Facebook cracks down on fake 'Likes'

San Francisco, Sep 1 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) – Facebook Inc is weeding out fake "Likes" on its social network that are being caused by spammers, malware and black marketeers as it strives to maintain credibility as an advertising platform.
Facebook said the number of Likes, or endorsements by users, on corporate pages is likely to drop by less than 1 percent, on average, after the crackdown.
"Newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes," Facebook said in a post on its official blog on Friday.
"While we have always had dedicated protections against each of these threats on Facebook, these improved systems have been specifically configured to identify and take action against suspicious Likes," the post continued.
Thanks to a growing black market, companies can instantly raise their profile on Facebook by purchasing thousands of Likes at a time - a practice that is forbidden by the No. 1 social network, which has 955 million users.
Many of these Likes come from bogus Facebook user accounts rather than genuine users of the social network.
Meanwhile, various spam-like programs on Facebook deceive users into unwittingly liking something when they perform another action, such as clicking to watch a video.
Facebook said the cleanup will benefit both users and companies that maintain pages on the network, by giving a more accurate measurement of fan count and demographics.
Ensuring the integrity of Likes is serious business for Facebook, which depends on advertising revenue from large brands and other businesses. Many of the ad campaigns that companies conduct on Facebook are designed to garner Likes - a sign that their marketing message has resonated with consumers.
"It's their currency," said Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at research firm Altimeter Group. "Facebook is playing the Federal Reserve, to take the counterfeit currency off the market to ensure that there's quality in the marketplace."
The problem is not unique to Facebook, say analysts, who note that Twitter and Google Inc also grapple with fake accounts, spam and other techniques to game the service.
But for Facebook, the pressure to show that activity on its social network is genuine has grown as concerns have mounted on Wall Street about the company's long-term profit potential.
Shares of Facebook set a new low on Friday, falling as much as 5.3 percent to $18.08, after brokerages cut their price targets on the stock. Facebook has lost more than 50 percent of its market value since its initial public offering in May.
Facebook estimates that 1.5 percent of its users are "undesirable" accounts set up for purposes that violate its terms of service, according to its most recent 10-Q regulatory filing.
"I think what they're intending to do is get a handle on it before it gets really out of control," Brian Blau, an analyst with research firm Gartner, said.
"You can imagine no business wants to pay for advertising to fake accounts."

US can work with China in Pacific: Hillary

Saturday, September 1, 2012 The United States will buttress security partnerships across the Pacific as it strengthens ties with island nations, but also hopes to work more closely with China as Beijing expands its own influence in the region, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.
Clinton arrived in the tiny Pacific outpost of the Cook Islands for this year's Pacific Islands Forum, part of Washington's effort to woo nations across the Asia-Pacific which are increasingly coming under China's shadow.
Clinton told the gathering, which represents 16 independent and self-governing states ranging from Australia and New Zealand to smaller islands such as Tuvalu and Nauru, that the United States was in the region for the long haul.
But she also played down growing perceptions of a US-China rivalry in the region, declaring "the Pacific is big enough for all of us" and dismissing the notion that expanded US activity was "a hedge against particular countries."
"We think it is important for the Pacific Island nations to have good relationships with as many partners as possible, and that includes China as well as the United States," Clinton told a news conference with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.
"We want to see more international development projects that include the participation of China," Clinton said, citing disaster relief, maritime security and preserving bio-diversity.
"We think that there's a great opportunity to work with China and we're going to be looking for more ways to do that," she said.
Despite her softer tone on China -- which comes just four days before she pays a visit to Beijing next week -- Clinton also sought to underscore the benefits of the "American model of partnership" in a region where China has in recent years dramatically stepped up its diplomacy and foreign assistance.
She announced more than $32 million in new US programs on issues ranging from sustainable development, climate change and marine protection.
But Clinton also stressed that the United States plays a crucial security role in the region, noting that the US Coast Guard already has formal partnerships with nine Pacific Island nations and was working to build more as part of a broader "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific.
"All of us have an interest in maintaining peace and security in the Pacific," Clinton said, adding the United States was committed to helping fight illegal and unregulated shipping, patrol fishing grounds, and combat other human trafficking.
In a signal of Washington's security emphasis on the region, US Pacific Command (PACOM) chief Admiral Samuel Locklear also travelled to Rarotonga to hail joint maritime exercises and cooperation on issues such as cleaning up unexploded ordinance left over from the Second World War.
"US PACOM is committed to supporting our Pacific Island partners," Locklear said.
RIVALRY WITH CHINA
Clinton's trip to the South Pacific has spurred some criticism in China, where some commentators accused the United States of seeking to stir up trouble as Beijing's economic and political influence expands.
In recent trips to other regions of the world, most notably Africa, Clinton has sought to contrast the US approach to cooperative economic development with other models such as China's, which focus more on condition-free loans and extractive industries such as mining and timber.
China is also represented at the Pacific forum, with a delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, and Beijing is financing projects across the region including constructing parliament buildings, airports, roads and hospitals and giving out grants for Chinese language instruction.
Clinton depicted these efforts, which some local analysts say appear aimed at building Beijing's influence in multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, as not necessarily at odds with US interests -- although she pointedly noted that sometimes China's methods were open to criticism.
"Here in the Pacific we want to see China act in a fair and transparent way," Clinton said.
The three-day visit by Clinton and the 60-odd person US delegation to the Cook Islands - which is in free association with New Zealand - was a major event for the nation's main island of Rarotonga, which has only about 11,000 people.
"We are encouraged by you and your government's commitment to strengthen the United States government's engagement in our region," Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna said in his welcoming remarks.
Clinton's trip will continue to Indonesia and China next week, where her new conciliatory tone will be put the test in talks expected to focus on rising tensions in the South China Sea where Beijing is at odds with several of its southern neighbors over territorial claims.
Clinton will finish the trip with stops in Brunei and East Timor before heading to the Russian port city of Vladivostok, where she will represent US President Barack Obama at this year's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit of regional leaders.

Fund crunch holds back 8-lane project

Saturday, September 1, 2012Fund crisis has made uncertain the government project to upgrade the busy Jatrabari-Kanchpur stretch of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to eight lanes.
Aimed at easing traffic congestion on the eight-kilometre stretch, the project is estimated to cost Tk 120 crore and scheduled for completion in June next year.
However, little work has been done since floating of tenders in three packages in January, nine months after approval of the project for the now four-lane road.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD), the executing agency, struck a Tk 37 crore contract with Rana Builders in March for widening the three-kilometre stretch from Rayerbagh to Shanarpar under the first package.
Tenders for the two other packages, however, were cancelled in April following allegations of irregularities in the bidding process. Fresh tenders are yet to be floated.
The project was planned to be funded from the public exchequer. But like many other schemes of the communications ministry, it has been dogged by funding crisis.
Project Director Md Mafizul Islam said, “Last year we received only Tk 1 crore, and Tk 5 crore has been allocated for this year. You cannot deliver the project with such a small amount.”
Talking to The Daily Star, he hinted there would be no fresh tenders for the other packages until availability of funds was guaranteed.
The concessionaire, Rana Builders, has been filling earth at the site.
“We have started our job but now we doubt whether we can carry on without money,” said the company's director Masud Rana.
“So far we have received only Tk 1 crore and already spent Tk 7 crore. We can complete our work only if the fund is available in time.”
The project faced an initial hiccup when the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council last year had asked the communications ministry to include walkways on both sides of the road.
But the RHD floated tenders without keeping the provision for walking lanes.

Thousands return home after Philippines quake

Saturday, September 1, 2012 Tens of thousands of people on a central Philippine island returned home on Saturday after a tsunami alert was lifted following a 7.6 magnitude undersea quake, as local authorities began work to repair damages to public infrastructure.
The earthquake 91 miles (146 km) off the town of Guiuan on Samar island on Friday killed one person and caused only minor damage, but prompted the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issued a tsunami warning.
Philippine authorities ordered thousands of people living in coastal villages to evacuate, but on Saturday those that had fled to higher grounds were returning home, said Conrado Nicart, governor of Eastern Samar province.
"We've sent out our engineers and repair teams to inspect roads, bridges and public buildings," Nicart told radio, adding the earthquake caused minor infrastructure damage.
"Our people were reporting cracks on roads and municipal gymnasiums, and approaches on a bridge near Mercedes town were also damaged but remained passable to light vehicles."
The tsunami warning was initially issued for the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea and other islands in the Pacific including the US state of Hawaii.
Small waves of about 16 cm (6 inches) did hit a southern Philippine island, the seismology agency said.
"It was really scary, that was the strongest earthquake I felt in my life," Alice Caba-caba, a 50-year-old mother of four, told Reuters from her small canteen in Guiuan town, saying she was watching television when jolted by the tremor.
"Everything was shaking and falling down. Our television was broken. After the shaking, I gathered my children and we fled to a safer place because our house is near the beach. Everybody was praying, children were crying and all are panicking."
Eastern Samar, a typhoon-prone coconut-growing area facing the Pacific, is one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines. Nearly 90 percent of the sparsely populated towns are along the coast and most of the structures are low-rise buildings.

