Thousands of supporters attended Islamic funeral prayers for an opposition lawmaker yesterday, a day after he was killed by gunmen during a rally outside Bangla-desh's capital.
Ahsanullah Master, a lawmaker from the main opposition Awami League, was attending a rally of the party's labor wing in the industrial town of Tongi when about 15 gunmen opened fire, said party spokesman Saber Hossain Chowdhury.
Master died soon after he was brought to Dhaka's Combined Military Hospital with multiple bullet wounds to his chest.
Three other members of the party died from bullet wounds on the way to the hospital, police said.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack. The Awami League has blamed the killing on government supporters, while authorities say that it may be linked to an internal party feud.
At a news conference Friday, Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil said the killing was ``part of a conspiracy hatched by the top level of the government'' to undermine the opposition, which is campaigning for Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's resignation and general elections.
The opposition accuses Zia's administration of corruption, mismanagement and harassment of opponents. A Home Ministry press statement Friday said that an initial investigation suggested the killing could be the outcome of an alleged dispute over leadership of the party's labor wing. The opposition denounced the statement.
Also on Friday, at least one person was killed and dozens wounded when police fired shots and tear gas to disperse thousands of angry opposition supporters who took to the streets to protest the killing, news reports said.
The crowd attacked government offices and set two trains and a movie theater on fire, and destroyed dozens of vehicles in Tongi and adjoining areas, witnesses said.
The Awami League said it will organize a general strike today to protest the shooting.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS