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The government should invest more in the railway for a sustainable transport system and to address vehicular pollution in the coming days, participants in a roundtable said Wednesday.
   They urged the authorities to curb corruption in the railways while criticising the railway reforms prescribed by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
   ‘The government will have to develop railways for a sustainable transportation system,’ Jobayer Bin Alam, a teacher of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, told the roundtable.
   He said fuel cost per barrel would be around $100 by 2015 and the soaring prices of fuel would increase the road transport costs manifold, putting a huge burden on ordinary people.
   ‘Therefore, railway is the only viable option for the common people.’
   The roundtable on the role of railways for an environment-friendly, safe and economic transportation system at the National Press Club was jointly organised by Save the Environment Movement, Unnayan Dhara and the WBB Trust.
   ‘There would be no pressure on Dhaka’s road transports if commuter trains were introduced in and around the city,’ said Moazzem Hossain, a professor of economics at Rajshahi University.
   Keynote presenter Nazmul Karim in his paper said passengers needed to reach Narayanganj from Dhaka in one and a half hours by spending a minimum of Tk 16. But they could travel between the two stations in 45 minutes spending only Tk 5.
   Another speaker, Shamsu-ddoha, said road transports cause 30 times higher pollution than trains.
   ‘The losses incurred by the railway are the result of inefficient management and corruption. The railway department has purchased spare parts and equipment of outdated trains which would never be used in future,’ Dewan Mohammad Ali, a retired staff member of Bangladesh Railway and trade union leader, told the roundtable.

Two domestic helps, picked up from the residence of slain female lawyer of the Supreme Court Sayma Khanom, were remanded in police custody for seven days on Wednesday.
   The two maids — Meena, 22 and Aleya, 10 — had been accused in a murder case filed by victim’s husband Zahirul Islam with the New Market police Tuesday night.
   The police said that the domestic helps might have seen the assailant who killed the lawyer at her flat but they kept mum.
   ‘We’re sure that the assailant is known to the maids but they remain silent in fear or for other reason best known to them,’ said the police, adding that, they would interrogate the
   two intensively to unearth the clues of the murder and identify the culprit.
   The police picked up Meena and Aleya along with two security guards of the 17-storey Prince Tower for questioning about the murder. The guards — Mizan and Jalal — were released at night.
   The body of Sayma was handed over to her relatives after the autopsy conducted at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue Wednesday morning. She was buried at Azimpur graveyard in the afternoon.
   Sayma was slaughtered on the 15th floor of Prince Tower on Tuesday when her family members were out of the residence. Her only daughter Anjumanara Khanom Tofa, a Class III student of Scholar School, was asleep and the two domestic helps were in the flat during the incident.
   Condemning the murder, Karmajibi Nari, a non-governmental organisation, demanded immediate arrest of and punishment for the killer.

Five more dengue patients were admitted to hospitals in the Dhaka city on Wednesday, raising the number of dengue victims to 18 since July 1.
   Three of the newly affected people were admitted to Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital and two to Central Hospital, a Dhaka City Corporation official said.
   Those who took admission to Holy Family Hospital are Debashree of Motijheel Sonali Bank Staff Quarters, Ayon of Dhalpur and Azizul Haque.
   The two patients admitted to Central Hospital are Asi Mahmood of Circular Road, Motijheel and Nazrul Islam of Central Road, Dhanmondi.
   Chief entomologist of the corporation Nasim-us-Seraj said eight dengue patients were still undergoing treatment at different hospitals in the city.
   He said they had started a two-week crash programme in all the 10 zones of the corporation on Saturday to destroy the breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes, which cause dengue.
   The first case of dengue was detected in 2000 and 93 people died and 5,551 were affected that year. At least 11 persons died of and 2,198 were affected by dengue in 2006, four persons died and 1,048 people were infected in 2005 and 13 persons died of and 3,934 were attacked by the disease in 2004.
   Dengue claimed lives of 44 people and affected 2,430 in 2001, claimed 58 lives and affected 6,132 in 2002 while it claimed 10 lives and attacked 486 in 2003.

A three-member team of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology will participate in ‘Robocon 2007’ competition at Hanoi on August 26.
   A total of 18 countries including Japan, China, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Egypt and Bangladesh will participate in the robot competition to be organised by the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union.
    The Bangladeshi team under the supervision of Professor Md Zahurul Haq of mechanical engineering department of the BUET will leave for Vietnam on August 24. Members of the team are Team Leader Muhammad Yakut Ali, SGM Hossain Mamur and Hasnat Jamil.
   ‘It is a contest to design and construct robots that can perform certain tasks based on the theme and rules of the competition,’ Professor Haq told New Age on Wednesday. The three students have already completed construction of four advanced robots as per the rules of the contest and they will be sent to Hanoi on July 23, he said.
   Three of the robots are intelligent mobile robots and the remaining one is manually controlled at the Mechanical Engineering Department’s laboratory, Haq said.
   Bangladesh participated in the Robocon 2005 in Beijing and won Panasonic Award. Last year, the country participated in the competition in Kuala Lampur. The three students bought materials such as motors from Dholaikhal and Nawabpur in the city and also used second-hand materials for construction of the robots.

