Indian Prime Minister Modi pays respects to Bangladesh Liberation War martyrs

He went to the National Memorial at Savar around 11:25am on Saturday.
Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, local MP Enamur Rahman and Dhaka Deputy Commissioner Tofazzal Hossain Miah were among others who welcomed the Indian prime minister.
Modi then placed a wreath on the base of the memorial.
A smartly turned out contingent drawn from Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force gave him a guard of honour there.
He then signed the visitors book and planted a ‘Uday Padma’ at the sapling point of the memorial.
The motorcade of the Indian prime minister started for Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32 to pay homage to the Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
He arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 10:08am and will stay at Pan Pacific Sonargoan Dhaka Hotel during the visit.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who came on Friday night, will meet him at the hotel at about 3:15pm.
Modi will then leave for the Prime Minister’s Office for discussions with Hasina at about 4:15pm.
Both leaders will witness the exchange of instrument of ratification of Land Boundary Agreement, and signing of MoUs, agreements and exchanges of different documents.
Hasina will host a dinner on Saturday night at the hotel.
On Sunday morning, the Indian leader will begin the day with prayers at Dhakeshwari National Temple at 8:45am. Then he will visit the Ramkrishna Mission.
After 10am, he will come to the Indian High Commission’s New Chancery Complex at Baridhara to attend High Commission’s programmes.
Then he will go back to his hotel before leaving for Bangabhaban to meet President Md Abdul Hamid.
He will receive the Award of Liberation War Honour on behalf of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and attend a private lunch hosted by the president.
Leader of the Opposition Raushon Ershad will call on him at his hotel suite at about 3:10pm, before he delivers a public speech at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre at 6:30pm.
However, sources said some political leaders including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will also call on Modi before his public speech.
But the meetings have not yet been included in his official itinerary.
He has a free slot between 3:30pm and 6:20pm, according to the tentative schedule.
He will leave Dhaka at about 8:10pm on Sunday and will be seen off by Prime Minister Hasina at the VVIP Tarmac.

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Labourer dies of electrocution in Jessore

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A construction worker has died after being electrocuted during work in a building at Jessore’s Benapole area.

The deceased Rajib Hossain, 25, hailed from Rajshahi.

Benapole port station’s OC Apurba Hasan said, the incident happened on Monday night at Gatiparha village in Benapole.

He told bdnews24.com, the work continued till night since it was not finished during the day.

 “Unaware of the electric wires, Rajib got entangled with the live wire and was electrocuted, according to the locals.”

He died on the spot, said the OC.

The body has been sent to the Jessore Medical College Hospital morgue.

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BSTI gives Maggi, four other noodles clean chit, says no ingredients in them above harmful levels

 

Bangladesh’s food testing authority has found no ingredients above harmful levels in five brands of noodles including Nestle’s Maggi.

“We have tested noodles of five companies including Maggi,” Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI)’s certification wing director, Kamal Prasad Das, said on Tuesday.

“We did not find any ingredients in them above harmful levels.”

The other four brands tested are New Zealand Dairy’s ‘Doodles’, Kallol Thai Food’s ‘Mama’, Ifad Multi Product’s ‘Ifad Eggy’ and  ‘Mister’ marketed by Pran Group’s concern Natore Agro.

BSTI Assistant Director Golam Baqui had earlier said the products were tested ‘regularly’ in Bangladesh, but this test was initiated after ‘dangerous level of lead’ was found in instant noodles, manufactured by Nestle in India.

Many Indian states have stopped marketing of the Maggi brand of noodles and subjected them to fresh tests after allegations that they contained dangerous levels of lead and mono-sodium glutamate.

Food safety inspectors in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh sued Nestle on Monday.

At the end of April, the state’s Food and Drug Administration ordered recalled of 200,000 packs of noodles, after a spot check pointed to higher than normal levels of monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavour enhancer, and of lead 17 times above the permissible limit.

Food Safety Standards Authority of India has taken up the case on Monday and said they have ordered collection of samples from all over the country for more testing.

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Sharapova knocked out of French Open

 

Defending champion Maria Sharapova was sent packing from the French Open at the fourth-round stage on Monday, losing in straight sets to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

