Archive for August 15th, 2006
Tuesday, August 15th, 2006Tamil Tiger guerrillas said yesterday that 61 schoolgirls at an orphanage and 15 civilians huddled in a church have been killed in air and artillery attacks by Sri Lanka's military. Air force jets hit a "Senchcholai", an orphanage run by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in the northeastern region of Mullaitivu, the Tigers said in a statement.The government denied the attack and said the air force had only targeted an LTTE training facility in Mullaitivu.The Tigers said the victims were students aged between 15 and 18 who were taking part in a two-day seminar on first ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006At least 50 people were injured as police clashed with several thousand garment workers blockading the city's Airport Road yesterday demanding a pay rise and end to 'inhuman treatment'. The demonstrations by the workers of four garment units of NASA Group went on for three and a half hours at Khilkhet intersection, forcing hundreds of vehicles to be stranded on either direction along the busy thoroughfare during the morning rush hour.Vehicular movements came to a standstill on the road stretching from Mohakhali to Khilkhet while on the other side, thousands of commuters from Uttara and beyond were stuck in a ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006The nation today observes the 31st death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, amid a long drawn uncertainty over the trial of his killers. On this day in 1975, Bangabandhu and his family members excepting two daughters -- Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana -- who were abroad at the time, were brutally killed by a splinter group of the armed forces.Sheikh Mujib played the pioneering role in the country's struggle for independence. His fiercest speech and final call for freedom on March 7, 1971 -- 'Ebarer sangram amader muktir sangram, ebarer sangram swadhinotar sangram' -- ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006The whole nation has been anxiously waiting for the latest information about the health of poet Shamsur Rahman who has been fighting for life for over a week at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Hospital (BSMMUH).Senior ministers, political leaders, government high officials, poets, social activists, admirers and well-wishers have been visiting the ailing poet at the BSMMUH."The condition of poet Shamsur Rahman has deteriorated further," said a BSMMUH press release yesterday, adding that the functioning of the poet's liver and kidneys deteriorated due to heavy fluctuation in his blood pressure.The level of his consciousness also plummeted compared to previous ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006A Jatiya Party (Ershad) presidium member yesterday met Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and handed over a list of names of 50 persons seeking nominations in the next parliament election. In another move Ershad dissolved the post of his political adviser and the entire central committee of JP's student front Jatiya Chhatra Samaj. Sources said JP leader Roushan Ershad met the prime minister to discuss about the cases filed against the deposed dictator HM Ershad, and the easiest way to dispose of those cases. The judgement in a case against Ershad is scheduled to be pronounced on August 17.Roushan, wife ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006On August 9, 1975, Bangladesh government made a deal with the world's oil giant Shell Oil that turned out to be the best deal the country has ever made, long forgotten documents show. For a meagre 4.5 million pound sterling, the country that day purchased from Shell Oil the gas fields of Bakhrabad, Habiganj, Kailastila, Rashidpur and Titas with 65 percent of the discovered recoverable gas reserve of the country.In terms of today's oil price ($70 per barrel), gas reserve of these five major fields would be worth around $ 130 billion, experts say.In terms of on-shore gas ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006Border guards of both Bangladesh and India started pulling out their additional troops from Zakiganj border area yesterday following the agreement at sector-commander-level flag meeting on Sunday.Meanwhile, villagers started returning to their homes, five days after the 14-hour firefight between Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) on Wednesday.While visiting Uttarkul and Amolshid border outposts (BoP), The Daily Star correspondent found the additional BDR forces, who were deployed along the border following reinforcements by their counterpart, were packing and returning to their barracks.A BDR official, on condition of anonymity, said they have observed BSF withdrawing their additional forces ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006Security guards of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in the capital yesterday caught a youth who allegedly tried to foil today's programme to observe the 31st death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.The guards spotted Nurunnabi, 18, around 11:30am when he was cutting electric cables at an under-construction building beside the Bangabandhu Bhaban that houses the museum."Nurunnabi was disconnecting the electric cable in a bathroom of the building when the security guards caught him," Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Dhanmondi Police Station Mahbubur Rahman said quoting the security men.Nurunnabi told the guards that his "guru" Rahim Mollah asked him to cut the electric cable ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) finds itself in the centre of a controversy again as it has engaged in a tug of war with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) over detection of tax evasion incidents. The ACC wrote a letter on Sunday to the NBR and Dhaka Customs House informing the agencies that a large amount of goods had been imported to the inland container depot (ICD) through under-invoicing and false declarations.The commission also requested Dhaka Customs to launch a massive search to detect such tax evasions and to open suspicious containers for inspection in the presence of ACC ...
(read more) Tuesday, August 15th, 2006Two weeks into the unscheduled closure of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), the impasse continues while uncertainty looms over holding examinations and beginning new terms, to add to the existing session jam of the country's premier technology university. The Buet authorities declared the university closed sine die on July 31 following a violent student movement for deferment of examinations.Several student organisations and a platform of guardians have urged the authorities to reopen the university and declare fresh schedule for examinations as early as possible in consideration of the future of thousands of students.Students of Term-2 under ...
(read more) 
