News 24 Hours

  Three people including a coach of National Shooting Federation were killed when a truck hit his car in Gurudaspur upazila of Natore Wednesday noon. The deceased are coach Firoz Hossain, 38, his two and half-year-old-daughter Pushpita and maid servant Aina, 18, reports our Natore correspondent. Firoz's wife Lovely Chowdhury Ankhi, also a coach of national women shooting team, was rushed to a local clinic in critical condition, said Deen-e-Alam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Banpara Highway Police Station. The OC said the private car overturned on Dhaka-Natore highway at Araimari beel when the truck hit it from behind around 12:30pm. Firoz, a garment businessman, and his family were on their way to Dhaka from his village home Pabna, the OC added.

  The High Court on Wednesday directed the police to release instantly Anjuara Begum who had been languishing in jail for about three months in place of an accused, Laily Begum, in Bogra. Declaring her detention illegal, the court directed the inspector general of police to form a committee to probe the matter and take legal action against the police personnel responsible for arresting Anjuara. It also directed the superintendent of police (SP) of Bogra and officer-in-charge of Bogra Sadar Police Station to escort the victim home and ensure her security. Earlier in the morning, the SPs of Bogra, Natore, and Joypurhat, and the OC of Bogra police station produced her before the HC bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das. The police officials told the court that Anjuara was arrested mistakenly in place of Laily and there was no case against her. The HC bench directed the police officials to relea

  Majeda Rafiqun Nessa  The Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday sued former Bangladesh ambassador to Philippines Majeda Rafiqun Nessa in two cases for money embezzlement and irregularities in recruitment process. Assistant Director of the ACC Mahbub Alam filed the cases with Shahbag Police Station, ACC Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told The Daily Star. Majeda was appointed ambassador to Manila on September 22, 2010 but was called back in 2012 as she was accused of corruption, irregularities, nepotism and mismanagement, foreign ministry sources said.

She will offer prayers at Ajmer Sharif Thursday   Khaleda Zia BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will offer special prayers at the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer Sharif on Thursday as part of her weeklong official tour to India. “She left New Delhi for Jaipur this (Wednesday) morning and will stay overnight there,” her Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told the news agency over phone. Khaleda is expected to return to New Delhi on Thursday night after offering prayers at Ajmer Sharif, he said. The opposition leader along with her entourage left Hotel Taj Palace at 10:30am (India time) for Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan State, by road with special security arrangements. Khaleda went to New Delhi on October 28 on a weeklong official visit to India, her first visit as the opposition leader. She already met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, opposition leader Sushma Swaraj, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and National Securit

  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina holds retro-reflective number plate at a function at her office in the capital on Wednesday.  Giving special emphasis on creating awareness among the common people about the traffic rules, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the countrymen not to take law in their own hands after any road accident. “Don’t take law in own hands after any accident… don’t try to beat anyone,” she said at a function at the Prime Minister’s Office. The function was held marking the introduction of the system of retro-reflective number plate, radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and digital registration certificate (vehicle ownership card) aiming to bring discipline and improved services in the sector. Hasina said that the practice of beating up drivers, vandalising vehicles and setting those on fire after accidents should stop. “Drivers often do not stop their vehicles after accidents for fea

  Khalaf Al Ali A Dhaka court on Wednesday indicted five people for the murder of Saudi embassy official Khalaf Al Ali. Judge Mohammad Motahar Hossain of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 also fixed Thursday for starting the trail of the case. Accused Mohammad Al Amin, Saiful Islam Mamun, Rafiqul Islam Khokon and Akbar Ali Lalu, now in police custody, claimed themselves innocent and demanded justice after the charges were read out to them. The court framed charges against the fifth accused, Selim Chowdhury, in absentia and issued an arrest warrant against him. Khalaf, 45, an official with the consular section of the Saudi embassy in Dhaka, was shot dead near his Gulshan house in the diplomatic enclave in the wee hours of March 6 this year. Detective Branch of police on September 20 pressed charges against the five accused. Earlier on October 23, the case was transferred to the tribunal from Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Cour

