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Rainfall for the sixth consecutive day in late autumn, which the meteorologists term ‘unusual’, snapped rail and road communications, damaged winter crops and aman paddy, and washed away shrimps and fishes from pisciculture farms across the country.
   The sudden spate of rain since Wednesday has caused floods in many new areas, forcing thousands of people to leave their homesteads located in the low-lying areas of the northern and south-western districts.
   Around 10 fishermen have been missing in the river Meghna from Sunday morning, probably because of the storm that hit the region in the morning, according to reports reaching Dhaka.
   Train communications of 15 northern and south-western districts with Dhaka were snapped on Sunday as a stretch of about 250 feet of railway tracks were submerged between Bhangura and Goakhara stations in Bhangura upazila in the morning due to intermittent rainfalls in the last six days.
   Road communications between Sylhet and Sunamganj also remained snapped till the filing of this report, as rainwater has submerged some parts of the road near Sunamganj Sadar from Sunday morning.
   The farmers, who preferred growing winter vegetables to planting aman paddy because of the drought which had persisted in the rainy season, are now in utter despair as most of their crop land and seedbeds have gone under water in the last six days’ shower. Most of the winter vegetables including radish, cauliflower and cabbage may be completely damaged because of the rain, according to reports reaching Dhaka.
   An official of the Department of Agricultural Extension told New Age that winter crop and seedbeds on about 120 lakh hectares of land in 17 districts were submerged by water and aman paddy on around one lakh hectares in 13 districts was damaged. ‘If the farmers who have lost their crops are not supplied seeds of different winter crops, the prices of winter vegetables will shoot up,’ said Ibrahim Khalil, director-general of the department.
   The MET office said the inclement weather, under the influence of the low over the west-central Bay and adjoining south-west Bay off Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh in combination with the westerly low, might remain unchanged for another day.
   ‘Generally, such unusual weather moves away within 24 to 41 hours, but in this case it will take more than that because it moves very slowly,’ said Md Akram Hossain, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
   Meteorologist Mahbubul Haq said, ‘So much rain is unusual in late autumn, and it might have an adverse effect on the environment, such as the premature arrival of bitter cold.’
   The MET also asked the maritime ports to hoist local cautionary signal number 3, and signal number 2 in all river ports in Dhaka and south of the capital till 6pm on Monday.
   Light to moderate rainfall was experienced in almost every part of the country on Sunday, increasing the sufferings of the people, especially the poor.
   In the last 24 hours ending at 6pm on Sunday, Dhaka recorded 28 millimetres of rainfall, Rajshahi 74 mm, Khulna 37 mm, Barisal 28 mm, Sylhet 119 mm, Comilla 27 mm, Mymensingh 125 mm and Jessore 24 mm.
   According to the Sunday bulletin of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre, out of 86 river points monitored on Sunday 55 points registered a rise, 15 points recorded a fall and one point is flowing above the danger level.
   Stagnant water at a number of places, both in urban and rural areas, paralysed daily life. Many places and streets in the capital, including Malibagh, Azimpur, Kalyanpur, Rajarbagh, Shahjahanpur and New Market area, went under water, creating traffic jams on Sunday.
   The drizzle also caused suffering to Eid shoppers and footpath vendors in the city because many streets were submerged.
   The New Age correspondent from Noakhali reported that water from a tidal surge caused by the depression inundated Hatia and Companiganj upazilas, marooning nearly six lakh people.
   The products of six shrimp enclosures and nearly 100 fish farms were washed away, he added.
   New Age correspondents from Khulna and Satkhira also reported that some 14 shrimp enclosures and many ponds, in which fish were cultivated, were washed away due to the downpour, while the correspondents from different districts including Narail,
   Bogra, Sherpur, Jhenaidah and Barisal reported that farmers had to suffer loss of their crops due to submersion of the farmlands.

