a long period of volatility in energy prices, Ofgem allowed a market to develop that was vulnerable to large-scale shocks,” said Gareth Davies, head of the NAO.

“Consumers have borne the brunt of supplier failures at a time when many households are already under significant financial strain having seen their bills go up to record levels. A supplier market must be developed that truly works for consumers,” Mr Davies said.

Ofgem is making changes after a review it commissioned came to many of the same conclusions.

“We are already working hard to address all of the issues raised,” a spokesman for the regulator said. “While the once-in-a-generation global energy price shock would have resulted in market exits under any regulatory framework, we have already been clear that suppliers and Ofgem’s financial resilience regime were not robust enough.

“While no regulator can, or should, guarantee companies will not fail in the future, we will continue to take a whole-market approach to further strengthen the regulatory regime, ensuring a fair and robust market for consumers which keeps costs fair as we move away from fossils fuels and towards affordable, green, home-grown energy.”

The NAO said concerns had been raised that Ofgem’s reforms could limit new entrants and innovative ideas in the future.

A typical household gas and electricity bill – governed by the energy price cap in England, Wales and Scotland has risen sharply, and now stands at about £2,000 a year.

Analysts Cornwall Insight have predicted that the bill could hit about £3,000 a year this winter.

In a major political development, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will switch places with Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid under an existing deal.

An election could take place in late October, commentators say.

The former prime minister and current opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to return to office.

Monday’s announcement comes after weeks of speculation that the coalition – the most diverse in Israel’s history – was on the brink of collapse.

It risked losing an important vote next week after a member of Mr Bennett’s own right-wing Yamina party quit the coalition, leaving it a minority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament).

Mr Bennett said he had made the “right decision” in the interests of Israel’s security, as dissolving the Knesset extended temporary laws which were put in jeopardy by the vote.

The coalition had been teetering for weeks. Last week, Yamina MK Nir Orbach resigned from it, saying the government had failed in its main mission “of lifting [Israelis’] spirits” – a move which left it with only 59 seats. Others had also threatened to rebel.

The announcement on Monday night caught members of the government by surprise. The Times of Israel quoted sources as saying neither the defence nor interior ministers knew about the decision.

The bill to dissolve the Knesset will go to a vote next week. If it passes, as expected, Mr Bennett will make way for centrist Yair Lapid to become interim prime minister.

The two men formed the coalition just over a year ago after a series of inconclusive elections, ousting Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader.

The coalition was stitched together from eight parties from across the political spectrum, united only by the desire to make it impossible for Mr Netanyahu to form a government.

Mr Netanyahu, who is currently standing trial on corruption charges which he denies, said it was “great news for millions of Israeli citizens”.

“This government is going home,” he said, adding that he would form “a wide, national government” headed by his Likud party.

Last week, the results of an Israel Channel 12 TV poll indicated that a bloc led by Mr Netanyahu would win most seats in a fresh election, though still two short of a majority.

Under the regulations, firms will have to prove imports from the region are not produced using forced labour.

US officials have said members of the minority Uyghur community in the region, who are predominantly Muslim, have been detained and made to work.

China has repeatedly rejected accusations that it is holding Uyghurs in internment camps in Xinjiang.

Several imports from the resource-rich region, including cotton and tomatoes, have already been banned from the US.

The restrictions will be extended to all imports under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which is scheduled to take effect on Tuesday.

In a statement late last week, US lawmakers said the law sends “a clear message that we will no longer remain complicit in the Chinese Communist Party’s use of slave labour and egregious crimes against humanity”.

“Congress stands ready to work with President Biden and his administration to ensure this historic law is fully and rigorously implemented,” US Republican Senator Marco Rubio, Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley and two other lawmakers said.

According to the US Congress, China has detained more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang since April 2017.

It believes tens of thousands of detainees have worked “at a fraction of minimum wage or without any compensation” in Xinjiang and other provinces “under the guise of poverty alleviation and industrial aid programmes”.

It said China also “interferes with audits and traditional due diligence efforts to vet goods and supply chains in Xinjiang… including by intimidating potential witnesses and concealing relevant information”.

China has denied the use of forced labour and said the camps in Xinjiang were “re-education” facilities used to combat terrorism.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin recently called forced labour accusations “an out-and-out preposterous lie concocted by certain external forces”.

But leaked files and first-hand accounts from inside the camps, which were obtained by the BBC, have detailed an organised system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture of ethnic minorities.