A mobile court on Wednesday jailed three persons for recycling stale foods at South Kamalapur in the Dhaka city.
   The court, led by magistrate Rokan Ud-Doula, raided a bakery at 24 South Kamalapur and seized about 150 stale bread and cakes.
   As the bakery owner, M Alamgir Hossain, was not present during the drive, the court arrested his two brothers — Jamal Hossain and Monir Hossain — and a staff, Monu Miah. The court sent the three to jail and issued a warrant for arrest of Alamgir.
   The court conducted the drive after it had come to know that Alamgir used to collect stale bread and cakes from different fast food shops and recycle those in his bakery, the court sources said.
   He would supply the recycled food items to a number of fast food shops in front of schools in Motijheel and Kamalapur areas, they said.
   Another court, led by magistrate M Fasiullah, conducted drive at Kanchi Fast Food and Mini Chinese at Nazimuddin Road in Old Town of Dhaka and found cooked and uncooked food in a freezer.
   The court realised Tk 50,000 from the owner and filed a case under the Pure Food Ordinance.
   In another drive at Hafizullah Road, Begumbazar, the court realised Tk 20,000 from Royel Chemical Company and filed a case for using a very small font in the labels of its product, new butterfly oil. The court considered that the owner had been doing it with an intention to cheat the people.

Eleven bauls have reached the final round of the ‘talent hunt top ten baul’ competition held in Dhaka on Wednesday.
   The Palli Baul Samaj Unnayan Sangstha in collaboration with the German Embassy in Dhaka organised the competition at the Central Public Library.
   Sixteen bauls participated in the final round and 11 of them came out successful. The winners are M Alamin, SN Beauty Akter, AR Jasim Khan, M Sadek Ali, Nila Akter, Ms Nayan Moni, M Kanon Dewan, Syed Ashikur Rahman, Argha Odhikary Bandhon, Maniruzzaman Dhiru aand Surma Hayat.
   The German ambassador to Bangladesh, Frank Meyke, the cultural attaché of the embassy, Katrin Wiessis, Palli Baul Samaj Unnayan Sangstha president Ferdousi Najma spoke at the inaugural ceremony of the final round.
   The contestants sang songs of Lalon Shah, Panju Shah, Pagla Kanai, Duddu Shah, Hasson Raja, Shitalong Shah, Radhabollov, Bhobapagla, Kngal Horinath, Behal Shah, Monmohan Dutta, Kabial Bijoy Sarkar, Jalal Uddin Kha, Arkum Shah, Durbin Shah, Radharomon, Kalashah and Kalushah Fakir.
   The jury were Abinash Shil, Nazir Mahmud, Ahmed Rizvi, Aleya Begum and MH Nayan. The audience also gave votes in selecting the top eleven bauls.
   The organiser will release two music albums of the top ten baul singers and also organise baul festival in the divisional headquarters in phases. The first divisional baul festival with the participation of the eleven bauls will be held at the Wonder Land at Gulshan in the city on August 10, he added.

A four-member World Bank team, led by Benoit Millot, lead education economist of the Human Development Unit, South Asia, called on the Dhaka University vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, at the university’s Senate Bhaban on Wednesday.
   Other members of the team are: senior operation officer of the Education Human Development Unit Subratr Shankar Dhar, education expert of the South Asia Region Human Development Unit Yoko Nagashima and its public policy consultant Norman LaRocque.
   During the meeting, they discussed issues relating to mutual interests, particularly quality education, and development of the standard of education, research and infrastructure facilities at the university.
   The DU Pro-VC, AFM Yusuf Haider, dean of Arts Faculty, Sadrul Amin, dean of Science Faculty, Tajmery SA Islam, dean of Social Science Faculty, Harun-or-Rashid, and director of the Institute of Education and Research, Iqbal Aziz Muttaki, were also present on the occasion.

A national convention on local government will be held at the BIAM auditorium in the Dhaka city on July 22.
   The objective of the convention is to gather recommendations for strengthening the local government, the convention organisers told a press conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
   The LGRD and cooperatives adviser Anwarul Iqbal will inaugurate the convention.
   Former adviser to the caretaker government Sultana Kamal will also attend the programme.
   Civil society members, local government experts, development partners, media professionals, among others, will attend.

