Unhcr to assist rohingyas return

DHAKA: Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to take help from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to safely repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who had fled violence in Myanmar, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said on Saturday. Faced with a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, the two governments signed a pact on Thursday agreeing that the return of the Rohingya to Myanmar should start in two months. The diplomatic breakthrough, came just ahead of a visit by Pope Francis to Myanmar and Bangladesh on 26 November to 2 December that is aimed at promoting “reconciliation, forgiveness and peace”. Cuba marks the first anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Saturday with a week of vigils nationwide, as the island embarks on a political cycle that will end 60 years of the Castro brothers’ rule.

Fidel, a towering figure of the 20th century who built a Communist-run state on the doorstep of the United States and defied US efforts to topple him, died aged 90 on 25 November last year.

The Cold War icon had already been largely out of public view for around a decade, having formally ceded the presidency to his younger brother, Raul Castro, in 2008 due to ill health. Cubans say his death changed little on the island.

The pace of reforms instigated by Raul to update the Soviet-style command economy has continued as