| Bangladesh politics Posted: 12 Aug 2011 03:39 AM PDT |
| Shilpa Shetty undegoes prosthetic makeup for her bald look in ‘Desire’ Posted: 12 Aug 2011 01:53 AM PDT 
 Shilpa Shetty will be seen in an all new de-glam and bald avatar in her Indo-Chinese venture titled ' Desire'. She plays a monk in the flick and has to undergo four hours of prosthetic makeup everyday in order to get that bald look. The movie has Shilpa Shetty and Chinese actor Xia Yu play the lead roles. Anupam Kher, Jayapradha, Vikram Gokhale, and Asif enact other important characters in the movie. Sankar Ehsan Loy and Viswamohan Bhat have composed the music. The movie has been shot in Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh in India and in various locales in Malayasia. In the past, glamorous Antara Mali had also played a bald monk living in Sikkim in Amol Palekar's film 'And Once Again', but she opted to shave off her tresses completely than going for prosthetic makeup. |
| Film on Osama raid stirs US row Posted: 11 Aug 2011 09:23 PM PDT 
WASHINGTON: Hollywood filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow has been given confidential access by the Obama Administration to make a film on the sensational raid that killed Osama bin Laden, prompting an American lawmaker toquestion the reported move for jeopardising national security. Drawing attention of the administration to a media report that Sony Pictures and Bigelow have been given access to confidential information, New York Republican Congressman Peter T King has said it is the duty of authorities to inform public and lawmakers before declassifying such matters. He demanded an inquiry into the Pentagon's alleged collaboration with the Oscarwinning filmmaker. "I write to express concern regarding ongoing leaks of classified information regarding sensitive military operations ," said King, Chairman Committee on Homeland Security , said in a letter to the Defence Department and the CIA. "As reported in a New York Times on August 6, 2011, administration officials may have provided filmmakers with details of the raid that successfully killed Osama bin Laden," the letter said. King said leaks of classified information regarding the bin Laden raid have already resulted, according to a June 15, 2011 article in the Washington Post, in the arrests of Pakistanis who were believed by local authorities to have assisted the CIA with the May 2 raid in Pakistan's garrison city of Abbottabad. "Administration's first duty in declassifying material is to provide full reporting to Congress and the American people, in an effort to build public trust through transparency of government," King said. "This alleged collaboration belies a desire of transparency in favour of a cinematographic view of history," he said. |
| China launches new communication satellite for Pakistan Posted: 11 Aug 2011 09:22 PM PDT 
BEIJING: China on Friday launched a communications satellite PAKSAT-1R for its close ally Pakistan. It was launched in the early hours on Friday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The satellite was carried by a Long March-3B carrier rocket, Chinese official agency Xinhua reported. PAKSAT-1R will provide a range of services including broadband internet, telecom and broadcasting, covering some regions of Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, and the eastern Africa, besides a host of defence applications. The satellite will replace Paksat-1. The life span of the satellite was stated to be 15 years. The control room of the centre said the launch was successful. The satellite was separated from its carrier rocket and entered geostationary 26 minutes after being launched. The Paksat-1R satellite is designed and manufactured by China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), Pakistan's official APP news agency reported. A select group of senior Pakistani officials witnessed the launch. The satellite carries communication payload to facilitate the introduction of a range of new services, including broadband internet, digital television broadcasting, remote and rural telephony, emergency communications, tele-education and tele-medicine. The satellite will be operated from SUPARCO Satellite Ground Stations located in Lahore and Karachi. The satellite has 30 transponders onboard, including 12 C band and 18 Ku band transponders. To meet the coverage requirements, Paksat-1R has advance communication antennas, covering South Asian sub- continent, the Middle East, east Africa and part of Western European areas and cities. It is China's first in-orbit delivery to Asian customers and also the first commercial satellite export to international users this year, Xinhua reported. The contract for the PAKSAT-1R was signed in 2008 between China Great Wall Industry Corporation and the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission of Pakistan. China and Pakistan share a long history of space technology cooperation. Pakistan's first low- orbit satellite, BADR-A, was launched by China in 1990 with Long March 2E rocket, it said. Thanking China for the help, Pakistan's foreign secretary Salman Bashir said, "the successful launch is yet