Istanbul: The traditional call to prayer for Muslims, the adhan, has been played from Hagia Sophia’s minarets for the last four years. However, the muezzin had chanted it from a prayer room, not from inside the historic landmark, which began…
Category: Int’l relations
Brexit blues and a country in meltdown after referendum
Surprise has turned to shock and utter confusion for many in the UK a week after the British voted to leave the EU. DW’s Birgit Maass lives in London and describes her case of the “Brexit blues.” This is the…
UK needs compass of human rights
Benjamin Ward My country feels unmoored since the EU referendum decision. Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his resignation, the main political parties are internally divided, the markets volatile. What will happen next is unclear and people are anxious about…
Airport attackers from Russia, Central Asia, says official
Istanbul, (AP/UNB) – As the death toll from the Istanbul airport attack rose Thursday to 44, a senior Turkish official said the three suicide bombers who carried it out were from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and Turkish police raided Istanbul…
79 custodial deaths in six months, says HR body ASK
Dhaka – Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), a legal aid and human rights organisation, Thursday published a report over the violation of human rights of the country. The report said at least seventy nine people were killed in police custody…
BDR turned into cat from Tiger: Khaleda
Dhaka – BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Thursday alleged that Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), now BGB, has been turned into a cat from a tiger. “As BDR has been wakened, Myanmar border guards (Nasaka) showed their audacity in intruding inside the…
Protect freedoms as core value of democracy: UK Minister
Dhaka – The United Kingdom has urged Bangladesh, as a vibrant, modern and rapidly growing democracy, to protect and promote freedom of expression as one of its core values and rights of all citizens, Unb news agency reported. Addressing a…
The good news of Brexit
Margaret Kimberley This week the world has to be thankful for hubris and political miscalculation. These two factors have temporarily thrown a wrench into the imperialist project. No one in the British or American establishment foresaw the “Brexit” vote that…
EU leaders push Britain to leave amid post-vote turmoil
Brussels, June 29 (AP/UNB) – European leaders pushed Britain toward the exit door Tuesday, warning Prime Minister David Cameron that there’s no turning back after his country’s unprecedented vote to leave the EU and pressing for a quick and clear…
Reshuffle in police administration
In the latest reshuffle in the police administrant, 13 senior police officers, including four of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), have been transferred.
Brexit vote likely to crush chances of T-TIP Transatlantic Trade Deal
Capitol Hill— President Barack Obama has made forging sweeping trade deals with the European Union and the Asia-Pacific region a top foreign and economic policy goal for the final months of his presidency. He has been a staunch advocate for…
PM to discuss Brexit fallout with EU leaders during ASEM Summit
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hold discussions with the European Union (EU) leadership over Brexit and possible future scenarios during the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Summit to be held in Mongolia next month. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already confirmed that…
Michelle Obama urges Liberian girls to stay in school
US First Lady Michelle Obama urged girls in Liberia on Monday to fight to stay in school, as she visited the west African country where the vast majority drop out due to financial pressures. Obama launched her “Let Girls Learn”…
Bombings claimed by IS killed 43 in southern Yemen
Yemen, (AP/UNB) – An Islamic State affiliate carried out a series of attacks in Yemen’s southern port city of Mukalla on Monday, killing at least 43 people and wounding several others, officials said. The attacks came as the government and…
At least 14 killed in Somalia hotel attack; police say ended
Mogadishu, June 25 (AP/UNB) – At least 14 people were killed when gunmen stormed a hotel in Somalia’s capital and took an unknown number of hotel guests hostage, police and medical workers said Saturday, before security forces hunted down the attackers…
UK opposition Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn sacks Hilary Benn
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn fires Hilary Benn, shadow foreign secretary, for leading a coup, as another member resigns. Corbyn, who backed Remain, facing pressure after Britain voted to leave EU Shadow Foreign Minister Hilary Benn sacked for ‘leading ‘coup’ Shadow…
London firms may lose ‘prized’ EU access, say eurozone leaders
London’s financial firms risk losing unrestricted access to the European Union, according to eurozone leaders. The head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said banks could move jobs outside the UK if it leaves the single market. It…
UNSC slams North Korea’s missile tests as ‘grave violation’
Security Council calls for member states to ‘redouble’ implementation efforts John Power The UN Security Council (UNSC) condemned North Korea’s latest back-to-back ballistic missile launcheson Thursday, vowing to ramp up the enforcement of existing sanctions designed to thwart its nuclear…
Russia governor arrested over ‘large bribe’
Russian investigators have arrested a regional governor, saying they caught him red-handed taking a €400,000 (£325,000; $444,500) bribe. Kirov region governor Nikita Belykh was held in a Moscow restaurant.
Britons showed ‘losing mindset’, say Chinese media in swipe at Brexit
The Chinese people will ‘watch the consequence of Britain’s embracing of a “democratic” referendum’, says Communist party-run Global Times The vote to leave the European Union meant Britons were “showing a losing mindset” and becoming “citizens of a nation that…
EU governments pile pressure on UK to leave as soon as possible
Six founding member states demand earliest start to Brexit process, but they cannot compel UK to invoke article 50 EU governments have piled pressure on the UK to leave the union as soon as possible, saying talks on the exit…
Airstrikes on IS-held Afghan eastern village kill at least 30
Dhaka-Opposition activists say airstrikes on an eastern Syrian village held by the Islamic State group have killed at least 30 people and wounded many others.
Car bomb near Benghazi hospital kills 5 in eastern Libya
A car bomb has gone off outside a hospital in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing five people and wounding 14, security and hospital officials said.Senior military official Brig-Gen. Abdul-Salam al-Hassi blamed the late Friday attack outside the Jalaa…
EU prepares for UK ‘divorce’ to begin
EU leaders are to meet to discuss the UK’s “divorce” from the organisation after a historic referendum result. The UK voted by 52% to 48% to leave the EU. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will step down by…
Markets reel as world absorbs shock of UK vote for Brexit
London, (AP/UNB) – Britain has jumped. Now it is wildly searching for the parachute. The U.K.’s unprecedented decision to leave the European Union sent shockwaves through the country and around the world Friday, rocking financial markets, toppling Prime Minister David…
Merkel calls Brexit ‘a watershed for Europe’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the UK’s decision to leave the European Union a watershed for Europe and European unity. It’s now up to her and EU leaders to ensure other countries don’t follow suit. “There’s no way around…
Denmark keen to invest in BD energy sector
Denmark has expressed its interest to work for creating energy security in Bangladesh. Danish Ambassador Hanne Fugl Eskjaer expressed her country’s such willingness while calling on State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid on Thursday at his office at…
Brexit: David Cameron quits after UK votes to leave EU
Prime Minister David Cameron is to step down by October after the UK voted to leave the European Union. In a statement outside Downing Street, he said he would attempt to “steady the ship” over the coming weeks and months…
David Cameron to quit after UK votes to leave EU
Prime Minister David Cameron is to step down by October after the UK voted to leave the European Union.Mr Cameron made the announcement in a statement outside Downing Street after the final result was announced.He said he would attempt to…
Defending human rights values under attack
Kenneth Roth The human-rights building blocks of democratic society are the ideas that we should see the humanity in each individual, respect and value differences, and treat others with the respect that we want them to give us. Yet these…