Chittagong, Cox's Bazar Landslides kill 15 amid downpour

At least 15 people were killed in landslides in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar amid heavy downpour yesterday, with much of the port city going under knee-deep to waist-deep water.
Eleven of the victims -- five of them children aged between two and 12 -- died in separate landslides in different parts of Chittagong. In Cox's Bazar, four persons were killed as large chunks of earth fell on their hillside homes in different areas of Maheshkhali upazila, police said.
Several people in the port city were reported missing following a number of avalanches at Uttar Pahartali and Banshkhali areas.
All domestic and international flight operations to and from Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport were declared suspended at 4:30pm as the runway was inundated.
Train services on the Dhaka-Chittagong route were cut off as a railway bridge at Bhatiari collapsed around 8:00pm, presumably due to the downpour.
As the monsoon torrent kept lakhs of people stranded at home throughout the day since early morning, business in the country's commercial capital came to a near halt.
With most of the areas of the city submerged, at least 11 areas experienced total power blackout for about 12 hours since 8:00am. Power connection was restored in some of the areas after 8:30pm.
The Power Development Board snapped the connections fearing accidents resulting from short circuits, said Md Moniruzzaman, public relations officer of Chittagong PDB.
The areas that suffered power cuts include Halishahar, Pahartali, Khulshi, Bakalia, Asadganj, Pathorghata, Sugondha, Chawkbazar, Bahaddarhat and parts of Reazuddin Bazar.
Water logging is a problem that recurs in Chittagong almost every year. It has been more so in the last four to five years.
City people and town planners blame the Chittagong City Corporation and other city authorities for not doing enough to put in place a better drainage and water management system.
SUFFERINGS
Beginning at around 3:30am, the downpour continued all day almost ceaselessly, causing immense sufferings to tens of thousands of people in Chittagong.
The exact number of the affected people could not be known.
Thick, filthy water swept through homes, businesses and other government and non-government institutions for hours, washing away scores of make-shift homes, shops and parts of other fragile establishments.
City life came to a standstill and businesses were badly affected.
The areas that went under knee-deep to waist-deep water include Panchlaish, Chawkbazar, Bakalia, Kapasgola, Bahaddarhat, CDA Avenue, Halishahar, Badurtala, Muradpur, Sholashahar, Mohammadpur, Agrabad, Chandgaon, Bayezid, Proborthak intersection, Medical college road, Chittagong College road, Katalganj, Khulshi, Kattali, Dewan Bazar, Chatteshwari Road, Sadar Ghat, Pathorghata, Khatunganj, Chaktai, Wireless area and Nasirabad area of Chittagong.
Loading and unloading of cargo at Chittagong port were greatly hampered. The rain also disrupted delivery of cargoes from the port to different destinations of the country, Syed Farhad Uddin, secretary of Chittagong Port Authority, told The Daily Star.
The city dwellers were mostly stranded at home. Those who dared to defy the rain found themselves in the middle of nowhere, as there was no transport except for a few rickshaws. Commuters had to walk to their destinations through the dirty water overflowing the drains.
Water was waist-high on some roads where movement of all types of engine-run vehicles remained suspended till the filling this report at 10:30pm.
Many in the affected areas were seen pumping rainwater out of their homes. Shawkat Iqbal of Bakalia area is one of them. He accused the CCC of not addressing the water logging problem.
Most businesses, including kitchen markets and grocery shops, did not open.
The miseries of several thousand slum dwellers at Bakalia were acute as the rain washed away everything they had, said CCC Councillor Zafar.
Attendance in schools and colleges was very thin as most students could not come out of their homes.
Tanima Chowdhury, a third year honours student of Haji Mohammad Mohsin College going to her classes on foot through knee-high water, said the CCC did not care about their sufferings.
The premises of many educational institutions, including West Bakalia Govt Primary School, Bangabandhu Govt Model Primary School, Kapasgola City Corporation Girls High School and College, Bakalia Govt High School, Bachelor of Education (B. Ed) College and Meron Sun School and College, went under water.
The Chittagong Met office recorded 342.5 millimetres of rain in the last 24 hours till 6:00pm yesterday, the highest rainfall this year. The Met office forecasts more shower in the next 24 hours.
In Cox's Bazar, 230 villages under eight upazilas were inundated, affecting about 3 lakh people. More than 800 mud houses were destroyed in those areas.
PORT AUTHORITIES BLAMED
City dwellers hold the CCC responsible for their recurring sufferings.
“Two years have passed since the Mayor took office. But we do not see any significant initiative taken by the city authorities to address the waterlogging problem," said Masud Ahmed of Panchlaish.
Dozens of others echoed his sentiment.
Asked, Bijoy Kumar Chowdhury, a councillor of the CCC, said the CCC alone could not solve the problem.
The job must be done in coordination with the Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) and the Chittagong Development Authority, added Bijoy, who is also chairman of the CCC's standing committee on waterlogging.
Mahbub Alam, senior vice-president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also stressed the need for coordination among the CCC, Wasa and CDA.
According to Zarina Hossain, a town planner, unplanned urbanisation is to blame for Chittagong's water stagnation.
Bijoy Chowdhury said the city authority had done a lot of work to address this problem but some major projects remained incomplete due to fund shortages.
“We have submitted a proposal regarding digging a canal in the port city from Bahaddarhat to the Karnaphuli River,” he said, adding that the proposal was under consideration of the local government ministry.
The seven-km canal will go through Khawza Road before falling into the Karnaphuli. Bijoy hoped that Chittagong's waterlogging problem would be solved to a great extent on completion of the Tk 297-crore project.
EVACUATION
Meanwhile, the Chittagong district administration yesterday evacuated 400 people from their houses on the hill slopes at Biswa Colony in Chittagong to prevent deaths in landslides.
A team led by Additional Deputy Commissioner (revenue) Ismail Hossain also demolished 25 shanties illegally built on the slopes.
Last year, 17 people were killed in landslides in the port city. The number was 127 in 2007.

