market Disclosures

Bangladesh Finance and Investment Co
Jesmin Ahmed, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported her intention to sell 7,000 shares out of her total holdings of 42,138 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Provati Insurance Company
The company will be placed in 'A' category from existing 'Z' category with effect from today as the company reported disbursement of 12 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2010.
Meghna Life Insurance
Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date today for AGM and EGM.

Sandhani Life Insurance
Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today after record date.

Rupali Life Insurance
Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today after record date.

NCC Bank
Aslam-ul-Karim, one of the sponsors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 1,00,000 shares out of his total holdings of 20,82,971 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Mercantile Bank
Bilkis Begum, one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported her intention to sell 10,000 shares out of her total holdings of 2,81,433 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

    Source: DSE
Source : New Age

Nestle buys 60 pct of Chinese candymaker for $1.7b

Nestle, the world's largest food company, is paying a hefty $1.7 billion for a 60 per cent stake in candy maker Hsu Fu Chi International to move deeper into fast-growing markets in China.

Nestle's biggest deal in China so far will take it closer to its target of 45 per cent of sales from emerging markets in about 10 years, and analysts said on Monday securing growth opportunities in China was worth a relatively high price.

'It is certainly not cheap but that is the price you have to pay to get access to this high-growth market,' Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy said.

'The fact that Hsu Chen will continue to lead the company is also very positive because he must be very well linked and have a well-established distribution network,' he said.

Kepler Capital Markets analyst Jon Cox said: 'The deal makes strategic sense as, inevitably, China will become the biggest market for confectionery in the future. It looks a bit expensive at first glance at 3.5 times sales. But you are paying for the future growth prospect.'

The Vevey-based maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Nescafe coffee strengthened its dairy business in China earlier this year when taking a 60 per cent stake in Yinlu Foods Group for an undisclosed sum.

'Together with Yinlu Foods and Hsu Fu chi, Nestle will increase its Chinese business from around 2.8 billion Swiss francs ($3.35 billion) in 2010 to 4.2 billion francs,' Helvea analyst Andreas von Arx said, adding China could become Nestle's fifth-biggest market.

Nestle shares were down 0.3 per cent at 1000 GMT, in line with the European food and beverage sector.

Source : New Age

Inflation top priority: Wen

China's premier and the country's central bank governor vowed on Monday to prevent stubbornly high inflation from upending the economy, reinforcing expectations for more increases in interest rates and bank reserve requirements.

Premier Wen Jiabao said tackling inflation was the government's top policy priority while central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the authority needed to make maintaining price stability 'more prominent and important.'

Inflation rose to a three-year high of 6.4 per cent in June, data showed on Saturday. The comments mark a fresh attempt to show the inflation fight is far from over and the government is determined to bring prices back under control, analysts said.

'If they signal any comfort with inflation, and inflation is as high as it is now, they could create an environment in which people would panic, and they can have a real problem on their hands,' said Tim Condon, head of Asia research at ING in Singapore.

Wen declared curbing price pressures as the top priority in China's version of a 'State of the Union' address in March, when inflation was 1 percentage point lower than June's level.

The Communist Party is worried that rising prices could spill over into public protest. Wen said in March that inflation could threaten social stability in the world's second-biggest economy.

'We must treat stabilising overall price levels as the top priority of our macro-economic controls and keep the direction of macro-economic adjustments unchanged,' Wen said in remarks reported on Monday by the central government's Internet portal.

He said the government would try to stabilise prices of pork, a staple meat for Chinese and the most closely watched item in controlling inflation, by boosting the supply of hogs. Pork prices in June shot up 65 per cent from a year earlier, official figures show.

China would maintain a 'prudent policy' to bring prices back under control while trying to avoid causing big swings in economic growth, Zhou said.

'The most prominent problem in macro-economic operations is the relatively big inflationary pressure and still strong inflationary expectations,' Zhou wrote in the latest edition of China Finance magazine, published by the People's Bank of China.

'We must make it more prominent and important to maintain basic stability of the overall price level, and pay attention to price stability in a wider scope,' Zhou said.

China's inflation has largely been driven by rising food costs, which rose 14.4 per cent in the year through June.

June's headline inflation was slightly above the 6.3 per cent forecast in a Reuters poll and revived expectations of more interest rate rises in the next few months.

The data, combined with weak jobs growth in the United States and lower than expected imports in China in June, rattled Asian stock and commodities markets.

Source : New Age

Asia rates have room to rise beyond inflation peak

Asia's emerging market central banks will need to keep ratcheting up interest rates well after inflation peaks to prevent higher prices from seeping into corners of the economy where they are much harder to dislodge.

Two months after global oil prices began to subside from a spike fed by Middle East unrest, the worst appears to be over for China, Indonesia, and a handful of other Asian economies that struggled to contain inflation this year.

But it may be only a short-lived reprieve. Home-grown inflationary pressures are building, stemming from tight labour markets, rising property values and growing domestic demand, meaning rate rises may continue at least through 2012.

China is the country to watch. Not only is it the biggest player on the block, but it has become a role model for some other policymakers in the region and a bellwether for investor sentiment on Asian emerging markets.

'We do expect inflation to roll over in the coming months,' Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economics research at HSBC, said in a telephone interview from Hong Kong. 'But make no mistake, there is underlying inflation that will not disappear in China.'

Neumann thinks last week's interest rate hike from the People's Bank of China will be the last of the year but far from the final move of the tightening cycle.

