Pakistani pilgrim bus crashes in Iran kills three

Update Pakistani pilgrim bus crashes in Iran kills three
A general view of the wrecked bus is seen after it crashed along a mountainous area in Basima town of Balochistan province on May 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 26 August 2024
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Pakistani pilgrim bus crashes in Iran kills three

Pakistani pilgrim bus crashes in Iran kills three
  • This was the third road accident in less than a week involving Pakistani pilgrims
  • Two separate bus accidents hours apart in Pakistan on Sunday left at least 35 people dead and dozens more injured

TEHRAN: At least three people have been killed and 48 others wounded when a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims crashed into a truck in southern Iran, state media reported Monday.
In recent days, Shiite Muslims have been heading to Iraq for a major ritual, with Pakistanis often traveling through Iran to attend the Arbaeen commemoration.
Iran’s official news agency IRNA said a bus collided with a truck late Sunday on the main road between Neyriz city in Fars province and Sirjan in Kerman province, leaving “48 wounded and three dead.”
It did not specify how many people where on board the bus.
Col. Abdol Hashem Dehghani, a Fars traffic police official quoted by IRNA, said the accident was caused by “a technical failure” in the brakes and the driver’s “inability to control the vehicle.”
This was the third road accident in less than a week involving Pakistani pilgrims.

Two separate bus accidents hours apart in Pakistan on Sunday left at least 35 people dead and dozens more injured, officials said.
The first happened when a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims returning from Iraq through Iran fell from a highway into a ravine in southwest Pakistan, killing at least 12 people and injuring 32 others, police and officials said.
Hours later, 23 people were killed when a bus fell into a ravine in Kahuta district in the eastern Punjab province, police and officials said.
The first accident occurred on the Makran coastal highway after the driver lost control of the bus when its brakes failed while passing through Lasbela district in Baluchistan province, local police chief Qazi Sabir said.
Bus accidents are common in Pakistan. The crash on Sunday occurred days after 28 Pakistani pilgrims were killed in a bus crash in neighboring Iran while heading to Iraq.
The bodies of those victims were brought home on a Pakistani military plane on Saturday and buried in the southern Sindh province.
Sabir said the bus that fell into a ravine on Sunday was heading to Pakistan's eastern Punjab province.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in separate statements expressed their deep sorrow over the accident. They asked authorities to ensure the provision of the best medical treatment for the injured pilgrims.
Thousands of Shiites travel to Iraq’s holy city of Karbala to commemorate Arbaeen — Arabic for the number 40 — marking the end of the annual 40-day mourning period after the date of the 7th century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, a central figure in Shiite Islam.
Hussein died at the hands of the Muslim Umayyad forces in the Battle of Karbala, during the tumultuous first century of Islam’s history.


US aid cuts hit Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps

US aid cuts hit Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps
Updated 14 sec ago
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US aid cuts hit Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps

US aid cuts hit Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps
  • US is the main aid donor for the Rohingya, contributing 55 percent of all foreign aid in 2024
  • Trump administration announced last month it was suspending most US global assistance

DHAKA: The US government’s recent executive order suspending aid funding worldwide has already started to affect the Rohingya sheltering in camps in Bangladesh, a top refugee affairs official said on Thursday.
The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority, lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s. Since then, many of them have fled to Bangladesh, with around 700,000 arriving in 2017 after a military crackdown that the UN has been referring to as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, more than 1.3 million Rohingya are cramped inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar district on the southeast coast of Bangladesh — the world’s largest refugee settlement.
The refugees are almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid, which has been declining since the COVID-19 pandemic. The US has been the largest donor, which last year contributed $301 million, or 55 percent of all foreign aid for the Rohingya.
The Donald Trump administration announced in late January it was eliminating most of the US assistance globally.
“The US budget cut will directly impact the Rohingya population, as the United States contributes more than 50 percent of the funding for the Joint Response Plan. Health, sanitation, and nutrition sectors will be especially affected if US funding is not available,” Mizanur Rahman, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, told Arab News.
“Several hospitals in the camps have already scaled back their services and are barely managing to stay operational. If the funding issue isn’t resolved by March, these hospitals will be forced to close.”
Fears over how the withdrawal of the largest donor will exacerbate the Rohingya crisis come
against the backdrop of renewed conflict in Myanmar, which has forced around 80,000 more Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh since August.
With foreign aid for the Rohingya steadily declining in recent years due to conflicts elsewhere in the world, Bangladesh, already struggling as a host country, is facing an increasingly difficult situation.
“Save the Children, BRAC, and UNICEF health care centers have already been affected. Hospital operations are facing significant challenges due to the recent funding cuts implemented by the Trump administration. Some health organizations have even terminated staff members,” Rahman said.
“If US aid eventually stops, we will reach out to other donor countries and agencies to scale up their efforts. At the same time, we will make adjustments by rationalizing our resources. If fundraising efforts fail, the Rohingya population here will ultimately suffer the consequences.”


