Politics
BCL president Shovon, gen secy Rabbani axed
Dhaka, Sept 14 (UNB) – Amid various controversies, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) President Rezwanul Haque Chowdhury Shovon and General Secretary Golam Rabbani have been removed from their respective posts.
JCD to carry out ‘legal, political’ fight to remove barriers: Dudu
Dhaka, Sept 14 (UNB) – Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student body of BNP, is getting ready to carry out both the ‘legal and political’ fight to remove the barriers to holding its much-awaited council.
It’s time to move forward: GM Quader
Dhaka, Sept 14 (UNB) – Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Saturday urged the leaders and activists of their party to get united putting aside all the divisions among them to play an important role in pro-people politics.
BNP slams govt for “obstructing” its reorganisation process
Dhaka, Sept 13 (UNB) - BNP senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Friday alleged that the government is creating obstacles to their party’s reorganising process by not allowing it to hold its councils at the grassroots level.
Democratic debate: Fiery exchanges over costs of health care
Houston, Sep 13(AP/UNB) — The three leading Democratic presidential candidates clashed over health care, immigration and President Barack Obama's legacy on Thursday in a fierce debate that pitted an aggressive Joe Biden against liberal rivals Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
"This is America," said Biden, his party's early front-runner, before calling Sanders "a socialist." ''I stand with Barack Obama all eight years, good bad and indifferent."
The top White House hopefuls faced off for the first time alongside seven other candidates who are under increasing pressure to break out of the pack. All assailed Trump without mercy.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker called Trump a racist. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke called him a white supremacist. And Kamala Harris, a California senator, said Trump's hateful social media messages provided "the ammunition" for recent mass shootings.
"President Trump, you have spent the last two-and-a-half years full time trying to sow hate and vision among us, and that's why we've gotten nothing done," Harris declared.
The Democrats primary contest has been remarkably stable, but the debate comes at a pivotal point in the campaign as more voters move past their summer vacations and begin to pay closer attention to politics.
Polls show that a strong majority of all voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction under the first-term president's leadership. But nine months into their nomination fight, divided Democrats have yet to answer fundamental questions about who or what the party stands for beyond simply opposing Trump.
The debate is shaped by evolving issues of race, gender, generation and ideology that again exploded into public view on the debate stage Thursday night.
Obama himself emerged as a hot point as the discussion shifted to health care and immigration in particular.
Sanders said Biden, Obama's two-term vice president, bears responsibility for millions of Americans going bankrupt under the "Obamacare" health care system.
Biden slapped back at both Sanders and Warren and contended they haven't yet explained how they would pay for Sanders' government-backed "Medicare for All" health care plan.
Castro, who served as Obama's housing chief, kept the pressure on the front-runner.
The 44-year-old Texan appeared to touch on concerns about Biden's age when he accused the former vice president of forgetting a detail about his own health care plan. At 76, Biden would be the oldest president ever elected to a first term.
"Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?" Castro asked. "I can't believe that you said two minutes ago that you have to buy in and now you're forgetting that."
He added: "I'm fulfilling the legacy of Barack Obama and you're not."
The ABC News debate was the first limited to one night after several candidates dropped out and others failed to meet new qualification standards. A handful more candidates qualified for next month's debate, which will again be divided over two nights.
Besides the infighting, viewers saw the diversity of the modern Democratic Party.
The debate, held on the campus of historically black Texas Southern University, includes women, people of color and a gay man, a striking contrast to the Republicans. It unfolded in a rapidly changing state that Democrats hope to eventually bring into their column.
The debate shifted to gun violence in a state shaken by a mass shooting last month that left 22 people dead and two dozen more wounded.
In an emotional moment, O'Rourke said that there weren't enough ambulances at times to take all the wounded to the hospital.
"Hell yes, we're gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47," he said, as the crowd cheered.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted that all the candidates on stage favor a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. She favors a voluntary buy-back program on assault weapons, however.
Meanwhile, Trump noted he'd be in Baltimore at a Republican retreat during the debate and wasn't sure he'd get a chance to watch. But he predicted the Democratic nominee would ultimately be Biden, Warren or Sanders.
"It's going to be very interesting," Trump said. "I'm going to have to watch it as a re-run."
The leading Democratic candidates may not have another chance to face off for quite some time.
The Democratic field may be divided into two groups when they meet in October because more than 10 candidates qualified for the next round.
Govt working to annihilate opposition, alleges BNP
Dhaka, Sept 12 (UNB) – Shrugging off Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s remark that Awami League does not believed in the politics of vengeance, BNP on Thursday said the government is working in a planned way to ‘eliminate’ the opposition parties.
BNP announces 12-day progarmme seeking Khaleda’s release
Dhaka, Sept 12 (UNB) – As part of the party’s move to intensify its movement demanding the release of Khaleda Zia, BNP’s different associate bodies will stage a 12-day human-chain programme in the city.
Jatiya Party council on Nov 21: GM Quader
Dhaka, Sept 11 (UNB) – Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Wednesday said their party’s national council will be held on November 21 next to strength its organisational capacity.
No Bangladeshi migrated to India after independence: BNP
Dhaka, Sept 11 (UNB) – Observing that a deep-rooted conspiracy is on to endanger the country through the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said no Bangladeshi migrated to India after the 1971 Liberation War.
PM dealing with BCL issues: Quader
Dhaka, Sept 11 (UNB) – Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Wednesday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself is looking into the matter involving the incumbent president and general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).