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Bangladeshi students braved bullets to overthrow an autocratic government, but six months after the revolution, many say finding a job is proving a harder task than manning the barricades.Dhaka University student Mohammad Rizwan Chowdhury’s dreams of ample opportunities for youth have been badly dented, saying he had seen little action from the caretaker government of …

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Gunfire and explosions rocked the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, an AFP journalist reported, as the Israeli military kept up a large-scale raid for a second day.The operation, launched just days after a ceasefire paused more than a year of fighting in Gaza, has left at least 10 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israeli officials have said the raid is part of a broader campaign against militants in the West Bank, citing thousands of attack attempts since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.”The situation is very difficult,” Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP. “The occupation army has bulldozed all the roads leading to Jenin camp and to the Jenin government hospital… There is shooting and explosions,” he added, referring to the Israeli military.Israeli forces have detained around 20 people from villages around Jenin since the operation began on Tuesday, the official said.An AFP correspondent reported hearing gunfire and explosions from the northern city’s refugee camp, a hotbed of militancy where Israeli forces have carried out repeated raids.In December, Jenin area militants also clashed with the security forces of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.- ‘Iron Wall’ -The Israeli military said it was continuing with the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, adding that it had “neutralised over 10 terrorists”.”Additionally, aerial strikes on terror infrastructure sites were conducted and numerous explosives planted on the routes by the terrorists were dismantled,” it said in a statement.The raid in Jenin aims to counter “hundreds of terrorist attacks, both in Judea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank) and the rest of Israel,” military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said at a press briefing.He said that since the start of the Gaza war, Israel had seen “over 2,000 terror attack attempts” from the West Bank, adding that the army had “eliminated around 800 terrorists”.Shoshani said the explosive devices planted along roads had recently killed a soldier in the area.Islamic Jihad, one of the factions present in Jenin, condemned what it called “the systematic displacement, destruction and killing carried out by the occupation army against Jenin refugee camp”.The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry accused Israel of “collective punishment” and said the raid was part of an Israeli plan aimed at “gradually annexing the occupied West Bank”. – ‘Decisive operation’ -Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to continue the raid in Jenin.”It is a decisive operation aimed at eliminating terrorists in the camp,” Katz said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the military would not allow a “terror front” to be established there.”It is a key lesson learnt from Gaza… we do not want terrorism to recur in the camp once the operation ends,” he said.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the raid aimed to “eradicate terrorism” in Jenin. He linked the operation to a broader strategy of countering Iran “wherever it sends its arms — in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen” and the West Bank.The Israeli government has accused Iran, which supports armed groups across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, of attempting to funnel weapons and funds to militants in the West Bank. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “maximum restraint” from Israeli security forces and expressed deep concern, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.France called on Israel to “show restraint” in a foreign ministry statement, also expressing its “serious concerns about the increase in security tensions”.Violence has surged throughout the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023.According to the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 848 Palestinians in the West Bank since the conflict began.During the same period, at least 29 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the territory, according to Israeli official figures.

US and European stock markets mostly pushed higher Wednesday as investors tracked earnings and President Donald Trump’s policy plans as artificial intelligence shares rallied.However, Hong Kong and Shanghai’s indices fell after Trump warned China could be included in a list of countries to be hit with tariffs on February 1.The latest batch of corporate earnings helped boost …

