Very recently, a think tank in association with electronic media arranged an animated discussion under the title “Political process and participatory election”, in a roundtable format at a local hotel.

It is the considered opinion of scholars and observers of terrorism and extremism that the ISIL capture of Mosul was the most significant...

Bangladesh and the Marshall Islands are jointly responsible for developing the partnership strategy for the V20 and a delegation from the Marshall Islands is expected in Dhaka soon to hold bilateral talks with Bangladesh to develop the plan of action for the V20 countries.

Most of us say “I'm sorry” many times a day for a host of trivial affronts—accidentally bumping into someone or sneezing during a business meeting. These apologies are easy and usually readily accepted. Apologies needed to right wrongful words, acts or inactions, on the other hand, are harder to come by. Similarly, when it comes to nations saying the S word, examples are in short supply.

Narendra Modi's recent visit to Israel garnered massive media attention and debate as it was the first time a sitting Indian Prime Minister visited the Jewish State. But what some of the coverage did was portray the visit as an indication of a tectonic shift happening in Indian policy towards the Israel-Palestine issue. This, however, is simply not true, as India, since establishing formal diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, has had excellent and rapidly growing economic and security relations with Israel which was intentionally left unpublicised, up until now.

This year the annual G20 summit was held in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7-8. Nineteen leaders of the world's richest nations and emerging economies, representing 85 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), 80 percent of world trade and two-thirds of the world population, met with the aim to stabilise the global economic and financial infrastructures. With the European Union attending the summit, the group became G20. Leaders of 7 other countries were also invited as guests.

This is a city where even the most important people fall victim of the Rip Van Winkle syndrome. They lie in the blissful sleep of negligence and apathy while their city's vitality, strength and resilience are washed away in the dirty waters.

The actual and potential damage caused by religious militancy or the so-called 'Islamist violence' can no longer be brushed aside in our parlance. Owing to factors both internal and external, this writer believes that even the pragmatic objective of marginalising religious militancy would actually be an awesome task, not to speak of eliminating religiously motivated violence. The reasons for such a view are grounded in reality.

The objectives of the LUCCC are to implement Article 11 of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which focuses on the need to develop in-country capacity-building systems in each and every country to enable them all to tackle climate change by 2030.

When I hear hardened words from trade union leaders, instead of critiquing, I try and reason, and pose a critical question to myself and most of my more self-aware colleagues: Do they sound the way they sound because of their years of dissatisfaction or disappointment? Perhaps.

Sure there are those who had warned of some form of extremism emerging having observed the inequalities that exist in the social, economic and political fabric of our daily lives (which sometimes give rise to extreme reactionary forces). But they don't really explain the Holey Artisan tragedy, as most of the attackers, all in their late teens or early 20s, came from comparatively privileged backgrounds, and, as such, were not necessarily victims of such unfair discriminations. One thing though is for certain, that they were somehow influenced by external forces.

President Pranab Mukherjee of India will complete his tenure of office on July 24, 2017. To elect the 14th President the Election Commission of India had asked political parties to submit nomination papers by June 28. Election will be held if there is more than one candidate. Several names, both from the BJP and the Congress-led opposition, have been doing the rounds in Delhi since early May.

The debate about “art for hedonistic pleasure or art for a greater cause” is ongoing and will continue. But there is broad consensus on one issue: a good work of art can connect you to your senses, not just your mind. In our fragmented world, it's important for people not only to comprehend adversity with their minds, but also to feel it emotionally and spiritually. This might motivate some of us to turn compassionate thinking into compassionate actions!

Holey Artisan attack was a watershed event for us – both the society and the state.

It is not a coincidence that Bangladesh survived Cyclone Mora with few casualties while a landslide in the Chittagong Hill Tracts caused by torrential rains has left over 150 dead. Deforestation and hill-cutting are known causes of “natural disasters” like landslides, but illegal land grabbing in the CHT is at the root of deforestation and hill-cutting in the first place.

The red marks on my three month old's face are definitely not mosquito bites. And mosquitoes are something we are REALLY scared of.

Now that the challenge of tackling global climate change has been universally accepted by all countries and people (with the notable exception of Mr Trump and his cronies in the White House and Federal US government) through the Paris Agreement, it is important for all countries, companies, NGOs, universities and other relevant stakeholders to share knowledge and hard technology for mitigation as well as adaptation across countries both North-to-South, South-to-South, and perhaps even, South-to-North.

The security situation in Afghanistan is getting worse by the day. Almost every week there are terrorist attacks on government installations or civilians with large number of casualties.

The Finsbury Park Mosque attack was another manifestation of Islamophobia that has gripped Britain and many other western countries including the US in recent times. Reportedly, there has been a fivefold increase in hate crimes against Muslims in London after the London Bridge attack. There has been a similar spike in incidence of hate crimes against Muslims in the US, particularly after January 20, 2017.

Years later, we are now witnessing the greatest movement of the uprooted that the world has ever known. Even more than during the Second World War, as some 65.3 million people were displaced from their homes, 21.3 million of them refugees, according to 2015 UN figures.