Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman said that the Baishakh celebration is an expression of the non-communal spirit of Bengali ethnicity. That's why the celebration faced various setbacks, violence, and militant attacks repeatedly. However, this time there is no fear of militant attack on the occasion of Pahela Baishakh. Keeping all the issues in mind, security measures have been taken by the DMP. He said these to reporters after visiting the venue of Pahela Baishakh at Ramna Park on Saturday (April 13). The DMP commissioner said a plan has been taken to provide extensive security centering the Baishakh, every program in Dhaka will be monitored through CC camera. Watch towers have also been built outside. There will be drones at the venue. Video cameras will be everywhere. He said there will be various programmes at Suhrawardy Udyan, Dhaka University, Ramna Botomul, Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament), Hatirjheel, and Rabindra Sarobar in the capital. The DMP has undertaken extensive security measures regarding the programmes. The Bomb Disposal Unit will conduct their regular rehearsals. For the same reason, traffic will be controlled in Dhaka University and Ramna areas. The DMP commissioner said that all programmes should end by the evening.    all programmes should end by the evening.  

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner, Md Habibur Rahman has said there is no threat to the upcoming Eid ul-Fitr. Besides, special security measures have been taken for 24 hours in Dhaka during the Eid holidays. He said this at a press conference after visiting the Eid market at Bashundhara Shopping Complex in the capital on Tuesday noon (April 2). DMP commissioner said, "There is no threat centering the Eid festival. As The capital becomes empty during the long Eid holidays. Security has been arranged keeping this in mind in the security plan." He said about 1.5 crore people will go out of Dhaka during the Eid holidays. At this time Dhaka city remains empty. So we would advise the city dwellers to be aware of their valuables and be aware. Special security measures have been taken by the police for 24 hours ahead of Eid.  

Following Moscow concert hall attack, Italian official said "surveliance and checks will be increased" ahead of the religious Easter holiday. Italy joined France on Monday in raising its security alert level following the  attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall for which an affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. The decision was reached during a national security council meeting in Rome on Monday, bolstered security is planned for the various events this week ahead of the Christian Easter religious holiday this weekend. Pope Francis has a busy schedule of events in Rome and at the Vatican in the days leading up to Easter Sunday. "Both surveillance and checks will be increased, paying the most attention to the places of greatest aggregation and transit of people, as well as sensitive targets," Italy's Interior Ministry said in a statement. France had taken the same step on Sunday, saying it found the Afghan branch of the Islamic State (ISIS-K) claiming responsibility for the attack in Moscow plausible. President Emmanuel Macron said the group "also tried to commit several actions on our own soil."  The attackrenewed attention in Europe on the risk from the extremists as the continent gears up for big events such as the Paris Olympics and the European Championship in Germany. In Germany, Interior Ministry spokesperson Cornelius Funke said the threat from Islamic extremists "remains acute" but authorities' risk assessment hadn't changed so far as a result of the Moscow attack..  

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on Monday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the duration of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as well as the unconditional release of all hostages. The resolution, which passed to widespread applause, is the first to be approved by all U.N. Security Council members after four previous attempts during the past five months of war. The U.S., which vetoed three previous resolutions and put forward its own failed proposal last week, abstained. U.N. Security Council resolutions are binding on member states, though it remains unclear how it will be enforced. Despite some efforts to take U.S. edits to the resolution into account, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the U.S. “did not agree with everything in the resolution,” most notably its failure to include explicit condemnation of Hamas. “For that reason, we were unfortunately not able to vote yes.” The U.S.’s decision to abstain from the resolution comes amid heightened tensions between the Biden Administration and the Israeli government, the latter of which has been unwilling to heed international calls for greater humanitarian access to Gaza, where experts warn that famine is imminent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also rebuffed the Biden administration’s warnings against launching a ground invasion on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are currently sheltering. Although President Biden invited an Israeli delegation to Washington this week to discuss alternative approaches to a ground invasion, Netanyahu threatened to cancel those meetings if the U.S. didn’t veto the resolution. After the resolution passed, Netanyahu’s office announced that the delegation would not leave for Washington as scheduled. White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the Biden Administration is "very disappointed about Netanyahu's decision not to send his advisers for talks at the White House about the Rafah operation." While human-rights organizations have praised the resolution’s passage, many of them, such as the International Rescue Committee, continue to call for a sustained ceasefire beyond Ramadan, which is due to end in just two weeks. Source: Time  

