United News of Bangladesh

Searchers scoured a mountain river and surrounding areas Saturday for two buses carrying more than 50 people that were swept away by a landslide a day earlier. Police said they had not found any traces of the buses or the people on board in the Trishuli river that was swollen by continuous rainfall over the past few days. Weather conditions improved Saturday and searchers were able to cover more ground in the hunt for the missing buses and passengers. Heavy equipment had cleared much of the landslides from the highway, making it easier for more searchers to reach the area. 2 buses carrying at least 60 people swept into a river by landslide in Nepal Soldiers and police teams were using rubber rafts, divers and sensor equipments to try to locate the buses, which were pushed off the highway into the river by a landslide. Three people were ejected from the buses and were being treated in a nearby hospital. The buses were likely submerged and swept downstream in the Trishuli. Nepal's rivers generally are fast-flowing due to the mountainous terrain. Heavy monsoon downpours in the past few days have swollen the waterways and turned their waters murky brown, making it even more difficult to see the wreckage. The buses were on the key highway connecting Nepal's capital to southern parts of the country when they were swept away Friday morning near Simaltal, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Kathmandu. A third bus was hit by another landslide Friday morning a short distance away on the same highway. Authorities said the driver was killed but it was not clear if there were any other casualties. Anar Murder: Nepal police arrested suspects Siam, Jihad, says DB chief Monsoon season brings heavy rains to Nepal from June to September, often triggering landslides in the mountainous Himalayan country. The government has imposed a ban on passenger buses travelling at night in the areas where weather warnings are posted, according to the Home Ministry. DB chief leading team in Nepal to investigate MP Anar murder

The youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, married his longtime girlfriend early Saturday in what many dubbed the wedding of the year, attended by global celebrities, business tycoons and politicians, highlighting the billionaire's staggering wealth and rising clout. The wedding rituals, including exchanging garlands by the couple and walking around the sacred fire, began Friday and were completed past midnight. The celebrations of Anant Ambani marrying Radhika Merchant took place at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai and the family home. The marriage culminated months of wedding events that featured performances by pop stars including Rihanna and Justin Bieber. Son of Asia’s richest man set to marry in one of India’s most extravagant weddings The four-day wedding celebrations began Friday with the traditional Hindu wedding ceremony and will be followed by a grand reception to run through the weekend. The guest list includes former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson; Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser; and Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake and David Beckham, according to local media. The Ambani family did not confirm the guest list. Television news channels showed celebrities like Kim Kardashian in a red ensemble and professional wrestler and Hollywood actor John Cena arriving. International guests also wore traditional dresses by major Indian fashion designers. They put on embroidered sherwanis — long-sleeved outer coats worn by men in South Asia. Cena came in a sky-blue sherwani and white pants. Nick Jonas wore a pink sherwani and white pants. Police imposed traffic diversions around the wedding venue from Friday to Monday to handle the influx of guests who flew to Mumbai, where heavy monsoon rains have caused flooding and flight disruptions for the past week. The extravaganza and the display of opulence that comes with the wedding has led many to raise questions about rising inequality in India, where the gap between rich and poor is growing. The event has also sparked anger among some Mumbai residents, who say they are struggling with snarled traffic. "It affects our earnings. I don't care much about the wedding," said Vikram, a taxi driver who uses only one name. Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani is set to throw a grand wedding for his son. Here's what to know The father of the groom, Mukesh Ambani, is the world's ninth-richest man, with a net worth of $116 billion, according to Forbes. He is the richest person in Asia. His Reliance Industries is a conglomerate reporting over $100 billion in annual revenue, with interests that include petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecoms and retail. The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-story family compound in Mumbai worth $1 billion. The building contains three helipads, a 160-car garage and a private movie theater. The groom, 29-year-old Anant, oversees the conglomerate's renewable and green energy expansion. He also runs a 3,000-acre (about 1,200-hectare) animal rescue center in Gujarat state's Jamnagar, the family's hometown. The bride, Radhika Merchant, also 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and is the marketing director for his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue. Ambani's critics say his company has relied on political connections during Congress Party-led governments in the 1970s and '80s, and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rule after 2014. The Ambani family's pre-wedding celebrations have been lavish and star-studded from the start. In March, they threw a three-day prenuptial bash for Anant that had 1,200 guests, including former world leaders, tech tycoons and Bollywood megastars, and performances by Rihanna, Akon and Diljit Dosanjh, a Punjabi singer who shot to international fame when he performed at Coachella. The event was also attended by tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. It was the start of lavish, months-long pre-wedding celebrations that grabbed headlines and set off a social media frenzy. Tycoons, heads of state, Hollywood and Bollywood stars show up as Asia’s richest man celebrates son’s wedding In May, the family took guests on a three-day cruise from Italy to France, which included Katy Perry singing her hit song "Firework" and a performance by Pitbull, according to media reports. The family also organized a mass wedding for more than 50 underprivileged couples on July 2 as part of the celebrations. Last week, Justin Bieber performed for hundreds of guests at a pre-wedding concert that included performances by Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh and Salman Khan. Ambani also made headlines in 2018, when Beyoncé performed at pre-wedding festivities for his daughter. Former U.S. Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were among those who rubbed shoulders with Indian celebrities and Bollywood stars in the western Indian city of Udaipur.

