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Indo-Bangla water deal on Tuesday: Minister

Posted: 02 Sep 2011 09:14 PM PDT


Dhaka and New Delhi are expected to ink deals on sharing of waters of two cross- boundary rivers – Teesta and Feni — on September 6, the day Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Dhaka, water resources minister said on Friday. "We will give final touch to the draft deals at a meeting of the Joint River Commission to be held on the same day," Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen told daily sun. He is expected to sign the deals with his Indian counterpart Pawan Kumar Bansal in front of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh. He added that the deals, once come into effect, would ensure equitable share of water of the two rivers as both the countries have long been trying to resolve the dispute over the hilly rivers. The minister also trashed media reports, quoting an Indian ruling party lawmaker, that Bangladesh would get only 25 percent of Teesta waters while India would take the rest. He said that the two sides agreed on equitable share of Teesta water. Bangladesh wants the sharing to be on a 50:50 basis while India proposed a 45:55 ratio. The minister claimed that both sides agreed on a 50:50 share of Teesta water. Bangladesh and Indian had earlier signed a landmark 30-year treaty on Ganges water in 1996 during Sheikh Hasina's previous regime. According to an Indian newspaper report, Bangladesh might get 48 percent waters of the Teesta and India 52 percent in line with a draft water- sharing deal. The draft of the agreement between Bangladesh and India to share the Teesta waters has been finalised with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee playing a catalyst role, Kolkata- based daily Anandabazar newspaper said. The proposed agreement is expected to be signed during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh on September 6-7. Mamata gave her consent to the draft agreement when India's National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon reportedly addressed her concerns at a meeting. Menon visited Dhaka on August 28-29 to finalise the Indian premier's tour of Dhaka. "India will take 52 percent and Bangladesh 48 percent after preserving 460 Cusec (cubic feet per second) Teesta water," the Anandabazar report reads. However, an Indian ruling Congress lawmaker told a global news agency that India would receive 75 percent of the Teesta water and Bangladesh the rest 25 percent in the light of the draft deal. Lok Sobha member from West Bengal Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury on Thursday attributed Menon to the water- sharing formula. He reportedly claimed that India was receiving only 39 percent water although there is no water-sharing modality at present. Anandabazar reported that Menon told Mamata at a meeting that the people of Bangladesh were eagerly waiting to see her. Mamata was quoted to have said that she had relations with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for long. The issue of water-sharing came up for discussion at the union cabinet meeting where India's Water Resources Minister Pawan Bansal was present, said the Anandabazar report. Bansal is scheduled to visit Dhaka today. The draft water-sharing deal will be recognised by a Joint River Commission meeting during Manmohan's visit.

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Lapsing of emergency regulations in Sri Lanka significant: US

Posted: 02 Sep 2011 02:54 AM PDT


WASHINGTON: The expiry of emergency regulations could be a significant step towards "normalising life" for people of Sri Lanka, the US has said. "The United States did welcome President Rajapaksa's proposal last week in Parliament that the emergency regulations will lapse at the end of August," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. "We believe this could well be a significant step towards normalising life for the people of Sri Lanka," he said. US also acknowledged the Lankan government for "rehabilitating and releasing more than 11,000 former LTTE combatants" who were taken prisoners at the end of the conflict. "So we would just urge the government of Sri Lanka to charge or release those prisoners who are still held in custody. We have called on the government of Sri Lanka to look into allegations of human rights abuses in the past," Toner added.

Mallika Sherawat in the seductive car washing act for ‘Politics of Love’

Posted: 01 Sep 2011 10:24 AM PDT






Mallika Sherawat has been trying to get her hold in Hollywood for long without much success. Post her heartbreaking flop in 'Hisss', the babe has her eyes set on her upcoming film Politics Of Love, earlier titled Love, Barack. This Hollywood rom-com is set against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential elections that saw Barack Obama being voted into the White House. Mallika has shot a sexy video for the flick which shows her washing a car while seducing her co-actor Brian White. The pics and video clip shows Mallika lying drenched in soap from top to bottom on the bonnet of the car in a two-piece outfit, washing the car using sponge, in a seductive manner. Recalling her experience, Mallika says, "It was a chilly day, the soap and water was dirty and I wasn't looking very glam. In between shots, they'd wrap me up in blankets so my teeth would stop clattering."

