YANGON: Myanmar launched on Tuesday its first bid to improve relations between followers of different religions since an eruption of deadly violence in August inflamed communal tension and triggered an exodus of some 520,000 Muslims to Bangladesh.
Rohingya Muslims are still fleeing, more than six weeks after Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
The United Nations has denounced a ferocious military crackdown in response to the attacks as ethnic cleansing aimed at driving out Rohingya.
A new surge of refugees has entered Bangladesh in recent days, including about 11,000 on Monday. Some have told of increasing hunger in Rakhine State as well as of more mob attacks on Muslim villagers.
Despite growing international condemnation of the refugee crisis, the military campaign is popular in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where there is little sympathy for the Rohingya, and for Muslims in general, and where Buddhist nationalism has surged in recent years.
The party of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi took the first step toward trying to calm communal animosity with inter-faith prayers at a stadium in the biggest city of Yangon, with Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Christians.
“This is for peace and stability,” party spokesman Aung Shin told Reuters. “Peace in Rakhine and peace nationwide.”
Traffic was jammed around the stadium as Buddhist monks had nuns packed the stands inside, along with thousands of others.
The Rohingya had pinned hopes for change on Suu Kyi’s party but it has been wary of Buddhist nationalist pressure. Her party did not field a single Muslim candidate in the 2015 election that it swept.
Rohingya are not classified as an indigenous minority in Myanmar and so are denied citizenship under a law that links nationality to ethnicity.
Regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, they face restrictions and discrimination and are derided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in Rakhine State, and by much of the wider population.
The militants of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) who launched the Aug. 25 attacks that triggered the latest spasm of violence are demanding full citizenship rights and recognition as an indigenous community.
CEASEFIRE ENDS
A one-month cease-fire the insurgents called in September in order, they said, to ease aid deliveries to Rakhine State, expired at midnight on Monday, but authorities said there was no sign of any new attacks.
The government rebuffed the cease-fire, saying it did not negotiate with terrorists.
Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing. It says more than 500 people have been killed in the violence since late August, most of them ARSA “terrorists.”
Even before the government offensive, the small, lightly armed ARSA appeared only capable of hit-and-run raids and unable to mount any sort of sustained challenge to the army.
The insurgents said on Saturday they were ready to respond to any peace move by the government, even though their cease-fire was ending.
The reports of food shortages in Rakhine will add to the urgency of calls by aid agencies and the international community for unfettered humanitarian access to the conflict zone.
Villagers said food was running out because rice crops were not ready for harvest and authorities had shut village markets and limited food transport, apparently to cut supplies to the militants.
The government has cited worry about food as one of the reasons people have cited for leaving, but a senior state government official on Monday dismissed any suggestion of starvation.
Among those fleeing were more than 30 people on a fishing boat that capsized off the Bangladesh coast on Sunday evening. Twenty-five of them drowned, including 13 children, police said.
Myanmar takes first step toward calming communal hatred
Myanmar takes first step toward calming communal hatred
Prestigious Irish university to cut links with Israel over Gaza war
- Trinity College Dublin will sever institutional links with the Israeli state, universities and companies headquartered there
- University said the action was a protest against 'violations of international and humanitarian law'
DUBLIN: Ireland’s prestigious Trinity College Dublin said on Wednesday that it would cut all links with Israel in protest at “ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law.”
The university’s board informed students by email that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce to sever “institutional links with the State of Israel, Israeli universities and companies headquartered in Israel.”
The recommendations would be “enacted for the duration of the ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law,” said the email sent by the board’s chairman Paul Farrell, and seen by AFP.
The taskforce was set up after part of the university’s campus in central Dublin was blockaded by students for five days last year in protest at Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Among the taskforce’s recommendations approved by the board were pledges to divest “from all companies headquartered in Israel” and to “enter into no future supply contracts with Israeli firms” and “no new commercial relationships with Israeli entities.”
The university also said that it would “enter into no further mobility agreements with Israeli universities.”
Trinity has two current Erasmus+ exchange agreements with Israeli universities: Bar Ilan University, an agreement that ends in July 2026, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which ends in July 2025, the university told AFP in an email.
The board also said that the university “should not submit for approval or agree to participate in any new institutional research agreements involving Israeli participation.”
It “should seek to align itself with like-minded universities and bodies in an effort to influence EU policy concerning Israel’s participation in such collaborations,” it added.
Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas militants that sparked the war in Gaza.
Polls since the start of the war have shown overwhelming pro-Palestinian sympathy in Ireland.
In May 2024, Dublin joined several other European countries in recognizing Palestine as a “sovereign and independent state.”
It then joined South Africa in bringing a case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza — charges angrily denied by Israeli leaders.
