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The outbreak of skin diseases and diarrhoea has turned acute at many places, including Patharghata in Barguna and Mathbaria in Pirojpur, resulting from shortage of safe drinking water and food in Sidr-hit areas.
   The government has, meanwhile, set up a logistic base in Barisal to coordinate all local and foreign relief and rehabilitation efforts.
   Cyclone Sidr struck the southern districts on November 15, killing more than 4,000 and affecting about 55 lakh people.
   BRAC’s medical teams working in the two upazilas said the diseases had broken out as there were only a few tube wells in the areas and people were still using pond water polluted by corpses and rotten tree trunks.
   Sources said there had been demonstrations in some places, including Dumki in Patuakhali, demanding proper distribution of relief goods amid allegations that goods were being distributed in places along roads where vehicles could enter.
   ‘People are going without drinking water and food in some places such as Amtali, about 35km off the main road near the river in Barguna,’ said a volunteer who visited the areas.
   Similar shortage of drinking water and food also persists in some char areas in Patuakhali, the relief teams said.
   A special meeting of the interim cabinet, presided over by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, was on Saturday informed of the latest situation of the affected areas and the relief and rehabilitation efforts of the government.
   The issue of the supply of drinking water to the hard-to-reach areas was discussed at the meeting. The meeting was informed that the US navy ship, USS Kearsarge which reached the outer anchorage, carries a water desalinating plant which can purify 10,000 litres of water an hour.
   The meeting was told that a generator was sent to Patharghata and three more were being sent to run pumps to extract drinking water.
   Six hundred and forty medical teams have been engaged in the affected areas to provide medical services and to take measures against waterborne diseases, the meeting was told.
   Fakhruddin discussed the possibilities of providing micro-credits for fishermen and small traders to help them to earn their living.
   The meeting approved a proposal for spending from the Tk 90-crore revenue fund of the education ministry on repairing damaged educational institutions.
   It also suggested that a feasibility study should be carried out on the conversion of three to four schools of an area into a single school.
   The meeting also asked the authorities not to stop survivors from using trees uprooted by the cyclone in rebuilding houses.
   The formation of a high-level technical committee on the reconstruction of old embankments was discussed, suggesting that the Economic Relations Division should take up the matter with development partners.

A man was killed and more than 300 people were injured Saturday afternoon when a part of a bridge collapsed under the load of several thousand relief seekers at Chakamoiya crossing in Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali district.
   A number of people have remained missing since the accident, locals said.
   Abdul Khalil, 45, died as a 50-foot-long section of the 700-foot bridge caved in and fell about 100 feet below into the River Aarpangashia as soon as the relief distribution began, witnesses said.
   Of the injured, 53 were admitted to Kalapara Upazila Health Complex. Of them, critically wounded 18 were later shifted to Barisal Medical College Hospital, said Humayun Kabir, a medical assistant at the health complex, where around 250 people received first aid.
   The police and witnesses said several thousand cyclone-affected people of Kalapara and the adjoining areas gathered on the bridge to receive relief items brought by a truck of Scan Cement.
   The police seized the truck, which had fled the scene after the accident, with seven Scan Cement employees in Patuakhali district headquarters in the evening.
   Locals said the relief distribution programme was organised by Mojibur Fakir, chairman of Chakamoiya Union Parishad.
   Although the local upazila nirbahi officer had claimed on Friday that there was no lack of coordination between relief activities, a local resident, Abul Khair, alleged the relief distribution programme at Chakamoiya was organised without the knowledge of the local administration.
   A survivor of the accident, Abul Kalam Azad, said none of the several thousand people gathered on the bridge received any relief item.
   Witnesses said a contingent of police and a military pick-up arrived at the spot half an hour after the collapse to carry the injured to hospital.
   Fifteen minutes later, a fire brigade vehicle arrived at the place from Amtali, nearly 14 kilometres from Kalapara, but could not begin rescue operations immediately.
   Most of the injured, soaked in blood and mud, lay
   on the ground at the upazila health complex as all the beds were occupied, family sources said.
   Locals said the tidal surge caused by cyclone Sidr might have weakened the pillars of the bridge built in 1994, causing the accident.

