Reuters: Euro zone labor costs rose at their steepest rate in almost six years in the second quarter of 2018, data released on Friday showed, supporting the European Central Bank as it curbs economic stimulus. Labor costs in the 19 countries sharing the euro zone rose by 2.2 percent year-on-year, EU statistics agency Eurostat said,…
UNB: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said democracy is showing greater strain than at any time in decades and laid emphasis on more inclusive democracies. “That is why this International Day should make us look for ways to invigorate democracy and seek answers for the systemic challenges it faces,” he said in a message marking…
UNB: More than 66,000 hectares (256 square miles) of land have been lost—roughly the area of Chicago, one of the biggest cities in the US – to erosion caused by the Padma River since 1967. That is according to an August 2018 report published by the NASA Earth Observatory, the arm of the US space…
Desk Report: The government is going establish the country’s first aviation and aerospace university to produce more skilled manpower in the field, including pilots, aviation scientists and engineers, reports Daily Sun. Sources at the education ministry said the institution, named after Father of the National Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, will be set up at Ashkona…
Desk Report: Hundreds of products of nearly a hundred pesticides, considered dangerous by different international agencies, including the United Nation’s World Health Organisation, are in wide use in Bangladesh, raising health and environmental concerns, reports New Age. Applications of some of the pesticides have either been banned or restricted in many countries while others are…
Hossen Sohel: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is vying for his third re-election as the ruling party leader next week, extending his stay in power to work on his long-cherished ambition — to revise his country’s war-renouncing constitution, reports ABC News. Abe reportedly has already secured about 70 percent of support from parliamentarians of the…
Maj Gen (Rtd) Mohammad Ali Shikder, Security and Political Analyst : With the approach of national election, many known and unknown people gear themselves up for election-centric vote and coalition in Bangladesh. The country’s people are enjoying it as a joke and in a state of confusion at the way the country’s two renowned personalities…
NBC News: Many migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border may have a second chance to claim asylum under a settlement agreement reached late Wednesday between the Trump administration and lawyers representing the parents. The settlement, which is pending approval by a federal judge, would be major win for many of the parents of more…
Kabir Humayun: Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has said the decision by the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court offers real hope for accountability for the crimes committed against Rohingyas in Myanmar. “Although the decision does not specifically address the crime of genocide, it offers real hope for accountability for the…
CNN: On this day in 1993, Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, shook hands after signing the Oslo peace accords, in what would become an iconic moment in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet 25 years later, the promise of peace remains unfulfilled and the…