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Protests Grip Bangladesh as Pressure Mounts on Yunus-led Government

Protesters block Shahbagh Square demanding the ban of the Bangladesh Awami League, the former ruling party, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 10, 2025. REUTERS/Abdul Goni
Protesters block Shahbagh Square demanding the ban of the Bangladesh Awami League, the former ruling party, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 10, 2025. REUTERS/Abdul Goni
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Protests Grip Bangladesh as Pressure Mounts on Yunus-led Government

Protesters block Shahbagh Square demanding the ban of the Bangladesh Awami League, the former ruling party, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 10, 2025. REUTERS/Abdul Goni
Protesters block Shahbagh Square demanding the ban of the Bangladesh Awami League, the former ruling party, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 10, 2025. REUTERS/Abdul Goni

Primary school teachers in Bangladesh joined public sector workers in protests against the interim government on Monday amid growing discontent and political uncertainty in the South Asian country.

Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, took over as interim head of the country of 173 million last August after deadly student-led protests forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India, Reuters said.

Yunus' administration has faced pressure from civil servants, teachers, political parties and the military as the caretaker government attempts to guide the country through a fragile transition before holding a general election.

The government issued an ordinance on Sunday allowing the Ministry of Public Administration to dismiss public servants for misconduct without lengthy procedures, sparking outrage across the bureaucracy.

Government employees continued their demonstrations for a third consecutive day on Monday, calling the ordinance "repressive" and demanding its immediate withdrawal.

Thousands of teachers in government primary schools also began indefinite leave from work on Monday, demanding a hike in wages.

In the face of protests by the employees of National Board of Revenue, the interim government was forced on Sunday to withdraw an order to dissolve the tax body and replace it with two divisions under the finance ministry.

The strike was then called off.

Political uncertainty also deepened last week after a top student leader said Yunus said he could step down if political parties cannot agree on reforms and an election timeline.

Wahiduddin Mahmud, the planning adviser in Yunus' cabinet, however, said the de-facto prime minister was not quitting.

"We are not going anywhere till our job is done," Mahmud said during the weekend, adding that Yunus acknowledged the obstacles but remained committed to holding a fair election.

The interim government has been caught between competing demands for swift general elections and reforms. Yunus has said the elections could be held by June, 2026 while the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, has been pushing for polls by December.

Bangladesh's army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, added to the pressure by calling for elections to be held in December during a speech last week, expressing his dissatisfaction over the political situation.

Yunus convened a last-minute meeting of his Advisory Council on Saturday and also held talks during the weekend with the country's main political forces, including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the student-led National Citizen Party.

Leaders of other political parties also met Yunus.

"We are in a war-like situation," Yunus' press secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters on Sunday. "After the Awami League's activities were banned, attempts are on to destabilize us in various ways. We have to get out of this situation."

The registration of Hasina's Awami League party was suspended this month, effectively barring the party from contesting the next election.

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World

Fighting Reaches Outskirts of Ukraine’s Stronghold Kostiantynivka

This photograph shows a barbed wire defense line running across a field at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, on May 1, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
This photograph shows a barbed wire defense line running across a field at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, on May 1, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
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Fighting Reaches Outskirts of Ukraine’s Stronghold Kostiantynivka

This photograph shows a barbed wire defense line running across a field at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, on May 1, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
This photograph shows a barbed wire defense line running across a field at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, on May 1, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

Russian troops are ‌inching towards the city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, trying to establish a foothold close to a heavily defended area, Ukraine's top army official said on Saturday.

Kostiantynivka, along with other cities, forms a so-called fortress belt in the country's east - an area well-fortified by the Ukrainian military.

"We are repelling the Russian occupiers' persistent attempts to gain a foothold in the outskirts of Kostiantynivka using infiltration tactics. Counter-sabotage measures are going on in the ‌city," Oleksandr Syrskyi, ‌Ukraine's army chief, said on the Telegram ‌app.

A ⁠Ukrainian battlefield mapping ⁠project called DeepState shows Russian troops control an area around only one kilometer (0.6 mile) from the city's southern outskirts.

Small chunks of Kostiantynivka in the southeast are marked as a grey zone, meaning neither Ukraine nor Russia has full control over them.

Russia's defense ministry said on ⁠Wednesday its forces had taken control of ‌Novodmytrivka, just north of Kostiantynivka. Moscow's ‌top general Valery Gerasimov said in April that troops were ‌advancing in the north and south of the ‌city.

Syrskyi said that Russian offensive attempts had risen noticeably in April. Since Monday, Russian troops have carried out 83 assaults in this sector using small infantry groups, he added.

Russia demands that ‌Ukraine pull back from areas in the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions that it ⁠failed to capture ⁠in its four-year full-scale war. US-brokered peace talks stalled over the issue as Ukrainian officials say Kyiv will not cede land it still controls.

For the past few years, Russian troops have not managed to capture any big city agglomerations in Ukraine, inching forward and taking control over small settlements, mostly in Ukraine's east.

