GENEVA: Some 582,000 Rohingya refugees have fled their homes in Myanmar and arrived in Bangladesh since late August, the United Nations said Tuesday, warning that thousands more were stranded at the border.
The UN said 582,000 members of the Rohingya community had crossed into Bangladesh since August 25, marking a jump of 45,000 from the 537,000 figure given at the weekend.
Marixie Mercado, a spokeswoman for the UN children’s agency, told reporters in Geneva though that the hike was not likely due to a sudden influx, but rather to improved access to some areas where many refugees had previously gone uncounted.
The Rohingya are fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where the UN has accused troops of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against them.
The numbers have soared since August 25, when militant attacks on Myanmar’s security forces in Rakhine sparked a major military backlash.
UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman Andrej Mahecic expressed deep concern over the “condition of thousands of new arrivals who are stranded near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.”
“Since Sunday night, an estimated 10,000-15,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh through the Anjuman Para border crossing point in Ukhia district in the country’s south-east,” he told reporters.
He said many of them had chosen to remain in their homes in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state despite repeated threats to leave or be killed.
“They finally fled when their villages were set on fire,” he said.
He said UNHCR staff had spoken with people who described walking for around a week to reach the Bangladesh border.
Most are still squatting in paddy fields in Bangladesh, and were waiting for permission to move away from the border, he said.
“UNHCR is advocating with the Bangladesh authorities to urgently admit these refugees fleeing violence and increasingly-difficult conditions back home,” Mahecic said.
“Every minute counts, given the fragile conditions they’re arriving in,” he stressed.
582,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh from Myanmar since August 25: UN
582,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh from Myanmar since August 25: UN
China plans to show off new equipment at parade marking 80th anniversary of Japan’s WWII surrender
President and head of the military Xi Jinping will deliver a speech on the occasion, which will feature “new-type combat capabilities,” including hypersonic weapons and a range of electronic gear, said Wu Zeke, identified as a senor officer of the PLA, the ruling Communist Party’s military wing.
The force is the world’s largest standing military with more than 2 million members and an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of missiles, aircraft carriers and fighter aircraft.
Military parades are a favorite of Xi’s, held primarily to mark the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, Japan’s surrender and the anniversary of the PLA’s founding. Relentlessly drilled marching units, armored columns and aerial units all feature on such occasions.
Wu said inclusion of the latest generation weaponry demonstrates the PLA’s “strong ability to adapt to technological trends and evolving warfare, and to prevail in future wars, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Japan launched an invasion of China in 1937, seizing much of eastern China. Most of the fighting against Japan was carried out by the Nationalists, who later withdrew to the island of Taiwan after being driven out of the mainland by the Communists.
Much of China’s massive military upgrading has been aimed at conquering Taiwan, which China still considers part of its territory, as well as replacing the United States as the main military power in the Asia-Pacific.
China’s Xi urges Singapore leader to jointly resist ‘hegemony’
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Singapore’s prime minister to join the fight against “hegemony” and protectionism in trade as they met in Beijing on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s first official visit to China lasts until Thursday.
He met Xi on Tuesday morning at Beijing’s opulent Great Hall of the People, with the Chinese leader urging their two countries to work to “stand on the right side of history and on the side of fairness and justice,” according to state broadcaster CCTV.
He told Wong that “the world cannot return to hegemony or be dragged back to the law of the jungle,” a veiled swipe at the United States, after President Donald Trump launched a barrage of tariffs this year on countries including China and Singapore.
Wong, in turn, told Xi he believed the Singapore-China relationship was “more important than before” in a time of “global turbulence and uncertainty.”
“We can work together to establish closer ties and... continue to strengthen multilateralism and the rules-based global order for the benefit of all countries,” Wong said.
Wong, who succeeded Lee Hsien Loong, the son of founding premier Lee Kuan Yew, in 2024, has warned the trade-dependent city-state could be hit hard by Trump’s tariffs.
Although Trump imposed a baseline 10 percent tariff on Singapore, the country is vulnerable to a global economic slowdown caused by the much higher levies on dozens of other countries because of its heavy reliance on international trade.
Following his meetings in Beijing, Wong will head to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for a meeting of the World Economic Forum.
Uganda’s long-serving President Museveni to seek reelection, official says
KAMPALA: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni will seek reelection for another term in polls due early next year to extend his nearly four-decade rule, according to a senior official from the ruling party.
