The High Court has recently struck down two ordinances signed by the President on the contention that the Emergency Government "has no authority to enact any law which is not related to election and emergency issues". Lawyers are saying that other ordinances, if challenged before the High Court may also be cancelled or annulled in the same way and for the same reasons.

Interest of local ones be given priority

KATHMANDU, Tue Jul 29, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - One of a pair of Nepali twins once joined at the head died on Tuesday, seven years after surgeons in Singapore separated their fused skulls, a doctor said.

But Basanta Pant, a neurosurgeon at Kathmandu Model Hospital, where the girls undergo regular medical check ups, said Ganga died in hospital while being treated for a chest infection.

SAARC Summit

Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh will raise issues such as food, energy, trade and climate change at the 15th SAARC summit in Colombo, an adviser said Monday.

Some 84 people have been afflicted with the dengue virus in the first 27 days of July, Dhaka City Corporation chief executive officer Md Alauddin said Monday, reports bdnews24.com

Bangladesh has recently been ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. But it is not possible to curb corruption by filing indiscriminate cases or holding meetings in different districts, ACC Chief told an opinion exchange meeting with government officials on institutional initiative to prevent corruption, at the Deputy Commissioner‘s office at Naogaon. Patriotism and accountability of government officials are necessary to make the nation corruption free.

Bangladesh has unfortunately failed to stop India and Myanmar encroaching upon its maritime territory. The seismic survey of Bangladesh’s territorial sea line has now become crucial as a UN set deadline for lodging maritime claims is to expire in next three years exposing Bangladesh to risks of losing a vast territory in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh signed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea called in 2001 and under the law we are obligated to lodge our claim on the maritime boundary by 2011.

One of the striking features of Indian Democracy is that the politicians will continue to rule India either from the ruling party or from the opposition bench.  The government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh won a crucial trust vote in parliament, but Indian democracy took a huge beating. The mud slinging ahead of the vote that culminated in opposition lawmakers waving wads of money in parliament, which they said were offered to them as bribes to buy their support, has scarred the Indian polity forever.

REUTERS, NEW YORK- Two forms of oxygen therapy may help manage two types of debilitating headache pain, a new research review suggests.

Bdnews24.com

Around 70,000 people die of tuberculosis each year, or one person every ten minutes, the National Anti-Tuberculosis Association of Bangladesh (NATAB) said Friday.

Unlike Truth Commission established by Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the Truth Commission in Bangladesh comes with a twist, the purpose being to quickly dispose of certain types of criminal offences involving defalcation and looting of public wealth. As to why the Emergency Government is in such a hurry to dispose off such serious offences related to corruption, is difficult to understand and even more difficult to support particularly when there are existing "laws of the land" to deal with such offences in due course of time and through due processes.

It is striking that in consultations with the public, local government invariably appears near the top of people's aspirations, and the country's civil society strongly advocates it. Yet very little progress has been made, primarily because the political class views the emergence of independent local government as a threat.  With over 150 million people, Bangladesh is one of the world's largest countries with a unitary government.

Ctg Int'l School Debate

The final round of Chittagong International School Debate 08' ended here at school assembly hall yesterday, said a press release.

Sujoy Barua was selected best debater and won the championship title.

In a country like Bangladesh where 90 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, it is quite vital for any government to meet the energy needs of the vast region. There is a very little scope to increase net cropped area. Agriculture is the major sector of national economy. It employs 77% of labour force and accounts for about 45% of the GDP. The total tree covered forest of Bangladesh is 18% of total area.

REUTERS
Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG offered to acquire all outstanding shares in its US partner Genentech Inc for $43.7 billion in cash to reinforce its position in cancer medicines.
 
Roche, which already owns 55.9 percent of Genentech, said on Monday it would offer $89 per share to buy up the remaining stake, a 9 percent premium to the biotech company's closing share price on Friday.

Our Correspondent     
Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed Monday said that it was not yet time for complete withdrawal of the state of emergency.
 
"The local elections are being held by relaxing the state of emergency. The next decision will be taken after evaluating it," the CA said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting in Sylhet Monday.

The death of Mashiul Alam Sentu, a prominent Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader in a shootout with RAB members on Wednesday has once again brought the issue of extra-judicial killings to the fore. He is the latest addition to the long list of people who have lost their lives in similar fashion. Bangladeshi brand of miscreants, criminals and terrorists must be rank amateurs.

Fertilizer shortage has been a regular feature in almost every peak planting season over the past 18 months . As has been pointed out and proved before, one of the major reasons for the crunch has been the absence of a sensible coordination between relevant agencies and timely distribution so that farmers get what they need during the peak cultivation season.

Matiur Rahman Nizami's release on a two-month interim bail in the GATCO case Tuesday evening has raised many eyebrows. What is curious, however, is the decision of the military-controlled government and the Anti-Corruption Commission to not move the Appellate Division for a stay on the High Court's order, as they have done in the case of Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia and two other accused in the case.