Ehsan Hoque was lucky not to be blind for life, after his birth in 1964. Born with congenital cataracts, an optical disorder responsible for child blindness, he could survive with a limited eyesight. However, unlike most other victims of child blindness because of infections or nutritional deficiencies in pregnancies, his story was to unfold completely differently over the next five decades. His eyes in distress would eventually transform him into an angel parent of children in distress.

Europe has long been a promised land for Bangladeshi fortune seekers. With illusion further fuelled by human traffickers, many take risky journeys through the Mediterranean, knowing well it may turn fatal in the hazardous sea. But when they are held hostage by human traffickers or other criminal gangs in Libya, a transit point en route to Europe, they realise

Thousands of agitating jute mill workers blocked roads and railways in Khulna and Jashore yesterday, the second day of their indefinite strike at state-owned jute mills for better wages and arrears.

The state-run jute mills appear to be a bottomless pit. Over the past decade, the government handed them Tk 7,477 crore to bail them out of their financial woes, and yet their supervising authority, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, has put its hand out for more.

The Awami League has initiated a process to identify the BNP, Jamaat and Shibir men who have allegedly infiltrated the ruling party in the last few years to make a fortune or to avoid lawsuits.

Leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League, who were “deprived” of posts in the just announced fully-fledged central committee, have threatened to go on hunger strike if dedicated leaders were not included within 48 hours.

The Rajshahi prison authorities have moved to grab at least 100 acres of char land in the Padma river in the city’s Sreerampur to build Prisons Training Academy complex.

Bangladesh continued their winning run in the ongoing ODI tri-series in Ireland by registering a comfortable five-wicket win over West Indies and secured their place in the series final at the Malahide Cricket Club in Dublin yesterday.

A mangrove forest at Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram was leased to a private company last year to build a ship-breaking yard, violating a Supreme Court directive, existing laws and the national forest policy.

From now on, the trials of 17 cases against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will be held at a special court inside Keraniganj Central Jail in Dhaka due to security reasons.

Poverty continues to decline but at a slower pace since 2010 though the country has recorded more than 6.5 percent economic growth annually during the period, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data.

Thousands of agitating jute mill workers blocked roads and railways in Khulna and Jashore and roads in Chattogram yesterday, the first day of their indefinite strike at state-owned jute mills for better wages and arrears.

The intensity of the heat wave, which currently sweeping across different regions of the country, may come down today at some places, according to a weather forecast.

The Superintendent of Police in Feni SM Jahangir Alam Sarkar was yesterday closed for negligence of duty over the murder of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi.

Siraj Miah has not stopped shedding tears since hearing news of his son Liton Miah’s death in the tragic boat capsize off the Tunisian coast on Friday night. In between mourning, he repeatedly demanded punishment for the travel agent who had planned Liton’s journey to Italy.

The Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) authorities yesterday suspended use of four drugs on children after 14 child patients experienced extreme side ef-fects for taking those through intravenous infusion on Saturday night.

Urging the prime minister to declare a war on food adulteration, the High Court yesterday directed the government to immediately remove from the market the 52 food items that have been found substandard by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution.

On September 7, 2015, the cabinet approved the eighth national pay scale effective from July that year, and it has been implemented in al-most all government offices and corporations.

At least 1,552 people were killed and 3,039 others injured in 1,495 road accidents across the country in the first four months of the year, revealed a report of the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR), a non-government organisation that works for road safety.

The NBR and the FBCCI are at loggerheads over the new VAT law, reminiscent of past pushbacks from the business community that have delayed its implementation by four years already.