Ukraine Expects $11.8 Bln in US Economic Aid in 2024

In this grab taken from video released by the head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region Denis Pushilin's telegram channel on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region, walks past damaged buildings, after Russian forces completed their takeover of Avdiivka, eastern Ukraine. (Head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region Denis Pushilin telegram channel via AP)
In this grab taken from video released by the head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region Denis Pushilin's telegram channel on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region, walks past damaged buildings, after Russian forces completed their takeover of Avdiivka, eastern Ukraine. (Head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region Denis Pushilin telegram channel via AP)
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Ukraine Expects $11.8 Bln in US Economic Aid in 2024

In this grab taken from video released by the head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region Denis Pushilin's telegram channel on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region, walks past damaged buildings, after Russian forces completed their takeover of Avdiivka, eastern Ukraine. (Head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region Denis Pushilin telegram channel via AP)
In this grab taken from video released by the head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region Denis Pushilin's telegram channel on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region, walks past damaged buildings, after Russian forces completed their takeover of Avdiivka, eastern Ukraine. (Head of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region Denis Pushilin telegram channel via AP)

Ukraine expects to receive $11.8 billion in economic support this year from the United States, its prime minister said on Sunday.

Denys Shmyhal said during a televised conference in Kyiv that he was hopeful that US lawmakers would approve long-awaited economic and military aid.

Russia said on Sunday that its forces had taken more advantageous positions near Avdiivka and Donetsk after President Vladimir Putin ordered the military to push further into Ukraine after two years of full-scale war.
Russia's defense ministry said its troops had pushed back Ukrainian forces near Klishchiivka, Dyleyevka and Kurdiumivka in the Donetsk region and taken better positions near Avdiivka which fell to Russia earlier this month.
"In the Donetsk direction, units of the Southern grouping of troops improved the situation along the front line and defeated formations of the 22nd, 28th and 92nd mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Klishchiivka, Dyleyevka and Kurdiumivka," it said.

"In the Avdiivka direction, units of the Center group of forces occupied more advantageous lines and positions, and also defeated manpower and equipment of the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 107th Air Defense Brigade."
The ministry said Russian troops had repelled seven Ukrainian counter-attacks in the area. A total of 77 Ukrainian drones were destroyed, the ministry said.



Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That's why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

- 'Carried out raids' -

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organized by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We've carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We're not arresting general students, only those who vandalized government properties and set them on fire."