INTERNATIONAL

The Bangladesh Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday approved a legal amendment to elevate the maximum punishment in rape cases to death from life imprisonment. Following the Cabinet’s approval of the proposed amendment, titled the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, President Abdul Hamid is likely to issue an ordinance as Parliament is not in session, said Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam. The approval comes in the wake of protests staged by different organisations at Dhaka’s Shahbagh square and other parts of the country against sexual assaults on a woman in Noakhali and the rape of another woman in Sylhet’s MC College. "The ordinance will be issued tomorrow,” says Law Minister Anisul Huq.

In an attempt to defuse the simmering tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Corps commander-level talks between India and China were held on October 12. Ut is being learnt that the Indian side focussed on the complete disengagement of Chinese troops from the banks of the Pangong Tso lake and other friction points in Ladakh and insisted on the restoration of status quo ante of April. The meeting of the top Indian and Chinese military representatives lasted for more than 11 hours. Both the delegation met began in Chushul on the Indian side of the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Meanwhile, the chances of early resolution to the Ladakh standoff appeared dim as around 1,00,000 Indian and Chinese tropps remain stationed in the region. India has bolstered its positions on critic...

Nigerian protesters have promised to keep up their campaign seeking justice for victims of police brutality and an overhaul of the security apparatus, even as authorities announced the immediate disbanding of a notorious anti-robbery unit that has long been accused of grave human rights abuses. Sparked by the alleged killing of a man by an officer in southern Nigeria, thousands of people this week took to the streets across the country to protest against police brutality and demand the complete abolition of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Many more used the #EndSARS hashtag online to share stories alleging extortion, torture, disappearances and even murders at the hands of members of the unit. The right to protest is enshrined in Nigerian law, but protest movements are regu...

Palestinian Maher al-Akhras is severely ill and at risk of death after 77 days of continuous hunger strike to protest his detention by Israel without charge or trial. Al-Akhras, 49, is from the occupied West Bank town of Silat al-Dahr, near Jenin. He is married and has six children. Israel has jailed him repeatedly and he has spent a total of five years in its prisons. Israeli forces arrested him again on 27 July and placed him in administrative detention for four months – which can be renewed indefinitely. Israel’s use of administrative detention is a direct continuation of a British colonial practice, and according to prisoners rights group Addameer may amount to a war crime as it deprives prisoners of their right to a fair trial. Administrative detainees are held on supposed...

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for an immediate ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as fighting continues between the two countries over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. France, the United States and Russia will increase determination to end battling among Azeri and ethnic Armenian powers in the South Caucasus by holding talks in Geneva on Thursday, as fears of a provincial war develop. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Russian, French and U.S. delegates would likewise meet in Moscow on Monday to see approaches to convince the fighting sides to arrange a truce. “We need everybody to comprehend that it’s to their greatest advantage to quickly stop threats without conditions and that we start an arrangement,” he told the French parliament’s internatio...

Most seats in the parliament were won by parties that support closer links with Russia according to preliminary election data, but opposition parties denounced the results as fraudulent and began protests in the capital Bishkek. Western observers said the vote had been marred by vote buying. Protesters stormed government buildings, Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov's government quit and the election commission annulled the vote. On Monday, Kyrgyz security forces used teargas and water cannon to disperse protesters. President Sooronbai Jeenbekov says that he ordered them not to open fire after one person was killed and nearly 700 people injured. Three rival groups are now claiming leadership, including the Ata Zhurt party whose candidate for prime minister, Sadyr Zhaparov, was freed ...

On Wednesday, nearly 400 protesters were detained by Indonesian police. On the second day, some armed men with molotov cocktails and sharp weapons, due to heated demonstrations over the controversial new job law in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Demonstrations took place in at least 12 places, with police detaining 183 people outside parliament in Palembang in South Sumatra and holding more than 200 protesters for questioning in the capital Jakarta, a day after tear gas and water cannon were used to disperse crowds in multiple cities. The protesters are demanding the government revokes an “omnibus” jobs creation law that has outraged unions, because it lopsidedly favors businesses and will hurt workers and the environment. Footage from the Javanese city of Semarang showed angry...

Over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, President Hassan Rouhani said he hoped to "restore stability" to the region following days of heavy clashes enclave. The enclave is officially part of Azerbaijan but run by ethnic Armenians. Both sides have blamed each other for the violence and the current fighting is the worst that the countries have seen in decades. President Rouhani also said it was "totally unacceptable" for any stray shells and missiles to land on Iranian soil. President Rouhani said on Wednesday, "We must be attentive that the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan does not become a regional war." "Peace is the basis of our work and we hope to restore stability to the region in a peaceful way," he added. Shells had landed on villages in Iran, just across from it...

A police officer in Chile has been arrested after allegedly throwing a teenager from a bridge during a protest. The North Central Prosecutor’s Office of Santiago has accused the officer of “causing” the 16-year-old boy to fall in the Mapocho River in the nation’s capital, Santiago on Friday. The teenager is in hospital in a stable condition with head trauma and a fractured wrist.buy kamagra online https://www.mabvi.org/wp-content/themes/mabvi/images/new/kamagra.html no prescription However, chief of police in Santiago’s western area, Enrique Monrás, said the teen lost his balance and fell over the bridge railing and into a river bed after police attempted to arrest him. Hundreds of demonstrators took the streets of downtown Santiago on Saturday to protest against the police of...

Armed assailants have killed 25 displaced people in Burkina Faso as their convoy tried to make its way home, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Wednesday. The gunmen, who carried out the attack near the town of Pissila in the Center-North region on the night of Oct 4, separated the men from the group and shot them. The women and children were let go, UNHCR said in a statement based on survivors’ testimony. The attack on the displaced people occurred as they were returning to their homes from Pissila, hoping for an improved security situation there,” the U.N. said. This year alone, hundreds of people have been killed in dozens of attacks on civilians. Over 1 million people are displaced, more than one in every 20 inhabitants, the UN says.