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The High Court on Tuesday ordered the government, law enforcers and local government bodies to take immediate measures against issuance or execution of extrajudicial penalties such as beating and caning in the name of arbitration, mediation or conciliation.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique also ordered them to provide the victims of such extra-legal penalties with security and protection.
   The court asked the government and the inspector general of police to explain their failure to act in time and to comply with their legal and constitutional duties in taking effective measures to prevent the imposition and execution of extra-legal penalties.
   The court also asked the government to explain why it would not be directed to frame and adopt guidelines and orders for all authorities concerned to report any information on the occurrence or likely occurrence of any such incident of extrajudicial penalties by any people or bodies, including union councils or municipal representatives, in the name of arbitration, mediation and conciliation.
   The court also wanted to know why the government and others concerned would not be directed to disseminate the guidelines and orders on Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar.
   In the interim order, the court asked the government, law enforcement agencies, union councils and municipalities to take immediate measures to investigate promptly any report of issuance or execution of any extrajudicial punishment such as beating or caning.
   The court also ordered the local government ministry to inform all union councils and municipalities of the order.
   The court passed the orders after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights groups Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Ain o Salish Kendra, BRAC and Nijera Kori.
   Sara Hossain and Rabia Bhuiyan with Masuda Rehana Rosy, Taufiqul Islam and Nusrat Jahan moved the writ petition. Deputy attorney general Razik al Jalil appeared for the state.
   Moving the petition, Sara argued the government failed to prevent the imposition of extrajudicial penalties.
   Such penalties are unconstitutional and in violation of fundamental rights and the right to be free from cruel and degrading or inhuman treatment or punishment, she said.
   She also said people in separate incidents had been executing punishment by beating and caning in the name of mediation, conciliation and arbitration.
   She cited some reports of women and men being subject to extrajudicial punishment such as caning in rural arbitration, often in the presence of or with the participation of members or chairmen of union councils and municipalities.
   The petition described incidents in June where a woman and a man were caned 101 times by the order of village elders at Nabiganj in Habiganj in arbitration in the presence of a chairman and a woman being caned 101 times at Srimangal in Moulvibazar for talking with a man of other faith.
   It also described incidents in June where a woman in Sirajganj was caned 100 times and fined for filing a complaint of rape with a court of justice and a woman being caned in public in August after refusing a relative’s sexual advances.

Two amici curiae on Tuesday opposed the presidential reference asking for the Appellate Division advice on whether the Army Act 1952 could be applied to the trial of the February 25–26 rebellion in the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters.
   During the first-day hearing in the reference in the full court of all the 11 Appellate Division judges, TH Khan, one of the 10 ten amici curiae (court’s friends), argued the government should not have sent the reference to the Appellate Division.
   ‘If necessary, the government could amend the law and even the constitution. But why has it referred such a controversial question to court to make the highest court controversial?’ he said.
   Another amicus curiae, Rafique-ul Huq, also said the government should not have sent the reference to court as it does not involve any question on the interpretation of law.
   He, however, observed the court might render its opinion as the president sought it.
   Rafique’s arguments remain inconclusive and he is scheduled his further submission for today.
   TH Khan argued the accused in the BDR rebellion cases could not be tried under the Army Act 1952 as the act is applicable only to army personnel.
   The Army Act can be applied to any disciplined forces, but the Bangladesh Rifles is not included in the definition of disciplined force as defined in the act, he said.
   He, however, said a number of offences committed during the BDR rebellion could not be tried under the Bangladesh Rifles Order 1972.
   ‘But,’ he contended, ‘the offences also cannot be tried under the Army Act and they can only be tried under the Penal Code by general criminal courts under the Code of Criminal Procedure.’
   The CrPC bars trial of offences committed by defence forces, but not the Bangladesh Rifles, he argued.
   Questioning the government’s motive for seeking opinion of the Appellate Division, TH Khan found the government move might turn the highest court, the symbol of expectations and desire of the nation, controversial.
   The Supreme Court is not bound to give its opinion on this reference, he said.
   Earlier in the morning, the attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, placed the reference, sent by the president, Zillur Rahman, on August 17, in the court.
   He told the court the president had asked for the Appellate Division’s opinion on whether the accused in the BDR rebellion cases could be tried under the Army Act.
   If the court gives its opinion in the negative, the reference further seeks to know whether the Army Act could be applied to the Bangladesh Rifles by a gazette notification under Section 5 of the act to try the cases filed in connection with BDR rebellion.
   He said 73 people, including 57 army officers, were killed during the rebellion.
   According to him, 1,779 people were arrested in the BDR rebellion case filed in Dhaka and 1,721 BDR soldiers were arrested in 40 cases filed elsewhere.
   The arrested include 21 assistant and deputy directors of the Bangladesh Rifles, departmentally promoted officers, 91 civilian employees in the force and 26 civilians, who cannot be tried under the BDR order, Mahbub argued.
   The Appellate Division on August 19 appointed 10 senior lawyers amici curiae (court’s friends) for their views on the issue.
   The other amici curiae are Kamal Hossain, Khondker Mahbubuddin Ahmad, M Amirul Islam, Mahmudul Islam, Rokanuddin Mahmud, AF Hassan Ariff, Ajmalul Hossain and AFM Mesbahuddin.

