Headlines

318 buildings defied height limit; Rajuk asked owners in vain to knock down over 100 structures in 2007 Over 300 buildings including high-rises have been constructed in violation of the country’s aviation rules around the Zia International Airport (ZIA) and Tejgaon Airport making take-off and landing of planes risky. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) in 2007 ... Read more

Tipaimukh issue should be resolved through discussion: Robert Blake Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake has said that that the trial of war criminals should not be politicised hindering democratic progress. He was speaking at a press conference at the ARA (American Club) in Gulshan on ... Read more

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday stressed on enhancing mutual cooperation and assistance among the SAARC member states in Science and Technology to improve the people’s living standard in the region. “The first and main objective of SAARC Charter is to ensure people’s welfare and improve their living standards. Attaining the goal is possible through increasing ... Read more

Enforcement also missing to make matters worse With various flaws and loopholes environmental laws in our country have failed to take any measures against influential quarters responsible for environmental degradation, experts said. The foremost obstacle to implementation of the Environment Conservation Act of 1995 is that an aggrieved person has to take permission from the ... Read more

General discussions on supplementary budget 2008-2009 started at Jatiya Sangsad yesterday in the absence of the opposition lawmakers who are abstaining from the House demanding more seats in the front row. In the one-sided discussion, the treasury bench members expressed mixed reactions on the rationale and purposeful utilisation of allocated money and overall performances of ... Read more

A major shake-up is underway in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a new foreign secretary taking over soon and a number of new ambassadors and high commissioners being appointed, highly placed sources said. Some of the new envoys are getting contractual appointments. Several diplomats seeking anonymity however said this might demoralise the serving career ... Read more

Mubeen takes over as army chief today General Moeen U Ahmed is set to retire as the army chief as Lieutenant General Md Abdul Mubeen takes over as the army chief today. Moeen had his last day in office on Sunday, ending his job at the helm of the Armed Forces. He called on the ... Read more

10-truck Arms Haul in Ctg Top leaderships of DGFI, army linked Claims Sahab in his judicial confession Former NSI director Wing Commander (retd) Sahab Uddin yesterday hinted at links of a former top army official and an ex-DGFI high-up to the 10 truckloads of weapons seized here five years back. The two attended the last ... Read more

The government on Sunday moved a bill in the parliament seeking that terrestrial broadcasting facilities to be reserved only for the state-run Bangladesh Television. The information minister, Abdul Kalam Azad, piloted the bill, Reservation of Terrestrial Broadcasting for Bangladesh Television Bill 2009, which the house sent for further scrutiny by the parliamentary standing committee on ... Read more

June 14: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday his re-election was “real and free” and cannot be questioned – despite accusations of mass voter fraud. Ahmadinejad made the comments on Sunday during a press conference – his first since the government announced that he was re-elected to a second term in a landslide victory during ... Read more

We have to satisfy everyone: Muhith Finance minister AMA Muhith on Friday said he did not favour whitening of black money, but was forced to incorporate the provision in the proposed 2009-10 budget for political reasons. ‘Politics is the highest form of the art of compromise…..We have to satisfy everyone,’ Muhith said while defending his ... Read more

Huge govt borrowings will jack up inflation, it says The proposed budgetary measures will not help achieve the poverty reduction target as mentioned in the election manifesto of the present grand alliance government, local development think-tank Unnayan Onneshawn (UO) said in its budget response released yesterday. It said that huge government borrowing will create adverse ... Read more

Water Transport Coordination Cell began operations on Friday after dropping MP and Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mohammed Abdul Latif from the post of adviser and convenor. Shipping minister Afsarul Amin and Chittagong City Corporation Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury attended the launching programme as chief guest and special guest respectively. The WTCC was ... Read more

The budgetary provision for whitening black money has been the outcome of political compromise, rather than ethical considerations, by the political leadership of Awami League-led ruling alliance. “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and I myself do not ethically support allowing the black money,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith told the post-budget press conference at the NEC auditorium ... Read more

Civil society think tank the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) yesterday termed the proposed national budget for fiscal year 2009-10 conservative rather than ambitious one in terms of growth-target achievement. Briefing media to express CPD’s view on the budget, its Research Fellow and former Executive Director Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said, “The country achieve 5.9 per ... Read more

CPD, MCCI strongly oppose; finance minister terms it ‘political compromise’ The provision for whitening undisclosed money in the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2009-’10 is ‘a political compromise’, said the finance minister yesterday, after several organisations scathingly criticised the government’s move. Every year during budget time, the issue of whitening black money becomes a ... Read more

Recruiting agencies decry proposal to scrap VAT exemption facility The government’s move to revoke the VAT exemption facility for manpower exporters will ultimately hurt migrant workers, as it will increase the cost of going abroad for work, recruitment agents and migration analysts said yesterday. “At a time when manpower export is suffering from the fallout ... Read more

Awami League lawmaker Tipu Munshi’s son Apu Munshi (25) died at a city hospital soon after his admission there on Friday night with bullet wounds. Police quoting family sources said Apu has been suffering from mental depression and he might have shot himself with his father’s revolver. Bullet hit Apu was taken to the United ... Read more

People urged not to panic over WHO declaration Nations around the world said they were ready to combat the spread of the swine flu virus yesterday, urging people not to panic after the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic. WHO officials stressed that the designation of a “moderate” pandemic did not mean the number ... Read more

India is to phase out the controversial presence of large numbers of its troops in towns across the Muslim-majority Kashmir region, the country’s home minister announced yesterday. Such a move would be the first time the armed forces have been pulled out of urban areas in the disputed region since an insurgency against Indian rule ... Read more