Walking in Park Ex-army men beat up 4 students Security guards and retired army officers beat up four A-level students, tied them up, and confined them to a room for six hours for walking on the Baridhara DOHS Park the wrong way. The park has a policy of one-way pedestrian walking, like one-way traffic movement ... Read more
Other Headlines
Speaker vows to save JS premises
Says metro rail route won’t be allowed to run through Sangsad Bhaban complex Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Abdul Hamid has vowed not to allow the proposed metro rail road to run through the parliament premises as it would spoil the architectural splendour of the famed complex. “I will not allow it within the 215-acre premises of ... Read more
Power price hike proposal placed
Two top power distribution companies owned by the government – Power Development Board (PDB) and Dhaka Power distribution Company (DPDC) – on Wednesday placed their respective proposals to raise the price of electricity at the consumers’ level. According to the PDB proposal per unit power tariff for residential use would go up to Tk 2.80 ... Read more
2.68 lakh workers set to be regular
Bangladeshis in Malaysia 2.68 lakh workers set to be regular Malaysian home minister says his country needs all those who get registered under amnesty scheme. All the 2.68 lakh irregular Bangladeshi workers registered under Malaysia’s amnesty programme will be regularised from October 10 and given jobs, officials at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur ... Read more
Tough act to control MLM business in the offing
Direct sales law in a month: Faruk Khan The government is going to enact a tough law barring Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies from running the business of immovable properties like lands, buildings, smuggled goods, extreme fundamentalism books and office spaces. Besides, proposed law will restrict MLM companies conduct buy and sale of 21 products. The
Bangladesh may feel the heat
Grain Exporters’ Protectionism Bangladesh may feel the heat Bangladesh might get hurt by rising world agricultural prices due to protectionism of grain exporting countries. “Export taxes and export restrictions lower prices domestically [in exporting countries] but increases world food prices, thereby affecting food importing countries like Bangladesh,” said Antoine Bouet, a senior research fellow of ... Read more
Durga Puja ends today
The five-day celebration of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of Hindus, winds up today with the immersion of the goddess’ idols across the country. Devotees will bid a solemn farewell to their deity Durga and her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh through immersion after inviting her to return next
1800 secondary schools are under-performing
Around 1,800 secondary schools are performing poorly or not at all, yet the teachers at such institutions are continuing to receive salaries from the public exchequer, the government has found. Education ministry officials said that warnings will be sent to the heads of every blacklisted school. If the schools fail make improvements within a short ... Read more
India launches cheapest tablet PC
India launched what it says is the world’s cheapest touch-screen tablet computer yesterday, priced at just $35. Costing a fraction of Apple’s iPad, the subsidised Aakash is aimed at students. It supports web browsing and video conferencing has a three-hour battery life and two USB ports, but questions remain over how it will
Hi-tech driving licence on cards
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority is set to start producing hi-tech driving licences to prevent the use of fake licences by drivers, a problem that is attributed to accidents on roads. A total of 11.50 lakh licences will be issued in five years at the cost of Tk 37 crore from the public exchequer. The licences ... Read more
Trend setter — just needs little fixing
Safety Net Schemes Trend setter — just needs little fixing Int’l policy workshop sees land scarcity, huge poverty-struck population as major challenges to ensure food security Bangladesh spent 2.8 billion dollars last year on social safety net programmes (SSNPs) and is a global leader in dimensions of social protection. But with 27 million of its ... Read more
Govt to build 20,000 flats for middle class
Ecnec okays Tk 9,031cr project The government will build 20,000 flats in the capital’s Uttara in the next five years for low and middle income people. The project was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the
3 researchers from US, UK get Nobel
Study on Expanding Universe 3 researchers from US, UK get Nobel Three researchers behind the discovery that our Universe’s expansion is accelerating have been awarded this year’s Nobel prize for physics yesterday. Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess of the US and Brian Schmidt of Australia will divide the prize. The trio studied what are called ... Read more
Kumari Puja celebrated
Hindu devotees yesterday celebrated Maha Ashtami across the country, offering obeisance to Goddess Durga. Today, Maha Navami, the fourth day of Durga Puja, will begin in the morning. On this day, priests begin the rituals that culminate with a devotional offering called “Maha-Arati”. The Maha Ashtami is also the time for Kumari Puja where a ... Read more
City corps, municipalities owe Tk 400cr to power agencies
A series of meetings and regular exchange of letters for months failed to make any progress in realising about Tk 400 crore due bills and surcharges from the city corporations and municipalities across the country by the five power distribution agencies. The surcharge on the Tk 158.53 crore long overdue bills of the five power ... Read more
Maha Ashtami today
The largest religious festival for the Hindus enters the third day today with thousands of devotees being expected to throng the puja mandaps (pavilion) to worship the mother goddess. This is the most important day of Durga Puja, known as Durga Ashtami, as it celebrates the victory of the goddess over Mahishasura (the buffalo-demon from ... Read more
Ivy, Osman, Taimur, five others in mayoral race
A total of eight mayoral candidates and 334 councillor candidates on Sunday submitted nomination papers for contesting the Narayanganj City Corporation polls, slated for October 30. A total of 56 women have submitted nomination papers for the nine posts of councillors reserved for women. Awami League’s Shamim Osman, Selina Hayat Ivy and SM Akram, and ... Read more
Rights worry over ‘disappearances’
17 ‘vanished’ in 9 months Disappearance of people has become a phenomenon so widespread that it worries the rights activists and the chief of the National Human Rights Commission. The trend of disappearance and mysterious killings has taken an alarming turn a year after the Awami League-led grand alliance came to power in January
RAJUK gives land for metro rail depot
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) has provided 22 hectares of land in Uttara Phase III, for construction of a metro rail depot, said a source at the agency. The Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB), which had carried out negotiations with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), on the metro rail project, was given the
1,000 taxis to hit city roads
Saber Chy’s company given licence The communications ministry has given licence to Karnaphuli Works Ltd, owned by Awami League lawmaker Saber Hossain Chowdhury, to operate a thousand new taxicabs in the capital and its adjacent districts. Equipped with a minimum of 1500cc (1.5 litres) engines and air-conditioning, the vehicles to be imported from Japan are ... Read more