  Mashiur Rahman The Anti-Corruption Commission has reset November 4 for quizzing prime minister's economic adviser Mashiur Rahman in connection with corruption allegations in the Padma bridge project. The ACC on Wednesday fixed the date in response to a request by Mashiur, said sources at the anti-graft watchdog. Earlier on Monday, the anti-graft watchdog issued a notice asking the adviser to appear before its Segunbagicha head office on November 6 for the interrogation. In September, Mashiur was sent on leave to fulfil the condition of the World Bank for reviving its funding for the Padma bridge project. The ACC has so far interrogated 29 people, including former communication minister Syed Abul Hossain, in connection with the graft allegations. The WB cancelled its $1.2 billion credit for the project on June 29, saying it had proof of a corruption conspiracy involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and some individuals. The global

Chittagong, Oct 25  Police detained home tutor Tarek Chowdhury on Thursday over the killings of a mother and her two children in the city's Bohoddarhat area. Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammad Shafiqul Islam told bdnews24.com that Tarek was held from the city's Khatiber Hat area around 2pm. Panchlaish police said Tarek, 22, was a Kulgaon City Corporation College student. He had been taken in for quizing. Police recovered the bodies of a woman and her two children from flat of a five-storied building named 'Maa Moni Villa' at Khatiber Haat around 7.30pm on Tuesday. They were identified as 'Doly', 30, wife of UAE expatriate worker Anwar Hossain, their son 'Alvi', 10, and daughter 'Payel', 6. Assistant Police Commissioner Monjur Morshed earlier said they were hacked to death. He, however, could not reveal the motive behind the killing. Doly's father Mohammad Ishaq filed a case accusing 'one or more' u

  Communications Minister Obaidul Quader on Thursday apologised to the home-bound people who have been suffering immensely due to persistent traffic congestions on different highways. “We can’t deny the reality. We know people are suffering during their journey to homes. I, on behalf of my ministry, express my profound sorrow and seek apology to the passengers,” he told journalists at his Secretariat office. The communications minister blamed the congestions partly on cattle-laden trucks. “The traffic congestions are not reducing due to poor conditions of the roads. The cattle-carrying trucks are breaking down in many places creating congestions,” he claimed. The city dwellers bound for their homes to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha are remaining stuck in gridlock for hours on Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Mawa and Dhaka-Tangail roads. The journey has become a nightmare for the holidaymakers as they are reaching homes five to ten hours behind the schedules.

Cox's Bazar, Oct 25  The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Thursday recovered a Buddha idol which went missing along with many other things during the communal violence, loot and arson at Cox's Bazar's Ramu upazila on the night of Sept 29. A RAB-7 team found the statue dumped in Kacchappia union's Jarultola bridge area in the upazila around 12pm on Thursday. RAB-7 Cox's Bazar camp official Major Sarwar Ul Alam confirmed bdnews24.com about recovery of the 12-cm tall and 565 grams weighing Buddha idol. Religious zealots, allegedly enraged by a Facebook post deriding the Quran, swooped down on Buddhist settlements in Ramu upazila on Sept 29. In the overnight mayhem, nearly seven Buddhist temples, 30 residences and shops were set ablaze while another hundred such establishments were vandalised and looted. The hate attacks also spread to Ukhia, Teknaf and Patia of Chittagong the next day. Major Alam on Thursday said the idol was looted during that attack. He,

 Dhaka, Oct 25  Awami League leader and former MP from Chittagong's Fatikchhari constituency Rafiqul Anwar has died. He was 59. He died at 8:50am on Thursday while undergoing treatment at the Square Hospital in the capital. He was elected twice to Parliament from Fatikchhari in 1996 and 2001. Anwar was also the ruling party Chittagong district unit's Vice-President and Chairman of the sports club Chittagong Abahani Limited. He is survived by his wife and one daughter. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed deep condolences at this death and conveyed sympathy to the bereaved family. In a condolence message, Hasina also recalled Anwar's contribution in different democratic movements. Awami Swecchasebak League Vice-President Mofizur Rahman told bdnews24.com that Anwar's first namaj-e-janaza (funeral prayer) was held at the Parliament's South Plaza in the capital. He said the former MP's remains would arrive Chittagong by night. His dead body will be

  Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba and pray at the Grand mosque during the annual hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah October 23, 2012, ahead of Eid al-Adha which marks the end of hajj. Photo: Reuters Reuters, Makkah Nearly 3 million Muslim pilgrims started the first phase of the annual hajj on Wednesday, travelling through packed streets from Makkah's Grand Mosque to the enormous camp at Mina just outside the Saudi Arabian city. In a dense sea of humanity, all clad in the same simple white robes, the pilgrims who were unable to get onto a new rail link were packed into 18,000 buses provided by the city or perched on the roofs of trucks. Others walked the 5 km to Mina in late afternoon temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius. "I want to ask God for paradise... I don't want anything from the world. I want to win paradise and be among good men," said Abdul Raki al-Yamani, a Yemeni who lives in Makkah, wa

  Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba and pray at the Grand mosque during the annual hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah October 23, 2012, ahead of Eid al-Adha which marks the end of hajj. Photo: Reuters Reuters, Makkah Nearly 3 million Muslim pilgrims started the first phase of the annual hajj on Wednesday, travelling through packed streets from Makkah's Grand Mosque to the enormous camp at Mina just outside the Saudi Arabian city. In a dense sea of humanity, all clad in the same simple white robes, the pilgrims who were unable to get onto a new rail link were packed into 18,000 buses provided by the city or perched on the roofs of trucks. Others walked the 5 km to Mina in late afternoon temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius. "I want to ask God for paradise... I don't want anything from the world. I want to win paradise and be among good men," said Abdul Raki al-Yamani, a Yemeni who lives in Makkah, waiting to mount a bus. Islam's pilgri

Dhaka, Oct 25  BNP Spokesman Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday severely criticised Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan for allegedly threatening BNP leader Rafiqul Islam Mia during a live television talk show Monday night and said such conduct is an infringement of the freedom of speech and a threat to democracy. "The way Shajahan Khan as a Minister threatened our party's Standing Committee Member Rafiqul Islam Mia, we think, is tantamount to violation of freedom of speech. We strongly condemn the Shipping Minister's conduct," Alamgir said at a press briefing after a joint meeting at Naya Paltan BNP headquarters in the city. The private media channel Rtv had to suspend a live programme for a few minutes on Monday night due to a nasty argument between Shahjahan Khan and Rafiqul Islam Mia. The two got locked in a heated argument in the "Our Democracy" programme where Monday's topic was "Safe Journey Home for Eid and Puja". The

Cops asked Shamiur to follow 'create and capture' strategy, he also takes photos inside mosques   Shamiur Rahman. Shamiur Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bangladeshi descent, who worked as a paid informant for the New York Police Department’s intelligence unit said he was under orders to “bait” Muslims into saying inflammatory things. Shamiur lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press during an interview on October 15. He now denounced his work as an informant, as police told him to embrace a strategy called “create and capture.” He said it involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests. “We need you to pretend to be one of them,” Shamiur recalled the police tel

Dhaka, Oct 25   Disbursement of financial aid by the World Bank seems unaffected despite complications over the global lender's funding of the Padma bridge project over the last one year. According to the Economic Relations Division and information from the World Bank, Bangladesh received $180 million as foreign aid from the Bank for various projects in the country in the first quarter (July-September) of the current 2012-13 financial year. The figure is three-times higher than the amount disbursed during the same period last fiscal. The Washington-based global lending agency had disbursed $678 million during the same quarter in the 2011-12 fiscal. Former Caretaker government advisor Akbar Ali Khan said both government and World Bank had been cautious in the recent past over the complications arising with regard to the Padma project funding. "That's why there was no impact on the aid disbursement." He told bdnews24.com, "It was feared that the Wor

  Rafiqul Amin Rafiqul Amin, managing director of Destiny Group, and another top official of the controversial company, gave their confessional statements before two magistrates Thursday afternoon. The statements of Rafiqul and Mohammad Hossain, chairman of Destiny-2000 Ltd, MLM wing of the group, were recorded at the courts of Metropolitan Magistrate Harun-ur-Rashid and Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Saifur Rahman respectively. The duo was placed on an 18-day remand on October 17 in connection with two money laundering cases. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the cases with Kalabagan Police Station on July 31 against 22 top Destiny officials for laundering and transferring investors' money amounting to Tk 3,285.26 crore to their personal accounts. Destiny Group started its journey in 2000 through multi-level marketing business with only Tk 12 lakh.

