Bangladesh PM wants Rohingya safe zones in Myanmar - Al Jazeera

Bangladesh PM wants Rohingya safe zones in Myanmar

In speech to UN, Sheikh Hasina presses Myanmar to allow the return of 'hungry, distressed and hopeless' refugees.

Bangladesh's prime minister has accused Myanmar of ethnic cleansing of its Rohingya people and urged the country to allow the return of "hungry, distressed and hopeless" refugees.

Sheikh Hasina told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that Bangladesh was sheltering more than 800,000 Rohingya, of whom 430,000 had arrived in the past three weeks.

She called for safe zones to be created under UN supervision in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

"We are horrified to see that the Myanmar authorities are laying landmines along their stretch of the border to prevent the Rohingya from returning to Myanmar," Hasina said.

Mobs target non-Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

"These people must be able to return to their homeland in safety, security and dignity."

More than half of the displaced Rohingya are living in makeshift camps with little access to shelter, food, clean water and sanitation, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

On Tuesday, Marzuki Darusman, the head of the UN Fact-Finding Mission, said they were seeking access to Myanmar to investigate allegations of mass killings and torture.

Children make up about 60 percent of more than 420,000 people who have poured in to Bangladesh. They have seen family members killed and homes set on fire.

They have known fear and terror. And they have endured dangerous journeys through forests and on rickety boats.

Sometimes they have done it alone. UNICEF has so far counted more than 1,400 children who have crossed the border with neither parent.

A Rohingya child cries amid a crowd of elders to receive food being distributed [AP]

Now they have traded the fear and terror of Rakhine for the chaos of refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Tens of thousands of strangers are living in the refugee camps, packed in normally uninhabitable places.

Child refugees face many dangers, including separation from their families, trafficking, servitude, and abuse.

Hunger is a constant and most children have to beg at some point if they are to eat. And to do that they have to leave their tents.

Their parents, who are simply too overwhelmed and impoverished themselves, cannot chaperone them.

UNICEF has set up what the agency calls "Child Friendly Spaces" within the camps.

Children make up about 60 percent of the sea of humanity that has poured in to Bangladesh [AP]

These are spaces where children can be around each other, where they can play and sing and have books read to them.

In a small room that was built just a week ago in this refugee camp happy faces abound, with balloons and drawings hung around the walls and ceiling.

But the children are all too aware of the terrors they have witnessed and aid agencies like UNICEF and MSF say they are barely scratching the surface when it comes to addressing their mental and physical well-being.

The Aid agency Save the Children warns that more than 600,000 Rohingya children could be in Bangladesh by the end of the year. Many of them will probably be orphans who will need urgent assistance.

China pleads with Kim Jong-un and Trump to stop 'provoking each other' - Daily Mail

China pleads with Kim Jong-un and Trump to stop 'provoking each other' and warns the situation is 'grave' as North Korea threatens to detonate hydrogen bomb over the Pacific

Chinese foreign minister Lu Kang said situation is 'grave' and advised 'restraint'

He said that 'all relevant parties' should be trying to avoid 'provoking each other'

North Korea is planning to test a powerful hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean

Threat comes after Donald Trump vowed to 'totally destroy' the rogue state

Kim Jong-un called Mr Trump 'mentally deranged' when he spoke at the UN

By Iain Burns For Mailonline and Afp

China has warned that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is 'grave' and called for restraint on all sides after North Korea hinted it might blow up a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.

The appeal came as a war of words between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un escalated, with the young North Korean leader calling the 71-year-old American president a 'mentally deranged US dotard'.

'The situation on the Korean Peninsula now is grave,' Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular press briefing in Beijing.

'All relevant parties should exercise restraint instead of provoking each other,' he said.

'We believe that only if relevant parties meet each other halfway can they really solve the Korean Peninsula issue and truly realise peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.'

North Korea's top diplomat said the country planned to test the bomb to fulfill Kim Jong Un's (pictured) vow to take the 'highest-level of hard-line countermeasure in history' against the US +7

North Korea's top diplomat said the country planned to test the bomb to fulfill Kim Jong Un's (pictured) vow to take the 'highest-level of hard-line countermeasure in history' against the US

China has repeatedly called for peace talks, suggesting that Pyongyang halt its nuclear activities in return for the United States suspending military drills in the region.

It comes as North Korea said it is planning to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean after Donald Trump vowed to 'totally destroy' Kim Jong-un's rogue state.

North Korea's top diplomat said the country planned to test the bomb to fulfill Kim Jong Un's vow to take the 'highest-level of hard-line countermeasure in history' against the US.

The threat comes after US President Donald Trump said he would 'totally destroy' North Korea.

