High hopes in Bangladesh as Nobel-winning economist takes charge

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Updated 09 August 2024
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High hopes in Bangladesh as Nobel-winning economist takes charge

Muhammad Yunus walks off the stage after taking oath at the Bangabhaban as head of the interim government, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
  • Muhammad Yunus heads interim government after a student-led uprising ousted former PM Sheikh Hasina
  • Among members of his Cabinet are top Bangladeshi technocrats and leaders of the student movement

DHAKA: Jubilant and hopeful, Bangladeshis welcomed on Friday their new interim government headed by the Nobel-winning economist Muhammad Yunus and manned by renowned lawyers, academics and leaders of the student movement that has ousted the previous regime.

The new administration took the oath of office at the presidential palace in Dhaka on Thursday night, three days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and fled to neighboring India after weeks of nationwide demonstrations and a deadly crackdown on protesters.

“The brutal, autocratic regime is gone,” Yunus said in a televised address after he was sworn in by President Mohammed Shahabuddin along with more than a dozen members of his caretaker government.

He pledged that “democracy, justice, human rights, and full freedom of fearless expression will be enjoyed by all, regardless of party affiliation.”

The 84-year-old economics professor will lead the country as “chief adviser” and the titles of his Cabinet members advisers too, not ministers.

They include Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, top leaders of Students Against Discrimination, a group that led the protests that toppled Hasina, and civil servants such as former Attorney General A.F. Hassan Ariff, former Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain, and Salehuddin Ahmed — economist and a former governor of the country’s central bank.

There are also Adilur Rahman Khan, a prominent human rights activist, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, an international award-winning environmental lawyer, and Asif Nazrul, a public intellectual, writer and professor of law at Dhaka University.

As the new administration took office, Bangladeshis were enthusiastic about the nominations and hopeful for their country’s future.

“After our total anarchy and a very serious uprising that we experienced very recently, this is a new dynamic,” Gautam Barua, an academic and researcher, told Arab News.

“I’m very hopeful, very, very much hopeful about this interim government … I think they will bring about a beautiful change.”

He was glad to see that famous lawyers and economists would be at the helm.

“This Cabinet, I think, has the finest of the fine of the country … They are globally recognized, and they are domestically, nationally, recognized,” Barua said.

“The country’s present economy needs a notch … It has gone down quite drastically in the last government’s regime. So, I believe they can notch it up. They can turn the wheel of the economy.”

There was also pride in having a government full of celebrity intellectuals and technocrats.

“I think they can bring us a positive change,” said Mahfuz Kaiser, a student in Dhaka. “Dr. Yunus is a very famous person. He’s a Nobel laureate. First Nobel winner in Bangladesh.”

An economics professor, Yunus is a social entrepreneur and banker who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering microfinance work that helped alleviate poverty in Bangladesh and has been widely adopted around the world.

“He’s going to help us to build this nation again,” said Jannatul Ferdous Mawa, who is pursuing a degree in media studies and participated in the recent protests.

“I think whatever is happening right now, it’s good for us because we are learning something. From this protest, we learned one thing: that if we are together, we can build this nation again.”

Political transition in Bangladesh, ending 15 years of Hasina’s rule, comes after nationwide protests that began in early July against a quota system for government jobs, which was widely criticized for favoring those with connections to the ruling party.

The demonstrations soon turned violent as security forces clashed with demonstrators, leaving at least 300 people dead.

After the deadly clashes and a week-long communications blackout, the Supreme Court eventually scrapped most of the quotas, but the ruling was followed by a crackdown on protesters.

The arrests of 11,000 participants of the rallies, mostly students, triggered new demonstrations last week, culminating in a civil disobedience movement that on Monday forced Hasina to resign.

A day later, the president dissolved the parliament, clearing the way for the interim administration, which now will preside over new elections.

“There are lots of expectations from this government because this government is headed by the Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Yunus. I think everyone is looking forward to his work, to his progress, to his visions. He used to say that there are three zeros: zero poverty, zero unemployment and zero net carbon. So, I think he will work on these three issues,” Dr. Rawnak Khan, who teaches anthropology at Dhaka University, told Arab News.

“Our institutional infrastructure, the whole situation — we need to build it up. The government needs to ensure transparency, accountability. My expectation of this government is very high. Not only mine; I think everyone’s because it is headed by Prof. Yunus and it depends on his ability to navigate the complex political landscape of Bangladesh.”


Harvard sues Trump over block on foreign students

Updated 25 sec ago
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Harvard sues Trump over block on foreign students

Harvard sues Trump over block on foreign students
“It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights,” said the lawsuit

NEW YORK: Harvard sued the Trump administration on Friday over its move to block the prestigious university from enrolling and hosting foreign students in a broadening dispute, a court filing showed.

