The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Pakistan High Commission here will organize the 4th Pakistan Date Show, 2007 at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel on September 2 and 3 in collaboration with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan.

According to a Pak High Commission press release today, 10 to 12 date exporters and growers will exhibit fresh and dry dates as well as date products from Pakistan during the two-day show.

A large number of Bangladeshi fruit importers, dealers, whole sellers/distributors, retailers and consumers are expected to visit the show, the press release said.

BSS, Dhaka

The prices of most of the essentials and vegetables remained stable in city markets, but the price of onion increased slightly, a market report of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) said on Sunday.

The price of coarse rice in different markets, including Kamalapur, New Market, Karwanbazar, Kalyanpur, Kachukhet and Mohammadpur, ranged between Taka 22 and Taka 26 per kg today. The coarse rice is being sold at Taka 19 at BDR-run sales centres. In Kolkata, the report said, per kg coarse rice is being sold at a price equivalent to Taka 19.64.

Packet of one-kg flour is being sold between Taka 31 and Taka 34 in ordinary city markets, while the price of the item is Taka 26 at BDR-run sales centres. In Kolkata, flour is sold for Taka 25 per kg, the report added.

The price of imported lentil (mashur) is between Taka 62 and Taka 65 per kg in ordinary markets, while it is being sold at Taka 54 at BDR-run sales centres. In Kolkata, the price of lentil is Taka 55.35 per kg.

Imported gram (Chhola) is being sold at a price ranging between Taka 62 and Taka 65 per kg in different retail markets. In Kolkata, the item is being sold at Taka 51.80.

Sugar is being sold at Taka 28 to Taka 30 per kg in ordinary city markets compared to Taka 25 in Kolkata.

Onion (imported) is being sold at Taka 28 to Taka 34 per kg in ordinary city markets, while its price in Kolkata is Taka 23.21. Onion is being sold at Taka 25 at BDR-run sales centres.

The price of green chili, however, is ranging from Taka 110 to Taka 140 per kg in ordinary city markets. The price of green chili in Kolkata is equivalent to Taka 71.42.

The potato is being sold at Taka 20 to 21 per kg in all the ordinary markets. In Kolkata, the price of the item is equivalent to Taka 15.78.

Soybean oil is being sold at Taka 80 per litre in ordinary markets. In Kolkata, the price of soyabean oil is Taka 108.92 per litre.

Palm oil is being sold at Taka 78 per litre in ordinary markets. In Kolkata, the price of palm oil is Taka 101.78 per litre, the report added.

BSS, Dhaka

Foreign Adviser Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury on Sunday "strongly condemned" Saturday bombings in Hyderabad, India.

In a leter to Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukharjee, Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said" I condemn the bombings in the strongest terms and extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives".

"Such abhorrent violence is a blot on the conscience of humanity" he observed saying, "Our thoughts today are with those who lost their dear ones in this dastardly act"

BSS, Dhaka

A total of 28 cases were registered with 11 thanas in the capital city for various offences on August 20, 21 and 22 that arose from an untoward incident at the Dhaka University playground on August 20.

A press release signed by Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Nyeem Ahmed, BPM, said here on Saturday that 18 accused were named in the FIRs, but the rest offenders were mentioned as unidentified persons.

"A total of 17 accused have been arrested till now and extra cautious is maintaining in arresting the people involved in the offences so that nobody would be harassed by any means," the press release said.

Describing the incidents occurred during August 20, 21 and 23 in different areas in the city, the press release said a good number of unruly people, violating the emergency power rules, 2007 involved themselves in mass destructions, and looting and torching property.

"The unruly people restrained the law-enforcers to perform their duties by launching atacks on them," the press release said.

"They damaged several vehicles in Shahbagh crossing and torched a army car in front of Aziz Super Market They also physically assaulted the drivers of the transports," the press release said adding that the unruly people were involved in destructive activities in front of Jagannath College by damaging several vehicles and seting those on fire.

Besides, the unruly people were engaged in vandalism in Gulisthan and Fulbaria areas and torched a BRTC bus, the press release said.

"They hurled stones and brickbats targeting the offices of the district commissioner (DC) and the police super (SP), and tried to ransack the offices," the release said.

"Police Club was damaged by the offenders, who atacked the Nilkhat police outpost and tried to set it on fire. Petrol bombs were also hurled targeting policemen on duty that injured a total of 74 policemen, including four deputy commissioners and two assistant commissioners."

