Author: Priya Saha

Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Wednesday that the Muslim-majority Bangladesh was pledge-bound to uphold interfaith harmony in the country in line with its long standing tradition. Prime Minister Hasina said this when she called on President Ram Nath Kovind in Dhaka on the first day of his three-day maiden State Visit, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen said. Briefing the media after the meeting, Momen said that Prime Minister Hasina told the Indian President that Bangladesh was pledge-bound to uphold interfaith harmony in the country in line with its long standing tradition as we do not consider any (religious)…

Rokibuz Zaman In BJP rule, 31 killed in Assam’s alleged encounters – most belong to ethnic or religious minorities The wife and daughter of 23-year-old Jwngsar Mushahary, killed in September. | Special arrangement. At 2 am on December 1, 34-year-old Niraj Das was killed while in police custody in Assam’s Jorhat town. The Jorhat police claimed it was a road mishap. Das had been arrested for the lynching of Animesh Bhuyan, a leader of the All Assam Students’ Union. On November 29, Bhuyan had been killed by an angry mob in Assam’s Jorhat town as he tried to rescue an…

The Senate on Wednesday passed a sweeping defense policy bill on an 88-11 vote, ending a weeks-long standoff that had stalled work on the legislation. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets spending top lines and policy for the Pentagon, passed the House last week and now goes to President BidenJoe BidenHouse clears bill to raise debt limit House votes to hold defiant Meadows in criminal contempt Trump lawyer Eastman sues Jan. 6 panel, Verizon to block release of phone records MORE’s desk, where he’s expected to sign it. “For the past six years, Congress worked on a bipartisan basis to pass…

Brushing aside its critics, Bangladesh has emerged as an economic power in South Asia. Education has brought blessings to hundreds of thousands of people here. An emphasis on girls’ education has played an especially vital role.As in developing countries around the world, so in Bangladesh, girls’ education has had a ripple effect, improving families, communities, and national economies.  Why We Wrote This On Dec. 16, Bangladesh celebrates the 50th anniversary of Victory Day, commemorating its independence. The country has exceeded expectations about lifting citizens out of poverty, based, in large part, on its commitment to educating girls. In 1994, the…

— Wikimedia ABOUT five years ago, as a student contributor to the Youth, a weekly supplement of the daily New Age, I wrote a piece exploring the strained relation that today’s youth have with Bangla (New Age Youth, February 19, 2017). Why for many students is it ‘cool’ to consider Bangla as ‘kothin’ (harder) than English? While writing the story, I spoke with students from different backgrounds and the responses were so revealing that I continued my research on the relationship between the two languages. Their responses instantly made me realise that nationalist celebration of Bangla and Bangla literature did…

File photo of Donald Blome. No CreditIn opening statement to Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ambassador-designate highlights ‘important opportunity’ to strengthen bilateral ties with IslamabadDonald Blome, the designated U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, on Tuesday vowed to continue defending human rights in Pakistan, particularly freedom of religion and expression.“Religious minorities in Pakistan have long faced societal and legal discrimination, as well as accusations of blasphemy. These accusations have undermined the rule of law, threatened mob rule, deeply damaged Pakistan’s international reputation, and led to murderous violence and many deaths. If confirmed, I will speak out against these abuses and violations of human…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Air pollution is linked to multiple health conditions, including heart disease, cancer and cognitive decline. These effects vary depending on the source of air pollution. And not everyone is equally exposed to poor air quality. University of Washington researchers investigated disparities in exposure to six major air pollutants in 1990, 2000 and 2010 by comparing models of air pollution levels to census data—including where people live, their racial/ethnic background and their income status. The team showed that while overall pollutant concentrations have decreased since 1990, people of color are still more likely to be exposed to…

Christian nuns interact at ‘Shanti Nilaya’, a home for the dying destitutes run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, for the 23rd death anniversary of Mother Teresa in Ahmedabad on September 5, 2020 AFP Activists say that religious minorities in India have faced increased levels of discrimination and violence Indian police are probing a charity started by Mother Teresa, officials said on Tuesday, in the latest example of growing pressure on Christians under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.Authorities in the western state of Gujarat told AFP they were investigating whether the Missionaries of Charity forced girls in its…

A charity originally started by the late Mother Teresa is under investigation for “forced conversions” in the western state of Gujarat, India. The Missionaries of Charity, founded in 1950 by Mother Teresa, are facing allegations from the government that they forced girls in their shelter home to read the Bible and wear crosses. The police complaint in Vadodara, Gujarat, relied on allegations by child welfare authorities and other officials. It states that 13 Bibles were found at the facility and that girls staying there had been made to read them. These allegations against the Christian-run charity are being cited as…

A pediatric journal found that more than 140,000 U.S. children lost a parent or grandparent caregiver who died from COVID-19, and 65% of those children were Black, Latino, and indigenous, far outpacing their population. The American Academy of Pediatrics published the results of their “COVID-19—Associated Orphanhood and Caregiver Death in the United States” research study in their October journal issue of Pediatrics. Over the period studied, April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, more than 140,000 U.S. children lost a caregiver from the virus. Racial and ethnic minorities were disproportionately impacted, and experienced losses at a rate 4.5 times higher…

Both China and U.S. are fighting in Bangladesh for political loyalties Ashis Biswas   It’s official. In Bangladesh, China backs the ruling Awami League (AL) firmly Western countries, led by the US and the EU, are becoming increasingly more supportive of the main opposition outfit, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).   Ironically, it was during the BNP’s tenure in 1991 followed by another 5 year term in 2001, that Sino-Bangladesh relations began to flourish. The AL leadership had never forgotten Beijing’s delay in recognising Bangladesh’s sovereignty and its consistent support to Pakistan over the years.   Currently however, the BNP…

On December 16, as Bangladesh is going to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of its victory against the Pakistani occupation forces in 1971, a large number of people from around the world are asking me – what role did the State of Israel played and what was the role of the Palestinians. First of all, it is important for everyone in the world, especially the younger generation in Bangladesh to know, Israel was one of the first countries to recognize the newly-born Bangladesh. It actively aided Bangladeshis during the 1971 liberation war, and even supplied arms and logistics to the Bangladeshi…