Archive for November 19th, 2008
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008The government's renewed scramble for reaching an all party consensus about the parliamentary poll date failed to produce any result yesterday as BNP stuck to its demand for postponing the poll at least until mid-January next year while Awami League-led alliance refused to accept any date past the year end.After the inconclusive parleys Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told The Daily Star last night, "We will sit with the chief adviser again tomorrow to chart our next course of action."Before last night's meetings, the delegation of advisers met the chief adviser in his office.The military backed caretaker government jumpstarted ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008Awami League (AL) and Jatiya Party (JP) yesterday said they will take part in the December 18 national election as an alliance and form government if voted to power.The announcement came after a meeting between top leaders of the parties at AL President Sheikh Hasina's Sudha Sadan residence.During the one-and-half-hour talks that began at 2:30pm, the JP delegation led by its Chairman HM Ershad handed a list of 50 candidates to Hasina for nomination from the alliance, said meeting sources.As of filing this report at 9:00pm, JP acting chairman Anisul Islam Mahmud and presidium member Ziauddin Ahmed ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008The BNP-led four-party alliance is using religion as a political weapon--violating the electoral code of conduct--to force the caretaker government and Election Commission (EC) to reschedule the December 18 parliamentary polls, said legal experts.The alliance's demand for rescheduling the polls so that hajj pilgrims can cast their votes is a clear violation of the electoral code of conduct, which restricts registered parties and candidates to using religion for political or election purpose, they said.While an election commissioner told The Daily Star this requesting anonymity, Ghulam Rabbani, former judge of the Appellate Division, also said the electoral code of conduct says ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008The BNP-led four-party alliance is using religion as a political weapon--violating the electoral code of conduct--to force the caretaker government and Election Commission (EC) to reschedule the December 18 parliamentary polls, said legal experts.The alliance's demand for rescheduling the polls so that hajj pilgrims can cast their votes is a clear violation of the electoral code of conduct, which restricts registered parties and candidates to using religion for political or election purpose, they said.While an election commissioner told The Daily Star this requesting anonymity, Ghulam Rabbani, former judge of the Appellate Division, also said the electoral code of conduct says ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008A black foreign particle was found in an ampoule of Amibac 500mg injection manufactured by Popular Pharmaceuticals Ltd and widely used for short-term treatment of serious infections.Doctors prescribe the intravenous injection with generic name Amikacin to treat infections of the respiratory tract, bones, joints and skin, soft tissue infection and recurrent urinary tract infection.Sufia Khatun, 59, a patient with respiratory tract infection, was prescribed the drug by Dr Rashidul Hasan of Popular Consultation Centre-2 and one of her relatives bought the antibiotic from the adjacent Specialist Medicine House.The ampoule of batch No 4 bears an expiry date of August 2010 ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008Chiefs of police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday made public announcements promising to make sure that the upcoming elections are unfettered by hooliganism and use of illegal firearms.Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad said the existing law and order situation does not require special drives against criminals and illegal arms as criminal activities and the use of illegal arms 'are currently not that prevalent'.He however added, special drives will be carried out if necessary, but those will be launched unannounced.Rab Director General Hasan Mahmood Khandakar said his force will take special security measures ahead of the polls, ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008The European Commission (EC) has decided to deploy election observers for the December 18 general election, a European Union (EU) announcement in Dhaka yesterday said.Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, member of the European Parliament, will lead the 150-memebr EU Election Observation Mission (EOM), it said.The commission made the decision after the government repealed elements of the emergency power rules early this month.In January last year, the EU had suspended its observation mission after serious political turmoil centring the stalled January 22 polls brought the country to a standstill.European Commissioner for External Affairs Benita FerreroWaldner wrote to Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed about ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008The government yesterday filed two separate criminal cases against two local distributors of Chinese powdered milk Yashili-1, Yashili-2 and Sweet Baby-2 on charges of importing and marketing those without approval of the authorities concerned.The accused are MA Rahim, proprietor of Mou Enterprise at Station Road, Chittagong, and Belal Ahmed Sharif, managing director of M/s Allway Trading Limited at Lalbagh in the capital.After hearing, Metropolitan Magistrate Abdul Majid recorded statements of the complainant, took the charges into cognisance and issued arrest warrants against the distributors.Public Health Nutrition Institution Director Prof Fatema Parvin Chowdhury filed the cases with the Chief ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008Ayesha Begum and Prafulla Adhikari each had to bribe the local union parishad (UP) member Tk 5,100 to get the construction materials that the Saudi government sent as relief for the victims of Cyclone Sidr.They are at least luckier than Pangku Rani, who has yet to take delivery of the goods even after paying the same amount to Abdus Salam Howlader, the UP member.The three are from Pashchim Pasaribuniya village of Ikri union under Vandalia upazila of Pirojpur district.The Saudi government sent the building materials for those who have lost houses in the cyclone that wreaked havoc on the ...
(read more) Wednesday, November 19th, 2008Though only nine percent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) allocation was spent in the first three months of the current fiscal year the government borrowed 48 percent of the annual target from the banks in the first four months.Finance ministry sources say the government had to borrow more from the banks as current expenditures including the 100-day employment generation programme, Boro procurement and polls related expenses had to be met.The government borrowed Tk 6,277 crore from banks in the first four months, according to Bangladesh Bank statistics released on November 3.Of the sum, it borrowed Tk 1,170 crore from ...
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