Human rights groups have also accused the Chinese government of gradually stripping away the religious and other freedoms of Uyghurs through mass surveillance, detention, indoctrination and even forced sterilisation.

Scott Nova, executive director of the independent Workers Rights Consortium in Washington DC, said the UFLPA “will likely substantially reduce the practice of forced labour in Xinjiang” by “eliminating a large part of the market” for its goods.

“A crucial question is whether brands selling goods in the US will try to take advantage of the weaker protections in other consumer markets by directing goods with content from Xinjiang to those markets,” Mr Nova said.

“Our coalition will be working to identify and publicly expose any brands and retailers that engage in this practice,” he added.

Laura Murphy, a human rights professor at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, said the European Union (EU) should impose a similar import ban on goods from Xinjiang.

“I think that citizens of the EU would be shocked to know that a ban on products known to be made with forced labour does not already exist,” Prof Murphy said.

“But the EU also needs to be a leader in passing mandatory human rights due diligence. Both these tools are necessary to ensure that companies address the forced labour and other abuses in their supply chains,” she added.

Japanese retailers Uniqlo and Muji are among brands that have been scrutinised over materials from Xinjiang.

In January last year, the US blocked a shipment of Uniqlo men’s shirts over concerns that it violated a ban on cotton products from the region.

Responding to a query from the BBC last week, a Uniqlo spokesperson did not state whether or not the brand uses cotton from Xinjiang.

“We continue to work with [US officials] to implement measures for the smooth importation of our products, and are awaiting new guidelines scheduled for release on 21 June,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Japanese retailer Muji has been criticised for launching a collection of Oxford shirts “made of organic cotton delicately and wholly handpicked in Xinjiang” in 2019.

A spokesperson at Ryohin Keikaku, which operates the Muji brand, told the BBC it was not currently exporting products from Xinjiang to the US. However, the company declined to comment on whether it was selling products from Xinjiang in other countries.

“In our business activities, we comply with the laws and regulations of each country and region, and we are taking all necessary steps to respect human rights and labour standards,” the spokesperson said.

Early last year, the administration of former US President Donald Trump announced a ban on cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang.

The wider-reaching UFLPA was approved by the Senate last July, and Congress in December. It was subsequently signed into law by current US President Joe Biden.

From Tuesday, US Customs and Border Protection officials will stop all shipments from Xinjiang that arrive at American ports.

Cargo will be stopped from entering the country unless the importer can “prove by clear and convincing evidence that the goods were not produced with forced labour,” the US Department of Homeland Security said.

That is how Ronju Chowdhary described the scene outside her house on Saturday. She lives in Udiana, a remote village in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, which has been hit by severe floods.

It had been raining incessantly, she remembers. The water rose so quickly that the streets were completely submerged within hours. When the water entered their home, she says the family huddled together in darkness trying to keep themselves safe.

Two days on, the family is still marooned in their house – now resembling a lonely island – amid a sea of water.

“We are surrounded by flood water from all sides. There’s hardly any water to drink. Food is running short too. And now I hear that the water levels are further rising,” Ms Chowdhary says. “What will happen to us?”

Unprecedented rainfall and flooding has left behind a trail of destruction in Assam, submerging villages, destroying crops, and wrecking homes. Authorities say that 32 of its 35 districts have been affected, killing at least 45 people and displacing more than 4.7 million over the last week.

Heavy rains have also lashed neighbouring Meghalaya state, where 18 people have died over the last week. In Assam, the government has opened 1,425 relief camps for the displaced, but authorities say their job has been complicated by the sheer intensity of the disaster. Even the rescue camps are in a dismal state.

“There is no drinking water in the camp. My son has a fever but I am unable to take him to the doctor,” says Husna Begum, also a resident of Udiana. When water reached her home on Wednesday, the 28-year-old swam through the torrent in search of help. She is now sheltering in a rickety plastic tent with her two children.

“I have not seen something like this before. I’ve never seen such huge floods in my life,” she says.

Floods routinely wreak havoc on the lives and livelihoods of millions living near the fertile riverbanks of the mighty Brahmaputra river, often called the lifeline of Assam. But experts say that factors like climate change, unchecked construction activities and rapid industrialisation have increased the frequency of extreme weather events.

This is the second time this year that Assam is grappling with such fierce floods – at least 39 people were killed in May. The state has already recorded rainfall 109% above average levels this month, according to the weather department. And the Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at many places.

