Archive for February 11th, 2008
Monday, February 11th, 2008Clashes between the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Islami Chhatra Shibir over a trifling matter overnight left at least 40 students injured in Dhaka Polytechnic Institute yesterday.Male students had to leave hostels by 5:00pm following orders from the authorities. Hundreds of them had to put up with huge inconvenience for having to vacate dormitories at short notice.A large contingent of police remains deployed to stop escalation of violence on the campus at Tejgaon.Despite the tension, the authorities have decided to go on with classes and examinations. A three-member committee was formed to probe the incidents.During the ...
(read more) Monday, February 11th, 2008With rice import from India remaining suspended for the second day yesterday, the government said a process has been initiated to persuade the Indian authority so that its decision to stop rice export does not affect imports under L/Cs (letters of credit) opened already.Hundreds of lorries carrying consignments of rice for Bangladesh remained stranded at the Petrapole port in India as several meetings between the Indian exporters and customs officials failed to reach any decision regarding resuming export to Bangladesh.Authorities of both the countries, however, said yesterday that the Indian government's decision to suspend rice export will not hamper the ...
(read more) Monday, February 11th, 2008The process of unity between two rival factions of BNP came to a grinding halt as pro-Saifur faction in a meeting yesterday decided not to pursue unification unless pro-Khaleda faction withdraws the conditions it had slapped on it.Leader of pro-Khaleda faction Khandaker Delwar Hossain said on Saturday that unification can take place only if pro-Saifur faction disbands itself and declares null and void the meeting in which it had been formed.Some BNP standing committee members in a meeting in Saifur's Gulshan residence in the capital on October 29 of last year appointed former finance minister M Saifur Rahman as ...
(read more) Monday, February 11th, 2008In the face of objection from former premier Sheikh Hasina's counsel, the Supreme Court yesterday re-fixed the hearing for tomorrow on the government appeal against the landmark High Court verdict that quashed an extortion case against her.Following an argument of Attorney General Fida M Kamal and Barrister Rafiqe-ul Huq, chief counsel for Hasina, the six-member full bench of the Appellate Division headed by acting Chief Justice M Fazlul Karim adjourned hearing.Barrister Rafique objected to the hearing on the government petition arguing that the petition has not been filed properly as per the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (Appellate Division) Rules, 1988.Some ...
(read more) Monday, February 11th, 2008The central bank in its quarterly report yesterday predicted that the economy would grow positively with heightened business confidence and socio-political stability against the backdrop of elections scheduled for late 2008."It is likely that the country's near-term growth prospects would become brighter through rapid and effective implementation of policy strategies and reform programmes taken up by the government," Mustafa K Mujeri, chief economist of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), said while releasing the report at a press conference at the central bank headquarters.The quarterly report was based on economic indicators of October-December, 2007 -- the second quarter of fiscal year 08. ...
(read more) Monday, February 11th, 2008People in remote areas of Rangamati and Bandarban in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are facing a severe food crisis following the recent invasion of rats on their jhum crop fields.Indigenous people in Chhotomerung, Ramghar, Dighinala, Panchhari, Guimara Laxmichhari of Khagrachhari, Thanchi, Alikadam, Lama, Ruma and Nikhiyangchhari in Bandarban have been passing days practically half-fed and many of them are living on jungle potato.According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), 766 families in Bandarban--363 in Ruma upazila, 295 in Thanchi and 108 in Roangchhari upazila--lost their yearly production.But locals claimed that about 1,800 families in the hill district have been ...
(read more) Monday, February 11th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) will start the second round of electoral reform talks with political parties from next week regardless of the result of the High Court hearing tomorrow on the dialogue with BNP, Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain said yesterday.The EC, however, backed off from its earlier decision of holding talks with all the parties together since most of them refused to sit with Jamaat-e-Islami, an anti-liberation force. The commission will now sit with the parties separately to avoid further complexities, sources said."We will start the second round of talks from February 18 or 19," the election commissioner ...
(read more) Monday, February 11th, 2008Sen Barack Obama swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state Saturday night, slicing into Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton's slender delegate lead in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination.The Illinois senator also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing his best night of the campaign."Today, voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of America stood up to say 'yes we can'" Obama told a cheering audience of Democrats at a party dinner in Richmond, Va.He jabbed simultaneously at Clinton and Arizona Sen John McCain, saying the election was a ...
(read more) Monday, February 11th, 2008A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against detained former communications minister barrister Nazmul Huda and his wife advocate Sigma Huda in an extortion case filed by a former BNP lawmaker in July last year.Huda and Sigma, who were present in the court yesterday, pleaded not guilty and demanded fair justice before the court after Judge Mohammad Shafiul Azam of the Special Tribunal-12 read out the charges to them.Former BNP lawmaker GM Siraj filed the extortion case against Huda and his wife with Dhanmondi police on July 27 last year.According to the case statement, the complainant GM Siraj, owner of Cab ...
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