Honda plans motorbike JV in Bangladesh

Bangalore, Sep 1 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co plans to form a joint venture in Bangladesh as early as this year to produce motorcycles, the Nikkei reported.
Honda used to sell motorcycles in Bangladesh through Indian motorcycle maker Hero MotoCorp Ltd. The Japanese company canceled its tie-up with Hero in 2011, the daily reported.
The venture, with a local business, will set up a low-cost assembly facility with an annual sales target of 10,000 to 20,000 units, the business daily said.
The motorcycles will be built for the local market from components shipped from India and Pakistan, the Nikkei reported.
Annual motorcycle sales in Bangladesh are about 100,000 units, the daily said.

Philippines quake triggers tsunami alert

Friday, August 31, 2012 A 7.6-magnitude undersea quake struck off the eastern coast of the Philippines late Friday, triggering tsunami warnings across the region. At least one house collapsed and power was knocked out in several Philippine cities, local radio reported.
A tsunami alert originally was issued for several countries including Japan and for Pacific islands as far away as the Northern Marianas, but most of them were soon lifted, leaving warnings only for the Philippines, Indonesia and Palau, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
"My neighbors and I have evacuated. We are now on our way to the mountains," fisherman Marlon Lagramado told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the coastal town of Guiwan in the Philippine province of Eastern Samar.
The quake, with preliminary magnitude 7.6, hit at a depth of 34.9 kilometers (21.7 miles) and was centered 106 kilometers (66 miles) east of Samar Island, the US Geological Survey said.
The head of the Philippine seismology agency, Renato Solidum, said that residents living along the coastline of eastern Samar Island were advised to evacuate to high ground in case of the tsunami.
A local radio station reported one houses collapsed in southern Cagayan de Oro city and there was no electricity in several other towns and cities across the central and southern Philippines.

Ex-BJP minister jailed in Gujarat riots case

Ahmedabad, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani was sentenced to 28 years in jail on Friday for murder and conspiracy during one of the country's worst religious riots, when up to 2,500 people, most of them Muslim, were hunted down and hacked, beaten or burnt to death in 2002.
Hundreds of friends and relatives of the 32 people found guilty gathered outside a court in Ahmedabad to hear the sentences, the final step in a years-long case that cast a spotlight on still simmering communal tension in the world's biggest democracy.
Most relatives of the victims of the riots in Gujarat stayed away from the court, a sign that 10 years on, memories of the bloodletting by Hindu mobs still cast a pall of fear over the state's Muslim community.
There were unconfirmed reports that some Muslim shopkeepers had shut their establishments and families had fled the city, fearing retaliatory attacks over the sentences.
Maya Kodnani, an MLA from the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Gujarat minister for women and child development between 2007-2009, was the highest-profile conviction to date in connection with the riots.
The state prosecutor had called for all 32 convicted to face the death penalty, even though India rarely carries out the sentence. All 32 were sentenced to jail, for terms ranging from 14 years to life.
Kodnani's conviction is an embarrassment for both the BJP and Gujarat's high-flying chief minister, Narendra Modi, who is lauded by foreign companies for his business-friendly policies and is often touted as the country's next prime minister.

Golap's march obstructed in Madaripur

Madaripur, Aug 31  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Special Assistant Abdus Sobhan Golap, who is hoping to run from the Madaripur-3 constituency in the next elections, faced a rude obstruction in the district's Kalkini upazila on Friday during his campaign in the area.
Police said a group of unidentified people obstructed Golap and his supporters around 11am in front of the Alinagar Union Parishad office at Kalkini when he was on his way to Enayetnagar union.

Locals claimed that at least five crude bombs were exploded as both groups clashed.
Golap has been running campaigns for the last six months with the hope to run in the next general elections from that seat, which is also the electoral constituency of former minister Syed Abul Hossain MP.
Former Information and Communications Technology Minister Hossain, who was the Communication Minister before the allegations of corruption in the Padma bridge project were raised against him, has been elected from this constituency several times.
Locals said both groups hurled brickbats on each other as the clash began after Golap and his supporters were blocked on their way to Enayetnagar. Five bombs also blasted at one stage of the clash.
Kalkini police OC AKM Shahin Mandal told reporters that police took control of the situation on its arrival.
Three people were injured in the clash while Golap remained unharmed.

Mother, daughter killed in C'nawabganj

Friday, August 31, 2012 A mother and her minor daughter were killed following previous enmity over land at Kumerpara in Chapainawabganj district town early Friday.
The criminals slaughtered Nasima Begum and strangled her four years old daughter Nila to death. sometime at night.
Family sources said Nasima’s father Taimur went to his daughter’s house in the morning as he failed to contact her over phone for a long time and found the two bodies lying on the floor. On information, police recovered the bodies.
AKM Ariful Haq, additional police super of Chapainawabganj said there was a longstanding enmity between Nasima’s expatriate husband Nasiruddin and his elder brother Mujibur over a piece of land. That might be the reason behind the murder, he added.
Police detained two people-Tohara Begum and Humayun- for interrogation.

India releases 50 Bangladeshis

Benapole, Aug 31  Fifty Bangladeshi nationals have returned to their homeland after spending five years in different jails of India for entering the neighbouring country illegally.
They had sneaked into the country through the Benapole land port. They were caught in India's Kashmir, near the border, while on their way to Pakistan.
Benapole Immigration police OC Mohammad Kamruzzaman told bdnews24.com of the returnees, 41 are males, four females and five are children.
"They were caught at the Kashmir border on their way to Pakistan. They were heading there without proper documents hoping to get some good job," he said.
Most of these people are from Sunamganj, Dhaka, Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, Chandpur, Chittagong, Habiganj, Narayanganj and Feni districts. They served four to five years in various prisons of Kashmir.
One of the fifty, Badsha Mia Kalu of Feni, told reporters, "We went to India four years ago hoping for better jobs."
He said each of them paid Tk 20,000 to the traffickers to get them to Pakistan through roads via India. "But we were caught on our way."
Badsha said the Indian police tortured them after they were arrested. Then the court sent them to jail.
The Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association received the returnees at Benapole.
Association's Jessore branch Coordinator Nasima Khatun told bdnews24.com: "They will be kept at a shelter home for now. They will be sent to their families following official procedure."

Biman set to fly into schedule chaos

Dhaka, Aug 31  Chances of regular flight schedule of Biman Bangladesh Airlines plunging into chaos during the Hajj time this year have become near-certain as the country's premier carrier has failed to hire more aircraft to ferry pilgrims.
Biman has decided to ferry at least 50,000 pilgrims itself, which could cause severe disruptions in the regular schedule.
According to the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry-published flight schedule, Hajj flights from Bangladesh will begin on Sept 17 and end on Nov 29.
Biman authorities also admit that the regular flights would have to be slashed during the Hajj season.
Confirming the inability to hire carriers, Biman's Acting Managing Director Mosaddek Ahmed told bdnews24.com: "The regular flight schedule will be pruned a bit for this."
But he declined to speak any further on the issue.
People associated with Biman feel if any flight gets cancelled because of weather or any other reason during curbs on the regular schedule, schedule disaster would not be too far away.
Former Biman Director Qazi Wahedul Alam told bdnews24.com: "The decision (to ferry the pilgrims through own carriers) is going to take Biman to a severe schedule disruption."
"Flights to Delhi, London, Milan and several other countries have already been cancelled. Passengers are unable to buy tickets anymore. The situation can become more unstable in future."
He said Biman should have taken proper preparation beforehand to tackle this situation.

