The caretaker government is working on how to make the state-run Bangladesh Television (BTV) an effective autonomous body by bringing necessary amendments and adding new provisions to the existing law instead of making a new law.

The one-member judicial probe committee of Justice Habibur Rahman Khan, formed to investigate the recent violence at Dhaka University, as of yesterday found no instigative element in the first day's incident.

Detained Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the party's Central Working Committee is to decide whether the party would hold dialogues with the Election Commission (EC).

A government investigation committee has found several Chinese and Indian companies responsible for exporting products to European countries using fake Bangladeshi GSP (generalised system of preference) certificates.

Due to narrow export basket, Bangladesh will face heightened competition in readymade garment (RMG) export as the EU and US restrictions on Chinese garments are withdrawn from January next, International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICC-B) president cautioned yesterday.

Scores of farmers, badly affected by recent floods in Tangail, have started cultivating crops to recover the loss as floodwater receded from their croplands.

The BNP observed its 29th founding anniversary yesterday on a limited scale but its Chairperson Khaleda Zia could not visit the grave of party founder late president Ziaur Rahman due to government restrictions on security grounds.

The vice-chancellors of public universities will meet Education Adviser Ayub Quadri tomorrow to discuss the reopening of the varsities.

Plainclothes men claiming themselves from security forces beat up five employees of Dhaka University yesterday for their alleged non-cooperation with them.

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Shakhawat Hossain yesterday expressed hope that the government will lift the ban on indoor politics so that the Election Commission (EC) can sit with the political parties for talks.

Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon yesterday reiterated his call to lift the state of emergency and the ban on political activities, and urged the caretaker government to release those detained without charges.

The Council of Advisers in its weekly meeting yesterday fixed office timing from 9:00am to 3:30pm, with a 15-minute break for Zohr prayers from 1:15pm to 1:30pm, for all government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies during the month of Ramadan.

Tension is simmering among the workers of the shuttered Peoples Jute Mills in Khulna over the payment of gratuity and provident fund as they refused to accept any partial disbursement.

The government should resolve the Dhaka University crisis through discussions with teachers and students before the public universities and colleges reopen, participants at a BBC Sanglap said yesterday.

Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury last night left for Russia for a three-day visit, as Dhaka is looking to resuscitate Dhaka-Moscow relations with this first high-level visit from Bangladesh since the Russian Federation emerged from the dissolved Soviet Union in 1991.

The Dhaka University Provost Committee yesterday demanded immediate release of the five arrested academics and asked the vice chancellor (VC) to prevent arrests without specific charges.

A teenage domestic help was strangled at Dakkhin Khan while a salon employee was stabbed to death at Shyampur in the capital on Friday.

Ramna police yesterday seized a Pajero V6 vehicle from the house of a friend of detained Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) president Azizul Bari Helal in the city's Maghbazar area.

Associates of Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf are in London for critical talks with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's party as it mulls whether the political rivals can reach a power-sharing deal, officials from both sides said yesterday.

Afghan police and foreign forces killed around 60 suspected Taliban fighters, many in the region where the insurgents recently released a group of South Korean church workers they had been holding, authorities said yesterday.

The head of the British Army during the 2003 invasion of Iraq has launched a fierce attack on the United States over its running of the troubled country since, a newspaper reported yesterday.

The second phase work on preparing the voter list with photographs and national ID card started in Khulna City Corporation (KCC) yesterday.

A World Bank (WB) report prepared on the basis household income and expenditure survey of the period between 2000 and 2005, conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, depicts a positive picture of our poverty reduction endeavours; our rate of poverty reduction is only second to India's in South Asia. We must take heart in the findings since poverty remains the gravest of our problems, and to bring the country completely out of it occupies the greater part of the government's efforts.

The news relating to post-flood rehabilitation that we have from ten northern districts of the country does not seem promising. That is because of the meagre allocation that has been made for compensatory agricultural recovery in these districts. An unbelievably low figure of Tk. 672 per hectare has reportedly been earmarked as the cost toward a cultivation of Aman crops.

The recent incident of large-scale violence in the country was a bolt from the blue, which no one could possibly predict, although some commentators detected some simmering discontent among some sections of the people. Mob violence is like a bush fire -- it is easily started, spreads rapidly, and is somewhat indiscriminate about who or what it damages.

