UK
Air chief returns home from UK
Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan, chief of air staff of Bangladesh Air Force, returned home Wednesday from an official visit to the UK.
Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan's visit is expected to strengthen the Bangladesh-UK ties and enhance the scope of cooperation in the professional sectors.
The chief of air staff left Dhaka for the UK on a seven-day official visit at the invitation of Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, chief of the air staff of the Royal Air Force, according to the Inter Service Public Relation Directorate.
Read:Air Chief back from Turkey
Air Chief Marshal Abdul Hannan visited the C-130 Hercules aircraft maintenance, modification and repairing organisation Marshall Aerospace Facility.
Also, he attended the Global Air Chiefs' Conference 2022 organised by the Royal Air Force in London. The conference included seminars on operational integration, technological adaptation, and digital skills.
After that, the chief of air staff attended the world's largest air show Royal International Air Tattoo 2022 at Royal Air Force Fairford.
Air Chief Marshal Abdul Hannan also attended the Farnborough International Airshow 2022 in London.
UK breaks record for highest temperature as Europe sizzles
Britain shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered Tuesday amid a heat wave that has seared swaths of Europe, as the U.K.’s national weather forecaster said such highs are now a fact of life in a country ill-prepared for such extremes.
The typically temperate nation was just the latest to be walloped by unusually hot, dry weather that has triggered wildfires from Portugal to the Balkans and led to hundreds of heat-related deaths. Images of flames racing toward a French beach and Britons sweltering — even at the seaside — have driven home concerns about climate change.
The U.K. Met Office weather agency registered a provisional reading of 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.5 degrees Fahrenheit) at Coningsby in eastern England — breaking the record set just hours earlier. Before Tuesday, the highest temperature recorded in Britain was 38.7 C (101.7 F), set in 2019. By later afternoon, 29 places in the UK had broken the record.
As the nation watched with a combination of horror and fascination, Met Office chief scientist Stephen Belcher said such temperatures in Britain were “virtually impossible” without human-driven climate change.
He warned that “we could see temperatures like this every three years” without serious action on carbon emissions.
Read: Most major nations lag in acting on climate-fighting goals
The sweltering weather has disrupted travel, health care and schools. Many homes, small businesses and even public buildings, including hospitals, in Britain don’t have air conditioning, a reflection of how unusual such heat is in the country better known for rain and mild temperatures.
The intense heat since Monday has damaged the runway at London’s Luton airport, forcing it to shut for several hours, and warped a main road in eastern England, leaving it looking like a “skatepark,” police said. Major train stations were shut or near-empty Tuesday, as trains were canceled or ran at low speeds out of concern rails could buckle.
London faced what Mayor Sadiq Khan called a “huge surge” in fires because of the heat. The London Fire Brigade listed 10 major blazes it was fighting across the city Tuesday, half of them grass fires. Images showed several houses engulfed in flames as smoke billowed from burning fields in Wennington, a village on the eastern outskirts of London.
Sales of fans at one retailer, Asda, increased by 1,300%. Electric fans cooled the traditional mounted troops of the Household Cavalry as they stood guard in central London in heavy ceremonial uniforms. The length of the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace was shortened. The capital’s Hyde Park, normally busy with walkers, was eerily quiet — except for the long lines to take a dip in the Serpentine lake.
“I’m going to my office because it is nice and cool,” said geologist Tom Elliott, 31, after taking a swim. “I’m cycling around instead of taking the Tube.’’
Ever the stalwart, Queen Elizabeth II carried on working. The 96-year-old monarch held a virtual audience with new U.S. ambassador Jane Hartley from the safety of Windsor Castle.
A huge chunk of England, from London in the south to Manchester and Leeds in the north, remained under the country’s first “red” warning for extreme heat Tuesday, meaning there is danger of death even for healthy people.
Such dangers could be seen in Britain and across Europe. At least six people were reported to have drowned while trying to cool off in rivers, lakes and reservoirs across the U.K. In Spain and neighboring Portugal, hundreds of heat-related deaths have been reported in the heat wave.
Climate experts warn that global warming has increased the frequency of extreme weather events, with studies showing that the likelihood of temperatures in the U.K. reaching 40 C (104 F) is now 10 times higher than in the pre-industrial era.
Read: Amid Russia shelling, Ukraine aims to strengthen government
The head of the U.N. weather agency expressed hope that the heat gripping Europe would serve as a “wake-up call” for governments to do more on climate change. Other scientists used the milestone moment to underscore that it was time to act.
“While still rare, 40C is now a reality of British summers,” said Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change. “Whether it will become a very common occurrence or remains relatively infrequent is in our hands and is determined by when and at what global mean temperature we reach net zero.”
