PTI, Bangalore, 1 March : Two persons were killed and over two dozen injured after violence broke out in three districts of Karnataka during rallies taken out to protest an article containing remarks against certain Islamic practices published in a vernacular daily on Monday.
The protests snowballed into communal clashes with people hurling stones at each other and setting afire nearly a dozen shops and over 50 vehicles in Shimoga and Hassan in central Karnataka and Belgaum district in North-Western part of the state. Curfew was imposed in Shimoga district, around 280 km from here. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 were clamped in Hassan and Belgaum district.Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari said though no incident of violence was reported from the state capital, provisions under Section 144 were invoked to as a precautionary measure. န Photos Courtesy : Mangalorean.Com
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Proposal for revival of Burn Standard, Braithwaite Company
Kolkata, 1 March : The Department of Heavy Industries has submitted a proposal to the union cabinet for the revival of Burn Standard and Braithwaite Company Limited and its consideration for handing it over to the Indian Railways, an official said here Monday."We are waiting for the railway's comments on the notes to be presented to the cabinet. They will comment on that within a week's time," Satyanarayan Dash, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, told reporters at a press meet. The railways had announced in the 2009-10 railway budget plans to take over these two public sector units, after which the ministry started due diligence process. While Burn Standard has two wagon manufacturing units in Howrah and Burnpur, Braithwaite has three such units in West Bengal.
The due diligence of both the units with a total financial liability of Rs.1,520 crore had recently been placed before the union cabinet for its urgent consideration, he said.
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UN tribunal to arbiter Delhi-Dhaka maritime border depute
Dhaka, 1 March : The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has nominated three judges to constitute an arbitration tribunal on the Bangladesh-India maritime boundary dispute.
The judges are Rudiger Wolfrum of Germany, Tullio Treves of Italy and Ivan Anthony Shearer of Australia. Wolfrum will preside over the tribunal. Bangladesh has nominated Alan Vaughen Lowe, a former professor of international law at the University of Oxford, to be a member of the five-member arbitrary tribunal, while India has proposed the name of P Sreenivasa Rao, a former legal adviser to the external affairs ministry. Bangladesh and India prefer speedy resolution of the disputes over their maritime boundary, Bangladesh government sources said. The ITLOS, with its headquarter in Germany, is an independent judicial body established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the Convention.
Bangladesh foreign ministry also started holding consultations with experts for preparation of the ‘memorial’ for ITLOS for delimitation of the maritime boundaries. According to the UNCLOS, Bangladesh must demarcate its sea boundaries by 27 July, 2011, India by 29 June, 2009 and Myanmar 21 May, 2009. The three countries are signatories to the Convention.
Dhaka, 1 March : The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has nominated three judges to constitute an arbitration tribunal on the Bangladesh-India maritime boundary dispute.The judges are Rudiger Wolfrum of Germany, Tullio Treves of Italy and Ivan Anthony Shearer of Australia. Wolfrum will preside over the tribunal. Bangladesh has nominated Alan Vaughen Lowe, a former professor of international law at the University of Oxford, to be a member of the five-member arbitrary tribunal, while India has proposed the name of P Sreenivasa Rao, a former legal adviser to the external affairs ministry. Bangladesh and India prefer speedy resolution of the disputes over their maritime boundary, Bangladesh government sources said. The ITLOS, with its headquarter in Germany, is an independent judicial body established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the Convention.
Bangladesh foreign ministry also started holding consultations with experts for preparation of the ‘memorial’ for ITLOS for delimitation of the maritime boundaries. According to the UNCLOS, Bangladesh must demarcate its sea boundaries by 27 July, 2011, India by 29 June, 2009 and Myanmar 21 May, 2009. The three countries are signatories to the Convention.
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CITU's Vehicular strike against fuel price hike in Tripura
Agartala, 1 March : The frontal organisations of CPI(M) on Monday called for a one-day vehicular shutdown in Tripura Tuesday to denounce the hike in prices of transport fuel.
"The union budget had raised central excise duty on fuel," Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Tripura unit general secretary Pijush Nag told reporters. The rise in prices of petrol and diesel will lead to an increase in fares of passenger and goods transport, he said.
Agartala, 1 March : The frontal organisations of CPI(M) on Monday called for a one-day vehicular shutdown in Tripura Tuesday to denounce the hike in prices of transport fuel.
"The union budget had raised central excise duty on fuel," Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Tripura unit general secretary Pijush Nag told reporters. The rise in prices of petrol and diesel will lead to an increase in fares of passenger and goods transport, he said.
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APDR moves HC, demanding return of PCPA chief's body
Kolkata, 1 March : Accusing the joint forces of killing PCPA president Lalmohan Tudu "in cold blood" in an so-called encounter on 22 February night, the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights today moved the Kolkata High Court demanding that his body be handed over to his relatives.
"Lalmohan was called out from home by the joint forces and killed in cold blood. His body is now in the Jhargram hospital morgue. Relatives who went to collect his body were driven out by the joint forces," the APDR's spokesman Sujato Bhadra told Bengal Newz. He said the APDR had filed a writ petition in the high court praying his body be handed over to his relatives.
Earlier, accompanied by two other APDR members, Bhadra submitted a memorandum at the office of state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, demanding handing over of the body to Tudu's relatives.
Kolkata, 1 March : Accusing the joint forces of killing PCPA president Lalmohan Tudu "in cold blood" in an so-called encounter on 22 February night, the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights today moved the Kolkata High Court demanding that his body be handed over to his relatives.
