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Many areas in the port city went under ankle- to knee-deep water due to heavy rainfall on Thursday, disrupting city life, economic activities and road communication.
   The local Met Office sources said they had recorded 161 millimetres of rainfall during the 24-hour period ending 3:00pm on the day.
   They also forecasted heavy showers today, saying that situation would start improving from tomorrow.
   People at different parts of the city, including Halishahar Housing Estate, Eidgah, Bakalia, Panchlaish, Agrabad CDA Residential Area, Chandgaon Residential Area and Chawk Bazar suffered a lot due to the water logging.
   The Port Connecting Road, Sheikh Mujib Road, Agrabad Access Road, Prabartak Road, Dhaka Trunk Road and some other roads at different points were also clogged with rainwater disrupting vehicular movement.
   A good number of CNG run three-wheelers went out of order as water soaked through the engines at many places while the number of traffic in the city was relative thin on the day.
   Hundreds of office-bound people had to suffer a lot in the morning due to the shortage of transports on the roads.
   Activities at the Chaktai, Khatunganja and Agrabad commercial areas also hindered seriously due to the downpour.
   The number of shoppers at different markets and shopping centres was also very thin, the sales executives at different markets said.

Politicians, rights and development activists and academicians at a roundtable on Thursday demanded amendment to the existing marriage laws identifying the loopholes
   to prevent child marriages,
   which has reached an alarming proportion.
   They also stressed the need for taking effective monitoring measures to ensure registration of every single marriage.
   ActionAid Bangladesh in
   collaboration with Saptahik 2000 organised the roundtable, titled ‘Early marriage
   and the steps to prevent it’ at the BIAM Foundation in the capital.
   Mahila Parishad president Aeysha Khanam said child violation rate was still very high in Bangladesh though it is one of the signatories to most of the international human rights conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
   She demanded that the government should make the marriage laws more stringent to prevent marriage of girls below 18 years and also take stern punitive measures against the violators of the law.
   She also urged the government to take effective measures to monitor and ensure registration of every single marriage and called upon the people to help change the ‘patriarchal’ views of the society towards women.
   BNP joint secretary general Selima Rahman recommended extending the marriage age of girls, from the existing 18 years, to protect them from the curse of early marriage.
   She also suggested measures to make the girls self-reliant so that they could support their families financially. ‘This will help the other family members to change their views where a girl is considered to be a burden for the family,’ she said.
   Country director of ActionAid Bangladesh Farah Kabir urged the government to make it mandatory to verify birth registration while registering a marriage.
   Assistant Professor of Chittagong University SM Humayan Kabir presented a study report, titled ‘Marriage in Bangladesh: When it is too early’.
   The report showed that Bangladesh was placed 3rd, while Nepal 7th and India 11th in the list of the top 20 countries, considered hotspots for early marriage. The percentage of under-18 marriages in the country is 68.7 per cent, while it is 56.1 per cent in Nepal and 50 per cent in India.
   Awami League leader Dr Dipu Moni, BNP leader Lieutenant Genal (Retd) Mahbubur Rahman and rights activist Alina Khan also took part in the discussion, moderated by acting editor of Saptahik 2000 Mainul Ahsan Saber.

Students of Jahangirnagar University will go on fast-unto-death from August 30 for removal of a teacher accused of sexually harassing female students and formulation of a policy against sexual harassments.
   Jahangirnagar against Repression, a platform of the university students, announced the programme at a news conference at Madhu’s Canteen on the Dhaka University campus on Thursday. The students have been demonstrating for past four months demanding removal of drama and dramatics department teacher Sanwar Hossain, also known as Ahmed Sani.
   ‘Though our academic life has been severely affected as no class was held in the drama and dramatics department in past four months, we are adamant not to join any class till Sanwar remains as a teacher,’ said Nirlipta Nayan, a drama and dramatics student.
   ‘The university authorities are trying to save Sanwar by giving him a token punishment and it has forced us to go on fast unto death to realise our demands,’ said Nasir Uddin Prince, JU unit president of Samajtantrik Chhatra Front.
   The platform had earlier declared an indefinite students’ strike, but called it off later on the authorities’ assurance of ‘something positive’ before Ramadan.
   ‘But the students found the authorities were not keeping their words,’ said Faisal Rahman Kishor, a steering committee member of the movement. ‘The authorities have cheated the students giving them vague assurances. Classes of drama and dramatics department have remained closed for past four months and we are desperately in need of going back to the classes. But we cannot fail the movement,’ he said.

