04-03-2018
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Sunday<br />
Dhaka : March 4, <strong>2018</strong>; Falgun 20 1424 BS; Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1439 hijri<br />
www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com<br />
Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.16; No.73; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00<br />
InternatIonal<br />
China asks US for<br />
talks, liaison to defuse<br />
trade tensions<br />
>Page 7<br />
Myanmar removed heavy<br />
weapons from border:<br />
Home Minister<br />
DHAKA : Home Minister<br />
Asaduzzaman Khan on Saturday said<br />
Myanmar has removed its heavy<br />
weapons from Tambru border in<br />
Bandarban following a flag meeting<br />
held on Friday, reports UNB.<br />
The minister came up with the information<br />
replying to a query from<br />
reporters at a programme arranged by<br />
Metropolitan Cooperative Society in<br />
city's Farmgate area.<br />
"During the flag meeting, the<br />
Myanmar authorities said they, upon<br />
receiving wrong information, deployed<br />
army and artillery along Tambru border<br />
in Naikkhongchhari of<br />
Bandarban," he said.<br />
*Members of Border Guard<br />
Bangladesh (BGB) and Border Guard<br />
Police (BGP) of Myanmar will patrol<br />
their respective border areas in coordination<br />
from March 27, Asaduzzaman<br />
added.<br />
Earlier on Thursday, BGB members<br />
were put on high alert as Myanmar<br />
army took position along the Tambru<br />
border in Naikkhongchhari of<br />
Bandarban with heavy arms and<br />
ammunition.<br />
The Foreign Ministry summoned the<br />
Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka<br />
LwinOo over the deployment of troops<br />
and artillery and lodged its protest<br />
strongly.<br />
In the wake of strong protest by<br />
Dhaka, Myanmar on Friday defended<br />
the deployment of troops and artillery<br />
along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border<br />
saying that it was done for internal<br />
security.<br />
art & Culture<br />
Oscars <strong>2018</strong>: Star Wars' Mark<br />
Hamill on why he'd rather<br />
watch from home<br />
>Page 8<br />
PM 'deceiving'<br />
nation: Moudud<br />
DHAKA : BNP senior leader<br />
Moudud Ahmed on Saturday<br />
alleged that Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina is 'deceiving' the nation by<br />
'illegally' carrying out electioneering<br />
for her party spending public<br />
money.<br />
"The Prime Minister is going to<br />
Khulna on Saturday by a helicopter<br />
spending public money to<br />
seek vote for boat," he said, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
Speaking at a discussion, he further<br />
said, "As they (Awami League)<br />
know they won't be able to make<br />
any development promise to woo<br />
voters after the announcement of<br />
the election schedule, they're doing<br />
it now. It's an unethical and unlawful<br />
act, and a deception with people."<br />
A faction of Labor Party, one of<br />
the partners of the 20-party<br />
alliance, arranged the programme<br />
at the Jatiya Press Club demanding<br />
BNP Chairperson Khaleda<br />
Zia's release.<br />
Sports<br />
Bancroft fifty helps<br />
Australia extend<br />
lead<br />
>Page 9<br />
US to remain beside Bangladesh<br />
to resolve Rohingya crisis: Curtis<br />
COX'S BAZAR : The US government<br />
will remain beside Bangladesh<br />
to resolve the long-standing Rohingya<br />
crisis and ensure safe, secure and dignified<br />
return of Rohingya people to<br />
their homeland in Myanmar's<br />
Rakhine State, reports BSS.<br />
"The USA will work with<br />
Bangladesh for safe return of<br />
Rohingyas along with providing all<br />
out support to Bangladesh in<br />
Rohingya issue," said the visiting US<br />
Deputy Assistant to US President<br />
Donald Trump Lisa Curtis yesterday.<br />
Talking to newsmen following her<br />
visit to Kutupalong Rohingya camp in<br />
Ukhiya upazila of the district, she said<br />
her government would work so that<br />
the Rohingya people, who took shelter<br />
inside Bangladesh after persecution in<br />
Rakhine State, could return to their<br />
homeland with dignity.<br />
In this connection, she put emphasis<br />
on full implementation of Kofi<br />
Annan Commission report for ensuring<br />
safe, secure and dignified return of<br />
the persecuted Rohingya people in<br />
Myanmar.<br />
Curtis, Senior Director for South<br />
and Central Asia of the National<br />
