The New Nation - Internet Edition

Miss Universe 2008

Dayana Mendoza, Miss Venezuela, reacts after being
crowned as Miss Universe 2008 during the Miss Universe 2008
beauty pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam, Monday. AP
photo

AP, Nha Trang

Miss Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe 2008 on Monday in a contest marked by the spectacle of Miss USA falling down during the evening gown competition for the second year in a row.

The new Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza, was once kidnapped in her homeland and says the experience taught her to remain poised under pressure.

Tension got under the skin of Miss USA, Crystle Stewart of Texas, who tripped on the train of her bejeweled evening gown as she made her entrance.

During the 2007 Miss Universe contest in Mexico City, Miss USA Rachel Smith also tumbled during the evening gown competition and became an unintended star on YouTube, where the video was shown over and over again.

At a news conference after this year's event, a beaming Mendoza said she wasn't yet sure where her upcoming year of whirlwind appearances would take her. But after a quick stop in New York, she wants to see her family again, enjoy some of her mom's home cooking and give everyone hugs. "When I go back to Venezuela I will jump on my family and they will jump on me," said Mendoza.

In the meantime, Mendoza said, she is simply looking forward to taking off her high-heeled shoes and massaging her feet.

She declined to discuss her kidnapping, which occurred a year and a half ago, but took advantage of the occasion to call for global peace.

"I want to raise my voice and tell the world that violence is not the answer," she said.

Mendoza, 22, is a 5-foot, 10-inch (178-centimeter), green-eyed beauty who enjoys learning languages and photography. She appeared at the news conference in the flowing yellow dress and dangling turquoise earrings that she wore during the evening gown competition in which Stewart took her spill.

Stewart, 26, is a motivational speaker and former track and field star who is working on a book called "Waiting to Win."

Steps to be taken for casting votes without fear: CA

UNB, Keshobpur

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said people will derive the fruits of Representation of People Order (RPO) Ordinance which will prohibit front organizations of political parties in the educational institutions.

The head of the caretaker government made the remarks at a rural dialogue responding to a participant's request to stop student politics by enacting laws.

A meeting of the Council of Advisers on Sunday approved in principle the RPO Ordinance-2008 which is likely to be finally approved by the end of this month. The dialogue was held at Abu Sharaf Sadeque Auditorium in Keshobpur as part of the government's ongoing national dialogue with political parties and different stake holder groups at regional, rural and urban levels which began on May 22.

Keshobpur Press Club organized the dialogue which was moderated by Education Adviser Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman.

At the dialogue, the CA urged people to exercise their voting right by applying their own wisdom and judgement without fear to elect the most competent and honest candidates in the elections.

He assured that the government and the Election Commission would provide all out support so that voters can cast their votes without fear to choose their candidates.

He said people's spontaneous participation in the polls is necessary and they should exercise their voting right judiciously.

He said the Election Commission has indicated that the schedule of the general election will be announced in November while polls of some 300 to 350 Upazila Parishads will be completed by the end of October.

Referring to his government's prime objective to hold free, fair and acceptable election, he said preparation for holding the polls is almost at the final stage as the voters' list with photographs of about 80 million citizens is now almost complete.

He further said RPO Ordinance-2008 will be finalized soon which will help the EC to exercise the election rules and regulations independently.

Referring to his address to the nation last May when he mentioned about necessity of a consensus on some areas like balance of power, stopping hartals, he said if a consensus can be reached on those areas then the objectives of caretaker government will be successful.

The government is carrying out efforts to establish democracy and good governance on a strong footing to build a corruption-free knowledge-based enlightened society.

People from different professions including teachers, businessmen, farmers, journalists, UP representatives, women and writers took part in the dialogue and spoke on local problems and their solution and national politics and election.

The also raised the question of rising prices of essentials and shortage in supply of fertilizers.

The local problems mentioned include permanent solution of water logging at Bhabadah and construction of roads and bridges in the area.

Responding to them, Dr. Fakhruddin said the government is a non-political administration which is not opponent to any political party and it is behaving equally with all political parties.

No Adviser of caretaker government will take part in next elections. Regarding the modality of the next elected government, he said it might be formulated through discussion.

Responding to local demands, he said he would take steps to permanently solve the Bhabadah water logging problem and take steps to complete all half-constructed bridges and roads in the area.

LGRD Adviser M Anwarul Iqbal and Law Adviser Hasan Ariff were also present at the dialogue which was presided over by Ashrafuzzaman Khan, President of Keshobpur press club.

WorldTel scam case: Nasim exempted from appearance in court

UNB, Dhaka

A special court that deals with high-profile corruption cases yesterday dispensed with personal attendance of jailed former minister Mohammad Nasim during trial of the WorldTel scam case.

Granting the application filed by Nasim, Judge Shahed Noor Uddin fixed July 23 for arguments in connection with the case.

