KWASA slaps fee on tube-well users

The Khulna Water Supply and Sewerage Authority imposes fee and service charges for getting approval of and using deep tube-wells in the city from this month with a view to discouraging the ground water users, say the KWASA officials.

The city dwellers, however, complain that the service provider looks for an excuse to make more money through imposing new fees.

They demand that the KWASA should increase the number of its supply lines and uninterrupted water supply in those lines.

KWASA officials acknowledge that they can supply only two third of the total demand of about 3 crore gallons of water a day and the people have to depend on ponds and deep tube-wells for the rest.

KWASA, at present, has 70 production wells and about 10,000 hand tube-wells to pump water and they have about 14,000 approved connections in the city, the officials say, adding that KWASA has 234 kilometres of water lines in the city for about 15 lakh city dwellers.

The officials also say that, according to the new system, the authority fixed Tk 10,000 to get an approval for 1.5 inch diameter deep tube-well and Tk 15,000 for 2 inch diameter tube-well.

1.5 inch diameter deep tube-well owners will have to pay Tk 250 and 2 inch diameter deep tube-well owners will have to pay Tk 300 for a month as service charge.

Those who have deep tube-wells before the promulgation of the ordinance will have to pay Tk 500 as registration fee, the officials add.

Hasan Mahamud Babu, a deep tube-well user of Islampur Cross Road at Dolkhola in the city, says that KWASA's new order indicates that the service provider is trying to make water a 'commodity for trade'.

He also says that the deep tube-well owners, especially of the low income families, will experience a series suffering for the 'whimsical decision' of KWASA.

He demands that the authority should cancel the system immediately considering the financial ability of the people.

Another residence, Khan Mohammad Shamim Hossain of Rayermahal complains that the KWASA's does not supply water to his area and says that if the KWASA can supply adequate water to his area, the people will stop using the tube-wells and pressure on underground water will decrease consequently.

The Khulna Nagarik Samaj member secretary, Firoz Ahmed tells New Age that KWASA should postpone its decision immediately.

He demands that the use of sinking deep tube-wells in the city should be banned and the KWASA should expand its services by using surface water to reduce pressure on underground acquifer.

KWASA sub-assistant managing director Mohammad Alamgir Hossain says, 'The KWASA has taken the decision to check the growing use of underground water and to boost fee collection to pay the employees.'

He expresses his hope that the new decision will reach a success within a short time.

Source : New Age

Cow’s foot and mouth disease panics farmers in Noakhali

Panic created among the farmers in Noakhali as foot and mouth disease of cow's spread out in the district in recent times and many cows had already died due to lack of sufficient vaccine at the upazila livestock offices, locals said.

Subarnachar upazila livestock officer, Faisal Talukder, said that the cows were becoming the victim of the foot and mouth disease as the affected cows were coming from India through several frontiers of the district.

Tankeshar, a cow farmer of village Purbahazipur at the upazila, said that the foot and mouth disease of cow had spread out recently which created panic among the farmers. According to the farmers, many cows had already died due to lack of sufficient vaccine at the upazila livestock offices.

Acknowledging vaccine crisis, the Companiganj upazila livestock officer, Dr Abul Kalam, told New Age that they needed about 25 thousand dose vaccine of the foot and mouth disease but they had less than 15 thousand vaccine.

He alleged that the district livestock office was not supplying enough vaccine of the disease to the upazila livestock offices.

The Hatiya upazila livestock officer, Dr MG Abdul Halim, told New Age that at present a large number of mouth disease affected cows were being brought to Bangladesh from India through the frontiers.

'I need 30 thousand dose of vaccine for 55 thousand cattle of my upazila but after 3 to 4 month interval the district authority supply only 4 to 5 hundred doses,' he said.

The Kabirhat upazila livestock officer, Abul Kalam Azad, told New Age that generally mouth diseases spread out during rainy season but this time the disease had broken out before the season.

He also said that he needed 7 thousand dose of vaccine for 35 thousand cattle of his upazila. But at present they had only 1 thousand vaccines, he added.

The Senbag upazila livestock officer (in-charge), Gotom Kumar Kundu, told that the foot and mouth disease of cows had spread out at his upazila alarmingly. If the authority failed to supply enough vaccine, the cow's affected rate would increase as epidemic, he added.

