The Daily Star: Internet Edition Sat. May 22, 2004

Vol. 4 Num 348

Sat. May 22, 2004


News
Today's Index
Front Page
Business
Sports
Point-counterpoint
Metropolitan
National
International
Culture
General


Views
Editorial
Letters to Editor
Write to Editor


Sections
Literature


Others
About Us
Contact
Advertisement
Supplements
Archives

Today's Index

Front Page	Blast at Shahjalal shrine injures British HC, kills 2 Two people were killed and British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury was among about 70 injured in a powerful bomb blast, second in five months, at Hazrat Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet yesterday.
	Bangla Bhai's men put seven more on hit list After bludgeoning to death three leftist outlaws in Naogaon on Thursday, the Islamist outfit Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) was now preparing 'to punish' seven more people including a formerlegislator
	Bhola faces deluge as crack in dam widens Bhola is on the brink of a deluge with water from a turbulent Meghna gushing through a rapidly widening breach in the town protection embankment, while parts of Patuakhali town remain under floodwater.
	Manmohan takes oath as Indian PM today India's Prime Minister-elect Manmohan Singh and his senior colleagues in Congress party yesterday intensified efforts to complete the arduous task of forming together a coalition cabinet ahead of today's
	FBCCI board sits today to weigh govt order The FBCCI has convened an emergency meeting of its board of directors today to discuss the latest government order for incorporation of a clause in its Memorandum of Articles of Association (MAA) forthe
	Miraculous escape A deadly bomb hit British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury in the abdomen.
	No headway yet in Jan 12 shrine blast The investigation into the January 12 bomb explosion at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal in the city has made no headway even in more than four months.
	Blasts rage, probes stall Major bomb blasts that left 140 people killed and about 1,000 injured in Bangladesh in the last five years still stand unresolved and no attackers were punished because of politicisation of probes.
	Terrible, says Jack Straw British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw yesterday expressed grave concern over the bomb attack on British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury at Shahjalal's shrine in Sylhet yesterday.
	Bomb attack condemned Yesterday's bomb attack on a congregation of worshippers including the new British envoy to Bangladesh at a Sylhet shrine drew widespread condemnation and expression of horror both from home and abroad.
	AL leaders not allowed to visit injured envoy Awami League (AL) leaders were yesterday barred from visiting British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury who was admitted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) with bomb injuries.
	Security beefed up around diplomatic enclave The diplomatic corps in Dhaka have expressed concern at the bomb attack on British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet yesterday afternoon.
	Anwar out of danger British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury, who received bomb injuries in legs, is out of danger.
	US tanks, gunships pound Iraq insurgents: 18 killed American tanks and AC-130 gunships pounded insurgent positions near two shrines in the center of the holy city of Karbala early yesterday, and the US military said it killed 18 fighters loyal to rebel
	New images amplify abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison In a collection of hundreds of so-far-unreleased photographs and short digital videos obtained by The Washington Post, US soldiers are shown physically and emotionally abusing detainees at Iraq's AbuGhraib
	'Khulna outlaw Rashid killed in crossfire' Chief of a faction of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-ML) in the southwestern region Abdur Rashid Shaikh alias Tapu was killed in an exchange of fire with the Joint Forces yesterday at
	Internal feuds blamed for not holding VC-panel elections Vice-chancellor (VC)-panel elections under the University Ordinance, 1973 have not been held for long at three of the four public universities allegedly due to internal feuds of the authorities.
	Rejoinder and our reply Kazi Air International (Pvt) Limited, Pan Bright Travels (Pvt) Limited and Versatile Travels and Tours Limited have protested a news item carried by The Daily Star on May 16 under the headline "Hajischeated
	Practice match starts today Rain hampered Bangladesh's preparations ahead of the three-day practice match against the West Indies Board XI starting at the Queen's Park Stadium today.
	Fund crisis halts work on Tagore museum Work on the proposed "Kushtia Municipality Tagore Museum" at the Tagore Lodge that stopped due to fund crisis soon after it started about a year and a half ago is yet to resume.
	Launch sinks in Meghna, 15 feared dead Fifteen passengers including the machine man are feared dead in a launch capsize in the Meghna near Mirzakalu jetty in Bhola yesterday morning.
	Hotel manager stabbed to death in Ctg A hotel manager was stabbed to death by a gang of miscreants in the city yesterday. The victim was identified as Nasiruddin, 25, son of Abdul Barek of Daudkandi in Comilla.
	Meril-Prothom Alo Award handed over The Meril-Prothom Alo Award 2003 was distributed among the country's leading cultural personalities at a function in Dhaka yesterday.
