United News of Bangladesh

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has received a death threat, accompanied by a ransom demand of Rs 50 lakh, in a phone call to Mumbai police. The call, traced to Raipur in Chhattisgarh, came from a man who identified himself as "Hindustani" when questioned. A case has been registered at Bandra Police Station, and authorities are actively investigating the matter. The individual behind the call, identified as Faizan Khan, claimed during police questioning that his phone had been stolen on 2 November. SRK fans reign supreme as ‘Dunki’ hits theatres in Bangladesh The call itself was received on 5 November at around 1:20 pm, where the caller reportedly threatened to harm the "Jawan" star if the ransom was not paid. This is not the first time Shah Rukh Khan has received threats. In October last year, he was similarly targeted, prompting authorities to enhance his security to the Y+ level. This level of protection provides him with six armed personnel around the clock, upgrading from his previous arrangement of two armed security guards. The threat against Shah Rukh Khan follows a recent incident involving another Bollywood icon, Salman Khan. The latter received threats from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, demanding he either pay Rs 5 crore or publicly apologise for his alleged involvement in the killing of a blackbuck. The threat was reportedly issued by Bhikharam Jalaram Bishnoi, a gang member who has since been detained in Karnataka. In a separate event, Salman Khan was warned on 30 October by an anonymous individual who demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore. In light of these repeated threats, Salman Khan’s security was also bolstered, particularly following the recent assassination of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique on 12 October. Mumbai police remain on high alert as they investigate the latest threats to both Bollywood icons, ensuring that security measures are in place to protect the actors from potential harm. Source: With inputs from news wires   

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday extended congratulations to Donald Trump on his election as president of the United States. Xi urged the two countries to find the right way to get along in the new era, so as to benefit both countries and the wider world. History teaches that China and the United States gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation, said Xi, noting that a stable, sound and sustainable China-U.S. relationship serves the two countries' shared interests and meets the aspiration of the international community. He expressed the hope that the two sides will uphold the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, strengthen dialogue and communication, properly manage differences and expand mutually beneficial cooperation. On the same day, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng extended congratulations to J.D. Vance on his election as vice president of the United States. 

 The first time China faced Donald Trump in the White House, there was a trade war, a breach of protocol involving Taiwan’s former leader, and a president-to-president bromance that turned sour. As President-elect Trump prepares to start his second term in office, China is bracing for unpredictability in its ties with the United States and renewed tensions over trade, technology and Taiwan. A new tariff war looms Perhaps the biggest consequence for China — if Trump stays true to his campaign promises — is his threat to slap blanket 60% tariffs on all Chinese exports to the U.S. Tariffs like that would be a blow to China’s already unstable economy, which is suffering from high youth unemployment, a lengthy property slump and government debt. A 60% duty on Chinese imports could shave off 2.5 percentage points, or about half, of China’s projected economic growth, according to an analysis published earlier this year by UBS. During Trump's previous term in office, the U.S. imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion of Chinese products. That brought Beijing to the negotiating table, and in 2020 the two sides signed a trade deal in which China committed to improve intellectual property rights and buy an extra $200 billion of American goods. A research group a couple of years later showed China had bought essentially none of the goods it had promised. President Joe Biden retained most of those tariffs and added fresh duties this year on imports including steel, solar cells and electric vehicles. Like last time, tariffs could serve as a tool to force Beijing back to the negotiating table, said Henry Gao, a law professor at Singapore Management University who focuses on international trade. “Given the weak economic position of China this time, I think there will be more willingness to talk,” he said. “Thus, while the tariff might have some short-term effects on the Chinese economy, the situation might improve once they reach a deal.” Factoring into the trade talks could be Trump’s appeals to Chinese President Xi Jinping to help negotiate a resolution to the Ukraine war, which Trump has boasted he’ll be able to do quickly, without saying how. Trump previously sought Xi's help in dealing with North Korea's rogue leader Kim Jong Un. That dynamic could repeat itself, with Trump weighing trade grievances against seeking China's support in global crises, according to Wang Huiyao, founder of the Beijing-based think tank Center for China and Globalization. “China is the largest trading partner of both Russia and Ukraine," Wang wrote in a recent commentary. "These close economic ties give China a unique opportunity to play a greater role in peace-making efforts.” Willing to go ‘crazy’ over Taiwan There is one scenario in which Trump has threatened to impose even higher tariffs — 150% to 200% — on Chinese goods: if China invades Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that Beijing claims as its own. The U.S. does not recognize Taiwan as a country, but is its strongest backer and biggest arms provider. Trump angered Beijing in December 2016 by taking a congratulatory call from Taiwan’s then-president Tsai Ing-wen in a breach of diplomatic protocol. No U.S. president had spoken directly to a Taiwanese leader since Washington and Beijing established ties in 1979. Trump's move created anxiety in China-watching circles, but ultimately, he stuck to supporting the status quo in relations between Taipei and Beijing. China expects him to continue to do so, said Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Relations at Nanjing University. “Will (he) want to turn to support Taiwan independence? It is unlikely,” he said. As for China’s repeated threats to annex Taiwan, Trump told The Wall Street Journal last month that he would not have to use military force to prevent a blockade of Taiwan because Xi “respects me and he knows I’m (expletive) crazy.” On the campaign trail, Trump sometimes talked up his personal connection with Xi, which started exuberantly during his first term but soured over disputes about trade and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Trump has also said that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for defending it against China, likening the relationship to insurance. Taiwan spends about 2.5% of its GDP on defense, and purchased hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of U.S. weapons this year. Trump has purposely maintained a sense of uncertainty in his relationship with China, said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing. “We are clear about the challenges,” he said. “As for opportunities, we are yet to see them clearly.” Disputes over chips During his first term, Trump began targeting Chinese technology firms over security concerns, focusing on large companies like the telecoms giant Huawei. Biden continued in that direction by placing curbs on China’s access to advanced semiconductors, which are needed to develop strategic industries such as artificial intelligence. But Trump has criticized Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan bill that earmarked $53 billion to build up domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. Currently, Taiwan produces nearly 90% of the world’s supply of the most advanced chips. The island’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC, expanded production in Arizona, partly to respond to the CHIPS Act, and to be prepared to withstand any other protectionist policies in the U.S., said Shihoko Goto, director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the Wilson Center. Trump has promised to do away with the CHIPS Act, though critics say that would undermine his campaign to reindustrialize the U.S. The president-elect has also accused Taiwan of “stealing” the chip industry from the U.S. decades ago. “Rather than providing a silicon shield, Taiwan’s dominance in the chip industry could actually be the source of tension between Taipei and Trump, as Taiwan’s successes in the chip sector may be seen as having only been possible as a result of the United States being taken advantage of,” Goto said.

