Archive for August, 2008
Sunday, August 31st, 2008Barisal, Rajshahi and Khulna divisions where poor people live most receive the least safety-net funds whereas Sylhet, Dhaka and Chittagong, which are comparatively good in terms of poverty, receive the lion's share of the funds.Noticing the discrimination, the finance ministry sits tomorrow to change the existing practice of distributing the safety-net funds.The east-west divide in terms of economy has been identified as a major obstacle to poverty eradication and economic possibility, says a finance ministry report on social safety-net programmes.According to the report, 52 percent people in Barisal live below the poverty line, 50.2 percent in Rajshahi and 45.7 percent ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008The International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia in its Dhaka Declaration has recommended creating South Asian Network on Climate Change and Food Security and establishing South Asia Climate Outlook Forum to combat challenges of climatic changes in the region collectively.The five-day symposium that concluded at Hotel Sonargaon in the capital yesterday also emphasised the need for stimulating multi-disciplinary research on the burning issue and identifying effective mitigation and adaptation options, including carbon sequestration in different ecosystems.The programme was jointly sponsored by Ohio State University, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN Economic and ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008For the first time in the country's history, political parties willing to contest in parliamentary polls must disclose sources of their funds at the time of newly mandated registration with the Election Commission (EC).The parties must submit to the EC details of their bank accounts and sources of funds at the time of applying for registration by October 15 for the upcoming parliamentary poll, according to the new registration rules.Authorised by the registration rules promulgated on Tuesday, the EC will check the authenticity of the documents submitted by the parties.Through the move, the EC, for the first time, ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008Awami League (AL) yesterday said if “champions of corruption” are released, the government has no moral or legal right to keep detained the leaders and workers of other parties arrested on “so-called” corruption charges.Acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam came up with the criticism after party's presidium meeting held at acting AL President Zillur rahman's Gulshan residence, as the party apparently took exception to bail granted last week to top BNP leaders and their former lawmakers in graft cases.He questioned the meeting of BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain and Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid with BNP ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008Hillside settlements in Chittagong have to be protected from recurrent landslides through immediate implementation of the protective measures recommended by experts at different times, speakers at a roundtable in the port city yesterday said.They said a legal structure and planning policy are needed for proper management of the hills and called for assigning a body to take care of their implementation.The Daily Star Chittagong office organised the discussion on Challenges of Development: Hill-Cutting and Landslide, at the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB), Chittagong.Engineers, architects, academics, government officials, journalists and NGO representatives took part in the discussion, moderated by The ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008Another round of violent clashes between garment workers and law enforcers in Gazipur and Savar left 60 more workers and 10 police injured yesterday.In Savar several thousand workers of a garment factory of Biswas group poured out on Dhaka-Aricha highway at Rajfulbaria demanding two months' back pay, and kept the busy highway blocked for three hours leaving several thousand vehicles stranded.Police had to fire around 30 rounds of teargas shells and over 100 rubber bullets in Konabari of Gazipur to quell the workers who were demonstrating against sacking of their co-workers from a factory of Standard Garments, and following ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday called for immediate actions at national, regional and global levels to face the impacts of climate change that poses threats to food security and livelihoods of millions."We must act immediately for two reasons -- our mitigating actions will take time to have an impact, and the costs of doing nothing are simply too great to allow," he said at the concluding session of a five-day international symposium on climate change and food security in South Asia at Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.Jointly sponsored by the government of Bangladesh, University of Dhaka, Ohio State University, World ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008Visiting Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson yesterday suggested the creation of a Himalayan council for countries surrounding the Himalayas, including Bangladesh, India and China, to research and cooperate on combating the accelerating effects of climate change in the region.Grimsson also said that the new security challenges rising out of the effects of climate change would be the central peace challenge of the 21st century.The president of Iceland's comments came at the closing ceremony of the International Symposium on Climate Change in Dhaka yesterday, Grimsson warned that environmental challenges such as water shortages and soil erosion threaten to sow the seeds ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008Police will interrogate former adviser Justice Fazlul Haque, his son Dr Afzal Hossain Raj and several others regarding their alleged payment of Tk 24 lakh to three arrested frauds for relieving the former adviser of corruption charges.Earlier on Wednesday, the three impostors -- Amalendu Das, dismissed VAT inspector Golam Ambia and dismissed police constable Mohammad Nuruzzaman alias Iqbal -- were arrested by an intelligence agency. They were handed over to Detective Branch on Thursday.On Friday, Towfiq Alam, an official of two NGOs run by the Haque family, filed a case with Dhanmondi Police Station alleging that he, on behalf of ...
(read more) Sunday, August 31st, 2008The flood situation in the northern region worsened yesterday with rising waters of the Teesta, the Brahmaputra and the Dharla rivers marooning several thousand people.In Sylhet, over 60,000 day labourers went out of jobs due to incessant rain coupled with floodwaters sweeping through the region from upstream Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya, reports our staff correspondent in Sylhet.Early Saturday, 20 villages of Devgram union in Goalanda upazila of Rajbari were inundated following the collapse of a 60-meter section of the Antarmor levee, reports UNB. The Goalanda-Rajbari town protection embankment is also under threat as the floodwaters continue to rise.A ...
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