The project to expand the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to four lanes has almost come to a halt as contractors have slackened work on the ground that some politicians are not letting them collect earth without tolls.

The battered highways repaired hurriedly before and after Eid-ul-Fitr have returned to their earlier shape.

Nothing can be more nerve-wracking than a patent, unhindered wrecking of a holiday. As people in Bangladesh prepare to observe Eid-ul-Azha this year, tens of thousands of them are clearly up against problems which have over the years repeatedly threatened to ruin their observances of such religious festivals.

More than two million Muslims began massing yesterday on Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat and its surrounding plain, marking the peak day of the largest annual pilgrimage.

Holy Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest religious festival of the Muslims, will be celebrated across the country tomorrow.

Eight people died falling off the roof of running trains in Tangail and Bogra Friday night and yesterday.

Our attention has been drawn to the commentary titled 'Lessons from NCC verdicts. Ivy, Shamim cannot be treated alike' written by Mahfuz Anam in The Daily Star on 04 November 2011.

Music maestro Bhupen Hazarika died in a Mumbai hospital yesterday afternoon following prolonged illness.

The Election Commission has made a move seeking complete implementation of article 126 of the constitution that gives it the guarantee of having full assistance from all executive authorities to perform its duties independently.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will arrive in Dhaka on November 13 on a three-day tour of Bangladesh during which he will attend a climate change conference, visit the UN peacekeeping institute and discuss the country's socio-economic achievements.

An asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier will dart between the Earth and moon on Tuesday -- the closest encounter by such a huge rock in 35 years.

Slain Narsingdi mayor Lokman Hossain, once a close aide to Posts and Telecomm-unications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, started to become his rival since the 2009 upazila elections.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for the Maldives on Wednesday, two days after celebrating the Eid-ul-Azha festival, to attend the summit of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

The government is going to introduce a compulsory 50-mark subject on information and communication technology (ICT) for the sixth-graders from the next academic session.

India's prime minister returned from abroad yesterday to face a political revolt over a petrol price increase with a key coalition ally threatening to withdraw support unless the hike is reversed.

Awami League Joint Secretary General Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif “requested” and “advised” Shamim Newaz, brother of slain mayor Lokman Hossain, not to accuse Telecommunications Minister Raju Uddin Ahmed's brother in the murder case.

The police headquarters yesterday appointed Faridpur additional superintendent of police Subrato Kumer Hawlader as SP in Narsingdi.

Deceased Narsingdi mayor Lokman Hossain was widely popular among the people of all walks of life for his honesty and unbiased judgement in arbitration, according to those who attended such settlements.

The Daily Star offices will remain closed on November 6, 7 and 8 on account of Eid-ul-Azha and there will be no issue of the newspaper on November 7, 8 and 9.

Our online section will remain open during the Eid holiday. For latest news, log on to www.thedailystar.net

Eid-ul-Azha is much more than an annual celebration in the life of a Muslim. It is, in broad measure, a comprehension of the degree to which we have engaged ourselves with faith and indeed with its injunctions in our efforts to obey the Almighty that is important. The sacrifices that we offer on this day are, therefore, an intensely religious invocation of all that is beautiful and spiritual about life. It is, at the same time, a reminder in stark worldly terms of the realities we need to handle --- in terms of helping the needy in our families and clans and across the larger spectrum of society. Eid-ul-Azha, in that sense, is a celebration of life both in our world and in the hereafter not through a seeking of pleasure but through a reassertion of values.

All hell breaks loose for home-bound commuters and their carriers during Eid festivals. Whereas with the passage of time we should have tackled the rush for transportation better and efficiently we have only managed to let the situation aggravate. The hardship is difficult for the travelers to endure, for the nation in general to watch and transport operators to cope with.

The jury is still out on the quality of this season's National Cricket League (NCL) after the inclusion of two new teams as the country's solitary first-class competition has only completed three rounds. While one of those new additions, Dhaka Metropolis, have so far justified its inclusion, Rangpur has not found a firm footing yet.

