Freedom of Choice

Govt sees '75 links in bomb attack on AL MP Taposh

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:08:00 +0000

Law enforcers yesterday detained younger brother of Maj Dalim in connection with Wednesday night's bomb attack on ruling Awami League (AL) lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh, who is also a prosecution lawyer in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case. Maj Dalim is one of the convicts in the case, who is currently absconding abroad.

Home Minister Sahara Khatun at an emergency meeting of AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC) yesterday informed a few other ministers about the detention of Dalim's younger brother Kamrul Haque Swapan, according to meeting sources.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina talked to Sahara and Food and Disaster Minister Abdur Razzaque over the phone from Sweden Wednesday night right after the incident and instructed them to take all out measures to catch the perpetrators, the sources added.

1,173 more get Purbachal plots

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:32:00 +0000

The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) today announced the names of 1,173 plot winners in three categories for the Purbachal New Town Project.

The three categories are private service holders, businessmen and lawyers.

Private service holders were allocated 10 percent of the total allocation, businessmen got eight percent while the lawyers received two percent.

Over 40,000 qualified plot seekers applied for the three categories which lotteries were held today.

Earlier on September 17, Rajuk announced the names of 1,077 plot winners in four categories for the projects.

State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan formally inaugurated the draw at Osmani Memorial Hall at about 11:00am.

In his inaugural speech, the minister said the government will resolve the housing problems by constructing high-rise building across the country.

Housing Secretary Mahbubur Rahman said the lottery for the plot allocation in the Uttara project will also be held in this very month.

"Mental Health and Two Common Disorders"

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:58:00 +0000

What is mental health?
Mental health is a term used to describe either a level of cognitive or emotional wellbeing or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.Read more..

Most people will not need flu drugs

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:59:00 +0000

In order to make the most effective use of Oseltamivir and stop people hoarding and overusing them, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged physicians to prescribe antiviral medicines to high-risk patients promptly but reminded that most people will not need and should not expect to get, the drugs if they come down with the flu. read more..

2.5 lakh buildings vulnerable to quake: survey

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:55:00 +0000

Around 250,000 buildings in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet cities have been bracketed by a recent survey as being vulnerable to earthquake. "The survey results were absolutely shocking," says ASM Maqsud Kamal, national adviser to Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme for tsunami, cyclone and earthquake.read more..

1,077 plots allotted under Purbachal project

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:25:00 +0000

A total 1,077 residential plots have been allotted among the applicants for city developer Rajuk's Purbachal housing project. The lottery for the applicants from four categories -- judges, freedom fighters, artist-cultural personality-sportsperson and non-resident Bangladeshis -- was held at Osmani Memorial Hall on Thursday. Judges under two categories have been allotted 14 plots—a seven-and-a-half-katha plot and 13 ten-katha ones.read more...

Thousands rally against Obama

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:15:00 +0000

AFP: Ten of thousands of protesters from across the United States descended on the nation's capital Saturday, decrying President Barack Obama, "big government" and big spending.

They carried hand-painted posters protesting Obama's proposed healthcare reforms and accusing his administration of leading the United States down the road to socialism.

"Abortion is not healthcare," read one sign. Another, held aloft by an immigrant from Ukraine, said: "I had enough of socialism in the USSR."

The demonstrator, who refused to give his name, said he had come to Washington from Baltimore because "too many things remind me of what I saw in the communist countries.

"Communism didn't work over there and it's not going to work over here," he told AFP.

Quinn Ryan, 11, stood in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, near the spot where Obama and his wife Michelle greeted supporters in January after he was sworn in as America's first black president, brandishing a sign reading: "Born free, taxed to death."

The protest was coordinated by Freedomworks, a grassroots movement calling for lower taxes, less government and more economic freedom for all Americans The march had to set off before the scheduled 11:30 am start time as Freedom Plaza near the White House filled to overflowing.

Police were unable to say how many people had turned out for the rally, but at mid-afternoon the crowd stretched out of sight from the legislature and onto the National Mall.

The organisers said earlier in the week they hoped to attract between 20,000 and 30,000 people from around the country for the protest, which was supported by prominent conservatives, including former House Majority leader Dick Armey.

Holly and Nick Bikakis had come from California for the protest.

