DHAKA: Demonstrations in Bangladesh after Friday prayers demanded justice for victims of nationwide unrest and police crackdown, after the release of protest leaders failed to quell public anger.
Student rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem that killed at least 206 people last month, according to an AFP count of police and hospital data.
The violence was some of the worst of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year tenure, and the actions of her government’s security forces provoked widespread rancor at home and international criticism abroad.
A day after police freed six top members of the group which organized the initial protests, its leaders urged their compatriots to once again return to the streets.
“We want justice for the murders of our sisters and brothers,” Students Against Discrimination said in a statement.
Thousands of young men in the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong heeded the call after midday worship in the Muslim-majority nation, defying torrential monsoon rains.
“Why are our brothers in graves and the killers outside?” one crowd chanted outside the country’s largest mosque in central Dhaka, a teeming megacity of 20 million people.
Students Against Discrimination had demanded the release of its detained leaders, three of whom were forcibly checked out of a hospital and taken away by plainclothes police last week.
Their release was a sign the government was hoping to “de-escalate tensions” with protesters, University of Oslo researcher Mubashar Hasan said on Thursday.
But other demands by the students remain unmet, including a public apology from Hasina for the violence and the dismissal of several of her ministers.
They have also insisted that the government reopen schools and universities around the country, all of which were shuttered at the height of the unrest.
Many protesters have gone further, demanding Hasina step down altogether.
“She must go,” writer and activist Arup Rahee said from a rally in the capital. “There will be no justice for the student murders if she remains in power.”
Internet outage monitor Netblocks reported that service providers had again restricted access to Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram, all used last month to organize protests.
“We were instructed by the authorities to block Facebook,” said an official from one phone company, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Demonstrations began in early July over the reintroduction of a quota scheme — since scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court — that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.
With around 18 million young Bangladeshis out of work, according to government figures, the move upset graduates facing an acute employment crisis.
Critics say the quota system was used to stack public jobs with loyalists to the ruling Awami League.
Last month’s protests had remained largely peaceful until attacks on demonstrators by police and pro-government student groups.
Hasina’s government eventually imposed a nationwide curfew, deployed troops and shut down the nation’s mobile Internet network for 11 days to restore order.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell this week condemned the police clampdown that followed for “excessive and lethal force against protesters and others,” urging an independent investigation into their conduct.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters last weekend that security forces had operated with restraint but were “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.
At least 32 children were among those killed last month, the UN children’s agency said Friday.
Diplomats said Hasina’s government had approached the United Nations to assist with its own probe into the unrest but had been rebuffed.
“The UN called for an impartial, independent and transparent investigation into all alleged human rights violations,” a United Nations official said on condition of anonymity.
“The UN, however, does not support national investigations in the way that is being suggested.”
Student leader release fails to quell Bangladesh protests
https://arab.news/jwkmm
Student leader release fails to quell Bangladesh protests
- Student rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem that killed at least 206 people last month
- The violence was some of the worst of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year tenure
Stop-gap US budget bill planned by Republicans will hurt thousands of military programs, defense chief warns
- Congress will have to pass some type of temporary measure by Sept. 30 in order to avoid a shutdown of the federal government
- Austin said a temporary bill would stall research and development projects, and slow progress key nuclear, ship-building, high-tech drone and other weapons programs
WASHINGTON: Passage of a six-month temporary spending bill would have widespread and devastating effects on the Defense Department, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a letter to key members of Congress on Sunday.
Austin said that passing a continuing resolution that caps spending at 2024 levels, rather than taking action on the proposed 2025 budget will hurt thousands of defense programs, and damage military recruiting just as it is beginning to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Asking the department to compete with (China), let alone manage conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, while under a lengthy CR, ties our hands behind our back while expecting us to be agile and to accelerate progress,” said Austin in the letter to leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has teed up a vote this week on a bill that would keep the federal government funded for six more months. The measure aims to garner support from his more conservative GOP members by also requiring states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when registering a person to vote.
Congress needs to approve a stop-gap spending bill before the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown just a few weeks before voters go to the polls and elect the next president.
Austin said the stop-gap measure would cut defense spending by more than $6 billion compared to the 2025 spending proposal. And it would take money from key new priorities while overfunding programs that no longer need it.