Security Council in the White House,<br />
highly appreciated Bangladesh government<br />
for providing shelter to the<br />
huge number of Rohingya refugees on<br />
humanitarian grounds.<br />
"The government definitely<br />
deserves appreciation for giving shelter<br />
to this huge amount of Rohingya<br />
population, which is a rare example in<br />
history," she said.<br />
When her attention was drawn on<br />
recent tension in Bangladesh-<br />
Myanmar border, she said the USA is<br />
keeping her eyes on increasing military<br />
power in border areas along with<br />
Rohingya situation.<br />
"We want to assure all quarters that<br />
we are working with international<br />
community for ensuring smooth<br />
repatriation of Rohingya people...we<br />
will work even with Myanmar government<br />
so that the Rohingya people<br />
could return to their homeland," she<br />
added.<br />
Dr Zafar Iqbal<br />
injured in<br />
knife attack<br />
SHAHJALAL UNIVERSITY :<br />
Renowned writer and teacher of<br />
Shahjalal University of Science and<br />
Technology (SUST) Dr Muhammed<br />
Zafar Iqbal was seriously injured in a<br />
knife attack on the campus on<br />
Saturday afternoon, reports UNB.<br />
Witnesses said a young man<br />
swooped on Dr Zafar Iqbal, a teacher<br />
of SUST Computer Science and<br />
Engineering (CSE) department,<br />
around 5:40pm as he was sitting on<br />
the stage of a celebration programme,<br />
'Robo-5,' of the Electrical and<br />
Electronic Engineering (EEE) department<br />
at Mukta Mancha.<br />
Dr Muhammed Zafar Iqbal.<br />
Photo : Collected<br />
The attacker stabbed him in the<br />
back of his head, leaving him injured.<br />
The noted writer was taken to<br />
Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College<br />
Hospital where he reportedly needs<br />
A+ blood for surgery.<br />
A constable, Ibrahim, was also<br />
injured while trying to catch the<br />
attacker.<br />
However, SUST students caught<br />
the attacker from the Shikkha<br />
Bhaban after the attack. However, the<br />
identity of the attacker could not be<br />
ascertained yet.<br />
Meanwhile, additional police have<br />
been deployed on the campus.<br />
Zohr<br />
05:07 AM<br />
12:15 PM<br />
<strong>04</strong>:22 PM<br />
06:05 PM<br />
07:18 PM<br />
6:20 6:02<br />
DNC proposes<br />
categorizing<br />
'shisha' as drug<br />
DHAKA : Against the backdrop of<br />
growing demand of deadly 'shisha'<br />
(hookah) among the youths, the<br />
Department of Narcotic Control (DNC)<br />
has proposed to incorporate it as a drug<br />
in the relevant law.<br />
"We have sent a proposal to the government<br />
with a request to include<br />
shisha as a drug in the law as its addiction<br />
among the young generation is<br />
increasing gradually," DNC Director<br />
General (DG) Md Jamal Uddin told<br />
BSS.<br />
The Home Ministry had earlier<br />
formed an inter-organizational probe<br />
body following a High Court (HC) order<br />
asking the authorities concerned to take<br />
legal measures to stop the menace of<br />
shisha smoking upon news items published<br />
in newspapers.<br />
The probe body collected eight samples<br />
from different shisha lounges at<br />
Gulshan and found the presence of<br />
cannabis in five of those samples after<br />
conducting chemical examinations of<br />
the samples at the DNC Chemical Lab at<br />
Gandaria in the old Dhaka.<br />
The body made some recommendations<br />
to take measures against taking<br />
shisha as the presence of cannabis was<br />
found in the chemical examination. But,<br />
there is no scope of taking legal actions<br />
against shisha as it is not a scheduled<br />
drug as per the existing Narcotics<br />
Control Act, 1990.<br />
Asked about the rapid growth of<br />
shisha trade, particularly in the posh<br />
RANGPUR : Special Envoy to the<br />
Prime Minister and Jatiya Party (JP)<br />
Chairman Alhaj Hussein Muhammad<br />
Ershad on Saturday said his party<br />
would do everything for the development<br />
of Rangpur City Corporation<br />
(RpCC).<br />
"We will continue our efforts to<br />
ensure development of all areas of<br />
Rangpur city in future," Ershad said<br />
while addressing a views-sharing meeting<br />
with the newly elected Mayor and<br />
Councilors of RpCC at its conference<br />
room here as the chief guest.<br />
With City Mayor Mostafizar Rahman<br />
Mostafa in the chair, Co-chairman of JP<br />
Golam Muhammad Quader, it's<br />
