Amid record-high inflation and the war in Ukraine continues raging on, the United States is facing one of the most difficult economic woes. Just days after the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) hiked interest rates, raising fears of an economic contraction, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that a recession in the United States is not "inevitable."

"I expect the economy to slow" as it transitions to stable growth, she said on ABC's "This Week," but "I don't think a recession is at all inevitable."

The U.S. economy has recovered strongly from the damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, but soaring inflation and supply-chain snarls exacerbated by the war in Ukraine have increased pessimism.

Wall Street stocks tumbled after the U.S. central bank on Wednesday raised the benchmark borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage points, the sharpest rise in nearly 30 years.

And economists see worrying signs that consumer confidence is weakening, with people beginning to hold off on vacation plans, dining out or doing home repairs.

Yellen conceded that "clearly inflation is unacceptably high," attributing it partly to the war in Ukraine, which has pushed up energy and food prices. But she said she did not believe that "a dropoff in consumer spending is the likely cause of a recession."

Yellen argued that the U.S. labor market is "arguably the strongest of the postwar period," and she predicted that the pace of inflation would slow in the coming months. She acknowledged, however, that as Fed chair Jerome Powell works to control inflation while preserving labor-market strength, "That's going to take skill and luck."

Soaring gas prices – at around $5 a gallon, they have roughly doubled in a few years – are a pressing concern for many Americans. Asked about proposals for a temporary suspension in federal gas taxes, Yellen expressed openness.

U.S. President Joe Biden "wants to do anything he possibly can to help consumers," she said. "And that's an idea that's certainly worth considering." As to whether Biden might move further to lower consumer prices by lifting tariffs on Chinese goods, Yellen demurred. Reworking the Donald Trump-era tariffs "is something that's under consideration," she said. "I don't want to get ahead of where the policy process is."/AFP

Hostile treatment towards Rohingya Muslim refugees in India has been forcing thousands to flee the country and cross into Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, which already hosts more than a million refugees

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Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have begun an arduous journey to cross the Indian-Bangladeshi border for safe shelter on the southeast coast of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh where more than 1 million Rohingya have been provided shelter.

There are about 40,000 Rohingya in India with 20,000 registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Experts and activists on the eve of World Refugee Day, observed June 20, expressed concerns about the influx of refugees to Bangladesh and they are asking for a diplomatic push to stop the flow from India and resume the longstanding repatriation of Rohingya to Myanmar as the ultimate solution.

Ansar Ali, a Rohingya leader at one of the largest refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Rohingya Muslims who had taken shelter in India in a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing” in Myanmar, are now fleeing India.

Recent anti-Muslim sentiment in India has stoked the situation for Rohingya taking shelter, he said, citing refugees who joined them from India.

Muslims in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been experiencing mounting pressure and humiliation, including right-wing Hindu organizations’ demands that Muslims leave India, restrictions on wearing the hijab, not having halal food and the use of loudspeakers to call for prayers.

More than 300 people were arrested in Uttar Pradesh and those who took to the streets to demonstrate against official comments regarding Prophet Muhammad and his wife, Aisha, had their houses damaged. Human rights groups asked India to immediately end the vicious crackdown on Muslims.

Refugees who managed to cross the border said Rohingya in India "had a story of struggle to secure basic human rights like food, shelter and face rising harassment, including from the officials,” said Ali. "They have to live in a situation of fear, hostility and rejection due to the rising islamophobia in the BJP-led India.”

Rohingya have to pay on average Bangladeshi taka 10,000 ($100) each to middlemen on the Bangladesh side while they have to pay 5,000 – 15,000 rupees ($64-$192) to brokers who hold them hostage, according to refugees.

India shares its longest border with Bangladesh. The neighbors share a 4,096-kilometer-long (2,545-mile) international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world.

"Being a big country, India should extend its support to Rohingya refugees and play a greater role in Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar. Instead, they force refugees to leave. Thousands are gathering near border areas to leave India,” said Ali.

The commanding officer of the Armed Police Battalion, Naimul Haque, in Cox’s Bazar told AA that authorities have detained more than 1,000 Rohingya from India since last May and provided shelter in refugee camps.

"Bangladesh ensures good food and shelter for refugees under the UN arrangement. Meanwhile, there are a small group of refugees currently living in India and most of their relatives in Cox’s Bazar. So, many of them live in India and want to live with their family and friends in Cox’s Bazar.”

There have been reports of hostile treatment of refugees coming from India, he said, adding that Rohingya mostly come from Jammu and Kashmir.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abdul Momen expressed unhappiness about the influx from India.

