Two manuscripts of Darwin reported stolen from Cambridge University -Interpol investigation starts- Sumi Khan

Library staff believed manuscripts were ‘mis-shelved’ in 2000 but now think theft likely

Two Charles Darwin manuscripts have been reported as stolen from Cambridge University library two decades after they were last seen.

The two notebooks, including Darwin’s seminal 1837 Tree of Life sketch, were removed from storage to be photographed at the library’s photographic unit, where the work was recorded as completed in November 2000.

It is difficult to estimate the value of the notebooks, given their unique nature, but it would probably run into many millions of pounds, the library said.

Staff believed the precious items had been “mis-shelved” within the vast archives late in 2000 and the matter was not reported to Cambridgeshire police until 20 October this year. The force said it has launched an investigation and notified Interpol.

During a subsequent routine check in January 2001 it was found that the small blue box containing the notebooks had not been returned to its proper place.

Dr Jessica Gardner, university librarian and director of library services since 2017, said: “My predecessors genuinely believed that what had happened was that these had been mis-shelved or misfiled and they took forward extensive searches over the years in that genuine belief.

“Now we have completely reviewed as a new team what happened and come to a conclusion that that’s not a sufficient position or set of actions to take.”

She said that “extensive building work” was taking place at the library at the time that the items were found to be missing.

There have been continuous searches since the notebooks went missing, she said, and it is now thought “likely that theft occurred”. Gardner reported the matter to the police.

An appeal for information has been launched on the advice of external experts, including at the Metropolitan police’s arts and antique specialist crime unit, Dr Gardner said. 

She said there were no leads.

Dr Mark Purcell, the deputy director of Research Collections, said he was confident the manuscripts could not be sold on the open market and it was possible they had “gone to ground”.

He said he hoped for a similar outcome to that of London’s Lambeth Palace, where items were stolen after bombing during the second world war.

“Forty-plus years later, quite literally as the consequence of a deathbed crisis of conscience, those items came to light and were returned to Lambeth and I think that’s the sort of outcome which we and all institutions of this kind would clearly wish to hope for,” he said.

Cambridge University library has more than 130 miles (210km) of shelving and is home to about 10m books, maps, manuscripts and other objects.

A fingertip search of key areas was carried out early this year, including the whole of the Darwin archive, which comprises 189 archive boxes, but this failed to locate the notebooks.

Gardner said that security policy was different 20 years ago, adding: “Today any such significant missing object would be reported as a potential theft immediately and a widespread search begun.”

She said: “I’m heartbroken. We’ve devoted the whole of our careers to the preservation of cultural heritage and we’re devastated by what has happened.”

The two Darwin notebooks had previously been digitised and their content is available online.

Prof Stephen J Toope, the vice-chancellor of the university, said: “Cambridge University library is one of the world’s great libraries and home to globally important collections, assembled and cared for over six centuries, and encompassing thousands of years of human thought and discovery.

“As a result of this appeal for help, we hope to locate the missing Darwin notebooks and restore them to their rightful place alongside the university library’s other treasures, making them available to scholars and researchers in the centuries to come.”

Anyone who may have information about the missing notebooks is asked to contact Cambridge University library via email at manuscriptappeal@lib.cam.ac.uk. # Source:The Guardian

Salute to Yuri Viktorovich Redkin -22 yrs old Soviet Naval officer died for Mine clearing for Bangladesh-Sumi Khan

 My heartfelt Salute to Yuri Viktorovich Redkin -22 yrs old Soviet Naval officer died in 1973. People should be allowed to enter the Redkin Point in Chattogram. My Salute, Tribute for a true Soldier, a true Friend of Bangladesh!

On April, 02, 1972, the advance team of 100 seamen, led by Rear Admiral Sergey Pavlovich Zuenko, a veteran of 36 years in the Soviet Navy, as Commander of the “Rescue Expedition”, arrived at Chittagong. He immediately went to work with the seamen and equipment at his disposal. By May 4, the main flotilla of 22 vessels and 700 seamen, from the Soviet “Pacific Fleet” were already at Chittagong Port.

The 800- member Soviet team, under the able leadership of Rear Admiral Zuenko, faced a very formidable and daunting task. The Port was very badly damaged. At least 30 ships, of all description, had sunk in the Port area and outer anchorage (mostly from heavy Indian air strikes). At the close of the War, the Pakistani occupation forces had placed numerous mines to render the Port useless to Bangladesh.

