Four years back, it would probably have been difficult for Tunisians to imagine that a coalition of the country's civil rights groups would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the near future.

The current ruling party has less influence at the grassroots level. So now they want to institutionalise “partycracy” in the local bodies through partisan elections.

Our local bodies work in a presidential system where the chairman dictates all the activities of the local government. This is an anomaly as our national government follows a parliamentary system.

The fall of Kunduz to Taliban is not only strategically significant but is also cause for deep worry for the Afghan National Unity Government.

In addressing disaster risk we need both modern and traditional knowledge and tools to ensure cost effective, culturally acceptable, contextualised and sustainable solutions. Knowledge sharing is a two way street.

Use an interpreter. But, never let your counterpart have the upper hand by coaxing you to speak in his tongue in your own country. Your pride, your history, your very being should refrain you from doing that.

Perhaps it is an unprecedented, albeit a fatalistic and fatal instance of co-operation between Italy and Australia. With the tragic murder of the Italian national in Dhaka (our way of saying 'thank you' for coming here to our aid), Australia finally makes its case to cancel its cricket trip to Bangladesh.

Akhtar Hameed Khan's life blossomed in phases, going through several transitions to shape the empathetic man that everyone knows.

President Obama has to deal with structural hurdles every step of the way - from the Republican-led Congress, to politicians who get financial help from gun lobby groups, to even some liberal politicians who don't want to lose the support of their own voters, the impediments are many.

The nature of the crimes tells us one thing for sure, that these are the work of professional men. Whether those men acted on their own, or on behalf of an extremist group, or a political cartel is critical because that can give us an idea at what rate the fuse is burning to set off explosion.

While it is essential to eliminate IS link without dismissing outright the possibility of their existence in this country, it is also essential to identify and nab the perpetrators, keeping our mind open to all the possible motives for the killings.

Migrants need support from the government of destination countries and Bangladesh embassies to exercise their rights and a strong reintegration mechanism when they return to Bangladesh.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has done well to declassify the files on Subhas Chandra Bose. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have followed suit and make available to the public the documents and papers which the Centre possesses on Bose.

It's time to steer our children back to school. If India could pass the Right to Education Act in 2009, whereby almost 2 million children were targeted for rehabilitation through education with scholarships, stipends, regular health checkups and nutrition, why can't we?

While attempts are being made to create disorder and insecurity in Bangladesh by killing foreign nationals – politicians are busy playing a no-holds-barred blame game against each other.

I feel that I still know nothing about these two individuals. I want to know, because the tragic irony is that reducing humans to a list of basic facts is not altogether different, though of course less extreme, than what fundamentalists do.

At last Russia has decided that it will not be in the sidelines any more. After much speculation among western powers about its role in the four-year long Syrian war, Russia has come out full force to defend its long time regional ally, President Assad.

East European member countries of the European Union (EU) have effectively scuttled the whole issue of significant Syrian migration to the common market.

Putin's action is a clear message to the West that Russia is a world power to be reckoned with. He is ready to use his military power to back his diplomatic goals. He is also sending a message to the West to not meddle with Russia over Ukraine.

Unlike many countries, Bangladesh does not have a pre-service teacher education programme, although school teaching is the single largest field of employment for college graduates.