Source : The Daily Star
Woman beaten to death
A woman was beaten to death by her husband at Rahimabad village under Bagerhat Sadar upazila on Monday evening. She was identified as Muslim Begum, 23, second wife of Sheikh Abdul Alim and daughter of Sheikh Amir Ali of Bagmara village under the upazila. According to Officer-in-Charge Moazzem Hossain of Bagerhat Sadar Police Station, the woman, mother of a child, was tortured to death by her husband Abdul Alim. He fled the hospital soon after doctor on emergency duty declared her dead, OC Moazzem said. Mohsina's father Sheikh Amir Ali lodged a case with the police station concerned at 3:00pm yesterday, accusing her husband Abdul Alim.
Newlywed killed by husband!
Police recovered the body of a newly married woman, killed allegedly by her husband, from Chhoto Jamuna River in Phulbari upazila under Dinajpur district yesterday morning, around 40 hours after she had gone missing.
The deceased, Mousumi Akter, 17, daughter of Md Mozaffar Hossain of Baraipara village in Phulbari upazila, was married to Md Harun Ur Rashid, son of Mozibar Rahman of Bhimalpur in the same upazila, about a month ago, said family members.
Informed by villagers, police recovered the body with hands and legs fastened from Chhoto Jamuna River yesterday morning.
The girl was possibly strangled to death before her body was thrown into the river on Sunday, said the policemen who took part in the rescue operation.
Mousumi with her husband came to her parents' house on Sunday and they went for a walk to nearby Chhoto Jamuna River in the afternoon, the victim's family members told this correspondent.
Staying there about an hour, the couple returned home and took Iftar. Then Harun forced his wife to go to the riverbank again.
"But this time Harun returned home alone. As we started searching for Mousumi, Harun managed to flee," said Mousumi's father Md Mozaffar Hossain.
He filed a case with Phulbari police station yesterday accusing three people including Mousumi's husband Harun Ur Rahshid.
Mozaffar alleged that Harun and his family members used to demand dowry after the marriage.
When contacted, Md Monzur Rahman, officer in charge of Phulbari police station, said, "Police found torture marks on Mousumi's body and her hands and legs were also found fastened. Police started drives to arrest the accused."
The body was sent to Dinajpur Medical College and Hospital for autopsy.
Source : The Daily Star
Clash over gambling
Eight people were injured in a clash over gambling at Sindurmoti village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila on Monday night. The injured are Mosur Ali, 35, Jamal Uddin,36, Malek Miah, 30, Ahmed Sarker, 42, Kamal Miah, 48, Yasin Molla, 36, Abdar Hoosain, 42, and Faruk Mia,40. They all hail from Sindurmoti village. The injured were admitted to Sadar Hospital
Source : The Daily Star
Flash flood hits Netrakona
Heavy rain in hills across the border in the last three days has triggered flash flood, marooning at least 30,000 people in seven unions of bordering Kalmakanda and Durgapur upazilas of the district.
The affected unions are Birishiri, Gaokandia, Kakoirgora and Bakoljura in Durgapur upazila, and Karnai, Rangchati and Langura unions in Kalmakanda upazila.
About 300 thatched houses were damaged and newly transplanted aman and vegetables on several thousand acres of land went under water.
Netrakona district fishery officials said fish worth around Tk 5 crore were washed away as floodwaters overflowed at least 500 ponds in the affected areas.
Durgapur town protection dam was damaged by onrush of waters from hills across the border. Road communication between Netrakona and Durgapur upazila headquarters has remained snapped since Monday as about one kilometre stretch of the road has been damaged by floodwater in Suknakuri area in Durgapur upazila.
Netrakona-Kalmakanda road has also gone under water, snapping communication. Officials said Someshwari, Mogra, Kongsha, Ubdakhali and Dhanu rivers in the district marked a sharp rise on Monday night.
Contacted, Netrakona Water Development Board (WDB) Executive Engineer A T M Khalekuzzaman said flood situation may deteriorate as the rivers continue to rise due to onrush of water from hills across the border.
Source : The Daily Star
Lightning kills one
A housewife was killed by lightning at Manikchand Fakirpara village under Boda upazila of Panchagarh district on Monday. The victim was identified as Mohsina Begum, 45, wife of Saijul Haque of the village. Locals said Mohsina was struck by lightning near the door of their house at around 6:00am. She died instantly.
Source : The Daily Star
Over 12,000 cases pending with Patuakhali courts
Over 12,000 cases have been pending with courts here for a long time due to shortage of judges.
Sources in Patuakhali District And Sessions Judge's Court said 12,009 cases, both civil and criminal ones, are pending with courts as nine out of 20 judges are vacant.
Three posts of joint district judges, three posts of assistant judges, additional chief judicial magistrate and senior judicial magistrate are lying vacant at the District and Sessions Judge's Court.
District and Sessions Judge SM Majibur Rahman has been transferred to Chittagong. He left Patuakhali for the port city on August 7.
As many as 651 criminal cases and 9,013 civil cases are pending with the District Judge's Court, 156 criminals cases and 82 civil cases pending with the Special Court, 1,344 cases with Nari-O-Shishu Nirjaton Damon Court (women and children repression prevention tribunal) and 10,763 cases with the Judicial Magistrate's Court.
Contacted, advocate Abul Kalam Azad, president of Patuakhali Bar Association said, many people are now being deprived of justice due to shortage of judges. Moreover, the courts have been facing manifold problems as many posts of cognizance judges are vacant, he said.
'We are trying to draw attention of the higher authorities to fill up the vacant posts,' he added.
Source : The Daily Star
Missions observe Nat'l Mourning Day
Bangladesh missions across the world observed the National Mourning Day on Monday (August 15), with honour and respect to the Father of the Nation.
They hoisted the National Flag at half-mast and held discussions and commemorative programmes recalling the life of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who led Bangladesh to independence in 1971.
Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, India organised a discussion at its Moitree Hall. Presided over by Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq A Karim, the meeting was addressed, among others, by noted columnist and editor of India Today MJ Akbar, former MP and economist Dr Nitish Sen Gupta, and strategic affairs editor of the Indian Express and columnist Dr C Raja Mohan.
In Washington DC, USA, the Bangladesh Embassy held a discussion and a doa mahfil in the embassy's Bangabandhu Auditorium. Bangladesh Ambassador in USA Akramul Qader, the embassy officials, and the members of Bangladesh communities there attended the programme.
Bangladesh Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York also observed the day with due respect.
Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan observed the day holding discussion on the life and works of Bangabandhu. Chaired by High Commissioner Suhrab Hossain, the programme was attended by the officials and expatriate Bangladeshis.
An elaborate programme including commemorative discussion, screening of documentary, and special prayers was held in the Bangladesh High Commission in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
Programmes were held also in the Bangladesh Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. The embassy observed the day through hosting the National Flag at half-mast and arranging milad mahfil and recitation.
Source : The Daily Star
Tribute to Bangabandhu
Zaker Party (ZP) paid rich tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his 36th martyrdom anniversary on Monday by placing wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu at Dhanmondi-32 here.
Source : The Daily Star
Road crashes kill 4, injure 20
Four people were killed and 20 others injured in separate road accidents in Dhaka, Pabna, Dinajpur and Rajshahi yesterday.
Staff correspondent reports: One man was killed and 10 others, including a police constable, were injured when a covered van hit them while they were trying to rescue a human hauler driver who was trapped in the driver's cabin after a separate road accident few minutes earlier at Khilkhet in the city yesterday.
The deceased is Mohammad Ali, 32, a rescuer and driver of another human hauler.
The injured policeman is Mohammad Jamal, 38, a constable of Khilkhet Police Station.
The injured were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Later, the trapped driver was rescued unhurt.
Our Pabna correspondent adds: One man was killed and 10 others were injured as a Kushtia-bound bus lost its control and skidded off the Pabna-Kushtia highway at Joynagar in the district yesterday.
The deceased is Md Montu Rahman, 40, son of Nur Mohammad, of village Arzia of Bagha upazila in Rajshahi.
The injured were released after primary treatment at Ishwardi Health Complex.
Our Dinajpur correspondent says: One woman was killed as a shallow-run three-wheeler hit her on Dinajpur-Parbatipur road at Rajarampur village of Sadar upazila yesterday.
The deceased is Jesmin Akter, 22, wife of Obydur Rahman, of the same village.
RU correspondent adds: A truck driver was killed as a Rajshahi-bound coal-laden truck collided head-on with another truck heading for Natore on the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway at Puthia in Rajshahi yesterday.
