News

Siddiqur Rahman Khan The sales of primary textbooks meant for free distribution are rampant across the country, guardians and market sources said. The students from Classes I to V of government, non-government and community primary schools and ibtedayi madrassahs are scheduled to get the books in the first week of January. Market sources said guardians ... Read more

Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee The Awami League, which swept the elections, is considering significant changes in the membership of its national committee to make the party more dynamic, and is concentrating on including new faces in its central committee. The party wants to give scope to the young, honest and energetic leaders to join its national ... Read more

Post-election Insight BNP likely to lean on the young for comeback Rashidul Hasan Both Awami League (AL) and BNP, the two major political parties in the country, are planning radical changes in their leaderships. While AL’s move is sparked by its desire to maintain the momentum it achieved through its recent landslide electoral victory and ... Read more

Staff Reporter Japan yesterday offered Bangladesh a loan Assistance Package of US$440 Million for Electricity and Bridges Projects. The loan offer came at a telephone conversation when Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso made the call to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday. During the talks the two prime ministers discussed various bilateral issues including recently held ... Read more

Rival factions trade 25 rounds of gunshot Anupam Deb Kanunjna At least 30 students sustained injuries in a clash between rival groups of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, associate organisation of the Awami League, at Jahangirnagar University over capture of halls of residence on Friday. The clash erupted at around midday when activists of the group ... Read more

BNP Places ‘Rigging Evidence’ Votes cast exceed total voters at a Natore-6 centre Staff Correspondent BNP yesterday came up with fresh ‘evidence of vote rigging and irregularities’ in the recently held parliamentary election, and said these were the main reasons behind the party’s polls debacle. Alleging that ballot boxes were filled with so many fake ... Read more

Staff Correspondent A crackdown on hardened criminals by the members of different law enforcing agencies including Police and RAB is in the offing to combat the wave of crime that has swept the country in the wake of the withdrawal of the state of emergency. “The government is determined to combat crime and criminals in ... Read more

Staff Correspondent No development projects taken by the government would be implemented fully if corruption and irregularities within bureaucracy are not removed, experts and economists said. Talking to The Bangladesh Today, TIB executive director Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed and economist Dr. Atiar Rahman echoing the same tone said Awami League-led government would not be able to ... Read more

Chicken price marks sharp rise Staff Correspondent The prices of vegetables rose further in the past week with their supply still remaining short in the city markets. Prices of chickens also increased sharply in the week, rice ruled with a mixed trend but powder milk and red lentils recorded falls further. Consumers and traders agreed ... Read more

Raheed Ejaz The government is set to take initiatives to grab the Libyan labour market before a construction boom, Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, the labour and employment and expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister, said on Wednesday. ‘Libya is going to recruit about a million overseas workers in five years to implement its massive development plan ... Read more

Khaleda asks lawmakers to attend JS regularly Staff correspondent Thirty-one lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies, the main opposition in Jatiya Sangsad, took oath as members of parliament on Thursday. The outgoing speaker, Muhammad Jamiruddin Sircar, first administered oath to 28 lawmakers-elect of the BNP and

PM forms special cell at ministry to implement projects Staff Correspondent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday formed a special cell for the power, energy and mineral resources ministry aiming to scale up country’s power and gas production. The cell headed by the premier’s adviser HT Imam will monitor the works in the sector and implement ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Thursday said that her party would join the first sitting of the first session of the ninth parliament and extend cooperation to the government as it wanted to play a constructive role as the opposition. She demanded that the government should take immediate steps to ... Read more

Associated Press . Gaza City Israeli forces shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, setting fire to the compound filled with hundreds of refugees as UN chief Ban Ki-moon was in the region on a mission to end Israel’s devastating

Staff Correspondent The swearing-in of the lawmakers from BNP and allies yesterday was not aired live on Bangladesh Television. Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar said, “It is discrimination against the opposition in parliament from day one.” BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia said, “This shows the public the difference between what they [AL-led grand alliance] pledge and do.” The ... Read more

UNB, Dhaka US Ambassador James Moriarty yesterday said the United States can help the new government in Bangladesh consolidate democracy, as there is a lot of support in America for this country. “We will do everything we can,” he told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni at the Foreign Ministry ... Read more

UNB, Dhaka Three secretaries have been transferred to different ministries in a reshuffle in the administration by the new government. Liberation War Affairs secretary Nasiruddin Ahmed has been transferred to Power Department, Science and ICT secretary Mohammad Wahid uz Zaman to Water Resources Ministry and Social Welfare secretary Dewan Zakir Hossain to Industries Ministry, said ... Read more

Staff Reporter Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday asked the law- enforcing agencies to nab the extortionists, whoever he may be, to stop overt or covert toll taking. “Whatever it is-overtly or covertly–smash the hands of extortionists,” she said responding to a reporter’s question about silent extortion across the country. Briefing reporters on law and order ... Read more