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Prices of fine rice, onion and chickpea increased further in the city markets during the past week.
   Traders said prices of certain commodities had gone up in the wholesale market due to growing demand and short supply ahead of Ramadan.
   Fine rice nazirshail was selling between Tk 33 and Tk 36 per kilogram in different retail markets on Friday. The price was up by Tk 1 over the week and Tk 5 over the month.
   ‘Prices of fine rice are increasing as their stocks are finishing while increasing demand of fine rice for Ramadan stock is pushing up the price further,’ said Bilu Mia, a trader at Karwanbazar.
   Prices of coarse rice remained somewhat stable due to its inclusion in the government’s fair price retailing operation, he said, adding that the announcement made by the government to import more coarse rice was influencing the market.
   Coarse varieties of rice were selling between Tk 23 and Tk 25 per kilogram while packed flour was selling between Tk 32 and Tk 33 per kg.
   Onion was being retailed between Tk 34 and Tk 36 per kilogram on Friday.
   Price of the important vegetable was at Tk 32, the lowest a week back and Tk 26 a month back.
   Except onion, prices of most vegetables remained somewhat stable in the week. Potato was selling between Tk 20 and Tk 22 per kilogram, aubergine Tk 36 and Tk 40, pointed gourd Tk 24 and Tk 28, bitter gourd Tk 30 and Tk 36 while green chilli was selling between Tk 120 and Tk 140 on Friday.
   Among spices, those remained somewhat stable on the prices in the week, garlic was selling between Tk 48 and Tk 70 on Friday, ginger between Tk 48 and Tk 60 and red chilli between Tk 130 and Tk 160.
   Chickpeas were selling between Tk 64 and Tk 74 per kilogram on Friday. Special variety of pulses consumed during Ramadan in a large quantity was selling between Tk 62 and Tk 70 a week ago and Tk 58 and Tk 64 a month back.
   Traders said as supply of chickpeas depends on import, importers increased the import cost pushing up price of special variety of pulses.
   Other pulses remained somewhat stable in the week on their prices with red lentil selling between Tk 62 and Tk 78 per kilogram, yellow lentil Tk 66 and Tk 72 and whole gram between Tk 82 and Tk 86.
   Beef was selling between Tk 170 and 180 per kilogram on Friday and broiler chicken Tk 100 and Tk 110.
   With catching of more fishes by the fishermen from the mid-week for rainfall, their prices remained comparatively cheaper in the week.
   On Friday at Mohakhali Bazaar, a hilsha fish weighing around one kilogram was selling between Tk 350 and Tk 400, local ruhit between Tk 180 and Tk 220 per km while medium-sized local shing between Tk 500 and 600.
   Cooking oil remained almost stable although they were still selling at higher prices than the rate fixed by the government.
   Non-packed soybean oil was selling between Tk 80 and Tk 82 per kilogram in different markets, bottled ones between Tk 78 and Tk 80. The government, a couple of weeks back, fixed retail prices of non-packed soybean between Tk 78 and Tk 80 and bottled soybean at Tk 78 per litre.
   Sugar was selling between Tk 28 and Tk 30 per kilogram while packed salt between Tk 14 and Tk 17.
   With prices of major essentials remain exorbitantly high, a section of low-income group people are rushing to retail outlets operated by Bangladesh Rifles. Some 100 fair price outlets are selling 17 food items of average grades at lower price.

The standard of education in the country’s educational institutions continues to fall due to politics both by teachers and students, noted academics told a roundtable on Friday.
   ‘Educational institutions have become battlefields these days as students are provided with firearms,’ said Professor Dr Zillur Rahman Siddiqui, former adviser of the caretaker government.
   Zillur, also former vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University, chaired the roundtable titled ‘Education-Examinees and Expectation’, organised by SHEBA Bangladesh Foundation at the Press Institute of Bangladesh.
   Jurist Dr Kamal Hossain, Prof of Computer Science and Engineering Department of BUET Dr Mohammad Kaikobad, Prof of Development Studies Department of Dhaka University Dr Atiur Rahman, chairman of the foundation Dr Shawkat Ara Hossain, country director of The Hunger Project Dr Badiul Alam Majumder and BUET Prof Abdur Rahim took part in the discussion.
   Dr Kamal said both teachers and students should have better moral integrity, values and the spirit of nationalism, and these qualities fully depend on the standard of education. ‘Universities as well as the Secretariat are now flooded with PhD degree holders as if there is a PhD epidemic,’ he said.
   About social responsibility of students, Dr Kamal said once Dhaka University students had played a very glorious role in various movements like the language movement in 1952 and during the 1960s, and those movements were led by meritorious student leaders.
   ‘Even in the 1960s, the Dhaka University had been able to maintain the international standard of education because the politics at that time used to promote moral values among the students,’ he said.
   He said appointment of adequate teachers based on merit is very essential to ensure the quality of education in the country.
   Highlighting the need for improving the quality of education at primary level, Zillur said, ‘Our standard of education is poor because our schools remained neglected. We only concentrate on universities as we don’t understand the importance of schools,’ he said.
   Badiul said the teachers of primary and secondary schools have become ‘bureaucrats’ due to party politics.
   Kaikobad laid emphasis on transparency in the educational sector to raise the standard of universities of the country.
   Atiur said the education sector is passing through a great disaster as the country has failed to produce quality teachers.

