Following the devastating fire incident at the Green Cozy Cottage building on Bailey Road that killed 46 people and injured several others, authorities in Dhaka have launched a crackdown on restaurants lacking proper fire safety measures. Restaurant owners, however, are critical of the approach.  The Restaurant Owners Association has labelled these operations as “harassment” and “for show”, lacking in coordination. The operations, according to the association, seem to target the restaurant industry unfairly, calling for a more integrated approach to address safety violations. Professor Dr. Adil Muhammad Khan, President of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, criticized the sporadic nature of these operations, arguing for regular and coordinated efforts. He highlighted the injustice in arresting restaurant workers for building faults, suggesting that the responsibility lies with RAJUK (the development authority) officials and building owners before considering the tenants such as restaurant operators. Entry-level women's recruitment doubles in banking sector, but board representation still lagging Imran Hasan, General Secretary of the Restaurant Owners Association, expressed the sector's frustrations over the lack of support from any ministry despite repeated pleas. He called for a meeting with the Prime Minister, signaling their readiness to shut down operations if found culpable.  However, he questioned the logic behind blanket closures, arguing for a constructive resolution. Around 200 restaurants in Dhaka have been closed, he said, raising concerns about the crackdown. Currently, Bangladesh houses approximately 481,000 restaurants, providing employment for 30 lakh people, the general secretary of Restaurant Owners Association said. He also underlined the struggles with bureaucratic red tape and the desperation for constructive dialogue and solutions. Hasan called for the Prime Minister's intervention, reflecting the dire situation of entrepreneurs and workers within the industry, whose livelihoods are at stake. Fire safety: How safe are the restaurants in Dhaka’s upscale areas? The opposition's Chief Whip, Mujibul Haque Chunnu, has also alleged lack of coordination in the drives against risky and unauthorized buildings operating amid fire risk. “A magistrate went and destroyed a shop. Another goes and says stop. The authorities need to take a concerted, slow and steady approach in conducting fire safety drives,” he said while participating in an unscheduled discussion in the Parliament last Tuesday. RAJUK's Chairman, Anisur Rahman Mia, meanwhile has announced plans to list at-risk buildings, intending to mark them clearly and disconnect utilities in coordination with service providers, emphasizing the need for collaboration among various agencies for effective regulation. This situation sheds light on the complexities of urban safety, regulatory enforcement, and the livelihoods dependent on sectors like dining, calling for balanced, fair, and coordinated efforts to ensure public safety without unjustly jeopardizing businesses and jobs. Read more: Why Fire Safety Audit is Essential for Commercial Buildings

A Rangamati court on Tuesday sent 44 suspected members of militant outfit Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, who were arrested in different anti-militant drives in the district, to jail in separate cases. The court also put five members of the armed separatist group Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) on a five-day remand. Rangamati Senior Judicial Magistrate Swarna Komol passed the order when police produced 49 members of Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya and Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) before the court. Also Read: Nayeb-e-Amir of militant group Jama'atul Ansar arrested from Dhaka’s Sayedabad: CTTC Earlier in the day, the militants were taken to the court amid tight security. Also Read: 12 militants, 14 KNF members arrested so far in anti-militancy drive in Bandarban: RAB   Law enforcers conducted separate drives in the hilly areas of Rangamati and Bandarban districts and arrested 50 militants Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya and KNF members recently.        

