A vehicle containing explosives rammed into the military post in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border. At least seven soldiers have been killed in Pakistan after militants attacked a military post in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. "The terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by multiple suicide bombing attacks, which led to [the] collapse of [a] portion of a building," the statement said. Five soldiers were killed in the initial blast and another two in the ensuing gun battle. The military said six attackers, some wearing bomb vests, were also killed in the firefight. A newly formed militant group, Jaish-e-Fursan-e Muhammad, claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and paid tribute to the troops who were "martyred." Attacks by militant groups in its border regions with Afghanistan have been on the rise, ever since the Islamist militant group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) withdrew from a cease-fire in 2022. Islamabad many of the attacks were launched from Afghanistan. The Taliban in Afghanistan has repeatedly denied this.

Does Kaja Kallas still have a shot at NATO's top job? The backing of the biggest allies may not guarantee favorite Mark Rutte a quick confirmation. It's undoubtedly late in the game but supporters of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis hope it's not too late to block the outgoing Dutch prime minister'swell-paved path to the helm at NATO. The process of selecting a new NATO chief has traditionally been done away from the public eye, with consensus reached in discussion behind closed doors in various capital cities. Openly elevating one's ambitions to become secretary general would be unseemly, even as candidates work behind the scenes to build the required support. Despite all this secrecy, it's long been clear that Rutte is considered the"safe choice" by the majority of allies. He would replace Jens Stoltenberg , the second-longest serving secretary general in history, when he leaves in October, after a decade on the job.  NATO wants its decision made before the European Union starts shuffling seats after the June elections and the United States votes in November. However the presumption that this is largely a done deal has just been rattled by a new social media push supporting the Estonian prime minister and a report by news agency Bloomberg on Thursday that the Romanian president will also throw his hat in the ring. The Dutch leader is praised for his long political career and familiarity with his counterparts, but when it comes to NATO, he doesn't possess some of the characteristics many would like to see in a new secretary general: That is, a change of gender and origin, preferably from a country meeting NATO's targeted 2% of GDP spending on defense. The Netherlands was only at 1.7% in 2023, with a promise to do better this year. Estonia spends more than 3% of its GDP on its military; Romania, just under 2.5%. Hope for a Kallas surge? Given these previous priorities, Kallas has publicly questioned the front-runner status of Rutte, but that hasn't propelled her into more serious consideration herself. Ben Tallis, a senior fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, helped fuel a bump for Kallas coming out of the Munich Security Conference last weekend. He believes her straight-talking style of leadership is necessary at NATO, tagging her in his X-post as the "best for the collective west." Other prominent voices joined him, including Andrew Michta, Director of the Scowcroft Strategy Initiative at the Atlantic Council, who said Rutte is "not the right candidate and it sends the wrong message," preferring someone from one of the eastern flank allies who "understand the existential nature of the threat" from Russia. But, Michta asserts, "There is still time to course-correct." Tallis suggests the momentum created on X, formerly Twitter, contributed to the seemingly abrupt decisions by the governments of the US, UK, France and Germany to announce their endorsements of Rutte over the last couple of days. He interprets this as an effort to discourage dissent that could delay consensus around Rutte. "The fact that such a credible candidate [as Kallas] is getting a groundswell of popular support is frightening for people who want to try and fix this in a backdoor elite kind of way," he said. Time for transparency in secretary general selection? Tallis believes the opaque, unwritten traditional method of selecting a new NATO chief is a bigger problem than any single candidate's viability.  "They're trying to put a lid on this process, but if they do, it's only going to stir up trouble for the future," he said, "because people have become involved in the politics of their defense over the last two years to a greater degree than in the last generation and people have to feel represented in that process, not shut out of it. Otherwise, we're going to face yet more problems with our democracies." Tallis is in favor of the earlier expectations that the next secretary general would not be a northern European, after Stoltenberg from Norway, and his predecessors Anders Fogh Rasmussen from Denmark and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer from the Netherlands. "We've had central and eastern European countries in NATO for 25 years, and they have not once had a secretary general," Tallis noted, adding that, with war at NATO's doorstep, a leader who's lived there would carry significant legitimacy. Appreciation for eastern flank experience  That's a theme echoed by Cristian Dorobantu, an adviser on security and defense in the Romanian parliament who believes his country's outgoing president would best fit the bill, given Europe's current security context.  

