The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday after weeks of deadly anti-government demonstrations gripped the South Asian nation.

The announcement from Army Chief Waker-uz-Zaman came after protesters stormed the official residence of the prime minister in the capital, Dhaka.

Images showed flames billowing from vehicles near Hasina’s house, with police unable to contain throngs of people charging towards the neighborhood.

At least 91 people have been killed in Bangladesh since mid-July, according to Reuters, during violent confrontations between police and protesters demanding the scrapping of quotas for government jobs.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Middle Eastern nations are bracing for the potential widening of the Israel-Hamas war amid threats by Iran to avenge the killing of Hamas’ political leader in Tehran last week.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to retaliate against Israel for the assassination of the head of Hamas’ political bureau Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. The country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that “blood vengeance” for the killing is “certain.”

Both Tehran and Hamas blame Israel for the killing but Israel hasn’t confirmed or denied involvement.

Hundreds of Lebanese prepared to flee the country as nations called on their citizens to leave Lebanon. The US embassy in Beirut on Saturday encouraged citizens who wish to depart “to book any ticket” as several airlines suspended or canceled flights to the country. In Israel, the government evaluated its preparedness and options should Iran and its regional proxies attack, while citizens stocked up on supplies in anticipation of an Iranian assault.

This week’s events could determine the course of the war in Gaza and significantly shift the focus away from the besieged enclave if retaliation by Iran escalates into a wider regional conflict involving the United States and other nations. Such escalation could also jeopardize efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and release hostages, despite recent progress in negotiations.

Iran and Israel exchanged direct fire for the first time in April after a decades-long shadow war during which the two sides avoided striking each other’s territory. Iran launched 300 projectiles at Israel on April 13, accusing it of attacking its diplomatic building in Syria earlier that month. Israel responded with a limited strike on Iran. While the unprecedented exchange was contained at the time, another round of fighting may be harder to keep from escalating.

The US has boosted its preparedness to defend Israel in case of another Iranian attack. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin discussed comprehensive security strategies to protect Israel, according to a statement on Monday. The discussions included detailed scenarios outlining both defensive and offensive capabilities. And Michael Kurilla, the commander of US Central Command, is in the Middle East, according to a US defense official, who would not say what country Kurilla was in or whatever other countries he would be visiting.

In a last-ditch effort at diplomacy, regional countries have reached out to Iran to try to calm tensions. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi flew to Tehran on Sunday, a rare trip for a top official from the US-allied monarchy. Separately, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatti called Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani to discuss the “unprecedented and very dangerous” regional escalation, according to the Egyptian foreign ministry.

‘A major mistake’

But Iranian officials are not relenting. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Safadi that Haniyeh’s assassination was a “major mistake by the Zionist regime (Israel) that will not go unanswered,” according to Iranian state TV. In a weekly news conference in Tehran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that the country is determined to deter Israel and that “no one should doubt” its resolve in doing so.

Israel could also face an attack from its northern front. Israel assassinated Fu’ad Shukr, a high-ranking Hezbollah commander, last week in response to the killing of 12 children with a rocket on the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Shukr’s killing “crossed red lines” and will be met with an “inevitable” response, hinting at coordination with other regional groups.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran “and its minions” on Sunday that his country was determined to “stand against them on every front and in every arena –  far and near.”

“Anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price,” Netanyahu said during a speech in Jerusalem. He reiterated his assertion that increasing military pressure on Hamas was the only way to achieve the goals of the war in Gaza and bring the hostages home.

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for failure to reach a deal.

Anti-government rallies took place in several cities across Israel on Saturday, demanding a deal to secure the release of all hostages held in Gaza despite regional security threats.

Speaking at a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said he instructed an Israeli delegation to leave for Cairo on Saturday to continue negotiations for a ceasefire and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

He said Israel had an “ironclad commitment” to return all hostages, adding that he’s “ready to go a long way” to win the release of all hostages while maintaining Israel’s security.

Israel was considering its options to prepare for a regional attack over the weekend. The government “is reviewing possible actions that would exact a price in the case of attempts by Iran and its proxies to attack Israel,” the Israeli defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Gallant said Israel was “prepared very strongly in defense – on land and in the air and we are ready to move quickly to attack or to react,” insisting on the importance of readiness for a quick transition from defense to attack.

On Thursday, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that while the country had “very good defense systems” and international partners who have reinforced their deployment in the region, Israel’s defenses were “not hermetically sealed.”

