BNP's nationwide protest Wednesday

Dhaka, Apr 30 opposition BNP has announced countrywide protest programme on Wednesday as it completed its two consecutive days of nationwide general strike demanding 'release' of the missing leader M Ilias Ali on Monday.

BNP's joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a press conference at the party's Naya Paltan headquarters said the next course of agitation would be announced from Wednesday's demonstration.

Last week, the main opposition had observed general strike for three consecutive days over the same demand.

Rizvi also condemned filing of cases against the opposition leaders allegedly over hurling of homemade bombs at the Secretariat and setting a vehicle ablaze in front of the prime minister's office during the Sunday's general strike.

He urged the government to withdraw the cases, which he termed 'baseless.'

The cases filed were filed with Shahbagh and Tejgaon police stations accusing 18-party coalition leaders including BNP's acting secretary general Mirza Fkhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP leaders Khandkaer Mosharraf Hossain, Sadeq Hossain Khoka, ASM Hannan Shah, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Aman Ullah Aman, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Mahbub Uddin Khokon, LDP president Oli Ahmad, BJP chairman Andalib Rahman Partha, NPP chairman Sheikh Shawkat Hossain Nilu and Jagpa president Shafiul Alam Prodhan.

Ilias Ali and his driver Ansar Ali have been missing since Apr 18. The government has been denying the main opposition's claim that the government kidnapped the leader.

The first phase of agitation in protest against the leader going missing was observed by the BNP alone. The 18-party coalition jointly enforced the second phase of agitation which ended on Monday.

Fakhrul, Rizvi, Oli sued for violence

Online Report

Two cases have been filed against BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, LDP President Oli Ahmed and several other leaders and activists of the 18-party alliance for Sunday's violence.

Meanwhile, BNP leader Kamruzzaman Ratan, accused in both cases, was placed on a three-day remand on Monday. Nearly two hours into the filing of the cases, police arrested him at Mouchak around 1:00am Monday.

Of the cases, one was filed with Tejgaon Police Station for torching a vehicle near the Prime Minister’s Office while the other with Shahbagh Police Station in connection with the 'bomb' blast in the Bangladesh Secretariat during Sunday’s hartal hours.

Tejgaon police filed the vehicle torching case against 43 leaders and activists of BNP-led 18-party alliance around 11:00pm Sunday.

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, party Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, party lawmaker Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anny, BNP leader Mirza Abbas and the chief of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are accused in both the cases.

Shahbagh police filed the blasts case nearly at the same time accusing 28 leaders and activists of the 18-party alliance.

Detective Branch (DB)of police picked up BNP leader Kamruzzaman Ratan from in front of Desh television office around 1:00am, Additional Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman, in-charge of Media and Community Service of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star Monday morning.

Ratan was shown arrested in the two cases, the ADC said.

The BNP leader was arrested when he was returning home after taking part in a talk-show on a private television channel, sources said.

In his immediate reaction after the cases were filed, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the cases were filed as a part of a conspiracy to harass them.

Rizvi was addressing a press briefing at the party central office in the morning in the awake of the situation.

He also came down heavily on the government for the cases and demanded immediate withdrawal of those.

Two 'bombs' went off -- one in front of the home ministry and another on a road adjacent to the Bangladesh Secretariat -- during the hartal enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance on Sunday to protest the government's 'failure to return' BNP leader M Ilias Ali.

The home ministry official said two youths riding a motorbike came to the spot from the High Court area and hurled two 'bombs' around 3:30pm, creating panic among the home ministry officials and pedestrians.

However, none was injured in the explosions.

On the other hand, two buses were torched Sunday evening -- one at Gulistan at about 7:30pm and another near the Public Service Commission office adjacent to the Prime Minister's Office around 8:30pm. No casualty was reported.

Ilias' wife wants to meet PM

Dhaka, Apr 30 Rushdir, wife of missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali, has asked for a scope to meet prime minister Sheikh Hasina as 13 days have passed since her husband went missing.

In a press briefing at her residence in Banani on Monday morning, Tahsina said, "My children are facing uncertainty and insecurity. I can't even send them to school. I want my husband back at any cost."

"If the prime minister allows, I want to meet her with my family."

Tahsina said the law enforcers were becoming less helpful in finding out her husband. "It has been three days since the officials investigating the case last spoke to me. Since then nobody from any law enforcing agencies contacted me."

Ilias' two sons and daughter were with Tahsina during the briefing.

The 18-party opposition alliance led by BNP is enforcing two daylong shutdowns on Sunday and Monday demanding 'return' of Ilias Ali, one of the party's organising secretaries and chief of its Sylhet chapter. The opposition enforced three consecutive general strikes since Apr 22 over the same demand alleging 'government agencies abducted' Ilias. Meanwhile, the government continues its claim that it was 'an opposition sponsored drama' to create an issue.

Ilias went missing along with his driver past midnight on Apr 17. His abandoned car was found from Mohakhali in the capital.

Cash-scandal driver does not turn up

Dhaka, Apr 30 Ali Azam the driver of the car that Border Guard Bangladesh personnel caught while reportedly carrying an unaccounted for Tk 7 million cash did not appear before a probe body formed to investigate the incident.

The probe body advertised in the newspapers and sent notices to the residence of Azam, asking him to appear before it on Monday for questioning.

The driver Azam has been missing since the night of Apr 9 when BGB reportedly recovered the money from the car carrying former railways minister Suranjit Sengupta's assistant personal secretary Omar Faruq Talukdar and two railway officials

The cash-scandal led to the suspension of railways east zone general manager Yusuf Ali Mridha and railways police Dhaka commandant Enamul Haque. APS Faruq was fired while Suranjit stepped down from his position as railways minister following the incident.

Anti Corruption Commission initiated an investigation into the incident.

On a question whether a fair probe would be possible without having the driver's statement, acting railways minister Obaidul Qader said, "The probe body is working. If it fails to deal with it, we will take next step. But first we have to let them complete their investigation."

He said ACC was probing the incident and it was the most credible institution for conducting an investigation into such incidents.

The minister made the comments after holding a meeting with foreign affairs deputy minister of Belarus Sergei F. Aleinik at the railway building.

He informed that Belarus has expressed its eagerness to help Bangladesh with their modern technology in developing communications and railways infrastructure.

False cases won't stop agitation: BNP

Dhaka, Apr 30 The opposition BNP on Monday claimed the cases filed against the top-level leaders of the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance are politically motivated.

"The government has filed the cases out of ill-motive just to divert attention from Ilias Ali's abduction," party's standing committee member Moudud Ahmed told a press briefing at BNP chief Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office reacting to the filing of cases.

Police on Sunday night filed cases against several leaders of the opposition alliance including BNP's acting secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and A S M Hannan Shah over the bomb blasts at the Secretariat, and vandalism and torching of vehicles in front of the Prime Minister's Office during Sunday's nationwide general strike.

Demanding withdrawal of the cases, Moudud threatened to intensify agitation on the streets.

He said, "Top-level leaders of a major political party of the country cannot be linked to incidents like arson of vehicles and bomb blasts, and they were not related."

The opposition alliance enforced two-day countrywide daylong shutdown on Sunday and Monday. It observed general strike for three consecutive days last week demanding 'return' of M Ilias Ali, one of the party's organising secretaries and chief of its Sylhet chapter.

The former law minister also asked the accused BNP leaders to go to the Supreme Court to secure anticipatory bail. "False cases won't be able to thwart the movement. We are going to the Supreme Court after this press meet."

