Archive for February 1st, 2008
Friday, February 1st, 2008The High Court judgment on former premier Sheikh Hasina's writ petition challenging the legality of bringing an extortion case against her under Emergency Power Rules (EPR) will determine the fate of other such cases under the EPR.Law Adviser AF Hassan Ariff made this comment yesterday while talking about the future of cases filed for crimes committed before the promulgation of the Emergency Power Ordinance but being investigated under the EPR.During his weekly briefing, the law adviser also said the government will form a Constitutional Commission and enact Right to Information Act. He added that the government is pondering about ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008The caretaker government's plan to debar the detained "corrupt" political bigwigs from contesting the next parliamentary elections might not work if they are not tried under the Emergency Power Rules (EPR).According to a provision of the EPR, any person, convicted of corruption by a trial court, will be disqualified from contesting any election until adjudication of their appeal against the verdict.But, if the trials of these detained political leaders are done under the existing laws instead of the EPR, the convicted persons will be able to contest polls until the Supreme Court (SC) gives the final order upholding the trial ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008Joint Damage Loss and Needs Assessment (JDLNA) Mission of 11 donors yesterday proposed to the government a $ 4 billion programme to mitigate natural disasters like cyclone Sidr to be implemented in the next 15 years.The 70-member mission led by World Bank (WB) estimated the preliminary loss in last November's cyclone Sidr at $ 1.6 billion, which is three percent of the country's GDP. The loss in agriculture sector was estimated at $ 440 million and transport sector at $140 million.The WB's South Asia Region Lead Water Resources Specialist Masood Ahmad led the donors' side, while Economic Relations Division ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008Organised criminals have started large-scale extortion again in different parts of the city through phone calls using the names of listed top criminals now on the run.Threatened by the callers, a good number of people have already paid them the toll without informing the law enforcers. Moreover, some residents of the infested areas have opted to move elsewhere due to an increase in such crimes.Residents of Sobhanbagh and Lalmatia in Mohammadpur, Mirpur, and Pallabi say operations by the phone gangs are infesting their locality. No less than 10 people have received threatening phone calls in Sobhanbagh and Lalmatia lately, they ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008Fault in one of the age-old underground high-voltage cables caused the two-hour blackout at Zia International Airport (ZIA) on Sunday, found two probe committees.Following the power outage, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) and Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism formed two committees the same night to probe the incident that shut down all operations of the country's leading international airport.Both the committees submitted their reports to the secretary of civil aviation and tourism ministry on Wednesday, within the stipulated timeframe."The supply line of Desco [Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd] tripped as earthing [grounding] was created at the water ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008As few as 16 doctors are on hand to treat about 86,000 inmates in the country's 67 jails if they fall sick and are committed to prison hospitals.None of the prisons and jail hospitals has a single nurse. If required, some of the convicts sentenced to rigorous imprisonment are randomly assigned as nurses for the patients' care.Sources said the Dhaka Central Jail hospital has three doctors, while 13 others are posted at different central jail hospitals. As many as 53 jails have no doctors at all, leave alone hospitals.The sources added that the 67 jails now have prisoners over three ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar yesterday said he is ready to mediate between the rival factions within BNP, if any proposal comes along.“If they [factions] want, I will surely try to settle the differences so that the party stays united,” he told reporters at the National Press Club after a milad mahfil in honour of late Toyeba Majumder, mother of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia."As the Speaker I can't do much, but as a member of BNP I want to do something for reconciliation between the factions," said Sircar, one of the founding standing committee members of the party.He urged the government ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008The High Court yesterday called for the records to check as to what circumstances prompted the government to give approval under the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) for trial of the extortion case against detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.A High Court Division bench comprising Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Shahidul Islam called for the documents before passing the order for adjournment of hearing on the rule challenging the legality of placing the case under EPR as the crime had been committed before promulgation of the emergency rules.The court adjourned the hearing until Monday at government side's request ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008Border Security Force (BSF) of India shot dead three Bangladeshi cattle traders and injured five others on Ratnai border under Baliadangi upazila of Thakurgaon district yesterday morning, BDR officials said.The dead are Md Ataur Rahman, 28, son of Hukum Uddin of Aman-Dhaman village, Md Shahidul Haque, 20, son of Rabiul Islam of Gariali village, and Md Akhtaruzzaman, 27, son Mohesh Uddin of Ratnai village under the upazila.Identity of the injured cattle traders could not be known as of filing of this report at 7:00pm yesterday.Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) sources said the Indian border guards opened fire on a group of cattle ...
(read more) Friday, February 1st, 2008The Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2008 begins today on Bangla Academy premises in the city, commemorating the historic Language Movement of February 1952.Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to inaugurate the month-long festival at 3:30pm, academy Director General Syed Muhammad Shahed said."We hope the fair would be more organised, well-decorated and lively this year compared to those in the past with the participation of bookworms, writers, poets, publishing houses and all others concerned," Shahed said at a press conference at the academy yesterday.He said the authorities have taken up a number of initiatives considering the visitors' convenience and introduced stringent ...
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