Free Republic

Growing up in Bangladesh, I was raised hearing stories about the massacres, rapes and other horrors inflicted upon my country when Pakistan attempted to crush our fight for independence in 1971. But when I became a journalist and travelled the world, I was shocked to learn how little people in other countries knew about what many consider the worst genocide since the Holocaust. A human rights tragedy that goes unrecognized only deepens the wounds. It tells the victims that they did not matter then, and they do not matter today. In 1971, the Bengali majority in what was then East...

A journalist at a leading Bangladeshi newspaper has been jailed on charges of publishing "false" news after his report on high food prices went viral. Samsuzzaman Shams of Prothom Alo daily appeared in court and was denied bail, a day after he was arrested. His story - which ran on 26 March, the country's Independence Day - is alleged to have "smeared the government". Rights activists have denounced the arrest and accused the government of stifling press freedom. Shams works for is Bangladesh's largest and the most influential daily. It was not immediately clear how long he would stay in...

The irrational leaders of the EU fought long and hard to defend their reckless open-door immigration policies, even calling countries such as Hungary, which opposed those policies, “undemocratic.” Smears including “anti-immigrant,” “racist” and “Islamophobe” were also levied at anyone who protested against the invasion of mostly Muslim economic migrants who entered Europe illegally in droves. Now that open-door policies has proven (as everyone should have known) to be a failed experiment, as well as unsustainable, with Western countries in financial crisis and crime stats going through the roof, the EU is finally backpedaling. Four months ago, Germany deported only 5...

Bangladesh has lot to be proud of. In December 1971, when Bangladesh gained independence, it was among the world's poorest countries. A devastating war had shattered its economy and destroyed its infrastructure. Fifty years later, the transformation of Bangladesh is remarkable. The country has reduced poverty in record time: between 2000 and 2016, extreme poverty dropped from 34 percent to 13 percent. Since 2000, it has remained among the fastest growing economies, and in 2015, it crossed the threshold to become a lower middle-income country. GNI per capita rose to over $2,500 in 2021, a 20-fold leap from its 1971...

Around the middle of this month, workers at Malaysia's Port Klang were surprised to hear knocking from inside one of the shipping containers that had just come off a ship from Bangladesh. When they opened it, they were even more surprised to see a young boy step out. He couldn't speak the local language, so the port workers couldn't figure out who he was or how he ended up inside the container. They alerted law enforcement agencies, which immediately suspected it was a case of human trafficking. "He was the only one found in the container. A police report was...

On 30 November, Shamsul Hoque announced a target of injecting 9 million Bangladeshis with Covid “vaccines” under a week-long special campaign beginning 1 December. He said vaccine doses will be administered during the week 1-7 Dec at 15,984 centres across the country during the drive. Hoque is the member secretary of the vaccine deployment committee of the Directorate General of Health Services under Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health. The World Health Organisation (“WHO”) recommends that 70 per cent of the population be vaccinated, Hoque said. The announcement came a day after the country had recorded 11 new cases of Covid and...

Dhaka (AFP) – At least 130 million people in Bangladesh were left without power on Tuesday after a grid failure caused widespread blackouts, the government's power utility company said. Bangladesh has suffered a major power crisis in recent months as a result of higher global energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and has imposed regular cuts to conserve electricity. But it remained unclear what caused Tuesday's unscheduled blackout, which hit more than 80 percent of the country shortly after 2:00 pm (0800 GMT), according to the Power Development Board. Apart from some locations in Bangladesh's northwest, "the rest of...

Large swathes of Bangladesh were left without electricity on Tuesday after a grid failure, a government official said, adding that authorities were working to gradually restore power supply in the country of 168 million people. The country's power grid malfunctioned at around 2 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Tuesday, leading to blackouts across 75-80% of the Bangladesh, Bangladesh Power Development Board official Shameem Hasan told ReuteAn investigation was underway to ascertain the reason for the grid's collapse and power had been restored in 45% of the regions hit by the blackouts, he said. Bangladesh, which gets three quarters of its electricity...

Dozens killed, over 450 injured in Chittagong container depot fire By Sri Lanka Guardian •June 05, 2022 •Bangladesh The number of casualties could increase further by Pimple Barua, Chittagong At least 37 people have been killed and over 450 injured in a fire caused by an explosion at a private Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Sitakunda upazila in Chittagong. The fire broke out at BM Container Depot in Kadamrasul area of the upazila on Saturday night. Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Police Outpost Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Alauddin Talukdar told Bangla Tribune: "The bodies have been kept at the morgue." Istakul...