The probe into the August 17 countrywide blasts seems to have been stalled as the investigators are now busy completing the charge sheets of the cases.
   The state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, at a meeting on October 17 announced that trials of the cases would begin from the end of this month and the verdicts are expected within three months.
   But lawyers expressed doubts about the trials being completed in such a short period.
   Terming the government’s announcement over-optimistic and an attempt to dazzle the public, the Supreme Court Bar Association’s president, Mahbubey Alam, said such fast trials would protect the persons who were working behind the scenes, because there would not be enough time for investigators to uncover them.
   ‘The blasts of August 17 are the outcome of a long-term plan of the militants and it needs more time to complete investigation of the incidents so that the masterminds can be identified,’ he said.
   ‘How can the investigation into the countrywide blasts be completed when the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on the Awami League’s rally, that killed 22 people, has remained unsolved till date?’ asked Mahbub, and alleged that completing the trials after incomplete investigation would tarnish the country’s image.
   Moreover, the chiefs of the two militant organizations most under scrutiny, Shaikh Abdur Rahman of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, are yet to be caught although the government announced a large bounty for them more than a month ago.
   The government held the two banned Islamist outfits responsible for the countrywide blasts on August 17 that killed three people and injured over 150.
   The police administration has printed posters with five variegated photographs of the two militant kingpins, calling upon the people to inform them of the latter’s whereabouts.
   The posters were pasted around police stations in the capital, but the police have not received any information about the two militant leaders till Sunday.
   The police have so far arrested more than 400 suspected militants from across the country, but most of them have only planted the bombs on the day while the others were their immediate ‘bosses’, far removed from the top hierarchy.
   Some of the militants of the JMB, nabbed by the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, revealed that the outfit has five-tiers — Shaikh, Majlish-e Sura, Ehsar, Gair-e Ehsar and Sathi or Sudhi.
   The police have arrested only the Sudhis and Gair-e Ehsars, but none of the members of the top three tiers have been caught yet.
   The police arrested a former director of the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh, Maulana Fariduddin Masuod, offloading him from an Emirates’ plane at the Zia International Airport on August 22, prior to his departure for London, suspecting him to be a financier of the JMB.
   He was questioned by the members of the task force for more than 10 days but the outcome could not be known. He is now in jail.
   The law enforcers also arrested Mufti Abdul Hannan, a leader of another banned Islamist outfit, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, for his alleged involvement in the blasts, and he is being interrogated by members of Rapid Action Battalion.
   The police have already submitted charge sheets of 14 cases, out of 152 lodged with different police stations throughout the country, in connection with the August 17 blasts.

Members of the law enforcing agencies help traders to smuggle cattle through the Lalmonirhat border, depriving the government of revenue worth Tk 10 to 12 lakh every month, revealed a report of a government intelligence agency.
   The report said that members of the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles and police, who have been deployed to check smuggling on the 312 kilometres of border of the district, have joined hands with traders to make money.
   Smuggling of a huge number of cows and buffaloes from India continues because there is a huge demand for livestock and meat in the country. To stop the malpractice and to earn revenue, the government set up corridors at some points of the Islampur border of Patgram upazila in 1994.
   Since then, mentioned the report, personnel of the Bangladesh Rifles are supposed to capture all the incoming cattle at the border and send them to the corridors so that the importers pay Tk 500 as tax for each cow or buffalo.
   But, the report said, the lion’s share of the smuggled cattle is not sent to the corridors, and the law enforcers take the livestock to the traders’ houses with the help of their appointed linesmen (accomplices).
   ‘False certificates are obtained from the union parishad chairmen and members concerned to brand the Indian cattle as Bangladeshi before they are sent to local markets for sale,’ added the report.
   ‘In exchange, the linesmen of the police realise Tk 100 to Tk 125 per cow while linesmen of the Bangladesh Rifles get Tk 125 to Tk 150.’
   The report disclosed that the company commanders of border outposts and other commanders of border guards collect the cash once a week or fortnight while constables (known as cashiers of the officers-in-charge of police stations) get money from the linesmen.
   Moghalhat of Lalmonirhat sadar, Durgapur of Aditmari upazila, Chaparhat of Kaliganj upazila, Daikhana, Singimari and Ganduchhari of Hatibandha upazila, Jhalangi, Shamshernagar and Burimari of Patgram upazila and the Kalihat areas are the main points through which cattle are smuggled.
   The intelligence agency found that Lalmonirhat district has seven large cattle markets where the smuggled cattle are sold openly. These markets are Durakuti, Barobari, Mohishghechha, Chaparhat, Barokhata, Daikhawa and Patgramhat.
   ‘There is information that both the Bangladesh Rifles and police personnel have been discouraging cattle traders from importing livestock through the corridors as legal entry deprives them of bribes,’ the report pointed out.
   The report recommended stern action against the men of Bangladesh Rifles and police and their linesmen who help traders to deceive the government and deprive it of much needed revenue.
   It suggested setting up of more corridors in the district border to stop smuggling and increase the government’s revenue.
   The report, submitted to the home ministry and the National Board of Revenue last week, listed the names of the linesmen but avoided mentioning the names of BDR and police personnel who are using them for illicit business.
   Intelligence agency and home ministry officials said that the same situation has been prevailing on all the border points where law enforcers are helping the smugglers for cash.
   ‘Instead of checking illicit trading, they help the unscrupulous traders directly and indirectly to carry on cross-border smuggling,’ said a home ministry official, adding that the malpractice reaches its peak ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, especially before Eid-ul-Azha.