More than 50 people, including 20 law enforcers, were injured on Tuesday as the police attacked knitwear factory workers rallying for the payment of their salary outstanding for two months.
   The police charged at the workers of the factory at Lalpur in the Fatullah industrial hub in Narayanganj. The police also fired teargas shells to disperse the demonstrators.
   The workers clashed with the lawmen and vandalised factories at Battala, Lalpur, Lamapara and Rajarbagh.
   Witnesses said several hundred workers of the Auto Textile Knitwear Limited, located at Lalpur and owned by Sayeed Ahmed, took to the streets at about 11:00am, demanding outstanding salary for two months when the factory management said it would not pay their salaries on Tuesday as announced earlier.
   The workers alleged the factory authorities had not paid them salary for two months and the owner went abroad.
   Local people, however, said the factory owner had been in hiding for two months after allegedly embezzling a huge amount of money taken in loans from banks.
   As the news spread, the workers went out on demonstrations and brought out a procession shouting slogans against the owner and the factory management.
   The workers, at one point, marched towards neighbouring factories and asked the fellows in other factories to join them.
   As some fellows declined to join them, the demonstrators started pelting the factories with stones.
   As the procession reached Kutubail, the law enforcers stopped the marchers, leading to sporadic clashes.
   The police charged at the workers with truncheons, but the workers countered the assault by pelting the lawmen with stones.
   Thirty workers and 20 policemen, including assistant superintendent of police Mir Abu Touhid, sustained injuries in the clashes.
   The workers, split into small groups, clashed with the police at Battala, Lalpur, Lamapara and Rajarbagh.
   The workers again walked in a procession and were stopped by the police when they reached Kutubail.
   The police again attacked them when the workers tried to stop a train at about 1:45pm.
   The police charged at them with truncheons and fired about 10 teargas shells in the workers to control the situation.
   The injured were being treated in local clinics and Narayanganj General Hospital.
   The superintendent of police, Biwas Afzal Hossain, said, ‘The police charged at them with truncheons and fired six teargas shells to disperse them as they tried to attack other factories.’