BSS, Dhaka

Adviser for Communications and Shipping Maj. Gen. (Retd) MA Matin on asked the officials concerned to work with efficiency and in a coordinated manner for proper implementation of the development projects.

He hoped that the officials would be more active for the implementation of the projects in time. Duration of any project will not be extended without any specific reason from now on, he added.

The adviser was presiding over a meeting to review the progress of Shipping Ministry's development projects under the annual development programme (ADP). The meeting was held at the conference room of the Shipping Ministry here, said an official handout

The meeting was told that the Shipping Ministry has 15 projects under the ADB out of which four were funded by the ministry itself for implementation during 2007-08 fiscal year.

The meeting discussed progress of various projects, including dredging of Gabkhan Canal linking Dhaka-Mongla and Chitagong- Mongla river routes, second phase of making the river route around Dhaka city operational, eviction of encroachment on the Buriganga river, appointment of investor-cum operator at Double Mooring Container Terminal in Chitagong Port and construction of a container terminal at Pangaon.

Shipping Secretary Sheikh Enayetullah and concerned senior officials were present in the meeting, said the handout

BSS, Dhaka

Philatelist Association of Bangladesh (PAB), an organization of the postal stamp collectors, will hold a discussion with a philatelic display on the second floor of Dhaka GPO Bhaban today at 3 pm.

Noted philatelist Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan will present the display's theme, A Study of Taka 1 Inland Envelop, marking the 20th founding anniversary of the organization, a PAB press release here yesterday.

Director General of Bangladesh Postal Department Mobashwerur Rahman will atend the function as the chief guest

Certificates will be distributed on the occasion among the participants of a stamp display held on July 29-30, the press release said.

BSS, Dhaka

The Industry Adviser, Geeti Ara Safiya, on Sunday asked Bangladesh Small and Cotage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) to organise a fair of Jamdani sarees, on the occasion of the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr.

A review meeting of the ministry chaired by her also discussed the ways and means to solve the problems of Jamdani weavers to preserve and promote the the traditional Jamdani.

The adviser asked the BSCIC officials to provide cotage and small entrepreneurs of Chitagong Hill Tracts with institutional facilities so that they market their products.

The meeting reviewed progress of the projects of the ministry under annual development programme (ADP.

Bangladesh Industrial Technological Assistance Center (BITAC) informed the meeting about its initiative to take up vocational training programmes for improving skills of the unemployed and less educated in the light of poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP).

Two projects in the sector, for removing unemployment of the poorer section, are awaiting approval, the BITAC officials said.

The ADP allocated the industry ministry Taka 156.8 crore for the implementation of 14 projects under by different corporations and wings, said an official handout

BSS, Dhaka

The government on Sunday allocated Taka 32 crore to different flood- affected districts from the Chief Advisers' Relief and Welfare Fund for house building purposes.

The allocation was made in favour of the Deputy Commissioners of 40 districts as per the decision taken by the Council of Advisers at a meeting held on Saturday with Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair.

Under the decision an amount of maximum Taka 10,000 will be given to each flood and river erosion-hit family for repairing their fully damaged house while Taka 5,000 for their partially damaged house, official sources said.

Of the total amount, Taka 6,68,00,000 was allocated for Sirajganj district, Taka 1,53,00,000 for Kurigram, Taka 48,00,000 for Bogra, Taka 2,91,00,000 for Gaiba-ndha, Taka 7,00,000 for Rangpur, Taka 4,00,000 for Nilphamari, Taka 73,00,000 for Lalmonirhat, Taka 41,00,000 for Pabna, Taka 8,00,000 for Rajshahi, Taka 22,00,000 for Natore, Taka 1,46,00,000 for Tangail, Taka 1,09,00,000 for Dhaka, Taka 1,94,00,000 for Manikganj, Taka 47,00,000 for Netrokona, Taka 3,00,00,000 for Jama-lpur, Taka 1,08,00,000 for Faridpur, Taka 95,00,000 for Rajbari, Taka 74,00,000 for Gopalganj, Taka 4,00,000 for Narshindi, Taka 40,00,000 for Kishoreganj, Taka 27,00,000 for Sherpur, Taka 12,00,000 for Narayanganj, Taka 19,00,000 for Mymensingh, Taka 54,00,000 for Madaripur, Taka 2,00,00,000 for Shari-atpur, Taka 74,00,000 for Munshiganj, Taka 40,00,000 for Gazipur, Taka 28,00,000 for Comilla, Taka 16,00,000 for Feni, Taka 57,00,000 for Chandpur, Taka 6,00,000 for Brahmanbaria, Taka 7,00,000 for Sylhet, Taka 46,00,000 for Sunamganj, Taka 21,00,000 for Magura, Taka 2,00,000 for Chuadanga, Taka 5,00,000 for Narail, Taka 5,00,000 for Satkhira, Taka 34,00,000 for Jhenidah, Taka 5,00,000 for Khulna and Taka 1,10,00,000 for the district of Barisal.