A slim majority of economists polled by Reuters on Thursday predicted otherwise, calling for one more one-quarter percentage point increase in bank lending rates by year end.

Benchmark interest rates across Asia remain well below levels that prevailed before the financial crisis exploded in 2008, which argues strongly for more tightening. In India, South Korea and Malaysia, for example, interest rates are running below annual inflation.

Neumann and others worry that easing price pressures may lull policymakers into a false sense of security. Indeed, Malaysia's central bank held rates steady last week, defying expectations for a rise.

That is one reason why economists are looking for evidence of inflation lurking beneath the surface.

Similar to the way US economists strip out food and energy prices to focus on 'core' inflation, Asia economists are differentiating between cost pressures emanating from globally traded commodities and those tied to domestic factors.

A simple headline-versus-core comparison is not as useful in emerging markets because food and energy consume a much larger portion of household budgets than in advanced economies.

Focusing on home-grown versus imported inflation can offer clues about which way inflation is headed, and reveal hot spots that might otherwise be masked by moderating headline rates.

China's annual inflation hit a three-year high in June, data released on Saturday showed. Falling world commodity prices suggest that may be as hot as it gets, at least for this year.

Source : New Age

BB provides online CIB reports from July 19

Bangladesh Bank will start providing online information of its Credit Information Bureau reports to banks and non-banking financial institutions from July 19, which will make faster the lending services and will eventually cut the cost of doing business.

BB governor Atiur Rahman will inaugurate the online service at the central bank's headquarters in the capital city, bringing an end to the manual, time consuming and cumbersome process of sharing the important credit information among banks and financial institutions.

All the 47 banks and 29 NBFIs of the country will be able to collect the online CIB reports on July 19 and onwards. The banks and financial institutions would also be able to collect the CIB reports from the central bank physically if they want, the central bank officials said.

Atiur told the news agency on Monday that the online service would make the CIB reports only a click away, which now takes five to seven days.

The governor said the faster CIB reports would cut the cost of doing business when the banks, NBFIs and respective persons would get it without going to the persisting hassles and longer time-frame.

'The Election Commission and other government organisations and agencies can also get necessary information to determine whether any particular person is a loan defaulter or not,' he said, observing that this convenient and accurate information would help combat credit related corruption.

As per the existing provisions, outstanding loans worth at least Tk 50,000 are included in the CIB reporting system.

Source : New Age

Comilla Municipality now city corporation

Comilla Municipality has been declared a city corporation.

The announcement came through a Local Government Engineering Department gazette published on Sunday.

According to the gazette, the new city corporation consists of areas in the Comilla Municipality and Comilla Sadar (South) Municipality.

'I felt very happy when the gazette came around 5:00pm,' deputy commissioner Rezaul Ahsan said.

Source : New Age

Two drug dealers held

The Department of Narcotics Control in the capital on Sunday arrested two alleged drug dealers who used to smuggle illegal drugs.

A DNC special squad, on information, raided the house of Haji Abul Hossain at Maddyapara, Kajla at Jatrabari on Sunday midnight and arrested the drug dealers.

The squad also seized about 2,000 pieces of Yaba tablets in possession of them.

Arrested are Mohammad Anwar and Mosammat Yasmin, both hail from Cox's Bazaar.

The Jatrabari police said the arrested confessed that they smuggled Yaba tablets into Dhaka from Cox's Bazaar.

Source : New Age

Dhaka City Corp announces Tk 2715cr budget today

The Dhaka City Corporation is going to announce its budget for fiscal year 2011-12 today.

The budget stands at Tk 2,715 crore for the fiscal, DCC sources told New Age.

The DCC budget for 2010-11fy was Tk 2,171.34 crore while the revised budget for the fiscal stood at Tk1,435 crore.

For Dhaka city mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, this will be the tenth consecutive budget placement.

The mayor will have a meeting with the ward councillors at 11:00am before unveiling the budget at the city's Mohanagar Natya Mancha at 1:00pm.

The city dwellers will not see any increase in the holding taxes or imposition of any new taxes in the new budget, said the DCC officials.

Source : New Age

RU founding anniversary celebration starts today

Rajshahi University is going to celebrate its 58th founding anniversary today with festivities.

The celebration, originally scheduled for July 6, the founding day of the university, was delayed because of the countrywide general strike enforced by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on that day.

Marking the day, the university authorities will hold a host of programmes, including a procession and a discussion.

Vice-chancellor Abdus Sobhan will commence the celebration by hoisting the national and RU flags on the Senate Building premises at about 10:00am, a release said.

He will later lead a procession participated by the staff and students of the institution.

Afterwards trees will be planted at the Teachers-Students Cultural Centre while a discussion on the history and achievement of the university is scheduled to be held at its Kazi Nazrul Islam Auditorium at 11:00am.

The cultural and political bodies of the students on campus will organise their own programmes to observe the day.

The cultural organisations will stage programmes, demanding resumption of the TSCC with full facilities.

Having commenced its journey on July 6, 1953 with six departments, 161 students and 68 teachers under three faculties, the university now has around 26,000 students and 1,040 teachers in 48 departments under nine faculties.

Covering 303.8 hectares of land RU sits in Motihar, five kilometres east of the Rajshahi city centre.

Source : New Age

Many sites of archaeological importance yet to be enlisted

Many of the Dhaka city sites and structures, which are more than 100 years old and have historical, architectural, aesthetical and cultural significance, are yet to be enlisted as archaeological sites.