The government plans a further review of Biman’s voluntary retirement scheme, which shed 1800 jobs in the national flag carrier, following recommendations by a parliamentary panel to reinstate the employees, civil aviation and tourism minister told New Age Tuesday.
   ‘We will review the VRS as it is presumed that all those staff members were not forced to quit as said,’ GM Quader said.
   Wholesale reinstatement of the officials and employees, who left jobs with extra benefits, will not be feasible at this moment, and therefore the recommendations need further scrutiny, he added.
   ‘Fresh appointments could be given from the retired officials under fresh contracts provided the Biman needs their services,’ the minister said.
   The parliamentary standing committee on the ministry at a meeting at Balaka, the headquarters of the airlines, Tuesday asked for reinstatement of the airlines’ staff members who were allegedly forced to retire under the scheme during the past military-backed government in 2007.
   The retirement scheme paved the way for turning Biman Bangladesh Airlines into a public limited company.
   With the elected government’s assumption to office in January, around 1000 former Biman officials, who lost their jobs under the VRS in 2007, staged demonstration at Balaka in Dhaka demanding reinstatement.
   They claimed that they were forced to resign under the scheme and complained that the scheme was misused to force the honest and efficient people to leave jobs, and shield the corrupt ones from legal actions.
   A total of 1,876 officials and employees of the now defunct Bangladesh Biman Corporation resigned under the scheme.
   Tuesday’s meeting, presided over by Mosharraf Hossain, also suggested that the ministry should allow construction of two hotels at the Zia International Airport complex under a lease agreement with a Singaporean company.
   The panel reversed its earlier proposal to scrap the controversial deal with the Singaporean company IPCO for construction of luxury hotels, golf course and a country club inside the air security zone at the country’s main airport.
   The construction of the hotel has remained suspended for the last two years.
   ‘We have now decided to allow the company to go ahead with the job and asked the authorities concerned to negotiate for developing a golf course beside the ZIA,’ the committee chairman said.
   The minister also opposed the idea saying that the authorities would need the invaluable 144 acres of land for future expansion of the airport.

Civil aviation and tourism minister GM Quader Tuesday received death threat through a cell phone short text message service.
   ‘I can’t suspect anyone at this moment, but there might be some quarters unhappy with my actions related to ministry works,’ the minister told New Age adding that he was not at all worried.
   The text message began with an old English proverb and asked the minister to get prepared for death.
   ‘Time and tide wait for none. But one person wait[s] for you. Do you know who is he? He is Azrail. He must come and take your zaan (life). So, be careful. It is high time,’ reads the message sent from a GrameenPhone number.
   A Jatiya Party leader and a minister of the Awami League-led coalition government, Quader asked his personal staff to lodge a general diary with Uttara police station.

Sugar refineries have scaled down their supplies to wholesalers, resulting in shortage of the sweetener in the kitchen market and creating ground for raising its price to new heights, market and official sources said.
   The country’s sugar cartel also gave the government the cold shoulder as four leading refiners ignored an invitation from Trading Corporation of Bangladesh for a meeting Tuesday afternoon.
   ‘The commerce ministry’s monitoring teams have found that the refineries are not supplying enough sugar to wholesalers during the last three days,’ said a trade official.
   Commerce minister Faruk Khan also looked helpless as reporters asked him about steps to increase supplies from refineries and stop sugar price from spiralling further. ‘Why don’t you ask the owners of refineries?’ he answered.
   ‘We are looking into the matter,’ he hastened to add.
   Commerce ministry officials have been directed to monitor the sales of sugar by refineries to wholesale market.
   A commodity wholesaler said he had waited for three days to get delivery of sugar from a leading refinery and the amount was far less than what he wanted.
   ‘We have learnt that refineries are selling little amount of sugar at the mill-gate rate fixed by the ministry,’ a commerce ministry official said.
   Last week, the commerce ministry fixed mill-gate price of sugar at Tk 39 per kilogram in consultation with refiners, who already took the benefit of reduction of import duty on raw sugar, costing the exchequer about Tk 300 crore.
   But benefit of duty cut eluded the consumers as in the past, as price was approaching Tk 50 a kg. The market looked braced for further rise in sugar price during Eid when its consumption would peak.
   Mustafizur Rahman Babul, chairman of Bangladesh Sugar Dealers’ Association told New Age that big refineries like City Group, Meghna Group and Deshbandhu Sugar Mills were not supplying as per demands from wholesalers.
   ‘Wholesalers are not getting enough supply from the refineries, leading to increase in its price almost everyday in the past week,’ he added.
   Sugar was selling at Tk 1,720 per maund [37.3 kg] at wholesale market, meaning that wholesale rate was above Tk 44 per kg.
   Annisul Huq, president of apex trade body FBCCI told reporters that owners of three sugar refineries told him on Monday that they were selling 4,000 kilogram of sugar per day.
   ‘We will request them to supply enough sugar to the wholesale market,’ he added.
   The country’s six refineries have a total annual capacity of producing 1.8 million tonnes against domestic demand for 1.2 million tonnes. Refiners earlier argued that procurement of raw sugar dropped in recent months due to price hike in global market.
   State-run 14 sugar mills produced only 80,000 tonnes in the last crushing season.

