1 dead, 100 hurt in Savar clash

Savar, May 12 (sunnews24.com) - Police on Saturday fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse angry garment workers who blocked streets and smashed dozens of vehicles to protest against detention of a fellow worker, police and witnesses said.

One female worker died after she was run over by a bus during the hours-long violence. But the two-way clash between the protesters and the police left at least 100 people, including 10 police officials, injured after the chaos broke out at Savar.

The death occurred when the worker tried to flee the police action.

The disorder forced authorities to suspend operations at about 100 factories amid fear of further violence at the industrial hub where hundreds of garment factories are located.

The protesters said they began their protest in the morning for the release of a fellow worker of Hameem Group’s Artistic Design Limited who was detained on Thursday after he allegedly attacked an official of the group.

The melee broke out as the workers of Hameem Group first took to the streets. And responding to their call, workers from other factories joined the Hameem Group workers and attacked police after they charged them with batons to remove them from the streets.

“We’ve fired at least 1,000 rounds of rubber bullet and 100 shells of tear gas to bring the situation under control,” Industrial Police (Ashulia Zone) assistant director Mir Fusiar told bdnews24.com.

Six people were arrested over snatching of a shotgun from a constable, Fusiar said.

Faizul Kabir, deputy director of the Industrial Police at Savar, said he and nine other police officials were injured as the protesters threw brickbats at them.

Thursday’s detention of the worker followed an altercation with an official over talking on mobile phone during work.The authorities of Artistic Design handed over the worker to the police as he had allegedly beat up the official.

Hameem Group managing director and FBCCI President A K Azad told bdnews24.com that the disorder was created by spreading a rumour of death of the detained worker.

“We’ve taken step to produce him before the workers by releasing him on bail,” he added.

The protesters also smashed about 50 vehicles during the blockade on Dhaka-Tangail highway in protest against the detention, witnesses said.

Thirty-year-old ‘Nahar’ of Opex Sweater was crushed by a bus while she was reportedly fleeing the scene being chased by police.

Harun-or-Rashid, an assistant manager of local Women and Children Health Centre, said the agitated workers took away the body after she was declared dead.

HSBC to sell assets in South America

Mexico City, May 12 (sunnews24.com/Reuters) - HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.L) said on Friday that it had agreed to sell its operations in Colombia, Uruguay, Peru and Paraguay for $400 million (248.9 million pounds) in cash to Banco GNB Sudameris.

The Colombia and Peru deals are expected to close in the last quarter of this year and Uruguay and Paraguay should close in the first quarter of 2013, the company said in a statement released in Mexico City.

Banco GNB Sudameris is a financial group controlled by Grupo Gilinski, a family of Colombian bankers with a long record in the industry who had previously tried to buy assets in the region.

As of March, GNB Sudameris' assets were worth $5.7 billion and ranked No. 10 out of 23 banking groups based on asset worth. The bank was not immediately available for comment on the deal.

HSBC has been quitting smaller markets and businesses to cut costs and streamline operations under new CEO Stuart Gulliver.

The London-based bank operates in 85 countries and Gulliver is trying to sharpen its focus on fast-growing Asian markets. It has struck about 27 deals in the past year to cut more than $60 billion in risk-weighted assets from its balance sheet.

HSBC has 62 branches in the four Latin American countries it is leaving - 24 in Peru, 20 in Colombia, 11 in Uruguay and seven in Paraguay - out of more than 3,000 across the Americas.

As of December 2011, the four operations for sale had assets worth $4.4 billion, HSBC said.

The bank's Latin American operations made an underlying pre-tax profit of $2.2 billion last year, up 21 percent. Nevertheless, bad debts have been rising there and costs in the region are high and well above Gulliver's target.

HSBC this week said first-quarter earnings hit $6.8 billion, beating expectations due to a rebound in investment banking, growth in Asia and a fall in US bad debts

Chargesheet a 'mismatch': BNP

Dhaka, May 12 (sunnews24.com) –BNP leader Nazrul Islam Khan said on Saturday the chargesheet pressed by the Detective Branch of police against the party's acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 44 others involving the Apr 29 violence was a mismatch.

He claimed that the First Information Report (FIR) of the case does not match the chargesheet pressed the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Thursday.

"The chargesheet was submitted in a hurry and it does not go with the FIR," Khan, a BNP standing committee member, told a news conference.

He criticised the government for its failure in finding M Ilias Ali and killers of journalist couple Sagar-Runi.

"Those are very slow-paced but they are very fast when false cases come against the opposition leaders," he said.

"Accounts of the people who have been made witnesses have not been taken in the cases. Even the accounts of the bus driver and his assistant are not included in the chargesheet," he said.

He demanded withdrawal of the chargesheet against the leaders of BNP and its alliance while speaking at the briefing at party chief Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office.

Khaleda to address Gazipur rally

Dhaka, May 12 sunbdnews24 BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is scheduled to address a rally in Gazipur on Saturday afternoon. 

She will leave her Gulshan home at 2:30pm for the rally at Kapasia Chala Club ground, her Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told bdnews24.com. 

The rally has been planned to gear up the opposition's campaign against the government. 
The BNP and its 17 other allies are out to strengthen its anti-government movement amid authorities' indifference to its demand for caretaker government. The opposition alliance also wants to rally support from the common people by protesting against the disappearance of M Ilias Ali and cases against opposition leaders and activists, saying the charges are false. 

