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Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh and experts say a recent deal between Myanmar and the United Nations (UN) falls short of guaranteeing the Muslims’ safe return to Myanmar, where thousands of them have already been killed in state-sponsored violence. The UN Development Program (UNDP) on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Myanmarese government to return some of the 700,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled persecution in their villages in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and who are now living in crowded makeshift camps in Bangladesh. The deal has, however, disconcerted the refugees, who say they won’t return unless they are given safety guarantees and citizenship by the Myanmarese government, according to the Associated Press. Though the Muslim community has lived in Myanmar for generations, its members are denied citizenship by the government in Naypyidaw, which persistently describes them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, where they are also denied citizenship. In the ...

Superstar Shakira has set off on a mammoth 54-date world tour - but still found time to urge her fans to back Theirworld's campaign for new education funding. The Colombian singer has been at the forefront of efforts to get world leaders to support a bold plan to get millions of children into school. Shakira believes the International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd) - that will unlock $10 billion a year - is a key element in solving the global education crisis. After arriving in Belgium for her concert in Antwerp yesterday, she tweeted this message - sending fans to Theirworld's online petition and using our campaign hashtag #MakeImpossiblePossible. Great to be in Europe for  #ElDoradoWorldTour  during #EDD18. We need all countries to back the Education Finance Facility to #MakeImpossiblePossible& get every child in school. Sign today if you want leaders to back this plan for universal education ✍️  https://www.gistyoublog.blogspot.co...

From the “Shanghai Spirit” to the upcoming Qingdao Summit, China has been making contributions to the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and has been a moving force in its development, Chinanews.com reported on Thursday. The 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is scheduled to kick off on Saturday, and will last two days in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province. It will be the first summit held since the SCO expanded its membership, and the second summit hosted in China, the first being the 2012 Beijing Summit. Gaining the rotating presidency role in June 2017, China has successfully held over 160 large-scale multilateral activities and meetings dealing with important mechanisms, such as the first SCO Media Summit, Women’s Forum and People’s Forum. “Throughout the year, the work undertaken by China in the presidency role has achieved expected goals and received unanimous acclaim. China has held various ...

Responding to a worried viewer who asked if such a war would occur, Mr Putin called for negotiations in an attempt to return to the strategic parity the United States and Soviet Union had during the Cold War. Quoting Albert Einstein’s aphorism that “World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”, he said the US exit from the Soviet-era anti-ballistic missile treaty in 2002 had disrupted the balance. “The fear of mutually assured destruction has always restrained and forced military powers to respect each other,” he said. “The exit of the United States from the missile defence treaty was an attempt to ruin this parity, but our efforts in the development of new weapons will preserve this parity.” In March, the Russian president announced an array of “invincible” new nuclear weapons including an underwater drone and glider warhead that he claimed could overcome US missile defences. US intelligence has said a nuclear-powered hypersonic missile whose range Mr Put...

Nasa’s Curiosity rover has discovered complex organic matter in a dried-up lakebed on Mars. The material was found after the rover drilled into the surface of a 3.5 billion-year-old mudstone at the bottom of the Gale crater. Researchers have been quick to point out that the discovery does not necessarily mean that there is, or has been, life on the red planet. However,  CNN  says the organic matter “can be one of several things: a record detailing ancient life, a food source for life or something that exists in the place of life”. “While we don’t know the source of the material, the amazing consistency of the results makes me think we have a slam-dunk signal for organics on Mars,” said Jennifer Eigenbrode, a biogeochemist at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre. Researchers say they will require further samples that have not been irradiated in order to get a clearer picture of the origin of the organic matter. In its search for the compounds, the Curios...

The 1993 Presidential election running of Late Chief MKO Abiola has awarded GCON after the President scrutinized how free and fair the election was. Though the election was late annulled by a military Government led by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida on 12th june,1993. The announcement of the award of GCON came after the President declared June 12 as Democracy day

Following the Presidential election in June 12, 1993 election which MKO Abiola and his running mate Baba Gana kingibe contested and won but was later cancelled by the military Government. Ever since the cancellation to his (MKO) death, the court judgement as regards the cancelled election was not announced until many years after MKO's death. Despite the fact that the election was free and fair as the electorates showed their Democratic will during the election, June 12 has never been celebrated Nation wide. During a   press conference with President Buhari at the Aso rock that surfaced late yesterday, the President has hereby declared June 12 as  Democracy Day after he has scrutinized  how free and fair the 1993 Presidential election went. President Buhari said "Dear Nigerians, I am delighted to announce that, after due consultations, the Federal Govt has decided that henceforth, June 12 will be celebrated as Democracy Day.  We have also decided to...

