United News of Bangladesh

Hundreds of mourners in Pakistan on Thursday attended the funerals of three schoolgirls and two soldiers killed in a suicide bombing that targeted a school bus. The girls, aged 10 to 16, were students at the Army Public School in Khuzdar, a city in Balochistan, local authorities said. Another 53 people were wounded, including 39 children, on Wednesday when the bomber drove a car into the school bus in Khuzdar.  Kashmir tourism bears the brunt after tourist massacre and India-Pakistan military strikes No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the deadliest targeting schoolchildren in recent years. The separatist Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, has claimed most of the previous attacks in the southwestern province. Both the BLA and the Pakistani Taliban typically refrain from taking responsibility for attacks that result in civilian or child casualties. The BLA has led a long-running separatist insurgency in Balochistan. The U.S. designated the group a terrorist organization in 2019.  Thailand to tighten cannabis rules amid rise in smuggling Pakistan’s military and government blamed rival India for the attack without offering any evidence. India has not commented. India and Pakistan this month fought a four-day conflict before agreeing to a ceasefire.

There are hardly any tourists in the scenic Himalayan region of Kashmir. Most of the hotels and ornate pinewood houseboats are empty. Resorts in the snowclad mountains have fallen silent. Hundreds of cabs are parked and idle. It’s the fallout of last month’s gun massacre that left 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir followed by tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan, bringing the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. “There might be some tourist arrivals, but it counts almost negligible. It is almost a zero footfall right now,” said Yaseen Tuman, who operates multiple houseboats in the region’s main city of Srinagar. “There is a haunting silence now.” Tens of thousands of panicked tourists left Kashmir within days after the rare killings of tourists on April 22 at a picture-perfect meadow in southern resort town of Pahalgam. Following the attack, authorities temporarily closed dozens of tourist resorts in the region, adding to fear and causing occupancy rates to plummet. Graphic images, repeatedly circulated through TV channels and social media, deepened panic and anger. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers, a charge Islamabad denied. Those who had stayed put fled soon after tensions between India and Pakistan spiked. As the two countries fired missiles and drones at each other, the region witnessed mass cancellations of tourist bookings. New Delhi and Islamabad reached a US-mediated ceasefire on May 10 but hardly any new bookings have come in, tour operators said. Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, vice president of the Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association, said at least 12,000 rooms in the region’s hundreds of hotels and guesthouses were previously booked until June. Almost all bookings have been cancelled, and tens of thousands of people associated with hotels are without jobs, he said. “It’s a huge loss.” Ahmed said. The decline has had a ripple effect on the local economy. Handicrafts, food stalls and taxi operators have lost most of their business. After days of heavy firefights, calm reported along Indian and Pakistan borders Idyllic destinations, like the resort towns of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, once a magnet for travelers, are eerily silent. Lines of colorful hand-carved boats, known as shikaras, lie deserted, mostly anchored still on Srinagar’s normally bustling Dal Lake. Tens of thousands of daily wage workers have hardly any work. “There used to be long lines of tourists waiting for boat rides. There are none now,” said boatman Fayaz Ahmed. Taxi driver Mohammed Irfan would take tourists for long drives to hill stations and show them grand Mughal-era gardens. “Even a half day of break was a luxury, and we would pray for it. Now, my taxi lies standstill for almost two weeks,” he said. In recent years, the tourism sector grew substantially, making up about 7% of the region’s economy, according to official figures. Omar Abdullah, Kashmir’s top elected official, said before the attack on tourists that the government was aiming to increase tourism's share of the economy to at least 15% in the next four to five years. Indian-controlled Kashmir was a top destination for visitors until the armed rebellion against Indian rule began in 1989. Warfare laid waste to the stunningly beautiful region, which is partly controlled by Pakistan and claimed by both countries in its entirety. As the conflict ground on, the tourism sector slowly revived but occasional military skirmishes between India and Pakistan kept visitors at bay. But India vigorously pushed tourism after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government scrapped the disputed region’s semi-autonomy in 2019. Tensions have simmered, but the region has also drawn millions of visitors amid a strange calm enforced by an intensified security crackdown. According to official data, close to 3 million tourists visited the region in 2024, a rise from 2.71 million visitors in 2023 and 2.67 million in 2022. The massive influx prompted many locals to invest in the sector, setting up family-run guesthouses, luxury hotels, and transport companies in a region with few alternatives. India, Pakistan military officials to hold talks as ceasefire brings border calm Tourists remained largely unfazed even as Modi’s administration has governed Kashmir with an iron fist in recent years, claiming militancy in the region was in check and a tourism influx was a sign of normalcy returning. The massacre shattered those claims. Experts say that the Modi government’s optimism was largely misplaced and that the rising tourism in the region of which it boasted was a fragile barometer of normalcy. Last year, Abdullah, the region’s chief minister, cautioned against such optimism. Tuman, who is also a sixth-generation tour operator, said he was not too optimistic about an immediate revival as bookings for the summer were almost all cancelled. “If all goes well, it will take at least six months for tourism to revive,” he said. Ahmed, the hotels association official, said India and Pakistan need to resolve the dispute for the region’s prosperity. “Tourism needs peace. If (Kashmir) problem is not solved … maybe after two months, it will be again same thing.”

