The Bangladesh Today (12-02-2018)
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MOnday<br />
Dhaka : February <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>; Magh 30, 1424 BS; Jamadi-ul-awal 25, 1439 hijri www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com<br />
Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.16; No.55; <strong>12</strong> Pages~Tk.8.00<br />
InTeRnaTIOnal<br />
Israel warns Iran<br />
after launching<br />
major raids in Syria<br />
>Page 7<br />
aRT & CulTuRe<br />
Akshay starrer<br />
PadMan charged<br />
with plagiarism<br />
>Page 8<br />
SPORT<br />
Herath isn't battling<br />
father time, he has<br />
cut a deal with him<br />
>Page 9<br />
PM off to Rome<br />
to attend IFAD<br />
meeting<br />
DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina<br />
left here for Rome on Sunday morning<br />
on a four-day official visit to Italy to join<br />
the upcoming meeting of the Romebased<br />
International Fund for<br />
Agricultural Development (IFAD) as one<br />
of its keynote speakers at the invitation of<br />
IFAD President Gilbert F Houngbo,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Prime Minister will present the<br />
keynote paper at the meeting on<br />
February 13.<br />
Sheikh Hasina and her entourage left<br />
Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at<br />
10:05 am by an Emirates flight.<br />
Finance Minister AMA Muhith,<br />
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury<br />
and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali<br />
are accompanying the Prime Minister.<br />
Hasina will reach Fiumicino Airport,<br />
Rome around 6:45 pm (local time) via<br />
Dubai. She will be taken to Parco Dei<br />
Principi Grand Hotel in Rome where she<br />
will be staying during her visit.<br />
On Monday morning, the Prime<br />
Minister will go to the Vatican City where<br />
she will be given audience by Pope<br />
Francis after guard of honour there.<br />
She will also have a meeting with<br />
Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin<br />
and visit Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's<br />
Basilica. In the evening, Hasina will join<br />
dinner to be hosted by the <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
Ambassador in Rome.<br />
On February 13, the Prime Minister<br />
will attend the inaugural session of the<br />
Governing Council of IFAD and deliver<br />
her keynote paper.<br />
Later, she will attend lunch to be hosted<br />
by IFAD President in honour of<br />
keynote speakers.<br />
In the evening, she will join a community<br />
reception arranged by the local unit<br />
of Awami League. <strong>The</strong> theme of this<br />
year's IFAD council is 'From fragility to<br />
long-term resilience: Investing in sustainable<br />
rural economies.'<br />
<strong>The</strong> governing Council of IFAD is the<br />
Fund's principal Governing Body having<br />
full decision-making powers.<br />
Zohr<br />
05:19 AM<br />
<strong>12</strong>:17 PM<br />
04:14 PM<br />
05:55 PM<br />
07:10 PM<br />
6:34 5:52<br />
Khaleda Zia gets division<br />
in jail : IG Prisons<br />
DHAKA : BNP Chairperson and former<br />
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was<br />
given division in jail yesterday as per the<br />
court order, reports BSS.<br />
"We have given Begum Khaleda Zia the<br />
division in jail soon after the court order<br />
reached the jail yesterday afternoon,"<br />
Brig General Syed Iftekhar Uddin<br />
Inspector General of Prisons Brig General<br />
Syed Iftekhar Uddin told newsmen.<br />
A nine-member delegation of lawyers<br />
headed by Advocate Sanaullah Mia handed<br />
over the court order to the jail authority<br />
regarding Khaleda Zia's division in jail this<br />
afternoon.<br />
Earlier, Home Minister Asaduzzaman<br />
Khan said they will take measures relating<br />
to allow BNP Chairperson and former<br />
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia division<br />
in the jail following a court order.<br />
He said after coming out of an inter-ministerial<br />
meeting on security arrangements<br />
ahead of the upcoming International<br />
Mother Language Day.<br />
"Begum Khaleda Zia has been kept in the<br />
jail considering her social status as she is a<br />
chairperson of a big party like the BNP," the<br />
minister added.<br />
This afternoon, a Dhaka court passed an<br />
order asking the authorities concerned to<br />
give BNP Chairperson Kaleda Zia division<br />
in the jail as per the jail code.<br />
On a query about the investigation into<br />
the killing of the journalist couples Sagar-<br />
Runi, the home minister said, "Rapid<br />
Action Battalion (RAB) is now conducting<br />
investigation into the matter and the probe<br />
report will be made public upon completion<br />
of the investigation."<br />
Asked about the security arrangements<br />
ahead of the upcoming International<br />
Mother Language Day on February 21, he<br />
also said, "Central Shaheed Minar area,<br />
Dhaka University, TSC, Nilkheet and its<br />
adjoining areas will be brought under stringent<br />
security measures with Installation of<br />
CCTVs since February 20 night."<br />
DU students demand rustication<br />
of assaulting BCL boys<br />
DHAKA : Dhaka University (DU) students have demanded permanent expulsion of<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> Chhatra League (BCL) activists responsible for brutally roughing up a<br />
fellow DU student at a dormitory, reports UNB.<br />
Ehsan Rafiq, a second year student of the Department of Disaster Management<br />
and Science, was beaten badly allegedly by some BCL activities at DU Salimullah<br />
Muslim Hall on Tuesday night just for demanding back his calculator taken on lent.<br />
Ehsan is now suffering with his poor right eyesight.<br />
Under the banner of 'Anti-Harassment students' more than one hundred students<br />
from different department gagging their eyes with bandage formed a human chain<br />
at the altar of Raju sculpture protesting attack on Ehsan Rafiq.<br />
Mohanagar Detective Police arrested 14 persons of a question leaker group from the different<br />
areas of the capital city.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
FF Faruk murder:<br />
Formal trial begins<br />
TANGAIL : <strong>The</strong> formal trial in the Awami League leader Faruk Ahmed<br />
killing case began on Sunday with the beginning of witness depositions,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Abul Monsur Miah, additional district and session's judge, adjourned the<br />
recording of deposition until March 20 after the testimony of the plaintiff.<br />
Prime accused of the case Amanur Rahman Khan Rana, MP from Tangail-<br />
3 constituency, was produced before the court amid tight security.<br />
Besides, a clash took place between the supporters of Rana, and Awami<br />
League and <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Chhatra League. A chase and counter-chase took<br />
place at that time.<br />
Faruk Ahmed, a senior AL leader and freedom fighter, was shot dead in<br />
the district town on January 18, 2013.<br />
In February 2016, detectives pressed charges against 14 people, including<br />
Rana and his three brothers, in the case.<br />
On September 6, 2017, the court framed charges against all the accused.<br />
On April 13 last, a High Court bench granted bail to MP Rana in the case.<br />
However, on April 18, a Chamber Justice of the SC stayed the HC bail.<br />
Wreckage was found in a snowy field south-east of Moscow.<br />
Russia jet carrying<br />
71 people crashes<br />
after Moscow<br />
take-off<br />
A Russian passenger plane has crashed<br />
after leaving Moscow's Domodedovo<br />
airport with 71 people on board.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Saratov Airlines jet vanished<br />
minutes after take-off and crashed near<br />
the village of Argunovo, about 80km<br />
(50 miles) south-east of Moscow,<br />
reports BBC.<br />
All those on board are thought to<br />
have died, officials told Russian media.<br />
<strong>The</strong> An-148 was en route to the city of<br />
Orsk in the Urals, near Russia's border<br />
with Kazakhstan. It crashed early in the<br />
afternoon local time.<br />
Those on board included 65 passengers<br />
and six crew. President Vladimir<br />
Putin has expressed his condolences to<br />
the victims' families and announced an<br />
investigation into the cause of the crash.<br />
Pictures from the site show pieces of<br />
wreckage in a snow-covered field. Tass<br />
news agency quotes an official as saying<br />
bodies were found nearby.<br />
Flight-tracking site Flightradar24<br />
tweets that the aircraft was descending<br />
at 1,000m (3,300ft) per minute<br />
(60km/h, 38mph) five minutes after<br />
taking off. Saratov Airlines is based in<br />
Saratov, 840km south-east of Moscow.<br />
In 2015 it was banned from operating<br />
international flights when surprise<br />
inspectors found someone other than<br />
the flight crew was in the cockpit.<br />
<strong>The</strong> airline appealed against the ban<br />
and changed its policy before resuming<br />
international charter flights in 2016.<br />
It flies mainly between Russian cities<br />
but also has destinations in Armenia<br />
and Georgia.<br />
Court, EC to settle<br />
Khaleda's election<br />
participation issue<br />
DHAKA : Law Minister Anisul Huq on<br />
Sunday said the court and the Election<br />
Commission will take the final decision<br />
whether BNP chief Khaleda Zia will be<br />
able to participate in the upcoming<br />
national election, reports UNB.<br />
"<strong>The</strong> government is not scared of any<br />
threat. <strong>The</strong> law will take its own<br />
course...the government has no control<br />
over it," he said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> minister came up with the remarks<br />
while replying to queries from reporters<br />
about<br />
Khaleda Zia's participation<br />
in the upcoming election<br />
after inaugurating 22<br />
Judicial Administration<br />
Training Course for the<br />
District and Sessions Judge<br />
or Equivalent Judicial<br />
Officers at JATI.<br />
Mentioning that the government<br />
does not want to<br />
keep anyone out of the<br />
parliamentary election, the<br />
law minister said if anyone<br />
cannot participate in the<br />
election because of the<br />
constitution and law, then<br />
the government has nothing<br />
to do with it.<br />
Peaceful movement not weakness,<br />
but a strategy: BNP Leaders<br />
DHAKA : Home Minister Asaduzzaman<br />
Khan on Sunday said there has been no<br />
failure of law enforcers in unearthing the<br />
mystery behind the murder of journalist<br />
couple Sagar-Runi, reports UNB.<br />
<strong>The</strong> minister came up with the remark<br />
while replying to a query from reporters<br />
over the matter at the secretariat.<br />
Replying to a question that how long it<br />
would take to debunk the murder mystery,<br />
the minister said "Our Rab force is<br />
working on it as per the High Court order.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y're working with DNA samples. I<br />
think, they'll soon see a success."<br />
Maasranga Television News Editor Sagar<br />
Sarowar and his wife ATN Bangla senior<br />
reporter Meherun Runi were found dead at<br />
their rented apartment in the city's West<br />
Razabazar area on February 11, 20<strong>12</strong>.<br />
Replying to a query about BNP chairperson<br />
Photo : BBC<br />
DHAKA : Maintaining a soft line of<br />
action after the court verdict against<br />
Khaleda Zia, BNP senior party leaders<br />
said their strategy is now to gain public<br />
sympathy and not to lose party's<br />
strength, and have its image tarnished<br />
ahead of the next general election,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Talking to UNB, two BNP senior leaders<br />
said their main plan is now to carry<br />
out a peaceful movement avoiding any<br />
type of confrontation with police or ruling<br />
party men and thus keep its rank<br />
and file in good mood and help prepare<br />
the party for the next general election.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y said their party will join the next<br />
polls under any circumstances, and they<br />
believe BNP will be able to 'return to<br />
power' if its leaders and activists can<br />
show their real strength on the voting<br />
day.<br />
"We know any type of harsher and<br />
violent programme now will only invite<br />
danger to our party men which will<br />
eventually make them demoralised and<br />
weaken the party. We won't show our<br />
strength now. We'll do whatever necessary<br />
to ensure a fair election after the<br />
announcement of the election schedule.<br />
We'll put up our all strength on the election<br />
day to ensure our victory," said a<br />
BNP policymaker wishing anonymity.<br />
He also said they are circulating this<br />
particular message among their followers<br />
so that they refrain from responding<br />
to any provocation by the government.<br />
"We're telling them to get united and<br />
prepare for the next polls."<br />
Besides, he said, they do not want to<br />
engage in any type of fight with police or<br />
Awami League men to manifest that<br />
BNP can be run in a peaceful and disciplined<br />
manner under its acting chairman<br />
Tarique Rahman.<br />
Contacted, BNP secretary general<br />
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the<br />
main motive behind convicting their<br />
chairperson is to keep her and BNP<br />
away from the next election. "But it<br />
won't work. Our chairperson will come<br />
out of jail through legal process."<br />
He said their party will carry out a<br />
peaceful and non-violent movement<br />
demanding the release of their chairperson<br />
Khaleda Zia alongside a legal<br />
battle at the apex court.<br />
Fakhrul said the next election will<br />
surely be held under a non-party<br />
administration, and they will join it<br />
under Khaleda's leadership.<br />
No failure of law enforcers in Sagar-<br />
Runi murder case: Home Minister<br />
Khaleda Zia's division in jail, he said, "We've<br />
taken all the necessary measures in jail considering<br />
Khaleda Zia's social status. We<br />
heard that a directive will come from court<br />
in this regard. We'll implement the court's<br />
directive after receiving it."<br />
Asaduzzaman Khan said special security<br />
measures will be taken across the country<br />
marking the International Mother<br />
Language Day on February 21.<br />
Additional forces will be deployed from<br />
the night of February 20 while central<br />
Shaheed Minar, Dhaka University and<br />
Nilkhet area will be brought under the<br />
purview of CCTV camera, he said.<br />
"No car without sticker will be allowed<br />
inside Dhaka University and Nilkhet<br />
areas after the evening of February 20.<br />
Detectives will be kept on alert to fend off<br />
any kind of unwanted situation," he said.
NEWS<br />
MonDAY,<br />
FEBrUArY <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
2<br />
Dr. Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Professor Dr. Yousuf M Islam, Vice Chancellor,<br />
Prof. Dr. S.M. Mahbub Ul Haque Majumder, Pro Vice Chancellor of Daffodil International University<br />
visits the innovative projects after inaugurating the 3 day Daffodil ICT Carnival. Photo : Courtesy<br />
Digital payment increases book<br />
sales in Ekushey book fair<br />
DHAKA : Book sale in<br />
Ekushey Book Fair this year<br />
is jumping day by day as a<br />
result of introducing digital<br />
payment system, sellers of<br />
different book stalls at the<br />
fair ground said.<br />
Leading publishers said<br />
their sale volume increased<br />
significantly since Friday as<br />
bookworms are coming to<br />
buy books every day. Digital<br />
payment facility offered by<br />
GD-230/18 (<strong>12</strong> x 3)<br />
bKash, the leading mobile<br />
financial service of the<br />
country, has opened the<br />
opportunity for them to buy<br />
books in cash where they get<br />
back a good amount of<br />
money from bkash.<br />
"This year digital payment<br />
has encouraged many book<br />
lovers to buy books of their<br />
choices. Most publishers<br />
were enjoying higher sales<br />
since Thursday and a large<br />
amount of buyers are paying<br />
through bkash payment<br />
system to get back some<br />
cash", a sales man of a big<br />
publishing company said.<br />
bKash offers a 10 percent<br />
cash back when making the<br />
payment on purchases at the<br />
Ekushey Book Fair <strong>2018</strong><br />
through its payment<br />
network. Around 350<br />
leading publishers are<br />
accepting bKash payment at<br />
the book fair, which began<br />
on February 1 on the Bangla<br />
Academy premises.<br />
Bkash is the leading<br />
mobile financial service<br />
provider in the country with<br />
more than 30 million users<br />
all over <strong>Bangladesh</strong>.<br />
Every day, bKash stall at<br />
Bangla academy ground is<br />
seen crowded as bkash<br />
offers 10 per cent cash back<br />
to book buyers. Visitors who<br />
have no bKash accounts are<br />
opening accounts without<br />
any charge. <strong>The</strong> cash back is<br />
applicable on top of the<br />
publishers 25 percent<br />
discount on cover prices.<br />
A Dhaka university<br />
graduate, Shahabuddin<br />
Molla came on Friday at fair<br />
ground just to accompany<br />
his daughters who bought a<br />
number of books written by<br />
local novelists and story<br />
writers.<br />
Shabuddin suddenly<br />
found some rare books at<br />
the stall of Dhaka University<br />
and Muktodhara. As he had<br />
no enough cash with him,<br />
he didn't miss the chance<br />
offered by bKash.<br />
Around 60 publishers<br />
came to the fair with new<br />
children's books. <strong>The</strong> book<br />
fair also displays a big<br />
collection of audio books<br />
mostly for children. As the<br />
first two hours from 11am to<br />
1pm dedicated to kids as<br />
children's hour on Friday<br />
and Saturday, publishers<br />
expect increased sale of<br />
children's books on these<br />
two days compared to other<br />
working days.<br />
<strong>The</strong> land earmarked for<br />
the Ekushey fair has been<br />
increased to about 5,50,000<br />
square feet from last year's<br />
5,13,000 square feet. Total<br />
number of stalls increased<br />
to 700 from 659 while the<br />
number of publication<br />
agencies increased by 60<br />
percent and the number of<br />
pavilions by <strong>12</strong> percent<br />
compared to the previous<br />
year, officials of Bangla<br />
Academy told BSS.<br />
"Bangla Academy should<br />
care of this pricing issue<br />
and the government should<br />
extend support to some<br />
publishers of quality books<br />
as well as boosting the<br />
printing industry of<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong>,", Abul<br />
Quasem, a banker who was<br />
visiting the book fair said.<br />
"This year, the Ekushey<br />
Mela has been appeared<br />
with a digital face thanks to<br />
publication of some digital<br />
books and digital payment<br />
with cash back offered by<br />
bKash", said Nishi, a<br />
student of North South<br />
University. According to<br />
the website of Bangla<br />
Academy, a total of 1134<br />
books of different genres of<br />
literature and branches of<br />
knowledge were available<br />
in the book fair till<br />
yesterday.<br />
<strong>The</strong> month-long book fair<br />
began on February 1 on the<br />
premises of Bangla Academy<br />
and its adjoining Suhrawardy<br />
Udyan in the city.<br />
Writers, booklovers and<br />
publishers observed that the<br />
Amar Ekushey Book Fair has<br />
now become a festival of all<br />
ages of people. This is a great<br />
success of the book fair, they<br />
added.<br />
Young man<br />
beaten to<br />
death in<br />
Keraniganj<br />
KERANIGANJ : An<br />
unidentified man was<br />
beaten to death by<br />
miscreants at Battoli in<br />
Taranagar union of the<br />
uapzila on Saturday<br />
afternoon, reports UNB.<br />
<strong>The</strong> miscreants beat the<br />
man mercilessly in the area,<br />
leaving him seriously<br />
injured, said sub-Inspector<br />
Obaidul Rahman of<br />
Keraniganj Model Police<br />
Station.<br />
A local security guard<br />
rescued him and sent to<br />
Upazila Health Complex<br />
where doctors declared him<br />
dead.<br />
<strong>The</strong> miscreants beat the<br />
man mercilessly in the area,<br />
leaving him seriously<br />
injured, said sub-Inspector<br />
Obaidul Rahman of<br />
Keraniganj Model Police<br />
Station.<br />
Later, the body was sent to<br />
Mitford Hospital for<br />
autopsy.<br />
<strong>The</strong> British Council has recently hosted a reader development conference of book reading competition,<br />
a flagship outreach programme for the British Council. Principals and education coordinators<br />
from different schools have attended the conference. This book reading competition brings the latest<br />
collection of "Best of British" resources for readers which include the best collection of fiction and<br />
non-fiction in English in the institution premises.<br />
Photo : Courtesy<br />
GD-228/18 (6 x 4)<br />
Flower-sellers gearing up for<br />
lucrative mid-February<br />
JESSORE : Flower farmers of Jhikargacha in<br />
Jessore district, one of the largest flower<br />
markets of the country, expect to sell flowers<br />
worth over Tk 30- 35 crore ahead of Pahela<br />
Falgun (February 13), Valentine's Day (Feb<br />
14) and International Mother Language Day<br />
(Feb 21).<br />
<strong>The</strong> farmers are now passing busy days in<br />
their fields, reports UNB.<br />
Flower growers and traders make huge<br />
money every year in February, a month that<br />
sees huge sales of flowers as people celebrate<br />
three major events-Pahela Falgun,<br />
Valentine's Day and International Mother<br />
Language Day.<br />
<strong>The</strong> farmers of Godkhali, Panisara, Haria,<br />
Potuapara, Taora, Matikorma, Baisha,<br />
Kaoria villages of the upazila cultivated rose,<br />
gerbera, gladiolus, tuberose and marigold,<br />
Chrysanthemum on 1600 hectares of their<br />
land.<br />
As ever, there has been a surge in sales of<br />
flowers at Godkhali in Jhikargacha upazila,<br />
the flower hub of the district and birthplace<br />
of the country's floral industry, said farmers<br />
and traders.<br />
<strong>The</strong> wholesale flower market at Godkhali<br />
in Jhikargacha is the source of 70 percent of<br />
the entire flower supply of the country. <strong>The</strong><br />
farmers started commercial flowers farming<br />
in the upazila since 1982.<br />
<strong>The</strong> local cultivators said after meeting the<br />
local demand, the flowers of the upazila are<br />
supplied to at least 52 districts (out of 64)<br />
including capital city Dhaka.<br />
Jhikargachcha Upazila Agricultural Officer<br />
Dipangkar Das said the farmers of the<br />
upazila earned at least Tk 30-35 crore selling<br />
flowers last year (2017).<br />
This year the farmers are expecting sales<br />
will cross Tk 35 crore as the weather is<br />
favorable.<br />
"We are providing all necessary technical<br />
assistance to the farmers," Das added.<br />
Abdur Rahim, president of <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
Flowers Society, said around 5-6000<br />
farmers are involved in flower cultivation in<br />
Jessore district.<br />
<strong>The</strong> flowers produced in Godkhali achieve<br />
international reputation on standard,<br />
comparable with India, Malaysia and United<br />
Arab Emirates.<br />
He said the farmers earn lots of foreign<br />
currency exporting the flowers every year.<br />
Emphasizing an upgrade transportation,<br />
he said that cultivators may earn more as<br />
remittance if the transport systems were<br />
repaired and storage upgraded as soon as<br />
possible.<br />
Lots of flowers are damaged on the way to<br />
market. If we can reduce this damage the<br />
farmers will be benefited and government<br />
will receive revenue in the sector, Abdur<br />
Rahim added.<br />
PPPA Chief for public-private<br />
infrastructure platform<br />
DHAKA : Chief Executive Officer of<br />
Public Private Partnership (PPP)<br />
Authority Syed Afsor H Uddin<br />
underscored the importance for<br />
forming a Public-Private Infrastructure<br />
Platform and a National Infrastructure<br />
Plan for fast implementation and<br />
monitoring large mega infrastructure<br />
projects.<br />
"A national infrastructure execution<br />
committee can also be formed for<br />
proper and timely implementation of<br />
mega projects," he said during a<br />
meeting with the Board of Directors of<br />
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and<br />
Industry (DCCI). Syed Afsor said lack<br />
of finance, skilled manpower, specialist<br />
project delivery team and lengthy<br />
procedures in feasibility study are some<br />
major challenges in timely execution of<br />
PPP projects.<br />
By the year <strong>2018</strong>, about US$1.6<br />
billion will be spent for about 13 mega<br />
PPP projects which include road sector,<br />
township, tourism sector, health sector,<br />
port sector and industrial sector, he<br />
said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> CEO said that in terms of<br />
investing in PPP projects the investor<br />
will get tax and VAT exemption for 10<br />
years from the time of operation.<br />
DCCI president Abul Kasem Khan<br />
proposed to include private sector in<br />
the PPP Board for faster<br />
implementation of PPP projects in<br />
future. He also proposed to form<br />
"National Infrastructure Development<br />
and Monitoring Advisory Authority"<br />
(NIDMAA) to implement and monitor<br />
large mega infrastructure projects.<br />
Abul Kasem Khan also suggested<br />
forming an Infrastructure Bond under<br />
the stock market for facilitate<br />
financing of large infrastructure<br />
projects.
