Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's First Female Leader, Dies at 80

Khaleda Zia, the first woman to lead Bangladesh, has died. She was 80 years old. Zia became prime minister in 1991. Her victory followed the country's first democratic election in two decades. She led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Her political career was defined by a long rivalry with Sheikh Hasina, the current prime minister. The two women, leading the nation's two major parties, dominated the country's politics for nearly 40 years. Their intense competition shaped modern Bangladesh. Zia served three separate terms as prime minister. Her final term ended in 2006. In her later years, she faced serious legal challenges. Multiple corruption convictions, which she called politically motivated, led to her imprisonment in 2018. She was released on medical grounds in 2020. Her death marks the end of a major chapter in Bangladesh's political history.