Ghana is facing calls to update its laws on wildlife crime after fears the country has become a transit route for the illegal trade in pangolin scales. More than 31,000 kilograms (68,000 pounds) of scales from the nocturnal mammal have…
Category: Environment
Fixing food system to solve humanity’s greatest challenges
By Elwyn Grainger-Jones Montpellier, France, Oct 11 (IPS) – We are at a moment of huge opportunity in the world’s food system. We can continue on our current trajectory of consuming too little, too much, or the wrong type of…
Rohingya: UN recalls top official Lok-Dessallien
The United Nations has announced that its top official in Myanmar is being recalled to headquarters in New York. Renata Lok-Dessallien was the focus of a BBC investigation last month in which she was accused of suppressing internal discussion on…
Movement against channelling the Brahmaputra mulled
Dhaka – Water activists of Bangladesh and Northeast India at a consultation meeting in Dhaka on Wednesday called for collaborative people’s movement against a move for large structural interventions on the Brahmaputra without caring about its environmental, economic and ecological…
Baridhara Society’s support for tube wells in Rohingya camp
Dhaka – The memorandum of understanding is being signed in between M. Ehsanul Hoque, President- Baridhara Society and Nipin Gangadharan, Country Director-Action Against Hunger for assistance to Rohingya Refugees at 93 Sohrawardy Avenue on Tuesday evening.
Locals asked to stay away as Japanese volcano erupts
Mount Shinmoedake in southern Japan erupted for the first time in six years Wednesday, shooting a plume of ash several hundred metres into the air and sparking warnings to local residents. People were ordered to stay away from the volcano…
UN calls it Myanmar Army’s design to drive Rohingyas out
Myanmar’s “systematic” crackdown on the Rohingya has been designed to permanently eliminate the minority Muslim community from their home in Rakhine state, the United Nations said Wednesday. “Brutal attacks against Rohingya in northern Rakhine State have been well- organised, coordinated…
EU to cut ties with Myanmar military chiefs over Rohingya
The EU is to halt ties with senior Myanmar military chiefs to protest the “disproportionate use of force” against the Rohingya minority, according to an agreement seen by AFP on Wednesday. The bloc also warns it could consider sanctions if…
Unicef to help build 10000 latrined for Rohingyas
In order to avert a major disease outbreak in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar district and provide quick panacea to the ever increasing sanitation problems, UNICEF and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief of the Government of Bangladesh…
US environment chief signs draft rollback on Obama climate plan
The head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency signed on Tuesday a draft decision to roll back Obama-era measures to counter climate change. Repealing the Clean Power Plan (CPP) was a campaign promise by President Donald Trump and follows…
Violent depopulation campaign against Rohingyas: Dhaka
Dhaka, Oct 11 (BSS) – Bangladesh has accused Myanmar of spearheading a violent depopulation campaign to oust its ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims using the military, forcing by now a majority of them to flee to Bangladesh. “For the first time…
Segregation raises fear of fresh Rohingya exodus from Rakhine
Buddhist villagers in relatively peaceful parts of Myanmar’s Rakhine state are enforcing a system of local apartheid that punishes people trading with minority Muslims, fuelling fears that violence in the far northwest could spread to new areas. Ethnic Rakhines, who…
Oral cholera vaccination kicks off at Rohingya camps
A massive cholera immunization campaign began today in southeast part of the country to protect the newly influx of Rohingya people and host communities from the life-threatening diarrheal disease. “Primarily, we are administering 650,000 people aged one year and older…
NGOs slam UN aviation agency plan for biofuels
Nearly 100 environmental and poverty fighting groups jointly released a letter Tuesday slamming a UN proposal that backs large-scale use of biofuels in commercial planes. Extensive burning of biofuels would vastly expand the production of palm oil, which critics say…
Eskayef’s Rohingya relief operation
-Prof. M Zahidul Haque Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while recently visiting the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar expressed her firm determination to help the Rohingyas on the humanitarian ground saying- “If we can feed 160 million people, we can…
How to eradicate rural poverty, end urban malnutrition
By Baher Kamal Rome, Oct 9 (IPS) – Population growth, increasing urbanisation, modern technologies, and climate change are transforming the world at a fast pace. But what direction are these transformations headed in? Are they benefitting the poor and the…
A world without exhaust pipes
Monica Araya The growing popularity of electric vehicles is set to curb one of the largest sources of global pollution. But a consumption bias continues to impede many buyers’ embrace of the technology, and until it is addressed, electric mobility…
Sex attacks make Rohingya children fearful in camps
Reuters Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: Adjida kicked and screamed when the rough and dirty hands of the masked soldier moved up her legs and ripped off her clothes. The 13-year-old pleaded with him to stop when he climbed on top of…
Health – environment disasters huge at Rohingya camp
Stephan Uttom, Cox’s Bazar and Rock Ronald Rozario, Dhaka As the influx of refugees continues, the Bangladesh government has cleared forests to build the world’s largest refugee camp Aid groups and environmentalists have warned against possible the outbreak of disease…
West edges towards punishing Myanmar’s military
The European Union and the United States are considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar military leaders over an offensive that has driven more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims out of the country, officials familiar with the discussions say. Interviews with more than…
Dhaka shares new criteria for Rohingya repatriation
Bangladesh has differed with Myanmar over the return of Myanmar nationals to their homeland from Bangladesh on the basis of the 1992 joint statement saying the situation of 1992 and the current one are ‘entirely different’. Foreign Minister AH Mahmood…
BNP lying about Rohingya issue: Quader
Dhaka, Oct 8 – Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Sunday alleged that BNP is lying about the Rohingya issue in a bid to rejuvenate its frustrated workers in the absence of its top leadership.
Depression in the Bay: Signal 3 continues for seaports
Dhaka, Oct 9 – The well-marked low over coastal areas of Bangladesh, West Bengal and adjoining northwest bay moved slightly north-northwestwards and intensified into a land depression.
Police cordon off ‘militant hideout’ in Jessore
Jessore, Oct 9 – Police cordoned off a house in Ghop Central Road area of the district town on early Monday suspecting it a militant hideout.
Trump outlines demands for new Daca Dreamers deal
The White House has outlined measures, including funding for a controversial border wall, that US President Donald Trump insists should be part of any new deal on young undocumented immigrants. Mr Trump is also asking to speed up deportations and…
Deposit hydraulic horns to police in 15 days: HC
Dhaka – The High Court yesterday ordered owners and drivers of vehicles with hydraulic horns to deposit their horns to the police stations within 15 days. The HC also asked the police to destroy these horns.
EU leads way to better governance of the oceans
Malta: More than six billion euros committed by public and private actors to better manage our oceans at European Union-hosted conference in Malta. The European Commission has announced over €550 million of EU-funded initiatives to tackle global oceans challenges, at…
Home Minister to visit Myanmar
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan is expected to visit Myanmar within this month for holding talks with the Myanmar government on repatriation of the Rohingyas, who were forcibly ousted from their homes in the Rakhine state and pushed into Bangladesh. “I…
TIB condemns UN inaction over Rohingya persecution
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has strongly condemned the UN failure to take into cognizance and act upon a report of an independent expert it commissioned before the military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhain state. TIB on Sunday expressed deep disappointment that…
BD garment owners get 7 months to demolish unplanned building
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) today gave Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) seven months more time to demolish its headquarters at capital’s Hatirjheel. A five-member apex court bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Md Abdul…