METRO<br />
MoNDAY, FeBRUARY <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
3<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> Hajj agency and Haji Kalyan Parishad organized a press conference at National Press<br />
Club yesterday demanding Prime Minister's handling over reducing the plane fair of Hajj passengers.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> attains<br />
autarky in fish,<br />
meat production<br />
DHAKA : <strong>Bangladesh</strong> has<br />
attained self-sufficiency in<br />
fish and meat production,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Fisheries and Livestock<br />
Minister Narayon Chandra<br />
Chanda announced this at a<br />
press conference held at the<br />
Secretariat on Sunday.<br />
"After 46 years of our<br />
independence, the country is<br />
now self-sufficient in fish<br />
and meat production," said<br />
the minister.<br />
<strong>The</strong> minister said that the<br />
fish sector is contributing<br />
3.61 percent in country's<br />
total gross domestic<br />
production (GDP) and 24.41<br />
percent in country's<br />
agricultural GDP.<br />
According to a report from<br />
the fisheries ministry,<br />
country's fish production<br />
(41.34 lakh metric tonnes)<br />
Rupa murder case<br />
verdict today<br />
TANGAIL : A court here will<br />
deliver its verdict on Monday<br />
in a case filed over the murder<br />
of law student Zakia Sultana<br />
Rupa after gang rape in a<br />
running bus on August 25 last<br />
year, reports UNB.<br />
Women and Children<br />
Repression Prevention<br />
Tribunal Judge Abul<br />
Hossain fixed the date on<br />
February 5 after closing<br />
arguments of both sides.<br />
On January 23, the court<br />
concluded the recording of<br />
depositions of witnesses in<br />
the case when 27 witnesses<br />
out of total 32 testified<br />
before the court.<br />
On October 25 last, a court<br />
accepted the chargesheet<br />
against the accused-bus<br />
driver Habibur, its<br />
supervisor Safar Ali, and<br />
helpers Shamim, Akram and<br />
Jahangir-in the case.<br />
Rupa, 27, was murdered<br />
after gang rape in the<br />
running bus while returning<br />
to Mymensingh from Bogra<br />
on August 25 last.<br />
GD-229/18 (5 x 3)<br />
has well surpassed the target<br />
(40.50 lakh MT) in 2016-17.<br />
A total of 84,000 MT fish<br />
production was increased in<br />
the year.<br />
According to Preliminary<br />
Report on Household<br />
Income and Expenditure<br />
Survey (HIES) 2016 of<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> Statistic Bureau,<br />
on an average per capita fish<br />
consumption is 62.58 gram<br />
daily, which is surplus than<br />
the daily requirement.<br />
"According to per capita<br />
individual's demand,<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> has become selfsufficient.<br />
We have been<br />
able to restore our heritage<br />
'Mache Bhate Bangalee',"<br />
said the minister.<br />
In 2016, according to a<br />
report of United Nation<br />
Food and Agriculture<br />
Organization (FAO),<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> ranked fourth in<br />
collecting fish from inland<br />
water bodies and the fifth<br />
largest producer in fish<br />
production, said Chanda.<br />
Besides, in 2016-17 fiscal,<br />
the meat production was<br />
71.54 lakh MT as against the<br />
target of 71.35 lakh MT. Now<br />
one is getting <strong>12</strong>1.74gram<br />
meat daily, which is more<br />
than the requirement, added<br />
the minister.<br />
While responding to a<br />
question about meat price,<br />
he said that the initiative will<br />
be taken by March 15 to<br />
lower the prices.<br />
Besides, Chanda added<br />
that the Hilsa production<br />
has been increased 66<br />
percent in least eight years.<br />
So the Hilsa will be<br />
exported after fulfilling<br />
local demand.<br />
Shajahan for strengthening base of<br />
education for better <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
DHAKA : Shipping<br />
Minister Shajahan Khan<br />
yesterday underscored the<br />
need for strengthening the<br />
base of education further by<br />
utilizing information and<br />
communication technology<br />
(ICT) to build a better<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong>, reports BSS.<br />
"We will have to put<br />
emphasis on technological<br />
education. We should keep<br />
our children away from<br />
venomous bite of drug<br />
addiction and involvement<br />
in militancy," he told a<br />
ceremony of giving stipend<br />
among offspring of<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> Inland Water<br />
Transport Corporation<br />
(BIWTC) officers and<br />
employees at BIWTC office<br />
here.<br />
<strong>The</strong> minister said the<br />
government has been<br />
working relentlessly to<br />
provide time-befitting<br />
education to the new<br />
generation.<br />
To build Digital<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> as dreamt of<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina, there is no<br />
alternative to technological<br />
education.<br />
Khan sought cooperation<br />
from all to turn <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
into a middle income<br />
country by 2<strong>02</strong>1 and<br />
developed country by 2041.<br />
Acting Secretary of<br />
Shipping Ministry Md<br />
Abdus Samad, BIWTC<br />
Director (administration)<br />
Pranoy Kanti Biswas,<br />
BIWTC Officers' Association<br />
President Ashiqur Rahman<br />
and Employees Union<br />
President Md Mohsin<br />
Bhuiyan, among others,<br />
addressed the function with<br />
BIWTC Chairman<br />
Mohammed Mafijul Haque<br />
in the chair.<br />
Worker dies<br />
in Sylhet<br />
stone quarry<br />
SYLHET : A worker was<br />
killed while he was<br />
extracting stones from a<br />
quarry at Shah Arifin tila in<br />
Companyganj upazila on<br />
Sunday, reports UNB.<br />
<strong>The</strong> deceased was<br />
identified as Basir Miah, 42,<br />
son of Rupa Miah, resident<br />
of Putamara village.<br />
Dilwip Kumar Debnath,<br />
officer-in-charge of<br />
Companyganj Police<br />
Station, said that the<br />
accident occurred when a<br />
portion of mud collapsed on<br />
Basir, leaving him dead on<br />
the spot.<br />
Rudder sensors<br />
to be set up<br />
along border:<br />
BGB DG<br />
DHAKA : Border Guard<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> (BGB) Director<br />
General (DG) Major General<br />
Abul Hossain yesterday said<br />
rudder sensors would be set<br />
up to safeguard the border,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
"Rudder sensors would be<br />
set up to protect the border<br />
and the process is going<br />
on...We have already<br />
reduced the distance<br />
between the Border<br />
Observation Posts (BOP),"<br />
he said at a press conference<br />
at BGB headquarters here.<br />
<strong>The</strong> BGB is now a<br />
disciplined force due to the<br />
modernization by the<br />
present government, Abul<br />
Hossain said, adding, "Give<br />
us some more time, we<br />
would implement the zero<br />
tolerance policy against<br />
drug".<br />
He said "We have also<br />
formed 'Quick Response<br />
Force' and increased the<br />
mobile patrolling."<br />
<strong>The</strong> DG said the BGB has<br />
played an active role in the<br />
Rohingya issue. Myanmar<br />
crossed border line by APC<br />
helicopter 18 times, but the<br />
BGB foiled their<br />
conspiracies, he added.<br />
Abul Hossain sought<br />
cooperation and suggestion<br />
for ensuring better services.<br />
Commuters on Dhaka-Narayanganj rail route<br />
suffer for 'unbearable overcrowding'<br />
NARAYANGANJ : <strong>The</strong><br />
sorry state of Dhaka-<br />
Narayanganj rail route now<br />
has turned worse, though it<br />
was the first broad-gauge<br />
rail track of the then British<br />
India government, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
Some 1.4 lakh commuters<br />
use Dhaka-Narayanganj<br />
route every day, said a senior<br />
official at <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
Railway.<br />
According to commuters,<br />
they have to struggle and<br />
suffer each day to ensure a<br />
place for at least standing in<br />
a compartment due to<br />
shortage of train.<br />
"In most cases, I've to<br />
travel in trains standing.<br />
Each of the seven<br />
compartments of Demu<br />
Train remains full of<br />
commuters and packed with<br />
baggage. Three people have<br />
to share a two-man seat.<br />
But, the authorities are least<br />
bothered. I think they<br />
should increase the number<br />
of compartments<br />
immediately," said Hafiz<br />
Uddin, a passenger who<br />
travels on this route every<br />
day.<br />
Private bank employee<br />
Sahabuddin who resides in<br />
Dhaka needs to travel to<br />
Narayanganj every working<br />
day. He shared his<br />
experience with this<br />
correspondent saying,<br />
"Usually, it should take 45<br />
minutes to reach<br />
Narayanganj, but most of<br />
the time trains take 15 to 30<br />
minutes extra. Sometimes,<br />
trains do not leave station in<br />
time."<br />
<strong>The</strong> distance between<br />
Dhaka and Narayanganj is<br />
18 kilometers. Apart from<br />
the weekly and official<br />
holidays, 16 pairs of<br />
passenger trains make 32 up<br />
and down trips on this route<br />
from 5:30am to 11:00pm,<br />
according to sources at the<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> Railway.<br />
BNP to form human<br />
chain in city Monday<br />
DHAKA : As part of its<br />
countrywide scheduled<br />
programme, BNP leaders<br />
and activists will stage a<br />
human chain in the city on<br />
Monday protesting the<br />
jailing of its chairperson<br />
Khaleda Zia in a graft case,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Talking to UNB, party<br />
senior joint secretary<br />
general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi<br />
said their party leaders and<br />
followers will observe the<br />
programme from 11am to <strong>12</strong><br />
noon in front of the Jatiya<br />
Press Club also demanding<br />
the release of Khaleda<br />
immediately.<br />
He said their party's<br />
district, thana, upzila and<br />
city units will also observe<br />
the programmes at their<br />
convenient time and places.<br />
Earlier on Saturday, Rizvi<br />
announced a three-day<br />
protest programme at a<br />
press briefing at BNP's<br />
Nayapaltan central office.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y said each<br />
compartment always<br />
remains full of commuters.<br />
According to the<br />
passengers, Dhaka-<br />
Narayanganj trains are<br />
always operated taking risk<br />
due to overloading of<br />
passengers as each train<br />
carries passengers more<br />
than five times of its<br />
capacity.<br />
"Besides, railway bogies<br />
are of very low graded ones.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re's no useable toilet and<br />
sufficient light...we've to<br />
travel in dark at night,"<br />
passenger Yusuf Mia told<br />
this correspondent.<br />
Yusuf who sells clothes on<br />
a footpath in front of<br />
Dhaka's Baitul Mukarram<br />
National Mosque said he has<br />
to travel in train every day.<br />
"Makeshift markets, fruit<br />
shops and many slums were<br />
built alongside rail tracks. I<br />
saw several times that<br />
people suffered injuries due<br />
to bamboos coming out of<br />
those establishments. Even,<br />
one day I myself sustained<br />
injury when a slum boy<br />
threw stones targeting the<br />
running train."<br />
Dhaka-bound passenger<br />
Al Amin, who resides in<br />
Narayanganj, said, "Train is<br />
the main way of transport<br />
for the middle-class people,<br />
especially the workers.<br />
Although millions of<br />
passengers are travelling<br />
every day, the service quality<br />
is not improving."<br />
He also said there is no<br />
sitting room in every railway<br />
station, and specially<br />
Narayanganj, Chashraha<br />
and Fatulla railway stations<br />
have become the hotspots of<br />
anti-social activities. And<br />
Kamalapur Railway Station<br />
is the undisclosed public<br />
spot for trading drugs, he<br />
added.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>re're seven bogies in<br />
each train. Half of those are<br />
for passengers and half for<br />
luggage. <strong>The</strong> number of<br />
compartments in Demu<br />
train is 3. <strong>The</strong> number of<br />
seats in each compartment<br />
is 70 and in each Demu<br />
compartment only 35 to 40<br />
people can sit," Narayanganj<br />
Central Railway Station<br />
Master Golam Mustafa told<br />
UNB.<br />
About the passengers'<br />
allegations, he said the<br />
service quality of the<br />
railways remained the same<br />
as before.<br />
"At least three 3,000<br />
passengers travel on this<br />
route in every trip. <strong>The</strong>re're<br />
many problems with this<br />
route. Though we repeatedly<br />
informed the authorities<br />
concerned about the<br />
problems, they did not take<br />
any action," said Md Rafiq,<br />
supervisor of a privately<br />
operated Demu train.<br />
Farjana Mou, who was<br />
standing on a train leaving<br />
Kamlapur on Wednesday at<br />
10:35am, complained to this<br />
correspondent that the<br />
number of seats on the train<br />
is not adequate.<br />
Currently, there are seven<br />
stations on Dhaka-<br />
Narayanganj route. Apart<br />
from Demu trains, all other<br />
trains run under private<br />
supervision. Until 2011, rail<br />
fare was Tk 6. In 20<strong>12</strong>, it was<br />
increased to Tk 10 and then<br />
in 2014 it was fixed at Tk 15.<br />
Although the fare was<br />
increased, the standard of<br />
service did not improve,<br />
allege passengers. It is rather<br />
getting worse day by day,<br />
some others said.<br />
Demanding exemplary punishment of the doctors who underwent treatment of late<br />
Asaduzzaman Rakib, a press conference was held at <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Crime Reporters Association<br />
(CRAB) yesterday.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
As part of the<br />
programmes, the party will<br />
also hold an hour-long sit-in<br />
programme on Tuesday and<br />
a hunger strike from 9am to<br />
5pm on Wednesday across<br />
the country.<br />
On Thursday last, a special<br />
court here convicted<br />
Khaleda and sentenced her<br />
to five years' imprisonment<br />
in the Zia Orphanage Trust<br />
graft case.<br />
Earlier, BNP leaders and<br />
activists<br />
staged<br />
demonstrations on Friday<br />
and Statuary all over the<br />
country, including in the<br />
capital, amid obstruction by<br />
police protesting Khaleda's<br />
conviction. Rizvi said the<br />
government has continued<br />
arresting their party men<br />
across the country.<br />
He claimed that around<br />
4,300 BNP leaders and<br />
activists have so far been<br />
arrested across the country<br />
over the last 13 days.<br />
Invest in girls,<br />
women: UN<br />
chief<br />
DHAKA : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has laid<br />
emphasis on investing in women and girls to help them<br />
achieve their full potential as scientific researchers and<br />
innovators, reports UNB.<br />
"We need to encourage and support girls and women<br />
achieve their full potential as scientific researchers and<br />
innovators," he said in a message marking the International<br />
Day of Women and Girls in Science that falls on February 11.<br />
<strong>The</strong> UN chief said both girls and boys have the potential to<br />
pursue their ambitions in science and mathematics, in school<br />
and at work.<br />
But systemic discrimination means women occupy less<br />
than 30 percent of research and development jobs<br />
worldwide.<br />
"We need concerted, concrete efforts to overcome<br />
stereotypes and biases. One starting point is banishing the<br />
predominantly male images of scientists and innovators on<br />
social media, in textbooks and in advertising," he said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> UN chief said women and girls need this, and the<br />
world needs this, if they are to achieve their ambitions for<br />
sustainable development on a healthy planet.<br />
"Throughout history, from Hildegard of Bingen to Wangari<br />
Maathai, women scientists have built our world. It's time to<br />
support and invest in them," said Secretary-General<br />
Guteress.
EDITORIAL<br />
MoNDAY,<br />
FeBrUArY <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
4<br />
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam<br />
Telephone: +88<strong>02</strong>-9104683-84, Fax: 9<strong>12</strong>7103<br />
e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com<br />
Monday, February <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
reforming and improving<br />
the civil services<br />
It is high time to take up the tasks of carrying out<br />
deep and driving reforms in the country's civil<br />
services. <strong>The</strong> reformative activities in the country's<br />
civil services have become all the more important and<br />
justified in the backdrop of the recently increased<br />
raises in the salaries and perks of civil services<br />
members across the board. It is too simplistic to think<br />
that these showering of higher salaries and benefits on<br />
civil servants will prompt them to become more<br />
dedicated, honest and sincere in attending to their<br />
tasks. For experiences show all too clearly that<br />
members of civil services were always too good on<br />
absorbing any pay rise and other benefits as if these<br />
were their birth rights.<strong>The</strong>y never felt any<br />
mentionable pricks of conscience that they should al<br />
so deliver better to deserve the higher salaries and<br />
benefits. Thus, there is every reason to think that this<br />
time around also they will just perceive their added<br />
monetary and other gain sas their legitimate dues<br />
without feeling that they have a duty of care to<br />
respond to these added payments by discharging their<br />
services with greater scrupulousness and efficiency.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re fore it is high time to ensure that civil servants<br />
are only obliged to earn their increased earnings and<br />
privileges.<br />
Reformsofthecivilservicesshould start basically with<br />
making the present system of recruitment to the<br />
services completely free from corruption. This<br />
corruption was reflected in the leakage of question<br />
paper and other ills in the recruitment examinations<br />
of the services. <strong>The</strong> next task is proper training of the<br />
new civil servants. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Public<br />
Administration Training Centre (BPTAC) in the main<br />
trains new members of the civil services. But<br />
allegedly, the standard of this body has deteriorated<br />
over the years. <strong>The</strong> trainers themselves are considered<br />
as not sufficiently resourceful to train well. <strong>The</strong>refore,<br />
BPTAC itself needs restructuring and at the centre of<br />
such restructuring should be appointment of persons<br />
of proper background and competence as the trainers.<br />
Besides, teaching of morality and service to people<br />
should be important parts of the training<br />
programmes so that the new members in the civil<br />
services can go to their first posts with a sharpened<br />
conscience.<br />
In many cases, government offices are found<br />
overstaffed particularly at the lower and mid-levels.<br />
Such overstaffing should be dealt with to conserve<br />
resources and reduce bureaucracy. In other cases, a<br />
dearth of specialist manpower is seen in some<br />
departments, particularly at the higher levels, that<br />
hampers the efficient functioning of these<br />
departments. <strong>The</strong> cases of such understaffing should<br />
be addressed by recruiting such specialist manpower<br />
on contract and other basis with special incentive<br />
salary and other facilities, where necessary. <strong>The</strong>y may<br />
be inducted into the civil services by amending the<br />
present uniform rules of the services as special cases.<br />
Such recruitment will end the unwanted domination<br />
of the services by generalists who cannot give<br />
specialist decisions or attend to decision making of a<br />
complex or technical or managerial character and,<br />
thus, lend dynamism to the functioning of the<br />
services.<br />
<strong>The</strong> present system of promotion in the civil services<br />
is based mainly on seniority. <strong>The</strong> annual confidential<br />
report (ACR) on a civil servant produced by a senior<br />
officer is also taken into account while promoting a<br />
person. But such ACRs presently have no way of<br />
assessing the officer's true worth, efficiency, integrity<br />
and attainments. In most cases, the officers are<br />
blindly promoted to the next higher posts on<br />
completion of a certain number of years in their<br />
services. <strong>The</strong>refore, in order to truly reward the<br />
efficient and the capable, promotion should be mainly<br />
based not on seniority but on the basis of the actual<br />
efficiency, dedication to the job and achievements of<br />
the person to be promoted. For this purpose, more<br />
than the ACR, a system should be devised in which the<br />
civil servants will be given targets to fulfill at the start<br />
of a year. <strong>The</strong> targets may range, say, from meeting<br />
tax collection targets to the number of sterilisation<br />
operations carried out in the family planning<br />
programme.<br />
Target attainment and meeting of other standards<br />
should become the basis of promotion and not just<br />
seniority as is the case now. Besides, failure to attain<br />
targets and noted lapses in other areas should lead to<br />
suffering of penalties such as withholding of<br />
increments to event dismissal from services. In other<br />
words, civil servants must be made to perform under<br />
the awareness that they are accountable for their jobs<br />
and that their jobs are not sinecures. <strong>The</strong>y could<br />
expect rewards for the right things they do and<br />
penalised for what they do not do or do wrongly. Only<br />
an accountable structure of this sort-- and enforced<br />
rigorously-- has any chance of improving the standard<br />
of the civil services. All elected governments from<br />
now on should also resolve not to try and politicise the<br />
administration during their tenures. This would<br />
contribute to not only efficiency of the civil<br />
administration but lend to the country's political<br />
stability as well.<br />
how far is China to blame for America’s ‘Cold War mentality’?<br />
IT has been five years since the bill<br />
ensuring the right to free and<br />
compulsory education was passed<br />
unanimously by the National Assembly.<br />
Article 25-A of the Constitution says: "<strong>The</strong><br />
state shall provide free and compulsory<br />
education to all children of the age of five to<br />
16 years...".<br />
In these five years, since Article 25-A<br />
came into action, a few noteworthy<br />
initiatives have been taken by the federal<br />
and provincial governments to ensure that<br />
this promise to Pakistani children is<br />
fulfilled. Despite this constitutional<br />
obligation as well as many official<br />
statements by senior government officials,<br />
much more needs to be done to make this<br />
commitment a reality. Policy reforms and<br />
quality implementation need to be<br />
urgently amplified and expanded to tackle<br />
the education emergency in Pakistan,<br />
especially in Sindh.<br />
Lack of infrastructure and facilities in<br />
government schools is a basic critique of<br />
the education system in Sindh. This was<br />
recently highlighted in a report to the<br />
Sindh chief minister, after which<br />
immediate action was ordered to be taken<br />
in 4,000 primary schools and 524 middle<br />
and secondary schools. <strong>The</strong> initiative<br />
involves improvement and rehabilitation<br />
of schools focusing on the provision of<br />
electricity, washrooms, boundary walls,<br />
drinking water, and furniture. However,<br />
there is a long way to go before basic<br />
facilities can be ensured in all Sindh's<br />
<strong>The</strong> year <strong>2018</strong> will be a year of<br />
major social changes for the<br />
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
changes are expected to dramatically<br />
change Saudi society as we once knew<br />
it.<br />
To begin with, the feared Saudi<br />
religious police that once permeated<br />
every level of Saudi society has almost<br />
become a non-entity in most of the<br />
major cities, a fact that makes many<br />
happy but also distresses a few who still<br />
long for the days of religious control.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir messages and exhortations of<br />
following a strict and unyielding<br />
interpretation of the religion has today<br />
been generally recognised as the fuel<br />
that has misguided some Saudi youth.<br />
<strong>The</strong> arrival of young Crown Prince<br />
Mohammad Bin Salman in the Saudi<br />
leadership has provided the impetus to<br />
tackle what many have termed as a<br />
growing menace and an impediment to<br />
progress.<br />
Many Saudi social scientists and<br />
intellectuals had privately grumbled<br />
that the powerful religious police was<br />
intent on taking the country back to the<br />
Stone Ages. But Mohammad was astute<br />
enough to realise that none of his grand<br />
plans, such as Vision 2<strong>02</strong>0 and Vision<br />
2030, would take a foothold unless he<br />
dealt with this establishment head-on.<br />
And he did.<br />
By stripping them of most of their<br />
earlier acquired powers, he essentially<br />