At least 60 people were believed missing in Nepal after two buses were swept by a landslide off a highway and into a swollen river early Friday. Three passengers were rescued as the continuous rain made rescue efforts difficult. The three survivors were being treated in the hospital, government administrator Khima Nanada Bhusal said, adding that they reportedly jumped out of the bus and swam to the banks, where locals found them and took them to a nearby hospital. Landslides also blocked routes to the area in several places, according to Bhusal. Additional rescuers and security forces have been sent to help with rescue efforts. The buses were swept off the highway around 3 a.m. near Simaltal, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu. One bus was carrying at least 24 people, while the other had at least 42, but more could have boarded en route, Bhusal said. A third bus was hit by another landslide on Friday morning a short distance away on the same highway, killing the driver, Bhusal added. It was not clear if there were any other casualties. Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he was saddened by the news and expressed concern over recent flooding and landslides. He added that several government agencies were searching for the missing, in a post on the social media platform X. On Thursday night, a landslide buried a hut and killed a family of seven near the resort town of Pokhara. The family were asleep when the landslide crushed their hut and damaged three more houses nearby. Monsoon season brings heavy rains to Nepal from June to September, often triggering landslides in the mountainous Himalayan country.

South Korea said Thursday it will begin deploying laser weapons systems designed to intercept North Korean drones, which have caused security concerns in the South in recent years. South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration said that it will deploy at least one anti-air laser weapons system called “Block-I” by the end of this year and more in coming years. An agency statement said the “Block-I” system is capable of launching precision attacks on small incoming drones and multi-copters. It said the system, developed by local company Hanwha Aerospace, costs just 2,000 won (about $1.50) per shot. “We face North Korea on our doorstep and its drones pose present threats to us, so that's why we've been aiming to build and deploy laser weapons soon to cope with them,” an agency official said, requesting anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to media on the issue. He said that other countries like the United States and Israel are ahead of South Korea in laser weapons technology, but their primary focus has been on higher-powered laser guns that can shoot down incoming ballistic missiles. South Korea also hopes to develop such anti-missile laser weapons, which its defense procurement agency called “a game changer” in future combat environments. The “Block-I” system is meant to hit circuit boards and other equipment in enemy drones to make them malfunction and crash on the ground. Tests of the weapons system in 2022-2023 were successful and proved its credibility, the official said. Some experts questioned the technology. Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defense Network in South Korea, doubts how effectively South Korea can use its laser weapons since its anti-air radar systems aren't advanced enough to detect North Korean drones well. He said the range of a laser weapon is relatively short, so high-power microwave weapons would be better when enemy drones are flown in large numbers simultaneously. Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said South Korea is likely about five years away from acquiring a functioning laser weapon that can shoot down the drones used by North Korea. North Korea has periodically flown drones across its heavily fortified border with South Korea for several years, in what observers have called tests of South Korean readiness. In December 2022, South Korea accused the North of sending drones across the border for the first time in five years. South Korea fired warning shots and launched fighter jets and helicopters but failed to shoot down any of the drones. In a key political meeting in December 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to introduce various types of unmanned combat equipment such as attack drones for 2024. Foreign experts say Kim likely regards drones as a cheap yet effective method to trigger security jitters and an internal divide in South Korea. Animosities between the two Koreas, split along the world's most heavily fortified border, have deepened in recent months, with North Korea flying trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea in response to South Korean activists floating political leaflets via their own balloons.

