Yesterday, members of the House of Lords backed plans to remove exceptions to the scheme for children and ensure it adheres to international law, despite the House of Commons voting to reject previous amendments to the Rwanda Bill.
At the same time, the Lords renewed their support for the Labour Party’s proposal to exempt agents, allies, and employees of the UK overseas seeking asylum in the UK from being removed to Rwanda.
The peers also maintained their demand that the Bill must have “due regard” for domestic and international law, including human rights and modern slavery legislation.
The Lords also agreed to crossbench peer Lord Hope’s measure that requires Rwanda to undergo independent verification before it is considered safe.
The Bill returned to the Lords for further scrutiny after MPs rejected all their amendments to the legislation.
MPs are scheduled to deliberate on the new developments before taking a vote later today.
The Bill will not become law until both the Upper and Lower chambers agree on its final wording.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had earlier indicated that he hopes the legislation will be adopted this week, paving the way for the first flight to depart to Rwanda.
The scheme, first announced in April 2022 by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government following a deal with Rwandan authorities, seeks to act as a deterrent to people arriving in the UK on small boats across the English Channel.
{{Unlawful }}
The Bill was introduced to Parliament after the UK Supreme Court ruled that the government’s scheme was unlawful.
The judges argued that genuine refugees being removed to Rwanda faced the risk of being returned to their home countries, where they could face harm.
The UK government says failed asylum seekers would be offered £3,000 (Rwf4,866,727) to move to Rwanda under the new voluntary scheme.
He was last in Rwanda in 2010, after which it was revealed that he fled to South Africa, a country where he had been running business.
This move came following discoveries that he was involved in tax evasion and had connections with subversive groups aiming to destabilize Rwanda’s security, whom he also supported financially.
Born around 1941 in Rwanda, Rujugiro spent a significant portion of his life in Burundi as a refugee, where he began his tobacco business.
CEO Elon Musk conveyed the news in an email to Tesla employees, citing the necessity for “cost reductions and increasing productivity” as driving factors behind the layoffs. The email that was initially reported by Electrek and later confirmed by Reuters, underscored the challenges facing Tesla as it seeks to maintain its position in a rapidly evolving market.
Tesla’s workforce, which had nearly doubled since the end of 2020, reflects the company’s ambitious expansion efforts in recent years. However, a year-over-year decline in sales during the first quarter of this year, coupled with increased competition from rivals like Chinese automaker BYD, has prompted Tesla to reevaluate its growth trajectory.
The decision to downsize marks a departure from Tesla’s previous trajectory of exponential hiring. After significant increases in staff in 2021 and 2022, the company experienced more modest growth in 2023. The latest round of layoffs follows previous workforce reductions, including a 7% cut in 2019 and further trimming of salaried staff in 2022.
This is not the first time that Tesla has cut staff. It announced a 7% cut in staff in 2019, in a statement posted online at that time. And it trimmed about 10% of salaried staff even as it continued to hire hourly staff in 2022.Those 2022 cuts were confirmed by a public statement from Musk at that time. But neither he nor Tesla have publicly confirmed this latest round of cuts. Tesla, which does not have a public relations staff, did not respond to a request for comment on that report and did not confirm the email.
Shares of Tesla, which were already down 31% so far this year through Friday’s close, fell another 3% in early trading Monday on the job cut report.
During a commemoration event for former Ministry employees lost in the genocide, Claudette lamented the involvement of educated individuals in the genocide, which stagnated educational progress.
She remarked, “The deterioration began with education. Following colonial rule and policies of discrimination, Rwanda’s independence led to further exclusion of Tutsis from societal benefits, notably education.”
Irere emphasized how the corrupt regime left Rwandan children, particularly Tutsis, orphaned and bereft of educational opportunities.
She noted, “Political circumstances drastically reduced the number of educated individuals, denying many based on ethnicity, primarily Tutsis, from pursuing education.”
The Ministry’s commemoration efforts were hailed as crucial for reflecting on the genocide’s impact, especially among professionals and students affected by the tragedy.
Ntazinda Erasme, Mayor of Nyanza District, recounted how schools were affected by the genocide, with teachers and students immersed in genocidal ideology, turning schools into perilous environments.
He described the challenges of attending school during those times, where ethnicity, rather than merit, determined one’s prospects, risking denial of further education.
Ahishakiye Naphatal, Executive Secretary of Ibuka, stressed the role of educators in either fostering or corrupting character, highlighting education’s influence on shaping individuals.