"It's not convenient for us to be here, and it's costing us money we'd rather not spend, but we felt strongly enough that we decided we would come no matter what," Nick Bikakis told AFP.

The couple were among many at the protest carrying signs that read: "You lie" -- the words shouted by Republican lawmaker Joe Wilson at Obama during the president's speech about healthcare to Congress this week.

Lois Calzone from Maryland carried a poster showing Obama painted as Batman character "the Joker" with the captions "Un-American" and "cap and traitor."

"He is a traitor. He's either a Marxist or a Communist and we're not. He's totally un-American," Calzone told AFP.

"I think Saudi Arabia is behind him. Where did he get all that money to fund his campaign?" she said.

Her daughter, who refused to give her name, said: "The reason he hasn't picked a church in DC is because he's not Christian. He's Muslim.

"We were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but this is too much."

Some in the crowd were there to try and engage those skeptical of the Obama administration.

Georgetown University law student Lindsay Windsor asked demonstrators to explain their opinions of the president.

"A lot of the slogans are very inflammatory and I want to understand what they actually mean," said Windsor, 22, who was wearing an Obama-Biden T-shirt, as she walked over to Calzone and her friends.

"I don't want to try to convince you that I'm right. I want to try to understand you. If we are going to fix our country's problems, we need to have a conversation together," Windsor said to the group of women.

"Obama is a sleeper cell... Go have a conversation with someone else," Calzone's daughter told her.

Navana CNG to go for direct listing Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:06:00 +0000

Navana CNG Limited, a concern of Navana Group, will start trading on the country's bourses from Sunday by direct listing.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange authority set the date on Wednesday, a DSE official said.

"It was decided in a meeting yesterday that Navana CNG would start trading on Aug 30," DSE senior vice-president Saiful Islam told bdnews24.com on Thursday.

Navana CNG is set to float 18 million ordinary shares of Tk 10 each through direct listing, an option that avoids an initial public offering (IPO) with the price of scrips being fixed directly by investors in the secondary market.

Navana CNG, which converts cars to run on compressed natural gas and operates re-fuelling stations, will be the eighth entity to hit the stock market through direct listing in Bangladesh.

On Sunday, investors will bid for Navana CNG shares for 10 minutes in order to fix a price, selling will then start based on the highest bid.

Trading on the shares will be suspended on Monday and resume on Tuesday, according to a post at the DSE website.

Navana CNG's paid-up capital prior to the listing is Tk 366 million, while its authorised capital is Tk 500 million.

The company, whose earning-per-share (EPS) to May 20, 2009 stands at Tk 4.04, has nine CNG conversion workshops across the country. Five are located in Dhaka, two in Chittagong and two each in Sylhet and Bogra.

Earlier, five state owned entities—DESCO, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, Jamuna Oil, Meghna Petroleum and Titas Gas entered the market through direct listing.

Two private companies—Shinepukur Ceramics and ACI Formulations—have also been listed directly.

Promoting Solar Power

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:04:00 +0000

The World Bank has offered 130 million US dollar as long-term credit to install solar energy panels as the country planned to add 1,445megawatt electricity to the system by 2014 under a desperate campaign exploring various means. Newspapers report quoting a spokesman that the board of the multi-donor lending agency has approved the credit to help Bangladesh generate power through installing solar energy panels in 3,00,000 households particularly in rural areas. The approval came on a proposal designed to increase access to electricity through installation of "affordable solar home systems" in rural areas. It's a good news for the country that is desperately trying to augment electricity amid growing demands. The poor power supply costs around two percent of the GDP growth each year, according a study of the World Bank.
Presently only around 40 percent of Bangladeshis have access to electricity while the country now witnesses a deficit of 1,000 to 1,500mw power. According to analysts, population growth, increased industrialisation, additional connections, and rise in the use of modern, electrical appliances are increasing demand for electricity by over 300mw a year. But dwindling reserves in existing gas fields, the main source for the country's power generation, and expensive petroleum for electricity generation prompted the experts and policymakers to explore solar and other renewable energy sources.
Currently the stake of the solar power from already existing 3,00,000 household-level panels is equivalent to 20mw or 5 percent. According to the recently formulated government vision plan, 450mw power or five percent of the total generation was expected to come from renewable energy like solar power by 2015 while the quantum was expected to be 1,600mw or 10 percent of the expected total generation by 2020. The plan, however, sought to derive 2,300mw from furnace oil mostly through rental plants and another 2,000mw from coal, which, according to experts, may be difficult due to the global climate campaign. In such as situation, expansion of solar power generation move is a recommendable effort. Energy experts and officials also appreciated the WB offer, but they suggested installation of solar plants alongside household level panels and development of solar power distribution system like grids following examples of different other countries.
We think they are very correct to suggest installation of solar plants and development of solar power distribution system because solar power can mitigate the power crisis to a great extent, particularly in the rural area, but for that a distribution system is very necessary.

