Having ridden out the uproar over her walkover re-election, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is now attempting to silence any further dissent with the crucial backing of the military, say observers.
The United States was among a host of countries to demand new polls that “credibly express the will” of the people after Hasina’s ruling Awami League romped to victory in a January ballot boycotted by the opposition.
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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami Lea...
CBC News show the fifth estate has won a 2014 International Emmy Award for its documentary about the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh.
Made in Bangladesh, which first aired Oct. 11, 2013, is an investigation that found that dangerous working conditions remained widespread in the Bangladeshi garment industry following the disaster earlier that year that killed more than 1,100 workers at the nine-storey building.
It also found the industry continues to supply major retailers in Canada such as Loblaw and Wal-Mart, de...
The Bangladesh authorities have made significant progress in consolidating macroeconomic stability under the ECF-supported program, said International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a press statement. It said, despite a moderation in exports, foreign exchange reserves have continued to increase and have reached adequate levels, inflation has declined, the fiscal deficit is contained and public debt is on a downward path. With a calmer political environment economic activity is gaining momentum, and real GDP growth is expected at about 6¼ percent in fiscal year (FY)15 (July 2014-June 2015), supported by strong domestic demand. There has also been progress on structural reforms. However, the introduction of a new value added tax (VAT), a key government reform to boost fiscal space for development...
THE river delta that is Bangladesh has plenty of sand but few stones. As the country’s cities are yet to accommodate the majority of its 160m people, this is no small problem. The capital Dhaka, one of the world’s ten largest cities, has begun to rid itself of its one-buffalo town infrastructure. An estimated 35,000 people move to urban areas every week; an additional 53m people will be living in the cities by the middle of the century.
At one of Dhaka’s clubs for foreigners, a hangover from the days of aid-dependence, a man had told m...
A packed meeting in Tower Hamlets heard the secretary of the Committee to Protect Oil Gas and Natural Resources in Bangladesh, professor Amu Mohammad, who was visiting the UK, condemn the corporate plunder of Bangladesh by companies like the UK based Global Coal Management Resources (GCM).
Despite huge protests and three deaths (reported in the Socialist, 8 December 2010 ), GCM is still pressing ahead with a massive open-cast coal mining operation in Phulbari, north-west Bangladesh, which will displace up to 200,0...
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected Thursday Bangladesh’s economic growth at 6.4 per cent in the current fiscal, backtracking from its earlier conservative estimate.
Eight months ago in January last, the ADB in its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2014 said Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) would grow at 6.2 per cent in the current financial year (FY) 2014-15.
“Exports and remittances are expected to perform better than projected earlier. Moreover, the government is seen stepping up project implementation and private investment will likely pick up on post-election political stability,” said the ADO 2014 Update, released Thursday in Dhaka.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami Lea...
