The New Nation - Internet Edition

Warid offers big bonus on scratch card recharge

Staff Reporter

Warid Telecom has introduced an exciting bonus offer for its prepaid Zem subscribers on scratch card recharge.

According to the offer, the subscribers will get Tk 100 talk-time and 500 SMS on Tk 500 recharge, Tk 100 talk-time and 400 SMS on Tk 400 recharge, Tk 30 talk-time and 300 SMS on Tk 300 recharge, Tk 20 talk-time and 200 SMS on Tk 200 recharge, Tk 10 talk-time and 100 SMS on Tk 100 recharge and Tk 5 talk-time and 50 SMS free on every Tk 50 recharge through scratch card.

The offer is not applicable to electronic recharge, said a release.

Bonus talk time can be used for calls to other mobile operators and bonus SMS for Warid-to-Warid only. The bonus will be valid for 30 days from the day of recharge.

The customers can avail the special offer from January 18 to February 17.

Dhaka-Kolkata train service in 3 months

UNB, Dhaka

Communications Advisor Maj Gen (Retd) Ghulam Quader on Thursday hoped Dhaka-Kolkata train service would start in three months.

"I hope that the train service will start in three months as all preparations have been completed," he told reporters soon after Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty met him in his office.

The train service was scheduled to start late last year but hit snag for Indian demand of barbed wire fencing on the no-man's land at entry point on Chuadanga border.

"India is our neighbouring country and the train service would strengthen our relationship. We all be benefited if the train service started," he said.

Gen Quader who took over the communications ministry couple of days ago said a fresh proposal was sent to New Delhi with the hope that they will agree to it.

"Fencing on the no-man's land was Indian's condition but the new proposal sent to New Delhi excluding this pre-condition," he told a correspondent.

The matter will be discussed further between the two sides to reach a fruitful solution, he added.

Indian Deputy High Commissioner Mukta D Tomar and Railway official Jaya Varma Sinha were present during the meeting with the Adviser that lasted nearly an hour.

British Council to launch "connecting classrooms" project on Jan 23

UNB, Dhaka

British Council will launch a new project entitled "Connecting Classrooms" on January 23 linking schools between the UK and Bangladesh.

Connecting Classrooms aims to raise standards in teaching and learning by providing learning opportunities for young people through a cluster of 5-6 schools will work together and will be connected with cluster of UK based schools.

The schools will work together to design and implement curriculum-based projects.

Connecting Classrooms is a school-linking project. It will form horizontal linkages between Bangladeshi state and private schools and clusters of schools in the UK, said a British Council press release on Thursday.

Education Secretary M Momtajul Islam will inaugurate the programme as chief guest at 10:00 am on January 23 at the British Council's Fuller Road auditorium.

Dr Siddiqur Rahman, National Education Expert, and William Arnall-Culliford, Head of Press and Public Affairs, British High Commission will also be present on the occasion.

US Commander Willard reaffirms US support for Bangladesh

UNB, Dhaka

Commander of the Pacific Fleet Admiral Robert F. Willard who completed a two-day visit to Bangladesh Thursday reaffirmed US support for Bangladesh in the wake of cyclone Sidr. Admiral Willard's visit was at the invitation of the Bangladesh Navy, according to a US embassy release.

During Admiral Willard's meetings, he also discussed future opportunities for cooperation between U.S. and Bangladesh naval forces.

Admiral Willard met with Army Chief of Staff General Moeen U Ahmed, Principal Staff Officer Lt. General Masud Uddin Chowdhury and Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nizam.

New technology to help cancer treatment

UNB, Dhaka

Graphic Machinery and Equipment (GME) Limited, a business house, has started importing sophisticated medical equipment which will expedite cancer treatment in the country. This was revealed on Thursday at a seminar organized by GME at Sheraton Hotel where the country's senior physicians, radiologists and owners of hospitals and clinics were present.

GME officials informed that the new medical technologies like Comfort-Scan and MRI-guided therapy would easily help detect breast cancer, tumor and other diseases.

The company would import the equipment from XinAoMDT, a high-tech joint venture of ZinAo group of China and Multi-Dimension Technology LLC of USA.

XinAoMDT Chief Executive Officer and Harvard Professor Dr Lei Zhao and its Chief Operation Officer David Xu, international business consultant of XinAoMDT Dr Peter Campble, GME Managing Director Chowdhury Hasan Muhmud and Director Chowdhury Arif Mahmud spoke on the occasion.

GME Director Chowdhury Arif Mahmud said their new technology is completely free from radiation and pain.

Dr. Mushtaque Chy conferred PESON Oration Medal

UNB, Dhaka

Deputy Executive Director of BRAC Dr. Mushtaque Chowdhury was conferred the PESON Oration Medal for his work in the field of maternal and newborn health.