Why The New York Times Doesn’t Call Its Readers ‘Readers’

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Abbey Klaassen
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In a world of near-ubiquitous computing, where an ever-expanding collection of devices turns readers into an army of co-creators and news distributors, The New York Times is trying to figure out its place. And the venerable Gray Lady’s place in this world, increasingly, rests squarely with turning its readers into, well, something more.
Speaking at the CaT: Creativity and Technology conference today, Derek Gottfrid, senior software architect and product technologist at The New York Times, said the company has quit calling online readers “readers,” instead referring to them as users. The conference is hosted by Advertising Age and Creativity.
“When we think traditionally about creation [at The New York Times] it was limited to people within the Times,” he said. “We created for readers ... [for whom] it was a passive experience. But as we moved online, we wanted to move people from readers to users.”
To do so, the company has opened up its application programming interfaces, which Mr. Gottfrid described for the layperson as “programmer building blocks.” The Times has taken content and data — both internally created material, such as movie reviews and best-seller lists, and external data, such as campaign-finance and legislative information — and opened up the APIs so that outside developers can create tools for its consumers.
Among the results: Instantwatcher mashes up the “Watch Instantly” program from online movie-rental service Netflix with Times movie critics’ top choices. Another app, called NYTExplorer, provides an alternative article-search function to the one that exists on NYTimes.com.
The Times is counting on such applications to drive traffic to its site and, when they do, there is no charge for tapping into the APIs. If the developers’ products don’t drive traffic, “we’ll have to collect a few dollars,” Mr. Gottfrid said.
Content companies are also battling an influx of devices, all with varying screen sizes and formats, and links. Nick Bilton, New York Times design-integration editor and user-interface specialist, said on a normal day he sees 162,000 links to content.
“That’s too much content, and we’re trying to figure out how we can help,” he said. He cited a product still being tested called Shiftd that will let users peruse content across platforms in a more seamless way, picking up on their PCs where they might have left off on their mobile phones. But the platforms themselves present another challenge.
“One pattern we’ve started to see happen is [that across] all the netbooks and mini-computers and super-large computers ... our content looks different on all of them,” Mr. Bilton said. “Within this room alone there are probably 50 different size displays and devices.”
Some of the research and data-visualization programs the company has come up with indicate who is accessing Times content throughout the day around the world. He showed a snapshot of around noon EST: On the West Coast, people just making their way to work were heavy users of mobile content, while the major metropolitan hubs on the East Coast and in the Midwest had more PC users.
The Times has created an application, built on the Adobe Air platform, that automatically resizes and optimizes a page view based on screen size. He also showed off a prototype of an iPhone app that would allow users to sort New York Times real-estate listings on the go, based on a variety of parameters, including location.

GP shares to hit bourse after Eid

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Subscription to the Grameenphone's initial public offering (IPO), the largest of its kind in the country's capital market, will start within a week after Eid holidays.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at a meeting yesterday gave consent to the Tk 486.08 crore IPO and set the time frame.

Stock market regulator SEC made the decision based on GP's latest audited financial report as of December 31, 2008, which the GP submitted on July 30 this year.

On July 2, the commission gave its primary approval to GP IPO and asked the company to provide it with the latest audited financial statement within July 31 this year for final approval.

As per the report, per share earnings of the leading mobile phone operator is Tk 4.47, while its net asset value is Tk 22.70 per share.

The market lot has been fixed at 200 shares. Market lot means the minimum number of shares of a company that can be bought or sold on a stock exchange.

A prospective investor has to bid for at least 200 shares in case of GP's IPO.

Each share will have Tk 10 in face value, with an additional Tk 60 as premium.

