Environment

Bangladesh has said it will harden its stance towards Rohingya refugees currently in the country. Hundreds of thousands of people, mainly Muslims, are living in refugee camps after fleeing violent persecution in neighbouring Myanmar. Read More »

President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday authorized the deployment of Brazil’s armed forces to help combat  fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, as a growing global outcry over the blazes sparks protests and threatens a huge trade deal. Plumes of thick smoke rose into the sky above dense forest in the northwestern state of Rondonia, where bright orange flames from various ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 23 (UNB) – Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Friday said Bangladesh will take a tougher position over Rohingya issue saying the global leadership must resolve it quickly to ensure greater peace and stability in the region. “We tried our best, we worked as per your suggestions but finally it (repatriation) didn’t happen. We’ll make our position ... Read More »

Rio De Janeiro, Aug 22 (AP/UNB) — As fires raged in the Amazon rainforest, the Brazilian government on Thursday denounced international critics who say President Jair Bolsonaro is not doing enough to curb massive deforestation. The growing threat to what some call “the lungs of the planet” has ignited a bitter dispute about who is to blame during the tenure ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 22 -Mobile courts of Dhaka South City Corporation(DSCC) on Thursday fined owners of six buildings Tk 44000 in different parts of the city as larvae of Adese mosquitoes were found in the buildings. Read More »

On July 2, 2019, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed a proposed rule to not impose financial responsibility requirements for Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution facilities (electric power industry). Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 21 – The stage was prepared to orchestrate the act of sending back the displaced Rohingya persons to their homeland in Myanmar but the protagonists the Rohingyas ignored the call of the authorities to return until their several demands especially citizenship rights are realised. Read More »

Cox’s Bazar, Aug 22 (UNB) – Despite all the preparations, no Rohingya turned up on Thursday to avail of the “voluntary” repatriation offer given to them to go back to their place of origin in Rakhine State of Myanmar prompting the authorities to suspend the repatriation process for the day. While briefing reporters, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Abul ... Read More »

A head-on collision between two buses on Thakurgaon-Panchagarh Highway left three people dead and 30 others injured  today morning. The deceased were identified as Babul, 28, a minibus driver Abul Kalam Azad, 50, son of Abdul Majid and Quamruzzaman of Sadar upazila. The accident took place at Salandar Bhutpara in the upazila around 10am. A Panchagarh-bound bus hit the Thakurgaon-bound ... Read More »

Geneva, Aug 22 (AP/UNB) — The World Health Organization says the levels of microplastics in drinking water don’t appear to be risky, but that research has been spotty and more is needed into their effects on the environment and health. Microplastics are created when man-made materials break down into tiny particles smaller than about 5 millimeters (roughly one-fifth of an ... Read More »

By Zofeen Ebrahim Reprint Karachi, Aug 21 2019 (IPS) – Gulab Shah, 45, is having sleepless nights. He and his family are worried about their imminent migration from their village in Jhaloo to a major city in Pakistan, thanks to the continued ingress of sea water inland. Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 21 – Though the authorities are ready to start the Rohingya repatriation process today but the matter is still uncertain as they could not get any solid statement from the displaced people during their interview for their voluntary return. Read More »

Delhi, 21 August (Indrajit Bose) — Several contentious issues arose prior to the adoption of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Summary for Policy Makers (SPM) of the Special Report on Climate Change and Land. The SPM was adopted in Geneva, Switzerland, on 7 August, after a hectic week of negotiations on a line-by-line basis, between authors of the ... Read More »

by Silvia Ribeiro Mexico City – Although the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent, the progress toward reducing greenhouse-gas emissions remains as disappointing as ever, leading some to tout new technological solutions that could supposedly save the day. Harvard University’s David Keith, for example, would have us consider geoengineering – that is, deliberate, large-scale, and highly risky interventions ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 20 – Around 100 Rohingya people of 21 families were interviewed at the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar yesterday to encourage them to return to Myanmar before their repatriation on the ‘said date’ on August 22. Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 20 – Terming the Bangladesh-India partnership as ‘role model’ for South Asia and for the world, visiting Indian external affairs minister Dr. S. Jaishankar yesterday said both the counties are looking forward to making progress to find mutually acceptable formulas to share water from 54 shared rivers. Read More »