left them dormant. <strong>The</strong> wave of<br />
appreciation that followed this singular<br />
Cold War mentality" is the<br />
catchphrase that China typically<br />
uses when it is criticized by the<br />
United States and other Western<br />
countries, such as Australia.<br />
In 2009, when the Barack Obama<br />
administration published its National<br />
Intelligence Strategy (NIS), in which<br />
China - together with North Korea, Iran<br />
and Russia - was listed as a country that<br />
challenged US interests, Beijing<br />
immediately urged Washington "to<br />
abandon Cold War mentality and<br />
prejudices." On several occasions over<br />
the past two years, Beijing has similarly<br />
accused Australia of adopting a "Cold<br />
War mentality" vis-à-vis the communist<br />
power. <strong>The</strong> phrase has been used with<br />
increasing frequency in relation to the US<br />
since the advent of Donald Trump's<br />
presidency, as Washington has hardened<br />
its view of the one-party state.<br />
In the 2009 NIS, China was listed third<br />
among America's four main challengers<br />
and the document's description of the<br />
country wasn't very hostile.<br />
In contrast, in the Trump<br />
government's National Security Strategy<br />
(NSS), National Defense Strategy (NDS)<br />
and Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), all of<br />
which were published over the last two<br />
months, China is painted much more<br />
adversely. In the first two documents, the<br />
People's Republic is put first among the<br />
top security threats facing the US. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
also include Russia, two "rogue states"<br />
(namely North Korea and Iran), and<br />
terrorist groups. In the last strategy, it is<br />
placed second, after Russia.<br />
That's why, immediately after the<br />
publication of these three documents,<br />
Chinese officials, including Chinese<br />
foreign ministry spokespersons,<br />
denounced them and urged the US to<br />
discard what they call an "outdated coldwar<br />
mentality and zero-sum game<br />
mindset."<br />
A Chinese foreign ministry<br />
spokesperson sang the same chorus after<br />
Trump's State of the Union address on<br />
January 30 because. In that speech, the<br />
American president said: "Around the<br />
world, we face rogue regimes, terrorist<br />
groups, and rivals like China and Russia<br />
that challenge our interests, our<br />
economy, and our values."<br />
Though very brief, such a reference to<br />
China in his 80-minute address<br />
infuriated Beijing. A Chinese academic<br />
told the party-run Global Times: "It is<br />
alarming and provocative for Trump to<br />
call China a US rival again and especially<br />
to lump China together with rogue<br />
regimes and terrorist groups."<br />
US President Donald Trump talks to<br />
China's President Xi Jinping during the<br />
G20 leaders summit in Hamburg,<br />
Germany July 7, 2017. Photo: Reuters /<br />
Philippe Wojazer US President Donald<br />
Trump talks to China's President Xi<br />
Jinping during the G20 leaders summit<br />
in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017.<br />
government schools. <strong>The</strong>re is an urgent<br />
need for not only improving the basic<br />
infrastructure but also achieving parity<br />
between primary to middle and high<br />
school ratios in the province. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
enhancements can only be mobilised by<br />
timely and effective utilisation of the<br />
education budget. More needs to be done<br />
to reform education in Sindh.<br />
Secondly, the teacher absenteeism<br />
problem which had been one of the core<br />
causes of failure for the education sector in<br />
Sindh, has been tackled to some extent<br />
through the Sindh School Monitoring<br />
System. According to the government's<br />
statistics, 210,000 education staff and<br />
more than 26,200 schools have been<br />
verified through this system, which<br />
depends on data collected by the field staff<br />
XUAN loC DoAN<br />
Photo: Reuters / Philippe Wojazer<br />
Indeed. Washington's China posture<br />
has radically shifted. <strong>The</strong> globe's most<br />
powerful authoritarian state is now seen<br />
as the top security threat facing America,<br />
representing a menace in everything<br />
from the military and economic spheres<br />
to the cultural and ideological. This<br />
change in Washington could potentially<br />
develop into a full-blown rivalry between<br />
the world's incumbent and rising<br />
superpowers. Should this happen, it<br />
in contrast, in the Trump government's National<br />
Security Strategy (NSS), National Defense Strategy<br />
(NDS) and Nuclear Posture review (NPr), all of<br />
which were published over the last two months,<br />
China is painted much more adversely. in the first<br />
two documents, the People's republic is put first<br />
among the top security threats facing the US. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
also include russia, two "rogue states" (namely<br />
North Korea and iran), and terrorist groups. in the<br />
last strategy, it is placed second, after russia.<br />
would cause huge and dire<br />
consequences, not only for the two<br />
biggest economic and military powers on<br />
earth, but also for the world at large. An<br />
antagonistic American-Chinese enmity<br />
in the 21st century might well be far<br />
graver than the Cold War between the<br />
US and the communist-ruled Soviet<br />
Union of the last century. Worse still, if<br />
escalated, it could lead to a devastating<br />
military conflict, possibly a third world<br />
war. Given such a danger, it's wise and<br />
vital that Beijing calls for cooperation, not<br />
confrontation, "through concrete<br />
actions," because, as it correctly<br />
Unfulfilled promise<br />
SAAD AMANUllAh KhAN<br />
being accurate and reported in real-time to<br />
the education and literacy department as<br />
well as the monitoring and evaluation<br />
directorate. This exercise, however, is<br />
currently being undertaken in only 15<br />
districts, and needs to be expanded to<br />
include all districts and schools.<br />
It is universally recognised that quality<br />
teachers are an integral part of ensuring<br />
Secondly, the teacher absenteeism problem which had been<br />
one of the core causes of failure for the education sector in<br />
Sindh, has been tackled to some extent through the Sindh<br />
School Monitoring System. According to the government's<br />
statistics, 210,000 education staff and more than 26,200<br />
schools have been verified through this system, which depends<br />
on data collected by the field staff being accurate and reported<br />
in real-time to the education and literacy department as well<br />
as the monitoring and evaluation directorate.<br />
act must have sent a strong signal to the<br />
Crown Prince that the country and the<br />
people were ready for change. "Arrival<br />
of young Crown Prince Mohammad Bin<br />
Salman in Saudi leadership has<br />
provided the impetus to tackle a<br />
growing menace and impediment to<br />
progress.""<br />
He interjected several revolutionary<br />
concepts to the society that had for the<br />
past three decades or so remained<br />
buried under layers of restrictions.<br />
People welcomed the moves as part of<br />
his vision to transform the kingdom.<br />
Mohammad supported a newlyformed<br />
entertainment authority that<br />
has taken to staging concerts and<br />
comedy shows for an entertainmentstarved<br />
Saudi audience that used to get<br />
its fill of culture and the arts by<br />
travelling to neighbouring Arab states.<br />
No more, Mohammad vowed. We shall<br />
quality education for the students.<br />
However, in Pakistan, teacher recruitment<br />
has always been laced with political<br />
influence and manipulation. To address<br />
this, the Sindh Education Department<br />
implemented a programme to ensure<br />
merit-based recruitment via the National<br />
Testing Service, through which more than<br />
1,000 head teachers have been recruited.<br />
Apparently, these teachers have passed<br />
be as progressive as the rest of them was<br />
the message. <strong>The</strong> bizarre obsession of<br />
extremists against the idea of free<br />
mingling of people from both genders<br />
was swiftly addressed when the<br />
government announced that men and<br />
women could attend together many of<br />
the entertainment fixtures that were<br />
being introduced. This was followed by<br />
an announcement that starting this<br />
year, female residents of the country<br />
could attend sporting events, such as a<br />
football match, along with males in key<br />
stadiums across the metropolitan cities.<br />
While it may have left many a cleric<br />
privately aghast and shell-shocked, it<br />
was yet another move widely<br />
appreciated by the public, the majority<br />
of whom are young.<br />
This was soon followed by an<br />
announcement that the kingdom would<br />
issue licences for cinema halls to<br />
maintains, that is "the only right choice"<br />
for China and the US to "ensure the<br />
sound and steady development of [their]<br />
relations" and to "maintain world<br />
stability and prosperity."<br />
But whilst it is noble to make such a<br />
call, it isn't enough. Moreover, Beijing is<br />
being quite disingenuous when it paints<br />
itself as cooperative, responsible and<br />
benign with regard to the US.<br />
Trump's NSS states: "China and Russia<br />
challenge American power, influence,<br />
and interests, attempting to erode<br />
American security and prosperity. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
are determined to make economies less<br />
free and less fair, to grow their militaries,<br />
and to control information and data to<br />
repress their societies and expand their<br />
influence."<br />
With some justification, many would<br />
agree with such a description of China.<br />
Take the Asian giant's trade policies for<br />
example. On many occasions, Trump<br />
has, implicitly or explicitly, called for<br />
Beijing to curb some of the unfair<br />
practices (e.g. steel overcapacity,<br />
intellectual property rights abuses and<br />
market access restrictions) that lead to<br />
America's chronic trade imbalance with<br />
China. While his concerns about the<br />
deficit and lack of fairness and reciprocity<br />
in US-China economic relations are<br />
legitimate, these haven't been addressed.<br />
America's deficit in goods with the<br />
world's biggest market increased from<br />
US$347 billion in 2016 to US$375 billion<br />
(the highest level) last year. Indeed, in a<br />
call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi<br />
Jinping, last month, Trump "expressed<br />
disappointment that the [US's] trade<br />
deficit with China has continued to grow"<br />
and "made clear that the situation is not<br />
sustainable."<br />
Source : Asia Times<br />
rigorous screening and testing and are<br />
competently serving in schools across<br />
Sindh. Although this is a positive step, the<br />
department has yet to figure out a<br />
mechanism to compensate these teachers,<br />
who have not been paid since the start of<br />
their tenure. <strong>The</strong> Sindh government also<br />
announced a private school census to be<br />
conducted in January <strong>2018</strong>. This should<br />
not only give a holistic picture of education<br />
in the province, but also provide the<br />
government a basis to make informed<br />
decisions for the future. It is seen as an<br />
opportunity for the government to obtain<br />
details of the teaching staff of private<br />
schools, including their salaries, perks and<br />
other privileges. <strong>The</strong>se details can facilitate<br />
the government in aligning the incentive<br />
system for government teachers with that<br />
in private institutions.<br />
Low-cost private schools which are not<br />
registered with the concerned authorities<br />
can also be regulated by the government<br />
using this census. However, to ensure its<br />
long-term impact, this census will have to<br />
be a sustained effort in the years to come.<br />
To enhance the tracking of key<br />
performance measures in Sindh, the<br />
creation of a school management<br />
committee, consisting of elected<br />
representatives of the local authority,<br />
parents/ guardians of children admitted in<br />
such schools, and teachers, should be<br />
mandatory.<br />
Source : Dawn<br />
Tide of change sweeps through Saudi Arabia<br />
TAriq A. Al MAeeNA<br />
Mohammad supported a newly-formed<br />
entertainment authority that has taken<br />
to staging concerts and comedy shows<br />
for an entertainment-starved Saudi<br />
audience that used to get its fill of culture<br />
and the arts by travelling to neighbouring<br />
Arab states. No more, Mohammad<br />
vowed. We shall be as progressive as the<br />
rest of them was the message.<br />
operate - a ban that had been in effect<br />
for decades and could be traced back to<br />
the rise of influence of clerics in the<br />
early 1980s, following a failed takeover<br />
attempt of the Holy Mosque in Makkah<br />
by a band of religious extremists.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first theatres are expected to be<br />
ready by later next month and the<br />
public, by and large, is eagerly looking<br />
forward to this pleasant diversion.<br />
Perhaps the biggest change<br />
introduced to Saudi society was the<br />
lifting of the ban on women driving.<br />
Come June, women will get behind the<br />
wheel. Clerics had been successful for<br />
decades in enforcing a ban on women<br />
motorists.<br />
This was by far the biggest of the<br />
barriers to fall, as Saudi Arabia had<br />
earlier carved a unique distinction of<br />
being the only country in the modern<br />
world not to grant their females citizens<br />
or residents the right to drive.<br />
With Vision 2030 in mind and a<br />
youthful population by his side,<br />
Mohammad is set to tackle all previous<br />
impediments to Saudi progress to bring<br />
the country at par with developing<br />
nations.<br />
He has begun by removing some of<br />
the previously installed taboos and<br />
there are expectations of more barriers<br />
to fall. With such a vision, many in<br />
Saudi Arabia are hopeful that finally,<br />
the country will take its rightful place on<br />
the global stage.<br />
Source : Gulf News
LAW & PUBLIC MONdAy,<br />
FEBRuARy <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
5<br />
This week Your Legal Adviser is<br />
A.B.M Shahjahan Akanda (Masum)<br />
Advocate, Supreme Court of <strong>Bangladesh</strong>.<br />
He is the Head of the chamber of a renowned law firm,<br />
namely, 'Law for Nations', which has expertise mainly in<br />
banking law, tax law, commercial law, corporate law, family<br />
law, employment and labor law, land law,constitutional law,<br />
criminal law and in conducting litigations before courts of<br />
different hierarchies. He can be reached at - cell:01711459590,<br />
E-mail: law.abm@gmail.com.<br />
2nd Workshop on Legal<br />
Research & Advocacy Skills<br />
Hosted by NILS <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
QuERy :<br />
Dear Sir,<br />
I want to attain a patent registration. Please<br />
inform me the details.<br />
Regards<br />
Shariul Islam<br />
Dhaka<br />
OpINION :<br />
An application for a patent may be made by any<br />
person alone or jointly with any other person.<br />
<strong>The</strong> application must be made in the prescribed<br />
form, and must be filed at the Patent Office in the<br />
prescribed manner. <strong>The</strong> application must<br />
contain a declaration to the effect that the<br />
applicant is in possession of an invention,<br />
whereof he, or in the case of a joint application<br />
one at least of the applicants, claims to be the<br />
true and first inventor or the legal representative<br />
or assign of such inventor and for which he<br />
desires to obtain a patent, and must be<br />
accompanied by complete specification.<br />
Specifications:<br />
A complete specification must particularly<br />
describe and ascertain the nature of the<br />
invention and the manner in which the same is<br />
to be performed. <strong>The</strong> specification must<br />
commence with the title, and in the case of a<br />
complete specification must end with a distinct<br />
statement of the invention claimed. <strong>The</strong><br />
drawings can be supplied at any time before the<br />
acceptance of the application, but we suggest to<br />
file drawings at the time of application printed<br />
on tracing papers.<br />
PCT Application in <strong>Bangladesh</strong>: In case of<br />
claiming priority based on any application filed<br />
in any PCT countries the applicant must supply<br />
the information of PCT application at the time of<br />
filing the national application and submit<br />
certified copy of the specification of the foreign<br />
patent application within 90 days time from the<br />
date of filing application in <strong>Bangladesh</strong>.<br />
Filing Requirement:<br />
To file a Patent Application we need the<br />
followings:<br />
(a) Name of the inventor (applicant),<br />
(b) Address(s) and nationality of the inventors,<br />
(c) Two sets of specification and one set of<br />
drawing on tracing paper (transparent),<br />
(d) Legalized Deed of Assignment (if any),<br />
(e) Power of Attorney [Form - 31], you can<br />
download the authorization<br />
from this web by clicking download forms.<br />
(f) Certified copy of the foreign patent (in case<br />
of claiming priority)<br />
Advertisement on acceptance of application:<br />
On the acceptance of an application the<br />
Controller shall give notice thereof to the<br />
applicant and shall advertise the acceptance and<br />
with the drawings (if any) shall be open to public<br />
inspection.<br />
Opposition:Any person at any time within four<br />
months from the date of the advertisement of the<br />
acceptance of an application give notice at the<br />
Patent Office of opposition to the grant of the<br />
patent. <strong>The</strong> opponent must state the grounds of<br />
his opposition.<br />
Grant and sealing of patent:<br />
If there is no opposition a patent shall be<br />
granted, subject to such conditions as the<br />
authority thinks expedient, to the applicant, or in<br />
the case of a joint application to the applicants<br />
jointly, and the Controller shall cause the Patent<br />
to be sealed with the seal of the Patent Office.<br />
Term of patent:<br />
<strong>The</strong> term limited in every patent for the<br />
duration thereof is sixteen years from its date of<br />
application or the date of priority application.<br />
Renewal is required for fifth year before expiry of<br />
fourth year up to the 15 years. Grace period is 90<br />
days with late fees. In case of priority, the<br />
commencement of four years shall start from the<br />
date of priority application.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Network for International Law Students<br />
(NILS) is an international, independent, nonpolitical<br />
and non-profit organization operating<br />
in 26 different countries and expanding across<br />
six continents of the globe. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
Chapter of NILS has been successfully carrying<br />
out the operations of NILS in the country since<br />
2016. After the overwhelming success of<br />
hosting the 1st edition in November 2017, NILS<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong>, in collaboration with Department<br />
of Law, East West University (EWU) organized<br />
the 2nd edition of the Workshop on Legal<br />
Research and Advocacy Skills on January 26,<br />
<strong>2018</strong>. Around 100 law students from numerous<br />
public and private universities of <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
spontaneously participated in the workshop.<br />
<strong>The</strong> inaugural session of the workshop was<br />
conducted by Mr. Md. Pizuar Hossain,<br />
Lecturer, Department of Law, EWU on<br />
'Introduction to Legal Research and<br />
Methodology'. <strong>The</strong> session focused mainly<br />
upon techniques and methodologies of legal<br />
research and enabled the participants to get<br />
them acquainted with different aspects and<br />
tools of carrying out legal research<br />
independently.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next session was conducted by Mr.<br />
Mokarramus Shaklan, Advocate, Supreme<br />
Court of <strong>Bangladesh</strong> on '<strong>The</strong> Art of Mooting'.<br />
He spoke at length regarding mooting,<br />
techniques of drafting memorials, preparing<br />
for oral submissions before the judges and the<br />
impact of mooting in professional careers of<br />
legal practitioners.<br />
<strong>The</strong> final session was facilitated by Professor<br />
Dr. Tureen Afroz, Chairperson, Department of<br />
Law, EWU on '<strong>The</strong> Art of Advocacy'. She<br />
extensively discussed the technical know-hows<br />
of being a lawyer and underlined the basic<br />
court etiquettes required to be followed by the<br />
lawyers. She concluded her session by urging<br />
the students to never stop learning and sharing<br />
the knowledge with their peers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> closing ceremony of the workshop was<br />
chaired by Nasrin Sultana, President, NILS<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> while Justice S. M. Mozibur<br />
Rahman, Honorable Justice, Supreme Court of<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> graced the event as the guest of<br />
honor. In his speech, Justice Rahman lauded<br />
such initiatives undertaken by NILS<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> and Department of Law, EWU and<br />
mentioned that this unique practice of teaching<br />
advocacy skills to law students would<br />
immensely boost their professional careers as<br />
lawyers. Ms. Nasrin Sultana, President, NILS<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> also spoke at the ceremony<br />
highlighting its past activities and stated that in<br />
an age of globalization, it is essential to<br />
network with law students beyond borders.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Best Performer award was won by<br />
Maisha Tehmida Binte Zubair from BRAC<br />
University. <strong>The</strong> program ended after<br />
certificates were handed out to all the<br />
participants and tokens of appreciation were<br />
handed over to the chair of the closing<br />
ceremony and the facilitators of the workshop.<br />
NILS <strong>Bangladesh</strong> intends to host more such<br />
workshops and symposiums in near future.<br />
Expanding Investment Securities<br />
<strong>The</strong> Role of Investment Treaties and Investment Arbitration in <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
Md. MAMONOR RASHId<br />
Large-scale investments made in foreign jurisdictions face many<br />
risks, particularly when investing in countries with high levels of<br />
political and regulatory risk or developing judicial systems, as is<br />
often a concern for international investors entering certain Asian<br />
and African countries. In such circumstances, investors are<br />
particularly concerned about the legal protections that are available<br />
to them during the life of their investments. Bilateral and<br />
multilateral investment treaties ("BITs", "MITs") have become the<br />
principle vehicle to overcome these challenges and mitigate the<br />
risks of government intervention.<br />
BITs are international law instruments - treaties - agreed<br />
between two states. MITs are treaties agreed between more than<br />
two states. <strong>The</strong> purpose of BITs and MITs is to create a stable legal<br />
environment that fosters foreign direct investment. This is achieved<br />
by the "host state" (i.e. the state in which the investment is made)<br />
agreeing to provide certain guarantees and standards of protection<br />
to the investments of private foreign investors (i.e. those with the<br />
nationality of, or incorporation in, the "home state"). <strong>The</strong> investor<br />
is also provided with the opportunity to enforce its rights under the<br />
investment treaty against the host state through independent<br />
international investment arbitration. This is the major innovation<br />
of investment treaties, as traditionally it was only states that had<br />
standing to bring claims against each other.<br />
Rights and obligations under investment treaties are reciprocal,<br />
protecting the investments of investors from each state in the<br />
territory of the other state. Structuring investments correctly can<br />
maximise those rights and protections, and has become a modern<br />
commercial imperative when transacting internationally.<br />
Expanding investment securities:<br />
When structuring foreign investments, prudent investors will<br />
seek advice on the protections available under the domestic<br />
legislation of the host state as well as the investment treaties to<br />
which that host state is a party.<br />
In order to rely on the protections offered by a particular BIT, a<br />
foreign investor will need to qualify as a defined "investor", as<br />
mentioned above, and its "investment" must fall within the<br />
definition of the protected type of investments under the relevant<br />
BIT. Most BITs adopt a broad definition of qualifying investments,<br />
ranging from tangible to intangible property, company shares to<br />
contractual rights.<br />
<strong>The</strong> common categories of substantive BIT protections and<br />
guarantees owed by host states to foreign investors/ investments<br />
include the following:<br />
No expropriation without compensation: not to expropriate<br />
investments unless it is for a public purpose, in accordance with law<br />
