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The D-8 region consisting of eight Muslim countries — Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey — have set the end of 2005 as its target to finalise the last draft of the preferential trade agreement.
   Quoting an official at the commerce ministry, Pakistan’s Daily Times reported that the fourth meeting of technical experts from the D-8 will be held in Pakistan in the last week of August or in early September.
   The proposed agreement will be decided among the contracting states on the basis of a reduction in import tariffs and on margin of preferences.
   The agreement will also be based on the tradable items list with strict application of rules of origin.
   The D-8 had earlier agreed to increase the existing volume of trade among them through such an agreement.
   The official said the draft of the agreement among the D-8 was being discussed and that efforts were being made to prepare the final draft for submission to the governments concerned.
   After considering the points of view of all contracting states, the agreement will be finalised and the date for its initiation will be determined after a final approval from the cabinets.
   The proposed agreement is expected to increase trade among the eight signatories.
   The official added that the contracting states would be able to reduce the manufacturing cost of exportable goods by importing raw materials and semi-finished goods from member states and could initiate joint ventures in the manufacturing sector through transfer of skilled manpower.
   At the moment, the volume of trade among these countries is negligible.
   The D-8’s members are already negotiating bilateral trade agreements and Pakistan is negotiating preferential trade agreements and free trade agreements with Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Turkey as these are also D-8 members.
   The D-8 trade agreement will be the third major agreement after the South Asia Free Trade Area, already signed by seven states including Pakistan, India, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan.

Child Parliament, Bangladesh, a mock parliament of 64 representatives, one from each district, requested for a law against physical punishment at school.
   They urged the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, law minister Moudud Ahmed and education minister M Osman Faruk to ensure justice in the Dipu killing case and introduce an act to stop physical punishment at schools.
   The speakers of the parliament, Shafiqul Islam Talukdar, sent a memorandum to the ministers on July 20.
   Child parliamentarians said physical punishment and other kinds of punishment at schools are one of the major problems for children.
   They said whipping or any kind of physical punishment at school is risky for the proper mental and physical development of the children.
   The child parliament has had four sessions so far and it was during the last session that they discussed physical punishment.
   LGRD and cooperatives Abdul Mannan Bhuyan was present as chief guest in the last session of the child parliament.
   The child parliamentarians urged the ministers to ensure justice in the Dipu killing case. Dipu Islam, a 13-year-old boy of the Nayatola Government Primary School, was the latest victim of corporal punishment.
   Dipu died on July 5 at the hospital and the post-mortem report confirmed that Dipu’s death had been caused by injuries from beatings of his teachers at school.
   Children said physical and all other punishment at schools should be put to a stop.
   The parliament works under the supervision of Save the Children, Australia.

Speakers at a discussion marking the World Breastfeeding Week 2005 on Sunday emphasised the need for reforms in the marketing of alternative baby food.
   The Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation organised the roundtable in the CIRDAP auditorium on ‘breastfeeding and family foods: loving and healthy.’
   The foundation treasurer, Sarwar Zahan, in his keynote paper said the laws to control alternative baby do not address all the aspects.
   The law addresses only the baby food manufacturers. The relevant laws should be modified to accommodate the doctors as well because they also play a role in the consumption of alternative baby food.
   In Bangladesh, the laws related to labelling, literature, registration and market expansion of alternative baby food is rather common, he said.
   The foundation recently arranged visit for some journalists to 25 hospitals. Out of these, six were out of Dhaka. The newsmen found that doctors in all the hospitals except for one promote alternative baby food.
   Although some doctors prescribed breast feeding, they prescribed alternative baby food to their clinic patients. Even the nurses and caretakers inspired and encouraged mothers to use alternative baby food.
   Exclusive breastfeeding for six months followed by breastfeeding and complementary feeding could prevent almost 2.5 million child deaths a year.
   This would save more lives than anti-malarial measures, vaccination and vitamin A supplement put together, said SK Roy, the foundation secretary.
   Additional health secretary Mizanur Rahman Mazumder, who was chief guest, stressed the need for reforming the law and its implementation. The foundation chairman, MQK Talukder, presided at the prgramme.

