The New Nation - Internet Edition

Suborna ties the knot again

Suborna Mustafa

Agencies

Popular TV actress Suborna Mustafa has wedded director Badrul Anam Soud.

"Only those close to the families of the bride and the bridegroom were present at the wedding," entertainment magazine Anandadhara assistant editor Arif Khan told bdnews24.com yesterday.

Arif acted as a 'wedding witness' in line with Muslim marriage traditions.

The news put to rest speculation about Suborna's second marriage, which went on for weeks. The ceremony played out in a low-key fashion at the Uttara home of Suborna's mother, starting at 11am Monday.

The denmohor (bride money) of Suborna-Soud marriage is Tk 10 lakh, Arif said.

Some workers of production house Krishnachura also attended the ceremony.

Repeated attempts to contact the bride and the bridegroom by phone failed as neither of them answered the calls.

During a visit Monday, the bdnews24.com correspondent found the Krishnachura office in Uttara closed.

The shooting of daily TV soap Doll's House was off for the day as its director Badrul Anam Soud and actress Suborna were absent.

Co-director of Doll's House Afsana Mimi was also not available for comment.

Another actress of Doll's House, Bijori Barkatullah, told bdnews24.com by phone: "You will get to know everything tomorrow."

Suborna has recently sent a letter of divorce to her husband Humayun Faridi, also a popular actor. Earlier both had told bdnews24.com that they were living apart.

Madonna denies affair, divorce rumours

Madonna

Times Online

Madonna has moved to end growing media speculation over the state of her marriage - and a rumoured love quadrangle - by denying she has had an affair or plans to divorce Guy Ritchie.

The usually media-shy singer released a statement yesterday after the wife of the American baseball star Alex Rodriguez accused her of ruining their marriage.

In an interview with The New York Post, Cynthia Rodriguez's lawyer, Maurice Kutner, said she will file for divorce today and would cite her husband's relationship with Madonna in legal papers.

Kutner said that the "relationship with Madonna was the latest situation in a series of events" that doomed the marriage.

But Madonna, who rarely gives interviews and has long refused to discuss her private life, took the unusual decision to issue a statement to the American celebrity magazine People denying she was romantically involved with the Yankees star.

"My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce.

"I know Alex Rodriguez through Guy Oseary, who manages both of us. I brought my kids to a Yankee game. I am not romantically involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez."

Madonna went on to refute Cynthia Rodriguez's allegations that she had "brainwashed" Rodriguez and that his new interest in Madonna's favoured religion of Kabbalah had driven them apart. "I have nothing to do with the state of his marriage or what spiritual path he may choose to study." She also took a swipe at media: "I have learnt over the years not to take accusations and the many false reports about me very seriously. I also appreciate how fiction and fact seem to be perceived as one and the same by people who read both newspapers and the internet."

City micro-entrepreneurship awards launched

Former Adviser of the Caretaker Government Prof
Wahiduddin Mahmud speaking at a press conference at the
National Press Club organised by Citi Foundation on the
occasion of launching ceremony of Citi
Micro-entrepreneurship Award on Monday. Banglar
Chokh

BSS, Dhaka

Citi Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Citigroup, for the fourth consecutive time yesterday launched the Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Awards (CMA) programme in Bangladesh to recognise and honour leadership, entrepreneurial skills and best practices of individual micro-entrepreneurs.

The goal of this award includes promotion of micro- enterprises, increasing awareness of their financial service needs and recognising success stories of entrepreneurs.

The programme was announced at a press conference held at Press Club. Noted economist Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud presided over the function where all important partners and stakeholders were present.

This year the awards will be given in four categories - 'Best innovative micro business of the year', 'Best woman micro- entrepreneur of the year', 'Best micro-entrepreneur of the year' and 'Best micro-finance institution (MFI) of the year'.

Each winner will get Taka 3,50,000. The deadline for submitting nominations for the CMA is August 15 and the final award presentation ceremony will be held in October.

The CMA is being supported by the Citi Foundation and managed by the Citibank, N.A. Bangladesh while the Shakti Foundation for Disadvantaged Women (SFDW) is the local partner. The grant from the Citi Foundation will be used to implement the award programme as well as the prize money. The Daily Star, The Daily Prothom Alo and Channel i have joined this programme as partner organisations.