  Dhaka-Tangail highway witnesses a 50-kilometre-long tailback due to excessive rush of vehicles ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. The photo was taken from Ashekpur bypass in Tangail Sadar upazila on Wednesday. There is no let-up in the sufferings of the eid holidaymakers as huge tailbacks were reported from different highways of the country since Wednesday morning. A 50 kilometers gridlock stretching from Chandra of Gazipur to Elenga of Tangail was reported on Dhaka-Tangail highway while a 20 km tailback stretching from Daudkandi to Gomti-Meghna Bridge was reported on Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Meanwhile, several hundreds of vehicles got stranded on 18 km areas stretching from Doulatpur of Doudkandi upazila to Chandin area of Comilla on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Another 10 km gridlock was also reported on the same highway from Kanchpur to Sonargaon area. In the meantime, nearly eight hundred vehicles were stranded on Dhaka-Mawa

  Detective Branch of police arrested three people along with fake notes worth Tk 15 lakh at Gulistan in the capital Tuesday night. A team of DB captured the trio from in front of the GPO around 10:30pm, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of DB told The Daily Star on Wednesday. The arrestees whose identities could not be known immediately have been taken to DB office at Minto Road for interrogation. DB will organise a press conference later in the day to inform details about the arrests.

  Three Libyans and one Bangladeshi arrested by DB men along with seized money and other materials produced before the media at Dhaka Metropolitan Police office on Wednesday. Detective Branch (DB) of Police arrested three Libyan nationals and a Bangladeshi citizen from a hotel in the capital's Gulshan area early Wednesday and seized huge amount of currency worth Tk 1.60 crore from their possession. Acting on a tip-off that some Libyan people are collecting money and passport in the name of sending them to Libya, a team of DB police conducted a raid at Lakeshore Hotel around 2:00am and arrested them, said a press release of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Wednesday. Mohammad Shahidullah, DB (North) additional deputy commissioner, and Mohammad Tarek Bin Rashid, senior assistant police commissioner of team No 8, jointly led the drive. The Libyan citizens are Samir Ahmed Omar Fardg, 36, Amara Mahmud Amara, 23, and Maburk Fardg Saylem while the Bangladeshi c

  An alleged criminal was killed in a 'shootout' between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices in Kachua upazila of Chandpur early Wednesday. Several Rab personnel also sustained injuries during the 'shootout', said Md Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Kachua Police Station, quoting Rab official. The deceased was identified as Jamal Hossain alias Boro Jamal, 45, son of Adam Ali of Megdai village in the upazila, reports our Chandpur correspondent. He was accused in five cases including robbery and theft charges, the OC said. Describing the 'shootout', the OC said acting on a tip-off that Jamal and his accomplices were preparing to commit a robbery, a team of Rab-11 conducted a raid at Bachaiya village in the upazila around 2:00am. Sensing the presence of elite forces, the accomplices of Jamal opened fire on them, compelling the Rab personnel to retaliate with fire. After the 30-minute-long gunfight, the Rab personnel found

Jurgensen made head coach for WI series   Richard Pybus The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Wednesday confirmed that Bangladesh cricket team coach Richard Pybus has resigned. The BCB also appointed former Australian cricketer Shane John Jurgensen as Bangladesh team's head coach for the upcoming series against the West Indies. The West Indies are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on November 5 to play two Tests, five ODIs and one T20. The second Test and the first two ODIs are expected to take place in Khulna, while the rest of the matches will take place in Dhaka. Pybus, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday, said that he will not continue as Bangladesh coach because he feels 'differences' in the terms of his contract and the interference from administration made his position untenable. During the interview he stated that contractual differences and the board's frequent interference were the main reasons that enforced him to take the decisio