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Committee set to sit to decide Eid day

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 05:48 AM PDT


The Muslims in the country will celebrate their biggest religious festival Eid-ul-Fitr on Wednesday after 29 days of fasting if the moon is sighted this evening. The National Moon Sighting Committee will sit in a meeting on Tuesday evening to decide the day for Eid. The meeting, to be held at the Islamic Foundation's Baitul Mukarram conference room, will announce the date for Eid reviewing the information about sighting the moon of the holy month of Shawal. State minister for religious affairs and chairman of the national committee Mohammad Shahjahan Mia will preside over the meeting to be held at 7:15 pm. The Eid will be celebrated on Thursday if the moon is not seen on Tuesday evening. President Zillur Rahman, prime minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia have greeted the citizens ahead of the festival in separate statements. The city will be decorated on the occasion of the Eid. The national flag will be hoisted atop government and non- government offices including the Bangabhaban, prime minister's office, parliament building, secretariat and the High Court in the early hours of the Eid day. Main city streets will also be decorated with flags imprinted with 'Eid Mubarak' in Bangla and Arabic. Like the preceding years, a special menu would be served in hospitals, jails, state-owned children's shelter homes, other welfare centres, and shelter homes for the destitute. Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj, renowned for hosting the biggest congregation of the country, is expected to draw over 250,000 devotees this year. There will be entertainment and cultural programmes and free access to all the children's parks, under Dhaka City Corporation, for the underprivileged children. Newspaper offices will remain closed until Sep 2. The state-run radio station Bangladesh Betar and television channel BTV along with private stations will broadcast special programmes.

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Family planning result published

Posted: 29 Aug 2011 10:49 PM PDT


Family planning result published search your result here.

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Devote for the welfare of the country, PM Sheikh Hasina urges BCL Leaders

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 11:37 AM PDT



Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called upon the leaders and workers of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) to devote themselves to the welfare of the countrymen imbued with the ideals of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman."I urge you to make whatever sacrifices are needed for the welfare and development of the country," she yesterday told a discussion at Bangabandhu International Conference Center. BCL arranged the discussion in memory of Bangabandhu and Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib marking the National Mourning Day. Sheikh Hasina advised BCL leaders and workers to work for building a hunger, poverty and illiteracy-free 'Digital Bangladesh' as pledged in the election manifesto of Awami League. Terming the students as the future leaders in all sectors of the country, she asked BCL workers to build themselves as the worthy citizens to take future leadership of the country. The Prime Minister said the main objective of her politics is to bring smile on the faces of the common people through ensuring all basic rights of the people as she had no personal ambition for wealth and property."I don't want any wealth and property...I only wants to see smiles on the faces of the common people," she said. Praising the glorious role of BCL in all democratic movements of the country, the Prime Minister called upon the leaders and workers to retain its past glory."Whatever obstacles come to your way, you will have to retain the past glory of the organization by building 'Sonar Bangla' as dreamt by Bangabandhu," she said. Terming the 1996-2001 period of Awami League as a golden era for the country, Sheikh Hasina said people had realized for the first time that the government was actually for their welfare. Sheikh Hasina came down heavily on General Zia for protecting and patronizing the killers of Bangabandhu and said he (Zia) not only let the killers of Bangabandhu go scot-free, but also rewarded them by providing jobs in different embassies. Like Zia, she said, Begum Khaleda Zia made a killer of Bangabandhu as the leader of opposition in parliament in 1996 through the 15th February farcical elections. She said that after the brutal assassination of Bangabandhu, the military rulers played a game with the fate of the people and created an elite class in the country to protect them. Sheikh Hasina said fallen Libyan ruler Moamer Gaddafi had sought clemency for killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the 1996 general elections brought Awami League back to power 21 years after the carnage. "He (Gaddafi) wrote a letter asking me to pardon Bangabandhu's killers, quoting Quranic verses," she said. The Prime Minister said the Libyan leader gave asylum to the self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu and added: "He (Gaddafi) is now in a position to leave the country." "Those who sheltered Bangabandhu's killers have fallen," she said. Paying rich tributes to Bangabandhu, she said that at a time when Bangabandhu was rebuilding the war- ravaged nation, the anti- liberation forces brutally killed him along with most of the family members on the fateful night of August 15, 1975. Through the killing of Bangabandhu, she said, the assailants not only killed the great leader but also stopped the wheels of development and progress side by side with shattering the hopes and aspirations of the people. The Prime Minister greeted BCL leaders and workers on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. With BCL President H M Badiuzzaman Sohag in the chair, the discussion was also addressed by eminent economist Professor Dr Abul Barakat, Prof Dr Hamida Banu of Chittagong University and noted historian Professor Dr Abul Kashem of Rajshahi University.At the outset of the meeting, a minute's silence was observed as a mark of respect to Bangabandhu, Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib and other martyrs of the August 15 carnage. The Prime Minister also unwrapped the cover of BCL publication, Matribhumi, at the function

