Headlines

Afp, Washington Hillary Clinton took charge Thursday of US foreign policy proclaiming a “new era for America” based on robust diplomacy and a fresh unity of purpose. “I believe with all my heart that this is a new era for America,” a beaming Hillary told a welcoming party of hundreds at the State Department following ... Read more

Mass Upsurge Day PM for building modern democratic Bangladesh UNB, Dhaka Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged all, irrespective of party and opinion, to work together to build Bangladesh as a modern democratic country free of hunger and poverty. In a message on the occasion of Mass Upsurge Day ’69 to be observed today, the Prime ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The people of Phulbari upazila in Dinajpur have elected an independent candidate as chairman who wooed the voters through a campaign against the proposed open-pit mining in the Phulbari coal field as it would displace thousands of people. Aminul Islam Bablu, a leader of rights group National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral ... Read more

EC slams ruling party for misusing offices, controlling administration; tells of violence, ballot-stuffing, seizing polling stations by AL men; decides to probe low turnout reason Shakhawat Liton and Shariful Islam Low turnout, ministers and ruling party lawmakers meddling in balloting, and irregularities in places marked the long-awaited upazila elections yesterday, meaning a letdown for the ... Read more

Ruling party interference, clash, voter intimidation, ballot box hijack mar upazila polls Staff Correspondent More than 100 people including policemen were injured across the country during clashes between supporters of rival candidates of upazila polls yesterday. Clashes, ruling party activists influencing polling, snatching of ballot boxes and ballot papers, preventing voters from going to the ... Read more

Staff Correspondent BNP on Thursday alleged massive irregularities and vote rigging took place during upazila election across the country under the very nose of law enforcers. “Ruling Awami League’s MPs, leaders and workers in association with the law enforcers influenced people for casting votes in favour of their candidates. Even they issued threat to the ... Read more

Staff Reporter Local Government and Cooperative Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday expressed his satisfaction over the law and order situation during the upazila polls across the country. He said that the presence of voters at the polling centres would have been much higher if the political parties would participate in the upazila elections directly. Ashraful ... Read more

Say observers Staff Correspondent Several election monitoring orgainsations yesterday in preliminary findings said voters’ turnout in upazila parishad polls was low and incidence of violence in polling centers overshadowed the bright achievements of the recently held national polls. The Election Working Group, a non-partisan network of civil society organisation, in a press release said that ... Read more

BSS, Dhaka Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed yesterday said out of the total 122 ordinances promulgated by the immediate past caretaker government, 45 of them would be placed in the first phase during the first session of the Ninth parliament for enacting laws. “The issue to make some ordinances laws will ... Read more

Muhith, US envoy see bright prospect for MCA fund Staff Correspondent Bangladesh may qualify by this year for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) fund if it makes a little improvement in the fields of functional democracy, governance and economic policies and cutting corruption. “Bangladesh will achieve quick improvement in the fields of curbing corruption, good ... Read more

Reuters/Bdnews24 . Havana Cuba’s Fidel Castro praised the US president, Barack Obama, on Wednesday for his ‘noble intentions’ but said in his first opinion column in five weeks that the new American leader had many questions to answer. President Raul Castro dismissed rumours that his older brother Fidel Castro was at death’s door, saying on ... Read more

Agence France-Presse . Washington Hillary Clinton became president Barack Obama’s top diplomat after pledging to fight climate change, push hard for Arab-Israeli peace and take a new approach to US foes like Iran. The confirmation came on Obama’s first full day in office. Hillary, a former Obama presidential campaign rival, was confirmed as secretary of ... Read more

Series decider today Sports Reporter Shakib Al Hasan has been named the top player of ICC All-rounder’s ODI Championship Rankings this week following his sparkling performance with both bat and ball. The 21-year old from Magura, who now heads the rankings with 380 points, was number three last week but ran ahead of New Zealand’s ... Read more

Staff Reporter Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has approved the submission of charge sheet against nine officials of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) for accumulating about Tk 4 crore beyond known source of income and concealing information about another Tk 4 crore. One of them is former director Mohammad Toufiq of BTCL, who was accused of ... Read more

Shakhawat Liton A landmark chapter is going to be written in the history of the country’s local government system as the upazila parishads go to polls today amid high expectations of people after around 19 long years. The most crucial local government body in terms of formation and functions, an upazila parishad is viewed by ... Read more

Wants to modify ordinances to remove restrictions; LGC opposes bid to make such changes, asks govt not to give block allocation to MPs for fear of graft Shakhawat Liton and Hasan Jahid Tusher The Awami League-led (AL) government is likely to bring major amendments to local government ordinances, allowing elected representatives to continue holding posts ... Read more

Staff Correspondent In association with police, leaders and workers of different associate bodies of ruling Awami League have started collecting toll from retailers, traders, businessmen, transport owners, footpath vendors at different places in the city as well as throughout the country. These groups had remained inactive in the last seven years but soon after the ... Read more

Staff Reporter Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday agreed that he would allow international agencies to talk about the alleged abuse of illegal migrants by the Thai authorities, according to news agencies. “They (the agencies) should talk with us and see how we can work together. But they also have to recognise the fundamental problem ... Read more

Chaotic situation may arise centring Deputy Speaker: MK Anwar Staff Correspondent BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar on Wednesday asked party leaders and activists to be united and work together to strengthen the party’s organisational activities. He said as the number of women is half of the total population in the country, “we along with women ... Read more

PM assures co-op in continuing the drive UNB, Dhaka Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina assured the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of necessary cooperation in continuing the anticorruption drive, which climbed its climax during the past interim regime throwing many high-profile graft suspects behind bars. “The PM has assured us of providing all cooperation for continuation of the ... Read more