BNP on Monday alleged that the government has launched a fresh drive to arrest the leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies across the country ahead of the 12th parliamentary election. “Any peaceful programme of opposition political parties, including BNP, is being attacked and reckless mass arrests are being carried out. The Awami illegitimate regime has resorted to the old game of mass arrests of BNP leaders and activists across the country to cling to power again in illegal ways,” said BNP assistant office secretary Syed Imran Saleh Prince. Speaking at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, he also alleged that BNP leaders and activists who participated in the peaceful march at the union level on Saturday are being implicated in false and ghost cases. “The law enforcers and Awami cadres have now taken a position against the people ahead of the 12th parliamentary polls…even the ghost cases are being filed where the (road march) programme was held peacefully,” the BNP leader said. He said the ruling party activists along with police set fire to outdated motorcycles at some places to file false cases against the opposition leaders and activists. As per the information they have received as of Monday morning, Prince said 45 fresh false cases have been filed accusing 1706 identified and 4,517 unidentified opposition leaders and activists in connection with the union-level road march programme.   Read more: Govt rejects HRW statement over alleged crackdown on opposition Besides, he said, over 300 BNP leaders and activists were arrested in different ‘false’ cases while around 600 BNP opposition activists were injured in attacks by police and ruling party men in different places on Saturday.  “In fact, the Awami League and the government have got unnerved seeing the presence of a huge number of leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate bodies in the road march programme in unions,” Prince observed. He said the government has started its repressive and suppressive acts out of political vengeance as the BNP leaders and activists made the union-level march programme a success defying all obstacles and attacks. “I would like to tell them that the 10-point movement has been accepted by the people and it has spread everywhere widely. The movement won’t be able to stop the movement by resorting to repression and plots. The fall of the illegal regime is imminent,” Prince said.  

The mourners in Shanghai lit candles and placed flowers. Someone scrawled “Urumqi, 11.24, Rest in Peace” in red on cardboard — referring to the deadly apartment fire in China’s western city of Urumqi that sparked anger over perceptions the country's strict COVID-19 measures played a role in the disaster. What started as a small vigil last weekend by fewer than a dozen people grew into a rowdy crowd of hundreds hours later. One woman defiantly shouted for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to resign, emboldening others. Then, before dawn, police swept in and broke up the gathering and prevented more from happening. The Nov. 26 protest in Shanghai wasn’t the first or the largest. But it was notable for the bold calls for change in China’s leadership — the most public defiance of the ruling Communist Party in decades. Nationalist bloggers swiftly blamed foreign “black hands,” and the government vowed to crack down on “hostile forces.” But the protest emerged spontaneously, according to 11 participants and witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press. It was the first political demonstration for nearly all of them, and they spoke on condition of not being fully identified for fear of police harassment. Read more: China security forces are well-prepared for quashing dissent Three grinding years of lockdowns under China’s “zero-COVID” policy, along with Xi's erasure of civil liberties, made the country ripe for such an outburst in a way that nobody expected – not the authorities, the police or protesters themselves. The vigil on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 26, took place in Shanghai's French Concession, a trendy district filled with boutique Art Deco cafes, vintage shops and historic Tudor mansions. Among the first there were local artists and musicians, according to two friends of early participants. One bustling boulevard is named after Urumqi — the city in the far-northwestern Xinjiang region where the Nov. 24 fire killed at least 10. Many criticized government COVID-19 restrictions for preventing victims from fleeing, a charge the authorities denied. Anger soon flared on Chinese social media. Millions of online posts blamed virus control barricades for delaying rescuers, and Urumqi residents hit the streets to protest their months-long lockdown. Resistance to the policy had been building for weeks. In central Henan province, workers walked out of an iPhone factory when told they’d be locked in as part of virus controls. In cosmopolitan Guangzhou, residents brawled with police enforcing lockdowns. Earlier that day, from Chengdu in the south to Harbin in the north, university students confined to campuses for months lit candles, sprayed graffiti and took selfies while holding signs mourning the Urumqi dead. Read more: Chinese users play cat-and-mouse with censors amid protests Road signs on Shanghai’s Urumqi Middle Road were surrounded by candles, signs and flowers. Dozens had gathered by 10:30 p.m., according to friends of participants. Then patrons spilled out of a nearby bar after a World Cup match between South Korea and Uruguay, according to a friend of an early participant. Many joined the vigil, taking photos and sharing them online. At 11:21 p.m., a popular Twitter account tracking dissent in China posted images of the vigils, drawing the attention of many who had been scrolling anguished posts on the Urumqi fire. That the blaze resonated in Shanghai was no coincidence, participants said. Many of the city's apartment buildings were sealed-off during a lockdown in April and May, sparking fire safety fears and leaving many seething. “People could not only empathize with the people in Urumqi, they realized that this could also be them,” said Dali Yang, a China expert at the University of Chicago. A person who identified himself only by his French name Zoel said he attended to pay his respects after seeing a photo on the Chinese messenger app WeChat. When he got there past midnight, he found sizable crowds — and police. People had gathered at two spots, laying flowers and lighting candles. “It was very peaceful, ” Zoel said.