North Korea's second naval destroyer was damaged in its failed launch to the water this week, state media reported Thursday, in an embarrassment for leader Kim Jong Un as he pushes to modernise his naval forces. It's not common for North Korea to acknowledge military-related setbacks, but observers say the disclosure of the failed ship launch suggests that Kim is serious about his naval advancement program and confident of ultimately achieving its objectives, reports AP. During a launching event at the northeastern port of Chongjin on Wednesday, the newly built 5,000-ton-class destroyer became unbalanced and was punctured in its bottom sections after a transport cradle on the stern section slid off first and became stuck, according to the Korean Central News Agency. KCNA didn't provide details on what caused the problem, the severity of the damage or whether anyone was injured. According to KCNA, Kim, who was present at the ceremony, blamed military officials, scientists and shipyard operators for a “serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism." Kim called for a ruling Workers’ Party meeting slated for late June to address their “irresponsible errors." “It's a shameful thing. But the reason why North Korea disclosed the incident is it wants to show it's speeding up the modernization of its navy forces and expresses its confidence that it can eventually build" a greater navy, said Moon Keun-sik, a navy expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University. Canada is talking to US about joining ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system: Carney Moon suspected the incident likely happened because North Korean workers aren't yet familiar with such a large warship and were rushed to put it in the water. The damaged vessel was likely in the same class as the country’s first destroyer, unveiled April 25, which experts assessed as the North’s largest and most advanced warship to date. Kim called the first vessel, named Choe Hyon — a famed Korean guerilla fighter during the Japanese colonial period — a significant asset for advancing his goal of expanding the military’s operational range and nuclear strike capabilities. State media described that ship as designed to handle various weapons systems, including anti-air and anti-ship weapons as well as nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles. Kim said the ship was expected to enter active duty early next year and later supervised test-firings of missiles from the warship.

Two Israeli embassy staff members were shot and killed Wednesday evening near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.Noem confirmed the incident in a post on X, noting that the shooting occurred just steps from the FBI’s Washington field office.  EU to lift Syria sanctions, keep measures on former Assad regime U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi stated she was present at the scene along with former judge Jeanine Pirro, who currently serves as the U.S. attorney in the capital.Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, condemned the attack, describing it as a “depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”  Germany's economy will stagnate this year as tariffs cast a shadow: advisers As of late Wednesday, police had not disclosed any details about the motive. Authorities were expected to hold a press briefing later that night.“We are confident that U.S. authorities will take decisive action against those behind this criminal act,” Danon wrote on X. “Israel will continue to take firm steps to protect its citizens and representatives worldwide.”

