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Appeal denied against bail to Hasina
SC reminds govt of its limits
Sadeq Khan
The full bench of the Supreme Court has denied the government’s appeal for a stay against the High Court order granting bail to Sheikh Hasina in an extortion case and asking the government to show cause why the transfer of the extortion case against her from normal court proceedings to proceedings under the Emergency Powers Rules (EPR), thereby rendering the charge non-bailable, should not be declared unlawful... [ FULL STORY ]
Flood assumes alarming proportions
Abdur Rahman Khan
The flood situation is taking an alarming turn with the major river systems recording further rise in water level and the monsoon remaining active. More than a third of Bangladesh, a low-lying delta of 145 million people, has been inundated by floods. Nearly five million people have either been marooned or displaced in the country’s hardest-hit northern region... [ FULL STORY ]
Dhaka should reap benefits
of granting India transit rights
M.I. Ali
An Indian junior minister, during a recent trip to Bangladesh, reiterated India’s desire for securing transit rights through Bangladesh to its north-eastern territories. As in the past, this time too the response to the request was not positive, with Bangladesh arguing that its request for transit rights to Nepal and Bhutan has not been honoured by India. India does not see the need for reciprocity as granting Bangladesh such rights will loosen the Indian stranglehold over these two landlocked countries and India will not be able to choke essential supplies if they do not tow the Indian line... [ FULL STORY ]
Islamic pragmatists’ unique
triumph in Turkey
Annette Grossbongardt in Istanbul
Turkey’s ruling Islamist political party AKP won recent election by a landslide with 47 per cent of the vote. The country has voted for stability, economic growth and—if the campaign pledges of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are to be believed—further democratic reforms... [ FULL STORY ]
Inflation breaches all official estimates
Flood to push prices further up
Asjadul Kibria
Breaching all official estimates, the consumer price inflation has reached a new height at the end of last fiscal year (FY07). Neither the finance ministry nor the central bank has been able to keep the inflation rate within their target... [ FULL STORY ]
Is Indo-US nuke deal a breakthrough
or a bad bargain?
Praful Bidwai in New Delhi
After tortuous negotiations spread over four days in Washington, the United States and India have reported “substantial progress” on a bilateral agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation, but said they would now “refer the issue to our governments for final review...[ FULL STORY ]
The nation in crisis
Mohammed Ali Sattar
The country is going through a wholesale crisis. A raging flood is inflicting indescribable miseries on hapless millions. The water level is rising menacingly by every second. This curse visits us almost every year, every year we vow to fight it next time, and we fail every time. The government has very little means to fight this force of nature. However, it is trying with all its firepower at work... [ FULL STORY ]
NEWS NOTES FROM NEW YORK
Fazle Rashid
Johnson assassinated Kennedy
President John Fitzgeral Kennedy was murdered by Vice-President Lyndon Johnson in a widespread, incredibly complex, and brilliantly planned conspiracy that involved FBI director Edgar Hoover, CIA’s David Phillips, Secret Service elements of the US Air Force, Henry Luce of LIFE magazine, Ford Motor, Dallas police, Mayor of Dallas, and President Nixon... [ FULL STORY ]
GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Al Gore
K Z Islam
In the 2000 US Presidential elections Al Gore became only the third nominee in American history to win the popular vote by more than half a million but lose the electoral vote. In the US there is a total of 538 electoral votes. In the 50 States of the US there are 100 Senators and 538 Congressmen which constitutes the electoral college. In the electoral vote count Bush and Gore were neck to neck and the Florida count would have tipped the scale. Finally in a controversial decision the Supreme Court of the US stopped the recount of votes in the State of Florida which was tilting towards Al Gore... [ FULL STORY ]
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