Jerusalem archaeological dig uncovers 200-seat Roman theater

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Archeologist Joe Uziel shows an ancient Roman theater-like structure in the Western Wall Tunnels in Jerusalem on Monday. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI 

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Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Excavations near Jerusalem's Western Wall have uncovered stone pathways and the remains of a 200-seat Roman theater, scientists said Monday.

The historical findings were presented at the Western Wall Tunnels by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The walkway "courses," made of massive stones, and the theater were discovered after 26 feet of soil was removed.

Historical writings describe the theater, built during the Roman occupation of Jerusalem between 63 B.C. and 313 A.D., near Wilson's Arch, a massive stone archway leading to the Temple Mount, built in the Roman period. The arch itself was one of many that once supported a bridge leading to the Temple Mount. Although numerous theories were offered regarding the location, the discovery finally confirms the writings, which has been a goal of archaeological research in Israel. The stones in the construction were uncovered after 1,700 years.

"From a research perspective, this is a sensational find," said a statement by the lead excavators, Joe Uziel, Tehillah Lieberman and Avi Solomon. "The discovery was a real surprise. When we started excavating, our goal was to date Wilson's Arch. We did not imagine that a window would open for us onto the mystery of Jerusalem's lost theater.

"Like much of archaeological research, the expectation is that a certain thing will be found, but at the end of the process other findings, surprising and thought-provoking, are unearthed."

The archaeologists said the theater may have been built as a concert or lecture hall, or perhaps as a legislative meeting place. It may also have never been used, they said. A staircase found was not completely carved, possibly because a revolt or similar interruption caused construction to be abandoned. Unfinished nearby buildings from the era have been uncovered in the past.

"This is a relatively small structure compared to known Roman theaters," they added. "In most cases, such structures were used for acoustic performances. Alternatively, this may have been a structure known as a bouleuterion -- the building where the city council met, in this case the council of the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina -- Roman Jerusalem."

The task of unearthing the dramatic archeological find was part on an ongoing project undertaken largely by teenage volunteers, said Israel Hasson, chief of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Top international lawyers say Hong Kong rule of law under threat

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HONG KONG (Reuters) - The jailing of three Hong Kong democracy activists this year is a serious threat to the city’s rule of law, a group of senior international lawyers said on Monday, adding the independence of the judiciary risks becoming a “charade”.

Student leaders Lester Shum, Alex Chow, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law hold hands as they walk into the High Court to face verdict on charges relating to the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, also known as Occupy Central protests, in Hong Kong, China August 17, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/Files

Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law were sentenced to community service last year for unlawful assembly but were dealt harsher punishments of jail in August after a government appeal.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that promises it a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including an independent judiciary.

In an open letter, 12 lawyers including former lord chancellor Charles Falconer criticised the imprisonment of the trio, who were among the leaders of the democracy protests in late 2014 that drew hundreds of thousands at their peak.

“The independence of the judiciary, a pillar of Hong Kong, risks becoming a charade, at the beck and call of the Chinese Communist Party,” the lawyers said.

“Hong Kong’s rule of law and basic freedoms, at the heart of the principle of ”one country, two systems“, now face grave threats.”

They described the 2014 democracy demonstrations as “one of the most peaceful public protests the world has seen”.

A series of court cases against about 100 young democracy activists has, however, shaken confidence in the city’s vaunted rule of law and critics fear a watering down of its freedoms and creeping interference by Communist Party rulers in Beijing.

The lawyers’ letter comes amid heightened criticism of mainland Chinese authorities over what some Hong Kong and international observers see as increased meddling by Beijing in the former British colony’s affairs.

Among the letter’s signatories were Geoffrey Nice, former chief prosecutor in the trial of Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic, human rights lawyer Jared Genser who represented Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo and Kirsty Brimelow, chairwoman of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales.

The letter comes days after British activist Benedict Rogers, who has been critical of Hong Kong’s rights record, was barred entry to the territory, prompting demands for an explanation from British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

Hong Kong has, on occasion, barred entry to dissidents, including former leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing and a Dutch sculptor who made a Tiananmen sculpture, though other Tiananmen activists have been allowed in for short visits.

