News

Industries Minister Dilip Barua has suggested bringing down the bank interest rate to single digit, saying that high interest rate is the major obstacle to industrialization in the country. “Bank interest rate is a big problem for investment in the country; this should be brought down below 10 percent,” he said while speaking at a ... Read more

People are likely to suffer more in the sweltering heat as meteorologists on Saturday said the heat wave now sweeping over a half of the country might continue for a couple of days. In the absence of rain, a draught-like situation coupled with a decline in the groundwater level has also put farmers in trouble ... Read more

No respite until Boro season ends; stopgap measures fail In spite of diverting 100 MW of electricity from REB, officials concerned have warned that power generation in the country is unlikely to improve before the Boro season comes to an end. The capital is eagerly looking forward to getting some respite from its protracted hours ... Read more

In the search for Earth-like planets, astronomers zeroed in Tuesday on two places that look awfully familiar to home. One is close to the right size. The other is in the right place. European researchers said they not only found the smallest exoplanet ever, called Gliese 581 e, but realized that a neighboring planet discovered ... Read more

Awami League General Secretary, who is now sidelined by the party high-ups, said, a number of ministers who were planted in the cabinet are agents of an intelligence agency and they are on their payroll. While talking to the New Nation last night without naming party spokesman and acting general secretary Syed Ashraful, Jalil said ... Read more

Rivers in some of the world’s most populated regions are losing water, many because of climate change, researchers reported on Tuesday. Affected rivers include the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa, and the Colorado in the south-western United States. When added to the effects from damming, irrigation ... Read more

Bashundhara Group’s offer for 2 stadiums shocks Rajuk The lands, on which Bashundhara Group Chief Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam promised two football stadiums for Bangladesh Football Federation, are mostly part of protected wetlands and flood flow zones, which cannot be legally used for building anything on them, according to Rajuk sources. Shah Alam ... Read more

Awami League (AL) Presidium member Amir Hossain Amu yesterday claimed that Abdul Jalil, General Secretary of AL, might have full information about connection of party leaders with an intelligence agency. Amu made this comment while talking to reporters at his Eskaton residence in a reaction to Abdul Jalil’s interview on Tuesday that a number of ... Read more

Frequent load shedding for long-period is severely affecting city people plunging them into unbearable sufferings. Without electricity for hours, people of the city fail to sleep in extremely hot and humid weather and students of different levels specially HSC examinees are not being able to pursue studies. Business activities, industrial productions, hospital services and normal ... Read more

Vowing to continue their movement leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday said they would not sit idle if the government did not revoke the lease cancellation decision and withdraw eviction notice to the party chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately. If the government fails to withdraw its decision we would come out to the streets ... Read more

As many as 62 cargo vessels – both incoming and outgoing – have been stranded at the Chittagong port as the only port channel was shut on Wednesday following the sinking of a clinker-laden coaster ship in the estuary, port and shipping sources said. Of them, 43 ships with import cargoes remained stranded at the ... Read more

The Sub-Committee of Parliamentary Probe Committee on the alleged corruption of former speaker Barrister Jamir Uddin Sircar will recommend for taking legal actions against the former speaker and BNP Secretary General and former whip Khondoker Delwar Hossain for their corruption in medical bills. After a meeting of the Sub-Committee, SK Baker, convenor of the committee ... Read more

The government yesterday announced a Tk 3,424 crore stimulus package to cushion the blow of global economic downturn. The fund meant to be used over the last quarter of the current fiscal year includes Tk 450 crore in cash subsidies for the export industries already hit by the recession. Unveiling the plan at a press ... Read more

Few trade bodies have expressed their frustration over the financial stimulus package the government announced Sunday to help face the recession challenges and demanded reconsideration of the incentives. “I can’t consider it a complete stimulus package… it only addressed the concerns of three sectors from the recession-hit ones,” FBCCI president Annisul Huq told UNB in ... Read more

A parliamentary panel has questioned the expenditure by a minister for decoration of his official chambers and the attempt to have a luxury Sports Utility Vehicle purchased for his official use, a member of the parliamentary watchdog told New Age. ‘We asked the ministry’s officials to explain under which law they had spent so much ... Read more

Diarrhoea, which has broken out in alarming proportions in Dhaka, has claimed the life of a six-year-old girl and afflicted more than 700 others till 5:00pm on Sunday. The ICDDR,B received 908 patients on Saturday, 775 on Friday and 899 on Thursday. According to the health control room, the number of patients in the last ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank issued a circular Sunday asking commercial banks to reduce the maximum limit of their annual lending rate to 13 percent to help industries face the challenges of the global recession. The rate will be applicable for term loans of agriculture credit, large and medium industries, financing housing and commercial transactions. The instruction comes ... Read more

No remarkable improvement of power situation is seen in the ongoing summer season that causes huge suffering for the HSC examinees and Boro farmers. Residents and boro farmers yesterday experienced ten to sixteen hours electricity cut, according to sources. There was 1,800MW of load shedding yesterday against the demand of 5,500MW, sources said. In Dhaka ... Read more

Four activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League, were injured in infighting on the Jahangirnagar University campus Sunday. The injured were Ullash, Bitu, Faisal and Arnab of the Sagor-Sumon group of the BCL at the JU. All of them were residing at the Bhashani Hall of the university. ... Read more

Many BNP leaders likely to retire Veteran politician and founder member of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) M Saifur Rahman resigned from the party standing committee as well as retired from active politics. Many standing committee members are likely to go to self-retirement following him. The size of standing committee will be smaller for these retirements ... Read more