Archive for September 6th, 2008
Saturday, September 6th, 2008Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus might take legal actions against Telenor to force the Norwegian telecom operator to honour a deal concerning their joint subsidiary in Bangladesh.Telenor owns 62 percent shares while Yunus' Grameen Telecom holds the remaining stakes in GrameenPhone, launched in 1996.Pointing out Telenor's alleged involvement in illegal internet telephony services and allegations of violating environmental law and employment of underage workers by its subcontractors, the 'banker of the poor' demanded that Telenor authorises complete transparency in the matters, making public the investigation reports and shareholders' agreement."We cannot allow the name of Grameen to be tarnished directly or ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008Many low-lying areas in the eastern part of the capital went under floodwater yesterday and more areas are likely to be inundated in the next couple of days as rivers around the city started flowing over danger levels from Thursday."Low-lying Areas in Dohar and Nawabganj are already under water. More areas are likely to be inundated if the Balu, the Shitalakhya, the Turag, the Dhaleswari and the Tongi canal keep swelling," said Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) Assistant Engineer Arifuzzaman last evening.Fed with water from upstream, water levels of all major rivers--the Padma, the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Meghna--started to ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008Detained former premier Khaleda Zia's parliamentary adviser and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and former Awami League (AL) state minister Obaidul Qader were released from jail on bail yesterday.SQ Chowdhury was released from Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur at about 11:45am after 19 months of his arrest by the joint forces at his Dhanmondi residence on February 3 last year.Salauddin is accused in six cases including those filed for extortion and amassing illegal wealth. He was granted his sixth bail on August 28.According to sources, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against him on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008Tarique Rahman, recently released from detention, is likely to leave the country this week for treatment abroad and might not return before the parliamentary election slated for the third week of December, BNP and family sources said.Many junior leaders of BNP, who threw their weight behind the young senior joint secretary general hoping to enjoy his blessings in the party and ahead of the poll, will however desperately try to bring him back as soon as possible.Meanwhile, detained BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is also expected to be released on bail this week as lawyers of the former prime minister decided ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008At second-round talks with the Election Commission this week, Awami League will continue to press for national election before upazila polls, full withdrawal of the state of emergency and changes in some new electoral provisions."We want both the parliamentary and upazila polls, but they should be held as per the roadmap," AL Presidium member Suranjit Sengupta told The Daily Star yesterday.He said the EC must hold the general election first if it is to avoid breaching its own roadmap.In the EC roadmap announced last year, the time marked down for national election is June 15 to December 31 ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008It does not make any sense to Rubina Begum that she is being ostracised for something she is not responsible for at all."You can't call it a life," the 30-year-old obstetric fistula patient, who became a persona non grata among her family and neighbours, said with a sigh.Her silence, her posture and hopeless utterances give her a demeanour of someone who has lost everything.Her husband left her after she had developed the condition, nobody would marry her because of it, and her peace of mind has been gone for many years now, said Rubina who developed the condition during ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) begins talks with political parties today in an effort to minimise differences between the EC and political parties about their registration with the commission, which was made mandatory for taking part in the general elections.The EC will sit in the third round of dialogue with 16 political parties.In the wake of changes in the political arena, the EC has invited for talks the BNP faction loyal to ex-premier Khaleda Zia, which is led by BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain.BNP Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan, however, told The Daily Star last night that they ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008It was 3:00pm on Monday. A man and a woman were busy catching fish in a lagoon of the waste treatment plant in Pagla of Narayanganj. The lagoon was just next to another lagoon where poison was applied on August 30 to kill the fish in it as they were contaminated with heavy metals.Noticing The Daily Star correspondent the two packed up their gear and started to flee with a bag half full of fish. They took the fish to their home half a kilometre away."I am not a fisherman… I am just catching fish which I eat regularly," ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008Around 450 Bangladeshi workers have been stranded in the Saudi capital Riyadh with no food and water as their employer said they arrived in the country well ahead of schedule, the Arab News reported Thursday.Meantime, Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday said the Kuwaiti government assured him of every effort to resolve the problems faced by Bangladeshi workers there, reports UNB.Citing a Bangladesh Embassy official in Riyadh, the Arab News said the local Bangladeshi mission has been arranging food and other provisions on a daily basis for the stranded workers for the last four days.The employer, Arsee Contracting Company, ...
(read more) Saturday, September 6th, 2008The European Union (EU) might not send a full mission to observe the national election if the government does not restore people's 'basic freedoms' at least six weeks before the polls, said EU officials.However, if fundamental rights such as freedom of movement, assembly, association, thought and conscience, and speech are reinstated, it would send observers even under the state of emergency, they added.In the event of the caretaker administration failing to act to that effect, the EU will confine itself to sending a technical assistance team.The union has recently said its rules of procedures based on the UN election ...
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