Morning Briefing

"Bangladesh, a country crisscrossed with rivers and canals, has one of the highest drowning rates in the world," the Guardian reports. "More than 17,000 Bangladeshi children drown every year -- nearly 50 a day, according to the Bangladesh health and injury survey [.pdf], conducted in 2003," the news service writes. "A report by UNICEF and the Alliance for Safe Children (Tasc) has found that the cause of death in roughly one in four children who die between one and 10 years of age is drowning," making "drowning the leading killer of children in Bangladesh, overtaking diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia," the Guardian adds.