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DHAKA: Thursday January 28, 2010
(Reuters) - Bangladesh executed five convicted killers of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Wednesday, officials at a Dhaka prison said.
Mujib and most of his family were killed in 1975 in a revolt by young army officers. One of his two surviving daughters, Sheikh Hasina, is now the country's prime minister.
The executed ex-officers were identified as Major Bazlul Huda, Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lieutenant Colonel Syed Faruk Rahman, Lieutenant Colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan and army lancer A.K.M. Mohiuddin.
Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected appeals by the five convicted men against their death sentences, removing the last legal barrier to their execution.
Within hours, legal and government officials told reporters outside Dhaka central prison the executions had been carried out.
"The executions have pulled the curtain finally down on one of the history's most gruesome killings," chief state attorney Mahbube Alam said.
Six other former officers convicted in their absence were never caught and another died abroad.
The trial of Mujib's killers began only after Hasina was first elected prime minister in 1996. The process was slow because of legal complications and came to a halt after her rival, Begum Khaleda Zia, came to power in 2001.
After assuming office for a second term in January last year, Hasina vowed to complete the trial of those accused over her father's death as soon as possible.
She and her sister, Sheikh Rehana, survived the 1975 killings because they were abroad at the time. Their mother, three brothers and many relatives were killed.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched web portals of the country's 64 districts from her office on Jan 06, 2010 (Wednesday), marking the first anniversary of her government.
The web portals will play a significant role in the implementation of the government's pledge to build a digital Bangladesh, Hasina said as she switched on the portals.
These web portals will help one to get information about each of the 64 districts across the country.
The PM said: "After forming a new government we pledged the new generation to build a digital Bangladesh.
"The inauguration of the web portals is a part of that pledge," she said.
Hasina said the information technology aims to develop human resources, public communication, trade and commerce and reaching technology people's doors.
She referred to steps such as forming information commission and introducing online banking.
The PM said the government will prepare web portals for all upazilas in future.
UNDP Cabinet Division and Access to Information (a2i) provided the assistance in preparing the web portals.
Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar aired the programme live.
[BBC News:] The founder of one of the world's largest non governmental organisations, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), has been honoured in the UK.
Fazle Hasan Abed - who holds dual British and Bangladesh citizenship - will be knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2010 for services in tackling poverty.
He has also been awarded for empowering the poor in Bangladesh and globally.
Mr Abed's name was included in the Queen's New Year's Honours List released on Thursday. [...more]
[The Daily Star Report, Bogra, Dec. 22, 2009] Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) on Sunday night filed a case against 150 members of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir in connection with the clash that led to closure of the Government Azizul Haque University College in Bogra.
BCL convener of the college unit Abu Zafar Md Mahmudunnabi Russel filed the case against 150, including 52 anonymous leaders and activists of Shibir. Shibir General Secretary Mahmudul Hasan Badsha of the college unit was among the accused.
Following the case, police raided the college hostel and arrested two Shibir men -- Anwarul Islam, 22, and Ismail Hosain, 24, reports our staff correspondent in Bogra.
Meanwhile, female students left their hostel as the college authority asked them to vacate the dormitory by 10:00am on Monday.
Earlier on Sunday, the authorities closed the college for an indefinite period following a clash between Shibir and BCL.
At least 18 students were injured in the clash with two sustaining bullet wounds. One student was hurt as a locally made bomb was hurled at him.
Mahtab Uddin, secretary of the college's academic council, said classes were suspended and dormitories were vacated after the fight.
The academic council however decided that the admission process and examinations under the National University would continue, Mahtab said
Wednesday, 16th December 2009: From the UN conference on climate the premier warns that a rise of one meter of water would cause 40 million refugees by 2050. “Immediate action" and a "binding" agreement on cutting emissions required. But the Copenhagen summit seems destined to fail.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) - "Now is the time to show a common wisdom and make the right decisions for a greener and more habitable world”. From climate summit being held in Copenhagen, the prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina is warning the international community that "future generations will judge us for the choices we make today." The Prime Minister draws attention to her country, as " Bangladesh is the most vulnerable nation in the world."
The UN summit on climate seems destined to be a failure. Negotiations are struggling to take off, there is little progress, and China seems to exclude the possibility of agreement. The chief negotiator from Beijing is opposed to the Danish proposal, which should be put to a vote later today. He adds support for "a short political statement of some kind", without specifying its contents. In the next few hours the various world leaders are expected to arrive in Copenhagen, but hopes of a common pact to cut emissions that cause global warming have been dimmed to a flicker.
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in her speech yesterday, stressed the urgency of a "common commitment" to meet emergency needs. "The refugees caused by climate change - said Sheikh Hasina - increase day by day. The rising sea levels and rising temperatures are destroying the habitat of fish and the lives of our fishermen. " There are increasing "natural disasters, erosion of riverbanks and salinisation of rivers" that endanger the lives of "millions of households engaged in agriculture."
Hasina stresses that "the funds dedicated to development" are diverted to 'emergencies' and climate change has "an impact of between 0.5 and 1% of gross domestic product (GDP). A one meter rise in sea levels - caused by global warming - would flood 18% of the land "of the country, causing at least "20 million refugees" for a total of "40 million individuals denied of their forms of livelihood by 2050”.
Monday 24 August 2009: The Bangladeshi government has launched a massive socio-political campaign to educate people and closely monitor extremism militant activities at the grass roots level, leading English-language newspaper The Daily Star reported on Monday.
In the campaign, involving 14 different agencies and spearheaded by the state minister for home affairs, the government has taken up various innovative initiatives to make people aware about the destructive nature of extremism. The initiatives include holding campaigns, screening documentaries, training imams of mosques, organizing anti-militant campaigns at all level of the people.
The drive which led by a high-powered committee formed in 2007 was the culmination of initiatives by various agencies that have opined that armed drives against the militant was not enough to uproot or contain militant threats. [People's Daily]
AFP News Energy-starved Bangladesh will invite tenders next month for a US$6-billion power plant building program to end a chronic fuel shortage in the fast-growing economy, an official said Saturday.
Most of the power needed to end Bangladesh's electricity shortfall would be produced at plants built by private companies to be selected by the government through competitive bidding, the official said.
"The government has approved the 410 billion taka (US$6 billion) plan," said the head of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, A.S.M. Alamgir Kabir.
"We will now interact with private companies and invite tenders next month (to build a number of power plants). Our target is to get rid of power shortages by 2014," Kabir told reporters.
Impoverished Bangladesh has long suffered severe power outages due to demands imposed by its economy, which has been growing at around six percent annually over the last five years.
Years of under-investment have meant state-owned power plants generate only around 4,000 megawatts of electricity a day but demand is 6,000 megawatts and growing at 500 megawatts a year due to increasing industrialisation.
The World Bank and the Asian Development Banks say the acute power shortfall - only 40 percent of Bangladesh's 144 million people have access to power - has been a big drag on the country's bid to attain double-digit growth. ...more>
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