Wild elephants kill one, leave two injured in Rangamati

Panic gripped Rajosthali union in Rangamati after a group of wild elephants  killed a man and left a six-year old girl and a journalist seriously injured on Sunday morning.

Local people said that the group of seven or eight wild elephants came to Jhurjuri, a village in Gilachari union, about 2.5km from Rajastholi upazila, looking for food.

Chitro Sen, 71, died in attack by the elephants when he was on his way to slash and burn cultivation, locally called jhum cropping.

Besides, six year old Rina Tongchongaya and Md Asgor Ali,  upazila correspondent of Chittagong based Bangla daily Purbokone were injured in the attacks.

Ali was trying to take a snap of the wild elephant charging the victims.

Seriously injured Rina is under treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

Source : New Age

Young man found dead in capital

A 26-year-old man allegedly committed suicide and the police recovered his hanging body at Turag in the capital.

The deceased was identified as Mohammad Jakir Hossain, son of Tayab Ali, of Uldah at the area.

The family members of the victim said Jakir had committed suicide by hanging himself with the ceiling of a room at his house following an altercation with his parents on the day.

Turag police sub-inspector Kamal Hossain acknowledged the incident.

Source : New Age

Muntazirul Hye’s death anniv today

The 12th anniversary of death of physician Muntazirul Hye Sabir is going to be observed today.

He died of cerebral malaria at the then PG Hospital on this day in 1999.

He was a student of Dhaka Medical College and obtained the MBBS degree with honours mark in surgery.

Sabir was the eldest son of Nazia Khatun and Atful Hye Shibly.

His father is one of the members of University Grants Commission.

A prayer session will be held at his Banani residence and at two orphanages in Rajshahi after mughrib prayers today on this occasion.

Source : New Age

21,500 chickens culled in Chuadanga

As many as 21,590 hens infected with bird flu were culled at a poultry farm in Chuadanga.

With assistance from the district administration, Rafid Poultry and Hatchery on Saturday culled and buried all the chickens and destroyed 8,400 eggs, district livestock officer Kohinur Islam said.

'For the last few days, hens were dying. On August 19, specimens were sent to Dhaka and on Friday we were confirmed about the infection.'

He said, 'The farm will be under observation for the next three months. An order was also issued to stop chicken trading around one and a half kilometres area of the infected farm.'

Rafid Poultry manager Jahangir Alam told the news agency that more than 10,000 hens in his farm had died since the middle of August.

Source : New Age

5-day SASF meet from Nov 18

The South Asia Social Forum Bangladesh-2011 will organise a five-day programme from November 18 highlighting different political, social and cultural issues of the region. 

'Another South Asia is Possible,' will be the slogan of the meet to be held at Dhaka University. Representatives from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal as well as from other countries of Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and Latin America are expected to participate.

The theme of the forum is 'Democracy for Social Change in South Asia: Participation, Equity, Justice and Peace,' said the SASF general council coordinator Mohammad Hilaluddin at a press briefing at CIRDAP auditorium on Sunday morning.

Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation chairman Qazi Khaliquzzaman, Dhaka University vice-chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, cultural personality Nasiruddin Yusuf and Justice Golam Rabbani along with rights and cultural activists and social workers attended the briefing.

The programmes will deal with various issues, including participatory democracy and movement, liable ruling system, gender and equality, human rights and respect, religious extremism, conflict and social peace, food and social security, commercialisation and entitlement, globalisation and development.

The event will feature nearly 200 seminars, workshops, symposium, art exhibitions, street plays and film shows.

The programme will end on November 22 with a concert and mass gathering.

Source : New Age

3 killed, six injured in road accidents in Gazipur, Tangail

At least three people were killed and six others injured in two road accidents in Tangail and Gazipur districts on Sunday.

A report from Tangail said that two people were killed and two others injured an accident at Ballav Bari near Jamuna East Police station on the highway early on Sunday.

Officer in charge of Jamuna East police station Md Helal said the accident took place when a bus on its way to north Bengal hit a truck from behind, killing the driver of the truck and helper of the bus on the spot.

Two others critically injured bus passengers were admitted to Tangail General Hospital.

The deceased were identified as truck driver Babu Miah, son of Late Joynal Abedin of Khondoker Tola village under Sherpur upazila in Bagra and helper of the bus, Md Osman, son of Abu Jahed of Gobindopur sadar in Laxmipur district.

Police seized both the truck and the bus. A case was filed with Jamuna East police station in the connection.

Another report from Gazipur said one person was killed and four others were injured when a passenger loaded bus turned turtle at MC Bazar in front of Sufia Cotton Mills on Dhaka- Mymensingh highway under Shreepur Upazila in Gazipur on Sunday.

The dead was identified as Najir Uddin, 40, son of Mahar Ali of Nishchintapur village under Nalitabari Upazila of Sherpur district.

Local sources said the Mymensigh-bound local bus turned turtle at about 6.30am as the driver lost control over steering.

The injured were taken to nearby hospitals and clinics.

On information, police rushed to the spot and recovered the dead body and sent it to Gazipur Sadar Hospital morgue.

Source : New Age

Qamrul criticises human rights activists, intellectuals

State minister for law Qamrul Islam on Sunday criticised human rights activists and intellectuals for their recent comments on the death of Supreme Court lawyer Momtaj Uddin Ahmed.

'Where were you when human rights was violated during 1975 and grenade attack was made on  Awami League rally, when minorities were tortured from 2001 to 2006, and when lawyers and judges were killed at the courts,' Qamrul Islam said.

Without naming any name, he was ostensibly alluding to National Human Rights Commission chairman Mizanur Rahman who has demanded a judicial investigation into the death of MU Ahmed on Saturday.

'Where were your humanity then?' Qamrul asked.  

The state minister was addressing a discussion meeting on the occasion of National Mourning Day marking the 36th death anniversary of the country's founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, organised by Dhaka city unit of Bangabandhu Sangiskritik Jote at the Central Public Library. 

Mizanur Rahman had demanded an investigation at the initiative of the home ministry into the death of Ahmed. He also called for judicial investigation in the death of advocate Ahmed.

He said that the NHRC would run its own inquiry to dig up the truth if the two investigation reports were found 'unacceptable'.

State minister Qamrul also alleged that opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party was indulging in 'politics over corpse' at the death of MU Ahmed. 

Qamrul also criticised columnist Syed Abul Maksud, who on August 24, at a rally held under the banner of Students, Teachers and Professionals, protested at the dilapidated condition of roads and highways across the country and called for resignation of communication minister Syed Abul Hossain.

'By wearing outfits like Mahatma Gandhi he is trying to stir anti-government agitation,' Qamrul said. 

He alleged that some intellectuals and human rights activists in the name of protest were supporting BNP.  'Some of the so-called intellectuals are pushing the country towards anarchy,' he added.   

Among others, state minister for liberation war affairs AB Tajul Islam, Awami League organising secretary Ahmmad Hossain, Bangabandhu Sangiskritik Jote leader Faruk, Dhaka City AL organising secretary Shah Alam Murad took part in the discussion which was presided over by cultural activist Hasan Imam.  

Source : New Age

Lailatul Qadr observed

Muslims across the country Saturday night observed  Shab-e-Qadr or Lailatul Qadr, the night when the first verses of the holy Qur'an were revealed to prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH).

According to the holy Qur'an, the night is better than 1,000 months as the angels and the spirit descend therein by the permission of Almighty Allah with all decrees.

This is one of the holiest and most blessed nights, which is likely to occur

on one of the odd nights in the last ten days of Ramadan and most likely to be the 27th of the holy month.

The devout Muslims observed the occasion through nightlong special prayers, milad, Qur'an khwani, religious discussions at mosques and homes on this holy night.

Thousands of Muslim devotees also visited

graveyards to seek eternal peace for the departed souls of their near and dear ones.

In Rajshahi, the holy Lailatul Qadr was observed with due religious fervour and solemnity in the city and its adjacent areas on Saturday night.

Thousands of the Muslims offered 'nafal' prayers at mosques and homes and recited from the holy Qur'an in observance of one of the most meaningful nights of forgiveness, fortune, hopes and aspirations.

In Chittagong, the Lailatul Qadr which is considered as "the night of fortune and blessing" for the Muslims was observed in the port city and elsewhere in the district with Muslim devotees spent the whole night at mosques after Tarabi prayer and other religious places of worship by offering prayers, zikir, milad mahfils and reading holy Quran.

In Comilla, the holy Shab-e-Qadr was observed in the district Saturday night with due respect and religious fervour.

Prayers, milad mahfils and religious discussions were held at mosques and other places throughout the night.

The devotees sought blessings of Almighty

Allah for peace, progress and prosperity of the

nation and the Muslim Ummah.

In Rangamati, the holy Shab-e-Qadr was observed in the district with due religious fervour. Muslim devotees offered their prayers at mosques and homes seeking blessing

of almighty Allah on this holy night.

Source : New Age

No mud houses standing in many flooded areas in Satkhira

Many villages in the severely flooded areas in Satkhira district have been deserted by the people whose mud (earthen) houses are caving in or on the verge of collapse. No mud house was found standing on Sunday in many of the worst-affected areas, said local people.

They said that the mud houses in less affected areas, where water has remained stagnant for weeks, have become weak and many of them were collapsing everyday.

According to the Disaster Management Information Centre of the Disaster Management Bureau, 8,26,124 people of 1,95,562 families have been affected in these 66 unions and 2 municipalities, and 27,966 families have taken shelter in 288 shelters, due to the increase of water-level caused by the heavy rainfall and the onrush water from upstream.

Satkhira's district relief office said that a total of 20,529 houses collapsed totally and 32,972 houses were partly damaged due to flood in the district.

Official sources in the local administrations and the affected people said the real number of damaged houses would be higher as more houses are being damaged and collapsing everyday.

