Abdullah Shibli

The US is currently in the midst of a semi-political crisis. The so-called “partial government shutdown” was put on a temporary hold on Friday as the Congress and the White House resume their negotiations over funding for a border wall.

The Awami League Election Manifesto 2018 promises that many of the modern civic amenities I enjoy in Dhaka city or my ancestral home in Sylhet's Darga Mahallah will be available in every village.

Manifesto implementation main challenge”. Thus read the headline on the online edition of The Daily Star on January 7. It quoted the General Secretary of Awami League (AL) talking to reporters at Bangabhaban after the oath-taking ceremony of cabinet ministers.

Every year, around this time, I get the urge to write a column on the global economy or the outlook for the new year.

From all accounts, it appears that COP24, the recently concluded climate summit held in Katowice, Poland, was a mixed success.

The next biennial meeting of WTO's ministerial council will be held in June 2020 in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

On December 11, the British Parliament will vote on a draft Brexit agreement which the government negotiated with the EU recently.

World Economic Forum's website had a headline saying “Why home is the least safe place to be a woman” as an introduction to a new report by the United Nations which chronicles widespread domestic violence and abuse perpetrated by husbands, current or former intimate partners or boyfriends, and lovers.

This week's G20 Summit to be held in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, will be keenly observed across the globe for several reasons. First, it comes amidst an ongoing trade war between US and China that appears to be getting out of hand and can be resolved only by direct intervention by its leaders.

Barely three months after he assumed the position of Pakistan's premiership, Imran Khan is fighting on many fronts to shore up the economy and overcome its financial troubles.

The US threatened on several occasions in recent years to walk out from the World Trade Organization (WTO), an intergovernmental organisation that regulates international trade.

The gigantic headline printed across the entire front page of the Los Angeles Times on November 10, 2018, all in capital letters, was meant to grab the attention of the readers.

I voted in the recently concluded midterm elections early in my home state before I boarded the flight to Los Angeles. It's a family trip, but there was an added incentive for me too.

My last column “Uncer-tainty and volatility in the coming years,” published on October 27, elicited some interesting feedback on social media.

As the year 2018 gradually inches towards the finish line, there are many concerns about the next year. Is economic growth going to be as good as the last?

Human consump-tion of fossil fuel is a significant contributor to climate change. Economists have for ages been advocating for a tax on carbon emissions to combat air pollution. The tax, popularly known as “carbon tax”, is levied on products that emit carbon and is one of the measures adopted by many countries to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel in an effort to address the threat of climate change.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in his 2018 SDG progress report, while reporting major achievements in some areas, also emphasised in no uncertain terms the need for reliable data.

Modern democracy is based on a few principles well-known to all but always worth reiterating in order to foster growth and participation of the electorate.

Climate change will hit Bangladesh, and rising temperature and sea level will affect millions in both the short- and long-term. However, it has also embarked on a path to accelerate growth and achieve middle-income status in the immediate future.

It is now agreed by all that financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development programme to reach the SDG targets will be a tough challenge. On September 24, the Secretary-General of the United Nations,