The medal was formally handed over to him recently by Professor Rita Thapa, President of the Perinatal Society of Nepal (PESON) in the presence of Ms. Surjalekha Yadav, the Deputy Speaker of the Interim Parliament of Nepal, said a press release.

Earlier, Dr. Chowdhury delivered the inaugural lecture at the Opening Session of the biennial meeting of PESON.

PESON is the most prestigious and respected professional association of top health experts in Nepal .

Dr. Chowdhury, who is also the Dean of BRAC University James P. Grant School of Public Health and Professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia University in New York, was awarded the 'Social Innovator of the Year 2006' award by the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University of USA for his efforts to make reading glasses available to the poor in Bangladesh for livelihood improvement at affordable prices.

3-day BDR-BSF border talks begin Sunday

UNB, Dhaka

A three-day border conference between Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and India's Border Security Force (BSF) will begin in Bogra on Sunday.

BDR sources said the deputy director general level conference would be held under the supervision of the BDR sector headquarters, Rajshahi.

A host of outstanding issues including cross-border smuggling, killing of innocent Bangladeshis, border demarcation, abduction of Bangladeshi citizens by BSF and intrusion of Indian citizens will be discussed in the conference.

BDR deputy director general Brig Gen MA Bari will lead a 12-member team while IG of BSF North Bengal Frontier RA Tewari lead the 16-member Indian delegation.

The BSF delegation also includes IG of BSF South Bengal Frontier and concerned DIGs and staff officers.

BDR sector commanders of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Khulna, Kushtia and Rajshahi and concerned officials of the headquarters will join the conference.

ACC to continue its activities based on own inquiries

UNB, Dhaka

In apparent contradiction to a remark of Home Affairs Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin, the Anti-Corruption Commission has said the activities of the Commission would continue based on its own inquiries.

"The functions of the Commission will continue in future based on its own inquiry," ACC director general (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal, also the Commission's spokesman, said during the regular briefing Thursday afternoon.

Asked if any list of corrupt suspects has come to the Commission from the National Coordination Committee (NCC), he said: "It's not a matter for consideration… the Commission is not aware of it."

Earlier, in the morning, Home Adviser Matin, also NCC chairman, said at the ministry that the Anti-Corruption Commission would not move into further action against the corruption suspects, but it would consider the matters of serious crimes.

He said the Commission would take decision about the reinstatement of 263 officials of then Anti-Corruption Bureau, who filed a case against the ACC to reinstate them, in the first week of the coming month after a meeting with the ACC chairman.

Meanwhile, responding to the ACC notice, former director general (LPR) of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute Kazi Mohammad Imdadul Haq submitted his wealth statement to the Commission today showing total assets worth Tk 6,523,000.

In the wealth statement, he mentioned that among the assets, he has lands at Savar worth Tk 70,000 and in Bogra worth Tk 400,000, and also a plot at Uttara in the capital worth Tk 320,000. Haq's wife has a flat at Lalmatia in the city worth Tk 2,738,000.

The ACC also approved submission of charge sheet against former BNP lawmaker and BRTC chairman Taimur Alam Khandoker in two cases filed against him with Paltan police station on August 14 last year.

Besides, the ACC sent notice to Nurul Amin Talukder, assistant engineer of the National Sports Council, asking him to submit wealth statement to the Commission.

FBCCI team leaves for India to attend Industrial Fair

UNB, Dhaka

An 18-member business delegation of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) left here for India on Thursday to attend the 21st Industrial India Trade Fair in Milan Mela Complex, Kolkata.

The 11-day trade fair, scheduled to begin today, has been jointly organized by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) and the government of West Bengal in association with India Trade Promotion Organization.

Apart from joining the fair, the FBCCI delegation, led by Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President of India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) and Chairman of Nitol Group, will meet the private sector leaders of Kolkata and the officials of Bangladesh Deputy High Commission there.

Thirty-eight Bangladeshi companies are participating in the trade fair this year under the auspices of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The FBCCI delegation is expected to return on Saturday, said a press release today.

Tk 5 crore allocated for paying arrears of jute mill workers

UNB, Dhaak

The government has allocated Tk 5 crore for paying arrears of the jute mill workers in Khulna region.

The decision came Thursday from an opinion exchange meeting on review of overall situation of the country's jute sector and movement of jute mill workers in Khulna region.

Textiles and Jute Adviser M Anwarul Iqbal exchanged views with the officials of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) and the meeting decided to allocate Tk 5 crore on emergency basis from the BJMC fund to pay arrears of the workers.

Adviser Iqbal said the government is aware of the problems of the workers. But it is difficult to instantly face all the accumulated problems of the jute sector.

He also called upon all, including the workers, to keep patience in this regard.