
UN refugee agency fears more than 400 fleeing Rohingya died this month in separate boat incidents
GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency said Friday it fears that 427 Rohingya fleeing Myanmar and a refugee camp in Bangladesh may have died at sea this month.
UNHCR said it has collected reports from family members and others of two separate boat tragedies off the coast of Myanmar in May. It acknowledged that details remained unclear but that enough information has been collected and verified to bring the incidents to light publicly.

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Yahoo
12 hours ago
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200,000 Afghans left Pakistan since deportations renewed
More than 200,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since the government renewed a deportation drive in April, with Iran also stepping up expulsions of Afghans. Generations of Afghans have fled to neighbouring Pakistan and Iran during decades of successive wars, seeking safety and better economic opportunities. Both governments have grown weary of large migrant populations and ordered millions to leave under the threat of arrest. Pakistan has launched a strict campaign to evict more than 800,000 Afghans who have had their residence permits cancelled, including some who were born in the country or lived there for decades. According to the interior ministry, more than 135,000 Afghans left Pakistan in April, while around 67,000 departed in May and more than 3,000 were sent back in the first two days of June. The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday voiced concern over a surge in Afghan families being deported from Iran, recording 15,675 crossing in May, a more than two-fold increase from the previous month. Iranian officials have ordered Afghans without documentation to leave by July 6. Nader Yarahmadi, from the Iranian interior ministry, said on state television that it would affect around four million of the more than six million Afghans who Iran says are in the country. The IOM said the influx across both borders threatens to strain Afghanistan's already "fragile reception and reintegration systems". It again called for "all countries to immediately suspend the forced return of Afghans, regardless of their immigration status, until safe, voluntary, and dignified return conditions are in place". - Rise in border violence - Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the past several decades, fleeing successive wars, as well as hundreds of thousands who arrived after the return of the Taliban government in 2021. A campaign to evict them began in 2023, prompting hundreds of thousands to cross the border in a matter of weeks, fearing harassment or arrest. In total, more than one million Afghans have left Pakistan. Islamabad has labelled Afghans "terrorists and criminals", but analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure neighbouring Afghanistan's Taliban authorities to control militancy in the border regions. Last year, Pakistan recorded the highest number of deaths from attacks in a decade. Pakistan's security forces are under enormous pressure along the border with Afghanistan, battling a growing insurgency by ethnic nationalists in Balochistan in the southwest, and the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates in the northwest. The government frequently accuses Afghan nationals of taking part in attacks and blames Kabul for allowing militants to take refuge on its soil, a charge Taliban leaders deny. Some Pakistanis have grown weary of hosting a large Afghan population as security and economic woes deepen, and the deportation campaign has widespread support. Pakistan is now threatening to lift the protection granted to the 1.3 million Afghans holding refugee cards issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees at the end of June. zz/ecl/sw/sco
Yahoo
13 hours ago
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False subtitles misrepresent Kim Jong Un speech as support for West Java governor
"Kim Jong-un speaks about West Javan Governor Dedi Mulyadi, he respects him so much," reads Indonesian-language text superimposed on a TikTok video posted on May 6, 2025. The video features photos of Dedi Mulyadi and North Korea's Kim Jong Un above a clip of Kim speaking. Subtitles on the clip, purportedly translating what Kim was saying, read: "Corruption has slowed Indonesia's development. This culture must be changed, beginning with its young generation. I fully support West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi's policy to educate Indonesian students and teenagers so they become obedient and disciplined." The text refers to a programme where students labelled "naughty" are sent to military barracks for 14 days of character education (archived link). According to a BBC Indonesia report about the programme, some psychologists and education experts have questioned its efficacy and whether it may have a detrimental impact on the teens' development. The clip was also shared in similar posts elsewhere on TikTok. "What else can you say about Mr Governor? A foreign country praises him, so why do his own people in the country mock him?" reads a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "Thank you to his excellency Mr Kim Jong-un for supporting Dedi Mulyadi." The video, however, does not show Kim praising Dedi or the education programme. AFP previously debunked another claim using the same video with different subtitles to make it appear as if Kim were commenting on a local corruption case. A reverse image search on Google led to the same footage uploaded to YouTube by the North Korea Now news outlet on February 13, 2024 (archived link). The YouTube video is titled, "Kim orders military to prepare for the occupation of S. Korean territory". The clip used in the false posts starts at the YouTube video's 25:37 mark, when Kim speaks about the importance of the military in maintaining peace. "Our military must possess even stronger power, prevent war and unconditionally safeguard peace with its irresistible force. Peace is not something to beg for or negotiate," says Kim. "Let us remember once again that war is not advertised in advance. We must always maintain a state of readiness." He makes no mention of the Indonesian governor or his education policy. A transcript of Kim's speech was also included in a report in the newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, Rodong Sinmun, on February 9, 2024 (archived link). The transcript also shows Kim did not mention Dedi.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
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Student abuse clip filmed in Pakistan, not Bangladesh
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