ANTONIO Guterres, the UN secretary general, once again categorically said that the recognition of the statehood of Palestine was not a reward or favour to the Palestinian people, but a right they deserved. The UN secretary general has maintained this position from the beginning. French president Immanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer last week...
DHAKA is a city of life for millions, its streets serving as vital arteries through which people and vehicles flow from morning until night. And beneath this restless movement lies a silent danger that has become an everyday threat: open manholes. What should be innocuous components of the city鈥檚 drainage and utility systems have instead turned into lethal traps. Their...
OBSERVED globally on October 1, National Green City Day serves as a powerful annual reminder of the critical importance of sustainable urban development. While this observance originated in Canada in 2014, its message resonates with profound urgency in Bangladesh, a nation also at the confluence of rapid urbanisation and acute climate vulnerability. For...
ON SEPTEMBER 25, an article, titled 鈥業s Chittagong port becoming a danger to India鈥檚 eastern borders?鈥�, was published in India Today, the most widely circulated Indian news magazine. The article claims that the port of Chattogram, Bangladesh鈥檚 principal seaport located in its southeast along the Bay of Bengal, poses 鈥榬eal risks鈥� to India owing to supposedly growing...
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed panels鈥� resounding victory in the student union elections of two public universities in Dhaka has been the talk of the town. The election results have also crossed borders and elicited comments from neighbouring countries and beyond. Such attention and significance given to student body elections are probably unprecedented anywhere in the world...
EVERY day brings new indictments for Israel. The early accusations of genocide by South Africa are now quickly becoming an accepted legal definition among international bodies and governments alike. The latest indictment came from the United Nations Human Rights Council...
BANGLADESH鈥橲 economic journey is often told as one of overcoming impossible odds. With scarce land, fragile infrastructure, chronic political turmoil and bureaucratic bottlenecks, the country has long seemed ill-suited for large-scale industrialisation. Yet two institutions have fundamentally altered that trajectory. The Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority...
THE reluctant recognition of Palestinian statehood by Britain, France, Australia, and Canada this week is a con 鈥� it is the same switch and bait that has been blocking the creation of a Palestinian state for three decades now...
WHEN 鈥楤aaji鈥� debuted in August as part of Coke Studio Bangla鈥檚 third season, it was introduced as a celebration of Bangladesh鈥檚 cultural richness. Written by poet Hashim Mahmud and composed by Emon Chowdhury, the song draws on Tangail鈥檚 鈥楧hua Gaan Dal鈥�, Marma 鈥楰apya鈥� poetry, the bamboo dance of the Bawm community and Manipuri choreography. On the surface, it presents itself as a tribute to the country鈥檚 diversity, weaving together landscapes and folk traditions into a love story...
BANGLADESH is witnessing a troubling rise in vector-borne diseases, particularly mosquito-borne illnesses such as dengue and Chikungunya. The country鈥檚 worst dengue outbreak occurred in 2023, when government estimates recorded 321,179 infections and 1,705 deaths. By 2024, the numbers had fallen sharply to 8,702 infections and 71 deaths. Yet as of...
DOWRY persists as one of the most regressive social customs, continuing to inflict systemic violence, humiliation and financial burdens on women and their families. Dowry, commonly understood as property, goods or money transferred to the groom or his family at marriage, is not to be confused with bride price, which is a payment made to the bride鈥檚 parents, nor...
A NEW grammar of resistance is being written across South and Southeast Asia and the world is watching it unfold in real time. What began as scattered bursts of unrest has grown into a regional wave, streamed live through shaky phone cameras and shared in short, furious clips. The faces are not...
WHEN the first batch of Rohingya refugees were ferried to Bhasan Char in 2020, the stage was set with lofty promises and confident rhetoric. The island, a patch of land rising out of the Bay of Bengal, was portrayed as a safe haven. Concrete cluster villages, embankments against tidal surges, cyclone shelters...
RABIES is a disease so cruel that it defies imagination. There is no cure once symptoms appear. Yet the paradox is that rabies is one of the world鈥檚 most preventable diseases. Awareness, timely vaccination and a systemic approach that unites human health, animal health and the environment...
BANGLADESH has come on in leaps and bounds. The country鈥檚 progress in tackling poverty, improving literacy, promoting gender equality and strengthening primary healthcare is genuinely impressive. But for all this success, enduring structural challenges still hold it back from sustaining and fairly sharing these gains.
