* Bigots vandalised and set fire to Buddhist temples and Buddhist households in Ramu and Ukhiya, after spreading rumour that the Facebook page of a local Buddhist youth was bearing a photo demeaning Islam.

The Narail mayhem is not an isolated incident. It is a part of series of attacks being carried out one after another across the country in the last few years with a goal to wipe out minorities from the country.

This is yet another disturbing headline that highlights a pattern of violence against minority communities.

Q. What is happening to our haors (the vast wetlands in the country’s north-eastern region) and how has that impacted the flood situation?

For around a month now, all four districts in the Sylhet division have been enduring floods with the water receding slowly from many areas and thousands left to suffer.

Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury is a professor of the department of clinical psychology of Dhaka University and programme director of Nasirullah Psychotherapy Unit – an outpatient mental health unit managed by DU’s department of clinical psychology. He has been researching adolescent mental health and juvenile delinquency for decades. Recently he talked to The Daily Star about the sudden rise of criminal behaviour among youths and adolescents.

The Cabinet Committee on Law and Order at the home ministry recently suggested that the legal age determining who is a “child” be lowered.

They were never part of the political elite. Neither were they among the wealthy. Yet they were always considered the most revered and respected members of society because they were teachers -- high school teachers in particular.    

The headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Narayanganj was assaulted on May 13, 2016 by a mob in presence of Jatiya Party lawmaker Salim Osman over allegations that he made derogatory comments about religion while meting out corporal punishment to a student. A judicial probe found him innocent. No charges were pressed against Osman.

In the first six months of this year, three incidents of violence against teachers became newspaper headlines, showing a disturbing trend that is contrary to our traditional values of respecting and honouring teachers.

Bangladesh needs a comprehensive approach for the management of its rapidly growing chemical businesses that pose risks of fatal accidents, a chemical management expert has said.

Unplanned industrialisation in Sitakunda without proper safety measures has made local people live in constant fear especially after the BM container depot disaster.

TDS: Does the Election Commission have the capacity to use EVM in 300 seats during the next national election?

With the next parliamentary elections just one and a half years away, fresh debates over using the electronic voting machine in polls have taken the centre stage in the political arena of late.

Soon after his arrest in West Bengal on May 14, the question that started spinning around was when Prashanta Kumar Halder, better known as PK Halder, would be brought back to Bangladesh.

Alarm bells were raised when PK Halder and his associates laundered around Tk 174 crore from a financial institution in 2016 by setting up companies that existed only on paper.

Locally produced oilseeds like mustard, corn, sunflower, coconut, and sesame (teel) can be some great alternatives to soybean and palm oil, said Prof Nazma Shaheen of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science at Dhaka University.

TDS: Do you agree that it is a failure of the commerce ministry to rein in the unstable soybean oil market? 

When Farid Uddin planted sunflower, sesame and groundnut on his 80-decimal land, he had no idea that prices of edible oil would skyrocket.

When President Vladimir Putin launched “a special military operation” on February 24 to “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine, there were a few to doubt that the military campaign would end in Russia’s favour and it would be over soon.