United News of Bangladesh

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese married his partner Jodie Haydon on Saturday in a private ceremony at his official residence in Canberra, marking the first time an Australian leader has wed while serving in office. The couple exchanged vows before about 60 guests, including several cabinet members, during an afternoon ceremony at The Lodge. A civil celebrant officiated, and the event remained undisclosed to the media until it had concluded. In a joint statement, the pair said they were “absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends.” They wrote their own vows, and their dog Toto carried the rings. Haydon’s five-year-old niece Ella served as the flower girl, the statement added. Albanese, 62, who is divorced and has an adult son, proposed to Haydon, 46, at The Lodge on Valentine’s Day last year. They initially considered a larger wedding before this year’s national election was scheduled for May, and Albanese had even mentioned the possibility of inviting former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he regards as a personal friend. However, Labor Party strategists warned that a high-profile celebration during a cost of living crisis could politically damage the government, prompting the couple to postpone the wedding until after the vote. Although Albanese had said the wedding would take place in 2025, he did not disclose the date in advance. Haydon, who works in finance, first met Albanese during a business event in Melbourne in 2020. The wedding took place two days after Parliament wrapped up for the year on Thursday.

The Australian government says it will push ahead with its landmark ban on social media accounts for children under 16, even as a rights group mounts a legal challenge in the country’s highest court. The Digital Freedom Project, a Sydney-based advocacy group, announced Wednesday that it has filed a constitutional challenge in the High Court against the law, which is set to take effect on December 10. The legislation bars Australian children under 16 from creating or maintaining accounts on certain social media platforms. Communications Minister Anika Wells, speaking in Parliament shortly after news of the lawsuit surfaced, insisted that the government would not delay the rollout.“We will not be intimidated by legal challenges. We will not be intimidated by Big Tech. On behalf of Australian parents, we stand firm,” Wells said. John Ruddick, president of the Digital Freedom Project and a state lawmaker for the Libertarian Party, argued the ban interferes with fundamental rights.“Parental supervision of online activity is today the paramount parental responsibility. We do not want to outsource that responsibility to government and unelected bureaucrats,” he said, calling the law “a direct assault on young people’s right to freedom of political communication.” The challenge is being brought on behalf of two 15-year-olds by Sydney law firm Pryor, Tzannes and Wallis. The group has not yet confirmed whether it will seek an injunction to pause the law before it takes effect. The legislation, considered a global first, requires platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube to take “reasonable steps” to block users under 16. Companies that fail to comply could face fines of up to AUD 50 million (USD 32 million). Last week, Meta began alerting thousands of Australian users suspected to be underage to download their data and delete their accounts ahead of the deadline. The move comes as other countries debate similar measures. Malaysia recently approved plans to ban social media accounts for children under 16 starting in 2026, citing concerns over cyberbullying, scams and exploitation. Australia’s rule is expected to become one of the strictest online safety policies in the world when it takes effect next month.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has secured victory in the country’s disputed presidential election with more than 97% of the vote, according to official results released early Saturday, marking a rare landslide win in the East African region. The result is expected to heighten concerns among opposition groups, critics, and civil society, who have described the election as more of a coronation than a contest, after Hassan’s two main rivals were barred or prevented from participating. She faced 16 candidates representing smaller parties. The October 29 election was marred by violence, as demonstrators took to the streets in major cities to protest the vote and halt counting. The military was deployed to assist police in controlling the unrest. Intermittent internet shutdowns have further disrupted communications and mobility across the country. Protests spread nationwide, prompting the government to postpone the reopening of universities, initially scheduled for October 3. Tanzanian authorities have not disclosed official casualty figures. However, Seif Magango, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, reported credible accounts of 10 deaths in Dar es Salaam, Shinyanga, and Morogoro. Opposition leaders have faced severe restrictions. Tundu Lissu, head of the Chadema party, has been jailed for months on treason charges after calling for electoral reforms necessary for free and fair polls. Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo party was barred from contesting. The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has maintained its decades-long hold on power despite the emergence of popular opposition figures calling for political change. A landslide victory of this magnitude is uncommon in the region, comparable only to Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s repeated overwhelming wins. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have documented patterns of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and extrajudicial killings in Tanzania ahead of the election. A UN panel noted over 200 enforced disappearances since 2019, expressing alarm at the repression leading up to the polls. The International Crisis Group highlighted Hassan’s “unprecedented crackdown on political opponents,” citing restrictions on freedom of expression, including bans on social media platforms like X, limitations on the Tanzanian digital forum JamiiForums, and intimidation or arrests of critical voices. Despite Tanzania’s long history of single-party dominance since the introduction of multi-party politics in 1992, Hassan’s style has been described as authoritarian, contrasting with previous leaders who tolerated opposition while retaining firm control. The CCM, which has maintained ties with the Communist Party of China, has governed Tanzania since its independence from Britain in 1961. Hassan rose to the presidency as vice president following the sudden death of her predecessor John Pombe Magufuli early in his second term, ensuring a smooth transition. The orderly handover reinforced Tanzania’s reputation for political stability and relative peace, contributing to CCM’s continued popularity, particularly among rural voters.   Source: AP

