Archive for November 10th, 2008
Monday, November 10th, 2008Nine doctors of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) yesterday told the Supreme Court registrar the medical reports on former BNP lawmaker Mosaddek Ali Falu's health were not made by a medical board but were individual examination reports.Falu's counsels had complied those reports and submitted to the court as medical board's recommendations due to lack of "knowledge in medical terminology", they claimed.One of two doctors who did not sign the 'recommendations' also gave his statement saying he did not examine Falu's health. But the lawyers included their names to Falu's petition to ensure his bail.All documents of a prisoner need ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008The government yesterday disclosed to the High Court (HC) that Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) also had detected high concentration of toxic melamine in seven brands of powdered milk out of the eight tested so far.The revelation raised questions among a cross-section of the people about the caretaker government's sincerity about ensuring public health as it had sat on the test results for a week instead of letting the worried consumers know about the findings.The court is scheduled to pronounce a judgment on the melamine issue today.On November 3 the government declared that melamine had been detected only ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008The caretaker government is amending the upazila parishad ordinance to prevent individuals from contesting parliamentary and upazila elections simultaneously.The council of advisers has already approved the amendment now being vetted at the law ministry, sources in the LGRD ministry said.The ordinance in force does not preclude anyone from seeking election to parliament and upazila parishads at the same time.It only bars a person from contesting for more than one post in the upazila election.Now as the parliamentary and upazila polls are to be held with a short time gap, many plan to run in both the ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008Myanmar withdrew its warships, the oil and gas exploration rig and the fossil fuel exploration vessels from Bangladesh waters yesterday but tension between the two countries still exists as both the nations mobilised more troops along their border."We want peaceful solution to the dispute not confrontation or war," Foreign Secretary Md Touhid Hossain told a press briefing at the foreign ministry yesterday. He said the Myanmar ships left the territory around yesterday noon.Terming the action of Myanmar "unexpected" at a time when the two nations are enjoying good relations, Touhid hoped that the tension would diffuse gradually.He said Dhaka would ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008With Korean, Chinese and Indian companies in the field, Myanmar's attempt to drill an exploratory oil and gas well within Bangladesh maritime boundary indicates that the country has been working on this plan for a long time.The presence of drilling rig in the oil-gas exploration ship of Korean company Daewoo working for Myanmar in the disputed area is a proof that Myanmar might have physically worked in the area without drawing the notice of Bangladesh in the recent past.To mobilise a rig is very costly and an oil company would do so only when it has previously done seismic survey ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) yesterday extended the deadline for filing nominations for parliamentary and upazila elections.It will now stop accepting nomination papers for both the polls on November 20. In the original schedules unveiled on November 2, the closing date was November 13.The dates for scrutiny and withdrawal of nominations too were rescheduled.Secretary to the EC Secretariat Humayun Kabir announced the changes at a press briefing at the commission premises.He said, “The time limit has been extended following requests from returning officers (ROs) and aspirant candidates for more time to complete submission of nomination papers.”As ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) yesterday said BNP has violated the electoral code of conduct for the ninth parliamentary election by turning the reception accorded to party chief on November 7 in Chittagong into an electoral showdown.Directed by EC, its secretariat yesterday sent a letter to BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain and reminded him that the event was a violation of electoral code of conduct.It also requested BNP to abide by the code of conduct to maintain atmosphere conducive to holding the upcoming parliamentary polls, sources in the EC Secretariat said.BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia visited Chittagong on November 7. As ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique of Dhaka University has said an electoral environment is "conspicuously" absent and people are still unsure that the parliamentary elections are going to be held on December 18."The caretaker government has failed in two years to earn people's trust that it really wants to relinquish power through an election," he said in an interview with The Daily Star.The professor of journalism said BNP's seven-point demand and not yet announcing its decision on participating in the elections have created confusions in the minds of people about the holding of the elections."There is a perception among people that ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008Awami League (AL) yesterday said it would ratify all reform initiatives taken by the caretaker government and officially recognise the laws passed under the current regime, if voted to power in the next parliamentary election."Not only Awami League but any political party that forms the next government will have to ratify the present government's activities for its own legality," AL spokesman Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters after holding a meeting with South Asia Director of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Philip Burton and British Ambassador in Dhaka Stephen Evans at the AL leader's Nam flat residence in the capital."If ...
(read more) Monday, November 10th, 2008BNP yesterday demanded fresh poll schedule for the ninth parliamentary election so that its prospective leaders who have been declared loan and utility bill defaulters can take part in it.Terming the Election Commission's (EC) new poll schedule "juggling of figures", BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain demanded that their aspirant candidates, who are defaulters of bank loans and utility bills, be given time till the day before election day to pay off and take part in the elections."You [the EC] will have to announce the poll schedule in such a way that our candidates who want to contest the ...
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