London 2012: GB beach volleyball player Shauna Mullin's perfect weekend

A weekend off is a real luxury for me. My volleyball partner, Zara, and I are away training and competing for about 10 months of each year and when I’m in England, I live in Hook, Hampshire, with my gran, and commute daily to the Sport Training Village in Bath, which is one and a half hours away.

On Fridays I finish training at about 3.30-4pm and in an ideal world I’ll drive straight to Heathrow and jump on a flight to Edinburgh, as my best friends Laura, Jenny and Sara live in Scotland. I met them when I went to boarding school in Edinburgh when my father, a hotel manager, was working in Scotland and then in Ireland.

Laura will pick me up from the airport and we’ll drive to Jenny’s house in Dundee where Sara will join us. We don’t get to meet up nearly enough so we’ll probably spend a couple of hours catching up. The others will drink wine but I’ll probably decline. With the Olympics just around the corner, tea has become my evening drink of choice!

I don’t often see my family but they’ll be watching me in London later this month. My brother lives in Dublin, and my parents live in Jordan — where Dad is still working as a hotel manager. More often than not the only time I get to see them properly is when we go to South Africa for Christmas. I was born there and it feels like home.

Taking part in London 2012 is the realisation of a long-term dream. Zara and I are getting really excited — it’s hard not to. Horse Guards Parade, where the beach volleyball competition will be staged during the Olympics, is definitely the best venue of the Games. Beach volleyball isn’t played much in Britain so I think it’s great that we’re bringing it to London and showing everyone what the sport is. It’s the most popular spectator sport at the Olympics.

Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion 'death squads' to get image makeover

Its elite troops, in their black bandannas, wrap around shades, and well-oiled AK47s strike fear wherever they go.

But they are now set to get an image makeover with training to help them improve their dealing with "human issues" and a "complaints bureau" to appease their critics.

Human rights groups say they are sceptical over whether many Bangladeshis would be brave enough to complain to the force about their actions. Last month Bangladesh's own Human Rights Commission demanded to know whether it had been involved in around 40 disappearances, including activists of the opposition Bangladesh National Party.

"It will be hard for ordinary Bangladeshis to feel confident enough to make complaints against them unless the government makes a commitment that they will be protected," said Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch.

The Battalion has in the past received military training from Britain and the United States, but they and other countries are believed to have made a rapid improvement in the force's human rights record and accountability a condition of further aid.

DGEN ends higher

Dhaka, Jul 24 (bdnews24.com) — Dhaka stock's key index ended Tuesday's trade 2.78 percent higher.

The DGEN closed at 4318.79 points gaining 116.91 points on the week's third business day.

Shares and mutual funds worth around Tk 2.89 billion changed hands with prices of 247 issues gaining, 14 declining and seven remaining at their opening prices.

The key index ended Monday's trade 1.88 percent higher. The benchmark index had gained nearly 2 points last week.

bdnews24.com/zk/1435h

HC settles writ over Speaker ruling

Dhaka, July 24 (bdnews24.com) — The High Court on Tuesday settled a writ petition challenging the Parliament Speaker's ruling involving a judge's statement.

The bench of justices Hasan Foez Siddique and A B M Altaf Hossain heard the petition argued by lawyer Rokon Uddin Mahmud.

On July 18, the bench of Justices Naima Haider and Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar had felt embarrassed to hear the petition that sought an order to declare illegal the Speaker's ruling passed on Jun 18 in the Parliament.

After Tuesday's verdict, Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Roy, who represented the state, told bdnews24.com the court had given the verdict on the hearings of both sides saying 'the petition was settled with several observations'.

Roy said the observations will be elaborated in the written copy of the verdict.

Speaker Abdul Hamid gave the ruling at Parliament on Jun 18 as MPs demanded steps after Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury criticised the parliament's presiding officer.

The Speaker had hoped the Chief Justice himself would initiate measures in this regard and parliament would support his decision.

bdnews24.com/sn/zk/sk/1445h

Brawl over fare, buses smashed in Farmgate

Dhaka, Jul 24 (bdnews24.com) — Students of Tejgaon College have vandalised four buses at Farmgate area on Tuesday and beat up driver of a bus following a brawl over fare.

