The New Nation - Internet Edition

'Nargis’ turns into severe cyclone: Heading towards coastline: Alert in storm path

Shahidul Islam

The tropical storm Nargis brewing over southeast Bay has intensified into a severe cyclone yesterday and is moving in a northerly direction and is likely to hit the Teknaf-Akyab coast anytime by this afternoon to tomorrow evening, a senior official of the Met Office said last night.

Earlier yesterday, foreign news agencies reported that the Cyclone Nargis might hit Bangladesh-India coast, while our Chittagong Correspondent, in his dispatch, yesterday afternoon said Nargis might grow stronger than SIDR, and cross Myanmar if its track remains unchanged.

Though the initially predicted track of the hurricane Nargis passes towards Akyab coast in Myanmar slightly down the coastline of Cox's Bazar, it may change direction anytime and take toll on the country's southwestern coast.

Meanwhile, the Met Office advised farmers yesterday evening to take measures for early harvest of Boro paddy before the cyclonic storm hits the coast, if possible. The tropical storm was centred about 1,170km southwest of Chittagong Port, 1,100km southwest of Cox's Bazar Port and 1,050km south-southwest of Mongla Port at 6:00pm yesterday, said the latest Met forecast.

Maximum sustained wind speed within 64kms of the storm centre is about 90kph, rising to 115kph in gusts or squalls. "Sea will remain very rough over North Bay and high near the eye of the cyclone."

Maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Mongla have been advised to keep hoisted distant warning signal number two.

All fishing-boats and trawlers over North Bay have been advised to remain close to the coast and "proceed with caution till further notice." They are also advised not to venture into the deep sea.

Satellite image pointed the hurricane's core at 13.8 degrees (north) longitude and 85.5 degrees (east) latitude until yesterday afternoon.

Meteorological researchers predicted that the hurricane would continue to gain strength and acquire intensity of super cyclone SIDR that hit the country's southern and south-western coast, including the Sundarbans on November 15 last year and left a large trail of destruction.

"Favourable temperature on the sea-surface, drastic fall of air pressure at the core of the hurricane and upper air speed and direction are catalysing the hurricane to grow stronger," senior meteorologist in the port city Shamsuddin Ahmed told The New Nation yesterday afternoon.

The northwest Bay and its periphery have already turned extremely rough. All fishing boats and trawlers had been advised to stay near the coast and proceed with caution until further announcement.

Majority of the country's costal belts and central parts may experience unusually hot and sultry weather, the atmospheric consequence of the hurricane Nargis, until disappearance of the hurricane.

Earlier on Monday, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), in a press release, said the Cyclone Nargis could cross the Bangladesh coast within four to five days and affect the coastal areas of the country.

The depression over the southwest and adjoining southeast parts of the Bay of Bengal turned into a cyclonic storm on Sunday evening.

The cyclone might intensify gradually and move in a northerly direction towards the Bangladesh-India coast.

Police storms Dhaka College Campus: 20 hurt in tri-party clashes

Dhaka College students throwing brickbats at cops
(left) while police personnel lobbed tear-gas shells at the
students during a clash on Tuesday. FocusBangla

Staff Reporter

At least 20 people, including teachers, students and police personnel were injured in a student-transport workers clash on Dhaka College campus yesterday.

Police lobbed teargas shells and baton charged the angry students after they put up barricades on the road following separate skirmishes with hawkers and transport workers at noon, according to source.

Witnesses said the trouble erupted when police went to clear roadblocks from in front of the college.

At one stage, unruly students of the college began hurling brickbats at the police, who retaliated with teargas and batons, source said.

Witnesses said riot police stormed into the college campus at about 3:00pm and charged baton and fired teargas shells on students and teachers in the classrooms.

Vice-Principal Dr Anwarul Alam Khan and teachers, Dr Alauddin, Waliullah, Farzana and Shaheed were among the injured in the police assault.Police also entered the college hostel dinning rooms and beat up the general students.

Police lobbed at least 50-teargas shells and clubbed the students on the spot.