Depending on whom you ask, the short-form video platform TikTok is either a showcase for goofy dances and makeup tutorials or a sophisticated threat to US national security. Because TikTok Inc. is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance Ltd. — and because China requires its companies, upon request, to share any national security-related data with the government — TikTok’s popularity among Americans carries implications beyond the mobile-phone screen. That’s on top of hand-wringing by parents, educators and mental-health experts about whether TikTok’s content and addictive nature are unhealthy for young minds. Renewed efforts by Congress to force TikTok to sell or face a ban in the US have the backing of the White House, even as President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign has started to use the platform to reach younger voters. 1. What makes TikTok different from other social media sites? All social media platforms collect user data. But TikTok is viewed as the most advanced, and uncannily effective, at learning about your interests — based on how long you stay with a video and whether you like, forward or comment on it. That enables its algorithm to deliver more items of interest to what it calls the “For You” feed. The resulting stream of diverse yet personalized content can be intoxicating enough that it’s hard to stop scrolling. Two-thirds of American teens use TikTok every day, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, with 16% saying they’re on the platform almost constantly. 2. What are the biggest worries about TikTok? The national security concerns involve hypothetical though not implausible scenarios in which China’s government employs its influence over ByteDance to turn TikTok into an instrument of harm against American interests, through such channels as: Data collection. Along with what you seem to be interested in, TikTok learns your computer’s unique internet protocol (IP) address and — if you choose to let it — your precise location data and who is on your contact list. TikTok critics say that information could be used to develop profiles of select Americans and subject them to blackmail. Espionage. A 2020 executive order by then-President Donald Trump broached the possibility that China could use TikTok’s data to “track the locations of federal employees and contractors” and to “conduct corporate espionage.” Influence operations. US national security officials are concerned that TikTok could try to shape US public opinion by strategically suppressing or promoting certain videos. One official called the app a “Trojan horse” through which China could manipulate American thought. 3. Is there any evidence to back up those concerns? In December 2022, the chief executives of ByteDance and TikTok admitted that ByteDance employees had inappropriately accessed the IP addresses of American users, including journalists writing critical stories about the company. The Justice Department was investigating whether that amounted to improper surveillance of Americans. 4. What does the company say? “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified in March 2023 to a US congressional panel investigating the company. TikTok notes that Chew is based in Singapore, the company’s chief operating officer in the US and its global head of trust and safety in Ireland. Chew said TikTok poses no greater risk than US-based video-sharing apps such as Instagram and YouTube. In a bid to assuage worry, TikTok said sensitive data on US users was being moved to servers controlled by Austin, Texas-based Oracle Corp., in an effort known as Project Texas. TikTok also said its source code would be made available for third-party review. 5. What are the other worries about TikTok? Like most platforms, TikTok welcomes users as young as 13. There are concerns about how much time young people spend watching videos and whether the content undermines their self-esteem by, say, warping their sense of body image. In November, a US judge ruled that TikTok and rival social media platforms must face claims in hundreds of federal lawsuits blaming them for addicting young people to social media. EU regulators have fined TikTok for alleged lapses in protecting the personal data of minors. In July, authorities in the bloc said TikTok needed to do more to comply with its new Digital Services Act, which covers children’s safety online and content moderation. Some viral TikTok trends have proved dangerous. A particularly notorious one, called the blackout challenge, was linked to the deaths of at least 20 children under the age of 15 over an 18-month span. 6. Are governments taking any action against TikTok on national security grounds? Citing national security, India in 2020 banned the use of TikTok and dozens of other apps developed by Chinese companies. The US has prohibited downloading or using TikTok on federal government devices; the UK, Canada, Belgium and Taiwan, have enacted similar bans. One US state, Montana, went so far as to enact a law prohibiting the download of TikTok by the general public beginning in 2024; TikTok swiftly challenged the law on free-speech grounds. President Joe Biden’s administration has pressed for TikTok to become independent of ByteDance or face a US ban. The Energy and Commerce Committee of the US House of Representatives voted 50-0 in favor of legislation that would force ByteDance to sell the company within six months. If ByteDance fails to comply, TikTok would be blocked from app stores such as those operated by Apple and Google as well as internet service providers in the US. Additional congressional action is expected in the coming weeks, though the bill does not have any sponsors in the Senate and is sure to be subject to court challenges. Even so, Biden said he would sign the bill if Congress passes it. 7. Can the US really ban an app? There’s no direct precedent for banning a free consumer technology in the US. It’s more of a thing that would happen in China, which has banned Facebook since 2009. If a US ban were to survive legal challenges, the government could seek to force app store operators to remove TikTok from their menu of offerings. That would become an obstacle to people becoming new TikTok users. More challenging would be finding ways to stop existing users from continuing to access the service.   Source: Bloomberg

