Friday, February 20, 2026

1st swine flu death reported as preparedness sounds hollow

The first swine flu death officially confirmed Monday and refusal of designated hospitals to do initial diagnosis caused a wave of panic among people with cold and fever and left them in confusion over where to go, patients and relatives said. A 35-year woman died at the city’s private hospital, LabAid Sunday night and the ... Read more

Govt raises land prices, lowers registration fee

The government has increased land prices in all city corporations and district towns manifold for the next three years while it lowered the land tax, registration and other fees for the same period, Law minister Shafique Ahmed said yesterday. Briefing newsman at his office the minister said the land prices have shot up two and ... Read more

Students of Class V to sit in public exams

Cabinet abolishes pry scholarship exams Students of class V will have to face a public examination like SSC exams from this year as the cabinet on Monday endorsed the plan to improve the quality of education right from the elementary level. Centrally controlled by the Directorate of Primary Education, the public examination will mark the ... Read more

Left of the right, right of the left

Khaleda Zia Ziaur Rahman entered into the political arena, incidentally. But his arrival was inevitable. His coming was necessitated by the demands of the nation and the time to fill the void in the leadership. His did not come to join politics through any tortuous path by means of conspiracy in the dark, but his ... Read more

Melting Himalayas concern for millions

S Asian climate conference calls for fighting together to minimise risks The glaciers of the Himalayas are melting faster than anywhere else changing its ecosystem and causing grave concerns for the region, said the speakers at the South Asian Climate Change Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Himalayas, widely known as the water tower of the ... Read more

Deer trouble in Nijhum Dwip

Wildlife board suggests govt reduce number to two-thirds; hunting seen as option The Wildlife Advisory Board of the government has suggested downsizing the deer population at Nijhum Dwip to two-thirds as their number in the sanctuary has risen disproportionately to over 15,000 considering the island’s landscape. Now, what comes as a bad news for the ... Read more

One bed per 1.5 lakh cardiac patients

The number of bed for cardiac treatment is only one per 1.5 lakh people in the country, according to a statistic of the Bangladesh Cardiac Society. There are only 1,000 beds for cardiac patients both at private and public facilities in the country where about 75 percent people are at risk of the fatal disease, ... Read more

28 people get anthrax in Pabna

At least 28 people were diagnosed with anthrax in Pabna after consuming beef infected with the Bacillus anthracis, according to IEDCR. ‘Twenty patients were clinically diagnosed with anthrax in Pabna,’ Mahmudur Rahman, director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told New Age Monday. ‘There was no casualty and the

Record 54 women elected in Japan vote

A record 54 women won seats in Japan’s weekend election but female parliamentary representation still remains low by developed world standards at 11 per cent, results showed Monday. The opposition Democratic Party scored a historic win over the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday’s vote fielding a high-profile group of female candidates to take on ... Read more

Rajshahi board boss faces mayor’s fury

He fails to upgrade SSC results of Liton’s daughter, gets threats on his life; mayor now accuses him of defaming Bangabandhu Rajshahi Education Board Chairman Dipakendranath Das left the city Saturday night for Dhaka after filing general diaries with two police stations following threats on his life allegedly from the city Mayor

Rajuk plans 22,000 flats in Uttara

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha is planning to construct some 22,000 flats in Uttara under the Uttara Model Town (third phase) project with an aim to meet the growing need for housing in the capital. The flats to be constructed on 214 acres out of some 2,100 acres of the Uttara third phase project will be distributed ... Read more

Swine flu may break loose

Experts say virus now quickly spreading in wider community; 31 new cases confirmed Thirty-one new cases of swine flu were detected yesterday with experts warning Bangladesh’s alert level may soon be upgraded to “level 3” as the virus is quickly spreading from small clusters to the wider

Swine flu spreading at unbelievable rate: WHO

Swine flu spreads four times faster than other viruses and 40 per cent of the fatalities are young adults in good health, the world’s top health official warned in an interview appearing Saturday. ‘This virus travels at an unbelievable, almost unheard of speed,’ the World Health Organisation

Hasina, Khaleda host Iftar

Each avoids other’s party Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia played truant with their invitation to each other for iftar yesterday as the two political camps virtually ignored the exchanged overtures. Neither the Prime Minister nor the

Bus service for schools by Oct

DTCB plans to discourage cars for school runs, reduce traffic jams The government is going to introduce exclusive bus services for school children by late October as part of its effort to ease terrible traffic jams that waste valuable time and energy of people living in

Dhaka-Yangon road project in limbo

The project for construction of a friendship road between Bangladesh and Myanmar, undertaken in 2004 in line with the country’s ‘look east policy’ is in a state of limbo because of non-cooperation from the Yangon

Iranian mugged, assaulted

Police inaction alleged Thugs beat up an Iranian national and snatched her cash and jewelries on August 26 while she was traveling on a taxi. The victim Ashraf Aghazadeh alias Mina is the vice-principal of Bailey Road branch of Gateway