DHAKA:Â Bangladeshi police have requested an Interpol red notice against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is wanted for alleged involvement in the killings of hundreds of people during student protests that forced her to step down and flee last year.
In early July, a student-led movement began with peaceful demonstrations initially sparked by opposition to public-sector job quotas.
But they were met with a violent crackdown by security forces after two weeks, which according to UN estimates left more than 600 people dead. The deaths led to a nationwide uprising that forced Hasina to resign and leave for neighboring India in early August, ending her 15 years in power.
By October, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal had issued arrest warrants for Hasina and more than 40 other people who are linked to the protest killings.
“The assistance from Interpol is being sought to repatriate the accused persons,†Enamul Haque Sagor, assistant inspector general at the Bangladesh Police Headquarters, told Arab News on Sunday.
“Our all-out efforts are there to make (the red notice issuance happen) as soon as possible.â€
Red notices are published by Interpol, an intergovernmental organization of 196 member countries. They serve as requests for law enforcement around the world to detain individuals for whom member states have issued arrest warrants.
Bangladeshi police are also seeking red notices for 11 other people linked to the protest killings, including Hasina’s Awami League general secretary, Obaidul Quader, and former home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.
The red notice application was submitted at the request of the International Crimes Tribunal, which had sought police assistance after issuing the arrest warrant last year.
The special court will hear at least 70 cases related to the July-August violence.
Established in 2010 during Hasina’s rule, the International Crimes Tribunal is a domestic court responsible for investigating and prosecuting suspects of the 1971 genocide committed by the Pakistan Army and its local collaborators during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It also has jurisdiction over other war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Pakistan eyes 2026 launch for first Chinese submarine in $5 billion arms deal
Pakistan’s submarines will project power toward Middle East, says admiral
Islamabad ordered eight submarines in $5 billion Chinese deal
Updated 39 sec ago
Reuters
BEIJING: The Pakistan Navy expects its first Chinese-designed submarine to enter active service next year, the country’s top admiral told Chinese state media, bolstering Beijing’s bid to counter regional rival India and project power toward the Middle East.
A deal under which Islamabad will take delivery of eight Hangor-class submarines by 2028 is “progressing smoothly,†Admiral Naveed Ashraf told the Global Times in an interview published on Sunday, adding the submarines would boost Pakistan’s ability to patrol the North Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
The update on the Chinese submarine deal follows Pakistan’s air force using Chinese-made J-10 fighter jets in May to shoot down an Indian Air Force Rafale aircraft, made by France.
The altercation between the nuclear-armed neighbors surprised many in the military community and raised questions over the superiority of Western hardware over Chinese alternatives.
Under the terms of the submarine agreement — reportedly worth up to $5 billion — the first four diesel-electric attack submarines will be built in China, with the remaining vessels assembled in Pakistan to improve the South Asian nation’s technical capabilities.
Pakistan has already launched three of the submarines into China’s Yangtze River from a shipyard in the central province of Hubei.
In this photo taken on August 10, 2006, Pakistani sailors are shown standing on the deck of the first locally built Agosta 90 B Submarine 'Hamza', during a launching ceremony in the port city of Karachi. (AFP)
“Chinese-origin platforms and equipment have been reliable, technologically advanced and well-suited to Pakistan Navy’s operational requirements,†Ashraf told the tabloid, which is published by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily.
“As modern warfare evolves, emerging technologies such as unmanned systems, AI and advanced electronic warfare systems are becoming increasingly important. The Pakistan Navy is focusing on these technologies and exploring collaboration with China,†Ashraf was also quoted as saying.
Islamabad has long been Beijing’s top arms customer, and over the 2020-2024 period bought over 60 percent of China’s weapons exports, data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows.
Billion-dollar build-up
Along with billions in arms sales, Beijing has heavily invested in building out its connections to the Arabian Sea through a 3,000 km (1864.11 miles) economic corridor stretching from China’s Xinjiang to Pakistan’s deep-water port of Gwadar.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of President Xi Jinping’s flagship ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure initiative, aims to secure a route for the world’s largest energy importer to bring in supplies from the Middle East, bypassing the Straits of Malacca — a strategic chokepoint between Malaysia and Indonesia that could be blocked in wartime.
