DHAKA, Bangladesh: While Sheikh Hasina is set to begin her third consecutive term as Bangladesh’s prime minister following a landslide election victory, critics say having such an overwhelming majority in Parliament could create space for her to become even more authoritarian.
The Hasina-led coalition won 288 seats in the 300-seat Parliament in Sunday’s election, amid allegations by the opposition that the voting was rigged. Hasina rejected the accusations at a briefing with foreign journalists a day after the vote.
The new Cabinet is expected to be sworn in by Jan. 10, but members of the opposition alliance, which won only seven seats, said they would not take the oath. In response, the ruling party’s general secretary said by-elections would be held for those seats. This would result in a Parliament with virtually no opposition.
Over her last 10 years as prime minister, Hasina took up many development projects, from power generation to the building of a seaport, but her record of maintaining human rights was widely criticized by activists and international rights groups. Some of those critics now say her new government could be even more iron-handed and aggressive.
More than a dozen people were killed in election-related violence Sunday, and the election campaign was dogged by allegations of the arrests and jailing of thousands of Hasina’s opponents.
Dozens of activists took to the streets of Dhaka on Tuesday to protest the alleged gang rape by Hasina supporters of a mother of four who had voted for the opposition.
The opposition had blamed Hasina’s government for arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of dissenters, while the jailing of a renowned photographer on charges of spreading propaganda against the government sparked criticism at home and abroad. The enactment of a digital security law ahead of the election was criticized by journalists and rights groups who said it would choke free speech and media freedom.
The opposition accused the security agencies and the police of intimidation and threats to prevent them from campaigning ahead of the elections, and there were allegations that the Election Commission and other departments overlooked the complaints.
“Sheikh Hasina’s government during its previous term displayed an increasingly authoritarian streak, deeming all legitimate criticism to be anti-state,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “The ruling Awami League’s student and youth groups had free rein to bully and intimidate, while civil society faced pressure to self-censor.”
“It was particularly unfortunate that senior officials refused to address concerns of victims, including families of disappeared persons,” Ganguly said.
She doubted that the next government would be more tolerant.
“We remain concerned that a government that has allowed impunity for serious violations like extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances will persist with little tolerance for dissent and constructive criticism,” Ganguly said.
Hasina trumpeted her development agenda to woo voters and said people voted her to power again for the development bonanza. She took up some big projects, including a bridge more than 5 kilometers (3 miles) long, a nuclear power plant and metro rail system for Dhaka, the capital.
But an analyst said it was not a legitimate argument.
“When you say that we’ll give you development but you have to sacrifice your rights, you have to sacrifice your voice,” said Asif Nazrul, a law professor at Dhaka University and a government critic. “Because if you look at the constitution of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, nowhere is it written that we are going to give you development but forget your political and civil rights.”
Still, Hasina enjoys a lot of support, especially from religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation who say she has safeguarded their rights.
At the Dhakeshwari Temple in Dhaka, Hindus poured in on Tuesday to pray and get a glimpse of the Goddess Durga, something they say was not possible under previous governments.
“She has definitely unleashed and freed us minorities,” Jayanti Sharma, a Hindu devotee who was visiting from a nearby town, said of Hasina.
While Parliament could be without a practical opposition, no major opposition leaders even exist in the country to pose a serious threat to Hasina.
Her archrival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is in jail. A court deemed Zia ineligible to run for office because she was sentenced to more than two years in prison after being convicted of corruption. Her supporters say the charges were politically motivated.
In Zia’s absence, opposition parties formed a coalition led by Kamal Hossain, an 82-year-old former member of Hasina’s Awami League who served as foreign minister under Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding leader.
Hossain is a leader of his small party, Gono Forum, which does not have much popular support. Hasina and Zia, on the other hand, have much larger support bases and attract hundreds of thousands of supporters to their rallies.
On Monday, during a briefing with foreign journalists and election observers, Hasina came down heavily on the opposition. In a wide-ranging discussion, she refused a suggestion that she offer her political foes an olive branch.
“The opposition you see, who are they? The main party, BNP, it was established by a military dictator (Zia’s husband, Ziaur Rahman) who introduced martial law in this country. There were no constitutional rights for the people,” Hasina said.
