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Bangladesh ferry death toll rises to 118

     Dhaka: Rescuers in Bangladesh have so far retrieved as many 118 dead bodies from the ferry that capsized in a storm on Sunday. Another 80 people have gone missing and feared drowned, police and rescue officials today said. Salvage ships re-floated the upturned vessel and towed it closer to a bank of the river Buriganga near Dhaka, allowing divers to make a sweep for victims. They found seven more bodies inside the ferry that went down late on Saturday. Ferry disasters are common in Bangladesh which has thousands of kilometres of waterways. Hundreds of passengers die in accidents every year. Many ferries are old and of poor design, maritime officials say, while many operators overload their craft, taking advantage of poor safety regulations and lax enforcement. The ferry "MV Maharaj", which officials said was believed to have been carrying about 200 people at the time of the accident, was sailing to Chandpur from Dhaka when it was caught in a tropical storm. The boat was packed with people heading home for a holiday to mark the Muslim ritual of Ashura. Only a handful of people appeared to have survived: officials said about 20, while police reported "only a few".

US former presidents visit Sri Lanka (Go To Top)

     Colombo: Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr have toured parts of southern Sri Lanka devastated by December's tsunami. It was the latest stop in their fact-finding tour of areas hit by the disaster, which also took them to the damaged Indonesian province of Aceh, reports The News. Their trip began in Thailand, where they urged the world not to forget the victims and the reconstruction effort. The two men were asked by the White House to lead fund-raising efforts.

Traders protest against VAT implementation (Go To Top)

    Chennai/Kolkat: Thousands of traders across India downed their shutters on Monday (February 21) across the country to protest against the implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT) that would come into effect from April 1, 2005. Relevant laws on the major tax reform measure have been passed in 27 states. Shops were reported closed in Chennai and Kolkata in protest against the imposition of VAT. "Today is a holiday against VAT and service tax. We are supporting this," said Mahesh, a shop owner in Chennai. Under the new tax regime, there would be a uniform tax system in the country, cutting heavily on the taxes levied on goods manufactured in one state and sold in a different state. With a value-added levy, there'll be no multiple tax layers that often lead to revenue losses and tax evasion. It would also end the "rate wars" among states seeking to lure investors with tax incentives. Moreover, it would lead to the abolition of entry tax for vehicles that have to pay tax while transporting goods from one state to another, thus providing faster movement across state borders. Analysts say introducing VAT is the first step towards improving India's revenue collections, which fall far short of its spending requirements. Asia's fourth-largest economy is under-taxed, despite a rise in the number of taxpayers to 35 million from nearly eight million in 1990. The government says VAT, seen as crucial to the country's economic reform programme, has many advantages over ordinary sales tax.

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