Taiwan’s foreign minister says it is documenting its experiences with China’s alleged attempts to interfere in elections next week and will publish its analysis soon after the vote. Taiwan’s government has pointed to military and economic pressure as well as Chinese-subsidised trips to China for local Taiwanese officials, as evidence of Beijing’s alleged interference ahead of the Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary election. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has called Taiwan’s elections a “purely an internal Chinese matter” and that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is trying to call any kind of interactions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait election interference. “Taiwan is taking measures to counter China’s interference and is documenting its experiences. Analysis will be published soon after the elections in consultation with international experts,” Foreign Minister Joseph Wu wrote in the latest issue of The Economist, without giving details. Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections are taking place against a backdrop of what the island’s government says is a concerted effort by China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, to sway the vote to get electors to vote for candidates Beijing may prefer. China has cast the election as a choice between war and peace, and says Taiwan’s government has been “hyping up” a military threat from China for electoral gain. “Should China succeed in shaping the outcome of voting in Taiwan, it will apply the same tactics to other democracies to promote its preferred international order,” Wu wrote. He urged the international community to pay more attention to China’s efforts to undermine Taiwan’s democracy through influence and disinformation campaigns, as well as hybrid warfare, including cyberattacks. “Our desire is to turn Taiwan’s experience into a positive contribution to the rules-based international order, thereby helping the free world’s fight against authoritarian powers bent on eroding democratic systems,” Wu wrote. “It is our belief that democracy will prevail.” On Thursday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, in a statement responding to DPP accusations of election interference, said such attacks were the DPP’s “usual trick” in elections to shift the focus of attention away from the party’s own problems. “These dirty and lame tricks are used too much, and they will only make themselves become a laughingstock,” it said. Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claims. China has aimed its ire at the DPP’s presidential candidate, current Vice President Lai Ching-te, accusing him of being a dangerous separatist. Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed. Both the DPP and Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), which traditionally favours close ties with China but denies being pro-Beijing, say only Taiwan’s 23 million people can decide their future. But the KMT also says it strongly opposes Taiwan independence.   Source: The Print

According to the act of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, the Treasurer is the third in the rank of university officer and in the absence of the Vice-Chancellor, he performs the duties of the Vice-Chancellor. He performs various responsibilities on behalf of the university, including signing all financial agreements, seeing that funds are spent in the sector for which they have been sanctioned or allocated. However, the university has not been recruiting for such an important post for eight months. On July 02 of last year, as the treasurer of the university, Professor Dr. Jalal Uddin completed his four-year term. The post has since remained vacant.  According to the Nazrul University Act, 'A Treasurer is appointed to the University for a term of four years on such terms as may be prescribed by the Chancellor.' However, the new treasurer is yet to be appointed and the related work is being disrupted. In this regard, Registrar Humayun Kabir said, 'The appointment of Vice Chancellor and Treasurer is based on the recommendation of the President and Prime Minister.'

A policeman was killed when terrorists attacked a checkpost near Kinger Bridge in Bannu district on Tuesday night. Police officials said that the checkpost had been established near the bridge in the limits of Mandan police station as part of security measures to protect roads and citizens from attacks. They said that the policemen deployed at the post were performing their duties as usual when they came under firing attack. “The policemen returned the fire and a gun battle continued for some time,” they maintained, adding that a head constable, namely Sardar Ali Khan Marwat, embraced martyrdom as a result of the attack. They said that the attackers fled the place taking the advantage of darkness, adding additional force was sent to the area and a search for the fleeing attackers was launched. The body of the policeman was shifted to the police lines for offering funeral prayers after completing medico-legal formalities at a hospital. Bannu district police officer Dr Mohammad Iqbal, SP investigations Zia Hasan and area elders attended the funeral. Later, he was laid to rest in a graveyard in his native village in Lakki Marwat district with full official honour. It was the second attack on law enforcement personnel in the last 48 hours, as on Monday night a group of armed assailants had killed and beheaded an FC soldier in Janikhel town of southern Bannu district. Source: DAWN