Mine clearing / sweeping is a complicated and potentially dangerous operation. Salvaging sunken ships are difficult under “normal” conditions. But, in the case of Chittagong Port, these procedures proved to be even more difficult and dangerous. Underwater visibility was almost zero, in the muddy, polluted water of Karnaphuli River. Strong currents in the fast flowing River prevented the divers from going down more than four times a day, and each time for no longer than 40 / 45 minutes. The Soviet seamen had to endure difficult climatic and living conditions. The salvage team could not employ the effective and efficient “underwater blasting” method, of sunken wrecks, as the Karnaphuli River was too narrow and blasting could endanger vessels within the Port. Moreover, considerable fish and marine resources would be destroyed as well. Therefore, they had to employ the older “sunken pontoons” method. Pontoons would be attached to the ship wrecks, which would then be floated with compressed air, thus bringing the wrecks to the surface. This method turned out to be extremely time consuming, labour intensive and difficult.

NARAYANGANJ ABDUCTIONS PM directs Kamal to arrest perpetrators

The government has banned the use of tinted glass on microbuses .

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday summoned the state minister for home, hours after he had claimed that the abduction rate in the country had “gone down.”

She also directed the junior minister to take necessary measures for arresting those involved in the abduction and murder of six people in Narayanganj.

Following a meeting with the premier at her state residence Ganabhaban at 9pm yesterday, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that the prime minister was strict regarding the issue.

“Those involved in the abduction and killings will be hunted down,” he said, assuring that results would be visible soon.

Earlier in the day, the junior minister had termed the recent abduction spree an “alarming incident,” but claimed that the current abduction rate has gone down when compared to previous years.

Speaking at a press conference at the ministry, he said: “Although we are considering the recent abduction spree as an alarming incident, we have found that the current abduction rate has decreased since previous times.”

Referring to the “success” of the law enforcers regarding the Milky murder case, Kamal said: “The big cities including Dhaka will be brought under security measures such as CCTV cameras, which will soon be placed at important points to ensure security and to trace crimes like abduction.

“Special check posts have already been set up at both entry and exit points of the capital and also in other cities. Moreover, any private or public vehicle fitted with black tinted glass will not be allowed to run in the capital,” he added.

Meanwhile, the government has banned the use of tinted glass on microbuses, in the wake of a recent series of abductions where kidnappers used microbuses with glasses tinted with dark window films.

The ban will be effective from May 10, according to an order issued by the Home Ministry.

Financial year of SAARC | by Swadesh Roy

( April 22, 2014, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) 