Academicians and rights activists on Thursday stressed the need for taking measures in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for the advancement of disabled in the country.
   Addressing an exchange of views at the WVA Auditorium in Dhaka, they also demanded increased allocation and immediate release of project funds for the people with disabilities.
   Although the government announced that Tk 150 crore had been allocated for the disabled people in the 2008-2009 fiscal, the reality is different, they said, adding that the money would actually come from the World Bank, which had pledged to release the money in five years for different disabled development programmes.
   In fact, the allocation for the ongoing fiscal is Tk 31 crore, which is yet to be released, they told the programme, organised by the National Forum of Organisations Working with the Disabled, on the present condition and allocation in national budget in implementing the UNCRPD.
   The forum president, Khandaker Zahurul Alam, chaired the meeting, also attended, among others, by former chairman of the Privatisation Commission, Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, Dhaka University Professor Atiqur Rahman, Bangladesh Jatiya Pratibandhi Unnayan Foundation managing director Mansur Ahmed Chowdhury, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Development, Bangladesh director Mahbub Kabir.
   Zahurul called upon the government to release Tk 31 crore, allocated in the current fiscal, by August 30 to run development projects for the people with disabilities.
   Persons with disabilities should be included in the poverty alleviation programmes, Inam said adding without their inclusion in the programmes poverty could not be alleviation.
   He stressed the need for united efforts to establish the rights of disabled in the society.
   Atiq said there was no alterative to place the issue of the rights of disabled people to the political government as ‘the political government are relatively accountable to the people than the current bureaucrats-run government.’ There are 1.50 crore disabled people, 10 per cent of the total population in the country, officials of the forum said.

Arif Hossain, an 11-year-old boy, with a part of his body paralysed for the last four to five years, received medical consultancy from the country’s eminent child specialist Dr MR Khan on Thursday remaining at his house in Chandina of Comilla.
   MR Khan at Hotel Sheraton in Dhaka enquired after Arif’s health to his mother, who was assisted by a physician in Chandina, through the tele-video system.
   After an interactive discussion for about seven minutes, MR Khan diagnosed the boy with paralysis and advised him to take physiotherapy and get other medical tests done.
   He asked the guardians of the boy to bring him to Dhaka for physiotherapy and medical tests to find out how the problem was developed.
   All these have become possible because of the medical treatment technology, called ‘telemedicine’ which allows people in rural areas, having limited access to civic facilities, to obtain the advice of senior physicians.
   The Japan-Bangladesh Friendship Hospital has opened the scope in Bangladesh for the first time with MR Khan giving the boy his advice through the ‘tele-video health service programme’.
   The hospital authorities said it would establish around 500 video tele-health consultant booths outside Dhaka from where people would be able to obtain consultancies of experienced doctors in Dhaka.
   The agriculture and water resources adviser, CS Karim, inaugurated the tele-health service by making a call from the Hotel Sheraton to the tele-health call centre where 75 doctors were sitting to provide health services.
   ‘It should be marked as a milestone in the history of Bangladesh’s health services. From now on, the underprivileged people living in rural areas will be able to obtain consultancy of the experienced doctors through the state-of-the art technology,’ said CS Karim while inaugurating the programme.
   The adviser also urged the other private hospitals’ authorities to come up with the latest technology of telemedicine.
   Special assistant to the chief adviser in charge of the post and telecommunications ministry MA Malek said, ‘At the beginning, there may be a little bit of problems with data processing because of the small bandwidth. However, the telemedicine technology will become popular gradually with the concerted efforts of all concerned.’
   The post and telecommunication secretary, Iqbal Mahmud, Channel I director Shaikh Siraj, managing director of the Japan Bangladesh Friendship Hospital, Sarder A Nayeem and chairman of the hospital, Zonaed Shafiq addressed the function.

