Archive for December 4th, 2007
Tuesday, December 4th, 2007Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday asked international donors to pump in an estimated $1 billion to assist in a massive long-term plan to protect the coastal areas from recurring natural disasters and climate changes, or risk undermining Bangladesh's development.Endorsing the chief adviser's proposals, the donors pledged their commitment to the project but asked the government to ensure the framework required for the massive logistical and coordination challenge.At a meeting with bilateral and multilateral donors in his office, the chief adviser said the country can no longer afford to count on relief and rehabilitation and wait for the next natural disaster, ...
(read more) Tuesday, December 4th, 2007The central bank has projected that inflation rate will rise by 1.3 percentage point in the current fiscal year compared to that of last year due to the rise in prices of food and non-food items in the global market.However, the central bank predicts that the GDP growth rate will stay over 6.0 percent, though many quarters have anticipated it would be lower than that.The Bangladesh Bank makes these views in its Monetary Policy Review released yesterday.In the review it says, "The projections of food and non-food inflation lead to a prediction of 12-month average general CPI inflation in FY ...
(read more) Tuesday, December 4th, 2007Hundreds of investors took to the street in front of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) building clashing with police yesterday after the key index had lost 83 points on the Dhaka bourse around noon.The melee prompted the market regulator to allow resumption of brokerage lending to investors for purchasing shares.At least five people were injured during the half an hour clash.On November 19, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) imposed a ban on lending to investors by both brokerage houses and merchant banks for purposes of investing in stocks.Trading on the premier bourse started with a steep fall yesterday with almost ...
(read more) Tuesday, December 4th, 2007Detained Awami League (AL) leader Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim in a retraction petition told a Dhaka court yesterday that intolerable physical and mental torture, and threat to kill him in 'crossfire' forced him to give a judicial statement in connection with the Tk 2.99 crore extortion case.Selim submitted the petition to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, set up under special arrangements at MP Hostel on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises, when he was taken there along with former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.In his petition, the former minister told Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque that the confessional statement was taken following ...
(read more) Tuesday, December 4th, 2007The effort to bring back money that had been smuggled out of the country has hit a snag due to bureaucratic tangles, said Maj Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).At a routine press briefing held yesterday in the ACC office in the capital, he also said, "There is no competent authority to handle the issue."Even though the Scotland Yard has been assisting the ACC with some unofficial information on money smuggled abroad, the ACC is unable to take any legal action as Bangladesh lacks official arrangements with the countries concerned in this regard, Mashhud ...
(read more) Tuesday, December 4th, 2007The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has recorded a 193 percent rise in income tax collection totalling Tk 739.11 crore in the tax year 2007-08 from Tk 252.11 a year ago."We have recorded such a rise mainly because of raising the ceiling of tax-free income. The introduction of Universal Self Assessment has also augmented our tax collection efforts," NBR Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid said in a press briefing yesterday -- a day after the deadline to submit individual income tax returns for the current tax year.The tax administration, which previously extended the date of submission of income tax returns till ...
(read more) Tuesday, December 4th, 2007The Patharghata fish depot is no longer a noisy joint. What once used to be the largest fish port in Barisal division now resembles an almost abandoned bazaar.There is no noise of trawlers docking in, no unloading of fish baskets, no hue and cry of depot workers and certainly no noise of trucks waiting to transport the fish.Late in the afternoon yesterday, workers from three trawlers were gossiping idly near the port. Others were wandering around, all having no work to do as they have no boats or equipment left to go fishing with.Cyclone Sidr has sunk most of ...
(read more) Tuesday, December 4th, 2007Ballistic experts found that three bullets hit the windows of the armoured Mercedes in which Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina was escaping the scene following the grenade attacks on the AL rally on August 21, 2004.A three-member team, comprising members from the Special Branch of Police (SB) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID), already prepared a report in which it mentioned that 10 marks were found on five windows of the Mercedes G-class sports utility vehicle (SUV). Of those, three marks were of bullets, sources said.The team is expected to submit its 19-page report to the authorities concerned in a ...
(read more) Tuesday, December 4th, 2007Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda has said there is no scope for inclusion of Rohingyas in the voter list."Only the country's real citizens who live in particular addresses will be made voters and provided with voter ID cards," the CEC told a view-exchange meeting here yesterday.The circle chief of the area, government officials, public representatives, the district election officer, enumerators, supervisors and local elite attended the meeting at Bandarban Tribal Cultural Institution.Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Shakhawat Hossain, 69 Infantry Brigade Commander Brig General ATM Ziaul Hasan, Bandarban Hill District Council Chairman Prof Tanzama Lusai, Sadar ...
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