ONCE IN a blue moon there is a New Year’s Eve. The New Year 2010 will be treated to a so called blue moon celebration. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. New Year’s Eve is never dull. But nights like tonight happen just once in a blue moon.The name has nothing to do with the color of our closest celestial neighbor.

A full moon occurred on December. 2. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year’s countdown.

This year, New Year eve parties could wind up earlier than usual as people may rush off to catch the twin lunar spectacle which will unfold the night of December 31 and remain visible till the early hours of January 1, 2010.

Why two full moons in a single month? It’s because the natural cycle of moon phases doesn’t perfectly match up with our human-made calendar.

“The lengths of the months in our calendar were set arbitrarily by Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar 2,000 years ago,” said English astronomer David Harper, who is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and author of the Once in a Blue Moon Web site.

Today people define a blue moon as the second full moon of the month, a definition inadvertently introduced by Sky and Telescope magazine in 1946 and subsequently popularized in the 1980s by a Trivial Pursuit board game question. But the saying “once in a blue moon”—meaning “not very often”—has been around for at least 150 years. And the phrase “blue moon” has been used for at least four centuries, according to Hiscock’s research, which he reported in the March 1999 issue of Sky and Telescope.

A full moon occurs every 29.5 days, and most years have 12. On average, an extra full moon in a month – a blue moon – occurs every 2.5 years. The last time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. New Year’s Eve blue moons are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won’t come again until 2028.

After knowing the interesting facts about blue moon most of the people will be winding up the New Year party at 12 pm and rush to their homes to have a glimpse of the eclipse. Also excited are amateur astronomers and enthusiastic star gazers who are already polishing their telescopes for a better view of the event in the sky.

Arvind Paranjpye, scientific officer, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) says, “It will be a visual treat if weather permits. The long duration of the eclipse will give people a better chance to witness it,” he says, adding that the best time to view it will be between 1 and 3 am on January 1.

Blue moons have no astronomical significance, said Greg Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

But here our city astrologers are not looking forward to the event as much others. Noted astrologer Divagyna Somyaji says, “Astrologically speaking, starting the calendar year with an eclipse could lead to problems, two eclipses within a fortnight, the lunar eclipse on December 31 and the solar eclipse on January 15 could increase the possibility of natural calamities. “Political turmoil will continue and the double eclipses will have different impacts on different people,”

This year’s blue moon will look the same as any other full moon. And despite superstition and New Year celebration, rates of crime, rash driving, & drinking will be about the same as any other night of the year.

Let us not worry & think much. Let’s celebrate this New Year with sheer enthusiasm, spreading happiness all over the world.

Dear Friends Each moment in a day has its own value. Morning brings HOPE, Afternoon brings FAITH, Evening brings LOVE, Night brings REST, Hope you will all of them everyday.HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010.

Bangladesh economy showed its mettle in 2009 when it passed one of the toughest tests triggered by the global financial meltdown, which significantly impacted performances in the major Asian nations and most of the developed countries, officials said Thursday.

They said almost all the major sectors including exports, imports, remittance and the stock market of the South Asian country have performed well in 2009 despite the shocks of global recession.

The country’s central bank Thursday said Bangladesh attained a 5.9 percent GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the first half of the current fiscal year 2009-10 (July 2009-June 2010), leaving six more months to achieve the 6 percent target.

“Our GDP target growth will be achieved by the end of the fiscal year as all the key indicators of the economy are showing positive trend,” Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Atiur Rahman told reporters Thursday.

Briefing journalists on the economy in the outgoing 2009 Thursday, he said this year began with fear of global recession shocks but the Bangladesh Awami League-led newly elected government after coming into power in January this year set right kind of directions to safeguard the country’s economy from the shocks of recession.

As a result of the time befitting measures, the governor said growth in the country’s two major sectors — export and agriculture– was satisfactory in the outgoing year 2009. Bangladesh’s export earning grew at a rate of 10 percent in 2009 and agriculture by 4.8 percent, he added.

The BB governor said imports including capital machinery are also on rise, indicating that the domestic business and investments are gaining momentum.

The central bank data showed Bangladedsh’s capital machinery import surged by 24 percent in July-November of this fiscal year while imports of consumer goods in the same period rose by 44 percent year on year.

Rate of inflation, a major concern of the country, was at 5.1 percent in October, the BB governor said and expressed the hope that it would not go beyond this fiscal year’s target of 6.5 percent.

An economist on condition of anonymity said political stability, which is very rare in the South Asian, also contributed to achieve steady economic growth in 2009.

Bangladesh maintained a steady growth in 2009 despite global financial turmoil but growing power and energy shortages and poor infrastructure remained as a major hurdle to the country’s industrial activities, Annisul Huq, President of Bangladesh’s apex trade body, was quoted as saying in a report of leading English newspaper The Financial Express Thursday

The BB governor, however, differed from the arguments that the inadequate energy supply would hinder the employment and eventually the poverty reduction initiatives.

Production of electricity in the public sector in Bangladesh in2009 stood reportedly at about 4,300 MW per day against the daily demand for about 7,000 MW.