As per the provision in the Antiquities Act 1968, the Department of Archaeology can consider enlisting a historic or archaeological edifice only if it is 100-year-old.

Section 2(b) of the act says, "Ancient' means belonging or relating to any period prior to the preceding hundred years while (c) stipulates that 'antiquity' means (i) any ancient product of human activity, movable or immovable, illustrative of art, architecture, craft, custom, literature, morals, politics, religion, warfare, science or of any aspect of civilisation or culture, (ii) any ancient object or site of historical, ethnographical, anthropological, military or scientific interest.'

A per section 2 (g), "Immovable antiquity' means an antiquity of any of the following descriptions, namely (i) any archaeological deposits on land or under water, (ii) any archaeological mound, tumulus, burial place or place of interment, or any ancient garden, structure, building, erection or other work of historical, archaeological, military or scientific interest, (iii) any rock, cave or other natural object of historical, archaeological, artistic or scientific interest or containing sculpture, engraving, inscription or painting of such interest.'

The section 2(1) further says, "Any gate, door, window, panelling dados, ceiling, inscription, wall-painting, wood work, iron work or sculpture or other thing which is attached or fastened to an immovable antiquity.'

Archaeology department officials, historians, archaeologists and green activists criticised the delay in the declaration as in its absence many of the sites of archaeological importance have remained unguarded and unprotected from the grabbers, damage and destruction.

According to the Department of Archaeology, at present it ownes 398 heritage sites and among them 33 archaeological sites are in the Dhaka city.

The city sites are Sat Gambuz Mosque, the tomb near Sat Gambuz Mosque, Khan Mohammad Mridha Mosque, Tomb of Colombo Sahib, Tomb of Josaph Paget, Bara Katra, Tomb of Nawab Nasarat Jang, Tomb of Nawab Shamsud Daulah, Tomb of Nawab Quamarul Daulah, Tomb of Nawab Gaziuddin Haider, Lalbagh Fort, Gate way of the South East corner of Lalbagh Fort, Lalbagh Fort Mosque, Reception and Hammam of Lalbagh Fort, Tomb of Pari Bibi, Choto  Katra, three-storey gate of Choto Katra, Tomb of Bibi Champa, Haji Khawja Shahbaj Mosque, Tomb of Haji Khawja Shahbaj, Musa Khan Mosque, Nimtali Deury, Old Eidgah at Dhanmandi, North Brook Hall, Rose Garden, Ruplal House, Nawab Bari Main Gate, Jamindar Bari at Sutrapur, Shankhanidhi House, Shankhanidhi Dance House, Bhajahari Lodge, Radha Krishna Temple and Beraid Bhuyanpara Jame Mosque (Ancient Portion).

On the other hand, the Public Works Department in 2009 listed 93 heritage buildings and four areas in Dhaka city for preservation many of them were more than 100 years old.

The list has been prepared in consideration of historical, aesthetic, scientific, social, cultural, religious, political and heritage importance of the structures and sites.

Safiqul Islam, director general of Department of Archaeology, said listing the sites was continuous process and would be updated.

'For the protection of the sites, it is important the original state and structure was not distorted,' he added.

Historian Muntasir Mamoon said that no government had paid any attention to preserving historical the archaeological sites of the country. 

Sharif Uddin Ahmed of the history department at Dhaka University said there would be hardly any testimony to the history, tradition and lifestyle of the country if these places were not preserved.

Shah Sufi Mustafizur Rahman of archaeology of department of Jahangirnagar University, said many of the structures were more than 100 years old, but they are not enlisted as archaeological sites.

Among them are Binat Bibir Masjid, St Thomas Church at Johnson Road, St Gregory's Church, Laxmibazaar, Armenian Church, Holy Rosary Church, Malik Ambar Majsid at Tejgaon, Hayat Bepari Masjid, Nava Rai Lane Masjid, Churrihatta Masjid, St Gregory's School, Pogose School, old building of Jagannath College (now a day university), Mir Jumla Gate at Doyel Chattar, Greek Memorial at Teachers Student Centre of Dhaka University, Burdwan House of Bangla Academy and Curzon Hall and many others.

Source : New Age

116 held, goods seized in Rangpur

The police in separate anti-crime raids arrested 116 persons and seized contraband goods from various places in the Rangpur district during the last 48 hours till Monday noon, police sources said.

The arrested include fugitives and accused in different cases, drug-peddlers and traffickers, listed terrorists, muggers, thieves, extortionists and other anti-social elements.

Kotwali police netted 22 people, Gangachara 13, Badarganj seven, Taraganj three, Mithapukur 43, Pirganj 23 and Kawnia police arrested five persons, the sources said.

Source : New Age

Aminul Islam’s qul khwani today

The qul khwani of artist Aminul Islam is going to be held at his Gulshan residence at Concord Crown, House: 2, Road: 76, Gulshan 2, Dhaka after asr prayers today.

Aminul Islam died in Dhaka on July 8, 2011.

His students, colleagues, relatives, friends and well-wishers were requested to attend the prayer session, said a press released issued by the artist's family.

Source : New Age

Housewife killed for dowry in Khagrachhari

A housewife was tortured to death allegedly by her husband for dowry at Dighinala upazila on Sunday.

The deceased was identified as Jesmin Akhter, 19, wife of Abdur Rahman, a resident of Merung union.

