The outburst of violence between Palestine and Israel during the month of Ramadan led to Hamas firing rockets and Israel bombing Palestine.
Bangladesh is one of the 54 members of the Commonwealth—but how many Bangladeshis are aware of this and that March 8 was Commonwealth Day?
Sri Lanka and Maldives, by their mere locations, are of geostrategic significance in relation to east-west sea trade to and from South Asia. While Sri Lanka lies close to India’s south-east, Maldives is located 400km south-west of India. The latter has 26 atolls and over 1,000 islands covering a huge maritime area stretching 750km from north to south. They are significant for China, India and US, who are all jostling for strategic positions in the Indian Ocean.
Ever since I returned to Dhaka in 2011, I have seen how fast Dhaka has been growing. The GDP growth rate has been phenomenal but, with economic wealth, multifarious challenges have come to the fore: land- and river-grabbing, tree-felling, and endless construction changing the landscape of the city.
In an uncharacteristic move, President Abdullah Yameen of the Maldives accepted defeat on September 24, 2018 after an astonishing result where he lost the presidential election to Ibrahim Solih of the opposition coalition. Solih won 58 percent of the votes as opposed to 42 percent by Yameen.
Imran Khan's first speech to the nation after taking office as Pakistan's prime minister was impressive in its range of reforming ambition.
There is an ancient Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”—interesting as opposed to blessed periods of peace and tranquillity. In this sense, Europe is certainly interesting these days. Its cracks are beginning to multiply and widen ominously.
When Vladimir Putin was inaugurated in 2000 as president for his first term in office, he inherited a Russia shrunken by the collapse of the Soviet Union with an economy left in disorder by President Yeltsin. State assets had been seized by a new class of oligarchs while ordinary Russians found pensions unpaid.
On June 23, the UK electorate surprised itself by voting 52 percent: 48 percent to leave the EU, after 40 years of membership. Warnings of experts of economic damage had been defeated by populist emotion.
A bill to criminalise 'defamation' was immediately proposed by President Yameen and his supporters. Upon hearing this, journalists campaigned against it, claiming that it was designed to kill press freedom and pointed out that it would also threaten online debates on political issues.
Life requires a degree of restraint. Fear of reprisal and punishment is important, but cannot alone curb our baser instincts. Here moral leadership is essential and must emanate from the top.
Saving Dhaka will be hard. It poses difficult and expensive political choices and requires years of political commitment and good governance. It will also disrupt the lives of millions, and so citizens' participation must be vigorously canvassed to achieve a better quality of life for all.
The Commonwealth is unique with 53 member states linked by common goals. All members are equal and none have veto powers. It