Dozens of high school students in northeastern Australia were excused from sitting their ancient history exam after teachers discovered they had studied the wrong Roman ruler — Augustus Caesar instead of Julius Caesar. The confusion affected students at nine high schools in Queensland, where teachers realized only days before the statewide exam that they had been following the wrong curriculum. Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the situation had been “extremely traumatic” for the students and ordered an investigation into how the mix-up occurred. “I’m very unhappy about the situation,” Langbroek told reporters, assuring that the 140 senior students involved would not be disadvantaged. “They will be given credit for the work already completed and won’t have to sit for the exam.” The ancient history test, which counts for 25% of the students’ final marks, was canceled for those affected. Their grades will instead be based on their internal assessments, which account for the remaining 75%. Parents expressed frustration, saying the last-minute panic over the mistake had disrupted students’ preparation for other exams scheduled the same week. According to the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA), schools were notified two years ago that the exam topic would shift from Augustus to Julius Caesar beginning in 2025. The Augustus module had been used for the past four years. Langbroek said his department will review communication processes to ensure such an oversight does not happen again.   Source: AP

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Monday that Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, joining France, Britain and Canada in expressing similar intentions. The move follows weeks of pressure from members of his Cabinet and other voices in Australia urging recognition, amid mounting criticism from within his government over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Albanese administration has also denounced recent plans by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a large-scale new military offensive in the territory. Vance says US has 'no plans' to recognize Palestinian state ahead of talks with UK Foreign Secretary Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting, Albanese said the formal recognition will be made at the United Nations General Assembly in September. He noted that the decision is based on commitments from the Palestinian Authority, including the exclusion of Hamas from any future government, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the holding of elections. “A two-state solution is humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to end the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,” Albanese said. Source: Agency 

A female has died after being shot by police in Melbourne, the capital city of southeast Australia's state of Victoria, on Saturday evening. The Victorian Police said in a statement on Friday evening that officers were called to Cecil Street in south Melbourne following reports of a male with a machete at around 5 p.m. local time.  Record floodwaters in eastern Australia 4 dead, 1 missing The police located the male and whilst he was being arrested, a vehicle was driven at a police officer. The officer shot at the offending vehicle, striking a female driver and her male passenger. The 34-year-old female has died at the scene, while the 26-year-old male has been taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The male senior constable has been taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.  Record floodwaters in eastern Australia, 1 dead and 3 missing The matter will be investigated with oversight from the Professional Standards Command, as is standard procedure for a fatal police shooting, said the statement.  

