Reuters: President Salva Kiir granted a general amnesty to rebels in South Sudan’s civil war, including his former deputy Riek Machar, as a rights organization said authorities in Africa’s youngest country should also free its unarmed critics. The amnesty order was read out on state-run television late on Wednesday, three days after Kiir, SPLM-IO leader…
Hossen Sohel: Bangladesh all-rounder Sakib al Hasan yesterday said he might undergo surgery in his injured finger before the Asia Cup in UAE that would effectively rule out him out from the tournament. ‘We all know I have to undergo surgery. The discussion is now on with physio about when and where it should be…
Sayeed Muhammad: Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) President Saiful Islam has said that Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal cannot avoid his responsibility for the fact that those attacking media professionals during the students’ movement for safe roads, roam free. “If the administration can identify and contain militants in the country, why is it not being possible…
Reuters: Japan’s military plans to raise the maximum age for new recruits in a bid to cope with a shrinking pool of potential soldiers due to the country’s low birth rate and fast-ageing population. The maximum age for enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officer applicants will be raised to 32 from 26 from Oct. 1 to…
Reuters: China will prosecute a former official who was “obsessed with divination” for corruption, the top graft-buster said on Thursday, in the latest warning to bureaucrats not to engage with what the Communist Party views as superstition. Wu Dehua, who worked in the southwestern city of Chongqing’s Yubei district, had been expelled from the party…
UNB: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh on Thursday signed an agreement for $100 million in grant to help develop basic infrastructure and services for Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar camps. The grant assistance forms part of an envisaged package totaling $200 million. Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD) Kazi Shofiqul Azam and…
Abrar Hussain: Seven children and two women drowned after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the Turkish coast in the Aegean Sea, as reported by Turkey’s state-run news agency. Anadolu Agency added that four other migrants were rescued from the rubber boat that sank early yesterday off the resort of Kusadasi. There was no information…
The Hill: President Trump is rolling the dice, making the 2018 midterm elections a referendum on his ability to carry the Republican Party to victory against the odds. In a string of Wednesday tweets, the president sought to reassure his supporters that they cannot lose as long as he’s in charge. The tweets came in…
Russia Today: Following a full day of extensive searches, Estonian authorities are 95% certain that they’ve located the likely landing site of the air-to-air missile fired “accidentally” by a Spanish fighter jet during a NATO training mission. The missile, which was launched north of the city of Tartu, most likely fell at the Lake Endla…
Sayeed Muhammad: The Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL), the company providing gas in greater Dhaka and Mymensingh regions, will snap gas supply for 11 hours today in major areas of the capital city for pipeline relocation. A TGTDCL press release yesterday said that supply of gas to domestic, industrial and commercial users…