News

More than 100 judges, additional judges and assistant judges of the District Courts yesterday protested the move to divide the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs into two sections without consulting them as they were apprehensive of their future. The judges entered the Secretariat at about 10:00 AM and headed for the Ministry of ... Read more

Includes measures to minimise climate change impact The government is going to take up a Tk 30,000-crore mega project to revive the country’s river system that would also address the impact of climate change in the country. State Minister for Environment and Forest Mostafizur Rahman said this while talking to journalists after delivering a speech ... Read more

The cabinet yesterday approved the ‘Father of the Nation’s Family Members’ Security bill 2009′. It also set new office times for government, semi-government and autonomous organisations for the coming holy month of Ramzan. The approval was given at a regular weekly meeting of the cabinet at Bangladesh secretariat. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the ... Read more

BDR MUTINY TRIAL Govt to seek SC opinion  The government has decided to seek opinion of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court to fix the mode of trial of the February 25-26 massacre inside the paramilitary BDR headquarters, law minister Shafique Ahmed said on Monday. ‘We have decided today to refer the matter to ... Read more

The CNG pump owners are determined to enforce non-stop strike across the country from August 1 to realise their six-point demands. To resolve the crisis, the Ministry of Energy, Power and Mineral Resources yesterday met with the leaders of CNG pump owners, which ended without any decision. The leaders in the meeting expressed their dissatisfaction ... Read more

The private universities that have sprung up in the city and elsewhere in the country in recent years are cashing in on seat crisis in public universities although there is a question about the standard of education they offer. “Many brilliant students from low and middle-income families are unlikely to be able to get admitted ... Read more

Assistance to be sought at JEC meeting in China Bangladesh will seek around US$4.68 billion in assistance from the Chinese government to implement 28 projects in telecommunication, infrastructure, energy, and health sectors at the Bangladesh-China Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting scheduled to begin in Beijing tomorrow. During the three-day bilateral talk that will take place ... Read more

Drought-hit farmers in the northern region say they need uninterrupted electricity supply, not free electricity, to irrigate their paddy fields as Aus crop has already been affected and Aman cultivation runs out of time. As officials are gearing up for implementing the government’s offer to distribute electricity to irrigation pumps free of cost, farmers expect ... Read more

Everest Marandi joins the prayers with about 50 other people of the Christian community here every afternoon for the past one week. ‘What will we eat if there is no rain?’ asks the man, explaining the objective of the special prayer session. In Jugisho village, some 30 kilometres from Rajshahi city, three-fourths of the croplands ... Read more

Stability in Bangladesh a matter of int’l concern, says German Ambassador Meyke The European Union had welcomed the ‘1/11 changeover’ in Bangladesh to avert possible bloodshed in the then “dangerous” political confrontation, outgoing German envoy Frank Meyke said yesterday. He, however, rejected allegations of any diplomatic role in the declaration of a state of emergency ... Read more

It will be guided tour, says Abdur Razzak The parliamentary delegation scheduled to visit the Tipaimukh dam site in India on Friday, said that the extent of its access to the site will depend on how much its counterpart is willing to allow. The team, that is scheduled to leave Dhaka on Wednesday for a ... Read more

General Secretary Ashraf says Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said his party wants to change the country’s political nature by bringing an end to corruption, extortion, murder and anarchy in the name of politics. “We do not want to go back to confrontational politics. We want to change the country and its ... Read more

Low monsoon rain and India’s food export ban could put Bangladesh’s food security at stake and require the government to give more incentives to farmers and watch global food price trend cautiously, warn local and global forecasters. The government, however, sees no immediate danger from the New Delhi’s move, claiming that it has sufficient food ... Read more

A parliamentary committee on Sunday strongly recommended realizing compensation by legal means from the foreign company concerned for the crack on the Jamuna multipurpose bridge that is so vital in integrating the country’s eastern and north-northwestern parts. The Parliamentary Stan-ding Committee on Com-munications Ministry in its meeting identified the reasons for not realizing compensation by ... Read more

City-dwellers witnessed severe traffic congestions on Sunday. Traffic movement on different busy roads and thoroughfares virtually collapsed triggering untold suffering to the commuters. Many commuters opined that travelling in Dhaka city has now become a nightmare. Thousands of motor vehicles, mostly passenger-buses, got stranded on busy city streets for hours causing severe traffic congestions. A ... Read more

A parliamentary sub-committee yesterday said it will recommend legal actions against former shipping adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin, as it has ‘clear evidence of corruption’ against him. The sub-committee formed to investigate alleged corruption by MA Matin during the immediate past caretaker emergency regime, also changed its earlier position for summoning the former adviser ... Read more