Malaria threat looms over Kolkata locality
Kolkata, 7 July : The Kolkata's first malaria death of the year recorded last week on Surya Sen Street was only a trailer of the havoc the dreaded disease can wreak in the city in the coming monsoon months. Another resident of the locality who came down with the disease has already lost his vision.
For, statistics of by Kolkata Municipal Corporation's health department paint a grim picture malignant malaria hit a whopping 843 Kolkatans between January and June this year, compared to just 93 cases over the same period last year.
Malignant malaria can lead to multi-organ failure in a patient. So, watch out for mosquitoes or mosquito-breeding grounds in your locality and take extra caution, more so if you live in north or central Kolkata worst hit by the outbreak.
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Taxi strike called indefinitely from 22 June in Kolkata
Kolkata, 7 July : Taxis will go off city road indefinitely from 22 June. The taxi unions called the strike. They have decided to start agitation demanding hike in taxi fares because of fuel price hike. They are also protesting against the West Bengal government's move to phase out the 15-year-old taxis from city roads from 31 July.
The Bengal Taxi Association and Kolkata Taxi Association have called the strike. The old taxis will not be allowed to ply on city roads from 31 July following the High Court order. The court ordered the state government to phase out the old taxis from roads to minimize pollution.

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န Siliguri, 7 July :
(L) Labourers sort onions at a wholesale market in Siliguri. (R) A vendor sprays water on vegetables to keep them fresh at a market in Siliguri.
India will boost spending on irrigation and roll out more jobs and loans for farmers to spur the rural economy and lift farm sector growth to 4 percent, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday. န Photos : Reuters

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Flight makes emergency landing, passengers safe
Kolkata, 7 July : A Guwahati-Kolkata Kingfisher flight carrying 117 passengers landed in emergency conditions at NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Tuesday after smoke was noticed in the plane's pantry.
After the smoke was detected, the pilot of the Airbus 350 contacted the ATC of the airport to arrange for an emergency landing, airport sources said adding all passengers were safe. The cause of the smoke is yet to be ascertained.
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W Bengal Govt plans Santhali schools to woo tribals
Kolkata, 7 July : Faced with unrest in the tribal areas, the state government has decided to open about 1,000 more Santhali-medium schools in the tribal-dominated areas of West Midnapore, Purulia and Birbhum.
Only last year, the WB school education department had introduced Santhali-medium education in Class I in about 300-400 schools on a trial basis to see if parents were keen to send their children to such schools. WB School Education Minister Partha De said there has been good response to the initiative and so the number of schools have been increased. “We were first to recognise Al Chiki as a script in 1982,” De said. Al Chiki is the Santhali script that will be used to teach all subjects barring other languages at these schools. The infrastructure at Santhali-medium schools will also be upgraded. De had a meeting with the Adivasi Socio-educational and Cultural Association (ASECA) on 3 July and informed its members about the development. The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education has also been instructed to be prepared to draft textbooks in Al Chiki so that primary students can access books when they come enter secondary stage. According to the minister, the students wishing to switch over to Bengali-medium after a few years of Santhali-medium education will be allowed to do so.
Anirban Raychowdhury, a professor of computer science and engineering at Jadavpur University who has worked on a software for Al Chiki script, welcomed the government’s move.
The state government is also coming up with a Sidhu Kanu University in the tribal belt of Purulia and Birbhum, which will be a centre of tribal art and culture.
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Second in command of "Islam and Muslim" arrested
UNB, Chapainawabganj, 7 July : The second chief of command of 'Islam and Muslim', a new offshoot of the Bangladesh's outlawed Islamist militant organization JMB, was arrested after he was struck down by bullet in an exchange of fire with RAB and BDR in Zaharpur border area in Sadar upazila Tuesday.
Rapid Action Battalion sources said RAB-5, acting on a tip-off, surrounded the in-law’s house of Selim, second-in-command of the 'Islam and Muslim’, at Zaharpur village at about 12 noon(BDST). “But three shots were fired on them from inside the house, forcing the elite force to fire back,” says an official account of the incident. Selim, hit by bullet in the leg, was arrested from the house following the encounter. A pistol, nine rounds of bullet and two magazines were also recovered, RAB said.