The driver is identified as Nur Hossain.
Source : The Daily Star
BCL men confines provost
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men at Rajshahi University (RU) yesterday confined the hall provost to his office for two hours for not getting invitation to an iftar party.
Witnesses said RU Bangabandhu Hall unit BCL leaders and activists confined hall provost Prof SA Haidar to his hall office for two hours till 1:30pm, as he did not invite them to the iftar party arranged on the occasion of the National Mourning Day on Monday.
On information, the RU proctor rushed in and freed the provost. The BCL men also staged demonstration in front of the hall gate and chanted slogan against the proctor and the provost.
BCL men also threatened to go for tougher agitation if the provost is not removed immediately.
Source : The Daily Star
6.6pc boys, 15.3 percent girls face sexual harassment: Reveals study
Around 6.6 percent boys and 15.3 percent girls of the country experience different forms of sexual harassment by their friends, relatives, teachers, and familiar persons, a study finds.
Although the incidents of harassment including rape and different penetrative and non-penetrative acts seldom come to light, the academic progresses of the abused children are badly harmed as the acts impact the victim's psychology, said Farah Deeba, an assistant professor of clinical psychology department of Dhaka University.
Presenting the keynote paper at a discussion, Deeba said the frequency of occurrence of such acts is higher in rural areas than that in urban areas. She suggested ensuring safe and sound environment for the children in their schools and houses.
Deeba prepared the keynote with the findings of a research conducted on 581 children aged 9-17 in Dhaka, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Chittagong, and Sitakunda.
The discussion titled "Sexual abuse in school children's life" was jointly organised by the Department of Clinical Psychology and National Trauma Counseling Centre at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of DU yesterday.
The speakers said the guardians are not conscious enough to ensure safety of their male children from sexual harassment though they are much more careful about the female ones.
The male children often fall victim to sexual harassment, as their guardians do not take it seriously to protect them against such harassment, they said.
The speakers stressed the need for raising social awareness to stop sexual harassment and ensure safety of both male and female children.
Prof Dr Harun-or-Rashid, pro-vice-chancellor of DU, and Dr Abul Hossain, project director of Multi-Sectoral Programme on Violence against Women, spoke at the programme, among others, with Prof Dr Shahid Aktar, chairperson of the clinical psychological department, in the chair.
Source : The Daily Star
Food prices near record peak: Warns World Bank
Food prices near record peaks and volatility in commodity markets are driving the lives of the world's poorest people to the edge of survival, the World Bank warned Monday.
Global food prices in July were 33 percent higher than a year ago, while oil prices were up 45 percent, driving up the price of fertilisers, the development lender said in a quarterly report.
"Persistently high food prices and low food stocks indicate that we're still in the danger zone, with the most vulnerable people the least able to cope," World Bank president Robert Zoellick said in a statement.
"Vigilance is vital given the uncertainties and volatility that exists today. There is no cushion."
According to the bank's latest Food Price Watch report, prices that are now near the record highs of 2008 have been a major contributor to the emergency in the Horn of Africa.
Over the last three months, reportedly 29,000 children under five have died in Somalia and 600,000 children in the region remain at risk in the crisis threatening the lives of more than 12 million people, the World Bank said.
"Nowhere are high food prices, poverty and instability combining to produce tragic suffering more than in the Horn of Africa," Zoellick said, noting the bank was stepping up short-term help through safety nets to the poor and the vulnerable in places like Kenya and Ethiopia.
The 187-nation lender said it was providing $686 million to save lives, improve social protection, and spur economic recovery and drought resilience for people in the Horn of Africa.
Zoellick, who has repeatedly urged the Group of 20 major economies this year to make the food crisis a top priority, said more funds were urgently needed for the region.
Of the total resources committed so far -- $1.03 billion -- $870 million have been assigned to emergency efforts, with the remainder dedicated to longer-term objectives.
An estimated additional $1.45 billion is needed, the bank said.
"The global food prices that continue to be high and the Horn of Africa humanitarian disaster have demonstrated the urgency for tackling long-term and structural factors that contribute to food insecurity for the vulnerable, keeping in mind the increased risk of recurring droughts because of climate change," the report said.
The World Bank highlighted volatility in food prices, pointing to an 11 percent rise in rice prices between May and July following a general decline since February.
Domestic food prices continued to fluctuate widely across the globe, it said. The annual price changes in maize in the 12 months up to June 2011, for example, ranged from increases of 100 percent or more in Kampala, Mogadishu, and Kigali markets to reductions of 19 percent in Port-au-Prince and Mexico City.
And rising food prices have been major drivers of general inflation in a number of countries.
In China, the prices of pork, shrimp and fish rose sharply in the recent quarter, leaving food price inflation at 14.6 percent in June over a year earlier.
In Vietnam, food price inflation was up 30.6 percent, due to locally produced food items such as meat and vegetables.
"However, inflation in these countries is expected to moderate in the near future as local supply improves and assuming monetary policy is tightened to address macroeconomic vulnerabilities," the bank said.
Source : The Daily Star
Mamun's condition unchanged: Move to send him abroad for treatment
Dhali Al Mamun, the painter who survived the Manikganj crash Saturday, will be taken abroad in a day or two for treatment since his condition in not improving as expected.
"His [Mamun's] physical condition is not improving expectedly; so we have started the process of moving him abroad, most probably to Thailand," said physician Syed Iftekher, who is a relative of Mamun.
A professor of institute of fine arts of Chittagong University, Mamun got severe injuries in his chest and shoulder in Saturday's crash that killed internationally renowned filmmaker Tareque Masud, eminent media personally Ashfaque Mishuk Munier and three others on Dhaka-Aricha highway.
Mamun is on life support in the intensive care unit of Square Hospitals Ltd.
"He [Mamun] is still not out of danger," said physician Shahaduzzaman also a close friend of Mamun.
Iftekher said, "He is still bleeding from the injuries in his lungs and a tube has been inserted there Monday night to drain out the blood."
Two out of nine broken ribs of Mamun punctured his lungs. The 50-year-old is diabetic and suffers from hypertension.
Doctors said there are fractures in Mamun's right humerus as well as mandible. Surgeons reconstructed his mandible during a surgery Sunday.
His doctor Prof Sanawar Hosain suggested that air ambulance be used for transferring him abroad.
Iftekher said they contacted government high-ups for support in this regard and so far received positive response.
Colleagues, friends, students and relatives of Mamun were seen waiting anxiously outside the ICU throughout the day.
Condition of another survivor of the microbus-bus head-on collision, Saidul Islam, has improved notably. He is in the same hospital.
Doctors have performed a surgery in his wrist Monday and he is expected to leave the hospital in a day or two, Saidul said yesterday.
Three more survivors of the accidents are: Catherine Masud, wife of filmmaker Tareque, Dilara Zaman Jolly, wife of painter Mamun and Monis Rafique, assistant director of Tareque's film "Kagojer Phool".
DRIVER ON REMAND
A Manikganj court yesterday placed Jamir Uddin, driver of the bus, on a three-day remand, reports our Manikganj correspondent.
The judge gave the three-day remand after Detective Branch (DB) of Police Inspector Ashraf Ul Alam, investigation officer of the case, produced him before the court with a 10-day remand prayer.
The court rejected Jamir's bail petition.
A team of DB police from Dhaka in cooperation with Meherpur DB police arrested Jamir around 12:30am Monday at Chougachha of Gangni upazila in Meherpur. He was moved to Dhaka and then taken to Manikganj the same day.
Source : The Daily Star
US drone kills four Pak militants
A US drone strike targeting a compound and a vehicle yesterday killed at least four militants in a restive Pakistani tribal area, security officials said.
The unmanned aircraft fired two missiles, hitting the compound and a vehicle parked outside it in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district, a senior official told AFP.
The identity of the militants was not immediately clear, officials said.
Source : The Daily Star
Another woman kills herself along with baby
A mother allegedly committed suicide with her baby early yesterday by jumping under a running train at Shamsher Nagar Railway Station at Kamalganj upazila in the district.
The deceased were identified as Ruma Begum, 30, wife of Lechu Miah of Rameswarpur village of the upazila and their two-year-old son Raihan.
Ruma threw herself along with her only child under the Dhaka-bound Jayantika Express when the train was crossing Shamsher Nagar Railway Station around 9:30am, said its station master Shahjahan Khan.
Rokeya Begum, Ruma's elder sister claimed her sister had committed suicide following a quarrel with her husband Lechu Miah.
However, Lechu Miah, a mason by profession, denied the allegation, saying his wife was mentally unstable. She was home on Monday but was missing since yesterday morning, he added.
