DHAKA: Volunteers in Bangladesh’s coastal districts were using loudspeakers to urge people to seek shelter on Saturday as the delta nation braced for an extremely severe cyclone, which is expected to slam ashore in Bangladesh and Myanmar in the next 24 hours.
UN agencies and aid workers prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances with mobile medical teams in sprawling refugee camps with more than 1 million Rohingya who fled persecution in Myanmar.
The camps at Cox’s Bazar are on the path of Cyclone Mocha, which was moving toward the coasts of southeastern Bangladesh and Myanmar with wind speeds of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) per hour and gusts up to 220 kph (136 mph), the Indian Meteorological Department said. It’s projected to make landfall on Sunday evening between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar.
Bangladesh, with more than 160 million people, has prepared more than 1,500 cyclone shelters. The navy said it’s keeping ready 21 ships, maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters for rescue and relief operations.
Speaking from Cox’s Bazar, the International Organization of Migration’s deputy chief of mission, Nihan Erdogan, said Bangladesh put in place a massive preparedness plan.
He said his agency had trained 100 volunteers in each of the 17 refugee camps on how to alert rescuers using flag warning signals when heavy rains, floods and strong winds lash the region. “Emergency shelter materials and hygiene kits are readily available, and personal protective gear has been provided to all volunteers.”
The World Health Organization put 40 ambulances and 33 mobile medical teams on standby at Cox’s Bazar, the agency’s spokesperson Margaret Harris said.
Authorities in Bangladesh said heavy rains from the cyclone could trigger landslides in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar and three other hilly districts — Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari.
Bangladesh, which is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones, issued the highest danger signal for Cox’s Bazar. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department warned the cyclone could cause severe damage to the lives and properties in eight coastal districts.
Mizanur Rahman, director general of the Department of the Disaster Management, said they asked the local authorities in 20 districts and sub-districts to make swift preparations. He said they were particularly concerned about a small coral island called Saint Martins in the Bay of Bengal, where efforts were underway to protect thousands of inhabitants.
Myanmar said in its weather bulletin that the cyclone was moving toward the coast of Rakhine state near Sittwe, which was put under the highest weather alert.
The World Food Program said it prepositioned enough food to cover the needs of more than 400,000 people in Rakhine and neighboring areas for one month.
“We are preparing for the worst, while hoping for the best. Cyclone Mocha is heading to areas burdened by conflict, poverty, and weak community resilience,” said WFP’s Myanmar deputy director, Sheela Matthew. “Many of the people most likely to be affected are already reliant on regular humanitarian assistance from WFP. They simply cannot afford another disaster.”
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River Delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.
Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Friday that thousands of people living along the western coast of Rakhine state were evacuated.
Both Indian and Bangladesh authorities said they were expecting heavy to very heavy rainfall in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Andaman Sea, parts of India’s remote northeast, and across Bangladesh from Saturday night.
Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days, such as Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020, which continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation. “As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period,” Koll said.
Cyclones are among the most devastating natural disasters in the world, especially if they affect densely populated coastal regions in South Asia.
Thousands along Bangladesh, Myanmar coast told to seek shelter as powerful Cyclone Mocha approaches
https://arab.news/cb9eg
Thousands along Bangladesh, Myanmar coast told to seek shelter as powerful Cyclone Mocha approaches
- UN agencies and aid workers prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances with mobile medical teams in sprawling refugee camps
- Bangladesh, with more than 160 million people, has prepared more than 1,500 cyclone shelters
Norway’s king makes symbolic visit to Svalbard, in coveted Arctic
- the region around Svalbard has gained in geopolitical and economic importance as tensions mount between Russia and the West, not least with the ice sheet receding
- Interest in the Arctic has intensified since US President Donald Trump’s threats this year to annex Greenland, which he says the US needs for reasons of national security
OSLO: Norway’s King Harald made a highly symbolic visit on Monday to the country’s Svalbard archipelago, located in an Arctic region coveted by superpowers like the United States, Russia and China.
Situated halfway between the European continent and the North Pole, the region around Svalbard has gained in geopolitical and economic importance as tensions mount between Russia and the West, not least with the ice sheet receding.
Interest in the Arctic has intensified since US President Donald Trump’s threats this year to annex Greenland, which he says the US needs for reasons of national security.