The health department along with 21 non-governmental organisations has undertaken a set of programmes to halve the malarial deaths in the country by 2012, a roundtable discussion in Sylhet was told on Thursday.
   The programmes include free distribution of mosquito nets to reduce the malarial attacks and opening of ‘rapid diagnostic test centres’ at the union and upazila health centres.
   According to a survey of 2005 conducted by the health ministry, the country had 48,684 cases of malarial attacks and 502 people had died of the mosquito-borne disease that year.
   Speaking at the roundtable on ‘Malaria control programmes: role of mass-media’, experts said children below five years of age and pregnant women were the most vulnerable to malaria, 98 per cent of which occur in 13 districts of the country.
   A total of 70 upazilas of the 13 districts — Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachari, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Sunamganj, Netrakona, Mymensingh, Sherpur and Kurigram — are prone to malaria, they said.
   Jointly organised by the ministry of health and family welfare and non-governmental organisation BRAC, the meeting at the Sylhet divisional commissioner’s office was chaired by the divisional health director, Abdur Rab Chowdhury.
   Sylhet divisional commissioner Zafar Ahmed Khan was the chief guest at the programme while the vice-principal of the Sylhet Osmani Medical College, Professor Osul Ahmed Chowdhury, and district civil surgeon Zahangir Alam were special guests.
   BRAC’s technical officer Shamsun Nahar presented the keynote paper while the Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital’s community medicine department head Dr Shibbir Ahmed Shibli was the main discussant at the roundtable moderated by district medical officer Dr Jayanta Datta.
   The meeting was also informed that the health department would distribute 10.9 million mosquito-repellent nets among the poor people to save them from malaria, which mostly occur during, pre and post monsoons.
   The Sylhet division health department has already distributed more than 29,000 mosquito nets in Sunamganj, 15,000 in Sylhet, 30,000 in Moulvibazar and about 10,000 in Habiganj.
   The speakers said media could play a significant role in creating awareness among the grassroots people and help make the programme a success. Representatives of non-governmental organisations, religious leaders and journalists of different national and regional dailies and television channels attended the roundtable.

Light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at many places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Khulna divisions and at a few places over Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions in the next 24 hours till 6:00pm today.
   Moderately heavy rainfalls are also likely at places during the period, Met Office said, predicting nearly unchanged day temperature over the country.
   The country's highest temperature on Thursday, 34.4 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Jessore and the lowest, 24.0 degrees Celsius, in Sylhet. The sun sets in the capital today at 6:19pm and rises tomorrow at 5:39am.

A two-day workshop on the enforcement of the narcotics law began at the Hotel Sonargaon on Thursday.
   Narcotics are causing a staggering social cost, triggering problems related to public insecurity, said the home adviser, MA Matin while inaugurating the workshop as chief guest.
   ‘A large amount of Bangladeshi money is being paid to the foreign traffickers for its trafficking,’ he said.
   ‘Bangladesh is used as a transit for trafficking drugs produced in the Golden Triangle –– Laos, Myanmar and Thailand–– and in the Golden Crescent –– Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan,’ he said.
   Drug traffickers find it comparatively easier to traffic their merchandise through the seacoast and waterways of the country, while the Zia International Airport and the Chittagong seaport are preferred as exit points,’ said the adviser.
   Referring to the annual report, 2007, of the International Narcotics Control Board, published on March 7 this year, the adviser said ‘Bangladesh is being used as a transit for trafficking heroin to Europe from South Asia…There is evidence that heroin consignments destined for Europe are passing through Bangladesh’.
   The government recognises drug abuse as one of the most serious problems and is firmly committed to supporting the international, regional and bilateral efforts aimed at its prevention and control, he said.
   ‘Trafficking of drugs also poses a political threat as funds from its trafficking are being used to finance the terrorist outfits,’ said home secretary Abdul Karim.
   A total of 150 government officials of different law enforcing agencies including the police, the Rapid Action Battalion, the coast guard, the Bangladesh rifles and the department of narcotics control, attended the workshop organised by the Bangladesh Police and Police Reform Programme. A representative from the Interpol, Yong Uk Lee also joined the workshop.
   The purpose of the workshop is to provide an understanding of the threat of narcotics at the regional level, said the organisers.
   The inspector general of police Nur Mohammad, DNC director general Humayun Kabir, Thailand Narcotics Control Board’s Narcotics Law Enforcement assistant director, Wanchai Disates, and additional IGP NBK Tripura spoke at the inaugural function.

