Kenneth Roth European leaders may differ about how to respond to the asylum-seekers and migrants surging their way, but they seem to agree they face a crisis of enormous proportions. Germany’s Angela Merkel has called it “the biggest challenge I…
Category: Int’l relations
Why I shared horrific photo of a drowned Syrian child
Peter Bouckaert Director, Emergencies I thought long and hard before I retweeted the photo of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi. It shows the lifeless toddler, lying face down on a popular Turkish beach, one of eleven Syrians who have almost certainly died…
UN says Gaza could be uninhabitable in less than five years
By Samuel Oakford Gaza could become uninhabitable by 2020 due to war, its economic blockade, debilitated infrastructure, and environmental concerns, according to a new UN report on Palestine released this week. The findings of the UN’s Conference on Trade and…
‘Fire arms for narcotics officials to face life threat’
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Thursday said firearms will be provided for the field level narcotics officials to reduce their life threat during anti-narcotics drives. “A proposal for providing firearms for Department of Narcotics Control officials has already submitted…
Protests on Hungarian Railway after the terminal has been sealed off
Hundreds of migrants have been protesting outside a major railway station in the Hungarian capital after police sealed off the terminal to stop them travelling through the EU.
TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman made TI board member
Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) has been elected to the International Board of Directors of Transparency International (TI), the Berlin based global civil society coalition against corruption for a three-year period from September 2015. This is…
Palmyra’s Temple of Bel ‘destroyed’
A satellite image confirms that the main temple in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra has been destroyed, the United Nations says. There had been earlier reports of an explosion at the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, which is held…
Indian HR body recommends Rs 5 lakh for Felani’s family
Indian National Human Rights Commission recommended payment of Rs 5 lakh to the family of Bangladeshi girl Felani Khatun who was shot dead by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) along the border here in 2011.
Two Koreas agree to talks on separated families
Date for reunions not yet set; Seoul targets time around Chuseok in late September North Korea has accepted the offer by South Korea’s Red Cross to hold working-level talks on September 7 to discuss the reunions of families separated since…
Migrant crisis: EU calls emergency talks
The European Union has called emergency talks on tackling the bloc’s escalating migration crisis. The EU presidency said interior ministers from all 28 member states would hold an extraordinary meeting on 14 September, and the crisis had reached “unprecedented proportions”.…
Khaleda for UN-led probe of enforced disappearances
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sunday urged the United Nations to take an initiative for forming an international probe team to look into enforced disappeasrances in Bangladesh and alleged that all such incidents took place at the behest of the…
Migrant deaths: UN warns of ‘crisis of solidarity’
The UN has said “much more is required” to prevent the deaths of migrants fleeing to Europe after hundreds were reported dead in recent days. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a “collective political response” to avert “a crisis of solidarity”.…
Four arrests over Austria lorry deaths
Hungarian police say they have arrested four people over the discovery of the bodies of 71 migrants, thought to be Syrian, in a lorry in Austria.
International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances Sunday
“On this international day, I urge all Member States to ratify or accede to the Convention without delay, and I call on the States parties to the Convention to implement it. It is time for an end to all enforced…
India, Pakistan border guards trade gunfire 9 cililians killed, 63 hurt
Indian and Pakistani border guards traded gunfire in the divided region of Kashmir, leaving nine civilians dead and another 63 wounded, authorities said Friday. Both sides blamed each other for “unprovoked firing and shelling” on villages near disputed border in…
Libya boats capsize off Zuwara carrying hundreds
Hundreds of people are feared dead after two boats carrying up to 500 migrants capsized off the Libyan city of Zuwara, residents and officials say. The first boat, which signalled for help early on Thursday, had nearly 50 people on…
Pakistan’s death row dilemma
Shantha Rau Barriga, Director, Disability Rights Abdul Basit, a 43-year-old prisoner paralyzed from the waist down after developing tuberculosis in prison in 2010, will likely go to the gallows in his wheelchair in the next few days. Basit is the…
Reasons behind global financial markets fluctuation – New China
Beijing, Aug. 26 – World markets experienced a “Black Monday” rout as anxiety over world economic prospects has been accumulated and fermented recently. Meanwhile, world currency and commodity markets have also been affected by the new round of fluctuation. Among…
China shares fail to lift on the central bank’s rate cut
Chinese shares continued to lose ground despite the central bank’s latest effort to reassure traders. The mainland’s benchmark Shanghai Composite was down 1.1% to 2,930.23 points after a volatile open earlier. The index had already fallen about 16% this week,…
Extrajudicial killings cannot be tolerated: UK minister of state
Visiting UK Minister of State for International Development Desmond Swayne on Tuesday said extrajudicial killings cannot be tolerated in any democratic country and called for bringing the ‘perpetrators’ to justice. “Bangladesh is a democracy, and it’s essential that democratic values…
Retired bishop says Vatican failed sex abuse victims
The Vatican and one of Australia’s top clerics had failed to properly deal with child sex abuse victims, a retired bishop has said. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson told a national inquiry the Church had failed to speak out strongly about the…
Judicial inquiry into BCL leader ‘gunfight’ death ordered
A Dhaka court on Tuesday ordered judicial inquiry against three members, including the Commanding Officer of Rapid Action Battalion-2, in connection with the murder of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Hazabagh unit President Arzu Mia in a ‘gunfight’ on August 18.…
Dow Jones plunges over 1,000 points as Wall Street hit by record China slump
By VICE News China’s economy continues to tank, and state media dubbed today’s stock market plunge “Black Monday.” This saw China’s main index — the Shanghai Composite — close at 8.5 percent down, after experiencing its worst day since August…
South Korea to stop loudspeakers North Korea issues “regrets”
South Korea will stop anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts on “condition of no abnormal situations,” as North Korea issues “regret” for recent “provocations” and promises they won’t recur, Yonhap News Agency said. The agreement was part of a larger six-part agreement…
Explosion at US military warehouse in Japan, no injuries
An explosion rocked a warehouse at a US military base in Sagamihara, near the Japanese capital of Tokyo on Monday, but US forces said the building was not for storing hazardous materials and that there were no indications of injuries.Japanese…
OIC Scy Gen diplored Suu Kyi’s silence over the Rohingya
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani on Sunday sharply criticized Myanmar politician Aung San Suu Kyi for her silence over Rohingya issues though she was awarded the Nobel Prize in peace. “She (Suu Kyi) has not…
Palmyra’s Baalshamin temple ‘blown up by IS’
Islamic State militants have destroyed Palmyra’s ancient temple of Baalshamin, Syrian officials and activists say. Syria’s head of antiquities was quoted as saying the temple was blown up on Sunday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that it…
Malaysia finds mass graves of 24 suspected human trafficking victims
Malaysian authorities have found mass graves containing the remains of more than 20 people believed to be human trafficking victims near the border with Thailand, police said on Sunday.The heavily forested Thai-Malay border has been a transit point for smugglers…
North Korea orders troops on war footing after exchange of fire with South
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops onto a war footing from 5 p.m on Friday after his government issued an ultimatum to Seoul to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts by Saturday afternoon or face military action.South Korean Vice…
MI5 spied on a Nobel Prize winning author for over a decade
By Katie Engelhart It was 1956 and Doris Lessing — then a writer of growing acclaim and later a Nobel Prize winner — was feeling cagey. She believed that she was being watched. At home, in London, she felt herself…