We are quite underwhelmed by the lacklustre start of the much-awaited new transport act. According to a report by The Daily Star, the Road Transport Act, 2018—which came into effect on November 1, more than a year after it was passed in parliament replacing the Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1983—has had little impact on its first day thanks to a lack of preparation by the authorities.

A picture published in The Daily Star on October 30, where a man is seen talking over a phone while driving a motorcycle with three members of his family, is a perfect example of how the very basic traffic rules are often violated by the bikers in the city.

We do not know what to make of the statement of the foreign minister that the number of abused female workers in Saudi Arabia is small.

It may be surprising but true that export of leather and leather goods rank second in our export list. But it is about three and a half percent of our total export of nearly USD 40 billion; the bulk of that being garments. Admittedly, the leather sector has made a slow but gradual and steady progress in the last decade fetching USD 1.5 billion of foreign exchange now, keeping up our effort to diversify our export and reduce reliance on one sector solely.

We are horrified by the gruesome deaths of at least six children and severe injuries to around 20 others in a freakish gas cylinder explosion in Rupnagar.

It is so unfortunate that three years after the arson attacks and vandalism on the homes and temples of Hindus in Brahmanbaria’s Nasirnagar upazila, the investigations have not been completed.

It is not every day that the minister of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment comes out with a frank admission that there are serious irregularities in the recruitment process that sends hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis to work in foreign labour markets annually.

Over the last seven years, the number of registered vehicles has risen from 18.5 lakh (in 2013) to 42 lakh (in 2019), but Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) only

We are quite horrified to learn from a Daily Star report published on October 28 that untreated medical wastes are accumulating in the landfills of the country’s seven divisional cities—

The world in general and the Muslim world in particular must be heaving a sigh of relief at the news of Baghdadi’s death. While this has been welcomed by some world leaders, it is time to ask ourselves some hard questions about how such a callous man was allowed to grow and become one of the most notorious terrorists the world has seen.

Afire broke out in a 13-storey high, posh block of apartments in Dhanmondi residential area on October 26 where an elderly woman working as a household help perished after inhaling plumes of black smoke.

Bullying at schools, which often leaves negative impact on children’s mental development, is largely going unreported and thus unaddressed according to a report in this newspaper yesterday.

It is after navigating through many odds, overcoming numerous ups and downs, enduring frequent failures and heartbreaks, Bangladesh has ensconced itself in the world of

While most government agencies remain focused on the problems of the big cities, we seldom see what is happening in rural areas.

It has been six years since the body of 17-year-old Tanwir Muhammad Taqi, a brilliant student, was found on the bank of the river Shitalakkhya after he had gone missing for two days in March 2013.

As Bangladesh climbs up the ladder in the global economy, the need for homegrown talent and skills required by a changing job market is being increasingly felt.

It is heartening to see Bangladesh achieve an eight-place leap in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 index. In the latest edition of the study the country scored 168, as opposed to 176 in the previous year’s index.

A statement by a US official at a recent hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific in the US Congress in Washington, has brought to the fore the strange dichotomy Bangladesh faces in accomplishing an impressive growth rate record and yet performing not so well in terms of democratic practices.

According to the World Bank report titled “Enabling the Business of Agriculture 2019” (EBA), Bangladesh has one of the least favourable regulatory frameworks for farmers.

Indeed, the media’s is not always the first door one should knock for either expressing or seeking redress of one’s grievances. And we believe that the striking cricketers should have placed their demands to the right quarters, the BCB, before going public on the matter. By the same token, we feel the BCB boss has overreacted in his response to the cricketers’ decision to go on strike.