Although he was widely expected to run for office again, it is the first confirmation from his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
Uganda will hold its general election in January, in which voters will also elect lawmakers.
Museveni, 80, has been in power since 1986 and is Africa’s fourth longest-ruling leader. The ruling party has changed the constitution twice in the past to allow him to extend his rule.
In a video posted late on Monday by state broadcaster UBC on social media platform X, the chairperson of the ruling party’s electoral body Tanga Odoi said Museveni would pick up forms on June 28 to represent the party in the polls.
“The president ... will pick (up) expression-of-interest forms for two positions, one for chairperson of the party and the other to contest if he is given chance for presidential flag bearer,” Odoi said.
NRM and other political parties are at present vetting and clearing their candidate for the polls.
Museveni’s closest opponent will be pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine who came second in the last polls in 2021 and has already confirmed his intention to run in 2026.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, rejected the 2021 results, saying his victory had been stolen through ballot stuffing, intimidation by security forces and other irregularities.
Rights activists and critics have long accused Museveni of using patronage and security forces to maintain his grip on power but he has denied the accusations and says his long rule is due to popular support.
Fearing war with Russia, Finland hardens NATO’s north frontier
- A Finnish government defense report late last year described “a heightened risk of an armed conflict,” citing the development of Russia’s military capabilities since the start for the war in Ukraine
- Finland has since announced plans to stockpile land mines
LAPPEENRANTA: At a shooting range 10 miles from the Russian border, Finnish army reservist Janne Latto opened the trunk of his car and unpacked a small surveillance drone and controller, equipment he sees as vital for any future conflict with Finland’s neighbor.
Since the invasion of Ukraine prompted Helsinki to join NATO two years ago, tensions reminiscent of the Cold War have resurfaced along the forested 1,340-km (833-mile) frontier, Europe’s longest with Russia. The Nordic nation is beefing up an already-sizeable reservist force and will host a new command for NATO, whose members meet in the Hague on June 24 for an annual summit. Still under construction, an imposing barbed-wire-topped fence now dominates a once-bustling section of the border, closed by Finland after it accused Russia of weaponizing migration. Shopping malls and restaurants that buzzed with Russian visitors have fallen quiet. On the other side, Russia has slowly begun dusting off Soviet-era military bases, satellite images show. Kyiv’s June 1 attack on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, including at the Olenya airfield near northern Finland, brought the war in Ukraine closer to home.
For this story, Reuters spoke to a dozen people in Finland’s border region, where the emerging divisions have left some unable to visit relatives and caused economic losses. Others supported the measures, citing a need to prepare for and deter future conflict. At the shooting range — near the lakeside town of Lappeenranta, some 100 miles from Russia’s second city, St. Petersburg — Latto said the Lauritsala Reservists were training with three drones including the Parrot Anafi surveillance vehicle, used by the professional armies of several NATO members, including Finland.
A grant from Finland’s association of reservist groups meant ten more were on order, he said.
The 2022 assault on Ukraine hardened 47-year-old Latto’s perception of Russia.
“What if they decide to come and change the border, just like they went to Ukraine,” said Latto, who runs a small business assembling neon signs and billboards.
He recalled Soviet attempts to invade during World War Two, and how Finland was forced to cede approximately 10 percent of its territory to Russia, including Ayrapaa, a nearby municipality that his grandfather died defending in 1944.
The countries each insist they pose no threat to the other. Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said some level of Russian buildup is a normal response to Helsinki’s accession to NATO, which more than doubled the length of Russia’s border with the alliance.
However, a Finnish government defense report late last year described “a heightened risk of an armed conflict,” citing the development of Russia’s military capabilities since the start for the war in Ukraine, and saying Moscow had ambitions to create a “buffer zone” from the Arctic to Southern Europe. Finland has since announced plans to stockpile land mines. It banned Finnish-Russian dual nationals from flying drones and Russians from buying property, and last week warned that mobile signals were disrupted in regions near Russia.
“Finland is responsible for over half of the entire land border between NATO countries and Russia,” Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen posted on X on Thursday, saying the country’s defense posture was to ensure the border “remains inviolable.” Finland’s presidency declined to comment for this story. Russia’s foreign ministry did not respond to a comment request. President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday denied any plans to attack NATO. He said he did not see NATO rearmament as a threat. After Finland joined the alliance, Moscow announced plans to strengthen military capacity in Russia’s west and northwest.
