Michelle Obama, America’s First Lady, has banned celebrity socialising for her daughters Malia and Sasha as she attempts to forge a normal family life in the White House. By Philip Sherwell in New York The girls’ final encounter for now with A-list stars came on the night of Barack Obama’s inauguration. The Jonas Brothers boy ... Read more
Dhaka Mirror
Millions hit by Google ‘breakdown’
Google users around the world have been hit by a malfunction that incorrectly reports every other website as potentially harmful. By Alastair Jamieson An apparent system error left millions of visitors to the site puzzled when links to all search results were flagged with the warning ‘This site may harm your computer’. It is thought ... Read more
Chhatak concrete sleeper plant idle for months
Delay in raw material import from India Iqbal Siddiquee, back from Chhatak, Sunamganj Production in the country’s lone concrete sleeper plant under Bangladesh Railway (BR) has remained suspended for more than eight months due to unusual delay in importing raw materials from India. Now there are only 8,000 pieces of concrete slippers in stock at ... Read more
‘Govt must come out of ‘winners take all’ syndrome’
Staff correspondent The government must come out of the system where ‘winners take all’ and take the opposition political parties in confidence in the greater interest of the country, said jurists, retired bureaucrats and former advisers at a discussion on Saturday. ‘The newly elected government, which has come [to power] with an overwhelming mandate, has ... Read more
Call to preserve cultural heritage of indigenous people
Adibasi Mela in Cox’s Bazar Call to preserve cultural heritage of indigenous people Staff Correspondent With a view to flourishing the country’s tourism industry and encouraging people to cast vote for Cox’s Bazar and the Sundarbans in the competition of “The New7Wonders foundation” a daylong Adibasi Mela (Indigenous People Fair) was held in the tourist ... Read more
Flora, fauna of Saint Martin’s island under critical stresses
BSS, Saint Martins The hotels and restaurants that sprang up in the recent past on Saint Martin’s Island , one of the ecologically critical areas (ECA) in the country, have been operating without any official approval. According to the law, building of any structure and carrying out any activity that might pollute the environment or ... Read more
Chobi Mela V: Photography comes of age in Bangladesh
Asia’s largest International Photography Exhibition kicks off Nadia Sarwat The inaugural ceremony of the international photography exhibition, Chobi Mela V, attracted a huge turnout. “I am immensely pleased to witness such an enthusiastic response. It’s been a long and hard struggle to get people interested in photography in our country. Today’s crowd indicates how far ... Read more
2nd Int’l Children’s Film Festival ends
Five children bag awards Jamil Mahmud The week-long 2nd International Children’s Film Festival ’09 ended on January 30. The closing ceremony was held at the Shawkat Osman Auditorium, Central Public Library, Shahbag. Five among 15 children received awards at the
Rajuk maintains no planning standard in DAP: committee
Taib Ahmed Although Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha had designed the Detailed Area Plan for the Dhaka city, the planning standard was not accurate, according to the review committee formed to revise the DAP. The 12-member review committee, which is entitled to rectify the DAP, held two meetings in this regard and found that the draft DAP ... Read more
Licence hassles at post offices
City Correspondent His fingers lingered on the computer keyboard like an elementary student getting his first lessons on a computer. Too bad, he is no elementary student. And too bad for the sixteen odd people queued before him to deposit the charges for driving licences and other car related documents at the Sub Post Office ... Read more
Ctg people face acute water crisis
High salinity found in WASA water Tushar Hayat . Chittagong The people in the Chittagong city have been facing acute crisis of drinking water for the last two weeks as they cannot use WASA-supplied water because of high salinity. The water supplied by the Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, Chittagong contains high salinity and it ... Read more
Staff crisis plagues Sylhet Chest Diseases Hospital
Zaman Monir . Sylhet Poor infrastructure and acute shortage of manpower is hampering healthcare service at Sylhet Chest Diseases Hospital. The hospital authorities cannot provide proper treatment for the patients due to severe staff crisis coupled with poor infrastructure, according to hospital sources. Out of the total 58 posts of medical officers, nurses and other ... Read more
JS special committee to look into all 119 ordinances
Questions interim govt’s authority to make so many promulgations Nazrul Islam The parliamentary special committee on Saturday unanimously decided to examine all 119 ordinances promulgated during the two-year rule of the military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, according to the members of the committee. ‘We have decided to scrutinise all the ordinances to see which laws ... Read more
Bapex eyes 2.5tcf new gas in 7 years
Set to become strong player in oil and gas Sharier Khan Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Company (Bapex) aims at striking around 2.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF) gas and providing an extra 200 million cubic feet gas per day (mcfd) within next seven years. The long-ignored and cash-starved Bapex has set to achieve its first operating profit ... Read more
Khaleda warns govt against deals with foreign countries
Abdullah Juberee . Bogra The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Saturday warned the government against signing any deal with foreign countries going against national interest and vowed to take to the streets if such agreements were signed. ‘After assuming office, the government seems to be eager to sign deals on issues of national interest and ... Read more
Akheri Munajat today
Staff Reporter The three-day-long Ijtema, the largest congregation of Tablig-e-Jamaat, is going to be concluded today with the ‘Akheri Munajat’, which began after the Fazr prayer on Friday on the bank of river Turag. Hundreds of thousands of devotees yesterday passed the second day of Ijtema listening to sermons delivered by Islamic
Overseas jobs on the wane
Demands go down sharply for global meltdown Porimol Palma Overseas employment has come down sharply in recent times as many Bangladeshi workers are losing jobs abroad because of the global economic meltdown, which is unlikely to create pressure on the country’s domestic employment. This apprehension has increased more following Wednesday’s ILO report that global unemployment ... Read more
Corruption, cheating and hijacking unabated at Zia
Staff Correspondent Corruption by customs and civil aviations officials goes unabated while touts and criminals are continuously cheating the passengers and hijacking their goods at the Zia International Airport. To curb corruption at country’s various airports, earlier the ACC wanted to set up its branch offices at Zia International Airport, Shah Amanat Airport in Chittagong ... Read more
Seat order row to continue
JS session resumes today Staff Correspondent The BNP-led opposition is unlikely to return to parliament today as their demand for three more seats in the front row might not be met before resumption of House proceedings this afternoon after a two-day recess. The row over seating arrangements could not be resolved as both the Treasury ... Read more
BNP top brass blamed for polls defeat
Abdullah Juberee Bangladesh Nationalist Party candidates who lost the December 29 parliamentary polls attributed their defeat to lack of preparation and disorganisation in the lower units of the party along with machination by the interim administration and the people behind it. A number of BNP leaders, stricken by the electoral debacle, seemed to be able ... Read more