Bangladesh sounds alarm over rise in Rohingya deaths at sea

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Updated 25 January 2024
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Bangladesh sounds alarm over rise in Rohingya deaths at sea

  • About 569 Rohingya refugees perished or went missing at sea last year
  • Majority of those attempting sea journeys were children and women

DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities are raising the alarm over increasing numbers of Rohingya refugees going missing at sea as they take risky boat journeys to reach Southeast Asia through the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh hosts more than 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims, who, over decades, escaped death and persecution in neighboring Myanmar, especially during a military crackdown in 2017.

Most of them live in Cox’s Bazar district, a coastal region in eastern Bangladesh, which, with the arrival of the Rohingya, became the world’s largest refugee settlement.

Humanitarian conditions in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps have been deteriorating for years and last month Bangladeshi authorities warned that they were reaching crisis levels amid a sharp decline in global aid for the oppressed stateless minority.

Data from the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, shows that in 2023, the annual UN fundraising plan by international agencies received only 50 percent of the $876 million needed to provide essential assistance to those sheltering in Bangladesh.

This coincided with the highest figure in nine years for the number of Rohingya refugees who died or went missing while trying to relocate to another country on their own.

“This trend of sea journey will increase in the coming future,” Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Arab News on Thursday.

“Camps are overcrowded. Despite every effort, sustainable living conditions can’t be offered.”

Despite awareness campaigns about the dangers of sea journeys and anti-human trafficking efforts, Rohingya in Bangladesh are losing hope in returning to their homes in Myanmar.

“They do not see any potential for repatriation,” Mizanur said. “In this context, people are getting desperate and trying to go wherever they can.”

UNHCR data shows that 569 Rohingya refugees died or went missing, with almost 4,500 embarking on deadly sea journeys from Bangladesh — and to a lesser extent from Myanmar — in 2023. The death toll was two times higher than in 2022. In 2014, the total was 730.

Some 66 percent of those attempting these journeys were children and women, many of whom were trying to reunite with their husbands and fathers who left earlier and reached countries like Malaysia, which is now home to more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees.

“They have some linkages with the community who traveled to Malaysia and other regional countries earlier. It encouraged the Rohingya to take the perilous journey by sea, which is the only way out for them as there is no legal solution or a third-country resettlement process in the picture,” Asif Munier, a rights and migration expert, told Arab News.

“They don’t think much about the danger of this journey. It’s kind of a survival option for them.”

He attributed the sharp rise in sea journeys to increasing psychological pressure and uncertainty, as despite multiple attempts from Bangladeshi authorities, the UN-backed repatriation and resettlement process of the Rohingya has failed to take off for the past few years.

At the same time, only a few relocations to third countries have taken place in extraordinary cases.

Munier does not expect the repatriation to progress in the coming years.

“I don’t think that they are unaware of the risks involved in this sea journey,” he said. “But they have witnessed so many dangers in their lives that it made them desperate and less fearful of death.”


US hiring better than expected despite Trump uncertainty

Updated 4 sec ago
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US hiring better than expected despite Trump uncertainty

  • rump took to his Truth Social account after the data was published to talk up the “strong” employment figures

WASHINGTON: US hiring slowed less than expected in April while the jobless rate remained unchanged, according to government data published Friday, buoying investors navigating the early turbulent months of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has looked to slash the number of federal employees and embarked on a trade war that many economists warn is likely to cool growth and push up inflation.
With Trump’s tariff plans still in their early stages, their effect has not yet filtered through into hiring: The world’s largest economy added 177,000 jobs last month, down slightly from a revised 185,000 in March, the Department of Labor said in a statement.
However, job creation was still well above the market consensus of 130,000, according to Briefing.com, and remained slightly above the average monthly gain over the past 12 months.
The unemployment rate stayed at 4.2 percent, in line with expectations.
US financial markets closed sharply higher on the news, with all three major Wall Street indices ending the day firmly in the green.
“Markets breathed a sigh of relief this morning,” Northlight Asset Management chief investment officer Chris Zaccarelli wrote in a note to clients.
“While recession fears are still simmering on the back burner, the buy-the-dip dynamic can continue — at least until the tariff pause runs out,” he said, referring to Trump’s recent decision to pause higher levies on dozens of trading partners until July to allow for trade talks.
Trump took to his Truth Social account after the data was published to talk up the “strong” employment figures.
“Just like I said, and we’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!!” the US president wrote.
“NO INFLATION, THE FED SHOULD LOWER ITS RATE!!!” added Trump, who has been outspoken in his calls for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
The independent central bank has kept its key lending rate at between 4.25 and 4.50 percent for months, as it looks to bring inflation from its current elevated levels to its long-term target of two percent while keeping one eye firmly fixed on the unemployment rate.
Financial markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to extend its rate cut pause next week, according to data from CME Group.