Ratan Kumar Dev, sub-inspector of Srimangal Police Station said the police have sent the bodies to Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital Morgue for post-mortem.
Source : The Daily Star
Amendment to money laundering act on cards
The government is going to slightly change the law that gave scope for whitening money in the face of objection from the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on money laundering.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday at his secretariat office told reporters that the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) specifies that those taking opportunity for whitening money will not be questioned under income tax law but will be quizzed under other laws.
Finance minister also said the amendment to the SRO is now lying with the law ministry and it will be issued any time.
When such scope was given earlier, the SRO specified the provision but during preparation of the SRO this time it was left out, he added.
After the money whitening scope was given in June, the APG wrote a letter to the government which said giving somebody immunity from questioning by any law was contradictory to the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Source : The Daily Star
Rush for tickets: 2 weeks ahead of Eid, advance sale of bus, launch tickets begins, train tickets available from Aug 21
A fortnight into the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, sale of advance tickets of roads and riverine transportation has kicked off in the country to ease the sufferings of home bound passengers.
Meanwhile, advance train tickets will be available from August 21.
The state-run as well as the private organisations of roads and riverine transportation started their advance ticket sale on different days of this week.
Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) yesterday started selling tickets at three bus depots in the city for its special Eid service starting on August 28.
BRTC Director (admin) Faisal Alam said tickets are available at its Motijheel, Kallyanpur and Mirpur (section 12) depots from yesterday, while it will take a day or two more to start selling tickets at Joar Sahara bus depot.
A total of 123 BRTC-run buses will ply 30 routes from Dhaka during Eid, said Maj Qazi Shafique Uddin, BRTC deputy general manager (operations).
The special Eid service would continue from August 28 to three days after Eid day, he said adding that a committee has been formed to monitor this service. In case of any complain or suggestion, people can dial at 9564361.
The buses will operate from the four aforesaid depots, Central Bus Station-2 (Fulbaria), Gabtoli Bus Terminal, Mohakhali Bus Terminal, Airport Railway Station and Cantonment Railway Station.
Besides, most of the private buses including Sohag Paribahan and Shamoli Paribahan have already started selling tickets in advance.
Meantime, the launch owners started selling advance tickets almost a week ahead of the scheduled date, August 15, that was set by the shipping ministry, said a launch owner.
The state-run Bangladesh Inland Water Transportation Corporation also started the ticket sale around a week ago, said an official.
Moreover, Bangladesh Railway (BR) will sell advance train tickets from August 21 to 25 from 9:00am to 5:00pm at Kamalapur and Chittagong railway stations, BR director (traffic) Sardar Shahadat Ali told The Daily Star.
Tickets for the trains scheduled on August 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 will be sold on August 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 respectively.
Source : The Daily Star
Repair roads right away: PM directs communications ministry, assures it of quick fund; Dhaka-Mymensingh bus strike ends
Expressing annoyance over poor conditions of highways, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday directed the communications ministry to immediately repair all dilapidated highways so that home-bound people do not face any trouble during Eid travel.
"Start repair work in full swing with the money you got. Necessary additional money will be given gradually," a source quoted her as saying to communications ministry officials during a meeting in her office on the conditions of the country's roads and highways.
The meeting sources said Hasina asked the finance ministry to release the fund allocated for repair and maintenance of highways without much delay, and told the communications minister to make sure that the fund is used properly.
The meeting was convened against the backdrop of transport strikes on various routes including Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways protesting the sorry state of the roads.
Public transport owners however withdrew their strikes last night after Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain at a meeting assured them of repairing the highways on an urgent basis.
Our Mymensingh correspondent reported that buses started operating on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway around 8:30pm yesterday.
Negligence of the communications ministry is widely blamed for the situation that has caused a lot of disappointment among a cross-section of people.
At the prime minister's meeting, Hasina also directed Bangladesh Railway officials to improve train services to give comfort to passengers during Eid travel.
She told the railway officials to reserve one compartment in each passenger train for carrying commodity goods including vegetables, so supply chain to Dhaka markets remains smooth.
Roads and Highway Department (RHD), and Bangladesh Railway gave separate presentations on the overall conditions of roads and highways, and the rail services across the country.
The RHD presentation showed why and how the highways turned dilapidated.
RHD officials told Hasina that repair work on some roads and highways were already done, but due to heavy rain they got damaged again.
The PM asked them to repair those again properly.
The officials blamed the last BNP-Jamaat alliance government and the immediate past caretaker government for the poor road conditions.
Hasina asked the communications ministry to submit a report on its expenditure for construction, development, maintenance, renovation and repair of roads and highways since 2001, so it can be assessed what were done during the tenure of BNP-Jamaat alliance government and the caretaker government, and during the first half of the present government.
After the meeting, PM's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters that the prime minister asked the communications ministry to deploy Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) buses on all highways of the country for convenience of the home-bound people during the Eid vacation.
The ministry officials informed the prime minister that around 300 BRTC buses are running on various roads.
PM's advisers HT Imam and Dr Mashiur Rahman, Principal Secretary MA Karim, PMO Secretary Mollah Waheeduzzaman, Finance Secretary Dr Mohammad Tareq, and Communications Secretary Md Mozammel Haque Khan were present at the meeting, among others.
Meanwhile, Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain said Dhaka-Mymensingh highway will be made ready for transports in seven days.
While visiting the highway yesterday afternoon, the minister's motorcade faced difficulty due to large potholes and water-logging at different portions, reported our Gazipur correspondent.
Officer-in-charge of Maona Chourasta Highway Police Station said frequent traffic congestions happen on that highway as vehicles get stuck in the potholes.
Contacted by The Daily Star last night Abul Hossain said, "We are going to hold a follow-up meeting at the ministry tomorrow to discuss how to expedite the repair work."
He said some parts of Dhaka-Mymensingh highway are still under water. "We are planning to repair the places by removing the water," he said.
About improving rail services, he said a new train, Rangpur Express, will be introduced on August 21 to transport more passengers ahead of the Eid.
Besides, he said, four engines were added to the railway which will ease engine crisis and improve rail services on different routes.
Source : The Daily Star
Fitch confirms US AAA rating
Fitch confirmed on Tuesday its triple-A rating of the United States, 10 days after rival Standard & Poor's dealt the country its first-ever downgrade due to Washington's huge deficits and debt.
'The affirmation of the US 'AAA' sovereign rating reflects the fact that the key pillars of US's exceptional creditworthiness remain intact: its pivotal role in the global financial system and the flexible, diversified and wealthy economy that provides its revenue base,' Fitch Ratings said.
'Monetary and exchange rate flexibility further enhances the capacity of the economy to absorb and adjust to 'shocks',' Fitch said.
Source : New Age
Sri Lanka signs $500m port deal with China
Sri Lanka on Tuesday announced it had clinched its largest ever single foreign investment deal by signing a $500-million contract with a Chinese-led consortium to build a new container terminal.
The investment is the latest by China in the tropical island nation that has sparked concern from its closest neighbour and biggest trading partner, India, which sees Sri Lanka as part of its sphere of influence in South Asia.
China Merchant Holdings International will own 55 per cent of the three-way venture, with Sri Lanka's Aitken Spence holding 30 per cent and state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority 15 per cent, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
'This is Sri Lanka's single largest private-sector foreign investment project,' the statement said, adding that it was signed during Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse's four-day visit to China last week.
Planned to be built over five years, the first part of the Colombo project is expected to be ready in 2013.
Two other Chinese firms, China Harbour and Sino Hydro, are building a $1.5-billion port in the Sri Lankan town of Hambantota, which is President Rajapakse's constituency.
Sri Lanka hopes to double the amount of foreign direct investment it attracts this year to $1 billion from $516 million in 2010. It aims to use the money largely for infrastructure projects.
Source : New Age
Mehmood Husain joins as new MD of Bank Asia
Md Mehmood Husain has recently joined as president and managing director of Bank Asia, a private sector commercial bank.
He has 27 years of diversified banking experience, said a news release.
Prior to joining Bank Asia, he was additional managing director of Prime Bank.
Mehmood is the joint secretary of Association of Bankers Bangladesh and a life member of Bangladesh Economic Association.
Source : New Age
Google’s bold bet on Motorola could hit Asia handset makers
Asian handset vendors such as HTC and Samsung Electronics could be under pressure after Google Inc swooped in to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion to help protect its fast-growing Android mobile operating system.