Words and Pages in collaboration with Macmillan India Limited will introduce an international test for assessing the standard of schoolchildren in Bangladesh.
   The University of New South Wales, Australia introduced this test called ‘International Assessment for Schools’ to assess the standard of students of class III to Class XIII on compute, science, mathematics and English in 1967.
   Words and Pages disclosed this at a news conference held at its office in Gulshan.
   Associate vice president of Macmillan India, Debashish Biswas, actor Tarik Anam Khan and Words and Pages managing director Nima Rahman spoke on the occasion.
   ‘Students will get certificates, assessment cards and prizes after their participation in the test,’ the organisers said.
   A student has to pay Tk. 200 for taking the test for each subject and the assessment will be done through multiple questions.
   The maiden IAS test will be held in Bangladesh on October 3 and 4, 2007. Meanwhile, Words and Pages have contacted both the English and Mainstream Bengali schools in Dhaka and Chittagong in this regard.
   Debashish said some 17 lakh students are participating in IAS to be held this year worldwide.
   Sixteen Asian countries, including India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, have introduced this system, he added.

Academics at a lecture session in Dhaka stressed the need of enabling undergraduate students to critically think on socio-political issues in line with liberal education.
   Students at the undergraduate level must learn to think critically in an atmosphere of liberal education, they told the lecture session.
   American academic Dr Nancy S Dye was the key speaker at the lecture session on ‘Liberal Education and Pluralism’ organised by the BRAC University at its library on Thursday.
   The BRAC University vice-chancellor, Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, inaugurated the programme.
   In her lecture, Nancy S Dye said, ‘It is very necessary to make the students at the undergraduate level able to achieve the capacity of critical thinking.’
   About liberal education and pluralism, she said, ‘People of all cultural, religious and economic groups will have the access to education in liberal atmosphere on various subjects like liberal arts.’
   ‘It will create an opportunity for the learners to get encouraged as well as be able to participate in a discussion’, she felt.
   About the proposed Asian University of Women in Chittagong, Nancy, also senior adviser of the university, said, ‘This university will educate promising young women from all cultural, religious and ethnic groups across South and South East Asia.’
   In response to a question, she said, ‘At least half of the students of the university will receive scholarships as per their need and all classes will be taught in English.’
   English department professors of the BRAC University, among others, also spoke at the programme.
   Nancy was the president of Oberlin College, the oldest co-educational institution in the USA.
   The Oberlin College simultaneously conferred honourary doctorate upon Professor Amartya Sen and Professor Muhammad Yunus in 1993.

The Bangshal Crossing Park in Old Dhaka lies in a shabby condition due to lack of maintenance by the Dhaka City Corporation.
   The condition of the Bangshal Park is the worse than many others in the city as it has remained neglected by the corporation for long, local residents said.
   People hardly visit the park as it has become a place for dumping wastes, they said adding the only attraction of the park is that there are some trees here.
   Some small traders are also doing business by setting up makeshift shops beside the park making its total environment unfriendly, they said.
   There are some trees inside the park, but the total park land on only 0.03 acres is unclean and full of filthy substances dumped by nearby shops and restaurants, a local resident said.
   The park gets clogged with water during monsoon as there no drainage system, he added.
   The past government of deposed president HM Ershad initiated a plan for development of the park. But the plan did not get a go-ahead.
   Imran 32, a local trader said, ‘Since my childhood, I have seen the park at this shabby state and at the present size. I don’t find any reason why it was once called Lady Park.’
   Former DCC mayor late Mohammad Hanif took some development work of the park located near his residence at Bangshal.
   Hanif installed a fountain inside the park but it has remained out of order for long due to lack of maintenance, Alamgir, a local businessman, said.
   Local ward commissioner, M Hossain Mollah, could not be reached for his comments about the park near a mosque Rokanuddin Jame Masjid.
   When contacted, a top engineer of DCC said the corporation will take some measures for development of some city parks.
   The Dhaka City Corporation has allocated Tk 8 crore in the current budget for 2007-2008 fiscal year for development of city parks.