As many as 6.94 crore shares will be floated through GP's IPO to draw Tk 486.08 crore from the capital market.

After the meeting, SEC Executive Director Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan told journalists that "The Grameenphone's IPO will widen market depth."

He also said it might have a temporary impact on the liquidity flow during the subscription period, but will not have "any major impact on the market."

The value of the approved IPO is Tk 37 crore more than the company's proposed offer of Tk 449 crore.

On July 2, the SEC also approved the increase in the volume of the company's pre-IPO to Tk 486.07 crore from Tk 420 crore with face value of each share priced at Tk 10, plus Tk 64 in premium.

In December last year, Grameenphone's Tk 420 crore pre-IPO was settled with a huge response on the local market.

Grameenphone will be the first telecom company to enjoy a corporate tax cut of 10 percentage points.

The government in the new budget announced that mobile phone operators might be given the chance to pay 35 percent corporate tax instead of the existing 45 percent if they get listed on the stock exchange.

But they must float 10 percent of the paid-up capital on the share market, of which pre-IPO cannot be more than half.

The price of each share has been increased to Tk 10 from the company's proposed Tk 1 following demands from market stakeholders.

Cititgroup Global Markets Bangladesh Private Ltd is the issue manager of the IPO.

Norway's telecom giant Telenor owns 62 percent of Grameenphone, launched in 1997, while local Grameen Telecom owns the rest. The share offloading will be split between the two shareholders proportionately.

Health care portal for doctors, medical service providers, health articles, news in Bangladesh.

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Health care portal for doctors, medical service providers, health articles, news in Bangladesh. Health organization in Bangladesh as well as maternal, public, healthcare or service providers, nutrition, education, immunization, rural, WHO, medical, US Aid, hospitals, survey, HIV for man, women and children, Bangladeshi doctors in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Jessore, Chittagong, Sylhet, Barishal and other cities.
Social NGO helping people of Bangladesh, solving their health problems. Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Companies are engaging for providing free or cheap medicine or treatment in the city and rural area. Government and Private Medical college and other medical institution making doctor, nurse, technologist such as radiologist, ultra sonogram, Imaging, X-ray, pathology in Bangladesh, or BD. Health care system identifying comprehensive disease like AIDS, HINI. HIV, Cancer, Ulcer, Brain tumor, safe child deliver. Specialized hospitals are square hospital, Lab Aid, United hospital, PG, Dhaka medical college Hospital, Popular diagnostic centre.
Bangladeshi specialized Doctors available in Acupuncture, Allergy, Anesthesiology, Cardiac Surgery, Cardiology, Cardio Vascular, Chest Diseases, Colorectal Surgery, Community Medicine, Cosmetic Surgery, Dentistry, Dermatology, Endocrinology and Dialectology, ENT, Gastroenterology, Gynecology and Obs, Gynecology and Infertility, Hematology, Hepatology, Histopathology and Pathology, Homeopathy, Internal Medicine, Medicine, Nephrology, Neuro-Medicine, Neuro-Surgery, Nutritionist, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Pediatric Surgery, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, Radiology, Rheumatology, Sonology, Surgery-General, Urology. Healthcare providers are Air Ambulance, Ambulance, Blood Bank, Cleaning Service, Clinics & Diagnostics, Hospitals, Medical College (Government), Medical IT Support, Medical NGO, Paramedical Institute, Pharmaceutical Company, Pharmacy, Telemedicine and more about Healthcare Bangladesh

Lease of 8,000 acres hill land cancelled

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Leases of 8,175 acres of land in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), given years back for horticulture and rubber plantation, have been cancelled for violation of lease agreements.

Official sources said leases of 15,000 acres more await immediate cancellation. The leases of CHT land cancelled until last Sunday include 7,450 acres in Bandarban, 425 acres in Khagrachhari and 300 acres in Rangamati.

The lessees include influential people like ex-adviser to the caretaker government Major General (retd) MA Matin, former ministers and civil and military bureaucrats. They enjoyed the possessions of these plots of 25 acres each for more than a decade but did neither develop horticulture nor rubber gardens as per the agreements.

As the parliamentary standing committee on CHT Affairs Ministry holds its meeting in Rangamati today to discuss issues like lease, the JS body member Bir Bahadur, MP, told The Daily Star that those who had leased out acres of CHT land to a handful of powerful people in violation of rules would not be spared too.