Twelve top business bodies of Bangladesh resented the interference of international lending agencies, especially the IMF, in the economic management of the country. The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and eleven other business bodies, in a joint statement on August 1, urged the government to reject the IMF prescriptions.

If Walzaerian concept of war between nations (Michael Walzer -- Just and Unjust War) is modeled on conflict between section of the people and the government in power at any given time one would expect that the coercive powers that only a government can legitimately possess would be used according to the principles of proportionality and reciprocity keeping in mind that we no longer live in a Hobbesian world which is "short, nasty and brutish" but in a world of regulated sovereignty where the sovereign (the government) is accountable for its actions to the entire populace and the international community.

Bangladesh launch their build-up for this month's Twenty20 World Championship in style when they thrashed Kenya by five wickets at the Nairobi Gymhkana ground yesterday.

To put an end to the long lay-off of some contracted cricketers who are now out of national side, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) arranged a training programme with a view to keeping them in touch ahead of the demanding tour of New Zealand in December-January.

The opening day's match of the Dhaka School Football League between Khilgaon Model High School and Motijheel Government Boys' High School ended in 1-1 draw at the Kamalapur Bir Shreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium yesterday.

Bangladesh hockey team's joy of their record-breaking win was short-lived as they were brought down to earth by China with a 6-0 thumping in the 7th Men's Asia Cup Hockey in Chennai yesterday.

Dighinala Upazila recorded a comfortable 3-0 win over Matiranga Upazila in the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Gold Cup Football Tournament at the Khagrachhari Stadium on Saturday.

England were left waiting on the fitness of Andrew Flintoff once again after the star all-rounder suffered a fresh injury to his troublesome left ankle ahead of Sunday's fifth one-day international against India here at Headingley.

Andrew Hall, the South African allrounder, has quit international cricket. He could become the latest prominent player to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL) in the wake of his sudden decision. He played 21 Tests and 88 ODIs since his debut in 1999.

Aspirant John Harmer's interview stint was completed yesterday after a training session in charge of some national cricketers at the indoors of the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

Champions League winners AC Milan came back from a goal down to defeat UEFA Cup holders Sevilla 3-1 to lift the Super Cup on Friday and bring a tragic week for the Spaniards to an end.

Frank Lam-pard's thigh muscle injury has taken the shine off Chelsea's flying start as the London club prepare for their trip to Aston Villa on Sunday.

Rafael Nadal's injured left knee looked well, Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic withstood an upset bid, Britain's Tim Henman bid farewell and five women's stars advanced on a busy Friday at the US Open.

Arsenal, West Ham and Newcastle beat Friday's transfer deadline by a matter of minutes to make late additions to their respective squads.

Agustin Calleri of Argentina played the match of his life to defeat Australia's Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 and reach the third round of the US Open on Friday.

Argentine giants Boca Juniors have been given an extra 72 hours to try and negotiate the purchase of Villarreal midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme.

Ravi Bopara had said the bitter memory of just failing to guide England home in a World Cup run chase inspired him to help steer the side to a thrilling win over India.

India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has topped leg-spin great Shane Warne's list of the best 10 cricketers he has played with or against.

President of the Punjab Cricket Association Inderjit Singh Bindra has issued a strongly-worded response to Kapil Dev's remarks that the Indian board did not inform him of its intention to sack him as the director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Jacques Kallis, who recently quit vice-captaincy of the national team after being omitted from the squad for Twenty20 World Championship, has said he was committed to playing for the country and his patriotism cannot be doubted.

Pakistan began their preparations for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in spectacular fashion by beating Uganda by 148 runs in the first match of the Twenty20 Quadrangular in Nairobi. Shahid Afridi's blistering 57 off 15 balls propelled Pakistan to 226, a target that proved too great for Uganda as they were restricted to 78 for 7.

India received a further jolt at the end of the Old Trafford one-day international with news that Zaheer Khan had twisted his ankle while batting. It was a potential knockout blow for India after the three-wicket loss left them trailing the seven-match series 3-1.

Record-breaker Brian Lara is one of four overseas stars named in Warwickshire's greatest ever team.

