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HASINA'S CONDITION ON MEETING KHALEDA
Is there any scope for delaying polls?
Sadeq Khan
On November 11, the Chairman of the Regulatory Reform Commission Dr. Akbar Ali Khan invited a number of journalists to the meeting room of the Board of Investment where he held an official meeting. He had little to tell the newspaper reporters about the Commission's recommendations to conciliate and streamline the plethora of rules and regulations, often confusing and contradicting one another, inherited from the colonial era and supplemented at random by the successor regime and by successive governments under the constitutional framework of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The present caretaker Government appointed Dr. Akbar Ali Khan as Chairman of the Regulatory Reforms Commission for that purpose...[ FULL STORY ]
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE INTENSIFIES
Threats to sovereignty lurk all around
M. Shahidul Islam
Threatened by warships of a close neighbour and on the throes of a political tremor in the run up to what seems like a 'remote-controlled' election madness, we wonder where the Caretaker Government (CG) is taking the nation.
Until weeks ago, relationship with Myanmar was as rosy as it could be. The persistent wrong signals from the CG in recent weeks have created the prospect of a military showdown with the country's closet neighbour which seems to have lurched into a calculated gambit to warn us of non-cooperation and hostility by dispatching war ships to install energy extraction rigs at the 'disputed' waters of the Bay of Bengal...[ FULL STORY ]
Third death anniversary of
Enayetullah Khan
Holiday Report
The third anniversary of the death of A Z M Enayetullah Khan, the founding editor of the weekly Holiday and the daily New Age, was observed on Monday.
In remembrance of his death anniversary, a discussion meeting will be held at the Sinha Lounge of Dhaka Club at 6.30 pm today (Friday).
A journalist of international repute, Enayetullah Khan passed away in Toronto, Canada, on November 10, 2005 at the age of 66. He had suffered from cancer of the pancreas...[ FULL STORY ]
Stage-managed poll to take AL to power?
Faruque Ahmed
The highway to election is slowly rolling towards a 'global highway' skidding from the local roads and the nation's heartland. All indications suggest that this time it may be an election in which nationalist and Islamic forces may be drastically cornered for bringing victory to a certain political party backed by external forces.
Observers say, to keep the BNP, the Jamat-e-Islami and other nationalist forces out of the election races the Caretaker Government (CG) and the Election Commission (EC) are allegedly acting in unison in a biased manner just to compel them to take decision against going to the polls...[ FULL STORY ]
BANGLADESH, 49 MUSLIM STATES WANT FRIENDSHIP WITH ISRAEL
Saudi Arabia wooing Jews
Fazle Rashidin New York
There have been two interesting full-page advertisements in the New York Times on Nov 10 and 11 extending hand of friendship to Israel. The one on Nov 10 has been sponsored by 50 Muslim nations -- Bangladesh included -- under the heading 'Peace is possible'. And the other under the heading 'We are children of Abraham' has been sponsored by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia...[ FULL STORY ]
Covert dichotomy looms over US
bailout plan
Moinuddin Naser in New York
A covert dichotomy in the US administration is looming pending the transition of power from Bush administration to the Obama administration, that is scheduled on January 20, 2009. President-elect Barrack Hossain Obama in his first press conference after the election clearly said that the backbone of the US economy, the automobile industries, should be provided with running capital. He also urged the Bush Administration to take immediate measures regarding stimulus package for the middle class and other economic steps without delay. In fact, saying so he told the Bush Administration about his intention...[ FULL STORY ]
P.D.B. IS GASPING FOR LIFE
Power sector reform process moves slowly
Abdur Rahman Khan
Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) is gasping for life. It is suffering from internal haemorrhage due to staggering operational losses. The donor-driven reform programme is hanging in the balance. In the final count, it is the consumer and the nation as a whole which have fallen victim to retarding national growth in the short supply of electricity over the years...[ FULL STORY ]
Self-deprecation is an art reserved only for Barack Obama!
Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullahin New Orleans
Trust me - I know that it takes a lot of courage to belittle oneself. America's newly minted president-elect, Barack Obama, who will take office on January 2009, is not afraid of self deprecation. We saw a fine example of this barely 3 days after he got elected on November 4, 2008...[ FULL STORY ]
SELECTION OF CANDIDATES
Failure of democracy at grassroots
Shamsuddin Ahmed
Grassroots activists of Awami League in Barisal have primarily voted Abul Hasnat Abdullah as the lone candidate from his home constituency Barisal-1 to contest the upcoming election. He is also one of the five candidates voted to run in two other constituencies of the district. Hasnat, is a cousin of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina and former chief whip of the party in parliament. He was tried in absentia and sentenced to 22 years imprisonment in two cases. He remained fugitive, reportedly living in self-exile in India. As he fled the country shortly after 1/11 change of government he is not enrolled as a voter. Close relatives of Hasnat say he will return home any time on getting the green signal from Awami League high command. This, one of many such cases, is certainly not intended to oppose the candidature of Hasnat. He has the right to contest the election, as law permits, from more than one constituency. But the people have the right to discuss his dodgy past. The question is, in absence of Hasnat who and what prompted the representatives of union and upazila committees of the party to choose him as the single candidate. What, however, lamentable is the ideal concept of developing democracy from the grassroots of political parties is frustrated...[ FULL STORY ]
GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Subhas Chandra Bose
K. Z. Islam
Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945) undoubtedly the most outstanding leader in India's struggle for independence. Subhas was Commander-in-Chief of the Indian National Army which cooperated with Japan trying to assist them to conquer India.
His death is shrouded in mystery. The first point to note is on the morning of August 06, 1945, an American bomber released an atom bomb over Hiroshima. Two third of Hiroshima was instantly destroyed by the blast. About 80,000 people perished. Three days later on August 09 a second atom bomb destroyed the city of Nagasaki killing 40,000 people. ..[ FULL STORY ]
Major European countries want
fiscal reforms
Fazle Rashidin New York
Europe's four major economies - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - have forged a unity for setting up a global regulator with cross-border outreach to prevent a financial tempest now raging worldwide from recurring again. The outgoing US administration is not keen on buying the idea.
The World Bank and IMF, not surprisingly, have implicitly thrown their weight behind the US stand...[ FULL STORY ]
COLONEL ACCUSED OF AIDING HINDU TERRORISTS
Indian army officer arrested over
deadly bombing
Holiday Desk
An Indian army officer was arrested earlier on Wednesday last in connection with bomb blasts in two western Indian towns that killed five people and were blamed on a Hindu militant group, Reuter reported from New Delhi quoting an Indian government lawyer said. Officers from the anti-terrorism squad in Mumbai questioned lieutenant-colonel Srikant Purohit, a Hindu, for days before finally arresting him. ..[ FULL STORY ]
Sweden rushes additional assistance
to Congo
Anisur Rahmanin Stockholm
Sweden is providing an additional amount about $6 million in humanitarian aid (or about 40 million Swedish Kroner) to the UNHCR for its work with the refugees of Congo, a Swedish Foreign Ministry press release said. The humanitarian situation in eastern Congo has further deteriorated and the Swedish government is trying to tend fund quickly...[ FULL STORY ]
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