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Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Monday secured a reduced 19 per cent tariff under a trade agreement with the United States that would exempt some textiles and garments manufactured with US materials, interim government chief Muhammad Yunus said. In an X post, he said Washington had "committed to establishing a mechanism for certain textile and apparel goods from Bangladesh using US-produced cotton and man-made fibre to receive zero reciprocal tariff in (the) US market". Yunus, known for his pro-US stance, said the deal was reached after nine months of negotiations since April last year. Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department or any office of the Trump administration made no immediate comment on the development. According to Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman, Bangladesh's key export-earning ready-made garments (RMG) made from cotton and synthetic fibres imported from the US would enjoy zero reciprocal duty under the deal. He said the agreement was signed in Washington by Commerce Adviser Sheikh Bash
A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in two separate corruption cases related to alleged irregularities in allocations of land in a government housing project. Dhaka Special Judge's Court-4 Judge Rabiul Alam handed down the verdicts, sentencing Hasina to a total of 10 years' imprisonment - five years in each case, state-run BSS news agency reported. The court sentenced 78-year-old Hasina, her nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and her nieces, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq, and others in the cases over alleged irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol. The judgment was pronounced at around 12.30 pm. Tulip Siddiq was sentenced to four years' imprisonment - two years in each case - while Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq were each sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in both cases. Rajuk member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, the only accused to surrender before the court, was ...
Bangladesh has appointed a British law firm to represent its state-run Power Development Board (BPDB) in mediation proceedings over its disputes with Adani Power Limited on the Indian conglomerate's coal pricing and power tariffs, officials said on Friday. The BPDB officials said they appointed London-based 3VP, a leading law firm that provides commercial and financial litigation, to represent Bangladesh in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), a court of international arbitration. The Bangladesh-based Business Standard (TBS) newspaper said the 3VP chambers, headed by King's Counsel Farhaz Khan, had beenadvising a national review committee on the Adani deal for several months. The development came in less than a week, within five days of the committee submitting its final report detailing power sector agreements signed during thedeposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's toppled Awami League government. "Our move to appoint the British firm came as Adani Power initiate
From her exile in India, Bangladesh's ousted leader Sheikh Hasina has slammed the country's upcoming election after her party was barred from the polls, remarks that could deepen tensions ahead of the pivotal vote next month. Hasina, who was sentenced to death for her crackdown on a student uprising in 2024 that killed hundreds of people and led to the toppling of her 15-year rule, warned in an email to The Associated Press last week that without inclusive and free and fair elections, Bangladesh will face prolonged instability. She also claimed that Bangladesh's interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus deliberately disenfranchised millions of her supporters by excluding her party - the former ruling Awami League - from the election. "Each time political participation is denied to a significant portion of the population, it deepens resentment, delegitimizes institutions and creates the conditions for future instability," she wrote. "A government born of ..