Thanks PM for proposal; says he would rather head ‘World Social Business Bank’ in future Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus has said he is not interested in taking the helm of the World Bank, as he wants to dedicate his life to social business. In a statement issued yesterday, he, however, thanked Prime Minister Sheikh ... Read more
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Students lose interest in science
Study says number of science students in decline as more and more opt for business education While the country desperately needs more science graduates as human resource, the number of science students at the secondary and higher secondary levels is dropping rapidly. More students are opting for business education as new commercial institutions like bank, ... Read more
Muggers on bikes go desperate
Stepping onto the streets of the capital with considerable amount of money may turn fatal as there could be someone on a motorbike watching you and might mug you. If you are lucky, they would probably leave you alive to tell the sorry tale. So, think twice, be careful or you may invite the fate ... Read more
Migratory birds vanish gradually
Pashua Haor in Sunamganj Migratory birds vanish gradually The number of migratory birds visiting the Pashua haor in Sunamganj has drastically fallen from four lakh to four thousand a year over the last eight years as the haor is losing its ecological balance. “The ecosystem here is greatly hampered by indiscriminate collection of plants and ... Read more
17,000 phone subscribers quit BTCL despite improved service
Everything is not hunky-dory for the country’s land phone operators, experts say. The state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) has been struggling for some time now to retain its subscriber base, sources in the company said. Despite BTCL’s attempts at improving the quality of its services (QoS) by bringing the nationwide call switching
20,000 websites for people by 2015
Govt moves to take e-services to rural areas The government will launch 20,000 websites by 2015 to take e-service to the masses in efforts to materialise its vision of Digital Bangladesh. The websites will be developed under the National Portal Framework (NPF) in districts, upazilas, divisions, ministries and directorates with a free web-hosting by the ... Read more
An insult the boy couldn’t accept
Takes his life after picked up for theft by cops A 14-year-old boy, apparently unable to bear the disgrace of being picked up by police in connection with theft, yesterday took his own life. The family of the deceased, Khondker Shafiqul Islam Dipraj, 14, a class VIII student of Shaheed Zia Bashabo High School in ... Read more
Patients in peril as drug prices shoot up
Costlier dollar blamed The prices of life-saving drugs are increasing seemingly due to costlier imports of raw materials and the depreciation of the taka vis-à-vis foreign currencies. Poor patients are the worst sufferers of this pricing disorder. Prices for most of the pharmaceutical products are on an upward trajectory, while drug traders blame manufacturing companies ... Read more
Climate change to hurt food security
Bangladesh must improve financial management to get int’l fund to fight its impacts, say experts Bangladesh must improve its financial management to obtain a significant share of funds available globally to combat climate change impacts and ensure food security, said an eminent climatologist yesterday. “The developed countries are ready to release billions of dollars to ... Read more
Cheats target mobile users
Sending junk SMS, call to mint money You have dealt with junk e-mails but how do you deal with junk calls and texts? In recent weeks, mobile phone users have been complaining that they were noticing missed calls on their handsets from certain seemingly overseas numbers on a regular basis. Many said they were getting ... Read more
Nation pays homage to language heroes
People in bare feet started streaming along the roads leading to the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka and monuments across the country a minute after midnight past Monday as the nation is paying homage to the martyrs of the language movement of 1952. As the clock struck one minute past midnight, people in their thousands ... Read more
Living gets tough
Inflation dwarfs wage growth All’s not well when it comes to cost of living and wages in the country. According to the data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), due to high inflation the real wages of the working class people suddenly marked a sharp drop last fiscal year. As the inflation has exceeded 10 ... Read more
Yunus banks on youths
Says they will change politics Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday called for an alternative political stream in the country, saying politicians were failing to fulfil the aspirations of the people. He said frustration over politics was deepening among the people. “People are not satisfied with the politicians. So, politics has to be pursued in new ways. ... Read more
Awards go to 10
Bangla Academy yesterday announced its literary award for 2011 in nine fields of literature. Dr Shamsuzzaman Khan, director general of the academy, named the 10 winners of Bangla Academy Sahitya Award 2011 at its premises. The awardees are Ashim Shaha and Kamal Chowdhury for poetry, Anisul Hoque for literature
Unchecked dumping in Gulshan lake
Despite the High Court’s (HC) directives, on January 25, 2011, to demarcate the city’s Gulshan Lake and remove all illegal structures from it within the next two months, rampant encroachment on the lake continues unabated in the area under the Banani-Gulshan Bridge II. Some unscrupulous people, in the dark of the night, had been dumping ... Read more
21 Bangladeshis on death row abroad
Another 31 facing murder trials in 6 Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian countries At least 21 Bangladeshis are facing death sentence and 31 undergoing trial for murder in six Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian countries — Bangladesh’s major labour markets. The cases involve 43 murders, including those of 28 Bangladeshis, over trading of visas and involvement ... Read more
House rent increase outstrips inflation
Tenants living in Dhaka continued in 2011 to face above inflation increases in house rents, with slum dwellers paying higher than the rich, according to a report published by the Consumers Association of Bangladesh In 2011, average rents increased by 16 per cent, according to the report, whilst in the same period, inflation rose by ... Read more
Journalist couple stabbed to death
Runi’s two brothers briefly detained: Two security guards in custody Popular journalist couple, Golam Mustafa Sarwar alias Sagar Sarwar, a news editor of private television channel Maasranga, and his wife Meherun Nahar alias Meherun Runi, a senior reporter of ATN Bangla, were stabbed to death at their West Rajabazar residence in the capital early Saturday. ... Read more
Remove all illegal structures
Gulshan Lake Remove all illegal structures HC directs govt The High Court (HC) yesterday directed the government to demarcate the city’s Gulshan Lake and remove the illegal structures from it in the next two months. The lake has to be demarcated as per Revisional Survey (RS) records, Deputy Attorney General ABM Altaf Hossain told The ... Read more
Stop Gulshan Lake grabbing
HC asks Rajuk The High Court (HC) yesterday directed the Rajuk authorities to free Gulshan Lake from grabbing and encroachment in seven days. During the hearing on the rule, the court said it has jurisdiction to empower any authority to save the environment, which includes the