Archive for July, 2006
Monday, July 31st, 2006Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman HM Ershad yesterday claimed that the government has assured him of withdrawing all corruption charges against him while the state minister for home affairs denied having any such plan 'at the moment'."They have assured me that they will have all the cases against me disposed of. I don't want to see myself in jail again and I have almost decided to join the four-party alliance," Ershad told his party leaders at a view-exchange meeting in the capital.On the other hand, State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, who along with Tarique Rahman, met Ershad on last Thursday, ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006Awami League (AL)-led 14-party opposition coalition's six-day road march programme ended yesterday in a ceremonial mood as thousands of demonstrators sought votes for boat, the electoral symbol of AL in the coming parliamentary election.The six-kilometre street from Aminbazar in Savar to Russel Square at Dhanmondi in the capital turned into a human sea yesterday as thousands of opposition activists kept joining the march at different spots on Mirpur Road.Waving colourful banners, festoons and placards and waving replicas of boats on rickshaws, opposition activists started marching at 5:00pm from Aminbazar area amid unprecedented security measures.As the marchers reached Russel ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006History seems to be repeating itself, unfolding events similar to those centring former autocrat Ershad in 1996 and 2001.With the election approaching fast, the deposed president is again becoming a protagonist in national politics as the major political parties look for an ally in him to consolidate their position in the upcoming election.The way things have been panning out in the last few days reminds one of the BNP's political manoeuvring to have Ershad on its side in 1996 and 2001. The party is desperate again to have him aboard the ruling coalition led by it.Branded as an autocrat by ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006Compelled to part with much of their earnings, the 132 Bangladeshis, who had been stranded in Lebanon during the recent Israeli attacks, returned home all shattered yesterday morning.Shipping Minister Major (Rtd) Quamrul Islam, officials of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Qatar Charity received them at Zia International Airport (ZIA).The government, with the financial assistance of IOM, brought them home from Syrian capital Damascus where they had gathered following registration for returning home from Lebanon that has turned into a land of death and destruction.Qatar Airlines and Itihad Airways flew them from ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006At least 56 people, more than half children, were killed yesterday in an Israeli airstrike that crushed a building, the deadliest attack of the campaign against Hezbollah. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to return early to Washington with her diplomatic mission derailed after Lebanese leaders told her not to come.However, she made one of her strongest statements yet saying: "We want a cease-fire as soon as possible." Before news of the strike emerged, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Rice that Israel would likely fight on for another 10 to 14 days.The United States has resisted world pressure to ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006Bangladesh hit back from Sunday's loss with a 62-run win in the second one-day international against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club ground yesterday.The Tigers bowled and fielded with fire to bowl the hosts out for 176 to level the series at one-all, having earlier scrapped their way to 238 for eight after sent in to bat.Shahadat Hossain picked up two early wickets to finish with figures of three for 41, the best of the innings.The heroic combination from Sunday evening, Stuart Matsikenyeri and Elton Chigumbura, were however not allowed to perform another rescue act.The two left-arm spinners -- Mohammad ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006Despite the involvement of several government departments in the process of scrapping ships, the Sitakunda ship-breaking yards in Chittagong continue to operate in the most rudimentary way polluting the coastal environment, violating workers' rights, and putting their security at risk.Experts said 40-square-kilometres of the Bay of Bengal, along the Dhaka-Chittagong highway is under severe threat of an ecological disaster. Every year around 150 ocean-going ships, weighing between 10,000 tons and 550,000 tons each, are scrapped on the beaches of Sitakunda with bare hands, extracting up to 1.8 million tons of scrap metal annually in addition to various other items found ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006The secretary of the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat yesterday expressed concern about the rise of additional voters on the list being prepared through updating the existing one, as people are 'not cooperating' with the field level staff in deleting the fake names from the list. Additional voters might remain in the voter list if the deletion of names of fake voters or dead persons is not done properly, EC Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar said, adding, "Fake votes in the election might be cast if the additional voters remain in the list."Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) MA Aziz on several occasions questioned ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006The government fails to buy sophisticated scanners and install those machines at ports in two years to stop smuggling of firearms and explosives into the country.Buoyed by Tk 300 crore Asian Development Bank assistance, the home ministry initiated a move two years back to buy four scanners for Chittagong, Benapole and other ports but officials concerned could not even ascertain specifications for the machines as yet.Frustrated at the slow progress, the National Committee on Smuggling Prevention yesterday decided to request the finance and shipping ministries to take initiatives to buy the scanners."Through random manual checking, it is not possible to ...
(read more) Monday, July 31st, 2006The Bangladesh Bank (BB) will ask 15 commercial banks to submit vouchers of 90,000 transactions carried out in the last three years by BD Foods Ltd, a company allegedly involved in heroin smuggling to the UK.The central bank sources said they are going to collect the vouchers, following a request of the Central Investigation Department (CID), to find out any suspicious transaction between any group or person and BD Foods.A senior BB official said the central bank will issue letters to the commercial banks today requesting information about BD Foods' banking between February 2003 and May 2006.Sources said the ...
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