Siddikur Rahman enjoyed an almost flawless day at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai yesterday as the 2010 Brunei Open winner produced a five-under-par 67 third round at the Sheshan International Golf Club on Saturday.

Returning Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi claimed Saturday he was approached by now imprisoned players' agent Mazhar Majeed on several occasions, but refused to speak with him because of "suspicions".

The currently unranked Zimbabwe went at the world No. 8 New Zealand mercilessly on a fifth day dripping with Test-match brilliance, but they ran out of steam dramatically after tea to lose by 34 runs. It was a crushing result for the hosts who went for a win in a situation that would have forced many of the Test elite sides to play safe.

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who is one of the three cricketers sentenced for spot-fixing, could be moved to an open prison, according to a report.

England captain Andrew Strauss has branded international cricket's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) "a toothless tiger".

Paceman Chanaka Welegedara took two wickets with the second new ball, including that of centurion Younis Khan, to give Sri Lanka the edge in the third Test against Pakistan at Sharjah stadium here on Saturday.

Novak Djokovic needed a fightback while Roger Federer was at ease as the main protagonists at the Swiss Indoors advanced on schedule into the semifinals on Friday.

India will not lose focus amid the hype over Sachin Tendulkar's eagerly awaited 100th hundred in the three-Test series against the West Indies starting on Sunday, said skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Swimming great Ian Thorpe failed to qualify for Singapore's World Cup short-course 100m butterfly final Saturday as his bid for a grand comeback from a five-year retirement ended in calamity.

Ana Ivanovic will defend her title against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues in the final of the Common-wealth Bank Tournament of Champions after eliminating Nadia Petrova Saturday.

Newcastle defender Ryan Taylor's stunning strike inspired a 2-1 win over Everton at St James' Park as the Magpies surged into second place in the Premier League on Saturday.

Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been officially presented with the European Golden Shoe award for finishing the 2010-11 season as the top scorer on the continent.

The Football Association (FA) has decided to appeal against England striker Wayne Rooney's three-match ban imposed by UEFA after his sending-off in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro last month.

David Beckham is not thinking about whether his five-year stint with the Los Angeles Galaxy is nearing an end because he says he is too busy trying to win his first MLS title.

Already facing up to being without Bastian Schweinsteiger, German coach Joachium Loew has decided to rest skipper Philipp Lahm for upcoming friendlies against Ukraine and Holland on November 11 and 15.

Kaka will have to wait a little longer before making his return to international football with Brazil, after his Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said on Saturday he was still suffering from an injury.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is an injury concern for Schalke 04, second in the German league, ahead of Sunday's clash with Hanover 96 after the in-form Dutch striker broke his nose in Europa League duty.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger paid tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson's 25-year reign at Manchester United on Friday.

Rice and paddy prices declined in the market after farmers, traders and millers released their stocks and imports from India rose.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the government to intensify supervision of banks and the mechanism to oversee the stockmarket.

International franchise KFC opened its newest outlet in Cox's Bazar in the country, the restaurant said in a statement yesterday.

Grameenphone and Banglalink will see delay in their licence renewal because of a court battle between the two operators and the telecom regulator. The Supreme Court will hand down a verdict on a dispute between the operators and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) over spectrum and licence renewal fees on November 14.

Traders in Sylhet region fear smuggling of rawhide this year, as they think prices of hide will be lower after the Eid-ul-Azha.

US stock investors have had to take their own self-help course on living with uncertainty due to Europe's crisis, and they may need to draw on that next week because it's never clear when the next upheaval will come.

France's Lafarge, the world's biggest cement maker, said on Friday its third-quarter net profit was down 10 percent to 336 million euros ($465 million) but sales were up one percent to 4.2 billion euros.

Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou warned Saturday that his debt-wracked country could still be forced out of the euro, as he said talks to form an emergency government would begin very soon.

