Archive for February, 2008
Sunday, February 24th, 2008Young Shahadat Hossain rose to a height that no paceman of the country has reached before with a six-wicket burst as Bangladesh put South Africa on a knife-edge after the eventful second day's play of the first Test at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.His fantastic feat not only gave the hosts a first-innings lead against a team who won their previous four Tests by an innings but also gave the Tigers a third realistic chance to sniff a victory after similar situations in Multan in 2003 against Pakistan and at Fatullah two years ago over world beaters Australia.And what ...
(read more) Sunday, February 24th, 2008The government will soon promulgate a new anti-money laundering ordinance to confiscate and recover the assets siphoned out of the country.Under the rule, the state or in some cases Bangladesh Bank (BB) will be able to sign memorandums of understanding, multilateral or bilateral contracts and conventions with other governments and organisations.The law ministry has already vetted the draft prepared by the central bank and will send it for approval of the advisory council shortly, said sources.If approved, the ordinance will allow the government to seek help from any country and assist investigative agencies to probe crimes linked to money laundering, ...
(read more) Sunday, February 24th, 2008Jamaat-e-Islami is the lone party that opposed the Election Commission's (EC) proposals aimed at ensuring accountability and transparency in collection and expenditure of election funds of political parties, reveals an EC report.The party also opposed the EC's initiatives for providing people with the right to have information on political parties' polls expenditures, says the report based on the parties' views on the EC's proposals for electoral reforms.Jamaat however proposed that the EC increase the ceiling of election expenditures of candidates in parliamentary polls to Tk 25 lakh each from Tk 5 lakh now, and also raise the proposed ceiling ...
(read more) Sunday, February 24th, 2008Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed flies to India on a six-day visit today, seeking to boost military relations between the two neighbours.The army chief was scheduled to visit India in January last year but deferred his tour plan several times due to domestic engagements.Gen Moeen, the first Bangladesh army chief to visit India, is likely to meet President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister AK Anthony, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and chiefs of the three forces.Intelligence sharing, border security and connectivity will feature high in his high-level ...
(read more) Sunday, February 24th, 2008The leaders of Pakistan's main opposition party vowed yesterday to curtail some of President Pervez Musharraf's broad powers, including his right to dismiss parliament, following their sweeping win in recent elections.They also mulled candidates for the next prime minister with a veteran politician reputed to be a consensus builder emerging as the favourite.PPP leaders were considering various proposals in closed-door talks through the weekend. Though a final decision was not expected before Monday, PPP leaders indicated they would push to strip the president of the right to dismiss parliament."The participants ... vowed to work for the restoration of the ...
(read more) Sunday, February 24th, 2008A total of 26,159 fowls infected with avian influenza commonly known as bird flu were culled in Savar, Nilphamari, Barisal and Thakurgaon on Friday night and yesterday.Around 17,000 chickens were annihilated at 10 poultry farms at Savar yesterday following the detection of deadly H5N1 virus in the farms, reported news agency UNB.With the culling of the fresh ones, a total of 31,000 chickens were culled at Savar in the last two days, Livestock officials said.After the detection of bird flu in 'Sheela Poultry Farm' at Rajashan, the Livestock officials decided to cull all the chickens of the 14 poultry farms ...
(read more) Sunday, February 24th, 2008The country's territory might shrink in future as erosion in the rivers bordering with India and Myanmar is causing loss of land areas.As Bangladesh is a lower riparian country, in most cases these rivers erode their banks on the Bangladesh side while chars emerge on the other.According to government accounts, the country has already lost more than 15,000 hectares of land due to erosion caused by 10 common rivers at 29 points with India and one with Myanmar.Rivers including Dholai and Surma in Sylhet, Mahananda in Chapainawabganj, Muhuri in Feni, Ichhamati and Kalika in Satkhira, Atrai and Punarbhaba in Naogaon, ...
(read more) Saturday, February 23rd, 2008A new organogram for Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Ltd has been prepared abolishing about 200 posts of meter readers and supervisors following discovery of large-scale corruption in the organisation.The new organogram proposes 3,481-strong staff for Titas instead of previous 3,622, curtailing the number by 141.Sources said the posts of meter readers and supervisors would be eliminated for their involvement in corruption and with a view to curbing further graft. Instead, engineers would be tasked with the meter-reading job.A committee comprising existing and former officials of Titas has prepared the draft organogram with assistance from the Taskforce members and ...
(read more) Saturday, February 23rd, 2008Pakistan's two biggest opposition parties sought to thrash out their choice for premier yesterday after agreeing to form a coalition government that could drive President Pervez Musharraf from power.Ex-premier Nawaz Sharif and the widowed husband of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said their parties, once bitter rivals, would join forces after trouncing Musharraf's allies in elections earlier in the week.Officials from both parties said the frontrunner for prime minister was Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the widely respected vice president of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).A senior PPP official said Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and Sharif "discussed the ...
(read more) Saturday, February 23rd, 2008Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said the Election Commission (EC) is absolutely neutral and there is no reason for it to favour any particular party."We will not sit with any party--no matter big or small--unless it is the mainstream and the mainstream of the BNP will be determined by the High court. We will have to wait until then," Huda said."The two factions of BNP have locked into infighting and the Election Commission had nothing to do with it. They should either solve their problems themselves or wait for the High Court verdict [in this regard]," he ...
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