The small city of Pokrovsk, whose more than 60,000 pre-war population mostly fled, was the most significant gain in the past year. It took Moscow's troops months to advance, and Kyiv says it still has some positions in the city.

World

Report: Explosion of Bombs Left Over from Strikes Kill 14 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Members

Smoke billows from an Israeli strike on Tehran. (Reuters file)
Smoke billows from an Israeli strike on Tehran. (Reuters file)
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Report: Explosion of Bombs Left Over from Strikes Kill 14 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Members

Smoke billows from an Israeli strike on Tehran. (Reuters file)
Smoke billows from an Israeli strike on Tehran. (Reuters file)

An explosion of leftover bombs from strikes during the war against Iran killed 14 members of the Revolutionary Guard, Iranian media reported Friday.

A report by the Nournews website, believed to be close to Iran’s security, said the explosion happened near the northern city of Zanjan, which is northwest of Tehran.

It was the largest number of Revolutionary Guard members reported to be killed since the ceasefire began on April 7.

The report said the ammunition included cluster bombs and air mines dropped during the fighting.

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US, Philippines Deploy Anti-Ship Missile System in Batanes Near Taiwan for War Games

A vehicle used for the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), stands during joint Philippine-US military exercises in Basco, Batanes province, Philippines, May 2, 2026. (Reuters)
A vehicle used for the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), stands during joint Philippine-US military exercises in Basco, Batanes province, Philippines, May 2, 2026. (Reuters)
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US, Philippines Deploy Anti-Ship Missile System in Batanes Near Taiwan for War Games

A vehicle used for the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), stands during joint Philippine-US military exercises in Basco, Batanes province, Philippines, May 2, 2026. (Reuters)
A vehicle used for the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), stands during joint Philippine-US military exercises in Basco, Batanes province, Philippines, May 2, 2026. (Reuters)

Philippine and US forces on Saturday showcased the NMESIS anti-ship missile system in Batanes province, near Taiwan, during annual war games, as tensions simmer over the self-governed island that China views as its own territory.

The Philippines' northernmost province, with about 20,000 residents, sits around 100 miles south of Taiwan, along the Luzon Strait, a strategic corridor on the frontline of the great power competition between the US and China for dominance in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Training out here in Batanes allows us a different environment than what we're normally allowed to operate in," said US Staff Sergeant Darren Gibbs.

"So it gives us unique opportunities to actually utilize the system and train within our capabilities, and it offers experiences we don't normally get offered in our day-to-day training."

Gibbs said the NMESIS is designed for remote operation, and that "the purpose of this system is for it to be ‌fully autonomous, for us ‌not to require a driver or passenger inside the vehicle itself."

"We will tell it ‌where ⁠to go and ⁠then we program what it needs to do," he said.

The NMESIS, a highly mobile coastal anti-ship missile system designed to target surface vessels from land-based positions at ranges of about 185 km (115 miles), was flown into Batanes on a US C-130 transport aircraft, and positioned in the capital Basco, which has one of the island province's two small runways.

Francisco Lorenzo, Philippine exercise director, told Reuters that deployment of US weapons such as the NMESIS to Batanes was part of efforts to test operational feasibility in remote locations. The NMESIS was also deployed to Batanes in last year's war games.

"It is part of training so ⁠as to test the feasibility or rehearse their deployment there when need arises," Lorenzo ‌said. One of the objectives of the Balikatan, as the annual "shoulder-to-shoulder" drills ‌of US and Philippine forces are called, is to practice "defense of our territory with our allies", he said.

The NMESIS would not ‌be used in live exercise operations and was brought to Batanes only for deployment rehearsal and simulation support during ‌the war games.

He said the system would be withdrawn from Batanes once the drills were finished. The US also deployed its Typhon missile system to the Philippines in 2024 for use in joint exercises.

Beijing routinely criticizes the deployment of US weapons in the Philippines, saying it heightens regional tension.

Security analyst Chester Cabalza, founder and president of the Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, told ‌Reuters "the NMESIS can spark a powder keg for Beijing and asymmetric deterrence for Manila and Taipei in the Bashi Channel along the Luzon Strait."

The system can be ⁠airlifted and deployed to ⁠any coastline in the Philippine archipelago within hours, Cabalza said, and its placement in Batanes is likely viewed by Beijing as part of the "US-led encirclement" of China.

WAR GAMES INVOLVE 17,000 TROOPS

Philippine and US forces also carried out maritime strike drills in Itbayat, a Batanes municipality about 155 km from Taiwan and the northernmost part of the country.

More than 17,000 troops are taking part in this year's war games, including about 10,000 from the US, even as Washington remains heavily engaged in the Middle East.

China recently intensified its activities in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, increasing its naval presence around Taiwan and sending an aircraft carrier through the strait. It also put up a barrier this month at the mouth of the Scarborough Shoal, according to satellite images reviewed by Reuters.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has said Filipinos working and living in Taiwan would have to be evacuated in the event of war over the self-governed island and that would "drag the Philippines kicking and screaming into the conflict."

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said in an April 28 interview with Reuters that Manila has a contingency plan to evacuate Filipinos in Taiwan if conflict erupts but gave no further details.