Record floodwaters on Australia’s east coast have left four people dead and one missing, officials said Friday as rain eased over the disaster area. 50,000 people have been isolated by flooding along the coast of New South Wales state north of Sydney after days of heavy rain. The low-pressure weather system that brought the deluge had moved further south to Sydney and its surrounds Friday.  Record floodwaters in eastern Australia, 1 dead and 3 missing Four bodies have been retrieved from floodwaters in New South Wales since Wednesday. Three of the victims had driven into floodwaters, while a man’s body had been found on the veranda of his flooded home. The latest victim was a man in his 70s whose body was found in a car in floodwater Friday near Coffs Harbour, a police statement said. The car had run off the road. A 49-year-old man remains missing after walking near a flooded road at Nymboida on Wednesday night. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Premier Christopher Minns on Friday were inspecting devastated communities, some of which had been inundated by the highest floodwaters on record. Minns praised emergency services and volunteers for rescuing 678 people from floodwaters in recent days, including 177 in the past 24 hours. “It’s an amazing, heroic logistical effort where, in very difficult circumstances, many volunteers put themselves in harm’s way to rescue a complete stranger. And over the coming days and weeks, we will hear scores of stories of locals being plucked out of impossible, desperate situations,” Minns told reporters in Maitland in the flood area. “Without the volunteers, we would have had hundreds of deaths and we’re in deep, deep gratitude to those people who volunteered their time,” Minns added. Despite the easing rain, State Emergency Service Commissioner Mike Wassing said crews were still looking out for floodwaters potentially rising due to water continuing to flow into catchments. “We still do have active flood rescues still coming into the system and we’re dealing with those on a case-by-case" basis, Wassing said. “We have seen that tempo drop off, and that’s a good thing.” Bellingen Shire Council Mayor Steve Allan said landslides and damaged roads and bridges were complicating the process of reaching isolated communities in his rural local government region southwest of Coffs Harbour. “We’ve woken up to blue skies which is a great thing,” Allan said. Australians start voting in general elections as pope's death overshadows campaigning “Our rivers are slowly receding and I think we’re probably transitioning from the response phase into the recovery phase this morning,” he added.

Record floodwaters on Australia's east coast left one person dead and three others missing, officials said Thursday, as more heavy rain was forecast in the area. Some 330 people were rescued in the flooding emergency in New South Wales state north of Sydney. The area has been hit with heavy rain since Tuesday. The flooding exceeds local records set in 1929.  Australian central bank reduces benchmark interest rate to 3.85% in second cut this year News South Wales Premier Christopher Minns said some areas were forecast to receive as much as 30 centimeters (1 foot) of rain in the next 24 hours. He said 50,000 people were warned to prepare to evacuate or be isolated by floodwaters, telling reporters: “We are bracing for more bad news." The body of a 63-year-old man was recovered from a flooded house in Moto in New South Wales on Wednesday afternoon, Fire and Rescue Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said. A coroner will determine whether a pre-existing medical condition played a part in his death, he added. Three people — including a 60-year-old woman, a 25-year-old man and a 49-year-old man — were also reported missing, Fewtrell said. “We hold grave fears for all three individuals,” he added. Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said 330 flood rescues were conducted in the past 24 hours. Helicopters have been used to rescue people stranded by floodwaters from rooftops and verandahs. “We’ve seen more rain and more flooding in the mid-to-north coast area than we’ve ever seen before,” Dib said. The flooding has hit communities including Taree, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Bellingen in New South Wales. Taree received a month’s rain in 24 hours, Minns said.  Australians start voting in general elections as pope's death overshadows campaigning “Up around the Taree area, we’ve seen communities that have never flooded in recorded history now flooding,” Fewtrell said. The region has opened 14 evacuation centers as of Thursday.

