Wave of attacks overnight also targeted houses and businesses belonging to Hasina’s Awami League supporters. Thousands of protesters in Bangladesh have demolished and set fire to the home of the country’s founding leader, as his daughter, ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, delivered a fiery social media speech calling on her supporters to stand against the interim government. The attack on Wednesday night was prompted by a speech Hasina planned to give to supporters from exile in neighbouring India, where she fled last August after a deadly student-led uprising against her 15-year rule. Critics had accused her of suppressing dissent. The house in the capital, Dhaka, had been home to Hasina’s late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971. He was assassinated there in 1975. Hasina later turned the home into a museum. According to news reports, several thousand protesters, some armed with sticks, hammers and other tools, gathered around the historic house and independence monument, while others brought a crane and excavator to demolish the building on Wednesday night. Photos posted on social media and published by news organisations showed the building almost levelled to the ground, while parts of it were completely burned. The country’s leading English-language Daily Star reported early on Thursday that a wave of attacks overnight also targeted several houses and businesses belonging to Hasina’s Awami League supporters. The rally was organised alongside a broader call, dubbed “Bulldozer Procession”, to disrupt Hasina’s scheduled online address on Wednesday night. ‘Symbol of fascism’ Protesters, many aligned with the Students Against Discrimination group, had expressed their fury over Hasina’s speech, which they viewed as a challenge to the newly formed interim government. Hasnat Abdullah, a student leader of the group, had warned media outlets against Hasina’s speech and announced on Facebook on Wednesday that “tonight Bangladesh will be freed from the pilgrimage site of fascism”. Another protester, Mohammad Arefin, said there was no reason for the house to remain standing. “Since we, the students, have formed the government through revolution, we find it legitimate to demolish it.” The protesters also chanted slogans criticising India, where Hasina has lived in exile since fleeing Bangladesh last August. An interim government in Bangladesh led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has sought Hasina’s extradition but India has not responded. Many of the protesters also chanted slogans demanding Hasina’s execution for hundreds of deaths during last year’s uprising against her, one of the country’s worst upheavals since independence. Hasina has urged a United Nations investigation into the deaths. The ousted prime minister has also been accused of overseeing extrajudicial killings and suppressing opposition voices during her 15-year rule. In her speech on Wednesday, Hasina remained defiant, saying, “They can demolish a building, but not the history. History takes its revenge.” She also urged the people of Bangladesh to stand against the interim government, accusing them of seizing power in an unconstitutional manner. The student-led movement behind the protests has voiced plans to dismantle the country’s 1972 constitution, which they argue embodies the legacy of her father’s rule. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/6/bangladesh-protesters-torch-family-home-of-ousted-pm-sheikh-hasina

Six personnel also wounded, three moved to Peshawar due to being in critical condition In a brazen overnight assault, militants attacked a police checkpost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Karak district during the early hours of Thursday, killing at least three police personnel and injuring six others, authorities confirmed. The attackers, armed with heavy weapons, launched a barrage of gunfire at the checkpost in the Bahadurkhel area of the city. The deceased have been identified as Taimur, Hayat, Naqeeb and Adnan. Four injured personnel were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital in Karak. However, three of the wounded have then been shifted to Peshawar due to being in critical condition. The funeral prayer for the martyred policemen will be held at 10am at Karak Police Lines. District Police Officer (DPO) Karak told Geo News that the assailants fled the scene after police retaliated. A heavy police contingent immediately arrived at the site, cordoning off the area and launching a search operation to apprehend the perpetrators. Security measures have been heightened across the area following the incident. The attack came just days after a policeman was shot dead by extremists in Khyber district during an anti-polio campaign. On February 3, an inoculation team was ambushed in the Bakarabad area on the first day of the vaccination drive, highlighting the persistent threat posed by militant groups in the region. In response to escalating security threats, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last month stressed the need to eliminate the “Fitna al-Khawarij,” referring to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has been responsible for numerous attacks on security forces and civilians. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1279943-karak-police-checkpost-attacked-two-officers-martyred-six-injured

