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The prices of flour, soya bean oil, Indian garlic, green peas, some brands of powdered milk, fish, beef, mutton, and broilers registered a fresh increase in the city kitchen market in the past week.
   But the prices of red lentil and vegetables declined over the week. Sugar price remained unchanged during the period, selling for Tk 53 a kilogram.
   The price of packed and non-packed atta increased by Tk 1 up to Tk 19 a kilogram. The price of two-kilogram packets of atta increased from Tk 39 to Tk 40.
   A kilogram of non-packed soya bean oil sold for Tk 48 in the week. The price was Tk 46 in the week before. The wholesalers at Karwan Bazaar said the price of container soya bean oil might increase in the next week.
   The Indian multi-clove garlic sold for Tk 54 a kilogram and green peas for Tk 20, up buy Tk 2 from the price the week before.
   The price of Diploma brand milk powder of Sanowara Corporation and Quality and Anchor increased further, said a wholesaler at Karwan Bazaar.
   A kilogram of diploma milk sold for Tk 310, up by Tk 5 from the price of the week before. A packet of 500gm Diploma milk sold for Tk 157, up buy Tk 4.
   A 500gm packet of Quality milk sold for Tk 150, up by Tk 4. A pack of a kilogram sold for Tk 300, increasing from the price of Tk 295. A 400gm Anchor milk pack sold for Tk 135, up by Tk 5 from the previous week.
   Mohammad Salim, a vegetable trader at the Mohammadpur kitchen market, said the prices of all vegetables remained stable. The new harvest of sajna (moringa) sold for Tk 80 a kilogram.
   The price of a kilogram of pointed gourd (patal) came down to Tk 30 from Tk 50 in the week ago while the price of green peas increased to Tk 20 from Tk 16 the week before, another vegetable trader Hanif said.
   The prices of fishes remained high because of inadequate import, the traders claimed.
   The prices of beef and mutton also increased. The traders attributed the increase to short supply and an increase in the prices on the wholesale market.
   A kilogram of beef sold for the prices between Tk 130 and Tk 140, up by Tk 10 to Tk 15 from the price the week before. A kilogram of mutton sold for Tk 200 from the earlier prices between Tk 160 and Tk 180.
   The recent outbreak of bird flu in neighbouring India had no effect on the price of chicken. The price of broiler increased abruptly. A kilogram of chicken sold for Tk 80. The price ranged between Tk 70 and Tk 75 on Thursday.
   Amin, a chicken trader at Karwan Bazar, said on an average, he sold 150 to 200 broilers a day. ‘Bird flu in India has not affected our business. We have rather seen a boom in chicken sales,’ he said.