Bharti Airtel, India's top mobile phone operator, reported Friday quarterly profit plunged by a bigger-than-expected 38 percent after high interest costs and foreign exchange losses gouged earnings.

The most profound event of the past week for investors may not have been either the on-off referendum plans in Athens or the machinations of the Group of 20 in Cannes, but a comment from Ben Bernanke in Washington.

Leaders of the world's top economic powers Friday pushed Europe into acting to stop Italy following Greece into a debt crisis, but failed to come up with new funds to boost the IMF war chest.

International Airlines Group, comprising British Airways and Iberia, unveiled a deal to buy Lufthansa's British Midland unit on Friday, alongside results showing a drop in IAG profits.

US unemployment edged down to 9.0 percent last month, as official figures confirmed Friday that the economic recovery is only strong enough to nibble away at brutal levels of joblessness.

Traditional orange farming on a large scale is about to begin again in the hilly areas of greater Sylhet. For decades, the farming practice dropped due to a lack of proper care, patronisation and training of the farmers in modern cultivation methods.

Orange farming has changed the socioeconomic conditions of people in Sylhet and Moulvibazar, said agriculturists.

A day before Eid-ul-Azha, the sale of sacrificial animals in all the 15 cattle markets in the city, including the permanent one at Gabtoli, has gained momentum.

Despite the government's preventive measures against extortion, cattle traders bound for the city over highways and waterways are facing multi-phased and wide-scale extortion and harassment by criminals and a section of corrupt law enforcers.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the government has established Bangladesh as a moderate, democratic and economically prosperous country.

Excessive and unplanned use of groundwater for irrigation across the country poses a serious thereat to the ecology, severely affecting the agriculture sector, said water and agriculture experts yesterday.

The main Eid jamaat (congregation) of holy Eid-ul-Azha will be held at National Eidgah on the city's High Court premises at 8:30am tomorrow.

Farzana Aman, a student of Chittagong College, was trying to get on a city bus at Chawk Bazar but she stopped as the bus helper began screaming that Tk 5 was the “minimum fare”.

Anyone who wants to see the Sundarbans as a natural wonder of the world has got only five days left to vote for the vast mangrove forest of Bangladesh.

The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) yesterday chopped down a century-old tree and has decided to fell another in Pahartali Haji camp area to widen a road.

BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir who is now on a visit to Europe arrived in London yesterday where he will meet the party Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman.

Speakers at a discussion yesterday said the defeated forces of the 1971 War of Liberation had killed Bangabandhu and four national leaders to make Bangladesh a part of Pakistan again.

Two women were reported missing in the river Buriganga as a boat carrying them capsized after it was hit by a launch yesterday evening.

Mohammad Nazrul Islam has been elected president and Salahuddin Ahmed general secretary of the executive committee of BCS (Information) Radio Officers' Welfare Association (Betar Karmakarta Kalyan Samity) for 2011-2013.

Lions Clubs International President Wing-Kun Tam will arrive in Dhaka on November 9 to oversee the activities of the clubs in Bangladesh, says a press release.

Two units of Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant were shut down following technical glitches on Friday afternoon.

The sixth get-together of Old Cadets Association of Sylhet (OCAS) will be held at Sylhet Cadet College on November 24-26.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will exchange greetings with people on the Eid-ul-Azha day on Monday.

A jail guard was killed when a motorcycle hit him while he was crossing the Manoshabari Road at Kawnia in Barisal city yesterday.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested four Rohingyas of Mayanmar on charge of intruding in Bangladesh and one Bangladeshi from Talchara village at Anwara upazila in the port city on Friday night.

Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested seven people and seized 1650 pieces of Yaba tablets, 400 bottles of Phensidyl and Tk 40,000 in cash from their possession in separate drives at Khilgaon and Paltan in the city on Friday night.

Police arrested two persons along with fake currency notes worth Tk 30,100 from the city's Wasa area on Friday.

Today is the 18th death anniversary of Begum Hafiza Khatoon, mother of Akram Ali, an engineer of Bangladesh Television, says a press release.