Secretary General Ruhul Amin<br />
Hawlader, Presidium Members<br />
Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu and major<br />
(Retd) Khalid, State Minister for PGRD<br />
and Cooperatives Mashiur Rahman<br />
Ranga, addressed the meeting as special<br />
guests.<br />
areas, Additional Director of DNC,<br />
Golam Kibria, who is now on LPR, said<br />
to BSS, "At least 80 shisha lounges have<br />
already been set up at different restaurants<br />
in Gulshan, Dhanmondi,<br />
Baridhara, Banani, Baily Road and<br />
Uttara. The number of shisha lounges is<br />
increasing day by day due to its popularity<br />
among the tobacco consumers.<br />
Youths from well-off families are the<br />
main consumers of the shisha lounges."<br />
"Taking shisha with THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)<br />
is the most dangerous as<br />
one kilogram THC is produced from 100<br />
kg cannabis," he added.<br />
In most of the raids of DNC, the<br />
youths from well-off families were found<br />
taking shisha with THC which poses<br />
threats to health as well as security, he<br />
opined. He also said the smoke produced<br />
by a hookah contains high levels<br />
of toxic substances, including carbon<br />
monoxide and cancer-causing chemicals.<br />
It is also responsible for cardiovascular<br />
diseases.<br />
Experts said the shisha smokers may<br />
absorb higher concentrations of the toxins<br />
found in cigarette smoke.<br />
A typical one-hour session of hookah<br />
smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200<br />
times the volume of smoke inhaled from<br />
a single cigarette. The smoking of shisha<br />
can cause cancer, heart problem, sexual<br />
impotence and different infections and it<br />
is also responsible for low birth weight of<br />
the babies of pregnant women smoking<br />
shisha.<br />
JP to do everything for Rangpur's<br />
development: Ershad<br />
City Councilors Tauhidul Islam and<br />
Aminur Rahman delivered the welcome<br />
speech narrating the overall situation<br />
of RpCC, its development scenario,<br />
problems and prospects with necessary<br />
suggestions.<br />
Ershad said the Shyamasundari canal<br />
was re-excavated considering the health<br />
hazard faced by the local people and to<br />
prevent water-logging in the region.<br />
"There are many places in Rangpur<br />
city area where the roads are yet to be<br />
built and power yet to be provided,"<br />
Ershad said adding that steps would be<br />
taken for ensuring smooth development<br />
in the whole RpCC area in future.<br />
Ershad called upon the city mayor<br />
and Councilors not to bring the new<br />
extended areas of RpCC under taxation.<br />
Leaders of the district and city units of<br />
JP, City Councilors, officials and<br />
employees of RpCC, civil society members,<br />
local journalists and elite were present.<br />
US President's deputy assistant Lisa Curtis briefing reporters after visiting Rohingya camp in Kutupalang<br />
on Saturday.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
Create conditions; engage UNHCR for<br />
Rohingyas’ safe return: UN to Myanmar<br />
It sees high competition over funding as world sees multiple crises<br />
DHAKA : The United Nations (UN) has<br />
called on Myanmar to create required conditions<br />
for the 'safe and sustainable' return<br />
of Rohingyas to their homeland from<br />
Bangladesh and engage UNHCR in the<br />
discussions on return, reports UNB.<br />
"We certainly call on Myanmar to create<br />
those conditions for return as well as to<br />
engage UNHCR in the discussions on<br />
return," UN Resident Coordinator in<br />
Dhaka Mia Seppo told UNB in an interview<br />
at her office.<br />
She also urged the Myanmar authorities<br />
to give unfettered humanitarian access in<br />
Rakhine State so that assistance can reach<br />
all the needy groups in society.<br />
The UN official who joined the UN country<br />
team in Bangladesh in November 2017<br />
said any 'rush return' will not be a sustainable<br />
return.<br />
"But it's an ongoing process and I think<br />
it's a bit unfair to say there has been delays<br />
caused by Bangladesh," said Seppo adding<br />
that the preparatory work which is happening<br />
now is critical.<br />
On January 16, Bangladesh and<br />
Myanmar signed a document on 'Physical<br />
Arrangement' which will<br />
facilitate the return of<br />
Rohingyas to their homeland<br />
from Bangladesh.<br />
The<br />
'Physical<br />
Arrangement' stipulates that<br />
