Strange times are these in which we live when record subsidy allocation may still come short of what is needed.

The law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry has sent a rejoinder to a report run by The Daily Star on April 10 under the headline “The ‘harasser’ doubles down on his act”.

Sri Lanka’s new prime minister yesterday struggled to forge a unity government and forestall an imminent economic collapse as opposition lawmakers refused to join his cabinet and demanded fresh elections.

The United Arab Emirates’ President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan died aged 73 yesterday, state media said, after battling illness for several years.

The seizure of hundreds of thousands of litres of hoarded edible oil in the last one week has proved the claim that unscrupulous traders created the crisis to be able to sell cooking oil at higher prices.

An aspiring Bangladeshi pilgrim will now have to spend a minimum of Tk 4,63,744 to perform hajj under private agencies -- around Tk 1,09,150 higher than that in 2020.

Sri Lanka’s president swore in a new prime minister yesterday to replace his brother, who was banned from leaving the country after his supporters launched violent attacks on a protest against the nation’s dire economic crisis.

While sentencing 46 officials of Destiny-2000 to jail for money laundering, a Dhaka court yesterday ordered the government to form a committee to liquidate assets of a co-op of the company and return the money to its investors and shareholders.

Abdus Salam, the complainant of the long-drawn-out drug case against Rajshahi farmer Ahad Ali, yesterday appeared before the court for the first time in 24 years since filing of the case.

The government finally raised its guard against the dwindling dollar reserves, putting its employees’ foreign tours on hold and deferring projects that require much imports.

Certain unscrupulous public representatives, middlemen, officials of the government and an NGO embezzled Tk 390 crore while acquiring land for three power plants, according to a study by Transparency International Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is not eligible to receive funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation because of concerns regarding labour rights violations.

Expelled Jubo League leader Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat was released on bail yesterday after spending over two and a half years in jail in four cases.

Sri Lanka’s defence ministry yesterday ordered troops to shoot on sight people involved in looting or damaging property, a day after mobs targeted the homes of ruling-party politicians.

There are bright sparks in all corners of the economy, according to the provisional GDP figures for fiscal 2021-22, which do not show a hint of a pandemic hangover when others are still plodding along.

With the government still struggling to bring stability to the volatile edible oil market, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi yesterday said it was a mistake on his part to trust the businesspeople as they hoarded edible oil and hiked prices abnormally after the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa quit yesterday, as an outbreak of political violence killed five people including an MP and wounded almost 200.

The debt situation may become tricky from 2024-25 if the government does not ramp up its revenue base now as the repayment schedule for many of the costly loans taken recently would begin then, said eminent economist Debapriya Bhattacharya yesterday.

As his name was called out, Ahad Ali stepped inside the courtroom and stood in the dock with both hands pressed together in a gesture of mercy, staring at the judge with pleading eyes.

The BNP boycotted the national election under the Awami League government in 2014. It then participated in the 2018 polls under the AL government. On both occasions, the party gained nothing.