Ambassador Prof. Joseph Nsengimana spoke of ongoing efforts to combat impunity and foster Rwanda’s progress, urging continued unity among Rwandans.
The Ministry of Education counts 77 former employees slain in the genocide, excluding educators and students killed across the country on the basis of their identity.
In the vote taken on Monday, April 15, a majority of the MPs disagreed with Lords amendment 1B, which had sought to ensure the Bill has “due regard” for domestic and international law.
The MPs also shot down the Lords proposal for Rwanda to be only regarded as safe for as long as the provisions of the UK’s treaty with that country are in place.
Other amendments rejected by the MPs include a provision for age assessment for the persons facing removal to Rwanda and exemption of victims of modern slavery and human trafficking from the Rwanda asylum scheme.
The House of Commons also rejected the Lord’s proposal which sought to exempt agents, allies and employees of the UK overseas seeking asylum in the UK from being removed to Rwanda.
The Bill, which has elicited intense debate in the UK, will now return to the upper chamber for further scrutiny today.
The Bill will not become law until both the Upper and Lower chambers agree on the final wording, a process known as parliamentary ping-pong.
The Bill was introduced to Parliament after the UK Supreme Court ruled that the government’s scheme was unlawful.
The judges argued that genuine refugees being removed to Rwanda faced the risk of being returned to their home countries, where they could face harm.
The scheme, first announced in April 2022 by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government following a deal with Rwandan authorities, seeks to act as a deterrent to people from arriving in the UK on small boats across the English Channel.
UK government says failed asylum seekers would be offered £3,000 (Rwf4,866,727) to move to Rwanda under the new voluntary scheme.
The government reportedly plans to replicate the Rwanda scheme in other countries, including Armenia, Costa Rica, and Ivory Coast if the Bill sails through.
But the Labour Party strongly opposes the scheme, insisting that it’s doomed to fail.
“The boats have kept coming, the backlog has kept growing, and the people smugglers are still laughing all the way to the bank,” Shadow Home Office minister Stephen Kinnock lamented.
“Two years of headline-chasing gimmicks, two years of pursuing a policy that is fundamentally unworkable, unaffordable and unlawful. Two years of flogging this dead horse,” he added.
Among the graduates, 51 are women, and 33 who completed military courses in partner countries.
During the ceremony, Kagame emphasized the crucial role of these officers in safeguarding Rwanda’s progress and peace. He urged them to remain steadfast in the face of any threats to national security, emphasizing the importance of dealing with such challenges decisively.
The newly commissioned officers took an oath pledging allegiance to Rwanda and its leadership, reaffirming their commitment to protecting national sovereignty.
Of them, 102 officers pursued long-term studies in various fields such as medicine, IT, social sciences, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, law, and mechanical engineering, reflecting the diverse expertise within the RDF.
Kagame commended the officers for their dedication to national security and their exemplary performance in academic pursuits. He expressed gratitude to partner countries for their support in providing training opportunities to Rwandan officers and acknowledged the crucial role of parents in encouraging their children to pursue careers in the military.
Addressing the officers directly, Kagame highlighted the importance of their role in preventing the recurrence of Rwanda’s dark past. He urged them to remain vigilant and resolute in protecting the country and its citizens from any threats, drawing upon the lessons learned from past tragedies.
“The history of our country is one where people were killed by fellow citizens, as a result of bad politics, both internally and externally. Children, the elderly, young men and women were asked to choose the weapon of their death. When a nation has reached this level of tragedy, it would be unthinkable for us to repeat this history,” noted Kagame.
“The training of our armed forces, and the knowledge of our past, cannot allow for our tragic history to ever repeat itself in this country. That is your responsibility as the armed forces of this country: yours, the elders you are joining today and anyone who will come after you. And you must pursue it with dedication and integrity,” he added.
Using poignant examples, including the story of an elderly woman who defiantly faced her killers, Kagame emphasized the need for courage and resilience in the face of adversity. He urged the officers to reject any attempts to undermine Rwandan sovereignty and to defend their values and dignity at all costs.
Kagame reminded the officers to uphold their conscience and stand for truth and justice in their profession. He also warned against cowardice and urged them to ensure that those who attempt to threaten Rwanda face consequences for their actions.
This comes after the recent opening of its embassies in Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The Embassy of Ukraine in Rwanda is scheduled to open officially on the 18th of May, 2024.
