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Mired in economic trouble, Bangladesh pins hopes on election boost

Textile worker Sabina Khatun is in limbo after losing her job during sweeping factory closures, caught up like millions in Bangladesh in the fallout from a 2024 uprising that toppled years of autocratic rule.In the 18 months since the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government, Bangladesh has endured political turmoil but also biting economic pain — with many hoping for a rebound under new leadership after elections on February 12.”I’ve gone to a dozen factories looking for work,” said Khatun, 30, who lost her job last year in garment hub Narayanganj.”There are no openings.”Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest producer of garments, has seen 240 factories shut since the August 2024 uprising, many of them textile industries, according to government data.That has dealt a blow to a major sector that forms 80 percent of Bangladesh’s export economy.Some of the factories were owned by Hasina’s cronies, who have since fled.Many workers like Khatunhave been laid off, with the closures rippling through the wider labour market.”Small markets, stores and low-cost cosmetics shops catering to female garment workers have all disappeared,” said Iqbal Hossain, a trade union leader.- ‘Law and order’ -The economy has improved since the chaotic aftermath of Hasina’s ouster, but there are wider issues in the country of 170 million people.Salehuddin Ahmed, who holds the finance portfolio in the interim government, said the economy had shifted from the “intensive care unit to the high dependency unit”.Bangladesh’s economy is expected to grow 4.7 percent this year, up from 3.7 percent in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund.Fahmida Khatun, head of the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue, said foreign reserves have risen and the banking sector is showing signs of repair.”But unemployment is rising, merchandise exports have declined, imports of heavy machinery and raw materials remain weak, and private-sector credit has hit a historic low,” she told AFP.”The gradual deterioration of law and order has emerged as the biggest threat.”In August, Bangladesh struck a trade deal with the United States — a key market for ready-made garment exports — scaling back President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs to 20 percent.But US orders “remained static”, said Mohiuddin Rubel, former head of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, noting that some new factories had opened.They, however, have had little impact on the labour market, as the unemployment rate remains high.Merchandise exports still fell for a fifth consecutive month in December 2025, and while inflation slightly eased, it continues to erode what people can afford.”We don’t buy fish or meat anymore,” said unemployed textile worker Khatun, who continues her search for a job. “Everyone tells me to come back after the election”.Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, head of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, said the interim government had done little to help the bruised textile sector.”Some of these were big factories employing thousands of workers,” he said.”In some cases, the government sold factory land and assets to clear workers’ dues — but there was no initiative to restart viable factories.”Unemployment is at 4.63 percent, according to the latest government figures released in May, up from 3.95 percent recorded during the same period the previous year.- ‘No quick fix’ -Once juggling multiple odd jobs, Helal Uddin now ekes out a living running a food cart.”It’s hard to pay the house rent with the meagre amount I earn now,” the 33-year-old told AFP, gloomy about the “sharp rise” in the price of rice he serves.”The economy is not moving,” Uddin said. “It’s stuck. We are all waiting for the election.”Hasina, 78, was once praised for overseeing Bangladesh’s rapid economic rise, with growth topping seven percent annually and per capita GDP more than quadrupling since 2000.But she also presided over an autocratic government that crushed dissent, and now faces court cases alleging the looting of national wealth.She is a convicted fugitive in hiding in India, sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity.Economist Fahmida Khatun warned that the new administration will face many challenges.”People hope things will improve after the election, but many of the problems are structural,” she said. “There is no quick fix.”