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Yemen’s Huthi rebels on Wednesday freed the crew of the merchant ship Galaxy Leader after detaining them for more than a year, citing the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas as motivation.Weeks after the war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, 2023, the Iran-backed Huthis began launching attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they said was support for the Palestinians.At the start of their campaign, helicopter-borne rebels stormed the vehicle carrier Galaxy Leader and detained its 25 international crew.On Wednesday, the Huthi supreme council “announced the freeing of the crew of the Galaxy Leader, who were arrested on November 19, 2023 during the campaign in solidarity with Gaza”, the rebels’ Saba news agency said.It added that the release came “in support of the ceasefire” in the Palestinian territory, which began on Sunday.Saba said the crew were freed with the help of the Gulf sultanate of Oman.At a press conference held on the tarmac surrounded by the 25 crew members, a Hamas official hailed the “coordination” between his group and the Huthis that led to the crew’s release, according to footage aired by the rebel-affiliated Al-Masirah TV channel.Oman’s foreign ministry later confirmed that the crew — comprising the Bulgarian captain and  second-in-command, 17 Filipinos, and a handful of Ukrainian, Romanian and Mexican sailors — had flown from Sanaa to Muscat aboard an Omani air force plane.Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that “Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov dispatched the government plane” to bring their two citizens back home.- ‘Heartwarming news’ -“The release of the Galaxy Leader crew is heartwarming news that puts an end to the arbitrary detention and separation that they and their families endured for more than a year,” said UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, who urged the Huthis to end “all maritime attacks”.International Maritime Organization chief Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement that it was “a moment of profound relief for all of us — not only for the crew and their families, but also to the wider maritime community”.Dominguez, whose UN agency deals with shipping security, called the release a testament to “diplomacy and dialogue, recognising innocent seafarers must not become collateral victims in wider geopolitical tensions”.Among the ships targeted by the Huthis were vessels the rebels believed were linked to Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom.The Bahamas-flagged, British-owned Galaxy Leader is operated by a Japanese firm but has links to Israeli businessman Abraham “Rami” Ungar.The rebels later opened the ship as an attraction for Yemeni tourists who were invited to visit the captured vessel, which was by then flying Yemeni and Palestinian flags, off the rebel-held province of Hodeida.Part of Iran’s “axis of resistance”, the Huthis have also repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war began with Hamas’s 2023 attack.On Tuesday, they said that during the Gaza ceasefire they would limit their attacks to vessels linked to Israel.

Syria’s top diplomat said Wednesday that lifting economic sanctions imposed during the rule of ousted president Bashar al-Assad was “key” to restoring stability in the war-torn country.For weeks, Syria’s new authorities have been lobbying Western powers to scrap restrictions that had targeted Assad’s administration over his brutal 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests, which triggered the country’s civil war.But the international community has been hesitant to roll back the measures, with many countries — including the US — saying they are waiting to see how Syria’s new rulers exercise their power before doing so.”Removing economic sanctions is the key for the stability of Syria,” Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said in a conversation with former British prime minister Tony Blair at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The sanctions, he added, were imposed for the benefit of Syrians, but are now “against the Syrian people”.On December 8, rebels led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist group seized control of Damascus and ousted Assad, ending more than 50 years of his family’s iron-fisted rule.Nearly 14 years of conflict have killed more than half a million Syrians, destroyed the country’s infrastructure and impoverished its people, forcing millions to flee their homes.”The reason for these sanctions is now in Moscow,” Shaibani said, referring to Assad, who fled to the Russian capital.He added that “the Syrian people shouldn’t be punished” by measures levelled against the now-deposed ruler.- ‘Collapsed state’ -Shaibani also insisted in Davos that Syria would not be “a threat for any country in the world”.HTS, whose chief Ahmed al-Sharaa is Syria’s new leader, has its roots in a former branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria, but it broke ties with the jihadist group in 2016 and has sought to soften its image.”We inherited a collapsed state from the Assad regime, there is no economic system,” Shaibani said, adding that “the economy in the future will be open”.The new authorities would focus on five sectors, he said: energy, telecoms, roads and airports, education and health. “If we succeed in these five sectors, the basic services for our Syrian people” will be provided, he added.Earlier Wednesday, Shaibani told the Financial Times that a committee had been created to study “Syria’s economic condition and infrastructure and would focus on privatisation efforts, including of oils, cotton and furniture factories”.Syria will also “explore public-private partnerships to encourage investment into airports, railways and roads”, according to his interview with the FT.On January 6, the US announced that it was providing limited sanctions relief on some activities in Syria for the next six months to ease access to basic services following Assad’s fall.Earlier this month, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said that the bloc could begin lifting sanctions if Syria’s new rulers took steps to form an inclusive government that protected minorities.EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss proposals to ease some measures at a meeting in Brussels on January 27.