Family sources said Rahman married Jesmin, daughter of Giyasuddin, 8 months ago.

The police quoting locals said since then Rahman used to torture Jesmin to bring dowry money from her parents. They said her parents gave Rahman Tk 1 lakh as dowry one month back. But the man started torturing her again for more money.

Neighbours said in the afternoon on the day, following a quarrel with Jesmin over the issue he tortured her mercilessly and later poured poison into her mouth.

She was taken to the upazila health complex and later shifted to Sadar Modern Hospital where the doctor declared her dead.

Rahman went into hiding soon after the incident. A case was filed in this connection.

Source : New Age

Shab-e-Barat holiday on July 18

The government has announced the public holiday on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat to July 18 instead of July 17.

The public administration ministry on Monday in a circular rescheduled the holiday.

'As per the July 2 decision of the National Moon Sighting Committee, Shab-e-Barat will be observed on the night of July 17. So the holiday will be on July 18 instead of July 17,' the circular said.

The holiday announcement, however, will not be applicable to the organisations run by their own rules and to those where the presence of the staff is a must, the circular says.

'Such offices and organisations will announce the holiday taking into consideration public interest,' the ministry said.

Source : New Age

Newspapers holiday on July 17

The Newspapers Owners Association of Bangladesh has declared holiday on July 17 on account of Holy

Shab-e-Barat.

Therefore, no newspapers will be published on Monday, July 18, a NOAB press release said in Dhaka on Monday.

Source : New Age

12-party combine calls fresh countrywide demo on Friday

The line-up of 12 Islamist and moderate political groups, which enforced the 30-hour general strike from Sunday morning, is going to hold a fresh spate of demonstrations across the country on Friday in protest against what it terms brutal torture of ulema, or Muslim scholars and clergymen, carried out on Sunday.

The combine will also bring out a procession on the day from Baitul Mukarram National Mosque after the juma prayers. 

The 12-party line-up at a post-strike news briefing on Monday announced the protest programme against the alleged brutal torture of ulema on Sunday, which, it claimed, left more than 1,500 people injured and over 2,000 demonstrators arrested across the country.

Senior leaders of the combine also threatened to launch tougher programmes including a general strike for indefinite period, if the government did not reinstate the phrase – absolute faith and trust in Allah – in the Constitution.

Khelafat Andolan amir Shah Ahmadullah Ashraf at the briefing brushed aside the prime minister's claim of retaining 'bismillah' in the Constitution, saying, 'If any one does not have "absolute faith and trust in Allah", he will lose iman and there will be no result if a be-iman [non-believer] recites bismillah a thousand times.'

He said, 'We will not return home without realising our demands.'

Asked whether the 12-party line-up would take the shape of an electoral alliance, Ahmadullah said, 'Time will decide our course of action. But, whoever supports our demand, we will be with them.'

The second day of the 30-hour general strike ended Monday noon without any untoward incident in the capital or elsewhere in the country, following incidents of fierce violence on Sunday at different places.

The combine composed of Khelafat Majlis, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan, Sammilita Ulema Mashaikh Parishad, National Democratic Party, Islami Oikya Andolan, Bangladesh Muslim League, Bangladesh National Awami Party, National Awami Party (Bhasani), Jatiya Ganatantrik Party, Islamic Party, and Nezame Islam Party called the country-wide general strike on June 30, immediately after the passage of the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Bill in protest against the replacement of the phrase – absolute faith and trust in Allah – with 'secularism' and 'socialism' in the Constitution.

Islami Andolan Bangladesh on Saturday pulled out of the combine and called a separate strike for Sunday. It however was replaced in the grouping by Islami Oikya Jote, an ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Islami Andolan Bangladesh from a separate news briefing also threatened to enforce a nonstop general strike, if the government did not meets its demands. The party amir, Syed Rezaul Karim, also the pir of Charmonai, said their activists had carried clubs on Sunday in the face of attacks and to protect themselves.

The pir claimed nine activists of the party had remained missing since Sunday midnight after being picked up by people who claimed to be members of the Detective Branch of police. But, none of them has been taken to any police station or produced before any court, he said.

In the final six hours of the 30-hour strike, the life in the capital had become almost normal, with a good number of vehicles plying the streets and shops remaining open, while no picket of the Islamist groups was seen amid a strict vigilance of the law enforcement agencies.

The police in riot gears riding small vehicles ruled the Dhaka streets since dawn. They especially patrolled the lanes and alleys where madrassahs and offices of the strike-enforcers are located.

They were seen to keep vigil at Sat Gambuj Masjid, Lalbagh Fort, and Kamrangir Char and the madrassahs in those areas. A huge number of police were deployed at Kanchpur and Fatullah of Narayanganj and Keraniganj of Dhaka, where pickets had clashed with the police on the previous day.

The students of the Jamia Rahmania at Mohammadpur and the Jamia Qurania Arabia at Lalbagh were seen preparing for examinations. The central office of Khelafat Andolan at Lalbagh was empty, except for a youth sleeping inside, while a contingent of police was sitting idle outside the building.

No picketing by the 12-party combine was seen at any place. A few of its activists were seen reading newspapers in the office of Khelafat Majlis, the liaison office of the combine. 

Movement of vehicles including cars and microbuses on different city streets became normal after 9:00am. Even the inter-district buses started leaving the city terminals for their destinations, while trains, launches and flights also operated on schedule.