The acquisition of the company will transform the mobile landscape and give Google one of the industry's largest patent libraries but also pit it against more than 30 other handset companies that now use its Android software.
Wall Street quickly anointed Microsoft a winner in this deal, with Windows potentially benefiting if the acquisition alienates the other phone makers that rely on Android.
'The deal will make most Android players realise how dependent they are on Google and how quickly Google's plans can change their businesses,' said Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst at research firm IDC.
'Samsung, HTC, and Sony Ericsson may now look at other platforms as a way to diversify the risk of being so dependent on one platform.'
Google's Android partners such as Samsung, HTC and LG Electronics officially said they welcomed a deal that will aid their own legal battles, but some analysts questioned the sincerity of those claims, noting that rival companies would now be unlikely to heavily promote Android since it would benefit a direct competitor.
'The danger is that other handset makers feel disenfranchised,' said Nomura Securities global technology specialist Richard Windsor. 'Motorola is the weaker player. This could actually collapse the entire community.'
Android held a 43.4 per cent share of the smart phone market at the end of the second quarter, ahead of Nokia's (NOK1V.HE) 22 per cent, as per Gartner data. Apple (AAPL.O) ranked third with 18 per cent, the data showed.
'Increasing their Windows Phones portfolio may now be a need in the long term... This acquisition may be the catalyst for companies to reduce their dependence on Google's platform to face future market challenges,' Jeronimo said.
Asian handset manufacturers are increasingly turning to the free Android system, which is popular with operators and consumers in cut-rate markets.
Shares in both Samsung and LG Electronics jumped more than 3 per cent, tracking a broader market gain in the post-holiday trade on Tuesday.
'We suspect that Google will now try to provide an umbrella for the Android community that provides IP protection from key rivals such as Apple and Microsoft. This is broadly how Microsoft protects Windows Phone,' Nomura said in a note.
'We do not believe that Google will aim to continue to make handsets long term, but will rather look to spin the business out to an Android partner - such as Huawei, LG, ZTE, for example.'
The deal stoked immediate speculation that Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Research in Motion (RIM.TO) (RIMM.O) — struggling device makers in a mobile arena dominated by Apple — would become takeover targets themselves, sending Nokia's shares up more than 17 per cent and RIM's up more than 9 per cent.
Source : New Age
High food prices threaten poorest: World Bank
Food prices near record peaks and volatility in commodity markets are driving the lives of the world's poorest people to the edge of survival, the World Bank warned Monday.
Global food prices in July were 33 per cent higher than a year ago, while oil prices were up 45 per cent, driving up the price of fertilizers, the development lender said in a quarterly report.
'Persistently high food prices and low food stocks indicate that we're still in the danger zone, with the most vulnerable people the least able to cope,' World Bank president Robert Zoellick said in a statement.
'Vigilance is vital given the uncertainties and volatility that exists today. There is no cushion.'
According to the bank's latest Food Price Watch report, prices that are now near the record highs of 2008 have been a major contributor to the emergency in the Horn of Africa.
Over the last three months, reportedly 29,000 children under five have died in Somalia and 600,000 children in the region remain at risk in the crisis threatening the lives of more than 12 million people, the World Bank said.
'Nowhere are high food prices, poverty and instability combining to produce tragic suffering more than in the Horn of Africa,' Zoellick said, noting the bank was stepping up short-term help through safety nets to the poor and the vulnerable in places like Kenya and Ethiopia.
The 187-nation lender said it was providing $686 million to save lives, improve social protection, and spur economic recovery and drought resilience for people in the Horn of Africa.
Zoellick, who has repeatedly urged the Group of 20 major economies this year to make the food crisis a top priority, said more funds were urgently needed for the region.
Of the total resources committed so far — $1.03 billion — $870 million have been assigned to emergency efforts, with the remainder dedicated to longer-term objectives.
An estimated additional $1.45 billion is needed, the bank said.
'The global food prices that continue to be high and the Horn of Africa humanitarian disaster have demonstrated the urgency for tackling long-term and structural factors that contribute to food insecurity for the vulnerable, keeping in mind the increased risk of recurring droughts because of climate change,' the report said.
The World Bank highlighted volatility in food prices, pointing to an 11 per cent rise in rice prices between May and July following a general decline since February.
Domestic food prices continued to fluctuate widely across the globe, it said. The annual price changes in maize in the 12 months up to June 2011, for example, ranged from increases of 100 per cent or more in Kampala, Mogadishu, and Kigali markets to reductions of 19 per cent in Port-au-Prince and Mexico City.
And rising food prices have been major drivers of general inflation in a number of countries.
In China, the prices of pork, shrimp and fish rose sharply in the recent quarter, leaving food price inflation at 14.6 per cent in June over a year earlier.
In Vietnam, food price inflation was up 30.6 per cent, due to locally produced food items such as meat and vegetables.
'However, inflation in these countries is expected to moderate in the near future as local supply improves and assuming monetary policy is tightened to address macroeconomic vulnerabilities,' the bank said.
Source : New Age
21 banks disburse higher loans than deposits in 7 month
The amount of credit growth was higher than the deposit growth in 21 banks in last seven months, shows the latest data of the central bank released last week.
Bangladesh Bank data shows the loan disbursement by those banks was 23 per cent in the last January-July period while their deposit was 21 per cent on an average.
Experts warned that this was not comfortable for the banks as it will create new problems in future as the banks would have to keep more asset as provision for risks.
According to the BB data, among the 21
banks there are four state-owned commercial banks, nine private commercial banks, seven foreign banks and one specialised bank.
The average rate of deposit among the banks was 21.49 per cent but the banks disbursed higher amount of credit from their reserve funds.
According to the BB, import financing and private sector loans, especially for the small and medium enterprises, contributed to the rise of loan disbursement.
The total value of import L/Cs opened by the banks during FY 2010-11 was $ 38582.35 million which was 34.04% higher than that of the same period of the previous year.
BB data shows that loan disbursement was higher in the four state-owned banks.
The amount of deposit in the four state-owned banks was Tk 1,05,636 crore, private banks' deposit was Tk 2,56,732 crore and the nine foreign banks' deposit was Tk 27,849 crore.
In total, loan disbursement by 30 private banks increased by 21.85 per cent in the last six month and the average deposit growth was 26.14 per cent.
But loan disbursement was higher in nine private banks — Pubali Bank, Uttara Bank, United Commercial Bank, IFIC, The City Bank, National Bank, Social Islami Bank, ICB Islamic Bank and BRAC Bank.
Among the foreign banks, loan disbursements by State Bank of India was -4.44 per cent and National Bank of Pakistan -16 per cent, which were in the negative position.
BB data shows that among the specialised banks, the loan disbursement of BASIC Bank was highest; the amount of its loan disbursement was 46.68 per cent while the deposit was 38 per cent.
In FY2010, the amount of credit given by the state-owned commercial banks was Tk 61,978 crore, private commercial banks Tk 1,73,426 crore, foreign banks Tk 15,920 crore and specialised banks Tk 16,982 crore.
In FY2010-2011, the state-owned commercial banks posted a year-on-year lending growth of 31 per cent, private commercial banks 23 per cent and foreign banks 28 per cent, while the specialised banks showed a negative growth of 8.4 per cent, the BB data shows.
Former governor of Bangladesh Bank Salehuddin Ahmed said that the increase of loan disbursement than the deposit might affect the capital strength of the banks as they would have to keep more money for risk provision.
He said that it was not a comfortable situation for the banks.
'Loan disbursement should be checked whether it's going to the right purposes or in the productive sector,' he cautioned.
Source : New Age
Slight fall in temperature likely
Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at most places over the Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions and at many places over the Barisal and Chittagong divisions till 6:00pm today.
Moderately heavy to heavy falls are also likely at places, Met Office said.
Day temperature may fall slightly over the country.
The sun sets in the capital today at 6:31pm and rises tomorrow at 5:35am.
The country's highest temperature, 32.0 degrees Celsius, was recorded on Tuesday at Cox's Bazar and Rangamati and the lowest, 24.2 degrees, in Tangail.
Source : New Age
2 unnatural deaths in city
A garments worker died reportedly after she fell down the stairs of a building at Tejgaon and the police recovered the body of a man from an under-construction building at Mohammadpur in the capital on Tuesday.
Taslima Akhter, 27, a worker of NASA Group at Begunbari of Tejgaon, slipped while she was climbing up the stairs of her factory about 8:00am.
Shamim Ahammed, husband of the victim, said with critical head injuries Taslima was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where the doctors declared her head about 9:30am.
