News from Bangladesh

[White Lightning]

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Bangladesh Air Force pilot airlifted to Kolkata

Kolkata: A Bangladesh Air Force plane, flown by a cadet pilot, made an emergency landing in Murshidabad district in Bengal last evening. Air Cadet Rashid, who made the emergency landing, has been flown to Kolkata by the Indian Air Force (IAF). He will be given a medical examination in Kolkata and if he is declared fit, he will be flown to Dhaka in an IAF aircraft.

[White Lightning]

Bangladesh Air Force pilot airlifted to Kolkata

Kolkata: A Bangladesh Air Force plane, flown by a cadet pilot, made an emergency landing in Murshidabad district in Bengal last evening. Air Cadet Rashid, who made the emergency landing, has been flown to Kolkata by the Indian Air Force (IAF). He will be given a medical examination in Kolkata and if he is declared fit, he will be flown to Dhaka in an IAF aircraft.

[kobiraaz]

Islamic University of Tech, Gazipur has beaten (preliminary) Arizona State University, University of Arkansas, Florida International University, York University & other 8 Universities in first day of NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition by scoring 660 (6th highest) ! Score up to now(Bangladeshi Universities): IUT-660, BRAC-530 and MIST got disqualified....

[Avisheik]

Why is MIST disqualified??

[integra]

If any one of you have time to spare visit the IUT campus,
designed by one Turkish architect, the scale of the campus is quite
amazing in some places.

[boltu]

I was quite disappointed after seeing IUT's Bot because it looked very much basic,but now totally amazed by them.These guys have raw talent.BRAC said they would get 600 points easily because they used kinect and other wireless sensors but what i see here it didn't happen.Any reason why MIST got disqualified ?

[kobiraaz]

it looks very ordinary

[kobiraaz]

Brac



Military Institute of S&T

[eastwatch]

Brac



Military Institute of S&T

Thanks for the pictures. The campus has very beautiful architecture. The campus makes the BD citizens proud.

[Al-zakir]

bdnews24.com journalists attacked in office
Mon, May 28th, 2012 10:12 pm BdST


Dhaka, May 28 (bdnews24.com) – A gang of criminals attacked the journalists of bdnews24.com in front of its Amtoli office in the city's Mohakhali, leaving several, two of them critically, injured.

The incident took place on the fifth floor of the Building-99 near the Government Ban Bhaban (Forest Building) around 9pm on Monday.

bdnews24.com Sub-Editor Newaz Mohammed Rifaat and Correspondent Salahuddin Wahid Pritom received serious injuries in their legs.

They have been rushed to the United Hospital in the city. Doctors there said the duo were "out of danger".

Criminals attacked Ruhul Amin, an employee of Bangladesh's first internet newspaper, around 8:30pm when he was staying outside of the building.

On information, the journalists from the office rushed to his aid and captured the criminal and handed him to police.

Angered at this, the local criminals, armed with sharp weapons, swooped on the journalists.

The criminals opened the shutter of ground floor and attacked the newsmen.

Rifat and Pritom were stabbed indiscriminately in the legs.

bdnews24.com/mi/skb/nir/bd/2210h

^^
I only wonder if this Awami dalal news site would come to it's senses after this incident.

[Major Shaheb]

Bangladesh Navy is to get two Jianghu III class Guided Missile Frigates

[Loki]

Padma Bridge Financing - WB lays out 5 conditions

The World Bank has finally broken the ice over its financing of the Padma bridge project proposing five new conditions for the government to ensure corruption-free implementation of the project.

In a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina early this month, WB Vice President Isabel Guerrer elaborated the steps the government has to take to get WB funding for the massive project, finance ministry sources told this correspondent on Wednesday.

In September last year, the WB suspended its funding of the $2.9 billion Padma Multipurpose Bridge project on graft allegations. It had committed $1.2 billion.

In her letter, the WB vice president said a high-powered investigation team has to be formed to probe the allegations of corruption in the bridge project.

An independent firm has to be appointed to monitor implementation of the project, the letter said.

According to the WB proposal, the independent firm will not be under the government or any co-financier of the bridge project. It will make its recommendations independently, and the authorities concerned will implement those.

The persons against whom there are allegations of corruption regarding the bridge project would not be in its implementation.

Another condition is that the co-financiers will have to be actively involved in the procurement process for the bridge.

Besides, the WB suggested that as a long term step, the government will take initiative to increase the capacity of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Contacted, a high official of the finance ministry said top policymakers discussed the WB letter in the last few days, and the government replied to it on Wednesday.

The government has disagreed with some of the conditions, and asked the WB to revise those. The two sides will soon discuss the conditions in detail, added the official, requesting anonymity.

On the corruption allegations concerning construction of the bridge, the WB submitted a report to the government in September last year. In April this year, the bank submitted a second report based on the findings of the Canadian government's investigation into allegations of graft in appointment of a supervising consultant for the bridge.

The WB and other co-financiers have extended loan effectiveness deadline several times and the last one will expire on July 27.

Work on the bridge project has remained stalled since September last year.

Against this backdrop, the government has taken initiatives for finding alternative sources of fund. And it has signed recently a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia for funding the bridge project.

Meanwhile, WB Country Director Ellen Goldstein on Wednesday held a meeting with representatives of the project's co-financiers -- Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency -- at the WB office in Dhaka.

The WB's letter to the government and its reply were presented at the meeting, officials of the co-financiers told this correspondent yesterday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Goldstein said the WB did not shelve the Padma bridge project and it was still talking with the government on the issue.