BSS, Dhaka

Following are the best 10 colleges under Dhaka Board that made brilliant results based on the GPA-5, percentage of pass and also the number of students appeared in this year's HSC examination, according to results published yesterday.

They are: Notre Dame College (98.61% pass, 825 GPA-5s), Viqarunnisa Noon College (98.85% pass, 493 GPA-5s), Dhaka City College (98.76% pass, 348 GPA-5s), Ideal School and College (99.26% pass, 276 GPA-5s), Holy Cross College (99.59% pass, 239 GPA-5s), Birshreshtha Noor Mohammad Rifles Public School and College (99.23% pass, 227 GPA-5s), Dhaka Commerce College (99.67% pass, 224 GPA-5s), Dhaka College (89.55% pass, 203 GPA-5s), Rajuk Utara Model School and College (99.05% pass, 200 GPA-5s) and Agricultural University College (91.00% pass, 117 GPA-5s).

AFP, Athens

Hundreds of firefighters batled Sunday raging forest fires in southern Greece that have killed at least 49 people and forced the government to declare a state of emergency.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said in a message to the nation on Saturday that action was being taken "to mobilise all means and all forces" to put out the worst fires in a decade and help those affected, mostly on the Peloponnese peninsula.

"Today is a day of mourning, a national tragedy," Karamanlis said earlier Saturday after a crisis meeting in Sparta city, in the southern Peloponnese.

He pointed the finger at arsonists for starting the fires in areas hit hard by summer droughts and multiple heatwaves, and said his government would "do everything in its power to find and punish those responsible."

Firefighters said that 22 fires had started after nightfall on Friday, which Karamanlis said "could not have been a coincidence." Four people were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of deliberately starting fires.

Thirty-nine bodies have been recovered since Friday near the village of Zacharo in the Ilia region of the western Peloponnese including those of a mother and her four children aged five to 15.

These included the charred remains of two groups discovered on roads in the mountainous area inhabited mostly by the elderly in winter but a popular family holiday destination in summer.

BSS, Narayanganj

Police rescued an electric mechanic after twelve hours of his abduction and arrested four kidnappers during an exchange of gunfire at Ainta Bashundhara River View Project under Keraniganj thana in the small hours of Sunday.

The abducted mechanic was identified as Moktar Hossain, 20, son of Mujibar Rahman, of Pagla Delpara village under Fatullah thana of the district

Police said Moktar Hossain, working in Saudi Arabia, was kidnapped by a group of kidnappers, who took him to an unknown place at 10 am on Saturday and demanded Taka 50,000 as ransom for his release.

On a tip-off, police raided a place at Hasnabad on the western side of the river Buriganga and rescued Moktar after a half an hour gun batle with the kidnappers.

Police also arrested four kidnappers-Ibrahim alias Sagor, 30, Pappu, 25, Bappi, 25 and Zahir, 28-and handed them over to Fatullah thana.

Moktar's mother Shefali Aktar filed a case with Fatullah thana in this connection.

BSS, Gazipur

Four persons were injured in a gas cylinder explosion at a CNG filling station on Dhaka Gazipur highway in Gazipur sadar on Saturday night

Police said, the incident occurred when gas cylinder of a passenger bus exploded with loud sound while it was taking gas at the filling station leaving four person injured, three of the employees of the station and other a helper of a pick-up van.

The machinery and others structures of the filling station were badly damaged at the explosion.

Members of Rapid Action Batalion (RAB) -11 and local police rushed to the scene soon after the incident and seized the passenger bus.

BSS, Dhaka

A three-day training on 'Integrated field water management' began yesterday at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in Gazipur.

The BRRI organised the training in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), said a BRRI press release.