Former Supreme Court Bar Council president Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Khaleda Zia's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan and her special assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas were also present at the briefing.

He claimed, "Ilias and his driver were abducted to divert people's attention from the cash scandal of Suranjit Sengupta. And now, these two cases have been filed to thwart the movement for Ilias' return."

He also said these cases were another example of the government's act of repression over the opposition.

Asked about the acting secretary-general Fakhrul's whereabouts, Moudud said, "We know that he could not reach the party's Naya Paltan office as police have cordoned it off."

Fakhrul would always be present at the party headquarters during all previous shutdowns. But he was conspicuously absent on Monday. Police did not find him even at his Uttara residence during a raid in the early hours on Monday.

Dipu Moni flies to Kolkata

Dhaka, Apr 29 Foreign minister Dipu Moni has left for Kolkata on Sunday to receive the prestigious Mother Teresa award.

"She left in a Biman flight at 11:00 in the morning," public relations officer of the foreign ministry Monirul Islam Kabir told bdnews24.com.

Dipu Moni has been nominated for the award for 'social work and administration'.

The Bangladesh foreign minister does not have any scheduled meeting with the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. However, foreign ministry sources do not reject the possibility of a unscheduled meeting between the two.

Bangladesh and India failed to strike an interim water sharing deal for the Teesta River during Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit last year due to Mamata Banerjee's 'strong reservation'.

Dipu Moni is scheduled to back on May 1.

OC Helal denied bail again

Online Report

Md Helal Uddin, former officer-in-charge of Khilgaon Police Station, has been denied bail once again in a case over the torture of Dhaka University student Abdul Kadar in custody.

He is also accused of falsely implicating the youth in several criminal cases including robbery and carjacking.

Judge Mohammad Zahurul Haque of Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court in Dhaka turned down the bail petition on Sunday when Helal’s lawyer filed a criminal appeal against the lower court rejection order.

On April 9, the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate denied him bail.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Mizanur Rahman sent Helal to prison on the latter's surrender in a case filed against him with the police station on January 23.

Kadar, a student of DU biochemistry and molecular biology department, filed the case in line with recommendations of a law ministry probe committee and a HC order.

Helal was sent to jail on April 2 when he surrendered before the court.

D-8 secy-gen due on May 1

Dhaka, Apr 29 (bdnews24.com) – The secretary general of D-8 Widi A Pratikto is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on May 1 on a four-day visit to review the cooperation that the Bangladesh has with the member countries of the organisation.

"The secretary general will have meetings with ministers of agriculture, foreign, industries, civil aviation and tourism. He will also meet foreign secretary and head of civil aviation authority in Bangladesh," foreign ministry director F M Borhan Uddin told bdnews24.com.

Ankara-based D-8 was formed in 1996 with the objective to strengthen economic cooperation between member states and improve their position in the global economy.

Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Makaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey are the members of the organisation.

"We have identified the areas where cooperation can be extended and now working on mechanism to have deeper engagement," Borhan Uddin said.

Khaleda graft case hearing deferred

Dhaka, Apr 29 (morningnews24.com) – A Dhaka court adjourned hearing on Sunday on the charge-framing against the BNP chief Khaleda Zia, her son Tarique Rahman and four others to July 14.

Judge Mohammad Mozammel Hossain of the Dhaka Special Judge's Court-3 rescheduled the hearing following plea from Khaleda's lawyers Taherul Islam Touhid and Joynal Abedin Mesbah.

The BNP chief's lawyers said Khaleda could not come to the court over security concerns on the first day of the dawn-to-dusk shutdown.

Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, lawyer for Tarique, appeared before the court as the BNP senior vice-chairman has been living abroad.

The other accused are former MP from a Magura constituency Qazi Solimul Hoque, former bureaucrat Kamaluddin Siddiqui, businessman Shorfuddin Ahmed and Mominur Rahman.

Qazi Solimul Hoque and Shorfuddin Ahmed, who had earlier secured bail, were absent at the court. Their lawyers pleaded for more time. The other two accused in the case are absconding.

On July 3, 2008, the ACC filed the case with Ramna Police Station accusing seven, including Khaleda and Tarique of embezzling over Tk 21 million from the Zia Orphanage Trust.

ACC deputy director Harunur Rashid, investigation officer of the case, filed the charge sheet of the case on Aug 5 last year accusing the former prime minister, her elder son and four others.

Bombs explode at Secretariat

Dhaka, Apr 29 (morningnews24.com)—Ridiculing strict security measures during the opposition-sponsored shutdown, two hand bombs exploded inside the Secretariat on Sunday.

There have been no reports of casualties. The bombs exploded around 3:45pm near Gate-2 of the seat of the government, next to Building 8 which houses the home ministry.

Two unidentified youths riding a motorcycle hurled the bombs right in front of law-enforcers on guard and sped away, Dhaka Metropolitan Police's deputy commissioner of Ramna zone Syed Nurul Islam told bdnews24.com

One of the bombs exploded on the boundary wall near Zero Point, while the other went off in the parking lot near the cars of the home minister and the state minister for home.

It fell on the window of Ansar official Ashish Kumar Rai, DC Nurul Islam added.

The incident occurred in presence of hundreds of policemen who were 'dumbfounded' by the attack.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina attended a programme at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the morning and was at the Secretariat until 1pm. The security was heightened in the area due to her presence, which failed to ward off the attackers.

The officials at the Secretariat were frightened by the blast and many were seen leaving early.

A group of activists of the ruling party's student and youth wings, Chhatra League and Juba League, went to the spot from the Awami League office on Bangabandhu Avenue immediately after the incident and carried out a search for the perpetrators.

The BNP-led 18-Party Alliance is enforcing the daylong general strike across the country on Sunday.

The party announced the programme on Saturday afternoon to continue putting pressure on the government to get M Ilias Ali back as the opposition accuses government agencies of 'abducting' him from a Dhaka street on Apr 18.

Ilias, a BNP organising secretary and the Sylhet chapter chief, went missing along with his driver apparently from Mohakhali area from where police recovered his abandoned car.

Vandalism, arson, blasts mark hartal

Vandalism, arson and cocktail blasts took place at different parts of the capital and elsewhere in the country during the dawn-to-dusk hartal for a third consecutive day on Tuesday.

Incidents of police resistance to processions and detention of opposition activists were also reported during the nationwide shutdown demanding that the government trace BNP leader M Ilias Ali and his driver.

The violence happened at different places in the city including Rajarbagh, Agargaon, Mohakhali, Gulshan, Malibagh, Bangla Motor intersection, Karwan Bazar, Dhanmondi and Jatrabari.

Three cocktails went off at Rajarbagh around 8:15am leaving two police personnel injured. Two more cocktails exploded at Maghbazar around 1:30pm while another blast took place near Gulshan crossing in the morning.

In Mohakhali, a section of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) activists brought out a procession in the morning and vandalised five vehicles there. A human hauler was also vandalised in Malibagh railgate area in the morning.

JCD activists of Dhaka University unit also ransacked at least four buses at Bangla Motor intersection around 11:00am.

The pro-hartal pickets also vandalised a vehicle of private television channel Independent on Gulshan Link Road in the morning.

Meanwhile, pro-hartal pickets torched a private car at Karwan Bazar around 7:15am and another stationary minibus near Mahila Polytechnic Institute of Agargaon around 10:15am.

Police also dispersed several pro-hartal rallies in different points of the city including Dhanmondi, Motijheel, Fakirerpool and Kalabagan.

