Archive for December, 2007
Friday, December 28th, 2007Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at the end of a campaign rally, aides said.The death of the 54-year-old charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the January 8 election into chaos and created fears of mass protests and an eruption of violence across the volatile south Asian nation.The attacker struck just minutes after Benazir addressed a rally of thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, 13km south of Islamabad. She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007 Education and Cultural Affairs Adviser Ayub Quadri yesterday resigned his position in the wake of a huge public outcry over the theft of two Paris-bound Vishnu statues.He sent the resignation letter to the cabinet secretary in the afternoon, a member of his family told The Daily Star last night.Addressed to President Iajuddin Ahmed, the letter mentions that he has decided to step down for personal reasons.Contacted, Syed Fahim Munaim, press secretary to the chief adviser, said that the cabinet division received the resignation letter at around 4:30pm and its secretary straightaway informed Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed of the ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007Pro-liberation war political, professional, and other social forces are gearing up to intensify the ongoing movement to force the interim government to begin the process of putting war criminals on trial by March 26, Independence Day.To that end a process is on in full swing for bringing all pro-liberation war forces to a common platform, in an effort to get enough wind in the sail of the movement early next year, as around 70 political, professional, and other social organisations already extended their support for it.They also promised to continue the movement, launched by the forum of sector ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007A Dhaka court yesterday fixed December 31 for further hearing on charge framing against former premier and Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina and two others in the Tk 2.99 crore extortion case filed by Azam J Chowdhury.The Dhaka Sessions Judge's Court sat after around 15 days of legal wrangling in the higher court over its functioning under special arrangements at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban complex.The trial court decided to continue the hearing as the prosecution did not produce some evidence and documents substantiating the charges brought against the accused.The defence is scheduled to come up with their submission for further ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007The income level of the population living below the poverty line has increased at a lower rate in last fiscal year resulting in their lower purchasing power, which is also affected by higher cost of living, says a central bank report.The Bangladesh Bank Annual Report 2006-07, released yesterday, also said the general wage rate has increased by only 4.5 percent in FY07, compared to 9.8 percent of FY06."Increases in wage rates in manufacturing, agricultural, fisheries and construction sectors stayed below the rates of consumer price inflation of 7.2 percent in FY07," the Bangladesh Bank report observed.Production losses due ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad did not respond to the Privatisation Commission's notice for him to deposit by yesterday the entire amount agreed on for buying Rupali Bank.The commission would soon sit to decide the next course of action, said sources.Contacted, its Chairman M Abu Solaiman Chowdhury and other high officials, however, declined to comment on the matter while Finance and Commerce Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said he does not know anything about the developments in this regard.The notice was served on December 10 asking Bandar Bin Mohammad Abdul Rahman Al Saud to deposit $458 million within December 26 ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) is to incorporate at least one chapter on "anti-corruption" in textbooks of class I to class VIII from 2009 to build stronger values from the ground up.The initiative was taken following a request from Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury yesterday.The NCTB has already incorporated such chapters in 2008 Bangla textbooks of class nine-10 and 11-12.The ACC chairman yesterday met NCTB Chairman Prof M Masir Uddin at the NCTB office and urged him to incorporate the chapters in the textbooks."We asked the NCTB to include chapters on anti-corruption in textbooks so that ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007All the ministries are busy drafting their success stories as part of a move to publish a special supplement highlighting their achievements in last one year.Press Information Department (PID), the government's press wing, asked the ministries to send it their inputs over the issue today.However, PID officials said any specific decision is yet to be taken over giving comprehensive account of the achievements by the caretaker government.“Since we used to do this earlier after completion of a year in office of a political government, we thought we may receive similar instructions from the present caretaker government,” a PID official told ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007The National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday asked all the banks concerned to freeze the accounts of Awami League (AL) General Secretary Abdul Jalil and his family members.The Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the NBR issued a letter asking the banks to freeze the accounts of Jalil and five of his family members and provide it with all necessary information within 10 days.The banks were asked to provide information about individual or joint current and savings accounts, term deposits, loan accounts, foreign currency accounts, credit card, vault and transaction records of the AL leader and his family membersJalil, who ...
(read more) Friday, December 28th, 2007Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, now detained and facing an extortion case, has expressed doubt about the fate of election and democracy in the country.Hasina, who appeared before the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court yesterday morning, made her observations during consultations with her counsel after the court hour.“There may be an election in name only. As a result, a government may be formed. But what is next? Everything has a limit,” she was quoted by her counsel as saying.About the extortion case she is facing, Hasina told her lawyers: “I know the result of this case is decided. It ...
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