The initiative also extends China’s sphere of influence toward Afghanistan and Iran and onto Central Asia, and effectively encircles India, given Beijing’s ties to the junta in Myanmar and good relations with Bangladesh.
India currently operates three indigenously developed nuclear-powered submarines, along with three classes of diesel-electric attack submarines acquired or developed over decades with France, Germany, and Russia.
“This cooperation (with China) goes beyond hardware; it reflects a shared strategic outlook, mutual trust, and a long-standing partnership,†Ashraf said.
“In the coming decade, we expect this relationship to grow, encompassing not only shipbuilding and training, but also enhanced interoperability, research, technology sharing and industrial collaboration.â€
Nigeria says US help against Islamist insurgents must respect its sovereignty
Trump threatened military action over treatment of Christians
Analysts say most victims of Islamist attacks are Muslims
Updated 35 min 43 sec ago
Reuters
ABUJA: Nigeria said on Sunday it would welcome US help in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as its territorial integrity is respected, responding to threats of military action by President Donald Trump over what he said was the ill treatment of Christians in the West African country.
Trump said on Saturday that he had asked the Defense Department to prepare for possible “fast†military action in Nigeria if Africa’s most populous country fails to crack down on the killing of Christians.
“We welcome US assistance as long as it recognizes our territorial integrity,†Daniel Bwala, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, told Reuters.
But Trump on Sunday told reporters the US military could deploy troops to Nigeria or carry out air strikes to stop what he called the killing of “very large numbers†of Christians there, but gave no further details.
“I envisage a lot of things,†Trump said aboard Air Force One, without elaborating.
Bwala sought to play down tensions between the two states, despite Trump calling Nigeria a “disgraced country.â€
“We don’t take it literally, because we know Donald Trump thinks well of Nigeria,†Bwala said.
“I am sure by the time these two leaders meet and sit, there would be better outcomes in our joint resolve to fight terrorism,†he said.
A drone view of Christians departing St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church after a Sunday mass in Palmgrove, Lagos, Nigeria, on November 2, 2025. (REUTERS)
Vast majority of victims are Muslims
Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people and around 200 ethnic groups, is divided between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south.
Islamist insurgents such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have wrought havoc in the country for more than 15 years, killing thousands of people, but their attacks have been largely confined to the northeast of the country, which is majority Muslim.
While Christians have been killed, the vast majority of the victims have been Muslims, analysts say.
In central Nigeria there have been frequent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers over access to water and pasture, while in the northwest of the country, gunmen routinely attack villages, kidnapping residents for ransom.
Nigeria “does not discriminate against any tribe or religion in the fight against insecurity,†Bwala said. “There is no Christian genocide.â€
Wreaking havoc
“Insurgent groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa often present their campaigns as anti-Christian, but in practice their violence is indiscriminate and devastates entire communities,†said Ladd Serwat, senior Africa analyst at US crisis-monitoring group ACLED.
“Islamist violence is part of the complex and often overlapping conflict dynamics in the country over political power, land disputes, ethnicity, cult affiliation, and banditry,†he said.
ACLED research shows that out of 1,923 attacks on civilians in Nigeria so far this year, the number of those targeting Christians because of their religion stood at 50. Serwat said recent claims circulating among some US right-wing circles that as many as 100,000 Christians had been killed in Nigeria since 2009 are not supported by available data.
Trump’s threat of military action came a day after his administration added Nigeria back to a “Countries of Particular Concern†list of nations that the US says have violated religious freedoms. Other nations on the list include China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.
Striking a balance
Tinubu, a Muslim from southern Nigeria who is married to a Christian pastor, on Saturday pushed back against accusations of religious intolerance and defended his country’s efforts to protect religious freedom.
Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.
Since 2023, our administration has maintained an open and active engagement with Christian and Muslim leaders alike and continues to address security challenges which affect…
— Bola Ahmed Tinubu (@officialABAT)
When making key government and military appointments, Tinubu, like his predecessors, has sought to strike a balance to make sure that Muslims and Christians are represented equally. Last week, Tinubu changed the country’s military leadership and appointed a Christian as the new defense chief.
In the capital Abuja, some Christians going to Sunday Mass said they would welcome a US military intervention to protect their community.