The Biman Bangladesh Airlines has decided not to run its flights on some international routes, including Paris and Frankfurt, official sources said.
   However, as per the will of the prime minister, Biman will continue its New York flight despite incurring huge losses, according to the sources.
   On the other hand, the number of Biman’s flights to Middle East and London will be raised.
   Officials in the civil aviation and tourism ministry said they found poor outcome from the Paris and Frankfurt flights.
   ‘Even the Biman Headquarters has to bear the operational cost of the offices in the two cities,’ said a senior official in the ministry. Biman will also readjust some of its international and domestic flights later.
   Biman’s Chittagong-Rangoon flight might face closure due to continuous loss and the number of flights to Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur will be reduced, sources said.
   Of the domestic routes, Biman’s Barisal flight will be closed, sources said adding that Biman could save huge amount of money if the decisions are carried out.
   Currently, Biman has a fleet of four Airbus, five DC 10 and three F 28 aircraft.
   With only 10 aircraft, Biman is operating flights to 26 international and seven domestic destinations.
   Most aircraft of the Biman are 13 to 25 years old. It is now difficult for Biman to maintain flight schedules due to frequent technical faults.

The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation will continue supply of jet fuel on credit to Bangladesh Biman till the Eid-ul-Fitr, as the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and the Energy and Mineral Resources Division on Sunday decided to settle the issue of the outstanding bills after the Eid vacation.
   Sources said that the high-ups in the government asked the Energy Division not to stop fuel supply on credit to Biman till Eid-ul Fitr is over.
   The civil aviation ministry on Sunday also requested the division not to stop fuel supply to Biman.
   Energy and civil aviation officials will hold a meeting with the finance minister, M Saifur Rahman, to discuss the outstanding bills after the Eid vacation.
   The Energy Division on Friday warned Biman that BPC would again stop fuel supply to Biman on credit if it fails to pay outstanding bills worth ‘Tk 508 crore’ by Sunday.
   The BPC on Thursday midnight stopped fuel supply to Biman’s domestic flights on credit for around 10 hours, which forced Biman to cancel two domestic flights as it was unable to purchase fuel with cash.
   The international flights, however, operated as usual.
   Although the Energy Division wanted to seek Saifur Rahman’s intervention on the outstanding bills issue, energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman could not meet Saifur on Sunday as the minister was busy with other affairs.
   Sources said that the Prime Minister’s Office directed the Energy Division not to stop fuel supply to Biman, and to hold a meeting with the civil aviation ministry in the presence of the finance minister after the Eid vacation to settle the bills.
   Mahmud said that following the request of the civil aviation ministry and considering the woes of the Biman passengers, especially the people who will go for performing Omrah, BPC has resumed supplying fuel on credit.
   ‘BPC will continue to supply fuel to BPC till Eid on credit as usual. We will sit after the Eid to discuss the outstanding bills,’ he said.
   Although Biman agreed to pay the outstanding bills of about Tk 450 crore in instalments in 2003, the outstanding bills mounted to Tk 508 crore, he said.
   In the last 16 months it paid only two times more than the regular bills to settle outstanding bills, and in many months it even could not even pay the regular bills, he said.
   Mahmud said that the outstanding bill of Biman was Tk 17.57 crore in June 1996, which soared to Tk 343.47 crore in October 2001.
   The civil aviation ministry has been contradicting the BPC’s estimate of outstanding bills, saying that the current bill should be around Tk 320 crore, not Tk 508 crore, as BPC should give Biman 20 per cent rebate and 5 per cent discount as the country’s airline is the BPC’s major customer.
   Energy officials have rejected the ministry’s claim as they thought Biman is eligible for 20 per cent rebate only when the BPC makes a profit. ‘But how can it provide rebate to Biman on its fuel proceeds when the BPC itself incurred a loss of Tk 2,700 crore last year?’ Mahmud asked.
   State minister for civil aviation and tourism, Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin, said that they would discuss the rebate issue after the Eid vacation at the meeting with the finance minister.
   He said that they would also request the Finance Division to give Biman a block allocation for paying the outstanding bills to BPC.