When contacted, denying the allegation, the Noakhali district livestock officer, Gautam Kumar Kundu, told that there were 4,38,906 cow's in 9 upazilas of the district. 'The yearly demand of vaccine is near 1 lakh doses but we are getting in average 2500 doses per month,' he said.

He also claimed that the foot and mouth disease had appeared as the affected cows came to the district from India through several frontiers.

Source : New Age

3-day drive to free River Sitalakhya from earth-filling ends

A 3-day-long drive to free River Sitalakhya from earth-filling at Shimrail of Shidhirganj in Narayanganj ended on Thursday.

Bangladesh Inland Water Authority and the district administration jointly arranged the drive which removed deposits of earth-filling portion of the river in the area.

Thirty-five structures, which were erected illegally on the bank of River Sitalakhya at Shimrail, were removed in the 3-day-long drive, started on Monday.

The people-made chars in the riverbed were disrupting the navigation in the river, the authority said.

The eviction team used excavator (earth cutting machines) and sand carrier bulkhead.

Port officer of Narayanganj, Alamgir Kabir, said that the grabbers had built a sand bed occupying half area of wide of the river at Shimrail where they anchored sand laden trawler and worked of load and unload trading causing obstruction of navigation in the river.

On duty executive magistrate, Johirul Islam, who led the drive, said that they had taken 3-day-long programme to free River Sitalakhya from earth-filling.

But it would not possible within the fixed date, he said

The port officer Alamgir Kabir said that the local influential people had made artificial char in the river approximate 3 lakh square feet area which was not possible to remove in three days.

The Narayanganj deputy commissioner, Md Samsur Rahman, said that they would take further eviction programme.

During the eviction the armed police and RAB members were on duty to tackle any untoward situation.

Authorities have identified around 60 unauthorised traders who have been dealing in sand, stone and boulders destroying river foreshores in Shimrail, Anti, Joka, Siddhirgonj and Ruposhi moujas by filling up the river bed and foreshores.

The executive magistrate Jahirul Islam said that the district administration would undertake further drive next week to free the river from earth-filling.

Source : New Age

Jamuna erosion renders 2,000 homeless at Islampur

At the beginning of rainy season severe river erosion in River Jamuna rendered about 2,000 people homeless at Islampur upazila in Jamalpur.

According to the upazila administration sources, during the last one month two villages of Islampur upazila went under the river. The devoured villages are Dakkhin Gilabari and Majhipara under Chinaduly union.

Besides, erosion also continued in some villages in Chinaduly and Nowarpara unions of the upazala. People of Paschim Bamna, Nandanerpara, Kathma, Kajla, Guthail and Kadamtali villages in the two unions are passing their days in worries due to continuous erosion.

After visiting the river eroded areas in Islampur, Alhaj Faridul Haque Khan Dulal, member of perliament, said that river bank protection work of a project involving Tk 366 crore was going on in Islampur, Dewanganj and Sarishabari upazilas.

Though the erosion in the project areas of Islampur had been stopped after Geo textile dumping work, but erosion in the project-excluded areas in Islampur remained alarming, he added. The MP drew attention to the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to save the areas.

Source : New Age

Najah Zayaan’s death anniv today

The 3rd anniversary of death of Najah Zayaan will be observed today.

Najah, daughter of talk-show presenter Zillur Rahman, died on this day in 2008 at the age of four months, said a release.

Her family and relatives will hold prayer sessions at the Azimpur Graveyard, where she was buried, and at her home while food will be distributed among the poor.

Source : New Age

Dinajpur newsmen rally against attack, harassment

Journalists of Dinajpur working with local and national print and electronic media formed a human chain in protest at an attack on journalists of Ekushey Television in Rangpur and the harassment of the Dinajpur correspondent of the Daily Star by a mobile court.

The journalists also demanded punishment of the people responsible for the attack and the harassment.

A group on July 11, a gang at Kashiganj of Badarganj attacked the Rangpur correspondent of Ekushey Television Liakat Ali Badal in which he was seriously injured.

The incident took place when Badal along with ETV staff reporter Johnson Mahbub went there to cover an incident of torture on two women.