Chinese cash in jewellery at automated gold recyclers as prices soar

Dozens of people crowded around an automated gold recycling machine at a Shanghai mall, hoping to melt down family heirlooms for cash as prices of the precious metal hit record highs.China is the world’s largest consumer of gold, which is traditionally purchased by families to mark special occasions like births and weddings.But as prices soared to a fresh high near $5,600 on Thursday, customers surrounding the bright yellow machine installed by gold trading firm Kinghood Group were looking to sell.”I never thought prices would rise so dramatically,” said 54-year-old Wu, who told AFP she wanted to sell panda-themed gold coins she had purchased after the birth of her daughter in 2002.She said she had previously sold the machine a ring inherited from her late father, which fetched around 10,000 yuan ($1,400) — a huge increase from the original 1,000 yuan her mother had paid for the ring decades ago.”Gold prices hold steady at a historic high, it’s the right time to sell gold,” an ad on the machine advised customers.An embedded screen displayed the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s fluctuating prices, while a live video feed showed a robotic arm moving gold scraps onto a scale and under a device that used light waves to measure its purity.Some people told AFP they had waited over an hour for their turn.An attendant kept track of each seller’s position in the queue, and helped to deposit ornate pendants, hammered rings and commemorative coins into an opening in the device.Wu said her elderly mother was especially excited about soaring gold prices, and saw the recycling machine as a chance to supplement her modest pension.”Everyone is suddenly talking about (gold), and it has sparked this emotion in her,” Wu told AFP.- Old gold -Zhao, a woman sporting an intricately carved gold medallion on a necklace of jade beads and shimmering bangles on her wrist, brought her late grandfather’s ring to the recycling machine.The ring’s surface was adorned with the Chinese character for “luck” and tiny images of traditional gold ingots.She said she believed her grandfather had purchased the ring sometime between the 1950s and the 1980s, and that her mother had handed it down to her this year.”If the price is good, I will sell it,” she told AFP as she waited for her turn.Minutes after Zhao deposited the ring into the machine, a message popped up on its screen that said Kinghood would buy the chunk of high-karat gold for over 12,000 yuan.Satisfied, Zhao clicked “agree” on the terms displayed onscreen and keyed in her full name, ID number and bank account details, while her grandfather’s ring was melted down into a smooth puddle on the live video feed.The attendant promised she would receive the full amount via bank transfer by the end of the day.”Other places test the gold by burning it slightly, but here they test it directly and it’s open and transparent,” Zhao said, explaining that she trusted the automated recycler over a traditional human buyer.In addition to a steady stream of sellers, the machine also drew the attention of bystanders who gawked at the large sums of money changing hands at the unassuming corner of the mall.”Damn!” said a passerby when she saw that one person was selling their old jewellery for more than 75,000 yuan.And onlookers crowded around an elderly couple as the machine calculated that their finger-sized gold bar could fetch over 122,000 yuan.

L’Iran dit vouloir éviter la guerre et privilégier la diplomatie

Le président iranien Massoud Pezeshkian a affirmé samedi soir qu’une guerre n’était dans l’intérêt ni de l’Iran ni des Etats-Unis, disant vouloir privilégier la diplomatie.”La République islamique d’Iran n’a jamais recherché et ne recherche en aucun cas la guerre, et elle est profondément convaincue qu’une guerre ne serait dans l’intérêt ni de l’Iran, ni des …

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Pakistan: plus d’une centaine de morts dans une série d’attaques au Baloutchistan

Plus d’une centaine de personnes, dont 92 assaillants, 18 civils et 15 membres des forces de sécurité, ont péri samedi dans le sud-ouest du Pakistan lors d’une série d’attaques “coordonnées” revendiquées par les séparatistes de la province du Baloutchistan, selon l’armée.Le Pakistan fait face depuis des décennies à une insurrection séparatiste au Baloutchistan. Les attaques …

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Nvidia boss insists ‘huge’ investment in OpenAI on track

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has insisted the US tech giant will make a “huge” investment in OpenAI and dismissed as “nonsense” reports that he is unhappy with the generative AI star.Huang made the remarks late Saturday in Taipei after the Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia’s plan to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI had been put on ice. Nvidia announced the plan in September to invest $100 billion in OpenAI, building infrastructure for next-generation artificial intelligence.The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said some people inside Nvidia had expressed doubts about the deal and that the two sides were rethinking the partnership.”That’s complete nonsense. We are going to make a huge investment in OpenAI,” Huang told journalists, when asked about reports that he was unhappy with OpenAI.Huang insisted that Nvidia was going ahead with its investment in OpenAI, describing it as “one of the most consequential companies of our time”.”Sam is closing the round, and we will absolutely be involved in the round,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.”We will invest a great deal of money, probably the largest investment we’ve ever made.”Nvidia has come to dominate spending on the processors needed for training and operating the large language models (LLM) behind chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google Gemini.Sales of its graphics processing units (GPUs) — originally developed for 3D gaming — powered the company’s market cap to over $5 trillion in October, although the figure has since fallen back by more than $600 billion.LLM developers like OpenAI are directing much of the mammoth investment they have received into Nvidia’s products, rushing to build GPU-stuffed data centres to serve an anticipated flood of demand for AI services.

Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga face off at Grammys

Music’s A-listers are set for Sunday’s Grammy Awards, the industry’s biggest night, with superstars Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga hoping to make history in Los Angeles.All three are angling to add to their trophy cabinets by taking home the gala’s most coveted award, Album of the Year, for the first time.Lamar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper, has nine nominations this time around for his album “GNX” — the most of any artist.The 38-year-old California native, who won five gramophones last year thanks to his smash diss track “Not Like Us,” is also up for Record and Song of the Year for “Luther” featuring R&B artist SZA.Pop chameleon Lady Gaga and Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny also are competing in all three top categories.Also nominated for Album of the Year are: pop princess Sabrina Carpenter; R&B singer-songwriter Leon Thomas; Tyler, the Creator; hip-hop duo Clipse (Pusha T and Malice); and pop superstar Justin Bieber — with his first studio effort in four years.Lady Gaga, Bieber, Carpenter and Bruno Mars are set to lead a starry list of performers that also includes Lauryn Hill and a tribute to late rocker Ozzy Osbourne featuring Post Malone.- Bad Bunny’s hot streak -Standing in Lamar’s way for Album of the Year is Bad Bunny, who is on a world tour in support of his album “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” (I Should Have Taken More Photos) after a hugely successful residency in San Juan.”It was a very exciting album,” musicologist Lauron Kehrer told AFP.”It touched on so much in terms of thematic material and musical material,” Kehrer said, pointing to the allusions to decolonization and use of traditional Puerto Rican rhythms.The 31-year-old Latin megastar, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, will headline the Super Bowl halftime show a week after the Grammys, where he is up for six awards.His “Un verano sin ti” (2022) was the first Spanish-language album nominated for Album of the Year honors. A win on Sunday would give Bad Bunny another mention in the history books.Lady Gaga, 39, made a splashy comeback to touring with “Mayhem,” her collection of pop bangers with a dark edge that embraces her dramatic side. She has seven nominations.A win for Album of the Year would complete her hat trick of top awards. She took Record and Song of the Year honors seven years ago for the soundtrack hit “Shallow,” from “A Star is Born” — which also earned her an Oscar.This time around, Song of the Year — which honors songwriting — is a crowded category that includes Carpenter’s “Manchild” and “Golden” from the Netflix animated smash hit “KPop Demon Hunters.”Many pundits believe the energetic K-pop hit will triumph.Up for best new artist are Alex Warren, girl group Katseye, Britain’s Olivia Dean, TikTok dancer-turned-singer Addison Rae, The Marias, sombr, Lola Young and Thomas.- ‘Reactionary’ -For musicologist Kehrer, the infusion of rap, reggaeton and K-pop in the top Grammy categories reflects changes in the composition of the Recording Academy’s voting group.More than 3,800 new members have been admitted. Half of those new members are age 39 or younger, and 58 percent of them are people of color, the academy says.Invitations were also offered to all members of the Latin Recording Academy.”The Grammys are more reactionary than anything else,” said Kehrer.”These artists winning those major awards is more of an indication of climate, rather than trying to move or change the climate.”The Grammy Awards will once again be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah. The main broadcast begins at 5:00 pm (0100 GMT Monday), but many of the 95 awards will be handed out at a pre-gala event.