From now on Nasim will be represented by his lawyer Sheikh Baharul Islam during trial proceedings, court sources said. Nasim filed the application on June 26 as a supplementary to an earlier petition submitted to the government for overseas treatment. A front ranking Awami League leader, Nasim is now being treated at LabAid hospital after he suffered a massive brain stroke on June 24 at Kashimpur jail.

The WorldTel scam case alleges that Nasim, while he was Telecommunications Minister, had abused power to allow WorldTel Holdings Limited to install three lakh digital telephones in the capital without floating any tender.

Nasim's associate, AHS Rahman, a director of Consociates Ltd, was also accused in the case as he was illegally appointed a consultant by the then Telecommunications Minister to supervise the project that harmed country's interest.

Co-accused Rahman is being tried in absentia as he fled abroad after securing bail from the court.

Abdul Hye, an officer of the now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption, sued the Nasim-Rahman duo on January 8, 2002.

Earlier in October last year, a special court sentenced Nasim to 13 years imprisonment for amassing wealth illegally and concealing information about his actual property.

Job fair begins at DU

BSS, Dhaka

A two-day long "Job Fair" and seminar on "Career Development" began yesterday under the auspices of the 10th Batch BBA students, Department of Marketing of Dhaka University, on the premises of the Business Studies Faculty.

Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof. SMA Faiz formally inaugurated the job fair and the seminar as the chief guest.

Presided over by Chairman of the Department Prof. Haripada Bhattacharjya, the inaugural function was addressed, among others, by FBCCI President Annisul Huq as guest of honor, First Vice-President of FBCCI Abul Kashem Ahmed, Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies Prof. Serajul Islam and department Student Advisor Dr. Samir Kumar Sheel.

Addressing the function Prof. SMA Faiz thanked the 10th Batch BBA students of marketing department for organising the Job fair and seminar on career development. He said the programme will enrich the students' knowledge about the recruitment challenges and the competitive job market.

FBCCI President Annisul Huq said the students of business discipline in our universities specially Dhaka University are providing their competence at work in different business and industrial institutions.

DMP to launch anti-muggers drive soon

Staff Reporter

The metropolitan police will soon launch a special drive to nab muggers in the city.

This was disclosed by Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Naim Ahmad at the monthly crime review meeting at Rajarbagh Police Lines yesterday afternoon.

"Incident of muggings in the city increased compared to May. "That doesn't mean the law and order situation has deteriorated. "Crime is inevitable here and elsewhere in the world," he said and added, "It will remain until the day of Qayamat but the law enforcers are trying to bring it under control."

"The muggers are usually active in the cities. DMP has therefore decided to deploy plain clothes patrol teams to ensure security of the people living in the metropolitan areas," the DMP Commissioner added.

Some 33 muggings and 62 robberies occurred in the month of June, while the figures were 18 and 42 respectively in May.

12m school, college students know about threat of HIV/AIDS

Staff Reporter

Around one crore and 20 lakh students of secondary and higher secondary schools and college across the country came to know about HIV/AIDS from their text books, according to representatives of Save the Children yesterday revealed.

"It was the first such kind of initiative in Asia to include the topics on HIV/AIDS in text books of class six to class twelve," they said at a view exchange meeting with stakeholders on HIV/AIDS at a hotel in the city.

Save the Children USA organised the meeting which was presided over by Health and Family Welfare Secretary AKM Zafar Ullah Khan.

Economic Relations Division Secretary Md Aminul Islam Bhuiyan was present in the meeting as chief guest. Deputy Country Director of Save the Children USA Margarita Clark, Found Portfolio Manager, Global Fund Christa Arent, Director General of Health Services Prof Dr Md Abul Faiz, Director-HIV/AIDS Programme and South Asia Programme Adviser of Save the Children USA Dr Nizam Uddin Ahmed, Programme Manager of National AIDS/STD Programme Officer Dr Ferdous Alam Shibib and stakeholders of the programme addressed the meeting, among others.

A total of 44,710 teachers of 9,070 schools and colleges were imparted training on HIV/AIDS. Following combined efforts, it was possible to teach the students on the threat of HIV/AIDS," they noted.

Md Aminul Islam Bhuiyan said the Bangladesh has made significant achievement on HIV/AIDS prevention programme through the coordination programmes with the stakeholders. "The medias have played a vital role by telecasting and publishing prevention mechanism on HIV/AIDS. It has created a new dimension of public and private partnership in implementation the HIV/AIDS project in the country," he added.

AKM Zafar Ullah Khan said that the HIV/AIDS project has been implemented successfully foundation has implemented successfully with the financial support of Global Foundation.

Nephew murder: Plaintiff demands transfer of case to CID

Staff Reporter

A resident in the city demanded the arrest of his nephew's alleged murderers and transfer of the case to CID for proper investigation.

