A successful submission to the United Nations will secure exclusive rights and access to potentially lucrative natural resources

The Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh will become the latest country to receive assistance from the Commonwealth Secretariat in preparing a claim to the United Nations for additional areas of seabed, known as continental shelf under international law.

To date, the Secretariat has helped 14 countries to lodge submissions for additional areas of continental shelf covering, in total, over two million square kilometres of seabed.

In order to claim additional areas, Bangladesh must make a submission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

“Forty one years ago, in the city of Cleveland, people watched in horror as the Cuyahoga River – choked with debris and covered in oil – caught on fire.

Images of the burning Cuyahoga shocked a nation, and it led one Wisconsin Senator the following year to organize the first Earth Day to call attention to the dangers of ignoring our environment.

In the four decades since, we have made remarkable progress. Today, our air and water are cleaner, pollution has been greatly reduced, and Americans everywhere are living in a healthier environment. We’ve passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and founded the Environmental Protection Agency. And in Cleveland, the Cuyahoga River is cleaner than it’s been in 100 years.

The need for a new global climate deal is "greater than ever", according to developing country delegates speaking at the opening of UN climate talks.

Blocs representing the poorest nations called for intensive talks during the year, leading to agreement on a legally binding treaty in December.

The EU backed the call, re-stating that the conclusion of December's Copenhagen summit had not met its ambitions.

But other industrialised countries do not appear so keen for a new treaty.

Beijing has been shrouded in orange dust as a strong sandstorm blew hundreds of miles from drought-struck northern China to the nation's capital.

The authorities have issued a level-five pollution warning and urged people to stay indoors.

In Tiananmen Square, clouds of dust obscured monuments and visitors wore masks to avoid the dust and soil.

The storm has already caused havoc in Xinjiang, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei regions and is heading to South Korea.

Several activities will be carried out today to mark the World Water Day in the Mannar district organized by the European Union Delegation in Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Sewa Lanka Foundation, Mannar Office and the Zonal Education Department of Madhu.

An EU spokesperson said an art competition and environmental awareness program for students in the Manthai West Division in the Mannar district was held to mark the World Water Day. It was to promote awareness among schoolchildren on the importance of conserving water.

“The project will target approximately 1,800 students from 11 schools in the Manthai West Division.

The participants are mainly children those who were displaced by the conflict and now have been resettled”, the spokesperson told the Daily News. Earlier this month the schoolchildren from grades 6-13 (age group 11-18 years) took part in an art competition theme of water conservation.