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Bangladesh halts forced Rohingya repatriation

Agencies
November 16, 2018

Dhaka, Nov 16: Muhammad Abdul Kalam, the Commissioner of the Bangladesh Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, stated that the Rohingya will not be forced to return to Myanmar on Thursday, the same day that the first scheduled repatriation was slated to take place.

"No one will be forced back to Myanmar. They survived atrocities so it's natural they fear to go back," the commissioner told Al Jazeera.

However, he further told Anadolu News Agency that the formal process has not been suspended, adding that the Bangladeshi government will resume talks with Rohingya to persuade them for their willful return.

Troops have been deployed at Rohingya camps in Bangladesh to prevent a violent breakout, while a protest was held by the Rohingya at Cox's Bazar against the forceful repatriation citing a risk to their lives in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Earlier, Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi had been stripped of Amnesty's top honour, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, due to her stance on the "crimes against humanity committed by the military against the Rohingya," according to Amnesty's Secretary General Kumi Naidoo.

Myanmar and Bangladesh had agreed on the repatriation of the Rohingya following the third Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting held last month, leading to concerns being raised by the international community, including the United Nations, who emphasised on the need for a dignified and voluntary return.

Myanmar was given a list of 22,000 Rohingya for repatriation by Bangladesh, out of which Naypyidaw agreed for the return of 5,000 Rohingya in the first phase scheduled for November 15.

Naypyidaw had previously signed an agreement with Dhaka to resettle around one million Rohingya currently living as refugees in Bangladesh.

Rohingya are a minority ethnic group in Myanmar, who are fleeing brutal military clampdowns and violence in their native country. According to Amnesty International, the Myanmar security forces killed thousands, raped women and girls, detained and tortured men and boys and burned hundreds of homes and villages to the ground in the Rakhine state last year, forcing these individuals to flee for their safety.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Stockholm, Jan 4: “I’m not the kind of person who celebrates birthdays,” Greta Thunberg said as she turned 17 on Friday, marking the occasion in inimitable style - with a seven-hour hour protest outside the Swedish parliament.

The climate activist braved winter conditions in her native Stockholm to continue the weekly Friday School Strike for the Climate campaign that helped catapult her to international fame.

“I stand here striking from 8am until 3pm as usual ... then I’ll go home,” Thunberg, Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019, told Reuters.

“I won’t have a birthday cake but we’ll have a dinner.”

It’s been a busy 12 months for Thunberg, who crisscrossed the globe by car, train and boat - but not plane - to demand action on climate change.

“It has been a strange and busy year, but also a great one because I have found something I want to do with my life and what I am doing is having an impact,” she said.

When she was 15, Thunberg began skipping school on Fridays to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament to push her government to curb carbon emissions. Her campaign gave rise to a grassroots movement that has gone global, inspiring millions of people to take action.

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News Network
March 6,2020

Beijing, Mar 6: World health officials have warned that countries are not taking the coronavirus crisis seriously enough, as outbreaks surged across Europe and in the United States where medical workers sounded warnings over a "disturbing" lack of hospital preparedness.

The World Health Organization warned Thursday that a "long list" of countries were not showing "the level of political commitment" needed to "match the level of the threat we all face".

"This is not a drill," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

"This epidemic is a threat for every country, rich and poor."

Tedros called on the heads of government in every country to take charge of the response and "coordinate all sectors", rather than leaving it to health ministries.

What is needed, he said, is "aggressive preparedness."

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Agencies
August 5,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday recalled the significance of the path of 'maryada' associated with Lord Ram in the backdrop of the situation created by COVID-19 and emphasised the importance of social distancing and wearing face masks.

He said that the current situation demands 'maryada' should be 'do gaz ki doori, mask hai zaroori' and exhorted everyone to follow it.

In his speech after laying the foundation stone of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Prime Minister said the temple of Lord Ram will inspire and guide humans for ages to come.

He said that the path of `maryada' followed by Lord Ram is all the more necessary today in the situation created by COVID-19.

"The `maryada' (need) today is do gaj ki doori, mask hai jaroori (keep distance of two yards, wear mask). The Almighty may keep all the citizens healthy and happy, this is my prayer. The blessings of Mother Sita and Shri Ram be always there on the citizens," he said.

The Prime Minister termed the occasion as historic and said that India is starting a glorious chapter when people across the country are excited and emotional to have finally achieved what they had been waiting for centuries.

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