Laies Ahmad, said after some local terrorists killed his nephew, Yasin Mia at Siarail in

Brahmanbaria on January 13 in 2007 he filed a murder case with Siarail Police Station against five accused of the murder.

He alleged that the police struck down the names of the murderers from the FIR and did not initiate investigation of the murder case.

Laies alleged that already one and a half years have gone by, but the police could not arrest the main accused of the murder and start the investigation.

"We contacted the police many times but failed to get any response from the authority," he claimed.

He also alleged that someone high in the police department was trying to protect the murders.

Laies demanded that the murder case be transferred to the CID for proper investigation.

EC doing good job about UZ polls: Moriarty: Free, fair, credible elections difficult under emergency

UNB, Dhaka

US Ambassador James F Moriarty again said yesterday that holding free, fair and credible elections in Bangladesh would be difficult under the state of emergency.

About the much-debated upazila polls, envisaged before the next parliament election, the envoy, who is going to Washington for consultation shortly, remarked that the election commissioners are "doing a very good job".

In reply to a query after over an hour-long meeting with the Election Commission at its Secretariat in the afternoon, he told reporters, "It's difficult to hold credible elections while the state of emergency in place."

"I told all the commissioners to basically see how things are going with respect to the restoration of the democracy. As I am going back to Washington to talk at the end of this week, that's why I wanted to see how things are going," he said.

"It sounds like this that things are in a very good shape. I think the rules are pretty much done. The official lists have to be printed. They are moving forward as they are expected to do…."

Asked about the caretaker government's success in bringing the political parties in the dialogue as still some major parties are out of the dialogue, he said, "I think that this question is for the people of Bangladesh to answer. They will decide whether they (people) think this is a level playing field or not."

He said it looks like this that the election commission is acting in a good faith, and the government is trying to talk to the parties. "So these are very positive aspects."

The American Ambassador hoped that the political parties would play a role as the parties are needed to represent the wishes of the people of Bangladesh. "They need to be willing to bring the steps forward."

He observed that everybody in the country wants to see the holding of successful elections, particularly for the parliament in December.

Describing the elections as very much important, he said: "We want to do what we can to make a credible election; we hope that everything is in a stage and we are observing the elections."

Asked whether the United States would conduct any survey to verify the accuracy of the recently completed voter list, the US envoy said, "Actually we are doing a little bit, and up to now, we've found a very good result. I think it is, probably, the best voters' list of Bangladesh."

Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda led the commission at the meeting, where election commissioners M Sohul Hussain and Brigadier General (rtd) M Sakhawat Hossain were present.

Terming the meeting courtesy call, Sohul Hussain told the reporters that the Ambassador wanted to know about the preparation of the Election Commission to hold the elections.

He said upazila elections would be held in the country under some relaxation of the emergency rules the way election to four city corporations and nine municipalities is being held on August 4 at the first go.

70pc city houses fall in slum category

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

About 70 per cent of the housing development in Dhaka city falls under slum category in terms of residential quality and facilities, according to the urban planners and architects.

They demanded effective implementation of the new building rules immediately for a liveable city.

Architect Abu Sayeed Ahmed said, "A residential area like Dhanmondi (at present) falls under slum category in terms of environment, open space, traffic capacity and civic amenities compared to its residential quality 30 to 40 years ago."

"Life, specially for the children and elderly people, in Dhaka is limited and inactive. The existing unplanned development pattern does not show any regard to open space and pedestrian passage." he said.

Dhaka city is already choked with haphazard urbanisation with whatever remaining open space, wetland and parks disappearing fast, said urban experts.

"With the introduction of the new building rules and the withdrawal of six-storey height ceiling in the planned residential areas, a builder is allowed to go up leaving adequate open space in keeping with certain proportion," said architect Golam Nasir.

The Floor Area Ration (FAR) of a building is calculated dividing the total floor area by total land area and thereby the FAR standard determines total buildable area and height of a building. One has to leave open space in proportion with the permitted buildable area of a high-rise building.

"Urban water crisis and water-logging are inevitable outcomes of all-pervading concrete coverage of the ground. Concrete coverage stops percolation of groundwater leading to recession of the water table," said an urban planner.

In one hand, this situation was accelerating sinking of buildings in the event of earthquake, On the other hand, green open space was vital to revive water table and keep it stable, said an environmentalist.

Height of a building determined by the area of open the buildable area will proportionately come down with narrower roads. A building owner may go to any height by increasing or decreasing the size of each floor area but has to remain limited within the permitted buildable area determined by FAR.

According to the rules, the open space is compulsory, undividable, non-sellable and non-developable and is a precondition to obtain approval of the building design.

Architect Iqbal Habib, said, "Detail Area Plan (DAP) of Dhaka city is a crucial precondition to implement the new building rules and protect the open and designated public spaces."