Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been denied a request to travel from France to Norway for a rights conference, the organisers said on Saturday. Durov, 40, was detained in Paris in 2024 and is under formal investigation over illegal content on his popular messaging service. He had been due to speak at the Oslo Freedom Forum on Tuesday, addressing the annual gathering on the subject of free speech, surveillance and digital rights. But organisers the Human Rights Foundation said he had been stopped from travelling in person by a French court. He will now address the event virtually, they added.…
Author: diplomaticjourna_diplomaticjourna
Malaysia called Sunday for the extension and expansion of a post-earthquake ceasefire in Myanmar due to run out at the end of May, despite ongoing fighting calling into question its effectiveness. The ruling military junta initially declared a truce in the many-sided civil war after a huge quake late March killed nearly 3,800 and left tens of thousands homeless. The truce has been extended before, although conflict monitors say fighting has continued, including regular junta airstrikes. At a meeting of regional foreign ministers on Sunday, Malaysian foreign minister Mohamad Hasan “proposed the extension and expansion of ceasefires beyond the currently…
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has welcomed the first step taken by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) against close associates and beneficiaries of Bangladesh’s fallen authoritarian regime in relation to money laundering and illicit wealth. TIB hoped that this move – freezing luxury wealth worth nearly 90 million pounds – will pave the way for stronger mutual legal assistance between the UK and Bangladesh, accelerating investigations and facilitating the swift recovery of laundered wealth, said a TIB press release issued today. TIB also called on other destination countries of illicit wealth to follow the UK’s lead by taking necessary…
Adviser to the ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain today said they would set an example of honesty, trustworthiness and good governance. In a post on his verified Facebook page, Asif Mahmud expressed his determination to establish a benchmark of honesty and integrity. “We aim to set an example of honesty, responsibility, and good governance that others will be inspired to follow,” he wrote. Underscoring his stance against corruption, the Adviser revealed that he personally requested the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to investigate allegations against his former assistant private secretary (APS). He also said that…
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman today said his party believed that the election should be held at a comfortable time within the time frame given by the Chief Adviser that does not cause any suffering to the people. “We have told the Chief Adviser that two things need to be clarified. One is when the election will be held. We believe that the election should be held at a comfortable time within the time frame given by the Chief Adviser that does not cause any inconvenience to the people,” he told reporters after a meeting with the Chief Adviser…
The National Citizen Party (NCP) has urged Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus to declare all elections held during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure as illegal, labeling them products of a fascist regime that denied people their voting rights. “The elections held during her rule were controversial and widely rejected by opposition parties. Taking these elections to court now is leading to a state of instability. To avoid further chaos, it is necessary to declare those past elections legally void,” Nahid told reporters in front of the State Guest House Jamuna tonight after a meeting with the Chief Adviser. Nahid said, “Sheikh Hasina…
BNP Standing Committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain today said the party has sought a roadmap for the national elections immediately in a meeting with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus. Earlier, a four-member BNP delegation led by Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf joined the meeting at the State Guest House Jamuna here. Other members were Abdul Moyeen Khan, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Salauddin Ahmed. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mosharraf said BNP discussed the three main issues — reforms, trials and elections. “Reforms are ongoing issues. It will continue. We expected that this government would propose a reform…
Russia and Ukraine fired drones towards each other’s capitals Sunday, even as Kyiv and Moscow carry out the biggest prisoner swap since the start of Moscow’s invasion. AFP journalists heard explosions in the Ukrainian capital, with the head of the city’s military administration warning “the night will not be easy”. Russian authorities meanwhile reported that a dozen drones flying towards Moscow had been downed. The latest fire comes as the two sides pursue a major prisoner swap more than three years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv wounded at least 10 people, the city’s…
If the government’s usual activities are hindered making performing its responsibilities impossible, it will take necessary decisions involving the country’s people, said the council of advisers today. “The interim government embodies the mass expectations of the July uprising,” said a statement issued by the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing after a meeting of the council of advisers. It said, if the government’s uniqueness, reform initiatives, judicial process, fair elections and usual activities are hindered making performing its responsibilities impossible, the government will take the necessary decisions involving the people. An unscheduled meeting of the Council of Advisers was held today after…
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today reiterated his position on the next election, stressing that the government will hold the polls between December this year and June 2026. “Prof Yunus is a man of his word. He gave a cut-off time. He won’t go beyond that,” Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters in front of the State Guest House Jamuna tonight after the Chief Adviser held meetings with three major political parties. Alam said the Chief Adviser conveyed the same to BNP when its leaders met the Chief Adviser at his residence. During the separate meetings with delegations…