After a Mar 12 rally in Dhaka, this is going to be the first rally to be addressed by Khaleda. She had given the government a deadline of June 10 to meet the demand for restoring the caretaker government system. 

Khaleda had told the Mar 12 rally that fresh agitations would be announced if the demand is not met within the deadline. 

The party, however, enforced five days of general strikes last month in protest against the disappearance of Ilias Ali, an organising secretary. A number of top BNP leaders have been sued in cases over violence during the strikes. 

Humayun Ahmed in his favourite haunt

Gazipur, May 11 (sunnews24.com)—Popular Bengali fiction writer Humayun Ahmed is spending time with family, friends and relatives at Nuhash Polli in Gazipur, his country retreat, after flying back home after eight months. 

He came back with wife Meher Afroz Shaon and their two sons 'Nishad' and 'Ninit' on Friday morning and headed straight for Nuhash Polli. The writer had been in New York for the last eight months for his colon cancer treatment and will return there for a surgery in three weeks' time. 

"What I missed most is my Nuhash Polli. I have missed the garden and the trees there. Then I missed my friends. Missed my mother and the relatives," said Ahmed as he talked with the journalists at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the morning. 

His friends and relatives could not help but throng Nuhash Polli too. 

Humayun's mother Ayesha Foyez, sisters Sufia Haider and Mamtaj Shaheed, mother-in-law Tahura Ali, architect friend Fazlul Karim and personal physician MA Karim were with him. 

Ayesha Foyez was ecstatic having her son back. 

"I pray to Allah for my son's recovery even in exchange for my own life," said Ayesha, who in the last eight months talked only with Shaon on the phone. 

Winner of The Ekushey Padak and The Bangla Academy award, Humayun walked around the garden he had grown at Nuhash Polli. He watched people catch fish from the pond he had made before going for a rest prescribed by the doctors. 

A large number of journalists thronged Nuhash Polli but could not reach him for comment as the writer has been advised to meet people sparingly. 

"Humayun is resting as he has travelled down a long way. Doctors have restriction over Humayun appearing in public places," said M A Karim. 

"He (Humayun) could not bear the pain of people and that's why he loathed to stay in the hospital. He even won't visit relatives in hospital. But this is what has become the routine of his life," sighed Humayun's sister Sufia Haider. 

Former vice-Principal of Kabi Nazrul Government College, Haider, however, believed people's love will get her brother back in good health. 

Besides relatives, the publication house Anyaprakash owner Majharul Islam and its director Sirajul Kabir Chowdhury also went to Nuhash Polli to meet the writer. 

Jewel Rana, Chief Assistant Director at Nuhash Films, the production house owned by the writer, told bdnews24.com Ahmed has brought along a screenplay he prepared while undergoing treatment in America. 

The screenplay was made from his own story 'Pipra' (Ants) and has been named as 'Pipilika'. Rana said that they expected to air the drama during the next Eid festival. 

Humayun had left country for cancer treatment on Sept 13 last year. 

After his brief return, the writer said after arriving at the airport, "If I had returned forever after getting done with my treatment, then I would have said I am very happy. But after setting my foot in the country today, I thought one of the 20 days have gone. Only 19 days are left." 

Doctors treating the writer have decided to operate on his colon as he has already taken twelve chemo-therapies to contain the spread of cancer.

Journos demo to protest Bibhash death

Dhaka, May 12  sunbdnews24 Journalists demonstrated in front of the National Press Club by blocking traffic on the street on Saturday to protest against Friday's death of a fellow in a road accident. 

Hundreds of journalists gathered in front of the club after expressing their last respects to Independent newspaper journalist Bibhash Chandra Saha at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU). 

His relatives left the place with the body around 11am for cremation. 

His cremation will be held at Rajarbagh Crematory in the afternoon, his brother-in-law S N Bhakta told bdnews24.com. 

Bibhash, 45, a senior reporter with English-language daily The Independent, was killed as a bus knocked his motorcycle yards from his workplace in front of Star Kabab Restaurant on Road-2 of Dhanmondi. 

Addressing a street rally in front of the Press Club, DRU president Shakhawat Hossain Badshah criticised the government for its failure to take visible steps to improve road safety. 

Badshah, who was a member of a committee formed to investigate the death of journalist Dinesh Das in a similar road accident in January, said authorities seemed reluctant to implement recommendations to contain reckless driving by unskilled drivers. 

"We've proposed to give driving licences to only those who have passed fifth grade. We demanded an increase of punishment from three years to 10 years in jail for the responsible drivers," he said. 

He expressed his anger as the proposals had not been implemented. 

Journalist trade union leader Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury urged the government to compensate the family of Bibhash. 

Charge sheet politically-motivated: BNP

Dhaka, May 10  BNP on Thursday termed 'false' and 'politically-motivated' the charge sheet against senior party leaders in the Apr 29 shutdown arson case and demanded the case be withdrawn.
"The government has filed two false cases against senior opposition leaders to divert people's attention from the ongoing anti-government agitation. Charge sheet of one of the cases was submitted today. We condemn this," BNP standing committee member Khandker Mosharraf Hossain told a human chain programme in front of the National Press Club in the capital.
"We urge the government to withdraw the false cases and the charge sheet immediately," he added.
He also claimed that the people did not believe these cases and alleged that the government was 'neck-deep' into corruption and the cases intend to 'bury that flaw'.
Police filed two cases accusing senior opposition leaders over hurling bombs in the Secretariat, the centre of government administration, and torching of vehicle in front of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) during the Apr 29 general strike.

