COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Adjida kicked and screamed when the rough and dirty hands of the masked soldier moved up her legs and ripped off her clothes.
The 13-year-old pleaded with him to stop when he climbed on top of her, a gun in one hand, removed his pants with the other, and raped her.
Just minutes before, Adjida had watched her parents being shot dead from her hiding place under a wooden table in a village in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine. She tried to run into the surrounding jungle, but was captured by a soldier.
“I felt the pain when he penetrated me and all I could think about was my lost virginity. I am no longer pure. I am an outcast now and will never find a husband,” said the teenager, a Rohingya Muslim.
Her home was torched in the attack in Kawarbil village six weeks ago by Myanmar army soldiers, she said, and she and her sister fled with other villagers across the border to Bangladesh.
But the threat of sexual violence for children like Adjida has not diminished since reaching the sprawling refugee camps near Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar — home to hundreds of thousands of newly arrived Rohingya who have fled violence in Myanmar.
More than 800 incidents of gender-based violence have been reported by Rohingya refugees since the recent influx, said UNICEF’s head of child protection Jean Lieby. Over half of these cases are sexual assaults, according to the UN agency.
Some 515,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in an unrelenting movement of people that began after the Myanmar army responded to Rohingya militant attacks with a brutal crackdown.
The United Nations has denounced the Myanmar military offensive as ethnic cleansing but Myanmar insists its forces are fighting “terrorists” who have killed civilians.
About 60 percent of the new arrivals are children. Adjida arrived with her 15-year-old sister Minara a month ago. The sole survivors of their family, they live by themselves in a tent made of bamboo and plastic sheeting in Kutupalong camp.
They don’t feel safe.
“Our parents and two older sisters were killed and they can’t take care of us anymore. Here in the camp, we have already heard of other girls who were raped in the last days, that’s why we try to stay in our tent most of the time,” Minara said.
TRAUMA
The girls agreed to speak to the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an empty classroom of one of the camp’s school buildings, but asked for windows to be closed and that they not be identified by their full names.
The girls covered their faces with their headscarves and asked for assurances no men would be allowed into the room.
“I’m ashamed of what happened. I had many dreams for the future, but they are lost with my purity,” said Minara, who was also raped as she tried to escape from her village.
“I don’t have enough clothes to fully cover, but it’s what I want to do now,” she said, nervously fidgeting with the embroidered black dress she had borrowed from a neighbor.
Aid agencies have set up safe spaces in Kutupalong camp — colorful rooms or outside areas — where women and children who are victims of sexual assault can find counselling and support.
“They feel comfortable and understood here and it’s often the first time they open up and talk about their trauma,” said UNFPA spokeswoman Veronica Pedrosa.
But there is not enough help for the overwhelming numbers who have arrived in such a short time.
“We just had a month of unprecedented refugee influx and it’s nothing like Bangladesh has seen before. Almost half a million people arrived,” said Lieby of UNICEF.
“We are now working hard to scale-up and meet the needs of refugee children. We especially ... want to change the stigma that comes with rape.”
STIGMA
Even with counselling services available, many girls still opt not to report that they have been raped, said aid workers in the camp.
“In an environment like this, girls are often scared of the stigma attached to sexual violence. They also fear their family’s opinion,” Rebecca Duskin, a nurse focusing on sexual violence told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Kutupalong.
Working for the health charity Medical Teams International, she has come to the camp to set up a disease prevention clinic.
“This is often the first sexual encounter for the victims and they need a safe place to turn to now,” she said. “They have experienced violent rape in a conflict zone and often in public, which increases trauma.”
Kutupalong’s new refugees have arrived exhausted, hungry and often with physical injuries such as machete or gunshot wounds. But it is the psychological trauma that runs deepest.
“I’d rather die here than go back home,” said Minara. “We barely go outside. There are no more guns here, but there are people who could rape us again.”
Her younger sister Adjida, sitting next to her, agrees.
“I thought I was going to die when the soldiers took us to the jungle. Now I know I would have preferred to die. It’s better than losing my purity.”
Sex attacks leave Rohingya children fearful in Bangladesh’s camps
Sex attacks leave Rohingya children fearful in Bangladesh’s camps
Fifteen inmates killed in new Ecuador jail massacre
- “Serious incidents were reported between inmates, resulting in a preliminary toll of 15 dead and 14 wounded,” the prison service said
- The prison service said that a “significant contingent” of troops and police had been deployed to restore order at the prison, which was now under the “full control” of the authorities
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador: At least 15 inmates were killed and 14 injured in clashes Tuesday at a prison in the Ecuadoran port of Guayaquil, the latest in a series of massacres blamed on a war between drug cartels.
Once seen as a beacon of stability in South America, Ecuador has become one of the world’s most violent nations and a major drug trafficking hub in recent years.
Much of the violence has taken place in prisons where more than 460 inmates have been killed since February 2021, often in gruesome fashion, with their bodies dismembered and burnt.
The latest bloodshed took place in Litoral penitentiary, the country’s biggest, where 119 inmates were killed in September 2021 in Ecuador’s worst prison massacre.
