The speaker of Nepal’s parliament has stepped down after a female employee of the parliament secretariat accused him of rape. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a senior member of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, said on Tuesday he was stepping down to allow an “impartial and independent investigation into the allegations that have come forward in media reports … until the probe… Read more »
Kathmandu: Following a charge of sexual assault, Krishna Bahadur Mahara has resigned on Tuesday as speaker of Nepal’s House of Representatives (HoR). Issuing a press statement, Mahara said that he had resigned to facilitate an investigation into the charges against him. A woman, who works in the Parliament Secretariat, told the media that Mahara tried to assault her on Sunday… Read more »
UDAIPUR, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – South Asian pastoralists facing shrinking rangelands and a rise in conflicts over the right to roam must be allowed greater involvement in managing lands to help secure their survival, land experts said on Thursday. Herders around the world are coming under pressure from governments to settle down and stop their livestock roaming, as they… Read more »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is among the world’s most protectionist countries but the United States is trying to negotiate a limited trade deal with the South Asian nation to resolve their differences, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said on Thursday. “All that we are looking for is to level the playing field,” Ross said in an interview on… Read more »
Due to mass migrations of Rohingya Muslims from the country of Myanmar, the neighboring country of Bangladesh has been forced in some ways to take in refugees. These migrants must stay in refugee camps, as they are not recognized as citizens of any country. Recently, the conditions of these camps have come into question. The Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, is… Read more »
India, once thought of as a country of more than a billion people living in poverty, has seen its economy boom, and has emerged as a new force in global manufacturing. But that is not the full story. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), more than 150 million children and teenagers are victims of child labour around the world, and… Read more »
NEW DELHI — Her face was everywhere — on the news, at police stations and at the airports where the Pakistani government had put her on a list of the nation’s most wanted. She has been accused of treason, though human rights defenders said that the allegations were bogus and that she was being targeted for highlighting abuses committed by… Read more »
“Bangladesh recorded the highest economic growth among a list of 26 countries in the last 10 years”, said Sheikh Hasina, noting a 188 per cent expansion in its gross domestic product (GDP), which “has grown from $102 billion in 2009 to $302 billion this year”. Citing poverty and inequality as two major obstacles to development, she pointed out that “poverty eradication, sustainable… Read more »
Barbed Wire, Guard Towers to Deny Freedom of Movement (New York) – The Bangladesh government’s plans for barbed wire and guard towers around Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar violate refugees’ rights to freedom of movement, Human Rights Watch said today. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan announced the plan on September 26, 2019, saying it was specifically ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. While the… Read more »
GAUR, Nepal — The monsoon rains would not stop. They lashed Nepal’s border with India, pooling into a swift current that crumbled homes, cut electricity and swept away people and animals. But this summer’s flash floods played out differently on the Indian side. Embankments blocked swollen upstream rivers from emptying south, leaving Nepal to deal with two or three times… Read more »