More than 300 migrants arrive in Gran Canaria by boat in less than 24 hours

Copyright Screenshot from EBU video EBU 2024_10246440

By Euronews with EBU
Published on 19/07/2024 - 

Spain's Interior Ministry says the number of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing from Africa to the Canary Islands jumped by 160% between January and July compared to the same period last year.

Four boats carrying more than 300 migrants have docked at the Spanish island of Gran Canaria in less than 24 hours.

One of the vessels, a wooden boat carrying 64 people, arrived at the island unassisted. 11 of the people on board were transported to hospital, some by helicopter as four were said to be in a critical condition. 

Another of the boats was escorted to port by the Maritime Safety and Rescue Society (Salvamento Marítimo) after being spotted around 15 kilometres southeast of Gran Canaria.

That boat was carrying 145 people, all of sub-Saharan African origin, and everyone on board was said to be in good physical condition.

Rescue vessels docked at the port of Arguineguín on Gran Canaria, July 19, 2024Screenshot from EBU video EBU 2024_10246440

Spain's Interior Ministry said that the number of migrants arriving by sea to the Canary Islands jumped by 160% between January and July compared to the same period last year.

The ministry said almost 20,000 people in total had made the perilous sea crossing in that period.

Overall arrivals by sea to Spain, including to the mainland, rose by 88% to around 25,300 people.

The route from Africa to the Canary Islands, which are located off Morocco's southern coast, is the fastest-growing migration route to Europe.

The European border control agency Frontex says irregular crossings are up 303% from January to May compared to a year ago.

And in many cases, many of the arrivals to the Canary Islands are unaccompanied minors. That's put a strain on relevant services across the archipelago where there are reportedly almost 6,000 immigrant children.

 

Droughts, desertification, heatwaves: the climate crisis hits Sicily hard

Copyright euronews

By Bryan Carter

Published on 19/07/2024 - 

Sicily is one of Europe’s regions most impacted by global warming. From droughts that devastate local agriculture to punishing heatwaves and more, Euronews travelled around the Italian island to witness first hand what it is like to live on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

“Climate is impacting the life of Sicily very strongly,” says Gerardo Diana, a Sicilian farmer, as he gazes at his fields of wheat and beans, which have been completely decimated by a two-year drought. His pride harvest, blood oranges, is also in serious jeopardy, despite Gerardo’s efforts to pump water from underground or from nearby lakes.

 “This is just survival! Unfortunately, with this long summer, we are also scared of the possibility of the plants to die,” he says.

Enduring drought

This persistent drought is just one of the signs of Sicily’s struggle against the climate crisis, that Euronews witnessed while travelling around the Italian island.

Sicily has also been ravaged these past years by wildfires, flash floods and heat waves. In the summer of 2021, the Sicilian town of Syracuse recorded a scorching 48.8° Celsius. It was the highest temperature in European history and, to many, underscored the reality of global warming.

The Mediterranean basin, of which Sicily is the largest island, is warming 20% faster than the global average. This region has already reached the 1.5° Celsius increase in average temperature since the pre-industrial era: the threshold set by the 2015 Paris Climate agreement to mitigate extreme weather events.

According to Christian Mulder, an ecology professor at the University of Catania, this phenomenon could spread to one-third of Sicily’s territory by 2030 and two-thirds by 2050.

Decades of desertification

Further inland, in central Sicily, the once blooming fields around Salvatore Morreale's farm are now arid and showing clear signs of desertification.

But Morreale does not just blame the weather. He also criticises authorities for not having reacted sooner: “When I was in school, there were already talks about the desertification of Sicily. So it's not something that started today or yesterday. Politicians hold some responsibility because they could have thought about it before and tackle the problem.”

 His feeling echoes the analysis ofGiuseppe Cirelli, an agricultural hydraulics professor at the University of Catania. His research indicates that some areas of Sicily have experienced a 70% drop in rainfall over the last year compared to the previous twenty years. Despite what he calls an “unprecedented drought”, Cirelli stresses that many of the pipes and systems used to irrigate fields or distribute water to households are old and have not been modernised, resulting in important volumes of water being lost.

Sicilians struggling

Earlier this year, local authorities imposed water restrictions on one million people across nearly 100 municipalities. In the southern city of Gela, Euronews spoke to a family that can only access water every three days. Floriana Callea explained that the water is stored in tanks, but is insufficient for her family’s needs.

 “With the other residents of our neighbourhood, we are all exasperated because this situation is truly frustrating and stressful,” she says.

 How long Sicily will endure this drought remains uncertain. However, many locals believe their island’s ordeal should serve as a wake-up call for the rest of Europe.

 “Some people deny climate change,” said the farmer Gerardo, adding: “I think we cannot deny this anymore.”

Click on the video above to watch Bryan Carter's report in full.  

'I dream of a liberated Druze land': One activist's national aspirations - interview

Druze activist Khalifa Khalifa dreams of a friendly Druze autonomy in southern Syria as a response to the Assad regime’s deadly campaign.

By OHAD MERLIN

JULY 19, 2024 
JERUSALEM POST

"THE DRUZE saw themselves as part and parcel of the Syrian state, until the war began.' A Druze girl takes part in a rally over then-US president Donald Trump's support for Israeli soverignty over the Golan Heights, in Majdal Shams near the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria

.(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)

First I just want to thank you very much,” opened Khalifa Khalifa. “In the shadow of the events in Gaza and the war with Hezbollah, it is difficult to draw attention to something that is far from the eye and far from the heart, and no one seems to care, so this has great meaning for me.”

Khalifa defines himself as “an Israeli Druze who worries and cares for my Druze brothers in Syria.” He is a researcher of the Middle East, an activist raising awareness for the situation of the Druze in Syria, and the owner of a podcast named The Rebellion of the Caliphs. “When I started my podcast, I never thought there would be a real rebellion going on in Syria,” he added thoughtfully.