The proposed legislation seeks to increase the government's authority in addressing potential threats to its governance. The law proposes up to life imprisonment for treason and insurrection. Hong Kong's government unveiled a draft national security law on Friday that proposes up to life imprisonment for offenses like treason and insurrection The draft "Safeguarding National Security Bill," covers reason, espionage, external interference, state secrets, and sedition.  Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee on Thursday called for the bill to be passed at "full speed." It is expected to pass easily, possibly in weeks, in a legislature packed with Beijing loyalists following an electoral overhaul. Concerns over freedoms Critics have warned the legislation will make Hong Kong's legal framework increasingly similar to that of mainland China. The Hong Kong government has stated that several Western countries have comparable laws, and that these regulations are necessary to close gaps in the national security system, which was reinforced in 2020 with another national security law directly imposed by China. According to Hong Kong's Basic Law, the government needs to enact a national security law. A previous attempt to pass the aw resulted in mass protests in 2019, after which a security law was put in place in 2020 to crack down on dissent. Many pro-democracy activists have been arrested and punished, while others have escaped abroad. Several society groups and outspoken media outlets have been disbanded. The government of the former British colony has said that it would affect only "an extremely small minority" of residents. Several stakeholders are closely monitoring these developments. Some critics say this will cause a further decline in the civil liberties enjoyed by Hong Kong citizens.

