Staff Correspondent Prices of liquefied petroleum gas or LPG and furnace oil produced by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation have been reduced by 13-15 per cent with effect from Sunday. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday approved the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation’s proposal to lower the price of a 12.5 kg cylinder of LPG to Tk 850 ... Read more
Dhaka Mirror
No firefighting beyond13th floor
Firemen waited for blaze to come down Raihan Sabuktagin Fire fighters could not douse the flames on upper floors of Bashundhara City shopping complex in the capital yesterday as they do not have required logistics and equipment to tame a blaze beyond 13th floor of a building. Despite reaching the spot immediately after the fire ... Read more
A battle in the dark
Sky-lift fails to reach top floors Arun Devnath and Emran Hossain A small crowd lingered into the night, hours after fire fighters battled out the blaze at the Bashundhara City shopping mall yesterday. Shards of glass glinted in the light streaming from an ’emergency’ lighting unit set up by the Fire Service and Civil Defence ... Read more
Fire service lacks logistics to put out high-rise fires
Taib Ahmed The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence lacks logistics to extinguish fire in buildings of more than 14 storeys. The agency has only two hydraulic ladders which can hose water up to the 14th floor of a building at best and the country does not have helicopters equipped to put out flames in ... Read more
Fire Service has only 2 high rise ladders
Rafiqul Islam Azad Bangladesh Fire Brigade has only two modern ladders that could be used in dousing fire by throwing water up to 14-storey of a high rise building, according to sources in the Fire Brigade. Of the two Turning Table Ladders (TTL), the new one, brought from abroad two months ago, was used for ... Read more
Prostitution in the name of job
Staff Correspondent Prostitution goes unabated in different parts of the country specially capital Dhaka as young and minor girls are being forced to this immoral profession in the name of giving job. A section of unscrupulous inhabitants in the capital are engaged in collecting young and minor girls from their villages in the name of ... Read more
2009 ‘very dangerous’ year for economy: Zoellick
AFP, London World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Friday that 2009 is turning into “a very dangerous year” for the economy but warned G20 members against protectionist policies to fight the downturn. “2009 is shaping up to be a very dangerous year,” he told reporters ahead of Saturday’s G20 finance ministers meeting on how best ... Read more
Nokia’s fashion fest
Sabrina Fatma Ahmad It was an evening of sizzling style at the Radisson Water Garden Hotel with Nokia’s fashion event. Attendees were greeted by cocktails and canapés at the foyer, where the latest Nokia models were on display. Kicking off with a few upbeat instrumentals by a jazz band – Jazzy Chopsticks – the event ... Read more
Iraqi shoe-thrower jailed for 3yrs
AP, Baghdad The Iraqi journalist, who threw shoes at then-president George W Bush, was convicted Thursday of assaulting a foreign leader and sentenced to three years in prison, lawyers said. He defiantly shouted, “long live Iraq,” when the sentence was read. Muntadhar al-Zeidi’s bold act in December electrified many across the Middle East who consider ... Read more
Government to revise fertiliser dealership policy soon
Obaidul Ghani The government is planning to revise the fertiliser dealership policy as soon as possible after the current boro season to ease fertiliser distribution and sale at the grassroots level, said agriculture ministry sources on Wednesday. The above decision was taken at a meeting of the National Coordination and Consultant Committee on Fertiliser Management, ... Read more
Nomination submission closes today
WOMEN RESERVED SEATS IN JS Nomination submission closes today Staff Correspondent The submission of nomination for elections to the 45 reserved seats for women in the parliament, according to the revised schedule, closes today. The returning officers will scrutinise the nomination papers on March 15 at the Election Commission secretariat. The last date for the ... Read more
Farmers harvest bumper pulses production in N-region
BSS, Rajshahi The farmers have started harvesting of lentil and Chickpea (gram) with expectation of bumper production everywhere in the northern region during the current season. Officials said, the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has fixed a target of producing 1,04,415 tonnes of pulses including lentil, gram and mashkalai from around 1.04 lakh hectares of ... Read more
BB eases cost of loans
Repo rate down 25 basis points Sajjadur Rahman The central bank yesterday slashed the interest rate it charges on loans to commercial banks by 25 basis points to 8.50 percent to bolster growth and cushion the impact of the global economic turmoil. “The decision to cut the short-term repo rate has been taken to encourage ... Read more
MCCI urges removal of uncertainties on tax holiday in next budget
UNB, Dhaka Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) on Wednesday strongly urged the government to remove the uncertainties on continuation of the tax holiday and widen the list of industries under the scheme in the next budget. The MCCI came up with the plea at a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue ... Read more
IPS, generator sales peak amid power crisis
Kazi Azizul Islam With severe load-shedding of electricity continuing in the city and elsewhere, the businesses dealing with power back-up devices see hectic business in the upcoming summer with sales peaking since early March. In last year around 60,000 units of instant power supply or IPS and 15,000 small generators were sold. Industry people expect ... Read more
Sheraton set for renovation
Sayeda Akter The government plans to renovate Dhaka Sheraton Hotel without delay and appoint an international operator to run the five-star hotel for five years. Also, Sheraton is set to extend its contract with the government for three
DCCI demands bailout plan for RMG sector
Star Business Desk The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry has demanded that the government come up with a bailout plan for the readymade garment sector. It also sought subsidy on the imports of capital machineries and industrial
Malaysia cancels 55,000 visas for Bangladeshis
Cites global meltdown impact as reason, denies entry to 532 Bangladeshi workers in Kuala Lumpur Staff Correspondent Malaysia on Tuesday cancelled visas for more than 55,000 Bangladeshi jobseekers, which were approved back in 2007, citing the impact of global economic recession on its manufacturing sector. These workers were scheduled
Govt asked to explain judicial magistracy legality
Staff Correspondent The High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the government for delaying the passage of two ordinances to make the judiciary independent of the executive. The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice Abdul Hye, in a rule issued suo moto, also asked the government to explain by March ... Read more
Army Act being considered for fastest trial: Shafiq
bdnews24.com, Dhaka The law minister, after a meeting with the attorney general and the army’s judge advocate general on Wednesday, said trying the BDR mutineers under the Army Act is still being considered for the fastest trial. “As Bangladesh Rifles is a ‘disciplinary force’ and it killed officers of another ‘disciplinary force’ their trial could ... Read more