the repatriation will be completed<br />
preferably within two<br />
years from the start of repatriation.<br />
Bangladesh has already<br />
handed over a list of 8,<strong>03</strong>2<br />
Rohingyas which is being<br />
verified by the Myanmar<br />
authorities to start the first<br />
phase of repatriation on the<br />
ground. Around 7 lakh<br />
Rohingyas took shelter in<br />
Bangladesh since August 25<br />
last year.<br />
"I see it as a process," said the UN<br />
Resident Coordinator emphasising that it<br />
is important not to see something as hard<br />
and fast conclusion.<br />
Seppo said they also hear about firm<br />
commitment from the government of<br />
Bangladesh that any return has to be "voluntary"<br />
ensuring safety and dignity of<br />
Rohingyas and make their return sustainable.<br />
"This is very reassuring in terms of government<br />
commitment to these key principles,"<br />
said the UN official.<br />
Bangladesh has said it will not repatriate<br />
anybody "without his or her will" but urged<br />
the international community to keep up<br />
pressure on Myanmar for creating conditions<br />
in Rakhine to make Rohingya repatriation<br />
sustainable.<br />
Bangladesh officials said keeping up<br />
pressure on Myanmar is necessary so that<br />
it remains sincere and committed to the<br />
repatriation process and fulfill its obligation<br />
of creating conducive environment with<br />
ensured livelihood in safety and dignity in<br />
Rakhine.<br />
The UN Resident Coordinator said there<br />
are media reports that people are still fleeing<br />
and conditions for safe return are not<br />
there. "Return is not just reconstruction of<br />
buildings," she said stressing the need for<br />
looking into issues in line with Kofi Annan<br />
Commission recommendations.<br />
Asked about the fund flow, the UN official<br />
said there is lot of competition in terms<br />
of funding and addressing the crisis as the<br />
world today has so many crises.<br />
"We'll do all we can from the UN through<br />
our capacities and our machineries to<br />
mobilise resources and remind international<br />
partners and donors of the commitments<br />
that they have made in terms of<br />
global burden sharing," Seppo said.<br />
She said the living cost of one million<br />
Rohingyas cannot be shouldered by<br />
Bangladesh alone. "I hope there'll be a good<br />
response in the second week of March<br />
(joint response plan)."<br />
Asked about the role of global powers,<br />
Seppo said the UN has a role to play in<br />
terms of providing the forum to member<br />
states to have a dialogue about the situation.
NEWS<br />
SuNDAY,<br />
MARCh 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
2<br />
Parching festival is celebrated in Sherpur's Nakla to motivate the farmers to use patching. The festival<br />
was celebrated on Sunday by the Nakla Agricultural Office.<br />
Photo : Courtesy<br />
Natir Puja’s 2nd<br />
pre-screening held<br />
reminding message<br />
of tolerance<br />
DHAKA : The second prescreening<br />
of 'Natir Puja'<br />
(The Court Dancer), the<br />
only film directed by Nobel<br />
Laureate Rabindranath<br />
Tagore, was held in the city<br />
recently conveying its strong<br />
universal message of love,<br />
hope, tolerance and<br />
religious harmony, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
The pre-screening of the<br />
documentary film was held<br />
at the Baridhara residence<br />
of Dhaka Courier and UNB<br />
Editor-in-Chief Enayetullah<br />
Khan on Wednesday night<br />
that entranced both the<br />
foreign and local audience.<br />
Prof Karl Bardosh<br />
directed the new version of<br />
Natir Puja while<br />
Enayetullah Khan was its<br />
Executive Producer.<br />
South<br />
Korean<br />
Ambassador in Dhaka Ahn<br />
Seong-doo, German<br />
Ambassador in Dhaka Dr<br />
Thomas Prinz,Ambassador<br />
of Spain in Dhaka Alvaro de<br />
Salas Gimenez de Azcarate,<br />
President and CEO of<br />
Bangladesh Enterprise<br />
Institute Farooq Sobhan,<br />
UN Resident Coordinator in<br />
Dhaka Mia Seppo, UNB<br />
Director Nahar Khan,<br />
GD-348/18 (7 x 3)<br />
Founder, MD and Editor of<br />
Bangladesh Brand Forum<br />
Shariful Islam, artists and<br />
film lovers were present.<br />
Enayetullah Khan<br />
described how and why Karl<br />
Bardosh decided to recreate<br />
the film and mentioned that<br />
Karl Bardosh went to<br />
Kolkata and visited exactly<br />
the places where Tagore had<br />