Eid-ul-Azha will not bring cheers to around three lakh waterlogged people in Satkhira and over two lakh flood and river erosion-hit people in Lalmonirhat.

Erosion by the Noboganga River has taken a serious turn in two upazilas rendering around 200 families homeless in the last two weeks.

Forest officials arrested four deer poachers from Sundarbans east zone in Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat on Friday as security stepped up in the entire mangrove forest ahead of Rash Mela at Dublarchar from Tuesday.

At least 288 Bangladeshi nationals are still languishing at different jails in Paschimbanga of India despite having served their prison sentences, officials said.

An inspector and two staffs of Directorate of Narcotics Control (DNC) office in the district were hurt in an attack by a gang of drug peddlers at Terokonia village under Baliadangi upazila on Friday afternoon.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on Friday night seized 490 kilograms of stolen rice meant for vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme and arrested one person in this connection.

Pirates look away seven cattle, Tk 15 lakh and five mobile sets from farmers on the River Brahmaputra at Rajibpur upazila yesterday.

Two underground operatives were arrested in Pabna and Chuadanga districts yesterday and on Friday night.

Police arrested an alleged member of a notorious pirate gang in Shyamnagar upazila on Friday.

Police arrested an alleged inter-district robber gang member from Brammorajpur bazaar in Sadar upazila of Satkhira on Friday afternoon.

Police arrested a man for cheating with fake note at Borobaria Munshipara village in Chitalmari upazila on Friday night.

A man was killed allegedly by his son at Hasla village under Mohongonj upazila yesterday morning over family feud. The dead was identified as Sukkkur Ali Kha alias Kacha Mia,50. Police and local people said, two months ago, Sukkur Ali divorced his wife. Following this, tension was running high between Sukkur Ali and his son Faruque Mia. Yesterday morning, after an exchange of hot words over the divorce issue, Faruque hit his father with an axe killing him on the spot.

An inmate of Bogra District Jail, who fell ill Friday night, died at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College and Hospital last night. Deceased Md Babla Miah, 50, was awarded two years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) under Narcotics Control Act, district jail sources said. He died of illness due to taking drugs for long, the sources added. Bogra Sadar police said, when Babla Miah fell ill Friday night, he was admitted to the hospital and he died at night. Babla was sent to the district jail on November 1 after he was sentenced for offence.

Police arrested a fugitive convict yesterday at Bashbari village under Sadar upazila in Panchagarh. The convict was identified as Azizer Rahman alias Faraz,55, son of Khetu Mohammad of the same village. Police said, on secret information, a team of Panchagarh police station led by sub-inspector Mir Harun-or-Rashid raided Azizer's house yesterday afternoon at about 2:00pm and arrested him. Pachagarh District and Sessions Judge and also judge of a special court awarded Azizer Rahman three years' imprisonment several years ago as the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel recovered smuggled Indian goods from his possession on Atwary border on 23 March in 1990.

A college girl was allegedly abducted by a group of youths in Khanailai area in the town on Friday morning. According to family members and police, the girl, aged about 18, was abducted on her way to college from home. A gang of youths of nearby Kanaikhali area picked her up forcibly on an auto-rickshaw and took her to an unknown place, they said. Victim's brother Rakib Hasan filed a complaint with Rab-5 accusing seven people.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) men recovered two country- made light guns (LG) in Arjuntali area under Matiranga upazila yesterday. Acting on a tip-off, a team from Palashpur BGB camp, led by Nayak Subedar Badar Uddin, raided the Arjuntali area around 06:30am and recovered the arms from a bush of the area, said Commanding Officer of Palashpur BGB camp Lt Col Mafta-ul Karim.

