DHAKA: "For last two days I did not get anything to eat. This one-month-old baby is not even getting proper breastfeeding," said Saleha Khatun, a 26-year-old woman who narrowly escaped with her life from the atrocities of the Myanmar Army and law enforcing agencies in the Rakhine province of Myanmar, and has now taken shelter in a Rohingya camp at Teknaf under Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh.
In the past week, more than 20,000 Rohingyas took shelter in different camps and areas of Cox's Bazar District. Most of them are facing an acute crisis of food and shelter, sitting under the open sky. Bangladesh is facing extreme trouble in coping with this refugee crisis
Nearly half a million Rohingya refugees are already living in the bordering areas of Bangladesh for many years. International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working with the Bangladesh government to provide food and other basic necessities for the refugees, but the efforts still fall short to meet the need.
"Although Bangladesh is a small country … and a developing nation with limited resources, it is putting its best effort to maintain the Rohingyas,” said former ambassador Mohammad Zamir, who is one of the senior foreign policy makers of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League.
“Despite few odd incidents of pushing back the Rohingyas to Myanmar,” he said, “the Bangladeshi government as well as our people are always very kind and sympathetic to the Rohingya Muslims. But the world community should play a more active role to resolve the crisis and implement the UN (Kofi) Annan Commission's report on the issue. Moreover, the UN General Assembly session is scheduled to be held in September that should raise a strong voice to ensure equal rights and opportunities for all the people living within the land of Myanmar since their birth."
"This refugee crisis is no more a bilateral issue between Bangladesh and Myanmar," said Barrister Rumin Farhana, political affairs secretary for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. She urged the prime minister to build diplomatic pressure on the international community to stop the atrocities by the Myanmar government so that the Rohingyas can live peacefully in their country.
Rohingyas received international attention after the 2012 Rakhine State riots which resulted in the Rohingya refugee crisis of 2015 and a subsequent military crackdown between 2016 and 2017. A large number of Rohingya fled to the bordering areas with Thailand, Bangladesh, and Pakistan's port city of Karachi. Nearly 100,000 Rohingyas are estimated to live in camps established for internally displaced persons inside Myanmar. The Rohingyas are not recognized by Myanmar as native ethnic minority and are often denied citizenship and basic rights.
"It is a systematic genocide committed by the Myanmar law enforcing agencies," said Ameena Mohsin, who is a professor of international relations at Dhaka University. Expressing her frustration over the situation she said: "The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should play an effective role to save the Rohingya Muslims."
Bangladeshi PM urged to put pressure on world community to stop Myanmar atrocities on Rohingyas
Bangladeshi PM urged to put pressure on world community to stop Myanmar atrocities on Rohingyas
Tiny Greek island appeals for help after migrant increase
- Migrants leaving Libya hope to reach the European Union and follow instructions from people-smugglers, who for the past few months have been directing them to Crete and tiny Gavdos
- Gavdos lies off the southern coast of neighboring Crete and is about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Libyan city of Tobruk across the Mediterranean Sea
ATHENS: Greece’s southernmost island is facing a significant increase in migration from Libya, its mayor said on Tuesday, warning it does not have the means to cope.
Lilian Stefanakis said the rise was “a heavy burden” for Gavdos, which is just 30 square kilometers (11.5 square miles), has 70 residents off-season and only a handful of shops.
Gavdos lies off the southern coast of neighboring Crete and is about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Libyan city of Tobruk across the Mediterranean Sea.
“We don’t have the capacity to manage these flows,” Stefanakis told Greek public radio Ert. “Institutional solutions must be found.”
According to the port police, 7,300 migrants have arrived on Crete and Gavdos since the start of this year compared to 4,935 for the whole of 2024.
Since the start of this month, 2,550 arrivals have been recorded.
Migrants leaving Libya hope to reach the European Union and follow instructions from people-smugglers, who for the past few months have been directing them to Crete and tiny Gavdos.
Crete does not have any camps to register asylum seekers and offers only emergency shelters for migrants before they are transferred to mainland Greece.
“The smugglers will not set the rules,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday, promising to raise the issue about increased migration flows from Libya at the next European summit.