“It was especially appropriate to come this year,” the 88-year-old monarch said after stepping off the royal yacht with his wife Sonja in Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s main town which is home to 2,500 people.
“We have seen increased attention being paid to the Arctic and Svalbard. This brings both challenges and opportunities,” he added.
The king was in Svalbard to take part in celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the entry into force of an international treaty that put the Svalbard archipelago under Norwegian rule.
Drawn up in Paris in 1920, the treaty gives the citizens of the nearly 50 signatories — including China and Russia — an equal right to exploit the archipelago’s natural resources.
As a result, Russia is able to maintain two settlements, including a mining community, in the small village of Barentsburg where a Lenin statue stands and Soviet flags are regularly flown — all in a NATO country.
China has meanwhile defined itself as a “near-Arctic state” and has displayed a growing interest in the region.
“When the royal yacht ‘Norge’ drops anchor with the royal standard atop the mast, this emphasizes, even more than King Harald’s words could say, that Norway is taking care of its rights and assuming its responsibilities,” said Lars Nehru Sand, a commentator at public radio NRK.
“The king is here to show that this is ours,” he said.
UN refugee agency says will shed 3,500 jobs due to funding cuts
- UNHCR carried out a review of its activities, expenditure, staffing and structures following a plunge in humanitarian funding
- It has been among a host of UN and private aid agencies badly hit by funding cuts by the United States, which previously made up more than 40 percent of UNHCR contributions received
GENEVA: The UN refugee agency said Monday it will cut 3,500 staff jobs — slashing nearly a third of its workforce costs — due to a funding shortfall, and reduce the scale of its help worldwide.
UNHCR carried out a review of its activities, expenditure, staffing and structures following a plunge in humanitarian funding.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been among a host of UN and private aid agencies badly hit by funding cuts by the United States.
The United States — which was by far UNHCR’s biggest donor — has slashed its foreign aid under a radical spending review ordered by US President Donald Trump. Other countries have also cut humanitarian spending.
Washington previously made up more than 40 percent of UNHCR contributions received — $2 billion per year, the agency’s chief Filippo Grandi told the UN Security Council in April.
“In light of difficult financial realities, UNHCR is compelled to reduce the overall scale of its operations,” Grandi said in Monday’s statement.
He added that UNHCR would focus “on activities that have the greatest impact for refugees” while streamlining its Geneva headquarters and regional offices.
The agency said it had had to close or downsize offices worldwide and implement a nearly 50-percent cut in senior positions in Geneva and at the regional HQs.
“In total, approximately 3,500 staff positions will be discontinued,” the statement said.
Additionally, hundreds of temporary workers have had to leave the organization due to the funding shortfall.
“Overall, UNHCR estimates a global reduction in staffing costs of around 30 percent,” the agency said.
It said that programs ranging from financial aid to vulnerable families, health, education, and water and sanitation had already been affected by cuts.
UNHCR said it was working with other organizations and refugee-hosting countries to try to mitigate the impact on refugees.
UNHCR estimates that it will end 2025 with available funding at about the same level as a decade ago — despite the number of people forced to flee their homes having nearly doubled over the same period to more than 122 million.
“Even as we face painful cuts and lose so many dedicated colleagues, our commitment to refugees remains unshakeable,” said Grandi.
“Although resources are scarcer and our capacity to deliver is reduced, we will continue to work hard to respond to emergencies, protect the rights of refugees, and pursue solutions — including returning home, as nearly two million Syrians have done since December.”
Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, and ruler Bashar Assad was overthrown in December 2024.
Sudan is now the world’s largest forced displacement situation, with its 14.3 million refugees and internally displaced people overtaking Syria (13.5 million), followed by Afghanistan (10.3 million) and Ukraine (8.8 million).
At the end of 2024, one in 67 people worldwide were forcibly displaced, UNHCR said Thursday.
India to count its population in 2027, after six-year delay
- Caste information to be included in the census for the first time since 1931
- Experts expect caste details to lead to a reform of affirmative action policies
NEW DELHI: After a six-year delay, India is set to count its population in the 2027 census, the government said on Monday, as it prepares to also record caste data for the first time in nearly a century.
One of the world’s largest administrative undertakings, India’s population census was originally scheduled for 2021, but has faced multiple delays — mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazette notification, declaring that the census “shall be taken during the year 2027.”
