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Human Rights

Conviction of journalist chills speech

The December 2 conviction of journalist David Bergman on contempt charges by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) further shrinks the narrowing space for observers to comment on the war crimes proceedings, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists said today. Bergman was sentenced to a symbolic “simple imprisonment till the rising of the court” and a fine of Taka 5,000 (about US$56) for comments he made in three separate blog postings regarding legal proceedings before the ICT. bergman2<...

Families want to know whereabouts

The family members of eight people who had disappeared this time last year from the city’s Shahinbagh and Bashundhara area, allegedly after being picked up by law enforcers, demanded to know their whereabouts and asked the government to return them. ‘I want to see the face of my beloved brother before I die. We want to touch him at least once. Please bring him back to us,’ Ferousi Akhter, elder sister of abducted BNP leader Sajedul Islam Sumon, said, speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday. [caption id="attachment_11017" align="alignleft" width="300"]

Artificial intelligence could end mankind, says Hawking.

Prof Stephen Hawking, one of Britain's pre-eminent scientists, has said that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence. He told the BBC:"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." His warning came in response to a question about a revamp of the technology he uses to communicate, which involves a basic form of AI. stephen-hawking_1But others are less gloomy about AI's prospects. The theoretical physicist, who has the motor neuron disease amyot...

‘No’ to violence against women

Gender-based violence can take many forms and have different names. Rape, domestic violence, female genital cutting, sex selection, child marriage, sexual harassment, trafficking—the commonality here is that the impact extends far beyond the individual. This is not a woman’s problem; it is a societal and a human rights problem, with a multiplier effect on economies, communities and nations that is truly overwhelming. It ruins lives, costs billions of dollars, and is a grave threat to public health. stop_women_abuseWe can hopefu...

Women blamed for causing rape

A senior police officer in Bangladesh has blamed the clothing choice of women for causing rape. The police commander, in charge of a regional police station in Sylhet division, blamed Bollywood films for encouraging women to wear “revealing” outfits, which he said would in-turn lead to them being raped. “Foreign media, such as Indian TV and films, are watched by our children, who then want to wear these revealing outfits,” he told a reporter from US magazine Vice News. rape“That’s the issue. We follow Islamic laws and rules here. I think if girl...

Women on the edge of land and life

November is the cruelest month for landless families in the Indian Sundarbans, the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world lying primarily in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. There is little agricultural wage-work to be found, and the village moneylender’s loan remains unpaid, its interest mounting. The paddy harvest is a month away, pushing rice prices to an annual high. sundarbansFor those like Namita Bera, tasked with procuring 120 kg of rice per month to feed her eight-member family, there is seldom any p...
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