Popular monthly magazine Reader’s Digest has filed for bankruptcy protection.
   Reader’s Digest Association Inc, publisher of the iconic general interest magazine that began gracing American homes in 1922 and now reaches a worldwide audience of 130 million, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday as it faces falling print circulation in the Internet age and looming debt payments.
   Known for its heart-warming stories about American life as other publications moved toward edgier fare, the company’s flagship Reader’s Digest magazine has seen its US circulation drop from a peak of more than 17 million in the 1970s to just above 8 million last year.
   Magnifying the publishing world’s woes is an advertising slump that already has led to the closing of several high-profile magazines, including Conde Nast’s Portfolio, Domino and Blender.
   But Reader’s Digest CEO Mary Berner has said that ad pages for the company’s US magazines are down less than 6 per cent through the September editions. The publications’ down-home feel instead of a high reliance on luxury and high-income tastes has an added attraction to advertisers in a recession that has hurt much of print media.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party will take to the streets across the country on September 6 and 7 in protest at increase in prices of essential goods and dipping law and order.
   The party’s secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain announced the programmes at a briefing at the party’s central office.
   The party will go out on demonstrations in six divisional headquarters on September 6 and in all district headquarters on September 7.
   ‘The government has failed to control the market.
   It gave an assurance that it would keep essential goods prices within the reach of the common people, but in the first three days of Ramadan, prices have gone up further,’ Delwar said. ‘Oil, onion, garlic, sugar and vegetable prices have gone out of the reach of the common people.’
   Extortion by leaders and activists of the Awami League and its fronts caused the increase in the prices and the government was not taking an action in this regard although two ministers admitted to such extortion, Delwar said.
   Pointing out violence in the food department between Chhatra League and Juba League over tenders and the factional feud of Chhatra League in the Dhaka University Jasimuddin Hall, Delwar said such incidents highlight the state of law and order.
   ‘Law and order has extremely deteriorated. Extortion, murder, abduction and other forms of crime are on the rise even in Ramadan,’ he said, adding that his party had announced the programmes amid such failures of the government.
   The party’s joint secretaries general Mirza Abbas and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, former lawmaker Selim Reza Habib and former Chhatra Dal president Habibunnabi Khan Sohel attended the briefing.

The president, Barack Obama, is trying to make positive changes in the United States, but is being fought at every turn by right-wingers who hate him because he is black, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday.
   In an unusually conciliatory column in the state-run media, Castro said Obama had inherited many problems from his predecessor, George W Bush, and was trying to resolve them. But the ‘powerful extreme right won’t be happy with anything that diminishes their prerogatives in the slightest way.’
   Obama does not want to change the US political and economic system, but ‘in spite of that, the extreme right hates him for being African-American and fights what the president does to improve the deteriorated image of that country,’ Castro wrote.
   ‘I don’t have the slightest doubt that the racist right will do everything possible to wear him down, blocking his programme to get him out of the game one way or another, at the least political cost,’ he said.
   Castro, who writes regular commentaries for Cuba’s state-run media, has criticised Obama, complimented him occasionally and said that he is watching him closely to see if he means what he says about changing US policy toward Cuba.
   His latest column comes during a visit to Cuba by the New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, that has stirred speculation that he may try to push US-Cuba relations forward.
   Richardson has been a diplomatic trouble-shooter in nations with which the United States has poor relations. In 1996 he negotiated with Castro for the release of three Cuban political prisoners.
   Obama has said he wants to end 50 years of hostilities between the United States and Cuba and has eased the long-standing US trade embargo against the communist-led island.
   But he has said the embargo will be lifted only if Cuba shows progress on political prisoners and human rights. The Cuban president, Raul Castro, has said he is happy to discuss these issues but will make no unilateral concessions.
   Obama has been criticised by anti-embargo groups for moving too slowly on Cuban policy.
   Castro, 83, ran Cuba for 49 years after taking power in a 1959 revolution, but stepped down last year so Raul Castro, his younger brother, could succeed him.
   He has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006, but still plays a behind-the-scenes role in government and maintains a high profile through his writings.
   He appeared on Cuban television on Sunday for the first time in 14 months meeting with Venezuelan students.
   He seemed in good health as he smiled and talked with the students in an appearance some experts believe was aimed at shoring up support for his brother and the government at a time when Cuba is in deep economic crisis.

