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Bangladesh arrests head of largest Muslim party amid crackdown

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Bangladesh arrests head of largest Muslim party amid crackdown

The Jamaat-e-Islami get together is supporting the opposition’s protests demanding PM Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.

The chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (Bangladesh Islamic Meeting), Bangladesh’s largest Muslim get together, has been arrested days after he introduced the get together would be a part of opposition-led protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Shafiqur Rahman was arrested from his residence at round 1 am on thirteenth December [19:00 GMT, December 12],” an announcement from the get together’s performing secretary normal, Maulana ATM Masum, mentioned on Tuesday.

“We’re vehemently condemning and protesting his arrest,” Masum mentioned, calling the authorities for his fast and unconditional launch.

For years, Jamaat, the nation’s third-largest political get together, which has been banned from contesting elections since 2012, was a significant ally of the principle opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Get together (BNP) and their coalition dominated the nation between 2001-2006.

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However after Hasina got here to energy in 2009, Jamaat’s whole management was arrested and tried for battle crimes relationship again to the nation’s 1971 independence battle towards Pakistan.

5 of its prime leaders had been hanged between 2013 and 2016 after they had been discovered responsible by a battle crimes courtroom. Tons of of get together activists had been shot lifeless and tens of 1000’s had been detained after they staged violent protests towards the executions.

The get together known as the trials politically motivated and a part of a wider vendetta towards its leaders.

“Sick efforts are occurring to destroy the management of Jamaat-e-Islami,” learn the Jamaat assertion. “On one hand, they’re speaking of democracy and election, whereas on the opposite they’re oppressing … the opposition leaders and activists. Virtually, they don’t imagine in democracy.”

Police final month additionally arrested Rahman’s son, Rafat Sadik Saifullah, on extremism costs and remanded him in custody underneath the nation’s harsh “anti-terrorism” legal guidelines.

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Supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Get together rally in capital Dhaka [File: Mahmud Hossain Opu/AP]

Rahman’s arrest got here amid a unbroken crackdown by the federal government since Saturday when tens of 1000’s of BNP leaders and supporters led a rally protesting towards hovering gas costs and value of residing within the nation.

The opposition has been demanding Hasina step down and let a caretaker authorities maintain free and truthful elections because the South Asian garment manufacturing hub battled an rising financial disaster.

The BNP has additionally demanded the discharge of Begum Khaleda Zia, the 76-year-old get together head and two-time prime minister who has been in jail since being convicted on two counts of corruption in 2018.

The federal government’s crackdown has seen greater than 2,000 BNP politicians and supporters – together with the get together’s de facto chief and normal secretary, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir – arrested on costs of inciting violence in the course of the rally, by which at the least one individual was killed and dozens, together with a number of cops, injured.

Jamaat and a number of other left-leaning and centrist events have supported the BNP’s calls for. In addition they introduced they’d maintain joint protests with the BNP within the coming days.

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Hasina, in energy since 2009, has had two nationwide elections stained by opposition boycotts and alleged electoral malpractices underneath her watch.

Her authorities’s heavy-handed approaches to suppress political opposition and dissenters have additionally attracted extreme criticism from human rights activists and impartial observers.

Western governments together with the United Nations have expressed issues over the political local weather in Bangladesh, one of many fastest-growing economies in Asia.

The Western embassies and the UN issued a joint assertion final week, calling for Bangladesh to permit free expression, peaceable meeting and truthful elections.

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Jay-Z’s Accuser Can Remain Anonymous, Judge Criticizes His Lawyer’s ‘Relentless’ Filings

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Jay-Z’s Accuser Can Remain Anonymous, Judge Criticizes His Lawyer’s ‘Relentless’ Filings

The woman accusing Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 can proceed anonymously (“at least for now”) in her lawsuit against the rappers, a judge ruled Thursday.

New York Judge Analisa Torres also condemned the legal team representing Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) for the “relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks [on accuser’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee],” according to a court order obtained by Variety. “Since Carter’s attorney first appeared in this case seventeen days ago, he has submitted a litany of letters and motions attempting to impugn the character of Plaintiff’s lawyer [Buzbee].”

Judge Torres continues, calling the complaints “inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client [Jay-Z].”

Jane Doe, who filed her original lawsuit against Combs in October, and re-filed it with Carter’s name in early December, will remain anonymous at this early stage of the litigation. She could still be required by the court to reveal her identity.

Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Carter, recently asked the judge to dismiss the entertainer from the woman’s lawsuit. He cited a report from NBC News that revealed the accuser had admitted to some “inconsistencies and outright impossibilities” in her allegations. His team has also issued public statements referring to Buzbee as a “1-800 lawyer” who is “in the pursuit of money and fame.”

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Judge Torres denied Carter’s request to dismiss the case. Representatives for Carter did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

In the last few weeks, Buzbee issued his own lawsuit against Roc Nation, the entertainment company owned by Carter, claiming they are using “shadowy operatives” to bribe his former clients into filing “frivolous” complaints against him. Carter has also sued Buzbee for defamation.

Jane Doe, who alleges she was 13 when Combs and Carter raped her in 2000, says she encountered the pair at an afterparty for the MTV Music Video Awards.

