News digests

This week in Bangladesh: the controversial move to abolish the Consitution's Fifth Amendment returns to the spotlight; the energy sector comes under renewed scrutiny in the wake of a crackdown on illegal power tapping; and Bangladesh's prime minister is voted in as Vice Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The process of decriminalising homosexuality has begun, but the road to equality remains a long one

In this week's Bangladesh update: The National Human Rights Commission has finally been reinstated by Bangladesh's parliament and given far-ranging powers to pursue its mandate. Critical legislation regarding War Crimes Trials is also passed, despite calls for caution from Human Rights Watch. And the prime minister urges opposition parties to end their boycott of the political process.

The ongoing security crisis in West Bengal exposes the cracks in Indian democracy

In Bangladesh this week, garment workers riot in the capital, the CHT Peace Accord will be implemented and further JMB arrests are made.

This week in Bangladesh, India remains adamant that its controversial hydro-electric project bordering Bangladesh’s northeast will go ahead. Alleged war criminals are finally charged as the War Trials process gets underway. The BNP is thrown into chaos as moves to reorganise its grassroots base backfire.

US strikes Taliban funeral while Pakistan prepares for war in South Waziristan and further security developments from Russia, Israel, Korea, Afghanistan and China.

An illegal Islamic militant group is rebuilding its forces in Bangladesh's Chapainawabganj region. A community of indigenous people is attackedby land grabbers. And more in this week's Bangladesh update.

The new, stable government in New Delhi has monumental hurdles awaiting it in tackling the education and national security sectors

This week in Bangladesh: MI5 is implicated in the torture of a British national by Bangladeshi security forces; a devastating cyclone strikes Bangladesh's exposed southern coast, while Sheikh Hasina takes the offensive against environmental degradation; and one of the most influential figures in Bangladesh's military and political scene retires

This week in Bangladesh, the government calls on Pakistan to apologise for 1971, Human rights Watch calls for the RAB to be disbanded and more.

Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has been reported dead by the Sri Lankan military, prompting them to declare the 26-year civil war over.

The verdict of the month-long parliamentary election is due tomorrow. India's big parties scramble for allies as the horse-trading kicks off

This week in Bangladesh: the Prime Minister is in mourning after the death of her husband, the RAB clashes with suspected Islamic militants and gangsters, the trauma of the 1971 liberation war gets entangled in the thicket of contemporary politics, and more in today’s digest.

As a key constitutional decision by the Supreme Court looms, the Bangladeshi Law Minister confirms that "Bismillah" will remain in the constitution. The Gorai river is on the verge of becoming an ecological disaster. The government moves to stop extra-judicial killings. And more in this week's Bangladesh digest.

Air raids in Pakistan and Afghanistan spark outrage, and further security developments from Sri Lanka, Georgia and the middle east. 

In today's update: a Pakistani militant turns himself over to security forces in Kashmir, commentators bemoan the lack of ideas in Indian politics, and voters stay at home in Mumbai.

Today's security update contains stories from Sri Lanka, Iraq, Russia and Lebanon.

Momentum builds for an investigation into suspicious custodial deaths of suspected BDR militants. A replacement is finally found to lead Bangladesh's efforts against corruption. It is confirmed that a Bangladeshi national has died of the swine flu in Mexico. And much more in this week's news digest.

Despite hopes that recent events like November's Mumbai attacks would energise voters, turnout is depressingly low in the third phase of the general elections. And much more in this week's round-up of the big stories in India.