As soon as the ETV team reached the place, the gang encircled them and beat up Liakat with bamboo sticks. They also assaulted Johnson Mahbub and the cameraman and took away the camera.

They were confined to a house and the police and other senior officials later rescued them.

Kongkon Karmaker, the Dinajpur correspondent of the Daily Star, was allegedly harassed by a mobile court, led by Pratap Chandra Biswas, the Phulbari upazila nirbahi officer, during the UP elections in Biral on July 2.

A written complaint was lodged with Dinajpur's deputy commissioner in this regard the next day.

The complaint said that during polling, the Kongkon was going to Kaliaganj at Dharmapur of Biral to cover the election riding his motorcycle. He had with him Election Commission documents required to cover the event.

But the mobile court stooped him at Ranipukur and after the examination of his papers, the law enforces let him go.

But the upazila nirbahi officer, who is an executive magistrate, about five minutes later, stopped him again chasing him down about two kilometres and checked the documents of his vehicle and his driving licence for about half an hour.

The upazila nirbahi officer finally let him go after asking him the registration number of his motorcycle.

The participants in the human chain condemned the incidents. The Dinajpur Press Club president Chitta Ghosh, also ETV's Dinajpur correspondent, Somoy Television's Dinajpur correspondent Golam Nabi Dulal, Humayun Kabir of ATN Bangla and Shah Alam Shahi of Channel I also spoke.

Source : New Age

Punitive action against fake visa trading: FM

The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, who wrapped up a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, has said punitive action will be taken against unscrupulous middlemen involved in visa trading.

'These men are largely responsible for some of the workers' problems in the kingdom,' she said, according to a report published by Arabnews.com.

Dipu Moni, who arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday morning, had a meeting with acting Riyadh governor Prince Sattam to apprise him of the welfare measures adopted by the Bangladesh government for the betterment of its migrant workers in the kingdom.

'While appreciating the contribution made by a majority of the 1.5 million workers in the kingdom, we also took note of the problems faced by a fraction of the community members,' she said. 'Migrant workers have become victims of fraudulent activities of middlemen.'

She said, 'We want to eradicate the middlemen who fleece the innocent workers who leave their homeland to earn for their families.'

The state minister of home affairs, Shamsul Haque Tuku, and the Bangladesh ambassador, Mohammed Shahidul Islam, also took part in the discussions with the acting governor.

Dipu Moni and Tuku jointly inaugurated the machine readable passport and visa programmes at the Bangladesh embassy. A similar programme was commissioned at Bangladesh consulate in Jeddah on Tuesday.

Inaugurating the new system, Dipu Moni said this was being done to streamline the activities of Bangladeshi nationals working abroad which would facilitate them to carry out any passport-related matters without any hassle.

Urging her countrymen to uphold the image of Bangladesh in the host country, the Dipu Moni said it was the duty of every expatriate to protect the sanctity of the holy land.

'You should show pay utmost respect to the culture, heritage and traditions of the kingdom and also abide by the laws, rules, regulations and customs of the kingdom,' she told her countrymen gathered at the embassy.

Source : New Age

BCL leader injured in attack by rivals, angry locals in Barisal

A leader of the Awami League-backed Bangladesh Chhatra League's BM College unit was severely injured in an attack made by a Sramik League group and locals of Kashipur in Mira Bari area of Barisal city for disturbing them in the small hours on Thursday.   

The injured BCL leader, Moin Tushar, joint convener of the BCL BM College unit and recently announced vice-president of the BM College Students' Working  Committee, a substitute of BM College Student Union, was first rushed to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition, from where he was sent to Dhaka in the morning for better treatment.

The police arrested an AL activist for his suspected involvement in the clash.

Witnesses said a group of BCL activists on Wednesday night brought out a motorcycle rally in the city to celebrate the newly-formed Barisal city and district units of the organisation.

The rally created traffic jam and tension in the city.

A part of the participants of the rally blessed by the Barisal City Corporation Mayor and AL city unit convener Shawkat Hossain Hiron went to Kashipur area at about 11:30pm apparently for a showdown with a rival group of the party and its affiliated organinsation led by Sramik League Barisal city unit convener Aftab Ahmed and made a showdown, the witnesses said.

The area is controlled by Aftab, also a former chairman of Kashipur Union Parishad and a protégé of Barisal district AL secretary and former chief whip Abul Hasanat Abdullah.

