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CTV News
5 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Bangladesh's Islamist party projects force with a big rally in Dhaka
Thousands of supporters of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami attend a rally in a show of strength ahead of elections expected next year, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu) DHAKA, Bangladesh — Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party rallied in the capital on Saturday to show their strength before an election expected next year, as the South Asian nation stands at a crossroads after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus said that the next election would be held in April. But his administration didn't rule out a possibility of polls in February, which has been strongly demanded by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies. Jamaat-e-Islami, which had sided with Pakistan during Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971, had said that it would mobilize 1 million people on Saturday. While Hasina was in power from 2009 until she was toppled in student-led protests last year and fled to India, top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were either executed or jailed on charges of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in 1971. In late March 1971, Pakistan's military had launched a violent crackdown on the city of Dhaka, which was then part of East Pakistan, to quell a rising nationalist movement seeking independence for what is today known as Bangladesh. Islamists demand free and fair elections The party on Saturday placed a seven-point demand on the Yunus-led administration to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election; justice for all mass killings; essential reforms and the proclamation and implementation of a charter involving last year's mass uprising. It also wants the introduction of a proportional representation system in the election. Thousands of supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami had spent the night on the Dhaka University campus before the rally. On Saturday morning, they continued to stream toward Suhrawardy Udyan, a historical site where the Pakistani army had surrendered to a joint force of India and Bangladesh on Dec. 16, 1971, ending the nine-month war. 'We are here for a new Bangladesh, where Islam would be the guiding principle of governance, where good and honest people will rule the country, and there will be no corruption,' Iqbal Hossain, 40, told The Associated Press. 'We will sacrifice our lives, if necessary, for this cause.' Many young supporters in their 20s and 30s were also present. 'Under Jamaat-e-Islami, this country will have no discrimination. All people will have their rights. Because we follow the path of the holy book, Quran,' said Mohidul Morsalin Sayem, a 20-year-old student. 'If all the Islamist parties join hands soon, nobody will be able to take power from us.' The party's chief, Shafiqur Rahman, said that the struggle in 2024 was to eliminate 'fascism' from the country, but this time there will be another fight against corruption and extortion. Rahman, 66, fainted twice as he addressed his supporters, but quickly returned to continue to speak surrounded by other leaders on the stage. 'How will the future Bangladesh look like? There will be another fight ... We will do whatever is necessary and win that fight (against corruption) collectively by uniting the strength of the youth to eliminate corruption,' Rahman said. It wasn't immediately clear why he fainted. He was later taken to a hospital for tests. The event was the first time that the party was allowed to hold a rally at the site since 1971. To many, the decision signaled a shift supported by Yunus' government in which Islamists are gaining momentum with further fragmentation of Bangladesh's politics and the shrinking of liberal forces. Hasina's Awami League party, in a statement on X, reacted sharply for allowing it to hold the rally on that politically sensitive site. It said that the move 'marks a stark betrayal with the national conscience and constitutes a brazen act of undermining millions of people — dead and alive — who fought against the evil axis (in 1971),' the statement said. Tensions between parties over Yunus' reforms Hasina, whose father was the independence leader and the country's first president, is a fierce political rival of Jamaat-e-Islami. The party is expected to contest 300 parliamentary seats and is attempting to forge alliances with other Islamist groups and parties in hopes of becoming a third force in the country behind the BNP, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and Hasina's former ruling Awami League party. The party had previously shared power with the BNP, and it had two senior Cabinet members under Zia in 2001-2006. After Hasina was ousted, tensions grew between parties over reforms agenda undertaken by the Yunus government, which is facing challenges to establish order in the country. The government has been criticized by Hasina's party and others for using force in a confrontation with protesters in a Hasina stronghold on Wednesday, where four people died. Their families complained that authorities didn't conduct autopsies and hurriedly buried or cremated their relatives. Yunus' office said that the government was doing everything lawfully in Gopalganj, the district where the violence occurred. Jamaat-e-Islami has now established close ties with a new political party formed by students who led the anti-Hasina uprising. Both Jamaat-e-Islami and the students' National Citizen Party also promote an anti-India campaign. The Yunus-led administration has banned the Awami League, and Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5. She is facing charges of crimes against humanity. The United Nations said in February that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the anti-Hasina uprising in July-August last year. Julhas Alam, The Associated Press
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Bangladesh's Islamist party projects force with a big rally in Dhaka
Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party rallied in the capital on Saturday to show their strength ahead of elections expected next year, as the South Asian nation stands a t a crossroads after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus said the next election would be held in April but his administration did not rule out a possibility of polls in February as strongly demanded by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies. Jamaat-e-Islami, which had sided with Pakistan during Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971, said earlier it would mobilize 1 million people on Saturday. While Hasina was in power from 2009 until she was toppled in student-led protests last year and fled to India, top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were either executed or jailed on charges of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in 1971. In late march in 1971 Pakistan's military had launched a violent crackdown on the city of Dhaka, then part of East Pakistan, to quell a rising nationalist movement seeking independence for what is today known as Bangladesh. Islamists demand free and fair elections The party on Saturday placed a seven-point demand to the Yunus-led administration to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election, the trial of all mass killings, essential reforms and proclamation and implementation of a charter involving last year's mass uprising. It also wants the introduction of a proportional representation system in the election. Thousands of supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami had spent the night on the Dhaka University campus before the rally. On Saturday morning, they continued to stream toward the Suhrawardy Udyan, a historical ground where the Pakistani army had surrendered to a joint force of India and Bangladesh on Dec. 16 in 1971, ending the nine-month war. 'We are here for a new Bangladesh where Islam would be the guiding principle of governance, where good and honest people will rule the country, and there will be no corruption,' Iqbal Hossain, 40, told The Associated Press. 'We will sacrifice our lives, if necessary, for this cause.' Many of the young supporters in their 20s and 30s were also present. 'Under Jamaat-e-Islami, this country will have no discrimination. All people will have their rights. Because we follow the path of the holy book, Quran,' Mohidul Morsalin Sayem, a 20-year-old student, said. 'If all the Islamist parties join hands soon, nobody will be able to take power from us.' It was the first time the party was allowed to hold a rally on this ground since 1971. To many, the decision signaled a shift supported by Yunus' government in which Islamists are gaining momentum with further fragmentation of Bangladesh's politics and shrinking of liberal forces. Tensions between parties over Yunus' reforms Hasina, whose father was the independence leader and the country's first president, is a fierce political rival of Jamaat-e-Islami. The party is expected to contest 300 parliamentary seats and is attempting to forge alliances with other Islamist groups and parties in hopes of becoming a third force in the country behind the BNP, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and Hasina's former ruling Awami League party. The party had previously shared power with the BNP, and it had two senior Cabinet members under Zia in 2001-2006. After Hasina was ousted, tensions grew between parties over reforms agenda undertaken by the Yunus government, which is facing challenges to establish order in the country. The government has been criticized by Hasina's party and others for using force in a confrontation with protesters in a Hasina stronghold on Wednesday, where four people died. Their families complained that authorities did not conduct autopsies and hurriedly buried or cremated their relatives. Autopsies are part of an investigation in any violence. Yunus' office said the government was doing everything lawfully in Gopalganj, the district where the violence occurred. Jamaat-e-Islami has now established close ties with a new political party formed by students who led the anti-Hasina uprising. Both Jamaat-e-Islami and the students' National Citizen Party also promote anti-India campaign. The Yunus-led administration has banned the Awami League and Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5. She is facing charges of crimes against humanity. The United Nations said in February that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the anti-Hasina uprising in July-August last year.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Megyn Kelly puts Trump clash behind her to ride the Maga media wave
It was the night before a US presidential election that Donald Trump had called the most important in history. Who could close the deal at his campaign rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? The answer was Megyn Kelly. Trump 'will keep the boys out of girls' sports where they don't belong', the rightwinger podcaster said to rapturous applause. 'And you know what else? He will look out for our boys, too. Our forgotten boys and our forgotten men.' Turning around and pointing at Trump supporters wearing hard hats, Kelly eulogised guys 'who've got the calluses on their hands, who work for a living, the beards and the tats, maybe have a beer after work, and don't want to be judged by people like Oprah and Beyoncé, who will never have to face the consequences of her [Kamala Harris's] disastrous economic policies. These guys will. He gets it. President Trump gets it. He will not look at our boys like they are second-class citizens.' It was a remarkable intervention by a former cable news anchor whom Trump branded 'nasty' when they feuded bitterly during his bid for the White House in 2016. Now Kelly and the former president understood their value to one another. Both knew what it is to be at rock bottom but, 24 hours after the Pittsburgh rally, both were celebrating their own unlikely comebacks. Kelly, 54, has become one of the most influential figures in rightwing media. Her eponymous podcast moves with rare dexterity from heavyweight political interviews – such as the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard – to topics such as Joe Biden's cognitive decline to celebrity gossip about the likes of Halle Berry, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Meghan Markle and the Kardashians. Clearly the formula works. The Megyn Kelly Show posted a record-breaking 176% year-over-year surge in subscribers in the first quarter of 2025, according to TheRighting, a media company that tracks rightwing outlets. She trails Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson but has pulled ahead of Bill O'Reilly, Mark Levin, Charlie Kirk, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Steve Bannon. This makes her one of the most prominent cheerleaders for Trump and shapers of his Maga (Make America great again) agenda, most especially its hostility to immigrants and transgender rights. Kelly is even emerging as a rival to her former employer Fox News, which dominated the narratives of Trump's first term in office. Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said: 'Megyn Kelly's various transformations can make you dizzy if you follow them. The days when she had credibility as a truth-seeker are over, and now she's strictly in the business of following clicks. 'Her campaigning with Trump, including on the last night, confirms what the business model is. She is trying to establish herself as the preferred media outlet for the Maga movement. She is demonstrating that even Fox is now vulnerable and is being picked apart by the podcasters who become the viewer choice.' Kelly started out as a lawyer and has described the environment at her early law firms as having a 'kill or be killed' mentality. She transitioned to journalism after being inspired by reporters who were cool under pressure. Raised in a Democratic household, she has said she was 'really wasn't political' when she joined Rupert Murdoch's conservative Fox News network in 2004. Kelly became a leading prime-time personality and star of the right's culture wars. But a question to Trump during the 2016 primary debate about his past comments on women provoked him to unleash crude and misogynistic attacks, including: 'There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.' Meanwhile her accusations of unwanted sexual advances by Fox News's chief executive, Roger Ailes, helped lead to his firing. The difficult environment led Kelly to leave for NBC in 2017. She admits her time there 'ended disastrously' after just a year when she created a furore by suggesting that it was fine for white people to wear blackface on Halloween. But like Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan, Kelly has reinvented herself for the new age of fragmented digital media where tie-wearing authority figures are out and smash-mouth influencers are in. In 2020 she launched a daily podcast then switched to a live radio format in a deal with SiriusXM. A video version streams on YouTube with clips shared on various platforms gaining hundreds of millions of views a month. Frank Luntz, a political and communications consultant and pollster, said: 'She had an audience on Fox that was undeniable. She didn't succeed on network television because that audience is too broad. 'Now, once again, she's gone back to what she's particularly good at, which is appealing to a segment of the population that wants to hear her explanation for what's going on in a more detailed and factual fashion than what you might get on cable. It's the right medium at the right time and she's the right host.' In a world where newspaper reporters can be frowned upon for expressing an opinion in a tweet, Kelly is unabashed about owning her own bias. 'Yes, I'm still a journalist,' she told the New York Times newspaper in March, 'but I'm in this new ecosystem where the old rules don't apply. I'm in this world with, yes, Charlie Kirk and Dan Bongino and Ben Shapiro, but my world is also Joe Rogan and Theo Von. 'It's a very large world, and how the consumer receives it is by going on on their television screen, or going to the vertical integrations on Instagram or TikTok and just taking in content. What's the content that you want to receive? I'm on the list of content creators, and so the fact that I'm also a journalist who breaks news and reports on news is an extra. But what's most important in my business now is authenticity.' Kelly's renaissance is impossible to divorce from 'owning the libs' mentality of Trump and his Maga movement. She told the New York Times: 'It's one of my core missions in life to defeat wokeism.' Her podcasts have foregrounded anxieties over illegal immigration and transgender children taking part in school sports. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Transgender people are a particular obsession for Kelly. In a 2023 interview she forced Trump on the defensive when she grilled him over whether a man can become a woman. In a Republican primary debate, she caricatured the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie's stance on gender-affirming care for minors and demanded: 'Aren't you way too out of step on this issue to be the Republican nominee?' And when another Republican candidate, Nikki Haley, said children should not be allowed to transition but those who are 18 and older should 'live any way they want to live', Kelly responded furiously on X: 'This is utter bulls***. The WRONG ANSWER & an unnecessary weird pander to the rabid trans lobby. The answer is NO, A MAN CANNOT BECOME A WOMAN.' Ari Drennen, LGBTQ programme director at Media Matters for America, a non-profit watchdog, said: 'Megyn Kelly is very good at understanding where her audience is and where they want her to be and that's part of why she's been able to be so successful in this new media environment. There's no doubt that throughout the 2024 presidential campaign she was a voice who was pushing GOP candidates to move further to the right on trans issues.' But Kelly is far from a one-trick pony. She has gained particular traction this year with a topic far from Washington: the rancorous legal battle between the actors Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively stemming from the film It Ends With Us. Media Matters' research found that between 1 January and 20 March, Kelly mentioned Baldoni or Lively 440 times, an average of more than five times a day. She also interviewed Baldoni's lawyer in a video that has 10m views on TikTok. Drennan said: 'She's leading the way with this celebrity gossip type stuff that has proven to be fertile ground for a lot of these rightwing creators this year.' Other examples include the Daily Wire alumni Brett Cooper and Candace Owens, Drennan noted. 