Trial of money laundering case begins Jan 4

A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against former prime minister Khaleda Zia's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and a former BNP minister's son in absentia in a money laundering case.
The other accused is Ismail Hossain Saimon, son of former shipping minister late Akbar Hossain.
The same court on October 31 issued arrest warrant against Koko and Saimon in connection with the case. As per the law the accused were supposed to be present in the court at the time of hearing on the charge framing and during the trial proceedings.
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150 hurt, 200 held

With overwhelming presence of law enforcers and ruling Awami League activists in the streets, opposition BNP's dawn-to-dusk hartal yesterday passed without any major untoward incidents.
Top ranking BNP leaders including most of the members of the party's standing committee were not seen in the streets during the showdown. Even leaders like Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Moudud Ahmed, who were very much vocal about enforcing the hartal, were indoors.
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Khaleda's Petition

The hearing of the contempt of court petition filed by Khaleda Zia against the government over the Dhaka Cantonment house was not held yesterday, as the Supreme Court did not sit due to the countrywide hartal called by BNP.
The SC will hear the petition today, said Attorney General Mahbubey Alam.
“The judges of the apex court did not sit in the ejlash [courtroom] today considering that the lawyers concerned would not be able to attend the court due to the countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal,” he told.

The judges of the Appellate Division came to their offices but did not sit in the courtroom, the AG added.
A three-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque on Monday fixed yesterday for hearing the contempt petition.
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The ruling Awami League (AL) said yesterday people hatefully rejected BNP's hartal on the day but the main opposition party said people spontaneously made the hartal a success despite government obstructions.
Both the parties came up with their claims at separate post-hartal press briefings.
The AL said BNP enforced the hartal to protect party Chairperson Khaleda Zia's family interests, and not on any national issue.
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Aug 21 Probe

A Dhaka court yesterday granted three months more to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to complete the probe into one of the two cases filed in connection with the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004.
The case was filed under the Explosive Substances Act.
Judge Mohammad Zohurul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court passed the order after CID filed a petition on Monday seeking four months time to complete the investigation.
Senior Special Superintendent of CID Abdul Kahar Akhand, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the prayer after failing to complete the probe by the stipulated time.
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Arms Haul Case

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) here yesterday submitted petitions seeking 10-day remand each against former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar and former director general of National Security Intelligence (NSI) Brigadier General (retd) Abdur Rahim in the sensational Chittagong arms haul case.
Investigation officer (IO) and Senior ASP Mohammad Moniruzzaman of CID filed a petition with the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate seeking 10-day remand against Abdur Rahim in the arms smuggling case filed on April 3 with Karnaphuli police station under section-25/B of the Special Powers Act for arms smuggling.
The court fixed today for hearing on the remand prayer against Rahim.
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Over-dimensional cargoes to be carried to Tripura power plant; effective till June 2012

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Bangladeshi and Indian officials at the shipping ministry yesterday. With this signing, Bangladesh implemented one of the clause of the 50-point Joint Communiqué issued on January 12 during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India.
India will not pay any fees or service charges for this transit even though it would be using Bangladesh's rivers and roads. However, it has agreed to provide Bangladesh Tk 25.50 crore for the development of Ashuganj river port terminal and 49 kilometres of roads.
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Aftabuddin Murder

Judge Mahbubur Rahman of the Environment Appeal Court revived the murder charges. He however upheld dropping of the charge against number one accused Osman Goni Sarkar, as the charge against him had been deemed politically motivated by the National Review Committee for Withdrawal of Politically Motivated Cases.
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President Zillur Rahman yesterday handed over prizes to the winners of 'Celebrating Life 2010' at an animated award giving ceremony at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital.
The steadfast and indomitable spirit of the country and its people echoed through jingles of patriotic melodies, classical folk dance and what turned out to be an ensemble of elated awardees.
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SC Appellate Division

The Appellate Division of Supreme Court has been experiencing a severe shortage of judges, as six out of a total of 11 judges have retired and two others went on leave within last one year.
No new judge was appointed to the apex court during the last 15 months, although around 7,000 cases are now pending with this court, causing sufferings to the litigants, sources at chief justice's office said.
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Poverty seen as key reason

The number of absentees is 1.27 lakh higher than that of last year. Around 1.54 lakh students did not take the examinations last year when it was introduced for the first time.
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Both the CT scan machines at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital remain out of order causing huge suffering for patients with critical head injuries requiring scan.
One of the two machines got broken nearly six months ago and the remaining one on November 22. DMCH Radiology and Imaging Department sources said it is uncertain when they will be fixed.
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After nearly 100 years of plying the rivers of Bangladesh, the glory days of the last four romantic “rocket” paddle-wheel boats appear numbered. Their worn-out engines and paddles are failing, while competition from faster modes of transport lures away their customers.
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A parliamentary body yesterday, expressing concern over the soaring prices of food grains, directed authorities concerned to keep the price of rice within Tk 25 per kilogram.
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The admission test for Gha unit (the unit for changing group) first year honours courses at Dhaka University for the session 2010-11 will be held on Friday.
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Just three months ago Noor Alam was a driver of a CNG-run three-wheeler and was living happily with his wife and two little children. But now a bleak future awaits him as an accident caused severe injury to his legs and shattered all his dreams.
"At 30 I am struggling hard to live with dignity. I have no property in my village and no relatives except my aged mother. I never asked anyone for money. Will I have to do that now?" he asked.
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World AIDS Day Today

The World AIDS Day will be observed today across the country as elsewhere in the world.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has chalked out an elaborate programme to observe the day in a befitting manner. Different socio-cultural organisations have also taken separate programmes along side the government to mark the day.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque will address a seminar on “Universal Access and Human Rights” at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) at Sher-e- Bangla Nagar at 10.30am today.
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MoU with Korean company to be signed today

The government will soon receive 50,000 modern blackboards and 5,000 pianos from South Korea, which will be provided for the primary schools.
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Micromax ODI Cup Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe

When Bangladesh kick off their five-match one-day series against Zimbabwe today there would be only one expectation: maintain the purple patch leading upto next year's World Cup.
The Tigers are buoyant after their recent 4-0 drubbing of New Zealand and go into the first one-dayer at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur with the tag of 'favourites', but refreshingly there has been a common sentiment among the players that the job would not be so easy as they dubbed Zimbabwe "a better side" in this conditions than the Kiwis.
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Micromax ODI Cup Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe

Rival coaches predicted spin bowling to be the deciding factor in the five-match one-day series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
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The recent government approval of an additional Tk 4 crore to facilitate renovation work at the Bangabandhu National Stadium means that the total cost of reconstruction has moved up to a staggering Tk 35 crore to just host the opening ceremony of the 2011 World Cup.
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Gerhard Peter Rach, Bangladesh's temperamental hockey coach, blasted the hockey federation branding it 'old town mafia' for its mismanagement in his Asian Games report to the Bangladesh Olympic Association.
In the report, the German claimed that he was not responsible for the debacle in the Guangzhou Asiad saying that he was not a part of the selection panel. Bangladesh finished eighth after winning only one of their matches while losing the other six.
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