Other Headlines

Legal notice served Violating High Court orders, shipping and environment departments have permitted 16 more toxic ships to enter the country. As of yesterday, at least 10 of the 16 ships, mostly tanker and bulker, have reached the shore for scrapping after they received no objection certificates (NOC) from the shipping department, said

The High Court on Thursday stayed for three months the government’s decision to distribute 50 per cent of hospital users’ fees among doctors, nurses and employees. The health and family welfare ministry on September 9, 2009, issued a notification increasing the ‘user fees’ in all public health facilities and on July 22, 2010,

The 19th International Day of Persons with Disabilities will be observed today in the country as elsewhere across the world with an aim to promote a better understanding of disability issues with a focus on the rights of persons with disabilities. The theme of the day this year is ‘Keeping the Promise: Mainstreaming Disability in ... Read more

Russia has been chosen to host the 2018 World Cup football and Qatar has been selected to stage the 2022 tournament. The Russian bid was picked ahead of England, Spain-Portugal and Holland-Belgium to host the 2018 event. Qatar got the better of the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea to stage in

A stalker allegedly hacked a father to death at Bahadurpur village under Motlob North upazila of the district Tuesday night for protesting harassment of his school-going daughter and marring her off. The deceased identified as Monir Hossain, 45, of Bahadurpur village, was a fish trader at Jatrabari of the capital. Abdul Hannan, 20, son of ... Read more

The new pay structure under which more than three million garment workers are set to receive increased wages this week will not put pressure on factory owners as their income has increased sharply in recent times. Industry watchers and labour activists cautioned that habitually some factories may try to

BDR sepoy jailed, also loses service benefits for contempt A BDR special court yesterday for the first time sentenced an accused mutineer to six months in prison and dismissed him from his services on charges of contempt of court. The Special Court-7 brought contempt charges against sepoy Abdul Baset of 24 Rifle Battalion of Pilkhana ... Read more

Bangladesh’s winning streak came to an abrupt end when they lost to Zimbabwe by nine runs in the first one-day international of the five-match series in Dhaka on Wednesday. Amid a free fall of wickets, skipper Sakib al Hasan played a gallant knock to lift the side from an abyss, but his 63 off 65 ... Read more

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