The 110th birth anniversary of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam will be celebrated across the country today. The government, foreign embassies, education institutions, socio-cultural organisations and TV channels have chalked out various programmes to mark the occasion. The president Zillur Rahman will inaugurate the national poet’s birth anniversary programme at the Osmani Memorial Hall ... Read more
Dhaka Mirror
Nazrul birth anniv on television channels
The 110th anniversary of birth of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam will be celebrated by all and the satellite television channels of the country will telecast special programs. They will telecast programmes including discussions, documentary show, dramas, soirees and recitations. Channel-i Channel i will telecast ‘Nazrul Mela’ live, from 11:05am to 5:00pm, from its ... Read more
Recession phobia
Md. Shairul Mashreque AT the beginning of the new millennium the world has been beset by an insurmountable challenge in the wake of global recession. Economic downhill-slide in major capitalist countries in the north, which boast of having strong economies, threatens to affect countries in the south — especially the least developed countries (LDCs). The ... Read more
Singh is King: Lessons for Bangladesh
Hassanuzzaman DR. Manmohan Singh has indeed proven himself to be the king of South Asian leaders by repeating history after nearly five decades. The Indian National Congress (INC) won a landslide victory in which it, along with its allies, now holds 262 seats in the parliament. Singh’s entry in 1991 as the finance minister of ... Read more
HC asks govt to halt river grabbers
The High Court on Sunday asked the government to act swiftly to stop erection of any structures – temporary or permanent – on the banks of the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu and Turag rivers and earth filling and encroachment of any kinds on the rivers. The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice ... Read more
Climate change impact: Unplanned shrimp cultivation threatens environment
In view of the economic recession, particularly in the USA and European countries, the prices of frozen food in the international markets has fallen up to 40 to 45 percent posing a threat to the industry in Bangladesh. “A red alert hovers over the frozen foods industry,” said Sheikh Abdul Baki, Vice President of Bangladesh ... Read more
Why are ministers denouncing army inquiry report?
Sadeq Khan The representative government of Sheikh Hasina, brought to power by a landslide election victory of its grand alliance at the end of two years of emergency rule, is not yet faced with any serious civic challenge to its lackadaisical style of governance. The Prime Minister enjoys blind loyalty of a countrywide network of ... Read more
Turag almost grabbed
River grabbers back after 2 years of hibernation; rampant encroachment narrows the river down to a canal Encroachment, after pollution, stands as the biggest threat to the life of our rivers. The reach and scope of the encroachers have made them seemingly invincible. Powerful, rich and ruthless, these encroachers have come to pull strings in ... Read more
Govt initiates inquiry into unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers
The government has initiated an inquiry into unnatural deaths of Bangladesh Rifles soldiers in custody after the February 25–26 rebellion in the BDR headquarters in Dhaka. ‘The home affairs ministry has formed a committee for an executive inquiry into unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers after the February rebellion… The committee will find out the reason ... Read more
Govt retracts from e-passport move
The government has decided to go ahead with the project of machine-readable passports, to be issued from the next year, backtracking from its earlier decision to introduce e-passport, to be commissioned in 2014. The Awami League government immediately after assuming office on January 6, 2009, first decided to implement machine-readable passports and then moved towards ... Read more
Dhaka to sign Asian Highway pact as per UNESCAP routes
Communications ministry meets today to settle the issue The Awami League-led coalition will sign the inter-governmental agreement on the Asian Highway network although the BNP-Jamaat government refrained from ratifying it on the grounds of ‘controversial’ route proposals, said officials of the communications ministry on Wednesday. The BNP-led four party alliance, which tried to bring about ... Read more
National secrecy on the verge of being leaked out: Clandestine arms trade and the trial
Two former generals who were once in charge of national security intelligence of the country were taken to dock for abetting arms supply to Indian separatist ULFA. They were accused of using the government installations in CUFL Jetty in Chittagong Port for unloading arms. But their political bosses have not yet been taken to task. ... Read more
Ex-NSI chiefs tell of foreign links
Ctg Arms Haul Ex-NSI chiefs tell of foreign links Interrogators have gleaned important information about the smuggling of 10 trucks of arms and ammunition and foreign links to the incident from the two arrested former National Security Intelligence (NSI) chiefs, the prosecution yesterday told the court. But the former NSI directors general–Maj Gen (retd) Rezzaqul ... Read more
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
A story of embattled media: 28 journalists killed in 19 countries
At least 28 journalists have been killed while covering the news in 19 countries as we approach the mid-point of 2009. INSI (International News Safety Institute) counts an additional 13 deaths in 10 countries where it is not yet clear whether the victim died as a result of their work as a journalist. The worst ... 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