China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to “resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces,” following the largest street demonstrations in decades staged by citizens fed up with strict anti-virus restrictions. The statement from the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission released late Tuesday comes amid a massive show of force by security services to deter a recurrence of the protests that broke out over the weekend in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and several other cities. While it did not directly address the protests, the statement serves as a reminder of the party’s determination to enforce its rule. Hundreds of SUVs, vans and armored vehicles with flashing lights were parked along city streets Wednesday while police and paramilitary forces conducted random ID checks and searched people’s mobile phones for photos, banned apps or other potential evidence that they had taken part in the demonstrations. The number of people who have been detained at the demonstrations and in follow-up police actions is not known. Also read: China lockdown protests pause as police flood city streets The commission's statement, issued after an expanded session Monday presided over by its head Chen Wenqing, a member of the party's 24-member Politburo, said the meeting aimed to review the outcomes of October's 20th party congress. At that event, Xi granted himself a third five-year term as secretary general, potentially making him China's leader for life, while stacking key bodies with loyalists and eliminating opposing voices. “The meeting emphasized that political and legal organs must take effective measures to … resolutely safeguard national security and social stability," the statement said. “We must resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces in accordance with the law, resolutely crack down on illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order and effectively maintain overall social stability," it said. Yet, less than a month after seemingly ensuring his political future and unrivaled dominance, Xi, who has signaled he favors regime stability above all, is facing his biggest public challenge yet. He and the party have yet to directly address the unrest, which spread to college campuses and the semi-autonomous southern city of Hong Kong, as well as sparking sympathy protests abroad. Most protesters focused their ire on the “zero-COVID" policy that has placed millions under lockdown and quarantine, limiting their access to food and medicine while ravaging the economy and severely restricting travel. Many mocked the government's ever-changing line of reasoning, as well as claims that “hostile outside foreign forces" were stirring the wave of anger. Yet bolder voices called for greater freedom and democracy and for Xi, China's most powerful leader in decades, as well as the party he leads, to step down — speech considered subversive and punishable with lengthy prison terms. Some held up blank pieces of white paper to demonstrate their lack of free speech rights. The weekend protests were sparked by anger over the deaths of at least 10 people in a fire on Nov. 24 in China’s far west that prompted angry questions online about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by anti-virus controls. Authorities eased some controls and announced a new push to vaccinate vulnerable groups after the demonstrations, but maintained they would stick to the “zero-COVID” strategy. The party had already promised last month to reduce disruptions, but a spike in infections swiftly prompted party cadres under intense pressure to tighten controls in an effort to prevent outbreaks. The National Health Commission on Wednesday reported 37,612 cases detected over the previous 24 hours, while the death toll remained unchanged at 5,233. Beijing’s Tsinghua University, where students protested over the weekend, and other schools in the capital and the southern province of Guangdong sent students home in an apparent attempt to defuse tensions. Chinese leaders are wary of universities, which have been hotbeds of activism including the Tiananmen protests. Police appeared to be trying to keep their crackdown out of sight, possibly to avoid encouraging others by drawing attention to the scale of the protests. Videos and posts on Chinese social media about protests were deleted by the party’s vast online censorship apparatus. “Zero-COVID” has helped keep case numbers lower than those of the United States and other major countries, but global health experts including the head of the World Health Organization increasingly say it is unsustainable. China dismissed the remarks as irresponsible. Beijing needs to make its approach “very targeted” to reduce economic disruption, the head of the International Monetary Fund told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. “We see the importance of moving away from massive lockdowns,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Berlin. “So that targeting allows to contain the spread of COVID without significant economic costs.” Economists and health experts, however, warn that Beijing can’t relax controls that keep most travelers out of China until tens of millions of older people are vaccinated. They say that means “zero-COVID” might not end for as much as another year. On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said restrictions were, among other things, making it impossible for U.S. diplomats to meet with American prisoners being held in China, as is mandated by international treaty. Because of a lack of commercial airline routes into the country, the Embassy has to use monthly charter flights to move its personnel in and out. “COVID is really dominating every aspect of life" in China, he said in an online discussion with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. On the protests, Burns said the embassy was observing their progress and the government's response, but said, “We believe the Chinese people have a right to protest peacefully." “They have a right to make their views known. They have a right to be heard. That’s a fundamental right around the world. It should be. And that right should not be hindered with, and it shouldn’t be interfered with," he said. Burns also referenced instances of Chinese police harassing and detaining foreign reporters covering the protests. “We support freedom of the press as well as freedom of speech," he said.

Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have decided to continue its ongoing driv against illegal money changers and mobile financial services in the capital. The decision was taken at a meeting between the BFIU, a government agency responsible for investigating money laundering, suspicious transactions, and cash transaction reports, and the CID, a specialized unit of Bangladesh Police, held at the CID headquarters in the city on Wednesday. The meeting was organised as part of its initiative to control the hike in the US dollars’ price that has already created an artificial crisis of dollars in the open market. During the meeting both the BFIU and the CID firmly expressed to work jointly. Read: BFIU sought illegal money information from Swiss banks repeatedly: BB Chaired by CID chief Additional IGP Muhammad Ali Mia, the meeting discussed controlling the present rise in dollar price, increasing remittance flow and various issues of money laundering. Meeting sources said discussions were held for speedy settlement of money laundering cases, prevention of sending remittances illegally from abroad, prevention of hundi or money laundering from the country. Head of the BFIU Masud Biswas, its Additional Director Masud Rana and senior officials of CID were present at  the view exchange meeting.

Iran has arrested an internationally renowned filmmaker, several newspapers reported Tuesday, the third Iranian director to be locked up in less than a week as the government escalates a crackdown on the country's celebrated cinema industry. Jafar Panahi, one of Iran's best-known dissident filmmakers, had gone to the prosecutor's office in Tehran on Monday evening to check on the cases of his two colleagues detained last week, when security forces scooped him up as well, the reports said. A colleague of Panahi, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals, told The Associated Press that authorities sent Panahi to Iran’s notorious Evin Prison to serve out a prison term dating back years ago. In 2011, Panahi received a six-year prison sentence on charges of creating anti-government propaganda and was banned from filmmaking for 20 years. He was also barred from leaving the country. However, the sentence was never really enforced and Panahi continued to make underground films — without government script approval or permits — which were released abroad to great acclaim. Panahi has won multiple festival awards, including the 2015 Berlin Golden Bear for “Taxi,” a wide-ranging meditation on poverty, sexism and censorship in Iran, and the Venice Golden Lion in 2000 for “The Circle,” a deep dive into women's lives in Iran's patriarchal society. The Berlin International Film Festival said it was “dismayed and outraged” to hear of Panahi's arrest. Read: White House: Iran set to deliver armed drones to Russia “The arrest of Jafar Panahi is another violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the arts,” the festival directors said. His arrest came after the arrest of two other Iranian filmmakers, Mohamad Rasoulof and Mostafa al-Ahmad. Authorities accused Rasoulof and al-Ahmad of undermining the nation’s security by voicing opposition on social media to the government’s violent crackdown on unrest in the country’s southwest. Following the catastrophic collapse of the Metropol Building that killed at least 41 people in May, protests erupted over allegations of government negligence and deeply rooted corruption. Police responded with a heavy hand, clubbing protesters and firing tear gas, according to footage widely circulating online. Rasoulof won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize in 2020 for his film “There Is No Evil" that explores four stories loosely connected to the themes of the death penalty in Iran and personal freedoms under tyranny. In 2011, Rasoulof’s film “Goodbye” won a prize at Cannes but he was not allowed to travel to France to accept it. The Cannes Film Festival sharply condemned the arrests of the three filmmakers “as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists.” The increased pressure on filmmakers follows a wave of arrests in recent months as tensions escalate between Iran's hard-line government and the West. Security forces have arrested severalforeigners as talks to revive Tehran's nuclear accord with world powers have hit a deadlock.

