Amid crippling street protests, we must prioritise citizens’ well-being
Protests by tax, customs officials disrupting services
Surge in teen gang activities in the country has raised alarm
The World Bank's rather presumptive and premature portrayal of the shape Bangladesh economy is likely to take at the end of fiscal 2008-09 has naturally evoked a sharp reaction from finance adviser, governor, Bangladesh Bank, president, BGMEA, eminent economist Wahiduddin Mahmud and many others.
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The third World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation of Children has ended in Rio de Janeiro on a decisive note. This much becomes obvious from the declaration adopted at the conference. It is to be noted that a strong team from Bangladesh took part in the congress and indeed made a number of points about the theme that needed to be debated in the larger interest of children not only in Bangladesh but elsewhere as well. What the congress has done is simply to focus on the many ways in which the rights of children are systematically violated, to a point where they are not allowed to become part of creative society.
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WHILE the entire nation is anxiously waiting for the long stalled ninth parliamentary election, the exchange of pleasantries between two top political leaders Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia on November 21 evening at the Armed Forces Day reception, brought a bit of relief for the nation in the on-going stalemate on holding the parliamentary election.
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THE power of fear is immense and intense. It is axiomatic that evil of the magnitude perpetrated in Mumbai, through a collusion between Pakistan-based hate-filled terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Indian fifth columnists will have a direct impact on the political mood of the nation. It is inevitable that the mood will reflect on polling in an election season. But we need to understand the nuances of this impact carefully. The hyperinflation of knee-jerk analysis can be toxic to the truth.
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IT'S quite a cheery piece of news when uncertainty prevails about what impact the global financial meltdown might have on our economy. Organic waste generated at the city's Karwan Bazar kitchen market has been successfully recycled into producing quality bio-fertilizer. Our felicitations to the local firm Waste Concern and their Dutch partners which have flagged off the world's first-ever UN-approved Clean Development Mechanism(CDM) compost plant in Narayanganj.
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THE forthcoming parliamentary election now scheduled for December 29 could well be a poll that marks a turning point in Bangladeshi politics. Exasperated with the experience of three democratic governments with one party coming to power twice and protracted bouts of non-governance, the voters in the country have again a chance of either putting things straight or catapulting the country into crisis.
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We continue to be shocked by the enormity of the long-drawn-out carnage by a group of terrorists in Mumbai that has left over 125 people dead and over 300 injured. As of writing this comment it has not come to an end yet as terrorists continue to keep hostages in some buildings. The Indian intelligence has claimed that the home grown terrorist outfit Deccan Mujahedeen has links with a bigger militant group based in Pakistan, which was also hinted at by Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee. But in a positive development Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has responded to the request of Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and agreed to send the ISI chief to India to assist in the investigation. In a separate telephone call to Manmohan Singh on Friday Pakistan president...
We strongly condemn the terror attacks that have left Mumbai reeling. This attack, vicious in its nature and with wide-ranging ramifications, has brought home to all of us in South Asia the lesson that a serious, purposeful and united effort toward combating the terrorist menace is now necessary. Indeed, the series of attacks that have occurred in India in recent months, together with the violent attack on the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's Islamabad, were broad hints of how wide the network of terror was getting to be. With the Taj and Oberoi hotels in Mumbai (as well as other spots) now coming under attack, it is clear that terrorism is now no more a national but a broad regional menace. It is now anyone's guess as to where terrorism will strike next. But what is clear is that no one...
The Commission on Aids in its report has shed light on different aspects of the killer ailment, which continues to be a major concern in many Asian countries, despite a number of programs being taken up by the governments to contain it. Though the situation is believed to be improving slowly, there are still five million HIV-positive in Asia at the moment.
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