Latest News
‘Bloody policies’: MSF recovers 11 bodies from Mediterranean off Libya
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The aid group Doctors Without Borders has reported recovering 11 bodies and rescuing dozens of people off the coast of Libya as it criticised the migration policies of the North African country and European countries.
In a statement on Friday, the group, known by its French initials MSF, said its Geo Barents rescue vessel managed to recover the bodies following a search operation lasting more than nine hours after being alerted by German nongovernmental organisation Sea-Watch, which also rescues refugees and migrants.
“As we cannot determine the reason behind this tragedy, we know that people will continue to take dangerous routes in a desperate attempt to reach safety, and Europe must find safe and legal pathways for them,” MSF said in a post on X. “This catastrophe must end!”
Sea-Watch said it is unclear whether the bodies were victims of a previously unknown shipwreck, adding that they tried to contact Libya’s coastguard to go and retrieve the dead, but received no reply.
“The so-called Libyan coastguard – financed by the EU – ignored our call demanding that the bodies be recovered,” the group said.
Thousands of people trying to head from Africa to Europe use Libya as a departing point, with the Italian island of Lampedusa the nearest European destination as they undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to escape war, poverty and persecution.
Italy, which wants to put a stop to the migration stream, has said Libya and neighbouring Tunisia must do more to stop people from going to sea. It has also clamped down on the operation of the rescue ships, arguing that they encourage people to head to Europe, a charge that is denied by the charities.
Emphasising its policy on the rescue ships, Italy said on Friday that it forced the MSF rescue vessel to take the 165 people that it had saved from boats in the Mediterranean operation to the northern port of Genoa. The port was more than 650 nautical miles (1,200km) from their position and much farther than the more convenient ports in nearby Sicily, significantly delaying assistance to the rescued.
The route in the central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world, with the United Nations registering more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the area since 2014.
More than 3,000 refugees and migrants went missing in 2023 while attempting to use the route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to Italy’s interior ministry, the number of arrivals in the country has dropped in 2024 to fewer than 21,800 people since the beginning of the year, compared with close to 53,300 in the same period last year.
[Aljazeera]
Latest News
President Disanayake, Japanese Ambassador discuss bilateral cooperation
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President Anura Kumara Disanayake met with Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka, H. E.. Akio ISOMATA, this morning (27) at the Presidential Secretariat.
During the meeting, the Ambassador officially invited President Disanayake to visit Japan and expressed appreciation for the new government’s policy framework.
The Japanese Ambassador stated that efforts have been made to include Sri Lanka in the recently launched security cooperation assistance program by the Government of Japan.
Extensive discussions were held regarding the ongoing and future initiatives of the joint Japan-Switzerland-South Africa program aimed at fostering national reconciliation among the northern communities affected by the 30-year conflict. Additionally, they reviewed the current status of Japanese investments in Sri Lanka.
Furthermore, the current status and progress of digital economic and airport investments were discussed. The Ambassador also reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to supporting Sri Lanka’s Digital Transformation Program, emphasizing the Government of Japan’s intention to invest in port and aviation-related projects, as well as digitalization initiatives in Sri Lanka.
The discussion was attended by Advisor to the President on Economic and Financial Affairs Dr. Duminda Hulangamuwa, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Roshan Gamage, First Secretary & Head of Economics and Development Cooperation Section OHASHI Kenji, and First Secretary & Head of Political Section MURATA Shinichi.
Foreign News
Thailand deports dozens of Uyghurs to China
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At least 40 Uyghurs have been deported to China, the Thai authorities have confirmed, despite warnings from rights groups that they face possible torture and even death.
The group is thought to have been flown back to China’s Xinjiang region on Thursday, after being held for 10 years in a Bangkok detention centre.
China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against the Uyghur population and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang. Beijing denies all of the allegations.
It is the first time Thailand has deported Uyghurs since 2015.
The deportation has been shrouded in secrecy after serious concerns were raised by the United States and United Nations.
Thai media reported that several trucks, some with windows blocked with sheets of black plastic, left Bangkok’s main immigration detention centre in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Hours later, tracker Flightrader24 showed an unscheduled China Southern Airlines flight leaving Bangkok, eventually arriving in Xinjiang. It was not immediately clear how many people had been deported.
