AgribusinessWith much of Dhaka away for the long Puja holiday, demand for vegetables in the capital's wholesale markets has fallen about 40 percent while supply is down only 20 to 25 percent, leaving about 2,860 tonnes unsold a day at Karwan Bazar.
FlowersGrevillea plants brought from Thailand flower almost all year at Barishal Nursery in Savar; writer Mrityunjay Roy matches them to Grevillea acanthifolia, a shrub native to New South Wales.
EnvironmentA World Bank-funded Department of Environment project going to ECNEC would use drones to watch waste dumping along the Turag, enforce treatment plants at 173 factories and monitor water quality in real time.
Bangladesh Medical University now performs two liver transplants a month and aims for four by the end of next year; its last six were free under government funding, with a 90 percent success rate.
AgribusinessRice, lentils and soybean oil sold at last week's prices in Dhaka's Shewrapara and Kazipara markets during the Durga Puja holiday, while farm eggs fell by Tk 10 a dozen to Tk 140.
EnvironmentScience and technology secretary Md Anwar Hossain has called for research on treating textile and garment wastewater with modern technology, replacing chemical dyes with local natural materials and cutting groundwater use in dyeing.
AgribusinessThis year's open market sale (OMS) targets are 240,000 tonnes of rice and 350,000 tonnes of flour and the subsidy falls from Tk 4,096 crore to Tk 3,411 crore; the Bangladesh Food Security Network says the urban poor will pay more for food.
HealthAt the National Cancer Conference 2026, health minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain said most of the health budget is planned for cancer care, delays in installing equipment will end, and technologists will be trained within three months if needed.
HealthMugda Medical College Hospital's two dengue wards held 149 patients, many on the floor; families are satisfied with doctors and nurses but face long queues for tests and reports, and for the lifts.
HealthThe government will set up special committees in 20 zones of Dhaka's two city corporations to oversee dengue prevention, cleaning, canal demarcation and re-excavation, and tree planting.
FruitsImported malta sells for Tk 400-420 a kilo and green apples for Tk 400-450 in Mirpur, against Tk 120 for local malta; sellers blame size, quality and spoilage, and the commerce minister says work is under way to cut a 121 per cent effective duty.
AgrotechBiochar made by heating straw, wood and crop residue without oxygen raised maize yields by up to 29 per cent and aus rice by 23 per cent alongside balanced fertiliser, and could cut urea use by a quarter, scientists told a BARC workshop.
HealthAt a roundtable for the 21st anniversary of BMU's clinical oncology department, specialists called for a full cancer research institute to bring together teaching, research and treatment, a population-based cancer registry, and wider HPV vaccination and screening.
CropsAt a Bangladesh Handloom Board seminar, State Minister for Textiles and Jute Md Shariful Alam said the government will give maximum financial support to research on the varieties, genetics and fibre quality of Phuti karpas cotton, and wants the revived muslin technology handed quickly to private mak
HealthWater lies in drains, pits, coconut shells and air-conditioner runoff at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, with mosquitoes visible; entomologist Kabirul Bashar says Aedes larvae can develop in standing water within three days.
HealthA PROGGA workshop heard that 570,263 people die of non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh each year, about 71 per cent of all deaths, while only 4.2 per cent of the health budget goes to controlling them.
HealthHealth Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain Bokul said infrastructure, recruitment of doctors and midwives and training are being stepped up to bring breast cancer screening to the grassroots; about 63 per cent of women with the disease are never screened.
FruitsWholesale raw papaya in Dhaka has sold at Tk 4 to 10 a kilogram for a week after bigger plantings and good yields flooded the market; papaya that costs Tk 10 to 12 a kilogram to grow is selling for less than half that.
At a "Smart agriculture, shared future" seminar in Dhaka, Chinese embassy economic and commercial counsellor Song Yang called for stronger China-Bangladesh cooperation in modern farming, farm machinery, seed development and food processing.
An African rhinoceros alone since 2013, a hamadryas baboon, a kangaroo and seven more animals at the National Zoo in Mirpur have no mate of their own species, in pictures by Prothom Alo's Mir Hossain.
EnvironmentLaunched by environment minister Abdul Awal Mintoo with UNDP and the World Economic Forum's Global Plastic Action Partnership, the platform aims to join up government, business and waste workers.
HealthState minister for health Dr M A Muhit says a new community-based mental health project will be piloted in 20 upazilas before being expanded across the country.
EnvironmentAhead of the dry season, Environment Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo told housing developers' body REHAB to enclose sites, cover materials, spray water at least twice a day and use eco-friendly blocks instead of bricks; developers asked the government to watch block quality and cost.
HealthOn Breast Cancer Awareness Day, specialists say breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Bangladeshi women, with about 12,764 new cases and 6,844 deaths a year according to IARC, and call for a national screening policy.
AgribusinessHigher transport costs after the recent fuel price rise, and high paddy prices at the wholesale hubs, have pushed up retail prices of fine and medium rice in Dhaka by up to Tk 3 a kilo in a week and a half; coarse rice is steadier.
HealthIn a Jagannath University Press Club survey of 600 students, only 7 went to bed before midnight and only 16 per cent ate three meals a day; a university doctor warns of long-term health risks.
Environment Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said national climate policy and plans must be turned into coordinated programmes, quality projects, suitable financing and measurable outcomes, because today's development decisions will set climate risk for decades.
HealthEntomologist Dr Kabirul Bashar says cases are unlikely to fall in November either, and that spraying alone will not work: breeding sites must be targeted with larvicides and public help.
VegetablesFloating beds made of empty plastic bottles and coconut coir tied to bamboo frames now grow taro, taro stolons, Malabar spinach and red amaranth; the growers eat what they need and give the rest to neighbours cheaply or free.
HealthAfter a health ministry meeting, Dhaka hospitals were told to add beds for dengue patients; some DMCH patients will move to the burn institute and Kurmitola Multidisciplinary Hospital is to stand ready for patients from outside the capital.
HealthAt a Power of She Trust event at a Mohammadpur school, doctors spoke to girls about menstrual health, PCOS, breast cancer and mental health, and the school received a sanitary pad bank.
IslamJamia Kashiful Uloom in Matuail teaches science and general subjects with the Quran, hadith and Dars-e-Nizami; its founder, Maulana Syed Anwar Abdullah, told Desh Rupantor this is a return to an old tradition of Islamic learning.
At least 350,000 children in Bangladesh have cerebral palsy, yet the national neuroscience institute's outpatient department treated only 3,300 last year; a pilot in Korail slum is serving about 300 children.
HealthAt a DAB seminar in Dhaka, state minister Dr MA Muhit said there are probably three candidate vaccines worldwide and every dengue variant is found in Bangladesh; for now the focus is on destroying larvae, early diagnosis and treatment.
GalleryRows of white kash flowers sway in the soft autumn sun and breeze at Aftabnagar, and city dwellers come with family, friends and loved ones to see them.
The empty 11,000 sq ft roof of the Dhaka district administration building on Johnson Road now holds 418 plants of 58 species, water basins and bamboo thickets for birds, built for about Tk 10 lakh.