China said after Benedict was denied entry that it had the right to bar people from Hong Kong and that it had complained to Britain after it demanded an explanation.

Thai hotels booked up ahead of funeral of revered king

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BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hotels in Bangkok’s bustling old town, home to a backpacker enclave favoured by foreign tourists, are booked up as Thailand prepares to host the lavish funeral of its revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej next week, the hotel association said on Monday.

Officials take part during a funeral rehearsal for late Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Royal Crematorium near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, October 15, 2017. REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa

The funeral of King Bhumibol, who died on Oct. 13 last year after seven decades on the throne, will run for five days next week, with most events centering on the Grand Palace and Sanam Luang, a public square in the historic quarter.

About 250,000 mourners are expected to attend the funeral, which will feature gold-tipped pavilions built for the occasion, and Oct. 26, the day of the cremation, has been declared a national holiday.

“Many Thais wishing to attend the cremation feel it would be more convenient having a place to stay nearby, so most hotels have been booked out already,” Supawan Tanomkieatipume, president of the Thai Hotels Association, told Reuters.

A Reuters survey of three hotels on the Khao San Road, the main artery of the Banglamphu backpacker area, found no rooms were available.

“We are fully booked during the royal cremation,” said Preechaya Amngeun, 23, a guest services agent at the Ibis Styles Bangkok Khaosan Viengtai, part of French hotel group Accor.

“Around 80 percent of the guests we have are Thais. The other 20 percent are foreign tourists.”

Thailand’s tourism industry, which accounts for 12 percent of GDP, has been a rare bright spot for an economy that has struggled since a 2014 coup. It has weathered political turbulence and a major natural disaster over the past decade.

Germany: Merkel sees long 1st round of talks on coalition

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BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel says she expects exploratory talks on a new German coalition, the first step toward forming a government for Europe's biggest economy, to take several weeks. Germany's Sept. 24 election left Merkel with very limited options to form a government. At present, the only realistic choice is a coalition of her conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats and the traditionally left-leaning Greens. The combination has never been tried at national level.

Austrian poised to become Europe's first millennial leader

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VIENNA (AP) — At age 31, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz is poised to become the first millennial to lead a European country following his party's victory in a national election Sunday. While no party won a majority, the telegenic Kurz is most likely to be sworn in as Austria's next chancellor — and Europe's youngest leader — after the tough coalition government negotiations that lie ahead.

(1 of 9) Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, head of Austrian People's Party, speaks during the election party in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017, after the closing of the polling stations for the Austrian national elections.

October 16, 2017

Near-final results from Sunday's balloting put his People's Party comfortably in first place, with 31.4 percent of the vote. The right-wing Freedom Party came in second with 27.4 percent. The center-left Social Democratic Party of Austria, which now governs in coalition with People's Party, got 26.7 percent.

Becoming head of government would be the next leap in a political career that started eight years ago when Kurz, then studying law, was elected chairman of his party's youth branch. Smart and articulate, he eventually caught the eye of People's Party elders. He was appointed state secretary for integration, overseeing government efforts to make immigrants into Austrians, in 2011.

After a Social Democratic-People's Party coalition was formed four years ago, Kurz, then 27, became Austria's foreign minister — the youngest top diplomat in Europe. He hosted several rounds of talks between Iran and six other countries on Tehran's nuclear program, meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other powerbrokers. Other international events further boosted his visibility and party influence.

When a new wave of migrants and refugees seeking to relocate to Europe became a continent-wide concern in 2015, Kurz recognized Austrian voters' anxiety over unchecked immigration involving large numbers of Muslim newcomers.

He called for tougher external border controls, better integration and stringent control of "political Islam" funded from abroad. He also organized the shutdown of the popular overland route through the West Balkans many newcomers were using to reach the EU's prosperous heartland.