3 killed in boiler blast at factory

At least three people were killed and five others injured in a boiler explosion at a cloth processing factory in Narsingdi town yesterday.
The boiler exploded around 7:30am at M/s Mokbul Hossain Bhuiyan Calendar and Finishing Mill at Shahaprotap. Al Amin, 25, a worker was killed on the spot, said Asaduzzaman, officer-in-charge of Narsingdi Model Police Station.
Broken pieces flew over an area of 1km. Abul Hashim, 12, a student of a nearby madrasa, and Begum, 45, wife of Enamul Hasan, of an adjacent house, died as some of those struck them hard, the OC said. Police recovered the bodies and sent them to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital for autopsies.
The injured, Jesmin Begum, 22, Ichha Moni, 4, Enamul Haque, 3, Sabbir, 3, and Abdur Razzak, 45, were rushed to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital. Later, Razzak, a teacher of the madrasa, was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated.
A CNG filling station close to the mill was badly damaged, the police officer said.
Following the incident, mill owner Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan and his manager fled.
Abdus Sattar had been running the mill in a residential area and without any clearance from the Directorate of Environment, said Md Asaduzzaman, senior chemist of the environment department in the district.
Locals had protested against the mill and the Department of Environment had issued several warnings but the owner did not pay heed to them, he added.
Being informed of the explosion, Deputy Commissioner, Narsingdi Obaidul Azam visited the spot and gave Tk 5,000 to each of the bereaved families.
A one member probe committee led by Additional District Judge Md Ali Ahsan was formed to investigate the matter and submit a report within five working days.
A case was lodged with Narsingdi Sadar Police Station in connection with the incident.

