CALLS from all quarters, both national and international, for dialogue between the government and the opposition has apparently fallen on deaf ears. As we approach the 50th day of the blockade coupled with near-continual hartals enforced by the 20-party alliance, the economy continues to bleed and the general populace suffer.

AT a time when no news in the country is good news, Bangladesh's first win in the World Cup against Afghanistan, though expected, has given the cricket-crazy people of Bangladesh a much-needed cause for celebration. In tune with the rest of the country, we wholeheartedly congratulate the Tigers for a solid performance, resulting in a whopping 105-run victory.

WE wholeheartedly welcome the first ever woman West Bengal Chief Minister, who is arriving in Dhaka today for a three-day visit. Her maiden visit to Bangladesh as the Chief Minister is undoubtedly good news for both the countries, as it revitalises the prospect of settling two long-standing unresolved issues, Teesta water sharing and Land Boundary Agreement (LBA).

THE joint UN-Bangladesh impact assessment team on the Sundarbans oil spill has submitted its report. The incident involving sinking of an oil tanker and subsequent spill of an estimated 300,000 litres of furnace oil into the ecosystem of the forest is claimed to have had a limited effect on the delicate ecological balance of Sundarbans in the short term.

WE could not agree more with the Prime Minister that people of the capital are suffering from a chronic lack of public services. Reasons are not far to seek. There have been two debilitating spells in which a drastic deterioration in civic services occurred through unelected leadership. The first downslide happened when Sadeque Hossain Khoka, an elected Mayor for 2002-2007 continued after his tenure till the splitting of DCC into two on November 29, 2011. The second spell of void in elected leadership has been more pronounced with the city corporations having been placed in charge of government-appointed administrators in purely ad-hoc six-monthly stints.

THE self-proclaimed Islamic State also known as ISIS has upped the mercury by publicly beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on February 11 in Libya. This gruesome and barbaric act comes only a few weeks after the execution of a captured Jordanian pilot who was burnt alive.

WE are surprised that the Energy Fast Supply Enhancement (Special Provisions Act 2010) has been extended by another four years.

WE have already expressed our alarm through other columns regarding the home ministry order on CHT affairs which, among other things, requires all national-international individuals' and organisations' interaction ...

IT is a sad reality in our country that people with special needs, instead of being supported, are shunned from mainstream society, denied their rightful opportunities for leading a normal life. To address this, various stakeholders at a talk have urged all 17 ministries in charge of development of people with disabilities to allocate a specific budget and a comprehensive plan of action geared towards empowering them.

BNP had already announced on Thursday that it would go for week-long hartal should they not be allowed to stage protest rallies in Dhaka on Saturday. And

Bangladesh's present score according to international rating agency Moody's is a stable Ba3. That may change unless the political stalemate and resulting

It is disquieting to see that three years after the ghastly murder of journalist couple Sagar and Runi, the government has not yet been able to even “identify” the alleged killers, let alone arrest them and put them on trial. Sagor Sarowar, news editor of Maasranga TV, and his wife Meherun Runi, senior reporter of ATN Bangla, were murdered in their apartment in the capital on February 11, 2012.

AS published in a leading Bangla daily, a study brought out by the General Economic Division of Planning Commission, poverty has reduced to 24.47 per cent.

THERE has been a surge in the number of prison inmates in the recent time, with the escalation of political violence and intensification of law and order operations. In the last 37 days alone, 13,000 people have been arrested in 700 cases, with 8 percent of cases being of a political nature.

WE are appalled that 32 persons, including 10 babies, have died in less than 24 hours at MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital in Sylhet, allegedly due to negligence of doctors and hospital staff.

WITH a former HSBC banker blowing the top off the bank's scandal and the French authorities launching a full blown investigation in 2008, evidence has emerged that nationals of Bangladeshi origin are among those suspected of money laundering between the years 1985 and 2006.

IN what can only be termed as nothing short of phenomenal, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has stemmed the blitzkrieg of the ruling BJP's attempt

BANGLADESH signed a deal with Saudi Arabia yesterday to resume recruitment of workers on a gradual basis, which will result in 10,000 jobs per month,

BANGLADESH Shop Owners' Association representing 25 lakh retailers has put across an SOS to political leaders to rescue them from impending ruination.

ACCORDING to information received form the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, the DMP has arrested more than a thousand people on political grounds between January 5 and February 6. 76 percent of those are BNP cadres and the rest Jamaat's.