Khalifa referred to the ongoing events in Jabal Al-Druze, or Druze Mountain, a predominantly Druze region in the Suwayda governorate of southern Syria, where the local Druze population, numbering several hundreds of thousands, is sounding its voice ever so loudly against the Bashar Assad regime.


Khalifa explained that, during the civil war in Syria, which has been taking place for the last decade, the regime has been targeting the Druze population in the area, allegedly for its refusal to take part in the war.

“The Druze of Syria voted with their feet not to take part in what is happening Syria, and they saw it as foreign intervention in the state’s affairs,” explained Khalifa, referring to the involvement of Hezbollah and Iran.

DURING THE civil war in Syria, which has been taking place for the last decade, the Assad regime has been targeting the Druze population, allegedly for its refusal to take part in the war. (credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)

“The Syrian regime did not like this,” the Druze activist continued. “The Druze are only about 3%-4% of the general population in Syria. They saw themselves as part and parcel of the Syrian state, until the war began. They were very integrated: officers in the army, in intelligence, in all aspects of life. Most of them are farmers who just want to live in peace.

“But then the war started, and they refused to take part. The regime began applying all kinds of terror tactics against the Druze population. They assassinated Druze leaders who came out against the war, such as Waheed Bal’ous in 2015. The Druze saw this war as an immoral factor, certainly with the Iranian occupation and the intervention of Hezbollah.”

Khalifa added that since the Druze live in such a wide area and the regime was busy fighting its own wars, Assad resorted to a tactic of de facto ethnic cleansing. “This involved economic strangulation, land dispossession. The regime just sits on the main arteries of life, puts up barriers at the entrance and exit of the villages, kidnaps people indiscriminately. Druze who made their way from Suwayda to Damascus found themselves in interrogation cellars and underwent torture.”

According to Khalifa, tens of thousands have fled the Suwayda region because life has become too difficult in the Druze homeland. “They are also getting poorer. The richest ones there, with high socioeconomic status, make $400-$450 a month.”

Khalifa elaborated that in early August last year, the Druze started to organize recurring nonviolent demonstrations, openly calling for the removal of Assad, an end to the war, and the establishment of a new Syria. This explicit call to oust a political leader is a rare occurrence for the ethno-religious group, known for its almost religious-like allegiance to the local political leadership regardless of where they are.

“Unfortunately, the world does not pay attention to this. Everyone is understandably drowning in the October 7 events, but there is a very extreme escalation of the violence applied against the Druze demonstrators by the Assad regime. In the last month, Assad’s army has been sending agents with the aim of sowing chaos and stirring war. The Druze just demonstrate and chant, not threatening anyone, but Assad’s men come and shoot them from behind to try and sow terror and fear.”

ISRAEL HAS the world’s third-largest Druze population, after Syria and Lebanon. Here, Druze gather to contact their relatives on the Syrian side of the border from the Israeli Golan Heights. (credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)

Help from unexpected friends

Not much coverage has been given to what Khalifa regards as “the Syrian Druze version of October 7, just a few years ago.

“On July 25, 2018, a group of ISIS radicals infiltrated some of the Druze villages in Suwayda, committing horrors and atrocities very much like those of October 7,” he said. “Watching the Hamas massacre after knowing what ensued in Suwayda was absolutely shocking. They [ISIS] infiltrated homes, kidnapped, murdered. There was a horrific video circulating of the beheading of a 17-year-old Druze girl.”

Other acts committed by the Islamic State terrorists included suicide bombings and the kidnapping of women and children, with casualties reaching over 200, according to some sources, most of them innocent civilians.

Khalifa holds that these horrific attacks happened with the silent blessing of the Assad regime, as another form of retaliation against what it viewed as “disloyal” Druze population. “Assad allowed them a safe passage to Jabal Al-Druze and allowed them to ‘slaughter the infidels.’ We’re sure of that.”

“The Druze are strong fighters, so they managed to repel the terrorists, but they paid a heavy price. Several young people were kidnapped, and Islamic State demanded a ransom; perhaps that, too, was Assad’s dowry,” Khalifa added.

Then, the Druze in Syria encountered aid from an unexpected direction. “The Druze in Israel stood by their brethren’s side and gathered some money. Our religious leadership was especially involved. For the Syrian Druze this was a significant gesture. There are merely 130,000 Druze in Israel in comparison to hundreds of thousands in Syria. But despite this, we managed to raise money and support them. So, the Druze in Syria felt for the first time the power of Jewish-Druze alliance.”

Khalifa explained that this aid from their Israeli brethren was very significant for the Syrian Druze. “Since then, we see a desire and a longing to meet the Israeli Druze. Perhaps it’s parallel to the way Jews in Israel look at Jews abroad, as both long lost family and benefactors who donate and help.”
The Druze-Jewish alliance

Khalifa described how these times led him to mull over the question of the essence of the Jewish-Druze alliance.

“For many outside of Israel, the general idea is that the Druze in Israel chose to tie their fate with the State of Israel because they deemed Israel to be strong or for their own interests. Walid Jumblatt, a Lebanese Druze leader, sounded this exact idea in an interview he gave not too long ago.

“But anyone who lives here knows that this description just doesn’t hold water – it just doesn’t grasp the essence of life here!

“We saw it best on October 7, how the Druze sacrificed their lives with their Jewish counterparts to save people’s lives and fight against Hamas in Gaza. If their perception of our alliance was true, we would have never had people like Lt.-Col. Salman Habka, who fell on October 7 after having mobilized his forces to fight the Hamas terrorists in the [Super]nova [music] festival, despite living hundreds of kilometers away.

“I came across a book titled The Idea of ​​the Druze State by Shawki Amran,” continued Khalifa. “It begins by dedicating the book to the Druze community and proceeds to open with a quote from the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela from the 12th century where he tells about a nation called ‘the Druzian’ who live in the mountains and crevices of the rocks, and who are loved by the Jews and cannot be fought with or defeated. I had chills – this goes back a thousand years!”

Khalifa explained that he perceived much positive sentiment toward Israel from his Syrian counterparts, as well as a strong desire to receive recognition and help.