'The Kagojipara locality of Kanaidia has only one house, which is built of corrugated iron sheets, that is still standing, but no one lives there now as it's under three feet of water,' said Sheikh Habibur Rahman of Kanaidia village in Tala upazila, who has been transporting passengers by boat on floodwater.

'The situation is the same in almost all the villages of Krishnakathi, Kanaidia, Char Kanaidia and Atghara in my union, where none of the mud houses are still standing,' M Mafidul Haque Litu, chairman of Jalalpur union under Tala upazila, told New Age.

He said that most of the mud houses of the rest of the union's villages — Jethua, Nehalpur, Dohar and Atulia — have already collapsed and the remaining are on the point of collapse.

Almost all the mud houses have collapsed in the badly affected Sonabandhal, Harinkhola, Rajnagar Chak and Kulpota villages of my union, and most of the people have left them for shelter elsewhere,' SM Liakat Hossain, chairman of Kheshra UP under the upazila, told New Age.

'You will find no people in many neighbourhoods of Bashundhara, Binirpota and Asan Nagar villages of Satkhira Sadar upazila as the water there is still higher than knee-level,' said 65-year-old Daud Ali of Basundhara in Satkhira Sadar upazila.

'There is no mud house remaining undamaged in my village,' said Md Rajab Ali of Deyara village

under Kolaroa upazila.

Satkhira's deputy commissioner, Md Abdus Samad, told New Age that many people who left their houses have begun to go home as the water has already begun to recede.

Source : New Age

BNP meeting in city today

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party will hold a discussion meeting at the Institution of Engineers today, marking its 33rd founding anniversary.

Party senior leaders will address the meeting to be held at 11:00am, said a press release on Sunday.

Source : New Age

Moon sighting committee sits today

The National Moon Sighting Committee will sit in a meeting on Tuesday to decide the date of Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims.

The meeting, to be held at the Islamic Foundation's Baitul Mukarram conference room, will announce the date for Eid reviewing the information about sighting the moon of the holy month of Shawal, said an Islamic Foundation press release on Sunday.

The state minister for religious affairs and chairman of the committee, Mohammad Shahjahan Mia, will preside over the meeting to be held at 7:15pm.

Those who will see the moon of Shawal anywhere in Bangladesh sky have been urged to inform the committee over the following phone and fax numbers. Phone numbers are: 9559493, 9559643, 9555947, 9556407 and 9558337 and fax-9563397.

 

Source : New Age

Trucks carry people home at night

Trucks are carrying passengers at night from places in in Dhaka to different districts main in the north exposing them to risks of traffic accidents.

Cashing in on the shortage of buses, trains and river vessels just before Eid, some truckers are making quick money by carrying passengers.

Several trucks which ply between Dhaka and northern districts carrying goods and vegetables are now carrying people, mainly day labourers, for low fares.

Day labourers were waiting at Karwan Bazar, Motijheel and Fakirapool at night on Thursday got on trucks to leave Dhaka for destinations in the north in the presence of the police.

Sabur Miah, a man from Rangpur, who got on a truck at Karwan Bazaar to go to his village home, told New Age that he was travelling in the truck as he could go to his village home by paying the truck driver only Tk 70.

'I am rickshaw puller. I want to celebrate Eid with my family in Rangpur. If I go by bus, I would  need to spend Tk 350. But in a truck, I can go home by spending only Tk 70,' he said.

Sattar Dhali, the driver of a truck, said that they were picking up people in the presence of the police as 'we pay the police regularly.'

The Tejgaon police officer-in-charge, Mahbubur Rahman, however, told New Age that he had instructed his colleagues to stop trucks drivers from carrying people.

Despite strict monitoring, some day labourers could get on trucks at dead of night and travel for low fares, he said.

The government has asked the law enforcement agencies to stop carrying passengers on trucks to contain road accidents after several accidents claimed several hundred people in two years.

On July 11, at least 44 schoolboys were killed and 15 others injured when a pick-up van carrying them veered off the road and plunged into a ditch at Mirsarai, 30 miles off Chiattgong.

The children, all primary school students aged between 12 and 14 years, were returning home after watching a football match when the traffic accident, one of the worst in recent times, took place on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.

On July 23, 2010, 13 people were killed and 15 injured in an accident on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway when an overloaded truck skidded off the road and fell into a ditch.

The day labourers, mostly brickfield workers, had boarded the truck for a fare of Tk 40 each from different places in Dhaka and Mirzapur in Tangail., said one of the injured, Abdul Barek.

The Highway Police chief, deputy inspector general Humayun Kabir, told New Age that some day labourers were travelling in trucks as they needed to spend less money on their journey.

'We have asked the authorities and officials concerned to take measures so that trucks cannot carry passengers,' he said.

The police officials claim that the allegations of taking money by the police from truckers were not true.

Source : New Age

Citizens’ leaders stick to plan

The government has initiated a move to persuade a citizens' group not to stage its planned demonstrations at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on the Eid day demanding removal of the communications minister holding him responsible for deplorable road condition.

Communications minister Syed Abul Hossain on Sunday talked to rights activist and columnist Syed Abul Maksud and Dhaka University teacher Robaet Ferdous, who are leading a campaign demanding a guarantee for natural death, and requested them to cancel the protest programme.

The citizen's group under the banner of 'students, teachers and conscious people', on Sunday, however, said the protest programme would go ahead as scheduled despite the minister's appeal.

'The communications minister talked to me over phone at about 1:30pm and requested us not to stage demonstrations at the Shaheed Minar on the Eid day,' Robaet Ferdous, an associate professor of Dhaka University, told New Age on Sunday.

But, he said, that they would stage the protest and a token hunger strike at the Central Shaheed Minar, scheduled to begin at 12:30 on the Eid day adding that tougher agitation programmes would be announced if their demands were not fulfilled.

'I made phone calls to Syed Abul Maksud and Robaet Ferdous and requested them to withdraw their programme,' the communications minister told New Age on Sunday.

He said that the authorities had tried its best to ensure a hassle-free journey for home-bound people.

'I am not responsible for the situation as the road repair work could not be done in time due to fund constraints,' said the minister, adding, 'Now I leave it to the leaders of the citizens' group to take a decision.'

Talking to New Age Syed Abul Maksud said that as the prime minister had already announced she was not going to make any changes to her cabinet at the moment, cancellation of the protest programme was not possible.

'We are determined about our demand and the protest programme will go ahead as scheduled,' he said, adding that he would go to the Shaheed Minar, even if none accompanied him.

He also criticised the state minister for law, Kamrul Islam, for mocking the people who announced the protest programme.

'I never pretended to be an Anna Hazare. But he made provocative remarks about us,' said Maksud.

Senior leaders of the ruling Awami League, however, said that they would request the organisers of the demonstration to withdraw the programme on the Eid day.

'I will request them not to hold demonstrations on the Eid day to give the government a chance to complete the road repair work,' said AL presidium member Obaidul Quader, and hoped that they would not stage the protest.

Appreciating the concern of the civil society members, he said that it prompted the government to take up the issue on a priority basis.

Another presidium member, Kazi Zafar Ullah said that it was the democratic right of any citizen to stage protest and the ruling party would not take any move against the programme.

Eminent citizens and professionals at a rally on August 24 urged the prime minister to remove the communications minister by August 31 for his failure in ensuring passengers safety.

They announced that they would celebrate Eid at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city, if their demand was not met.

Source : New Age

On rails of pain and suffering

Homebound people who chose to travel by train because of the run-down highways were facing untold sufferings because of disruption in the schedule of trains at Dhaka stations.

Almost all the trains left the Kamalapur railway station on Sunday late by one to four hours.

The Rajshahi-bound Silk City Express train left Kamalapur at 6:30pm but the train was scheduled to leave at 2:40pm, the Dinajpur-bound Ekata Express, which was scheduled to leave at 9:50am was delayed by about two hours while Khulna-bound Jamuna express, which was scheduled to leave the station at 5:30pm, was delayed by half an hour.

The communications minister, Syed Abul Hossain, who visited the Kamalapur station on Sunday, however, claimed that all but two trains left the station on schedule. 'Out of the 38 regular trains for the day, 36 trains left the station on schedule.'

The railway authorities are running three more special trains from the Kamalapur railway station on the occasion of Eid-ul Fitr.

There had, however, been little rush of homebound people to the bus terminals in the city on Sunday with only two or three days left before Eid.

Unlike in the past years, homebound people preferred travel by train this Eid because of shabby condition of roads and highways that had prompted the bus owners to go on strike.

People who were going home by train had to face pain and sufferings at the stations as the trains were leaving the stations abnormally late.

Almost all the trains headed for North Bengal were delayed —a few even by more than two hours.

The people, annoyed at the delay, held railway authorities responsible for the mismanagement.

Anwar Sadat Rabi, who works with Bangladesh Television, bought a ticket to go to Rajshahi and he told New Age that the Silk City Express, scheduled to leave Kamalapur at 2:40pm, had left the station at 6:30pm.

Samir Hossain, another passenger headed for Rajshahi, at 5:00pm told New Age, 'We are not even getting specific information on schedule of the train.'

The station manager, Sitangshu Chakrabarty, passed the blame on technical glitches of the train.

'The trains headed for the north were delayed,' said Sitangshu, who was more busy managing tickets for VIPs such as lawmakers and judges while passengers had been waiting for hours at the station for their trains to arrive.

Run-down highways has almost doubled the journey time this Eid, forcing transport authorities to curtail the number of daily trips and people to travel by train.

There had been little rush to the inter-district bus terminals in Dhaka — at Sayedabad, Gabtali and Mohakhali. Transport operators held the shabby condition of roads responsible for not getting Eid-time passengers up to their expectations.

'We are not making a good business,' Azharul Islam, a man at the Hanif Paribahan counter at Gabtali, told New Age on Sunday. 'The bad condition of roads has prompted many to travel by train.'