The number of swine flu infection cases rose to 117 as 13 more patients with H1N1 virus infection were detected on Tuesday, according to the IEDCR.
   ‘We have identified 13 more patients carrying the [H1N1] virus,’ the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research director, Professor Mahmudur Rahman, also the director of the National Influenza Centre, told New Age on Tuesday.
   He said the number of swine flu patients rose from 104 on Monday to 117 on Tuesday.
   He, however, said most of the 117 cases were mild and many patients had already recovered from the disease. ‘We are worried for a three-month-old child who is in a critical condition.’
   A swine flu suspect case is defined when an individual runs temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius or more accompanied with cough, sore throat, or shortness of breath, according to the IEDCR. A H1N1 case can be confirmed only after laboratory tests, he said.
   He suggested people suspected of suffering from swine flu infection should be examined in designated hospitals in Dhaka and general hospitals in districts.
   The government has kept ready several hospitals for the treatment of swine flu patients. The hospitals are Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital (Mitford Hospital), Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, Chest Hospital and Infectious Diseases Hospital at Mahakhali.
   Physicians of Sarkari Karmachari Hospital, Mahanagar Shishu Hospital and Primary Health Centres of the Dhaka City Corporation have also been trained to deal with swine flu patients, the IEDCR director said.
   Eight more city hospitals, public and private, will be equipped early next week to deal with swine flu cases, according to the IEDCR.
   The eight hospitals are Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital, National Medical College Hospital, BIRDEM Hospital, Bangladesh Medical College Hospital, Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, Shahabuddin Medical College Hospital and Uttara Adhunik Hospital.
   With two more deaths, the swine flu death toll has reached 76 in neighbouring India, union health ministry officials said in Delhi.
   One hundred and thirty-seven fresh cases of swine flu infection were reported from Indian states, taking the total number of swine flu infection to 2,909.

Swine flu could infect as much as half of the US population this fall and winter and cause up to 90,000 deaths, president Barack Obama’s science advisors warned Monday.
   Laying out a ‘plausible scenario’ for the epidemic’s impact in the United States, the report painted a grim picture of stress on the US health care system as it struggles to cope with a flood of flu patients.
   The epidemic’s resurgence could ‘produce infection of 30-50 per cent of the US population this fall and winter, with symptoms in approximately 20-40 per cent of the population (60-120 million people), more than half of whom would seek medical attention,’ the report said.
   As many as 1.8 million people could be admitted to hospitals with up to 300,000 of them requiring treatment in intensive care units.
   ‘Importantly, these very ill patients could occupy 50-100 per cent of all ICU beds in affected regions of the country at the peak of the epidemic and could place enormous stress on ICU units, which normally operate close to capacity,’ it said.
   The epidemic, it said, ‘could cause between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths in the United States, concentrated among children and young adults,’ it said.
   That compares with 30,000 to 40,000 deaths from seasonal flu each year, mainly among people over age 65.
   The report said the epidemic poses ‘especially high risks’ for people with pre-existing conditions such as pregnant women and patients with neurological disorders, respiratory impairment, diabetes or severe obesity.
   It also mentioned Native Americans as being at risk from the swine flu.
   The flu’s resurgence could occur as early as September when the school term begins, and peak in mid-October.
   But a vaccine against the A(H1N1) virus is only projected to be available in mid-October, and it will take vaccinated individuals several more weeks to develop protective immunity, the report said.
   ‘This potential mismatch in timing could significantly diminish the usefulness of vaccination for mitigating the epidemic and could place many at risk of serious infection,’ it said.
   The report by the president’s council of advisors on science and technology said that while the virus is ‘unlikely to resemble the deadly flu pandemic of 1918-19,’ the current strain still ‘poses a serious health threat.’
   According to the latest official US figures, the 2009 swine flu strain has already killed 522 people in the United States and hospitalised almost 8,000 people since it emerged in Mexico at the end of April.
   The group recommended accelerating preparation of flu vaccines for distribution to high-risk individuals and clarifying guidelines for the use of antiviral medicines.
   Advisors also called on the public to stay informed on A(H1N1)’s expected spread as the northern hemisphere’s regular flu returns with the colder months.
   These efforts involve using social networking sites on the internet to propagate health messages and an ‘intensive public education’ campaign to promote awareness to the threat.
   The White House also needs to create a post that has ‘primary authority to coordinate key decisions’ for fighting the pandemic, the report said.
   Among other recommendations are for workplaces to ‘liberalise rules for absenteeism’ so employees are not pressured to come to work when they feel sick.
   Overall, the PCAST gave the administration positive reviews for its preparation.
   ‘The Federal Government’s response has been truly impressive and we’ve all been pleased to see the high level of cooperation among the many departments and agencies that are gearing up for the expected fall resurgence of H1N1 flu,’ said PCAST co-chair Harold Varmus.
   ‘This virus has pulled us all together in common cause,’ said another PCAST co-chair, Eric Lander. ‘The preparations are the best ever for an influenza pandemic,’ he said.
   Over 20 pharmaceutical companies around the world are racing to test, produce and distribute more than a billion doses of the vaccines in anticipation of the second wave of infection.
   A(H1N1) has created a health crisis in Latin America throughout the southern continent’s winter months, causing more than 1,300 deaths, according to an AFP tally of individual government tolls.

