World

UN Agencies Fear About 70 Missing Or Dead From Capsized Rohingya Refugee Boat

Published

2 months ago

2024-03-22

MEULABOH, Indonesia

According to U.N. officials, approximately 70 Muslim Rohingya migrants are missing or presumed dead from a boat that crashed off the coast of Indonesia this week after an arduous sea passage from Bangladesh, leaving 75 survivors.

The International Office for Migration, or IOM, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, stated in a joint statement that they were “extremely concerned about the scale of potential loss of life,” citing survivors’ accounts that there were initially about 150 people aboard.

UN Agencies Fear About 70 Missing Or Dead From Capsized Rohingya Refugee Boat

This would have included a crew of roughly five persons, who appear to have abandoned the vessel and are still unknown. On Friday, two survivors told The Associated Press that when the refugee vessel began to sink, the captain and four crew abandoned it for another.

Indonesian fisherman raised the alert about the troubled vessel on Wednesday when they began rescuing its passengers, and an Indonesian search and rescue ship retrieved the remaining occupants from the overturned hull on Thursday, around 22 kilometres (14 miles) off the western coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province.

The United Nations joint statement did not identify the exact number of persons feared lost, but a UNHCR website said 75 people were “reported dead or missing” from a boat whose features matched the one that overturned on Wednesday.

“If confirmed, this would be the largest loss of life so far this year,” the statement stated, referring to a regular stream of boats carrying Rohingya attempting to flee overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Over the last year, the number of Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Indonesia has increased significantly. According to the statement, the 2,300 refugees who arrived in 2023 outnumbered those in the preceding four years combined.

UN Agencies Fear About 70 Missing Or Dead From Capsized Rohingya Refugee Boat

The boat survivors include 44 men, 22 women, and nine children. A handful were sent to a nearby hospital for treatment, but most were relocated to a temporary shelter in Aceh’s Barat district. Several people told UNHCR personnel that they had lost family members along the trek.

“In one case, there was a child whose parents and siblings died during the trip,” said Faisal Rahman, a UNHCR staff member in Aceh, on Friday. “There was another case with a husband whose wife and child perished. Additionally, children whose mothers have died. Several families reported that their relatives had disappeared or died at sea.

Soliya Begum, an 18-year-old survivor, told The Associated Press that when the boat began to take on water, the commander scuttled it and escaped to another with his crew. Her account could not readily be corroborated. Sometimes, people intentionally destroy refugee boats to force rescuers from destination countries to bring the passengers ashore. However, this is usually done closer to land.

Another survivor, Akram Ullah, 30, told the Associated Press that the boat left Bangladesh on March 9 and that the skipper and at least some of the crew were Indonesian. He also stated that the captain and four other crew members abandoned the boat as it began to sink.

Approximately one million Rohingya from Myanmar are refugees in Bangladesh. They include around 740,000 people who fled in 2017 to escape a savage counterinsurgency campaign by Myanmar security forces, who were accused of widespread rapes and deaths, as well as the burning of thousands of homes. The Rohingya minority in Myanmar experiences pervasive discrimination, and the majority are denied citizenship.

UN Agencies Fear About 70 Missing Or Dead From Capsized Rohingya Refugee Boat

Life in Bangladesh’s refugee camps is difficult due to a lack of clean water, sanitation, and healthcare, which are prone to fire, flooding, and disease outbreaks. There are limited prospects for meaningful labour, and vicious criminal gangs harass the community.

According to the relief charity Save the Children, the ongoing sea excursions reflect the grave circumstances in Bangladesh’s camps. It stated that 250 unaccompanied children were among the Rohingya who landed in Indonesia in the final three months of last year.

“The presence of unaccompanied children in Aceh is alarming and suggests that Rohingya families are desperate enough to send their children away in search of a better life,” said Dessy Kurwiany Ukar, the group’s interim Indonesia head.

The group stated that other nations in the area, besides Indonesia, should take responsibility for accepting Rohingya refugees.

SOURCE – (AP)

World

Messi Plays Through A Scare, Inter Miami Rallies Past Montreal 3-2 For Fifth Straight Win

Published

1 hour ago

2024-05-12

Kiara Grace

AP News - VOR News Image

MONTREAL — Lionel Messi played the entire game despite a first-half injury scare, Benjamin Cremaschi broke a tie in the 59th minute, and Inter Miami rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Montreal 3-2 on Saturday night, its fifth consecutive Major League Soccer victory.

Luis Suarez scored his 11th goal of the season for Inter Miami, while Matías Rojas scored from a free kick. Montreal (3-5-3) got goals from Jules-Anthony Vilsaint and Bryce Duke.

AP – VOR News Image

Messi Plays Through A Scare, Inter Miami Rallies Past Montreal 3-2 For Fifth Straight Win

Inter Miami (8-2-3) extended its unbeaten record to seven games (5-0-2) despite Lionel failing to score or assist for the first time in nine MLS appearances this season. Inter Miami is 7-0-2 in those nine games, with one loss coming against Montreal in March when Lionel did not participate.

Playing in Canada for the first time, Lionel abandoned the game late in the first half due to a problem with his left knee caused by defender George Campbell’s foul. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner as the world’s best player collapsed immediately, clutching his knee and moaning in agony.

