Headlines

Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee The ruling Awami League has asked top leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League, its associate body, to go tough on activists involved in recent campus violence that forced closure of a few educational institutions, a leader of BCL told New Age. The government has also asked the law enforcers to take action against ... Read more

Mirza Shakil and Pinaki Roy Ammonia mixed toxic gas and urea dust emitted from Jamuna Fertiliser Factory (JFF) in Jamalpur have allegedly been wreaking havoc on the local environment and causing debilitating illnesses among the locals. The toxic gas of the largest urea producing factory, at Tarandani of Sarishabari upazila in Tangail, has also been ... Read more

Says Abdus Shahid Staff Correspondent Abdus Shahid, who was picked to be chief whip by prime minister, said the nation would not accept any war criminal as the deputy speaker of the parliament if the opposition party proposes such name. “The nation will not accept any war criminal as the deputy speaker as the nation ... Read more

Agency Thailand will investigate reports that the Thai navy abandoned migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar on a barge in the ocean where hundreds of them may have drowned, according to an AP report. Quoting the Thai Foreign Ministry, the AP report from Bangkok also said it will reassess the overall situation of

JOINT TASK FORCE AGAINST TERRORISM Hasina to talk to South Asian countries United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said she would talk to South Asian countries to form an anti-terrorism task force as her government wants to build Bangladesh as a peaceful country. ‘I will talk to other countries to ... Read more

BNP to convene national council soon Countrywide committees to be revamped after UZ polls: Delwar Staff Correspondent BNP, the main opposition political party in the parliament, will revamp its all committees and associate bodies after January 22 upazila election in order to strengthen the party’s organizational activities BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain and Vice-Chairman ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The government will confiscate dealership licences and forfeit security money if any dealer is found selling fertiliser at a higher price than the government-fixed rate. “Nobody can charge extra money for fertiliser. If anybody is found doing it, then the government will take stern punitive measure against the person concerned,” said Agriculture Secretary ... Read more

Syful Islam Yarns worth Tk 25,000 crore were lying in the country’s textile factories, as local products can’t compete with Indian ones due to price difference, posing threat to the growing industry, stakeholders say. They said neighbouring India is dumping its low quality yarn, facilitated by recent depreciation of rupee against US dollar and government ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The newly appointed Dhaka University (DU) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof AAMS Arefin Siddque yesterday formally took charge of the office from former DU VC Prof SMA Faiz at around 10:30am. He said he would take necessary steps for holding the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) elections after talking with the students’ organisations. “Personally ... Read more

Assault by senior official alleged Staff Correspondent, Rajshahi Several hundred prison guards staged angry protests both in and outside Rajshahi Central Jail last evening after a prison guard was allegedly assaulted by a senior prison official. The demonstrators were demanding immediate removal of senior jail superintendent Harun-ur Rashid till filing of this report around 9:30pm. ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, Naim Ahmed, on Saturday said more teenagers were involved in criminal activities in Dhaka these days and urged the guardians to keep their children from being derailed. The city police chief said the police had so far listed more than 500 teenagers involved in crimes in various parts ... Read more

United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka Army troops will move out for some areas from today for upazila election duties across the country and start their operation from January 20, two days ahead of the polls. The troops will remain at the field level until January 24, two days after the voting, and work as ... Read more

Siddiqur Rahman Khan The sales of primary textbooks meant for free distribution are rampant across the country, guardians and market sources said. The students from Classes I to V of government, non-government and community primary schools and ibtedayi madrassahs are scheduled to get the books in the first week of January. Market sources said guardians ... Read more

Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee The Awami League, which swept the elections, is considering significant changes in the membership of its national committee to make the party more dynamic, and is concentrating on including new faces in its central committee. The party wants to give scope to the young, honest and energetic leaders to join its national ... Read more

Post-election Insight BNP likely to lean on the young for comeback Rashidul Hasan Both Awami League (AL) and BNP, the two major political parties in the country, are planning radical changes in their leaderships. While AL’s move is sparked by its desire to maintain the momentum it achieved through its recent landslide electoral victory and ... Read more

Staff Reporter Japan yesterday offered Bangladesh a loan Assistance Package of US$440 Million for Electricity and Bridges Projects. The loan offer came at a telephone conversation when Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso made the call to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday. During the talks the two prime ministers discussed various bilateral issues including recently held ... Read more

Rival factions trade 25 rounds of gunshot Anupam Deb Kanunjna At least 30 students sustained injuries in a clash between rival groups of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, associate organisation of the Awami League, at Jahangirnagar University over capture of halls of residence on Friday. The clash erupted at around midday when activists of the group ... Read more

BNP Places ‘Rigging Evidence’ Votes cast exceed total voters at a Natore-6 centre Staff Correspondent BNP yesterday came up with fresh ‘evidence of vote rigging and irregularities’ in the recently held parliamentary election, and said these were the main reasons behind the party’s polls debacle. Alleging that ballot boxes were filled with so many fake ... Read more

Staff Correspondent A crackdown on hardened criminals by the members of different law enforcing agencies including Police and RAB is in the offing to combat the wave of crime that has swept the country in the wake of the withdrawal of the state of emergency. “The government is determined to combat crime and criminals in ... Read more

Staff Correspondent No development projects taken by the government would be implemented fully if corruption and irregularities within bureaucracy are not removed, experts and economists said. Talking to The Bangladesh Today, TIB executive director Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed and economist Dr. Atiar Rahman echoing the same tone said Awami League-led government would not be able to ... Read more