IslamMasjid al-Haram: The Sacred Heart of the Muslim World
At the heart of Makkah, Masjid al-Haram surrounds the Kaaba and serves as the central destination for Hajj, Umrah and Muslim prayer around the world.
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World
Farming, food, climate and trade news from around the world, and what it means for Bangladesh.
Islam
HealthBardhaman pharmacies told to cut strips and sell only what the prescription says
East Bardhaman drug control officials raided pharmacies in Bardhaman town over complaints that buyers were forced to buy whole strips beyond their prescription, warning that licences could be cancelled.
EnvironmentRadio collar slips off tigress brought to Buxa, refitted after a second sedation
The radio collar fitted to a three-year-old tigress caught in Bihar for release in West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve came off within minutes, and she had to be sedated twice in two days.
Health
West Bengal tells private hospitals to stock their own blood banks
West Bengal's State Blood Transfusion Council has told private hospitals to collect and keep enough blood in their own banks instead of sending relatives elsewhere; blood donation activists fear higher costs for families.
Daily lifeStove ban hits Sector V's footpath food stalls in Kolkata
Footpath cooking has stopped in Salt Lake's Sector V under new NDITA rules; 90 percent of the 973 stalls sell food, and cold food brought from home is losing customers and going to waste.
FisheriesRice-prawn farms and snail feed: Cambodia tests aquatic food business models
At a WorldFish workshop in Kampong Thom, officials, farmers and conservation groups from Cambodia's 3S river basins weighed five aquatic food business models and saw farmers feed invasive golden apple snails to prawns.
AgribusinessFarm Bureau asks Trump to suspend diesel tax as harvest fuel bills soar
With on-highway diesel at a national average of $6.38 a gallon and farm diesel near $6 in the Corn Belt, the American Farm Bureau Federation wants the federal highway diesel tax suspended during harvest.
EnvironmentSwiss glaciers lose 5.5 percent of their ice in eight months
The Swiss glacier monitoring network's annual report says glaciers thinned by 2.5 to 4 metres on average in 2026, and Switzerland has lost 19.4 percent of its glacier ice in five years.
LivestockSouth African livestock recovers, but meat prices pull in different directions
Better grazing and cheaper maize are helping South African farmers rebuild cattle and sheep herds, which keeps red meat prices up, while recovering pork and poultry output is pushing those prices down, Absa's spring outlook finds.
CropsCorn ethanol set to reach a third of Brazil's output two years early
StoneX expects corn to supply a third of Brazil's ethanol by 2027/28, and Inpasa, the world's second-largest producer, turns second-crop corn into fuel, cattle feed and oil for other biofuels.
Crops
Indian pesticide makers oppose data protection, warning of higher costs for farmers
The Crop Care Federation of India says extra exclusivity for agrochemical data would delay cheaper generic pesticides, because patented molecules already reach India late.
AgribusinessAries Agro lifts plant-nutrition capacity to 101,400 tonnes with Gujarat plant
The Indian plant-nutrition company commissioned a 6,000-tonne facility at Sayakha, grew its depot network to 30 and says it reached 54,948 farmers through awareness meetings during the year.
LivestockMonil adds calving alerts and grazing maps to its virtual fence collars
The Norwegian livestock tech company's solar-powered cattle collars will warn farmers when a cow is calving and map how hard each pasture is grazed, as it grows in the US and doubles its warranty to ten years.
Agrotech
AgroSustain and Herd Advance win Tesco's 2026 Agri-tech Challenge
A Swiss crop-protection coating and a British cattle-monitoring system won the supermarket's two categories, earning trials inside its supply chain where farmers and suppliers can see them work.