Record floodwaters on Australia's east coast left one person dead and three others missing, officials said Thursday, as more heavy rain was forecast in the area. Some 330 people were rescued in the flooding emergency in New South Wales state north of Sydney. The area has been hit with heavy rain since Tuesday. The flooding exceeds local records set in 1929.  Australian central bank reduces benchmark interest rate to 3.85% in second cut this year News South Wales Premier Christopher Minns said some areas were forecast to receive as much as 30 centimeters (1 foot) of rain in the next 24 hours. He said 50,000 people were warned to prepare to evacuate or be isolated by floodwaters, telling reporters: “We are bracing for more bad news." The body of a 63-year-old man was recovered from a flooded house in Moto in New South Wales on Wednesday afternoon, Fire and Rescue Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said. A coroner will determine whether a pre-existing medical condition played a part in his death, he added. Three people — including a 60-year-old woman, a 25-year-old man and a 49-year-old man — were also reported missing, Fewtrell said. “We hold grave fears for all three individuals,” he added. Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said 330 flood rescues were conducted in the past 24 hours. Helicopters have been used to rescue people stranded by floodwaters from rooftops and verandahs. “We’ve seen more rain and more flooding in the mid-to-north coast area than we’ve ever seen before,” Dib said. The flooding has hit communities including Taree, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Bellingen in New South Wales. Taree received a month’s rain in 24 hours, Minns said.  Australians start voting in general elections as pope's death overshadows campaigning “Up around the Taree area, we’ve seen communities that have never flooded in recorded history now flooding,” Fewtrell said. The region has opened 14 evacuation centers as of Thursday.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday his government is talking to the U.S. about joining President Donald Trump's future Golden Dome missile defense program. The multilayered, $175 billion system would for the first time put U.S. weapons in space. Trump said the previous day he expected the system to be fully operational by the end of his term in 2029.  Trump warms in person to Canada’s PM Carney after online insults "Is it a good idea for Canada? Yes, it is a good to have protections in place for Canadians," Carney said. Carney confirmed he's had talks with Trump about it and said there are discussions with senior officials. Trump said the Canadian government had contacted his administration indicating it wants to join the program and that he will work with Ottawa to ensure it contributes its “fair share.” Golden Dome is envisioned to include ground- and space-based capabilities to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack: detecting and destroying them before a launch, intercepting them in their earliest stage of flight, stopping them midcourse in the air, or halting them in the final minutes as they descend toward a target. “It’s something that we are looking at and something that has been discussed at a high level." Carney said. “But not I’m not sure one negotiates on this. These are military decisions that have been taken in that context, and we will evaluate it accordingly.” Carney warned that Canada faces potential missiles threats in the “not-too-distant future” that could come from space.  Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals win election “Is Canada going to be doing this alone or with the United States? Because with a Golden Dome, there will be discussions that could have an impact on Canada, but Canada wouldn't be a part of them,” Carney said. The Pentagon has warned for years that the newest missiles developed by China and Russia are so advanced that updated countermeasures are necessary. Golden Dome’s added satellites and interceptors — where the bulk of the program’s cost is — would be focused on stopping those advanced missiles early on or in the middle of their flight. Canada and the U.S. are partners in the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the combined organization that provides shared defense of airspace over the two nations. The newly elected Carney spent much spent much of the last few months saying the old relationship with the U.S. based on steadily increasing integration is over. Trump has infuriated Canadians by saying Canada should be the 51st state. “We cooperate if necessary but not necessarily cooperate,” Carney said.  