Announcement comes as US President Donald Trump confirms he is considering eliminating the aid agency. The administration of United States President Donald Trump has ordered nearly all directly-hired staff of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to be placed on leave as part of the Republican’s drive to radically shrink the government. USAID said on Tuesday that all direct hire personnel would be put on leave from Friday, apart from “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs”. USAID personnel posted overseas will be recalled from their postings within 30 days, the agency said in a statement on its website. The aid agency said it would consider case-by-case exceptions and extensions based on “personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons”. “For example, the Agency will consider exceptions based on the timing of dependents’ school term, personal or familial medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons. Further guidance on how to request an exception will be forthcoming,” the statement said. “Thank you for your service.” USAID employs more than 10,000 people, about two-thirds of whom are stationed overseas, according to the Congressional Research Service. USAID’s announcement comes as the Trump administration is considering abolishing the agency and subsuming its functions into the US Department of State. Asked by a reporter on Tuesday if he was preparing to “wind down” the agency, Trump said, “I think so.” On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that he was serving as acting administrator of USAID. USAID, which disbursed more than half of Washington’s $72bn foreign aid budget in 2023, has become a prime target of the cost-cutting drive spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has called USAID a “criminal organisation“, without substantiation, and claimed the agency is a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America”. Critics have accused Trump and Musk of acting beyond their authority, arguing that dismantling USAID through executive action is unconstitutional as the agency’s status was established by an act of Congress. Source : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/5/usaid-places-staff-on-leave-recalls-personnel-overseas

Govt coordinated series of arrangements to ensure smooth arrival and transport of mortal remains, says official By Web Desk February 04, 2025 Mortal remains of 13 Pakistani nationals, who lost their lives in Morocco boat incident last month, would be brought back homeland this week, the Ministry of Foreign Affair announced on Tuesday. In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan has said that the mortal remains of four deceased Pakistanis are scheduled to arrive in Islamabad tomorrow (Wednesday). They include Hamid Shabbir from Mandi Bahauddin, Muhammad Arslan Khan from Shaikhupura, Qaiser Iqbal from Gujrat and Sajjad Ali from Mandi Bahauddin, Radio Pakistan reported. In line with the repatriation process, the government has coordinated a series of arrangements to ensure the smooth arrival and transport of the mortal remains. A facilitation desk has been set up at Islamabad International Airport to assist the families of the deceased, while ambulances will be made available to transfer the bodies to their final destinations. A medical team will be on standby to provide any necessary support, and a mortuary will be arranged for the temporary storage of the remains. Additionally, media coverage will be arranged in coordination with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, while the Ministry of Interior will ensure the implementation of standard operating procedures for the process. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1279463-mortal-remains-of-13-pakistanis-to-be-brought-back-from-morocco-this-week-fo

Source : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/2/4/live-israel-netanyahu-to-meet-trump-in-washington-gaza-ceasefire

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/2/4/trump-tariffs-live-us-pauses-mexico-canada-tariffs-after-border-deals

