Archive for October 23rd, 2008
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008The Election Commission (EC) yesterday accepted Awami League's (AL) revised constitution and decided to register the party as it omitted the names of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jatiya Sramik League from the list of associated organisations in its charter.An AL delegation informed the EC at an emergency meeting yesterday afternoon that it finalised a new provision in its charter only saying the two auxiliary bodies consisting of students and workers will be run by their own constitutions.The AL has also decided to correct its constitution to meet one significant registration criterion that prohibits formation of associated or affiliated bodies consisting ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008In another example of gross corruption, Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL), former BTTB, showed deployment of 256 labourers on papers only to transfer files in an almirah.BTCL officials told The Daily Star all the labourers were 'deployed' to the head office in the capital to do the task, which a class-four employee could do in a couple of hours.A section of the corrupt BTCL officials showed the fake deployment to misappropriate huge amount of money, according to confessions by four such officials before the Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac).The Tac denies giving details of the matter, which is one of ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008The government finally decided to test abroad the level of melamine contamination in only eight of the powdered milk brands out of over 50 of them, leaving parents of babies in grave confusion about the safeness of the rest.Meanwhile, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), the state agency responsible for testing the quality of food items, has been mum about which brands are safe, with its director general (DG) saying, the agency has no plan to publicise the safe brands within a few days.Offering support for authentic tests of the samples sent abroad, UN agencies Fao, WHO and Unicef ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008The caretaker government starts the second round of talks with political parties today, aiming to ensure an atmosphere conducive to holding a free, fair and credible national election.On the first day, the government will sit with the Awami League (AL) and BNP. The talks with the AL will be held at the Chief Adviser's Office at 2:30pm while the BNP will sit with the government at 6:30pm at the same venue.Five advisers to the caretaker government led by Commerce and Education Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman last night met BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her cantonment residence and formally invited her ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008Defying a court order, dismantling of MT Enterprise--an oil tanker blacklisted by Greenpeace for containing hazardous substances--continues at a ship-breaking yard in the coastal upazila of Sitakunda.Madina Enterprise, locally known as Siko Steel ship-breaking yard, has been dismantling the vessel secretly for some time ignoring protests from environment-conscious people.Proprietor of Madina Enterprise Nazim Uddin admitted the dismantling of the ship and claimed that he has all the required clearances from the authorities concerned.Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) on October 17 filed a writ petition accusing the importer of the ship of being in contempt of court. Hearing ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 BNP Standing Committee member Dr RA Ghani has said the party should conduct an internal "cleaning" operation and if anybody is found guilty, they should not be in the forefront.Asked if the convicted leaders can continue with the party, Ghani said this but pointed out that these convicted leaders did not get the chance to defend themselves.In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star, the BNP leader admitted that his party made many mistakes while in the government."There were chances for working for more development of the country. Many good laws could be formulated as we had two-thirds ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008Police yesterday tried to prevent Amra Muktijoddhar Santan (AMS), a platform of sons and daughters of freedom fighters, from protesting the removal of Baul singers' (folk singers) sculptures from Zia International Airport intersection.The AMS activists gathered at Muktangan in the city around 11:00am to protest Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) Chairman Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini's threat to break all sculptures carrying the memories of the Liberation War.A police team tried to disperse the protesters and took away two effigies of Amini, which they brought to burn, and a banner of the organisation.AMS Vice-president Gazi Md Shafiqul Islam and another activist ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008Mong Raja Paihala Prue Chowdhury was killed yesterday as a bus carrying him plunged into a roadside ditch at Patachhara near Ramgarh in Khagrachhari district.The Raja's son Saching Prue Chowdhury along with 23 other passengers of the bus was injured in the accident.The cremation ceremony of Mong Raja will be held on Monday.Crown prince Saching Prue will be the new Mong Raja.The Mong Raja returned to Dhaka on Monday night after a 12-day tour of Australia at the invitation of UNDP.The 55-year-old chief of Mong Circle along with his son boarded a Khagrachhari-bound bus of Soudia in ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008The United States will start sending poll observers to Bangladesh in the first week of November to monitor the December 18 general election, US Ambassador to Dhaka James F Moriarty announced yesterday."A 120-member US poll monitoring team will start arriving here from early November to monitor the elections," the US envoy told reporters after a meeting with Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at the foreign ministry.Replying to a question, Moriarty said the state of emergency will not hinder sending of the US poll observation mission.He reiterated his hope that conditions are going to be in place for holding ...
(read more) Thursday, October 23rd, 2008Sector Commanders' Forum (SCF) will publish a list of war criminals of 1971 Liberation War.The SCF Convener Maj Gen. (retd) KM Safiullah told the news agency last night that a sub-committee is now working hard to prepare the list of war criminals on the basis of strong evidence.“The list is expected to be finalised by November 15 and then we will make the list public through a press conference,” he said.Safiullah said the SCF took the responsibility of making a list of the war criminals, as the caretaker government is very much indifferent to this issue.“From the very beginning of ...
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