At around 3:45pm, picketers set fire to a human hauler in front of Dhakeshwari temple and beat up the driver mercilessly.

The vehicle was going to Chawk Bazaar from New Market, driver Md Bulbul, 28, told The Daily Star at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Bulbul sustained injuries when the BNP activists numbering 20 to 25 hurled brick bats towards the human hauler.

As soon as he stopped the vehicle, picketers ejected him from the human hauler, beat him up and set it on fire.

In Dhanmondi Road No 1 police dispersed a BNP procession led by former state minister for housing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan around 1:30pm.

The law enforcers also detained two pickets from the procession while another pro-hartal activist was detained during a chase and counter-chase between pro-hartal activists and law enforcers in another part of Dhanmondi.

Four pickets were detained from Mirpur Section - 10 roundabout while they were attempting to set fire to a bus around 11:30am.

In South Jatrabari, a police constable sustained injuries during chase and counter-chase between pro-hartal activists and law enforcers during hartal hour in the morning.

The incident of chase and counter-chase took place when police resisted a procession there.

In protest, the pickets pelted brick chips on the law enforcers, forcing them to fire two blank shots. Constable Anwar Hossain sustained injuries during the clash.

A number of BNP leaders and workers gathered in front of their Nayapaltan central office in the capital since morning. But they could not bring out any procession or held rally due to police obstruction.

Police like the recent hartal days virtually cordoned off the BNP’s main office since 6:00am, the starting time of hartal.

The main opposition BNP and its allies extended the hartal for Tuesday that started on Sunday on the issue of disappearance of Ilias.

Huge contingents of law enforcers are seen patrolling the streets at all key points of the city to maintain law and order during the hartal hours.

The number of passenger buses, CNG-run three-wheeler seen plying in the city streets are more than the last two hartal days.

Rickshaws like other hartal days are found dominating the main thoroughfares of the city.

Meanwhile, the government postponed today's several examinations including Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations due to the hartal.

CHITTAGONG

Police picked up six leaders and activists of city unit Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal including its Senior Joint Secretary Jasmina Khanam and ward councillor Monowara Begum Moni when they tried to bring out a procession at Agrabad around 9:50am.

Besides, police picked up one picket when he and his associates set fire to a CNG-run auto-rickshaw on C&B Road in the port city.

In another incident, the driver of a CNG-run auto-rickshaw sustained severe burn injuries in his face when unknown criminals hurled a cocktail on his vehicle on C&B Road around 10:00am.

“Injured driver, Niaz, is undergoing treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital,” Arefin Jewel, assistant commissioner of Double Mooring zone) told The Daily Star.

Meanwhile, police picked up six other people from Kadamtoli and Chandgaon areas in the city.

RAJSHAHI

At least 14 BNP activists including a ward councillor of Rajshahi City Corporation were detained from different points of Rajshahi city.

The detention was made when a section of BNP activists came in procession and started to vandalise the building of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries around 10:30am.

Police chased them and picked up several pickets including Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal Rajshahi unit joint secretaries Advocate Rowshan Ara Popy and Anju Ahmed.

Earlier, police also chased another procession led by Nadim Mostafa, president of Rajshahi district BNP, and dispersed it around 8:00am near the fire brigade intersection.

Police also dispersed another procession chasing it in the city’s Kazirganj area around 6:30am.

MUNSHIGANJ

Police picked up three pickets when they were blocking road by torching tyres on Bank Chattar in the town, said Ismat Ara, duty officer of Sadar Police Station.

DINAJPUR

At least 20 people were injured and 10 motorcycles were burnt to ashes during a clash between BNP-Jamaat activists and Awami League men in Chirirbandar upazila of Dinajpur on Tuesday.

Witnesses said the incident took place when the AL men brought out an anti-hartal procession at Raniganj Bazar in the upazila and confronted the BNP activists.

The BNP-Jamaat activists attacked the AL activists, prompting the clash that ended with the injuries and arson.

BACKGROUND

M Ilias Ali, a former lawmaker and now Sylhet Division organising secretary of the party, and his driver went missing around midnight of April 17.

On Wednesday, police found Ilias's private car abandoned near his Banani residence in the capital and that day BNP called a dawn-to-dusk hartal for Sunday.

After wrapping up Sunday's hartal, the BNP and its allies extended the shutdown for Monday.

In the same way, on Monday the hartal was extended for Tuesday.

NARAYANGANJ

Police detained five pickets after opposition activists brought out a procession in Narayanganj around 9:00am in support of the general strike.

NARSINGDI

Police obstructed a procession led by Khairul Kabir Khokon, BNP Narsingdi district president, at Chinishpur in support of the shutdown.

The agitated pickets then damaged a CNG-run auto-rickshaw and burnt tyres on the road in front of Titas Gas office at Chinishpur.

US concerned at Ilias disappearance

The United States on Tuesday expressed concern over the disappearance of BNP leader M Ilias Ali and called on all sides to work together to find him out.

“First of all I join everyone the concern of disappearance of anyone. It may be to anyone and it is violation of basic human rights,” said US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena.

Replying to a question, he said, “This is a frightening experience not for the person but also for the families.”

The US diplomat was talking to a selected group of journalists at his Gulshan residence in the afternoon.

RAB raid Dhaka houses for Ilias

Dhaka, Apr 24 Action Battalion (RAB) personnel raided two residences in Dhaka on Monday night to find the 'missing' BNP leader M Ilias Ali.

However, the late night hunt around the capital failed to turn up any leads, spokesperson commander M Sohail told bdnews24.com. He declined to specify whose houses they raided.

"The raids were based on tip-off. We are actively searching for Ilias Ali," he added.

Ilias Ali, one of the organising secretaries of BNP and the chief of the party's Sylhet chapter, went missing last Wednesday. Law enforcers recovered his abandoned private car from Mohakhali.

His wife Tahsina Rushdir Luna filed a general diary with police and a petition with the High Court.

RAB personnel raided four residences at Gazipur's Pubail on Apr 21 based on a tip-off from Luna. However, they did not find any lead on the missing leader in the three-hour long forage.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker told bdnews24.com : "A number of RAB and DB [Detective Branch] are working separately on the case. We are continuing our attempts to rescue him."

The BNP has enforced day-long countrywide shutdowns for three consecutive days since Sunday alleging that the government had a hand behind Ilias's disappearance.

IO gets permission to exhume Sagar-Runi’s bodies

A Dhaka court on Tuesday granted permission to the investigation officer to exhume the bodies of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and his wife Meherun Runi for second autopsy.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Bikash Kumar Saha passed the order after Assistant Superintendent of Police Abu Zafar, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the petition to his court in the morning.

After the court sent the matter to the Dhaka district magistrate Monoj Kumar Roy on Tuesday to take next course of action, he assigned executive magistrate Md Shahiduzzaman to take necessary steps for exhuming the bodies.

The executive magistrate will now fix a date for exhuming the bodies.

Sagar, news editor of private TV station Maasranga, and Runi, a senior reporter of another TV channel ATN Bangla, were killed in the small hours on February 11 at their rented apartment in the capital's West Razabazar.

Earlier on April 18, the High Court expressed frustration over the Detective Branch's failure in identifying the killer(s) of the journalist couple and ordered to shift the case to Rapid Action Battalion (Rab).

Khaleda threatens 'tougher movement'

Dhaka, Apr 24 After three days of general strike, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has threatened to launch a fresh agitation from Sunday if the government fails to trace missing party leader Ilias Ali and his driver by Saturday.