Two Australian nationals and their Filipina companion were killed in a hotel in a popular resort city south of the Philippine capital, Manila and police were trying to identify and track down the suspects, officials said Thursday. A hotel worker found the bodies of the victims, whose hands and feet were tied, in a room at the Lake Hotel in Tagaytay city, on Wednesday, according to a police statement. The Australian male victim's throat was slit with a sharp object that may have caused his death while the two women apparently may have been suffocated using a pillow, Tagaytay police chief Charles Daven Capagcuan told The Associated Press. Ongoing autopsies would verify those initial indications, he said. Capagcuan said the motive for the killings was not immediately clear and added some valuables of the victims, including their cellphones, were not taken by the suspect. “We were shocked by this incident,” Tagaytay Mayor Abraham Tolentino said, apologizing to the families of the victims. “We’re very sorry to our Australian friends. We will resolve this as soon as possible.” The victims were believed to be a man in his 50s from Australia, his Philippine-born partner, who had acquired Australian citizenship, and her Filipina relative. Investigators were interviewing witnesses and examining security cameras at the hotel, including one footage that showed a man wearing a mask and a hoodie and carrying a sling bag who walked out of the victims' room a few hours before their bodies were discovered, Capagcuan said. A Filipino relative of the Australian woman told the AP that the Australian couple flew from Sydney to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for a vacation then headed to the Philippines Monday to visit her two children from a previous marriage in the country. The Australian couple was supposed to fly back to Australia Wednesday, the day they were killed, but decided to briefly take a vacation in Tagaytay, said the relative, who asked not to be identified for security reasons. Tagaytay, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Manila, is popular among local and foreign tourists who flock there for its cool weather and to view one of the world's smallest active volcanos nestled in the middle of a lake. Tolentino told the AP that the remains of the Australian man would be flown back to Sydney and the two women would be buried in the Philippines as requested by their relatives. The government would pay for the women's funeral and burial, he said. In Australia, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it’s providing consular assistance to the families of the two Australians and expressed condolences to their families. No other details were provided “owing to our privacy obligations,” the spokesperson said.

China accused NATO on Thursday of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia, a reflection of its determination to oppose strengthening ties between NATO members and Asian nations such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. The statement by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson came a day after NATO labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Ukraine is on an 'irreversible' path to NATO. But only after war with Russia ends “NATO hyping up China’s responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and has sinister motives,” spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing. He maintained that China has a fair and objective stance on the Ukraine issue. China has broken with the United States and its European allies over the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Russia's invasion or even to refer to it as an act of aggression in deference to Moscow. Its trade with Russia has grown since the invasion, at least partially offsetting the impact of Western sanctions. NATO, in a statement issued at a summit in Washington, said China has become an enabler of the war through its “no-limits partnership” with Russia and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base. Lin said China's trade with Russia is legitimate and reasonable and based on World Trade Organization rules. Russian missile attack on Ukraine's largest hospital complicates treatment of kids with cancer He said NATO’s “so-called security” comes at the cost of the security of other countries. China has backed Russia's contention that NATO expansion posed a threat to Russia, whose attack on Ukraine has only strengthened the alliance, leading to Sweden and Finland becoming formal members. China has expressed concern about NATO’s budding relationships with countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea sent their leaders or deputies to the NATO summit this week. “China urges NATO to ... stop interfering in China’s internal politics and smearing China’s image and not create chaos in the Asia-Pacific after creating turmoil in Europe,” Lin said. Chinese troops are in Belarus this week for joint drills near the border with Poland, a NATO member. The exercises are the first with Belarus, an ally of Russia, with which it shares a single-party system under President Alexander Lukashenko, whose regime cracked down brutally on 2020 mass protests against his rule, Lin described the joint training as a normal military operation that is not directed at any particular country. China is a key player in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes a strong military element involving Russia and several Central Asian nations, India and, most recently, Belarus. That is seen as creating a bulwark against Western influence in the region, but also tensions over rising Chinese influence in what Russia considers its political backyard made up of former parts of the Soviet Union, which included Belarus. Russian House in Dhaka celebrates the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity Earlier this month, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a meeting of leaders or top officials from the 10 SCO countries in Kazakhstan at which Putin reiterated his demand that Ukraine withdraw its troops from parts of the country occupied by Russia. Ukraine has firmly rejected that, along with a Chinese peace proposal that makes no mention of the return of Ukrainian territory to the government in Kyiv. China and Russia have closely aligned their foreign policies to oppose the West, even as Russia grows increasingly reliant on China as a purchaser of its oil and gas that make up the bulk of its foreign trade.