A very few people were there at the Mohakhali terminal from where buses leave for five districts including Mymensingh, Sherpur and Jamalpur. The Mohakhali Bus Terminal Road Transport Association president, Abul Kalam, blamed the poor road condition for this.

Launches, meanwhile, were leaving the Sadarghat terminal overcrowded flouting rules government.

Three-fourths of more than 1.3 crore people living in the capital are said to be leaving for their destinations outside Dhaka for Eid although there has been no specific figure available.

Transport operators said that about 32 to 35 lakh people could leave the capital using all modes of transport if Eid journey begins five days before Eid.

Source : New Age

All set for enclave exchange

Bangladesh and India have made all preparations for exchange of enclaves between the countries during Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka next week to put an end to the suffering and uncertainty of the landlocked people, who have remained stateless for 64 years.

The enclave people both in India and Bangladesh will have 'the right of staying where they are, as nationals of the state to which the areas are transferred', said government officials.

'The enclaves –111 of India located inside Bangladesh and 51 inside India belonging to Bangladesh – are expected to be exchanged between the two countries under the Mujib-Indira Land Boundary Agreement of 1974 during the Indian prime minister's visit to Dhaka in September 6-7,' home ministry's joint secretary (political) Kamal Uddin Ahmed told New Age.

He said the enclave people would have the right to choose their citizenship as per the agreement.

Residents of the enclaves on both sides are eagerly awaiting the exchange as the issue has remained pending since the partition of India in 1947, said Kamal Uddin, also head of the Joint Boundary Working Group.

Both the authorities had made all preparations for exchange of the enclaves and settling other border-related disputes through implementation of the land boundary agreement, he added.

The enclave dwellers are denied basic rights as there are no schools and hospitals or any other government facilities inside the enclaves. 

The joint secretary said a protocol might be singed between India and Bangladesh during Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka to resolve the border issues.

The number of people living in the Indian enclaves located in four districts of Bangladesh – Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Kurigram and Panchagarh – is  34, 000 while the number of people in Bangladeshi enclaves inside the Indian district of Cooch Behar is 17,000, shows a joint headcount.   

Enumerators from Bangladesh and India conducted the first-ever headcount since the British had left the subcontinent in 1947, simultaneously in the enclaves in Bangladesh and India in July 15-17, 2011.

'The number of people living in the enclaves in Bangladesh and India is not more than 51,000 as found in the recently conducted joint headcount,' Indian home minister P Chidambaram said in Dhaka on July 30.

Chidambaram was confident that the enclaves would be exchanged between the two neighbouring countries during the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh's scheduled visit.

Most people in Indian enclaves surrounded by the Bangladesh territory already identify themselves as Bangladesh citizens and many of them have already managed to get national identity cards taking the advantage of lax local administration.

Enclave people having no 'valid identity' documents are eagerly awaiting exchange of the territories in adverse possessions between Bangladesh and India to get official recognition as citizens, a number of enclave dwellers   have told New Age.   

They said that neither India nor Bangladesh recognised them as their citizens.

The enclave people want merger with their respective mainland as they cannot enter their countries.

Mujib-Indira land boundary agreement required India and Bangladesh to exchange the enclaves in adverse possession 'expeditiously' and demarcate un-demarcated patches of their land boundary for which it had laid down the principles.

India has kept pending ratification of the land boundary agreement, halting settlement process of border demarcation and exchange of enclaves till date, said officials in Dhaka.

Article 5 of the accord says, 'This agreement shall be subject to ratification by the governments of Bangladesh and India and instruments of ratification shall be exchanged as early as possible. The agreement shall take effect from the date of exchange of the instruments of ratification.'

Bangladesh parliament ratified the land boundary agreement on November 27, 1974 after prime ministers of the two countries had signed it on May 16, 1974 for demarcation of 4,156 kilometres of land boundary between the two countries.

Source : New Age

Quader for probe into death of MU Ahmed

Awami League presidium member Obaidul Quader has expressed opine in favour of carrying out an investigation to reveal the truth behind the death of lawyer MU Ahmed.

'An investigation has to be carried out to know the truth behind the death of lawyer MU Ahmed for the sake of establishing justice in the society,' he said.

Quader, also the chairman of parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of information, expressed this view while taking part in a discussion marking  National Mourning Day on August 15 and Grenade Attack on August 21 at Dhaka Reporter's Unity.

Referring to the recently announced BNP's movement against the government after Eid-ul-Fitr, he said it (government) had to give a befitting reply to BNP's agitation through implementation of mid-term development programmes.

He said the attacks on August 15 in 1975, November 3 in 1975 and August 21, 2004 were not isolated incidents. But, we could not build resistance during the attacks as we were in a fix with the sudden assaults.

Quader said all had to be prepared to face all sorts of conspiracies by turning the grief into strength imbued with the ideology of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

'We have to strengthen our position. We would not be able to foil the conspiracies only by giving lip service,' he added.

He said politicians must understand the mind of the people, otherwise their politics would disappear within political mistakes.

Paying rich tribute to the memory of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Quader called upon all to be the actual followers of the ideal of Mujib to build a 'Sonar Bangla' (Golden Bengal) as dreamt by the founding president.

Source : New Age

NHRC chair calls for judicial probe into Ahmed’s death

The chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Mizanur Rahman, on Saturday called for a judicial inquiry into the death of former deputy attorney general Mamtaj Uddin Ahmed in police custody.

'The responsibility for any unnatural death lies on the state. If the death takes place because of torture in the state's custody, it becomes a matter of grave concern,' he said in the Supreme Court's premises where he went to attend Ahmed's funeral.

Mizan also stressed the need for another inquiry by the home affairs ministry on its own. 'If both the inquiries fail to gain acceptability, the National Human Rights Commission will itself probe the death,' he said.

He also said that exemplary punishment has to be ensured for the culprits if Ahmed's death was indeed caused by torture in police custody. 'If a lawyer of the highest court in the country is not safe, then the commoners are in real danger,' he said.

MU Ahmed, a pro-BNP lawyer, died on Friday at Square Hospitals 15 days after falling sick in police custody.

His widow, Selina Ahmed, has alleged that physical and mental torture in custody had caused the death of her husband, but the police have denied the accusation outright.

Source : New Age

MU Ahmed laid to rest

Former deputy attorney general Mamtaj Uddin Ahmed, who died in police custody on Friday, was laid to rest at his village home at Baliakandi of Sherpur in Bogra on Saturday night.

Gloom descended over the area as the ambulance carrying the coffin reached Baliakandi. A team of Supreme Court lawyers accompanied the coffin all the way from Dhaka. 

Earlier in the afternoon, mourners, including lawyers, activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party bade him farewell after holding a second namaz-e-janaza in front of the BNP's central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka.

Before the namaz-e-janaza, the acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a gathering that the government had killing MU Ahmed in a 'brutal manner' as it targeted 'nationalist lawyers' to foil the BNP's preparations for movement after Eid.

'We will avenge the killing of MU Ahmed by unseating this oppressor government,' vowed Fakhrul at the rally held as part of its countrywide demonstrations denouncing the death of MU Ahmed in 'police custody'.

Large contingents of police in riot gear and with water cannons were deployed around the BNP office.

Several thousand party activists marched through the main streets of the capital after the rally.

Earlier, lawyers loyal to the BNP went out on a demonstration on the Supreme Court premises at around 11:00am after they came to know that the police had taken away MU Ahmed's body from BIRDEM mortuary without informing his family or his lawyers.

The protesters chanted anti-government slogans and blocked the street in front of the Supreme Court. The lawyers led by Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum president, Rafiqul Islam Mia, also a member on BNP's standing committee, lay down on the street in protest against 'snatching away of the body.'

Rafiqul Islam Mia accused the government of snatching away the body to conceal the evidence of torture in custody. As the lawyers continued to stay on the street, a large contingent of police was deployed there.

At around noon, police in a wooden casket brought body to Supreme Court premises after post-mortem examination.

MU Ahmed's first namaz-e-janaza, held on the inner compound of Supreme Court building, was attended by chief justice Mozammel Hossain and some judges of the Appellate Division.

Senior leaders of BNP and its allies, a number of academics, BNP leaning intellectuals and cultural activists also attended the janaza.

The chairman of National Human Rights Commission, Miznur Rahman, also came to Supreme Court premises to see MU Ahmed's mortal remains.

After the janaza, the lawyers carried Ahmed's coffin to BNP's central office and stopped for a while in front of the chief justice's house and staged a brief sit-in seeking his intervention in the killing. 'We have come here to know whether the chief justice would try attorney general Mahbubey Alam, home minister Sahara Khatun, and Supreme Court judge AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury,' said lawyer and BNP joint secretary general AM Mahbubuddin Khokan. 

'If he had been granted anticipatory bail, he

would not have died this way,' said Rafiqul Islam Mia.

The police said they had taken MU Ahmed's body from the mortuary to conduct a post-mortem examination as part of a legal procedure after his widow filed a complaint suspecting that his death might have been caused by physical and mental torture by the police.

'We had no other option but to conduct the post-mortem examination,' said Krishnapada Roy, deputy commissioner (Ramna zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. But he hung up the phone

after being asked why they had taken away the body without informing the

family.

Detective branch police on August 11 arrested MU Ahmed at his Segunbagicha house after being sued for attacking police and obstructing their duties during a hearing at the High Court on August 2.

He had fallen ill at the office of the detective branch police and was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Physicians at DMCH referred him to National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases.

He was admitted to Square Hospital on August 16 in police custody where he died on Friday afternoon.

Source : New Age

Gazprom wants too much for drilling gas-wells: energy officials

Gazprom, the Russian state-run gas extraction company, in its financial proposal to Petrobangla has demanded much higher charges than the usual for drilling 10 gas-wells, and supplying and setting up two gas compressors.