Philippine forces practised retaking an island in the South China Sea Wednesday in the first such combat exercise in the disputed waters as Chinese navy ships kept watch from a distance, the Philippine military chief said. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., who witnessed the drills from a navy frigate, said the exercise underscored the readiness of Filipino forces to defend the country's sovereignty at all costs. "We are warning our neighbors or whoever or any external forces that we are capable of defending our islands,” Brawner told a small group of journalists invited to the exercises, including The Associated Press. There were no immediate comments from Chinese officials, but they have opposed past war drills in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety. The long-seething territorial disputes that also involve other claimants are a delicate fault line in the U.S.-China rivalry in Asia and likely will remain a major foreign policy concern for the next American president. China has rapidly expanded its military and become increasingly assertive in pursuing territorial claims in the South China Sea. The tensions have led to more frequent confrontations, primarily with the Philippines and Vietnam, though the Chinese coast guard has had recent territorial tiffs with Indonesia and Malaysia. In the drills, a Philippine navy frigate approached Loaita Island, which the Philippines calls Kota Island, while four speedboats with marines and navy sailors landed on its beach. A Philippine air force aircraft later dropped food and other supplies to the forces that retook the island. Brawner said Chinese navy ships observing from a distance “added realism to the exercise." The U.S. has been regarded as a crucial counterweight to China and has supported the Philippines as it faces Chinese aggression. Washington's backing for unhindered access to the South China Sea, a key global trade and security route, would likely remain a priority for whoever wins the presidential election, Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez said. The outgoing Biden administration has moved to strengthen an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in any future confrontation over Taiwan. America’s moves dovetail with Philippine efforts to shore up its territorial defense following its increasingly hostile territorial spats with China that started last year.