PDB now opts for unsolicited deal Recommends Japanese-Korean joint venture after Summit failure

Within a week of local company Summit's withdrawal from the deal for Bibiyana phase-1 power project, the Power Development Board (PDB) is seeking the power ministry's clearance on whether the same job could be awarded to a Japanese-Korean joint venture on the basis of unsolicited negotiation.
On June 18, Summit gave up the deal for Bibiyana 341 megawatt gas-fired plant that it won last year by quoting a very low power price of around Tk 2.6 per kilowatt hour. But, as the company could not arrange finance for the project within a specified deadline, it agreed to a government proposal to give up the job so that the project could be implemented by some other means.
“Acting on the verbal instructions of the energy adviser to the prime minister, the PDB sought the power ministry's clearance on awarding the deal to Marubeni-Hyundai,” said a highly placed source.
In recent times, the Japanese-Korean joint venture was awarded deals for two power projects in Haripur and for Bibiyana phase -3. But in both the cases, the tender authorities resorted to controversial measures to eliminate competitors.
Sources said a young and powerful lawyer-lawmaker from the ruling Awami League is lobbying for the joint venture.
This is the first time under the present government, the PDB is recommending deal for a large power project on the basis of unsolicited negotiation.
The PDB on Sunday suggested asking the joint venture to arrange “buyer's credit” from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) in the same financial model as that for Bibiyana phase-3 contract. In buyer's credit, the PDB gives sovereign guarantee and the contractor brings in the loan.
On June 20, Marubeni-Hyundai joint venture was issued notification of award to set up 399-MW Bibiyana-3 plant.
In recent months, the PDB succeeded in attracting many bidders in open tender for large power projects under the buyer's credit formula.
When Summit agreed to withdraw from this project earlier this month, officials said the government would opt for several options-- it may go for a buyers' credit formula where interested bidders will arrange the funding, or it may go for state-to-state deal with some Middle East investors or even go for negotiations with the second lowest bidder of the original tender in which Summit won the contract.
But the private power project has suddenly become a subject of unsolicited deal as in the cases of short-term rental power projects. “And this is happening because of political lobbying,” said the source.
A top PDB official, who declined to be named, said, “We are doing this to save time. But we have not taken any decision.”
He added, “The government is looking at different options. There are three-four options. But we have not decided which is the best one. It may even be an open tender. The point is we have to deliver.”
Asked if the government supported big deals on the basis of unsolicited negotiation where questions of political favour and corruption would always be raised, the official said, “We always prefer transparent deal. We can't say who is behind this deal.”
But this is not the first time Marubeni-Hyundai is being secured with large power deals.
In February, the PDB violated its rules in technically qualifying Marubeni-Hyundai and disqualified five Chinese co-bidders in the Bibiyana -3 project. The joint venture was selected although it did not submit an authenticated or notarized end-user certificate of experience.
The tender rule demands that if such certificates are not provided, the bid will be disqualified under a “Rejection Clause”. The PDB also sought 38 clarifications from Marubeni in order to qualify. At the same time, it gave no such chance to any other co-bidders and disqualified their bids under the rejection clause.
Similarly, following two years of inept handling of a 360 MW power project in Haripur, the Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (Egcb) awarded the contract to Marubeni-Hyundai by technically disqualifying another Japanese bidder -- Sumitomo -- which is no less a reputed company than Marubeni.
The EGCB also violated its tender terms of not allowing use of any unproven technology by allowing Marubeni-Hyundai to use an unproven generator.
The Haripur project is being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with which Sumitomo had lodged complaints of foul play in the tender.
The Marubeni-Hyundai joint venture is also competing in another large power project in Ghorashal where it is most likely to bring in Japanese finance.

