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Party reforms take a new twist as Khaleda and Hasina assert
Abdur Rahman Khan
The move to keep both Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia away from the country has already been abandoned. The subsequent initiative to put them out of their respective organisational positions also appears to have failed to generate any considerable support within the organisations as the promoters of reform with the minus-two formula are trying to beat a retreat at this moment... [ FULL STORY ]
Foreign interference in 'matters military' is improper
Diplomats must put up, or shut up
M. Shahidul Islam
Confusing assertions can have adverse consequences in moments of crisis. Even a foreign policy wizard finds it hard to decipher what the US says with respect to countries like Bangladesh where it has entrenched economic and geopolitical interests... [ FULL STORY ]
Is Dhaka leaning towards Indo-US axis?
Special Correspondent
The question which has been perturbing the public mind most for quite some time is whether or not the country is leaning towards the Indo-US sphere? The recent developments have worried some politicians and intelligentsia who say they are closely observing the situation... [ FULL STORY ]
How Bangladesh can lower business cost
A. K. Faezul Huq
With comparatively cheap labour ? the cheapest in the region ? availability of prime land and materials for setting up industries or even business houses, along with liberal provision of tax holiday still in vogue, there is absolutely no reason why businessmen should complain regarding cost of doing business in Bangladesh. But the whole story has a different perspective also. Both local and foreign businessmen feel that the cost of doing business in Bangladesh is relatively quite high; at times even incredible. Obviously, a good number of reasons are cited for such state of affairs, but simultaneously, the corresponding good news is: the problem is still solvable. However, to start with, businesspersons frequently complain of high rate of bank interest, which in many cases shoots up to 16 per cent or even more, when calculated along with bank's service/incidental charges. The rate, they demand, should be brought down to a single digit ? preferably between 8 to 9 per cent, at the most... [ FULL STORY ]
Rhymes written in tears
Poignant poems emerge from Gitmo prison
Fazle Rashid in New York
Guantanamo Bay Prison Cell in Cuba has earned worldwide notoriety. In this cell are held by the United States over 350 suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda activists. The inmates have not been charge-sheeted for the past four years in gross violation of the Human Rights. This has brought opprobrium for United States from all across the globe. United States say Guantanamo Bay inmates are 'enemy combatants' and are not eligible for normal trial, a claim vehemently disputed by the civil rights group including the Amnesty International... [ FULL STORY ]
Israeli military connection
ICDDR,B conceals facts about
Swedish cholera vaccine
Dr. Rafiq Ahmed
At a press conference in Dhaka (April 12, 2007) the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) launched the Swedish oral cholera vaccine Dukoral in Bangladesh by making false claims that the vaccine was developed by "Bangladeshi scientists" and it had made "medical breakthrough against diarrhoea". The ICDDR,B and the vaccine's Swedish manufacturer (SBL Vaccine AB), a sponsor of the press conference, had concealed the fact that the real developers of the vaccine were two Swedish scientists (Drs. Jan Holmgren and his wife Ann-Mari Svennerholm). Both the Swedish scientists and SBL Vaccin AB work covertly for the military of several countries including Israel, a state not recognised by the Government of Bangladesh. Under the cover of vaccine research they maintain a foothold in Bangladesh and act as a go-between the ICDDR,B and the Israel Defence Force...[ FULL STORY ]
Congress' stance spur Hasina's
call for movement
Shamsuddin Ahmed
The call to prepare for movement by Awami League president Sheikh Hasina to the party workers on Monday is quite significant. The country is under state of emergency. The Caretaker Government backed by the armed forces is running the administration and political activities are banned. Sheikh Hasina by her move gives to understand that she deliberately wants to provoke the administration... [ FULL STORY ]
Glimpses of the Great
Tony Blair
K Z Islam
On 21 July 1994, just at the age of forty-one, Tony Blair was elected the fifteenth, youngest and the most modern and un-Labour leader of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom and the Leader of the Opposition. Under Blair's leadership the party abandoned many decades-old policy goals. Labour won a landslide victory in 1997 general elections and Blair became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 2 May 1997, at forty-three he was the youngest PM since Lord Liverpool in 1812. On 21 May 2007 Blair announced the he would be stepping down as PM on 21 June... [ FULL STORY ]
Ultra-hazardous technology
Nuke plant hits popular opposition in India
Praful Bidwai at Koodankulam, Tamil Nadu
Even as the Indian government gropes in the dark for a coherent policy on energy and the environment, it is rooting hard for a highly unpopular nuclear power project here, close to the peninsula's southern tip... [ FULL STORY ]
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