On Noorjahan Road of Mohammadpur, the police recovered the body of Abdul Latif, 35, from a room of an under-construction building, a site of Mission Builders Company.
Abdul Latif, a security guard of the building, was from Bakerganj upazila in Barisal
Sources at DMCH, where the autopsy of the body of Abdul Latif was carried out, informed that he died from an infection developed from a fish bone.
Source : New Age
Jewel Aich, Moushumi new UNICEF advocate for child’s rights
Magician Jewel Aich and film actress Arifa Zaman Moushumi formally joined the United Nation's Children's Fund as the 'UNICEF advocates for child's rights' through a programme in Dhaka on Tuesday.
A media release issued by UNICEF on Tuesday confirmed that the celebrities would work with UNICEF to promote child rights and create awareness of child labour, birth registration, violence against children, child and maternal health, children and HIV/AIDS, children living in the slums and child immunisation.
The UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, Carel de Rooy, introduced them as the advocates for child's rights at a programme in a city hotel.
'We are pleased that Arifa Zaman Moushumi and Jewel Aich gave their kind consent to join us as child's rights advocate to promote children's issues,' Carel de Rooy said.
Jewel Aich called on the country people to create public opinion for protecting child rights.
Moushumi said, 'Being a mother, I feel very sad when I saw child's rights are not protected.'
According to UNICEF, around 20 million children in the country are living under the poverty line of whom 3.3 million are growing up in slums.
A documentary directed by Tareque Masud and Catherine Masud 'Let Me Live, Let Me Grow' was screened in the programme.
A cultural show was also staged by the under privileged children at the programme.
Source : New Age
UNFPA executive director arrives today
United Nations under-secretary general and UNFPA executive director Babatunde Osotimehin arrives on a 3-day official visit to Dhaka today.
During his stay, Osotimehin will update himself about the maternal health situation in Bangladesh in the context of the UN secretary general's Global Strategy on Women's and Children's Health, said a press release.
This is Osotimehin's first visit to Bangladesh since his appointment as United Nations Population Fund executive director in January 2011.
The UNFPA executive is expected to call on the prime minister, the finance minister and the foreign minister.
He will also have a consultative meeting with civil society, development partners and media to share views on the progress toward MDG 5.
Osotimehin will make a joint field visit to Moulvibazar district along with the health minister and other senior officials to observe maternal health related interventions.
Source : New Age
BRTC makes a delay to start selling bus tickets for home-bound Eid passengers
The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation made a delayed start to sell tickets for its special bus services for people intending to observe Eid-ul-Fitr outside Dhaka.
The corporation officials said they were trying to extend their bus service to most of the districts after the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, gave instructions to operate BRTC buses to all 64 districts.
In a circular issued on August 7, the corporation said it would arrange about 200 BRTC buses to ply on highways from August 28 until three days after Eid-ul-Fitr.
The routes are from Dhaka to Bogra, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Pabna, Comilla, Mawa and Shibalay for which the tickets would be available at Motijheel bus depot, Kalyanpur bus depot, double-decker bus depot, and Zoar Sahara bus depot from August 16, said the circular.
The intra-district Eid service would be available in Barisal, Comilla Chittagong, Pabna, Rangpur, Bogra, Khulna and Sylhet, it added.
But at 2pm on Tuesday, there was no ticket seller at the two Eid service counters at Motijheel bus depot.
The depot manager (technical) Mohammad Manowar Hossain said as the ticket sellers were not communicated about the Eid service they did not sell any ticket.
The manager asked ticket sellers from two other counters to open the sales at the two Eid counters.
Khan Kamal, chief of the bus depot, told New Age on Tuesday that they would start selling tickets from afternoon.
Sources at the double-decker bus depot said due to rains, the ticket selling had to be started from 3pm.
BRTC deputy general manager Major Quazi Shafique Uddin told New Age that ticket selling had been started at all the four counters.
'I am admitting that there was a delay in starting the ticket selling,' he added.
Meanwhile, the prime minister at a meeting on Tuesday asked the authorities concerned to run BRTC buses to all the 64 districts from Dhaka city during Eid.
Quazi Shafique Uddin said so far the corporation has taken initiatives to run its buses to about 40 districts under its Eid service.
'We may be not able to run buses to all the 64 districts from the capital but we will run buses on different inter-district routes,' he said.
Source : New Age
Study finds significant sexual abuse among schoolchildren
A small-scale study has unearthed significant exposure of schoolchildren to sexual abuses by some of their teachers or relatives, who abuses children by sexual touch or physical contacts at children's tender age.
'The issue is grossly hidden and many parents are unaware of it (sexual abuse of their kids by others,)' said a young professor of Dhaka University, who is now undergoing doctoral programme in Australia.
Farah Deeba, assistant professor of Clinical Psychology Department, said she has conducted a study over 581 schoolchildren in five districts and found one in 15 boys and over 15 per cent of girls have experienced sexual abuse of different forms at very young ages.
'This abuse leads to serious emotional and psychological problems of a child who suffer from depression, anti-social behaviour, identity confusion, frustration and substance abuses,' she said at function at Dhaka University senate hall Tuesday evening.
The girls in rural areas are more prone to sexual abuse than their urban counterparts, Deeba said, adding nearly five per cent urban girls have reported sexual abuse against over 10 per cent of rural girls.
'We need to figure out how we can restore and secure mental health condition of our children and we need to understand why they are experiencing such incidents,' she suggested, but urged guardians to be alert that children at most cases are at risk of being abused or harassed by their known persons close to them.
She also said both girls and boys need to be taken care of in order to protect the young children from such abuses at their growing stage and prevent them from mental trauma at later stage of their lives.
A student of Viqarunnisa Noon School said sexual abuses had long been continuing in the school, but those were not reported until a recent incident disclosed the horrific stories of abuses by teachers. She said there should be psychological tests for teachers at times of their recruitment.
Source : New Age
Microcredit is a mirage, says UK study
A British government-funded international study says there is no credible evidence that microcredit has helped cut poverty and empowers women.
The 'systematic review' dismissed well-known studies done so far claiming positive impacts on women.
The report says 'unreliable impact estimates' based on 'weak methodologies' and 'inadequate data' have contributed to the creation of perception that micro-funding worked.
It also blames the myth of micro-credit on 'anecdotes' and 'inspiring stories' propagated by the powerful micro-credit industry.
The damning report, Evidence of the impact of microfinance: a systematic review was supported by the UK's overseas development arm DFID.
The news agency has obtained the full report, dated August 2011.
'Despite the apparent success and popularity of microfinance, no clear evidence yet exists that microfinance programmes have positive impacts,' said the report, co-authored by Maren Duvendack, Richard Palmer-Jones, James G Copestake, Lee Hooper, Yoon Loke and Nitya Rao.
This report seemingly pours cold water on the rigorous microcredit campaign especially in the West and lends further credence to the contention that is fast gaining ground that microfinance fails to pull the hard-core poor out of poverty.
Late last year, Danish director Tom Heinemann in an investigative TV documentary 'Caught in Micro debt', which was aired on Norwegian television, questioned microcredit operations.
It uncovered documents revealing nearly $100 million in aid funds to Grameen Bank were transferred out of Grameen Bank to a private entity, Grameen Kalyan, set up by Muhammad Yunus, without the knowledge of the donor Norway's NORAD.
The DfID review said the concept of microcredit was 'first introduced in Bangladesh by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus'.
'Professor Yunus started Grameen Bank more than 30 years ago with the aim of reducing poverty by providing small loans to the country's rural poor (Yunus 1999).'
The Department for International Development, is the UK government ministry that manages Britain's international aid and works to get rid of extreme poverty.
'There have been four major reviews examining impacts of microfinance (Sebstad and Chen, 1996; Gaile and Foster 1996, Goldberg 2005, Odell 2010, see also Orso 2011).
'These reviews concluded that, while anecdotes and other inspiring stories (such as Todd 1996) purported to show that microfinance can make a real difference in the lives of those served, rigorous quantitative evidence on the nature, magnitude and balance of microfinance impact is still scarce and inconclusive (Armendáriz de Aghion and Morduch 2005, 2010).
The review continued: 'Overall, it is widely acknowledged that no well-known study robustly shows any strong impacts of microfinance (Armendáriz de Aghion and Morduch 2005, p199-230).'
Bangladesh's top microcredit operators include Association for Social Advancement, Grameen Bank, Brac, which together wield enormous power in the country socio-political life.
Critics put the stunning loan recovery rate of nearly 98 per cent down to the harassment of villagers from the debt collectors. Some argue that people can quickly sink into a cycle of debt, with many lenders charging exorbitant rates of interest.
