Welcome 1996. With the first ray of a bright new sun in the eastern horizon, we turn another leaf is our lives.

The passing year has been made unique as it adds one extra second to the last minute of 1995.

The world community celebrates the Gregorian new year with renewed pledge to make the Mother Earth more peaceful and more glorious with more room to accommodate the have-nots.

The celebrations were kicked off with exchange of new year greetings and pleasantries, feasts, parties and explosions of life crack-

ers as soon as the clocks clicked 12 midnight.

In the capital, people were in a jubilant mood. They were seen busy yesterday in last minute purchase of greeting cards and flowers to share the moments of joy with near and dear ones.

Some buildings in the city were illuminated colourfully. Jubilant people marked it with enthusiasm hoping from one family or social party to another.

In the world scenario, some positive development took place in 1995. Remarkable among those are — continued peace process In the Middle East despite the tragic assassination of Israeli. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who along with Simon Peres and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat won Nobel Peace Prize for 1994. end of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, peace process in trouble-torn Srl Lanka and release of Aung Sung Sue Kyi, symbol of democracy in Myanmar.

Another interesting de-

velopment that drew attention of the people at large was revival of communist parties under multi-party democracies In Russia and Poland.

There are tragedies also. Some 25,000 people perished in a disastrous earthquake in Japan, peace remains a nightmare in Afghanistan, Kashmir Valley remains volatile. Karachi remains a boiling pot due to ethnic strife, a bomb devastated the World Trade Centre in the US city of Oklahama. completeJy undermining the consensus against nuclear explosions, France did it a number of times in Muraroa Atoll in the Pacific.

The 14-year-old marriage of the most discussed royal couple of British aristocracy Prince Charles and Princes Diana has hit the worst phase following the Queen's request to them to divorce.

In Bangladesh, the lingering political crisis is going to step into its third year amid frustrations among the masses.