Poor at great risk because of high food inflation

The positive gains in the country's poverty reduction efforts have now been reversed due to high food prices and soaring inflation, said government and private research agencies.They said poverty eradication process has been seriously affected due to abnormal hike in...

Call rate up, dollar gains strength

The inter-bank call money rate marked slight rise Wednesday due to increased demand for cash emanated from needs for month-end internal adjustments. The US dollar also gained ground against Bangladesh taka (BDT) for the second day in the inter-bank foreign...

Mannan Bhuiyan freed on bail

Former BNP secretary general and ex-minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan was released on bail from Dhaka Central Jail Wednesday, as politicians detained in the interim period kept making comeback, report UNB and bdnews24.com."BNP leaders and supporters received him as he walked...

SAARC member-states urged to eradicate extremism

COLOMBO, Jul 30 (UNB): South Asia Media Commission (SAMC) Wednesday urged the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member-states to take short-and long-term measures to eradicate extremism and violent practices by both state and non-state actors against civilians and...

S Africa's quicks take control

Andre Nel proved himself a more than capable replacement for Dale Steyn with three wickets on the opening day at Edgbaston as England reached tea in trouble on 173 for 6. He broke through an opening stand of 68 and...

Global trade talks: China gaining ground

Fazle Rashid from New YorkChina will henceforth call the shots in the global economy and not the US or the EU. There was a general consensus about this in Geneva where the WTO is wrangling over the Doha round. The...

Emirates gets first Airbus A380 superjumbo

Emirates took delivery of its first Airbus A380 'superjumbo' at the planemaker's new Jurgen Thomas A380 Delivery Centre recently, said a press release.The aircraft was received by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed AI-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and...

Lafarge Surma, Uttaran to release audiovisual footage on construction practices

Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd, a leading cement manufacturing company, has signed recently an agreement with Uttaran Structural Designers Ltd to sponsor release of audiovisual footage of the best construction practices and norms in Bangladesh.Managing Director (MD) of Lafarge Surma Cement...

A salute to XXIX Olympiad

BEIJING, the capital of the People's Republic of China, the world's most populous country is going to lit the Olympic Flame as the third Asian host of the Olympiad from August 8 to 24.The 16-day XXIX Summer Olympiad came to...

Process on to release Khaleda, bring BNP to dialogue: CA

SIRAJGANJ, Jul 30 (UNB): Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed Wednesday said the process is on for the release of detained former Prime Minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and bringing her and her party to the pre-election dialogue.He categorically said...

Oil prices ease on demand worries

SINGAPORE, July 30 (AFP): World oil prices eased in Asian trading today ahead of a weekly US report on energy stockpiles expected to reinforce worries over slackening demand, analysts said.New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, was...

Justice Habibur made TAC chief

The much-talked-about Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) has been constituted with the appointments of its chairman and two members Wednesday, report UNB and bdnews24.com.Justice Habibur Rahman Khan has been appointed chairman of the Commission, constituted by the caretaker government to...

Job openings in tourism industry

The vast hospitality and tourism industry of the world is viewed by economists as a great contributor to employment, gross domestic product ( GDP) and revenues.According to the World Travel & Tourism Council in 2007, the industry grew significantly for...

River erosion takes serious turn in Kurigram

KURIGRAM, July 30 (UNB): With the recession of the river water in the district the river erosion has taken a serious turn devouring some 130 dwelling houses and educational institutions during the last few days.The erosion of the coastline by...

Malaria killed 193 people, affected 56,789 last year in CHT

RANGAMATI, July 30 (UNB): Malaria, a serious infectious disease, claimed some 193 lives and infected 56,789 people last year in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region, according to official figures.Unofficial sources, however, claimed that the death toll and the number...

Indian Army Chief visits Comilla Cantt

COMILLA, July 30 (UNB): Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor visited Comilla Cantonment area and passed a busy day here Wednesday.A special helicopter of Bangladesh Army, carrying General Kapoor and his entourage, landed on the helipad of cantonment at about...

Applications for US home mortgages drop to slowest pace since 2000

NEW YORK, July 30 (Agencies): Applications for US home mortgages dropped to their slowest pace since December 2000 as loan rates hovering near one-year highs compounded the housing market's woes, according to data from an industry group Wednesday.The Mortgage Bankers...

No upazila polls before national election: AL

After two days of brainstorming, the Awami League working committee Wednesday came up with the decision that the party would not participate in the upazila elections if arranged before the parliamentary polls, reports UNB."All the leaders at the WC meeting...

Bangladesh A score 182/10 against Lancashire

Touring Bangladesh A team scored a moderate 182 for all in 45.5 overs in the first one-day match against English County side Lancashire at Moss Lane Elderley Edge Wednesday, reports UNB.Sent into bat first, the second string Bangladesh side received...

Ministry selects lead donor agency for Padma Bridge today

Communication ministry sits in a meeting today (Thursday) to select a lead agency among two major donors for the construction of Padma Multipurpose Bridge, officials said Wednesday.The World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have long been showing...

Housing crisis, Dhaka would need 10 million new apartments by 2015

WHEN the government's regulatory authority, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartikakhya (Rajuk) remained busy during the past two decades in developing land in and around the city for the privileged, the private housing industry grew. During this period the private developers handed over...

Dwindling gas reserve and the urgency facing nation

The port city of Chittagong had been facing an acute crisis of gas since long. Though there is no readymade answer to the gas crisis the port city has been going through, yet one cannot also afford to sit on...

CEMEX and Urbi promote economic housing

For nine consecutive years, CEMEX and Urbi have reaffirmed their productive partnership and agreed to combine their leadership and experience to promote economic housing in Mexico, generating programs of joint participation in order to design investment schemes in infrastructure, as...

Price hike of raw materials pushes boutique businesses into harsh time

Prices of raw materials for boutique products have increased by at least 20 per cent over the last one year pushing the boutique businesses into a very harsh time."Prices of raw materials like fabrics, colours, yarn and kerosene have increased...

CPA handles a record 1m containers last fiscal

Chittagong port set a record by handling a million containers in 2007-08 fiscal year following substantial rise in international trade through containers."This is history for our port. We are happy for being able to handle such a large number of...

Who is to blame: employer, worker or mission?

Kuwaiti police and special force used batons, fired tear gas canisters and arrested a few Bangladeshi workers, who in their hundreds, allegedly, along with some other Asian workers resorted to strike and turned violent last Monday at Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, 20-km...

Australia announces 'more humane' refugee policy

SYDNEY, July 29 (AFP): Australia today announced a "more humane" policy towards refugees, saying most asylum seekers will no longer be automatically locked up when they arrive in the country.The move by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's centre-left Labor government, which...

Govt move to finance waste treatment plant bogs down

A government initiative to finance a waste treatment plant has apparently bogged down for the time being due to escalation of cost by nearly five times impeding relocation of tanneries to leather industrial estate in Savar by 2010.In the original...

Fake doctor held after death of infant in Magura

MAGURA, July 29 (UNB): The police arrested a fake physician and the owner of a clinic from the district town Monday following the death of a newborn baby due to alleged wrong treatment.The police said Taposi Rani, wife of Gosai...

Japan's jobless rate hits near two-year high

TOKYO, July 29 (AFP): Japan said today its unemployment rate hit a near two-year high in June while consumer spending declined, raising concerns that the worsening business climate is hurting the overall economy.Soaring energy and raw material costs are making...