Eresh Omar Jamal

No matter who you ask, the student movement for safe roads we witnessed across our country recently is something completely unprecedented.

Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall victim to traffickers in their own countries and abroad. Despite seldom making the headlines, trafficking in persons also remains one of the biggest challenges for national security and law enforcement agencies throughout world—as the United Nations explained, “every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit, or destination for victims.”

According to the World Bank in 2017, the unemployment rate in Bangladesh was 11.4 percent, far greater than that of our two largest neighbouring countries, India and China, where the rates of unemployment were 3.5 percent and 4.05 percent, respectively.

With the “world watching” Bangladesh in appreciation for its brave choice to defend the rights of the Rohingya refugees and stand up for the more honourable human values, a most disgraceful display of inhumanity had to bring our nation back down to earth.

The trade war started by Trump could be seen as him keeping his election promise of renegotiating US trade relations with the world.

CR Abrar, Professor of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, talks to Eresh Omar Jamal about Myanmar's genocidal campaign against the Rohingyas and the international community's unfortunate but overwhelming silence in response.

It is that time of the year again, when we tread our own paths, to our own homes and hometowns with great excitement to celebrate Eid in our own special ways. And yet, it is also a time when we are brought together by that shared feeling of festivity that unites us in spirit.

What-ever may be the details of the deal signed between President Trump and Chairman Kim, both the two leaders (along with Moon Jae-in of South Korea and others) must be congratulated for what can only be a deal that is good for peace. The deal provides great relief for the people of Asia, and as Bangladeshis, we too sincerely welcome this encouraging development.

In the education circle, the low share of GDP allocation for education in the national budget is a recurrent theme. Benchmark numbers in this respect are 6 percent of GDP and/or at least 20 percent of the national budget (depending on the public finance structure of the country) as recommended by UNESCO and at other international forums. Bangladesh's public spending for education is only about one-third by GDP measure and a little over half by national budget measure of what is recommended.

Syed Manzoorul Islam, retired professor of Dhaka University, who is currently teaching at ULAB and is a member of the board of trustees at Transparency International Bangladesh, talks to Eresh Omar Jamal about the latest proposed budgetary allocation to the education sector and its underlying implications.

When it comes to Palestine and the plight of Palestinians, everything is generally inverted.

Over the last 10-15 years, increase in the use of methamphetamine, globally, has outpaced that of any other drug. In its World Drug

Abir* first tried yaba out of curiosity with one of his neighbours. Eight years later, he is now fully addicted to the drug, having taken it regularly for the past seven years.

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 and is “technically” still ongoing in the absence of a validated peace treaty—although, the fighting was ended with the signing of an armistice by North Korea, China and the US (South Korea was not a signatory) on July 27, 1953.

OVER the last two decades, if not more, the global press, if taken as a whole, has largely failed to live up to the lofty ideas and ideals talked about by former US President John F Kennedy and countless other visionaries who understood that “a critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy,” as Nelson Mandela said. That is why journalism and journalists around the world today face

Amid Bangladesh's rapidly expanding foreign trade, trade-based money laundering has become a major concern for the banking industry, a recent survey by the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management has found. This includes over- and under-invoicing of goods and services and mis-declaration of goods.

At a recent press conference, representatives of the World Bank (WB) questioned the 7.65 percent economic growth estimate and the estimate of 7–8 percent growth of domestic demand that the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) came up with for FY17-18. Zahid Hussain, lead economist of the WB's Dhaka office, said there are two causes that could lead to such a spike (growth of employment and labour

After the 9/11 attacks, the US government, with support from its allies, launched a global military campaign against terrorism that continues to this day. The disclosures of former CIA employee and US government contractor-turned-whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has shed unprecedented light on the darkness surrounding the involvement of US intelligence agencies in shaping the early days of this campaign.

IN a historic 1999 civil lawsuit of the King family against the US government, 12 jurors in the Shelby County Court in Tennessee reached a unanimous verdict on December 8, 1999, after about an hour of deliberations, that Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. When asked whether the jury found “others including governmental agencies” to be “parties to this conspiracy,” the jury answered, “yes”.

US based journalist Elizabeth Lea Vos, Editor-in-Chief of Disobedient Media, who was one of the panellists at an online vigil held for Assange hours after the imposition of the ban, talks to Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, about the latest restrictions placed on Assange and its implications for press freedom around the world.