Other Headlines

Business leaders on Saturday threatened taking to the streets along with their workers and employees if major political parties failed to reach a consensus in three to four days. Asking political parties why businessmen would fall victim to their politics of confrontation, they said that miscreants had already burnt Standard Garments factory

Visiting UN official Taranco pushes for change in election schedule Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said it is the Election Commission, not the government that will decide any change in the schedule for the 10th parliamentary election. The premier made the comment while the visiting UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernández Taranco, ... Read more

To hold another round of talks The visiting United Nations assistant secretary general for South and Central Asian affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco called on Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia on Saturday and discussed different issues, including the next general election. After the meeting at Khaleda’s residence at Gulshan, BNP vice-chairman

Party now says cabinet members hand resignation letters to PM today Speculations and rumours over Jatiya Party’s stance on joining the parliament election were still rife on Saturday with Secretary General Ruhul Amin Hawlader now saying that party members in the cabinet will submit resignation letters to the prime minister on Sunday. Party Chairman HM ... Read more

Dhaka city unit of Bangladesh Nationalist Party enforces a 24-hour general strike in the capital while BNP-backed student and volunteer fronts have also called dawn-to- dusk hartal in different districts for today in protest at the arrest of its leaders. The general strikes coincide with the BNP-led opposition alliance’s 72-hour countrywide

The warrant for the execution of the death sentence of Abdul Quader Molla on war crimes charges is likely to be issued today by the International Crimes Tribunal-2. On September 17, the Appellate Division sentenced Jamaat leader Quader to death overturning his life term awarded by the ICT-2 on February

The BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance has renewed its call to government employees and officials not to abide by the government’s directives to hold a lopsided parliamentary poll under a partisan administration. “The Awami League is moving towards holding a one-sided stage-managed poll under its own management. The staff and officials of the government and the ... Read more

The need for a dialogue between the political parties is now more urgent to reach a consensus to hold free, fair and credible elections in Bangladesh, said the US State Department during a briefing on Friday. “We believe the need is now even more urgent for the major political parties to engage immediately in constructive ... Read more

Maritime dispute with India The final hearing of the maritime dispute between Bangladesh and India at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, will begin on Monday. “The final hearing will begin on December 9 and will continue until December 13,” a top official of the Foreign Ministry told The Independent on Saturday. ... Read more

Appeal in BDR Carnage Case Convicts wait for copies of verdict Most of the convicts in BDR carnage case could not file regular appeal with the High Court against their convictions and sentences, since they did not get certified copies of the trial court verdict. A Dhaka court on November 5 sentenced 152 people to ... Read more

Shujan urges EC not to go for ‘one-sided’ election Shushashoner Jannoy Nagorik (Shujan) yesterday urged the Election Commission to cancel the schedule of the polls to stop it from being a one-party election. “Cancel the schedule of a one-party election, announce fresh polls-schedule where all political parties will join and stay away from playing

Supply shortage of milk in the capital because of blockades has caused sufferings to the consumers especially children and elderly and ailing people. As the supply chain has been disrupted, the milk producers across the country are either selling milk at very low prices at local markets

Silt Up of Kobadak River Marooned people demand effective river management The marooned people living on the side of the River Kobadak in the southwest of the country are demanding an immediate excavation of the silted up river and an effective river management to remove the water that collects there for months every year. The ... Read more

Supply shortage of milk in the capital because of blockades has caused sufferings to the consumers especially children and elderly and ailing people. As the supply chain has been disrupted, the milk producers across the country are either selling milk at very low prices at local markets

Nelson Mandela, the icon of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle and a colossus of 20th century politics, died late Thursday aged 95, prompting mass mourning and a global celebration of his astonishing life. The Nobel Peace laureate, who was elected South Africa’s first black president after spending nearly three decades in jail, died at his Johannesburg home

South Africa’s first black president spent nearly a third of his life as a prisoner of apartheid, yet he sought to win over its defeated guardians in a relatively peaceful transition of power that inspired the world. Mandela’s stature as a fighter against apartheid — the system of white racist rule he called evil — and ... Read more

Bangladesh has announced three-day national mourning from today to pay homage to South African leader Nelson Mandela, who died at the age of 95 on Friday. ‘Bangladesh will observe three-day national mourning from December 7 to December 9 to show respect to Mandela, an anti-apartheid icon and

2 more die, strike in Dhaka city tomorrow The BNP-led opposition alliance enforces a 72-hour countrywide blockade of road, railway and waterways beginning this morning demanding the cancellation of the national elections schedule and the holding of the elections under a non-party, election-time government. This is the third spell of blockade after the

Thousands of people who had been left stranded in Dhaka and elsewhere for days swarmed railway stations and bus and launch terminals on Friday finding a day’s gap between two spells of blockade enforced by the BNP-led opposition alliance. People were left stranded as they did not find

The UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs, Oscar Fernández Taranco, arrived in Bangladesh Friday evening amid the country’s murky political situation that has cast a shadow on its general election. Taranco reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 7:55pm by an Emirates flight. His visit is aimed at encouraging ‘dialogue and