UAE gives $1.44m to rehabilitate Bangladeshi children used as camel jockeys

July 28th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladeshi dancer Sharmila Bandyopadhyay was adjudged "world master" at the Asia Festival in Seoul, South Korea, where a large audience swayed to the beats of her ankle bells. The organisers clipped a microphone to the angle bell to get the best sound effects for the 10,000-strong audience.

July 15th, 2009 Sharm-el-SHEIKH - The use of Bangladesh territory by Indian insurgent groups, the contentious Tipaimukh dam, railway projects as well as other issues were on the anvil when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina here Wednesday. The two prime ministers met for the first time since their respective electoral victories and congratulations were also in order.

July 3rd, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's exporters have made common ca use with Indian importers to urge Dhaka to reduce taxes on the prized hilsa fish and place it on par with frozen shrimp and other marine products it exports to other countries. Slackening export of Bangladeshi hilsa to India would make way for cheaper hilsa from Myanmar, besides affecting the lives of over 600,000 fisherfolk and traders on both sides, they said at a joint media conference.

May 7th, 2009 DHAKA - A Dhaka court Wednesday sent two former Bangladeshi ministers, convicted in absentia in graft charges, to long prison terms as they surrendered before the trial court, officials said. Special court Judge Arifur Rahman ordered former communications minister Anwar Hossain Manju and former state minister for law Shahjahan Omar to jail on their surrender.

May 6th, 2009 UAE compensates Bangladeshi child camel racersDHAKA, Bangladesh — Hundreds of Bangladeshi children taken from their homes and forced to race camels in the United Arab Emirates will be compensated by the Persian Gulf nation, the Bangladeshi government said Wednesday. Home Minister Sahara Khatun said the UAE has given the government nearly $1.44 million to distribute among 879 Bangladeshi children who worked as jockeys at camel races after it was banned in 1993.

May 5th, 2009 DHAKA - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Tuesday handed over to Dhaka compensation worth $1.43 million for 879 Bangladeshi children who once had been used as camel jockeys in the Gulf kingdom. A UAE government delegation called on Bangladesh Home Minister Sahara Khatun and handed over to her the compensation package, a home ministry official said.

May 3rd, 2009 DHAKA - New Delhi Sunday handed to Dhaka a list of suspected Indian terrorists believed to be hiding in Bangladesh, the Indian high commissioner here said. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Bangladeshi State Minister for Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj, India's Pinak Ranjan Chakravarti said: 'We have also requested the authorities to step up vigil over them especially during the ongoing polls yet to be completed in the eastern states of India.' The envoy added that a number of issues, including extradition of prisoners, came up for discussion.

April 24th, 2009 DHAKA/RIYADH - Nearly two million Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia can now change their jobs under a new law passed on the eve of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit. It will help Dhaka consolidate one of its most lucrative manpower export markets at a time when expatriates from some other West Asian countries and from Malaysia are returning home jobless.

March 28th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni Saturday urged Malaysian authorities to reconsider the cancellation of visas for more than 55,000 Bangladeshi workers, officials said. Moni met Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin bin Mohd in Kuala Lumpur as part of Bangladesh's diplomatic efforts to protect its overseas labour markets, said a release issued by its embassy in Malaysia.

March 27th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladeshi Police have arrested a British man whose charity is suspected of running a militant-training camp in the guise of an orphanage on remote Bhola Island. Greater Manchester-based Faisal Mostafa, who was acquitted in 2002 of being part of an al-Qaeda bomb plot, was arrested on Wednesday night in Dhaka.

March 14th, 2009 DHAKA/KUALA LUMPUR - At least 300 Bangladeshi workers returned home from Malaysia after their visas were cancelled citing unemployment caused by global recession, media reports said Friday. Malaysia had cancelled visas of nearly 55,000 Bangladeshi workers Wednesday.

February 15th, 2009 DHAKA - Indian singer Manna Dey says the Dhaka audience is better than that in Kolkata, which makes him come to the Bangladesh capital more often. 'As the Bangladeshi listeners are better than the Kolkata audience, I come here off and on,' he said on the eve of his performance here.

February 4th, 2009 DHAKA - The Bangladeshi government is planning to eradicate begging from the country within the next five years, the country's finance minister said here Thursday. Speaking at a programme of local development organisations, Bangladesh's Finance Minister A.M.A.

January 22nd, 2009 PANAJI - Goa's Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar Friday alleged that a close supporter of Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, arrested for storing weapons in his house after a riot in a South Goa town, has links with Bangladeshi extremists but the government was trying to bury the case. Addressing a press conference here, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader alleged that the chief minister was trying to bury the case even when the accused man's links with Bangladeshi extremists became clear during interrogation by Intelligence Bureau officials.

January 5th, 2009 DHAKA - Despite the global financial meltdown, remittances by Bangladeshis abroad, one of the country's economic mainstays, crossed the $9 billion mark last year. It was a 40.76 percent year-on-year growth.