The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh origin 'Junior Miss America' Nora Ali arrived Dhaka yesterday at the invitation of Kachi Kanther Asar to stand by the deprived children and help them educate.

She is the daughter of Zaki and Mahfuza Ali and attended South St.

Paul High School in Mendonta Heights.

Nora, 18, was awarded the title of Junior Miss America 2007 at the 50th Annual America's Junior Miss National Finals on June 30 in Mobile, Alabama.

She received a $50,000 cash scholarship, in addition to the $4,000 in scholarships that she won in scholastics, talent, self-expression, and interview during the preliminary competition.

On arrival here, Nora visited the National Mausoleum in Savar at about 11:45am and placed wreath at the altar paying tributes to the liberation war martyrs.

Although she was born in USA, Nora feels Bangladesh as her home and expressed her determination to work for poor children in this country.

"I always remember about my motherland Bangladesh. I'm proud of the War of Independence and I want expatriate Bangladeshis would do better in their respective fields," Nora Ali said.

She urged juveniles and children to come forward in helping the children in the cyclone Sidr devastated areas of the country.

Nora said she has been mobilizing funds for the Sidr affected children of Bangladesh in the US.

Nora said she planned to attend Harvard in the Fall to prepare for a career in Business Management or Finance.

Apart from Nora's family members, Adviser of Kanchi Kanther Asar in the United States Ferdous Chowdhury and director Rizu Ahmed were present. Nora is scheduled to join a programme of Kanchi-Kanther Asar at Hotel Radisson in the city on December 28.

Staff Reporter

Rawhides supply during this year's Eid-ul-Azha has experienced a 10 to 15 per cent fall pushing up prices by 20 to 25 per cent, industry sources said.

Industry insiders said they had fixed price of per square foot (sft) of raw hides at Tk 90 this peak season against last year's Tk 80 per sft, but the price at field level ranged between Tk 110 and Tk 120.

They said such a price hike of raw hides in the local market will offer tough challenges to the country's leather industry amid a declining trend of finished leather price in the international market.

"Export of shoes will increase as a result, but the export of processed leather would decline," President of Bangladesh Leather and Leather Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association Tipu Sultan told newsmen yesterday.

He, however, said the overall export of the sector would increase.

Tipu Sultan cautioned that there are every chance for some leather processing factories to suspend their production and become sick due to shortage of raw hides and high price.

Reports from the field level said supply of raw hides has declined by 10 to 15 per cent this year due to floods, cyclone Sidr and absence of "political qurbani".

Traders said the supply from within the capital would be around 10 per cent lower, while it would be lesser from outside Dhaka.

Moreover, the raw hide procurement environment has been much better this year in absence of musclemen, who used to impose a lower price. On the other hand, the seasonal traders were unaware about the rational price of the hides.

"Profit and loss of a factory now depends on their individual bargaining capacity. If they cannot buy raw hides at lower prices from the wholesalers, they will incur losses," said Tipu Sultan.

Leather and leather products contribute significantly as one of the major export-earning sectors of the country. In 2006-07, leather exports earned US$ 266 million, while footwear US$ 136 million and leather goods US$ 11 million.

Tipu Sultan analyzed that the availability of raw hides declined by 5 to 10 per cent this season, the peak season of sourcing, while the price of processed leather declined by 10 to 15 per cent in the international market.

As a result, he added, the leather processors would incur losses unless they could procure raw hides at lesser price.

In contrast, finished leather products like footwear enjoy duty-free access to developed markets, which is an advantage for Bangladesh over the main competitors like China, Vietnam and India.

Tipu Sultan sought immediate attention of the government to the industry to avert further closure of the tanneries. There are only 40 to 42 factories in production with a capacity to process 220 million sft leather.

As a temporary government intervention, he demanded lowering interest rate on bank loan to 5 to 7 per cent from 7 to 10 per cent only for 6 to 12 months while arranging adequate financing for import of raw hides.

Staff Correspondent

At least 21 persons died and 85 others were injured in spearate rail and road accident in Sirajganj and Mymensingh in the last four days.

Sirajganj police and witnesses said, eight people were killed and 35 others were injured, six of them critically in a road accident on the Dhaka-North Bengal highway at Simantabazaar Swalpo Mahmudpur area, western side of Jamuna Multipurpose bridge in Sirajganj on Thursday.

Police and eyewitnesses said, the accident took place at around 10:50am, when a Kushtia -bound truck with around 70 passengers, returning home on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha from Dhaka, skidded off the road and fell into road side ditch. Six persons including a rickshaw-van puller and its passenger died on the spot and 37 others on board the truck were injured.

Of the injured, two more persons died on the way to hospital, while the rest were rushed to Sirajganj General Hospital, Dhaka and Bogra hospitals.

The dead have been identified as rickshaw-van puller Shah Alam, 28, son of Fazlar Rahman and Abdus Salam, 32, son of Sabed Ali of Paikosha village in Kamarkhanda upazila of the district. Identities of other deceased could not be known immediately.