Khaleda threatens AL of replying in befitting manner

Khaleda ZiaStar Online Report

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Thursday threatened the Awami League of replying in a befitting manner.
“We want to go to power through a peaceful and acceptable election. Awami league will have to realise our demand. Otherwise, they will be answered in the same way," she said.
The opposition leader hoped that the BNP will come to power again through a peaceful election under a caretaker government.
The former prime minister was addressing a discussion at Mahanagar Natya Mancha in the capital. Jatiyatabadi Swechhasebok Dal, a front organisation of BNP, organised the meeting to mark its founding anniversary.

Speaker's ruling: Govt to challenge HC verdict

Star Online Report

The government will challenge a High Court verdict over the Speaker’s ruling about an HC judge aiming at resolving the ongoing face-off between the parliament and the judiciary, attorney general’s office sources said.
The government has already instructed the attorney general’s office to file an appeal with the Supreme Court against the verdict by Monday.
The AG office will first seek stay on the HC verdict from the Appellate Division, and then will move for getting a guideline from the apex court on the issue of Speaker’s ruling, according to the sources.
The divergence between parliament and judiciary came to the front anew after the HC in a verdict on August 27 said the Speaker's observations that an HC judge has violated the constitution have no legal effect and are baseless in the eye of law.
A law ministry official wishing anonymity told The Daily Star on Thursday that the ministry is now doing homework to move an appeal against the HC verdict with a view to getting “well thought guidelines” from the apex court about the Speaker’s ruling.
He said that the ministry feels if a decision or guideline on the issue of Speaker’s ruling comes from the Appellate Division, it will be good for the nation.
On Thursday, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told reporters at an occasion in the city that his ministry will take initiative to resolve misunderstanding or conflict, if there is any, between parliament and judiciary.
During a hearing on June 5, Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, an HC judge, observed that the Speaker had committed an offence tantamount to sedition by commenting in parliament on an HC order.
In a ruling on June 18, Speaker Abdul Hamid said an HC judge (Justice Manik) has violated the constitution by making "derogatory remark" about the Jatiya Sangsad and the Speaker.

This bridge will be built: ADB

Dhaka, Aug 30  Director General of South Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Juan Miranda has reasserted the bank's stance as a co-financer in the Padma bridge project and assured of continued support.
"Let me repeat that words that I want in your headline – this bridge will be built," he told journalists following a meeting with Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith at the Secretariat on Thursday.
When asked whether the Manila-based bank would remain on-board for the project, Miranda reassured: "ADB is as of today and as of tomorrow, ADB is a co-financier in this project."
To another query whether the ADB would extend the loan effectuation date, he again said, "This bridge will be built."
The Director General came to Dhaka on Tuesday night on a two-day official trip.
The genesis and further
The Padma bridge project has been in the throes of uncertainty ever since the lead financier, World Bank, cancelled its loan agreement of $1.2 billion for the mega project on June 29 saying it had "credible evidence" of a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials.
On July 31, the ADB and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), who were to provide major chunks of the remaining funds needed for the $2.9 billion project, extended their loan effectuation deadline to Aug 31.
The Asian lender has pledged to provide $610 million, while the JICA would contribute $400 million to the project, and the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank is committed to another $140 million.
Ever since the World bank pulled itself out of the project, the government has been stating that the bridge would be built with own fund, if need be, but the Finance Minister has been trying to persuade the World Bank to return.
On Aug 28, Muhith reiterated his hopes about the global lender getting on board again to finance the ambitious project. "Still, I have time until Aug 31. Don't get frustrated. So far nothing has happened to get frustrated."
Muhith made the observation as newspapers in the last two days had reported that the lending agency would not release the promised fund since all the conditions it had laid down were not fulfilled. It was rumoured that Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Advisor Mashiur Rahman is going to resign as per the bank's demand, but no such evidence is available to date.
After the Washington-based agency raised allegations of corruption last year, it gave the government some conditions for checking corruption in the project. As those remained unmet, it pulled out of Bangladesh's largest infrastructure project.
In the wake of controversy over the allegation of corruption, former Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain resigned in July last year and former Bridges Division Secretary Mosharraf Hossain was sent on leave.
Loan deadline extension to be urged
When journalists approached to the finance minister on Thursday and asked for his comment, he said, "You got the message."
The minister said he would not talk with the press on holidays. Friday and Saturday are holiday in Bangladesh.
"I am busy preparing my tax return. I will not talk during the holidays," he said.
However, on Wednesday, the minister, responding to queries by journalists about whether the government would appeal the project's co-financers to extend their Aug 31 deadline, said that they 'might'.
Officials of the ministry's Economic Relations Department said that the government was indeed drafting a letter for the ADB urging an extension.

Law ministry will settle JS-judiciary conflict: Shafique

Thursday, August 30, 2012 Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said on Thursday that his ministry will take initiative to resolve misunderstanding or conflict, if there is any, between parliament and judiciary.
During a hearing on June 5, a High Court, Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, observed that the Speaker had committed an offence tantamount to sedition by commenting in parliament on an HC order.
In a ruling on June 18, Speaker Abdul Hamid said an HC judge (Justice Manik) has violated the constitution by making "derogatory remark" about the Jatiya Sangsad and the Speaker.
The High Court later said the Speaker's observations that an HC judge has violated the constitution have "no legal effect" and are baseless in the eye of law.
"Of course, we will take initiative if there is any misunderstanding or conflict between the parliament and judiciary in line with the country's constitution," the minister told reporters emerging from a national conference on local government at the LGED auditorium.
Replying to a query, Shafique said the misunderstanding or conflict will be resolved before the parliament goes into next session on September 4.
The minister further said the law ministry will take steps so that one department of government will not lock horn with another.

Limon's mother files no-confidence plea

Thursday, August 30, 2012 Henoara Begum, mother of Limon Hossain who was maimed by Rab last year, submitted a no-confidence petition before a Jhalakathi court on Thursday challenging the police final report that found no evidence against the elite force.
On August 14, police quietly submitted a report to a Jhalakathi court, saying they had found no evidence and witnesses in favour of the attempt-to-murder case filed by Limon's mother.
Limon's mother filed the case against six Rab men with Rajapur Police Station on April 10 last year saying that the accused persons, without caring to verify Limon's identity, shot him in the leg on March 23 while he was bringing cattle back home at Chhaturia village under Rajapur upazila of Jhalakathi. The Rab team later arrested him.
The six accused are Deputy Assistant Director of Crime Prevention Company-1 Lutfor Rahman, Corporal Majaharul Islam, Nayek Moktadir Hossain, Nayek Prahalad Chandra, soldier Kartik Kumar Biswas and Constable Abdul Aziz of Barisal Rab-8.
Jhalakathi Senior Judicial Magistrate Nusrat Jahan accepted the no-confidence petition in a crowded courtroom attended by eminent citizens.
The judge asked Nazmul Alam, general registrar officer of Rajapur Police Station, to submit all the documents and papers related to the case by October 17.
The judge fixed October 17 to hear the petition.

Quader suspends rail official, orders arrest

Naogaon, Aug 30  Communication and Acting Railways Minister Obaidul Quader has temporarily suspended and ordered arrest of official of Santahar Railway Junction for alleged irregularities in leasing out railways' land.
The order of arrest of the Estate Department's Kanunja, Ziaul Haque, came on Thursday during the minister's visit to the junction
He also ordered transfer of one Booking Assistant, Abdul Aziz, while visiting Santahar.
Quader alleged that railway officials were stalling the sector's development through their corruption.
"…Land owned by the railways is being acquired illegally and those left are being leased out at nominal prices."
The minister said the government was taking initiatives to drive out those irregularities by forming a high-level committee.
"The way I'm running things, it will be possible to turn the railways into a profitable organisation within next two years," Quader told newsmen.
During his sudden visit, which lasted only little over an hour, he assured to increase the number of trains to meet the demand and develop the infrastructure of Santahar Railway Station.

SQ Chy case hearing put off

Dhaka, Aug 30 The first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh has adjourned a case against BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury until Sunday responding to a defence plea.
With the new judge, Justice Jahangir Hossain, attending the court for the first time on Thursday, Salauddin Quader's counsel Ahsanul Huq appealed for time.
The second war crimes tribunal saw cross-examination of the first witness against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed. It remains incomplete and war crimes activist Shahriar Kabir, a former journalist, is set to take the stand again on Sunday when he will face Mizanul Islam.
Mizanul Islam, who has been leading the trial of other Jamaat leaders — former chief Ghulam Azam, current chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and executive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee — at the first tribunal appeared before the second tribunal for the first time on Thursday.
The three-judge International Crimes Tribunal – 2 was set up in March this year to expedite war crimes trial.
Currently Jamaat number two, Mujaheed had succeeded Nizami as head of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha.
As a Jamaat student leader, Mujaheed is said to have led the formation of vigilante militia group Al Badr, which along with other groups, Al Shams and Razakars, actively collaborated with the Pakistani Army to thwart the liberation efforts in 1971 and eliminate the liberation forces.
The Al Badr is alleged to have been responsible for widespread atrocities across Bangladesh which amount to war crimes.