and due process, with the provision of prompt, adequate and<br />
effective compensation;<br />
Fair and equitable treatment: all investors/ investments will be<br />
treated fairly and equitably (an open category that includes<br />
upholding legitimate expectations, the rule of law and good faith<br />
etc.);<br />
Full protection and security: including to maintain the investor's<br />
legal rights and protect physical assets from insurrection;<br />
No discrimination: not to adopt measures that discriminate<br />
investments based on type, industry, nationality etc.;<br />
National treatment: not to treat foreign investors/ investments<br />
less favourably that domestic investors/ investments;<br />
Most favoured nation treatment: the most favourable treatment<br />
available to investors/ investments of one state will be afforded to<br />
investors/ investments of other states;<br />
Umbrella clause: general commercial contracts with the host<br />
state and investor are elevated to protection under the BIT; and<br />
Free transfers: investors may convert investment returns into a<br />
currency of their choice and repatriate out of the host state.<br />
Laws and Regulations on Foreign direct Investment<br />
Major laws affecting foreign investment include: the Foreign<br />
Private Investment (Promotion and Protection) Act of 1980, the<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> Export Processing Zones Authority Act of 1980, the<br />
Companies Act of 1994, the Telecommunications Act of 2001, the<br />
Industrial Policy Act of 2005, the Industrial Policy Act of 2010, and<br />
the <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Economic Zones Act 2010. <strong>The</strong> Industrial Policy<br />
Act of 2016 was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Industrial<br />
Purchase on February 24, 2016 and replaces the Industrial Policy<br />
of 2010.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Industrial Policy Act of 2016, which replaced the 2010 Act,<br />
offers incentives for "green", high-tech, or "transformative"<br />
industries. Foreign investors who invest $1 million or transfer $2<br />
million to a recognized financial institution can apply for<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong>i citizenship. <strong>The</strong> Government of <strong>Bangladesh</strong> will<br />
provide financial and policy support for high-priority industries<br />
(those that create large-scale employment and earn substantial<br />
export revenue) and creative (architecture, arts and antiques,<br />
fashion design, film and video, interactive laser software, software,<br />
and computer and media programming) industries. Specific<br />
importance will be given to agriculture and food processing, readymade<br />
garments (RMG), information and communication<br />
technology (ICT) and software, pharmaceuticals, leather and<br />
leather products, and jute and jute goods.<br />
International investment arbitration and dispute<br />
Settlement:<br />
International investment arbitration is a mechanism to resolve<br />
investment disputes between a foreign investor and the state<br />
hosting the investment. It is different in many respects from<br />
international commercial arbitration, which involves two private<br />
parties, usually corporations.<br />
ICSId Convention and New york Convention<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> is a signatory to the International Convention for the<br />
Settlement of Disputes (ICSID) and it consented in May 1992 to the<br />
United Nations Convention for the Recognition and Enforcement<br />
of Foreign Arbitral Awards. Alternative dispute resolutions are<br />
possible under the <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Arbitration Act of 2001. <strong>The</strong> current<br />
legislation allows for enforcement of arbitral awards.<br />
Investor-State dispute Settlement<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong>i law allows contracts to refer dispute settlement to<br />
third country forums for resolution. <strong>Bangladesh</strong> is also a party to<br />
the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)<br />
Agreement for the Establishment of an Arbitration Council, signed<br />
November 2005, which aims to establish a permanent center for<br />
alternative dispute resolution in one of the SAARC member<br />
countries.<br />
In practice, enforcement of arbitration results is applied unevenly<br />
and the government has challenged ICSID rulings, especially those<br />
that involve rulings against the government. <strong>The</strong> timeframe for<br />
dispute resolution is unpredictable and has no set limit. It can be<br />
done as quickly as a few months, but often takes years depending<br />
on the type of dispute. Anecdotal information indicates average<br />
resolution times can be as high as 16 years. Local courts may be<br />
biased against foreign investors in resolving disputes.<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> is a signatory of the New York Convention and<br />
recognizes the enforcement of international arbitration awards.<br />
Domestic arbitration is under the authority of the District Judge<br />
Court bench and foreign arbitration is under the authority of the<br />
relevant High Court division of the Supreme Court of <strong>Bangladesh</strong>.<br />
Investors are also increasingly turning to the <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
International Arbitration Center (BIAC) for dispute resolution.<br />
BIAC is an independent arbitration center established by<br />
prominent local business leaders in April 2011 to improve<br />
commercial dispute resolution in <strong>Bangladesh</strong> to stimulate<br />
economic growth. <strong>The</strong> council committee is headed by the<br />
President of International Chamber of Commerce - <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
(ICC,B) and includes the presidents of other prominent chambers<br />
such as like Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI)<br />
and Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).<br />
<strong>The</strong> center operates under the <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Arbitration Act of 2001.<br />
According to BIAC, fast track cases are resolved in approximately<br />
six months while typical cases are resolved in one year. Major<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong>i trade and business associations such as the American<br />
Chamber of Commerce in <strong>Bangladesh</strong> (AmCham) can sometimes<br />
help to resolve transaction disputes.<br />
Author: Mr. Md. Mamonor Rashid has completed his Master of Laws by thesis<br />
(Equivalent to M.Phil) on International Commercial Arbitration from University<br />
Utara Malaysia with Post Graduate Scholarship. Associate; Bhuiyan& Mir Law<br />
Firm. President; "<strong>The</strong> Orator" (For Legal Minds). He is a devoted social worker.<br />
He has worked with many national and international NGO's including Amnesty<br />
International, United Nations Volunteer (UNV), International Centre for<br />
Diarrhoeal Disease Research, <strong>Bangladesh</strong> (icddr'b) and National Human Right<br />
Commission, <strong>Bangladesh</strong>. His areas of specializationareInternational Commercial<br />
Arbitration, Religious Arbitration, and Corporate Law. He is the Young<br />
Professional member of Singapore International Arbitration Centre (YSIAC),<br />
Singapore and Young International Arbitration Group (YIAG), London. Email<br />
Address: mamon_rashid@live.com
NATIONAL<br />
MoNDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
6<br />
Singair Kangsha Social Welfare JuboSangha observed its first anniversary celebration in Kangsa village<br />
of Singair upazila under Manikganj district yesterday.<br />
Photo: Mubarak Hossain<br />
Singair Kangsha Social Welfare Jubo Sangha<br />
celebarted maiden in Manikganj<br />
MD. MOBARAK HOSSAIN, SINGAIR, MANIKGANJ:<br />
<strong>The</strong> first Anniversary of Kangsha<br />
Samaj Kalyan Juba Sangha of Singair<br />
upazila of Manikganj was held in the<br />
joyous environment yesterday. <strong>The</strong><br />
ceremony was held at Kangsa village on<br />
Saturday night. On this day of last year,<br />
this non-political organization was<br />
established with the initiative of local<br />
youth society to stop gambling,<br />
harassment, child marriage, eve<br />
teasing, prejudice and anti-social<br />
activities and form a drug free society.<br />
A seminar was organized on the<br />
occasion of the founding anniversary.<br />
Chairman of the organization Md.<br />
Rajib Hossain chaired the discussion as<br />
the chief guest, Talebpur UP Chairman<br />
Ramzan Ali. Senior lawyer Advocate<br />
Lutfar Rahman of Manikganj Judge<br />
Court, former president of Singair<br />
municipal Jubo League Muminul Haq<br />
Milon and municipal BCL president<br />
Sayamum Hossain Ripon spoke as<br />
special guests.<br />
Among others, General Secretary of<br />
the organization Md. Raju Hossain,<br />
organizing secretary Md Enamul<br />
Hasan, co-organizing secretary Md.<br />
Jalal Ahmed, Dubai expatriates Alinur<br />
Rahman, Habibur Rahman and<br />
Younus Ali were present in the<br />
meeting. During this time all the<br />
members of the organization, local<br />
dignitaries and people from different<br />
class groups of the society were present.<br />
Since the establishment of the<br />
organization, they have made<br />
outstanding contributions to the<br />
formation of gambling, women's<br />
oppression, child marriage, eve teasing,<br />
prejudice, anti-social activities and the<br />
drug-free society.<br />
<strong>The</strong> organization also organizes road<br />
reforms in the area, cooperating with<br />
helpless poor people, providing<br />
scholarship to meritorious students,<br />
distributing warm clothes, providing<br />
free medical care, distribution of Eid<br />
content among children, and social<br />
activities.<br />
Stay away from<br />
militancy,<br />
drugs: Zahid<br />
MANIKGANJ: State<br />
Minister for Health and<br />
Family Welfare Zahid<br />
Maleque, MP, yesterday<br />
asked students to stay away<br />
from terrorism, militancy<br />
and drug to make<br />
themselves as worthy<br />
citizens of the country,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
"<strong>The</strong> government has<br />
attached importance to<br />
sports activities in<br />
educational institutions,<br />
which will help flourish<br />
talent and creativity among<br />
students," he said while<br />
speaking as the chief guest in<br />
the annual prize giving<br />
ceremony of Manikganj<br />
government Devendra<br />
College here.<br />
Presided over by Prof<br />
Sayedur Rahman, Principal<br />
of Manikganj government<br />
Devendra College the<br />
programme was also<br />
addressed by Mahfuzur<br />
Rahman, SP (Additional<br />
DIG), Manikganj, freedom<br />
fighter Gazi Quamrul Huda<br />
Selim, mayor of Manikganj<br />
pourasava Prof Dr<br />
Mohammad Mahbubur<br />
Rahman, Advocate Abdul<br />
Majid Photo, vice president<br />
of Manikganj district unit of<br />
Awami League, AFM<br />
Sultanul Azam Khan Apel,<br />
Secretary, Red Crescent<br />
Society, Manikganj and<br />
Sudeb Saha, Secretary of<br />
Manikganj district Sports<br />
Association.<br />
<strong>The</strong> state minister also<br />
distributed prizes among the<br />
winners. Around 250<br />
students including girls took<br />
part in the annual sports<br />
which contained 35 events.<br />
Farmers switching<br />
to cereals from<br />
paddy in Barind<br />
RAJSHAHI: Farmers are<br />
switching from cultivation of<br />
paddy to less irrigationdependent<br />
cereals in the<br />
wake of adverse impact of<br />
climate change in the Barind<br />
tract, reports BSS.<br />
According to the<br />
agriculture officials and<br />
scientists, farmers have<br />
reduced the cultivation of<br />
irrigation-dependent crop<br />
especially Irri-Boro paddy in<br />
the Barind tract.<br />
On the other hand,<br />
farming of various crops like<br />
wheat, maize, potato,<br />
mustard and other fruits and<br />
vegetables is gradually<br />
increasing in the area<br />
comprising Rajshahi,<br />
Chapainawabgonj and<br />
Naogaon districts.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se crops have occupied<br />
more than 27,097 hectares<br />
of lands only in Tanore and<br />
Godagari Upazila during the<br />
current season, said<br />
Habibur Rahman Khan,<br />
Executive Engineer of<br />
Barind Multipurpose<br />
Development Authority<br />
(BMDA).<br />
After harvesting the watersaving<br />
crops the farmers will<br />
cultivate Aush paddy on the<br />
lands. Engineer Khan said<br />
Aush paddy needs small<br />
irrigation as rainfall meets<br />
up lion portion of the<br />
irrigation demands.<br />
"In many occasions, we<br />
are motivating the farmers<br />
to promote various cereal<br />
crops instead of only paddy<br />
in the area, said Engineer<br />
Habib Khan.<br />
Professor Chowdhury<br />
Sarwar Jahan of<br />
Department of Geology and<br />
Mining in<br />
Rajshahi University said<br />
around 3,200 to 3,500 litres<br />
of water for irrigation is<br />
needed to grow one<br />
kilogramme of paddy.<br />
Dr Ilias Hossain, principal<br />
scientific officer of Regional<br />
Wheat Research Station,<br />
said irrigation has been<br />
reduced to a greater extent<br />
in Barind resulting in a<br />
decline in Irri-boro farming.<br />
Hafizur Rahman, a farmer<br />
of Mushribhuja village<br />
under Volahat Upazila, said<br />
he is very happy over<br />
cultivating various lesswater<br />
consuming crops like<br />
wheat, mustard, potato and<br />
lentil.<br />
"I had to face many<br />
troubles to manage<br />
irrigation water for boro<br />
cultivation," he added. But,<br />
the cultivation of watersaving<br />
crops is suitable for<br />
farmers of the area.<br />
Ishrafil Haque, a volunteer<br />
of Nezampur village under<br />
Nachole Upazila, said<br />
number of farmers and<br />
acreage of less-water<br />
consuming crops are<br />
increasing in the area every<br />
year.<br />
"We are getting supports<br />
of irrigation, seed and<br />
fertilizer from Integrated<br />
Water<br />
Resource<br />
Management (IWRM)<br />
Project for cultivation of the<br />
crops," said Zenuara<br />
Khatun, a farmer of<br />
Gobratala village in<br />
Chapainawabgonj Sadar<br />
Upazila.<br />
On behalf of the project,<br />
more than 3,200 farmers<br />
were given the supports.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y cultivated water-saving<br />
crops on more than 300<br />
hectares of lands this season.<br />
Around 994 volunteers<br />
disseminate and share<br />
knowledge among farmers<br />
on how to cultivate more<br />
less-irrigated crops through<br />
water<br />
resource<br />
management.<br />
<strong>The</strong> IWRM project is<br />
being implemented in 35<br />
UPs and four pourasavhas in<br />
Rajshahi<br />
and<br />
Chapainawabganj districts<br />
since 2015 by DASCOH<br />
Foundation and Swiss Red<br />
Cross with financial support<br />
from Swiss Agency for<br />
Development and<br />
Cooperation- SDC.<br />
BMDA Chairman Dr<br />
Akram Hossain Chowdhury<br />
said instead of depending on<br />
only Irri-Boro farming,<br />
importance should be given<br />
to the promotion of lessirrigation<br />
consuming cereal<br />
crops in Barind area to<br />
lessen the gradually<br />
mounting pressure on<br />
underground water.<br />
400 families<br />
get electricity<br />
in Panchagarh<br />
PANCHAGARH: Some 400<br />
families of Burirban area<br />
under Boda upazila of the<br />
district were brought under<br />
electrification network by<br />
Panchagarh Palli Bidyut<br />
Samity yesterday, reports<br />
BSS.<br />
Advocate Nurul Islam<br />
Sujon, MP, formally<br />
inaugurated the electricity<br />
connection as the chief guest<br />
at a simple function held on<br />
the premises of Maoydandigi<br />
Union Parishad (UP).<br />
Sujon said the government<br />
is working relentlessly to<br />
provide electricity connection<br />
in all houses over the country<br />
as electricity illuminated every<br />
sphere of human activity.<br />
Around 80 percent rural<br />
houses got power connection<br />
under the regime of present<br />
government, he added.<br />
SAVAR: <strong>The</strong> authority of<br />
Jahangirnagar University<br />
(JU) have taken up<br />
elaborate programmes to<br />
welcome Pahela Falgun, the<br />
first day of Spring in the<br />
Bengali month of Falgun, on<br />
February 13, reports BSS.<br />
With the slogan, 'Esho<br />
Boshonto Dhoratole, Ano<br />
Muhu Muhu Nobo Tan, Ano<br />
Nobo Pran Nobo Gan',<br />
Teachers and Students<br />
Center (TSC) will organise a<br />
Nanak for turning PM's<br />
Rajshahi meeting into<br />
human sea<br />
RAJSHAHI: Awami<br />
League Joint Secretary<br />
Jahangir Kabir Nanak, MP,<br />
here today urged all the<br />
party leaders and workers to<br />
turn the forthcoming<br />
Rajshahi's meeting of Prime<br />
Minister Sheikh Hasina into<br />
human sea, reports BSS.<br />
"Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina will come here with<br />
message of development<br />
and will portray a<br />
development planning for<br />
the region in the meeting.<br />
So, you have to bring public<br />
in general to the meeting,"<br />
he further said while<br />
addressing a view-sharing<br />
meeting here today as chief<br />
cultural event at the Selim<br />
Al Din Muktamancha<br />
marking the day.<br />
Director of JU TSC<br />
Professor Bashir Ahmed<br />
told BSS today.<br />
'To welcome the spring<br />
season, we are going to<br />
organise a cultural<br />
programme with recitation<br />
of poem, rendering songs,<br />
and staging drama.<br />
Different cultural<br />
organisation under TSC will<br />
guest.<br />
Rajshahi city and district<br />
units of Awami League (AL)<br />
jointly organized the<br />
meeting at Rajshahi Medical<br />
College auditorium marking<br />
the Prime Minister's<br />
upcoming visit to Rajshahi.<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina is scheduled to visit<br />
here on February 22.<br />
With city unit president<br />
AHM Khairuzzaman Liton<br />
in the chair, AL Organizing<br />
Secretary Khalid Mahmud<br />
Chowdhury, MP, State<br />
Minister for ICT Division<br />
Zunaid Ahmed Polok, Omor<br />
Faruque Chowdhury, MP,<br />
Enamul Haque, MP, Abdul<br />
JU to celebrate Pahela Falgun<br />
perform in the event', he<br />
said.<br />
JU Vice Chancellor<br />
Professor Farzana Islam will<br />
inaugurate the event as the<br />
chief guest while JU Pro VC<br />
(academic) Professor Md<br />
Abul Hossain, Pro VC<br />
(administration) Professor<br />
Amir Hussain and<br />
Treasurer Professor Sheikh<br />
Md Monzurul Huq will<br />
attend the function as<br />
special guest, he added.<br />
<strong>The</strong> much awaited verdict of Rupa, a girl from Tangail raped in a moving<br />
bus, murder case verdict today.<br />
Photo: Nasir Uddin.<br />
Wadud Dara, MP, Abdul<br />
Quddus, MP, and Akhter<br />
Jahan, MP, also spoke.<br />
Jahangir Kabir Nanak said<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina has been working<br />
relentlessly for overall<br />
development of the country<br />
and urged the party leaders<br />
and workers to reach the<br />
development messages to<br />
the grassroots people.<br />
He mentioned that the<br />
grassroots party leaders and<br />
workers will have to work<br />
hard from now on for<br />
bringing Awami League<br />
back to power again through<br />
winning in the next general<br />
election.<br />
Road<br />
accidents<br />
kill two in<br />
Kushtia<br />
KUSHTIA: Two<br />
persons were killed in<br />
separate road accidents in<br />
the district yesterday,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
<strong>The</strong> deceased were<br />
identified as Tuhin<br />
Pramanik, 45, a motor<br />
cyclist and resident of<br />
Ranakhoria village in<br />
Mirpur Upazila and<br />
Abdur Rahman, 30, a<br />
truck driver and<br />
inhabitant of Poshchim<br />
Shariatpur village in<br />
Potuakhali district.<br />
Pramanik was killed as<br />
a truck hit his motorcycle<br />
at Mongol Bari on<br />
Kushtia-Iswardi Road at<br />
around 8 am, said Officerin-Charge<br />
(OC) of Kushtia<br />
Model Police Station<br />
Mohammad Nasir Uddin.<br />
He added truck driver<br />
Rahman was also killed in<br />
separate road accident as<br />
his truck collided head-on<br />
with another truck in<br />
Lakshmipur area on<br />
Kushtia-Jhenidah Road<br />
early today.<br />
<strong>The</strong> accidents left both<br />
of them dead on the spot.<br />
<strong>The</strong> bodies were sent to<br />
a hospital for autopsies.<br />
Joypurhat district unit of <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Chattra League held proceesion demanding punishment of<br />
BNP men who attacked on <strong>Bangladesh</strong> amabassay in London and deamation of Bangaandhu yesterday.<br />
Photo: Masrakul Alam<br />
Udakhali Mohila<br />
College academic<br />
building inaugurated<br />
at Fulchhari<br />
GAIBANDHA: A 4-storied<br />
academic building of<br />
Udakhali Mohila College in<br />
Fulchhari upazila of the<br />
district was inaugurated<br />
yesterday afternoon amid<br />
much enthusiasm among<br />
the students, the teachers<br />
and the guardians, reports<br />
BSS.<br />
Education Engineering<br />
Department (EED)<br />
implemented the<br />
construction of the building<br />
at a cost of TK 2.20 crore,<br />
EED officials said.<br />
Jatiya Sangshad deputy<br />
speaker and local lawmaker<br />
Advocate Md. Fazle Rabbi<br />
Miah formally inaugurated<br />
the building through<br />
unveiling a plaque and<br />
offering munajat at a<br />
function as the chief guest.<br />
He said the present<br />
government led by Prime<br />
Minister Sheikh Hasina has<br />
been working relentlessly for<br />
overall development<br />
including infrastructure in<br />
education sector to build an<br />
enlightened nation.<br />
Terming the present<br />
government as education<br />
friendly, the deputy speaker<br />
said initiatives had been<br />
taken to ensure quality<br />
teaching through<br />
multimedia class rooms to<br />
the students so that they<br />
could acquire knowledge<br />
and face the challenges of<br />
21st century.<br />
Experts for attaining<br />
self-reliance on quality<br />
seed production<br />
RANGPUR: Agriculture<br />
experts at a training course<br />
here have laid importance on<br />
attaining self- reliance on<br />
production of quality seeds of<br />
rice and other crops to<br />
increase production for<br />
attaining sustainable food<br />
security, reports BSS.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y put special emphasis<br />
on developing own<br />
technologies for production,<br />
preservation<br />
and<br />
management of quality crop<br />
seeds, to reduce dependency<br />
on others, especially multinational<br />
companies, in<br />
meeting farmers' seed<br />
demand.<br />
Rangpur zonal office of<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> Agriculture<br />
Development Corporation<br />
(BADC) organised the<br />
training course on "Boro Rice<br />
Seed Production Technology'<br />
for its contract growers at its<br />
Alamnagar Seed Production<br />
Centre in the city on<br />
Saturday.<br />
Joint Director of BADC<br />
Agriculturist Md Kabirul<br />
Islam presided over the<br />
training course participated<br />
by 30 contract growers of<br />
BADC from all over Rangpur<br />
zone.<br />
Additional General<br />
Manager of BADC from<br />
Dhaka Agriculturist Biswas<br />
Kutub Uddin, Joint Director<br />
(Rangpur Zone) Agriculturist<br />
AKM Saiful Islam, Deputy<br />
Director (Contract Growers)<br />
Agriculturist Mortuza Rashed<br />
Iqbal and Deputy Director<br />
(Vegetables Seed Farm)<br />
Agriculturist Asaduzzaman<br />
Khan conducted the training<br />
course.<br />
Terming agriculture and<br />
quality seeds the most<br />
Debiganj Fire<br />
Station foundation<br />
stone laid<br />
PANCHAGARH: <strong>The</strong><br />
foundation stone of Debiganj<br />
Fire Service Station, to be<br />
built by Public Works<br />
Department at a cost of Taka<br />
two crore and 45 lakh, was<br />
laid here on Saturday, reports<br />
BSS.<br />
Local lawmaker Advocate<br />
Nurul Islam Sujon formally<br />
laid the foundation stone of<br />
the fire station at a function as<br />
the chief guest.<br />
Addressing the occasion,<br />
the parliament member said<br />
the present government of<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina<br />
is relentlessly working for<br />
welfare of the people.<br />
He said the continuation of<br />
Sheikh Hasina government is<br />
needed for uninterrupted<br />
development of the country.<br />
important global issues, the<br />
experts said the country must<br />
develop its own technologies<br />
to attain self- reliance on<br />
quality seed production for<br />
ensuring a long-term food<br />
security despite changing<br />
climate.<br />
Agriculturist Asaduzzaman<br />
Khan said there is no<br />
alternative to achieving selfreliance<br />
on production of<br />
quality seeds and utilisation<br />
of the latest agri-technologies<br />
for enhancing crop<br />
production in attaining food<br />
security.<br />
Agriculturist Mortuza<br />
Rashed Iqbal stressed<br />
conducting more research on<br />
innovation of time-befitting<br />
seeds and agriculture<br />
technologies to keep<br />
agriculture production rising<br />
for ensuring food security<br />
under any situation.<br />
Agriculturist Biswas Kutub<br />
Uddin said we must develop<br />
our own seed and agriculture<br />
technologies through<br />
conducting continuous<br />
research works to meet our<br />
own seed demand.<br />
Agriculturist Kabirul Islam<br />
called upon the contract<br />
growers to enhance<br />
production of quality rice<br />
seed as well as seeds of other<br />
crops to meet local demand.
