Dhaka, 19 December : At least 37 people were killed and some others went missing after a boat capsized in Sunamganj district on Saturday.Jane Alam, police chief of Jamalganj sub-district of Sunamganj district, told Xinhua over phone on Sunday morning the rescuers have recovered 37 bodies including 17 children and 20 women. Alam could not tell how many people are missing but expected the number is very few.
Alam said the boat carrying about 150 passengers clashed with a cargo trawler at around 9:30pm local time in Surma river in the district. Most of the passengers have swum to the shore. Local police and people are doing the rescue operation and they have already lifted the capsized boat. န Photo : AP READ BBC STORY
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Indian delegation visits Bangladesh from today on Tagore'
New Delhi, 19 December : A nine-member Indian delegation is due to visit Bangladesh from today to discuss Indo-Bangla Joint Commemorations of 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.During the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in January 2010, both the Prime Ministers had agreed for joint celebration of Tagore's 150th Birth Anniversary in 2011-12 in a manner befitting his vision and spirit, Indian official announcement said. A National Committee under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh and a National Implementation Committee under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee have been constituted to celebrate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in an appropriate manner. The Indian National Committee in its meeting held on 20 May decided that special emphasis be given to the Joint Indo-Bangladesh Celebrations.
Indian cultural secretary Jawhar Sarkar and Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Rajeet Mitter, have been in constant touch in order to work out a detailed programme in the spirit of the Joint Communiqu.
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7 Bangladeshi construction worker abducted in Afghanistan
IANS, Kabul, 19 December : Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped seven Bangladeshi construction workers in a northern Afghanistan province, an official said Sunday.
‘Eight people, including seven Bangladesh nationals and an Afghan guard, were kidnapped in Balkh province on Saturday night,’ Xinhua quoted interior ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari as saying. The abducted men were employees of a South Korean road construction company, he said.
IANS, Kabul, 19 December : Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped seven Bangladeshi construction workers in a northern Afghanistan province, an official said Sunday.
‘Eight people, including seven Bangladesh nationals and an Afghan guard, were kidnapped in Balkh province on Saturday night,’ Xinhua quoted interior ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari as saying. The abducted men were employees of a South Korean road construction company, he said.
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ICT issues arrest warrant against Salauddin Q Chowdhury
BSS, Dhaka, 19 December : The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) today issued arrest warrant against Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, granting a petition filed by the prosecution seeking an order to keep him under grill as the investigation agency gathered sufficient information of his involvement in several crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation.The prosecution sought the order with the plea that the investigation agency while conducting inquiry on the crimes committed against humanity has gleaned information that Chowdhury was involved in gruesome crimes like genocide, killing, torture, arson attacks and enforcing exodus during the country's Great War of Liberation in 1971.
Chowdhury is now in judicial custody under police remand in connection with a criminal case. He was arrested on 15 December. The Tribunal also ordered the authorities concerned to produce Salauddin Quader Chowdhury before them on 30 December. န Photo : Ashraful Alom tito
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Porn shown on Dhaka Shahjalal Interntional Airport screen
AFP, Dhaka, 19 December : Bangladeshi authorities have launched an investigation after a pornographic film was aired on a large display screen at the country’s main airport, a magistrate said Sunday.Hundreds of travellers and waiting friends and relatives at the main terminal of the Shahjalal International Airport were shocked as the film was aired for five minutes on Friday morning, magistrate Siddiqa Akhter told AFP. The display screen usually shows recorded documentaries about the culture and geography of Bangladesh.
“The operator has been jailed instantly for two months. We have also summoned the owners of the cable firm to investigate the incident. We have to find out whether any criminal intent was involved,” Akhter said. Every day, thousands of people throng the terminal to receive or send off their relatives.
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Attack on Journalists : Arunachal Pradesh media on strike
PTI, Itanagar, 19 December : Media organisations in Arunachal Pradesh today went on an indefinite strike in protest against the state government's failure to arrest those who had assaulted two women journalists last week.
The women, working with 'The Sentinel Arunachal', were assaulted by some unidentified persons on 12 December when they were gathering news of an accident, according to police. Under the aegis of Arunachal Press Club (APC) and Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), the entire press fraternity has served an ultimatum of 48 hours to the government to arrest the culprits.
PTI, Itanagar, 19 December : Media organisations in Arunachal Pradesh today went on an indefinite strike in protest against the state government's failure to arrest those who had assaulted two women journalists last week.
The women, working with 'The Sentinel Arunachal', were assaulted by some unidentified persons on 12 December when they were gathering news of an accident, according to police. Under the aegis of Arunachal Press Club (APC) and Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), the entire press fraternity has served an ultimatum of 48 hours to the government to arrest the culprits.
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Opposition-enforced strike in Bangladesh enters third day
IANS, Dhaka, 19 December : Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong and its surrounding areas were paralysed for the third consecutive day Sunday as the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) enforced a dawn-to-dusk strike to protest the detention of one of its top leaders.BNP chief and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who left for China Saturday, endorsed the strike call and demanded that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her principal political rival, step down. The country was "in danger", Zia told the media before leaving for Beijing.
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a member of the BNP's standing committee and considered close to the former prime minister, was arrested Thursday on charges of a murder that occurred in June this year. He is also wanted on "war crimes" charges - of targeting unarmed civilians during the 1971 freedom movement, leading Islamist militia and Pakistan Army personnel to homes of minority Hindu families.
The protest was peaceful in the early part of Sunday, The Daily Star reported. The International Crimes Tribunal that is holding the "war crimes" trials, is to hear Sunday an application by its investigators seeking detention of Chowdhury, a lawmaker who leads the Islamists within the BNP. န File Photo
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Indian NE capitals to be brought under railway, air network
New Delhi, 19 December : With lack of connectivity posing as a major hindrance in the economic growth of the Indian northeast, the Centre has decided to bring all the state capitals in the region under railway and air network.
Officials in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) said Railways has undertaken an ambitious project to link all capital cities at an estimated investment of Rs 17,000 crore by 2017. Till now, railway network is available in Assam and some parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.The officials said the government has decided to set up an airport in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar while another has been planned for Kohima in Nagaland. Both the state capitals do not have aerial connectivity.
The government has set deadline of July, 2015 to complete work on the green field airport in Itanagar while no target has been fixed for the Kohima airport.
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