The New Nation - Internet Edition

Cyclone leaves trail of devastation: Death toll 15

Patuakhali: A tent received as relief after cyclone
Sidr had rendered this family shelterless is once again
being used as emergency shelter as cyclone Reshmi has razed
the lone thatched cottage its members had pieced together.
Banglar Chokh

Staff Reporter

Cyclone Reshmi lashed country's coast, killing at least 15 people and injuring 200 more and caused damages of crops of 2.8 lakh hectares in southern region.

The storm, spawned by a depression in the Bay of Bengal, struck late Monday, inundating hundreds of villages, levelling several thousand huts and knocking down electricity poles, officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

At least 10 bodies were pulled from the rubble of collapsed houses in Barisal district, a hard-hit area 75 miles south of the capital, Dhaka, they said. Another five people drowned in neighbouring Patuakhali district.

Some 200 villagers were injured and many were taken to hospitals, they said.

The officials said rescue workers were trying to reach people with drinking water and food.

Our Barisal Correspondent adds: Different types of crops were fully and partially destroyed and damaged on 2.28 lakhs hectares land worth Tk. 1,000 cores by cyclone Reshmi, in 11 districts under Barisal Agriculture Region.

Barisal Regional Agriculture Extension office sources said field level workers of the department are now busy about assessment of the damages and giving advice to the farmers.

These affected crops include Ropa Aman, Bona Aman, Boro seed beds and winter vegetables.

Cultivation of Aman paddy, the main crop of the southern region, was done on 8.32 lakh hectares, and other varieties of crops on 0.53 laks hectares in 11 districts under Barisal Agricultural region. These districts are Barisal, Jhalakati, Pirojpur, Patuakhali, Barguna and Bhola, six districts of Barisal division and Faridpur, Gopalganj, Shariatpur, Rajbari and Madaripur.

Crops on more than 1.79 lakh hactres of land suffered damages with 0.25 lakh hactres fully damaged by cyclone Reshmi in six districts of Barisal division.

Crops on more than 200 hectares of land in the most affected areas situated under Pirojpur and Jhalakati districts were destroyed fully and crops damage on 25,046 hectares of lands.

Cyclone Reshmi affected crops on about 0.24 lakh hectares of land including 0.6 lakh hectares were fully destroyed and .18 lakh hectares were partially damaged out of 1.35 lakhs hectare of cultivated lands in the other five districts of greater Faridpur region.

Ninety percent of the total crops were fully affected in 11 districts by cyclone Reshmi in the Barisal division.

AED officials said a short shower is immediately needed to wash away the sand and mud deposited on some varieties of crops including under blooming Aman and winter vegetables.

Crackdown on sale of melamine-tainted milk

Staff Reporter

In a drive in the city yesterday a mobile court fined five shops Tk 90,000 for selling and displaying the alleged melamine-contaminated eight brands of powder milk.

Meanwhile, the High Court yesterday adjourned till Thursday the hearing on a contempt-of-court petition against top bureaucrats for non-compliance with its orders for stopping the sale of suspected melamine-mixed milk powder.

RAB-1 with the help of BSTI and Dhaka City Corporation conducted the drive at Gulshan, Banani and Mohakhali from 11:00am to 1:45pm following the High Court's order asking the shop owners not to sell or display those items until the test result from FAO's laboratory in Bangkok was received.

The eight brands of powder milk are Chinese Sweetbaby, Yasli-1, Yasli-2, New Zealand's Nido Fortified Instant, Anlin, Australia's Diploma, Red Cow and Dano of Denmark.

The team, led by magistrate Anwar Pasha, fined Abir General Store Tk 35,000, Shuvo General Store Tk 10,000 and Tangail General Store Tk 16,000 located at BCC market in Gulshan-2, Rainbow Store in Banani Tk 7,000 and NP General Store in Mahakhali at 12,000.

However, a trader in the city told the New Nation that they were nor selling or displaying the 8 brands of milk powder but storing those until the test result.

