Shuprova Tasneem

If empty statements could produce peace, the new Israel-UAE deal, brokered by US President Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, would be the beginning of the end of hostilities in the Middle East.

Since the pandemic started in Bangladesh and schools closed on March 17, we’ve seen the same inconclusive news reports at regular intervals about the situation of school examinations.

As early as March 2020, Human Rights Watch warned that migrants and stateless people are more at risk of virus transmission in Malaysia, and that Malaysia needs to ensure health care for all without discrimination.

How does a country come to terms with a blot in its history as dark as the mass murder of intellectuals during the liberation struggle of Bangladesh?

How does one mourn during a global pandemic? I’ve asked myself this question numerous times since the onset of Covid-19.

On July 1, The Daily Star shared horrific pictures of the violence inflicted upon 14 year old Asma Khatun, a domestic worker employed in the capital’s Uttara.

“In life, your parents come first, after the Great and most Benevolent Allah. They are the greatest blessing and safest shelter. Because of the mercy of Allah and the sacrifices of my parents, because of their prayers, advice, courage, discipline, love, affection, encouragement—for standing next to me like mountains through all my troubles—I have been able to earn my Bachelor’s degree from the Oxford of the East, Dhaka University.”

Over 100 days of Covid-19 in Bangladesh have brought with it more than one lakh recorded cases of coronavirus and over 1,300 recorded deaths in the country.

At any other time, if hundreds of refugees fleeing genocide were starving at sea with nowhere to go, there would be widespread condemnation. Unfortunately, the pandemic that has swept across the world has relegated this issue into being a mere footnote in our news.

By now, we have all heard of the harrowing story of Bangla Tribune correspondent Ariful Islam, who was beaten, blindfolded and dragged from his home in the middle of the night in Kurigram on March 14.

Internatio-nal media is saturated with the news of ex-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s death at the age of 91 and his military funeral, complete with three days of mourning and a statement from the current Egyptian presidency calling him a “military leader and a war hero”.

“On February 20, the government invoked Section 144. During the meeting organised by us university students the next day, there were some disagreements on the next steps.

After three prime ministers, two general elections, a number of historic defeats for the government and a political deadlock that seemed like it would never end — the United Kingdom (UK) officially left the European Union (EU) on January 31, 2020, ending a 47-year relationship.

All eyes were turned to The Hague on Thursday when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) came back with its momentous decision on emergency provisional measures for the protection of the persecuted Rohingya population of Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State.