She dismissed questions about the fairness of the election.
“I feel that it was a very peaceful election,” Hasina said. “Some incidents took place, some of our Awami League party workers were killed by the opposition. I’m very sorry for that, but I always appreciate our law enforcement agencies, also our people who were working hard to have this election in a peaceful manner.”
But there have been allegations of widespread irregularities with the election.
On Sunday, The Associated Press received more than 50 calls from people across the country who identified themselves as opposition supporters complaining of intimidation and threats, and of being forced to vote in front of ruling party men inside polling booths.
Those complaints could not be verified independently.
Hasina’s dominating win feared as enabling authoritarianism
Hasina’s dominating win feared as enabling authoritarianism
- The new Cabinet is expected to be sworn in by Jan. 10, but members of the opposition alliance, which won only seven seats, said they would not take the oath
The US government has a new policy for terminating international students’ legal status
- On Friday, after mounting court challenges, federal officials said the government was restoring international students’ legal status while it developed a framework to guide future terminations
WASHINGTON: The US government has begun shedding new light on a crackdown on international students, spelling out how it targeted thousands of people and laying out the grounds for terminating their legal status.
The new details emerged in lawsuits filed by some of the students who suddenly had their status canceled in recent weeks with little explanation.
In the past month, foreign students around the US have been rattled to learn their records had been removed from a student database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some went into hiding for fear of being picked up by immigration authorities or abandoned their studies to return home.
On Friday, after mounting court challenges, federal officials said the government was restoring international students’ legal status while it developed a framework to guide future terminations. In a court filing Monday, it shared the new policy: a document issued over the weekend with guidance on a range of reasons students’ status can be canceled, including the revocation of the visas they used to enter the US
Brad Banias, an immigration attorney representing a student whose status was terminated, said the new guidelines vastly expand ICE’s authority beyond previous policy, which did not count visa revocation as grounds for losing legal status.
“This just gave them carte blanche to have the State Department revoke a visa and then deport those students even if they’ve done nothing wrong,” Banias said.
Many of the students who had visas revoked or lost their legal status said they had only minor infractions on their record, including driving infractions. Some did not know why they were targeted at all.
Lawyers for the government provided some explanation at a hearing Tuesday in the case of Banias’ client Akshar Patel, an international student studying information systems in Texas. Patel’s status was terminated — and then reinstated — this month, and he is seeking a preliminary court ruling to keep him from being deported.
In court filings and in the hearing, Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through the National Crime Information Center, an FBI-run database that contains reams of information related to crimes. It includes the names of suspects, missing persons and people who have been arrested, even if they have never been charged with a crime or had charges dropped.
In total, about 6,400 students were identified in the database search, US District Judge Ana Reyes said in the hearing Tuesday. One of the students was Patel, who had been pulled over and charged with reckless driving in 2018. The charge was ultimately dropped — information that is also in NCIC.
Patel appears in a spreadsheet with 734 students whose names had come up in NCIC. That spreadsheet was forwarded to a Homeland Security official, who, within 24 hours of receiving it, replied: “Please terminate all in SEVIS.” That’s a different database listing foreigners who have legal status as students in the US
Reyes said the short time frame suggested that no one had reviewed the records individually to find out why the students’ names came up in NCIC.
“All of this could have been avoided if someone had taken a beat,” said Reyes, who was appointed by President Joe Biden. She said the government had demonstrated “an utter lack of concern for individuals who have come into this country.”
When colleges discovered the students no longer had legal status, it prompted chaos and confusion. In the past, college officials say, legal statuses typically were updated after colleges told the government the students were no longer studying at the school. In some cases, colleges told students to stop working or taking classes and warned them they could be deported.
Still, government attorneys said the change in the database did not mean the students actually lost legal status, even though some of the students were labeled “failure to maintain status.” Instead, lawyers said, it was intended to be an “investigative red flag.”
“Mr. Patel is lawfully present in the US,” Andre Watson of the Department of Homeland Security said. “He is not subject to immediate detention or removal.”