Police on Thursday pressed charges against BNP's acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 44 others in the arson case claiming that their investigation found involvement of those. The charges said the accused leaders of the BNP-led 18-party alliance had backed the strikers who allegedly set the bus on fire in front of the PMO.

The case was filed by Tejgaon police amid growing tension on the street over the disappearance of BNP's organising secretary M Ilias Ali who has remained traceless since Apr 18.

In April, the BNP-led opposition alliance enforced five days of general strike to demand that the government 'return' Ilias amid accusation that security agencies have 'abducted' him. The government has denied the allegation, saying that it was 'a plot by the opposition to create anarchy' in the country.
Among the accused in the Apr 29 arson case, BNP's joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was arrested and sent to jail, pending further order, while another joint secretary general Mahbubuddin Khokon was on bail until May 20.
The charge-sheeted accused also include BNP leaders MK Anwar, Hannan Shah, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Mirza Abbas, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Amanullah Aman, Ruhul Kuddus Talukdar Dulu, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Fazlul Haque Milon, Sharif Uddin Chowdhury Anne, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku, Liberal Democratic Party president Oli Ahmed, Jamaat-e-Islami acting chief Mokbul Hossain, BJP President Andalib Rahman Partha and Swechchhasebak Dal president Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel.

Syed Ashraf swipes at Yunus, Clinton

UNB, Dhaka
Taking a swipe at Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam on Thursday said it will take more than thousand years to develop Bangladesh through NGOs and microcredit activities.
“There’s no instance that any country in the world has developed through NGOs and microcredit activities… we too won’t be able to achieve progress in the next one thousand years through NGOs and microcredit activities,” he said.
The minister was addressing the inaugural function of a subsidy-money distribution programme among the farmers of cooperative society for the waiver of interest on agricultural loan.
Rural Development and Cooperatives Division organised the programme at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital.
Without mentioning the name of Prof Yunus, Ashraf said one gets the Nobel Peace Prize after engaging in microcredit programme.
“Which war has he stopped with his activities and in which continent has he established peace through his microcredit programme?” he questioned.
“His areas of work is economics, but got the Nobel in peace,” Ashraf quipped.
About development of the country, the minister said coordinated efforts of all quarters are needed to achieve the desired development goal.
These days, Ashraf said, people know how one gets the Nobel Prize in peace and mentioned the name of an organisation, ‘Motherland Peace’ of Ireland.
“Two women established this organisation and won the Nobel in peace within two months. They ultimately engaged in quarrel over sharing the Nobel Prize money. Last of all, the matter went to the court and the peace vanished,” he said.
The Awami League general secretary was also critical about Hillary Clinton’s talks with some youths in a programme, titled ‘Adda with Bangladesh’, during his recent visit to Bangladesh.
He said this was the Town Hall type programme. “Hillary held the talks with some so-called youths of the country, and a private TV channel broadcast it.”
During Hillary’s visit to Kolkata, she also held such a programme and it was aired by a TV channel. He also mentioned that the TV channel had aired the advertisement of this programme three days ago.
“But in our country we didn’t know about that programme, even the day before,” he said.
In Kolkata’s programme, he said, no question came regarding the internal matter of India. “They talked about international politics and Iran issue,” he said.
But, Ashraf alleged, the moderator of Bangladesh’s programme (Munni Saha of ATN News) set the questions prior to the programme.
“In that programme, there was an attempt to undermine Bangladesh. In the programme, they tried to show Bangladesh as a small country, poor country and undemocratic country. This is disgraceful for the nation,” he said.
Ashraf said, “Only the organisers of this programme had been its beneficiaries, no one else.”

Arrest warrants sought for Fakhrul, 44 others

Dhaka, May 10 (bdnews24.com) -- A Dhaka court will give its decision on May 13 over police petition seeking arrest warrants against BNP's acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 44 others for their alleged role in torching a bus in front of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) during the Apr 29 general strike.

Metropolitan speedy trial magistrate Erfan Ullah fixed the date on Thursday after Detective Branch inspector Nurul Amin, who is investigating the case, pressed the charges against them with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

Amin argued that the police investigation found their involvement in the violence and that is the reason for seeking their arrest in the case filed by Tejgaon police hours after the arson attack on Apr 29. The charges said the accused leaders of the BNP-led 18-party alliance had backed the strikers who allegedly set the bus on fire in front of the PMO.

The opposition immediately rejected the charges on Thursday, saying they are politically motivated and aimed at derailing the ongoing anti-government movement.

The case was filed amid growing tension on the street over the disappearance of BNP's organising secretary M Ilias Ali who has remained traceless since Apr 18. In April, the BNP-led opposition alliance enforced five days of general strike to demand that the government return Ilias amid accusation that security agencies have 'abducted' him. The government has denied the allegation, saying that it is a plot by the opposition to create anarchy in the country.