“I feel if Donald Trump said they want to come in, they should come in and there is nothing wrong with that,†said businesswoman Juliet Sur.
Security experts said any US air strikes would most likely seek to target small groups scattered across a very large swathe of territory, a task that could be made more difficult given the US withdrew its forces last year from Niger, which borders Nigeria in the north.
The militant groups move between neighboring countries Cameroon, Chad and Niger, and the experts said the US may require help from the Nigerian military and government, which Trump threatened to cut off from assistance.
Magnitude 6.3 earthquake hits Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif city, at least 7 dead
USGS says quake hit at a 28-km depth in Kholm, near Mazar-i Sharif, which has a population of about 523,000
More than 150 reported injured. Officials warned that the casualty count could increase
Updated 49 min 57 sec ago
Agencies
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan: Seven people were killed and 150 injured after an earthquake of 6.3 magnitude struck near one of Afghanistan’s largest cities Mazar-e Sharif early on Monday, the local health directorate said on Monday.
The overnight quake hit at a depth of 28 kilometers (17 miles) in Kholm, near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the the US Geological Survey (USGS).
It was felt in the capital Kabul, witnesses said.
Local authorities broadcast emergency telephone numbers for people to call, but did not immediately report any deaths or injuries.
In Mazar-i-Sharif, many people ran into the street in the middle of the night, fearing their homes might collapse, an AFP correspondent observed.
The Taliban authorities have had to deal with several major quakes since returning to power in 2021, including one in 2023 in the western Herat region on the border with Iran that killed more than 1,500 people and destroyed more than 63,000 homes.
A shallow 6.0-magnitude quake struck this year on August 31 in the country’s east, killing more than 2,200 people — the deadliest tremor in recent Afghan history.
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
Afghanistan is contending with multiple crises after decades of war: endemic poverty, severe drought and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back home by neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
Many modest Afghan homes are shoddily built and poor infrastructure hampers rescue efforts after natural disasters like quakes.
Since 1900, northeastern Afghanistan has been hit by 12 quakes with a magnitude above 7, according to Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey.
His latest comments to reporters aboard Air Force One indicate that he remains reluctant
Updated 03 November 2025
Reuters
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that, for now, he is not considering a deal that would allow Ukraine to obtain long-range Tomahawk missiles for use against Russia.
Trump has been cool to a plan for the United States to sell Tomahawks to NATO nations that would transfer them to Ukraine, saying he does not want to escalate the war.
His latest comments to reporters aboard Air Force One indicate that he remains reluctant.
“No, not really,†Trump told reporters as he flew to Washington from Palm Beach, Florida, when asked whether he was considering a deal to sell the missiles. He added, however, that he could change his mind.
Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte discussed the Tomahawk idea when they met at the White House on October 22. Rutte said on Friday that the issue was under review and that it was up to the United States to decide.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested the missiles, but the Kremlin has warned against any provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine.
Flights halted after drone sighting at another German airport
Air traffic was halted for nearly an hour
Updated 03 November 2025
AFP
Frankfurt, Germany: Flights were briefly suspended at Germany's Bremen Airport on Sunday after an unidentified drone was spotted flying overhead, adding to a spate of similar recent incidents.
The drone was sighted "in the immediate vicinity of the airport at around 7:30 pm (1830 GMT)", a police spokesperson in the northern city said.
Air traffic was halted for nearly an hour, police said, adding that it was not clear who was piloting the drone.
AFP was not immediately able to reach Bremen Airport to confirm the number of affected flights.
The drone sighting was the latest to cause flight disruptions in Germany in recent weeks.
On Friday, an unidentified drone over Berlin Brandenburg Airport prompted a nearly two-hour suspension of air traffic.
And in early October, Munich Airport halted flights twice in as many days for the same reason.
German authorities have repeatedly warned that drones pose a growing threat to security, following a series of incursions around airports and military sites this year.
Berlin, one of Ukraine's biggest backers in its war against Russia, has suggested Moscow could be behind some of the activities. Russia has denied the allegation.
Drones have also been spotted in recent months over military bases, industrial sites and critical infrastructure in both Germany and other European Union countries such as Norway and Belgium.