Urging a greater U.N. role to solve the crisis, he recently told reporters in Dhaka that refugees went to India about nine years ago in 2012 where they had been staying in different provinces.

Imtiaz Ahmed, a foreign policy analyst at Dhaka University, told AA that it is India’s responsibility to keep refugees, as settled by the U.N. agencies. Bangladesh alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of the persecuted community.

"What we see is that India is no longer a safe country as it was for Muslims. The rising anti-Muslim sentiment or Islamophobia is among the major causes that cause Rohingya to flee from India. The dwindling economic condition of India is also provoking the influx,” he said.

Ahmed emphasized a greater role for U.N. agencies, activists and journalists in India to ensure refugee rights and safety for the Rohingya.

He criticized the U.N., alleging that the world body is not playing its due role to initiate the longstanding repatriation of Rohingya to Myanmar which is exacerbating the crisis in the region, and repatriation is the ultimate solution.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said Bangladesh would return Rohingya who entered Bangladesh from India.

Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Shah Rezwan Hayat told AA that refugees who crossed the border are seeking a better environment and security in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar which is not provided in India, citing refugees who came from India.

He said, however, that his office has "yet to get any government instruction to send them back to India.”/aa

A report by Turkey’s Ombudsman Institution said that Greece has pushed back nearly 42,000 asylum seekers since 2020.

The report titled "Pushbacks and Drowning Human Rights in the Aegean Sea," exposes the violation of international immigration law by Greece.

According to the data from the Directorate of Migration Management that the report used, Greek forces pushed back a total of 41,523 asylum seekers between 2020 and May 31, 2022.

"The pushbacks in themselves are against international law, and many of the pushback practices are accompanied by grave rights violations," the report said.

Turkey and human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece's illegal practice of pushing back irregular migrants, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.

In recent years, hundreds of thousands have made short but perilous journeys across the Aegean to reach northern and western Europe in search of a better life.

Hundreds of people have died at sea as many boats carrying refugees sank or capsized. The Turkish Coast Guard Command has rescued thousands of others.

Noting that 98% of the pushbacks involved torture and ill-treatment, the report said 88% of the 8,000 asylum seekers who came to the Greek border were beaten.

It added that 97% of them suffered theft, 5% sexual assault, and 8% electric shock, while 49% were forced to undress and 16% drowned.

Of the children among them, 68% were exposed to or witnessed violence and abuse, stressed the report.

As a result of these practices in land pushbacks, 53 asylum seekers died last year, including 33 who froze to death and drowned in the Meriç (Martisa) River, which forms the border between Greece and Turkey.

The report also revealed that in Greece's pushback practices at sea, asylum seekers were thrown overboard, sometimes with their hands cuffed behind their backs and sometimes without life jackets.

This led to the deaths of eight irregular migrants last year, along with three in 2022 as of May 31.

These numbers are merely the tip of the iceberg, since authorities prevented asylum seekers from seeking their rights, accessing complaint mechanisms and reporting violations, it said.

"It has been demonstrated by concrete evidence that Frontex (the European Border and Coast Guard Agency) participated in these actions by Greece, supported many actions and condoned many of them," it added.

Turkey and Greece have been key transit points for migrants looking to cross into Europe, fleeing war and persecution to start new lives. Turkey has accused Greece of large-scale pushbacks, summary deportations and denying migrants access to asylum procedures, which is a violation of international law. Ankara also accuses the European Union of turning a blind eye to this blatant abuse of human rights.

Pushbacks are considered contrary to international refugee protection agreements, which dictate that people should not be expelled or returned to a country where their life and safety might be in danger due to their race, religion, nationality or membership in a social or political group./aa

The Bashar Assad regime and its backer Russia are responsible for 91% of the death toll since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported on Saturday.

“This slaughter is a crime against humanity, and the #SyrianRegime must be held accountable for all his crimes,” the monitoring group said on social media.

According to the SNHR’s data, the total number of people killed from March 2011 to June 2022 stands at 228,893. Out of this number, 207,319 people were killed by the regime, Russia and Iran-backed militias while the rest were killed by other parties including Daesh and the Syrian wing of the PKK, the YPG.

The SNHR also specified that of the 29,791 children killed during the war, 84% lost their lives at the hand of the regime and Russia.

Meanwhile, the White Helmets Syrian civil defense group on the same day stated that one civilian was killed in an attack by the regime on opposition-held areas.

