MAIN NEWS
Women workers’ woes mount abroad
Many female workers of the country working abroad are facing problems including sexual harassment and financial deprivations said rights organizations. The workers often are denied food and drinking water, they said. Full story
Jamaat calls hartal for today
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has called a half-day hartal in Dhaka and Chittagong cities for today and a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in other parts of the country after being refused permission to hold a rally in the capital on Wednesday. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party extended support to the hartal programme of its major ally, BNP joint secretary general Ruhul kabir Rizvi told reporters... Full story
Two owners on two days’ remand
Police on Wednesday took two owners of Smart Export Garment Ltd on two days’ remand in connection with a fire incident that killed seven female workers at their factory on Saturday. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasibul Haque granted the remand after the company chairman Sharif Ahmed Salam (50) and managing director Zakir Ahmed (56) were produced before the... Full story
Ruling coalition MPs blasts Jamaat
Members of the parliament of the ruling alliance on Wednesday came down heavily on the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami for its violence in recent days and called on the new generation to resist any anti-state elements. Full story
Committee to protect oil, gas leads long march March 9
The national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports will launch Khulna-Bagerhat-Rampal long march on March 9 protesting against the government plan to install a power plant at Rampal. Full story
METRO
Left-leaning students call strike at DU
The Progressive Students’ Alliance, a platform of left-leaning student organisations, on Wednesday called for strike at Dhaka University on February 10, demanding withdrawal of increased fees and rents for facilities on the campus. Full story
BUSINESS
Pvt sector credit growth slumps to 16.55pc in Dec
Amid lack of investment in industrial sector, the private sector credit growth in December slumped to around 16.55 per cent year-on-year, much below 18.30 per cent target set by the contractionary monetary policy of the Bangladesh Bank for July-December, 2012. In such a tricky investment situation, the central bank announces today yet another tight monetary policy for January-June period setting... Full story
INTERNATIONAL
Donors pledge $1b as Ban says Syria ‘catastrophic’
International donors at a Kuwait conference Wednesday pledged almost $1 billion in aid for stricken Syrians, as the UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, warned of a ‘catastrophic’ situation in their war-torn country. Full story
SPORTS
BPL hit by new pay dispute
The second edition of the Bangladesh Premier League has also been hit by pay dispute when a franchise accused the Bangladesh Cricket Board of not paying their overseas players despite receiving the money from the side. Salim Chowdhury, the owner of Dhaka Gladiators, said they deposited Tk 3 crore to the BCB through a pay-order on January 22, but the money... Full story
EDITORIAL
Mere admission not enough
THE information minister’s admission on Tuesday... Full story
OP-ED
How did Davos do on climate change?
ONE sometimes hears that the World Economic Forum is all talk and no action. I don’t buy it — talk matters. Social currency is a powerful driver of change, even at the highest reaches of business and government. And last week climate change was on centre stage at the famous Davos summit. So as I moved through the WEF annual meeting, the question... Full story
TIMEOUT
Hong Kong based troupe narrates Tagore’s China visit
A Hong Kong based troupe staged a theatre featuring the controversy created while the Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore visited China in 1924 at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Tuesday. Asian People’s Theatre Festival Society staged the English play ‘Tagore in China’ as part of the ongoing weeklong theatre festival organised... Full story
LETTERS