The ministry did not specify when the process of counting India’s population — currently estimated at nearly 1.46 billion — would begin, but the process of house listing and enumeration is set to be complete before March 1, 2027, for most of the country, and by Oct. 1, 2026, for snow-bound and remote regions such as Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The last census was conducted in 2011 and provided critical data for planning welfare schemes, allocating federal funds, and drawing electoral boundaries.
In 2027, for the first time since 1931 — when India was still under British colonial rule — caste details will be collected as well.
India’s caste system, which is rooted in Hindu scriptures, historically divided the population into a hierarchy that dictated people’s occupations, living areas, and marriage prospects based on their family of birth. While originally a Hindu practice, many non-Hindu communities in India also identify with certain castes today.
For centuries, those in the lowest ranks of the hierarchy have faced marginalization and social restrictions.
After gaining independence from Britain in 1947, India banned caste-based discrimination and created specific caste categories for affirmative action policies.
“Once you count the number of people of various castes, it is going to lead to a political empowerment because of those people who are underrepresented in politics, in elections, in jobs, in the private sector,” Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, political commentator and Narendra Modi’s biographer, told Arab News.
“India’s policy of reservations — which is otherwise known as positive discrimination in other countries like the US — is going to become more widespread and more systemic, and thereby it is going to lead to some amount of friction between various castes.”
India has specific caste categories for affirmative action policies, reserving up to 50 percent of government jobs and educational seats for marginalized groups. The census containing caste details may lead to altering the rate, as the number of lower caste Indians is much higher.
“We hope that they will be getting better representation. And other political parties will also have to give due weightage to people from these castes, which are not represented. So even in politics, you’ll have tickets being distributed to people from other castes,” Mukhopadhyay said.
“This is going to be the next wave of political empowerment of the existing underprivileged and underrepresented castes and communities.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government announced in April that counting castes in the upcoming census will “ensure that our social fabric does not come under political pressure” and “that society becomes stronger economically and socially.”
But the idea to include it came from the opposition, which for the past six years has been demanding that caste details be included in the census. The most vocal advocate of it has been Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Party and Modi’s key rival.
The census is likely to provide information that will not only inspire social change but may also impact the political scene, which has been dominated by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014.
“If there is one thing that can really counter communalism and majoritarian politics it is the caste. Rahul Gandhi picked up the caste census issue quite late, but he made it a point by raising the issue,” said Ambarish Kumar, political analyst and host of a news analysis show.
“If you look at any field, the small demography of upper castes dominates almost every field … The caste census is an attempt to address this grave anomaly. The caste census will bring the marginal communities into the focus of the government policies which are not there.”
Filipino grandfather’s sidewalk library sparks reading mission — one book at a time
- Hernando Guanlao started the library in front of his home in Makati City
- It has no membership fee, no rules, and no late return penalties
MANILA: Hernando Guanlao had just 50 books when in 2000, on a mission to encourage more people to read, he set out a sidewalk display. A quarter of a century later, the collection has grown to include thousands of volumes and a roadside library that is free and open to all, at all times.
Located in Barangay La Paz in Makati City, the Philippines’ main financial district, Reading Club 2000 greets passersby with the sign: “A good book is easy to find.”
Affectionately known as Tatay Nanie, Guanlao keeps books on the shelves in front of his house, on the ground floor and in his driveway, making them accessible to anyone looking for something to read. His vast collection ranges from fiction and non-fiction books to religious texts, academic theses, encyclopedias, dictionaries, children’s literature and magazines, as well as self-help and textbooks.
The library is open 24/7, has no rules, no membership fee, and no late return penalties. If a reader fails to return a book, it is no problem — more will soon arrive in its place.
“A lot of books came over here from donations, delivered personally by people from different kinds of economic groups — individuals who still love (and) value printed words, love what they learnt from reading. They share it. They become givers,” Guanlao told Arab News.
In the past, when Reading Club 2000 was still small and he started running out of books, there would always be people offering support — something that for him is intrinsically Filipino.
“I’m not alone. I was able to generate participation of the community,” he said. “The donors are reminded of our culture. Filipinos have different cultures: In Ilocos, they have the Ilocano culture; in Bicol, the Bicolano culture ... But there’s one (common) thing: They are heroes, the givers. They have that in their hearts.”
