Zia criticises Hasina as she is being sworn in as PM

September 24th, 2009 DHAKA - US President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit Bangladesh, media reports said Thursday. Seated next to Obama at a working dinner hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Hasina spoke on Bangladesh's woes in an era of climate change.

July 28th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Rehana and their children will get Special Security Force (SSF) protection in view of threats to their lives, as per an executive order. Hasina Monday chaired a cabinet meeting that approved the Father of the Nation's Family Members' Security Bill 2009 with immediate effect "to ensure lifelong and foolproof security", New Age newspaper reported Tuesday.

July 28th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Rehana and their children will get Special Security Force (SSF) protection in view of threats to their lives as per an executive order. Hasina Monday chaired a cabinet meeting that approved the 'Father of the Nation's Family Members' Security Bill 2009' with immediate effect "to ensure lifelong and foolproof security", New Age newspaper reported Tuesday.

May 11th, 2009 DHAKA - While Bangladesh's courts hear the government recommendation that 11 cases against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina be dropped, a senior law officer Monday began scrutiny of documents relating to 20 graft cases against opposition leader Khaleda Zia and her family. The cases were instituted by the military-backed caretaker government that ruled the country 2007-08.

February 26th, 2009 DHAKA - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in an address to the nation Thursday afternoon, asked the mutinous Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troopers to lay down their arms and warned that she would take 'strong action if compelled to do so'. Hasina, in the address at about 2.30 p.m., said she had granted general amnesty to the rebels and assured them that they would not be harmed in any way if they give up their 'suicidal' mission.

January 23rd, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed Saturday inducted six more junior ministers into her cabinet, raising the cabinet's strength to 38, officials said. President Iajuddin Ahmed administered the oath to the new state ministers at the presidential palace, Bangabhaban.

January 14th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's opposition leader Khaleda Zia Thursday promised to play a constructive role in parliament, which is scheduled to convene later this month. 'We want to help the government.

January 11th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has told her team of ministers, 25 of whom are newcomers, that she would remove them if they fail to perform. She told them to take charge of their ministries within seven days after which she 'will not accept excuses', New Age newspaper quoted her as saying Monday.

January 10th, 2009 DHAKA - Outgoing US President George W. Bush called up newly-sworn in Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to congratulate her on her victory and hailed the recent polls for ushering in 'a non-communal democracy' in the country.

January 6th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's first democratically elected government in over two years got to work Wednesday, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended office after a landslide victory in the Dec 29 poll. She was sworn in as the prime minister Tuesday evening, ending the tenure of a military-backed caretaker government that held office for a week short of two years.

January 5th, 2009 DHAKA - Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of the nation's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was sworn in prime minister of Bangladesh for a second time Tuesday following her landslide victory in last month's general election. She was premier previously 1996-2001.

January 5th, 2009 DHAKA - Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of the nation's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was sworn in as prime minister of Bangladesh for a second time Tuesday following her landslide win in last month's general election. She was premier previously 1996-2001.

January 3rd, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's Awami League (AL), which is poised to form a new government, named Zillur Rahman as the country's next president, media reports said Sunday, quoting party chief Sheikh Hasina. 'The party will nominate its presidium member Zillur Rahman as head of the state,' Hasina said after her party's newly elected legislators took the oath of office, Ittefaq newspaper reported.

January 3rd, 2009 DHAKA - India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to be here mid-January, among the first foreign dignitaries to visit Bangladesh after the new government led by Sheikh Hasina is sworn in next Tuesday. The outgoing caretaker government's Foreign Affairs Advisor Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury confirmed this, but said details of the visit would be worked out by the new government.

December 30th, 2008 DHAKA - Bangladesh, where politics is dominated by two former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, will see a record 64 women sitting in its ninth Jatiya Sangsad (national assembly). For the first time, 19 women contesting for 23 parliamentary seats defeated their rivals by huge margins in the election that saw the Hasina-led alliance winning three-fourths of the 299 seats.