A heavy downpour has cut off the Kano-Maiduguri expressway in Bauchi state, leaving many motorists and pedestrians stranded.

The incident occurred between the Malori and Guskuri villages in Katagum LGA of Bauchi state.

The highway is one of the major roads connecting north-west and north-east.

Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi, who visited the scene for an assessment, told journalists that he would inform the federal government about the condition of the road.

“This is a major highway; the north-east highway and the dual carriageways have been completely washed away,” the governor said.

“We are calling on the federal government to assist. We will report this issue to Abuja through the controller of works.

“If they are unable to address the problem, we will take action to implement remedial or permanent measures, as we did during the last rainy season.”

In April, the federal government said 148 LGAs in 34 states of the country were at risk of severe flooding from April to November.

The federal government listed Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, and Kogi states as those at risk of severe flooding.

Others are Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Yobe.

The Cable

A passenger plane crashed into a gated residential community in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state Friday, killing all 61 people aboard and leaving a smoldering wreck, officials and the airline said.

Officials did not say if anyone was killed on the ground in the neighborhood where the plane landed in the city of Vinhedo, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of the metropolis of Sao Paulo. But witnesses at the scene said there were no victims among local residents.

The airline Voepass said that its plane, an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, was headed for Sao Paulo’s international airport Guarulhos with 57 passengers and 4 crew members aboard when it crashed in Vinhedo. It provided a flight manifest with passenger names, but not their nationalities. A prior statement had said there were 58 passengers.

“The company regrets to inform that all 61 people on board flight 2283 died at the site,” Voepass said in a statement. “At this time, Voepass is prioritizing provision of unrestricted assistance to the victims’ families and effectively collaborating with authorities to determine the causes of the accident.”

It was the deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on board a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that stalled and crashed while making its landing approach. That plane also was an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.

At an event in southern Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked the crowd to stand and observe a minute of silence as he shared the news. Friday evening, he declared three days of mourning.

The state’s firefighters, military police and civil defense authority dispatched teams to the location. Sao Paulo’s public security secretary Guilherme Derrite spoke to reporters and confirmed that no survivors had been found. He also said the plane’s black box was recovered.

“I thought it was going to fall in our yard,” a resident and witness who gave her name only as Ana Lucia de Lima told reporters near the crash site. “It was scary, but thank God there were no victims among the locals. It seems that the 62 people inside the plane were the real victims, though.”

Parana state’s Gov. Ratinho Júnior told journalists in Vinhedo that many of the passengers were doctors from his state attending a seminar.

“They were people who were used to saving lives, and now they lost theirs in such tragic circumstances,” Júnior said, adding he had friends aboard. “It is a sad day.”

Video obtained from a witness by The Associated Press and verified shows at least two bodies strewn about flaming pieces of wreckage.

Brazilian television network GloboNews showed aerial footage of an area with smoke coming out of an obliterated plane fuselage. Additional footage on GloboNews earlier showed the plane plunging in a flat spin.

A report from television network Globo’s meteorological center said it “confirmed the possibility of the formation of ice in the region of Vinhedo,” and local media cited analysts pointing to icing as a potential cause for the crash.

But aviation expert Lito Sousa cautioned that meteorological conditions alone might not be enough to explain why the plane fell as it did.

“Analyzing an air crash just with images can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Sousa told the AP by phone. “But we can see a plane with loss of support, no horizontal speed. In this flat spin condition, there’s no way to reclaim control of the plane.”

And Marcelo Moura, director of operations for Voepass, told reporters Friday night that, while there were forecasts for ice, they were within acceptable levels for the aircraft.

Likewise, Carlos Henrique Baldi, of the Brazilian air force’s center for the investigation and prevention of air accidents, told reporters in a late afternoon press conference that it was still too early to confirm whether ice caused the accident.

The plane is “certified in several countries to fly in severe icing conditions, including in countries unlike ours, where the impact of ice is more significant,” said Baldi, who heads the center’s investigation division.

In an earlier statement, the center said that the plane’s pilots didn’t call for help nor say they were operating under adverse weather conditions.

In a separate statement, Brazil’s Federal Police said it already had begun its investigation, and had dispatched specialists in plane crashes and the identification of disaster victims.

Authorities began transferring the corpses to the morgue on Friday, and called on victims’ family members to bring any medical, X-ray and dental exams in order as a means to help identify the bodies.

