Archive for September 1st, 2006
Friday, September 1st, 2006The High Court (HC) yesterday confirmed death sentences to seven militant leaders of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) including its five kingpins for killing two judges in Jhalakathi as it found the trial court's judgment appropriate.The government and state lawyers believe that the punishment to the seven Islamist militants can be executed before the ruling coalition government's tenure ends on October 28 provided the convicts do not appeal against the verdict with the Appellate Division within 30 days.In the quickest disposal of a case in the history of Bangladesh, the trial of the sensational case for the first suicide bomb attack ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has urged members of the armed forces to remain alert against any division, confusion and anarchy that can weaken the national unity and defence."In the present age, the concept of national defence has undergone a lot of change. Attack on national independence and sovereignty not only comes from outside the country, but also from within," she said while addressing a darbar of army at Bogra Cantonment yesterday.Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Moyeen U Ahmed and Area Commander Major General Manirul Islam received the prime minister on her arrival at the cantonment.The prime minister has expressed ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006The BNP-led alliance government is caught between a rock and a hard place over the Asia Energy deal as its cancellation implies serious international reaction and arbitration but its continuation by going against public sentiment appears impossible.Highly placed sources said the government is unconfident about this matter and is most likely to resort to a time killing strategy for the next two months and leave the entire matter to the next governments.Asia Energy officials in Dhaka yesterday evening said they have not received any communiqué from the government about cancellation of the deal.An arbitrary cancellation will first imply that ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006In a sudden move, the government yesterday appointed former bureaucrat Mahmud Hasan Mansur as an election commissioner, raising the number of members in the Election Commission (EC) to four. On the advice of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, President Iajuddin Ahmed last evening gave his seal of approval to the appointment, said Bangabhaban sources.However, the government did not yet make a formal announcement regarding the appointment. Rather the matter was kept so secret that even the secretary of the EC Secretariat and registrar of the Supreme Court, who are usually closely related to the conduct of oath for an election commissioner, ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006As the three-month deadline for fixing minimum wage for the garment workers ended yesterday without any settlement on the issue, different workers' organisations have announced fresh programmes including street agitation from today. Following the severe labour unrest in the country's premier export-earning garment sector, the government formed a minimum wage board on 31 May and asked it to recommend a pay structure for the workers within three months but the last meeting of the board held on August 29 ended without any decision.Questioning the sincerity of the garment owners, leaders of different workers' organisations blamed them for ignoring the ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006The telecommunication secretary had misled the government by not revealing gross irregularities in the two deals that were slipped through the cabinet purchase committee on August 21. These controversially structured multimillion dollars deals with Huawei Technology of China now await the prime minister's approval.One of them is a $3.5 million contract to deploy an optical fibre transmission link between Dhaka and Rajshahi. The planning ministry's Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) had repeatedly alerted the telecoms secretary that Huawei has "created the opportunity to influence the decision" in its favour by hosting overseas trips for the officials who evaluated this bid.CPTU ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006A new alliance, Jatiya Oikya Front (JOF), made up of Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB), Jatiya Oikya Manch and Tarikat Federation, was launched yesterday.BDB President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, Jatiya Oikya Manch President Dr Kamal Hossain and Tarikat Federation Chairman Syed Najibul Bashar Maijbhandari jointly declared the new alliance aimed at bringing a meaningful and qualitative change in political and state affairs, electing honest and competent public representatives and establishing an effective parliament.They said the alliance would not participate in the next parliamentary elections without reforms in the caretaker government and the Election Commission.The joint declaration came at a press conference at ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al Saudi has proposed to invest a total of $500 million in the state-run Rupali Bank, of which $330 million for buying the bank's 67 per cent shares and the rest for modernising it.The Privatisation Commission sent the Saudi prince's proposal to the Cabinet Division yesterday for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.The Saudi prince, declared the highest bidder by the Privatisation Commission on Sunday, proposed to invest $12 million for the development of Rupali Bank's human resources, $55 million for its IT infrastructure and $33 million for the refurbishment ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006Phulbari people yesterday celebrated victory of their movement even though there was an air of doubt among them if the government would actually fulfil their demands which it agreed to on Wednesday night.Normalcy came to the upazila town, nearly 40km east of Dinajpur, after the government signed the memorandum with National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources and Electricity-Port.All the upazila administrative offices, markets, banks and other institutions and road and railway communications were opened yesterday morning.In spite of being happy with their victory, the leaders and locals still doubt if the government would be sincere enough to ...
(read more) Friday, September 1st, 2006At least 20 people were hurt and over 550 shanties were gutted in a devastating fire at a slum at Basila in Mohammadpur in the capital early yesterday. The fire, believed to be originated from a candle, left around 2,500 dwellers homeless. Their sufferings increased in the pelting rain in the morning.The injuries were caused when panic-stricken people were rushing out of their shanties for safety.Eight shops, three auto-tempos and a minibus parked inside a makeshift garage adjacent to the slum were also burnt down in the blaze.Witnesses said a group of fire-victims turned unruly and pelted stones on ...
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