Extreme heat broiled other parts of Europe, too. In Paris, the thermometer in the French capital’s oldest weather station – opened in 1873 – topped 40 C (104 F) for just the third time. The 40.5 C (104.9 F) measured there by weather service Meteo-France on Tuesday was the station’s second-highest reading ever, topped only by a blistering 42.6 C (108.7 F) in July 2019.
Drought and heat waves tied to climate change have also made wildfires more common and harder to fight.
In the Gironde region of southwestern France, ferocious wildfires continued to spread through tinder-dry pines forests, frustrating firefighting efforts by more than 2,000 firefighters and water-bombing planes.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from homes and summer vacation spots since the fires broke out July 12, Gironde authorities said.
A smaller third fire broke out late Monday in the Medoc wine region north of Bordeaux, further taxing resources. Five camping sites went up in flames in the Atlantic coast beach zone where blazes raged around the Arcachon maritime basin famous for its oysters and resorts.
In Greece, a large forest fire broke out northeast of Athens, fanned by high winds. Fire Service officials said nine firefighting aircraft and four helicopters were deployed to try to stop the flames from reaching inhabited areas on the slopes of Mount Penteli, some 25 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of the capital. Smoke from the fire blanketed part of the city’s skyline.
But weather forecasts offered some consolation, with temperatures expected to ease along the Atlantic seaboard Tuesday and the possibility of rains rolling in late in the day.
Bangladesh Air Force chief leaves for UK
Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) Air Chief Marshal Shaikh
Abdul Hannan left Dhaka for United Kingdom on Sunday on a seven-day official visit.
He left the country at the invitation of Chief of the Air Staff of Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston.
During the visit, Chief of Air Staff will visit C-130 Hercules aircraft maintenance, modification and repairing organization 'Marshall Aerospace Facility'.
Read: Air force chief returns home from Canada
Subsequently he will attend the 'Global Air Chiefs’ Conference-2022' organized by the Royal Air Force in London, says an Inter Service Public Relation (ISPR) media release Monday afternoon.
The conference will include important seminars on Operational Integration, Technological Adaptation, Digital skills etc.
Chief of Air Staff of different countries will attend this Conference. Then COAS will attend the world's largest air show 'Royal International Air Tattoo- 2022' at RAF Fairford. It will mark the 75th anniversary of Royal Air Force.
Finally Chief of Air Staff will attend the 'Farnborough International Air Show-2022’ in Farnborough, London.
He is scheduled to return home on July 20.
UK leader hopefuls jostle as Johnson digs in for final weeks
A field of candidates to replace departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson began to take shape Friday, even as some Conservative Party lawmakers pushed to get the scandal-tarnished leader out of office before his replacement is elected in the next couple of months.
Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday — a dizzying about-face after months spent insisting he would stay in his job amid mounting ethics scandals and growing Conservative discontent.
He quit as party leader with a statement to the nation outside 10 Downing St., but said he would stay in post as prime minister until his successor is chosen by the party. That decision didn’t sit well with some of his Conservative colleagues, who worry Johnson lacks the authority to hang on, or could do mischief even as a caretaker prime minister.
James Cleverly, appointed as education secretary on Thursday after his predecessor quit during a mass exodus of ministers, defended Johnson’s decision to stay.
“It’s right that he has stood down and it’s right that he has put a team in place to continue governing whilst the selection procedure flows for his successor,” Cleverly told Sky News. “And we should do that I think pretty quickly, pretty promptly.”
Party officials are due to set out the timetable for a leadership contest on Monday, with the aim of having a winner by the end of the summer. The two-step process involves Tory lawmakers voting to reduce the field of candidates to two, who will go to a ballot of all party members across the country.
Lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the House of Commons’ influential Foreign Affairs Committee, became the second candidate to declare he is running, after Attorney General Suella Braverman. Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid and ex-Treasury chief Rishi Sunak — whose resignations this week helped topple Johnson — are also likely contenders, along with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Even as contenders launch their campaigns, Johnson remains in office atop a caretaker administration formed from a dwindling band of loyalists alongside ministers who have agreed to stay in office to keep government running.
Read: Boris Johnson reached the top but was felled by his flaws
Johnson has promised not to make any major policy decisions in his remaining time, but many Conservatives say a lame-duck leader is the last thing the country needs amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and a worsening cost-of-living crisis triggered by soaring food and energy prices.
Some also are wary of Johnson’s intentions after a resignation speech in which he made clear he didn’t want to leave, but had failed “to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate.”
George Freeman, who quit as science minister on Thursday, said he worried about a leadership election being held in “a febrile moment of midsummer madness, where we choose the wrong person in a hurry because of the instability.”
Some had pushed for Johnson to give way and let Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab step in as temporary leader. But lawmaker Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the Conservative committee that runs party leadership contests, said “that ship has sailed.”
“We must now live with the fact that Boris Johnson will be prime minister until a successor can be voted on,” he said.
