Abe defends Japan secrets law as poll ratings plunge
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday defended as “necessary” an unpopular secrets law that he rushed through parliament, as a new poll showed his support rating had plunged 10 percent in a...
View ArticleHRW urges Cambodia to shut ‘unjust’ detention centres
Hundreds of drug users, sex workers, beggars and street children are unlawfully detained in Cambodian rehabilitation centres where they face torture, sexual violence and forced labour, a leading rights...
View ArticleFrench troops start disarming fighters in C.Africa
French troops yesterday began disarming fighters in the Central African Republic after a swell in sectarian violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and terrified inhabitants. But Paris warned the...
View ArticleCar bomb near cafe kills 11 in central Iraq
A car bomb near a cafe in Iraq killed 11 people yesterday, the latest in a series of attacks on crowded public places this year, police and a doctor said. The blast in Buhruz, a Sunni-majority town in...
View ArticleThai PM calls early polls
Thailand’s premier called a snap election yesterday to try to defuse the kingdom’s political crisis, but protesters kept up their fight to topple the government with an estimated 140,000 demonstrators...
View ArticleInjured witness in critical state
Prosecution witness in a war crimes case Mostafa Hawlader, who was stabbed in Pirojpur early Sunday, is in a critical condition at the intensive care unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. His son...
View ArticleBangladeshis in S’pore urged to remain calm
Bangladesh High Commissioner in Singapore Mahbub-uz Zaman yesterday called on the Bangladesh community to remain calm and show restraint, and cooperate law enforcement agencies following a riot in...
View ArticleAL plans counter programmes
The ruling Awami League is going to take to the streets to encourage people to vote and counter the opposition alliance’s movement to “foil” the elections. The ruling party programme will continue...
View ArticleJCD leader shot dead in Jessore
Unidentified criminals shot dead a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader and another one injured in Jessore town yesterday. Kabir Hossain Polash, 30, son of Mohidul Islam of Vola Tank Road area in the town,...
View ArticlePolls on schedule
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reiterated that the 10th parliamentary elections will be held as per the constitutional guidelines and the schedules announced by the Election Commission, whether “some...
View ArticleCondition of Zohra Tajuddin improves
Awami League leader Syeda Zohra Tajuddin, wife of the country’s first prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad, was taken off the life support system and her condition was “better” yesterday, said her daughter...
View ArticleRazakars killed 42 Hindus in Bagerhat
A freedom fighter yesterday testified that Razakars had shot 42 Hindus dead at Shakharikathi Bazar of Kachua upazila in Bagerhat during the Liberation War in 1971. Witness Lutfar Rahman Nakib, 62, told...
View ArticleGovt asked not to execute Mollah
Two UN human rights experts and the Human Rights Watch have urged Bangladesh to halt the execution of Jamaat leader and convicted war criminal Quader Mollah. UN Special Rapporteur on the independence...
View ArticleTIB raps govt for weakening ACC
The government through a “conspiratorial” amendment at the fag end of its tenure had turned the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) into a toothless cat, Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of...
View ArticleCtg Shibir man killed ‘while making bomb’
A Chhatra Shibir leader was killed and two were injured in an explosion while making bombs at a remote hilly village in Sitakunda upazila yesterday. The dead is Md Rasel, 23, organising secretary of...
View ArticleWTO’s Bali package: a mixed bag
The country stands to gain considerably from the ‘Bali package’ struck at the ninth WTO ministerial meet in Bali on Saturday if it acts judiciously, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said yesterday....
View ArticleRMG exporters in a tight corner
Repeated blockades have put the garment sector in a tight corner as exporters are counting losses from order cancellation and rising transport costs. Buyers are cancelling orders as exporters fail to...
View ArticleBurnt in blockade arson
A speech-impaired truck helper received burn injuries to the face, hands and thighs when pickets set his truck on fire at Debidwar in Comilla early yesterday, during the countrywide hartal enforced by...
View ArticleResigned or not?
Confusion reigned yesterday over the resignation of Jatiya Party ministers from the “polls-time cabinet” as there were different versions from the party and the government on the issue. The resignation...