In this globalization epoch, regional cooperation has to be strong for the sake of economy, communication and for building a peaceful relation with others, which is needed to create and to progress in a modern society. No country can survive alone. So, it is utmost important to take steps regarding an active regional cooperation in every region. In the present context of the world economist have already forecasted that Asia is the next economic power. Even at present Asia is a big economic center but it is mostly based on production houses. The market of Asian product is Europe and others. But it will not continue for long; day by day the purchasing power of the people of most of the Asian countries is increasing. It is also the reality; when production houses get profit, and capital flows run there continuously, and it increases the purchasing capacity so one day purchasing power must be increased in Asia and Asia will be the big market of Asian product; even every regional economic center of Asia will be the market of their own product.
In Asia, the economy of China is moving fast, and within the next 25 years China will be the number one economic power in the world. China knows that, its economy is growing fast and it also knows where its future is .At the same time they also recognize the fact that, if its neighbors economies cannot run in a minimum speed, it will be a blocked for their own economy. This is so because it will be a black hole for Chinese economy, so China has to build up a political and an economic relation with its all neighbors, which is win win for all.
In Asia after China, the economy of India is growing fast and it is a vast economy. In Indian society, there are many short comings for building a prosperous economy for its entire citizen. The social demography of Indian society is very complicated and it is a strong barrier for building up a constructive economy. But India has made a super structure and based on this super structure India is building their economy. Earlier India had a big short coming of not having a good relation with its neighbors. Not only India was responsible for this but also its neighbors had some alumni ties, besides the then bipolarized world politics also had a huge influence on it. After the end of the bipolarization world, India has more or less managed to overcome it but not all the causes. However, it is true that surrounding India a new economy belt will be formed; and some of the countries of it will get help from China. These countries will be a bridge between Indian and Chinese economy. But it is true that surrounding neighbors of India will be the part of the economy zone which will be under the leadership of Indian regional cooperation. This regional cooperation organization is South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It is true that SAARC is not a functional organization yet. Now it is needed to make it functional for the sake of the regional economy. So, SAARC countries have to take some programs, which will be fruitful for the economy buildup of this region; and helpful for each and others. The economist and the present and existing finance ministers can think about that more.
They will get more path of it but they can think of a common financial year for SAARC. If they can make a common financial year and make some check and balance along with proper nursing, SAARC country can get more benefit. If SAARC countries make a common financial year, all the SAARC countries will get there budget on same day. Its first benefit is that, the economy year will start on a same day so all the countries of the SAARC can make their economy plan with a harmony. Besides that, they can come closer regarding their budget, they can discuss some foreign trade and others before being presented in their budget. For this reason, the finance ministers and the core committee of the budget production of all the SAARC countries can sit together before finalizing their budget. If all the countries of the SAARC produce their budget, exchanging their views and taking decision for a trade balance and others that can make a tremendous change in the regional economy and that will be healthy for the economy of all the countries. This is so because in this trade balance all the countries have to realistic on the economic situation and they have to ensure the common interest.
If all the countries can make a common financial year and produce their budget through sharing their views formally then a harmony will come in all the budget of the SAARC countries that will help to advance the economy of all the SAARC countries properly according to their wealth and they will get more help from each others. Its big impact will be seen in the money market and in foreign exchange of all the countries. Then all the currency of the SAARC countries and the US$ market will automatically come to a balance. Because, when all the countries will produce their budget with a consensus then they will have to make their monetary policy through a consensus so money market will get steady automatically that will be a great help for the regional business. When regional money markets come in a steady situation then the price of the lot of commodity get steady. It will be a great achievement for economic progress of the developing countries of the SAARC.
In this manner, SAARC countries can not only make a same financial year, but also can make their budget and monetary policy with exchanging views, and depend upon a common interest they have to go forward. We know that now all the countries review their budget and monetary policy after a quarter. Even many countries calculate their GDP after a quarter. If SAARC countries go forward for a common financial year, the finance ministers and the budget and monetary expert committee have to sit after every quarter regularly.
In the SAARC, India is a big country and all the other countries are small. Therefore, a misconception is here, that is if SAARC countries get closer small countries will be the loser. But it is not the reality in the present global context. Now a day a country may be big or small but every country has an extra footage. Bangladesh may be a small country but its geo-political position and its young work force has given it another power. In the same way Sri Lanka has a big Sea power. Even more or less a failed state like Pakistan has some potentiality, the city Karachi can be transformed like that of Singapore and the smallest country in the SAARC, Bhutan has a huge hydroelectric power. That is why, a strong financial bondage will be productive for the SAARC countries, and it will help the SAARC countries to be a power of economy in Asia and even in the world. Making same financial year is only one-step and they have to take such more steps in the same way.

Swadesh Roy, Executive Editor, the Daily Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh, he can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com

Blacklisted in Baluchistan By Sumit Galhotra

CPJ Asia Program Research Associate

Willem Marx, right, launched his book 'Balochistan at a Crossroads' on March 13 in New York City. (CPJ/Sumit Galhotra)

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made a series of commitments to safeguard press freedom during a meeting with a CPJ delegation last week. Among them was a pledge to speak out in support of media freedom and against attacks on journalists, particularly in high-conflict areas like Baluchistan. 

Baluchistan--Pakistan's largest province by area--has been mired in a separatist conflict since the inception of Pakistan in 1947.  Some journalists have termed Baluchistan Pakistan's black hole. Local journalists work in a climate of intense intimidation and risk being killed by an array of actors, including Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies, state-sponsored anti-separatist militant groups, pro-Taliban groups, and Baluch separatists. Foreign journalists seeking to cover the restive province face tight restrictions.

Last month, Pakistani authorities denied British journalist Willem Marx an entry visa to participate in a panel on reporting in Pakistan at the Lahore Literary Festival. The apparent reason: his newly released book, Balochistan at a Crossroads. Pakistaniconsular staff in New York informed Marx he was not welcome in the country. Marx told CPJ that after much probing, the consular official muttered to him, "It was the agencies"--a term used for Pakistan's intelligence apparatus, which includes the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

This wasn't the first time Marx had dismayed Pakistan's intelligence agencies. During his reporting in 2009--despite obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC), without which foreigners are generally not allowed into the province--it was clear Marx was not welcome there by the ISI. "It's an incredibly intimidating place to work," he said. ISI agents followed him throughout his time there, he told me. As a result, it was at times difficult for Marx to get people to meet with him, because to do so would invite trouble from the intelligence agencies. There are checkpoints everywhere in the province, he said. 