French-Italian plane manufacturer ATR said in a statement that it had been informed that the accident involved its ATR 72-500 model, and said company specialists are “fully engaged to support both the investigation and the customer.”

The ATR 72 generally is used on shorter flights. The planes are built by a joint venture of Airbus in France and Italy’s Leonardo S.p.A. Crashes involving various models of the ATR 72 have resulted in 470 deaths going back to the 1990s, according to a database of the Aviation Safety Network.

The Capela neighborhood where the plane crashed Friday sits in a district far from the center of the prosperous city that’s home to 77,000 residents. It had departed from Cascavel, in Parana state.

AP

Israeli strike kills senior Hamas figure in south Lebanon

An Israeli airstrike on a car deep inside Lebanon killed a senior figure from Palestinian armed group Hamas on Friday evening, a Hamas source and two other security sources told Reuters.

The strike, on the southern edges of the Lebanese port city of Sidon some 60 kilometres (nearly 40 miles) from the frontier, killed Samer al-Hajj, a Hamas security official who works in the nearby refugee camp for Palestinians, Ain al-Hilweh. His bodyguard was critically wounded, the three sources said.

The Israeli military has been carrying out strikes against members of Hamas, allied Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and other factions in Lebanon over the last 10 months, in parallel with the Gaza war.

Those armed groups have launched rockets, drones and artillery attacks across the border into northern Israel.

While most of the hostilities have been limited to the strip of border between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli strikes targeting senior figures in Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups have taken place further north.

An Israeli strike on the outskirts of Beirut in January killed Hamas's deputy chief Saleh Arouri. Another Israeli strike on the same area last week killed Hezbollah's top military commander Fuad Shukr.

Hours after Shukr was killed, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran. Iran and its allies in the region, including Hezbollah and Hamas, have blamed Israel and vowed retaliation.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia reinforces Kursk region, videos show Ukrainian presence, evidence of attack

Russia moved extra tanks, artillery and rocket systems to its southern Kursk region and imposed anti-terrorism measures in border areas as it battled a shock incursion by Ukraine's military.

Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, posted a video purporting to show them in control of a town near the border, the first pictorial evidence of their cross-border advances.

In new evidence of the damage inflicted in the Ukrainian counter-offensive, another video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed a convoy of about 15 burnt-out Russian military trucks spaced out along a highway in the Kursk region.

Some contained dead bodies.

The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said drone debris had fallen on a power substation near Kurchatov, site of one of Russia's largest nuclear power stations with four reactors. Power to the area was cut for a time.

The head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency urged both sides to show restraint in view of the proximity of the conflict to the station, 60 km (35 miles) from the border.

Russian diplomats in Vienna told the IAEA that fragments, possibly from downed missiles, had been found, though there was no evidence of an attack on the station.

Ukrainian forces broke across the border on Tuesday in a thrust that caught the Russian military by surprise after months of gradual advances in eastern Ukraine by Moscow's forces.

Politicians and the military are referring to a Ukrainian "invasion", nearly two and a half years after Russia launched its own full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Early on Saturday, Russian news agencies said the National Anti-Terrorism Committee had imposed anti-terror measures in Kursk region and in nearby Bryansk and Belgorod regions.

The statement said the decision, taken by Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB intelligence service, was in response to Ukraine's "unprecedented attempt to destablise the situation in a series of regions".

RIA news agency said the measures included possible displacement of residents, limits on transport, beefed-up security around sensitive sites and wire taps.

Two days after Military Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin that the advance had been halted, Russia's defence ministry said its forces "continue to repel an attempted invasion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine".

Interfax news agency quoted the ministry as saying that Russia was sending in columns of reinforcements with Grad multiple-launch rocket systems, artillery and tanks.

VIDEO SAID TO BE IN RUSSIAN GAS FACILITY

The Ukrainian video purported to show Ukrainian forces in control of a gas measuring facility run by Russian concern Gazprom in the town of Sudzha.

"The town is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the town is calm, all buildings are intact," a soldier in the video said, adding that the "strategic Gazprom facility" was under the control of a Ukrainian battalion.

Reuters could not verify this video and the Ukrainian military's General Staff made no comment. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has maintained a strict silence on the operation, though he dropped some clear hints on Thursday, without referring to Kursk.

He praised his army's ability "to surprise". And in his nightly video address, he thanked army units who had taken Russian servicemen prisoner, to be used in later negotiations.