The BB governor also referred to the highest ever foreign exchange reserves, remittances despite huge fall in overseas jobs, stable exchange rates, adequate liquidity in the banking sector and increasing revenue earnings.

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high of 10.36 billion U. S. dollars at the end of the last month from 9.54 billion U.S. dollars at the end of October.

The BB data showed in July-November, the first five months of Bangladesh’s financial year 2009-10 (from July 2009 to June 2010),remittances totaled 4.67 billion U.S. dollars, registering a 24.40percent growth over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

It showed domestic investment increased by 15 percent during January-October this year despite the foreign direct investment registered fall to some extent.

Listing future challenges of the economy, Atiur said the impact of climate change would remain the main challenge to the development of the country as the number of man-made disasters are on rise in the recent years.

Bangladesh suffered a big blow due to cyclone Aila in May, 2009,which was the biggest natural calamity in the country after a powerful cyclone Sidr that battered its southwestern coastal belt on Nov. 15, 2007 and claimed lives of over 4,000 people.

source : http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/31/content_12736663.htm

The founder of one of the world’s largest non governmental organisations, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, has been honoured in the UK.

Fazle Hasan Abed – who holds dual British and Bangladesh citizenship – will be knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2010 for services in tackling poverty.

He has also been awarded for empowering the poor in Bangladesh and globally.

Mr Abed’s name was included in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List released on Thursday.

‘Multi-dimensional approach’

“I feel very humbled to receive this award,” he told the BBC from his office in Dhaka, “which I am delighted to accept on behalf of all Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (Brac) workers across the world.

“I now want to build on this success to continue Brac’s fight against poverty not only in Bangladesh but in eight other countries in the world where we are involved – Afghanistan, Uganda, Tanzania, Southern Sudan, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Sri Lanka.”

Brac also has plans to expand into Haiti.

Mr Abed says that Brac’s success was because of a “multi-dimensional approach” to fighting poverty such as improving education, healthcare and financial services.

He Abed is to be made a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) and is the first person of Bangladeshi origin to be honoured with a knighthood by the British Crown since 1947.

Mr Abed is the second person in his family to be honoured with a knighthood. His grand uncle, Justice Nawab Sir Syed Shamsul Huda, was knighted by the British Crown in 1913
source : BBC

Strong inflow of liquidity and influx of fresh investors have driven Bangladesh’s capital market to its historic height in the outgoing year 2009, officials and market analysts said Thursday.

They said both institutional and individual investors in 2009 injected huge funds into the South Asian country’s capital as a long-lasting bullish trend lured them, which virtually contributed to surpass all previous records in market indicators.

Chief of the South Asian country’s capital market regulatory body — Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), M Ziaul Haque Khondaker told Xinhua Thursday, “Bangladesh’s capital market not only successfully rides out the global recession but also marked some remarkable achievements in 2009.”

“We’ve taken all required precautionary measures to safeguard the interests of the investors in context of the global recession,” the SEC chairman Khandaker said.

Capital market analyst Salahuddin Ahmed Khan said, “2009 was really a good year for Bangladesh’s capital market. This year will be a milestone in the history of Bangladesh’s capital market.”

Khan, also a former Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh’s main bourse Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), said the number of investors in 2009 increased by 500,000 and stood at nearly 2 million while the number of branches of broker houses throughout the country has reached 387 in the outgoing year from 272 in 2008.

Official statistics of the DSE showed the DSE general index (DGEN) reached its all-time high at 4,535.53 points Wednesday, the last trading day of the year. The bourse, key index gained 1,740.19 points, or 62.25 percent, in the outgoing year.

It said the DSE market capitalization surged to 27.54 billion U.S. dollars on Dec. 30, rising 82.34 percent in the year. The market capitalization increased to 30.95 percent of GDP in 2009 from 19.26 percent in 2008.

“We saw the Bangladesh’s top mobile company Grameen phone listing, highest single-day turnover, record levels of market capitalization and key indices, introduction of book building method and many more,” Rakibur Rahman, president of DSE, was quoted as saying in a report of leading English newspaper New Age Thursday.

These successes have added to the investors confidence, he said, adding if the trend continues next year and new companies list on two bourses including Dhaka and Chittagong, daily turnover may reach 30 billion taka level by December 2010.

Turnover on DSE in October this year hit an all-time high after topping 12.45 billion taka while the total amount of turnover in 2009 stood at over 1,475 billion taka with 120 percent rise from that in 2008.

However, the officials and analysts said Bangladesh’s capital mark where there is a still dearth of quality shares has often gone wrong with unusual share price inflations as more funds rushed for a few stocks, prompting interventions of the country’s stock market regulator.

In some cases, they said the SEC interventions resulted in a slowdown of the market, sparking off angry demonstrations of investors against the regulator’s role.

The investors even sometimes took to the streets seeking the regulator’s actions to contain the stock price erosion.

“We’ve introduced some new systems to further restore confidence of investors,” the SEC chairman said, adding they are taking more measures to boost supply side with some quality shares from both public and private companies.

