The call prompted Facebook, which has been criticised for allowing hate speech against the Rohingya to flourish, to ban the army chief and remove other pages tied to the country’s military.

Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh after Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown in August last year on insurgents amid accounts of arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the mainly Buddhist country.

Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Rohingya rebels.

But on Monday, a UN-backed fact-finding mission into violations in Myanmar said the country’s “top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State.”

 – ‘Grossly disproportionate’ –

They should also be investigated and prosecuted for “crimes against humanity and war crimes” against the Rohingya in Rakhine, as well as against other minorities in the northern Kachin and Shan States, the mission said in a report.

The army tactics have been “consistently and grossly disproportionate to actual security threats,” it said.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the head of the mission, Marzuki Darusman, insisted that “the only way forward is to call for (Min Aung Hlaing’s) resignation and stepping down immediately.”

The mission, which was created by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017, concluded in its report that “there is sufficient information to warrant the investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) chain of command.”

“The crimes in Rakhine State, and the manner in which they were perpetrated, are similar in nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed genocidal intent to be established in other contexts,” it said.

The investigators named six of the country’s top military commanders, adding that a longer list of names could be shared with “any competent and credible body pursuing accountability in line with international norms and standards.”

– Suu Kyi also criticised –

Criticism was also directed at Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been widely attacked for a perceived failure to stand up for the stateless minority.

The report found that she had “not used her de facto position as head of government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events.”

While acknowledging that the civilian authorities had little influence on military actions, it said they “through their acts and omissions … have contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes.”

The investigators, who were never granted access to Myanmar, said they based their findings on interviews with 875 victims and witnesses, as well as satellite imagery and authenticated documents, photographs and videos.

The report detailed a horrifying list of atrocities committed against the Rohingya, including murder, enforced disappearance, torture, as well as sexual violence “perpetrated on a massive scale.”

The investigators said their information suggested that an estimate by Doctors Without Borders that up to 10,000 Rohingya had been killed in the 2017 crackdown was “conservative”.

 – Rape as war tactic –

They also found that soldiers had carried out “large-scale gang rape”, sometimes of as many as 40 girls and women at once, in at least 10 Rakhine villages.

“The scale, brutality and systematic nature of these violations indicate that rape and sexual violence are part of a deliberate strategy to intimidate, terrorise or punish a civilian population, and are used as a tactic of war,” the report said.

The investigators warned that the latest wave of violence was part of a “history of abusive military conduct going back at least half a century”.

“The Rohingya are in a continuing situation of severe, systemic and institutionalised oppression from birth to death,” Darusman told reporters.

Pointing to “deeply entrenched” impunity in Myanmar, the investigators said the only chance to obtain accountability was through the international justice system.

They called on the UN Security Council to refer the Myanmar situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC), or for the creation of an ad hoc international criminal tribunal.

They also recommended an arms embargo and “targeted individual sanctions against those who appear to be most responsible.”

The Security Council has repeatedly urged Myanmar to halt military operations and to allow the Rohingya to safely return home, but its initiatives have been limited by council member and top Myanmar ally China, who could also thwart efforts to refer the case to the ICC.

    – Spreading hate on Facebook –

The investigators also highlighted Facebook’s role, describing it as “a useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate”.

The social media platform has been widely used to spread inflammatory content against the Rohingya and has scrambled in recent months to show that it is taking the issue seriously.

“Although improved in recent months, Facebook’s response has been slow and ineffective,” the report said, urging an independent probe of whether posts and messages on the platform had “led to real-world discrimination and violence”.

Shortly after the UN report appeared, the tech giant announced it was “banning 20 Burmese individuals and organisations from Facebook – including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.”

It stressed that it wanted to prevent them from using the service to “further inflame ethnic and religious tensions”.

Police said the amount of losses could be bigger as their tentative estimate is based on the trading accounts they have tracked so far.

“If we find more related accounts or confirm cases in which investors used cash, the amount could go up,” the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Sophisticated Crime Investigation Unit said.

“The number of victims could go down, however, if we exclude cases where the same person transferred money using different accounts.”

Shinil Group announced in mid-July that it had discovered Russian navy cruiser Dmitri Donskoi which was scuttled by her crew in a 1905 battle with Japan, and that it contained gold bullion and coins worth 150 trillion won ($130 billion).

