Even an illiterate person can use the gadget In a first for the country, the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) has developed an arsenic-detecting kit which will be available for Tk 700 as against the Tk 1.5 lakh price of an imported one. “Even an illiterate person can use the gadget and ... Read more
bangladesh
Spinners thrown in a spin
Cheap yarns coming from China, India to cause heavy loss Islam, who would not disclose his full identity fearing it would affect his loan eligibility, is the owner of one of the giants in textiles, and was expecting a good profitable year until things started tumbling a few months back. He now stares at a ... Read more
Bangladesh ranks 25th in ‘failed states’ index
Bangladesh ranked 25th in this year’s Failed States Index prepared jointly by the Washington-based bimonthly magazine Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace, an independent research and educational organisation. Bangladesh, which held 24th position in the annual ranking of the world’s most vulnerable states in 2010, moved one point down the ranks this year suggesting improvement in ... Read more
First all-female armed cop unit launched
The first all-female Armed Police Battalion (APBn) unit was launched yesterday in the capital. Addressing the inauguration programme at APBn headquarters in the city’s Uttara, Home Minister Sahara Khatun said this is one of the steps the government has taken to empower women. Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar said the government has relaxed physical fitness
More billion-dollar export sectors in the offing, after RMG and jute
Emergence of jute as the country’s second billion-dollar export earning sector and growth of two other similar sectors are seen as a very significant development for the national economy, say export industry insiders and trade analysts. After readymade garments, jute has emerged as the second billion-dollar export earning sector
Rain, tidal surge spell huge sufferings
Depression starts to weaken Relentless rain and unusually high tidal surge kept on battering people of the coastal areas yesterday and destroyed several thousand homes, damaged crops on half a lakh acres of land, fish enclosures and dams and disrupted communication. Over 10 lakh people have been rendered homeless in Barisal, Khulna, Chittagong and Cox’s ... Read more
Dhaka ready to welcome soccer giants Argentina and Nigeria
Dhaka is all set to welcome the titans of world soccer, the Argentinean and Nigerian national football teams, for the FIFA friendly international match to be staged on September 6, at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. Organised by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), the match was titled ‘Beximco Football Fest’, as the country’s biggest corporate ... Read more
HSBC awards five exporters
HSBC Bangladesh has awarded five exporters in recognition of their contribution to promoting Bangladeshi goods abroad. The foreign bank handed over the “HSBC Export Excellence Awards 2010” to the winners at a gala ceremony at Sonargaon Hotel in the city on
Cheaper laptops hit market this month
Low-price laptops manufactured by government-owned Telephone Shilpa Sangstha will hit the market this month, telecommunications minister Raziuddin Ahmed Raju said in parliament yesterday. The laptop will cost Tk 10,000 to Tk 12,000. In a scripted answer, the minister said replying to lawmakers’ queries that the present
Country’s remittance tops $10.6b in 11 months
The country received $10.606 billion in remittance from expatriate Bangladeshis in 11 months of the current fiscal year. In May, the amount of inward remittance was $993.25 million, higher by $90.20 million of the remittance inflow in the same month of 2010 when the amount was
Wildlife in jeopardy
Hunger, death on offer as forests vanish fast The number of phone calls we receive every day is amazing. People call to say fishing cats have been killed or captured. Jungle cat kittens found. Vultures lying sick. And of course, tigers have been killed. If we put together all these pieces of information, we get ... Read more
Forests dip to 10pc
Environment day today The country’s forest cover has shrunk to less than 10 percent of land mass with only 0.02 hectares of per capita forest land, one of the lowest in the world. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Department of Forest, a total of 2.52 million hectares area — nearly 17.4 percent of ... Read more
ADB assures fund for 500MW solar system
The Asian Development Bank has in principal agreed to provide financial support to Bangladesh for implementing a solar system project for generation of 500MW power. The assurance came from the top executives of the multilateral lending agency at its 3-day Asia Solar Energy Forum’s Conference in Bangkok that ended on June 1. A delegation led ... Read more
Shrimp farming deals major blow to South
Coastal land in Aila-hit areas turns barren due to salinity Ahammad Ali Gazi sighed as he surveyed his salt-covered land that once produced rice. “This is the land where my family grew rice for years,” said Gazi, a 60-year-old farmer at Gabura in Satkhira district close to Bay of Bengal. “Today, there is nothing but ... Read more
Bill Gates keen to work with Bangladesh
Microsoft chairman and co-chair of Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation William H (Bill) Gates has expressed keen interest to work together with Bangladesh to help it attain the millennium development goals. Bill Gates expressed the interest when he paid a courtesy call on the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, at her hotel suite in the Swiss ... Read more
Promising jute bag market seen in Europe
Bangladesh could a huge amount of money annually from export of jute bags the demand for which has been increasing in the world market. International Jute Study Group estimated that annual world demand for shopping bags is 500 billion pieces. Leading food retailers Tesco, the Co-operative Group, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and
Caretaker system declared illegal
HIGHLIGHTS o 13th amendment unconstitutional o Caretaker govt may hold next 2 JS polls for ‘safety’ o Judges may be kept out of caretaker govt The Supreme Court has declared illegal a 15-year-old constitutional provision that mandates an elected government to transfer power to an unelected non-partisan caretaker administration to oversee a new parliamentary election on completion of ... Read more
Machine readable visa launched
The government yesterday started issuing machine readable visas (MRV) from the passport office in the capital’s Agargaon and aims to expand it to other divisional offices within a fortnight. Home Minister Sahara Khatun launched the process by handing over the passport to a foreigner with an MRV sticker
Carjackers on the prowl
Make city too risky for drivers, bikers Shamsur Rahman was coming home from a party on a Friday night with his wife. It was around midnight when he made a turn to his Gulshan road but he noticed a car behind him. It was moving slowly and it felt like it was shadowing him. Shamsur ... Read more
They kill drivers, snatch vehicles
On January 2, criminals stopped a rice-laden truck by putting barricade with another truck in Uttara. They then killed the driver and the helper, dumped their bodies in a roadside ditch at Banani and sped away with the truck. A week later, police recovered their decomposed bodies. They also arrested two of the gang