“This morning, in a pavilion of the Litoral penitentiary, serious incidents were reported between inmates, resulting in a preliminary toll of 15 dead and 14 wounded,” the prison service said.
AFP drone images of the prison yard showed inmates in orange prison garb placing a body on the ground next to a dozen corpses wrapped in blankets.
In another part of the prison, dozens of prisoners could be seen sitting in rows, guarded by security force members.
The prison service said that a “significant contingent” of troops and police had been deployed to restore order at the prison, which was now under the “full control” of the authorities.
The violence in Ecuador’s prisons has spilled over onto the streets.
The Andean country registered a record 47 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, up from a rate of six per 100,000 in 2018.
In January, the violence reached a new peak following the jailbreak of a powerful narco boss, Jose Adolfo Macias.
In the most dramatic incident, gunmen stormed the studios of a television station in Guayaquil and held a presenter at gunpoint live on air.
Gang members also took scores of prison guards hostage and set off explosions prompting President Daniel Noboa to declare war on organized crime and deploy the army to combat the gangs.
Tuesday’s massacre is the first at a prison since then.
But tit-for-tat gang attacks left at least 17 dead near Guayaquil last month and prison officials continue to be targeted.
Five penitentiary staff were shot dead in the space of a month between late August and late September.
The victims included the director of Litoral, who was shot dead after her car was ambushed while traveling near Guayaquil and the head of another prison in the Amazonian province of Sucumbios, who too was shot dead while traveling by car.
Noboa claims his offensive against organized crime is nonetheless yielding results.
Between January and September, 4,236 murders were reported, down from 5,112 for the same period in 2023.
Spanish flood-hit towns brace for another storm
- AEMET forecasts as much as 120 mm of rain in 12 hours
- While the storm is not expected to be as powerful, it could be devastating for the towns that are still recovering
MADRID: Flood-hit towns near the eastern city of Valencia were rushing on Tuesday to clear the sewage system of mud and debris, pile sandbags and cancel school classes as they prepared for another approaching storm.
Two weeks after the worst floods in Spain’s modern history killed more than 200 people, national weather service AEMET issued an orange alert, the second-highest, for strong or torrential rains expected on Wednesday in the same area.
AEMET forecasts as much as 120 mm (4.7 inches) of rain in 12 hours. While the storm is not expected to be as powerful, it could be devastating for the towns that are still recovering.
The impact of the rain could be severe because of the quantities of mud already on the ground and because of the condition of the sewage system, Rosa Tauris, a spokesperson for Valencia’s emergency committee, told reporters.
Thousands of workers are cleaning buildings while removing the mud that accumulated on roads and sidewalks and clogged the sewage pipes and drains in towns and suburbs around Valencia.
The emergency committee issued a special warning requesting that municipalities and organizations take preventive measures, including closing schools.
Tauris recommended citizens work remotely when possible, avoid non-essential travel and follow emergency services’ updates.
The town council of Chiva, one of the worst-hit sites, canceled classes and sports activities, while in nearby Aldaia, workers piled up sandbags to protect the town.
“We are placing sandbags to replace the floodgates that the previous floods tore down,” municipal worker Antonio Ojeda said, hoping this would prevent the Saleta ravine from overflowing again.
They are also cleaning the ditches and drains that are obstructed with trees, tires and car parts.
On Monday, 10,000 tons of furniture, appliances and clothing were removed, almost as much waste as Valencia disposes of in a year.
Valencian authorities suspended classes and activities at recreational centers in the flood-hit suburbs, advising volunteers who flocked to the area to help clean up to avoid travel.
The AEMET’s weather alerts cover much of the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia and the Balearic Islands.
Court delays decision on sentencing Trump to November 19
- Ahead of election, Trump’s lawyers moved to have case thrown out
- Trump’s legal team almost certain to seek to oppose or delay any sentencing
NEW YORK: The judge in Donald Trump’s New York criminal case has delayed to November 19 a decision on potentially throwing out the US president-elect’s conviction, the court said Tuesday.
Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in May after a jury found he had fraudulently manipulated business records to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.
The president-elect is due to be sentenced on November 26, may receive a reprieve if Judge Juan Merchan decides to dismiss the case following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
That landmark ruling saw the court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, decide that presidents have sweeping immunity from prosecution for a range of official acts committed while in office.
Ahead of the election, Trump’s lawyers moved to have the case thrown out in light of the Supreme Court decision, a move that prosecutors have firmly rejected.
If the judge throws out the case on that basis, there will be no sentencing of Trump, 78.
If he does not, Trump’s legal team would almost certainly seek to oppose or delay any sentencing, insisting it would interfere with Trump’s role as commander-in-chief once he is sworn in on January 20.
“The joint application for a stay of the current deadlines... until November 19, is granted,” the court wrote in an email to parties in the case, seen by AFP.
Alongside the New York case, brought by state-level prosecutors, Trump faces two active federal cases, one related to his effort to overturn the 2020 election and the other connected to classified documents he allegedly mishandled after leaving office.
However, as president, he would be able to intervene to end those cases, and Jack Smith, the special counsel handling both cases, has reportedly begun to wind them down.
A Trump-appointed federal judge already threw out the documents case, but Smith had sought to appeal that decision.