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called out the administration for “using force excessively and disproportionately” during the November 26 protest by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), seeking an independent and impartial inquiry into the events. “Contrary to the federal government’s claims, the PTI-led protest in Islamabad on 26 November 2024 led to loss of life allegedly among protesters as well as reported deaths among security personnel,” stated a fact-finding report released by the commission on Monday. The report comes after PTI’s talks with the government collapsed after the former ruling party refused to attend the fourth round of discussions on January 28 over the latter’s failure to form judicial commissions to investigate the events related to the May 9 riots and November 2024 protests. On November 26, Islamabad witnessed pitched battles between law enforcement agencies and PTI supporters as the latter inched towards the D-Chowk for the party’s ‘final call’ power show amid intense teargas shelling. However, a late-night crackdown by the government ended in a hasty retreat of the PTI’s top leadership and supporters, following which the party abruptly ended its protest. The fierce clashes resulted in the martyrdom of at least four Rangers personnel along with two policemen with the former ruling party claiming that 12 of its protesters died. The protests led to arrests and multiple cases being registered against the party workers and supporters. In today’s report, the HRCP said a high-level fact-finding mission documented oral testimonies from state representatives, the PTI leadership, reporters on the ground and the families of seven people who were allegedly killed during the protest. “The mission is deeply concerned by allegations that the hospital administrations and police withheld the bodies of victims until their families agreed not to pursue any legal action. “While the hospital administrations refused to speak with the fact-finding team, accounts from journalists and the families of alleged victims suggest that these hospitals may be concealing information,” it added. Quoting reports, the commission stated that some protesters carried slingshots, tear gas shells and firearms on occasion. “While the right to peaceful assembly is constitutionally guaranteed, it must remain within the bounds of the law.” Meanwhile, the report also called out the administration for demonstrating “a clear lack of proficiency in managing the protest and used force excessively and disproportionately”. “Although the mission attempted to contact the interior minister to inquire about the use of live ammunition against protestors, he was unavailable to meet the team,” it added. The mission also expressed alarm over the mainstream media’s blackout of the entire event, which may have resulted from “state coercion or self-censorship”. “The media should have been allowed to assess the situation on the ground without hindrance and report the facts,” it stated. The report urged the government to immediately announce an independent, impartial inquiry into these events, involving the families of the alleged victims, the PTI and other political stakeholders. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1279153-rights-body-seeks-freefair-probe-into-post-nov-26-pti-protest-allegations

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet United States President Donald Trump with the agenda to focus on the paused war in Gaza, as well as Iran. The two leaders are due to meet in the early afternoon on Tuesday, sources told news agencies. The meeting takes place as indirect negotiations between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas on the second phase of the fragile Gaza ceasefire agreement are due. Ahead of the meeting, Trump said that discussions with Israel and other countries on the Middle East were “progressing” but offered no details. The US leader admitted, however, that the ceasefire is uncertain. “I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” he told reporters. His Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with the Israeli leader on Monday, added: “We’re certainly hopeful.” Netanyahu’s office announced on Tuesday that an Israeli negotiating team is preparing to travel to Qatar this weekend for talks on the second phase. The team will discuss “technical details related to continuing to carry out” the agreement, it said in a statement. Pressure Trump has claimed credit for the ceasefire deal, which was signed before he took office on January 20. During the first phase, Hamas released 18 captives; Israel has halted its onslaught on the enclave and released hundreds of jailed Palestinians. But the situation remains tense. Netanyahu is being pushed by far-right partners in the Israeli government to resume fighting. Meanwhile, he is likely to face pressure from Trump to hold fire. While the US president is a staunch supporter of Israel, the ceasefire deal is also part of a wider regional strategy. Trump and Netanyahu have both said they aim to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and to pull the latter into new regional arrangements to help create a bulwark against Iran. However, the steadfast opposition of Netanyahu – who said on the eve of the trip that he hopes the meeting will help further redraw the map of the region – to any move towards a Palestinian state is a potential obstacle. The Saudis have said they would only agree to take part if the war in Gaza ends and there is a credible pathway to a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank. Trump has already shown an increase in support for Israel, restarting supplies of 2,000-pound bombs and suggesting Palestinians should be moved from Gaza to neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan. But Iran will be high on his agenda. During his first term, Trump led a hardball approach to Tehran, pulling an international nuclear deal. Trump may “have little patience for political woes of Netanyahu if it gets in the way of the broader goals of this administration,” Mira Resnick, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli and Palestinian affairs told the AP news agency. “The president started his term by saying that he wanted the ceasefire to be in place by January 20. That’s what he got,” Resnick said. “He is invested in this because he was able to take credit for it.” Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/4/israels-netanyahu-to-discuss-fragile-gaza-ceasefire-with-trump

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/1/30/live-plane-and-helicopter-collide-crash-into-washingtons-potomac-river