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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Bengal marks 26/11 with flowers, candles and peace concerts

Kolkata, 26 November : People in Kolkata Thursday lit candles and paid floral tributes to the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Schoolchildren, actresses, government officials, cultural activists and policemen all united in grief as also in a resolve to foil designs of terror masterminds and to protect the unity and integrity of the nation of over 100 crore people. The main function observing the first anniversary of the Mumbai killings was held near the Police Memorial in the city hub where Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi garlanded the memorial and signed the condolence register. Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty was among those present.
In the evening, candles in colours of the national flag were lit at the memorial as also the nearby Citizens’ Park amid singing of patriotic songs. A large number of school children joined the commissioner and leading Bengali film actress Rituparna Sengupta in paying tributes to those brave men and women who fell to the terrorists’ bullets in Mumbai a year back. Bollywood actress Raima Sen took part alongside a host of actors and singers in a peace concert.
Similar solemn functions were held in various parts of the city and the state.
At least 166 people were killed when 10 terrorists of the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) went on a killing spree at many places in Mumbai for three days from 26 November last year. Photos : AP, Indrajit Dutta

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Tripura to start study-from-home programme for special kids
Agartal, 26 November : The Tripura government has decided to introduce a Home-Based Education Programme (HBEP) for the disabled children, who are unable to attend schools, an official said here on Thursday.
"The HBEP would be launched as part of the government programme to bring all children (aged 6 to 14 years) in learning process," Banamali Sinha, principal secretary education, told reporters. "We cannot include the differently-abled children in normal educational set-up, because the government has not yet prepared the schools with adequate infrastructure and trained teachers to take special care of those otherwise-abled children." The Tripura government has appointed some Education Volunteers (EV) to serve the educational needs of these hapless Children With Special Needs (CWSN) at their homes from the next academic session beginning from January next year. "Initially, 171 differently-abled children have been identified in different parts of the northeastern state to provide this home based education," the principal secretary said.
According to the 2001 census, Tripura has around 60,000 people with various physical deformities and a considerable number of them are under 15 years old.

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Bangladesh to launch its own Satellite
Dhaka, 26 November : Bangladesh government has decided to launch own satellite into space 'very soon', post and telecommunication minister Rajiuddin Ahmed said on Thursday.
Talking to reporters at his secretariat office, he said the government has already discussed the technical aspects of the venture with some foreign countries having experience in satellite technologies.
He said: "The government has initiated the move to launch its own satellite into space, which should help the country improve its communication systems. We have discussed the technical aspects of it with a number of countries, including China and Germany."

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Congress's shutdown evokes mixed response in Agartala
Agartala, 26 November : The opposition Congress-sponsored dawn to dusk shutdown Thursday in the Tripura capital to protest the killing of a Youth Congress leader two days ago saw many shops and business establishments remaining closed and attendance in offices thin.
“Around 50 Congress activists were arrested in the capital city when they tried to enforce the 12-hour shutdown,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (central) Harimohan Debnath. The shutdown call evoked only partial response, officials said. Shops and business establishments in the capital city and on the outskirts remained closed while attendance in government offices and educational institutions was thin. Very little traffic was seen on the roads. However, no untoward incident was reported.
Tripura Youth Congress vice-president Mantu Das was shot dead by some people at his house Tuesday midnight. Photo : Parthajit Dutta

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Suspected Maoists kill school teacher in Purulia dist
Purulia, 26 November : Suspected Maoist killed a school teacher in Purulia district Thursday evening, police said.
The incident took place at Arsha area where a few locals saw the body of Subimal Mali lying on the bank of Barlang river. The victim was teacher at Ranga High School. 'We received the information this (Thursday) evening and accordingly sent our force to the spot. Mali was taken to Sirkabat hospital where he was declared brought dead,' a senior police officer of Arsha police station told Bengal Newz over phone. He said the police were trying to confirm whether Mali was killed by the Maoist.

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D Y Patil to take oath as Tripura governor tomorrow
Agartala, 26 November : The newly appointed Tripura Governor D Y Patil will take oath of office and secrecy tomorrow, officials said.
Patil was accorded guard of honour by security forces at the airport, shortly after his arrival in morning. The outgoing Governor Dr Kamala, who has been appointed Gujarat Governor, said, "My tenure in Tripura was for only 40 days, but I am taking with me a memory of intimacy and good hospitality.

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WB offers land, infrastructure for 'Football Academy'
Burdwan, New Delhi, 26 November : The West Bengal government has offered land and infrastructural support to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to built a state of the art academy in Burdwan.
The government has proposed 17 acres of land for the academy, which will also get technical support from German giants Bayern Munich. In fact, the WB govt had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bayern in 2007.
AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta told on Wednesday that to look into the nitty-gritty of the West Bengal government's proposal, a four-member committee has been formed and they will inspect the site in Burdwan, Thursday. "The site is adjacent to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) complex and if needed we can also use the facilities there as well," said Dutta.

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PM's office goes Solar to encourage 'Green Energy'
Dhaka, 26 November : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has installed a solar power system at her office to encourage green energy expansion in her power-starved nation.
The country's single largest solar power system, with a peaking capacity of generating 21.6 kilowatts, is now operating on a trial basis, officials of the Power Development Board (PDB) that supervised the installation. The system has been designed and installed by a local private firm Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd and now awaits formal inauguration, the officials said. The firm mainly produces dry batteries that are exported to India and several other countries.

