Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Friday said that BNP is a terrorist party not just in the context of Bangladesh. Through their involvement in the infamous ten-truck weapons smuggling case, they were involved in creating unrest in India as well. “After forming the government, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that the government will not let Bangladesh’s soil be used for creating unrest in any neighboring country. That is why all kinds of smuggling including arms smuggling has been completely stopped,” said the minister while exchanging views with media personnel at Chattogram circuit house. Read more: BNP's allegation over Shaheed Minar incident 'false': Info Minister “As a government party, our duty is to stand by the people so that no one can destroy the peace of the country. That is why we will hold a peace rally in every district on Saturday and keep a vigilant eye so that no one creates chaos,” Dr Hasan Mahmud said.

Tarikat Federation chairman Syed Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari on Wednesday said that BNP and Jamaat would do subversive activities later this year to destabilise the country ahead of next general elections. Bashar said that while the country is moving forward under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina there is a conspiracy to destabilise the country by the BNP and its alliance Jamaat. He said that he has information that BNP and Jamaat will start killing again from next August.   “They want to take the country towards another direction in August, September, October and November. Killing, militancy will increase,  I am asking the government to be aware of this.” “No matter what conspiracies they do, the next election will be held as per the constitution,” he said. He made the statement while participating in the discussion on the thanksgiving motion on President’s speech in Parliament. Bashar said that Hasina will return to power through next national elections. He said that he will also be elected as MP in the upcoming parliamentary elections.   “In the next election, the prime minister will be the prime minister again.  I will also be an MP from the Tarikat Federation, there is no (chance of any) mistake,” he said. Mentioning that the national election will be held in the first week of January next year, he said, "whether BNP comes or not, it does not matter at all.” He said that the election will be held under the leadership of the 14-party alliance leader Sheikh Hasina.  He called on all the pro-liberation forces to unite under the leadership of Hasina. Ruling party MP Kujendra Lal Tripura said that 50 to 60 percent of Khagrachari area has come under electrification. “Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board through the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs is trying to light up the area with Tk 217 crore solar panels.  We want electricity in the areas where it is possible to reach.” Jatiya Party MP Pir Fazlur Rahman said that earlier Begum Para was in Canada.   “Now Begum para is being established in many countries of the world.  Not only politicians, but also government officials are buying houses abroad.”  Pir Fazlur said that many are buying 10-20 houses in Canada, Dubai.   “No action is taken against money laundering from the country.” He also raised questions about how the central bank monitors.   He said that the defaulted loan in the bank is Tk 1.5 lakh crore. “If you do the actual calculations, it will exceed Tk four lakh crore. The owner of one bank is taking loan from another bank.  Actions should be taken against them.”  The Jatiya Party MP said that everyone talks about development.   “But some leaders do not see development.  They visit their area occasionally.  They are leaders of Awami League, but want to be elected in the future.” Criticising the sluggish implementation of development projects and the increase in project cost, Pir Fazlur said that if the duration of the project increases, the cost also increases.   “Corruption is inextricably linked with it.”    