Directors without 2pc share to lose job

Some 350 sponsors and directors of listed companies will not be allowed to sit on the boards as they hold less than 2 percent shares individually in their firms.
They failed to comply with a regulatory directive on minimum shareholding by not acquiring the required percentage of shares within May 21, according to primary data available from Dhaka Stock Exchange.
In such case of directorship vacancy, anybody with 5 percent or more stakes in a listed firm will be entitled to be a director in its next annual general meeting.
However, the Securities and Exchange Commission is yet to gather accurate information from the listed companies about the vacancy.
“The commission will send letters to all listed firms, instructing them to submit a list of vacant posts of directors to the regulator by July 15,” an SEC statement said yesterday.
The stockmarket regulator also rejected the appeals of directors seeking time extension to comply with the rule on minimum shareholding.
The High Court on June 21 upheld the SEC's special power to impose any condition on the market, rejecting five petitions that challenged the Section 2CC of Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969.
The Section 2CC empowers the commission to impose any conditions on listed companies in the interest of the market as well as investors. The regulator has been exercising this since 1997.
Citing the Section 2CC, an SEC circular on November 22 last year made it mandatory for sponsors and directors of listed companies to always keep the fixed percentage of shares under individual and combined ownership.
The SEC directive was meant to stop share sales by sponsors and directors and to create a buying pressure on the stockmarket for the benefit of investors, who have been suffering losses since the price debacle in January last year.
After issuance of the directive, 1,330 sponsors and directors in 231 listed companies were found holding less than 2 percent stakes in their own firms.
Of them, 980 people got the required amount of shares either purchasing from the secondary market or as gift from their close relatives.
At present, 238 companies are listed on the stock exchanges.
From a meeting yesterday, the stockmarket regulator asked the stock exchanges to collect information from the listed companies on their latest shareholding position and submit a report to it within July 15.
The SEC will also ask Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies to provide every support in gathering the list of vacant posts of directors and the latest shareholding status.
Earlier on May 21, the HC also upheld the SEC directive on minimum shareholding after rejecting petitions filed by some directors and aspirant directors of three listed firms.
The petitioners had challenged the legality of the SEC circular.

Refugee boat carrying 150 sinks off Christmas Island

A boat carrying around 150 suspected asylum seekers capsized on Wednesday between Indonesia and Australia's Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, the second such incident in less than week, highlighting Australia's struggle to stem the flow of boatpeople.
A maritime rescue was underway with two merchant ships on site, said Australian authorities. Last week, a boat carrying around 200 suspected asylum seekers capsized in the same area, killing around 90 lives.
"The vessel has capsized, there are people in the water," Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) spokeswoman Jo Meehan told Australian television.
"There are survivors and they will be recovering survivors. Reports are the conditions are fair, not ideal."
A photograph of the boat before it capsized, released by AMSA, showed a heavily crowded boat, which looks like it is made of timber. The photo showed calm seas in the area, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Christmas Island and 185 kilometers (115 miles) south of Indonesia.
The latest incidents have reignited a heated political debate over refugee policy and border security in Australia, despite the fact the country only receives a few thousand asylum-seekers by boat each year.
The government has agreement with Malaysia to process asylum seekers, but the opposition refuses to support the plan in Australia's parliament, preferring to re-open an offshore detention center on the remote Pacific Island of Nauru.
The waters between Indonesia and Christmas Island are a popular route for asylum seekers, who transit through Indonesia with the help of people smugglers in often overcrowded boats.
So far this year, more than 50 boats carrying more than 4,000 asylum seekers have been detected by Australian authorities.
The trip is often dangerous. In December 2011, as many as 200 died when an overcrowded boat sank off the coast of East Java. In 2010, 50 asylum seekers died when their boat was thrown onto rocks at Christmas Island.
In 2001, a crowded boat known as the SIEV X sank on its way to Australia with the loss of 350 lives.

