Archive for March 29th, 2008
Saturday, March 29th, 2008The government is about to finalise a new law for launching the Truth and Accountability Commission to prevent corrupt persons from participating in any election and holding public offices and posts in financial organisations for five years without trial.The constitution and the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) already have provisions to imprison and bar the corrupt from election for the period of conviction and appeal.But the power of the Truth Commission in this regard will be sweeping as the bar comes as a consequence of the punishment of depositing ill-gotten wealth to the state exchequer following voluntary disclosure of their offences.The ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Tax holiday facilities to 999 industries in last two fiscal years have brought positive impact as production values were 30 times and export value 17 times more than the revenue losses due to the facilities, reveals a study by NBR.Introduced as incentives for business investment, the system of tax holiday, which facilitates reduction or elimination of taxes, will end in June. But National Board of Revenue (NBR) last week recommended that the government continue the facilities considering its positive outcomes.According to the NBR study, total revenue loss of the government was Tk 1,205 crore in the FY 2005-06 and FY ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Climate change is an issue of justice and security that poses a serious challenge to the country already faced with numerous problems, experts told a discussion yesterday.It requires a change in lifestyle and adaptation to different geographic, economic and social changes.Titled “Challenges of Global Warming”, the discussion was organised by The Daily Star and was one of the three on the Bangladeshi economy, social sectors and climate change.The discussions were arranged for the visiting editors of Asian News Network (ANN) and moderated by Mahfuz Anam, current ANN chair and editor of The Daily Star.Dr QK Ahmed, executive director of ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Former chief of the Indian army's eastern command Lt Gen (retd) JFR Jacob yesterday said it was the freedom fighters' gallantry that liberated Bangladesh from Pakistan occupation.He said the full credit goes to them. They have done the real job and their acts of valour won the nation independence.The man who is credited with making Gen Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, the then commander of Pakistan army's eastern command, surrender in public on December 16, 1971, said the freedom fighters including the soldiers of the East Bengal Regiment had emerged as “terror for the Pakistani troops”.Now leading an 11-member delegation of ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Trains to and from Dhaka early yesterday could have run into fatal accidents as criminals stole around 4,000 metal clips that tie rails to the sleepers between Banani and Cantonment railway stations in the city.Bangladesh Railway officials termed the incident mysterious and suspected that it was an act of sabotage which could have resulted in several fatal train wrecks.Rail communication between the entire country and Dhaka was suspended for five hours from 8:00am yesterday. The authorities replaced the missing clips on the two-kilometre stretch of tracks after a three-hour effort and with the help of 50 workers from a ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Philippine activists warn about possible riots. Aid agencies across Asia worry how they will feed the hungry. Governments dig deeper every day to fund subsidies.Rice prices jumped 30 per cent to a record high yesterday across Asia, where the grain is a staple food for more than 2.5bn people.The sharp rise in the price of rice is hitting consumer pocketbooks and raising fears of public turmoil in the many parts of the subcontinent.Part of a surge in global food costs, rice prices on world markets have jumped 50 percent in the past two months and at least doubled since 2004. ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Retailers at different kitchen markets in the capital are charging prices of some essentials at will although the prices fell in the wholesale markets in the last two weeks.Market sources said people are not getting the benefit of the reduced wholesale prices of pulses, flour, edible oil and sugar as the market monitoring system by the joint forces and the city corporation remained inactive for the last few weeks.A high official of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) said since the prices of some commodities have dropped in the wholesale markets, it must have some impact on the retail market soon.He, however, did ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Around 3,000 Bangladeshis who were hired for jobs in Yemen are now working there in conditions close to indentured servitude.This came to light after Immigration Department of Yemen arrested 15 Bangladeshis at the Yemeni city of Sana'a for not having proper permits, reported Yemen Times Wednesday.However, the daily on Sunday received a letter titled "Bangladeshi nationals are suffering" that referred to the 15 arrested Bangladeshis and provided details on how Bangladeshis are cheated and left in bad conditions.The letter said a number of Bangladeshi brokers with the support of Yemeni sponsors were bringing in job seekers from Bangladesh with ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed has said various projects will be taken up for the development of underprivileged tribal people of the CHT region with special emphasis on education.“The present government is also giving importance to various income-generating projects for the people of the region,” the CA said at a cultural programme performed by Murang tribe at Kapurpara here yesterday morning.Earlier, the head of the caretaker government visited the members of Murang tribe at Kapurpara, 50-km from Bandarban town.Murang people welcomed the CA by playing their special musical instrument and wearing traditional dress. He donated Tk1 lakh to solve ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Former state minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmood Tuku was yesterday released from Kashimpur jail on parole for four hours following death of his mother-in-law Mamjuda Chowdhury.Mamjuda Chowdhury, 84, died of old age complications at LabAid Hospital in the city yesterday morning.The joint forces arrested Tuku at his residence in the city on February 3 last year. He was later sentenced to nine years imprisonment in a corruption case.DIG (Prisons) Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told the news agency that the former state minister was released on parole for four hours at 4:00pm to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law.Tuku's mother-in-law was ...
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