Reyes declined to issue a preliminary injunction and urged lawyers from both sides to come to a settlement to ensure Patel could stay in the US
Trump eases auto tariffs burden as Lutnick touts first foreign trade deal
WASHINGTON/DETROIT: US President Donald Trump signed a pair of orders to soften the blow of his auto tariffs on Tuesday with a mix of credits and relief from other levies on materials, and his trade team touted its first deal with a foreign trading partner.
The developments helped eased some investor worries about the erratic trade policies of Trump as the president visited Michigan, a cradle of the US auto industry, just days before a fresh set of 25 percent import taxes was set to kick in on automotive components.
The trip, on the eve of his 100th day in office, came as Americans take an increasingly dim view of Trump’s economic stewardship, with indications his tariffs will weigh on growth and could drive up inflation and unemployment.
In his latest partial reversal of tariff policies, the Republican president agreed to give carmakers two years to boost the percentage of domestic components in vehicles assembled domestically.
It will allow them to offset tariffs for imported auto parts used in US-assembled vehicles equal to 3.75 percent of the total value of the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of vehicles they build in the US through April 2026, and 2.5 percent of US production through April 30, 2027.
Auto industry leaders had lobbied the administration furiously during the weeks since Trump first unveiled his 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts. The levies, aimed at forcing automakers to reshore manufacturing domestically, had threatened to scramble a North American automotive production network integrated across the US, Canada and Mexico.
It offers the industry a “little relief” as companies invest in more US production, Trump said as he left Washington for Michigan. “We just wanted to help them ... if they can’t get parts, we didn’t want to penalize them.”
The White House said the change will not affect the 25 percent tariffs imposed last month on the 8 million vehicles the United States imports annually.
Autos Drive America, a group representing Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, Hyundai and nine other foreign automakers, said Trump’s order provided some relief “but more must be done in order to turbocharge the US auto industry.”
MORE TARIFF UNCERTAINTY
Candace Laing, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the tariff fix fell short of what companies in the deeply integrated North American industry needed.
“Only an end to tariffs provides real relief. Ongoing ups and downs perpetuate uncertainty, and uncertainty drives away business for both Canada and the U.S,” she said in a statement.
The uncertainty unleashed across the auto sector by Trump’s tariffs remained on full display Tuesday when GM pulled its annual forecast even as it reported strong quarterly sales and profit. In an unusual move, the carmaker also opted to delay a scheduled conference call with analysts until later in the week, after the details of tariff changes were known.
Meanwhile, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC he had reached a deal with one foreign power that should permanently ease the “reciprocal” tariffs Trump plans to impose. Lutnick declined to identify the country, saying the deal was pending local approvals.
“I have a deal done ... but I need to wait for their prime minister and their parliament to give its approval,” he said.
White House officials had no further comment on the country in question, but Trump struck an upbeat tone about a deal with India, telling reporters: “India is coming along great. I think we’ll have a deal with India.”
Lutnick’s comments helped further lift stock prices that had been battered by Trump’s moves to reshape global trade and force goods makers to shift production to the US. The benchmark S&P 500 Index closed 0.6 percent higher for a sixth day of gains, its longest streak of gains since November.
WRONG ON EVERY PREDICTION
Trump and his team aim to strike 90 trade deals during a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs announced earlier in April. His administration has repeatedly said it was negotiating bilateral trade deals with dozens of countries.
A chief Trump goal is to bring down a massive US goods trade deficit, which shot to a record in March on a surge of imports aimed at front-running the levies.
Trump’s aggressive trade stance has cascaded through the global economy since his return to office in January, and the 90-day pause was unveiled after fears of recession and inflation sent financial markets into a tailspin.
Easing the impact of auto levies is Trump’s latest move to show flexibility on tariffs which have sown turmoil in financial markets, created uncertainty for businesses and sparked fears of a sharp economic slowdown. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Tuesday showed just 36 percent of respondents approve of his economic stewardship, the lowest level in his current term or in his 2017-2021 presidency.
Meanwhile, the US will release the first quarterly report on US gross domestic product during Trump’s term on Wednesday. It is expected to reflect a large drag from his tariffs, mostly from a record surge in imports as companies and consumers front-loaded purchases of foreign goods to try to beat the new levies. The economy is expected to have expanded at a 0.3 percent annualized rate from January through March, according to a Reuters poll of economists, down from 2.4 percent in the final three months of 2024.
