Rare leopard cub found in B'desh

Alastair Lawson BBC News, 22 July : A Critically Endangered leopard cub was captured by the tribe in a remote area of Bangladesh, a leading zoologist told the BBC.
Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) Chief Executive Mohammed Anwarul Islam said that the find was "exciting and very important." Many conservatives believed that the clouded leopards were extinct in Bangladesh. The WTB is now trying to release the bear.
Professor Islam said that the youth was found by indigenous villagers near the city of Rangamati in the south-eastern Chittagong Hill Tracts in June. READ MORE

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န Sundarbans, 22 July :
( L) A male tiger is released into the waters of the river Harikhali at the Sundarbans delta forest, about 150 km south of Kolkata. The tiger strayed into Samshernagar village in March 2009, and was captured by the forest department and sent to Alipor Zoo in Kolkata for treatment and to be tagged with a microchip. (R) Forest officials transport the tiger along the river Harikhali, before releasing him. န Photos : Reuters

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Police arrest 'Bangla Bhai associate'
Dhaka, 22 July : Bangladesh Police arrested a 30 year-old man from a slum in the city on Wednesday, on suspicion of past associations with executed militant Siddiqul Islam, who was notoriously known as Bangla Bhai.
The suspect, identified as 'Mithu', was arrested from Korail slum on a "tip-off" said Gulshan Zone additional deputy police commissioner Mohammad Monir Hossain. "He originally hails from Talaimari village in Boalia, Rajshahi, home to Bangla Bhai too," Hossain told reporters. "He was living in Korail under an assumed name. Earlier, he was living in Khilgaon slum also with a false identity."

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Again CPI(M) activist shot by Maoists in Belpahari
Midnapore, 22 July : Again a CPI(M) activist was shot dead Wednesday by suspected Maoists in West Bengal's Belpahari region, police said.
'Phagu Baskey was working in the fields this morning near Belpahari area in West Midnapore district when a group of Maoist rebels killed him,' police superintendent M.K Verma told Bengal Newz.
According to sources, Baskey was CPI(M)'s Belpahari branch secretary. He was shot dead for working during the shutdown called by the Maoists Wednesday in several eastern Indian states including West Bengal. A total of six people have been killed in Maoist attacks in the district this month.

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Mamata demands cessation of Lalgarh joint forces operation
Kolkata, 22 July : The Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday called for an end to the joint operations by the state and Central forces in the trouble-torn Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, saying a solution could be arrived only through discussion and development of the area.
"We want that joint operations at Lalgarh be stopped as nothing concrete has emerged out of it," Banerjee, who is the Railway Minister, said before leaving for Delhi.

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AMU team meets WB CM,visits Murshidabad for AMU
Murshidabad, Kolkata, 22 July : A five-member team of Aligarh Muslim University led by AMU Vice Chancellor Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis made a three-day visit to Kolkata and Murshidabad and discussed various issues relating to establishment of the AMU Centre at Murshidabad with the Chief Minister, Minister of Higher Education, Finance Minister and other officials of West Bengal.
In a meeting with the West Bengal CM, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Prof. Abdul Azis explained that the University will replicate AMU Model that blends school system with that of higher and professional education including provision for girls’ polytechnic and a Women’s College. The Aligarh model also reflects modern education and secularism as its philosophical ethos. The Vice Chancellor presented a memento of Sir Syed’s photograph inscribed on it to the Chief Minister, said Dr Rahat Abrar, Public Relations Officer. န Photo : Mainak Mukherjee

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Notice served to four presiding officers on duties in Tripura
Agartala, 22 July : The Election Commission has served show-cause notice to four presiding officers of just concluded Panchayat elections in Tripura for negligence of duties, which led the authority to conduct re-poll today.
Official sources here today said, the four accused were in charge of Kadamtala and Kumarghat Revenue Blocks in North Tripura and three of them were from Kadamtala only. Presiding Officer Shantanu Roy was accused of putting distinguishing seal in wrong way on the ballot paper, Shakti Bhattacharjee and Srijan Chakraborty were accused of wrong distribution of ballots and Niranjan Bhattacharjee was charged of entering into a house along with belongings while going to deposit used ballot boxes, officials said.
Re-polling in 36 seats, where voting was interrupted due to wrong distribution and defective printing and handling of ballot papers on 20 July began this morning.

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Total eclipse of the century viewed in Bangladesh
Xinhua, Dhaka, 22 July : The long-awaited total solar eclipse was observed Wednesday morning in northwestern Bangladesh that lasted for little more than three minutes.
Despite the cloudy weather, tens of thousands of astronomy enthusiasts gathered in the South Asian country’s northwestern Panchagarh district, about 440 km from here, observed the greatest celestial spectacle of the century. Panchagarh district, the nearest town to the central line of the Umbra was earlier declared as the Capital of the Total Solar Eclipse 2009 in Bangladesh.
The total solar eclipse started there at about 07:56am (BDST) and lasted about three to four minutes, creating a night-like situation in the town. The crowed celebrated this rare moment with clapping and bursting out in joy, which were broadcast live on DIGANTA TV Channel.

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