FROM Arctic ice fields to the depths of the Mariana Trench 鈥� and now, disturbingly, inside the human brain 鈥� microplastics have made themselves at home in every corner of the Earth. These minuscule plastic fragments, most smaller than five...
FOR generations, a toxic statement has echoed in our society: 鈥榃omen work less than men.鈥� This belief has shaped gender roles, justified unequal treatment, and diminished the value of women鈥檚 daily labour. But when we look closely, the myth does not stand the test of reality.
AS THE Shanghai Cooperation Organisation prepares to convene its 25th Heads of State Council summit in Tianjin on August 31, 2025, the mood is one of cautious optimism, shaped by geopolitical turbulence, but anchored in a sense of historical inevitability. Under China鈥檚 rotating chairmanship, the SCO has not only survived the headwinds of global disorder but...
A TEACHER from Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology recently said that his high school headmaster had stopped talking to him after his admission into a polytechnic institute in the 1980s. The headmaster started talking to him only after he was admitted into a bachelor鈥檚 engineering programme at DUET...
EDUCATION in Bangladesh has lost its way. Instead of helping young people grow, think and create, it has become a system obsessed with exams, grades and rote memorisation. Students spend their childhoods preparing for tests rather than for life. The result is a generation holding certificates yet lacking the skills, creativity and confidence to thrive...
WHEN the chief adviser to the interim government Muhammad Yunus has presented his seven-point road map for the Rohingya repatriation in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, the stage was set for optimism. In the presence of diplomats and aid officials, Yunus has called for what seemed self-evident: a safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return of more than 1.3 million...
IN 2013, the tragic Rana Plaza incident shook the whole country, killing thousands of workers. The tragedy turned the lives of thousands of families upside down. Structural cracks in the building were discovered the day before the incident, but factory owners made their workers come for work. Section 61 of the Labour Act, 2006, instructs that when a building is required...
THE images remain vivid: Narendra Modi clasping Donald Trump鈥檚 hand before a roaring crowd of Indian Americans in Houston in 2019; the 鈥楴amaste Trump鈥� rally in Ahmedabad the following year, replete with pageantry, promises and mutual admiration. For many in New Delhi, these spectacles signalled the arrival of a new era 鈥� an India finally embraced as...
DEBRA Efroymson鈥檚 August 23 article, 鈥楯oys of Walking,鈥� presents a compelling vision of urban life in Dhaka as a struggle between pedestrians and the so-called 鈥榯hree-headed monster鈥� of cars, roads and fuel. While her enthusiasm for pedestrian-friendly cities is clear, her analysis is overly idealistic and overlooks the complex realities of urban mobility, social behaviour and...
FOUR Al Jazeera journalists, including globally admired correspondent Anas al-Sharif, were killed in Gaza in an Israeli air strike on Aug 10...
A SINGLE district police memo tells the story. The language of 鈥榩ermission first,鈥� the stress on 鈥榦rders,鈥� the presumption that authority flows in one direction: these are not quirks of one officer on one day. They are the reflexes of a legal order built to govern subjects rather than to serve citizens. Much of Bangladesh鈥檚 day-to-day criminal justice still runs on statutes...
THE statutory audit of financial statements 鈥� mandated by law 鈥� is a critical function to ensure transparency, accountability and stakeholder confidence. Globally, the right to perform statutory audits is restricted to professionals who meet rigorous legal, technical and ethical standards, often under a formal 鈥榗harter鈥� or licensing regime...
ISRAEL war of genocide is not about October 7; it is not about freeing Israeli captives. It is, first and foremost, about preserving a racist Jewish governing coalition and seizing a historic opportunity while a submissive administration in Washington looks the other way. The aim is to advance a biblical expansionist project and create the conditions for 鈥榮elf鈥� ethnic cleansing...
BANGLADESH鈥橲 artisan economy is not a relic of the past; it is a living industrial system spread across Narayanganj鈥揝onargaon鈥檚 Jamdani belt, Tangail鈥檚 saree heartland, Sirajganj鈥檚 handlooms, Rajshahi鈥檚 silk corridor, Rangpur鈥檚 shataranji, and shital pati weaving in Sylhet and Jhalakathi. Framing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party鈥檚 ongoing engagement with these...
EIGHT years after the military purge that forced over 700,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar鈥檚 Rakhine State, the crisis remains unresolved. On 25 August 2025, refugees in Bangladesh will mark another year in limbo, with more than 1.15 million people still confined to squalid camps in Cox鈥檚 Bazar and the remote island of Bhasan Char. Bangladesh has displayed exceptional...