Stocks of Jeil Steel, in which Shinil Group’s founder had acquired a large stake, jumped fivefold on the news, only to crash a few days later.

(Yonhap)

Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service had issued a statement saying that investors’ discretion is recommended regarding the treasure ship salvage project as they can “suffer great losses if they rely on rumors.”

Through the Donskoi scam, Shinil Group also attracted investment in its virtual currency named Shinil Gold Coin.

Earlier, a former business partner of former Shinil Group CEO Ryu Seong-jin told a magazine that some 200,000 people lost about 100 billion won in the Donskoi scam.

Police received a court warrant on Friday to arrest Ryu on charges of fraud. Ryu, suspected of masterminding the treasure ship scam, is believed to be staying in Vietnam.

This is the second arrest warrant issued against Ryu. The earlier warrant was for charges unrelated to the Donskoi case. Police are tracking down Ryu with the Vietnamese law enforcement authorities after seeking an Interpol warrant.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew said Sabah always welcomes tourists to the state famous for its natural beauty but at the same time they should be mindful of what they wear.

She said she understood that visitors want to feel comfortable on holiday, but they should be aware of cultural sensitivities.

“We hope tourists can understand this and not walk around in their underwear,” she said in response to the viral photo showing a woman wearing a pink long sleeve shirt and white bikini bottom in the city recently.

“Some of the guidelines are pure common sense. “They are adults,” she said.

The photo of the woman near an eatery at the Asia City complex here had set tongues wagging, with people commenting on her attire on social media.

One man said: “Is Sabah really that hot?

“I have to order another iced coffee after seeing her walk past.”

Another jokingly responded by saying it was a trend to walk in panties under the hot sun.

Incidences of tourists dressing and acting inappropriately have been reported in the state in the past.

On June 27, two women tourists from China who danced disrespectfully on a fence in front of the city mosque were fined RM25 each and escorted to the airport to return home.

On July 11, a video of a woman doing a handstand in the middle of the famous Gaya Street in downtown Kota Kinabalu and a photo of a scantily-clad woman doing the same in front of a mosque here have attracted criticism.

HSBC’s “The value of education – The price of success” report released on Monday showed Malaysian university students are turning to paid employment alongside their studies to help bridge a significant gap between the cost of studying and funding from their parents.

The survey also reveals that while the additional money may be used for fees or cost of living they are also for splashing out on clothes and make-up and entertainment.

In Malaysia, parents say they contribute on average RM24,100 towards their children’s university education.

However, the students estimate they spend RM67,600 over the course of a degree on tuition fees, accommodation, bills and lifestyle costs, leaving a significant gap of RM43,500 to fill from other sources.

The survey showed 7% of parents surveyed admitted that grandparents help fill some funding gaps for their child whilst at university, but friends, bursaries, loans or their child’s own income are other key sources of funding.

In addition to contributions from family, many students are turning to part-time jobs to fund their degree, with 30% saying they will need to cover part of the costs associated with their degree through paid employment.

The average Malaysian student over the course of their studies spends RM5,728 on going to restaurants or on takeaways, RM2,872 on clothes and make-up and RM2,600 on entertainment such as going out to bars, nightclubs or the cinema.

“Malaysian students spend a large proportion of their time in paid employment – an average of 3.4 hours a day, more than they spend in the library (2.1 hours) or studying at home (2.3 hours).

“Separate research on the topic suggests that when the number of hours worked per week by a student exceeds 20 hours, it has a negative impact on grades,” it said.

However, the same piece of research also concludes that the academic performance of students who work 10-19 hours per week was superior to their peers.

According to HSBC’s study of more than 10,000 parents and 1,500 students across 15 countries, university students face a shortfall in funding despite receiving funds from parents to cover their undergraduate or postgraduate degree.

HSBC Malaysia’s head of retail banking and wealth management, Tara Latini, said: “It’s clear from our research that many parents are committed to funding their child’s university education, but in reality, the costs are often much higher than they’re prepared for.

“With student finance presenting an increasingly complicated picture, many students are finding alternative sources to keep up with costs, including paid employment and borrowing from friends, family or personal loans.

“Over half of the Malaysian parents with a child at university worry that they don’t have the financial resources to support them, and over two third say they wish they’d calculated a budget for their child’s university education in advance.