Business as usual in Beirut

Meanwhile, residents of both Israel and Lebanon are preparing for a wider conflict. Major airlines suspended flights to both countries, leaving some Israeli travelers stranded abroad, and residents of Lebanon scrambledto get on flights out of the country.

The US embassy in Beirut said that some commercial options out of the country remained available despite several airlines suspending or canceling flights, and other flights selling out.

In the summer months, Lebanon is usually packed with visitors from abroad, mainly from the Lebanese diaspora, giving the country a much-needed economic boost. Many such travelers are considering cutting their vacations short and taking the first flight back home.

But even as the specter of war looms over the country, many are operating normally. Along Beirut’s seafront on Sunday, Arabic pop music blared through speakers as groups of men, beers in hand, sunbathed. Behind them, younger men practiced their diving skills in the Mediterranean Sea as children in floaties swam in the rocky sea.

Samer Othman, 51, said he doesn’t think the region is on the brink of an expanded war. “If we were to have war, it would have happened 10 months ago,” he said, referring to October, when Hezbollah launched cross border attacks on Israel after Israel launched a devastating assault on Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7 attack during which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage.

Walking shirtless on the corniche with his elderly father, Othman said a lifetime under multiple wars had strengthened him and his countrymen. “The country is used to problems and shocks. We can’t live in fear. Fear can only prevent you from living but it won’t prevent death.”

Others, however, were more jittery about the situation. A family was posing for pictures by the rooftop pool of a luxury Beirut hotel when two sonic booms sent them running for cover. They returned to the pool without the children when it turned out there was no airstrike. Israeli jets violating Lebanese airspace often break the sound barrier.

The country braces for war in its own way and tends to pick up after itself. Hours after Hezbollah supporters held a funeral procession for Shukr, the Hezbollah commander, Beirut’s skyline was lit with colorful fireworks coinciding with a concert on the other side of town.

On Sunday, thousands marched to Beirut port to mark four years since an explosion ripped through the city, killing more than 200 people. To this day, no one has been brought to justice. And with the prospect of war on the horizon, many say they don’t have confidence in their leaders or a choice in what comes next.

“This is not a leadership. It’s an existence-ship (sic). This is a situation that we have to live with unfortunately,” Liz Nicholas, 31, said, lowering the placard she’s holding at the march. “They don’t represent me. I don’t think of them as my government or my leadership. They just exist. And for some reason we have to be ok with it or live outside the country like most of us are doing.”

Israelis stock up on essentials

The Jerusalem municipality last week issued instructions on what to do in the event that the city comes under attack, distributing a file with a list of parking lots that will be used as shelters, and a list of bomb shelters. It said residents must be able to reach bomb shelters in 90 seconds. “Residents are advised to clean and prepare their bomb shelters in advance,” the file said.

Residents were advised to stock enough water and food for three days and to buy batteries and flashlights in addition to medications.

Several Israeli agencies and services have stepped up readiness. The emergency services  Magen David Adom said it was prepared for every scenario after a three-day exercise “aimed at preparing for a potential war in the north and blackout scenarios. The exercise involved handling casualty events and “teams practiced a ‘blackout scenario’ with a focus on using satellite communication tools.”

Despite the preparations, many Israelis are continuing with their daily business.

In Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Circus square, Rony Be’er, 75, walked with his friend, Ivana Reiser, 73, on Monday.

“They could hit us any minute now,” Be’er said. Asked what they are doing to prepare for a potential attack, he said: “We don’t do anything. We just walk.”

Baer and Reiser say that, like many Israelis, they have ready-made shelters at home used in other conflicts. Many of Israeli apartment buildings have built-in “safe rooms,” reinforced with concrete as thick as two feet, as well as heavy steel doors.

All Israeli buildings erected after 1993 are required to have bomb shelters. Cinemas, libraries and malls are also equipped with bomb shelters. Some remain closed but open automatically when sirens go off.

Theater students Roy Dror, 23, and Ron Heckmann, 26, say they’re not doing much to prepare for an attack, but know exactly where the shelters are should the sirens sound.

Heckmann, who grew up in the northern Israeli town of Nahariyah on the border with Lebanon, said he and his family “used to suffer a lot of bombs.” Compared to the north, he said, Tel Aviv feels safe.

Far-right riots swept Britain over the weekend, with outbreaks of anti-immigrant violence in a number of cities and towns, leaving the new UK government scrambling to control the worst disorder in more than a decade.

