International News
UK’s Starmer Suspends Several Labour Rebels
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suspended several lawmakers on Wednesday as he tried to reassert his authority over his ruling Labour party following a rebellion over welfare reforms.
Starmer was forced to backtrack on plans to slash disability and sickness benefits earlier this month after dozens of his MPs threatened to vote against the proposals.
MPs Brian Leishman, Neil Duncan-Jordan, and Rachael Maskell said they had been suspended while the Times newspaper reported that Chris Hinchliff had suffered the same fate.
All four voted against the welfare reforms on July 1 after Starmer made his authority-sapping climbdown to avoid a humiliating defeat in parliament.
Leishman’s office confirmed to AFP that the Scottish MP had been temporarily suspended from the party.
Duncan-Jordan, the representative for Poole in southern England, said he understood that voting against the government “could come at a cost, but I couldn’t support making disabled people poorer”.
Starmer has endured a difficult first year in power and has made several damaging U-turns in recent weeks.
Political scientist Steven Fielding said the purge was a bid by Starmer to reinforce party discipline.
“He wants to send a signal to all the others that rebelled over the welfare bill and have rebelled on other things that, ‘Okay, you’ve got away with this one, but if you keep going, this is going to be your fate,’” Fielding told AFP.
But the University of Nottingham politics professor added it was a risky strategy considering the large numbers of lawmakers who had opposed the welfare reforms.
“I think he’s going about it in the wrong way. He needs to talk (to) and understand why the MPs are doing this,” Fielding told AFP.
Labour did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Starmer’s popularity has plummeted since he won a landslide general election result in July last year, ending 14 consecutive years of Conservative rule.
Labour now trails Eurosceptic Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party in many national polls, although the next election is likely four years away.
In June, the government reversed a policy to scrap a winter heating benefit for millions of pensioners, following widespread criticism and another rebellion from its own MPs.
The same month, Starmer — a former chief state prosecutor in England and Wales — announced a national inquiry focused on a UK child sex exploitation scandal after previously resisting calls.
The prime minister has a massive majority of about 160 MPs, meaning he should be able to force whatever legislation he wants through parliament.
But some in the party complain of a disconnect between Starmer’s leadership, which is focused on combating the rise of Reform, and Labour’s traditional centre-left principles.
Confirming she had been suspended, Maskell urged Starmer to engage with his backbenchers, saying she wanted to see “bridges built” and this would “make him a better prime minister”.
German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.
Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.
The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.
The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.
The United States has condemned the killing of members of the family of Plateau-based cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, describing the attack as horrific and urging Nigerian authorities to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
In a statement shared on X on Thursday, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed condolences to the victims’ families and called for stronger measures to prevent further attacks on vulnerable communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria. The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,” the bureau said
The US said it had already engaged Nigerian officials on the worsening security situation, stressing that urgent action was needed to curb recurring attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.
“As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts. The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,” the statement added.
The bureau reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to working with the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and violent extremism, stressing that Christians and other Nigerians should be able to practise their faith without fear of violence.
The statement followed the July 12 attack on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where nine members of Rev. Dachomo’s extended family, including a two-month-old baby, were killed.
According to the cleric, the attackers, believed to be armed Fulani militias, asked for him by name before opening fire on his relatives.
Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said his family had repeatedly been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the violence in Plateau State.
He recalled that his grandmother and an uncle were also killed in previous attacks, adding that days after burying his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same group, warning that he would be their next target.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
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