Staff correspondent The ruling party and the opposition on Sunday continued demanding formation of high-powered parliamentary committees to examine extra-constitutional activities of the immediate-past military-controlled interim government. BNP-led main opposition lawmakers on Sunday supported the proposal of the archrival Awami League lawmaker Abdul Jalil for the formation of a parliamentary committee, with the speaker as ... Read more
News
BNP boycotts JS as seat row not resolved
Staff Correspondent The BNP-led opposition yesterday decided to abstain from parliament proceedings until the speaker decides on their demand for three more seats in the front row of the House. The opposition lawmakers boycotted parliament on its second sitting on Wednesday, placing their demand to the speaker, and remained out of the House for three ... Read more
Students suffer as textbook crisis persists
Staff Reporter The students of secondary level across the country are suffering from textbook crisis. Although first month of the new academic year has already passed, the students are not getting textbooks to commence their study. Nobody knows when the textbooks will arrive to the learners. The crisis has been created by syndicates of textbook ... Read more
1 killed, 200 hurt on way back from Ijtema
Staff Correspondent One person died and over two hundred people were wounded in two separate incidents while devotees were returning home after the end of the Biswa Ijtema yesterday. Over two hundred passengers sustained minor injuries after they jumped off a slow-moving train at Tongi in the afternoon following a false fire alarm. Most of ... Read more
Khaleda spent only Tk 3 lakh in Bogra-6
Staff Correspondent, Bogra BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia spent only Tk 3 lakh in Bogra-6 (Sadar) constituency in the last parliamentary election when her nearest rival Awami League Bogra unit President Momtaj Uddin spent Tk 14.92 lakh. In her other constituency Bogra-7 (Gabtoli-Shahjahanpur), Khaleda spent Tk 5 lakh while her nearest contestant Grand Alliance nominee and ... Read more
Govt won’t appeal against HC order on addl judges
Staff Correspondent The government will not appeal against the High Court verdict that ordered it to appoint 10 former additional judges of the High Court who were deprived of appointment as permanent judges between 2001 and 2003 during the BNP-led alliance government’s tenure. Additional attorney general M Enayetur Rahim told the Appellate Division of the ... Read more
Another reshuffle in Admn: 4 officers made OSD
UNB, Dhaka Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment secretary Mohammad Abdul Matin Chowdhury, Acting Secretary of Labour Dr Mahfuzul Haque, Additional Secretary of Agriculture MA Akmal Hossain Azad and Director General of NIPORT Nasimul Gani are made OSD, said an official handout today. Dr Khandaker Shaukat Hossain, OSD, was posted as Divisional Commissioner of Dhaka. A ... Read more
111 killed in Kenya petrol blaze
Agence France-Presse . Molo, Kenya At least 111 people died in Kenya when an overturned petrol tanker exploded as people swarmed over it to scoop up leaking fuel in one of the region’s worst such accidents, officials said Sunday. ‘Certainly this is a national tragedy. We have just been informed that more succumbed to injuries ... Read more
US FDA team due shortly: Hygiene, safety of frozen foods to be discussed
Staff Reporter A delegation of the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) will visit Bangladesh this month to see the progresses made by Bangladesh’s frozen food sector regarding hygiene and food safety. Prior the visit the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock will convene a preparatory meeting of the stakeholders tomorrow at the ministry ... Read more
Nadal beats Federer in classic Open final
Reuters/Bdnews24.com . Melbourne Rafa Nadal captured the Australian Open title with an enthralling 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 win over Roger Federer on Sunday, denying the Swiss a chance to win a record-equalling 14th grand slam title. The world number one became the first Spaniard to win the Open and chalked up his fifth straight ... Read more
Contractor gunned down in city
Staff Correspondent Unidentified criminals gunned down a contractor in the city’s Khilgaon area yesterday. The deceased was identified as Harun Gazi, 40, son of Wajed Gazi of East Rampura. Police said a gang of five to seven around 2:30pm shot him when he was supervising a construction site at Nabinbagh Balur Math of Meradia, leaving ... Read more
Priyanka Gandhi due tomorrow
Diplomatic Correspondent Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of the current President of the Indian National Congress Sonia Gandhi, will arrive here tomorrow afternoon to get a first-hand experience of rural development projects run by Brac. Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain confirmed the visit of Priyanka and said she will be visiting at the invitation of the Brac, the ... Read more
Danish climate minister arrives today
Staff Correspondent The Danish minister for climate and energy, Connie Hedegaard is arriving in Dhaka today on a three-day visit to get the first-hand impression of climate change vulnerability of Bangladesh’s coastal belt and hold talks with the officials. Foreign ministry officials said that the Danish minister was likely to meet the prime minister, Sheikh ... Read more
EC to start updating voter list next month
BSS, Dhaka The Election Commission (EC) will update the voter list from next month and to complete the updating process, it will carry out a pilot project from February 8 to 12. “Though the updating was scheduled to be completed from January 2 to 31 as per law, it was not done due to upazila ... Read more
2 policemen beaten for assaulting housewife
Unb, Lalmonirhat Villagers beat 2 policemen including a sub-inspector and kept one confined, for assaulting a housewife at Vatiari in Sadar upazila. According to the villagers, Jobeda Begum, a police source and also a habitual litigant, lodged a case against Aynul Haq on dispute over land. Upon complaint, Sub Inspector (SI) Kiron and constable Emdadul ... Read more
3 killed in bus-truck collision in city
Staff Correspondent At least three people were killed and 15 injured when a truck collided with a bus at Bijoy Sarani in the Dhaka city early Sunday. One of the deceased, identified as Mohammad Chayan, 27, was the owner of a grocery shop at Bhutergali in the city. He was returning home from bishwa ijtema ... Read more
Chhatak concrete sleeper plant idle for months
Delay in raw material import from India Iqbal Siddiquee, back from Chhatak, Sunamganj Production in the country’s lone concrete sleeper plant under Bangladesh Railway (BR) has remained suspended for more than eight months due to unusual delay in importing raw materials from India. Now there are only 8,000 pieces of concrete slippers in stock at ... Read more
‘Govt must come out of ‘winners take all’ syndrome’
Staff correspondent The government must come out of the system where ‘winners take all’ and take the opposition political parties in confidence in the greater interest of the country, said jurists, retired bureaucrats and former advisers at a discussion on Saturday. ‘The newly elected government, which has come [to power] with an overwhelming mandate, has ... Read more
Call to preserve cultural heritage of indigenous people
Adibasi Mela in Cox’s Bazar Call to preserve cultural heritage of indigenous people Staff Correspondent With a view to flourishing the country’s tourism industry and encouraging people to cast vote for Cox’s Bazar and the Sundarbans in the competition of “The New7Wonders foundation” a daylong Adibasi Mela (Indigenous People Fair) was held in the tourist ... Read more
Flora, fauna of Saint Martin’s island under critical stresses
BSS, Saint Martins The hotels and restaurants that sprang up in the recent past on Saint Martin’s Island , one of the ecologically critical areas (ECA) in the country, have been operating without any official approval. According to the law, building of any structure and carrying out any activity that might pollute the environment or ... Read more