Fire incidents on rise
Roudro Moin
Fire incidents have gradually been increasing in the city and its adjacent areas in recent months mainly from the very beginning of the winter.
The increasing number of fire incidents in the city and its surrounding areas not only made worried the city dwellers but also the less equipped and unskilled Fire Service and Civil Defense which had already proved its worthlessness during two major incidents in Chittagong over the last two years.
Fire Service and Civil Defense felt perfectly how inefficient they are mainly during the worst-ever inferno at garments factory in Bangladesh last year and biggest ever landslide in the city this year.
Condolence meet on Mahbub, Latifi, Salam held
Staff Correspondent
Journalist leaders in a condolence meeting held here on Thursday urged of the government to honour language movement veteran and first ever poet on Ekushey Mahbub Ul Alam Chowdhury with Ekushey Aaward postumously.
“Late Mahbub who stirred the consiecince of the nation by his fiery first Bengali poem was the precursor of Ekushey poem but was not evaluated untill his death” they lamented.
The condolence meeting jointly held under the auspices of Chittagong Press Club (CPC) and Chittagong Union of Journalists (CUJ) at the auditorium of CPC with its president Ali Abbas in the chair.
One held with phensidyl at Patharghata
Staff Correspondent
Officials of Narcotic Control Department in cooperation with Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) in a drive arrested a drug peddler from city’s Patharghata area in the city and recovered 440 bottles phensidyls from his possession on Thursday.
Convict CWASA Engr. Taher Sent to Jail
Staff Correspondent
Former Deputy Divisional Engineer of Chittagong WASA Kazi Abu Taher, a convict of a corruption case, surrendered to the court on Thursday.
He surrendered to the court of Special Divisional Judge SM Solaiman at about 10:30 a.m. The court sent him to jail.
Earlier, Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), Chittagong wing in collaboration with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained three officials of Chittagong WASA including its Chief Engineer on charge of embezzlement of the government funds.
The detainees - WASA Chief Engineer Safiqul Islam, a Superintendent Engineer Safiullah and Assistant Engineer Abdul Kuddus were sent to jail at that time. They have been wanted in a graft case filed with Kotwali police station by the former Anti Corruption Bureau on May 24, 2004.
National News
42 artefacts being sent back from France
P View desk
Forty two artefacts already sent to Guimet museum in Paris for exhibition are being crated for flying those back to Dhaka following Bangladesh government’s request.
A French embassy release yesterday (Thursday) said the Guimet museum has been informed of the decision of the Bangladesh government and of the request to send back the 42 items already in the museum. “The artefacts are being crated,” the release said, adding the Guimet museum should be contacted directly if more information is sought, UNB reports from Dhaka.
It said France took note of the sovereign decision of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to cancel the loan agreements between the Guimet museum in Paris and various cultural institutions in Bangladesh.
Civil-Military cooperation must for functioning democracy : Iftekhar
P View desk
Foreign Affairs Advisor Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury has said effective civil-military cooperation, both in times of peace and in war, is a must for a functioning democracy.
“If the military can play a constructive role in times of war, they can play a similar role in times of peace too. There is no inherent contradiction between democratic aspirations and aspirations of the armed forces. They only complement each other,” he said, UNB reports from Dhaka.
Speaking at a seminar on Role of the Armed Forces in Strengthening Democracy: A proposal for National Security and Development Council at BILIA Auditorium yesterday (Thursday), he said, “Many tend to view the interests of democracy and that of the armed forces as mutually incompatible. This assumes as if the armed forces are not part of the
society as a whole. To build a better society, we must think in more inclusive terms. An emerging nation can ill afford a divisive mindset. “
Moudud released on parole
P View desk
Detained former Law Minister Barrister Maoudud Ahmed was released on parole Thursday afternoon from Dhaka Central jail to attend the burial of his elder brother Masud Ahmed who died Wednesday night due to old-age complications.
On his release from jail, Moudud straightway drove to Azimpur graveyard by a prison van with police escort and attended the namaj-e-janaza of his brother, UNB reports from Dhaka.
Later, he was taken to Mohammadpur residence of his late brother.
Global News
Blast in Rawalpindi polls rally 20 dead
AFP, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack on Thursday, just two months after the former premier returned from exile for a political comeback. Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister, had just addressed a campaign rally for next month's parliamentary elections when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the venue, killing her and at least 20 other people.
There were unconfirmed reports that the attacker had also opened fire on her with a weapon before the explosion.
"It may have been pellets packed into the suicide bomber's vest that hit her," interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema told AFP.
Abbas to demand settlement freeze at summit with Olmart
AP, Jerusalem
At their first summit since pledging to renew peace talks and try for a treaty next year, Israeli and Palestinian leaders faced a familiar obstacle on Thursday - Israeli construction
in a disputed part of Jerusalem.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was demanding a building freeze, appealing to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ahead of the meeting to put pressure on Israel.
The meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem, scheduled Thursday afternoon, was to be the first since the two men formally relaunched peace talks at a U.S.-sponsored conference last month. The Jerusalem dispute has
already clouded meetings of negotiating teams since the gathering in Annapolis, Maryland.