Those who borrow a book from the sidewalk library usually return. Most are surprised Guanlao’s books are all available free of charge.
But the 75-year-old bibliophile does not see himself as the owner of the books; rather, he their custodian, on a mission he hopes his children and grandchildren will continue.
He has not counted how many books have come through the library over the past 25 years but estimates that each day at least 200 leave — some never to return.
“These books are not mine. These are entrusted to me by a lot of book donors. I have to take care of the distribution of the books ... (to) readers that will contribute and be a force of change in the society,” he said.
“Reading is liberating ... As you read, you learn and learn and learn. And when you learn, you discuss and discuss and discuss. You are not alone in doing that ... You will (find) the answer you’re looking for in life — the purpose of why you are here.”
Brits trapped in Israel recount ‘frightening’ ordeal amid deadly Iranian strikes
- UK citizens demand urgent repatriation flights after missile salvos injure at least 300 Israelis
- ‘It’s not one missile from Yemen or rockets from Gaza, it’s hundreds of ballistic missiles coming from Iran’
LONDON: Britons in Tel Aviv have recounted the “frightening” ordeal of sheltering from missile attacks after Israel faced days of deadly Iranian salvos.
In comments to The Times newspaper, three Brits stranded in the country demanded that the UK government organize urgent repatriation flights.
On Monday, the British government said it was setting up a “Register Your Presence Portal” for British nationals in Israel.
According to the BBC, British officials want a clearer picture of who is in the region and who may need assistance. They have urged people to sign up to it once it is up and running, which is expected to be on Monday.
Zach Margolin, a 31-year-old online comedian, said on Sunday: “It’s really frightening. We could hear enormous explosions; we could hear the Iron Dome flying up and then the building shaking. Last night was the most I’ve seen, it’s proper explosions.”
He had flown to the Israeli capital on June 4 for his birthday and to produce content for social media.
But after Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent retaliation, Margolin is now one of thousands of Brits stranded in the country.
He had booked three flights on June 18, 19 and 20 to give him the best chance of returning home.
On the first night of Iran’s retaliation on Friday, he fled his apartment for safety at 10 p.m., 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. after hearing air raid sirens.
Tehran’s missile forces had launched more than 100 ballistic missiles and drones at the Israeli capital in response to the Israel Defense Forces’ “Operation Rising Lion.”
Margolin said: “You’d be crazy not to be afraid. I’ve been to Israel many times during sirens, and the usual protocol is you go in the shelter, wait 10 minutes and then go out, but this is a different beast.
“It’s not one missile from Yemen or rockets from Gaza, it’s hundreds of ballistic missiles coming from Iran.”
Iran’s retaliatory salvos killed at least 13 people in the first two nights of strikes.
Israel closed its airspace in response, as well as land routes out of the country.
“Ideally the UK government should be putting on a repatriation flight,” Margolin said. “The only update (from the Foreign Office) is don’t go to Israel.”
The Foreign Office later warned that the situation could “deteriorate further, quickly and without warning,” and advised against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, placing the two on the same level of advice as Iran.
James Eden, a 72-year-old retired accountant, had flown to Israel last week for a Christian pilgrimage.
He told The Times that he was considering escaping the country via bus through the Negev desert, in an attempt to reach Egypt.
“The (Foreign Office) rang me and said there wasn’t a lot they could do,” he added.
“They’re not going to stop me (leaving by land) — but they’re not going to help me get out of Egypt either.”
Posts on social media platforms have advertised opportunities to reach the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh from Israel, in order for Britons to catch safe flights home.
British father-of-two Max Radford, 52, feared that his time in Israel would be “indefinite” as he urged the UK government to move repatriation aircraft to its bases on Cyprus, to prepare for quick evacuation flights from Tel Aviv.
“There is absolutely no question that the British government should be putting on repatriation flights,” he said. “They should know that there are thousands of Brits here that are stranded. They need to do something. There is no airline that can do it.”
Radford added: “I had a very nearby explosion the night before last when I was in Tel Aviv. “You never know what comes next; we’ve no idea about tonight and we really don’t know how long we’re here for. It’s kind of indefinite.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told British nationals in Israel that their safety “remains our top priority.”
He said: “My message to British nationals there is clear: your safety remains our top priority. Follow our travel advice for the latest updates.”