The lawmaker also said that the government would take step to redistribute the recovered land among landless people in the three hill districts. Today's meeting of the JS body would discuss drawing up a policy outline for such land allocation in favour of landless people.

According to Bandarban district administration, until Sunday leases of 298 plots (25 acres each) were cancelled of which, leases of 108 plots of land were cancelled on Sunday alone.

Sources said officials of the district administration have been working extra hours for the past few days to make substantial progress in the process of lease cancellation ahead of today's JS body meet.

Deputy Commissioner of Bandarban Mizanur Rahman could not say whether the plots of influential people were there in the list of already cancelled leases. He said steps were underway to put the land into 'khas' category of government land on the basis of reports by the UNOs.

Bir Bahadur, MP, asserted that no 'big fish' would be spared from the dragnet this time. A district administration official said as there is no mention of profession and other details in the list of cancelled leases, it is difficult to provide the accurate identity of the lessees.

Meanwhile, some locals have brought allegations of wholesale lease cancellation as the administration is revved up upon instructions from the high-ups.

Ruhul Amin, a permanent resident of Lama in Bandarban, said though he had raised an orchard on the land that he took lease, the authorities listed his plot also for lease cancellation.

Though the cancellation decisions are being taken on the basis of reports of UNOs, Mizanur Rahman, the DC, acknowledged a few cases of disputes over reports on some plots.

There are official records of 1,697 plots being under leaseholders, but a source said fresh records of a few hundred more lease plots came out during the recent move of lease cancellation bringing the number of plots to 1,871. source: The Daily Star

Bill Clinton in N Korea

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:31:00 +0000

Bill Clinton in N Korea

Shared via AddThis

Nazrul Islam: Portrait of the Poet as a Young Man*

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:57:00 +0000

Of the three youths who at that time were the talk of the whole of Bengal, one was Subhas Chandra Bose, one was Nazrul Islam and the third was Dilipkumar Roy. Their names were on everybody's lips, uttered in every house

…I had learnt a lot of songs from Dilip da - his own songs, Dwijendralal's songs, songs by Atulprasad, all their songs of course, but most of all Nazrul Islam's songs. Dilip da taught me many ways to control and modulate my voice. Sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes something in between…From this polished, educated, complete young man I not only learnt how to sing, but through contact with him I also learnt the meaning of the word 'culture'…

Bonogram(1) then was a lower middle-class neighbourhood. There was hardly anybody with whom I could talk to - especially a girl of my age. I used to feel lonely due to lack of friends. Dilip da had come into my life like a huge wave - when he had been present(2) there was always a rush, songs at one place today and then tomorrow there would be songs at another place, going here today, there tomorrow, and the whole day would pass by in a delightful daze. My sadness at his departure now would not leave me. more

New talent hunt for construction workers

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:49:00 +0000

Shah Cement Industries Ltd. has launched an innovative talent hunt for construction workers around the country, says a press release. The event titled "Shah Cement Nirman-er Taroka," aims at promoting talented construction workers, providing them with an opportunity to make a name for themselves.

The programme was launched in Narayanganj recently. At the programme, Mohammad Shamsur Rahman, deputy commissioner (DC) of Narayanganj, was the chief guest. Police superintendent Bishwas Afzal Hossain was present as the special guest. Ferda Usul Kabir Chowdhury, general manager, finance and Dipan Kankan Chakrabarty, marketing manager of Shah Cement Industries Ltd. were also present at the event.

The talent hunt will be judged by Fakir Alamgir, Fakir Shahbuddin, Piaru Khan and Mina Salam.

Interference in war crime trial won't be tolerated: Dipu Moni

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:46:00 +0000

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni today said any interference from any quarter in the war crime trial would not be tolerated.

"Entire world is with us. World peoples are with us. War criminals will be tried to establish the rule of law and human rights," the minister told the parliament in reply to Workers Party chief Rashed Khan Menon.

She said different development agencies and the United Nations assured to provide help in trying war criminals.

The foreign minister said Bangladesh was committed to try war criminals.

Gulshan Kumar killer nabbed in Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sat, 30 May 2009 05:04:00 +0000

The police in Bangladesh on Thursday claimed to have arrested Abdul Rauf Merchant, who was convicted of killing audio king Gulshan Kumar in 1997, nearly a week after he escaped from a Mumbai jail following his release on furlough.

