Zillur sworn in as president

Veteran Awami League (AL) leader Zillur Rahman was sworn in as the country’s 19th president in a simple ceremony at Bangabhaban yesterday.
Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin administered the oath of office and secrecy to Zillur at the Darbar Hall of the presidential palace in the evening. Zillur is the fifth president elected by the Jatiya [...]

Sonali, Janata, Agrani Banks

100 pc shares to remain with governmentStaff Correspondent

100 percent ownership of state-owned Sonali Bank, Janata Bank and Agrani Bank will remain in the hands of the government even after the three financial institutions’ transformation into private limited company.

Sources said, the three public banks will start working under three public limited companies soon.
The banks have been [...]

WFP allocates emergency food to 400,000 cyclone-hit victims in southern Bangladesh

UNB, Dhaka

The United Nations World Food Programme has allocated 98 metric tons of ready food from its emergency hub to feed 400,000 victims of cyclone ‘Sidr’ in the southern Bangladesh.

WFP representative Douglas Broderick said “We’ve to move as quickly as possible to get food to the most vulnerable. People’s life and health can’t be endangered, [...]

All efforts to contain price hike frustrated

Staff CorrespondentDespite the chief adviser’s directive to monitor the prices of daily necessities, no measures are proving effective as the prices of essentials are increasing at a high rate across the country frustrating all the government and non-government efforts to contain prices.
Sufferings of the people belonging to the low and fixed income groups are mounting.
In [...]

Attempts underway to identify those involved in Aug 21 blast

Shadiul Islam Rana
The intelligence personnel have started trying to identify and unearth the main patrons and persons involved in the August 21 grenade attack on the Awami League rally and why the then BNP-led four-party alliance government had distracted the people’s attention from the deadly incident.

According to the intelligence sources, investigation is now on to [...]

Power collapse triggers chain reaction

Sharier Khan
The cyclone caused the country’s power system to collapse completely yesterday morning, triggering a knock-on effect on piped water supplies, telecommunication and filling station operations.
In addition to suffering the miseries inflicted by the lack of power and water supplies, people spent a day amid increasing tension and uncertainty.

Sonali, Janata, Agrani banks turn into PLCs: Each share fixed at Taka100

Staff Reporter
Fixing the value of each share at Tk 100 three nationalized commercial banks (NCBs)–Sonali, Janata and Agrani banks-were formally made public limited companies (PLC) through the signing of separate “vendor” agreements to this effect yesterday.The NCBs, after necessary gazette notification, will be operated by independent management and board of directors in accordance with the [...]

Remand for Tarique rejected

Court Correspondent
Two different courts of Dhaka yesterday, rejected two petitions to put BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General and former Premier Khaleda Zia’s elder son Tarique Rahman on remand for 7 days each. However, if necessary, I0 was permitted to quiz Tarique at the jail gate.In one case Tarique was accused of extortioning Taka one crore [...]

Cyclone Sidr batters coast: Armed Forces, thousands of volunteers engaged in massive evacuation; 32 lakh people taken to safer places; Govt ready to meet all exigencies

Staff ReporterThe severe cyclone-SIDR hit the country’s coast yesterday evening with a windspeed from 140 to 165 killometres per hour (kph).The cyclone originating in the Bay started pounding the entire south and southwestern coast from Cox’s Bazar to Satkhira districts. The number of the vulnerable people living in the coastline are nearly 1 crore 20 [...]

CA opens BATEXPO-07: Businessmen won’t be harassed unnecessarily

Staff ReporterChief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed has said the government is determined to make sure that businessmen don’t have to be victims of unjust harassment in any way.
Formally inaugurating the Batexpo 2007–country’s biggest apparel show–he also said that the government is pursuing through diplomatic, business as well as legislative channels for the passage of a [...]