Syria in state of war, says Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said his country is in "a state of war", more than a year after the uprising against his rule began.
Addressing his new cabinet, Assad said that all efforts had to be directed towards winning the war.
Earlier, activists said fierce fighting in the suburbs of the capital Damascus had been the worst there so far.
The fresh clashes came amid heightened tensions with neighbouring Turkey over the downing of a military jet.
"We live in a real state of war from all angles," President Assad told members of the cabinet who were sworn in on Tuesday.
"When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war."
He criticised countries that have been calling for him to stand down, saying that the West "takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage".
He added: "We want good relations with all countries but we must know where our interests lie."
Earlier the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fierce clashes took place near Republican Guard positions in Qadsaya and al-Hama, about 8km (5 miles) from the centre of Damascus.
Correspondents say it is rare for fighting to take place near Republican Guard bases and suggests a growing confidence among the rebels.
The elite Republican Guard, led by President Assad's younger brother Maher, is tasked with protecting the capital.
State TV confirmed Tuesday's fighting but said dozens of "terrorists" had been killed and many others taken prisoner, including foreign fighters.
The Observatory said that 10 people had been killed by shelling in Qadsaya and some 58 people had died in violence across Syria on Tuesday - 24 soldiers, 30 civilians and four rebels. The figures cannot be independently verified.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency: "This is the first time that the regime has used artillery in fighting so close to the capital."
Heavy shelling was also reported in Homs, where the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last week tried unsuccessfully to arrange the evacuation of civilians.
Civilians trapped
Also on Tuesday, Turkey said the rules of engagement for its military had changed after Syria shot down a F-4 Phantom jet over the eastern Mediterranean last week.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told parliament that if Syrian troops approached Turkey's borders, they would be seen as a threat.
"Every military element approaching Turkey from the Syrian border and representing a security risk and danger will be assessed as a military threat and will be treated as a military target," he said.
Syria insists that the F-4 Phantom was shot down because it was inside Syrian airspace. Turkey says the plane in international airspace.
Nato, of which Turkey is a member, convened an emergency meeting of its ambassadors on Monday and afterwards expressed "strong solidarity" with Ankara.
In other developments on Tuesday, the head of the UN's peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous, said its monitoring mission in Syria would remain suspended because of mounting violence.
In April, following months of bloodshed, the Syrian government agreed to a six-point peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. UN monitors were deployed to Syria to oversee a ceasefire but the truce never took hold.
On Tuesday Russia said its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, would attend an international conference on Syria which Annan hopes to hold in Geneva on June 30 to revive his peace plan.
However, Moscow is insisting that Iran also be allowed to attend, a move strongly opposed by the US and its allies.
The BBC's Barbara Plett at UN headquarters in New York says that without an agreement on either the agenda or who will participate, it is not yet clear whether the meeting will go ahead.
Last year, in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings, thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets of Syria's cities demanding greater freedom and political reform.
The government's response was a brutal crackdown that left hundreds dead and inspired many opposition supporters to take up arms.
The main rebel fighting group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), has become increasingly better organised - and armed - and is in effective control of swathes of Idlib province and parts of Aleppo province in the north.

32 killed in Bandarban landslides

Devastating landslides triggered by heavy rains killed at least 32 people in Lama and Naikhanchhari upazilas of Bandarban early Wednesday.
In Lama, the mudslide killed 23 people including 11 of a family while nine more persons including six of another family were buried alive in Naikhanchhari, reports our Chittagong correspondent quoting KM Tariqul Islam, deputy commissioner of Bandarban district.
Eleven members of one Nurul Islam's family buried alive in Raimakhali area of Faitong union in Lama during the landslide, the DC said.
On information, police and firefighters rushed to the spots and were conducting rescue operation.
The number of casualties from the landslides that took place in remote area of Bandarban may rise further, he added.

Our Motherland Situation

Bangladesh

Toronto, Jun 26 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Two former executives of Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc accused of bribing officials in Bangladesh appeared in a Toronto court on Monday to set a date for a preliminary hearing that will start next year.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested the executives, Ramesh Shah, 61, and Mohammad Ismail, 48, in February following a 2011 raid on SNC offices. The company is one of the world's largest engineering firms.

The Toronto-area men were charged under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, which targets any person who, "directly or indirectly gives, offers or agrees to give or offer a loan, reward advantage or benefit of any kind to a foreign public official".