"This is extremely important and has been particularly effective over the past three days," he said.

Ben Barry, land warfare analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that while its wider strategic goals remained unclear, Ukraine had exposed Russian shortcomings and overturned the conventional wisdom on the war that neither side could advance without heavy losses.

"They clearly have achieved a degree of surprise which suggests that Russia's ability to do intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is inadequate," he said in a phone interview.

A Ukrainian Telegram channel that posted the video of the destroyed Russian trucks said they had been hit by a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket system. Russian bloggers also blamed a HIMARS strike.

Reuters was not able to establish how the vehicles were destroyed.

The United States announced a new $125 million package of aid for Ukraine, including Stinger missiles, artillery ammunition, and anti-armour systems. Zelenskiy said the package was "vital for our forces to counter Russian assaults".

Russia's defence ministry released its own video which it said showed a drone destroying a Ukrainian tank and howitzer near Sudzha. Reuters was able to verify the location.

ADVANCING INTO RUSSIAN TERRITORY

The ministry said that in the previous 24 hours, Russian troops, air strikes and artillery had "suppressed raid attempts by enemy units deep into Russian territory in the Kursk direction".

It said that Ukraine had lost up to 945 soldiers and 102 armoured vehicles in total, while mentioning no Russian losses.

Reuters could not verify the battlefield accounts. On Wednesday, Gerasimov had said the Ukrainian attack was mounted by up to 1,000 troops.

The Institute for the Study of War said in an overnight report that geolocated footage and Russian accounts indicated that Ukrainian forces had "continued rapid advances".

There were unconfirmed reports from Russian sources of Ukrainians pushing as deep as 35 km (22 miles) from the border.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian heavy weaponry destroyed in border clashes

Videos released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday morning showcase the use of Lancet loitering munitions against Ukrainian heavy weapons deployed for the incursion into Kursk Region.

Kiev this week launched a major offensive into Russian territory, claiming that it would help it achieve a “just peace” sooner.

The Russian military said its opponents have suffered significant casualties and lost dozens of pieces of heavy weaponry in their cross-border push.

One of the new videos was filmed in a border area of Kursk Region and shows the destruction of a tank and an armored vehicle of the Ukrainian army amid the fighting, according to the description. Lancet kamikaze drones were reportedly used in both strikes.

Another one shows a Polish-made Krab 155mm howitzer, which was spotted by Russian recon teams as the Ukrainians were hiding it in a small forest. A Lancet damaged the self-propelled weapon and set it on fire, the ministry said.

Reuters/RT

Washing fruit and veg before eating them is common practice in most British households. 

But new research suggests that this might not be enough to eliminate potentially harmful pesticides from your produce. 

Writing in the journal Nano Letters, they concluded: 'The risk of pesticide ingestion from fruits cannot be avoided by simple washing other than peeling.

'We believe that the peeling operation can effectively avoid the hazards of pesticides in the fruit’s epidermis [skin] and near-epidermal pulp, thereby reducing the probability of ingesting pesticides.' 

But is peeling our fruit and veg really crucial for protecting our long-term health? 

For the new study, the researchers sprayed the fruit they tested with pesticides thiram and carbendazim.

They then washed them to mimic the everyday practices of millions of families who buy such items every day.  

However, using their special film, they demonstrated that washing wasn't enough to remove the presence of these pesticides could still be detected at 'low concentrations'.

They then replicated the study on other foods including cucumbers, shrimp, chili powder and rice which produced similar results showing these also had pesticide contamination. 

Carbendazim has been shown, in some animal studies, to increase the risk of liver cancers developing. Thiram has also been linked to developmental problems in  unborn children, and is irritating to the skin, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.      

High exposure to carbendazim is linked to headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting as well as movement issues.

However, neither thiram nor carbendazim are approved for use in the UK.

While food imported into the UK can be grown using them and sold on supermarket shelves, traces of the chemicals are too low to ilicit any of the ill-effects found in studies.

Separate studies, on pesticides in general have linked pesticides exposure to increased risk of cancers in people.

One recent study even claimed pesticides had a greater impact on cancers like Hopkins lymphoma, leukaemia, and bladder cancer than smoking.

However, experts say the health benefits of eating fruit and vegetables hugely outweigh the risks posed from consuming food with negligible amounts of pesticides.  

