Death toll has risen to 101 in the unprecedented violence that erupted in different parts of Bangladesh during the anti-discrimination student movement.

What had started as the demand for quota reform eventually turned into a movement to change the government.

The severe clashes broke out when protesters attending a non-cooperation programme to demand the government’s resignation faced opposition from government supporters. Protesters have dismissed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s invitation for dialogue to quell the violence.

The agitators announced to organise a ‘March to Dhaka’ programme on Sunday. However, there is concern and apprehension among the public about ‘March to Dhaka’ programme amid the curfew.

The government has imposed an indefinite curfew across Bangladesh amid the raging clashes. Mobile internet has also been tightly restricted nationwide.

In light of the situation, to ensure public safety amid the violent protests, a three-day general holiday has been declared on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Recently, over 200 people were killed in violent clashes between the police and predominantly student protesters demanding scrapping of the controversial quota system that reserves 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971.

India’s advisory for its nationals in Bangladesh to exercise “extreme caution” and restrict their movements.

“All Indian nationals including students living in the jurisdiction of the Assistant High Commission of India, Sylhet are requested to be in touch with this office and are advised to remain alert. In case of emergencies, please contact +88-01313076402,” the Assistant High Commission said in a post on X. AGENCIES

At least 25 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on the schools of al-Nasr and Hassan Salama in Gaza City, Palestinian security and medical sources said.

Israeli warplanes bombed with several missiles at the two schools, security sources said on Sunday as reported by Xinhua news agency.

Medical sources told Xinhua news agency that at least 25 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded as a result of Israeli air raids.

Most of the victims are women and children, the Civil Defence Authority in Gaza said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Israeli Army Spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement that Israeli warplanes attacked militants operating inside Hamas command and control complexes that were hidden inside the Hassan Salama and al-Nasr schools in Gaza City.

Since October 7, 2023, Hamas and the Israeli army have been involved in a large-scale war, right after Hamas carried out its unprecedented attack on the Israeli towns adjacent to the besieged coastal enclave.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 39,583, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday. AGENCIES

Around five launches were detected crossing from the southern Gaza Strip toward Israel, the Israeli army said. 

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has claimed responsibility for the attack, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

A projectile landed in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council area in southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement, noting that no injuries were reported.

Kan reported that the rockets were launched from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, which has recently been the focus of a prolonged military operation by the Israeli army in response to rocket fire.

Al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack in a brief statement.

“We fired a barrage of rockets towards Gan Yavne and Ashdod in response to the massacres committed against the Palestinian people and resistance leaders,” the Brigades said.

Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Sunday that during the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 33 Palestinians and wounded 118 others, bringing the total death toll to 39,583 and injuries to 91,398 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated in October 2023. AGENCIES

Three members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah were injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a motorcycle in the village of Bayt Lif in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military and medical sources said.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the Lebanese Health Ministry, the airstrike seriously injured two people and left a third with minor injuries, Xinhua news agency reported.

All three were transferred by a civil defence vehicle to Bint Jbeil Governmental Hospital in the border area.

On Sunday afternoon, Israeli drones and warplanes conducted 15 airstrikes across 10 villages and towns in the border area of southern Lebanon, and three towns and villages in the Jezzine area.

Meanwhile, Israeli artillery shelled 13 towns and villages in the border area with about 50 shells, causing damage to buildings and igniting several fires, according to Lebanese military sources.

Hezbollah’s military wing, the Islamic Resistance, claimed on Sunday to have attacked Israeli sites, including Al-Manara, Birkat Risha, and Ramyah.

Tensions are high in Lebanon following Israel’s attack on Dahieh in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which resulted in the death of a senior Hezbollah military commander, Fouad Shokor, and seven civilians.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has threatened a definite and painful response to the Israeli raid at the appropriate time and place.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7. In response, Israel fired heavy artillery into southeastern Lebanon. AGENCIES

Two persons died and another went missing in a migrant boat accident which took place two days ago, off the eastern coast of southern Italy’s Sicily, according to the country’s Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said on Sunday that it received a distress call from a boat located about 17 miles southeast of Syracuse carrying migrants, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Coast Guard dispatched a patrol boat and plane to the area, but the occupants of the vessel ended up in the water as the patrol boat approached, it said in a statement.

Although 34 people were recovered from the water, one died upon arrival and another after reaching the hospital.

The search at sea for the missing person who was on board the vessel, which later sank, is currently underway, according to local media reports. AGENCIES

Australia’s official terror threat level has been raised from “possible” to “probable,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.

