Author: Say Sajjadi

Bangladesh’s Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will head the country’s interim government after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped down and fled the country amid a mass uprising against her rule led mostly by students. The announcement early on Wednesday came from Joynal Abedin, the press secretary of President Mohammed Shahabuddin. Abedin also said the other members of the Yunus-led government would be decided soon after discussion with political parties and other stakeholders. The leaders of the student protests, the chiefs of the country’s three divisions of the military, and civil society members, as well as some business leaders, held a meeting with…

Dubai (27/2) Tajikistan’s existential project to build the colossal 335-meter-high Roghun hydropower dam is proceeding apace, but costs are spiralling, and to a level that is making it hard to see where the government is going to find the funds needed to finish the work. To complicate matters for Dushanbe, this is happening against the backdrop of calls from environmental watchdogs for international development lenders to pause the allocation of any future funds to Tajikistan pending a fresh assessment of the project. The extent of the budget overshoot is striking In a press conference on February 16, Finance Minister Faiziddin…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh resigned on February 26 in anticipation of postwar governance challenges. “I see that the next stage and its challenges will require new governmental and political arrangements,” Shtayyeh said, emphasizing “the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks, and the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus.” American and Palestinian officials expect that Abbas will nominate Mohammed Mustafa, the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, as Shtayyeh’s successor. Expert Analysis “Bringing in Palestine Investment Fund chief Mohammed Mustafa and pushing out the current prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh is the rearranging of the…

The parliaments of Iran and Tajikistan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Monday to expand cooperation between the two legislative bodies. The signing ceremony, reported by the Iranian Students’ News Agency, took place in Tehran, with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and National Assembly of Tajikistan Chairman Rustam Emomali leading the initiative. The agreement was further endorsed during a meeting between Emomali and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who emphasized the importance of this collaboration as a support for the political and economic partnerships between the two nations. President Raisi also highlighted the role of bilateral cooperation in combating…

Sri Lankan authorities have detained nine ethnic Tamils under the country’s abusive counterterrorism law for commemorating those who died in the 1983-2009 civil war, Human Rights Watch said today. The Sri Lankan government has repeatedly assured international allies, trading partners, and the United Nations that it would replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which has long been used to arbitrarily detain and torture minority community members and civil society activists. The government should immediately release all those arbitrarily detained under the PTA and place a moratorium on its use until it can be repealed. “The Sri Lankan authorities’ use of a counterterrorism law against…

Frankfurt (18/12 – 14) That there are remarkable advantages in being ignored is not generally recognized. Central Asian countries, historically under the thumb of Moscow, all through the 70+ years of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, were more or less cut off from the outside world. There was little trade or other exchange. The USSR was in fact a grab-bag of ethnicities, religions and languages, controlled with an iron fist by Stalin and afterwards with unbroken dominance through subsequent regimes. Under Soviet management, Central Asia had stayed poor and ignored; it had not developed any hydrocarbon resources to lure…

While Indian media speculates on the possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi participating in the swearing-in ceremony of Maldives’ new President, Mohamed Muizzu, certain protocol matters may need to be addressed by the host. This applies not only to Prime Minister Modi but also to other Heads of State and/or Government who may have been expected at the Muizzu Inauguration on Friday, 17 November. The reasons are not far to seek. Clarifying the position on the Indian media reports, the President-elect’s official spokesman clarified that the inaugural invitation to nations were addressed to the respective Governments, not to anyone holding…

London, Dublin (1/11 – 66) Hamas is sheltered in a sea of civilians. Ostensibly a Palestinian political and military organization established in 1987, Hamas “governs” on the basis of having won a majority in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections – defeating Fatah, another Islamist terror combine – before forming a government in the Gaza Strip, described as “…the world’s largest open-air prison” for its Palestinian inhabitants. So why don’t the Palestinians, having been robbed of their ancient lands, simply up and move somewhere else? It is telling that none of the Islamic nations surrounding Israel care to admit any more…

Recently, there has been a rise in innovative solutions and technologies combating environmental pollution and climate change. As vehicular exhaust is one of the major sources of air pollution, the automobile industry introduced a new technology based on green energy to run vehicles. Most of the major auto makers have already begun manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) that use rechargeable batteries instead of fossil fuels. The most significant advantage of EVs is that it minimises pollution and improves air quality in cities. Furthermore, pure electric vehicles do not produce carbon dioxide while driving, significantly reducing air pollution. Compared to other fossil-fuel-based…

The US will transfer thousands of seized Iranian weapons and rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, in a move that could help to alleviate some of the critical shortages facing the Ukrainian military as it awaits more money and equipment from the US and its allies, US officials said. US Central Command has already transferred over one million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces, it announced on Wednesday. The transfer was conducted on Monday, CENTCOM said in a press release. “The government obtained ownership of these munitions on July 20, 2023, through the Department of Justice’s civil forfeiture claims against Iran’s…