The Advisory Council formed for the awards includes former advisers of the caretaker government Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud, Dr Akbar Ali Khan, Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury and Rokia A. Rahman; Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, Governor of Bangladesh Bank; Dr. Mohammad Tareque, Secretary of the Finance Division, Ministry of Finance.

Doctor kills wife

Fahmida Akhter Nazma and Dr Tozammel
Hossain

Staff Reporter

A housewife was killed allegedly by her doctor husband following a family feud at Mirpur in the city Sunday afternoon.

The deceased was identified as Fahmida Akhter Nazma, 45, wife of Dr Tozammel Hossain of Orthopedic Hospital in the city. Police recovered the body of Nazma from the bathroom of their house at lane-5 in Mirpur-2 at about 11:00pm Sunday and sent it to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Victim's family members alleged that Tozammel and his associate Humayun Kabir tied up Nazma's hands, cut off tendons of her legs and poured hot water on her body so that none could identify her.

They also said being failed to contact Nazma over mobile phone, they phoned Tozammel who told them that he knew nothing about her. "But after search, Nazma's body was found in her bedroom," said one of her relatives.

Quoting neighbours, police said Tozammel sometimes tortured his wife on various pretexts..

Police arrested Dr Tozammel and Humayun Kabir in connection with the killing and sent them to the court. The Court also sent them to the jail.

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

G-8 summit opens in Hokkaido: Fuel, food prices hike tops agenda

AP, Toyako

Aid for Africa - and whether enough was coming from the world's major economic powers - was in the spotlight Monday as the Group of Eight nations met with seven African leaders at its annual summit.

Activists have accused some G-8 countries, particularly France, Canada and Italy, of skimping on aid to Africa, and urged them to ramp up their contributions. The U.S., Japan, Britain, Germany and Russia make up the other members of the G-8.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also has urged G-8 leaders to take a tough stance on Zimbabwe in the wake of President Robert Mugabe's widely denounced election win. Mugabe was the only candidate in the presidential runoff after his opponent dropped out amid reports of state-sponsored violence.

President Bush, arriving Sunday for his eighth and final Group of Eight summit, emphasized the urgency of providing aid for Africa, calling on wealthy nations to provide mosquito nets and other aid to prevent children from "needlessly dying from mosquito bites."

"Now is the time for the comfortable nations to step up and do something about it," Bush said. African aid was the centerpiece of the G-8 summit three years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland, where leaders pledged to increase foreign aid by $50 billion a year by 2010 - with half of that going directly to Africa - and to cancel the debt of the most heavily indebted poor nations.

Collectively, the G-8 has delivered just $3 billion of the $25 billion in additional aid pledged to Africa in 2005, according to DATA, which stands for Debt, AIDS and Trade in Africa, a group founded by U2 singer Bono and music producer Bob Geldof, both of whom are active in campaigns for Africa.

Germany, the U.S. and Britain were following through on commitments, while progress from Japan, France, Italy and Canada was either unclear or weak, DATA said.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported in April that foreign aid by major donor countries slumped in 2007 as debt-relief plans tapered off and amid a global economic downturn in Japan and some other rich nations.

Japan said there has been no backtracking on the commitments made to Africa.

"I don't understand the criticism," said Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama. "The G-8 leaders are very aware of the commitments they have made to African leaders." Soaring food prices was another key topic on the agenda at the summit, with some experts predicting that the leaders would announce a food aid package and possibly funds to invest in agricultural development in poorer nations.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso proposed Monday spending $1.6 billion that had been set aside for European farm subsidies to support agriculture in the developing world over the next two years.

Talks were expected to shift Tuesday and Wednesday to climate change as leaders will try to move forward U.N.-led talks aimed at forging a new global warming accord by the end of 2009. The negotiations have stalled because of deep disagreements over what targets to set for greenhouse gas reductions, and how much developing countries such as China and India should be required to participate.

The rift over climate change widened as the head of the European Commission urged leaders of the world's wealthy nations to act first in setting targets for reducing greenhouse gases - putting President Bush in an increasingly lonely position.

Boosting food production at local level stressed

BSS, Dhaka

Speakers at a workshop here on Monday laid emphasis on intensifying efforts for raising food production at local level to cope with current food shortage as food security worldwide remains far from being granted to each and every one.

