BANGLADESH

People have started coming back into the capital after spending a long vacation.

But there was no traffic rush on the city streets on Wednesday and crowds of people were mostly seen in the bus and ferry terminals and railway stations.

Mohammad Mahmud, Traffic Inspector of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), told bdnews24.com that 50 passenger launches reached Sadarghat ferry terminal from the southern districts while only 12 launches left Dhaka on Wednesday.

He added the outbound launches were crowded but the flow of passengers in the incoming ones was mostly normal. However, the pressure of passengers coming to Dhaka will go up in the next couple of days.

This year, government and private employees enjoyed a weeklong holiday on the occasion of Eid, National Mourning Day, Shab-e-Qadr and weekends.

The government, semi- government and private offices, banks and other institutions reopened on Wednesday after the extended weeklong holiday. But attendance of employees in the offices was thin as thousands of people who streamed out of the capital are yet to return.

It is believed that the city will be brimming with residents from Sunday.

Railway's Transportation Officer (Dhaka zone) M Salahuddin said that 14 trains reached Kamalapur Railway Station from other parts of the country on Wednesday.

Nurul Islam Nuru, Manager of Ilish Paribahan at Sayedabad bus terminal, told bdnews24.com that holidaymakers already started flocking back to the capital.

"The pressure of passengers will rise on Saturday and Sunday," he added.

A 12-year-old boy from Moheshkhali drowned at Cox's Bazar sea beach on Wednesday.

Mohammad Sohel, son of Shamsul Alam from Amtoli village, had come to the resort town with his cousin Saiful Islam aged 12 years, too, to spend Eid holiday with their aunt's family at Bharuakhali, Saiful told bdnews24.com.

They went to the beach's Laboni Point along with their cousin (aunt's son) Mohammad Faisal f same age in the afternoon.

"We were taking pictures. Suddenly Sohel ran into the sea. When he was drowning, Faisal and I went to rescue him," Saiful said.

"All of us were downing then. Lifeguards rescued the two of us at once but Sohel was found after a long time," he added.

"The boy (Sohel) went to swim with a tube but drowned when the tube turned over around 3pm," Robi Lifeguard Director Syed Noor said.

He was rescued after around half an hour and rushed to a hospital where the doctor declared him dead, he said.

The lifeguards rescued at least 14 tourists on Wednesday, he said. One of them, 'Rubel', was admitted to the Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital, he added.

Yasir Lifeguard Director Mostafa Kamal said they rescued at least 20 tourists throughout the day.

Dhaka is the second most vulnerable city to serious flooding among nine coastal cities around the world and will remain so until 2100 unless measures to counter the threat are taken, suggests an international study.

The finding is the result of a new method developed by a team of researchers from the Netherlands and the University of Leeds for assessing flood vulnerability. The team also developed a Coastal City Flood Vulnerability Index (CCFVI) based on exposure, susceptibility and resilience to coastal flooding.

Dhaka sits only 4 metres above the current sea level and is regularly hit by tropical cyclones and floods and yet it has few defences in place and little resilience, the study says.

While evaluating a city's physical attributes, the study also considers social and economic factors as they prepared the rating using 19 indicators.

According to the rating, the Chinese city Shanghai is considered the most exposed to the risk of flooding. Shanghai is particularly vulnerable because it is exposed to powerful storm surges and the land is subsiding as sea levels rise.

The rest of the rating order is Kolkata (India) and Manila (Philippines), Casablanca (Morocco), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Marseille (France), and Osaka (Japan).

The cities were picked up as these are built on river deltas.

The social vulnerability to floods of Shanghai, Dhaka and Manila will double by 2100, it says.

"The population close to the coastline and the number of cultural heritages exposed to floods will increase, so there is an urgent need for action towards adaptation measures by raising the anticipatory mentality of local population," finds the research that has appeared in the European journal Natural Hazards.

The analysis, the journal reports, reveals that the highly prosperous megapolis of Shanghai is more vulnerable than much poorer cities such as Dhaka,

Nigel Wright, from the University of Leeds' School of Civil Engineering, who led the study, said, "Vulnerability is a complex issue."

"It is not just about your exposure to flooding, but the effect it actually has on communities and business and how much a major flood disrupts economic activity," he added, according to a university statement.

He told BBC News current methods to determine vulnerability to flooding tends to be two dimensional.

"Very often we look at these sorts of things in a very deterministic way," he explained.

"We still use the physical ones but also economic and social ones, such as how much attention is given by local or national governments to protect citizens and citizens' property through investing in various forms of resilience," he added.

These included the percentage of a city's population living close to the coastline; the amount of time needed for a city to recover from flooding; the amount of uncontrolled development along the coastline, as well as the volume of measures to physically prevent floodwater entering a city.

The indicators that led to the measurement include measures of the level of economic activity in a city, its speed of recovery, and social issues such as the number of flood shelters, the awareness of people about flood risks, and the number of disabled people in the population.

"Our index looks at how cities are prepared for the worst — for example, do they have flood defences, do they have buildings that are easy to clean up and repair after the flood? It is important to know how quickly a city can recover from a major flood," Wright said.

Mohammad Abdul Qayyum, National Project Director of the government's Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme, however, ruled out the risk of coastal flooding in Dhaka.

"I did not see the study, but if they are talking about the risk of coastal flooding, then I'll say 'no'," he told bdnews24.com.

"Dhaka is not a coastal area. It has the risk of urban flooding."

Qayyum said as a country Bangladesh had the greatest risk of flooding. "But if I pinpoint an area of the country, then Dhaka is not the most at-risk city."

"We have mechanisms to identify the flood vulnerability even of a small village," he said.

The Project Director explained: "Dhaka is very much susceptible to urban flooding and even monsoon floods may enter from the eastern side as about 50 percent area is not protected by embankment."

He attributed unplanned urbanisation and lack of proper drainage system to the risk of Dhaka's urban flooding.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday vowed not to leave the path of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, though she had to face death several times in the past.

"I've continued working with the spirit of War of Independence to fulfil Bangabandhu's dreams despite several attempts to kill me," she said.

She said, "I'm working so that Bangladesh doesn't fall in the hands of any unconstitutional and undemocratic power."

Hasina made the promise after placing wreaths at a makeshift memorial at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the grisly grenade attack on an Awami League rally.

On Aug 21 in 2004, at least 24 people, including President Zillur Rahman's wife and senior politician Ivy Rahman, were killed in the blasts in front of the Awami League central office and some 200 others were injured.

Investigations found Sheikh Hasina, then the opposition chief, was the prime target of the attack, but survived with permanent hearing impairment. Her bodyguards and several senior party members formed a human wall to save and escort her to the car. Rapid brushfire riddled the bulletproof car as it sped off.

The chargesheet in the case filed over the blasts said the Aug 21 attack was planned after several attempts to kill her had failed.

BNP Chairman Khaleda Zia's elder son and party's Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary-General and then Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar were also charged in the case along with others.

Remembering those who perished in the attack, Hasina on Tuesday held the then BNP-Jamaat alliance government responsible for the incident.

She said, "We had planned to stage a demonstration at Mukgtangon to protest an attack on the British High-Commissioner. We didn't get the permission. But then again, the permission was given late in the night."

"We had cancelled the programme. But why the permission was given?"

Hasina, also the Awami League President, continued, "Thirteen grenades blasted one by one right after I finished my speech. Those who threw the grenades had left the scene, but police shot teargas shells and charged baton on those trying to rescue the dead and injured."

She also claimed that evidences found at the scene of crime were also destroyed.

"I promise you, trials of the conspirators will be held in this land," she said promising that justice for all killings including the grenade attack would be served.

