Headlines

Staff Correspondent Most of the voters are yet to get familiar with half of the candidates of the two major political parties, the Awami League and the BNP in their respective constituencies in the capital as the parties fielded some new faces for the constituencies. For eight constituencies of the total 15 in the capital, ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Thursday claimed that it had received a complaint against former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s youngest son Arafat Rahman of making financial transactions of about Tk 11.6 crore in Singapore between May 6, 2005 and February 22, 2007. The commission’s spokesperson colonel Hanif Iqbal, also director general (administration), said at ... Read more

Shamim Jahangir The next political government will distribute cash diesel subsidy of Tk 540 crore among small and marginal Boro cultivators next year, according to sources in the Ministry of Agriculture sources. Earlier, the incumbent caretaker government determined the size of the diesel subsidy. The amount of diesel subsidy and the number of the farmers ... Read more

Porimol Palma Bangladesh is likely to experience a sharp fall in overseas employment from February due to slowdown in construction industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Middle Eastern countries following sharp price fall of oil, say officials and businesses. The decline in overseas jobs is likely to be acute as Bangladesh’s traditional ... Read more

Staff Correspondent Although some progress has been made in increasing enrolment in primary schools, there are still 14,000 villages in the country where there are no schools at all. Adviser to the Primary and Mass Education Ministry Rasheda K Choudhury made the revelation at a round table discussion at the daily Prothom Alo auditorium yesterday. ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the withdrawal of the state of emergency in Bangladesh terming it a positive step towards ensuring the right of all Bangladeshis to free, fair and credible parliamentary elections scheduled for December 29. Ban encourages all stakeholders, including the main political parties, to continue to address ... Read more

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka The government will give priority to expatriates in allocating government plots if they send at least US $5,000 every year through official channels, says an adviser. Those expatriates will also be given special treatment in the airports, hospitals and government schools and colleges, foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told a gathering marking International ... Read more

Staff Reporter A fear has been dismissed about any sabotage on the December 29 parliament elections, the law enforcement agencies have taken special protection measures said top most officials of the Police and RAB. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad and Director General of RAB Hasan Mahmud Khandaker made the remarks to reporters separately ... Read more

Staff Reporter The central bank has so far identified 300 out of the total 9,961 Upazila election candidates as loan defaulters and sent their list to the Election Commission. “Correction to the list is going on and will continue until Friday,” Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Khandakar Muzharul Haque told newsmen at his office yesterday. He ... Read more

Rwandan Genocide Afp, Arusha A UN-backed tribunal yesterday sentenced the man accused of having masterminded the country’s 1994 genocide to life in prison for his part in the massacres that killed some 800,000 people. Theoneste Bagosora, who prosecutors had portrayed as the mastermind of the genocide was convicted “of genocide, crimes against humanity and war ... Read more

Agence France-Presse. Stockholm Several Nobel science prize committees in Sweden are being investigated for possible bribery, a special corruption prosecutor said on Thursday. The first case involves several members from the prestigious Nobel committees for medicine, physics and chemistry who visited China at the expense of the Chinese authorities. Special corruption prosecutor Nils Erik Schultz ... Read more

Unb, Dhaka Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed has called upon the armed forces to discharge their election duties with hundred percent neutrality, honesty and transparency and extend all-out cooperation to the Election Commission for holding a free, fair and meaningful election. “Remember, this responsibility is important. So, the armed forces will have to remain alert ... Read more

Shahidul Islam Chowdhury Political parties and candidates contesting the December 29 general elections have plunged into full-scale campaigns with the withdrawal of the state of emergency after restrictions on civil and political rights for two years. Top leaders of political parties, including the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda ... Read more

M Abul Kalam Azad BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia owns more assets than Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina, although Khaleda’s annual earning is less than her rival’s, according to the wealth statements submitted by the two leaders to the Election Commission. Khaleda’s annual earning amounts to nearly Tk 25 lakh while Hasina earns Tk 30 ... Read more

Nazrul Islam The military-backed interim administration has no specific timeline as yet to hand over power to an elected government to be formed after the December 29 parliamentary polls. ‘Handover of power depends on the next elected government’, the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed told New Age on the sidelines of a tea party arranged for ... Read more

Deposit for plot to be confiscated if tax number proves false Rejaul Karim Byron and Helemul Alam Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) will cancel allotments of plots and confiscate deposited money of applicants for both Purbachal New Town and Uttara Residential Model Town (Third Phase) projects, if they submit fake Tax Identification Numbers (TIN). “We will ... Read more

Staff Reporter Awami League (AL) president Sheikh Hasina yesteday called upon the people to vote for the candidates of the AL led grand alliance for achieving economic independence of the country. She promised to build self-reliant digital Bangladesh by giving priority on the development of science and technology, if voted power in the coming parliamentary ... Read more

BSS, Bogra BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia yesterday urged the people to vote for `sheaf of paddy’ in the December 29 elections to restore democracy and safeguard the country’s independence and sovereignty. “The sheaf of paddy is not only a poll symbol, it is the symbol of development, independence and sovereignty,” she told a huge ... Read more

Agence France-Presse . Baghdad The Iraqi journalist who became an instant media star for hurling his shoes at the US president, George W Bush, appeared on Wednesday before a judge investigating the incident, his brother said. Muntazer al-Zaidi, 29, a television reporter who relatives and colleagues said acted because he ‘detested’ Bush and America, was ... Read more

Unb, Dhaka Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma and US Ambassador in Dhaka James Moriarty have welcomed the lifting of the state of emergency. In a statement in UK yesterday, Sharma said parliamentary elections are extremely important for Bangladesh, offering an opportunity for the resumption of normal democratic life in the country and re-constitution of the ... Read more