Residents and authorities the BBC spoke to describe the latest deluge as one of “biblical proportions” – one that has altered the social and economical fabric of the state.

“The situation is particularly alarming this time. Apart from the team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), we have also deployed the army to aid the rescue operations,” says Javir Rahul Suresh, a sub-divisional officer in Rangiya city.

“At this point, our priority is to save lives.”

Entire settlements have been engulfed by rushing waters, almost resembling a huge river that had formed overnight.

In Guwahati, the main economic centre of Assam, neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble. Lush fields where rice and paddy normally grew have turned into vast swamps of mud and debris.

Back in Udiana, there are no schools, hospitals, temples or mosques in sight – just water. People travel by boats made of banana leaves and bamboo sticks. Others just swim through the brown, green brackish waters despondently, their eyes lighting up at the sight of rescuers, whose bright orange uniforms are visible from a distance.

The damage is particularly alarming in Kamrup Rural district, where hundreds of people are still reportedly trapped in their houses.

Siraj Ali, 64, says that when the water swept into his village and destroyed everything, he was scared for his life. Yet he stayed on, in a house which is now partly submerged under water, to guard his belongings and “a life-time of memories”.

He said he sent his children to a roadside shelter camp, while he waited for help to reach him. But no one has come so far.

“I am surrounded by water but I have no water to drink. I don’t have food. I have been starving for three days. What to do and where do I go?” he asks, his eyes welling up with tears.

Mr Ali now finds solace in the company of his neighbour Mohammad Rubul Ali, a daily-wage worker, who also decided to stay back to protect his house – a small hut that he painstakingly built.

“Every purchase was like a milestone for me – the cycle, the bed and the chairs. But now nothing is left. The flood took everything away from me,” Mr Rubul says.

Authorities admit that they have been unable to provide drinking water and food to every flood victim.

“It is still a challenge for us to reach some areas which have been completely cut off. Our road network reaching there has been completely ruined in the water,” Mr Suresh says.

Experts say that while climate change has complicated the state’s longstanding efforts to improve its response to flooding, there are several other factors at play.

“There is no doubt that the flood situation this time is very serious and the frequency of rains is increasing significantly,” says Jayashree Rout, an environmental science professor at Assam University. “But before linking it entirely to climate change, we need to take into account human-related factors like deforestation.”

Prof Rout says there’s an urgent need to stop the felling of big trees, especially near rivers as the roots of these trees have a lot of capacity to hold water.

But people like Ms Chowdhary have no time to analyse the reasons.

On Saturday, as the sun dripped over the cloudy horizon in Udiana and dusk crept over the sky, she sat outside her half-submerged house, visibly worried.

“Till now, no one has given us anything in the name of relief,” she says. “Is anyone even coming?”

Mr Macron is now under pressure to secure support from rivals to fulfil his government’s reform agenda.

But neither Marine Le Pen’s far-right nor Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s left-green alliance are keen to work with him.

Minority governments are a rarity in France, and Mr Macron’s Ensemble alliance is 44 seats shy of a majority.

This means he will need to find support from mainstream MPs from both the left and right side of politics to help build a working majority.

Party representatives will visit the Élysée Palace separately for the high-level talks on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Analysts say the president may be eyeing a deal with the right-wing Republicans, and the party confirmed that its leader, Christian Jacob, would attend the talks.

Ms Le Pen will take part but Mr Mélenchon will not, the AFP news agency reports.

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure and Communist Party boss Fabien Roussel, members of the Nupes left-wing alliance, will also meet Mr Macron.

France’s centrist government is desperately trying to avoid political paralysis after losing its majority, with some commentators warning of France becoming ungovernable.

Mr Macron will also have to replace three ministers who lost their seats in Sunday’s vote, and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s future looks increasingly under threat.

The election on Sunday saw a low-turnout, with an abstention rate of 53%.

President Macron has laid out a series of plans to tackle the spiralling cost of living, including food vouchers and enhanced benefits. Another big reform is gradually raising the retirement age from 62 to 65, which has proved unpopular with much of the electorate.

The aim is to “build solutions to serve the French” at a time when there is no “alternative majority” to that of Macron’s ruling alliance, a presidential official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

Opponents from the right and left aim to resist the president’s programme of reforms, although Ms Le Pen’s National Rally has said it may back measures to alleviate the cost of living crisis if their own proposals are adopted.