According to witnesses, Aftab's supporters including local AL leaders Syed Monir and Syed Mamun asked the BCL faction led by Moin Tushar to stop disturbing the people of the area so late into the night and to leave the area. The BCL activists, however, misbehaved with the protesting AL leaders and threw brickbats at their houses.

It was when the agitated residents of the locality and supporters of Aftab attacked the rowdy BCL activists and drove them away by chasing and beating. BCL leader Moin Tushar was severely injured in the attack, while his associates fled the scene, leaving three motorcycles.

The police and a team of Rapid Action Battalion rushed to the spot, brought the situation under control, rescued Moin and sent him to the SBMCH at about 12:20am on Thursday.  

The police also arrested Tapan Gazi in a case filed with airport police station by Sayem, an associate of Moin, said the officer-in-charge of the police station.

BCL district, city and BM College units brought out a procession in the morning in protest against the attack on Moin on the college campus and also in the city. The participants of the procession assaulted some general students as they did not join in their protest programme.

Source : New Age

China shocked at deaths of schoolchildren

China has expressed shock at the deaths of school students in road accident in Mirsarai of Chittagong.

In a letter to the prime minister on Tuesday, Charge d' affaires of Chinese embassy in Bangladesh Wang Yu said he was greatly shocked to learn that dozens of young Bangladeshi students lost their precious lives in a traffic tragedy in Mirsarai, Chittagong.

'I would like to convey, on behalf of my colleagues of Chinese embassy in Dhaka and the Chinese people, our deepest sympathy and condolence to you and through you to the departed saints and their beloved. Hope lasting peace for the souls of the departed,' Wang said.

Source : New Age

Muhith calls for completion of dev projects in Sylhet

Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Thursday asked the concerned officials in Sylhet to complete the ongoing development projects as early as possible.

He also ordered the officials concerned to complete the preparatory work that includes requisition of land for projects that are yet to be started in the district.

The finance minister was addressing a review meeting on development projects in Sylhet, held in the district administration's conference room in the afternoon.

Muhith asked the local officials of different public departments to work sincerely for the harmonized development of the district.

'You have to hear patiently the complaints of the suffering masses and behave well with them,' said the minister.

Sylhet's deputy commissioner, Khan Mohammad Bilal, presided over the meeting which was attended by officials of various public departments.

Construction of the proposed Kazirbazar Bridge over the River Surma in the city, shifting of the Sylhet Central Jail to Badaghat, on the outskirts of the city, from the city's centre, construction of the Ambarkhana bypass road and a link-road between the Sylhet Osmani International Airport and Badaghat were among the development projects that were discussed.

Source : New Age

Media help women movement to achieve different successes

Women activists on Thursday said mass media kept an important role to help achieve different state initiatives for women development. 

They also said violence against women would be curbed only through greater state initiatives.

The views were made at a seminar tilted 'Women movement of Bangladesh and mass media' organised by the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad at the National Press Club in the city.

The rights organisation's president Ayesha Khanam said women movement changed its demands from time to time while mass media helped their movement at all stages through all possible ways.

Ayesha Khanam said the media have their commercial perspectives, but they should guard against 'yellow journalism', adding that they should not play to the gallery.

The programme's chief guest, Ekushey Television adviser Atiqul Haque Chowdhury, said the media and women activists should look through a same lens.

He said, 'When a society becomes neutral to consider women as equal human beings only then violence against women would be curbed.'

While presenting a keynote paper, BMP publication and media secretary Quazi Sufia Akhter said women movement had different issues at different times, like rehabilitation of women  affected during liberation war, right to divorce, ban on second marriage and dowry, reserve seats for women in all jobs, women education, curbing discrimination against women and domestic violence.

Different acts and policies like—the Muslim Marriage and Divorce (Registration) Act, 1974, the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980, the Domestic Violence (Protection and Prevention) Act, 2010 and the National Women Development Policy, 2011 were achieved through women movement, they pointed out.

Representatives from different print and electronic media were present at the programme.

Source : New Age

Dhaka continues its fight to root out terrorism: PM

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has expressed her government's firm determination of combating terrorism and said Bangladesh will continue its fight to root out terrorism from its soil though the menace is now not a problem of any individual country, but a global phenomenon.

