United News of Bangladesh

Sri Lanka's president suspended Parliament until Feb. 8, when he said he would announced a new set of long-term policies to address a range of issues including an unprecedented economic crisis that has engulfed the Indian Ocean nation for months. President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued an extraordinary decree suspending Parliament from midnight Friday. The government did not give a clear reason for the move, but Wickremesinghe' s office in a statement said his address to lawmakers on Feb. 8 will announce new policies and laws, which will be implemented until the centenary celebrations of Sri Lanka's independence in 2048. It is also widely expected that Wickremesinghe would announce his policies on sharing power with ethnic minority Tamils. A civil war between the majority Sinhala-controlled Sri Lankan government and ethnic Tamil rebels killed at least 100,000 people, according to U.N. conservative calculations, before it ended with the rebels’ defeat in 2009. Political analyst Jehan Perera said the president’s move to suspend Parliament is “to show that he is the authority.” He said that the suspension also “symbolises a fresh start” as the president gets the opportunity “to announce all the new things that are going to be done.” Also Read: Sri Lanka says debt-restructuring talks making progress Unsustainable debt, a severe balance of payment crisis on top of lingering scars of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a severe shortage of essentials such as fuel, medicine and food. The soaring prices triggered massive protests last year that ousted Wickremesinghe's predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Although there are some signs of progress, daily power cuts have continued due to fuel shortages and the government is struggling to find money to pay its employees and conduct other administrative functions. There's been a growing public displeasure over the government’s recent move to increase taxes and electricity bills in an apparent bid to obtain a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. Also Read: Sri Lanka’s government cuts expenses as economy tanks Sri Lanka is effectively bankrupt and has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due this year pending the outcome of talks with the IMF. The country’s total foreign debt exceeds $51 billion, of which $28 billion has to be repaid by 2027. The government announced 6% cuts in the budgets of each ministry this year and plans to nearly half the size of the military, which had swelled to more than 200,000 personnel due to a long civil war. During the suspension of Parliament, the speaker continues to function and lawmakers keep their seats even though they do not attend any sessions.

Two Indian air force jets crashed in the central state of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, killing one pilot, officials said. The Indian air force said on Twitter the aircraft were on routine operational training mission. One of the three pilots involved sustained fatal injuries, and an inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident. It added the accident occurred near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh state. The air force did not name the aircraft involved in the crash, but local media reported they were the Sukhoi-30 and Mirage-2000 fighter jets. Images from the crash site showed plumes of black smoke and flames rising from the debris of the aircraft. Two pilots managed to eject safely, but it is not clear whether the planes collided, Adarsh Katiyar, additional director general of police, told the Press Trust of India news agency. Madhya Pradesh’s chief minister tweeted that the local administration will help the air force with rescue and relief efforts.

