Agreement on Trans-Asian Railway Network comes into force
June 12, 2009
1.14 lakh km railway links 28 countries in Asia and to Europe
Countries throughout Asia committed to coordinate the development and operation of international rail routes linking 28 countries, as the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network entered into force yesterday.
This momentous step forward for regional integration was marked with a ceremony at the regional arm of the United Nations — the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) — featuring video messages from ministers of railways Read more
5th Asian universities debating contest kicks off
May 15, 2009
The six-day ‘Fifth Asian Universities Debating Championship (AUDC) 2009′ began amid a gala ceremony at a hotel in the city yesterday.
A total of 279 debaters comprising 69 teams of 10 Asian countries will participate in the championship. The participating teams are from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Read more
Consultants breach terms in preparing DAP survey report
April 26, 2009
The four consulting firms responsible for preparing a survey report on the detailed area plan for Dhaka city have breached the terms of reference in carrying out their tasks, said experts and DAP review committee report.
‘The four consultants did not make specific proposals to implement the DAP guidelines on city’s development control, which is a complete violation of the terms of reference of the project,’ said the DAP review committee report submitted recently to the RAJUK authorities.
The review committee in its report identified nine aspects where the four consultants have breached the TOR. ‘There Read more
Classes resume at SBMC tomorrow
April 26, 2009
Classes at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College will resume on Monday, nine days after closure of the institution.
The college principal said halls of residence would reopen today.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the academic council held on Thursday with Professor Syed Zahid Hossain in the chair. Thirty senior teachers attended the meeting.
The principal also said the five-member inquiry committee, led by Abu Taher, head of anatomy department, would Read more
Shortage of teachers hampers primary edn in Sylhet
April 16, 2009
Shortage of teachers and administrative officials has been hampering primary education in the Sylhet division for long.
According to data available with the Sylhet Primary Education Department, a total of 1,706 posts including 159 posts of head teachers in different primary schools under four districts of the division have remained vacant for several years.
About 200 posts of officials and employees including deputy director of the Primary Education Department and district education officer also remained vacant, which resulting in serious interruption in the Read more
Tobacco claims 57,000 a year: Health minister
April 16, 2009
Health and Family Welfare Minister AFM Ruhul Haque yesterday said around 57,000 people die every year due to tobacco-related diseases in the country, while around 382,000 people are becoming physically or mentally disabled as a result of tobacco use.
The minister said this while inaugurating a four-day regional workshop titled ‘MPOWER policy package for strengthening tobacco control’ by World Health Organisation (WHO) that began at a city hotel yesterday.
MPOWER stands for monitoring tobacco use, protecting people from tobacco smoke, offering help to quit tobacco use, warning Read more
200 houses burnt at Mirpur slum
April 7, 2009
More than 200 shanties were gutted as a devastating fire broke out at a slum beside the Janata Housing at Mirpur section 2 in the capital on Monday.
Locals and the fire brigade officials said that the fire had broken out from a shanty at about 11:30am and soon engulfed more than 200 adjacent shanties made of bamboo canes and tin-roof tops.
Seeing the fire, the people started running for shelter. Some of the dwellers tried to take their belongings out of the shanties but most of Read more
RU hall provost removed, two others resign
April 7, 2009
Professor Abdul Matin Talukder, provost of Mother Bux Hall at Rajshahi University, has been removed from the post while the provosts of two other halls resigned.
Abdul Matin has been removed from the post of hall provost for his alleged non-cooperation with the university authorities, according to university sources.
He told reporters that the vice chancellor, Professor Abdus Sobhan, had called him at his residence Sunday night and asked him to resign from the post of hall provost.
‘I begged two days of the vice-chancellor for thinking of my resignation. But he [VC] did not give me any time’, Matin said Read more
Call for emergency services to disaster-hit people
April 7, 2009
World Health Day Today
Call for emergency services to disaster-hit people
Bangladesh celebrates the World Health Day today with the slogan ‘Save lives: Make hospitals safe in emergencies’ along with the other United Nations member countries.
President Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in separate statements wished successes of the week-long programmes taken by the government.
Expressing hope that the government, non-government and international organisations would take necessary steps to provide emergency services to the people of disaster-prone areas, the president termed the slogan of Read more
Hunt on for world-class actor to play Bangabandhu
April 7, 2009
Red Rose Films Limited, a London-based film production house, looks for a world-class actor to play the main role in its English movie being made based on the life of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, noted columnist and chairperson of the production house, told reporters at a press conference here yesterday that they are trying to cast a world-class actor to play the role of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the movie titled ‘A Poet of Politics’.
He said, “We’ve even talked to Indian legendry actor Amitabh Bachchan and film director Shyam Benegal about the movie.”
Quoting Amitabh, Gaffar Chowdhury said the Bollywood superstar, now in his mid 60s, does not have any schedule for Read more