The United Nations has called on the government to immediately work out plans for road and infrastructure reconstruction in Sidr-hit areas before the monsoon in addition to safety net supports and income generation schemes.
   The world body in an assessment report recommended that sufficient human and material resources should be dedicated to relief operations in which the government should ensure a well-concerted, efficient, effective, and timely response.
   Four agencies of the United Nations prepared the report, The United Nations Rapid Initial Assessment Report with a Focus on Nine Worst-Affected Districts, which has found 47 lakh people affected in the cyclone.
   Some 26 lakh in the poorest of the poor category are in need of immediate life and livelihood aid assistance, said the report submitted to the government on Thursday.
   The report stressed the need for immediate recovery and rehabilitation efforts and the continuation of such efforts for a minimum of two to three months, and even for a longer period in the worst-hit areas.
   The UN agencies increased its central emergency response fund allocation to $14.7 million for Bangladesh cyclone victims, brining the total UN response to about $35 million.
   The Dhaka office of the United Nations on Saturday iterated that the amount of assistance for the cyclone victims would continue to rise over a few weeks.
   ‘This funding will enable the UN system to provide drinking water equipment for communities at risk from waterborne illness and other vital assistance,’ said Renata Lok Dessallien, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh.
   The UN assessment mission weighing up the devastation of the November 15 cyclone that wrecked the southern districts has 13 members of the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF, World Food Programme and the World Health Organisation.
   The visited the severely affected upazilas in Barguna, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Jhalakati and Barisal in four groups.
   The teams carried out the assessment during November 18–20 and it was submitted to the food and disaster management ministry on November 22.
   The report said the damage to livelihoods was large and the fisheries and agricultural sectors would need strong support in particular.
   The United Nations suggested expansion of safety nets for relief activities and an early start of public work schemes to generate employment and household income for early recovery.
   ‘Early recovery, longer-term recovery, and rehabilitation should incorporate a strong element of sound planning with an emphasis on reducing the risks of future disasters,’ the report said.
   The report said some 22 lakh were in need of food assistance, in terms of dry food for the first one to two weeks, and then rice, and finally a more complete food aid basket with pulses and cooking oil for two to three months.
   It said some 14 lakh people were in need of urgent shelter assistance. Many houses were completely destroyed and an even larger number were partially damaged.
   ‘Non-food items such as clothing and blankets are also needed. Approximately 12 lakh people are in need of clothing,’ the UN assessment report said.
   The UN teams assessed that some 13 lakh people were in need of urgent sanitation assistance and some 12 lakh people in need of immediate drinking water supplies and the needs are substantial.
   The report said treatment facilities needed to be quickly repaired and the restoration of power supply in support of medical services was particularly important. About 523,000 people in the worst-hit districts were in need of urgent medicine, medical supplies, or supporting medical services.
   The UN mission assessed that the number of people affected in Barisal is 11,55,325, in Bhola 1,60,000, in Patuakhali 9,35,187, in Barguna 5,14,556, in Jhalakati 5,17,900, in Pirojpur 9,32,159, in Bagerhat 3,45,000, in Khulna 94,000 and in Satkhira 47,500.
   The UN report, in conclusion, suggested more in-depth assessment for a ‘more accurate understanding’ of the needs and planning.
   Development partners, UN agencies and international NGOs at a meeting at the UN Palace of Nations on Friday, meanwhile, praised the disaster preparedness and response of Bangladesh in the aftermath of the cyclone.
   After pledging the emergency aid, they asked for a national plan to channel rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance in future, said a release of the Bangladesh mission in Geneva.
   The meeting was convened by the Geneva branch of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The Geneva branch director of the office Kasidis Rochanalorn, chaired the meeting.
   The permanent representative in Geneva of Bangladesh, Debapriya Bhattacharya, made a presentation on the situation in Bangladesh.
   The UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, Renata Lok Dessallien, joined the meeting through audioconferencing.
   Debapriya said Bangladesh has an effective early warning system which was instrumental in saving the lives and reducing destruction.
   He gave an account of the devastation and the steps taken by the government to facilitate international delivery of relief materials.
   Some delegates expressed their concern about inadequate distribution of relief materials in inaccessible areas, intrusion of salinity in water sources, children who have lost their parents and loss of productive assets, including livestock and standing crops.
   They stressed the need for a long-term strategy to address the issues of livelihood and further reduce the risks of natural disasters.
   Renata Lok Dessallien gave an on-the-ground assessment.