In the meantime, government authorities launched a crackdown on the market with mobile court manned by elite-force RAB and magistrates to remove eight brands of such milk from shops.

A division bench comprising Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Abdul Hye adjourned the hearing halfway through following the placing of some papers by a deputy attorney general relating to government action to stop the marketing the melamine-mixed milk powder.

On Monday, the contempt petition was filed by Advocate Manzil Murshid on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), a rights watchdog.

On October 23, the High Court, following a Public Interest Litigation writ petition filed by eight HRPB lawyers, directed the government to take immediate steps for embargoing display or sale of such suspected powdered milk of eight foreign brands which have been sent abroad for laboratory test.

The HC directives will be in force until receipt of the laboratory-test reports from abroad. But, despite the court orders, these suspected brands were reportedly being sold on the local market with impunity.

Passing the order, the HC had issued a twin-rule upon the government to explain why its "failure to stop selling melamine-mixed toxic powered milk should not be declared illegal".

The HC also had asked the government to show cause as to why a direction should not be given for taking necessary steps for protecting health security of the citizens.

Saifuzzaman, head of the RAB 1 operation, told this correspondent that the operation will continue until all the banned milk powder stored by the city grocers were seized.

No EPR convicts in polls, repeats CEC: EC contemplates holding 70-like election

Staff Reporter

Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul yesterday reiterated that no convicted person under Emergency Power Rules (EPR) would be allowed to take part in the forthcoming elections scheduled to be held on December 18.

"Anyone convicted under Emergency Power Rules, up to the day of scrutiny of nomination papers, will be considered unfit for elections," he said while inaugurating the second phase of a training programme on electoral laws for Deputy Commissioners (DCs).

The CEC said the Commission wants to see the candidates for national elections as 'role models'. "We don't want to see convicts, loan defaulters and bill defaulters as candidates," he said.

According to the section 11(5) of the Emergency Power Rules-2007 that says those convicted during the state of emergency in the trial court for corruption cannot participate in the elections; even if an appeal is pending with the High Court.

Dr Huda asked the DCs to work neutrally during the forthcoming polls as returning officers. He suggested them to be carefully during scrutinising of nomination papers.

"All concerned officers must work neutrally to that end," he said.

He reminded the DCs to properly examine the information given by candidates themselves by affidavits.

The CEC referred that the Commission sent a list of winning and defeated candidates in the past three national elections to Bangladesh Bank and said the central bank would inform the returning officers on whether there are any defaulters among them.

He warned if ballot papers were found outside polling centres during the election, those responsible would face a maximum 10 years of imprisonment.

"In the past, many ballot papers had been found outside polling centres. The new electoral laws provide punitive measures including fines and imprisonment for such actions," he said.

Election Commissioners Brig Gen (Retd) M Shakhawat Hossain and Muhammad Sohul Hussain were also present on the occasion.

32 DCs attended the training programme in the second batch, while another 32 DCs had participated in the first phase on October 25.

Meanwhile, Canadian High Commissioner Robert McDougall yesterday formally handed over the translucent ballot boxes to Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda.

At the request of the Bangladesh Election Commission, a total of 240,000 translucent ballot boxes were procured through a UNDP project valued over USD 5 million with Canadian funding.

These boxes will be used during the 2008 elections and subsequent elections, preceded by comprehensive politic-electoral reforms in the interim period following the past crisis over election issues.

The introduction of translucent ballot boxes is aimed at building confidence among the electorates and bringing greater transparency in the electoral process.

"The Government of Canada is happy to contribute to the tremendous amount of work being done by the Election Commission, the Caretaker Government and others to create a peaceful environment where elections will be free and fair," said the Canadian High Commissioner.

He said it is their hope that the use of these boxes will encourage greater citizen participation in the electoral process and help ensure that the votes cast on Election Day reflect the would of the people.

