Headlines

Intelligence vigilance has been beefed up to the highest level in industrial belts after the recent garment unrest at Ashuliya, as part of the government decision to ensure security to the over 12 billion dollar export-processing zone industries that employ over 3.1 million workers, mostly women. Ashuliya-Savar and Mirpur-Tejgaon belt in Dhaka district, Gazipur-Tongi-Joydebpur-Sreepur and ... Read more

New JMB Offshoot Shahadat, Selim call each other chief The top leaders of banned JMB’s splinter Islam O Muslim Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat and Selim alias Saifullah designated each other as the chief of the offshoot organisation during remand, police said yesterday. Police said Shahadat, Selim and two others–Sajedur Rahman alias Hanif and Jalal Uddin–had ... Read more

The underground water levels in the city are falling by 2/3 metres every year, said Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Syed Ashraful Islam in the House on Thursday. Replying to a question from Begum Nazma Akhter (Female seat- 13), he said 87 percent of the drinking water in the capital is being procured from the ... Read more

Three Bangladeshis, who were among the 17 South Asians caught in a Greece-bound container in Limassol port of Cyprus on Tuesday, were remanded by the Cypriot police. The Cyprus Mail on Thursday reported that 19 people, including two alleged Pakistani human traffickers, appeared in the

Govt’s bid to recover 26 canals from grabbers shows little success Although over 50 affluent canals once used to flow through the capital and added to its lifeline, most of the water channels have been fully or partially choked, while the rest are under serious threat thanks to unabated encroachment. The Dhaka Water Supply and ... Read more

The High Court yesterday directed the government to preserve and maintain all-important historical places including killing grounds, relating to the Liberation War of the country. The court also asked the government to build monuments of international standard at Suhrawardy Udyan where Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur Rahman delivered his historic addresses on March 7, 1971 calling upon ... Read more

The National Human Rights Commission Bill, likely to be passed by the parliament today, will not ensure the protection of human rights as it will not empower the commission to take any action against perpetrators of right violations, said experts and rights activists. The bill will rather ensure the establishment of a commission subservient to ... Read more

A dare devil young man, suspected to be an operative of the outlawed militant outfit of Jamiatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), stormed into the local office of the Bangldesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) in the district headquarters yesterday afternoon and threatened to blow up the building. The young man in his thirties sneaked into the switch ... Read more

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is under pressure to withdraw the corruption cases it filed against the leaders and activists of the ruling party, according to sources. The sources said the high ups of the ACC were told verbally to withdraw corruption cases filed during the last 4-party alliance government and the caretaker regime against the ... Read more

A number of real estate companies are involved in illegal dredging of rivers to extract sand and silt from Turag and other rivers in Ashulia through dredgers to fill in the low-lying areas on both sides of the river for their big housing projects. Local people and experts allege that such mass extraction of river ... Read more

Shoot two in city to rob them; violent snatchings spiral despite special drive Armed muggers yesterday in broad daylight shot two persons and made off with around Tk 4 lakh in separate incidents in the capital’s Shyamoli and South Keraniganj areas. Police said three muggers on a motorbike shot Acme Laboratories’ Accounts Officer Mostak Ahmed, ... Read more

War Crime Trial Bill placed to change law A bill was placed in parliament yesterday seeking amendment to the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act 1973 to try any individual and group of individuals on charge of 1971 war crimes. Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed placed the bill with a proposal for including a ... Read more

Consumers’ groups oppose it, demand system loss cut The Rural Electrification Board Wednesday made a submission to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission to raise its tariff by 11.52 per cent on average. But, different consumer right groups, opposing the plea, demanded elimination of the REB’s existing system loss and improvement in the customer services. The ... Read more

Climate change is driving the Royal Bengal Tiger, celebrated monarch of the Sundarbans, from its natural habitat in search of food, say experts-leading to tragic consequences for the already critically endangered species in its encounters with humans. Two tigers have been beaten to death by villagers this year in Bangladesh’s Bagerhat and

LOS ANGELES: A gold-plated casket bearing Michael Jackson took centre stage on Tuesday as hundreds of millions worldwide bade farewell to the King of Pop in the final curtain call of his glittering career. Tears and tributes flowed as mourners gathered at Los Angeles’ Staples Center for a star-studded but sombre celebration of the music ... Read more

Stocks in hot money spin again The company had been incurring losses for four consecutive years till 2007, producing aluminium panels. Last year its share price dropped as low as Tk 43 while the face value of the share is Tk 100. Then came in a foreign investment fund, offering to pump in a huge ... Read more

Extortion continues unabated on city footpaths where hawkers and small-time traders need to pay musclemen hundreds of thousands of takas in toll every day for spaces to run their business. Musclemen in collusion with some law enforcers allegedly run this toll collection business. Local influential political leaders are reported to have a share in the ... Read more

A network of counterfeiting currency notes of high denominations is active across the country and has clandestinely circulated Tk 1000 forged notes in the market since its introduction in September last year causing serious concern in banking circles and among businessmen and the public. Bangladesh Bank has collected as many as fifty one thousand taka ... Read more

DB catches 7 car thieves, killers; recovers a vehicle A good number of used-car dealers in the capital are involved in trading stolen cars, Deputy Commissioner (south) of the Detective Branch of Police revealed yesterday. He said some of around 50 carjacking gangs active in the city provide the so-called car showrooms with stolen cars. ... Read more

Barrister Aminul Haque, one of the powerful ministers of the four-party government, was finally sent to jail yesterday in connection with a graft case in which he was earlier jailed for 10 years in absentia. Aminul, a key patron of banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Rajshahi region during 2004-2005, was also sentenced to 31 ... Read more