The interim cabinet on Saturday decided to ask non-governmental organisations not to pressure cyclone victims to repay instalments of loans right now.
   The government also set up a coordination office in Barisal to gear up relief and rehabilitation efforts in the cyclone-hit coastal districts.
   ‘We had a discussion on the matter that some NGOs are asking cyclone survivors to repay loans they borrowed earlier. The NGOs concerned will be asked not to pressure the survivors now to pay back the instalments as they have lost everything,’ an adviser told New Age after a special meeting of the council of advisers at the Chief Adviser’s Office.
   Chaired by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, the meeting to review relief and rehabilitation efforts was also attended by the Armed Forces Division principal staff officer, Lieutenant General Masud Uddin Chowdhury, and the secretaries concerned.
   The meeting discussed the acute crisis of drinking water in the worst-hit areas and asked the authorities to work out a specific plan to address the situation. The chief adviser asked the meeting to ensure proper distribution of relief materials in a more coordinated way.
   The government on the day set up a coordination office in Barisal to gear up relief and rehabilitation efforts in the cyclone-hit south on media reports that many affected areas were still in need of food and medicare after Sidr had hit the coasts on November 15 in which more than 4,000 people were killed and about 55 lakh people in 30 districts were affected.
   A central coordination cell has been set up at the food and disaster management ministry with a joint secretary as its coordinator.
   The interim cabinet also decided to bring the fishermen of the coastal bet, apart from the farmers, under the micro-credit coverage. The authorities concerned have been asked to work out the mode of operation in this regard.
   ‘The council of advisers has discussed how relief and rehabilitation activities could be improved through a better coordination. The coordination office, led by the communications adviser, MA Matin, has been set up to expedite relief efforts in affected districts,’ the chief adviser’s spokesman Syed Fahim Munaim told reporters after the meeting.
   He said the government was taking into consideration the media reports on the Sidr-hit southern districts to further strengthen relief operations.
   The general officer commanding and the divisional commissioner of Barisal will also assist the adviser in the coordination efforts, he said, adding Matin would be staying in Barisal for the purpose.
   A total of 25,80,000 people in the Sidr-hit areas would be provided with food grains for four months under the vulnerable group feeding programme from December, Fahim said.
   Asked how long the US ships which arrived in Bangladesh in aid of relief operation would stay, he said the government had not made any agreement to this effect.
   It has been reported that many cyclone victims in remote areas were still living under the open sky without food and drinking water for lack of coordination among the authorities concerned in relief operation.
   The meeting decided to send medical students to the affected areas as the victims suffering minor injuries need immediate treatment.
   Now 690 medical teams are working in the affected districts. It also decided to form a high-level technical committee to prepare a comprehensive proposal for the repair and construction of embankments in the coastal areas.
   The meeting was told that power supply would be restored to all affected areas but Sharankhola and Patharghata by November 30.
   A generator has been sent to Patharghata to ensure power supply. A desalination plant is being installed to provide drinking water in the worst-hit areas.
   The cabinet meeting also decided to construct more cyclone shelters in the coastal belt and simplify the disaster warning system to cope with natural calamities.

Mofayedul’s aman field was ravaged twice by flooding. Undaunted, he managed seedlings at a high price and planted aman for the third time. He made every effort for an optimum production. Yet, like thousands of fellow farmers in the north, he cannot help feeling dejected at the sight of the sickly plants standing precariously in the field.
   ‘I am shattered by the sight,’ Mofayedul, a young share-cropper of Saptabari union in Lalmonirhat, told New Age last week, standing beside the paddy field at Purbashalmara village. ‘I will not get even half of what I was hoping for.’
   Mofayedul, who planted aman on about 1-bigha land, said he spent Tk 2,000 on the field, from which he would not get even two maund rice (1 maund equals 37.33kg). Last year from the same land he harvested around 10 maund rice.
   As per the contact with the landowner, he will have to give him half of the harvest. ‘How am I going to maintain my 3-member family with my share of the crop,’ he wondered, referring to the spiralling prices of essential goods. His only hope now is a good boro harvest, which may still see him through the hard times ahead.
   Like Mofayedul, thousands of farmers, especially the sharecroppers and the landless, in the northern region are in dire straits due to the damage to aman as the use the proceeds from aman harvest for cultivating the winter crops and vegetables.
   Visiting several districts and talking to dozens of farmers, New Age found how badly aman had been affected by the twin floods and lack of rainfall, with the production shortfall estimated at 50 per cent in most of the northern districts, except Dinajpur.
   In many fields, plants have little or no rice in the ears. The situation is such that, instead of harvesting the crop, many farmers are using the paddy to feed their cattle.
   A cross-section of people expressed the fear of a severe scarcity of food in the region due to the shortfall in aman production.
   ‘The production is highly frustrating for farmers like us,’ said Maleka of Purbashalmara, who grew aman on 3 bigha land. But the yield was only half of the usual.
   She does not know the reason for the poor production as she made every effort, watering the field regularly and using fertilisers, despite their scarcity. ‘Although I am poor, I never thought about the cost. I just borrowed money from people to ensure a good harvest,’ Maleka said, pointing to her sickly-looking paddy field.
   Her neighbour Monir looked even more melancholic. He did not cultivate winter crops and vegetable as the aman production looked blighted.
   ‘What I will get this year will not cover my investment,’ said the man who spent Tk 2,400 per bigha for aman cultivation. He believes the production has been hampered by inadequate rainfall.
   Aman production in the neighbouring Kurigram and Nilphamari districts is similarly disappointing. ‘I will not harvest the paddy as there is no grain in the ears but only husks,’ said a farmer in Noonkhawa union of Kurigram.
   Farmers said, although aman in most of the cropland in the district had been spoiled twice by floods, they cultivated aman again. But only a few of them are happy with the output. Many blamed attack of pests for the poor yield.
   Aman is called a surplus paddy, which farmers cultivate with little efforts and investment. They just plant seedlings and wait for the rainfall to do the rest. But this year the story is different due to the floods and lack of rain.
   ‘But aman is as important as boro as it not only feeds us but also provides us with the money for growing vegetables,’ said a farmer of Chilmari upazila in Kurigram.
   After meeting the family needs, farmers sell the rest of the harvest and spend the money for boro cultivation, which requires quite a large sum, he said.
   The majority of the farmers in the north are landless and live on share-cropping. They are facing increasing hardships due to frequent natural disasters, like flooding and draught, as well as price spiral of agricultural inputs like fertilisers, seedlings, and irrigation fuel. The cultivation of winter crops and vegetables is also being hampered for not getting fertilisers in time, farmers said.
   Most of the farmers in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Nilphamari borrow money from banks, non-governmental organisations and usurers at high interest rates to bear the farming costs.
   ‘Last year I sold 60 maund rice after meeting my family’s need. But this year the harvest will be barely enough to meet my family’s need,’ said another farmer in Chilmari while preparing his field for planting potato.
   He said he was hoping to recover his loss from aman cultivation with potato and boro harvests.

