Country caught in two hartal spells Chaos descended on Dhaka streets yesterday as the city struggled to cope with the rush of traffic after the two-day hartal last week followed by the weekend. With another two days of hartal beginning today, many office-goers, students and businessmen had to run important errands yesterday as to some ... Read more
Month: July 2011
Highway of nightmare
3-hour journey to Mymensingh now takes over 10 hours for battered roads Countless potholes coupled with stagnant rainwater on the road have made the usually three-hour journey from Dhaka to Mymensingh a 10-hour hazard. It was Thursday around 3:00pm when Rayhan Ahmed, a resident of the capital’s Mirpur, got on a bus to Mymensingh to ... Read more
Miles long tailback stays for 3 days
Dhaka-Tangail highway Miles long tailback stays for 3 days A 15-kilometre long tailback on the busy 2-lane Dhaka-Tangail highway for last three days has been causing untold sufferings to the people. The tailback from Konabari and Chandra of Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur to Mirzapur upazila in Tangail was due to potholes on the narrow
Biman banks on Boeing
Two new aircraft to join its ageing fleet by November Biman Bangladesh Airlines may get two new Boeing aircraft by November this year as part of plans to ease pressure on its ageing fleet. The two wide-body aircraft will improve Biman’s chaotic flight schedule, said Biman officials. Nine of the national carrier’s 11 aircraft have ... Read more
Schoolgirl raped, hospitalised
A seven-year old schoolgirl was admitted to Lalmonirhat sadar hospital with grievous injuries after being raped by a middle-aged man at Karnapur Mandaltari village on Friday night. The victim, daughter of a poor rickshaw-van puller, is a student of class I of a local primary school. Police said the rapist, Mojibar Rahman, had dragged the ... Read more
Students, guardians hold protests at Viqarunnisa school
Several hundred of students of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College and their guardians on Saturday formed a human chain in front of the school’s main campus at Siddheswari demanding punishment of Parimal Jayadhar, a teacher of the institution arrested on charge of raping a student, and resignation of the college principal, Husne Ara Begum, for ... Read more
South Sudan becomes newest nation
Tens of thousands of South Sudanese danced and cheered as their new country formally declared its independence yesterday, a hard-won separation from the north. South Sudan became the 193rd country recognised by the United Nations and the 54th UN member state in Africa through the raising of the new country’s flag at an independence ceremony
Managing macroeconomy
Sadiq Ahmed for The Daily Star Bangladesh has achieved good economic performance over the past few years. It has successfully managed the transition from the global financial crisis of 2008-10 with relatively modest slowdown in economic activity. Economic growth has recovered and official data suggest that growth is on the upswing. While there is some ... Read more
Freedom fighters to get spl medical facility
The country’s freedom fighters will enjoy special medical facility from Japan Bangladesh Friendship Hospital of the capital’s Dhanmondi area. The hospital on Saturday opened a geriatric (related to old age) medicine centre — a one stop medical service for them. The centre is equipped with special indoor and outdoor
Teenage girl abducted, gang raped
Three miscreants allegedly abducted a 16-year-old ethnic minority girl from Rangamati hill district headquarters on Thursday, repeatedly raped her for 14 hours, before returning her home on Friday morning. The victim filed a case of abduction and gang rape with the Kotowali police station of Rangamati at 9pm on Friday. She named Md Manik, son ... Read more
Bangladesh courts ‘extremely inefficient, corrupt’: report
David Bergman The rule of law in Bangladesh has come under stinging criticism in a new report produced by the Washington-based World Justice Project which ranks 66 countries on indicators involving the extent to which they adhere to ‘the rule of law, not in theory, but in practice.’ The report, launched in Washington in June, ... Read more
Ctg port tops 69 ports of 17 Asian countries
Despite having limitation of modern equipment, country’s key seaport, Chittagong port, secured top position in terms of efficiency among 69 ports of 17 countries in Asia, says a recent study. The report — Benchmarking the Efficiency of Asian Container Ports — says Chittagong port is using existing old and new equipment at its optimum level, ... Read more
DCC fails to set up parking lots
Dhaka City Corporation has set aside only one area in the city where cars are lawfully allowed to park whilst one indoor car park with a capacity to hold 1,500 cars remains unfinished though it was supposed to have opened five years ago. Chief town planner of DCC Mohammad Sirajul Islam told New Age that ... Read more
Local laptop brand hits market this month
Locally produced laptop computers at affordable price will hit the market this month, officials of Telephone Shilpa Sangstha, the manufacturer of the laptops said. Telecoms Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju on Thursday said in parliament that low cost laptops produced by TSS would be formally launched by the prime minister later this
Eminent artist Aminul Islam passes away
Eminent artist Aminul Islam died of old age complications as well prostrate-gland cancer in the city on early morning on Friday. He was 80. A former director of the Institute of Fine Arts (now Faculty of Fine Arts) of Dhaka University, Aminul Islam breathed his last at his Gulshan-2 residence at around 4am. ‘He was then ... Read more
Aleem Dar advises BCB to video domestic games
Renowned Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar advised the Bangladesh Cricket Board to record the domestic cricket matches through video camera in order to assess the performance of the local umpires. Dar along with the ICC referees and umpires manager, Vince van der Bijl, and Indian Joy Prakash ran a three-day workshop for the local umpires that ... Read more
Mimi has her hands full
“Poush Phaguner Pala” to touch 250 episodes Shooting of the mega serial “Poush Phaguner Pala” is on in village Belishwar, located in Dhamrai upazila of Dhaka district. Though so far the shooting had been confined to short spans, the camera now will be busy for 40 days beginning July 1. Director of the serial Afsana ... Read more
Mamunur Rashid in radio play after 40 years
Noted media and theatre personality Mamunur Rashid last performed in a radio play in 1972. The play was Shaheed Munier Chowdhury’s “Kabor”. After a hiatus of four decades, the thespian has performed in another radio play, this time in a serial titled “Paruler Shangshar”. In the serial, Rashid enacts the role of a local landlord ... Read more
Shaon Chowdhury bags two int’l awards
Bangladeshi singer Shaon Chowdhury has recently bagged two international awards. The World Master Organisation Committee in Seoul, South Korea has declared “The World Master Award” in Music (singing category) to singer Shaon Chowdhury on June 21. Earlier he has been awarded “India-Bangladesh Friendship Award-2011 in Kolkata, India on June
Pedestrians risk life multitasking
The afternoon was relatively calm because it was hot, more so because it was the weekend. No jam-packed streets in Dhanmondi with bumper-to-bumper traffic honking their horns uselessly. Only a few vehicles were whizzing by at almost regular intervals. Sultana Rahman was walking on the street. She was not on the pavement and she was ... Read more