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The government has already made arrangements for booking air tickets for record 93,761 Hajj pilgrims this year. “We have already signed agreements with other airlines as third carrier to ensure of carrying all hajj pilgrims on time,” Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister GM Quader told BSS on

Thousands of inhabitants in Old Dhaka’s Shankhari Bazar area and surrounding neighbourhoods are living in old and rundown buildings – some of them built over 100 years ago – putting their lives at great risks as an earthquake with even a moderate intensity can level hundreds of such structures to ground. Collapse of dilapidated structures, without ... Read more

Several thousand Bangladeshis overstaying their visas in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) can return home without facing punishment after the kingdom announced a six-month amnesty for overstayers of certain categories. The grace period starts today. The Saudi interior ministry said the amnesty will cover those who arrived in the kingdom on

sparking mob protest Reckless driving claimed the life of a private university student on Friday in front of Lab Aid Hospital in the capital, sparking off angry protests. The deceased, Mustafizur Rahman, son of Nazir Hossain, was a student of World University in the city’s Dhanmondi

Load shedding in every alternate hour has made a come back in the city in last few days because of a decline in power generation due to gas shortage and increase in demand after the Eid holidays. Power generation declined to around 4,000MW this week from around 4,200-4,400MW last week whereas official demand of electricity ... Read more

A fighter of the Bangladesh Air Force crashed into the Chittagong Port channel on Thursday but the pilot survived by ejecting himself just before the crash. Air Force sources said flight lieutenant Ahmed Sanjid had taken off the Jahurul Haque Air Base at Patenga at 1:48pm in an F-7 fighter aircraft and the plane

Cattle cannot be slaughtered in 45 days after being given anthrax vaccine and antibiotic as human beings can be infected by consumption of its meat, physicians and veterinary experts said. ‘Vaccinated cattle should not be slaughtered during the period when the antibody grows in its blood. The vaccine needs 21 to 45 days to produce ... Read more

Authorities demolish makeshift structures on Buriganga Dhaka district administration and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) yesterday evicted around 85 encroachers from the river Buriganga. They demolished makeshift structures, mostly semi-concrete, made at Swarighat in the city’s Lalbagh area as grocery and fruit shops, storehouse, office of

A member of Rapid Action Battalion was killed by a bullet from his own gun while he was on duty patrolling Baridhara Diplomatic Zone yesterday morning. It was not clear whether he committed suicide or it was an accident. Milon Sarker, 30, received a bullet when he was sitting in a patrol pick-up van of ... Read more

More than four kha illegal rickshaws are now plying on the Dhaka city streets causing terrible traffic jams and increasing public sufferings, according to Traffic Control Department of Dhaka Metropoliton Police. But the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has no information about the actual number of illegal rickshaws under the corporation area. The DCC

Five persons, including a kid, died and another was injured when their car collided head-on with a truck on Dhaka-Aricha Highway at Dhamrai in Manikganj last night. The deceased are Zafrin, 30, wife of Mosharraf Hossain of the capital’s Uttara, her son Dhrubo, 5, brother Sondhan, 16, relative Liza, 22, and the car

Chess Olympiad Men, women teams get better After losing the first round, Bangladesh bounced back in the 39th World Chess Olympiad when both of men’s and women’s teams won their second round in Khanty-Mansiysk yesterday. Bangladesh men’s team beat Zambia by 2.5-1.5 in the open section as FM Mehdi Hasan Parag beat Bwalya Gillan, Debaraj ... Read more

The government appears to be doing very little to meet the deadline for shifting the warehouses of inflammable and risky chemicals from Old Dhaka as no step has so far been taken to monitor the progress of relocating the stores scheduled to be completed by September 30. The industries ministry, which is looking into the ... Read more

Manpower export from Bangladesh set to resume Malaysia offers to hire around 5,000 fishermen from Bangladesh, which the government thinks would be the first step of reopening the door of the Southeast Asian country to Bangladeshi workers. “Having received offers from the Malaysian side, our high commissioner in Kuala Lumpur inquired if we could send ... Read more

The parliament on Wednesday passed a bill provisioning for punishment of real estate developers for wrongdoings and protection of the interests of buyers and landowners. The house passed the Real Estate Development and Management Bill 2009, prepared keeping an ordinance concerned promulgated by the immediate-past interim regime, which

Dyeing factory staff go into hiding At least 50 people fell sick due to toxic fumes from a dyeing factory on the ground floor of a six-storey residential structure made of tin sheets at Madhya Kunipara in the capital’s Tejgaon industrial area yesterday. Of the sick people, 25 were rushed to local hospitals. Most of ... Read more

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday decided to hold the long overdue elections of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and municipalities by December and union parishad polls between January and February next year. Considering school examinations, Eid-ul-Azha and Hajj, the EC will hold the elections for

Say experts Properly cooking meat in 120 degree Celsius temperature is an easy way to avert anthrax, said the experts in the capital yesterday at a seminar. They also said the spore (germ) of anthrax cannot sustain in 120 degree Celsius. But we are use to cook meat in a pot at 100 degree Celsius ... Read more

Four people died and another fell ill after drinking toxic alcohol in Shahjadpur upazila of Sirajganj Tuesday night. Police sources said the victims collected the toxic liquor from Lahiri Mohanpur Bazar in Ullapara upazila Monday night, and fell ill after drinking the homemade alcohol. When their condition

Measures to enforce seatbelts for car drivers, helmets for motorcyclists The communication has decided to launch a crackdown on illegal establishments along the country’s major highways and strictly enforce safety rules like buckling seat-belts for the car drivers and wearing helmets for motorcycle riders. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the National Road ... Read more