All posts tagged "Bangladesh"

Protests in Bangladesh that began as student-led demonstrations against government hiring rules have spiralled into violence killing more than 280 people and sparking widespread calls for the premier to resign.

Here are five key dates spanning the protests posing a daunting challenge to the autocratic rule of 76-year-old Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leader of the South Asian nation of about 170 million people.

July 1: Blockades begin

University students build barricades blocking roads and railway lines to demand reforms of a quota system for sought-after public sector job hires....

The authorities in Bangladesh have issued another heatwave alert for three more days beginning Sunday as the South Asian country is facing its longest heatwave in 75 years. Bangladesh reported the season's highest temperature at 42.7 degrees Celcius on Friday in the south-western district of Chuadanga. Dhaka's maximum temperature was 38.2 degrees that day, according to meteorological data. The blistering heat has forced the government to shut schools for a week, with hospitals preparing to receive higher numbers of patients with heat-related ailments. The heatwave reached a 29th day on Sunday,......

At least 44 people have been killed and dozens others injured after a fire broke out in a commercial building in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, officials said. The fire broke out at the seven-storey Green Cozy Cottage, which houses many restaurants and clothing shops, on Dhaka's central Bailey Road on Thursday evening, Brigadier General Main Uddin, chief of the Fire Service and Civil Defence emergency department told reporters at the scene. The firefighters retrieved the bodies, mostly restaurant guests, from the building after they took more than three hours to douse the blaze, he said. Three......

At least four passengers of a train were killed and scores of others injured in a suspected arson attack on Friday in Dhaka, police said, ahead of Bangladesh’s national elections at the weekend, which are being boycotted by a major opposition group. Firefighters retrieved the charred bodies of the passengers from inside the burnt-out carriages of the Benapole Express train, Khandaker Al Moin of the Rapid Action Battalion unit of the police said at the scene. Passengers noticed the fire only a few minutes ahead of the Dhaka-bound train slowing down as it was about to approach its final destinat......

The flooded plains of Sylhet, Bangladesh seen from Meghalaya, India. Image by insectatorious via Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 The year 2022 was a tumultuous one for many South Asian nations as the ongoing economic crisis, exacerbated by significant losses due to climate disasters, the Ukraine war and political conflicts, spiralled further downward. Last year, we witnessed the challenges faced by journalists and the limitation of media freedom in South Asia due to authoritarian practices, and this trend continued into 2022, especially in India, due to disinformation campaigns. Climate crisisIn 2022,......

Bangladeshi police have arrested eight people including the owners and top executives of a food processing factory after at least 52 workers were killed in a devastating fire, officials said on Saturday. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan announced the arrests at the site of the accident, and warned that no-one would be spared if the investigators found negligence had led to the loss of so many lives. Many of those who were killed in the fire that swept through Hashem Food and Beverage Ltd on Thursday were trapped on the fourth floor, unable to escape as the door was locked. It took firefighters m......