Bangladesh Premier League franchise Chittagong Kings’ Brand Ambassador Brian Lara (2nd-L) of the West Indies unveils the team’s jersey with captain Mahmudullah (L) at a city hotel on Thursday. — Sourav Loskar

An excavator removes sand stocked in the River Turag during a mobile court drive on Thursday to reclaim the river from encroachers in line with a High Court order. — Indrajit Ghosh

Students of Eden Girls College form a human chain in front of the college in Dhaka on Thursday, demanding death penalty for the acid attackers on their fellow Sharmin Akhter Akhi. — New Age photo

The Left Democratic Alliance brings out a procession in Dhaka on Thursday, protesting at the police attack on them during a general strike on Wednesday. — New Age photo

Korean classical musicians perform on Wednesday at the residence of the Korean amasador marking 40 years of diplomatic tie between Bangladesh and the Republic of Korea celebrations programme.

Professor Raman Shivkumar delivers a lecture on Rabindranath Tagore as an artist on Wednesday at Bengal Shilpalaya.

Leather products are on display along with other products at a shop at Shahbag in Dhaka on Thursday. Earnings from the leather products export posted a robust growth in the first half of the current financial year. — New Age photo

This general photo shows vendors running their businesses as usual despite floodwaters that inundated the Cipulir textile market in Jakarta on Thursday. — AFP photo

Film actress Nipun (C) performs during the opening ceremony of the Bangladesh Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in the Dhaka city on Thursday. — Sanaul Haque

Nokia Lumia smartphones are pictured in a shop in Warsaw recently. —Reuters photo

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi (2nd-L) celebrates his equalising goal against Real Malaga with his team-mates during their Copa del Rey quarter-final first-leg match at Nou Camp on Wednesday. — Reuters photo

Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer returns a shot against Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko during their men’s singles match of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Thursday. — AFP photo

LATEST

MAIN NEWS

Crop land protection bill on hold

A bill for enacting a new law to stop the use of crop land for other purposes has been put on the backburner as the government shied away from the reform with parliamentary polls knocking on the door. Full story

Verdict on Quader any day

The International Crimes Tribunal – 2 on Thursday deferred its verdict in the war case against detained Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla until a later date. After the lawyers of the two sides completed making their closing... Full story

Govt wants WB decision on Padma Bridge this month

The government has asked the World Bank to let it know by this month its decision on funding the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project, said finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Thursday. Full story

MP Giasuddin threatens pry edn ministry staff

The ruling Awami League lawmaker for the Gaffargaon constituency, retired captain Giasuddin Ahmed, on Thursday threatened two staff at the office of the primary and mass education minister in the secretariat allegedly over... Full story

NATIONAL

JS panel asks govt to shift tanneries by June 30

A parliamentary standing committee on Thursday asked the ministry of environment and forests to relocate the tanneries at Hazaribagh in the city to Savar by June 30. It also asked for legal action against any tannery failing to comply. Full story

Left parties demand action against police, others

METRO

Illegal structures demolished, sand-stock in Turag auctioned

The authorities on Thursday demolished illegal structures and sand-stocks in the River Turag in an hour-long drive at Sinnirtek in the capital’s Mirpur Beribandh area to implement a High Court order. Md Selim Hossen, executive magistrate of... Full story

Fellows demand capital punishment of culprits

BUSINESS

BB moves to get more pension fund in govt securities

Bangladesh Bank has taken initiatives to bring more money from the provident and pension funds into the government securities, said officials of the central bank. A BB official told New Age on Thursday that the central... Full story

Import growth drops further in Dec

INTERNATIONAL

100 killed in new ‘massacre’ in Syria

More than 100 civilians have been killed in a new ‘massacre’ in Syria, a watchdog said Thursday, as Russia slammed the United States for blaming deadly blasts at a university campus on the Damascus regime. Full story

India-Pakistan truce takes hold in Kashmir

SPORTS

Lara bats for T20 cricket

The growing Twenty20 tournaments in the world will bring no harm to Test cricket as they can go on simultaneously, said former West Indies great Brian Lara on Thursday. ‘I believe now with T20 cricket, a lot more people are watching the game,’ Lara told... Full story

Gladiators begin title defence against Royal Bengals today

EDITORIAL

DU vice-chancellor sets a bad precedent

The manner in which the incumbent vice-chancellor of Dhaka... Full story

Lynching points to a pervasive sense of insecurity

OP-ED

Border killing and our sovereignty

Again and again the Indian government and the BSF assured that they would take care of the border killing but these words did not have any impact on this issue. It implies two things — that the Indian government do not really have any political commitment... Full story

The begums and the two giants

TIMEOUT

Guerrilla deserves more awards

Guerrilla director Nasiruddin Yousuff Yousuff is delighted after winning the first state recognition as a film director who also won two more national awards in best screenplay and best dialogues categories jointly with Ebadur Rahman for the film. Full story

Classical music fest continues at BSSK

LETTERS

High prices of vegetables

WINTER is the season of vegetables in Bangladesh. Usually adequate quantity of different variety of vegetables are cultivated and consumed through out the country in this season. And we have experienced in the past few... Full story