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Hooghly dist clash echoes in Parliament, house adjourned
PTI, New Delhi, 26 November : The turf war between TMC and CPI(M) in Khanakul, Arambagh and Purshura had its echo in the Lok Sabha today with the two parties clashing over fresh violence between their supporters, leading to adjournment of the House for an hour.
TMC chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay raised the issue during Zero Hour and was supported by his party colleagues who were on their feet targeting the Left Front government in the state. CPI(M) members, led by Basudeb Acharia, immediately countered them accusing the Trinamool of being hand-in-glove with Maoists. Bandopadhyay and his colleagues demanded that a Central team be immediately sent to the state to assess the situation and submit its report. With charges and counter-charges continuing unabated, speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the House for an hour.
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Two jailed for beating Crocodile
Dhaka, 26 November : A court in southwestern Bagerhat district has jailed two men for severely beating a pregnant crocodile at an Islamic shrine, a news report said Thursday.
Judge Abdus Salam Khan convicted the men of torturing the crocodile and sentenced them Tuesday to two years in jail with hard labor, Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper reported. The crocodile, named "Pipil," was seriously injured and lost one eye after the men beat her with bamboo sticks at Khan Jahan Ali shrine in April this year, the prosecution said. The shrine is in Bagerhat district, 135 Km southwest of the capital, Dhaka.
The shrine has about two dozen crocodiles living in a big pond where pilgrims can feed and watch them.
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SSTL to integrate its voice service with the Internet
Kolkata, 26 November : At a time when the continuing tariff war is slated to hit revenues and bottomlines of telecom companies, Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) plans to integrate its voice service with the internet to drive average revenue per user (ARPU).
The company, which operates CDMA telecom services under the MTS brand, plans to offer mobile broadband services on cellphones and a host of services around it. For this, SSTL has entered into long-term agreements with RailTel, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices to lease internet bandwidth. The company also plans to roll out an array of co-branded high-end mobile phones and smartphones along with leading vendors like Samsung, Fly, ZTE and Huawei which will be configured for hi-speed internet access.
Talking to reporters in Kolkata, SSTL chief sales officer Atul Joshi said that integrating voice and high-speed internet services will be the way forward in the mobile telephony market. "ARPU of data services is at least 3-4 times more than that of voice," he said.

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Bangladesh Taka appreciates against US Dollar ahead of Eid festival
Dhaka, 26 November : Bangladesh taka (BDT) has appreciated marginally by 0.17 percent against the US dollar in the last two weeks due to increased inflow of foreign exchange ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival.
"The local currency has appreciated slightly against the US dollar due mainly to an increase the flow of inward remittances ahead of the Eid festival," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, told AHN Media in the capital, Dhaka. The U.S. dollar was quoted at BDT 69.03 -BDT 69.05 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against BDT 69.15 in the two weeks back, according to the central bank statistics.
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One killed, five injured in Trinamool-CPI(M) clashes
Srerampore, Kolkata, 26 November : One man was killed and five others, including a police officer, suffered bullet injuries as activists of the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress clashed in several villages in Hooghly district Thursday, police said.
The clashes broke out in Majhpur, Bardighrui and Chandrabhan villages in Khanakul area, said an official at the state police control room. When a large police team reached the spot it was met with a hail of bullets, one of which hit Khanakul police station officer-in-charge Sukomal Das, the official said. Four political workers have been injured. The condition of three of them is said to be serious. The police officer and the three seriously injured activists have been brought to Kolkata for treatment.
Hooghly SP Satyajit Bondopadhaya told Bengal Newz the situation was tense but under control. Photo : Sanjay Bhaduri

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Thousands leaving Dhaka to celebrate Eid at home
Dhaka, 26 November : Thousands of city-dwellers have started leaving the capital to celebrate Saturday's Eid-ul-Azha, with their near and dear ones.
With only two days left for the festival, people with or without seat-ensuring tickets are gathering at the city's railway stations, bus and launch terminals to join relatives in their village homes. The capital Dhaka experienced exodus on Friday, the 1st day of three-day Eid vacation starting from Today, although a number of passengers have already left amid clamour for seats of trains, buses and launches.
Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) said it has started special Eid service from Wednesday, which would continue for the next three days, to ply on different inter-district routes in addition to the regular services considering the demands of the homebound city-dwellers. Officials at the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority said special ferry services have also been introduced on various routes on the occasion of the festival. Meanwhile, Bangladesh Railway (BR) has said seven special trains, including four to and from the capital, would run from Wednesday for the country's different destinations much to the relief of home-bound passengers.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police and intelligence personnel have been deployed at the railway stations and bus and launch terminals in the city to keep the black-marketers at bay and ease the situation for the home-goers. Photos : Dwaipayan Barua, Firoz Ahmed

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2nd Sub-marine cable to be set up at Mongla : Dr Moshiur
Khulna, 26 November : Adviser for finance to the Prime Minister Dr Moshiur Rahaman said the government has already decided to set up the second sub-marine cable at the Mongla Port for connecting it to the information superhighway as part of building Digital Bangladesh.
The government also has taken a project involving Taka 850 crore for supplying gas through pipelines to the Khulna region. An IT village will be established in Khulna and preliminary work for it has already started. After inaugurating the Khulna Pedia, the adviser said a cross of people including readers, researchers, traders, tourists and all professional bodies would get the opportunity for connecting them with the modern information technology. Dr Moshiur made said this while inaugurating a day-long Khulna digital festival-2009 as the chief guest at Khulna Government Zila School maidan yesterday.
Speaking on the occasion, he also said the people would collect their necessary information relating to geographical, historical, educational, economical and business activities from now on.

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