Among the accused in the Apr 29 arson case, BNP's joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was arrested and sent to jail, pending further order, while another joint secretary general Mahbubuddin Khokon was on bail until May 20.

The charge-sheeted accused also include BNP leaders MK Anwar, Hannan Shah, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Mirza Abbas, Khandoker Mosharraf Hossain, Amanullah Aman, Ruhul Kuddus Talukdar Dulu, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Fazlul Haque Milon, Sharif Uddin Chowdhury Anne, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku, Liberal Democratic Party president Oli Ahmed, Jamaat-e-Islami acting chief Mokbul Hossain, BJP President Andalib Rahman Partha and Swechchhasebak Dal president Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel.

Defence lawyer Masud Ahmed on Thursday told bdnews24.com that if convicted in the case, one may face up to two years in jail. According to the law, there is a 30-day deadline to finish the case as it was filed under the speedy trial act. The investigator may get an extension of 15 days if it is not concluded within the first deadline.

The fate of the leaders, however, remains uncertain as the High Court on Monday gave a split verdict on the bail appeal by Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other accused.

They verdict, however, gave them respite 'for the time being' for seven days as the judges ordered police not to harass them.

After spending a week in 'hiding', senior BNP leaders including Fakhrul, vice-chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka appeared for pre-arrest bail before the bench of justices Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Mohammad Nazrul Islam Talukder on Monday.

The judges delivered two different orders about Fakhrul and Khoka after hearing the bail pleas in two cases that also include explosions of crude bombs at the Secretariat during the general strike on Apr 29 and 30.

Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury, the senior judge of the bench, granted them bail until a police report is submitted. But Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder ordered the accused to appeal for bail within seven days in the trial court.

At this stage, the lawyer for the BNP leaders, Moudud Ahmed, on Monday said police may harass them in these seven days despite the court order for them to surrender in the trial court.

He sought the court's directive on the matter, to which the bench said, "Since the matter will go to a third bench now, you [BNP leaders] are getting seven days."

The judges also ordered police not to 'harass' the BNP leaders.

The bench also split its judgement regarding the case registered with the Shahbagh Police Station over the bomb explosions at the Secretariat.

Following the order, Moudud said, "This is the first victory in the legal battle. Now, they [BNP leaders] will be out on bail until the Chief Justice forms the third bench and that bench delivers the order."

Additional attorney general MK Rahman had told bdnews24.com: "BNP leaders have got some time for now with the court's order. The matter will now go to the Chief Justice. Then it will be transferred to the third bench. A decision will be made there."

HC for preserving Wonderland site as park

sunnews24 Online Report
The High Court on Thursday issued a rule upon the government to explain why it should not be directed to preserve the place of the Wonderland as a public park.
The government will have to answer the rule in two weeks.
The HC also directed the authorities concerned of the government not to lease the land of Wonderland amusement park situated in the capital’s Gulshan area till disposal of the rule.
The HC came up with the rule following a writ petition filed by Manzill Murshid.
Manzill Murshid filed the writ on Thursday on behalf of the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.
An HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim also directed the government to continue the eviction proceedings at the amusement park till further order.
During the hearing of the rule, Manzill Murshid told the court that as per the Rajuk plan, the land of the park is a public place. But people could not use the place as a park. So, the place of the Wonderland should be preserved as a public park.
He also prayed for necessary order from the HC to preserve the place as a park.

On Monday, Rajuk demolished frontal boundary wall of the park to free around 4-acre area of Gulshan central playground following a verdict of the Supreme Court.

Sohel Taj 'stunned' over rejection

New York, May 10 (bdnews24.com) -- Awami League MP Tanjim Ahmed, also known as Sohel Taj, has expressed his surprise and vented his frustration over speaker Abdul Hamid's rejection of accepting his resignation from parliament.

"I am surprised, stunned. I have talked to the Speaker on more than two occasions after sending the resignation letter and have made it clear that I am resigning consciously and willingly. None has pressured me," Tanjim, who is currently at Maryland, has told bdnews24.com by phone.

"The honourable Speaker assured me that he would let me know about his decision over my resignation. But he did not do that, rather he talked to media," Taj added.

Hamid on Wednesday said his office did not accept Taj's resignation from parliament on technical grounds and that the letter was not properly written and submitted.

The Speaker pointed out that the letter was not accepted as it did not have the words 'willing to resign' in line with the Section 67 of the Constitution.

"One has to write his resignation letter himself. But Sohel Taj's one was typewritten."

"Moreover, the signature and the date were written using two types of ink and they seemed to have been written by different people," he added.

The Gazipur-4 MP's personal aide had handed in the letter to the Speaker's office on Apr 23, nearly three years after the son of Bangladesh's Liberation War-time prime minister, Tajuddin Ahmed, had 'resigned' as a junior minister.

He joined Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet as the state minister for home on Jan 6, 2009. Only five months into taking of oath, he had resigned on May 31 the same year. After his resignation, the government had said that the president had not accepted the resignation.

Repeating his previous stand, Taj said he had stepped down consciously and willingly as he could not do his duties properly.

He also contradicted the points raised by the Speaker over his submission of the letter and its content.
He said in the 21st century there was no need that one must write everything by his own hand. "Should the President of the United States write down everything by himself?"

The Speaker told reporters on Wednesday that various complexities exist in the resignation letter.