South Korea on Wednesday announced a package of steps to curb a surge in deepfake porn, saying it will toughen punishment for offenders, expand the use of undercover officers and impose greater regulations on social media platforms. Concerns about nonconsensual explicit video contents that were digitally manipulated deepened in South Korea after unconfirmed lists of schools with victims spread online in August. Terrified, many girls and women removed photos and videos from Instagram, Facebook and other social media accounts, while others held rallies calling for stronger steps against deepfake porn. President Yoon Suk Yeol quickly confirmed the rapid spread of explicit deepfake contents and ordered officials to “root out these digital sexual crimes.” Police are now on a seven-month special crackdown that is to continue until March 2025. A task force said in a statement that the government has been working with lawmakers on revising laws to increase punishment for perpetrators involved in deepfake porn-related crimes. It cited a recently amended law that for the first time makes acts of watching or possessing deepfake porn illegal and punishable with up to three years in prison. The maximum punishment for those who produce or distribute deepfake porn contents was increased from five to seven years in prison. Police have so far detained 506 suspects this year, 411 of them aged between 10 and 19. The task force said it'll push for undercover online investigations, even in cases when victims are adults. The law currently authorizes such methods only when victims are minors. The government also plans another revision that would allow authorities to confiscate profits made through deepfake porn businesses. The task force said it will push to impose a fine on social media platforms more aggressively when they fail to prevent the spread of deepfake and other illegal contents. It said South Korea will plan to increase monitors on social media platforms to 26, from the current 12. The task force will also expand mandatory educational programs on digital sex crimes at schools, and produce related public awareness videos with celebrities popular with teens and young people in their 20s. Most suspected perpetrators in deepfake porn cases in South Korea are teenage boys. Observers say the boys target female friends, relatives and acquaintances — also mostly minors — as a prank, out of curiosity or misogyny. The deepfake porn issue in South Korea has raised serious questions about school programs but also threatened to worsen an already troubled divide between men and women. The prevalence of deepfake porn in the country has been attributed to a mix of factors, experts say, including heavy use of smartphones, an absence of comprehensive sex and human rights education in schools, inadequate social media regulations for minors, and also misogyny and social norms that sexually objectify women.

Japan’s birth count is projected to dip below 700,000 for the first time in 2024, according to government data released Tuesday, revealing a 6.3 percent drop in births for the year’s first half to 329,998, compared to the same period last year. This figure, covering only Japanese citizens, highlights a continued low birth rate as more people choose to remain single or postpone marriage and parenthood until later in life. Meanwhile, deaths in the first half of 2024 rose by 1.8 percent year-on-year to 800,274, leading to a natural population decrease of 470,276, as reported by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. Japan's population decline, ongoing for 15 consecutive years, is fueling labor shortages that strain social security systems like health care and pensions, with local government services also at risk. In response, the Japanese government is intensifying efforts to lift the birth rate, including increased childcare subsidies and parental leave benefits, viewing the period until the early 2030s as a critical window to reverse this trend. In comparison, Japan recorded 352,240 births in the first half of 2023 and a full-year total of 727,277. Preliminary data from August showed a 5.7 percent drop in births from January to June 2024, amounting to 350,074, including births among foreigners and Japanese citizens living abroad.

The head of Myanmar's military government will pay an official visit this week to China, the embattled Southeast Asian nation’s most important international ally, for several regional meetings, state-run media reported on Monday, amid concern by the opposition. It will be the first time Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has traveled to the neighboring country since his army seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The visit comes as Myanmar’s army has suffered unprecedented battlefield defeats over the past year, especially in areas near the Chinese border. Both Myanmar’s ruling generals and China’s government have shown concern as pro-democracy guerrillas and armed ethnic minority groups, sometimes working hand in hand, have taken the initiative in their fight against military rule. But Beijing is now concerned about instability that threatens its strategic and business interests in Myanmar. China’s government has maintained good working relations with Myanmar’s ruling military, which is shunned and sanctioned by many Western nations for the army takeover and for major human rights violations. State-run MRTV television said that Min Aung Hlaing will visit the Chinese city of Kunming on Wednesday and Thursday to attend three summits: The Greater Mekong Subregion, the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy and the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Cooperation. Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the border with Myanmar. The report said he will also have “meetings with Chinese government officials to discuss ways to enhance goodwill, economic and various sectors between the two governments and the people.” China, along with Russia, is a major arms supplier to Myanmar’s military in its war against resistance forces. Beijing is also Myanmar’s biggest trading partner and has invested billions of dollars in its mines, oil and gas pipelines and other infrastructure. Russia is the only other foreign destination to which Min Aung Hlaing is known to have traveled since taking power, aside from his attendance at an April 2021 summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. His government’s unwillingness to cooperate in efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution of his country's conflict led to him and other top Myanmar government officials being disinvited from ASEAN summits since then. Myanmar’s pro-democracy opposition has expressed concern about China welcoming a visit by Min Aung Hlaing. Kyaw Zaw, a spokesperson for the opposition National Unity Government, said in a recorded video posted on Facebook last week, before the official announcement of the trip, that he was deeply concerned about China’s invitation to Min Aung Hlaing and urged the Chinese government to review its action. “Myanmar’s people want stability, peace and economic growth. It is Min Aung Hlaing and his group who are destroying these things,” Kyaw Zaw said. “I am concerned that it will unintentionally incite a misunderstanding of the Chinese government among Myanmar’s public." The shadow National Unity Government was established by elected lawmakers barred from taking their seats in 2021 and is closely linked to Suu Kyi’s former ruling National League for Democracy party, which had friendly relations with Beijing. Although China is scorned by many for backing the army, the shadow government tries to avoid antagonizing Beijing too much, recognizing the influence it has in the region. Myanmar’s army has been on the defensive since late last year when ethnic armed organizations dealt it major defeats in the country’s northeast. The offensive by the “Three Brotherhood Alliance," comprising the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, was able to quickly capture towns and overrun military bases and command centers and strategic cities along the Chinese border in northeastern Shan state. It was widely seen at the time as having Beijing’s tacit support to help stamp out rampant organized crime activities in the area controlled by ethnic Chinese. Beijing helped broker a cease-fire in January, but that fell apart in June when the ethnic rebel forces launched new attacks. China was displeased with the continuing warfare, shutting down border crossings, cutting electricity to Myanmar towns and taking other measures to discourage the fighting.