  Photo: Rtv The authorities of the private media channel Rtv had to suspend a live programme for a few minutes Monday night due to a nasty argument between Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan and BNP leader Rafiqul Islam Miah. The two got locked into a fight in the “Our Democracy” programme where Monday's topic was “Safe Journey Home for Eid and Puja”. The programme, which started at 11:15pm, was taken off air, as the two leaders took to personal attacks while talking about the performances of the incumbent government and the BNP-led four-party government, Prothom Alo online reported. As it resumed after some time, Shajahan and Rafiqul shook hands on the insistence of the others present.

Gilgit/Pakistan, Oct 24 (Reuters) - About 20 men dressed as Pakistani soldiers boarded a bus bound for a Muslim festival outside this mountain town and checked the identification cards of the passengers. They singled out 19 Shi'ites, drew weapons and slaughtered them, most with a bullet to the head. The shooters weren't soldiers. They were a hit squad linked to the Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, or LeJ. They had trekked in along a high Himalayan pass that hot August morning to waylay a convoy of pilgrims. Here and across Pakistan, violent Sunni radicals are on the march against the nation's Shi'ite minority. With a few hundred hard-core cadres, the highly secretive LeJ aims to trigger sectarian violence that would pave the way for a Sunni theocracy in US-allied Pakistan, say Pakistan police and intelligence officials. Its immediate goal, they say, is to stoke the intense Sunni-Shi'ite violence that has pushed countries like Iraq close

  Romney and Obama have two weeks remaining before the 6 November election. Reuters, Washington At times, it was as if Mitt Romney had come to praise Barack Obama's foreign policy rather than to bury it. Monday night's foreign policy debate between the Republican presidential nominee and the Democratic president was striking for the frequency with which Romney aligned himself with Obama's strategies rather than distancing himself from them. On topics from withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by 2014 to avoiding a US military entanglement in Syria, Romney echoed Obama in what analysts saw as a conscious effort to appear a moderate who would not drag the United States into another war. "His objective here was not to differentiate himself from the president but to present himself as a plausible commander in chief," said Martin Indyk, vice president of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. "I'm not

  This October 19 file photo shows a staggering 20-kilometre-long tailback from Baoikhola in Basail upazila to Elenga in Kalihati upazila gridlock on Dhaka-Tangail highway causes immense sufferings to homebound people. Star Online Report Hundreds of homebound passengers have been facing untold suffering on Dhaka-Tangail highway since Tuesday morning as vehicular movements came to a halt stretching on 25-km area from Gazipur to Tangail. Several hundred of vehicles including buses got stuck on the highway from around 11:00am due to heavy pressure of vehicles ahead of Eid-ul-Azha and Durga Puja -- two major festivals of Muslims and Hindus--reports our Tangail correspondent quoting Md Mamun Mia, a sub-inspector of Gorai Highway Police Station. The SI said the tailback was created from Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur to Pakulla in Mirzapur upazila of Tangail as a huge number of cattle-loaded trucks from the northern districts were rushing towards the capital ahead of

  FBCCI President AK Azad The country's apex trade body on Tuesday expressed its concern over the government plan to amend law to appoint administrator to companies, saying such unilateral and controlling decision would scare the business community. They urged the government to withdraw the proposed plan, which, they say, will disrupt the existing business climate in the country and discourage both local and foreign investment. "If such change is brought then the undemocratic forces will get scope to establish their control over the businesses," AK Azad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), told reporters at a city hotel in the capital. The comments from the business community came as the government moved to bring changes to the Companies Act 1994 to appoint the administrator to controversial Destiny Group to protect the interest of the depositors and stop the company officials to sell its assets. T

  Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad hoped on Tuesday the mode of election-time government would be politically settled soon. "It is a political issue. Discussion is going on in political arena. We hope the mode of election-time government will be decided soon," he told reporters at EC Secretariat premises. About the BNP-led opposition parties' stance on the current EC, Rakibuddin claimed the opposition parties announced that they would not join the election under the current government. "In this situation, it is not the Election Commission's duty to ask the two major political parties to sit in a dialogue to discuss the issue. The mater would be settled in parliament," he said. On holding electoral talks with political parties after the Eid, the CEC said the commission would sit with all registered parties together. The CEC was talking to the journalists after a meeting with members of law en