Hamid said if Taj wished to step down he would have to write a letter maintaining rule that he wanted to resign willingly. Hamid said Taj must come to the country and submit the resignation letter to him.

Taj said he had talked to the Speaker over phone on two occasions on Apr 26 and 30. He said he had specifically reminded the Speaker of a High Court rule, which said that if one wishes to resign, he does not necessarily need to be present in person.

He asked why doubts surfaced over his resignation despite his talks with the Speaker.

The son of Bangladesh's first Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed said the government gave him a 'red passport' taking his 'green' one after he was sworn in as a member of the Cabinet. But, he said, he did not want to use the passport on moral basis as he was no more a minister or a lawmaker. However, Taj said it was necessary for him to go to the country to see his mother, who is physically sick.

He said he hoped authorities would return his green passport.

Taj said he would talk to the speaker over the issue again.

Sayedee prosecution makes another gaffe

Dhaka, May 9 (sunnews24.com) — The prosecution's version of Bangladesh's independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Mar 7 speech from 1971 does not correspond with that inserted in the constitution's 5th schedule.

The prosecution had submitted a copy of Sheikh Mujib's historic speech, exhibit 7, as part of the evidence against Jamaat-e-Islami exeutive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee at the first war crimes tribunal.

The defence opened its cross-examination on Wednesday, the fifth day for war crimes investigator ASP Mohammad Helal Uddin, with questions about the CD of the Mar 7 speech.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1, set up on Mar 25, 2010 to deal with crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, indicted Sayedee on 20 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, arson and loot.

Appearing as the prosecution's 28th witness, the Assistant Superintendent of Police said he had collected a copy of the speech from the Bangladesh Film Archive and submitted it as an exhibit.

To defence counsel Mizanul Islam's question asking him whether the speech had been edited, Helal Uddin said he did not know.
The defence counsel then referred to the fifth schedule of the constitution where there is a transcript of the same speech and pointed to the anomalies.
He went through the parts that the CD did not have. For explanation, the investigator could only say that this might have happened when the speech had been edited later.
The prosecution, evidently rattled at this line of questioning, tried in vain to prevent the defence from what they said 'scrutinising' an exhibit at this phase of the trial.
The prosecution also said that the speech had nothing to do with the accused Sayedee and the matter could in fact have been dispensed with by bringing it to judicial notice.
Tribunal chairman, Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq, however, said the defence had every right to question the veracity of the prosecution's evidence and that was what it was doing. He allowed the cross-examination to proceed.
By lunch the defence had clearly established that the copy of CD was an edited version of the speech and not an exact rendition of what the Father of the Nation had stated in those 18 minutes inspiring the entire nation.
First case to trial
Sayedee's is the first case to proceed to the trial stage at ICT 1. The prosecution on Sept 4 proposed framing of charges against him on 31 counts for crimes against humanity and genocide.
The tribunal also sent Jamaat's former chief Ghulam Azam to jail on Jan 11. His indictment hearing began on Feb 15 and the court is scheduled to give Azam's indictment order on May 13.
Jamaat chief Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed and assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla have been detained on war crimes charges.
BNP MP and standing committee member, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, also behind bars, has been indicted for 23 charges on Apr 4. The prosecution has been ordered to begin with its opening statement on Apr 29.
Former BNP lawmaker and minister Abdul Alim is the only one out bail. With formal charges pressed against him, Alim saw his defence place his discharge petition on Monday. Further arguments will follow on Wednesday.

Share heritage to fight extremism: PM

Dhaka, May 9 (sunnews24.com) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday called on the people of all cultures to share their heritage to fight terrorism and fundamentalism and establish world peace and stability.
She made the call during the inauguration of the Cultural Diversity Ministerial Forum of the Asia-Pacific Region in Dhaka.
"Let us share each other's culture and heritage …to overcome the fearsome forces of terrorism, extremism and the other challenges of our globalised world," she said.
Saying that language was the most powerful medium for expressing cultural diversity, Hasina said, "We are very proud that our nationalism originated largely from our language-based cultural heritage."
The Prime Minister described to foreign guests how the nation sacrificed in 1952 for their mother tongue which subsequently led to the emergence of Bangladesh as a sovereign state.
She expressed her gratitude to the UNESCO for declaring Feb 21 as the International Mother Language Day. "The day is now celebrated worldwide to honour and protect all mother tongues."
Hasina said the constitution of Bangladesh ensures protection and promotion of diversity of cultural expressions.
The government of Bangladesh is committed to identify, safeguard and utilise cultural activities, traditional or modern, for aesthetic or economic benefit of the people as per the constitution" she said.

