Dhaka, Oct 5–The banks of the River Gomti with several small entertainment centres dotting the riverside in Comilla offer new promises of becoming a tourist attraction.
Category: Lead 1
Aid groups seek $434 for Rohingya refugees
Humanitarian organisations helping Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh said on Wednesday they need $434 million over the next six months to help up to 1.2 million people, many of them children, who need life-saving help. There are an estimated 809,000…
‘Our Rivers, Our Water Future’: International Rivers
International Rivers has just prepared a strategic plan named ‘Our Rivers, Our Water Future. Let’s hear the story from the organisations executive director Kate Horner. – “I’m excited to share International Rivers’ vision for the movement for rivers over the next…
Aung San Suu Kyi’s stripped of ‘Freedom of Oxford’
Dhaka, Oct 4 – An honour granting Aung San Suu Kyi the Freedom of Oxford has been withdrawn by the city’s council because of her response to the Rohingya crisis.
Burma: US arms sales suspension call faces road block at UNSC
By Thalif Deen UN, Oct 3 (IPS) – When US Ambassador Nikki Haley called for a virtual arms embargo against the repressive and much-maligned military regime in Myanmar, she took a passing shot at two of her fellow veto-wielding, permanent…
Sri Lankan monk remanded for attack on Rohingya Muslims
Colombo, Oct 2 (AP/UNB) — A Sri Lankan court has remanded a Buddhist monk who, alongside other hard-line Buddhists, stormed a U.N. safe house for Rohingya Muslims, forcing the refugees to flee for protection.
Syrian refugees being summarily deported from Jordan
Amman – Jordanian authorities have been summarily deporting Syrian refugees – including collective expulsions of large families, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Syrians are not being given a meaningful chance to challenge their removal and…
UAE Law on domestic workers is worth learning from
A law stipulating working conditions for domestic workers, including a regular weekly day off, 30 days of paid annual leave and the right to retain personal documents, was approved by UAE President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan,…
Holy Ashura observed recalling the sacrifice of Kerbala
Dhaka, Oct 1 (UNB) – Ashura was observed across the country on Sunday, commemorating the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), with due religious fervour and solemnity.
2 women killed in knife attack at French train station
Marseille, Oct 1 (AP/UNB) — A man with a knife attacked people at the main train station in the southeastern French city of Marseille on Sunday, killing two women before soldiers fatally shot the assailant, officials said. French police warned…
A380 superjumbo makes emergency landing in Canada
Paris (AFP) – An Air France A380 superjumbo jetliner taking more than 500 people from Paris to Los Angeles made an emergency landing in Canada on Saturday following “serious damage” to one of its four engines, the airline said. “Flight…
Tillerson says US has direct channels to talk to N Korea
Beijing, Oct 01 (AP/UNB) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged on Saturday that the United States is maintaining direct channels of communications with North Korea even as tensions rise over the North’s nuclear and missile programs and the…
Holy Ashura Sunday
Dhaka, Sept 30 – Holy Ashura will be observed in Bangladesh on Sunday commemorating the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) with due religious fervour and solemnity.
‘Yarn Bank’ helping BD’s ethnic women to earn more
GreenWatch Dhaka with Rafiqul Islam, UNB Staff Writer Dhaka, Sept 29 – A community-based ‘Yarn Bank’ has been helping ethnic women of Bangladesh’s hill district of Bandarban improve their livelihood as loans from the bank help the invest more and…
IS reclusive leader rallies followers in purported new audio
Cairo, Sep 29 (AP/UNB) — The leader of the Islamic State group urged followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target “media centres of the infidels,” according to an audio recording that the extremists said was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
End violence – execute Annan report : UK asks Burma
Dhaka, Sept 28 – Assuring that it will always be there with Bangladesh over Rohingya issue, the United Kingdom on Thursday proposed three ‘options’, including the full implementation of the recommendations of the Kofi Anan Commission to resolve the crisis.
Shun loan-based mega projects for nature-friendly uplift
Dhaka – Speakers at a seminar on Thursday called upon the policymakers to think about the development philosophy anew taking the vulnerable situation of the environment into consideration. They put emphasis on the need to taking natural friendly projects shunning…
Playboy founder Hefner dies aged 91
Hugh Hefner, the founder of the international adult magazine Playboy, has died at the age of 91. Playboy Enterprises Inc said he passed away peacefully at home, from natural causes. Hefner began publishing Playboy in his kitchen at home in…
B Chy and Dr Kamal for bringing Burmese arsonists to justice
Dhaka – Prof Dr Badruddoza Chowdhury and Dr Kamal Hossain, the two veteran politicians, have called for taking immediate measure to create world opinion and hold a meeting with Myanmar to send back the Rohingya refugees immediately.
Refugee number soars to 480000
The refugees are fleeing a Myanmar military offencive launched in response to about 30 coordinated attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on Aug 25. “The change in the new arrivals figure … is due, in large part, to the additional estimated…
Myanmar says no ‘ethnic cleansing,’ genocide of Muslims
UN, Sept 26 (AP/UNB) – Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador insisted Monday that there is no “ethnic cleansing” or genocide taking place against Muslims and objected “in the strongest terms” to countries that used those words to describe the situation in Rakhine…
Election win for Merkel not feel like much of a victory
By Jenny Hill BBC Berlin correspondent Angela Merkel looked exhausted, strained, as she arrived at her party headquarters in the evening after the election ended.
3 BD peacekeepers killed in Mali blast
Three Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed and four others injured as an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by terrorists exploded in Mali on Sunday. A clash took place between the Bangladeshi peacekeepers working in the UN mission in Mali and terrorists…
79 Rohingyas sent back to refugee camp after detention
Cox’s Bazar, Sept 24 – Police and members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in a joint drive detained 79 Rohingya people in Ukhia for eight hours between 12:00 pm and 8:00 pm on Saturday.
Seven countries seek UN council meeting on Myanmar
France, Britain, the United States and four other countries have asked the UN Security Council to meet next week to discuss the ongoing violence in Myanmar, according to a request seen by AFP on Friday. The seven countries including Egypt,…
11 arrested in Dhaka city for alleged ‘terror financing’
Dhaka, Sept 23 – Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested 11 people from different areas of capital Dhaka on Friday allegedly for providing financial assistance to militancy.
Mexico’s disaster response system severely stretched by quake
By Emilio Godoy Mexico City, Sep 20 (IPS) – Central Mexico faced Wednesday the challenge of putting itself back together after the powerful 7.1-magnitude quake that devastated the capital and the neighbouring states of Mexico, Morelos and Puebla the day…
Mob block aidboat shipment to Rakhine in Myanmar
Police in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have fired warning shots to disperse a Buddhist mob trying to block a boat carrying aid, reports say. The boat was bound for the violence-hit north, where a military campaign sparked by militant attacks has…
Red Crescent Rohinga relief truck plunge kills 9
Dhaka, Sept 21 –At least nine people were killed and eight others injured when a truck carrying relief materials for Rohingyas plunged into a roadside ditch near Chakdhala BGB camp in Naikhongchhari Upazila of Bandarban on Thursday.
Writ seeking to stop ads on foreign tv channels
Dhaka – A lawyer on Wednesday filed a writ petition with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court seeking an order to stop telecasting advertisement on foreign television channels running in Bangladesh.