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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

The government on Tuesday formed steering committees at all tiers – from the national level to the grassroots – across the country to check spread of anthrax among cattle and humans as well and contain the situation ahead of Eid-ul-Azha when Muslims would sacrifice hundreds of thousands of animals. An inter-ministerial meeting at the secretariat took ... Read more

Three Bangladeshi expatriates were killed and three others critically wounded in a road accident in Madinah of Saudi Arabia early Monday. The deceased were identified as Mohammad Kutub Uddin, 42, owner of a residential hotel, his eight-year-old son Minhaz Uddin, his business partner Hazi Rafique Ahmed, 40, and

Buckling seatbelts while driving and wearing helmets when riding motorbikes have been made mandatory in the country in a bid to curb road accidents. The 33rd meeting of the Road Transport Advisory Council has also decided to impose a ban on talking over mobile phones while driving. The meeting was held yesterday at the

The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined two factories a total of Tk 16 lakh for polluting Turag and Dhaleswari rivers with untreated liquid waste. The dyeing plants, Rakef Apparels Washing and Packaging Industries Limited in Kaliakoir and Towel Text Limited in Savar are more than ten years old and process around two

Heavy rainfall in Cherrapunji yesterday has caused Surma and Kushiyara rivers to swell worsening the flood situation in Sylhet and Moulvibazar, while conditions improved in other flood-hit districts. The Kushiyara was flowing 150cm above danger level at Amalshid point yesterday while the Surma was flowing 99cm above the red mark at Kanaighat point, said an ... Read more

Seeks 5 years’ jail for or fine of 5 lakh taka for polluting environment The government on Monday placed the Environment Court Bill 2010 in the Parliament, seeking provisions for allowing citizens to file cases against polluters and for setting up at least one environment court in each district. The government has also placed the ... Read more

Officials forecast Around 18,000 thousand tonnes of aman rice might be damaged in the floods that have submerged 53,000 hectares of cropland in 12 districts. About 1.20 lakh tonnes of rice could be produced on the transplanted and broadcast aman fields now under flood waters. About 15 percent of the possible yield will be