“I told a Druze friend of mine how good it is to live in Israel with Jews and to fight together, and all his responses were very sympathetic to Israel. I told him that some Druze in the Golan are not willing to vote in the Israeli elections, do not want a local council, raise Assad’s flag, and go to demonstrations. He told me: ‘Tell these dishonorable men to come and live here in Suwayda; I would gladly switch places with them.’”
Who can we talk to?

Khalifa described how he was looking for a way to reconcile between Israelis and their neighbors, but October 7 made him change his perspective as for the identity of those neighbors.

“Us Druze, we’re in a constant identity crisis, as if we lived between divorced parents – Israelis and the Palestinians – and we only want them to reconcile and connect,” he added ironically. “But then October 7 occurred, which for me was Holocaust-like. Just like in Nazi Germany, many of the atrocities were committed by those who one might deem ‘ordinary people’: teachers, traders, UNRWA staff, fishermen. As soon as the border was breached, they carried out all of these atrocities. It reminded me of Hanna Arendt’s ‘banality of evil’ [Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil]. So who can we even speak to?

“It is clear to me that this is not a matter of leaders,” Khalifa continued. The Hamas movement sits on a very deep foundation. Even a year into the suffering in Gaza, there is no anarchy; they still stand behind Hamas. [There were] 100,000-150,000 salary recipients from Hamas – this is half of the population that was educated in the Hamas education system. They sit in mosques, in the media, in schools – this is the Muslim Brotherhood’s method of working.

“So, surely there is nothing to talk about with Gazans right now. That is a lost generation, perhaps two, and their moral compass is so miscalibrated that they still see Hamas as representing ‘moderate Islam.’

“What I wanted to do is reach people whose minds could be changed – not the children of the Hamas summer camps,” he explained.

Khalifa describes that this led him to the realization that he should reach out to the Druze in Syria.

“I started in Gaza but somehow ended up in Suwayda,” he said.
A new alliance

Khalifa started talking to Druze organizations around the world and realized that the Syrian Druze situation is not discussed enough.

“My Syrian Druze friend goes to his workplace with a Kalashnikov because tensions are very high. Just yesterday there were shootings and an escalation by the regime.

“The most immediate connection is the connection between Israel and the Druze in Syria. Sure, not everything is rosy, and it’s not like tomorrow the Druze will raise the Israeli flag, but we do see that for an entire year they haven’t been protesting with any Palestinian flags, and even broke all kinds of Assad family monuments adorned with Palestinian flags.

“So, all of this is pointing in the direction of normalization with Israel. They need very basic things, such as to break the economic blockade imposed on them by the Assad regime.”

Khalifa now mediates meetings between Druze all over the world with the aim of ultimately establishing a global council that will represent Druze aspirations in front of the entire world.

“I’m also part of a ‘normalization center’ currently being established with the help of some friends who think like me and are trying to create alliances between the Jews and other ethnic minorities of the region who are tired of the endless war cycles,” he added.

“We’re trying to reach out to Druze, Maronites, Kurds, Ahwazi Arabs in Iran, Sunnis from the Deraa district in Syria, who have a relatively sympathetic attitude towards Israel, even Bedouin in the Negev who refused to grant refuge to Hamas’s Nukhba militants and handed them over to the police,” Khalifa retold excitedly.

“We should stop seeing the Middle East in one color and realize that we have many potential allies. For many in the moderate Sunni countries, the biggest enemy is not Iran but the extremists at home.”

Khalifa holds on to the aspiration of a Druze autonomy in southern Syria. “The Druze have a flag, they are a nation, with symbols and a culture, and why not also national aspirations?

“I dream that, not many years from now, we will be able to go to hotels in Suwayda and look out over Damascus from a liberated Druze land, managed by its rightful owners.

“If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, in the Druze case, my brother’s brother is a friend,” he concluded.

Khalifa’s channels can be found at: https://youtube.com/@khalifa_shrugged or Khalifashrugged.com

Russia Announces Vital Scientific Breakthrough – Flushable Toilet Paper Rolls

After being deprived of the essential domestic product for more than two years Russia was proud to announce via TASS on Thursday, July 18 this important scientific breakthrough.

by Kyiv Post | July 19, 2024
I

llustrative image of a flushable toilet roll center. Photo: reddit

When the Swedish hygiene products manufacturer Essity decided to withdraw from Russia in April 2022 following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the Russian public was deprived of Libero diapers, Libress pads and Zewa toilet paper – the only brand with a flushable toilet roll core. At the same time the US company Johnson & Johnson also suspended supplies of its personal hygiene products in Russia.

The Russian state news agency TASS reported on Thursday that, after two years of intensive development, the Arkhbum Tissue Group had produced Russia’s first flushable toilet paper tube.

The impact the absence of flushable toilet paper rolls was having on the population was underlined in June 2023 when the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Mikhail Yurin announced during a St. Petersburg Economic Forum that the issue of producing flushable toilet paper tubes was in the process of being resolved.

The company’s press service gave more technical information on the new product. The raw material for the production is primarily made from bleached mixed coniferous and deciduous wood pulp produced by the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill.



In August 2022, former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev picked up on a report that was published by RIA Novosti and Vesti of a trial by the Canadian company Net Zero on reusable toilet paper.

In one of his infamous diatribes Medvedev suggested that removing flushable toilet roll centers was part of a European conspiracy to “punish Russia” and a plan to replace conventional toilet paper to prevent deforestation.

He claimed that all stocks of the reusable toilet paper were quickly sold out, when in fact it had been withdrawn from sale over health concerns and the need to use strong chemicals to ensure proper cleansing – which were harmful to the environment. Other attempts to produce environmentally friendly reuseable toilet paper continue despite the reluctance of the public to make the switch.

For Russians the days of having to dispose the center of their toilet rolls in the garbage or recycling bins will soon be over.

High unemployment, especially for graduates: What’s driving protests against quota in Bangladesh

Many have died in the violence after university students and job aspirants protested a reservation system for government jobs.