Translucent ballot boxes allow light to pass through the box, while ensuring that ballot papers cannot be read once placed inside. They assure voters that the boxes are empty prior to the election while also securing voters' privacy at the polls.

Race to White House

Leads held by Barack Obama over his Republican rival John McCain remained steady in five of the battle-ground states, six days before the Presidential election. John McCain is ahead of Obama in two of these states while the standing of the two candidates in opinion polls showed a dead heat in Florida. Obama’s lead in the five battle-ground states of Virginia, North Carolina, Missourie, Ohio and Nevada are still narrow. McCain’s lead in the two swing states of West Virgina and Indiana look more solid. But he is still struggling to keep his lead in about a dozen states won by Bush in 2004. Obama’s lead in all of the states won by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004 faces no challenge.

On Monday, McCain made vitriolic remarks in Ohio about Obama’s policy of redistributing wealth through taxation. He said his policy was for creation of wealth and opportunities for Americans. Referring to a recent radio talk by Obama where he said that the Supreme Court’s decision on racial equality did not go far enough, McCain insinuated about a plan to redistribute wealth on other consideration also. Though an innuendo, this reference was seen as an attempt to play the racial card by McCain. Obama, on the other hand, in his speech in Ohio, avoided the attacking mode and urged the audience to give their verdict against dividing the nation.

BBC Online

Two men, who officials describe as neo-Nazis, have appeared in a US court accused of plotting to kill Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart planned a murder spree targeting dozens of black people and culminating in Obama’s murder, officials said.

Obama said he was not worried by the news and it was “not who America is”.

He told reporters that “these kinds of hate groups” had been marginalised and were not part of America’s future.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said the men, aged 18 and 20, had made their first appearance before a court in Jackson, Tennessee, on Monday after being arrested last week in Crockett County in the same state.

An ATF official said agents had seized a rifle, a sawn-off shotgun and three pistols during the arrests.

They were charged with making threats against a presidential candidate, illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun and conspiracy to rob a gun dealer.

Court documents showed that the plot did not appear to be very advanced or sophisticated.

The two men have not yet entered a plea but are due to appear in court again later this week.

The pair allegedly planned to rob a gun store and then carry out a killing spree at an unnamed predominantly African-American high school, the Associated Press quoted court records as saying.

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office of the ATF, told AP that the two men had planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

Mr Cavanaugh said the men had sought to go on a national killing spree, with Mr Obama as its final target.

“They said that would be their last, final act - that they would attempt to kill Senator Obama,” Mr Cavanaugh told AP.

“They didn’t believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying.”

The court documents quoted the two men as saying that they would dress up in white tuxedos and top hats then drive their car as fast as possible toward Senator Obama, shooting at him from the windows.

The BBC’s Adam Brookes in Washington says that although the plot seems to have been amateurish and the threat to Mr Obama himself not particularly credible, the US authorities clearly believe that the two had the means and the intent to carry out some kind of attack on black students.

Mr Obama, who if elected will become the first black US president, is leading Republican rival John McCain in opinion polls ahead of the 4 November election.

The White House rivals were to hold competing rallies on Tuesday in the rust-belt state of Pennsylvania before splitting, with McCain fighting a rearguard action in North Carolina and Obama on the attack in Virginia.

Despite holding a robust poll lead nationally and in battleground states, Obama, 47, warned against complacency as he prepared to air a costly 30-minute “infomercial” on major US networks on Wednesday evening.

“Don’t believe for a second this election is over,” the Illinois senator said Monday in Pittsburgh, whose withered steelworks are symptomatic of Pennsylvania’s industrial blight.

“And Pittsburgh, that’s why we cannot afford to slow down, or sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this final week,” he told 15,800 supporters in the cavernous arena of the Penguins ice hockey team.

“In one week, you can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo,” Obama said, his oratory returning to its early campaign heights as the electrifying race climaxes.

“We can’t let up. Not now. Not when so much is at stake,” he added in what aides called his “closing argument” to voters.

