The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

President Prof. Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed and his wife Prof. Dr. Anwara Begum hosted a reception for the members of the Hindu community at Bangabhaban on Sunday on the occasion of their largest religious festival, Durga Puja.

Diplomats including the High Commissioner of India Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka Vadivel Krishnamoorty, Charge D'Affaires of the Embassy of USA Ms. Geeta Pasi, military attache of Nepal, religious leaders of the Hindu community, judges, high civil and military officials and different professionals of the Hindu community attended the reception.

President and his wife exchanged greetings and pleasantries with the guests and wished them a happy and prosperous future.

Religious Affairs Secretary Muhammad Ataur Rahman, military secretary to the President Major General Mohammad Aminul Karim, Secretary Md. Sirajul Islam, Press Secretary Abdul Awal Howlader and concerned senior officials, among others, were present on the occasion.

BSS, Dhaka

Rezaur Rahman alias Mamun Miah, son of Khan Bahadur Siddiqur Rahman of Siddiq Manzil, Comilla, passed away due to a cardiac arrest at his Comilla residence in the early hours of Sunday. He was 80.

Rezaur Rahman was a renowned lawyer of the country and Founder Principal of Comilla Law College. He was also a former Dean of the Law Faculty of Chittagong University.

He is survived by his wife, two sons-Justice Mamnun Rahman and Dr. Mashroor Rahman-and four brothers and two sisters to mourn his death.

Former foreign secretary Mohammad Mohsin and former election commissioner Justice Mahfuzur Rahman are the brothers of the deceased.

His first namaz-e-janaza will be held today in Comilla town at 11 AM at Judge's Court ground and the second at 12 noon at Daroga Bari.

The third and last namaz-e-janaza will be held after Zohr prayers at his ancestral home at Siddiq Manzil in Comilla town before burial at the family graveyard there.

P-3

Staff Reporter

Members of the Innner Wheel Club of Dhaka yesterday expressed their profound shock and grief at the death of their president Ms Latifa Rahim Lata, along with her two sons in a tragic road accident in Gopalganj on Friday evening.

They have also conveyed their condolences to the bereaved family through a message of condolence.

Ms Latifa Rahim Lata, President of Inner Wheel Club of Dhaka, along with her two sons-Dr Mostofa Kamal Azam Mishu, 30 and Mostofa Kamrul Azam Jitu, 21-were killed in the road accident at Bhabanipur under Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj district.

Family sources said the 47-year-old Latifa Rahim Lata, along with her two sons Mishu and Jitu went to Khulna from Dhaka to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr and attend a wedding ceremony. Mishu has recently completed his internship at Salimullah Medical College Hospital in Dhaka, while Jitu was a final year student of the Department of Architencture at North South University. They used to live in a rented house in Dhaka. Latifa, along with her two sons attended her niece's wedding ceremony on Friday. After attending the wedding ceremony they left for Dhaka on board a microbus at about 4:00pm. When the microbus reached at Bhabanipur under Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj district at about 6:30pm it collided head-on with a passenger bus there. Latifa and her two sons killed on the spot.

When the news of death of Latifa and her sons reached at village home in Khulna, a heart-rending situation occurred there.

Narsingdi Correspondent

A young boy fell into river Meghna and drowned after being hit by a bamboo pole by a neighbour yesterday.

This incident happened at Bathuyadi village in Mohishashura Union in Narsingdi Sadar Upazila.

Locals said Sujan (12), son of Suza Mian, went to take a bath in the river Meghna on the boat of Al-Amin, his neighbour. At one stage Al-Amin hit him with a bamboo pole and Sujan fell into the river and drowned.

Later relatives and police retrieved the body of Sujan from the river and sent it to the Sadar Hospital for postmortem.

A murder case was filed with Narsingdi Sadar thana in this connection.

BSS, Dinajpur

The members of Rapid Action Battalion in a drive arrested owner, manager and operator of a movie house for screening vulgar film on Friday night.