Thousands of residents had been ordered to evacuate Sunday and businesses and emergency officials prepared rescue and relief plans as forecasters predicted Hurricane Wilma would pick up speed ‘like a rocket’ on a course toward Florida.
   The southern half of Florida’s peninsula was under a hurricane warning Sunday in anticipation of Wilma, a Category 2 storm with 100 mph sustained wind. Although still far from the state, Wilma’s outer bands of rain had already caused street flooding in South Florida.
   Tropical storm-force wind was expected to begin lashing the state late Sunday and meteorologists said the heart of the storm was expected to roar across the state Monday.
   Earlier, six people were listed as killed and two as missing early Sunday after Hurricane Wilma erased beaches and flooded luxury hotels up to the third floor in Mexico’s famous Yucatan resorts.
   In Cuba, where Wilma has already spawned several tornados, the government continued to evacuate more than half a million people from its westernmost provinces.
   The storm was expected to brush the island’s northwest coast on Sunday before heading toward Florida.
   ‘The time of preparing is rapidly moving into time of action as people are evacuating,’ Florida emergency management director Craig Fugate said.
   Wilma had been joined by Tropical Storm Alpha, which formed south Saturday off the Dominican Republic as the record 22nd named storm for the Atlantic season. It was the first time forecasters exhausted the regular list of names and had to turn to the Greek alphabet for labels in almost 60 years of naming storms. The previous record of 21 tropical storms and hurricanes had stood since 1933.
   Hurricane centre director Max Mayfield predicted Wilma would dramatically pick up speed later Sunday and its top wind speed would increase.
   ‘It’s really going to take off like a rocket,’ he said. ‘It’s going to start moving like 20 mph.’
   About 160,000 people in the state were under mandatory evacuation orders, including the entire population of the Florida Keys island chain, according to officials and Census data. There was no way of knowing exactly how many actually left, but it appeared only about 20 per cent of the 78,000 Keys residents fled, senior Monroe County emergency management director Billy Wagner said.
   ‘If they don’t get out of there, they’re going to be in deep trouble,’ he said Sunday.
   Evacuation orders also covered barrier islands and coastal areas in Collier and Lee counties, such as Fort Myers Beach, Marco Island, Sanibel and parts of Naples.
   Tropical storm-force wind of at least 39 mph is expected in the Keys and the south-western part of the state by Sunday evening, and in Miami and other Atlantic coast cities around midnight. The centre of Wilma should make landfall on Florida’s southwest coast as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane around sunrise Monday, forecasters said.
   However, a storm’s strength can be unpredictable. ‘Because of that, we’re asking everyone to prepare for a Category 3, one category stronger, just in case,’ hurricane centre deputy director Ed Rappaport said Sunday.
   Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Butch Kinerney said resources ranging from dozens of military helicopters to 13.2 million ready-to-eat meals were standing by.
   ‘We’re ready for Wilma and, whatever the storm brings, we’re set to go,’ Kinerney said.
   Wilma’s outer rain bands caused hip-deep street flooding Saturday in some neighbourhoods in the Fort Lauderdale area, forcing people out of at least 50 apartments and houses. More than 5 inches of rain fell in that area, Broward County and National Weather Service officials said.