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Wednesday) said Bangladesh had witnessed gross violation of human rights during the long military regimes after 1975 carnage. "We're even barred from seeking justice," she said while UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet paid a courtesy call on her at her official Ganabhaban residence in the capital. PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed the newsmen after the meeting. The premier said Father of the Nation and then President Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members were brutally assassinated on August 15 in 1975. She added that she and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived the 1975 massacre as they were abroad at that time. Sheikh Hasina said the then military backed government had enacted Indemnity Ordinance to stop trial of those killings. After returning to country from forced exile, she said they were barred from seeking justice due to that ordinance. She said the then military government even rehabilitated killers of Bangabandhu and war criminals in politics. Bachelet, who was president of Chili for two times, said her family also had to suffer inhuman torture like Bangladesh Prime Minister when an oppressive government was in power in her country. The UN high commissioner said she was "deeply moved" after visiting the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum where the Father of the Nation with most of his family members were brutally killed on August 15, 1975. During the meeting, they discussed the current world issues and agreed that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, sanctions and counter sanctions have created crisis across the globe. On Rohingya issue, the Prime Minister said Myanmar doesn't refuse that Rohingyas are their nationals but they are yet to respond to repatriate their displaced citizens. Myanmar will has to bring their nationals back to their country, she said. She also said Bangladesh never wants war with anyone. Referring to the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) peace treaty, she said 62,000 refugees had returned to Bangladesh while 1800 arms cadres had surrendered after that deal. Bachelet requested Bangladesh Prime Minister to create scope for education and employments for Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar. The premier replied that they can arrange those scopes for Rohingyas in Bhashan Char. The UN high commissioner said the UN is working with the law ministry on the Digital Security Act and gave some observations to this end. Sheikh Hasina said she knew the matter and added that Bangladesh would not allow anyone to use its soil for terrorism. She briefly highlighted the government measures taken for overall development of Bangladesh. She said the Padma Bridge contributes to development of southern people of the country. "We are laying emphasis on agriculture for country's development while we are establishing agro processing industries," she added. The Prime Minister also said over 1.87 lakh families have got houses free of costs under Ashrayan projects as the government is working to bring every homeless and landless people under the housing scheme. Bachelet appreciated Bangladesh SDG implementation progress and work for addressing inequality.   She also greeted the premier for graduating Bangladesh to a developing nation from a least developed one. Both of them also discussed the climate change impact. The premier said they stressed aforestation in coastal regions as they are vulnerable to climate change. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, State Minister Md Shahriar Alam, PM's Principal Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus and UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka Gwyn Lewis, were present. Bachelet arrived in Dhaka on a four-day visit on Sunday morning last. Source: BSS AH

Analysts highlight that on a sequential basis, headwinds are in the form of wage revision for Infosys, TCS and Tech Mahindra; increase in travel costs across all companies and visa costs for many; and decline in utilisation, as companies crank up fresher hiring to meet demand. Attrition is expected to remain high at over 20% across companies as they deal with talent crunch in a buoyant demand environment. “Companies are expanding talent pools largely through freshers, though they take time before they get into production. In the interim, mid-cycle compensation revision and retention bonuses are common. Onsite attrition is also high across companies,” analysts at KIE said. In terms of pricing, companies have secured some revision though not enough to offset wage inflation. “For now, a more reasonable assumption will be stable pricing rather than a view of pricing increase,” they said. Companies will also face cross-currency headwinds emanating from 5%, 6.6% and 1.7% appreciation of the dollar against the euro, pound and Australian dollar, respectively. Cross-currency headwinds are expected to be between 120 and 200 basis points. “Optically, rupee depreciation may appear as a tailwind; however cross-currency headwinds have ensured only a marginal tailwind for the quarter,” they said. IT companies are also expected to report robust new deal wins, with a strong demand pipeline and no material change in their decision-making cycle. Also, analysts expect a divergent performance across companies sequentially due to seasonal factors, while the year-on-year growth is expected to remain strong. “On a sequential basis, performance will vary depending on seasonal factors and a certain amount of portfolio stress. We believe Infosys will lead the way with growth of 4.5%, followed by TCS at 3.6%,” analysts said. However, seasonal weakness is expected to impact the growth of Tech Mahindra at 2.6% in cross-currency (CC) terms, Wipro at 2.8% in CC terms and 2.1% organic, and HCL Technologies at 2.4% in CC terms. “Mphasis will report a weak quarter due to a likely decline in the BPO business linked to mortgage origination and refinancing. LTI (L&T Infotech) will report modest 3.1% growth due to lower pass-through revenues. Mindtree will lead the way on growth among mid-tier companies,” they said. Meanwhile, the year-on-year performance is expected to remain strong across the board and range from 2-4.5% for the Tier 1 and 3-5% for the mid-tier category. The earnings seasons starts from July 8, with TCS reporting its financial numbers for the April-June quarter. Source: The Financial Express

The Cabinet today (May 30) approved the draft of Bengali and English versions of the Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) Policy, 2022 aimed at protecting and expanding export markets to effectively face the post graduation challenges. The approval came from a regular weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office in the capital. Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told a news briefing at the Bangladesh Secretariat that Bangladesh needs to sign trade agreements with many countries to protect and expand export markets as well as ensure duty-free access for Bangladeshi products by overcoming the challenges of the post graduation from LDC. "We've taken steps to go for regional trade agreements. So, the policy has been taken for it (signing RTAs)," he said. The meeting, he said, also approved the draft of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation Act, 2022 to make the industrial entities under the BSCIC more effective. The proposed law will promote women entrepreneurs as the existing law, 1957 is an old one, which needs to be revised. The Cabinet also approved in principle the draft of International Mother Language Institute (Amendment) Act, 2022 to form a language research trust under the institute. The name of the trust will be 'Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Language Research Trust’ under which a permanent fund will be created, he said. Anwarul added that scholarship and fellowship will be given from the permanent fund for language research and development. The meeting endorsed the ratification proposal for an agreement to be signed between Bangladesh and Oman on the mutual visa exemption for the holders of diplomatic, official, special or service passports. The cabinet also approved the proposal for providing the transit facilities to Nepal under the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal-Motor Vehicle Agreement (BBIN-MVA) by cancelling its earlier decision over the Operating Modalities for the Carriage of Transit Cargo between Nepal and Bangladesh. About government measures to open the Padma Bridge to traffic on June 25 next, the cabinet secretary said the bridge would be opened through super-gorgeous ceremony. There will be replication of the original gala event in all the 64 districts in the country simultaneously, he added. Source: BSS AH