Sectors that saw job gains last month included health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance, the Labor Department said.
But federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April, bringing the total decline in the number of government employees since January to 26,000.
The Trump administration is facing legal action after attempting to lay off tens of thousands of federal workers as part of an aggressive cost-cutting drive.
Average hourly earnings grew 0.2 percent to $36.06 in April, the Labor Department said Friday.
“There is nothing to complain about here,” High Frequency Economics chief economist Carl Weinberg wrote in a note to clients. “You cannot find any evidence of a nascent recession in these figures.”
While traders may breathe easier today, many analysts have stressed that it is still early days for the new administration, and warned they still expect tariffs to cool job creation in the future.
“It will be extraordinary if employment is unscathed this year by the jump in tariffs on imports, the drop in asset prices and the extreme economic policy uncertainty,” economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics wrote in an investor note published on Monday.
These factors are likely “causing many businesses to defer non-essential spending,” they added, noting that they had not yet seen any significant changes in the payroll data they track.


US readies Russia sanctions over Ukraine, unclear if Trump will sign, sources say

Updated 11 min 33 sec ago
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US readies Russia sanctions over Ukraine, unclear if Trump will sign, sources say

  • Targets include natural resources and banking entities
  • Trump has not decided whether to deploy the sanctions

WASHINGTON: US officials have finalized new economic sanctions against Russia, including banking and energy measures, to intensify pressure on Moscow to embrace US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end its war on Ukraine, according to three US officials and a source familiar with the issue.
The targets include state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom and major entities involved in the natural resources and banking sectors, said an administration official, who like the other sources requested anonymity to discuss the issue.
The official provided no further details.
It was far from clear, however, whether the package will be approved by Trump, whose sympathy for Moscow’s statements and actions have given way to frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spurning of his calls for a ceasefire and peace talks.
The US National Security Council “is trying to coordinate some set of more punitive actions against Russia,” said the source familiar with the issue. “This will have to be signed off by Trump.”
“It’s totally his call,” confirmed a second US official.
“From the beginning, the president has been clear about his commitment to achieving a full and comprehensive ceasefire,” said National Security Council Spokesman James Hewitt. “We do not comment on the details of ongoing negotiations.”
The US Treasury, which implements most US sanctions, did not respond to a request for comment.
An approval by Trump of new sanctions, which would follow the Wednesday signing of a US-Ukraine minerals deal that he heavily promoted as part of his peace effort, could signify a hardening of his stance toward the Kremlin.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 the United States and its allies have added layer upon layer of sanctions on the country. While the measures have been painful for Russia’s economy, Moscow has found ways to circumvent the sanctions and continue funding its war.
Trump “has been bending over backwards to give Putin every opportunity to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to have a ceasefire and an end to the war,’ and Putin keeps rejecting him,” said Kurt Volker, a former US envoy to NATO who was US special representative for Ukraine negotiations during Trump’s first term. “This is the next phase of putting some pressure on Russia.”
“Putin has been escalating,” he continued. Trump “has got the US and Ukraine now in alignment calling for an immediate and full ceasefire, and Putin is now the outlier.”
Since assuming office in January, Trump has taken steps seen as aimed at boosting Russian acceptance of his peace effort, including disbanding a Justice Department task force formed to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
He also has made pro-Moscow statements, falsely blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for starting the conflict and calling him a “dictator.”
Meanwhile, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, has advocated a peace strategy that would cede four Ukrainian regions to Moscow, and has met Putin four times, most recently last week.
But three days after that meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Putin’s maximalist demands for a settlement and Moscow’s forces have pressed frontline attacks and missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities, claiming more civilian casualties.

