NCP weighing its paths to JS
Nearly half of the NCP’s central leaders favour forging an alliance with the BNP ahead of the 13th national election in February.
11 October 2025, 18:00 PM
Govt plans to form paramilitary force for airports
Named Aviation Guard Bangladesh (AGB), the force would comprise 7,650 personnel
29 September 2025, 18:02 PM
Govt plans sweeping overhaul of NHRC
The government has drafted an ordinance to unshackle the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from a 15-year bar on probing members of the security forces.
20 September 2025, 18:21 PM
AL govt’s secret surveillance state
From snooping devices carried in backpacks to locate people through their phones to a massive infrastructure that can intercept even end-to-end encryption from a central command centre, the Awami League government had been on an increasingly aggressive trajectory towards building a powerful surveillance state.
10 August 2025, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh Police: Equipped to inflict heavy casualties
Police arms records show the brutal truth behind the July killings; the force bought 7 times more lethal weapons than non-lethal ones in 2021-23
9 August 2025, 18:00 PM
Hasina’s final days before the fall
A desire for power, intolerance for dissent, and failure to see the writing on the wall undid Hasina's iron-fisted rule
4 August 2025, 18:11 PM
Experts question training flights above mega city
Aviation experts and pilots, both military and civilian, yesterday questioned the rationale behind allowing military aircraft to conduct training exercises over a densely populated area like Dhaka.
21 July 2025, 18:24 PM
2 years lost, life shattered
He was around 15 when he was picked up, a ninth grader.
15 June 2025, 19:20 PM
Digital Security Act: 11 sued, two sent to jail
Eleven people, including a cartoonist, a journalist and a writer, were charged with “spreading rumours and carrying out anti-government activities” under the Digital Security Act yesterday.
6 May 2020, 18:00 PM
Mugda hospital now at capacity
Coronavirus patients seeking admission had to be sent back from the gate of Mugda General Hospital yesterday as the public hospital in the capital was bursting at the seams.
29 April 2020, 18:00 PM
Wobbling as the going gets tough
On April 14, a doctor at the surgery department of Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital sent The Daily Star a list of protective gear they were supplied that day.
25 April 2020, 18:00 PM
Covid-19 Hospitals: Gasping for oxygen
While the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) claims that providing oxygen to patients will not be a problem, patients and doctors beg to differ.
25 April 2020, 18:00 PM
Iftar with no gathering this time
Iftar is never meant to be had alone. But this year, as Ramadan begins after the new crescent moon was sighted last night, that is precisely what has to happen if this country is to beat the coronavirus pandemic.
24 April 2020, 18:00 PM
On the front line, yet so ostracised
Yasmin Islam, a nurse at the surgery ward of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital, received a call from her landlord while she was at work last week.
16 April 2020, 18:00 PM
Coronavirus Infection Curve: For now, the only way is up
If statistics from other countries are to be believed, Bangladesh is now at the shoulder of the epidemic curve, and the only direction that this can go is up.
10 April 2020, 18:00 PM
Doomed, either way
If you knew that the beginning of next month, you would have no money, none at all, how badly would you try to save your job?
5 April 2020, 18:00 PM
Hunger sets in at slums
Never in recent history has Dhaka city been this hungry. Even when disaster struck elsewhere in the country -- when crops failed, homes washed away by rivers, villages flooded -- the city always had space to take in more.
4 April 2020, 18:00 PM
A prototype with huge potential
A rough-edged black box with a plastic tube coming out of it, and a small LCD screen -- this could be the lifesaving ventilator for critical Covid-19 patients in the imminent future.
31 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Hospitals were never this far
With the capital in shutdown, people who need to urgently reach hospitals have been left in the lurch mainly due to a dearth of vehicles.
28 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Admission to Hospitals: Patients left in quandary
Patients who have not tested positive for the coronavirus but are generically sick are caught in a quandary -- to go to the hospital or not?
23 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Overcrowded prisons not equipped to deal with Covid-19 cases
Authorities at most prisons across the country -- that are housing double their capacity of inmates -- are struggling to follow the Department of Prisons’ directives to screen for coronavirus.
22 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Coronavirus Testing: Some pvt hospitals feel they too can
While the government still maintains grip on Covid-19 testing, some private hospitals feel they should be allowed to test patients for coronavirus.
21 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Monsters in the closet
“Bring out Adnan*!” the social worker in charge of the government orphanage instructed an attendant. A woman sitting across the desk from her, shifted in her seat.
21 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Panic, neglect and a young life cut short
A young female patient with gastrointestinal complications died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Saturday afternoon.
15 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Corona quacks run amok
In this atmosphere of fear-mongering, the one thing churning faster than the pandemic, is the rumour mill.
14 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Unsung Women: Mountains they moved
“I am building a new path for your child. Sowing seeds of courage. Your daughter will make those bloom into radiant flowers and your son will think it is absolutely normal.”
7 March 2020, 18:10 PM
33pc Positions for Women: Most parties nowhere near
The Representation of the People Order -- the act that governs the electoral system -- does not ask for much.
7 March 2020, 18:00 PM
Separated, yet not: life on the porous Bangladesh-India border
Imagine the land border between India and Bangladesh. What do you think it is like? A fence that runs for miles? A craggy, clearly demarcated line like the one seen on maps? Communities living along the border will tell you otherwise. To many of them, the border is an invisible line anyone can step over without a visa.
21 February 2020, 18:00 PM