“It’s clear that preparation and having honest conversations as a family are vital to help alleviate financial pressures for both students and parents.”

The pilot of the US-Bangla plane that crashed at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport in March, killing 51 people, appears to have lied to the control tower during the landing procedure and was smoking continuously inside the cockpit during the one-hour flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu.

According to details of the official investigation led by the Nepal government, a copy of which was obtained exclusively by the Post, Captain Abid Sultan was going through tremendous personal mental stress and anxiety, and a series of erroneous decisions on his part led to the crash of the Flight BS211.

Throughout the flight, Sultan was engaged in erratic behaviour that marked a departure from his usual character-signs that should have immediately raised red flags, Nepali investigators concluded in the report.

Six minutes before the landing time, Sultan had confirmed that the plane’s landing gear was down and locked. “Gears down, three greens,” the pilot said, according to the report, referring to the electrical indicator lights inside the cockpit.

However, when co-pilot Prithula Rashid conducted a final landing checklist, the landing gears were not down. Minutes later, the plane carrying 67 passengers and four crew members burst into flames after missing the runway during its second landing attempt.

The majority of the 22 Nepalis killed in the crash were medical students who had come home on a two-month leave before their final year results were published. Only 20 passengers survived the crash.

[Read: Survivor of US-Bangla crash recounts how he got new life]

Investigators say Sultan had been smoking cigarettes frequently during the hour-long flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu. The former Bangladeshi Air Force pilot, who had clocked more than 5,500 flying hours, had not disclosed to the airlines that he was a smoker, leading investigators to conclude that Sultan was undergoing severe mental stress inside the cockpit.

“When we analysed the conversation on the Cockpit Voice Recorder, it was clear to us that the captain was harbouring severe mental stress. He also seemed to be fatigued and tired due to lack of sleep,” investigators wrote in the report. “He was crying on several occasions.”

The voice recorder has captured nearly an hour-long conversation between the captain and his co-pilot in the cockpit, further demonstrating Sultan’s tensed mood throughout the flight and a complete lack of situational awareness.“I don’t f—ing care about safe flight, you f— your duty,” Sultan said at one point inside the cockpit, according to the report. It was not clear whom the pilot was directing the statement at, as the co-pilot was the only crew member present inside the cockpit during the flight.

The report also shows that Sultan made multiple abusive statements toward a female colleague [another co-pilot in the company] who had questioned his reputation as an instructor, and their relationship was a major topic of discussion throughout the flight. Records show that Rashid, the co-pilot, was a passive listener to Sultan’s story throughout the flight.

“A cockpit is a place where personal conversations between colleagues are strictly prohibited when the aircraft is preparing to land or take off,” said Captain Shrawan Rijal of Nepal Airlines. “It’s a strictly enforced cockpit rule, which instructs pilots to focus entirely on the aircraft’s operations.”

The Sterile Cockpit Rule under the US Federal Aviation Administration regulation requires aircraft pilots to refrain from non-essential activities in the cockpit during critical phases of flight, normally below 10,000 feet.

The rule was imposed in 1981, after reviewing a series of accidents that were caused by flight crews who were distracted from their flying duties by engaging in non-essential conversations and activities during the flight.

At one point during the flight, according to details from the audio recorder, the pilot broke down and said that he was “very upset and hurt by the behaviour of the female colleague” and that “she was the only reason he was leaving the company.” The captain had expressed his desire to resign a day before the accident, the report says, although he had not submitted any written documents. He said that he wished to continue on the job for three more months to complete training the co-pilots.

Sultan had joined US-Bangla in 2015. Prior to flying commercial flights, he had served in the Bangladesh Air Force, and according to reports, had a history of depression. While in the Bangladesh Air Force, back in 1993, he had been removed from active duty after a psychiatric assessment. But he was re-evaluated by a psychiatrist back on January 9, 2002, and had been declared fit for flying.

The report said that Sultan’s detail medical history was not reviewed by US-Bangla Airlines when he was hired. Kamrul Islam, general manager and spokesperson for the US-Bangla Airlines, declined the Post’s request for comment.

However, the report clarifies that Sultan did not exhibit any recurring mental issues during the medical examinations from 2002 to 2018.

