Archive for November 9th, 2007
Friday, November 9th, 2007The ongoing drive against illegal VoIP operation has resulted in a record jump of overseas telephone calls through the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) system, statistics show.The BTTB is now handling more than 12 million minutes of overseas calls per day as against around four million minutes of calls per day last year. Such a jump however is mainly due to incoming calls.Overseas calls through the "legal" or BTTB channel started to mark a significant upward trend from January this year and rose to the highest number of around 14 million minutes of calls a day during the ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007Pakistan will hold elections by February 15, state media quoted President Pervez Musharraf as saying yesterday, as he moved to quell global outrage over his imposition of a state of emergency.The statement came hours after US President George W Bush telephoned Musharraf to urge him to repeal emergency rule, hold polls that were due in January and quit as army chief of the nuclear-armed Islamic republic.Former premier Benazir Bhutto however pledged to continue with a planned protest on Friday in the garrison city of Rawalpindi despite arrest of hundreds of her supporters, calling Musharraf's announcement "vague"."General elections ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007Brig Gen (retd) ASM Hannan Shah, the most outspoken pro-Khaleda leader of BNP and one of her advisers, has been silenced as he was placed on a three-day remand yesterday after being arrested from his Mohakhali DOHS residence before midnight on Wednesday.A team of police arrested Hannan Shah, also a former minister, from his residence at 11:40pm on Wednesday on charges of emergency rules violations and was taken to Cantonment Police Station afterwards.Hannan Shah and 31 others including 25 unnamed individuals have been charged with assaulting Saifur-led BNP leaders including Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, member of BNP standing committee, ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007Six power companies yesterday submitted their qualification documents to the Power Cell of the power ministry to participate in the Bibiyana 450MW power plant project tender.These include US oil giant Chevron, developer and operator of the Bibiyana gas field in Sylhet. Even though well reputed as an oil company, Chevron has 20 years' experience in power sector. In addition, through merger with oil and power giant Texaco a few years back, Chevron's experience credentials increased.The other companies are AES Corporation of USA, Korea Electric Power Corporation of South Korea, a consortium of Powertek Berhad of Malaysia and Siemens Project ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman yesterday gave confessional statements to a court in five extortion cases.Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Shamim Azad recorded Tayebur's statements under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in the cases.This is for the first time that someone with the status of a state minister has confessed to his link to extortion.Sources said the detained KCC mayor confessed that he took around Tk 25 lakh from the complainants of the cases, promising them jobs at the KCC, promotion and allocation of shops.He also confessed that a few KCC officials and employees, ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007Anti-Corruption Task Force yesterday searched the Motijheel office of detained BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.A team of the task force went to the office at Sharif Manson at around 11:00am, searched it until 5:30pm and seized some documents.The joint forces arrested Salauddin Quader Chowdhury in the early hours of February 4.Another team of the task force went to the Shahjahanpur residence of former minister for housing and public works Mirza Abbas at around 1:30pm and stayed there for around 15 minutes.Police said the task force members went to Abbas' house to inquire about the age ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday arrested 12 members of an organised crime group suspected to have conned roughly Tk 4 crore out of local banks in the last six months through forged drafts.Rab officials said the fraudsters usually collect a genuine draft issued mostly from banks in Saudi Arabia and counterfeit it by computer. On the copy they change only the last two digits of the original draft.Then they get poor villagers to open accounts with nationalised commercial banks and draw the drafts.It is easier for the gangs to take the money out since for a draft of amount ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007Acting President of Awami League (AL) Zillur Rahman yesterday demanded that the caretaker government completely lift the ban on indoor politics and the state of emergency soon."The government should lift the state of emergency now since there is no such situation in the country that requires state of emergency. A peaceful situation has rather been prevailing in the country," Zillur said.He was speaking at a ceremony where former deputy secretary Mohammad Shamsul Haque joined the AL.Gonotantrik Bam Morcha, a platform of 11 left-leaning political parties, also demanded yesterday that the caretaker government lift the state of emergency immediately and allow ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, acting secretary general of Saifur-led BNP, yesterday said they would contest the next election with 'sheaf of paddy' as their symbol since, he claimed, the Election Commission has recognised them as the mainstream BNP.Speaking at a press briefing at his Banani residence, he also condemned the attack on standing committee member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman and demanded punishment to those who were involved in the incident.Hinting at the leaders and workers siding with Khandaker Delwar Hossain, secretary general appointed by Chairperson Khaleda Zia, he said those who attacked Mahbubur do not want ...
(read more) Friday, November 9th, 2007The cabinet committee on law and order yesterday instructed the law enforcement agencies to remain vigilant so that none can violate the conditions for indoor politics which it said could pose a threat to law and order.It also asked the law enforcers to monitor prices of essentials.The committee that met yesterday suggested reduction of tariff on imported essentials to control their price hike.The meeting expressed satisfaction over the law and order now despite the increase in filing criminal cases.Chaired by Law and Information adviser Mainul Hosein the meeting was attended by Education Adviser Ayub Quadri, and heads of ...
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