A young man was hacked to death and his brother injured in an attack at Borkoit village in Chandina upazlia on Friday. The deceased was identified as Mosharraf Hossain, 30, son of Abdul Majid Member of the village. Mahiuddin, 17, a student of Comilla Survey Institute and younger brother of the victim said Jasim Uddin, retired army personnel of the village, picked up a quarrel with his brother over a trifling matter after Juma prayers. At one stage of altercation Jasim along with his wife and son stabbed Mosharraf indiscriminately, leaving him critically injured. Later, he was rushed to Chandina upazila health complex where the attending doctor declared him dead. Mohiuddin said he was also beaten up severely when he tried to save his brother.

Is Trinamool Congress' threat to pull out of India's Congress-led coalition government in protest against the latest round of petrol price hike for real or just a political grandstanding keeping her own constituency in Paschimbanga?

Bomb and gun attacks targetting police stations and churches in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu left at least 60 people dead, witnesses and a Red Cross source said yesterday.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won a nail-biting confidence vote in parliament early yesterday and started talks to form a government of national unity in the crisis-hit country.

Rahul Gandhi, tipped to be a future prime minister of India, is set to take over as president of the country's ruling Congress party by year's end, a report said yesterday.

A US general in Afghanistan has been sacked after accusing leaders including President Hamid Karzai of being out of touch and ungrateful for American support, officials said.

A senior police officer was on Friday night allegedly manhandled and forcibly dumped into a mental asylum after he took on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati by alleging massive corruption in the state.

Damascus yesterday strongly condemned Washington after the US State Department advised Syrians against surrendering following an amnesty for those who give up weapons.

A Pakistani anti-terror court yesterday indicted two police officers and five alleged Taliban militants over the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a prosecutor said.

A US lawmaker threatened Thursday to strip Nepal of its millions of dollars in US aid unless it permits refugees fleeing Chinese rule in Tibet to transit through the country.

Sudan has lodged a fresh complaint with the UN Security Council detailing South Sudan's alleged support for rebels in its war-torn border states, just four months after partition, state media reported yesterday.

The jury in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray failed Friday to reach a verdict on its first day of deliberations, and will reconvene next week.

Alfonso Cano, the top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was killed by Colombian troops during an anti-guerrilla operation, officials announced.

YouTube and the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information are teaming up to provide a live-stream of the annual hajj pilgrimage to Makkah.

Eid ul Azha is an occasion to celebrate. The impressive line up of programmes on the Bangla channels help you unwind with special TV plays, tele-films, musical shows and magazine programmes. There's something for everyone, across age differences!
A quick look at the
Eid-special programmes on different channels:

Gary Locke is the new US ambassador to China. Someone took a photo of Ambassador Locke buying coffee at Starbucks on the way to his new assignment. Some more pictures showed the ambassador and his family arriving at a Chinese airport carrying their own bags.

In recent months, America's top officials have been trying to stress their commitment to the Asia-Pacific. Writing in Yomiuri Shimbun recently, the United States' new Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said defence ties between the US and Japan would only increase as Washington increased its engagement to Asia.

One of the two great festivals in the Islamic calendar, Eid-ul-Azha brings for the Muslim world a divine blessing, a rare opportunity to not only enjoy an auspicious day of joy and happiness but also to receive Allah's Mercy and Reward through sacrifice, patience and constancy.

Just as President Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Merkel of Germany began to breathe a sigh of relief, drama struck the Eurozone once again. In October, the European leaders had reached a consensus to rescue Greece and provide it with a €100 million bailout package. We know now that Greece will not hold a referendum on the subject but a Greek default on its debts is not impossible. The European unity, which is the fruit of decades of hard work towards integration after centuries of war, is potentially at stake.

After Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, President Obama said: "There may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented." Accolades still continue to flow, celebrating Jobs' achievements and genius. In fact, so much has been written about Jobs as a visionary who revolutionised the computer, phone and music industries, that to dedicate one more column to him may seem redundant. However, there is a compelling reason for this posthumous tribute to Jobs. Sieving through all the information about this creator of gadgets, I was fascinated by glimpses of an artist: someone who integrated hardware and software into a near-perfect aesthetic form.

November 6