Some foreign companies say they may have to pay extra operational costs to comply with the new National Security Law. Several foreign chambers of commerce raised concerns about the legislation of a new national security law in Hong Kong by the time a one-month public consultation period ended Wednesday. The Hong Kong government on Thursday said it had received a total of 13,147 submissions on its plans to enact national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law. It said 98.6% of submissions showed support and made positive comments. A Security Bureau spokesperson said 93 submissions, or 0.71%, came out against the proposals, including more than 10 from overseas anti-People’s Republic of China organizations or abscondees. Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said the government will consolidate the results of the consultation exercise at full steam, report to lawmakers and seek to finalize the legislation bill as soon as possible. Chambers of commerce representing German, European and Japanese companies in Hong Kong have separately commented on the matter, saying that the new law may hurt investors’ sentiment in the city. The new definition of state secrets may increase the perception that the “one country” aspect of Hong Kong’s special status is more in focus than the “two systems,” Johannes Hack, the president of the German Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, told the Associated Press in an email interview. “For Hong Kong to present a distinctive business advantage vis-a-vis the mainland, the two systems part is however quite important,” he said. “Hong Kong in our view should be different ‘in fact and feeling.’” He said additional costs to comply with the “quite broad definition” of state secrets may cause foreign investors to move elsewhere. A spokesperson of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong told Nikkei Asia in a statement that it will pay “particular attention to issues potentially concerning the core values that make Hong Kong an attractive place in which to do business.” The spokesperson said Hong Kong’s core values refer to “strong protection for fundamental rights, the rule of law, an independent judiciary and a free flow of information.” In early February, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) published a survey, which was conducted in January before the Hong Kong government started a public consultation on the security law legislation.   About one-third of the respondents said that Hong Kong’s overall business climate has either “worsened” or “worsened significantly” from a year ago, the survey showed. The ratio increased by more than 20 percentage points compared with the previous survey published last July. Shinya Amano, director general of JETRO Hong Kong, said on February 2 that recent political developments were creating “a vague sense of wariness” that was having a chill effect on businesses.  He said some companies were worried by the low voter turnout rate in the District Council elections last December as Beijing screened all candidates. He said they were concerned by trials related to the National Security Law imposed by Beijing in Hong Kong in June 2020 as offenders could be jailed for life. Last December, Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow announced that she had fled to Canada for study and would not return to Hong Kong.  She was officially wanted by Hong Kong police on February 6 as she was under investigation for “collusion with foreign forces.” Her case was widely reported by Japanese media. She speaks Japanese fluently. Press freedom On June 30, 2020, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed the National Security Law for Hong Kong, which targets four types of offenses including secession, subversion, terrorist activities and collusion with foreign powers.  Now the Hong Kong government wants to pass a new National Security Law in accordance with Article 23 of the Basic Law. The new law will cover five offenses, including treason, sedition, theft of state secrets, sabotage activities and external interference. Citing a survey conducted in early February, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) said in a proposal on February 26 that all 160 members who responded think that the new National Security Law will have a negative impact on the city’s press freedom.   It said the definition of “state secrets” is too broad, making it difficult for reporters to determine whether their government sources are disclosing information with lawful authority. It said that the government, when enacting the law, should avoid situations where journalists find themselves caught up in legal trouble due to their regular news reporting and commentary work.  “Hong Kong is required to ensure that national security legislation aligns with international standards and upholds rights and freedoms, as set out in the Joint Declaration, the Basic Law, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” said David Cameron, foreign secretary of the United Kingdom. “Legislative proposals announced on 30 January by the Hong Kong government do not uphold these obligations,” he said. He said the UK was concerned by the proposed new law as the work of international organizations in Hong Kong might be labeled “foreign interference.” He said the toughening of penalties for speech crimes and the use of the broadly defined term “state secrets” will inhibit freedoms of speech, expression and the press. “The UK’s ‘concerns’ have no ground,” Mao Ning, a spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thursday. “The Sino-British Joint Declaration by no means put the UK in a position or gave it any right to interfere in Hong Kong affairs. We urge the UK to find the right mindset, face the fact that Hong Kong has already returned to China, stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs, reflect on its action, and end double standards.”  She added that the normal activities of foreign institutions and personnel in Hong Kong will continue to be protected in accordance with law. She said the UK’s National Security Act, which came into force last year, contains many provisions with vague definitions and grants law enforcement agencies sweeping power, which can be abused easily.  Jasper Tsang’s article On February 6, Jasper Tsang, the former president of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and a heavyweight in the pro-Beijing camp, made some suggestions to the government about the Article 23 legislation. In an article published by local newspaper Ming Pao, Tsang said officials should explain whether the press can defend itself with “public interest” when it is accused of having reported information that may threaten national security.  He says the new law should clearly define “seditious intention.” For example, he says the definition may be too broad if a person who delivered hate speech against mainland tourists is accused of threatening national security. Tsang was then criticized by some younger comrades in the pro-Beijing camp.  Joephy Chan, a lawmaker of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, said in her YouTube channel that Tsang had become a rebel at a critical time. She said Tsang’s comments were confusing and made her feel uncomfortable. She said key opinion leaders should always help the government explain and promote its policies. Source: Asia Times