Md Tahmid Zami, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Students protest against quotas in government jobs at Dhaka University on July 17. | AFP



Campus protests across Bangladesh against public-sector hiring quotas turned deadly this week, illustrating the severity of a jobs crisis in the world’s seventh-most populous nation.

Protesters are calling for reform of a quota system that reserves more than half of highly sought-after government jobs for certain groups, including women, the disabled and the descendants of veterans of the 1971 War of Independence.

The country’s High Court last month reinstated the quotas, which the government had abolished in 2018.

The intensity of the student backlash, which has left at least 12 people dead in clashes between protesters and government supporters, lies in part in a faltering economy that has failed to create enough jobs for young people who make up more than a quarter of the population.

“The context of the quota reform movement is about precarity, or persistent insecurity about employment and income, faced by the young people,” said Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, a professor of development studies at the University of Dhaka and chairman of the economic research think tank Unnayan Onneshan.

Nearly one in five Bangladeshis between the ages of 15 and 24 are not in a job nor a classroom, according to official statistics from 2023.

University graduates face higher rates of unemployment than their less-educated peers, and about 650,000 graduates are among the more than 2 million young people entering the job market each year.

University libraries are filled with young graduates cramming for the civil-service exam, vying for scarce government jobs that promise job security, good income and prestige.

In last year’s recruitment test, some 346,000 candidates competed for just 3,300 jobs, according to local media.

Blue-collar jobs are now also harder to come by, even as the textile and garment sector, Bangladesh's biggest employer, sees stellar growth.

Exports have jumped fourfold to $40 billion since 2008, according to data from industry group BGMEA, but employment across private sector jobs has stagnated.

“For a country that seeks to ride a demographic dividend – that is, the economic benefit of having a large, economically active youth [population] – the job crisis faced by youth is a deadweight loss," said Titumir.

Women in protests

Large numbers of women have joined the campus demonstrations, and scores of female students were hurt when the protests turned violent this week.

Young women are in an especially precarious position when it comes to access to education and work, with government surveys showing 27% of women and girls aged 15 to 24 lack work or an education, compared with 10% of young men. Titumir said this leaves them more susceptible to domestic abuse and poverty.

A key point of contention is over the 30% of civil service jobs reserved for the children and grandchildren of “freedom fighters” who fought in Bangladesh's liberation war against Pakistan. Protesters argue that far fewer jobs should be earmarked for grandchildren of fighters.

Farhana Manik Muna, a protest organiser in the city of Narayanganj, said activists want the government to form a commission to propose reforms to the quota system.

“We are not calling for a wholesale cancellation of all quota reservations. Rather, we want a reasonable approach towards helping disadvantaged groups,” she said, including members of Bangladesh’s small Indigenous communities and people with disabilities.

Protesters are demanding that more people are recruited based on merit.
Training mismatch for jobs

Other activists said Bangladesh needs a far more comprehensive strategy to improve the employment market.

“We want reform in the recruitment for government jobs, but also a programme for creating employment throughout the economy,'“ Nahid Islam, the coordinator of the quota reform movement, told Context.

Titumir described a “large mismatch” between what universities are teaching and the skillsets required for work that is in high demand, such as masons and electricians.

The lack of work has forced millions of low- and unskilled workers to find jobs overseas in order to send home small remittances, while Bangladesh faces a “brain drain” at the same time as qualified graduates settle in higher-income countries.

Meanwhile, companies and development organisations often recruit professionals from other countries for managerial and skilled technical jobs.

The government approved more than 16,000 foreign work permits last year, according to news reports citing the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority. It was not immediately clear how many of those permits were for skilled professions.

“We need to ask what skills would a Bangladeshi young professional need to climb to those managerial jobs,” said Taiabur Rahman, a professor at Dhaka University.

For activists like Islam, solving the jobs riddle is their best shot at a decent future for themselves and their families.

“Ultimately, what we need is fair opportunities and better skills for young people in the country,” he said.

This article first appeared on Context, powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

LEEDS RIOT

Violence breaks out in London linked to Bangladesh protests


JUL 19, 2024,

LONDON - Violence between groups of men broke out in east London on Thursday night and police said the unrest was linked to protests in Bangladesh.

Police intervened to separate two large groups fighting in the street in the Whitechapel district alongside a wider demonstration involving several hundred people.

Whitechapel, famous for the curry houses of Brick Lane, is home to a large ethnic Bangladeshi population who form the biggest ethnic group in the wider Tower Hamlets borough.

"I recognise that events that take place in Bangladesh can have a significant impact on communities here in Tower Hamlets, but we cannot allow that strength of feeling to tip into threats, violence and disorder," Police Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway said.

A number of cars were damaged and two officers were injured as police formed a barrier between the opposing crowds with protective shields.

Footage of the unrest from social media showed dozens of men throwing projectiles and attacking the gates of a building in the area. One man was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence.

Dozens of people have been killed in Bangladesh this week in violent clashes with security forces after protests initially sparked by student anger over controversial job quotas. REUTERS

Bangladesh student protests: Death toll at 50, TV news in country goes off-air

WION Web Team
DhakaEdited By: Harshit Sabarwal

Updated: Jul 19, 2024


Hundreds of people have been injured in the ongoing agitation in Bangladesh. Photograph:(Reuters)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

There was fresh violence in some parts of Bangladesh and police were using tear gas to disperse protesters, Reuters reported.

The death toll due to the ongoing student protests against quotas for government jobs in Bangladesh has climbed to 50. The news agency Reuters reported on Friday (July 19) that TV news channels in the country were off-air and telecommunications were widely disrupted. There was fresh violence in some parts of Bangladesh and police were using tear gas to disperse protesters, Reuters reported


Hundreds of people have been injured in the protests. In the latest news, the police banned all public rallies in Dhaka and arrested Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, a leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)

Although the agitation was sparked by students' discontentment against the controversial quota system. Some analysts have said that tough economic conditions, including high inflation and rising unemployment, were providing fuel to the fire.

