The Rohingya people weren’t given any solace from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which met in Thailand to discuss the region’s issues.  The Rohingya are an ethnic minority in Burma – but the Burmese government refuses to recognize them.

They are horribly mistreated, with claims that they are undergoing an ethnic cleansing at the hands of the military junta that rules Burma.  Although the borders are guarded, some Rohingya escape the country, only to be turned away once they reach the sanctuary of other countries.

The Thai military has repeatedly sent the refugees to fend for themselves at sea, leaving them to drift, and often times die without food, supplies, or hope.

The Rohingya are native to Burma.  They are part of what was once the Arakan State, which was invaded by a Burmese King in 1784, and has since been annexed by Burma.

The Rohingya have no rights, and are often subject to forced labor and abuse.  Burma stated that they would take back the Rohingya only under the status of Bengali, not Burmese.  The Burmese consul explained that the Rohingya are not really Burmese because they are dark-skinned and “as ugly as ogres”.

The Rohingya refugees have no desire to return to the country that they ran away from, but they also aren’t being accepted elsewhere.  Their fate remains drifting at sea.

How can  ALL Of these people be left to this watery grave ? Africans, Asians, Europeans – why is this happening with such frequency now ?

UNHCR says about 32,000 people have made the crossing this year

Forty-five Somalian migrants drowned after their boat capsized off the coast of Yemen earlier this week, Somalian diplomats have said.

Three survivors were rescued by Yemeni fishermen after the boat capsized and were taken to the port of Mukalla.

The survivors included the boat’s captain and a crew member, who have been arrested.

Hundreds of Africans drown each year, trying to reach Yemen in crowded and often unseaworthy boats.

The third of the survivors, a passenger, is being treated in hospital, officials said.

The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, says as many as 50,000 – mostly Somalis – arrived illegally by boat in Yemen in 2008. Nearly 10,000 have so far made the journey this year, the agency says.

And One More time with the FDLR invading Congo, from Rwanda, What will it finally take to stop this madness in East Africa ?

Many of the FDLR rebels fled to Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide

Hutu rebels have retaken positions they lost in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeepers say.

The UN says it has reports that FDLR rebels captured several villages and a former military training school, days after Rwandan troops began to withdraw.

However, Congolese officials said the rebels made “hit-and-run” raids, denying it was a major regrouping.

Rwandan troops began withdrawing last Wednesday – five weeks after they crossed the border to attack the FDLR.

In January, the government in Kinshasa allowed thousands of Rwandan soldiers to enter eastern DR Congo to fight the remnants of the Rwandan Hutu militia.

Some of the FDLR rebels are accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, before fleeing across the border into DR Congo.

In a separate development, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – on a visit to Rwanda – said achieving peace peace in the volatile region depended on co-operation between the governments in Kinshasa and Kigali.

He said he welcomed a plan by Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame for the establishment of full diplomatic relations with DR Congo, speaking of his hope for a “new chapter” in relations between the two neighbours.

Civilian fears

In eastern Dr Congo, however, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission said on Sunday he had reports that the FDLR rebels had retaken several positions in the area.

In pictures: Rwanda leaves Congo Uganda mission under strain

But Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga said the rebels were carrying out raids rather than moving back.

“We didn’t hear report that they are retaking the places. What our reports are saying is that they are conducting hit-and-run operations,” the minister told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.

“They [the rebels] don’t remain in a place. When they come they loot, they frighten people and they take what they want to take and they go back because our boys are around.”

The latest reports about the FDLR attacks will inevitably raise fears among Congolese civilians that their armed forces are failing to stand up to the rebels, the BBC’s Mark Doyle reports from eastern DR Congo.

The FDLR’s presence in eastern DR Congo has always been seen as a major factor in the region’s instability.

The Congolese and Rwandans launched a joint offensive against the FDLR in January.

Thousands of Rwandan troops were deployed in North Kivu but they are deeply unpopular because, along with Uganda, Rwanda occupied eastern DR Congo between 1998 and 2002.

On-and-off fighting involving the FDLR, the army and other militias has forced more than one million people in North Kivu to flee their homes since late 2006.

Northern fears

There are also fears that exactly the same scenario could take place in the north-eastern of the country, our correspondent says.

Ugandan troops entered the region late last year, with Kinshasa’s permission, to help tackle another rebel group – the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The rebels – who were chased out of Uganda – have been committing widespread massacres of Congolese civilians.

However, nationalist Congolese politicians in Kinshasa say the Ugandans should now leave because their job is done.

This is despite a widespread feeling among Congolese civilians in the region that the Ugandans should stay, our correspondent says.

And Apparently things aren’t so nice down under.. Race Riots because a Film exposes the dirty truth about Australian Racism and Racist Policies against the Aboriginal Peoples.  This film should be required seeing in all schools and then it should pass around the world – so that people can finally see what the Australians did to the Original Australians – who they tried to Exterminate.

this film deals with the Race Riots between the Aussie whites and lebanese.

The Combination is still showing at other cinemas around Australia

A film set during the race riots that hit Australia four years ago has been pulled from cinemas in Sydney after fights broke out during screenings.

The Combination centres on tensions between gangs of Australian Lebanese and white youths in Sydney’s western suburbs in 2005.

It was pulled by one of Australia’s cinema chains, Greater Union, after violence flared outside two cinemas.

The Australian Film Syndicate (AFS) called the move “unprecedented”.

Greater Union said it had cancelled screenings of the film in all four of its Sydney cinemas after violent incidents in its suburban Parramatta cinema on Thursday and Saturday nights.

“Maintaining the safety and security of our staff and patrons is our main concern and priority,” Greater Union general manager Robert Flynn said in a statement.

AFS managing director Allanah Zitserman said Greater Union’s decision to pull the critically-acclaimed film was “devastating for everyone involved, especially for the audiences”.

Retaliatory attacks

She said in a statement: “Although we do not support the decision by Greater Union to pull the film from its NSW sites we respect and understand their position.”

The Combination, directed by David Field, is set in late 2005, when ugly race riots between white and Lebanese Australians flared at the city’s Cronulla Beach.

They sparked a series of retaliatory attacks in which shops, churches and cars were targeted

The film uses actual news footage from the riots as it follows the fortunes of a Lebanese Australian man who is trying to guide his younger brother away from ethnic gang violence.

Ms Zitserman said: “[It] is a powerful, critically acclaimed work that has touched a nerve with the Australian public and deserves to be seen by everyone.”

The film can still be seen at other cinema chains in New South Wales state, as well as cinemas in other Australian cities.