Headlines

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

Farm sector, major environmental initiatives, hugely expanded social safety net set proposed budget big-spending Finance Minister AMA Muhith proved his reputation of being a straight talker when he placed his maiden budget for the new government in parliament yesterday that explicitly aimed at protecting the domestic industry and at the same time laid down the ... Read more

Earning Tk 79,461 crore; Expenditure Tk 82,ooo crore; ADP Tk 30,500 crore; deficit Tk 34,358 crore; GDP growth target 5.5 per cent Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith presented a Tk. 1,13819 crore national budget for 2009-10 in parliament on Thursday with special emphasis on implementing the ruling Awami League’s election pledge – ‘Charter of ... Read more

Officials of the import wing of Chittagong Customs House (CCH), biggest revenue earner for the national exchequer, reportedly became over efficient and finished formalities of clearing more than 1800 automobiles before Wednesday midnight. According to some of the retired customs officials the state exchequer could have received more than Taka 540 million if the clearing ... Read more

As the new government stresses strong and expanded social-safety net in its flagship vision of change, Finance Minister Muhith proposed to allocate Tk 1,176 crore for employment generation for the hardcore poor in a bid to give a shot in the arm of the rural economy. In his budget speech in parliament yesterday he said ... Read more

The government has stressed the private sector involvement to increase electricity generation to 20,000 MW by 2021 from 3,800MW at present. Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith in his budget speech said, “We are determined to take appropriate steps to increase power generation to 20,000 MW by 2021. It is not possible on the part ... Read more