Archive for September 28th, 2006
Thursday, September 28th, 2006Business leaders and diplomats took massive initiatives in the last two days to bring ruling BNP and main opposition Awami League (AL) to the negotiation table over electoral reforms to break the existing political deadlock.As part of the move, business leaders held two meetings with BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and one with AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil in the last two days, urging both the leaders to sit immediately.US Ambassador in Dhaka Patricia A Butenis held a meeting with Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina while Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri met with Jalil yesterday. Both the envoys ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006Supreme Court (SC) registrar yesterday categorically said its letter, following a leave to appeal petition by one of the seven condemned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants, has only stayed the particular militant's execution. As confusion arose whether the death sentences -- handed for killing two Jhalakathi judges -- on all of the seven JMB militants would be stayed after the SC letter, the SC registrar told The Daily Star yesterday that the petition of Iftekhar Hasan al Mamun will have no effect on the penalty on six other JMB men.Meantime, the Jail Code says if the SC orders for postponing ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006The Executive Committee on National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday approved 18 development projects worth Tk 8,746 crore as the government is in a mad rush to please voters at the fag end of its tenure.Sources said there were some 15 projects on the agenda of the Ecnec meeting until Tuesday. But in the face of tremendous pressure from different ministries, a total of 19 projects were placed in the meeting and 18 got approval within one hour.Earlier on September 14, another Ecnec meeting approved 16 projects worth Tk 2,745 crore. The agenda of the meeting had 14 projects but finally ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006Outraged by frequent power outages, thousands of people swooped on local power distribution offices in Islambagh, Dhalpur and Shanir Akhra areas of the capital last night and disrupted road and rail communications.Angry people also attacked power offices in six districts--Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Cox's Bazar, Manikganj, Sylhet and Sherpur--last night and the night before.Thousands of power-hungry people besieged the local power distribution offices at Dhalpur at 7:00pm and at Shanir Akhra at 9:30pm.People started coming out to streets from 7:00pm at Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Shyampur, Koratitola and Islambagh, protesting repeated load shedding during the day.The angry crowd also blocked rail communication on the ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006Although some former advisers to caretaker governments remarked that a caretaker government enjoys 'very little power', Prof Muhammad Yunus, the micro credit guru, thinks it is sufficiently empowered to undertake necessary reforms for making the next election free and fair.Expressing his firm hope that the next election will be free and fair, Yunus, managing director of Grameen Bank, yesterday made the comment during a Nagorik Committee 2006 dialogue. He suggested a policy guideline for priorities of the next caretaker government and a 100-day action plan for the next elected government.The caretaker government can do the tasks like separating the ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006The Nagorik Committee 2006 formed to prepare a vision paper for Bangladesh in 2021 yesterday put forward a set of 16 urgent tasks for the caretaker government and a 38-point priority action plan for the next elected government.Formulation of the tasks and action plan is based on regional dialogues in major cities and towns of the country for the last four months, organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue in collaboration with The Daily Star, the Prothom Alo and Channel i.Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, member-secretary of the Nagorik Committee presented the priorities for the caretaker government and immediate action plan ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) military commander Ataur Rahman Sunny and Gazipur unit regional commander Enayet Ullah Jewel roughed up several Rab men on the premises of a Dhaka court yesterday after the court sentenced them to 60-years' jail in two cases.The scuffles broke out when the media men drew near the convicts to have their comments on the verdict of the cases filed for possessing illegal firearms, ammunition and explosives.As the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel obstructed Sunny and Jewel from expressing their comments, the angry JMB leaders started to kick the law enforcers who in turns began to beat ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006Several thousand of agitating workers from two garment factories barricaded Rokeya Sarani yesterday for eight and a half hours resulting in a traffic gridlock in the capital. Workers of Perfect Sweaters Ltd and TS Sweaters Ltd blockaded both sides of Rokeya Sarani stretching from Agargaon to Mirpur 10 and brought all vehicular movement to a standstill from 8:00am to 4:30pm.A huge number of police were deployed on the scene to avoid any untoward incident.The abrupt halt of traffic clogged up the surrounding streets causing excruciating sufferings to commuters and city dwellers who had no other means but to walk to ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006Lawmakers of the main opposition Awami League walked out of parliament again yesterday during a session protesting the placing of a bill by a technocrat minister, Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid, alleging that he does not have the authority to place the specific bill. Five new bills were placed in parliament yesterday which the AL lawmakers termed 'election bills' alleging that the government did nothing in the last five years, but now it is placing bills in the House to showcase those for the people ahead of the next general election.The bill placed by Social Welfare Minister Mujahid is regarding ...
(read more) Thursday, September 28th, 2006Blowing conches, ringing bells and cymbals, and booming dhak (drums) amid high-pitched ululation, Hindu devotees today herald the five-day Durga Puja celebrations across the country.Following the lunar schedule, Bodhon ritual and Mahashashthi puja.will be held in the morning and the Adhibash of devi (goddess) Durga in the evening today.The Hindus believe that the goddess, accompanied by her children Ganesh, Kartik, Lakshmi and Saraswati, descends on the earth today, the Mahashashthi, at the supplication of the devotees and stays for the next four days.Accordingly, Mahasaptami will be celebrated on Friday, Maha Astami on Saturday, Mahanabami on Sunday and Bijoya Dashami ...
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