shot the film. "After a long<br />
research, he recreated the<br />
film." He said the film, in<br />
today's circumstances,<br />
carries a very strong<br />
message as many elements,<br />
including extremism, are<br />
disturbing peace.<br />
Enayetullah Khan said<br />
they are going to publish a<br />
book on Natir Puja<br />
highlighting the elements of<br />
peace in the time of religious<br />
intolerance.<br />
The audience highly<br />
appreciated the efforts<br />
made by the persons behind<br />
the documentary film saying<br />
the message of the film is<br />
still very much relevant.<br />
They also appreciated the<br />
very high sound quality,<br />
music and songs that made<br />
them captivated their<br />
senses. The song 'Amar<br />
Sokol Dukher Prodip' that is<br />
part of the original score for<br />
the film proved a particular<br />
favourite.<br />
The story of Natir Puja, a<br />
landmark drama in social<br />
history, is rooted in an<br />
ancient Buddhist legend, the<br />
premise being that art,<br />
especially dance, as it relates<br />
to the script, overrides<br />
notions such as nationality<br />
and has the power to be<br />
universal. It is a great<br />
equalizer.<br />
The film, through the<br />
beautiful story, conveys the<br />
timeless message that in<br />
times when prejudices run<br />
amok, 'tolerance is our<br />
species' most important<br />
trait.<br />
The original prints of the<br />
film Tagore made were<br />
destroyed in a studio fire<br />
only a year after its<br />
launching. After much<br />
perseverance and efforts,<br />
Prof Bardosh was able to<br />
bring alive the film to<br />
provide a fascinating insight<br />
into Tagore's making of the<br />
film.<br />
With Enayetullah Khan as<br />
the film's Executive<br />
Producer, it was unveiled at<br />
the Cannes Film Festival in<br />
2016.<br />
Dbœq‡bi MYZš¿<br />
†kL nvwmbvi g~jgš¿<br />
25,000 meters of<br />
current nets, 200<br />
kgs Jatka seized<br />
in Chandpur<br />
CHANDPUR : Members<br />
of Bangladesh Coastguard in<br />
a drive seized about 25,000<br />
meters of contraband<br />
'current nets' along with 200<br />
kilograms of jatka from the<br />
Meghna River flowing near<br />
Chandpur Sadar in the early<br />
hours of Saturday, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
A team led by Coastguard<br />
Station Commander Lt.<br />
Shinchon Ahmed in<br />
collaboration with Executive<br />
Magistrate Ms Abida<br />
Sultana and an Upazila<br />
Fisheries Officer seized the<br />
nets and jatka during an<br />
anti-Jatka drive launched<br />
Saturday morning in the<br />
Meghna River.<br />
Confirming the incident,<br />
Station Commander<br />
Shinchon said the fish were<br />
kept in cold storage for<br />
distribution later as per<br />
decision adopted in the<br />
district coordination<br />
meeting recently.<br />
In recent years the<br />
government has imposed<br />
Parents gunned<br />
down by their<br />
son on college<br />
campus<br />
More than 100 police<br />
officers, some heavily armed<br />
in camouflage uniforms,<br />
searched neighborhoods<br />
near Central Michigan<br />
University on Friday for a<br />
19-year-old student<br />
suspected of killing his<br />
parents at a dormitory and<br />
then running from campus,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The shooting at Campbell<br />
Hall happened on a day<br />
when parents were arriving<br />
to pick up students for the<br />
beginning of a week-long<br />
spring break.<br />
Police released a photo of<br />
James Eric Davis Jr., urging<br />
the public to call 911 if they<br />
see him but also warning that<br />
he shouldn't be confronted.<br />
Hours after a campus<br />
lockdown, police started a<br />
"slow, methodical removal"<br />
of staff and students who<br />
were ordered to take shelter<br />
in campus buildings, Lt.<br />
Larry Klaus said. "He should<br />
be considered armed and<br />
dangerous," Klaus said of<br />
Davis.<br />
The university identified<br />
the two dead as his mother<br />
Diva Davis and father James<br />
Davis Sr., a part-time police<br />
officer in the Chicago suburb<br />
of Bellwood. The shooting<br />
occurred around 8:30 a.m.<br />
at a residence hall at Central<br />
Michigan, which is about 70<br />
miles (112.6 kilometers)<br />
north of Lansing.<br />
Klaus said video at the<br />
dorm suggests Davis fled on<br />
foot after the shooting. He<br />
was wearing a hoodie but<br />
had been shedding certain<br />
clothes while on the run.<br />
