The government has not made any move against a Pakistani female diplomat even though an arrested militant confessed his link with the envoy before a Dhaka court nine days ago.

Public servants will be entitled to two automatic grade raises during their service as an alternative to the existing selection grade and time scale.

Less than two weeks before Bangladesh's Independence, the then US President Richard Nixon had called Henry A Kissinger twice on December 4, 1971, asking if warplanes had been sent to Pakistan.

A labourer was killed and at least nine others were injured as an under-construction shed collapsed at the Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts in the capital early today.

As another day concluded with Indian Air Force MIG-21s and Hunter jets screaming across Dhaka sky, firing off missiles and strafing targets below with the strange sound of a heavy steel chest being dragged upon a coarse concrete floor, General AAK Niazi rode towards the governor's house in downtown Dhaka. All he could do was look up at the sky and see the glowing tracer rounds from his Ack Ack battery drawing lazy arcs across the dark sky in a city engulfed in air raid precaution darkness. He could hear anti-aircraft guns around the air field going off furiously. Acrid smell hung in the cold December air.

“Like in 1971, intellectuals of Bangladesh yet again are being marked and given death threats. But if people stand by them, the evil plot will not succeed.”

The BNP chief's paying tribute to Martyred Intellectuals' Memorial was nothing but a mockery, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said yesterday, adding no one in the world could stop the war crimes trial initiated by her government.

On Sunday, the BNP, Jatiya Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh issued their statements on the occasion of Martyred Intellectuals Day without naming the Pakistani army and their local collaborators who spearheaded the killing of the intellectuals.

A TV journalist was arrested with 40,000 pieces of Yaba tablets worth around Tk 1.20 crore in Chittagong city yesterday.

Observance of the Martyred Intellectuals Day was markedly different this year. The day was observed yesterday with a renewed demand for banning Jamaat-e-Islami, and a call to severe ties with Pakistan for denying the atrocities it had carried out during the 1971 Liberation War.

Despite several directives by the International Crimes Tribunal and initiatives of the government to arrest war crimes accused, police have failed to capture more than half of them, frustrating justice seekers. Two war crimes tribunals had issued arrest warrants against 102 war crimes accused in 18 cases since August last year, but the law enforcers could arrest only 45, according to The Daily Star reports.

Pakistan army's 195 officers are morally and legally culpable for the genocide of 1971 and Bangladesh has the moral and legal rights to try them. Pakistan's excuse of the 1974 agreement does not give it reprieve.

This is the day our oppressors took revenge on us for winning our inevitable freedom. This is the day they came with covered faces, bayonets and shot guns,

“Bangladesh wasn't born to live off others or on the mercy of others and be dependent on them."

Pakistan's own Hamoodur Rahman Commission found “sufficient evidence” to try the top army generals, including Yahya Khan, for committing atrocities in Bangladesh but Bhutto kept the report under wraps to save the face of the powerful army and satisfy his own hunger for power.

Massive development work of road and rail infrastructure is underway to optimise benefits of the Padma bridge, said Road Transport

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said that by building the Padma bridge with local funding, Bangladesh wants to show the world it is now capable of implementing any mega project on its own. Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project and river training work at Janjira, she said her government's decision to implement this dream project with own funding was a challenge.

While the government's dream project Padma bridge is widely expected to boost the country's economy, there is also fear that it may take a heavy toll on the famous hilsa fish of the river.

When it opens in 2018, the much-expected Padma Bridge will shorten travel time between the capital and the southern region, giving a major boost to trade and economic activities in the country, say experts. About a quarter of the country's population living in the southwest region will directly benefit from the 6.15-kilometre bridge as the travel time to and from Dhaka city will be cut short to about one-fourth of what it is now.

Three weeks on and the Bangladesh Premier League has entered its final and arguably most exciting phase. From six teams, the battle will now be fought between the last four: Comilla Vikings, Rangpur Riders, Barisal Bulls and Dhaka Dynamites.