Sub Inspector of Traffic Police Ruhul Amin said several students of the college exchanged heated arguments with the staffs of a Motijheel-Cantonment route bus around 9:30am while the bus was on its way to Farmgate from Shahbugh.

When the bus reached Farmgate, where the college is located, up to 25 students beat up the bus driver and smashed the bus, he said.

The Tejgaon College students vandalised three other buses and for this vehicular movements came to a halt for nearly half an hour in the area, the police officer said.

Assistant Sub Inspector of Tejgaon Police Station Munsi Abdul Lokman said traffic resumed around 10am at the intervention of the law enforcers.

The injured driver, 'Shafik', has been taken to hospital, the ASI said.

bdnews24.com/ah/zk/sk/1105h

Farm loan disbursement target Tk 141.3bn

Abdur Rahim Harmachi
Chief Economics Correspondent

Dhaka, July 23 (bdnews24.com) – The Bangladesh Bank has set agricultural loan disbursement target for local and foreign banks at Tk 141.3 billion for 2012-13 fiscal, says the chief of the central bank.

Governor Atiur Rahman said on Monday the central bank would formally announce the new agriculture and rural credit policy and programmes for the current financial year, divulging the disbursement target, higher than that of the previous fiscal, at a meeting with the chief executives of the state-owned, specialised, private and foreign commercial banks on Tuesday.

He told bdnews24.com: "The agriculture sector has kept our economy in a comfortable position. We didn't need import any rice over the last one year. It has been possible due to the bumper production in the past few seasons. And the disbursement of farm loans has played a vital role in this."

"In this backdrop, a target of disbursing Tk 141.3 billion in agricultural loan has been set for further boosting crop production and rural economy," he added.

State-owned, specialised, private and foreign commercial banks had a target to disburse Tk 138 billion in the 2011-12 fiscal.

Of them, the target was Tk 85.1 billion for the state-owned commercial banks – Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali – and the two specialised banks, Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank.

In the current fiscal, the target of annual loan disbursement in agriculture sector has been set at Tk 83 billion for the state-owned commercial banks and specialised banks and Tk 58.3 billion for the private and foreign banks.

According to the Bangladesh Bank data, all banks collectively disbursed Tk 114.53 billion in farm loans in the first 11 months of the just-concluded financial year while disbursement was Tk 121.84 billion in its previous fiscal.

Atiur said agricultural credit disbursement had increased due to the strict monitoring by the central bank.

"Our economy is based on agriculture. The state-owned and specialised banks used to disburse farm loans in the past, but now the private banks are also disbursing farm loans simultaneously. The banks having no branches at rural level are disbursing farm loans through NGOs."

The central bank chief said an obligation had been imposed on the banks to ensure that they disbursed at least 2 percent of their total loans in the agriculture sector. "We're monitoring it strictly."

Apart from the state-owned banks, agricultural credit disbursement was made compulsory for the private and foreign banks three years back.

He said measures were also taken for opening bank accounts for farmers with an initial deposit of only Tk 10 each.

bdnews24.com/arh/skb/ssr/nir/2317h

Abul Hossain's resignation proves graft: BNP

Dhaka, Jul 23 (bdnews24.com)—The BNP has said the resignation of Information and Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain as a minister, 10 months after allegations of corruption in the Padma bridge project surfaced, proves corruption in the project.

"It (the resignation) proves corruption in the Padma bridge project," party's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told bdnews24.com in his instant reaction to resignation of the former Communications Minister.

He said the loan agreement would not have been cancelled had he (Syed Abul Hossain) quit as soon as the allegation of corruptions were raised.

Earlier in the day, the beleaguered minister, who was later given charge of the ICT ministry, tendered his resignation letter, highly placed sources told bdnews24.com.

Fakhrul alleged that 'many others' were involved in the corruption in the project.

"Please wait, many things will eventually surface," he added.

The World Bank (WB) cancelled its $ 1.2-billion fund for the $2.9-billion project on Jun 29. It claimed the government did not follow its suggestion to send high-ranking officials linked to the alleged corruption on leave until the investigations were complete.

Abul Hossain was the Communication Minister that time.

The minister, however, never admitted that he was involved in any corruption while leading the Communications Ministry until Sept last year.