Dhaka – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on Tuesday said very little progress has been made to address the lack of legal status for the Rohingya in the region, or to address the underlying causes of the Rohingyas’ exclusion in Myanmar. A marginalised ethnic minority from Rakhine state, the Rohingya people have in recent decades been subject to mounting targeted state ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 20 (UNB) – The government and the UNHCR have taken all necessary steps to begin repatriation of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Myanmar’s Rakhine State on August 22, an official said on Monday. Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner’s (RRRC) office and the UN refugee agency are looking into various aspects of preparation including safety measures. Myanmar ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 19 (UNB) – Norway has laid emphasis on working together to make sure that things are improving on Myanmar side and expediting the global efforts to ensure the “voluntary and safe” return of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State. “We’ll have to work together to make sure that things are improving on Myanmar side. I’m ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 18 – Foreign secretary Shahidul Haque on Sunday said the repatriation process of the Rohingya people to Myanmar is always on the table and it may start at any time. Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 18 (UNB) -The Department of Environment (DoE) here on Sunday ordered the closure of Asian Paper Mills for polluting the Halda River, the country’s largest fish spawning ground. DoE director (Chattogram) Azadur Rahman Mollick said a team from the divisional office of the department visited the mill on August 14 and issued the order to shut it saying ... Read More »

Khulna, Aug 18 (UNB) – Currency notes move from hand to hand collecting dirt and bacteria that make people very uncomfortable to touch them. But, according to research by a student of Khulna University, such notes are even more harmful than we think of. “Taka notes and coins contain bacteria like E. Coli and faecal coliform which are very harmful ... Read More »

By Ryan Prior, CNN Alaska has been in the throes of an unprecedented heat wave this summer, and the heat stress is killing salmon in large numbers. Scientists have observed die-offs of several varieties of Alaskan salmon, including sockeye, chum and pink salmon. Stephanie Quinn-Davidson, director of the Yukon Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, told CNN she took a group of scientists ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 17 (UNB) – There is nothing new in slum fire in Dhaka city. When it happens, it leaves thousands of people in deep despair. Over 20,000 slum dwellers turned paupers within hours in Friday night’s fast-moving fire in the city’s Mirpur area. “We’ve lost all that we had — fans, utensils, clothes and money whatever. We’ve been left ... Read More »

Dhaka – Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain on Saturday urged the government and social organisations to come forward in aid of the victims of Friday’s fire at a slum in the city’s Mirpur-7 area. “Thousands of people are living under the open sky without food, shelter and clothes in a dengue-hit city following the fire. I call upon the government ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 17 (UNB) – BNP on Saturday demanded a fair and neutral investigation into Friday’s fire at a slum in the city’s Mirpur-7 area as such incidents are on the rise. Talking to reporters after visiting the fire-ravaged slum, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also urged the government to rehabilitate the victims and provide them with compensation. ... Read More »

Dhaka, Aug 17 – The massive fire that broke out at a slum in Mirpur-7 of the city on Friday was doused early Saturday after six hours of efforts by firefighters. Read More »

At first glance, it looks like hard candy laced with flecks of fake fruit, or a third grader’s art project confection from recycled debris. Read More »

by Aathira Perinchery on 16 August 2019 • Kerala researchers have found that alien fish species, arapaima and alligator gar, were caught from four rivers after the floods of 2018. • The fish probably escaped from aquaculture facilities during the floods, and are now ‘fugitives’ in the natural ecosystem, claim the authors. • These predatory species are much larger compared ... Read More »

Bangkok, Aug 16 (AP/UNB) — Myanmar and Bangladesh are making a second attempt to start repatriating Rohingya Muslims after more than 700,000 of them fled a security crackdown in Myanmar almost two years ago, Bangladeshi and U.N. officials said Friday. Caroline Gluck, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told The Associated Press that the Bangladesh government has ... Read More »