BANGLADESH

Not a single student has passed in the primary terminal and Ebtedayee examinations in 470 institutions.

This year, students of 87,832 schools sat for the primary terminal examinations while madrasah students of 11,519 institutions took the Ebtedayee examinations.

A total of 371 educational institutions, including seven government schools, had a zero percent success rate in the primary terminal exams.

In 99 madrasas, no candidate could pass the Ebtedayee examinations.

Primary and mass education minister Afsarul Amin on Monday disclosed this at a press conference at the Secretariat.

"Investigation will be carried out regarding the seven government schools, which have zero success rate," he said.

Afsarul, however, expressed his satisfaction over the overall results.

A total of 97.26 percent candidates passed this year's primary terminal examination. The pass rate for Ebtedayee examination is 91.28 percent.

The results have been published in grade system for the first time since the terminal examinations started in 2009.

A training aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force caught fire at the Osmani International Airport in Sylhet on Monday, but no casualties were reported.

"The training aircraft's left engine caught fire around 12:10pm during a training session. The fire-fighting staff at the airport were able to put the fire out," the airport's manager Hafiz Uddin said.

The aircraft did not suffer any major damages and no one was injured in the fire, he added.

The C-130 aircraft had earlier came from Dhaka to Sylhet around 10:15am.

The government has lodged a strong protest with International Maritime Bureau (IMB) against its depiction of piracy incidents in Bangladesh.

"We have recently sent IMB a letter protesting the way it depicted the piracy situation in Bangladesh," said additional foreign secretary Mohammad Khurshed Alam at a press briefing on Monday.

The Kuala Lumpur-based Bureau reported a number of piracy incidents in Bangladesh without proper investigation.

Bangladesh is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS), and according to its definition, no incident of piracy took place in the country, Alam said.

"The IMB never investigated a single incident reported to it, though we urged them to come to Bangladesh to see the actual situation," he said.

At least in two incidents, ships reported to the IMB about pirate attacks in Chittagong, but the reality is the ships never came to Bangladesh, he said.

"In the letter, we have annexed all the evidence."

The misreporting of piracy by the ships has maligned the image of Bangladesh and it has a detrimental effect on trade and commerce as well, Alam said.

Insurance companies used to charge $500 for each trip to the ports located in the west of India, but now they have increased the rate to $150,000 as it is a piracy-prone area, he said.

"Each year about 2,400 ships come to Bangladesh and this year only 11 incidents of petty theft or robbery were reported. But due to the misreporting by foreign ships, the image may take a dip and insurance companies may increase their rates for Bangladesh."

Coast Guard and Chittagong Port Authority have taken a number of measures to protect the ships, Alam said.

In several cases, ships reported incidents of theft or robbery hours after the incident, he said.

"…if the incident takes place mid-night, they report four or five hours later, meaning the ships do it intentionally," he explained.

The cabinet has given its approval to the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill-2011 authorising investigation of suspicious transactions in banks and other financial institutions, and freezing of bank accounts.

The approval came at a regular cabinet meeting at the Secretariat on Monday, with prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The cabinet also approved drafts of the Disaster Management Bill-2011 and the Power of Attorney Bill-2011.

The prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters after the meeting that Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill-2011 was approved in a bid to prevent all kinds of terrorist and militant activities in the country and funding of such activities.

The law proposes death penalty to anyone guilty of providing funds for terror and militant activities.

For such crimes, it also proposed a maximum 20 years' rigorous imprisonment, apart from providing for a life term imprisonment, and a minimum three years' imprisonment or additional fine (minimum Tk 1 million).

On July 11 this year, the cabinet approved in-principle the draft of the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill-2011 formulated by the home ministry to safeguard the country's sovereignty. But the meeting recommended inclusion of some more provisions in the Act.

The Act is being amended to stop use of Bangladeshi land for conducting terrorist activities either inside the country or in other countries, all types of illegal arms, carrying explosives and creating panic among people through terror.

After necessary scrutiny, inclusions and exclusions of some provisions of the Act, the home ministry placed it in the cabinet meeting following endorsement by the law ministry.

It was amended in the changed perspective of international terrorism, as terror activities these days are not limited to national boundaries.

Officials said the amendment Bill would be placed in parliament in the upcoming session.

MORE POWER TO PROBE

According to the home ministry, the government can investigate any kind of suspicious financial transaction of banks, NGOs and other financial institutions under the amended Act. The financial institutions are also obliged to provide all information to the government once the Act comes into force.

The existing Anti-Terrorism Act empowers the government only to investigate financial transaction of banks. But the amended law also empowers the Bangladesh Bank to gather information in terms of money laundering from Bangladeshis based abroad.

It also authorises the government to freeze any account for a maximum of six months in case it finds some transaction suspicious.

Ministers, advisors and state ministers concerned attended the meeting held in the conference room of the Cabinet Division.

OTHER POLICIES OKAYED

The council of ministers also endorsed a proposal for turning a project titled 'RAKUB Small Enterprise Credit Programme (SECP)' of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) into its subsidiary company.

The meeting also okayed the draft of Jute Policy 2011 to increase production of jute and jute products in line with local and international demand.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to a proposal for an agreement between Bangladesh and Belarus on military and technical cooperation.