Hasina placed wreaths on the memorial at Bangabandhu Avenue at 11am as the Prime Minister and then placed another wreath as the party's President along with other Awami League leaders.

She also talked to the family members of those injured in the attack and enquired about their wellbeing.

Awami League Advisory Council member Amir Hossain Amu, General Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) President Hasanul Haque Inu, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon, and Samyabadi Dal General Secretary and Industries Minister Dilip Barua, also spoke on the occasion.

Syed Ashraful Islam said, "Those who run newspapers with funding from ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam), land grabbers, and people who don't believe in the spirit of the Liberation War, have united to thwart democracy."

He also asked everyone to be united to stand against those who were conspiring to foil democracy in the country.

Six youths were killed on Tuesday when a bus rammed a human haulier at Gorhmati Botdhor area under Borhaigram upazila in Natore.

Police said the accident took place around 12pm on the Natore-Pabna highway when a Rangpur-bound BRTC bus rammed the smaller vehicle of the youths.

The human haulier was part of a procession brought out to celebrate the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr by a group of local youths.

Identity of the deceased is yet to be found.

Following the accident, agitated residents of the area blocked the road and vandalised a second BRTC bus and an ambulance, Bonparha Highway Police Station Inspector Din-e-Alam told reporters.

Police had arrested the bus driver responsible for the accident, along with the bus, from Bonparha area, he said.

Alam said four of the youths died on the spot while the other two died on their way to hospital.

Police were trying to control the situation, he added.

3 children killed in Keraniganj

In another incident, three children were killed and five others were injured as a bus and an auto-rickshaw collided head-on in Rajendrapur area in Dhaka's Keraniganj.

Police said the accident took place around 12pm Tuesday.

The deceased were identified as Milon, 10, Abdul Baten, 14, and Sajib, 10.

South Keraniganj Police Station OC Shakhawat Hossain told bdnews24.com the Maoa-bound Sirajdikhan Paribahan bus collided head-on with the auto-rickshaw killing the first two minors on the spot.

Sajib was declared dead by the doctors after he was taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The injured, Kawsar, 30, Sharmin, 25, Farhad, 12, Shahin, 10, and Aviron had been sent to the Mitford Hospital earlier.

But later they were admitted to the DMCH and the Dhaka National Orthopaedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute, better known as Pangu Hospital, OC Hossain said.

All the deceased were passengers of the auto-rickshaw.

The police official said they seized the bus but the driver somehow managed to flee.

1 dead in Hathajari

A woman, Yasmin Akter, 35, was killed on Tuesday after the auto-rickshaw carrying her hit a roadside pole in Hathajari's Katirhat area in Chittagong.

She, wife of one Abdur Rahman of Dholoi village of the upazila's Katirhat, was badly injured in the accident.

Doctors at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital declared her dead as she was taken there, a CMCH Police Camp constable, Ismail Hossain, told

The body of an eight-year-old schoolboy was recovered on Tuesday, 45 days after he was abducted from Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj district.

Locals alleged that after the abduction, the police action to find out the boy was not satisfactory.

Mahfuzur Rhaman Mahfuz, who was kidnapped in the night of the holy Shab-e-Barat on July 5, was the son of an expatriate Rezaul Molla of Barashur village of the upazila, and a student of the Kashiani Railway Ekota Kindergarten.

His body was found in a garden beside their home on Tuesday.

After his abduction, some callers identifying them as kidnappers had demanded Tk 7 million as ransom from his mother Swapna Begum.

After recovering the body, police on Tuesday arrested five people for interrogation. However, the locals expressed their dissatisfaction with police over release of Shamim Sheikh, a major suspect behind the abduction, soon after his arrest.

After Mahfuz's abduction, his classmates along with the locals observed various protest programmes in the upazila town.

Apprehending that the agitated locals could attack the police station after recovering the body, the main entrance of the Kashiani Police Station was closed, and some senior high police officials from the district headquarters rushed there to tackle the situation.

Mahfuz's uncle Jafar Mollah told reporters that they had a land dispute with Shamim Sheikh of neighbouring Mukundapur village. Shamim and one Billal Sheikh might have committed the abduction to take revenge, he said.

Sub-Inspector of the Kashiani Police Station Nizamuddin said that Mahfuz went missing after he left for the nearest mosque to offer special Shab-e-Barat prayer on July 5.

The victim's family told police that a group of people, including Hossain and Saddam, had abducted the child upon instigation from Shamim and Billal.

Jafar Mollah said Sub-Inspector Ful Mia arrested main suspect Shamim Sheikh on the next day of the abduction, but released him later, thus helping the other accused to go into hiding.

Refuting the allegation, Officer-in-Charge of the Kashiani Police Station Syed Mannan Ali said they had arrested five people, including Bellal, Hossain and Saddam, following the abduction. "They also gave confessional statement in the court."

He, however, admitted that they failed to find out the child despite conducting operations at various places upon the information given by them.

A general diary (GD) has been filed in connection with Monday's attack on maimed college student Limon Hossain and his mother at their village home in Jhalakathi district.

Limon's mother Henuara Begum filed the GD with the Rajapur Police Station on Tuesday afternoon, Officer-in-Charge Tafazzal Hossain told bdnews24.com.

"The allegations include beating and making threats. They were brought against Ebrahim who is known as a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) source," he said.

Limon and his mother were injured in an attack near their house at Saturia village allegedly by 'Leader Ibrahim', son of Abdur Rashid of the same village and "a RAB source", in Rajapur Upazila of the district on Monday afternoon when they were on their way back to Kaukhali Upazila of Pirojpur district after meeting their relatives on the occasion of the Eid festival.

Limon currently stays at a rented house on the Bus Stand Road in Kaukhali to attend his college.

He and his mother were admitted to Rajapur Upazila Health Complex following the attack.

Ebrahim, who is also the 17th witness in the case filed against Limon by RAB, was also admitted to the same hospital.

Hours after Monday's attack, police recovered the body of one 'Forkan' (35), brother-in-law of Ebrahim.

Meanwhile, the deceased's wife Lili Begum filed another case with the local police station on Tuesday morning accusing Limon's brother and their relatives in the village of killing her husband in a counter attack.

OC Tafazzal Hossain said they registered the complaint as a case of unnatural death.

Sub-Inspector of Police Abdul Alim told bdnews24.com, "The autopsy of Forkan's body has been conducted. Measures will be taken after the report is available."

Henuara Begum said Forkan was not present on the spot when they came under attack and claimed that false allegations were being levelled against them.


Ebrahim told bdnews24.com at the hospital that he did not attack Limon and his mother on Monday afternoon, rather Limon's brother and their relatives attacked him.

"Limon's relatives swooped on Forkan when he came to my aide after hearing about the attack on me. He was critically injured [in the attack] and succumbed to his injures."

Meanwhile, Jhalakathi district's Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Mohidul Islam told bdnews24.com on Monday night that Forkan's body was recovered about one kilometre away from the place where the incident had taken place. "No injury marks were found in his body."

Dr Abul Khair Russell of Rajapur Upazila Health Complex, where both Henuara Begum and Ebrahim are undergoing treatment, said their injuries were not serious and that Limon was released on the Eid night after being given first aid.

India's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday alleged that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants played a major role in the Aug 11 violence where two people were killed in protests against alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar.

Despite police permission only for a rally, he led more than 50,000 people on a march along Marine Drive to Azad Maidan, bringing all of South Mumbai to a halt, said The Times of India in a report on Wednesday.

Waving what appeared to be a Bangladeshi passport and warning that illegal migration from the eastern neighbour would destroy Mumbai, Thackeray on Tuesday addressed a massive pro-Hindu rally in answer to the Aug 11 gathering of Muslims to protest attacks in Assam.