"Lalmohan was called out from home by the joint forces and killed in cold blood. His body is now in the Jhargram hospital morgue. Relatives who went to collect his body were driven out by the joint forces," the APDR's spokesman Sujato Bhadra told Bengal Newz. He said the APDR had filed a writ petition in the high court praying his body be handed over to his relatives.
Earlier, accompanied by two other APDR members, Bhadra submitted a memorandum at the office of state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, demanding handing over of the body to Tudu's relatives.
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Normalcy back in Rangamati-Khagrachhari, Sec. 144 lifted
Khagrachhari, 1 March : Those displaced during last Tuesday's clashes between Bangalee settlers and indigenous people have come out of hiding and have begun reconstructing their homes in the hill town of Khagrachhari in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
A Bangalee settler was killed and 50 others were injured during the clashes over land, and authorities were forced to send in the army to control the situation.
As normalcy has now returned to the area, the district administration yesterday withdrew the section 144 order that prohibits the assembly of five or more persons, the holding of public meetings, and the carrying of firearms. န Photo : Jasim Majumder
Khagrachhari, 1 March : Those displaced during last Tuesday's clashes between Bangalee settlers and indigenous people have come out of hiding and have begun reconstructing their homes in the hill town of Khagrachhari in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.A Bangalee settler was killed and 50 others were injured during the clashes over land, and authorities were forced to send in the army to control the situation.
As normalcy has now returned to the area, the district administration yesterday withdrew the section 144 order that prohibits the assembly of five or more persons, the holding of public meetings, and the carrying of firearms. န Photo : Jasim Majumder
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Kolkata industrialists receive threat calls from terror outfit
Kolkata, 1 March : Three city-based industrialists have allegedly received calls from a terror outfit threatening that they will be abducted if they did not pay up a hefty ransom for meeting legal expenses of don Aftab Ansari, sentenced to death in the American Center case.
According to police sources, two shoe barons and a hotelier were receiving the calls from Karachi in Pakistan and Dubai in UAE since Friday with huge demands for ransom. "The callers demanded a huge ransom to meet legal costs of Aftab Ansari and threatened that if it was not fulfilled then they would be abducted," a senior police officer said on the condition of anonymity.
Kolkata, 1 March : Three city-based industrialists have allegedly received calls from a terror outfit threatening that they will be abducted if they did not pay up a hefty ransom for meeting legal expenses of don Aftab Ansari, sentenced to death in the American Center case.
According to police sources, two shoe barons and a hotelier were receiving the calls from Karachi in Pakistan and Dubai in UAE since Friday with huge demands for ransom. "The callers demanded a huge ransom to meet legal costs of Aftab Ansari and threatened that if it was not fulfilled then they would be abducted," a senior police officer said on the condition of anonymity.
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Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy arrives in Dhaka
Dhaka, 1 March : Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, arrived home on Monday four days after his enrolment in the Awami League.
Joy, currently living in the US, enrolled as a primary member of the Awami League last week from Rangpur, his ancestral home. Joy and his wife landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the morning. From the airport they drove straight to Jamuna, the prime minister's residence.
Dhaka, 1 March : Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, arrived home on Monday four days after his enrolment in the Awami League.
Joy, currently living in the US, enrolled as a primary member of the Awami League last week from Rangpur, his ancestral home. Joy and his wife landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the morning. From the airport they drove straight to Jamuna, the prime minister's residence.
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'Royal Bengal Tigers' may go extinct by turn of century
BSS, Dhaka, 1 March : The Royal Bengal Tigers, one of the world's largest big cat populations, could disappear by the end of this century as rising sea levels caused by climate change destroy their habitat along the Sundarbans coast, according to a new WWF-led study published in the journal Climatic Change.
Tigers are among the world's most threatened species, with only an estimated 3,200 remaining in the world, including over 400 in Bangladesh and India, said officials of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). They said the threats facing the Royal Bengal Tigers and other iconic species around the world highlight the need for urgent international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"It's disheartening to imagine that the Sundarbans - which means 'beautiful forest' in Bangla - could be gone this century, along with its tigers," said Colby Loucks, WWF-US deputy director of conservation science and the lead author of the study 'Sea Level Rise and Tigers : Predicted Impacts to Bangladesh's Sundarbans Mangroves'. "If we don't take steps to address the impacts of climate change on the Sundarbans, the only way its tigers will survive this century is with scuba gear," he added.
The projected sea level rise in the Sundarbans is likely to outpace the tiger's ability to adapt, says the WWF, a UK-based wildlife conservation agency.
BSS, Dhaka, 1 March : The Royal Bengal Tigers, one of the world's largest big cat populations, could disappear by the end of this century as rising sea levels caused by climate change destroy their habitat along the Sundarbans coast, according to a new WWF-led study published in the journal Climatic Change.
Tigers are among the world's most threatened species, with only an estimated 3,200 remaining in the world, including over 400 in Bangladesh and India, said officials of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). They said the threats facing the Royal Bengal Tigers and other iconic species around the world highlight the need for urgent international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."It's disheartening to imagine that the Sundarbans - which means 'beautiful forest' in Bangla - could be gone this century, along with its tigers," said Colby Loucks, WWF-US deputy director of conservation science and the lead author of the study 'Sea Level Rise and Tigers : Predicted Impacts to Bangladesh's Sundarbans Mangroves'. "If we don't take steps to address the impacts of climate change on the Sundarbans, the only way its tigers will survive this century is with scuba gear," he added.
The projected sea level rise in the Sundarbans is likely to outpace the tiger's ability to adapt, says the WWF, a UK-based wildlife conservation agency.
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