Source: AFP DHAKA — At least 100,000 hardline Islamists demanding a new blasphemy law blocked major highways on Sunday cutting off the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka from the rest of the country, police said. Chanting “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is the greatest!”), activists from Hefajat-e-Islam marched down at least six highways, […]
Source: CNN Money By Emily Jane Fox The Walt Disney Company has stopped production of branded merchandise in Bangladesh, in response to the spate of fatal factory accidents last fall. The company sent a letter in March to vendors and licensees to transition production out of the “highest-risk countries,” like […]
Source: CNN Money By Charles Riley Bangladesh must make its factories safer or risk the loss of privileged access to the country’s biggest market after a building collapse killed hundreds of garment industry workers. The warning from the European Union is the latest sign that governments and retailers are […]
courtesy: BBC News Women elected speaker of Bangladesh’s parliament Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury has close links with the governing Awami League party Bangladesh’s parliament has for the first time elected a woman, Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, as speaker. Mrs Chowdhury is a member of the governing Awami League party and was […]
Source:CNN By the time the rescuers were able to go back into the area, it was too late for Shahina. They brought out her body on Monday and took it to the nearby schoolyard that has become a makeshift morgue.It was unclear whether she had died from the fire or […]
Source: NY Times Op-Ed By FAZLE HASAN ABED BANGLADESH, my country, is again in tears. Last week in Savar, a suburb of Dhaka, the capital, a poorly constructed building that housed garment factories and other businesses collapsed. More than 300 have been confirmed dead, and the final death toll could well […]
Source: Spiegel International More than 3,000 people worked producing cheap t-shirts for European clothing chains in the highrise sweatshop that collapsed in Bangladesh last week. Hundreds died because the facility […]
Source: CNN Money The latest tragedy in Bangladesh once again raises the issue of the high price of cheap clothing, and puts pressure on the world’s largest retailers to take meaningful action. Last week, nearly 400 people were killed in Bangladesh when a nine-story building housing five garment factories collapsed. […]
Source: NY Times. By JIM YARDLEY SAVAR, Bangladesh — The mother stood at the edge of the wreckage, pressing her lips to photos of her two children — Asma, who had worked in a garment factory on the fourth floor, and Sultan, who worked on the fifth. For five days […]
Source: NY Times. By JULFIKAR ALI MANIK, STEVEN GREENHOUSE and JIM YARDLEY DHAKA, Bangladesh — As the search for survivors continued on Friday in one of the worst manufacturing disasters in history, pointed questions were being raised about why a factory building in Bangladesh was not padlocked after terrified workers […]
Bangladesh journalist urges government to ban Jamaat-e-Islami Indian Express Dhaka, April 23 (ANI): Bangladesh journalist and also the executive president of forum for secular Bangladesh and trial of war criminal, Shahriar Kabir urged the Bangladeshi government to ban the country’s biggest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami and …
Source: Daily Star Abdul Hamid takes oath as the 20th president of the country at Bangabhaban Darbar Hall in the capital on Wednesday. Photo: BSS Abdul Hamid has taken oath as the 20th president of the country Wednesday. Acting Speaker Shawkat Ali administered the oath to Hamid at Bangabhaban […]
Source: BDNews 24 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has thanked the opposition parties for withdrawing its general strike to facilitate rescue work at Savar. At least 80 people were killed and over 800 others injured when the nine-storied Rana Plaza caved in on Wednesday. The number of casualties is feared to […]
Source: USA Today & NY Times BY Julhas Alam, Associated Press SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) — An eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed near Bangladesh’s capital on Wednesday, killing at least 87 people and trapping many more under a jumbled mess of concrete. Rescuers tried to cut through the […]
Source/Credit: Examiner.com By Shahina Bashir Professor Muhammad Yunus, who won the Noble Peace Prize in 2006, visited the staff of the South Asian Division of the Voice of America on Friday, April 19. Professor Yunus who received the Congressional Gold Medal , the country’s top civilian award on the April […]
Source: The Daily Star The United States has identified forced disappearances, discrimination against marginalised groups, and poor working conditions and labour rights are the significant human rights problems in Bangladesh. In its annual human rights report, the State Department criticised a host of human rights problems in Bangladesh, particularly arbitrary […]
Source: Indian Express. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to maintain secularism as Bangladesh’s state policy, amid countrywide celebrations Sunday to mark the Bengali New Year, seen by right-wing Islamists as […]
Source: Speaker of the House, US Congress WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced today that they will hold a U.S. Capitol ceremony next month to present Professor Muhammad […]
Source: Human Rights First By Joelle Fiss Over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis marched in the streets, calling for the death penalty for two bloggers who allegedly insulted Islam. Yes, you read correctly. That’s hundreds of thousands of protesters, according to press reports. Under the law, bloggers can be jailed for up […]
Source: BDNews 24 Banks in the United Kingdom and the United States are not accepting transactions made through the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, President of the BGMEA said on Thursday. In the backdrop of the unprecedented problem, apparel sector’s apex body has requested Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman to resolve […]