AL tells govt

Staff Correspondent

The Awami League on Sunday asked the government not to decide on the political future of mayors-elect without sitting with his party that now has people's mandate.

Reuters, Hyderabad, India, - Heavy monsoon rains brought down homes and swamped parts of southern India, killing at least 40 people over the weekend, officials said on Sunday.

National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Mohammad Abdul Mazid on Sunday said better mobilisation of internal resources could reduce the heavy weight of foreign loan, reports bdnews24.com.

"This country belongs to all of us. We liberated this country through a lot of struggles and a war. So we all will have to protect the country together.

Desk Report

A Dhaka court further pushed back to Aug 31 the hearing on the case involving the Aug 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally.

Staff Correspondent

A BNP leader on Sunday said the government has bias against the release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and her elder son Tarique Rahman.

Desk Report

The Communist Party of Bangladesh has reelected Manjurul Ahsan Khan and Mujahidul Islam Selim as president and general secretary.

REUTERS, NEW YORK - Wall Street may extend its push for recovery this week as investors bet that a further drop in oil prices will restrain inflation and boost prospects for profit growth.

Staff Correspondent

Detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia has asked the Election Commission about the bars on running in general elections on those not registered as voters, a senior prisons official said on Sunday.

Staff Correspondent

The office timings for government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous organisations during the ensuing month of Ramadan will be 9am to 3.30 pm, the interim cabinet decided Sunday.

Staff Correspondent

The interim cabinet has restored August 15 as National Mourning Day, the day independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

While the Government is maintaining that the Emergency must remain in place to ensure peace and security, the political parties on the other hand are insisting that the Emergency is a barrier to creating a congenial atmosphere for holding the national elections. Public opinion is firmly in favor of lifting the Emergency as soon as possible, if not immediately. The issue of holding upazilla polls before the parliamentary ones is another divisive factor.

AFP, MEXICO CITY - "Save someone's life and you have a burden for life," goes the proverb, and its truth seems horribly apt for the campaign against AIDS.

After years of battling for funds and anti-HIV drugs for needy people in poor countries, activists are finally making headway.

Agency

Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Mongla seaports have been asked to hoist local cautionary signal no. 3 due to a low surfacing over the north Bay of Bengal and areas close by, the meteorological department said on Saturday.

Acting CCC mayor, ward commissioners condole death

Abdullah Mahmud Chowdhury, elder brother of Dewan Bazar Ward Commissioner Chowdhury Hasan Mahmud died at 1. pm  at his own residence last night, says a press release.

Acting CCC mayor Alhaj M Monzur Alam and ward commissioners condoled his death and expressed sympathy to the bereaved family.

Inflation reportedly seems to have gone down slightly but the Bangladesh Bank does not seem to be very upbeat about it stating that major challenges remain in increasing productivity which suffers from power shortages, infrastructural bottlenecks and an unstable political situation.

The Journalists Association of Chittagong University(CU) will hold a seminar titled “ Sikshar Jonno Sikshangon” (Educational Institutions for Education) at 10 am tomorrow at the Faculty of Social Science (Dr. Mohammed Yunus Bhaban) of the university, says a press release.

Hon’ble VC Professor Dr. M Badiul Alam will attend the occasion as Chief Guest while Professor Dr. Jamal Nazrul Islam, eminent scientist and Professor Emeritus  will chair it.

The four city corporations and nine municipalities held on Monday with huge turnout has offered some precious lessons for us. All who were elected belong to political parties, not reformist groups, a coinage discovered during the last 18 months. Participation of political parties in the polls, barring the BNP and its allies, generated enthusiasm of the electorate to choose democratically their local representatives. In some polling centers, the turnout exceeded over 85 percent, which is certainly a good news for next general election.

Agency

The 67th death anniversary of Nobel Prize winning Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore was being commemorated throughout the country on Wednesday.

Pleads death row prisoner

A prisoner on death row in the US has filed a lawsuit claiming he is too fat to be executed and could not die humanely, reports AP.

REUTERS, MEXICO CITY- Rising food prices around the world are likely to drive poor women to trade sex for basic goods like fish and cooking oil, raising the risk of new AIDS infections, UN officials said on Monday.