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Online Desk: The primary terminal examinations 2014 for class five students of schools and madrasas will begin across the country on November 23. The date was announced after a meeting held at primary and mass education ministry in the capital today. Kazi Akhtar Hossain, secretary to the ministry, conformed it to Bangla daily Prothom Alo. The exam will end on November 30.

Online Report: Doctors take care of a garment worker of Tuba Group who is on hunger strike with her colleagues inside the factory in Badda in the capital on Sunday. They have been on the strike since the day before Eid demanding unpaid wages of three months and Eid bonuses. Photo: Amran Hossain The agitating garment workers of Tuba Group this afternoon vowed to continue their demonstration rejecting the authorities' assurance of payment of two months' wages on Wednesday. Today, the seventh day of their mass hunger strike, they insisted that the owners pay their three months' due salaries and festival bonuses in full and immediately. The workers' announcement came around 6:30pm, one and half hours after the garment factory owners' association -- Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and E...

Making Dhaka free from beggars News Desk: The government project of making Dhaka beggar and vagabond-free costing Tk. 14 crore has failed and the beggars, who were rehabilitated at Mymensing and Jamalpur, have returned to their old ways of begging in the capital. In 2010, the social welfare ministry undertook the initiative to rehabilitate beggars and vagabonds and provide them work options as well. A survey was conducted among thousands of beggars and vagabonds at 10 zones of the Dhaka City Corporation. Of them, the government decided to rehabilitate 2,000 beggars in their own districts. According to the survey, most of the beggars and vagabonds came from Mymensing, Jamalpur, Dhaka and Barishal districts. “The government provided rickshaws, vans and some small capital among 37 beggar...

Online Report: The damaged car lies on the road after it is hit by a train at Malibagh level crossing in the capital on Friday afternoon. Photo: Courtesy The pistol that was found inside the private car hit by a train at Malibagh level crossing on Friday belonged to Narayanganj seven-murder prime accused Nur Hossain. Abdul Majid, officer-in-charge of Dhaka Railway Police Station, said the Austrian made pistol was licensed in Nur's name. Three passengers of a private car were injured as a train heading for Kamalapur railway station hit the car while crossing the level crossing. Police found the pistol along with 20 rounds of bullets, several number plates of cars and new clothes inside the damaged car, said Sub-Inspector Imam Arefin of Dhaka Railway Police Station. The weapon was loa...

Wasim Bin Habib: Imagine universities being run with no vice-chancellor (VC), pro-VC or treasurer. Or think about students obtaining graduation and post-graduation degrees from universities that do not have enough qualified teachers, properly equipped libraries and laboratories, do not publish research journals and have no campus of their own. It is shocking but true that there are many such private universities in the country, according to a report of the University Grants Commission (UGC). The statutory apex body for higher education sent the report outlining the overall situation and problem of the universities and the way out to the education ministry in June. According to the report, majority of the private universities in the country are operating without meeting the criteria set ...

Online Report: Garment workers of Tuba Group chant slogans demanding their outstanding salary and bonus at the factory premises in capital’s Badda on Thursday. The outstanding salaries and bonuses of Tuba Group, which is witnessing workers' demonstration since Tuesday, will be paid within seven working days, according to a BGMEA top leader. SM Mannan Kochi, vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA), made the announcement at a press briefing at BGMEA headquarters in Dhaka this afternoon. Several hundreds of workers of Tuba Group are continuing their hunger strike for the third consecutive day today, demanding their outstanding salaries and Eid bonus. At least 30 workers have so far fallen sick as the staff of five factories under Tuba Grou...

Online Report: People gather on the bank of the Padma river in Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia after 11 people went missing in a boat capsize in the river Tuesday afternoon. Rescuers have failed to locate 12 people who went missing in a boat capsize in Padma river in Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia yesterday. There are five chilrden among the missing, reports our Kushtia correspondent. “Among the 12 missing people, nobody was recovered till 10:30am,” Syed Belal Hossain, deputy commissioner of Kushtia told journalists on the spot. The missing are: Md Kalu, 32, Biva Parveen, 22, Shipon, 26, Shajul, 28, Sawpan, 20, Jamal Uddin, 26 and his wife Sumi, 20, Keyamoni, 10, Bithi, 10, Tinni, 7, Sayndhya, 4, Subarna, 6. Julhas, father of missing Bithi, cries on the bank of Padma river in Daulatpur...

Tourism rebounds on Eid vacationers Suman Saha: Kuakata, the beachside tourist spot, is prepped up by tourism industry operators ahead of the Eid vacation. Photo: Banglar Chokh The tourism industry expects good business from the Eid as hotel and resort operators received a lot of bookings in the run-up to the festival, thanks to a stable political climate. “We expect an increased number of tourists during the Eid vacation,” said Omar Sultan, president of Cox's Bazar Hotel-Motel and Guesthouse Owners Association. Different hotels, motels and guesthouses in the beach city have sold 50 percent of the rooms for the July 31-August 1 duration, he said. The industry was hit hard last year due to volatile politics over the national election. Hoteliers are now hopeful of recovering losses s...

They were killed in N'ganj, Munshiganj, Tangail, Noakhali and Bhola road crashes Online Report: A bus of Bhola Transport fells into a roadside ditch in Charfashion upazila of Bhola, killing four passengers on Tuesday. Photo: STAR As the time of spending the happiest days of the year came, 18 souls could not make it to their destinations this Eid-ul-Fitr. At least 18 people have died in road crashes in Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Tangail, Noakhali and Bhola during the Eid holiday. Four of them were killed in a road accident as a private car plunged into a roadside ditch in Shiddhirganj upazila of Narayanganj. The deceased are identified as -- Sumon, Pintu, Salam and Abdullah, reports our Narayanganj correspondent. The Chashara-bound car lost its control over the steering on Dhaka-Naray...

The world's 10 most dangerous airlines Hamburg-based Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC) annually ranks the safest and most unsafe 60 largest airlines in the world based on the number of accidents and incidents over the past 30 years - compared with passenger miles. It also factors in international safety benchmarks, such as the IOSA Audit and the USOAP country factor to calculate its rankings. This is their top 10 of the airlines with the worst records - as well as who's safest.