Five of the 10 gas-wells were under the 'fast-track' gas production programme, which was scrapped when the Polish contractor refused to do the job after being awarded the contract.

Petrobangla, the state-run oil, gas and mineral resources corporation, early this year offered Gazprom the contract to drill 10 gas-wells and supply and set up two compressors, and received a financial proposal on Tuesday.

A Petrobangla official said that Gazprom demanded about $1.97 crore or Tk 145.78 crore for drilling each of the 10 wells in different gas-fields, and $14.90 crore or Tk 1,102.6 crore for setting up each of the two gas compressors at Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria and Elenga in Tangail.

But Petrobangla offered Gazprom Tk 90 crore for the drilling of a gas-well, since Bapex can do the same job for Tk 70 crore.

A Bapex official said that they would spend a maximum sum of Tk 50 crore for drilling an exploration well at Sundulpur gas-field in Noakhali.

He said that Gazprom's offer has puzzled officials of the energy sector and created doubts over the plan to increase gas supply on an emergency basis.

Petrobangla's chairman Hossain Monsur, however, refused to make any comment in this regard.

But another Petrobangla official said that they would negotiate with Gazprom after the Eid-ul-Fitr vacation is over.

Due to the severe gas shortage, the government adopted a 'fast-track' gas exploration and production programme aimed at conducting a 3,100 line kilometre two-dimensional seismic survey and drilling six wells by the end of 2012, which is now very unlikely to be completed on time, said a senior Petrobangla official.

Petrobangla approved the plan in August 2009.

Problems started in February when the Polish company, Poszukiwania Naftyi i Gazu Krakow (Oil and Gas Exploration Company Cracow), told Petrobangla that it would not drill six wells in the Titas and Rashidpur gas-fields because the fields were leaking gas.

Source : New Age

Tremor felt in Chandpur

A tremor jolted Chandpur region Saturday early morning.

Met Office sources said the earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale shook the region at 06 hours 55 minutes 59.00 seconds BST.

The distance of epicentre was 69 kms southeast of Agargaon Seismic Centre in the capital. There was no immediate report of damages and causalities.

Source : New Age

4 of a family burnt in gas line explosion

Four members of a family, including two women, sustained grievous burn injuries in a gas explosion at their rented house at Basabo in the capital's Sabujbagh area early Saturday, the family and hospital sources said.  

The injured, handicraft trader Kayes Rahman, his wife Jesmin Akhter, and their 10-year-old son Hasibur Rahman, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital's burn and plastic surgery unit while their relative Sonia Akhter was released after treatment, the family said.

Officials of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company suspected that gas pouring out of cracks in the pipeline might have filled a room on the ground floor of a two-storey building and caused the explosion when it came into contact with fire.

'The gas explosion took place in our bedroom at about 1:15am when I was trying to light a cigarette with a match-stick,' Kayes told New Age at the burn and plastic surgery unit.

Jesmin was sleeping and three others were gossiping when the incident took place, said Yesmin, Jesmin's sister.

'Doors and windows of the room were closed and perhaps it helped gas to fill,' she said.

Kayes said that they had earlier informed the house-owner about the gas line leaks.

The house-owner, Abul Kamal Azad, told New Age over phone that private gas-line technicians had checked it twice and found no leakage.

'I, however, asked tenants to keep the windows open,' he said.

The burn and plastic surgery unit sources said the patients suffered burn injuries mostly on face, hands and legs.

A Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company team led by Mamtaz Uddin visited the spot in the morning.]

Source : New Age

Al Qaeda number two killed in Pakistan

Al Qaeda's new second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, was killed earlier this week in Pakistan, dealing a 'major blow' to the group still reeling from the death of Osama bin Laden, US officials said on Saturday.

Rahman, a Libyan national, rose to the number two spot when Ayman al-Zawahri took the reins of al Qaeda after bin Laden was killed in May in a US raid in Pakistan.

Officials did not say how Rahman was killed, but said it happened in Waziristan in northwest Pakistan where intelligence officials believe members of al Qaeda are hiding out.

'Atiyah's death is a tremendous loss for al Qaeda, because (Zawahri) was relying heavily on him to help guide and run the organisation, especially since bin Laden's death,' a US official said.

Source : New Age

Construction almost blocks DMCH entrance

Patients have been facing serious problems in entering or leaving Dhaka Medical College Hospital for about two years as its emergency gate or the main entrance remains almost blocked due to construction of Asad Memorial Museum.

Emergency patients are forced to enter the hospital through a narrow alternative passage.

The main road in front of the DMCH has also remained closed due to the construction work.

Ambulances can enter the hospital only through the emergency entrance.

Before the main entrance was blocked ambulances used to bring patients using it virtually round the clock.

Closing of the area between Chandkharpul and the emergency entrance to the premier hospital with corrugated iron sheets has turned it into a haven for muggers and drug peddlers, said DMCH officials.

'Emergency and burn patients have been facing serious problem getting into the hospital as the only entrance to the units remain blocked,' said DMCH director Shahidul Haque Mallik.

On an average, he said, every day 500 seek treatment or admission at DMCH emergency while the hospital's burn unit receive 300 patients.   He said that neither Dhaka City Corporation nor Dhaka University authorities consulted DMCH before closing its main entrance for the work.

Mallik said blocking the road in front of the hospital led to overcrowding at the DMCH emergency entrance obstructing the entry of patients and their attendants.

He said it also facilitated increased stealing, mugging, drug peddling at the blocked space.

Mallik said that a rickshaw stand had been established within the hospital boundary taking advantage of the situation.

On January 20, 2008, mayor of Dhaka Sadeque Hossain Khoka and the then Dhaka University vice chancellor SMA Fayez had laid the foundation stone of Shaheed Asad Smarani and Asad Museum in front of the emergency entrance of DMCH.

Death of Dhaka University student leader Asaduzzaman, shot by police on January 20, 1969 in front of what is now the DMCH emergency, entrance was the turning point in the mass movement that brought Ayub's rule to an end.

The site manager Anwer Hossain said that piling had been completed, but due to the rains work on pile integrity test cannot be done now.

He said the design of the Shaheed Asad Memorial and Museum had to be changed several times, requiring more time to complete the work.

Another factor which cost extra time in completing the work was, he said, shifting telephone cable underground for laying the sewer pipe.

Dhaka City Corporation, said its chief engineer Abul Hossain, was waiting for the dry season for pile integrity test.

 He, however, said that he was not in a position to say when the city corporation would be able to complete the work.

There is no billboard at the site to announce the contractors, though two companies, Mahbub and Brothers and Khan and Sons are doing it.

No design of the museum is displayed at the site either.

Source : New Age

No trade thru' Benapole till tomorrow

Indo-Bangladesh trade trough Benapole land port will remain suspended for three days till Saturday as Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Benarjee and Indian Central Home Minister P. Chidambaram will visit the Petrapole land port.

Transaction of goods and commodities was suspended on the Indian side yesterday which took extra security measures for the visit of the Indian ministers, said customs officials.

Sources said, the Indian ministers will meet port and customs officials and local commanders of BSF and discuss expansion of facilities and security measures for transporting cargoes to northeastern states of India through the land corridor of Bangladesh in near future.

Source : The Daily Star

Bail prayer of teacher held on rape charge turned down

Headmaster of a non-government school, held on charge of kidnapping and raping a college girl, was sent to jail on Tuesday.

Earlier AKM Shamiul Islam Lovlu, 48, headmaster of Uttar Khamar Mohona United Registered School at Khamar Mohona Alam Biditor village in Gangachhara upazila was produced in court in the morning.

The chief judicial magistrate sent him to jail hajat rejecting the bail prayer.

According to the case, Lovlu came in contact with a girl student of Jaldhaka Degree College, over cell phone.

After a few days, Lovlu, married and father of a child, went to Jaldhaka and tactfully kidnapped the girl and took her to an unknown destination where he allegedly raped her on August 18.

Victim's father immediately filed a case failing to find out his daughter.

After the case, police in a drive arrested Lovlu and rescued the girl from a house at Nekbakta village in Jaldhaka upazila on Monday.

Before going to jail hajat, the teacher repented for his deeds and said he actually wanted to marry the girl. He claimed that he also took permission from his first wife to marry the girl.

Police said the victim's father filed a kidnap and rape case in this connection.

Source : The Daily Star

Missing college student found murdered

A college student, missing since Tuesday afternoon, was found dead at Boktarpur village in Ishwardi upazila of the district yesterday.

The victim, Abdul Malek, was a second year honours student of Islamic history department at Rajshahi College.

Police quoted family members as saying that Malek went out of their house at Baghali village in the upazila riding his motorbike at around 4:00pm and remained missing since then.

Locals found the body of Malek, son of Gias Uddin, at Boktarpur village under Solimpur union in the morning and informed the police who recovered the body and sent it to Pabna Medical College and Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Kazi Haniful Islam, officer-in-charge of Iswardi Police Station, said Malek's body bore marks of stab injuries. Criminals killed him and took away his motorbike, the OC added.

Victim's father Giash Uddin filed a murder case with Ishwardi Police Station yesterday morning. Police arrested a man named Mohammad Sohan at Baghali village in connection with the killing.

The officer-in-charge said they are investigating the matter and trying to arrest the culprits involved in the killing of the college student.

Source : The Daily Star

Barapukuria miners reject offer of salary hike, continue strike

Barapukuria miners rejected a move by the authorities to increase their salaries and benefits and continued their indefinite strike on the third day yesterday.

The agitating workers of Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd (BCMCL) turned down the offer as their main demand was regularisation of job union leaders said.

Meanwhile, the unit of labour directorate in Rajshahi on Wednesday issued a notice to the trade union leaders terming their indefinite strike illegal.

The notice also asked the TU to explain within seven days why its affiliation would not be cancelled for starting an agitation without serving any prior notice.

