Author: Blake Morgan

Talk about history repeating itself. As Bangladesh goes to the polls exactly a month from now on 7 January 2024, the international community has begun to openly take sides for and against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Fifty years ago, as India fought the Pakistan Army in support of the creation of the new nation of Bangladesh, the US Seventh Fleet sent the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier in a show of strength for Pakistan, but before it could enter the Bay of Bengal, the former Soviet Pacific Fleet had dispatched one of its own ships. There was never a face-off, but…

In Pakistan, Karachi is currently facing a severe shortage of essential medicines including life-saving drugs, vaccines, insulting for diabetes management, epilepsy drugs, and others, according to a report published by ARY News.  The shortage has caused serious concern among patients and citizens as the life-saving drugs are now being at higher prices in the black market.  Last month, the Drug Regulatory Authority also launched a crackdown against an artificial shortage of essential medicines. However, despite their action, the illegal sale of essential medicines continued. The health authorities also initiated the registration process for new life-saving drugs and fastened the efforts to…

A hospital in New York City recently said it had successfully performed the world’s first eye transplant and the patient is doing well. New York University Langone Health said it performed the surgery last May. Hospital officials say it will be some time before it is known if the 46-year-old patient, Aaron James, will see with the new eye. But the transplant operation itself went well and the eye looks healthy. James is an electrician in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was hit in face by a live electric wire while at work in 2021. James was severely injured and came close to…

The knee injury that Pakistan legspinner Abrar Ahmed sustained during a tour game earlier this week has ruled him out of the first Test against Australia on Thursday and created doubts around his participation in the two matches that follow. A press release from the PCB on Sunday said Abrar will stay with the team and undergo treatment in Perth. Then he will undergo “conservative rehabilitation” and will have to be reassessed before the Boxing Day Test to “ascertain his availability on this tour”. The PCB hasn’t ruled him out of playing in Melbourne or Sydney just yet, but has called up Sajid…

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court issued on Tuesday a symbolic ruling that the powerful Rajapaksa brothers — including two ex-presidents — were guilty of triggering the island’s worst financial crisis by mishandling the economy. The case was filed by corruption watchdog Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) and other four activists against top former officials including former presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa. It also included their younger brother, ex-finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, two former central bank governors and other top treasury officials. “We sought a declaration from the court that the mishandling or inaction on the economy by the former heads…

Nitin Gadkari, the Indian Minister for Road Transport and Highways, has set the record straight in a recent conversation. He expressed that while Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is welcome to set up shop in India, the terms will be dictated by the Indian government. Gadkari clarified that Tesla would receive concessions only if it agreed to local manufacture, not for selling units produced in China, as reported by the Economic Times. Rumors surfaced last week indicating a possible reduction in import duties for companies like Tesla, provided they commit to domestic production. The Indian Central Government’s new strategy could potentially slash import duties…

China’s lunar mission to bring back the first samples ever collected from the moon’s far side is on schedule for next year, officials say, as Beijing ramps up its ambitious plan to send astronauts to the moon this decade and build an international lunar research station. Preparations for the next planned mission – known as Chang’e-6 – were progressing smoothly, China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) said in a statement last week, adding that the mission’s accompanying relay satellite would be deployed in the first half of next year. This week, CNSA also looked ahead to its Chang’e-8 mission slated for…

Amid an increase in the number of visits by US officials to Nepal in recent months, US ambassador Dean Thompson has also stepped up his engagements in Kathmandu. Several sources in the government confirmed to the Post that a five-member US Congressional delegation is arriving in Kathmandu on August 30, coinciding with the day that marks the entry into force of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Nepal Compact, under which Nepal received a grant worth $500 million. But the US delegation’s visit is unrelated to the MCC event, officials said, adding that the delegates will pay a courtesy call on…

India’s first space-based observatory to study the sun is to be launched on September 2, weeks after it became the first country to land a spacecraft on the unexplored south pole of the moon. Monday’s announcement by India’s space agency said the Aditya-L1 probe will study solar winds, which can cause disturbances on Earth and are commonly seen as auroras. The craft, named after the Hindi word for the sun, will be launched from the country’s main spaceport in Sriharikota using the PSLV launch vehicle, which will travel about 1.5 million km (932,000 miles), the agency said. It will take the…

In order to fulfill its promise of cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as part of the country’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement, Bangladesh is on the way to setting up a lithium battery production plant with an annual capacity of 1 gigawatt. Simultaneously, several electric vehicle manufacturing projects are in line as well. Business insiders believe these moves might change the energy landscape of the country. NDCs are individual countries’ plans to help keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees by the end of the century. Bangladesh has proposed 3.4 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent GHG emission reduction…