Bangladesh to hold national elections in April 2026, interim leader Yunus says
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Friday said that the country will hold national elections in the first half of April 2026.
In a televised address to the nation on Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said that the Election Commission would roll out a detailed roadmap for the election in due course.
Yunus took over three days after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a student-led mass uprising in August 2024, ending her 15-year rule. Hasina has been in exile in India since. The interim government banned Hasina's Awami League party, which is one of the country's two largest political parties.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, headed by Hasina's archrival and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, had been demanding the elections be held in December.
Yunus had earlier said that the election would be held between December and next June. The relationship between Yunus and the BNP has been frosty in recent months over the disagreement about the election schedule. Zia's party accused Yunus of following tactics to delay a vote.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Indian Delegate Says Pakistan Must End Terror Camps Before Talks
A senior Indian lawmaker said his government should not hold talks with Pakistan after their worst military confrontation in decades until action is taken to close down what he called terrorist training camps in the country, and that the US should not be involved as a mediator. Shashi Tharoor, who is leading a team of officials dispatched to capitals around the world to present India's perspective on last month's conflict, said the idea of any external mediation was unacceptable because it implied equivalence.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Internal cause' suspected after North Korea hit by major internet outage
North Korea's internet was hit by a major outage that lasted several hours on Saturday, knocking off connection to government websites and online news services and severing the reclusive country from cyberspace. It was not clear what caused the outage, but it could have been internal rather than a cyberattack, as connections via China and Russia were affected, said researchers monitoring North Korea's internet and technology infrastructure. North Korea's main official news services, its foreign ministry, and the Air Koryo national airline were among websites inaccessible on Saturday, before they started coming back slowly around midday according to checks by Reuters. North Korea's entire internet infrastructure was not showing up on systems that monitor internet activities and email services were also affected, Junade Ali, a UK-based researcher who monitors the North Korean internet, said earlier. "Hard to say if this is intentional or accidental - but seems like this is internal rather than an attack." Officials at South Korea's cyber terror response centre, a police division that monitors North Korea's cyber activities, could not be reached for comment. Martyn Williams, who specialises in North Korea's technology and infrastructure at the Washington-based Stimson Center, also said the cause appeared to be internal as the Chinese and Russian connections were not working. North Korea has one of the world's most strictly controlled internet systems, including access to any form of online communication. The general public has access only to an intranet set up by the government and that is not connected to the wider global network. An elite few in the government and leadership are allowed open internet access, and government and news websites often serve up propaganda for outside audiences. North Korea has in previous years experienced large internet outages suspected as being caused by cyberattacks. The country operates elite teams of hackers, including a group known as Lazarus run by the government intelligence apparatus, that are blamed for attacks against foreign institutions and companies and more recently for theft and the laundering of cryptocurrencies. North Korea denies involvement in hacking, crypto thefts and other cybercrime.
Fox News
5 hours ago
- Fox News
Trump announces China will restart rare earth mineral shipments to US after productive call
President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to start sending rare earth minerals to the U.S. after halting the shipments in April. Trump held a gaggle on the presidential jet Friday evening, and one reporter asked him just before landing if Xi had agreed to restart the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets to the U.S. "Yes, he did," Trump replied. "We're very far advanced on the China deal." The news comes about a month and a half after China effectively halted exports of seven precious minerals, vital for assembling cars, robotics and defense systems, to the U.S. in a direct strike on America's manufacturing and defense supply chain. Overseas deliveries of magnets stopped April 4, when new licensing rules took effect, according to The New York Times. Companies are only allowed to export rare earth materials if they obtain special export licenses, which take 45 days to receive. The halt also threatened to undercut Trump's tariff strategy because China produces about 60% of the world's critical mineral supply and processes even more, up to 90%. China's mineral halt to the U.S. Defense Department came after Beijing had already imposed sanctions on multiple U.S. military contractors late last year, according to Reuters. Chinese entities were prohibited from engaging or cooperating with them in response to an arms sale to Taiwan, the outlet reported. Trump and Xi had a lengthy call Thursday amid economic and national security friction regarding trade between the U.S. and China. "I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal," Trump said Thursday in a Truth Social post. "The call lasted approximately one and a half hours and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries." Trump said the conversation focused mostly on trade. The call came nearly a week after Trump condemned China for violating an initial trade agreement that the U.S. and China hashed out in May and a day after Trump said Xi was "extremely hard to make a deal with" in a Truth Social post.
