Abu Dhabi, Feb 5 (AP/UNB) — Pope Francis ministered on Tuesday to the thriving Catholic community in the United Arab Emirates as he concluded his historic visit to the Arabian Peninsula with the first-ever papal Mass here. Cheers erupted inside…
Category: Int’l relations
Jaha Alam’s imprisonment regrettable: Information Minister
Dhaka, Feb 5 (UNB) – Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Monday termed regrettable the incident of long imprisonment of an innocent person, Jaha Alam, in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). “It’s unfortunate that Jaha Alam suffered…
Show genuine will to end displacement in Rakhine: Jolie
Cox’s Bazar, Feb 5 (UNB) – UNHCR special envoy and famous Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie on Tuesday urged the Myanmar authorities to show the genuine commitment to end the cycle of violence, displacement, and improve the conditions for all communities…
Bullets in the Crackdown on Venezuela’s Protests
CARACAS, Feb 1 2019 (IPS) – The protests in Venezuela demanding an end to the presidency of Nicolás Maduro in the last 10 days of January, whose soundtrack was the sound of banging on pots and pans in working-class neighbourhoods, had…
Venezuela crisis: Lima Group backs Guaidó
A group of Latin American countries and Canada has urged the Venezuelan military to support opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president. In a statement, 11 of the 14 members of the Lima Group called for a change of power…
Media plays role in disasters as part of society: Journos
Nalaka Gunawardene Starting in 2008, the Indian government has been convening a global event platform called World Congress on Disaster Management to bring together researchers, policy makers and practitioners from around the world to discuss challenges of disaster risk reduction…
No innocent person should be victim of torture: PM
Dhaka, Feb 4 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday asked the police to remain careful so that innocent people are not harassed and tortured during their duties. “You need to keep in mind that no innocent person should…
Why border walls don’t stop migration
President Trump has long called migration a security crisis, but in recent weeks he has also referred to the situation along the southern border as a humanitarian crisis. As he ended the government shutdown in a televised speech on January…
Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia to sign defence deal Feb 14
Dhaka, Feb 4 (UNB) – Bangladesh will sign a defence deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on February 14, aiming to enhance military cooperation between the two countries. Chief of Bangladesh Army General Aziz Ahmed made the announcement…
Innocent Jahalam freed from jail after HC suo moto order
Gazipur, Feb 4 (UNB) – Innocent Jaha Alam, who was in jail for the last three years instead of the real accused in 33 corruption cases, was released from jail early Monday following a High Court order. He walked out…
Free visa, illegal hiring behind rising worker accidents
Bahrain, Sunday, Feb 2 – Illegal hiring of workers and employing free-visa labourers are major challenges facing authorities trying to curb accidents at work sites, according to a top official. A number of companies bring in workers on daily wages…
HC orders release of a wrong prisoner in jail for 3 years
The High Court on Monday directed the jail authorities to immediately release Jaha Alam who was in jail for the last three years instead of the real accused in 26 corruption cases. The HC bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan…
Angelina Jolie plans to visit Rohingya camp
Dhaka, Feb 3 (UNB) – UNHCR special envoy and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has planned to visit Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar district this week to see the situation on the ground and meet Rohingya people. She is likely to…
Queen Elizabeth to be evacuated in case of Brexit unrest
Dhaka, Feb 3 (UNB) – British officials have revived cold war emergency plans to relocate the royal family should there be riots in London if Britain suffers a disruptive departure from the European Union, reports local media on Sunday newspapers.…
The criminalization of peaceful expression in Myanmar
This is the time to talk about freedom of expression. We expected it to become better, but it’s becoming worse and worse. —Maung Saungkha, activist and poet, Yangon, April 2018 They are not using the law to protect the people…
The 100pc cure for cancer?
Dhaka, Feb 01 – At a time when cancer is spreading at a disturbingly fast pace across the globe, an Israeli biotech company has claimed that they will have the cure for this deadly disease by 2020. Although different types…
Heavy rain, flooding causes 12 deaths in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, Jan 31 (AP/UNB) — Saudi Arabia says 12 people have died and more than 170 have been injured this week due to flooding from heavy rain in the northwest. The Civil Defense says Thursday that 10 people died…
Sultan Abdullah sworn in as Malaysia’s new king
Kuala Lumpur, Jan 31 (Xinhua/UNB) — Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was sworn in as Malaysia’s 16th king in a ceremony at the national palace on Thursday. Abdullah took his oath and signed the instruments of office with the country’s…
Delhi invites Dhaka business community to Maritime Conclave
Dhaka, Jan 31 (UNB) – India has invited Bangladesh business community, particularly those from shipping and waterways industries, to attend ‘Maritime Conclave 2019’ to be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on February 14-15. “Besides presenting opportunities for investment in the maritime…
Are anti-immigrant parties in Europe anti-democratic?
In May this year we will have elections for the European Parliament. We can agree that the parliament is the most democratic body in the European Union. We also can agree that the election process for the parliament is democratic…
185 people murdered in Bd in January: BHRC
Dhaka, Jan 31 (UNB) – Six people were murdered everyday on average in the first month of the new year, the Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC) said on Thursday. A BHRC report documented 185 killings in January alone. ‘Social violence’…
The world order that’s now emerging
By Eric Zuesse The Post-World-War-II world order was dominated by the one WW II major combatant that had only 0.32% of its population (the lowest percentage) killed by the war: the United States. The Soviet Union’s comparable number killed by…
TIB graft report faulty, politically motivated: Minister
Dhaka, Jan 30 (UNB) – Rejecting the report of Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), Information Minister Hasan Mahmud on Wednesday said the report is faulty and politically motivated. The minister came up with the remarks while talking to reporters at the…
Grenade thrown into Philippine mosque kills two teachers
Zamboanga, Jan 30 (AP/UNB) — Authorities say a grenade was thrown into a mosque in the southern Philippines where Muslim teachers were sleeping, killing two and injuring four. Regional police Chief Superintendent Emmanuel Luis D. Licup said investigators are trying…
Myanmar parliament approves step toward Constitution change
Naypyitaw, Jan 30 (AP/UNB) — Myanmar’s parliament voted Tuesday to create a committee to propose amendments to the country’s military-enacted constitution, which grants the armed forces the power to block any change. The proposal to form the committee was presented…
The Marrakech Compact on Migration: Myths & realities
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan 29 2019 (IPS) – When 164 UN member states adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (the Marrakech Compact on Migration) on 10 December last year, I read on social media that they had…
Venezuela top court curbs opposition leader Guaidó
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has banned opposition leader Juan Guaidó from leaving the country and frozen his bank accounts. The move comes amid an escalating power struggle, after Mr Guaidó declared himself interim president last week. He has been backed by…
AIIB sees infrastructural development in Bangladesh
Dhaka, Jan 29 (UNB) – Bangladesh will remain a priority market for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2019 despite infrastructure stakeholders’ concerns about inflationary pressures and their projected depreciation of the taka, said a new report released on…
Dhaka protests Yangon’s false allegations of ‘terror attack’
Dhaka, Jan 29 (UNB) – Bangladesh has strongly protested “irresponsible and false” allegations by the officials of the General Administration Department of Myanmar implicating Bangladesh into a terrorist attack on a police post in Maungdaw Township on January 24. “The…
European citizens back unemployment reinsurance
Experts argue that European Monetary Union (EMU) has to be completed by ‘automatic fiscal stabilisers’. Welfare states have built-in stabilisers which cushion economic shocks—unemployment benefits, for instance, support the purchasing power of people who lose their jobs and so sustain…