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The government on Sunday formed two more battalions for the country’s elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to tackle the ongoing political violence and also to strengthen security ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election schedule for January 5 next year. Of the two new battalions, one will be deployed in Mymensingh while the other will

State minister for home Shamsul Huq Tuku on Monday said that the government would reward those who would provide information about marauding criminals to law enforcers. Tuku made the announcement after placing wreaths at the Razarbag Police Line monument in the capital. “Provoked by the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, opposition activists

Rawshan meets the party chief The Jatiya Party on Monday announced a two-day protest programme against the “detention” of its chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad. The party alleged that Ershad was detained by the RAB in the name of treatment. The RAB picked up Ershad from his Baridhara residence on December 12 and took him to ... Read more

The agitating teachers of Jahangirnagar University (JU), on Monday, forcibly ousted the current vice-chancellor (VC), Prof. Anwar Hossain, from the campus as per their earlier announcement that the VC would not be allowed to enter the university premises. The JU VC had entered the campus to observe the occasion of Victory Day after

Dogs understand humans far better than previously thought according to evolutionary biologists at Abertay University in Dundee. A new study looks at the progress made in the ability of dogs to interpret and predict human behaviour due to thousands of years spent evolving alongside humans. The research explains

The nation would celebrate the 43rd Victory Day on Monday to pay homage to the sons of the soil whose supreme sacrifice brought Independence on this day in 1971. The day is a public holiday. The day will be celebrated across the country and Bangladesh’s missions abroad will pay glowing tributes to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for ... Read more

Protest against prolonged political impasse Enraged over the prolonged political crisis that pushed businesses on the verge of collapse, top business leaders of the country on Sunday threatened to take to the streets if the ruling party and the opposition fail to resolve the impasse. They also blamed the ‘mindless act of the country’s political ... Read more

At least ten people, including two Chhatra League activists, were killed and over 100 others injured during the countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal, called by the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, on Sunday, in protest of the execution of its leader Abdul Quader Mollah. Four people died in Lalamonirhat, three in Joypurhat, and one each in Laxmipur, Sylhet and Narayanganj.

42 years of independence Even though the country has made achievements in different socio-economic sectors, the aspirations of the people to ensure fundamental rights have not yet been fulfilled even after 42 years of independence, leading jurists, right activist and members of the civil society said. Talking to The Independent, they expressed serious concern over the

To step up pressure on the government to hold the general election under a non-party poll-time interim administration, the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance has planned a non-stop agitation, including road-rail-waterway blockade and hartal programme, from Tuesday, party insiders said. A leader close to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia said an all-party

Laid to rest at childhood village With military pomp and traditional rituals, South Africa buried Nelson Mandela yesterday, the end of an exceptional journey for the prisoner turned president who transformed the nation. Mandela was laid to rest in his childhood village of Qunu. Tribal leaders clad in animal skins joined

The ruling Awami League is taking a massive preparation to face the countrywide violence and attack on its leaders and workers by BNP-Jamaat activists. To stave off the opposition anarchy, the party has already asked its leaders and workers to forge resistance along with the law enforcing agency

US congressmen urge Hasina, Khaleda for negotiations Six influential Democrat and Republican members of the US House of Representatives have written separately to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia to engage in direct negotiations immediately to ensure that the upcoming elections are free, fair and viewed as credible by the Bangladeshi people, ... Read more

European Union (EU) ambassadors in Bangladesh are not attending Monday’s Victory Day programmes organised by the government, sources concerned told The Independent on Sunday night. The envoys cited that ‘their own coordination meeting’ coincided with the Victory Day programmes. According to government officials, the EU ambassadors ‘will

Communication Minister Obaidul Quader said Sunday all withstanding issues over starting the Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) project have been settled, and its field-level construction work would begin in early February. “There has been confusion over beginning of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project for long. It’s now over. Though it’s late,

Customs officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport seized 1 gold worth about Tk 1 crore and arrested a passenger on Sunday. Sources at the airport said Shahidullah, 55, came to Dhaka from Dubai by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight in the morning. When he was trying to come out of the customs lounge through the ... Read more

A couple, injured in a road accident on Saturday, died at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital early Sunday. The deceased were identified as Abdur Rashid Sarker, 50, general secretary of Nalitabari upazila unit Krishak Dal, and his wife Harbala Begum, 45, of village Kapashia in the upazila. Police said Abdur Rashid along with his two wives was going ... Read more

Customs officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport seized 1 gold worth about Tk 1 crore and arrested a passenger on Sunday. Sources at the airport said Shahidullah, 55, came to Dhaka from Dubai by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight in the morning. When he was trying to come out of the customs lounge through the ... Read more

A policeman was allegedly killed by his wife in their Purba Monipur residence in the capital’s Mirpur on Saturday. Police recovered the body of Humayan Kabir, 34, assistant sub-inspector of Shah Ali police Station, from his room early yesterday. Police also arrested Kabir’s wife Rahima Sultana Rumi, 27, a nurse. Kabir was injected with poison,

It’s long been thought we evolved from sea sponges, but new genetic research suggests that jellyfish-style creatures may have kicked off the human race. While trying to fill the gaps in the genome sequence of the comb jelly, a gelatinous sea creature similar to a jellyfish, researchers discovered it was related