May 16: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that his country had defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels on the battlefield and emerged victorious from its quarter century civil war. “My government, with the total commitment of our armed forces, has in an unprecedented humanitarian operation finally defeated the LTTE militarily,” he said referring to ... Read more
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National probe report likely in a day or two
BDR Carnage National probe report likely in a day or two The national probe committee on BDR carnage is likely to submit its report in the next few days. Sources close to the probe committee told The Daily Star that the report is prepared to submit any time but some other formalities including binding the ... Read more
17m Bangladeshis to be displaced: Sea level rise due to meltdown of West Antarctic ice
More than 17 million people in Bangladesh would be displaced by a sea level rise of 1.5 metres, warned Jonathan Bamber, a professor at Bristol University in England, disclosing a study report which found that a collapse of the ice sheet of West Antarctica would push up world sea levels by 3.3 metres (11 ft) ... Read more
India confirms first swine flu case
The number of confirmed swine flu cases has soared again to top 8,000, the World Health Organisation said yesterday as India and Turkey reported their first infections. Japan also confirmed its first three infections among teenage students who had not picked up the virus abroad, and officials voiced fears that it would spread in the ... Read more
JMB’s mini bomb-making factory busted in city
The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday morning busted a ‘mini-munitions factory’ of banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) at the city’s East Monipur in Mirpur, and recovered a huge cache of bombs and bomb-making materials. They carried out the raid following up information obtained from detained JMB explosives expert ‘Boma Mizan’ and his wife ... Read more
Extortions continue unabated
Extortions continue unabated on a massive scale in all sectors of industries and business despite an intensified countrywide clampdown by law enforcers after the assumption of office by the Awami League-led government. Sources said toll collectors and all kinds of extortionists had been active in industrial and business establishments, shopping malls, bus terminals and construction ... Read more
Crime spurt adds to businesses’ worries
Business leaders Friday expressed their grave concern over the fast deterioration of law and order, especially in the country’s commercial areas, in recent weeks, saying it will aggravate the economic downturn amid global recession. Terrorists killed one garment entrepreneur and four others in Dhaka and its adjoining areas, mugged and injured many others in the ... Read more
EC bid to cut DC, UNO influence on its field staff
Commission asserts its position The Election Commission (EC) has taken initiatives to stop domination of District Commissioners (DCs) and Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) over the field-level election officials and employees, reliable sources have said. Although the EC is a constitutional institution, and, in accordance with law, the EC Secretariat is independent, the DCs and the ... Read more
BNP yet to announce convening committees due to internal feud
Standing committee meeting today BNP yet to announce convening committees due to internal feud Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is yet to announce 74 district convening committees due to party internal feud though the committees were likely to be announced early in this month. The party will take final decision today (Saturday) at a standing committee ... Read more
Pedestrians worst victims of road crashes
Almost three quarters of people killed in road accidents in Dhaka city are pedestrians while mostly minibuses are involved in these accidents. Even though pedestrians constitute around 60 percent of the road users in the capital they are one of the least cared for. According to Accident Monitoring Cell of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) ... Read more
Mizan, wife disowned by parents for militancy
Detained Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) man Mizan alias ‘Boma Mizan’ was disowned by his parents five years ago for his Islamist terrorist connection, and his first wife Sharmin was also disowned by her family three months after they had come to know that her husband is a terrorist. “We got married in 2006 after I ... Read more
ICDDR,B receives 450 diarrhoea patients a day
People advised to avoid roadside sharbat Though the residents of the capital got some respite from the scorching heat as the mercury dipped well below 35 degree Celsius following rainfall that significantly improved the overall situation of water borne diseases, expertes warned people ‘not to be complacent’. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), ... Read more
Slumdog star’s home demolished
The Mumbai slum home of one of the child stars of the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire has been demolished by city authorities. Reports say that police smacked the boy, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, with a bamboo stick before ordering him out. The authorities claim he and other families were squatting on land that was owned by ... Read more
Violence against women and children continue
Violence against women and children continues across the country as criminals go unpunished in the absence of proper application of law. Women and girls suffer from physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuses while children face corporal punishment at home, school and workplace. A report of Odhikar says 5816 women and children were raped in six ... Read more
Thousands had to leave country in last decade
Claims indigenous people’s body An organisation working with indigenous people claimed that around 50,000 adivashi people were forced to leave the country due to harassment and repression during the last decade. The Adivashi Manobadhikar Report 2008 claimed that non-adivashi people were relocated to the hilly region under a political scheme of “population transfer” and they ... Read more
Quality weeklies are rare
A large number of English and Bangla- weekly magazines come out from Dhaka but it is difficult to ascertain the exact number as most of them are irregular and underground publications. However, a number of weekly magazines-both English and Bangla- are found in the market. The well known weekly English weeklies published regularly from Dhaka ... Read more
5th Asian universities debating contest kicks off
The six-day ‘Fifth Asian Universities Debating Championship (AUDC) 2009’ began amid a gala ceremony at a hotel in the city yesterday. A total of 279 debaters comprising 69 teams of 10 Asian countries will participate in the championship. The participating teams are from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the ... Read more
Farmers achieve success in cultivating sweet jumbo grass in char areas
Profit of taka 50,000 per acre possible The char people have been attaining remarkable success in eradicating poverty by farming Australian hybrid variety sweet jumbo grass in the sandy char areas on the country’s Brahmaputra basin during the past two years. The distressed char people have been achieving their faster economic self-reliance side by side ... Read more
JMB’s explosives expert Boma Mizan captured
Wife explodes bomb to escape arrest; finally surrenders to Rab with severe injuries after 4-hr midnight raid at a Mirpur house After years in the hunt for him, the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) last night captured ‘Boma Mizan’, explosives expert of banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), at Taltola in the city’s Mirpur area. ... Read more
CID investigation into BDR mutiny may take this year
Political complicity not ascertained yet CID investigation into BDR mutiny and killing of army officers may take this year as the matter is too complicated to complete it quickly. Although report of CID investigation will be the basis of trial of BDR mutineers in the court but it will not be possible to be completed ... Read more