[Image] The Taliban’s stated wish to have peaceful relations abroad notwithstanding, the global consequences of competitive militancy are dangerously severe Will Afghanistan again become an exporter of global terrorism? My answer, an emphatic “yes”, will trigger sharp protests. Many perhaps will cite some of what Zabiullah Mujahid, Deputy Minister for Culture and Information and official central spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (henceforth Islamic Emirate), said at the Taliban’s first official press conference in Kabul on August 17, 2021. The Taliban, he said, wished to have peaceful relations with other countries and no group would be allowed to use...

Science recently published the largest cluster-randomized trial to date on face coverings, a massive study that the science community had been calling for since the start of the pandemic.As the fear of Covid wanes with its news coverage, one of the remaining vestiges of the narrative involves face coverings. The premier journal Science recently published the largest cluster-randomized trial to date on masks, a massive study that the science community had been calling for since the start of the pandemic. This study divided rural villages in Bangladesh into those encouraged to wear either medical or cloth masks, or no mask....

The poor performance of Russian equipment deployed in the Ukraine war is bound to be giving global buyers second thoughts.How can it be that a large Russian army attacking force, capable of causing untold destruction, is being checkmated and systematically devastated by Ukraine’s military, in particular its special forces?And what impact will this have on the Russian army and its industrial backbone, the Russian companies that build the tanks, armored personnel carriers, mobile air defenses and aircraft including fixed-wing and helicopters ­– all of which have suffered extreme losses in the conflict?Russia’s exports consist of various commodities, most prominently wheat,...

Lithuania has cancelled its decision to donate COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh after the country abstained during the United Nations General Assembly vote on condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Rasa Jakilaitienė, a spokeswoman for the prime minister, has said.

A Bangladeshi ship anchored at the northern Black Sea port of Olvia in Ukraine has reportedly been hit by a missile, killing one crew member.

A monk known for his incendiary anti-Muslim rhetoric leads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party into elections in India's most populous state Thursday, where a strong win could put him in pole position to succeed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yogi Adityanath, 49, has stirred controversy since his surprise appointment in 2017 as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India home to over 200 million people -- more than the entire population of Brazil. Office has done nothing to temper his views, and as he seeks a second term he is exhorting Hindu voters to back the BJP...

Gere's What You Need to Remember: Ideological and financial concerns mean there are a lot of things India won’t buy from the United States or Europe, leaving Russia as their sole source of weapons. Like a lot of countries, India wants the best weapons it can afford. But ideological and financial concerns mean there are a lot of things it won’t buy from the United States or Europe. That pretty much leaves, well, Russia. India has been a big buyer of Russian weapons for 50 years. Those haven’t been easy years for New Delhi. India’s defense contracts with Russia have...

Following an observational study, researchers call for large-scale trials around the world While multiple vaccines are undergoing clinical trials across the globe, an observational trial in Bangladesh suggests that Ivermectin, a cheap and widely available drug, may be effective in preventing Covid-19. The trial suggests that the FDA-approved broad spectrum anti-parasitic drug, which has been touted as effective in treating moderate level corona positive patients (though results remain ambiguous), may be effective as a preventive drug, leading to a call for trials worldwide to see if the apparent findings can be confirmed and replicated. In its latest issue, the European...

The blaze on the three-decked vessel started mid-river near the town of Jhalakathi as it sailed from the capital Dhaka to the town of Barguna. Some of the victims drowned after jumping into the water. The number of casualties in Friday's disaster is likely to increase as many of the passengers have severe burns. As many as 500 people were reportedly on board the vessel, the MV Avijan-10. The fire is believed to have started in the engine room and quickly spread as the ferry travelled along the Sugandha river at around 03:00 local time (21:00 GMT Thursday), fire services...

LONDON (AP) — Rohingya refugees sued social network powerhouse Facebook for more than $150 billion, accusing it of failing to stop hate speech that incited violence against the Muslim ethnic group by military rulers and their supporters in Myanmar.

Bangladesh just reported zero COVID deaths in the entire country in a 24-hour period. Charitably, one-quarter of the population is vaccinated. This poor, incredibly densely populated nation appears poised on the verge of achieving herd immunity – despite violating every principle the high priests of the pandemic assure us are necessary to beat COVID.Why? How is this possible?Bangladesh has a population of roughly 167 million people. These people are jammed together in an area the size of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has a population of roughly 13 million.Bangladesh has a population density of over 3000 people per square mile. The population density...