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Bangladesh boosts border security as Arakan Army claims control of Myanmar’s Rakhine

Special Bangladesh boosts border security as Arakan Army claims control of Myanmar’s Rakhine
Border Guard Bangladesh personnel patrol near Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar in Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar district on Feb. 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 12 December 2024

Bangladesh boosts border security as Arakan Army claims control of Myanmar’s Rakhine

Bangladesh boosts border security as Arakan Army claims control of Myanmar’s Rakhine
  • Arakan Army announced it had captured the last Myanmar army outpost in north Rakhine
  • Bangladeshi authorities have been recording heavy gunfire on the Myanmar side of the border

DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities said on Thursday they had strengthened security along the border with Myanmar after one of the most powerful ethnic minority armies claimed full control of the frontier.

The Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia in Rakhine, announced earlier this week that it had captured the last Myanmar army outpost in the border town of Maungdaw, allowing the group to completely control the northern state.

Rakhine has become a focal point in Myanmar’s nationwide civil war, in which opposition groups and ethnic militias are fighting the military junta that ousted the country’s elected government in a coup in 2021.

By taking over the northern region, the Arakan Army now controls the entire 270-km border with Bangladesh.

“The Arakan Army has (started) taking control over the Bangladesh-Myanmar border around one year back ... Now, the Arakan Army has taken over the control of its remaining parts,” said Maj. Syed Ishtiaq Morshed, commander of the Border Guard Bangladesh in Teknaf subdistrict, which shares a border with Myanmar, opposite the town of Maungdaw.

“We don’t have any direct contact with the Arakan Army as they are not any legal or recognized entity ... We have strengthened our monitoring and patrols in border areas to prevent any sort of further intrusion.”

Morshed told Arab News that the Bangladesh Navy, Naval Police, Coast Guard, and the Rapid Action Battalion elite police force have also been deployed to the border region to “prevent any law and order situation” inside Bangladeshi territory.

“We are hearing the sound of gun battles from the other side of the border every day,” he said.

Clashes between Myanmar’s military-controlled government forces and the ethnic militia started in late October 2023, with a multi-pronged offensive against the junta. Fighting has intensified in the past few weeks.

“For the last two weeks, we have heard the sound of the heavy gunfire inside Myanmar area,” said Sheikh Ehsan Uddin, administrative head of Teknaf.

“Security has been beefed up in the border area, and the number of patrol forces with the Border Guard Bangladesh and Coast Guard has been increased.”

The movement of all boats between Teknaf and Saint Martin island off the Bangladeshi coast has been suspended from Thursday. And restrictions have been imposed on those traveling along the Naf River, which marks the border of southeastern Bangladesh and northwestern Myanmar.

“Villagers and locals are allowed to cross the Naf River only during high tide, as our boats need to get closer to the Myanmar border during low tide,” Uddin said.

“Our Coast Guard will look after the issue so that Bangladeshi boats don’t enter into Myanmar territory by any chance.”


Four dead, 12 wounded in blast at Ukraine train station

Four dead, 12 wounded in blast at Ukraine train station
Updated 4 sec ago

Four dead, 12 wounded in blast at Ukraine train station

Four dead, 12 wounded in blast at Ukraine train station
Three women — a border guard and two civilians — were killed in the blast
The explosion was carried out by a man during a document check in a controlled border area

KYIV: A man detonated an explosive device at a railway station in northern Ukraine on Friday, killing three other people and dying of wounds he sustained, officials said.
Three women — a border guard and two civilians — were killed in the blast, which happened during a document check on a platform next to a train, Ukraine’s border guard said in a statement.
“The explosion was carried out by a man during a document check in a controlled border area at the Ovruch railway station,” the border service said on social media.
The man, 23, also died while being treated in an ambulance after the blast, it added.
Ukrainian media reported that he detonated a grenade, but a spokesperson for Ukraine’s interior ministry told AFP they could not confirm the type of device.
An image from the scene posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian border guard service showed rescuers helping casualties from the blast on the platform.
The man “had recently been detained for attempting to violate the state border in the western section of the state border,” it said.

Missing Picasso painting found in Madrid weeks after vanishing

Missing Picasso painting found in Madrid weeks after vanishing
Updated 13 min 14 sec ago

Missing Picasso painting found in Madrid weeks after vanishing

Missing Picasso painting found in Madrid weeks after vanishing
  • The small framed “Still Life with Guitar” was part of a larger shipment of artworks moved to Granada
  • Police said the painting may not have been loaded onto the transport truck

MADRID: Spanish police said on Friday they had recovered a 1919 Pablo Picasso painting that went missing earlier this month ahead of its planned display at a temporary exhibition in southern Spain.
The small framed “Still Life with Guitar” was part of a larger shipment of artworks moved from Madrid to Granada. The exhibit’s organizers filed a police complaint on October 10 once they noticed it missing after the crates were unpacked.
In a post on X, police said the painting may not have been loaded onto the transport truck before the shipment left Madrid. The historical heritage brigade was continuing its investigation, the statement said, without indicating whether police believed any crime had been committed.
Police released pictures of forensic experts examining the painting while wearing full sterile bodysuits and masks.
The police had registered the painting, which is owned by a private collector, in Interpol’s global database of Stolen Works of Art containing nearly 57,000 items.
The CajaGranada Foundation holding the exhibition said its security camera footage showed only 57 works being unloaded from the vehicle when it arrived, instead of the 58 expected.