Sri Lankan cricket selectors Saturday picked uncapped off spinner Dilruwan Perera to replace the injured Muttiah Muralidaran in the ICC World Twenty-20 championships in South Africa.

Former champions Bayern Munich and the four English Premier League clubs in the UEFA Cup have all been handed comfortable ties in the first round, the draw for which was made here on Friday.

Sir Alex Ferguson insists calling time on Roy Keane's Manchester United playing career was a tough task.

Bayern Munich captain Oliver Kahn will set the record for the most Bundesliga appearances by a goalkeeper when the German giants face Hamburg on Sunday.

The Bundes liga's 18 clubs have passed the 200 million euros mark on summer signings for the first time in the league's history just hours before the transfer window closes at midnight on Friday.

German World Cup winning captain Lothar Matthaus insisted on Saturday Hamburg are the "last hope" of stopping Bayern Munich's march to the Bundesliga title when the sides clash on Sunday.

Arsene Wenger expects Arsenal's youngsters to underline why he is happy to build a team without major investment by producing another display of their precocious talent against Portsmouth on Sunday.

Some one thousand overseas-bound Bangladeshi workers have to postpone their travels every day due to shortage of flights of airlines operating in the country, travel agents said yesterday.

Six commercial banks have increased interest rates on deposit, while four others have cut the rate.

The World Trade Organisation said on Friday it will investigate whether Chinese industrial subsidies breach international trade rules following a complaint by the United States and Mexico.

US President George W Bush said China's rapid economic growth has provided a "good opportunity" for the United States as well as other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The United Arab Emirates announced a new law Friday permitting it to ban or restrict shipments for national security or foreign policy reasons.

Some 1.5 million Cambodians under the age of 14 are being forced to work, often in hazardous conditions, a prominent rights group said Thursday at the start of a campaign to combat child labour.

In a race mired in controversy, two Europeans are vying to become the new head of the International Monetary Fund and lead the battle in introducing wide-ranging reforms.

Global stocks ended a volatile week on a high note on Friday after Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and US President George W. Bush reassured jittery investors.

Workers at South Korea's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor have voted to go on strike this week, a company spokesman said Saturday.

Though the Indian financial sector does not have a sub-prime market, retail lending has increased by more than 30 per cent year-on-year between March 2006 and March 2007, underscoring need for a caution, an Assocham Eco Pulse (AEP) study has shown.

Southeast Asia's largest low cost carrier AirAsia will order 25 Airbus A320s to meet passenger demand, officials said Friday after announcing plans to launch a new budget airline in Vietnam.

Dhaka Bank Ltd with the help of seven other banks and financial institution has arranged a Tk 98.9 crore syndicated term loan facility for Creative Paper Mills Ltd.

The civil aviation authority warned the air transport industry is developing "too fast", and is confronted with "huge pressure to ensure safety".

Korean manufacturing confidence for September improved for the second month, but more than half of the nation's manufacturers were pessimistic about business conditions the following month (October), the central bank said Thursday, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Speakers at a seminar yesterday called on the government to formulate an integrated energy policy considering all aspects, instead of formulating a separate coal policy.

Power and Energy Adviser Tapan Chowdhury yesterday expressed the hope that the nation would have 300 honest and corruption-free representatives in the next election.

Odhikar, a human rights organisation, has expressed deep concern over the recent incident of filing cases against numerous unnamed people and the attack on journalists.

Muktijoddha Gono Parishad, a platform of freedom fighters, yesterday urged the caretaker government and the army chief to bring the war criminals to book immediately.

Police yesterday arrested six teenage boys from Uttara on charge of murdering a youth named Aminul Islam Shaheen in the city in June.

Speakers at a view exchange meeting yesterday stressed the need to set up a National Security Council (NSC) in order to strengthen the apparatus of the state.

A teenage boy was strangled in the city on Friday night and his body was dumped into the Buriganga river.

President Iajuddin Ahmed and Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed have felicitated their respective counterparts of Vietnam on the occasion of the National Day of the country today.

More organisations yesterday distributed relief materials among the flood victims and make donations to the Chief Adviser's Relief and Welfare Fund.

The Board of Trustees of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) held its 28th meeting in the city yesterday and reviewed the activities of the think-tank in the preceding six months.

