Archive for 2006
Sunday, December 31st, 2006Saddam Hussein was hanged at dawn yesterday for crimes against humanity, a dramatic, violent end for a leader who ruled Iraq by fear for three decades before he was toppled by a US invasion in 2003. In what looked like a swift response by Sunni insurgents loyal to Saddam, car bombings killed more than 68 people in a Shia town -- the sort of sectarian attack that has pitched Iraq toward civil war since US troops broke Saddam's iron grip.State television aired film of Saddam, looking composed and talking with the masked hangman as he placed the noose around his ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006Holy Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest religious festival of the Muslims, will be celebrated across the country tomorrow with due religious fervour and solemnity. This year the Eid coincides with the first day of the New Year, which the countrymen, particularly the residents of the capital, will start celebrating as soon as the clock strikes zero hour tonight.After the Eid prayers, well-to-do Muslims will sacrifice animals commemorating the readiness of Hazrat Ibrahim (A) to give up his dearest son Hazrat Ismail (A) to attain nearness of Allah. They will share sacrificial meat with their relatives, neighbours and poor people according to ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006Shocked leaders of Sylhet Awami League (AL) refuse to work for AL-led grand alliance nominee in Sylhet-6 constituency Maulana Habibur Rahman, a madrasa principal with the background of working for a 'Taliban-style' rule in Bangladesh.The crisis within the local AL, sparked by the surprise nomination of Habibur, came on the heels of AL's widely criticised deal with Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish (BKM) led by Shaikhul Hadith Allama Azizul Haq on December 23.In the deal, both sides agreed, among other points, to recognise fatwa (religious edict) by certified Hakkani alems (educated clerics) and implement government recognition to the degree conferred by traditional ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006Continuing grassroots and mid-level leaders' resentment at the Awami League (AL)-led grand alliance's election nominations forced the AL Parliamentary Board to have a marathon meeting yesterday in order to review and consider reshuffling the nominations.The parliamentary board had a five-hour-long meeting last night and found mistakes in choosing candidates for the election in over 100 constituencies, where nominees with a lower chance of victory were chosen over candidates with stronger grassroots support and a better chance of winning.A senior AL leader and parliamentary board member preferring anonymity told The Daily Star last night, "We did not judge correctly. A number ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006The Bangladesh Bank (BB) formed an investigation committee yesterday to find out why the Credit Information Bureau (CIB) report on known loan defaulters, who are also aspiring candidates for the next upcoming parliamentary election, was not sent to the returning officers.The committee will identify the current weaknesses of the bureau for avoiding similar mistakes in the future.The CIB report containing detailed identities of loan defaulters did not identify Mossaddeq Ali Falu as a loan defaulter although he had been listed as one by Oriental Bank.Falu is an aspirant candidate for the Dhaka-10 constituency in the upcoming election with a BNP ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006A survey by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Brotee, in six constituencies of the country found 2,02,763 or 14.7 percent excess voters on the current voter lists of those constituencies. The survey conducted through door-to-door visits revealed that the new actual number of voters in the six constituencies should be 14,86,589 while the Election Commission's (EC) voter list shows 16,89,352 persons as voters in those constituencies.On the 2001 voter list the number of voters in the six constituencies -- Bagerhat-1, Gopalganj-1, Jhenidah-4, Kushtia-1, Narayanganj-3 and Satkhira-2 -- was 13,78,851."Mistakes must have been made during inclusion and deletion of names while ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006The government decision to keep all oil depots closed for five days from December 29 to January 2 for Eid-ul-Azha will lead to drying up of the petrol pumps on the last two days."Our petrol pumps do not have the capacity to stock oil reserve for five days. So, if the oil supply remains closed for five days, the country will face severe oil crisis during the Eid," Mohammad Nazmul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Petrol Pump Owners' Association, said yesterday.The petrol pump owners from across the country yesterday protested the government decision, saying the transport, business and agriculture system of ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006The Election Commission (EC) today starts hearing of 124 appeals filed by aspirants challenging the validity of the returning officers' (RO) decision rejecting their nomination papers. On the first day, the EC may hear the appeals of Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad to decide whether he can contest the January 22 parliamentary elections."The Election Commission asked me to attend the hearing tomorrow," Ershad's lawyer Sirajul Islam, who went to the EC Secretariat to enquire about the timetable of hearing, told reporters yesterday.The ROs rejected all the five nomination papers Ershad had filed for Dhaka-5, Rangpur-3, Lalmonirhat-3, Sylhet-3 and ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006US President George W Bush late Friday hailed Saddam Hussein's execution as an "important milestone" on the road to building an Iraqi democracy but warned it will not end deadly violence there. "Saddam Hussein's execution comes at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops," Bush said in a statement released as he prepared to usher in 2007 at his Texas ranch."Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself," ...
(read more) Sunday, December 31st, 2006A defiant Saddam Hussein refused to wear a hood over his head before the noose was wrapped around his neck and a trap door dropped beneath his feet, eyewitnesses to Saturday's hanging said. The ousted leader mounted the gallows inside a former torture centre in Kadhimiyah in northern Baghdad and was hanged just before 6:00 am (0300 GMT), said National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, who was among those present.Iraqi state television showed a brief film of Saddam being placed in a noose by masked hangmen, cutting away just before his execution.The 69-year-old leader appeared calm, chatting to his ...
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