Chad's state prosecutor has said that Yaya Dillo, leader of an opposition left-wing party, was killed during a gunfight with security forces, after an attack at the country's internal security agency. Chad's state prosecutor Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye on Thursday said that Yaya Dillo, the leader of the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF), had been killed on Wednesday during an exchange of fire with security forces.  Two days of fighting in N'Djamena Heavy gunfire was audible on Wednesday around the area of the PSF headquarters.  Dillo died "where he had retreated, at the headquarters of his party. He didn't want to surrender and fired on law enforcement," Communications Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said.  Prosecutor Kedelaye had earlier spoken of "dead including Yaya Dillo" during a security forces operation without detailing the circumstances. This followed an attack overnight on Tuesday on the country's internal security agency building in which several people were killed. Chadian authorities blamed Dillo and the PSF, although Dillo had told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that he was not present at the attack. He claimed the government was trying to intimidate him so that he would not run in elections scheduled for May 6 this year. The government also accused a PSF member of an "assassination attempt against the president of the supreme court," an allegation Dillo described as "staged."  The internet connectivity tracking service NetBlocks on Wednesday reported severe disruptions to internet connectivity in the country that it said persisted throughout much of the day. Reuters news agency cited a witness as reporting a return to relative calm in the capital N'Djamena on Thursday, with a smaller visible military presence but with internet access still not restored. Cousins and rivals, set to contest election Yaya Dillo Djerou, 49, was a cousin of transitional President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno. The interim leader took control in Chad in 2021 when his father Idriss Deby Itno was said to have been killed on the front lines fighting an insurgency in the north of the country.  Dillo and Mahamat Deby Itno would both have contested the election, and the May 6 date had only been made public on Tuesday. Elections in May would bring an end to roughly three years of effective military rule. Mahamat Deby Itno had originally promised elections and a return to civilian rule within 18 months but later extended the transition period by another two years. Chad last year asked Germany's ambassador to leave the country, prompting Berlin to send Chad's representative home, amid the sluggish transition period. Who was Yaya Dillo?  Dillo went from being an armed rebel leader to a Cabinet minister under former President Deby, his uncle, and then an opposition candidate against him. In 2021, he told France's RFI radio station that he had been attacked by members of the presidential guard, headed by now interim President Mahamat Deby Itno, who he said killed several of his family members including his wife.  Government forces at the time said they had opened fire after encountering armed resistance.  Deby's military government is one of several juntas currently ruling in West and Central Africa, where there have been eight coups since 2020. 

The UN chief says the Security Council's authority has been undermined by its inability to take action on conflicts. He called for the body to be reformed United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday deplored what he said were inadequate responses to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine by the Security Council, saying its authority had been "perhaps fatally" undermined.  Speaking at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Guterres said the Security Council was often "unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time." What else did Guterres say? "The Council's lack of unity on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel's military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October, has severely — perhaps fatally — undermined its authority," he said. "The Council needs serious reform to its composition and working methods." Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, has used its veto right to block several resolutions calling for Moscow to stop its invasion, or those condemning its "annexations" of Ukrainian regions.  The United States last week again vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Israel's offensive against Gaza. Washington said the resolution would interfere with negotiations on a deal to release hostages. It was the third US veto of a draft resolution since the start of the current fighting on October 7.

The World Uyghur Congress has raised the issue of human rights violations by China in Xinjiang at the recently concluded Munich Security Conference (MSC). Dolkon Isa, the President of the World Uyghur Congress participated in the event where several other diplomats, journalists, representatives of major NGOs and dignitaries from around the world took part in the three-day long event. After the end of MSC, Isa in a social media post on 'X' said that "The @MunSecConf has ended. I had the opportunity to attend different discussions attended by world diplomats, NGOs, politicians, and others. Important discussions around security, and global order took place. We also hosted our own Meshrep on the Margins". Similarly, the MSC also acted as the forum to discuss diverse cultures and the World Uyghur Congress took the matter to social media platform 'X' stating, "Yesterday, on the margins of the @MunSecConf, the WUC together with @NEDemocracy Co-hosted a Meshrep event, highlighting the need for preservation of our culture, and the importance of cross-movement solidarity. Thank you to the NGOs, journalists, politicians, and other allies who came and participated. A special thanks to the musicians, artists and the dance group."Dolkon Isa asked a crucial question to a Qatari diplomat on China's double standards, position on global conflicts around the world. "On one side, China is locking up millions of Uyghurs, and on the other, it's appearing to support Palestinians and other Muslims. How honest is their attitude?" he asked. Later, in a statement given to ANI Isa stated, ''Important discussions took place at the Munich Security Conference this year, especially authoritarian trends that are undermining our global security, in light of Navalny's death (Russian Opposition leader).""China was also on the agenda. However, the MSC failed to meaningfully address gross human rights violations, such as the Uyghur genocide that is the direct result of authoritarian trends. Instead, Wang Yi was denying the Uyghur genocide, and the entire room was applauding him over China's economic development over the last decades. China's threat to the international order was not addressed. This is a failed opportunity'," he added. Moreover, Dolkun Isa also met with Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, former Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski. They discussed the human rights situation in Xinjiang. He thanked the leaders for their support of democracy, human rights and security.  Source: ANI