Jordan Intercepts Iranian Missiles Following Joint U.S. and Saudi Strikes in Iraq
Jordanian air defenses shot down five Iranian ballistic missiles following joint U.S. and Saudi air operations against militia positions in Iraq. The renewed clashes disrupt a short-lived pause in hostilities, putting global energy transit through the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea at further risk.
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LIVEOur forestry policy must be rooted in local evidence
Salinity’s silent intrusion
Chattogram port’s empty-container problem needs more than quick fixes
We need stronger digital systems to seize the China-plus-one opportunity
National & Politics
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Tigers and the empire: A history of hunting, power and resistance
“When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity.”
Salinity creeps deeper into southwest
Saltwater is rapidly intruding into Bangladesh's southwestern region, with nearly 68 percent of cultivable land affected in 18 of 19 coastal districts, according to a new government study.
Iran says no current negotiations with US
Iran's foreign ministry on Monday said it was not currently involved in negotiations with the United States, despite a halt in recent fighting between the two sides.
Bengal's forgotten slave trade: Portuguese, Arakanese and Dutch trafficking networks
We tend to equate economic growth with social and political vitality in conventional history-writing, but this was not the case in southeast Bengal. Environmental pressures led to a social crisis in the seventeenth century, manifested through slave raids by a Portuguese-Arakanese combine (Magh). Subsequent slave trading by Arakan and Portugal, and later by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), unveiled the paradox of social breakdown during a period of economic growth, as the active delta generated new rice-producing lands.
Capital markets gain momentum following the central bank's updated monetary policy guidelines and targeted export incentives.
Business & Economy
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Our digital evidence framework must evolve with AI
1 month ago
SC stays HC orders barring shown arrests without specific allegations
1 month ago
BMD forecasts five days of rain, heavy downpours
1 month ago
Rain, floods damaged crops worth Tk 478cr
1 month ago
Lifestyle & Perspective
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1 month ago
S&P revises Bangladesh outlook to negative
S&P Global has revised its long-term outlook on Bangladesh to negative from stable amid persistent weakness in the banking sector, with additional risks stemming from volatile global energy markets and trade conditions.
1 month ago
Our digital evidence framework must evolve with AI
In Bangladesh, a person may be criminally liable based on digital evidence in the form of CCTV footage, WhatsApp conversations, Facebook posts, and so on. These are all admissible in legal proceedings. The recent investigation into the death of HSC candidate Nuzshat Jahan in Rangpur illustrates this clearly, wherein police relied on call records, CCTV footage, and witness statements to identify and arrest the accused in an abetment to suicide case.
1 month ago
Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury and the idea of Bangladesh
This 22nd of July marked the birth centenary of my father, Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury. I harbour no illusions that he would have lived this long in the normal course of events, however. The men on my father’s side of the family tend to be notoriously short-lived; his father died when he was nine, both his brothers passed away in their fifties, and even my only brother, his older son, left us when he was 47. But my father did not die a natural death. He was abducted on 14 December 1971, just two days before his country’s victory in one of the bloodiest liberation wars of the twentieth century, and tortured, bayoneted and shot to death in the early hours of 15 December, along with many other pre-eminent intellectuals of the land.
Education & Career
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1 month ago
The narcotics trail: Traffickers tap 105 border points across 18 districts
Bangladesh faces a growing drug crisis, with an estimated 8.2 million users. As the country does not produce narcotics, most are smuggled in from abroad. In a four-part series, The Daily Star explores the trafficking routes, the threats and the impacts of drug abuse. The first instalment looks at the key entry points.
1 month ago
Politics and religion has now gotten mixed with support for WC team: Kazi Sabir
"We are ruining our relationships because of Ronaldo and Messi."
1 month ago
Reading Dhaka's waterlogging through the life of commodities
Every year, monsoon showers invariably turn stretches of Dhaka into shallow, stubborn lakes. You see rickshaw-pullers wading knee-deep through Green Road, office-goers abandoning footpaths for the middle of the street and, by evening, social media filling up with photographs of a submerged Bijoy Sarani, a stalled bus in Mirpur, or a child paddling a plastic tub past a tea stall. We call it a drainage problem, an engineering failure, a monsoon inevitability. It is all of these. But if we look a little closer—with the eyes of an anthropologist rather than an engineer—Dhaka’s waterlogging tells a different story about the strange, unfinished lives of the things we buy, use, and throw away.
1 month ago
BMD forecasts five days of rain, heavy downpours
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) has forecast widespread rainfall across the country over the next five days, with moderate to very heavy downpours expected in places due to an active monsoon and a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal.
Tech & Innovation
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1 month ago
Study finds microplastics in 3 out of 4 toothpaste samples
Microplastics were detected in 26 of 34 toothpaste samples tested in Bangladesh according to a new study, raising serious concerns about potential risks to human health and the environment.
Salinity creeps deeper into southwest
Chattogram port’s empty-container problem needs more than quick fixes
Politics and religion has now gotten mixed with support for WC team: Kazi Sabir
Technology cannot compensate for the missing trust in land offices
When the river takes everything, even a girl's childhood
Culture & Entertainment
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Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury and the idea of Bangladesh
The strange grief of seeing our parents age
A trillion-dollar ambition needs a stronger investment climate
We need stronger digital systems to seize the China-plus-one opportunity
Health & Wellbeing
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Salinity’s silent intrusion
The alarming rate of salinity intrusion in southwestern coastal Bangladesh has emerged as a serious threat to nearly 4.4 crores people living in the coastal region. According to a report published in this newspaper, the speed and extent of salinity expansion across 18 of the country's 19 coastal districts demonstrate that the crisis demands urgent attention. The findings of the government-run Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers to take effective measures to address this evolving crisis.
Unlocking the full potential of Bangladesh's national laboratory institute
When a physician prescribes treatment, almost every clinical decision depends on one fundamental assumption—that the laboratory report is accurate. An incorrect laboratory result can lead to misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment, delayed intervention, unnecessary healthcare costs, and even preventable deaths. Modern healthcare, therefore, relies on laboratory medicine not merely as a support service but as the foundation of safe and effective clinical decision-making.
When the river takes everything, even a girl's childhood
I remember the first time I truly understood what displacement meant in the chars of northern Bangladesh. It was 2010, and I was travelling through the river islands of Gaibandha and Kurigram for a National Geographic assignment on migration. I had come with notebooks and questions, assumptions about poverty, and early marriage. The chars dismantled all of them.