Amid the mindless violence that has already killed at least 71 people and disrupted education and businesses, the High Court has asked the government to take all necessary steps to prevent deadly blockade and hartal.

THE self-proclaimed Islamic State also known as ISIS has upped the mercury by publicly beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on February 11 in Libya. This gruesome and barbaric act comes only a few weeks after the execution of a captured Jordanian pilot who was burnt alive.

WE could not agree more with the Prime Minister that people of the capital are suffering from a chronic lack of public services. Reasons are not far to seek. There have been two debilitating spells in which a drastic deterioration in civic services occurred through unelected leadership. The first downslide happened when Sadeque Hossain Khoka, an elected Mayor for 2002-2007 continued after his tenure till the splitting of DCC into two on November 29, 2011. The second spell of void in elected leadership has been more pronounced with the city corporations having been placed in charge of government-appointed administrators in purely ad-hoc six-monthly stints.

WE are surprised that the Energy Fast Supply Enhancement (Special Provisions Act 2010) has been extended by another four years.

WE have already expressed our alarm through other columns regarding the home ministry order on CHT affairs which, among other things, requires all national-international individuals' and organisations' interaction ...

Video emerges shows beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) militants in Libya

“If you want to kill, kill us -- the ones who are in the administration or in the government politically. But please don't kill the innocents."

THE United Nations has voiced its concern over continuing political violence and fatalities in Bangladesh for more than a month. The former UN Assistant Secretary General, Political Affairs, Oscar Fernandez Taranco has been reportedly assigned to coordinate with Bangladesh government in matters of persuading the contending parties to resolve their differences.

IT is a sad reality in our country that people with special needs, instead of being supported, are shunned from mainstream society, denied their rightful opportunities for leading a normal life. To address this, various stakeholders at a talk have urged all 17 ministries in charge of development of people with disabilities to allocate a specific budget and a comprehensive plan of action geared towards empowering them.

"In developed countries, even PMs wait at bus stands. Why can't the same happen here?

Life has already been difficult enough due to hartals ruining all the work days in the last two weeks on top of a prolonged blockade. Now they have to put up with another 72-hour shutdown from 6:00am today.

BNP had already announced on Thursday that it would go for week-long hartal should they not be allowed to stage protest rallies in Dhaka on Saturday. And

Bangladesh's present score according to international rating agency Moody's is a stable Ba3. That may change unless the political stalemate and resulting