Porimol Palma

There was silence all around, except for some dogs mildly barking, in the middle of the night. Some ambulances were parked just outside the airport’s cargo area as five to six people sat on chairs under neon lights nearby. They were waiting for the corpses of their family members returning from abroad.

Jhorna Islam had never thought of becoming an entrepreneur. However, when her husband, the sole earner of the four-member family, suffered from heart disease 10 years ago, her small embroidery work at home was not enough to cover the family bills.

Bangladesh wants a stronger role of Malaysia, an influential member of the Asean, in addressing the Rohingya crisis as visiting Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah holds a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart in Dhaka today.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves for China on a five-day visit today and she will discuss various issues with Chinese leaders, including Rohingya repatriation.

Two groups of recruiting agencies are at loggerheads over the Saudi embassy move to start visa service centres in Dhaka under two leading recruiting agents.

Jumman Hawlader had turned 19 when his family began to expect some contribution from him. And a year later, he got lost in the Mediterranean on way to Europe. With all dreams shattered, they have now plunged into a cycle of poverty.

With the Rohingya repatriation nowhere in sight, their leaders say they feel ignored both by the international community and the Bangladesh government in the process of making decisions about their fate.

Cash incentives on remittance offered in the next budget will help boost foreign currency inflow, but the decline in allocation for the expatriate welfare ministry means low priority for the migrant workers’ rights, analysts said.

The health budget proposed yesterday did not address the issue of rising expenditure of healthcare in the country that forces some four to five million people into poverty every year, analysts said.

Bangladesh will sign a deal of over $1.2 billion with Japan for four projects, including the second metro rail connecting the capital’s airport and Kamalapur, during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to the East Asian country on May 28-31.

Amir Hossain made two desperate attempts to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. He first tried once last year and again on May 9 this year.

The 15 Bangladeshis who returned home yesterday are not the ones who survived the boat capsize in Mediterranean Sea on May 9.

Alamin Miah is one of those who came back from the jaws of death and lived to tell the tale after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Tunisia, last Friday night.

Europe has long been a promised land for Bangladeshi fortune seekers. With illusion further fuelled by human traffickers, many take risky journeys through the Mediterranean, knowing well it may turn fatal in the hazardous sea. But when they are held hostage by human traffickers or other criminal gangs in Libya, a transit point en route to Europe, they realise

Migrants and activists want the visiting Bangladeshi officials in Malaysia to negotiate regularisation of undocumented Bangladeshis before starting any fresh recruitments.

It was just some 40 minutes before the iftar yesterday when a group of people showed up at arrival lounge of Dhaka’s airport, unsure about what to do. At that time, both passengers and airport staff were taking preparation to break the day’s fast.

After passing the civil service exam in 2015, young physician Nuzhat Islam* was excited about being posted at an upazila health complex in Tangail. The experiences that followed, however, were unpleasant enough to puncture the joy with which she joined work.

The government has planned to bring home the Bangladeshis facing high level of vulnerabilities in and around Tripoli, as fighting continues between the UN-backed Libyan government and Libyan National Army.

Some one million Rohingyas face serious health risks due to acute air and water pollution in the crammed camps of Cox’s Bazar, says a new study that assessed environmental conditions in one of the world’s largest refugee settlements.

Bangladesh should change its approach in dealing with Myanmar, as repatriation of Rohingyas has almost stalled since Myanmar is not creating the conditions required for their return, international relations experts said.