At his UN address on Tuesday, President Trump warned the North Korean leader that the United States, if threatened, would destroy the country of 26 million people.

Off-duty police officer, 25, charged with indecently...

Kim Jong-un confirmed his nuclear program was on the 'correct path' this week.

'His remarks... have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last,' Kim Jong-un said in a statement.

He called Mr Trump 'mentally deranged' and said the US President's comments were 'the most ferocious declaration of war in history'.

'I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire,' Kim said in the rare direct statement, referring to Trump.

'He has made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors.

'A frightened dog barks louder.'

The letter, issued in the leader's own name, was unusual for North Korea.

'I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire,' Kim said in the rare direct statement, referring to Trump +7

'I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire,' Kim said in the rare direct statement, referring to Trump

At his UN address on Tuesday, President Trump warned the North Korean leader that the United States, if threatened, would take out the country of 26 million people +7

At his UN address on Tuesday, President Trump warned the North Korean leader that the United States, if threatened, would take out the country of 26 million people

North Korea celebrates the nuclear scientists and technicians

'I'd like to advise Trump to exercise prudence in selecting words and to be considerate of whom he speaks to when making a speech in front of the world,' the statement said.

'After taking office, Trump has rendered the world restless through threats and blackmail against all countries in the world.

'He is unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country, and he is surely a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire, rather than a politician.'

He offered more vitriol for Trump, saying he was 'unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country, and he would 'pay dearly for his speech calling for totally destroying North Korea'.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a launching drill of the medium-and-long range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 at an undisclosed location +7

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a launching drill of the medium-and-long range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 at an undisclosed location

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (not pictured) guides the

'Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation,' Kim said.

Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said it 'could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific', according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Ri reportedly added: 'We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un'.

If North Korea launches the test, it will be considered a major provocation by Washington and its allies.

Ri reportedly added: 'We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un'

President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday designed to choke North Korea's economy.

The president said the new order would cut off sources of revenue that funded North Korea's efforts to develop what he called 'the deadliest weapons known to humankind'.

The order was designed to dissuade Pyongyang from pursuing its nuclear missile program.

Pyongyang is the capital city of North Korea.

Nine members of the UN Human Rights Council accused of violating human rights - Independent

Nine members of the UN Human Rights Council accused of violating human rights

A new report details violations against people in those working with the UN on human rights issues

Mythili Sampathkumar New York @MythiliSk 19 hours ago2

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is seen on a TV screen while addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Nine members of the Council have been found as human rights violators.

Twenty-nine countries are said to retaliate against citizens that help the United Nations with its human rights work in those countries, according to a new UN report.

In previous reports, an average of 15 countries were listed, and never more than 20. This is a record.

The Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) issued the eighth annual report about the condition of the people working with it to identify human rights violations around the world.

Trump's America First doctrine will destroy the United Nations

It was reported to OHCHR that these people had been abducted, detained, held incommunicado, or had disappeared, according to Andrew Gilmour, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights.

Other victims lost their jobs, had their homes or offices raided, were targeted by travel bans and asset freezes, as well as being forced to undergo unwanted psychiatric “treatment.” Many cases involved arbitrary detention and torture, sometimes by sexual assault or rape.

Nine of the 29 countries listed are actually members of the Human Rights Council, a Geneva-based group made up of 47 UN member countries. These are Burundi, Egypt, Rwanda, Cuba, Venezuela, China, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Gilmour called the Council “abhorrent” for allowing these countries to serve in that capacity.

China and Saudi Arabia have been on the list six out of eight years.

"There is something grotesque and entirely contrary to the Charter and spirit of the United Nations, and particularly this Council, that people get punished, through intimidation and reprisals, for cooperating with the UN on human rights," he said.

None of the countries in question that were contacted for comment have responded as yet.

The report, though extensive, does not report on all incidents revealed to the OHCHR for confidentiality and safety reasons.

It also only covers people who were actively working with the UN and Mr Gilmour warned the report only “represent[ed] only a small portion of a far more generalised backlash against civil society.”

As Mr Gilmour noted, however, many of the offending countries “justified” actions against activists by labelling them as terrorists or threats to the state for cooperating with a foreign entity, even though that entity is the UN.

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"I think we should see these individuals as the canary in the coal-mine, bravely singing until they are silenced by this toxic backlash against people, rights and dignity – as a dark warning to us all."

The other 20 countries in the report were Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Honduras, Iran, Israel, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Burma, Oman, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

This week is the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting where 193 countries' leaders converge.

