Friday, March 29, 2024

Dhaka metro govt proposed

JS body members for combining Gazipur, N’ganj with capital giving them city corporation status Members of the parliamentary standing committee on the local government ministry at a meeting yesterday discussed forming Dhaka metropolitan government combining Gazipur and Narayanganj to improve city life. Members of the parliamentary body suggested that Dhaka City Corporation should be divided ... Read more

Construction industries face slide : Prices of raw materials up

Country’s construction industries face slide, as the prices of raw materials of this industry are increasing day-by-day following the global economic recession. Due to the economic meltdown across the world, thousands of Bangladeshi workers employed in the construction industries in Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have been discharged from their jobs. The jobless people ... Read more

50,000 die, 40,000 become disabled every year

Direct effect of tobacco About 50,000 people die and 40,000 become disabled due to smoking and direct affect of tobacco every year in the country. Some 12 lakh people suffer from eight kinds of various respiratory, brain and kidney-related diseases due to the use of tobacco every year, speaker yesterday said this while addressing a ... Read more

Banglalink, AKTEL may merge

Mobile operators Banglalink and AKTEL are in talks for a possible merger in an aggressive bid to grab a substantial market share of Bangladesh’s 46 million market, giving a hint that the number of operators will come down in the already saturated six-operator market. The merger issue was disclosed by Orascom Telecom Holdings Chairman Naguib ... Read more

Cell phone industry seen facing more trouble

A recovery in cell phone demand will not happen until well into 2010, researcher Gartner said on Wednesday, while Reuters data showed the industry could suffer its worst quarter ever in April-June. The handset market fell 9.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, Gartner said, adding it saw demand stabilising but it would ... Read more

Siddons targets India

ICC World Twenty20 Siddons targets India Bangladesh national cricket team have tar-getted beating India in their first match of the ICC World Twenty20s in England and are all set to depart amidst some modest but important concerns from coach Jamie Siddons. Siddons’s biggest worry is the lack of international exposure that the Tigers have had ... Read more

Unplanned housing, infrastructure cuts down cropland

The dwindling size of farms, rise in landlessness and constant depletion of farmland are posing formidable threats to Bangladesh’s agriculture, increasing poverty and trapping many ultra-poor people in a vicious circle, according to various reports. The average farm size has been reduced to less than 0.6 hectares and the percentage of landless people stands at ... Read more

BDR recast report placed in part, govt probe report soon

Absconding jawans now 25; no mercy for post-Feb 25 rebels The committee, headed by Director General (DG) of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam, that was formed to report on restructuring the paramilitary force, submitted yesterday a partial report suggesting the new logo, the new uniform and the new name for the border ... Read more

152 industries wreaking havoc

Villagers along polluted Turag moving to safer places Indiscriminate discharge of liquid waste by the industries in and around Konabari industrial zone has ruined a large part of the Turag river and Baimail Jheel, causing immense suffering to residents living on the banks. Industrial liquid waste and black smog created by brick kilns have doubled ... Read more

Lanka free from terror, declares Rajapakse

Prabhakaran’s ‘body’ recovered from battlefield Sri Lanka’s president declared his country “liberated from separatist terror” yesterday as the military said it recovered the body of Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran from the battlefield on which he was slain. The images were shown after the Tigers announced the guerrilla leader was still alive and well, ... Read more

Machine-readable passport project goes to army

The government is going to entrust the army with the much-discussed machine-readable passport and visa project that would cost nearly Tk 283 crore. The home affairs ministry took the move following directives from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for engaging the army in implementing the project which was originally initiated in 2004 by the Bangladesh Nationalist ... Read more

Nat’l ID cards to be made must for all

Meeting finalises machine readable passport work plan National identity (ID) cards would be made compulsory for every citizen of the country by amending the citizenship act, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday. “If necessary laws will be amended to make national ID cards compulsory because laws are for the people’s welfare,” he told reporters after ... Read more

Traffic congestion continues in city

Auto- traffic signal proves ineffective The severe traffic congestion in the city of Dhaka has been continuing despite promise given by Dhaka Metropolitan Police to ease. It is true, hardly there is any city in the world free of traffic jamming, but in the case of Dhaka it is beyond tolerable level. The installation of ... Read more

Lending to women entrepreneurs included in CAMEL Rating: Atiur

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman on Tuesday said disbursement of loans to women entrepreneurs has been included in the CAMEL Rating so that they can easily avail loan facility for running trade and business. Speaking at a pre-budget discussion meeting of Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity, with ... Read more

Legal notice to stop illegal occupation of Buriganga, Shitalakkha

A legal notice was served yesterday to the government for taking immediate steps to stop illegal encroachment on the banks of rivers Buriganga, Turag and Shitalakkha. Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) served the notice seeking steps to stop earth filling and building any kind of temporary and permanent structures along the rivers in ... Read more

Japan closes 4,000 schools for swine flu

178 infections confirmed Japan reported 178 swine flu infections yesterday and closed more than 4,000 schools, colleges and kindergartens for the rest of the week to slow the spread of the virus, officials said. Experts warned that infections had probably already spread to other regions including the capital Tokyo, which with almost 36 million people ... Read more

Three-decade abortive war of independence: Prabhakaran killed

Sri Lanka declared Monday it had crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels, killing their chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and ending his three-decade quest for an independent homeland for minority Tamils. State television broke into its regular programming to announce Prabhakaran’s death, and the government information department sent a text message to cell phones across the country confirming ... Read more

HC starts hearing Khaleda’s writ on cantt house

Hearing adjourned till May 25, govt directed not to disturb her till then At last the High Court took up hearing on writ petition challenging government notice asking BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia to vacate her cantonment house. A Division Bench comprising Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury started the hearing Monday ... Read more

Rohingya rebels trained JMB men

Investigators glean it from Boma Mizan; Huji too received training from the RSO Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had close links with Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), an insurgent group in the Myanmarese state of Arakan, JMB explosives expert ‘Boma Mizan’ revealed in interrogations. Sources close to Rab interrogators said Mizan and some other JMB operatives received ... Read more