Delhi 'fears change of regime' in Dhaka

Dhaka, Aug 29 An Indian newspaper has said intelligence reports point to possible return of the BNP and its allies to power in the next parliamentary elections, raising alarms about anti-India forces getting a free run to use Bangladesh to carry terrorism and other subversive activities.
The Times of Indian ran a report titled "India's worries could mount with Khaleda Zia's expected return to power in Bangladesh" based on the Indian intelligence.
"Revolving-door politics being much the norm in Bangladesh, it is likely to be the turn of Begum Khaleda Zia, Hasina's arch rival who is not known to be friendly towards India. In fact, as she rises in the charts capitalizing on Hasina's incumbency, Khaleda has also been busy painting the prime minister an Indian stooge," said the largest-selling Indian daily in the report.
The next parliamentary election is scheduled for early 2014.
According to the report, Indian security agencies fear "Bangladesh-based subversive elements, like those aligned with fundamentalist outfit and BNP partner Jamaat-e-Islami, could resume their policy of sponsoring and sheltering insurgent groups active in northeast India which use the neighbouring country as a safe haven besides providing an infiltration route to Pakistan-sponsored terror outfits."
The security agencies fear also saw the Assam riot between the Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims having the potential to be exploited by Bangladeshi fundamentalists to radicalise the Muslim youth, adding muscle to home-grown terror in India.
The intelligence reports said Jamaat-e-Islami with assistance from ISI fund Assam-based Muslim fundamentalist groups like Multa, Mulfa, Simi and Indian Mujahideen.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government, however, was praised in the report for helping India bust dens of their insurgent groups and in investigating terror incidents having Bangladeshi linkages.
"However, as the popularity of the Awami League regime under Hasina dips, ceding ground to rival BNP, the agencies fear that the gains of the last few years may be reversed if Khaleda regains power," the Indian English daily said in the report.
Indian intelligence operatives are beyond any doubt that Paskitan's ISI uses Bangladesh to carry out anti-India operations. They drew instance with the banned Islamist outfit HuJI which is said to have close links with Pakistani militant groups.
"Many of the ISI-sponsored perpetrators of terror attacks in India had either infiltrated through Bangladesh or escaped to the neighbouring country after the strikes," the report continues.
"There are many other instances of ISI links with Bangladesh: ISI footing the election bill of Khaleda in 1991, a revelation made by none other than former ISI chief Assad Durani; NSCN cadres travelling to Pakistan from Dhaka in March 1996 for training in guerrilla warfare; an ISI-sponsored technical expert training Ulfa in operation and installation of communication equipment at a Nagaland camp; detaining of NSCN(I-M) chief T Muivah at Bangkok airport in January 2000 while returning from Karachi after allegedly inspecting an arms consignment; and the revelation of arrested All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) cadres that ISI had extended $20,000 assistance to Tk 58 lakh to the outfit, besides imparting arms training to eight ATTF cadres in 1997 at Kandahar, Afghanistan."
The Indian security establishment, however, is keen to arrest the slide in Awami League's popularity, the report said.
To help the Hasina government stop losing popularity, the Indian government was suggested some advice including finding a positive development on the Teesta water-sharing pact, managing financial assistance for the Padma bridge project, and exchanging of enclaves to correct 'the negative perception in Bangladesh that Hasina has not managed any major concessions from India.'
news (bdnews24.com)

'Another identified in Khalaf murder case'

Dhaka, Aug 29  Home Minister Shahara Khatun has said that another man has been identified in connection with Saudi embassy official Khalaf Al Ali's murder case and that chargesheet will be submitted after the accused is arrested.
The minister made the disclosure when an eight-member security team of Saudi Arabia led by its Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Abdullah Bin Naser Al-Busairi called on her at her Secretariat office on Wednesday.
The Saudi envoy expressed his satisfaction on the investigation into the murder case and arrest of the accused.
Shahara told reporters that of the four accused arrested for their alleged involvement in the killing, two had already given their confessional statements in the court.
"The two accused in their statements mentioned the involvement of another person who is absconding. Police and others concerned are trying to apprehend him. The chargesheet in the murder case will be submitted after completing the investigation once the accused is arrested," she added.
The Home Minister said that the delegation members were informed about the overall progress in the murder case.
Asked whether the case would be transferred to the Speedy Trial Tribunal, she said the investigation was underway. "The trial process will start after the submission of chargesheet. Punishment to the killers will be ensured through the Speedy Trial Tribunal, if necessary."
Khalaf, 45, an official with the consular section of the embassy, was shot by unknown gunmen near his Gulshan residence in the wee hours of Mar 5. He died at the city's United Hospital within hours later.
A case was filed at the Gulshan Police Station against unknown criminals. A three-member committee led by Joint Commissioner of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Maruf Hasan has been investigating the case.
The detectives on June 4 arrested Saiful Islam Mamun (24), Al Amin (25) and Akbar Ali Lalu Ronny (24) from the city's Dakkhinkhan area and seized a Germany-made revolver from their possession.
Another person, Rafiqul Islam, was arrested from Manikdi area on Jul 24. A car was also seized from his possession.

BNP sides with protesting aspiring medicos

Dhaka, Aug 29  The opposition BNP has expressed solidarity with the protesting medical admission seekers as its leaders believe only GPAs cannot be the benchmark for higher education enrolments, and they smell a rat in the process.
"We express our solidarity with them (protesting students). It's an autocratic decision. We are sensing corruption in the admission process," party's National Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said on Wednesday.
"It's a politically motivated decision," he said while speaking at a discussion organised by pro-BNP Doctors' Association of Bangladesh (DAB) in Dhaka.
Health Minister A F M Rufal Haque announced on Aug 12 that GPAs in the SSC and HSC examinations would be the sole yardstick to ensure, what he said, 'quality admissions' in medical and dental colleges.
The decision triggered a wave of protests from students ready to sit the MBBS and BDS admission tests. A lawyer challenged the decision in the High Court that asked the government to explain its move.
The agitating students resumed their protest on Monday after a two-week break for Eid-ul-Fitr and other vacations. But police charged with batons and briefly detained seven students in Dhaka on the day as they were on their way to submit memorandum at the Prime Minister Office.
Condemning the police attacks on protesting students, Mosharraf Hossain said there was no way to believe that the process would be transparent as the government was already mired in corruption.
"We are sensing that the government is opening the door of corruption by starting the GPA system. Guardians are anxious as nobody can guarantee them there will be no corruption," he said.
He said all universities would take admission test, only medical ones would not. "It will create discrepancies," he said, and that "if they want to change it, they have to do it at all institutions and the students should be informed at least two years ago so that they can prepare themselves mentally."
Mosharraf Hossain, who was also the Health Minister during the last BNP-led alliance government, said there was no debate over the admission test. "I never heard any problem from anybody against it, then why do they want to scrap it?"
Citing SSC and HSC exams he said there was no way to assume that all GPA top graders were of same standard.
"It's impossible as there are different education boards, different questions and difference in examining their answers," he said.
As the health minister said on various occasions that they would take marks from the education boards to select students from similar GPAs, the former minister said, "We started the GPA system as there were arguments against the marks system. So, what do they want, they want to go back to the earlier system?"
"Marks are not revealed and nobody sees it."
He said in the just-scrapped system, GPAs were also evaluated. "We used to take 40 percent from the SSC GPA, 60 percent from the HSC GPA and then additional 100 marks from the MCQ exam."
DAB President Dr AKM Azizul Huq said coaching trade and question paper leakouts were failures of the government.
"They should check those, but instead they scrapped admission tests," he said, apprehending that it would encourage copying in the SSC and HSC exams in future.
Citing an analysis of the Sylhet Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Dr Saiful Islam, a former Dean of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in his keynote paper said at least 50 percent students could enrol themselves in that university through the admission tests despite not getting maximum scores in the secondary examinations.
He said nearly 50 percent students got themselves enrolled in medical colleges in second attempt because of their hard work.
"The new decision will shut that opportunity," he said.
Altogether there are 8,493 seats in all medical and dental colleges in Bangladesh.
The number is 2,811 in the 22 government medical colleges and 4,245 in the 53 private ones.
The nine public dental colleges and medical colleges' dental units have 567seats while 14 private dental institutes have 870 seats.