Donald Trump lavished praise on the health care system of Nambia during a speech at the United Nations. But there's one little problem -- there's no such country. - CNN News

(CNN)President Donald Trump lavished praise on the health care system of Nambia during a speech at the United Nations. But there's one little problem -- there's no such country.

"In Guinea and Nigeria, you fought a horrifying Ebola outbreak," Trump told African leaders gathered Wednesday. "Nambia's health system is increasingly self-sufficient."

Trump mentioned Nambia twice during the session attended by leaders of several nations, including Ghana, Namibia and Uganda.

Namibia has stunning sceneries such as this private reserve where visitors can see giraffes, baboons, and zebras.

Namibia has stunning sceneries such as this private reserve where visitors can see giraffes, baboons, and zebras.

The gaffe lit up social media, with many speculating whether he meant Namibia, Zambia or Gambia, all of which have names that sound similar.

The White House later clarified that Trump was talking about the southwestern African nation of Namibia. Namibia dodged the Ebola outbreak that killed thousands in Africa two years ago and affected several nations, including the United States.

At the time, Namibia revamped its health care system to ward off an Ebola outbreak and treat sudden infections.

The tiny nation of 2.5 million people is one of the world's biggest producers of uranium. It shares borders with Angola, Zambia, South Africa and Botswana.

Nambia aside, Trump also applauded the continent's economic progress during the speech.

Trump: My friends go to Africa to get rich

Trump: My friends go to Africa to get rich 00:53

"Africa has tremendous business potential," he said. "I have so many friends going to your countries, trying to get rich. I congratulate you. They're spending a lot of money."

Meanwhile, here are nine reasons to spend your money in Namibia.

Top Republican Lindsey Graham says he is working with Steve 'Darth Vader' Bannon on Obamacare repeal - Independent

Top Republican Lindsey Graham says he is working with Steve 'Darth Vader' Bannon on Obamacare repeal

Mr Bannon has made moves to attack the Republican establishment

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said Steve Bannon – who he referred to as “Darth Vader” – is helping him build support for his bill that would repeal Obamacare.

Mr Graham’s bill, which he drafted with fellow Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, has gained momentum over the past week, reviving a fight that many in Washington thought was over when an Obamacare repeal bill failed on the Senate floor in July.

Mr Graham’s measure, known as the Graham-Cassidy bill, would give states money in block grants to run their own healthcare programmes.

Steve Bannon declares war on Republican leaders

“Me and Darth Vader are now talking to each other,” Mr Graham told Axios. “Steve and I have our differences. But he loves the idea of federalism. He said, ‘This is the best idea I've heard in years, maybe not coming from the best guy I've known in years.’”

After leaving his role last month as Donald Trump’s chief strategist, Mr Bannon returned to his perch at Breitbart News, a far-right media outlet.

On Tuesday, Breitbart published an article saying Rick Manning, the president of Americans for Limited Government, had urged the Senate in a statement to pass the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill as the “last best chance” to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Republicans have until the end of the month before procedural rules in the Senate make it more difficult for the party to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.

On the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the opportunity to repeal Obamacare “may well pass us by if we don’t act soon”, calling the Graham-Cassidy bill “an intriguing idea and one that has a great deal of support.”

Republicans assert that Obamacare, otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act, has destabilised the individual markets for health insurance and forced consumers to buy insurance they do not want or cannot afford.

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The Graham-Cassidy bill is expected to push millions off of their health insurance and weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, according to the progressive Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

While Mr Bannon may be helping Mr Graham, the ex-White House Chief Strategist has made moves to attack the Republican establishment and Mr McConnell.

“Darkness is good,” Mr Bannon said last year in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That's power. It only helps us when they (liberals) get it wrong. When they're blind to who we are and what we're doing.”

South Korea approves $8m aid package for North Korea - Guardian

South Korea approves $8m aid package for North Korea

Decision to release funds for humanitarian programmes for infants and pregnant women risks rift with US and Japan

Justin McCurry in Tokyo

Thursday 21 September 2017 17.23 AEST

South Korea has approved an $8m (£5.9m) aid package for North Korea, in a humanitarian gesture at odds with calls by Japan and the US for unwavering economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang.

South Korea’s unification ministry agreed to provide the funds, which will go towards programmes for infants and pregnant women, days after the UN security council agreed a further round of sanctions in response to the regime’s recent nuclear test.

The ministry, which oversees cross-border relations, said humanitarian aid to impoverished North Korea should remain unaffected by rising political tensions on the peninsula.

The aid package did not include cash payments, the ministry said, and there was “realistically no possibility” that it could be of any use to the North Korean military.

South Korea’s unification minister, Cho Myung-gyon, said the government had “consistently said we would pursue humanitarian aid for North Korea in consideration of the poor conditions there among children and pregnant women”.