“Trump’s victory means he is unlikely to be held accountable for any of his alleged criminal misconduct,” said former prosecutor Randall Eliason in an article on Substack.
“That’s a severe blow to the ideal of the rule of law.”
The New York conviction, coming just months before an election that Trump won convincingly, was one of several dramatic developments in the race for the White House.
In July, Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania when a bullet grazed his ear.
Later that month, President Joe Biden stepped aside as the Democratic Party’s candidate following a disastrous performance against Trump in a televised debate.
That paved the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the first woman of color from a major US party to stand for president.
Driver rams his car into crowd in China, killing 35, as police say he was upset about his divorce
- Police detained the 62-year-old man, who is being treated for wounds thought to be self-inflicted, shortly after the attack
- He was dissatisfied with the split of financial assets in his divorce, according to a preliminary investigation, police said
ZHUHAI, China: A man who authorities said was upset over his divorce settlement rammed his car into a crowd of people exercising at a sports complex in southern China, killing 35 and severely injuring dozens of others, police said Tuesday.
Police detained the 62-year-old man, who is being treated for wounds thought to be self-inflicted, shortly after the attack Monday night in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai. The city is hosting the People’s Liberation Army’s annual aviation exhibition, which opened Tuesday, and searches for what happened were heavily censored for users behind China’s Great Firewall.
Outside of the controls, however, videos circulated on the social media platform X. In several, dozens of people could be seen lying on the track at the sports complex, which is regularly used by hundreds of residents to run, play soccer or dance.
In one, shared by news blogger and dissident Li Ying, a woman says “my foot is broken.” That same video showed a firefighter performing CPR on a person, as others were told to leave. Li, who is known on X as Teacher Li, posts daily news based on user submissions
In addition to the 35 people killed, police said 43 were injured.
China has seen a number of attacks in which suspects appear to target members of the public at random.
In October, a man was detained after he allegedly attacked children with a knife at a school in Beijing. Five people were wounded. In September, three people were killed in a knife attack in a Shanghai supermarket, and another 15 were injured. Police said at the time that the suspect had personal financial disputes and came to Shanghai to “vent his anger.”
In May, two people were killed and 21 injured in a knife attack in a hospital in Yunnan province.
Police identified the man detained in Monday’s attack only by his family name of Fan, as is typical, and said he was unconscious and receiving medical care after being found in his car with a knife and wounded.
He was dissatisfied with the split of financial assets in his divorce, according to a preliminary investigation, police said.
Chinese authorities appeared to be tightly controlling information about the incident. Internet censors tend to take extra care to scrub social media ahead of and during major events, such as the aviation exhibition or the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress.
For almost 24 hours after the attack, it was unclear what the death or injury toll was. On Tuesday morning, a search on the Chinese social media platform Weibo for the sports center turned up just a few posts, with only a couple referring to the fact something had happened, without pictures or details. Articles by Chinese media from Monday night about the incident were taken down.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the “strict” punishment of the perpetrator according to law in a statement Tuesday evening.
He also called on all local governments “to strengthen prevention and control of risks at the source, strictly prevent extreme cases from occurring, and to resolve conflicts and disputes in a timely manner,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Indian travel agents record surge in outbound tourism to Middle East
- There has been an increase of at least 30% in trips to Middle East from Indian city of Ahmedabad alone, agent says
- Indian travelers are drawn to ‘less explored’ Middle East region, which is increasingly becoming top choice
NEW DELHI: An increasing number of Indian travelers are visiting the Middle East this year, tour operators said on Tuesday after recording a significant surge to the region during the Diwali holiday season.
The Middle East has become an increasingly popular foreign destination for many Indian travelers, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE often cited as the top two countries in demand.
As the festive Diwali season and the long holidays that came with it concluded earlier this month, tourism players in India say there was a notable increase in trips to Arab countries.
“In this festival season, there was a huge demand,” Jyoti Mayal, president of the Travel Agents Association of India, told Arab News on travel from India to the UAE, citing Saudi Arabia and Qatar as particularly popular destinations.
“These countries in the Middle East are less explored and that’s why more and more people are traveling (to them).”
Travelers from the western Indian state of Gujarat were drawn to new and affordable packages offered to Gulf destinations like Dubai, said tour agent Manish Sharma.
“From Ahmedabad, I can say that compared to the past, there has been an increase of 30 to 35 percent in the outbound travels to the Middle East this time,” Sharma, who runs his business in the Gujarati capital, told Arab News.
Their top choices were UAE cities such as Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai, he added.
“The reasons for the growth are manifold — it’s cheap, easy connectivity, it’s near, you get good food,” he added.
Members of the Gujarati middle class “take at least one or two vacations every year,” he said. “During Diwali and summer vacation, they prefer to go to Dubai.”
Many Indians appear to be taking advantage of the increasing number of direct flights to the UAE. There are at least 14 daily flights to Dubai from Ahmedabad alone.
“There has been an increase in Dubai travel in the last 10 years, (and) in the last three years tourism has grown greatly. But this year, tourism to UAE has gone phenomenally and the reason is the increase in the number of flights,” Sharma said.