By now, Kurz and his traditionally centrist party had drifted considerably to the right of their Social Democratic government partners, making governing difficult. Kurz's moment came when both agreed this spring to an early national election.

The People's Party, then lagging in third place and long seen as a stodgy old boys network, made him leader. Kurz set out to reinvent the party's image after securing guarantees for unprecedented authority.

The youthful, Vienna-born politician turned out to be the tonic the party needed, helping it shrug off criticism that it's been part of the political establishment for decades. He mostly goes without a tie, works standing behind a desk and flies economy class. He has a girlfriend, but is private about his life outside politics.

Noting that his center-right party had triumphed over the rival Social Democrats only twice since the end of World War II, Kurz called Sunday's election a "historic victory."

India's economy falters under Modi

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Cloth merchants and workers shout slogans during a protest rally against implementation of GST on textiles in Kolkata, India. [Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters]

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The economy of the world's largest democracy is growing at a pace that is the slowest in the last three years. Jobs are being lost. Inflation is threatening to pick up. There are few takers for bank loans. Consumer confidence is down.

In May 2014, the right-wing Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the run-up to the elections, he had promised "achhe din", or "good times".

But good times are yet to come for many Indians. On the contrary, their lives and livelihoods were disrupted by the sudden decision Modi took on November 8 last year to demonetise high-denomination currency notes thereby making illegal 86 percent of the total currency in circulation. 

The effect of that decision is still being felt. The government compounded the struggles of Indians citizens, especially small traders, with a trouble-plagued rollout of a radically new system of indirect taxation - the goods and services tax (GST) - from June 1 onwards.

Deepchand Yadav is a chauffeur who works in Gurgaon, a suburb of India's capital, New Delhi. He says that this Diwali, he will think twice before buying new clothes for his wife and school-aged son. He is not certain how prices will rise in the coming months, and would rather save the extra money he earns during the festive season.

He earns approximately 16,000 rupees ($245) a month. His income appears to have increased over the last two years, but in fact, after accounting for inflation, his real income has declined.

Patit Paban Mondal works as a cook in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state. He usually sends an extra 3,000 rupees ($45) to his ailing mother and brother who live in a remote village in the eastern Indian province. The extra money is for the festive season but, this year, he says he will have to cut his personal expenses to send the same amount of money to her.

Mondal's monthly income is 10,000 rupees ($153). According to the World Bank, Mondal's income is slightly above the average in India; the international organisation reported in 2013 that India's per capita income was $1,570 a year - a monthly average of around $130, below Mondal's $153. He says successive governments have not been able to check inflation.

The above estimates do not reflect the cost of living in India. According to the World Bank, India's per capita income in 2013 on the basis of purchasing power parity was almost 3.5 times higher at $5,350.

Mondal and Yadav are hardly alone. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country's central bank and apex monetary authority, conducted a series of surveys across the country to gauge consumer confidence and business sentiments.

The findings, which were released on October 4, indicated all-pervasive pessimism.

Over 40 percent of the respondents of one survey said in September that the overall economic situation had deteriorated. This proportion was barely a quarter in September 2016.

Last month, the Central Statistics Office of the government of India said GDP had grown at an estimated rate of 5.7 percent in the April-June period this year, the lowest quarterly growth rate in three years.

The RBI has brought down its forecast of growth for next year (until March 31) from 7.3 percent to 6.7 percent.

The Indian economy had been growing at close to eight percent in 2014 and 2015, making it the "fastest growing" among the major economies of the world, overtaking China. But what really went wrong?

As a matter of fact, many observers of the Indian economy believe that the latest GDP figures are exaggerated, as the government tweaked the methodology of calculating national income statistics in 2016.

Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has claimed that the actual GDP growth rate could be two percentage points lower than what has been put out.

Though belonging to the same political party, Sinha has questioned Modi and his Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's stewardship of the Indian economy.

The unexpected November 8 decision to demonetise was justified by the government on the ground that it would drastically curb the use of illegally obtained, so-called "black money", in the economy and also constrain "terrorists" from using fake currency notes. Thereafter, government spokespersons claimed demonetisation would usher in a more transparent "cash-less" or "less cash" society.