Australia’s central bank on Tuesday reduced its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage for a second time this year, to 3.85% after inflation fell within a target range. The Reserve Bank of Australia reduced its cash rate from 4.1%. The reduction from 4.35% at its February board meeting was Australia’s first rate cut since October 2020. ​​​​​​​Australian prime minister names new Cabinet that drops Israel critic The rate cut was anticipated, although expectations had declined slightly after the United States and China agreed last week to cut back recent tariff hikes for 90 days, reviving stalled trade between the world two biggest economies. The bank adjusts interest rates to steer inflation toward a target band of between 2% and 3%. During the March quarter, annual inflation was 2.4%. The trimmed mean –- a gauge of underlying inflation which is the bank’s preferred measure –- was 2.9%. Inflation was also steady at 2.4% in the previous three months. But the underlying figure, which strips out the smallest and largest values, was 3.2% in the last quarter of 2024. Inflation has gradually declined after it peaked at 7.8% in the last quarter of 2022.  Australia to hold general elections on May 3, With inflation and housing crisis key issues Unemployment inched up to 4.1% in January-March from 4.0% in the December quarter but remains relatively low. Economists fear a shortage of workers could fuel further inflation.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled his new Cabinet on Monday following his Labor Party’s landslide victory in the May 3 elections, a move that coincided with the exclusion of a minister who had criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza. The updated Cabinet line-up comes after former Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic said his removal was partly linked to his vocal criticism of Israel’s military campaign. Albanese revealed the names of 30 lawmakers who will serve in ministerial and outer-ministry roles. With Labor securing 92 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives and possibly reaching 95 as counting continues, Albanese said his government now holds more seats than any Labor government since Australia’s first Parliament in 1901. “I’m deeply humbled by the trust that was put into my government with the election and we certainly won’t take it for granted,” he said during a press conference at Parliament House. Although prime ministers distribute ministerial portfolios, the Labor Party’s internal factions determine who fills them based on their proportion of seats. In this reshuffle, faction leaders dropped both Husic, who is of Bosnian Muslim heritage, and former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who is Jewish. Australians rescue a 10-foot great white shark stranded in shallow water Husic, the first Muslim federal minister sworn in on the Quran after the 2022 election, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday that Albanese should have acted to retain both him and Dreyfus. “I think it’s been a factor in there. Would I do things differently? I don’t think so,” Husic said, referring to his stance on the Gaza conflict. “You can’t celebrate diversity and then expect it to sit in a corner and be silent. You need to speak up … for the communities that you care about,” he added. When questioned about whether he had attempted to keep Husic and Dreyfus in Cabinet, Albanese avoided a direct answer. “We have a process in the Labor Party caucus. You’ve been watching it for some time,” he said. He added that he spoke with Husic on Monday morning in a “constructive discussion.” “What I’ve done is to allocate portfolios. That’s the system that’s there. It’s one that Ed and others have supported for a long period of time,” Albanese said. Bilal Rauf, an adviser to the Australian National Imams Council, urged Albanese to clarify if Husic’s demotion was related to his views on the war in Gaza. “I think at a minimum, some explanation is warranted. We can’t just leave it at explanations about factionalism,” Rauf said. “If Ed says that’s a factor, I have no reason to discount that,” he added. “It’s hard to deny that it likely is a factor.” Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said his organization had good working relationships with both Husic and Dreyfus, although Husic's comments following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel had caused concern. “He levelled accusations at Israel which we fundamentally disagree with but again reasonable people will differ on these things and we wish Ed Husic all the best,” Ryvchin said. Two weeks after the October attack, Husic had said: “I feel very strongly that Palestinians are being collectively punished … for Hamas’ barbarism.” On Sunday, he reiterated that the Israeli government had “atrociously managed this.” Meanwhile, Anne Aly, born in Egypt, has been elevated to the Cabinet, becoming the highest-ranking Muslim in the government. She will oversee the small business, international development, and multicultural affairs portfolios. With Dreyfus no longer in the Cabinet, this marks the first time since 2010 that an Australian government has had no Jewish Cabinet minister. Most senior ministers have retained their previous roles or experienced minor adjustments. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles remains Defense Minister, while Tony Burke’s Home Affairs portfolio now also includes oversight of the Australian Federal Police and the domestic spy agency, ASIO. Tim Ayres, previously assistant trade minister, has replaced Husic in Cabinet, while Michelle Rowland, formerly communications minister, takes over from Dreyfus.