Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian Nobel laureate, has urged the womenfolk to get educated to change the patriarchal culture.“And this is basically because men don’t want women to be literate and educated because once they become educated they’ll try and weaken…
By Akinwumi A. Adesina Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Mar 1 (IPS) – International Women’s Day is a call to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of women and a reminder that globally, we are a long way from achieving gender equality.
By Pramila Patten UN, Feb 28 (IPS) – At the invitation of the Government of Sudan, I visited Sudan from 18 to 25 February 2018. The objective of the visit was to gain first-hand knowledge of the situation, assess the…
Dhaka, Feb 27 – French singer Ariana Vafadari’s musical performance, organised by Alliance Française, Dhaka, was held at Experimental Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on 27 February Tuesday.
As sexual abuse and paternity claims continue to rise against UN peacekeepers overseas, the United Nations is actively collaborating with troop contributing countries (TCC) in collecting DNA samples: a protocol introduced back in 2014.
Corporal punishment is a violation of the most basic and crucial laws of a civilized society… but who cares? By Sir Frank Peters A highway billboard in Amarillo, Texas, that screams ‘beat your children’ to thousands of passing onlookers daily…
The world’s wealthiest countries today promote development abroad in a way that is relatively new. For centuries, some of these countries colonized the developing world. As former colonies gained independence they were caught in the international power struggle of the…
Dhaka, Feb 15 – The Environment Appellate Court of Dhaka yesterday sentenced a man to life-term imprisonment for burning his wife to death at Konapara of the city’s Demra area in 2009.
By Emilio Godoy Mexico City, Feb 13 (IPS) – The use of technological tools in political campaigns has become widespread in Latin America, accompanied by practices that raise concern among academics and social organisations, especially in a year with multiple…
New York, Feb 12 (AP/UNB) — Cold feet can’t stop naked models from parading around New York City. Dozens of body-painted models walked through the chilly streets and posed for photos in a drizzle on Saturday as part of the…
By Michel Chossudovsky What is now unfolding in both North America and Western Europe is fake social activism, controlled and funded by the corporate establishment. This manipulated process precludes the formation of a real mass movement against war, racism and…
Liesl Gerntholtz The backlash against #MeToo is gathering steam, with a chorus of voices raising concerns about “overreactions” to “minor” transgressions and citing threats to sexual freedom.
Every day, when workers enter their companies and organizations, they experience a significant decrease in their rights. From being citizens with fundamental rights like freedom of speech and voting, they become employees in a company ruled by authority rather than…
By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram Sydney & Kuala Lumpur, Jan 30 (IPS) – At this year’s Davos World Economic Forum (WEF), Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau warned the world’s business leaders and fellow politicians, “tackle inequality or risk…
by Éloi Laurent Reports of the death of growth have been greatly exaggerated. As the IMF noted last month, the world enjoyed in 2017 the “broadest cyclical upswing since the start of the decade”. In other words, after ten years…
by Marcel Pauly “In a constitutional state, the true ruler is the voter”, go the words of Ferdinand Lassalle, the champion of workers and intellectual force behind European social democracy. But in the meantime, the voter has – more than…
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday came down heavily on the civil society again describing them as the ‘dustbin of politics and power’.
Robert J. Burrowes As our world spirals deeper into an abyss from which it is becoming increasingly difficult to extricate ourselves, some very prominent activists have lamented the lack of human solidarity in the face of the ongoing genocide of…
Dhaka, Jan 23 – After launching a blood donation feature here on Tuesday, Facebook is now ready to support Bangladesh government to carry out awareness campaign on various social and environmental issues using its popular and big platform.
By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram Sydney and Kuala Lumpur, Jan 23 (IPS) – As the ‘masters of the universe’ gather for their annual retreat at Davos, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has just published its Inclusive Development Index…
By Rafiqul Islam Sarker Nankar, Bangladesh, Jan 20 (IPS) – Wahid Haider talks about his son’s departure to Italy almost seven years ago without regret or hesitation. Haider has not seen Nayeem, now 30 years old, since he left Nankar…
The solo photography exhibition titled “Cha Chakra: Tea Tales of Bangladesh” by Faiham Ebna Sharif has begun at La Galerie, . Alliance Française de Dhaka. The inaugural ceremony of this exhibition was held on Friday, 19 January .
By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram Sydney and Kuala Lumpur, Jan 17 (IPS) – The United Nations Agenda 2030 for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is being touted in financial circles as offering huge investment opportunities requiring trillions of…
Researchers find that much of the damage done by being poor comes from feeling poor. By Elizabeth Kolbert In 2016, the highest-paid employee of the State of California was Jim Mora, the head coach of U.C.L.A.’s football team. (He has…
Rajshahi, 12 Jan – A Week-long Child-Youth Drama Festival-2018 has begun in Rajshahi. Reputed Short-story writer of Bangladesh Professor Dr. Hasan Azizul Haque inaugurated the programme at the Barendra Child Theatre of the city on Thursday night.
Sir Frank Peters Let’s be bold, courageous, call a spade a spade, jump-in at the deep end, and make it categorically clear in Bangladesh that there is nothing that justifies corporal punishment in the eyes of Allah or man…NOTHING!
Addressing the changes and the fracture in the relationship between the citizen and society has been a matter of great importance for me throughout my Presidency. It is a relationship that was fraying long before the onset of the Global…
Some 58 percent of news consumers have their doubts on reliability of news dished out to them every day while 24 percent put their trust on the news carried by media in Bangladesh partially and another 14 percent completely. A…
Donald Trump has rejected doubts over his mental health raised in a bombshell new book, describing the book as “fiction” and the author as a “fraud”. His remarks followed an earlier rebuttal on Twitter, in which the president claimed he…
By Roberto Savio Rome, Jan 2 (IPS) – Among Bloomberg’s many profitable activities is a convenient Bloomberg Billionaires Index that has just published its findings for 2017. It covers only the 500 richest people, and it proudly announces that they…