Lagos (AP/UNB) — The roof of a crowded church collapsed onto worshippers in southern Nigeria on Saturday, killing at least 60 people, witnesses and an official said.
Category: Feature
US envoy for religious freedom to visit Bangladesh
Dhaka – US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein will visit Bangladesh this week.
US ambassador urges Bangladesh to repeal marriage under 18 years
US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat has likened the special provision allowing child marriage in Bangladesh to “killing a mosquito with a hammer”, asking that the government look at alternatives to prevent girls becoming victims.The government has approved the draft…
3 Hindu temples vandalised in Lalmonirhat over 12 months
Dhaka – Though three Hindu temples were vandalised and desecrated in Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat over the last twelve months, no legal step has been taken in connection with those incidents.
Realise your rights by yourselves, PM to womenfolk
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday urged the womenfolk to strive for realising their rights by themselves as no one else would help them have those realised in this male-dominated society.“You’ll have to realise your rights by yourselves as no…
Violence against women turned into epidemic: Khaleda
Dhaka – BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Thursday voiced concern over the growing incidents of torture on women, saying violence against women has turned epidemic in the country.
Begum Rokeya Day to be observed Friday
Dhaka – The nation will observe Begum Rokeya Day on Friday, marking the 136th birth and 84th death anniversary of the pioneer of awakening women’s rights in the subcontinent. Women and Children Affairs Ministry and various other socio-cultural and political…
Proposed child marriage restraint law pragmatic: PM
Taking a swipe at those opposing the proposed ‘Child Marriage Restraint Act’, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday told Parliament the law is formulated taking the reality into consideration.”This law is formulated keeping in mind the reality. We’ve to consider…
Ending Child Marriage Everywhere—Including in the West
Did you know that a 14-year-old child can legally marry in New York State?Ending child marriage is urgent, because it is deeply harmful to children, wherever they live. Married children often drop out of school, and are locked in poverty…
Merkel calls for German burqa ban
By Isabella Mackie German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed a partial ban on the face veil, hardening her party’s once-progressive view on immigration in the face of rising anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe. Speaking at the Christian Democratic Party conference, Merkel…
Life on Earth is dying
Robert J. Burrowes On the day that you read this article, 200 species of life on Earth (plants, birds, animals, fish, amphibians, insects, reptiles) will cease to exist. Tomorrow, another 200 species will vanish forever. The human onslaught to destroy…
Lady Gaga says she has traumatic stress after being raped at 19
US pop star Lady Gaga says she has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since being raped at the age of 19.She revealed her mental illness during a visit to a homeless shelter for young LGBT people last month.In…
Do you believe wearing ‘sexy clothing’ makes rape ok?
Think all of your fellow citizens understand the definition of “rape”? Think again.In a recently published survey conducted in all 28 European Union member countries, over a quarter of respondents said that non-consensual sex can be justified in some circumstances.…
College girl Khadija attack case hearing begins
Dhaka – A Sylhet court on Monday started hearing a case filed against suspended Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader Badrul Alam for stabbing college girl Khadiza Akter on October 3. Witnesses gave depositions on the day Md Saifuzzaman, Chief Metropolitan…
Dhaka child dehydration test outperforms WHO standard
Dhaka – A new diagnostic technique to determine dehydration caused by diarrhoea in children is more reliable and accurate than existing methods, say scientists who were part of a US-Bangladesh team that developed it. The DHAKA (acronym for Dehydration: Assess…
Explain if delay in disposing of women repression cases
Dhaka – The High Court on Monday asked the authorities concerned to submit reports to the Supreme Court and the government with explanations if any case filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act-2000 is not disposed of within…
US Sioux tribe wins battle against pipeline crossing their lake
(CNN)Celebrations, tears of joy, chanting and drumming rang out among thousands of protesters at the Standing Rock site after the US Army Corp of Engineers announced it will look for an alternate route for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross…
Breaking boundaries: Bangladesh’s women cricketers
At the age of 10, Ismat Ara was facing a wretched future. Like millions of girls born into acute poverty and deprivation in rural Bangladesh, she was destined for marriage in childhood, perhaps as young as 12, an abrupt end…
Rohingya crisis: PM for identifying Oct 9 attackers
Dhaka – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the world leaders should have been more vocal on Myanmar issue in identifying the handful of October 9 perpetrators that led to the sufferings of thousands of men, women and children…
Cloud over facebook posting that hurt Muslim sentiment in BD
Dhaka – Namita Rani Das, mother of Rasraj who was arrested for hurting religious sentiments through an alleged Facebook post, on Friday demanded the release of her son immediately, claiming her son innocent as he was illiterate and incapable of…
Gossiping -‘adda’- part of campus life at BAU
From Md. Musfiqur Rahman Sifat: BAU, Mymensingh – Gossiping, called ‘adda’ in Bangla, is a popular form of spending leisure time in the university with friends. Students believe adda gives campus life rhythm. After passing 14 years of school and…
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo launches Women4Climate Initiative
Mexico City – Today (2 December 2016) Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo leads women mayors from around the world in launching the Women4Climate initiative to help support and celebrate women leaders who are driving forward climate action. As the first woman…
Stand against bill on child marriage, HRW urges BD MPs
Dhaka – The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called upon the members of Bangladesh’s parliament to stand against a new bill which’ puts girls at high risk of child marriage.’ Senior researcher of HRW’s Women Rights Division Heather Barr in…
Ending AIDS needs both prevention and a cure
By Lyndal Rowlands United Nations (IPS) – Eighteen million people, just slightly under half of the people living with HIV and AIDS globally, are now taking life-saving medication, but global efforts to end the disease still largely depend on prevention.…
‘Shat Gumbad Mosque’ blessing for world, says Bernicat
Bagerhat – Describing the Shat Gombuj Mosque (sixty-dome mosque) as a blessing for the world, US Ambassador to Dhaka Marcia Bernicat on Thursday said all should visit the Unesco World Heritage Site. She made the remark while talking to local…
Saudi prince wants female drivers
For decades Saudi Arabia has rejected calls to allow women to drive. Now a Saudi prince says the ban should go.”It is high time that women started driving their cars and it is high time that we turn the page…
What the Koran really says about women
By Carla Power, Saturday 6 November 2015, The Telegraph When Middle East correspondent Carla Power began studying the Koran with a conservative Islamic scholar, she wasn’t expecting to learn that it nowhere advocates the oppression of women – or that…
Pohela Baishakh rally gets UNESCO recognition
Dhaka – The traditional procession brings out on Pohela Boishakh – the first day of the Bangla New year – has got recognition of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,…
Eid-e-Miladunnabi on Dec 13
Dhaka – Eid-e-Miladunnabi, the day of birth and demise of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SM), will be observed in the country on December 13 as the moon of Rabiul Awal of Hijri 1438 was not sighted in Bangladesh sky on Wednesday.…
Bangladeshi-origin Nadiya became top 100 Women by BBC
Nadiya Hussain, the British-Bangladeshi winner of the Great British Bake Off, has been placed on the hundred top women selected for 2016 by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).