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Bangladesh has been reeling under intense protests and violence for more than a month now. A controversial Bangladesh high court decision reinstating a government job quota system that came on June 5 instantly triggered protests that soon engulfed the entire nation. In the ensuing pitched battle between protestors and the Bangladesh police, hundreds of protesters and police personnel were killed. As the protests became more intense and widespread, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on August 5. Bangladesh has been in turmoil for over two months, with all businesses closed during this period.

Gaza’s death toll climbed past 40,000 today as international mediators held a new round of talks on a ceasefire and the release of hostages. In its most recent detailed report on the dead, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that of the 40,005 Palestinians reported killed, nearly 16,500 were children.

Eight days have passed since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina from power in Bangladesh on August 5 following the mass upsurge led by the students and other opposition parties against the 15 year rule of the Awami League Government led by her. Much has been written about the developments that led to her fall and the likely factors which contributed to her abdication of power. Now we can look at the various shape of events that can emerge till the interim government holds the general elections.

For the global youth between 15 and 24 years of age, employment rates have stabilized back to their pre-COVID-19 crisis trendlines, but unemployment rate stood at 13 per cent in 2023, according a new ILO report titled “The Global Employment Trend for Youth (GET for Youth) 2024. Moving forward, the global youth unemployment rate is expected to decline over the next two years to sit at 12.8 per cent in 2024 and 2025. However, employment to population ratio will decline from 35 per cent in 2023 to 34.6 percent, which will translate into decline in actual employment from 434.6 million in 2023 to 434.3 million in 2024, only to rise to 437.5 million in 2025.

The world’s biggest processor of bauxite into alumina China has to contend with two realities: First, Beijing has introduced more stringent conditions since 2022 for investments in new alumina projects, including brownfield capacity expansion. This has implications for both operating groups and potential new investors. Second, Beijing in its campaign against pollution has not spared alumina making, which generates 1 to 2 tonnes of red mud for every tonne of smelter feedstock production. Red mud unless it is stored and disposed with care is a major environmental hazard.

The news that there is fire in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine has sent ripples in the minds of people around the globe. Even though no radiation leak has been reported so far, but the danger cannot be ruled out till the fire is extinguished and the plant is finally inspected and given safety clearance by the IAEA. Accidents in the nuclear power plants have grave health and humanitarian consequences. This is well proved in the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. Therefore the global concern over this fire is genuine. The forces of peace and nuclear disarmament have warned of such an event since the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine over two years ago. The nuclear plant has been under the control of Russia since 2022. Now both Russia and Ukraine are blaming each other for this fire. But whosoever may be responsible, if the fire in the plant increases the impact would be felt in the far flung areas.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s meteoric acceptability is one side of the coin. The flip side is Kamala’s choice for Vice President, Tim Walz, who brought excitement to the Kamala Harris campaign, which the corporate media latched on to push Kamala’s case against Republican candidate Donald Trump, whose running mate JD Vance is the javelin's tip as far as the Trump-Vance ticket is concerned.

A marathon runner from Bhutan who finished the 42.195 km marathon at Paris Olympic in 3 hours 52 seconds and was the last one to finish the race received a rousing ovation from the spectators. Kinzang Lhamo finished the marathon 1.5 hours after the winner, who took the gold medal. Netherlands' Sifan Hassan broke the Olympic women's marathon record by completing it in 2 hours, 22 minutes 55 seconds in the Paris Olympics. But she was not the one who received the loudest of the applause. Just three seconds behind Hassan came Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa who clinched the silver and Kenya's Hellen Obiri defeated compatriot Sharon Lokedi with a four-second margin. But it was the 26-year-old Bhutan's Lhamo who finished last, among all the 80 participants who completed the race, who received a standing ovation from the Paris Olympic crowd.

In the universe of metals ranging from aluminium to steel to copper, China has a domineering presence to the extent of it owning in many cases over half the global capacity and as a natural follow-up making more than half the production and using that locally. But as it would happen, this gigantic profile in metals is not backed by adequate domestic extraction and supply of minerals. Take bauxite for example, the raw material containing mostly aluminium oxide, from which is extracted alumina through Bayer process for finally white metal smelting.

Recent riots across several U.K. towns and cities following the killing of three children, Alice Aguiar (9), Bebe King (6) and Elsie Stancombe (7) and the injury of several others during a knife attack in Southport on July 29, makes one wonder how in a country which is known for changing its image as being multicultural and assimilating, such incidents happen.