Slamming the violence during the Muslim rally, which like the one on Tuesday paralysed South Mumbai, he said, "There is a boundary which no one should cross. There should be no physical assaults on policemen and officials."

"My party will always stand by the cops whenever such cases happen."

Thackeray said the influx of illegal Bangladeshi migrants posed a threat to Mumbai. "They have safe havens in UP and Bihar. From there, the illegal migrants come to Mumbai to foment trouble."

He also accused Bangladeshi migrants of playing a major role in the Aug 11 violence.

He denied playing the Hindu card and said his only "dharma" was the "Maharashtra dharma".

"Any person who tries to take law into his hands, beats up cops, media persons and molest women cops deserves the severest condemnation from me and my party," The Times of India quoted the MNS leader.

Thackeray blamed the Congress-led DF government and Home Minister R R Patil for creating an administrative hurdle for the MNS rally. "Similar queries were not asked when the Raza Academy held protest rally on Aug 11 at Azad Maidan. Raza Academy has a dubious track record."

He said, "Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi had delivered a provocative speech in Bhiwandi at the Raza Academy rally few years ago. At the end of the rally miscreants slaughtered two cops. Why was such an organisation given permission to hold a rally on Aug 11?"

South Mumbai creaked under its second political rally in 10 days, which derailed traffic and disrupted the city's first working day after an extended weekend. Over 50,000 MNS men gathered at Chowpatty and marched in a show of strength along the Marine Drive-Princess Street-Dhobitalao stretch to the rally venue at Azad Maidan.

Police, who had granted permission only for a meeting at the Azad Maidan, initiated action against the party.

Mumbai Police booked the MNS for organising the rally at Girgaum Chowpatty without permission.

Protesters shouted slogans outside her hotel in London as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was about to meet her British counterpart David Cameron at 10 Downing Street on Sunday.

Some 200 gathered outside the hotel in central London and denounced the Bangladesh Prime Minister for not letting Rohingya Muslims, allegedly fleeing persecution in neighbouring Myanmar, enter her country.

Hasina was scheduled to meet Cameron, host of the global hunger summit at his official home, at 4pm (9pm BdST).

Senior politicians from Kenya, India and Brazil will be present at the summit. A group of athletes were expected to attend the hour-long summit including British double gold medalist Somali-born Mohammed Farah.

During the summit, the UK will pledge to spend £120 million on researching crops that can survive in droughts and a hunger alert system for Kenya.

Hasina is expected to leave Downing Street at about 5:00pm and will leave Foreign Minister Dipu Moni to make a presentation.

The Prime Minister is meeting the UK International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, at 8:00p Sunday night at her hotel.

Standard Chartered Plc and New York state regulators have discussed a settlement amount to resolve an inquiry into whether the British bank's records improperly hid transactions tied to Iran even as the bank prepares for a hearing to defend its New York license, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The dual tracks highlight the uncertainty of the situation facing Standard Chartered (STAN.L) as it enters a second week at odds with New York's Department of Financial Services, which alleged August 6 the bank hid transactions tied to Iran. The state agency, headed by Benjamin Lawsky, ordered the bank to explain why it shouldn't lose its license at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

Standard Chartered vehemently disagrees with the agency's allegation the bank improperly processed $250 billion tied to Iran, which Lawsky cited in his order issued August 6. The heart of his order, however, alleges the bank violated state laws when it concealed records of transactions from bank examiners.

The talks could still collapse, and the hearing also could be postponed to allow more time for negotiations, according to the sources familiar with the matter.

The bank, meanwhile, already was cooperating in a separate probe dating to 2010 that included the US Justice Department and Manhattan district attorney. That investigation is aimed at determining whether Standard Chartered violated US sanctions laws and a settlement discussion has been occurring separately from the state discussions.

A settlement with New York would end a period of turmoil for the bank and law enforcement officials and likely would result in a multimillion-dollar fine for Standard Chartered. A settlement with federal officials also could result in a multimillion-dollar fine.

Officials for the Justice and Treasury departments and the Manhattan district attorney either weren't available for comment or declined to comment.

Lawsky's order cited communications between Standard Chartered officials about the reputational and legal threats to the bank if it kept doing business with Iranian clients.

Spokespersons for Lawsky's department and Standard Chartered declined to comment.

Faced with similar accusations, some banks prefer to quietly settle. Barclays Plc(BARC.L), Credit Suisse Group(CSGN.VX), Lloyds Banking Group(LLOY.L), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.(JPM.N) and ING Bank NVINGBK.UL had agreed in prior years to settlements totalling nearly $2 billion into how those banks allegedly processed money or assets tied to sanctioned countries.

Standard Chartered, by comparison, said last week that Lawsky's "interpretation" that the bank had improperly handled Iranian transactions was "incorrect as a matter of law."

Lawsky's office alleged the bank had hidden from regulators some $250 billion in improper transactions tied to Iran. The bank said that total amount that didn't adhere to US sanction laws was less than $14 million.

More recently, the bank has gone quiet. Chief executive Peter Sands was scheduled to appear on CNBC on Thursday but that appearance was postponed. The network said at the time the bank had emailed to say Sands couldn't appear because of "logistical reasons."

A domestically financed Padma bridge could slow down economic growth by drying up funds for crucial sectors like health and education, says a monetary economist who has worked for central banks and the UN.

Currently Chairman of the Department of Economics at Marquette University in Milwaukee, US, Abdur Rahim Chowdhury said diverting funds for bridge would also compel stiff austerity measures and hinder social development.

He said that even though Bangladesh had witnessed a steady six percent growth, this growth was yet to be inclusive.

In an email interview with bdnews24.com, the former researcher for the Finnish central bank also warned that high inflation was in the offing due to a likely food price hike triggered by a draught.

"Second, the quick rental plants have increased our import bill for petroleum products. This will gradually pass through to domestic inflation rate," says Chowdhury.

Also a former chief economist for the United Nations Economic Commission in Europe, the international finance specialist does not take well to the central bank's contractionary monetary policy as it "is not helping the economy very much".

The former member of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank's academic advisory council said, "The contractionary monetary policy would lead to a drop in economic growth and further increase the fiscal mismanagement."

While he acknowledged that this might help 'contain inflation', "Continued government borrowing would result in increased domestic debt which will crowd out private investment. It may also create a liquidity crisis in the banking sector."

The economist said he believed that Bangladesh Bank could have taken a more selective approach as regards 'import demand for raw materials, intermediate goods and capital goods; and also increase the flow of credit to productive sectors such as garments'.

A former visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, Chowdhury raised a couple more concerns for building the Padma bridge with own funds.

He said this would likely result in a weaker taka against the dollar since most of the investment would have to be in that currency. Furthermore, he said, foreign aid could shrink as donors become cautious fearing corruption in the 6-km mega structure to bridge the Padma.

Asked about Bangladesh's challenges ahead, Abdur Rahim Chowdhury reeled off a number of points.

Referring to Bangladesh's moderately high growth level, he said, "We should emphasize more on the quality of growth rather than the rate of growth. Our economic growth should be inclusive so that a larger proportion of the population could enjoy the fruits of growth. Also growth should be environmentally sustainable."

He noted that Bangladesh government still lived off taxes paid by the entire populace rather than the richer sections. "There should be more emphasis on direct tax collection including avoidance of tax evasion. In Bangladesh, the rate of increase in income tax collection is less than that of the domestic VAT."

Chowdhury cautioned that Bangladesh may not be able to sustain its current economic growth since there has not been enough investment in infrastructure.

The National Board of Revenue filed another tax dodge case on Sunday against Ekushey Television Chairman Abdus Salam.