INTERNATIONAL<br />
MONDay, FeBrUary <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
7<br />
Debris found near the site of an F-16 jet crash in northern Israel.<br />
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says<br />
his country will defend itself "against<br />
any attack" after carrying out what<br />
appear to be its largest strikes on sites<br />
in Syria in decades, reports BBC.<br />
Israel launched raids against Iranian<br />
targets after saying it had intercepted<br />
an Iranian drone crossing the<br />
Syria-Israel border. Iran denies the<br />
allegation. During the offensive an<br />
Israeli F-16 fighter jet was shot down<br />
by Syria air defences, crashing in<br />
northern Israel. Its pilots ejected from<br />
the plane and were taken to hospital.<br />
It is believed to be the first time<br />
Israel has lost a jet in combat since<br />
2006." Mr Netanyahu warned that<br />
Israel's policy to defend itself against<br />
"any attempt to harm our sovereignty"<br />
was "absolutely clear".<br />
"Iran brazenly violated Israel's sovereignty,"<br />
he said, adding: "<strong>The</strong>y dispatched<br />
an Iranian drone from Syrian<br />
territory into Israel... Israel holds Iran<br />
and its Syrian hosts responsible." Mr<br />
Netanyahu said Israel would oppose<br />
any attempt by Iran to entrench itself<br />
militarily in Syria. But he also said<br />
President Donald Trump on<br />
Saturday accused the<br />
Democrats of playing politics<br />
with classified information,<br />
asserting that their<br />
memo countering GOP allegations<br />
about the conduct of<br />
during a meeting with military chiefs<br />
that "Israel seeks peace". In other<br />
reaction:<br />
<strong>The</strong> US State Department said it<br />
supported Israel's right to defend<br />
itself, blaming Iran for the confrontation<br />
In a phone call with Mr Netanyahu,<br />
Russian President Vladimir Putin<br />
stressed the need to avoid a "dangerous<br />
escalation". He has been supporting<br />
President Assad's government in<br />
Syria's civil war<br />
UN Secretary-General Antonio<br />
Guterres has called for an immediate<br />
de-escalation in the actions that he<br />
said threaten a "dangerous spill-over"<br />
across Syria's borders.<br />
Israel's military says one of its combat<br />
helicopters downed an Iranian<br />
drone infiltrating Israel on Saturday.<br />
It tweeted footage of the incident. In<br />
response, Israel said it attacked Syrian<br />
and Iranian targets in Syria, during<br />
which an F-16 jet was fired upon,<br />
Israel says, causing it to crash. <strong>The</strong> two<br />
pilots were able to parachute to safety<br />
before it came down in an empty field<br />
Sri Lanka ruling coalition<br />
suffers in local polls<br />
This is the first local elections since the centre-left SLFP and centre-right<br />
UNP parties formed a unity government in 2015. Photo: Internet.<br />
Photo: Internet.<br />
Israel warns Iran after launching<br />
major raids in Syria<br />
near the town of Harduf in northern<br />
Israel. Israel says it then carried out a<br />
second wave of strikes on both Syrian<br />
and Iranian military targets.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Israeli military said it had inflicted<br />
huge damage on targets in Syria in<br />
the "most significant attack" of its kind<br />
against the country since the 1982<br />
Lebanon war. Syria's state media say air<br />
defences opened fire in response to an<br />
Israeli attack on a military base, hitting<br />
more than one plane. Iran is Israel's<br />
arch-enemy, and Iranian troops have<br />
been fighting rebel groups in Syria since<br />
2011. Tehran has sent military advisers,<br />
volunteer militias and, reportedly, hundreds<br />
of fighters from its Quds Force,<br />
the overseas arm of the Iranian Revolutionary<br />
Guards Corps (IRGC). It is also<br />
believed to have supplied thousands of<br />
tonnes of weaponry and munitions to<br />
help President Bashar al-Assad's forces<br />
and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, which is<br />
fighting on Syria's side. Tehran has<br />
faced accusations that it is seeking to<br />
establish not just an arc of influence but<br />
a logistical land supply line from Iran<br />
through to Hezbollah in Lebanon.<br />
Trump accuses Democrats of<br />
playing politics with memo<br />
Colombo, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka's ruling<br />
coalition is on course to suffer a shocking<br />
defeat in local elections as the party backed<br />
by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is<br />
set to register a landslide victory, reports Al<br />
Jazeera.<br />
At 1:30pm local time (19:00 GMT), with<br />
most results in, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna<br />
(SLPP) had won 44.05 percent of the<br />
vote. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's<br />
United National Party (UNP)<br />
garnered 31.65 percent while the President<br />
Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom<br />
Party (SLFP) came a distant third with 9.52<br />
percent of the vote.<br />
This is the first local elections since the<br />
centre-left SLFP and centre-right UNP parties<br />
formed a unity government in August<br />
2015. <strong>The</strong> UNP however, is expected to win<br />
the Colombo Municipal Council comfortably,<br />
with Rosy Senanayake set to become<br />
the first female mayor of Sri Lanka's capital<br />
city.<br />
Saturday's result has surprised many Sri<br />
Lankan political analysts and is being considered<br />
a blow to the ruling coalition that has<br />
been roiled by political bickering in recent<br />
months. President Sirisena was particularly<br />
critical of the UNP in their handling of the<br />
economy. Many UNP ministers publicly criticised<br />
the president. <strong>The</strong> coalition infighting<br />
was clearly evident during the campaign<br />
trail, as both the coalition partners contested<br />
against each other.<br />
the FBI's Russia probe was a<br />
trap meant to "blame the<br />
White House for lack of<br />
transparency, reports Dawn.<br />
Citing national security<br />
concerns, the White House<br />
notified the House Intelligence<br />
Committee on Friday<br />
that the president was<br />
"unable" to declassify the<br />
Democratic memo. White<br />
House counsel Don McGahn<br />
said in a letter to the committee<br />
that the memo contains<br />
"numerous properly<br />
classified and especially sensitive<br />
passages" and asked<br />
the committee to revise it<br />
with the help of the Justice<br />
Department. He said Trump<br />
was still "inclined" to release<br />
the memo in the interest of<br />
transparency if revisions are<br />
made.<br />
<strong>The</strong> president's rejection<br />
of the Democratic memo<br />
was in contrast to his enthusiastic<br />
embrace of releasing<br />
the Republican document,<br />
which accuses the FBI and<br />
Justice Department of abusing<br />
their surveillance powers<br />
in obtaining a secret warrant<br />
to monitor former Trump<br />
campaign foreign policy<br />
adviser Carter Page. Even<br />
before reading the GOP document,<br />
Trump pledged to<br />
make it public and was overheard<br />
telling one congressman<br />
after the State of the<br />
Union address that he would<br />
"100 percent" put it out. It<br />
was published in full a week<br />
ago over the objections of<br />
the Justice Department.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Intelligence Committee's<br />
top Democrat, California<br />
Rep. Adam Schiff, criticized<br />
Trump for treating the two<br />
documents differently, saying<br />
the president is now seeking<br />
revisions by the same committee<br />
that produced the original<br />
Republican memo. Still, Schiff<br />
said, Democrats "look forward<br />
to conferring with the agencies<br />
to determine how we can<br />
properly inform the American<br />
people about the misleading<br />
attack on law enforcement by<br />
the GOP." <strong>The</strong> head of the<br />
House committee, Rep. Devin<br />
Nunes, R-Calif., who produced<br />
the GOP memo,<br />
encouraged Democrats to<br />
accept the Justice Department's<br />
recommendations and<br />
"make the appropriate technical<br />
changes and redactions."<br />
Trump has said the GOP<br />
memo "vindicates" him in the<br />
ongoing Russia investigation<br />
led by special counsel Robert<br />
Mueller.<br />
Indiana county<br />
records 4 deaths<br />
in 48 hours<br />
from moving<br />
snow<br />
A county near Chicago has<br />
recorded four deaths related<br />
to moving snow in the 48<br />
hours following a major winter<br />
storm, reports Dawn.<br />
Lake County, Indiana,<br />
Coroner Merrilee Frey, says<br />
Saturday that the deaths<br />
were related to shoveling or<br />
snowblowing. She issued an<br />
urgent message asking residents<br />
to be careful while<br />
moving snow. <strong>The</strong> Chicago<br />
Tribune says the four deaths<br />
included a 51-year-old<br />
woman who died in her<br />
home Thursday evening<br />
after coming in from shoveling<br />
snow and a 72-year-old<br />
man who died Friday morning<br />
after suffering a cardiac<br />
arrest while using a snowblower.<br />
A 67-year-old man<br />
died Friday afternoon after<br />
shoveling snow. Details of<br />
the fourth death in the county<br />
were not immediately<br />
available.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Tribune reported Friday<br />
that in Naperville, Illinois,<br />
just west of Chicago, a<br />
man in his 60s died after<br />
suffering a heart attack while<br />
shoveling snow. Lake County,<br />
Indiana, is about 45 miles<br />
(72 kilometers) south of<br />
Chicago.<br />
Gas explosion at<br />
Bolivia Carnival<br />
leaves 6 dead,<br />
28 injured<br />
Police in Bolivia say six<br />
people were killed and<br />
dozens injured when a street<br />
vendor's gas canister exploded<br />
near the route of the Carnival<br />
in the city of Orura,<br />
reports CNN.<br />
Deputy Commander Freddy<br />
Betancurt says the blast<br />
took place on a street parallel<br />
to where participants<br />
were making the folkloric<br />
entrance to Orura's Carnival,<br />
one of the most important in<br />
Bolivia. It created an expansive<br />
wave of at least 50 yards<br />
(meters). Betancurt said<br />
police believe Saturday's<br />
accident was caused by hot<br />
oil weakening the hose to the<br />
vendor's gas canister.<br />
Regional police Commander<br />
Romel Rana said<br />
the explosion left six people<br />
dead and 28 injured. Orura's<br />
Carnival draws tourists from<br />
Bolivia and around the<br />
world, and was declared a<br />
world heritage site by<br />
UNESCO.<br />
India, China vie<br />
for influence as<br />
crisis unfolds in<br />
Maldives<br />
As a political crisis plays out<br />
in the Maldives, a quiet tug<br />
of war is taking place around<br />
it, with heavyweights China<br />
and India vying for strategic<br />
dominance in the picturesque<br />
Indian Ocean nation,<br />
reports BBC.<br />
At first glance, Beijing and<br />
New Delhi want no part in<br />
the turmoil that erupted<br />
Feb. 1 when the country's<br />
Supreme Court overturned<br />
the convictions of several<br />
opposition politicians,<br />
including the president's<br />
main rival. Chinese and<br />
Indian officials spoke in usual<br />
diplomatic tones, saying<br />
they have no interest in<br />
interfering in the archipelago's<br />
internal affairs. But in<br />
reality, both have strategic<br />
regional interests to safeguard<br />
and are jostling for the<br />
upper hand. President<br />
Yameen Abdul Gayoom has<br />
sent envoys to "friendly<br />
nations" China, Pakistan<br />
and Saudi Arabia to explain<br />
his government's position<br />
since he rejected the court<br />
ruling, imposed a state of<br />
emergency last week and<br />
arrested two of the Supreme<br />
Court judges. His actions<br />
fueled suspicion that he has<br />
no intention of easing up on<br />
eliminating his rivals and<br />
tightening his hold on power<br />
ahead of this year's elections.<br />
Donald Trump: Lives<br />
are being ‘destroyed’<br />
by allegations<br />
President Donald Trump says lives are being<br />
"destroyed by mere allegation" after two<br />
White House aides quit amid accusations of<br />
domestic abuse, reports BBC.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>re is no recovery for someone falsely<br />
accused," Mr Trump tweeted. This week saw<br />
the departure of White House speechwriter<br />
David Sorensen and staff secretary Rob<br />
Porter. <strong>The</strong> White House has been criticised<br />
for its handling of the allegations and Mr<br />
Trump's comments quickly drew scorn.<br />
His remarks also come amid a worldwide<br />
debate over sexual harassment and the<br />
abuse of power. In his tweet, Mr Trump did<br />
not mention either man, but warned allegations<br />
could result in a person's "life and<br />
career gone". Among those to react with<br />
anger was Democratic Senator Patty Murray,<br />
who responded by saying that women's lives<br />
were affected every day by sexual violence<br />
and harassment. "I'm going to keep standing<br />
with them, and trusting them, even if the<br />
president won't," she said.<br />
Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier<br />
tweeted that Mr Trump's comments were<br />
"offensive". Some commentators objected to<br />
his reference to due process, for example<br />
pointing to his promotion of a conspiracy<br />
theory about former President Barack Obama's<br />
nationality. Mr Sorensen has been<br />
accused by his former wife of being violent<br />
and emotionally abusive, while Mr Porter<br />
faces allegations of domestic abuse involving<br />
two ex-wives. Both men deny the allegations.<br />
Mr Trump, who paid tribute to Mr Porter<br />
on Friday during a press conference in which<br />
he told people to "remember that he said that<br />
he's innocent", has himself been accused of<br />
sexual misconduct, something he has strongly<br />
denied. <strong>The</strong> president has also supported<br />
others who have faced abuse allegations,<br />
including Alabama Republican Roy Moore,<br />
who ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate.<br />
Sexual misconduct claims have hit a growing<br />
list of influential men around the world after<br />
a flurry of allegations were made against<br />
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.<br />
<strong>The</strong> #MeToo hashtag also went viral last<br />
year as more and more women shared their<br />
harassment experiences online.<br />
Mr Trump tweeted that "false" abuse allegations were "shattering"<br />
careers.<br />
Photo: Internet.<br />
Flying sludge, dirty kisses at<br />
Brazil Carnival ‘mud party’<br />
Hundreds of revelers wrestled, tackled each<br />
other and threw chunks of gunk while shaking<br />
it to samba and reggaeton Saturday at a<br />
Carnival beach party where clothes were<br />
optional but the mud was not, reports Dawn.<br />
<strong>The</strong> annual "Bloco da Lama," or "Mud Party,"<br />
in this coastal town about a 4-hour drive<br />
from Rio de Janeiro got started when Alesandra<br />
Cristiana was the first person to jump<br />
into thick black mud in an area of mangroves<br />
the size of several soccer fields. With the<br />
tropical sun blasting a 95-degree heat,<br />
dozens of onlookers then followed her lead,<br />
soon followed by a few hundred.<br />
Like many mud-bathers, Cristiana, now in<br />
her fifth year attending, claimed the sticky<br />
matter had medicinal qualities. "Yuck!"<br />
screamed Luciana Pasiani as her sons, ages 8<br />
and 5, rubbed her down with sludge. "Hug<br />
with mud! Hug with mud!" they squealed.<br />
Because one coat clearly wasn't enough,<br />
Pasiani's husband and two male friends then<br />
picked her up and chucked her in.<br />
"This is a dream for me," said Pasiani, who<br />
runs a mechanic shop in a suburb of Sao<br />
Paulo. "It's so much fun." <strong>The</strong> messy party<br />
harkens back to 1986, when according to<br />
local lore a few teenagers hiking in a mangrove<br />
forest smeared themselves with mud<br />
to combat mosquitoes. <strong>The</strong>y then paraded<br />
through Paraty, a former Portuguese colonial<br />
town with picturesque white walls in the<br />
downtown area. A tradition was born. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
days, however, revelers no longer parade<br />
through the town, a practice that angered<br />
shopkeepers who watched their snow-white<br />
walls get sullied with flying soil. Instead, the<br />
partygoers stick to the mangroves and<br />
adjoining beach. Luiz Antonio Simas, a Carnival<br />
historian, said the mud party encapsulates<br />
how celebrations in small Brazilian<br />
cities reflect their origins. In Paraty, fishing<br />
and ocean culture dominate, so a beach party<br />
makes sense. "<strong>The</strong>se parties are also less<br />
tense than Carnival celebrations in bigger<br />
cities, which often have more political<br />
themes," said Simas.<br />
A popular tourist destination, many foreigners<br />
visiting Paraty got into the fun. Max<br />
Johnson and Heidi Anderson, a couple from<br />
Sweden, did their best to kiss while completely<br />
covered in sludge. "It's definitely a bit<br />
nasty," said Anderson. "But it's Carnival, so<br />
you can do whatever you want." "If you want<br />
to kiss somebody with a poopy-looking face,<br />
you can do that," she added.<br />
Elizabeth Oviedo, from Chile, followed<br />
other women in stripping off her bikini top<br />
and plastering her chest with mud. "It's no<br />
big deal, the mud covers you," Oviedo told<br />
her friend, Alejandra Nalda, who initially<br />
gave her a disapproving look but then pulled<br />
her top off, too.<br />
After spreading mud all over her body,<br />
Nalda got out and grabbed her cellphone for<br />
a selfie. Her phone had a special plastic that<br />
vendors sell for the event, while other<br />
partiers used Saran wrap, plastic grocery<br />
bags or selfie sticks to protect their devices.<br />
As they stood covered in mud, Alosio Gomes<br />
de Oliveira and his wife of 33 years reflected<br />
on how their adult daughters no longer<br />
wanted to go on vacation with them.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>y say we are old," said De Oliveira,<br />
from Rio. "Maybe after seeing photos of us<br />
on this trip they will say we are not so, so<br />
old." As the party was winding down, a group<br />
of young men ran through the crowds looking<br />
for anybody who was not completely<br />
mud-covered. Any violator was hugged and<br />
had his or her face wiped with mud, including<br />
an Associated Press reporter who up<br />
until then had managed to stay relatively<br />
clean. "Everybody has to change and let go<br />
during Carnival," said Diego Prestes, from<br />
Sao Paulo, as he applied the mud. "Having<br />
fun is the only thing that is important."<br />
Indonesia bus crash<br />
kills 27; police say<br />
brakes failed<br />
A packed tourist bus returning from an outing<br />
collided with a motorbike and plunged<br />
from a hill on Indonesia's main island of<br />
Java after its brakes apparently malfunctioned,<br />
killing at least 27 people, police said<br />
Sunday, reports BBC.<br />
At least 18 others were hospitalized with<br />
injuries, some in critical condition, following<br />
the crash Saturday on a winding slope in<br />
Subang in West Java province, said local<br />
police chief Muhammad Joni. Television<br />
footage showed police, soldiers and medical<br />
personnel evacuating the victims from the<br />
upside-down bus, which was carrying more<br />
than 40 local tourists. <strong>The</strong> bus was headed<br />
for Tangerang, a satellite city just south of the<br />
capital, Jakarta, from West Java's<br />
Tangkuban Perahu, a popular mountainous<br />
resort.<br />
Joni said police were still investigating the<br />
cause of the accident, but a preliminary<br />
investigation showed the brakes malfunctioned<br />
while the bus was going up the hill<br />
and rolled down, hitting a motorbike before<br />
falling into a grass field. Most of the victims<br />
died instantly, Joni said. Police were questioning<br />
the bus driver, who suffered light<br />
injuries.
