The New Nation
The Bangladesh's Leading Independent Daily



Envoy, Starlink factories vandalized 300 workers, 25 cops injured at Savar, Fatullah as clashes escalate (Jul 31)
Staff Reporter

At least 300 readymade garment workers and 25 police personnel were injured when the workers clashed with police at several points on EPZ-Abdullahpur road in Savar and on Dhaka-Narayanganj link road at Fatullah in Narayanganj yesterday, demanding cancellation of the newly announced pay scale.
The agitating workers demanded Tk 5,000 as minimum monthly wage and its implementation from August 1.
Witnesses said, at first the workers of Shed Session Garments Factory at Jamgara ransacked its valuables and took to the street.


President, PM condole deaths : Two secretaries killed in road mishap (Jul 31)
Staff Reporter

Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Razia Begum and Chairman of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Siddiqur Rahman were killed in a road accident on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway in Uthuli Upazila of Manikganj yesterday.
Police and eyewitness sources said, both the secretary and the BSCIC Chairman (Additional Secretary) were killed at around 7:00 AM when they were going to Gopalganj from Dhaka to join a programme which the Prime Minister was expected to attend.


Law Minister tells New Nation : EC to decide bans on religion-based parties (Jul 31)
Mohammad Ali
Banning of religious ideology based political parties is fully dependent on the Election Commission (EC), Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed said yesterday.
"It is the jurisdiction of the EC to take decision whether it will give registration to any political party or to cancel registration," the Law Minister said after inaugurating a national consultation on "Children Justice System in Bangladesh" in the city.
Save the Children, Children Justice Network and Shishu Shurikkhai Amra jointly organised the function with Sumon Gupta, Country Director of Save the Children UK in the chair.


Over 800 killed in Pak flood (Jul 31)
Monitoring Staff

The United Nations says flood in Pakistan are affecting at least one million people. A government official said at least eight hundred had died in the past week. Peshawar, the largest city in the North west is cut off.
Two days after large parts of North West Pakistan were hit by heavy monsoon rains. Relief teams are still struggling to respond to this national disaster. The head of the UN Co-ordination Office in Pakistan told the BBC he still could not describe with certainty the full scale of this emergency.


RMG owners won't rethink over new wage structure (Jul 31)
Syful Islam

Despite massive unrest in different garment zones across the country, factory owners won't rethink over the proposed pay packages of workers, stakeholders say.
"Now everything is lying on government's hand. A government formed wage board has proposed the new wage structure and we agreed it. Everything will be implemented according to the government set time," BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedy told The New Nation yesterday.
The Government on Thursday announced a new wage structure for garment factory owners proposing Tk 3,000 as monthly minimum wage against previous Tk 1,662 a month.


EC asks parties to submit income, expenditure docs (Jul 31)
Staff Reporter

By today (Sunday) registered political parties have to submit their documents of income and expenditure to the Election Commission (EC) as per the registration rules.EC sources said only six registered political parties out of 38 have so far submitted their documents.
The mainstream political parties like Awami League, BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami did not submit their financial records yet.
The parties that already submitted their records are Jatiya Party, Bangladesh Communist Party (CPB), Bangladesh National Awami Party (NAP), Zaker Party, Khelafat Majlish and Islami Andolan.