But the miners ignored the notice and strengthened their agitation yesterday with 1500 of them and their family members taking position outside BCMCL compound round the clock.

Sources said at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon the labour contract company XMC and BCMCL accepted the miners' demand to increase their salaries and other facilities.

At the meeting it was observed that the authorities would need more time as it was not possible for them to regularise the jobs overnight.

Sources said, the miners went out for discussing the matter with their adviser Md. Mohsin and later 'mysteriously' declined to accept the offer and join their work.

Talking to this correspondent, Rabiul Islam, president of BCMCL workers and miners union, said they had demanded their salary raise under a pay scale. But the BCMCL turned down our proposal, he said.

Source : The Daily Star

HC seeks footage on 2 BNP leaders' remarks

The High Court Thursday asked for compact disks (CDs) from nine private television channels on the statements of BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Moudud Ahmed about this court.

BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday at a meeting at Jatiya Press Club in the city said, "Now the court is governing the country as it is giving decisions on everything including the club, field and river."

Moudud Ahmed was present at the meeting and made a statement about the judiciary.

An HC bench in a suo moto move ordered the authorities concerned of the television channels to submit the video footage on the statements of Fakhrul and Moudud.

The bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore passed the order as Attorney General Mahbubey Alam brought the statements before it.

The television channels are ATN News, ATN Bangla, Channel i, Mohona TV, Diganta TV, NTV, Desh TV, My TV and Independent TV, which covered the meeting.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star that the court asked for CDs from the television channels to examine the statements of two BNP leaders about the court.

Source : The Daily Star

Appeal for help

Rafa Ferdous, a student of class four at Glory School and College, is suffering from blood cancer and needs chemotherapy urgently.

Rafa is undergoing treatment at Christian Medical College Hospital in India and needs around Tk 15 lakh for the treatment.

Her family is unable to bear this cost and requests the affluent and generous people of society to come forward with financial assistance.

Contributions can be sent to Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Savings Account Number 6461, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, Mirpur-10 Branch. Her family can be contacted over cellphone number 01911336073 or 01670207719.

Source : The Daily Star

Outlaw arrested, bomb recovered

Police arrested an outlawed party cadre and recovered two bombs from his possession at Bamundi village of Gngni in Meherpur yesterday.

The arrestee is Azmot Ali, of the same village, a cadre of outlawed Janajuddho, one of the factions of Purbo Banglar Communist Party.

Police said a team of police led by Sub-inspector Osman Ghani raided the house of Azmot at about 3:00pm and arrested him with the bombs.

Azmot is a bomb maker of the outfit group, police said

Source : The Daily Star

Phulbari tragedy victims remembered

The people of Phulbari upazila observed the Phulbari Day yesterday, in honour of the protestors who were killed during firing by law enforcers in 2006.

Commemorating the deceased, Phulbari people built an altar on the riverbank of Chhoto Jamuna and started laying flowers at the altar since the morning. They also organised discussion and mourning procession.

At least three persons were killed and 70 others injured as police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) opened fire on people protesting the Phulbari coalmine project on August 26, 2006. The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Port organised the protest rally.

Speakers told a discussion at Nimtolamore yesterday that a deep conspiracy has been hatched in the country to sell the national resources for personal gains. People have to be alerted to protect the resources especially the coal, they said.

Prof Anu Muhammad, general secretary of the national committee, and Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah, the president, spoke at the discussion presided over by the committee's local convener, Saiful Islam Jewel.

Shiekh Shahidullah along with Prof Anu also led a grand mourning procession from Dhaka More (intersection) to Phulbari upazila headquarters.

Black flags were hoisted at the top of a number of buildings of the upazila.

Source : The Daily Star

Elderly woman dies in road crash

An elderly woman was killed after a pickup van hit her at Banani in the city yesterday afternoon.

The deceased was identified as Halima Begum, 60, of Pachkani at Savar. She came to pay a visit to her relative's house at Banani.

Kamrul Hasan, an assistant sub-inspector of Gulshan Police Station, said a speedy pickup van hit her from behind while Halima was walking on the road near Chairman Bari, leaving her dead on the spot.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.

Source : The Daily Star 

Phulbari Day Observed: Implement deal

Speakers at a rally yesterday urged the government to fully implement the Phulbari contract, driving out Asia Energy to protect the country's mineral resources including coal.

They also demanded prohibition on open-pit coal mining and enactment of a law restricting export of mineral resources.

The rally was organised by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Port at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city, says a press release.

Earlier, the committee and different political parties and social organisations laid wreaths at the memorial in observance of the Phulbari Day yesterday.

On August 26, 2006, at least three persons were killed and 70 others injured as police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) opened fire on people protesting the open-pit mining of Phulbari coal.

The political parties, most of them leftist, expressed solidarity with the demands of the national committee.

Prof MM Akash of Dhaka University, Bimal Biswas of Workers Party of Bangladesh, Ruhin Hossen Prince of Communist Party of Bangladesh, and Saiful Haque of Biplobi Workers Party, among others, spoke at the rally.

Source : The Daily Star

TANGENTS By Ihtisham Kabir: Motor Man

During a respite from the non-stop rain, I have wandered out. Camera in hand, I explore the narrow streets behind the Court-kachari. Following a winding alley, I approach a street-side kitchen market. As I walk past a tiny corner shop, I see a man inside working with single minded concentration on a small mechanical part.

A minute later, something tugs at me about this man. He and his shop stood out among all the other grocery and variety stores that lined the alley. What was he doing? I make a U-turn back to his shop.

I watch for a minute as he meticulously winds a thin copper thread into the arm of a circular contraption. Finally he looks up and smiles: a kind face, glasses, very Bengali. I ask if I can take a picture, and, finding him friendly, sit down for a chat.

"I am rebuilding a motor for a table fan," he says. "The motor core's wiring was burned."

Now I understand. Motors convert electrical energy into mechanical energy by sending a current through a coil which is made of a thin, wound up copper wire.

But it looks like he has to make an awfully large number of windings. "How many turns of the coil do you need?" I ask.

"This core, which had been burnt, needs 450 turns for each arm." I count twelve arms. That is 5400 windings of the copper wire, each winding spun by hand.

How many can he do every day? "On a good day I can fix four, maybe five cores," he says.

I ask him about other, more challenging work. Difficult tasks involve motors that run at a high speed, he says. For example, a kitchen blender or a drill can be finicky and requires more expensive, fatter copper wires.

His name is Jagannath Mondol. I ask him if he had learned this work as a hobby. But the truth is more down to earth. He started working as an apprentice after finishing class eight.

"I needed to bring in income to the household as our family was not well-off," he says. After several years working for others, he opened his own store about fifteen years ago.

Still, tinkering with electrical devices is not for everyone, and I cannot shake off the notion of a hobby. "Do you make anything for yourself? As a hobby?" I ask. "I do it simply to make my living, not a hobby" he says smiling.

As I take my leave, I look for the store's name but can find none. "That's right, my store has no name. But everyone in the neighbourhood knows me. They just ask for Jagannath when something breaks," he says.

Jagannath has a son and a daughter, both attending school. "Will they work here?" I ask. "No, no, this kind of work is fading away today, I hope they do something else," he says before returning to winding his coil.

Source : The Daily Star

Suicide bomb rocks Nigeria UN building: At least 18 killed

A suicide bomb blast rocked the UN compound in the Nigerian capital Abuja yesterday, killing at least 18 people, leaving others trapped and blowing out large areas of the building, officials said.

Witnesses reported that the bomb went off after a suspect rammed a car through the front gate. Parts of the first two floors of the building were blown out and rescue workers scrambled to rescue those left inside.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of bombings in recent months.

"So far, we have 18 dead and eight injured," Mike Zuokumor, police commissioner for the Federal Capital Territory, which includes Abuja, told journalists.

"It was a Honda Accord car. The suicide bomber died immediately as the bomb cut him into three. I cannot say how many people are still in the building. The rescue operation is still on."

A member of security personnel speaking on condition of anonymity spoke of "many dead."

"A guy drove a Honda car, forced his way through the gate and rammed into the building, and then the bomb exploded," the security source said at the scene.

AFP correspondents saw wounded people being taken from the building, including those with bloodied heads. Some appeared lifeless but it was unclear whether they were dead.

One UN staff member said people were still trapped in the building that sustained heavy damage.

"I don't know what is going on. Many people are still trapped upstairs and we need a crane to bring people down," said the UN staffer who did not want to give her name.

Two cranes were later brought to the scene and rescue workers were trying to free those trapped on the upper floors.

"We spoke to our colleagues in Lagos, who confirmed that the explosion was caused by a bomb. But we have no further information for now," a UN spokeswoman in Geneva told AFP.

A spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs meanwhile told AFP that a colleague on site had sent an SMS message to say that the explosion "appears to have come from the gate entrance to the building."

The UN building is located in Abuja's diplomatic zone, not far from the US Embassy, and houses a number of United Nations agencies.

Security is usually extremely tight, with non-UN vehicles typically not allowed to approach the gate leading to the compound, and the building is set back from the street.

A bomb blast that rocked a car park at national police headquarters in Abuja in June and killed at least two people was claimed by Boko Haram. Police first said it was the result of a suicide blast before later retracting their statement, saying they could not be sure.

Most of the attacks blamed on the sect have occurred in the country's northeast, but a number have been carried out elsewhere, including the previous explosion in Abuja as well as several in Suleija near the capital.

There have been growing concerns that the sect has formed links with extremist groups outside of Nigeria, including al-Qaeda's north African branch.

Source : The Daily Star

Footpath Shops: Extortion on rise as Eid nears

Local hoodlums and a section of law enforcers are allegedly extorting money from the hawkers and vendors on footpaths as the Eid shopping peaks in the capital.

Many hawkers in the city's Karwanbazar, Farmgate, Paltan, Gulistan, New Market and Gulshan areas said they have been forced to pay the extortion money to the policemen and 'linemen' appointed by local criminals.