President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old grandmother who has been serving a life prison sentence for a non-violent, first-time drug offence. The commutation comes just a week after Mr Trump met with businesswoman and celebrity Kim Kardashian, who has championed Johnson’s case after learning about the issue through a viral video produced by Mic. In a statement announcing the commutation, the White House said that the administration remains “tough on crime” but that the president believes that individuals who have “paid their debt to society” should be allowed to return to civilian life. “Ms Johnson has accepted responsibility for her past behaviour and has been a model prisoner over the past two decades. Despite receiving a life sentence, Alice worked hard to rehabilitate herself in prison, and act as a mentor to her fellow inmates. Her Warden, Case Manager, and Vocational Training Instructor have all written letters ...

Authors Naomi Alderman and Anthony Horowitz have been appointed Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature in a ceremony in Bloomsbury on Monday evening. Alderman, 43, whose book ‘The Power’ last year won the prestigious Bailey’s Prize for women’s literature, and prolific author Horowitz, 63, were two of 31 new Fellows introduced to the Society this year. Fellowship election is described as a “uniquely prestigious literary honour, awarded by writers to writers” and the ceremony sees newly introduced Fellows signing the RSL roll book using the pens of either T S Eliot, Byron or George Eliot. ‘The Power’ has been hailed as a “classic of the future” and is set in an imagined future, in which girls and women can kill men with a single touch, by sending electrical bolts through their fingers. Alderman’s academic father, Geoffrey, is an expert on Anglo-Jewry and lectures at the University of Buckingham. He was the lone Zionist academic to attend an anti-Israel conference in Cork ...

Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini could be on his way to Arsenal according to reports emerging from France. French TV show Foot 365, report that the Gunners have scheduled a meeting with Fellaini’s representatives to try and thrash out a deal. The Belgium international will be out of contract at the end of the month and has yet to sign an extension with United.

MPs are debating repealing sections of a 150-year-old law that criminalises abortion. The emergency debate will discuss repealing parts of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 on Tuesday following an application from Labour MP Stella Creasy. It follows last month's landslide vote in Ireland to liberalise its termination laws. Ms Creasy told the Commons the Irish referendum had "thrown a spotlight on the situation in Northern Ireland", where she said a million women are affected.  Making an application for an emergency debate, she said repealing the Offences Against the Person Act (Oapa) provides an opportunity to both to respect devolution and to respect women.

Legendary Nigerian footballer Nwankwo Kanu became the victim of thieves over the weekend at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport while on his way to another Russian city that will host the Nigerian squad’s 2018 FIFA World Cup opening match. Kanu, 41, took part in a FIFA Legends match Sunday in Russia’s European exclave of Kaliningrad, one of 11 Russian cities to host the tournament that kicks off in less than two weeks. Two baggage handlers were detained after Kanu discovered that he was missing $11,000 upon receiving his bags and checking in at a hotel in Kaliningrad, Russia’s Interior Ministry said Sunday. “Two handlers who unloaded baggage from the London-to-Moscow flight and stole the money from the passenger’s luggage have been identified and detained,” the ministry said in an online statement. The Interior Ministry later confirmed the former Arsenal striker’s identity to the state-run TASS and RIA news agencies.

Joachim Löw confirmed his final 23-man squad for the 2018 Football World Cup. Manuel Neuer travels to Russia as Germany's first-choice goalkeeper while Bernd Leno, Jonathan Tah, Leroy Sané and Nils Petersen are left out. After months of speculation, Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer will travel to Russia as Germany's number one goalkeeper despite having only come back from an eight-month injury lay-off in Saturday's friendly defeat to Austria. Manchester City winger Leroy Sané was a surprise omission after enjoying an impressive season with the English Premier League champions with Löw opting instead for Bayer Leverkusen's Julian Brandt. However, Brandt's club teammates Bernd Leno and Jonathan Tah, along with Freiburg striker Nils Petersen, will not travel to Russia. Petersen was a surprise inclusion in Löw's provisional squad after an impressive season for his club, but the head coach has opted for RB Leipzig's Timo Werner and Stuttgart's Ma...

