In the past few months, China’s senior-most officials have all identified structural economic reform as one of the nation’s most important priorities. Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, premier-in-waiting Li Keqiang, and Minister for Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong have each publicly stressed the need for domestic demand to supplant exports as China’s main engine of […]
Border skirmishes around Jaintapur and Padua threaten to destabilize the hard won amity that Bangladesh now shares with India. The Daily Star reports: “Indian Border Security Force dug 25 bunkers following an overnight intrusion into Bangladesh territory through Padua-Protappur border in Gowainghat upazila of Sylhet and retreated yesterday afternoon after 19 hours.” “The BSF’s retreat […]
There are two new Economist articles that highlight the impact and consequence of micro-credit, or more generally micro finance institutions, that in Bangladesh moved millions of families away from the gaping jaws of extreme poverty, toward a vision of more sustainable, capability oriented lives. The first article deals with innovations that have empowered women. Though […]
The upshot of the recent trip to Beijing by NSC Senior Director Jeffrey Bader and Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg? The U.S. got an earful about China’s top three foreign policy concerns: “Taiwan, Taiwan, Taiwan” (courtesy of The Cable). “It was all about Taiwan,” said Bonnie Glaser, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic […]
Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are ahead of the curve again. This time its innovations in agricultural development and production. The good news at issue is: using 40% less nitrogen fertiizer, farmers have increased rice yield by 20%. And why is this a significant achievement? The NY Times blog Green Inc has some answers: “Chemical fertilizers are critical […]
The High Court in Dhaka quashed all the corruption charges brought against sitting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her involvement in purchasing Russian MIG-29 planes during her previous term in office. The charges, brought by a group that was associated with the BNP-led coalition were dropped declared the Court because the charges were meant […]
In what could potentially be a significant step towards women’s empowerment in India, the Rajya Sabha* yesterday passed the ‘Women’s Reservation Bill’ with 186 votes. Also known as the Constitution (108th) Amendment Bill 2008, it seeks to reserve 33% of the seats in the national and state legislatures for women. The Manmohan Singh government had hoped to have it passed on March 8, International Women’s […]
East Timor: The would be assassins of Timornese President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão have been given sentences ranging from 16 to 24 years in prison. This would-be junta rebels was mostly composed of disaffected police and military. This blog detailed the events that preceded this trial in more detail, here. Indonesia: Another […]
The Awami League government has promised that it will not halt any ‘pro-people’ public policy works that were initiated by the previous BNP led coalition government. Speaking to Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World Health Organization, the Prime Minister reaffirmed her commitment to social development in far-flung villages. To cite just one […]
The Awami League released the following after CNN rated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed as the sixth most powerful woman in Asia. More important that the fact of her rating is the reasons she was rated as such. “Awami League President & Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been rated as the sixth most powerful women […]
The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington D.C. think tank, has a new project on its research agenda: Tocqueville On China, an intellectual experiment that channels the penetrating observations of the French political observer Alexis de Tocqueville in order to elucidate the current state of China’s civil society. According to the project’s mission statement, this […]
On International Women’s Day, March 07, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared that the Awami League “will eradicate gender discrimination from Bangladesh by 2021, the golden jubilee of the country’s Independence.” Speaking in Dhaka, she reminded her audience that though Islam secures women’s procedural and property rights, the BNP-Jamaat coalition, the previous government in power, made […]
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