Aung San Suu Kyi has cancelled plans to attend the United Nations General Assembly next week as international condemnation mounts over ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population in Myanmar.
As the de facto head of government and also Myanmar’s foreign affairs minister, Aung San Suu Kyi was expected to address the gathering of world leaders in New York. But on Wednesday her spokesman announced that, instead, the country's vice president Henry Van Thio would attend the summit, which runs through next week. The president, Htin Kyaw, is in hospital.
Spokesman Zaw Htay said Aung San Suu Kyi was needed in Myanmar to "manage humanitarian assistance" and "security concerns" caused by the violence.
"The first reason [for not attending] is because of the Rakhine terrorist attacks," Mr Zaw Htay said. "The state counsellor is focusing on calming the situation in Rakhine state. There are circumstances."
"The second reason is, there are people inciting riots in some areas. We are trying to take care of the security issue in many other places. The third is that we are hearing that there will be terrorist attacks and we are trying to address this issue."
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Read more:
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Outrage, shallow populism and symbolic gestures will not help the Rohingya
Rohingya crisis: From India to Malaysia, refugees face hardship and uncertainty
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Recent military actions in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State have sent over 370,000 Rohingya fleeing over the border into Bangladesh.
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace prize recipient, has so far failed to speak publicly on the crisis and has been condemned by human rights groups for inflammatory declarations published by her information committee.
The announcement that she would not be attending next week's UN General Assembly came as the Security Council prepared to discuss the crisis at a closed-doors meeting on Wednesday.
Speaking at a news conference ahead of the meeting, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres described the humanitarian situation in Myanmar as "catastrophic" and called on all countries to do what they can to provide aid.
"I call on the Myanmar authorities to suspend military action, end the violence, uphold the rule of law and recognise the right of return of all those who had to leave the country," he said.
Asked if the situation could be described as ethnic cleansing, Mr Guterres replied: "Well I would answer your question with another question: When one-third of the Rohingya population had to flee the country, could you find a better word to describe it?"
His remarks followed those of UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, who on Monday said the military actions in Rakhine appeared to be a “text book example of ethnic cleansing”.
The UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar has estimated that 1,000 people have died in the recent violence. Bangladesh says the figure could be as high as 3,000.
Myanmar’s neighbour — already a poor country — is struggling to cope with a massive influx of refugees in the past three weeks, with hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need of basic aid.
Fellow Nobel Peace laureates, including the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai, have all called on Aung San Suu Kyi to stop the violence.
However last week she said the crisis was being distorted by a "huge iceberg of misinformation".
The Myanmar government has consistently denied large-scale atrocities are being perpetrated against the Rohingya in the wake of August 25 attacks on security posts in Rakhine state by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.
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Read more:
Chorus of criticism for Aung San Suu Kyi grows louder as former friends disown her
The Rohingya are being ethnically cleansed. Condemnation must now make way for concrete action
Muhammad Yunus: ‘Aung San Suu Kyi should tell the Rohingya that Myanmar is as much their home as it is hers’
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Myanmar has declared the group a terrorist organisation and blames the insurgents and other Rohingya for large scale arson attacks on their own communities. Journalists who visited the region have seen evidence that raises doubts about claims that Rohingya set fire to their own homes.
Many of the fleeing Rohingya have said Myanmar soldiers shot indiscriminately, burnt their homes and warned them to leave or die in what the government has called "clearance operations". Others said they were attacked by Buddhist mobs.
Zaw Htay said Aung San Suu Kyi would "speak for national reconciliation and peace" in a televised address on September 19. It will be the first time she addresses the nation in just short of four weeks since the attacks which sparked the recent violence.As many as 30,000 ethnic Rakhine and other non-Buddhist civilians are also reported to have fled their homes amid the ongoing violence.
On Monday she did make a statement “welcoming” UN condemnation of the Arsa attacks, but made no reference to the UN's charge of ethnic cleansing.
She also defended the military's operations as part of their "legitimate duty to restore stability", saying troops were under orders to avoid “the harming of innocent civilians”.
As head of the civilian government she has no control over the actions of the powerful military on the ground and little scope to intervene, but her civilian administration has also been accused of complicity in its repeated denial of abuses and denunciations of those who make such allegations.
The government has refused to co-operate with a UN investigation into allegations of military reprisals against Rohingya civilians after smaller scale attacks by Arsa last year. If true, the UN has said those reprisals could be classed as crimes against humanity.
