Bangladesh

STAFF REPORTER The High Court (HC) yesterday issued a rule asking the government to explain within four weeks why releasing the final list of freedom fighters without determining the definition of the freedom fighter should not be declared as illegal. In response to a writ petition, a vacation bench of the HC, comprising Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Khijir ...

Putting an end to a long spell of speculation over polls to the bifurcated Dhaka City Corporations, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad on Wednesday announced the schedule of elections to the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC). Elections for all three corporations will be held on April 28. As ...

Staff Correspondent The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has warned of legal action against those Bangladeshis who have illegally invested in Malaysia in the name of second home. Bangladesh and Malaysia would soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard, ACC commissioner M Sahabuddin said yesterday. “Those who have a second home in Malaysia are high profile people and we ...

The BNP-led 20-party alliance announced another 72-hour spell of nationwide hartal from 6am today that will be enforced alongside its ongoing indefinite transport blockade. The hartal was called protesting enforced disappearance, killing, repression, abduction, ‘taking opposition leaders on remand illegally’ and arrest of Salahuddin Ahmed and demanding his immediate release, said a press statement signed by BNP Joint Secretary General ...

Ruling out again the possibility of any dialogue with Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the best option for the BNP chief to surrender to court. “What’s the dialogue with her? What dialogue with the person who is a killer, who has got blood in her hands, whose hands are stinking with the bad smell of burning ...

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has sent back an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) unit, which was sent to them by the Election Commission (EC) after it malfunctioned. BUET’s Bureau of Research, Testing and Consultation (BRTC) says this was due to a ‘breach of contract’. The BRTC director sent a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner and the EC ...

Detective Branch of police today handed over the evidence of writer-blogger Avijit Roy murder to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for DNA test. The evidence would be tested at the FBI laboratory, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB, told reporters at his office in the afternoon. The FBI got the evidence a day after a Dhaka court ordered the ...

RAFIQUL ISLAM AZAD The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has no plans to field mayoral candidates in elections to the Dhaka City Corporations (South and North). The party may, however, lend support to anti-Awami League candidates to ensure defeat of pro-government nominees, party sources say. Although the BNP policy makers say they are giving priority to their demand for national elections ...

Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina today put emphasis on conducting a search in the Gulshan political office of the BNP chairperson, warning that arrangement for her arrest would be made when the court order reaches the Gulshan police station. “The court has already directed for a search in the Gulshan political office of Khaleda Zia. I ...

Many children with congenital heart diseases die across the country every year due to inadequate child health facilities at district level public hospitals and even at most of the state-run medical college and hospitals. Around 220,000 children are born with congenital heart diseases in the country annually and many of them die after seven to 30 days of their birth ...