Bill Emmott, Independent writer, lecturer and consultant on international affairs/The Mainichi, Japan In their final term in office, elected national leaders usually focus mostly on their legacy, on what they can do to make sure future historians write positively about their influence on their country and, in some cases, the world. Sometimes, of course, they…
BSS: The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) fears extreme climate events exposed danger to Bangladesh’s food production, identifying cyclones as a major crop loss factor alongside draughts and floods, as the UN body came up with its annual report on food security. “In Bangladesh cyclones cause increased salinity from seawater to coastal and freshwater fishery…
Reuters: Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo (VOLVb.ST) has stopped assembling trucks in Iran because U.S. sanctions are preventing it from being paid, a spokesman for the company said on Monday. The sanctions against Iran, reimposed on Aug. 6 by U.S. President Donald Trump after his decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Tehran, have…
Anadolu Agency: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that Turkey would continue to increase the number of safe zones within Syria to include the east of the Euphrates River. In his address to Turkish and Muslim communities in New York, organized by Turkish American National Steering Committee, Erdogan said Turkey’s struggle will continue until…
Desk Report: Seed firm Monsanto India, a subsidiary of Bayer group, Monday announced the appointment of Cherukuri Ravishankar as the Managing Director for its businesses in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Ravishankar will replace Shilpa Divekar Nirula, who now moves on to a senior leadership position at the parent company Bayer, Monsanto India said in…
Hossen Sohel: Conser-vative Prime Minister Theresa May faces a cabinet showdown yesterday with fears among some ministers that the ties binding Northern Ireland and Scotland to the United Kingdom are now at risk, reports Al Jazeera. The meeting comes after May’s humiliating trip to Salzburg, Austria, where EU leaders rejected the prime minister’s proposals…
Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)/CPD The discussion on the revision of minimum wages in Bangladesh’s apparels sector over the last eight months has ended with a partial announcement of minimum wages by the Minimum Wage Board (MWB) on September 13, 2018. A total of Tk 8,000, of which Tk 4,100…
Desk Report: The government has abandoned the contingency coal import plan lingering the northern region’s grapple with power woes, reports The Financial Express. Higher import costs and restart of coal extraction from the Barapukuria underground coalmine led the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to abandon the coal import plan, a senior BPDB official told…
Dr Muhammad Sougatul Islam, Senior Research Fellow, Biomedical Research Foundation Bangladesh & Vice President, Bangladesh Association of Biotechnology Graduates (BABG) A two-day national biotechnology fair was held at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre in Dhaka on September 7-8, 2018. It was first event of this kind organized by National Institute of Biotechnology (NIB) under…
Desk report: The availability of foreign grant has been declining over the past few years, putting the government’s budget financing under pressure, reports The Financial Express. Development partners now view that Bangladesh’s gross national income (GNI) has increased, and that’s why the country can get less grant or the aid which need not be repaid….