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  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 Sources in the ministry said the move was withdrawn in the face of severe criticism from different stakeholders.

  The human rights situation in Bangladesh was alarming in 2014, says an annual report published by Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) today. At least 88 people became victims of forced disappearance this year. Twelve of them returned while bodies of 23 were found later, Ain o Salish Kendra Executive Director Sultana Kamal said while placing the report on human rights situation of the country. Two people were sent to jail on different charges while the rests’ whereabouts were not known, she told reporters at Dhaka Reporters Unity. According to the report, 128 people were killed in “gunfights” with the law enforcers across the country this year which numbered at 72 in 2013. “This year, we have seen a tendency of law enforcers to shoot the victims in their legs during the gunfights,” Sult...

    Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam was awarded death penalty on three charges of genocide, mass killing and crimes against humanity during the country’s Liberation War in 1971. The Al-Badr commander of Rangpur was also sentenced to 25 and five years imprisonment on two other charges as the International Crimes Tribunal-1 found him guilty for five out of six charges.   Azharul, the assistant secretary general of Jamaat, was president of Rangpur district unit Islami Chhatra Sangha in 1971. 5 out of 6 charges proved Death penalty on charges of genocide, mass killing and crimes against humanity 25 years imprisonment for rape 5 years imprisonment for torture While reading out the summary of the 158-page verdict, Chairman of International Crimes Tribunal-1 Justice...

  At least six people including a woman were killed and 24 injured as a freight lorry rammed a train at Inland Container Terminal of Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka this afternoon. Death toll may rise Railway minister apologises Probe committee formed Two died on the spot while the four others succumbed to their injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). Of the deceased, three were identified as Majibur Rahman, 60, of Mirpur in the capital, Alamgir Hossain, 45, and Nayem while identities of the three others could not be known immediately. The incident took place around 12:45pm, Abdul Mazid, officer-in-charge of Dhaka Railway Police Station told The Daily Star Online. As the passenger train from Narayanganj, 219-Narayangaj Local, was coming to Dhaka, the lorry of ...

  Four-year-old Jihad who fell hundreds of feet down into an unsealed abandoned deep tube well in Dhaka’s Shahjahanpur area died of drowning, doctors said today. After performing autopsy, Professor Dr Habibuzzaman Chowdhury, head of Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s forensic department, made the revelation this morning. “The death is due to drowning. We performed tests and ascertained that Jihad had all symptoms of drowning” he told reporters at a press conference at the hospital premises. “Jihad had marks on his head. But he drowned before the head injury could prove fatal.” According to the doctor, the boy survived in the depths of the well, more than 250 feet, for about an hour after he fell down the well around 4:00pm on Friday. “Jihad died around 5:00pm-5:30pm on Friday,” ...

  There was no Bangladeshi citizen on board the missing Air Asia flight carrying 155 people from Indonesia, which lost contact with air traffic control today. Flight QZ 8501, an Airbus 320-200, lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6:17 am (2317 GMT), Indonesian Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa told media. Indonesian media said 156 Indonesians, three people from Korea, and one each from Singapore, Franch and Malaysia were on board, according to BBC.

Habiganj Municipality Mayor Golam Kibria Gaus sent to jail hours after he surrendered before a court in connection with former finance minister SAMS Kibria murder case. Gaus, general secretary of district BNP, surrendered before the Court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Rokeya Akter of Habiganj in the morning. Earlier on December 21, a Habiganj court issued arrest warrants against 11 people, including BNP leaders Gaus, Harris Chowdhury, and Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury in the case. SAMS Kibria, then an opposition lawmaker, was assassinated in a grenade attack while addressing a rally in Habiganj on January 27, 2005. The blast also killed Kibria's nephew Shah Manzur Huda, local AL leader Abdur Rahim and two others. Apart from Ariful and former premier Khaleda Zia...