BRRI Director General Dr Md Nur-e-Elahi atended the inaugural session of the training as the chief guest, while IRRI representative in Bangladesh Dr. M Zainul Abedin and IRRI liaison scientist Dr M A Hamid Miah were the special guests.

BRRI Director (Admin) Dr BAA Mustafi and heads of research divisions, including senior scientists and officials, of the IRRI took part in the session.

Some 30 participants from government and non-government organisations, including IRRI, BRRI, BADC, BARD, DAE, BMDA, BRAC, CEGIS and FoSHol, participated in the training.

While contacted, Head of the Irrigation and Water Management Division of the BRRI Dr M A Satar said Bangladesh can cut almost half of its irrigation cost by adopting integrated field water management technologies, including the alternative weting and drying method, in the rice cultivation.

A good number of countries, including China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and India, have successfully applied the method that has been saving a sufficient amount of fuel and water, besides labour other than the operation cost, Dr Satar added.

UNB, Dhaka

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury has strongly condemned the bombings in Hyderabad, but rejected Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy's allegation that Bangladeshi terrorist outfit was behind the Saturday's blast

"This is baseless and we will contest any wrong allegation," the Adviser told reporters at the Foreign Ministry this (Sunday) afternoon.

He said Bangladesh must uphold its interest and would never retreat from it

Meanwhile, in a leter to Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukharjee, the Adviser condemned the bombings in the strongest terms and extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives.

"Such abhorrent violence is a blot on the conscience of humanity," he said, adding: "Our thoughts today are with those who lost their dear ones in this dastardly act"

Staff Reporter

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said the draft of the ordinance of the National Human Rights Commission has been finalised. The Commission will be formed with neutral, non-partisan and able persons.

The government is working for removing the discrimination between male and female, establishing gender equality and bringing women in the development sector, he also said.

Bangladesh has already achieved an 'unflinching supporter' in all international forums including the UN to establish the women and children rights, he added.

The Foreign Adviser said while speaking as chief guest at the inaugural session of a painting programme at Gallery Chitrak in the city yesterday.

Karmojibi Nari (KN) and Gallery Chitrak jointly organised the programme to mark the Women Violence Protection Day and Yasmin Tragedy Day.

Sultana Kamal, former adviser to the Caretaker Government, artist Shahabuddin and Md Moniruzzaman, Director of Chitrak, spoke at the inaugural session, while Shirin Akhter, President of KN, presided over it

The Foreign Adviser said vision of the society to show respect to women has been changed after killing of Yasmin. Yasmin killing is a tragic incident The incident can play a pivotal role for the empowerment of women in the society.

"Women right and human right are closely related mater. Women right is a human right So we should work for the welfare and development of the deprived women," he also said.

"Empowerment of women is the most important step for the establishment of women rights. Due to expansion of women education and working opportunity this can be possible," he added.

Artists Alokesh Gosh, Sheikh Afzal, Fareha Zaba, Atia Islam Anny, Md Zahiruddin, Biren Some and others took part in the painting programme. Later, a cultural function was also held.

Our Correspondent from Sylhet

The hearing of the much talked-about cases in connection with the Grenade Atack on British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury at the Mazar of Hazrat Shahjalal resumed in two separate courts in Sylhet divisional city yesterday (Sunday).

The Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal heard the case in connection with killing case while a Special Court of the Additional District and Session Judge heard the case on arms and explosives yesterday afternoon.

Both the cases were filed in connection with the grenade atacks launched on the British High Commissioner on May 21 in 2004. The barbaric incident left at least three persons dead and over 100 injured, many of whom seriously.

The courts yesterday separately recorded statements of Shamsuzzaman, a Nayek of Police, who was posted at the Mazar alongwith his four colleagues and witnessed the grenade atacks from the close proximity, gave vivid description of the incident

Special Tribunal Judge Dipyoman Sarker presided over the court during the hearing while Judge Ferdous Ahmed at the Special Court of Additional District and Session Judge's Court

Public Prosecutor Advocate Fakhruddin Ahmed, Advocate Bandhu Gopal Dev and Additional Public Prosecutor Advocate Faizur Rahman moved the courts on behalf of the Government while Advocate MA Rakib, Advocate Babul Mian and Advocate Abdus Salam on behalf of the accused.

The hearings of the cases were adjourned till September 5, when the trial would begin again.