Daily Mail

Italian fashion label Dolce & Gabbana is taking the canine  perfume world by storm with Fefé, an “olfactory masterpiece” created by a master perfumer that will leave your pooch smelling like a million bucks.

Priced at an eye-watering €99 ($108) per 100 ml, Fefé comes in a “sleek green lacquered glass bottle, adorned with a vibrant red metal cap and a precious 24-carat gold-plated paw.” Smell-wise, it features “the cocooning and warm notes of Ylang, the clean and enveloping touch of Musk, and the woody creamy undertones of Sandalwood.” Inspired by D&G founder Domenico Dolce’s “unconditional love for his loyal  dog Fefé,” the new designer perfume for canines is safe pet cosmetics certified, approved by vets, safety tested, and “enjoyed by dogs.”

“Spray Fefé on your hands or on a brush and proceed by rubbing or brushing your dog’s fur from the middle of the body towards the tail to give them a moment of scented pampering,” the Dolce & Gabbana website suggests.

News of Dolce & Gabbana’s foray into canine toiletries has received some criticism from veterinarians despite the company’s claims that Fefé is alcohol-free and completely safe for dogs. The price of the designer perfume is one of the strongest points of contention, with some animal experts claiming that it is disappointing for such a product to be released at a time when many people are struggling economically.

“Dog  perfume with ylang-ylang and sandalwood scents is a waste of money with the potential to annoy dogs,” one veterinarian said.

“The dogs’ sense of smell is so sophisticated that they will still be able to check each other’s natural scent even if they wear perfume,” Fabian Rivers, welfare ambassador for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), explained. “But, I will not be surprised to find that dogs become distracted or annoyed by the smell of perfume.”

If a designer perfume for dogs is something you’ve always dreamed of, you can pre-order Fefé on the Dolce & Gabbana website.

Oddity Central

In what appears a major shift from previous claim by the Dangote Refinery company, the Group Chief Strategy Officer, Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Company, Aliyu Suleiman on Wednesday, stated that 60 per cent of the crude supplied to the refinery was done by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL.

Aliyu made the submission during an interactive session organised by the Senate Ad-hoc committee to investigate alleged sabotage in the Nigerian petroleum industry.

This supersedes the position of the Group Chief Commercial Officer, Dangote Industries Limited, Rabiu A. Umar, who had claimed that the NNPC has been supplying insufficient crude oil for its production demand.

Umar had said that NNPC supplied only 33 per cent of crude to the refinery, disclosing that it had to look elsewhere to source the remaining 67 per cent to meet its production capacity.

He added that the refinery, which has the capacity of refining 650,000 per day, could not depend on short supply from Nigeria’s oil company.

But during his presentation, Suleiman stated that out of the five million barrels of crude oil they got in recent time, “NNPC gave them 60 per cent, 20 per cent was imported, and 20 per cent was purchased”.

Aliyu expressed gratitude for the strong partnership between the Dangote Refinery and the NNPC Ltd, and for making the huge supply to Dangote.

He described the refinery as a baby that should be supported by all relevant stakeholders “in order to grow and not die”.

Daily Post

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) says high energy costs, interest rates, and excessive taxes, are major challenges faced by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.

The PwC highlighted the challenges in its 2024 MSME survey, titled, ‘Building Resilience: Strategies for MSME Success in a Changing Landscape’.

According to the financial services firm, the survey included 567 MSMEs across 13 sectors and 29 states.

PwC said over 50 percent of MSMEs reported falling sales due to high prices and low consumer spending power.

“When asked about the reasons for this decline, 38% of respondents pointed to the high cost of their products, while 36% cited the low purchasing power of consumers,” the report reads.

“Additionally, 12% noted that consumers were switching to alternative products, and 10% attributed the decline to changing consumer preferences.

“These challenges are compounded by macroeconomic headwinds such as inflationary pressures, currency depreciation, and slow economic growth.

“Headline inflation in December 2023 was reported at 28.92%, driven by increased food prices, naira devaluation, high import bills, and rising energy and logistics costs.

“Inflation is projected to decline marginally to 21% in 2024, but MSMEs may continue to face sustained inflationary pressure due to the pass-through effect of rising international oil prices on domestic energy costs and exchange rate pressures.

“This is likely to increase the cost of inputs for MSMEs, which will, in turn, raise the prices of final goods and services, further impacting demand.”

The report also pointed out that MSMEs’ growth potential was stunted by funding gaps, power outages, and over-taxation.

