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Almost all the renowned government and non-government colleges in Dhaka have announced their enrolment schedules for higher secondary courses.
   The results of the secondary school certificate and equivalent examinations were published on June 12. The colleges will enrol students on the HSC courses based on the result of the secondary school certificate exams results.
   Admission seekers will need to face a tough competition for seats in renowned colleges as the number of GPA 5 achievers in the SSC and equivalent exams this year is 32,731, but renowned colleges have seats fewer than the number of GPA 5 holders.
   As per the new rule set by the education ministry, the colleges will choose older students for admission in case younger students hold equal grades.
   The policy says if the number of applicants having equal grade point average becomes higher than the number of seats available at a college, the candidates who are senior to others according to the date of birth should get preference for admission.
   Notre Dame College completed selling and submission of admission forms on June 28 and the list of qualifying students will be published on July 4.
   The Dhaka City College started selling admission forms on June 28 and continue it till July 8. Viqarunnisa Noon School will start selling admission forms on July 2.
   The Rajuk Uttara Model College started selling admission forms on June 27 and it will continue till July 5. The list of qualifying students will be published on July 9 and the college will begin classes on July 26.
   Admission process at the Government Biggyan College, Dhaka Commerce College, BAF Shaheen College, udayan Higher Secondary School, Mohammadpur Preparatory High School and South Point School and College at Gulshan also began.
   The ministry earlier decided that classes of higher secondary courses would begin on
   August 1 and the admission process would be completed by July 26.

The law adviser, Mainul Hosein, on Friday hoped that members of the Bangladesh Scouts would play vital role in establishing peace and friendship in the South Asian region through the scout movement.
   Referring to last 14th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, he highlighted the decision of the regional leaders for identifying exchange of visitors among the member states as the key to establishing understanding within the bloc.
   He said this while inaugurating as chief guest ‘Jamboree of the Train’ of the Bangladesh Scouts at Kamlapur Railway Station in Dhaka. President of the Bangladesh Scouts Dr Shah Mohammad Farid chaired the function.
   Communications secretary Dr Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman and Belayet Hossain, director general of Bangladesh Railway, and Md Mahbub-uz-zaman, adviser of the Bangladesh Scouts, spoke on the occasion while chief national commissioner of the Bangladesh Scouts Mohammad Fazlur Rahman delivered his welcome address.
   The SAARC leaders recognised the importance of inter-regional tourism, especially the exchange of youths within the region, which was a correct direction, the adviser said.
   During the past few SAARC summits, emphasis was given on simplifying the movement of people within the SAARC
   countries for boosting regi-onal understanding, Mainul added.
   ‘The members of scouts, in future, would reach Afghanistan, the new member state of SAARC by the friendship train,’ the adviser expected welcoming the scouts of SAARC states who are participating in the jamboree.
   The adviser said the jamboree on train programme would inspire passengers to travel by train and the social welfare activities and principals of scouts would influence the people nearby jamboree routes.
   Besides, it would help achieve the goal of the programme “Thrill, Knowledge and Friendship”,’ the adviser said.
   The five-day Jamboree on train of the Bangladesh Scouts started from Chittagong on Thursday.
   A total of 3000 scouts and officials under 11 zones of the Bangladesh Scouts are participating at the jamboree on train for the first time in Bangladesh to mark the 100 years of scouting movement across the globe.
   The Bangladesh Scouts, like other parts of the world, has undertaken various programmes to mark the event.
   As part of the programme, the Bangladesh Scouts jamboree will travel 800 kilometers from Chittagong to Dinajpur. Scouts from India and Nepal are participating in the jamboree.
   The programme also includes various educative and recreation activities so that scouts could acquire practical knowledge on different issue besides train journey.