another shining illustration of the time- tested friendship between Pakistan and China and has ushered in a new era of cooperation in space technology between the two countries". "This also marks the next step in taking forward Pakistan's space Programme "2040", Bashir said. The launch of PakSat-1R has added a new chapter to the mutual cooperation between the all-weather allies in the field of space technology. Pakistan's ambassador to China Masood Khan said PakSat-1R's launch as important for his country for many reasons. "It is a symbol of Pakistan-China cooperation in the area of space technology. It is the first of the kind to be launched by China and Pakistan. Therefore it establishes a new platform, and marks a new beginning", he said. Khan said it is our natural aspiration that a Pakistani astronaut aboard a Chinese spacecraft flies to the space, adding that "this is possible because Pakistan and China enjoy relations of trust and confidence". Chairman SUPARCO Ahmed Bilal termed the launch as a "historic event" as it is for the first time that a commercial, fully capable communication satellite has been launched in which scientists and engineers of SUPARCO have worked very closely with the Chinese in all stages of its design and development. They have also gained firsthand experience of designing and manufacturing of satellite, he said. |
| Prisoner in Ajmer, Krishna says he's in Pakistan Posted: 11 Aug 2011 09:19 PM PDT 
NEW DELHI: In yet another faux pas, external affairs minister S M Krishna on Thursday got confused about an octogenarian Pakistani doctor lodged in Ajmer jail, saying the government of Pakistan must consider his release on humanitarian grounds. Krishna's strange answer during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha led to an intervention by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who clarified the matters. Shivanand Tiwari (JD-U) had asked as to what the government was doing for the release of the wheelchair-bound Dr Mohammad Khalil Chisti, a virologist who was sentenced to life imprisonment in December last in a 1992 murder case while he was on a visit to India to see his ailing mother. Krishna responded during the Question Hour by stating that this "particular person" was detained in Pakistan and it was a question to be considered by the government of that country on "humanitarian grounds". As puzzled members looked on, the minister went on to say that Dr Chisti was confined to a wheelchair and was more than 80 years old, and he was sure that the government of Pakistan would take a lenient view about the case. "We will, certainly pursue this at the level of the high commissioner," he added. Hearing this surprised Opposition members asked which prisoner Krishna was referring to. CPM's Brinda Karat said that the minister had misunderstood the question and that he was talking about somebody else. Amidst noisy interruptions from Opposition benches, the Prime Minister got up to state that Dr Chisti was serving a prison sentence in Rajasthan. When he had received a request for his release he had contacted the home minister who has been in correspondence with the Rajasthan government, Singh said, adding that "further results are yet to be received". At one point, as several Opposition members made interruptions, Chairman Hamid Ansari ordered that nothing should go on record. After the Prime Minister's intervention, the Chairman said that the position has been clarified and proceeded with the next question. Dr Chisti's case hit the headlines recently when Supreme Court judge Markandeya Katju had made a personal appeal to the Prime Minister seeking his release on humanitarian grounds saying that he was a heart patient with a hip fracture. "It will be a disgrace for our country if he (Chishti) dies in jail...if a pardon is granted it will enhance the prestige of India," the judge had said. |
| Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is one of the top female leaders on the world Posted: 11 Aug 2011 08:23 AM PDT 
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is one of the 12 female leaders of the world. Time Magazine named the female leaders around the world. Awami League President and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ranks 7th position among world 12 female leaders. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is on the top of the list. Time Magazine published the report titling "Top 12 female leaders around the world" on its online edition on 5th August. Time describes, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the 63-year-old leader of the left-of-center Awami League, has a history of surviving. During a 1975 coup d'état, assassins killed 17 members of her family — including her son, three brothers, mother and father, former Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Sheikh Hasina, then 28, happened to be abroad at the time. She later survived a grenade attack that killed more than 20 people, dodging the bullets that sprayed her car as she fled. Sheikh Hasina was first elected Prime Minister in 1996. In January 2009, the Awami League won 230 of 299 parliamentary seats, and the consummate survivor found herself Prime Minister — again. |
