uniting people everyday thursday, dhaka, may 10, 2018, baishakh 27, 1425 bs, shaban 23, 1439 hijri lightning kills 24 in 13 dists dhaka : at least 24people were killed and21others injured inlightning strikes in 13 districts across the country on wednesday, reports unb. the districts are habiganj, sunamganj, rajshahi, sylhet, sirajganj, nilphamari, manikganj, kishoreganj,narayanganj, gaibandha, mymenshingh, cumilla and chandpur. according to reports reaching the unb news desk, six farmers were killed by lightning strikes while they were cutting paddy amid rain at different haors in baniachang, nabiganj, lakhai and madhabpur upazilas in habiganj district, said sources at local disaster manage- ment centre. the deceased were identified as swapan das, 20, son of basanta das of dirai upazila in sunamganj, jalal uddin, 60, of chouhali upazila in sirajganj, narayan paul, 40, son of harilal of nabiganj upazila in habiganj, abu talib, 20, son of habibur rahman of nabiganj, sufi miah, 55, of lakhai upazila in habiganj, jahor lal sarkar, 23, son of rajkumar sarkar of madhabpur upazila in habiganj. in sunamganj, two farmers were killed by lightning at shalla and dharmapasha upazilas in the morning. when alamgir hossain, 28, was work- ing in a paddy field, a thunderbolt hit him, leaving him dead on the spot, said officer-in-charge of shalla police station delwar hossain. meanwhile, in dharmapasha upazila, a thunderbolt struck farmer uzzal when he was harvesting paddy, said police. in rajshahi, two farmers—ansar ali, 30, and sohag ali, 16, of bataspur village in tanor upazila—were killed by light- ning strikes. tanor upazila nirbahi officer shawkat ali said ansar ali died on the spot and two others -anada saha, 32, and liton chandra saha, 30- sustained wound as a thunderbolt hit them in a paddy field in bataspur village. besides, a streak of lightning hit sohag, leaving him dead on the spot while he was working in a field in duboil village of panchodor union. families of each deceased will be pro- vided with tk 20,000 and 30 kg rice as compensation, the uno said. in sirajganj, a thunderbolt hit samtulla, 50, of panagari village of kazipur upazila while he was working in a field amid rain around 11 am, killing him on the spot. in another incident, school student shakil miah, 15, was injured in a light- ning strike while he was going to school in jamuna shoal area. shakil was admitted to kazipur upazila health complex, said kazipur upazila parishad chairman mozammel haque. in nilphamari, two others - asma bewa, 55, wife of late islam uddin of salna village in jaldhaka upazila, and nur amin, 40, son of safar uddin of desibai village of same upazila, were killed by lightning strikes, said officer-in- charge of jaldhaka police station mostafizur rahman. in manikganj, two people, including a school student, were killed and 10 others injured as they were struck by lighting. talukdarnagar high school headmas- ter md aminur rahman said around 1:45 pm when the students were having their tiffin during the break,a thunderbolt hit them, injuring 11 students. later, saiful died on the way to hospital and the rest were admitted to the upazila health complex. meanwhile, banchamora union parishad chairman abdul latif said farmer yakub ali, son of late hafez sheikh of hasadia village of daulatpur upazila, died on the spot as a thunderbolt hit him while working in a paddy field. in kishoreganj, a woman and a young man were killed in separate incidents of lightning strike at satirchar of nikli upazila and ashutia of pakundia upazila. the deceased were identified as shah jalal, 25, son of main uddin of satirchar and dipali rani barman, wife of sudhir chandra barman of ashutia. in sylhet, a streak of lightning hit nurul haque, 30, son of chandhu miah of companiganj upazila, while he was going to his uncle’s house in goainghat upazila around 2 pm, leaving him dead on the spot, said police. in narayanganj, a schoolboy, kulfi aktar, 8, was killed in a lightning strike while playing near her house at tilab vil- lage in sonargaon upazila. detained in south korea, 3 bd seafarers return home dhaka : three bangladeshi seafarers, detained in south korea, returned home on wednesday afternoon by a thai airways flight, reports unb. imo number a vessel namely 'talent ace', having a counterfeit (imo no. 8793873), carrying coal from north korea was detained on march 19 including its crew by concerned authorities of republic of korea, while unloading goods at gunsan port. seven crew from myanmar, six from china and three from bangladesh were working in the seized vessel. in the vessel, bangladeshi crew ismail sheikh, and arifuzzaman were working as junior officer, second officer and 4th engineer respectively, chakraborty tirtho said the foreign ministry