	Bomb hurled at police van Unidentified assailants hurled a bomb at a patrol van of Khalishpur Police Station in front of Boyra Public College Thursday night. But no-one was hurt and no damage done by the attack at 9:00.
Business	Export to Canada up 140pc in 2003 Bangladesh's export earnings from Canada shot up by 140 percent in 2003 after getting duty and quota free access from the North American country. The earnings rose to $218.
	Bangladesh investors confce positive signal to S'pore businesses Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday said he expected the businesses of his country got a positive signal about investment potential in Bangladesh as they promptly responded to a conference
	Samsung eyes top slot in local mobile set market Samsung Electronics aims to become a top player in Bangladesh's cellular handset market by 2006, officials said in Dhaka yesterday as the South Korean company launched a new marketing campaign.
	Spectacles struggle to stay competitive High prices of imported raw materials and smuggled Chinese products are major problems for local spectacles industry to stay competitive.
	Malaysian chamber keen to send team to Bangladesh The Associated Indian Chamber of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor is keen to send a business mission to Bangladesh to explore trade and investment opportunities.
	Syngenta, Swisscontact to train agri input retailers Syngenta Bangladesh Limited and Swisscontact-Katalyst joined hands to train retailers on proper use of agricultural inputs.
	Al-Arafah Islami Bank declares 16pc dividend AL-Arafah Islami Bank Limited has declared a 16 percent dividend in the form of bonus share for the year that ended in December 2003.
	G7 to express concern to Opec over oil prices Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers will express concern to Opec over oil prices when they meet this weekend, the finance ministers of Britain, France and Germany wrote in a newspaper article due to
	Free markets boosting global living standard: Greenspan A move toward free markets around the globe is giving a boost to living standards, despite "pockets of strife and destruction," Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday.
	Indian shares seen weaker over govt formation Indian shares are expected to open weaker Friday on uncertainty over the incoming government's economic policies and amid reports of fierce jockeying for power in the Congress-led coalition.
	Union at SBC launches strike in 13 US states The union representing 100,000 SBC Communications Inc workers in 13 states launched a four-day strike on Friday, after talks for a new contract ground to a halt over health care and job security.
	China, Asean reach basic consensus Negotiations on the establishment of a China-Asean free trade area set to wind up ahead of schedule next month after the parties reached a basic consensus that would create the world's biggest trade zone,
	New Indian govt's allies may slow WTO talks The coming to power of an Indian government reliant on communists for support could slow WTO talks and harden Third World demands for cuts in rich nations' farm export handouts, analysts said.
	Weekly Currency Roundup Local FX Market There was acute liquidity crunch of USD in the local interbank market due to import payments of fuel and scrap vessels.
Sports	Cricket: ARAF crowned champs ARAF Appa-rels clinched the first-ever GrameenPhone Corporate Cricket Lea-gue title when the little known garment house handed favourites Bashundhara Group a five-wicket defeat in the Cup final at the
	Cricket: Calypso Cocktail For Abdur Razzak Raj, it was a far from disappointing experience touring the Caribbean despite the fact that he never played a game.
	Cricket: Dwayne up close Dwayne Romel Smith is a man who rekindles the joy of calypso philosophy in a modern day West Indies squad. Whatever he does on the field has a touch of fun and adventure.
	Cricket: Zim series off Zimbabwe's two-Test series against world champions Australia was called off on Friday, just 24 hours before it was due to start.
	Cricket: Cairns has six-appeal New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns smashed the world record for Test match sixes on Friday in his final appearance at Lord's during the second day of the first test against England.
	Chess: Rakib takes solo lead International Master Abdullah Al-Rakib took solo lead in the Leonine second Grand Master chess tournament at the NSC conference room yesterday. Rakib earned 3.
	Football: Noakhali blank Chuadanga Noakhali got off to a flying start in the Sher-e-Bangla Cup 22nd National Football Championship when the defending champions blanked Chuadanga 3-0 in the opening match of the final round in Natore yesterday.
	Zafar Imam laid to rest The late secretary general of Bangladesh Olympic Association and eminent sports organiser Zafar Imam was laid to rest at the Banani Graveyard yesterday.
	Football: Centenary honours shared France and Brazil drew 0-0 in the FIFA Centenary match at the Stade de France nearly six years after the teams contested the 1998 World Cup final won by the hosts.
	Cricket: Eng openers defy NZ Openers Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss took England to 136 without loss in reply to New Zealand's first innings 386 at tea on the second day of the first Test at Lord's on Friday.
	Cricket: Aussie thumbs-up The Australian cricket community welcomed the scrapping of the two-Test series with Zimbabwe but expressed fears that it could further damage the struggling sport in the African country.
