Nazmul Ahasan

Why the BNP won — and what could yet undermine it A patchwork of liberals, clerics and minorities formed an unlikely alliance that outmanoeuvred an organised Islamist push, but their support cannot be taken for granted.

ANALYSIS — “A patchwork of liberals, clerics and minorities formed an unlikely alliance that outmanoeuvred an organised Islamist push, but their support cannot be taken for granted.”
netra.news/2026/bnp-vic...

A Gunmaker’s Lobbying Shows How Trump’s Tariffs Changed the Game Firms close to the administration have seen a surge in revenue as they advise businesses on how to avoid the import duties and play ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ in Trump's Washington

Trump's 50% tariff on Brazil was a crisis for Taurus, which sells most of its low-cost guns in the US. So Taurus called Brian Ballard.

Trump's trade wars are fueling a historic boom on K Street -- especially for lobbyists closest to the president's inner circle.

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

US Mental Health Jobs Boom Faces Sudden Stop as Trump Cuts Funds Mental health providers, the fastest-growing industry in the US since the start of the pandemic, risk a sharp reversal of fortune as President Donald Trump seeks to eliminate billions of dollars in fu...

“Mental health providers, the fastest-growing industry in the US since the start of the pandemic, risk a sharp reversal of fortune as President Donald Trump seeks to eliminate billions of dollars in funding that enabled their expansion.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

States, Cities Face Funding Collapse Threat with Trump Cuts Officials are confronting deep uncertainty about funding for programs that undergird their economies — just as Trump’s trade war has raised fears of a recession.

Everyone is focusing on tariffs. But there's another force roiling the US economy & driving a slowdown: A new austerity driven by Trump's federal funding cuts.

The great @whereisted.bsky.social, @nazmul.bsky.social and I are tracking it for @bloomberg.com:

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

David Barstow talks about the ‘radical’ Berkeley experiment to accelerate the production of investigative reporters Q&A with Professor David Barstow, chair of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley Journalism UC Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program (IRP) has 50 graduate students working...

Prof. @davidbarstow.bsky.social explains the ‘radical’ award-winning experiment at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social to train more investigative reporters. "You want to be in the game? Fine. We will put you in the game" and hold you to very high standards. journalism.berkeley.edu/qa-with-davi...

It’s Legal to Pay US Workers With Disabilities as Little as 25¢ an Hour Whether it stays that way is up to Trump.

NEW Businessweek feature: The US gives permission to pay people with disabilities below minimum wage. Biden tried to end program. Employers urging Trump preserve it say they've gotten private signals he will.

Based on 1000s of pages of records & 150 interviews: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

US Initial Jobless Claims Rise to Highest Level This Year Applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest this year, amid an increase in job-cuts announcements at corporations and federal agencies.

US Initial Jobless Claims Hit Highest of 2025 as DC Layoffs Jump
-New applications for benefits rose to 242,000 last week
-Claims in the US capital have been rising since start of year
www.bloomberg.com/news/article... via @bloomberg.com By Mark Niquette and Nazmul Ahasan @nazmul.bsky.social

Economy in Counties Trump Won Points to Governing Challenges Trump won in the places that have seen the slowest growth since the pandemic, according to county-level GDP data.

It wasn’t just inflation and grocery prices that helped elect Trump. He did well in the places in America with lagging growth as well… Some 30m people live in counties that still haven’t recovered from the pandemic recession. My latest:

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"Trump won almost eight in 10 of the counties in the US in which residents drew more than 40% of their collective income from government benefits in 2022"

Great to see this cut of our transfer data by @bloomberg.com's @sdonnan.bsky.social, and @nazmul.bsky.social and Alexandre Tanzi:

New from @crisisgroup.org: A round-up of regional and international responses to events in Syria, including a few paras on the view from the UNSC.
www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...

Big day to be a journalist in California what with the earthquake, tsunami warning (canceled), LAT news, yesterday’s school shooting, etc.

Bloomberg News reporters Join the conversation

More Bloomberg News reporters and editors have been added to our starter pack of Bloomberg News journalists. We hope you <GO> and follow them!

Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Consideration as Attorney General Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, says he is withdrawing his name from consideration to serve as the Justice Department chief in a post on X.

Breaking: Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, says he is withdrawing his name from consideration to serve as the Justice Department chief

Big Take Asia We’re taking The Big Take to Asia. Each week, Bloomberg’s Oanh Ha tells a story from the home of the world's most dynamic economies - and the markets, tycoons and businesses that drive the ever-shifti...

🎙️ Every year, billions of dollars of sanctioned Iranian oil finds its way to China, even though on paper, the country hasn’t imported a single drop in more than two years. How?

Find out on the Big Take Asia Podcast ⤵️

Couche-Tard’s 7-Eleven Overlaps to Face Skeptical US FTC Review Circle K operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is likely to face a tough US antitrust review if it moves forward with its $47.2 billion bid to buy 7-Eleven owner Seven &amp; i Holdings Co., according...

Special thanks to Bloomberg's Data Team and Nazmul Ahasan for crunching the data on this one: Circle K operator will face a tough US antitrust review if it moves forward with a bid to buy 7-11 -- more than 45% of Circle Ks are within 2 miles of a 7-11 or related store

Hong Kong Finance Jobs Rebound to Record After Talent Drain Hong Kong is recovering after a bruising talent drain, with licensed finance jobs hitting a record as banks and asset managers bet on the city’s push to become the world’s biggest wealth management hu...

For this data piece, Jinshan Hong and I gathered half a million license records — yes, you heard that right — from Hong Kong.

We found that the number of licensed financial professionals in the city-state reached a record high in October.

🔗 Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

BODY COUNT: Extrajudicial Killings in Bangladesh An in-depth data analysis of alleged extrajudicial killings and acts of torture by Bangladesh’s security forces under the Sheikh Hasina regime.

Thrilled to see this important project, led by @nazmul.bsky.social, among the winners of the 2024
Sigma Awards for data journalism. It was a pleasure to help out with data cleaning and visualization!
interactive.netra.news/extrajudicia...

Here you go: www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/u...

Exciting news: We’re taking another step to making Bluesky an open network for public conversations.

Around the end of this month, we’ll release a public web interface. With this, you’ll be able to view posts on Bluesky without being logged in on an account.

A Spy Agency Leaked People's Data Online—Then the Data Was Stolen The National Telecommunication Monitoring Center in Bangladesh exposed a database to the open web. The types of data leaked online are extensive.

For months, a Bangladeshi spy agency that’s involved in collecting people’s cell phone and internet activity, has published people’s personal information through an unsecured database, which anonymous hackers attacked, claiming to have stolen the trove of information.
www.wired.com/story/ntmc-b...

Thank you, Lisa! 🫶

BODY COUNT: Extrajudicial Killings in Bangladesh An in-depth data analysis of alleged extrajudicial killings and acts of torture by Bangladesh’s security forces under the Sheikh Hasina regime.

Hard and important work by @nazmul.bsky.social illuminating the names of 2,597 people killed extrajudicially in Bangladesh. interactive.netra.news/extrajudicia...

Saleemul Huq, the Loudest Champion of the Climate Vulnerable, Dies at 71 The academic from Bangladesh was key to the creation of a fund for poor countries to deal with loss and damage from climate impacts.

Saleemul Huq, a climate revolutionary, was key to the creation of a fund for poor countries to deal with loss and damage from climate impacts

The site formerly known as Twitter has added a five-second delay when a user clicks on a shortened link to the New York Times, Facebook and other sites Musk commonly attacks, a Washington Post analysis found. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/08/15/twitter-x-links-delayed/

US Housing Market Recoups $3 Trillion Lost in Recent Slowdown The US housing market has regained the nearly $3 trillion in value that was wiped out during the past year’s slowdown, according to an estimate from brokerage Redfin Corp.

The housing market has regained the nearly $3 trillion in value that was wiped out during the past year’s slowdown, boosting the total value of US homes to a record $47 trillion.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-11/us-housing-market-recoups-3-trillion-lost-in-recent-slowdown