United News of Bangladesh

A predominantly Muslim region in the southern Philippines held its first parliamentary elections on Monday, seen as a crucial step in the long quest for self-rule after decades of insurgency and violence. The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was set up under a 2014 peace deal that saw the largest Muslim rebel group give up the goal of a separate Muslim state in the south of the largely Catholic country in exchange for broader autonomy. The group’s 40,000 fighters promised to demobilize and join civilian life. Commission on Elections Chairman Erwin Garcia reported that Cotabato City has been put under the commission’s control, with an administrator to be designated after a shooting incident killed three people and injured 15 others late Sunday. In other incidents in the city, a blast from an improvised bomb injured the person carrying the explosive, and a gun was fired but no one was hurt. The town of Maluso in Basilan has also been put under the commission’s control after pre-shaded ballots were found in 36 out of 68 precincts. Garcia said he immediately ordered the reprinting of ballots for the affected precincts, where voting would be delayed. Since the 1970s, about 150,000 combatants and civilians have died in the southern Philippines, while development was stunted in the country’s poorest region. Western and Asian governments feared the tenacious insurgencies could help foster Islamic extremism in Southeast Asia. With bombing attacks and kidnappings, Mindanao used to be a haven for al-Qaida and the Islamic State group before a U.S.-backed Philippine offensive weakened the militants.    

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a telephone conversation on Sunday to discuss regional developments and diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions, according to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the call, Sharif condemned attacks targeting Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi group, describing them as flagrant violations of the kingdom's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the ministry stated in a post on social media platform X. Sharif also denounced strikes targeting Saudi Arabia's vital oil infrastructure and reaffirmed Pakistan's full solidarity and commitment to the kingdom's security. The Saudi foreign ministry reported Friday that its East-West Pipeline was struck by several drones launched from Iraq, causing injuries and property damage. Following confirmation that the strikes originated from a site in southern Iraq's Maysan province, Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ali al-Zaidi dismissed the Maysan Operations Commander on Saturday. Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the East-West Pipeline, which transports crude oil from its eastern fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

Turkish authorities launched simultaneous early-morning raids across Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin on Sunday, detaining dozens of members of LGBTQ+ rights and HIV awareness groups. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said the investigation into 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses aims to "protect children, the institution of the family, and public order" per executive orders. Police raided offices and popular hangouts, blocking organizational websites while alleging international funding. The Human Rights Association condemned the crackdown as a "political operation" designed to purge independent civil society. It criticized authorities for leveling unrelated charges such as forming criminal organizations, prostitution and drug offenses. The operation reflects an escalation in hostility by the ruling Justice and Development Party, which banned Istanbul Pride in 2015 and recently blocked an LGBTQ+ cruise ship from docking. Although the Ottoman Empire decriminalized homosexuality in 1858, social discrimination remains widespread in Turkey.

Yemen's government forces said Sunday that more than 500 soldiers were killed and nearly 1,500 injured during month-long clashes with Houthi rebels along the country's western coast, as the insurgent group executed a major advance toward the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait. In a statement broadcast on media, the government's National Resistance Forces reported that the casualties were recorded between Aug. 9 and Sept. 10. The forces also claimed that over 1,000 Houthi fighters were killed and thousands more wounded, though these figures could not be independently verified. Military officials said the fighting began with Houthi missile, drone and explosive-boat strikes before expanding from Hays, in the southern part of Hodeidah province along the Red Sea, to multiple battlefronts in neighboring Taiz province in the southwest. The casualties follow a sweeping offensive launched by the Houthis on Sept. 3 that rapidly redrew front lines along Yemen's Red Sea coast, resulting in the capture of several government-controlled areas across Hodeidah and Taiz provinces. Rebel forces captured the strategic port city of Mocha on Thursday before pushing south into the Bab al-Mandab area on Friday. They seized Mayun Island in the center of the strait, tightening control over the crucial shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Houthi troops subsequently advanced farther south toward neighboring Lahj province, where retreating government troops had regrouped, bringing active combat closer to Aden, the temporary seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government. Yemen's civil conflict originally erupted in late 2014 when Houthi forces captured the capital, Sanaa, along with large portions of northern Yemen. The takeover prompted a Saudi-led military coalition to intervene in March 2015 to support the country's internationally recognized government.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he expected war with Iran to end this year, possibly after midterm elections due in the United States in November. "It'll end right after the midterms. Gasoline's going to drop like a rock," Trump told reporters during a visit to Ireland. "Iran wants to make a deal so bad. They are calling constantly. They want to make a deal. They've got to make the right deal. I'm not going to make a deal that's no good," he said. On June 18, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on ending the war in the region. Under the memorandum, they were scheduled to hold negotiations within 60 days, which ended on Aug. 17, to reach a final agreement, but the fate of the talks remains unclear following the recent escalation of hostilities between the two countries.   

