British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Sunday he plans to resign at the next Cabinet reshuffle after four years in the job. Wallace has served as defense secretary under three prime ministers and played a key role in the U.K.'s response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. South Korea to expand support for Ukraine as President Yoon Suk Yeol makes a surprise visit He told The Sunday Times his departure was due to the strain his job had put on his family. He also said he would stand down as a lawmaker at the next general election. Wallace is the longest continuously serving minister in government. He was security minister under former Prime Minister Theresa May, before being promoted to defense secretary by her successor Boris Johnson. MPs’ roundtable seeks UK-Bangladesh joint efforts ahead of COP28 Wallace drew criticism last week when he suggested that Ukraine should show "gratitude" for the West's military support. He made the remark at the NATO summit in Lithuania after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed frustration about when his country could join the military alliance. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak distanced himself from Wallace's comments, saying Zelenskyy had "expressed his gratitude for what we've done on a number of occasions." Zelenskyy blasts NATO’s failure to set a timetable for Ukraine’s membership as ‘absurd’

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said the people are now eager like a “fuming volcano” to oust the current government. “Our every rally has been held peacefully without any chaos (on our part) anywhere. But the government is so much coward that it has arrested more than 500 leaders and workers of our party in false cases,” he said. Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader alleged that the government has again started filing ‘false’ and ‘fictitious’ cases against the opposition leaders and activists.  Read more: Motorcade of Ilyas Ali’s wife attacked ahead of BNP’s Sylhet rally; police detains JCD men “You (govt) have been implicating us in many cases and killing many people for 15 years. You have made 600 people to disappear, but you could not stop us. People are now fuming again like an active volcano and it’ll erupt to ensure the fall of the government,” he said. BNP arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club, marking the 46th death anniversary of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani. Bhasani, popularly known as 'Majlum Jananeta' (the leader of the downtrodden), passed away on November 17, 1976. Fakhrul hoped that BNP’s current movement will turn successful and they will be able to establish a government of the people. Read more: BNP announces four district unit committees He said in a new ray of hope common people are joining their divisional rallies with huge enthusiasm. “They’re coming to our rallies wearing lungis, carrying bags and with flattened rice, puffed rice, and molasses for staying three days under the open sky and thus making our rallies successful. It’s unprecedented.” The BNP leader said their party will surely succeed in freeing the country from misrule and restore the people’s lost rights if it can take the movement to the right direction and keep up the current spirit of the masses. “We need not pay much attention to who is saying what and where. We let them say who are talking about playing a game. We’ll stick to our goal. We must win the victory this time as we have no alternative to it,” he said. Fakhrul called Maulana Bhasani a rare politician and urged BNP leaders and activists to follow his ideals. “We’ve been in a tough fight, and we must remember and follow him if we want to succeed.” Read more: BNP seeks DMP permission to hold Dec-10 rally at Nayapaltan He said the politics has now changed and the nation is going through a very bad time. “It’s difficult to find people who remember Maulana Bhasani and follow him in this bad time. He (Bhasani) did not want anything for himself. His party was elected in 1954 and formed the government, but Maulana Bhasani did not take charge of any ministry. This is Maulana Bhasani.” Fakhrul said Maulana Bhasani never compromised with power and he always did politics for people. “Those who are doing politics for people and trying to protect the independence and sovereignty of the country need to take a lesson from him (Bhasani) that we should never compromise on our goal. We have to move forward towards our goal with all strengths without any compromise.”

Transparency International Bangladesh has condemned the suspension of  a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) for fining three people claiming to be Railway Minister’s relatives who were travelling without tickets. TIB in a press release on Saturday said that “As such a situation has arisen involving the Railway Minister and the ticketless passengers used his identity, he should resign from his position temporarily for the sake of a fair and impartial investigation into the incident.” TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said, “The incident is a shameless and worst example of abuse of power and power has been misused in two ways in this incident. Firstly, the ticketless passengers claimed to be the relatives of the Railway Minister assuming that the existing law of the railways does not apply to them! Secondly, The TTE was immediately suspended over a phone call without being given any chance to defend himself.” Also read: Info minister considers legal action against TIB for lies The concerned ticket inspector had fulfilled his duty but dismissing him when he should have been rewarded sent the wrong message to the people that the seizure of power and irregularities are the reality, he said. “Moreover, this worst example will still be considered a strong negative message for the very few who are faithfully and honestly performing their duties in their respective fields,” said Iftekharuzzaman. Also read: Zahid trashes TIB Covid report as non-transparent

