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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

Centenarian Binod Bihari calls upon youths Binod Bihari Chowdhury, the anti-British movement veteran who stepped on the 100th year of his life yesterday, called upon the young generation to become brave hearted and work for the distressed countrymen overcoming cowardice, weakness and selfishness. “Courage is divine while cowardice and weakness are nothing but sin,” he ... Read more

Many land development projects having no approval of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha and even some projects earlier cancelled by the city development authorities were up for sales in the REHAB Fair in defiance of the Private Housing Project Land Development Rules 2004. The state minister for housing and public works, Abdul Mannan Khan, on Tuesday inaugurated ... Read more

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s High Court sentenced to death on Friday a Bangladeshi construction worker involved in a love triangle with an Indonesian maid for murdering the woman more than two years ago. Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus, 35, was found guilty of strangling his girlfriend, Indonesian maid Yulia Afriyanti, 25, on December 16, 2007. “The prosecution has ... Read more

A parliamentary watchdog Tuesday said that the ‘smart card’ containing computer chip with upgraded database network of all expatriate Bangladeshi workers would be provided within next one month, reports UNB. The parliamentary standing committee on Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry at a meeting at Sangsad Bhaban said that card would be given for reducing ... Read more

The government will issue work order to the IRIS Corporation Berhad of Malaysia, the lowest bidder, for supplying machine-readable passports (MRP) and machine-readable visas (MRV) in the country. A total of 30 lakh MRPs and 1 lakh MRV will be collected from the Malaysian company during the next five years. The authorities concerned will issue ... Read more

Uncertainty looms over payment of salaries, debts Authority of the Karnaphuli Paper Mills, an industrial unit of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, is suffering an acute fund constraint as papers worth around Tk 2 crore lies unsold, said sources in the KPM. Uncertainty looms over payment of salaries and allowances to its workers and employees ... Read more