ACROSS continents and cultures, a generational tremor is shaking the foundations of old politics. From the streets of Bangladesh and Nepal in South Asia to the island nation of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific to Peru in South America young people, mostly in their late teens and twenties, are rising to challenge authority, corruption and...
THE sectarian tension created over the staged abduction of an imam underscores the significance of a proactive approach to law and order before the forthcoming national elections likely to be held in February 2026. Mufti Muhammad Mohibullah Miaji of Gazipur was reported missing on October 22 and the next day, he was rescued by local police in Panchagarh...
THE road map to implement 48 constitution-related reform proposals contained in the July national charter 2025, which the national consensus commission submitted to the interim government on October 28, appears to have stripped the very essence of 鈥榗onsensus鈥� as it disregards all notes of dissent expressed by different political parties and imposes the...
A MAN lost his life October 26 after a bearing pad from Dhaka Metro Rail fell from an elevated pier, another headline, another tragedy, another moment when Bangladeshis are forced to ask themselves: Can we trust the systems built to carry us safely home?...
THE recent US government military surge vis-a-vis Venezuela, including the USS Gerald R Ford and the most advanced warplanes, has generated fears of a potentially dangerous escalation. President Donald Trump has said the operation was aimed at cracking down on drug trafficking and alleged that Venezuela is a conduit for such activity. Drug trafficking is...
WHEN a nation builds, it envisions progress. Roads are not merely concrete stretches but arteries of economic mobility and public hope. Yet, when those arteries are choked by inefficiency, corruption and ignorance disguised as expertise, what emerges is not progress but paralysis. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project from Gazipur to the Airport stands today...
ELECTRONIC waste, or e-waste, is fast becoming one of the most pressing environmental and social challenges of our time. It encompasses discarded electrical and electronic equipment, from refrigerators and microwaves to computers, mobile phones, televisions, and cameras. Some components, especially computer CPUs, contain toxic substances such as lead, cadmium...
WHEN the July Uprising swept across Bangladesh, it was the workers, the invisible pillars of the nation鈥檚 economy, who paid the highest price. They marched for justice, raised their voices for dignity and faced tear gas and bullets in the hope of change...
AFTER five decades of growth driven by export-orientated manufacturing, remittances and public investment, the economic model shows signs of rising inequality, persistent unemployment and sluggish private investment. Economists, business leaders and policymakers at the Economic Reform Summit 2025 in Dhaka on October 27 unanimously emphasised structural overhaul...
AMENDMENTS to some provisions of and the addition of some other provisions to the legislation that governs the Anti-Corruption Commission are welcome in that they promise an improvement, which may further empower the agency in its fight against corruption. The council of advisers, in principle, approved the draft of the Anti-Corruption Commission...
THE nature of the United States鈥� relationship with Israel defies logic and reason. It is a parasitic one-sided benefit, entangled in the tentacles of organised influence, manipulation, financial power, and media control. Israel contributes next to nothing of tangible benefit to America鈥檚 security, strategic value, or economy, yet Washington continues to design its foreign policy...
A FEW experiences shape South Asian childhood as profoundly as the examinations season. Whether it is the SSC and HSC exams in Bangladesh, the CBSE board exams in India, or the O Levels and A Levels that dominate elite schooling across the region, education has long been synonymous with the test. These exams are supposed to measure knowledge but in practice...
SECTION 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has for long remained both one of the most discussed and most criticised provisions. The section, on the one hand, has served as a powerful legal instrument in the hands of the police while, on the other, it has cast a long shadow of uncertainty over the fundamental rights and personal liberties of citizens. Over time...
ON A bright monsoon morning, the rainwater fills the clay pots and tanks of many homesteads in the southwest coastal belt of Bangladesh. For a few months, the trouble seems to ease, enabling the coastal community to cultivate a single crop of paddy. But when Chaitra and Baishakh arrive and the sun burns harder, the stored water runs out, and the old problems return: saline taps, failing tube wells and...
YET another avoidable death shows the danger that lurks over the heads of Dhaka residents. On October 26, a pedestrian was killed when a 100-kilogram metro rail bearing pad fell off the viaduct at Farmgate. Two others were injured. Metro services ground to a halt, passengers stranded, while the city held its collective breath. This disaster is not an anomaly. A year ago...
