Archive for December 26th, 2007
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Around four days into the stealing of two Paris-bound Vishnu statues from the Zia International Airport (ZIA), the government last evening brought the remaining 143 artefacts back to the National Museum.Earlier in the day, a special meeting chaired by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed decided not to send the age-old objects to the French capital before resolving the theft case.It also decided to inform the French authorities that it would not be possible to go ahead with the plan for exhibition there.A high-powered committee would be formed headed by the cabinet secretary to make a comprehensive report on the issue. ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007With no considerable progress in brining reforms to political parties in the last one year, the two major parties, BNP and Awami League (AL), are issuing apparent threats of launching agitations to free their detained chiefs, as a harbinger of yet another political turmoil that might plague the country into the new year.Leaders of major political parties hinted that their demand for lifting the state of emergency restoring full-scale political activities might be strengthened as the Election Commission (EC) is preparing to hold the long overdue polls to some local governments between April and May next year.The ongoing agitation ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Investigators of the artefacts heist at Zia International Airport are yet to find any clues or motives even after 100 hours of the incident. Their impression is that it was a "deliberate" and "well-planned" take.They are also trying to find out if local or international smuggling groups were involved in the theft.Law enforcers, so far, arrested 15 people in connection with the heist and investigators believe that any of the 15 could have information about the incident or even be involved in it. They have been placed on a five-day remand.Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), which plays a vital role in ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Awami League (AL) might go for agitation in January 2008 demanding release of its detained party president Sheikh Hasina prior to the next parliamentary elections.The AL front organisations, including Jubo League, have been planning to launch agitation before AL starts the movement.They are also thinking about launching an united movement with the front organisations of BNP if necessary, sources said adding that the leaders and workers of both the parties' front organisations have already come close to each other in this regard."As per the senior leaders' direction, we have already instructed our leaders and workers across the ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007The BNP's pro-Khaleda faction has shelved other issues for her release but reformists want to bring in unity in the party in the run-up to general elections that the Election Commission says will be held by December next year.Highly placed BNP sources said Khaleda Zia's release will top other considerations for her followers in the coming days while the Saifur Rahman-led group is putting emphasis on party unity in a bid to participate in the next elections.Pro-Saifur leaders will continue their effort to convince the old guard of the need for unity but Khandaker Delwar Hossain-led leaders said the ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Archaeologists and eminent citizens who had been opposing sending the country's artefacts to an exhibition in France welcomed the government decision of cancelling any further shipment of the artefacts until the relic heist incidence is resolved.They also expressed their concern over retrieval of the two stolen precious relics and the safekeeping of the ones already shipped out to Guimet Museum in France. They demanded a comprehensive investigation into the entire process of sending the artefacts abroad.They also criticised the acting French ambassador and termed his remarks "intervention into the affairs of a country.""I personally welcome the government for taking the ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Ramzan, a nine-year-old admitted to the Paediatric Medicine Ward of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), gradually went into the jaws of death as his parents could not manage the money required for replacement of a valve of his heart.When the parents had collected most of the required money appealing to the well-off section of the society, physicians said it was too late as the condition of the boy deteriorated and he became unfit for surgery.There was nothing else to do for the parents except grieving over the loss of their son at a tender age and the fact ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Zunaed Siddiqui will make his one-day international debut when Bangladesh play the first game of the three-match series against New Zealand at the Eden Park in Auckland today.The day-night match starts at 12pm local time (5 am Bangladesh Standard Time) and Sony SAB television will be beaming live coverage.The team management included the Rajshahi left-hander in the playing eleven, leaving out opening batsman Javed Omar, pacers Nazmul Hossain and uncapped Sajidul Islam and middle-order batsman Tushar Imran who is yet to recover from an injury.A decent performance in the domestic circuit and his lone Twenty20 international in South Africa brought ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007More than 200 Bangladeshi migrant workers who claim their employers underpaid and abused them have sought refuge outside their country's embassy in Malaysia, an envoy said.The Bangladesh high commission has turned a section of its mission into a temporary shelter for some of the 225 workers but most of them have been sheltering on the pavement since early December due to a lack of space inside."Out of sympathy we have provided them a place to stay but we can only accommodate so much," a senior Bangladeshi envoy told AFP on condition of anonymity."We are trying our best ...
(read more) Wednesday, December 26th, 2007A schoolgirl was burnt to death in a fire that also destroyed about 500 shanties and 19 shops at Amin Colony in Chittagong early yesterday, leaving hundreds of residents homeless.The girl was identified as Shahana Akhter, 12, daughter of late Abdul Malek of Baraitali village in Fatikchhari upazila.She was asleep when the fire started from a kitchen at around 11:50pm at the colony which is peopled by low-income workers of Amin Jute Mills at Bibirhat, fire brigade sources said.The blaze soon engulfed the entire slum, reducing to ashes around 500 tin-shed, semi-pucca houses and 19 shops, including two NGO offices, ...
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