Hong Kong will ban CBD starting Wednesday, categorizing it as a “dangerous drug" and mandating harsh penalties for its smuggling, production and possession, customs authorities announced Friday. Supporters say CBD can treat a range of ailments including anxiety and that, unlike its more famous cousin THC — which is already illegal in Hong Kong — CBD doesn’t get users high. Cannabidiol, derived from the cannabis plant, was previously legal in Hong Kong, where bars and shops sold products containing it. But Hong Kong authorities decided last year to prohibit the marijuana-derived substance — a change that will soon go into effect. Residents were given three months from Oct. 27 to dispose of their CBD products in special boxes set up around the city. “Starting from February 1, cannabidiol, aka CBD, will be regarded as a dangerous drug and will be supervised and managed by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance," customs intelligence officer Au-Yeung Ka-lun said at a news briefing. “As of then, transporting CBD for sale, including import and export, as well as producing, possessing and consuming CBD, will be illegal,” Au-Yeung said. Penalties include up to life in prison and Hong Kong $5 million ($638,000) in fines for importing, exporting or producing CBD. Possession of the substance can result in a sentence of up to seven years and Hong Kong $1 million ($128,000) in fines. Read more: Thousands protest as bid to block Hong Kong mask ban fails In announcing the ban last year, the Hong Kong government cited the difficulty of isolating pure CBD from cannabis, the possibility of contamination with THC during the production process and the relative ease by which CBD can be converted to THC. “We will tackle all kinds of dangerous drugs from all angles and all ends, and the intelligence-led enforcement action is our major goal,” Chan Kai-ho, a divisional commander with the department's Airport Command, told reporters Friday. Despite the harsh penalties mandated, Chan said authorities would handle enforcement on a case-by-case basis and “seek legal advice from our Department of Justice to determine what the further actions will be.” Hong Kong maintains several categories of “dangerous drugs," which include “hard drugs" such as heroin and cocaine, as well as marijuana. Hong Kong's first CBD cafe opened in 2020 and the ban will force scores of businesses to remove CBD-infused gummies, drinks and other products, or shut down altogether. The ban is in keeping with a zero-tolerance policy toward drugs in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous southern Chinese business hub, as well as on mainland China, where CBD was banned in 2022. Chinese authorities have waged battles against heroin and methamphetamines, particularly in the southwest bordering on the drug-producing Golden Triangle region spanning parts of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. Criminal penalties for both sale and usage are also enforced for marijuana. In one of the most high-profile cases, Jaycee Chan, the son of Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan, served a six month sentence in 2014-2015 for allowing people to consume marijuana in his Beijing apartment amid a crackdown on illegal narcotics in the Chinese capital. Read more: Hong Kong hears first case on mask ban violation At the same time, China has been a main source of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture the dangerous drug fentanyl, a trade often facilitated through social media. A wealthy Asian financial center with a thriving commercial port and major international airport, Hong Kong is a key point of entry to China as well as a market for some drugs, especially cocaine. Police have recently seized hundreds of kilograms (pounds) of the drug worth tens of millions of dollars, some of it hidden in a shipment of chicken feet from Brazil. Most Asian nations maintain strict drug laws and enforce harsh penalties for violators, including the death penalty, with the exception of Thailand, which made it legal to cultivate and possess marijuana last year. Debate over CBD policy continues in many countries and regions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday there's not enough evidence about CBD to confirm that it’s safe for consumption in foods or as a dietary supplement. It called on Congress to create new rules for the massive and growing market. Marijuana-derived products have become increasingly popular in lotions, tinctures and foods, while their legal status has been murky in the U.S., where several states have legalized or decriminalized substances that remain illegal federally.

India’s Adani Group launched a share offering for retail investors Friday as it mulled taking legal action against U.S.-based short-selling firm Hindenburg Research for allegations of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud that caused heavy selling of its stocks this week. Jatin Jalundhwala, head of the Adani group’s legal department, said late Thursday that the group “was evaluating the relevant provisions under U.S. and Indian laws for remedial action against Hindenburg Research.” ``Clearly, the report and its unsubstantiated contents were designed to have a deleterious effect on the share values of Adani Group companies as Hindenburg Research by their own admission, is positioned to benefit from a slide in Adani shares,” Jalundhwala said. Read more: Adani’s 750 MW power to come to national grid in March: Nasrul Hamid Hindenburg’s report has prompted investors to dump Adani Group shares, wiping out billions of dollars' worth of market value. Jalundhwala said the allegations were an attempt by Hindenburg to sabotage Adani’s share offering. Hindenburg Research said in a rebuttal that it would welcome legal action by the Adani group. “We fully stand by our report and believe any legal action taken against us would be meritless," it said in a statement. Adani made a vast fortune mining coal as energy-hungry India grew swiftly after its economy was liberalized in the 1990s. Businesses in the conglomerate span industries including construction, data transmission, media, renewable energy, defense manufacturing and agriculture. The market value of Adani's companies has soared in recent years, one of the reasons Hindenburg said it judged the seven key Adani listed companies to have an “85% downside, purely on a fundamental basis owing to sky-high valuations.” Its report, “Adani Group: How the World's 3rd Richest Man is Pulling the Largest Con in Corporate History," said Hindenburg was betting against shares in companies within the Adani empire, founded by Asia’s richest man, coal magnate Gautam Adani. Hindenburg said its report followed a two-year investigation and “listed 88 questions it invited the company (Adani) to answer." Most of the allegations involved concerns about the group's debt levels, activities of its top executives, use of offshore shell companies and past investigations into fraud. So far, Adani had answered none of these questions,’’ it said. Adani set a price range of 3,112 rupees-3,276 rupees ($38.22-$40) a share for the offering, which closes on Tuesday. Shares in the flagship company Adani Enterprises fell 10% to 3,060 rupees at one point on Friday. Its shares fell 1.6% on Wednesday. Indian markets were closed Thursday for a holiday. Read more: Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List: India’s Gautam Adani overtakes Jeff Bezos again Some of the companies suffered even bigger hits. Shares in Adani Transmission plunged 19.4% on Friday after sinking 8.1% on Wednesday. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. sank 17.3% on Friday after shedding 6.1% on Wednesday. Other group companies fell between 5% to 20%.