Their preliminary hearing will be held in Toronto early next year, according to a court clerk.

Neither SNC-Lavalin nor the RCMP would comment.

Canadian authorities launched an investigation last year into alleged corruption in the bidding process for the Padma Bridge project in Bangladesh.

The case was brought to Canada's attention by the World Bank, which had agreed to lend Bangladesh $1.2 billion to build the 6-km (4-mile) bridge linking the country's underdeveloped south with the capital, Dhaka, and the main port of Chittigong.

SNC had bid to supervise the contractor on the project. The company did not win that contract, which would have been worth C$10 million.
The World Bank has since suspended its loan, and temporarily barred a SNC-Lavalin subsidiary from bidding on its contracts in the country.

The Montreal-based company is also caught up in an investigation into $56 million in mysterious payments to "agents" on construction contracts, who, in fact, did not exist.

In March, Pierre Duhaime resigned as chief executive of 101-year-old SNC after revelations he had authorized the payments, but details surrounding the matter remain shrouded in mystery.

The company's shares fell C$1.08, or 2.8 percent, to C$37.48 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday.

bdnews24.com/jr/1011h

Mursi never made overtures to Iran: aide

DUBAI/CAIRO, Jun 26 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - An Iranian news agency said Egypt's Islamist President-elect Mohamed Mursi had voiced interest in restoring long-severed ties with Tehran to create a strategic "balance" in the region, but a Mursi aide denied the interview ever took place.

Iran's Fars agency said it spoke to Mursi a few hours before Sunday's election results were announced and quoted him saying the two countries should get closer - comments that go counter to Western efforts to isolate Tehran over its nuclear programme.

"We must restore normal relations with Iran based on shared interests, and expand areas of political coordination and economic cooperation because this will create a balance of pressure in the region," the semi-official news agency quoted Mursi as saying in a transcript of the interview.

Yasser Ali, a Mursi aide, told Reuters: "There was never a meeting with the Iranian news agency Fars and what was taken as statements has no basis in truth".

On its web page, Fars published a transcript and an audio of the conversation. Reuters was unable to verify the recording but the man purported to be Mursi did not sound exactly like him.

Fars said it had asked Mursi whether, if elected, his first state visit would be to Riyadh, to which he replied: "I didn't say such a thing and until now my first international visits following my victory in the elections have not been determined".

Rivalry between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran has been intensified by last year's "Arab Spring" revolts, which have altered political certainties in the Middle East and left the powerful Gulf neighbours vying for influence.

Since Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was toppled in one of those uprisings, both Cairo and Tehran have signalled interest in renewing ties severed more than 30 years ago.

Mursi, however, striving to reassure Egypt's western allies wary at the prospect of Islamist rule, is unlikely to stage major foreign policy reversals so early in his rule.

"STRENGTHENING FRIENDSHIP"

In a message to Mursi on Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated him for winning the vote.

"I emphasise expanding bilateral ties and strengthening the friendship between the two nations," Ahmadinejad wrote, according to state television.

Iran has hailed Mursi's victory over former general Ahmed Shafik in Egypt's first free presidential election as a "splendid vision of democracy" that marked the country's "Islamic Awakening" - a phrase Iranian politicians use to describe the events of the "Arab Spring" and its aftermath.

When asked about the possibility of Cairo and Tehran restoring relations, White House spokesman Jay Carney stressed Egypt's vital role in the region.

"It is perfectly appropriate for a nation like Egypt to have relations with its neighbors, but again we look to Egypt to continue its significant role as a pillar of regional peace and stability," Carney said aboard Air Force One as President Barack Obama flew to New Hampshire.

Western diplomats say in reality Egypt has little real appetite to change relations with Iran significantly, given the substantial issues the new president already has to face in cementing relations with regional and global powers.