A fire razed the Balur Math Slum at Rayer Bazar in the capital Saturday night, killing eight people — three children, two women and three elderly men — and gutting more than 1,000 shanties that left about 5,000 people homeless.
   Slum dwellers said the 90-minute blaze, spotted shortly before 8:30pm, originated from an earthen oven at a shanty on the south side of the slum.
   A sudden wind spread the fire fast across the slum, with raging flames engulfing the stuffy sheds within a few minutes.
   The death toll was high as the only exit of the enclosure of shanties was two narrow to allow the slum dwellers trapped inside to escape in large numbers at a time, witnesses said.
   Twelve fire engines from different fire stations in the city rushed to the scene and doused the blaze at around 10:00pm.
   The additional director of fire brigade, Selim Newaz Bhuyan, told New Age that the death toll might rise as the firemen were still removing the wreckage. ‘We are lucky to have a water body nearby. Otherwise it could have been worse,’ he said.
   The bodies were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for post-mortem.

Small traders and labourers in the cyclone-stricken southern districts and coastal areas are yet to return to their work places even nine days after Sidr devastated their homes.
   According to traders in the afflicted areas, Sidr flattened their residences and business establishments and left many of them virtually penniless. Besides, because of capital shortage they cannot resume their business activities. They said they need soft-term loans to start trading, and expressed doubt about their and their families’ survival if they do not get capital from any source.
   They are yet to rebuild their homes for want of money, and so are busy making temporary shelters on roadsides with coconut palm leaves as roofs, and torn clothes, mats and plastic sheets as walls.
   Santosh Chandra Sadhak, 28, son of Mukunda Chandra Sadhak of Kadamtala village under Sharankhola upazila in Bagerhat district, works as a tailor in nearby Rayenda bazaar, but could not go back to his workshop after the cyclone hit the area.
   ‘I lost my two houses, all my cattle and even kitchen utensils in the cyclone, and have just made a thatched hut by the side of Sharankhola-Tafalbari road at Kadamtala,’ he told New Age. ‘I have also lost my small shop in the bazaar, so I don’t know how my family will survive.’
   Md Yusuf Ali, 26, a small trader at Tafalbari bazaar under Sharankhola upazila in Bagerhat district had a small shop that was blown away by Sidr.
   He used to sell various confectionary goods, cheap cosmetics, cigarettes and betel leafs, but his stocked goods were also blown away by the cyclone.
   ‘I had to spend whatever little money I had to buy food, and also polythene and rope to make my shelter, so I have no capital left to resume my business,’ said Yusuf.
   Monwara Begum, 55, wife of late Yakub Choukidar, lives in Chila bazaar with her 13-year-old granddaughter, Selina, in a mud hut, and used to sell rice and curry every Sunday, the one day in the week when the bazaar was held, for the past 12 years to keep body and soul together.
   ‘The cyclone totally destroyed my residence-cum-shop, and I have no shelter and no money to do business.
   I and my granddaughter are totally helpless. We don’t know how we will survive,’ said Monwara.
   Aminur Islam, 29, son of Mokhles Farazi of Tafalbari village under Sharankhola upazila, said he used to sell different kinds of nets in the local markets.
   He lost his son, sister and two nieces, his hut, a boat and nets worth Tk 1,50,000 that he had kept for sale.
   ‘I have no capital, no shelter and no food. I live under the open sky in this cold weather with my wife and mother beside the Tafalbari embankment.
   I can’t uy food now and it is not possible to resume my business. I don’t know what to do,’ he said helplessly.