ART & CULTURE<br />
MoNDAy,<br />
FeBRUARy <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
8<br />
Akshay starrer PadMan<br />
charged with plagiarism<br />
Ripu Daman Jaiswal claims that<br />
PadMan has been copied from the<br />
script he had written and submitted to<br />
Dharma Productions last year. He has<br />
tweeted and written a Facebook post in<br />
which he charges PadMan makers of<br />
plagiarism, reports <strong>The</strong> Indian Express.<br />
After a smooth release at the theaters,<br />
PadMan seems to be facing<br />
controversies, one after another. After<br />
PadMan challenge being at the<br />
receiving end for just being a<br />
promotional strategy with no long-term<br />
aim of educating people about<br />
menstrual hygiene, the makers have<br />
been blamed with plagiarism charges<br />
by a man who claims that he had<br />
written the script for PadMan even<br />
before Twinkle Khanna had announced<br />
the film. Ripu Daman Jaiswal has been<br />
posting on Twitter and Facebook and<br />
has been trying to get his voice heard.<br />
On December 20, 2017, Ripu posted<br />
on Facebook saying that he had sent the<br />
synopsis of the film to Dharma<br />
Vishal Bhardwaj directorial, starring<br />
Deepika Padukone, is based on the life<br />
and times of Ashraf Khan, popularly<br />
known as Sapna Didi, who was a feared<br />
name in the underworld. <strong>The</strong> film is set<br />
to hit the theatres by year end, reports<br />
<strong>The</strong> Indian Express.<br />
Deepika Padukone, who will be seen<br />
as gangster Sapna Didi in her next film,<br />
Productions' creative head and also to<br />
Vikramaditya Motwane. He wrote, "I<br />
had registered the film on 5th of<br />
December 2016 from SCREEN<br />
WRITER ASSOCIATION and sent to<br />
Ryan Stephan (Karan johar's<br />
production - Creative head) and<br />
personally to Vikram Aditya Motwane.<br />
And you know what happened? After<br />
ten days on 16th of December 2016, I<br />
heard the news that Mrs. Twinkle<br />
Khanna revealed that her production is<br />
making a film based on his life, starring<br />
AKSHAY KUMAR."<br />
After the film's release, Ripu tweeted<br />
about how some of the scenes have<br />
been taken up from the script he had<br />
written, "Intermission of PadMan. 11<br />
scenes has been copied from my script<br />
uptil now and even one of the character.<br />
That's it. I am definitely going to court. I<br />
remember I was in the library when I<br />
wrote this dialogue and was truly elated.<br />
Honestly, I surprised myself that day.<br />
Tell me, how on earth can you steal<br />
says the "incredible" story of the lady<br />
don encouraged her to take up the<br />
project. After portraying the role of Rani<br />
Padmavati in "Padmaavat", Deepika<br />
will portray the mafia queen in Vishal<br />
Bhardwaj's next directorial venture. "I<br />
guess I am drawn to strong characters. I<br />
am very excited to play this part. Like<br />
'Padmaavat' was a 13th century old<br />
someone's dialogue? This is unfair."<br />
I remember I was in the library when<br />
I wrote this dialogue and was truly<br />
elated. Honestly, I surprised myself that<br />
day. Tell me, how on earth can you steal<br />
someone's dialogue? This is unfair.<br />
Intermission of PadMan. 11 scenes has<br />
been copied from my script uptil now<br />
and even one of the character. That's it.<br />
I am definitely going to court. As a<br />
writer, it is your duty to never justify<br />
characters and plot in the name of god.<br />
If you do that, you're lying to yourself as<br />
well as millions of people<br />
reading/watching you. Yes, you'll earn a<br />
lot of money and fame, but you'll live in<br />
remorse your entire life.<br />
I can't tell you how hard it is to see the<br />
film I have written with so much<br />
passion & integrity going away from<br />
me. Every day, every moment I feel<br />
cheated with faith. I just hope that the<br />
cosmos give me enough strength to<br />
survive this hard times. I am trying real<br />
hard to survive.<br />
Deepika opens up about her role<br />
in Vishal Bhardwaj’s next<br />
story that even after so many years the<br />
power of women is visible to all today.<br />
We are standing up for ourselves with<br />
dignity. I find her journey so relevant."<br />
"It is going to be similar with Vishal sir's<br />
film. It is based on Sapna Didi, I don't<br />
know what the title is at the moment. It<br />
is a true story. It is an incredible story,<br />
her transformation is amazing,"<br />
Padukone said in a media interaction<br />
here.<br />
<strong>The</strong> movie is based on the life and<br />
times of Ashraf Khan, popularly known<br />
as Sapna Didi, who was a feared name<br />
in the underworld. According to media<br />
reports, Khan was married to a man<br />
who worked under don Dawood<br />
Ibrahim. Apparently, after Dawood got<br />
her husband killed in a police<br />
encounter, she decided to avenge his<br />
death.<br />
Khan joined hands with Hussaid<br />
Ustara, a man who hated Dawood, and<br />
also had a short stint as a police<br />
informer to bring him down. She<br />
reportedly hatched a plan to kill<br />
Dawood at the Sharjah Cricket<br />
Stadium, but it turned out that the<br />
notorious underworld don had ordered<br />
that she be murdered in the most brutal<br />
manner.<br />
Produced by Prernaa Arora's Kriarj<br />
Entertainment, the film is an<br />
adaptation of S Hussain Zaidi's book<br />
"Mafia Queens of Mumbai". Deepika<br />
Padukone Reveals What It Takes To<br />
Turn Into Sanjay Leela Bhansali's<br />
Leading Lady Deepika said she is elated<br />
to start working on the film.<br />
This deleted scene from Thor<br />
Ragnarok shows Jeff Goldblum's<br />
Grandmaster appearing as a<br />
hologram as Chris Hemsworth's<br />
Thor and Mark Ruffalo's Bruce<br />
Banner discuss their misfortunes,<br />
reports Dawn.<br />
Thor Ragnarok was one of the<br />
funniest superheroes movies by<br />
Marvel. With its heady mixture of<br />
stunningly beautiful imagery,<br />
exciting action and trademark Taika<br />
Watiti humour, Ragnarok revived<br />
the Thor franchise that had been one<br />
of the farthest corners of the galaxy<br />
that is Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
Everybody has their favourite<br />
parts of the film. Some like Chris<br />
Hemsworth and his portrayal of the<br />
God (not Lord, mind you) of<br />
Thunder, some like Tom<br />
Hiddleston's wiggly Loki, some<br />
others like Tessa Thompson's<br />
badass Valkyrie and some prefer<br />
Mark Ruffalo's green rage monster,<br />
Hulk. Mine was Jeff Goldblum's<br />
ridiculously funny Grandmaster,<br />
the owner of the planet Sakaar,<br />
where Thor found Hulk, Loki, and<br />
Valkyrie. Goldblum, like a fine<br />
wine, gets better with age. All the<br />
exhilarating action and colourful<br />
visuals aside, his scenes were the<br />
ones I enjoyed the most.<br />
And this is why this deleted scene,<br />
that would presumably be included<br />
in the home video disc release of the<br />
film, has delighted me. We saw Jeff<br />
Goldblum showing his unhinged<br />
side as the Grandmaster, presiding<br />
over battles to deaths on his home<br />
planet Sakaar. <strong>The</strong> scene shows<br />
Thor sitting in a room, somewhere<br />
on Sakaar, and watching the<br />
Grandmaster on a hologram,<br />
<strong>The</strong> makers of Race 3 have already<br />
wrapped the first schedule of this<br />
much-awaited film, starring Salman<br />
Khan alongside Jacqueline<br />
Fernandez. Remo D Souza, the<br />
director, had shared a couple of stills<br />
previously, updating the fans on the<br />
shooting schedule, reports <strong>The</strong><br />
Indian Express.<br />
After wrapping up the first<br />
schedule in Mumbai, the Race 3<br />
team, including Salman Khan,<br />
Bobby Deol and Daisy Shah among<br />
others, have headed to Bangkok. <strong>The</strong><br />
team is reportedly shooting for the<br />
next song in the city. Earlier,<br />
director Remo D Souza had shared a<br />
couple of stills giving an update to<br />
Salman fans about his whereabouts<br />
and development of the film.<br />
This is for the first time when<br />
Remo and Salman will be working<br />
together. <strong>The</strong> team has already shot<br />
for Race title track Allah Duhai.<br />
Some of the stills from the sets were<br />
shared by Anil Kapoor, who is the<br />
only actor from the earlier<br />
installments of the action-thriller<br />
Thor Ragnarok deleted<br />
scene about Goldblum's<br />
charmingly unhinged<br />
Grandmaster<br />
doing… well, doing what<br />
Grandmaster would do.<br />
And this involves the 'action' with<br />
some aliens which we assume is<br />
happening inside the ship that Thor<br />
and company stole to escape<br />
Sakaar. <strong>The</strong> infamous orgy ship.<br />
After a while, Bruce Banner appears<br />
with a bowl of food. Thor,<br />
awkwardly, turns off the hologram.<br />
Valkyrie, too, makes an<br />
appearance.<br />
Salman heads<br />
to Bangkok<br />
for Race 3<br />
franchise to reprise his role.<br />
Since the announcement of the<br />
film and its star cast, a lot of buzz<br />
has been created amongst the fan<br />
about the film. Recently, the makers<br />
also announced that Jacqueline<br />
would be seen performing pole<br />
dance in this multi-starrer. In a<br />
press statement, Remo D'Souza said,<br />
"Jacqueline is a very hardworking<br />
girl. It is amazing to see what she has<br />
accomplished with the pole dance<br />
form in such a short span of time.<br />
We have all seen glimpses of her<br />
pole dance skills. Hence, we decided<br />
to include it in Race 3 and take it to<br />
the next level."<br />
<strong>The</strong> director on working with<br />
Salman had earlier stated, "I don't<br />
have words to express how it feels to<br />
work with him. As a director, I can't<br />
say that it was amazing, really, there<br />
are no words. You have to be with<br />
him, be on the set. When you stand<br />
before him, then you realize what<br />
you are doing."<br />
Race 3 is being produced by<br />
Salman Khan Films and Ramesh<br />
Taurani of Tips Films. <strong>The</strong> film is<br />
scheduled to release on Eid <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
H o R o S c o P e<br />
ARIeS<br />
(March 21 - April 20): If others go out of<br />
their way to pick holes in your<br />
arguments today just ignore them.<br />
Having said that, it could be there is<br />
something you have overlooked and at least one<br />
kind person will try to warn you, so don't be too<br />
eager to be rude.<br />
TAURUS<br />
(April 21 - May 21): Your main task<br />
today is to resist the temptation to look<br />
at the world as if everything that<br />
happens is a disaster or a tragedy. Focus<br />
only on good news today - there is still plenty of it if<br />
you care to look. It's about attitude, not events.<br />
GeMINI<br />
(May 22 - June 21): Check the small<br />
print carefully before putting pen to<br />
paper today because you could have<br />
been misled into thinking that you<br />
have got the best of a deal when, in fact, others will<br />
profit a lot more than you do. Details are always<br />
important.<br />
cANceR<br />
(June 22 - July 23): <strong>The</strong> more others<br />
want you to do something you don't<br />
think is in your best interests the more<br />
you must resist. Your arguments for<br />
giving it a miss may not sound convincing but what<br />
matters is that you stick to your guns. <strong>The</strong>y can't<br />
force you.<br />
Leo<br />
(July 24 - Aug. 23): Cosmic activity in<br />
your fellow fire sign of Aries has filled<br />
your head with no end of big ideas but<br />
not all of them are practical, so don't get<br />
carried away. You are under no obligation to hurry,<br />
so bide your time and think things through.<br />
VIRGo<br />
(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): Someone who<br />
usually has only nice things to say<br />
about you will go right the other way<br />
and say something hurtful today, but<br />
you must not let it get to you. Sometimes you can<br />
be too sensitive for your own good. Don't take<br />
yourself so seriously.<br />
LIBRA<br />
(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): You have<br />
nothing to prove and lots to gain and<br />
everything to look forward to. That is<br />
the message of the stars today and<br />
even if you don't quite believe it what happens<br />
over the next few days will bring a smile to your<br />
face. It's about time!<br />
ScoRPIo<br />
(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): If someone you<br />
don't know very well tells you what a<br />
great guy you are it's a sure sign they are<br />
after something. That something is<br />
most likely to be your money, so act cool and don't<br />
give them a thing, no matter how nicely they ask.<br />
SAGITTARIUS<br />
(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Your current run<br />
of good fortune is sure to come to an<br />
end eventually but there is no reason<br />
to suppose it will be any time soon.<br />
<strong>The</strong> planets indicate there are plenty of good<br />
things still to look forward to, the first of which<br />
will arrive today.<br />
cAPRIcoRN<br />
(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): For some strange<br />
reason you can see enemies in every<br />
direction at the moment but most if<br />
not all of them exist only in your<br />
imagination, so get a grip on yourself and get<br />
things done. Your only real enemy is your lack of<br />
self-belief.<br />
AQUARIUS<br />
(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19): You tend to believe in<br />
yourself to such a degree that you think<br />
nothing is beyond you, and that's good,<br />
but even an Aquarius has limits and you<br />
may need to remind yourself what those limits are. A<br />
little bit of realism will go a long way.<br />
PISceS<br />
(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20): Yes, you should<br />
let other people have the last word.<br />
Yes, you should let other people lead<br />
the way. You may not entirely<br />
approve of what they say, still less of what they<br />
do, but so long as you don't get the blame why<br />
should you worry?
SPORTS<br />
MONDAy, FEBRUARy <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
9<br />
Herath isn't battling father time, he has cut a deal with him.<br />
Pakistan gears<br />
up to host PSL<br />
final in Karachi<br />
KARACHI: Foreign experts on<br />
Sunday inspected security<br />
arrangements in Karachi,<br />
which is scheduled to stage the<br />
final of Pakistan's Twenty20<br />
league next month -- the city's<br />
first international match in nine<br />
years, reports BSS.<br />
<strong>The</strong> third season of the<br />
Pakistan Super League starts in<br />
the United Arab Emirates on<br />
February 22. <strong>The</strong> tournament<br />
will move to Pakistan for two<br />
play-offs on March 20-21 and<br />
the final in Karachi on March<br />
25. Security experts Reg<br />
Dickason and Richard Dennis<br />
witnessed a full dress rehearsal<br />
for the final in Karachi. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
were also briefed by Pakistani<br />
security and government<br />
officials on the arrangements.<br />
"Whatever we have<br />
witnessed today, it's as good<br />
as I have seen in all my years<br />
of work but I can't say a final<br />
word (on hosting the final)<br />
now and will submit my<br />
report within the next seven<br />
days," Dickason told media.<br />
<strong>The</strong> team's report will be<br />
integral to paving the way for<br />
the final. International cricket<br />
in Pakistan was suspended<br />
after a 2009 militant attack on<br />
the Sri Lankan team in Lahore<br />
killed eight people and injured<br />
seven visiting players.<br />
Pakistan's national team has<br />
since played nearly all its<br />
home matches in the UAE.<br />
<strong>The</strong> country has been battling<br />
Islamist militants for over a<br />
decade, and insurgents have<br />
carried out several highprofile<br />
attacks across the<br />
country. Authorities have been<br />
trying to gradually return<br />
international cricket to<br />
Pakistan. <strong>The</strong> final of the PSL<br />
last year was played in Lahore.<br />
Some foreign players made the<br />
trip, but many stayed away<br />
because of concerns about<br />
security. That was followed by<br />
three T20s against a World XI<br />
in September, and one T20<br />
against Sri Lanka in October --<br />
all in Lahore. Pakistan made<br />
unprecedented security<br />
arrangements for these<br />
matches, with 20,000 military<br />
and police officials guarding the<br />
visiting players and the<br />
stadium.<br />
Photo: Internet.<br />
Postponed men’s downhill<br />
to be raced Thursday<br />
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: <strong>The</strong> blue<br />
riband men's downhill, scheduled to open the<br />
Olympic alpine skiing programme, will be<br />
raced Thursday after high winds forced its<br />
postponement Sunday, reports BSS.<br />
"Due to the strong wind and unfavourable<br />
forecast for today, the men's downhill is<br />
postponed," the International Ski Federation<br />
(FIS) announced. "<strong>The</strong> jury has decided to<br />
switch the official programme and has<br />
rescheduled the men's downhill for Thursday,<br />
February 15, and the men's super-G on Friday,<br />
February 16," FIS said, with the downhill set to<br />
start at <strong>02</strong>00 GMT. <strong>The</strong> downhill training for<br />
the men's combined event scheduled for<br />
Monday has also been cancelled.<br />
It is not the first time Mother Nature has<br />
played havoc with the best laid plans for alpine<br />
skiing at the Olympics. Four years ago in<br />
Sochi, the latter part of the programme was<br />
rescheduled because of poor weather while<br />
the downhill in Vancouver in 2010 was put<br />
back two days because of heavy snow and<br />
rain.<br />
<strong>The</strong> downhill at the 1998 Nagano Games<br />
was rescheduled on three occasions, also<br />
because of heavy snow and rain. Just prior to<br />
the postponement, FIS said the "hill is closed<br />
to everyone", meaning that the gondola that<br />
transports athletes, their backroom staff,<br />
timing and course officials up to the<br />
Jeongseon slope would not be running.<br />
Luckily for the male racers, they managed to<br />
get three downhill training sessions in under<br />
their belts, racing the third in similarly gloomy<br />
weather forecasts that eased at the last<br />
minute.<br />
- Contingency plans -<br />
Given that skiing is an outdoor event, at the<br />
mercy of the elements, its Olympic<br />
programme is always designed with<br />
contingencies at hand. <strong>The</strong> 11 medal events in<br />
Pyeongchang are run over 17 days, with racers<br />
having to have completed at least one<br />
downhill training run in order to be able to<br />
compete in the downhill proper. <strong>The</strong><br />
scheduling allows FIS to be able to tinker with<br />
the line-up, often bringing forward more<br />
technical events like slalom and giant slalom<br />
which can at a push be raced in heavy snow for<br />
instance.<br />
"We kind of expected this downhill to be<br />
postponed due to wind, but at the same time<br />
the guys were charged up and ready to go,"<br />
said Sasha Rearick, the men's alpine head<br />
coach of the US team.<br />
"With this being an outdoor sport, it is not<br />
abnormal." Rearick said racers now have to<br />
"harness (energy), stay relaxed, and then be<br />
able to ramp back up". France's Brice Roger,<br />
one of the outsiders for the downhill, added:<br />
"We downhillers are used to it, it happens<br />
quite regularly. "It's now a question of not<br />
losing energy," he said. "We'll keep busy, get<br />
the cards out, do a bit of sport and the day'll<br />
pass quietly. "We've just switched on the<br />
television so we'll watch a bit of the ice<br />
skating."<br />
Coleman puts on speed show<br />
at Boston Grand Prix<br />
BOSTON: Christian Coleman, who won the<br />
100 metres silver medal last year at the<br />
World Championships, cruised to victory in<br />
the men's 60 metres on Saturday at the<br />
Boston Indoor Grand Prix, reports BSS.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 21-year-old Coleman clocked 6.46<br />
seconds as he easily beat Xie Zhenye of<br />
China, who finished in 6.54 at the Reggie<br />
Lewis Center.<br />
Last month, Coleman ran a 6.37 indoors in<br />
his season-opening race to record the fastest<br />
time in history over the distance.<br />
"I am just trying to fine tune and stay on top<br />
of things," Coleman said. "I have really been<br />
focusing on my start and it is paying off.<br />
"I don't like to put a limit or specific time on<br />
how fast I can go. I just try to compete every<br />
race." Coleman, of the US, stumbled slightly<br />
out of the blocks but was still able to hold off<br />
a late charge from Xie, who was runner-up<br />
for the second straight year. American Noah<br />
Lyles placed third in 6.57.<br />
Xie is rounding into form ahead of Indoor<br />
Worlds next month in Birmingham,<br />
England, as he also ran a 6.57 last week in<br />
New York.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Boston indoor meet is the fourth stop<br />
on the IAAF World Indoor Tour circuit and<br />
it comes just one week before the US indoor<br />
championships which start Friday in<br />
Albuquerque, New Mexico.<br />
Coleman says he is looking forward to<br />
running the 60m in Albuquerque.<br />
"I wanted to come out today and execute.<br />
Make sure everything is a go for next week,"<br />
he said. Kenyan Olympic hero Edward<br />
Cheserek capped the day's races with a solid<br />
victory in the men's 3,000m.<br />
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid thrashed Real Sociedad to warm up for<br />
Wednesday's Champions League tie with Paris St-Germain. Photo: BBC.<br />
Japan Olympic<br />
ice hockey<br />
forward Ukita<br />
banned for<br />
one game<br />
GANGNEUNG, South<br />
Korea: Japanese women's<br />
forward Rui Ukita was<br />
suspended for one game<br />
of the Pyeongchang<br />
Winter Olympics on<br />
Sunday by the<br />
International Ice Hockey<br />
Federation due to a<br />
kicking incident against<br />
Sweden, reports BSS.<br />
Ukita will miss<br />
Monday's group-stage<br />
contest<br />
against<br />
Switzerland but will be<br />
able to return for<br />
Wednesday's game<br />
against the United North<br />
and South Korean women.<br />
<strong>The</strong> violation came with<br />
48 seconds remaining in<br />
Japan's loss Saturday to<br />
Sweden. During a puck<br />
battle in front of the<br />
Swedish bench, Sweden's<br />
Annie Svedin pushed<br />
Ukita to the ice.<br />
While Svedin was over<br />
Ukita, the Japanese player<br />
made a kicking action<br />
directed to the lower body<br />
of the Swede.<br />
A disciplinary panel,<br />
based on videos and other<br />
evidence, determined the<br />
kick was not mere<br />
momentum of the play but<br />
a clear leg movement in<br />
Svedin's direction.<br />
Although<br />
the<br />
announcement said the<br />
panel did not believe<br />
Ukita intended to injure<br />
Svedin, the swinging kick<br />
so near a rival was a<br />
violation.<br />
Newcomer Klassen becomes new Pink-Day hero.<br />
Olympics hit<br />
by cyberattack,<br />
source not<br />
revealed<br />
PYEONGCHANG: Olympic<br />
officials on Sunday said a<br />
cyberattack<br />
was<br />
responsible for an internet<br />
and wifi shutdown during<br />
the Pyeongchang Winter<br />
Games opening ceremony,<br />
but refused to say who was<br />
responsible, reports BSS.<br />
Internal systems crashed<br />
just before Friday's<br />
ceremony but didn't<br />
disrupt the high-tech gala,<br />
which was attended by<br />
VIPs including the sister of<br />
North Korean leader Kim<br />
Jong Un, and US Vice-<br />
President Mike Pence.<br />
Cyber security experts<br />
had warned of potential<br />
attacks on the Winter<br />
Olympics, with both North<br />
Korea and Russia touted as<br />
possible sources. In<br />
January, a malware attack<br />
targeted organisations<br />
involved with the<br />
Olympics.<br />
South Korea's defence<br />
ministry and cybersecurity<br />
experts are included in the<br />
taskforce investigating<br />
Friday's attack, but the<br />
possible culprit is being<br />
kept under wraps.<br />
"We are not going to<br />
reveal the source," said<br />
Sung Baik-you, spokesman<br />
for the Games' local<br />
organisers.<br />
Wenger fears<br />
Arsenal’s top four<br />
chances are in peril<br />
LONDON: Arsene Wenger conceded<br />
Arsenal's hopes of ending their Champions<br />
League exile are in severe danger after Harry<br />
Kane condemned them to a damaging 1-0<br />
defeat against bitter rivals Tottenham,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
Kane's second half header at Wembley on<br />
Saturday left Wenger's sixth placed side<br />
languishing six points adrift of the Premier<br />
League's top four.<br />
Worryingly for Wenger, that gap could<br />
grow even bigger on Sunday when fourth<br />
placed Liverpool play their game in hand at<br />
Southampton. Failing to qualify for next<br />
season's Champions League via a top four<br />
finish would be another hammer blow for<br />
beleaguered Arsenal boss Wenger, whose<br />
team had to settle for a berth in the far less<br />
attractive Europa League this term.<br />
Wenger acknowledged that depressing fate<br />
is staring Arsenal in the face again following<br />
Kane's latest act of vengeance against the<br />
club that rejected him as a youngster.<br />
"It's a game we couldn't afford to lose, it<br />
makes it much more difficult," Wenger said.<br />
"We have to fight, there was more at stake<br />
than just the derby, that's why it's so<br />
disappointing.<br />
"It's very disappointing because the<br />
priority is to be in the Champions League via<br />