The Officer in Charge of New Market Police Station Anisur Rahman said at least five policemen suffered injuries during the clashes.Tension on the college campus was prevailing till 4:30pm.

Sources said the incident, which sparked the clashes, took place at Nilkhet at about 1:30pm when a student and a hawker brawled over the price of books and the hawkers detained the student.

Tensions erupted as the news spread fast on the college campus.

In a second incident, two students of the college picked up a quarrel with a transport worker over increased bus fare. The students were travelling on the bus coming from Jatrabari to Nilkhet.

And a third round of brawl occurred when students quarrelled with the staff of a Laguna tempo, as the vehicle did not stop in front of the college.

All these incidents occurred in quick succession and enraged the general students to come out on the street and block the road as a mark of protest.

Moeen urges all to work for peace in CHT

Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed distributing relief
materials among the fire victims at Shajek Union under
Baghaichhari upazila of Rangamati district on Tuesday.
FocusBangla

UNB, Rangamati

Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed yesterday called upon all to work together for establishing peace in the hill tracts through maintaining Pahari-Bangalee friendly relations.

He said this while visiting fire-ravaged villages of Sazek Union in Baghaichhari upazila in the morning.

Gen Moeen also urged all to remain vigilant so that no one can instigate others to create a law and order situation, denying the people a peaceful life.

On April 19, hoodlums set fire to six villages of tribal and Bangali people in the upazila.

The army chief said a section is out there to destroy peace in the hill tracts, but they are unlikely to be successful in their ill efforts.

Chittagong GOC Maj Gen Abdul Mubin, Khagrachhari Parbaitya Zilla Parishad chairman Monindra Lal Tripura, Rangamati Zilla Parishad chairman Jagot Jyoti Chakma, Refugee Rehabilitation Affairs Taskforce chairman Samiron Dewan and Khagrachhari Region commander Brigadier General Quamruzzaman, among others, were present during the army chief's visit.

General Moeen distributed Tk 500, five kgs of rice and two kgs of potato to each of the fire-affected tribal and Bangali families. He also announced to give Tk 10,000 more to each of the families.

He said CHT is an area which has huge potentials for tourism and "All of us should work together to tap the prospects".

News Analysis: Innovations to combat, adaptations to cope with climate change

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

Ever since the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in February last year with 'high confidence' that human activities are responsible for the earth's warming, global response to climate change has been gaining momentum. And against this backdrop a two-day global summit on 'Business for the Environment' organised in Singapore on 22 and 23 of this month reflected on the role of business in slowing the impact of climate change that threatens the human race with unforeseen devastating consequences.

The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), the voice for the environment in the UN System, brought together key businesses, leading environmental activists, scientists in the highly developed modern city state to focus on collaborative action, resource efficiency and renewable energy with a view to helping reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the environment and saving the planet earth from environmental degradation.

The United Nations Global Compact, global initiatives, along with global actors in the business arena - The DOW Chemical Company, OSRAM, world's first energy saving lamp inventor; Siemens, Senoko, world's largest steel company Arcelor Mittal, Honda Motor, Hyflux, Spectrum, Edelman, Singapore's ministry of environment and water resources, Singapore Tourism Board, CNN, TIME, the Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL) and Suntec Singapore worked together highlighting the steps already taken by them for the conservation of the global environment and the future steps they are planning for this.

The businesses tried their best to impress upon the delegates attending the conference on how they have taken steps to for energy efficiency, sustainable resource utilisation, and recycling of wastes with a view to restricting waste dumping to the minimum. In fact, the summit was told that adoption of environment-friendly technologies to keep the world habitable for future generations is also a business proposition. The question thus is pursuing business ethically causing little harm to the environment.

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president of the Maldives - a leading campaigner for the environment as his country, with the highest elevation of only three metres above the mean sea level, faces the perilous threat of being swallowed up if sea level rise continues unabated - and who was one of the resource persons at the meet, made use of the opportunity to publish his book 'Paradise drowning'.