"Usually I pay Tk 600 per week to the members of Tejgaon Police Station, Tk 20 to 30 to the patrol policemen and Tk 100 to the lineman daily," said a tea-seller at Karwanbazar.

But during Ramadan, the amount has increased to Tk 700, Tk30 to 40 and Tk 120 to 130 respectively, he added.

A garment hawker in front of the Bangabandhu National Stadium said he has paid Tk 700 per week to the members of Paltan Police Station, Tk 40 to 60 to the patrol policemen and Tk 150 to the lineman daily since the beginning of the fasting month.

Extortion by both policemen and linemen is an old practice and it is quite impossible to run a business without paying them the money, mentioned traders.

A lineman collects the extortion money from the vendors in a specific area.

Contacted, Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Imam Hossain rejected the allegation of extorting the traders. He also claimed there is no existence of any lineman.

"If they [vendors] are forced to pay the money, why don't they come to me with complaints? If anybody finds a lineman, I would like to see how influential he is," noted the official.

Source : The Daily Star

Man crushed between 2 buses

A man was killed when a ferry hit a hidden shoal in Magurkhanda channel in the river Padma causing two busses to sandwich the victim on Thursday night.

Md Montu Mia, 25, of Isma village of Narail district, was passing through the buses on the ferry Kaberi around 11:30pm when the accident occurred, said witnesses.

Meanwhile, two other ferries Jamuna and Ranikhet got stuck in hidden chars in the same channel around 11:30pm Thursday.

A tug boat of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) rescued the ferries around 5:00am Friday after an agonising wait for six hours.

All the three ferries were heading towards Mawa from Kawrakandi.

The ferries stuck in mid-way caused tailbacks for miles at the terminals adding to the suffering of passengers.

Contacted, SM Ashiquzzaman, BIWTC AGM of Mawa zone, said poor navigability coupled with strong current has put the ferry service in a vulnerable condition.

Meanwhile, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan inaugurated two ferries, Bir Sreshtha Ruhul Amin and Kaberi (that hit a shoal Thursday night), yesterday morning.

Source : The Daily Star

British planes bomb Gaddafi hometown: UN to probe summery killings in Libya

British warplanes bombed a bunker in Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte as rebel fighters prepared yesterday to launch an offensive on the town, one of the last major regime holdouts east of Tripoli.

Meanwhile, the UN said it will investigate reports of summary killings and torture through its existing commission of inquiry on Libya.

Also, the UN human rights chief warned against bounty hunters who may be seeking to kill Gaddafi, saying that all assassinations are "not within the rule of law."

"The rule of law is essential. That applies to Gaddafi as well as everybody else," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a response to a question on the $1.67 million reward put on Gaddafi head, dead or alive.

While Britain's defence minister said Nato was providing intelligence assets to help the rebels find Gaddafi, the US State Department said neither Nato nor Washington was involved in the manhunt, Reuters reports.

"At around midnight, a formation of Tornado GR4s... fired a salvo of Storm Shadow precision-guided missiles against a large headquarters bunker in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte," the defence ministry said in London.

The bunker housed a command and control centre. There is no indication that Col Gaddafi was in Sirte, which is 250 miles east of Tripoli, or in the bunker itself at the time of the attack.

Speculation that Gaddafi might have found refuge in the town has not been confirmed.

"It's not a question of finding Gaddafi, it's ensuring the regime does not have the capability to continue waging war against its own people," UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC.

"The attack that we launched on the bunker in Sirte last night was to make sure that there was no alternative command and control should the regime try to leave Tripoli."

Nato warplanes also targeted 29 vehicles mounted with weapons near Sirte and bombed surface-to-air missile facilities near Tripoli, the alliance said at a daily briefing in Brussels.

A Nato official in Brussels told AFP on condition of anonymity that the vehicles were part of a convoy advancing toward the rebel-held port of Misrata, about 140 kilometres away.

Meanwhile, the rebels are building up their forces around the oil port town of Ras Lanuf, preparing for an assault on Sirte.

They had to withdraw from positions nearer Sirte to put themselves out of the range of Grad rockets being fired by Gaddafi loyalists.

The BBC's Paul Wood, who is with the rebels, says their mood is still buoyant, despite running into unexpectedly stiff resistance.

Rebel commanders think the fighting on the road to Sirte could last another three or four days, our correspondent says.

Regime forces in Sirte have been regularly targeted since the start of the campaign, the Nato official said, but it is in sharp focus now because "it's one of the last places he (Gaddafi) has control of."

"It has always been a stronghold of the regime and now the remnants of the regime are using it to launch attacks," the official said.

"Misrata is one of those cities we have to protect. ... This regime, no matter what state it's in, is still capable of killing civilians."

Diehards of Gaddafi, whose son Seif al-Islam vowed from the start that loyalists would fight "to the last bullet", are still trying to reconstitute Nato-decimated weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, the official said.

"This large convoy is a very threatening move, as threatening as launching a missile."

"This is an extremely desperate and dangerous remnant of a former regime and they are obviously desperately trying to disrupt the fact that the Libyan people have started to take responsibility for their own country."

Rumours of Gaddafi or his sons being cornered or sighted, swirled among excitable rebel fighters engaged in heavy machinegun and rocket exchanges. But even after his compound was overrun on Tuesday, hopes of a swift end to the war were still being frustrated by fierce rearguard actions.

The rebels' Colonel Hisham Buhagiar said they were targeting several areas to find Gaddafi: "We are sending special forces every day to hunt down Gaddafi. We have one unit that does intelligence and other units that hunt him down."

SUMMARY EXECUTIONS

"We urge all those in positions of authority in Libya, including field commanders, to take active steps to ensure that no crimes, or acts of revenge, are committed," UN spokesman Rupert Colville told Reuters.

The UN has previously said some military action in Libya could amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes visited a hospital in the Mitiga district of Tripoli which had received the bodies of 17 rebel fighters.

Doctors said the group had been prisoners of Gaddafi troops in Tripoli and were tortured and killed as the rebels seized the capital earlier this week.

Hoez Zaitan, a British medic working at the hospital, said about half the bodies had bullet wounds to the back of the head while others had disfiguring injuries to their limbs and hands.

He said the bodies had been examined for possible evidence to be used at a war crimes tribunal.

Source : The Daily Star

Diamond planet spotted

Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard.

The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.

"The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon -- ie a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun," said Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

Lying 4,000 light years away, or around an eighth of the way toward the centre of the Milky Way from the Earth, the planet is probably the remnant of a once-massive star that has lost its outer layers to the so-called pulsar star it orbits.

Pulsars are tiny, dead neutron stars that are only around 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) in diameter and spin hundreds of times a second, emitting beams of radiation.

In the case of pulsar J1719-1438, the beams regularly sweep the Earth and have been monitored by telescopes in Australia, Britain and Hawaii, allowing astronomers to detect modulations due to the gravitational pull of its unseen companion planet.

The measurements suggest the planet, which orbits its star every two hours and 10 minutes, has slightly more mass than Jupiter but is 20 times as dense, Bailes and colleagues reported in the journal Science on Thursday.

In addition to carbon, the new planet is also likely to contain oxygen, which may be more prevalent at the surface and is probably increasingly rare toward the carbon-rich center.

Its high density suggests the lighter elements of hydrogen and helium, which are the main constituents of gas giants like Jupiter, are not present.

Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery.

"In terms of what it would look like, I don't know I could even speculate," said Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester. "I don't imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we're looking at here.

Source : The Daily Star

AL men attack human chain for road repair: 50 BNP activists, journos hurt

At least 50 BNP activists and journalists were injured yesterday when Jubo League men attacked a human chain formed demanding urgent repairs to the Sakhipur-Taktarchala road in the district.

The attack was made around 11:00am when Sakhipur unit of BNP was holding a human chain at the upazila headquarters at Taltala, locals said.

Jubo League men also beat up journalists including Nasir Uddin, Tangail correspondent of private TV channel ATN Bangla; Channel I correspondent Muslim Uddin Ahmed and Anwar Kabir, Sakhipur correspondent of daily Amardesh, when they were taking pictures of the attack.

Some BNP leaders and workers were attacked for the second and third time when they took shelter at the party office and local hospitals, said local BNP leader Ahmed Azam Khan.

He also said the ruling party cadres foiled their peaceful human chain without any instigation and police remained inactive at that time.

Saiful Islam Shamim, president of the upazila unit Jubo League, however, blamed another faction of BNP for the attack.

The injured BNP workers were admitted to different private hospitals and clinics, party sources said.

Mozammel Haque Mamun, officer-in-charge of Sakhipur Police Station, said he talked to leaders of both the parties before the programme and also deployed 30 policemen to prevent any untoward incident.

But the attack was so sudden that police could not take any immediate action. The police, however, rescued the BNP activists and took them to local hospitals, said the OC.

Meanwhile, a meeting was held at Tangail Press Club in the afternoon protesting the attack on journalists and demanding immediate steps against the culprits.

Source : The Daily Star

Eid shopping at peak: Malls in city abuzz with shoppers

People of the capital spent most of the time yesterday shopping for their loved ones as it was the last weekend before the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Salespersons of the city's shopping malls--top and bottom ends--had a tough time coping with the rush of customers.

"Shoppers are arriving in large numbers at a time," said Rubel Ahmed, a salesperson at Fashion Club of Dhaka's popular shopping spot New Market.

"The time for Eid shopping is running out fast and with it more and more people are thronging the malls," he said.

Markets for clothes, footwear, cosmetics, jewelry and electronic gadgets witnessed a good sale yesterday.

"I am almost done shopping. Today I have bought clothes for my relatives in the village," said Rezaul Haque, a government official who with his son came to shop at New Market from Mirpur-1.

The malls generally see a rush in the weekends. Quiet Fridays hence become the busiest days during the Ramadan both for shoppers and salespersons.