According to official statistics, a total of 18 companies raised 8,971 million taka, floating initial public offerings in 2009 which pulled up the number of listed companies to 236 in 2009from 276 in 2008.

The United Nations is going to appoint a major general from Bangladesh Army as the commander of its peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast.

Chairman of parliamentary standing committee on defence ministry M Idris Ali said this to reporters at the Zia International Airport on his arrival after a 14-day official visit to the peacekeeping missions in the African states of Ivory Coast and Congo.

A number of members of Bangladesh armed forces and police are engaged in the UN missions there.

Talking to the press, Idris Ali also pointed out that there are some problems Bangladeshi peacekeepers are facing abroad.

The standing committee will submit recommendations to the government in this regard like taking initiatives to provide Bangladeshi soldiers with cheap phone call rates for talking to their relatives back in the country and chartering aircraft to fly them home on annual holidays, he said.

The Awami League lawmaker led a six-member delegation to Ivory Coast and Congo to witness the operational and administrative duties of Bangladesh contingent deployed there.

The team also visited various military installations and called on high officials of the UN peacekeeping operations.

Many think that such visits to UN peace mission areas will enhance the morale of Bangladeshi troops and help make them more dutiful.

Idris Ali told reporters that the UN would increase participation of Bangladeshi soldiers in its peacekeeping missions in the two countries.

Bangladesh is the second highest contributor to UN’s peacekeeping missions in terms of number of peacekeepers. The United States secured the number one position in terms of financial contributions.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama invited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with heads of 10 other countries contributing peacekeepers to the missions to a meeting in New York on September 23 where they exchanged views and experiences on UN peacekeeping operations across the world.

source :http://www.bdmilitary.com/

About Saint Martin’s Island :

• Saint martin’s island is situated in the southeast of Bangladesh on The Bay of Bengal.
• From the main land it is 9-10 km far. It is almost 7 km long including “Chera Dweep”.
• Chera Dweep is another attraction of this island. This a torn part of this island but exclusively beautiful.
• “Chera” means Torn and “Dweep” means Island. The under water colorful fishes and live corals entertain the tourist in Chera Dweep.
• Local name of this island is “Narikel Gingira” means Coconut Island. The total island is surrounded by thousands of coconut trees.
• The northern part of the island is the mostly populated area and all the hotels, motels and restaurants are there in the northern part.
• On the other hand southern of the island is almost blank.It has become one of the most popular tourist places in Bangladesh. October to March is considered as tourists season. Tourists are being attracted for its natural beauty.

Bangladesh has ordered a building congeal on its lone coral island in a bid to save its wildlife and natural beauty from a boom in construction fuelled by tourism, its environment minister said Tuesday.

Hasan Mahmud told AFP his government had declared the eight square kilometre (three square mile) St Martin’s Island an ecologically critical area and had banned new buildings there.

“We have also ordered an inventory of the existing infrastructure that threatens the island’s ecology,” he said, adding that any buildings that harm the environment would be demolished.

St Martin’s Island, situated 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of the capital Dhaka, is Bangladesh’s lone coral island and attracts tens of thousands of tourists during holiday periods.

The island is habitat to some rare flora and fauna, including 182 wildlife species. In recent years, the island has witnessed a building boom due to a huge rush of tourists.

So, we should come forward to save the world best coral island – Saint Martin.

Development of Chittagong: Problems and Prospects”. State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Quamrul Islam said economically potential port city to be elevated into real commercial capital within the tenure of present government.

Private sectors should put in much effort side by side with the government to this end, he added.

“The city can be turned into a desired tourist destination through implementing coordinated development plans with the involvement of both public and private sectors,” the state minister said while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar Saturday night at the historic Muktijudder Bijoy Mela being held at MA Aziz Stadium.

The title of the maiden day seminar part of the five-day seminar series was ” Development of Chittagong: Problems and Prospects”.

Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University AAMS Arefin Siddique presided over the function. Former chief engineer of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Sultan Mahmud and former chairman of IEB, Chittagong centre Ali Ashraf presented two separate keynote papers.

Engineer Mahmud Islam and Chairman of Chittagong WASA AKM Fazlullah took part in the discussion.

State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam said Chittagong had occupy important place in the country in terms of historical and heritage points of view.

He said the city carried immense importance for its huge economic prospects and vast natural resources. “Considering all this aspects, the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has attached utmost importance for the development of this region and herself taken responsibility on her shoulder to accelerate the uplift of the area” the state minister pointed out.

He said the primary work for the development of Chittagong in line with the government’s prior commitment had already been started. He expressed the hope that the port city would elevate into a real commercial capital of the country within the tenure of the government.

In this context, he urged the private entrepreneurs to put in their maximum efforts to supplements the government plan, as only government could not alone materialise the giant scheme.

Speaking at the seminar, Prof Arefin Siddque said honest and educated leadership was a must for planned and sustainable development of the country as such leadership could only ensure good governance.

Terming the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman “source of power” of the Bengali nation, he said Bangabandhu gifted Independence to the nation through his consistent and sagacious leadership.

He asked the new generation to obtain lesson from the colourful and struggling life of Bangabandhu and utilise it for nation building activities