As the new budget is going to be placed tomorrow, leaders of the apex-chamber FBCCI yesterday appealed to the government not to set ambitious tax-revenue target by expanding the tax net as it might hamper the smooth pace of domestic investment. They said it is speculated that the tax-revenue-earning target in the coming budget might ... Read more
Dhaka Mirror
DB jittery on getting threat from Daud
Agency ups security for itself Security measures have been beefed up in and around the office of the Detective Branch (DB) of the police in the capital following threats issued to some officials of the intelligence agency allegedly by the men of the Dubai-based underworld mafia don Daud Ibrahim. ADC of the DB Mahbub Alam ... Read more
Another Vit A death reported as probe begins
Samples could be sent to Denmark for lab test A committee constituted by the health ministry on Tuesday started investigation into the reported death and sickness of the children after taking Vitamin A capsules and deworming tablets as a third child died reportedly of complications from the medicines in Pirojpur on the day. Besides the ... Read more
Budget to be placed Thursday
Info, documents to go online Finance Minister AMA Muhith would place the Awami League-led grand-alliance government’s maiden budget in parliament on Thursday at 3pm amid wide publicity of all its information and documents online and offline. An official announcement yesterday said all the information and important documents of the new budget would be released on ... Read more
BNP forms 71 district convening committees
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday announced convening committees for its 71, out of 75 district units, dissolving the incumbent bodies and asked them to elect fully-fledged panels through council sessions by November 15. The convening committees for the Dhaka city, Dhaka district, Manikganj and Sunamganj were yet to be announced. The party’s office secretary, ... Read more
352 students fall sick after taking WFP biscuits
At least 352 students of Potkakhali Government Primary School under Sadar Upazila of Barguna reportedly fell sick after having biscuits distributed by World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday. The children were admitted to Barguna General Hospital where doctors declared them to be out of danger. Police had to be deployed to restrain the agitating guardians from ... Read more
US ‘concern’ for jailed reporters
US President Barack Obama has said he is “deeply concerned” by North Korea’s reported sentencing of two US journalists to 12 years’ hard labour. The US was working through all channels to secure their release, a spokesman for Mr Obama said. The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, were found guilty of “hostile acts” and ... Read more
North Korea sentences two US journalists to 12 years in jail
Women sent to labour camp after being found guilty of illegally entering country and committing ‘grave crime’ A North Korean court today sentenced two American journalists to 12 years’ hard labour after finding them guilty of committing “hostile acts”, in a move certain to raise tensions with the US. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were ... Read more
Lobbyists swamp secretariat, hamper office works
Hordes of visitors, mostly small-time political leaders and activists, trickle into Bangladesh Secretariat each working day, disrupting normal function of the country’s main seat of administration. They come over from across the country as well as the capital. They get into the highly protected secretariat zone with valid passes issued by the authorities, or sometimes ... Read more
UZ chairmen allege they can’t work for UNOs & legal framework
Polls to Zila Parishads by 2010: LGRD Minister Leaders of Upazila Chairmen’s Association alleged that UZ chairmen have become inactive due to indecision of government and non-cooperation of the UNOs. After a meeting with LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, association head Badiuzzaman Badsha said although they were elected several months ago but they cannot work ... Read more
City lake grabbers yet to be touched
Encroachment on khasland in the city and elsewhere in the country have been continuing una-bated for long many years. Even the riverbeds have been grabbed by landsharks. To our horror the waterbodies and wetlands, which are the lifeline in the city, have been illegally occupied. As a result, the city is dying gradually harming the ... Read more
4.48m households absolutely landless
The number of landless people in the country is growing steadily because of poverty, river erosion and legal disputes posing a grave threat to socioeconomic progress, according to experts and a government report. The Agriculture Census 2008 conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics revealed that out of 28.67 million households, 4.48 million or 15.62 per ... Read more
Some politicians helped Daud spread crime web
Another aide to the mafia don arrested Detectives have found some political leaders and influential people in Bangladesh to have close relations with international mafia don Daud Ibrahim. The police suspect the influential people maintain close link with Daud to get his support in expanding their businesses in Dubai, a stronghold of the Mumbai-based mafia ... Read more
AL central working body meet: Ministers under fire
Seven Ministers of the Awami League government came under fire in the party central working committee meeting held on Saturday at its Dhanmondi political office. They are Finance Minister A M A Muhit, Commerce Minister Farooq Khan, Law Minister Shafiq Ahmed, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen and State Minister ... Read more
Buriganga artery blocked
Syndicate of 50 claims land in Atir Khal, set to fill it up, sell as plots Defying the wetland protection act and a prime ministerial order, a real estate developer has embarked on a project to fill up Atir Khal, one of the busiest canals till today, connected with the river Buriganga, and serving thousands ... Read more
Expat experts invited to dissect coal policy
MPs, academics to join brainstorming on its draft on June 15 Expatriate and local energy experts, parliamentarians and energy sector officials will examine the draft coal policy at a four-day exclusive brainstorming session, jointly organised by the energy ministry and Petrobangla. The session begins on June 15 at Jamuna Resort near the Jamuna Bridge, sources ... Read more
Do-or-die for Tigers
Weather and spinners could be the decisive factors when Bangladesh take on Ireland in their must win final group match of the Twenty20 World Cup at Trent Bridge today. With the India game already lost, the Tigers now face a make-or-break situation against a side that have shown abilities to beat them in the past ... Read more
Ten persons killed in city in seven days
Some 10 persons, including two businessmen and two students, were killed in the capital in the first seven days of June indicating deterioration of the city’s law and order situation in recent times. Despite many initiatives undertaken, including special drives starting from May 14, by the DMP in the wake of growing lawlessness in the ... Read more
Rivers will be revived at any cost: PM
World Environment Day observed Rivers will be revived at any cost: PM The severely degraded river systems will be reverted to their past grandeur whatever the cost, prime minister Sheikh Hasina declared on Friday. She pledged assistance of her administraion to multidimensional researches into modes of combating environmental disasters. In the same breath, the prime ... Read more
32 more illegal structures on Turag removed
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) yesterday, the third day of the on-going eviction drive, dismantled parts of two major and at least 30 makeshift sturctures erected on the river Turag. With the assistance of Gazipur district administration BIWTA tore down the illegaly Kamarpara Bridge in Masimpur mouja and Hossain Dyeing at Pagar mouja of ... Read more