Shamsur Rahman

A man clears rubble surrounding a young girl who was killed during a recent Syrian Air force air strike in Azaz, some 47 km north of Aleppo on Wednesday. — Reuters photo

Farhad Reza, Nazmul Hossain

A train at Airport station on Thursday carries passengers much beyond its capacity in order to accommodate the rush of people intending to celebrate Eid outside the capital. — Indrajit Ghosh

Clients wait in a queue for banking at a private bank in Dhaka on Thursday. A large number of clients crowded the branches of the commercial banks that remained open for three hours in Dhaka and other areas with garment factories on Thursday, which was a public holiday on the occasion of Shab-e-Qadr. — Sourav Laskar

Argentine captain Lionel Messi celebrates his goal against Germany during their friendly match in Frankfurt on Wednesday. — Reuters photo

A file photo shows investors trading shares at a brokerage house in Dhaka. Most of the offsite supervision reports submitted to the SEC remain ignored as only three staffs were designated to monitor more than 300 market intermediaries and their daily market performance. — New Age photo

A transport worker ties a rope to the roof of a bus for people to hold on at the Gabtali terminal in Dhaka on Thursday. — Sourav Lasker

People gather at a shop selling traditional attar and other Eid accessories at the south gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in the capital on Thursday. — Sanaul Haque

Brazil’s Alexandre Pato (C) celebrates with his team-mates after scoring against Sweden during their friendly match at the Rasunda stadium in Solna near Stockholm on Wednesday. — AFP photo

Indian minority northeastern residents wait at a train station as they prepare to leave the city following rumours of communal violence against them, at a railway station in Bangalore on Thursday. — AFP photo

Some 200 Japanese nationalists raise national flags and raise their fists to protest against a visit by the South Korean president, Lee Myung-Bak, on August 10 to disputed islands known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea, in front of the South Korean embassy in Tokyo on Thursday. Lee Myung-Bak said on August 13 his unprecedented visit to islands claimed by Japan was intended to press Tokyo to settle grievances left over from its colonial rule. — AFP photo

England forward Jermain Defoe (L) shoots past Italian defender Ignazio Abate to score his team’s second goal during their friendly match in Berne on Wednesday. — AFP photo

Spain’s Cesc Fabregas (C) kicks the ball past Puerto Rico’s Scott Jones (L) and Andres Perez during their friendly match at the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamon on Wednesday. — Reuters photo

LATEST

MAIN NEWS

Extortion rampant in capital before Eid

Extortion by some high-profile criminal networks continues unabated in the capital before Eid-ul-Fitr although various measures have been taken against such crimes by law enforcers, alleged traders... Full story

Police report biased: rights activists

Rights activists, lawyers and columnists condemned the final report the police submitted in the case filed against the Rapid Action Battalion for an attempt at murder of Limon Hossain, a college student... Full story

People stream out of city

Tens of thousands of people continued streaming out of the capital by buses, trains and launches to celebrate Eid with families in their country homes. Ticket counters at bus and launch terminals and railway stations are teeming with passengers round the... Full story

Fishermen cannot fish hilsa in bay, estuaries

Coastal fishermen said they were unable to catch hilsa in the estuaries and the bay out of fear of pirates roaming there with no resistance from the law enforcement agencies. They said that the pirates were... Full story

NATIONAL

BNP believes Ilias remains with govt, to return

The acting secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, on Thursday said they were ‘hopeful’ that the party’s missing leader Ilias Ali was still alive and ‘remains with the government.’ Full story

Three killed in Comilla road mishap

METRO

Train schedule collapses due to Rajshahi incident

Almost all intercity trains were running behind their scheduled times due to Wednesday’s derailment of the Dhaka-bound Padma Express at Sarda in Rajshahi, deepening the plight of hundreds of thousands of home-bound passengers. Although train services between Rajshahi... Full story

Special security measures taken for Eid: Sahara

BUSINESS

Almost no govt bank borrowing in July

The government, which depended heavily on bank borrowings in the just concluded financial year, virtually did not borrow from the banking system in July, the first month of the current 2012-13 FY, rather it repaid... Full story

Banks face rush in three-hour transaction

INTERNATIONAL

2.5m Syrians need assistance: UN

United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said on Thursday as many as 2.5 million people were in need of aid in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been fighting rebels seeking his overthrow for 17 months. Amos, speaking in... Full story

22 killed in pre-Eid Iraq attacks

SPORTS

Farhad in, Nazmul out

Selectors on Thursday have recalled all-rounder Farhad Reza in the 15-member Bangladesh squad for the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Sri Lanka in September- October. Farhad, 26, replaced paceman Nazmul Hossain, who was... Full story

Argentina swat ten-man Germany

EDITORIAL

RAB-police nexus to foil justice

That the impunity of law enforcing agencies, particularly the Rapid... Full story

A sadly familiar tale

OP-ED

What could have been sixty five years on?

I was born after the creation of Pakistan. I am not, therefore, witness to events prior to partition but my parents were. Consequently, we learnt a lot about our recent history at home. What is more, we started studying... Full story

Poor people ‘deprived’ from robust health economy benefits

TIMEOUT

Shamsur Rahman: Poet of heart

Poet Shamsur Rahman (October 24, 1929-August 17, 2006) is the foremost modern poet of Bangladesh and one of the stalwarts of Bengali literature. Today one can assertively say that poet Shamsur Rahman will live amongst his readers as... Full story

This Eid that was

LETTERS

Green Bangladesh

We are almost ready to go to our respective villages to be close to our families for Eid. We struggled to get tickets home; it is well known that going back to our villages is too tough but after buying new clothes, meeting... Full story