Monday, June 1

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Cabinet okays draft of ‘Metro Rail Bill, 2014
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Cabinet okays draft of ‘Metro Rail Bill, 2014

The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the 'Metro Rail Bill,  2014' to give a legal framework to the overall activities of the proposed Metro Rail Project, including its operations, control and regulations. The proposed law kept provision of Tk 1 crore fine and 10 years of imprisonment for operating metro rail without license or illegal handover of license for operating Metro Rail. The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the cabinet held at the Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan briefed the reporters after the meeting. He said that the draft law also kept provision of five years of imprisonment or Tk 50,000 fine for creating obstructions in running metro rail.
Kamaruzzaman won’t seek mercy before review plea disposal
ENGLISH

Kamaruzzaman won’t seek mercy before review plea disposal

 Condemned war criminal Muhammad Kamaruzzaman will not seek presidential mercy until the Supreme Court disposes of his review petition to be filed with the apex court, a defence lawyer said today. “Kamaruzzaman will decide about the presidential mercy after the Supreme Court disposed of his review petition,” Mohammad Shishir Manir, one of the counsels of the death row convict, said at a press conference at Supreme Court Bar Association this afternoon. The Jamaat-e-Islami leader will file the review within 30 days after receiving the certified copy of the Appellate Division judgment that upheld his death penalty for wartime offences, Manir told reporters. On November 3, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for Kamaruzzaman, a key organiser of the infamous Al-Badr Bahini responsi...
Lighter vessel workers call indefinite strike
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Lighter vessel workers call indefinite strike

The lighter vessel workers called an indefinite strike across the country since this morning demanding their security on waterways. Loading and unloading activities remain suspended at all the sea ports following the strike. Earlier, a gang of pirates swooped on a Sirajganj-bound fertiliser-laden lighterage vessel when it reached Batirkhal in Laxmipur district on Friday and looted the fertiliser.
UN experts urge halt on Kamaruzzaman execution
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UN experts urge halt on Kamaruzzaman execution

  Two United Nations human rights experts today urged the Bangladesh government to stay the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman who has been handed death penalty for crimes committed against humanity during Liberation War in 1971. UN special rapporteurs on summary executions, Christof Heyns, and on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, expressed serious concern on reports that Kamaruzzaman could be executed as early as November 6 midnight. In a press release issued today, Heyns and Knaul said that capital punishment “may be imposed only following a trial that complied with the most stringent guarantees of fair trial and due process.” On Monday, the apex court upheld the death penalty for Kamaruzzaman, a key organiser of the infamous Al-Badr Bahin...
Tigers seal Test series win: Shakib makes history
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Tigers seal Test series win: Shakib makes history

Tigers seal Test series win: Shakib makes history    Bangladesh 433,248/9d; Zimbabwe 368, 151 DAY- 5 Bangladesh 433 (158.5 overs) & 248/9d (83.5 overs) Zimbabwe 368 (135.1 overs) & 151/10 (51.1 overs) Bangladesh win by 162 runs. Bangladesh sealed the three-match Test series 2-0 beating Zimbabwe by a massive 162 runs at Khulna’s Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium today. Shakib Al Hasan clipped five wickets, including the prize wicket of Masakadza, for the second time in this match helping Bangladesh pack Zimbabwe at 151 shortly after play resumed following tea. This was the first ever series win in Khulna, their sixth Test win, what is expected to raise the Test ranking of Bangladesh one place to ninth position. Shakib Al Hasan celebrates after Zimbabwean opener Sikandar on...
How old is your brain? Take the dementia test
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How old is your brain? Take the dementia test

The Week © MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty How old is your brain? Take the dementia testPublic Health England has announced that it's working on a tool to help calculate people's "brain age" by looking at lifestyle factors such as how much they drink, smoke and do exercise.Doctors believe that the computer-based test could help identify the risk of dementia in later life.Charles Alessi, Public Health England's lead on dementia, told The Guardian that the test was designed to be educational. "We are offering people an opportunity to know exactly how risk factors can influence the rate of decline of their cognitive functions," he said. "Dementia is a whole group of conditions and we can manage some of the risks. We know, for example, smoking can accelerate cognitive decline." A similar test has ...
Mujib should be charged with sedition: Tarique
London

Mujib should be charged with sedition: Tarique

Reacting to sedition charges against him, BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman has said that a sedition case should be filed against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for being the president of Bangladesh after returning home with Pakistani passport, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reports. He claimed that he was charged with sedition for what he said "upholding the real history". Tarique, also the elder son of BNP chief and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, was addressing a discussion in East London yesterday, according to the Prothom Alo report. He claimed again that his father was "not only the first proclaimer of independence but also the first elected president of the independent Bangladesh. On October 18, Advocate Moshiur Rahman Malek, president of Bangabandhu Foundation, filed the sedition cas...
Kamaruzzaman’s execution of death any time: Family meets in Prison
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Kamaruzzaman’s execution of death any time: Family meets in Prison

Health condition of death row convict Muhammad Kamaruzzaman is sound, his son Hasan Iqbal said after meeting with his father at Dhaka Central Jail this morning. “I haven’t seen such a strong person like him”, Bangla Media reports quoting Iqbal as saying. Ten family members went to the jail in the morning and met the Jamaat-e-Islami leader, who was shifted to Dhaka from Kashimpur jail in Gazipur yesterday, for half an hour from 10:38am with the permission of the jail authorities. Kamaruzzaman’s wife Nurunnahar, sons Hasan Iqbal, Ahmed Hasan, Ikram Hasan and Hasan Imam, daughter Afia Nur, brothers Naziruzzaman and Abdullah Al Mahadi, sister Mohsina Begum, and nephew Abdul Alim, are among the family members who visited him at the jail. Shishir Monir, a counsel for the convicted war crim...
Eric Pickles takes over ‘rotten’ Tower Hamlets
London

Eric Pickles takes over ‘rotten’ Tower Hamlets

Crackdown on London borough’s ‘partisan approach to politics’ represents one of his biggest interventions in local government Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities, says his direct intervention in Tower Hamlets contradicts everything he believes in.  The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, is to take over the administration of Tower Hamlets council, in east London, for two years after an inquiry commissioned by his department found evidence of a crony culture in which grants and properties were handed to favoured groups, and proper procedures were ignored. Pickles is to dispatch three commissioners to oversee grant-giving, appointments, property deals and the administration of future elections in the borough. The inquiry, conducted by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, ...
Drinking while pregnant could become a crime
ENGLISH

Drinking while pregnant could become a crime

Drinking In Pregnancy Could Be Made Illegal Drinking In Pregnancy Could Be Made Illegal Drinking while pregnant could become a criminal offence after a court case to be heard today, women's charities have said.A local authority in the North West of England is seeking criminal injuries compensation for a six-year-old girl in care who has ''growth retardation'' caused by her mother's alcohol consumption during pregnancy.Both the local authority and the young girl cannot be named.If the Court of Appeal agrees that the mother committed a crime, the ruling could lead to the criminalisation of taking necessary medication or refusing a caesarean section, campaigners have warned. The lawyer acting on behalf of the council, Neil Sugarman, told Sky News that the court case was n...