The Daily Star: Internet Edition Sun. April 02, 2006

Vol. 5 Num 656

Sun. April 02, 2006


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Front Page

Wasa bleeds for power crisis
Picks Tk 10 lakh bill a day for diesel purchase, seeks police protection to avert public wrath
Persisting power crisis in the city has forced Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) bear a huge financial burden of Tk 10 lakh a day to pay for diesel needed to operate 297 generators to draw groundwater.

Foreign Islamic Organisations
Delegates funded militants while on tour here
Investigators suspect
Investigators suspect that some delegates of foreign Islamic organisations while visiting Bangladesh at different times in the past provided Islamist militants with financial and logistic supports without

Electoral Reforms
14-party may shun talks if Jamaat on committee
The 14-party opposition combine is likely to shun the BNP-proposed government-opposition dialogue on reforms to the caretaker government and electoral systems if the government half of its proposed 10-member

Trade deficit with India up by 13pc
Bangladesh's trade deficit with India inched up by 13.23 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year from that of July to December in FY2004-05.

Body on cards for subway in capital
The government is considering setting up an independent Metro Rail Authority (MRA) to install an underground railway system in the capital.

DU printing press idle for a decade causes Tk 7cr loss
The 55-year-old printing press of Dhaka University (DU) is lying idle for more than a decade, causing financial loss to the tune of Tk 7 crore.

McKinon for unity of Khaleda, Hasina on polls reforms
Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinon urged Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and opposition leader Sheikh Hasina to reach a consensus on certain national issues including reform of the electoral system.

Banned Indian chicks seized in Khulna
Birds smuggled in due to pricey local ones
A hike in prices of local chicks is encouraging smugglers to bring in banned Indian chicks.

Fire again at Tongi factory
7 injured
A devastating fire gutted Akiz Printing and Packaging Factory in Tongi Industrial area at midnight on Friday.

Booters make winning start in Asian carnival
The biggest football tournament the country has ever staged, the AFC Challenge Cup, got underway at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday amidst fanfare and with the graceful presence of none other

Toxic chemicals...

Judiciary Separation
SC full bench to hear contempt rule against 9 officials today
The full bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain will hear the contempt rule against nine bureaucrats for distorting its directives on

4 workers killed in Ctg landslide
Four workers were killed in a landslide near Bamerchhara Eco Park in Banskhali upazila of Chittagong early yesterday.

Foster son kills parents, child by setting them on fire
Set on fire by their foster son, the parents and an infant of the son died at Mohammad Ali Hospital in Bogra yesterday.

RU comes to a halt on JCD strike
Rajshahi University (RU) came to a standstill yesterday as RU unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) observed the first day of the indefinite strike they called for on Thursday.

PBCP leader killed in 'shootout'
Regional commander of Purba Banglar Communist Party's (PBCP) Janajuddho faction Tapash Mistry was killed in a "shootout" between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices in Batiaghata upazilaearly

Official facing contempt charge becomes judge
Senior Assistant Secretary in the law ministry Mohammad Harunur Rashid, who has been facing contempt charge for distorting the High Court directive on the separation of judiciary since November 2004,has

Brazil plane crash kills 19
A Brazilian twin-engine passenger plane has crashed north of this city, killing all 19 people on board, the Team airline announced yesterday.

Farmers block highway for power, fertiliser
Several thousand farmers brought out a procession, barricaded the Satkhira-Jessore highway and held a rally at Kalaroa yesterday protesting repeated load shedding and scarcity of fertilisers in the area.

2 die while cleaning up sewerage line
Two sweepers died of asphyxia while cleaning up an underground sewerage line at Lalbagh in the capital yesterday.

BSF abducts 2 from Kushtia border
The Border Security Force (BSF) of India kidnapped two Bangladeshi boys from the border here yesterday.

Shias call for Iraq PM to step down
6 killed in minibus ambush
Senior members of Iraq's ruling Shia Alliance bloc called publicly for the first time yesterday for Ibrahim al-Jaafari to step down as prime minister to break months of deadlock over a national unitygovernment.

Church set ablaze in Panchhari
A group of criminals on Thursday night set fire to a Church in a remote area in Panchhari upazila of the district, officials said yesterday.

Thais go to polls today amid opposition boycott
Ruling party running unopposed in half of seats
Thailand goes to the polls today in an election called by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as a referendum on his leadership, but an opposition boycott has reduced the vote to a one horse race.

US cuts all contacts with Hamas-led government
The United States has suspended all contact with the Palestinian government led by Hamas, the US State Department announced Friday.

Cries for help edited out of 9/11 tapes
Emergency operators listening to trapped callers' heartbreaking pleas from the burning World Trade Centre repeatedly said help was on the way while they struggled with crashing computers, utter confusion

Bomber, Afghan lawmaker killed
A suicide attack on a coalition convoy in southern Afghanistan yesterday killed the bomber but hurt no one else. A lawmaker was shot dead the country's north, officials said.