The DANIDA official abducted on Monday along with his chauffer from a remote tribal hamlet under Thanchi upazila of Bandarban was not rescued till Friday despite five days of frantic search by the army-led joint forces.
   The forces on Thursday found the abducted driver, Mohammad Hanif, blindfolded and unconscious at Aung Sue Prue Karbaripara, 19 kilometres off Thanchi upazila headquarters and held three persons for their alleged involvement in the abduction.
   Police sources said 12 other people were also picked up and being quizzed.
   They said the forces found Mohammad Hanif and detained the three hill men based on confessional statement of Ching Hla Thoai, picked up from Aung Sue Prue Karbaripara.
   Interrogators have extracted many details of the abduction from the detainees and so the DANIDA official will be rescued very soon, said the Bandarban superintendent of police, Abdul Quadir.
   Around 400 army and BDR troops are combing Remakree, Baro Modak, Chotto Modak, and Youngrai areas under Thanchi and Baklai under Ruma upazila in search of the kidnapped DANIDA field coordinator, Hussain Sharif Sumon.
   The rescue operation led by the BDR Balipara zone battalion commander, Lt Col Muazzem Hussain, is using helicopter to drop troops in inaccessible areas, BDR sources said.
   Representatives from the Danish embassy in Dhaka have held meetings with high army officials, district and police administrations, and the Bandarbun Hill District Council chairman to know the latest developments in the rescue operation.
   The abduction was pre-planned, said independent sources. NGOs working in the hill districts have been fleecing the donors in the name of development of the indigenous people, they said.
   A band carrying modern and sophisticated firearms kidnapped the two DANIDA staffers when they were holding a coordination meeting with partner NGOs at remote Khiburipara village.
   Earlier, on February 16, 2001, three engineers, one from the UK and two from Denmark, were abducted from a road construction site at Guniapara under Naniarchor upazila of Rangamati. They were released one month later on March 16.

The economic and social council of the UN has selected Bangladesh and Cambodia, as models of poverty alleviation policies, to present their success stories at its ministerial-level meeting in Geneva on July 2-5.
   ‘We will present to ECOSOC ministers in Geneva a detailed report as to how we are well on track on the way towards achieving the UN set 1st MDG of poverty alleviation, through a mix of political stability, social awareness and sound policies,’ said Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, foreign adviser, while speaking to the media.
   The adviser will lead the Bangladesh delegation to this high-level meeting of ECOSOC ministers. He will leave Dhaka on June 30 (Saturday) for a five-day visit to Geneva for this purpose. The team will include Dr Hamidur Rashid, director (UN) at the foreign ministry.
   The ministry of foreign affairs, with the support from all relevant ministries and the UN country team in Dhaka, has produced a 111-page report, entitled ‘Meeting the Challenge: A Mid-term Review of Achieving MDG-1 in Bangladesh’.
   This report will be formally presented by the foreign minister at the first annual ministerial review meeting of MDG-1 that will commence on July 2 and conclude on July 5.
   The first millennium development goal is to reduce poverty and hunger by half by 2015 for Bangladesh with the aim to reduce the poverty headcount rate from the level of 58.8 per cent in 1991 to 29.4 per cent in 2015. Already the rate has declined to 40 per cent.
    ‘Our is an achievement that has been much acclaimed. We would like to explain to the international community how we came about to achieve it and what kind of support would be required to fully meet all other development goals,’ the adviser added.
   Other developing countries that would make similar presentations are Barbados from America and Cape Verde, Ethopia and Ghana from Africa. This key ECOSOC meeting will be inaugurated by the secretary general of the UN Ban Ki Moon.

Former Awami League lawmaker Talukdar Abdul Khaleq and seven others arrested along with him Thursday night were sent to jail on a court order Friday afternoon.
   The police arrested Khaleq, also Khulna city AL president, and his seven associates at a house on Gagan Babu Road in the city Thursday night when they were allegedly gambling. The police seized four sets of playing cards and Tk 22,500 in cash from their possession.
   The seven other arrested persons are—Md Liakat, Mokbul Hossain, Zahangir Alam, SM Aziz, Md Nurul Islam, HM Mostafa and Abdul Malek.
   Kotwali police said sub-inspector Bikash Chandra Shil lodged a case against the arrested persons under section 3/4 of gambling act of 1967 and produced them in the court of metropolitan magistrate Shefina Begum Friday noon.
   The court ordered them to be sent to jail after rejecting their bail petitions. The next hearing of the case was posted for July 1.