However, panic prevailed in Madaninagar and Kanchpur areas following Sunday's fierce clashes between the strike-supporters and ruling party men backed up by the police. As a result, vehicular traffic at Jatrabari and on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway was thinner than other city areas and roads and fewer buses and CNG-run three-wheelers plied the streets in Madaninagar and Kanchpur.

A large number of law-enforcers including members of the Rapid Action Battalion and the police patrolled the highway, streets, and alleys in Jatrabari area.

A group of people under the banner of an organisation of transport workers brought out an anti-strike procession from Shimrail truck stand of Kanchpur at around 9:30am and marched different thoroughfares of the area, chanting slogans against the strike.

Source : New Age

World Population Day observed

Bangladesh observed World Population Day on Monday with the government's family planning programme falling flat for lack of commitment and manpower.

An overpopulated country, Bangladesh even does not know the size of its population.

The day was observed across the globe on the theme, 'World at 7 billion.'

The day, this year, assumes greater significance as the population of the world is set to reach seven billion by the end of October 2011 from six billion 12 years ago.

UNFPA chose the theme to draw attention of the governments, communities and individuals to understand the global population issues for taking corrective action.

In Bangladesh, the government as well as the non-government organisations observed the day.

Speaking at the inaugural programmehis ministry organised to observe the day, health and family welfare minister AFM Ruhal Haque called for raising awareness and commitment among the people about the pressing need to keep the population size under control.

The ministry awarded the best personnel for their family planning work.

Ruhal stressed the need for a social movement to involve the people with the population control programme.

The minister said that the previous governments did nothing in the sector in seven years.

'We have to start the work with a weak department,' he said.

A colourful procession was taken out in the city at the initiative of the ministry in the morning.

The department of population science of Dhaka University hosted a discussion at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of the university to mark the day. A colourful procession was taken out from Aparajeyo Bangla on the campus under its initiative.

Source : New Age

Admission trade rampant in Dhaka College

Many higher secondary education seekers could not be admitted to Dhaka College in the capital in keeping with the merit list and some others lower down the merit list could be admitted in exchange for money, students and guardians said.


Many students who are in the top of the merit list could not get themselves admitted to such colleges but students lower down in the merit list got themselves admitted in exchange for money.
Mainly ruling party student leaders are taking the money and they are charging an additional amount between Tk 15,000 and Tk. 30,000.
College authorities usually first announce lists of students selected in the admission test. If the seats are not filled up, the authorities call students from waiting lists. The admission trade is done mainly with students in the waiting lists.
Dhaka College has 600 seats in the science group. In keeping with the education board rules, the college announced a waiting list for a half of the number of seats. Students from ranking between 601 and 900 were in the first waiting list.
The college authorities on June 22 called students ranking between 901 and 1350. On June 25, they called students ranking between 1351 and 2,100, on July 4, between 2001 and 2500 and on July 6, between 2501 and 3000.
Some officials of the college told New Age that the authorities had needed to call students ranking up to 2100 to fill up the seats but they again had called students ranking up to 3000 only to help student leaders in admission trade.
Guardians and students said that when students from the waiting list went for admission, the authorities said that all seats had been filled up and no more students could be admitted.
The officials said students named in the upper waiting lists had been shown absent and students from lower down the list had then been admitted in exchange for money.
'When I first went there, the authorities told me that I could not get admitted but then I went through "proper channel" and gave money and I got admitted,' said a student, who ranked between 2100 and 2200.
'It is abnormal that the best college in the country needs to call 3,000 students to fill up 600 students. When every student wants to get admitted to Dhaka College, why the college did not get the required number of students from 2,000 students? It should be investigated,' a teacher said.
A student, who ranked between 2700 and 2800, got admitted to the college on July 6. His mother told New Age that her son was admitted in 'political quota… We spent Tk 30,000 on the admission for my son;
When one guardian said that he wanted his brother, ranking the 2780th, to get admitted to the college, she advised her to talk to one Jisan.
Jisan who claims to be a second-year HSC student in the college, when contacted, said that he could be admitted in exchange for Tk 30,000.
'We do not take the money. We give it to Pervez bhai,' he said.
Jisan then phoned the guardian on Wednesday night and said, 'If you want to get your brother admitted, bring the money and papers by July 6.'
Another student who ranked between 2500 and 2600 also got admitted on July 6. He said that one Tarek, who claimed to be the joint secretary of the college unit Chhatra League, had helped him.
On July 6, college unit Chhatra League leaders Rajib and Shihab were busy doing admission trade on the college campus.
When contacted, the Dhaka College principal, however, brushed aside the allegations of irregularities. 'The admission process is fare,' she said.
Asked why some students who were towards the top of the merit list could not get admitted and some students lower down the list could do so, she said, 'The admission is done in keeping with admission rules. You might not understand this as it is done online.'
Asked about the exchange of money, she said, 'If students give money to someone outside the campus, what can I do for it?'
The chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka, Fahima Khatun, told New Age that if they received any allegations, they would launch an investigation.
'Stern action will be taken if anyone is found involved in any irregularities,' she said.
Source : New Age

Malaysia delays amnesty plan for illegal workers

Malaysia is delaying an amnesty programme aimed at fingerprinting an estimated two million illegal foreign workers, a minister said Monday.