Police fired tear gas and a water cannon at thousands of protesters outside the home of Sri Lanka's president Thursday, demanding he resign over the nation's worst economic crisis. Police later enforced a curfew in suburbs of the capital because the protests wouldn't subside. The protesters blamed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for long power outages and shortages of essentials and shouted, “Go home, Gota go home.” The crowds demonstrating along the roads leading to his private residence at Mirihana, on the outskirts of Colombo, stoned two army buses that police were using to block the protesters from entering the road leading to Rajapaksa’s residence. They set fire to one of buses and turned back a fire truck that rushed to douse it. At least one person was severely injured in the leg when police fired tear gas cannisters directly at protesters to stop their attack on the bus. Also read: Pakistan's parliament adjourns debate on embattled premier Armed soldiers with assault rifles were stationed near the protest. Angry protesters also gathered around the Mirihana police station accusing the police of trying to protect the corrupt. Police there deployed tear gas. Sri Lanka has huge debt obligations and dwindling foreign reserves, and its struggle to pay for imports has caused the shortages. People wait in long lines for fuel, and power is cut for several hours daily because there's not enough fuel to operate generating plants and dry weather that has sapped hydropower capacity. Lamenting the power cuts that are up to 13 hours a day, protester Dulaj Madhushan, 30, asked: “How can people earn a living?” “This is not a political one, but a protest led by people. They took people for granted. Now you can see peoples' power,” he said. The protesters appeared voluntary and without a leader. Residents of a middle-class neighborhood including many women who would normally not participate in street protests were seen telling police that they were fighting for them, too. Protester Asanka Dharmasinghe, 37, said he has been running a carpentry shed, employing four people and paying them each about $12 a day, but he is unable to cover the costs because he only has two hours of electricity to work. “My daughter is sitting for exams, but there is no paper,” he said. The curfew imposed in parts of Colombo and suburbs after the protests ended will last until further notice, police spokesman Nihal Thalduwa said. Also read: Protest in India's capital on 2nd day of nationwide strike He asked people in the areas where the curfew was imposed to remain at home, warning that violations will be dealt with strictly according to the law. He also said motorists will not be allowed to travel through those areas. Sri Lanka’s economic woes are blamed on successive governments not diversifying exports and relying on traditional cash sources like tea, garments and tourism, and on a culture of consuming imported goods. The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to Sri Lanka’s economy, with the government estimating a loss of $14 billion in the last two years. Sri Lanka also has immense foreign debt after borrowing heavily on projects that don’t earn money. Its foreign debt repayment obligations are around $7 billion for this year alone. According to the Central Bank, inflation rose to 17.5% in February from 16.8% a month earlier. Its expected to continue rising because the government has allowed the local currency to float freely. Separately on Thursday, the country's Catholic bishops called for unity among politicians, warning that the island is fast becoming a failed state. All governments to date are responsible in varying degree for the crisis, the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Sri Lanka said in a statement, adding that the government and the opposition must adopt a conciliatory approach without blaming each other. The bishops called on Catholic institutions and individuals to provide assistance to the most affected groups.