In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, numerous reports of suicides amongst loan takers have spread around the world, calling into question the benefits from microcredit.
'Because of the growth of the microfinance industry and the attention the sector has received from policy makers, donors and private investors in recent years, existing microfinance impact evaluations need to be re-investigated.
'The robustness of claims that microfinance successfully alleviates poverty and empowers women must be scrutinised more carefully.'
The study found 'no robust evidence of positive impacts on women's status, or girl's enrolments'.
'Our report shows that almost all impact evaluations of microfinance suffer from weak methodologies and inadequate data (as already argued by Adams and von Pischke 1992), thus the reliability of impact estimates are adversely affected.
'This can lead to misconceptions about the actual effects of a microfinance programme, thereby diverting attention from the search for perhaps more pro-poor interventions.
'Therefore, it is of interest to the development community to engage with evaluation techniques and to understand their limitations, so that more reliable evidence of impact can be provided in order to lead to better outcomes for the poor,' the study concluded.
Source : New Age
Govt to ensure economic emancipation: PM
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has said the aim of her government is to ensure the economic emancipation of people as Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave the independence in 1971.
'Now our aim is to attain economic emancipation,' she told a discussion meeting on August 15 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
The Bangladesh Awami League organised the discussion with the deputy leader of the house, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, in the chair.
Hasina said she knew in the present global economic turmoil, many big countries were facing trouble to maintain their economic growth. 'But we're maintaining moderate growth... this is a good progress for the country,' she said.
She said her government was providing subsidy on fuel, electricity and food grains so that the people of the country can live a better life. 'We are providing subsidy to ensure that the prices of essentials remain under the commoners' reach.'
In this connection, Hasina said her government was continuing OMS and fair price cards and such other measures to ensure food for the poor.
'We're trying hard to ensure a good, peaceful environment so that all can have an enjoyable Eid, and I seek cooperation from you all,' she said.
Talking about various conspiracies, she said people should remain alert so that no vested quarter could snatch their rights.
'Conspiracies are going on so that people lose their confidence in the Awami League, but I have the trust on the people because we've come to power to serve them,' she told the meeting.
The prime minister criticised the birthday celebrations of the opposition leader on August 15 saying, 'This is not her real birthday. All of a sudden in 1996, Khelada started celebrating her birthday on August 15. This is just to hurt the sentiment of Bangabandhu's followers.'
'Aren't you encouraging the killers by this celebration?' she asked Khaleda.
She also said the opposition leader took away the money that came for the Zia Orphanage. 'How the country could be benefited when such a person was in power,' she questioned.
Regarding the 15th amendment to the constitution, she said the chance of grabbing state power had been sealed with this amendment.
She also said Ziaur Rahman had grabbed power illegally in 1975 after killing Mujib and rewarded the killers in many ways.
She also said, 'It's Zia who patronised the killers and Razakars in the country and the Khaleda promoted them.'
'Can you imagine that Khaleda Zia had made the Bangabandhu self-confessed killers members of parliament and one of them the opposition leader after the votes-less Feb 1996 polls?'
AL leader Suranjit Sengupta, agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury, AL general secretary and LGRD minister Syed Ashraful Islam, former home minister Mohammad Nasim, DU VC AAMS Arefin Siddique, Workers Party chief Rashed Khan Menon, JSD chief Hasanul Huq Inu, industries minister Dilip Barua, AL leader MA Aziz and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, among others, among others spoke at the meeting.
Earlier, a one-minute silence was observed to show respect to Mujib and others killed in the August 15 massacre.
Source : New Age
Driver Jamil put on 3-day remand
Driver Jamil Hossain was taken on a three-day police remand on Tuesday for interrogation in connection with the Manikganj road mishap that killed noted filmmaker Tareque Masud and ATN News CEO Mishuk Munier.
The police produced him before Senior Judicial Magistrate Court at 3:00pm seeking a ten-day remand for him, but the court granted the three-day remand turning down his bail petition.
Judge Mohammad Iqbal Hossain passed the order.
Jamil was arrested from his sister's house at Gangni upazila in Meherpur on Monday.
Later, he was sent to Manikganj DB office for interrogation and produced before the court Tuesday after primary interrogation.
Five people, including filmmaker Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier died when a Chuadanga-bound bus collided with their microbus on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway at Ghior upazila in Manikganj on Saturday.
Source : New Age
Storm damages 25 houses, shops
A severe storm lashed through two villages of Saturia upazila in Manikaganj on Tuesday, leaving at least 25 houses and shops damaged.
Local sources said the storm hit Bhua and Delua villages at about 7:00am, leaving 21 houses and four shops damaged.
Source : New Age
BNP MP Hafiz Ibrahim sued in graft case
The Anti-Corruption Commission Tuesday sued former BNP lawmaker Hafiz Ibrahim along with his wife Mahruza Sultana, in a money-laundering case, on charges of taking a bribe of $1,75,000 and siphoning off the amount to Singapore.
ACC deputy director Golam Shahriar Chowdhury filed the case with Gulshan police under Money Laundering Prevention Act. The commission will conduct investigation into the case.
In the case, the complainant alleged that Ibrahim took a bribe of $ 1,75,000, from Siemens Bangladesh Limited in exchange for awarding a tender of the then Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board now BTCL (Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited), misusing his power during 2001-2006 regime of the past BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
The BNP lawmaker from Bhola-2 constituency was member of two parliamentary standing committees —planning ministry and information ministry — at that time.
The money was deposited to a joint account of Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore after the name of Ibrahim and his wife. A total of $1,00,000 were deposited on December 19 in 2005 and the rest $75,000 on July 25 in 2006 with the account, the case details said.
The amount was transferred to the account from another joint account after the name of Zulfikar Ali, consultant of Siemens and his wife Rahima Ali.
The ACC in its inquiry also found that Ibrahim and his wife withdrew $3,92,289.15 on July 11 in 2007 and $4,41,312.16 on January 16, 2008 from the account, the case statement said, adding that but, in their wealth statements submitted to the ACC, the couple did not mention about the accounts.
Source : New Age
Probe ordered whether Jalil’s bank destroyed temple to build hospital
The High Court on Tuesday directed the authorities to investigate and find out whether the Mercantile Bank Foundation had destroyed a temple to build a charitable hospital at Dubol Hati Rajbari in the district.
A bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore also directed the deputy commissioner of Naogaon and the director general of the Department of Archaeology to find out the real owner of the land.
The bench issued the order responding to the argument of former law minister Abdul Matin Khasru, the lawyer of the bank, owned by Abdul Jalil, former general secretary of ruling Awami League that no temple existed on the land on which the hospital was being built by his clients.
On July 27, the bench had issued a rule suo moto taking cognisance to a newspaper report under the headline that a hospital was being built by demolishing a centuries old temple, and directed the authorities to explain why appropriate and stern action should not be taken against the management of the bank.
The court had also directed the Mercantile Bank chairman Abdul Jalil and its board of directors to appear before it on August 16 to explain their position on the issue.
Khasru told the court that Jalil could not appear before it as he was sick.
The directors of the bank's board were appeared for the hearing.
Khasru told the bench that Jalil had purchased the land where no temple existed.
He also submitted that the plot of land was never listed by local experts as a heritage site hosting a temple.
He, however, said that once there was a theatre there.
'A person like Jalil cannot grab temple land as he is the leader of a secular political party,' he said.
But Khasru could give no satisfactory answer when the photographs of the temple' was submitted to the court.
Earlier, lawyer Sheikh Fazle Nur Taposh, MP, who defended the bank's managing director AKM Shahidul Haque, told the court that the bank had no knowledge about the plot of land on which the hospital was being built.
To a query from the court why the bank had allotted Tk 50, 00,000 for the constructing the hospital, Taposh said that the Mercantile Bank Foundation asked for the money to build the hospital in Noagaon as per the wish of Jalil.
'But the bank is unaware whether the hospital was being build on temple land,' he added.
The court exempted Shahidul from appearance at the next hearing.
The court, however, asked the other officials of the bank to appear before it again at the next hearing.
Source : New Age
Daily exercise ‘cuts death risk’
Just 15 minutes of exercise a day can boost life expectancy by three years and cut death risk by 14 per cent, research from Taiwan suggests.
Experts in The Lancet say this is the least amount of activity an adult can do to gain any health benefit.
This is about half the quantity currently recommended in the UK.
Meanwhile, work in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests a couch potato lifestyle with six hours of TV a day cuts lifespan by five years.
