London Bangla A Force for the community…
The $30m (£18.6m) opening ceremony to launch the Cricket World Cup has begun in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. All 14 captains were paraded around a packed Bangabandhu Stadium in rickshaws during a show reflecting local cultures and featuring 3,500 performers. Indian singer Sonu Nigam, Bangladesh-based Runa Laila, plus Canadian Bryan Adams provided other entertainment.
The more modern stadium in Mirpur hosts Saturday’s tournament opener, in which Bangladesh host favourites India. Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina said: “I hope that the games will be memorable and exciting. “It gives me great pleasure to declare the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup open.”
The often chaotic roads in Dhaka witnessed relatively light traffic on Thursday with the government declaring a half-day public holiday so its people could return home in good time to view the opening ceremony on television. It is the first time the country, which is slowly making a mark in world one-day cricket if not the five-day Test version, has helped stage the showpiece event which features eight matches in Bangladesh, 12 in Sri Lanka and 29 in India, including the 2 April final.
Bangladesh, whose first six matches will be in Mirpur and Chittagong, are enjoying their moment in the sporting spotlight. Bangladesh Cricket Board president Mostafa Kamal said: “We will be able to improve our image if we can successfully hold the opening ceremony and host the World Cup matches slated for us.”?
were cast in the UK at the 2010 UK
Parliamentary General Election, and there
is no evidence to date of any widespread,
systematic attempts to undermine or interfere
with the 2010 elections through malpractice.
None of the 232 cases of alleged
electoral malpractice reported to the police
has been shown to have affected the outcome
of the election to which it was related.
These are among findings from a report
published by the Electoral Commission, the
independent elections watchdog, and the
Association of Chief Police Officers
(ACPO) and Association of Chief Police
Officers Scotland (ACPOS), analysing data
from police about
