The stage was set, the podium standing tall and ready and the microphones were switched on, waiting to echo the strong voice of the

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged all to work sincerely for unlocking the huge potentials of jute and jute products.

It is this writer's view that the 7th March speech was Bangabandhu's finest hour. He stood far taller than ever before and with him we too stood tall as well, far taller than we could never imagine or even dream of till then.

Before the growth of the textile industry, jute was once the main cash crop of Bangladesh as it was the only exportable product in the country.

Bangladesh yesterday sought Vietnam's support for a peaceful solution to the Rohingya crisis as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held official talks with visiting Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang.

With people of East Pakistan roaring for the declaration of independence, the suspense of what was to come on the March 7 rally grew. And with it, grew the angst and violence of the Pakistan government.

For Taqi's parents, the last five years have been a long, agonising wait for justice. And they have no clue as to when that wait would be over.

Commuters in Dhaka city are likely to face a scarcity of public transport on Wednesday as several thousand transport workers will join a rally at the city's Suhrawardy Udyan.

Around 9:30pm last Saturday, a police team stopped a motorbike in the capital's Palashi Residential Area. Alleged yaba dealers they had arrested earlier told them that a bike, registered in Chittagong, would have yaba pills stashed inside.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday termed the attackers of Prof Muhammad Zafar Iqbal fanatics and urged all to keep their children away from militancy, terrorism and drug abuse.

A day after Prof Muhammad Zafar Iqbal survived a knife attack in Sylhet, counterterrorism officials said the youth who carried out it could be a member of banned militant outfit Ansar al Islam.

Even without the declaration of independence of Bangladesh, the authority of Pakistan and the central government of General Yahya Khan had not only virtually lost all control over East Pakistan, except in the cantonments, but was on the brink of paralysis due to the non-cooperation movement led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Mosquitoes are everywhere. Be it an airconditioned airport, hospital, open space, slum or bedroom. In large droves, this tiny insect is unleashing a free reign of terror across the country. City mayors have one excuse or the other about their failure to tackle the mosquito menace. In the meantime, people face the ultimate consequences of their failure -- numerous mosquito bites and the risk of contracting mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and chikungunya.

The non-cooperation movement, launched by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League on March 2nd, was on full-throttle now.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said BNP chief Khaleda Zia is now behind bars for corruption and the Awami League has nothing to do with it.

Even with three stab wounds on the back of his head, he talked to his students in a teacherly way. “Don't make so much noise; I am trying to control myself as much as I can. Hold me; my blood group is A positive,” one of the students quoted him as saying.

For the last 28 years, Safia Begum has been on a mission: spreading the light of education among the underprivileged.

Catholic Sister Lucy Helen Frances Holt left her home in Britain in 1960 to pursue humanitarian work in the-then East Pakistan. Little

The Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) has drafted a law keeping a provision of death penalty for producing or processing more than 200 grams of yaba pills or the same amount of its ingredients.

Bangladesh once again protested Myanmar's military build-up along the Tombru border when the two countries held a flag meeting at Ghumdhum of Bandarban yesterday.