The Swiss-based multinational Roche Pharmaceuticals has agreed to negotiate with generic drug companies so that they can increase the production of bird flu vaccine, said The Oakland Tribune newspaper.
   The decision came after two US senators met the head of the North America operation of the pharmaceuticals company.
   ‘The bottleneck on Tamiflu has basically been broken,’ said senator Charles Schumer, D-NY, who, along with senator Lindsey Graham, R-Fla, met with the drug company chief.
   Roche Holding AG produces and has the patent for Tamiflu, the most effective drug in the treatment of bird flu.
   The company announced it will assess the ability of other companies to help with the production of the drug. Schumer said his staff contacted leading generic drug companies Teva Pharmaceuticals, Barr Laboratories, Mylan Laboratories and Ranbaxy Laboratories, who indicated they could make the drug within a month.
   The senator did not say how much Roche will charge the companies for a license to produce the drug.
   Sixty people in Asia have died from the flu since late 2003. In most cases they had contact with sick birds.
   But health officials worry the virus will spread and could mutate into a form that can be passed from human to human, causing a pandemic even worse than the deadly 1918 flu epidemic that killed more than 50 million.

Onion price increased further to Tk 46 a kilogram in city markets Sunday afternoon from Tk 38 on Friday. The commodity was short in supply.
   The local variety onions were retailed between Tk 40 and Tk 46 a kilogram Sunday afternoon; the Indian variety sold between Tk 38 and Tk 40.
   The wholesale price of the local variety ranged between Tk 37 and Tk 38 and the price of the Indian variety Tk 34 and Tk 35.
   The commodity was retailed between Tk 28 and Tk 32 four days ago, and between Tk 20 and Tk 22 two weeks ago.
   Vegetable prices have increased by more than 50 per cent in four days, double the prices two weeks ago.
   The traders said the price might continue to go up as the commodities will be in short supply for three more weeks.
   ‘Onion price increased abnormally in India after a pre-harvest rain had destroyed crop in Velore near Mumbai,’ said Babul Khandaker, general secretary of the Dhaka Metropolitan Perishable Importers’ Association, explaining the increase in onion price.
   Citing price quotes of Indian exporters on the day, Babul said onion price rose up to Rs 28,000–30,000 a tonne from Rs 21,000–22,000 a week ago and Rs 16,000-17,000 a fortnight ago.
   More than 100 importers have stopped ordering new consignments, Babul said. Importers can now continue the supply for at best two to three more days from their consignments in the pipeline.
   About 80 trucks of onions, each carrying an average of 15 tonnes, entered Bangladesh a day a few days ago; the number came down to 10 to 15 in the past four days, Babul said.
   Some traders at Shyambazar, the largest wholesale market for onion and spices, said the government could take some measures in easing the supply crunch to some extent.
   The facilitation of imports from Myanmar, Turkey and Iran can keep supply quite normal during Ramadan, said a wholesaler, quoting a newspaper report which said India imported onion from Pakistan to keep its market stable early this week.
   The total onion consumption in Bangladesh is estimated to over between 80,000 tonnes and 90,000 tonnes a month, which almost doubles during Ramadan and more than 80 per cent of the demand is met from import of Indian onions.