Besides, six more were killed and 15 others were injured, when they fell into a river from the roof of a train at Koidanga area in ullapara on Thursday afternoon.

A teenage boy Nayeem died as a bus crushed him under its wheals at Talgachhi area on the Dhaka-Bogra highway on Saturday at 10.00am, while two unidentified persons died on the spot and 10 other were injured, as a bus collided head on with another truck at Soydabad area on the highway on Thursday.

The injured were taken to Sirajganj hospital and local clinics.

Police recovered the bodies and sent those to Sirajganj General Hospital morgue for autopsy.

In Mymensingh at least three persons, including a woman, were killed and 25 others injured in a road accident at Churkhai on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Sadar upazila here on Saturday. One of the dead was identified as Saheb Ali, 60. But the identity of the others could not be known.

Police and witnesses said the accident took place when a Dhaka-bound truck from Mymensingh carrying about 28 people fell into a roadside ditch as its driver lost control over the steering.

Of the injured, 22 were admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital where three persons died.

The bodies were sent to morgue for autopsy. A case was lodged in this connection.

AFP, Larkana

Pakistan's bitter election campaign heated up again Sunday as the country's main opposition leaders accused President Pervez Musharraf of trying to rig the vote two weeks from now.

Musharraf, battling a wave of militant violence that saw 56 people killed in another suicide attack Friday, is under intense international pressure to ensure the January 8 parliamentary election is free and fair.

But Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, boosted by a recent poll which found Pakistanis overwhelmingly oppose the president, hit the campaign trail with allegations that he will engineer a parliament that favours him.

Holding the first rallies since an Islamic holiday marred by the attack, Bhutto suggested Musharraf was a "dictator" who had mishandled the mounting insurgency, mainly in the north, that has killed at least 750 people this year.

"In our north, the flag of Pakistan is being lowered and the flag of extremism is being raised," she told around 25,000 thousand supporters in the southern town of Larkana.

Referring to the recent survey, Bhutto called for mass protests if pro-Musharraf parties win the election.

"The government has created a rogue force. They have hired goons who will be deployed at polling stations in police uniform, which will be a source of vote-rigging," the former premier said.

Musharraf, a pivotal US ally in the "war on terror", has been struggling to keep a lid on the insurgency, especially in the country's rugged tribal northwest along the border with Afghanistan.

But he has also been faced with months of political turmoil that began when he suspended the chief justice of the supreme court in March and led to imposition of a six-week state of emergency which he lifted on December 15.

Critics charge the real reason for the emergency was to give cover for a purge of anti-Musharraf judges in the judiciary who might have considered legal challenges to his October re-election as president.

Every election in Pakistan since 1985 has been marred by allegations of massive voter fraud and Sharif, ousted from power by Musharraf eight years ago, said next month's vote would be no different.

"The government has plans to rig the elections massively," he told reporters at Lahore airport before flying to his own campaign rally in the southern city of Karachi. "It has all the expertise to do so."

Bhutto and Sharif, who both returned from exile ahead of the elections, have each served two terms as prime minister, and their parties remain potent political forces in Pakistan.

The United States again urged Musharraf, whose government was one of only three to recognise the hardline Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan before the September 11 attacks in 2001, to move toward democracy.

"The key here is that these elections move Pakistan forward on the democratic path," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told AFP in Washington.

Militant commanders have vowed to disrupt the election while any victory by pro-Musharraf parties could, as Bhutto suggested Sunday, spell more political turmoil ahead.

The president has shrugged off allegations the vote will be rigged and promised it will be "absolutely fair and transparent".

BSS, Rangpur

The farmers of the northern region have been continuing maize cultivation in large scale as sowing of maize seeds gets full momentum where a record cultivation target has been fixed this season, officials said yesterday.

No seed crisis was reported as huge quantities of the seed were distributed among the farmers under the post-flood agriculture rehabilitation programme and the farmers are expected to bring more land under maize cultivation. The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has fixed a target of producing 7,86,602 tonnes maize from 1,35,155 hectares of land in the region this year which is 67.65 percent of the national target.

The farmers including the flood-hit small and marginal farmers are farming the cash crop in more and more land in the flood-ravaged char areas under the post-flood agri- rehabilitation programmes.

Senior DAE officials said cultivation of maize in vast sandy- char land and in the dried-up beds of the rivers and their tributaries in the region brought about a revolutionary change to the poor farmers and unemployed youths in recent years. Besides, the adequately favourable soil, climatic and topographic conditions and growing poultry feed industries have encouraged the farmers in farming maize in more lands to earn more profits through farming the cash crop. The farmers in the char areas are bringing huge sandy-barren lands under maize farming this year as they got tremendous yield of the cash crop and fair prices in recent years, DAE officials said.

Over 34,000 hectares of char lands in the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Jamuna, Ratnai, Saniyazan, Dudhkumar, Atrai, Mohananda, Kartoa, Ghaghot and other river basins in the region are expected to bring under maize farming that is almost double than that of the previous season.

Maize farming is more profitable than many other crops and the farmers will do better this time as they have got high yielding variety of maize seeds and are farming the crop using the latest scientific method of cultivation for further successes, DAE officials added.