Inter Miami’s medical personnel entered the field to treat Messi, who stood up after around two minutes and headed to the Miami sideline. He was not subbed out, allowing him to return moments later.

AP – VOR News Image

Messi Plays Through A Scare, Inter Miami Rallies Past Montreal 3-2 For Fifth Straight Win

And for some reason, the match shifted at that moment.

Inter Miami was behind 2-0 when Messi was injured; when he returned, the score was 2-1, and it was tied moments later. Rojas scored on a free kick that Messi would normally take to put Inter Miami up, and Suarez added a goal from a corner kick late in the first-half stoppage time.

Suarez became the third player in MLS history to score 11 goals in his first 800 minutes of the season, following Mamadou Diallo (11 in 2000) and Ola Kamara (11 in 2021).

The game-winning goal occurred when Rojas threw a ball into open space, and Cremaschi ran it down. Then, he made a second attempt to nudge the ball just clear of two defenders and into the net for a 3-2 advantage. Messi had two final-minute chances to extend the lead, which he missed narrowly.

AP – VOR News Image

Messi Plays Through A Scare, Inter Miami Rallies Past Montreal 3-2 For Fifth Straight Win

Inter Miami was met by hundreds of fans when it arrived at its hotel Friday night, and Montreal, thanks in part to Messi’s signing with Major League Soccer last summer, sold out its 15,000 season tickets for the first time since joining in 2012. Messi has scored in 31 nations.

The match drew an announced sellout crowd of 19,619 spectators, including one dressed in a Messi tracksuit and sporting a goat mask in tribute to Messi’s status as the Greatest of All Time.

SOURCE – (AP)

World

Taizhou Zoo in China Slammed Over Panda Dogs

Published

2 days ago

2024-05-10

Geoff Thomas

A zoo in China has been accused of attempting to trick visitors over dog pandas by dyeing two dogs black and white to resemble panda bears. Videos circulating on Chinese social media show the two “panda dogs” at an exhibit at Taizhou Zoo, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, which opened on May 1.

Though the dog pandas are designed to resemble pandas, which are unique to China and an iconic symbol of the country, their swinging tails reveal their identity.

Zoo administrators claimed Chinese state media that they were Chow Chows, a fluffy dog breed native to northern China, painted black and white to resemble gigantic pandas, and that they had explicitly sold them as “panda dogs” without making any misleading claims.

The dogs are still at the zoo, officials told NBC News by phone on Friday, and the number of people visiting them is “at a normal level.”

Despite the fact that the zoo does not have real pandas, state media and others have attacked it for misleading visitors and mistreating the dogs.

“It is not funny at all to dye Chow Chow dogs to attract tourists,” one Weibo user said. “Their fragile skin and naturally thick coats make them susceptible to skin diseases.”

Zoo administrators defended the exhibit, claiming that the dogs were unharmed.

“Normal people dye their hair,” a spokesman told NBC News. “Dogs can also dye their hair. It is the same as hair.

In 2019, a dog cafe in the southern province of Sichuan prompted animal rights issues with its six Chow Chows that had also been dyed to resemble bears.

In 2020, in the same province, a “panda” walked by a woman in a viral video was discovered to be a dyed Chow Chow.

Other Chinese zoos have also been accused of keeping phony animals, usually dogs disguised as wolves or African cats.

After a video showing one of its Malayan sun bears standing like a person went viral in July, a zoo in the eastern province of Zhejiang denied that the bears were humanoid.

Experts refuted the story, and the zoo stated that a person wearing a fur suit would not be able to tolerate such hot summer conditions.

Science

Strong Solar Storm Could Disrupt Communications And Produce Northern Lights In US

Published

2 days ago

2024-05-10

Kiara Grace

CAPE Florida’s Cape Coral — This weekend, a very powerful solar storm approaching Earth may cause communications outages and cause the northern lights to appear in the United States.

For the first time in almost 20 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare geomagnetic storm watch. The entire weekend is under scrutiny, beginning on Friday.

VOR News Image

Strong Solar Storm Could Disrupt Communications And Produce Northern Lights In US

According to NOAA, the sun started to create powerful solar flares on Wednesday, which led to five plasma explosions that might have disrupted Earth’s power infrastructures and satellites in orbit. A coronal mass ejection, or eruption, can produce billions of tons of solar plasma.

The flares appear to be connected to a sunspot that is 16 times the diameter of Earth, which is why NOAA is classifying this as an uncommon occurrence. In 2003, a strong geomagnetic storm destroyed power transformers in South Africa and knocked out power in Sweden.

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Strong Solar Storm Could Disrupt Communications And Produce Northern Lights In US

According to NOAA, the most recent storm may cause northern lights as far south as Alabama and Northern California in the United States.

An amazing natural occurrence is the aurora borealis, sometimes known as the northern lights. The night sky in Earth’s polar regions is home to these vibrant, dancing lights. When charged solar particles clash with atmospheric gasses, these lights are created.

VOR News Image

Strong Solar Storm Could Disrupt Communications And Produce Northern Lights In US

Though the lights are usually observed in green, pink, and violet hues, they can occasionally be seen in other colors as well. Countless people travel to locations like Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia every year to see this amazing show in person since it is such a stunning sight.

SOURCE – (AP)