American and global companies are increasingly sounding the alarm about the tariffs’ effects on their ability to plan.
UPS on Tuesday said it would cut 20,000 jobs to lower costs, while US ketchup maker Kraft Heinz and Swedish appliances maker Electrolux were among companies citing tariff headwinds.
About 40 companies worldwide have pulled or lowered their forward guidance in the first two weeks of first-quarter earnings season, a Reuters analysis showed.
“Every single prediction has been proved to be wrong,” Yannick Fierling, Electrolux CEO, told Reuters. “I’m surprised if people are claiming they have a view where tariffs are going.”
Trump celebrates 100 days in office with campaign-style rally
- Joe Biden is “sleepy,” the media is “fake,” judges who oppose him are “communist,” Democratic opponents are “radical left,” and friendly countries have “abused us more so than foe on trade,” Trump said, listing targets of his ire
- Unlike most presidents, Trump has focused more on energizing his base than broadening his appeal — and many supporters are still with him
WARREN, United States: Donald Trump promised Tuesday that he is just getting started as he marked the radical and vengeful beginning of a presidency that has shaken the world and destabilized the United States.
Basking in the adulation of cheering supporters in Michigan, the 78-year-old touted the “most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country,” even as polls show Americans becoming disenchanted with the economic and political tumult.
Trump said he missed the campaign trail, and launched with visible relish into a speech that often sounded more like that of a candidate than a head of state.
Joe Biden is “sleepy,” the media is “fake,” judges who oppose him are “communist,” Democratic opponents are “radical left,” and friendly countries have “abused us more so than foe on trade,” Trump said, listing targets of his ire.
The president promised to conclude deals on trade, but provided little in the way of details.
And — to chants of “USA! USA!” — he showed a video of migrants in handcuffs and shackles being taken from a plane, transported by bus and filmed on their knees as their heads were shaved, illustrating his controversial deportation policy.
Trump has shaken up the United States like few presidents before him.
His billionaire backer Elon Musk has led dramatic cutbacks of the federal workforce, and the president himself has reshaped relations with the world by unveiling sweeping tariffs, berating allies and eliminating much foreign aid.
Polls show that the honeymoon period that Americans historically accord presidents at the start of their terms has evaporated for Trump, who has angrily dismissed the results, but has tacitly acknowledged that he must moderate some policies as stock market turmoil takes a toll.
Wall Street, down more than six percent since Trump took office, ticked up Tuesday on news he would soften some of the sweeping tariffs impacting automakers.
He also recently backtracked on threats to fire Jerome Powell — who has warned that Trump’s tariffs would likely reignite inflation — but still criticized the Federal Reserve chairman Tuesday as “not really doing a good job.”
After a 2017-2021 term in which some aides sought to rein him in, Trump has surrounded himself this time with unabashed loyalists — and told reporters he was on track to accomplish all of his second-term goals.
“I think either we’ve done everything, or it’s in the process of being done,” Trump said before heading to his rally.
In the grand entrance hallway of the White House, Trump has removed a portrait of Barack Obama, the United States’ first Black president, to make way for a painting of himself surviving an assassination attempt.
He has used threats of cutting off government access and contracts to pressure law firms whose partners once were involved in cases against him, and he has frozen billions of dollars in funding for universities — hotbeds of criticism against the administration.
Unlike most presidents, Trump has focused more on energizing his base than broadening his appeal — and many supporters are still with him.
“He’s amazing. Everybody’s worried about tariffs. We don’t care — look at everything else that’s coming together too,” said Donna Fitzsimons, a 65-year-old merchandise seller at the Michigan rally venue ahead of Trump’s appearance.
“People don’t realize it takes time to get where you need to go.”
The rival Democratic Party has seized on economic anxieties although it has also struggled in polling.
“Trump is to blame for the fact that life is more expensive, it’s harder to retire, and a ‘Trump recession’ is at our doorstep,” the Democratic National Committee said, calling the 100 days a “colossal failure.”
Even with Congress narrowly in Republican hands, Trump has tested the limits of presidential power by signing more than 140 executive orders, many of which have faced court scrutiny.
