Makkah, Jun 1 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday sought support from the OIC member states to launch the Rohingya case at International Court of Justice with voluntary funding and technical help to ensure the legal rights of…
Category: Conflicts
Pakistani and Afghan refugees seek safe haven in Sri Lanka
By Caroline Gluck Negombo, Sri Lanka, May 31 2019 (IPS) – Thirteen-year-old Bariea, a Pakistani asylum seeker in Sri Lanka, is taking shelter at a mosque in the city of Negombo, where an uneasy mix of high anxiety and extreme…
Hasina arrives in Jeddah to attend Makkah Summit
Jeddah, May 31 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday afternoon arrived here in Saudi Arabia, the second destination of her tri-nation tour, from Tokyo wrapping up her four-day visit to Japan. A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines…
Keeping armies out of schools – An interview
Philippa H Stewart Senior Media Officer Bede Sheppard Deputy Director, Children’s Rights Division During times of war around the world, students, teachers, and schools have frequently come under attack from armies and armed groups. Schools are deliberately targeted to stop…
Saudi King Salman urges international effort to thwart Iran
Saudi Arabia, May 31 (AP/UNB) — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman opened an emergency summit of Arab leaders in Islam’s holiest city of Mecca on Friday with a call for the international community to use all means to confront Iran, but…
Chittagong jail prisoner killed in fight with inmate
Dhaka, May 30 – A prisoner of Chattogram Central Jail was killed on Wednesday over infighting with his inmate, said Chattogram jail authority. Over the murder incident, Chattogram Central Jail’s jailor Nasir Ahmed filed a case at city’s Kotwali Police…
Bangladesh for Ulema body at OIC to help counter militancy
Dhaka, May 30 – Bangladesh on Thursday proposed a new platform for the Ulema to work together to counter extremism and terrorism at the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) Council of foreign ministers. Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen emphasised that…
Satkhira Press Club attacked; 10 journalists injured
Satkhira, May 30 (UNB) – At least 10 journalists were injured in an attack by criminals on the press club on Thursday noon. Press club President and freedom fighter Abu Ahmed, former president and district correspondent of channel I Abul…
Dhaka proposes new platform for Ulema to counter extremism
Dhaka, May 30 (UNB) – Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday emphasized that the Muslim nations should be able to resolve their own issues within Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and proposed a new platform for the Ulema to work…
BD Chhatra League trying to kill me, says Ducsu VP Nur
Dhaka, May 29 (UNB)— Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) Vice-President Nurul Haque Nur on Wednesday accused Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists of making an attempt on his life in Bogura. “They’re continuously attacking me as part of their plot…
Palestinians vow to battle illegal Israeli confiscations
Palestinians pledge to continue the dream of passing land to their children and grandchildren amid accelerating seizures By Shatha Hammad Tayseer Ataya stands, leaning on his cane and gazing at his plot of land on Risan hill, west of Ramallah.…
Confusion, anger grips BNP rank and file: Moudud
Dhaka, May 29 (UNB) – BNP senior leader Moudud Ahmed on Wednesday said deep anger and confusion have gripped their party rank and file as its MPs joined the current ‘unelected and illegal’ parliament. Speaking at a discussion of BNP,…
Mamata refuses to join Indian PM Modi’s oath invite
New Delhi/Kolkata, May 29 (UNB) – Mamata Banerjee, after claiming she would try to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath ceremony in Delhi on Thursday as a constitutional duty, pulled a 180-degree today saying: “Please excuse me”. The Bengal Chief…
Amnesty Int’l charges Myanmar military with new abuses
Bangkok, May 29 (AP/UNB) — Myanmar’s military, accused of massive human rights violations against the Muslim Rohingya minority less than two years ago, is committing war crimes and other atrocities as it engages in new military operations in the western…
The Myth of Climate Wars?