The government's critics argue that none of these objectives has been achieved almost a year later. Instead, the economy was hampered, as people queued in large numbers outside the branches of banks in November and December.

India yanked most of its currency bills from circulation without warning, delivering a jolt to the country's high-performing economy and leaving countless citizens scrambling for cash. [Anupam Nath/AP Photo]

"Demonetisation hurt the most vulnerable sections of the population: the elderly, women, daily-wage labourers, farmers and small traders," says R Ramakumar, professor of economics at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, who has edited a volume on demonetisation that will soon be published.

India has a huge youth population. The country's current demographic profile indicates that over half its total population of 1.3 billion is below the age of 25 and two-thirds are under 35. The lack of employment opportunities is a huge political and social issue.

A study of figures compiled by the government's Labour Bureau said there was an absolute decline in employment between 2013-15 and 2015-16, perhaps for the first time in the 70-year history of independent India.

The loss of jobs was especially evident in sectors that had been creating employment opportunities in the recent past, sectors such as construction, manufacturing and information technology.

The country's IT sector, which employs nearly four million people, has been in a crisis, with thousands of people laid off in the past year and many more to be made redundant in the coming years. 

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, 1.5 million jobs were lost in India across all sectors in the first four months of 2017.

Most jobs in India have been created by small and medium enterprises and these businesses have been hit hardest by demonetisation and the hasty switchover to the GST regime. The so-called "informal" or "unorganised" sector dominates the country's economy and accounts for 90 percent of jobs.

The economy has also been hamstrung by what Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian describes as a "twin balance sheet" problem. Banks, in general, and public sector banks, in particular, are saddled with huge unpaid loans - euphemistically called "non-performing assets".

Many of the loans that have not been repaid had been given to large companies that are now highly leveraged, meaning these companies are saddled with large debts on their balance sheets.

With new loans not being disbursed, investments in the manufacturing industries have slowed thereby resulting in jobs not being created. 

India imports 80 percent of its total requirements of crude oil and benign prices have greatly benefitted the country's economy. Following public outrage against rising inflationary trends on account of higher transport costs, the government reduced taxes on petrol and diesel. But prices of food items could rise. 

The list of economic woes in India, which also has not invested adequately in its physical and social infrastructure, is long.

No light seems visible at the end of the tunnel. Yadav and Mondal are not the only ones for whom the festival of lights has dimmed.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

Hamas and Fatah: How are the two groups different?

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The two movements announced on Thursday they had reached a deal to end a decade of divide [File: Reuters]

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Hamas and Fatah are the two most dominant parties in the Palestinian political scene.

On Thursday, the two movements announced they had reached a deal to end a decade-long rift that brought them to an armed conflict in 2007.

Hamas has been the de facto ruler in the Gaza Strip since 2007, after defeating President Mahmoud Abbas' long dominant Fatah party in parliamentary elections.

HAMAS VS FATAH

• Ideology: 
  Hamas - Islamist
  Fatah - Secular 
• Strategy towards Israel: 
  Hamas - Armed resistance
  Fatah - Negotiations
• Objectives: 
  Hamas - Does not recognise Israel, but accepts a Palestinian state on 1967 borders 
  Fatah - Recognises Israel, wants to build a state on 1967 borders 

Hamas then pushed Fatah out of Gaza when the latter refused to recognise the result of the vote.

Hamas and Fatah have ruled the occupied Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively ever since.

While the two groups work towards the same goal of building a Palestinian state on the territories that Israel occupied in 1967, consisting of East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, there are some stark differences.

What are their ideologies?

Fatah is a reverse acronym for Harakat al-Tahrir al-Filistiniya or Palestinian National Liberation Movement in Arabic. The word Fatah means to conquer.

The secular movement was founded in Kuwait in the late 1950s by diaspora Palestinians after the 1948 Nakba - the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the Zionist movement aiming to create a Jewish modern state in historic Palestine.