He has sought to end birthright citizenship — which is guaranteed by the US Constitution — and Musk has summarily axed billions of dollars appropriated by Congress.
Trump has shown signs of impatience. He promised on the campaign trail to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, but Russia has rebuffed a broad ceasefire offer.
The former reality TV star has claimed the pledge was made “in jest,” although CNN reported that he made it more than 50 times before taking office, and was even at pains to point out that he was being serious.
Pakistan’s minister Tarar warns of possible Indian military strike within 24-36 hours
- “Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext,” Tarar said in a post on social media platform X
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that the country has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours.
This comes as tensions rise between the two nuclear-armed nations rise as India has said there were Pakistani elements to the attack that killed 26 men at a tourist spot in Indian Kashmir last week.
Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.
Since the attack, the nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India putting the critical Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
“Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext,” Tarar said in a post on social media platform X.
“Any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response. India will be fully responsible for any serious consequences in the region,” he added.
India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue and punish the attackers.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan. Each controls only part of it and have fought wars over the Himalayan region.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters that a military incursion by India was imminent.
Pakistan was on high alert but would only use its nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence,” Asif said in an interview at his office in Islamabad.
US threatens to quit Russia-Ukraine effort unless ‘concrete proposals’
- It remains unclear if Rubio is actually ready to turn the page or is seeking to pressure the two countries — especially Russia
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Tuesday that the United States would end mediation unless Russia and Ukraine put forward “concrete proposals,” as US patience wanes on an early priority for Donald Trump.
The US president had vowed to end the war in his first 24 hours back in the White House but, as Trump celebrates 100 days in office, Rubio has suggested the administration could soon turn attention to other issues.
“We are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters, in what she said was a message from Rubio.
“If there is not progress, we will step back as mediators in this process.”
She said it would ultimately be up to Trump to decide whether to move ahead on diplomacy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently proposed a three-day ceasefire around Moscow’s commemorations next week for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
But Putin has rebuffed a Ukrainian-backed US call for a 30-day ceasefire.
The United States wants “not a three-day moment so you can celebrate something else — a complete, durable ceasefire and an end to the conflict,” Bruce said.
It remains unclear if Rubio is actually ready to turn the page or is seeking to pressure the two countries — especially Russia, which believes it has an upper hand on the battlefield and in diplomacy since Trump’s outreach.
US diplomat James Kelley, addressing a UN Security Council session, said both sides would benefit from working off the “framework proposal” outlined by Washington.
Condemning Russian strikes on Ukraine, he said: “Right now, Russia has a great opportunity to achieve a durable peace.”
Trump, criticizing his predecessor Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine, reached out to Putin after taking office, easing him from the international isolation he has been in since he ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Putin again last week met with Trump’s business friend Steve Witkoff, who has taken on the role of a globe-trotting envoy.
Trump in turn berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a February 28 White House meeting, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance accusing the wartime leader of ingratitude for US weapons.
Ukraine quickly tried to make amends by backing US diplomatic efforts and pursuing a deal in which the United States would control much of the country’s mineral wealth.
But Zelensky has held firm against one part of the US framework — formal international recognition of Russia’s 2014 takeover of Crimea.
Trump has insisted that Ukraine has lost Crimea and Zelensky should give it up.
Speaking by videoconference to an event in Poland on Tuesday, Zelensky said: “We all want this war to end in a fair way — with no rewards for Putin, especially no land.”
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday that recognizing “Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea would invite additional aggression from Moscow and Beijing.”
“I have endeavored to give President Trump the space to negotiate a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, which is a goal we both share,” she said.
“However, President Trump and his team have fatally mismanaged these negotiations — offering concession after concession to Russia, throwing away our leverage and fracturing the united front with our allies that is critical to ending this war,” she said.
Ukraine on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of seven villages in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region which used to be remote from the frontlines but are now under threat as Russian forces close in.
Russia has been trying to break into the region from the neighboring Donetsk but has not succeeded, even after more than three years of grinding battles.
Last week a ballistic missile ripped into a residential area of Kyiv in one of the deadliest attacks on the capital since the invasion.
Trump, who has boasted of his rapport with Putin, wrote, “Vladimir, STOP,” on social media after the attack.
