AXJ Global News Hour, 90 BRUCE AVENUE, New York, NY (2021)

06/03/2021

'We Expect UK to Promote Interests of Climate Vulnerable Countries': PM Sheikh Hasina.
[Ashraf Nayan (Abul Ashraf) --- Editor, AXJ news, Bangladesh ]

Bangladesh Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said Bangladesh expects the UK to promote the interests and priorities of climate vulnerable countries to international platforms. She said this when COP26 president-designate Alok Sharma met her at her official residence Ganobhaban. PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed journalists after the meeting.
He said they discussed various issues like the climate change situation, its global adverse impacts, mitigation and Climate Change Fund and Covid-19 pandemic. Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh is going to be the worst affected like some other countries across the globe due to the climate change even though the carbon emission of these countries are very negligible. “We’ll be affected massively,” she said. Hasina said the government has taken various programmes to increase the renewable energy use in mitigating the demand for power. She said there are currently some 5.8 million solar power connections in Bangladesh. ( PA,b& UNB)

06/03/2021

Myanmar Schools Reopen without Students.
[Ashraf Nayan (Abul Ashraf) --- Editor, AXJ news, Bangladesh ]

Despite ongoing assaults by the junta’s armed forces, frequent bomb blasts, and the continued risk of Covid-19, Myanmar’s military council reopened government schools on Tuesday in a power play to show that the country’s administrative mechanisms were still functioning. Many schools opened to empty classrooms on the first day of the academic year, a teacher from Myanmar’s Teachers’ Federation said. The federation estimated that only 10 percent of the country’s estimated 900,000 students opted to enrol this year, after registration opened on May 24 due to pressure from the military council. The teacher noted that even among those who did enrol, some parents did not send their children to school on June 1 due to the ongoing instability and violence throughout the country. In Yangon, Mandalay and Sagaing regions and in Chin and Kayah (Karenni) states, where there have been intense clashes between the Myanmar military and local resistance forces, many schools are without students, the teacher said. (My,N)

06/03/2021

More than 10 Myanmar Regime Troops Reportedly Killed in Military Joint Attack by TNLA, MNDAA.
[Ashraf Nayan (Abul Ashraf) --- Editor, AXJ news, Bangladesh ]

At least 10 Myanmar military soldiers were killed when members of the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) attacked regime bases in Nampakha village in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township early on Monday morning, according to local sources. From 1am until after 3am, the Northern Alliance troops—mainly from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—reportedly attacked four locations including the Namhpakha-based Light Infantry Battalion 123 and a police station. During a clash at the electricity office en route to Kutkai from the village, 10 soldiers including an officer from the military council and a staff member of the office were killed, a Namhpakha humanitarian worker familiar with the case said. At least three soldiers were wounded in other clashes, and some weapons were confiscated, he added. A woman was also injured after being shot in the leg. The local source, who is also ethnic Ta’ang, remarked that the clashes indicate that the EAOs involved are opposed to the coup regime. (My,N)

06/03/2021

Malala Yousafzai Just Made it to the cover of British Vogue.
[Ashraf Nayan (Abul Ashraf) --- Editor, AXJ news, Bangladesh ]

Activist, author, tireless campaigner for girls’ education, student and survivor — that's what *British Vogue* described Malala Yousafzai as when she posed for the cover of its July issue. Malala is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history but that's not her only accomplishment, she has published a moving memoir, spent her 16th birthday addressing the UN, established her own namesake fund and is an activist who campaigns for safe education for girls across the world. She announced the exciting news on social media. "I know the power that a young girl carries in her heart when she has a vision and a mission — and I hope that every girl who sees this cover will know that she can change the world," Yousufzai posted on Twitter. (DA,p)

06/02/2021

Rohingya Crisis: Bangladesh Govt. Ready to Realistic Needs.
[Ashraf Nayan (Abul Ashraf) --- Editor, AXJ news, Bangladesh ]

Bangladesh government is ready to address any realistic needs and concerns of the Rohingyas, said foreign ministry yesterday, a day after a large demonstration by the Rohingyas in Bhasan Char in presence of a UN delegation. "The Rohingyas also want to return to their homeland and all including the UNHCR need to work constructively to that end. The UN is expected to assume their responsibility and operate within their mandate taking into account the ground reality and concerns of the host community," said foreign ministry in a statement. Gillian Triggs and Raouf Mazou -- assistant high commissioner for protection and operations respectively -- from the UNHCR visited on Monday the 100,000-capacity housing facility built by the Bangladesh Navy. Some 20,000 Rohingyas have already been relocated there since December last year from Cox's Bazar camps where nearly a million Rohingyas, mostly those who fled military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state, live. Some 40 national NGOs and a few international NGOs are operating humanitarian assistance. The UN is yet to engage in the operations in Bhasan Char, though a UN delegation recently made positive observations on the facility. (DS,B)

06/02/2021

Environment : Disaster Feared as Chemical Cargo Ship Sinks off Sri Lanka.
[Ashraf Nayan (Abul Ashraf) --- Editor, AXJ news, Bangladesh ]

A cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals is sinking off Sri Lanka's west coast, the country's government and navy said on Wednesday, in one of Sri Lanka's worst-ever marine disasters. The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, along with other chemicals and cosmetics, was anchored off the island's west coast when a fire erupted on May 20. Authorities have been battling the blaze since then, as flaming containers laden with chemicals have fallen from the ship's deck, the navy said last month. Tonnes of plastic pellets have swamped the island’s coastline and rich fishing grounds, creating one of the biggest environmental crises in decades, experts say. (Reu.)

06/02/2021

Japanese Civil Society Protests Business and Development links on Myanmar Coup Anniversary.
[Ashraf Nayan (Abul Ashraf) --- Editor, AXJ news, Bangladesh ]

Japanese Civil society groups held a protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on Tuesday to mark the four-month anniversary of the Tatmadaw’s attempted coup in Myanmar. Protesters delivered speeches and chanted “Act now!” and “Stop ODA!” The ODA is the Office of Development Assistance under Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They also presented a petition to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, government ministers, and heads of Japanese development agencies.The petition, signed by 42 civil society organisations, criticised the lack of Japanese policy clarity in relation to the Myanmar junta and demanded the country “immediately sever the connection between military businesses and economic cooperation from Japan.”
Yuka Kiguchi, director of Japanese civil society organisation Mekong Watch, told Myanmar Now that aid and development must be scrutinised since Japan remains one of Myanmar’s biggest donors. (My,N)

06/02/2021

At least 8 people, including 4 soldiers, killed and 15 others wounded in attacks on security forces in Balochistan, Pakistan ahead of PM Imran Khan’s visit.
[Ashraf Nayan (Abul Ashraf) --- Editor, AXJ news, Bangladesh ]

At least eight people have been killed and 15 wounded in two separate attacks on security forces in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, the military says, as Prime Minister Imran Khan is due to visit the region. The attacks took place near the provincial capital Quetta and in the town of Turbat, the military said in a statement issued early on Tuesday. In the first incident, a security forces checkpoint on the outskirts of Quetta was attacked by gunmen, the military said. At least four attackers and four soldiers were killed in the raid, with at least seven attackers and six soldiers wounded, the statement said. In the second attack, an improvised explosive device targeted a paramilitary forces vehicle in Turbat, west of Karachi, the country’s largest city. Two soldiers were wounded in that attack, the military said. (AJ)