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A UNICEF report covering ten Dutch cities finds that more than three-quarters of what 12 to 17-year-old pupils buy is unhealthy; an Amsterdam UMC study found such shops around about 94 percent of secondary schools.
OpinionKhulna University economics PhD researcher Rakib Hossain writes that Bangladesh, like Nepal, keeps paying for disasters it did little to cause, and needs grant-based rather than loan-based climate finance.
Cooking250 g of pasta, a cup of prawns, 100 g of cheese, mayonnaise and milk make a thick, creamy prawn pasta that comes together quickly.
VegetablesMomota Begum, 30, of Hatkhola in Joypurhat's Panchbibi, gathers wild greens, banana stem and banana flower from the fields and walks about 10 km to sell them door to door in Hili, Dinajpur; with her husband long gone, she is her family's only earner.
IslamRiyadh ul Jannah, the area between the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) resting place and his pulpit in Madinah's Masjid an-Nabawi, has eight historic pillars and three main gates, with separate set times for men and women to pray.
EnvironmentEnvironment minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said the national lead-free strategy approved by the cabinet must now be implemented, and that an extended producer responsibility framework for lead-acid batteries is being drafted.
HealthTaking painkillers or antibiotics for long periods without a doctor's advice can cause indigestion and, without early symptoms, kidney damage; painkillers taken several times a week for weeks put strain on the kidneys.
HealthThe WHO's immunisation advisory group SAGE says countries may consider routine HPV vaccination of girls aged 4 to 8 if it raises coverage; girls aged 9 to 14, with one dose, remain the priority, and global coverage is only 33 percent.
FlowersThe orange-red Panama rose (Rondeletia odorata) blooming at Dhaka's National Botanical Garden is a shrub from Panama and Cuba; it flowers from October to May, and 10-15 cm cuttings root in three to five weeks.
EnvironmentOn International E-Waste Day, a TIB study shows about 97 percent of consumer e-waste collection is informal and only seven firms are registered with the Department of Environment, while lead, mercury and cadmium leak into soil, water and air.
FruitsKamal Hossain of Khamarkandi, Bogura Sadar, grows turmeric and seasonal vegetables between rows of Shahi papaya on five bighas and sells his own seedlings; on about Tk 4 lakh of costs he expects to sell Tk 15-16 lakh of papaya this year.
Homestead farmingA Gazipur Agricultural University student team, Carbodit, came second out of 187 entries at a CIRDAP rural innovation contest in Colombo with a model that measures the carbon stored in homestead and agroforestry trees so smallholders can sell carbon credits.
IslamIslamic scholar and writer Abdullahil Baqi draws on the hadith and the Quran to set out the core qualities of the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) leadership: honesty, clear speech, wisdom, justice, merit, compassion, consultation, service and kindness to those under one's care.
HealthWith an infection, any two of a temperature above 100.4°F or below 96.8°F, a heart rate over 90 a minute or breathing over 20 a minute should raise suspicion of sepsis, a medical emergency, writes a Dhaka medicine specialist.
GalleryVillagers in Shialchapar, Shajahanpur, still call their pond the 'lotus pond', though no lotus grows there now; a flock of ducks swims, bathes and forages along its banks.
EnvironmentICIMOD's Saswata Sanyal says the 11 October flood appears to have come from a landslide dam bursting on a tributary, and that Bangladesh's lesson is layered warning built on satellites, seismic detection and upstream sensors.
GalleryA fisher's net on Kaptai Lake, a honeybee working sponge-gourd flowers in Khulna, a coppersmith barbet on a moringa branch in Gazipur and plastic drums for rice going to market in Sylhet: Prothom Alo photographers' day in rural Bangladesh.
HealthAdults need 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day, 56 g for a 70 kg person, which a balanced diet supplies; protein shakes help only those whose needs food does not meet.
FruitsBotany graduate Abu Raihan Faruk began with a single orange tree in his yard and now runs an integrated orange, grape, mango and areca farm with a nursery at Belgachha in Kurigram Sadar; last year he sold about Tk 32 lakh of fruit and saplings.
GalleryAt Tarash in Rajshahi's Puthia, tappers are trimming fronds and shaving the bark of Jamshed Ali's 50 or so date palms so that the trees will yield sap; if all goes well, the sap should start within a week.
OpinionMir Mohammad Ali, assistant professor of aquaculture at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, writes that volunteer fishers' patrols, a hotline and incentives are needed to guard rivers when officials are absent during the 22-day ban.
HealthMobile laboratories now test food samples in eight metropolitan areas; 72 more lab vans are being bought this fiscal year under a Bangladesh Food Safety Authority capacity project, with plans to extend the work to all 64 districts.
CropsA plant health clinic opened in Sylhet Agricultural University's plant pathology and seed science department will diagnose crop diseases and advise farmers; it was set up under the UGC's World Bank and government-funded HEAT project.
CropsOf 572 listed flowing canals in Khulna district, 32 are being dug or re-excavated this year; farmers hope the work will give them irrigation water in the dry season and drain their fields faster in the monsoon.
Watch
VideoIn the latest AgriView episode, agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo asks whether the enlarged BRICS bloc is opening real markets for South African produce, or mostly producing talk.
VideoAt Bindhara in Panchbibi, Joypurhat, small dark-skinned Black Baby watermelons hang from bamboo trellises. The 60-day crop needs 50 grams of seed a bigha, yields 1,200 to 1,500 fruits or 4 to 4.5 tonnes, and at Tk 30 a kilo earns far more than other field crops.
VideoShykh Seraj examines the government's first 180 days in agriculture, from farm loan waivers and farmer cards to crop insurance and canal excavation.
In pictures
GalleryA desert elephant carried a dead calf for hours, but it was not her own1 photosGalleryDucks at play in Bogura's 'lotus pond', where the lotuses are long gone1 photosGalleryGlimpse, 14 October: nets on Kaptai Lake, a bee on sponge gourd, a barbet on moringa1 photosGalleryBefore winter, Rajshahi's sap tappers start shaving date palms1 photos
GalleryLate-autumn mist settles over Sylhet's haor in the afternoons1 photos
GalleryFrom a sack to a campus lake: 14 lesser whistling ducks freed in Pabna1 photos
GalleryA fig tree grows upside down in the Roman ruins of Baia, near NaplesSection
EnvironmentNusantara Atlas counted 1,061,746 wildfire hotspots in Indonesia by 14 October, above 2019's 885,037, with 895,657 ha burned by August. Smoke has reached Malaysia and Singapore.
EnvironmentHigh diesel and gas prices since the war in Iran cut French emissions 4.1% in the first half of 2026, Citepa says, but France needs about 5% a year to halve emissions by 2030 from 1990 levels.
CropsAgriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told states to act district by district, use 3.54 lakh residue machines fully and patrol after 3 pm, when satellites miss fires. Haryana's cases fell 53.3%.
CropsA report by ID Capital ranks pesticides as the most urgent source of toxic exposure in Asia. Founder Isabelle Decitre says cuts must protect farmers' yields, and points to China's targets, professional spray services, drones and IoT pest forecasting.