A tremor, measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale, jolted northern districts of the country yesterday morning.

The written test for appointment of assistant teachers (PEDP-2) in government primary schools will be held in 61 districts on September 7.

The grand finale of the Citi Financial Quiz Competition will be held today, says a press release.

Bangladesh Air Force observed the 31st death anniversary of former Chief of Air Staff Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Khademul Bashar yesterday, says an ISPR release.

Hearing of the case against nine arrested activists of Islamist militant outfit Allahr Dal will resume today in the court of Kushtia Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge Jalal Saifur Rahman.

Speakers at a discussion meeting to mark the 'open house day' yesterday in Satkhira emphasized on building an efficient and honest police force for maintaining law and order.

At least 710 educational institutions including college, high school, madrasa and primary school have been partially or fully damaged by flood in nine upazilas.

Iswarganj police have submitted investigation report on the extortion case against former lawmaker and Iswarganj upazila BNP president Shah Nurul Kabir Shaheen.

One person dies from Tuberculosis (TB) in every ten minutes and another is attacked in two minutes in the country.

Acute crisis of life saving inhalers for the asthma patients prevailing in the markets of northern districts. Though some inhalers are found but those are selling at higher price.

A guava farmer allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a guava tree in his orchard as he failed to pay the lease money to the landowner due to sharp fall in price of the fruit.

A workshop on repression on women, dowry and early marriage jointly organised by district community policing coordination committee and Gano Unnayan Kendro, a local NGO, was held at Gaibandha police line yesterday.

Speakers at a launching ceremony of a web-based news agency yesterday urged the media to exercise its freedom to ensure a free and fair election by December 2008.

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) abducted a Bangladeshi farmer from Thakurpur border of Damurhuda upazila in Chuadanga on Thursday.

The Islamic University (IU) offices reopened yesterday after eight days of unscheduled closure.

Detective Branch (DB) police yesterday arrested wanted alleged criminal Shibly Noman.

Luxury buses will start plying Khagrachhari-Dhaka route from September 7.

A poura commissioner and Jubo Dal leader along with four others were arrested from a gambling corner here yesterday.

A mobile court fined eight business firms Tk 7.11 lakh for pilfering Wasa water in the port city in the last week.

At least two people were killed and two others injured in a road accident on Kandirpar-Chwekbazar road v in Comilla town yesterday.

Concord Entertainment Company Limited has launched a water park named Sea World at its Foy's Lake site in the port city.

A suicide bombing killed four Pakistani troops near the Afghan border yesterday, as tribal elders met with Islamic militants elsewhere in the troubled northwest of the country to seek the release of at least 120 Pakistani soldiers, officials said.

The US military said on Saturday the freeze on militia activities by Iraq's Shia Mahdi Army will help in the fight against al-Qaeda, blamed for some of the bloodiest attacks in the war-ravaged country.

Government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels traded artillery fire in the island's northwest, with each side claiming heavy casualties against the other as well as among civilians.

As explosions boomed in the distance, a Kurdish woman stood outside her house and pointed to where shells scorched parts of her father's grapes and plum orchards. "It was a bad day when some 20 shells hit our village in a single day last week. We were crying as we prayed to God to protect us from the bombs of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Serwa Ibrahim, one of the few remaining villagers in Mardow, about 25 miles from the Iranian border.

The United States is pressing for international action over Myanmar's military junta crackdown on peaceful protests but is expected to again face opposition from China and Russia.

South Korea paid $2 million to Taliban extremists in Afghanistan to secure the release of 19 hostages, a Japanese newspaper reported on Friday.

Even as the Left parties have sought to put the Government in the dock on the nuclear deal, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has congratulated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his team of "able negotiators" for hammering a treaty that "satisfies all the conditions" laid out before Parliament.

The United States and North Korea began face-to-face talks in Geneva on Saturday aimed at reaching an agreement on how to proceed with Pyongyang's denuclearisation pledge.

Chechnya will hold a referendum on December 2, voting on changes to the local constitution which would extend the republic's presidential and parliamentary terms and slash the number of lawmakers, the electoral commission's chief told AFP.

