Archive for September 18th, 2007
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday brought under emergency power rules the case filed against former prime minister Khaleda Zia on September 2.The commission will file a fresh case against her detained elder son Tarique Rahman 'very soon'.Meantime, the ACC pressed charges against detained former BNP lawmaker Mossaddak Ali Falu, four Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) ward commissioners and 11 others in a case filed in connection with embezzling government relief materials.Sources in the ACC said Tarique would be accused of concealing information in his wealth statement submitted to the ACC, and illegally accumulating properties disproportionate to his known sources of income.“The ...
(read more) Tuesday, September 18th, 2007Most of the political parties selected for electoral reform talks with the Election Commission (EC), plan to ask the electoral authority to include provisions in the laws disqualifying the anti-liberation forces and war criminals from contesting in polls.If the majority of the participants submit the same proposal on the issue, the EC might consider the proposal quite seriously, and in case of its inability to incorporate the proposal into the upcoming new electoral law, it will publicise ample clarifications for its failure, senior officials in the EC Secretariat said referring to the commission's adopted policies for the talks.The ...
(read more) Tuesday, September 18th, 2007The Rajshahi metropolitan magistrate's court for speedy trial yesterday framed charges against six detained Rajshahi University teachers in the case filed for violating Emergency Power Rules (EPR) 2007 during last month's student unrest.The accused are former vice chancellor M Saidur Rahman Khan, Convener of Progressive Teachers' Society M Abdus Sobhan, Moloy Bhoumik of management department, and Dulal Chandra Biswas, Sayed Selim Reza Newton and Abdullah Al Mamun of mass communication department.The other charges included violation of EPR through bringing out a silent procession on August 21 protesting Dhaka University incidents, instigating students to be violent on the following day, and ...
(read more) Tuesday, September 18th, 2007A US-based rights group has made a move seeking cancellation of GSP, a system that favours Bangladeshi garment export, alleging the country does not allow labour rights in export processing zones.However, Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) says the move is based on falsehoods.Bepza has drafted a position paper to help the government fight a petition the rights body filed with the United States Trade Representatives (USTR) on October 4.The rights group -- American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) -- has been lobbying for cancellation of GSP facilities for many years.Though GSP (generalised ...
(read more) Tuesday, September 18th, 2007The highway to the northern Bangladesh was one of the best when it was built with foreign assistance in 1978. Today, it could as well be billed as the worst highway in the country with a 34-kilometer path between Bogra and Sherpur becoming totally unusable.The highway landed in its present state as no maintenance work had been carried out on it since it was handed to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in 1994. The rest of the highway is also badly pitted and may become unusable any time.A quick survey on 13 kilometers of the road about ...
(read more) Tuesday, September 18th, 2007The country's economic prospects will depend on the caretaker government's success in maintaining political stability and broad public support until the elections are held, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday."Any material setback on the political front would undermine business confidence and negatively affect investment and growth," said the bank's Asian Development Outlook-2007 Update, released here yesterday.The ADB outlook said the government's recent administrative measures to rein in inflation have created uncertainty in the business environment rather than checking it.Bangladesh faces various risks that could derail economic projections. Political uncertainty is the key of those risks, said the outlook.In the updated ...
(read more) Tuesday, September 18th, 2007The Bangladesh high commission in Kuala Lumpur must be held accountable for the abuse and deplorable conditions suffered by its own citizens, said Tenaganita, a migrants and women rights organisation in Malaysia.Condemning the September 15 assault on Bangladeshi workers on the premises of Bangladesh high commission in Kuala Lumpur, Tenaganita in a statement signed by its Director Dr Irene Fernandez yesterday said more than 10 recruiting agency personnel with the connivance of the high commission staff beat up the workers.Meanwhile, several migrants and human rights organisations in a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday condemned the attack on the ...
(read more) Tuesday, September 18th, 2007Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed will leave for New York on September 22 to attend the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which opens tomorrow at the UN headquarters.Fakhruddin's weeklong trip, first trip to the United States as chief adviser, will focus largely on climate change, as part of the government efforts to push countries to tackle the scourge of global warming that will significantly affect Bangladesh.The chief adviser is scheduled to address a high-level event organised by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on "Addressing the Leadership's Challenge of Climate Change" ahead of the heads of state and ...
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