Mughal Era Mosque Outcry over demolition The authorities have been demolishing a 368-year-old mosque to erect a five-storey new one on DC Roy Road in Old Dhaka. Located to the west of Mitford Hospital, the Mitford Kazi Sharif Mosque was constructed in AD 1643-44 during the Mughal period. A Persian stone inscription in a wall ... Read more
Other Headlines
Crossfire killings necessary
Wikileaks Crossfire killings necessary Rab’s former second man Bari told US envoy Chowdhury Fazlul Bari, former second-in-command of Rab, during a June 2005 conversation with US embassy officials had described extrajudicial killings in the name of “crossfire” by the force as a necessary, short-term expedient, according to a diplomatic dispatch. An influential figure during the ... Read more
Durga Puja begins
The five-day-long Durga Puja, the biggest annual religious festival of the Hindus, begins today through Sashthi puja. All puja mandaps (pavilion) in the capital and other parts of the country are prepared for the celebration. The artisans are busy giving the finishing touches to the idols and organisers doing the last minute decoration and lighting ... Read more
BSF says 7 killed in 2011, reports say 21
BSF assures BGB of ending border killing India’s Border Security Force director general Raman Shrivastava on Friday reassured his Bangladesh counterpart of ending the killing of Bangladeshis in the frontiers. Raman at a joint briefing at the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters in Dhaka after the director general-level meeting between the BGB and the BSF said ... Read more
Medical, Dental Admission: 20 held for fake question trade
JU teacher among the accused Rapid Action Battalion early yesterday arrested 20 people, including a Jahangirnagar University teacher, in connection with selling fake question papers for the combined medical college and dental college admission test. Rab also seized Tk 8.26 lakh, 29 mobile phones and three motorbikes from the arrestees’ possession. The arrestees include Mohammad ... Read more
Cost of living almost double in 5 yrs
The cost of living in Bangladesh has increased by 82.59 per cent over the last five years from, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). In relation, the income has increased by 59.38 per cent over the same period showing an unusual disparity between income and expenditure. This disparity has made the fixed income group’s ... Read more
First Hajj flight reaches Jeddah
Biman Bangladesh Airlines yesterday operated its first Hajj flight of the year carrying 505 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. A Boeing 747 jumbo jet left Shahjalal International Airport (SIA) around 5:45am and landed safely at Jeddah airport in the afternoon, Biman sources said. Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister GM Quader inaugurated the national carrier’s
HR boss barred from visiting jail
He demands removal of prisons chief National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Mizanur Rahman was barred from entering Sylhet Central Jail by authorities on Thursday morning. Mizanur Rahman arrived at the jail’s entrance at around 9am and waited for the jail’s acting superintendent to appear. The NHRC Chairman left around 11am after being refused permission ... Read more
More women now HIV-positive as men hide AIDS infection
More and more women are becoming HIV-positive or even infected with AIDS by their partners or husbands who have returned from work abroad and had unsafe sex with them. While these men hide their HIV-positive status from their women partners, this has increased the incidence of HIV vulnerability among the country’s population, experts
New gas ‘found’
Local explorer sees 80pc possibility of finding huge reserve in old Sylhet field A survey of national gas field of Rashidpur has raised high hopes of finding an additional one trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. This is a major development in a national gas field, a source of gas cheaper than that produced by ... Read more
Economy in tangles
People start to feel the pinch as govt rides on a high fuel import to feed fuel-guzzling power plants The letter shocked Rahman. A few lines typed in an official language across a white page with the bank’s insignia at the top. It says your monthly mortgage payment has been raised by Tk 3,000 in ... Read more
Road mayhem goes on
City communications disrupted for hours, 20 vehicles vandalised as Jagannath University students press for 4 demands Jagannath University students went on a rampage damaging cars and halting traffic for the second consecutive day yesterday to press home their demands including continued government funding for the university. Agitating students vandalised at least 20 vehicles and blocked ... Read more
Nepal plane crash kills all 19 aboard
A plane carrying tourists to view Mount Everest crashed while attempting to land in Nepal on Sunday, killing all 19 people on board, officials said. The turboprop plane belonging to Buddha Air was carrying 13 foreign tourists, three Nepalese passengers and three crew members when it crashed in Bisankunarayan village, just a few miles
3 univ students jailed for sexual harassment
A mobile court of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday sentenced three private university students to two years’ imprisonment for blackmailing a schoolgirl by capturing indecent video. The convicted, Parvez Sarkar, 20, BBA student of South East University, Mahbub Hasan Mohobbot, 20, and Udoy Sarma Utso, 20, BBA students of American International University of Bangladesh
Roughed up by army men
Man ends up in hospital for protesting ball-throwing at wife A tourist was beaten and injured by army members at Kolatoli Sugandha point on the Cox’s Bazar sea beach yesterday morning. Two constables of Tourist Police– Karmen Priya Chakma, 28, and Jewel Haque, 29– were also beaten up when they tried to save Mohammad Hanif, ... Read more
Flight debacle hits Biman
Passengers face ordeal With every minute Azizur Rahman’s frustration grew and it was evident in his pacing inside a hotel room in Dhaka. He was really worried that his job in London could be gone by the time he reaches the United Kingdom. Jobs are really hard to get these days of sluggish world economy. ... Read more
PM receives Global Health Award
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has received the Global Health and Children’s Award for her outstaying contribution to develop Bangladesh’s health sector by using the Information Communication Technology. The award was given at a colourful function held at the Astoria Waldorf Hotel in presence
Distance saved fragile Dhaka
Sikkim quake a warning for the unplanned city Even the vulnerable and unplanned buildings in Dhaka sustained Sunday’s Sikkim earthquake, as it wakened by the time it struck Bangladesh. The capital felt a “weak” (3.0 to 4.0 on Richter scale) jolt while the northern districts shook “lightly” (4.0 on Richter scale)
Bus fare up again
The government on Monday raised bus fare by five paisa a kilometre to offset the ‘10 per cent increase in fuel prices’. The communications ministry approved the proposal of upwardly revised fares for buses, mini-buses and CNG-run auto-rickshaws as recommended by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
CNG price hiked
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday increased the price of compressed natural gas to Tk 30 a cubic metre from Tk 25 with effect from midnight Monday. The commission made the decision without holding a public hearing with the stakeholders. At the same time, the commission increased the price of feed gas to the ... Read more