In December, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of the country’s embassy in Dublin, blaming Ireland’s “extreme anti-Israel policies.”
The University of Geneva also announced Wednesday that it has ended its partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem following student protests, saying it no longer reflected the institution’s “strategic priorities.”
Moscow security chief discusses Ukraine with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un
- “Sergei Shoigu was received by the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un,” the embassy said
- It said talks took place “in an atmosphere of friendly mutual understanding“
MOSCOW: Russia’s security chief Sergei Shoigu discussed the Ukraine conflict with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on a visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday, Moscow’s embassy in the reclusive state said.
North Korea has become one of Russia’s main allies during Moscow’s more than three-year-long Ukraine offensive, sending thousands of troops to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from its Kursk border region.
Pyongyang is also largely believed to be arming Russia.
“Sergei Shoigu was received by the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un,” the embassy said, adding that they “exchanged views on the situation around the Ukrainian crisis and the Korean peninsula.”
It said talks took place “in an atmosphere of friendly mutual understanding.”
Shoigu also met with North Korean military official Pak Jong-chon, the embassy said.
Russia’s TASS news agency said earlier that Shoigu had arrived on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wednesday’s visit is Shoigu’s second to Pyongyang in less than three months.
Pyongyang has defended its military cooperation with Russia, saying on Monday that ties were aimed at “ensuring peace and stability” in Europe and Asia.
Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun, citing the country’s intelligence service.
Russia and North Korea signed a sweeping military deal last year, including a mutual defense clause, during a rare visit by Putin to the nuclear-armed North.
Shoigu hailed the deal as “fully meeting the interests of both countries” during a visit in March.
Trump says Putin told him that Russia will respond to Ukrainian attack on airfields
- Trump said “It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace”
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him “very strongly” in a phone call Wednesday that he will respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airfields.
The US president said in a social media post that “It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”
The call that lasted for an hour and 15 minutes was Trump’s first known with Putin since May 19.
Trump said he and Putin also discussed Iran’s nuclear program.
EU gives Bulgaria green light to adopt euro from start of 2026
- “Today, the European Commission concluded that Bulgaria is ready to adopt the euro as of 1 January 2026,” the Commission said
- Bulgaria has been striving to switch its lev currency to the euro ever since it joined the European Union in 2007
BRUSSELS: The European Commission and the European Central Bank gave Bulgaria the go-ahead on Wednesday to adopt the euro currency from the start of 2026, making Bulgaria the 21st country to join the single currency area.
In a “convergence report” describing how Bulgaria’s economy dovetails with the rest of the euro zone, the Commission said Bulgaria met the formal criteria needed to adopt the currency now used by 347 million Europeans in 20 countries.
“Today, the European Commission concluded that Bulgaria is ready to adopt the euro as of 1 January 2026 – a key milestone that would make it the twenty-first Member State to join the euro area,” the Commission said in a statement.
The Commission also looked at whether Bulgaria’s economy and markets are integrated with the rest of the EU, as well as the trends in the country’s balance of payments.
In a separate report, the ECB also said Bulgaria was ready.
“I wish to congratulate Bulgaria on its tremendous dedication to making the adjustments needed,” ECB Executive Board Member Philip Lane said in a statement.
Bulgaria has been striving to switch its lev currency to the euro ever since it joined the European Union in 2007. But after such a long wait, many Bulgarians have lost the initial enthusiasm with 50 percent now skeptical about the euro, according to a Eurobarometer poll in May. Some Bulgarians fear the currency switch will drive up prices.
“Ensuring price transparency and combating abusive price increases will require a special effort,” EU Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference.
“Previous practices and data from other euro area countries demonstrate that this is perfectly achievable, with price increases resulting from previous changeovers having been minimal,” he said.
Becoming a member of the euro zone, apart from using euro notes and coins, also means a seat at the European Central Bank’s rate-setting Governing Council.
The positive recommendation from the EU executive arm means that EU leaders will have to endorse it later in June. EU finance ministers will then fix the conversion exchange rate for the Bulgarian lev into the euro in July, leaving the rest of the year for the country to technically prepare for the transition.
MEETING THE CRITERIA
To get the positive recommendation, Bulgaria had to meet the inflation criterion, which says that the euro-candidate cannot have consumer inflation higher than 1.5 percentage points above the three best EU performers.
In April, the best performers were France with 0.9 percent, Cyprus with 1.4 percent and Denmark with 1.5 percent, which put Bulgaria with its 2.8 percent just within the limit.
The euro candidate country also cannot be under the EU’s disciplinary budget procedure for running a deficit in excess of 3 percent of GDP. Bulgaria meets this criterion with a budget deficit of 3.0 percent in 2024 and 2.8 percent expected in 2025.