At least 14 dead as migrant boat sinks off Turkiye

At least 14 dead as migrant boat sinks off Turkiye
Updated 24 October 2025

At least 14 dead as migrant boat sinks off Turkiye

At least 14 dead as migrant boat sinks off Turkiye
  • At least 14 migrants died when their inflatable dinghy capsized in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish resort of Bodrum, the governor's office said Friday, raising an earlier toll of seven dead

ISTANBUL: At least 14 migrants died when their inflatable dinghy capsized in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish resort of Bodrum, the governor’s office said Friday, raising an earlier toll of seven dead.
“The lifeless bodies of 14 irregular migrants were recovered,” the office of the Mugla governorate said on X, saying the coast guard was alerted to the emergency in the early hours of Friday morning.
It said they had found two survivors, one of whom said the boat had been “carrying 18 people” when it started letting on water, sinking just 10 minutes later. One survivor managed to swim to Celebi Island.
One of the survivors was an Afghan national, the governor’s office said without saying where the others were from.
It said four coast guard boats backed by a helicopter and a specialist diving team were looking for the two remaining migrants who were unaccounted for, it said.
Migrant boats are often lost on the short but perilous route between the Turkish coast and the nearby Greek islands of Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos that serve as entry points to the European Union.
Bodrum lies close to the Greek island of Kos.
According to the Missing Migrants Project run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly 1,400 migrants have died trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea this year.


Families search Mexican forest for remains of over 100 missing

Families search Mexican forest for remains of over 100 missing
Updated 24 October 2025

Families search Mexican forest for remains of over 100 missing

Families search Mexican forest for remains of over 100 missing
  • The groups involved in the operation estimate that there could be between 130 and 150 bodies buried or hidden in the area
  • Nationwide, there are more than 127,000 missing persons, with an uptick in reported disappearances linked to a rise in drug-related violence since the government launched a major operation targeting crime groups in December 2006

MEXICO CITY: Families of dozens of Mexicans feared killed and buried in the woods south of the capital on Thursday joined a colossal search operation for their loved ones alongside activists, authorities and forensic experts.
They began combing a large wooded area in Ajusco, a volcanic hill south of Mexico City, searching for human remains.
The groups involved in the operation estimate that there could be between 130 and 150 bodies buried or hidden in the area.
Mothers dug the ground with pitchforks and shovels, while others used machetes and heavy machinery to clear vegetation, AFP images showed.
Araceli Olmedo Cruz, 40, told AFP she was searching for her son Benjamin who went missing from a nearby neighborhood in April 2024.
“Since it’s a secluded area, it makes it easier for people to come and dump the bodies,” she said.
Nationwide, there are more than 127,000 missing persons, with an uptick in reported disappearances linked to a rise in drug-related violence since the government launched a major operation targeting crime groups in December 2006.
Bodies have been discovered across the country.
In Bartolina, in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, authorities unearthed about 1,100 pounds (500 kgs) of human remains between 2017 and 2021.
Arnulfo Garcia is searching for his mother, Placida, who he hasn’t heard from in a year but hopes is still alive.
“We had searched in urban areas of the city, put up posters,” he said.
Garcia said he decided to join the Ajusco search in the hopes of connecting with authorities who may be able to locate his mother.
Local media said the search, involving some 430 people, will continue until October 31.


EU preliminarily finds Meta, TikTok in breach of transparency obligations

EU preliminarily finds Meta, TikTok in breach of transparency obligations
Updated 24 October 2025

EU preliminarily finds Meta, TikTok in breach of transparency obligations

EU preliminarily finds Meta, TikTok in breach of transparency obligations
  • In a statement, the Commission also said that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram do not appear to provide a user-friendly and easily accessible mechanism for users to flag illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material and terrorist content

BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday that US Big Tech giant Meta and Chinese-owned social media app TikTok breach their obligation to grant researchers adequate access to public data under the Digital Services Act (DSA) according to its preliminary findings.
In a statement, the Commission also said that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram do not appear to provide a user-friendly and easily accessible mechanism for users to flag illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material and terrorist content.
The EU has cracked down on Big Tech companies with the Digital Services Act, which requires large platforms such as social media sites and search engines to have robust measures to mitigate the spread of illegal and harmful content.
“The Commission’s preliminary findings show that Facebook, Instagram and TikTok may have put in place burdensome procedures and tools for researchers to request access to public data,” the EU executive said about the transparency issue.
“Allowing researchers access to platforms’ data is an essential transparency obligation under the DSA, as it provides public scrutiny into the potential impact of platforms on our physical and mental health.”
On Meta hindering the reporting of illegal content, the Commission said the company currently has mechanisms that impose several unnecessary steps and additional demands on users and use “deceptive interface designs.”
“Such practices can be confusing and dissuading. Meta’s mechanisms to flag and remove illegal content may therefore be ineffective. Under the DSA, ‘Notice and Action’ mechanisms are key to allowing EU users ... to inform online platforms that certain content does not comply with EU or national laws,” it said.
The Commission added the companies now have the possibility to examine its findings and take measures to remedy the breaches, adding that the preliminary findings do not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
But if the findings of the Commission are confirmed by relevant consultations, it may impose a fine on the companies of as much as 6 percent of their annual global sales.