Headlines

A third High Court (HC) bench yesterday admitted the writ petition of former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia challenging the Government’s notice asking her to vacate the Dhaka Cantonment residence. The bench comprising Justice Zinnat Ara and Justice Abdul Hakim fixed next Sunday (May 10) for hearing of the petition on Attorney ... Read more

Bangabandhu killers to be brought back The government is expected to sign extradition treaties with India, the UK and the USA, paving the way for handing over criminals from one signatory country to another, it was learnt yesterday. After signing of the proposed extradition treaties, the Bangladesh government will take fresh initiatives to bring back ... Read more

A parliamentary panel on Sunday constituted a three-member subcommittee to investigate alleged corruption in the power and energy sector during the five-year tenure of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government and a two-year regime of a military-backed administration. ‘We have assigned a committee to investigate the alleged plunder of public money in power and energy ... Read more

Empowerment in local bodies remains still unresolved MPs’ unusual unity to exercise power Conspiracy against local development: UZ Chairmen When the country’s two top political leaders-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Begum Khaleda Zia – are draggersdrawn with each other over various issues, their followers are in an unusual unity at Parliament and local ... Read more

Ctg Arms Haul Case Ex-NSI boss held He allegedly played key role in arranging transport Former director (Security) of National Security Intelligence (NSI) Sahab Uddin was arrested in the capital’s Green Road yesterday for his alleged involvement in arranging transport and equipment for carrying the illegal arms and ammunition seized at CUFL jetty in Chittagong ... Read more

Says education policy formulation committee chief Education Policy Formulation Committee Chairman Kabir Chowdhury yesterday said the government wants to introduce a uni-track curriculum for students at least up to class five. “We would like to eliminate the existing discrimination at primary level education,” committee Chairman Kabir Chowdhury told reporters after its first meeting. On April ... Read more

In compliance with a recent Supreme Court order, the High Court Sunday asked the bigwig fugitive graft-convicts to surrender to the respective trial courts within two weeks. Justice M Imman Ali of the special HC bench passed the orders while disposing of a bunch of pending bail petitions filed by bigwig fugitive graft-convicts. The special ... Read more

Three out of the five journalists who received the “Unesco-Bangladesh Journalism Awards 2009” for investigative journalism are from The Daily Star. The Daily Star bagged two awards in the print media category while Channel-i and Bangla Vision won one each in the broadcast media category. “Journalists are contributing to

Garment factories situated outside the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are getting unequal facilities compared to those located inside the EPZs, resulting them to face various challenges, BGMEA sources said. Factories inside the EPZ, which exports 100 per cent of its production, are enjoying 10-year tax holiday and duty free machineries import facilities. The apex garment ... Read more

More than 56,000 children in Asia will die as a result of the economic crisis gripping the world economy, the Asian Development Bank said Sunday. The sliding growth rate will bring “serious economic and social impacts in the region,” ADB Managing Director General Rajat Nag said on the sidelines of the bank’s annual governors’ meeting ... Read more

A Bangladeshi national was one of eight foreign national who died of swine flu in Mexico, Health Minister A F M Ruhul Haque said yesterday quoting an AFP journalist. “I heard the news (of death of a Bangladeshi) from an AFP journalist,” the Minister told newsmen. Mexico’s National Epidemiological Center on Wednesday confirmed that the ... Read more

BNP ready for massive gathering at Paltan BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her family members on Thursday submitted three separate applications to the government for withdrawing 20 cases filed against them by the last caretaker government. Khaleda Zia sat in a separate meeting with the two leaders last Monday and Tuesday as there are conflicts ... Read more

The historic May Day will be observed in the city as elsewhere across the country today with a call for establishment of the fundamental rights of the working class of people. On this day in 1886, scores of workers were killed at Hey Market in Chicago in the United States when the workers staged demonstration ... Read more

Party’s interest more important to union leaders than workers’ rights Opportunism, corruption, undue political interference, workers’ disunity and the ideological divide between the leaders have stalled the trade union movement in Bangladesh for decades, which has allowed the workers’ rights to be trampled across the country, said analysts and activists. The absence of constructive unionism ... Read more

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain yesterday categorically said the construction of long cherished Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) would be completed within December 2013. “On completion, the Padma Bridge is expected to contribute an additional 1.2 per cent growth to Syed Abul Hossain was speaking at a presentation on design of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge held ... Read more

Eight firms vie for 300MW station Eight power companies yesterday submitted their financial and technical bids to install a 300 megawatt power plant in Siddhirganj under the World Bank financing, the first power bid opened under the new Awami League government. Sources say four Chinese companies, an Indian and an Indo-German joint venture, a Korean ... Read more

The government on Thursday decided to distribute textbooks among all the 70 lakh secondary students free from the academic year 2010, the education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, told New Age. ‘The decision was made at a meeting attended by the finance minister and the chairman and members of the parliamentary standing committee on education ministry,’ ... Read more

The government appointed Ghulam Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chief yesterday, twenty-eight days after Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury stepped down from the post. The government also downgraded the status of the ACC chairman to a Supreme Court judge from the status of a minister given during the tenure of ... Read more

Water level 75.05 MSL instead of 82.40 Kaptai Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP), the country’s lone hydroelectric power project, is now in operation with one unit only out of five, generating just 90 megawatt (MW) of electricity instead of installed 230MW at present. With the decline of power generation at KHPP due to drastic fall of ... Read more

Diarrhoea outbreak in the city has become phenomenal as the inhabitants have no other way except for drinking muddy and stinking water. Scorching heat continues all over the country, our correspondents from Bhola, Rangpur and Gopalganj have reported that one person in each place has died of heatstroke. The deceased are Yasen Patwari (65) of ... Read more