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Leading politicians have little chance to contest national polls
Amanullah Kabir
Never before today politicians in Bangladesh were subjected to such humiliation and harassment. Politics has been portrayed as corrupt man's job while politicians have been made the main culprits. The military-backed Caretaker Government has kept on chasing them, brought graft charges against them and whisked them to gaols. They have been tortured both physically and mentally while in prison in the name of joint interrogation. ..[ FULL STORY ]
Musharraf's resignation to change South Asian politics
M. Shahidul Islam
Power is not an eternal commodity, less so when it comes to a soldier wearing the hat of a statesman by using or misusing power. ..[ FULL STORY ]
US lawmakers accuse India of misusing nuke
From Fazle Rashid, New York
Two US lawmakers, Edward Markey and Ellen Tauscher, both belonging to Democratic Party, in a jointly authored article carried by the New York Times Wednesday, accused India of misusing civil nuclear technology to produce nuclear weapons. India first produced a nuclear bomb way back in 1974. It was ironically coded as 'Buddha is smiling '. It has continued to produce nuclear bombs since then...[ FULL STORY ]
Can EC finish its huge tasks before Sangsad polls?
Mohammad Ali Sattar
For all the usual reasons the political parties and other stakeholders in Bangladesh is fixed on the Election Commission (EC). They are getting apprehensive of the prevailing situation. They surmise that the EC might not be able to ensure registration of the political parties and intra-party reforms before the ninth parliamentary polls due to the huge unfinished tasks and too little time for the December polls. The saner section believes that the formalities that the EC wants to finish before the polls appear nearly impossible...[ FULL STORY ]
LDCs must safeguard their domestic interest
Faruque Ahmed
The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) should work out new development strategies of their own and revisit ongoing policies away from the domination of the developed nations and the multinational agencies they stand to control...[ FULL STORY ]
Banks ignore SME sector
Achintya Sen
An economic analyst says the present trend in industrialisation in the world is that it is shifting from big industries to small industries. It was assumed earlier that if steel mill is not big enough it will not be profitable. But now it is found that mini steel mill is more profitable than large steel mill. All industries are now becoming small. This trend will continue, it seems, for the next 50 years. Already outsourcing has emerged as a viable industry...[ FULL STORY ]
GLIMPSES OF GREAT
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
K. Z. Islam
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's (1712-1778) own account of his life is given in great detail in his Confessions which he wrote late in his life, and it was not published until after his death. In both the long and the short term his influence was enormous. In the generation after his death, it attained the status of myth. He died a decade before the French Revolution of 1789, but many contemporaries held him responsible for it. This view was shared by both Louis-XVI and Napoleon. Edmund Burke said of the revolutionary elites: "There is a great dispute among their leaders which of them is the best resemblance of Rousseau . . . . He is their standard figure of perfection." As Robespierre himself put it: 'Rousseau is the one man who, through the loftiness of his soul and the grandeur of his character, showed himself worthy of the role of teacher of mankind.' During the revolution the national convention voted to have his ashes transferred to the Panthéon. At the ceremony its president declared: "It is to Rousseau that is due health-giving improvement that has transformed our morals, customs, law, feelings and habits...[ FULL STORY ]
BLOOD SERVICE NEEDS URGENT EXPANSION
Donating more safe blood can save more lives
Abdur Rahman Khan
Alif Mahmud, who is aged 21, looks like a 13-year old boy due to his stunted growth. He is pale, anaemic and weak as he has been suffering from Thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder. A student of Mohammadpur Central University College in the city, Alif is surviving on regular blood transfusion with great difficulty...[ FULL STORY ]
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