With Trump mum, last US-Russia nuclear pact set to end

Come Thursday, barring a last-minute change, the final treaty in the world that restricted nuclear weapon deployment will be over.New START, the last nuclear treaty between Washington and Moscow after decades of agreements dating to the Cold War, is set to expire, and with it restrictions on the two top nuclear powers. The expiration comes as President Donald Trump, vowing “America First,” smashes through international agreements that limit the United States, although in the case of New START, the issue may more be inertia than ideology.Russian President Vladimir Putin in September suggested a one-year extension of New START. Trump, asked afterward by a reporter for a reaction while he was boarding his helicopter, said an extension “sounds like a good idea to me” — but little has been heard since.Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev, who as Russia’s president signed New START with counterpart Barack Obama in 2010, said in a recent interview with the Kommersant newspaper that Russia has received no “substantive reaction” on New START but was still giving time to Trump.A White House official said on condition of anonymity that Trump would like to see “limits on nuclear weapons and involve China in arms control talks.”The way to do that, the official said, Trump “will clarify on his own timeline.”Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, which supports reducing nuclear risks, said Trump’s second administration, which has sidelined career diplomats and entrusted decision-making only to a handful of people, is not functioning in a normal way that would allow complex negotiations.Trump “seems to have the right instinct on this issue but has thus far failed to follow through with a coherent strategy,” Kimball said.Jon Wolfsthal, director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists, said Trump and Putin could pick up the phone and agree immediately at a political level to extend New START.”This is a piece of low-hanging fruit that the Trump administration should have seized months ago,” he said.Wolfsthal is among experts involved in the “Doomsday Clock” meant to symbolize how near humanity is to destruction. It was recently moved closer to midnight in part due to New START’s demise.- ‘Empty formality’? -Trump called in October for the United States to resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than 30 years, although it is not clear he will carry it out.Russia in 2023 already suspended a key element of New START, allowing inspections, as relations deteriorated sharply with US President Joe Biden’s administration over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Alexander Khramchikhin, a Russian military analyst, said the two powers already had indicated they will do as they like.”It’s clear that the treaty has reached its end,” he said. “It’s just an empty formality that will disappear.”Vassily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies in Moscow, said Russia would watch if the United States ramps up its nuclear arsenal and, if so, would decide measures in response.”But if the Americans don’t take any drastic measures, such as installing warheads, Russia will most likely simply wait, observe and remain silent,” he said.- China factor -New START restricted Russia and the United States to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads each — a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002. It also limits launchers and heavy bombers to 800 each, although the number is still easily enough to destroy Earth.During his first term, also faced with New START’s expiration, Trump insisted a new treaty bring in China — whose arsenal is fast growing, although well below the other two powers. A US negotiator even provocatively put an empty chair with a Chinese flag.Biden on taking office in 2021 quickly agreed to extend New START by five years to 2026. Despite his stance on New START, Trump has enthusiastically restarted diplomacy with Russia that Biden cut off over the war, inviting Putin to an August summit in Alaska and unsuccessfully trying to broker a deal in Ukraine.US allies France and Britain also have established nuclear arsenals on a smaller scale, while India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have known nuclear weapons but are not part of international agreements.

In Sudan’s old port of Suakin, dreams of a tourism revivalSun, 01 Feb 2026 01:37:50 GMT

In Sudan’s old port of Suakin, dreams of a tourism revivalSun, 01 Feb 2026 01:37:50 GMT Read More »

In Sudan’s old port of Suakin, dreams of a tourism revival

The mayor of Suakin dreams of a rebirth for his town, an ancient Red Sea port spared by the wars that have marked Sudan’s history but reduced to ruins by the ravages of time.”It was called the ‘White City’,” for its unique buildings made of coral stone taken from the seabed, said mayor Abu Mohamed El-Amin Artega, who is also the leader of the Artega tribe, part of eastern Sudan’s Beja ethnic group.Now the once-booming port and tourist draw languishes on the water, effectively forgotten for years as Sudan remains mired in a devastating war between the army and paramilitary forces.But inside the ruins of a mosque, a restoration crew is hard at work rebuilding this piece of Suakin, over a century after the city was abandoned.”Before the war, a lot of people came, a lot of tourists,” said Ahmed Bushra, an engineer with the association Safeguarding Sudan’s Living Heritage from Conflict and Climate Change (SSLH).”We hope in the future, when peace comes to Sudan, they will come and enjoy our beautiful historic buildings here,” he told AFP.Architecture student Doha Abdelaziz Mohamed is part of the crew bringing the mosque back to life with funding from the British Council and support from UNESCO.”When I came here, I was stunned by the architecture,” the 23-year-old said. The builders “used techniques that are no longer employed today”, she told AFP. “We are here to keep our people’s heritage.”- Abandoned -The ancient port — set on an oval island nestled within a lagoon — served for centuries as a transit point for merchant caravans, Muslim and Christian pilgrims travelling to Mecca and Jerusalem, and the regional slave trade, according to the Rome-based heritage institute ICCROM.It became a vibrant crossroads under the Ottoman Empire, said Artega, 55, and its population grew to around 25,000 as a construction boom took off.”The streets were so crowded that, as our forefathers said, you could hardly move.”Everything changed in 1905, when the British built a deeper commercial port 60 kilometres (37 miles) north, to accommodate increased maritime traffic with the opening of the Suez Canal.”Merchants and residents moved to Port Sudan,” the mayor said, lamenting the decline of what he calls “Sudan’s great treasure”.But his Artega tribe, which has administered the city since the sixth century with powers “passed from father to son”, refused to leave. His ancestor, he said, scolded the British: “You found a port as prosperous as a fine hen — you took its eggs, plucked its feathers and now you spit its bones back at us.”As proof of the Artega’s influence, he keeps at home what he says are swords and uniforms gifted to his ancestors by Queen Victoria during the British colonial period.The rise of Port Sudan spelled disaster for Suakin, whose grand public buildings and elegant coral townhouses were left to decay, slowly eaten away by the humid winds and summer heat.But the 1990s brought new hope, with the opening of a new passenger port linking Suakin to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.Today, the Sudanese transport company Tarco operates daily crossings, carrying around 200 passengers per trip from the modern port of Suakin, within sight of the ancient city and its impoverished environs.- Lease to Turkey -The city’s optimism grew in 2017 when then-president Omar al-Bashir granted the old port to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under a 99-year lease for touristic development.A Turkish company restored the old governor’s palace, customs house and two mosques, but the project stalled in 2019 after Bashir fell from power in the face of mass protests.Then, in April 2023, the cruise passengers and scuba divers who once stopped in Suakin completely vanished when fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).A rusting cargo ship now lies stranded on a sandbank in the blue lagoon, where only a handful of fishing boats float around.But Bushra, from SSLH, remains optimistic. He hopes to see the mosque, which houses the tomb of a Sufi sheikh, host a traditional music festival when the renovation is complete, “in five months”.”When we finish the restoration, the tourists can come here,” he said.