The UK government recently updated its exercise advice to have a more flexible approach, recommending adults get 150 minutes of activity a week.
This could be a couple of 10-minute bouts of activity every day or 30-minute exercise sessions, five times a week, for example.
Experts say this advice still stands, but that a minimum of 15 minutes a day is a good place to start for those who currently do little or no exercise.
The Lancet study, based on a review of more than 4,00,000 people in Taiwan, showed 15 minutes per day or 90 minutes per week of moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, can add three years to your life.
And people who start to do more exercise tend to get a taste for it and up their daily quota, the researchers from the National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, and China Medical University Hospital found.
More exercise led to further life gains. Every additional 15 minutes of daily exercise further reduced all-cause death rates by 4 per cent.
And research from Australia on health risks linked to TV viewing suggest too much time sat in front of the box can shorten life expectancy, presumably because viewers who watch a lot of telly do little or no exercise.
Source : New Age
124 convicts still in hiding
One hundred and twenty-four convicted activists of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, including three death-row convicts, are still in hiding as the nation passes today the seventh anniversary of the August 17, 2005 countrywide series of bombings.
The Jamaatul Mujahideen stepped into the spotlight as a hardcore militant outfit with the series of bombings in 634 places in all the 64 districts but Munshiganj, on August 17, 2005, in which two judges were killed in Jhalakati killed and scores of others injured across the country.
In subsequent attacks, the Jamaatul Mujahideen also killed at least 31 others across the country.
According to sources in the police headquarters, 341 cases were filed against the suspected JMB activists for the series of bombings.
Of the cases, 142 were filed for the August 17 blasts and 199 for the subsequent bomb attacks.
Different courts have so far delivered verdicts in 78 cases of the total 142, filed for the August 17, 2005 bombings, while the rest 64 are now under trial, said the Rapid Action Battalion's legal and media wing director Commander Mohammad Sohail.
In the verdicts in 78 cases, the courts sentenced 29 people to death, 92 to imprisonment for life and 77 to imprisonment for varying terms, he added.
The Jamaatul Mujahideen chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his operational commander Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai and four other leaders were executed on March 30, 2007.
The law enforcers have so far arrested 1,192 people in connection with the cases.
The law enforcers are, however, yet to arrest 124 of the convicts, including three death-row ones, police sources said.
The law enforcement agencies have already arrested most of the top leaders and activists of the Jamaatul Mujahideen and the Islamist militants are now in a decaying state, said the acting inspector general of police AKM Shahidul Haque.
Operations against banned militant outfits are going on in full swing and they would finally be eliminated from the country, he added.
Source : New Age
BCL confines, assaults teachers in CU, RU
Activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the ruling Awami League's associate body of students, on Tuesday confined the proctor and a hall provost in Rajshahi Univeristy, assaulted a hall provost in Chittagong University and locked up the academic building in Noakhali University of Science and Technology.
In Chittagong, a group of Chhatra League activists assaulted the Shahjalal Hall provost in his office on Tuesday morning as the hall authorities did not observe National Mourning Day on Monday.
In Rajshahi University, Chhatra League activists confined the proctor and the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall provost in the provost's office on Tuesday as the hall authorities did not invite especially activists to an iftar party marking National Mourning Day.
In Noakhali University of Science and Technology, a faction of Chhatra League locked up the academic building and damaged the windows of the Shahid Abdus Salam Hall demanding punishment of the people responsible for an incident of infighting on the campus on May 24 that involved its rival faction.
The New Age correspondent in Chittagong University said that a group of activists of the university unit Chhatra League locked up the room of the provost of the Shahjalal Hall provost, Salamat Ullah, and started fire with tyres when they laid siege to the hall office about 10:00am.
Witnesses said that a Chhatra League group, led by Abu Sayed, had gone to the provost's room and assaulted him. The university's provost body with the help of the police later rescued the provost
The university unit Chhatra League's joint secretary Mohammed Mamun said that the hall authorities had planned no programme marking National Mourning Day although the university had decided to observe the day. The hall authorities did not fly the national flag at half-mast on the day, he added.
The provost could not be reached for his comments.
The university's assistant proctor Ali Haidar said that the Chhatra League had also submitted a memorandum to the authorities in protest at the hall authorities' not observing the day.
The correspondent in Rajshahi said that the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall unit Chhatra League in Rajshahi University had on Tuesday confined the hall provost for two hours as the provost did not invite them to an iftar party.
Witnesses said that leaders and activists of the hall unit Chhatra League confined the hall provost, SA Haidar, to his office. The activists also confined the proctor, Chowdhury Muhammad Zakaria, when he went there to rescue the provost, hall students said.
The Chhatra League activists also shouted slogans against the proctor and the provost and demanded that the provost should be removed.
After two hours, the university unit Chhatra League president, Ahmed Ali, and the general secretary, Abu Hossain, went to the hall and rescued the two university officials.
The hall unit Chhatra League complained that the authorities had favoured Chhatra Shibir activists and had not invited them to the iftar party.
The provost said that the ruling party men had wanted his removal as they were not invited especially.
The proctor told New Age that they would look into the matter.
The New Age correspondent in Noakhali said that a Chhatra League faction, led by Monjurul Islam Mohsin, locked up academic the building of Noakhali University of Science and Technology and damaged the windows of the Shahid Abdus Salam Hall on Tuesday.
They also created obstructed the semester examinations scheduled for Tuesday in protest at 'a move of the authorities to protect the members of another group who are responsible for a clash on the campus on May 24.'
The police rushed in and controlled the situation.
The vice-chancellor, AKM Saydul Hoque Chowdhury, said, 'We have set up committee to investigate the May 24 incident.'
'Action will be taken in keeping with what the committee recommends. But a section of student locked the academic building claiming the punishment of the accuses student,' he added.
Source : New Age
Dhaka to testify at ITLOS
Bangladesh will give a verbal hearing at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas in Germany on September 18 for a 'legally equitable' resolution of its dispute with Myanmar over the maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal, a foreign ministry official told New Age.
Foreign minister Dipu Moni, who is also the 'agent' for Bangladesh with the ITLOS, would testify the country's position on the dispute with neighbouring Myanmar over the maritime boundary.
The ITLOS, which is composed of 21 judges from around the world, has invited Bangladesh for oral proceedings at its headquarter in Hamburg on September 18.
Additional foreign secretary M Khurshed Alam, who is 'deputy agent' for the country, would assist the minister in the proceedings.
In its reply filed with the ITLOS on March 14, Dhaka made an appeal for a 'legally equitable' resolution over Myanmar's claims concerning delimitation of maritime boundary between the two
countries, according to ITLOS.
The ITLOS is an inter-governmental judicial body created under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas.
Bangladesh and Myanmar, on mutual consent, invited ITLOS in 2009 to exercise its jurisdiction over the maritime boundary dispute between the two countries.
Bangladesh submitted a 'memorial' on her claims in the Bay on July 1, 2010. Myanmar submitted a 'counter-memorial' on December 1, 2010.
The two countries, which had held prolonged negotiations over the dispute since 1974, so far failed to reach a settlement.
The ITLOS is expected to deliver its judgment in the case on dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the first quarter of 2012, its president Jose Luis Jesus said on June 13.
The ITLOS president described the case, which has been registered with the tribunal as 'Case No. 16' on disputes between Bangladesh and Myanmar as 'a milestone' for the tribunal since 'it is its first case on maritime delimitation'.
Foreign minister Dipu Moni, who is also the 'agent' for Bangladesh with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, would also give a verbal hearing at UN in New York on August 24 on the country's 'position paper' for demarcating the outer limits of the country's continental shelf.
On March 8, 2010, the ITLOS president also formed an arbitral tribunal to resolve the maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and India.
A country is supposed to enjoy its rights to fishing and exploring and extracting other marine resources in its 12–24 nautical miles of territorial sea from the coastline, 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone and a maximum 350 nautical miles of continental shelf from the baseline.
Bangladesh has, however, long-standing disputes with India and Myanmar on the issue of 'starting point' on how to mark the coastline to draw its marine boundary, with apparently overlapping claims of the three neighbouring countries because of the funnel-like coastline of the Bay of Bengal.
Under the UN provision, no claims submitted by a country should be taken for final consideration before settling the objection raised by a neighbouring country, which might have overlapping claims.
A well defined legal maritime boundary of Bangladesh would enable the country to undertake systematic programmes for exploiting and utilising its resources in the Bay, experts said.
Source : New Age
Hasina wants roads repaired before Eid
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday ordered the communications ministry to initiate immediate steps to repair the badly-damaged highways before Eid.