President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area, the Kremlin said Wednesday. The Russian military had announced its troops have fully reclaimed the border territory in late April — nearly nine months after losing chunks of the region on the border with Ukraine to a surprise Ukrainian incursion. Ukraine has denied the claim and has indicated that its troops were still present in the Kursk region. Losing control of the land in Kursk would deprive Kyiv of key leverage in any negotiations to end the 3-year-old war by exchanging its gains for some of Russian-occupied land in Ukraine. Here are key moments of the battle for Kursk and its impact: A Ukrainian blitz Ukrainian forces pushed into Kursk on Aug. 6, 2024, in a stunning attack, with battle-hardened mechanized units quickly overwhelming lightly armed Russian border guards and inexperienced army conscripts. Hundreds were taken prisoner. The incursion was a humiliating blow to the Kremlin — the first time the country’s territory was occupied by an invader since World War II. It was plotted in complete secrecy, with the Ukrainian troops involved reportedly told of their mission only a day before it began. Russia’s drones and intelligence assets were focused on battlefields in eastern Ukraine, which enabled Kyiv to pull its troops covertly to the border under the cover of thick forests. Ukrainian units quickly drove deep into the Kursk region in several directions, meeting little resistance and sowing chaos and panic. As the most capable Russian units were fighting in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, Moscow didn’t have enough land forces to protect the Kursk region and other border areas. Putin visits Russia’s Kursk for first time since Moscow claims to oust Ukrainian forces Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cast the incursion as a way to distract Russian forces in the east and said Kyiv could eventually exchange its gains for Russian-occupied territory in peace talks. Ukraine’s chief military commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyiv’s forces captured nearly 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) and about 100 settlements in the region that covers 29,900 square kilometers (11,540 square miles). Unlike the static front lines in Donetsk, Ukrainian units were able to roam the region without establishing a lasting presence in many settlements they seized. While the incursion came as a much-sought morale boost for Ukraine amid battlefield setbacks, skeptics saw it as a dangerous gamble that distracted some of its most capable forces from Donetsk, where Kyiv was steadily losing ground to the Russian offensive. Russia’s slow response In the incursion's opening days, Russia relied on warplanes and helicopters because it lacked ground forces to stop the onslaught. At the same time, Moscow began pulling a motley collection of reinforcements from all over Russia, some of whom lacked combat experience and had trouble coordinating with each other, contributing to Ukraine’s swift gains. Germany's economy will stagnate this year as tariffs cast a shadow: advisers But contrary to Kyiv's hopes, the incursion didn’t force Moscow to shift a significant number of troops there. Since Russia lacked the resources to expel the attackers quickly, it focused on stemming deeper Ukrainian advances by sealing roads and targeting Kyiv’s reserves. North Korea's role In the fall, Ukraine, the United States, and South Korea said North Korea — which previously had supplied weapons to Moscow — had also deployed 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia to fight in Kursk. Moscow and Pyongyang initially responded vaguely to the reports of the North Korean deployment, emphasizing that their military cooperation conforms with international law, without directly admitting the troops' presence. However, last month they confirmed the deployment. Reporting to Putin on reclaiming seized areas in Kursk on April 26, Russia’s General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov said North Korean soldiers took part in “combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen during the repelling of the Ukrainian incursion.” In a statement on the Kremlin's website two days later, Putin praised North Korean soldiers, saying the “Russian people will never forget" their heroism. "We will always honor the heroes who gave their lives for Russia, for our common freedom, fighting side by side with their Russian brothers in arms,” Putin said. UK inflation hits highest level in over a year as domestic bills spike While North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well-trained, Ukraine and its allies said they suffered heavy casualties from drone and artillery attacks due to a lack of combat experience and unfamiliar terrain. In January, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and another 2,700 had been injured. Zelenskyy had earlier put the number of killed and wounded North Koreans at 4,000, although U.S. estimates were lower, about 1,200. South Korea's spy agency said in February that North Korea apparently had sent additional troops to Russia. Russia intensifies efforts to reclaim Kursk The Kremlin bolstered Russian forces in Kursk in the fall, and they gradually intensified their effort to drive out the Ukrainians. By February, Russia reclaimed about two-thirds of the captured territory, leaving Ukraine with an area around Sudzha, a border town that was Ukraine's main hub in the region. EU to lift Syria sanctions, keep measures on former Assad regime Pressure on Ukrainian troops sharply increased in March, when Russian forces sought to cut a corridor between Sudzha and Ukraine’s Sumy region across the border. Russian artillery and drones relentlessly pummeled the road, which was littered with the carcasses of military hardware that made it hard for Ukraine to ferry supplies and rotate troops. The interdiction of supply routes put Ukrainian forces in a difficult position, said Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment. “As the Kursk pocket got squeezed, it became increasingly unsustainable,” he said. In a daring raid in early March, 600 Russian troops crawled 15 kilometers (over 9 miles) through a natural gas pipeline and emerged near Sudzha to strike Ukrainian troops from the rear. The operation came as the U.S. halted weapon supplies and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, a move that followed an acrimonious White House meeting on Feb. 28 between Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump. After talks with Ukraine on March 11, when Kyiv agreed to accept a 30-day ceasefire proposal, the U.S. said it was unfreezing the assistance. Consequences for Ukraine Ukraine's military General Staff in April dismissed Moscow's claim of retaking full control of Kursk and published a map Wednesday suggesting Ukrainian troops still were present in small parts of the region near the border. Losing control over land in Kursk would weaken Kyiv’s hand in any peace talks, removing its bargaining chip for exchanging territory it lost earlier in the war. Russia holds about a fifth of Ukraine, and Kyiv’s defeat in Kursk would also raise the threat of Moscow's farther advance in the Sumy border region. On a visit to Russian military headquarters in Kursk last month, Putin set the task of carving a “security zone” along the border, a signal his military was considering a possible foray into Sumy. Gerasimov said in late April that the efforts to create a security zone in Sumy's border areas were ongoing, and that the Russian military controlled over 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) there.