| We won't allow even an inch of land for terrorism: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Posted: 11 Aug 2011 08:22 AM PDT 
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the present government will not allow anyone to use even an inch of land of the country for terrorism. "My government is always against terrorism. We won't allow any space to the terrorists; we won't allow an inch of land of the country to be used for terrorism," she said when outgoing Egyptian Ambassador Fayyaz Mustafa Nosyar called on her at her office. Sheikh Hasina said after assuming power, the government has started its move to eradicate terrorism from the country. "Terrorists have no borders; they are the problems of the whole world. We all have to fight against terrorism in a united form as it is not possible to eradicate this problem by solo effort." She said her government is also trying hard to eliminate corruption from the country. "We are committed not to allow corruption in the country." The premier discussed with the outgoing Egyptian ambassador various bilateral issues, including trade and business. Since a long time ago, the relation between Bangladesh and Egypt is very good, they said. Ambassador Nosyar hoped that this relation will be further strengthened during this period of the Awami League-led government. Ambassador Nosier thanked the prime minister for her government's cooperation during his tenure in Bangladesh. Ambassador at-large M Ziauddin, Principal Secretary MA Karim and PM's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad were present during the meeting. |
| Zia freed 22,000 Razakars & rehabilitated war criminals: Awami League Leaders Posted: 11 Aug 2011 08:17 AM PDT 
Awami League presidium member and Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury on Wednesday said that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman did not pardon the war criminals. "He (Bangabandhu) had clearly said that those who were involved in looting, arson, killing and rape during the country's War of Liberation in 1971 would not get clemency. But it is Ziaur Rahman who freed 22,000 Razakars, who were allegedly war criminals, from jail," she said. "But there is an effort to create confusion in public life by spreading the propaganda that Bangabandhu had awarded clemency to the war criminals. It is nothing but a blatant lie," she added. Matia Chowdhury was addressing a discussion organised by Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad marking National Mourning Day at National Museum in the city. She also said that Ziaur Rahman took all necessary steps to rehabilitate the Razakars. He (Zia) had debts to repay to Pakistan as the graves of his parents are there. Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub- ul-Alam Hanif said that Khaleda Zia cannot throw the constitution away as it was achieved through the supreme sacrifice of three million martyrs and agonies of two lakh women. Her comment is insulting to three million martyrs and two lakh women. "In one side there is a move to trample the constitution and on the other side conspiracy is being hatched to destroy the judiciary," he added. He alleged that Khaleda Zia wants to destroy the judiciary. The Supreme Court delivered the verdict of Bangabandhu killing case and verdict on her Cantonment House. She cannot accept the Supreme Court. "If the judiciary exists, the trial of war criminals and her sons will be held. So she is hatching conspiracy to destroy the judiciary. "With a view to destroying the judiciary, the pro-BNP lawyers went to court to create chaotic situation during the hearing of Fazlul Huq Amini, despite Amini having his own lawyers," he added. Awami League advisory council member Amir Hossain Amu on Wednesday alleged that the anti-liberation forces are hatching conspiracies to create anarchy while the government was working to move the country forward. He was addressing a discussion organised by Bangladesh Tanti League, an associate body of the ruling Awami League, marking the National Mourning Day at Mukti Bhaban in the city. Amu said the BNP-led opposition resorts to blatant lies to gain cheap popularity whenever any cases are filed against any of its leaders for involvement in corruption and irregularities. He urged the people in general and the party leaders and workers in particular to remain alert against the propaganda of the opposition. Ad¬mi¬tting the price hike of essentials, the senior Awami League leader said the present government has inherited the problem from the previous BNP-Jamaat government. "The government is trying its best to contain the price hike." Paying glowing tribute to father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Amu said his epoch- making speech on March 7 in 1971 at the then Race Course Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) was actually the call for independence of the country in the real sense of the term in which the uncompromising independence leader gave guidelines for freedom and emancipation of the Bangalee nation |
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