Safarova, the 13th seed, won 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 to progress to a first ever quarter-final at Roland Garros, where she will face Garbine Muguruza after the Spaniard saw off Flavia Pennetta.
Sharapova, who also won the clay-court Grand Slam event in 2012 and was the beaten finalist in 2013, had been forced to wait until Monday morning for her clash with Safarova, which had been postponed on Sunday due to the rain in the French capital.
But on a bright Paris morning the Russian second seed, who was looking to become the first woman to successfully defend the French Open title since Justine Henin in 2007, was punished for an erratic display from beginning to end.
Sharapova was broken in her second service game, and although she soon broke back, Safarova claimed the opening set in the tiebreak on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Breaks were again exchanged in the second set but Sharapova found herself serving to stay in the match at 5-4 down, and while she saved one match point she could not save the second that came her opponent's way.
"I had a few small openings but I wasn't able to keep up my level. She was more consistent and aggressive, created the angles and that was the difference," said Sharapova who had been battling a heavy cold all week.
"It was a tough day at the office."
The Czech had not won any of her last four meetings with Sharapova since triumphing in their first ever clash in Madrid in 2010 and will now face Muguruza on Tuesday after the Spanish 21st seed breezed past Pennetta.
Muguruza won 6-3, 6-4 on Court Suzanne Lenglen to reach the last eight at Roland Garros for the second year in succession.
Twelve months ago Muguruza was knocked out in three sets by Sharapova having defeated Serena Williams in the second round.
The exit of the reigning champion leaves just two of the top six seeds left going into the quarter-finals.
Number one seed Williams, who is looking for a 20th Grand Slam crown at the event she won in 2002 and 2013, was due in action later on Monday against compatriot Sloane Stephens.
Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova, last year's Wimbledon champion, was due to meet Swiss 23rd seed Timea Bacsinszky with the winner going on to meet either Andreea Mitu of Romania or Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck.

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1.4m students study in 14,000 Qawmi madrasas

A total of 1.4 million students have been studying in 13,902 Qawmi madrasas across the country. Of them, the highest 4,599 madrasas are located in Dhaka division while the lowest 1,040 are in Barisal, says a report.

The report prepared by Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) following the directives of the Prime Minister’s Office, is the first ever study conducted on Qawmi madrasas in Bangladesh.

The BANBEIS has recently submitted the report to the education ministry.

Shamsul Alam, chief of statistics department at BANBEIS, told Prothom Alo the government wants Qawmi madrasas to make a kind of connection with the mainstream education system.

The information on Qawmi madrasas has been collected by education and upazila nirbahi officers in an attempt so that the government can easily make plans over the madrasas, Shamsul said.

“This is a complete picture on upazila-based Qawmi madrasas,” he added.

According to BANBEIS report, off all the Qawmi madrasas, 12,693 are for men while 1,209 belong to women.

As many as 10,58,636 male and 3,39,616 female students have been studying while 73,731 teachers teach in these institutes.

Considering the numbers of Qawmi madrasas, Chittagong secures the second position after Dhaka with 2,984 madrasas while Rajshahi has 1,702 madrasas, 1, 246 in Sylhet, 1,176 in Rangpur and 1,155 in Khulna.

Prof M Siddiqur Rahman, a member of the Education Policy Formulation Committee, told Prothom Alo that Qawmi education should be modernised by bringing it under government’s intervention.

Besides religious education, Qawmi students should get mainstream education so that they can compete for job opportunities as well, said Siddiqur.

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Habib, Nancy team up for Hindi jingle

The winning combo of music composer Habib Wahid and singer Nancy is transgressing the local scene, as they have teamed up for a jingle which will be telecasted in Indian TV channels.

The jingle titled “Ah, Kya Thandak Ne Tumne Ghera Hain” will be used in the adverts of Pran Up, a beverage item of Pran-RFL group.
“It’s not that different from what I do regularly, only the language was different. What I like about jingles is they are on the TV throughout the day. It’s a good way to reach a large number of audience at once,” Nancy told Prothom Alo. 
About Habib Wahid’s composition, Nancy said, “What can I say about Habib bhai’s music and composition that haven’t been said already? He did an excellent job as usual. I loved voicing the jingle, and I’m sure the listeners will love it as well.”

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10th founding anniversary of ‘Bangla Wikipedia’ celebrated

The 10th Founding Anniversary of ‘Bangla Wikipedia’ was marked with a daylong event at Daffodil International University (DIU) on Saturday. 
Wikimedia Bangladesh, a local organisation of Wikimedia Foundation that conducts the Wikipedia activities in Bangladesh, organised the celebration programme in association with DIU at the university auditorium. 
State minister for ICT division Zunaid Ahmed Palak inaugurated the programme as the chief guest while DIU vice chancellor Prof. Dr. M. Lutfar Rahman was a special guest. 
The event was moderated by Nurunnaby Chowdhury Hasive, administrator of Bangla Wikipedia and director of Wikimedia Bangladesh.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, “The youth of Bangladesh lack nothing in knowledge and talent - all they need is a good platform to facilitate their potentials. Bangla Wikipedia is exactly the kind of a platform the youth of the country need."
He also said, as the 8th most spoken language of the world, Bangla should not lag behind.
He promised his best support to accelerate the activities of Bangla Wikipedia through joint campaign programme of Wikimedia Bangladesh and ICT Division in 118 universities of the country and in 64 districts.
The daylong programme included seminar and workshops for volunteers and contributors of Wikipedia. Director of Wikimedia Bangladesh Nahid Sultan, treasurer Ali Haider Khan Tonmoy, and members Shabab Mustafa, Nasir Khan Saikat, and Tanweer Morshed conducted the workshop.
The volunteers of Bangla Wikipedia of Kolkata, India participated in the event as well.

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