	Cricket: The ugly Kiwi New Zealand opener Mark Richardson, who reinvented himself as an international opener after an unsuccessful career as a left-arm spinner, freely confessed on Thursday he was not the world's most exciting
	Football: Becks stays in Spain England captain David Beckham says he plans to stay at Real Madrid and his wife and children will move to Spain, quashing speculation about their future.
	Football: FA Cup final today Millwall will pull off one of the greatest upsets in FA Cup final history if they beat Manchester United in Cardiff on Saturday.
	Football: Real sign Samuel Real Madrid have agreed a five-year deal with Argentine defender Walter Samuel, the Primera Liga club said on its website on Thursday. Samuel is set to join the Spanish giants on July 1 from AS Roma.
	Cricket: Magura cricket A brilliant century by Asad guided Saifur Rahman Smriti Sangsad to a 191-run victory over Jagarani Krira Chakra in the final of the Abdul Latif Smriti cricket tournament at the Mithun-Musa-Kajal playground
Metropolitan	NEOC starts monitoring by-polls The National Election Observation Council (NEOC), a non-governmental orgainastion, has started monitoring the electoral environment at Dhaka-10 and Munshiganj-1 constituencies for by-elections on June
	British Council Open Day begins A two-day 'Open Day for All' began at the British Council Teaching Centre at Satmasjid Road in the city yesterday.
	3 candidates withdraw nominations Two candidates withdrew their nominations from the race of by-election in Dhaka-10 constituency and one candidate from Munshiganj-1 yesterday the last date for withdrawal of candidature.
	Lightning kills boy in Ctg A boy was killed and three others were injured as a lightning struck them while they were playing near their homes at Moza Pukurpar at Gandamara union of Banskhali Upazila.
	Health minister gets No-Tobacco Global Award Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain has been awarded the 'No-Tobacco Global Award' by the World Health Organisation for his contribution to anti-tobacco campaign.
National	'Prop up people's voluntary effort' Nilkuthi cross dam, being built by local people voluntarily to save Fulchari upazila headquarter from Jamuna erosion, is threatened due to sudden swelling of the river.
	Teachers raise a glimmer of hope This is the first such move in the small town, possibly in the country.
	2 more Indian leopards in Dimla? The intruder Indian leopard shot dead by police in Dimila was handed over to forest officials on Wednesday. It was shot dead after it injured five people at East Chatnai village.
	Barisal PDB hard on small consumers, soft on bigger ones The Power Development Board here has realised Tk 8.2 lakh arrears electricity bills and disconnected 45 residential lines in a week under a special drive.
	4 shot by outlaws in Barisal Four people were injured in shots fired allegedly by outlaws at Chhai Mile (six miles) near the city Thursday night.
	Success in saving a rare medicinal tree Prof Mostafizur Rahman, a teacher of Crops Botany Department of Mymenshingh Agriculture University, has made success towards producing saplings of a rare medicinal tree.
	KU students warn VC not to protect 'irresponsible' teacher Khulna University (KU) students have warned the vice chancellor (VC) to refrain from protecting Prof Ali Naki, Head of the Architecture discipline from punishment.
	13 Indians among 17 nabbed by BDR Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on Thursday night arrested 17 persons including 13 Indian citizens from Bijoypur, Sadhupara and Charuapara of Dhubaura upazila in Mymensingh district.
	Rivals' clash leaves 50 hurt in Kushtia At least 50 persons were injured in a clash between two rival groups at Chatian village in Mirpur upazila on Thursday.
	No clue to Abdul Ahad murder in Sylhet No clue to Abdul Ahad murder has been traced after four days of the gruesome murder.
	Body exhumed after 23 days Body of a young man was exhumed after 23 days of its burial in Domar upazila.
Point-Counterpoint	Promoting good governance Good governance indicates effective, continuous and lasting phenomenon. Accountability, transparency and participation are the three key principles for ensuring good governance.
	Agha Shahid Ali The transience of human life is much with me these days and I find myself recalling lost friends and lost opportunities with increasing nostalgia.
Culture	An institute of theatre education Theatre School, an institute to provide education on theatre, recently arranged a certificate giving ceremony at the Mahila Samiti Hall The recipients were the successful participants of the one-yearcourse.
	'An artiste is never satisfied'--Hakim The Daily Star's (TDS) Shilpi Mahalanabish recently talked to popular actor and director Azizul Hakim (AH).
	Promoting young artistes Fifteen young artistes performed classical songs at Bengal Gallery at a programme titled Shongey Theko Sangeet-II.
	Psycho stabbing 'best film death' Janet Leigh's shower scene stabbing in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho has been named the best death in screen history by Total Film magazine.
	Musician Matthew from UK fuses East and West Fusion music is an expression of the term 'world music', which is described as traditional music from around the world, including everything from Balinese to Cajun to Indian and even European--blending
	Black Sabbath reuniting Black Sabbath will reunite for Ozzfest, which begins July 10 in Hartford, Connecticut, according to the Ozzfest Web site.