"I have come to Bashundhara City to buy panjabis, lungis and saris for my parents because today is the last Friday before Eid, said Ziaur Rahman, a management trainee at Prime Bank.

Ziaur was looking forward to finishing his shopping by yesterday since he would not get time later. He plans to spend his holidays with his parents in Satkhira and spend all his Eid bonus on shopping for family.

Shoppers also crowded footwear markets in thousands to buy trendy shoes to brighten up the Eid celebration even more. They were not disappointed as the footwear houses came up with new collections of local shoes for fashion conscious buyers.

"We have brought around 300 new designs for this Eid, so that customers can choose from a wide range of collection," said a salesperson of Bata at Elephant Road.

Traders said local shoes are gaining popularity, as they are good in quality and come at reasonable prices.

Female shoppers also thronged the cosmetic and imitated jewelry shops.

"I came to market to buy a pair of earrings to match my Eid dress," said college student Shaharin Sultana. She said she bought a pair of earring for Tk 300 from New Market.

The city's electronic gadget market, especially of cellphones, also witnessed a huge number of customers.

Salesperson Jamal Hossain of MM Telecom at Motalib Plaza said, "There is a huge demand for low-priced mobile phone sets. Most customers are buying China-made sets because they come at comparatively reasonable prices.

However, most sellers said the appearance of customers this Friday was thin compared to that of the last because many people have already left Dhaka for celebrating Eid in villages.

Source : The Daily Star 

Accused in Case Over Chaos at HC: SC lawyer Ahmed dies

MU Ahmed, a pro-BNP lawyer at the Supreme Court, died in a city hospital yesterday, sixteen days after he suffered a heart attack in police custody.

His wife Selina Ahmed alleged that her husband died because of police torture.

Meanwhile, a controversy arose whether Ahmed, former assistant attorney general, was in police custody when he died.

Selina said that her husband died in police custody but police say that they released Ahmed against a bond on August 16 at the request of Selina.

She lodged a complaint in this regard with Ramna Police Station accusing the home minister, the home secretary, the attorney general and three police officials.

Police arrested Ahmed at his Segunbagicha residence on August 11 on charges of assaulting police and obstructing them from discharging duties on the SC premises on August 2 and 4.

A source in the court concerned said police never informed the court about his arrest and hospitalisation until August 17. They are legally bound to inform the court about arrests within a day.

However, Monirul Islam, deputy commissioner of Detective Branch of police, claimed that they informed the court about the arrest of MU Ahmed and that he is in hospital on August 11.

Sources at Square Hospitals Ltd said police always stood guard over him at the hospital. But police claimed that he was not in custody and the policemen deployed there were on regular duty.

TORTURE ALLEGED
Selina yesterday said an unconscious Ahmed was admitted to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) after suffering a heart attack five hours after his arrest.

Ahmed regained consciousness two days later. He was in a state of panic and scared of policemen.

"Police dragged him into their vehicle after arresting him. They slapped and assaulted him inside the vehicle," Selina said referring to the account her husband gave lying on a hospital bed.

Ahmed was taken to a dark room where he was beaten up by police officials, said Selina.

They also made abusive comments to him. At one stage, Ahmed felt suffocated and requested them to take him to a place where he could breathe freely, she alleged.

In reply, police threatened Ahmed to tie him up with a rope. Later, they gave an electric shock in his left hand, leaving him unconscious, Selina claimed.

She said he was shifted to Square Hospitals Ltd on August 16 for better treatment.

"This is certainly a murder. There is no doubt that the heart attack resulted from the torture," said Selina.

She requested political parties not to "do politics with her husband's body".

Selina, a mother of two, demanded punishment of her husband's "killers" and compensation from the government.

POLICE SAY
Monirul Islam, deputy commissioner of Detective Branch of police, last night denied allegations of torturing Ahmed or giving him electric shocks. He said Ahmed was at the DB office no more than 40 minutes.

He said following the arrest, Ahmed was taken to the DB office where he told them about pain in his chest. He claimed that Ahmed was immediately taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors said Ahmed suffered a heart attack and recommended he be moved to NICVD at once.

Monirul said, "At our request, a nine-member medical board led by the NICVD director treated him there."

Asked why they did not produce him before a court, he claimed that they informed the court on August 11 about his arrest and that he was hospitalised.

Ahmed's wife got her husband released from the NICVD on August 16 after signing a bond and got him admitted to Square Hospitals the same day, he said.

PROTEST
Pro-BNP lawyers from HC and lower courts demonstrated in front of Square Hospitals to protest the death in the afternoon.

A group of pro-BNP lawyers also made indecent comments and chanted slogans against Attorney General Mahbubey Alam when he went to the hospital to express his sympathy towards Ahmed's family members.

Police, however, protected Mahbubey from the pro-BNP lawyers' wrath and took him to a safe place.

National Democratic Party, 13 lawyers at the SC, rights organisation Odhikar and 250 teachers at Dhaka University, in separate statements protested the death.

Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a platform for pro-BNP lawyers, will hold protest rallies across the country on Monday demanding resignation of the home minister, the attorney general and the inspector general of police.

THE CASES
Ahmed was one of the pro-BNP lawyers accused of assaulting police and obstructing them from discharging duties on the SC premises on August 2 and 4.

Police filed two cases after the opposition-backed lawyers scuffled with pro-ruling party lawyers over an HC bench's observation that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's comment on constitution was tantamount to sedition.

Ahmed and 10 other lawyers sought anticipatory bail from the High Court which was rejected. Later, 13 pro-BNP lawyers except MU Ahmed sought bail from a lower court and were granted bail.

"Had the lawyer been granted anticipatory bail, he would not have died," said SC Bar Council President Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, a pro-BNP lawyer.

"I assisted pro-BNP lawyer so that they could get bail. MU Ahmed could not apply for bail again as he was sick. It could have been a political trick," said Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, who visited the hospital in the afternoon.

SHAHARA ACCUSED
Selina last night lodged complaint with Ramna Police Station against six people including Home Minister Shahara Khatun accusing them of torturing Ahmed in police custody, which led to his death.

Police did not record the complaint as a case.

The other accused are: Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Benazir Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner of Detective Branch concerned and Officer-in-Charge of Shahbagh Police Station Rezaul Karim.

Ramna OC Rafiqul Islam told The Daily Star that they received the complaint and they will decide whether to record it as a case after investigation.

Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, president of Supreme Court Bar Association, filed the complaint on behalf of Selina. He said, "We'll continue the legal fight. If police do not record the case, we will decide our next course of action then."

He said Ahmed did not have any heart disease before rather he was suffering form asthma.

JANAZA TODAY
Ahmed's first Namaj-e-Janaza will be held on the HC premises at 11:00am. He will be buried after the second Janaza in front of the BNP central office.

Source : The Daily Star 

Homebound trips turn nightmare: Eid holidaymakers suffer in tailbacks on battered highways

Bus journey to most places outside the capital now takes double the usual time for battered highways, tailbacks and delayed ferries, adding to woes of the people going home to celebrate Eid.

Those who had come out smiling from the struggle to get bus tickets soon found themselves in for an agonising ride.

Tasmia Osman Raka, a college student, started for Feni from Sayedabad around 10:40am yesterday. Her bus did not even get past Comilla cantonment after seven hours, which is less than 100 km from Dhaka.

"Usually, it takes me three hours to reach home. Now seven hours have gone, but I'm still stuck near Comilla," she said talking on her mobile phone around 5:30pm.

For the southbound buses, the problems are aggravated at ferry terminals where they have to queue for several hours to cross the rivers.

Thousands of people remain stuck on Dhaka-Aricha highway for hours either for traffic congestion or unavailability of ferries at Paturia.

Zakir Hossain, a fourth-year student of a private university, said he had to spend around two hours at Paturia ferry ghat on his way to Satkhira, yet he considers himself lucky.

"We heard that the buses that left Dhaka later than ours were in line for over four hours at Paturia," Zakir told The Daily Star around 5:00pm from Jhikargachha of Jessore, around 40km from his house. His bus started from Dhaka around 7:45am.

At Mawa ferry terminal, several hundred vehicles wait long hours to cross the Padma every day.

Ferries have difficulty navigating on the narrow and shallow channels of the Padma. The longer they take to cross the river, the longer the queues of vehicles get, said AS Ashiquzzaman, assistant general manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation. A total of 16 ferries are now in operation, he added.

For many, the sufferings grind on as rundown vehicles, which have been patched up to cash in on the rush home, break down on the road.

Even engines of relatively better-kept buses often cut out because of cratered roads. Whenever a vehicle breaks down, it makes the traffic in its wake slow to a crawl.

The passengers have to sit for hours with no room to stretch legs and almost no access to foods and toilet.

Lutfor Rahman, a businessman, said he with his wife and two children left for Kurigram around 11:30pm on Thursday. "We were stuck for hours in a 20km tailback on the highway. There were no water and foods for thousands of people desperate to have something for sehri. Women and children were the worst sufferers with no toilets. It was like a never-ending nightmare."

Travelling to the northeast is not easy either. A four to four-and-a-half-hour journey to Sylhet has now doubled. "We faced a huge tailback near Kanchpur Bridge in Narayanganj and Bhairab," said Anwar Hossain, a businessman, who left the capital at 6:30am and reached Sylhet around 2:30pm.

The condition of Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways has not improved much in the last few days. Transport owners had earlier suspended bus service on these roads for several days.

Shamsuddin Miah, 45, of Kalihati upazila in Tangail, said he started from Mohakhali around 11:00am and reached home six hours later due to tailbacks and poor condition of the highway. Usually, it is a three-hour journey.

Things are not that different on Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Mohammad Tawhid, a sales manager of Saudia Paribahan (bus service provider) said it now takes four hours more to reach the port city due to gridlocks and dilapidated condition of the highway.