The disruption in news, mobile services

On Thursday, authorities cut some mobile services to try to quell the unrest but the disruption spread across the country on Friday morning. Telephone calls from abroad were mostly not getting connected and calls through the internet could not be completed, Reuters reported.

Also read | India issues advisory amid Bangladesh unrest

Apart from TV news channels going off-air, the websites of several Bangladesh-based newspapers were not updated on Friday morning and their social media handles were also not active.

Only some voice calls were working in the country and there was no mobile data or broadband on Friday morning, the news agency reported and pointed out that SMSes were not going through.

Govt websites hacked

The websites of Bangladesh's central bank, the prime minister's office and police appeared to have been hacked by a group calling itself "THE R3SISTANC3". In a message, the group said, "Operation HuntDown, Stop Killing Students. It's not a protest anymore, it's a war now."

"The government has shut down the internet to silence us and hide their actions. We need to stay informed about what is happening on the ground. The spirit of our students remains unbroken," the group said in another message.

Govt willing to hold talks with protesters

The ongoing protests have been the biggest since Sheikh Hasina was re-elected as prime minister earlier this year. Nearly a fifth of the country's 170 million population is out of work or education.

Student protesters are demanding the state stop setting aside 30 per cent of government jobs for the families of people who fought in the 1971 war.

Also read | Bangladesh student protests: Dhaka slams US over unsubstantiated claims about stir

PM Hasina's government scrapped the quota system in 2018, but a high court reinstated it in June. The government appealed against the verdict and the Supreme Court suspended the high court order, pending a hearing of the government’s appeal on August 7.

On Thursday, the government said it was willing to hold talks with the protesters but the demonstrators refused, saying, "Discussions and opening fire do not go hand in hand".

(With inputs from agencies)

Internet and mobile services cut off in Bangladesh amid violent protests that have killed 28 people


By Associated Press

 Jul 20, 2024

Internet and mobile services were cut off in Bangladesh on Friday, following days of violent protests over the allocation of government jobs, with local media reports saying at least 28 people had been killed this week.
The protests, which began weeks ago and escalated sharply on Monday, are the biggest since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in a January election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties.
The internet clampdown came after violence escalated on Thursday, as students attempted to impose a "complete shutdown" on the country.

Students clash with riot police during a protest against a quota system for government jobs, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar) (AP)

Reports of deaths rose, and protesters attacked the head office of state-run Bangladesh Television, breaking through a main gate and setting vehicles and the reception area on fire, a news producer and a reporter told The Associated Press by phone. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

"I escaped by leaping over the wall but some of my colleagues got stuck inside. The attackers entered the building and set furniture on fire," the producer said by phone.
He said the station continued broadcasting, though some Dhaka residents said they were receiving no signal from the broadcaster.
At least 22 people were killed on Thursday, a local TV station reported, following six deaths earlier this week. Authorities could not be reached to immediately confirm figures for the deaths.
On Friday morning, internet services and mobile data appeared to be down in the capital, Dhaka, and social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp were not loading.

Students clash with riot police during a protest against a quota system for government jobs, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar) (AP)

Student protesters said they will extend their calls to impose a shutdown on Friday as well, and urged mosques across the country to hold funeral prayers for those who have been killed.
The protesters are demanding an end to a quota system that reserves up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971.
They argue the system is discriminatory and benefits supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and they want it replaced with a merit-based system.



Students clash with riot police during a protest against a quota system for government jobs, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar) (AP)

Hasina's party has accused opposition parties of stoking the violence, raiding the headquarters of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and arresting activists from the party's student wing. The BNP is expected to hold demonstrations across the country in support of the student activists protesting against the quota system.
Hasina's government had earlier halted the job quotas following mass student protests in 2018, but last month, Bangladesh's High Court nullified that decision and reinstated the quotas after relatives of the 1971 veterans filed petitions, triggering the latest demonstrations.
The Supreme Court has suspended that ruling pending an appeal hearing, and said in a statement it will take up the issue on Sunday.

Bangladesh student protesters set jail on fire, free inmates

Student protesters stormed a jail in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi and freed the inmates before setting it on fire.


Security forces fire tear gas shells to disperse crowd of protesters during violence in Bangladesh. (File photo)

India Today News Desk
New Delhi,

UPDATED: Jul 19, 2024
Written By: Vivek Kumar

In Short

Violent protests continue despite police banning public gatherings

Protesters vow more protests, demand Sheikh Hasina step down

Over 60 people killed in week-long violence so far


Student protesters on Friday freed 'hundreds' of inmates from a jail in Narsingdi district in central Bangladesh before setting the prison building on fire, local police said.

"The inmates fled the jail and the protesters set the jail on fire", a police officer told news agency AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "I don't know the number of inmates, but it would be in the hundreds", he added.

A senior government official confirmed the news of the jailbreak but did not provide further details.

Dhaka's police force banned all public gatherings for the day in an effort to prevent another day of violence.

"We've banned all rallies, processions and public gatherings in Dhaka today," police chief Habibur Rahman said, adding the move was necessary to ensure "public safety".

However, that did not stop another round of confrontations between police and protesters, despite an internet shutdown aimed at frustrating the organisation of rallies.


"Our protest will continue," a protester said, adding that they want the 'immediate resignation of Sheikh Hasina'. "The government is responsible for the killings", he added.

Notably, at least 64 people have died so far in the unrest, according to certain reports quoting the count of victims reported by hospitals.

The quota stir in Bangladesh, which began on July 1 following the High Court's reinstatement of the freedom fighters' quota, reserving one-third of civil service posts for their descendants, has escalated into violent clashes.

Thousands of students, armed with sticks and rocks, have faced off against armed police in cities across Bangladesh, including Dhaka, Chattogram, Rangpur, and Cumilla.

The student protest and the subsequent arson and stone pelting has caused significant disruptions in Dhaka and other big cities of the country, leading to hardship for the people.

Students took to the streets in at least eight districts, blocking roads and train routes, according to The Daily Star.