The activities of the Finnish reservists, who also use firearms in target practice, are voluntary, although most have completed Finland’s long-standing mandatory male conscription.
More than 50,000 Finns take part in such clubs, up by about a third since before the Ukraine war, according to the Finnish Reservists’ Association, with a similar increase in the number of reservists called up by the military for refresher training. Even older members of Latto’s band of volunteers could see service in a crisis, as Finland raises the reserve’s upper age limit to 65 to add 125,000 troops to a wartime army, and to take the number of reservists to one million by 2031.
He welcomed the extended military service, saying older reservists could be drone or radar operators.
“You don’t have to run with the infantry to be a part of the modern battlefield,” said Latto, a skilled hobbyist who has made his own first-person-view goggles to control a homemade drone.
SPLIT FAMILIES
Some businesses are unhappy with the changes. Shopping malls and restaurants once buzzing with Russian visitors are noticeably emptier. Up to 13 million annual cross-border trips have ended, affecting dual citizens with family in Russia.
The vanishing Russian tourists and dearth of trade has taken at least 300 million euros annually from a 5.5 billion euro local economy, the region’s council said. Unemployment soared to close to 15 percent at the end of last year, higher than the national average.
Antique shopkeeper Janne Tarvainen said that previously, some locals complained the Russian visitors had made it hard to get reservations in restaurants or find parking spots.
“I saw it differently – money was coming into the town,” said Tarvainen, who is now looking for online shoppers to replace Russian footfall.
Oksana Serebriakova, 50, whose grandfather was Finnish, moved to Lappeenranta from Moscow after the COVID-19 pandemic looking for better opportunities for her 17-year-old son Vitalik. Her older son and the boys’ father stayed in the Russian capital, with plans for frequent visits.
The border closure has split the family, creating “a very sad situation,” said Serebriakova, who is studying for a business administration diploma at a local vocational college.
The migration problem “could have been solved” with measures such as strict checks at entry points similar to airports, she suggested.
Finland has around 38,000 dual citizens, official data shows, considerably less than other countries bordering Russia. About 420,000 Finns who lived in territory ceded to Russia after World War Two settled in Finland.
Ivan Deviatkin, a local politician who has a son in Finland and an aging mother in Russia, unsuccessfully challenged the border closure in Finland’s courts. Nine plaintiffs now have a complaint pending hearing at the European Court of Human Rights, which has asked Finland to justify the shutdown.
’RE-BORDERING’
For decades after World War Two, Finland gradually opened trade and travel connections with Russia.
Now though, the E18 motorway that links Helsinki and St. Petersburg ends abruptly at metal barricades at the border, as do other previously busy roads. Finland closed the frontier over the arrivals of undocumented migrants in 2023, which Helsinki viewed as a Russian policy response to its accession to NATO. Moscow said it was abiding by rules and that Finland had adopted an anti-Russia stance.
At the time, the borderline was hardly visible, mostly marked only by poles or a low barrier to keep domestic animals from wandering off, with a small trail for occasional canine patrols to follow. In place of that, Finland is raising 200 km (124 miles) of 4.5-meter (15 ft)-high fence dotted with cameras and motion sensors in the most passable areas of the forest-covered 1,340-km (833 mile) border. A new dirt road runs parallel for quicker access by border guards.
The changes had made “a big, big impact,” said Finnish Border Guard Head of Operations Samuel Siljanen.
“We’ve moved kind of from an era of de-bordering to one of re-bordering,” he said.
NATO COMMAND
Hopes for a quick detente run low. Helsinki believes Russia will reinforce the neighboring Leningrad military region once the war in Ukraine ends, president Stubb has said, although he downplays any threat from Russia so far.
Behind the border, satellite images show Russia beginning some work on garrisons, including building new warehouses. A senior government official aware of Finland’s military planning described such work as minor and not a threat. Finland has long had a strong military. It has ordered 64 US-made F-35s to modernize its fighter jet fleet. It has the largest artillery arsenal in Western Europe, another official said.
The sources requested anonymity to speak about sensitive matters.
It is important “to signal credibly to Russia that it’s not worth it,” said Chatham House associate fellow Minna Alander, whose research includes work on Finnish and Northern European security. She said Finland was not a threat to Russia.
“NATO will never attack Russia, and I believe they know this,” Alander said.
