The media is replete with analysis and counter analysis of the ongoing US presidential race. So far, I have refrained from adding my voice to the cacophony because politics is not my cup of tea!

It may be prohibited by law (Dowry prohibition Act, 1980) but demanding dowry for deigning to marry a girl from a less fortunate family is considered a normal entitlement of males in society.

How many of us cared about who got the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry earlier this month and for what? What kind of coverage did it get from the media?

We are now confronted with two very different findings of two investigations on the killing of the Italian Aid worker Cesare Tavella, shot dead by some assailants in Gulshan diplomatic zone on September 28 last year.

On his return from an extensive speaking tour in China recently, historian, researcher and bestselling author, William F. Engdhal wrote that “a Eurasian Century at this point is unstoppable” (“The Eurasian Century is Now Unstoppable”, New Eastern Outlook, October 10).

A witch-hunt is often launched following any fatal fire incident, a calamitous crumbling of a building, a tragic case of deliberate food adulteration, an in-house bank heist and such incidents that render loss of life and property. We almost never care for injuries or illnesses, discounting even cases that condemn one and the family to a lifetime of pain, neglect and suffering.

While the prevalent wisdom seems to lay all the blame at the door of the politicians for most of our ills, if not all, this writer does not know how our discerning citizens have reacted to the indiscreet behaviour of a prime public servant of a prominent district who, on the eve of his departure on transfer, reportedly, attended 33 farewell receptions and accepted quite unabashedly expensive gifts including gold jewellery.

Bangladesh had an exceptional six days this month. Starting with the visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping and ending with that of the World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, the country went through a period of euphoria.

While cracking my spine as casually as a game of 'bursting the bubble wrap', my physiotherapist tells me that the future looks really bright for members of his profession. Intrigued, I ask why.

India hosted the eighth BRICS summit in Goa on October 15-16 amid much fanfare. The group was formed with five major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - with a view to challenging the existing global financial architecture (World Bank, IMF, etc) dominated by the West, particularly the US. These five economies - representing 43 percent of world population, 30 percent of global GDP (over USD 17 trillion) and 17 percent of world trade - held its first summit in Russia in June 2009.

Not sure if there is a direct correlation between the plummeting of gold imports in India and the fact that there is once again another

China likes to mind its own business. It wants to have as little involvement abroad as it can get away with. Instead of acting for the “greater good of humanity” it responds pragmatically when its own interests are at stake.

I am writing this from Colombo, Sri Lanka where I have been attending the Fifth Asia Pacific Adaptation forum here with over 800 participants from over fifty countries in Asia and the Pacific...

A car hit one of the workers working in our house this morning. He was cleaning the wall and the car smashed his bones.

I truly believe that happiness can flow from small things. Time spent with loved ones, an uplifting word from a casual acquaintance, a chance meeting with a long lost friend; all these seemingly mundane things can make us happy.

Samsung halts the production of the Samsung Note 7 smart phone after the incidents of battery explosions. Sigh, I wished this cause and effect applied to all the armaments companies in the world – we'd at least see the end of war in Syria.

What has actually gone wrong in the South Asian landscape? If one singles Pakistan out in this South Asian equation, one then naturally wonders, why the leaders of a single country that is projected to take off as the next investment friendly area, be unwise to jeopardise regional integration that could turn South Asia to record the highest GDP growth by 2030?

Khadiza, a university student in Sylhet didn't respond to Badrul Alam's romantic proposition. He couldn't handle being rejected. He responded by attacking her with a machete in public. A bystander recorded it and the video went viral on social media.

China has been taken a strong place in the global economic landscape with its large GDP and rapid economic growth.

A Chinese, a Brazilian and a German were engaged in a round of bridge in one of the failed businesses, this one a casino, of an