“None of the medical reports that the committee reviewed from 2012 to 2017 mentioned any symptoms about depression,” the report said, adding that during his routine medical evaluations, he was declared fit and free from any symptoms of depression.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh conducts an annual medical evaluation of all of the country’s pilots. The airline staff can also visit any medical consultants on their own for any health issues.

A senior aviation expert told the Post many pilots refuse to seek treatment for mental health issues because they fear the medical assessment will have a negative impact on their career.

“Broken relationships, personality disorders, work stress, alcohol and drug problems all spell disaster,” the expert, who asked to stay anonymous because of his proximity to the investigation, said. “And they try to manage their depression themselves, without proper attention and treatment.”

“Those who do not seek timely help might see a recurrence of manifestations brought upon by their depression,” said Dr Khagendra Bahadur Shrestha, chief medical assessor of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Shrestha said he could not comment further before reviewing the report. Aviation officials are expected to make a summary of the report public at the end of August.

Sultan’s medical records also indicated inconsistent and unreliable responses about his smoking habit. In his self-declaration form from 2012 to 2014, he wrote that he had never smoked. In 2015, Sultan said he used to smoke but had quit in 2010. Then in his most recent medical evaluations in 2016 and 2017, he mentioned that he had never smoked.

HOW THE CRASH UNFOLDED

The US-Bangla Airlines Flight BS211 flight departed from Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka, at 12:30pm. About an hour later, the flight crew began preparations to land at Tribhuvan International Airport. At 1:50pm, the plane started its descent and the controls were handed over to the Kathmandu’s airport air control room, which directed the flight to descend to 13,500ft, and cleared the aircraft to hold over a point named “Guras.”

At 2pm, the airport control tower instructed the flight to reduce its speed and descend to 12,500ft. The control tower cleared BS211 to approach the 02 runway (from the Koteshwor side).

When the crew did not follow the control tower’s instructions, the approach controller at TIA asked the pilots why they were not holding over Guras. At this time, based on the cockpit voice recordings, Sultan responded: “Holding will not be required in this case.”

According to the report, Sultan then lit a cigarette, when the aircraft had just under three minutes to start their initial approach. This, the report says, demonstrated complacency and gross negligence of procedural discipline on the pilot’s part.

At this time, the aircraft had lost its use of the plane’s auto-flight guidance system control. And strong westerly winds, blowing at an average of 28 knots, pushed the aircraft to the east.

The tower informed the crew that they were clear to land via the 02 side of the runway, but instead the aircraft seemed to be headed for 20 (on the Boudha side). The report said that at this stage, there was a complete loss of situational awareness on part of the flight crew.

That is when another supervisor controller from the airport tower took over the microphone and cleared the flight to land via 20, assuming that it was the crew’s intention to land from the Boudha side. The aircraft, however, was struggling to locate the runway and continued flying northeast. When the aircraft descended to around 175 ft above ground level, a ground proximity warning system alarm went off.

The tower immediately asked the flight crew about their intention. Sultan radioed his intention to land via 02. Then the air traffic control, while also handling the landing of another aircraft–a Buddha Air aircraft that was approaching from 02, cleared BS211 to land at 02. The information was relayed to BS211 to caution them that there was traffic ahead of them.

The aircraft then started to gain altitude. At this point, according to the report, the captain admitted to his co-pilot that he had made a mistake. Local pilots, who had been monitoring the development on the radar at the airport premises, raised concerns with the tower that the US-Bangla pilots appeared to be disoriented and lost. The tower then issued a landing clearance to the flight for either 02 or 20.

The CVR revealed that both pilots made several statements that reflected that they had completely lost their orientation of the runway, but the issue was not communicated to the ATC.

A few seconds later, the co-pilot reported sighting the runway. The captain, however, still appeared confused. Despite the runway in sight, the co-pilot made no callouts to discontinue the manoeuvre. Alarmed, the control tower hastily cancelled the landing clearance by saying “takeoff clearance cancelled.”

[Watch: Footage before the US-Bangla flight crash in Kathmandu]

The ground proximity warning alarm sounded continuously in the cockpit while the aircraft flew as low as 45 feet, right over the domestic terminal building. Nepali airline officials at the time had expressed horror watching the plane fly so close to the tower–and had praised the pilot for skillfully avoiding hitting the tower and at least half a dozen fueled planes parked at the international airport’s parking bay.

Airport officials at the control tower had described the scene that afternoon, before the crash, as “something like a war film”–a complete suicidal attempt that nearly blew the tower.