US aid cuts hit Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps

US aid cuts hit Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps
Updated 4 min 54 sec ago
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US aid cuts hit Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps

US aid cuts hit Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps
  • US is the main aid donor for the Rohingya, contributing 55 percent of all foreign aid in 2024
  • Trump administration announced last month it was eliminating most of US global assistance

Dhaka: The US government’s recent executive order suspending aid funding worldwide has already started to affect the Rohingya sheltering in camps in Bangladesh, a top refugee affairs official said on Thursday.

The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority, lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s. Since then, many of them have fled to Bangladesh, with about 700,000 arriving in 2017 after a military crackdown that the UN has been referring to as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.

Today, more than 1.3 million Rohingya are cramped inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar district on the southeast coast of Bangladesh — the world’s largest refugee settlement.

The refugees are almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid, which has been declining since the COVID-19 pandemic. The US has been the largest donor, which last year contributed $301 million, or 55 percent of all foreign aid for the Rohingya.

The Donald Trump administration announced in late January it was eliminating most of the US assistance globally.

“The US budget cut will directly impact the Rohingya population, as the United States contributes more than 50 percent of the funding for the Joint Response Plan. Health, sanitation and nutrition sectors will be especially affected if US funding is not available,” Mizanur Rahman, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Arab News.

“Several hospitals in the camps have already scaled back their services and are barely managing to stay operational. If the funding issue isn’t resolved by March, these hospitals will be forced to close.”

Fears over how the withdrawal of the largest donor will exacerbate the Rohingya crisis come against the backdrop of renewed conflict in Myanmar, which has forced about 80,000 more Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh since August.

With foreign aid for the Rohingya steadily declining in recent years due to conflicts elsewhere in the world, Bangladesh, already struggling as a host country, is facing an increasingly difficult situation.

“Save the Children, BRAC and UNICEF health care centers have already been affected. Hospital operations are facing significant challenges due to the recent funding cuts implemented by the Trump administration. Some health organizations have even terminated staff members,” Rahman said.

“If US aid eventually stops, we will reach out to other donor countries and agencies to scale up their efforts. At the same time, we will make adjustments by rationalizing our resources. If fundraising efforts fail, the Rohingya population here will ultimately suffer the consequences.”


Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home

Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home
Updated 41 min 20 sec ago
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Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home

Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home
  • Hackman, 95, was found dead with his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog when deputies preformed a welfare check at the home
SANTA FE: Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog were found dead in their New Mexico home, authorities said Thursday.
Foul play was not suspected, but authorities did not release circumstances of their deaths and said an investigation was ongoing.
Hackman, 95, was found dead with his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog when deputies preformed a welfare check at the home around 1:45 p.m., Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Avila said.
The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the finest actors of his generation, appearing as both villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven” 21 years apart. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.
The couple’s home is in a gated community just outside New Mexico’s capital city. Hackman moved to the area in the 1980s, where he was often seen around town and served as a board member of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in the 1990s, according to the local paper, The New Mexican.
Aside from appearances at awards shows, he was rarely seen in the Hollywood social circuit and retired about 20 years ago. His was the rare Hollywood retirement that actually lasted.
In his later years, he wrote novels from the hilltop ranch that provided a view of the Rocky Mountains.
An email sent to his publicist was not immediately returned early Thursday.

Austria is getting a new coalition government without far-right election winner

Austria is getting a new coalition government without far-right election winner
Updated 27 February 2025
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Austria is getting a new coalition government without far-right election winner

Austria is getting a new coalition government without far-right election winner

Three parties announced Thursday that they have reached a deal to form a new centrist Austrian government, five months after an election was won by a far-right party that later failed in an attempt to form an administration.
A statement from the conservative Austrian People’s Party, the center-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos said they agreed on a program for a coalition after the longest post-election hiatus in post-World War II Austria.
The country’s politicians broke a record of 129 days to form a new government that dated back to 1962.
New People’s Party leader Christian Stocker is expected to become chancellor.


Zelensky invited to special EU summit on support for Ukraine

Zelensky invited to special EU summit on support for Ukraine
Updated 27 February 2025
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Zelensky invited to special EU summit on support for Ukraine

Zelensky invited to special EU summit on support for Ukraine

BRUSSELS: EU Council President Antonio Costa on Thursday said he had invited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to the special summit of EU leaders on March 6, to discuss future support to Ukraine.
“The EU and its member states are ready to take more responsibility for Europe’s security,” Costa said in invitation letter to EU leaders.
“We should therefore be prepared for a possible European contribution to the security guarantees that will be necessary to ensure a lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Costa, who chairs the EU summits, said he aimed for decisions that would make the EU “better equipped to deal with immediate and future challenges to its security.”