The new NATO northern headquarters will host around 50 officers from countries including the US and UK together with the Finnish Army Command, in the eastern Finnish town of Mikkeli, a two-hour drive from the border.
“In the event that we ever moved into a conflict, this headquarters would be working alongside NATO forces in a command and control role,” Brig. Chris Gent of the Allied Land Command told Reuters on a visit in Finland.
'Companions' ease pain of China’s bustling, bamboozling hospitals
- Hundreds of advertisements for patient companions have sprung up on Chinese social media in recent years
- Authorities appear to allow the companions in hospitals because they are broadly in line with the government’s promotion of health services for seniors
BEIJING: At a bustling Beijing hospital, Tian Yigui hands over some of his elderly wife’s paperwork to Meng Jia, a “patient companion” hired to help navigate China’s stretched and bureaucratic health care system.
Yawning funding gaps and patchy medical coverage have long funnelled many Chinese people toward better resourced city hospitals for much-needed care.
Sprawling, overcrowded and noisy, the facilities can be exhausting for patients and their families, especially the elderly.
The problem has fueled the rise of patient companions, or “peizhenshi,” a lucrative and unofficial service in the country’s growing gig economy.
Tian, 83, said most Beijing hospitals were “overwhelmingly confusing.”
“We have to go up and down all the floors, wait for elevators, wait in lines... it’s really troublesome,” he told AFP.
Elsewhere at the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital in the Chinese capital, patients faced long queues, myriad check-ins and a whirl of digital payment codes.
Hospital aides wearing bright red sashes rattled off directions into headsets as hundreds of patients filed through the colossal lobby.
Armed with a sheaf of papers at a traditional Chinese medicine ward, Meng breezed through check-in before joining Tian and wife Gao Yingmin in a consultation room.
Leaving Gao to rest in a waiting area, Meng then brought Tian to a payment counter before explaining to the couple how to pick up prescribed medications.
For a four-hour service, patient companions like Meng charge around 300 yuan ($40).
It is worth every penny for Gao, 78, who is undergoing treatment for complications from throat surgery.
The helpers are “convenient, practical and (give us) peace of mind,” she said, straining against a breathing tube.
“We no longer have to worry... they do all the work for us.”
Hundreds of advertisements for patient companions have sprung up on Chinese social media in recent years.
Authorities appear to allow the companions in hospitals because they are broadly in line with the government’s promotion of health services for seniors.
Meng, 39, had no medical background before enrolling in a weeklong training program run by Chengyi Health, an online platform that connects patients and companions.
Founder Li Gang, a former anaesthesiologist, said “there’s a big knowledge gap when it comes to medical care.”
Large Chinese hospitals can have over 50 clinical departments, each with numerous sub-specialities.
That means many people “don’t know how to go to the doctor,” Li said.
While some young people — such as expectant mothers — hire companions, some two-thirds of Chengyi’s clients are aged 60 or older.
Trainee Tao Yuan, 24, said he left his job at an Internet company to pursue a vocation “more valuable than money.”
A generation born under China’s now-abolished one-child policy are approaching middle age and caring for their elderly parents alone.
Increasing work and family pressure had left them with a “real need” for help, Tao said.
China’s health care system has long struggled to tackle deep-seated regional funding gaps and inconsistent access to equipment and medical staff.
Limited treatment options, especially in rural areas, push many patients into municipal hospitals for comparatively minor ailments.
“It’s a perennial structure problem,” said Wang Feng, an expert on Chinese demographics at the University of California, Irvine.
Working adults have no time to take elderly parents to hospital, while technology cannot yet replace human caregivers, he said.
China “will have a larger... demand for personal assistance” as the elderly account for an ever bigger proportion of the population, Wang said.
Authorities are betting big on the “silver economy” — products and services for older people, which totalled seven trillion yuan ($970 billion) last year, according to the nonprofit China Association of Social Welfare and Senior Service.
The figures are a bright spot in an economy struggling to maintain strong growth and robust youth employment.
Xiao Shu, who asked to be identified by a nickname for privacy, told AFP he made around 10,000 yuan ($1,400) per month — a tidy wage in China’s competitive capital.
But the former dentistry worker said there were limits to the service.
The 36-year-old once refused to take a client’s nearly 90-year-old father to a post-surgery check-up.
“If something happened to him, who would be responsible for it?” he said.