Crowds of far-right agitators set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers, leaving those inside trapped and terrified, while throngs of rioters in other cities damaged public buildings and clashed with police, throwing objects at officers and smashing their vehicles.

Protests first broke out late last month, after an anti-immigrant misinformation campaign stoked outrage over a stabbing attack that left three children dead in Southport, northern England.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired his first COBRA session on Monday morning – an emergency meeting of national agencies and branches of government – to discuss the response to the disorder. “This is not protest,” he said on Sunday, adding: “It is organized, violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets, or online.”

The riots are the first crisis for Starmer, who became Britain’s leader a month ago after his Labour Party unseated the Conservatives in a general election. His next steps will be closely watched by lawmakers and the public.

Here’s what we know about the violence, and what may come next.

What happened on Britain’s streets?

Throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday, violent protesters congregated in city and town centers across the UK, many of them apparently intent on clashing with police and causing havoc.

The gatherings ostensibly started as anti-immigration marches, organized on social media platforms like X and on WhatsApp and Telegram groups. They quickly turned disorderly and violent.

Protesters set ablaze two Holiday Inn hotels, in the town of Rotherham, northern England, and in Tamworth, in the Midlands, central England, that were believed to be housing asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their claims.

The Rotherham hotel at the time was “full of terrified residents and staff,” according to a statement by South Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield.

In Tamworth, rioters threw projectiles, smashed windows and started fires, injuring one police officer, according to local authorities. In Rotherham, they threw wooden planks, used fire extinguishers against officers, set fire to objects near the hotel, and smashed windows to gain entry to the building, police said.

Violence also took place in Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent and several more cities, mostly across the Midlands and north of England. The Home Office said Sunday that mosques in the United Kingdom were being offered “greater protection with new emergency security.”

In all, more than 370 people were arrested following the weekend’s violence and the number was expected to rise “as forces continue to identify those involved and continue to apprehend those responsible,” the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the UK’s national law enforcement body, said.

Many more suspects have yet to be identified, and authorities have pledged to use facial recognition and other technologies to track them down.

“People in this country have a right to be safe and yet, we’ve seen Muslim communities targeted, attacks on mosques, other minority communities singled out, Nazi salutes in the street, attacks on the police, wanton violence alongside racist rhetoric,” Starmer said at Downing Street.

“So no, I won’t shy away from calling it what it is: Far-right thuggery,” he added.

What caused the unrest?

The violence was most immediately triggered by the stabbing of a number of children in Southport, northwest England, earlier in the week – a rare and shocking incident that left three young girls dead and the country reeling.

The far-right seized on and spread a wave of disinformation about that incident, including false claims the suspected attacker was an immigrant, to mobilize anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant protests. Police say the suspect was born in Britain.

But anti-migrant rhetoric has become increasingly widespread in Britain in recent years, with critics saying that trend has emboldened far-right sympathizers and contributed to scenes like those seen over the weekend.

Last month’s general election saw Reform UK, a populist right-wing group running on a confrontational anti-migration platform, pick up the third-most votes of any party, after a campaign in which the topic of immigration featured heavily.

Nigel Farage, the leader of the party, condemned the violent riots on Monday, but added “deeper long-term problems remain,” criticizing what he deemed the “soft” policing of previous anti-racism riots and the “fracturing of our communities as a result of mass, uncontrolled migration.”

Some lawmakers in the Conservative Party, which shifted its rhetoric and policy towards the right over its 14 years in power, particularly on issues of migration, hit back at qualifications like those made by Farage.

In a thinly veiled swipe at Farage and other Reform Members of Parliament (MPs), former hardline Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel wrote: “Violence and thuggery is always unacceptable. There is no qualification or exception. And politicians on all sides must be willing to stand up and say so.”

And Diane Abbott, Britain’s first female Black MP and the longest-serving woman in the House of Commons, wrote Monday: “Nigel Farage must be happy this morning. Anti-immigrant marches up and down the country and black and brown people living in fear.” A spokesperson for Farage declined to comment.

Criticism of social media companies

The locations and times for the riots were shared days in advance across social media and on messaging services like WhatsApp and Telegram, causing social media companies to be dragged into Britain’s national conversation about how to tackle the violence.

In particular, Elon Musk’s X platform has been criticized by figures across the political spectrum for allowing far-right figureheads like Tommy Robinson back onto the service, where he has published a stream of posts encouraging the protests, while criticizing violent attacks.