The decision to open its Embassy in Rwanda was made following a visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, to Rwanda in May 2023, where he expressed his country’s desire to establish its embassy in Kigali.
During his visit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Dr. Vincent Biruta, held discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, and they reached agreements regarding bilateral political cooperation.
At that time, President Paul Kagame also conveyed a message to his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Following this development, Dmytro Kuleba announced that Liberia, Kenya, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, and Rwanda are new partners of his country, expressing great optimism for future collaborations.
In 2022, President Zelensky stated Ukraine’s intention to expand its presence to at least 30 African countries to strengthen relations after years of neglect and underestimation.
President Paul Kagame, during his attendance at the Davos World Economic Forum in January 2024, held discussions with President Volodymyr Zelensky on matters concerning their respective countries and the quest for conflict resolution.
Ukraine has been embroiled in a conflict with Russia for the past two decades, with various implications on global markets, particularly in the oil sector, affecting prices and supplies.
Speaking on Sanny Ntayombya’s podcast the ‘Long Form’, the seasoned international lawyer maintained that there was no evidence to support the claims that the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) engaged in a counter-genocide against the Hutus after taking control of the country and stopping the government-led killing of the Tutsi in July 1994.
According to Adeogun-Phillips, while there were killings of members of the Hutu community during the period, there was no evidence to prove that the murders were coordinated or state-sponsored, as witnessed during the 100 days of targeted killings of the Tutsi.
“There was clear evidence that there was some reprisal attacks but there is no evidence that those reprisal attacks were coordinated or state sponsored,” Adeogun-Phillips stated.
He maintained that the RPF soldiers had no means to commit a genocide as they were “too busy trying to gain ground to be able to secure and take over the country as best as they could.”
“It was not humanly possible for them to have spread to be chasing the refugees and doing what they are alleged to have done. Not on a concerted national planning level as we saw with the genocide.”
“Widespread and systematic attacks in international criminal law require coordination not only on the local level but also on the central level. If you knew the amount of planning that went into planning the Genocide against the Tutsi, the purchase of machetes, how machetes were imported, how refugees were gathered in preconceived safe locations, how political leaders were earmarked and eliminated here in Kigali and other parts of the country, there was no such evidence of a plan against the Hutu,” he added.
As an investigator, he claimed to have been aware of court martial processes against soldiers suspected to have been involved in the isolated cases of reprisal attacks.
“There were some cases of court martials taking place. As part of my work, I was privy to some of the investigations that we did and shared with government. I was privy to some of the prosecutions that took place,” the lawyer noted.
Adeogun-Phillips played a leading role in the probed and prosecution of 12 war crime trials before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda UN-ICTR.
Reflecting on the tribunal’s works as the country marks the 30th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi which claimed the lives of a million people, the lawyer said there were many challenges ranging from inadequate facilities to limited number of judges to hear the cases in Arusha, Tanzania.
“Our infrastructural needs as an institution did not progress as fast as our procedural needs. Maybe there were two cases on at a time but there was no court room, the judges had to alternate,” he revealed.
The ICTR was established pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 955 of November 8, 1994.
Curtains came down on the tribunal in December 2015 after more than two decades of trial that led to indictment of 93 individuals, 61 convictions and 14 acquittals.
During the period, the ICTR withdrew two indictments, and three individuals died before the conclusion of their trials. Furthermore, five cases were transferred to national courts in Rwanda and France.
Israeli authorities said on Sunday, April 15, 2024, that the Iron Dome had intercepted 99 percent of more than 300 drones and missiles fired by Iran on Saturday night, resulting to minimal damage on the country with a population of more than 9.5 million people.
Iran’s unpresented retaliatory attack followed Israel’s armed attacks against the diplomatic premises of Iran in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Republic, which killed seven senior military personnel.
In reaction to Saturday’s attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israel’s defense system capabilities in a post on social platform X, saying “We intercepted. We blocked. Together, we will win.”
The Iron Dome also stunned the world in October last year after intercepting hundreds of missiles fired over Tel Aviv by the Hamas militant group.
It’s estimated that the Iron Dome has intercepted thousands of missiles and drones since its launch in 2011, mainly in response to the 2006 war that ended with Hamas taking control of Gaza the following year.
{{How the missile defense system works}}
The all-weather air defense system was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries with financial support from the United States, which has so far contributed more than US$1.6 billion to develop and improve the system.
The system was designed to protect Israel against incoming short-range weapons and is powered by mobile missile-defense batteries.