She said all countries should make their joint efforts and extend helping hands to each other to defeat terrorism from the globe to establish a peaceful society.

Hasina said this when non-resident ambassador of Cyprus to Bangladesh Nafisca Chr-krusti called on her at Prime Minister's Office in Dhaka Thursday, prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said.

The envoy praised the dynamic and sagacious leadership of Hasina and said the world community had acclaimed her (PM) commitment to the people and country and vision for development.

Hasina said the people of Bangladesh believe in pacifism and they never indulge them to terrorism. Bangladesh will not allow anybody to use a single inch of its land for terrorism, she said.

The prime minister condemned terror attack in the Indian city of Mumbai and said terrorists even carried out grenade attack on her several times including one on August 21, 2004.

Hasina said her government after assuming power through a free and fair election in 2008, was making relentless efforts to make Bangladesh as a prospective nation.

Reiterating her government's commitment to protecting the voting rights of the people, the Prime Minister said the government did not interfere in the activities of the Election Commission, allowing it to work freely and independently.

During the meeting, the prime minister and the envoy exchanged views on various matters relating to mutual interests and issues of trade and investment.

The Cypriot envoy extended her gratitude to Bangladesh to for its support on many issues in the international forum.

Prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad and private secretary Nazrul Islam Khan were present, among others.

Source : New Age

Awarding IOCs land, shallow sea blocks draws flak

High officials of the energy sector are frustrated over the government's decision to float fresh international tenders for oil and gas exploration on land and the shallow parts of the Bay of Bengal.

There are not many potential areas left for Bapex, the state-run company for oil and gas exploration and production, since the major potential areas were awarded to the international oil companies in the bidding round in 1997, said Petrobangla officials.

Hossain Monsur, chairman of the state-run Petrobangla, at a meeting on Thursday held to discuss the proposed bidding round in 2011 and modification of the Production Sharing Contract 2008, is reported to have objected to the government's decision to allow the international oil companies to look for oil and gas on land and in shallow areas of the sea, said an Energy Division official.

Monsur reportedly told the meeting that the government had bought the Bapex drilling rigs and equipment for carrying out seismic surveys, so it is capable of exploring gas and oil, and needs only to be provided potential areas.

He was said to have urged the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Enamul Huq, to have the issue resolved in the Parliament by the people's representatives.

Petrobangla's director Imad Uddin, while presenting a power point presentation on the proposed model PSC at the meeting, said that Petrobangla was ready to call fresh bids for petroleum exploration in all the hydrocarbon blocks in the country.

When asked about the issue by New Age, Enamul Huq said that they were considering the idea of strengthening the Bapex, ensuring long-term energy security and meeting the immediate energy need of the country.

'Bapex's capacity is increasing. It can now conduct three-dimensional seismic surveys. So we need to think about strengthening the Bapex to enable it to operate for over 20 years or more,' he said.

Enamul Huq refused to reveal when the bidding round of 2011 for oil and gas exploration on land and in shallow sea would be held.

He said that more time would be needed to float international tenders as there were many things to be settled which were both technically and politically complicated.

In an inter-ministry meeting on April 6, the government decided to float fresh international tenders for oil and gas exploration on land and in shallow sea by June this year.

After the meeting the energy secretary, Mohammad Mesbah Uddin, told journalists that Petrobangla would invite fresh bids for 31 hydrocarbon bocks — 23 on land and 8 in the shallow parts of the Bay of Bengal.

On the same occasion Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, the prime minister's energy adviser, said that they had in principle decided to keep some potential hydrocarbon blocks for Bapex but they were yet to be finalised.

In the meeting, Petrobangla was asked to modify the model PSC before it floats international tenders.

According to the proposal, the Petrobangla or its affiliates will buy the contractor's share of gas and pay it $4.157 for 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas extracted from the western part of land and shallow sea instead of $2.87 and $2.90 respectively.

For gas from the deep sea, the Petrobangla will pay the contractor $4.573 for one unit of its share of natural gas.

An official of the Energy Division said that there were more changes proposed in the model PSC.

At present, four international oil companies are supplying more than 52 per cent of the total gas to the national grid from the six fields under their control.

