Global recognition for the struggle of the Uyghur peoples in China has come by way of nomination of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. Lawmakers in Canada and a leader of the Young Liberals in Norway, the youth wing of Norway’s Venstre political party, have nominated the WUC. The rights group has been nominated for its work towards peace, democracy and plight of the Uyghur and other Turkic people who live under, what the nomination letter describes as a “repressive regime in China.” The Voice of America (VoA) reports that “The World Uyghur Congress has the main purpose of promoting democracy, human rights, and freedom for the Uyghur People and supporting the use of peaceful, non- violent, and democratic means to help the Uyghurs achieve self- determination.”

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, one of two Canadian Members of Parliament who nominated the WUC, shared the nomination letter with VoA, which says the WUC had drawn global attention to China’s treatment of Uyghurs with “the overwhelming campaign of physical, religious, linguistic, and cultural repression” by the Chinese government. China has repeatedly denied mistreating the Uyghur peoples, with Xinhua describing the allegations as “lies” concocted by “anti-China forces in the West.” In a June 2021 article, the state owned media paper claimed that “Xinjiang-related issues are not about human rights, ethnicity or religion at all, but about combating violent terrorism and separatism,” and that the region has experienced economic and social development. Last August, the UN Human Rights office released a report on Xinjiang, which stated that the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in so-called vocational education and training centres could constitute crimes against humanity. The United States and several other countries have classified human rights abuses in the region as genocide.

Meanwhile, Volker Türk the new chief of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) said his agency had documented China’s arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and the separation of children from their families. Making these comments during a global update on human rights (8 March 2023) in Geneva, Turk said his office had opened channels of communication with various actors to follow up on human rights issues in China, including the protection of minorities such as Uyghur, Tibetans and other groups. He said, “In the Xinjiang region, my office has documented grave concerns, notably large-scale arbitrary detentions and ongoing family separations and has made important recommendations that require concrete follow-up.” The UN and several Western governments have remained steadfast in condemning China over its harsh policies affecting Uyghur, and Tibetans. Türk’s comments come nearly three weeks after the UN Commission on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, or UNCESCR, grilled 40 Chinese delegates about the human rights situations in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, the far-western autonomous region in China where more than 11 million of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur people live.

Notably, several Western parliaments have declared the Chinese government’s actions against Uyghur and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang as constituting genocide and crimes against humanity. During an address to the 47-member UN Human Rights Council (2 March 2023), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, cited the report by the OHCHR and said “We remain gravely concerned about the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity that China is committing against Muslim Uyghurs and other members of minority groups in Xinjiang,” he said. He added that the OHCHR report on Xinjiang “affirmed serious abuses perpetrated by the People’s Republic of China in Xinjiang, including the large-scale arbitrary deprivation of liberty of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities, and credible allegations of torture and sexual and gender-based violence.”

Zumretay Arkin, WUC advocacy manager told VoA, “The fact that the WUC was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize is proof that the free and democratic world has recognized the WUC’s work as valuable and important. Instead of defaming such organizations, the Chinese government should listen to the democratic world,” Arkin said. The WUC, founded in Munich in 2004, has a wide range of activities, including campaigning for the rights of people being forcefully disappeared, advocating for the release of political prisoners, protecting the rights of asylum seekers to prevent forcible repatriation to China, and advocating at the UN, EU, and national level. The nomination letter states that efforts of the WUC has led to the international community developing policies and actions to help secure the rights of the Uyghur.

The WUC was founded after the East Turkistan National Congress and the World Uyghur Youth Congress merged into one organization and its main objective is to promote democracy, human rights, and freedom for the Uyghur people and to use peaceful, non-violent, and democratic means to determine their political future. The group’s mission statement states that “By representing the sole legitimate organization of the Uyghur people both in East Turkistan and abroad, WUC endeavours to set out a course for the peaceful settlement of the East Turkistan Question through dialogue and negotiation.

East Turkistan is the name some Uyghur prefer to use instead of Xinjiang, which means “new territory” in Chinese and is what China calls the Uyghur homeland. “It makes me very proud to see that the World Uyghur Congress’ hard work to end the Uyghur genocide has not gone unnoticed,” Dolkun Isa, the President of the WUC, said in a press statement. The nomination was also significant because it was “a show of support for the Uyghur people,” Isa said. The nomination of the WUC is thus a clear sign that the voice of Uyghur is being heard across the world. There is no doubt that WUC deserves the prize much more than the sham nomination of Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey!

Source: Geneva Daily

India's Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the South Pole of the Moon for the first time in its history on August 23 evening. But, the Chinese scientist Wang Xiaoyuan made an explosive comment on such information. He claimed that India's Chandrayaan-3 did not land on the moon. His comments caused uproar. Criticism and controversy have started.

The country's scientist Wang Xiaoyuan gave this information in an interview with the Chinese language newspaper Science Times. The Indian magazine Business Today gave such news citing Science Times.