The 152nd anniversary of Santal Rebellion, popularly known as Santal Hul, will be observed today commemorating the courageous revolt against the British Raj in North Bengal.
   June is a month for the Santals and other ethnic minority communities living in the country’s northern region to reminisce their heroic struggles against repressions of feudal lords and colonial rulers. Siblings Sidhu and Kanu led the historic uprising of the ethnic minorities and working-class people.
   The Bangladesh Adivasi Adhikar Andolan will hold a number of programmes on the occasion.
   Sudhir Majhi, a noted Adivasi freedom fighter, will inaugurate the day’s main programme at the National Museum in Dhaka, where 10 Adivasi freedom fighters will be accorded reception and awarded with the Sidhu-Kanu Award.
   A discussion on the struggles for liberty by the ethnic minorities since the mid-1860s will also be held at the same place, the Andolan leaders told a media briefing on Wednesday.
   Through the anniversary programmes, the Andolan aims at creating mass awareness on the rights of ethnic minorities who ‘are passing their days under severe repression’.
   About 3 million people of more than 45 ethnic minority communities live in the country and most of them are deprived of the minimum human and civic rights, including right to land, the Andolan leaders said.
   They demanded constitutional recognition of Adivasis, their right of education in own languages, full implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, and review of the existing laws as per the declarations and covenants of the UN and other global bodies.
   Besides, they urged the government to undertake a separate census of ethnic minorities, ensure their representation in all policymaking bodies, activate the CHT land commission and form another commission for adivasis in plane land to resolve disputes over their land.

Three top executives of Dom Ino Real Estate, including its managing director, were taken on one-day police remand on Friday.
   They were sued in case filed with Motijheel police on Thursday on charges of forging RAJUK certificates for land development and construction works.
   Sub-inspector Akhter Hossain produced engineer Abdus Salam Talukdar, managing director of Dom Ino Real State and its two directors Abdul Matin and Mahmud Hasan before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court seeking remand for five days.
   Magistrate Shamsul Alam granted one-day remand.
   Officer-in-charge of Motijheel police station Rezaul Huq told New Age that the joint forces arrested them from RAJUK office on Thursday and handed them over to Motijheel police station.
   ‘They were arrested on charge of developing lands and constructing structures with forged certificates from RAJUK,’ he said.
   SAM Fazlul Kabir, an officer of Rajdhani Unnayan Katripkkha, filed the case against the trio under sections 3 and 12 of the Building Construction Act 1952 and 467/468/471 of the Penal Code, he added.

The police in Rajshahi arrested a Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh operative at Baghmara on Friday.
   The arrested is Jahangir Alam, 22, a resident of Kachari Koalipara at Bagmara. The police said they had arrested Jahangir at his house at around 5.00am.
   Jahangir is an accused in the case of torture on one Fazlur Rahman, who later became disabled, filed with the police.

Bangladesh Jatiya Party leader MM Amin Uddin gave a confessional statement Thursday night to the Criminal Investigation Department of police.
   The ex-lawmaker for Jessore-4 constituency was then sent to the Jessore Central Jail as per a court order.
   The CID arrested Amin on Sunday night for his alleged involvement in the killing of Akram Ali Mollah, a doctor who was in-charge of Abhaynagar Upazila Health Complex. Akram was gunned down on the night of
   August 13 last year while on his way back from his private chamber at Nawapara river port.
   The CID produced him before a magistrate court on Monday in Jessore with a prayer to remand him in CID custody for 10 days. But, the court granted a 3-day remand, which expired on Thursday.