An added attraction of the meet was the distribution of the Unep Champions of the Earth Awards 2008 to Prince Albert II of Monaco, Abdul Quader Ba Jamal, former Prime Minister of Yemen, Senator Timothy E. Wirth of the United States, Liz Thopmson, former minister of environment and energy of Barbados, Dr A Atiq Rahman of Bangladesh, Dr. Balgis Osman-Elasha of Sudan, and Unep special prize for champions of the earth recepient Helen Clerk, prime minister of New Zealand for their notable contributions to sustainable development. Senator Timothy E. Wirth and Helen Clerk could not come and their representatives received the awards.

A notable feature of the meet was the absence of propaganda materials against conclusions made by the UN IPCC on climate change. Obviously this was an outcome of the acceptance beyond any iota of doubt by the scientific community the manifestation of climate change and its adverse impacts. Only pro-environment publicity materials brought by sponsors of the summit were available at its sidelines. Those who used to oppose IPCC findings and conclusions in the past probably see no further opportunity to do so. World leaders now debate mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions at the G8 summit and strategies to tackle climate change at the United Nations General Assembly and a meeting convened by the United States. They were also aware that in December last year the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali ended with policy-makers from 190 countries agreeing on a roadmap for negotiations for a post-2012 climate change agreement.

The meeting was told activities of national governments remained restricted to geographic boundaries, while those of big businesses spread to the globe. The businesses, thus, have a great responsibility to help ensure sustainable use of the world's resources so as not to jeopardise the needs and requirements of the future generations. Six working groups that brain stormed on as many key issues at the fag end of the meet came up with recommendations for efficient use of resources keeping the future in view and getting consumers to attracted environment-friendly products. Experts at the meet felt that lots of innovations and efforts would be needed to introduce high-tech energy efficient products to the market.

The business for the environment summit underlined the need for streamlining financing investments in climate-friendly productions, and subsidies, particularly in the developing countries, for this. They felt that energy efficient building construction should be promoted because buildings consume 40 per cent of energy produced. Architects and planners should be sensitised to this and standards should be set by way of new building codes.

They called for raising awareness about efficient technologies for harnessing renewable energy. The bio-fuel and food issue was debated, so was the question of nuclear energy which was favoured by some experts and opposed by others. Solar energy was considered costly by some of them. Experts at the meet talked about hybrid renewable energy systems and called for making cost-benefit analyses of different systems for discussion at the next environmental conference in Copenhagen.

Achim Steiner, the Executive Directior of Unep, told the summit that environmental parameters would determine perceptions of the market of tomorrow when efforts would be made to turn economies greener and greener. Those who would fall behind would miss the bus. Such debate and discussion should be continued to turn those into national policies, he added.

Georg Kiel, Executive Director, UN Global Compact, noted the emphasis put at the summit on sound government leadership for eco-friendly development and said that trade and investment are fundamental to that. He said that competition and innovation should be the driving forces for rapidly popularising the environment-friendly solutions.

Aron Cramer, CEO, Business for Social Responsibility, made mention of an immense potential for a fair and integrated global community for sustainable development. That's also a challenge, he said adding massive investments would be needed to determine what should be produced by the year 2050. "We should start today as we did not start yesterday," he added.

EC re-demarcates 133 JS constituencies Number of seats rises in Dhaka, drops in Barisal

UNB, Dhaka

The Election Commission has re-demarcated 133 out of the 300 electoral constituencies to remove big discrepancies in number of voters.

Announcing the draft of delimitation at a press conference Tuesday, Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda said the draft gazette notification relating to the task has already been sent to the BG Press for publication.

He said: "Anyone concerned in a specific constituency can file objections on the draft (delimitation) till June 1 to the Commission. After this, the hearing will be held on the objections till June 20 or 25 at the Commission. The demarcations will be finalised and the national elections will be held accordingly."

Any person, who will file objection, must hail from the concerned locality of the constituencies, CEC Huda said, adding that the objections would have to be filed in five copies.