On his departure from the country, authorities detained Marx for over an hour at the Karachi airport. The unidentified officials who held him said the intelligence agencies were not happy about his meeting with a Baluch separatist group during his reporting trip to the province. The officials confiscated one of Marx's videotapes. 

Marx returned to Pakistan four years later to cover the assassinations of polio workers. "It was without any problem. It was officially approved, and I was even given a security escort," Marx said.

Apparently, reporting on Baluchistan is a red line that foreign journalists must not cross. "I seem to be blacklisted for writing a book on Baluchistan," he told me.

But, as is often the case with censorship attempts, blacklisting Marx has only backfired. Marx told me that had he simply been allowed to enter the country and speak on the panel at the literary festival, the findings of his book would have been shared with a few of Lahore's elite. But barring him entry has drawn widespread domestic and internationalattention to his book and the situation in Baluchistan. 

This is but a glimpse into the array of challenges journalists face in the restive province. "It's a complete nightmare," Marx said about the state of press freedom there. "Foreign journalists will simply get deported for reporting on Baluchistan. It's much more of a mortal risk to local journalists." CPJ research shows at least six journalists have beenmurdered in Baluchistan in direct relation to their work, and another seven have been killed in the province where the motive remains unclear.

In the past few weeks alone, CPJ's Asia Desk has come across two cases of Baluch journalists who have been killed. Last month, men riding on motorcycles fired shots on and killed Ijaz Mengal, a stringer for the daily Intekhab and a clerk in the provincial education ministry, according to the Pakistan-based Freedom Network. The Baloch National Army, a separatist group, claimed responsibility for the killing and accused him of spying for the government's security agencies. Mengal's relatives denied the accusation. His brother, Riaz Mengal, also a journalist, has gone underground after continued threats, reports said.

A few days earlier, gunmen killed Muhammad Afzal Khwaja, a journalist with Zamana, a Quetta-based Urdu language newspaper, as well as its sister publication Balochistan Times, according to news reports. No one has claimed responsibility for the murder and the motive remains unclear.

With limited information and the fact that journalists in the province often straddle political activism and journalism, establishing a motive in these cases is almost always a challenge. But as Marx noted: "While some Baluch journalists are politically active, journalism here, by definition of the Pakistani state, is activism. Journalists who are reporting on the realities are automatically viewed as activists by the Pakistani state, which would rather keep things here under wraps and deprive them oxygen."

This is where Sharif's commitments can come into play. The prime minister can begin tochisel away at the deep-rooted culture of impunity by ensuring effective investigations into the killings of local journalists in Baluchistan and holding the perpetrators to account.  In addition, he can send a clear signal that attacking foreign journalists like Carlotta Gall of The New York Times will not be tolerated in the future. He can also ensure that foreign journalists like Marx, and The New York Times' Declan Walsh, who wasexpelled last year, are not punished for their reporting. 

Sumit Galhotra is the research associate for CPJ's Asia program. He served as CPJ's inaugural Steiger Fellow and has worked for CNN International, Amnesty International USA, and Human Rights Watch. He has reported from London, India, and Israel and the Occupied Territories, and specializes in human rights and South Asia.

