Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Monday announced a 15-member squad for the ICC World Twenty20 with young batting prospects Shamsur Rahman and Mohammad Mithun earning call-ups for the first time. Besides, left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak made a comeback to the national team after he was banned for suspect action. Razzak was suspended in November last ... Read more
Dhaka Mirror
Family of Bangladeshi victim OK
Says Mexican minister Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said Sunday he had visited the family of a Bangladeshi man who was one of Mexico’s 19 swine flu fatalities and found them all to be free from infection. Cordova told a news conference that the man lived with 10 relatives and friends at the same ... Read more
The city we live in: A death trap for passengers, passers-by
It was 9:30 in the morning. The busiest hour of the day. Masuma Jahan arrived at Jatrabari from Mirpur to see her ailing daughter who lives in South Jatrabari adjacent to a Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Seeing the condition of the road, she became perplexed. “The bus dropped me near the park. I crossed the Jatrabari circle ... Read more
Eviction notice on cantt residence: Third HC bench admits Khaleda’s writ: Govt won’t disturb till May 10 hearing
A third High Court (HC) bench yesterday admitted the writ petition of former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia challenging the Government’s notice asking her to vacate the Dhaka Cantonment residence. The bench comprising Justice Zinnat Ara and Justice Abdul Hakim fixed next Sunday (May 10) for hearing of the petition on Attorney ... Read more
Govt prepares to ink extradition treaties with India, UK, US
Bangabandhu killers to be brought back The government is expected to sign extradition treaties with India, the UK and the USA, paving the way for handing over criminals from one signatory country to another, it was learnt yesterday. After signing of the proposed extradition treaties, the Bangladesh government will take fresh initiatives to bring back ... Read more
JS panel to probe alleged power sector graft of 7 years
A parliamentary panel on Sunday constituted a three-member subcommittee to investigate alleged corruption in the power and energy sector during the five-year tenure of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government and a two-year regime of a military-backed administration. ‘We have assigned a committee to investigate the alleged plunder of public money in power and energy ... Read more
MPs’ unusual unity to exercise power
Empowerment in local bodies remains still unresolved MPs’ unusual unity to exercise power Conspiracy against local development: UZ Chairmen When the country’s two top political leaders-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Begum Khaleda Zia – are draggersdrawn with each other over various issues, their followers are in an unusual unity at Parliament and local ... Read more
Ex-NSI boss held
Ctg Arms Haul Case Ex-NSI boss held He allegedly played key role in arranging transport Former director (Security) of National Security Intelligence (NSI) Sahab Uddin was arrested in the capital’s Green Road yesterday for his alleged involvement in arranging transport and equipment for carrying the illegal arms and ammunition seized at CUFL jetty in Chittagong ... Read more
New policy to end discrimination in primary education
Says education policy formulation committee chief Education Policy Formulation Committee Chairman Kabir Chowdhury yesterday said the government wants to introduce a uni-track curriculum for students at least up to class five. “We would like to eliminate the existing discrimination at primary level education,” committee Chairman Kabir Chowdhury told reporters after its first meeting. On April ... Read more
Runaway convicts asked to surrender
In compliance with a recent Supreme Court order, the High Court Sunday asked the bigwig fugitive graft-convicts to surrender to the respective trial courts within two weeks. Justice M Imman Ali of the special HC bench passed the orders while disposing of a bunch of pending bail petitions filed by bigwig fugitive graft-convicts. The special ... Read more
Unesco awards for 3 Daily Star journos
Three out of the five journalists who received the “Unesco-Bangladesh Journalism Awards 2009” for investigative journalism are from The Daily Star. The Daily Star bagged two awards in the print media category while Channel-i and Bangla Vision won one each in the broadcast media category. “Journalists are contributing to
BGMEA demands uniform facilities for EPZ non-EPZ RMG factories
Garment factories situated outside the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are getting unequal facilities compared to those located inside the EPZs, resulting them to face various challenges, BGMEA sources said. Factories inside the EPZ, which exports 100 per cent of its production, are enjoying 10-year tax holiday and duty free machineries import facilities. The apex garment ... Read more
56,000 children to die in Asia due to global crisis: ADB
More than 56,000 children in Asia will die as a result of the economic crisis gripping the world economy, the Asian Development Bank said Sunday. The sliding growth rate will bring “serious economic and social impacts in the region,” ADB Managing Director General Rajat Nag said on the sidelines of the bank’s annual governors’ meeting ... Read more
Light shower brings relief in city life
After days of sultry weather, a late morning light shower for a few minutes yesterday brought relief to the city dwellers. The sky got covered with thick black clouds at about 11:15am after sunshine earlier in the morning and then the city experienced a shower for a few minutes. Earlier, the city experienced drizzles overnight ... Read more
Breastfeeding lowers heart risks for mother: study
WASHINGTON : Postmenopausal women who have breastfed a child have a lower risk of heart attacks, stroke and cardiovascular disease, a study released Tuesday found. The study of 139,681 postmenopausal women found that those participants who breastfed for at least one month had lower blood pressure, better cholesterol and less frequent diabetes, all known factors ... Read more
Bangladesh needs three-fold increase of food grain production
GLOBAL AVERAGE 2 TONS PER ACRE; OURS 0.7 Bangladesh needs three-fold increase of food grain production Abdur Rahman Khan Bangladesh has got the lowest productivity among the world’s rice producing countries. She can produce a maximum of 0.7 metric tons of paddy (not rice) per acre, against the global average of two tons per acre. ... Read more
ILO observes its 90th anniversary
Holiday desk Amid the worst financial and jobs crisis, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is marking its 90th anniversary with a series of events across the world. The week-long programme (21-28 April) of celebration was a global convergence on the common theme of social dialogue on decent work for a fair globalization in commemorative events ... Read more
Berlusconi says he is world’s most popular leader
ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has compared himself to Jesus Christ and Napoleon, boasted today that he was the world’s most popular leader. The conservative premier, in his third term in office, said opinion poll findings in his possession showed his popularity at just over 75 per cent, making him far more popular than ... Read more
Review: ‘Ghosts of Girlfriends Past’
Matthew McConaughey’s latest romantic comedy hauls out all the clichés and dumb dialogue for a predictable end. Just in case you can’t get enough of the romantic comedy oeuvre of Matthew McConaughey, Mark Waters’s “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” is here to remind you that, yes, some films of his are even worse than “Failure to ... Read more
Over 100 Taliban killed in Pakistan’s northwest, peace talks underway
Over 100 Taliban fighters have been killed in six days of operations in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the military said Friday, even as the provincial government opened peace talks with a radical cleric and a top US commander served notice that Islamabad had just two weeks left to deal with the militants. ... Read more