The commerce ministry has opted to sell sugar and lentils under the supervision of OMS dealers after the Ansar and Village Defence Party claimed a service charge for the job.
   The government’s market intervention wing, the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, which lacks its own manpower engaged the Ansar and the VDP for selling onion, sugar, lentils and chickpeas at subsidised rates due to the soaring prices of essentials.
   Official sources said the Ansar and the VDP claimed distribution cost amounting to Tk 1 lakh a day, in all Tk 25 lakh for their job in the past 25 days.
   To the commerce ministry bosses, the cost appeared to be ‘too high to pay’ on the part of the trading corporation, sources in the ministry said.
   The ministry is learnt to have been undecided about the claims of the distribution cost demanded by the two government forces.
   Against this backdrop, the commerce ministry has requested the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management to engage as many as 600 OMS dealers already engaged in open market sales of rice to sell sugar and lentils.
   Currently, 100 dealers have been selling the items, apart from rice sales.
   ‘We have decided to engage these dealers in selling sugar and lentils to stabilise the market and to reach these items among the poorer segment of the people,’ the adviser to the commerce ministry, Barkat Ullah Bulu, said.
   When his attention was drawn to the compensation claims, he declined to comment.
   Asked why the prices were not coming down as expected, Bulu mentioned that many dealers had not been taking the rice due to lack of demand from the buyers. ‘Many people were said to be ashamed of taking rice standing in queue,’ he added.
   However, consumers at various corners of the city complained about the quality of the rice being sold in the open market, although they have satisfaction about the quality of onion, and sugar, whatever being sold by the corporation.

A Nigerian airliner with 116 people on board crashed in a remote rural area after losing contact with air traffic control shortly after take-off, officials said.
   A Nigerian official said Sunday that new information showed no one survived the crash of a passenger jet carrying 117 people.
   Abilola Oloko, a spokesman for Oyo state where the plane crashed Saturday, said earlier that over half of those on board had survived. But he later asserted that ‘the latest reports coming to us say that all the people on the plane died.’
   He citing confusion at the crash scene for the conflicting reports, which could not be immediately verified.
   ‘There were 110 people on board and six crew,’ information minister Frank Nweke told AFP.
   The Bellview Airlines Boeing 737 left Lagos at 7:50pm (1850GMT) on Saturday bound for Abuja but almost immediately lost contact with air traffic control.
   Some senior Nigerian officials and officials of the Economic Community of West African States were on board the flight, said a Bellview staff member.
   On Sunday, officials said that the plane had crashed near Kishi, in a remote rural area 400 kilometres north of Lagos, and that rescue crews were heading for the scene.
   There has been no immediate confirmation of the cause of the crash.
   Nigeria has a terrible record for aviation safety and has been the scene of numerous crashes, including an accident in May 2002 when an airliner plunged into a suburb of Kano, killing 115 on board and scores more on the ground.

Irregularities were alleged against the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management in the tender process of bringing food relief worth about Tk 100 crore.
   The allegations were made at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry on Sunday following which the committee formed a subcommittee for investigation.
   The four-member subcommittee, headed by Abul Khair Bhui-yan, was asked to submit its report at the next committee meeting.
   Others on the committee are Awami League lawmaker Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury Liton and ruling BNP lawmakers Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu and Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anny.
   The subcommittee was formed after Nur-e-Alam had raised the issue and sought immediate steps of the committee chairman, sources present at the meeting said.
   Nur-e-Alam also produced some documents, including allegations submitted to the ministry by some importers who failed to get the tender because of the irregularities.
   ‘The tender to bring rice and wheat, allocated by the Indian government for the Bangladeshi flood victims, was not floated accordingly,’ Nur-e-Alam said, quoting the allegations.
   The ministry awarded the tender to the National Co-operative Consumer Society Ltd, a sister concern of the already blacklisted Messrs R Pyarelal and Company, he said.
   ‘Even the authorities did not open the tenders on the fixed date and inform other participants of the matter accordingly,’ he told New Age after the meeting.
   The committee chairman, Mohammad Shahjahan, told New Age that although the ministry officials had claimed that the tender process was completed accordingly, they wanted to verify it. ‘If any irregularity is detected, the committee will not hesitate to recommend punitive action,’ he said.
   Acknowledging that the process to bring the relief goods from India was delayed, he said the committee would take all necessary measures to bring the foods at the earliest.
   The meeting also reviewed the ongoing VGF, VGD and OMS activities and the progress in the appointment of 2,500 officials at the Directorate of Food, the sources said.