The amnesty scheme to encourage illegal workers to come forward and register was originally scheduled to start Monday.
But home minister Hishammuddin Hussein said it was put off to allow authorities to first fingerprint the country's legal foreign workers, who number some 1.9 million. He gave no new date for the amnesty scheme.
'We have decided to postpone the registration of illegal workers through the biometric system until further preparations,' he told reporters.
'There are several technical issues and national security matters that we have to sort out before going ahead with this,' he added, without elaborating.
The amnesty programme was announced last month to deal with Malaysia's large population of foreign workers, who support the economy by filling low-paid jobs shunned by locals in industries such as plantations and construction.
The programme would allow some of the now illegal immigrants to gain employment legally, and others to leave the country without facing punishment such as jail terms and caning.
The government has also said legalisation will protect workers from falling victim to trafficking gangs.
Malaysia is one of Asia's largest importers of foreign labour, mostly from neighbouring Indonesia, Bangladesh and other regional countries.
Source : New Age

Mirsarai tragedy Zillur, Hasina, Khaleda shocked

The president, Zillur Rahman, expressed profound shock at the death of schoolboys in a tragic road accident at Mirsarai upazila in Chittagong on Monday.

In a message, the president prayed for salvation of the departed souls and also conveyed his sympathy to the bereaved families.

In a separate condolence message, the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has expressed her deep shock at the death of the schoolboys.

She ordered the administration to ensure the best possible treatment of those injured in the tragic accident.

The leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, also expressed profound shock at the loss of so many young lives.

Source : New Age

Stringent laws to curb terrorism, trafficking on the anvil

The Cabinet on Monday approved in principle the draft of the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2011 after making some changes for prevention of financial transactions by terrorists through banks or any other financial institutions and non-government organizations.

It also endorsed the draft of the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Bill 2011,

incorporating a provision for death penalty as maximum punishment for traffickers.

The home affairs ministry placed both the proposals in the weekly Cabinet meeting at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

'The Cabinet has approved in principle the proposed changes to the anti-terrorism law enacted in 2009 since terrorism has now expanded across the world. It is not the problem of a single country any more,' the prime minister's press secretary, Abul Kalam Azad, told reporters after the meeting.

He said that the law was enacted in 2009 to prevent criminal offences like killing, possession of firearms and explosive substances, damaging properties and jeopardizing the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The prime minister told the meeting that the terrorists would not be allowed to use even a square inch of the country's land, the press secretary told reporters.

He said the term 'firearms' would be replaced with 'arms' in the amended law.

'Any transactions through banks or any other financial institutions or hundi for terror financing will now come under the coverage of the anti-terrorism law. The law covered only bank transactions before the chnges,' the home affairs secretary, Abdus Sobhan Sikdar, told New Age.

He said that there were no clear-cut directives in the law on tackling the financial transactions found to have links with terrorism. 'Now the court or any of the government agencies concerned will have the jurisdiction to issue directives in this regard,' said the secretary.

The draft suggests empowering the Bangladesh Bank's financial investigation unit to check terror financing through any financial institutions, he said.

Referring to the draft of the human trafficking prevention law, the home affairs secretary said it would be a new law. 'The existing law covers prevention of the trafficking of women and children only. Now the term trafficking has been redefined, covering all human beings a whole,' he added.

The draft Bill proposes a blanket law, incorporating tough action against human trafficking in general, and women and children trafficking, and irregular migration, in particular.

The Bill stipulates a minimum of eight years of rigorous imprisonment, with fine, for those convicted of human trafficking. 'If found guilty, one can be awarded life imprisonment with a fine of Tk 5 lakh or be awarded the death penalty as the highest punishment,' said Azad.

The draft suggests setting up of the National Human Trafficking Prevention Authority to pursue human trafficking cases and take suitable action to combat the crime.

Human trafficking and related crimes will be non-bailable and non-compoundable offences under the proposed law.

'Human trafficking shall mean the selling or buying, recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud or deception, or of the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person, having control over another person, for the purpose of sexual, commercial, or other form of exploitation, whether in or outside Bangladesh,' according to the draft of the new law.

Source : New Age

AL gears up for political activities

The ruling Awami League is taking preparations to gear up its political activities by holding councils of its district and divisional units and staging political programmes at the grassroots level in order to face the opposition politically.

The secretariat of the AL will hold a meeting today at the party chief's Dhanmondi office in the afternoon to

discuss the present political situation of both the party and the country, said AL sources.

They said that the central leaders would take decisions on some issues, including the holding of councils and launching of political programmes at the grassroots level.

As the party had earlier decided to hold councils and stage rallies of the district and divisional units after the local government elections, the decisions in this regard may be finalised in Tuesday's meeting, sources said.

The secretariat of the party will also review the performance of the AL-backed candidates in the Union Council polls, said sources.

'The party's secretariat will sit on Tuesday and finalise the schedule for launching programmes, including the holding of councils, at the district and divisional level,' AL's joint general secretary, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, told New Age on Monday.

Hanif, the current spokesman of AL, said that some organisational and political issues of the AL and the country would be discussed in the meeting.

'As the municipal and Union Council elections are now over, we will begin to strengthen the party's activities at the grassroots level,' AL's organising secretary, Ahmed Hossain, told New Age.

He said that the party had almost decided what programmes would be staged in the district and divisional headquarters, and already the organising secretaries have been given the responsibility of specific areas.

'We will finalise the holding of councils at the district and divisional levels soon,' AL's presidium member, Zafar Ullah, told New Age on Monday.

