Lyndal Rowlands :The UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals apply to all 193 UN member states, yet one year in some say that rich countries aren’t taking their critical role quite as seriously as they should be.“What is an interesting, but also a scary observation, is (that the Sustainable Development agenda) is taken more seriously in developing countries than in many developed countries right now,” Mogens Lykketoft President of the UN General Assembly told IPS in a recent interview.“The development agenda...
MEDIA reports said radiation exposure from Mobile Phone towers all over the country is highly risky to human safety. Power supply lines and radio waves from cell phone tower antennas across the country pose serious danger to public health. High voltage power lines are passing through homes in the city’s congested residential areas for which accidents occur quite frequently. Besides, high voltage transformers remained exposed and unattended. If it explodes, it can result in fire and subsequent losses. On the...
The Taliban are seeking monetary support from across the world while preventing women from enjoying some basic rights. Responding to their appeal, the United States has reportedly agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan while the European Union has announced a 1-billion-euro aid package. Though it was necessary to take time to judge the Taliban by seeing their actions, the US and EU have taken hurried steps apparently to please them. The assurance of the US and EU came at...
THE London-based Civil Unrest Index (CUI) rated Bangladesh at sixth place in the top ‘extremely risky countries’ in the world in terms of businessmen fear about doing business. The low ranking for Bangladesh came less than a year after yet another such low ranking in terms of ‘ease of doing business’ when the World Bank puts it at 174 position – two notches below from previous rating. It mainly blamed stalled regulatory reforms and bureaucratic hassles impeding business. What is...
Cybercriminals are abusing social media to exploit, blackmail, and bully young women and children in astonishing numbers. Police Cyber Support for Woman (PCSW) has received at least 15,000 complaints related to such cybercrimes in the seven months since its formation. During the pandemic when educational institutions remain closed and school students are using social media for classes or to stay connected with peers, the number of cyberbullying multiplied. The victims of cybercrimes are mostly aged between 17 and 30. The...
Promoting state owned products in Tax Fair The weeklong “Income Tax Fair” of 2018 in Dhaka and other divisional headquarters across the country has been successfully held from November 13 to November 19 for the ninth consecutive year, aiming to provide better services to the taxpayers and include more taxpayers in the tax net. As a visitor to the fair, I have an observation and some recommendations. The drinking water bottles provided there with the breakfast, lunch and snack for...
David Sogge :For recipients aid has been a very mixed blessing, but for donors it’s been a bonanza. It’s astonishing when you think about it. Why should an old and poorly-performing industry carry on, burdened with even more tasks, and provided with yet more money? I’m talking about foreign aid, whose mixed results have been reconfirmed countless times in the last 70 years. For aid’s backers, such skepticism is unfair or at best premature. Successes, from combating diseases to promoting...
Marcel Schroder :The Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased global oil market volatility. The economic impact of another oil price...
PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin said that Russia will never yield to any external pressure as US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday said that new “serious sanctions” against Russia were being considered over the conflict in Ukraine. In a reception to mark the upcoming Defender of the Fatherland Day, Putin shared his confidence in Russia’s military to protect the country from outside threats, Xinhua reported yesterday.“No one should have any illusions that it could achieve military supremacy over Russia or to...
RENEWED fire in the Sundarbans on Monday as a news report in The New Nation said highlighting the devastation to shock the nation. It is the third consecutive incident in three weeks time that collectively have made barren a large part of the forest, which is the habitat of Royal Bengal Tigers and such other precious animal species. It is clearly an act of sabotage forest employees in the spot said. The world is becoming more and more assiduously aware...
Does the Department of Environment exist in name only? Precious public funds are being spent to run the entity, but it is not taking any visible step to reduce Dhaka’s air pollution facing the city dwellers. It followed no High Court directives in this regard. It is no surprise that the HC, a couple of days ago, rebuked and expressed severe annoyance at this entity. Right, the negligence of the department is ‘killing’ the people of the city. Everyday newspapers...
The stock market is running like a mad horse crossing DSE price index 7,075 point that never happened before. It is warming up every day with a buying spree dominated by big company shares. We are afraid the situation may increasingly become too risky and it is time the market regulators must find out whether or not market manipulators are at work to rob small investors in the end. On Monday the DS-30, the blue-chip index also, gained 12 points...