Suranjit says HC order undesirable

Dhaka, Aug 29  Senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta on Wednesday observed the High Court order, declaring the parliament Speaker's ruling 'ineffective and legally baseless', will push the country towards conflict.
A member of the committee that formulated the constitution, Sengupta made the statement at a discussion organised at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
"The matter which was shut once and for all has been reopened to roll the country into conflict," he said.

"I could not understand why the matter was raised before the court once again."
On July 24, the High Court ruled Speaker's ruling 'ineffective and legally baseless' after hearing a petition challenging the ruling.
The full verdict was released on Aug 20.
"MPs enjoy privileges (impunity) under the Article 78 of the Constitution. Any matter can be discussed (in parliament) for the sake of public interest, but it should not be taken to the court. There is no chance to raise questions or intervene in any matter discussed in the parliament," said Sengupta.
"No parliamentary proceedings can be taken to the court until the Constitution has the Article 78. The Speaker's ruling came following the article. How a court can come up with an observation on the matter?"
Mentioning that the court order had led to a controversy, Sengupta said, "The court could have issued a ruling instead of passing the observation. In that case, the court should have heard the parliament, too."
He said now the matter should be disposed of by the Chief Justice for the sake of the country's sovereignty and interest.
Indicating beginning of the next parliament session on Sept 4, Gupta said, "Every action has its reaction. It may incite reaction in the House."
On May 29, the Speaker passed the ruling after a High Court bench passed an order involving him.
The court order came after the Speaker said people could stand against the court or the parliament if aggrieved by any of its decisions.
On June 5, Justice Shamsuddin had termed one of the Speaker's rulings tantamount to sedition.
Later, the ruling was challenged in the High Court.

Killer bus driver remanded in custody

Dhaka, Aug 29 A Dhaka court on Wednesday allowed police to remand in their custody for three days for questioning the driver of the bus that allegedly killed a Dhaka University student in an accident on Tuesday.
Judge Rezaul Karim of the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court passed the order after a hearing after Officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station Rupesh Chandra Baidya, who is Investigating the homicide case, produced bus driver Anwar Hossain, 40, before the court with a seven-day remand petition, General Recording Officer of the court Sub-Inspector Arshad Ali told bdnews24.com.
The court also rejected the bail petition of Anwar Hossain.
Towhid Uz Zaman, 23, a second-year undergraduate student of international relations, was critically injured when the speeding bus of Rajdhani Express hit him at Shahbagh intersection on Tuesday afternoon.
Towhid, a resident student of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall, was first taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Later, he was shifted to Green Life Hospital at Green Road where he succumbed to his injuries in the evening.
As the news of his death spread, the university students rushed to the scene and blocked the intersection in protest at the incident.
The rowdy students also vandalised and torched over 50 vehicles in Shahbagh, Kataban and New Market areas during the violent demonstrations. They also set fire to a police box at Shahbagh crossing.
Towhid was laid to rest at his village home in Kishoreganj district on Wednesday noon.

Muhith's press meet postponed

 
Dhaka, Aug 28  The Finance Minister's scheduled Wednesday's media briefing on the government's attempts to get the World Bank back to finance the Padma bridge project and some other related issues has been postponed.
Ministry officials informed journalists on Wednesday morning about the adjournment.
While entering the ministry, Finance Minister AMA Muhith told newsmen in response to a query, "I still have two days in hand. I'll talk after that."
He was expected to talk about rumours that the Prime Minister's Advisor Mashiur Rahman is the next person to resign to facilitate the government's successful negotiations with the World Bank.
Though AMA Muhith on Saturday said obstacles to get fund from the World Bank were being removed, several newspapers reported that the global lender would not agree to release funds unless Mashiur, adviser to Sheikh Hasina on economic affairs and also the project's Integrity Advisor, was removed.
On Sunday, answering journalists queries as to whether he had resigned, Mashiur said, "A government statement regarding this matter should come first. The Finance Minister is to come up with the government statement. However, I can only express what I feel about the matter."
Since then journalists had been trying to reach the Finance minister for the government version.
"I am not ready. I will give a statement on this matter," said Muhith when approached by reporters at his office at the Secretariat. He added the statement would be given on Wednesday.
In June last year, the World Bank went back on its pledge to provide $ 1.2 billion to the project alleging that the government failed to ensure measures to check corruption as suggested by the bank in Sept.
The government, however, continued rejecting the allegation of corruption in the project and sometimes even backed the people accused of being involved with corruption in the project.
Later, it announced to build the bridge with own funds and also opened bank accounts for raising funds from home and abroad for building the bridge.
Finally, Information and Communications Technology Minister Syed Abul Hossain, who was the Communications Minister at the time the World Bank had come up with the allegation of corruption, resigned in July this year.
Former Secretary of the Bridges Division Mosharraf Hossain was sent on leave. Rumours ran rife in the days after the Eid that the next person set to stand down is Advisor Mashiur.
"If my resignation resolves the complexity over the $ 2.9 billion loan, then why once, I will resign 10 times if needed," Mashiur had told journalists in front of his official Hare Road residence on Sunday.
"If the government and the Prime Minister believe I am not trustworthy, I will resign," he added.
"But if there are any accusations, then the proofs of them have to be presented and I will have to be given the scope to defend myself."
Cabinet Secretary Mohammed Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said Mashiur was attending the Cabinet meeting on Monday. He was said to have met the Prime Minister separately later.
The World Bank was to fund $ 1.2 billion for the six-kilometre bridge that was estimated to cost $ 2.9 billion. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were supposed to fund most of the remaining budget.
Even though the World Bank cancelled their funding, ADB and JICA had extended the deadline for their deals to Aug 31. So, the government will have to reach a resolution with the World Bank before that.

'US, friends at work to get WB back'

Dhaka, Aug 29  The US Ambassador to Dhaka, Dan W Mozena, has said that Washington and other allies of Dhaka are working to ensure World Bank's return to finance the Padma bridge project.
"We and other friends of Bangladesh, like Indian Executive Director of the WB, and his Japanese and American counterparts, are all working together," he told journalists after meeting Finance Minister AMA Muhith at the ministry on Wednesday.
Mozena said he and the Finance Minister, who is still hopeful of the key lender's return, had 'good discussions' about the funding prospects of the bridge project.
The US diplomat said his country 'actively' supported Bangladesh's largest infrastructure project.
"He (Muhith) knows that and he has appreciated that," the Ambassador said.
Mozena said the US was 'disappointed' when the Washington-based lender had cancelled its pledged loan.
He said discussions were going on regarding the financing issue and added that he was hopeful of the key financer's return.
"...And I'm very hopeful about successfully conclusion (of combined efforts)."

Traffic halted at Shahbagh

Dhaka University, Aug 29  Police on Wednesday halted traffic at Dhaka's key Shahbagh intersection following protests and vandalism by Dhaka University students after a fellow student who was injured in a raod accident died on Tuesday night.
The security officials were diverting traffic to avert any further vandalism.
Touhid Uz Zaman, a second-year undergraduate student of international relations and a resident of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall, fell under the wheels of a Rajdhani Express bus around 4:30pm on Tuesday as he was getting across the street near BIRDEM Hospital.
He succumbed to his injuries around 7pm.
Infuriated by his death, fellow DU students took to the streets and smashed around 40 vehicles and also set fire to several of them in Shahbagh and New Market areas.
Police had shut down traffic at the key intersection after students descended on the street around 8pm to midnight.
Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Ramna Zone, Nurul Islam told bdnews24.com on Wednesday that vehicular movements at Shahbagh had been shut down to avert further agitation and vandalism.
"The decision has been taken to secure people's lives and properties," he said.
The police official said traffic would resume through the intersection after the students' anger had been calmed.
Meanwhile, police have been positioned at various entrances to the university. No vehicles, except those bearing university's sticker, are being allowed into the campus.

