Other Headlines

United Nations assistant secretary general for political affairs Oscar Fernandez Taranco will arrive at the capital on Friday night on a four-day visit to the country. The visit is seen by many as one of the last-ditch international efforts to help resolve the current political impasse in Bangladesh. Taranco will lead a five-member delegation comprising ... Read more

Expressing solidarity with the opposition’s ongoing movement, Kazi Zafar Ahmed on Thursday night said Jatiya Party, led by him, will be there on the streets to make the BNP-led 18-party’s action programmes a success. Talking to reporters after a meeting with BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, Kazi Zafar came up with the announcement. In the wake ... Read more

With national elections scheduled for January 5, violence by the opposition protesters and excessive force by the state security forces need to end in Bangladesh, observes the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The opposition party alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has held large-scale and often violent protests throughout the country

The National University on Thursday postponed its all examinations scheduled to be held on December 7-9 due to unavoidable circumstances. The new schedule for the postponed examinations will be announced later, said a press release. However, the timetable of other examinations

Ershad says decision is final; threatens to kill himself if govt tries to arrest him A day after announcing his decision to boycott the election, Jatiya Party (JP) chairman HM Ershad on Wednesday directed ministers of his party to step down from the poll-time cabinet. He alleged that people were against the incumbent government led ... Read more

Fifth day of blockade Eight people, including a college student, were killed and 100 others injured in the capital and elsewhere in the country on the fifth day of the blockade programme, called by the BNP-led 18-party alliance, on Wednesday. Among the deceased, five died in a train derailment incident in Gaibandha, three others were ... Read more

Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary, Sujatha Singh said on Wednesday that the parliamentary election should have the participation of maximum number of parties. “Yes…well, any election that is held should have the participation of maximum number of parties,” she said when asked whether India expected an inclusive poll shortly. She was talking to a selected group

Ready-made garment (RMG) workers will gain little from the new wage structure as the costs of accommodation, food, transportation and other basic requirements have gone up significantly in the country’s industrial belts, much ahead of its implementation. Although garment makers and workers’ leaders

Bangladesh Railway has been virtually paralysed in recent months with fewer passengers opting for train journeys due to countrywide political unrest. In the peak season for travels, spanning November and February, the railway communication between Dhaka and the outlying destinations

Shahbagh Bus Arson Death stops Ohidur from going home The last words that Ohidur Rahman Babu told his mother on Monday were, ‘Mother! Do not cry. My wounds will be healed. I will return home soon. Just pray for me.’ Saleha Begum, mother of Ohidur, 22, a first-year political science student at Dhaka College, was ... Read more

BNP Vice Chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka was arrested from Uttara area in the capital on Wednesday night. BNP leader was arrested in a joint drive by the Detective Branch of Police (DB) and the elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Khoka, also the convener of the Dhaka city unit of BNP, was arrested from house no-18 at ... Read more

Awami League has decided not to bow down to the main opposition BNP’s demand for Sheikh Hasina’s resignation as the head of the election-time government to oversee the coming polls. The Central Working Committee of Awami League (ALCWC) took the decision unanimously at a meeting held at the Ganabhaban Wednesday

The BNP-led 18-party alliance has issued an ultimatum to the government to accept the opposition’s demand for election under a non-party poll-time administration— within 5pm on Thursday—failing which, it would go for a fresh spell of harsher movements. In the ultimatum, the Election Commission has also been asked to postpone the schedule for the 10th

U.S. assistant secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal has again called on all sides in Bangladesh to restrain violence and find ways for credible and violence-free elections. ‘Violence has no place in the democratic process. And we think it’s very important that all sides find ways to move forward to have free, ... Read more

Visiting head of the Democracy Section of Commonwealth Martin Kasirye said on Wednesday the Commonwealth would take a decision whether it would send polls observers during the ensuing election only after weighing the evolving political developments. ‘It is too early to say whether we will send

A court Wednesday fixed December 18 for declaring verdict in the sensational Biswajit Das killing case against 21 activists of BCL. Judge ABM Nizamul Haque of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 fixed the date for delivering the judgment in the case after conclusion of the law-point arguments. A total of 33 witnesses testified in the trial of ... Read more

The US Department of State on Wednesday issued a travel alert for the US citizens traveling to or living in Bangladesh “as pre-election periods in Bangladesh have seen unrest”. “US citizens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to be vigilant regarding their personal security by knowing the locations

Allows police to quiz him at jail gate A metropolitan magistrate’s court on Wednesday rejected a police prayer for remanding Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi in custody for 10 days for interrogation in a case of arson attack on a running bus. The court of metropolitan magistrate MA Salam, however, allowed the investigating officer ... Read more

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday quizzed seven officials of Bangladesh Bank (BB), who are the witnesses to embezzlement of around Tk 372 crore by five little know companies from Ruposhi Bangla Hotel Branch of the state run Sonali Bank. The officials are Monir Ahammad Sikder, joint director of central bank’s financial integrity

The blockade programme, called by the BNP-led 18-party alliance, claimed eleven more lives, while more than 50 people were injured in clashes between blockaders, AL activists and law enforcers across the country on Tuesday. Our Chittagong staff reporter said that a covered van lost its control