- De Zorzi out for 177 as S.Africa power to 413-5 against Bangladesh
- 'CEO of supercute': Hello Kitty turns 50
- Australia head coach McDonald handed new deal until 2027
- Visual artist grabs 'decisive moment' to nurture Chad art scene
- Industrial slump leaves Germany on brink of recession
- 'I'm terrified': French auteur Audiard hits Oscars trail for 'Emilia Perez'
- New Indonesia defence chief harks back to dictator's rule
- In Tennessee, the despair of gun control advocates
- US economy's solid growth unlikely to register at ballot box
- 'A treasure': Japan's Ohtani a hometown hero win or lose in World Series
- Botswana votes with ruling party seeking to extend six decades of power
- Bitcoin close to record as cautious markets eye US election
- Hometown hero Volpe lives dream with grand slam for Yankees
- Rested relief pitchers please Roberts even after Dodgers defeat
- UK's Labour govt prepares to deliver decisive first budget
- Beijing files WTO complaint over EU's new taxes on Chinese EVs
- Volpe's grand slam helps Yankees avoid World Series sweep
- Taiwan battens down for Super Typhoon Kong-rey
- MotoGP world title in sight as Martin, Bagnaia set for Sepang duel
- 'New wave' as start-up sweeps up Thai ocean plastic
- Botswana votes with ruling party aiming to extend six decades of power
- How harmful are microplastics to human health?
- Are bioplastics really the wonder alternative to petro plastics?
- EU's extra tariffs of up to 35.3% on Chinese EVs angers Beijing
- Rumble in the Jungle remembered after 50 years
- Trump risks backlash with anti-trans ads targeting Harris
- Alzheimer's patient 'relieved' at Quebec's assisted suicide policy shift
- Who should get paid for nature's sequenced genes?
- Bodies found as torrential rains slam Spain
- Harris urges US to turn page on Trump 'chaos' in mass White House rally
- Climate change driving 'record threats to health': report
- Harris warns of 'obsessed' Trump power grab at mass Washington rally
- Harris warns against Trump's power grab bid in final election warning
- Southampton, Brentford scrape into League Cup quarter-finals
- PGA players council seeks smaller fields, fewer full tour spots
- Napoli extend lead at top of Serie A with win at AC Milan
- Harris to slam 'unstable' Trump at Washington rally
- Jennifer Lopez to boost Harris at glitzy Las Vegas event
- Global stocks mixed as markets await Big Tech results
- Seven missing as torrential rains slam Spain
- Three-person crew blasts off for China's Tiangong space station
- Google reports strong growth driven by AI, Cloud
- Kyiv announces new mobilisation drive as Russia advances
- Release of new single featuring late One Direction star postponed
- Alcaraz breezes through opener at Paris Masters
- Bolivia 'going from bad to worse': At the barricades with Morales supporters
- Biden unveils $3 bn US ports boost, takes aim at Trump
- EU slaps extra tariffs of up to 35.3% on Chinese EVs
- England boss Borthwick has no qualms over starting Slade against All Blacks
- 'Tootsie' star Teri Garr dies aged 79
NGG | -1.35% | 65.12 | $ | |
RELX | -0.52% | 47.91 | $ | |
RBGPF | 100% | 62.35 | $ | |
SCS | -3.11% | 12.21 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.55% | 7.25 | $ | |
BCC | -5.3% | 131.64 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.65% | 24.57 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.16% | 24.84 | $ | |
RIO | 0.6% | 66.58 | $ | |
VOD | -2.8% | 9.28 | $ | |
BCE | -0.71% | 32.46 | $ | |
BTI | -1.31% | 34.46 | $ | |
JRI | -0.69% | 12.98 | $ | |
GSK | 0.76% | 38.17 | $ | |
AZN | -1.05% | 75.22 | $ | |
BP | -5.76% | 29.36 | $ |
Bangladesh court winds back job quotas that sparked unrest
Bangladesh's top court on Sunday pared back, but fell short of public demands to abolish, contentious civil service hiring rules that sparked nationwide clashes between police and university students that have killed 151 people.
What began as a protest against politicised admission quotas for sought-after government jobs snowballed this week into some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure.
Soldiers are patrolling cities across Bangladesh after riot police failed to restore order, while a nationwide internet blackout since Thursday has drastically restricted the flow of information to the outside world.
The Supreme Court was due to decide next month on the legality of the recently reintroduced scheme that reserves more than half of government jobs for select applicants, but brought forward its verdict as the civil strife intensified.
It decided that a lower bench's order last month to reintroduce the scheme was "illegal", Bangladeshi Attorney General A.M. Amin Uddin told AFP.
Shah Monjurul Hoque, a lawyer involved in the case, told AFP that the court had also asked protesting students "to return to class" after issuing its verdict.
The ruling curtailed the number of reserved jobs, from 56 percent of all positions to seven percent, but fell short of meeting protester demands.
It reserved five percent of all government jobs for the children of "freedom fighters" from Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, down from 30 percent.
One percent were reserved for tribal communities, and another one percent for people with disabilities or identifying as third gender under Bangladeshi law.
The remaining 93 percent of positions would be decided on merit, the court ruled.
The "freedom fighter" category in particular is a point of resentment for young graduates, with critics saying it is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina's ruling Awami League.
Students had called for the complete abolition of that category, along with other quotas for women and specific districts of the country.
- 'Our demand is one point' -
Opponents accuse Hasina's government of bending the judiciary to its will, and the premier had already hinted to the public this week that the court would issue a ruling favourable to student demands.
Hasina, 76, has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including by the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
But after the mounting crackdown and a rising death toll, it remains to be seen whether the court's verdict would mollify white-hot public anger.
"It's not about the rights of the students anymore," business owner Hasibul Sheikh, 24, told AFP at the scene of a Saturday street protest, held in the capital Dhaka in defiance of a nationwide curfew.
"Our demand is one point now, and that's the resignation of the government."
- 'Made the situation worse' -
With some 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the quota scheme's reintroduction deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.
Hasina inflamed tensions this month by likening protesters to the Bangladeshis who had collaborated with Pakistan during the country's independence war.
"Rather than try to address the protesters' grievances, the government's actions have made the situation worse," Crisis Group's Asia director Pierre Prakash told AFP.
Since Tuesday, at least 151 people, including several police officers, have been killed in clashes around the country, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals.
- Curfew extended -
Police have arrested several members of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Students Against Discrimination, the main protest organising group.
Bangladesh home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP that the curfew imposed on Saturday would continue "until the situation improves".
He said that in addition to the torching of government buildings and police posts by protesters, arson attacks had left Dhaka's metro rail network inoperable.
"They are carrying out destructive activities targeting the government," Khan said, blaming the BNP and the Islamist party Jamaat for stoking the violence.
The US State Department warned Americans on Saturday not to travel to Bangladesh and said it would begin removing some diplomats and their families from the country due to the civil unrest.
Y.Bouchard--BTB