Source : New Age

Cabinet gives nod to control wall writing, poster pasting

The Cabinet on Monday endorsed the draft of the Wall Writing and Poster Pasting (Control) Bill 2011, with a provision that allows local government bodies to designate places and realize fees for such advertisements.


The LGRD and cooperatives ministry placed the draft in the weekly Cabinet meeting at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, proposing restrictions on graffiti and pasting of posters on the walls of houses and establishments across the country.
'The Cabinet has approved the draft prepared on the basis of the Wall Writing and Poster Pasting (Control) Ordinance 2008,' the prime minister's press secretary, Abul Kalam Azad, told reporters after the meeting.
He said the new law would allow the local government authorities to designate places for wall writing and pasting posters and realize fees.
Like the previous ordnance promulgated by the interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, the draft proposes stringent punishment including fines for violation of the law, said officials. According to the draft's proposals, nobody will be allowed to use walls for writing or pasting posters in order to advertise or campaign. The law enforcement agencies will be empowered to direct companies or persons who use the walls for such purposes to remove the posters or erase the graffiti.
Local government institutions such as city corporations and municipalities, however, can specify places for graffiti and pasting of posters in the areas under their jurisdiction, if needed.
The city corporations and municipalities in urban areas are now responsible for keeping their areas clean, but in the absence of specific laws they face difficulties in taking action against those scrawling graffiti and pasting posters on walls.
Monday's Cabinet meeting also approved a proposal of the Internal Resources Division for allowing operation of duty-free shops under private management at the airports and seaports of Bangladesh. At present duty-free shops are run solely by the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.
Source : New Age

No family planning services for Dhaka slums

People living in Dhaka city's slums, who comprise around 40 per cent of the total population of the capital, appear to be ignored by the government's Family Planning Programme as there is no door-to-door counselling and service.

Rehana, who lives in the railway slum in Mailbagh, has been looking for advice on family planning.

'No one has visited the slum or counselled me about family planning,' she said.

She told New Age that she has not been given any short-term contraceptive products either by a government or non-government organisation.

'I know a clinic in Khilgaon which administers injections that work for three months, but they charge Tk 300 for each injection, which is impossible for me to pay,' she said.

Nurjahan, who has lived in the same slum for over 10 years, also said that no one had come to their slum to provide advice on family planning methods or indeed any other health-related issue.

Jyotsna, 18, who has lived in the railway slum in Tejgaon for the last two years, echoed the complaints of the other women. 'No one has yet visited me or given me advice on family planning.'

None of them knew where they could get family planning services and they had very little knowledge of what contraceptives were available.

The Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2007 found that the use of contraceptives by married woman has declined from 58 per cent in 2004 to 56 per cent in 2007.

Experts said that seventy-two per cent of couples need to use contraceptives to enable the country to reduce its fertility rate to 2.2 per cent by the end of 2011, the government's target.

According to the report of the BDHS, around 14 per cent of the couples who did not use contraceptives wanted to, but did not have access to them.

A total of 164 family welfare assistants and 98 family welfare visitors are working in Dhaka city, but this is considered to be a grossly insufficient number. Moreover, they do not go from door to door in the city's slums.

Although, a total of 63 non-government organisations are also registered to deliver family planning services in the area under Dhaka City Corporation, they only provide clinic-based services, said the officials of Directorate General of Family Planning.

Currently the DGFP provides seven types of family planning methods to the NGOs, free of cost.

The NGOs, however, charge service fees from people for providing assistance, said the officials.

Professor AKM Nur un Nabi, of the Department of Population Sciences of the University of Dhaka, said that the current organisation was inadequate to provide proper family planning advice.

The government family welfare assistants are not properly functioning now as they increasingly do not go from door to door, he said.

'Everyday people move from villages into the city, and they are totally outside this programme,' he added.

Nabi said that there was no specific direction from the government about who will cover the family planning needs of the people who live in slums.

'About 40 per cent of the people in the city are slum dwellers, so we have to think about them seriously. Otherwise the total family planning situation will collapse,' he said.

People in cities have been ignored in this programme from the very beginning, but the situation becomes worse day by day, he added.

MM Nizamuddin, DGFP's director general, said that their workers try to provide services to people in the city. 'But there has been no recruitment at the field level in the last 30 years, and such an inadequate number of people cannot provide services properly.'

Source : New Age

Sayedee faces war crime charges

The first-ever formal charge of war crimes was submitted to the International Crimes Tribunal on Monday against Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the detained nayeb-e-amir of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.

The tribunal, better known as the war crimes tribunal, instituted on 25 March, 2010 for the trial of war crimes committed during the War of Independence in 1971, posted for July 14 the hearing of the taking of cognisance of the formal charge.

It also posted for July 14 the hearing of the petition filed by Sayedee to seek bail in the case.

It also ordered its registrar to register the formal charges.

The tribunal of Justice Nizamul Huq, Justice ATM Fazle Kabir and Judge AKM Zahir Ahmed also asked the prison authorities to produce Sayedee on July 14.

The first-ever trial of war crimes began on Monday with chief prosecutor Golam Arif Tipu submitting the formal charge.

The formal trial will, however, commence with the framing of charges against Sayedee, said the tribunal's chair, Justice Nizamul Huq, during Monday's hearing.

According to sources in the prosecution, the formal

charge pleaded for the highest punishment to be handed to Sayedee, stating that he and his accomplices committed offences under Section 3(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973.