View ArticleInt’l call for democracy in digital age
Leading newspapers of 32 countries including The Daily Star, 560 authors from 83 countries and several Nobel Laureates have issued an international appeal against mass surveillance. This appeal is...
View ArticleBoy killed in firing
A 12-year-old boy was killed by stray bullets and 10 others were injured yesterday, as Jamaat-Shibir men fought with law enforcers in Sirajganj during Jamaat’s nationwide hartal that coincided with the...
View ArticleAre our leaders at war against citizens?
In wars, enemies not only destroy the soldiers and weapons of their opponents but also each other’s industries, agriculture, roads, bridges, food supply chain, etc., with the express purpose of making...
View ArticleNo good news yet
UN Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco yesterday expressed hope for a solution to the crisis over polls-time government but with four vital “ifs”. It was the first time he spoke to the...
View ArticleInjured witness loses battle
A man, who testified against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee in war crimes trial, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital early today, two days after he was hacked by miscreants in...
View ArticleShibir men beat up 3 cops in Rajshahi
Activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student of wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, severely beat up three policemen including an officer-in-charge of Motihar Police Station in Rajshahi city this morning....
View ArticleMandela memorial service: Mourners gather in Johannesburg
Tens of thousands of mourners are expected in Johannesburg for a memorial service for Nelson Mandela. US President Barack Obama and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will be among those paying...
View ArticleSingapore riot: PM urges restraint
Singaporeans have been urged by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong not to “tarnish” their view of migrants, following a rare riot sparked by the death of an Indian national. He said “the vast majority of...
View ArticleUkraine president to discuss crisis with former leaders
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is expected to hold talks with three former presidents over the political crisis which began when Ukraine decided not to sign an EU free-trade deal. The talks come...
View Article3 hurt in Ctg oil tanker fire
Three persons were injured, one critically, as a fire broke out in an oil tanker of state-run Jamuna Oil Company Ltd in Chittagong Port this morning. Witnesses said the fire originated around 8:30am in...
View ArticleMollah to seek verdict review
Condemned Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah has instructed his lawyer to file a review petition with the Supreme Court challenging its verdict awarding him death penalty for his wartime...
View ArticleIntern-4th class staff clash suspends Mitford medical service
Medical services at the Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital in the capital remained suspended since the morning following a clash between intern doctors and fourth class employees of the hospital....
View ArticleAL, BNP commit to compromise
The ruling and the opposition parties today initiated a much-sought-after dialogue, brokered by the United Nations, where they decided to work together to decrease tension. “Both parties have agreed to...
View ArticleNo ‘auto promotion’: Nahid
School students must appear and pass this year’s final examinations to get promotion to the new class, Education Minister Nurul Islalm Nahid said today. There will be no ‘auto promotion’, said the...
View ArticleThai PM rejects resignation call
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has rejected protesters’ demands that she resign before February’s snap elections. Demonstrators have been calling for Yingluck Shinawatra to resign and be...
View ArticleICT concerned over PW security
A special court in Dhaka today expressed concern over the security of the prosecution witnesses in the war crimes cases. The International Crimes Tribunal-1 also wanted to know what measures the...
View ArticleTaranco extends stay, reschedules PM meet
UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco has extended his stay here by 24 hours and deferred his meeting with the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for tomorrow to hold more talks to break the...
View ArticleFaruque made BCB chief selector
Former cricketer Faruque Ahmed has been appointed as chief selector for the Bangladesh cricket team for the next two years. Nazmul Hasan, president of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), made the...
View Article15 hurt in Savar student-cop clash
At least 15 students of Gono Bishwabidyalay and Gonoshasthaya Samaj Vittik Medical College were injured as they clashed with police in Savar today over the death of a doctor of the hospital. Dr...
View ArticleBNP leaders meet in Gulshan
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir sat in a meeting with senior leaders of the party in Gulshan this afternoon. The meeting started around 4:50pm at the Gulshan office of BNP...
View ArticleFamily asked to meet Mollah by 8pm
The jail authorities have asked the family of condemned Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah to meet him at the Dhaka Central Jail by 8:00pm today. Advocate Tajul Islam, a counsel for Mollah, and...
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