But he was transferred from the Communications Ministry amid growing calls from inside the ruling coalition and the opposition.

"The government should launch a complete and neutral investigation into the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project," he said.

He urged the government to ensure exemplary punishment to those involved in the graft.

"If this government does not investigate this (WB alleged corruption), the BNP will do it once it comes to power," the BNP spokesman said.

bdnews24.com/sm/shs/ssr/nir/2109h

Humayun`s janaza held at Nuhash Palli

Dhaka, Jul 24 (bdnews24.com) — Humayun Ahmed's third namaz-e-janaza, prayer before burial, took place at Nuhash Palli, his favourite retreat, in Gazipur on Tuesday.

He is to be laid to rest there after Zohr prayers.

Hundreds of people took part in the funeral prayer of the celebrated writer. The janaza was conducted by Mojibur Rahman, Imam of a local mosque.

Earlier on the day, an ambulance started for Nuhash Palli with Humayun's body around 9am from BIRDEM, Dhaka.

His second wife Meher Afroz Shaon and her two children, Nishad and Ninit, reached there around 12:05pm with the ambulance.

Minutes before Shaon reached there, Humayn's children from his first marriage – Nuhash, Sheela and Nova, and the writer's two brothers Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and Ahsan Habib and their two sisters have reached Nuhash Palli.

A Sculptor at Nuhash Palli, Asaduzzaman Khan, had earlier told bdnews24.com they were taking preparations for the burial from morning since Humayun's family members 'decided' his burial site in the wee hours Tuesday.

The writer built his favourite retreat and named it after his eldest son, Nuhash. He once wished to lay to rest under a Lychee tree, Khan said.

"He will then be buried under this Lychee tree," Khan had said.

Humayun's fans started thronging at Nuhash Palli from early morning.

Superintendent of Gazipur Police Abdul Baten told journalists, they have taken all preparations so that everything could be done in a disciplined way.

Gazipur's Additional Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Habibur Rahman said the district administration has all the preparations to conduct the ritual.

bdnews24.com/corr/zk/sk/1350h

Is the Universe finite or infinite?

How large is the Universe? How do we measure its size? How can we even think of measuring something that is believed to be boundless? The enormity of the Universe may be beyond our comprehension, but measuring its size is not. Our measuring sticks are the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) which is relic of the super hot Big Bang radiation cooled down to three Kelvin (-270 degrees Centigrade) with wavelength in the microwave region and cosmological red-shift, increase in the observed wavelength of electromagnetic waves from a receding source.
The size depends on the distinction between “visible” and “observable” Universe. Although there is no general consensus among astronomers about the actual size, one thing they agree on for sure is how far away we can see.
We can argue that if the age of the Universe is 13.7 billion years (see “Universe in age crisis!” TDS July 10, 2012) and since light travels with a finite speed, we can't see anything beyond 13.7 billion light years. (One light year is about six trillion miles.) In reality, we can see lights that were emitted only after the decoupling epoch, a time around 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when radiation broke free from matter and could travel through space unimpeded.
The maximum distance light can travel since the birth of the Universe defines the “cosmic horizon.” Astronomers use the distance to the horizon as the radius of the visible Universe with Earth at the center. It is also known as the Hubble Length and is 13.7 billion light years. But is it really the size of the Universe?
Calculating the size of the Universe is a little tricky. Let us start with the premise that Big Bang is the correct theory of the origin of the Universe. The theory posits that the Universe, born out of a tremendous explosion from an infinitesimally small volume, is undergoing expansion at a rapid rate. It was, however, an explosion of space; not an explosion into space. Consequently, the Universe does not have an "edge" where space just runs out. Hence the cosmic horizon is a boundary in time, not in space. It still lies at the beginning of time - the moment of Big Bang. It exists because we cannot see back to a time before the Universe was born.
As the Universe is expanding at high speed in all directions, the most distant objects we can see were once much closer to us. The recession speed of stellar objects, according to Edwin Hubble, is directly proportional to their distance from us. He also noted from cosmological red shift that farther a galaxy is from us, faster it is moving away from us.
Thus the cosmic horizon is continually expanding outward and the observable Universe is growing larger in radius with each passing second. This implies that since the birth of the Universe, distant stars and galaxies have been pushed away from us far beyond the distance of 13.7 billion light years. The observable Universe, therefore, is much bigger than the visible Universe. The radius of the observable Universe is also referred to as the “comoving distance” because it is increasing with time.
What then is the radius of the Universe today? The answer is given by our measuring sticks cum cosmic storytellers, red shift and CMBR. Without going into the nitty gritty of calculation, they tell us that because of accelerated expansion, it is 94 billion light years across putting the edge of the observable Universe 47 billion light years away from us. Whatever the size is, thanks to the inflationary Universe; it increased our observational power to the extent that we can see or have seen things that are now at least 47 billion light years away from us in all directions.
“Two things are infinite: the Universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the Universe.” Albert Einstein.