The main opposition Labour Party said that was unacceptable and vowed to call for a no-confidence vote in Johnson in the House of Commons next week, though prospects of its success were uncertain.
“He’s a proven liar who’s engulfed in sleaze and we can’t have another couple of months of this, you know,” Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said. “So they do have to get rid of him, and if they don’t, we will call a no-confidence vote because it’s pretty clear — he hasn’t got the confidence of the House or the British public.”
The brash, 58-year-old politician who took Britain out of the European Union and has been at the helm through COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, has repeatedly defied the odds during a rollercoaster political career.
Read: British PM Boris Johnson resigns
In recent months he managed to remain in power despite accusations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament about government office parties that broke COVID-19 lockdown rules.
He was fined by police for attending one of the parties — the first prime minister ever sanctioned for breaking the law in office — but went on to survive a no-confidence vote last month in Parliament, though 41% of Conservative lawmakers tried to oust him.
He was brought down by one scandal too many — this one involving his appointment of a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct.
Johnson faced days of questions, and gave days of conflicting answers, over what he knew about past allegations against Chris Pincher, a Conservative lawmaker who resigned as party deputy chief whip last week after allegedly groping two men at a private club. Pincher acknowledged he had got drunk and “embarrassed myself.”
Johnson offered shifting explanations about what he knew and when he knew it. That just brought concerns the prime minister couldn’t be trusted to boiling point.
Javid and Sunak, key Cabinet members who were responsible, respectively, for fighting COVID-19 and inflation, resigned within minutes of each other Tuesday, setting off a wave of departures by their colleagues.
Johnson clung to power for days, defiantly telling lawmakers on Wednesday that he had a “colossal mandate” from the voters and intended to get on with the business of governing.
His resignation the next day was a humiliating defeat for a politician whose jokey bluster brought a celebrity status unmatched in British politics — but who was accused of behaving as if the rules didn’t apply to him. The party acted once it decided that a leader with a rare ability to connect with voters had turned into a liability.
Conservative supporter Ernest William Lee said he “heaved a great sigh of relief” when Johnson announced he would leave.
“I’m sorry this country has got into this state,” Lee said. “It’s a mess and it needs someone very strong — male or female, I don’t care — to run it, run it properly and get it back on its feet.
“I hate being the laughing stock of Europe.”
Embattled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson agrees to resign
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed to resign, his office said Thursday, ending an unprecedented political crisis over his future that has paralyzed Britain's government.
An official in Johnson's Downing Street office confirmed the prime minister would announce his resignation later. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made.
Johnson had rebuffed calls by his Cabinet to step down in the wake of ethics scandals. He gave in after more than 40 ministers quit his government and told him to go.
Read: UK's Johnson defiant even as opponents tell him time is up
It was not immediately clear whether Johnson would stay in office while the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will replace him as prime minister.
Minutes before the news broke, Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign just 36 hours after Johnson put him in the job, while another newly appointed Cabinet minister quit her post.
Zahawi said Johnson knew “the right thing to do” was to “go now.”
Zahawi was appointed late Tuesday to replace Rishi Sunak, who resigned saying he could no longer support Johnson after a series of ethics scandals.
Education Secretary Michelle Donelan, who was also appointed on Tuesday following the resignation of her predecessor, announced her resignation Thursday morning.
Johnson had rejected clamors for his resignation, digging in his heels even as dozens of officials quit and previously loyal allies urge him to go after yet another scandal engulfed his leadership.
A group of Johnson’s most trusted Cabinet ministers visited him at his office in Downing Street Wednesday, telling him to stand down after losing the trust of his party. But Johnson instead opted to fight for his political career and fired one of the Cabinet officials, Michael Gove, British media reported.
It is rare for a prime minister to cling on to office in the face of this much pressure from his Cabinet colleagues. The Guardian’s frontpage on Thursday called him “Desperate, deluded.”
“He’s breached the trust that was put in him. He needs to recognise that he no longer has the moral authority to lead. And for him, it’s over,” Scottish National Party leader Ian Blackford told The Associated Press.
Johnson, 58, was known for his knack for wiggling out of tight spots. He remained in power despite allegations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament and was dishonest to the public about government office parties that broke pandemic lockdown rules.
But recent disclosures that Johnson knew about sexual misconduct allegations against Chris Pincher, a Conservative lawmaker, before he promoted the man to a senior position turned out to be the last straw.
Last week, Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip after complaints he groped two men at a private club. That triggered a series of reports about past allegations leveled against Pincher — and shifting explanations from the government about what Johnson knew when he tapped him for a senior job enforcing party discipline.
Read: Britain’s Boris Johnson battles to stay as PM amid revolt
Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak resigned within minutes of each other Wednesday over the scandal. The two Cabinet heavyweights were responsible for tackling two of the biggest issues facing Britain — the cost-of-living crisis and COVID-19.