China's foreign trade has maintained steady growth despite facing high tariff barriers, demonstrating that China is fully equipped, capable and confident in withstanding various risks and challenges, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday. Mao made the remarks at a regular news briefing to comment on the impact of external factors such as tariffs on the Chinese economy after a recent U.N. report said global economic growth is expected to slow to 2.4 percent in 2025 due to heightened trade tensions along with policy uncertainty. International media have described China's economic performance as "exceeding expectations" and "resilient," she said, citing trade figures in the first four months this year. In the first four months, the total value of imports and exports of goods increased by 2.4 percent year on year while exports rose by 7.5 percent, demonstrating strong international competitiveness, she said. Meanwhile, China continues to expand opening up, providing greater space and more stable expectations for foreign businesses, she added. "All these demonstrate that China is fully equipped, capable and confident in withstanding various risks and challenges," Mao said. 

An informal trilateral meeting of foreign ministers from China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan was held in Beijing on Wednesday. Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister, presided over the meeting. Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and Afghanistan's Acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi also attended the meeting. The foreign ministers expressed optimism about the outcomes of the dialogue, reaffirming their commitment to deepen collaboration and fully realize the potential of the trilateral mechanism for mutual benefit. After the meeting, Wang Yi reviewed and summarized its key outcomes, highlighting the main points of consensus and future cooperation.

President Vladimir Putin visited Russia's Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin. Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the more than three-year war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin. Since the end of 2023, Russia has mostly had the advantage on the battlefield, with the exception of Kursk. Putin has effectively rejected recent U.S. and European proposals for a ceasefire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday accused Kyiv’s allies of seeking a truce “so that they can calmly arm Ukraine, so that Ukraine can strengthen its defensive positions.” Germany's economy will stagnate this year as tariffs cast a shadow: advisers North Korea sent up to 12,000 troops to help the Russian army take back control of Kursk, according to Ukraine, the U.S. and South Korea. Russia announced on April 26 that its forces had pushed out the Ukrainian army. Kyiv officials denied the claim. The Ukrainian Army General Staff said Wednesday that its forces repelled 13 Russian assaults in Kursk. Its map of military activity showed Ukrainian troops holding a thin line of land hard against the border but still inside Russia. Putin’s unannounced visit appeared to be an effort to show Russia is in control of the conflict, even though its full-scale invasion of its neighbor has been slow and costly in terms of casualties and equipment. Video broadcast by Russian state media showed that Putin visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2, which is still under construction, and met with selected volunteers behind closed doors.