Starmer’s decision Sunday to double-down on his message, made earlier in the week, that the protesters were “far-right thugs” was pointed; that initial declaration was criticized by right-wing accounts online, leading to the circulation of the hashtag #FarRightThugsUnite on X.

Musk himself wrote on X over the weekend that “civil war is inevitable,” in response to a post on the platform that blamed the riots on “mass migration and open borders.”

On Monday, the prime minister’s spokesperson told reporters “there’s no justification for comments like that,” adding that Starmer “wouldn’t share those sentiments.”

Starmer faces first crisis

The last time Britain faced social unrest on this scale was in 2011, when a fatal police shooting of a Black British man in north London led to protests that turned into days of riots in the capital.

The man in charge of bringing those offenders to justice was Keir Starmer, then Britain’s Director of Public Prosecutions. And Starmer faces a similar crisis just one month into his premiership.

Starmer ordered courts to open 24 hours to process rioters and looters swiftly in 2011, and the following year credited this speed of processing cases for playing “some small part in bringing the situation back under control.” He has responded similarly now, using governmental powers to allow courts to sit for longer.

But Starmer also faces unique challenges in 2024, after a decade in which Britain’s public services have complained of underfunding and have been brought close to gridlock.

Fewer than 1,500 spaces were available across prisons in England and Wales as of Friday, the British Ministry of Justice reported on August 2, ahead of a weekend in which hundreds of people were arrested. In July, the UK’s Secretary of State for Justice said that British prisons were “on the point of collapse,” routinely operating at 99% capacity since the start of 2023.

The crisis has abruptly ended Starmer’s post-election honeymoon and caused MPs from across the political spectrum to urge him to recall Parliament, which is in its summer recess, for a debate about the riots. Starmer’s spokesperson said the government is focusing on responding to the riots.

Parliament has been recalled six times in the past decade, according to PA Media, but just once to respond to a live crisis unrelated to the Covid-19 pandemic – the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021.

In 2016, facing the looming threat of layoffs, Nelly Agbogu took a bold leap into entrepreneurship. Launching Nellies Nigeria, a snack business, marked the beginning of her journey.

However, it was the subsequent realization of a gap in the market that would truly shape her entrepreneurial path.

“At the time, I was aware of a wave of layoffs happening within my company, and I realized it was only a matter of time before I would be affected,” Agbogu recalls. “This served as a wake-up call, it fueled my passion to become my own boss and embark on my entrepreneurial journey,” she said.

As she grew Nellies Nigeria, Lagos-based Agbogu recognized the power of social media in driving business success.

“My own experiences with growing Nellies Nigeria using social media revealed a gap in knowledge among other business owners, inspiring me to share my strategies and insights,” she explains.

From Nigeria to the world

This led to her creating Naijabrandchick, a platform that she says was designed to “empower and propel Nigerian SMEs towards sustainable growth and dominance through effective use of social media and access to new markets.”

To achieve this, she identified key challenges faced by Nigerian SMEs, including limited access to markets, inadequate business education, and insufficient funding.

To address these challenges, Agbogu launched the Naija Brand Chick Trade Fair, a platform connecting SMEs directly with customers.

“Many Nigerian SMEs struggle to reach a buying audience, which is a significant barrier,” she explains. “The trade fair creates a platform where businesses can connect directly with customers.”

The trade fair has become a resounding nationwide success attracting thousands of exhibitors yearly since it started in 2018.

Its impact has also been significant.

“One standout example involves a shoemaker from Lagos who sold 1,000 pairs of shoes in just two days, marking a record high for her business,” Agbogu said.

“One story I will never forget was that of a widow from Benin who took part in the trade fair and sold products worth millions of naira, enabling her to pay her children’s school fees. It’s heartwarming. We are always oversubscribed because entrepreneurs consistently tell us they achieve sales they have never achieved before in just two days at the fair,” Agbogu said.

As Naijabrandchick continues to grow, Agbogu’s has now extended her vision globally.

Agbogu is heading to London with a contingent of Nigerian entrepreneurs who will take their goods and services to England’s capital city from August 17 to 18. The fair will be held at the Intercontinental O2 hotel and is free to attendees, who must register ahead of time.

“My motivation for expanding Naijabrandchick to London has always been deeply rooted in my commitment to SMEs,” she explains. “I constantly think about how I can help Nigerian SME owners thrive and improve their businesses.”

The London event will feature workshops and networking sessions designed to offer participants high-end sales and marketing strategies.

