Burma Muslims…Abuse at Home, Death at Sea

BANDA ACEH — Muhammad Zubair felt like being born again when a boat carrying him and nearly 200 fellow Rohingya Muslims finally landed on Indonesia shores after weeks of being stranded at sea.

"The Thai military officers put us on the boat and kicked us out to the sea without sufficient food," Zubair, one of the Rohingya refugees, told IslamOnline.net at Idi General Hospital in Indonesia’s Eastern province of Aceh.

He and 198 ailing Rohingyas, some in critical condition, sailed into the most-western part of Indonesia’s coastline Sabang island in Aceh province on February 3.

"We departed from our hometown on December 18 in six boats," recalled Zubair.

"I don’t know what happened to the three other boats."

A first boat with 193 Rohingya refugees on board reached Aceh shores on January 7.

The two boats are believed to have been among many carrying about 1,200 Rohingya who fled persecution back home and landed on Thai shores late last year.

Hundreds of them were feared to have drowned after the Thai military dumped as many as 10 wooden boats far out to sea with no motors and hardly any provisions.

Besides the two boats that came to Indonesia, three arrived in India and one in Thailand.

The three other boats are unaccounted for.

Many of the Rohingya Muslims who arrived safely

Plan to end Syria crisis falls flat

WASHINGTON (AP) — The much-hyped plan to end Syria's misery and guide its transition to democracy appears to have fallen flat despite the endorsement of Western powers. 

Russia's objections gutted the most stringent conditions on a potential interim leader in Damascus. The Syrian opposition quickly dismissed the proposal as a waste of time and with "no value on the ground."

The U.S. and its allies insist the plan will force Syrian President Bshar-ul-Asad from power. Russia disagrees and Assad is unlikely to acquiesce.

It all leaves U.N. envoy Kofi Annan's efforts to end 15 months of bloodshed no better off than before.

Western nations needed to win Russia's backing for the plan at an international conference Saturday in Geneva, so they dropped the demand that "those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize