Author: Asian Bangla

Asianbangla Desk : As the United States and the European Union debate tougher trade and diplomatic sanctions against Myanmar for expulsion and killing of Muslim Rohingya refugees, who after crossing the border by the hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh are now fleeing further south by boat ahead of the rainy season, the two-year-old government of Aung San Suu Kyi has also come under harsh international criticism for economic-policy lethargy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its March Article IV report, joined alienated investors in urging a “second reform wave,” after a number of fiscal, monetary, business and banking steps were…

It’s an election year in Bangladesh and one that has been marked by political turmoil, notably the jailing of former prime minister Khaleda Zia in February over the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. Zia’s only glimmer of hope was the High Court granting her four months’ bail in March, but the Supreme Court put a stop to that by putting the lower court’s move on hold a week later. The dailyReport Given this, Zia’s beleaguered Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina — Zia’s arch-rival in the country’s infamous “Battle of two Begums” — and her Awami…

Canada should welcome Rohingya refugees and encourage other nations to do the same, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special envoy to Myanmar said in his final report. “Canada should signal a willingness to welcome refugees from the Rohingya community both in Bangladesh and Myanmar and should encourage a discussion among like-minded countries to do the same,” Bob Rae said in the report, presented at a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday. However, he said, this in no way lessens the obligations of Myanmar to accept responsibility for the departure in such violent circumstances of the Rohingya population from their homes. Rae…

By the twisted standards of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, Abdullah is one of its more fortunate Rohingya residents.      The 34-year-old is alive, his village is intact and he is able to make a living — albeit a meagre one — in his homeland as a farmer. Abdullah’s Rohingya Muslim minority are disappearing fast from Myanmar. Some one million of them — around two-thirds of their entire stateless community — have been forced over the border to refugee camps in Bangladesh by successive waves of persecution. The latest has expelled some 700,000 Rohingyas since August last year, when the army launched a…

Asianbangla Desk : Bollywood super star Salman Khan was today sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted by a court in northern Indian state of Rajasthan for killing two blackbucks, an endangered species. However, other Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, also accused in the case, were acquitted by Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri in Jodhpur this morning. A fifth person, Dushyant Singh, a local of Rajasthan, has also been acquitted. 52-year-old Salman was found guilty of killing the blackbucks, from the antelope family, in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of…

Hasina government faces allegations of a concerted persecution of its opponents [The Associated Press] Hasina government faces allegations of a concerted persecution of its opponents [The Associated Press] more on Bangladesh Buddhists ‘lured’ to settle on Rohingya land 2 days ago ‘I have no words to tell them’: A Rohingya fixer 2 weeks ago Bangladesh: Why was science fiction writer Zafar Iqbal attacked? 3 weeks ago Tricked and trapped: Inside the Rohingya trade 3 weeks ago Dhaka, Bangladesh – The controversial jailing of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and the state persecution of dissent have raised fears that the…

Asianbangla, Dhaka : Bangladesh Bank has made funds cheaper for all banks by reducing its repo rate by 75 basis points to 6 percent. The decision was made yesterday, a couple of days after the BB slashed the cash reserve requirement or CRR by one percentage point to 5.5 percent. But both the decisions will take effect on April 15, according to two circulars issued by the central bank yesterday. The BB, however, kept the reverse repo rate unchanged at 4.75 percent. Repo is a short-term fund that the central bank gives to commercial banks in case of cash shortfall,…

Asianbangla, Dhaka : They were once government land. But over the years powerful people occupied them and built establishments on them as they liked. Now the government wants to reclaim them with taxpayers’ money. With most of the surviving 26 city canals under illegal occupation and clogged with solid wastes, the government has taken up a Tk 607-cr project for land acquisition and excavation of five canals to ease the capital’s waterlogging problem. The five canals are Hazaribagh, Baishteki, Sangbadaik Colony, Begunbari and Manda Khal flowing through the two Dhaka city corporations. Over 82 percent of the money will be…

Asianbangla, DHAKA : China is developing a 750-acre industrial park in Bangladesh which will largely be used by Chinese manufacturing firms, a Chinese official said on Wednesday, part of its push to expand links with South Asia and beyond. Reuters. State-run China Harbour Engineering Company will hold a 70 percent share in a joint venture being formed for the park with the Bangladesh Special Economic Zone Authority (BSEZA), Li Guangjun, the economic and commercial counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Dhaka, said. “This is for the first time China has received such a facility from the Bangladesh government where Chinese…

Asianbangla, Dhaka : Bangladesh Shipping Corporation is in the process of purchasing new bulk carriers for its fleet after about 27 years. The first of the six Chinese vessels would be delivered by the supplier on July 5. The vessels, three of which are oil tankers and the rest freighters, are being bought from China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation. Each of the vessels is of 39,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT). The total cost of the project is Tk 1,843.58 crore. China will provide financial assistance for the purchase under a government-to-government concessional loan. The vessel to be received in…