Fatah was founded by several people, most notably the late president of the Palestinian Authority - Yasser Arafat, aides Khalil al-Wazir and Salah Khalaf, and Mahmoud Abbas, who is the current president of the Palestinian Authority.

The movement was premised on the armed struggle against Israel to liberate historic Palestine.

READ MORE

Why Fatah and Hamas won't reconcile

The main military wing of the group was al-Asifah, or the Storm. Al-Asifah fighters were based in several Arab countries as well as in the West Bank and Gaza.

The group's armed struggle against Israeli occupation began in 1965. Most of its armed operations were carried out from Jordan and Lebanon.

Under Yasser Arafat, and after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Fatah became the dominant party in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which comprises numerous Palestinian political parties. The PLO was created in 1964 with the goal to liberate Palestine, and today acts as the representative of the Palestinian people at the United Nations.

After being pushed out of Jordan and Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s, the movement underwent a fundamental change, choosing to negotiate with Israel.

"The Arabs basically helped in forcing Fatah to agree on taking a diplomatic route, after it was pushed out of Beirut," Nashat al-Aqtash, a ًWest Bank-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

In the 1990s, the Fatah-led PLO officially renounced armed resistance and backed United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for building a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders (West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza), alongside an Israeli state.

The PLO then signed the Oslo Accords, which led to the creation of the Palestinian National Authority, or Palestinian Authority, an interim self-governing body meant to lead to an independent Palestinian State.

Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya, or Islamic Resistance Movement. The word Hamas means zeal.

The Hamas movement was founded in Gaza in 1987 by imam Sheikh Ahmed Yasin and aide Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi shortly after the start of the first Intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The movement started as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and created a military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, to pursue an armed struggle against Israel with the aim of liberating historic Palestine. It also provided social welfare programmes to Palestinian victims of the Israeli occupation.

Hamas defines itself as a "Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement", using Islam as its frame of reference.

In 2017, Hamas issued a political document effectively claiming to break ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and said it would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with the return of Palestinian refugees.

READ MORE

A guide to the Gaza Strip

Though the move stirred fears among its loyalists that it was giving up on the Palestinian cause, Hamas added the following clause:

"Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea" but considers the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state on 1967 borders "to be a formula of national consensus".

The movement believes that the "establishment of 'Israel' is entirely illegal". This sets it apart from the PLO, of which it is not a member.

Hamas entered Palestinian politics as a political party in 2005 when it engaged in local elections, and won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in 2006, beating Fatah.

Since 2007, Israel has launched three wars against Hamas and the Strip. After Hamas won elections in that year, Israel imposed an airtight blockade.

Civilians in Gaza have borne the brunt of the fighting. In the last Israeli assault on the Strip, more than 2,200 Palestinians were killed, including 500 children, over a span of 50 days.

How do their objectives differ?

With the release of Hamas' political document in 2017, the objectives of the two parties are effectively the same - creating a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967.

"There is no value to the clause in which Hamas says it will not give up on historic Palestine," said al-Aqtash, the political analyst. "Hamas has accepted a political compromise and they cannot go back on this."

"All Palestinians dream of liberating historic Palestine, but today, they are working on a realistic solution," he added, explaining they are focusing on "what they can achieve as opposed to what they hope of achieving".

What are their strategies?

The biggest difference between the two movements today is their attitude towards Israel.

While Hamas has clung to using armed resistance, Fatah believes in negotiating with Israel and has completely ruled out using attacks.

The Oslo Accords gave Israel full control of the Palestinian economy as well as civil and security matters in more than 60 percent of the West Bank.

Under the agreements, the PA must coordinate with the Israeli occupation over security and any armed resistance attacks planned against Israelis. This is seen as highly controversial and seen by some as the PA collaborating with the Israeli occupation.

In March, protests erupted in the West Bank when prominent Palestinian political activist Basil al-Araj was killed by Israeli forces in Ramallah, after being arrested by PA security personnel on allegations of planning an attack.

Abbas, the PA president, regularly and publicly condemns any operations of armed resistance carried out by Palestinians against Israelis.