Japan's Kaieda ahead in PM race but run-off likely

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 05:44 AM PDT


TOKYO: Trade minister Banri Kaieda has the lead in a ruling party race to pick Japan's next Prime Minister, but with chances dim for winning a majority in a first round vote, a bruising run- off looks likely, media surveys showed on Sunday. The race to select Japan's sixth leader in five years has become a battle between allies and critics of party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, a 69-year-old political mastermind who heads the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) biggest group despite facing trial on charges of misreporting political donations. Japan's next leader, to be selected in a DPJ election on Monday, faces huge challenges including a resurgent yen that threatens exports, forging a new energy policy while ending the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, and finding funds to rebuild from a devastating March tsunami as well as to pay for the ballooning social welfare costs of a fast-ageing society. Despite differences over policies such as whether to raise taxes to pay for rebuilding and how to win opposition help in a divided parliament, none of the five candidates has presented a bold, detailed vision of how to end Japan's decades of stagnation and revitalise the world's third- biggest economy. That has raised concerns that whoever wins will end up being another short-lived leader. The 62-year-old Kaieda, who has secured powerbroker Ozawa's backing, had support from about 115 of the 398 Democratic lawmakers eligible to vote in Monday's party election, a survey by the Mainichi newspaper showed. Former foreign minister Seiji Maehara, 49, who says beating deflation is a top priority, was jostling with fiscal hawk Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, 54, and little-known farm minister Michihiko Kano, 69, for second place, the Mainichi and other Japanese newspapers said. A fifth candidate, former transport minister Sumio Mabuchi, 51, was lagging behind. RUN-OFF VOTE LIKELY If no candidate wins a majority in an initial vote, a run-off will immediately be held between the two top candidates. The winner of the DPJ election will become prime minister by virtue of the party's majority in parliament's lower house. "In the current situation, it will be tough to win a majority in the first round vote," the Nikkei business daily quoted an Ozawa aide as saying. Maehara, a security hawk, ranks highest of the candidates with ordinary voters, but his chances have been undercut by rivalry with Noda, who shares a similar support base inside the DPJ, as well as by concern about a donations scandal. Maehara -- who would become Japan's youngest post-World War Two premier if he wins -- resigned as foreign minister in March after admitting he had accepted donations from a Korean resident of Japan. That would be illegal had he done so knowingly. On Saturday, he told a news conference he had received more than $7,000 in donations from four foreigners and one firm headed by a foreigner between 2005 and 2010, but had not been aware of the donations, Japanese media reported. Whoever takes over from outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who resigned as party head on Friday after months of criticism for his handling of the nuclear crisis, faces a struggle to implement policies in a divided parliament where the opposition controls the upper house and can block bills. Maehara and Noda on Sunday reiterated their calls for a "grand coalition" with the main opposition parties, but Kaieda rejected the idea, to which opposition rivals have anyway been cool. "In a democratic parliamentary system, a grand coalition is not preferable," he said in a debate on NHK public TV. Feuds over the role of Ozawa, a one-time heavyweight in the conservative Liberal Democratic Party who bolted and helped briefly oust the long-dominant party in 1993, have rattled the Democrats since his Liberal Party merged with the DPJ in 2003. Some credit his political skills with engineering the Democrats' leap to power in an August 2009 election. Others say his scandal- tainted image is damaging the party, which has seen its support sink among voters disillusioned with its failure to deliver on promises of bold changes in how Japan is governed. Ozawa, who lost a tough leadership race to Kan in September 2010, cannot vote in Monday's party poll since his DPJ membership was suspended following his indictment over the funding scandal.