Deputy Tax Commissioner Mohammad Bazlur Rahman charged Salam with concealing Tk 1.76 billion of earnings during the 2006-07 and 2008-09 fiscals and dodging tax on them.

The court of Dhaka's Senior Special Judge Mohammad Jahurul Haque recorded the statement of the plaintiff after the case was filed. Salam, also a director on the board of the private TV, was told to appear before court on Sep 11.

On Mar 20, the revenue watchdog filed another case against Salam and ETV Managing Director for not filing returns of the television channel between 2007 and 2009. They did not even respond to the notices.

Judge Bazlur Ranman on June 7 framed the charges against them and ordered the trial to start.

However, the witness deposition could not be heard after the High Court stayed the proceedings of the case in the lower court, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court's Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu told

Medical and dental colleges will enrol students based on their GPAs in the SSC and HSC examinations from this year as the government has decided to do away with admission test.

Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque told bdnews24.com that there would be no admission test from this year.

"We have taken this decision after discussing with all," he said, "students will be enrolled based on their GPAs in public examinations –SSC and HSC."

Altogether there are 8,493 seats in all medical and dental colleges in Bangladesh.

The number is 2,811 in 22 government medical colleges while 4,245 in 53 private medical colleges.

The nine public dental colleges and medical colleges' dental units have 567seats while 14 private dental institutes have 870 seats.

The minister, however, said they were yet to outline the technical details of how those seats would be filled up by thousands of top-graders.

"We will finalise it shortly," he said.

Thousands of Bangladeshi female workers, working for a readymade garments factory in Jordan, have claimed to be suffering from acute sense of insecurity, raising allegations that 23-24 of their colleagues have gone 'missing' over the last one year.

The workers also alleged that the Indian owner of 'Classic Fashion' and the Bangladeshi authorities there are tied to the 'disappearances' and 'killings'. The female workers are also unable to return home as their passports have been taken by the owners.

After failing to elicit positive response from the office of the Bangladeshi honorary consul there, they have, in a desperate attempt for a resolution, resorted to abstaining from work for the last three days. Allegations have also been levelled against the Bangladeshi authorities that instead of taking steps, they are 'pressuring' the workers to rejoin work.

However, the government has refuted the claim, dismissing the accusations of killings and forced disappearances of the workers.

Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Jafar Ahmed told bdnews24.com, "We have already talked to the parties concerned about the workers' issues. They have taken steps and the problems have been solved. They have accepted the demands of the workers, including providing security. They will be joining work from Sunday."

But when asked about the workers' allegation of forced disappearances and killings, he denied them and said, "These charges are baseless. None of our workers has been killed or gone missing there. "

Classic Fashion is owned by Sanar Kumar, who hails from Kerala. It is located in Jordan's Al Hasan area and employs over five thousand worker, of which, nearly three thousand are Bangladeshi women.

Champa Akhter, a Bangladeshi worker who works for the factory, alleged that criminals recently abducted one of their co-workers, Nazma Akhter. Another of their colleague, Polly, also went missing a few days back. But the complaints did not cut ice with the factory authorities. Instead, the owners claimed that Nazma and Polly have fled the factory to work for another organisation.

She added that the office of Bangladesh's Consulate General there also did not act to protect the workers. A number of her colleagues also alleged that some of the Bangladesh officials and their Indian allies were tied to the occurrences and that the 'abducted' female workers could have been 'raped' and 'murdered'.

When pressed about the problems of the female workers, Jafar Ahmed said, "Our girls also create problems. They have gone to work for that factory on a two-year contract. But they are violating the terms and fleeing to work for other organisations. As a result, the organisation is facing losses."

The Bangladeshi Consul General in Jordan, Tawfique Islam, could not be reached for his comments on the issue.

Communications and Railways Minister Obaidul Quader has blamed negligence of the railway officials for the murders of 12 people whose corpses were found beside the rail tracks in Gazipur over the past month.

The minister visited Mirer Gaon area under Sadar Upazila of the district on Saturday following a report published by bdnews24.com on Thursday that five corpses were found in the last seven days and 12 in a month in the 1.5 kilometre area.

Though any motives behind the deaths are yet to be found, local residents believed incidents of hijacking were allegedly linked with the deaths.

Obaidul Quader blamed rail officials for their negligence over retrieval of the corpses. "What they do sitting there is corruption."

At one point, the visibly irate minister called a railway official over mobile phone and said, "You are celebrating Eid at the office! People are dying here, and you don't have any initiative?"

He ordered the officials to investigate the incidents while saying allegations of link between the hijacking racket and railway staff would also be looked into.

The Railways Minister also said a police check post would be set up in that area.

Quader also suggested Tangail and Gazipur district administrations to take immediate measures.

While on his way back to Dhaka, the minister was annoyed after seeing kitchen markets and temporary shops set up beside the Dhaka-Mymensingh road in Gazipur. He ordered the police to evict those.

Police have arrested three students for posting 'distorted' pictures of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the popular social networking website, Facebook.

Mrinal Chowdhury, Tushar Chowdhury and Shuvo Hasan are all higher secondary students of the Brahmanbaria Government College.

Brahmanbaria's Superintendent of Police Jamil Ahmed told  that the trio was arrested from the college's hostel on Saturday.

"Cases have been filed against them under the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006 and the pornography act."

The police official, however, declined to provide any further details.

Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) has expelled seven of its activists for their involvement in factional clashes at Dhaka University on Thursday that left at least two injured.

The ruling Awami League's student front announced the punitive actions in a media statement signed by central BCL President H M Badiuzzaman Shohag and General Secretary Siddique Nazmul Alam on Friday afternoon.

The expelled activists are the university unit BCL Joint General-Secretary 'Sanjay', Zohurul Haque Hall unit activists 'Sharif' and 'Joy', Bangabandhu Hall unit activist 'Mehedi', Mohsin Hall unit activist 'Hannan' and Kabi Jasim Uddin Hall unit activists 'Saikat' and 'Taj'.

They have been directed not to take part in any programme of the party until their expulsion is withdrawn, the statement said.

At least two Chhatra League activists were injured in clashes between the supporters of two BCL factions of the university unit from Thursday afternoon to night.

They were identified as Fazlul Karim Riad of Islamic Studies department and Abdus Salam Shyamal of Institute of Education and Research, both second-year students.

Maverick former minister Nazmul Huda, who recently left the BNP, has formed a new political party, Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Front, and announced that he will have candidates for all the 300 seats in the next election.

Huda, who is the Convenor of this party, officially announced the constitution of the Jatiyatabadi Front on Friday afternoon at the Imperial Hotel at Gulistan in the city.

"Jatiyatabadi Front as a political party will uphold nationalist ideals. We will have candidates for 300 seats in the next election," he said at the meet.

Huda on Jun 6 had told at a press briefing that he was resigning from the BNP once again to protest party's Chairperson Khaleda Zia's failure to engage in talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Later, he sent in his resignation to Khaleda.

Speaking about the new party to bdnews24.com earlier in the day, he said," Jatiyatabadi Front was previously formed just before the 1978 presidential elections. (Former President) Ziaur Rahman was elected as President from this front."

"The BNP, a new political party, had emerged from the front," he said.

Huda, a founding member of the BNP, said, "Jatiyatabadi Front has been off the limelight since the BNP was formed. I am going to announce that Front as a new political party."

He said the party would have a 21-strong Steering Committee as the highest policy-making body and added the Central Committee would include 101 members, but their identity could not be known immediately.

Huda, who faced corruption charges during the 2007-08 military-backed government's tenure, had served as the State Minister for Information in the 1991-96 BNP government and was fired for his remarks in 1995.

Then the Vice-Chairman of the BNP, he was thrown out of the party in 2010 for going against the party position after Khaleda left her home of 28 years in Dhaka Cantonment after losing court battle.

