Author: Sumon Admin

A US judge on Tuesday rejected a request by a Bangladesh diplomat and his wife to dismiss a lawsuit by a former domestic worker who accused them of forcing him to work without pay in slavery-like conditions. US District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan said Monirul Islam, a former New York consul general of Bangladesh, and his wife Fahima Tahsina Prova were not immune from the lawsuit by Mashud Parves Rana, because their employment and supervision of him were not "consular functions." Rana sued for back pay and punitive damages last March, shortly before Islam began a new job in Morocco as Bangladesh's ambassador to that country. The lawsuit was filed several days after Devyani Khobragade, once India's deputy consul general in New York, won dismissal of a federal indictment concerning ...

  A Dhaka court today sent Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to jail after rejecting both the remand and the bail petitions in connection with an arson case. Metropolitan Magistrate Tareq Mainul Islam Bhuyan directed the investigation officer of the case to interrogate the acting secretary general of BNP Fakhrul at the jail gate within 10 working days. The order came after sub-inspector Khandakar Jahangir Hossain of Paltan Police Station and also investigation officer of the case produced Fakhrul before it with a 10-day remand prayer. Soon after the order, pro-BNP lawyers raised hue and cry on the court premises and chanted slogans demanding withdrawal of the order. They also brought out a procession on the court premises. Earlier in the day, police sought Fakhrul in custody for ...

  On the fourth day of confinement, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia still cannot leave her Gulshan office with law enforcers still deployed in front of the main gate. A dozen sand laden-trucks which were parked since Sunday midnight near Khaleda’s office from early yesterday, have been taken away. But the main gate still remains locked, our correspondent covering the event reports from the spot. But two lorries of policemen and the water canon remained standing there since Sunday midnight. The security in front of her office was seen relaxed from 7:30pm yesterday but it has been again enhanced this morning. Meanwhile, police asked three leaders of Tablig-e Jamaat to take permission from the deputy commissioner’s office when they tried to enter Khaleda’s office. “We came here...

Detectives picked up BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul as he came out of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka around 24 hours after he took shelter there amid protest by pro-government journalists and took him to DB headquarters. In protest against the arrest, BNP has called a 24-hour hartal from 6:00pm today in Thakurgaon district, the hometown of Fakhrul, reports our district correspondent. Four officers of the Detective Branch of police forcibly got in his car as it left the press club premises, our correspondent reported from the spot. Speaking to The Daily Star reporter from his car, the BNP leader said the ongoing anti-government movement will continue “even if I am arrested.” Minutes before getting out of the press club, Fakhrul held a press conference at the VIP conference...

  A security net thrown around BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s office will there as long as necessary, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said today. “If police feel that there is no risk for her on the way, she can leave (her Gulshan office),” the minister told reporters at the Secretariat this afternoon. “Personally, I feel she should have the security as long as necessary.” BNP chief Khaleda Zia has been residing in her Gulshan office for the past two days. Supporters and activists have said that she was confined inside the house by police ahead of the party’s protest programmes marking the first anniversary of January 5 election. The road leading to the office has been barricaded off at both ends by a dozen trucks. Law enforcers in plenty, including those from Rap...

  BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia this afternoon announced an indefinite countrywide blockade to protest government restriction on 20-party rally. “The programme will continue until my further instruction. We will set the next course of action after the situation clams down,” she said while speaking to journalists after law enforcers barred her from getting out of her Gulshan office this afternoon. Earlier, she got in her car to leave her office Dhaka’s Gulshan to join an anti-government rally, but cannot leave the office premises as police kept all the gates under lock and key. As the aggrieved BNP activists tried to force open the gate from inside, police used pepper spray on them and scattered them away. Wearing a cream colour sari, Khaleda got in the car around 3:45pm and waite...

  Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) today declared the squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand. BCB President Nazmul Hassan announced the squad at a press conference in the Media Conference Area, SBNCS Media Block (ground floor) at BCB office in capital’s Mirpur. Mashrafe Mortaza has been selected as the captain while Shakib Al Hasan is made the vice-captain of the squad. Left-hand batsman 21-year-old Soumya Sarkar, who played only one One-Day-International against Zimbabwe, has been enrolled into the squad. "We have tried to create a balanced team, thus, we have taken a few all-rounders in," Faruque Ahmed, BCB chief selector, said. The 15-member squad contains: 1. Mashrafe Mortaza (c), 2. Shakib Al Hasan (vc), 3. Tamim Iqbal, 4. Anamul Haque Bijoy, 5...

  BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has called upon the leaders and activists of the BNP-led 20-party alliance to defy a police ban on political gatherings and to make their January 5 rally a success. “We don’t obey the government’s ban on political activities ahead of tomorrow’s programme in Dhaka. I’m calling upon you (rank and file) to remain on the streets to ensure our success,” Shawkat Mahmud, an adviser to Khaleda, quoted her as saying.   Shawkat, also president of the pro-BNP faction of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ, was speaking to reporters after meeting the BNP chief at her Gulshan office in the afternoon. Earlier, BNP today said they will go ahead with its programmes marking the anniversary of January 5 polls and announced for countrywide protests this even...

    Stunning metro stations around the world The newly-opened Fulton Center transit hub in New York is getting rave reviews from subway riders. On November 10th, the station officially opened after a decade of work. Built at a cost of over US $1 billion (£664 million), the station is already getting rave reviews from the public. Featuring a giant rooftop skylight and digital information screens, the transit hub has been called a ‘modern gem’    

    A day after issuing an order to enrol students at all universities only on the basis of SSC and HSC results, the government today suspended the directive. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid confirmed the matter to The Daily Star this noon. He, however, did not say why the directive was suspended. Sources in the ministry said the move was withdrawn in the face of severe criticism from different stakeholders.