Train services were heavily impacted, with blockades in Dhaka, Mymensingh, Khulna, and Chattogram.

Bangladesh security forces fire at protesters demanding government jobs

Copyright Rajib Dhar/ AP

By Euronews
Published on 19/07/2024 -

Internet and mobile services were cut off after days of deadly clashes over the allocation of government jobs.

Police and security officials in Bangladesh fired bullets and tear gas at protesters and banned all gatherings in the capital on Friday, as internet and mobile services were cut off after days of deadly clashes over the allocation of government jobs.

The protests, which began weeks ago but escalated sharply on Monday, represent the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since she won a fourth consecutive term in office after elections in January. Main opposition groups boycotted those polls.

Somoy TR, a local television channel, reported that four more people died in the latest clashes.

This comes a day after the bloodiest day of demonstrations to date when 22 people were killed, according to local media, as protesting students attempted to impose a “complete shutdown” on the country.

Authorities could not be reached immediately to confirm figures for the deaths.

The chaos has highlighted cracks in Bangladesh’s governance and economy and the frustration of young graduates who face a lack of good jobs.

The government has deployed police and paramilitary forces across the capital to lock down campuses and break up protests. On Wednesday, universities including the country's largest suspended classes and closed dormitories, and on Friday Dhaka police said they were banning all gatherings and demonstrations in the capital.

An Associated Press reporter saw border guard officials fire at a crowd of more than 1,000 protesters who had gathered outside the head office of state-run Bangladesh Television, which was attacked and set on fire by protesters the previous day.

The border guards shot at the right crowd with rifles and sound grenades, while police officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Bullets littered the streets, which were also marked by smears of blood.

A news producer and reporter at Bangladesh Television on Thursday told the AP that protesters had broken through the main gate and set fire to vehicles and the reception area. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

“I escaped by leaping over the wall but some of my colleagues got stuck inside. The attackers entered the building and set furniture on fire,” the producer said by phone.

Students clash with riot police during a protest against a quota system for government jobs, in Dhaka, Bangladesh onThursdayRajib Dhar/The AP

Internet services and mobile data were widely disrupted on Thursday night and remained down on Friday in the capital, Dhaka. Social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp were also not loading. It coincided with a widespread internet outage on Friday that disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world, but the disruptions in Bangladesh were substantially greater than seen elsewhere.

A statement from the country’s Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said they were unable to ensure service after their data centre was attacked on Thursday by demonstrators, who set fire to some equipment. The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify this.

Student protesters said they will extend their calls to impose a shutdown on Friday as well, and urged mosques across the country to hold funeral prayers for those who have been killed. Major universities have said they will close their doors until tensions ease.

The protesters are demanding an end to a quota system that reserves up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 against Pakistan.

They argue the system is discriminatory and benefits supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and they want it replaced with a merit-based system.

But Hasina has defended the quota system, saying that veterans deserve the highest respect for their contributions to the war regardless of their political affiliation.

The Bangladeshi leader is credited for bringing stable growth to Bangladesh, but rising inflation — thanks in part to the global upheaval sparked by the war in Ukraine — has triggered labor unrest and dissatisfaction with the government.

Even though job opportunities have grown in some parts of the private sector, many people prefer government jobs because they are seen as more stable and lucrative. But there aren’t enough to go around — each year, some 400,000 graduates compete for around 3,000 jobs in the civil service exam.

“What is unfolding in Bangladesh is deeply unsettling for a generation that only asked for a fair opportunity in public service recruitment. That a peaceful protest against a state policy would slip into the peak of lawlessness shows the government’s lack of farsightedness and inefficient policy governance,” said Saad Hammadi, policy and advocacy manager at the Canada-based Balsillie School of International Affairs who has advocated for freedom of speech in the country.

“The internet shutdown makes matters worse. Local news sites are inaccessible, and people in the country are left incommunicado with the rest of the world all in the pretext of conducting sweeping operations by the state that have often resulted in serious human rights violations,” he added in an email.

Bangladesh has previously shut down internet services in areas affected by protests, using it as a measure to suppress dissent by opposition parties. Internet watchdog Access Now said it recorded three shutdowns in the country in 2023 - all of which overlapped with opposition rallies and were limited in scope to one city or district. That came after six shutdowns in 2022.

Students clash with riot police during a protest against a quota system for government jobs, in Dhaka, Bangladesh onThursdayRajib Dhar/The AP

CIVICUS, a non-profit that tracks civic freedoms around the world, last year downgraded Bangladesh to “closed,” the worst rating that it could assign, along with China and Venezuela, following a crackdown on the country’s opposition members and supporters ahead of its national election.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has backed the protesting students and vowed to organise its own demonstrations, and many of their supporters have joined in the students' demonstrations. On Friday, police fired tear gas at a few hundred BNP supporters, and arrested senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

Hasina's government has accused the BNP of stoking the violence, with authorities raiding the opposition party's headquarters earlier this week and arresting activists from the party's student wing.

The Awami League and the BNP have often accused each other of fuelling political chaos and violence, most recently ahead of the country's national election, which was marred by a crackdown on several opposition figures while Hasina's government accused the party of attempting to disrupt the vote.

Hasina’s government had earlier halted the job quotas following mass student protests in 2018, but last month, Bangladesh’s High Court nullified that decision and reinstated the quotas after relatives of the 1971 veterans filed petitions, triggering the latest demonstrations.

The Supreme Court has suspended that ruling pending an appeal hearing, and said in a statement it will take up the issue on Sunday.

On Wednesday, Hasina urged protesters in a televised address to “wait with patience” for the court verdict. “I believe our students will get justice from the apex court. They will not be disappointed.”

Another 19 dead in Bangladesh as employment quota protesters seek 'complete shutdown'

By Aoife Hilton with wires
Posted Thu 18 Jul 2024 

The confrontation follows days of violence over a quota system for allocating government jobs.(AP: Rajib Dhar)

In short:

At least 64 people have died amid student protests in Bangladesh over a quota system for allocating government jobs.

