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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

[ALOCHONA] Luxury Jeeps for the MPs



Luxury Jeeps for the MPs
 
 


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[ALOCHONA] Sugar tax withdrawn to check price hike



Sugar tax withdrawn to check price hike: Effective 15 September
 
Dhaka, Sep 1 (bdnews24.com)—The government has decided to withdraw import tax on non-refined sugar in a bid to keep its price at tolerable level. In addition, the import tax on refined sugar will also be reduced, a government statement said on Wednesday.

The Tk 2,000 tax on each tonne non-refined sugar will be off from Sep 15, while the other tax on refined sugar, Tk 4,000, will be reduced to Tk 2,000.

Sugar traders' association president Anwar Habib welcomed the government move. He said, "We requested the government to withdraw the taxes on sugar." He also assured that there was no chance of a price hike after the Eid due to the initiative. Currently, sugar is sold at Tk 43 at mill gate, Tk 45 in the wholesale and Tk 47 in the retail markets, Anwar added.


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[ALOCHONA] Stalkers on the prowl



Stalkers on the prowl

 
While conventional stalking has received much attention lately, harassment through mobile phone and the internet has grown to be a silent epidemic in the last few years, experts and victims said.(The Daily Star)

The Daily Star has recently interviewed 30 women at random about the issue, and found every one of them has been harassed electronically. "It is sexual harassment of the new millennium," said Sultana Kamal, rights activist and former adviser to the caretaker government. "And almost all the victims are women." Kamal said the anonymity of the electronic communication devices makes it more likely for a person to indulge in stalking. "Some people are turning to technological means to do and say things they otherwise would not do."

The women interviewed were middle and upper class professionals, students and a housewife. One was a schoolgirl who spent sleepless nights because of crank calls; another was an industrialist's daughter who stumbled across obscene pictures and her personal details on a Facebook profile someone else had opened in her name.Naima Hossain, a college student, was taunted and teased over the phone for a week by a person she had never met. The stalker, who asked her out several times, threatened to throw acid on her face for refusal.

"That they [stalkers] do not have a face makes it even more traumatic for the victims," said Shamim F Karim, a psychology professor at Dhaka University.Getting stalked by someone the victim knows can be no less unnerving.

Shamrin Afia Adiba, a BBA student, knew her stalker. For three years, she got taunting phone calls almost every hour.About the nightmare she had gone through, she said it felt like her life was being slowly poisoned.The stalker, a jilted male friend working at a telecom operator, used her cellphone number to track her location in real time. He let her know he was watching her, and threatened several times to kidnap her.

Switching to a different operator did not help, as he managed to trace Shamrin's new number through a friend working there.While no statistics are available to confirm the number of electronic stalking victims, social experts point out that almost every woman using a mobile phone or the internet has suffered abuse at one time or another.

From January to July this year, 44 women reported harassment to the cyber crime prevention cell of the police's detective branch. In response, the police have blocked 46 SIM cards.

The law enforcers however admit that blocking SIM is not enough, as most people own multiple numbers, and a new subscription is only some cash away.They said the existing laws appear toothless when it comes to fighting e-stalking, as some of them are more than a hundred years old.

Mustafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of the New Market Police Station, said, "The laws require us to know the stalker's identity to take action against him. This is a major problem since in many cases the perpetrator remains unidentified."

Supreme Court lawyer Nina Goswami, director (mediation) at Ain O Salish Kendra, the rights group which has received two cyber-stalking cases this year, stresses the need for a law against crimes in the cyber space. "It is difficult to take action against the stalkers as there is no specific law,'' said the lawyer, herself a victim of mobile phone harassment.

A proposed act to curb cellphone-related crimes and harassment promises some respite. The draft law defines stalking, both physical and digital, as sexual harassment, and prescribes punishment.

Experts, however, fear the new law may prove ineffective, as most of the stalking incidents tend to go unreported.

Arifa Hossain says she perhaps knows why victims are reluctant to complain to the police. She went to the local police station to report abusive phone calls but thought better of it."You won't expect much from the cops once you see how they fumble with the mouse and eye the computer as if it's an alien thing."

A police representative admitted there is a lack of tech-savvy officers needed to hunt down high-tech criminals. He said this is a reason why the detective branch's cyber crime cell, set up in 2008, exists in name only.

Exceptional cases however receive special attention from the police. When a youth posted offensive materials on Facebook to taunt politicians in May, he was arrested within days and the whole social networking website was banned for a week."Banning an entire website is out of the question. But there should be some sort of a law or policy to safeguard our young women," said Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, a professor at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.

Experts believe fear of social stigma is another reason why victims are loath to file compliant with the police. "Forget police, women do not tell anyone about being harassed for fear of being stigmatised," said Shamim F Karim, psychology teacher at DU. "Women, especially those in the city, have become accustomed to harassment in everyday life."

She suggested that anyone experiencing harassment over the phone or the internet should inform her family members immediately. "The family members can go to the police if necessary."She noted that some young women, who are actually unaware that they are being subjected to a form of sexual harassment, try to laugh off the matter.

