Other Headlines

Says health minister Two hundred and thirty-one people were diagnosed with AIDS while 37 of them died in last one year in the country, Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque has said. He said 343 HIV positive patients were diagnosed last year taking the total number of the affected to 2,088. The total number of AIDS ... Read more

Both farmers and consumers will lose, only middlemen will gain Farmers throughout the country criticised the recent government decision to import rice from the international market rather than procuring Aman paddy from local farmers, arguing that not only will they incur losses but that the consumers will also not gain. Food minister Abdur Razzaque, after ... Read more

Donors found out that Muhammad Yunus drew off nearly Tk 7 billion ($100 million) in aid for poor borrowers of Grameen Bank to another of his companies back in 1996, the Norwegian TV says. An investigative foreign TV documentary ‘Fanget i Mikrogjeld’ or ‘Caught in Micro Debt’ aired on Tuesday on the National Norwegian Television, ... Read more

The state minister for environment and forests, Hasan Mahmud, on Wednesday said Bangladesh would emphasise reduction in carbon emissions by developed nations at the United Nations climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico. He said they would strongly demand funds and technology support in adaptation against

BDR mutiny trial Lawyers not allowed to be alone with their clients The lawyers, engaged by BDR soldiers accused of mutiny, have alleged that they cannot give their clients proper legal assistance as they are not being allowed to be alone with them. According to Section 10A(3) of the Bangladesh Rifles Order 1972, the accused ... Read more

10-truck Arms Case Ex-NSI chief remanded A Chittagong court yesterday granted five days’ remand for former director general of National Security Intelligence (NSI) Brigadier General (retd) Abdur Rahim in connection with the 10-truck arms haul case. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Paresh Chandra Sharma passed the order after Criminal Investigation Department (CID) produced him before the court ... Read more

The government’s policy of preventing government hospitals from providing anti-viral drugs to people infected with the HIV virus has been heavily criticised by physicians and health activists. They are also critical of the continued discrimination that HIV positive patients face when they try to get normal medical care from government

Poverty seen as key reason A total of 2.81 lakh students out of some 24.88 lakh did not turn up for this year’s Primary Education Terminal Examinations that ended on Monday. The number of absentees is 1.27 lakh higher than that of last year. Around 1.54 lakh students did not take the examinations last year ... Read more

Both the CT scan machines at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital remain out of order causing huge suffering for patients with critical head injuries requiring scan. One of the two machines got broken nearly six months ago and the remaining one on November 22. DMCH Radiology and Imaging Department sources said it is

The Bangladesh cricket team will take on Zimbabwe in the first match of their five-match one-day series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today. The match, due to start at 9:00am, will be telecast live on BTV. This is the Tigers’ first international assignment since their landmark 4-0 trouncing of

After nearly 100 years of plying the rivers of Bangladesh, the glory days of the last four romantic “rocket” paddle-wheel boats appear numbered. Their worn-out engines and paddles are failing, while competition from faster modes of transport lures away their customers. The “steamers” — now diesel-powered — still have strong points and fans. “Rocket steamer ... Read more

A housewife was hacked to death allegedly by her son at Kadamtali in the capital on Tuesday morning. The victim was Nurjahan Begum, 42, wife of Mahmudur Rahman, a retired army man. The family said Nurjahan Begum had an altercation with her eldest son, Tanvir Hasan Shovon, 23, over a trifling matter in their house ... Read more

World AIDS Day will be observed in the country as elsewhere in the world today. The health ministry has worked out elaborate programmes on the occasion. Various other organisations have also planned programmes to mark the day. The health minister, AFM Ruhal Haque, will address a seminar at the

A young engineer was arrested yesterday for harassing a female university student on the social networking site Facebook. Arrested Aleem Uddin, 28, an assistant engineer of Western Marine Shipyard in Chittagong, hails from Noakhali. Police said Aleem had opened a fake account of the victim, whom he termed his former girlfriend,

Bangladesh along with other weather-hit countries to raise voice once again for its quick release as UN starts Cancun summit today The 16th United Nations climate conference kicks off in Cancun, Mexico today amid this year’s experience of numerous extreme weather events, and doubling of related global human death toll compared to last year’s. Bangladesh ... Read more

The High Court on Sunday asked the chief controller (export and import) and the chairman of Chittagong Port Authority to inform the court within four weeks on how much soya bean oil had been imported in last six months and what their prices were. The president and secretary of Vegetable Oil Refiners’ and Vanaspati Manufacturers’ ... Read more

Railway proposes to buy 10 motors initially to improve travel to and from Dhaka; estimated Tk 210cr to come from Indian credit The government is going to introduce railcars between the capital and its adjoining districts next year to improve the transport of commuters to and from the capital. Bangladesh Railway recently submitted a proposal ... Read more

Leaders of the launch owners’ association on Sunday decided to pick up passengers in the middle of the River Buriganga and avoid using Sadarghat pontoons in protest at continued harassment by the pontoon leaseholder. The owners in the afternoon started picking up passengers in the mid-river after ferrying them

Actor and Dhaka City Corporation Councillor Monwar Hossain Dipjol turned himself in to the police last night, 12 days after he went into hiding to elude arrest over assault on a policeman. Abdul Malek, officer-in-charge of Darussalam Police Station, said Dipjol surrendered shortly before 10:00pm in connection with a case filed on November 17 for ... Read more

The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined a factory a record Tk 69.87 lakh for discharging untreated liquid waste in the Bhairab River in Jessore. This is the first ever punishment for polluting environment in the country’s South-Western region and also the highest ever penalty awarded to a factory by