here. the korean authorities duly informed the embassy of bangladesh in seoul regarding the detention of the vessel and bangladeshi seafarers. upon the ministry's instructions, bangladesh embassy took up the issue instantly with the competent authorities of korean government for the release and repa- triation of the detained three seafarers to bangladesh. on completion of all the formalities and necessary legal procedures, the korean authorities handed over the bangladeshi sea- farers to the embassy on tuesday. following the ministry's necessary instruc- tions, the mission made arrangements to send the seafarers to bangladesh. quota protesters give 24-hour ultimatum to publish gazette dhaka : bangladesh general students rights protection alliance on wednesday gave the government a 24-hour ultimatum to pub- lish a gazette notification on abolishing quota system in government jobs as per the prime minister's announcement, reports unb. they also threatened to go for a tougher movement from sunday if their demand is not fulfilled by the given time. hasan al mamun, convener of the platform, came up with the ultimatum at a human chain programme held at the foot of raju memorial sculpture of dhaka university (du) from 11 pm to 12.30 pm. more than 1000 students from different departments and residential halls of dhaka university participated in the human chain organised by bangladesh general students rights protection alliance. hasan al mamun said, "we hope the gov- ernment will take steps for publishing a gazette by thursday as per as prime minister sheikh hasina's announcement at the jatiya sangsad." "if the government doesn't fulfill our demand within the timeframe, we'll go for a tougher movement from sunday along across the country." he added. student leaders of quota reform movement rashed khan, nurulhaq nur, hasan al mamun and faruk hossain, among others, addressed the human chain programme. bnp accuses govt of conspiring against kcc polls : bnp dhaka on wednesday alleged that peo- ple are worried about the fate of tuesday's khulna city corporation polls as the gov- ernment has various 'evil designs' to stop the voting, reports unb. speaking at a press briefing at bnp's nayapaltan central office, party senior joint secre- tary general ruhul kabir rizvi also alleged that the govern- ment is playing a game with the elections as the chief is election commissioner working like an 'obedient clerk' of it. "we don't know what the khulna city corporation polls' fate will be. we're also not sure which evil plan the government is going to resort to stopping the elec- tions," he said. the bnp leader also said the government has stopped gazipur polls, indulging in a dangerous game. "people are now worried that which game or magic the govern- ment will now stage in khulna city polls." he came down hard on the election commission for what he said playing a silent role regarding the high court's stay order on the gazipur city polls. mentioning that the high court passed the stay order on the gazipur polls uncon- stitutionally without any serious reason after the announcement of the polls schedule, rizvi said, "as a constitutional institution , bangladesh sadharon chhatro odhiker shongrokkhon parishad formed a human chain yesterday demanding gazette issue over quota removal. photo: tbt dhaka south city corporation mayor mohammad sayed khokon cleaning the baitul mukarram mosque on wednesday. photo: tbt stay on gcc polls hearing deferred for a day dhaka : the supreme court (sc) on wednesday deferred to thursday the hearing on the appeal peti- tions filed challenging the high court order that stayed gazipur city corporation (gcc) elec- tion for three months, reports unb. the four-member bench of the appellate division led by chief justice syed mahmud hossain took the decision following the request of the election commission as it will file another appeal petition challenging stay order on gazipur city election. the ec made a request to the appellate division on wednesday morning to defer the hearing on the two petitions filed by two league mayoral candidates- hasan uddin sarkar of awami and zahangir alam of bnp- over the stay order on gcc election till thursday, said advocate obaidur rahman mostafa, a coun- sel of the ec. he said, "we are going to file a petition with the appellate division chal- lenging the stay order on gazipur city corporation polls today (wednesday)." earlier on tuesday, the election commission decided to appeal with the appellate division chal- lenging the high court order at a meeting chaired by election commissioner km nurul huda at nirbhachan bhaban in the city. chief awami league mayoral candidate zahangir alam filed a petition with the appellate division bench of the supreme court challenging