Flooding in the north and the north-east started improving gradually as major rivers started receding, but rivers in central and southern districts continued to swell.
   The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said rivers fell at 38 points out of the 73 monitoring stations and swelled at 34 points. The rivers remained steady at one point. Rivers were flowing above danger mark at nine points.
   The centre said flooding of low-lying areas in Sirajganj, Tangail, Rajbari, Faridpur, Madaripur Shariatpur, Manikganj, Munshiganj and at Dohar and Nababganj in Dhaka would slowly improve in two days.
   Reports said flooding of the central district of Pabna deteriorated as the Padma and the Jamuna continued swelling. Erosion of both the rivers took a serious turn. A six-year-old child drowned in floodwater at Bastal of Sujanagar.
   The district administration said water was rising in the Padma, Jamuna, Gumani, Chiknai, Baral and other rivers inundating more areas at Bera, Sujanagar and the district headquarters.
   The New Age correspondent in Satkhira reports at least three villages at Tala were flooded as an embankment on the bank of the Kobadak breached at Jethua point on August 23. More than 250 families in the villages have become marooned.
   The affected villages were Krishnakati, Jethua and Charkanaidia at Tala. Panic-stricken people have taken shelter on high land.
   Standing aman crops on 700 acres of land were also submerged and at least 50 shrimp enclosures in the area were washed away.
   The Satkhira deputy commissioner, Md Abdus Samad, said the local administration had allocated 10 tonnes of rice among the affected.
   The correspondent in Sirajganj said flooding of the district remained unchanged although water in Jamuna started receding.
   The Kazipur municipal chairman, GM Talukder, said the transplanted aman on 500 acres of land were submerged.
   The Chouhali upazila chairman, Mahfuza Khatun, said erosion had taken a serious turn in the upazila.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council has approved three stadium development projects involving Tk 152 crore to facilitate smooth holding of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in Bangladesh.
   The development of the stadiums is among five development projects worth Tk 584 crore which was approved by the ECNEC at its meeting at the NEC on Tuesday.
   Briefing reporters, the planning minister, AK Khandker, said Tk 293 crore of the total project costs would be met from national exchequer while the rest Tk 291 crore would be spent from foreign aid.
   The prime minister and ECNEC chairperson, Sheikh Hasina, presided over the meeting, attended by senior cabinet ministers and senior officials concerned.
   The projects are maintenance and development of Bangabandhu National Stadium at a cost of Tk 31 crore to prepare the venue for the World Cup inaugural session, maintenance and development of Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur at a cost of Tk 64 crore to convert it as an ICC standard stadium and maintenance and development of Narayanganj Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium (Fatulla) at a cost of Tk 57 crore to prepare it as an alternative venue of the World Cup Cricket.

