Headlines

85pc of natural greenery gone in 40 years; govt’s wrong policies blamed Adoption of wrong policies by the government and corruption by foresters have nearly eaten away the entire Madhupur forest, reducing the unique habitat of flora and fauna down to 8,000 acres from 45,000 acres. A large variety of wildlife including Royal Bengal Tiger, ... Read more

People are becoming panicky and different English medium schools in the city were closed for indefinite period yesterday, as new cases of A/H1N1 flu is being detected in the country. Detection of at least four new swine flu patients were confirmed yesterday, taking the total number to 104. Officials feared it could reach 70,000 to ... Read more

Dhaka-Dinajpur Highway closed Flooding in the northern, north-eastern and central districts worsened on Saturday as more areas came to be inundated because of the onrush of water from the upstream. Communication on the Dhaka–Dinajpur Highway has been snapped since afternoon as a road stretch of three kilometres went under knee-high water. The Roads and Highways ... Read more

Orgy of adulteration to rob Ramzan of holy grace Like in the previous years, textile dyes such as carbide and ethopene are feared to be used this year too for colouring different iftar items including the reddish Jelapi, the saffron Beguni, Peaju and potato chops, different kinds of sweetmeats and even Biriyani to allure unsuspecting ... Read more

All 5 aircraft on int’l routes down with glitches; cause 10-30 hours delays Technical glitches grounded all five key aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Friday causing untold suffering to over 2,700 passengers at home and abroad. The three DC-10-30s and the two Airbus Biman has were scheduled to fly to five major international destinations–Dubai, Abu ... Read more

The holy month of Ramadan begins today amidst religious fervour with the devout Muslims observing dawn-to-dusk fast for self-purification and divine blessings. The Ramadan, ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is considered a period of restraint and austerity for the purgation of the souls. During the month, devotees focus on abstinence and prayers including Tarabi ... Read more

Traders, economists blame gas, power shortages, law and order slide for glum scene Economists and businessmen said yesterday that disruptive gas and power supplies, lack of logistic and infrastructure supports as well as extortion are mainly discouraging the private sector from investing in the country. Talking to The Independent, economists Kazi Kholiquzzaman and Abu Ahmed ... Read more

Victims, police claim of land grab bid, looting of belongings; 4 criminals arrested Police yesterday rescued the nine members of three Hindu families kidnapped by a gang of criminals from a workshop in the city’s Sutrapur area after eight hours of effort. During the raid the law enforcers arrested four gangsters, who kidnapped the victims ... Read more

DU observes ‘Black Day’ today Students demand punishment to Fakhruddin, Moeen, Bari As the Dhaka University authorities observe ‘Black Day’ today (Sunday), different student organizations working on the DU campus have demanded exemplary punishment to former Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, former Army Chief Moeen U Ahmed and former DGFI Director Brigadier Fazlul Bari for ... Read more

The government initiative to demolish all illegal structures from the riverbed of Buriganga is facing obstruction from some influential quarters. People residing on the banks of the river alleged that people with political connection have been grabbing the Buriganga River over the years. But all government efforts to recover grabbed lands have so far failed ... Read more

The nation Friday observed the fifth anniversary of the grisly grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka demanding exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of the carnage that had left 24 people dead. Thousands of mourners thronged the Bangabandhu Avenue, the scene of the attack, in the afternoon and paid rich tributes to the ... Read more

BNP Secretary General Khondaker Delwar Hossain on Friday demanded fair trial of all killings, including the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally. “We are against all killings, including the August 21 carnage. When we were in power, there was an investigation into the tragic incident of August 21. Now a reinvestigation ... Read more

The High Court verdict fell on deaf ears of the government and autonomous authorities as none has so far initiated any move to protect women from being sexual harassed at workplaces and educational institutions. Some ministry executives cited excuses of not receiving the court order even in three months after it was delivered while autonomous ... Read more

Submitting upazila polls expenditure info The Election Commission (EC) will file cases against about 2,500 candidates of the January 22 upazila polls for not submitting their election expenditure statements in time. The EC has already directed deputy commissioners, who were also the returning officers of the polls, to file the cases by August 31, EC ... Read more

The holy month of Ramzan begins tomorrow (Sunday), as the moon was not sighted anywhere in Bangladesh yesterday. This was announced after a meeting of the National Moon-sighting Committee held at the Islamic Foundation at Baitul Mukarram in the city yesterday. Throughout this holy month, Muslims around the world will observe self-restraint and sanctity, two ... Read more

Prices of essentials witnessed a sharp rise in both wholesale and retail markets in the capital yesterday, a day after the commerce minister had fixed the wholesale prices of some daily necessities. Taking the opportunity of weak market monitoring, traders in kitchen markets are charging higher prices at will on the eve of Ramadan, alleged ... Read more

The global spread of swine flu will endanger more lives as it speeds up in coming months and governments must boost preparations for a swift response, the World Health Organisation said yesterday. There will soon be a period of further global spread of the virus, and most countries may see swine flu cases double every ... Read more

When the people of the country particularly the people of greater Sylhet area are concerned of the adverse impact of proposed Tipaimukh dam at the upper reaches of rivers Surma and Kushiara, at that time cannels, bills, hoars and small rivers of the area are facing water crisis even before the beginning of the construction ... Read more

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Nur Mohammad yesterday called for police investigation and inquiry into cases without interference of the government . Operational independence of the police will help carry out investigation into cases smoothly and fairly, he said while talking to reporters after attending a programme . The programme on ” Findings Dissemination ... Read more

Traffic system almost collapses; illegal rickshaws, buses throng roads; DMP seeks closure of schools after mid-Ramadan Traffic situation across the capital keeps worsening every day much to the plight of city residents while the authorities sits on various projects to improve the city’s infrastructure. The capital experiences gridlock before 9:00am on almost every working day ... Read more