“Navy ships will be sent outside Libya’s territorial waters in order to control illegal migrant flows,” he added.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis later clarified that two military frigates would be sent.
Stefanakis said a vessel from the European Union’s border agency Frontex was deployed and called for further reinforcement on the island.
The northeastern islands in the Aegean Sea opposite Turkiye have traditionally been entry points to Greece and Europe for undocumented migrants and camps have been built.
Cargo ship carrying new vehicles to Mexico sinks in the North Pacific weeks after catching fire
- “There is no visible pollution,” said Petty Officer Cameron Snell, an Alaska-based US Coast Guard spokesperson
- “Right now we also have vessels on scene to respond to any pollution”
ANCHORAGE, Alaska: A cargo ship that had been delivering new vehicles to Mexico sank in the North Pacific Ocean, weeks after crew members abandoned ship when they couldn’t extinguish an onboard fire that left the carrier dead in the water.
The Morning Midas sank Monday in international water off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain, the ship’s management company, London-based Zodiac Maritime, said in a statement.
“There is no visible pollution,” said Petty Officer Cameron Snell, an Alaska-based US Coast Guard spokesperson. “Right now we also have vessels on scene to respond to any pollution.”
Fire damage compounded by bad weather and water seepage caused the carrier to sink in waters about 16,404 feet (5,000 meters) deep and about 415 miles (770 kilometers) from land, the statement said.
The ship was loaded with about 3,000 new vehicles intended for a major Pacific port in Mexico. It was not immediately clear if any of the cars were removed before it sank, and Zodiac Maritime did not immediately respond to messages Tuesday.
A savage crew arrived days after the fire disabled the vehicle.
Two salvage tugs containing pollution control equipment will remain on scene to monitor for any signs of pollution or debris, the company said. The crew members of those two ships were not injured when the Morning Midas sank.
Zodiac Maritime said it is also sending another specialized pollution response vessel to the location as an added precaution.
The Coast Guard said it received a distress alert June 3 about a fire aboard the Morning Midas, which then was roughly 300 miles (490 kilometers) southwest of Adak Island.
There were 22 crew members onboard the Morning Midas. All evacuated to a lifeboat and were rescued by a nearby merchant marine vessel. There were no injuries.
Among the cars were about 70 fully electric and about 680 hybrid vehicles. A large plume of smoke was initially seen at the ship’s stern coming from the deck loaded with electric vehicles, the Coast Guard and Zodiac Maritime said at the time.
Adak is about 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) west of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city.
The 600-foot (183-meter) Morning Midas was built in 2006 and sails under a Liberian flag. The car and truck carrier left Yantai, China, on May 26 en route to Mexico, according to the industry
site marinetraffic.com.
A Dutch safety board in a recent report called for improving emergency response on North Sea shipping routes after a deadly 2023 fire aboard a freighter that was carrying 3,000 automobiles, including nearly 500 electric vehicles, from Germany to Singapore.
One person was killed and others injured in the fire, which burned out of control for a week. That ship was eventually towed to a Netherlands port for salvage.
South Korea investigators seek to arrest former President Yoon
- Yoon was formally stripped of office in April, after being impeached and suspended by lawmakers over his Dec. 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament
SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors asked a court Tuesday for a new arrest warrant to detain ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, after he refused a summons by investigators probing his failed martial law bid.
Yoon was formally stripped of office in April, after being impeached and suspended by lawmakers over his Dec. 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament.
He is already standing trial on insurrection charges, personally attending court to defend himself against the allegations.
However, he has refused several summons issued by a special counsel formed to investigate the martial law declaration that parliament voted to launch earlier in the month.
“Today, the special counsel requested an arrest warrant for former president Yoon Suk Yeol on charges including obstruction of official duties,” the special counsel said in a statement.
“The arrest warrant was requested in order to conduct the suspect’s interrogation,” it said, adding that “he has clearly indicated his intention not to respond to future summons.”
Prosecutor Park Ji-young, a member of the special counsel, said in a news conference that Yoon was just “one of several suspects” that they had summoned to be questioned.