the top four. "I'm not a big fan of the Europa<br />
League winner getting into the Champions<br />
League. It's not right, but if it is an<br />
opportunity we have to take it."<br />
It was a frustrating afternoon for Wenger,<br />
whose side were out-played for long periods<br />
as new signings Pierre-Emerick<br />
Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan<br />
failed to shine in their first taste of the north<br />
London derby. Arsenal's wretched away<br />
record against teams in the top five -- they<br />
haven't won their last 16 of those fixtures --<br />
left Wenger cursing a lack of cutting edge<br />
and a defence that wilted when Kane rose to<br />
head home from Christian Eriksen's cross.<br />
- Wenger woes -<br />
"We missed chances on the counter attack<br />
that are not acceptable at this level. <strong>The</strong>n at<br />
the start of the second half we should have<br />
lost the game by more," he said.<br />
"At the top level you have to be mentally<br />
strong enough to take the chances.<br />
"We can only look at ourselves at the goal,<br />
but I don't think we lack hunger in defence.<br />
"We were caught by a super striker, he is<br />
one of the best in the world. he scores against<br />
everyone. "<strong>The</strong> away record is very poor. we<br />
don't score enough goals away from home."<br />
In contrast to Wenger's woes, Tottenham<br />
manager Mauricio Pochettino was searching<br />
for fresh ways to praise Kane. <strong>The</strong> England<br />
star's 32nd club goal of the season means he<br />
has now scored seven times in seven leagues<br />
games against Arsenal.<br />
Not for the first time, Pochettino made it<br />
clear Kane deserves to be ranked among the<br />
world's best strikers. "Of course Harry is one<br />
of the best in the world. I have repeated that<br />
for the last few years," he said. "Sometimes<br />
you believe that he is my player and I try to<br />
boost him. I'm telling you and I tell again, in<br />
my experience in football, he is one of the<br />
best. "He deserves to be one of the best. It's<br />
so good to have him in our side.<br />
Harry every game he has the same energy."<br />
In the first north London derby at<br />
Wembley for 25 years, Tottenham extended<br />
their recent mastery over Arsenal, who have<br />
won only once in the last eight league<br />
meetings with their hated neighbours.<br />
Tottenham are unbeaten in their last nine<br />
league matches and remain in a good<br />
position to qualify for the Champions<br />
League. Damaging Arsenal's hopes was an<br />
added bonus and Pochettino added: "If you<br />
analyse the game, we created many chances.<br />
"My players were fantastic, they deserve<br />
the full credit, now keep going. "We are<br />
doing a fantastic job. It's important for the<br />
belief of the team and confidence."<br />
Photo: Internet.<br />
Kohli rues missed chances as South<br />
Africa keep series alive<br />
JOHANNESBURG: Indian captain Virat<br />
Kohli lamented two crucial errors which<br />
effectively cost his team a chance of<br />
wrapping up the series in the fourth<br />
one-day international against South<br />
Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on<br />
Saturday, reports BSS.<br />
"You have to take your chances in this<br />
game," said Kohli after David Miller<br />
escaped twice in one over at a time when<br />
India seemed to have taken control.<br />
South Africa chased down a rainreduced<br />
target of 2<strong>02</strong> in 28 overs with<br />
five wickets and 15 balls to spare to keep<br />
alive their hopes of sharing the sixmatch<br />
series after losing the first three<br />
games.<br />
But the home team's chances looked<br />
slim when returning star AB de Villiers<br />
was fourth man out with 100 runs still<br />
needed and only 67 balls remaining.<br />
In the next over David Miller, on six,<br />
was dropped by Shreyas Iyer at deep<br />
square leg off leg-spinner Yuzvendra<br />
Chahal. Back on strike in the same over<br />
he missed a sweep and was bowled --<br />
only to be recalled when a replay<br />
showed Chahal had sent down a no-ball.<br />
Miller went on to hit 39 and shared a<br />
quickfire stand of 72 with Heinrich<br />
Klaasen, whose 43 not out off 27 balls<br />
earned him the man of the match award.<br />
Two weather interruptions played a<br />
key role. India were 200 for two, with<br />
Shikhar Dhawan on 107 not out when<br />
the threat of lightning caused a<br />
stoppage after 34.2 overs.<br />
Dhawan added only two runs after the<br />
resumption and India lost five wickets<br />
for 89 runs to finish with a slightly<br />
disappointing 289 for seven.<br />
South Africa were 43 for one after 7.2<br />
overs when lightning, followed by rain,<br />
caused a lengthy delay. <strong>The</strong>y came came<br />
back needing another 159 runs off 20.4<br />
overs.<br />
"It basically became a T20 game," said<br />
Kohli. "We did not grab our chances so<br />
we did not deserve to win."<br />
Indian spinners Chahal and left-armer<br />
Kuldeep Yadav, who took 21 wickets<br />
between them in the first three matches,<br />
conceded a combined 119 runs off 11.3<br />
overs on Saturday as they struggled to<br />
control a wet ball against aggressive<br />
batting.<br />
"It was nice to put some pressure on<br />
the Indians. <strong>The</strong> message today was to<br />
put fear aside," said South African<br />
captain Aiden Markram.<br />
Kohli, the star of a series in which<br />
India hold an unbeatable 3-0 lead,<br />
played another valuable innings, hitting<br />
75 in a second-wicket stand of 178 with<br />
Dhawan. His 83-ball innings took Kohli<br />
to 393 runs for a series in which he has<br />
only been dismissed twice.<br />
It was the third successive big<br />
partnership between Dhawan and Kohli.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y put on an unbeaten 93 in chasing<br />
down a small target in the second match<br />
in Centurion and added 140 in setting<br />
up a win in the third match in Cape<br />
Town.<br />
This time, though, it was the lefthanded<br />
Dhawan who made the biggest<br />
contribution, hitting his 13th ODI<br />
century in his 100th match in the<br />
format. His 109 runs were scored off<br />
105 balls, with ten fours and two sixes.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS<br />
MONDAy,<br />
THE<br />
BANGLADESHTODAY<br />
FEBRuARy <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
10<br />
<strong>The</strong> business review meeting-<strong>2018</strong> of greater Comilla and Noakhali regions branch managers of Karmasangsthan Bank held<br />
on Saturday at Nazrul Institute, Comilla. Managing Director of the bank Md. Abul Hossain attended as chief guest.Bank's<br />
General Manager M H Md. Ali Karim was present in the meeting as special guest. Deputy General Manager Mohammad Shafiul<br />
Azam presided over the meeting.<br />
Photo: Courtesy<br />
China's January inflation eases<br />
on carryover effect<br />
China's consumer price<br />
index (CPI) rose 1.5 percent<br />
year-on-year in January, in<br />
line with economist<br />
forecasts.<br />
<strong>The</strong> index was down from<br />
December's 1.8 percent,<br />
driven largely by the<br />
carryover effect, National<br />
Bureau of Statistics (NBS)<br />
statistician Sheng Guoqing<br />
said Friday.<br />
"Food and non-food prices<br />
surged in January last year<br />
when the Spring Festival<br />
holiday formed a high base<br />
effect, help bringing the<br />
index down last month by<br />
0.3 percentage points," said<br />
Lian Ping, chief economist<br />
with the Bank of<br />
Communications.<br />
Service and non-food<br />
prices climbed 2.3 percent<br />
and 2 percent year on year,<br />
respectively, according to<br />
the NBS.<br />
On a monthly basis, CPI<br />
was up 0.6 percent, higher<br />
than the 0.3-percent in the<br />
previous month.<br />
<strong>The</strong> month-on-month rise<br />
was mainly attributed to<br />
higher food prices,<br />
influenced by bad weather,<br />
according to Sheng.<br />
"<strong>The</strong> inflation in February<br />
would probably be the<br />
highest this year since the<br />
CPI was 0.8 percent during<br />
the same period last year,<br />
the lowest month in 2017,"<br />
Lian said. However, the<br />
possible index hike in<br />
February will not bring<br />
much inflationary pressure<br />
to the whole year as it cannot<br />
last.<br />
Lian forecast that the CPI<br />
in <strong>2018</strong> might stand at 2<br />
percent on average, higher<br />
than the 1.6 percent<br />
registered in 2017, but well<br />
below the government target<br />
of 3 percent.<br />
Consumer demand will<br />
not be strong enough to prop<br />
up a high-rising CPI, given<br />
that China has been<br />
stepping up efforts to<br />
deleverage and contain<br />
financial risks as it looks to<br />
move from high-speed to<br />
high-quality growth.<br />
<strong>The</strong> CPI figures came<br />
alongside the release of the<br />
producer price index, which<br />
rose 4.3 percent year-onyear<br />
in January, driven by<br />
fast price rises of raw<br />
materials and minerals.<br />
It was down from a growth<br />
of 4.9 percent recorded in<br />
December, according to the<br />
bureau. On a monthly basis,<br />
the index was up 0.3<br />
percent, down from 0.8<br />
percent the previous month.<br />
For the whole of 2017, the<br />
PPI climbed 6.3 percent<br />
compared with a 1.4-percent<br />
drop in 2016, ending<br />
declines for the previous five<br />
years.<br />
Looking ahead, Lian<br />
expects the PPI in <strong>2018</strong> to be<br />
around 3.5 percent, lower<br />
than last year, driven mainly<br />
by the carryover effect.<br />
Analysts say the mild<br />
inflation leaves ample room<br />
for the government's macro<br />
policy maneuvers.<br />
Tian Guoqiang, professor<br />
with Shanghai University of<br />
Finance and Economics,<br />
said that China would be<br />
able to make better use of<br />
monetary and fiscal policies<br />
to relieve the burden for the<br />
real economy.<br />
China will adopt a prudent<br />
and neutral monetary policy<br />
and a proactive fiscal policy<br />
this year, according to the<br />
central economic work<br />
conference in December.<br />
With a low inflation level,<br />
the country can continue to<br />
deepen supply-side<br />
structural reform, raise<br />
innovation capacity and<br />
competitiveness of the<br />
economy and push forward<br />
high-quality development,<br />
Tian said.<br />
High-quality development<br />
is the "fundamental<br />
requirement" for<br />
determining development,<br />
economic policies and<br />
macroeconomic regulation,<br />
according to policymakers.<br />
Oil majors strike it<br />
rich on rising<br />
crude prices<br />
<strong>The</strong> world's leading oil<br />
companies published a<br />
bumper crop in profits last<br />
year as rising crude prices<br />
helped turn their fortunes<br />
around, but they remain<br />
cautious and are unlikely to<br />
rush out on a new spending<br />
spree just yet.<br />
In a flourish of earnings<br />
reports over the past week,<br />
the picture painted by<br />
majors ranging from<br />
ExxonMobil and Chevron to<br />
BP, Royal Dutch Shell and<br />
Total has been a very rosy<br />
one. French giant Total saw<br />
its bottom line jump by<br />
more than a third, Shell's net<br />
profit tripled, ExxonMobil's<br />
fourth-quarter earnings rose<br />
nearly five-fold, Norway's<br />
Statoil swung back into the<br />
black and BP's profits<br />
soared.<br />
In fact, "2017 was one of<br />
the strongest years in BP's<br />
recent history," the British<br />
group's chief executive Bob<br />
Dudley told his annual<br />
earnings news conference.<br />
Key to this success was the<br />
steady rise in crude prices in<br />
recent months, driven by a<br />
landmark deal between oilproducing<br />
countries both<br />
inside and outside the OPEC<br />
cartel to reduce the<br />
worldwide glut in supply by<br />
throttling output.<br />
Correspondingly, after<br />
falling from $115 per barrel<br />
in 2014 to under $35 at the<br />
start of 2016, oil prices have<br />
been rising, from an average<br />
$44 in 2016 to $54 in 2017<br />
to nearly $70 this month.<br />
Flush with their newfound<br />
profits, the oil majors<br />
have raised dividends and<br />
announced share buy-back<br />
programmes, eager to make<br />
it up to their shareholders<br />
who have become restive<br />
after having to do with<br />
meagre payouts for years.<br />
But it's still a far shot from<br />
the heady days of old.<br />
Companies have learned<br />
to live with low oil prices,<br />
slashing costs and<br />
investment to become leaner<br />
and fitter, and said they have<br />
little intention of<br />
abandoning that regime any<br />
time soon. Shell's CEO Ben<br />
van Beurden said he now<br />
always works on the<br />
assumption that oil prices<br />
would remain "lower<br />
forever".<br />
"We're sticking to the costcutting<br />
programmes, despite<br />
the rise in crude prices," said<br />
Total chief executive Patrick<br />
Pouyanne. Such prudence is<br />
evident in the only modest<br />
uptick in investment in<br />
upstream exploration and<br />
production activities.<br />
Globally, these<br />
investments rose by four<br />
percent to $389 billion last<br />
year and should increase by<br />
a modest two-to-six percent<br />
again this year, according to<br />
estimates published by IFP<br />
Energies Nouvelles this<br />
week.<br />
By comparison, the<br />
amount totalled $683 billion<br />
in 2014.<br />
Developments vary from<br />
region to region, and the<br />
anticipated growth this year<br />
is driven almost entirely by<br />
independent companies and<br />
US shale firms, whose<br />
overheads are much lower.<br />
<strong>The</strong> majors, for their part,<br />
expect to cut investment in<br />
exploration and production<br />
by 16 percent this year.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>re's been a sigh of<br />
relief across the boardrooms<br />
of the global oil and gas<br />
companies as higher prices<br />
have boosted results<br />
significantly," said David<br />
Elmes, energy specialist at<br />
the Warwick Business<br />
School.<br />
"But there's also a<br />
hesitancy and uncertainty<br />
about the longer term which<br />
is tempering any return to<br />
full speed ahead," he said.<br />
Companies are holding<br />
back because oil prices look<br />
set to remain volatile and<br />
vulnerable to fluctuation.<br />
Demand for oil from<br />
energy-hungry economies,<br />
such as China and India, is<br />
expected to remain robust.<br />
But the market's muchneeded<br />
rebalancing could be<br />
jeopardised by increased<br />
production by US shale<br />
companies.<br />
"I'm certain that US<br />
independents will again<br />
invest a lot to profit from a<br />
price of $60 per barrel and<br />
ramp up shale production,<br />
so the market is going to<br />
remain volatile," said Total's<br />
Pouyanne.<br />
China central bank skips<br />
open market operations<br />
for 13th consecutive<br />
working day<br />
China's central bank<br />
suspended open market<br />
operations for the 13th<br />
consecutive working day<br />
Sunday, citing sufficient<br />
liquidity in the banking<br />
system.<br />
<strong>The</strong> move is to offset the<br />
influence from factors such<br />
as the use of Contingent<br />
Reserve Arrangement<br />
(CRA) and fiscal<br />
expenditure to maintain<br />
stable liquidity in the<br />
banking system, said the<br />
People's Bank of China<br />
(PBOC) on its website.<br />
Wall Street's plunge this week has<br />
brought scrutiny to complex niche<br />
products to trade on volatility that<br />
market experts believe were poorly<br />
structured and exacerbated swings in<br />
stocks.<br />
Only days before markets began to<br />
go haywire, Barclays chief executive<br />
Jes Staley warned about the risky<br />
investments at the World Economic<br />
Forum in Davos.<br />
Many investors were using the<br />
exchange-traded products to place<br />
bets that volatility would stay low or<br />
go down, a "very smart" wager during<br />
a period of persistently low volatility,<br />
Staley said. "But if this thing turns,<br />
hold on to your hat," he added.<br />
That change took place on Monday<br />
as the Dow Jones Industrial Average<br />
was in the midst of a more than 1,000<br />
point drop that included a violent<br />
800-point dive in the blue-chip index<br />
over 10 minutes.<br />
During that period, the CBOE<br />
Volatility Index, known as the "VIX"<br />
index, also shot higher.<br />
That shift spelled instant losses for<br />
"short-vol" trading vehicles,<br />
including exchange traded products<br />
by Japanese bank Nomura and<br />
Credit Suisse that had predicted<br />
volatility would go down, known as a<br />
"short" investment.<br />
Because the VIX is known<br />
unofficially as Wall Street's "fear"<br />
index over possible bad future<br />
outcomes, a sudden surge likely<br />
S.Korea's exports fall<br />
in early February on<br />
less business days<br />
South Korea's exports fell in the first 10<br />
days of February due to less business days,<br />
the customs office data showed Sunday.<br />
Exports, which account for about half of<br />
the economy, reached 14.8 billion U.S.<br />
dollars during the Feb. 1-10 period,<br />
according to the Korea Customs Service.<br />
It was down 1.8 percent from the same<br />
period of last year as the number of working<br />
days reduced to eight days from 8.5 days a<br />
year earlier. <strong>The</strong> daily average exports,<br />
however, gained 4.4 percent to 1.85 billion<br />
dollars in the cited period.<br />
<strong>The</strong> country's export kept an upward<br />
contributed to the brutal losses in the<br />
equity markets.<br />
Short bets on volatility had become<br />
a popular stance, outnumbering<br />
trades that anticipated a rise in<br />
volatility and in one case earning a<br />
return of almost 200 percent in 2017,<br />
according to a note from Goldman<br />
Sachs.<br />
"Hedge funds, prop traders, retail<br />
investors... everybody was on the<br />
same exposure," said Brett Manning,<br />
senior market analyst at<br />
Briefing.com. "It worked really well<br />
for a long time."<br />
But the investment suddenly went<br />
south when markets turned sharply<br />
on February 2, when a surprisingly<br />
strong US jobs report sparked<br />
worries about inflation.<br />
"Everybody was on the same side of<br />
the trade," said Manning. "Hedge<br />
funds started to move out and people<br />
started to panic to cover these<br />
investments." Conditions worsened<br />
this week, leading both Credit Suisse<br />
and Nomura to liquidate their funds<br />
amid heavy losses.<br />
In the aftermath of the turbulence,<br />
Fidelity Investments halted trading<br />
on exchange traded funds that bet on<br />
low volatility.<br />
While it's impossible to know the<br />
exact losses, the market was<br />
estimated at between $3 billion and<br />
$4 billion, a small part of the overall<br />
market for exchange traded products,<br />
a growing type of investment that is<br />
momentum for 15 months through January,<br />
but it was widely forecast to fall in February<br />
as the number of working days reduce due to<br />
the Lunar New Year's holiday next week.<br />
Demand for semiconductors kept a<br />
double-digit expansion this month, with<br />
exports for oil products and cars rising.<br />
<strong>The</strong> shipments of smartphones continued<br />
to fall as local manufacturers increased<br />
production in overseas factories.<br />
Imports advanced 17.6 percent to 16.6<br />
billion dollars in the cited period, sending the<br />
trade balance to a deficit of 1.84 billion<br />
dollars.<br />
Stocks' drop brings scrutiny of<br />
complex low-volatility bets<br />
traded on exchanges and based on<br />
assets, such as stocks, commodities<br />
or indices.<br />
<strong>The</strong> investments were widely<br />
known in the financial world as<br />
failure-prone because of the tendency<br />
of markets to eventually become<br />
volatile. Credit Suisse even warned in<br />
its prospectus that the "long-term<br />
expected value" of the investment is<br />
"zero."<br />
"<strong>The</strong> main purpose was to be an<br />
insurance but people started buying<br />
and selling it in sort of a casino<br />
fashion," said FTN Financial chief<br />
economist Chris Low.<br />
Regulators are now looking more<br />
closely at the vehicles. Swiss<br />
regulators are following up with<br />
Credit Suisse, and New York Federal<br />
Reserve President William Dudley<br />
pledged more scrutiny of the<br />
products.<br />
Asset manager BlackRock called for<br />
a "regulatory classification system<br />
that would label levered and inverse<br />
exchange traded products differently<br />
than plain-vanilla (ones) in order to<br />
clarify for both regulators and<br />
investors the risks associated with<br />
those products."<br />
One consequence of this week's<br />
shakeout is that the products in<br />
question have been "significantly<br />
defanged," making a repeat<br />
peformance of the February 5 chaos<br />
unlikely anytime soon, said a note<br />
from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.<br />
First Security Islami Bank sponsored 'FSIBL 3rd Diplomat Cup Tennis Tournament-<strong>2018</strong> has been<br />
inaugurated recently. Md. Shahriar Alam, MP, State Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People's<br />
Republic of <strong>Bangladesh</strong> and President, <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Tennis Federation was present as chief guest and<br />
Mr. Syed Waseque Md. Ali, Managing Director, First Security Islami Bank Ltd was present as special<br />
guest on the program. Among others, Golam Morshed, General Secretary, <strong>Bangladesh</strong> Tennis<br />
Federation, Shahajada Basunia, Head of Public Affairs and Brand Communication Division, First<br />
Security Islami Bank Ltd and other officials were present on the program. Photo: Courtesy<br />
Over 20 m new<br />
companies<br />
registered in China<br />
in past 5 years<br />
Some 21.6 million<br />
companies were registered<br />
in the past five years in<br />
China, thanks to the<br />
government's push for<br />
entrepreneurship and<br />
innovation to bolster growth.<br />
Since China introduced<br />
mass entrepreneurship and<br />
innovation policies in 2014,<br />
more than 4,200 new<br />
hackspace companies have<br />
been created, serving over<br />
<strong>12</strong>0,000 start-up businesses<br />
and raising over 5.5 billion<br />
yuan (870 million U.S.<br />
dollars) In 2017, online sales<br />
increased by 28 percent and<br />
express delivery volume<br />
grew by nearly 30 percent. A<br />
string of new growth engines<br />
such as sharing and digital<br />
economies have been<br />
established.<br />
<strong>The</strong> government has cut<br />
red tape, reduced taxes and<br />
slashed fees for enterprises.<br />
Mass entrepreneurship<br />
and innovation has been an<br />
effective driver for both<br />
economic growth and the<br />
consistent transition<br />
between traditional and new<br />
growth engines.<br />
Crude oil futures to boost<br />
China's pricing power,<br />
cautiously : Economic<br />
China will launch crude oil futures on<br />
March 26, as the world's second largest<br />
economy moves to gain pricing power over<br />
commodities.<br />
After years of false starts, the crude futures<br />
contract will make its debut at the Shanghai<br />
International Energy Exchange (INE), the<br />
China Securities Regulatory Commission<br />
(CSRC), the country's top securities<br />
regulator, announced Friday.<br />
Preparations for the launch of the oil<br />
futures have almost been completed, Chang<br />
Depeng, spokesperson for the CSRC, told a<br />
press conference.<br />
China set up a petroleum exchange in the<br />
early 1990s but soon ceased trading due to<br />
reform and market factors.<br />
<strong>The</strong> contract will enable China to develop<br />
its own benchmark for oil pricing in addition<br />
to current global benchmarks.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Asia-Pacific region has surpassed<br />
America and Europe in crude consumption,<br />
but a benchmark with high recognition is<br />
still missing.<br />
China is the world's second largest oil<br />
consumer after the United States. Demand<br />
is likely to soar in the future as the country is<br />
thirsty for the source of energy to fuel its<br />
economic boom.<br />
In the absence of a crude benchmark in the<br />
region, Asian countries pay more than<br />
Europe and America for imported oil. It is an<br />
additional two billion U.S. dollars a year in<br />
the case of China.<br />
<strong>The</strong> WTI and Brent futures contracts are<br />
not accurate reflections of oil prices in Asia.<br />
China's crude contract offers companies in<br />
the real economy a hedging tool which better<br />
reflects market conditions in Asia, said Wu<br />
Jian, a senior researcher with the Bank of<br />
Communications.<br />
<strong>The</strong> new move will also boost yuan's global<br />
use through increasing the trade of yuandenominated<br />
oil. Currently, the main global<br />
benchmarks for crude oil are priced in U.S.<br />
dollars, threatening China's energy and<br />
economic security. <strong>The</strong> yuan-denominated<br />
contract means the Chinese currency will<br />
play a greater role in trade between China<br />
and other oil-producing countries.<br />
But analysts said it could take time before<br />
China's new oil futures challenge the<br />
dominance in oil trading of the two current<br />
global benchmarks, or the prominence of<br />
U.S. dollar in the global financial system.<br />
Bai Ming, a researcher with China's<br />
Ministry of Commerce, said it is natural that<br />
competition arises after long time of<br />
development, but challenge will not<br />
necessarily happen in the end.
