Bangladesh

An overloaded fishing boat carrying migrants to Malaysia sank in strong currents off the coast of Bangladesh on Jan 29 and 24 passengers are missing, police said.

Emergency workers rescued 32 Bangladeshis in the Bay of Bengal after the boat capsized some 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) offshore, but others are still unaccounted for, police said.

Bangladesh's war crimes court Dec. 30 sentenced a leading Islamist to death for rape, mass murder and genocide during the country's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

An oil spill from a crashed tanker in Bangladesh is threatening endangered dolphins in the vast Sundarbans delta, officials warned Dec. 11, calling it an ecological "catastrophe."
      

At least eight people have died after a ferry carrying some 200 passengers capsized in a river near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Thursday.

The MV Miraj-4 capsized during a storm in the Munshiganj district as it travelled towards Shariatpur. Officials say the death toll is expected to rise, the BBC reports.