the high court order staying the gazipur city corporation (gcc) election for three months on tuesday. the chamber judge of the appellate division justice hasan foyez siddique sent the petitions to the full-bench of the appellate division after hearing on the two peti- tions. earlier on monday, bnp mayoral candidate hasan uddin sarkar filed a peti- tion with the appellate division of the supreme court challenging the high court order. the magnificent mudbrick mosques of west africa interesting news desk all around the muslim world, mosques have a typical architecture characterized by a minaret, a dome, arches and mosaics or stucco decora- tions. these design elements were brought by the arabs when they migrated and took control of foreign lands through conquest. but in areas where the spread of islam was more gradual, brought by merchants and traders, mosque architecture conforms more to vernacular design determined by local skills and availability of mate- rials. nowhere else this manifests more than in west africa. the mosques here vary from simple roofless enclosures serving the func- tion of places where the community could gather and pray, to magnificent buildings. in the sahel and sudanian grassland of west africa, a unique style of mosque has developed. spanning a vast area across the northern african continent from senegal to sudan, as well as ghana and ivory coast, these mosques are characterized by a com- mon building material—mud bricks, reinforced by large wooden logs and support beams that jut out from the wall face giving them a fortress like appearance. these wooden stakes, called toron, are used as scaffolding when the sur- face is reworked every year. they also serve a decorative purpose. the mosques usually have a tower, a flat roof and a courtyard. the floor inside is covered with sand over which prayer mats are laid. natural light streaming in through holes pierced in the ceiling provide the only illumination. except for massive pillars supporting the roof and their arches, the interior is undecorated so as not to distract the worshipper. 11 get life term for murder in kishoreganj kishoreganj : a court here on wednesday sentenced 11 people to life term imprison- ment for killing a man in katiadi upazila in 2000, reports unb. rahman the lifers are allad shah, muklesur rahman shah, ataur shah, samsuddin shah, ranjan shah, ohid shah, chandan shah, safir uddin shah, montu miah, aslam, jamal shah, of sutinkola village of the upazi- la. residents all besides, the court also fined them tk 50,000 each. it also sentenced six others - sabuj, kanchan, rafiq bhuiya, jalal uddin shah, liton and fazlu shah- to three years rig- orous imprisonment. the court also fined them tk 20,000 each, in default, to suf- fer three months more ri. according to the prosecu- tion, the convicts killed meraj munshi, a resident of the vil- lage, over land related dispute on april 24, 2000. later, a murder case was filed. after examining all the records and witnesses, addi- tional district and sessions judge mohammad abu taher handed down the verdict acquitting eight other accused. 2 cases filed over killing of naniarchar upz chairman, 4 others rangamati : two separate cases have been filed in con- nection with the killing of naniarchar upazila chairman advocate shaktiman chakma and four other people in sepa- rate attacks on may 3,4, reports unb. rupam chakma, an assis- tant of shaktiman chakma, who also received injuries in the attack on may 3, filed a murder case mentioning names of 46 people with naniarchar police station seven days after the incident on wednesday, said md alamgir kabir, superinten- dent of rangmati police. besides, ochin chakam, a relative of slain tapan jyoti chakma, chief of gonotrantik updf, filed another case men- tioning names of 72 people with the police station in con- nection with the attack on may 4 which left four indigenous people, including tapan, dead. meanwhile, police in special drive arrested provat kumar chakma, of baghaichari upazila parbatya chattogram janasonghati samity and sajek up chair- man nelson chakma, said amin hossain, officer-in- charge of baghaichari police station. president acting editor & publisher : jobaer alam, advisory editor: advocate molla mohammad abu kawser, managing, editor: tapash ray sarker, news editor : saiful islam, printed at sonali printing press, 2/1/a, arambagh 167, inner circular road, eden complex, motijheel, dhaka. editorial and news office: k.k bhaban (level-04) 69/k, green road, panthapath, dhaka-1205. tel : +8802-9611884-85, cell : 01832166882; email: editor : editor@thebangladeshtoday.com, advertisement: ads@thebangladeshtoday.com, news: newsbangla@thebangladeshtoday.com, contact@thebangladeshtoday.com, website: www.thebangladeshtoday.com