Rohingya refugees stretch their hands out for relief supplies given by local people in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 16, 2017. Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters
Rohingya refugees stretch their hands out for relief supplies given by local people in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 16, 2017. Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters
Rohingya refugees stretch their hands out for relief supplies given by local people in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 16, 2017. Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters
Rohingya refugees stretch their hands out for relief supplies given by local people in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 16, 2017. Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters

Bangladesh begins drive to force Rohingya into one giant camp amid heavy rain


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Heavy monsoon rain on Sunday heaped new misery on hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohinyga stuck in makeshift camps in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar, as authorities started a drive to force them to a new site.

With food and water shortages already making life tough, torrential rain brought back swamp-like conditions to many parts of the southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar where the majority of Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh have ended up.

About 7.7 centimetres of rain fell in 24 hours, with more predicted in the next two days, the Bangladesh Weather Department said.

Bangladesh authorities, who have already issued travel restrictions on the Rohingya, launched an operation late on Saturday to move tens of thousands out of roadside camps and hillside shanties and into a giant new camp.

Police toured streets with loudspeakers, ordering exhausted families to go to the Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar.

It came after Bangladesh restricted the movement of Rohingya refugees on Saturday, banning them from leaving overcrowded border areas where over 400,000 are living in squalid conditions.

The tough new measures came as Dhaka struggled to cope with the scale of the "unprecedented crisis", with Bangladesh's prime minister Sheikh Hasina heading for the United Nations General Assembly to plead for global help.

Conditions are already worsening in Cox's Bazar, where the majority of refugees are living in desperate circumstances after fleeing Myanmar's violence-wracked Rakhine state.

Dozens of refugees were found by authorities in three towns hundreds of kilometres from the Myanmar frontier, stoking fears that thousands of newly-arrived Rohingya Muslims could move from the border region and overwhelm the mainland of impoverished Bangladesh.

Police said they had issued an order banning the Rohingya refugees from leaving the areas and camps the government has designated for them in the border district.

"They should stay in the designated camps until they return to their country," Sahely Ferdous, a police spokeswoman, said. "They cannot travel from one place to another by roads, railways or waterways."

Rohingya were asked not to take shelter in the homes of their friends or acquaintances, while locals have been asked not to rent houses to the refugees, and bus and lorry drivers requested not to transport the Rohingya, she said.

Police check posts and surveillance have been set up in key transit points to stop refugees travelling to other parts of the country.

The restrictions were announced as the UN said on Saturday that the total number of people to have entered Bangladesh in the past month had reached 409,000, a leap of 18,000 in a day.

Save the Children warned on Sunday that Rohingya refugees could die due to a lack of food, shelter and water available.

"Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted and with no food or water," said Mark Pierce, Bangladesh country director for the aid agency.

"I’m particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter, water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the sheer number of people in need. If families can’t meet their basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and lives could be lost."

Bangladeshi authorities have started immunising tens of thousands of Rohingya children against diseases, with the UN saying there are some 240,000 child refugees in dire conditions.

Abdus Salam, a doctor in a state-run hospital in Cox's Bazar, said some 150,000 children will be immunised over seven days for measles, rubella and polio.

Prime minister Hasina left for the UN meeting on Saturday, a day after her government summoned the Myanmar envoy for the third time to protest over its neighbour's actions.

Ms Hasina is to demand more pressure on Myanmar during talks in New York, and is to speak at the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

"She will seek immediate cessation of violence in Rakhine state in Myanmar and ask the UN secretary general to send a fact-finding mission to Rakhine," said a spokesman for the prime minister, Nazrul Islam.

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"She will also call the international community and the UN to put pressure on Myanmar for the repatriation of all the Rohingya refugees to their homeland in Myanmar."

Foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali said: "We will continue international pressure on the Myanmar government to immediately end its ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya."

The Myanmar military says its "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine state are aimed at taking out Rohingya militants who attacked police posts on August 25.

But the violence has engulfed the border region and triggered the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to Bangladesh, where they have told of soldiers slaughtering civilians and burning down entire villages.

UN leaders have described the campaign as having all the hallmarks of "ethnic cleansing".

Myanmar's army chief on Saturday urged the country to unite over the "issue" of the Rohingya, claiming the minority ethnic group has no roots in the country.

Many in Myanmar's Buddhist majority view Rohingya as foreign interlopers from Bangladesh and deny the existence of a Rohingya ethnicity, insisting they be called "Bengalis".

"They have demanded recognition as Rohingya, which has never been an ethnic group in Myanmar. [The] Bengali issue is a national cause and we need to be united in establishing the truth," army chief General Min Aung Hlaing said in comments posted to his official Facebook page.

Myanmar's de facto civilian leader, former democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, has no power to control the country's army, which retains sweeping powers from its years of junta rule.

But she has been castigated for failing to voice sympathy for the Rohingya — a group she has asked her government to refer to only as "Muslims of Rakhine state".

Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters inside the country, where she still enjoys saintlike status for her democracy struggle, have balked at the global criticism heaped on their leader and argued she must tread carefully around a military that still looms large in the fragile democracy.

In Paris on Saturday, several hundred people, including members of the Rohingya diaspora, protested near the Eiffel Tower to demand international intervention and denounce Aung San Suu Kyi.

The demonstrators urged the former dissident to break her silence on the Rohingya crisis. If not, according to one placard, her Nobel Peace Prize should be renamed the "Nobel Massacre and Hatred Prize".

Aung San Suu Kyi is due to give a televised address to the nation on Tuesday.

FA Cup quarter-final draw

The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March

Sheffield United v Arsenal

Newcastle v Manchester City

Norwich v Derby/Manchester United

Leicester City v Chelsea

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Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

Profile of MoneyFellows

Founder: Ahmed Wadi

Launched: 2016

Employees: 76

Financing stage: Series A ($4 million)

Investors: Partech, Sawari Ventures, 500 Startups, Dubai Angel Investors, Phoenician Fund

About Krews

Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Founded: January 2019

Number of employees: 10

Sector: Technology/Social media 

Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support

 

Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

Total received: €4,670.30 

Route 2: online platform

The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.

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While you're here
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go

The flights

The closest international airport for those travelling from the UAE is Denver, Colorado. British Airways (www.ba.com) flies from the UAE via London from Dh3,700 return, including taxes. From there, transfers can be arranged to the ranch or it’s a seven-hour drive. Alternatively, take an internal flight to the counties of Cody, Casper, or Billings

The stay

Red Reflet offers a series of packages, with prices varying depending on season. All meals and activities are included, with prices starting from US$2,218 (Dh7,150) per person for a minimum stay of three nights, including taxes. For more information, visit red-reflet-ranch.net.

 

Key features of new policy

Pupils to learn coding and other vocational skills from Grade 6

Exams to test critical thinking and application of knowledge

A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis for Holistic Development) will form the standard for schools

Schools to implement online system to encouraging transparency and accountability

Match info

Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace

Man of the match: Cheikhou Kouyate (Crystal Palace)

A State of Passion

Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi

Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
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Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
  • Flexible work arrangements
  • Pension support
  • Mental well-being assistance
  • Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
  • Financial well-being incentives 
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Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Tips for job-seekers
  • Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
  • Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.

David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East

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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

MATCH INFO

Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)

Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now