"Ilias and the driver of his car must be back within Apr 28. Otherwise, we will have to launch a tougher agitation once again," Khaleda told a press conference on Tuesday.

She also announced that the party would hold protest rallies across the country on Thursday and processions on Saturday to protest the disappearance of Ilias.

France election: Hollande takes lead into second round

He won 27.1% of the vote, while his Socialist rival Francois Hollande took 28.6%, the first time a sitting president has lost in the first round.

The two men will face each other in a second round of voting on 6 May.

Third-place Marine Le Pen took the largest share of the vote her far-right National Front has ever won, with 18%.

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says Mr Hollande's narrow victory in this round gives him crucial momentum ahead of the run-off in two weeks' time.

Analysts suggest Mr Sarkozy, leader of the ruling centre-right UMP, will now need to woo the far-right voters who backed Ms Le Pen if he is to hold on to the presidency. But Mr Hollande remains the front runner.

Mr Sarkozy began reaching out to Ms Le Pen's voters on Monday, saying "there was this crisis vote that doubled from one election to another - an answer must be given to this crisis vote".

Around one in five people voted for the National Front candidate, including many young and working class voters, putting her ahead of seven other candidates.

Whereas Francois Hollande can tack to the centre, President Sarkozy must appeal to the right”

How many debates?

The election has been dominated by economic issues, with voters concerned with sluggish growth and rising unemployment.

Ms Le Pen, who campaigned on a nationalist, anti-immigration platform, said she would wait until May Day next week to give her view on the second round.

She told jubilant supporters that the result was "only the start" and that the party was now "the only opposition" to the Left.

Opinion polls taken after voting on Sunday suggested that between 48 and 60% of Le Pen voters would switch to backing Mr Sarkozy in the second round.

But pollsters also predict a large abstention rate in the second round.

The BBC's Europe editor Gavin Hewitt says the result revealed a dissatisfaction and restlessness in France, creating political volatility. The elites are despised, the economic future is feared and there is insecurity, he says.

Nearly a fifth of voters backed a party - the National Front - that wants to ditch the euro and return to the franc.

But polls suggest Mr Hollande will comfortably win the second round.

As the results came in, he said he was "best placed to become the next president of the republic" and that Mr Sarkozy had been punished by voters.

"The choice is simple, either continue policies that have failed with a divisive incumbent candidate or raise France up again with a new, unifying president," Mr Hollande said.

It is the first time a French president running for re-election has failed to win the first round since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958.

Mr Sarkozy - in power since 2007 - said he understood "the anguish felt by the French" in a "fast-moving world".

He called for three debates during the two weeks to the second round - centring on the economy, social issues, and international relations.

Mr Hollande promptly rejected the idea. He told reporters that the traditional single debate ahead of the second round was sufficient, and that it should "last as long as necessary".

Sohel Taj resigns from parliament

Online Report

Former state minister for home Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj relinquished his membership of parliament on Monday.

Abu Kawsar, assistant personal secretary of Sohel Taj, submitted the resignation letter to the speaker’s office around 10.25 in the morning.

Md Shamim, an official of the speaker’s office, received the letter from the APS.

This is for the first time in the country’s history a ruling party lawmaker resigned from his post.

In the letter, Taj said, “My constituency is Gazipur-4 (Kapasia). I am submitting my resignation letter to you (speaker) under section 67 (2) of Bangladesh Constitution.”

His resignation came almost three years after he resigned from the post of state minister for home.

Taj, the only son of the country's first prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad, resigned as the state minister for home on May 31, 2009, five months after the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance government assumed office.

He sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 1 according to the Constitution.

But no gazette notification was issued on his resignation.

Talking to The Daily Star, Taj recently demanded that the government issues a gazette notification in this regard, as he thinks his dignity and image of the government as well as the prime minister have been tarnished for not doing so.

Two dead in Biswanath clashes

Dhaka, Apr 23 persons died as people of Biswanath upazila, the constituency of missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali, clashed with law enforcers once again on Monday, police said.

The violent demonstrations that continued for over two hours from around 2pm also left over 50 people including 10 policemen injured.
Police could not immediately confirm the identity of the victims, one of them aged 22.

Sylhet district police superintendent Shakhawat Hossain said the body was found in the field adjacent to Jamiya Madania Mosque beside the Upazila office premises after the clash.

He said the body was sent to M A G Osmani Medical College and Hospital, Sylhet for an autopsy.

The news of the second death was confirmed as the body was taken to the hospital, Hossain added.

bdnews24.com's Sylhet correspondent quoting police and witnesses said several thousand people from seven to eight villages including Ramdhana of Olongkari union, the home of Ilias Ali, marched towards Biswanath Police Station minutes after 2pm. They were armed with bamboo sticks and sharp weapons.

Police intercepted the marauding mob when it reached the Upazila complex, triggering a clash with the villagers.

The clash turned the area into battlefield as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse the mob which pelted brickbats and stones in retaliation. Around 20 people were injured during the clash.

During the clash, the mob set several roadside tea stalls ablaze. They also vandalised more than a hundred shops in the Upazila complex.

"Police were forced to fire over a hundred rounds of bullets and tear gas shells to bring the situation under control," said Biswanath Police Station officer-in-charge Chan Miah, who was among the injured.

He was admitted to the Sylhet hospital while others received treatment at the Upazila health complex.

Two platoons of Borger Guard Bangladesh were deployed in the Upazila following the clashes.

On Sunday, the first day of the shutdown, about 50 people including nine policemen were injured when villagers of Ramdhana tried to besiege the police station. Police arrested 14 demonstrators.

Since morning, local Awami League leaders took position at every intersection in the Upazila headquarters alongside police to prevent BNP activists from staging demonstrations.

At Kanaighat upazila, Awami League and BNP supporters clashed, leaving 10 people injured. Ten shops and several other vehicles were vandalised during the clash.

The clash erupted when two processions, one taken out in support of the strike and the other against it, ran into each other at Uttarbazar.

Kanaighat Police Station officer in-charge Rafiqul Islam said police charged baton to tame the protestors.

Selima Rahman, 14 others held in city

Online Report

At least 15 BNP leaders and activists including BNP Vice-chairman Selima Rahman were detained during the countrywide daylong shutdown for second straight day on Monday.

Ten BNP women activists including BNP leader Selima Rahman were picked up from capital's Gulshan area when they brought out a procession there.

Police also detained three people from in front of BNP's main office in Nayapaltan and two from Central Shaheed Minar premises.

No major incident of violence was reported in the capital or elsewhere in the country when the opposition and its alliance-called hartal passed seven hours.

Meanwhile, unknown perpetrators hurled a cocktail in front of Bangladesh Bank around 11:30am in Motijheel and another cocktail went off in Fakirerpool area around 9:00am. None was injured in the incidents.

Unknown criminals torched a minibus in the city's Chankharpool area around 7:30am while a BRTC bus was vandalised in Motijheel, the commercial hub of the capital.

On the other hand, several BNP lawmakers including MK Anwar, Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anne and Syeda Asifa Ashrafi Papia brought out a procession and held two rallies on the parliament premises in the morning.

During the first rally held around 9:30am, MK Anwar claimed that M Ilias Ali has been disappeared for raising his voice against various national issues.

In Mohakhali, Bangladesh Chhatra League activists along with law enforcers chased and dispersed a procession brought out by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal activists of Titumir College unit at Wireless Gate around 9:20am.