The situation of traffic congestion in the capital was not improved on Tuesday despite seven mobile courts were conducted at different city points to give commuters a respite on the streets, witnesses said.
   After forming a high-powered committee on August 20 to work for easing traffic jam, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Zillar Rahman on Tuesday assigned five magistrates to operate mobile courts to improve the situation by dumping the unfit and unlicensed vehicles.
   The magistrates conducted mobile courts at Demra, Mohakhali, Gulistan, Tejgaon and Malibagh areas.
   The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority also conducted two mobile courts at Gulshan and Uttar Jatrabari. The courts dumped seven vehicles, including age-old mini buses, pickup vans and taxicabs, and realised fine of Tk 40,000. They also filed 20 cases against the unfit vehicles.
   Though they conducted drives, traffic congestions were seen on the major city streets, including Kazi Nazrul Islam avenue, Minto road, Tajuddin Ahmed sarani, Shaheed Sangbadik Selina Parveen road, Mirpur road, Elephant road and Bailey road.
   The commuters suffered a lot at bus stops for the lack of adequate transports as a good number of the age-old buses having no valid documents stayed off the roads in fear of the mobile courts.
   They were seen waiting for transports at various bus stops for long period and fighting each other to get on the jam-packed buses. The situation worsened in the afternoon when the fasting people from different offices rushed to the bus stops to return home after the office hours.
   BRTA director (enforcement) Tapan Kumar Sarker, a member of the high-powered committee, told New Age that the lawmen failed to control the serious traffic congestion in the capital as the drivers were flouting the traffic rules and stopping their vehicles at anywhere, even in the middle of the roads, for taking and dropping passengers.

Lethal levels of a powerful anesthetic killed Michael Jackson, according to court documents that placed the pop star’s personal physician under mounting police scrutiny.
   The documents, which shed light on one of the last remaining questions about Jackson’s sudden death two months ago, raised the possibility that the death will be ruled a homicide and that criminal charges will be brought against the singer’s personal physician, who was with the star the morning he died.
   Cardiologist Conrad Murray has been the target of a manslaughter investigation for weeks, but the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office on Monday would not confirm or deny that the death was ruled a homicide.
   ‘We have not released the findings and the case is still under a security hold,’ said Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
   Responding to reports that the coroner had declared Jackson’s death a homicide, Winter said: ‘We have not said that.’
   A fatal cocktail of drugs, including the anesthetic propofol, whose trade name is Diprivan, was administered to the pop icon hours before he died, according to the documents unsealed Monday in Houston, Texas and tied to the investigation into Jackson’s death on June 25 at age 50.
   Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran ‘reviewed the preliminary toxicology results and his preliminary assessment of Jackson’s cause of death was due to lethal levels of propofol,’ according to the Los Angeles search warrant affidavit.
   Murray administered propofol and other drugs to Jackson — at the star’s insistence — to treat his insomnia, but was worried Jackson had developed an addiction and ‘tried to wean Jackson off of the drug,’ the affidavit said.
   The Jackson family issued a brief statement, saying it ‘looks forward to the day that justice can be served,’ but noting it has ‘full confidence in the legal process.’
   La Toya Jackson — the star’s sister — told ABC News that she is ‘thankful to the investigators for uncovering the truth to the world.’
   ABC television said La Toya would sit down for an interview with talkshow host Barbara Walters on September 11 to explain why she believes her brother was murdered.
   The affidavit revealed that Murray confessed to investigators two days after the star died that he had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol nightly during the six weeks prior to the event that sent shockwaves throughout the world.
   On June 22, he halved Jackson’s propofol dose to wean him off the drug and also gave two other sedatives — lorazepam and midazolam.
   The following night, he administered the latter two drugs but withheld propofol, and the star was able to sleep. But throughout the next night, Jackson stayed awake.
   ‘Jackson remained awake and at approximately 1040 hours, Murray finally administered 25 milligrams of propofol, diluted with lidocaine via IV drip to keep Jackson sedated, after repeated demands/ requests from Jackson,’ according to the affidavit.
   Murray was monitoring Jackson closely, it stated, but then stepped away from his bedside to use the bathroom. When he returned two minutes later, Jackson had stopped breathing.
   His attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and the singer was declared dead at about 2:00pm local time (2100 GMT).
   Murray told investigators he was not the first doctor to administer propofol to the King of Pop, who referred to the drug as his ‘milk,’ LAPD detective Orlando Martinez wrote in the affidavit, citing the cardiologist.
   Jackson is due to be buried at a cemetery in Glendale, California on September 3, his family announced last week. They had originally planned to bury him on August 29 — the day he would have turned 51.