France’s Macron calls talks on New Caledonia future
- New Caledonian elected officials, as well as political, economic and civil society leaders would be invited to the discussions to start on July 2
PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday invited New Caledonia leaders to talks next week on the future of the French overseas territory, a year after deadly separatist violence in the Pacific archipelago.
New Caledonian elected officials, as well as political, economic and civil society leaders would be invited to the discussions to start on July 2, a source familiar with the matter said. It was not immediately clear where the meeting would be held.
The French president in an invitation letter obtained by AFP said discussions would last “as long as necessary” to address key issues “with all the seriousness they deserve.”
“Beyond major institutional topics, I would like for our discussions to touch on economic and societal matters,” Macron added.
Home to around 270,000 people and located nearly 17,000 kilometers (10,600 miles) from Paris, New Caledonia is one of several overseas territories that remain an integral part of France.
New Caledonia has been ruled from Paris since the 1800s, but many indigenous Kanaks still resent France’s power over their islands and want fuller autonomy or independence.
Unrest broke out in May 2024 after Paris planned to give voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous long-term residents, something Kanaks fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their chances of winning independence.
The riots — the most violent since the 1980s — led to the death of 14 people and billions of dollars in damage.
The president’s decision to host talks alongside the Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls also comes after a French court freed independence leader Christian Tein in June.
Tein, who hails from the Kanak group, had been held in custody in eastern France since June 2024 over the rioting in the nickel-rich archipelago.
Investigating magistrates concluded there was no proof that Tein was preparing an armed uprising against the government, according to a source close to the case.
The last independence referendum in New Caledonia was held in 2021, and was boycotted by pro-independence groups over the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Kanak population.
The referendum was the last of three since 2018, all of which rejected New Caledonian independence.
Since the 2021 referendum — which pro-independence campaigners had requested be rescheduled — the political situation in the archipelago has been in deadlock.
Valls led negotiations in May between pro-independence and anti-independence groups, but they did not “reach an agreement about the institutional future of the territory,” Macron said in the invitation letter.
The president in early June declared he wanted a “new project” for New Caledonia.
Major UK supermarket chain to stop sourcing Israeli products
- Co-op board committed to ‘upholding human rights and the rule of law to promote fair trading and peace’
- Palestine Solidarity Campaign: ‘This is a seismic victory for the solidarity movement in this country’
LONDON: One of Britain’s largest supermarket chains will stop sourcing Israeli products following a sustained Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.
The Co-operative supermarket said the decision was made due to Israeli human rights abuses and violations of international law. It comes into effect this month.
In May, a motion at the Co-op annual general meeting calling for an end to trade with Israel received overwhelming support. The supermarket board’s decision covers 17 “countries of concern,” including Israel.
Co-op will now launch a phased approach to begin removing products sourced from the 17 countries.
The BDS campaign, led by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, saw the Co-op board commit to a “sourcing policy aligned with established co-operative values, upholding human rights and the rule of law to promote fair trading and peace.”
The supermarket will now avoid sourcing products from countries where “there is consistent behavior which would constitute community-wide human rights abuses or violations of international law.”
Through the new policy, Co-op believes it “can make a difference directly or indirectly to those affected and would alleviate suffering.”
Israel is a major exporter of fruit and vegetables to the UK, and its products are widely stocked at British supermarkets, including as ingredients in larger items.
A number of Israeli farms operate facilities in the occupied West Bank, in settlements that are illegal under international law.
PSC hailed Co-op’s decision as a “major victory.” It follows the “Don’t Buy Apartheid” campaign that the organization conducted this year, urging a widespread boycott of Israeli products in British shops, restaurants and venues.
Ben Jamal, PSC director, said: “This is a seismic victory for the Palestinian solidarity movement in this country, which demands that the government, institutions and corporations end all economic, political and military support for the state of Israel, which is conducting a live streamed genocide in Gaza after decades of military occupation and imposing a system of apartheid on Palestinians.
“The Co-op, as befits its history, has shown great moral courage and ethical principle in deciding that it cannot ignore voices from the British public calling out Israel’s gross human rights abuses and violations of international law — and even more importantly, it cannot economically support that regime through doing business in Israel.
“This beacon of leadership must now be taken up by all other supermarket chains which continue to sell Israeli goods, despite knowing they are supporting its war crimes.”