Under a continuing resolution, new projects or programs can’t be started. Austin said that passing the temporary bill would stall more than $4.3 billion in research and development projects and delay 135 new military housing and construction projects totaling nearly $10 billion.
It also would slow progress on a number of key nuclear, ship-building, high-tech drone and other weapons programs. Many of those projects are in an array of congressional districts, and could also have an impact on local residents and jobs.
Since the bill would not fund legally required pay raises for troops and civilians, the department would have to find other cuts to offset them. Those cuts could halt enlistment bonuses, delay training for National Guard and Reserve forces, limit flying hours and other training for active-duty troops and impede the replacement of weapons and other equipment that has been pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine.
Going forward with the continuing resolution, said Austin, will “subject service members and their families to unnecessary stress, empower our adversaries, misalign billions of dollars, damage our readiness, and impede our ability to react to emergent events.”
Noting that there have been 48 continuing resolutions during 14 of the last 15 fiscal years — for a total of nearly 1,800 days — Austin said Congress must break the pattern of inaction because the US military can’t compete with China “with our hands tied behind our back every fiscal year.”
Johnson’s bill is not expected to get support in the Democratic-controlled Senate, if it even makes it that far. But Congress will have to pass some type of temporary measure by Sept. 30 in order to avoid a shutdown.
Putin loyalists set to win local elections in war-affected Russian regions
- Results of the tightly controlled elections are already being interpreted in Russia as a vote of confidence in Putin
Supporters of President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine were set to win gubernatorial races across Russia, according to early vote counts on Sunday, including in Kursk where Ukrainian forces have seized control of some towns and territory.
Russia’s three-day local and regional elections came to an end on Sunday evening, with voters expected to elect Kremlin-backed candidates in all 21 gubernatorial races, as well as legislative assembly members in 13 regions and city council officials across the country.
Results of the tightly controlled elections are already being interpreted in Russia as a vote of confidence in Putin and his operation in Ukraine, now in its third year — just as was the election in March that extended his presidential term and voting a year ago.
“Let’s be honest: there is a war going on. Our task is to defeat our enemy,” Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and now the chairman of the ruling United Russia party said on Sunday, as cited by the TASS state news agency.
“It is extremely important not to lose the trust of the citizens of Russia, our comrades, during this period.”
In the border Kursk region, which together with the Kremlin was caught by surprise in August by an ongoing incursion by Ukrainian forces, the acting governor leads the race with more than half of the vote counted.
Alexei Smirnov, who has led the region since May, has received nearly 66 percent of the vote so far, according to data from the Russian Central Election Commission.
In the Lipetsk region in Russia’s southwest — a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks — the current governor and United Russia candidate, Igor Artamonov, has received 80 percent of votes with nearly all votes counted.
Former Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, also of United Russia, is leading in the by-election to the lower-house State Duma, in the border Bryansk region, another area frequently affected by Ukrainian air attacks.
Ethiopia PM issues warning over sovereignty
- Ethiopia is currently a major contributor to ATMIS, which is helping Somali forces in the fight against the Al-Shabab jihadist group
NAIROBI: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed warned Sunday that his country would “humiliate” any nation that threatens its sovereignty, as tensions spiral in the volatile Horn of Africa.
Africa’s second most populous nation is locked in a dispute with neighboring Somalia over a maritime deal it signed with the breakaway region of Somaliland. Relations with Egypt are also fraught over Ethiopia’s mega-dam on the Blue Nile.
“We will not be touched! However, we will humiliate anyone who dares to threaten us in order to dissuade them,” Abiy said at a Sovereignty Day ceremony in the capital Addis Ababa.
“We won’t negotiate with anyone on Ethiopia’s sovereignty and dignity,” he was quoted as saying by the official Ethiopian News Agency.
Ethiopia last month accused unnamed actors of seeking to “destabilize the region” after Egypt sent military equipment to Somalia following the signing of a military cooperation pact between Cairo and Mogadishu.
Egypt has also offered to deploy troops to Somalia under a new African Union-led mission that will replace the current peacekeeping force known as ATMIS next year.
Ethiopia is currently a major contributor to ATMIS, which is helping Somali forces in the fight against the Al-Shabab jihadist group.