The chief prosecutor told reporters that charges have been pressed against Sayedee for committing offences under Section 3(2) of the Act.

The Section defines the crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, genocide and war crimes.

Tipu said that the investigators found no evidence that Sayedee had committed any 'crimes against peace' and accordingly no charge was pressed against him for that crime.

Charges have been pressed against Sayedee for all the other offences stipulated in the Section, mentioned Tipu.

During Monday's hearing, Sayedee's counsel Tanveer-Al-Amin argued that the defence counsels should be provided with the copy of the formal charge and other documents, including evidence and records, before the hearing of the taking of cognisance of the charge.

Rejecting the plea, the tribunal's chair said that the defence counsels would be provided with all documents at the appropriate time.

According the Act and the Rules of the tribunal, the defence counsels cannot get the formal charge or other related documents until the tribunal takes cognisance of the formal charge, he said.

On May 31 the tribunal ordered the prosecution to submit the formal charges against Sayedee by July 11.

According to sources in the prosecution, the formal charge was prepared after examining the 4,074-page investigation report, submitted to the prosecution by the investigation agency on May 31.

The 4,074-page report in 15 volumes — the 77-page investigation report in one volume that proposes formal charges and the 3,997-page case diary in 14 volumes — was submitted to the prosecution by investigator M Helaluddin.

According to Section 9 of the Act, the prosecution will need to furnish to the tribunal a list of witnesses intended to be produced along with the recorded statement of such witnesses or copies thereof, and copies of the documents which the prosecution intends to rely upon in support of such charges, at least three weeks before the commencement of the trial.

A list of witnesses for the defence, if any, along with the documents or copies thereof which the defence intends to rely upon, shall be furnished to the tribunal and the prosecution at the time of the commencement of the trial.

Section 16(2) reads, 'A copy of the formal charge and a copy of each of the documents lodged with the formal charge shall be furnished to the accused person at a reasonable time before the trial; and in case of any difficulty in furnishing copies of the documents, reasonable opportunity for inspection shall be given to the accused person in such manner as the tribunal may decide.'

Sayedee was arrested on 29 June, 2010 in a case filed against him for 'hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims'.

On 2 November, 2010, the tribunal ordered Sayedee's detention for his alleged involvement in war crimes in Pirojpur, his home district, where some 30,000 people were reportedly killed, and their bodies were dumped into 12 mass graves.

Moreover, at least 300 women were allegedly tortured and at least 35 houses were looted and 146 houses set ablaze, and Sayedee was involved in most of those crimes, according to the investigators.

The investigators visited Pirojpur and found evidence of murder, rape and genocide 'committed by Sayedee' in Pirojpur Sadar and Zia Nagar upazila in 1971, they said.

The investigators also found that Sayedee and another alleged war criminal had forced at least 150 Hindu businessmen and locals of Parerhat to convert to Islam with the help of the members of Parerhat's Shanti Committee (peace committee) and the Pakistani army.

Sayedee was also interrogated by the investigators at the safe house on May 12.

Apart from Sayedee, Jamaat's amir Motiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla, and Bangladesh Nationalist Party's standing committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, also a lawmaker, have been detained on charge of committing war crimes, along with others.

The tribunal, however, on March 31 granted bail to former BNP lawmaker and minister Abdul Alim on certain conditions.

Nizami, Mojaheed, Kamruzzaman and Quader Molla are scheduled to be brought before the tribunal today.

Source : New Age

44 schoolboys die in highway tragedy

At least 44 schoolboys were killed and 15 others injured when a pick-up truck carrying them veered off the road and plunged into a ditch at Mirsarai, 30 miles from the port city, on Monday afternoon, the police said.

The children, all primary school students aged between 12 and 14 years, were returning home after watching a football match when the highway tragedy, one of the worst in recent years, took place at about 1:00pm on Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

'We have confirmed 44

deaths after the search,' said Chittagong deputy commissioner Faiz Ahmed.  Relatives took away some bodies after the accident, he added. The administration organised a mass funeral of 38 dead at Abu Torab school ground as the news of the tragedy sent shock waves across the country.

'It's a great tragedy that caused so many child casualties,' said police superintendent ZA Morshed.

Navy and army teams joined the rescue operation launched by the police and fire service aided by local people who thronged the spot in their hundreds.

The schoolchildren were returning home after watching a soccer match at Mirsarai stadium, the police said.

Locals said the primary school level football tournament was organised by the upazila administration.

The vehicle's driver Mafizuddin fled the scene after the accident, the police said.

Ifteker Hasan, officer-in-charge of Mirsarai police station, said rescuers had pulled 24 bodies from inside the sunken wreck in the ditch near Abu Torab bazaar till 5:00pm when the 4-hour search was called off.

'Two children succumbed to their injuries after their relatives took them home from the spot. Five others died in Chittagong Medical College Hospital,' he said adding that the ill-fated pick-up van was salvaged from the ditch.

Police have been sent to nearby villages to know if any more victims died, he said.

Senior police officials, including the DIG and SP of Chittagong, visited the spot after the tragedy.

The air was heavy with grief as hundreds of people, including relatives of the victims, crowded the scene, witnesses said.

Fakruzzaman, duty officer at the emergency department of CMCH, told New Age that 5 children had died on the way and 12 others had been admitted to the hospital in critical condition.

A large crowd of people, including relatives of the victims, gathered at CMCH.

Source : New Age