Habib Siddiqui

  Dhaka, Bangladesh –   Bangladeshi students who led last year’s mass protests to depose Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have launched a political party before parliamentary elections expected to be held within the next year. Addressing a rally on Manik Mia Avenue adjacent to the parliament building in the capital on Friday, leaders of the new National Citizens Party (NCP) insisted that they would pursue the politics of national unity over division, transparency and good governance over corruption, and an independent foreign policy to build a “second republic.” Recommended Stories list of 4 items list 1 of 4 After the bloodshed: Can Bangladesh’s Awami League resurrect itself? list 2 of 4 What’s at stake in Sunday’s Bangladesh elections? list 3 of 4 Bangladesh mission in India attacked: Why are ties in freefall? list 4 of 4 Bangladesh’s interim government lifts ban on Jamaat-e-Islami party end of list Lima Akter, sister of Ismail Hossain Rabby — who was among those killed by ...

  Ethirajan Anbarasan BBC World Service, South Asia editor Reporting from London Getty Images Abdul Moyeen Khan, a senior official from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is leading the delegation in Beijing A 22-member Bangladeshi delegation of political leaders, civil society activists, academics and journalists have begun a 10-day visit to China. They will be having talks with Chinese government officials and senior members of the ruling Communist Party, a delegation leader confirmed with the BBC. Analysts say China is making overtures while diplomatic tensions have risen between Bangladesh and India on a range of issues. This includes ousted Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina living in exile in India. Dhaka has requested her extradition but Delhi has refused. Abdul Moyeen Khan, a senior official from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) who's leading the delegation in Beijing, told the BBC: "It's basically a goodwill visit, initiated by Beijing." "It is unique...

  Reuters Wadea Al-Fayoume had just celebrated his sixth birthday before he was killed An Illinois landlord has been found guilty of murder and hate crime charges for fatally stabbing a Palestinian-American child in 2023 and severely wounding his mother. Prosecutors said Joseph Czuba, 73, targeted the family over their Muslim faith following the Israel-Hamas war. Police found six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, with severe stab wounds inside a house she rented from Czuba in a Chicago suburb on 14 October, 2023. The boy later died in the hospital. Czuba had pleaded not guilty, but jurors convicted him after deliberating for less than 90 minutes. Warning: This story contains details some readers may find upsetting After the verdict, the boy's father, Odai,told reporters in Arabic: "I don't know if I should be pleased or upset, if I should be crying or laughing." "I feel like this decision came a little too late," he said. Jurors heard ...

  Follow: The Middle East See your latest updates A demonstrator holds a picture of jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan during a rally in Diyarbakir, Turkey on Thursday.   Sertac Kayar/Reuters CNN  —  One of the Middle East’s most intractable conflicts  may be nearing its end , with ramifications that will be felt far and wide. For half a century, Kurdish militants have fought Turkey for independence in the southeast of the country, a region heavily populated by ethnic Kurds.  The battle has claimed  more than 40,000 lives and has rippled beyond Turkey’s borders into Iran, Iraq, and Syria. On Thursday,  Abdullah Ocalan , the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), called on its members to lay down arms and dissolve the group. If his followers heed that call, it would mark a turning point for Turkey and have far-reaching implications for the Middle East. Here’s why. What is Turkey’s fight with the PKK about? The conflict betw...