POWER OF ATTORNEY ACT

The approved draft of the Power of Attorney Bill, to prevent irregularities and forgery, makes it mandatory that registration be done within three months after the Act is enforced.

The draft says the Power of Attorney Act will be ineffective after three months but will remain effective until a certain period in terms of registration.

"The Act formulated in 1882 has been revised and some necessary provisions have been included in it for modernisation," the press secretary said.

Power of attorney is a legal document that allows a person to appoint another for carrying out certain specified acts and conducts on behalf of executants of the document.

In 26/12/2011 result published.Students of Monipur High School of Dhaka have come out on top in the nationwide primary terminal examinations.

A total of 1,994 students of Grade-V took the primary terminal examinations from the school while 1,438 of them secured the maximum GPA of 5.

This year, the Directorate of Primary and Mass Education has prepared the list of the country's 20 best schools on the basis of number of registered students, pass rate, GPA-5 achievement rate and number of absent students.

Monipur High School scored 74.39 points, with a 100 percent success rate.

The other schools on the list are Viqarunnisa Noon School (44.75 points), Motijheel Ideal School and College (41.45 points), Milestone Preparatory K.G. School (40.65 points), Gulshan Ideal School and College (40.16 points), Motijheel National Ideal School (40.02 points), Comilla Modern School of Comilla Sadar (39.48 points), K K High School of Demra, Dhaka (38.98 points), Mohammadpur Preparatory School (37.69 points), Shamsul Haque Khan School of Demra (36.73 points), Mirpur Bangla High School (36.43 points), Motijheel Model High School and College (36.08 points), Banani Bidyaniketan, Dhaka (34.61 points), B N School and College of Chittagong (34.23 points), Dhanmondi Government Laboratory High School (33.66 points), Motijheel Ideal Government Primary School (33.26 points), Uttara High School, Dhaka (33.25 points), Khulna District School (33.23 points), Faizur Rahman Ideal Institute, Motijheel (32.98 points) and Shaheed Police Smrity School and College of Dhaka Cantonment (32.78 points).

Earlier in the day, primary and mass education minister Afsarul Amin handed over the results of primary and equivalent Ebtedayee terminal examinations to prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Around 2.5 million students of primary schools and madrasas around the country sat the examinations that began on Nov 23 and ended on Nov 30.

The average pass rate in this year's primary terminal exams is 97.26 percent, while it is 91.28 percent in Ebtedayee terminal exams.

The results have been published in the 'grades' system for the first time since the terminal examinations started in 2009.

This year, some 22,000 students would be awarded scholarships in the Talent Pool Scholarships category and another 33,000 in the general category for outstanding results.

The opposition alliance will join the president's dialogue on forming the new Election Commission, the BNP acting secretary general has announced.

"We've decided to take part in the president's dialogue. The matter has been discussed with the allies of the four parties," Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the press after a meeting on Monday evening.

Bangladesh Jatiya Party chairman Andalib Rahman Partho said the subject matter of the dialogue was discussed in the meeting.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia led a meeting of the leaders of the four-party alliance at her Gulshan office.

President Zillur Rahman will hold talks with Islami Oikya Jote on Jan 1, BJP on Jan 2, and BNP on Jan 11. The three allies have already received invitations.

Jamaat-e-Islami, another opposition ally, has not received any invitation yet, the party's assistant secretary general Nurul Islam Bulbul said.

The meeting, which started around 9pm, also discussed expansion of the alliance, Chittagong road march and liaison committee formation.

Fakhrul said the alliance's expansion would be announced soon. The decision will be finalised on Dec 29 at an alliance meeting.

Khilafat Majlish Amir Muhammad Ishaq said the alliance would also get a new name in that meeting.

Top leaders of the four opposition parties were present at the meeting.

BNP has been voicing its doubts about the president's dialogue since it began.

On Dec 22, Fakhrul had told the press: "We're not clear why the president is conducting the dialogue.

"What happens is that the prime minister sends a proposal to the president in line with the constitution [on the EC] and the president approves it," the spokesperson had said.

The premier bourse of the country opened the week's second trading day with an uptrend on Tuesday.

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) general index shot up around 42 points in the first five minutes of the day's trading.

It lost slightly afterwards but rose again to stand at 5197.86 points with a gain of 42.72 points or 0.82 points at 11:35am.

The index gained 63.72 points or 1.23 points to stand at 5218.86 points at 12:02pm.

Shares worth Tk 1 billion changed hands until then with prices of 215 issues advancing, 16 declining and five remaining unchanged.

On Monday, the DGEN had lost 77.24 points or 1.47 percent to close at 5155.14 points.

Sunday was a public holiday for Christmas.

The benchmark index had advanced 232 points or four percent last week. Last week's turnover rose by 32 percent than the previous week.

The opportunity to invest undisclosed money in the capital market will remain valid until end of the current fiscal year, the chief of the National Board of Revenue said Tuesday.

NBR chairman Nasiruddin Ahmed told a media briefing that a newspaper report that the opportunity would be suspended was not correct.

The new assurance by the NBR chief made it clear that the rule would last at least until June next year when the fiscal year ends.

Any person can invest his money in the capital market without facing any question from the revenue regulator about its source -- a provision the government has made amid crisis to revamp the drooping share market.