Pakistan's banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for a hand grenade attack on a police check post in the Phandu region of Peshawar, said South Asia Media Research Institute (SAMRI). A total of 4 policemen were allegedly killed and injured in the attack. Taking to Twitter, SAMRI said, "Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims responsibility for a hand grenade attack on a police check post in Phandu region of Peshawar. 4 policemen were allegedly killedinjured in the attack. 4 policemen were allegedly killedinjured in the attack."In January alone, several terrorist incidents rocked Pakistan as major cities including Islamabad and Lahore were targeted. On January 25, in an attack in Kech, Balochistan over 10 Pakistani military personnel were killed. Just over a week later, on February 2, the Noshki and Panjgur districts of the same province saw the killing of seven military personnel, including an officer. Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist group in Balochistan, claimed the responsibility for the attack. They claimed to have killed "more than 100 enemy personnel" in Noshki and Panjgur. In another terrorist attack, unidentified motorcyclists shot a Christian priest and injured his companion in Peshawar. Police suspect the Islamic State (IS) to be behind the attack. These attacks were mostly carried out by banned outfits including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).   Source: ANI

Describing the Covid-19 pandemic as a litmus test for global solidarity, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Tuesday) said the world needs to frame an inclusive, sustainable and holistic post Covid-19 recovery plan for expansion of trade, business and investment for the common prosperity.  “We need an inclusive, sustainable and holistic recovery plan for shared prosperity. In order to ensure sustainable and equitable order after the pandemic, we need whole-of-the-world approach now,” she said while addressing the Qatar Economic Forum today on the virtual platform. In her recorded video message, the Prime Minister placed a six-point suggestion to frame post-COVID-19 economic recovery plan for shared prosperity. The three-day event began on Monday under the slogan “New Horizons for Tomorrow” with more than 100 world leaders, diplomats, academics and businessmen delivering video messages. In her address, Sheikh Hasina urged the international community to take immediate collective and concerted actions together to mitigate impact of Covid-19 pandemic through expanding trade, business and investment for the common prosperity. Stressing the need for taking ambitious climate action to meet the goal of the Paris Agreement, she suggested for targeted international support to revitalize global trade and export earnings. The Prime Minister said that the countries must leverage science, technology, and innovation for closing the digital divide, and have new international support measures for the graduating LDCs to prevent any possible slide back due to the pandemic. She opined that the host countries, business leaders and investors in the region should contribute to the reintegration plan of migrant workers highlighted as vulnerable group.  Mentioning that the Covid-19 pandemic is a litmus test for the global solidarity as it already claimed millions of lives and battered the economies, the premier said, “The 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda can be the blueprint to overcome the crisis.” The Qatar Economic Forum has provided us the platform to identify opportunities, and share ideas and solutions to achieve that goal, and prepare ourselves for countering the future crises efficiently. In her speech, Sheikh Hasina again said that the Covid-19 vaccines should be declared as global public goods and the developing countries and LDCs that have the capacity be given the necessary support to produce vaccines. Regarding Bangladesh’s measures to fight the pandemic, she said that the government has been trying to make a balance between lives and livelihoods as it has so far announced various stimulus packages amounting to 15.1 billion US dollars. Despite the pandemic, the Prime Minister said, the country’s GDP growth reached 6.1 percent in 2020-2021, one of the highest in the world. Her government’s Digital Bangladesh vision helped the country adapt quickly with the new business and work environment triggered by Covid-19, she continued. The Prime Minister urged the public and private investors of Qatar and other Middle-East countries to seize the opportunities in Bangladesh, particularly in the fields of infrastructure, ICT, renewable energy, light engineering and pharmaceutical industries, and jute and agro products cashing on in the excellent investment environment in Bangladesh and the wide range of incentives for the foreign investors. Sheikh Hasina also laid emphasis on standing together to strengthen multilatersim against the rise of populism, anti-globalization sentiments and economic protectionism around the world. The countries across the globe need to ensure peace and stability everywhere in the world as these are prerequisite to expand economic activities, she said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili also delivered video messages, among others. Source: BSS AH