Some do not.Trisa Gloria Rodriguez, for one, has been receiving irritating phone calls for some time. The stalker calls from different numbers and makes loud smooching noises.She tried to reason with him, but it did not work. Yelling did not bring much result either."Disgusting. I feel like kicking him," says an irate Trisa.

 http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=153274



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[ALOCHONA] Public suspicious of Shaon, detasting politics



Public suspicious of Shaon, detasting politics

 
The truth behind what exactly led to ruling party activist Ibrahim ending up with a bullet from an MP's gun in his head threatens to taint the image of the government, and more broadly of politicians, for a long time to come.(UNB)

The onset of Ramadan, with its usual toning down of the intensity in the political arena, might have helped rookie Awami League MP Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shaon to take refuge in a low profile, but talking to members of the public over Monday and Tuesday, UNB found that a cross-section of the public are actually keeping up with the proceedings in the Ibrahim murder case very closely.

Ibrahim, who had been a close associate of Shaon as the MP from Bhola-3 rose through the ranks of the Awami League, died on August 13 after being left at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital with a bullet wound to his head.

The DMCH autopsy report that was handed over to the police suspects homicide. Shaon's driver, Kamal Hossain Kala, is now in police custody, along with the lawmaker's personal secretary, Sohel.

But the fact that Shaon has not been formally interrogated in police custody, despite the wealth of evidence that seems to suggest at-least some level of involvement on his part, as well as initial statements provided by those questioned proving comically false, is feeding suspicion that the Bhola MP is being shielded by his position.

"Ibrahim died in Shaon's car. The weapon used belonged to Shaon. They were close, but had a reported fall-out. How can Shaon be above suspicion even? Just because he is an MP?" questioned Khaled Hossen, a local bank employee shopping with his family in Mouchak.

On Monday, a senior lawyer specializing in criminal law also told UNB on condition of anonymity that by dint of owning the murder weapon, Shaon "cannot escape murder charges."

If it were to happen, it would in-fact be the first time in Bangladesh's history that a sitting MP would be remanded in a murder case. This obviously makes the public skeptical.

"Although investigation has to be completed, I think he (Shaon) must be involved," says Nazrul, employed in Dhaka as a household driver, but hailing originally from Tamizuddin in Bhola, part of the constituency Shaon represents.

"The stupid lies they made up about the gun going off accidentally while Ibrahim was playing with it made me laugh, and very suspicious." Nazrul said it was quite believable that Shaon and Ibrahim, after "rising together", had fallen out.

"They're from Bhola, but they did most of their work in Dhaka. Ibrahim himself was no saint, with his involvement in tenderbaji," according to the Bhola man, using the colloquial term to describe manipulation for personal gain in the tender process.

An incredulous look came over the face of Motaleb, a restaurant manager in Nordda, when asked whether he thought Shaon should be remanded.

"Don't you know he is buttressed by power? No chance. The driver and the PS will go on the dock," Motaleb says, before lamenting:

"Politics you see, is today even worse than it used to be. No place for thinking, even scheming to get past your opponent! You just kill them!"

This damning indictment is echoed by others as well, and it is notable how most people found that question laughable. There is a visible disillusionment with the justice system.

Muhibul Haque, sole proprietor of a general store in Malibagh, puts it down to a system gone rotten, but on a note of optimism, he believes justice will prevail, and that Shaon will have to be held answerable. He too has "no doubt" that Shaon was involved in the murder, "whether directly or indirectly."

"Kaan tanle matha ashe (pull an ear, comes the head)," he sums up.

What clearly rankles the public mind is Shaon's failure to come forward and clear his name, and the longer this goes on, the more firmly people will believe his hands aren't clean.

"Where was he when the incident took place? If he wasn't in the car, did he know Ibrahim had taken his car? When did he hear about the murder and why wasn't he the one to file a case if he was so close to Ibrahim?" implored Khaled Hossen, the banker. These are all pertinent questions that remain unanswered.

Inevitably perhaps, some invoke Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's election promise of "din bodol" (times changing), and how it doesn't ring true anymore.

"I am reminded of the murder commited by the Bashundhara Group director, and how the BNP regime, all the way up to Khaleda Zia, were involved in the cover-up," said Shafiq Khan, a marketing executive at one of the country's leading mobile networks.

Clearly as frustrated with the political process as everyone else, he is appalled, but finds it symbolic of the "murderous, extortionist and corrupt" form of our politics that even the hallowed grounds of the parliamentary complex, where the incident took place, has not been spared now.

It is difficult to disagree with any of them, as long as the truth continues to hide itself. What is plainly apparent is that nobody is buying the pathetic stories cooked up in the beginning. Those who hoped to gain by those blatant lies may have taken the people for fools, or at best, indifferent. That is far from the case. The public may not be expecting much, but they are discerning, and they do care. It is important now that their caring is rewarded with justice.


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[ALOCHONA] Life Hand Book



Life Hand Book

 

 by Wise Men

 

 Health:

1.       Drink plenty of water.

2.       Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

3.       Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

4.       Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

5.       Make time to practice prayer regularly.

5.       Play more games.

6.       Read more books than you did in last year.

7.       Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

9.       Sleep for 7 hours.

8.       Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

 

 Personality:

11.    Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

12.    Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

13.    Don't over do. Keep your limits.

14.    Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

15.    Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

16.    Dream more while you are awake.

17.    Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

18.    Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

19.    Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

20.    Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

21.    No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22.    Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23.    Smile and laugh more.

24.    You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

 

 Society:

25.    Talk to your family often.

26.    Each day give something good to others.

27.    Forgive everyone for everything.

28.    Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

29.    Try to make at least three people smile each day.

30.    What other people think of you is none of your business.

31.    Your job may not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

 

 Life:

32.    Do the right thing!

33.    Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

34.    However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

35.    No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

36.    Allah heals everything, have faith in Him.

37.    The best is yet to come.

38.    When you awake alive in the morning, thank Allah for it.

 



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