Hossen Sohel: Pakistan’s new government canceled the appointment of a renowned Princeton economist to its Economic Advisory Council, an official said yesterday, after a strong backlash against the choice of a member of the Ahmadi religious minority. The failure of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government to resist pressure to drop economist Atif Mian reflects the…
Wionews: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the first ever Global Mobility Summit (MOVE) at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The event was organized by NITI Aayog. The focus of the summit will be on raising awareness about various aspects of mobility and bringing together various stakeholders involved in enhancing mobility across different platforms,…
M Humayun Kabir: Amnesty International has welcomed a ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) establishing its jurisdiction to investigate Myanmar’s deportation of Rohingyas. The rights watch body said that the decision in this regard would pave the way for bringing justice to the minority Muslim community, reports bdnews24.com. In a statement issued yesterday, Amnesty’s…
Dr. A J M Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan, Professor of Television, Film, and Photography, Dhaka University: The Ministry of Information has made a belated but magnificent decision to make a biopic of the father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and entrusted an Indian alternative filmmaker Shyam Benegal with the job. The cineastes of the…
Independent, UK: The EU’s chief negotiator has explicitly written off Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit plan for customs and regulations as unworkable, in a further sign that the proposals are dead. But Michel Barnier insisted he did not “just reject the white paper outright” and instead had highlighted “two major problems” which he specifically said made…
The Hill: The hunt for the identify of the senior administration official who penned a scathing and anonymous op-ed in The New York Times picked up steam on Thursday, as dozens of high-ranking Trump officials issued statements denying they were behind it. A day after President Trump called the op-ed describing efforts to impede some…
Arab News: Qatar could saddle British taxpayers with a bill for billions of pounds by defaulting on payments for military equipment ordered from the UK. According to one expert, while it was not unusual for buyers to miss payments for various reasons, it was hardly likely to be necessary for Qatar, one of the wealthiest…
Sayeed Muhammad: Spe-akers told seminar that lack of harmonisation in the pricing formula is a major barrier in developing the regional energy and power trade. They were of the opinion that all the nations in the regional initiative should harmonise their pricing formula. “I think harmonisation in pricing of power and energy has been very…
Hossen Sohel: Indian media yesterday– including some conservative outlets — hailed a Supreme Court ruling to decriminalise gay sex whilst highlighting a “deafening” silence from Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. Banner front page headlines such as “Love at First Right”, “Rainbow Nation” and “Independence Day” greeted the verdict of the top court to strike down…
Sayeed Muhammad: In a major healthcare revamp, The government has taken a step to increase the license and renewal fees of: private medical colleges, hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centres—to increase revenue collection from this sector. If implemented, this will be first such fees hike in the sector since 1982, reports UNB referring to the Finance…