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Dhaka University cultural competition 2007 featuring acting, music, storytelling, extempore speech and poetry recitation began at the Teacher-Student Centre Auditorium on Friday.
   Vice chancellor of the university, Professor SMA Faiz, inaugurated the event as chief guest at 11:00am while pro vice-chancellor, Professor Yousuf Haider, treasurer, Professor Abul Kalam Azad were present as special guests. The event was chaired by Professor AHM Mostafizur Rahman, advisor of TSC.
   ‘Inaugurating the event, Faiz said, ‘Besides the students’ regular curriculum, they can develop skills in the various cultural fields. I thank TSC authority for organising such programmes’.
   The competition was divided into two phases, selection round and the final round. A total of 694 students, grouped into twelve categories, performed in the selection round, organised by the TSC.
   ‘About two hundreds of contestants will be selected to compete in the final round’, said the organiser.
   The jury comprising Enayet A Mowla Zinnah, Fahim Hossain Chowdhury and Professor Mridul Kanti Chakrabarti judged the contestants in the music category while SM Mohsin, Khairul Alam Sabuj, Golam Sarwar and Rupa Chakrabarti adjudged the participants in the acting and presentation categories.
   Shafi Kamal, Professor Biswajit Ghosh, Professor Vishmader Chowdhury, Professor Soumitra Shekhar and M Hamid judged the participants in the recitation, storytelling and extempore categories while Minu Haque, Anjana and Rahiza Khanam Jhunu adjudged the contestants in the dance category.
   The organiser will hold a workshop and a training session for the selected contestants. After that, the final round of the competition will be held between July 1 and July 5, said the organiser.
   Professor Mostafizur Rahman said, ‘TSC has been organising such programmes on a regular basis. The DU cultural competition is being held every two years. This competition is supposed to be organised by DUCSU. As the functions of DUCSU have been suspended for years we organise the programme’.
   To make the programme a success, Unilever Bangladesh donated a projector and a sound system.

Munier Chowdhury was one of the top modern dramatists in this Indian subcontinent. His plays paved the way to modernism in the world of Bangladeshi plays. His murder was a great loss for the literature of Bangladesh, the speakers stated at a discussion ceremony on the pioneer playwright in Bangladesh. The dramatics and film department of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy arranged a discussion on the martyred intellectual Munier Chowdhury at the academy’s Experimental Theatre Hall at Segun Bagicha on Wednesday.
   Director of the department Shafi Kamal, theatre personalities Ramendu Majumdar and Mamunur Rashid spoke at the function, which was chaired by the academy’s secretary Ashraful Mosaddek.
   Shafi Kamal said that Chowdhury’s plays are the inspiration for the playwrights of Bangladesh.
   Ramendu Majumdar said, ‘Munier Chowdhury, in his 46-year life, enriched Bangla literature writing and adapting plays. His adaptations are the gems of Bangla literature.’
   ‘His death is a great loss for our literature,’ he added.
   Reminiscing about Munier Chowdhury, Mamunur Rashid said that Chowdhury was a legendary orator and teacher. ‘Chowdhury also performed in plays,’ he added
   About Chowdhury’s plays, Rashid said that Chowdhury’s plays are milestones and still popular among the audience.
   ‘The playwright delved into the problems of society and presented them in his plays. His plays are a mirror of society and ‘Kabar’ is the brightest example of his works,’ he further said.
   The discussion was followed by the presentation of Chowdhury’s play ‘Maharaj’ and directed by Chowdhury’s son Asif Munier. Theatre group Bangaranga Natyadal staged the play for the first time.
   Khandaker Tanvir Rasul played the role of Maharaj, Nabil Ahmed as Gamir, Humaun Rashid as Farash, Muntaha Britta as Lutfa, Rajibul Mahmud as father and Shahana Jahan Siddiqa as mother of Lutfa. Among the performers, Humayun’s performance delighted the audience.
   Taufik Newas’ deserved special mention for set designing.

Top singer Elton John joined other top entertainers signing a petition calling on G8 leaders to stick to their promises to help poor countries, the Global AIDS Alliance announced Thursday.
   Indian actress-model Padma Lakshi, model Iman, singer Alicia Keys, and actresses Jessica Alba and Liv Tyler also put their names on the ‘Global Petition Calling for Real Action on AIDS and Education.’
   The document demands leaders of the G8 industrialised countries follow through with pledges for more AIDS, schooling and health-related support.
   ‘How can we break the promises we make to the world’s most vulnerable people?’ John said in a statement. ‘I am signing this petition because the G8 leaders should keep their promises, and I urge music-lovers and everyone around the world to sign it too.’
   The petition, organised by the Global AIDS Alliance, contends that commitments made at the 2005 G8 summit have not been kept.
   ‘Aid levels have actually declined. Less than half of all people in urgent need of AIDS treatment by 2010 will be receiving it, 77 million children have no access to school, and Africa alone faces a shortage of nearly 1.5 million health workers,’ it said.
   ‘Mere rhetoric from the G8 will not save lives and restore hope. We call on you, the leaders of the G8 nations, to agree on a financing plan to reach the promise of universal access to all AIDS services by 2010.
   ‘We call on you to fully support a coordinated plan to strengthen health systems. And, we call on you to provide full funding for education, to give every child the chance to go to school.’
   Leaders of the G8 countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — will meet in Germany on June 6-8.
   The petition was launched several weeks ago by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, the honorary chair of the Global AIDS Alliance.

Jackson family memorabilia brought in about half a million dollars on the first of a two-day auction at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, auctioneer Guernsey’s said Thursday. The auction, which wraps up late Thursday, displayed more than 1,100 lots, mostly costumes, documents, awards and other memorabilia.
   One of the priciest items to sell was a black, military-style coat with an ‘M’ crest that belonged to Michael Jackson. It fetched $24,000, said Guernsey’s president Arlan Ettinger.
   Several awards sold for similar amounts, including gold and platinum albums presented to the Jacksons for sales of ‘We Are the World,’ recorded by a group of artists known as USA for Africa. The set sold for $20,000.
   Universal Express Inc., a luggage company based in Boca Raton, Fla., acquired the items in March last year from New Jersey businessman Henry Vaccaro, who took possession of them in 2002 after a failed business venture wound up in bankruptcy court.
   Altomare said he wasn’t disappointed at the sales pace, even though his company bought the items for $5 million and spent more than $2 million transporting them