That boat full of starving asylum seekers may be lost off the coast of Thailand

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NEED TO KNOW:

Over the weekend, Thai authorities delivered food and water to hundreds of starving refugees. They were adrift in the sea on a broken boat, floating off the coast of Thailand. Then the authorities dragged the vessel and all its passengers out to international waters and abandoned them. They hoped the refugees would end up at the shores of some other country.

It's now been more than 60 hours since anyone has seen or heard from the passengers on that boat. And the humanitarian world is getting nervous that we may never hear from them again.

The refugees are Rohingya, one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, fleeing discrimination in Myanmar and poverty in Bangladesh. But there is not a country in Southeast Asia willing to help. From Indonesia to Myanmar to Thailand, boats full of desperate people are being dragged back out to sea. And there they are dying.

The Myanmar government, which the United States has promised aid and investment if it continues on a path of reform, refuses to recognize the Rohingya as citizens. They don't get passports. The government restricts their ability to work, travel and marry. They are stateless. And they are so desperate they risk taking deadly boat journeys to unfamiliar countries that don't want them. The most unlucky ones end up at death camps in Thailand run by human smugglers.

The cold strategy of turning back boats full of asylum seekers was first adopted in the region by Australia. It's the policy of Prime Minister Tony Abbott. It's simple, really. If a boat packed full of desperate people — who probably paid much of their life savings to a human smuggler in order to escape the dangers in their home country — enters Australian waters, the Australian military will intercept it. And force it to turn around.

Where they go is not Australia's concern. Abbott says he supports the actions of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, who have all turned back thousands of refugees in recent months. “If other countries choose to do that, frankly that is almost certainly absolutely necessary if the scourge of people smuggling is to be beaten,” Abbott said.

WANT TO KNOW:

The Islamic State is continuing its push for territory in Iraq. Yesterday the group tried to take Khaldiya, which is a town between Ramadi and Fallujah, two key cities now under the Islamic State's control. But this time Iraqi forces, with the help of Sunni militias, repelled the attack. They are pretty much surrounded, however, so it may just be a matter of time.

Recent offensives by the Islamic State have highlighted the group's resilience. They have also drawn attention to the limitations of American airstrikes. During the attack on Ramadi, for instance, Islamic State militants used the opportunity of a sandstorm, which delayed American warplanes, to gain a military advantage.

The military defeat of the Islamic State is only half the battle, or less. The group continues to recruit all over the world. And its finances are surprisingly strong, according to The New York Times. Many analysts had believed the Islamic State would begin to hurt financially as oil prices fell and the expense of controlling such large territories grew.

But it seems the terrorist organization is making more than enough to cover costs. Experts say the group has as much as $900 million in assets. Most of its revenue comes from taxation and extortion in the areas of Iraq it controls. It steals a lot too from Iraq's state-run banks. A much smaller portion of its budget comes from oil revenue and kidnapping ransoms.

The Islamic State's largest expenditure? Personnel. It pays between $3 million and $10 million every month in salaries. The group's leaders are apparently aware that paying well is an effective way to keep people around and working hard.

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

Last week protests against the Burundi president's efforts to serve an unconstitutional third term culminated in an attempted coup. Two factions of the military fought it out. Those that supported the president won in the end.

So when the president spoke for the first time since the failed coup on Sunday, journalists expected him to talk about it. He didn't. Instead he spoke about the apparent threat posed by the Somali terrorist group Al Shabaab. It seemed like the president was trying to create a pretext to justify a security crackdown. Al Shabaab saw right through it:

“We think that this is an attempt by him to appease his people, who are standing in the streets protesting against his dictatorship, or to divert the world's attention from him while he possibly prepares his mass revenge," Sheikh Ali Mahamud Rage, a spokesman for Al Shabaab, told Reuters in a statement.

It's not every day that Al Shabaab sounds like the levelheaded one.