DHAKA: Three female Nobel Peace laureates have begun a weeklong trip to Bangladesh to meet Rohingya women who were tortured and raped by Myanmar soldiers before fleeing the country.
During the trip that began Saturday, Iran’s Shirin Ebadi, Yemen’s Tawakkol Karman and Northern Ireland’s Mairead Maguire will assess the Rohingya refugees’ situation and the violence against the Rohingya women, according to the Nobel Women’s Initiative, a platform of six female peace laureates established in 2006.
In an email to The Associated Press, Karman said Saturday that they were standing “in solidarity with displaced Rohingya women and calling for Rohingya women’s voices to be heard.”
About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled army-led violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since August and are living in Bangladeshi refugee camps.
Female Nobel laureates in Bangladesh to meet Rohingya women
Female Nobel laureates in Bangladesh to meet Rohingya women
France’s Macron laughs off ‘harmless’ eye condition as he addresses troops
French President Emmanuel Macron joked about a “completely harmless” eye condition on Thursday during a New Year address to France’s armed forces.
“Please pardon the unsightly appearance of my eye,” Macron said at the beginning of his speech. “It is, of course, something completely harmless.”
Macron appeared with a puffy, red eye during his speech at the military base in Istres, in southern France. He earlier wore sunglasses during an outdoor troop inspection.
“Simply see an unintentional reference to the ‘Eye of the Tiger’ ... For those who catch the reference, it is a sign of determination,” he joked, in an apparent reference to the name of the hit theme song by American rock band Survivor from the 1982 Rocky III movie starring Sylvester Stallone.
Macron’s speech addressed key challenges for the military in 2026, from France’s accelerated rearmament and continued support for Ukraine, to the decision to send troops to Greenland in a show of support for Denmark.