He was reinstated in the party after he had regretted his comment.

"My newly-formed party's Central Committee will be constituted on Nov 7," he said.

Huda said an independent, neutral and powerful Election Commission, based on the opinion of all political parties, was a must to supervise transparent and fair elections.

"That commission must be given all authority during the polls," he added.

He said he believed power could only be transferred through elections and added he wanted to bring changes to political ideologies.

He said he was hopeful that many people from the old Jatiyatabadi Front and other parties would join his party.

Main opposition BNP is preparing an outline of a non-party caretaker government based on the 13th Amendment of the Constitution to oversee the next general elections, a senior party leader said on Saturday.

The non-party caretaker government to oversee the national polls was annulled through the 15th amendment of the Constitution in June last year.

"The next general elections would have to be held under a non-party government. That's why we are preparing to present an outline for a non-party caretaker government based on the 13th amendment of the Constitution," Standing Committee member Moudud Ahmed said.

He said the draft outline would be made public and they would ask the government to implement it.

Moudud's remarks came on Saturday while he was speaking at a discussion at the National Press Club at the capital amidst row between the ruling coalition and the opposition over poll-time government.

The party decided to prepare the draft outline of non-party government on Jul 2 at the National Standing Committee meeting presided over by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

Several newspapers had published reports, but Moudud is the first one from BNP to make any official comment on the issue.

BNP has been protesting against the scrapping of the non-party caretaker government provision and demanding its reinstatement. Even, BNP chief Khaleda Zia has ruled out Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's recent idea of an all-party poll-time government. But the Awami League led by Hasina is adverse to the idea of handing over power to an unelected administration.

Moudud on Saturday said, "Everyone lost faith on the present government for their actions. They have made the administration into a partisan one in such a way that it would not be possible to hold fair polls under this administration."

"That's why we have raised the demand for a non-party government," he added.

He said only a non-party government would not serve the purpose. "The whole administration must be changed. Unbiased officials have to be posted in the field level administration by changing the partisan DCs-SPs-UNOs-OCs."

Giving reasons for rejecting the Prime Minister's proposal to join the all-party interim government, the former law minister said, "To overcome the political crisis in 1996 former Australian Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen had proposed to form an interim government drawing five members each from the two parties and led by then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Why Sheikh Hasina did rejected the idea then?"

"This party [Awami League] has no principle. They led demonstrations in 1996 demanding the caretaker government. They observed 173 days of general strike. And then they scrapped the system and added the provision to hold the elections under a partisan government," he added.

Even if an interim government was formed under the incumbent Prime Minister, it would not be possible to hold fair elections, Moudud claimed adding that BNP would go for tougher agitations to realise their demand non-party caretaker government after the Eid-ul-Fitr.

A witness on Monday said he saw former BNP minister Abdul Alim order the killing of a bunch of Hindus sometime in May 1971.

The first prosecution witness against this former Muslim League leader, 71-year old Abdul Momen said he had also seen Alim addressing a 500-strong rally of Razakars and Peace Committee members and tell them to 'loot the belongings of Hindus'.

The second war crimes tribunal, set up to expedite trials of crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, saw the witness identify Alim as an active collaborator of Pakistan Army.

The witness, himself a former leader of the ruling Awami League's student wing, said Abdul Alim, who had joined the Convention Muslim League, and Abbas Ali Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami had lost the 1970 national elections against the Awami League candidate Dr Mafiz Chowdhury.

Abdul Alim's faction of Muslim League, of which he was the Joypurhat head, was led by former Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Fazlul Quader Chowdhury. Fazlul Quader's son Salauddin Quader is also behind bars on war crimes charges and was indicted for 23 charges on Apr 4 by the International Crimes Tribunal-1.

The three-judge International Crimes Tribunal-2 chaired by Justice A T M Fazle Kabir indicted Alim on 17 war crimes charges on Jun 11. He is alleged to have been involved in the murder of 585 people in 1971.

A few days before the Eid-ul-Fitr in 1971, Abdul Momen told the court, he saw Abdul Alim address a large rally of collaborators. "At first he translated for one Major Afzal."

Major Afzal, according to the charges, was the Pakistani officer for whom Alim had made arrangements in Joypurhat. Alim had also taken over the office of one Saonlal Bajla, a jute trader, and turned it into the office of the local Joypurhat Peace Committee. He was also involved with forming the local Razakar unit.

These vigilante outfits, along with the Al Badr and Al Shams militia, were involved with a large number of crimes against humanity and responsible for widespread atrocities in their effort to thwart the liberation movement.

The witness said Abdul Alim had told his audience on that day that they would have the next Eid congregation at the famous Garher Math in Kolkata. Momen also remembered the accused telling his followers, "Loot the belongings of Hindus."

When asked by the conducting prosecutor, Rana Dasgupta, the witness said he had stood about 30 or 40 yards away from the rally at a village under Khetlal Upazila.

Abdul Momen then went on that a few days later when he had visited the house of a Hindu acquaintance around the same place, he heard them saying that the Pakistan Army personnel, along with the collaborators belonging to Razakar and Peace Committee, had surrounded the Hindu neighbourhood.

Momen named several other Hindu acquaintances who had been detained from there and taken to the local Peace Committee office where they were tortured. "Then they were taken to the Joypurhat office."

It was here that Abdul Alim was present and came out to meet the prisoners. The witness said he followed the group the entire time and watched what happened since he knew them. Alim apparently ordered that the Hindus be murdered.

"They were then taken to the Khanjanpur Kuthibari riverbank where they were shot and buried."

Although the prosecutor asked him a number of times, the witness said he could not remember the specific time but it was most likely May.

This was followed by cross-examination by Abu Eusuf Mohammad Khalilur Rahman, a newly appointed defence counsel to handle Alim's trial.

The counsel's petition for a four-week adjournment at the start of the proceedings was brushed off by the tribunal before the witness deposition began.

But before he could begin cross-examination, the witness told the court that the defence counsel had been arrested and jailed along with Abdul Alim under the Collaborators Act soon after the Liberation War. "As such he should not have taken charge to conduct this trial."

The tribunal said that anyone Abdul Alim chose could represent him and had nothing to do with what had happened before.

The cross-examination remains incomplete and will resume on Aug 27.

Abdul Alim is the only one accused of war crimes who is out on bail.

NASA scientists hailed the Mars rover Curiosity's flawless descent and landing as a "miracle of engineering" on Monday as they scanned early images of an ancient crater that may hold clues about whether life took hold on Earth's planetary cousin.

The one-ton, six-wheeled laboratory nailed an intricate and risky touchdown late on Sunday, much to the relief and joy of scientists and engineers eager to conduct NASA's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s Viking probes.

"We trained ourselves for eight years to think the worst all the time," Curiosity lead engineer Miguel San Martin said. "You can never turn that off."

Mission control engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles erupted in cheers when confirmation was received that Curiosity, touted as the first full-fledged mobile science lab sent to a distant world, had landed on the Martian surface.

NASA engineers said the feat stands as the most challenging and elaborate achievement in the history of robotic spaceflight, and opens the door to a new era in planetary exploration.

President Barack Obama hailed the accomplishment as an historic "point of national pride."

The landing also marked a much-welcome success and a major milestone for a US space agency beset by budget cuts and the recent cancellation of its space shuttle program, NASA's centrepiece for 30 years.

The landing was a major initial hurdle for a two-year, $2.5 billion project whose primary focus is chemistry and geology. The daredevil nature of getting the rover to Mars captured the public's imagination.

Daredevil Descent

Encased in a capsule-like protective shell, the nuclear-powered rover capped an eight-month voyage as it streaked into the thin Martian atmosphere at 13,200 miles per-hour (21,243 kilometres per hour), 17 times the speed of sound.

