UKHIYA, Bangladesh: The hill on which the young woman’s shelter is being built is so unstable that the earth crumbles under your feet. The threat of landslides is so dire that her neighbors have evacuated. Though living here could spell doom as the monsoon rains fall, she will live here anyway.
For Mustawkima, a Rohingya woman who fled Myanmar for the refugee camps of neighboring Bangladesh, there is no other option.
Hers is a dilemma repeated over and over for many of the 900,000 Rohingya refugees living in ramshackle huts across this unsteady landscape: With the long-dreaded monsoon season now upon them, they have run out of places to run.
For months, officials raced to relocate the most at-risk families to safer areas that had been bulldozed flat, but there simply isn’t enough available land. Most refugees believe it is too dangerous to return to Myanmar, where the military launched a brutal campaign of violence against the minority Rohingya Muslims last year. And so, as the rains begin to flood parts of the camps, many Rohingya find themselves trapped — by geography, by poverty and by fear.
The bamboo shelter on the crumbling hillside will be Mustawkima’s third attempt at finding a home in the camps. She has had to do everything on her own; Her husband was killed when the military stormed their village in August 2017.
Mustawkima, who like some Rohingya uses only one name, abandoned her first shelter when the soil washed away. With five children under the age of 8, she wanted her new home to be close to relatives living at the base of the hill, so she erected a flimsy tarp halfway up. But when the rains began in June, the water quickly poured in, transforming her dirt floor into a muddy mess.
Frightened, she sold off some of her donated rations of rice, lentils and oil so she could hire men to build her a sturdier shelter in the same spot. The bamboo and sandbags were donated by aid agencies. She fears there isn’t enough material, but she has no money to buy extra bamboo.
Families living in five shelters on the hill recently evacuated, she says. She can only hope that her relatives will protect her and her children when the worst of the rains arrive.
The most intense rains are expected over the next few months, though heavy downpours began pummeling the camps in June. There have already been more than 160 landslides, 30 people injured and one toddler killed, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group, or ISCG, which oversees the aid agencies in the camps.
“Within 24 hours of the first rains falling, we were seeing small landslides and we were seeing flooding everywhere,” says Daphnee Cook, a spokeswoman for Save the Children. “I’ve been here for seven months and I was appalled at how quickly things started to fall apart.”
The ferocity of the rains and the swiftness with which they can wreak havoc is stunning. On a recent day, it took just minutes for a downpour to transform the face of another hill into a waterfall, with torrents of muddy water cascading down dirt steps.
Beyond the landslides and flooding, there are worries about waterborne diseases like cholera. Some of the latrines are piled high with fly-riddled excrement, which seeps out the sides during downpours. Water pumps are generally just a few meters away — worse, some are located downhill.
Aid workers have cleaned out thousands of latrines. Children are receiving identity bracelets in case they are separated from parents in the flooding. Families have received extra materials to fortify their shelters. Trenches have been dug to try and redirect floodwaters.
Ultimately, though, the topography of the camps is the biggest problem. The trees that once covered the hills have been cut down to make room for shelters, and the roots dug up for firewood. That process has dramatically loosened the soil, which the rains turn into heavy mud that slips down the hillsides, burying anything in its path.
The jagged scar on Mohamed Alom’s head is a grim reminder of the dangers of those landslides. The 27-year-old was asleep in his shelter last month when a torrent of mud crashed through the plastic wall next to him. A tree root slammed into his head, slicing open his skin. His agonized screams awakened his wife and two young children, who rushed him to a doctor.
Now, he and his family are among 13 people living in a one-room schoolhouse. Alom is hoping officials will help him build a new shelter, but he has no idea how long that will take.
More than 200,000 people are living in areas considered at risk of landslides and flooding, according to the ISCG. Around 34,000 refugees have been relocated to other areas, with some moving into sturdier shelters further away from the hills.
Hotiza Begum, 25, recently moved into one of the new shelters with her husband and five children after mud crashed through the roof of her old one. She likes her relatively spacious new home. But it is hard to find firewood, she says, because they now live far from the mountains. And the markets can only be reached by tuk tuk, which costs about $1 — more than they can afford.
