Other Headlines

The 11th South Asian Games got underway with a dazzling opening ceremony at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday with thousand of athletes and performers taking part in the three-and-a-half hour programme, reports The Daily Star. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared the 12-day regional sports extravaganza open. Bangladesh had hosted the event in 1985 and

Bangladesh Railway will introduce SMS ticketing service through mobile phone next month to ease sufferings of commuters. “Initially, the service will be launched on the Dhaka-Chittagong route. If successful, it will be expanded to the countrywide rail network. All necessary technical aspects have been checked and duly completed. We hope to launch the service at ... Read more

Six players and a Nepalese official were injured yesterday when a lift crashed at a hotel in the city, three-and-a-half hours before the launch of the South Asian Games, reports The New Nation. The injured players are Radha Devi Rai, Debu Thapa, Kulu Man Tamang, Ramesh Magar, Gyan Bahadur Shrestha and Gopal Shrestha. The injured ... Read more

The 4th convocation of the Jahangirnagar University (JU) will be held on the university campus today. Chancellor of the university president Md Zillur Rahman will preside over the function and hand over certificates and medals to the students, reports The Independent Chief justice Mohammed Tafazzal Islam will address the convocation as a convocation

HC vacates 9-year injunction The High Court in a verdict yesterday cleared the way for exploration of oil and gas from the country’s onshore blocks by vacating its nine-year old injunction on such exploration. The court also discharged a 12-year old writ petition that challenged the government move to sign production-sharing contract (PSC) with foreign ... Read more

Sea Boundary With India Three arbitrators’ hiring discussed India and Bangladesh yesterday discussed the appointment of three arbitrators to a five-member tribunal, which would deal with the issue of maritime boundary dispute between the two countries. The over-an-hour-long meeting held at the South Block here also discussed the disputes and issues relating to Bangladesh’s approaching ... Read more

A fresh clash between hawkers and traders left several business establishments and makeshift shops damaged at Reazuddin Bazar and adjoining areas in the port city yesterday. The violent clash that left some 22 people including seven policemen injured forced the Chittagong Metropolitan Police to impose section 144 in and around Reazuddin Bazar, Station Road, New ... Read more

The Postal Department is taking preparations for introducing “Mobile Money Order” service in order to facilitate people receiving money at remote areas within an hour. In the first phase, the service would start at 150 post offices under a pilot project, reports BSS. Director-General of Postal Department Mobasher-ur Rahman told the news agency that an ... Read more

A turmoil is going on in the NGO sector where promising senior executives and active organisers are being subjected to transfer, dismissal or forced retirement. A number of victims told this reporter that the NGO bosses who have been reigning over the NGO affairs for long have opted for such actions fearing a challenge from ... Read more

Over 50,000 children across the country have secured scholarships based on marks in the primary education terminal exams. Of them, 19,995 received talent pools category and 30,540 general category scholarships, a primary education department statement said yesterday. Some 18,23,465 students sat the newly introduced primary education terminal exams last

HC orders government The High Court on Sunday ordered the government to begin a drive in a month to demolish and remove illegal structures on the bank of the four rivers surrounding Dhaka — Balu, Turag, Buriganga and Sitalakhya. The High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui asked the ... Read more

Four million expected to join Tens of thousands of Muslims braving cold and fog are on way to join the Akheri Munajat today at the Biswa Ijtema ground on the bank of river Turag that has already turned into a human sea. The three-day Biswa Ijtema will conclude with the offering of Akheri Munajat today, ... Read more

40 lakh devotees expected The three-day Bishwa Ijtema, the second largest congregation of the Muslims after hajj, begins today (Friday) on the bank of the River Turag at Tongi in Gazipur district, some 22 kilometres away from the capital Dhaka, amid tight security, reports The Independent. As many as forty lakh devotees from home and ... Read more

Cabinet decides to issue more licences to stop its illegal use The government has decided in principle to issue more VoIP licences for handling international calls to trigger a price war and bring illegal VoIP operators under a legal framework. As per an amended policy, illegal VoIP (voice over internet protocol) operators will get a ... Read more

Purchase body okays bid; project to be delayed by 2 months The cabinet committee on government purchase yesterday gave final approval to awarding the machine-readable passport and visa project to Malaysia-based IRIS Corporation Berhad with just two and a half months’ time to meet an international deadline for introduction of

As another cold wave grips most parts of the country, the lowest winter temperature in three years was recorded yesterday in Srimangal. The Met Office recorded a low of five degrees, which was just one degree higher than the previous record set in 2007, also in Srimangal. Assistant Meteorologist at the Met Office Md Shahidul ... Read more

Minister asks developers’ association, questions their sources of money, slates filling up of water bodies State Minister for Housing Abdul Mannan Khan yesterday came down hard on land developers and realtors, and asked them to rid their associations of the land grabbers. “You say you have invested over Tk 70,000 crore in the housing sector. ... Read more

The Bangladesh Rural Development Board Bhaban went up in flames yesterday burning into ashes the storeroom in its basement in capital’s Karwan Bazar. Seven fire fighting units rushed to the spot and managed to douse the fire two hours after the incident around 4:00pm. The firemen also rescued three people who were trapped on the ... Read more

Whither river cleaning drive? Though the government has initiated a drive to clean the Buriganga river, people living on its banks opine that the drive would be futile unless the practice of dumping waste materials into the river is stopped. The local people told The Independent yesterday  that the government should take strong steps against ... Read more