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Hannan Shah arrested BNP-led 18-party alliance on Monday called a countrywide 48-hour road, rail and waterway blockade from 6 am on Tuesday in reaction to the announcement of holding national election on January 7. It termed the poll schedule announced by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed a farce. BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir ... Read more

Dhaka and Washington have signed the much talked-about Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA), establishing a platform to identify and overcome the obstacles to increasing bilateral trade and investment between Bangladesh and the United States. Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed and Deputy US Trade Representative Wendy Cutler

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday requested her Cabinet colleagues to take steps to ensure the highest possible attendance by voters at polling centres in their respective constituencies during the upcoming general elections, a senior minister said, quoting the PM. She made this request at a special meeting

United States Ambassador Dan Mozena and Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran have separately met with Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and discussed the country’s political situation, especially the national election scheduled to be held in January. Ambassador Mozena said the declaration of polls schedule has made it even more imperative for

Compensation For Rana Plaza Victims Owners can’t pay Tk 19.51 lakh to each: BGMEA Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association opposed Tk 19.51 lakh compensation package for each dead or disabled Rana Plaza worker saying the garments owners are not lawfully responsible to compensate at such high amount. The trade body recently submitted a written opinion ... Read more

Law enforcers put on high alert At least two people were killed, about 100 injured and over 50 vehicles damaged as opposition activists went on the rampage and clashed with police across the country to protest the announcement of election schedule. Of the deaths, one each was reported from the capital and from Manoharpur of ... Read more

Bangabir Kader Siddiqui BU, president of the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League (BKSJL), has described the all-party election-time government as “illegal” because there is no provision for it in the Constitution. “Ministers have no right to fly the national flag on their cars after submitting their resignations. It is a criminal offence. They will be ... Read more

Contrary to BNP claims, the ruling Awami League (AL) on Monday asserted that there has been progress in holding a dialogue with the Opposition BNP after a reported meeting between two senior functionaries of the rival parties here. AL leaders said party general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam and BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam ... Read more

13 more channels to join existing 27 The government “two to three days ago” had approved licence for 13 television channels, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu told The Daily Star last night. He said the approval had been given in line with a past decision and as a routine work. This comes just a few ... Read more

Ctg-Dhaka, Ctg-Sylhet Derailment cuts rail links for 10 hours  The railway communications of Chittagong with Dhaka and Sylhet, which remained snapped for around 10 hours following the derailment of a freight train in Akhaura of Brahmanbaria, were restored around 6:30pm yesterday. With the yesterday’s incident of derailment, railway communications on the route remained suspended for more ... Read more

The High Court has issued a rule asking the government to explain within 4 weeks why a clause in the amended Anti Corruption Act, that curtailed the ACC authority to file graft cases against government officials, would not be declared unconstitutional. The HC bench of Justices Quazi Reza-Ul Haque and ABM Altaf Hossain issued the ... Read more

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court Monday directed the RAJUK authorities to maintain status quo on the construction work of Purbachal housing project at Barokau and Parabarthha moujas in Kaliganj upazila of Gazipur. The apex court also ordered the High Court to dispose of a rule pending before it in this regard within three ... Read more

The National Board of Revenue on Monday reduced customs duty to 5 per cent from the existing 10 per cent on import of newsprint for newspaper industry, officials said. They said that the new duty structure came into effect on Monday as the statutory regulatory order was issued on the day. The SRO will be made

A schoolgirl was badly injured in an acid attack on Sunday night allegedly by her cousin in Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj as the girl refused to enter into a relationship with him. The girl, Hasina Khatun, 13, of Laxmipur village, is now undergoing treatment at Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) in the capital. Abdul Hamid,

Renews call on BNP to join polls The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday strongly defended the 15th amendment to the constitution saying that it had closed all the doors for unconstitutional seizure of the state power and introduced a permanent system of holding polls under elected governments. ‘We wanted to introduce a system which

A day after Election Commissioner Mohammad Shah Newaz’s disclosure that the Election Commission (EC) would announce the schedule for the next general elections by Monday, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmed on Sunday said the EC is yet to finalise the date. However, the sources said sensing the possibility of a negotiation between the

The survivers of the Tazreen Fashions fire in Ashulia are facing an uncertain future, a number of them with disabilities inflicted by the incident, and many remaining jobless one year after the tragedy. Many of the survivors are passing days in extreme hardship nursing their wounds or struggling to recover from the trauma they suffered,

The BNP-led 18-party alliance is planning to lay a siege on the Election Commission (EC) offices across the country immediately after announcement of election schedule for the 10th parliamentary poll, party insiders said. “Programmes like enforcement of non-stop hartal, non-cooperation movement and siege of EC offices have already been devised. Our party

Dhaka set to vote for Russian city as World Expo venue Bangladesh appears to have missed an opportunity to improve its relations with the United Arab Emirates regarding manpower export due to its decision to support Russia instead of UAE as the venue for World Expo 2020. In October, 2012, the UAE government stopped issuing ... Read more

The government is likely to sign the much-hyped Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) with the US on Monday to facilitate trade and business among the two countries. Commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed will sign the agreement in Washington on behalf of Bangladesh, while the US will be represented by acting deputy of US