News - Independent Bangladesh http://www.independent-bangladesh.com Sat, 10 May 2008 08:35:27 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805105177/sports/michael-clarke-to-delay-departure-for-west-indies.html BRISBANE, May 9 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Australia vice captain Michael Clarke will delay his departure for the tour of West Indies due to the failing health of his fiancee's father. Cricket Australia (CA) announced on Friday that Clarke would join the Australian team at a later, as yet unspecified, date and that Brad Hodge would act as a temporary replacement. Sat, 10 May 2008 08:30:43 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805105176/business/us-trade-deficit-narrows-to-$58.2-bln.html AFP, WASHINGTON - The US trade deficit shrank to 58.2 billion dollars in March from a revised 61.7 billion a month earlier, as the weak dollar fueled a surge in exports, the Commerce Department said Friday. The trade deficit narrowed by more than expected in March as most economists had forecast it would shrink to 61.3 billion dollars. Sat, 10 May 2008 08:25:23 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805105175/business/records-help-ease-fears-over-art-market.html New York auctionAFP, NEW YORK - Record prices for works by Claude Monet and Edvard Munch at New York's spring sales this week have helped eased fears over the effect of the faltering US economy on the international art market. Evening sales at Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses raised a total of 512 million dollars, slightly above lower estimates... Sat, 10 May 2008 08:23:57 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805105174/business/citigroup-may-unveil-$400-billion-asset-sales-sources.html REUTERS, NEW YORK - Citigroup Inc, hard hit by the global credit crunch, is expected to present plans to sell roughly $400 billion of extraneous assets when it meets with investors and analysts on Friday, people familiar with the situation said. Newly-installed Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, scrambling to slash Citi's costs and get past credit market problems, also... Sat, 10 May 2008 08:21:29 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805105173/business/china-fund-sees-opportunity-in-global-instability.html REUTERS, SHANGHAI - Global economic instability has created huge investment opportunities for China Investment Corp (CIC), but the sovereign wealth fund will be careful not to destabilize countries where it operates, its head said on Friday. CIC paid $5 billion in December for a stake in US investment bank Morgan Stanley but has otherwise kept its powder... Sat, 10 May 2008 08:19:23 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805105172/business/economic-anxiety-hits-u.s.-women-harder-study.html REUTERS, NEW YORK - The U.S. economic downturn has spread personal financial worries far and wide, but women are more worried about paying bills, losing jobs, providing for children and saving for retirement, according to a study released on Thursday. The study comes as the U.S. economy has been mired in a half-year-long period of stagnation accompanied by... Sat, 10 May 2008 08:17:30 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805105171/business/india-may-ease-rice-curbs-supply-worries-linger.html REUTERS, MANILA - India said on Friday it may allow limited rice exports, a sign that a global supply crisis could start to ease, as Philippine traders held off purchases hoping for new crops soon from southeast Asia. Despite that optimism, US rice prices surged almost 5 percent as prospects of reduced output in cyclone-devastated Myanmar and a larger-than-expected purchase... Sat, 10 May 2008 08:15:00 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805105170/editorial/shift-in-dietary-behaviour.html Potato may be a better choiceThe steep rise in rice prices worldwide and also in Bangladesh , have forced the people, the civil society leaders and government to modify our dietary patterns . Potatoes have always been a rich source of carbohydrates and are richer in other health-giving nutrients than rice. As such the government’s initiative in organising the Bangladesh... Sat, 10 May 2008 08:09:18 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/features/fighting-terrorism-through-tourism.html By Adil ZareefTHE enterprising chief minister of the NWFP, Amir Haider Khan Hoti, recently proposed a $4bn peace package for social development sectors as well as fighting the intractable jihadis in the conflict-ridden province. He has rightly spoken of the need to address the socio-economic needs of the population in order to heal the deep scars that terrorism has inflicted... Sat, 10 May 2008 08:06:30 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095168/country/sc-lifts-lid-on-extortion-case-against-hasina.html Bdnews24.comThe Appellate Division on Thursday cleared the way for the trial court to continue the proceedings of an extortion case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury. In a verdict, the appeals court overturned an order by the High Court that had scrapped the case. The government had appealed the HC verdict. Fri, 09 May 2008 08:27:17 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095167/international/grim-fight-for-survival-after-myanmar-cyclone.html Death toll may hit 100,000Myanmar's military government came under pressure on Wednesday to open its borders to more international help after a devastating cyclone that a U.S. diplomat said may have killed more than 100,000 people, reports Reuters. Washington, a vocal critic of the junta that has ruled the former Burma for more than four decades, said humanitarian... Fri, 09 May 2008 08:24:02 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095166/events/rabindranath-a-source-of-inspiration-ca.html Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed has said that the works of Rabindranath Tagore are a source of inspiration to build a society full of enlightenment and free of prejudices, reports bdnews24.com. Rabindranath is significant in the determination and expectations of our national life, the CA said Thursday in his speech to a programme marking the 147th birth anniversary of world... Fri, 09 May 2008 08:16:11 