Porimol Palma

With no jobs or low wages for months in crisis-hit Lebanon, Bangladeshi migrants are now borrowing money from home for their survival. As coronavirus spreading fast in the middle-eastern country and businesses are closing down, their future has become further uncertain.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join the birth centenary celebration of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 17 through videoconference.

Lego, the world’s largest toy brand with annual sales of more than $2 billion, was established by the Kirk Christiansen family in Billund, Denmark in 1932.

South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela’s saying “The youths of today are the leaders of tomorrow” remains true in every sense even today. When they aspire to be leaders – be it in politics, economy or society -- or become professionals, they need to learn the skills relevant to their field.

India is pressing upon Myanmar for safe, secure and sustainable return of Rohingyas to Rakhine State, said Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly yesterday.

The government is considering shelving its plan to shift one lakh Rohingyas to remote Bhashan Char following persistent objections from international aid agencies to the relocation.

Unpaid for five months, over 70 Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia are living at a factory dorm in Balakong with money borrowed from relatives.

The government is going to set up seven special tribunals for speedy trials in human trafficking cases as Bangladesh faces risks of US sanctions for not doing enough in combatting the heinous crime.

Dhaka will seek Riyadh’s assistance in stopping visa trade, an illegal practice that pushes up recruitment cost for Bangladeshi workers going to Saudi Arabia, as a joint commission meeting of the two countries begins in Dhaka today.

Around 1.6 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers are passing days in uncertainty in crisis-hit Lebanon as most of them have either lost their jobs or remained unpaid over the last few months.

Cancer control in the country requires an integrated approach with emphasis on prevention that can help improve quality of life, reduce the possibility of cancer and thus cut health expenditures, experts have said.

The International Court of Justice has asked The Gambia to file its initial pleadings by July 23 in the case against Myanmar.

Myanmar and its ally China will face mounting pressure after the World Court asked Naypyidaw to stop genocidal acts in Rakhine State, analysts said.

Bangladesh has been sitting on a zero-cost labour recruitment offer that Malaysia made more than a year ago.

The Rohingyas have been facing persecution for decades. They have lived without citizenship and faced restrictions on freedom of movement. They have also been denied basic rights.

Bangladesh and The Gambia are located nearly 11,000-kilometre away and share no significant economic or political relation. But the countries stand together for one cause, justice for the Rohingyas.

Bangladesh faces a major challenge in providing fair jobs to the two million youths entering job market every year, says Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) Director General Manuel Sager.

As tension between the US and Iran fuel fears of war, economists and international relations experts warn that any armed conflict between the countries will deal a blow to Bangladesh’s export-import, and overseas job market in the Middle East.

Bangladesh is far from practising ethical recruitment, which requires a zero-cost migration policy and transparency in the entire migration cycle, and also ensures that migrants do not face exploitation, according to researchers.

The government has planned to construct a four-storey building on Bhashan Char for the UN and aid agency representatives to ensure effective monitoring of humanitarian activities for one lakh Rohingya refugees to be relocated to the island from Cox’s Bazar.