A Barisal court on Wednesday sentenced a youth to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for an attempted abduction of a teenaged girl.
   The judge of a special tribunal, Belayet Hossain, handed down the verdict against the convict Babul Sikder, 20.
   Babul tried to abduct Ria Akter, 15, while she along with her cousin returning home at Varpasha village under Bakerganj upazila of the district on November 19, 2004.
   Hearing screams, local people rushed to the spot and recovered the victim. They also caught Babul red-handed and handed over him to the police.
   Ria’s brother Hanif filed a case. The police after investigation submitted charge sheet. The case was sent to the Barisal tribunal for prevention of torture against women and children.

The Dhaka University probe committee, formed to investigate into forgery in the admission process, identified 15 more cases of forgeries in three departments.
   With these 15 cases, the number of cases of admission forgeries detected so far raised to 192.
   Sources in the committee said they had identified six cases of forgeries in the political science department, five in management studies and four cases of forgeries in mathematics department.
   The committee will hold a meeting tomorrow and decided their next steps about the new cases of forgeries.
   The committee, formed on October 10, 2006, headed by the pro-vice-chancellor of the university, AFM Yusuf Haider, earlier detected 177 cases of forgeries and the university authorities have cancelled admissions of 168 of them.

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wing is likely at many places over Rajshahi, Dhaka, Sylhet, Chittagong, Barisal and Khulna division with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said on Wednesday.
   The day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, it added.
   The country's highest temperature on Wednesday, 34.6 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Ishurdi and in Jessore and the lowest, 25.7 degrees Celsius, in Chittagong.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:48pm and rises tomorrow at 5:22am.

Speakers at a meeting stressed the need for creating awareness among the people to check spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
   Around 22 per cent of country’s youths are involved in pre-marital sex and this is one of the main reasons for spread STDs, they told the district level advocacy meeting in Narayanganj on Monday.
   The Department of Youth Development and the UNFPA organised the advocacy meeting under the movement for adolescent health project.
   Chaired by project director Md Sayeduzzaman Pathan, the meeting was addressed, among others, by director general of DYD Mohammad Ismail Hossain, deputy commissioner M Fazlul Kabir, superintendent of police M Sibgat Ullah and civil surgeon Dr M Atiqul Sarwar.
   National programme officer of the UNFPA Noor Mohammad, local support team member M Shahdul Islam and general secretary of Barundi Nabarun Sangha Yasin Miah also spoke at the meeting.
   Representatives from different government offices and youth leaders of Sonargaon upazila also attended the programme.
   The Movement for Adolescent Health was undertaken by the DYD in Sonargaon and Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar following a decision taken in Tokyo meet in 2004.

Syed Rahadh Amin, a young banker, has been fighting for life at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka.
   Rahad is attacked with blood cancer and now undergoing treatment under Dr Monjur Morshed of the haematology department at the BSMMU.
   He needs about Tk 50 lakh for his better treatment including chemotherapy, Dr Monjur said.
   The affluent have been requested to send financial help to the account No 34036521, KC Dey Road Branch, Sonali Bank, or contact 01817706026, 01815501316.

Professor Md Muinuddin Khan has been appointed as vice-chancellor of the ASA University Bangladesh for four-year term.
   A former adviser to the caretaker government, Professor Khan was the dean of the business studies faculty of the university from 1995 to 1997.
   He served as chairman of the accounting and information systems department of the university for two terms. He was also the chairman of the Bureau of Business Research for several terms. Professor Khan is the author of a book titled Advanced Accounting.

Annual seminar of JU arts faculty held
The annual seminar of the Arts and Humanities Faculty of Jahangirnagar University was held at the university on Wednesday, says a press release. The JU vice-chancellor, Khandaker Mustahidur Rahman, inaugurated the seminar as the chief guest. The pro-vice chancellor, Enamul Huq Khan, and treasurer, Syed Abdul Hye, were present as the special guests at the seminar chaired by the dean of the faculty, Nasir Uddin. Thirty teachers of different departments of the faculty presented their research papers at the seminar in six sessions.
— BSS

Forged notes seized in Khulna, three held
Rapid Action Battalion arrested three persons in possession of counterfeit notes of Tk 23,300 at a club in Khailshpur in the Khulna city Tuesday night. Tipped off, a team of RAB-6 raided Durber Sangha Club at about 11:00pm and arrested Bashir, Ruhul Amin and Yunus Hasan along with forged notes of Tk 500 and Tk 100 denominations amounting to Tk 23,300. After interrogation, they were handed over to the Khailshpur police Wednesday morning.
— UNB