DT e-Paper 22 July 2017

8
SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017
DT
News
US House body approves funds to
improve Bangladesh labour conditions
• Lalit K Jha
LABOUR RIGHTS
A US Congressional committee has
asked the State Department to provide
financial assistance to Bangladesh
for improving labour conditions
in three industries – readymade
garments, shrimp and fishing.
This directive was mentioned
in a report by the House Appropriations
Committee that was sent
to the US Congress along with the
Israel bars Muslims from entering
al-Aqsa Mosque amid protests
• Tribune Desk
WORLD
Israeli police said on Friday that Muslim
men under the age of 50 will not
be allowed at al-Aqsa compound,
in an announcement made hours
ahead of expected mass protests.
At least one Palestinian has been
killed, according to local media,
and hundreds more injured amid
mass protests over new Israeli
security measures at the al-Aqsa
Mosque compound.
An Israeli settler killed an
18-year-old Palestinian man in the
Ras al-Amud neighbourhood in occupied
East Jerusalem, according to
the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israeli police also fired live
ammunition, tear gas and rubber-coated
bullets at Palestinians
protesting against the new measures,
including the barring and the
installation of metal detectors.
The protests come a week after
a deadly shoot-out at the occupied
East Jerusalem compound, which
triggered tensions.
At least 140 Palestinians have
been injured in occupied East Jerusalem
and the West Bank, according
to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Earlier in the day, police
swarmed into Jerusalem’s Arab
2018 State and Foreign Operations
Bill. The bill was passed by the
House on Wednesday.
The legislation funds the US State
Department, the United States Agency
for International Development
(USAID), and other institutions have
ties with international affairs.
The committee also directed the
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to
submit a report on how the Bangladesh
government “is supporting
human rights and workers’ rights;
implementing policies to protect
neighbourhoods, particularly in
and around the walled Old City.
At least 3,000 Israeli police and
border police units had been deployed
to the area.
Clash outside al-Aqsa Mosque
Israel’s security cabinet said that
Israeli police would decide when to
remove metal detectors and turnstiles
installed at the compound last
week, a disappointing statement to
Palestinians who view the measures
as collective punishment and
an infringement on the status quo,
freedom of expression, association,
and religion, and due process
of law; and ensuring free, fair, and
participatory elections.”
Tillerson is asked to submit his
report within 90 days of the enactment
of the law. The bill now needs
to be passed by the Senate, before
it can be sent to the White House
for the US President to sign and to
make it binding. •
This story was first published on the
Bangla Tribune
Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian man following clashes outside Jerusalem’s
Old city on July 21, 2017
REUTERS
which gives Muslims religious control
over the compound and Jews
the right to visit, but not pray there.
Israel tightened its grip on the
compound after two Israeli security
officers were killed in an alleged
attack by three Palestinians, who
were killed by Israeli police following
the violence.
Palestinian member of the
Knesset Mohammad Barakeh told
a meeting of Palestinian leaders in
Jerusalem early on Friday that the
security cabinet’s decision is a “political
game”. •
In this August 22, 2015 file photo provided by the South Korean Unification
Ministry, top officials from South Korea and North Korea shake hands during
their meeting at the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea AP
What’s behind North Korean
silence to talks offer
• Tribune Desk
WORLD
At the start of the week, South Korea
offered to hold rare face-to-face talks
with North Korea at their shared
border village in the Demilitarised
Zone. One set of talks was proposed
for Friday to discuss easing military
confrontations and another on August
1 to discuss restarting reunions of families
separated by the 1950-53 Korean
War. The day for the first talks came
without a response from the North.
A look at what North Korea’s
silence may mean for new South Korean
President Moon Jae-in’s outreach
to the North and future ties between
the rival countries.
Why no response
Pyongyang may be debating whether
to accede to both sets of talks or just
one; or what kinds of demands it would
make for talks to be held. For instance,
the North might have been deliberating
whether it’ll use the military talks
to repeat its call for a suspension of
regular South Korea-US military drills,
a demand that Seoul will surely reject
again, according to analysts.
Scepticism remains high
Analyst Park Hyung-joong at Seoul’s
Korea Institute for National Unification
is sceptical about the prospects of talks.
“It’s South Korea that is desperate for
talks right now, not the North. Pyongyang’s
goal is to maximise its nuclear
ability so that it could alter political
and security dynamics in the region - it
wants to create more tension, while the
South wants to reduce it,” Park said.
No inter-Korean hotline
Just to communicate about talks
is challenging. That could trigger a
backlash from conservatives who
argue it’s time to pressure the North,
rather than seek dialogue. In the past,
the two Koreas sometimes resorted to
behind-the-scene contacts to set up
more high-profile talks.
Fate of talks
Despite the silence, many experts
say North Korea will eventually come
to the military talks, because it can
use them as a venue to call for a suspension
of propaganda loudspeaker
broadcasts that both Koreas began
at the border after the North’s fourth
nuclear test. It’s widely believed the
South Korean broadcast sting more in
the strictly controlled North.
Prospect for overall ties
The prospects for South’s efforts to
improve ties with North Korea don’t
immediately appear bright. The North
has higher expectations for what it can
get from Moon, the first liberal leader
in South Korea in about 10 years, and
an elevated assessment of its own
status as a nuclear weapons state.
The North’s state media on
Thursday described Moon’s overall
North Korea policy as “nonsense,”
noting that South Korea also supports
US-led efforts to strengthen sanctions
against the North. •
Local firm to launch Uber-like app Ezzyr
• Tribune Desk
METRO
Innovadeus Pvt Ltd, an e-commerce
consultant firm in Bangladesh,
has developed an app called
“Ezzyr” like Uber and Pathao to
provide car reservation services in
the country.
The app will have its test-launch
this August. It will be easier to book
a car, bike, or ambulance installing
the app, according to a press release.
Besides, one can have a vehicle
waiting on one’s doorstep for a long
distance journey using its pre-reservation
services. The Ezzyr is now
available on Google play store, and
will soon be available at iStore.
It will be launched in Chittagong
and Sylhet as well later this year.
“Our first registered members
will always have some discounts
throughout the year,” Ezzyr Director
Kamrul Hassan Imon said.
Would ezzyr be a competition to
Uber and Pathao?
Imon said Uber is a successful company
running in 674 cities of 80
countries. “We also love to dream.
We want to cross international
boarders as Bangladeshis are satisfying
our own land first.”
“Pathao is our native entrepreneurs.
We won’t be competing with
each other, rather we can co-operate
with each other serving our
people together,” he added. •