Eight people, including two minors, were killed in a head-on collision in South Africa's northeastern Mpumalanga Province early Sunday morning, local authorities said. The crash, involving a Toyota sedan and a Volkswagen sedan, occurred at about 1:30 a.m. local time (2330 Saturday GMT) on the N17 toll road between Ermelo and Davel, near the Ermelo Toll Plaza, the Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison said. It said that seven of those killed were traveling in the Volkswagen, while the eighth victim was the driver and sole occupant of the Toyota, and no other injuries were reported. The cause of the accident remains under investigation. Authorities said reckless or negligent driving had not been ruled out as a possible factor.

Overnight drone and missile strikes between Russia and Ukraine killed civilians and damaged vital energy and port infrastructure on both sides on Sunday. In Russia's Tatarstan region, Ukrainian drones hit the industrial city of Nizhnekamsk, killing two people and injuring 12 after a drone struck near a parked car. Local officials reported a fire at an enterprise in the city, which houses major oil and petrochemical plants. Kyiv also claimed a drone strike on a major oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Krasnodar, which local authorities said injured three people and damaged a pipeline. Russian forces shot down 389 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Moscow's defense ministry. The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) agency said its drones struck a key oil processing unit and the refinery's tank farm overnight, sparking a massive blaze visible from dozens of kilometers (miles) away. Meanwhile, Russian strikes targeted Ukraine’s main Black Sea port hub of Odesa, injuring at least nine people in a massive overnight barrage. That followed a Saturday drone strike on an Odesa high-rise that killed two and injured 26. Russian attacks also hit western Ukraine, igniting a petrol station near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland. Moscow continues targeting Ukraine's power grid ahead of winter, while Kyiv pursues long-range strikes against Russian oil infrastructure.

A passenger ship that had lost contact in Indonesia's Java Sea has sunk, the country's National Search and Rescue Agency said Sunday, with around 130 people still unaccounted for. Around 110 people have been rescued and at least one person has died, according to the latest available figures. The Chinese Consulate General in Surabaya confirmed to Xinhua that there were no Chinese nationals aboard the ship, citing information verified with relevant authorities of the Surabaya city government. The passenger ship, Virgo Transport 8, was carrying 243 people when it lost contact at around 2:00 a.m. local time on Sunday after encountering bad weather, according to the search and rescue agency. The vessel had departed from Surabaya in East Java province on Saturday and was heading to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province. The cause of the accident remains unclear. Indonesian search and rescue authorities have deployed personnel, ships and a helicopter to waters near the vessel's last known position to conduct search and rescue operations. Indonesia, an archipelagic country with around 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries and other forms of sea transportation to connect its islands and facilitate travel. Maritime accidents occur from time to time due to factors including weather conditions, sea conditions and vessel safety.  

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday warned that growing geopolitical tensions, disruptions to supply chains and climate-related crises are increasingly affecting people around the world, and called for stronger cooperation and support among countries of the Global South. Addressing the BRICS summit on its second day in New Delhi, Modi also cautioned that the "weaponization of technology and critical minerals" could hamper global development and shared prosperity. BRICS, founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, has expanded to 11 members, representing about half of the world's population and a significant portion of the global economy. The grouping has pushed for greater representation of developing countries in global institutions and promoted alternatives to Western-dominated financial systems. "The number of conflicts and tensions in the world is continuously increasing, and this is having an increasingly negative and far-reaching impact on the lives of ordinary people," Modi said in the presence of bloc leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. "Pandemics, climate disasters and supply-chain disruptions have shown that in today's interconnected world, no crisis remains confined to a single region," Modi said. He also announced that BRICS members had agreed to establish an integrated early warning system for infectious diseases to strengthen preparedness for and responses to future outbreaks. In a joint declaration issued Saturday, the group expressed concern over escalating tensions in the Middle East and Sudan and called for disputes to be settled through dialogue and diplomacy. The bloc reaffirmed its support for a multipolar world order and called for reforms to the United Nations, including its Security Council, as well as international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. BRICS leaders opposed unilateral sanctions and coercive economic measures and criticized sanctions that have not been authorized by the United Nations. They also criticized increasing tariffs and nontariff barriers, saying such measures undermine global trade and supply chains. The bloc supported greater use of local currencies in trade and stronger cross-border payment systems, while also calling for cooperation in food security, energy, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence and climate action. The joint declaration marked a significant diplomatic breakthrough, as reaching consensus among Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — which have competing positions on major regional and geopolitical issues — posed a complex challenge amid ongoing conflicts and heightened tensions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday said China's 15th Five-Year Plan is not only a blueprint for the country's own development but also offers a range of cooperation opportunities for countries around the world. Xi made the remarks while attending the second day of the BRICS summit in New Delhi. Noting that China is launching its 15th Five-Year Plan this year, Xi said the country would continue to pursue high-quality development and expand high-standard opening up. China will also implement the Global Development Initiative, advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and share development opportunities with countries around the world, he said. Xi said China seeks to work with other countries to create greater prosperity and share the opportunities arising from its development.