The prime minister said Bangladesh already ratified in the UNESCO international convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions and urged other countries to sign the convention.
Hasina said the government had conducted a survey of the traditional cultural expressions and found items as Jamdani, Nakshikantha, Tangail Sari, Muslin silk, Baul and mystic songs and others "contributing significantly to the country's economic development".
She hoped most developing countries will benefit in the same way through a survey.
Hasina thanked the UNESCO director general Irina Bokova for holding the programme in Bangladesh.
Representatives of 32 countries of the Asia-Pacific region took part in the forum organised jointly by the Cultural Ministry and UNESCO.
The programme, being held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, will conclude on May 11 through the 'Dhaka Declaration'. Six seminars will take place on preserving and developing cultural diversity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Ilias 'disappeared for political reasons'

Dhaka, May 9 (sunnews24.com) – A week after meeting the Prime Minister, missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali's wife said on Wednesday her husband had disappeared for political reasons.
Tahsina Rushdir Luna said her husband had political opponents as he was politically active. "He certainly went missing for political reasons," she said at a press conference at her house in the capital's Banani.
She said the government should know who abducted her husband.
She called on the government to locate her husband saying that humanity was way above politics.
Ilias Ali, one of BNP's organising secretaries and former lawmaker from Sylhet district, had been missing since the night of Apr 17.
Police recovered his abandoned car from a street in Mohakhali the following day.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police conducted raids in Gazipur's Pubail, in Dhaka and Chandpur in a bid to find out Ali, but failed.
The main opposition in parliament enforced five days of countrywide shutdowns in two terms last month alleging Ali had been 'abducted' by a government agency.

Ali's wife Luna met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Ganabhaban on May 2 with her two children. After the meeting she said the Prime Minister had assured them of doing everything to find Ali.

She told the press conference on Wednesday that a week had passed since she had met the prime minister but there was no progress. "Now we're getting frustrated."

Luna, also an assistant examination controller of Dhaka University, expressed her hope, however, that the government would soon have good news.
"The Prime Minister has called me sister. I've full confidence in her," she added.
She further said that none of the law-enforcement agencies contacted her. "I don't know why the government is silent (and for what) invisible reasons."
Luna said Ilias Ali's car was found abandoned near Mohakhali hours after the BNP leader left Ruposhi Bangla Hotel at Shahbagh on the night of his going missing.
There are close-circuit TV cameras of police on different points on the route, she pointed out and demanded the camera footage of that night be closely seen.
About the general strikes enforced by BNP, she said that it was the political decision of the party.

Sohel Taj's resignation 'not accepted'

Dhaka, May 9 (sunnews24.com)—Speaker Abdul Hamid on Wednesday said his office did not accept the resignation from parliament of Awami League MP Tanjim Ahmed, also known as Sohel Taj, on technical grounds.
The Gazipur-4 MP's personal aide had handed in the letter to the Speaker's office on Apr 23, nearly three years after the son of Bangladesh's Liberation War-time prime minister, Tajuddin Ahmed, had 'resigned' as a junior minister.
Speaker Hamid revealed that the resignation letter was not properly submitted.
"The resignation letter has not been accepted since it did not properly follow the Constitution and Rules of Procedure," the Speaker told reporters at his office.
He added that he would consider the resignation letter if Sohel Taj re-submitted it as per proper rules.
"Effective steps will be taken if he writes a letter expressing his will to resign..."

The Speaker pointed out that the letter was not accepted as it did not have the words 'willing to resign' in line with the Section 67 of the Constitution.
"One has to write his resignation letter himself. But Sohel Taj's one was typewritten."
"Moreover, the signature and the date were written using two types of ink and they seemed to have been written by different people," he added.
The former state minister for home had showed no reasons for his dramatic decision to resign even as an MP, signalling his retirement from active politics.
He had issued an open letter to his followers at Kapasia in Gazipur where he said he had taken the decision after 'much thought' but could not enlarge on the reasons.
Sohel Taj is currently staying in the United States.
He joined Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet as the state minister for home on Jan 6, 2009. Only five months into taking of oath, he had resigned on May 31 the same year.
After his resignation, the government had said that the president had not accepted the resignation.
The MP recently wrote to the Cabinet Division asking it to take back his salary and other allowances as a state minister debited into his bank account despite his resignation in 2009.
The Cabinet Division said it has no record of his resignation and therefore continues to disburse his pay and perks.
He has often been offered ministerial protocol, which he refused leading to reports in the media.
The government has never clarified its position on Sohel Taj.

Muhith snipes at Clinton over Yunus

Dhaka, May 8 (sunnews24.com) – Finance Minister A M A Muhith has criticised US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her remarks over Grameen Bank, saying the government has not changed its stance about the microfinance organisation.

"Hillary's statement on the Grameen Bank was undue," Muhith told a media briefing after a meeting at his ministry on Tuesday.

"Grameen Bank is an organisation established by the government. It is because of the government that Mr Yunus could come this far."

During her visit to Bangladesh on Sunday, Clinton told a programme in Dhaka, "We do not want to see any action taken that would in any way undermine or interfere in the operations of the Grameen Bank or its unique organisational structure where the poor women themselves are the owners."

"I don't want anything that would in any way undermine what has been a tremendous model," she added.

Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus shared Nobel Peace prize in 2006.

Following a 'confrontation' with the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and allegation of transferring funds without donor's permission, Yunus had been removed from the bank as its managing director last year. The government said he was too old as per law to continue in office.

Yunus is known to be a family friend of Hillary and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

The finance minister on Tuesday claimed that the bank did not face any problem after Yunus' removal last year. "Whatever Hillary says, we are maintaining our previous position," Muhith added.

"Mr Yunus quarrelled, we didn't," he added.

Chief executive since Grameen was founded originally with government support and ownership, Yunus was questioned by the central bank for continuing in his job far beyond the retirement age for any executive in any such institution in Bangladesh. Yunus was nearly 71 when the Bangladesh Bank gave the notice in March 2011.