During a visit to Brussels in May Aung San Suu Kyi said, “I am not sure quite what you mean by saying that we have not been concerned at all with regards to the allegations of atrocities that have taken place in the Rakhine. We have been investigating them and have been taking action."
Wednesday’s discussion by the powerful UN Security Council of concerns over what is being perpetrated against the Rohingya in Rakhine comes at the request of Britain and Sweden, after the UK raised the issue at a behind closed doors meeting last week.
According to diplomats, China, which has considerable financial investments in Myanmar, has strongly resisted any move by the Security Council to address the unfolding crisis.
The White House on Monday broke its silence on the issue, referring to attacks by both sides, including the militant ambushes in Rakhine.
"The United States is deeply troubled by the ongoing crisis in Burma," said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
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Read more:
UAE donates Dh830,000 worth of aid to displaced Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh
Muslim leaders call for immediate aid for Rohingyas
Violence has driven away nearly half of Myanmar's Muslims in less than a year
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Virtual banks explained
What is a virtual bank?
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.
What’s the draw in Asia?
Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.
Is Hong Kong short of banks?
No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year.
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BRIGHTON 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 3
McTominay 44'
Mata 73'
Pogba 80'
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
More on Quran memorisation:
Ballon d’Or shortlists
Men
Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool), Sergio Aguero (Aregentina/Manchester City), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlans/Barcelona), Hugo Lloris (France/Tottenham), Dusan Tadic (Serbia/Ajax), Kylian Mbappe (France/PSG), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England/Liverpool), Donny van de Beek (Netherlands/Ajax), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Arsenal), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany/Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Juventus), Alisson (Brazil/Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands/Juventus), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands/Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands/Liverpool), Bernardo Silva (Portugal/Manchester City), Son Heung-min (South Korea/Tottenham), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Roberto Firmino (Brazil/Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Manchester City), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal/Napoli), Antoine Griezmann (France/Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool), Eden Hazard (BEL/Real Madrid), Marquinhos (Brazil/Paris-SG), Raheem Sterling (Eengland/Manchester City), Joao Félix(Portugal/Atletico Madrid)
Women
Sam Kerr (Austria/Chelsea), Ellen White (England/Manchester City), Nilla Fischer (Sweden/Linkopings), Amandine Henry (France/Lyon), Lucy Bronze(England/Lyon), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride), Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands/Arsenal), Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany/Lyon), Pernille Harder (Denmark/Wolfsburg), Sarah Bouhaddi (France/Lyon), Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC), Lieke Martens (Netherlands/Barcelona), Sari van Veenendal (Netherlands/Atletico Madrid), Wendie Renard (France/Lyon), Rose Lavelle(USA/Washington Spirit), Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride), Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Lyon), Kosovare Asllani (Sweden/CD Tacon), Sofia Jakobsson (Sweden/CD Tacon), Tobin Heath (USA/Portland Thorns)
RESULT
West Brom 2 Liverpool 2
West Brom: Livermore (79'), Rondón (88' )
Liverpool: Ings (4'), Salah (72')
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Saturday, June 20 Watford v Leicester 3.30pm; Brighton v Arsenal 6pm; West Ham v Wolves 8.30pm; Bournemouth v Crystal Palace 10.45pm
Sunday, June 21 Newcastle v Sheffield United 2pm; Aston Villa v Chelsea 7.30pm; Everton v Liverpool 10pm
Monday, June 22 Manchester City v Burnley 11pm (Sky)
Tuesday, June 23 Southampton v Arsenal 9pm; Tottenham v West Ham 11.15pm
Wednesday, June 24 Manchester United v Sheffield United 9pm; Newcastle v Aston Villa 9pm; Norwich v Everton 9pm; Liverpool v Crystal Palace 11.15pm
Thursday, June 25 Burnley v Watford 9pm; Leicester v Brighton 9pm; Chelsea v Manchester City 11.15pm; Wolves v Bournemouth 11.15pm
Sunday June 28 Aston Villa vs Wolves 3pm; Watford vs Southampton 7.30pm
Monday June 29 Crystal Palace vs Burnley 11pm
Tuesday June 30 Brighton vs Manchester United 9pm; Sheffield United vs Tottenham 11.15pm
Wednesday July 1 Bournemouth vs Newcastle 9pm; Everton vs Leicester 9pm; West Ham vs Chelsea 11.15pm
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets