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Bangladesh issues high security alert as deadly protests escalate

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A High Security Alert has been issued for the whole of Bangladesh, as violent clashes between students and police continue.

The capital Dhaka is in the midst of a near-total internet blackout, with phone lines also down.

On Thursday evening, several thousand protestors stormed the state broadcaster BTV, vandalising furniture, smashing windows and lights and setting parts of it on fire.

Bangladesh’s information minister told the BBC that broadcasts had been stopped and most employees had left the building in the capital.

A post on BTV’s official Facebook page had earlier warned “many” were trapped inside the building, and appealed for help from the fire service to put the blaze out.

A senior BTV journalist, who didn’t want to be named, told the BBC: “The situation was so bad we didn’t have any other option but to leave the place. Some of our colleagues were trapped inside. I don’t know what happened to them.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on the network on Wednesday night, appealing for calm after days of violent protests which have left at least 19 people dead, possibly many more, and hundreds injured.

Students have been holding rallies demanding change to a system which reserves a third of public sector jobs for the relatives of veterans of the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The students are arguing that the system is discriminatory, asking for recruitment based on merit.

The government has been trying to quell the protests, on Thursday switching off the country’s mobile internet in an attempt to slow the students.

Instead, it became the deadliest day so far, according to news agency AFP. According to its count citing hospitals, a total of 32 people have died during the protests.

The BBC’s Bengali service has confirmed 19 deaths so far – 13 of them on Thursday. Among the dead was a 32-year-old journalist for the Dhaka Times.

Sheikh Hasina had condemned protesters’ deaths as “murder” in her Wednesday television appearance, but her words were largely dismissed by protest organisers, who rejected government offers of talks.

“The government has killed so many people in a day that we cannot join any discussions in the current circumstances,” said Nahid Iqbal, a leader of the anti-quota protest.

Another student, Aleem Khan, 22, told the BBC: “The Prime Minister is asking for an end to the violence with one hand whilst, with the other hand, attacking students using pro-ruling party groups and the police.”

Thursday saw tear gas and rubber bullets deployed by officers, as students created human blockades in the streets.

The students who stormed BTV had earlier “torched” a police station, according to an official at the network.

“They chased the police officers when they took refuge at the BTV office,” the official told AFP. “Angry protesters then caused mayhem here.”

Elsewhere, BBC Bengali spoke to a group of medical students who were taking shelter inside a medical college compound after they were attacked by pro-ruling party groups.

One of the students, Sumi, told the BBC: “I am here to protest against discrimination within the civil service and now that so many students have been killed by the police, I am also protesting against that.

“Our protest is peaceful, but the way in which we were attacked made me feel like we were going to be killed by pro-ruling party groups.”

(BBC News)

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Ready for “neutral investigation” on Kashmir terror attack – Pakistan PM

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today said he’s ready for a “neutral investigation” of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam where 26 people, including a Nepalese national, were gunned down. 
The terror attack, one of the deadliest since the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019, has triggered high-level diplomatic and security responses from the government against Pakistan, which has been accused of harbouring the handlers and backers of this terrorist group. 

Addressing a graduation ceremony at the Pakistan Military Academy in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Kakul, Prime Minister Sharif said that his country is open to taking part in a “credible” investigation. 

“The recent tragedy in Pahalgam is yet another example of this perpetual blame game, which must come to a grinding halt. Continuing with its role as a responsible country, Pakistan is open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation,” Mr Sharif said. 

The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy for the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack. Pakistan has often been accused of harbouring and funding terror groups engaged in cross-border infiltrations. 

“Pakistan has always condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” Mr Sharif added. 

Mr Sharif’s remark comes a day after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif in an interview with New York Times said that Pakistan was “ready to cooperate” with “any investigation which is conducted by international inspectors”.

(NDTV)

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Funeral of Pope Francis, today

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Dozens of world leaders and thousands of mourners are gathering for the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday aged 88.

The service will begin at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST) in front of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

More than 250,000 people came to pay their respects to the late pontiff over the three days he was lying in state, the Vatican says.

Preparations have begun for the conclave, the process by which cardinals will elect the next Pope.

In Sri Lanka, the government has declared today a national day of mourning in honour of the funeral of His Holiness Pope Francis.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism – Vijitha Herath will represent the Government of Sri Lanka at the funeral.

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TikTok astrologer arrested for predicting new Myanmar quake

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Myanmar authorities have arrested an astrologer for causing panic by predicting a new earthquake in a viral TikTok video.

John Moe The posted his prediction on 9 April, just two weeks after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake killed 3,500 people and destroyed centuries-old temples in the South East Asian nation.

He was arrested Tuesday for making “false statements with the intention of causing public panic”, Myanmar’s information ministry said.

John Moe The had warned that an earthquake would “hit every city in Myanmar” on 21 April. But experts say earthquakes are impossible to predict due to the complexity of the factors involved in such disasters.

In his video, which got more than three million views, John Moe The urged people to “take important things with you and run away from buildings during the shaking.”

“People should not stay in tall buildings during the day,” read its caption.

A Yangon resident told AFP that many of her neighbours believed in the prediction. They refused to stay in their homes and camped outside the day John Moe The said the earthquake would happen.

His now-defunct TikTok account, which has more than 300,000 followers, claims to make predictions based on astrology and palmistry.

He was arrested during a raid on his home in Sagaing, central Myanmar.

The areas of Mandalay and Sagaing were hit especially hard by the earthquake on 28 March, which prompted a rare request from the Myanmar junta for foreign aid.

That earthquake was felt some 1,000km away in Bangkok, where a building collapsed at a construction site, killing dozens.

(BBC News)

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