READ MORE

Will Hamas give up arms for Palestinian reconciliation?

The issue of armed resistance has cast doubt over whether the unity agreement reached this week would succeed. 

"The PA does not believe in the legitimacy of Hamas' arms. This means that the PA wants to end the resistance in Gaza and Hamas refuses that. And if Fatah accepts the resistance, Israel will take measures against the PA," Abdulsattar Qassem, a Nablus-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

"This will inevitably lead to the destruction of the potential new unity government."

How do they rally support?

Hamas' attraction lies in its ideology, compared with Fatah which has more international backing and is seen as more financially secure.

In terms of garnering support, the two employ very different tactics.

Hamas, like the Muslim Brotherhood, uses grassroots activism to inform people on its ideology, in places such as mosques and universities.

Fatah, on the other hand, no longer carries out such exercises, and relies more on providing financial support to gain followers, according to those on the ground.

Al-Aqtash says about half of Fatah loyalists "financially benefit from the PA and get rewards such as salaries and high positions - along with their families.

"Their livelihood is tied to the existence of the PA."

Many still view Fatah's Arafat as a Palestinian leader. In his time, before signing the Oslo Accords, the party supported armed resistance.

"Many of those on the street who support Fatah do so from an emotional perspective - for the slogans and the history of the movement - without really understanding what the movement's current views are," said al-Aqtash.

On the other hand, Hamas has a completely different loyalty base, says Ramallah-based activist Hazem Abu Helal.

"Hamas has a distinct ideology and they have people working to promote their ideas, as opposed to Fatah which uses money to secure its followers," Abu Helal told Al Jazeera.

"Today, if you ask university students, the majority of them do not know what Fatah's ideology is. The movement does not have clear principles." 

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

भारत में दुनिया का पहला अंतरराष्ट्रीय चेरी ब्लॉसम महोत्सव शिलांग में

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नयी दिल्ली 15 अक्तूबर (भाषा) चेरी ब्लॉसम का जिक्र आते ही जेहन में जापान और अमेरिका के वे ठन्डे इलाके याद आते है जहां चेरी के फूलों से लदे बागान सर्द मौसम का स्वागत करने को बेताब दिखते है। लेकिन अब चेरी की रंगत का लुत्फ़ उठाने के लिए जापान या अमेरिका जाने की जरुरत नहीं होगी। सर्द मौसम की आमद पर भारत ने दुनिया भर के सैलानियों को चेरी ब्लॉसम की खुशनुमा रंगत से लुभाने की तैयारी कर ली है। भारत में दुनिया का पहला अंतरराष्ट्रीय चेरी ब्लॉसम महोत्सव मेघालय की राजधानी शिलांग में आयोजित किया जा रहा है। अपने तरह के इस अनूठे आयोजन की विस्तृत रुपरेखा का खुलासा मेघालय के मुख्यमंत्री मुकुल एम संगमा कल यहाँ करेंगे। केंद्र सरकार के सहयोग से मेघालय सरकार द्वारा आगामी आठ नवंबर को इस महोत्सव का आगाज होगा। केंद्र सरकार के जैव प्रोद्यौगिकी विभाग द्वारा मणिपुर के इम्फाल में संचालित जैव संसाधन एवं सतत विकास संस्थान (आईबीएसडी ) और राज्य सरकार चार दिन तक चलने वाले इस महोत्सव का आयोजन कर रहे है।

