BTMA leaders meet textile minister, ask for supports Kazi Azizul Islam Bangladeshi spinners are suffering discouraging difficulties with their product stocks mounting as local apparel exporters are going fast for cheaper yarns of India, where a much-devalued currency favours the Indian exporters, said the Bangladesh Textile Mills’ Association. Meeting the textile minister, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, ... Read more
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Mobile subscription grows 30pc
Star Business Report The country’s six mobile phone operators added 10.27 million customers in 2008, posting a 30 percent growth compared to a 62 percent growth recorded in 2007. The operators blamed the subscriber downfall on economic slowdown and increased connection fees. Bangladesh’s total mobile subscribers reached 44.64 million by the end of December 2008, ... Read more
Stocks mixed amid volatile market
Staff Correspondent Dhaka stocks closed mixed on Tuesday with the market remaining in seesaw movements. The general index at the Dhaka Stock Exchange gained 9.74 points, or 0.36 per cent, to close at 2726.27, while its blue chips index, DSE20, lost 13.05 points, or 0.58 per cent, to finish at 2222.61. Starting with an upbeat ... Read more
Extortion back
‘Aratdars’ illegally collect no less than Tk 40 lakh a day from Karwan Bazar, Jatrabari, Shyambazar; vegetable prices go at least 5pc up for extortion Shaheen Mollah and Najmul Alam Nobin Greengrocers have to pay illegal toll to Aratdars in the city’s three premier kitchen markets and, in turn, they force consumers to
Incidents of violence rising in edn institutions
Siddiqur Rahman Khan Incidents of violence have been on the rise in the higher educational institutions across the country in the last few days, and two institutions in Khulna have been closed following clashes between activists of different students’ organizations backed by political parties. The academic future of thousands of students is at stake and ... Read more
High-profile accused start returning home
Staff Correspondent The high-profile persons accused of corruption have started returning to the country after the Awami League-led alliance government assumed office. The accused — politicians, government employees and businessmen — and their family members left the country after the military-backed interim government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed grabbed power after January 11, 2007 and launched ... Read more
PM tells ECNEC meet Govt wants maximum implementation of ADP
UNB, Dhaka Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her new government wants maximum implementation of the annual development programme (ADP), maintaining standard quality, for development of socioeconomic condition and physical infrastructure. She made the remarks at the maiden meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) yesterday after her assumption of office as ... Read more
MPs-elect to take oath tomorrow
BNP hints boycotting 1st session of JS terming Jan 25 black day Staff Correspondent BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain on Tuesday hinted that the party would not join the first parliament session on January 25 saying on that day multi-party democracy had been destroyed through introducing BAKSAL a one-party rule system during Awami League ... Read more
Sudden spate of crimes worries city dwellers
PM cautions Home Ministry on law and order Staff Correspondent High-ups of the Awami League-led Grand Alliance Government are reportedly anxious as a spate of serious crimes – including killing, robbery, mugging and extortion have increased in the capital and elsewhere across the country soon after it assumed office since January 7. The Prime Minster ... Read more
Rajuk plot application deadline extended
Taib Ahmed Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha on Tuesday extended the deadline by three months and a half more for applications of plots in Uttara and Purbachal projects. ‘The authorities have decided to extend the deadline for form collection and submission up to April 30,’ said Rajuk’s member (estate) Sukumer Chandra Saha. He, however, did not cite ... Read more
What the US FBI team looked for?
Staff Reporter Newly appointed Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday said that he would take necessary steps to bring back the public money laundered by the bigwigs during the immediate-past BNP-led alliance government and keep special vigilance to prevent domestic wealth from being smuggled out. The Attorney Office will assist the Government in bringing back money, ... Read more
Mahbubey Alam new attorney gen
Vows to resolve judges’ appointment problems Staff Correspondent After being appointed attorney general yesterday, advocate Mahbubey Alam stressed the need to work out solutions to the problems regarding appointment of judges to the High Court. “A former chief justice had earlier commented that a storm swept the appointments of judges in the highest judiciary and ... Read more
Cheated workers forced to return from S’pore
Porimol Palma Several thousand Bangladeshi workers who went to Singapore with valid documents are being forced to return home in small groups as the Singaporean labour supplying companies allegedly cheated them by not arranging jobs for months. Strong syndicates of manpower businesses in both Bangladesh and Singapore have been using sophisticated ways to swindle the ... Read more
Ministers, MPs to give wealth reports in Feb
Staff Correspondent Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said as per their election pledges the ministers and lawmakers of Awami League (AL) will make public their wealth statements next month. Wrapping up his first meeting with officials of National Board of Revenue (NBR), Muhith told reporters, “Of course it will be announced publicly. I consider this ... Read more
Polls to seats reserved for women after parliamentary session
Staff Correspondent Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain on Tuesday said that there was no mandatory rule that the inaugural parliamentary session would haveto be held with all its members, including the ladies who will be elected to the seats reserved for women. ‘The parliament will be formed with 345 Members of Parliament but there is ... Read more
Upazila polls electioneering in Ctg gains momentum
Tushar Hayat . Chittagong The candidates aspiring to be chairmen and vice chairmen in the 14 upazilas of Chittagong district have been conducting, in full swing, their campaigns for the elections scheduled on January 22. Sources in the election office said there are a total of 304 candidates, including 115 for the post of chairman, ... Read more
Petrobangla allows Chevron to over-extract gas from Bibiyana
Staff Correspondent Petrobangla has continued to allow the US company, Chevron to extract more than 450 million cubic feet of gas per day from the Bibiyana gas field ignoring the warning of its expert committee that the gas reservoir will be damaged if production exceeds 450mmcfd. Sources in Petrobangla said that the officials of the ... Read more
World political freedom declined in 2008: report
Reuters/Bdnews24.com . Taipei Political freedoms declined around the world for a third straight year in 2008, with Russia and Greece down over political incidents and Iraq and Malaysia up on increased pluralism, a US rights organisation said on Tuesday. Russia, docked for elections that were ‘neither free nor fair,’ and neighbouring Russian-influenced countries that had ... Read more
Two rounds of fuel price reduction have no impact on fares
Suffering of passengers continue Two rounds of fuel price reduction have no impact on fares Staff Correspondent Latest round of reduction of fuel price especially diesel, did not have any impact on diesel run modes of vehicles including passenger buses in the city as well as across the country as bus owners were charging high ... Read more
DU students condemn Israeli massacre in Gaza
DU Correspondent The Dhaka University students demonstrated on the campus yesterday in protest against Israeli massacre in Gaza. ‘Anti-Aggression Forum’, a platform of DU students, arranged a photo exhibition featuring Gaza tragedy at the DU ‘battala’ yesterday. The two-day exhibition titled ‘the blood thirsty face of Zionist wolves’ is open for all between 10am and ... Read more