But Mogadishu is furious over a deal signed in January between Ethiopia and Somaliland that gives Addis Ababa long-sought after access to the sea, saying it was an attack on its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Under the pact, Somaliland agreed to lease 20 kilometers (12 miles) of its coast for 50 years to Ethiopia, which wants to set up a naval base and a commercial port on the coast.
In return, Somaliland has said Ethiopia would give it formal recognition, although this has never been confirmed by Addis Ababa.
Turkiye has been mediating indirect talks between Ethiopia and Somalia to try to resolve the dispute, but they have made no significant breakthrough.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate of 4.5 million people, declared independence in 1993 but the move is rejected by Mogadishu and not recognized by the international community.
Cairo and Addis Ababa have been at loggerheads for years, trading incendiary words over Ethiopia’s massive hydroelectric dam project, which Egypt says threatens its fragile water security.
NATO members Romania, Latvia report Russian drones breach airspace
- Romanian lawmakers plan to consider legislation at their current session on enabling Romania to shoot down drones invading the country’s airspace in peacetime
BUCHAREST: Romania and Latvia, both NATO members and supporters of Ukraine in its 2 1/2-year-old war with Russia, on Sunday were investigating instances of Russian drones that crashed after breaching their airspace, authorities in both countries said.
The incidents prompted officials to call for measures to act jointly to counter Russia air incursions.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana denounced the incidents as “irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” while saying there was no indication of a deliberate attack on Alliance member-states.
The Romanian defense ministry said the “radar supervision system identified and tracked the path of a drone which entered national airspace and then exited toward Ukraine.”
Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to monitor the incursion. Residents of the southeastern Romanian counties of Tulcea and Constanta were warned to take cover.
“From existing data, the possibility of an impact zone on national territory was identified, in an uninhabited area near the village of Periprava,” the ministry added.
Ministry personnel were searching the area of impact.
In Latvia, which borders both Russia and its close ally Belarus, President Edgars Rinkevics posted on social media platform X that his government sought a common NATO response.
“The number of such incidents is increasing along the Eastern flank of NATO and we must address them collectively,” Rinkevics wrote.
The LETA news agency quoted the defense ministry as saying initial investigation showed that the drone had entered Latvian airspace from Belarus and crashed near the city of Rezekne.
Leonids Kalnins, Commander of Latvia’s Joint Headquarters, said experts believed the drone “did not have a specific purpose to fly into Latvia.”
Defense Minister Andris Spruds, quoted by LETA, said the incident was “confirmation that we need to continue the work we have started to strengthen Latvia’s eastern border, including the development of air defense capabilities and electronic warfare capabilities...”
Ukraine’s newly-appointed Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on X that the two cases were “a stark reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions extend beyond Ukraine” and called for maximum support from Ukraine’s allies.
Romania shares a 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine and has had Russian drone fragments stray into its territory repeatedly over the past year. Romanian territory lies a few hundred meters from Ukrainian Danube River ports, frequent Russian targets.
“There weren’t serious issues on the ground,” Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told reporters on Sunday after consulting with the defense minister.
“(Attacks) will continue. That is it, we have a war on the border.”
Romanian lawmakers plan to consider legislation at their current session on enabling Romania to shoot down drones invading the country’s airspace in peacetime.
Six bodies found off Sicily coast, likely victims of recent migrant shipwreck, media say
- The survivors told rescuers they had set off from Libya on Sept. 1 and that 21 of the 28 people on board, including three children, had fallen into the sea in rough weather
MILAN: Italy’s coast guard recovered six bodies off the coast of Sicily, believed to be some of the 21 missing from a migrant shipwreck earlier this month, Italian media reported on Sunday.
The Italian coast guard said on Wednesday that seven people, all male Syrian nationals, were picked up from a semi-sunken boat southwest of the island of Lampedusa after a shipwreck.
The survivors told rescuers they had set off from Libya on Sept. 1 and that 21 of the 28 people on board, including three children, had fallen into the sea in rough weather.
Italian news agency AGI reported that rescuers believe the six bodies are some of the 21 missing from the shipwreck, based on the coordinates of where they were found.
The central Mediterranean is among the world’s deadliest migration routes. According to the UN migration agency (IOM), more than 2,500 migrants died or went missing attempting the crossing last year, and 1,116 since the beginning of the year.
The latest figures from the Italian interior ministry recorded that just over 43,000 migrants had reached Italy so far in 2024, well down from previous years.