Law enforcers have seized 87,058 litres of edible oil illegally stored in warehouses in Kushtia, Pabna, Gazipur and Rajshahi districts on Tuesday. In Kushtia, a team of Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) raided a shop named M/s Food Products in the town and seized 40,000 litres of edible oil.  Also read: Nearly 27,000 litres of edible oil seized in Rajshahi, one held It also fined the shop owners Tk 30,000. Besides, the DNCRP team also fined MA Store Tk 1000 and Sabuj Sathi Store Tk 6,000 for selling edible oil at a high price.

Sudan’s security forces dispersed demonstrators and rounded up more than 100 people Sunday in the capital of Khartoum, in the latest crackdown on pro-democracy protesters after last month’s military coup. The Sudanese military seized power Oct. 25, dissolving the transitional government and arresting dozens of officials and politicians. The coup has drawn international criticism and massive protests in the streets of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. The takeover has upended the country’s fragile planned transition to democratic rule, more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government. Read:UN envoy urges Sudan paramilitary leader to show restraint Teachers and education workers protested the coup outside the Education Ministry in Khartoum’s district of Bahri, according to the Sudanese Professionals' Association, which led the uprising against al-Bashir. Security forces used tear gas to disperse the protesters and arrested at least 113 people, mostly teachers, said lawyer Moez Hadra. There were sporadic protests elsewhere in Khartoum, he said. Local authorities announced the resumption of school classes in the capital for the first time since the coup. Sunday was the first of two days of nationwide strikes called by the SPA, which vowed to continue protesting until a full civilian government is established to lead the transition. Several shops and businesses in Khartoum were seen open, according to a video journalist with The Associated Press. The fresh crackdown has also come as mediation efforts between the military and civilian leaders have stumbled, according to a military official with knowledge of the ongoing efforts. Mediators, including the United Nations envoy in Sudan, were still working to soften the stand of each side, as both are still stick to their pre-conditions before engaging in “meaningful, possibly direct talks,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. The deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is still under house arrest in his residence in Khartoum, insists on releasing government officials and politicians detained in connection with the coup. He also wants “guarantees” that military would return to the pre-coup power-sharing arrangements, the official said. The military, on the other hand, insists that the Oct. 25 events did not amount to a “coup,” and that it stepped in to “correct the course” of the transitional period, the official said. Part of mediation efforts, an Arab League delegation, meanwhile, met Sunday with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the military leader, and Hamdok, the pan-Arab organization said. Read: Sudan arrests 3 coup critics as pressure mounts on military It said the delegation, headed by Deputy Secretary General Hossam Zaki, held talks with Hamdok on the challenges of the transition and “ongoing efforts to support constructive dialogue" to re-establish a path to democracy. The military has given mixed signals. It allowed four ministers to return to their homes under house arrest, according to Hadra, the lawyer. The four included Hamza Baloul, minister of information and culture, Hashim Hasabel-Rasoul, minister of communications, Ali Gedou, minister of trade and international cooperation, and Youssef Adam, minister of youth and sports. They were among more than 100 government officials and politicians detained following the coup. The military also arrested three leaders from the Forces for Freedom and Change, a coalition that was born out of the 2019 protest movement, shortly after they met with U.N. officials in Khartoum. The meeting was part of U.N.-led mediation efforts.

