Ascoli Piceno, Italy (CNN)Italy began the painful task of burying its dead Saturday following a massive earthquake, as aftershocks rattled the heart of the country and the death toll climbed to 290. In the town of Ascoli Piceno, a state…
Category: In Focus
Himal Southasian magazine to suspend publication
The Southasia Trust regrets to announce the suspension of publication of Himal Southasian, the pioneering magazine promoting ‘cross-border journalism’ in the region. A decision to this effect was taken by the Trust’s Executive Board on 22 August, due to non-cooperation…
Why Do Women Stay in Abusive Relationships?
Why do women stay in abusive relationships? That question is all too common.A new study published in “Social Problems,” a flagship journal in the field of sociology, offers new insight by demonstrating how Kenyan women who suffer abuse from their…
Global focus on images of militarised police at Baton Rouge
Robert Mackery Photographs and video of heavily armed police officers wearing body armor and helmets arresting protesters in Baton Rouge over the weekend reverberated on social networks and in the world’s media, focusing new attention on the militarization of police…
What’s at stake in the South China Sea?
The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration will on Tuesday deliver its verdict on the fiercely disputed strategic shipping zone What’s the case about? After years of diplomatic negotiations that went nowhere, the Philippines brought its dispute with China to international…
65 million people displaced in 2015, a new record: UN
Geneva, (AP/UNB) – The U.N. refugee agency says persecution and conflict in places like Syria and Afghanistan raised the total number of refugees and internally displaced people worldwide to a record 65.3 million at the end of last year. The…
Gun industry describes mass shootings like Orlando “big opportunity”
In recent corporate presentations, leading gun makers celebrated the fact that consumers bought more firearms because of the December terrorist attack in San Bernardino. And, prior to the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Saturday night, executives were…
National Poet Nazrul’s 117th birth anniversary celebrated
Dhaka – People from all walks of life paid rich tributes to national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam on his 117th birth anniversary on Wednesday. The poet’s birth anniversary programme included visit to and offering of fateha (prayer) his grave beside…
Humanitarian Summit, Istanbul: Too big to fail?
By Baher Kamal Istanbul (IPS) – With a line up of heads of state or government telling all what they did to alleviate human suffering and promising to do more, along with leaders of civil society and humanitarian organisations denouncing…
Aung San Suu Kyi and the world of Buddhist Islamophobia
By Maung Zarni Myanmar’s Muslim minority, demonised and persecuted for decades, is facing a fresh wave of violence amid media silence. Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the contemporary world’s most celebrated icons of human rights, non-violence and reconciliation, crossed…
What you should know about the Zika virus
Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General You’ve probably heard news reports about Zika, a virus that’s been spreading across South and Central America as well as the Caribbean. Zika is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes. In past outbreaks, the vast majority…
Yet another fire in Sundarbans
Yet another fire broke out in Tultala area of the Sundarbans under Chandpai Range in Sharankhola upazila on Wednesday. This was the 4th fire incident in the world’s largest mangrove forest and a Unesco world heritage site in four weeks.…
The world’s strongest earthquakes since 1900
New York – A magnitude-7.8 earthquake shook Ecuador’s central coast on Saturday. The country’s vice president called it the strongest to hit the country in decades. Here is a list of some of the world’s strongest earthquakes since 1900: May…
4 things not to do during an earthquake
Greenwatch Desk Silly mistakes that could cost you your life The 6.9 earthquake that originated in Myanmar on the eve of Pohela Boishakh, was felt by people sitting in Dhaka, complaining about the heat. Word on the street is, there…
Some sleep in cars as 2 nights of quakes kill 41 in Japan
Ozu, Japan — The wooden home barely withstood the first earthquake. An even stronger one the next night dealt what might have been the final blow — if not to the house, then to the Tanaka family’s peace of mind.…
Next budget likely to be of Tk3,40,006 crore
Dhaka – With its focus on human resource development, employment, power and energy sector, the government is likely to come up with around Tk 3,40,006 crore budget for the next fiscal year (2016-17), unb news agency has reported. To be…
Suu Kyi must erase apartheid stain
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, wrote, “When fear becomes collective, when anger becomes collective, it’s extremely dangerous. It is overwhelming… The mass media and the military-industrial complex create a prison for us, so we continue…
Delhi leader ducks clear of shoe hurled at him
New Delhi – First it was eggs and ink, and now a shoe. New Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, had to duck out of the way Saturday when a shoe was flung at him as he spoke at a news…
Cities need more ‘living green’, concludes Int’l confce
The importance of ‘living green’ was brought to the attention of sixteen countries at an International Green City Conference this month. Becoming the greenest city in the world, using plants to manage stormwater threats, how to implement greening and change…
Napoleon’s last home recreated in Paris’ exhibition
Paris – France’s national army museum has recreated the home where Napoleon lived his final years, bringing furniture and belongings from the remote Atlantic Island of St. Helena to central Paris for the first time since he was exiled there…
Baseball in Cuba
Sharon Robinson Today is Opening Day — a day that brings back a lot of memories of my father Jackie Robinson. They are memories that my mother and I carried with us when, last week, President Obama and First Lady…
Just freed Ethnic Kochin activist meets wife
Ethnic Kachin activist Patrick Kum Ja Lee, left poses for a pictures with his wife and prominent Human Rights activist May Sabe Phyu, right outside insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, April 1 2016. Patrick Kum Ja Lee, accused of…
Patty Duke’s life and ‘heartbreaking’ youth as a child star
Patty Duke, best known as Helen Keller in the 1962 film The Miracle Worker and for headlining her own sitcom, has died, She was 69. In 1985, just ahead of her 40th birthday, the actress sat down with PEOPLE to…
14 May Global Day of Citizen Action: Call for events
On Saturday 14 May, 2016, people around the world will share their views on ‘civic space’ – the freedom of expression, association and assembly. In 2014, the first Global Day of Citizen Action drew 20,000 participants through 48 events, spanning…
Sri Lanka out as Buttler puts England into WT20 semifinals
New Delhi — Jos Buttler struck an unbeaten 66 and Chris Jordan grabbed 4-28 on Saturday to help England knock out defending champion Sri Lanka and advance to the World Twenty20 semifinals with a 10-run victory. Buttler struck eight fours…