Archive for November 9th, 2008
Sunday, November 9th, 2008Tension between Bangladesh and Myanmar intensified Friday as Myanmar started reinforcing border troops after talks in Myanmar over disputed waters in the Bay of Bengal failed.This also prompted Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) to be on alert at strategic points in Bandarban and Cox's Bazar districts.According to sources in BDR, the paramilitary forces have been put on alert in Rezu, Chakdhala, Asadtali, Fultali, Lebuchhari, Dhumdhum, Amtali, Tamru and Ukhia borders in the two districts.Bangladesh Navy intelligence gathered information Thursday that Myanmar had begun mobilising ground troops near the Naf river but the mobilisation was not visible. Then the Navy alerted the ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) is considering whether to extend the deadline for submission of nomination papers for the ninth parliamentary election by a few days.Commission officials said the date might be deferred by three to five days and that the dates for withdrawal of nomination papers and scrutiny would also be changed in that case.However, there would be no change in the election date slated for December 18, they said.The EC announced the detailed poll schedule on November 2, setting November 13 as the last date for submission of nomination papers. But several political parties including the BNP have since ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008Some leading multinational powdered milk producers, in the face of a serious worldwide outcry of consumers, are propagating an acceptable level of melamine in milk products, prompting severe criticism from doctors and scientists who term it as 'nothing but an aggressive sales drive at the cost of public health'.Citing guidelines set by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), many local distributors of the multinationals are also propagating that the permissible level of melamine in powdered milk is 10 milligrams per kilogram.But what both the multinationals and local distributors are not saying is that there is an uproar in ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008The decision to take WiMAX licence would push Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Ltd (BTCL) to have private partnership, form a separate company, invest in excess of $250 million and take significant long-term business and technological risks.The state-owned company has decided to ask Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to relax its November 16 deadline to obtain the licence by paying $31.6 million. This request is being made as the BTCL decided to take a "strategic" partner from the private sector to minimise the "risk factor".BTCL's decision for WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) licence was almost imposed by the regulator that awarded ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008As much as 78 percent seats of the country's public teachers training (TT) colleges remain vacant, resulting in a shortage of qualified teachers and sub-standard education for the schoolchildren.In the last three years, enrolment at 14 public TT colleges has fallen by 66 percent. This downtrend has given birth to growing concern over the fate of these institutions, which have a reputation for providing quality education.Academicians observe rapid growth of private TT colleges and universities and their ill-practices, especially "selling" certificates, is mainly responsible for decreasing enrolment at public TT colleges.A latest survey of Teaching Quality Improvement (TQI) project also ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008More than 80 people were injured as Awami League factions clashed over finalising the panels of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary polls in Patuakhali, Noakhali and Comilla yesterday.In Patuakhali, at least 50 people were injured as two factions of AL Baufal upazila unit clashed at an extended meeting at noon.Our correspondent quoted police and witnesses as saying that the extended meeting was called to finalise a panel of candidates for Patuakhali-2 constituency.Leaders and activists of a faction led by former lawmaker and Baufal upazila unit president ASM Feroz gathered at the party office at Janata Bhaban at the upazila headquarters ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008Rescuers uncovered a classroom full of dead students early yesterday after searching through the night for survivors of a school collapse in a Haitian shantytown which killed at least 82 people.The three-storey building caved in Friday morning during class, destroying neighboring homes and leaving scores of students and teachers trapped beneath huge slabs of cement and twisted steel rods. Some 107 were injured.As many as 700 students aged between three and 20 attended the church-run school on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince, though it was unclear how many were inside when the building came crashing down.As the death toll ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008Former adviser of caretaker government Hafizuddin Khan fears the country might 'plunge into uncertainty' if BNP sticks to its demands for scrapping of the RPO amendments, withdrawal of graft cases against its leaders and resignation of the election commissioners.“However, if these are mere political rhetoric, I don't see any reason to panic,” he said in an interview with The Daily Star.Referring to the call for allowing those convicted under the Emergency Power Rules to contest the polls, he said meeting the demand would amount to undoing the reforms done over the last two years.It would prove harmful for the nation. ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008The number of political parties and candidates, who will contest in the upcoming parliamentary election, will be much lesser than that of the previous ones as only 25 parties will be registered as parliamentary parties this time around, Election Commission (EC) officials said.With only two days left to finish registering political parties on Monday, the EC so far distributed certificates of registration to 15 parties, and seven more will get theirs today and tomorrow while 47 were denied registration, the officials added.In the 2001 parliamentary election, more than 1,500 candidates from 55 parties contested. But the number will drop this ...
(read more) Sunday, November 9th, 2008The Awami League (AL) will have no objection to deferring the election schedule, given that polls be held as slated for December 18.Acting AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said this while fielding questions from reporters after a meeting of the central working committee, the party's highest decision-making body.Meanwhile, Abdul Jalil has been reinstated as the party general secretary.The meeting, chaired by party President Sheikh Hasina, reconstituted the AL's parliamentary board which will pick party candidates for the upcoming elections.It formed an election-steering committee. All members of the party's central working committee and advisory council will sit ...
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