In the meantime, activists of ruling Awami League's student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League brought out an anti-hartal procession holding books and notebooks high demanding an end to the hartal that impedes academic activities countrywide.

Opposition activists could not take to the street in front of its Nayapaltan main office in the capital due to police obstruction.

Police, like the recent hartal days, virtually cordoned off the BNP’s main office since 6:00am, the starting time of hartal.

The main opposition BNP and its allies announced the hartal on Sunday after wrapping up a 24 hours hartal on Ilias issue.

Huge contingents of law enforcers are seen patrolling the streets at all key points of the city to maintain law and order during the hartal hours.

Exceptionally a number of passenger buses, CNG-run three-wheelers and motorcycles are seen plying on the main city streets while private cars stay off the roads.

Rickshaws are found dominating the main thoroughfares of the city which is usual in hartal days.

No long-route buses left the city terminal since the morning. The train and launch services however remain normal.

All educational institutions, business establishments, most shops and shopping malls besides the major thoroughfares remained closed. However, the government offices remain opened.

Meanwhile, the government postponed today's Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations due to the hartal.

The incidents of minor violence reported from Sylhet, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Bogra and Sirajganj.

CHITTAGONG

At least 19 people including Monwara Begum Moni, a ward councillor of Chittagong City Corporation, was picked up in the port city.

The arrestees include nine Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal activists.

Police picked up the women activists from Ispahani intersection around 10:30am while the remaining was detained from Kalamia Bazar of the city.

RAJSHAHI

At least 16 people including a police constable were injured in separate clashes in Rajshahi city, our Rajshahi correspondent reports.

Pro-hartal activists also set fire to a CNG-run three-wheeler at Meher-chandi area of the city around 7:00am.

The incident of chase and counter-chase took place in Ambagan area of the city when police charged truncheons and fired tear gas canisters to disperse a rally led by city BNP unit President Mizanur Rahman Minu around 8:00am.

Police arrested three BNP activists from the spot.

At least 15 BNP men were injured when law enforcers charged batons and beat them indiscriminately while they were returning to the Rajshahi College after holding a rally in support of the hartal.

BOGRA

Bogra police Sunday night arrested 14 BNP activists for their alleged involvement with pro-hartal activities, reports our correspondent.

Md Arifur Rahman Mandol, Assistant Superintendent of Police (circle A) of Bogra however denied the allegation saying that the arrest was made for their involved with several criminal cases in compliance with a court order.

Bogra district BNP organising secretary Md Shaha Alam told The Daily Star that police arrested the activities from several areas of Shibganj upazila.

Meanwhile, Shibgonj police said one Shakul Miha and three other BNP activists were arrested for their alleged link with torching a rice-laden truck during Sunday's hartal hours in the upazila.

SIRAJGANJ

Police picked up Al-Amin Hossain, organising secretary of Jubo Dal Sirajganj district unit, and Abdur Razzak, a BNP activist, when they were picketing at Jublibagan in the town and Shialkot in Sadar upazila respectively in the morning.

BACKGROUND

M Ilias Ali, a former lawmaker and now Sylhet Division organising secretary of the party, and his driver went missing around midnight of April 17.

On Wednesday, police found Ilias's private car abandoned near his Banani residence in the capital and that day BNP called a dawn-to-dusk hartal for Sunday.

Sunday’s countrywide hartal was observed without any major incidents.

BNP calls fresh hartal for Tuesday

Online Report

BNP will enforce a dawn-to-dusk hartal on Tuesday for a third consecutive day for getting back its missing leader M Ilias Ali and his driver.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting secretary general of the main opposition party, on Monday also vowed to continue their movement until the two are found.

The BNP leader announced the new programme at a press briefing around an hour before the end of second's daylong hartal on Monday.

Former lawmaker and BNP Organising Secretary (Sylhet Division) M Ilias Ali along with his driver remain missing since Tuesday night.

The main opposition BNP claimed that government agencies have picked them up to make them disappear.

Sunday's hartal was announced on Wednesday after Banani police recovered the abandoned car of Ilias near his Banani home in the capital.

They found the driver's mobile phone on the passenger seat with the car’s doors flung wide open.

Earlier on Thursday, BNP observed a hartal in Sylhet division on the same issue.

Abducted baby girl rescued in capital

Online Report

Police rescued the seven-month-old baby girl from the capital’s Mirpur area on Sunday, a day after she was abducted by robbers from her Khilgaon residence.

Kazi Wazed Ali, officer-in-charge of Mirpur Police Station, said a housemaid first saw Maysha on a stair landing when she went out of the ground floor of a building at Dakshin Paikpara hearing a baby’s cry.

On information, police rescued Maysha from the four-storied building around 12:30pm, the OC said.

The mobile number of Maysha’s father was written on the infant’s vest, the OC said. It was also written that ‘if find, send the baby to Khilgaon Police Station’.

A gang of robbers abducted Maysha, daughter of one Shah Alam, and took away gold ornaments and money in cash from their Khilgaon house Saturday night.

Burma's NLD not to attend re-opening of parliament

Ms Suu Kyi was among 43 MPs elected from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in by-elections in April.

They want to swear to "respect", rather than "safeguard" the constitution, which they say is undemocratic.

The constitution was drawn up by Burma's former military junta.

"Only after the wording in the oath has been changed, will we be able to attend the parliament," Ohn Kyaing, NLD spokesperson and newly-elected MP, told BBC Burmese.

Burma has begun political and economic reforms in the past year, since a civilian-led government ended nearly 50 years of direct military rule.

Military dominance

But this constitution was introduced by the military administration in 2008 and it allocates 25% of seats in both houses of parliament and the state assemblies to the army.

The army and its proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) still hold about 80% of seats in parliament after elections in November 2010 that were boycotted by the NLD because of election laws they said were unfair.

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Bangkok says that the NLD is taking this stand as a point of principle.

Aung San Suu Kyi has long argued that constitution is undemocratic partly because of the way it preserves a central political role for the armed forces.

But given the dominance of the military-backed party in parliament, change may be difficult to achieve, our correspondent says.

A similar change in the wording had to be made to the political registration law in order for the NLD to be able to take part in the latest by-elections. They were the first elections the NLD competed in since 1990.

Our correspondent adds that it remains to be seen whether this is a political or bureaucratic oversight, but until that change is made the NLD says it will not take up any seats. For the moment there is no easy way out of the impasse, she says.

The announcement comes just one day after Japan agreed to write off more than $3.7bn (£2.29bn) of debt owed by Burma and to resume development aid. The accord came at talks in Tokyo between the countries' leaders.

Thein Sein's visit to Japan also comes as EU nations prepare to ease sanctions.

According to diplomatic sources, an announcement about the suspension of sanctions - with the exception of the arms embargo - is expected on Monday.

The US and Australia have already eased some sanctions on Burma following the political reforms.

No progress in Ilias' missing case: police

Dhaka, Apr 22 told a Dhaka court on Sunday that they were yet to make any headway into BNP leader M Ilias Ali's 'missing' case.

The law-enforcing agency admitted its failure in a report to the court of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Muniruzzaman, four days after the BNP organising secretary went missing.

Ali's wife Tahsina Rushdir Luna had filed a general diary with the Banani police on Wednesday after his car was found abandoned in Mahakhali. Following the complaint, the magistrate ordered police to inform the court of the probe progress every 48 hours.

Ali's wife had also sought the High Court's intervention to find her missing husband.