Yunus went to the court and lost a series of legal battles, finally in the Supreme Court, eventually losing his hold on the institution he is credited with building.

In reply to another query, Muhith said, "The contention of Mr Yunus that the government wants to grab the Grameen Bank is totally rubbish."

"I am sorry that I have termed it rubbish. But that's true," he added.

Despite pressure from the United States and donor agencies, the government apparently has no intention to return Yunus to the bank. It rejected a proposal earlier this year, too, to form a committee headed by Yunus to find a Managing Director.

Muhith claimed that the government never meddled in the affairs of the Grameen Bank.

"Neither America nor the World Bank has given a single paisa to help this organisation," he said.

He also said a commission would be formed soon to oversee the activities of the organisations associated with the Grameen Bank.

Zuckerberg kicks off Facebook's IPO show in NY

New York, May 8 (sunnews24.com/Reuters) - Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg took questions about the No. 1 social network's slowing revenue growth and its $1 billion Instagram purchase, kicking off a cross-country roadshow on Monday to promote its $10 billion initial public offering. 

Wearing his trademark "hoodie" sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers, Zuckerberg fended off one investor who questioned the deal to buy photo-sharing developer Instagram, an acquisition analysts and media said may have been concluded too hastily. 

The 27-year-old - whose majority control of Facebook worries some investors about accountability - replied he would do the Instagram deal again if he had to, according to attendees. 

Hundreds of investors packed the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan and formed a snaking line around the block outside, watched by police and clipboard-carrying staffers, a stark contrast to the more mundane nature of the average investor IPO presentation. 

Facebook aims to raise about $10.6 billion, dwarfing the coming-out parties of tech companies like Google Inc and granting it a market value of up to $96 billion - rivaling Amazon.com Inc's. 

Facebook's emergence as a cultural phenomenon, whose beginnings were depicted in the fictionalised 2010 film "The Social Network", added a palpable energy and buzz to an event that was policed rigorously. 

Attendees were asked for multiple forms of identification and cross-checked against a list of names. Curious passers-by asked questions to media and investors waiting to spot arriving Facebook executives. 

One investor joked that it should have been held in New York's Madison Square Garden, home of the Knicks basketball team and a standard venue for rock concerts. 

"This is unlike anything we've ever seen," said another investor who was at the event. 

From Dorm Room to Nasdaq 

Observers pointed to Monday's outsized event as a sign that interest was high in one of the biggest retail-technology names to hit stock markets in years. 

The 8-year-old social network that began as Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room project indicated an IPO range of $28 to $35 a share on Thursday, which would value the company at $77 billion to $96 billion. 

The size of the IPO reflects the company's growth and bullish expectations about its money-making potential as a hub for everything from advertising to commerce. Many investors say they expect Facebook to raise its offer price range as the roadshow progresses from New York to other major cities such as Chicago, Boston and San Francisco over the next two weeks. 

Amid the hoopla of one of the most closely watched IPOs in years are persistent concerns about Facebook's longer-term growth and Zuckerberg's majority control. 

Zuckerberg, who will have roughly 57 percent voting control after the IPO, personally forged the expensive deal to acquire mobile app maker Instagram in a matter of days last month with little involvement from Facebook's board of directors, according to media reports. 

Asked about the deal by an attendee at the event, Zuckerberg said Facebook's management had discussed a possible Instagram acquisition at length in several meetings. Facebook decided to act when it saw Instagram's user data cross a "tipping point" from which they believed it would grow significantly, he said. 

He said Facebook moved quickly to strike a deal when it became clear that Instagram was open to being acquired. 

Zuckerberg was accompanied by finance chief David Ebersman, who was wearing a suit and tie, and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in a black dress, sweater and heels. 

Investors managed to ask just five questions during the event, including a query about Facebook's potential plans to enter China, the world's largest Internet market by users. 

Zuckerberg noted that Facebook was blocked in China - as are popular US websites from YouTube to Twitter. Sandberg said the company would be willing to sit down with Chinese government officials and discuss partnerships there. 

Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes took the stage to begin the formal presentation as the audience of investors lunched on Cobb salad, iced tea and cookies, attendees said. 

Demand Built-In 

Facebook set up the event to accommodate slightly more than 400 attendees in the hotel's ballroom, according to a person working for the hotel's event staff who declined to be named. 

With 900 million users, Facebook is challenging established Web businesses such as Google Inc and Yahoo Inc for consumers' online time and advertising dollars. 

Longer term, analysts say Facebook needs to develop a way to earn money from the increasing number of users who access the social network on mobile devices such as smartphones. 

Facebook, which makes most of its money from advertising, began offering limited ads on the mobile version of its service only recently. 

The average time spent accessing Facebook via smartphone in the United States was 441 minutes per unique visitor in March, compared with 391 minutes via computer, according to a report released by IT research house comScore on Monday. That exceeds the 146 minutes for users of mobile check-in service Foursquare, and about 114 minutes for microblogging service Twitter. 

Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Herman Leung said in a note to investors on Monday he expected Facebook's revenue to grow 40 percent this year and 33 percent in 2013. 

He said the $28 to $35 range for Facebook shares was an "attractive" valuation that provided a "compelling entry point" for investors. 

