The Saudi engine of repression continues to run at full speed

    David Ignatius, Columnist/ The Washington Post One hundred days after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pressing ahead with anti-dissident campaigns and remains in regular contact with Saud al-Qahtani, the media adviser whom the CIA believes helped organize Khashoggi’s killing, according to U.S. and Saudi sources. The Saudi crown…

    Read More

      US should review its approach to Syria’s Assad

      James Dobbins, Senior fellow and distinguished chair in diplomacy and security at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation, a former assistant Secretary of State & author/BDnews24 The Trump administration has begun to roll back the president’s announced pullout from Syria. On Dec 19 Trump said Islamic State had been defeated; his officials now acknowledge not entirely….

      Read More

        Quotas, theirs and ours

        Satish Deshpande/Indian Express Being poor is different from belonging to lower castes, even though most poor belong to lower castes. If we set aside the most obvious objections to the proposal to provide 10 per cent reservation for the so-called “general category” — it is a cynical election stunt, will prove legally unsustainable, and does…

        Read More

          Denationalisation: A punishment reserved for Muslims

          Azeezah Kanji/Aljazeera Recent examples of expatriation practices in the UK and Australia demonstrate a glaring anti-Muslim bias. In the name of “safeguarding” civilisation, the forces waging the “war on terror” have revived a form of punishment once described by the United States Supreme Court as “more primitive than torture”: the stripping of citizenship. Forced denationalisation…

          Read More

            RpMP chief distributes blankets among cold-hit people

            BSS: Rangpur Metro-politan Police (RpMP) Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Alim Mahmud distributed blankets among a large number of cold-stricken distressed people of the city. Alim visited different areas around midnight and distributed the blankets from his own contribution among the cold-hit street beggars, distressed men, women and children, at several spots of the metropolis to mitigate…

            Read More

              ‘Mukhomukhi’ with Mithila

              DOT Desk: Rafiath Rashid Mithila stars in well known director Partha Sen’s short film, ‘Mukhomukhi’, opposite Kolkata actor Gaurav Chakraborty. The short film, which was released recently, revolves around a Bangladeshi filmmaker who travels to Kolkata for professional purposes and ends up befriending a man, reports The Daily Star. Mithila, who has proven herself with…

              Read More

                Ducsu constitution amendment Recommendations to be received until Jan 14

                UNB: Dhaka University (DU) authorities on Thursday extended the deadline until January 14 for student organisations to submit recommendations for the amendment to the existing Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) constitution. Prof Dr Md Mizanur Rahman, chief of the five-member committee which was formed to take suggestions from the student organisationss, said this after…

                Read More

                  Inside the world of the Dhaka street book hawkers

                  DOT Desk: Hawkers are synonymous with the streets of Dhaka – in almost every corner of this city, one comes across hawkers peddling a range of goods, essential or otherwise, reports The Dhaka Tribune. In recent years, booksellers have also become a staple on our streets, bringing some much needed relief to those spending endless…

                  Read More

                    Kazi Hayat dismisses rumours

                    DOT Desk: The national award-winning director Kazi Hayat is currently hospitalised at Presbyterian Hospital in New York. He is being accompanied by his son, Kazi Maruf, reports The Daily Star. Last Wednesday, Kazi Hayat cleared rumours regarding his death, on a Facebook live video. His son, too, requested everyone to keep his father in their…

                    Read More

                      Exports prove a boon for paper mills

                      DOT Desk: Increasing export of paper and tissue has created a window for local mills to utilise their huge unused capacity and bring home foreign currency, Reports The Daily Star. Bangladesh’s 110 paper mills, with a capacity of producing more than 15 lakh tonnes of paper and paper products annually, can use less than half…

                      Read More