Militants struck at the heart of Pakistan’s security establishment Saturday, killing up to 35 people in suicide attacks on a checkpoint outside army headquarters and a bus carrying intelligence agency employees, officials said.
   The suicide attacks came as Pakistan remained under a state of emergency, which Musharraf declared on November 3, justifying it by citing the escalating danger posed by Islamic extremists. His critics have noted, however, that many of his moves have been against political opponents – including members of the judiciary, journalists and other moderates.
   The two suicide attackers struck just before 8:00am in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just south of the capital, Islamabad, as employees were arriving for work.
   In the first attack, an explosive-laden car rammed a bus carrying employees from the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI. The other bomber hit an army checkpoint in another part of the city, said Mohammed Afzal, a local police official.
   Two senior intelligence officials – one of them at the scene – said at least 35 people were killed.
   An army statement said it could only confirm that 15 were killed in the attack on the bus, as well as the suicide bomber. It said that two security forces personnel were critically injured in the second attack, and that the bomber died.
   After the blast, troops and police quickly cordoned off the area. They pushed people back and snatched cameras and mobile phones from journalists and bystanders.
   Agents fanned out across the area, picking up pieces of metal that appeared to be from the bomber’s car.
   Musharraf condemned the blasts and sent his condolences to victims’ families.
   He said the attacks would not deter his government’s resolve in fighting terrorism, according to Pakistan’s state news agency.
   Tension between militant groups and Pakistan’s
   military are high due to an ongoing military operation to sweep fighters from the northern Swat valley, where authorities say more than 300 militants have been killed in recent weeks.
   Saturday’s attack was the second major strike against the intelligence agency in recent months. On September 4, a suicide attacker blew himself up after boarding a bus carrying ISI employees, while a roadside bomb went off near a commercial area in Rawalpindi within minutes. At least 25 people were killed.

A pair of Marine helicopters lifted from the USS Kearsarge with loads of bottled water as US military started delivering relief supplies to the cyclone-battered coastal Bangladesh on Saturday.
   The 750-gallon shipment of water was delivered to a relief-supply distribution centre in the southern city of Barisal.
   ‘I feel ecstatic,’ said Captain Andrew Traynor, a CH-46E helicopter pilot with the Aviation Combat Element for the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). ‘This mission can show that the US military is not all about combat; we are here to help people,’ he added.
   Kearsarge and elements of the embarked 22nd MEU arrived off the coast of Bangladesh early Saturday.
   ‘The delivery today is a start, but there is more work to be done,’ said Colonel Doug Stilwell, commanding officer of the 22nd MEU (SOC) adding:
   ‘The Bangladesh government and military, in conjunction with relief agencies, are responding well to the situation… We will reinforce and support that effort.’
   To focus US military efforts on supporting the government relief operation, a team of key US military representatives led by Admiral Timothy J Keating, commander of US Pacific Command, and Brigadier General Ronald L Bailey, commanding general of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, met with representatives of the Bangladesh military, United States Agency for International Development, and the US embassy.
   A team from Kearsarge led by Rear Admiral Carol M Pottenger, commander of Task Force 76, was also present at the meeting, flying from Kearsarge to capital Dhaka in the morning.
   Stilwell said, ‘We want to support in a way that will have the most impact on reducing further loss of life and relieving human sufferings.’
   The 22nd MEU (SOC) consists of aviation combat element, a Marine medium helicopter squadron, ground combat element, battalion landing team, 3rd battalion, 8th Marine regiment, logistics combat element and Combat Logistics Battalion 22. Elements of the unit remain afloat on USS Gunston Hall and USS Ponce in US central command’s area of responsibility. The unit is on a scheduled six-month deployment.

The BNP acting secretary general, Hafizuddin Ahmed, on Saturday demanded withdrawal of the state of emergency within the next one month and restoration of democracy through early elections.
   Talking to reporters at his Banani house, he also demanded release of the detained political leaders, including former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, through legal process to allow them to stand by the cyclone victims.
   He said the state of emergency must be withdrawn from all over the country, not only from the cyclone-affected districts.
   About relief works, Hafiz said BNP relief teams, led by standing committee member, Mahbubur Rahman and party’s city unit general secretary Abdus Salam, were distributing relief among the cyclone victims.
    The BNP leader called for distributing more relief goods in the worst-hit areas, including Barguna, where he said people are living without food and clothes.
   He also urged the government to disburse
   interest-free farm loans among the farmers.
   In reply to a question, Hafiz said many well-off people could not come forward to extend their helping hands for the affected people for various reasons on the ground.
   He thanked the international community for dispatching emergency relief goods
   and appreciated the members of the armed forces for
   carrying out relief and rescue operation.
   Asked about the arrest of pro-reformist BNP leader Ashraf Hossain, Hafiz refrained from making any comments saying, It’s a legal matter.’