In a separate note published Sunday, Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser put a $30 price target on Facebook shares. 

"Our conversations with investors to date suggest that concerns around revenue growth and the absence of mobile monetization will linger for some time," Wieser said. 

But, he added, "we would not be surprised if the stock trades up above the IPO price on retail interest in the company over the near term." 

Humayun coming home

New York, May 8 (sunnews24.com) – Before a surgery for his colon cancer, famous contemporary Bengali fiction writer and playwright Humayun Ahmed is leaving New York for Dhaka on Thursday to spend some days with his friends and relatives. 

His wife Meher Afroz Shaon told bdnews24.com that the third phase of his treatment would start through the operation at Bellevue Hospital in New York on June 12. 

"The operation is very important. So the writer wants to meet relatives…to seek blessings," she said and added that he may stay in Bangladesh for a couple of weeks. 

Asked about his condition, she said, "You can understand, we've been allowed to travel to Dhaka as his condition has improved." 

He will have to stay in the hospital for two weeks after the surgery, Shaon said. 

Humayun, also a filmmaker, went to New York on Sep 13 after he was diagnosed with colon cancer during a routine check-up in Singapore. 

He took treatment at the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Centre (MSKCC), a cancer treatment and research institution in New York. 

Born in Mymensingh in 1948, Humayun did his graduation from Dhaka University and later joined the university as a lecturer of chemistry but retired to become a fulltime writer and filmmaker. 

Winner of prestigious Bangla Academy Award in 1981, Ekushey Padak in 1994 and three National Film Awards (Best Story in 1993, Best Film 1994 and Best Dialogue in 1994), Humayun continued writing while he is in New York taking treatment. 

On Jan 13, the government made the 63-year-old writer senior special adviser to the Bangladesh Mission at the United Nations in New York. 

US 'foils underwear bomb plot'

BBC Online

A plot by al-Qaeda in Yemen to detonate an upgraded version of the failed 2009 "underwear bomb" has been disrupted, US officials say.

The device was seized by intelligence operatives and is in US custody undergoing technical and forensic analysis, the FBI has said.

Reports said no target had been chosen and no plane tickets purchased by the time the alleged plot was foiled.

There is no indication on the status of the would-be bomber.

"As a result of close co-operation with our security and intelligence partners overseas, an improvised explosive device (IED) designed to carry out a terrorist attack has been seized abroad," the FBI said in a statement.

"Initial exploitation indicates that the device is very similar to IEDs that have been used previously by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in attempted terrorist attacks, including against aircraft and for targeted assassinations," it added.

President Barack Obama was first informed of the plot in April, White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said, adding that the device did not pose a threat to the public.

In spite of recent successes against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen continues to be the focus of US counter-terrorism operations.

Targeted killings carried out by unmanned aircraft, or drones, have become a key component of the CIA's campaign against senior al-Qaeda figures. On Sunday, Fahd al-Quso, wanted by the FBI for his role in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, was killed by a missile as he stepped out of a vehicle. It's not clear whether his death was part of the same operation that uncovered the latest airplane bomb plot against the US.

The man believed to be responsible for designing the device that would have been used is also said to be hiding in Yemen. Thirty-year-old Ibrahim al-Asiri is a Saudi national who helped mastermind the so-called "underwear bomb" plot in 2009 and the 2010 attempt to blow up two cargo planes bound for the US. The FBI says the device it is currently examining is similar but more sophisticated than the ones used in those previous attacks.

The BBC's Mark Mardell says that the plot, disrupted as a result of US co-operation with other unnamed intelligence agencies, appears to have been caught at a relatively early stage - after the making of the bomb but before the public was put at risk.

"What this incident makes clear is that this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those that would seek to attack this country. And we will do everything necessary to keep America safe," Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters on Monday.

'Hallmarks'

It is not clear who built the device, but officials say it shares some features with the bomb sewn into the underwear of would-be suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

He was arrested when his device failed to explode fully while on a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

A US intelligence official said the latest device bore the "hallmarks" of the 2009 underwear bomb.

It included a powerful industrial explosive and did not use metal, suggesting the bomb could have passed through airport security unnoticed, the Associated Press reports.

It is not clear whether body scanners, which operate in many US airports, would have been able to pick up the upgraded "underwear bomb".

Abdulmutallab's "underwear bomb" was not detected during security checks at airports in Lagos, Nigeria, and Amsterdam before he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 for Detroit.

On the flight, the bomb did not detonate fully and passengers had to put out the fire. He has been sentenced to life in jail.

A video simulation shows what would have happened if Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attack had succeeded

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said air security would continue to incorporate threat and vulnerability analysis, pre-screening and screening of passengers, as well as random searches at airports, air marshals and other unspecified security measures.

It added: "We have no specific, credible information regarding an active terrorist plot against the US at this time, although we continue to monitor efforts by al-Qaeda and its affiliates to carry out terrorist attacks, both in the homeland and abroad."

News of the operation emerged shortly after the US marked one year since the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

It also comes one day after Fahd al-Quso, a senior al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, was killed by a US drone strike.

The US had offered a $5m (£3.1m) reward for information leading to Quso's capture or death.

The Yemeni government has stepped up its battle against AQAP since Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down as president in November.

However, the group and its allies still control large parts of the country.