From The Times Don’t take health tips from celebs if you know what’s good for you David Rose From Madonna’s quest to “neutralise radiation” to Tom Cruise’s dismissals of psychiatry, celebrities are seldom shy about expressing their views on health and science – even when they appear not to know what they are talking about. ... Read more
Month: December 2008
Climate change and food security
Mahbuba Nasreen World Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO’s) recent projections to 2030 suggest that globally the share of food in average household expenditure will continue to decline. However, recent trends, at least for some commodities, appear to be showing the reverse, with food prices increasing faster than incomes. Growing scarcities of water, land and fuel ... Read more
Sakib rattles Sri Lanka on Day One
Azad Majumder Left-arm spinner Sakib al Hasan claimed three wickets as Bangladesh left Sri Lanka stuttering at 172 for six before bad light stopped play early on the opening day of the first Test on Friday. After scalping Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, the two most experienced batsmen in the Sri Lankan line-up, Sakib removed ... Read more
Hasina plays on people’s expectation for a change
From highly-secured dais she pledges to contain food prices, graft, crime; winds up Dhaka campaign Staff Correspondent Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her grand electoral alliance wants to bring a change to the country to establish a rule of honest people and economic freedom for the people,
Electioneering ends tonight
Khadimul Islam Electioneering for the December 29 general elections ends at midnight past today and the Election Commission imposed a ban on the plying of motorcycles across the country from same time. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, will conclude her formal electioneering with a rally in Paltan Maidan in Dhaka this afternoon while ... Read more
Election 2008: The latest cross-currents
Hasanuzzaman Khan Awami League Chief and Mohajote leader Sheikh Hasina has refrained from naming H.M. Ershad from Dhaka-17 constituency and also Abu Hossain Babla from Dhaka-5 constituency as Mohajote candidates in her massive election projection meeting held at city’s Paltan ground yesterday. Sheikh Hasina was speaking from a bulletproof podium heavily cordoned by security personnel. ... Read more
Tight security aims at trouble-free polls
bdnews24.com, Dhaka Over 600,000 law enforcers will be strategically deployed across the country ahead of the election on Dec 29, in the home ministry’s security measures for a trouble-free vote. The Election Commission, side by side, has formed a law and order maintenance cell that will keep
Economic troubles await Bangladesh election winner
AFP, Dhaka The global economic crisis will present the biggest immediate challenge for whoever wins Monday’s Bangladesh elections after two years of rule by an army-backed government, say analysts. The December 29 poll is the first in the country for seven years and will restore a democratically elected government following a military takeover that ended ... Read more
Vote for alliance to save country, people: Khaleda
Staff correspondent The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, Friday evening called on people to cast their vote for the candidates of the BNP-led alliance to save the country and the people. ‘The December 29 elections are very important for the nation. Cast your vote for the candidates of the four-party alliance to save the ... Read more
High profile candidates: Who faces whom
Staff Correspondent Some 32 high profile candidates of the alliances led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Awami League and other parties face off in more than a dozen constituencies in the December 29 parliamentary elections. Two former finance ministers – BNP’s standing committee member M Saifur Rahman and AL’s advisory committee member Abul Maal Abdul ... Read more
Paltan packed like sardines
Staff Correspondent The election rally of Awami League turned into a human sea at Paltan Maidan and its surrounding areas yesterday as tens of thousands of people joined the party’s final showdown in the capital ahead of the national polls. The gathering gradually wore a festive look when AL supporters from different areas started thronging ... Read more
Tight security at Paltan, surroundings
Nazrul Islam Tens of thousands of people thronged the Paltan ground to listen to Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina who addressed her penultimate election rally on Friday amidst unprecedented security arrangements before the December 29 parliamentary polls. Amidst slogans in favour of the party’s election symbol ‘boat’, the AL chief addressed the huge crowd from ... Read more
Businessman seeks to retract Arafat extortion charge
Staff Correspondent A businessman who filed an extortion case in 2007 against Arafat Rahman, the youngest son of Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia, on Thursday night submitted an application to withdraw the charge. Abu Ahmed Zayed an Rabbi, owner of an advertising firm, had filed the case with Gulshan police on May 16, 2007 ... Read more
Dhaka dates with rallies, processions
2 Days to Vote Dhaka dates with rallies, processions Arun Devnath Dhaka morphed into a city of high-pitched rallies and processions as the election campaign yesterday moved closer to the final lap. In parts of the city, different rallies continued into late evening. Awami League President Sheikh Hasina spoke from a high-profile afternoon rally at ... Read more
4-party rally at Paltan today
Staff Correspondent BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will address an election rally of 4-party alliance at the city’s historic Paltan Maidan today, a day after her political archrival Sheikh Hasina’s grand election rally at the same venue. Like Awami League, BNP has also exerted every effort to put up a huge showdown at the Paltan Maidan ... Read more
100 short-term EU observers to watch polls
Unb, Dhaka The European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) yesterday deployed nearly 100 short-term observers across the country. They will be joining the long-term observers who have been in the field for the past five weeks, following all electoral preparations including candidate scrutiny, campaigning and the work of the Election Commission. With the deployment of ... Read more
Restriction on vehicles before and after poll
Staff Reporter Election Commission (EC) has imposed a ban on the movement of auto rickshaw, cars, microbus, jeeps, pickup vans, buses, trucks, launches, speed boats and all mechanised water vessels across the country from tomorrow (Dec 28) midnight to Dec 29 midnight to mark the parliamentary polls. An EC press release issued yesterday, however, said ... Read more
Muslim religious leaders extend support to BNP candidate
Barisal Correspondent More than fifty prominent Muslim religious leaders, madrasha, principals and teachers, Imams of mosques and marriage registers of Barisal city extended their support to Advocate Majibor Rahman Sarwar, district BNP president, former BCC Mayor and whip. In a joint statement issued yesterday they said as grand alliance included corrupt former autocrat and announced ... Read more
Indian ships refuse to back off despite Navy protests
Staff Reporter India yesterday sent ships into Bangladesh territory to explore for gas in mineral-rich Bay of Bengal. Naval personnel of the country had sighted “Indian ships overlapping into our plains of the Bay of Bengal,” Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain told the New Nation, adding they appeared to be exploring for gas. The Navy has ... Read more
Pakistan moves troops toward Indian border
AP, Islamabad Pakistan began moving thousands of troops to the Indian border Friday, intelligence officials said, sharply raising tensions triggered by the Mumbai terror attacks. India has blamed Pakistani-based militants for last month’s siege on its financial capital, which killed 164 people and has provoked an increasingly bitter war of words between nuclear-armed neighbors that ... Read more