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Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, who tried to cross the Naf River into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, are kept under watch by Bangladeshi security officials in Teknaf, December 25, 2016. (Photo by AFP) Bangladesh is pressing ahead with a controversial plan to relocate refugees from the persecuted Muslim Rohingya community in neighboring Myanmar to a secluded island despite international concern. Bangladeshi officials have for some time been intending to relocate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal in eastern Bangladesh. According to a government statement late on Sunday, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali has sought help from foreign countries and organizations with the relocation plan. Ali briefed representatives from diplomatic missions and several United Nations agencies to take “meaningful measures” to resettle the refugees. Sixty ambassadors, high commissioners, heads of various diplomatic missions, and officials from UN agencie...

Oil prices edged higher on Friday in response to the possibility of new sanctions on Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump said "nothing is off the table" in response to its test launch of a missile. Comments by Russian energy minister Alexander Novak that oil producers had cut their output as agreed under a deal with OPEC also helped to support prices, analysts said. Brent crude futures were up 15 cents to $56.71 a barrel by 1322 GMT, after settling 24 cents lower at $56.56 in the previous session. Brent was on track to gain more than 2 percent on the week, its first significant weekly rise this year. Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 15 cents to $53.69 a barrel, after ending 34 cents down on Thursday. For the week, the contract is up just under 1 percent. Reuters reported on Thursday that the Trump administration is prepared to roll out new measures against more than two dozen Iranian targets following Tehran's ballistic missile test, a...