Bangladesh polio-free WHO recognises feat of 11 countries

Bangladesh polio-free

WHO recognises feat of 11 countries

Porimol Palma

Bangladesh and ten other Southeast Asian countries were declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday, a feat in public health in the region.
WHO's Southeast Asian Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication made the declaration through a ceremony held at the organisation's New Delhi office.
"The committee concluded that the wild poliovirus transmission has been interrupted in the SEA region and it officially declared it free from wild poliovirus," said Dr Supamit Chunsuttiwat, certification committee representative, at the programme.
Bangladesh's State Minister for Health Zahid Malek led a delegation to the event, where representatives of all the eleven countries were handed over the certificates.
The ten other countries declared polio-free are Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
An independent panel of 11 experts in public health, epidemiology, virology, clinical medicine and related specialties constituting the certification commission met for two days to review evidence from countries, reads a media release on the WHO website.
To be polio-free, a region needs to have at least three years of zero confirmed cases of indigenous wild poliovirus transmission, excellent laboratory-based surveillance and capacity to detect, report and respond to imported cases of poliomyelitis and assurance of safe containment of polioviruses in laboratories.  
"The polio threat is not over truly until the wild poliovirus is eradicated globally. We have to keep the momentum going," said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director for the WHO South-East Asia Region, according to a video clip of the event uploaded on the WHO website.
Appreciating the strong policies and commitment of the countries, efforts by health workers and contributions of funding partners, she said the ceremony marked one of the biggest public health achievements.
The UN in 1988 set a target for eradicating polio, an acute viral, infectious disease causing paralysis. Since then, relevant UN organisations, governments, international and national NGOs have been working to eradicate the deadly disease.
Dr Md Tajul Islam A Bari of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told The Daily Star that Bangladesh's massive immunisation and surveillance programme since the 1990's had brought it the success.  
With the certification, the region has joined Europe, the Americas and Western Pacific regions that were earlier declared free of polio. Now, 80 percent of the world's population lives in certified polio-free regions.
Eastern Mediterranean and African regions are still to go a long way to be polio-free.
Of the 37 polio cases reported in 2014, 29 were in Pakistan and three in Afghanistan. Bangladesh found its last case in 2006.
The WHO representative in Bangladesh, Dr Thushara Fernando, termed it a great achievement, but warned that until the entire world was declared polio-free, none could relax.
“We will facilitate the actions identified by the plan on polio endgame. It includes transition from oral polio vaccine to injectable polio vaccine,” he said in a statement.
According to WHO, more than 120 countries currently use only oral polio vaccines (OPV), and that these countries will introduce a dose of inactivated polio vaccine by the end of 2015 to ensure a polio-free world by 2018.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, “High immunisation coverage can prevent an imported virus from finding an underimmunised, susceptible population.”

KHALEDA IN COURT:Judge leaves court for 'derogatory remarks'

Plea to adjourn Zia Orphanage, Zia Charitable Trust graft cases rejected

Judge of a Dhaka court, which is dealing with two corruption cases against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, left the courtroom this afternoon after her lawyers made derogatory remarks about the court in presence of the former premier.

The incident took place after Judge Bashudev Roy of Special Judges Court-3 turned down petitions by lawyers of Khaleda, who was present before the court this time, for adjourning the hearing of charge framing in connection with Zia Orphanage and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases.

As the judge went to his chamber, a group of defence counsels informed the judge there that they would appeal against the rejection with the higher court.

The court plunged into a pandemonium as lawyers from both the defence and the prosecution started shouting at each other over the comments.

With hearing on charge framing into the two cases scheduled for today, Khaleda reached the court premises in Kotwali area at 1:05pm.

After appearing before the court, she submitted two adjournment petitions before the judge through her counsels.

After hearing from both the defence and prosecution for 25 minutes, the judge rejected the appeals.

The defence counsels then started making derogatory comments about the court prompting the judge to leave the courtroom around 1:40pm.

The prosecution and defence exchanged hot words and chanted slogans against each other.

Around 2:00pm, the defence counsels went the chamber of Judge Roy and submitted four separation petitions -- two for each of cases -- seeking permission for going to the higher court to review the rejection orders.

The judge is set to hear the petitions later in the day.

Khaleda was sitting inside the courtroom till 2:45pm when the report was filed.

On February 16, Judge (in-charge) Md Rezaul Islam of the court asked Khaleda to appear before the court today (March 19) after fixing the date for the charge framing hearing in the cases against the BNP chief and eight others.

So far, hearing of the two cases has been deferred 19 and 10 times respectively.

Khaleda was absent from the court on several dates showing different reasons related to security, illness and the parliament being in session.

ZIA ORPHANAGE GRAFT CASE

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in July 2009 filed the Zia Orphanage graft case against Khaleda, her elder son and BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman and four others for embezzling over Tk 2.1 crore by forming the “fake” trust.

The four other accused are former BNP lawmaker Kazi Salimul Haque, businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed, former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui and Momenur Rahman, nephew of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman.

ZIA CHARITABLE TRUST GRAFT CASE

The ACC on August 8 in 2011 filed the Zia charitable graft case against Khaleda and three others for abusing power in setting up the charity.

The three other accused are Harris Chowdhury, Khaleda's former political secretary, Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary (APS) of Harris, and Monirul Islam Khan, APS of former Dhaka City Corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka.

Harris is absconding while Monirul and Munna are on bail.