The wars that we wage within and beyond our own borders kill us. Yet, we seem to be perpetually living in a state of war where hate speeches flood the internet, trade wars cause the economy to slow down, borders cause tension and perception becomes the truth.

As the much discussed “dialogue” between the prime minister and the 14-party alliance members on the one side and the opposition parties is proceeding, many are pondering whether the political situation has changed.

My last column “Uncer-tainty and volatility in the coming years,” published on October 27, elicited some interesting feedback on social media.

Our trans-port sector can never become what it really is supposed to be—an important people-friendly service provider. That is unless the sector is freed of the political grip influencing, running and shielding it. And that, perhaps, is a tall order.

Today is the fifth anniversary of the UN recognising November 2 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Incidentally, data shows that this year has been one of the deadliest for journalists out of the last five years, if not longer.

Nelson Mandela had once said that dialogue is the most powerful weapon at one's disposal. Yet it is surprising to see how often we have abjured the path of discourse and allowed short-sightedness to influence our decisions.

In the Paris Agreement on climate change, which was agreed on in December 2015 at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

President Maithripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka, in a sudden unconstitutional move, dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed his nemesis and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime minister on October 26.

Since my wife bought me a Fitbit Versa smartwatch to help me monitor my physical activity (spoiler alert: I am a proverbial couch potato), I astonished even myself

Last year I relocated to Dhaka and was desperately looking for a place to stay, close to where I would be teaching: BRAC University at Mohakhali. I didn't need a large apartment.

As the year 2018 gradually inches towards the finish line, there are many concerns about the next year. Is economic growth going to be as good as the last?

Much has been made of the death of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And rightfully so. The story of his alleged gruesome murder at the hands of a Saudi hit-team inside the country's consulate in Istanbul is not something the average person has to hear and replay in their heads every day—with the help of some imagination.

Clearly, there is an absence of sync in the EC, and a palatable lack of internal organisation. Firstly, it seemed unnecessarily evasive about the date of the election.

Last week in the Hague, the Netherlands a new Global Commission for Adaptation to Climate Change was launched with the former Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Bill Gates, and Kristalina Georgieva, head of the World Bank as the three heads.

When Accord and Alliance came to town, the brands and retailers had offered assurance of business continuity and were paying for the audits and assessments.

Human consump-tion of fossil fuel is a significant contributor to climate change. Economists have for ages been advocating for a tax on carbon emissions to combat air pollution. The tax, popularly known as “carbon tax”, is levied on products that emit carbon and is one of the measures adopted by many countries to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel in an effort to address the threat of climate change.

The thin fused me corrects myself in the nick of time. After all, I have a six-year-old right in front of me. They are blotting papers, more so, when it comes to audio-visual equivalent of the Apple of Eden.

At the very core of our entire ecosystem is the location and availability of fresh water on which sustaining lives and human livelihood are fundamentally dependent.

War-weary Afghani-stan is scheduled to go to polls on October 20, 2018 to elect a new parliament after almost three years' delay.

Your columnist was in a private conversation with her daughter stressing on the need of a new oven.