A Hong Kong court on Friday sentenced five leading pro-democracy advocates, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, to up to 18 months in prison for organizing and participating in a massive march during 2019 anti-government protests that triggered an overwhelming crackdown from Beijing. A total of nine advocates were given jail terms, but four of them, including 82-year-old lawyer and former lawmaker Martin Lee, had their sentences suspended after their age and accomplishments were taken into consideration. They were found guilty earlier this month of organizing and participating in a massive protest in August 2019, where an estimated 1.7 million people marched in opposition to a bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to mainland China. The march was not authorized by the police. Their convictions and sentencing are another blow to the city’s flagging democracy movement, which is facing an unprecedented crackdown by Beijing and Hong Kong authorities. Also read: Hong Kong democracy leaders given jail terms amid crackdown “The sentences handed down are incompatible with the non-violent nature of their actions,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. He accused Chinese and Hong Kong authorities of trying to eliminate “all forms of dissent” and undermining protected rights and fundamental freedoms promised to the city at its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. The court suspended the 11-month prison sentence of Lee, who is known for his advocacy for human rights and democracy, for two years because of his age. Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily tabloid, was sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison Friday for charges related to demonstration on Aug. 18, 2019, and a separate unauthorized march on Aug. 31, 2019. Lai was also slapped with two additional charges Friday, one under the national security law accusing him of conspiring to collude with foreign powers and another accusing him of helping local activists to escape the city. Also read: Hong Kong court puts off release of pro-democracy activists Prior to sentencing, Lai was already being held on other charges, including foreign collusion to intervene in the city’s affairs — a new crime under a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on the city in 2020. Lee Cheuk-yan, a pro-democracy activist and former lawmaker who helped organize annual candlelight vigils in Hong Kong on the anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, was sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison. Lawyers Albert Ho and Margaret Ng both had their 12-month jail sentences suspended for two years. Former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung was sentenced to 18 months, while another former legislator, Cyd Ho, was given eight months. Two other former lawmakers, Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiu-chung, who previously pleaded guilty, were also given jail sentences. Au got 10 months while Leung’s eight-month jail term was suspended for one year. In a separate case, former lawmaker Yeung Sum was sentenced alongside Lai and Lee Cheuk-yan to eight months suspended for a year. “I’m ready to face the penalty and sentencing and I’m proud that I can walk with the people of Hong Kong for this democracy,” Lee Cheuk-yan said ahead of the court session, as supporters held up signs condemning political persecution. “We will walk together even in darkness, we will walk with hope in our hearts.” Hong Kong had enjoyed a vibrant political culture and freedoms not seen elsewhere in China during the decades it was a British colony. Beijing had pledged to allow the city to retain civil liberties for 50 years after it was handed to China, but recently has ushered in a series of measures, including the national security legislation and electoral reforms that many fear are a step closer to making Hong Kong no different from mainland cities. Under the new rules, Hong Kong residents can be held liable for any speech or action deemed secessionist, subversive, terrorist or perceived as colluding with hostile foreign political groups or individuals. Electoral changes mean just 20 out of 90 Legislative Council members will be directly elected and Beijing will retain even tighter control over the body that picks Hong Kong’s future chief executives. Hong Kong’s last British governor, Chris Patten, said that the Chinese Communist Party’s “comprehensive assault” on freedoms of Hong Kong and its rule of law remains relentless. “This week, we have witnessed some of the most distinguished of the city’s peaceful and moderate champions of liberty and democracy placed in Beijing’s vengeful sights,” he said in a statement. “The CCP simply does not understand that you cannot bludgeon and incarcerate people into loving a totalitarian and corrupt regime.” Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific regional director, Yamini Mishra, said the sentences handed down Friday underlined the government’s intention to “eliminate all political opposition” in Hong Kong. “Having arrested the majority of Hong Kong’s most prominent dissidents using the repressive national security law, the authorities are now mopping up remaining peaceful critics under the pretext of bogus charges related to the 2019 protests,” Mishra said