“Today, a civilian was injured by regime's artillery shelling that targeted the villages of #SahelAlghab, north #Hama, causing a major fire in agricultural land,” the group said, adding that artillery shelling also hit Maret Nassan east of northwestern Idlib province but that no casualties were reported there.

For years, the Assad regime has ignored the needs and safety of the Syrian people, only eyeing further gains of territory and crushing the opposition. With this aim, the regime has for years bombed civilian facilities such as schools, hospitals and residential areas, causing the displacement of almost half of the country's population.

Now, the people living in the country’s northwest are facing a new threat as the United Nations mandate for the last remaining border gate to the area from Turkey is about to expire in July.

The Bab al-Hawa crossing on the border between northern Syria and southern Turkey is the only one through which U.N. relief can be brought into the opposition-held Idlib region without navigating areas controlled by the Syrian regime.

But many fear the crossing will close to U.N. trucks from July 10, because Russia, an ally of the Assad regime, has threatened to use its Security Council veto power to block the resolution's renewal.

The resolution was last extended in January for six months.

Observers say Russia is using the threat of closure of the aid entry point as a bargaining chip in the face of punishing Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has argued aid can instead transit via regime-controlled parts of the country across conflict lines.

But aid groups have been reluctant to shift their massive operations to go through areas held by the Assad regime, itself subject to sanctions.

Nearly 10,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid passed through the Bab al-Hawa crossing last year bound for the Idlib region, the last opposition bastion in Syria and home to around 3 million people.

U.N. cross-border aid must continue to enter Syria, even if Russia vetoes it, the SNHR urged in another report on Friday.

“Russia is a party to the Syrian conflict, using its U.N. veto even while it and the Syrian regime continue to perpetrate the crime of forced displacement, which constitutes a crime against humanity, with the report further stressing that millions of internally displaced Syrians in northwest Syria are in dire need of UN cross-border aid,” it said.

The 13-page report underlined that despite the difficult living conditions, the majority of displaced people have refused to return to areas controlled by the regime.

The report added that “Russia cannot invoke the concept of sovereignty and the consent of the Syrian regime because it is the leading cause of the displacement of the millions of deliberately displaced people whose suffering it is now using for leverage, and does not care about delivering U.N. aid to them.”

Speaking on the issue to Anadolu Agency (AA), Philippe Leclerc, the representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Turkey, said the mandate must be extended in July.

“We want all heads of U.N. institutions operating in Syria, member countries and especially the five permanent members of the security council to agree to this decision.

Leclerc reminded that more than 3 million people are dependent on humanitarian aid and that 2,2 million of those are displaced people.

He added that Turkey is in terms of humanitarian aid an exemplary country, showing the path for others./DS

A study published by FIFA revealed Saturday that more than 50% of footballers playing in the European Championship and African Cup of Nations were targets of cyberbullying and online abuse.

Much of the abuse came from fans of the players' home nations.

"Homophobic (40%) and racist (38%) comments provided the majority of the abuse," said the independent report published to coincide with the United Nations International Day for Countering Hate Speech.

Using artificial intelligence to track over 400,000 posts on social media platforms during the semifinals and finals of Euro 2020 and 2021 African Cup of Nations 2021, the study found that "over 50% of players received some form of discriminatory abuse."

FIFA said with the World Cup in Qatar just five months away, they will work with the players union FIFPRO to implement a plan on how to protect players from abuse on social media.

This will involve scanning recognized hate speech terms published to identified social media accounts, and once detected, prevent that comment from being seen by the recipient and their followers.

"Although the offending message remains visible to the person who originally made the comment, its visibility and reach will be significantly reduced," said FIFA./AFP

 Kuwait has renewed its commitment to promote the rights of persons with disabilities and ensure their full and comprehensive integration into societies, in accordance with the 2030 UN sustainable development goals. This came during a speech delivered by the Director of the Public Services Department at the Public Authority for Disability Affairs Al-Khansa Al-Husseini on Saturday, during the 15th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

She said she shares the international community’s welcome and satisfaction with the remarkable improvement and progress in the inclusion of persons with disabilities in societies and the enhancement of their rights and abilities to access services and information since the adoption of the convention in 2006. She cited international reports as showing that there is still more to do at the national, regional and international levels in order to improve the conditions of people with disabilities and to ensure their greater and effective participation in life activities.

The Kuwaiti diplomat indicated that this comes through empowering them in various fields, providing them with the necessary care and harnessing the technology for them. She noted that Kuwait has coordinated to allow rehabilitation centers and institutions and schools for people with disabilities to receive students and attend in person or teach remotely under strict precautionary health measures. – KUNA