The quota system was halted after mass student protests in 2018, but reinstated last month following a ruling by Bangladesh's High Court.
What's next?

The Supreme Court has suspended the High Court's ruling and is expected to rule on August 7.


Police have clashed with student protesters in Bangladesh after students attempted a "complete shutdown" of capital city Dhaka.

At least 64 people have died since demonstrations began, according to an AFP count of victims reported by hospitals.

At least 19 were killed on Friday alone, when students stormed a prison and freed hundreds of inmates.

Six people killed in protests across Bangladesh


Paramilitary forces are working to keep order across Bangladesh as student and pro-government groups clash over the country's public service hiring policy.

A police officer told AFP the protesters stormed a prison in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi and freed inmates before setting the facility on fire.

Rallies continued despite a ban on public gatherings and an internet shutdown aimed at frustrating organisers.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina insists there will be a judicial investigation into the deaths and vows those responsible will be brought to justice.

"Some precious lives have been lost unnecessarily," she said.

"I condemn every killing."

Ms Hasina's government has also accused the BNP and the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party of fuelling the chaos.

The clashes come months after Ms Hasina maintained power in an election that was boycotted by opposition parties and saw opposition members jailed ahead of the polls.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk posted on X that all acts of violence and deadly use of force must be investigated and the perpetrators held accountable.

Mr Türk said freedom of expression and peaceful assembly were fundamental human rights.

What are students protesting?

At least 10 people died in Thursday's clashes, the highest toll in a single day so far.(AP: Rajib Dhar)

The confrontation follows days of violence over a quota system of allocating government jobs, which students say favours allies of the ruling party.

While job opportunities have expanded in Bangladesh's private sector, many people prefer government jobs because they are stable and well-paid.

"The reason behind such huge participation is that many students go through the bitter experience of not finding the jobs they deserve after completing their education," former economics professor and analyst Anu Muhammad explained in the Dhaka-based Daily Star newspaper.

"In addition, rampant corruption and irregularities in government job recruitment exams and selection processes have created immense frustration and anger."


"The country's economy shows growth, but jobs are not being created."

Each year, around 400,000 graduates compete for 3,000 jobs in the civil service exam.

The quota system reserves up to 30 per cent of government jobs for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Students argue this system is discriminatory and benefits supporters of Ms Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and they want it replaced with a merit-based system.

Under the quota system, government jobs are also reserved for women, disabled people and members of ethnic minorities, but students have mainly protested against jobs reserved for veterans' families.

Ms Hasina has defended the quota system, saying veterans deserve the highest respect for their contributions in the war regardless of their political affiliation.

Deadly clashes have erupted in Bangladesh over government jobs.

Ms Hasina's government halted the quotas after mass student protests in 2018.

But relatives of the 1971 veterans filed petitions to have it reinstated, prompting Bangladesh's High Court to nullify the prime minister's 2018 decision last month.

The Supreme Court has suspended the High Court's ruling and is expected to rule on August 7.

The government has also appealed the High Court's decision in the wake of the protests, according to the attorney-general's office.

Bangladesh's Law Minister Anisul Huq said the government was seeking an early hearing.

"I have already asked the attorney-general to appeal in the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking early hearing," he told reporters.

Friday and Saturday are parts of the weekend in Bangladesh. The court opens on Sunday.

"I am requesting all to wait with patience until the verdict is delivered," Ms Hasina said in a televised address Wednesday evening.


"I believe our students will get justice from the apex court. They will not be disappointed."

Demonstrations escalate to 'complete shutdown'

The protests first escalated on Monday, when violence broke out between protesters, police and pro-government student activists on the Dhaka University campus.

At least 100 people were injured in the aftermath, and paramilitary forces were deployed to patrol the streets of major cities.

At least six people were killed on Tuesday, leading the government to ask universities across the country to close and police to raid the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party's headquarters, as well as arrest several student activists.

On Wednesday night, the protesters responded to security officials' continued attacks on campus demonstrators by announcing their plans for a "complete shutdown" of the country beginning the next day, except for essential services.

The opposition BNP said it would do what it could to make the shutdown a success.

Detective Chief Harun-or-Rashid said police arrested seven members of the party's student wing and found 100 crude bombs, 500 wooden and bamboo sticks and five-to-six bottles of gasoline in the raid.

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, a senior BNP leader, said the raid was a government attempt to divert attention from the protests.

The protesters announced their plans for a "complete shutdown" of the country on Wednesday night.(AP: Rajib Dhar)

Protesters attempted to enforce the violence on Thursday morning, blocking the road in Dhaka's Uttara neighbourhood until police gave chase.

At least ten people died in Thursday's clashes — the highest toll in a single day so far — including a bus driver whose body was brought to a hospital with a bullet wound to his chest, a rickshaw-puller and three students, officials told Reuters.

In other places, police fired tear gas and charged with batons to disperse the protesters — who threw stones in response.

Scores, including police, were injured in the violence, a spokesperson for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said.

Police also said protesters attacked and set fire to a traffic police box and vandalised police vehicles amid clashes across the city.

Dhaka's usually clogged streets saw thin traffic on Thursday and many malls in the area closed.

Offices and banks opened, but commuters complained that transport was limited.

Police set up checkpoints at the entrances to Dhaka University.

Local television reported violence in other cities including Chattogram and Khulna, while protesters also blocked some major highways.

Salma Rahman, an official at a financial institution in Dhaka, said she left her car at home and caught a ride on a motorcycle.

"Our office has alerted us to stay safe on streets, as there is fear that violence could happen during the shutdown."

Mr Huq revealed on Thursday afternoon that the prime minister asked him to sit down with the protesters for a dialogue, and he was ready to speak with them if protesters were willing.

The protesters say they are willing to talk and want to return to class when their demands are met.