A Japanese nuclear reactor that restarted last week for the first time in more than 13 years after it had survived a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that badly damaged the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant was shut down again Monday due to an equipment problem, its operator said. The No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa nuclear power plant on Japan’s northern coast was put back online on Oct. 29 and had been expected to start generating power in early November. But it had to be shut down again five days after its restart due to a glitch that occurred Sunday in a device related to neutron data inside the reactor, plant operator Tohoku Electric Power Co. said. The reactor was operating normally and there was no release of radiation into the environment, Tohoku Electric said. The utility said it decided to shut it down to re-examine equipment to address residents' safety concerns. No new date for a restart was given. The reactor is one of three at the Onagawa plant, which is 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Fukushima Daiichi plant where three reactors melted following a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, releasing large amounts of radiation. The Onagawa plant was hit by a 13-meter (42-foot) tsunami triggered by the quake but was able to keep its crucial cooling systems functioning in all three reactors and achieve their safe shutdowns. All of Japan’s 54 commercial nuclear power plants were shut down after the Fukushima disaster for safety checks and upgrades. Onagawa No. 2 was the 13th of the 33 still useable reactors to restart. Japan's government last year adopted a plan to maximize use of nuclear energy and is pushing to accelerate reactor restarts to secure a stable energy supply and meet its pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Concern about the government’s revived push for nuclear energy grew after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Japan’s Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024. killing more than 400 people and damaging more than 100,000 structures. It caused minor damage to two nearby nuclear facilities, and evacuation plans for the region were found to be inadequate.

Dangerously poor air quality on Monday forced Pakistani authorities in the cultural capital of Lahore to close primary schools for a week, government officials said. The measures were part of a larger effort to protect children from respiratory-related and other diseases in the city of 14 million people. Toxic gray smog has sickened tens of thousands of people, mainly children and elderly people, since last month when the air quality started worsening in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province bordering India. Dhaka’s ‘unhealthy’ air quality persists The government has also banned construction work in certain areas and fined owners of smoke-emitting vehicles. Schools will remain closed for a week because of the pollution, according to a government notification. The concentration of PM 2.5, or tiny particulate matter, in the air approached 450, considered hazardous, the Punjab Environment Protection Department said. Lahore was once known as a city of gardens, which were ubiquitous during the Mughal era from the 16th to 19th centuries. But rapid urbanization and surging population growth have left little room for greenery.

Three suspected militants were killed Saturday in separate gunbattles in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said Saturday. India’s military in a statement said soldiers intercepted a group of militants in a forested area in southern Anantnag district on Saturday, leading to a gunbattle that killed two rebels. In a separate incident in the disputed region’s main city of Srinagar, police and paramilitary soldiers killed a militant in an exchange of gunfire after troops cordoned off a neighborhood on a tip that he was hiding in a house. Police said two soldiers and two police were injured in the fighting. Residents said the troops torched the home where the rebel was trapped, a common tactic employed by Indian troops in the Himalayan region. There was no independent confirmation of the incident. India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.