- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Mets advance on Lindor grand slam, Yankees and Tigers win
- Taiwan President Lai vows to 'resist annexation' of island
- China's solar goes from supremacy to oversupply
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Zelensky on whirlwind tour of Europe ahead of US vote
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Lindor powers Mets past Phillies into NL Championship Series
- Wildlife populations plunge 73% since 1970: WWF
- 'Sleeper agent' bots on X fuel US election misinformation, study says
- Death toll rises to 109 after Haiti gang attack, official says
- Tigers beat Guardians and on brink of advancing in MLB playoffs
- Argentina MPs back Milei's veto of university funding
- Man City sink Barca in Women's Champions League as Bayern outgun Arsenal
- Greek international Baldock, 31, found dead in pool: state agency
- Florida seaside haven a ghost town as hurricane nears
- Pharrell Williams to co-chair Met Gala exploring Black dandyism
- Wall Street indices hit fresh records as Chinese shares tumble
- Taiwan's president to deliver key speech for National Day
- Sea row on the menu as ASEAN leaders meet China's Li
- Injured Kane won't start England's Nations League clash with Greece
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Mozambique starts tallying votes in tense election
- Zelensky moves to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- Rodgers rejects 'false' suggestions of role in Saleh dismissal
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Lebanon facing 'catastrophic' situation as 600,000 displaced: UN
- US warns Israel not to repeat Gaza destruction in Lebanon
- Musk's X returns in Brazil after 40-day showdown with judge
- Call her savvy? Harris unleashes unconventional media blitz
- Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale
- SoFi Stadium to hold next two CONCACAF Nations League finals
- McIlroy and DeChambeau set for PGA-LIV 'Showdown' in Vegas
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Run blitz edges India and South Africa closer to World Cup semi-finals
- Zelensky to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Israel captain says 'difficult' to focus on football in time of war
- Macron to host Ukraine's Zelensky after meeting Ukrainian troops
- Root says 'many more to get' after England Test runs landmark
- India pile up World Cup high to rout Sri Lanka
- One year later, Israeli hostage family learns of loss
- Texans receiver Collins, Pats' safety Peppers out for NFL clash
Bangladesh protesters set state TV HQ ablaze as toll mounts, internet cut
Bangladeshi students set fire to the country's state broadcaster on Thursday as protests against civil service hiring rules escalated, with the death toll mounting to at least 32 and monitors saying a "near-total" internet blackout had been imposed.
Police fired with rubber bullets at hundreds of protesters, who fought back and chased retreating officers to the headquarters of Bangladesh Television (BTV) in the capital Dhaka.
Demonstrators set ablaze the network's reception building and dozens of vehicles parked outside, with the broadcaster saying in a Facebook post that "many people" were trapped inside, although a station executive later told AFP they had safely evacuated the building.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on the network seeking to calm the escalating clashes.
"Our first demand is that the prime minister must apologise to us," protester Bidisha Rimjhim, 18, told AFP.
"Secondly, justice must be ensured for our killed brothers," she added.
Widespread internet outages went into effect, with websites for the Bangladesh home and foreign ministry, as well as the Dhaka Tribune and Daily Star newspapers, not available in the evening.
Bangladesh was experiencing a "near-total" internet shutdown, outage monitor Netblocks said, posting a graphic online showing connectivity plummeting late Thursday from around 90 percent to about 10 percent.
It said the latest outage "follows earlier efforts to throttle social media and restrict mobile data services" -- key communication tools for protest organisers.
Near-daily marches this month have demanded an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
Critics say the scheme benefits children of pro-government groups that back Hasina, 76, who has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Hasina's government has ordered schools and universities to close indefinitely as police step up efforts to bring the deteriorating law and order situation under control.
Her administration is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamping out dissent, including by the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Mubashar Hasan, a Bangladesh expert at the University of Oslo in Norway, said the protests had grown into a wider expression of discontent with Hasina's autocratic rule.
"They are protesting against the repressive nature of the state," he told AFP.
"Protesters are questioning Hasina's leadership, accusing her of clinging onto power by force," he added. "The students are in fact calling her a dictator."
- Gunshot injuries -
The premier appeared on BTV on Wednesday night to condemn the "murder" of protesters and vow that those responsible will be punished regardless of political affiliation.
But violence worsened on the streets despite her appeal for calm as police again attempted to break up demonstrations with rubber bullets and tear gas volleys.
At least 25 people were killed on Thursday in addition to seven killed earlier in the week, with hundreds more wounded, according to an AFP tally based on hospital data.
Police weaponry was the cause of at least two-thirds of those deaths, based on descriptions given to AFP by hospital figures.
"We've got seven dead here," an official at Uttara Crescent Hospital in Dhaka, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, told AFP.
"The first two were students with rubber bullet injuries. The other five had gunshot injuries."
Nearly 1,000 others had been treated at the hospital for injuries sustained during clashes, the official said, adding many had rubber bullet wounds.
Didar Malekin of the online news outlet Dhaka Times told AFP that Mehedi Hasan, one of his reporters, had been killed while covering clashes in Dhaka.
Several cities across Bangladesh saw violence throughout the day as riot police marched on protesters who had begun another round of human blockades on roads and highways.
Helicopters rescued 60 police officers who were trapped on the roof of a campus building at Canadian University, the scene of some of Dhaka's fiercest clashes, the elite Rapid Action Battalion police force said in a statement.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric appealed for "restraint from all sides".
"We urge the government to ensure a conducive environment for dialogue. And we encourage protesters to engage in dialogue to resolve the deadlock," he told reporters.
"Violence is never a solution."
- Social media 'weaponised'-
Before the late near-total internet shutdown, junior telecommunications minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak told reporters that social media had been "weaponised as a tool to spread rumours, lies and disinformation", forcing the government to restrict access.
Along with police crackdowns, demonstrators and students allied to the premier's ruling Awami League have also battled each other on the streets with hurled bricks and bamboo rods.
Rights group Amnesty International said video evidence from clashes this week showed that Bangladeshi security forces had used unlawful force.
F.Dubois--AMWN