The Election Commission will write to the speaker to ask for cancellation of the parliamentary membership of Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Salauddin Quader Choudhury for furnishing ‘false’ information in his affidavit to the commission as a candidate in the 2008 general elections. Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain told reporters on Monday that the EC would ... Read more
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Mendis leads Sri Lanka into semi-finals
Ajantha Mendis spun out New Zealand as Sri Lanka roared into the World Twenty20 semi-finals with an emphatic 48-run win at Trent Bridge here on Tuesday. The mystery spinner grabbed 3-9 in three overs as the Black Caps failed miserably to chase down a target of 159 in a
BAF training aircraft crashes in Karnaphuli: Pilot escapes by parachute
A training aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force crashed on the Karnaphuli River channel at Patanga near the outer anchorage of Chittagong port yesterday. The lone pilot of the aircraft, Flight Lieutenant Abdullah-A-Mamun, managed to escape by parachute after the aircraft crashed,an ISPR press release said. The divers of Bangladesh Navy with the help of some ... Read more
EC moves to strip SQ Chy of MP status
Sends letter to speaker today over violation of electoral laws; membership of 3 others at risk The Election Commission (EC) will ask Parliament Secretariat today to scrap the membership of BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for suppressing educational information while seeking candidacy for the December 29 national election. “Salauddin Quader Chowdhury cannot continue as a ... Read more
Country in grip of severe power outages again
Massive power outages have hit the country again as power generation dropped and demand shot up because of sweltering heat in the last few days. Most of the Dhaka city areas are facing around six to eight hours of load shedding amid sweltering heat and humidity while other parts of the country are facing around ... Read more
JS standing committee on water ministry decides: High-powered all-party team to visit Tipaimukh
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources Ministry yesterday decided to send a team to India to visit the much-talked-about construction of Tipaimukh Dam on the river barak in Bangladesh’s upstream. “An all-party parliamentary team, headed by the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on Water Resources Ministry, will go to India to witness the ... Read more
3 killed in blade factory blaze
Gas cylinder explosion caused the fire Three workers were killed and 15 others injured as a blade factory caught fire after a gas cylinder explosion at Masimpur in Tongi Industrial area of Gazipur early yesterday. Witnesses said a gas cylinder exploded on the ground floor of the two-storey Bidyut Bangladesh Pvt Ltd with a big ... Read more
RAB sued for murder, ‘shootout’ questioned
Polytech students’ death in city A murder case was lodged with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court against 11 people including 10 members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on charge of killing two students of the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute in an alleged ‘shootout’ with the force at Manik Mia Avenue on May 27. Though ... Read more
Gulshan Lake grabbing continues
Vested quarters are again trying to grab parts of the Gulshan Lake to build new residential plots inside illegally filling with soil. The lake is being filled at the sides of roads No 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 55, 105, 118 and 136. Recently, hundreds of trucks have been engaged to carry soil to different ... Read more
Mobile stays busy in jail
Convicted criminal’s records show 184 calls on a single day A convicted imprisoned top criminal made and received 184 cellphone calls to and from his cohorts in just 24 hours, law enforcers found this out recently to their disbelief. Inmates are not allowed to have cellphones in jail but that convict made and received over ... Read more
Bangladesh’s ‘green revolution’ starts with village solar power
Like all rural Bangladeshis, Saidul Islam knows the hardships of summer, when his tin-roofed house turns into a furnace with not enough electricity to power even a fan. For the 100 million Bangladeshis — most of them farmers — who live in the countryside, the notion of electricity supply is little more than an empty ... Read more
Disasters killed 2.5 lakh people last year
Natural and man-made disasters killed nearly a quarter of a million people in 2008 and warnings about looming disasters, particularly climate change, are not being heeded, the Red Cross said yesterday. In 2008, disasters ranging from the Chinese earthquake to a devastating cyclone in Myanmar wrought the second most devastating annual toll of the past ... Read more
High inflation still offsets general wages
Higher costs of consumption, especially spiralling of food inflation in recent years, have offset the real wages of the industrial and informal sector workers in urban areas, indicate the latest official statistics. Even though the national consumption index rose almost 40 per cent over the past five years, labour leaders said there was no substantial ... Read more
Oli blamed for route chaos
He calls accusers liars A whimsical decision by former communications minister Col (retd) Oli Ahmed in choosing the entry\exit points for the proposed Asian Highway (AH) that would go through Bangladesh, has been delaying the country’s inclusion in the network, said experts. The former minister chose a mountainous route, instead of a short and more ... Read more
Govt footing eviction bill?
The government is spending huge amount from the public exchequer for its ongoing drive against river grabbers, although there is a legal option for realising the cost from the demolished property of the encroachers. Director (Port Division) of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Mahabubul Alam said they have never received any
JS looks into ways to have ACC trio present before panel
The parliament secretariat is looking into ways to have the former chief of the Anti-Corruption Commission and two commissioners of the anti-graft body present before a parliamentary panel. Charged with contempt of parliament for non-compliance with a legislative summon, issued in April, the committee on public undertakings requested the speaker of Jatiya Sangsad to ensure ... Read more
The last of ‘three Ahmeds’ makes exit
Almost all key players, excepting one, behind the takeover of power on January 11, 2007 by a military-backed administration have left or been compelled to leave office with the retirement of Moeen U Ahmed as the army chief. Thus what was dubbed the ‘era of three Ahmeds’, inclusive of president Iajuddin Ahmed and chief adviser ... Read more
Moudud for trial of 1/11 masterminds
Push for arrest of Gen Moeen BNP standing committee member and former law minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed, MP, has demanded trial of the people behind the 1/11. “The masterminds behind the 1/11 should bring under trial. People of Bangladesh will not forgive them and they must be punished,” he said at a discussion at the ... Read more
Submission of constitutions: EC to issue show-cause notice to political parties
The Election Commission has decided to issue show-cause notices to the registered political parties if they fail to submit their permanent constitutions by the July 25 deadline. “We want the political parties to submit their permanent constitutions to the Commission in compliance with the July 25 deadline,” Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda told ... Read more
DCC polls in Dec: CEC
Parties to explain if they fail to submit their constitutions by July 25 The Dhaka City Corporation election will be held by the end of December this year, said the chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Monday. He said this in a press briefing at the Election Commission secretariat where election commissioners Sohul Hossain ... Read more