'Justice Jahangir to replace Justice Zaheer'

Dhaka, Aug 28 The Supreme Court Justice Jahangir Hossain is set to replace AKM Zaheer Ahmed, one of the three judges of the first war crimes tribunal who resigned on Tuesday on health grounds.
Supreme Court Registrar Shamsul Islam told bdnews24.com that Chief Justice Muzammel Hossain has given his consent to the Law Ministry's proposal for appointing Hossain to the International Crimes Tribunal-1, formed to try crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Independence war.
The Law Ministry sent the proposal hours after Ahmed submitted his letter of resignation at the ministry in the afternoon. Law Minister Shafique Ahmed, immediately after the judge's resignation, had told bdnews24.com that a new judge would be appointed in a day or two.
Hossain, 53, was appointed at the Supreme Court in 2010.
Hossain began his career as a lawyer in 1986. He worked at High Court as a lawyer since 1991 until he was appointed at the Supreme Court .
Former district's Judge Ahmed had been appointed to the tribunal on Mar 25, 2010 along with Chairman Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq and Justice A T M Fazle Kabir.
Regarding the resignation, Shafique Ahmed said, "He (Zaheer) has resigned because of physical illness. He is suffering from problems in his leg. Doctors have prescribed him taking rest and not to climb staircases."

UP chief, 2 others shot dead in Kushtia

Kushtia, Aug 28 – Unidentified criminals shot dead three people, including Ambaria Union Parishad Chairman Nurul Islam, at Khoksa in Kushtia on Tuesday.
Assistant Sub-Inspector at the Khoksa Police Station Atiq confirmed the incident to bdnews24.com.
The shooting took place on the bank of the Padma River along Kushtia-Pabna border around 1:30pm, leaving two others injured, said police.
According to Azmal, one of the bullet-hit admitted at the Kushtia general hospital, said criminals fired at them indiscriminately before beheading the Chairman and throwing three of them in the river.
Identity of the other two deceased could not be known immediately.

ICT judge Zaheer Ahmed quits

Dhaka, Aug 28  A member of the first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh has resigned citing illness.
Judge A K M Zaheer Ahmed, who was present in the first session until 1pm, remained absent during the second-half when the court convened after lunch.
He has been visiting the hospital for traction on a daily basis. Throughout Ramadan, when court hours were advanced by half an hour, the judge would join around 11pm after visiting the hospital.
Judge Zaheer Ahmed had been appointed to the tribunal on Mar 25, 2010 along with Chairman Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq and Justice A T M Fazle Kabir.
Almost two years later, Justice Kabir was appointed Chairman of the second tribunal on Mar 22, 2010 which was set up to expedite war crimes trials.

Destiny official held, quizzing on at ACC

Tuesday, August 28, 2012 Destiny official Abul Kalam Azad was arrested early Tuesday in connection with a corruption case.
Azad was taken to Paltan Police Station at first after his arrest and later taken to the Segunbagicha office of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Tuesday morning.
ACC officials with the help of Paltan police made the arrest at Scout market in the capital at around 2:30am.
Golam Sarwar, officer-in-charge (OC) of Paltan Police Station, confirmed the arrest.
Earlier a corruption case was filed against Azad in Kalabagan Police Station. Police arrested Azad in connection with the case, the OC told the Daily Star.
He may be produced before the court today, the OC added.

18-Party declares 2-month protest programme

Dhaka, Aug 28  The BNP-led 18-Party Alliance will hold rallies and demonstrations for two months all over the country to garner support for their demand to restore the caretaker government provision.
BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told journalists of the protest programmes at a press conference at the BNP's Naya Paltan headquarters on Tuesday.

He said the BNP-led alliance would stage rallies and mass processions across Bangladesh from Sep 7 to 30.
Leader of the Opposition in parliament Khaleda Zia would address rallies to be held in districts from Sep 20 to Oct 30, Alamgir added.
Khaleda had sat with the leaders of her party and the alliance in past few days to discuss the programmes.

665 jawans jailed for Pilkhana mutiny

Tuesday, August 28, 2012 A special court on Tuesday sentenced 665 jawans of 44 Rifles Battalions of erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) to rigorous imprisonment ranging from four months to seven years in a mutiny case.
The Special Court-9 headed by Col Ehia Azam Khan of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) fined each of the convicts Tk 100.
It also acquitted eight jawans of the case as allegations brought against them were not proved.
Of the convicts, 113 jawans were jailed for seven years, one for six years and six months, 32 for six years, 26 for five and six months, 131 for five years, 124 for four years and six months, 73 for four years, 16 for three years and six months, 16 for three years, two for two years and six months, 38 for two years, eight for one year and six months, 52 for one year, 15 for six months and 18 for four months each.
Sepoy Selim Reza is among the jawans who was jailed for highest seven years. He led the 44 Rifles Battalion during the 2009 mutiny.
The judge started delivering verdict around 10:00am, which continued for around 2:00pm.
The other members of the special court are Lt Col Md Shahadat Hossain and Maj Md Mahfuzur Rahman.
The trial of the mutiny case began on April 26, 2010. Though the charges framed against 675 accused, two of them died at hospital during the trial proceedings.
The charges include leaving the Darbar Hall defying the orders of the then director general Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, collecting firearms and ammunition from the armouries and taking effective measures to thwart the mutiny and taking part in the mutiny with firearms.
Seventy-four people including 57 army officials were killed during the Pilkhana mutiny on February 25-26, 2009.

Woman kills daughters, herself

A mother allegedly committed suicide after poisoning her two daughters to death in the city's Kafrul area on Monday.
Police identified the deceased as Jahanara Begum, 35, wife of Nur Islam, and their daughters Haowa, 12, and Sharmin, 8.
Jahanara killed her daughters and took her own life by taking poison following a feud over the extramarital affair of her husband, Hafizur Rahman, assistant sub-inspector of Kafrul Police Station, said quoting locals.
The incident took place at the tin-shed house of Jahanara in North Ibrahimpur area at noon.
Locals broke open the door of the house and found Haowa dead, the ASI said.
They rushed Jahanara and Sharmin to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where doctors declared them dead, he added.
Nur Islam, a laundry owner, went into hiding soon after the incident.

KL submits final Padma proposal

Monday, August 27, 2012 Malaysia has submitted the final proposal on financing the construction of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge.
Dato Seri S Samy Velu, the Malaysian prime minister's special envoy to India and South Asia, on Monday handed over the proposal to Communications Minister Obaidul Quader.
"This is the final proposal of Malaysia about the Padma bridge project," Quader told newsmen after receiving the proposal at the Setu Bhaban in the capital.
The proposal now will go to the technical committee for discussions on every detail and then the government's high-ups will take the decision about the proposal, he added.
Malaysia had earlier submitted four proposals which were incomplete and full of inconsistencies.
The World Bank in September last year suspended its promised $1.2 billion loan for the country's biggest infrastructure scheme, bringing graft allegations centring on the project.
The construction of the 6.15km bridge became uncertain after the global lender in June this year cancelled its loan agreement on the ground that not all its conditions had been met.
But as government efforts still continue to have the WB loan cancellation reviewed, officials of the communications ministry and Bridges Division find it confusing why Kuala Lumpur is coming up with the offer at this time.
Many local experts say it is time the government took the final decision about the project. They also say the Malaysian offer will prove very costly.
In January, Malaysia formally proposed financing the $2.97 billion project. It was supposed to place full details of financial and construction issues within a couple of months.
Government sources said the offer was then supported by many and Hasina herself supported it as she was not happy with the World Bank over the loan suspension.
On August 5, a delegation led by the Malaysian prime minister's special envoy to India and South Asia handed over the fourth proposal to Obaidul Quader.
It had many shortcomings and the delegation was asked to submit a complete proposal in three weeks.

Rab 'source' Ibrahim guilty of attacking Limon

Monday, August 27, 2012 A police enquiry has found Rab 'source' Ibrahim Hawlader guilty of attacking Limon Hossain and his family members last week.
Badal Fakir, a sub-inspector of Rajapur Police Station, submitted the probe report to Assistant Superintendent of Police Anwar Hossain Monday morning, reports our Barisal correspondent.
Earlier on the Eid day, Limon, the college student maimed by Rab shooting last year, his mother and brother were attacked by an informant of the Rapid Action Battalion and his aides in Jhalakathi.
Limon's mother later filed a general diary with the police station accusing Ibrahim of attacking them.
Limon is now being treated at Mokhlesur Rahman Clinic in Barisal.
Rab informant Ibrahim Hawlader and his associates attacked Limon and his family members when they were taking pictures on Saturia-Idurbari road in Rajapur on the Eid day, said Tofazzal Hossain, officer-in-charge of the police station.