She asked the roads and highways department to ensure 'accountability' in spending money for repairs and maintenance of roads and highways to get funds for the purpose, said officials.
Sheikh Hasina held an emergency meeting with the communications ministry at the Prime Minister's Office against the backdrop of suspension of bus service on a number of routes, including Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh, by transport operators to press for repairs of rundown highways.
Traffic movement has become almost impossible as most of the highways have developed potholes and craters due to lack of maintenance and repairs for long.
An apparently annoyed prime minister asked the communications ministry to cancel holidays of the roads and highways officials and employees if necessary to complete repair works on major highways before Eid to ease public suffering, said an official concerned.
Plying of buses has remained suspended on the Dhaka-Mymensingh route since Thursday, and bus operators of Tangail on Sunday enforced an indefinite strike on the Dhaka-Tangail route, causing immense suffering to commuters.
'Torrential rains this year has caused much damage to the highways. We will be able to repair the damaged stretches of the major roads in seven days if it does not rain,' communications minister Syed Abul Hossain told New Age after the meeting.
He, however, said that the prime minister had ordered immediate steps for completing the repair works before Eid to reduce suffering of the homebound people before Eid, which falls on August 31 or on September 1.
The prime minister assured the roads and highways department of necessary funds for immediate repairs and maintenance of highways.
After the prime minister's assurances, bus owners in the evening withdrew their strike.
'We asked for immediate release of Tk 690 crore allocated for the current fiscal to begin repair works on the damaged highways. We will float tenders and give work orders soon after the fund is available,' Abul Hossain said.
Secretary to the road division Md Mozammel Haque Khan made a power-point presentation on the activities of the communications ministry and the roads and highways department at the meeting that lasted over two and half hours.
The secretary said the craters and potholes on the highways would be repaired in a week on an emergency footing to ensure transport movement if it did not rain.
At the directives of the prime minister, the communications minister along with senior officials concerned went to the badly-damaged Mawna point on Dhaka-Mymensigh highway to see the condition of the road network.
The prime minister asked the communications ministry to submit a report on the expenditures during the tenures of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government, caretaker government and the first half of the present government on roads and highways, the prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters.
Sheikh Hasina also asked Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation to increase the number of buses it operates on highways to ease suffering of the homebound people during Eid.
She directed the ministry to operate the Dhaka-Rangpur express train from August 21.
The prime minister's advisers HT Imam and Mashiur Rahman, principal secretary Md Abdul Karim and secretary to PMO Molla Waheeduzzaman, among others, attended the meeting.
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday, the communications minister came under fire from his colleagues for the delay in repairs of the battered road network.
Abul Hossain attributed the delay in road maintenance and repairs to fund constraints and also blamed the past BNP-Jamaat and caretaker governments for their 'failure' to maintain the road network.
Rejecting his claims, finance minister AMA Muhith told the cabinet meeting that lack of monitoring by the authorities concerned was rather the reason for the sorry condition of the highways.
The communications minister, however, on Tuesday said that the roads and highways could have initiated steps earlier for release of the funds.
Source : New Age
HC summons police, arbitrators
The High Court on Tuesday asked nine people, including a union parishad chairman and three police officers, to appear on August 23 to explain their role in the arbitration which drove a housewife into committing suicide with her two children by jumping under a train in Madhabpur of Habiganj on Monday.
A bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore also issued a rule suo moto asking the government to explain why their inaction in respect of the tragic incident should not be declared illegal.
The police was asked to explain why they should not be directed to prosecute persons involved in the arbitration at village Sultanpur of Andiura union in the district, which had led to the tragic death of the woman, Ferdausi Akhter, and her two children and caused injuries to two others.
The court passed the order after Supreme Court lawyer Moniruzzaman Azad had drawn its attention to a news report carried on Tuesday by different dailies that the women with her four children jumped under a Sylhet-bound train on Monday morning after a rural arbitration had ostracized her and asked her to leave the village over an unfounded allegation that she had an extra-marital affair.
The nine persons who have been summoned by the court are – Andiur union parishad chairman Atikur Rahman, member Tapan Dev, former member Moloy Miah and three others – Abdur Rahman, Fazlur Rahman and Karim Kha.
The rest three are – Madhabpur police officer-in-charge Mainul Chowhdury, sub-inspector Ehsanul Haque and Shayestaganj railway station's police box in-charge Monwar Hossain.
Being unable to stand the humiliation in public by the rural arbitration, Ferdausi Akhter, 35, jumped under the train with her four children. She and her two children died while the two others sustained grievous injuries.
It was alleged that the village arbitration had brought allegation against Ferdausi, wife of expatriate worker Jilon Miah, that she had an illicit relationship with Jilon's nephew Abdul Kadir.
The arbitration, 10 days before the month of Ramandan began, rebuked Ferdausi and asked her to leave the village.
Source : New Age
Teachers feel insecure as BCL activists become ‘violent’
Teachers of some public universities and university colleges have said that they feel insecure as some leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the ruling Awami League's associate body of students, have become 'violent' in recent times.
They have said that they feared attacks from Chhatra League activists during the forthcoming session for admission to the educational institutions.
Authorities of the universities and the University Grants Commission have become 'concerned' about an increased number of attacks by Chhatra League activists on teachers, the UGC chair, AK Azad Chowdhury, told New Age on Tuesday.
'The recent violence is alarming. Teachers across the country now feel insecure,' said Ferdous Hossain, who is a former secretary to the Dhaka University Teachers' Association.
Chhatra League leaders generally take money from admission seekers and ask teachers to have them admitted to the institutions, teachers alleged. And the leaders of the organisation attack the teachers if they do not agree to have the students admitted, they added.
It has become a regular phenomenon and it is likely to surface once again as the admission process in public universities and colleges is about to begin, they said.
Teachers of university colleges are most vulnerable to attacks at admission time, they added.
At least 20 teachers of the Bangladesh Agricultural University became injured when Chhatra League activists attacked them on August 8.
The university proctor, Abu Hadi Noor Ali, came to be attacked after he had handed over to the police two students held on suspicion of being involved in mugging in the botanical garden of the university.
Teachers then had not taken classes and given examinations for a couple of days demanding punishment of the attackers.
The University of Chittagong proctor, Mohammad Akhtar Hossain, and three assistant proctors Mohammad Monjur Morshed, Mohammad Moinul Islam and Shipak Krishna Devnath submitted to authorities their resignation on August 1, over 'misconduct' by groups of Chhatra League activists. They, however, withdrew their resignation after a meeting with the authorities.
Chhatra League activists on February 18 ransacked the office of Hossain Kabir, the provost of the Alaol Hall in Chittagong Univeristy and damaged valuables over the distribution of seats in the hall.
On August 13, Chhatra League activists foiled the examinations for teacher's recruitment at the SD Degree College at Kotchandpur in Jhenaidah. The activists beat up the college principal, Amal Kumar Ghosh.
On May 22, a teacher of chemistry at the Government Bangla College at Mirpur in Dhaka was attacked by Chhatra League activists during the HSC admission test.
Rubel Hawlader, organisational secretary of the college unit Chhatra League, pushed the teacher down the staircase from the first floor in a college building as he did not agree to have students of their choice admitted.
Chhatra League activists at the time also threatened several teachers of Dhaka College. 'They told me that no one can save me if I do not have their candidates admitted,' one of the teachers said.
The National University's pro-vice-chancellor Tofail Ahmad Chowdhury, however, defended the Chhatra League activists.
Students are not always responsible for such incidents, he said. 'There is no reason to think that teachers are always innocent.'
He, however, said that students, whoever they are, should not have taken the law into their own hands.
When asked why they have not taken action, he said, 'It is not possible for us to rush in where students confine teachers. We take disciplinary action against students when we are informed of such matters.'
Former DUTA general secretary Ferdous said that incidents of violence against teachers was increasing as the attackers were not punished. 'If we cannot stop such violence against teachers, academic activities in universities will be affected,' he added.
The DUTA president, Anwar Hossain, said that the teachers should also have a role to play in not being attacked.
'I strongly condemn attacks on teachers in the Bangladesh Agricultural University. But I saw in a photograph published in newspapers that a teacher was holding a student hanging from the belt. A teacher cannot do this,' he said.
He said that investigators also need to find out whether there was any provocation from the teachers in the BAU incident. He, however, said that authorities needed to ensure punishment of attackers.
The UGC chair Azad said that any students found involved in such violence would be expelled from the university.
Source : New Age
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