The firm said the business owners surveyed reported that the top factors hindering their growth include inadequate access to finance, poor electricity, multiple taxes and levies, inadequate skilled labour, insecurity, and government policies.

“Funding is a critical enabler of the growth and development of small and medium enterprises, with 35% of the businesses surveyed citing inadequate access to finance as their number one challenge,” the report said.

“Infrastructure challenges, particularly electricity, account for the biggest costs to the daily operations of MSMEs. 

“Unreliable power supply is a major challenge for 21% of businesses. Nigeria’s power sector faces numerous issues, including deteriorating plant capacities, poor maintenance, inadequate gas supply, limited distribution networks, and the commercial viability of DisCos operations.

“These challenges have had an adverse impact on the business environment, contributing to significant economic costs for MSMEs and the broader economy.

“Other structural challenges include multiple taxation (12%), inadequate skilled labour (11%), and insecurity (10%).”

PwC also said Nigerian MSMEs require an estimated $32.2 billion (₦13 trillion) in financing.

The organisation said micro and small enterprises, particularly in agriculture and retail, need loans under $20,000.

The report, however, said limited private sector lending, poor infrastructure, and lack of documentation hinder access to credit.

Commenting on the survey, Sam Abu, country senior partner at PwC Nigeria, said MSMEs continue to contribute significantly to the global economy — creating jobs, generating income, and fostering skills development.

“These contributions make the sector pivotal to Nigeria’s growth, especially now given our country’s current challenges,” Abu said.

“However, the sector’s full potential remains untapped due to persistent challenges that hinder its ability to lift people out of poverty and drive the economy forward. 

“Despite these challenges, Nigerian MSMEs have demonstrated remarkable adaptability in navigating a complex business environment characterised by challenging macroeconomy and government policies, highlighting their potential to drive economic growth.”

The Cable

The recent comments by Nigeria's Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, regarding the removal of the fuel subsidy display a concerning lack of understanding of the real-world implications for the Nigerian people.

Edun's claim that "the poorest of 40 percent was only getting four percent of the value" of the fuel subsidy is simply not supported by the facts. According to official figures by both the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, commercial vehicles - used by low-income Nigerians for essential daily commutes - account for over 50% of the country's total daily petrol consumption. Out of the estimated 12 million registered vehicles in Nigeria, around 7.2 million are commercial vehicles, with about 90 percent of those (6.5 million) running on petrol. If each of these vehicles consumes just 5 liters of petrol daily, this alone accounts for approximately 32.5 million liters of petrol per day—over 50% of Nigeria's reported daily fuel consumption. This statistic starkly contradicts the Minister’s assertion that the poor were not benefitting from the subsidy.

This doesn't even include the massive fuel usage for powering generators that have become a necessity for households and businesses alike due to the country's unreliable electricity grid.

The minister's assertion that "nobody knows the consumption in Nigeria of petroleum" is equally troubling. How can policymakers make informed decisions about a sector so vital to the economy and the lives of citizens without accurate data on consumption patterns? This speaks to a larger problem of incompetence that has come to characterize the Tinubu administration.

Furthermore, the minister's attempt to justify the fuel subsidy removal by claiming Nigeria is subsidizing neighboring countries is a flimsy excuse. Many countries around the world subsidize fuel for their citizens - this is a common economic policy tool used to support domestic industries and protect the most vulnerable. The fact that some Nigerians may have been exploiting the system does not negate the immense hardship that the subsidy removal has caused for millions.

The devastating impact on the "real sector" of the economy, as well as the daily lives of average Nigerians, is undeniable. Skyrocketing transportation costs, soaring prices of goods and services, and the increased burden on households struggling to power their homes - these are the realities that the government seems intent on downplaying or simply ignoring.

It is high time the Tinubu administration abandoned the false narrative peddled by international financial institutions and instead prioritized the well-being of the Nigerian people. The government must acknowledge the significant role that fuel subsidies play in supporting the economy and the livelihoods of the poor, and work towards finding more targeted and equitable solutions, rather than pursuing ill-conceived policies that degrade the economy and exacerbate the suffering of the masses.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Students are out in force on the streets of Dhaka, no longer protesting but working to put a city back together after the dramatic events of the past few days. After Monday’s resignation of Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, subsequent looting and pockets of violence meant the initial jubilation quickly turned to concern.

