News Watch (25-12-2017)

Internet to cover most parts by 2021

State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said on Sunday most parts of the country would come under internet coverage by 2021. Tarana Halim said her ministry was working to that end as mobile internet connectivity has been the key for rapid development. She said optical fibre lines were being installed in all the upazilas so that internet can easily be made accessible to all the people living in remote rural areas of the country. The state minister mentioned that Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) has already set up optical fibre lines in 330 upazilas, spanning over 70,000 km, integrating those into the submarine cable network. "We've upgraded our broadband internet speed from 1.0 megabits per second (mbps) to 5.0 mbps," said Tarana. — UNB

Housewife kills herself over bank debt

A woman in Sirajganj died after setting fire to herself after her family was unable to pay loan instalments to a local branch of Grameen Bank, her husband said. Jarina Khatun, 28, poured gasoline on her body and then lighted the fire at her home in Poshchim Khashkaulia village on Saturday morning. She died around 1:00am on Sunday when she was being transferred to Dhaka from the Chauhali Upazila Health Complex for better treatment, Jarina's husband Abdur Rouf said. Branch manager Ranju Ahmed, however, claimed that no pressure of that sort had been on the couple. — bdnews24.com