Reuters reported
in March that the United States was drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief but Trump in recent weeks has expressed frustration with Putin’s foot-dragging on ending the invasion and last Saturday held a “very productive” one-on-one meeting in the Vatican with Zelensky.
The next day, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that he was “strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions and Tariffs on Russia” that would remain until a ceasefire and final peace deal.
Volker said that Russia has been earning hard currency that funds its military through oil and gas sales to countries like India and China and that it would be “very significant” if Trump slapped secondary sanctions on such deals.
Secondary sanctions are those where one country seeks to punish a second country for trading with a third by barring access to its own market, a particularly powerful tool for the United States because of the size of its economy.


Man City climb to third as De Bruyne sinks Wolves

Updated 10 min 7 sec ago
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Man City climb to third as De Bruyne sinks Wolves

MANCHESTER: Manchester City moved closer to qualifying for the Champions League as Kevin De Bruyne sealed a vital 1-0 win against Wolves on Friday.
Pep Guardiola’s side are embroiled in a tense battle for a top five finish in the Premier League and De Bruyne lifted them to third place with his first half strike at the Etihad Stadium.
For just the second time in a turbulent campaign, City have reeled off five successive wins in all competitions.
It was a major boost to City’s hopes of securing a place in Europe’s elite club competition.
“We are better than we were weeks ago. If we play like we did today, it is really good but we cannot relax. Winning in that way is good because it will make us realize that we still need to work,” Guardiola said.
After 10 years with City, it was De Bruyne’s penultimate appearance at the Etihad after the midfielder was told he will not get a new contract when his present deal expires at the end of the season.
It was only the sixth goal this season for the 33-year-old Belgian, underlining why Guardiola has decided to release him after an injury-plagued decline over the last two years.
But De Bruyne’s contribution could be crucial for City, who have three matches left and hold a four-point advantage over sixth-placed Nottingham Forest, who play their game in hand against Crystal Palace on Monday.
Fourth-placed Newcastle and fifth-placed Chelsea also have a game in hand over City heading into the weekend’s fixtures.
Hinting he could stay in the Premier League after leaving City, De Bruyne said. “A lot of teammates have said that it’s sad I have to go, but that’s just how it goes sometimes in life.
“I don’t know what the future will be, but I know that I can still play here. I try to play as much good football as I can. I’m still enjoying it.”
Guardiola saluted De Bruyne, saying: “Just thank you. His contribution in the game against Crystal Palace when we were 2-0 down and he delivers, and today the goal again.
“I want the best for Kevin. It cannot be possible to have done these many years without him.
“He has been an incredible player but the situation is what it is. It’s almost impossible to replace this kind of player.”
Even qualifying for the Champions League and winning the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace will not salvage the season in Guardiola’s eyes after their four-year reign as English champions came to a limp end.
Surrendering the title to Liverpool was bad enough, but missing out on a place in the Champions League for the first time since 2010-11 would be a complete catastrophe and this result kept them on course to avoid that fate.
Guardiola sprang a surprise by naming Erling Haaland as an unused substitute as the Norway striker returned ahead of schedule from the ankle injury he suffered at Bournemouth in March.
Wolves arrived buoyed by six successive top-flight victories for the first time since 1970-71 and their confidence was clear after such a successful streak.
Not for the first time this season, City were creaking at the back.
They rode their luck to escape as Rayan Ait-Nouri fired against the post from close-range before his effort from the rebound was cleared off the line by Josko Gvardiol.
Guardiola’s men recovered their composure and the breakthrough came in the 35th minute with the kind of flowing move that has been City’s trademark in De Bruyne’s decade in Manchester.
Ilkay Gundogan made a break from midfield and slipped his pass to Jeremy Doku, who deftly eluded his marker before pulled the ball back to the unmarked De Bruyne.
Having cleverly found space just inside the Wolves area, De Bruyne held his nerve to slot past Jose Sa, a finish that showed City what they will miss next season.
Wolves still carried a threat and Matheus Cunha rattled the post with a stinging strike from the edge of the area in the second half.