Peru's Congress is set Tuesday to consider holding early elections, beset by protesters who have blocked highways and clashed with security forces amid deadly nationwide unrest ever since the lawmakers ousted President Pedro Castillo. It's the second time in days that the lawmakers — easily the most reviled of a widely discredited political elite — are taking up the proposal to push forward to next year the elections for president and Congress originally planned for 2026. The measure has the backing of caretaker President Dina Boluarte, who took over from Castillo after the former rural school teacher tried to dissolve Congress on Dec. 7 — a move widely condemned by even his leftist supporters as a self-coup and act of political suicide. After the failed move, he was swiftly arrested. Read more: Peru judge orders 18-month detention for ousted president The early elections proposal failed to muster enough votes last week after leftist lawmakers abstained, conditioning their support on the promise of a constitutional assembly to overhaul Peru's political charter — something that conservatives denounce as putting Peru's free market economic model at risk. “Don’t be blind,” Boluarte said in comments over the weekend, slamming lawmakers for not moving more decisively to defuse mounting political tensions. “Look at the people and take action in line with what they are asking.” Castillo, a political novice who lived in a two-story adobe home in the Andean highlands before moving to the presidential palace, eked out a narrow victory in elections last year that rocked Peru's political establishment and laid bare the deep divisions between residents of the vibrant capital, Lima, and the long-neglected countryside. Castillo's attempts to break a stalemate with hostile lawmakers by closing Congress only deepened those tensions. Within hours of his attempted power grab, he was ousted by Congress and jailed facing a criminal investigation, accused of trying to usurp power in violation of the constitution. Read more: Anger in rural areas fuel protests against Peru government Boluarte, who has the backing of U.S. President Joe Biden's administration and speaks fluently the native Quechua language of many protesters, has struggled to restore order in the restive nation. In several parts of the country, protesters who voted for her and Castillo's ticket last year have defied a 30-day state of emergency and taken to the streets to demand her immediate resignation. The death toll from the unrest rose to 26 on Monday after security forces firing tear gas dispersed thousands of informal miners who cut off the Pan-American Highway at two vital chokepoints for more than a week, forcing truckers to dump spoiled food and fish bound for market. Hundreds have been injured. Should lawmakers decide to push up elections, they would in essence be throwing themselves out of work. Under Peru's constitution, the 130 members of Congress are entitled to serve only a single term. Boluarte is also facing pressure from fellow leftists across Latin America led by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Ignoring calls by Boluarte and others to butt out of Peru's internal affairs, López Obrador has criticized Peru's conservative media and business establishment for the classist, sometimes bigoted way it portrayed Castillo during his 17-month presidency. On Monday he said that if lawmakers reject early elections and cling to power, and the president stays, then "everything will have to be achieved by force and repression, leading to a great deal of suffering an instability for the people.” The Mexican president has reiterated his willingness to grant asylum to Castillo, who was intercepted by protesters and security forces while trying to flee to the Mexican Embassy in Lima after his bid to shutter Congress backfired.

Unrest broke out in southern Sweden late Saturday despite police moving a rally by an anti-Islam far-right group, which was planning to burn a Quran among other things, to a new location as a preventive measure. Scuffles and unrest were reported in the southern town of Landskrona after a demonstration scheduled there by the Danish right-wing party Stram Kurs party was moved to the nearby city of Malmo, some 45 kilometers (27 miles) south. Up to 100 mostly young people threw stones, set cars, tires and dustbins on fire, and put up a barrier fence that obstructed traffic, Swedish police said. The situation had calmed down in Landskrona by late Saturday but remains tense, police said, adding no injuries were reported in the action. On Friday evening, violent clashes between demonstrators and counter-protesters erupted in the central city of Orebro ahead Stram Kurs' plan to burn a Quran there, leaving 12 police officers injured and four police vehicles set on fire. Video footage and photos from chaotic scenes in Orebro showed burning police cars and protesters throwing stones and other objects at police officers in riot gear. Kim Hild, spokeswoman for police in southern Sweden, said earlier Saturday that police would not revoke permission for the Landskrona demonstration because the threshold for doing that is very high in Sweden, which values free speech. READ: Sweden lauds Bangladesh’s development journey; willing to strengthen ties  The right of the protesters “to demonstrate and speak out weighs enormously, heavily and it takes an incredible amount for this to be ignored,” Hild told Swedish news agency TT. The demonstration took place Saturday evening in a central park in Malmo where Stram Kurs' leader Rasmus Paludan addressed a few dozen people. A small number of counter-protesters threw stones at demonstrators and police was forced to use pepper spray to disperse them. Paludan himself was reported to have been hit by a stone on his leg, Swedish media said. No serious injuries were reported, according to police. Since Thursday, clashes have been reported also in Stockholm and in the cities of Linkoping and Norrkoping — all locations where Stram Kurs either planned or had demonstrations. Paludan, a Danish lawyer who also holds Swedish citizenship, set up Stram Kurs, or “Hard Line” in 2017. The website of the party, which runs on an anti-immigration and anti-Islam agenda says “Stram Kurs is the most patriotic political party in Denmark.”

An international soccer friendly between Chile and Bolivia, scheduled to be played in Santiago on November 15, has been suspended due to ongoing violence in the South American country, officials said on Tuesday.