Port investment in Bangladesh
Japanese investment in a new deep-water port at Matarbarhi Island on the southeast coast of Bangladesh highlights increasing geo-political rivalry fuelled by the United States and its allies as part of Washington’s “pivot to Asia.” The $US3.66 billion project cuts across a long-standing Chinese offer to build deep-water port facilities at Sonadia, only 25 kilometres from Matarbarhi.
The Japanese investment, which also includes a 1,200-megawatt power plant, was confirmed last month by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). China has said that it was not interested in bidding for the Matarbarhi port and the Sonadia port project looks increasingly unlikely.
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Modi heading to Bangladesh with China on his mind
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take border settlement and water sharing deals to Bangladesh next month as part of his drive to erode Chinese influence in South Asia, although Dhaka is likely to remain dependant on Beijing for military equipment.
India, which has had an uneasy relationship with China for decades, 
has long fretted over Beijing’s military cooperation with its South Asian neighbours, especially Pakistan.
It is also worried China is c...
has long fretted over Beijing’s military cooperation with its South Asian neighbours, especially Pakistan.
It is also worried China is c...
‘Ban told Hasina to find political way forward’
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called to find a political way forward between all the parties in Bangladesh during his conversation with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday.
"The Secretary-General, I think, expressed his opinion in the way we've been expressing it here, which is to call to find a political way forward between all the parties in Bangladesh," said the spokesperson for the UN Secretary General at a daily press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York yesterday.
He made the remarks when a questioner wan...
"The Secretary-General, I think, expressed his opinion in the way we've been expressing it here, which is to call to find a political way forward between all the parties in Bangladesh," said the spokesperson for the UN Secretary General at a daily press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York yesterday.
He made the remarks when a questioner wan...
Closure from 1971 Bangladesh war comes at a high cost
Last Saturday, Bangladesh executed a senior Islamist party leader, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, for war crimes committed during the country’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
It was the second such hanging, with several more death sentences handed down by a domestic court set up to try local collaborators of the Pakistani army from that period.
The judicial process has come under repeated international criticism for not being up to standard, while supporters of the largest Islamist political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, have violently protested against the verdicts. But the trials have wide popular support.
As the BBC’s Bangladesh Correspondent, I covered the first execution and some of the first verdicts.
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New Zealand link to Bangladesh hardline forces
New Zealand’s spies are scooping up intelligence material on terrorists in Bangladesh and passing it to local security forces with a reputation for murder and torture, according to secret documents.
The link between intelligence gathering by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) and foreign security agencies, which engage in widespread killing and torture, has 
sparked concern among New Zealand’s Opposition politicians.
The connection came in documents taken by whistleblower Edward Snowden when he walked out of his job as a contracto...
sparked concern among New Zealand’s Opposition politicians.
The connection came in documents taken by whistleblower Edward Snowden when he walked out of his job as a contracto...
Mystery has opposition on edge in Bangladesh
A jittery silence has fallen over the street where Salahuddin Ahmed, a top official of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is believed to have been abducted a month ago.
The caretaker who opened the compound gate to a group of men, and told several journalists they identified themselves as police detectives, can no longer be found, friends on the street say. Neither can the maid who opened the door to the apartment. The owner of 
the apartment, the deputy managing director of a bank, is also unreachable.
“Of course...
the apartment, the deputy managing director of a bank, is also unreachable.
“Of course...