Syrian authorities warn against protesting in capital

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 05:42 AM PDT


AMMAN: Syria's interior ministry warned Damascus residents on Saturday against demonstrating after some of the most intense protests in the capital since the start of the five-month uprising against President Bashar al- Assad. The warning came as Syria's closest ally Iran said Damascus must listen to the "legitimate demands" of its people, but also said that any change in Syria's ruling system or power vacuum in Damascus would be dangerous for the Middle East. "The interior ministry calls on citizens not to respond to social Internet sites to participate in rallies or assemble in public squares in Damascus. This is for their safety," a statement by the ministry published on official media said. Syrian forces fired live ammunition to prevent thousands of protesters from marching on the center of Damascus from eastern suburbs earlier Saturday, witnesses and activists said, seriously injuring at least five people. Security police and militiamen loyal to Assad, known as 'shabbiha', also fired live ammunition at worshippers who tried to demonstrate outside the al-Rifai mosque in the Kfar Sousa district of the capital, home to the secret police headquarters. Assad loyalists also beat the mosque's preacher, popular cleric Osama al-Rifai, who was treated with several stitches to his head, witnesses said. "Some of the 'amn' (security) went on the roof and began firing from their AK-47s to scare the crowd. Around 10 people were wounded, with two hit by bullets in the neck and chest," a cleric who lives in the area told Reuters by phone. The United Nations says 2,200 people have been killed since Assad sent in tanks and troops to crush months of street demonstrations calling for an end to his family's 41-year rule. Syrian authorities have blamed armed "terrorist groups" for the bloodshed and say 500 police and army have been killed. They have expelled most independent journalists, making it difficult to verify events on the ground. IRAN SAYS ASSAD MUST ACT Syria's ally Iran said Assad must respond to the "legitimate demands of the people," but unlike other regional powers it did not criticize Assad's use of force to crush protests and said there should be no change to Syria's ruling system. "If there is a change or a vacuum in Syria's system of governance, it will have unforeseen consequences," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said. "...The outbreak of change in Syria will not have good consequences for anyone in the region and can subject the region to serious crisis." Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, has strengthened an alliance with Iran's Shi'ite clerical rulers, to the disquiet of Syria's Sunni majority. He also backs Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups. The United States has accused Tehran of providing support to Assad's forces crushing the protests. A delegate to the Arab League in Cairo said Arab foreign ministers would step up pressure on Assad later Saturday with a demand he end the crackdown on demonstrators. "There has been an agreement in talks held between the Arab states on...pressuring the Syrian regime to completely stop the military operations and withdraw its forces," he said. At least three protesters were killed in Syria Saturday as tens of thousands of people marched to demand the removal of Assad on a major religious occasion, activists and residents said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), citing witnesses, said more demonstrations had broken out in Damascus overnight and Saturday morning than at any time since the pro-democracy uprising erupted in March. Two of the three were killed as Assad's forces fired live ammunition to disperse demonstrators streaming from mosques in the city of Qusair and Latakia port after al-Qadr prayers, the night Muslims believe the Prophet received the Koran. SOHR, headed by dissident Rami Abdelrahman, said Syrian forces fired at a funeral turned protest Saturday in the town of Kfar Roumeh in the northwestern Idlib province bordering Turkey, wounding at least ten. The organization said another man was killed in raids and house-to-house arrests in the nearby town of Kfar Nubul. "Besides the killings, another tragedy in Syria is the tens of thousands of people arrested since the beginning of uprising, many of whose whereabouts are unknown," Abdelrahman told Reuters. The United States and EU have urged Assad to step down but their push at the UN to impose Security Council sanctions on Syria over its crackdown has met resistance from Russia and China, diplomats said. Russia has a naval base in Syria and is one of its main arms suppliers. One proposed sanction is an arms embargo while other sanctions would freeze the assets of Assad and his associates. The Syrian National Human Rights Organization (SNHRO), headed by opposition figure Ammar Qurabi, said nearly 100 civilians were killed by security forces in the week to Friday. The uprising has shattered Syria's economy, hitting investment and the tourism industry, forcing businesses to lay off workers. Any power shakeup in Syria would have major regional repercussions. Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, still has alliances with the country's influential Sunni business class and a loyalist core in the army and security service.