Renegade Bangladesh troops say holding officers hostage: TV
Mutinying Bangladeshi soldiers have taken officers hostage and will "destroy everything" if attacked by the army, a member of the rebellion told a Bangladeshi TV channel.
"We have taken all the officers hostage," an unnamed soldier described as a participant in the mutiny, which is unfolding in the capital, told ATN Bangla television.
He did not say how many hostages were being held, but asserted that "we will not free them unless the government declares a general amnesty for all of us, meets our demands and withdraws the army from outside the compound."
"We will destroy everything in and around the Pilkhana if the army fires at us," he warned, referring to the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles, the country's border security force.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
G7 leaders mock Putin in jokes about stripping off
World leaders mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin's tough-man image at a G7 lunch in Germany on Sunday, joking about whether they should strip down to shirtsleeves -- or even less. "Jackets on? Jackets off? Do we take our coats off?" The leaders -- from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union -- pondered the dilemma. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson interjected: "We've got to show them our pecs."
-
At least 20 dead in South African club; cause not yet known
South African police are investigating the deaths of at least 20 people at a nightclub in the coastal town of East London early Sunday. “At this point we cannot confirm the cause of death,” said health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana. Police Minister Bheki Cele was on Sunday morning expected to visit the scene. The owner of the club, Siyakhangela Ndevu, told local broadcaster eNCA that he had been called to the scene early Sunday morning.
-
US Supreme Court decision spurs French government into action
Politicians representing a parliamentary majority on Saturday voiced support for a bill enshrining abortion rights in France's constitution, after the US Supreme Court revoked the nationwide legal protection for American people to terminate pregnancies. The landmark ruling by the conservative-majority court on Friday overturned almost five decades of constitutional protections for abortion in the United States, allowing individual states to regulate the procedure. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the government would support the bill “wholeheartedly”.
-
G7 unveils rival to China’s BRI
US President Joe Biden announced on Sunday a G7 project to rival China's Belt and Road Initiative by raising some $600 billion for global infrastructure programmes in poor countries. “Together with G7 partners, we aim to mobilise $600 billion by 2027 in global infrastructure investments,” the White House said shortly ahead of a speech by Biden unveiling the proposal.
-
Russia slides towards default as payment deadline expires
Russia edged closer to default on Sunday amid little sign that investors holding its international bonds had received payment, heralding what would be the nation's first default in decades. It's largely a symbolic development for now, given that Russia is already an economic, financial and political outcast across most of the world. For Russia, it will mark its first foreign default since the Bolshevik repudiation of Czarist-era debts in 1918.