“I remain hopeful, very hopeful about the Padma bridge,” she said at a meeting organised by American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Bangladesh.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesig...php?nid=238509

[boltu]

A rare video of Khaleda Zia and her sons just after Zia's assassination....

[Avisheik]

Locals looting antique boat

A group of local people are looting precious brass sheets from joints of the ancient boat that has recently surfaced from beneath the sandy beach of Kuakata.

The wooden boat, believed to be belonging to the first Rakhaine settlers from Arakan province in Myanmar over 200 years ago, is now attracting hundreds of visitors.

This historic boat must be protected at any cost, villagers said.

While the Department of Archaeology is yet to send any official to the spot, Dedary Alom Maksud Chowdhury, upazila executive officer of Kalapara and administrator for Kuakata municipality, has formally asked the Kuakata police to keep an eye on the wooden boat so none can dismantle it.

But residents of the area said thieves were slowly dismantling the boat by stealing the joints which were made of brass. The boat was found last Friday on the beach near the tamarisk garden during the low tide.

The boat is 72 feet long and 22.5 feet wide and only two feet of its upper portion has emerged from the sandy beach. Salim Akon, 42, of Kuakata, said a similar boat was found on the beach 25 years ago and a gang looted everything, including its timber.

Uchasi Matubbar, 70, a leader of the Rakhaine community in Kuakata, said that over 150 Rakhaine families had come to the area, fleeing atrocities in Myanmar in 1784.

"Those people on 50 boats fled the torture of Bodpaya who had defeated the king of Arakan province Thamada and had taken over power. This boat might be one of those," said Uchasi. The government must take immediate steps to protect and preserve it in a museum, he added.

Afroza Khan Mita, assistant director of the archaeology department, told The Daily Star that one from the department's Khulna office would soon go to Kuakata to assess whether or not it was a matter of ethnic antiquity.

"Meanwhile, we are asking the local authorities to protect the boat," said Mita.

The boat seems very old and is made of timber of Gorjon tree. The wooden body is covered by brass plates. Rumours have abounded in Kuakata that the plates are made of gold, spurring thieves to steal those.

Abu Bakor Siddique, additional superintendent of police in Patuakhali, said they would protect the boat until the archaeologists arrived.

According to Mostafa Majid, author of "Bangladesher Rakhaine", Rakhaine families had sailed 50 wooden boats through the treacherous sea and reached Rangabali island under Patuakhali district. They were the first settlers in the region covered at the time by thick mangrove forests and wild animals.

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Sometimes i lose faith in my own countrymen

[Avisheik]

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Gas found in Comilla

Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Company (apex) hit a natural gas reservoir at Srikail in Comilla yesterday, seven years after a failed attempt in the area.

Bapex Managing Director Mortuza Ahmad Faruque believes the reservoir might be medium in size but bigger than the Sangu and Semutang gas fields.

He said they had found a gas flow at the rate of 15 to 16 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) with a pressure of 1,900 pounds per square inch %r8psi) during a test run in an exploratory well in Srikail in the morning.

The Bapex chief expects the gas pressure would reach up to 2,700 psi at the well head when the field is ready for commercial production.

He said Bapex had resources almost ready to produce 25 to 30 mmcfd of gas from DecemberJanuary.

The country is now at least 500 mmcfd gas short in supply which is affecting the power generation and burner usage in homes. This discovery is considered big, but it would not solve the crisis entirely.

This is the second gas discovery in the present government's tenure. The first one, discovered last year also by Bapex, is in Sundalpur of Noakhali. The small field has been producing 10 to 12 mmcfd gas for the last few months.

The lone national exploration wing that presently produces 85 to 90 mmcfd gas from different small gas fields, tried to find gas in Srikail in 2005. But instead of gas, it found water and sand in the first exploratory well.

In 2007, Bapex conducted a seismic survey to understand the prospects better. Upon completion, it prepared a project to drill a new exploratory well. Accordingly, it started drilling a well on May 5 this year and completed the task of drilling up to 3,214 metres on June 30, in less than two months.

It started testing the well from July 12.

“We started getting gas from a depth of 3,020 metres. The gas layer is 15 metres thick. We have found another layer 2,970 metres below the ground which will be tested later,” said the Bapex MD.

Bapex will conduct a three dimensional seismic survey there in October to properly assess the size of the gas field. It will drill more wells based on the study.

“To avail this gas commercially, we will need a gas processing plant and install a three-kilometre feeder pipeline to connect the Srikail field with the nearby gas transmission system of Bakhrabad fields,” the MD said.

Since installing a processing plant is time consuming, Bapex plans to create a makeshift arrangement to process the gas through alternative means.

“We were approved of a project cost amounting to Tk 81 crore. Of this, Tk 60 crore has been spent on drilling and with the remaining funds we can easily go for an early commercial production,” Faruque said.

For Bapex, this is the most productive period. Right now, all its five drilling rigs are in operation in different locations.

“One rig is ready to start drilling in Sunetra from July 16,” he said.

Sunetra in Sunamganj-Netrakona is Bapex's biggest hope. Based on a seismic study, Bapex believes it has a gas structure with the promise of getting no less than two to three trillion cubic feet reserve.

Another rig is ready to start drilling the 17th well of the country's biggest and oldest gas field Titas. Two other rigs are now drilling in Salda and Kailastila fields.

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Its a very good news It will help us in our development