In a relatively short time, Covid-19 has devastated the lives of millions globally. For hundreds of millions more, the toll wrought by the pandemic could have lasting effects for decades.

The world’s population is ageing, and so is Bangladesh’s.

I can’t stop thinking about Lovely—the 14-year-old adolescent girl who used to work at our house and became a full-time companion of my four-year-old son. She first came to our house with her aunt in search of a livelihood. Hailing from a disadvantaged family in Mymensingh, Lovely studied till grade IV and then was sent to the city by her parents to earn a living.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn’t miss a beat during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, insisting that he, unlike the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, would not accept a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is not endorsed by the Palestinians.

Children are less commonly infected by Covid-19. When infected, they are less symptomatic and the development of the disease in their systems are less severe than adults infected with Covid-19. Symptoms, if present, are also nonspecific and resemble other non-Covid respiratory viruses, which creates a diagnostic dilemma.

Bengal of the past was often eulogised for its culture, religious harmony, tolerance and prosperity. During the Islamic Bengal Sultanate, founded in 1352, Bengal was a major trading nation in the world. It was a growing “civilisation” and a mighty one too. Bengal was called Gangaridae by the Greeks, and Greek historians noted that Alexander the Great withdrew from India anticipating a counter attack from an alliance of Gangaridae.

Over 120 news-rooms from around the world will come together today to mark World News Day, including journalists from Toronto to Taipei, Spain to Singapore.

Right to information is well-recognised as a significant facet of fundamental freedom of expression.

International day for universal access to information this year comes at a time when the whole world is reeling from the greatest global crisis since World War II. The Covid-19 pandemic has spared no country over the last six months and shows no signs of abating.

When river starts running dry, start looking for water elsewhere.That’s what the global readymade garment (RMG) industry has been doing lately—reimagining apparel production line-ups and integrating technology for cutting cost and competition.

When India imposed a ban on onion export on September 14 this year to check its soaring price in the domestic market, the criticism of the government’s action, mainly from farmers, was louder than it was less than a year ago when the same prohibition had gone into force.

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues and it’s second wave has already hit several countries, the need and urgency for the much expected vaccine has become critically more important than before.

The sheer brazenness of the Republican volte face following the death of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is breathtaking. In 2016, eight months before presidential elections, US Senate Republicans balked when US President Barack Obama wanted to fill a vacancy in the US Supreme Court. They invented a new “principle” that in an election year, this should wait until elections.

We live in a world of mass incarceration. On this day on the planet, over 11 million people are behind bars. That’s about the entire population of Belgium.

On September 14, 2020, the forest department forcibly cut down banana plants raised on a “grabbed” forestland under Dokhala range in Madhupur upazila, Tangail without serving any prior notice to the affected, according to a report by The Daily Star.

On August 4, 2020, the legal representatives of three specific groups of Rohingya victims submitted a joint request to the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC), requesting it to direct the Registry of the Court to prepare an assessment of potential venues for holding the Court’s proceedings in a state other than the host state (i.e. the Netherlands) so that proceedings can be held in a location which is physically closer to the victims of the alleged atrocities, who are currently residing in various refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

As we reflect on this week and celebrate the United Nations’ rise in the war-ravaged world some 75 years ago, humanity is again being asked to lay the foundation for a new world.

The story of migrant labour has two polar opposite faces in Bangladesh—one is the “success story” of hard-earned foreign exchange being sent back to the country by our dedicated migrant workers, keeping their families afloat and propping up the economy as well.

On September 21, India and China held their sixth and latest round of talks to tamp down tensions along their unresolved border in Ladakh.

The contest over national symbols and stories is shifting into higher gear as the drive to topple statuary and rename institutions moves past the usual suspects of Cecil Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Confederate generals, and Belgium’s King Leopold II.