Bangladesh

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks to journalists on Jan. 8 after winning her fourth term in power. The elections were marred by violence and arrests of opposition leaders.
International relations

Renewed U.S. outreach to Bangladesh signals strategic shift in region

U.S. diplomat Lu prioritizes economic partnership to counter China's influence

28 May 2024
Depositors across Bangladesh are yanking savings out of the country's crisis-hit banks, despite official assurances that deposits are safe. (Nikkei montage / Source photos by Reuters and AFP/Jiji)
Finance

Bangladesh banks in liquidity crisis, hit by forced merger plan

Institutions saddled with bad loans and fraud claims, leading authorities to downsize sector

15 May 2024
Bangladesh's central bank has been struggling to tame the country's high inflation.
Economy

Bangladesh acts to tame inflation as IMF pledges $1.1bn loan

South Asian nation to let currency and lending rates heed market forces

13 May 2024
For the past six years, A.M. Emran has been offering heritage dining experiences to the public in his family's colonial-era mansion in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. (All photos by Faisal Mahmud)
Tea Leaves

Bangladesh eatery takes diners back to future

Dhaka's only heritage dining place shows the city's potential for tourism

8 May 2024
"Not enough time, not enough support": Uzbekistan, a landlocked country slightly bigger than California, is facing the consequences of a history of poor irrigation, with rising salinity slashing the size of usable growing areas.
Asia Insight

Uzbek farmers battle to save cotton, wheat crops from mortal enemy: salt

Growing salinization crisis bites as cotton exports to Bangladesh skid 80% in 5 years

7 May 2024
A shopkeeper in Mirpur selling Indian saris waits for customers. (Photo by Faisal Mahmud)
Economy

Bangladeshi 'India out' campaign hits Ramadan sales

Retailers report demand drop; PM Hasina points to dependence on Indian staples

12 April 2024
Supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's party chant slogans during a protest demanding free and fair elections in Karachi on March 2. 
Politics

Has Pakistan cricket hero Khan opened political Pandora's box?

Jailed ex-PM champions renewal, reforms that resonate with younger voters

6 April 2024
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Special Reports

From India to Australia, Myanmar is flooding Asia with cheap meth

Myanmar conflict leads to growing supply and falling prices for deadly stimulant

29 March 2024
Students, campaigners and lawmakers protest in 2019 against Home Office actions against alleged cheaters on a test of English-language skills. (Migrant Voice) 
Education

South Asian students fight accusations of U.K. visa fraud 10 years on

Over 35,000 visas were canceled over English test scandal in 2014

17 March 2024
The Bay of Bengal is seen as a promising source of natural gas, but Bangladesh struggles with lagging exploration.
Energy

Bangladesh offers 'win-win' deals for offshore gas exploration

Dhaka opens bidding for sites in Bay of Bengal after eight-year hiatus

15 March 2024
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus speaks to reporters after being granted bail in Dhaka on Jan. 28. Many critics believe Bangladesh's government is using the power of the law to discredit a man once seen as a potential political rival.
Politics

Bangladesh's Nobel winner Yunus fights for legacy as legal screws tighten

After office seized, 83-year-old widely seen as target of political vendetta

24 February 2024
Rohingya refugees walk along a road at the Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, in 2019. Dhaka says it cannot handle another influx as it already hosts over a million Rohingya people.
Myanmar Crisis

Bangladesh resists growing calls to accept more Rohingyas from Myanmar

Pressure builds as war rages next door, U.N. appeals on humanitarian grounds

21 February 2024
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina meets Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Feb. 17.
International relations

Hasina meets Zelenskyy as Bangladesh and the West mend fences

U.S. eases pressure on Dhaka for democracy, eyeing Russia and China

17 February 2024
Sheikh Hasina takes the oath of office for a fourth consecutive term as Bangladeshi prime minister in Dhaka on Jan 11. 
Comment

Bangladesh, a bastion of female empowerment, lags on democracy

PM Hasina's economic record marred by growing political suppression

13 February 2024
Bangladeshi border guards stand watch at Ghumdhum Point overlooking Myanmar in Cox’s Bazar in 2017. Munitions are falling in Bangladesh as Myanmar's civil war rages.
Myanmar Crisis

Bangladesh rebukes Myanmar over stray gunfire as border crisis brews

Dhaka fears refugee influx, demands Naypyitaw repatriate forces who crossed over

7 February 2024
A garment factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh. The country has sustained companies with cash incentives on their exports, but it is dialing them back.
Economy

Bangladesh weans garment industry off subsidies for new-look economy

Dhaka faces outcry over early transition from a 'least developed country'

6 February 2024
Alexander Matheou, a top official at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, warns people to "take climate risk seriously." (Photo by Norman Goh)
Climate Change

Climate change fuels humanitarian risks in Asia, Red Cross warns

International body expects weather disasters to push millions into poverty

4 February 2024
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is welcomed by her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi in September 2022.
International relations

'India Out' campaign heats up in Bangladesh after lopsided election

Echoes of Maldives as government's frustrated opponents accuse New Delhi of meddling

26 January 2024
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in April 2023. The countries hope to benefit from a potential EPA. (Pool photo via Reuters)
International relations

Japan and Bangladesh to negotiate economic partnership agreement

Countries to discuss tariffs on apparel and steel to benefit both sides

21 January 2024
A British Typhoon jet is pictured in Cyprus after striking targets in Yemen during an operation against Houthi militants targeting shipping in the Red Sea. (U.K. Ministry of Defence via Reuters)
International relations

Red Sea conflict plunges Bangladesh garment makers into the red

Surging costs and lead times dent orders, worsening already weak market

18 January 2024
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina: As formal political competition has declined, the legitimacy of Awami League rule has come to be based on its ability to deliver growth and development.
Opinion

Real challenge for Bangladesh PM Hasina still lies ahead

Public is losing confidence that ruling Awami League can manage economic crisis

12 January 2024
A woman votes in Bangladesh's widely criticized general election in Dhaka on Jan. 7.
International relations

Bangladesh sees U.S., U.K. election critiques as grudging acceptance

Western nations slam unfair polls but pledge cooperation, including on Indo-Pacific

9 January 2024
In securing a record fourth straight five-year term in a controversial election, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has pushed the South Asian nation into uncharted territory, experts say. (Photo by Nazmul Islam)
Politics

Bangladesh election: China cheers Hasina as experts eye U.S. move

Poll results, never in doubt, leave domestic politics and global ties less certain

8 January 2024
An officer puts an ink mark on the thumb of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after she votes in the election in Dhaka on Jan. 7.
Politics

Bangladesh PM Hasina clinches election win overshadowed by boycott

Opposition says low turnout shows public heeded its calls to stay away

8 January 2024
Rohingya refugees work on rebuilding their makeshift shelters after a fire broke out in a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Jan. 7.
7 January 2024