“We have arrested Rauf who was hiding in a rented house in Brahmanbaria,” assistant police commissioner Muhibul Islam Khan, who led the operation, said. Rauf, he said, has been taken to Dhaka for initial interrogation.

According to the Mumbai Police, it has received no official information yet on the arrest and efforts are on to verify whether the arrested accused is Merchant. “We have come to know that someone has been arrested in Bangladesh, but it is not certain whether it is Merchant. We are in the process of verifying this and due action will be taken only after that,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria.

The BSS news agency in Bangladesh said the police also arrested Kamal Miah, owner of the house, for sheltering an “international criminal”. Merchant, a resident of Mumbra, was released on furlough for 14 days by the Bombay High Court last month on condition that he would report to police every day. He reported for a week and then stopped. source: indianexpress.com

IPL outcast Mortaza seeks to hit back for Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:55:00 +0000

LONDON: Bangladesh's think-tank must be secretly delighted that Mashrafe Mortaza was treated shabbily by his Kolkata Knight Riders team in the
Indian Premier League.

The astonishing price tag of 600,000 dollars paid by Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan for Mortaza appeared a bad investment as coach John Buchanan confined the young fast bowler mostly to the reserves despite the team's dismal showing.

But warming the benches for five weeks left a frustrated Mortaza hungry for success on the field when he turns out for Bangladesh in the World Twenty20.

"I can't wait to get back on the field," said Mortaza. "It was a great experience mixing with all the top players in the IPL. I learnt so much just watching them.

"Now I want to play and do well for my country. That is the only thing on my mind."

Mortaza's desperation should please Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful and coach Jamie Siddons.

The 25-year-old has risen steadily since his dramatic debut in 2001 when he was launched into the Test squad by West Indian legend Andy Roberts, the then coach, even before he had played first-class cricket.

Mortaza's hard-hitting batting lower down the order makes him ideally suited for Twenty20 cricket where he has a strike-rate of 105.88 in nine matches and six wickets, although at an expensive economy rate of 9.22.

Now free from a spate of knee and back injuries that troubled him over the years, Mortaza must play a major role with both bat and ball if Bangladesh are to progress in the tournament.

"Mashrafe is obviously one of our key players," said coach Siddons. "The heavy English conditions will suit his style."

Skipper Ashraful added: "He is a kind of player you turn to when in trouble and invariably he will deliver whether it is with the bat or ball. The whole team relies on him. He is our superstar."

Bangladesh open their campaign against defending champions India in Nottingham on June 6, followed by the second group match against Ireland two days later at the same venue.
(source: Indiatimes.com

SSC, equivalent examination results likely on May 18 2009

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:57:00 +0000

The results of the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent dakhil

"Eminent scientist Dr Wazed dies at 67"

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Eminent scientist and husband of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Dr MA Wazed Miah died at the capital's Square Hospital today around 4:25pm, Prime Minister's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad said. He was 67. Hasina was beside her husband at the moment of his death. Dr Wazed's condition started to deteriorate after 2:00pm, doctors said.

Miss California Racy Photos

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Miss California USA says a revealing photo of herself appearing on the Web is "quite appropriate" for a model, and she has accused the gossip site that posted it of trying to belittle her Christian beliefs.

read more | digg story

92 year old woman deliveres Stone Baby

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:48:00 +0000

In a bizarre turn of events straight out of Mr. Ripley’s personal files, comes this true story of a 92-year-old woman who delivered a child (albeit not a live baby) she had been carrying for over half a century! (Long pregnancies are one thing, but THAT is ridiculous!)

Vitamin D Deficiency Could Put Your Heart at Risk

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:23:00 +0000

A new risk factor for heart disease has been discovered, although this time it is something that can easily be corrected. Scientists say that a growing body of evidence has suggested that vitamin D deficiency

read more | digg story

Saudi Arabia mulls marriage ban for girls under 18

noreply@blogger.com (MMR) — Sat, 02 May 2009 21:14:00 +0000

Saudi Arabia may ban marriage for girls below 18, a government minister said after a case of an eight-year old girl marrying a man more than 40 years her senior drew international criticism and embarrassed the kingdom.

read more | digg story