Archive for December 19th, 2007
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has put Bangladesh and four other Saarc nations on the list of 37 countries facing food crisis and requiring external assistance.In the list released Monday, the FAO urged the governments and the international community to take immediate measures to help the poor countries hit hard by dramatic food price increases.According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), food price inflation was spiralling up by over 11 percent every month from July to October this year. In the urban areas, this inflation rate was over 12 percent.According to the latest data ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday filed separate cases against Awami League (AL) General Secretary Abdul Jalil and former home minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury for concealing information in their wealth statements and amassing assets beyond known income sources.The anti-graft body also filed a case against Khandakar Akhtar Hamid Paban, detained son of Chief Whip Khandakar Delwar Hossain, on similar charges.It filed another case against absconding Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Tapan Kumar Dey for not submitting his wealth statement in Chittagong.ACC Deputy Director Enamul Haque Chowdhury filed the case against Jalil with Ramna Police Station for concealing Tk 65,29,229 in his wealth ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007An account of events chronicled by the commander of Pakistani occupying forces in 1971 renders rather untrue Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh's vehement claim that they were not involved in anti-liberation activities, by categorically saying that the Army of Razakars was formed by the erstwhile Pakistan government itself to fight against the liberation forces of Bangladesh.Lt Gen AAK Niazi, who led the Pakistani occupation forces as the chief of the eastern command of Pakistan Army in 1971, in his book titled 'The Betrayal of East Pakistan' described the formation of the Army of Razakars, their training, procurement of weapons and other logistics, ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007More than two million Muslims from across the globe gathered yesterday around Mount Arafat near Makkah, the birthplace of Islam for the annual hajj.At Arafat, in western Saudi Arabia, a massive crowd of the faithful spent the day praying and asking for Allah's forgiveness, in a symbolic wait, or "wuquf", for the final judgement.Among this year's pilgrims is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, invited by Saudi King Abdullah to become the first president of the Islamic republic to take part.Ahmadinejad was due to have joined Iranian pilgrims at Arafat but an announcement at the gathering said that "due to the ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in its observation report on the relief operations in the Sidr-affected areas brought allegations of irregularities, corruption, mismanagement and lack of coordination.The TIB said it found that local body members embezzled relief materials, there were lack of proper assessment before disbursing relief, low if not zero distribution of relief in remote or inaccessible areas, preference of a number of NGOs in operating among its own members, beneficiaries or coverage areas only.It observed, "Relief being manipulated as vote banks by the local government representatives."The TIB gave its observation through the report titled "Integrity in Humanitarian Assistance: ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007A Special Court yesterday handed down nine years' imprisonment to Shahriar Ahmed, son of former BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Ahmed, for committing three types of tax offences.Judge Shamsunnahar of Fourth Special Court, set up on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises, also fined him Tk 1.5 crore. In default of which, Shahriar, who is on the run, has to suffer a year and nine months more in prison.The court also ordered to confiscate his property including 7.6 acres of land.National Board of Revenue (NBR) Assistant Commissioner Nashid Rezwana Monir filed the case against Shahriar on November 22 for evading ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007A woman was killed and her daughter and son injured yesterday in a two-launch collision in mid river near Sadarghat Launch Terminal as they were tying to board a launch, avoiding the terminal crowded with launches and thousands of Eid vacationers.The three Bhola-bound passengers were sandwiched between the two launches at around 3:00pm as they were attempting to board one of the launches anchored in the middle of River Buriganga from a boat, said police and witnesses.The dead was identified as Ozufa Begum, 40, from Narshingdi. The injured are her daughter Rashida, 20, and son Mian Shah, 16.Staff members of ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007Archaeologists have discovered more antics dating back to the Pala dynasty, including a terracotta piece bearing a statue of a meditating Gautam Buddha, at Bhasu Bihar in Shibganj upazila of Bogra.The terracotta antic was found on Monday in a monastic cell of the existing structure of a Buddhist temple, which is more than 1,500 years old, Custodian Nahid Sultana said.A large broken earthen jar, a niche, and door frames were also found on December 17 in different cells.Assistant Custodian Md Mahabub-Ul-Alam said a floor was dug out in the temple beneath a 10-feet layer of ash in the existing ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 Razakars in Keraniganj killed hundreds of locals including three freedom fighters on orders of four Jamaat-e-Islami leaders including Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, said freedom fighter Mozaffar Ahmed Khan.Mozaffar is complainant of the much talked about case filed on Monday against Jamaat leaders. According to him, 13 people including Jamaat Ameer Nizami, Secretary General Mojahid, Senior Assistant Secretary General Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla were involved in wholesale killings of freedom fighters and locals of Keraniganj on November 25, 1971.Of the accused, nine were on the spot of killings while the ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 19th, 2007Prices of daily essentials including onion, fine rice, milk powder and meat have shot up ahead of Eid-ul-Azha due to apparent shortage of supply in the market.Visiting a number of kitchen markets in the city, this correspondent found that per kg onion (Indian variety) is selling at Tk 28 to 30 while it was being sold at Tk 18 to 20 last week.The supply of local variety onion, too, is scarce in the wholesale and retail markets with per kg being sold at Tk 55 to 60 at present. Meanwhile, the fresh grown onions have started reaching the kitchen ...
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