UNB On three accounts, Kofi Annan, perhaps one of the most distinguished and illustrious UN Secretary-General, was quite different from rest of the lot. One, he was the first UN Secretary-General ever to come from a lifelong career in the UN bureaucracy. Two, he was also the first UN Secretary-General from sub-Saharan Africa, a courtly…
Reuters: More than half the world’s school-age refugees are excluded from education as host nations struggle under the weight of growing humanitarian crises, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Four million refugee children around the world do not attend school, an increase of half a million from a year earlier, the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR)…
Kabir Humayun: Noted photographer Shahidul Alam has lodged a petition with the High Court seeking bail in a case filed against him under Information Communication Technology (ICT) Act. Sarah Hossain, a lawyer for Shahidul Alam, told The Daily Star that the High Court may hold hearing on the bail petition next week. The lawyer said…
The Guardian, UK: A new legal fund is being launched on Wednesday to hold transport companies to account when they fail to provide equal treatment for disabled passengers. The fund will take transport companies to court over major and systemic issues of discrimination and breaches of equality legislation, and is the first of its kind….
NDTV: A nine-year-old boy in Denver, Colorado, has committed suicide on the first week of school after being bullied by classmates for coming out as gay, his mother says. Leia Pierce told local media that her son, Jamel Myles, killed himself at their home last Thursday after enduring several days of homophobic bullying. “Four days…
Hossen Sohel: Family, friends and constituents gathered yesterday at Arizona’s Capitol to pay their respects to Sen. John McCain, the first of two days of services here before he departs the state he has represented since the 1980s, reports AP. A private ceremony was held yesterday morning at the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where…
M Humayun Kabir: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the Security Council to work with Myanmar to end “horrendous sufferings” of Rohingyas. Despite the efforts made by the United Nations over the past year to help create safeguards for all communities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, it is clear that conditions are still not suitable for…
EurekAlert: Sleep is known to allow animals to re-energize themselves and consolidate memories. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a mysterious stage of sleep in which animals dream, is known to play an important role in maintaining a healthy mental and physical life, but the molecular mechanisms behind this state are barely understood. Now, an international…
The Guardian, UK: Human rights activists in Iran have said they are worried about a man on hunger strike who was reportedly jailed for protesting against rules requiring women to wear a hijab. Farhad Meysami, 48, a doctor and publisher before becoming a civil activist, was arrested in his office in July and taken to…
AFP: Philippine authorities on Wednesday were hunting two men believed to have planted a bomb that killed two people, including a young girl, at a street festival in the nation’s south. The blast late on Tuesday in the town of Isulan, which wounded 35 others, is the second bombing in less than in a month…