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Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Bert Koenders and Vice Minister for Transport, Public Works and Water Management Tineke Huizinga will arrive here for a two-day official visit today. It will be their first visit to Bangladesh, which aims to further strengthen ties between the two

The budget session of Jatiya Sangsad is scheduled to resume this afternoon ending a four-day recess. A number of pending bills will be considered by the house in the coming days as the budget session is scheduled to be prorogued

July 4: The IT Institute of Premier University has started functioning from today. Architect Yafes Osman, State Minister for Science and ICT formally inaugurated the Institute this morning at the Engineers Institute hall in the port city as chief guest. Addressing the ceremony, Architect Yafes Osman said, the dream of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ... Read more

Plans to offer tax rebate for honest taxpayers, money-whitening at fixed rate of tax In the face of intense controversy over whitening of black money, Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday came up with a new formula to do justice to white money holders. Black money holders would be allowed to make investments by paying a ... Read more

Allowance and emoluments of the members of parliament (MPs) will go up further, as Speaker Advocate Abdul Hamid believes that the present remuneration structure is not enough for them. “Each of the MPs will get an office in the capital and one or more offices in their respective constituencies at upazila level. Each of them ... Read more

Govt vows to implement RTI law The government is committed to implementing the Right to Information (RTI) law, however challenging the task may be, ministers said in response to advice from members of civil society and NGOs at a conference yesterday. The civil society members and NGO officials also emphasised the need for a strong ... Read more

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday expressed its frustration at the High Court rule which said Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and not Ziaur Rahman, had proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. The party’s vice-chairman MK Anwar at a briefing in the party chief’s office at Gulshan at night said, ‘If courts continue to pass judgements

The speaker of Jatiya Sangsad, Abdul Hamid, on Sunday started allotting office rooms to the lawmakers in the parliament complex pledging more privileges for the legislators in the coming days. ‘We will try to increase perks and privileges for the lawmakers in course of time so that they can do their work easily,’ the speaker ... Read more

A parliamentary sub-committee was formed yesterday to investigate alleged corruption of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka and others of the local government body. The parliamentary standing committee on LGRD ministry formed the four-member probe body to enquire into the allegations it received against the incumbent mayor and other senior officials of the

BNP standing committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed MP has said that the High Court judgment given yesterday on who proclaimed independence is not final, as the issue raised will be finally settled by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Giving his reaction over cell phone to the news agency yesterday afternoon, the former Law ... Read more

50 hurt as CNG drivers, cadres clash for 6 hours Several hundred CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers and hired cadres of the leaseholder of Buriganga Bridge-2 engaged in a series of clashes for six hours over collecting toll, injuring at least 50 people. Transport movement to the south and southwestern districts of the country was suspended during ... Read more

A member tells The Daily Star In a sensational revelation, a member of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) has said the militant group took part in the Kansat movement in April 2006 because they felt betrayed by the then BNP-led coalition government. The JMB part-timer or gayeri ehsar, interviewed by The Daily Star, also said the ... Read more

The tenth day of the ongoing eviction drive against the encroachers of river Shitalakhya went almost wasted yesterday because of confusion and dubious survey by the authorities and their contradictory stance. Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Narayanganj district administration started the anti-encroachment drive at

A Dhaka court yesterday sent Awami League leader Abu Hasnat Abdullah to jail after he surrendered before the court in a tax evasion case in which he was earlier sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment in absentia. Judge AK Roy of the Special Court-2 passed the order when Hasnat along with his lawyers appeared before the ... Read more

A court here on Sunday ordered to complete Test Identification (TI) Parade for detained former Deputy Director (DD) of the National Security Intelligence (NSI) Major (Retd.) Liakat Hossain, a prime suspect in hiring trucks introducing him as Abul Hossain in the sensational ten truckloads of arms and ammunition haul case in

June 21: More than 30 thousand people of Cox’s Bazar town are in fear of eviction. People of Nazirartek, Kutubdiapara, Fadhanardail, and Charpara slums adjacent to Cox’s Bazar Airport are in fear of eviction following a visit by the members of JS standing committee on Civil Aviation and Tourism to Cox’s Bazar from June-18 to ... Read more

The number of child workers aged between five and 14 in the country is 2.65 million, according to Bureau of Statistics survey of 2002-3 which is the latest survey report. Of them, 0.56 million children are engaged in risky jobs, Labour and Employment Minister Engineer Khondakar Mosharraf Hossain said in reply to a question asked ... Read more

Two sisters were acid-burned in the early hours Saturday in a sequel to their parents’ refusal to a marriage proposal about one and a half years ago. Asadullah Akash, a pickup truck helper of Bogra, threw acid on Mahmuda Akhter Shimu, 16, and her sister Masuma Akhter Shantona, 25, in Kishoreganj upazila, Nilphamari. Both the ... Read more

BNP Secretary General Advocate Khandakar Delwar Hossian yesterday said the caretaker government system is needed until changes and thinking in the minds of political leaders, and the party influence on the administration are removed. The secretary general was addressing a press briefing at their party office in Naya Paltan in the city. BNP joint secretary ... Read more

Barapukuria mine operating amid high risk, they observe While dissecting the draft coal policy at a four-day brainstorming session, a panel of expatriate and local experts emphasised on health and environmental aspects in finalising the policy that should additionally be trimmed down. They said that the policy should dictate that health and environment should represent ... Read more