Snowstorm barrels into southern US as blast of icy weather widens

A powerful snowstorm blasted southern US states on Saturday, snarling travel and bringing subzero temperatures as deadly weather intensified in regions not accustomed to extreme winter conditions.The latest misery came about a week after a monster storm pummeled a wide swath of the United States, killing more than 100 people and leaving many communities still struggling to dig out from snow and ice.Heavy snow fell in North Carolina and neighboring states Saturday, as authorities urged residents to stay off the roads and warned oceanfront structures were threatened by the storm.All of North and South Carolina, and portions of Georgia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as southern Virginia were under a winter storm warning.North Carolina saw 750 car crashes on Saturday, the highway patrol said. Faust, North Carolina recorded 14.5 inches (37 cm) of snow, while West Critz, Virginia got 12.5 inches. Harrisburg, Tennessee received more than 9 inches of accumulation.In the town of Cape Carteret, high winds sent thick snow blowing sideways, promoting the National Weather Service to warn that travel was “Treacherous and Potentially Life-Threatening especially if you become stranded.”In dramatic footage released by the Gastonia, North Carolina police, a train plowed at high speed into a semi-truck that had gotten stuck on the tracks, crushing the vehicle. No one was hurt.Saturday’s storm forced more than 1,000 flight cancellations at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines. A 300-strong “snow team” was working to clear runways, taxiways, roads and sidewalks, the airport said.More than 600 flights were cancelled at Atlanta’s international airport, the world’s busiest.”An explosively deepening coastal cyclone will continue to bring moderate to heavy snow, high winds, and possibly blizzard conditions for the Carolinas,” the National Weather Service said Saturday.”An intense surge of arctic air behind the coastal storm will send below freezing temperatures down toward South Florida by Sunday morning.”Davis, West Virginia recorded the lowest temperature in the lower 48 states on Saturday — a frigid minus 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 33 Celsius).Nearly 200,000 customers remained without power Saturday, mostly in the south, according to poweroutage.us, with Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana hardest hit. In North Carolina, the National Park Service announced the closure of campgrounds and some beaches at the Outer Banks, a series of barrier islands off the coast of southern state that are vulnerable to storms.It said oceanfront structures were threatened, and a section of highway that threads through its dunes was closed.In another southern state, Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves said the US Army Corps of Engineers helped to install generators at critical sites, and authorities were opening 79 shelters and warming centers across the state.The freezing weather forced NASA to postpone a key fueling test over the weekend of the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket that is on the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida. That in turn is likely to push back by at least a couple of days a planned, manned Moon flyby slated for next month.