For McCain, Pennsylvania and its swollen ranks of disaffected, white, working-class voters is must-win territory on November 4, along with historically Republican bastions such as North Carolina and Virginia.

The Arizona senator, 72, tried to reignite fears of “socialism” by citing a 2001 radio interview given by Obama where he appeared to lament the failure of the 1960s civil rights movement to bring about greater financial equality.

“That is what change means for Barack the Redistributor: It means taking your money and giving it to someone else,” he told a crowd of around 2,000 at a sports hall in Dayton, Ohio.

In Cleveland earlier, McCain said: “Today he claims he’ll tax the rich; but we’ve seen in the past that he’s been willing to hit people squarely in the middle class.”

Obama’s camp responded swiftly, rejecting McCain’s comment over wealth redistribution as a “false, desperate attack,” as the candidate tarred the Republican with the taint of President George W. Bush’s economic policies.

“I can take one more week of John McCain’s attacks, but this country can’t take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It’s time for something new,” Obama said both in Ohio and Pennsylvania Monday.

The challenge facing McCain was underlined by his choice this late in the game to head to North Carolina, which has not voted for a Democratic White House hopeful since 1976 but is now a raging battleground.

Virginia is an even deeper shade of Republican “red,” having last backed a Democrat for the presidency way back in 1964. But Obama has a double-digit poll lead there, and is hoping the forecasts could portend a landslide in his favour.

The Republican was to address an evening rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, home of the vast Fort Bragg army base, as the former Vietnam prisoner of war hammers Obama as unfit to serve as commander-in-chief.

“I have fought for you most of my life, and in places where defeat meant more than returning to the Senate,” McCain said in Dayton.

“There are other ways to love this country, but I’ve never been the kind to back down when the stakes are high.”

Jamaat registration stalled: Objection raised

bdnews24.com

The Election Commission's scrutiny committee has taken into cognizance a raft of objections against registering Jamaat-e-Islami as a party, and will not move ahead with the registration process until a hearing has been held.

"A file has been sent to the commission recommending the hearing Jamaat and the organisations that have raised objections," EC joint secretary and chief of the scrutiny committee Nurul Islam Khan told bdnews24.com. Those who have raised objections will be heard separately. "The timeline for the hearing will be given after the EC's decision is available," he said, adding that it would likely be completed in a few days.

Replying to a question, Khan said Jamaat would not be registered until the hearing was concluded.

Seven separate statements of objection have been submitted to the Election Commission against registration of Jamaat, by the Sector Commanders Forum and the War Crimes Facts Finding Committee among others.

In a letter submitted to the chief election commissioner Monday, SCF gave a six point statement to the chief election commissioner, including the point that the Bangladesh Constitution clearly mentions that there can be no political party with the word Islam as a part of its name. The SCF statement said Jamaat was deceiving the people by using the 'Islami' as a part of its name.

WCFFC, formed to probe atrocities during the 1971 liberation war, also submitted an objection to the EC, saying Jamaat had been pursuing politics over a long period illegally and unconstitutionally as a branch of a foreign party and organisation, with party leaders involved in inhuman actions, war crimes and genocide during the liberation war through loyalty to Pakistan.

Another five objections against Jamaat's registration were submitted with the EC on Monday by JSD-backed Bangladesh Chhatra League, Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, Sammilito Sanskritik Jote and Bangabandhu Sanskritik Jote and a group of private individuals.

Jamaat, an ally of BNP, applied for registration on Oct 20.

The EC published a notice seeking objections against BNP's registration on Tuesday.

Eleven parties, including Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party, have received the all-clear for registration by the EC, barring objections.

The EC's registration work is scheduled to be completed by Oct 30.

The scrutiny committee has said it is collecting information from the field level for most of the 107 parties that have applied for registration.

The EC also held a meeting Tuesday with top officials of the home, foreign affairs and information ministries on visas for foreign election observers

Election officials say two-month visas and 15-day visas will be issued for long term and short term observers respectively.