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095165/country/without-two-major-parties-elections-can-still-be-fair-eu.html Bdnews24.comThe European Union (EU) ambassadors in Dhaka have said that the next general elections can still be free, fair and credible even if boycotted by the Awami League and the BNP. They said the next parliamentary polls were essential for sustainable democracy in Bangladesh. Fri, 09 May 2008 08:02:14 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095164/country/bangladesh-continues-to-send-relief-to-myanmar.html Bdnews24.comBangladesh military Thursday sent a second consignment of relief to Myanmar and promised to continue the nation's efforts to stand by the cyclone-battered people in the neighbouring country. A Bangladesh Air Force aircraft carried 10 tonnes of materials including medicines, dry food, tents and plastic sheets from Kurmitola Air Movement base Wednesday. Fri, 09 May 2008 07:59:29 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095163/country/movement-for-freedom-starts-sunday.html Bdnews24.comThe BNP will submit memoranda to upazila nirbahi officers and deputy commissioners, starting Sunday, to press its demand for the release of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and other ‘political prisoners’, Khandaker Delwar Hossain said. Delwar, secretary general of a faction of the troubled party, announced a 10-point charter of demands and weeklong programmes in a press briefing on his... Fri, 09 May 2008 07:57:55 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095162/country/amanullah-aman-jailed-for-seven-years.html A Dhaka court Thursday sentenced former state minister Amanullah Aman to seven years in jail on charges of extorting money from a Keraniganj businessman, reports bdnews24.comThe sixth additional district and sessions judge for Dhaka, Altaf Hossain, also fined Amanullah Tk 1 lakh. Fri, 09 May 2008 07:55:45 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095161/international/pakistan-tests-nuclear-capable-cruise-missile.html REUTERS, ISLAMABAD - Pakistan successfully tested a nuclear-capable, air-launched cruise missile with a range of 350 km on Thursday, the military said, a day after India tested a long-range missile. The Hatf-VIII (Ra'ad) missile had been developed exclusively for launch from aircraft, a military statement said. Fri, 09 May 2008 07:53:55 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095160/country/relatives-visit-hasina-in-special-jail.html Relatives Thursday met detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in special jail on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, a senior prisons official said, reports bdnews24.com. Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui, deputy inspector general of prisons, told bdnews24.com that six relatives including two children had met Hasina. Fri, 09 May 2008 07:51:38 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095159/country/bus-plunges-into-river-in-india-28-killed.html REUTERS, JAMMU, India - A bus veered off a mountain road in Indian Kashmir on Thursday and fell into a river, killing at least 28 people, police said. The bus skidded off the road while negotiating a sharp bend and rolled down 300 feet into the Chenab River, police and witnesses said. Fri, 09 May 2008 07:50:25 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095158/country/acc-approves-gatco-charges-against-khaleda-23-others.html Bdnews24.comThe Anticorruption Commission Thursday approved a chargesheet against 24 people, including former prime minister Khaleda Zia, in the GATCO corruption case, a senior official said. Fri, 09 May 2008 07:46:42 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095157/sports/gavaskar-resigns-as-icc-cricket-committee-head.html Former India batsman cites professional commitmentsCricinfo.comSunil Gavaskar, who was asked to choose between his ICC role and his media commitments due to a potential conflict of interest, has decided to end his eight-year stint as chairman of its cricket committee. The executive board of the ICC had found Gavaskar's dual roles untenable, and had authorised its CEO, Malcolm... Fri, 09 May 2008 07:36:37 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095156/international/pakistani-leaders-to-meet-in-london-over-judges.html REUTERS, ISLAMABAD - Leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition are due to meet in London this week to resolve differences over how to reinstate judges dismissed in November by President Pervez Musharraf, officials said on Thursday.Strains over the issue within the month-old coalition, led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, have raised speculation that the anti-Musharraf alliance... Fri, 09 May 2008 07:34:55 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095155/international/eu-watch-team-due-in-june.html A European team will arrive in Dhaka in June to recommend whether the EU should send observers to Bangladesh for the upcoming ninth parliamentary elections, reports bdnews4.com. The exploratory mission is likely to arrive in Bangladesh in June, Dr Stefan Frowein, head of the delegation of the European Commission in Dhaka, told reporters at a press conference at Dhaka... Fri, 09 May 2008 07:31:45 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095154/international/first-un-aid-flights-start-arriving-in-myanmar.html The first United Nations relief flights started to arrive on Thursday for cyclone victims in military-ruled Myanmar as a U.S. diplomat said that more than 100,000 people may have been killed, reports Reuters. The cyclone slammed into coastal towns and villages in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta southwest of Yangon on Saturday, the most devastating storm to hit Asia... Fri, 09 May 2008 07:30:27 +0100 http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200805095153/international/myanmar-backtracks-on-u.s.-aid-flight-u.s.-says.html REUTERS, YANGON - The United States is still waiting for approval from Myanmar to start military aid flights for survivors of Cyclone Nargis, its ambassador to Bangkok said on Thursday. This morning, we and our Thai allies thought we had a decision from the Burmese leadership to let the C-130 in. As of now, we don't have... Fri, 09 May 2008 07:29:00 +0100