He said it would have to be mentioned in the objection "where a discrepancy has been made in the demarcation that we've done in accordance with our set principles. We can't take into account anyone' s individual advantage or disadvantage."

The delimitation process, he informed, has been done as per the Constitution and the Delimitation of Constituencies Ordinance 1976.

Earlier, on January 8, the EC first came up with their primary plan of delimiting the parliamentary constituencies, one of the five components of the Commission's election roadmap.

As per the draft of delimitation, the number of constituencies has risen to 94 from the existing 90 in Dhaka division, while the number of constituencies reduced to 21 from the existing 23 in Barisal division.

In the Chittagong and Khulna divisions, one constituency has been reduced in each, while the number of constituencies in Rajshahi and Sylhet divisions remained as before.

CEC Huda said administrative integrity of small districts, including the three hill districts, has been protected in the delimitation suggested in the draft. At least one constituency has been allocated to each of the three hill districts - Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban - in accordance with the population. Other small districts have got at least two constituencies.

However, the constituencies in Dhaka district have been raised to 20 from the existing 13, as these were delimitated broadly to maintain the equilibrium of the huge population in the metropolis.

The 133 delimitated constituencies: Kurigram 2 and 3, Bogra 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7, Rajshahi 2, 3 and 6, Sirajganj 1, 2, 5, and 6, Jessore 3, 4, 5 and 6, Khulna 2, 4, 5 and 6, Satkhira 3, Barguna 1 and 2, Patuakhali 1 and 2, Barisal 2, 3 and 4, Pirojpur 1, 2 and 3, Tangail 5 and 6;

Jamalpur 2, 3, 4 and 5, Mymensingh 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7, Netrakona 1, 4 and 5, Koshoreganj 1 and 2, Manikganj 1, 2 and 3, Munshiganj 1, 2 and 3, Dhaka 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (and the newly formulated constituencies Dhaka 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20), Gazipur 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Narsingdi 1, 2, 3 and 5;

Narayanganj 2, 3, 4 and 5, Faridpur 2, 3 and 4, Shariatpur 2 and 3, Sunamganj 4 and 5, Sylhet 1, 2, 3 and 4, Moulvibazar 1, 2 and 4, Habiganj 1 and 4, Brahmanbaria 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, Comilla 1, 2, 7, 8 and 10, Chandpur 1, 2, 3 and 4, Feni 2 and 3, Noakhali 1, 2 and 3, Laxmipur 2 and 3, and Chittagong 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13.

UN sets up task force to tackle food crisis

BBC online

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, is setting up a task force to tackle the global food crisis.

Mr Ban said the world faced "widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale" because of soaring food prices.

He said the priority was to feed the hungry by closing a $755m (£380m) funding gap for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) this year.

He urged donor countries to make more money available now.

The WFP believes 100 million people are currently going short of food.

It says only 62% of the $755m it needs to feed them has been pledged so far, and, of that, only $18m (£9m) has actually been received.

We must make every effort to support those farmers so that in the coming year we do not see even more severe food shortages

"We consider that the dramatic escalation in food prices worldwide has evolved into an unprecedented challenge of global proportions that has become a crisis for the world's most vulnerable, including the urban poor," the UN said in a statement after a meeting of agency heads in the Swiss capital Berne.

"The challenge is having multiple effects with its most serious impact unfolding as a crisis for the most vulnerable," it went on.

The prices of staple foods including rice, grain, oil and sugar are all at least 50% higher than they were this time last year.

The task force, chaired by Ban, will be made up of the heads of UN agencies and the World Bank.

Ban said it was essential to support farmers in poor countries.

"In addition to increasing food prices, we see at the same time farmers in developing countries planting less, producing less, due to the escalating cost of fertilizer and energy," said Ban.

"We must make every effort to support those farmers so that in the coming year we do not see even more severe food shortages."

In the medium term, the UN will offer $200m to farmers in the worst affected countries to boost food production, and it is calling for a further $1.7bn to help countries with a food deficit to buy seeds.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne says in the long term the UN wants an end to what it calls trade distorting agricultural subsidies, and measures to address the damage to food production caused by climate change.