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Maoist spokesperson Gaur’s police remand extended Kolkata, Bankura, 7 July : The chief metropolitan magistrate in Kolkata today extended the police remand of Gaur Chakraborty, the spokesperson of CPI (Maoist) who was arrested on 23 June, till 18 July.
The Kolkata Police had booked Chakraborty under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Public prosecutor S Pathak had moved the plea that Chakraborty’s police remand be extended for another two weeks, saying under the UAPA, the police can take an accused in its remand for a month.
Meanwhile, Bankura police have not moved any petition seeking the withdrawal of the UAPA against the two suspected Maoists, Gopinath Murmu and Kanchan Murmu. Both were arrested on 28 June from Kargilmore while allegedly trying to plant a landmine. The duo’s counsel, Samir Das, said the Bankura police had not filed any petition for the withdrawal of UAPA so far. န File Photo : Arpan Mukherjee
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Howrah RTO office ransacked by protesting PIC
Howrah, 7 July : Howrah RTO office has been ransacked today by Pragatisil Indira Congress, Chatra Parishad and BJP supporters protesting against the vehicles that are plying without license.They were also protesting against the nexus between a section of RTO employees and bus operators. Earlier they have complained about the nexus. They alleged that no steps have been taken so far.
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Comic book to spread awareness about "malaria"
PTI, Shillong, 7 July : A new comic has hit the stands but its aim is not just to amuse but to spread awareness about malaria that affects people in every part of the country, especially the northeast. ‘A Tale of Two Magic Potions’ by Shillong-based content and service provider Chillibreeze Solutions is intended to educate while entertaining school-going children on the virulence of the disease.
The company kicked off its malaria awareness campaign recently by distributing the comic book, which is the probably the first-ever health comic book in the country, among Class V students of three schools in Shillong, company director Nishi Viwanathan said. To gauge the effectiveness of the comic book, the company staff conducted pre-distribution and post-distribution quiz contests.
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Naga militants attack Dimasa village, killed 1 farmer
Silchar, 7 July : Naga militants attacked yet another Dimasa village in North Cachar Hills district on Tuesday and killed a farmer and injured his five-year-old son critically. With this, the toll in the ethnic clashes between Dimasas and Zeme Nagas has risen to 66 since the third week of March.
On Tuesday morning, armed Naga militants raided Daotohaja village in the Maibang area, 35 km from Haflong, and started firing indiscriminately at villagers engaged in jhum cultivation. Though most of them managed to flee, Aiganon Langthasa (40) fell prey to the militants' bullets and died on the spot.
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Discussion on Rajshahi University's 56th founding anniversary today
Rajshahi, 7 July : A discussion will be organised marking the 56th founding anniversary of Rajshahi University at Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association Auditorium at 5pm(BDST) today.
Rajshahi University Former Students Association will organise it. Prof Zillur Rahman Siddique will attend the discussion as chief guest and Justice Syed Mohammed Dastagir Hossain, DU VC Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, RU VC Dr Mohammed Abdus Sobhan, Mir Sawkat Ali Badsha MP and Fazle Hossain Badsha MP will attend as special guests.
The discussion will be followed by a cultural programme.
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Rs.4.25 lakh robbery near NH-34 in Murshidabad Dist
Murshidabad, 7 July : A gang of armed men robbed four lakh and twenty-five thousand rupees from a businessman at Shyamshergung in Pilka village near NH- 34 this morning. The businessman was in motorbike, when a gang of five people forced him to stop the bike and robbed the money from him. Later, the businessman has lodged a complaint with the Shyamshergung police station.The police is investigating the case. No arrest has been made so far.
န Highway robbers kill cloth trader in Kishoreganj
UNB, Narsingdi, 7 July : Highway robbers stabbed a cloth trader to death and injured 20 other passengers of a bus while committing robbery at Bhairab in Kishoreganj district on Dhaka-Sylhet highway early today.
The deceased was identified as Nurul Haq Bhuiyan, a cloth trader of Bianibazar upazila of Sylhet. Witnesses said when the Dhaka-bound bus from Sylhet carrying 50 passengers, mostly cloth traders, arrived at Bhairab at about 2:30am(BDST), a gang of 10/12 robbers got into the bus in the guise of passengers.