Since late August, severe flash floods and monsoons plaguing Bangladesh have affected nearly 6 million people. Bangladeshi officials have declared the floods to be the country’s worst climate disaster in recent memory. These recent floods follow the wake of Cyclone Remal, which devastated Bangladesh and West Bengal earlier this year. Floods
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Mobile phones are not linked to brain cancer
A systematic review into the potential health effects from radio wave exposure has shown mobile phones are not linked to brain cancer. The review was commissioned by the World Health Organization and is published today in the journal Environment International. Mobile phones are often held against the head during use. And
India’s new mega-dam will roil lives downstream
Pro-Putin movement expands across the former Soviet bloc
As Russia keeps pounding Ukrainian cities with airstrikes and advances along the frontline in Donbas, regional elections in two states in eastern Germany have seen a surge of support for parties on the extreme right and extreme left. What is particularly concerning is that both parties oppose support for Ukraine and
Recovering stolen assets: No weakening of resolve
The White Paper on the state of Bangladesh’s economy will include a review of “smuggled money”, according to the head of the committee, Debapriya Bhattacharya, entrusted to prepare the White Paper. We strongly endorse this initiative given the huge scale of stolen assets, but it must not end with a review.
UN warns of brutal impacts of climate change for Pacific Islands
UN General Secretary General António Guterres warned of the wide-ranging impacts of climate change on a visit to the Pacific islands of Samoa and Tonga. “(Climate change) spells disaster: wide-ranging and brutal impacts, coming far thicker and faster than we can adapt to them—destroying entire coastal communities,” said Guterres, speaking at
Crop fields make way for profitable orchards in Bangladesh
In the last few years in mid-western Bangladesh, the trend of planting different types of fruit orchards, like mango, lychee and papaya, has gone up in three districts together commonly known as the High Barind Tract — Rajshahi, Chapai Nawabganj and Naogaon. “Transforming the land from rice and wheat fields to
Rohingya refugees must not be forgotten
Seven years ago, a brutal campaign of violence, rape and terror against the Rohingya people ignited in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Villages were burned to the ground, families were murdered, massive human rights violations were reported, and around 700,000 people – half of them children – fled their homes to seek
World Leaders Who Opted to Skip the United Nations
When the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly took place last September, there were several key world leaders missing in action (MIAs)—including, most importantly, leaders of the four of the five permanent members of the Security Council, the most powerful political body at the United Nations. Only US President Joe
Plan to keep Olympic rings on Eiffel Tower sparks criticism
Plans by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower have been condemned by designer Gustave Eiffel's descendants and provoked a backlash from some Parisians. The giant rings were a popular addition to the monument for visitors and tourists in Paris during the July 28-August 11