The Power Division today meets local entrepreneurs and foreign investors to seek investments in the installation of high-cost, short-term rental power, peaking and coal-based power plants.
   The prime minister’s adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and the state minister for power and energy, Enamul Haque, will attend the meeting at Bidyut Bhaban at 2:00pm.
   Power Division officials said they had invited local entrepreneurs, foreign investors and representative of foreign companies in Bangladesh to the meeting, which is open for all.
   ‘We will take up with them the government plan on installing rental power plants of 1,500MW, peaking plants of 800MW and coal-based power plants of 2,000MW and seek their suggestions and recommendations,’ the power secretary, Abul Kalam Azad, told New Age on Tuesday.
   He said recommendations would also be sought on how fast the power plants could be installed to tackle the ongoing power shortage.
   Tawfiq-e-Elahi on Sunday told reporters huge investments would be needed to install the rental, peaking and coal-based power plants.
   Asked whether local investors having little experience in running rental power plants would be able to install such plants in a short time, he said, ‘We will give it a try as we should encourage our investors to put in money in the power sector.’
   The immediate-past interim government selected some local entrepreneurs for the installation of rental power plants, but the entrepreneurs allegedly brought some non-existent foreign companies as partners. Installation of most of the power plants was delayed.
   The foreign companies on the other hand asked for exorbitant prices for electricity at that time.
   The government, meanwhile, is yet to decide how many rental power plants it will install.
   ‘Our plan is to install rental power plants with a combined capacity of 500MW–1,500MW. We are now selecting sites for the power plants. We will go for tenders whenever we get sites for the power plants, for 600MW or 400MW. The exact capacity is yet to be decided,’ said a power official.
   Officials said the Power Development Board had selected four to five sites for rental power plants.
   The power secretary will visit the sites later this week to decide the location for the installation of rental power plants. The government has taken up plans to install power plants of around 7,000MW by 2014.
   The country faces power shortage of around 2,000MW as the generation is around 3,800MW against the demand for around 5,500MW–6,000MW.

A man, believe to be regional leader of underground Sarbahara group, was killed in a ‘shootout’ with law enforcers at Shalikha upazila in Magura early Tuesday, a press release issue by RAB-6 in Khulna said.
   The deceased is Tayebur Rahman alias Tota alias Niru, 42, a listed criminal accused in at least 12 cases, including five for murder, said the press release, claiming that he was the regional leader of Sarbahara group.
   The release said members of the Rapid Action Battalion-6 (Jessore camp) and policemen, on information, launched a drive at Tinrastar Mor of village Harishpur at around 2:45am on Tuesday to nab underground party operatives.
   No sooner had the RAB team reached the Tinrastar Mor, the underground operatives opened fire on them, forcing them to retaliate, it said.
   After the ‘shootout’ for about 30 to 35 minutes, locals recovered the body of Tayebur, one shutter gun, three rounds of bullets and two sharp weapons from the spot, claimed the RAB press release, adding that the locals identified the body to be of regional leader of Sarbahara group Tayebur Rahman alias Tota alias Niru.

A leader of an outlawed party was killed in a shootout between the police and the party operatives in Charmilpara Mahashwashan ghat area of Kushtia town early Tuesday.
   The deceased was Shahinur Rahman Dablu, 35, regional commander of Ganabahini (Lal).
   Acting on a tip-off, a police team conducted raids in the area at about 3:30am to track down Dablu and his accomplices who were in a clandestine meeting.
   As the law-enforcers reached near the spot, the outlaws fired shots on them, forcing them retaliate.
   At one stage, Dablu was caught by bullet and died on the spot while his accomplices managed to flee the scene.
   After the shootout, one LG and 16 rounds of cartridge were seized from the spot.
   The police said Dablu, a resident of Haripur village in Sadar upazila, was wanted in a number of cases, including murders.