Wang Xiaoyuan said the place where the rover landed was at 69 degrees south latitude, not near the South Pole. The South Pole is defined between 88.5 degrees and 90 degrees.

In that interview, he also said that the landing site of Chandrayaan-3 is not at the south pole of the moon and it is not near the south pole of the moon. The information about Moon landing at the South Pole is incorrect, as the distance from the Chandrayaan-3 landing site to the Moon's South Pole region is 619 km.

Xiaoyuan is not the first Chinese scientist to question Chandrayaan-3's achievements.

Earlier, Beijing-based space expert Pang Zhihao told state media Global Times that China is far more advanced in many fields. Since the launch of Chang-2 in 2010, China has been able to send orbiters and landers directly into Earth-Moon transition orbits.

Pang Zhihao also said that the engine used by China is also very advanced. India's lander Pragyan has a lifespan of one lunar day and cannot withstand lunar nights, but China's nuclear-powered UTU-2 rover holds the record for longest operation on the lunar surface.

We all know that 24 hours day and night. After the tiredness of the whole day, we sleep at night, waiting for a new dawn. But think once, where the sun does not set, how will the new dawn come? Or where there is no night, when the people will sleep to remove the tiredness of the day? Do you think there is a place? Not unreal, there are places on earth where the sun never sets. After a long sleep where people do not see the dawn.

In today's discussion, we will know some places in the world, where the sun does not set even at night!

Norway: Norway is called the land of the shining sun. The country's geographical location makes it different from other countries in the world. From May until the end of July, the sun does not set in the Norwegian sky. As a result, Norwegian people do not see the night for two and a half months! Another specialty of the country is that the sun can be seen on the horizon even at night from the port of Hammerfest, Norway, as it is located in the Arctic region.

Nunavut, Canada: The Canadian territory of Nunavut is located 2 degrees above the Arctic Circle. The sun does not set here for about two months of the year. Not only that, the sun cannot be seen for 30 consecutive days in this place during winter. That is, the people here live under the shadow of the sun for two months on the one hand, in the same way they have to live in a long night for a month.

Iceland: Iceland is famous for its absence of snakes and mosquitoes. After Great Britain, Iceland is the largest island in Europe. The sun can be seen in this island even at night in June.

Barrow, Alaska: The sun is visible in the night sky from late May to late July (summer) in this area of Alaska. There is the reverse side of the coin! Not only does the sun never set, there are continuous nights here from early November to early December. That's why this place is also known as 'Polar Nights'.

Finland: Finland is called the land of thousand lakes and islands. The sun does not set for 73 consecutive days during summer in this European country. Similarly, the sun does not appear here for 32 consecutive days in winter. Because of this strange natural disparity, most people in that country believe that people sleep more in winter and less in summer.

Sweden: We all know that 365 days make up a year. But Sweden's year ends in one day! Because half of the year is day here, the other half is night. Even pulled again! So taking the day and night as the sun, it can be said that the year in Sweden is spent in one day! And people here spend half of the year in the dark and the other half in the light.

Diplomatic relations between India and Canada are on the verge of ending over the death of Indian pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Both countries have expelled each other's diplomats.

In this situation, the New York Times report claimed that the United States had provided information to Canada about the killing of Nijjar. Through that information, Canada found India's link in Nijjar's murder.

The New York Times report, quoting an official from the 'Five Eyes Partners', an alliance of intelligence agencies from the US, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, claimed that US intelligence provided information to Canada immediately after the assassination. However, at that time the US was not aware of the possibility of India's involvement in the killings.

Meanwhile, Trudeau claimed on Saturday that Canada had sent information to New Delhi about the killing of Nijjar a few weeks ago. However, India said that Canada could not provide India with any evidence against the information.

On the other hand, Canadian intelligence claimed that Nijjar was a cleric. In response, New Delhi said Nijjar was not a religious guru, but a murderer.

According to India, Nijjar became the head of the Gurdwara by scaring his brother Raghbir.

Hindustan Times reported that pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead inside the Gurdwara on June 18. Hardeep was shot more than 20 times.

According to reports, Nijjar lived in the Punjabi-dominated Sari region of British Columbia, Canada. Hardeep was behind the Khalistani protests in front of the Indian High Commission in Vancouver, Canada in the past few years.

The Russian government has allowed the country's banks and financial institutions to transact in Russian currency.

This information was reported on the official Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in Bangladesh on Saturday (September 23).

According to the information given on the Facebook page, Russia has allowed 30 other countries to trade in ruble currency except Bangladesh. The countries are - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Algeria and Bahrain.

Also included are Brazil, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Oman and Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Vietnam are also allowed to trade in ruble. However, Argentina, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico and Moldova have been excluded from the list.

Recently, before Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that the discussions on commercial transactions in the country's single currency have been going on for quite some time.