The best thing about the building I come to work to six days a week is that it has reasonably clean (as in dry), separate toilets for women in each floor. It is a luxury that few women in this city can claim. I say “luxury” for what is a basic necessity because in Dhaka city (forget the rest of Bangladesh) having access to a reasonably useable toilet for women is a rarity. Sometimes it is a miracle.

Addressing Rabindranath Tagore, the American philosopher Will Durant once pronounced, “You alone are sufficient reason why India should be free.

Being late in Dhaka due to traffic jam is the lamest of all excuses. For if there is anything predictable in Dhaka, it is the gnarling traffic jam. To make it on time for an appointment across town, all one has to do is start two days early.

The two days of talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar commenced yesterday, whose outcome was not known till going to press. However, while the current talks revolve only around repatriation of Rohingyas, the wider aspect of the issue is being overlooked.

The 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ended in Bonn, Germany, on Saturday morning, as negotiations ran overtime by a day.

The 7.28 percent economic growth achieved in the last fiscal year, which the government has reported recently, is the second highest growth rate in Bangladesh's history.

While the world and even many in Bangladesh are going paperless, some are adamant about killing trees and sending snail mail by courier, which has a 50 percent rate of successful delivery.

An anti-Muslim communal storm kicked off recently in India involving the Taj Mahal. On September 27, while observing World Tourism Day, Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi released a tourist guide, “Uttar Pradesh Tourism—Limitless Possibilities”, which conspicuously omitted the Taj Mahal.

It is good to see the BNP in the political arena after a period of hibernation. So far it has been a one-sided affair with the AL hogging the political show or whatever of politics we have in the country.

Just as news started to come out that the Syrian Arab Army was on the verge of liberating the city of Abu Kamal, destroying the last Islamic State stronghold in Syria, rekindling hope that the region may yet see some semblance of stability...

The term well-dressed has multi-layered connotations—especially in today's diverse world, where the concept of fashion is constantly changing and there are no fixed standards or norms.

Economist William Nordhaus found a political business cycle for the United States. He showed how the behaviour of the US economic cycle depends on which party, Democrat or Republican, comes to power. Whether our economic cycle significantly varies based on any political party remains a subject of study.

The sky has fallen for the Tigers after South Africa. Add insult to injury, there is ensuing politics, I mean real street political politics—just to divert our attention from the whitewash in South Africa, Taskin Ahmed gets married.

By making the workplace more diverse, an organisation can encourage employees to watch their own potential biases—fixed ways of thinking that can hinder their ability to see important facts and even lead them to make mistakes in decision-making processes.

For everyth-ing that goes wrong, or for everything that seems to be out of order, we unhesitatingly blame the state

The paranoid junta does not want to see Suu Kyi succeed in establishing peace or democracy. Perception of threat to national security is the raison d'être of the military.

I have just arrived in Bonn, Germany to attend the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) being held here for the next two weeks.

Shirin has been with us for 12 years, Mahmuda for nine, Rakib for six. The number of workers who have worked for us in one particular factory for over 10 years is massive. Most live in Khilkhet, where we have one of our factories.

Experts and economists, on the other hand, said that Bangladesh needed to increase investment to USD 12.5 billion for infrastructure development from the existing annual spending of USD 3.5 billion to gain any significant benefit from regional and international connectivity.

Often times, at greater intensity than the minister himself or the MP herself, the corporation chairperson, the district commissioner or the police officer in-charge—in happenings that hurt the government