The New Nation - Internet Edition

Security guard killed

Staff Reporter

A security guard was killed by miscreants at Shewrapara under Mirpur Police Station in the city Wednesday night.

The victim was identified as Abdul Motaleb, 40, security guard of Orion Security Services.

Police said several criminals hit him with sharp weapon leaving him dead at about 1:30am. Later, they left the body at Shamim Sharani in the area.

On information, police recovered the body and sent it to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Reason behind the killing could not be ascertained immediately.

Police suspected that previous enmity could be the reason behind the killing.

A case was filed with Mirpur police Station in this connection.

Forex endorsement Indian HC's clarification

UNB, Dhaka

The Indian High Commission yesterday said the requirement of foreign exchange endorsement to passports is one of the pre-requisites for obtaining an Indian visa that has been in existence for the last several years.

A press release said the High Commission now accepts only foreign exchange endorsements obtained from local commercial banks in Bangladesh following detection of a large number of fake foreign exchange endorsements by some local money exchange bureaus.

It has further clarified that such foreign exchange endorsements can be obtained from any commercial bank in Bangladesh and this has been notified on the website of the India Visa Application Centre () as well as its premises.

The clarification from the High Commission came after publishing of media report regarding requirement of foreign exchange endorsements to obtain visas for India.

9 Pourasabha polls by June 15

UNB, Dhaka

The Election Commission is likely to start on June 12 the process of hearing on piled-up objections against the draft delimitation of parliamentary constituencies.

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain yesterday said more than 50 percent out of some 3,000 objections are not worth considering.

He further said the EC has a plan of meeting the Chief Adviser before announcing the election schedule for Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal city corporations and nine municipalities.

Sakhawat said the EC would hopefully be able to announce the election schedules as per their earlier statement, that is, within June 15.

"Of the considerable ones, there are objections on 90 constituencies," he told reporters at his office in the afternoon.

Sakhawat said the hearing on draft delimitation would be held division-wise and the districts concerned would be given notice prior to starting the process.

"After finalising the exact dates and schedules on June 9, it will be notified as gazettes and there will also be circular in the media," he said.

Hearing on the objections from Dhaka division would be held on June 12, 14 and 15 at the EC secretariat, the Election Commissioner said, adding that there are more objections in Dhaka than the other divisions. "There are objections in more than half of the constituencies in Dhaka," he said.

The hearing would be held between 10am and 2pm on the first day and 10am and 4pm on the last two days. "If necessary, the time will be extended on the last two days," he said.

In Sylhet, Chittagong, Barisal, Khulna and Rajshahi divisions, the hearings would be held respectively on June 19, 23, 25, 26 and 29, Sakhawat said.

"As there are also a number of objections from Comilla and adjacent areas, there will be hearing on June 22. But that can be omitted if the objections don't have any merit," he said.

Sakhawat said hearings outside Dhaka would be held between 10am and 4pm at the circuit houses of divisional headquarters and the time could be extended, if possible.

Scrutinising the objections, he said, it would be categorised so that the EC, if gets time, could have a look into most of the objections. "We've taken into account all the objections and, if possible, will look into all," he said.

Asked if the EC would pronounce the verdict immediate after the hearings, the Election Commissioner said they would need some time for thinking on the matter.

He also replied to a query that there would not be any opportunity of filing appeal against the verdict.

Arrest warrant against 2 cop

Chittagong Correspondent

A sessions court here yesterday issued warrant of arrest against two cops as they failed appearing before the court and produce evidence of a criminal case.

Chittagong Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal issued the warrant of arrest against police Inspector La Ching Pru and Sub-Inspector Javed Masud for failing to produce the evidences of court bombing incident.

The public prosecutor Quamrul Islam Sazzad told reporters that both the cops deliberately were skipping the court summon.

Inspector La Ching is working in Comilla while Javed Masud is in Sunamganj.

The court yesterday recorded the statement of Assistant Superintendent of police (ASP) Abdur Rahim who is working in RAB-4.

A total of 17 witnesses have so far been recorded their statement in the court bombing incident that took place on November 29, 2005. June 12 has been fixed for next recording of statement of witness.

Three persons including Police Constable Rajib Barua and the JMB suicide bomber Hossain Ali were killed in the incident.

UN increases food aid by $1.2bn

Agency, Rome

The UN is to provide an additional $1.2bn (£613m) of food aid for 75 million people in the 60 nations hardest hit by rising food prices.

The announcement was made by World Food Programme chief Josette Sheeran at a UN-sponsored summit in Rome.

Also at the summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said there was an "urgent need" for international policy guidelines on biofuel production.

Food costs have reached a 30-year high, causing riots in several countries.

Map showing impact of food price rises on trade balances.

The crisis is believed to have pushed 100 million people into hunger worldwide.

Challenge Ms Sheeran told a news conference that unless the international community acted quickly, the number of people in dire poverty could double.

US urges Bangladesh: Prosecute fake manpower agents

UNB, Dhaka

The United States strongly recommended Bangladesh to criminally prosecute the unscrupulous manpower agents responsible for the hardship of expatriate Bangladeshi workers.

This was stated in the 'Trafficking in Persons Report 2008' released in Washington by the US Department of State on Wednesday, said a Bangladesh Embassy press release.

The report suggested Bangladesh to significantly increase criminal prosecutions and punishments for all forms of labour trafficking, including those that involve fraudulent recruiting and forced child labour; improve criminal law enforcement efforts against and punishment of government complicity in trafficking; and provide protection services for adult male trafficking victims and victims of forced labour.

The report acknowledged the positive initiatives of Bangladesh Government to tackle the trafficking in persons.

"The government reported efforts to prevent trafficking through memoranda of understanding with destination countries addressing destination countries' labour laws, requirements for labour contracts, and mechanism for labour flows," it said.

The report also lauded Bangladesh for the investigations, arrests and criminal prosecution of sex trafficking offenders, government's awareness campaign against trafficking in persons and acknowledges Bangladesh government's initiative to train Bangladeshi peacekeepers on trafficking prior to their deployment.

It places Bangladesh in tier-2 along with Asian developed countries like Japan and Singapore.