President Joe Biden’s top science adviser Dr. Eric Lander resigned Monday, hours after the White House confirmed that an internal investigation found credible evidence that he mistreated his staff. An internal review last year, prompted by a workplace complaint, found evidence that Lander, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and science adviser to Biden, bullied staffers and treated them disrespectfully. The White House rebuked Lander over his interactions with his staff, but initially signaled Monday that he would be allowed to remain on the job, despite Biden’s Inauguration Day assertion that he expected “honesty and decency” from all who worked for his administration and would fire anyone who shows disrespect to others “on the spot.” But later Monday evening, press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden had accepted Lander’s resignation with “gratitude for his work at OTSP on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities.” Lander, in his resignation letter, said, “I am devastated that I caused hurt to past and present colleagues by the way in which I have spoken to them.” “I believe it is not possible to continue effectively in my role, and the work of this office is far too important to be hindered,” he added. The White House said Biden did not request Lander’s resignation. It marks the first Cabinet-level departure of the Biden administration. Also read: Biden picks women of color to lead White House budget office Earlier Monday, Psaki said senior administration officials had met with Lander about his actions and management of the office, but indicated he would be allowed to stay in the job, saying the administration was following a “process” to handle workplace complaints. “Following the conclusion of the thorough investigation into these actions, senior White House officials conveyed directly to Dr. Lander that his behavior was inappropriate, and the corrective actions that were needed, which the White House will monitor for compliance moving forward,” she said. Psaki added, “The president has been crystal clear with all of us about his high expectations of how he and his staff should be creating a respectful work environment.” The White House said Lander and OSTP would be required to take certain corrective actions as part of the review. It also said the review did not find “credible evidence” of gender-based discrimination and that the reassignment of the staffer who filed the original complaint was “deemed appropriate.” Lander on Friday issued an apology to staffers in his office, acknowledging “I have spoken to colleagues within OSTP in a disrespectful or demeaning way.” “I am deeply sorry for my conduct,” he added. “I especially want to apologize to those of you who I treated poorly, or were present at the time.” The letter and the findings against Lander were first reported by Politico. Lander’s conduct and the White House’s initial decision to stand by him sparked some consternation inside the White House and among Biden allies and created an unnecessary distraction from Biden’s agenda. Also read: High inflation? Low polling? White House blames the pandemic By late Monday, Lander came to believe he was in an untenable position and resigned effective no later than Feb. 18, “in order to permit an orderly transfer.” In a statement Monday, the American Association for the Advancement of Science said Lander would no longer be invited to speak at its meeting next week, saying he was not conducting himself in a “manner befitting a scientist or scientific leader — much less a cabinet-level leader in the administration.′ “Unfortunately, toxic behavioral issues still make their way into the STEM community where they stifle participation and innovation. OSTP should be a model for a respectful and positive workplace for the scientific community — not one that further exacerbates these issues,” the group’s leadership said. Lander, whose position was elevated to Cabinet-rank by Biden, appeared prominently with the president last week when he relaunched his “Cancer Moonshot” program to marshal federal resources behind research and treatment for cancer diseases. The founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Lander is a mathematician and molecular biologist. He was lead author of the first paper announcing the details of the human genome, the so-called “book of life.” His confirmation to his role in the Biden administration was delayed for months as senators sought more information about meetings he had with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced financier who was charged with sex trafficking before his suicide. Lander also was criticized for downplaying the contributions of two Nobel Prize-winning female scientists. At his confirmation hearing last year, Lander apologized for a 2016 article he wrote that downplayed the work of the female scientists. At the hearing, he also called Epstein “an abhorrent individual.″ Lander said he “understated the importance of those key advances” by biochemists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna. The two were later awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Lander’s departure on the grounds of Biden’s respectful workplace policy echoed the February 2021 resignation of then-White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo, who was suspended and then resigned over threatening conversations with a reporter.

Former Bangladesh captain and the current chairman of the cricket operation department of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Akram Khan, is set to resign from his post at BCB, according to his family. Akram was ignored in some important decisions taken by the board after the Bangladesh team’s T20 World Cup debacle in Oman and UAE recently. Despite being the chair of cricket operation, Akram was overlooked when the board appointed Khaled Mahmud as the director of the national team. Akram did not take this move of the board positively, a family source confirmed to the media. Also read: If Shakib wants to play Tests, BCB may revoke NOC to play IPL: Akram Khan

Disgraced State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murad Hassan has resigned from the cabinet following the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for his offensive and indecent remarks on women. The under-fire junior minister submitted his resignation letter to the Prime Minister on Tuesday showing personal reasons for quitting his job. "Yes, State Minister Murad Hassan’s resignation letter, addressing the Honorable Prime Minister, reached the Information Ministry. It’ll be forwarded to the Cabinet Division for taking necessary steps,” a senior official told UNB wishing anonymity. Murad Hassan had been under increasing criticism by various quarters for his disrespectful remarks on women in an interview on social media. A number of audios and videos containing indecent remarks by Murad Hassan also went viral on social media during the last few days. Also read: PM asked junior minister Murad to resign by Tuesday: Obaidul Quader A two-year-old phone conversation of the junior minister with actor Mamnun Hasan Emon and actress Mahiya Mahi recently went viral on social media. In that audio clip, Murad made "derogatory comments" on the actress, threatened her and gave her an alleged indecent proposal.

