International

Sri Lanka`s election commission declared a previously fringe Marxist politician the country`s president-elect on Sunday after a vote coloured by discontent over the island nation`s response to an unprecedented financial crisis.

Thousands of people were injured in Lebanon as the armed group Hezbollah`s pagers burst almost simultaneously across the country on Tuesday. Lebanese officials said that at least 12 people had been slain, including two children. Approximately 2,800 people were hurt, many of them critically. It is unclear how the strike, which appears to be very sophisticated, occurred, but Hezbollah has blamed Israel. Israeli officials have thus far declined to comment.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said today that there are clear signs that  security forces used unnecessary and disproportionate force  during student protests in Bangladesh.  These facts deserve further investigation, he said.

In response to the indiscriminate attacks on protesting students in Bangladesh, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of students, journalists, and civilians, expatriate Bangladeshis organized a massive rally in Berlin, Germany.

At least 18 people were killed when a small plane crashed and caught fire while it was taking off from Nepal`s capital Kathmandu on Wednesday, officials said.

On Friday, July 19th, the usually calm and quiet central hall „Am Rathaus” in Chemnitz was filled with passionate chants and placards as around 50 Bangladeshi residents, including students and employees from all walks of life, gathered to protest against the oppressive actions of the autocratic Bangladeshi government. 

The tensions in Bangladesh have also seen demonstrations take place outside the country.

Keir Starmer on Friday will become Britain`s new prime minister, as his centre-left opposition Labour party swept to a landslide general election victory, ending 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set for a historic third term on Tuesday, but with a vastly diminished majority in a rare electoral setback for a leader who has held a tight grip on the nation`s politics.

Israeli authorities were battling intense forest fires Tuesday in the north of the country that broke out shortly after rocket and drone strikes from neighbouring Lebanon, forcing the partial evacuation of one town.

Donald Trump on Thursday became the first former US president ever convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty on all charges in his hush money case, months before an election that could see him yet return to the White House.

About 10,000 people took part in a demonstration near the Israeli embassy in Paris on Monday against Israel`s deadly shelling of the Gaza city of Rafah.