Bangladesh's garment industry is facing widespread factory shutdowns as political instability and financial pressures lead to closures across the nation's primary export sector. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association reports 182 facilities ceased operations between January 2024 and September 2025, displacing nearly 109,275 workers. Industrial Police data indicate that 258 factories have permanently closed over the past year, with 57 shutdowns directly linked to political turmoil after owners fled the country.
The crisis stems from multiple factors, including the absence of factory owners, banking complications, reduced foreign orders, and labor disputes. Worker unrest affected 130 facilities over the year, with...
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday it nears completion of an agreement with Harvard University requiring the institution to pay $500 million after extended negotiations about campus policies. Education Secretary Linda McMahon handles final arrangements for the deal, and the university will establish trade schools focused on artificial intelligence and engineering programs. The agreement follows similar arrangements with Columbia University and Brown University, which committed $220 million and $50 million respectively.
Federal officials previously threatened to eliminate more than $2 billion in research grants to Harvard and pursued actions against international student enrollment. University President Alan Garber stated the...
India is betting heavily on semiconductor manufacturing to achieve technological independence as global trade tensions intensify. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved 10 chip projects valued at approximately $18 billion this year, with commercial production set to start by late 2025. The market is projected to surge from $38 billion in 2023 to nearly $100 billion by 2030.
Vellayan Subbiah, chairman of CG Power, leads one of the first domestic ventures in this sector. His company plans to invest nearly $900 million in two assembly plants and test facilities. India aims to build a complete semiconductor ecosystem through partnerships with domestic giants like Tata and foreign companies such as Micron.
Critics note India lags...
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Bogo City in Cebu province killed 69 people, and a disaster official reported on Wednesday that rescue teams were searching for survivors while crews worked to restore utilities. The shallow quake struck the central Philippines just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday, and it caused widespread power outages, collapsed buildings, and damaged a church that had stood for more than a century. Civil Defence official Raffy Alejandro told reporters that the hospital in Bogo city had been overwhelmed with casualties.
Cebu province, home to 3.4 million residents, is among the nation's leading tourist destinations, but northern areas such as San Remigio suffered the most severe damage from the tremor...
Youth protesters in Morocco clashed with security forces for a fourth straight day on Tuesday, throwing stones and torching banks and vehicles in multiple cities. The demonstrations were organized by an anonymous group called GenZ 212 through social media platforms and Discord. Violence erupted in Tiznit, Inzegane, Ait Amira, Oujda, and Temara, where demonstrators overturned police vehicles and attempted to storm a supermarket. One protester sustained serious injuries after being struck by a security vehicle in Oujda.
Police arrested dozens of young people in Rabat and Casablanca, prompting human rights groups to condemn the detentions as unconstitutional. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights reported that 37 youths were released...
A 20-story public housing building in the Bronx suffered a partial collapse on Wednesday morning after a gas explosion destroyed an incinerator shaft, but the city's fire department reported no immediate injuries. The collapse affected one corner of the structure, extending from ground level to the rooftop, and occurred at approximately 8:10 a.m. Nearby residents captured video footage showing a massive dust cloud spreading across the block moments after the incident. The affected shaft was part of an older waste disposal system that once burned trash on site, but most such incinerators have been replaced with trash compactors that continue to use the original chutes.
The United States and the United Kingdom pledged $96 million in new aid at the first High-Level Conference on the Situation of the Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar at the UN headquarters on Tuesday. The US committed $60 million, while the UK announced $36 million, according to Chief Adviser Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam.
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus addressed the opening session and called for seven-point actions to resolve the crisis. He described Rohingya repatriation as the only peaceful solution and proposed creating a practical roadmap for their safe and dignified return with reasonable stabilization of Rakhine. Yunus warned that as funding declines, repatriation remains the only peaceful option available.
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday its commitment to reducing military operations in Iraq, with a U.S. official confirming that Baghdad will assume command of counterterrorism efforts against Islamic State remnants. The United States and coalition partners will redirect their focus toward combating Islamic State forces in Syria, while relocating most personnel to Iraq's Kurdistan region. American troop levels in Iraq stood at approximately 2,500 at the beginning of 2025, alongside more than 900 service members deployed in Syria as part of the 2014 coalition.
The transition will reduce total U.S. forces in Iraq to fewer than 2,000, with the majority stationed in Erbil. A senior defense official stated that Islamic State no longer...
Former Bangladesh Bank Governor Mohammad Farashuddin warned on Tuesday that indiscriminate freezing of bank accounts undermines public confidence in the banking system. He recommended expanding deposit insurance coverage to 10 lakh taka to strengthen institutional trust. Farashuddin delivered his remarks as the chief guest at the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh event in Banani, where the July-August Monthly Macroeconomic Insights was presented.
The former governor urged the government to exercise extreme caution when freezing accounts, but advised limiting such actions. He proposed adding two million taxpayers annually to distribute the tax burden more equitably across the population. Farashuddin called for aggressive action...