Lebanon’s information minister resigned Friday, a move many hope could open the way for easing an unprecedented diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab nations that has compounded the small country’s multiple crises.George Kordahi, the minister and a prominent former game show host, said he took the decision to step down ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Saudi Arabia on Saturday. The resignation, Kordahi said at a press conference in the Lebanese capital, may help Macron start a dialogue to help restore Beirut-Riyadh relations. READ:  Lebanese hospitals at breaking point as everything runs out But the crisis goes deeper than Kordahi’s comments aired in late October, in which he was critical of the Saudi-led war in Yemen. His resignation is unlikely going to be a game changer in the dynamics of the crisis. It is rooted in Saudi Arabia’s uneasiness over the rising influence of Iran in the region, including in Lebanon, once a traditional Saudi ally and recipient of financial assistance from the oil-rich kingdom.It is also unlikely to diffuse internal divisions in Lebanon and a government paralysis made worse during the diplomatic crisis.Saudi Arabia, which has been joined by other Gulf Arab states in a boycott of Lebanon, is unhappy with the dominance of the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group and its allies on the levers of power in Lebanon.“The Saudi view is that any initiative that does not address that core issue will not succeed nor receive its blessing,” said the risk consultancy Eurasia Group in a statement Friday. “As a result, a minister’s resignation will be viewed as somewhat constructive but largely irrelevant to the much larger issue at hand.”Prospects of significant financial assistance to Lebanon are therefore dim, the group said.That crisis has added to immense economic troubles facing Lebanon, already mired in a financial meltdown. Following Kordahi’s televised comments, the kingdom recalled its ambassador from Beirut and banned all Lebanese imports, affecting hundreds of businesses and cutting off hundreds of millions in foreign currency to Lebanon.That aggravated Lebanon’s economic crisis, the worst in its modern history, which has plunged more than three quarters of the nation’s population of 6 million, including a million Syrian refugees, into poverty.The Saudi measures have caused anxiety, particularly among hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who work in the Gulf Arab countries and send home millions of dollars every year.For weeks, Kordahi, backed by Hezbollah and its allies, refused to resign, saying the comments were made before he was named minister and that he meant no offense.On Friday, he said he was resigning even though he was unconvinced that this was needed, adding that “Lebanon does not deserve this treatment” from Saudi Arabia.“Lebanon is more important than George Kordahi,” he said. “I hope that this resignation opens the window” for better relations with Gulf Arab countries. READ:  Lebanese are gripped by worry as economic meltdown speeds up Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed Kordahi’s resignation, saying it was “necessary” and “could open the door for tackling the problem with the brothers in the kingdom and the Gulf nations.”On Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV, Kordahi was hailed as a “national hero” who stepped down for the national good, without changing his views.In his remarks that triggered the spat, Kordahi said in a televised interview that the war in Yemen was futile and called it an aggression by the Saudi-led coalition. The conflict began with the 2014 takeover of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, by the Houthi rebels, who control much of the country’s north. The Saudi-led coalition entered the war the following year, determined to restore the internationally recognized government and oust the rebels.The standoff with Saudi Arabia has further paralyzed Lebanon’s government, which has been unable to convene since Oct. 12 amid reports that ministers allied with Hezbollah would resign if Kordahi goes.Mikati’s government is embroiled in another crisis, triggered when Hezbollah protested the course of the state’s investigation into the massive Beirut port explosion last year. It criticized Tarek Bitar, the judge leading the investigation, saying his probe was politicized, and called on the government to ensure his removal. Local media reported there were mediations to trade Bitar’s removal from the probe with Kordahi’s resignation.Macron, who is due in Riyadh on Saturday, backs Mikati’s government and has taken the lead among the international community in helping the small Mideast country, a former French protectorate.“I understood that the French want my resignation before Macron visits Riyadh, which would help, maybe in opening the way for dialogue,” Kordahi said. He did not elaborate, though he had earlier said he was seeking guarantees that his stepping down would ease tensions with the kingdom.A senior official from the French presidency, speaking to reporters earlier this week, said Macron will discuss strengthening cooperation with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries “to prevent Lebanon from sinking even further.” The official spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity in line with policy.After accepting Kordahi’s resignation, Mikati called on his Cabinet to convene and end the deadlock that has paralyzed the government for weeks.Salem Zahran, a Lebanese analyst, said Kordahi’s resignation may be a “ticket” to jump-start French mediation with Saudi Arabia on Lebanon's behalf but is unlikely to change much domestically. A parliament session is expected Tuesday, with a discussion about the government paralysis because of the port investigation on the agenda.

Bolivian President Evo Morales announced his resignation on Sunday after calling for new national elections to pacify the country.

Santiago, Oct 26 (Xinhua/UNB) -- Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Saturday asked all of his ministers to resign as a measure to respond to social demands after a week of street protests.