A large number of people, with their family members, flocked on the last weekend on Friday to the Ekushey book fair.
   The crowd began becoming thick in the afternoon and there was hardly any space inside the fair ground for visitors to stop by for moments.
   The long queue from the entrance tailed back to the Institute of Fine Art and the High Court. But the crowd management by the law enforcers was better, many visitors said.
   The stall owners were happy about the sales. Some said many of the people visited the fair thinking that they would not be able to make time for a visit to the fair during the remaining days.
   The publishers brought out more titles on the day. The fair information centre reported the arrival of 102 titles till 4:30pm. And the publishers said more books would be coming at night.
   Novels still topped the list of arrival, followed by the volumes of poems. But Friday was the day for the collections of poems. There were 20 volumes of poems, 19 collections of short stories and 14 novels.
   Translations are also selling well in this year’s fair. A large number of publishers brought out translations of famous books, mainly novels.
   ‘Novels top the buyers’ list, followed by volumes of poetry, said Osman Gani of Agamee. ‘But there are also some serious readers who like critical writings and books on serious subjects.’
   A number of litterateurs visited the fair. Poet Al Mahmud, flanked by a number of fans, visited some stalls and bought several volumes of poems. A single volume of his poems, Barudgandhi Manusher Deshe, arrived in the fair a couple of days ago.
   Muhammad Zafar Iqbal roamed about, followed by hundreds of young fans. The tired writer sat on the stairs of the Burwan House and gave his autographs. Humayun Ahmed’s former wife Gultekin also visited the fair.
   Poet and critic Abdul Mannan Syed released the book Tariq al-Huq by Syed Rashid Ahmed Jaunpuri. Former Bangla Academy director general Harun-ur-Rashid was present. Poet Asad Chowdhury and Samudra Gupta released several volumes of poems by a group of young poets.
   Anwesha Prakashan brought out a huge compilation of essays, rhymes and stories for children, Ghuddi. Ahsan Habib edited the volume of with 87 pieces.
   Agamee brought out Chhotoder Nazrul Rachanabali. The poet’s grandson, Khilkhil Kazi, edited the collection.
   Very few stalls followed the instruction of not selling books published by other houses. The trouble over the implementation of rules continued. The fair committee warned 40 stall owners over violation; but no action was taken by Friday.
   The Bangla Academy held the final-round competition of recitation and song by children. Labiba Fairuz Khan, Adiba Noshin Mithi and Rahat Bin Mostafiz secured the top positions in recitation competition in the junior group.
   Nandita Sarkar Priya, Arpita Chakrabarti Brishti and Manisha Ahmed won in the middle group and KSA Marcel, Tasmia Tahmid, and Samia Nishat were awarded prizes in the senior group.
   In singing, Syeda Shama Tahsin, Mashuka Rabab Raka, and Anika Tabassum Barsha won prizes in the junior group. Molla Towfiq Ahmed, Towsif Ahmed, Arpita Chakrabarti Brishti and Tasmin Ara Nipa won prizes in the senior group.

The Regional Animal Disease Research Laboratory, also known as the Field Disease Investigation Laboratory, in Sylhet has been plagued by a plethora of problems such as lack of plans and necessary instruments, shortage of researchers and staff and the lack of transport facility ever since it was established in 1985.
   The officials of the institute seem have little or no responsibility for their duties. Dissection of animal carcasses is rarely done here for research due to shortage of necessary laboratory instruments.
   As a result, the animal disease research laboratory in Sylhet has been reduced to a futile exercise by the livestock ministry, sources said.
   According to the source, the job of the researchers has been confined to identifying only some common diseases of poultry. So the staff of the institute, located at Alurtal, some five kilometres of the Sylhet city, idle away their hours.
   A senior scientific officer told New Age that three laboratory assistants from among the four had been out of Sylhet for long on deputation and working at other branches of the field disease investigation laboratory.
   Most of the employees of the laboratory are working at their chosen branches in their respective home districts without any transfer orders taking advantage of indifference of the higher authorities, sources said.
   ‘They are regularly withdrawing their salaries and enjoying other benefits from the Sylhet institution, though they are not working at their place of work’, said the source close to lab.
   Ashraf Uddin has joined the lab recently as the senior scientific officer after the post remained vacant for a long time, but there has been no change in the traditional working system of the RADRL.
   Ashraf Uddin said they were trying their best to provide service to the people including poultry farmers of the region. ‘But what can we do, if the people do not come here to taking service,’ he said.
   But he could not give a satisfactory explanation as to why they were not taking any steps to conduct proper research on animal diseases and their causes to the benefit of poultry farm owners and cattle growers in the region.
   Being an institution set up to conduct research on and check diseases of cattle and poultry birds, people expected that the research workers here would take initiatives to find out the causes of animal diseases and check their spread through field level surveys.
   But the officials of the institution do not undertake any field level programmes and have never have taken a single initiative for such research, a poultry farmer said.