France mosque murder suspect had indiscriminate ‘urge to kill’: prosecutor

Updated 02 May 2025
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France mosque murder suspect had indiscriminate ‘urge to kill’: prosecutor

  • Prosecutor Cecile Gensac said the suspect Olivier Hadzovic had been “driven by a fierce desire to kill someone and failing that, to commit suicide“
  • He told someone online he would “do it in the street,” before considering attacking the mosque

LA GRAND-COMBE, France: A French man accused of stabbing a 22-year-old Malian to death in a mosque appears to have acted alone on an obsessive “urge to kill,” a prosecutor said Friday.
The killing of Aboubakar Cisse in La Grand-Combe on Friday last week prompted President Emmanuel Macron to insist there was no place for religious hate in French society.
A French national of Bosnian origin suspected of stabbing Cisse 57 times and then filming his victim writhing in agony surrendered to police in Italy and is awaiting extradition to France.
Cecile Gensac, prosecutor for the nearby southern city of Nimes, said the 20-year-old suspect, named as Olivier Hadzovic, had been “driven by a fierce desire to kill someone and failing that, to commit suicide.”
He told someone online he would “do it in the street,” before considering attacking the mosque. Once inside, he wrote: “He’s black. I’m going to do it.”
He seemed to have “profoundly personal motives,” and the crime was not being treated as “terrorist” as not linked to an “ideological claim,” Gensac added.
Earlier, some 700 people prayed for Cisse at a funeral at the same mosque where he was a helper. Worshippers prayed in front of the coffin covered by a green cloth.
Cisse, who arrived in France as a teenager without papers, was originally from Yaguine in southwestern Mali, where he is due to be buried at a later date.
“This is an absolutely incredible act of hatred in a very peaceful place,” Dominique Sopo, a representative of campaign group SOS Racisme, told AFP.
Hundreds more prayed for the victim at a town just outside Paris.
“With the lack of support in the media and from politicians, we’re really sad and we’re really scared,” said Abdelghani Bentrari, in charge of the mosque in the town of Tremblay.
France has the largest Muslim community in the European Union, and the murder has put Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a hard-line right-winger with a tough stance on immigration, under particular pressure.
He has not visited the scene of the killing in La Grand-Combe and has been criticized for not finding time to meet Cisse’s family.
Speaking to CNews, a broadcaster accused of fostering far-right views, Retailleau this week said it was “difficult” to find Cisse’s family because he was in France without a residence permit.
French lawmakers on Tuesday observed a minute’s silence to honor Cisse and some lawmakers met with his relatives.
According to a source close to the case, Retailleau will meet Cisse’s family in Paris on Monday, when his coffin will be in the capital for another memorial.

Cisse, nicknamed “Bouba,” was born in Mali in 2003.
He crossed the Mediterranean and arrived in the Paris region in 2018, his uncle told AFP. He traveled to the south of France in 2019 because “he did not want to be a burden” for relatives.
In Grand Combe, residents remembered him as a quiet young man who helped clean the mosque and sometimes brought pizza to share despite having little money.
The prosecutor said the suspect came from a family of non-practicing Christians with 11 children. He was “very, very often” on social media, where he had watched violent videos, including of people cutting themselves.
In the video made just after the stabbing, the killer congratulated himself, saying “I did it” and insulted “Allah.”
A witness said that the suspect had described himself as “schizophrenic” after the murder.
A man identified as the suspect’s father told broadcaster BFMTV on Friday his son was “crazy” and apologized to Cisse’s family.
Mourad Battikh, a lawyer representing the victim’s family, said earlier the murder should be reclassified as “a terrorist attack.”
“The Muslim community must be treated in the same way as any other citizens,” he said.


King Charles to attend Canada’s state opening of parliament

Updated 02 May 2025
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King Charles to attend Canada’s state opening of parliament

  • Charles, along with his wife Queen Camilla, will visit Canada from May 26 to May 27

LONDON: Britain’s King Charles will attend Canada’s state opening of parliament in Ottawa, Buckingham Palace said on Friday, in a clear show of support for the former British colony of which he is still head of state.
Charles, along with his wife Queen Camilla, will visit Canada from May 26 to May 27, the palace said.
The monarch’s attendance comes after his recent acknowledgment that he is also the king of Canada, a country that US President Donald Trump has made clear he has designs on.
The visit to Canada would be Charles’ second overseas trip this year, after his visit to Italy where he held a private meeting with Pope Francis before the pontiff’s demise.