A Rajshahi University syndicate meeting on Thursday night expelled eight students and suspended a staff of the RU social work department for their involvement in admission forgery.
   The eight expelled freshmen are Abdullah Al-Mamun, Sanzida Naima, Faisal Ali, Ujjal Kumar, Rakibul Islam, Shah Newaz Shathil, Amir Sohel, Shapla Rani.
   The syndicate issued a notice to Masud Rana, a clerk of the department, asking to show reasons as soon as possible why he should not be sacked, RU sources said.
   The meeting also directed the RU discipline committee to take actions against some other students of the department and student leaders for their involvement in the admission forgery as found in a probe, said a syndicate member.
   A five-member probe committee, headed by Prof Khalequzzman of zoology department, investigated into the allegations of admission forgery at the social work department. The committee submitted its report on June 1 to the RU vice-chancellor after a two-month probe.
   VC Altaf Hossain said the university authorities reviewed the probe committee report and took the right disciplinary actions against the staff and students involved in the forgery.
   Sources said Masud made deals with the eight students, who had failed to qualify in the admission test for the 2006-07 academic year, to get them enrolled in the undergraduate course in social work in exchange of Tk 2 lakh.
   Several hundred students of the department on May 20 staged a demonstration on the university campus against irregular admissions of the eight expelled students. They also demanded punishment of Masud for masterminding the crime.

Patients fewer than usual took admission to BIRDEM Hospital Friday with a looming threat of an indefinite strike by doctors from Sunday.
   About 300 doctors of the hospital appointed on contract clamped a four-day strike since Monday, demanding job extensions or permanent contracts, throwing healthcare service into disarray.
   They called off the strike Thursday only after a meeting with hospital authorities.
   Only five patients got admitted till 3:00pm Friday, an official at the hospital’s inquiry said, adding over 200 beds of the hospital were empty.
   Up to 25 patients are usually admitted on the weekend and 65 on six weekdays, he said.
   The doctors had threatened an indefinite strike from July 1 if their demands were not met at the June 30 national conference of the Bangladesh Diabetic Association. Some 350 medical officers, assistant registrars, registrars and specialists of the hospital’s inpatient division have been on contract with BIRDEM.
   They have seen their contracts renewed every three years since 1996, but the authorities recently decided not to go for an extension, sparking off the protest.
   Dr Nazmul Islam, one of the demonstrating doctors, said situation at the hospital was normal. He put the fewer patients down to confusion about the strike.
   The doctors Thursday had a meeting with the authorities at the hospital auditorium. Director of clinical service Professor Nazmun Nahar and other senior staffers asked the doctors to suspend the strike until June 30 when their case would be considered.
   The hospital authorities later said they were unable to make a final decision as the Bangladesh Diabetic Association president, Professor AK Azad, was abroad.

Five inmates of the Tongi Juvenile Correction Centre escaped at the small hours on Friday.
   Jashim, 18, from Chandpur, Mamun, 14, from Brahmanbaria, Akkas, 15, from Dokshin Khan, Dhaka, Rubel, 14, from Shreepur, Gazipur, and Hamid Khan, 16, from Savar, Dhaka escaped from the centre in Tongi College Gate area by breaking a ventilator of a first-floor toilet of their dormitory, sources said.
   The Tongi police nabbed Hamid at his Savar house later in the day, said Abdus Salam, office-in-charge of Tongi police station.