"Iran is hoping for Egypt to become a deterrent against an Israeli attack as well as a regional player that Iran can use as a potential counter-balance against Turkey and Saudi Arabia," said a diplomat based in Tehran.

"Egypt, at least under present circumstances, would side with either of these against Iran."

CAMP DAVID REVIEW

In what looked like a reversal of comments Mursi made in a televised address after his victory was announced on Sunday, Fars news quoted him as saying Egypt's Camp David peace accord with Israel "will be reviewed", without elaborating.

The peace treaty remains a lynchpin of US Middle East policy and, despite its unpopularity with many Egyptians, was staunchly upheld by Mubarak, who suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood movement to which Mursi belongs.

The Sunni Brotherhood, whose Palestinian offshoot Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, is vehemently critical of Israel, which has watched the rise of Islamists and political upheaval in neighbouring Egypt with growing concern.

Egypt's formal recognition of Israel and Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution led in 1980 to the breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries, among the biggest and most influential in the Middle East. They currently have reciprocal interest sections, but not at ambassadorial level.

Egypt's foreign minister said last year that Cairo was ready to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran, which has hailed most Arab Spring uprisings as anti-Western rebellions inspired by its own Islamic Revolution.

But Iran has steadfastly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Tehran's closest Arab ally, who is grappling with a revolt against his rule, and at home has continued to reject demands for reform, which spilled onto the street following the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad in 2009.

bdnews24.com/cr/0824 h.

PDB proposes 57% retail power price hike

Aminur Rahman Rasel
bdnews24.com Correspondent

Dhaka, June 25 (bdnews24.com)—State-owned Power Development Board (PDB) has proposed to the energy watchdog to increase the retail electricity tariff by 57 percent per unit (each kilowatt hour).

The PDB also urged Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to make the proposed rate effective from July 1.

BERC member Selim Mahmud told bdnews24.com on Monday that the final decision on the power tariff would be made after holding an open meeting and a public hearing.

He also said besides the PDB, four power-distribution companies have proposed a 55 percent increase per unit on average in the retail power tariff.

The companies are Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDC), Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (DESCO), Rural Electrification Board (REB) and West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZOPDCO).

On June 6, the PDB proposed to the BERC to raise electricity tariff at bulk level by 50 percent per unit. The PDB officials had said at the time that the retail power tariff needed a 30 percent raise.

The PDB in the latest proposal asked the BERC to fix the outer limit bar for lifeline tariff or compulsory minimum charge for residential consumers from 100 units to 60 units to tide over government's losses.

Bulk and retail power prices were hiked only on Mar 29 by Tk 0.28 and Tk 0.30 per unit respectively with teroactive effect from Mar 1.

Both the bulk and retail power tariffs have been increased twice this year.

State-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) on May 24 wrote to the energy watchdog to increase gas prices, except at the domestic consumer level.

bdnews24.com/arr/skb/bd/1730h

Dhaka, Jun 26 (bdnews24.com)—The Dhaka Stock Exchange key index registered a 64.12 points gain with around an hour and a half remaining into trading on the week's third day.

The DGEN reached 4330.80 points or 1.50 percent higher at 1:05pm on Tuesday.

Shares and mutual funds worth around Tk 756.35 million changed hands so far with prices of 219 issues advancing, 16 declining and 19 remaining unchanged.

The key index ended 21.13 points lower on Monday when it closed at 4266.68 points or 0.49 percent down with a turnover of around Tk 1.43 billion.

The DSE key index kicked off the week's trading 12.36 points lower.

The premiere bourse's benchmark index had shed 6.94 percent or 320.55 points last week.

bdnews24.com/zk/1310h

Boiler blast kills 3 in Narsinghdi

Narsinghdi, Jun 26 (bdnews24.com) – At least three people were killed and five others injured on Tuesday when a boiler at a Calendering mill exploded in Narsinghdi sadar upazila.