Australia’s centre-left opposition leader Kevin Rudd swept into power in a landslide election victory, ending conservative prime minister John Howard’s 11-year rule.
   Howard, US president George W Bush’s closest ally in the Iraq war, conceded defeat in Sydney, wishing Rudd well and telling him that he was inheriting an economy that is the envy of the world.
   ‘A few minutes ago I telephoned Rudd and I congratulated him and the Australian Labor Party on a very emphatic victory,’ Howard told emotional supporters in a gracious concession speech at a Sydney hotel.
   ‘This is great democracy and I want to wish Rudd well,’ said the veteran political survivor who also accepted he had probably also lost his electoral seat, becoming only the second prime minister in Australia’s history to do so.
   ‘He assumes the mantle of the 26th prime minister of Australia and I want to say that there is no prouder job a man can occupy than being the prime minister of Australia,’ Howard said.
   Rudd accepted victory with a pledge to ‘write a new page in our nation’s history.’
   ‘The future is too important for us not to work together to embrace the challenges of the future and carve out our nation’s destiny,’ Rudd told supporters in the eastern city of Brisbane.
   While officials were still tallying the votes, Howard, 68, accepted full responsibility for his Liberal-National coalition government’s stunning defeat, but said he had left a proud legacy.
   ‘I want to say on behalf of the coalition that has governed this country for the last 11 and a half years that we bequeath to him a nation that is stronger and prouder.
   ‘I have reformed the Australian economy and left it the envy of the world,’ said the outgoing prime minister, who looked drawn and subdued as he stood flanked by his wife and children.
   Howard, a wily political survivor known for getting himself out of political scraps over his 33-year career, acknowledged that he was ‘at the end of my political career.’
   He has won four general elections and has presided over Australia’s bombing economic growth since becoming prime minister when he ousted Labor in 1996.
   The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s vote tally predicted that when the final vote was counted, Labor would win with 53 per cent of the vote, compared to 47 for Howard’s Liberal-National coalition.
   That would give Labor 86 seats in the 150-seat lower house of representatives, well above the 76 it needs to take power, while the coalition would be left with just 62, sharply down from the 86 it won in 2004.
   Independents are likely to win the remaining two lower house seats. Official figures showed Labor with 53.3 per cent of the vote compared to 46.7 for the government with 73 per cent of votes counted.
   The results give the 50-year-old incoming prime minister diplomat Rudd a commanding majority in parliament.

The judgement in the case filed against the six detained Rajshahi University teachers in connection with the August 21-22 unrest on the campus is scheduled to be delivered today.
   The additional chief metropolitan magistrate of Rajshahi, Ruhul Amin, after completing the hearing and talking deposition of 20 witnesses set the date on November 20.
   The officer-in-charge of Matihar police, Khandaker Ferdous Ahmed, lodged the case on August 26 against the teachers bringing the charge of breaching Emergency Power Rules by instigating students’ agitation on the campus centring the August 20 incident on the Dhaka University campus.
   The teachers are former Rajshahi University vice-chancellor Saidur Rahman Khan, Progressive Teacher’s Society convener Professor Abdus Sobhan of applied physics and electronics department, Moloy Kumar Bhowmik of management, and Selim Reza Newton, Dulal Chandra Biswas and Abdullah Al Mamun of mass communication department.
   The joint forces arrested Saidur Rahman Khan, Abdus Sobhan and Moloy Kumar Bhowmik on 24 August from their residences while three others —Newton, Dulal and Mamun — were sent to jail after they had surrendered before the court on September 5.
   Sub-inspector Nasir, also the investigation officer of this case, on September 1 submitted the charge sheet against the six detained teachers.
   Teachers of the different public universities requested the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, and the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, to release their colleagues immediately.