संस्थान के वैज्ञानिक सचिव अलबर्ट चिआंग ने बताया कि आसमान को अपनी ऊंचाई से नीचे होने का एहसास कराने वाली मेघालय की गगनचुम्बी पहाड़ियों में चेरी की बहार हर साल नवंबर में पूरे उफान पर होती है। कुदरत के इस नायाब तोहफे से दुनिया को रूबरू करने के लिए वैश्विक स्तर के आयोजन की रुपरेखा बनायी गई है। जापान में 'सकुरा' कही जाने वाली गुलाबी रंग की जिस चेरी के पतझड़ को देखने के लिए सैलानी खिंचे चले जाते है, उस चेरी की दोहरी रंगत सैलानियों को शिलांग और यहाँ की विश्व प्रसिद्ध झील "वार्ड लेक" का रुख करने को मजबूर कर देगी, जहां सड़क के दोनों ओर गुलाबी और सफ़ेद चेरी से ढके पेड़ "चेरी ब्लॉसम" का अनूठा अहसास कराएँगे। चिआंग ने बताया कि जापान में पांचवी सदी में राजकीय तौर पर चेरी ब्लॉसम को पारम्परिक पर्व के रूप में मनाने की पहल दूसरे महायुद्ध के बाद विश्व शांति की पहल में तब्दील हो गई। तब जापान ने चेरी के हज़ारो पौधे मैत्री सन्देश वाहक के रूप में अमेरिका को तोहफे में दिए जो आज वाशिंगटन में स्थानीय स्तर पर हर साल होने वाले चेरी ब्लॉसम महोत्सव में दुनिया भर के सैलानियों को लुभाते है।

उन्होंने बताया कि संस्थान के निदेशक दीनबंधु साहू ने पर्यटन और अन्य देशो से आपसी रिश्तों को मजबूत करने में चेरी ब्लॉसम की सामाजिक आर्थिक अहमियत को समझते हुए साल 2015 में राज्य स्तरीय चेरी ब्लॉसम महोत्सव शुरू करने की पहल की थी। पिछले साल इसे राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर सफलतापूर्वक आयोजित करने के बाद इस साल इसे अंतरराष्ट्रीय स्तर पर आयोजित करने का फैसला किया गया है।

इस दौरान चेरी के फूलों से ढकी सड़को पर 'नाईट वाक' के साथ चेरी से बनी वाइन और अन्य पकवानों के जायके का लुत्फ़ स्थानीय पारम्परिक नृत्य और संगीत से सराबोर माहौल में उठाया जा सकेगा। साथ ही इस आयोजन में रोमांच को चेरी ब्लॉसम की तरह पूरे उफान पर ले जाने के लिए फुटबाल मैच, साइकिल रैली और फोटोग्राफी प्रतियोगिता के बीच चेरी के फूलों से बने परिधानों की प्रतियोगिता के लिए 'ब्यूटी कांटेस्ट' का भी आयोजन किया गया है।

Bangladesh steps up security at India border over Rohingya fears

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Dhaka, Oct 15 (AFP) Bangladesh has tightened security along its western border with India amid concern that hundreds of Rohingya Muslim refugees could be pushed into its territory, officials said today.

Patrols have been stepped up along the frontier with India's West Bengal state, where border guards say they have been ordered in recent weeks to steer Rohingya into Bangladesh.

Tariqul Hakim, an area commander of the Border Guard Bangladesh, said Rohingya could be seen gathering opposite the Putkhali frontier post, where just a narrow river divides the two countries.

"We have stepped up surveillance and patrols so that no Rohingya can be pushed into our territory," Lieutenant Colonel Hakim told AFP.

Hakim said Rohingya communities inside India could be trying to reunite with their families in southeast Bangladesh, where more than half a million Rohingya refugees have arrived since August from Myanmar.

An estimated 536,000 refugees have crossed since August 25, fleeing violence in western Myanmar described by the United Nations as ethnic cleansing.

An Indian border guard in West Bengal told AFP that patrols had previously turned over all Rohingya intercepted at the frontier to local police.

"But now our directions are very clear, and that is to push all Rohingya into Bangladesh," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We are trying to accomplish our task with active local support".

Bangladesh already hosts at least 800,000 Rohingya, including those who fled earlier crackdowns in Myanmar, and does not want to accept any from India.

It is trying to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar. But the stateless Muslim minority are reviled in the mainly Buddhist nation and considered to be illegal immigrants.

The unprecedented influx of refugees has put immense pressure on Bangladeshi authorities and charities, who have described the crisis as one of the world's most pressing humanitarian emergencies.