A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot violated the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested last August. The law covers the current king, his queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for insulting the monarchy, but critics say it is often wielded as a tool to quash political dissent. Student-led pro-democracy protests beginning in 2020 openly criticized the monarchy, previously a taboo subject, leading to vigorous prosecutions under the law, which had previously been relatively rarely employed. Since November 2020, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal aid organization, at least 228 people, including 18 minors, have been charged with violating the law, even as the protest movement withered due to arrests and the difficulties of conducting protests during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more: Thailand reinstates foreign arrival vaccination requirement The Chiang Rai court found that 13 messages posted by Mongkhon, an online clothing merchant, did not violate the law because they related to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the father of current King Maha Vajiralongkorn, or did not mention a specific royal figure. Mongkhon was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison for each of the other 14 posts. The 42-year total prison term was reduced by one third, to 28 years, because of Mongkhon’s cooperation with the court. Mongkhon was granted release on bail while his case in on appeal, under the conditions that he does not engage in acts that damage the monarchy or leave the country. Prosecutions under the lese majeste law have recently drawn increased public attention because of a prison hunger strike by two female activists charged with the offense. The two, Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon and Orawan “Bam” Phupong, had been free on bail but announced earlier this month that they were revoking their own release to return to prison in solidarity with others held pending trial on the same charge. They issued demands including reform of the justice system, the release of political prisoners and the restoration of civil liberties by abolishing legislation such as the lese majeste law. Read more: Monkeys in central Thailand city mark their day with feast After three days back in prison, they began a hunger strike in which they are not consuming either food or liquids, a life-threatening tactic. On Tuesday they were transferred from the prison hospital to a state hospital with better facilities. As their strike continued, supporters staged small protests. The opposition Move Forward Party, which has been offering support, has proposed amending the lese majeste law, but no action has been taken in Parliament. The proposal would reduce the punishment for defaming the king to a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of up to 300,000 baht ($9,160), while an offense against the queen, the king’s heirs or the regent would be subject to a maximum six-month prison term and a fine of up to 200,000 baht ($6,100). “The entire Thai justice system has a problem and so does the enforcement of the lese majeste law, which is also used as a political tool. Thailand has to solve this and make its distorted justice system better,” said Pita Limjaroenrat, the party’s leader.

South Korea says it will continue to restrict the entry of short-term travelers from China through the end of February over concerns that the spread of COVID-19 in that country may worsen following the Lunar New Year’s holidays. South Korea in early January stopped issuing most short-term visas at its consulates in China, citing concerns about a virus surge in the country that abruptly eased coronavirus restrictions in December and the potential for new mutations. South Korea has also required all passengers from China, Hong Kong and Macau to submit proofs of negative tests taken with 48 hours before their arrival and put them through tests again once they arrive. Read more: Lack of info on China's COVID-19 surge stirs global concern The steps, which originally were imposed for the month of January, prompted China to retaliate by suspending South Korean short-term visa applications, raising concerns about disrupted business activities in a country that heavily depends on exports to China. Following a meeting on South Korea’s COVID-19 response on Friday, health authorities decided to extend the coronavirus measures on short-term travelers from China for another month. While there had been some indications COVID-19 outbreaks in major Chinese cities were slowing, South Korean officials remain concerned about a viral resurgence following the massive gatherings and cross-country travel during the Lunar New Year’s holidays that ended this week. South Korean officials during the meeting left open the possibility of easing the restrictions earlier if it becomes clearer that China’s COVID-19 situation is improving, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said in a statement. According to South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency, around 10% of the 6,900 short-term travelers from China who arrived in the country from Jan. 2 to Thursday tested positive after being tested at the airport. Read more: China halts visas for Japan, South Korea in COVID-19 spat While allowing the extension of existing visas, South Korea has stopped issuing most short-term visas as its consulates in China, except for essential government, diplomatic and business activities and humanitarian reasons.