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen remained in hiding in India on Saturday fearing reprisals from hardline Muslims who see her work as blasphemous, officials said.
   The author was driven to the Indian capital New Delhi late on Friday under police escort and housed under tight security at an official residence, Indian media said, but authorities declined to confirm her location.
   Federal cabinet ministers attended a meeting late on Friday to review security for the 45-year-old author, who has said her fugitive existence had pushed her to the brink of emotional breakdown.
   ‘Keeping her (Taslima) safe is the most important task at hand in this case,’ said the foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee.
   The cabinet ‘discussed issues related to security for Nasreen’s stay in India in view of the threats issued by some fundamentalist Muslim organisations,’ a senior official said.
   Riots by thousands of Muslims in Kolkata calling for the writer’s expulsion from the country led to Nasreen being rushed out the eastern city late on Thursday.
   The Times of India said Kolkata police had informed Nasreen she was in imminent danger of an attack by Muslim extremists and moved her from the capital of the Marxist-ruled West Bengal state.
   The police in Kolkata put her on a flight to Jaipur in western India, but the local Rajasthan state government there told her to leave at dawn on Friday because of what it said were ‘security reasons.’
   The doctor-turned-author said on Friday the events had put a huge strain her.
   ‘I am mentally distressed. I am not well at all,’ Nasreen told the Press Trust of India. ‘I am not in a position to talk. I am shattered.’
   ‘I have no place to go. India is my home, and I would like to keep living in this country till I die,’ she said.
   Nasreen fled Bangladesh in 1994 after huge street protests by demonstrators who
   decried her writings as blasphemous and demanded her ‘execution.’
   Kolkata was calm on Saturday after soldiers were called
   out earlier in the week to
   control thousands of protesters who demanded Nasreen’s expulsion from India for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammad.
   Officials denied media reports which said New Delhi had extended her Indian visa, due to expire on February 17, 2008.

Pakistan’s election commission confirmed Saturday that military ruler Pervez Musharraf won last month’s presidential election, giving him another five years in office.
   Officials said it sent notification of the result to the government, which must still formally declare Musharraf as the incoming president.
   ‘We have informed the government of the results of the October 6 presidential election and the winning candidate is general Pervez Musharraf,’ an election commission official said.
   He said it was up to the government’s cabinet office to formally give notice of Musharraf’s victory. Once the announcement is made it clears him to swear a new oath of office, which he has pledged to do as a civilian after resigning as army chief.
   Although Musharraf won those October 6 elections, the Supreme Court put a block on officially declaring the result before it had a chance to rule on legal challenges to his candidacy.
   Musharraf however imposed emergency rule days before the court was due to rule, raising suspicion he feared it was going to go against him.
   He then sacked Pakistan’s chief justice and most of the Supreme Court’s 16 other judges for refusing to swear a new oath of office. Earlier this week the purged court – now stacked with loyalist judges – dismissed all the challenges and cleared the way for the election commission formally to notify the government of his victory.
   Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, now has until December 1 to quit the army and swear himself in as a civilian.

Clashes between tribal tea plantation workers and local residents in India’s restive northeast left seven dead and 130 injured on Saturday, officials said.
   The trouble erupted after 10,000 tribals working on Assam state’s tea plantations protested in the main city of Guwahati demanding recognition as a separate tribal group, said Rajan Singh, a senior city police officer.
   The tribals were seeking inclusion in the special ‘Scheduled Tribes’ category that would entitle them to secure government jobs and educational and financial perks.
   But during the protest, some tribals exchanged words with residents and violence broke out when the protesters pelted stones at shops, businesses, houses and cars.
   ‘This led to the residents retaliating and in the clashes that followed seven tribals were killed and about 130 were injured,’ Singh said.
   ‘Some 30 of the injured are in a serious condition,’ he said.
   Authorities clamped a curfew on parts of Guwahati to curb the rapidly spiralling tensions and called for paramilitary reinforcements to restore order, Singh said.
   The police and paramilitary troopers were patrolling troubled parts of the city, he said. Most areas were now quiet though shops and businesses remained shut.
   Protests by tribals and underprivileged groups demanding special government concessions for jobs and education are common in India.
   Last May, 28 people were killed in India’s western desert state of Rajasthan when
   the Gujjar community demanded special ‘Scheduled Tribes’ status.

Exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia today (Sunday), a top aide said, two months after his last attempt ended with his deportation within hours.
   His return would change the political dynamic in emergency-ruled Pakistan, where president Pervez Musharraf – the man who ousted Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 – has promised general elections for January 8.
   A senior government official said it would not obstruct Sharif’s homecoming this time.
   ‘We have no plans to arrest him,’ the official said. ‘The president has said he would provide all political parties an equal chance to participate in the elections.’
   Raja Zafar-ul Haq, the senior leader of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party, said Sharif would land at 4:00pm at the airport in Lahore, eastern Pakistan.
   He will be accompanied by his wife and younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, Haq said.
   The two-time former premier was banished to Saudi Arabia in December 2000 after being convicted of corruption and hijacking.
   He tried to return a first time in September but was deported straight back despite a court ruling allowing him to live in his homeland.