Abul resigns, at last Letter submitted to PM; govt not confirming yet

Information and Communication Technology Minister Syed Abul Hossain has finally tendered his resignation to the prime minister, paving the way for the government to revive the financial arrangements with the World Bank for the Padma bridge project.
However, there was no official announcement about his resignation.
It could not be confirmed whether Abul resigned from the cabinet or the post only. Several sources close to him said he wished to remain in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
Abul's resignation came a day after the finance minister on Sunday said the government had been considering accepting the WB's fourth condition to persuade the global lender to review the cancellation of the Padma bridge loan.
The WB's fourth condition was that the government send on leave the public officials and former communications minister Abul Hossain, who were allegedly involved in corruption in the project.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina received Abul's resignation letter and kept it with her, said sources in the ruling Awami League.
Abul skipped yesterday's scheduled cabinet meeting. He did not even inform the cabinet that he would not attend the meeting. His absence drew the attention of many ministers.
Talking to journalists of several media houses over the phone yesterday, Abul said probe had been going on into corruption allegations over the Padma bridge project. And he was unwilling to continue his duties under the circumstances. His well-wishers also advised him not to remain in the post of a minister while the investigation was on.
“So, I have made a decision … I won't stay in office,” he told Bangla daily Prothom Alo. He, however, did not give any details about his resignation.
Abul said he would come out clean from the probe, as he had not been “involved in the corruption”.
He claimed the Anti-Corruption Commission, the WB or the Canadian police would not find his involvement, saying he had maintained transparency all along.
Abul believed his resignation had apparently removed the main barrier to constructing the bridge with the global lender's funding.
Though the WB gave several conditions for funding the project, Abul's exit from the cabinet was the key.
His resignation is likely to end the 10-month impasse between the government and the WB following the global lender's corruption allegations in the $2.97 billion project. The WB in September last year suspended its promised $1.2 billion funding for the country's biggest infrastructure project.
Construction of the 6.15 kilometre bridge became uncertain when the WB last month cancelled its loan agreement on the grounds that not all its conditions were met.
“He [Abul] should have resigned much earlier. He finally stepped down but the country paid a high price for that,” a minister said on condition of anonymity after the cabinet meeting.
A security guard at Abul's Gulshan residence said Abul left home in the morning in a car without flag.
Later, he met the prime minister and turned in his resignation, said a source close to Abul.
It was the second time he resigned as a minister. He was forced to resign as state minister for the LGRD ministry in August 1997 over a controversy for using a private passport instead of a diplomatic book.
Though there has been a strong public opinion against him for the last few months, Abul has kept protesting his innocence and refuted allegations of any irregularities in the Padma bridge project. He accused a section of the media of resorting to propaganda against him, saying it misled the WB to cancel the project's funding.
The government also showed reluctance to take any action against him, other than transferring him to the ICT ministry.
Earlier, in an open letter published in several dailies on Saturday, Abul gave hints that he could resign for the sake of the country and proper probe into the corruption allegations.
The ex-communications minister first came under fire ahead of the last year's Eid-ul-Fitr for failing to repair and maintain roads and highways in many parts of the country.
He was removed from the communications ministry and given the charge of ICT ministry on December 5 last year after the WB brought corruption allegations against him and suspended its loan.
Apart from the WB, Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency and Islamic Development Bank are co-financiers in the project. ADB committed to provide $615 million, Jica $400 million and IDB $140 million.
After the WB cancelled its loan agreement, the government decided to construct the bridge with its own resources. The government, however, said it would welcome any foreign investment in the project.