AP/ABC/AFP

Why France Is Banning the Hijab for Their Olympic Athletes

The Eiffel Tower adorned with Olympic rings, celebrating the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, seen in Paris, France on July 16, 2024.Artur Widak—NurPhoto/Getty Images

BY ARMANI SYED
JULY 19, 2024 

TIME

After months of campaigning by sporting organizations, France has not reversed its decision to ban French athletes who observe the hijab from participating in the summer Olympics; a move that human rights organizations say is, at best, a contradiction of the nation’s pledge to deliver the first gender-equal games, and at worst, a breach of international human rights treaties.

“It shows Muslim women that when the French authorities talk about equality between men and women, they don't see them as women. They don't count them,” says Anna Błuś, Amnesty International’s women’s rights researcher in Europe. “It's really important for major human rights organizations such as ours, to be very vocal on this issue, and to publicly show solidarity with Muslim women's rights groups,” Błuś says. “These communities and these women have been demonized and vilified for years.”

On Tuesday, Amnesty International published a report calling out French authorities for the “discriminatory hypocrisy” of its hijab bans across a number of sports including soccer, volleyball, and basketball. Amnesty’s report details the racial and gendered discrimination and barriers to entry that French Muslim athletes currently face at professional and amateur level. It also addresses the IOC’s refusal to apply pressure on authorities to overturn the ban, which does not apply to non-French participants at the Olympics.

In September, French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera stated that a ban would be in effect for the Olympics, despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having no uniform rule against wearing a headscarf. The stipulation is one of a growing number of secularist policies in France that disproportionately affect Muslim girls and women, according to Błuś, including the 2004 banning of “ostentatious religious symbols” in state-run schools that saw the hijab banned, followed by a 2023 decision to ban students from wearing the abaya, a modest robe.

In a statement sent to TIME, the IOC said that while its own rules mean that women are free to observe the hijab, athletes competing for French national teams are considered to be civil servants who must act in accordance with national contexts. “This means that they must respect the principles of secularism (laïcité) and neutrality, which, according to French law, means prohibition from wearing outwardly religious symbols, including the hijab, veil and headscarf when they are acting in their official capacity and on official occasions as members of the French national team,” the statement said. Athletes—including from France—are permitted to wear hijabs in athletes' villages.

According to the IOC’s statement, one French athlete who observes hijab qualified for the 2024 Olympic games but it says the situation “has been resolved to the satisfaction of everyone.”

A spokesperson for the French Sports Ministry says that while an athlete “will never be banned from a competition because of their religious beliefs,” its secularism rules act as a “framework” for wearing religious symbols, which it has deemed the hijab to be. “There is no general ban on wearing the veil in sports fields in France. The law, clarified by administrative jurisprudence, outlines two specific cases,” the statement adds, outlining bans on political and religious symbols for athletes on the French national teams and engaged amateur practice.
How does France’s hijab ban impact Muslim athletes?

Regulations against religious symbols are not exclusive to the Olympics, and have been prevalent in French sports at both recreational and professional levels. One such ban by the French Basketball Federation (FFBB), dubbed Article 9.3, came into effect in December 2022, and forbids the wearing of “any equipment with a religious or political connotation.”

Among those campaigning for regulation reform are Hélène Bâ, a 22-year-old basketball player who has been participating in the sport since she was five years old. Bâ took a break from basketball for four years while she studied international law at university, before trying to return to professional games in 2022. It was then that she learned that the French Federation of Basketball prohibited accessories that cover the head.

“It was a real shock to me, because we know what this means in the French context, it means that you can’t play as a hijabi player,” Bâ, who is not playing in the Olympics this summer, tells TIME. “I went to my game in another town and the referee told my coach that I couldn't play with my sports hijab,” Bâ says, noting that her coach told her the referee wanted her to remove it, along with her long sleeve t-shirt. Bâ said that the referee said her attire was “dangerous” and forbade her from playing unless she removed it. She stayed on the bench for the duration of the game, unwilling to sacrifice her beliefs to participate.

“When you cannot play, it first impacts your mental health, especially when sport and basketball has been such a huge part of your life,” Bâ says. “It's also difficult because from a physical health point of view, you are not playing sports anymore.”

Bâ is not alone in this experience. Diaba Konaté, 24, was a young basketball talent at the top of her game when she both reached the finals of the U18 European Championship and the Youth Olympic Games in 2018. (She is not playing in the Olympics this summer.) She earned a full scholarship to play with UC Irvine in the U.S. But the prospect of playing for France again became elusive with the hijab ban. Konaté told Al Jazeera she began wearing the hijab two years ago and was “humiliated” when she was told she could not participate in French tournaments unless she removed it.

Basket Pour Toutes (Basketball For All)

Konaté found community in Basket Pour Toutes (Basketball For All), a group co-founded by Bâ, alongside coach Timothée Gauthierot and sociologist Haifa Tlili. The collective was created in October 2023 in a bid to fight back against discrimination in basketball and provide a sense of community to young Hijab-observing girls who love the sport. It consists of players, coaches, and human rights defenders coming together to rally for change and to organize events.

Women calling themselves the "Hidjabers" pose with a banner reading in French "#football for all" before playing football in the Luxembourg garden facing the French Senate in Paris on January 26, 2022.

Bertrand Guay—AFP/ Getty Images

Basket Pour Toutes and the Sport & Rights Alliance wrote a letter to the IOC in May, which was published in June, calling on the body to pressure France into overturning its discriminatory ban. “Our message is that we just want to play sports. Muslim women who wear the hijab have rights like any other citizen,” says Bâ.

Bâ says that the young Muslim girls they engage with deserve to see members of their community performing at the highest level in their sport, including at the Olympics. ”If they see French hijabi players they will say ‘okay, I could be that girl, I can be that player, I can be that athlete,” she says. Without this, and without a clear pathway to play sport on their terms, she fears that Muslim girls are sent the message that sport is not for them.

Tlili says she has observed a lot of French Muslims who want to expatriate and play abroad, adding that some French Muslim players feel they are being forced to choose between identity and sport. “This is not what they want,” Tlili says. “They really want to practice in France because all their family and friends are there, and they are proud to be French.”