Source : New Age

2 girls allegedly commit suicide, two killed in traffic accidents in city

Two persons were killed in separate traffic accidents while two young girls allegedly committed suicide in the city on Thursday.

Bilkis Akhter, 17, daughter of Abdus Sattar, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at Begunbari in Tejgaon area.

Quoting the victim's family members, the police said Bilkis had committed suicide after a row with her sister-in-law, Shahnaj Akhter, 22, over family matters at around 3:00pm on the day.

Police arrested Shahnaj in this connection.

The police sent the body to the DMCH morgue for post-mortem examination.

At Gulshan, a 19-year-old garment worker allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan early Thursday.

The deceased, Rozina Akhter, of Hijla under Barisal district, was a worker of Beauty Garments in the area.

Rozina's  family said she had killed herself after an altercation with her husband, Shah Paran.  

The Gulshan police sent the body to the DMCH morgue for post-mortem examination. Shah Paran went into hiding after the incident.

Mehedi Hassan, 16, son of Suruj Mia, of Sutrapur, was killed in a traffic accident at Shahbagh at around 8:30am on the day.

Witnesses said a bus had knocked him down while he was crossing the road at around 12:30am. Mehedi Hassan died on the spot.

The police sent the body to the DMCH morgue for autopsy.

A 35-year-old unidentified man was killed in another traffic accident at Azampur in Uttara area.

Uttara police sub-inspector Saiful Islam said that several vehicles ran over him one after another while he was crossing the road at around 5:30am.

The body was sent to DMCH for post-mortem examination.

Unnatural death cases were filed with respective police stations in connection with the incidents.

Source : New Age

None expects Khaleda’s remarks on charter: PM

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has blasted the main opposition BNP chief, Khaleda Zia, for her comments that the constitution would be 'thrown away' saying none expected such remarks from the opposition leader.

'Nobody expects such comments from the leader of the opposition,' she said as the newly elected office-bearers of Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh called on her at the Prime Minister's Office Thursday.

Hasina, however, added that Khaleda's comments were not entirely surprising as her husband slain president Ziaur Rahman had mutilated the constitution with the stroke of his military bayonet after grabbing the state power.

She said after the August 15, 1975 killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the spirit and values of the liberation war was erased from the constitution under martial law orders.

'(So) it is not unlikely that being his wife Begum Khaleda Zia will make such comments,' she said.

Hasina said her government rather de-stigmatised

the constitution reinstalling into it the 1971 spirit under the 15th amendment.

The premier said the opposition leader made the comments as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies like Jamaat-e-Islami appeared desperate to save war criminals, corrupt elements, 'grenade attackers', and money launderers as the process was under way to expose them to justice.

'But their efforts will not succeed and the country will definitely witness the punishment of these elements,' she said.

The science and information & communication technology minister, Yeafesh Osman, the IDB president, AKMA Hamid, and the general secretary, Mohammad Shamsur Rahman, also spoke on the occasion.

Hasina recalled that the war criminals' trial had begun after the independence and many of them were imprisoned while several of them also were stripped off their citizenship.

But, she said, after grabbing the state power, Ziaur Rahman freed the war criminals under military orders and rehabilitated them in politics while subsequently some of them even got the scope to be ministers and lawmakers.

'Not only that, Ziaur Rahman awarded Bangabandhu's killers with diplomatic assignments abroad instead of exposing them to trial while his wife had made killer colonel Rashid as the opposition leader and another killer Huda as a parliament member,' the premier recalled.

Welcoming the newly-elected office-bearers of the Institution of Diploma Engineers, the prime minister said the diploma engineers had an important role to play for the country's infrastructure development.

She urged them to implement the government's development activities speedily, maintaining quality of work.

Referring to the widespread corruption and plundering of public wealth during the BNP-Jamaat alliance government, she said the former prime minister and members of her family had whitened blacks money amassed through corruption.

Hasina said Khaleda's two sons received money from the state for their education. But what education did they get at the cost of public money, she questioned and referred to their alleged involvement in corruption, money laundering and grenade attack.

About the 2004 grenade attack in front of Awami League office, she said the role of intelligence agencies and the law enforcers at that time proved who were involved in that incident.

