Other Headlines

Although the relation between the World Bank (WB) and Bangladesh has strained slightly due to Padma bridge scam, the government received US$ 222 million higher foreign assistance from the WB during July to May of FY 2012-13 compared to FY 2011-12. According to Economic Relations Division (ERD), the WB is the largest development partner, in ... Read more

Myanmar border security force Nasaka abducted 21 Bangladeshi fishermen along with 6 fishing boats, from Naf river adjoining Bangladeshi border of Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district on Friday evening. All the abducted men were residents of Teknaf upazila. Nasaka abducted them while they were returning home after fishing from Bay of Bengal around 6: ... Read more

The Indian government has disbursed a total of USD 237 million, out of USD 800 million of the Indian line of Credit (LoC) and USD 200 million- grant, till date, according to Economic Relations Division (ERD) sources. The sources said the Indian government had given USD 87.06 million as credit till June 30 and the ... Read more

The debacle in the five city corporation elections at the fag end of its tenure, seems to have unnerved the ruling Awami League, with its top leaders involved in a blame game and mud-slinging over the poor performance of the party in the mayoral polls. In the latest of such incident, sharp division among the ... Read more

Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman Hussain Mohammad Ershad on Friday called upon all political parties to work together for the continuation of democracy in the country. “It would be excellent if all political parties could work unitedly for the betterment of our country and democracy,” he said while addressing an iftar party hosted by Jatiya Party ... Read more

Flood waters have remained unchanged in the country’s northern region on Friday, raising the affected people’s woes. The river Jamuna in Bahadurabad and the river Dharla in Kurigram flowed above the danger level by 18 cm and 2 cm, respectively, at 6 am on Friday, according to a Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) bulletin.

BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed on Friday urged the government to reach a mutual understanding with the opposition over the non-party caretaker government (CG) issue, so that the next general election could be held in a free, fair and impartial manner. “Following the ruling party’s debacle in the recently

Police foiled an attempted rally by students at the Shahbagh intersection here on Friday. The students were demanding cancellation of the quota system in the Bangladesh Civil Services (BCS) exams. The police picked up 40 students from Shahbagh and adjacent areas. However, Shahbagh Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Sirajul Islam said 36 people were

Two organisations have started a movement to defend the quota system for government jobs only two days after the protest of anti-quota government job seekers began. Amra Muktijoddhar Sontan and Muktijoddha Sangsad Sontan Command jointly formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club at about 11:00am and staged demonstration demanding

Awami League (AL) Presidium Member and former Home Minister Mohammad Nasim on Friday called upon the Election Commission (EC) to propose a stringent law to stop use of religion in politics. “The Election Commission should play a strong role in stopping misuse of religion in politics. For this purpose, the EC should not keep mum,” ... Read more

The government’s move to amend the Bangladesh Labour Law 2006 conflicts with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards and is unlikely to bring any benefit to the workers, observed legal experts and rights activists here on Friday. Addressing a roundtable discussion, they also demanded the government make an immediate review of the proposed

Notorious criminals have been using Chittagong and its adjoining areas as major points for smuggling illegal arms. They are using the sea-route as well as land borders for this purpose. On Wednesday night, the police recovered an AK-22, eight cartridges and two magazines from Moijjartek in the Karnaphuli thana area. However, no one has been ... Read more

Several hundred workers of Benson Apparels Ltd in the Tejgaon industrial zone staged a demonstration on Friday, demanding immediate payment of their overdue salaries, including fringe benefits. The agitated workers brought out a procession early in the morning and marched towards BGMEA Bhaban in the city.

Two Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders were expelled from the organisation for allegedly assaulting the principal of Srinagar Government College in Munshiganj on Thursday. The expelled BCL leaders are Parvez Sikdar Panir, general secretary of Srinagar upazila Chhatra League unit, and Mohammad Jakir Hossain Parrot, general secretary of Srinagar

Members of National Security Intelligence (NSI) held 16 Rohingyas and a Bangladeshi broker from a bus counter in the district town on Thursday night, foiling their attempt to go to India. The arrested broker, Sheikh Alam, son of Sheikh Saidur Rahman, hails from Laxmidori village in Sadar upazila. Satkhira NSI deputy director Shahidul Islam said ... Read more

Twenty-eight Bangladesh missions abroad failed to achieve their respective export targets set for the July-May period of the last fiscal year (2012-13) mostly because of moderate export growth. The key missions like ones in Washington, London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid and Paris failed to achieve their July-May export targets while some other important

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon the people to extend their cooperation in holding the next general election in a free and fair manner through participation of all parties including those in opposition. “The government is determined to espouse democracy, political stability and economic progress in the country,” she said in a statement to

With the onset of the Ramzan on Thursday, Iftar shops mushroomed in every corner of the capital displaying various traditional Iftar items.  Though prices of Iftar items have gone up this year, sellers say they have no choice but to raise prices due to high cost of ingredients. Yet, the high prices didn’t seem to ... Read more

A legal notice was on Thursday served to the Election Commission (EC) asking holding of much-delayed polls to the bifurcated Dhaka City Corporations. In the legal notice, advocates Gholam Nabi and M Alamgir Hossain asked the EC to reply to it within 48 hours after receiving it, or else, a writ petition will be filed ... Read more

Finance minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said that the proposal from a Chinese firm for building Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) was not acceptable as it wanted to appoint a fixed contractor. “As there are allegations of corruption against the PMB project, we can’t accept the proposal of a fixed contractor,” he added. He was talking ... Read more