Javid captured the mood of many lawmakers when he said Johnson’s actions threaten to undermine the integrity of the Conservative Party and the British government.
“At some point we have to conclude that enough is enough,” he told fellow lawmakers Wednesday. “I believe that point is now.”
UK allocates over Tk 5 crore to support Bangladesh’s flood victims
The UK has released additional emergency funding of £442,548 (over Tk 5 crore) to support communities affected by the ongoing floods in Sylhet division.
This brings the UK’s contribution to the flood relief effort in recent weeks to £636,548 (over 7 crore).
Also read:US to provide emergency flood relief for people in northern Bangladesh:Envoy
Acting British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Javed Patel on Wednesday said the devastation they have seen from flooding this year in Bangladesh has been heartbreaking.
"The new emergency funding we have released today will be used to support the most vulnerable through cash assistance, shelter management, water and sanitation, and educational materials," he said.
Also read: Govt took immediate steps to tackle flood, PM tells EU ambassador
The UK’s funding has been allocated through Start Fund Bangladesh and will be administered through Caritas Bangladesh, Christian Aid, Voluntary Association for Rural Development, and World Vision Bangladesh.
Climate action priority for UK, says acting British High Commissioner
Acting British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Javed Patel has said it is extremely important that young people are empowered to be key stakeholders in driving local, national, regional, and global change.
“Climate action is a priority for the UK and I am glad that we supported this year’s National Earth Olympiad, helping to establish the next generation of climate stewards in Bangladesh,” he said congratulating the students on their success.
Also read: $ 80 billion planned for investment by 2030 to achieve climate resilience
The acting high commissioner hosted a reception on Saturday to recognise the finalists of the Bangladesh National Earth Olympiad 2022.
Of the 35 participants selected for special awards, five will be going on to represent Bangladesh at the International Earth Science Olympiad which takes place from 24-30 August.
“I am inspired by the young people here today, and confident that their drive and commitment to combatting the climate crisis will help them to do just that,” Patel said.
US, UK, Swiss envoys condole loss of lives in Sitakunda fire
British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson Sunday condoled the loss of lives in the deadly fire at BM Container Depot at Sitakunda in Chattogram.
The death toll from the fire climbed to 49 by today, with nine fire service members among the deceased.
UK Minister of State for Foreign Commonwealth and Development Affairs Tariq Ahmad, who is of Bangladeshi origin, also extended his deepest condolences to all those affected by the blaze.
"Shocked and saddened to see reports of the tragic container depot fire in Chattogram in Bangladesh," he tweeted.
Robert Chatterton Dickson said he was shocked to see reports of the impact of the fire and hear of the lives lost and people injured.
"My thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families," he tweeted.
US Embassy in Dhaka has also extended its deepest condolences to those affected by the tragic Chattogram container depot fire.
"I am very saddened by the terrible fire at a container depot in Chattogram," Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard tweeted.
On behalf of the Embassy of Switzerland, she extended her sincere condolences to all who lost their loved ones and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.
Also read: Massive fire at Ctg container depot: Death toll climbs to 49, over 200 injured
UK to reopen embassy in Kyiv next week
Internally displaced people from Mariupol and nearby towns arrive at a refugee center fleeing from the Russian attacks, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Thursday, April 21, 2022. Mariupol, which is part of the industrial region in eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, has been a key Russian objective since the Feb. 24 invasion began. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the U.K. plans to reopen its embassy in Ukraine’s capital next week.
Read: Satellite photos show possible mass graves near Mariupol
Johnson announced the planned action on Friday during a trip to India. Diplomats from other European nations have returned to Kyiv since Russian troops withdrew from the capital region to focus on eastern Ukraine.
Johnson made a surprise visit to Kyiv this month to show solidarity with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At the time, the prime minister detailed a new package of financial and military aid, and Zelenskyy said the U.K. had pledged to help rebuild the city after the war.
UK: Russian naval forces firing into Ukraine
Britain’s Ministry of Defense says Russian naval forces are launching cruise missiles into Ukraine to support military operations in the eastern Donbas region and around the cities of Mariupol and Mykolaiv.
In its Saturday morning briefing, the ministry said Russia’s air forces are expected to increase activity in the south and east of Ukraine to further support these operations.
Also read: Ukraine seeks tough reply after missile kills 52 at station
The ministry said these actions come as attempts to establish a land corridor between Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and Russian-controlled parts of the Donbas region “continue to be thwarted by Ukrainian resistance.”
U.K. officials also say Russia is continuing to attack non-combatants, such as those killed at the Kramatorsk railway station in a rocket strike on Friday.
Also read: Russian retreat reveals destruction as Ukraine asks for help