par j.james | Sep 18, 2015 | Bangladesh
Supreme Court clears screening of film 'Rana Plaza'.
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All hurdles to screen the film 'Rana Plaza' have been removed.
The Supreme Court has quashed a petition to review an earlier verdict, which cleared the film.
The four-member appeals bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha scrapped the plea on Thursday.
The film was set to premiere on Sep 4 but the High Court, on Aug 24, imposed a six-month ban on its release following a plea by the Bangladesh National Garment Workers League chief Sirajul Islam.
It had also stayed the censor board’s clearance of the movie.
On Sep 6, the Appellate Division stayed the ban and cleared the way for its release.
But the petitioner moved the Supreme Court’s Chamber Judge for a review of the verdict and a status quo was imposed until Sep 14. The matter was forwarded for hearing to a regular bench.
On Thursday, the chief justice-led bench heard the matter before scrapping the plea. Read More … [/su_column] [/su_row]
par j.james | Sep 17, 2015 | Economy
Bangladesh's poverty rate drops to 24,8 % …
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The poverty rate in Bangladesh has declined to 24.8 percent in 2015 while the rate of ultra-poor people dropped to 6.5 percent.
The latest status report on Bangladesh's progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) published on Wednesday gave these figures.
Set by the United Nations in 2000, 2015 is the terminal year of the MDGs.
The report comes at a time when the UN is set to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as the post-MDG global development agenda with a 15-year (2016-2030) implementation period.
The report titled, ‘Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh Progress Report 2015’, said Bangladesh made remarkable progresses in poverty alleviation.
It also did so in ensuring food security, gender parity in primary and secondary-level education, lowering under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality rate.
The report said immunisation coverage improved and communicable diseases reduced.
Planning Commission member Shamsul Alam, who presented the report, said despite the successes in reaching the MDGs, nearly 40 million people still lived under the poverty line.
Of them, nearly 25 million people were living in high poverty, he added. Continue reading … [/su_column] [/su_row]
par j.james | Sep 14, 2015 | Bangladesh
Bangladesh launches drive against pirated software of Microsoft
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The law enforcement agencies in a recent drive have recovered 69 laptops installed with pirated software of Microsoft from Flora Telecom and nabbed two persons in this connection.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Task Force and Copyright officials discovered the pirated items during the raid against the reputed retail outlet located in Gulshan 1 area.
The company is suspected of installation, supply and sale of pirated and illegal computer software.
The raid was pursuant to an investigation on a series of retail outlets for over a month by the IPR Task Force and the law enforcement agencies.
Flora employees openly admitted to RAB that they were dealing with pirated software.
Over the past years, the Copyright Office published a series of newspaper advertisements to create awareness about the legal implications of selling pirated goods.
Unfortunately, retailers ignored the government efforts to protect copyright in Bangladesh.
Md Manzurur Rahman, convener of the IPR Task Force, said there have been numerous efforts by the government to warn and educate retailers, but to no avail.
“We are now embarking on action against the entities selling or dealing in pirated and unlicenced software, and want to remind companies that their pirated software business is infringement of copyright law.” Read More … [/su_column] [/su_row]
par j.james | Sep 10, 2015 | Bangladesh
Private university students in Dhaka protest VAT on tuition fees.
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Students of several private universities are demonstrating in different parts of Dhaka on Thursday protesting the 7.5 percent VAT on their tuition fees.
The demonstrations left traffic severely affected in Dhanmondi, Mohakhali, Gulshan and Rampura as protestors have blocked streets.
East West University students have blocked the Pragati Sarani at Rampura, disrupting traffic on that road.
Students had clashed with police at the same place on Wednesday while demonstrating. But any untoward incident is yet to be reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, students of BRAC University are demonstrating in Gulshan.
Banani police OC Md Salauddin said that the students were demonstrating peacefully and that police were deployed in the area.
Traffic, however, has been stopped on the street between Mohakhali and Gulshan-1 intersection, bdnews24.com’s Jayanta Saha reported from the scene.
North South University students have taken out a procession at the Basundhara Residential Area, where its campus is based.
“We have taken out a procession, but not yet decided to go for a road blockade,” said NSU Business department student Habibul Hasan.
In Dhanmondi, students of Stamford University have blocked part of the Road -27.
Dhanmondi police OC Nure Azam told bdnews24.com that they have requested the students to leave the streets and not make the people suffer.
The government in the 2015-16 budget proposed 7.5 percent VAT on tuition fees for higher education in all private universities, and medical and engineering colleges.
On July 4, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued an order imposing the VAT.
Students of these private institutions have been protesting against the decision since then. Read More … [/su_column] [/su_row]
par j.james | Sep 9, 2015 | Myanmar, Religious fundamentalism
Muslim politicians excluded from Muanmar election.
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Concerns have been raised over the lack of Muslim candidates in political parties contesting the Nov 8 parliament election.
Both the BBC and Britain’s the Telegraph have highlighted the fact that neither the National League for Democracy (NLD) nor the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) appear to have Muslim candidates.
In addition, Muslims have also been struck from voters lists especially in Rakhine state, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were denied the right to vote after being forced to return their government identity cards. Read More … [/su_column] [/su_row]