Speaking at a press conference in Canberra, Albanese said that the National Security Committee (NSC) decided to raise the threat level after being briefed by the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) at a meeting on Monday morning, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said that the decision was driven by increases in youth radicalisation, online radicalisation and the rise of new mixed ideologies.

“I want to reassure Australians probable does not mean inevitable and it does not mean there is intelligence about an imminent threat or danger but the advice that we’ve received is that more Australians are embracing a more diverse range of extreme ideologies and it is our responsibility to be vigilant,” he said.

Mike Burgess, director-general of ASIO, said the agency has disrupted eight possible terror incidents since April and warned that attacks are likely to be perpetrated by individuals or small cells of terrorists using simple tactics and weapons in crowded public places.

“More Australians are willing to use violence to advance their cause. This includes violent protest, riots, and attack on a politician or democratic institutions,” he said at Monday’s press conference.

Burgess said that the ongoing conflict in Gaza was not the cause for raising the terror threat level but that it was a significant factor.

The terrorism threat level was lowered to “possible” in November 2022 — eight years after it was last raised to “probable” in 2014 during the emergence of Islamic State (IS). AGENCIES

More than 28,000 residents of northeast China’s Liaoning Province have been evacuated following a new round of torrential rains, with water levels of six rivers exceeding warning levels.

Downpours battered many parts of the province from 7 a.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday, with the largest hourly rainfall reaching 81.9 mm in Xinglongtai District in the city of Panjin. The province’s average precipitation reached 25.4 mm during the 24 hours, Xinhua news agency reported.

To cope with this latest round of rainstorms, eight out of the province’s 14 prefectural-level cities activated Level III or Level IV emergency responses for flood control, including the provincial capital Shenyang, where a Level-III emergency response was issued, according to the provincial headquarters for flood control and drought relief.

China has a four-tier emergency response system for flood control, with Level I being the most urgent response.

The provincial water resources department has mobilised people for river patrol and reservoir inspection.

The provincial meteorological observatory said more rains are expected on Tuesday and Wednesday. AGENCIES

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov discussed on Sunday the recent escalation in the Middle East.

During a phone conversation, the two ministers discussed the efforts to be made to de-escalate the situation in a way that preserves the region’s security, stability and the interests of its people, reports Xinhua news agency, citing the Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement.

The two diplomats also discussed ways to avoid slipping into a vicious circle of regional confrontations, the statement said, adding that they also exchanged views on issues of common interest.

Concerns of possible regional escalation heightened following the assassination of Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh early Wednesday when his residence in Tehran was hit.

Additionally, an alleged Israeli attack on Dahieh in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which resulted in the deaths of a senior Hezbollah military commander, Fouad Shokor and seven civilians, is also cited as a possible reason for the escalation. AGENCIES

An aid group announced that it has been forced to reduce the number of malnourished children receiving treatment at one of the largest camps for the displaced in western Sudan’s Darfur region due to blockage of medical supplies imposed by the paramilitary group.

“There is only enough therapeutic food to treat malnourished children in the Zamzam camp for another two weeks. As a result, today, we have sadly been obliged to cap the number of children who can receive this treatment because the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) have blocked our supply trucks,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement on Sunday.

“Our three trucks bringing life-saving medical supplies — including therapeutic food to Zamzam and El Fasher have been blocked in the town of Kabkabiya for over a month by the RSF,” it said.

According to the group, children with severe malnutrition without treatment are at risk of dying within 3-6 weeks, reports Xinhua news agency.

“In our field hospital in Zamzam, the bed occupancy rate of our malnutrition ward is at 126 per cent, indicating that many children are already in a critical condition,” it said, urging all warring parties to allow humanitarian aid to move across borders into Sudan and across front lines.

On Thursday, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, an analysis agency monitoring food security worldwide, announced in an alert that famine was ongoing in the Zamzam camp.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said famine was prevalent in some areas of war-torn Sudan and would continue through the next two months.

The country’s two warring parties, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF have traded accusations over the responsibility for the famine.

Since May 10, fierce clashes have been raging in El Fasher, the capital city of Sudan’s North Darfur State.

The World Food Program has previously warned that the ongoing war in Sudan between the SAF and the RSF “risks triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis.”

Sudan has been witnessing a deadly conflict between the SAF and the RSF since April 15, 2023, resulting in the loss of at least 16,650 lives. An estimated 10.7 million people are now internally displaced in Sudan, with approximately 2.2 million others seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, according to the UN data released on Monday. AGENCIES