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Bangladesh Shuts Universities Indefinitely after Protests Turn Deadly

Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, and anti-quota protesters engage in a clash at the Dhaka College area, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, and anti-quota protesters engage in a clash at the Dhaka College area, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
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Bangladesh Shuts Universities Indefinitely after Protests Turn Deadly

Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, and anti-quota protesters engage in a clash at the Dhaka College area, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, and anti-quota protesters engage in a clash at the Dhaka College area, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

Bangladesh announced it will indefinitely shut down all public and private universities from Wednesday after protests by students against a quota system for government jobs turned deadly this week, leaving at least six people dead and scores injured.
The South Asian nation has been rocked by protests for weeks over public sector job quotas, which include a 30% reservation for family members of freedom fighters from the 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan. It has sparked anger among students who face high youth unemployment rates, with nearly 32 million young Bangladeshis not in work or education out of a total population of 170 million people, Reuters reported.
Demonstrations intensified after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina refused to meet the protesters' demands, citing ongoing court proceedings, and labelled those opposing the quota as "razakar" - a term used for those who allegedly collaborated with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war.
The protests turned violent this week when thousands of anti-quota protesters clashed with members of the student wing of the ruling Awami League party across the country. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Six people, including at least three students, were killed during the clashes on Tuesday, police said.
"We urgently call on the Government of Bangladesh to immediately guarantee the safety of all peaceful protesters and proper treatment of all those injured," Amnesty International said in a post on X.
Authorities have deployed riot police, along with the Border Guard Bangladesh paramilitary force, at university campuses across the country to maintain law and order.
Late on Tuesday, the University Grants Commission ordered all universities to shut down and instructed students to vacate the premises immediately for security reasons. High schools, colleges and other educational institutions were also shut.

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World

EU Urges Iran to Release Nobel-Prize Winner Mohammadi

A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. (Narges Mohammadi Foundation/AFP)
A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. (Narges Mohammadi Foundation/AFP)
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EU Urges Iran to Release Nobel-Prize Winner Mohammadi

A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. (Narges Mohammadi Foundation/AFP)
A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. (Narges Mohammadi Foundation/AFP)

The European Union called on Saturday for the release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was detained by Iranian security forces along with at least eight other activists.

Brussels described Friday's arrests in the eastern city of Mashhad as "deeply concerning".

"The EU urges Iranian authorities to release Ms. Mohammadi, taking also into account her fragile health condition, as well as all those unjustly arrested in the exercise of their freedom of expression," Anouar El Anouni, a spokesman for the bloc's diplomatic service, said.

Mohammadi, 53, who was last arrested in November 2021, has spent much of the past decade behind bars.

The 2023 Peace Prize laureate was granted temporary leave from prison on health grounds after problems related to her lungs and other issues in December 2024.

On Friday she was detained once again along with eight other activists at a ceremony for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead in his office last week, her foundation said.

Within Iran, the Mehr news agency cited the Mashhad governor Hassan Hosseini as saying individuals held at the ceremony had chanted "slogans deemed contrary to public norms" but did not name them.

"Mohammadi, who already had to endure years in prison because of her advocacy, bravely continues to use her voice to defend human dignity and the fundamental rights of Iranians, including freedom of expression, which must be respected at all times," El Anouni said.

Alikordi, 45, was a lawyer who had defended clients in sensitive cases, including people arrested in a crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted in 2022.

His body was found on December 5, with rights groups calling for an investigation into his death, which Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said "had very serious suspicion of a state murder".

World

US, Ukraine to Discuss Ceasefire in Berlin Ahead of European Summit

Anti-drone nets hang taut along a road near the city of Izyum of Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 12 December 2025. (EPA)
Anti-drone nets hang taut along a road near the city of Izyum of Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 12 December 2025. (EPA)
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US, Ukraine to Discuss Ceasefire in Berlin Ahead of European Summit

Anti-drone nets hang taut along a road near the city of Izyum of Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 12 December 2025. (EPA)
Anti-drone nets hang taut along a road near the city of Izyum of Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 12 December 2025. (EPA)

Germany will host US and Ukrainian delegations over the weekend for talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine, ahead of a summit with European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin on Monday, a German official said on Saturday.

A US official said overnight that President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were travelling to Germany for talks involving Ukrainians and Europeans.

The choice to send Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia regarding a US peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress. The White House had said on Thursday Trump would send an official to talks only if he felt there was enough progress to be made.

"Talks on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine are taking place in Berlin this weekend between foreign policy advisors from, among others, the US and Ukraine," said a German government source when asked about the meetings.

On Monday, Merz is hosting Zelenskiy and European leaders for a summit in Berlin, the latest in a series of public shows of support for the Ukrainian leader from allies across Europe as Kyiv faces pressure from Washington to sign up to a peace plan that initially backed Moscow's main demands.

Britain, France and Germany have been working in the last few weeks to refine the US proposals, which, in a draft disclosed last month, called for Kyiv to cede more territory, abandon its ambition to join NATO and accept limits on its armed forces.

World

Germany to Send Soldiers to Fortify Poland Border

A border guard officer stands guard at the Polish-Belarusian border, in Polowce, Poland. (AP file photo)
A border guard officer stands guard at the Polish-Belarusian border, in Polowce, Poland. (AP file photo)
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Germany to Send Soldiers to Fortify Poland Border

A border guard officer stands guard at the Polish-Belarusian border, in Polowce, Poland. (AP file photo)
A border guard officer stands guard at the Polish-Belarusian border, in Polowce, Poland. (AP file photo)

Germany has said it will send a group of soldiers to Poland to help with a project to fortify the country's eastern border as worries mount about the threat from Russia.

Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Moscow, announced plans in May last year to bolster a long stretch of its border that includes Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The main task of the German soldiers in Poland will be "engineering activities," a spokesman for the defense ministry in Berlin said late Friday.

This could include "constructing fortifications, digging trenches, laying barbed wire, or erecting tank barriers," he said.

"The support provided by German soldiers as part of (the operation) is limited to these engineering activities."

The spokesman did not specify the exact number of troops involved, saying only it would be a "mid-range two-digit number".

They are expected to participate in the project from the second quarter of 2026 until the end of 2027.

The spokesman stressed that parliamentary approval was not needed for the deployment as "there is no immediate danger to the soldiers from military conflicts".

Except for certain exceptional cases, the German parliament has to approve the deployment of the country's armed forces overseas.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Warsaw has staunchly backed Kyiv and been a transit route for arms being supplied by Ukraine's Western allies.

Warsaw has also modernized its army and hiked defense spending.

Germany is Ukraine's second-biggest supplier of military aid after the United States and has sent Kyiv a huge quantity of equipment ranging from air defence systems to armored vehicles.