Carter responded to the allegation almost immediately. “You have made a terrible error in judgment thinking that all ‘celebrities’ are the same,” Carter wrote in a letter addressing Buzbee. “I’m not from your moral world. I’m a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn. We don’t play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children, you seem to exploit people for personal gain. Only your network of conspiracy theorists, fake physics, will believe the idiotic claims you have levied against me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding harm to kids, would be laughable.”

Combs has been held in a Brooklyn jail since September. He will remain there until his trial is scheduled to begin in May.

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China unveils world's largest amphibious warship

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China unveils world's largest amphibious warship

China has launched the first of its new line of amphibious assault ships and its biggest warship yet, strengthening what is already the world’s largest navy.

The Sichuan, a type 076 new-generation amphibious assault ship, was put into the water at a launch and naming ceremony on Friday. 

With a full load displacement of 40,000 tons, the warship ranks among the world’s largest amphibious assault ships, featuring a dual-island superstructure and full-length flight deck, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) said in a statement.

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A launching ceremony is held to unveil China’s first Type 076 new-generation amphibious assault ship, the Sichuan, at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a Shanghai-based subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp, on December 27, 2024, in Shanghai, China. (Pu Haiyang/VCG via Getty Images)

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China Bugle, an news outlet associated with the PLAN’s news media center, reported the ship will play a key role in transforming and developing the Chinese navy and enhancing its combat capabilities in the far seas. 

The Sichuan is capable of launching fighter jets and unmanned drones from an electromagnetic catapult. It is designed to carry ground troops in landing craft with air support. 

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China Launches First Type 076 Amphibious Assault Ship

Named after southwest China’s Sichuan Province, the independently-developed new vessel was put into the water at a launch and naming ceremony. (Pu Haiyang/VCG via Getty Images)

The ship also features “arrester technology” that Chinese researchers boast will allow fighter jets to land on its deck, similar to an aircraft carrier.

China launched its first amphibious assault ship, a type 075 class warship called the Hainan, in 2019.

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Launch ceremony for the Sichuan

Chinese military officials celebrate at the launch ceremony for the Sichuan.  (Pu Haiyang/VCG via Getty Images)

The PLANmi has been working on modernizing its forces for more than a decade, with the aim of being able to operate globally rather than being restricted to waters near the Chinese mainland. China first managed to launch fighter jets with the new electromagnetic technology on its homemade aircraft carrier, the Fujian, which launched two years ago.

The Sichuan will now undergo additional tests at sea. 

China has the largest navy in the world and is consistently trying to upgrade its fleet. Recently, researchers found that the country is working on designing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which would allow it to deploy its ships in distant waters without needing a base to refuel.

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The U.S. Navy currently has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers deployed in strategic locations globally, including in the Asia-Pacific.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Health worker displaced by Israeli attacks in Gaza dies of ‘extreme cold’

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Health worker displaced by Israeli attacks in Gaza dies of ‘extreme cold’

Many people in Gaza lack adequate shelter and are malnourished after more than a year of Israeli attacks and blockades.

A Palestinian healthcare worker has died due to “extreme” weather conditions, according to a statement by the enclave’s Ministry of Health, as severe cold compounds the hardship faced by people displaced by Israel’s relentless attacks.

The body of Al-Hakim Ahmed al-Zaharneh, who worked at the European Gaza Hospital, was found inside his tent in al-Mawasi area, west of the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, the ministry said on Friday.

“This incident comes in light of the difficult humanitarian conditions that displaced citizens are experiencing, as the suffering of Gaza residents increases due to low temperatures and the lack of heating means in tents,” the ministry said.

The ministry said earlier that four Palestinian babies have died in tents in recent days amid the cold weather and widespread malnutrition.

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Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said that the number of casualties in vulnerable groups is increasing due to worsening weather conditions.

“For 14 months now, people here have been lacking basic necessities to help them survive these difficult conditions – even in summer,” he said.

“Now in winter, the temperature has dropped very low, [and] people in tent camps feel the cold as being [colder] than the actual levels.”

He said that mothers often lack the strength or ability to breastfeed as they are malnourished and unwell.

“The conditions are worse for vulnerable groups like babies and, in the absence of [humanitarian aid], it is natural that deaths will happen.”

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The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once since war broke out with the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023, with many people living in tents that offer little protection from the cold, rain and flooding.

The United Nations and other organisations have repeatedly decried the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, as Israeli attacks and blockades severely curtail access to food, water, medicine and other supplies.

A leading United States government organisation monitoring food crises around the world withdrew a new report this week warning of imminent famine in north Gaza under what it called Israel’s “near-total blockade,” after the US asked for its retraction, US officials told The Associated Press.

The move follows public criticism of the report from the US ambassador to Israel.

The report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) had warned that a “famine scenario” was unfolding in northern Gaza where Israel launched a renewed offensive in early October.

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Meanwhile, on Friday, the director of Gaza’s Health Ministry told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few remaining medical facilities in north Gaza, and forced the 350 people there to evacuate, including all the patients and staff. He said contact with the hospital had been lost.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 45,436 Palestinians and wounded 108,038 since October 7, 2023, according to figures released on Friday by Gaza’s Health Ministry.

An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day and more than 200 were taken captive.

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