Plunging through the top of the atmosphere at an angle producing aerodynamic lift, the capsule's "guided entry" system used jet thrusters to steer the craft as it fell, making small course corrections and burning off most of its downward speed.

Closer to the ground, the vessel was slowed further by a giant supersonic parachute before a jet backpack and flying "sky crane" took over to deliver Curiosity the last mile to the surface.

The rover, about the size of a small sports car, came to rest as planned at the bottom of a vast, ancient impact bowl called Gale Crater, and near a towering mound of layered rock called Mount Sharp, which rises from the floor of the basin.

A trio of orbiting satellites monitored what NASA had billed as the "seven minutes of terror," but the anxiety proved to be unfounded.

From an orbital perch 211 miles away, NASA's sharp-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped a stunning and serene picture of Curiosity gracefully riding beneath its massive parachute en route to Gale Crater, located near the planet's equator in its southern hemisphere.

At 10:32pm PDT on Sunday (1:32am EDT on Monday/0532 GMT on Monday) flight controllers at JPL received the equivalent of a text message from Curiosity that its journey of 352 million miles (566 million km) had ended safely.

Seven minutes later, the rover transmitted a picture, related by another Mars orbiter called Odyssey, showing one of Curiosity's wheels on the planet's gravel-strewn surface.

"When you see a picture of the surface of the planet with the spacecraft on it, that is the miracle of engineering," lead scientist John Grotzinger told reporters on Monday.

With the late-afternoon sun slipping behind the crater's rim, Curiosity relayed six more sample pictures and the results of initial health checks of some of its 10 scientific instruments before shutting down for the Martian night.

Landing Zone of Intrigue

Curiosity touched down about 6.2 miles from the foot of Mount Sharp, a monstrous formation of sedimentary rock that rises like a stack of cards three miles from the floor of Gale Crater. Taller from base to summit than California's Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental United States, Mount Sharp crests above the northern rim of the crater.

Scientists believe the mound may have formed from the remains of sediment that once completely filled the basin, offering a potentially valuable geologic record of the history of Mars, the planet most similar to Earth.

For that reason it is a key focus of interest for Curiosity scientists looking for evidence of Martian habitats that may have supported microbial life. It may be months, however, before Curiosity heads over to Mount Sharp.

"Our goal is not just to head for the hills," Grotzinger said.

Added project manager Pete Theisinger, "We have a priceless asset and we're not going to screw it up."

The rover comes equipped with an array of sophisticated instruments capable of analysing samples of soil, rocks and atmosphere on the spot and beaming results back to Earth.

One is a laser gun that can zap a rock from 23 feet away to create a spark whose spectral image is analyzed by a special telescope to discern the mineral's chemical composition.

Among Curiosity's first tasks will be to chemically analyse the soil near its landing site.

"We're on gravel plain of Mars, a somewhat familiar scene," Grotzinger said, noting that the gravel seemed to be quite uniform in size. "We're a complex spacecraft, and simple geology is a good thing to start off with."

Scientists are also eager to explore rocks and pebbles that appear to have been transported by flowing water to a fan-shaped region near the landing site.

On Monday, the rover was expected to unfurl its dish-shaped antenna so it could better communicate directly with Earth.

"The surface mission of Curiosity has now begun," mission manager Mike Watkins said. "We built this rover not just to be launched or not just to land on Mars, but to actually drive on Mars and execute a very complex and beautiful science mission."

The High Court on Monday halted for eight weeks proceedings of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-5, the court which was hearing the Apr 29 arson case against 18-Party opposition alliance leaders.

The bench of justices Naima Haider and Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar gave the order after hearing a petition by BNP leader Mahbub Uddin Khokon challenging the jurisdiction of the lower court.

It also questioned the legality of the formation of the tribunal and setting the jurisdiction of the judge through the order of the CMM, without issuing a gazette, and why the moves will not be declared conflicting with the Speedy Trial Tribunal's law.

The respondents, including the Law Secretary, Cabinet Secretary, Public Administration Secretary and Dhaka's Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Bikash Chandra Saha, have two weeks to answer the court.

Stay on tribunal, not case

After the order, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the court that criminals should not be allowed to walk free only because there was a procedural flaw in the case. "So it will not be right to give a stay order on the case."

In response, the judges said they had not stayed the proceedings of the case, but that of the tribunal.

After the hearing, defence lawyer Ahsanul Karim told journalists that the court has stayed judicial activities of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-5. "The proceedings of the case against the opposition leaders will remain halted also."

However, the Attorney General pointed out that the High Court had stayed the proceedings of the tribunal as they could not present the gazette of its formation. "I do not believe there is any problem in running the case in any other court."

Embarrassed

Earlier in the day, the bench of justices Mirza Hussain Haider and Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo started the hearing but asked the petitioner's lawyer to shift the case to another bench at one point of the proceedings.

After the hearing started at the first bench, Deputy Attorney General Al Amin Sarkar told the court: "The Attorney General is supposed to argue in the hearing. He will arrive at 12pm. Let the hearing start then."

At one point of the discussion between the senior judge and the prosecution lawyer, the junior judge of the bench felt 'embarrassed'. The senior judge then said, "One of us is feeling embarrassed. We are giving the permission to move the case to another bench."

The bench, on Sunday, had set the hearing for 11am after the prosecution urged for more time on behalf of the Attorney General.

After moving the case to the bench of justices Naima Haider and Khurshid Alam Sarkar, the defence pointed out that the lower court had scheduled hearing witness accounts in the case for Tuesday.

President of Supreme Court Bar Association Zainul Abedin filed the plea for BNP leader Mahbub Uddin Khokon.

Khokon had filed the plea with the High Court on July 29 for a halt in the case proceedings and questioned the jurisdiction of Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal which framed the charges in the case. The accusations were levelled against the opposition leaders on Apr 29 at Tejgaon Police Station.

Without signing any memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the mobile phone operators to reach a consensus over 2G licence renewal, the government has decided to renew licences of four companies on Tuesday.

Post and Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed will hand over the licences, valid for the next 15 years, to the operators – Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Citycell – at a function in the main conference room of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) at 3:30pm.

BTRC Chairman Maj Gen (Retd) Zia Ahmed told bdnews24.com on Monday that no agreement would be signed between BTRC and the operators for the licence renewal.

He said that the 2G licences were being renewed as recommended by the government and the operators would have to pay the second instalment of fees and charges as per law.

Upon receiving a letter from the Post and Telecommunications Ministry, the telecom regulator on Aug 1 invited four mobile companies to renew their licences on Tuesday.

The ministry in its letter asked BTRC to issue licences to the operators within a week after settling issues with the operators, and sign a tripartite agreement with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the operators.

The BTRC chief on Aug 2 said that they were reviewing the draft of the agreement and the final decision on it would be taken after the review.

However, a senior BTRC official told bdnews24.com that the Commission would not proceed with the proposed agreement to avoid legal complexities in the licence renewal.

On July 26 this year, Finance Minister A M A Abdul Muhith, after a meeting with representatives from mobile-phone operators, BTRC and NBR, had said that 2G licences would be renewed by August. He also said that both parties were asked to withdraw from legal battle before the licences were renewed.

BTRC is currently screening the draft of 12 conditions discussed with the minister to reach a consensus with the mobile phone operators.

After a stand-off with BTRC for more than nine months, the telecom regulator on Thursday sent letters to the four mobile phone operators asking them to send their representatives to get their 2G licences renewed on Aug 7 for the next 15 years, as recommended by the telecom ministry.

On Sept 11 last year, the watchdog had published final guidelines on renewing the licences, two months before 2G licences of the four operators expired.

