Living with poisoned fishes

Fish has a very strong cultural attachment as an irreplaceable animal food source in Bangladeshi diet with high nutritional value. Unfortunately, over the years, marketing of fish across the country has been tainted by the abominable practice of applying Formaldehyde...

Of fertility, food and farming

Michael Lipton, a well-known economist and now a Professor of Economics at the Sussex University, recently talked on rural transformation in Bangladesh. In a seminar organised by the Bangladesh Economists' Forum, the economist has attributed the transformation to three 'F's:...

Ukraine defiant on national day, rebels parade captives

Kiev/Donetsk (Ukraine): Ukraine marked its independence day last week with a military march-past in Kiev intended to send a message of defiance to Russia, but pro-Moscow rebels countered by parading captured Ukrainian troops through the streets of their main stronghold....

Roche to buy US biotech firm for $8.3 billion

Roche Holding AG has agreed to buy US biotech company InterMune Inc for $8.3 billion in cash, marking the latest multibillion-dollar deal in a consolidating pharmaceutical sector. The Swiss drugmaker said last week it would pay $74.00 a share through...

How aggressive lending came back to bite African Bank

Stocks return to green, turnover falls

Stocks returned to the green on Monday after three sessions' losing streak with turnover falling slightly as investors went for late hour buying spree. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went up by 23.74 points or...

Stocks open positive

The prices of most of the shares at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw upward trend in early hours of trading on Monday, the second trading day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the...

Tazreen owner turns to govt to get Tk 182m insurance claim

The owner of Tazreen Fashions Ltd, Delwar Hossen, has now moved the government high-ups to get insurance claim of deadly fire incident which burnt 111 garment workers alive and injured many, sources said. Last week Mr Hossen submitted an application...

Four categories of people relieved

Four categories of people have been relieved of mandatory submission of tax returns if they don't have taxable income by relaxing the rules to avert unnecessary hassles. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has relaxed the rules and its income-tax...

Billions drained as roads built sans guideline, study

The country incurs an aggregate loss of billions of taka for constructing road network without following proper guideline and conducting feasibility study. Experts said due to fault in designs hardly any desired benefit is visible from the constructed roads. Officials...

Killer disease gathering extra pace

Cancer is considered the sixth killer disease in Bangladesh with about 150,000 annual casualties. To the total number of cancer patients estimated at 1.3-1.5 million, 0.2 million new patients are added every year. Now what is most alarming is the...

Making demutualisation of exchanges meaningful

How are the demutualised stock exchanges performing in Bangladesh? It is too early to ask this kind of question for only 16 months have gone by since the demutualisation of the country's bourses. Yet a reporter from The Financial Express...

The Bay of Bengal Growth Triangle and Bangladesh-Japan strategic partnership

The joint Japan-Bangladesh Public-Private Economic Dialogue, held last week in Dhaka, was an important event. It took place about two weeks ahead of the forthcoming visit of Mr. Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister (PM) of Japan, to Bangladesh. Abe will...

India reviews state hospitals to end widespread corruption

The government on Saturday ordered a review of activities at all state-owned hospitals to end what the health minister called systemic corruption, as part of the new administration's crackdown on malpractice in the healthcare sector. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government...

BoJ may ease policy for \\\'some time\\\' to slay deflation: Kuroda

The Bank of Japan may have to pursue its aggressive monetary policy easing for "some time" to fully vanquish deflation, BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Saturday. Speaking at a global central banking conference here, Kuroda said the central bank's...

Pressure mounts for more action against Islamic State

European leaders face calls to take direct action against the Islamic State including in Syria after the beheading of U.S. journalist James Foley, but politicians are reluctant to take the lead after previous missteps in the region. The release of...

Stocks edge flat amid high turnover

Stocks edged marginally lower for the third sessions straight on Sunday with turnover improved slightly as late profit booking sale cut early gains. The market started with a positive note, but could not sustain as the session progressed. DSEX, the...

DSE, CSE advance

The prices of most of the shares at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw upward trend in early hours of trading on Sunday, the opening day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE,...

Forex smugglers now enjoy heyday in BD

Local and international syndicates are using country's airways for the smuggling of foreign currencies and carrying out underworld financial deals which have crossed all previous records in recent times, official sources say. Different intelligence agencies can trace and catch hardly...

Pakistan crisis shows no signs of catharsis: What is in store?

Pakistan passes through a fast-developing situation on the political front. The political crisis stemming from the demand for resignation of the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has somewhat unexpectedly brought the nation to a kind of standoff, which is...

BTRC fails to realise Tk 18b dues from IGW operators

Repeated efforts of the telecom regulator to realise nearly Tk18 billion outstanding dues from some international gateway (IGW) operators went in vain due to poor response from most of the defaulters. According to the BTRC sources, until August 20, the...

More mega projects on cards to reduce traffic jam in city

The Ministry of Communication (MoC) has prepared a list of mega projects mostly on introducing mass transport system to be implemented as Vision 2021 aiming at reducing severe traffic jam in the mega city of Dhaka. Sources said though mass...

Protecting arable land

Arable land all over the country is disappearing fast in the wake of population boom, unplanned housing and illegal grabbing. The rate of decrease has been estimated at 1.0% of total farm land annually. Experts say that if the present...

Domestic paper industry demands govt patronage

Local production now can meet more than 80 per cent of the 0.5 million- tonne annual demand for writing, printing and newsprint papers, industry sources said as they sought government patronage for flourishing the fledging industry. Bangladesh Paper Mills Association...

FBCCI urges Japanese investors to collar Dhaka\\\'s incentive offers

Bangladeshi businessmen will persuade Japanese entrepreneurs to invest in a big way when a group of investors accompanying prime minister Abe descends on the capital next month, a top business leader said.   "They (Japanese investors) are very positive about investing...

Mideast crisis: Nothing short of two-state solution can stem the rot

Palestine and Israel, once known as cradle of civilisation, have become the hub of cemeteries in modern times. Their conflicts have shed huge blood and produced graves as far as eyes can see. The countless tombstones are silent, but the...

Preventing launch accidents and deaths

Every year we see tragic launch accidents claiming hundreds of human lives. During 1999-2014 period, about 658 such accidents occurred with about 500 meeting their watery graves. About 1,500 people are still missing. Perhaps their bodies will never be retrieved....

End of an epoch

'Any man's death diminishes me,' wrote the poet, 'because I am involved in mankind'. But one thing is certain that the demise of some men diminish us more than that of others, tragic they though all are. Myriad recollections crowd...

Keeping water free of contamination

Over the last few years, NASA and other space agencies have been trying to find out traces of life on other planets in the universe. They are trying to detect the presence of water. If there is water, then there...

Afghan scene: Stand-off over presidential polls

The out-going president of the Afghanistan - Hamid Karzai - has expressed his deep concern over the stand-off persisting in his country over the presidential elections. Karzai, who is to relinquish his position after two terms - the maximum allowed...