Yunus in limelight of world media

NEW YORK, Mar 03: Dr. Mohammad Yunus has stolen the limelight in international media. Two very prestigious and influential newspapers, the New York Times and the Financial Times have carried more than three reports in past few days criticising strongly the Bangladesh government for dislodging him from the Grameen Bank he founded. The exhaustively covered stories were given due importance often with Dr. Yunus's picture. Both New York Times (NYT) and the Financial times in a six column and double column stories respectively today showered scorn on the government. The dealing with a person Dr. Yunus's international stature will further diminish the prospect of foreign investment in Bangladesh. Fellow nobel laureates, world leaders and global celebrities like Bill Gates and President Clinton have spoken in support of Dr. Yunus. Foreign governments have pressed Bangladesh to stop immediately all harassments against Yunus, NYT report today said. Mindful of international outrage, the government said it would sit with representatives of major foreign embassies and World Bank to discuss the question, it added. Meanwhile, in a separate development concerning Libya, Britain and France announced yesterday that they would be dispatching planes to airlift the stranded Bangladeshis from Libya, along with refugees from Egypt and Sub-Saharan nations. The Libyan turmoil has created a massive humanitarian problem. More than 180,000 foreigners have fled from Libya in past ten days creating a huge problem. The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has appealed for international help. He said thousands of lives are at risk, adding, "we need concrete action to provide medical and food aid. The spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency in Geneva expressed her anguish saying this is a mammoth task. Britain, France and Italy have joined hands to evacuate the stranded people from Libya. The Libyan rebels have urged the US and its allies to bomb mercenary forces supporting Gaddafi as opposition repulsed a fierce assault by hired Gaddafi mercenaries. However, Arab League rejected the idea of direct foreign intervention in Libya. Gaddafi again pledged to fight to the last man. A group of UN officials are in rebel-held Bengazi to see if the port there could be turned into a full fledged corridor for humanitarian assistance. The UN group is made up of representatives from the WHO, Unicef, world food programme and UN refugee organisation. In yet another development, an unconfirmed report said deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has fled to Saudi Arabia. Mubarak is suffering from cancer. Ali Abdullah Saleh president of Yemen offered unconditional apology to the United States for remarks he made about Israel and the US, fomenting unrest in the Middle-East. Robert Gates, US defence secretary reiterated his warning against the move to apply no-fly zone in Libya. "It will be a big operation in a big country," he was quoted as saying. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) helicopter gunmens killed nine young Afghans who were collecting wood for heating their homes This would further aggravate anti-American sentiments in Afghanistan. Nato has offered apology General Petraeus, the Nato commander has ordered an investigation. These deaths should have never happened, the general said. It was the third instance in two weeks. Afghan government has accused Nato for killing civilians.