EC rules out poll within 90 days The government Sunday appointed two senior bureaucrats as administrators for the newly split Dhaka City Corporations under the new rules passed in parliament last month. An official announcement said Director General of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) Khorshed Alam Chowdhury has been appointed administrator to DCC ... Read more
Other Headlines
Dhaka’s air pollution level alarmingly high
Six air-quality monitoring stations will start operation in January 2012 to keep records of the levels of air pollution in different parts of the country under the Clean Air and Sustainable Environment project. Construction work of the stations in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Barisal, Narayanganj and Gazipur are in full swing, officials at the department of ... Read more
Two icons pass away
Two icons from two different realms passed away in last two days. Dev Anand, the evergreen romantic hero of Indian cinema, died of a heart attack in a London hospital on Saturday; and former Brazil soccer great Socrates died from an intestinal infection in Sao Paulo the day after. As the news broke about Dev ... Read more
Two teens die in motorbike crash in city
Two students died as their motorbike crashed on a road divider in the capital’s Khilgaon area yesterday. Of them, Sabbir Hossain, 19, was a second-year student of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute and Ferdous Alam, 18, was an SSC examinee from the local Abdul Aziz School and College. As Ferdous lost control of the bike near Khilgaon ... Read more
2 killed, 71 injured in garment factory stampede
Two female workers were killed and 71 others, mostly women, injured in a stampede triggered by twin boiler explosions at a garment factory at the capital’s Chankharpool on Saturday. The deceased, Jasmin Akhter, 20, and Taslima Shikha, 20, both workers of Euro Tex Limited, died on way to Dhaka Medical College Hospital
MK Alamgir’s son drowns in Thai sea
A US university teacher, who is the son of Awami League (AL) lawmaker Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, has drowned in sea while holidaying in Thailand. Jalal Alamgir (42), an associate professor of Political Science Department at Boston University in USA, had been on a one-year sabbatical and based in Bangladesh. He was working on a book. ... Read more
Outsourcing can fetch $5b every year
Telecom experts say about Bangladesh’s prospect Bangladesh has the potential to create over 2 lakh direct and 50,000 indirect jobs and earn $5 billion in foreign currency per year in the next decade through outsourcing business. Foreign telecom analysts made the observation yesterday at eAsia 2011, Asia’s mega information and communications technology (ICT) programme at ... Read more
A ray of hopes, finally
After a week of grim news, at least some light shone yesterday when a new window of fund termed Loss and Damage has been finalised. Under the window, countries affected by quick and long-term climate change will be able to access funds. The window was proposed at the last climate conference at Cancun and its ... Read more
Half of world pollution done by five nations
More than half of all carbon pollution released into the atmosphere comes from five countries, according to a national ranking of greenhouse gas emissions. The first 10 countries on the list, made available during UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa on Thursday, account for two-thirds of global emissions, said the report compiled by
Bangladesh improves in graft status
Though Bangladesh stepped up one position to 13th from the bottom in this year’s corruption index (CPI), it failed to come out from the country list of unbridled corruption, Transparency International (TI) said in a release yesterday. On a scale from 1 to 10, the country has scored 2.7, only 0.3 points higher than last
Dhaka tuned to ICT
eAsia 2011 opens in city, draws host of experts, policy-makers, industry leaders from the region Asia’s mega technology event, eAsia 2011, kicked off in the capital yesterday, thereby putting regional information and communication technology focus on Bangladesh. No other ICT event hosted in the country has seen so many foreign and local experts sharing their ... Read more
Animals predict quakes
Animals may sense chemical changes in groundwater that occur when an earthquake is about to strike. This could be the cause of bizarre earthquake-associated animal behaviour, scientists say. Researchers began to investigate these chemical effects after seeing a colony of toads abandon its pond in L’Aquila, Italy, in 2009–days before
Durban set to pick up more heat
Compromise formula on Kyoto Protocol faces obstacle Durban burned with sweltering heat yesterday and the UN’s weather agency World Meteorological Organisation’s just-released report that 2011 is the 10th hottest year since records began in 1850 had probably something to do with a new-found formula to save the Kyoto Protocol. The compromise formula to give a ... Read more
The greatest light show on Earth
The strange, beautiful coloured lights that circle the Earth’s polar regions are a source of fascination for many. But as the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, dance in the frozen skies over Alaska, scientists’ trigger fingers are poised to launch rockets. Could our planet be under attack from the unearthly forces that cast a mysterious ... Read more
Dhaka city sliced into two
JS passes bill in a hurry Parliament on Tuesday passed the Local Government (City Corporation) (Amendment) Bill 2011 dividing Dhaka City Corporation into two entities. The passage of the bill empowered the government to remove the mayor and councillors and appoint two administrators from civil servants or people it deems competent for the two corporations ... Read more
Citizens threaten movement against split
A number of eminent personalities yesterday threatened to launch a greater movement against the government’s decision to split Dhaka City Corporation into two. The government has taken the decision in an “autocratic” manner by ignoring public opinion, they said. They expressed their views at a citizens’ rally organised by the Dhaka City Corporation
Bangladesh worst-hit in last 2 decades
Bangladesh is a country most affected by extreme weather events in the last two decades, reveals the Global Climate Risk Index (CRI), 2012. For the period 1991-2010, Bangladesh was followed by Myanmar and Honduras, the report said. However, Bangladesh is not on the list of the 10 worst affected countries in
Khoka says unofficial bye
Dhaka mayor vows to continue protest After completing his term as the Dhaka City Corporation Mayor, Sadeque Hossain Khoka yesterday said he “as a dweller” will continue his movement against its splitting into two. “If the parliament passes the bill on the split today (Tuesday) it will be the last day for me as a ... Read more
OC was ‘drunk’
Judicial probe says Khilgaon cops exhibited extreme negligence, unjust attitude in accusing a person Dhaka University student Abdul Kadar had been arrested and tortured in police custody on false allegations by a miscreant, said a judicial probe report submitted to the High Court yesterday. Referring to a witness’ deposition, it also said the officer-in-charge of ... Read more
500 female workers to return from Jordan
All the 500 Bangladeshi female expatriates in Jordan, who have lost their jobs following the closure of a factory, are returning home as the Jordanian authorities have not allowed them to move to other factories. Despite repeated requests the Jordanian labour department has not given permission for their transfer, according to the Bangladesh Embassy in ... Read more