Ashfaque Swapan

Is Bangladeshi cinema turning a corner? There are some signs of hope, but don't uncork the champagne yet.

Two events that bookended the year 2017 epitomise the dire political predicament the United States faces.

The incoming train-wreck that is the Republican tax plan has a bizarre solution for a very real problem, and the oddest thing is, they might get away with it.

When Bangladeshis move abroad, they take with them a little piece of Bangladesh in their hearts.

It's too early to tell whether history will be kind to the Donald Trump administration, but no one can doubt its rich, if unintended, contribution to comedy.

US documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' 10-part, 18-hour documentary on the Vietnam War (made in association with Lynn Novick) is making waves here, as well as it should. Give Burns credit.

The Republican Party is in complete control today—it has a majority in both the US Senate and House and has a Republican president, yet it fell flat on its face in its effort to repeal Obama's ambitious attempt to make healthcare accessible to most US citizens.

You see, Mildred Jeter was black, while her husband, Richard Loving (yes, that is his real name) was white. In the 1950s, Virginia was one of 24 states whose anti-miscegenation laws made interracial marriage a felony. The Lovings were charged with “cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.”

The Spelling Bee is a cherished American institution. For those unfamiliar enough to wonder what kind of bee would that be, it's a nationwide spelling contest, where tens of millions of kids from all over the US compete. The cut-off age for contestants is the 8th grade.

I first heard about Bhuban Majhi from Shafiq bhai, the colourful, ornery owner of Tajmahal Restaurant near Atlanta. I have a soft spot

The election of Donald Trump as US president worries Bangladeshi Americans. Trump rode to victory on a wave of a nativist animus that has given a new lease of life to racists and Islamophobes.

When Donald Trump won, American pundits were baffled and political analysts were stumped. How could this mendacious, tacky, narcissist win?

I grew up with Chhayanaut. No, I never took any music lessons there. I am simply one of those countless Bengalis who partook of its rich cultural offerings over the years.

For supporters of the Democratic Party (present company included) the election results last November brought a deep sense of foreboding.

The vast bulk of US immigrants are hard working, law-abiding people who make a critical contribution to the nation. Yet, suddenly it is open season on them.

When US President Donald Trump threatened to ban Muslims during his campaign last year, many people were appalled but few took the threat seriously.

US President Donald J. Trump ascends the US presidency with a dubious record. Several US polls show he enters the presidency with the lowest approval since polls studied this issue. Welcome to governance by mean-spirited tweet. Let us instead dwell on more pleasant matters.

Aynabaji is more powerful when considered as a stylised, modern-day parable. Wrapped in whimsy, leavened by an impish wit, it is reminiscent of the imaginary English world of Jeeves created by P.G. Wodehouse. Its take on life is similar to the stylised storytelling of the 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The recent attacks by a suspected Islamist militant on innocent shoppers in Berlin took me back to the traumatic days of our

The suggestion that Uber cars must be painted and marked as taxis reflects an embarrassing failure to understand what Uber is. Uber is not a taxi service. It is a digital tool, and an ingenious one at that. What it does is use existing capacity to fill an urgent civic need without burdening the streets with extra traffic.