ROHINGYAS SCREAM DONATIONS : GENEVA

Geneva : A virtual international donor conference will be held on Thursday to address a ''dramatic shortfall'' in aid funding for the Rohingya refugees, the UN said.

The United Nations Refugee Agency [UNHCR] said Tuesday that the conference was being held, and called ''to meet urgent humanitarian needs of forcibly displaced Rohingya both inside and outside Myanmar''.

The UN has appealed for more than US$1 billion to meet the humanitarian needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, where more than 800,000 are sheltering in sprawling camps, having fled across the border.

However, the response is facing a ''dramatic shortfall'', said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.

''Less than half of the requested funds have been received so far,'' he told reporters at the UN in Geneva.

The. virtual conference is being co-hosted by UNHCR, the United States, Britain and the European Union. [AFP]