General	New women's hostel opens Proshanti Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, has opened a women's hostel-cum-employment generating project for widows, divorcees and unmarried women of over 30 years in Dhaka.
	Move to set up CNG stations by occupying water bodies protested Environmentalists yesterday protested the government move to set up CNG refuelling stations by occupying water bodies in Dhaka and levelling Batali Hill in Chittagong.
	Star Search contest launched Benson & Hedges kicked off a five-month programme yesterday to find out talented young musicians.
	Extortionists kill timber trader at Rajbari A timber trader was gunned down by extortionists at Rajbari on Thursday night as he failed to pay the toll as demanded by them.
	Colony demolished in Noakhali Noakhali district administration yesterday demolished a colony near the circuit house and the residence of the deputy commissioner in the town.
	Diarrhoea claims 11 in Jessore Eleven people have so far died of diarrohea at five upazilas in Jessore district.
	Girl burnt alive in Pirojpur fire A 12-year-old girl was burnt alive and two other girls sustained burns in a fire sparked off by a gas cylinder blast at a house near Jame Mosque in Nazirpur Upazila headquarters on Thursday night.
	Over 1,600 held, 14 firearms recovered Police arrested 1,669 people on various charges during their ongoing countrywide drive in the last 24 hours till 6.00am yesterday. They also recovered 14 firearms, two other weapons and 144 bullets.
International	Israel pulls most troops out of devastated Rafah The Israeli army yesterday withdrew most of its troops from Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 42 Palestinians have been killed since the start of a devastating raid.
	New UN resolution on Iraq taking shape The United States and Britain want a new UN resolution to call for "full" sovereignty for Iraq, albeit with such limitations as an opened-ended mandate for the presence of foreign troops, diplomats said.
	Manmohanomics at work again? The man who crafted India's economic reforms a decade back, Prime Minister-designate Dr Manmohan Singh, has taken up the challenge once more.
	Indo-Pak talks to resume May 25 Welcoming Indian prime minister-elect Manmohan Singh's statement to give priority to the ongoing peace process with Pakistan, the Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said Thursday, that the pledge was
	More detainees complain of bad treatment after release from Abu Ghraib The first detainees to arrive home from Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq yesterday emerged from three battered buses, clutching their bags, blankets and complaining bitterly.
	Pakistan accuses US troops of border intrusion Pakistan accused US troops yesterday of making an incursion into its territory while hunting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, the second such incident this month.
	Top UN rights official warns against 'licence to kill' in Iraq, ME The UN's top human rights official on Friday sharply criticised violence in Iraq and in the southern Gaza Strip, warning that security forces in both places did not have a "licence to kill".
	US air raid kills 3 Afghan civilians Three Afghan civilians were killed and two wounded in a pre-dawn swoop by US helicopter gunships in Afghanistan's southeastern province of Khost yesterday, angry villagers said.
Editorial	Editorial: WB fund stuck up It is no secret that the health sector, like many other areas of public concern, is also plagued by planning anomalies.
	Editorial: By election It is surprising to see that two candidates from the same political party have been given two separate symbols for the coming by election in June.
	The difficult art of practising democracy The people of Bangladesh in general and the inhabitants of Dhaka in particular, have passed through anxious times in the past few weeks.
	Do we live in a less unequal world? Over the past two years, a great deal of debate has surrounded the issue of global inequality.
Letters to Editor	Unending eddies Kudos to The Daily Star (Saturday, 15 May 2004) and Mr. Naqvi for raising important questions on the current political situation in Pakistan.
	Killing of Bangladeshis by BSF Killing of Bangladeshi nationals by the BSF (Border Security Force) of India has become a regular and commonplace news item. It does not attract much attention. Nobody seems to be bothered by it.
	Musing at the political hangama The political leaders are rather indifferent to the reality the society has no option but to back their grandiose proposals.
	Failed parties The world is passing through a very crucial moment, while the political stability in Bangladesh is deteriorating day by day.
	Sad state of affairs Bangladesh does not belong to any political party, individual or any particular family. It belongs to 140 million people of the country.
Literature	On Walking R. K. Narayan, whose full name was Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Naranayanaswami ( and who was advised by no less than Graham Greene to shorten it to R.K.
	There's Something To Be Said For Complaining... There's something to be said for whining. Sometimes it can bring you the goodies.
	A Pakistani author writes a novel of 1971 Sorayya Khan's Noor is a remarkable novel for the simple reason that it breaks the long tacit silence among Pakistanis of all hues to speak of the horrors of what they saw and did in East Pakistan.
	From The Best Of Laxman: the common man at large; Penguin Books India, 2004. R. K. Laxman (for Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman) is India's most celebrated cartoonist--- uncommon creator of the common man.