န Bengal's Flood Situation Worsens န Malda, 25 August :
(L) A woman stands outside her flooded house at Makaiya Maszid village of Malda district. (R) Flood-affected people stand on a broken embankment as they wait for relief supplies at Banikanto Toli village of Malda districts Today.

န Photos : Rupak De Chowdhuri (Reuters)

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Beauty tips for Bangladesh police officers recruits !!!
AFP, Dhaka, 25 August : Bangladeshi police officers will hit the streets a little smarter and more confident after a beautician was called in to give grooming tips to new recruits.
Kaniz Almas Khan, who owns beauty parlours in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka and in Thailand, was asked by police chiefs to give lessons to 140 new recruits at an academy in the northwest of the country, she said on Monday. "I was surprised to be asked but it's great that people are becoming more conscious about their appearance," she said. "Male officers were just as keen as female officers, if not more, on looking good. They wanted advice on everything from colours they should be wearing to the type of perfume that would suit them."
The chief of the Sharda Police Academy in northwest Bangladesh, Mazharul Haque, said the project would boost officers' confidence as well as improve their appearance. "This is the first time in the academy's history we have invited a top beautician to offer us lessons on grooming and presentation. It's very important for a police officer how he presents himself to the people," he said.
"These people will be the future police chiefs of our country." န Photo : AFP

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Helicopters to facilitate "Heli-Tourism" in rural Tripura

Agartala, 25 August : The Tripura government has decided to introduce "heli-tourism" in the state by extending chopper services to promote tourism in the hinterland, a senior official said here Tuesday.

"To promote rural tourism, we will operate helicopter services to 20 tourism spots in Tripura," said Madhusudhan Bhattacharjee, managing director of Tripura Tourism Development Corp. The subsidised fare for the 20 destinations has been fixed between Rs.700 and Rs.1,500. The government-owned helicopter services company Pawan Hans has been operating for the past eight years in the interior areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim with the central government subsidising fares by 75 percent. In Tripura, the service covers five towns, apart from capital Agartala. "The central government will also provide Rs.75 lakh for each heliport that will be developed in different tourism spots across the entire north-eastern region," Bhattacharjee said.
The newly-constituted Tripura Tourism is expanding infrastructure at new tourist spots and improving existing destinations in the state that borders Bangladesh.

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Six undertrials escape from court lock-up in Jalpaiguri
PTI, Siliguri, 25 August : Six undertrials today escaped from a lock up in Jalpaiguri court when the lockup's gate was opened to give them drinking water, police said.
"It was a very hot and humid day. The undertrials were shouting for drinking water and six of them fled as the gate was opened to put in a bucket of water at around 2.30 pm," Superintendent of Police, Jalpaiguri, Anand Kumar told PTI.
They got lost among the people in the busy court compound and could not be rearrested immediately, Kumar said.

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GJM confident, BJP won't shy away from statehood for "Gorkhaland"
PTI, Kolkata, 25 August : The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, which backed expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh in winning the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, has expressed hope that the party will not 'shy away' from creating a Gorkhaland state.
"We are confident that even with Singh's expulsion, the BJP will not shy away from its responsibility towards Gorkhaland as the issue was included in its manifesto. Besides, it is also the matter of BJP's sincerity," GJM publicity secretary Harka Bahadur Chettri told PTI over phone Today.

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After cricket, BD to focus on hockey
Dhaka, 25 August : Nineteen Bangladesh hockey players have proceeded to Germany to hone their skills as part of their preparation for next year’s South Asian Games.
The move comes close to the twin victory Bangladeshi cricketers scored against the West Indies and Zimbabwe, to win nationwide applause and be hailed as ‘tigers’ and ‘golden boys’ by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. However, the Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) has been unable to work out a domestic hockey competition for over a year, forcing the national level players to take jobs, engage in business and slacken on training and practice, The Daily Star said Tuesday. Bangladesh finished last in the seven-team Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur where they conceded 32 goals in four games.

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Mamata, entrepreneur take over 'Kolkata TV' channel

Backed by the Trinamool Congress and Kolkata-based entrepreneur Kaustuv Ray, the channel is now being run by its 171 employees, while SST Media’s founder and former MD Tathagata Dutta is struggling to secure his personal assets from being seized by lenders

Kolkata, 25 August : In a move reminiscent of jute mill takeovers, Union rail minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, West Bengal’s main opposition party has wrested control of Kolkata TV, which until May was among the most watched Bengali television news channels, without buying a single share of SST Media Pvt. Ltd, the firm behind the channel. READ MORE

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Akram likely to become Kolkata Knight Riders coach
Kolkata, 25 August : Kolkata Knight Riders management, searching a coach for their IPL franchise, now targets former Pakistan skipper and seamer Wasim Akram.
According to Times Now news channel, Akram confirmed that he has been approached by the Kolkata Knight Riders management for coach's job. Akram also said that he got a call from KKR principal owner Shah Rukh Khan for the interview which he will give by the end of this week. Sources also revealed that the good rapport between Akram and KKR captain Sourav Ganguly may well seal the deal for him. Earlier on Sunday, Kolkata Knight Riders management interviewed three former cricketers for coach's post.
The KKR team was looking for a blend of Indian and foreign coaching panel. The names of former England coach Duncan Fletcher and former India coach John Wright, who is expected in the country next week, are also in the running.

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Bashundhara C Shopping Complex catches fire again
Dhaka, 25 August : Firefighters early Tuesday doused a fire that broke out on the seventh floor of Bashundhara City Shopping Complex late on Monday night. The flames spread out from fast food shop 'Taco Bell', when an overheated cooker caught fire, an official said.
Mohammed Anjuman of Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters told reporters that several firefighting units rushed to the scene and swung into action just after midnight. Police blocked traffic on Panthapath Road for about an hour during the incident. Hundreds of onlookers crowded the road despite the late hour, forcing extra deployment of police and RAB.

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