Yet at least her family is safe, for now. Abu Bakker’s family lives at the base of a hill where a landslide destroyed eight shelters. A few weeks ago, Bakker’s 60-year-old mother was trying to scoop a bit of soil out of their shelter when a deluge of mud crashed through their tarp wall, knocking her to the ground and burying her up to her thighs.
Bakker dug his terrified mother out and knew he had to get his family away. An aid group promised him supplies to rebuild, but they still haven’t arrived. And even if they do, he asks, where will he rebuild?
He is scared whenever it rains, which is often. He prays every day for Allah to protect them.
Still, for many Rohingya refugees who have made it through mass killings, rapes and other abuse in a military crackdown, the fear of the monsoon is relative.
“In Myanmar, it’s scary because there’s no guarantee for our lives,” says Alom, as the rain begins to fall on the roof. “Here, even if there’s a landslide, at least we don’t have to worry about the military.”
Nowhere to run: Rohingya hunker down as monsoon arrives
Nowhere to run: Rohingya hunker down as monsoon arrives
- More than 200,000 people are living in areas considered at risk of landslides and flooding, according to the ISCG
- Still, for many Rohingya refugees who have made it through mass killings, rapes and other abuse in a military crackdown, the fear of the monsoon is relative
‘You always feel vulnerable’: Britons impacted by no-fault evictions
- This so-called no-fault eviction is a feature of English law that could soon be abolished under a new rental bill
- Campaigners have warned that landlords are ramping up these types evictions ahead of the ban being passed into law
This so-called no-fault eviction, which sees Bennett kicked out of her home without cause, is a feature of English law that could soon be abolished under a new rental bill.
But campaigners have warned that landlords are ramping up these types evictions ahead of the ban being passed into law.
“I’ve canceled some of my work. I’ve canceled my Christmas plans and my holiday plans,” the 55-year-old artist explained, as she pushed back tears.
Hanging across her apartment are colorful crocheted tapestries that mask the damp that covers the walls of her house in Lewes, southern England.
Her landlord explained to her by email that she wanted to sell the property after Bennet had already received the eviction notice.
As a tenant, “you always feel vulnerable,” she said.
No-fault evictions were introduced in 1988 by Margaret Thatcher’s government as part of a push to deregulate the rental market to attract more private landlords.
Under the new Renters’ Rights Bill, currently under consideration by the Labour majority parliament, landlords will have to provide a reason in advance for evicting tenants, such as to reclaim the property to move into or unpaid rent.
The bill would give tenants a longer notice period in the event of an eviction, giving them more time to plan their next housing arrangement.
It marks an important step in protecting tenants against being evicted after they make reasonable complaints to landlords, said Ben Twomey, chief executive of tenants rights organization Generation Rent.
These instances, termed “revenge evictions” by campaigners, are a “massive problem” in England, he added.
While he supports the reforms, Twomey warned that in the absence of a rental price caps, tenants could still be evicted “through the back door” by landlords hiking rents to unreasonable levels.
Rents have already jumped over nine percent in the past year in the UK, according to official data.
Between July and September this year, 8,425 households in England where taken to court over no-fault eviction notices, the highest number in eight years, said Twomey, citing Ministry of Justice figures.
As the bill comes closer to being passed into law, more landlords have been ramping up the use of no-fault evictions, according to Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, a company that helps landlords repossess properties.
“That will increase until the ban date comes in, because landlords are worried about how will they get their property back,” he added.
Alexandra Casson, who works in television production in London, was also served one of these eviction notices after she refused her landlord’s attempt to raise the rent by over 50 percent.
She denounced it as “an absolute brazen attempt to extort tenants.”
“They forget that there are humans that live in the property assets that they shuffle around,” said the 43-year-old, based in East London’s popular Dalston neighborhood.
Casson, a member of the London Renters Union, welcomed a measure in the new bill that would extend the notice period to vacate a property from two months to four months.
Although, she predicts that it’ll take her around six months to finalize purchasing a new property, and even then, she considers herself one of the lucky ones.
Sri Lanka navy rescues boat of 100 Rohingya refugees
- The group, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s navy said Friday it had rescued 102 Rohingya refugees from war-torn Myanmar adrift in a fishing trawler off the Indian Ocean island nation, bringing them safely to port.
The group, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee, a navy spokesman said, adding that food and water had been provided.