MISCELLANEOUS<br />
11<br />
MoNDAY, FebruArY <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Abbas tells India PM he<br />
seeks multi-country<br />
peace mediation<br />
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas<br />
told visiting Indian Prime Minister<br />
Narendra Modi on Saturday that he is<br />
counting on India's support for a multicountry<br />
sponsorship of any future<br />
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,<br />
reports CNN.<br />
Such a framework would ostensibly<br />
replace Washington's long-standing<br />
monopoly as mediator. Abbas rejected<br />
the traditional U.S. role after President<br />
Donald Trump recognized contested<br />
Jerusalem as Israel's capital in<br />
December. Trump's pivot upset<br />
Palestinians who seek the city's Israeliannexed<br />
eastern sector as a capital.<br />
European leaders have criticized<br />
Trump's dramatic policy shift on<br />
Jerusalem, but appear unwilling to<br />
confront Washington over its handling<br />
of more than two decades of failed<br />
efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian<br />
partition deal. Modi's visit to the city of<br />
Ramallah was the first by an Indian<br />
prime minister to an autonomous<br />
Palestinian enclave in the Israelioccupied<br />
West Bank.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Indian leader pledged $41<br />
A rare invitation to Pyongyang<br />
for South Korea's president<br />
marked Day Two of the North<br />
Korean Kim dynasty's<br />
southern road tour, part of an<br />
accelerating diplomatic thaw<br />
that included some Korean<br />
liquor over lunch and the<br />
shared joy of watching a<br />
"unified" Korea team play<br />
hockey at the Olympics,<br />
reports CNN.<br />
Nothing has been settled on<br />
any trip north by South<br />
Korean President Moon Jaein.<br />
But the verbal message on<br />
Saturday to come at a<br />
"convenient time" from<br />
GD-225/18 (10 x 3)<br />
million for a hospital, three schools and<br />
other projects in the West Bank. He<br />
said India remains "committed to<br />
Palestinian national rights," but<br />
stopped short of offering support for<br />
Abbas' political agenda. Modi's West<br />
Bank visit was seen, in part, as an<br />
attempt to compensate the Palestinians<br />
after he hosted Israeli Prime Minister<br />
Benjamin Netanyahu for six days last<br />
month, in a reflection of warming ties<br />
between Israel and India.<br />
Modi flew to Ramallah from Jordan<br />
by helicopter Saturday and laid a<br />
wreath at the grave of Abbas<br />
predecessor Yasser Arafat, located in<br />
Abbas' walled government compound.<br />
Modi then toured the Arafat museum,<br />
which is also part of the compound,<br />
before holding talks with Abbas. Abbas<br />
said after their meeting that he<br />
remains committed to negotiations<br />
with Israel as the path toward<br />
Palestinian independence.<br />
Palestinians seek a state in the West<br />
Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem,<br />
lands Israel captured in 1967, but no<br />
meaningful talks on statehood through<br />
dictator Kim Jong Un,<br />
delivered by his visiting<br />
younger sister, Kim Yo Jong,<br />
is part of a sudden rush of<br />
improving feelings between<br />
the rivals during the<br />
Pyeongchang Olympics. <strong>The</strong><br />
result: a heady, sometimes<br />
surreal, state of affairs in a<br />
South Korea that has seen far<br />
more threat than charm out of<br />
the North. Still, it wouldn't be<br />
South Korea if people weren't<br />
asking the perennial question<br />
when it comes to North Korea<br />
changing gears and showering<br />
its rival with apparent<br />
affection: What's in it for<br />
Pyongyang?<br />
Past "charm offensives"<br />
have been interpreted as<br />
North Korea trying to recoup<br />
from crippling sanctions on<br />
their nuclear program, or<br />
trying to drive a wedge<br />
between Seoul and its U.S.<br />
ally. A massive military<br />
parade in Pyongyang on the<br />
eve of the just-opened<br />
Pyeongchang Games has been<br />
used as Exhibit A by skeptics.<br />
In it, Kim Jong Un<br />
highlighted several huge<br />
intercontinental ballistic<br />
missiles, which were<br />
successfully flight tested three<br />
a partition deal have been held for<br />
almost a decade. "We never have and<br />
never will reject negotiations," said<br />
Abbas. "We consider a multi-lateral<br />
mechanism that emerges from an<br />
international peace conference as the<br />
ideal way to sponsor the negotiations."<br />
Israel staunchly opposes any<br />
international framework for<br />
negotiations, arguing that only the U.S.<br />
can be a fair broker. <strong>The</strong> Palestinians<br />
have criticized Trump's shift on<br />
Jerusalem as a sign of blatant pro-<br />
Israel bias by Washington. <strong>The</strong> Indian<br />
leader arrived late Saturday night to<br />
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United<br />
Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi's powerful<br />
crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed<br />
Al Nahyan, met Modi on arrival at the<br />
airport and had talks with him,<br />
according to the state-run WAM news<br />
agency. In honor of Modi's visit, the<br />
Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest<br />
building in Dubai, displayed the Indian<br />
flag on its massive LED light display.<br />
Abbas is scheduled to meet Monday<br />
with Russian President Vladimir Putin<br />
in Russia's Black Sea town of Sochi.<br />
Come visit: South Korea’s leader<br />
invited to North Korea<br />
times last year and could<br />
reach deep into the U.S.<br />
mainland when perfected.<br />
Kim Yo Jong was to have<br />
lunch Sunday with South<br />
Korean Prime Minister Lee<br />
Nak-yon, the country's No. 2<br />
official, and return to<br />
Pyongyang on Kim Jong Un's<br />
private jet later in the day. <strong>The</strong><br />
lunch Saturday at Seoul's<br />
presidential mansion between<br />
Moon and Kim Yo Jong was<br />
the most significant<br />
diplomatic encounter<br />
between the rivals in years.<br />
<strong>The</strong> night before, Kim and<br />
other North Korean delegates<br />
attended the opening<br />
ceremony of the Olympics,<br />
watching a "unified" Korean<br />
team march under a banner<br />
showing an undivided Korean<br />
Peninsula. In a surreal<br />
mixture of dignitaries, the<br />
Olympic Stadium's VIP box<br />
included Kim Yo Jong and<br />
North Korea's nominal head<br />
of state, Kim Yong Nam,<br />
sitting above and behind U.S.<br />
Vice President Mike Pence<br />
and fellow hard-liner Shinzo<br />
Abe, Japan's prime minister.<br />
Pence and the Kims seemed to<br />
go out of their way not to<br />
acknowledge each other. That<br />
was not the case with Moon -<br />
either at the games, when he<br />
enthusiastically reached up to<br />
shake Kim Yo Jong's hand, or<br />
at the lunch the next day.<br />
South Korean television<br />
showed its smiling president<br />
entering a reception room<br />
Saturday and shaking hands<br />
with the North Koreans.<br />
<strong>The</strong> opening part of the<br />
talks was mostly about the<br />
weather: Pyeongchang was<br />
colder than Seoul, it was<br />
agreed. At the luncheon<br />
proposed a toast, calling for<br />
peace and "mutual<br />
prosperity" for the two<br />
Koreas. He then recalled his<br />
past visit to the North's<br />
Diamond Mountain resort,<br />
where he and his mother met<br />
his North Korean aunt during<br />
a temporary reunion of<br />
families separated by the<br />
1950-53 Korean War.<br />
After meeting with Moon,<br />
the North Korean delegates<br />
boarded a bullet train to<br />
Gangneung, a coastal city<br />
hosting some Olympic events.<br />
Later Saturday night, they all<br />
joined the chief of the<br />
International Olympic<br />
Committee to watch the debut<br />
of the inter-Korean team in<br />
the women's ice hockey<br />
tournament. <strong>The</strong> Koreans<br />
were crushed by Switzerland,<br />
8-0. Pence's office didn't<br />
directly address Kim's<br />
invitation to Moon. "<strong>The</strong> vice<br />
president is grateful that<br />
President Moon reaffirmed<br />
his strong commitment to the<br />
global maximum pressure<br />
campaign and for his support<br />
for continued sanctions,"<br />
Pence spokeswoman Alyssa<br />
Farah said when asked about<br />
the developments.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re's worry, too, that the<br />
proposed summit in<br />
Pyongyang may come with<br />
preconditions.<br />
Annual general meeting of Narsingdi<br />
Diabetic Association held<br />
NARSINGDI: <strong>The</strong> 23rd annual general<br />
meeting of Narsingdi Diabetic<br />
Association (NDA) was held at Zonal<br />
Co-operative training institute in the<br />
town on Saturday, reports BSS.<br />
State Minister for water resources Lt.<br />
Col. (Retd) Muhammad Nazrul Islam,<br />
(Bir Protik), attended the function as<br />
the chief guest with Deputy<br />
Commissioner (DC) and President of<br />
NDA Dr. Shubash Chandra Biswas in<br />
the chair.<br />
Narsingdi Police Super and Vice<br />
president of the Diabetic Association<br />
Amena Begum BPM attended the<br />
GD-224/18 (8 x 4)<br />
meeting as the special guest while Vice<br />
President of the Association Abdul<br />
Moman Sarker delivered the welcome<br />
speech.<br />
<strong>The</strong> meeting was also addressed by<br />
Residential Medical Officer (RMO)<br />
of Narsingdi Zilla Hospital Dr<br />
Mijanur Rahman and General<br />
Secretary of the NDA Mohammad<br />
Nural Amin.<br />
<strong>The</strong> state minister in his speeches<br />
said <strong>Bangladesh</strong> already achieved<br />
laudable success in health sector.<br />
<strong>The</strong> present government led by<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has<br />
been implementing massive<br />
programmes for further<br />
development in the health sector to<br />
ensure quality medi-care services for<br />
every citizen.<br />
<strong>The</strong> meeting was also addressed by<br />
Residential Medical Officer (RMO) of<br />
Narsingdi Zilla Hospital Dr Mijanur<br />
Rahman and General Secretary of the<br />
NDA Mohammad Nural Amin.<br />
He said diabetic patients should<br />
maintain disciplined life. <strong>The</strong>y will<br />
have to take balanced food and<br />
conduct regular physical exercise for<br />
controlling the silent killer disease.<br />
Date : 11-<strong>02</strong>-<strong>2018</strong>
UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY<br />
MONDAy, DHAkA, FEBRUARy <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>, MAgH 30, 1424 BS, JAMADI-Ul-AWAl 25, 1439 HIJRI<br />
On the eve of leaving Dhaka to attend 41st meeting of IFAD at Vatikan city, ministers and high<br />
officials see the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina off at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
President urges varsities to turn youths<br />
into skilled human resource<br />
CHITTAGONG :<br />
President Abdul Hamid on<br />
Sunday urged the authorities<br />
of the country's universities<br />
to take the responsibility<br />
of turning the youths<br />
into well-educated and<br />
skilled human resource,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
"<strong>Bangladesh</strong> is passing<br />
through a bright time of<br />
possibility. <strong>The</strong>refore, the<br />
universities must take the<br />
responsibility of turning the<br />
youths into well-educated<br />
and skilled human<br />
resource. I hope that with<br />
the united efforts of all, we<br />
will be able to build Sonar<br />
Bangla as dreamt by<br />
Bangabandhu, Inshallah."<br />
he said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> President was speaking<br />
at the first convocation<br />
of Chittagong Veterinary<br />
and Animal Sciences<br />
University (CVASU) here<br />
on Sunday.<br />
Higher educational insti-<br />
<strong>The</strong> Seaweed Houses<br />
of Læsø Island<br />
INTERESTING NEWS<br />
On the island of Læsø, located off the<br />
coast of Denmark, there are houses with<br />
roofs made of seaweed. <strong>The</strong>se roofs are<br />
up to a meter thick, and the way they<br />
hang over the walls the house appears to<br />
be wearing a cloak. Apart from their<br />
humongous size, they look a lot like<br />
thatch but seaweed is far more durable.<br />
Some of these roofs are over 300 years<br />
old. <strong>The</strong>y are a unique feature of the<br />
island of Læsø.<br />
<strong>The</strong> practice of building roofs with seaweed—actually<br />
a marine grass called eelgrass—dates<br />
back to the time when the<br />
island of Læsø had a flourishing salt<br />
industry. <strong>The</strong> island was practically soaking<br />
in salt. <strong>The</strong> ground water had over 15<br />
percent salt, and during the hot dry summers<br />
they crystallized out of the ground<br />
naturally in large salt meadows.<br />
Hundreds of salt kilns were built on the<br />
tutions, including universities,<br />
have to take initiatives<br />
so that students can be<br />
engaged in latest information-based<br />
education,<br />
research and creative activities<br />
both at home and<br />
abroad, he said.<br />
President Abdul Hamid,<br />
also the Chancellor of the<br />
university, put emphasis on<br />
friendly student-teacher<br />
relationship as such relationship<br />
can play an effective<br />
role in creating a sound<br />
environment for education<br />
in the universities.<br />
He hoped that the<br />
CVASU will continue to<br />
make all efforts to implement<br />
the great aim of education<br />
and contribute to the<br />
formation of a knowledgebased<br />
society - that is the<br />
expectation of all.<br />
Mentioning that the<br />
importance of internship<br />
for hands-on education is<br />
very high, the President<br />
appreciated CVASU's<br />
extensive initiatives for carrying<br />
out research and<br />
expansion programs.<br />
"A modern research and<br />
pet animal hospital is being<br />
constructed in Dhaka city.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re will be opportunities<br />
for internships for students.<br />
As a result, trained students<br />
will get employment opportunities<br />
in both home and<br />
abroad," he added.<br />
Citing the adverse effect<br />
of climate change on country's<br />
agriculture President<br />
Hamid urged the<br />
researchers and scientists<br />
to invent new varieties and<br />
methods to combat the negative<br />
impact of climate<br />
change to ensure continuous<br />
progress in agriculture<br />
and livestock sector.<br />
He said the university can<br />
play an important role in<br />
conducting research for<br />
exploring our marine<br />
resources as <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
island to refine the salt. <strong>The</strong>y needed fuel<br />
which was provided by the island’s limited<br />
woodlands, until a day came when the<br />
islanders had cut down the last tree. With<br />
no wood left to fire the kilns, Læsø’s salt<br />
industry collapsed. With no trees left to<br />
break the wind, Læsø’s villages were<br />
buried in sandstorm. <strong>The</strong> air became full<br />
of sea salt and they inhibited the growth<br />
of any kind of plants, even grass.<br />
Læsø, however, had plenty of eelgrass<br />
and driftwood. So the people began using<br />
driftwood to build their houses and the<br />
eelgrass was used for the roof. Eelgrass<br />
grows on the island’s seas and were once<br />
so abundant that it frequently washed up<br />
on the shores. <strong>The</strong>y have long, bright<br />
green, ribbon-like leaves about a centimeter<br />
wide, and up to 2 meters long. Farmers<br />
would collect them from the beach and<br />
once dried, they were bundled and twisted<br />
into thick ropes that were then woven<br />
through a home’s rafters to form a roof.<br />
won 1,18,813 square kilometers<br />
of sea area through<br />
disposal of cases with two<br />
neighboring countries that<br />
created a huge potential for<br />
the development of marine<br />
resources in the Bay of<br />
Bengal.<br />
Among others, convocation<br />
speaker Prof. AK Azad<br />
Chowdhury, Chairman of<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> University<br />
Grants Commission<br />
Professor Abdul Mannan<br />
and Vice-Chancellor of the<br />
university Prof Dr. Gautam<br />
Buddha Das also spoke on<br />
the occasion.<br />
Quader<br />
against<br />
VIP lanes<br />
in city<br />
DHAKA : Opposing the<br />
idea of introducing separate<br />
lanes for VIPs, Road<br />
Transport and Bridges<br />
Minister Obaidul Quader<br />
on Sunday said rather<br />
emergency service lanes<br />
need to be introduced to<br />
ease the movement emergency<br />
service vehicles,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
"Though the proposal is<br />
being scrutinised by<br />
Dhaka Transport<br />
Coordination Authority<br />
(DTCA), I think there is no<br />
need to introduce VIP<br />
lanes as the city's spaces<br />
are limited," he said while<br />
relying to queries from<br />
reporters at his ministry<br />
about the introduction of<br />
VIP lanes.<br />
Quader also said his<br />
ministry received a letter<br />
from the Cabinet Division<br />
in a proposal format<br />
regarding introduction of<br />
VIP and emergency service<br />
lanes.<br />
"Emergency service<br />
lanes can be introduced<br />
here, not VIP ones. I<br />
think, we have to come out<br />
of VIP culture," he added.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Cabinet Division<br />
recently proposed introducing<br />
separate lanes for<br />
the movement of Very<br />
Important Persons<br />
(VIPs), police vehicles,<br />
ambulances and vehicles<br />
of other emergency services.<br />
Replying to another<br />
query, the minister said<br />
the construction of Padma<br />
Bridge will be completed<br />
within <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> third span of the<br />
bridge will be installed in<br />
the first week of March<br />
while the remaining ones<br />
soon, he added.<br />
Mobile internet<br />
service disrupted<br />
for 30 mins<br />
DHAKA : Mobile internet<br />
service remained suspended<br />
for half an hour across the<br />
country on Sunday morning<br />
in a bid to prevent question<br />
paper leakage, reports UNB.<br />
Mobile phone operators<br />
kept the internet service suspended<br />
following a directive<br />
from <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n<br />
Regulatory Commission<br />
(BTRC).<br />
<strong>The</strong> telecom regulator took<br />
the initiative to keep the<br />
mobile internet service suspended<br />
for one hour from<br />
9am following widespread<br />
allegations of question paper<br />
leak of Secondary School<br />
Certificate (SSC) and its<br />
equivalent examinations<br />
through different social<br />
media apps, said sources at<br />
mobile phone operators.<br />
However, the service<br />
remained suspended from<br />
9:30am to 10am, said the<br />
sources.<br />
Meanwhile, the sources<br />
could not firm whether the<br />
internet service will remain<br />
disrupted on other exam<br />
days.<br />
<strong>The</strong> SSC question papers<br />
have been leaking out from<br />
the very first day of the<br />
examination. <strong>The</strong> question<br />
papers are being found on<br />
social media sites and mobile<br />
phone before starting of the<br />
examinations.<br />
DHAKA : UN Security<br />
Council will meet on<br />
Wednesday (NY time<br />
Tuesday) to discuss<br />
Rohingya issue and situation<br />
in Rakhine Sate,<br />
according to a provisional<br />
programme of the Security<br />
Council, reports UNB.<br />
By the time, British<br />
Foreign Secretary Boris<br />
Johnson has met<br />
Myanmar leader Aung San<br />
Suu Kyi to talk about<br />
Rohingyas and how they<br />
can be repatriated.<br />
Quoting a statement<br />
from Myanmar's Foreign<br />
Affairs Ministry,<br />
Associated Press (AP) said<br />
Johnson and Suu Kyi on<br />
Sunday discussed repatriation<br />
and developments in<br />
Rakhine, the western<br />
Myanmar state from where<br />
the Rohingya have fled.<br />
Johnson reached<br />
Myanmar<br />
from<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> after meeting<br />
Rohingyas on Saturday.<br />
Johnson said on Twitter<br />
Energy saving needs to be part<br />
of building code: Nasrul Hamid<br />
Campaign for responsible use of electricity launched<br />
DHAKA : State Minister<br />
for Power and Energy Nasrul<br />
Hamid has said that issue of<br />
energy saving should be<br />
incorporated in the National<br />
Building Code to enforce a<br />
legal binding on the electricity<br />
consumers.<br />
"It's almost impossible to<br />
ensure a responsible use of<br />
electricity until this has been<br />
incorporated in the National<br />
Building Code", he told a<br />
function at CIRDAP<br />
Auditorium in the cityon<br />
Sundayjointly organised by<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> Solar and<br />
Renewable Energy<br />
Association (BSREA) and<br />
Forum for Energy Reporters<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> (FERB), reports<br />
UNB.<br />
"<strong>The</strong> two organisations<br />
jointly launched a campaign<br />
on "Responsible Use of<br />
Electricity", at the function<br />
inaugurated by Prime<br />
Minister's Energy Advisor<br />
Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi<br />
Chowdhury.<br />
Nasrul Hamid said renewable<br />
energy will dominate<br />
the energy sector in future<br />
world.<br />
"Technology is advancing<br />
so fast with new innovations.<br />
Now the developed world is<br />
that Sunday's discussion<br />
concerned investigating<br />
violence in Rakhine and<br />
creating the right conditions<br />
for repatriation.<br />
"Held talks with Aung<br />
San Suu Kyi. Discussed<br />
importance of Burmese<br />
authorities in carrying out<br />
full & independent investigation<br />
into the violence in<br />
#Rakhine & urgent need to<br />
create the right conditions<br />
for #Rohingya refugees to<br />
return to their homes in<br />
Rakhine," he wrote.<br />
Meanwhile, <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
and Myanmar are in talks<br />
to hold a home ministeriallevel<br />
meeting this month.<br />
If finalised, Myanmar<br />
Home Minister Kyaw Swe<br />
will lead his country while<br />
Home Minister<br />
Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> at the meeting<br />
which will discuss<br />
Rohingya repatriation,<br />
smuggling of drugs, security<br />
and other relevant<br />
issues.<br />
reducing their electricity<br />
consumption through adopting<br />
new technologies", he<br />
said. He also asked the<br />
power distribution companies<br />
to introduce new technologies<br />
to ensure the<br />
responsible use of electricity<br />
by their consumers.<br />
He also advised the stakeholders<br />
in the energy and<br />
power sector to use the effective<br />
communication mechanism<br />
like social media to<br />
reach their call to the targeted<br />
group of the society.<br />
<strong>The</strong> function, divided into<br />
two sessions, was addressed<br />
by power secretary Dr.<br />
Ahmad Kaikaus, Power<br />
<strong>The</strong> dried leaves at Ramna park hinting the advent of spring season.<br />
UNSC to meet Wednesday<br />
on Rohingya issue<br />
Boris Johnson discusses Rohingya<br />
repatriation with Suu Kyi<br />
Four teams of Members<br />
of European Parliament<br />
(MEPs) comprising 11<br />
MEPs are currently in<br />
Cox's Bazar and they visited<br />
a Rohingya camp there<br />
on Monday to see their<br />
plight on the ground.<br />
In October last year, the<br />
Council of the EU in its<br />
conclusions said it may<br />
consider additional measures<br />
if the situation does<br />
not improve but also<br />
stands ready to respond<br />
accordingly to positive<br />
developments.<br />
On January 16,<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong> and Myanmar<br />
signed a document on<br />
'Physical Arrangement'<br />
which will facilitate the<br />
return of Rohingyas to<br />
their homeland from<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
'Physical<br />
Arrangement' stipulates<br />
that the repatriation will be<br />
completed preferably within<br />
two years from the start<br />
of repatriation.<br />
Development Board (PDB)<br />
chairman Khaled Mahmood,<br />
Rural Electrification Board<br />
(REB) chairman Major<br />
General (retd) Moin Uddin,<br />
Solar and Renewable Energy<br />
Development Authority<br />
(SREDA) chairman Helal<br />
Uddin, Power Cell director<br />
general Mohammad<br />
Hossaein, BSREA president<br />
Dipal C Barua and FERB<br />
chairman Arun Karmaker.<br />
Inaugurating the function,<br />
Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury<br />
said responsible use of electricity<br />
has to be pursued<br />
through both the use of<br />
advanced technology and<br />
change of behavioral pattern.<br />
Rajuk's eviction drive<br />
in Uttara<br />
DHAKA : Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhha (Rajuk) conducted<br />
drives in different places of Uttara on Sunday to evict<br />
illegal establishments, reports UNB.<br />
Rajuk removed several illegal shops and business establishment<br />
set up in residential buildings on the east side of Dhaka-<br />
Mymensingh road.<br />
'Akhtar Furnishers' was fined Tk 5 lakh for illegally using<br />
four floors of a residential building while an Apex showroom,<br />
See Shell Party Centre and Rangs Toshiba were partially<br />
evicted.<br />
A mobile court, led by Rajuk's authorised officer Ashraful<br />
Islam and Rajuk executive magistrate Jesmin Aktar, conducted<br />
the drives, said a press release.<br />
Photo : TBT<br />
Harsher punishment<br />
for disrupting law &<br />
order; Bill passed<br />
SANGSAD BHABAN : <strong>The</strong><br />
Jatiya Sangsad on<br />
Sundaypassed an amendment<br />
bill raising jail term for<br />
disrupting law and order to<br />
maximum seven years from<br />
five years under speedy trial,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Home Minister<br />
Asaduzzaman Khan placed<br />
the bill titled '<strong>The</strong> Law and<br />
Order Disruption Offence<br />
(Speedy Trial) (Amendment)<br />
Bill, <strong>2018</strong>' in the House<br />
which was passed by voice<br />
vote.<br />
<strong>The</strong> original Law and<br />
Order Disruption Offense<br />
(Speedy Trial) Act was first<br />
framed in 20<strong>02</strong> to ensure the<br />
trial of some offences disrupting<br />
the law-and-order<br />
situation like extortion, disrupting<br />
traffic movement,<br />
vandalism, tender manipulation,<br />
giving threats, mugging,<br />
terrorising people as<br />
well as vandalism of public<br />
property and immovable<br />
property.<br />
According to the Bill, anyone<br />
responsible for committing<br />
offence disrupting law<br />
and order will face minimum<br />
two years and maximum<br />
seven years of rigorous<br />
imprisonment along with<br />
fine.<br />
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam, Advisory Editor: Advocate Molla Mohammad Abu Kawser, Managing, Editor: Tapash Ray Sarker, News Editor : Saiful Islam, printed at Sonali Printing Press, 2/1/A, Arambagh 167, Inner Circular Road, Eden Complex, Motijheel, Dhaka.<br />
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