UN chief says desperate Rohingya refugees have 'absolutely nothing'
A perilous journey for Rohingya refugees 02:35
(CNN)Rohingya refugees who have fled violence in Myanmar for shelter in neighboring Bangladesh are in desperate need of help, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said Wednesday, as he called on the Myanmar authorities to halt the violence.
Grandi, who returned Tuesday night from a trip to Bangladesh, said he had rarely seen people who had left their homes with so little.
"They have absolutely nothing," he said. "Evidently they had to flee from a very urgent situation, from very sudden violence -- so they need everything," he said.
The Rohingya are being ethnically cleansed: Why won't the world take action?
The Rohingya are being ethnically cleansed: Why won't the world take action?
According to the latest report from the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) in Bangladesh, at least 480,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since clashes began on August 25.
Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said that including some 300,000 Rohingya refugees already in Bangladesh, between 700,000 and 800,000 people were now sheltering there in overcrowded and insanitary conditions, posing a risk of epidemics.
On top of that, he warned that "the risk of the spread of terrorist violence in the whole region is very, very high" if the situation is not resolved.
"It is very clear that the cause of this crisis is in Myanmar, but the solution of this crisis also lies in Myanmar," he said.
Leader breaks silence on Rohingya crisis
Leader breaks silence on Rohingya crisis 03:11
"Let me once again, as many other colleagues have done, as the (UN) secretary-general has done, let me reiterate the urgent call to the authorities in Myanmar to stop violence, for violence to stop in Rakhine State, in northern Rakhine State, and when that happens, and conditions stabilize, we have to start thinking about solutions."
The Myanmar authorities have said the violence in Rakhine State was instigated by Rohingya militants and deny UN accusations of "ethnic cleansing."
Grandi, who visited Rakhine State in July, condemned the insurgent attacks that left 12 police officers dead the following month. But he stressed that underdevelopment in Rakhine state -- and particularly the poor treatment of the Rohingya Muslims -- had played a large part in the current crisis.
Myanmar's military: The power Aung San Suu Kyi can't control
Myanmar's military: The power Aung San Suu Kyi can't control
"It was ... very obvious to me when I visited northern Rakhine that it was just a matter of time before terrorism would spring up from the situation of discrimination or poverty that prevailed in that area," he said.
"The terrain is very fertile for that, so it is also a question of addressing this issue not only for the Rohingya, not only for northern Rakhine, but for the entire region. Because if the situation is not resolved, the risk of the spread of terrorist violence in the whole region -- and this is a particularly fragile region -- is very, very high."
Grandi added that the "big question" was whether the Rohingya refugees would be able to return to Rakhine state.
Rohingya refugees need your help
Rohingya refugees need your help
He called on the Myanmar authorities to implement the recommendations of a UN advisory panel headed by former UN chief Kofi Annan. Two key points were the lack of citizenship for Rohingya in Myanmar and the "dramatic underdevelopment" of Rakhine state, affecting both Buddhist and Muslim communities, he said.
Grandi said he hoped to discuss the issue of Rohingya statelessness with Myanmar authorities at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, next week.
Grandi praised the response of the Bangladeshi government to the sudden influx of refugees and said aid efforts were now making headway after a "chaotic" start.
But he warned that healing the great trauma he had witnessed among women and children in the refugee camps would be far harder than meeting their physical needs, great though they were. Women had been raped or fought off attackers, he said, and many children had witnessed the killing of their parents, relatives or friends.
// Source: CNN//
Trump proposes sharp tax cuts for individuals, companies
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday presented his tax reform plan, an ambitious proposal that includes lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 20 percent.
The reform plan also eliminates the estate tax and reduces the number of tax brackets for individuals from seven to three: 12 per cent, 25 per cent and 35 per cent.
The plan, entitled the “Unified Framework For Fixing Our Broken Tax Code,” was announced jointly by the White House and Republican lawmakers heading the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees and is the working document whereby the administration is seeking to craft the biggest US tax reform since 1980.
Trump’s proposal reduces the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 20 per cent, a little higher than the 15 per cent that the president had initially promised, Efe reported.
“Too many in our country are shut out of the dynamism of the US economy, which has led to the justifiable feeling that the system is rigged against hardworking Americans,” the nine-page plan states.
“With significant and meaningful tax reform and relief, we will create a fairer system that levels the playing field and extends economic opportunities to American workers, small businesses, and middle-income families,” it adds.
The three new individual tax brackets would shave the taxes that people in the current highest bracket — 39.6 per cent — pay and slightly raise the minimum percentage income tax to 10 per cent.
As had been previously announced, Trump is proposing to raise tax deduction amounts for families with children and create a new deduction for dependent adults such as the elderly or ill.
The president’s plan also eliminates the estate tax on inherited assets, known as the “death tax,” something that the White House had already announced, and it raises the standard deduction for individuals from $6,350 to $12,000 and for couples from $12,700 to $24,000.
It also eliminates most itemised deductions with the only deductions specifically preserved in the plan being those for charitable gifts and home mortgage interest.
It remains to be clarified how the tax cuts will be compensated for to balance the public accounts and avoid raising the deficit.
The president is traveling to Indianapolis on Wednesday to discuss the tax plan.
The tax reform proposal is Trump’s big legislative play for the remainder of the year after the apparent failure to repeal and replace ObamaCare, which the Republicans have been unable to move forward on despite holding majorities in both the House and Senate.