  Sunil Gangopadhyay Indian poet and novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay, one of the doyens of Bengali literature, died of heart attack at his south Kolkata residence early Tuesday. The 78-year-old writer, whose works have delighted generations of readers cutting across ages in West Bengal and Bangladesh, had not been keeping well for the last few days and lost appetite, reports our New Delhi correspondent Pallab Bhattacharya quoting family sources. On Monday night, he went to bed without having any food. At one stage, he felt unwell and asked his wife Swati for help. Later, the writer died at around 2:00am before a local doctor could be summoned. The cremation of the writer will be held on Wednesday after the arrival of his son from USA. A pall of gloom descended on the literary circles in West Bengal following the death of Sunil Gangopadhyay. Meanwhile, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee led the country in paying tributes to the

  Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko  A Dhaka court on Monday issued summons asking 10 directors of Dandy Dyeing Ltd including BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman to appear before it on November 14 in a money suit filed by Sonali Bank. Sonali Bank on October 2 filed the case against Tarique, his younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko, business partner Giasuddin Al-Mamun and seven other directors for defaulting on a loan amounting to Tk 45.49 crore. According to the case statement, the company had borrowed Tk12.16 crore from the bank's principal office in Dhaka on October 16, 2001. As the company failed to pay it off, the principal loan plus interest accumulated over the last 11 years has amounted to Tk 45.49 crore. After scrutinizing all relevant documents submitted on behalf of Sonali Bank, Judge Md Rabiuzzaman of Artha Rin Adalat-1 passed the order upon the defendants.

Ghulam says Azam's failure to appear unknown   Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Ghulam Rahman said on Monday the information sought and issues raised by the World Bank's external panel will be dealt with very soon. In response to WB Country Director Ellen Goldstein's suggestion for speeding up the investigation into corruption allegation in the Padma bridge project, Ghulam said, "We could not interact directly with Canadian authorities… the attorney general keeps contact with his counterpart but we are yet to get response." Speaking at a press conference at WB office in Dhaka on Sunday, Goldstein said the global lender wants the ACC to move fast with the probe. The ACC chairman was speaking to journalists just before leaving his office in the afternoon. Reasons behind Azam Khan's failure to appear before the commission were unknown and if it is necessary, the ACC also can quiz him at a suitable place other than ACC office

  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday sent a greetings card to her political arch-rival BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha. PM’s Special Assistant (Media) Mahbubul Hoque Shakil said her protocol officer Sheikh Akhter Hossain handed over the Eid greetings card to Saleh Ahmed, personal secretary of the opposition leader, at about 1:00pm. Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest religious festival of the Muslims, will be celebrated in the country on October 27. Earlier on August 13, the premier and the opposition leader greeted each other by exchanging cards on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. The chiefs of the country’s two major political parties greet each other during the two Eids and Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla New Year, though they are not in talking terms.

  The cabinet on Monday approved the proposal to amend the Company Act to appoint administrator in any company registered under the act. Against the backdrop of fraudulence by Destiny 2000 Ltd, the cabinet gave the approval, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after the meeting. If the act was passed, the government would be empowered to appoint administrator to any registered company if any allegation of fraudulence came to light against it, Musharraf said. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting held at the cabinet division of the Bangladesh Secretariat. The cabinet also approved a proposal of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaysia on exporting manpower, he said. According to the MoU, about 5 lakh people would be sent to Malaysia for job in the last five years. The cost for each worker will be Tk 40,000. Musharraf informed that the Awami League-led grand alliance government has implemented 92 percent

