Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Saudi Arabia from June 4-6, the second bilateral visit since 2009, through which Bangladesh expects to take the relations between the two countries to a new height. The Saudi government has already finalised the…
Tag: Int’l relations
7 BSF soldiers suspended over Bangladeshi killing
Dhaka – A Staff Court of Inquiry has been constituted by BSF to investigate the circumstances under which the Bangladeshi national died on Bangladesh-India border on Saturday, unb news agency reported. The Indian High Commission in Dhaka said this on…
PM leaves Dhaka for Bulgeria to attend Global Women Leaders’ Forum
Dhaka – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left here for London on Sunday morning en route to Bulgaria on a three-day official visit to Bulgarian capital Sofia to attend the “Global Women Leaders’ Forum, unb news agency reported. Apart from joining…
UN lauds BD’s success in combating natural calamities
UN Under-Secretary General Stephen O’Brien has observed that Bangladesh’s success in combating natural calamities is an example for many countries. The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs said this at a video press conference organized by UN Headquarters in New…
BD actively considering TFA ratification: ICCB
Bangladesh is ‘actively considering’ to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) to allow an easy flow of goods and lowering the costs of doing business across borders. “In order to become middle income country by 2021, Bangladesh has to ensure…
Recounting the death of Usama bin Laden, five years later
By Nick Rasmussen, Director of US National Counterterrorism Center Five years ago, I watched in the Situation Room along with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and members of the President’s national security team to see if U.S. Special Operations Forces…
Things to be resolved through talks: Myanmar to BD
The new government in Myanmar will proceed with an approach of resolving all the problems through ‘discussions’ in a ‘peaceful’ manner with Bangladesh as the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) values Myanmar’s all neighbours with equal respect. “Every problem…
1st cruise from a US port in decades leaves Miami for Cuba
Passengers set sail Sunday from Miami on an historic cruise to Cuba, the first in decades to depart from a U.S. seaport for the communist island nation. Carnival Corp.’s 704-passenger Adonia left port at 4:24 p.m., bound for Havana. Carnival’s…
US stresses steps to curb killings in Bangladesh
Washington (AP/UNB) – Secretary of State John Kerry called on Bangladesh’s leader to step up law enforcement to prevent a wave of killings targeting liberal voices, the State Department said Friday amid fears that the traditionally moderate South Asian nation…
China, Japan foreign ministers meet to smooth tense ties
Beijing (AP/UNB) – The foreign ministers of China and Japan are meeting in Beijing in an effort to improve tense relations bedeviled by disputes over territory, history and competition for influence in East Asia.
Switzerland refuses to join consensus on FENSA emergency exception
Geneva (K M Gopakumar) – Switzerland refuses to join the consensus on the emergency exception to the World Health Organization’s Framework for Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA). While there is a consensus on most of the text, Switzerland objected to…
Myanmar or Burma? Take your choice, Suu Kyi tells diplomats
Naypyitaw (AP/UNB) – Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has made clear to foreign diplomats: It doesn’t matter if they call her country Myanmar, or its old name, Burma. Suu Kyi gave her position Friday in a speech…
Hasina made member of UN high-level panel on water
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim have formally announced the appointment of 10 heads of state and government, including Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as well as two special advisers, to the high-level…
Developed countries turning against non-State actor WHO engagement framework
Geneva 21 April (K M Gopakumar) – Developed countries are turning against the World Health Organization’s framework of engagement with non-State actors (FENSA). Many European countries are putting conditions for the adoption of FENSA, as negotiations enter into the last…
Italian chef Carlo Cracco draws attention to climate change threats
Rome, 19 April – Italian celebrity chef Carlo Cracco is working with the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) Recipes for Change campaign to highlight the threats small scale farmers in developing countries are facing as a result of…
‘Nearly 250,000 Japanese told to leave amid fear of tremors’
Nearly 250,000 people have been told to leave their homes amid fears of further quakes in Japan, an aid agency says. Naoki Kokawa, advisor to the Japanese Red Cross Society, told the BBC that more medical teams were being dispatched…
‘Corruption’ as a propaganda weapon
By Robert Parry Exclusive: Mainstream U.S. journalism and propaganda are getting hard to tell apart, as with the flurry of “corruption” stories aimed at Russia’s Putin and other demonized foreign leaders, writes Robert Parry. Sadly, some important duties of journalism,…
Sever ties with violence users: Resume talks – Oppn, Govt urged
Dhaka – International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based independent organisation, in its latest report released on Monday suggested Bangladeshi opposition parties to sever ties with political allies who use violence to destabilise the government. It also suggested opposition to commit to…
N Korea senior intelligence officer ‘defects to South’
A senior North Korean military officer who oversaw spying operations has defected, say South Korean officials. The officer has not been named, but the defence ministry in Seoul said he was a senior colonel in the Reconnaissance General Bureau and…
‘Age of rage’ spreads to Asia – angry young S Korean voters restive
This week’s general election in South Korea is expected to feature a new breed of angry young voter – millennials frustrated with record-high unemployment and widening inequality in career prospects. The April 13 ballot for the 300-seat national assembly has…
PM pushes for setting up Saarc food and seed banks
Dhaka – Urging the South Asian leaders to promise to ensure food and nutritional security across the region, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday underscored the need for speedy materialisation of the initiatives taken for setting up Saarc Food Bank…
Prime minister-like post for Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi
Myanmar parliament votes to appoint Suu Kyi ‘state adviser’ after constitution blocked her from becoming president. The upper house of the Myanmar Parliament has passed a proposal to create a new position for political leader Aung San Suu Kyi as…
Why the new EU-Turkey deal on migrants won’t work
By Harriet Salem Greece is now scrambling to implement a new deal between European leaders and Ankara that will likely see thousands of migrants and refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other poor and war-torn countries deported back to Turkey.…
Why the Arabs don’t want us in Syria
By Robert Kennedy Jr In part because my father was murdered by an Arab, I’ve made an effort to understand the impact of U.S. policy in the Mideast and particularly the factors that sometimes motivate bloodthirsty responses from the Islamic…
Trump campaign manager charged with assault
Jupiter, Wisconsin – Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was charged with assaulting Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields.
Myanmar lifts 4-year curfew in Rakhine after communal violence
Myanmar’s outgoing government has lifted a nearly four-year curfew in the western state of Rakhine, where clashes between the minority Rohingya Muslims and majority Buddhists left more than 200 people dead, mostly Muslims. State media reported President Thein Sein lifted…
Egyptian hijacker of EgyptAir plane arrested in Cyprus
An Egyptian man wearing a fake explosives belt who hijacked a domestic EgyptAir flight and forced it to land in Cyprus on Tuesday has surrendered and was taken into custody after he released all passengers and crew unharmed.
Pak raids on militants in 3 cities as Easter bomb death toll hits 70
By Reuters and VICE News Authorities in Pakistan on Monday said raids had begun in three cities to capture the militants behind Sunday’s bomb attack targeting Christians, with arrests made and ammunition recovered, as the official death toll rose to…
Suu Kyi angry that Muslim Journo from BBC interviewed her
Moment Burma heroine lost her cool with Today show’s Mishal: Suu Kyi’s anger that ‘no-one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim’ after heated questioning on the BBC By SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE FOR THE DAILY MAIL She…
Amnesty urges Suu Kyi govt to end cycle of repression
Yangon — Amnesty International urged Aung San Suu Kyi and her party’s new government to release all political prisoners when they take office next week, saying Thursday that Myanmar’s historic transition is an opportunity to break away from the repression…