India’s top diplomat made headlines this week by declaring that no other nation “wishes Bangladesh well” more than India does. Yet, within days of that heartfelt sentiment, New Delhi pulled the plug on a critical transshipment facility — one that supported Bangladesh’s struggling export economy. At the Rising Bharat Summit, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar […]
In a pivotal moment for U.S. trade diplomacy, Bangladesh’s interim government has made a clear and compelling case for a recalibration of economic ties. By formally requesting a three-month postponement of a 37% tariff on its exports to the United States and pledging substantial increases in U.S. imports, Bangladesh is offering Washington not only a […]
President Donald Trump’s latest tariff hike against India—an across-the-board 27 percent levy on nearly all Indian imports—exposes the deep disconnect between rhetoric and reality in the so-called friendship between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Despite public declarations of camaraderie, Trump’s trade war tactics reveal a calculated maneuver: he is leveraging India’s economic vulnerabilities […]
Bangladesh is weighing a 50 percent reduction in tariffs on key U.S. imports in response to a recent 37 percent tariff imposed by the United States on Bangladeshi products. The proposal, aimed at boosting foreign direct investment and reinforcing trade ties, was discussed Saturday at a meeting at the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) office […]
The recent attack on former MP Sarwar Jamal Nizam during a funeral procession in Karnaphuli is another troubling sign of how far political rivalry in Bangladesh has spiraled out of control. What should have been a respectful gathering to mourn the dead turned into a violent clash that left six people injured, including a journalist. […]
A former Bangladesh member of parliament was attacked during a funeral procession Thursday morning in Karnaphuli, resulting in injuries to six individuals, including a journalist, according to local officials and eyewitnesses. Sarwar Jamal Nizam, 65, of Chittagong and a former lawmaker for the Chittagong-13 constituency, was reportedly targeted by political rivals while attending the funeral […]
Poverty is getting worse in Bangladesh. A recent study by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), conducted with the World Food Programme, found that the proportion of poor households rose from 24.73% in 2022 to 26.43% in 2024. Extreme poverty also increased—from 6.06% to 6.63%. This isn’t just a rural issue. Urban extreme poverty […]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus met Thursday on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit, offering a rare moment of diplomacy between the two neighbors at a time of regional flux and mutual anxieties about U.S. stability. It marked Modi’s first meeting with Yunus since Sheikh Hasina’s ouster in August […]
Myanmar has finally acknowledged that 180,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are eligible to return home. It’s a small step in the right direction, but not nearly enough to resolve a humanitarian crisis that has dragged on for nearly eight years. The burden of sheltering more than one million displaced people can no longer fall solely […]
India and Bangladesh have sharply criticized recent reports by The New York Times, describing them as “misleading” and “factually incorrect,” reigniting global scrutiny of the publication’s journalistic practices — a concern that echoes past controversies involving the paper. This week, Bangladesh rejected a New York Times article that alleged a resurgence of Islamist extremism in […]