The task force can recommend and formulate a strategy, but the solution lies in the world wide campaign and efforts at every country level

The head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, who also attended the meeting in Berne, urged countries not to use export bans to protect food stocks.

"These controls encourage hoarding, drive up prices and hurt the poorest people around the world who are struggling to feed themselves," he said.

In a statement after the meeting, the World Bank said that it would double its lending for agriculture in Africa over the next year.

It said it was also considering providing quicker and more flexible financing for poor countries.

Edible oil price fixed at Tk 93 and Tk 96 per kg at wholesale and retail markets

BSS, Chittagong

The price of edible oil was re-fixed at a meeting between the businessmen and the officials of intelligence agencies here yesterday noon.

As per the decision of the meeting, from now on good quality of Soybean to be sold at Taka 93 per kg by whole saler from current rate of Taka 108 while the retail sale price to be at Taka 96 per kg from the current rate of Taka 112.

On the other hand, the businessmen and refined edible oil mill owners have been asked to deliver their respective huge deposited DO (Delivery Order) in the market within May 10 next.

Meeting sources said the brokers bought near about Taka one thousand crore DO's from the mill owners before one year. But the brokers did not take delivery of the DOs from the mills owners till on Tuesday.

The intelligence agencies said that they would monitor constantly whether the owners of the refined edible oil mills and DO brokers comply with the latest price structure. They would also take stern legal action against those who failed to response positively.

The meeting decided that the joint forces would start monitoring the situation of supplying DO from tomorrow.

The businessmen have been asked to follow the re-fixed price structure up to next December. They were assured of reviewing the rate after the dateline, the sources said.

Col. Mohammed Masud Hossain, Director DGFI of Chittahong Division presided over the function while Lieutenant Colonel Aminul Islam, Shajjatur Rahman of Mostafa Group, Alhaj Saiful Alam Masud of S Alam group, Mohammad Nazmul Huda of Meghna group, Pradip Pran of AC group, Zahir Ahmed Ratan of Merina group, Mizanur Rahman of Nurjahan group, Tareq Ahmed of TK group, among other businessmen, were present in the meeting.

Moriarty meets Iftekhar: Bangladesh, US have strategic partnership

Staff Reporter

The United States is confident about the holding of general elections by December this year, the deadline set by the Election Commission in its polls roadmap, which was announced last year with approval from the Caretaker Government.

The newly-appointed US Ambassador James F Moriarty disclosed this yesterday, saying he was absolutely confident that the ninth parliamentary elections would be held by the year-end (December), the deadline set by the Election Commission (EC).

"I am Absolutely (confident). They (the government) are doing the preparations," James Moriarty told journalists yesterday in reply to a question after his first meeting with Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chouwdhury.

James F Moriarty came to Dhaka to take up his new assignment on April 10 after serving his country Ambassador to Nepal.

A reporter, who was covering the meeting at the Foreign Ministry in the city, asked the US Ambassador as to whether he was confident that the general elections would be held by December this year.

"Absolutely (confident) as I have heard nothing to the contrary, and the Government understands the need to move ahead with the preparation for it (holding the elections as per the roadmap)," James Moriarty asserted, renewing hope expressed by his immediate-past predecessor Ambassador Patricia A Butenis, who was on a personal visit to Dhaka.

The Foreign Adviser and the new US Ambassador have discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including trade and development cooperation as well as pressing political issues, during their meeting, Foreign Ministry sources said last afternoon.

"This was my first meeting with him, and I am extremely pleased with his (the Ambassador's) commitment to his responsibilities," Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told journalists after his meeting with James F Moriarty.

"Bangladesh and the US have a strategic partnership and many common interests. We discussed modalities and methods of how to take them forward," the Adviser said.

The US Ambassador added saying, "We discussed a broad range of subjects. I was very impressed by his (the Adviser's) knowledge of the issues. We talked of moving relations in a positive direction."