Twenty-five students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology have been sued for staging demonstration on the campus in violation of Emergency Powers Rules.
   Shahed Uddin, sub-inspector of the Kotwali police station, on Wednesday filed the case against Mostafizur Rahman, a political science student, and some 24 unnamed students, the police said.
   The plaintiff said that some unruly students staged demonstration and brought out a rally on the campus following the Dhaka University incident on August 22.
   ‘It was not possible to identify all the agitating students, but we are trying to trace them by collecting information from media reports,’ he said.
   The plaintiff told New Age that he filed the case against the students who took part in rally on the campus on August 22.

The Barisal Government Braja Mohan College and Patuakhali Science and Technology University authorise decided to reopen the halls of residence from September 9 and resume classes from September 10.
   In separate press releases, the authorities said that the students were also asked to follow rules and regulations of the institutions and engage themselves in academic activities at congenial educational atmosphere.

A Rajshahi court on Thursday sentenced two persons to seven years rigorous imprisonment for illegal drug trade.
   The additional district and session judge 2, Rezaul Islam, handed down the verdict against the convicts and acquitted six others of the charge.
   The convicts are Abul Kalam Azad of Pabna and Sudarshan Saha of Sirajganj.
   According to the prosecution, Rapid Action Battalion members searched a photo studio at Binodpur Bazar under Bagha upazila of Rajshahi on January 1, 2006 and arrested Azad, Sudarshan and six others along with 3600 bottles of phensidyl.
   The battalion filed a case against the accused with the Bagha police station under narcotics control act.
   After examining records and witnesses, the judge pronounced the verdict.

Moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at many places over the six divisions till 6:00pm today.
   Moderately heavy to heavy falls may also occur at places over the divisions during the period, the Met Office said, predicting slight rise in the day temperature over the country.
   The country’s highest temperature 32.1 degrees Celsius was recorded at Ishwardi on Friday and the lowest 24.6 degrees Celsius at Saidpur.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:10pm and rises tomorrow at 5:43am.

The first meeting of the academic council of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam Bishwabidyalaya was held on Thursday at Darirampur under Trishal upazila of the district.
   With the vice-chancellor, Professor M Shamsur Rahman, in the chair, the meeting approved the syllabus for the session 2006-
   2007 and discussed issues related to the introduction of rules and regulations for the academic activities.
   Besides, a decision was taken at the meeting to open eight new subjects in the university, a press release issued by the JKKNIB said in Mymensingh on Friday.
   The council members also held a discussion on the life and eventful career of the national poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam, marking his 31st death anniversary and prayed for the eternal peace of his departed soul.
   Earlier, the vice-chancellor welcomed the members of the academic council and sought their suggestions and cooperation to properly conduct the academic activities of the university.
   Treasurer, deans, head of different departments, assistant controller and assistant registrar of the university were also present at the meeting.

Anti Corruption Commission has filed a case against former BNP lawmaker Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu and his wife for concealing their wealth information.
   The assistant director of ACC Bogra office, Shish Kumar Kundu, Thursday night filed the case with Sadar thana against Lalu and his wife Shamsunnar Zaman.
   In his complaint, the ACC official said Lalu and his wife illegally earned money and property worth about Tk 1.86 crore. But, they did not mention the amount in their wealth statement submitted to the ACC.
   A special court, earlier, has sentenced Lalu to two years of rigorous imprisonment for misappropriation of relief materials.
   But, his wife Shamsunnahar Zaman remained absconding for the last few months.

CSB News staffers spent a gloomy day at office Friday after the government Thursday halted its transmission on charges of forging a no-objection certificate.
   The journalists crowded their Uttara office from morning, said its officials.
   ‘Even if transmission remains stopped for seven days we will keep the office open and carry on with our normal work,’ head of output Probhas Amin told the news agency Friday.
   ‘There was no work on Friday. There was no planning for Friday as the transmission was stopped abruptly on Thursday,’ said Amin.
   The government based its decision to halt transmission on charges of channel authorities fraudulently obtaining air frequency allocation by forging the approval papers of the information ministry.
   The order was implemented at 6:35pm after four officials of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission visited the private station’s headquarters in Uttara with the notice for suspension. More than 150 of the channel’s journalists gathered at the office Thursday evening and some broke down in tears.
   The BTRC asked authorities to explain in seven workdays why the frequency allotted to the channel should not be cancelled.
   The information ministry’s no-objection certificate for transmission of news and programmes to the channel’s owners, Focus Multimedia Ltd, has also been cancelled.
   ‘However, all other work except transmission will resume in a day or two,’ Amin said. ‘At the same time the work on the approval papers will be complete in line with BTRC directives.’
   Hummam Quader Chowdhury, a director of Cronus Satellite Broadcast, told the news agency Friday evening: ‘The transmission has remained stopped at the directive of the BTRC. However, our office work is going on.’ ‘There is restriction on news gathering,’ he added. Chowdhury said they were consulting lawyers to prepare a reply to the BTRC notice.
   The country’s first 24-hour news channel, owned by Focus Multimedia Ltd, began transmission on March 26 this year.