After some doubt about the Barcelona youngster future and several transfers speculations  which have linked him to other top European clubs like Manchester United. Barcelona star Samuel Umtiti has pledged allegiance to the club by extending his contract until 2023. This announcement was made at the club official Twitter account.

The bodies of 11 migrants, who drowned off Tunisia’s southern coast, were recovered, announced the Interior Ministry on Sunday. It said that 67 other migrants were rescued after their fishing vessel sank off the southern Sfax province.  The migrants were of Tunisian and other nationalities.  The Tunisian national guard and navy units found the ship about 30 kilometers off shore after receiving a distress call at around midnight on Saturday.  The ministry said search operations, with the help of military aircraft and divers, were ongoing. Tunisians and migrants regularly try to cross the Mediterranean to seek a better future in Europe, but departures peaked last September.  According to NGOs, the uptick reflected frustration among young people hard hit by unemployment. In October, a collision between a migrant boat and a Tunisian military ship left at least 44 dead, in what Prime Minister Youssef Chahed called a "national disaster".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Europe this week in a bid to rally support from key allies for amending the international nuclear deal with Iran and for pushing Iranian forces out of neighboring Syria. Netanyahu is set to meet with leaders from Germany, France and Britain, beginning with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday. Addressing his Cabinet Sunday, Netanyahu said archenemy Iran would top his agenda and voiced optimism for a successful visit. Israel has been a leading critic of the international nuclear deal with Iran, and more recently, has said it will not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria. "For years we stood alone against these twin threats and I think that the situation has changed for the better," Netanyahu said. Netanyahu unsuccessfully tried to block the landmark nuclear deal, which gave Iran relief from crippling sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, when it was negotiated in 201...

West Ham forward Marko Arnautovic has played down rumours of Manchester United interest. The 29-year-old would not be drawn on speculation involving his future, despite being watched by Jose Mourinho in a recent international friendly. The Austrian played a major role in the Hammers’ fight to avoid relegation under former United boss David Moyes. “It’s nice to hear,” Arnautovic told Vivaro News when asked about the interest of the Premier League runners-up. “I’ve not heard anything from my brother, my agent. You can keep asking this question, you’ll never hear the answer from me.” Mourinho was spotted in the stands when Austria took on Russia this week, but Arnautovic would not be drawn on the Portuguese’s presence. “He was on holiday, he told you. I haven’t spoken to him, he was on holidays.” Arnautovic scored 11 times and created six more goals for West Ham in the Premier League last term, in what was his debut season for the club, so they won’t be willing ...

While Manchester United improved from sixth to second in the Premier League table this past season, they still really struggled, at times, to provide entertainment for their supporters. Wales Manager and United club icon Ryan Giggs hopes the club with which he served for 29 years will showcase more flair and create more excitement next season. While United have improved since Jose Mourinho replaced Louis van Gaal, they sometimes still play the same kind of dull, tedious football that we saw under the last managerial regime. It doesn’t help that the season ended with one of the hardest to watch outings of all, a boring 1-0 loss to Chelsea in the FA Cup Final. Closing the year on that note provides a recency effect which isn’t good for United’s brand of football and its reputation. Because at Manchester United you can’t just win, you have to win with panache and style. “First of all, I was a Manchester United fan,” said Giggs in an interview with ESPN FC “I used to climb over...

Manchester United are reportedly one of the clubs vying to sign Fiorentina winger Federico Chiesa this summer and are set for a bidding war alongside some of Europe's heavyweights. La Gazzetta dello Sport  reported the Red Devils will contest for the 20-year-old's signature alongside the likes of Juventus, Liverpool and Premier League champions Manchester City (h/t Football Italia). It's said Napoli have already offered €50 million (£43.7 million) plus midfielder Marko Rog, and it's expected the level of interest in his services will take that figure higher.

Reports from BILD say that Bayern Munich are eyeing Manchester United target Timo Werner as a replacement for Robert Lewandowski. The 29-year-old Lewandowski announced his desire to leave Bayern this summer after his agent Pini Zahavi made it clear that his client is looking to move onto a new challenge. It is believed that contact has been made with three clubs, out of which Paris Saint-Germain is one. BILD report  that Bayern see Timo Werner as the ideal replacement for Lewandowski and the RB Leipzig man is also a target for Manchester United.