Agency

The government has planned to set up over 4,500 'eco-latrines' across the country, LGRD adviser Anwarul Iqbal said Wednesday.

One latrine will be set up in each union parishad, he said.

Agency

British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury is leaving Bangladesh, capping his four-year stint. Stephen Evans will replace him in June.

"Anwar Choudhury will shortly be completing his four-year tenure as British high commissioner to Bangladesh.

He will be succeeded in the role by Stephen Evans CMG, OBE," said a press statement issued by the high commission in Dhaka.

Reuters, DHAKA - The United States Agency for International Development will provide some 90,000 tonnes of food aid worth $67.8 million to calamity-hit Bangladesh in the current year, a statement said on Tuesday.

Bangladesh is estimated to have lost 3.0 million tonnes of food, including rice and wheat -- the country's second staple food -- in fiscal 2007-08 (July-June) due to floods and Cyclone Sidr that hit the country's southern coast in November last year.

Agency

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday praised the caretaker government's reforms initiatives and plans to reinstate an elected parliament in line with the Election Commission's roadmap.

The UN chief addressed his comments to foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury when the two met at the UN headquarters in New York Monday, said the Bangladesh permanent mission to the UN in a statement.

Staff Correspondent

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court Tuesday stayed a bail order for former Motijheel police chief AKM Rafiqul Islam.

The vacation bench of chamber judge Md Hasan Amin issued the ruling after a government appeal against an earlier High Court verdict.

Staff Correspondent

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an asset management licence Tuesday to Venture Investment Partners Bangladesh (VIPB).

The market regulator also made it mandatory for bankers to IPO issuers to deposit an applicant's refund warrant to their bank account, SEC executive director Farhad Ahmed told reporters in his office.

Staff Correspondent

Awami League presidium member and former agriculture minister Motia Chowdhury was admitted to Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital Tuesday, doctors said.

She was earlier taken to the coronary care unit of Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital after falling ill at her home Tuesday morning.

Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has finalised a guideline on call-centre licensing, allowing a maximum of 45 percent foreign investment in the services, a top official said Monday.

The telecoms regulator will invite proposals for call-centre licences in the first week of April, BTRC chairman Manzurul Alam told bdnews24.com.

Reuters, DHAKA - Bangladesh's main political parties are threatening to launch a movement defying the state of emergency and to boycott elections scheduled for later this year if their top leaders are not freed soon.

The parties are the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia respectively.

Staff Correspondent

BNP will announce its next moves after secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain returns to bangladesh, acting BNP office secretary Rizvi Ahmed said Tuesday.

"We will announce programmes in consultation with the party's policymakers after the secretary general returns from the US," Rizvi said in a press briefing at the house of Khaleda-appointed secretary general Khandaker Delwar.

The Election Commission will hold its pending dialogue on electoral reforms with BNP as soon as possible when High Court verdict on the disputed matter comes, as work under the declared electoral roadmap is already decelerating, reports UNB.

"We''re hopeful that the verdict will come by April 10 and then we''ll sit with BNP for the dialogue as early as possible. We''ll not delay," Election Commissioner M Sohul Hussain told journalists Monday afternoon.

A new ordinance is in the offing for ensuring transparency and accountability in formulating budget and introducing chief accounts officer in every ministry, department and constitutional bodies, reports UNB.

The council of advisors has already given their consent in principle for formulating ‘The Government Wealth and Budget Management Ordinance 2008’, now that sweeping reforms are underway in the interim period against the backdrop of socioeconomic and political crises the nation is reeling from.

President Professor Dr Iajuddin Ahmed Monday called upon the authorities of both private and public universities to come forward with state-of-the-art curricula to impart quality and time-worthy education to the students, reports UNB.

“As you know, at all the ages, educational institutions are regarded as the sacred and stately place of the country, which contains nation’ s hopes and aspirations by putting its collective endeavours,” the President said while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the permanent campus of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) at Tejgaon Monday.

British visa applicants who use deception, withhold information or employ false documents to try to gain entry into the UK will face a ten-year ban, reports UNB.

The new law will come into effect from 1 April, this year, a release of the British High Commission said Monday.

Staff Correspondent

Awami League leader Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir Tuesday suffered a head injury after he slipped in the bathroom at Kashimpur Jail while brushing his teeth.

"The duty doctor at Kashimpur Jail treated him and he had to be given two stitches in the head," inspector-general of prisons Zakir Hasan told bdnews24.com.