The country’s public debt of 24.1 percent of GDP in 2024 and 25.1 percent expected in 2025 is well below the maximum level of 60 percent, and its long-term interest rate on bonds is well within the 2 percentage point margin above the rate at which the three best inflation performers borrow.
Finally, Bulgaria had to prove it had a stable exchange rate by staying within a 15 percent margin on either side of a central parity rate in the Exchange Rate Mechanism II.
This was easily done because Bulgaria has been running a currency board that fixed the lev to the euro at 1.95583 since the start of the euro currency in 1999.
Bulgaria’s euro adoption will come three years after the last euro zone expansion, when Croatia joined the single currency grouping at the start of 2023.
The accession of Bulgaria into the euro zone will leave only six of the 27 EU countries outside the single currency area: Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Denmark.
None of them have any immediate plans to adopt the euro either for political or because they do not meet the required economic criteria.
Sweden tries militant over Jordanian pilot burned to death by Daesh
- “Osama Krayem has, together and in agreement with other perpetrators belonging to Daesh, killed Maaz Al-Kassasbeh,” prosecutor Reena Devgun told the court
- In the 22-minute video of the killing, the victim is seen walking past several masked Daesh fighters, including Krayem, according to prosecutors
STOCKHOLM: A convicted Swedish militant went on trial in Stockholm on Wednesday accused of war crimes for his role in the 2014 killing of a Jordanian pilot who was burned alive in Syria.
The case is considered unique as the other militants involved in the brutal killing, which sparked international outrage at the time, are presumed dead, Swedish prosecutor Henrik Olin told AFP.
Osama Krayem, a 32-year-old Swede, is already serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks in 2015 and 2016.
He now faces charges of “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes” for his alleged participation in the killing of the Jordanian pilot.
On December 24, 2014, an aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force crashed in Syria.
The pilot was captured the same day by fighters from the Daesh group near the central city of Raqqa and he was burned alive in a cage sometime before February 3, 2015, when a video of the gruesome killing was published, according to the prosecution.
The slickly-produced propaganda video was one of the first such videos released by Daesh.
The killing shocked Jordan, which was participating in the US-led coalition’s strikes against Daesh positions in Syria.
“Osama Krayem has, together and in agreement with other perpetrators belonging to Daesh, killed Maaz Al-Kassasbeh,” prosecutor Reena Devgun told the court on Wednesday.
“Osama Krayem, in uniform and armed, guarded and led the victim Maaz Al-Kassasbeh to a metal cage, where the latter was then locked up. One of the co-perpetrators then set fire to Maaz Al-Kassasbeh, who had no possibility to defend himself or call for help,” Devgun said.
Krayem, wearing a dark blue shirt and with a thick beard and long, loose dark hair, had his back to the handful of journalists and spectators who followed Wednesday’s proceedings behind a glass wall in the high security courtroom in Stockholm’s district court.
He appeared calm as the prosecution laid out the charges, which could result in a life sentence if Krayem is convicted.
In the 22-minute video of the killing, the victim is seen walking past several masked Daesh fighters, including Krayem, according to prosecutors.
The pilot is then seen being locked in the cage and praying as he is set on fire.
Prosecutors have been unable to determine the exact date of the murder but the investigation has identified the location.
The pilot’s father, Safi Al-Kassasbeh, told AFP on Wednesday the family hoped Krayem would “receive the harshest penalty according to the magnitude of the crime.”
“This is what we expect from a respected and fair law,” he said.
It was thanks to a scar on the suspect’s eyebrow, visible in the video and spotted by Belgian police, that Krayem was identified and the investigation was opened, Devgun said when the charges were announced last week.
Other evidence in the case includes conversations on social media, including one where Krayem asks a person if he has seen a new video “where a man gets fried,” according to the investigation, a copy of which has been viewed by AFP.
“I’m in the video,” Krayem said, pointing out the moment when the camera zooms in on his face.
The other person replies: “Hahaha, yes, I saw the eyebrow.”
The defendant’s lawyer, Petra Eklund, told AFP before the start of the trial that her client admitted to being present at the scene but disputed the prosecution’s version.
“He denies the acts for which he is prosecuted,” she said.
“He acknowledges having been present at that place during the event, but claims not to have acted in the manner described by the prosecutors in the account of the facts,” she added.
Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, joined the Daesh group in Syria in 2014 before returning to Europe in September 2015.
He was arrested in Belgium in April 2016.
In June 2022, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in France for helping plan the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed.
The following year, he was given a life sentence in Belgium for participating in the March 2016 bombings at Brussels’ main airport and on the metro system, in which 32 people were killed.
Krayem has been temporarily handed over to Sweden for the Stockholm trial, which is scheduled to last until June 26.
