By Shai Venkatraman Mumbai, Jan 2015 (IPS) – Watching Bittal Devi deftly weave threads of different colours into a vibrant patchwork quilt, it’s hard to imagine that this 46-year-old’s hands have spent the better part of their life cleaning toilets.…
Sri Lanka went to the polls Thursday in its tightest election in decades, with its strongman president battling for survival after accusations of corruption and a failure to bring about national reconciliation. Mahinda Rajapakse appeared assured of victory when he…
Gunmen have attacked the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring seven in an apparent Islamist attack. At least two masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with…
A female suicide bomber has blown herself up in the Turkish city of Istanbul, injuring two police officers, the city governor says. She hit a police station in the tourist hub of Sultanahmet. Reports say one of the officers has…
New restrictions on Syrians entering Lebanon have come into effect, further slowing the flow of asylum seekers trying to escape the war. Previously, travel between the two countries was largely unrestricted, but now Syrians will have to obtain a visa.…
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will address the nation at 7.15pm on Monday. PM’s Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhury said, the Prime Minister will make the address marking completion one year of the general election held on January 5, 2014.
North Korea has described new sanctions imposed in response to a major cyber-attack against Sony Pictures as part of groundless and hostile US policy. The US placed sanctions on three North Korean organisations and 10 individuals, after the FBI blamed…
Police in Italy believe traffickers made some $3m (£1.9m; €2.5m) from 359 illegal migrants found abandoned on a cargo ship in the Mediterranean. The Ezadeen was towed into the Italian port of Corigliano Calabro after being found by coast guards…
Police on Saturday night confined BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to her Gulshan political office, 36 hours before her party-led 20-party’s scheduled January-5 rally. “Madam Khaleda Zia is confined at her office by the members of law-enforcement agencies, including police, of…
Chandra Muzaffar For the first time in its history, China commemorated the Nanjing genocide on the 13th of December as a National Memorial Day. The mass killings and systematic rapes perpetrated by some Japanese soldiers against civilians and disarmed combatants…
Gono Forum president Dr Kamal Hossain on Friday said the Sate now has lost the sense of humanity as the rulers have got detached from people. “The state has lost the sense of humanity. Why? Those who are running the…
The Italian coast guard says a merchant ship with at least 400 migrants on board is heading for the Italian coast. The Ezadeen, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, has no crew on board and has lost power in…
Egypt’s top court has ordered a retrial of three al-Jazeera journalists jailed on charges of spreading false news. The decision was made after the hearing in Cairo of an appeal by the three, Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed,…
The latest draft voter list was published today with an additional 46,72,176 voters. Secretary at the Election Commission (EC) Md Sirajul Islam told the press. By the latest count, the total number of voters now stands at 9,06,23,706 persons. Of…
A New Year’s stampede on Shanghai’s historic waterfront killed at least 35 people and injured dozens more, with witnesses saying revellers had scrambled for fake money thrown from a building. The disaster happened in a crowded square shortly before midnight…
Non-governmental human rights watchdog Ain O Salis Kendra (ASK) in its report for 2014 said on Wednesday that the human rights situation in Bangladesh was alarming in 2014, and that the incidents of “crossfires” have sharply increased in the year.…
The first two bodies from the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crash have arrived back in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, where relatives are waiting. Next of kin have been asked for DNA samples to help identify the victims. The Airbus A320-200,…
A Dhaka court yesterday (Tuesday) placed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy on a two-day fresh remand in a case filed with Turag Police Station under the Special Power Act 1974. Magistrate Rezaul Karim of the…
In a major reshuffle in the police administration, the government has made AKM Shahidul Haque new Inspector General of Police. Shahidul Haque who was serving as the additional IGP (Admin) at the Police Headquarters replaced Hassan Mahmood Khandker after over…
At least 40 bodies have been recovered from the sea in the search for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501, the Indonesian navy says. The bodies were spotted along with debris floating in the Java Sea off the Indonesian part of Borneo,…
The death toll following a fire on the Norman Atlantic ferry off Corfu has risen to eight, with the evacuation of all those on board now complete. One man was killed when trying to escape the ship, and a further…
Nato has formally ended its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan – heralding the start of a new phase of support for local Afghan troops. Commanders lowered the flag during a ceremony in Kabul – raising the flag of the new…
Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday said Bangladesh’s journey towards progress will get further momentum as soon as it reaches a political consensus. The Chinese Minister made the remark at a meeting with Raushon Ershad at Sonargaon Hotel…
The search is continuing for AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501, a day after it went missing with 162 people on board. The head of Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency has suggested the plane could be at the bottom of the sea, but no…
The inspector general of police (IGP) has defended the questioning of ‘Jihad’s father Nasir Fakir but denied allegations that he was tortured in custody. Hassan Mahmood Khandker says they interrogated Fakir in a ‘friendly manner’ to ‘crack the mystery’. Fakir’s…
China on Sunday proposed signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh to boost trade ties between the two countries, minimising the trade gap against Bangladesh. The Chinese side came up with the proposal at bilateral talks between the two…
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday accused the government of crimes against humanity including enforced disappearance, killing and abduction. “The monster government has destroyed all the achievements of Bangladesh. Carrying out enforced disappearance is treated as crimes…
An AirAsia flight travelling from Indonesia to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control with 162 people on board. Flight QZ8501 lost contact at 07:24 (23:24 GMT), Malaysia-based AirAsia tweeted. Search and rescue operations are under way. Malaysia’s national…
Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader in Myanmar (also known as Burma), has told the BBC that the international community must do more to aid reform. Speaking to the Today programme in Yangon, she said that the world had…
Syrian planes and helicopters have dropped barrel bombs on Islamic State-held areas in the north-east, killing some 40 people, activists say.