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Researchers find that in low and middle-income countries owning spectacles can help people over 35 can increase their incomeOwning a pair of reading glasses might help people increase their earnings by a third, according to new research.The study, conducted in Bangladesh, is the first to examine the impact of having a decent pair of spectacles, and researchers found monthly median earnings among one group...

The cargo ship Dali sits in the water after running into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. Kevin Dietsch | Getty ImagesOcean carriers are declaring "force majeure" due to the Baltimore port bridge crisis, telling logistics companies and U.S. shippers including reta...

Soaked survivors clung to hull overnight before being taken to safety by Indonesian rescue teamDozens of Rohingya refugees have been rescued from the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia after spending the night balanced on the hull of their overturned boat.Seventy-five people were pulled from the stricken vessel, which was spotted on Thursday by an Indonesian search and rescue ship. Continue reading...

By Mong Palatino, IFEX Internet restrictions, AI-driven disinformation, and mass arrests have intensified ahead of major elections across Asia. These attacks undermine freedom of expression at a time when elections are supposed to restore or strengthen democratic rule and counter authoritarianism in the region. In 2023, several laws and regulations were updated in the region […]

Police start to interview witnesses following Guardian reports on adoptions to the Netherlands nearly 50 years agoRead more: ‘I was told I could visit. Then she went missing’: the Bangladeshi mothers who say their children were adopted without consentPolice in Bangladesh have launched an investigation into historical allegations that children were adopted abroad without their parents’ consent, after a Guardian investigation into adoptions to...

Scientists say sea level rises, flooding and extreme weather will accelerate release of arsenic into water supplyClimate breakdown will put tens of millions of people in Bangladesh at heightened risk of cancer from contaminated well water, according to research.Sea level rises, unpredictable flooding and extreme weather caused by the climate heating up will accelerate the release of dangerous levels of arsenic into the country’s...

Turnout reportedly as low as 40% after opposition party called general strike over ‘sham election’Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has won office for a fifth term, in an election that was overshadowed by a ruthless crackdown on the opposition and low voter turnout.The election commission announced in the early hours of Monday that Hasina’s ruling Awami League had won a fourth consecutive term, winning...

With the opposition in jail or off the ballots in a boycott, the prime minister for the past 15 years was expected to maintain her grip on power in what appeared to be a low-turnout vote.

Already decimated by mass arrests, opposition parties have boycotted the ‘sham’ election, which will give victory to the ruling Awami LeagueBangladesh began voting on Sunday in an election guaranteed to give a fifth term in office to rime minister Sheikh Hasina, after a boycott led by an opposition party she branded a “terrorist organisation”.Hasina has presided over exceptional economic growth in a country once...

Four people also killed in suspected arson attack on a train, which police say was aimed at scaring people before votePolling booths have been set on fire in Bangladesh on the eve of general elections.On Friday four people, including two children, died in an apparent arson attack on a train in Bangladesh. Police said they had arrested seven people in connection with the incident....

The election has been branded a ‘sham’ designed to cement Hasina’s rule by exiled opposition leader Tarique RahmanAn opposition boycott looks set to usher prime minister Sheikh Hasina to a fourth straight term in the Bangladesh election this weekend.The election has been described as a “sham” designed to cement Hasina’s rule by exiled opposition leader Tarique Rahman. Continue reading...

A diplomatic breakthrough has allowed 62 refugees to start a new life in America. Yet a million still remain in fear and poverty in the Bangladeshi campsAfter 23 hours on his first international flight, it was only after stepping off the plane in the United States that Nurul Haque finally felt the relief of escaping the refugee camps of Bangladesh, where he was born.Haque...

Prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has accused 83-year-old of ‘sucking blood’ from poor peopleThe Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has been convicted of violating Bangladesh’s labour laws in a trial decried by his supporters as politically motivated.The 83-year-old, credited with lifting millions out of poverty with his microfinance bank, Grameen, has earned the enmity of Sheikh Hasina, the longtime prime minister, who has accused him...