'The right has figured that out much better than the left. I feel like on the left there tends to be more of a separation between the types of podcasts and shows that are covering celebrity gossip and the types of shows that are covering daily stuff that's happening with the Trump administration.' The right is also cashing in. In February Fox Corp acquired Red Seat Ventures, a production company that manages Kelly and Carlson's shows. In March Kelly announced plans for her own podcast network, MK Media, another sign of how she is riding the Maga wave and adapting to the evolving media landscape. Dan Cassino, author of Fox News and American Politics and a government and politics professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey, said: 'The economics of cable TV or broadcast TV and the economics of podcasting are very different. Essentially this allows her to be her own boss. The fact that other people have decided she shouldn't be on TV or can't attract the audience that would allow her to be on TV any more is irrelevant because you can be profitable at a much lower scale. 'Part of this is also a reflection of the realities of media. Nobody has huge audiences any more. The days when you've got a 20 share or 30 share are gone and are never going to happen again. Podcasting is not different in type; it's different in extent.' Meanwhile, after all the years of their chequered relationship, Kelly would not describe herself as a Trump surrogate but is playing that role to great effect. As the president, who has spurned the neocon wing of the Republican party, toured the Gulf region this week, she remarked with bracing candour: 'I feel like when I was on Fox News, all we did was cheerlead these wars – and kind of dismiss, or express disdain, for people who had serious questions about them … With the benefit of all this hindsight, that was wrong.' The unholy alliance reminds David Litt, an author and former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, of the old observation that in politics there are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests. Litt commented: 'The crux of Trump's argument was I'm a bad guy but you need me in the White House anyway. Nobody could speak to that argument – both Trump's personal lack of character and, by endorsing him, say we need him anyway – better than Megyn Kelly. He knew that and she knew that. They saw a moment of symbiosis.'
Fox News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
WATCH: Newark mayor compares self to biblical hero in wake of ICE protest arrest: 'This is our David moment'
Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka compared his arrest at a federal immigration center last week to the Bible's accounts of King David, telling a crowd at a political rally in his city Tuesday afternoon that it was "our David moment." Baraka has repeatedly insisted he did nothing wrong, calling his tactics "absolutely effective" during a Democrat primary debate for the race for governor in New Jersey that took place Monday evening. He followed up the defense of his tactics Tuesday by comparing his arrest to the story of King David in the Bible. "This is our David moment," Baraka told a crowd of several dozen supporters at a rally in his hometown on Tuesday. "Many of us miss our David moment because we [are] trying to run away from confrontation and controversy. But your crowd lives in the middle of controversy. The thing that has been promised to you is surrounded by high walls, and the gates are guarded by giants. If you're running from conflict and controversy, then you'll never get what's promised of you. This is our David moment." Baraka told supporters that he physically could not have done anything to prevent his arrest at the immigration detention center on Friday, telling them his body "froze" involuntarily after being told he was going to be arrested for trespassing at the facility. "When the congressman came to the gate and was like, 'Mayor, they said they're going to arrest you.' That was a David moment," Baraka said Tuesday. "I could have gotten in the car and ran. I could have said, 'I'm getting out of here, maybe they'll arrest me at work or at home or whatever.' But I froze. I froze – not even actively or deliberately – my body froze. My body – my body froze, like, 'This is it, you're supposed to be here. Whatever they going to do, they going to do it.'" Baraka's arrest occurred during a protest at Delaney Hall attended by three members of Congress, who said they were in attendance to perform their congressionally mandated oversight duties related to federal detention facilities. The three congressional lawmakers and Baraka were outside the facility with a group of protesters when the gates opened to allow an ICE bus in. All four officials then allegedly rushed through the gates and past security, according to officials from the Department of Homeland Security. The arrest came as activists had been calling for access to the facility for days, which is a privately run facility that was revamped as an immigration detention facility this year. In addition to comparing his debacle with federal authorities to King David, Baraka also made light of his arrest Tuesday, quipping that he was speaking to attendees at the rally Tuesday "as a returning citizen." "Pardon me, 'formerly incarcerated,'" Baraka said, garnering laughter from the crowd. "They told me I got to check in, and they ain't talking about the hood either," Baraka added. "I got to check in, I have to give them all my information, all this stuff, all my family's information. I mean, I'm making light of it, but it's real. I got to go to court Thursday. Are these people … serious? They're really trying to go forward with this and leverage it to make me be quiet." Baraka confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday that he was back at the detention facility Tuesday morning. The Newark mayor also confirmed that he participated in a pretrial intervention phone call ahead of a Thursday court hearing over the matter. Media reports have indicated that Baraka plans to plead not guilty.