The prime minister said the prices of food items and other commodities had increased for some global reasons, including the Middle East unrest. However, the government is procuring food from abroad at higher prices so that none suffers in the country for want of food, she added.

Hasina stressed the need for increasing food production in the country and quick industrialisation through setting up small and medial-scale industries.

The prime minister listened to the problems of the diploma engineers and assured them of resolving those.

Ministers, PM's advisers, MPs and representatives of diploma engineers from across the country were present at the meeting.

Source : New Age

Libya rebels pull back from assault on Tripoli gateway

Libyan rebels on Thursday pulled most of their fighters back from an assault on a gateway to Tripoli and set their sights on the oil city of Brega, as NATO dismissed charges of having killed more than 1,100 civilians.

And as the insurgent campaign on the capital from mountains to the southwest continues apace, Russia's special envoy to Libya was quoted as saying he believes Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has a 'suicide plan' to blow up Tripoli if it falls.

'Yesterday, we got to within six kilometres of Asabah, but most of our forces have returned' to Gualish, where rebels reversed a bid by loyalist forces on Wednesday to recapture the desert hamlet, said local commander Abdel Majid Salem.

Asabah is strategically located 80 kilometres south of the capital, serving as the last barrier between the rebels and the garrison town of Gharyan.

Salem said the bulk of the rebels had returned to 'secure the area' around Gualish, some 17 kilometres further south, but that some remained outside Asabah.

On Wednesday, loyalists caught rebels off guard and attacked Gualish, which the insurgents captured a week earlier, and seized nearly all of it. But reinforcements poured in from surrounding villages and drove the loyalists out, chasing them up the road toward Asabah.

At least eight rebels were killed and around 30 wounded in Wednesday's fighting, said doctors at the hospital in Zintan, the key rebel base in the mountains.

The eight killed, all but one of them young men, were buried on Thursday in Zintan, an AFP correspondent said. Mourners loosed off Kalashnikov automatic weapons fire as the bodies were lowered into the graves.

'We are so sad to lose these young men but we expected it. This is war and we have to do this, either we defend our homes and our children or Gaddafi's forces will come in,' said Ahmed Ammar, an oil worker in his 50s.

In eastern Libya, rebels were poised on Thursday to launch an offensive on the oil town of Brega, hoping to dislodge dug-in loyalist troops, rebel military sources said.

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'We are preparing to enter Brega. The attack will come soon,' said one rebel official.

Brega, nestled at the southeastern tip of the Gulf of Sirte, has changed hands multiple times during Libya's four-month-old civil war.

'We have been focused on the west of the country, but now we will move,' said another rebel military source who also asked not to be named.

Gaddafi's regime said late on Wednesday that it was seeking to prosecute NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Libyan courts for 'war crimes' over the alliance's air strikes since the end of March.

'As NATO secretary general, Rasmussen is responsible for the actions of this organisation which has attacked an unarmed people, killing 1,108 civilians and wounding 4,537 others in bombardment of Tripoli and other cities and villages,' prosecutor general Mohammed Zekri Mahjubi told foreign journalists in Tripoli.

Rasmussen himself dismissed the accusations, insisting great care was taken to avoid civilian casualties.

'I completely dismiss these accusations,' he told journalists in The Hague. 'We are extremely careful and cautious in identifying military targets and avoid civilians casualties.'

On Thursday, the alliance reported that 50 strike sorties had been carried out the previous day, with key hits including command and control centres, storage facilities, tanks, artillery pieces, missile launchers and armed vehicles.

Gaddafi is wanted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court for atrocities committed in a crackdown by his forces on pro-democracy protests that erupted in mid-February.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said at a Washington news conference with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday that Gaddafi's 'days are numbered' after signs of rebel advances in the field.

Lavrov played down differences with Hillary over Libya, saying: 'We have less misunderstanding with the United States than with some European countries.'

On Thursday, Russian daily Izvestia quoted Kremlin envoy Mikhail Margelov as saying he believes Gaddafi has a plan to blow up Tripoli if it is taken by the rebels.

'The Libyan premier told me: if the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up,' Margelov was quoted as saying in reference to a meeting last month with Baghdadi al-Mahmudi.

Margelov met the Libyan prime minister on June 16 in Tripoli after holding talks in Benghazi earlier the same month.

Source : New Age