UNITED NATIONS: International opinion hardened against Myanmar on Monday as the US, Britain and other powers renewed calls for an end to violence against Rohingya Muslims, whose plight is overshadowing the Southeast Asian nation’s historic transition to democracy.
A year ago at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, Myanmar was being lauded for staging elections and shifting peacefully from decades of oppressive military rule.
At this year’s UN session, Myanmar, also known as Burma, appeared in danger of being an international outlier again.
Outrage is growing over a military crackdown that has triggered an exodus of more than 400,000 Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh in less than a month in what the UN has described as “ethnic cleansing. “
Last week, the Security Council, the UN’s most powerful body, condemned the violence in its first statement on Myanmar in nine years.
On Monday, Britain presided at a meeting of several Western and Muslim-majority governments that urged senior Myanmar officials to stop abuses against the Muslim minority and restore humanitarian access.
Myanmar’s government has blamed the crisis on Rohingya insurgents who attacked security posts in Rakhine State in late August.
But the military’s heavy response has severely affected civilians. Human rights groups, which are demanding punitive sanctions against Myanmar, say satellite imagery shows dozens of settlements have been set on fire. Many fleeing Rohingya say their homes were burned by Myanmar troops or Buddhist mobs.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called the violence a “stain” on Myanmar’s reputation.
He urged action from the nation’s democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been criticized for failing to speak out in defense of the Rohingya. The minority group is widely loathed by the Buddhist majority in Myanmar and viewed as outsiders despite the fact many have lived in the country for generations.
“It is vital that Aung San Suu Kyi and the civilian government make clear these abuses must stop,” Johnson said in a statement.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who spent nearly 15 years in house arrest under Myanmar’s former ruling junta, is skipping the UN gathering and will address her nation Tuesday.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley said Monday’s meeting, attended by Myanmar’s national security adviser and deputy foreign minister, was productive but the situation remains dire. She urged the government to end military operations, grant humanitarian access and commit to aiding the safe return of civilians to their homes.
“People are still at risk of being attacked or killed, humanitarian aid is not reaching the people who need it, and innocent civilians are still fleeing across the border to Bangladesh,” Haley said.
Ministers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Turkey, Australia, Canada, Sweden and Denmark also attended the closed meeting Monday. The British statement said the meeting urged Myanmar to implement recommendations of a commission led by former UN chief Kofi Annan calling for economic development and social justice to counter deadly violence between Buddhists and the Rohingya.
Also Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said one-third of the Rohingya community has been forced into exile and it requires a collective response by the international community to ensure their protection.
“We are waiting for Aung San Suu Kyi to give a strong answer and a real dialogue,” he told reporters.
As world leaders meet at UN, opinion hardens against Myanmar
As world leaders meet at UN, opinion hardens against Myanmar
US ready to abandon efforts to broker Russia-Ukraine peace deal, Rubio says
- Trump was still interested in a deal but had many other priorities around the world
Rubio, speaking in Paris after meeting European and Ukranian leaders, said that President Donald Trump was still interested in a deal but had many other priorities around the world and was willing to move on unless there are signs of progress. (Reporting by Bart H. Meijer and Dominique Vidalon Writing by Gabriel Stargardter Editing by David Goodman )
Over 170 arrested for attacks on Pakistan KFC outlets in Gaza war protests
- Attacks sparked by anti-US, anti-Israel sentiment
- Several Western brands face boycotts in Pakistan over Israel-Palestine conflict
KARACHI: Police have arrested scores of people in Pakistan in recent weeks after more than 10 mob attacks on outlets of US fast-food chain KFC, sparked by anti-United States sentiment and opposition to its ally Israel’s war in Gaza, officials said.
Police in major cities in the Islamic nation, including the southern port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and the capital Islamabad, confirmed at least 11 incidents in which KFC outlets were attacked by protesters armed with sticks and vandalized. At least 178 people were arrested, the officials said this week.
KFC and its parent Yum Brands, both US-based, did not respond to requests for comment.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one KFC employee was shot and killed this week in a store on the outskirts of Lahore by unknown gunmen. The official added there was no protest at the time and they were investigating whether the killing was motivated by political sentiment or some other reason.
In Lahore, police said they were ramping up security at 27 KFC outlets around the city after two attacks took place and five others were prevented.
“We are investigating the role of different individuals and groups in these attacks,” said Faisal Kamran, a senior Lahore police officer, adding that 11 people, including a member of the Islamist religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), were arrested in the city. He added the protests were not officially organized by TLP.
TLP spokesman Rehan Mohsin Khan said the group “has urged Muslims to boycott Israeli products, but it has not given any call for protest outside KFC.”
“If any other person claiming to be a TLP leader or activist has indulged in such activity, it should be taken as his personal act which has nothing to do with the party’s policy,” said Khan.
KFC has long been viewed as a symbol of the United States in Pakistan and borne the brunt of anti-American sentiment in recent decades with protests and attacks.
Western brands have been hit by boycotts and other forms of protests in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries in recent months over Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The war was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.
Yum Brands has said one of its other brands, Pizza Hut, has faced a protracted impact from boycotts related to Israel’s war in Gaza.
In Pakistan, local brands have made inroads into its fast-growing cola market as some consumers avoid US brands. In 2023, Coca-Cola’s market share in the consumer sector in Pakistan fell to 5.7 percent from 6.3 percent in 2022, according to GlobalData, while PepsiCo’s fell to 10.4 percent from 10.8 percent.
Earlier this month, religious clerics in Pakistan called for a boycott of any products or brands that they say support Israel or the American economy, but asked people to stay peaceful and not destroy property.