Romesh Chandra Ghosh, managing director of Shyamoli Paribahan, one of the largest bus service providers in the country with 400 buses in its fleet, said all his buses are taking around double the usual time to reach their destinations. "On average, it now takes about eight to nine hours to cover 300km," he said.

"On Dhaka-Chittagong highway, traffic jams start from Daudkandi and stretch up to Sitakunda. Buses going to the northern districts face up to 20km-long queues from Chandra in Gazipur," he added.

"With the slightest rainfall in the coming days, the situation will deteriorate meaning more time loss on the roads and more misery," said Ghosh, also vice-president of the Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners Association.

Kazi Mizanur Rahman, a manager of Hanif Paribahan, another large bus service provider, said many of its buses leaving Dhaka for outside districts are being late for their return trip as they reach their destinations late. This has left their schedules in disarray.

After visiting Konabari, Chandra, Savar, Nabinagar and Bipile yesterday, Asfiquzzaman Akhter, senior superintendent of highway police (Gazipur Range), said traffic was very slow due to bad roads.

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain, however, claimed that the slow traffic is usual during Eid. "There is no problem in traffic movement as we have already repaired 90 percent of the damaged roads and highways," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

Our correspondents from Tangail, Mymensingh, Munshiganj, Sylhet, Chittagong, Dinajpur and Manikganj contributed to this report.

Source : The Daily Star

Micromax launches two new mobile handsets

Micromax Informatics Limited, an Indian mobile handsets maker, on Friday launched two new multimedia handsets — Van Gogh X-450 and Android Home X-60— in the Bangladesh market.

The company launched the products at a function held in a city hotel.

Micromax Informatics Bangladesh country manager Owhab Khan and Reach Distributions chief executive officer Naimul Islam Kollol spoke at the function.

Van Gogh X-450 which integrates a bluetooth hands-free headset in its sleek design will cost Tk 5,499 and Android X-60 Tk 10,450, said Owhab Khan.

Both the sets allow users to access internet, social sites including facebook, yahoo, msn, e-buddy and others.

Source : New Age

China yuan must rise, says Australia bank chief

Reserve Bank of Australia chief Glenn Stevens on Friday joined calls for China to strengthen the yuan, saying it would be beneficial to the global economy if there was more flexibility.

The central bank governor said the matter had been raised in private discussions with Chinese officials.

'In my opinion, in any objective gauge, the Chinese currency should be higher than it is today,' he told a House of Representatives economics committee.

'There is no shortage of people telling the Chinese authorities that.'

In recent days treasurer Wayne Swan repeated warnings on the yuan, urging 'large developing economies to put in place policies to boost home-grown demand and move towards more market-based exchange rates'.

Swan departs for talks on a range of issues in China on Monday.

Officials argue that the undervalued renminbi gives China an unfair trade advantage, with a weaker yuan making China's imports more expensive while its exports are cheaper for foreign buyers.

Beijing has recently shown signs it is willing to guide the currency higher, with the yuan rising steadily against the US dollar since mid-2010 when Beijing relaxed a de-facto peg to the US currency.

This had been imposed in 2008 to protect its exporters during the global financial crisis.

'They are still doing quite a bit of intervention,' Stevens said.

'It is coming up some, but I think it would be beneficial to the global economy, and beneficial to the Chinese people, if there was more flexibility in that price.'

Stevens was critical of the political noise that surrounds the issue in Washington, which he warned would not help achieve a resolution on the low renminbi.

'Unfortunately it also gets surrounded by the whole US-China relationship issue. The megaphones come out. There's a bit of shouting to and fro and actually that's not all that productive,' he said.

China is key market for Australia's resource driven economy and Stevens said Canberra was well placed to weather any further global financial uncertainty, with growth prospects in key Asian markets remaining strong.

Source : New Age

China plans fresh move on bank liquidity

China has ordered banks to include their margin deposits in required reserves to mop up excessive liquidity, banking sources said, the latest move in Beijing's campaign to rein in inflation.

Commercial banks will have to include margin deposits paid by their clients to secure the issuance of banker's acceptance, letters of guarantee and letters of credit in their required reserves.

Such deposits amounted to 4.4 trillion yuan ($688.6 billion) at the end of July, according to central bank data.

It was not immediately clear by how much additional money banks would have to set aside as reserves, but the actual amount would vary from bank to bank.

China's central bank has raised bank reserve requirement ratios nine times since November, taking the ratio to a record 21.5 per cent for the country's biggest banks.

Some banks have received the order notice from the People's Bank of China, which requires them to pay deposits to the central bank in batches, starting from early next month, the sources said.

The central bank was not immediately available for comment.

Source : New Age

$54.27m foreign aid received in July

Bangladesh received $54.27 million as foreign aid during the first month (July) of the current fiscal year (2011-12) against $35.65 million during the corresponding period last year.

The commitment for the month of July was much higher as it was $213 million compared to $200 million during the same period last year, said an official at the Economic Relations Division.

Bangladesh made a repayment of $81.05 million, including $64.35 million in principal amount and $16.70 million as interest in July.

Of the disbursed amount, the ERD official said, Bangladesh received $53.70 million in loan. The IDA of the World Bank disbursed $0.57 million as grant.

Of the loan amount, the Asian Development Bank provided the highest $38.01 million followed by $10.04 million by the IDA, $4.01 million by Japan and $1.62 million by the IFAD.

During the last fiscal, the foreign aid disbursement to Bangladesh witnessed a sharp fall compared to the previous year (2009-10) with the donors not disbursing as per their commitment.

The total foreign aid disbursement during the last fiscal totalled $1777.33 million, less $450.44 million than $2227.77 million recorded during fiscal 2009-10.

The aid commitment for the last fiscal, both in loan and grant, was $5929.27 million. Of the amount, the loan was $5335.08 million, mostly because of the donors' commitments for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project.

The grant commitments from the donors during the last fiscal were US$594.19 million.

However, the total aid disbursement for the last fiscal was $1777.33 million, including $726.62 million as grants and $1050.71 million as credit.

Source : New Age

‘Safe haven’ assets start to look risky

This year's heady bout of risk aversion on financial markets has ratcheted up demand for gold, US Treasuries and the Swiss franc to levels that suggest they may no longer be the 'safe havens' they are billed as.

Some investors see all three as vulnerable to a sharp sell-off should the global economic environment improve over the coming months, or simply because prices are too high in the absence of outright financial catastrophe.

'A safe asset is something that is going to be safe across economic environments,' said William De Vijlder, chief investment officer at BNP Paribas Investment Partners. 'It means you'd better make sure your forecast is right.'

There are already signs the demand froth is coming off, at least in gold and the Swiss franc.

All three safe havens highlighted have distinct features, so losses from renewed demand for riskier assets would not hit each equally. Gold, for one, might fare better given that underlying demand for the metal is not all based on risk

aversion.

But none are 'safe' in all circumstances, and their remarkable rises this year may now pose some risk for those holding them.

Ten-year US Treasuries recently traded with yields below 2 per cent — their lowest in generations — and, according to Merrill Lynch data, have returned some 11 per cent over the summer.

The Swiss franc has risen by 15.3 per cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively, to record highs against the dollar and euro, prompting moves from the Swiss National Bank to rein its currency in.

Perhaps most spectacularly, gold has risen as much as 33 per cent, taking it to just below $2,000 an ounce — a startling performance on top of a decade-long rally that has seen the metal's price rise more than 600 per cent.

In the last few days, however, there has been a sharp sell-off — nothing really to dent the asset's major gains, but a reminder of how quickly heady gains can run out of steam.

'It is not difficult to believe that gold could correct a reasonably good amount,' said Ashok Shah, chief investment officer at London & Capital, adding that this would not necessarily undermine its long-term bullish trend.

Of the three assets benefiting richly from the slowing global economy, lower interest rates and debt crises in the euro zone and elsewhere, gold is arguably the least vulnerable to a huge reversal.

It offers no yield or dividend and can rise and fall rapidly based on investor fear alone.

But the drivers behind its rise are diverse and it may hold up better than others when economic conditions change.

Demand has been bolstered by central banks buying the metal as part of their diversification of foreign reserves. Even more significant may be the buying of bars and coins by newly wealthy Asian consumers, notably those in China.

The World Gold Council estimates there was a roughly 25 per cent rise in demand for gold from Chinese consumers between the second quarters of 2010 and 2011,

Gold is also not particularly subject to what BNP Paribas' De Vijlder calls the 'feedback loop,' which occurs when a significant price rise begins to affect economies and prompts policy changes by governments.

The same cannot be said for the Swiss franc, which has also wobbled recently courtesy of the SNB's moves to cap its gains.

The SNB has cut official rates to near zero and pumped out more money to lower the franc's value. It has also sold francs in the forwards market to drive rates lower and make it expensive to hold the currency.

This is only a part of what it could do, meaning investors will have to battle to protect gains — something that detracts strongly from the concept of a 'safe haven.'

Charlie Morris, head of absolute returns at HSBC Global Asset Management, believes investors have been treating the Swiss franc as something that it is not.

'It is easy to forget that the Swissie is a relatively minor currency and not the global liquidity pool that it is cracked up to be,' he said.

US Treasuries, meanwhile, are at the point where investing in them is only slightly more lucrative than putting money under the mattress.

They are supported, like gold, by outside-the-market factors such as Federal Reserve buying and huge inflows from China. Some of that will change as the US economy improves or as Beijing diversifies.

Mainly, though, yields of around 0.2 per cent for short paper and only 2 per cent for long, offer little. It would not take much of an inflationary spike or economic rebound to prompt a rush to the exit.

'Treasuries are either pointless at the short end or dangerous at the long end,' Morris said. 'Either we have deflation and bonds deliver paltry yields ... or, more likely, inflation resurges and investors in bonds lose their shirts.'

Source : New Age