| One AC, 2 cops held
on robbery charges |
Staff Correspondent
A police bigwig here in the port city and two of his orderlies were taken into custody reportedly on charge of robbery hours before dawn today. After produced before the court, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Abdur Rouf had placed them on a two-day remand rejecting the five-day remand prayed by the investigating officer. 
Detained cops are identified as Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Panchlaish Zone Abu Saleh Mohammad Mofazzel Haque, his driver constable Mohammad Abdur Rob and bodyguard constable Ehsanul Islam.
The incident perhaps first ever in Chittagong by such a BCS police official sparked not only question of moral turpitude but also ignited fresh bad impact on police administration. |
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| Govt likely to seek Chinese
help to combat bird flu |
Roudro Moin
The government is likely to seek Chinese assistance for better tackling the Avian Influenza Virus (AIV), key reason of flu among fowls, now spreading fast in the country and risking public health.
The H5N1 - Avian Influenza Virus - claimed more than 200 lives in Asia, Europe and Middle East since 2003. Probability of human infection by the virus grows faster when the prevalence of the virus is endemic particularly in the densely populated places. Nearly half a million poultry birds have so far been culled at places in the country since the outbreak of the H5N1 virus in 2006. But no human being is tested positive for the virus so far.
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| BRAC official released
after five days in Rangamati |
Correspondent, Rangamati
The unidentified terrorists yesterday morning released an official of BRAC after realisation of Tk 2 lakhs as ransom that they abducted him from remote Kawkhali upazila on February 6.
Local and family members sources said the unknown terrorists kidnapped Hemonta Chakma, a branch manager of BRAC, from remote Kaukhali upazila when he went to visit a school run by the NGO (BRAC) at Kaukhali on February 6. The then terrorists picked him up into deep forests and since the beginning they (terrorists) demanded Tk 5 lakhs as ransom for his release. |
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National News |
Lobbying for duty-free access
to US market on : Hossain Zillur |
The government has altered its strategy to clinch duty-free access for goods to the US market, commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said Monday. Bangladesh started "strong lobbying" to get a bill passed in the US congress to ensure duty-free access for other commodities alongside readymade garments, he said. 
Speaking as chief guest at a discussion on "Strategy on realising duty-free access of Bangladeshi goods to the US market," organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue at CIRDAP auditorium, he said: "Strong lobbying is underway to get the bill passed."
"In that case, cooperation of all is necessary. Winning duty-free access will be difficult if all (LDCs) could not take a united stand," he said.
Hossain Zillur said: "Our export market is limited to one or two goods. In this situation, diversification of exports is important. On the world market, goods in demand now may not be so in future."
"That's why we have to add new commodities to our export list. And for this, we have to make a united effort to get duty-free access for other commodities (apart from RMG) to the US market." Developed countries had divided the least developed countries into two groups tactically, he said adding that they see the African countries from one angle and the countries of Asia including Bangladesh from another. |
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| Shefali Ghosh
Shyamsundar,
named for
Ekushey padak |
The government has decided to honour nine people with the national Ekushey Award this year, six of them to be honoured posthumously.
Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed has approved the recommendations of the advisory council committee on national awards to accord
the nine with the prestigious prize, a government official said.
The chief adviser will hand out the awards on Feb 20.
Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh board of trustees, noted social scientist Najma Chowdhury and music director Khandaker Nurul Alam are among those who will receive this year's award.
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| Pola Uddin meets CA |
P View Desk
Visiting British-Bangladeshi Member of the House of Lords Baroness Pola Uddin appreciated the caretaker
government's performance in handling the aftereffects of super-cyclone 'Sidr' in the coastal belt.
She made the remarks during discussion when she paid a courtesy call on Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed at his office this (Monday) afternoon, UNB reports from Dhaka.
During the meeting, Pola Uddin, on behalf of herself and the Bangladeshi expatriates in the UK, handed over a cheque for Tk 10 lakh to the Chief Adviser in aid of the cyclone-affected people.
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Global News |
Rebels attack on East
Timor President, PM
Horta's condition critical, Gusmao eascapes unhurt |
AP/UNB, Dili
Rebel soldiers shot and critically wounded East Timor's president and opened fire on the prime minister Monday in a failed coup attempt in the recently independent nation.
A top rebel leader was killed during one of the attacks..jpg)
President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace laureate, was injured in the stomach. He was flown to a hospital in Australia in an induced coma, breathing through a ventilator, a spokesman for the company that airlifted him out of East Timor said.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped an attack on his motorcade unhurt..jpg)
Army spokesman Maj. Domingos da Camara said rebel leader Alfredo Reinado and one of his men were killed in the attack on the home of Ramos-Horta, while one of the president's guards also died. "I consider this incident a coup attempt against the state by Reinado and it failed," Gusmao said.
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| Pakistani lawyers begin
strike to pressure
Musharraf to reinstate
sacked judges |
AP/UNB, Islamabad
Pakistani lawyers began a nationwide boycott Monday to pressure President Pervez Musharraf to reinstate senior judges he sacked under a state of emergency more than three months ago.
The boycott of the courts was called by the Pakistan Bar Council, the country's main lawyers' organization, and is to continue through next week's parliamentary elections. "We demand restoration of the judiciary. It is a single point demand to restore the judiciary as it was on Nov. 2," said Qazi Mohammed Anwar, chairman of the council's executive committee. Musharraf declared the emergency on Nov. 3, citing deteriorating security in the country and a fight against Islamic militants, mainly in the country's northwest. He also sacked Supreme Court judges and other top independent-minded jurists. Since then, Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry and his family have been under virtual house arrest in Islamabad amid tight security.Several other senior judges are also restricted to their homes. Musharraf's move against the Supreme Court came before it was to rule on whether he was qualified to seek another presidential term.
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