Bangladeshi gunned down in US

Caption: Lutfur Rahman Tarafdar Belal, right in the striped shirt, was shot and killed at the Circle H Food Mart in East Hartford Saturday night. Photo: NBC ConnecticutStar Online Report

Unknown assailants have gunned down a Bangladeshi national at the Circle H Food Mart on Burnside Avenue in Connecticut's East Hartford in the United States.
Victim Lutfur Rahman Tarafdar Belal, 45, was shot dead in the chest during a robbery at the Food Mart on August 25 night (NY time), Connecticut's East Hartford police confirmed this to The Daily Star over phone.
None was arrested in connection with the killing.
Belal was pronounced dead at the scene.
Belal who was working as a clerk at the Food Mart hailed from Ekatuna union of Moulvibazar Sadar upazila, reports Bangla daily Prothom Alo.
“We lost our friend. Three kids lost their parent,” said Nahid Wahed, a friend of the victim.
Wahed said the husband and father of three was loved by the community, reports NBC Connecticut.
“He was very nice. Every single person [said he was] very friendly. If anybody in the community need help, he’s right there,” said Wahed.
Wahed is shocked by the timing of his friend’s death.
“He was not supposed to work last night. He was covering [for] someone else,” added Wahed.
Investigators were at the crime scene throughout Sunday, collecting evidence.
While police search for the gunman, family and friends of Belal want the person responsible for the killing to serve a long sentence.

Dissenting order on MBBS admission test

Star Online Report

A two-judge High Court bench on Monday passed dissenting orders on a petition filed seeking its direction on the authorities to start admission at medical and dental colleges on test.
Senior judge of the bench Justice Qamrul Islam Siddiqui directed the authorities to start the admission process through holding test immediately.
On the other hand, Junior Judge of the bench Justice Md Ashraful Kamal rejected the petition.
Deputy Attorney General Ekramul Haque Tutul told The Daily Star that the HC bench will now sent the petition along with the dissenting orders to the chief justice for a decision.
The chief justice will refer the matter to a third bench of the HC for its disposal, he said.
Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Eunus Ali Akond on August 23 filed the petition with the HC seeking its direction upon the government to immediately start the admission process at medical and dental colleges through holding test.

Khaleda to appear before court Tuesday

Khaleda Zia Star Online Report

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will appear before a Dhaka court on Tuesday in connection with the Zia Charitable Trust graft case, her counsel confirms.
Earlier on five consecutive dates, Khaleda did not appear before the court on different reasons.
Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder, one of her counsels, told The Daily Star that the BNP chairperson will appear before the Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge’s Court at 1:00pm Tuesday, where the Zia Charitable Trust graft case is now pending.
The court on Tuesday is scheduled to deliver an order on whether it would accept charges against Khaleda and three others in the case.
The Anti-Corruption Commission, on August 8 last year, filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station, accusing the four for abusing power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.
The other accused were Harris Chowdhury, Khaleda's former political secretary; Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary (APS) of Harris; and Monirul Islam Khan, APS of former Dhaka City Corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka.
Harris has been on the run, since the case was filed.
Khaleda on February 2 secured permanent bail in the case.
The order, earlier on August 5, was deferred for the fifth time on security grounds.
On July 1, the postponement came on the grounds of Khaleda being busy in distributing relief in Chittagong.
On May 31, the delivery of the order was deferred on the grounds of Khaleda being preoccupied with budget session of the parliament.
As her party enforced a hartal on April 29, the court had to defer its session for her security concern on that day.
On March 18, the deferment came on the grounds of her preoccupation with the party's organisational activities.

Speaker's comment on Justice Manik baseless: HC

Star Online Report

The High Court has observed that Parliament Speaker's ruling about an HC judge is ineffective and baseless in the eye of law.
In a ruling Speaker Abdul Hamid on June 18 said an HC judge (Judge AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik) had violated the Constitution by making 'derogatory remark' about the Parliament and its Speaker.
The Speaker on that day also commented that the chief justice can take any step in this regard.
The HC on July 24 disposed of a writ petition challenging the legality of Speaker Abdul Hamid's June 18 ruling and said it would make some observations on the issue later.
The HC on Monday released the written copy of the observations.
In the observations, the HC said the Speaker's ruling is inconsistent with the Constitution and the rules of procedure of Parliament.
The Supreme Court possesses the oversee authority that no organ of the state could cross its limit of power given by the Constitution, the HC observations added.
On July 24, the HC disposed of the writ petition challenging the legality of the Speaker's ruling following a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer AKM Shafiuddin.
In the petition, Shafiuddin prayed to the HC to direct the Speaker not to issue such rulings in future, saying that the Speaker could not rule against an SC judge as per parliament's rules of procedure.

Cabinet nods tobacco law

Dhaka, Aug 27 ( The Cabinet on Monday endorsed in principle the draft for an amendment to the tobacco control law, which doubles the fine to Tk 100 if caught smoking at public places.
Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists after the meeting that the draft of the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) Act (Amended) 2012 would now be sent to the Law Ministry for vetting.
He said it would be placed before the Cabinet for final approval after the draft was cleared by the ministry.

13 killed in Laxmipur accident

Laxmipur/Chandpur, Aug 26 At least nine people were killed as a micro-bus skidded off the road and plunged into a ditch in Ramganj upazila of Laxmipur Sunday afternoon.
Police and locals said the accident occurred around 3.30pm at the Ramganj-Hazjiganj highway.
The deceased were identified as one 'Joynal', 40, from Ramganj's Noahgaon area, his wife Nasima, 35, daughter, 10, niece Rabia, 20, Amina Begum, 40 and Monowara Begum 50, Harun-or Rashid,65, Zakia Sultana, 12 and 'Tamanna' 13.
Ramganj Upazila Chairman Munir Chowdhury told bdnews24.com that police have recovered nine bodies so far from the micro-bus.
He added they met the accident on their way to join a family marriage programme in Chandpur's Faridganj Upazila
When approached, the officer-in-charge of Ramganj Police Station could not give the exact number of causalities adding that the micro-bus had been recovered from the ditch.

Mojaheed led Al Badr in killing intellectuals: Shahriar Kabir

Sunday, August 26, 2012 Al Badr led by Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed had killed hundreds of intellectuals, journalists, teachers and other professionals between November 15 and December 15 in 1971.
Writer and journalist Shahriar Kabir told this to the International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Sunday while giving deposition against detained Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.
A leading researcher on war crimes, also the first prosecution witness against the Jamaat leader, gave his deposition from 10:51am to 1:30pm in presence of war crimes suspect Mojaheed.
Al Badr was formed with the leaders of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS), he said.
Mojaheed, 64, was indicted with seven charges, including murder, torture, and imprisonment of people, genocide, and hatching a conspiracy to kill intellectuals during the Liberation War.
The writer said Mojaheed and Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami were the leaders of Al Badr during the Liberation War in 1971 and they were involved in the killing of intellectuals in a planned way.
Defence counsel will cross-examine Shahriar on August 30.
He was arrested on July 29 in 2010.
The tribunal-1 had rejected Mojaheed's bail petition twice and after his case was transferred to the tribunal-2, it rejected his bail prayer on August 7.
Mojaheed is among the 10 BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders facing war crimes charges before the tribunals

Charges against Fakhrul, 28 others accepted

Sunday, August 26, 2012
A Dhaka court on Sunday took into cognisance the charges against BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 28 others in connection with a blast case.
The court fixed September 18 for hearing on charge framing against the accused.
Judge Mohammad Zahurul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court passed the order after an hour-long hearing from the prosecution and the defence on the issue.
Before passing the order, the court also granted permanent bail to Fakhrul and 13 other accused in the case.
Shahbagh police filed the case against the accused in connection with the bomb explosions inside the Secretariat during hartal hours on April 29.
Detectives on May 31 charged the 29 accused with blasting the bombs.

