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South Asia
Why Financial Independence Changes Everything for Women
By Pirah Aijaz KARACHI: For many women, financial independence is not just about making money; it is also about gaining control over their own lives. In fact, it brings the confidence and fulfilment of being a self-empowered woman. Across cultures and societies, women have been conditioned to rely on men…
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South Asia
New Dimensions of Bangladesh’s Relations with Neighbours
Tarique Rahman, Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, takes an oath as Prime Minister of Bangladesh during a ceremony at the National Parliament in Dhaka, Bangladesh,(Photo : AP/Yonhap) By Bhanu Ranjan ChakrabortyDHAKA: The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, which won a landslide victory in the national elections in Bangladesh in…
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Main Slide
Asean, EU Leaders Step Up Call for Peaceful Resolution of Middle East Conflict
AI-generated image of the meeting attended by 51 nations (The Journalistic.uk) By Ivan LimSINGAPORE: Pope Leo XIV, the first American head of the Vatican City in Rome, has led in condemning the US war on Iran on moral grounds, eliciting a stern rebuff from President Donald Trump. But the pontiff,…
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West Asia
The Misuse of History in Modern Debate: Claiming the Past as Proof of Superiority
Jaafar Salman By Ahmed SalehColumnist, Al Ayam MANAMA: More than a week ago, an incident unfolded that resonates far beyond Bahrain. It is a familiar pattern across the Gulf that resurfaces with unsettling regularity and where shallow thinking, inflamed sentiment, and a regressive strain of tribal chauvinism reveal themselves in…
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EditorsPick
Federation of Gulf Journalists Condemns Iraqi Ban on Bahraini Journalist
Jaafar Salman By Habib ToumiMANAMA: The Federation of Gulf Journalists (FGJ) has strongly rejected a decision by Iraq’s Media and Communications Commission to ban a Bahraini journalist following his participation in a televised debate. The FGJ described the six-month ban imposed on Jaafar Salman, a journalist with Al Ayyam newspaper,…
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The Map and the Mandate: India’s Gender Reform Meets Its Federal Fault Lines
India has passed a landmark law for women’s representation but by tying it to delimitation it has turned a social reform into a high-stakes political contest over who holds power in the world’s largest democracy. By Gunjeet Sra NEW DELHI: In September 2023, India appeared to close a chapter that…
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South Asia
China’s 15th Five-Year Plan and the Shifting Strategic Landscape of South Asia
By Leo Nirosha Darshan COLOMBO: According to World Bank reports, China has extended nearly $48 billion in loans to South Asian nations. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh hold record levels of debt to Beijing. In 2024, China became Pakistan’s largest creditor, with loans totaling $29 billion. Between 2006 and 2022,…
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Lebanon Burns and the Questions the World Will Not Answer
By Ghena Halik BEIRUT: The numbers are stark: 357 killed, 1,232 wounded. But numbers, however large, conceal as much as they reveal. They flatten lives into data points, obscuring the people behind them -children, parents, professionals, neighbors – whose futures ended in a matter of minutes. Last week, Lebanon experienced…
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South Asia
Dhaka Celebrates Bengali New Year 1433
A New Year procession ‘Baishakhi Shobhayatra’ in the capital Dhaka on 14 April. By Bhanu Ranjan Chakraborty DHAKA: The Bangla New Year 1433 was celebrated on Tuesday (April 14) with colorful arrangements in capital Dhaka and various parts of Bangladesh. On this day, the entire capital’s residents were united in…
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Main Slide
Australia And Singapore “Good Neighbours” in Good and Bad Times
By Ivan Lim SINGAPORE: Australia and Singapore, in a show of “friends in need are friends in deed” have inked a bilateral agreement to keep fuel supplies and essential goods flowing between them in the wake of the disruption in supply chains created by United States-Iran conflict, now entering its…
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