Fishes that are cultivated in poisonous lagoon water could be released in river or sweet water for purification instead of killing them in these days of huge scarcity of fish, said a fisheries expert on Friday.
   ‘Proper management is necessary to do this. But the question is who will do it,’ said Professor Mohammad Shafi, founder chairman of fisheries department at Dhaka University.
   He said if the contaminated fishes would live in river water or sweet water for one year, they would be purified and become eatable.
   ‘As far as I know, the ministry concerned has no such plan to save the contaminated fishes,’ Dr Shafi said, adding that such a step would not be difficult as transportation has now become easier.
   ‘All sorts of poisonous chemicals will go out from the tissues of contaminated fishes if they live one year in river or sweet water,’ he said.
   Dr Shafi, however, admitted that there was risk of diseases if the fishes were eaten before they could live one year in river or sweet water to get purified. Authorities concerned will have to ensure this, he said.
   It was only on Thursday that tonnes of fishes cultivated in two lagoons of Dhaka WASA were killed at Pagla in Narayanganj by spreading poison over them. It has been reported that several hundred tonnes of fishes are still under cultivation in 14 of the 16 lagoons in the area.
   ‘Why such huge quantity of fishes are being killed? Government can devise a plan to save those fishes and make them eatable,’ said a buyer after reading a newspaper report on the killing of contaminated lagoon fishes.
   He said, ‘We are facing fish crisis. Those fishes can be saved instead of killing them by spreading poisons… if contaminated, steps should be taken to purify the fishes.’
   According to a report (2000-2001) of the Fisheries Resources Service System, the annual fish demand of Bangladesh was 2.3 million tonnes in 2001 whereas the total production was 1.78 million tonnes.

A cruel husband hurled acid on her wife in the city early Friday in a reminder that the scourge still remains despite enactment of tough law.
   Her minor girl was not even spared when Amir Hossain poured acid on his wife, Rina Begum, in Babupura slum at Nilkhet area over a trifling family feud, police said.
   Both Rina and her six years’ old daughter Irin were asleep then. They were admitted to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   A case was filed with Newmarket police station, but Amir went into hiding just after the incident.

Army personnel arrested 11 nationals of Myanmar from Sualak Bazar under sadar upazila in Bandarban Friday morning.
   Army sources said an army patrol team arrested them while they were holding a meeting at a passenger shade. They later, handed them over to the local police.
   The arrested are Ismail Hossain, M Monir Ahmed, Abul Hossain, Sona Ali, Jalil, Mohammed Alam, Nezamudin, Mohammed Ismail, Abdul Monaf, Abdur Rashid and Baru.
   The arrested were sent to jail Friday afternoon following a court order.
   The arrested, during interrogation, told the police that they have intruded into Bangladesh from Myanmar through the Tekenaf border few days ago in search of work.
   A case was filed against them.

A grocer was stabbed to death when he was asleep inside his shop Thursday night.
   The deceased is Mahbubur Rahman Nantu, 22, who owned a shop at Afalkati Mollarhut Bazar at Bakerganj in Barisal.
   Neighbours sent him injured to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barisal in a critical condition where he died in the morning.
   The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem examination. A murder case was filed with the Bakerganj police in this connection by Abul Hossaiin, the victim’s father.

The joint forces in Pirojpur arrested Thursday afternoon LGED assistant engineer Sheikh Mizanur Rahman at his office in possession of Tk 35,000 given to him in bribe.
   Based on his statement, the forces later seized Tk 3.15 lakh from his house at Kawkhali in the district. He was handed over to the police after a primary interrogation in the joint forces camp Thursday night.
   A case was filed with the police in this connection.

A mob killed Thursday night two ultra-left party operatives at Sayeedpur under Sujanagar in Pabna..
   The deceased were Laskar Mondal, 29, of Dariakalyanpur under Sujanagar and Hiter Sabuj, 27, of Pangsha in Rajbari. Both of them were activists of the Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Lal Pataka).
   The police and local residents said a gang of six demanded extortion money from Saidur Rahman at Sayeedpur at around 8:30pm at night. The villages encircled Saidur’s house and captured two of the gang members. The villages started beating the two and at one point they died.
   The villagers found a sawn-off rifle and five bullets from the gang members.
   The Sujanagar police sent the bodies to Pabna General Hospital for post-mortem examinations and seized the rifle and the bullets.

Export-import activities at Benapole land port remained suspended for the second consecutive day on Friday as workers’ association in Indian side got busy with political programme and stayed away from work.
   Port sources said no loading and unloading work took place across the border as the association, supported by CPM, started a two-day annual conference Thursday.
   The country’s largest land port remained almost idle for two days as it handles mainly imports from India.
   However, nine trucks loaded with hilsa, a major Bangladeshi export item, entered into India in the morning, officials said.