On Saturday, Rapid Action Battalion conducted raids on four houses in Pubail, Gazipur.

RAB officials said they conducted the searches based on a letter given to them by Ilias Ali's wife. They said she was with them during the operations.

Tahsina, however, rejected the RAB claims while speaking to reporters.

The BNP has held the government responsible for the disappearance. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina described the missing incident a 'new drama staged by BNP'.

The BNP spokesperson, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, had threatened to enforce non-stop general strike if Ali was not found.

The main opposition's daylong countrywide strike for Sunday is going on amid reports of sporadic clashes with police.

In Sylhet, police have detained more than 50 BNP activists following violent clashes that left more than 20 people injured.

Meanwhile, several homemade bombs had reportedly exploded in the capital.

Ilias Ali is also BNP's Sylhet unit chief and a former lawmaker

Shutdown stretched to Monday

Dhaka, Apr 22 (bdnews24.com) — The BNP will enforce for a second straight day a daylong countrywide shutdown on Monday to protest the disappearance of the party's organising secretary M Ilias Ali.

The main opposition party's acting secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the announcement at a media call at the Naya Paltan headquarters minutes before Sunday's lockdown was to end.

Fakhrul, who has been threatening the government with a non-stop general strike, said, "I'm telling the government again, return Ilias Ali and his car driver. Otherwise, the protest will be tougher."

"Monday's hartal will also be a 6am-to-6pm one like Sunday," he added.

Ilias Ali, also the chief of Sylhet district chapter, went missing since in the early hours on Wednesday. Police recovered his car, abandoned with doors open, from a street in Mohakhali.

Sunday's shutdown saw law-enforcers clamping down on pickets as sporadic clashes took place around the country. BNP leaders were cordoned off at the Naya Paltan headquarters all day long.

Sylhet, the home of Ilias Ali, had the biggest share of violence between police and opposition pickets leading to 20 people being injured and more than 50 detained.

The main opposition has been alleging the government has 'abducted' Ilias while the government refuted the allegation claiming it is trying it's best to find Ilias, a former MP.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia alleged that Rapid Action Battalion 'abducted' Ilias. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, however, said that Ilias has gone into 'hiding' and BNP is staging a 'drama' over it.

Fakhrul at the press briefing on Sunday said, "Remarks of the prime minister and the government officials have led us to believe that a government agency has abducted Ilias and now they are staging dramas over the issue of returning him."

Meanwhile, RAB on Saturday night raided several suspected houses at Gazipur's Pubail to find Ilias but had nothing to show for.

Apart from Sylhet, situation was normal elsewhere during Sunday's shutdown. Train, launch and plane operations were normal. Long-route buses were at a halt while rickshaws dominated the streets as usual.

Several local-made hand bombs exploded in the capital since the morning, most of them in front of the BNP headquarters.

Bahrain stages F1 Grand Prix despite protests

The race track has been heavily guarded by police, dogs and armoured vehicles to keep activists away.

On Saturday, protests intensified after the body of a Shia man killed in overnight clashes with security forces was discovered on a rooftop.

Many protesters wanted the race to be cancelled, but the government was determined it would go ahead.

West of the capital, Manama, demonstrators have set up barricades of burning tyres.

Witnesses say police have set up checkpoints near the circuit and officers armed with pump-action shotguns are lining nearby roads.

Ahead of the race Bahrain's King Hamad al-Khalifa said that he was committed to reform in the kingdom.

"I also want to make clear my personal commitment to reform and reconciliation in our great country. The door is always open for sincere dialogue amongst all our people," he said in a statement.

His comments came after police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters who took to the streets on Saturday. Many of them had gathered near the village where anti-government demonstrator Salah Abbas Habib's body was found.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague also called for restraint in dealing with protesters.

The protesters are demanding an end to discrimination against the majority Shia Muslim community by the Sunni royal family.

Ahead of Sunday's race, armoured vehicles patrolled the streets to stamp out any demonstrations.

Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, only went ahead with the Grand Prix after the government said it had security under control. The race was eventually won by two-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Last year's Bahraini Grand Prix was cancelled after 35 people died during a crackdown on mass demonstrations calling for greater democracy.

The Bahraini government, headed by the al-Khalifa dynasty, had been keen for this year's race to go ahead to prove it had the 14-month uprising under control.

BBC correspondent Caroline Hawley says that staging the event has had the opposite effect, highlighting the small Gulf state's political problems.

On Friday, Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa said cancelling the Grand Prix "just empowers extremists", and insisted that holding the race would "build bridges across communities".

FIA President Jean Todt said he had no regrets about the race. He said extensive investigations into the situation in Bahrain had unearthed "nothing (that) could allow us to stop the race".

"On rational facts, it was decided there was no reason to change our mind," Mr Todt said.

Shia protesters say going ahead with the race lends international legitimacy to a government that is continuing to suppress opposition with violent means.

Human rights groups and activists estimate that at least 25 people have died since the start of the latest protests, many as a result of what has been described as the excessive use of tear gas.

Hunger strike

Meanwhile, the Danish ambassador visited hunger striker Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja - who also holds Danish citizenship - in hospital on Sunday, Bahrain's BNA news agency said.

It said that the human rights and political activist was in "good health". His family have consistently maintained that he is in a critical condition.

He has been on hunger strike for more than 70 days after being arrested for protesting against the government. He is now reported to be refusing water.

Mr al-Khawaja's daughter, Zeinab al-Khawaja, was also briefly detained amid protests on Saturday afternoon.

The BBC's Bill Law says the visit by the Danish ambassador is fuelling suggestions that Mr al-Khawaja will be stripped of his Bahraini citizenship and sent to Denmark.

1 killed, 4 buses set ablaze

Dhaka, Apr 21 A bus driver has been burnt alive when the bus was torched at Khilgaon in a pre-hartal violence, police said.

Khilgaon police station officer in charge Sheikh Shirajul Islam said that the bus was set on fire in front of Khidmah Hospital around 1;45pm on Saturday. The victim was identified as Badar Uddin, aged 40 years.

Three other buses were also set alight between 1:30pm and 3:00pm at Gulistan intersection, in front of Azimpur's Eden Womens' College and Abdullahpur near Uttara.

The fire at the bus at Gulistan was doused by passers-by, while, the other two were put-off by fire service personnel, fire service control room official Shahzadi Sultana told bdnews24.com.

"We could not immediately find out who set the fires or how they were set," she added.

Colombia scandal claims three more Secret Service jobs

Supervisors David Chaney and Greg Stokes are among three agents already leaving the elite agency in the wake of the affair.

US President Barack Obama was briefed on Friday by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan about the scandal.

It broke as the president arrived for last weekend's Summit of the Americas.

On Friday, a 12th Secret Service employee was placed on administrative leave.

Another member of staff at the agency was cleared by investigators of "serious misconduct", but will face administrative action.

The scandal broke when a dispute between an escort and an agent spilled into the hallway of a beachfront hotel.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Check this out, bodyguard: you're fired!”

Sarah Palin

Up to 20 women were involved in the antics in the city of Cartagena.

A 24-year-old Colombian single mother told the New York Times on Wednesday that an agent had agreed to pay her $800 (£500) for sex, but offered her only $30 the next morning.

Mr Chaney, 48, who was in the international programmes division, will be allowed to retire, but Mr Stokes, an assistant special agent in charge of the K9 division, has been told he will be fired, US media report. A third unnamed employee resigned over the allegations.