“These events will provide attendees with exposure to international business leaders and market trends, offering a unique learning atmosphere compared to events held in Africa,” Agbogu says.

Ambitious plans

Agbogu has ambitious goals to replicate the Naijabrandchick model in other countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, the US, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as generate more than $10 million in revenue per event by 2029.

Part of her plan to help African SMEs scale and grow is to offer access to quality business education. “High-quality business education is often expensive and out of reach for many which is why I created the Dominate Sales and Influence (DSI) program to provide affordable training alongside top business leaders, to equip entrepreneurs with essential growth strategies.”

Financial support is another critical area. “The lack of access to funds is perhaps the greatest challenge for Nigerian SMEs,” she notes. In response, she partnered with Wema Bank to offer single-digit loans to SME owners, providing the financial backing needed to thrive.

Agbogu is determined that through her work African entrepreneurs will access a global market. “I envision a vibrant future for African entrepreneurship, characterized by innovation, increased global visibility, and significant economic impact,” she says.

A United Nations investigation has found that nine employees from its main agency for Palestinian humanitarian relief, UNWRA, “may have” been involved in the October 7 attack and no longer work at the agency.

UNRWA has 14,000 staff members in Gaza.

The investigation was launched in January after Israel accused some UNRWA employees of participating in the attack that left 1,200 people in Israel dead. UN investigators were not able to speak with the accused, though some accused responded to written questions.

The UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) investigated a total of 19 employees who were accused by Israel of participation in the attack.

“The evidence obtained by OIOS indicated that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October 2023,” OIOS said in a statement. In nine other cases, OIOS said that the evidence was “insufficient” for the employees to be fired, but that “appropriate measures will be taken in due course.” In the final case, “no evidence was obtained by OIOS to support the allegations of the staff member’s involvement.”

In a statement on X, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Nadav Shoshani, said: “9 of your employees might have participated in the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”

“Your ‘relief’ agency has officially stooped to a new level of low, and it is time that the world sees your true face.”

UNRWA was founded by the UN a year after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, which marked the creation of Israel and the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in an event known by Palestinians as the Nakba (catastrophe).

The agency provides a wide range of aid and services to Palestinian refugees and their descendants. It is a major source of employment for the refugees, who make up most of its more than 30,000 employees across the Middle East, and has representative offices in New York, Geneva and Brussels.

In a statement on Monday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that his agency’s “priority is to continue lifesaving and critical services for Palestine Refugees in Gaza and across the region, especially in the face of the ongoing war, the instability and risk of regional escalation.”

“UNRWA is committed to continue upholding the fundamental principles and values of the United Nations, including the humanitarian principle of neutrality, and to ensuring that all its staff abide by the Agency’s policy on outside and political activities.”

Cut off from vital funding

The Israeli government in January accused some UNRWA staff members of involvement in the October 7 attacks. The Israeli government did not make their evidence public, nor – according to UNRWA – did they share it with UNRWA. Nonetheless, UNWRA in January said that it had terminated the accused employees’ contracts.

Israel in February released some details about 12 employees whom it accused, including their names, photos and alleged roles with Hamas. The additional details also included screengrabs of what Israel said were two UNWRA employees – a social worker and math teacher – in Israel on October 7.

The allegations led to several UNRWA’s most important donor countries to withdraw funding from the agency. Most of those countries have reinstated their funding. The United States – historically, UNRWA’s largest donor – has not.

Israel accused further employees of involvement in March and April.

OIOS investigators met with Israeli officials as part of their investigation and review their intelligence. They also reviewed UNRWA employees’ communications and media reports.

“Because of safety concerns,” they did not meet with the accused UNRWA staff or corroborating witnesses.

“In some cases, however, OIOS was able to request and secure videorecorded statements from the subjects who responded to a series of set questions addressing the allegations of their involvement in the armed attacks of 7 October 2023,” the UN said in a statement.

Venezuela’s Public Ministry has opened a criminal investigation into presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and opposition leader María Corina Machado, the country’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab said in a statement on Monday.

The Public Ministry said the investigation was sparked by the two opposition figures’ call for the military and police to stand “on the side of the people” in an open letter published on social media on Monday.

Venezuela’s electoral body, long stacked with regime allies, declared strongman Nicolas Maduro the winner of the recent presidential election, but has yet to provide tallies proving his win. The opposition, which enjoyed strong polling figures prior to the vote, says it won by a landslide.