The decision is a break with the hardline policy on aid pursued by Seoul since the start of last year. It also risks causing a rift with the US and Japan, which regard engagement as a concession to North Korea, while it accelerates its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, reportedly asked the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, to reconsider the timing of the aid package in a recent telephone call. Japan’s government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said it could undermine international efforts to put pressure on North Korea.

About $4.5m of nutrition-rich supplies will be distributed to children and pregnant women through the UN World Food Programme. A further $3.5m will go to Unicef to fund vaccinations and treatments for diarrhoea, acute respiratory diseases and malnutrition, the unification ministry said.

The ministry said the timing of the shipments would be announced at a later date.

Unicef’s regional director for East Asia and the Pacific, Karin Hulshof, said North Korean children faced problems that were “all too real”.

“Today, we estimate that about 200,000 children are affected by acute malnutrition, heightening their risk of death and increasing rates of stunting,” Hulshof said. “Food and essential medicines and equipment to treat young children are in short supply.”

An estimated 18 million of North Korea’s 25 million people require assistance due to food shortages and malnutrition, according to the UN. The World Health Organization estimates the mortality rate among North Korean children aged five and under at 25 per 1,000, compared with three in every 1,000 in South Korea.

Moon’s conservative predecessor Park Geun-hye halted humanitarian aid to North Korea after the regime conducted a nuclear test in January 2016.

The decision to resume aid is unpopular among many South Koreans. Realmeter, a South Korean polling organisation, said the measure had dented Moon’s popularity, although his approval rating is still high at just over 65%.

Moon, Abe and Donald Trump are due to discuss the North Korean crisis on the sidelines of the UN general assembly later on Thursday.

Elaine Chao reduces self-driving car privacy to a footnote - CNN

Elaine Chao reduces self-driving car privacy to a footnote

by Matt McFarland @mattmcfarland

Consumer privacy has taken a back seat as the Trump administration takes it first steps in writing the guidelines for autonomous vehicles.

Cars and trucks that will use technology to drive themselves promise to change transportation. But they raise countless new privacy issues: How will the data they collect be used?

Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao last week released updated autonomous driving guidelines that turn privacy issues into footnotes. Literally.

In a footnote in the guidelines, Chao's department writes that privacy isn't its turf -- and should be left to the Federal Trade Commission.

The initial guidelines, released by the Obama administration in September 2016, highlighted privacy as one of 15 important areas for automakers to address.

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The shift has drawn the criticism of consumer and privacy advocates, who say Chao's approach is insufficient and leaves consumers at risk.

"The DOT is going in the wrong direction," William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, a division of Consumer Reports, told CNN Tech. "People have to right to expect that these vehicles aren't just safe for travel, but that their information is safe."

elaine chao automated driving mcity

U.S. Department of Transportation secretary Elaine Chao unveils the updated guidelines in Michigan last week.

Consumers' privacy concerns have been downgraded, but not those of businesses. The guidelines add a paragraph noting that companies should make sure not to include confidential business information while detailing their programs to the public.

"It's a head-scratcher; why they chose to delete [consumer] privacy," O'Melveny attorney Melody Drummond Hansen said.

Tech and car companies are wary of releasing any data that may hurt them as they race toward riches in an industry that is forecast to be worth trillions.

Self-driving vehicles are expected to reduce the rate of car crashes and save many of 1.25 million people killed on roads every year. They navigate with cameras and sensors. These vehicles will collect gobs of data, some of which will be sensitive information about passengers and pedestrians outside the vehicles.

"If you're in an autonomous vehicle, any place you go is now known," John McNelis, an attorney with Fenwick & West told CNN Tech. "I expect there will be cameras in these vehicles, what happens with that data?"

Related: House passes self-driving car bill

For Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, it's problematic if autonomous vehicle data will become available for commercial use, insurance decisions, or used against consumers.

"From a privacy perspective, driving data looks very much like telephone records data," said Rotenberg. "We've always had strong protections for telephone record data."

Nearly 20 years of bringing privacy cases to the FTC has convinced him that the organization won't have a forceful role in the auto industry on behalf of consumers, he added.

"Historically, the automobile has been part of the American concept of freedom and individuality. You hit the open road and the adventure lies ahead," Rotenberg said. "It's very odd to think you'd be suspect to all this surveillance and monitoring in this new future."

Others caution that too many privacy precautions today could hamper the development of a promising industry.

"This to me is our space race," said Kelley Blue Book analyst Rebecca Lindland. "Let's support the people who are working on this with that mentality of 'let's just get the job done.' "