“Medical checks have to be done before they are allowed to disembark,” the spokesman said.
The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long sea journeys, the majority heading southeast to Malaysia or Indonesia.
But fisherman spotted the drifting trawler off Sri Lanka’s northern coast at Mullivaikkal at dawn on Thursday.
While unusual, it is not the first boat to head to Sri Lanka — about 1,750 kilometers (1,100 miles) across open seas southwest of Myanmar.
The Sri Lankan navy rescued more than 100 Rohingya refugees in distress on a boat off their shores in December 2022.
The navy spokesman said Friday that language difficulties had made it hard to understand where the refugees had been intending to reach, suggesting that “recent cyclonic weather” may have pushed them off course.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 during a crackdown by the military that is now the subject of a United Nations genocide court case.
Myanmar’s military seized power in a 2021 coup and a grinding war since then has forced millions to flee.
Last month, the UN warned Myanmar’s Rakhine state — the historic homeland of many Rohingya — was heading toward famine, as brutal clashes squeeze commerce and agricultural production.
Australia announces $118 million deal to enhance policing in Solomon Islands
- Australia has been energetically pursuing new bilateral security deals with its Pacific island neighbors
- Beijing and the Solomons signed a security deal in 2022 under prime minister’s Jeremiah Manele’s predecessor
MELBOURNE: Australia announced on Friday it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation’s capital Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with Beijing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would spend $118 million (190 million Australian dollars) over four years on funding and training new Royal Solomon Islands Police Force recruits with a package that would “reduce any need for outside support.”
“My government is proud to make a significant investment in the police force of the Solomon Islands to ensure that they can continue to take primary responsibility for security in the Solomons,” Albanese told reporters in Australia’s capital Canberra.
Albanese and his Solomons counterpart Jeremiah Manele said in a joint statement on Friday the package would build an enduring security capability in the Solomons, “thereby reducing its reliance on external partners over time.”
Australia has been energetically pursuing new bilateral security deals with its Pacific island neighbors since Beijing and the Solomons signed a security deal in 2022 under Manele’s predecessor, Manasseh Sogavare.
That deal has created fears among US allies including Australia that the Chinese navy will be allowed to build a base in the strategically important Solomons.
Albanese’s Labour Party, which was the opposition at the time the pact was signed, described it as Australia’s worst foreign policy failure in the Pacific since World War II.
Australia has recently signed security deals with Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and Nauru that effectively give Canberra veto powers over any security deals those countries might want to strike with third nations including China.
Asked if the new deal would require the Chinese security presence to be removed from the Solomons, Albanese did not directly answer.
“The Solomon Islands of course is a sovereign nation. They have some measures in place and we expect that to continue,” Albanese said.
“As a result of this agreement, what we’ve done is make sure that Australia remains the security partner of choice,” he added.
Mihai Sora, a Pacific islands expert at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based international policy think tank, said the agreement was a “clear win for Solomon Islands, which has gained a much-needed boost to its law and justice sector.”
“But Solomon Islands has not committed to scaling back the essentially permanent rotating presence of around 14 Chinese police trainers in the country, who have been running their own parallel training program with Solomon Islands police since 2022,” Sora said in an email.
“So, the agreement falls short of a solid strategic commitment to Australia from Solomon Islands, and there’s no indication that it would derail China-Solomon Islands security ties,” Sora added.
Blake Johnson, an analyst at the Australian Security Policy Institute, a Canberra-based think tank, said Chinese policing in the Pacific gives Beijing tools to control Chinese expatriates and pursue other goals.
“They can be very heavy-handed in their response sometimes. There are also concerns around data and privacy risks associated with Chinese police in the region,” Johnson said.
“Sometimes they’re providing surveillance equipment. There are concerns about what that is being used for and what it’s capturing,” he added.
Japan inspects US air base over chemical spill
- Japan’s probe follows US notice two months ago that water containing PFOS had spilled from the site
TOKYO: Japanese authorities on Friday staged an inspection of a US military base in Tokyo, a government spokesman said, after being informed by the American side of a chemical leak.
Japan’s probe at the Yokota Air Base followed a US notice two months ago that water containing PFOS — classified by the World Health Organization as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” — had spilled from the site.