They called for making a sound policy based on clear analysis and research to reinforce an enabling environment for sustainable food security in the country. Ad Spijkers, FAO Representative here said, Bangladesh through commensurate and sustained actions in both the short, medium term and long term can guarantee the sustainability of food grain as all five factors of good agriculture remain positive for the country.

The workshop was held to review the preliminary findings of the research works conducted on a broad ranges of issues relating to food security and food policy under National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP).

On the first day of the two-day workshop, as many as 10 research studies conducted by academic institutions and other research organisations were presented on various aspects of food security and policy issues ranging from land use pattern and agriculture extension policy to food security in coastal region were placed, while 12 more studies would be shared today.

Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM) AKM Abdul Awal Mazumder attended the workshop as the Chief Guest.

Head of the Delegation of European Commission Stefan Frowein, Deputy Mission Director of USAID Carey N Gordon, Chief Technical Adviser of NFPCSP Ciro Fiorillo, MoFDM Research Director Nikhil R Roy spoke among others on the occasion while Director General of FPMU unit MoFDM Shafiqul Islam was in the chair.

Clarifying his observation FOA Representative Ad Spijkers said lands, water, labour, seeds and fertiliser are most important components for agriculture and except fertilizer and high yield seeds, all other elements are available in Bangladesh.

Referring to the government efforts to meet up the fertilizer shortage, he said, purchases of high yielding seeds from China are also very sign for Bangladesh.

Additional Secretary Abdul Awal Mazumder said, the government of Bangladesh has given utmost importance to agricultural production as diversified as possible taking lesson from highly volatile global food market and in the context of global warning that food and food price situations are unlikely to improve in the coming years.

Jubo Dal human chain foiled

Staff Reporter

Police dispersed a human chain organised by Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, youth wing of BNP, in front of the Special Tribunal Court located at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in the city yesterday.

Leaders and activists of the Jubo Dal led by its acting president Mia Mohammad Selim and Acting general secretary Adv Abdus Salam Azad gathered at 10:00am in front of the Sangsad Bhaban to form a human chain as a part of its programme to press home its 7-point demand.

However, they could not form the human chain in the face of the police resistance.

Acting general secretary Adv Abdus Salam Azad said Police obstructed them to form the human chain and tore their banners at about 10:30am saying that there was no permission to form a human chain here.

Jubo Dal vice president Abul Hossain Khan and organising secretary Khairul Kabir Khokan, among other leaders, were present.

It will also form human chain in the other five cities on July 10.

The wing recently announced programme schedules demanding unconditional release of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and chief of Jamaat-e Islami Moulana Matiur Rahman Nizami and withdrawal of political and motivated cases, sending Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko abroad for better medical treatment, release of Jubo Dal general secretary Adv Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, its former president Mirza Abbas and Chhatra Dal president Azizul Bari Helal, government's fair deals to all political parties and holding of free and fair general election within October 30 after lifting the state of emergency and opening of the BNP central office and bringing down prices of all essentials including fuel within the purchasing capacity of common people.

Tea export on rise

Talha Bin Habib

The volume of the export of tea has increased in the last fiscal year due to its high demand in the international market.

Production of high quality of tea and competitive prices of Bangladeshi brand tea encouraged foreign buyers to import it in a large quantity from the country, according to people associated with tea industry.

Government patronisation, development of infrastructure and uninterrupted supply of power and active role of diplomatic missions in abroad would significantly help further increase of tea export in other countries, they noted.

Prices of tea in the international markets have notably increased in recent years due to its high demand in United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and several Middle Eastern countries.

Bangladesh has exported tea worth $ 13.52 million dollars from July, 2007 to March this year. The total earnings from tea export stood at $ 6.94 million dollars in the 2006-07 fiscal, market sources said.

The overall production of tea has increased by 2.5 per cent surpassing the target.

Its production is likely to increase substantially if there is good rainfall and the tea gardens get uninterrupted supply of irrigation water, sources added.

When contacted, some tea garden owners and leading tea traders said government patronisation, development of infrastructure and uninterrupted supply of power to the gardens and active role of diplomatic missions abroad would significantly help further increase of tea export to other countries.