The Thai defence minister told Reuters news agency that Beijing had given assurances the deportees would be looked after.
Beijing said that 40 Chinese illegal immigrants were repatriated from Thailand, but refused to confirm that the group were Uyghurs.
“The repatriation was carried out in accordance with the laws of China and Thailand, international law and international practice,” the foreign ministry said.
Chinese state media said the group had been bewitched by criminal organisations and were stranded in Thailand after illegally leaving the country.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra did not initially confirm any deportations had taken place when asked by reporters.
“In any country in the world actions must adhere to the principles of law, international processes, and human rights,” she said.
The group is thought to be the last of more than 300 Uyghurs who were detained at the Thai border in 2014 after fleeing repression in Xinjiang.
Many were sent to Turkey, which usually offers Uyghurs asylum, while others were deported back to China in 2015 – prompting a storm of protest from governments and human rights groups.
“What is the Thai government doing?” asked opposition lawmaker Kannavee Suebsang on social media on Thursday.
“There must not be Uyghur deportation to face persecution. They were jailed for 11 years. We violated their human rights for too long.”
The detention centre where the Uyghurs – who had been charged with no crime, apart from entering Thailand without a visa – were kept was known to be unsanitary and overcrowded. Five Uyghurs died in custody.
In a statement on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the group now face a high risk of torture, enforced disappearance and long-term imprisonment.
“Thailand’s transfer of Uyghur detainees to China constitutes a blatant violation of Thailand’s obligations under domestic and international laws,” said the organisation’s Asia director, Elaine Pearson.
“Until yesterday [Wednesday], senior Thai officials had made multiple public assurances that these men would not be transferred, including to allies and UN officials.”
Phil Robertson, director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA) group, said that the deportations “totally destroyed” the “charade” that the current Thai government was different to the previous one “when it comes to transnational repression and cooperating with authoritarian neighbours”.
Amnesty International described the deportations as “unimaginably cruel”.
Bipartisan members of the US House China Committee on Wednesday issued a statement warning that the deportations “would constitute a clear violation of international human rights norms to which the Kingdom of Thailand is obligated under international law”.
The UN said that it “deeply regrets” the deportations.
There are about 12 million Uyghurs, mostly Muslim, living in Xinjiang, which is officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
The Uyghurs speak their own language, which is similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations. They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.
Recent decades have seen a mass migration of Han Chinese (China’s ethnic majority) into Xinjiang, allegedly orchestrated by the state to dilute the minority population there.
China has also been accused of targeting Muslim religious figures and banning religious practices in the region, as well as destroying mosques and tombs.
[BBC]
Foreign News
Gene Hackman and his wife found dead at their home
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Oscar-winning US actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In a career that spanned more than six decades, he received two Academy Awards, two Baftas, four Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
A statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff in New Mexico said: “We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail.
“This is an active investigation – however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor.”
Hackman won the best actor Oscar for his role as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s 1971 thriller The French Connection, and another for best supporting actor for playing Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s Western film Unforgiven in 1992.
His other Oscar-nominated roles were in 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde – as Buck Barrow in his breakthrough role – and 1970’s I Never Sang for My Father, as well as playing the agent in Mississippi Burning (1988).
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed the news to local media just after midnight on Wednesday that the couple had died, along with their dog.
The news was later confirmed to the Press Association news agency. Hackman was 95 and his wife 63.
Mr Mendoza said there was no immediate indication of foul play.
But he did not provide a cause of death or say when the couple might have died.
“All I can say is that we’re in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant.”
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Much celebrated actor Hackman played more than 100 roles including Lex Luthor in Superman movies in the 1970s and 1980s.
He also starred in the hit movies Runaway Jury and The Conversation, as well as Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums.
His last big screen appearance came as Monroe Cole in Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.
Born in California in 1930, Hackman had enlisted in the army after lying about his age at 16, serving for four-and-a-half years.
Following his military service, after briefly living in New York he decided to pursue acting.
In order to pursue his chosen career, Hackman joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he befriended a young Dustin Hoffman.
“I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame and agents and lawyers and the press,” he once said.
“It really costs me a lot emotionally to watch myself on-screen. I think of myself, and feel like I’m quite young, and then I look at this old man with the baggy chins and the tired eyes and the receding hairline and all that.”
[BBC]
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