Bangladesh rounds up 3,000 in anti-militancy drive
Reuters, Dhaka, 29 October : Bangladesh police have detained 3,000 suspected Islamist militants in just two days after a bomb attack on a lawmaker and threats against Indian interests and a top prosecutor, a security official said on Thursday.
Eight grenades, 28 firearms, dozens of ammunition and 30 motorbikes were seized in the nationwide crackdown, launched on Wednesday and the biggest since the government took power in January. "We have detained 15 hardcore Islamists and about 3,000 suspected militants in the past two days," a senior police officer said. READ FULL STORY

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FIR in 'Rajdhani hostage' has no mention of Maoists
Kolkata, 29 October : The First Information Report that was filed against the hijackers of the Rajdhani Express didn’t have any mention of any Maoists or the armed wing of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA).
The FIR filed by the Railway authorities in Midnapore’s Rajdhani hostage case is being seen as a move to shield the Maoists. The FIR was lodged with the Jhargram GRP. The railways on Thursday filed an FIR against “unknown persons” for holding up the train, “heckling passengers” and preventing staff from “discharging their duties for a long time”.
The move is being questioned over why Mamata Banerjee's Railways Ministry has not mentioned any names in the FIR when the Maoists and the PCPA had claimed responsibility for the hijack of the train. န Photos : Deepak Malik

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Eighteen tribals fell sickafter consuming wild potatoes
Agartala, 29 October : Eighteen tribals, including eight women, have fallen sick in a tribal hamlet in South Tripura district after consuming wild potatoes, official sources said today.
The Reang community tribals, appointed as labourers for construction of roads under NREGA schemes at Tainani, were digging earth when they found some wild potato's and consumed them yesterday, they said. After about two hours, all of them fell sick and were admitted to Tripura Sundari Hospital, where condition of two women is stated to be serious.

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Maoists kill 2 CPI(M) cadres, abduct 3 in West Bengal

Midnapore, Kolkata, 29 October : In separate incidents, suspected Maoist killed two activists and kidnapped three others in West Midnapore district, an official said Thursday.
CPI(M) activist Tapan Mudi, abducted from his residence late Wednesday by a group of Maoist, was found shot dead Thursday morning. “Mudi’s body was found at Binpur this morning with bullet injury. And Dilip Mahto, another CPI(M) member of Manidaha local committee, was shot dead last night. He was kidnapped from his house in the Kotwali police station area,” West Midnapore District Magistrate N.S Nigam told Bengal Newz.
In a separate incident, three CPI(M) sympathizers were reported missing from Goaltore area in the district Wednesday evening. “The three are still missing. They were local CPI(M) sympathizers. Police are carrying out search operations to find them,” Nigam said.

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First 'Nat'l Tiger Action Plan' adopted in Bangladesh

UNB, Dhaka, 29 October : In a tiger-sized leap for conservation in Bangladesh, the forest department has adopted the first National Tiger Action Plan for the country.
In view of guiding tiger conservation efforts for the next eight years, the first 'Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan 2009-2017' was developed with support from Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh, Zoological Society of London, US Fish and Wildlife Service and University of Minnesota, says a press release yesterday. The action plan contains a set of activities to tackle the threats to tigers in the country.
The conservation activities include strengthening the Sundarbans forest protection and law enforcement to protect tigers, spotted deer and the forest; raising awareness across the nation to encourage sustainable use of natural resources; implementing activities to reduce the number of fatal tiger attack incidents in the Sundarbans and resulting retaliatory killing of tigers by villagers; and increasing the number of tiger conservation researchers.
Above all, the action plan calls for more people and organisations to get involved in active tiger conservation efforts, and an overall strengthening of national skills in tiger conservation to ensure the implementation of the action plan.

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Pirated version of Windows 7 on sale at Rs 50per CD
Kolkata, New Delhi, 29 October : Even as Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, prepares to launch Windows 7 in India next week, pirated version of the Windows 7 is already being offered by several retail shops in major metros and can even be downloaded for free from various internet websites.
Software piracy is the biggest concern for top software makers, especially in countries such as India and China where consumers are tempted to buy cheaper and at times free versions of the latest software. For instance, the Indian software industry loses nearly $2.8 billion every year because of piracy. The exchequer also loses tax revenues worth around $200 million annually because of unauthorised software sales in the country.

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Ex-DIG quizzed in Chittagong's 2004 arms haul case

Chittagong, 29 October : The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) here yesterday interrogated former deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Shamsul Islam in connection with the sensational Chittagong arms haul case.
Shamsul Islam was the DIG of special branch and a member of the five-member probe committee the home ministry formed following the seizure of ten truckloads of firearms on 2 April, 2004. The investigators quizzed Shamsul Islam at the CID Chittagong divisional headquarters at Dampara Police Lines.
They inquired about the high-level probe committee's findings that implicated only five persons creating scope for most of those involved in the incident escape the charge, said the sources in CID.

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