The members of the elite force conducted the drive in the town's 'Modern Cinema Hall' and arrested owner, Shahzad Pervez, managing director, Reza and operator Khatib Uddin.

Sensing the presence of the members of law enforcing agency other officials and employees of the cinema hall escaped from the scene.

The arrested were sent to Kotwali thana. A case was filed under the Film Censor Act.

BSS, Jamalpur

Six alleged dacoits along with country-made sharp weapons were arrested on Sunday in Dewanganj upazila in the district.

According to police, a gang of dacoits on Saturday night attacked Assistant Sub-Inspector Aminul Islam, who was on duty, at Zamirakanda Bridge, beat him and snatched away his mobile set.

Following the incident, a team of police led by Monirul Islam, ASP (Dewanganj circle) arrested Shahin, Sukkur Ali, Faruk, Fekku, Alam and Abdul Alim.

They recovered three sharp weapons and the snatched mobile set from their possession. The dacoits aged 18-22 years hailed from Dighal Kandi village of the upazila, police said.

Two separate cases were filed.

UNB, Dhaka

Snatchers took away cash and other valuables from a journalist at Rajarbagh police line area in the city early Sunday.

Witnesses said a gang of three snatchers in a private car intercepted the rickshaw of Manjarul Alam, sub-editor of English daily Asia Post, at about 4am when he along with his cousin after enjoying Eid vacation in his home district Satkhira was returning to his residence at Maghbazar.

The muggers looted cash, mobile phone sets and one gold ring at gunpoint.

UNB, Bagerhat

A fact-finding European Union delegation visited a frozen shrimp export factory and a demonstration farm run by the Fisheries Department in the coastal district on Sunday to examine the quality of exportable shrimps.

The two members of the team - MC Mac E Boy and Inspector Raj Patal - from the EU Food and Veterinary Mission visited the Rupsa Fish and Allied Processing Centre at Kathaltola in Fakirhat upazila and the demonstration farm at Radhaballab in Sadar upazila. They took a close look at the process of maintaining quality of the exportable food item, of which European Union countries are the main importers.

Local Fisheries Department officials said shrimp is cultivated in 1.44 lakh hectares across the country, some 66,000 hectares in Bagerhat alone.

The country produces 65,000 tons of shrimp annually, and nearly half the quantity--27,886 tons-is produced in this southwestern district along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

There are 46 modern shrimp-processing factories in Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira districts.

"That's why a big portion of the shrimps is exported from the Khulna region every year," said one source.

Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exports Association said the country earned Tk 3,500 crore by exporting quality shrimps in the 2006-07 fiscal year.

The inspection team sent by the EU shrimp-importing countries would examine each and every activity, from shrimp production to its processing, and future of shrimp export from the country will largely depend on their reports, the sources said.

UNB, Dhaka

The Anti-Corruption Commission is likely to question detained former Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina this week in connection with the Tk 3-crore graft case filed against her and six others on September 2. ACC deputy director Shabbir Hasan filed the case with Tejgaon police station accusing Hasina of taking Tk 3 crore in bribe from two power sector companies-the Summit Group and the United Group. It was mentioned in the first information report (FIR) that the former premier, Sheikh Hasina, received the money from the two power companies from October 24, 1996 to November 24, 1997. According to the allegation, they paid the money for buying land for Bangabandhu Memorial Trust in exchange for permission to set up a barge-mounted power plant in Khulna.

"Investigating officer and ACC deputy director Morshed Alam has already sought permission from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court for questioning the detained former Prime Minister. If the permission is granted, Hasnia is likely to be questioned at the makeshift jail sometime this week," a source told UNB. "The exact timing of questioning will be fixed in consultation with the prison authorities after we get permission from the court," the source added.

Another former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was questioned by the ACC on October 11 in connection with the GATCO graft case filed on the same day.