Dhaka

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 4 DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A massive fire at a container depot near a port city in southeastern Bangladesh killed at least 28 people and injured more than 100 others, officials and local media said Sunday, as firefighters struggled to get the blaze under control. The fire at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out around midnight Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals. The cause of the fire could not be immediately determined. The depot is located in Chittagong, 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka. At least five firefighters were among the dead, according to Brig. Gen. Main Uddin, director general of the Bangladesh fire service and civil defense. Another 15 firefighters were being treated for burn injuries, he added. Multiple rounds of explosions occurred after the initial blast as the fire … [Read more...] about At least 28 dead in fire at Bangladesh container depot

Two facts are painfully clear to New Yorkers: The rent is too high, and it keeps getting higher. With the median one-bedroom apartment hovering around $3,500 a month, New York’s rents are officially among the most expensive in the country. Between 2009 and 2018, the city added 500,000 jobs but only 100,000 new housing units. The profound shortage in rental units has forced the city’s residents to figure out their own ways to live affordably. And that — especially for those moving to the city for the first time — often means living with total strangers. This spring, the magazine visited the homes of renters who have moved to the city during the pandemic, checking in on the pleasures and compromises of living with brand-new roommates: the tight quarters and awkward interactions, but also the mutual assistance and instant camaraderie that arise when people are thrown together. Some sleep two to a room or in what’s supposed to be the living room; many still struggle to make ends meet, … [Read more...] about Their Solution to the Housing Crisis? Living With Strangers.

Firefighters in Bangladesh battled for a third day on Monday to stamp out a massive fire that killed 41 people at a container depot in an incident that spotlights the South Asian nation’s poor safety record . Drone footage showed thick columns of smoke and rows of burnt-out containers as Saturday’s fire persisted after a huge blast and shipping container explosions at Sitakunda, 25 miles from the southeastern port city of Chittagong. The fire has been largely reined in but not entirely extinguished, as containers nearby loaded with chemicals pose a risk of life-threatening explosions, fire officials said. “Our firefighters are working hard, but due to the presence of chemicals it’s too risky to work close by,” said Anisur Rahman, fire service chief of the port city. Similar explosions, some of which shattered the windows of buildings in the neighborhood, have already complicated the firefighters’ task. Troops have also joined the effort to prevent the spread of … [Read more...] about Bangladesh battles to douse blaze at container depot that killed 41

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 12 DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of people marched in Bangladesh's capital and in parts of India on Friday to urge Muslim-majority nations to cut ties with India and boycott its products unless it punishes two governing party officials for comments deemed derogatory to Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The protesters in Dhaka also criticized the country's government for not publicly criticizing the comments made last week by two officials in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governing Bharatiya Janata Party. One official has been suspended and the other expelled after the BJP denounced insults of religious figures, but protesters in Bangladesh and India said the actions were not enough. They marched after Friday prayers through streets near the main Baitul Mukarram Mosque in downtown Dhaka. Many chanted slogans against Modi. … [Read more...] about Anger erupts in Bangladesh, India over comments about Islam

Thousands of people marched in Bangladesh’s capital on Thursday to demand the governments of Bangladesh and India officially condemn comments by two Indian governing party officials deemed derogatory to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad . The march began at the country’s main Baitul Mukarram Mosque but was blocked by police as it headed toward India's Embassy, a few kilometers (miles) away. The protesters demanded that Muslim-majority nations boycott Indian products and cut off ties with New Delhi, and that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina publicly condemn the comments made earlier by the two officials in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Hasina has maintained warm relations with India. Information and Broadcast Minister Hasan Mahmud told a group of Indian journalists that the dispute is an internal Indian matter, according to reports by Indian media. As they marched, the protesters chanted “Down with Modi” and “Insult to Islam, will … [Read more...] about Thousands march in Bangladesh over comments about Islam

Scientists say climate change is a factor behind the erratic and early rains that triggered unprecedented floods in Bangladesh and northeastern India , killing dozens and making lives miserable for millions of others. Although the region is no stranger to flooding, it typically takes place later in the year when monsoon rains are well underway. This year's torrential rainfall lashed the area as early as March. It may take much longer to determine the extent to which climate change played a role in the floods, but scientists say that it has made the monsoon — a seasonable change in weather usually associated with strong rains — more variable over the past decades. This means that much of the rain expected to fall in a year is arriving in a space of weeks. The northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya received nearly three times its average June rainfall in just the first three weeks of the month, and neighboring Assam received twice its monthly average in the same … [Read more...] about Climate change a factor in ‘unprecedented’ South Asia floods