Archive for February 12th, 2008
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008A taskforce of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) to Combat Corruption and Serious Crimes designated to investigate National Housing Authority (NHA) yesterday revealed corruption of the authority officials and employees as cavalier as allotting housing plots to even two-year old children.The dishonestly allotted plots which had actually been marked as compensations to victimised citizens are situated in the capital's Mohammadpur and Mirpur areas.The taskforce also revealed that the corrupt officials and employees often created such rehabilitation plots by changing the government's master plan, and even by acquiring lands marked for parks, playgrounds, lakes, and even graveyards -- just to ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 12th, 2008The government is going to purchase 5.67 lakh tonnes of rice at a cost of Tk 1,592 crore to meet the local demand amid another spell of price hike in the capital's retail and wholesale markets.The price of per kilogram of coarse rice rose by Tk 1 in the last two days at retail shops.The rice traders blamed the Indian government's decision to impose ban on rice export through private traders for the new spate of price increases."The advisory committee on purchase sits today to approve the rice procurement mainly from India through government channel," an official of the ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 12th, 2008Demands for barring war criminals from contesting in elections and for disqualifying anti-liberation forces including Jamaat-e-Islami from getting registered as parliamentarian parties with the Election Commission (EC) are likely to feature dominantly in the upcoming second round of electoral reform talks between the commission and political parties.In the wake of recent boost in the demands' popularity, the EC is now considering inclusion of a permanent ban on war criminals from contesting in parliamentary elections in the proposed electoral law, sources in the EC said.The commission already included provisions in the proposed law for local government polls disqualifying war ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 12th, 2008An Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) along with two other policemen was arrested yesterday on charges of robbing a businessman's house in the port city early Sunday.They were suspended after the looted gold ornaments and Tk 1.75 lakh had been seized from them.The arrestees are Assistant Commissioner (AC) Abu Saleh Mohammad Mofazzal Haque of CMP Panchlaish Zone, his bodyguard constable Ehsanul Islam and driver constable Abdur Rauf.They were produced before a Chittagong court which placed them on a two-day remand yesterday.Sources said AC Mofazzal along with the two constables went to the residence of businessman Faruq ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 12th, 2008The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will extend the scope of its activities to look into "corruption within the military".A 10-member Danish delegation said this at a press briefing yesterday shortly after meeting ACC Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury at his office.“They [ACC] are having a programme starting to find out and follow up on corruption in the military. I think that's a good and right sign,” said Danish lawmaker Helge Adam Møller, quoting from discussions between the ACC boss and the representatives of Denmark parliament's Public Accounts Committee.“What about the military? Like in police and politics there could ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 12th, 2008The government yesterday instructed Dhaka City Corporation to extend its cleanliness drive to all the poultry markets in the city as a precautionary measure to fend off bird flu spread.Poultry sellers, meantime, said their sale has dropped drastically in the last few days due to panic among customers. They have asked the government to take immediate steps to save the industry by launching a campaign to remove panic.They were attending an inter-ministerial meeting on bird flu at the LGRD ministry."Running the cleanliness drive at 27 city corporation poultry markets won't do. You have to clean 300 other poultry markets," LGRD ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 12th, 2008Britain and the United States have made it clear that they are banking on the government assurance of holding polls by this year and on the army chief's pledge to steer clear of politics, choosing to overlook some other concerns.However, both the countries, especially Britain through its Foreign Secretary David Miliband, signalled that their support for the government is not unconditional. Through visits of high-profile officials over the last one week, they said political parties must engage with the administration to ensure the country won't return to its pre-1/11 state.Prof Imtiaz Ahmed of international relations department, Dhaka University, told The ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 12th, 2008The committee, which was given five days to submit a probe report on the violence of February 9 and 10 on Dhaka Polytechnic Institute campus, hurriedly submitted its findings last evening as higher authorities asked for it.The committee sources said during their enquiry they found evidence that outsiders (non-students of the institute) were involved in political activities, power and control over the hostels. They said the outsiders were responsible for the violence.Violent clashes between Islami Chhatra Shibir and Bangladesh Chhatra League left at least 40 students injured between February 9 and 10. The authorities vacated all male students' dormitories ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 12th, 2008Hillary Clinton shook up her campaign as Democratic rival Barack Obama overtook in the race for delegates to win the party nomination for the White House.Obama is expected to extend his lead in the so-called Potomac Primary on Tuesday after defeating Hillary Clinton in Washington state, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, and the US Virgin Islands at the weekend.Rattled by her defeats, the former first lady replaced her campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with longtime Clinton insider Maggie Williams.Hillary Clinton had been hoping for a good showing in Maine on Sunday after earlier winning neighbouring New Hampshire. She ended ...
(read more) 