The Rapid Action Battalion members foiled a bid
   of robbery and picked up six robbers from a bus at Fakirerpool in the city Thursday night.
   They also seized a toy pistol, six daggers and some sedatives from their possession. The arrested were identified as Alam of Feni, Khokan of Barisal, Badal Miah of Barguna, Maruf Hasan of Jamalpur, Mosharraf Hossain of Comilla and Fazal of Faridpur.
   The battalion sources said that the robbers boarded a Chittagong-bound bus of Unique Paribahan from Fakirerpool and kept their weapons on the small luggage space inside the vehicle.
   The sources said that they had been hunting the robbers for long and ultimately they got information about their plan to rob the long-route bus. Accordingly, a RAB-4 team reached Fakirerpool and
   identified the six in the bus of Unique Paribahan at about 11:15pm.

The renovated Leukaemia Block at Child Health Department of Chittagong Medical College Hospital was inaugurated on Friday.
   The health and family welfare secretary, AKM Jafarullah, formally inaugurated the specialised facility at a function.
   The Leukaemia Block was established in 1998 by private organisation the Children Leukemia Assistance and Support Services that also provides assistance for the treatment of the patients.
   The principal of Chittagong Medical College, M A Wahhab Chowdhury, and head of the Child Health Department at CMCH Badrul Alam, among others, addressed the function. CLASS chairman Osman Gani Mansoor presided over the function.
   The health secretary appreciated the activities of the CLASS in the field of child cancer and called upon the wealthy people to extend their all possible support for the survival of the leukaemia patients. CLASS sources said the Leukaemia Block was renovated at a cost of Taka 3 lakh to create a better atmosphere for the leukaemia patients.

Jatiya Krishak Samiti and Bangladesh Khetmajur Union leaders on Friday expressed their concern about the fertiliser distribution system.
   The farmers will not get
   fertiliser according to their need in the present distribution system, the coordinator of the organizations, Anisur Rahman Mallik, said in a statement.
   The government has taken steps to distribute fertilizer through cards among the land owners only and the share-croppers will not get such cards, the leaders said.
   The leaders called on the government to distribute fertilisers through the dealers.

The Detective Branch arrested a man suspected of being member of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh at Muradnagar in Comilla on Friday.
   The arrested is Aminul
   Islam alias Chhoton, 30, of Chandpur on the district headquarters.
   Aminul Islam Chhoton, wanted by the police, changed his name to Shamin Ahmed Mamun and went into hiding as the crackdown on Islamist militancy began.
   He also abducted a girl at Muradnagar on May 13, the police said.
   The police said was an ehsar member of the outfit and was involved in the August 17 series of bombings in Comilla.

The police picked up 28 people from different areas of the district in last 24 hours ending this evening.
   The police said 13 of them were picked up from different areas of the metropolis while 15 others from nine upazilas. The police also seized 38 bottles of Phensidyl during a raid in Char Shyampur area under the Motihar police station.

Classes at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agriculture University will resume from September 12 while all residential halls will be reopened from September 11.
   According to a press release of the university, the decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the syndicate held on Friday with vice-chancellor Professor Lutfar Rahman Khan in the chair.

A magistrate’s court of the Chittagong Port Authority on Friday sentenced a man to 15 days in jail for possessing a fake sailor certificate.
   The court also fined four employees of Chittagong WASA Tk 45,000 for tampering meter and ordered them to deposit the money with the CWASA account.
   Earlier, officials at the Mercantile Marine Department detained Mubarak Hossain with a fake CDC (professional certificate for a sailor) while he appeared before the authority for a job with an ocean-going fishing trawler as a sailor.
   The officials sent him to the CPA court and the court convicted him with 15-day jail term for possessing the fake certificate. Magistrate Mohammad Munir Chowdhury passed the order.
   The court held four employees of the CWASA guilty of negligence of duties. The WASA employees were Rafique, Mir Hossain, Harun Chowdhury and Ashanullah.

Classes at BOU resume
September 14
Bangladesh Open University has taken decision to resume tutorial class and all the examinations postponed earlier. Tutorial class will be resumed on September 14 while the examinations will be held at the scheduled time and place from September 21. The authorities concerned took the decision at an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors of the university held on Thursday. Fresh date for the examinations, scheduled to be held before September 21, would be announced later, said a release.
— New Age

VoIP equipment seized in Sylhet
The Rapid Action Battalion in separate drives seized huge VoIP equipment from different parts in the Sylhet city Wednesday night. Sources said that the elite force raided various hotels and supermarkets in Jindabazar, Jallarpar and Ambarkhana areas and seized various Voice over Internet Protocol materials, including 5 machines, three receivers, four UPS, 11 internet modem, one computer and SIM cards of different mobile companies. None was arrested during the two-hour long raid which began at about
9:00pm.
— UNB