Experts said there are immense potentials to increase maize production further by bringing thousands of hectares of char lands in Kurigram, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajganj, Pabna and other districts of the region and the country as a whole.

"The farmers are expected to bring a record land area under maize farming this year to recoup the colossal losses caused by the recent floods and an all-time record production of the crop may be achieved this time in the region," they said.

UNB, Dhaka

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed is scheduled to return home today (Monday) morning after performing the holy hajj.

Earlier, on December 16, he left Dhaka for Jeddah en route Makkah. The Chief Adviser was accompanied by his wife Neena Ahmed, Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed and his wife Naznin Moeen and together performed the hajj.

After performing hajj, Dr Fakhruddin and his entourage went to Madinah to make ziarah at the holy Rawja Mubarak of Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (SM) and offered prayers at the Masjid-e-Nabbi.

On December 20, Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin met and exchanged greetings with Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz at the reception the King held for heads of state and government of various countries, ministers and noted personalities who performed the hajj. Health Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Dr ASM Matiur Rahman, Army Chief Gen Moeen, Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia SM Ikramul Haq and Secretary to the Chief Adviser Kazi M Aminul Islam also attended the reception.

UNB, Dhaka

Poet Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury, a language veteran, died of cardiac arrest at 1:20 pm Sunday at the United Hospitals in the city. He was 80.

He left behind his wife, one daughter and a host of admirers to mourn his death.

A civic reception will be organised today (Monday) at 11 am at the Shaheed Minar to recall Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury's contributions as a language veteran and poet. After namaz-e-janaja at Dhaka University mosque after zohr prayer tomorrow, he will be buried at the Banani graveyard.

Meanwhile, Information Adviser Barrister Mainul Hosein expressed deep condolence on the death of eminent poet Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury. He also expressed sympathy to the bereaved family members and prayed for the salvation of the departed soul.

Chittagong Correspondent

Chittagong divisional wing of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against former Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Dewan Jafrul Hasan and his spouse Seheli Begum on charge of hiding information in the wealth statement.

Deputy Director (DD-2) of the ACC here in Chittagong Abul Kalam Azad filed the case with Double-mooring police station.

Duty Officer at Double-mooring police station Ismail Hossain quoting the FIR (First Information Report) told this correspondent that the DFO submitted his wealth statement on September 10. He mentioned in the submitted statement that he had earned wealth worth TK 54 Lakhs, 21 thousand and 115 TK.

The ACC men later in their intensive investigation found that he hided wealth worth TK 9 million. The ACC men said that they in their primary investigation found illegal earnings of former civil servant.

Earlier, on Tuesday another case was filed with the same police station accusing Divisional Forest Officer Tapan Kumar Dey on charge submitting false wealth statement.

UNB, Narsingdi

Some 28 people, including eight policemen, were injured in a clash between two groups of villagers at Belabo today.

Police said residents of Char Belabo and Baznab village were engaged in a bloody clash with spears and stick at about 12 noon. Verbal fight over repayment of loan between Angur Miah and Sohrab Hossain brought their supporters to the fray.

Policemen Alamgir Hossain, Mizanur Rahman, Rafiqul Islam, Parimal Das, Sohel Rana, Miah Hossain, Sirajul Islam and Habibur Rahman were wounded in in their attempt to cool down the situation.

Army personnel from the district town rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control at about 2pm.

All the injured were provided treatment in Belabo Upazila Health Complex.

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II was set Thursday to become Britain's oldest monarch, overtaking her great- great grandmother Queen Victoria amid signs the royal family is preparing for life after 81-year-old "Lillibet". Victoria died in 1901 aged 81 years and 243 days, and Elizabeth will mark passing the milestone with neither pomp nor ceremony, spending the day as usual with her husband of 60 years, Prince Philip. According to Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth was to pass Victoria's record at around 5:00 pm (1700 GMT) Thursday-taking into account times of birth and death. Other observers, counting only in whole days, put the mark as Saturday.

As a flock of tourists strode up to the entrance of the Church of the Nativity - the reputed site of Jesus Christ's birth - a Palestinian tour guide moved in for the hard sell."Do you need a guide?" asked Adil Dweib as the visitors marched by him without saying a word. In previous years, Dweib would have pursued the group, but this time he shrugged his shoulders and rejoined a couple of colleagues leaning against a wall. "This year is like 2000," says Dweib - a slight exaggeration perhaps, as the millennium year was a bumper time for tourism in Bethlehem. "Business is good and next year there will be hopefully even more tourists," he adds.

Community and business leaders, shopkeepers and tour guides, all tell you the same thing: the economy is getting better in this Christian pilgrimage centre in the rolling West Bank hills.

During the second Palestinian uprising, which started in September 2000, tourism collapsed.

Israeli military incursions were a regular occurrence and in 2002 there was the siege of the Church of the Nativity in which 39 Palestinian gunmen holed up in the church for more than five weeks.

Most visitors stayed away during this period and some of the shops still bear scars - their signage pocked by bullet holes.