Shaheed Zia Children's Park will be inaugurated at Barabangram in the north of Rajshahi today.
   The minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, will open the theme park.
   The construction of the park on 12.21 acres of land was completed two months ago and test operation ran for a month.
   The Domestic Electric Technology Services and the Usha Engineering Consortium of Dhaka implemented the project involving Tk 10 crore under the supervision of the Rajshahi City Corporation.
   The first-ever theme park in the north has been equipped with 70 games and rides.
   The games are depicted on the walls of the park, decorated with sculptures, tiles and cartoons of animals.
   The two-storey main entrance is decorated with mosaic. The building was has a prayer room, a first-aid corner, a seminar room, an office room and several balconies with single block colour bricks.
   The entry fee has been fixed at Tk 15. Rides have separate fees.

Rain or thunder shower accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at one or two places over the Sylhet division and the regions of Dinajpur, Rangpur and Mymensingh till 6:00pm today, said the Met Office in a forecast on Friday.
   Weather may remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky elsewhere during the period. Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged.
   The highest temperature on Friday, 36.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Jessore and the lowest, 16.7 degrees Celsius, at Chuadanga.
   The sun sets in the capital city at 5:59pm today and will rise at 6:23am on Sunday.

At least 20 students were injured, 10 of them critically, in a clash between the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists at Mirpur Bangla College in the Dhaka city on Friday.
   The police said the clash began at about 11:30am over an altercation when the Shibir leaders and activists were distributing their visiting cards among the admission seekers after admission test in the college.
   While distributing the cards, the Shibir leaders and activists have assured the admission seekers of helping them in the admission, if they agree to join their party, the students of the college alleged.
   Of the injured, 10 Shibir activists were admitted to Kalyanpur Al-Fuad Hospital while the rests were given first aid at different city clinics.
   Witnesses said both the groups attacked each other with weapons. But Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Shibir blamed each other for the attack.
   A large contingent of police, led by the officer-in-charge of the Mirpur police station, MA Rab, went to the spot and brought the situation under control at about 12:45pm.
   ‘Shibir activists equipped with hockey and bamboo sticks, rods, and cricket stumps attacked us while we were campaigning on behalf of our party,’ Humayun Rashid Rawshan, president of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Mirpur Bangla College Unit, told New Age.
   ‘They hired a number of armed cadres who injured 10 of our leaders and activists,’ he added.
   The Islami Chhatra Shibir college unit president, Mohammad Yousuf Ali, said, ‘Some outsider JCD cadres led by ‘terror’ Faruk, Babul, Elin, and Hanif attacked Shibir leaders and activists without any provocation.’
   As tension mounted, the law enforcers were deployed on the college campus to avert further clash. No case was filed till 7:30pm.
   On March 9, 2005, the Shibir activists clashed with the activists of Chhatra Dal and Chhatra League at Jagannath University in Old Town.
   Later the Chhatra Dal and Shibir leaders had a meeting to minimise the conflict. The housing and public works minister, Mirza Abbas, mediated the two sides.
   Besides, at least 40 students were injured in another clash between the JCD and Shibir activists at Allama Kashgari Hall of Alia Madrassah in Dhaka on April 3, 2005.

Abductors held, victim rescued
The Detective Branch arrested three suspected abductors and rescued a teenaged girl Tilpapara of Khilgaon in Dhaka Thursday evening. The arrested were Kader Hawlader, 55, Moni Begum, 25, Mofizul Islam, 20. The police rescued Morzina Begum, 18, earlier abducted from Sayestaganj in Habiganj. The police said the arrested were involved in sex trade. The police said Morzina admitted being forced in sex traded by the arrested. A case was filed with the Khilgaon police station in this connection.
— New Age

One drowns in pond at Shahidullah Hall
A person drowned in the pond at Shahidullah Hall of Dhaka University Friday morning. Campus and hospital sources said Lal Mia, 18, worker of a shoe shop and a resident of Nimtali, drowned as he was taking a bath with his friends. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead.
— BDNews

Kennel Club holds dog show in Dhaka today
The Bangladesh Kennel Club will hold its second annual dog show in the Bashundhara Residential Area in Dhaka at 9:00am today. A release requested the club members and dog owners attend the show. The show will also feature a session of obedience trials and dog training demonstrations.
— New Age