“It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” said the lawsuit filed in Massachusetts federal court.

Greek court charges 17 coast guard officers over 2023 migrant shipwreck, say sources

Greek court charges 17 coast guard officers over 2023 migrant shipwreck, say sources
Updated 40 min 10 sec ago
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Greek court charges 17 coast guard officers over 2023 migrant shipwreck, say sources

Greek court charges 17 coast guard officers over 2023 migrant shipwreck, say sources
  • The 17 coast guard officers would be summoned by a judge to respond to accusations
  • A Greek coast guard official said the service had not been officially informed about the charges

ATHENS: A Greek naval court has charged 17 coast guard officers over one of the Mediterranean’s worst shipwrecks two years ago, in which hundreds of people are believed to have drowned, three sources said on Friday.

The shipwreck of an overloaded migrant boat in international waters off the southwestern Greek town of Pylos on June 14, 2023, sent shockwaves across Europe and beyond. The naval court is still investigating the circumstances around the incident.

A coast guard vessel had been monitoring the boat, named Adriana, for 15 hours before it capsized and sank. It had left Libya for Italy with about 750 people on board. Only 104 of them are known to have survived.

Greek coast guard authorities have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing over the handling of the case.

Three legal sources said the 17 coast guard officers would be summoned by a judge to respond to accusations ranging from obstructing transport to causing or helping cause a shipwreck.

Contacted by Reuters, a Greek coast guard official said the service had not been officially informed about the charges and had asked to be briefed by the naval court.

Greece’s judicial system has several preparatory stages and the compilation of charges does not necessarily mean that an individual will face trial.

Human rights activists and other protesters plan rallies across Greece on June 21 to mark the second anniversary of the Pylos shipwreck.

In February, the Greek Ombudsman recommended disciplinary action against eight coast guard officers, the first national probe into the incident to conclude.

Greece says that the coast guard operates with respect to human rights and that it has rescued more than 250,000 people since 2015, when the country was at the frontline of Europe’s migration crisis.


Trump announces Kyiv-Moscow mass prisoner swap

Trump announces Kyiv-Moscow mass prisoner swap
Updated 56 min 18 sec ago
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Trump announces Kyiv-Moscow mass prisoner swap

Trump announces Kyiv-Moscow mass prisoner swap
  • Kyiv and Moscow are due to swap 1,000 people each in a deal agreed at talks in Istanbul
  • Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the swap had been “completed,” but an official said the exchange was ongoing

KYIV: US President Donald Trump announced on Friday a “major” prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, which would be the largest in three years of war.

Kyiv and Moscow are due to swap 1,000 people each in a deal agreed at talks in Istanbul last week, but a senior official with knowledge of the matter said the exchange had not yet happened.

Trump’s efforts to broker a ceasefire in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have thus far been unsuccessful, despite his pledge to rapidly end the fighting.

The warring countries have held regular exchanges since Russia launched its 2022 invasion — but none have been of this scale.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the swap had been “completed,” but an official said the exchange — usually kept secret until it is finished and taking several hours — was ongoing.

“The process is ongoing and the exchange itself has not yet taken place,” the senior official with knowledge of the matter told AFP.

Trump also said: “This could lead to something big???“

After 39 months of fighting, thousands of POWs are held in both countries.

Russia is believed to have the larger share, with the number of Ukrainian captives held by Moscow estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000.

Kyiv and Moscow have both accused each other of violating the Geneva Convention on the treatment of POWs, with the UN saying prisoners on both sides have been “subjected to torture and ill-treatment.”

Russia regularly violates international norms by putting POWs on trial — with allegations of torture widespread and several Ukrainian captives confirmed to have died in custody.

Moscow’s forces are also believed to have taken an unknown number of Ukrainian civilians into Russia in three years of seizing Ukrainian towns and cities.

There have been several high-profile cases of Ukrainian civilian captives.

Moscow this year returned the body of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in captivity.

Ukrainians put on trial have told Russian courts they experienced and witnessed torture in Russia’s notorious prison system.

Kyiv’s Commissioner for Missing Persons, Artur Dobroserdov, told Ukrainian media last month:
“There are more than 60,000 people missing. Around 10,000 are confirmed to be in captivity.”

With Kyiv not knowing the fate of thousands, each exchange bring surprises, a senior official told AFP.

“Almost every exchange includes people no one had knowledge about,” he said.

“Sometimes they return people who were on the lists of missing persons or were considered dead.”