There were reports that the offices of the ruling Awami League party, as well as homes and businesses of the minority Hindu population, were being attacked.

During the past two days, students have been out cleaning up roads and wreckage, while groups of volunteers have formed to protect the religious sites of minorities.

“We’re living in extraordinary times,” one volunteer says, while clearing glass and debris from a destroyed police box at a busy intersection in the city’s Mirpur neighbourhood.

“Protests can lead to unintended consequences, but they’re driven by a cause. Now, it’s our responsibility to help restore normalcy. We’re just doing our part.”

Nearby, students direct Dhaka’s notorious traffic, as police officers have deserted traffic posts or been deployed elsewhere. Holding up handmade signs saying: “Stop! Follow the traffic rules”, the students encourage pedestrians to keep to pavements and footbridges, and motorcyclists to wear helmets.

“Our protests might have ended, but our duty to the nation persists,” says 19-year-old Faiza.

The students are keen to protect their movement’s integrity, something that endeared it to Bangladeshi society and mobilised wider support for the protesters, who many in the country are saying have pulled off a gen Z-led revolution.

“I was there from the very first moment and have stayed with the movement because the quota law was against our rights, it was illogical. Students working by our own merit were being denied jobs,” says Ashin Roy, a 22-year-old student at Dhaka University.
“We really felt good that everybody supported us and in the end, democracy has won,” says Roy. “We celebrated like we got our victory back, just like in 1971, but now I’m worried that the situation in my country is very bad, that minorities are being oppressed. I want an election now so the people can choose leader who truly works for us.”

After weeks of protests and a government response that killed almost 300 people, the military took charge on Monday and has included student leaders in negotiations at the presidential palace, accepting their demand to include the 84-year-old Nobel laureate and entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus to head an interim government.

The wait is an anxious one – there is hope for a break from a political order that has for decades been defined by bitter rivalry between the two established political parties.

“I have no faith in an army-backed interim government,” says Tamanna Islam, 25, an engineering student at a Dhaka university. “I do not trust the military. The revolution should lead to a new interim government that is supported – but not controlled – by the military.”

She says students have been trying to maintain order, including establishing neighbourhood groups in response to attacks on Hindus and other minority groups, but they want to return to their studies.

“We reject the old, corrupt political parties and the religious extremists,” she says. “Hopefully, existing parties will realise that their traditional corrupt practices are no longer viable. Our country has tremendous potential that should not be squandered under unworthy leadership.

“We’ve ousted this regime and will do so again if the new leaders fail to meet our expectations. I hope that future parties will engage with students and civil society to avoid repeating past mistakes.”

Students at Dhaka University began protesting in early July over a quota law that allocated almost a third of government jobs to the families of people who fought for independence in 1971. Other students from other universities joined them but the crackdown was swift.

Student leaders were arrested, an internet blackout was imposed, police used live bullets and the Awami League launched mob attacks. Nearly 300 people were killed, prompting anger that mobilised many others to join the protests.

“The violence against the students woke me up – anybody who was standing for the movement would say the same thing,” says Esrat Karim, 35, the founder of Amal Foundation, a community-development nonprofit.

“I saw people from all walks of life, from a baker to street children to industrialists, coming to the streets to show solidarity with the movement. Anyone with a minimal conscience would do that because this level of killing was intolerable.”

She says the student movement has made her hopeful for the future of the Bangladesh and proud of the generation who will one day lead it.

“The courage they have, the level of dignity, their conscience – hats off to them,” she says. “People tend to think badly of gen Z, they call them self-centred, but actually they are very giving, very conscious, and now they’ve overturned the government. There’s nothing they can’t do.”

Badiul Alam Majumdar, 78, the founder of the civil society organisation Citizens for Good Governance, describes them as “heroes”.

Majumdar witnessed independence from Britain and then from Pakistan, as well as the resistance to military rule in the 1980s. Like many, he likens the outcome of the protests to Bangladesh winning the nine-month war against occupying Pakistan in 1971, and says this is a “new liberation”.

“We have paid an enormous price,” he adds. “We hope the people who will now be running the show will not betray the blood of the people.”

He says the protests were the outcome of years of increasingly autocratic rule from Hasina.

“We were sitting on a powder keg and it was going to ignite at some point. It happened sooner rather than later. People were so angry, so unhappy,” he says. “This quota was like the tip of the iceberg that caused the Titanic to sink.”

The Guardian, UK