Talented young TV play director Nurul Alam Atique is making a name for himself. Single episode TV plays and mega-serials directed by Atique such as Chithi and Labonyaprobha aired on ntv, Cycle-er Dana and Choturthamatra aired on BTV have won him plaudits. He has also worked as assistant director in films such as Ontorjatra. Moreover, Atique is a scriptwriter for TV plays and screenplay writer for cinema. He has received a National Award for writing the screenplay of the movie Kittonkhola (2000).

Udichi (Drama Department) production Bou Bashonti was staged at the National Theatre Stage yesterday as part of the ongoing theatre festival jointly arranged by Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. The festival has been organised to lend a hand to the flood victims.

Acclaimed film actor Soumitra Chatterjee is due to arrive in Dhaka next week to attend a retrospective of his films, said Munira Morshed Munni, general secretary of Chalachitram Film Society at a press conference yesterday. As part of the silver jubilee celebrations of Chalachitram Film Society, the retrospective will be held from September 6 to 8 at Shawkat Osman Memorial Auditorium of Central Public Library.

TV serial Shukhi Manush Project will be aired tonight on Ekushey television at 8:30pm.

The world renowned School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London has selected a novel titled Krantikaley Protarak (published by Anyaprokash, 2004) by writer and talk show host (of Kara Alaap) Dr. Fazlul Alam, to introduce European students to a contemporary Bangla novel, says a press release.

After the latest round of protests, a friend called: "I see, now you've started writing for that dalal paper."

We observe with grave concern the incidents surrounding the recent arrest of senior university professors at the Dhaka and Rajshahi Universities. Our concerns are best expressed in the form of a few questions that have been dogging us ever since these ugly incidents: Was it absolutely necessary to get into these respectable teachers' residences in the middle of the night? Wouldn't it have been more decent to summon them through respective university authorities for the purpose of any investigation of allegations against them?

Like the way "stage fright" can cause nausea, shortness of breath, headache, dizziness, a racing heart, a stomachache or diarrhea, our body can react strongly to other stressful situations. Outbreaks of mass psychogenic illness show us how stress and other people's feelings and behavior can affect the way we feel.

Pungent smell in the air, grumbling noise of generator, big lorries parked on narrow lanes, people struggling to move through heavy traffic congestion -- this is the everyday scene during rush hour at Lucas battery roundabout in West Nakhalpara, a densely populated area in the city.

Petty crime, eve-teasing, toll collection and other anomalies that are visible in the neighbourhood of the city are going to be addressed with due seriousness under a new programme by Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Lawlessness and defiance continue to reign over the public transport sector in the capital as majority of bus services overcharge passengers -- a clear violation of the fare scheme directed by the government.

Dismantling of billboards from rooftops of city buildings is facing setbacks as Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is caught up in a legal tangle with Outdoor Advertisement Owners Association.

While the preferred method for reducing cervical cancer is to encourage as many countries as possible to vaccinate their young women and girls against Human Papillomavirus (HPV) before they are sexually active, there remains the problem about affording the costly vaccine by the poor people of a country like ours. Early screening still remains only hope for thousands of women.

In some developed countries, lead-based paint is banned from use in homes, toys and furniture. Yet recent toy recalls have left parents scrambling to pull toys coated in lead-based paint from their children's toy boxes. What is going on? And what do you need to know to protect your child from lead poisoning? Here is some practical advice.

The gap between public and private healthcare services in Bangladesh has been increasing day by day resulting better treatment and comfort costlier leads to the affluent patients to seek better healthcare services from private sectors and often to go abroad depriving 90 percent of the people who go to the public sector.

A cochlear implant is an electronic device designed to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing.

Clamping the umbilical cord straight after birth does not benefit mother or baby and may actually be harmful, experts have warned recently. Instead, leaving the cord for around three minutes can boost the baby's iron stores, cutting the risk of anaemia.

There are plenty of reasons not to exercise. I do not want to discredit you for not exercising but here is a reason to Exercise: being in good shape is startlingly, impressively important to your health, and it even extend our life. Fitness fends off chronic ailments like diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis. Plus, it improves numerous measures of wellbeing: you sleep better, you have less stress, and you have less pain, because your joints are stronger. If fitness came in a pill, everyone would take it.