Japan successfully launched a rocket Thursday carrying a government intelligence-gathering satellite on a mission to watch movements at military sites in North Korea and improve natural disaster response. The H2A rocket, launched by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., successfully lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, carrying the IGS-Radar 7 reconnaissance satellite as part of Tokyo’s effort to build up its military capability, citing growing threats in the East Asia. The satellite later successfully entered its planned orbit, Mitsubishi Heavy said. The Intelligence Gathering Satellite can capture images on the ground 24 hours a day and even in severe weather conditions. Japan launched the IGS program after a North Korean missile flyover of Japan in 1988 and aims to set up a network of 10 satellites to spot and provide early warning for possible missile launches. The satellites can be also used for disaster monitoring and response. “The government will maximize the use of IGS-Radar 7 and other reconnaissance satellites to do the utmost for Japan's national security and crisis management,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement Thursday as he praised the successful launch. Read more: Ship sinks between S. Korea and Japan; 11 found unconscious Kishida’s government in December adopted a new national security strategy, including possessing long-range cruise missiles as a “counterstrike” capability that breaks from the country’s exclusively self-defense-only postwar principle, citing rapid weapons advancement in China and North Korea. Possible counterstrikes that aim to preempt enemy attacks would require significant advancement in intelligence gathering and cybersecurity capability, as well as significant assistance from Japan's ally, the United States, experts say. The Mitsubishi Heavy-operated, liquid-fuel H2A rocket has recorded 40 consecutive successes since a failure in 2003. Mitsubishi Heavy and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are co-developing their new flagship H3 rocket as the successor to the H2A, which is set to retire in 2024. The first launch of H3 is set for February.

Cash-strapped Pakistan’s currency plunged Thursday against the dollar after the government indicated it was ready to comply with tough conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for the next tranche of its bailout package. Pakistan is seeking a crucial installment of $1.1 billion from the fund — part of its $6 billion bailout package — to avoid default. Talks with the IMF on reviving the bailout stalled in the past months. The rupee closed at 230 to the dollar on Wednesday. It slipped further, trading at 255 for $1 within hours of the market reopening Thursday. The government did not immediately comment on the developments. Analyst Ahsan Rasool says the rupee’s decline is a sign that Pakistan was close to securing the much-needed loan from the IMF. The rupee's slide comes days after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said his government was ready to adhere to the “tough conditions of the IMF" to revive the $6 billion bailout package, which has been on hold for the past several months. Read more: Pakistan orders malls to close early amid economic crisis Pakistan is currently grappling with one of the country’s worst economic crisis amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves. That has raised fears that Pakistan could default, although Sharif insists it pulled the country from the brink of the default when it took over last year. Sharif has blamed Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government for the economic malaise. Khan was ousted in a no-confidence in Parliament in April, and has since been campaigning for early elections.

Tens of thousands of people endured a winter chill and mist on Thursday as they gathered to watch a parade in the Indian capital showcasing the country's defense capability and cultural heritage on a newly revamped ceremonial boulevard. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi looked on as an official guest at India’s Republic Day event, which marked the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on Jan. 26, 1950, nearly three years after it won independence from British colonial rule. A 144-member band and marching contingent from the Egyptian Armed Forces also joined battalions of the Indian military and police in the parade. El-Sissi, in a blue suit and matching tie, was flanked by Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wore a saffron-and-yellow–colored turban symbolizing Hindu nationalist colors. Scores of women, men, schoolchildren and folk dancers in colorful dresses performed cultural and fusion dances down the boulevard amid big cheers from the crowd. Howitzer guns, tanks, supersonic cruise missiles, anti-tank missiles and armored personnel carriers were displayed at the parade, with hundreds of men from police and military battalions marching along. Stunt performers on motorbikes also joined from the presidential palace. Other participants included a camel-mounted regiment with its mustachioed riders led by a shiny brass band with tubas. Read more: 76th Independence Day of India celebrated in Dhaka The 90-minute parade ended with a flypast featuring 75 air force fighters, including Rafale jets, transport planes and helicopters. Rajpath Avenue, built by India's former British rulers, was redeveloped as part of India’s 75th-anniversary celebrations of independence the past two years. It is lined on both sides by huge lawns, canals and rows of trees, and has been renamed "Kartavayapath” (Boulevard of Duty). Workers who helped refurbish the boulevard, their families and maintenance workers were seated in front of the main dais during the parade as part of this year's theme: “Participation of the Common People." India traditionally invites foreign leaders to witness the parade. Former French President Francois Hollande was the guest of honor in 2016 and former U.S. President Barack Obama viewed it in 2015. Ten Southeast Asian leaders watched the parade in 2018.