BTRC was supposed to renew the licences by Nov 10, but it did not, and the operators took the issue to the High Court which is yet to give its ruling on the matter.

In November last year, the four operators had deposited the first instalment of their renewal and frequency allocation fee. The second instalment was supposed to be paid by Aug 1, but the telecom regulator has extended the deadline by a month.

The four operators are paying Tk 75.63 billion for the renewal.

According to BTRC, over 90 million people are currently using mobile phone across the country.

Electronic voting machines (EVM) will not be employed in the next parliamentary elections, the Chief Election Commissioner said on Sunday.

The decision not to entrust Bangladeshi democracy to computers was because 'the Election Commission is not ready to use the EVMs at the national level', Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmed told reporters.

"The law will have to be changed for this. But we have already done some test-runs in several local government elections," he said after a meeting at the Election Commission.

His remarks came after six months of speculations over the use of the EVMs in the general elections. He, however, said that EVMs would be used experimentally in the Rangpur City Corporation polls.

According to the CEC, the voter list for 200 Upazilas was updated and the commission was currently examining double voters. A total of 3 million news voters were registered this year.

He mentioned that 1,96,000 people became voters twice in 2008-09.

"Some of them lost their identity cards or some others changed address. But, anyone who had a new identity card out of any ill-motive would be punished," Rakib added.

As for Dhaka City Corporation polls, he said updating the voter list will begin in October while the High Court order postponing the polls will be challenged.

He declined comment when asked whether they would disclose the expenditure and income of political parties.

The last EC, led by A T M Shamsul Huda, had successfully used voting machines in one ward during Chittagong polls and in one-third of polling centres in Narayanganj elections, and turned Comilla city polls and Narsinghdi municipal by-polls into completely computer-based elections.

Main opposition BNP has been opposing the use of EVM in all elections since the EC began trialling them.

Uncertainty had loomed over their use in the elections after Kazi Rakib took over the EC in February though the government and the immediate-past EC had been firm on its use in the national elections.

The Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has been providing technical assistance to the EC in manufacturing and using the EVMs.

IICT Director Prof Lutful Kabir in March had told bdnews24.com that the new Election Commission was not paying 'proper attention' to the issue.

Other Election Commissioners had earlier hinted the Commission's confusion over the issue, but CEC Rakib on Sunday confirmed for the first time that the EC was not ready to use the EVMs in the parliamentary elections.

After taking oath as the CEC on Feb 15, Rakib on Feb 28 had said that the newly-formed Election Commission would again take the initiatives to hold dialogue with political parties to make the use of EVMs in the national polls acceptable to everyone.

But no initiatives have been taken since then.

The EVM are susceptible to fraud as its control unit cannot be fully secured from tampering, experts say, even though the government pumped huge money into the new technology to help voters cast their ballots electronically.

When the machines break down, voters can use provisional paper ballots, but there is scepticism over whether they will be counted.

The Begunbari canal and Hatirjheel areas will open to public from Dec 15 as the government has completed development of the two water bodies.

State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan informed journalists about the decision after visiting the places on Tuesday.

"The progress of the work is satisfactory. Hatirjheel will be opened for people on Dec 15. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the opening," he said.

On the night of Dec 15, 'victory' will be celebrated at the venue, he said, in reference to the Victory Day. "There will be colourful cultural programmes including music and dance performance by young people on that day."

About the progress of the Hatirjheel-Begunbari development project, he said that the project work was expected to be complete in December. "We're hopeful of completing the work within the scheduled time."

"The construction of a road on the site has already been done. It will be carpeted with pitch soon. Grass and date trees are being planted along the road. The construction of the bridges is about to come to an end."

The junior minister said that the beautification work had already started.

About the objectives of the project, Mannan Khan said the project had been undertaken for construction of a road stretch through Karwanbazar to Rampura to reduce traffic congestion in the city, install clean water bodies inside the city and proper waste management in the area.

He claimed that the illegal land sharks of the area were rehabilitated in different places after talks and no pressure was put on them.

Once completed, the project will help ease the commuters to reach Rampura from Karwanbazar, Moghbazar and Malibagh in "only 10 minutes" which now takes more than one and a half hours. The project will be a hit with the commuters of Dhaka, he added.

The junior minister thanked all the entrepreneurs and others related for undertaking such a project.

It will now have four big bridges, four overpasses, two-lane dedicated expressways and two-lane service roads with six bus stands, U-loops near Rampura Bridge, walkways, and waterbus services.

Public Works Secretary Khandaker Shawkat Hossain, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) Chairman Md Nurul Huda and chief of the army's engineering core Major General Habibur Rahman and Director of the Hatirjheel-Begunbari Development Project Brigadier General Abu Sayeed Mohammad Masud, among others, accompanied the junior minister.

An official of the ministry said the government plans to construct a flyover on the Rampura-Badda road from the Hatirjheel-Begunbari project area. The project costs may increase by at least Tk 20 million for this reason.

He added the government would acquire some land from Bangladesh Television (BTV) in Rampura. "The process to sign a deal between the BTV and Public Works Ministry has started."

The Hatirjheel project began in 2007 to develop communications between the east and the west of the capital, reduce waterlogging and maintain environmental balance.

The Tk 21.52 billion project was supposed to be complete by 2010, but legal wrangle cost the project about another two years.

RAJUK, 16 Engineering Construction Battalion of Army, Dhaka WASA and LGED are jointly implementing the project. The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology is the consultant of the project.

Inflation has come down in the first month of the new fiscal as prices of food fell, according to a new benchmark set by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

According to the latest figures it released on Sunday taking 2005-06 fiscal as the base year, prices rose in July at a rate of 5.21 percent.

But the inflation rate was at 8.03 percent in July as per the previous yardstick with 1995-96 fiscal counted as the base year. The price rises were 8.56 percent in June and 10.64 percent on average in the last fiscal, according to that base year.

BBS Director General Golam Mostafa Kamal disclosed the latest inflation rate at a press conference at their headquarters at Agargaon.

According to him, food inflation stood at 6.30 percent and inflation in sectors other than food was 11.54 percent during the last fiscal, as per the previous benchmark.

On the other hand, the new estimate put food inflation at 2.23 percent and inflation in non-food sectors at 9.94 percent in the last fiscal.

This is the first time the BBS calculated rates of inflation with 2005-06 fiscal as the base year, according to which the inflation rate in June was 5.54 percent.

The rates of inflation in food and non-food sectors in June were 7.08 and 11.72 percent respectively with 1995-96 as the base year.

With 2005-06 as the base year, the food inflation in June was 2.56 percent and non-food inflation 10.2 percent.

In rural areas, the inflation rate in July was 7.71 percent taking the 1995-96 fiscal as base year. Food inflation in the rural areas in July was 5.84 percent and non-food inflation 11.76 percent.

With 2005-06 as the base year, the rate of inflation in rural areas was 4.84 percent. With the new yardstick, food inflation in the rural areas in Jul was 2.07 percent and non-food inflation 10.19 percent.

The rate of inflation in the urban areas in Jul was 8.85 percent with 1995-96 as the base year and 5.92 percent with 2005-06 as the base year.

According to the old estimate, food inflation in urban areas in July was 7.36 percent and non-food inflation 10.97 percent. But With 2005-06 as the base year, food inflation in urban areas in July was 2.62 percent and non-food inflation 9.59 percent.

"The rate of inflation went down following decrease in prices of some essentials, including rice. We have over 60 percent rural economy. It impacts much the rate of inflation if the price of rice comes down a little," the BBS Director General said.

BBS Director Satya Ranjan Mandal and Joint Director Abul Kalam Azad were also present in the conference.

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said on Sunday Malaysia will submit a final proposal on the Padma bridge project in three weeks.

