Archive for August 1st, 2008
Friday, August 1st, 2008The August 4 polls to four city corporations and nine municipalities will be held as per schedule and political parties can contest them as the High Court (HC) yesterday declared the election schedule valid.The HC also declared illegal and void the electoral rules disqualifying candidates using political affiliations in these elections.The HC bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice Md Abu Tariq declared valid the Election Commission (EC) schedule for holding the local government polls on August 4, saying the commission has completed preparing the voter lists of those areas.The judgment came following a writ petition filed by Jasim ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008Indian industrial conglomerate Tata Group yesterday scrapped its plan for $3 billion investment in Bangladesh as it sees "no prospect" of taking the projects any further."It is clear...that the government will not be in a position, in the foreseeable future, to grant the projects the natural gas commitment they would require," Tata said in a statement yesterday."Consequently there is no prospect of taking these projects further," it said, abandoning its plan after four years of endeavour to persuade Bangladesh government into ensuring a guaranteed supply of gas to its plants.Tata Group, which made overseas acquisitions of $18 billion in the ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008The arum (Kochu) plantation says it all. Or the new settlement a little away from the BDR camp in Marissa. Or the hills themselves. The story they tell is the same--it is one of mass scale destruction of forests in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). It could as well be called a genocide of trees.As our car entered Khagrachhari, the scenes hit us in the face. Whichever direction you look all you see is denuded hills, shaven clean of everything, like systematic ethnic cleansing. As if somebody was hell-bent on not leaving anything standing there.In the dull monsoon ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008Kuwait has decided not to renew residency visas of Bangladeshis doing menial jobs, saying these workers are a threat to state security and bring unnecessary international focus on the country, reports the Kuwait Times.The Gulf state that faced strong demonstrations by Asians, mainly Bangladeshi cleaning workers, demanding better wages, is also considering raising minimum wage to Kuwaiti dinar 40.Meanwhile, at least 160 Bangladeshi workers who allegedly instigated and took part in strikes in Kuwait in the last few days arrived in Dhaka yesterday, immigration police said. With the latest arrival, the number of deportees in two days now stands at ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008The Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) starts functioning on Sunday, Tac Chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan confirmed yesterday.Under the provisions of the Tac, corrupt individuals will be allowed to plead for mercy after voluntarily admitting their past corruption and depositing their ill-gotten wealth to the state exchequer.Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) at a routine press briefing yesterday said it would consider sending its cases to the Tac if an accused is deemed eligible to apply under the conditions set by the Tac.Earlier on Wednesday, the president appointed Justice Khan, a retired High Court judge, as the chairman of the Tac ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008A clique of unscrupulous middlemen between employers and workers has developed in overseas job markets over the years and is mainly responsible for numerous forms of abuse of Bangladeshi expatriates in the Middle East.In the '80s when Bangladesh officially began sending workers to the Middle Eastern countries, the employers used to bear all necessary costs. But with the expansion of labour market, a section of Bangladeshi migrants emerged and got involved in trade of work visas, experts say.At one stage, these brokers started competing with themselves to collect visas by offering higher payment and low-salaried workers to the employers. Some ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008Dhaka yesterday called for making Saarc more effective to enable it to tackle the major regional and global problems like food security, trade, energy and climate change.Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury made the call while addressing the first session of the Saarc Council of Ministers in the Sri Lankan capital.The foreign adviser stressed the need for continued focus on poverty alleviation within the broad context of social development.He made the statement on food security that is to be issued by the heads of government in Saarc. He also called for making Saarc Food Bank operational immediately.Iftekhar ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said the Election Commission (EC) might ask the government to incorporate specific provisions in laws regarding local body polls to prevent political parties from campaigning for their candidates in future.The CEC's comment came a day after the High Court (HC) scrapped provisions from the code of conduct of city corporations and municipality polls that restricted political parties from campaigning for their candidates.“Any amendment to the original laws on local government bodies is not possible now before the August 4 polls in four city corporations and nine municipalities. However it will ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008British Minister for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears arrived in Dhaka yesterday on a two-day trip.She was received at Zia International Airport by Home Advisor Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin .While talking to reporters at the airport, the advisor said that the government might lift the state of emergency before the national elections.Matin said, “We have already relaxed a few restrictions. If deemed necessary, the government will reconsider lifting the emergency.”However Matin warned against a return to a pre-1/11 situation, which he termed as anarchic.“No one, including you and me, want to go back to that anarchic ...
(read more) Friday, August 1st, 2008Former BNP minister M Shamsul Islam was released from prison on bail in the Gatco corruption case yesterday.He emerged from Dhaka Central Jail at 12:20pm, jailer Faruk Ahamed said.Earlier on Monday, the High Court granted two months' bail to him and former BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan. Bhuiyan was freed on Wednesday.They were sent to jail after their surrender to a Dhaka court on May 18 in connection with the case.Shamsul told reporters at the jail gate that he was feeling good to be out of jail, adding that it would give him more pleasure if all political ...
(read more) 
