A book released this year claims that Americanisms will have completely absorbed the English language by 2120. Hephzibah Anderson takes a look. By Hephzibah Anderson So it turns out I can no longer speak English. This was the alarming realisation…
Category: Op-Ed
Profit maximization is easy: Invest in violence
Robert J. Burrowes For those of us committed to systematically reducing and, one day, ending human violence, it is vital to understand what is causing and driving it so that effective strategies can be developed for dealing with violence in…
France court finds topless photos violated royal’s privacy
A French court ruled Tuesday that photographers and gossip magazine executives violated the privacy of Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge by taking and publishing photographs of the former Kate Middleton sunbathing topless.The court in a Paris suburb fined two executives of…
Small entrepreneurs backbone of BD rural economy
By Shahiduzzaman Banaripara (Barisal), Sep 4 (IPS) – She was born in the early 1950’s to an ultra-poor family in Kundihar, a remote village of Banaripara of Barisal division in Bangladesh. She was a beautiful baby and her father named…
Global Compact for Migration: Asia regional consultation
From the Migrant Forum in Asia The Asia Regional Civil Society Consultation (RCSC) on the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration was held in Bangkok on 4-5 August 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Asia RCSC aimed to enable…
Why Jeremy Corbyn is a new leader for the New Times
Martin Jacques There have been two great political turning points in postwar Britain. The first was in 1945 with the election of the Attlee government. Driven by a popular wave of determination that peacetime Britain would look very different from…
Indonesian minister to raise Rohingya plight with Suu Kyi
Jakarta, Sept 3 (AP/UNB)- The foreign minister of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has flown to Myanmar to discuss the crisis in Rakhine state with the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Astronaut Peggy Whitson returns to Earth
Cape Canaveral, Sept 3 (AP/UNB)- Astronaut Peggy Whitson returned to Earth late Saturday, wrapping up a record-breaking flight that catapulted her to first place for U.S. space endurance.
Beaten, shot, hacked to death – 50,000 Rohingyas flee
Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Bangladesh, Sep 2 – They have come in their thousands, crossing hills and rivers, marshes and rice paddies for the chance to cross into Bangladesh and escape the mass killings they say are being perpetrated against their…
Obama’s Myanmar legacy in trouble for no fault of Trump
Washington, Sep 2 (AP/UNB) — One of former President Barack Obama’s greatest foreign policy achievements is at risk — and it has nothing to do with his successor.
Eid-ul-Azha being celebrated with religious fervour
Dhaka, Sept 2 – The holy Eid-ul-Azha, the second biggest religious festival of the Muslims, is being celebrated across Bangladesh on Saturday with due solemnity and religious fervour. On the occasion, the Muslims across the country are offering prayers in…
Hajj pilgrims celebrate Eid-Ul-Azha
Saudi Arabia, Sept 1 – Two more days are left to complete the rites of the Holy Hajj Pilgrimage while the main rituals are complete through standing at Arafat from Fajr to Maghrib on Thursday, prayer and stay at Muzdalifa…
Why nationalization of education is necessary
Masum Billah The different teacher organizations have been on the streets for several months with the demand to nationalize education. We can remember the retired education secretary Nazrul Islam Khan happened to meet the prime minister who wanted to know…
The untapped economic potential of Asia’s refugees
by Aaron Sloan aaron The Asia-Pacific region hosts approximately 14 percent, or 3.5 million, of the world’s 65.3 million forced migrant population.1 Two-thirds of today’s refugee population will be displaced for at least three years, and are often located in…
When East-West wage convergence came to a standstill
by Béla Galgóczi The crisis has put an end to wage convergence of the poorer Central and Eastern European new EU member states (EU-11, being: Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia (2004), Bulgaria, Romania (2007) and Croatia (2013))…
Tigers bag historic Test win against Aussies
Dhaka, Aug 30 – Bangladesh have bagged their biggest scalp in 17 years as a Test-playing nation, beating Australia, arguably cricket’s strongest side, by 20 runs in an absorbing contest at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Noted singer Abdul Jabbar passes away
Dhaka, Aug 30 – Eminent singer Abdul Jabbar passed away at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) on Wednesday morning. He was 80.
How to achieve the SDGs
Mahmoud Mohieldin Medellin – In September 2015, the leaders of 193 countries agreed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the most ambitious plan ever to promote human development – by 2030. Nearly two years into the process, there…
IFAD – India to discuss rural poverty alleviation efforts
New Delhi, 29 August – Officials of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) are in New Delhi this week to discuss how to best support India’s efforts to alleviate rural poverty, achieve national development objectives and contribute to the…
Global Warming puts Asia’s vital yields at high risk
By IPS World Desk Rome, Aug 28 (IPS) – While mainstream media have been widely reporting on the dramatic consequences of tropical storm Harvey in the United States, which has been characterised as the fiercest hurricane to hit this country…
BD children join ‘Nuclear Kids’ festival in Russia, Hungary
Dhaka – A group of four Bangladeshi children have returned home after attending the Nuclear Kids Festival 2017, held in Russia and Hungary. Widely known as NucKids, the festival was organized by ROSATOM, Russia’s State Nuclear Energy Corporation.
UN under siege: Geopolitics in the time of Trump
By Richard Falk A modified and enlarged version of a talk Richard Falk gave in Geneva a week ago. The audience was a blend of students of all ages from around the world, with almost none from Europe and North…
27m people in BD at risk of sea level rise by 2050
Some 27 million people are ‘predicted to be at risk’ of sea-level rise in Bangladesh by 2050, says a Dhaka-based international non-government organisation. “Climate change is a concern now affecting every one of us and Bangladesh is one of the…
Dhaka clarifies rights concerns to UN HR chief
Dhaka, Aug 25 – Bangladesh on Friday clarified to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein its position on the concerns raised allegedly by vested quarters against it about human rights issues.
L.A. jury hits Johnson & Johnson over cancer link to its talc
A Los Angeles jury issued a $417-million verdict Monday against Johnson & Johnson, finding the company liable for failing to warn a 63-year-old woman diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer about the risks of using its talcum products.
World’s debt over 3 times greater than economic output
Global debt levels have surged to a record $217 trillion in the first quarter of the year. This is 327 percent of the world’s annual economic output (GDP), reports the Institute of International Finance (IIF).
Online copyright registration system launched
Dhaka, Aug 23 – The Bangladesh Copyright Office of the Cultural Affairs Ministry on Wednesday launched online copyright registration (e-Copyright) system to protect intellectual property rights.
Princes Charles and Harry speak candidly about Diana’s death
Princes William and Harry have spoken candidly about the death of their mother, Princess Diana, in an interview marking 20 years since she was killed in a car crash, paying tribute to the actions of their father in breaking the…
China’s renewable-energy revolution
Jiang Kejun and Jonathan Woetzel Beijing – At the start of 2017, China announced that it would invest $360 billion in renewable energy by 2020 and scrap plans to build 85 coal-fired power plants. In March, Chinese authorities reported that…
‘A primal experience’: Americans dazzled by solar eclipse
Dhaka, Aug 22 (AP/UNB) -The stars came out in the middle of the day, zoo animals ran in agitated circles, crickets chirped, birds fell silent and a chilly darkness settled upon the land Monday as the U.S. witnessed its first…