A sizeable part of Ukrainian troops held in Russia were taken captive during the 2022 siege of Mariupol.

Aside from the thousands held since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, Russia also has held some Ukrainians since its 2014 Crimea annexation.

The number of Russian POWs in Ukraine is believed to be considerably smaller.

Zelensky has throughout the war encouraged the taking of Russian troops as prisoners to fill up what he calls Kyiv’s “exchange fund” for future swaps.

Ukraine took hundreds of Russian troops captive during Kyiv’s incursion into the Kursk region in 2024.

It has since also said it took some North Korean soldiers captive who fought for Russia in Kursk.

Kyiv has also jailed a growing number of people for allegedly collaborating with Russian forces and there is speculation that some of these could be included in future swaps.

Last year, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest jailed for justifying Russia’s aggression was included in a prisoner swap with Russia.

Russia said in early May that a group of its civilians from the Kursk region that were taken to Ukraine’s Sumy were still there.

Until the Turkiye talks, the only communication channels open between the warring neighbors in three years were on exchanges of prisoners and soldiers’ bodies as well as on the return of children taken into Russia during Moscow’s invasion.


Indonesian pilgrims embark on Hajj journey under Makkah Route expansion

Indonesian pilgrims embark on Hajj journey under Makkah Route expansion
Updated 23 May 2025
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Indonesian pilgrims embark on Hajj journey under Makkah Route expansion

Indonesian pilgrims embark on Hajj journey under Makkah Route expansion
  • Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Route initiative is facilitating travel for pilgrims in Jakarta, Surabaya and Solo
  • Over 125,000 Indonesian Hajj pilgrims have already arrived in the Kingdom as of Tuesday

JAKARTA: More than 120,000 Indonesian pilgrims are benefiting from the Makkah Route initiative this year, as they embark on Hajj after the flagship Saudi program was expanded to three cities across the country.

Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation, sends the largest Hajj contingent of pilgrims every year to perform the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam.

In 2025, Saudi Arabia granted Indonesia a quota of 221,000 pilgrims. With the Hajj expected to take place on June 4 and end on June 9, special pilgrimage flights from Indonesia started on May 2.

Over half of the pilgrims are departing under the pre-travel program, which was launched by the Kingdom in 2019 to help pilgrims meet all the visa, customs and health requirements at their airport of origin and save them long hours of waiting before and upon arrival in the Kingdom.

“In Indonesia, Makkah Route is implemented in three airports, Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta, and then in the cities of Solo and Surabaya,” Mohammed Zain, director of domestic Hajj services at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.

The initiative was only expanded in 2024 to reach more Indonesian pilgrims in different parts of the country.

This year, a total of 122,156 Indonesian pilgrims, who are departing from the three selected cities, are benefiting from the program.

“This is very helpful in sorting all of the pilgrims’ document requirements, like visa and passport, so that when the pilgrims reach Saudi Arabia, they simply head to their buses and go on their spiritual journey safely and comfortably,” Zain said.

“We hope that for Hajj next year, the Makkah Route initiative will be further expanded in Indonesia, so that we can offer more high-quality Hajj service.”

In Jakarta, the program is implemented at the new Hajj and Umrah terminal in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which was inaugurated by President Prabowo Subianto earlier this month.

Over 125,000 pilgrims have arrived in the Kingdom as of Tuesday.

Indonesia is among seven Muslim-majority countries — including Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Morocco, Turkiye and Cote d’Ivoire — where Saudi Arabia is operating its Makkah Route initiative.


Rescue efforts underway for 260 workers trapped in a South African gold mine

Rescue efforts underway for 260 workers trapped in a South African gold mine
Updated 23 May 2025
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Rescue efforts underway for 260 workers trapped in a South African gold mine

Rescue efforts underway for 260 workers trapped in a South African gold mine

JOHANNESBURG: Rescue efforts are underway in South Africa to bring 260 workers trapped in a gold mine for a day back to the surface, the Sibanye Stillwater mining company said on Friday.
According to the company, an initial investigation showed that a sub-shaft rock winder skip door opened at the loading point and caused some damage to the mineshaft at the Kloof mine, west of Johannesburg.
“Following a detailed risk assessment, it was decided that employees should remain at the sub-shaft station until it is safe to proceed to the surface, in order to avoid walking long distances at this time,” the company said in a statement.
The National Union of Mineworkers, which represents workers at the Kloof mine, said the miners have been trapped for almost 24 hours, with the company repeatedly changing the estimated time for them to return to the surface.
“We are very concerned because the mine did not even make this incident public until we reported it to the media,” said NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu.
The company said all miners were accounted for and safe, adding that it expected to hoist them back to the surface on Friday.