Officer-in-Charge of Narsinghdi Sadar Model Police Asaduzzaman said the accident took place around 7:30am at the Makbul Hossiain Bhuiyan Calendering and Finishing Mill in the upazila's Shahe Protab area.

The boiler exploded when workers started it for 'finishing' of some produced products. A wall of the factory fell on the nearby road and house killing three people on the spot, he said.

The deceased have been identified as Al-Amin, 25, a worker of the factory, Abul Hashim, 12, a madrassa student and one housewife 'Begum', 45, resident of a factory-adjacent house, the OC said.

Madrassa student Hasim was passing by the factory and housewife 'Begum' was at her home. Both of them died from wall collapse.

Police, Fire Brigade units and Rapid Action Battalion rushed to the spot immediately after the explosion. Locals rescued five injured and sent them to Narsinghdi Sadar Hospital, he added.

The injured have been identified as Jesmin Begum, 22, Isa Moni, 4, 'Sabbir', 3 and Abdur Razzak, 45.

Doctors have sent Razzak to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated.

The police official said the factory owner Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan and its managing director have fled following the accident.

"We are looking for them", he added.

bdnews24.com/corr/jk/zk/jr/1241h

Tue, Jun 26th, 2012 12:56 pm BdST

Dhaka, Jun 26 (bdnews24.com) – Parliament has corrected mistakes in Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority Act, 2012, which was passed four months ago.

The Act did not repeal its earlier laws, Dhaka Transport Coordination Board Act, 2001, meaning the authority is facing problems in doing its tasks as both it and the board are functional in parallel.

Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (Amendment)) Bill, 2012 was passed in a voice vote piloted by Communications Minister Obaidul Quader Tuesday amid protest from independent lawmaker Mohammad Fazlul Azim.

The minister blamed Bangladesh Government Press for the mistakes while Azim contradicted.

"In a printing press, there can be spelling or grammar mistake but mistake of content is not possible," Azim said.

There is perception among people that lawmakers just pass laws formulated by clerks, he said.

Citing the process, Azim said a bill is sent to the Ministry of Law for vetting after it is drafted by a ministry.

"The cabinet nods before it is placed to parliament. It is extensively discussed in the respective standing committee also," he said.

The minister said he was not avoiding his responsibility.

"Due to mistakes by the BG Press, we had fallen into a lengthy process to amend the law," he said.

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Order on Kashem’s bail Tuesday

International Crimes Tribunal-1 will pass an order on Tuesday whether it would grant bail to war crimes suspect Jamaat leader Mir Kashem Ali.
The tribunal fixed the date on Monday after hearing on Mir Kashem’s bail petition had ended.
Defence lawyers appealed for his bail when the court started the day’s proceedings around 10:40am in presence of Mir Kashem.
After placing the bail petition before the tribunal, defence lawyer Abdur Razzak said Mir Kashem should be granted bail as the 63-year-old central Jamaat leader was sick.
The defence counsel further said Kashem is a dignified person and he has no intension of fleeing.
While prosecution said Kashem, a very influential person, might hamper the investigation and threaten the witnesses if he is free.
Less than two hours after the court issued an arrest warrant against him, Kashem was arrested at the office of Bangla daily Naya Diganta at Motijheel on Sunday for his alleged involvement with the crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
The tribunal later sent him to jail with a custodial warrant.

Cabinet nods Dhk-Yangon flight proposal

The cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for signing an agreement on direct flight service between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
At present, there is no direct flight between the two neighbouring countries.
Once the agreement is signed, seven passenger and four cargo flights will shuttle between Dhaka-Yangon every week, Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists after the regular cabinet meeting.
Bangladesh will now send the proposal to Myanmar for its approval to begin the direct flight service, the cabinet secretary said.
The proposal, placed by the Aviation and Tourism Ministry, mentioned the names of Bangladesh Biman, GMG Airlines, United Airways and two Myanmar airlines for operating the flights, he added.
The cabinet also approved a draft of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority Act-2011.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting at the secretariat in the capital.