Myanmar’s military has been emptying villages on the outskirts of the capital of the western state of Rakhine as part of an evident effort to defend against expected attacks by a powerful rebel group that has captured most of the surrounding area, according to residents, a local activist group and media reports on Tuesday. The action over the past few days to defend the state capital, Sittwe, came a week after the Arakan Army, the ethnic armed organization of the state’s Muslim Rohingya minority, vowed to capture the army outposts in the city. Rakhine is the current hotspot for fighting in Myanmar’s nationwide civil war, in which pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority armed forces battle the country’s military rulers, who took power in 2021 after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. If the Arakan Army captures Sittwe, it would be the first state capital to fall to the rebel forces. Sittwe is also strategically important as its location offers easy access to the Bay of Bengal. The Arakan Army, which seeks autonomy from Myanmar’s central government, began a largely successful offensive in Rakhine — its home ground — about six months ago, gaining control of nine of 17 townships in Rakhine and one in adjacent Chin state. In early June that the group declared it would target the military’s outposts in Rakhine's remaining eight townships. It already controls all three townships bordering Sittwe, about 340 kilometers (235 miles) southwest of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city. 11 killed as passenger bus collides with pickup truck in northern Philippines A resident of Palin Pyin, a village about 15 kilometers (9 miles) northwest of Sittwe, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that soldiers and civil authorities on Sunday forced the village elders, without giving a reason, to tell the residents to leave within five days. The deadline was later shortened to three days. Palin Pyin is a fishing village located at the confluence of the Mayu and Kywee Tae rivers, which mark the border between the townships of Sittwe and Rathedaung, which is already under the Arakan Army's control. The villager, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she fears arrest by the military, said residents were told to move to Sittwe town and its immediate suburbs, taking their belongings, including whatever elements of their housing they could bring. She said members of the security forces had been planting landmines, and building fences and watchtowers around the village since the end of May to guard against any attacks, which could come by river. The woman said her family had moved on Monday to a village in Sittwe's suburbs after being warned by the authorities, who had set up an outpost in her home village's Buddhist monastery. Residents of four nearby villages also moved with difficulty to Sittwe's environs, some sheltering in monasteries. Two town residents also told the AP that their relatives who had been living in outlying villages to the north confirmed that people from five villages had been told to leave their homes in order to protect the city from attack by the Arakan Army. The All Arakan Students’ & Youths’ Congress-AASYC, an independent youth organization from Rakhine state opposed to the military government, said in a statement released on Monday that the army was planning to demolish 12 villages along the bank of the Kywee Tae river after forcing their residents to leave by Friday this week. A double-decker bus collides with a milk truck in northern India, killing at least 18 people The statement claimed the villagers were given five days, instead of being forced to leave immediately, by the chief minister of Rakhine state military council in order to avoid a situation similar to one at the end of May in Byine Phyu village, just outside of Sittwe town. In that case, the military and their allies were accused of killing 76 people in the village, though details remain hazy. The military claimed that only three people were killed when they tried to grab a gun from a soldier, but other reports have suggested dozens were killed because the village was supposedly offering its support to the Arakan Army. News from the area cannot be verified independently because of severe restrictions on movement. After the incident in Byine Phyu, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres issued a statement expressing deeply concern about escalating violence in Myanmar. U.N. Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that aerial bombings and human rights violations are constantly reported in many parts of Myanmar and “those responsible must be held to account.” Dujarric said the U.N. secretary-general “calls on all parties to the conflict to exercise maximum restraint, prioritize protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law and prevent further incitement of communal tension and violence.”

