Bangladesh Students Protest Prison Death of Writer

Bangladesh Students Protest Prison Death of Writer

About 300 student activists rallied in Bangladesh, Monday, March 1, to denounce the in-prison death of a writer and commentator.

The 53-year-old Mushtaq Ahmed was arrested last year on charges of violating a sweeping digital security law that critics argue stifles freedom of expression.

Protesters broke a barricade and scuffled with police, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

Ahmed died Thursday, prompting global human rights groups to petition for a thorough investigation by Bangladesh’s government.

Ahmed’s official postmortem report says he died of natural causes. However, many, including the protesters and his lawyers, say the outspoken writer was tortured and in poor health throughout his prison sentence. (AP)

Watch video on channel
Queen of STEM: How one Eswatini monarch is breaking barriers with her STEM Sisters program.

Queen of STEM: How one Eswatini monarch is breaking barriers with her STEM Sisters program.

In Eswatini, only 46% of girls complete secondary education, according to UNICEF, with pregnancy and poverty being major contributing factors. A new mentorship program for young rural girls, STEM Sisters, is designed to buck these trends by teachi...

VOA News -

Blinken returns to China amid ongoing tensions, with no breakthrough expected.

Blinken returns to China amid ongoing tensions, with no breakthrough expected.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to China this week ((April 24 to April 26)) for talks with senior officials in Shanghai and Beijing to discuss a range of issues, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Middle East crisis, the...

VOA News -

Malawi farmers learn food diversification to curb hunger.

Malawi farmers learn food diversification to curb hunger.

Farmers in rural Malawi are learning to move away from over-dependence on maize, the country’s primary staple crop. A local charity Never Ending Food is teaching farmers about 200 types of food crops they can grow and eat. Lameck Masina reports fr...

VOA News -

Video shows Kharkiv TV tower collapsing after airstrike - VOA News.

Video shows Kharkiv TV tower collapsing after airstrike - VOA News.

A 240-meter television tower in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv broke in half and fell to the ground Monday after what local officials said was a Russian airstrike on television infrastructure. The White House promises swift delivery of the approved...

VOA News -

Car gets swept away by floodwaters in Guangdong, China - VOA News.

Car gets swept away by floodwaters in Guangdong, China - VOA News.

Footage taken last week shows a car getting swept away by rushing floodwaters in China's Guangdong province as authorities carried out rescue operations in the flood-hit province Monday. State media in China say heavy rainfall in the southern part...

VOA News -