The Public Ministry accused the defendants of “falsely announcing a winner of the presidential elections,” adding that only the country’s official National Electoral Council is qualified to make that call.

According to the agency, González and Machado will be investigated for “the alleged commission of the crimes of usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information to cause unrest, incitement to disobey the law, incitement to insurrection, association to commit crimes and conspiracy.

“We have known for years what tricks the regime uses, and we are well aware that the National Electoral Council is entirely under its control. It was unthinkable that Mr. Maduro would concede defeat,” she wrote.

Venezuela’s opposition and multiple other nations have refused to recognize Maduro’s victory in the July 28 vote until the release of the full vote tally.

The US, among the countries that consider González the winner, said last week that it was“clear” President Maduro lost the popular vote. Maduro’s government has in turn accused the US of attempting to orchestrate a coup – which it denies.

Though Maduro had promised free and fair elections, the process was marred with allegations of foul play – with opposition figures arrested, their key leader Machado banned from running, opposition witnesses allegedly denied access to the centralized vote count, and overseas Venezuelans largely unable to cast ballots.

Protests broke out across Venezuela following the vote, which saw the government detain hundreds of opposition supporters. Maduro has warned that he will send them to high-security prisons.

As foreign governments implore Maduro to respect Venezeualan’s human rights, Pope Francis issued a statement on X on Sunday calling for all parties in Venezuela to engage in dialogue.

Venezuela was once the fifth-largest economy in Latin America, but under Maduro’s watch, it has seen the worst economic collapse of a peacetime country in recent history. The country suffers from chronic shortages of vital goods and soaring inflation, which has pushed millions to flee.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Prek Takeo, Cambodia — Cambodia broke ground Monday on a controversial, China-funded canal to link the capital Phnom Penh to the sea, despite environmental concerns and the risk of straining ties with neighboring Vietnam.

The $1.7 billion, 180-kilometer (111 miles) Funan Techo canal is planned to connect the country’s capital with Kep province on Cambodia’s south coast, giving it access to the Gulf of Thailand.

Cambodia hopes the 100-meter (328 feet)-wide, 5.4-meter (17.7 feet)-deep canal will lower the cost of shipping goods to the country’s sole deep-sea port, Sihanoukville, and reduce reliance on Vietnamese ports.

The project highlights the outsized role that China plays in Cambodian politics and economy. Meanwhile, concerns remain about the potential environmental impacts of the canal, especially on the flow of the Mekong River, which feeds millions of people across six countries through its fish and the agriculture that it sustains.

The project has Vietnam worried, both about the effect on its Mekong Delta rice-growing and about Cambodia moving out of its orbit, said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

“There is a concern that most of the Cambodian exports might be diverted from the current route, crossing the Vietnamese border to Vietnamese ports and moving away from that to Cambodian ports,” he said.

But Hanoi has expressed its concerns quietly, if at all, Giang said. Given the “complex historical legacy” between Cambodia and Vietnam — despite strong bilateral ties, the two nations have a contentious relationship — Vietnam is reticent to openly criticize Cambodia lest it be seen as impinging on its neighbor’s sovereignty, he said.

Analysts say that the infrastructure project is in part an effort by Cambodia’s ruling elite to invigorate support for Hun Manet, who last year took over the wheel of government from his father, Hun Sen, who led Cambodia for 38 years.

The government declared Monday — also Hun Sen’s birthday — a holiday so Cambodians could participate in the “celebration in a joyful, crowded and proud manner.” Thousands of people wearing t-shirts with photographs of the father and son began gathering at the canal site, that was covered in Cambodian flags. Billboards promoting the economic benefits of the canal dominated the countryside.

The canal will promote “national prestige, the territorial integrity and the development of Cambodia,” Manet said, adding that the country had built bigger and more expensive infrastructure projects before. But this “historic” canal was different and had nationwide support, he said.

“We will build this canal, no matter the cost,” he said.

He emphasized that while the canal would be jointly built by Chinese and Cambodian companies, the latter would have a 51% majority share and thus maintain control. Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol confirmed that the Chinese state-owned construction giant China Road and Bridge Corporation had landed the contract to build the canal.

The US-based nonprofit Stimson Center has warned that the canal would cause “significant transboundary impacts to water availability and agricultural production in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.” The region is where 90% of rice exported from Vietnam is grown.

The Cambodian government has dismissed these concerns.

