Star Weekend
‘Like a morning after a nuclear attack’
A World Bank team that visited different areas of war-torn Bangladesh in June 1971 likened Kushtia to a bombed-out “WWII German town”.
Fear of sexual harassment triggering child marriage: survey
A recent survey by Plan International Bangladesh found that fear of sexual harassment and social exclusion are the major reasons behind parents marrying off their daughter at an early age.
For the Love of Tea
My baby boy snatches my empty tea mug from me and starts licking it. He was given the last few drops of tea from the mug and now he wants more. He puts his hand inside the mug, gets the boiled tea dust into his fist, inserts them in his mouth and starts chewing furiously.
Court Corner / SC forms committee against sexual harassment
The Supreme Court administration has formed a five-member committee to receive complaints of sexual harassment on court premises, conduct inquiry into them and make necessary recommendations to this effect.
UK-listed cybersecurity firm Avast in merger talks with NortonLifeLock
London-listed cybersecurity firm Avast is in advanced talks with US rival NortonLifeLock Inc about a merger that would create a clear leader in consumer security software.
THE FUTURE IS CENSORED
Ignoring the concerns of journalists and rights defenders, the Digital Security Act was passed in the parliament on September 19, 2019. It is known both at home and abroad to be draconian, antithetical to freedom of speech and democracy.
Why we need weekend magazines
So it has finally happened. Hard as it is to accept it, the Star Weekend magazine is about to close the curtain after an impressive run of 23 years.
THE LAST HUSTLE
The soft light of the setting sun illuminates the entire section every time I walk in, mostly because I AM ALWAYS LATE. On one side white balloons hang, on another side a dart board.
East Jurain: Worst place to live in Dhaka?
Ashraful Islam, a retired government official, built a two-story house in Dhaka’s east Jurain neighbourhood in 1996. He spent his forty years of savings and even exhausted his wife’s fixed deposit to build this dwelling.
How to become rich writing How-To articles
Just day before yesterday, the capitalised “How” was asked by my amazed and astounded wife. Turns out I had accidentally locked her inside as I went out to deal with a mess my 1.5-year-old daughter made trying to feed the dog.
Ludwig II’s fairy tale castle
During my trip to Europe, one of the destinations I had planned to visit was Neuschwanstein Castle. I thought it would be just another historical building, but it is so much more than that.
An ethical documentation of the Birangona women
In the face of history’s death and patriarchy’s indomitable presence, Leesa Gazi’s Rising Silence comes as an undying beam—one that can stir the nation’s collective psyche and present the realities of “a forgotten genocide” before the current generation (and the ones to come).
Aphasiac Fiction
Fiction collides with the aphasiac state, as reality swirls out of the conscience. Drowsing past that holds much grief wakes up like strangers with all my secrets. Where burning tail-lights read stories brought back from heaven’s whorehouse.
Bhitargarh: destroyed before discovery
There was a king named Prithu Raja in northern Bangladesh in the 13th century. He had a fort city in Panchagarh called Bhitargarh, and he may or may not have died by committing suicide in a lake.
Why Randomised Controlled Trials need to include human agency
There’s a buzz abroad in the development community around a new way to tackle extreme poverty. For exemple BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) programme combines asset transfers (usually livestock), cash stipends, and intensive mentoring to women and families in extreme poverty in order to help them “graduate” into more sustainable livelihoods within two years.
What legal action can a male rape victim take?
On August 19, 2019, Jamir Ullah*, a 45-year-old father of one based in Sreepur, hanged himself from a beam off the balcony of his home after being gang raped by 10 men.
Is marriage a license to rape?
Last year, 24-year-old Otoshi* divorced her husband because she had an unhappy and abusive conjugal life. Even today, she hasn’t been able to share the actual reason behind her divorce with her family members, except with her mother. The rest of her family and relatives blame her for failing to lead a domestic life with her well-off husband with a government job.