  Detectives produce 10 men, held for their alleged involvement in admission test fraudulence, before a press conference in the capital on Monday. Photo: Focus Bangla Detectives Sunday night arrested an 10-man gang that includes a Anti-Corruption Commission official for being involved in hi-tech fraudulent activities in the admission tests of different public universities. "They used to send answers to multiple-choice questions via SMS to some of the admission seekers," said Mashiur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner of Detective Branch (DB) of Police, at a press conference in the DB headquarters. Mafizur Rahman Mafiz, an assistant inspector of ACC, was arrested along with nine others who are students of Dhaka, Jahangirnagar and Jagannath universities in connection with the hi-tech admission fraud, he added. Mashiur said the people worked in three teams under the leadership of Mafizur. One team worked with the invigilators of different universit

  In this undated file photo, Bikalpa Dhara President Dr Badruddoza Chowdhury and eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain attend a programme. Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain and Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury have called upon the country's conscious citizens to form a “national unity”. "This unity will establish a fair political trend and effective democracy by altering the ongoing sick politics in the country," Dr Kamal said while addressing a function at Radisson Water Garden Hotel in the capital on Sunday.

Dhaka, Oct 21 Veteran Indian filmmaker Yash Chopra, regarded as the country's king of celluloid romance, passed away in Mumbai on Sunday, about a month after celebrating his 80th birth anniversary. A spokesperson for Yash Raj Films said Chopra was suffering from dengue and had been admitted at a Mumbai hospital where he breathed his last. Merely 10 days ago, on Oct 11, Chopra along with his wife Pamela attended a party arranged to celebrate the 70th birthday of Amitabh Bachchan. Chopra rose to prominence in Indian film industry making romantic dramas considered the most memorable ones of Bollywood's. He proved his worth as a maker of intensely emotional and tragic movies, many of which became box-office blockbusters. Born in 1932 in Lahore, now in Pakistan, the film-maker came to Mumbai with only 200 rupees in his pocket, and made it up to his hope to become a film director whose career had spanned five decades, according to Chopra himself. He disclosed th

  The World Bank wants the Anti-Corruption Commission to move fast with the investigation in the Padma bridge project, Ellen Goldstein, country director of the global lender, said on Sunday. “The (WB’s external) panel is encouraging the ACC to move ahead with some speed to deepen the investigation process,” Ellen told journalists at a briefing on the Bangladesh’s economic update at the WB office in Dhaka. She also said the panel has requested the ACC in written to provide it (panel) with more information on the issue. The three-member external panel of WB headed by Luis Moreno Ocampo, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, assigned to review the investigation into the Padma bridge corruption allegation, left Dhaka on October 16 wrapping up its two-day visit. The visit was the first of a series of visits on the issue. Ellen said the panel’s next visit is yet to be finalised, but hinted that it may come again in December-January. On the econom

  A Dhaka court on Sunday granted an eight-day remand for Lt Col (retd) Didarul Alam, a director of the controversial Destiny Group, in one of the two money laundering cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission. Metropolitan Magistrate Tanvir Ahmed passed the order after Anti-Corruption Commission Deputy Director Mojahar Ali Sardar produced him before the court with a 10-day remand prayer. Didarul was arrested at the capital's Mohakhali on Saturday in connection with the cases. Destiny, which started its journey in 2000 through multi-level marketing business with just Tk 12 lakh paid-up capital, ended up with an ACC charge that its top officials laundered Tk 3,285.26 crore. Accordingly, the ACC filed two cases with Kalabagan Police Station on July 31 against Destiny Group's 22 top officials including Didarul over the laundering.

  Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir on Sunday said the government would strengthen monitoring so that no Rohingya can avail of Bangladeshi passport. “We won’t issue any passport to any Rohingya knowingly…we’ll take steps if anybody does this,” he told reporters at Agargaon passport office. Responding to a question, the home minister said the Bangladesh government would not have any objection if any country takes action against any Rohingya who will go abroad with fake Bangladeshi passport. Asked whether the Rohingyas having fake passports would be brought back here from abroad, he said, “They aren’t our citizens…so, it’s not our responsibility to bring them back home.” About the missing of 2,823 machine readable passports (MRPs) from Agargaon office, he said the passports went missing due to the negligence of duties of a section of officials. “There’s nothing to be worried about