It was once the lifeline of the Bangladeshi capital.
But the once mighty Buriganga River, which flows by Dhaka, is now one of the most polluted rivers in Bangladesh because of rampant dumping of industrial and human waste.
“Much of the Buriganga is now gone, having fallen to insatiable land grabbers and industries dumping untreated effluents into the river,” said Ainun Nishat, a leading environmental
Feature
Bangladesh needs three-fold increase of food grain production
GLOBAL AVERAGE 2 TONS PER ACRE; OURS 0.7
Bangladesh needs three-fold increase of food grain production
Abdur Rahman Khan
Bangladesh has got the lowest productivity among the world’s rice producing countries. She can produce a maximum of 0.7 metric tons of paddy (not rice) per acre, against the global average of two tons per acre.
In this situation, there is no other alternative but to increase the yield of food grain to ensure food security for the nation, says Dr Abdul Khaleque, an agricultural scientists.
He stressed that the right
India revels in acclaim for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
Some see hope for change as the film, with four Golden Globe awards and 10 Oscar nominations, spotlights the desperation of slum life.
By Anuj Chopra
MUMBAI, INDIA – John D’souza hasn’t yet seen the much-feted film “Slumdog Millionaire.” But he is convinced the film has the power to transform his life.
Mr. D’souza, a social worker who has lived all his life in Dharavi, a grubby slum in Mumbai (Bombay) that is touted as Asia’s largest, believes that this film can highlight the invisible lives of slum dwellers and create awareness about
Closing Guantánamo: Will Europeans take detainees?
Europeans, who have long pushed to close the controversial facility, are hesitant to take some of its inmates.
By Robert Marquand
Paris – On no single issue has Europe been more in disagreement with America than the Guantánamo detention center. The camp was a focus of anti-US protest here, synonymous with the image of a bullying world
The curse of Nigerian oil
Attacks on oil industry facilities and kidnappings for ransom are frequent in the creeks of the Niger Delta, which is home to Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry.
The BBC’s Sue Lloyd-Roberts argues that Nigeria’s “black gold” has brought wealth to a few but fuels greed and corruption on a grand scale.
After spending just two weeks in Nigeria, I had come to a sweeping – and therefore probably wrong – conclusion about the country.
I was therefore gratified to find my view confirmed by the Nigerian woman whom I sat next to on the flight back from Abuja to London. I told her that I had spent most of my time in the Delta region filming the consequences of oil exploration.
“Oh, I come from there”, she said. “I wish you had come to my country before oil was discovered. Oil has ruined Nigeria.”
Academics call
Young women ‘have more sexual partners’ than men
Young women are more promiscuous than men, according to a survey that claims the average 21-year-old has had nine sexual partners compared with seven for men.
By Martin Beckford
The poll of 2,000 by the magazine More also found that one in four young women has slept with more than 10 people, compared with one in five men who had done the same.
In addition, half of those questioned admitted they had been unfaithful, whereas only a quarter said they had been cheated on by a boyfriend.
It comes just a week after an academic study branded Britain one of the casual sex capitals of the