Illegal tree-felling ruins Bangladesh’s famous beach

October 4th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladeshs telecom major Grameenphone Sunday launched the countrys largest initial public offering (IPO), hoping to raise Taka 4.8 billion ($80 million approximately) from the domestic market. The largest of its kind in Bangladesh's capital market history, it offers 69,439,400 ordinary shares of Tk 10 each, in addition to a Tk 60 premium per share, Star Online said.

September 17th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed officials to nab her Awami League (AL) subordinates who have allegedly been involved in the felling of 30,000 trees along the coast of Cox's Bazaar. "Whoever the plunderers, even if they are from my party, find them out and take stern action against them," she told the third meeting of the national environment committee here Wednesday, The Daily Star said.

September 9th, 2009 BRASILIA - The Brazilian government will use electronic markers to detect illegal felling of trees in the Amazon forests via satellite as illegal encroachment has threatened the sensitive ecosystem. Officials said the protected Amazon forests are being cleared illegally to set up ranches.

August 26th, 2009 White House Christmas tree will be fir from W.Va.CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Fraser fir from West Virginia will be the Christmas tree displayed inside the White House this year.

August 23rd, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - A 40-foot foot sand sculptor of Hindu god Ganesh holding a small tree with a message to check global warming is the main attraction on Puri's beach in Orissa Sunday. The artist, Sudarsan Pattnaik, claims that it is the world's longest sand sculpture of the elephant-headed god.

August 13th, 2009 LONDON - A pilot who survived when his plane crashed into a tree on a Dundee golf course said he had the Biggles adventure stories to thank for his miraculous escape. The 56-year-old Hagedorn, a pilot and a business consultant, said his childhood love for Biggles books "saved his life" when his plane rammed into a tree on the 15th hole after he ran out of fuel.

August 5th, 2009 LUCKNOW - In a novel way to promote environmental awareness on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, a Lucknow zoo Wednesday asked its visitors to tie a rakhi around a tree and take an oath to protect the green cover in their vicinity. As many as 1,001 colourful rakhis were put on display at the entrance to the zoo, from where the visitors had to select one and tie it around a tree on the premises of the zoological gardens.

August 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Two homeless Chinese men are reported to have been living on a tree for several months, after they were kicked out from their previous resting place. Urban management officers had kicked the two men in the Baoan district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, out of a train tunnel, where they had been sleeping, reports the China Daily.

July 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A hen in Guangdong province in China, which flies to a tree every morning to lay eggs, has left all villagers intrigued. Cai Guichong, the owner of the bird, climbs the tree every morning to fetch the eggs, the China Daily reports.

July 27th, 2009 HAVANA - Erosion is threatening the famous beach resort of Varadero in eastern Cuba prompting the government to use some 380,000 cubic metres of sand to counter it, Prensa Latina reported Monday. A team of divers, dredgers and heavy machine operators extracted the sand and dumped it along a 700 metre stretch of the beach.

July 27th, 2009 PANAJI - A legislator of the ruling Congress party in Goa Monday claimed the state's renowned Calangute beach has been parcelled out between various international narcotics cartels. Speaking in the assembly, Calangute legislator Agnelo Fernandes said that drug cartels from Nigeria, Scotland, Israel and Russia had carved out independent pockets of influence in the popular coastal village of Calangute and even he felt threatened travelling there at night.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - They shouldn't have chopped a 100-year-old tree dear to god, some residents said Monday after two accidents at a Delhi Metro construction site killed six people and injured many. They were referring to a 'peepal' tree that was "mercilessly chopped overnight" for the benefit of metro construction some time back.

June 1st, 2009 High winds fell trees, cause power outages in Vt.MONTPELIER, Vt. — Cleanup crews are busy around the northern half of Vermont, clearing away limbs and sometimes whole trees that fell during a violent windstorm that caused widespread power outages.

May 24th, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh has raised a 'green' task force to combat organised forest crimes. The task force, called forest police, will keep tabs on timber mafias operating in areas where cases of illicit felling and timber smuggling have been on the rise in recent years.

May 20th, 2009 LONDON - A yew tree, whose canopy is said to be as big as the size of London's Royal Albert Hall, has entered the record books as the widest tree in the UK. The tree, which was discovered in the grounds of Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire, and which has engulfed a National Trust garden, is 50 metres wider than its nearest rival, and has a crown circumference of 175.5 metres.