Nizami 'led Al Badr during war'

Dhaka, Aug 26  The first prosecution witness against Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami on Sunday said he had led the Al Badr vigilante militia during the 1971 Liberation War.
Himself a former member of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury, currently heading a faction of Islami Oikkya Jote, told the first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh that Al Badr was set up with Jamaat student cadres.
The vigilante groups like Al Badr, Razakar and Al Shams are said to have been widely responsible for war crimes during the Liberation War.
The 57-year old witness said Al Badr was not like other anti-liberation militia groups. "The members were trained by the Pakistani Army and they were, in a way, above the other groups."
The International Crimes Tribunal-1, set up to try crimes against humanity during the nine-month War of Independence, indicted Nizami on May 28 for 16 war crimes.
The witness said the Jamaat chief's current number two, the party's Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, was also his number two during the War in Jamaat's student wing and also within Al Badr.
Misbahur Rahman also placed Jamaat guru Ghulam Azam, also a former party chief (during 1971), at the court of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia after the Liberation War where the witness had gone to visit the Saudi King as a young leader of a Muslim students' organisation.
"I saw that Ghulam Azam and his brother Moazzem were already there and the professor (Ghulam Azam) was telling the king that freedom fighters had destroyed mosques."
He said he heard the Jamaat guru tell the Saudi king that madrasas had been closed and Qurans had become scarce and asked for funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction.
"Afterwards, I protested what Ghulam Azam had stated pointing out to the king that most of the freedom fighters were Muslims and thus would not have damaged or destroyed mosques."
Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury told the court that his father had whisked him out of his native Moulvibazar where a local Sangha leader urged him to join the Al Badr.
The witness was then sent off to London, England. "It was very risky at that time to denounce or quiet the Chhatra Sangha."
However, the witness had to return to Bangladesh within two months as his mother was sick while the war still raged on. He again went to the Great Britain after the war and studied at a college in Wales where he founded a Muslim students' organisation.
Earlier the first war crimes tribunal rejected a bail petition for acting Jamaat Secretary General A T M Azharul Islam saying that it had previously rejected other bail applicants whose health condition was 'far worse' than that of the instant applicant.
The tribunal, however, directed the jail doctor to perform an MRI and a CT scan as recommended earlier and make sure that all medical treatment is accorded to Azharul Islam. The court directed that if needed Azharul Islam be taken to the medical university hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University.
At the second tribunal, Shahriar Kabir, a long time activist calling for the trial of suspected war criminals, testified as the first prosecution witness against Jamaat Secretary General Mujaheed.

Neil Armstrong, first man on moon, dies

Southern California, Aug 25 (bdnews24.com/Reuters): Former U.S. astronaut, Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, has died at the age of 82, his family said on Saturday.
Armstrong underwent a heart-bypass surgery earlier this month, just two days after his birthday on August 5, to relieve blocked coronary arteries.
As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. As he stepped on the dusty surface, Armstrong said: "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."
Those words endure as one of the best known quotes in the English language.
Neil Alden Armstrong was 38 years old at the time and even though he had fulfilled one of mankind's quests that had loomed for centuries and placed him at the pinnacle of human achievement, he did not revel in his accomplishment. He even seemed frustrated by the acclaim it brought.
"I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks but for the ledger of our daily work," Armstrong said in an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" program in 2005.
He once was asked how he felt knowing his footprints would likely stay on the moon's surface for thousands of years. "I kind of hope that somebody goes up there one of these days and cleans them up," he said.
A VERY PRIVATE MAN
James Hansen, author of "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong," told CBS: "All of the attention that ... the public put on stepping down that ladder onto the surface itself, Neil never could really understand why there was so much focus on that."
The Apollo 11 moon mission turned out to be Armstrong's last space flight. The next year he was appointed to a desk job, being named NASA's deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the office of advanced research and technology.
Armstrong's post-NASA life was a very private one. He took no major role in ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the moon landing. "He's a recluse's recluse," said Dave Garrett, a former NASA spokesman.
"Howard Hughes had nothing on him," he said, speaking of the reclusive aviator.
Hansen said stories of Armstrong dreaming of space exploration as a boy were apocryphal, although he was long dedicated to flight. "His life was about flying. His life was about piloting," Hansen said.
He left NASA a year after Apollo 11 to become a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
The former astronaut lived in the Cincinnati area with his wife, Carol.
"We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures," the family said in a statement. "Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.

Allow Fakhrul to go abroad: HC

Mirza Fakhrul Islam AlamgirStar Online Report

The High Court (HC) on Sunday directed the government not to obstruct BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir from going abroad.
The HC also issued a rule upon the government to explain in four weeks why its decision to bar the petitioner from going abroad should not be declared illegal.
An HC vacation bench came up with the order and rule following a writ petition filed by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Fakhrul filed the petition in the morning saying that the government has reportedly restricted 78 opposition leaders including him from going abroad.
In the petition, he prayed to the court to direct the government not to create any obstacle on his going abroad and returning to the country.
The BNP leader said he is due to start for the USA on August 29 to join a conference there.
The vacation bench comprising Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal passed the order and rule.
The home secretary, inspector general of police (IGP), deputy inspector general of Police Headquarters, deputy commissioner of Dhaka and officer-in-charge of immigration have been made respondent to the rule.

ATM Azharul denied bail

In the August 22 photo, police arrest Jamaat acting Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam at his Moghbazar residence in the capital hours after ICT-1 issued an arrest warrant against him. Star Online Report

International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Sunday rejected the bail petition of war crimes suspect Jamaat-e-Islami acting Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam.
The tribunal also asked the prosecution to submit progress report by October 14 of the investigation into Azharul's war crimes allegation committed during the country's Liberation War in 1971.
The Jamaat leader was sent to Dhaka Central Jail on Thursday, a day after his arrest.
The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Md Nizamul Huq fixed Sunday for taking decision whether it would grant bail to the detained Jamaat leader.
Azharul on Thursday filed the bail petition before the court.
Azhar, who hails from Badarganj of Rangpur, was arrested at his Moghbazar home just over two hours after the tribunal issued an arrest warrant against him on Wednesday.
In response to a prosecution petition, the tribunal issued the arrest warrant and directed police to produce the Jamaat leader before the tribunal within 24 hours of his arrest.
It is alleged that the Jamaat leader had direct involvement in the killing of 1,200 unarmed Bangalees in Badarganj of Rangpur on a single day during the Liberation War.
Investigations against Azhar began on April 15 this year.

Dr Yunus criticised for putting int'l pressure on country

Saturday, August 25, 2012 Expressing concern over the statement of Dr Muhammad Yunus, eminent citizens of the country said after losing in the legal battle, Dr Muhammad Yunus has been creating pressure on the country through 'super power' and donor agencies exploiting his personal relations with them.
"Such an unexpected pressure is tantamount to interference in the country's internal affairs which is not acceptable to the citizens of an independent state," they said in a joint statement on Saturday.
In their reaction, the distinguished personalities said there is a difference of opinion between the government and Dr Muhammad Yunus over the appointment process of managing director of Grameen Bank (GB).
Bangladesh Bank removed Dr Yunus from the post of managing director of the GB because of expiry of his service age as per the government's service rule, they said and added he (Yunus) lodged a case and the highest court of the country delivered a judgment in favour of the government's decision.
The matter was settled legally through it, they added.
The eminent citizens said anyone could have different opinion about the recent amendment the government has brought to the GB Ordinance for the third time.
"But we're observing that Dr Yunus was putting pressure on the country through 'super power' and different donor agencies," they added.
"We're also observing that Dr Yunus in a statement has been tried to misguide the countrymen, especially the young generation, saying that new government after coming to power would change this ordinance to reinstate Grameen Bank in its previous position," they said.
"But he did not make clear what he wanted to say about the new government, when an elected government is in power," they added.
"We know, Dr Yunus formed a new political party when conspiracy was going on to implement 'Minus Two Formula' after arresting two leaders during the emergency of the last caretaker government," they said in the statement.
They urged the countrymen to remain alert against any sorts of conspiracy that can hinder the country's democracy through undemocratic means.
Signatories to the statement included Prof Zillur Rahman Siddique, Artist Quayum Chowdhury, Sayed Shamsul Haq, Artist Hashem Khan, Shamsuzzaman Khan, Kamal Lohani, Justice (retd) Mejbah Uddin Ahmed, Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, Jahangirnagar University Vice-Chancellor Prof Anwar Hossain, Prof Nazrul Islam, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Vice- Chancellor Prof Prangopal Dutta, Economist Abul Barakat, Prof Abdul Khalek, Prof Nazrul Islam, Poet Belal Chowdhury, Ramedu Majumder, Mamunur Rashid, Selina Hossain and Poet Nirmalendu Gun.