Earlier in April, Vietnam had asked Cambodia to share information about the canal. “We have asked Cambodia to collaborate closely with Vietnam and the Mekong River Commission in sharing information and assessing the project’s impacts on water resources and ecosystem in the Mekong Delta region.”

Cambodia is a key Chinese diplomatic partner, helping dampen criticism of Beijing within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, several of whose members, including Vietnam, are engaged in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

China’s outsized presence can be seen in the numerous Chinese-funded projects, hotels and casinos dotting the Cambodian landscape. China’s state banks have financed airports, roads and other infrastructure built with Chinese loans. Nearly 40% of Cambodia’s over $11 billion in foreign debt is owed to China.

In June 2022, China and Cambodia broke ground on a naval port expansion project that has raised concerns from the U.S. and others that it could give Beijing a strategically important military outpost on the Gulf of Thailand. Hun Sen in 2019 reportedly granted China the right to set up a military base at the Ream Naval Base. He has long denied that, saying Cambodia’s Constitution prohibits foreign military facilities.

Jayapura, Indonesia — Gunmen stormed a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot shortly after it landed in Indonesia’s restive Papua region on Monday, and they released two health workers and two children it was carrying, police said.

Glen Malcolm Conning, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, was shot to death by gunmen allegedly with the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, after landing in Alama, a remote village in Mimika district of Central Papua province, said Faizal Ramadhani, a National Police member who heads the joint security peace force in Papua.

He said the gunmen released the Indigenous Papuan passengers and set fire to the plane.

“All passengers were safe because they were local residents of Alama village,” said Ramadhani, adding that the village is in a mountainous district which can be reached only by helicopter. A joint security force was deployed to search for the attackers, who ran into the dense jungle.

West Papua Liberation Army spokesperson Sebby Sambom told The Associated Press that he had not received any reports from fighters on the ground about the killing.

“But, if that happens, it was his own fault for entering our forbidden territory,” Sambom said. “We have released warnings several times that the area is under our restricted zone, an armed conflict area that is prohibited for any civilian aircraft to land.”

Sambom called on Indonesian authorities to stop all development in Papua until the government is willing to negotiate with the rebels, and “if anyone disobeys, they must bear the risk themselves.”

New Zealand’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was aware of reports of the death and the country’s embassy in Jakarta was seeking information from authorities. A spokesperson could not confirm any details.

Conflicts between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common in the impoverished Papua region, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia. Conflict has spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.

Monday’s killing was the latest violence against New Zealand nationals in the Papua region.

In February 2023, Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, abducted Philip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot from Christchurch who was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air.

Kogoya and his troops stormed a single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway in a mountainous village. Planning to use the pilot to negotiate, Kogoya has said they won’t release Mehrtens unless Indonesia frees Papua as a sovereign country.

In 2020, seven employees of PT Freeport Indonesia, including a New Zealand miner, Graeme Thomas Wall from Ngaruawahia, were attcked by gunmen in a parking area in Tembagapura mining town. Wall was shot in his chest and died.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the mineral-rich region, which is divided into six provinces.

Flying is the only practical way of accessing many areas in the mountainous easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Inside Bangladesh it’s being dubbed a Gen Z revolution – a protest movement that pitted mostly young student demonstrators against a 76-year-old leader who had dominated her nation for decades and turned increasingly authoritarian in recent years.

There was jubilation on the streets of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Monday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country by helicopter following weeks of deadly anti-government unrest.

Hasina’s abrupt exit ends 15 years in power that has been marked by a stifling of civil freedoms and the heavy-handed use of security forces to crush dissent, critics and rights groups say.

In a national address, Bangladesh’s army chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman said the military would form an interim government, but student protest leaders have called for Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to lead a temporary administration.

What began as peaceful protests by students against civil service job quotas morphed into a nationwide push to force Hasina out after demonstrators were met with a government crackdown that killed about 300 people, according to local media and agencies.

Hasina blamed the opposition for the violence and imposed internet blocks and an indefinite curfew across the country.

Her response inflamed the protesters further and, in the end, the world’s longest-serving female head of government had to quickly flee the country with her sister to India before crowds stormed her official residence, smashing walls and looting its contents.

Why were Bangladeshis on the streets?

Students began protesting on July 1 at the prestigious Dhaka University demanding an end to the government’s quota system, which reserves 30% of civil service posts for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Many of the country’s contemporary political elite are related to that generation – including Hasina, a daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the widely regarded founder of modern Bangladesh who was assassinated in 1975.