After meeting Malaysia's Special Envoy to South Asia on Infrastructure S Samy Vellu, Quader told reporters, "The Malaysian delegation has placed the concession agreement of the [Padma bridge] project on the costs during and afterwards the construction and how it will be returned."

He would not be drawn on the specifics of the concession agreement before the final proposal is in.

"There are some strategic problems if I talk about it," Quader added.

The meeting between the Communications Minister and a seven-strong Malaysian delegation, led by Vellu, began around 11:45am and ran for an hour.

The envoy also met Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Sunday noon on the proposal submitted on Jun 28 to build the Padma bridge.

But the Finance Minister declined to say anything about their meeting. He told reporters, "I won't say anything. The Communications Minister will say what is necessary."

Quader said the final proposal will be screened. "The evaluation committee headed by Dr Jamilur Reza Chowdhury will examine Malaysia's final proposal. Then it will be sent to the law ministry for vetting. The Cabinet will take the final decision about the proposal after that."

Though he did not say anything clearly about what the Malaysians proposed, the minister said the final proposal will be a 'win-win' one for both countries.

Asked whether the government has abandoned the idea of building the bridge with its own funding, Quader said, "The government has ditched the Cabinet's decision. But why would we say no if anybody wants to help?"

He also said the possibility of establishing a consortium, led by Bangladesh, to build the Padma bridge cannot be ruled out.

Asked whether the Malaysian envoy said anything about beginning the bridge's construction, Quader told reporters, "They want to begin the work within this year."

Earlier, Quader had told reporters that he will take iftar with the Malaysian envoy and have a second meeting with them at 3pm Monday.

Dhaka had contacted Kuala Lumpur to construct the 6.15-kilometre long Padma bridge, which would connect the capital with 16 districts of backward south-western region, after the Bangladesh government ran into a dispute with the World Bank.

The global lender in Jun 29 pulled out of the $2.9 billion project raising corruption allegations, throwing funds pledged by the other donors into uncertainty.

The governments of Bangladesh and Malaysia on Apr 10 signed a memorandum of understanding in Kuala Lumpur on cooperation in the construction of the bridge and associated facilities.

On May 28, a delegation of the Malaysian government, led by Samy Vellu, had submitted a proposal to the Communications Minister to build the country's largest infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) extended their loan deal for the project by a month last Wednesday after the government had written to the three other donors including Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to keep the funds available.

Of the proposed $2.9 billion project, the World Bank had agreed to provide $1.2 billion and ADB pledged $610 million. The Jeddah-based IDB is to provide $140 million and JICA said it would contribute $400 million in the project.

On Jul 1, Muhith in a press conference refuted the corruption charges the World Bank had levelled against the government in cancelling its loan and urged the global lender to review its decision.

The United States on Sunday said it was 'deeply concerned' about the decision of the Bangladesh government 'to give the government-appointed chairman of the Grameen Bank Board control over the selection of the bank's new managing director.'

"This move would diminish the role the largely female borrower-shareholders play in shaping the direction of an institution that has made a difference to millions of impoverished women in Bangladesh, and indeed around the world," said a press statement released by the Press Relations Office of the US Department of State.

The statement also referred to the visit the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made to Bangladesh in May, urging "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni to take no actions that would undermine Grameen Bank."

"We are concerned that the latest actions by the government could threaten the future of the bank, which was founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus," said the statement issued by Acting Deputy Spokesperson of the Office of Press Relations Patrick Ventrell.

"We call on the Government of Bangladesh to respect the integrity, effectiveness, and independence of Grameen Bank.

"We urge the Bangladeshi Government to ensure transparency in the selection of a new managing director who has unquestioned integrity, competence, and dedication to preserving Grameen Bank, its unique governance structure, and its effectiveness in bringing development and hope to 8.3 million of Bangladesh's most vulnerable citizens, mostly women," read the statement.

The statement came after the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Aug 2 approved a draft of 'Grameen Bank Ordinance (Amendment) 2012' to change the legal provision for appointing Managing Director.

The government move is seen as an attempt to tighten its control over Grameen Bank by expanding the power of the government-appointed chairman to choose its Managing Director. Currently, that power resides with the bank's board of directors, which is made up of Yunus supporters.

The Cabinet also decided to investigate whether Yunus had enjoyed tax exemption in his stint as chief executive and how much money he made in salaries and allowances after he turned 60.

The central bank said in the past that he had violated retirement laws by failing to relinquish control at 60 but an official government enquiry cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Since the bank was founded in 1983 through a martial law ordinance, Yunus had been its Managing Director. In 2006, he shared Nobel Peace Prize with the bank, prompting Bangladeshis, Hasina among them, to hail him despite criticisms over the loan recovery process of the bank through weekly instalments.

When a TV documentary showed in December 2010 that he had channelled Tk 7 billion aid meant for the Grameen Bank to a sister concern of the bank without informing the donor, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had called Yunus a 'bloodsucker of the poor'.

The 72-year old, who made an abortive foray into politics during the emergency rule and has been an outspoken government critic, made an appeal to the people to save the microlending institution after the Cabinet decision.

"I have been expressing my apprehension beforehand. Now my fear is becoming real. I'm very sad we couldn't succeed to stop the process," he said in a statement.

Yunus was questioned by the central bank for continuing in his job far beyond the retirement age for any executive in any such institution in Bangladesh. Yunus was nearly 71 when the Bangladesh Bank gave the notice in March 2011.

He went to the court and lost a series of legal battles, finally in the Supreme Court, eventually losing his hold on the institution.

Following his removal, the government refused to bow down to pressure from US and international donor organisations to reappoint Yunus. It also ruled out a proposal to form a committee, led by Yunus, to look for a new Managing Director.

In February this year, opposition BNP said Hasina ridiculed Yunus by proposing him as the World Bank chief in a meeting with a delegation of European MPs in Dhaka.

Yunus, who counts Hillary, former US President Bill Clinton, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Ireland President Mary Robinson, among his many friends, refused the idea.

Speaking on BBC's HARDtalk last week, Hasina denied allegations that her government had forced Yunus out of his role in Grameen Bank after he tried to float an independent political party in 2007.

Her claim that the bank charged 30-45 percent interest was contested by the bank on Jul 31. The Bank said it charged 7 percentage points less interest than the government-fixed ceiling and that her remark was 'inconsistent with actual figures'.

Usain Bolt defended his 100m title in stunning style, winning Sunday's final in an Olympic record time of 9.63 seconds.

The Jamaican, who holds the world record, finished ahead of countryman and world champion Yohan Blake and American Justin Gatlin in arguably the marquee event of the Olympics.

He has become the first sprinter since American track and field legend Carl Lewis to defend an Olympic 100-metre title.

Bolt, who also owns the world record of 9.58 seconds, did not start well; he came into the Olympics having struggled with injuries this season.

But he surged away from Blake and Gatlin from the halfway stage to run the second-fastest time in history in front of an 80,000-capacity crowd.
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Seven of the eight finalists ran under 10 seconds in what was the fastest Olympic 100m final ever.

Blake, who is Bolt's training partner and had beaten the triple gold medallist from the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the Jamaican trials, ran a personal best 9.75.

Gatlin, the 2004 gold medallist who was given a four-year doping ban, also set a new personal best of 9.79 as he took the bronze.

The third Jamaican in the men's 100 field, Asafa Powell, who held the world record from 2005 until 2008, pulled up injured during the race, finishing in 11.99secs.

Bolt will now bid to complete an unprecedented double-double by retaining his 200 metres title and will also seek a sixth sprint gold in the 4x100metres relay.

Compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also retained her women's title to give Jamaica a flying start in their sprint showdown with the United States.