Archive for June 18th, 2008
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008India and Myanmar have raised objections about oil and gas exploration in several blocks bordering their maritime boundary, which may slow down Petrobangla's bid to find hydrocarbon resources offshore.Petrobangla and the foreign ministry sources said recently India has categorically objected against exploration in eight offshore blocks close to Indian maritime border while earlier this year Myanmar generally objected to exploration in the bidding area close to its maritime border.Petrobangla evaluated offers of seven oil companies under the off-shore block bid that was closed on May 7 and was expected to submit the evaluation report today to the energy ministry. ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008The government yesterday filed a damage suit with a Dhaka court against Niko Resources Bangladesh Ltd, claiming Tk 746.50 crore in compensation for destroying properties and gas reserves in and around the Tengratilla Gas Field in Sunamganj.The secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources filed the case on behalf of the government and Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla).The defendants are Qasim Sharif, president of Niko Resources Bangladesh Ltd, Brian J Adolph, vice-president and country manager of Niko, Peter Mercier, vice-president (Bangladesh Operation) of GSM Inc--a worldwide company represented by its President Robert D Grace--and GSM Drilling ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) has decided to announce on Friday the schedule for holding polls in four city corporations and nine municipalities by the end of July, which will be the first elections under the state of emergency.“We hope to do so,” Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told The Daily Star yesterday when asked about the EC decision.Meanwhile, the caretaker government is yet to decide whether the state of emergency would be relaxed or lifted to create a congenial atmosphere for credible elections, allowing polls campaigns without any restrictions.The EC expects the government will make a decision in ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008The original copies of the country's proclamations of independence, formation of the first government, and the laws' continuance enforcement order of 1971 are missing from government custody.Senior officials of the cabinet division, who are responsible for preserving the historic documents, do not know how the originals got lost.They said when the current caretaker government in April this year handed over some historic documents to the National Archives for permanent preservation, the original documents of the country's birth were not found."Original copies of the documents were not in the cabinet division's custody. We had photocopies of those, which we ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday said there are no immediate remedies to the budget implementation crisis unless long-term investment is made in the public sector."We need to import an angel if we want an immediate solution to the problem," he said at a dialogue styled "State of the Bangladesh economy and an analysis of the national budget for FY2008-09" organised by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at Sonargaon Hotel.Mirza Aziz made the comments following questions raised by discussants including politicians, economists, business leaders, civil society members and donors on the government's poor administrative capacity for implementing the budget.Prof Wahiduddin ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008The World Bank (WB) yesterday approved two budget support programmes worth $320 million to assist the government implement its wide-ranging governance and economic policy and energy reforms.Of the funds, $200 million will be provided as Transitional Support Credit (TSC) to help lessen pressure on the budget for 2007-08 fiscal year and the rest for the power sector, said a statement issued by the WB, Dhaka office.With approval of these projects, WB's total concessionary lending to Bangladesh in FY 2007-08 stood at $683 million, which is 80 percent more than $379 million in FY 2006-2007.Of the total lending for the ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008Every day 50 Bangladeshi women are lured to India and sold there, Home Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin yesterday told the inaugural ceremony of a new police investigation unit formed to strengthen fight against human trafficking."According to one report, every day 50 Bangladeshi girls are lured across the Indian border and sold. India shares 4,222 kilometres of border with Bangladesh and most of the border is open to trafficking," he said.The unit labelled "Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) Investigation Unit" has been set up within the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) with Additional Deputy Inspector General Abdul Jalil as its ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008At least 40, including 11 policemen, were injured in sporadic clashes between garment workers and the law enforcers at Sheorapara in Mirpur yesterday.The agitating garment workers damaged at least six vehicles during the clash, resulting in suspension of traffic movement on Rokeya Sarani for an hour from about 8:30am, witnesses said.Police arrested 12 workers on the spot on charge of assaulting the law enforcers, Officer-in-Charge of Mirpur Police Station Mohiuddin Mahmood told The Daily Star.The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Dhaka later sent the arrestees to jail when they were produced before it, the police said.The workers of ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008Demanding release of all political leaders including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the BNP-led four-party alliance yesterday said people would not accept trials under the emergency power rules that it said do not allow the judges to work independently.They observed that the political leaders behind bars should be freed to make the ongoing dialogue meaningful and hold an acceptable general election.Addressing a discussion organised by the alliance, BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain alleged that the ongoing trials have been reduced to a farce under the state of emergency.Held at the auditorium of Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, the ...
(read more) Wednesday, June 18th, 2008Awami League (AL) yesterday renewed its call to the government for creating a congenial atmosphere by lifting the state of emergency immediately and holding parliamentary elections ahead of other polls."We want the national elections held before all other polls and immediate withdrawal of the state of emergency," said Syed Ashraful Islam, acting general secretary of the AL, while talking to journalists following a meeting with the visiting Election Observation Exploratory Mission of the European Union (EU)."We think the main responsibility of this government is to hand over power to people's representatives. This government shouldn't do anything that might hinder the ...
(read more) 