Lawrence Berger, a lawyer for Mr Chaney and Mr Stokes, told AP on Friday: "Nothing that has been reported in the press in any way negatively or adversely impacted the mission of that agency or the safety of the president of the United States."

Lawmakers on a congressional panel investigating the scandal had earlier warned more agents would lose their jobs.

Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Reuters news agency: "It would not surprise me if there were within the next few days additional resignations or firings."

Up to 20 women were involved in the antics in the city of Cartagena

A photo on Mr Chaney's Facebook page showed him near Sarah Palin while on her security detail during the former Alaska governor's 2008 vice-presidential run.

A comment apparently posted by him on the page said: "I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?"

Mrs Palin took to Fox News on Thursday to respond.

"This agent who was kind of ridiculous there in posting pictures and comments about checking someone out," she said. "Check this out, bodyguard: you're fired! And I hope his wife sends him to the doghouse."

Eleven military members who were supporting the Secret Service in Colombia are also under investigation: six from the Army, one from the Air Force and two each from the Marines and Navy.

IsAnyoneUp's Hunter Moore: 'The net's most hated man'

He would encourage visitors to his site to "submit noodz" (nudes) of their former girlfriends and boyfriends, as well as details about who the subject was and why they deserved to be featured.

This information would be posted up in full on his site, IsAnyoneUp.com.

As well as the person's full name and location, links to social networks, usually Facebook, would also be included.

Below each post appeared a stream of comments from visitors critiquing - to put it lightly - the victim's looks and body.

If anyone complained, they were ridiculed. If they threatened legal action, Mr Moore ignored it. As many of the site's victims soon discovered, they were largely powerless to do anything about it.

It was enough for many to dub Mr Moore the "most hated man on the internet".

"I love the attention," Mr Moore told the BBC

that everyone would see these pictures”

'Lucy'

"People think I'm completely evil and what I'm doing is completely immoral, but at the end of the day I feel like I'm just educating people on technology.

"As sad as it is, hurting or ruining people's lives as people say, is entertainment for some."

'Laughing stock'

In what has been seen as an uncharacteristic flicker of conscience, Mr Moore announced handing the domain to Bullyville - an anti-bullying social network.

It means, after weeks of worry, people like Lucy (not her real name), a 22-year-old British woman, can now begin to get over their experiences.

A selection of pictures, taken by her and sent to her then-boyfriend, were published alongside a link to her Twitter account.

It didn't take long before the messages and friend requests started to flood in.

"I burst into tears knowing that everyone would see these pictures and I would be a laughing stock," she told the BBC.

"My friends, family and current boyfriend have all seen the images and it's been made extremely embarrassing to go back to work or attend university."

Mr Moore ignored most threats of legal action against his site

Lucy emailed Mr Moore several times to ask for the pictures to be removed. All her requests were ignored.

She turned to her local police force.

"They [did] nothing at all to help with this situation besides saying contact the website, which I have done and still nothing has happened," she said.

The BBC spoke to the police force in question - which we have not named to help protect Lucy's identity. It could not confirm what action, if any, was being taken.

In the US, the FBI's internet crime department told the BBC it was not investigating the site.

Rescue teams working through the night recovered many bodies as well as the jet's flight recorder, officials said.

The Bhoja Air Boeing 737, which had flown from Karachi, crashed on its approach to the airport during a storm.

Grieving relatives of the victims have been gathering at airports in Karachi and Islamabad.

The head of Bhoja Air has been barred from leaving the country pending the outcome of the inquiry, officials said.

The wreckage of the plane has fallen over a number of kilometres but much is concentrated over the small village of Hussain Abad. We still don't know if any villagers have become casualties.

Body parts are spread all over the place - in nearby fields, inside the village, in front of houses, and in the narrow streets. You can see bits of clothing and belongings scattered all over the place.

Rescuers are now trying to collect the body parts and put them into body bags to secure them and take them to hospital. They will eventually help with identification.

The plane came down in the village of Hussain Abad on the outskirts of Islamabad on Friday evening, scattering debris over a wide area. There are so far no reports of villagers being among the casualties.

Pakistani official Capt Arshad Mahmood said there was a heavy thunderstorm with hail as the plane came in to land.

"The weather was very bad. The pilot lost control and hit the ground. It [the plane] tossed up due to the impact and exploded and came down in a fireball," he said.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says some people have also called into question the age of the aircraft and Pakistan's system of regulating air safety.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that Farooq Bhoja, head of Bhoja Air, had been barred from leaving the country as the investigation gets under way.

"It is being said that the aircraft was pretty old, so it has been ordered to investigate thoroughly the air worthiness of the Bhoja Air aircraft," Mr Malik said.

"The causes will be investigated, whether it was any fault in the aircraft, it was lightning, the bad weather or any other factor that caused the loss of precious lives."

The victims are said to include 11 children and a newly married couple.

A Bhoja Air official in Karachi said it was making arrangements to fly one member from each family to the capital.

At Islamabad airport, one man yelled "my two daughters are dead", before slumping to the floor in a state of shock.

The uncle of the sisters, aged 18 and 20, said: "We don't even know when or where we will get to see their bodies."

Bhoja Air is a small commercial airline that started domestic flights in 1993. It suspended operations in 2001 because of financial difficulties but recently re-opened.

In July 2010, an Airblue Airbus A321 crashed as it was about to land in Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board - Pakistan's worst-ever air disaster.

Although Pakistan's air industry has been booming, critics say standards have not always kept pace with the increase in services.

Does the internet breed killers?

Editor's note: Editor's note: Andrew Keen is a British-American entrepreneur and professional skeptic. He is the author of "The Cult of the Amateur," and the upcoming (June 2012) "Digital Vertigo." This is the latest in a series of commentaries for CNN looking at how internet trends are influencing social culture. Follow @ajkeen on Twitter.

(CNN) -- The comment on the Facebook page of the Norwegian tabloid newspaper Verdens Gang last July was unequivocal. "The death penalty is the only just sentence in this case!!!!!!" it said. Written by Thomas Indrebo, the "case" to which the message referred was the meticulously planned mass murder of 77 people in Oslo on July 22, 2011by Anders Behring Breivik.

This week, the Breivik case has finally come to Oslo central criminal court. But Indrebo, who, as it happens, had been selected as a "lay" judge (the Norwegian version of the U.S. and UK jury system), wasn't in court. He had been dismissed for his Facebook comment which the case's presiding judge, Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen, suggested could "weaken trust in his impartiality."

Strangely enough, even Breivik, who posted his murderous intentions on his own Facebook page just before the July rampage, might have agreed with Indrebo's Facebook comment. Speaking in court yesterday, Breivik admitted: "There are only two just and fair outcomes of this case. One is an acquittal, the other is capital punishment."

Breivik's bizarre comment captures the baffling nature of a case that has so far lurched from the grotesque public confessional of a mass murderer to the equally tasteless spectacle of a hatemonger whose racist delusions seem to have been fed, in part at least, by the Internet.

Alleged mass killer shows no remorse

Indeed, virtual networks like Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia and the World of Warcraft seem to offer as good clues as any to why this 32 year-old man should decide one day to blow up and shoot as many fellow Norwegians as he could.

Anders Behring Breivik may or may not be found to be clinically insane. But beneath or beside his madness, there's something about Breivik which captures, in extremis, the increasingly delusional, violent and narcissistic nature of our digital culture.

