‘Shantir Swapney: Samayer Smriticharan’ Gen Moeen explains how martial law was averted Staff Correspondent It sounded like a veiled threat to Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed when envoys of some powerful countries told him, prior to 1/11 changeover, that they would request the UN to withdraw Bangladeshi peacekeepers if the army cooperates in holding ... Read more
News
Call for utilisation of household wastes
Our Correspondent . Rajshahi Participants in a seminar on Monday stressed the need for utilising huge quantity of household wastes produced in the Rajshahi city everyday. Household wastes can be turned in assets such as gas and fertiliser by properly utilising them, they told the seminar held at Nagar Bhaban in the city. The Rajshahi ... Read more
Zoom laptop fair begins in Dhaka tomorrow
Staff Correspondent Mobile operator Citycell and a number of computer manufacturers will begin a three-day long Zoom Laptop Fair on Wednesday at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre, organisers said on Monday. Customers at the fair will get special offers of Zoom at the Citycell pavilion by showing the proof of purchase of any laptop from ... Read more
EC halts 14 more upazila polls results
Khadimul Islam The Election Commission has withheld the publication of results of 14 more upazilas after January 27, when it suspended the results of 7 upazila elections, because of allegation of irregularities, stuffing of ballot boxes, capturing of polling centres and intimidation in the January 22 polls. The commission withheld the result of the upazilas ... Read more
Govt to saw legal link off illegal wood trade
Plans to stop special permits for buying logs from forest depots Pinaki Roy The government plans to stop issuing special permits for buying wood from its depots as the official documents often end up being abused by illegal traders and also mean a loss in revenue from timber sales. Usually, the permits are given to ... Read more
Opposition MPs mull return to house
Speaker hints at seat rearrangement Staff correspondent Lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led opposition are likely to decide today whether to return to parliament for the current session after the speaker told them that he hoped to settle the dispute over seat allocation before the next session. The lawmakers of BNP and its allies Bangladesh ... Read more
Local leaders want bad elements to go
MOVE TO REVAMP BNP Local leaders want bad elements to go Abdullah Juberee Grassroots-level leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have hailed the decision to reorganise all its committees stressing that the party should cleanse its ranks of harmful elements. The party’s top policymaking body, the standing committee, on Sunday decided to reorganise all the ... Read more
Govt moves to get Koko money back
Muhith tells JS he’s upbeat Staff Correspondent Finance Minister AMA Muhith is optimistic about getting back the money siphoned off by Arafat Rahman Koko, Khaleda Zia’s youngest son. “We are trying to get the money back and some steps have already been taken in this regard,” Muhith told the parliament replying to a supplementary question ... Read more
MPs-UZ chairmen discord may foil bid to make local govt system effective
Staff Correspondent The initiatives to establish a strong and effective local government system might be frustrated due to lack of coordination between Upazila Chairmen and MPs as they have already been locked in discords on several issues. This observation was made by participants at a round table discussion on ‘strong and effective local government’ organised ... Read more
Milk powder companies struggling to regain market
Syful Islam Five milk powder brands, which were accused of melamine contamination, are now struggling to bring back consumers confidence and regain the market informed sources said. The changed world economic situation also pushed those towards terrific situation as those are facing stiff price competition from the market competitors. “Consumers are yet to get back ... Read more
Shake-up in jail admin
Jail code violation to be probed Staff Correspondent Three deputy inspector generals (DIG-Prisons) including Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique were transferred yesterday. Meanwhile, the jail directorate yesterday formed a two-member internal committee to probe into the jail code violation by the authorities of the Dhaka Central Jail. As many as 400 visitors were permitted to meet ... Read more
Big cut in revenue target likely
Staff Correspondent The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is likely to reduce its annual income target by around Tk 2,000 crore due to the slide in import duties caused by the falling prices of commodities in the international market, said its officials on Monday. ‘The revised target may be reduced to Tk 52,500 crore from ... Read more
Dr Yunus tells world meet: Poor to be affected by global financial crisis
UNB, Dhaka Micro-finance pioneer Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus told the World Economic Forum in Davos that world’s poor people would be the ones most affected by the ongoing global financial crisis. A panelist at the Davos Philanthropic Roundtable, Professor Yunus said when the world is busy talking about bailout packages for companies, at the ... Read more
Priyanka Gandhi due today
Diplomatic Correspondent Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of ruling Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi of India, will arrive Dhaka this afternoon on a two-day visit to observe Brac’s education programme. On her arrival at 3:30 pm at the Zia International Airport on board a Jet Airlines, Brac Executive Director Mahbub Hossain, Director Ahmed Nazmul Hossain and ... Read more
Details of expenditure by ministries and divisions demanded
Asif Showkat The finance ministry has asked the ministries and divisions to gather and send detailed information on seven items of expenditure including their consumption of fuel and the latest status of the implementation of their macro–credit programmes before the upcoming budget meetings, said official sources. ‘The government will not provide a single penny to ... Read more
Trapped into ‘slavery’ in fishermen’s colonies
10,000 boys under forced labour in coastal belts Staff Correspondent, Khulna Victims of forced child labour, a large number of minor boys are passing days amid horrendous conditions in the fishermen’s colonies along the coastal belt of Dublarchar from where law enforcers rescued over a thousand of minor boys in last four years. Scanty information ... Read more
Blooming wheat fields to yield bumper production in N- region
BSS, Rangpur Farmers of the northern region of the country are expecting a bumper production of wheat this season as the blooming plants are growing well everywhere due to favourable climatic conditions predicting excellent production. Farmers and officials concerned on Sunday told BSS that the fixed target would be achieved for the second consecutive time ... Read more
Leaf blight disease dims potato prospect in Thakurgaon
Agri officials say situation under control Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon Spread of ‘leaf blight’ disease, locally known as patamora rog, has put potato farmers in five upazilas of Thakurgaon district in a difficult siatuation. As the affected farmers are reaping potato before its attaining maturity, production target in
Taka might be devalued: Muhith
United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka Finance minister AMA Muhith Sunday apprehended that it might not be possible to keep the exchange rate of taka against US dollar at current level due to the sharp devaluation of the currencies of major trading partners. ‘We want to keep the value of taka [at the current level]. ... Read more
Informal economy may cut poverty
Economists say Star Business Report Empowerment of the poor, mainstreaming informal economy and developing the agricultural sector are keys to poverty reduction through trade in South Asia. The observation came at a session of a seminar, chaired by Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue Professor Mustafizur Rahman. The session, “Future Work on Globalisation ... Read more