Six persons were killed and 22 injured in a road accident at Satkania upazila on the Chittagong–Cox’s Bazar Highway Sunday night.
   Four of the dead were Mohammad Jan-e-Alam, driver of the Chittagong-bound bus, Khadija Begum, Zafar Ahmed, and Abdul Nabi.
   The police said the accident took place at about 8:00pm when a Chittagong-bound bus collided head-on with another bus bound for Cox’s Bazar at Maulanar Dokan, killing the six on the spot.
   Five of the injured — Mohammad Morshed, Shahabuddin, Faruque Ahmed, Mohammad Shamim, and Mohammad Mostafa — were admitted to local health complex.
   The police seized both the buses, but the driver of the Cox’s Bazar-bound bus managed to get away.

Two leaders of BNP student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and one of their associates, arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion on Saturday in possession of a pistol and ammunition at Shahbagh in Dhaka, were placed on a three-day remand on Sunday.
   The Ramna police produced the three — Mostafizur Rahman Mamun, Harunur Rashid alias Dog Shishir and Ashraf Hossain — in the chief metropolitan magistrates court on Sunday and sought a remand for five days.
   The prosecution submitted that the three possessed illegal arms and were engaged in extortion.
   Towhid claimed Mamun was arrested on a directive from the high-ups and he was implicated in the arms case.
   On Saturday, a RAB 2 team arrested the three from a room of the Mush Enterprise at Aziz Cooperatives Supermarket at noon in possession of the pistol and ammunition.

Robbers looted Tk 5 lakh in cash and valuables from seven houses at Awsia, Satkania, in Chittagong early Sunday.
   The police said a gang of robbers broke into the houses of Hasan Siddiki, Moktar Ahmed, Aziz Ahmed, Rafique Ahmed, Nasir Uddin, Abdul Hakim and Alamgir Siddiki at Barokhandakarbari after midnight.

All the seven nomination papers submitted for the August 30 by-election to Faridpur-1 constituency have been declared valid.
   The returning officer on Sunday scrutinised the nomination papers and declared all of them valid.
   The last date for withdrawal of candidature is August 14.
   The list of candidates are Kazi Sirajul Islam of the four-party alliance, Krishak Mohammad Sadek of Krishak Mukti Andolan, and five independent candidates — Shah Mohammad Abu Zafar, a dissident leader of BNP, Mufti Mohammad Sharafat Hossain, an Islami Oikya Jote rebel leader, AKM Mosharef Hossain Nannu Mia, Maulana Mujibur Rahman, and Mohammad Nurul Abedin.
   Zafar and Sharafat submitted nomination papers as independent candidates after failing to get the alliance ticket.
   The seat fell vacant for floor crossing by Kazi Siraj, who won the 2001 election with the Awami League ticket and joined the BNP on June 4. The main opposition Awami League has decided not to contest in the by-poll.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, has called for an active participation of all concerned in turning fish cultivation into a social movement.
   ‘It can be a ‘very successful and effective weapon’ for poverty alleviation. I believe it is possible to generate employment for the huge population and boost income through further development and expansion of the sector,’ she told the inaugural function of the National Fish Fortnight-2005 at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city on Sunday.
   The slogan of this year’s fish fortnight is ‘Haor-baor-flood plains are gold mines for fish cultivation’ (Haor-baor-plabon bhumi, matsya chasher sonarkhoni).
   Hoping that the country would be successful in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals in poverty reduction by increasing fish production, the prime minister called upon all to be more caring and active for the development and expansion of fish resources, preservation of biodiversity and maintaining balance of aquatic environment.
   Khaleda Zia listed a number of steps taken by the government for promotion of fisheries sector and said the rate of fish production per hectare was still much lower compared to that in other countries.
   The prime minister also suggested diversity in fish cultivation and making proper use of every unused water bodies, creating facilities for breeding of small indigenous fish species and forward and backward linkage industries related to fish cultivation and processing.
   Presided over by the fisheries and livestock minister, Abdullah Al Noman, the function was also addressed by the finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, the fisheries and livestock secretary, Abdul Karim and the director general of the Department of Fisheries, Nasiruddin Ahmed.
   The prime minister formally launched the two-week national programme by releasing fish fries in the Crescent Lake in between the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban and Zia Udyan.
   She distributed National Fish Fortnight Award- 2005 among 23 persons and organisations in 10 categories for their outstanding contributions to the development of fisheries sector.
   Of the 23 awardees, 11 got gold medals, seven silver medals and five bronze medals. The recipients of gold medals include health and family welfare minister, Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, M Shamsuzzoha Khan, MP, Rajshahi University vice-chancellor, M Altaf Hossain and television personality Shaikh Siraj.

The Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court, Chittagong on Sunday recorded deposition of two witnesses of the April 2, 2004 arms haul case.
   Judge Anwar Hossain recorded the deposition of Golam Rasul, a havilder of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police, and Abdus Sattar Sawdagar, a resident of the Karnaphuli police area, court sources said.
   Rasul said when a police squad had reached the spot, the people engaged in unloading the arms managed to flee. The police later had taken the arms to the city in ten trucks, five of which were loaded before their arrival, he said.
   But the deposition given by Sattar differed with his earlier statement that angered the judge.
   Three witnesses, including the two, out of 114, have so far appeared before the court to give their depositions in the country’s biggest-ever arms haul case.
   The court, however, fixed September 7 to record the depositions of other witnesses. It started recording the depositions on July 5 when the plaintiff of the case, Wahidur Rahman, also the former officer-in-charge of the Karnaphuli police station, filed his deposition.
   The police seized a huge cache of 4,930 sophisticated firearms, 27,020 hand grenades, 840 rockets, 300 accessories of rocket launchers, 2,000 launching grenade tubes, 6,392 magazines, and 1,140,520 rounds of bullet at the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer jetty under the Karnaphuli police station.
   The then investigation officer, Kabiruddin, submitted charge sheet on June 11, 2004 when the court found glaring inconsistency and ordered for a detailed investigation and submission of supplementary report.
   Later GM Nawsher Ali, ASP of the Criminal Investigation Department, Sylhet zone, submitted the supplementary report of the charge sheet on August 26 accusing 43 persons, and including 114 persons as witnesses.
   Of the 43 accused, 19 are now on bail and 12 are in prison, and the rests including prime accused, Hafizur Rahman, are absconding.

The Gana Forum formed new central committee in its second national conference at Institution of Engineers in Dhaka on August 5.
   Gana Forum president Dr Kamal Hossain was re-elected president and Saif Uddin Ahmed Manik re-elected general secretary.
   Other members on the executive committee are presidium members Khalilur Rahman, Zahirul Islam, Pankaj Bhattacharya, Abdul Hakim, Kazi Abdul Shaheed Lal, Ranesh Moitro, KM Fazlul Kader, AHM Khalequzzaman, Khatib Uddin Ahmed, Ahmedur Rahman Azmi, Mohammad Samsuddoha, Abdur Rouf, Motin Chowdhury, Fazlul Haque Khandaker, Mofizul Islam Kamal, Altaf Hossain and Mokabbir Khan,
   Jamal Uddin Ahmed was elected treasurer, Abul Kasem and Subrata Chowdhury, joint secretaries and Mostafa Mohasin Montu organising secretary. Secretaries, and standing council members were also elected.

The Bangladesh College Teachers' Association in a statement on Sunday urged the government to fulfil their list of demands including immediate issuance of monthly pay orders to hundreds of college teachers who had been appointed earlier but have not got paid since January.
   The association of non-government college teachers also submitted 'letters of ultimatum' to the minister and state minister for education, the secretary to the ministry, and to the director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education on August 3.
   The teachers are scheduled to lay a siege to the directorate in Dhaka on August 24.