Commonwealth leaders unanimously appointed an Indian as secretary general on Saturday, two days after the 53-nation federation suspended New Dehli’s arch rival Pakistan.
   Kamalesh Sharma, currently India’s high commissioner in Britain and a former ambassador to the United Nations, replaces New Zealander McKinnon who is stepping down next year after the end of his second four-year term, the maximum allowed.
   Speaking at a Commonwealth summit in Uganda, Sharma said that the Commonwealth’s relations with Islamabad were McKinnon’s responsibility until he took up his post on April 1.
   ‘Between now and that time there are four months to go ... In any event we have a working mechanism and it is for his (McKinnon’s) team or for himself to make observations on issues of this nature,’ he told a news conference.
   The loose federation of former mostly British colonies or territories represents nearly a third of the world’s population from some of its poorest to some of its richest, and from some its smallest countries to its largest.
   It was holding its biennial summit in Kampala from Friday to Sunday.
   Sharma, 67, is the first secretary general from an Asian Commonwealth country in more than 40 years and comes as India – the largest member state in the grouping – prepares to host the next Commonwealth Games in 2010.
   On Thursday Commonwealth foreign ministers overcame objections from some members such as Sri Lanka to suspend Pakistan for failing to restore democratic freedoms.
   Islamabad reacted angrily to the suspension, describing the decision as ‘unreasonable and unjustified’ and threatening to pull out of the Commonwealth. It was yet to react to Sharma’s appointment.

The joint forces arrested a Dhaka city corporation ward commissioner at his Dhalpur residence in the city on Saturday on charge of keeping explosive substances.
   The arrested was identified as Badal Sarder, 45, commissioner of Dhaka city corporation ward no-87, elected on Bangladesh Nationalist Party ticket.
   A team of army-led joint forces arrested five people, including a nephew of Badad Sarder and two women, at a rickshaw garage located at Suti Khalpar, Boubazar in Dhalpur area under Jatrabari police station, along with two bombs at around 10:00am.
   They hurled a bomb in a bid to flee during the raid, joint forces and local sources said.
   They were taken to the joint forces’ Dhalpur camp and interrogated.
   Following their confession, the team picked up Badal Sarder, from his 60/7, Dhalpur residence at around 12:00pm. He is being questioned in the joint forces custody.
   Members of the joint forces were conducting search at the house of the commissioner till this report was filed at 7:30pm.

A police constable was killed and 35 were injured as a bus carrying policemen overturned near the Institution of Engineers in Dhaka Saturday morning.
   The deceased was Jahangir Hossain, 27, of Siraj Sinha of the Jessore district headquarters. He was a member of Battalion 4 of the Rajarbagh Police Lines.
   The police said the bus that had left for the Rajarbagh Police Lines with 40 policemen overturned at about 4:45am. Jahangir died on the spot. Thirty-five policemen sustained serious injuries.
   Twenty-seven of the injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Others were taken to Orthopaedics Hospital and Rajarbagh Police Line Hospital.
   Bakul, 26, Anisur, 30, Selim, 26, Iqbal, 28, Sazzad, 30, Ibrahim, 32, Ishrafil, 26, Monjurul, 28, Moslem, 26, Aziz, 25, Siraj, 27, Nurul Alam, 30, Tanna, 22, Shaheen, 28, Azad, 30, Mizanur Rahman, 25, Monsur Ali, 28, Al Amin, 30, Amirul Islam, 28, and habilder Hannan, 32, were later taken to Orthopaedics Hospital and Rajarbagh Police Line Hospital.
   Shamshul Alam, 25, Adil, 26, Shariful, 27, Abul Basher, 40, and Monsur, 26, were being treated in Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   The police seized the bus, but the driver managed to get away, the police said. No case was filed till evening.

Rapid Action Battalion members in separate drives arrested four suspected criminals and four hundi businessmen along with Tk 45 lakh in Paltan and Sutrapur areas in the city Friday night.
   A team of RAB-3 arrested four crime suspects at Paltan at around 7:30 pm.
    alias Boma Quddus, Abdul Matubbar Hawladar and Kajol were among the four, who were from Jajira in Shariatpur district and accused in a number of cases.
   In another drive, RAB-3 members arrested four people from RK Mission Road in Sutrapur at around 11:00 pm along with Tk 45 lakh in local and foreign currencies.
   RAB suspected the four—Bashirullah Prokash Don, Ali Hossain, Moazzem Hossain Jamal and Hafiz Mia— were engaged in money laundering, known as hundi business.

Bangladesh has strongly condemned the Friday’s bombings in the three Indian cities of Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow that left at least 13 people dead.
   ‘We strongly condemn the bombings. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives,’ foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said in a message sent from Kampala Saturday.
   ‘Such acts of violence are senseless and against all human norms,’ he added.
   The adviser is presently in the Ugandan capital attending the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.