Participants in an exchange of views on Thursday called for taking long-term plan and implement it with transparency and accountability to make the city free from water logging.
   The meeting on preventing inundation in Barisal city was arranged by the Barisal unit of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association with the assistance from Manusher Jonno Foundation in the city.
   Manabendra Batobayal, convener of Conscious Citizens Committee, presided over the programme while Kamrul Huq, additional divisional commissioner (general), attended as chief guest. Shuvash Chandra Bipro Vedanti, district BELA coordinator, gave the introductory address and Toufiq Maruf, bureau chief of daily Prothom Alo, presented the keynote paper.

The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, reminded the media of playing both creative and responsible role, as he inaugurated a new satellite channel ‘Diganta Television’ Thursday.
   Speaking at the inaugural ceremony at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre, he said the role of the mass media was undeniable in establishing a knowledge-based society.
   Iajuddin said mass media played a significant role in exchanging information, flourishing art and culture, mobilising public opinion on national issues and projecting important national and international events.
   MA Rahman, chairman of Diganta Media Corporation, also spoke on the occasion.
   Diganta Television is the ninth private satellite television station and a sister concern of the Naya Diganta newspaper.

Bangladesh Chhatra League at a rally on the Dhaka University campus on Thursday demanded proper investigation into the attempt to murder Shagar Ahmed Shaheen, president of the organisation’s Lalbagh thana unit.
   Shaheen sustained bullet injury Wednesday night at Dhanmondi in the city.
   The BCL leaders said they would wage tougher movement if the government had not taken initiative to arrest the attackers.
   The BCL activists also brought out a procession on the campus.
   BCL president Mahmud Hasan Ripon and general secretary Mahfuzul Haider Choudhuri Ratan, among others, addressed the rally.

Air force official squadron leader Washim Mustaq has been deputed to Jatiya Sangsad as deputy sergeant-at-arms to replace squadron leader Ashek Ahmed Shahriar, who has been withdrawn to the air force.
   The establishment ministry issued a gazette notification to the effect on Thursday.

Hasmat Jahan Hasu, wife of the late freedom fighter Abdul Kuddus Makhon who organised the campus campaign towards the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh, died early Thursday at the age of 61, a relative said.
   Hasu, who had been suffering from cancer for long, died at United Hospital in Dhaka at about 4:00am, her relative Ashfaq Ahmed Khan told bdnews24.com.
   Her namaz-e-janaza will be held at Gulshan’s Azad mosque after asr prayers. The qul khwani of Hasu will be held on Sunday after magrib prayers.

Blue Panel teachers at Dhaka University on Thursday criticised the university treasurer, Syed Abul Kalam Azad, for his remark on the panel’s August 25 press briefing.
   The teachers said Azad’s ‘remarks have proved his allegiance to White Panel.’
   Such remarks left him on no ethical ground to be seated on the neutral chair of the treasurer, said a statement signed by the Blue Panel’s joint convener M Wahiduzzaman.

Orientation of freshers held at Islamic Univ
The orientation programme for the freshers in 2007-2008 academic year at Islamic University in Kushtia was held in the Shah Azizur Rahaman auditorium of the university on Thursday. A total of 1,270 students were enrolled in honours courses in 20 departments of the university this year. Addressing the freshers, the IU vice-chancellor, Faez Mohammad Serazul Haque, said, Presided over by the IU treasurer, ASM Anwarul Karim, also president of the orientation programme organising committee, the function was addressed, among others, by Arts and Social Science Faculty dean Professor Shahinoor Rahaman, Al-Hadith department chairman Professor Moynul Haque, provost council president Professor Tozammel Hossen, TSCC director ANM Rezaul Karim and IU registrar Moslem Uddin.
— New Age

NGO official killed in Khulna road mishap
A senior official of an NGO was killed after his motorbike overturned at Kulibagan in the city’s Daulatpur area Wednesday night. The police said Ferdaus Hossain, 46, Khulna divisional chief of Nijera Kori, met the accident as he had hardly pressed the brake near a speed breaker at Kulibagan on the Khulna-Jessore Highway at about 10:30pm. The accident occurred as there was no marking on the speed breaker, witnesses said. Ferdaus of Dogachhi under Shantahar upazila in Naogaon was taken to Khulna Medical College Hospital and died there after admission.
— New Age