Each of the batteries is fitted with three to four launchers that can fire 20 interceptor missiles.
The system usually activates upon the detection of an incoming rocket by the Iron Dome radar units. These units then relay information about speed and trajectory to the control center of the batteries.
The control center’s operators calculate whether the rocket is going to hit a populated area. If so, a missile is fired from the launchers, destroying the incoming rocket by exploding near it.
To reduce the chances of damage on the ground, each missile receives constant guidance updates from the control center.
The US uses a similar technology dubbed MIM-104 Patriot to protect its territory against short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and advanced aircraft.
The US also uses the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system for defense against long-range ballistic missiles, particularly intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched by adversaries.
Russia, on its part, uses S-400 system to protect itself against external attacks.
Unveiled in 2007, the defense system is capable of eliminating a wide variety of aerial adversaries, such as stealth fighter jets, bombers, cruise and ballistic missiles, and even unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It carries two separate radar systems that can detect aerial targets up to a range of 600 kilometres and can simultaneously engage 80 aerial targets.
Opened to the public in July 2023, Beijing GoBroad Hospital is more than just a medical facility; it’s a dynamic ecosystem of clinical research, advanced patient care, and pioneering medical technology.
The hospital sprawls across a vast 100,000 square meters in the strategic locale of Zhongguancun Life Science Park, surrounded by Medical Road to the east, Science Park Road to the south, the Sixth Hospital of Beijing Medical Science to the west, and Yuhengnan Road to the north.
This prime positioning is not only crucial for accessibility but also places the hospital at the crossroads of collaboration among top-tier medical and research institutions.
Designed to accommodate 500 beds with specialized provisions like 75 beds for phase I clinical trials and an additional 24 for quantitative pharmacology, the hospital is tailored to handle a spectrum of medical scenarios, from routine procedures to the most challenging clinical cases.
{{Wealth of expertise}}
As a member of the GoBroad Healthcare Group established in 2017, Beijing GoBroad Hospital draws on a robust network of expertise and resources.
The hospital operates under a well-orchestrated infrastructure comprising four major centers: the Center for Challenging and Critical Care Medicine, the Clinical Research Center, the Precision Diagnosis Center, and the Data Intelligence Center.
These specialized hubs not only streamline patient care but also facilitate a seamless flow of information and innovation across various disciplines.
The hospital has rapidly become a magnet for leading clinical experts from around the globe. This diverse pool of talent fuels its mission to drive medical innovation and enhance patient outcomes.
With more than half of its team dedicated to transforming clinical innovations into practical solutions, Beijing GoBroad Hospital stands at the forefront of medical advancements.
{{An ecosystem of medical innovation}}
At Beijing GoBroad Hospital, innovation is not confined to the laboratories; it permeates every aspect of patient care. The facility boasts a comprehensive suite of specialized service teams, including the Early Clinical Research Center, Central Laboratory, Imaging Center, Pathology Center, and Clinical Evaluation Center for Cardiac Safety, among others.
These teams are critical in propelling the hospital’s research initiatives from theory to therapy, ensuring that new treatments are not only imagined but also implemented with precision and care.
The focus areas of the hospital—solid tumors, hematologic tumors, and brain science—are among the most complex fields in medicine today.
By specializing in these areas, Beijing GoBroad Hospital not only tackles some of the most critical challenges in healthcare but also offers new hope to patients who previously had limited options.
{{A legacy of innovation and compassion}}
Since its inception, Beijing GoBroad Hospital has experienced exponential growth and development.
The hospital has become a pivotal force in the medical community, facilitating hundreds of innovative pharmaceutical trials and serving tens of thousands of patients with challenging and critical conditions.
Each success story adds to the hospital’s legacy of excellence and innovation in healthcare.
{{Looking to the future}}
The vision of Beijing GoBroad Hospital extends beyond the immediate horizon. It is an integral part of the GoBroad Healthcare Group’s broader strategy to create a unique Academic-Led Clinical Research Organization (ARO).
This innovative model bridges clinical discovery with basic research, industry translation, and clinical application, thereby enhancing the development efficiency and quality within the biopharmaceutical industry.
As Beijing GoBroad Hospital continues to grow and evolve, it remains steadfast in its commitment to its foundational philosophy—putting patients’ needs first.
Through breakthrough technologies and a relentless pursuit of excellence, Beijing GoBroad Hospital is not just shaping the future of medical care; it is redefining it.