PFOS is part of a large group of man-made chemicals known as PFAS, sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they do not degrade easily, experts say.
The US military informed Tokyo in October that the PFOS-laced water had leaked from an area of the base where a fire-fighting drill was being carried out, Fumitoshi Sato, deputy chief cabinet secretary, told reporters.
“This inspection was realized in response to the fears and concerns harbored by local residents, and we will continue to work together with the US side,” Sato said.
Officials including from the defense ministry and Tokyo’s metropolitan government visited the site on Friday, he said. Yokota Air Base was not immediately available for comment.
America’s military presence in Japan has frequently stoked local discontent in the past, with everything from noise to pollution to helicopter accidents.
This frustration is perhaps most evident on the southern island of Okinawa, which despite comprising just 0.6 percent of Japan’s landmass, hosts the vast majority of the country’s US military bases.
Okinawa is located east of Taiwan, a flashpoint for tensions between the United States and China.
Earlier this month, the United States began relocating thousands of Marines from Okinawa, with an initial “detachment of approximately 100 logistics support Marines” transferred to the US island territory of Guam.
Canada’s Trudeau to shuffle his Cabinet amid resignation calls and rising discontent
- Trudeau is facing rising discontent over his leadership
- Rising number of Liberal lawmakers are calling on Trudeau to resign
TORONTO: Embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his Cabinet Friday.
The prime minister’s office confirmed late Thursday that Trudeau will participate in the swearing-in ceremony and chair a meeting with his new Cabinet later Friday.
Trudeau is facing rising discontent over his leadership, and the abrupt departure of his finance minister on Monday could be something he can’t recover from.
A rising number of Liberal lawmakers are calling on Trudeau to resign but new Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday Trudeau has the “full support of his Cabinet.”
LeBlanc said he respects the views of Liberal lawmakers who want Trudeau to resign.
“That’s a view they are expressing. The prime minister listened carefully when that view was expressed to him,” LeBlanc said. “He listened, in some cases responded to specific things that were raised, and he said he would reflect carefully.”
LeBlanc said the government will remain focused on work and addressing the threat by President-elect Donald Trump to impose a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian products when he is inaugurated next month.
“We shouldn’t be looking inward. We shouldn’t be worrying about ourselves,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc said he will meet with Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming “border czar,” after Christmas to discuss Canada’s plan to secure the border as part of a bid to avoid the tariffs.
Trudeau has led the country for nearly a decade, but has become widely unpopular in recent years over a wide range of issues, including the high cost of living and rising inflation.
There is no mechanism for Trudeau’s party to force him out in the short term. He could resign, or his Liberal party could be forced from power by a “no confidence” vote in Parliament that would trigger an election that would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party.
As rising numbers of Liberal lawmakers called for Trudeau to resign this week, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said, “We all need to give him a little time to reflect.”
Concerns about Trudeau’s leadership were exacerbated Monday when Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, resigned from the Cabinet. Freeland was highly critical of Trudeau’s handling of the economy in the face of steep tariffs threatened by Trump. Shortly before Freeland announced her decision, the housing minister also quit.
Because Trudeau’s Liberals don’t hold an outright majority in the Parliament, they have for years depended on the support of the leftist New Democratic Party to pass legislation and stay in power. But that support has all but vanished — the NDP’s leader has called on Trudeau to resign — and that might clear the way for Parliament to vote “no confidence.”
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, however, would not commit to bringing down the government at the first opportunity in part because Trump could impose crippling tariffs and Parliament might need to respond with tariffs in retaliation.
Parliament is now shut for the holidays until late next month, and a “no confidence” vote could be scheduled sometime thereafter.
“It appears Trudeau will be stepping down, but no one knows exactly when,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. “The need to fill vacant posts and to relieve some ministers of carrying multiple portfolios is the drive behind the shuffle but it will not boost the Liberal party’s polling numbers; it’s too late in the day for that to happen.”
LeBlanc also said Mark Carney won’t be joining Cabinet. Trudeau has been trying to recruit Carney, the former head of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, to join his government. Carney has long been interested in entering politics and becoming the leader of the Liberal Party.
“Mr. Carney isn’t about to become Canada’s finance minister in the short term,” LeBlanc said. “The prime minister asked me to start that work and to get ready for a budget in the spring.”
