Headline

More Than 100,000 Protest To Demand Bangladesh PM Step Down

Published

2 years ago

October 28, 2023

Over 100,000 supporters of two major Bangladesh opposition parties rallied in the capital Dhaka on Saturday, police said, demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down to allow a free and fair vote under a neutral government.

Saturday’s rallies by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, were the biggest so far this year, AFP journalists on site said, and marked a new phase in their protests with a general election due within three months.

Hasina — daughter of the country’s founding leader — has been in power for 15 years and has overseen rapid economic growth with Bangladesh overtaking neighbouring India in GDP per capita, but inflation has risen and her government is accused of corruption and human rights abuses.

The resurgent opposition has been mounting protests to press their demands for months, despite the BNP’s ailing leader Khaleda Zia, a two-time premier and old foe of Hasina’s, being effectively under house arrest after a conviction on corruption charges.

Her supporters poured into Dhaka on Saturday, crammed into buses despite checkpoints on the road into the capital, and even rode on top of packed trains.

“Vote thief, vote thief, Sheikh Hasina vote thief,” chanted the crowd at the BNP demonstration in front of the party headquarters.

Student activist Sekandar Badsha, 24, from Chittagong, said: “We demand the immediate resignation of the Hasina government, release of our leader Khaleda Zia and establishing the people’s right to vote.”

At least 10,000 police had been deployed to prevent violence, officials said, but officers clashed with hundreds of protestors in the Kakrail neighbourhood in front of the city’s largest Catholic church, with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

“Some police officers were injured,” deputy police commissioner Akterul Islam told AFP.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain said that at least 100,000 people had joined the BNP rally, while up to 25,000 were at the Jamaat protest near the city’s main commercial district.

That event had been banned by police and hundreds of officers in riot gear blocked off a key intersection, but about 3,000 protesters broke through the cordon, an AFP correspondent at the scene saw.

‘Final call’

Police arrested at least 200 BNP supporters near the party headquarters after they were accused of hurling Molotov cocktails, Faruk said, adding at least 600 had been detained over the previous week.

BNP spokesman Zahir Uddin Swapan told AFP that there were more than one million people at its rally, which he described as its “final call” for Hasina to resign, and at least 2,900 of its activists and supporters had been held over the past week.

If Hasina does not step down voluntarily — widely seen as inconceivable — the party has threatened to call more aggressive protests such as strikes and blockades.

Western governments have expressed concern over the political climate in Bangladesh, where Hasina’s ruling Awami League dominates the legislature and runs it virtually as a rubber stamp.

Her security forces are accused of detaining tens of thousands of opposition activists, killing hundreds in extrajudicial encounters and disappearing hundreds of leaders and supporters.

AFP

Headline

Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Published

1 hour ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

Headline

Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

Published

3 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.

Headline

14-year-old Dies After Botched Secret Breast Surgery

Published

3 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

A 14-year-old girl has died following a secret cosmetic procedure reportedly carried out by her mother’s boyfriend, a tragedy that her biological father only uncovered after her funeral.

The teenager, identified as Paloma Nicole Arellano Escobedo, died on September 20, 2025, after undergoing a breast enlargement surgery in Tijuana, Mexico, as reported by TMZ on Thursday.

Reports say the operation was arranged by her mother without the knowledge or consent of her father, Carlos Arellano.

Following the surgery, Paloma suffered severe complications that led to cardiorespiratory arrest and brain swelling. She was pronounced dead shortly after.

Her death certificate, however, listed the cause as cerebral oedema caused by a respiratory illness, a claim her father strongly disputes. Information for this report was compiled from multiple sources, including AZ Central.

“Her death certificate falsely stated ‘illness’ as the cause of death in an attempt to cover up the truth,” said Carlos, alleging that the official report was deliberately misleading.

Carlos said he became suspicious after the family received the certificate unusually quickly.

“They gave it to us right away. I don’t know how they did it so quickly,” he said, adding that the speed of the process raised further questions about whether officials were attempting to conceal the true cause of death.

During the funeral, relatives noticed that Paloma’s chest looked noticeably different.

“At the funeral, some relatives told me her breasts were larger than what she had before, and when I mentioned it to her mother, she told me it wasn’t true, that she didn’t know anything,” Carlos told prosecutors, according to AZ Central.

When he asked for a private moment to say goodbye to his daughter, Carlos invited his mother, sister, and sister-in-law to help him examine her body.

“Sure enough: she had breast implants. We have photographs of the implants and the scars. We immediately requested an autopsy,” he said in his official complaint.

Authorities later confirmed that the surgery had allegedly been performed by Dr Víctor Manuel, a 45-year-old plastic surgeon who owned a private clinic in Durango and was romantically involved with Paloma’s mother.

He has since been suspended by the Mexican Association of Plastic, Aesthetic, and Reconstructive Surgeons while the Durango State Prosecutor’s Office investigates the case.

Carlos accused his ex-wife and her partner of lying to him and attempting to conceal the true circumstances of their daughter’s death.

“I demand that all those responsible be investigated,” he said, calling for justice and accountability for everyone involved in the unauthorised surgery and possible cover-up.

Durango’s Attorney General, Yadira de la Garza Fragoso, confirmed that investigators are looking into the role of both the surgeon and the mother.

“We are investigating a probable lack of care on the part of the mother for placing a minor who was under her care and custody in risky situations,” Fragoso said.

The incident has sparked widespread concern over illegal and unsafe cosmetic surgeries involving minors in Mexico. While the country has no explicit national law restricting plastic surgery for those under 18, such procedures typically require the written consent of both parents.

A final autopsy report is pending as authorities continue the investigation.