A bus collided with a pickup truck early Thursday morning, killing 11 people and injuring six others in a northern Philippine town, police said. Those who died were riding the small truck as it was rammed on the side by the bus, causing it to lose control and smash into a roadside food stall in Abulug town, about 600 km (373 miles) north of Manila, said police chief Maj. Antonio Palattao. Most of the victims aboard the truck were on their way home from a wake shortly after midnight Thursday. The drivers of both vehicles were injured, along with the owner of the food stall that was hit by the truck, Palattao said. An investigation was underway to determine who was responsible for the accident, he said. Deadly road accidents are common in the Philippines because of weak enforcement of traffic laws, dilapidated vehicles and dangerous road conditions, including inadequate safety signs and barriers in mountain roads and far-flung provinces.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the war in Ukraine on Wednesday with Austria, an ally of Kyiv that has a policy of military neutrality, emphasizing the need for diplomacy a day after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Modi met Chancellor Karl Nehammer on what he said was the first visit to Austria by an Indian prime minister in 41 years. Indian Prime Minister Modi makes first visit to ally Russia since the start of its war on Ukraine Nehammer told reporters it was important to understand India's position on Ukraine and convey Europe's concerns. He said it was an “important and significant signal” that India took part in a summit in Switzerland last month and added that Austria could act as a “bridge-builder” in helping move forward peace efforts. Modi's visit to Moscow, a longtime partner for New Delhi, was his first since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. India's Modi will meet with Putin on 2-day visit to Russia starting Monday, Kremlin says While in Moscow, Modi reiterated India’s neutral stance on the invasion. He also alluded to an attack on Monday when Russian missiles struck across Ukraine, damaging the largest children’s hospital in Kyiv and killing at least 42 people nationwide, including some children. “Be it war, a struggle or a terrorist attack, every person who believes in humanity, when there is loss of life, he is pained,” Modi said Tuesday. “When innocent children are killed, when we see innocent children dying, then the heart pains. And that pain is very horrible.” In his comments Wednesday, Modi said in general terms that he and Nehammer had “extensive discussions” on all the world's conflicts, including Ukraine. He said that “problems cannot be solved in the battlefield” and that “the loss of innocent lives is not acceptable, wherever it may take place.” India's Prime Minister Modi will visit Russia, the Kremlin says “India and Austria both lay emphasis on dialogue and diplomacy for the rapid restoration of peace and stability,” he said. “Both of us are ready to provide all possible support to achieve this.” Modi and Nehammer took no questions from journalists.

Unionized workers at Samsung Electronics declared an indefinite strike Wednesday to pressure South Korea’s biggest company to accept their calls for higher pays and other benefits. Thousands of members of the National Samsung Electronics Union launched a temporary, three-day strike on Monday. But the union said Wednesday that it was announcing an indefinite strike, accusing the management of being unwilling to negotiate. Samsung Electronics says there have been no disruptions to production. “Samsung Electronics will ensure no disruptions occur in the production lines,” a Samsung statement said. “The company remains committed to engaging in good faith negotiations with the union.” However, in a statement posted on its website, the union said it has engaged in unspecified disruptions on the company’s production lines to get management to eventually come to the negotiating table if the strikes continue. “We are confident of our victory,” the union statement said. The union statement didn’t say how many of its members would join the extended strike. It earlier said that 6,540 of its union members had said they would participate in the earlier, three-day strike. That would represent only a fraction of Samsung Electronics’ total workforce, estimated at about 267,860 globally. About 120,000 of them are in South Korea. Earlier this year, union members and management held rounds of talks on the union's demand for higher wages and better working conditions, but they failed to reach agreement. In June, some union members collectively used their annual leaves in a one-day walkout that observers said was the first labor strike at Samsung Electronics. About 30,000 Samsung workers are reportedly affiliated with the National Samsung Electronics Union, the largest at the company, and some belong to other, smaller unions. In 2020, Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong, then vice chairman of the company, said he would stop suppressing employee attempts to organize unions, as he expressed remorse over his alleged involvement in a massive 2016 corruption scandal that removed the country’s president from office. The company’s union-busting practices had been criticized by activists for decades, though labor actions at other businesses and in other sectors of the society are common in South Korea. Thousands of South Korean medical interns and residents have been on strike since February, protesting a government plan to sharply increase medical school admissions.