Chinese foreign minister calls on Global South to safeguard multilateral trade
- Wang said the world is again at a critical crossroads
BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Global South countries to safeguard multilateral trading systems, warning that power politics and “unilateral bullying” are creating divisions, in a statement his ministry released on Friday.
In a written speech to a roundtable meeting in Beijing on Thursday and referred to in the statement, Wang said the world is again at a critical crossroads, urging countries to oppose “unilateral protectionism” and build an open world economy.
US YouTuber remains in custody in India after visiting restricted island with a Diet Coke can
- Polyakov is suspected of violating Indian laws that carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine
NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old American YouTuber who was arrested after visiting an off-limits island in the Indian Ocean with hopes of establishing contact with a reclusive tribe was further detained in custody on Thursday.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov will next appear before a local court in Port Blair — the capital of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands — on April 29, police said.
Polyakov, from Scottsdale, Arizona, was arrested on March 31, two days after he set foot on the restricted territory of North Sentinel Island in a bid to meet people from the reclusive Sentinelese tribe.
He left a can of Diet Coke and a coconut as offering for the tribe this time after he failed to contact the Sentinelese. He shot a video of the island on his camera and collected some sand samples before returning to his boat.
“It may be claimed to be an adventure trip, but the fact is that there has been a violation of Indian laws. Outsiders meeting Sentinelese could endanger the tribe’s survival,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity as he isn’t authorized to speak about the case under investigation.
Polyakov is suspected of violating Indian laws that carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine.
Visitors are banned from traveling within 3 miles of North Sentinel Island, whose population has been isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years. The inhabitants use spears and bows and arrows to hunt the animals that roam the small, heavily forested island. Deeply suspicious of outsiders, they attack anyone who lands onto their beaches.
In 2018, an American missionary who landed illegally on the beach was killed by North Sentinelese Islanders who apparently shot him with arrows and then buried his body on the beach. In 2006, the Sentinelese killed two fishermen who had accidentally landed on the shore.
An official from the US consulate visited Polyakov in jail earlier this week. “We take our commitment to assist US citizens abroad seriously and are monitoring the situation,” the US Embassy in New Delhi said in a statement, while declining to divulge further details due to privacy considerations.
Police said Polyakov had conducted detailed research on sea conditions, tides and accessibility to the island before starting his journey. He stayed on the beach for about an hour, blowing a whistle to attract attention but got no response from the islanders.
On his return he was spotted by local fishermen, who informed the authorities and Polyakov was arrested in Port Blair, an archipelago nearly 750 miles east of India’s mainland.
France hails ‘positive process’ as Europe, US discuss Ukraine ceasefire
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pressed a US peace plan during the discussions in Paris
- Russian strikes overnight Thursday killed two people and wounded dozens of others in the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy
Paris: France said talks Thursday between top US and European officials on the war in Ukraine had launched a “positive process,” as Europe seeks to be included in efforts to end the three-year-old conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio again pressed a US peace plan during the discussions in Paris.
The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio, US envoy Steve Witkoff, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, German officials and Ukrainian ministers.
They took place as US President Donald Trump’s push to end the war stumbles, with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin rebuffing a complete truce.
“Today in Paris, we launched a positive process in which the Europeans are involved,” the French presidency said.
A new meeting of envoys from the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Ukraine will take place next week in London, it added.
Rubio later called Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the Paris meeting.
“President Trump and the United States want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace,” Rubio told his Russian counterpart, according to the US State Department.
“The encouraging reception in Paris to the US framework shows that peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement,” he added.
In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said Lavrov “reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue collaborative efforts with American counterparts to comprehensively address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis.”
Lavrov and Rubio agreed on the need to maintain “prompt communication channels,” in light of the London meeting next week, the statement said.
’Europeans at the table’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has clashed with Trump, praised the talks, saying it was important to work toward “real security” in Europe.
Posting on Telegram, Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak on Friday thanked Macron “for your efforts in the process of achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov however dismissed the Paris meeting, saying earlier that Europeans seemed to have “a focus on continuing the war.”
France and Britain have sought a coordinated European response to defending Ukraine, during the conflict and in any ceasefire, after Trump shocked them by opening talks with Russia.
Macron said the Paris talks were “a very important occasion for convergence,” as everybody wanted “a robust and sustainable peace.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters the talks had made a breakthrough because the United States, Ukraine, and European ministers had “gathered around the same table” when Europe had previously feared it would be excluded from decision-making.
The United States “has understood that a just and sustainable peace ... can only be achieved with the consent and contribution of Europeans,” he added later on LCI television.
Two dead in fresh strikes
Russia’s strikes, which have recently killed dozens of people including children in Ukrainian cities, have increased pressure for new diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
Russian strikes overnight Thursday killed two people and wounded dozens of others in the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy, local and regional authorities said Friday.
Zelensky earlier accused Witkoff of “spreading Russian narratives” after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Russia hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.
“I believe that Mr.Witkoff has taken on the strategy of the Russian side,” Zelensky told reporters.
“It is very dangerous, because he is consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, spreading Russian narratives.”
Witkoff said this week that Putin was open to “permanent peace” after talks with the Kremlin chief in Saint Petersburg, their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Putin last month rejected a US proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire, after Kyiv gave its backing to the idea.
He also suggested Zelensky be removed from office, sparking an angry response from Trump who said he was “very angry” with the Russian leader.
France’s Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu held talks in Washington on Thursday with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who called on France to boost military spending, a Pentagon spokesman said.
“The secretary urged France to increase defense spending and, alongside other NATO allies, take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense,” the spokesman said.
