Since the horrific Holey Artisan attack on July 1, 2016, Bangladesh has been carrying out intensive operations to destroy the capacities of militant groups operating in the country. To a large extent it has been successful, but much remains to be done in terms of combating the ideology that motivates these terrorists to carry out their heinous acts. So how can militancy be rooted out from society?

Dr Lissa Johnson is a clinical psychologist and columnist for the Australian news website New Matilda, with a background in media studies and sociology, and a PhD in the psychology of manipulating reality-perception. In an exclusive (electronic) interview with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, Dr Johnson talks about a recent investigative series she wrote on the US government’s hunt for Julian Assange, how propaganda works, and the psychology that divides people and allows them to commit atrocities against “outgroup” members.

Stefania Maurizi is an investigative journalist working for the Italian daily La Repubblica. She has worked on all WikiLeaks releases of secret documents and partnered with Glenn Greenwald to expose the Snowden Files about Italy. She has authored two books—Dossier WikiLeaks: Segreti Italiani and Una Bomba, Dieci Storie. In an exclusive (electronic) interview with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, Maurizi talks about the arrests of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who together revealed to the world, the reality of the Iraq and Afghan wars.

In June 2018, at the age of 29, Doly Begum became the first member of the Bangladeshi expatriate community in Canada to be elected

We launched the quota movement on February 17. It lasted for nearly eight months, until October 4 when the public administration ministry issued a circular officially scrapping the quota system.

The major cause behind antibiotic resistance revolves around the smartness of the bacteria. It is widely believed that antibiotics inhibit the growth of susceptible bacteria.

What is your reaction to the government doing away with all examinations for students of classes I, II and III from this year?

Defiance of the BNBC stems from the ways that it can provide immediate benefit to owners and often the users and the developers of buildings. For example, rules are violated to achieve maximum use of space when land itself is costly.

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has recently decided to discontinue exams at grades 1-3, which means students of those classes will no longer have to sit for formal exams. How do you see this development?

The depletion of groundwater table in Dhaka has made water crisis in the city acute, especially during the dry season. What are the reasons behind this?

The manner in which the Ducsu election was held is reprehensible. It was an arranged election by all means. Also, not holding the Ducsu election in the last 28 years was a heinous crime against our education system and the students of the university.

"Ultimately, in the long run, whether we win or lose, we are not going to be on their side. So we might as well do what we have to do as well as we can."

Mubasshar Hussain, architect and vice president, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), talks to Naznin Tithi of The Daily Star

Anthropologist Dr Jenneke Arens lived in Bangladesh from 1973 to 1975 to do a study of power relations between poor and rich peasants and the position of women in a village.

With a burgeoning urban population, Dhaka's residents are finding it increasingly difficult to afford housing and the demand for low-cost housing is soaring. Irteza A Khan, Managing Director, Meridien Finance & Investment Ltd, talks to Syed Mansur Hashim, Assistant Editor, The Daily Star, about why lower and lower-middle income groups in the country do not have access to permanent housing and why non-bank financial institutions are focusing on dormitory style housing for industrial workers.

Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 is aimed at ensuring food and water security and coping with disasters through water resource management. Could you please elaborate on how this mega scheme is going to achieve those goals? If this plan is implemented, will our rivers get back their natural flow?

Sabrina Zarin, Barrister-at-Law, (Hon'ble Society or Lincoln's Inn, UK) and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, Partner in FM Associates, talks to The Daily Star's Moyukh Mahtab about needed reforms in sexual violence and harassment laws in Bangladesh and the importance of raising awareness, especially among children.

The new finance minister, Mustafa Kamal, has vowed to address the longstanding concerns regarding increasing non-performing loans in banks. Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, a noted banker and former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, talks to The Daily Star's Nazmul Ahasan about the issue.

John Pilger, as foreign correspondent, covered Bangladesh's Liberation War. His front-page report 'Death of a Nation' alerted the world to the life-and-death struggle of the Bengali people. In an exclusive (electronic) interview with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, Pilger talks about his coverage of Bangladesh's Liberation War, the state of journalism today, and the current political shifts happening in the West.

Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue, talks to Nahela Nowshin of The Daily Star about the recent demonstrations of RMG workers and the underlying reasons behind them.