Major blaze at BSEC building again
A fire has gutted the office of newspaper Amar Desh’s online section on the 10th floor of Karwan Bazar’s BSEC building, the same site where two previous fires had claimed several lives and caused millions of taka worth of damages.
The latest blaze broke out around 11:45am and remained burning until around 2pm before 21 fire-fighting units were finally able to bring the flames under control. About 100 fire fighters along with volunteers worked frantically to douse the flames to ensure minimum damages.
Bangladesh world’s 2nd most pro-free market country
Bangladesh is among the countries most supportive of a free-market and is the most free-market, trade-oriented country in South Asia, according to a research conducted by the US-based Pew Research Centre.
Of the 44 countries surveyed, Bangladesh was the world’s second most supportive of a free market economy with 80% support; only Vietnam with 95% support ranked higher. The next three countries were South Korea, China and Ghana.
Biman to add routes without proper study
Biman Bangladesh Airlines plans to add five international destinations to its service route without conducting a proper market study, despite the cancellation of its Frankfurt service on November 27, which was also added without a proper market study.
Biman will suspend the Dhaka-Frankfurt service because each flight incurs losses of Tk70 lakh due to very low passenger numbers. On the first flight to Frankfurt this year, only seven travellers were on board the Boeing 777 aircraft that has a capacity of 419 passengers.
Fakhrul: Govt giving in to public clamour
The BNP yesterday said the government had started bowing to people’s demand for holding an election soon.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday told a press briefing that a democratic government can hold elections any time. The prime minister has presumably accepted the demand for an immediate election,” BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said while addressing a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters.
Mir Quasem brought to Dhaka jail ahead of war crimes trial verdict
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali was brought from Kashimpur Jail 2 in Gazipur to the central jail in Dhaka yesterday.
Police and prison guards along with Quasem reached the Dhaka Central Jail in the afternoon after they left Kashimpur jail around noon, Senior Superintendent of Jail Forman Ali at Dhaka Central Jail told the Dhaka Tribune.
RAB: JMB gearing up for major destruction
Jama’at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is planning a major attack in the country in order to reassert itself, as it takes advantage of the political uncertainty in the country to regroup, a top law enforcement official has said.
“For this reason they were trying to contact each other, to plan a major act of destruction and prove their presence in the country,” Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of the legal and media wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), said yesterday.
Railways minister marries
Railways Minister Md Mazibul Hoque yesterday afternoon wed Hanufa Akhter Rikta at the latter’s residence in Mirakhala of Chandina upazila.
The denmohor was fixed at Tk500,001 and the 67-year-old paid the whole amount in cash. Marriage registrar of Galai union Maulana Siddiqur Rahman conducted the wedding around 4:40pm.
Sexually assaulted girl skips school for 5 months
A schoolgirl in Badalgachhi upazila who was assaulted sexually by the headmaster has been absent in class for the last five and a half months.
The family of the fifth-grader at Begunjoar Government Primary School is now worried about whether she will appear in the Primary School Certificate examinations scheduled to begin on November 22.
Shahjalal Airport one of the worst in Asia
Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport has been ranked one of the worst airports in Asia, according to The Guide To Sleeping in Airports, because of rude service, poor sanitation, inadequate amenities, and an insect problem.
The world’s best and worst airports this year were both in Asia, too. Singapore’s Changi Airport took top honours for the eighteenth year in a row, while Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport, likened to “a central prison,” came in at the bottom.
Petrobangla’s gas price hike proposal rejected
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) rejected a proposal to raise the prices of natural gas by the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, widely known as Petrobangla.
“We did not accept Petrobangla’s proposal gas price hike because they did not submit it as per the exisiting law,” said AR Khan, chairman of the energy watchdog while talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
‘Tougher movement needed for RMG trade union’
Leaders of different labour rights groups and professionals promoting labour rights urged the ready-made garment (RMG) worker leaders to take tougher movement to accelerate the formation of trade unions.
Speaking at a discussion titled “Safe Workplace and Labours’ Compensation” in the capital yesterday, they said the market economy never considered labour rights, and there was no alternative to movements as well as the government’s role in securing those rights.
Next five-year plan prioritises employment generation
The government is preparing the seventh five-year plan with the highest priority on employment generation to accelerate the economic growth rate and achieve the 10% mark.
Officials said the government also aimed at increasing the per capita income in both urban and rural areas by 2021.
Azmi’s Facebook remarks stir up tie between BNP and Jamaat
BNP leaders have been confronted with a difficult situation following war criminal Ghulam Azam’s son’s open challenge that the BNP cannot assume office without the help of Jamaat.
Since the Jamaat guru’s son Abdullahil Amaan Azmi posted the remark in his Facebook on Wednesday, BNP leaders have remained tight-lipped on the issue as they believed that commenting on this regard might strain ties between the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Govt prepares to acquire UN’s Green Climate Fund
The government has been taking preparation to apply for the financial support from the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) for the past one year in order to build the country’s resilience to climate change, according to sources.
