Porimol Palma

Nur Islam, 70, a marginal farmer in Kurigram, one of the most poverty-prone regions of Bangladesh, was overcome with excitement when he learnt on Monday that Bhutan would be setting up a special economic zone in the area.

Three Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia were framed in a case that led to their arrests for defying pressure to withdraw complaints they lodged with the police and labour department against their employer

Six Bangladeshi workers who were hired by a Malaysian firm seven months back but were not provided with jobs or salaries lodged a complaint with the Kuala Lumpur police against the company on Tuesday night.

For aspiring migrant workers in Bangladesh, Malaysia’s reopening of the labour market in 2022 for 15 source countries including Bangladesh to jumpstart its economy from the ravages of the pandemic -- was a godsend.

After some strains over the past two years, Dhaka and Washington now want to begin a new chapter in the bilateral relationship -- a desire that was expressed by both during a US delegation’s three-day visit that ended yesterday.

As fears grow that Myanmar’s civil war and refugee crisis could deepen in the coming days, foreign policy experts are calling for a diplomatic push by the regional players to facilitate reconciliation among the warring parties.

Dhaka and Paris are expected to sign Climate Adaptation Pact wroth 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) during a visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to France sometime in the middle of this year.

US-Bangladesh relations didn't need to be normalised.

Dealing with Myanmar is becoming more complicated for Bangladesh as the military of the neighbouring country is getting weaker in the face of strong resistance by the armed rebel groups that seized dozens of towns and hundreds of army posts in recent months, say experts.

With the escalation of conflict in Myanmar, the possibility of Rohingya repatriation materialising anytime soon has become remote, heaping the challenges for the Bangladesh government in managing the displaced people in the face of shrinking humanitarian aid for them.

Newly appointed Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, who faces a geopolitically complex world order, will find it hard to navigate the global powers and maintain the balancing act that Bangladesh has so far been doing well, foreign policy experts say.

Divergent reactions of the global powers to Bangladesh’s election result reflect the geopolitical division that prominently existed before the polls and will continue in the days to come, foreign policy analysts said.

The international community will be closely watching the election today to see how peaceful and participatory it is after the boycott of the BNP and its allies, which made it a one-sided affair.

South Asia politics expert Michael Kugelman shares his view with The Daily Star on possible post-election global response

The fight for justice for Rohingyas is gaining momentum with more countries joining the genocide case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), while the Myanmar military junta that committed genocide against the ethnic group now faces tougher resistance since its coup in 2021.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has been put on high alert along the Myanmar border to prevent any influx of people from the neighbouring country that has witnessed renewed fighting between the armed rebel groups and Myanmar junta.

The increasing interest of some foreign countries in Bangladesh’s upcoming general election can be seen as a reflection of their response to the country’s divisive politics and the current state of democracy, say foreign policy analysts.

Washington has been repeating its calls for a free and fair election in Bangladesh. Meanwhile,  Delhi, after much silence, told the US at a meeting in New Delhi that it was Bangladesh’s “internal issue”.

The number of Bangladeshi students studying in the United States have increased by more than 300 percent in the last decade

Bangladesh will likely remain a key battleground for great power competition in the coming years, given its unique locational position and recent geopolitical trends, including the rise of India and growing Sino-US tensions in the South China Sea, according to a new study.