The aircraft then finally touched down on the ground, with only its right landing gear hitting the runway, and skidded to crash through the airport’s periphery before coming to a halt onto a nearby field.

The impact started a fire within six seconds because the aircraft had 2,800kg of fuel onboard.

The investigation commission said that because the crash had a low impact, passengers had high chances of survival, but the rapidly spreading post-crash fire prevented passengers from escaping.

The accident was one of the deadliest aviation disasters involving an international carrier in Nepal since the Thai Airways and Pakistan International Airlines tragedies in 1992. On July 1992, a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok crashed into a mountain outside Kathmandu, killing all 99 passengers and 14 crew members. Less than two months later, an Airbus operated by the Pakistani carrier crashed into another mountain while approaching Kathmandu. All 167 people on board were killed.

The investigation of the US-Bangla Flight 211 concluded that the ATC’s handling of the flight was not a significant contributing factor to the crash. However, the report stated that some air traffic management procedural lapses were noted on the part of the crew at the control tower.

As part of its key safety recommendation, the investigation is expected to ask the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh to renew the licenses of permanently-grounded pilots due to medical reasons, following thorough physical and psychological tests.

As part of its austerity plan, the government has banned VIP protocol given by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to influential people at airports.

The decision is being implemented by the government from Sunday as the ministry of interior has directed all officials concerned of the investigation agency’s immigration wing to implement it.

It is worth mentioning that such decisions had also been taken by previous governments but they could not implement them in a letter and spirit.

“We have decided to strictly implement the decision to provide equal opportunities to all travellers without any discrimination,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told Dawn.

Action will be taken against officials seen giving special treatment to any traveller

It had been observed that influential people were given VIP protocol at airports so that they could avoid standing in long queues and get cleared their luggage without any hustle, he said.

“We have seen that influential people used to seek assistance of FIA officials at airports who (officials) accompanied them to promptly clear their luggage,” the minister said.

The VIP protocol was usually given to politicians, legislators, senior bureaucrats, judges, military officials and journalists.

The interior ministry has directed the FIA that no government official or other VIPs would be given protocol at airports across the country.

In case any FIA official is caught giving protocol to a VIP, he would face strict action, the ministry warned in a letter sent to all zones of the agency.

According to the interior ministry, immigration counters at airports would be monitored and if any VIP was seen being given special treatment, the immigration staff and official in charge of their shift would be immediately suspended.

The ministry also directed the FIA to not harass passengers leaving the country.

The investigation agency was also directed to facilitate passengers of international flights at the time of their arrival at country’s airports.

Interestingly, all previous governments had decided to eliminate VIP culture at airports but there was a VIP lounge at Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad where VIPs and influential people sat in a luxurious atmosphere, meanwhile their luggage was get cleared by officials of FIA, Airport Security Staff or Civil Aviation Authority.

However, there is no such lounge available at the new Islamabad airport established near Fatehjang where all passengers have to follow the normal procedure.

“The verdict will be announced on September 3,” said district judge Khin Maung Maung in a swift hearing at a courthouse in Yangon, adding that the presiding judge was sick.

The decision delays the long-anticipated ruling for Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who have been in Myanmar’s Insein prison for some eight months.

They were arrested in December after being invited to a dinner with police in Yangon and pounced on as they left the restaurant, accused of possessing classified material.

Authorities charged them with violating a colonial-era state secrets act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years.

But the claims were undercut by a police witness who said his superior had ordered a set-up and by arguments that the allegedly secret documents had been published in state media.

The case has sparked fears of eroding press freedoms under civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Reuters has robustly denied the charges and the newswire launched a global advocacy campaign that included diplomats, celebrities and the legal assistance of prominent rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

“Whatever they decide for us, we will not be afraid,” Wa Lone told reporters as he left the courthouse and was led back into a police van.

Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone were probing the September 2017 massacre of 10 Rohingya men and boys in Myanmar’s Rakhine state a week after the military launched a sweeping crackdown on members of the stateless Muslim minority.

The United Nations and Washington have called the campaign “ethnic cleansing”, after some 700,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine for Bangladesh, bringing with them testimonies of rape, arson and killings in the northern part of the state.

Myanmar rejects the charges but has admitted the killings investigated by Reuters took place.