The student protests that forced Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to quit and flee the country were also fuelled by tough economic conditions in what was once the world’s fastest-growing economy. Here are some facts about Bangladesh’s economic challenges: Under Hasina, Bangladesh has in recent years seen a sharp widening of its current account deficit, depreciation of the taka currency, and a decline in its foreign exchange reserves. Readymade garments are a mainstay of Bangladesh’s economy, which is the third-largest exporter of clothing in the world. Low wages have helped the country build the industry, but soaring living costs have sparked protests by garment…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
KARACHI: The first month of the current fiscal year saw a record foreign investment of $258.3 million in treasury bills (T-bills) after January 2020. The latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday showed that inflows exceeded the previous monthly high of $230m recorded in May. However, the inflows were far less than the $1.4bn invested in T-bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds in January 2020. The trend was disrupted as foreigners withdrew their investments promptly after the outbreak of Covid-19 the same year. The T-bill inflows result from a stable exchange rate and high returns on…
KARACHI: Volatility persisted on the stock market on Wednesday amid growing political uncertainty as PTI challenged the controversial election law in the apex court a day after it was bulldozed through the parliament. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower on economic uncertainty. “Falling rupee, delays on privatisation of state-owned enterprises, concerns for $15bn unsettled dues of Chinese IPPs, and falling banking spreads contributed to the bearish close,” he added. Topline Securities Ltd said equities moved in both directions as bullish and bearish forces confronted throughout the session to take the helm at PSX. Investors switched between selective stocks in the power,…
BEIJING: US presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s choice of Tim Walz as her running mate has raised eyebrows and plenty of questions in China, which he first visited in 1989, the year the military crushed protests. The 60-year-old Minnesota governor and former schoolteacher has visited China dozens of times, including on summer trips with student groups for sightseeing and cultural exchange. He first travelled there in 1989, moving to Foshan, a city in China’s southern Guangdong province, for a year of teaching English at a local high school, according to media reports at the time. Walz married his wife Gwen on June 4…
LONDON: A woman stripped of her British citizenship after leaving the country as a teenager to marry a fighter of the Islamic State (IS) group lost a bid on Wednesday to take her case to the UK’s top court. Shamima Begum, 24, had hoped to challenge an earlier ruling in which she lost an appeal against the removal of her citizenship. But UK Supreme Court justices said she could not appeal again following her defeat at the Court of Appeal in February. The justices found that her proposed grounds for appeal “do not raise an arguable point of law”. Shamima, whose family…
KATHMANDU: A helicopter crashed in central Nepal on Wednesday, killing all five people aboard including the pilot and four Chinese tourists. Nepal has a woeful track record on aviation safety and the Himalayan republic has seen a spate of deadly light plane and helicopter crashes over the decades. The Air Dynasty chopper was heading to Syabrubesi, a starting point for many trekking routes popular with tourists, from the capital Kathmandu. It lost contact about three minutes after taking off, a press release from the Civil Aviation Authority said, and crashed in Nuwakot district north of the capital. Another helicopter was dispatched immediately…
LONDON: Tory leadership contender and former UK immigration minister Robert Jenrick is facing backlash for suggesting that protesters in Britain shouting “Allahu Akbar” should be “immediately arrested”. His comments have been condemned by Muslim politicians and organisations, who accused him of “textbook Islamophobia”. Jenrick made these remarks while discussing the response to recent far-right riots, contrasting it with the policing of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London. “I have been very critical of the police in the past, particularly around their attitude to the protests we saw since October 7 [raids in Israel]. It was quite wrong that someone could shout `Allahu Akbar’…
LONDON: With far-right protests planned for Wednesday and thousands of riot police deployed across Britain to deal with the threat of riots, a survey on the British public’s views on the riots and the response from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government shows widespread disdain for their handling of the situation. Published by YouGov, the survey shows that the British public overwhelmingly condemns the riots and holds mixed views on the broader protests. However, Labour under Starmer faces significant criticism for its handling of the crisis. The survey reveals that the vast majority of Britons oppose the riots. An overwhelming 85pc…
JEDDAH: The heinous killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh risks tipping the Middle East into “wider conflict”, the chair of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) told a meeting on Wednesday. The comments from Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara came as a senior Iranian official said during the meeting that the Islamic republic would need to defend itself from Israel, which it blames for Haniyeh’s death last week in Tehran. Iranian and Palestinian officials called for Wednesday’s gathering of the 57-member OIC in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, saying the body needed to respond to the killing of the Hamas leader. “This…
Hundreds of Hindus in Bangladesh were gathered along the Indian border hoping to cross, security officials said on Thursday, days after a student-led uprising toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Some businesses and homes owned by Hindus were attacked following Hasina’s ousting, and the group is seen by some in Muslim-majority Bangladesh as having been close to her. “Several hundred Bangladeshi nationals, mostly Hindus, gathered at different points along India’s border with Bangladesh,” Amit Kumar Tyagi, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) deputy inspector general, told AFP. More than 200 people were “standing close” to the frontier with India’s border in West Bengal state.…
