Critics say crackdown before Sunday’s elections has created “climate of fear” By Asia Times staff December 25, 2018 More than 10,500 Bangladeshi political activists have been arrested in a crackdown ahead of elections this week, opposition parties said Tuesday. The figures were released after Washington urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government to do more to
READ MOREby Editor NewsinAsia 25 December 2018 By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror Despite striking similarities in culture and a shared history going back to ancient times, South Asia is one of the least integrated regions in the world. But there are visible signs of change both within South Asia and in the way the world looks at the
READ MOREKamran Reza Chowdhury, Dhaka, 2018-12-21 Unidentified people attack participants at a BNP election campaign rally in Dhaka, Dec. 15, 2018. A representative of the ruling Awami League denied Friday that the Bangladesh government was involved in spreading fake news on accounts and pages recently disabled by Facebook. Asked about allegations made in a Facebook statement
READ MOREby Editor December 24, 2018 By Apar Gupta/ Executive Director at the Internet Freedom Foundation. New Delhi, December 24 (Daily Hunt): As reported in the Indian Express on Monday, the Indian government and large online platforms are privately discussing how to censor and break the encryption of your social media and messaging to enable your posts
READ MORESecurity personnel pay tribute to soldier Sowar Kishan Singh, who was killed in a gunfight with militants in Sirnoo village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Dec 15. (Photo by IANS) Umar Manzoor Shah, Srinagar, India December 21, 2018 Armed conflict in India’s northern Jammu and Kashmir state continues to claim hundreds of lives
READ MOREStaff Correspondent . Dhaka | Prothom Alo Dec 23, 2018 The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) has criticised Bangladesh’s election commission for creating hurdles for observers from home and abroad who were interested in monitoring the 30 December parliamentary polls. In a press statement issued on Sunday, ANFREL explained the reasons why it withdrew
READ MORE16 December 2018 115th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1169 Reaffirming the commitment of the United States to promote free, fair, transparent and credible elections in Bangladesh. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 6, 2018 Mr. Keating (for himself, Mr. Yoho, Mr. Engel, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Chabot, and Mr. Connolly) submitted the following resolution; which
READ MOREBy Editor on December 22, 2018 By P.K.Balachandran/DailyFT As Bangladesh goes for general elections on December 30, the million dollar question in people’s minds is whether or not Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian actions will dent her impressive developmental plank. Hasina’s ten-year tenure as Prime Minister, from 2009 till date, has been marked by very impressive economic growth.
READ MORETrue Story SourceShutterstock Why you should care Because chances are, at 15, you weren’t fighting for your very survival. Hugh Biggar is a writer in California, with stops in D.C., Eastern Europe and Indonesia. The following is an edited version of his interview with Hussain Raza, an Afghan refugee. At 15, I landed in Quetta,
READ MOREDecember 22, 2018 By IDSA By Brig. Ashish Chhibba* The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional grouping of seven countries i.e. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand that lie in the littoral and adjacent regions of the Bay of Bengal. Recently, the member countries
READ MOREDecember 21, 2018 By RFE/RL A significant reduction in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan won’t impact upon the security of the war-torn country, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani said on December 21. It was the first official Afghan reaction to reports in the U.S. media that President Donald Trump is considering a
READ MORE2018-12-21 Tuli/BenarNews Related Stories Bangladesh: Campaign Season Bangladesh Ruling Party Official Denies Govt Linked to Fake News Sites Bangladesh Opposition Vows to End Enforced Disappearances Bangladesh: Opposition Leader Blocked from Contesting Upcoming Election Indonesia: Presidential Contender Pledges to Seek Close Ties with US, China Bangladesh Opposition: Election Date Meant to Avoid Scrutiny Bangladesh Election Officials
READ MOREBy Kamran Reza Chowdhury on Dec 19, 2018 In unveiling its electoral manifesto earlier this week, the National Unity Front (NUF) alliance indicated it would not freeze OBOR-related projects started under the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whom the opposition bloc is trying to unseat in the polls. “Bangladesh will join projects under China’s
READ MOREKamran Reza Chowdhury Dhaka 2018-12-20 Members of the Islamic Andolan Bangladesh, a political party, distribute campaign leaflets in Dhaka ahead of the national election, Dec. 17, 2018. BenarNews Bangladesh’s ruling party, whose roots lie in secularism, has garnered support from dozens of faith-based groups ahead of the Dec. 30 general election to counter a main
READ MORE