It would, of course, be crass to blame something as tragic as the mass murder of 77 innocent Norwegians on social media. And yet it would be equally irresponsible to simply ignore these signs and refuse to draw any connection at all between Breivik's troubled personality and the broader culture forces in our electronically networked world.

Firstly, there's his self-evidently narcissistic personality which has enabled him to stand in an Oslo court this week and unselfconsciously boast about what he called "the most sophisticated and spectacular political attack in Europe since World War II." It was this same narcissism, of course, that also generated his 1,500 page "2083 Manifesto" as well as his prolific postings on social media sites like Facebook and YouTube.

Narcissism, of course, wasn't invented by the Internet and it would be absurd to establish a causal connection between self-love and mass murder. That said, however, today's digital media culture -- which shatters the 20th century mass audience into billions of 21st century authors and enables them all to broadcast their most intimate thoughts to the world -- seems to be making narcissism the default mode of contemporary existence. As Stephen Marche notes in an excellent Atlantic cover story this month about Facebook: "Rising narcissism isn't so much a trend as the trend behind all other trends."

Social networks like Facebook are making us lonely, Marche concludes. The more connected we think we are on social media "communities," he argues, the more isolated and atomized we really are becoming. And if there's one self-evident thing on show this week in Oslo's central court, it is the loneliness of being Anders Behring Breivik.

"July 22 wasn't about me. July 22 was a suicide attack. I wasn't expecting to survive that day. A narcissist would never have given his life for anyone or anything," Breivik said this week in court. But the crime, this me-terrorism, was all about him. He can talk all he likes about his association with obscure racist groups like the Knights Templar, but the truth is that Breivik is totally alone. No friends, no fellow conspirators, no girlfriend, no loved ones. Even his father hadn't spoken to him for years.

Then there's Breivik's reliance on the Internet to learn about the world -- a world that he sees in the stark Manichean terms of evil Moslems and communists versus good Norwegian Christians. When asked this week about the greatest influence on his ideology, Breivik's answer was simple. "Wikipedia", he said. That's what most informed his bizarre worldview.

Perhaps part of the narcissist's affection for Wikipedia lies in its over 10,000 word article about him, an entry that describes him as a "terrorist," includes 200 footnotes and is almost as detailed as the Wikipedia entries on Martin Luther or Karl Marx. Indeed, given the "open" nature of the Wikipedia editorial system, who is to say that the self-obsessed Breivik himself hasn't been contributing to his own entry?

Most troubling of all is Breivik's obsession with the multiplayer role-playing World of Warcraft, a violent online game that he played "full-time" between 2006 and 2007. Indeed, one of the few times that he smiled this week was when the image of his World of Warcraft character was displayed in court.

Some apologists for video games have suggested that Breivik's addiction to World of Warcraft "means nothing at all." But they are wrong. Given his absolute absence of remorse over the murders, it's not hard to imagine that this obsession with violent online games has enabled him to somehow virtualize the killing of real people, transforming them from flesh and blood characters into abstractions.

I have to agree with Thomas Indrebo. The death penalty is, indeed, the only just sentence in the Breivik case. That said, however, this case isn't just about a single delusional character. Breivik's obsession with violent online games, his narcissism, his reliance on Wikipedia and Facebook are warnings about how digital media can corrupt our grasp of reality. Breivik may be a worst case scenario, but I fear that there will be more young men like him in future if virtual reality becomes our only reality.

Why social media will reveal French election winner

Editor's note: Alice Antheaume is associate director at Sciences Po School of Journalism, where she investigates new trends in journalism and teaches digital journalism and digital culture. Her website W.I.P. (Work In Progress) covers the digitization of newsrooms and she is a commentator on new media for France 5 TV.

Paris (CNN) -- Can an election be won on social media? That question is being increasingly asked in France, before the first round of the presidential election.

The French are very much online now: 75% of people surf the web while 25 million have Facebook accounts, out of a total population of 66 million, of whom 43 million are voters.

"The truth is that nobody has yet worked out how to change a 'like' on Facebook into a real vote," declared Fleur Pellerin, digital economy adviser for socialist candidate Francois Hollande.

And yet, the 2012 campaign has proved a pivotal moment in political history: for the first time, the Web and social media are part of all candidates' strategy -- from Nicolas Sarkozy (center right) to Hollande (center left), Jean-Luc Mélenchon (far left) to Marine Le Pen (far right) and Eva Joly (Green).

Alice Antheaume

Sarkozy, the incumbent president, is banking on Facebook, the most popular social network in France, where he launched a timeline to show he has been immersed in politics since he was a student. This digital storytelling shows he did not ascend to the state's highest office by chance. His campaign team has also built a smartphone app allowing voters to assess Sarkozy's performance on a "département" (one of 101 metropolitan and regional sub-divisions of France and its overseas territories) to "département" basis.

Meanwhile, frontrunner Hollande has the most popular political Twitter account in France (224,000 followers at the time of writing as opposed to Sarkozy's 157,000).

What is new is the launch of funny websites to tackle the opposition. One satirical video, "kikadiquoi" (who said what?), produced by the UMP and mocking Hollande's choice of words, is one example. In response, the PS (Hollande's party) launched Le Sarkolol, replicating the Memory card game whereby every card turned is a reminder of Sarkozy's alleged involvement in various scandals.

The candidates and their respective campaign honchos are jostling for online exposure to 1. secure visibility 2. mobilize supporters, and 3. bypass traditional media. "Everyone becomes a medium in his own right," Sarkozy said on February 1. In the digital era every politician can broadcast a message through social media without newsrooms' filters. "2012 will see the takeover of the media world by social media. It is a paradigm shift in the relationship between the political world, the media and the citizen," he added.

A paradigm shift perhaps, but one that is still under way. Most French people (74%) still get their news mainly from TV, while the Internet ranks second as a news source for 40% of them.

With the emergence of the Social TV phenomenon, one can see TV and social media now complement each other. Ever since the Socialist Party's primaries, political TV broadcasts have caused a torrent of comments on Twitter, as TV audiences joined up on this huge virtual couch to minutely analyze politicians' statements. TV broadcasts words uttered by candidates while the social media host chats about the candidates' words. And it's on these social networks that judgement on the candidates' credibility will be passed. This is because their promises and the figures they bandy about are fact-checked in real time, by journalists and experts, ensuring a simultaneous and enlightened subtitle service that underlines the politicians' rolling spiel.

To what effect?, one might ask. The candidates, knowing they're under scrutiny, are now so careful when opening their mouths. "My proposals have been commented on, totted up and broadcast by yourselves," Hollande reiterated at his rally in Vincennes on April 15.

But it's impossible to say if social media will change voters' opinions. Those can either watch from the sidelines or get involved in argumentative wars. In most cases, they will remain in their chosen comfort zone, either in adoration or abhorrence of a candidate, within this French bubble, where with a small proportion of them on the extreme right, but significantly fewer still on the right.

So the answer to my opening question: "Can an election be won on social media?" is: in France in 2012, most probably "no". However, the question: "Can social media predict the name of the next French president?" calls for a positive answer. The French media are prohibited by law from giving out the first voting estimates before 8 p.m., when polling stations close in big cities on election night.

Conversely, on foreign French-speaking media and social media, estimates will, in the space of one mouse click, start filtering out from 6.30 p.m. onwards, when those in the know get initial voting trends, from the first 100 ballot papers counted from other polling stations that closed at 6 p.m. While the French media are not allowed to reveal the name of the winner before 8.00 pm that evening, social media by then will probably have had the news posted for over an hour.