Reuters: Japan must act urgently to protect tens of thousands of workers laboring to clean up the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station from reported exploitation and exposure to radiation, U.N. human rights experts said on Thursday. Tokyo Electric Power Co Holdings (Tepco), which owns the nuclear power station that was struck by a tsunami…
BSS: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday expressed deep shock at the demise of former Indian Premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee, terming him as a great friend of Bangladesh. “Atal Bihari Vajpayee was our great friend and highly respected in Bangladesh,” Sheikh Hasina said in a condolence message sent to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We are…
M Humayun Kabir: Aw-ami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said BNP is ‘conspiring’ to create a 1/11 situation in the country ahead of the upcoming general elections. The AL leader also claimed that a section of the media was assisting BNP to this end, reports Prothom Alo. Obaidul Quader, also the road transport and bridges…
Sky News: An emotional Elon Musk has revealed the past year has been “excruciating”, with the “worst yet to come” in his personal life. The Tesla boss told the New York Times that the year “has been the most difficult and painful year of my career”. In an unusually personal and emotional interview, the electric…
Al Arabiya: Egypt is finalizing details of a long-term truce deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security source said on Thursday, amid easing tensions on the border of the enclave where some two million Palestinians live. Cairo has brokered an interim truce that has allowed commercial goods into Gaza ahead…
AP: The Taliban is likely to keep up its recent surge of violence in advance of scheduled parliamentary elections in October but Western-backed Afghan defenses will not break, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said. In his most detailed comments on the Taliban’s assault on the eastern city of Ghazni since it began Aug. 10, Mattis…
M Humayun Kabir: Citizens yesterday formed a human chain in Dhaka demanding the release of noted photographer Shahidul Alam and students who have been detained in connection to student movements for quota reform and safe roads. Family members of the detained students and human rights activists formed the human chain in front of Jatiya Press…
Desk Report: Despite having an adequate stock, farmers and traders are worried about being able to supply enough sacrificial animals to the major cities, particularly Dhaka, ahead of Eid-ul-Azha due to tailbacks at ferry terminals, reports the daily star. Poor navigability in the Padma has hit hard the ferry service on Shimulia-Kathalabari route in Munshiganj-Shariatpur….
Hossen Sohel: Rescue workers searched through tons of concrete and steel from the collapsed Genoa highway bridge for a fourth day yesterday as Italians prepared to bury the 38 victims of a disaster that has angered the public and rattled industry. A fire among the rubble held up part of the operation, sending clouds of…
BBC: In 17th Century Europe, when Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Peter Paul Rubens painted their famous masterworks, ultramarine blue pigment made from the semi-precious lapis lazuli stone was mined far away in Afghanistan and cost more than its weight in gold. Only the most illustrious painters were allowed to use the costly material, while…