The reserved roles were linked to job security and higher pay, and protesters said the quota system is discriminatory and favors supporters of Hasina’s ruling Awami League party.

Driving the anger was high unemployment levels in the country, especially among young people. Bangladesh has seen strong economic growth under Hasina, but it slowed in the post-pandemic era and is beset with high inflation and depleted foreign currency reserves. In a nation of 170 million people, more than 30 million are not in work or education.

The protests turned violent on July 15 and the government’s increasingly deadly response fueled their anger further, even after the Supreme Court rolled back most of the controversial quotas on government jobs and internet blocks were lifted.

On Sunday, at least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between police and protesters, the highest for a single day from any protests in the country’s recent history.

‘Blood in front of my university’

“Things turned ugly really quickly,” said Raiyan Aftab, 23, a student at BRAC University, who said police shot at protesters outside the campus. “They shot everybody. There is blood in front of my university right now. There’s like 30 bodies… I couldn’t sleep all night.”

Students and protesters at Dhaka University Campus and the Shaheed Minar, a national monument in the capital, were beaten by police as they assembled at these locations.

“I went to Shaheed Minar with my friends to celebrate. It was epic. There’s like thousands of people there, everybody went, regardless of class, heritage, religion, we’re all together and all the students met up with flags and everything. It was a historic moment,” said Aftab. “But it was short lived.”

Meanwhile, images appeared online of young people guarding Hindu temples as misinformation swirled online and a mob attacked a temple, according to the director of the Meherpur ISKCON temple.

Hasina’s legacy

The demonstrations became the ultimate challenge to Hasina since she secured a fourth consecutive term in January elections, which were boycotted by the main opposition party to protest what they said was a widespread crackdown on their ranks.

On Tuesday, Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin announced the release of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia – a longtime Hasina rival – who had been jailed in 2018 on graft charges which she denies. Other student protesters and those arrested on “false cases,” were also released, the president said.

Hasina’s political career spanned decades since returning from exile in the early 1980s following the assassination of her father and most of her family. In 1990 she led a popular democratic uprising against military rule and has survived several assassination attempts in the years since.

She first became prime minister in 1996 and served for one term before returning to power in 2008, ruling Bangladesh with her Awami League party until Monday.

Human rights organizations have warned that Hasina and her government were headed toward a one-party system, and critics expressed concerns over increased reports of political violence, voter intimidation, and harassment of the media and opposition figures.

During her time in power, rights groups say the government has used its cyber security law to crack down on freedom of expression online, arresting journalists, artists and activists, with reported cases of arbitrary detention and torture.

But Hasina had managed to weather many previous protests against her rule that erupted particularly during elections, so her resignation after five weeks of unrest was seen as sudden and unexpected.

Young people, who witnessed their peers shot and killed, fueled by dismal job prospects and who were tired of corruption and repression, could not be stopped by curfews, internet blocks or security forces.

“This might very well be the first successful Gen Z led revolution,” said Sabrina Karim, associate professor of government at Cornell University, who specializes in the study of political violence.

The military may have also played a role in Hasina’s resignation. Karim said in a statement that it “appears that the military were not always a unified force backing the Hasina regime.”

“While there are many photos and videos circulating of soldiers using deadly force and shooting at unarmed protesters, some members of the military called for an independent UN-led investigation into these atrocities,” she said. “In addition, some members of the military announced yesterday that they would not use deadly force on protesters who convened on the capital.”

What comes next?

On Tuesday, Bangladesh awaited the formation of the interim government and protest organizers with the Students Against Discrimination said they will meet with Bangladesh’s army chief.

Student leader Muhammad Nahid Islam said they hadn’t met all of their goals, and after Hasina’s resignation, the group wanted to “abolish fascist systems forever.” The leaders say they won’t accept a military-led or supported government.

The protest group say the interim government should be led by Yunus, a social entrepreneur and banker who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering microfinance work that helped alleviate poverty in Bangladesh.

“People are celebrating on the street and millions and millions of people all over Bangladesh [are] celebrating as if this is our liberation day,” he said.

While Hasina’s resignation was celebrated, some Bangladeshis expressed trepidation over the path ahead as the country attempts to fill a leadership vacuum.

Protester Aftab was wary of the military holding on to power.

“We have to remember the last 15 years, the army didn’t do anything. They protected this regime so they can’t just come into power and become good guys. We know who they are and what they’re going to do,” he said.