by Alaa Murabit, Luca Bücken New York – In the years leading up to Syria’s civil war, the country endured three consecutive record-breaking droughts. By forcing internal displacement, the droughts arguably contributed to the social tensions that erupted in popular…
Female police contingent leaves for DR Congo on rotation
Dhaka, May 28 (UNB) – A female contingent of Bangladesh Formed Police Unit-1 comprising 180 members left Dhaka on Monday night to join the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo. Superintendent of Police (SP) Salma Sayed Poly is leading the…
China sharing Brahmaputra data with India for Monsoon
China has begun sharing hydrological data with India on the Bramhaputra river for this year’s monsoon season, a senior Indian water resources ministry official said May 20. It is also expected to start sharing data on the Sutlej river from…
Taliban attacks kill 10 Afghan troops, 4 police
Kabul, May 27 (AP/UNB) — A roadside bombing claimed by the Taliban killed 10 Afghan soldiers in the country’s west while insurgent attacks on security checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed four policemen, local officials said Monday. The soldiers were driving…
Trump says he backs Japan’s efforts to talk with Iran
Tokyo, May 27 (AP/UNB) — President Donald Trump on Monday backed the Japanese prime minister’s interest in using his country’s good relations with Iran to help broker a possible dialogue between the U.S. and its nemesis in the Middle East.…
Woman cop, rickshaw-puller hurt in Dhaka crude bomb blast
Dhaka, May 26 – Two people, including a female traffic police officer, were injured in a crude bomb explosion in the city’s Malibagh area on Sunday night. The injured are Rasheda Akhter Lovely, 28, an assistant sub-inspector of traffic police,…
Enable Rohingyas to return home: UNHCR asks Myanmar
Dhaka, May 25 (UNB) – UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has urged the Myanmar government to take action to enable the Rohingyas in Bangladesh and those displaced inside the country to return home safely. Grandi who concluded his…
The UN has failed civilians
By Tharanga Yakupitiyage UN, May 24 2019 (IPS) – Despite the United Nations Security Council’s task of protecting civilians, millions around the world are still being displaced and killed with little to no accountability for perpetrators. Marking 20 years since…
Labour disputes in Oman on fast-track resolution system
Muscat: In a first for Oman, expats can now take their labour grievances to a dedicated ‘Reconciliation Committee’, which has the legal power to enforce settlements. The Ministry of Manpower of Oman has announced the pilot scheme in Muscat in…
Pentagon proposing a troop buildup in Mideast
Washington, May 23 (AP/UNB) — The Pentagon on Thursday will present plans to the White House to send up to 10,000 more troops to the Middle East, in a move to beef up defenses against potential Iranian threats, U.S. officials…
The contribution of humanitarian action to peace
By Peter Maurer Stockholm, May 22, 2019 (IPS) – The connection of humanitarian action to broader objectives like peace, development and human rights is understandably complex, but it is also an area in which some fresh thinking is important. The…
Targeting Iran
By Chandra Muzaffar A dangerous flashpoint has emerged in world politics at the moment. There is widespread fear that the United States and its allies might launch a military operation against Iran at any time. A US aircraft carrier and…
Be active against drug addiction, terror: Zafarullah Khan
Moulana Zafarullah Khan, chief of Khelafat Andolan and chairman of United Islami Oikya Jote on Tuesday expressed his concern over the drug menace and militancy at national and international levels and called for united efforts of all to face those.…
Two suspected Ansarullah men held in Narayanganj
Narayanganj, May 20 (UNB) – Rapid Action Battalion members arrested two suspected members of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team from Fatullah on Sunday. The arrestees were identified as Abu Sayeed, 24, of Munshiganj’s Tongibari upazila and SM Mahadi Hasan…
Stop the war on children
UNITED NATIONS, May 17 2019 (IPS) – Too many children are dying as a result of explosive weapons, and the international community must step up to protect and declare children off limits in war. In a new report, Save the Children documented the devastating…
4 policemen testify in Holey Artisan attack case
Dhaka, May 20 – The Anti-Terror Special Court of Dhaka yesterday recorded the depositions of four policemen in the case lodged under the Anti-terror Act over the grisly militant attack at the city’s Holey Artisan Bakery in 2016. Later, Judge…