James Moriarty took a number questions from reporters, who were covering the event, and repeatedly said, "The Government keeps on expressing its commitment to hold the general election by the end of the year.

"And I assure you I did not hear anything different from that at all in our meeting," he asserted, adding, "I think the Government understands the need to move ahead with preparations for the elections."

Later in the afternoon, a US Embassy statement said, "Ambassador Moriarty also asked about the status of the democratic roadmap and repeated his message of support for the 3 Ds-democracy, development, and denial of space to terrorists."

Assault on British national at ZIA: Court Martial ordered

UNB, Dhaka

The authority constituted General Court Martial, the highest court in Air Force law, to try its personnel responsible for the assault on Bangladeshi British national Barrister Rezwan at Zia International Airport on April 14.

An ISPR release yesterday said the military court headed by a Group Captain would award tough punishment to the guilty persons "on charge of irregularities and breaking discipline".

The ISPR said immediately after the airport incident, the Air Force arrested the persons responsible and handed them over to the custody of law-enforcers of the Air Force.

An inquiry committee headed by a Group Captain has already identified the persons involved in the incident of assault by joint-force personnel and framed charges as per military law.

Row over increased fare: CNG buses remain inoperative in city

Staff Reporter

Commuters in the city suffered a lot to reach their respective destinations, as most of the CNG-run buses remained inoperative yesterday following enhancement of the rate of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by the government.

Chaos, altercation and even scuffles were marked between the passengers and the bus staffs, as most of the CNG-run buses unilaterally increased the fare being affected from last Friday.

Some of the CNG-run buses are charging extra fares from the passengers despite the government decision not to raise the fare.

Office-goers, college and university students were hard hit by the illegal move taken by some bus owners in different routes. Most of the buses operating from Motijheel to Mohamamdpur, Mirpur and Uttara areas did not ply on the road.

Passengers at Motijheel alleged that the bus staffs of some routes whimsically charged high fare from them.

They called upon the Government to take stern action against the culprits for increasing the fare.

When asked about the reason of charging additional fare from the passengers, a bus driver of Motijheel to Mohamamdpur route said that they had been asked by the bus owners to increase the bus fare.

Preferring not to be named a bus owner said they did not raise the fare. He admitted that some unscrupulous bus owners might have increased the same.

He called upon the Government to take action against those who are violating the Government orders.

The price of CNG has been raised to Tk 16.75 from Tk 8.50 per cubic metre effective from last Friday.

The price of per cubic metre was fixed at Tk 8.50 on June 13,2005 against Tk 35 of per litre of Octane, which was 25 per cent of the price of Octane. Currently, the price of Octane is Tk 67 per litre.

$3b investment: Tata Director meets Adviser, talks to resume

UNB, Dhaka

Indian industrial giant Tata Group will soon start its negotiations with the caretaker government about its planned US$ 3 billion investment in Bangladesh, which has long been in limbo for previous dilemmas at policy level.

Tata Group Director S. Manzer Hussain yesterday disclosed his company's plan after a courtesy call on Commerce Advisor Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman.

"We're hopeful of resuming our talks with the government soont there are some progress in this regard-we're waiting for the call," he told reporters after the meeting.

The Tata Group suspended its negotiations and investment plans in July 2006 at one stage of the talks when the previous BNP-led coalition government announced that the next elected government should decide on project after the general election.

The Indian conglomerate signed an expression-of-interest document with the Board of Investment in October 2004 to invest in power, coal, fertilizer and steel sectors.

The TATA ventures include a steel plant with an annual production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes, a urea factory with one-million-tonne capacity, a 500MW coal-fired power station, a 1,000MW gas-based power plant and coal mines.

A letter of intent between the two parties was first signed in.

After the meeting, Dr. Hossain Zillur said that the government welcomes any sort of investment in Bangladesh as a world-class investment atmosphere is prevailing here.

"The keen interest from world's largest groups like Tata and Mittal proves Bangladesh is getting emphasis as an important destination in investment businesstWe'll welcome the investment offers protecting the cent-percent interest of the country," he said.