At least half of the 249-seat of the lower house of Afghanistan went to the religious leaders and former fighters, including four former Taliban commanders, said a report of The New York Times.
   More than a month after the elections, nearly all provisional results have finally been released for Afghanistan’s Parliament and provincial assemblies, cementing a victory for Islamic conservatives and the jihad fighters involved in the wars of the past two decades.
   About 50 of the men elected fall into a broad category of independents, or educated professionals, and 11 are former Communists. Women have taken 68 seats — slightly more than the 25 per cent representation guaranteed under the new electoral system.
   It is far from clear how voting blocs will form, because the election system sidelined political parties, and most candidates ran as independents.
   Even with such a parliament, president Hamid Karzai is likely to be able to push through most bills and appointments. He can rely to some degree on support from his fellow Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in the country, who will control more than 100 seats.
   With backing from educated professionals and some other independents, that may prove to be enough support for all but the most controversial issues.
   Yet he will have to work with powerful political figures. Among the winners are some of the prominent men of the past two decades of war and turbulent politics. Leaders of two mujahedeen, or jihadi, parties that fought the Soviet occupation — former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of Jamiat-i-Islami, and Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf, leader of Ittehad-e-Islami — won seats, as did a number of their supporters.

Military action against Iran over its nuclear programme is not on the agenda, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
   But she added that president George W Bush would not rule out any option while the international community pursued diplomatic means to address fears that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons.
   ‘Military action isn’t on the agenda. The agenda is a diplomatic one,’ Rice told BBC Television in a joint interview with the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw.
   ‘We are on a diplomatic course and we believe that with strong international support, with strong international coherence about this, we can succeed,’ she said.
   Straw, who has been touring Rice’s home state of Alabama with his US counterpart, has said military strikes against Iran are inconceivable.
   On Sunday, he said it was a completely ‘abstract issue.’
   Rice came back: ‘The American president never takes any option off the table ... It is as Jack said at this point, however, an abstract issue.’
   Iran, which Western countries suspect is developing atomic weapons under cover of a civilian programme, insists its programme is intended only for peaceful electricity generation.
   Washington’s top diplomat played down differences with Russia after a recent visit to Moscow to discuss Iran.
   Diplomats say Rice learned during her trip that Russia would actively oppose any push to refer Iran’s case to the UN Security Council.
   Washington won a vote last month at the International Atomic Energy Agency threatening Iran with referral to the Council but Russia abstained and no deadline was set.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, leaves for Saudi Arabia today at the invitation of Saudi King to perform umrah.
   Officials said during her stay in Saudi Arabia, Khaleda would be treated as ‘royal guest’.
   The prime minister would stay in Madina from Monday to Thursday. She would stay in Makkah from October 27 to Oct 31 performing umrah..
   The prime minister is scheduled to return home on October 31.'

The Detective Branch of police in Noakhali on Sunday picked up three people, including a member of the village defence party, in connection with the robbery at a jewellery shop in Companiganj upazila that sparked off violent protests.
   The police fired on the protesters leaving five people dead and over 100 injured on Thursday.
   Sources said the detective police, assigned to investigate the robbery case, detained Rafiqullah, of Musapur union, M Sayedul Haque, of Sirajpur union, and VDP member Abu Taher early Sunday, and were questioning them about the robbery at Haji and Sons Jewellery at Basurhat early Thursday.
   A probe body, headed by the additional deputy commissioner (general) Abdul Jalil, on Sunday recorded statements of the suspended officer-in-charge of the Companiganj police station, Ayub Hossain, and sub-inspector Shudhangshu at the district circuit house.
   The committee also testified five people who were undergoing treatment at Noakhali General Hospital. On Saturday, it recorded statements of 81 people.
   The other committee, headed by the additional superintendent of police, Delwar Hossain, continued its departmental inquiry into the incident.
   The BNP leaders in Companiganj, however, on Sunday donated Tk 5,000 to each of the families of Firoz, Rubel, Babul, Bidhan, and Alauddin who were killed in the police firing.