The highest-ranking woman at the United Nations said Wednesday she used everything in her “toolbox” during meetings with Taliban ministers to try to reverse their crackdown on Afghan women and girls, and she urged Muslim countries to help the Taliban move from the “13th century to the 21st.” Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, a former Nigerian Cabinet minister and a Muslim, said at a news conference that four Taliban ministers, including the foreign minister and a deputy prime minister, spoke “off one script” during meetings with her delegation last week. She said the officials sought to stress things that they say they have done and not gotten recognition for — and what they called their effort to create an environment that protects women. “Their definition of protection would be, I would say, ours of oppression,” Mohammed said. Those meetings in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the Islamic group’s birthplace in Kandahar were followed by a visit this week by U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths and heads of major aid groups. They are pressing the Taliban to reverse their edict last month banning Afghan women from working for national and international non-governmental groups. Speaking from Kabul on Wednesday, Griffiths said the focus of the visit was to get the Taliban to understand that getting aid operations up and running and allowing women to work in them was critical. The delegation’s message was simple — that the ban makes the groups' work more difficult, he said. “What I heard from all those I met (was) that they understood the need as well as the right for Afghan women to work, and that they will be working on a set of guidelines which we will see issued in due course, which will respond to those requirements,” Griffiths said. Mohammed said her delegation, including the head of UN Women, which promotes gender equality and women’s rights, pushed back against the Taliban, including when they started talking about humanitarian principles. “We reminded them that in humanitarian principles, non-discrimination was a key part … and that they were wiping out women from the workplace,” she said. As a Sunni Muslim, like the Taliban officials, Mohammed said she told the ministers that when it comes to preventing girls’ education beyond sixth grade and taking away women’s rights, they are not following Islam and are harming people. In one setting, Mohammed said, she was told by a Taliban official she didn't name that “it was haram (forbidden by Islamic law) for me to be there talking to them.” These conservatives won’t look straight at a woman, she noted, so she said she played “that game” and didn’t look directly at them either. “I gave as much as I think they gave, and we did push,” she said. Mohammed said the Taliban have said that in due course the rights taken away from women and girls will come back so the U.N. delegation pressed for a timeline. “What they would say was ‘soon,’” she said. The Taliban took power for a second time in August 2021, during the final weeks of the U.S. and NATO forces’ pullout from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. Mohammed said the Taliban, who have not been recognized by a single country, want international recognition and Afghanistan’s seat at the United Nations, which is currently held by the former government led by Ashraf Ghani. “Recognition is one leverage that we have and we should hold onto,” Mohammed said. Before arriving in Kabul, Mohammed’s delegation traveled to Muslim majority countries, including Indonesia, Turkey, Gulf states and Saudi Arabia, where she said there was wide support against the Taliban bans. She said there is a proposal for the U.N. and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation to host an international conference in mid-March on women in the Muslim world. “It’s very important that the Muslim countries come together,” she said. “We have to take the fight to the region … and we need to be bold about it and courageous about it because women’s rights matter.” Griffiths, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, and his delegation, including the heads of Care International and Save the Children U.S., did not travel to Kandahar, where the ban on Afghan women working for NGOs was issued on the orders of the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzdaza. Griffiths acknowledged Akhundzada’s top status but said there are many important voices among Taliban officials across the country. “I don’t think it’s a simple matter of simply asking one man to take responsibility and to change an edict,” he said. “There is a collective responsibility for this edict, and I hope we’re building up a collective will to compensate for its ban.” Save the Children’s Janti Soeripto said that there were meetings with eight ministries in two days and that some among the Taliban seemed to understand the need to reverse the ban. “There’s resistance, they don’t want to be seen doing a U-turn,” she said. “If people don’t see the consequences as viscerally as we see them, people will feel less inclined.” Mohammed said it is important for the U.N. and its partners to work more in some 20 Afghan provinces that are more forward leaning. “A lot of what we have to deal with is how we travel the Taliban from the 13th century to the 21st," she said. “That's a journey. So it's not just overnight." She said the Taliban told her delegation that it is putting forward a law against gender-based violence, which she called “a big plus” because rape and other attacks are increasing in Afghanistan. “I want to hold the Taliban to champion implementing that law,” she said. Mohammed said it is important to maximize whatever leverage there is to bring the Taliban back to the principles underpinning participation in the “international family.” “No one objects to a Muslim country or Sharia (law),” she said. “But all of this cannot be re-engineered to extremism and taking views that harm women and girls. This is absolutely unacceptable, and we should hold the line.”