Jamaat terms: Finance Adviser’s comment irresponsible

Staff Reporter

Leaders of Jama'at-E- Islami at its Executive Council Meeting on Sunday night said the Finance Adviser's irresponsible comment will help soar the price of the essentials.

They said it was a matter of regret that the Finance Adviser had blamed the farmers for soaring rice price adding that there was no chance to undermine the farmers' contribution to the national economy.

Acting Amir of the party Moulana Abul Kalam Mohammad Yousuf presided over the meeting, which was attended by its Nayabe Amirs Mokbul Ahmed and Prof AKM Nazir Ahmed, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Assistant Secretary General Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, Abdul Kader Molla, Moulana Abdus Sobhan, Moulana Delwar Hossain Saidee and ATM Azharul Islam, among its executive council leaders.

Though the Caretaker Government could not realise that how baseless Adviser's speech was, the people could, they added.

The Jamaat leaders expressed deep concern over recent price hike of the essential including rice, dal, flour and edible oil.

The Jamaat leaders said that distress of the people would be eased no more by the present non-elected government, which was proved by the finance adviser's reckless comment, said a press release signed by its publication secretary Tasnim Alam.

BIMSTEC ministerial meet in city today

BSS, Dhaka

The first ministerial meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will be held here on July 9 to discuss poverty reduction cooperation.

It will be preceded by a senior officials meeting of the forum on July 8, official sources here said on Monday.

The BIMSTEC ministerial meeting will review poverty situation in the member states and their strategies for attaining millennium development goals (MDGs), the sources said.

They will also evaluate different dimensions of poverty and steps already taken to ameliorate poverty situation in the member countries.

Chief adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to inaugurate the ministerial meeting at Sonargaon Hotel. Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam and Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury are due to attend the meeting.

The BIMSTEC groups India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The first BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok in 2004 decided to hold the first ministerial meeting of the grouping in Bangladesh.

The member countries are expected to take initiatives to devise ways and means for project-based cooperation aimed at poverty reduction, the sources said.

Benapole land port: Decision of relexation of yarn import opposed

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Textile Manufacturers' Association (BTMA) strongly opposes the government decision about relaxation of conditions on import of yarn through Benapole land port for the 100 percent export-oriented knitwear industry enjoying bonded warehouse facility.

The measure came into effect on Tuesday (July 1).

BTMA president Abdul Hye Sarker at a press conference yesterday alleged that the government took the decision to make a certain quarter happy. "The government should suspend the new system until having dialogue with sub-sectors," he said.

The BTMA president said the decision has gone against the interest of the yarn sector, causing piling up of thousands of tons of yarn in the gowdowns of mills across the country.

Yarn import through the land port remains almost standstill due to procedural complexities despite withdrawal of a ban two years ago.

There have been procedural problems relating to customs, bond license and chemical tests despite withdrawal of the ban on use of the land port for yarn import.

In February 2006, the government imposed some conditions on import of yarn through Benapole land port.

The imports were subject to examination of the count of yarn and chemical test. Such tests require at least seven days before the release of yarn from the port involving higher cost.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has issued an order to the Benapole port authority removing the complexities.

Knitwear exporters now can import yarn complying with only three conditions that include the import of yarn within the allowable annual limit, against back-to-back letter of credits (L/Cs) and import should be coordinated against utilisation of declaration (UD).

Inflation to be contained thru’ 'hybrid’ monetary policy: BB to maintain private sector credict growth for employment: Governor

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Bank would keep maintaining growth in private sector credit by any means to help people face the inflationary pressure through creating employments.

Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed yesterday declared the central bank's stance against "contractionary" monetary policy as a strategy to maintain macroeconomic stability as well as growth.

"The major target is to contain inflation through a pragmatic policy, which you can call it a kind of 'hybrid' policy," he told a luncheon meeting of France-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFB) at a city hotel.

The Governor indicated a blend of policy that would enable credit growth and at the same time keeping a close watch on the money supply so it does not put pressure on the inflation.

"Credit has to be there…we cannot have a tight monetary policy as we need to create huge employment opportunities," he said, replying to a question.

He also replied to a question whether the lending rate was reduced, saying, "It's not true that it's not working. We're trying not to allow the interest rate spread cross the 5 percent level."

He was unwilling to make public the central bank's policy instruments to put pressure on the lending rates, but said they were trying to reduce the lending rate through moral pressure.