"This has been a tragic<br />
day. ... The hurting will go on<br />
for a while," said university<br />
President George Ross.<br />
Parrose Pona<br />
seized in Khulna<br />
TiTash ChakraborThey<br />
On Friday night a petrol team of<br />
CC station Nalian West Zone of<br />
Cost Guard conducted a drive<br />
on the basis of secret<br />
information. The petrol team<br />
seized more than 20 lac pieces<br />
Parrose Pona and a 2-<br />
cylindrical engine boat through<br />
a drive at the Gangrashi bazaar<br />
area adjoined area of Paikgasa<br />
upazila under Khulna district.<br />
Zonal Commander M Selim<br />
Biswas told that approximate<br />
price of seized goods is more<br />
than tk 50 lacs. Seized Pona was<br />
released in the Shipsa river and<br />
handed over the boat to the<br />
Nalia forest office for taking<br />
legal action.<br />
It is noted that Bangladesh<br />
Coast guard is operating drive<br />
to preserve renu pona. As part<br />
of this, the operation has been<br />
conducted the expedition. Coast<br />
Guard takes up zero tolerance<br />
policy to control discipline,<br />
smuggling and drugs.<br />
temporary bans on catching,<br />
selling and transporting<br />
Hilsa and other species of<br />
fish during the peak<br />
breeding period, in the<br />
Meghna covering about 100<br />
kilometres stretching from<br />
the Shatnol area of Matlab<br />
North Upazila to Char<br />
Alexander of Laxmipur<br />
district via Chandpur Sadar<br />
and Haimchar Upazilas of<br />
Chandpur district, to<br />
support the safe breeding<br />
and spawning of hilsa fish in<br />
sweet waters - all aimed at<br />
shoring up future stocks of<br />
the prized hilsa.<br />
Minor girl crushed under<br />
wardrobe in Ctg<br />
CHITTAGONG : A minor girl was killed after being<br />
crushed under a falling wardrobe or almirah in the Sanoara<br />
residential area in Chandgaon upazila on Saturday morning,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The deceased was identified as Irin Akter, 4, daughter of<br />
Abdus Shukur of Darjipara village.<br />
Quoting family sources, assistant sub-inspector of<br />
Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police camp<br />
Alauddin Talukder said the accident occurred around<br />
10.30am while Irin was playing at a next-door house, leaving<br />
her severely injured. She was rushed to CMCH where duty<br />
doctor declared her dead, said ASI Alauddin.<br />
Fake NSI held in Faridpur<br />
FARIDPUR : Police here early Saturday arrested a person<br />
posing as an official of the National Security Intelligence<br />
(NSI) and his accomplice from a property at Hazrakanda of<br />
Bhanga upazila in the district.<br />
The detainee has been identified as Sohag Molla, 30, and<br />
his female accomplice Suborno Khandakar, 40, reports UNB.<br />
Officer-in-charge of Bhanga Police Station Kazi Saidur<br />
Rahman said Sohag Molla with the help of his female<br />
accomplice used to cheat people and acquire money from<br />
local traders. They arrested the duo at Molla's residence<br />
during a drive at Hazrakanda area, he added.<br />
15 injured in Jhenaidah<br />
AL factional clash<br />
JHENAIDAH : At least 15 people were injured and some 25<br />
houses were vandalized during a clash between two rival<br />
groups of ruling Awami League over establishing supremacy<br />
at Sitarampur village in Sadar upazila on Saturday morning,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Officer-in-charge of Harishankarpur Police Station<br />
Humayun Kabir said that clash occurred between the<br />
supporters groups of local AL leader and incumbent<br />
Harishankarpur union chairman Abdullah Al Masum and<br />
former union chairman Farukuzzaman Farid at Sitarampur<br />
village around 8:30am.<br />
Later, the supporters of nearby two villages-Paranpur and<br />
Chandrajani also joined in the clash, leaving 15 injured and<br />
25 houses vandalised, he said. On information, police rushed<br />
to the spot and brought the situation under control, he<br />
added. Among the injured, five were admitted to Jhenaidah<br />
Sadar Hospital. Police were put on alert in the area to fendoff<br />
any further unwanted situation, the OC said.<br />
Man 'burns' self to death in city<br />
DHAKA : A man died as he reportedly set himself alight at<br />
Nazirabazar of the city's Bangshal area early Saturday,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The deceased was identified as Moinuddin, 50.<br />
Victim's brother Sohel said Moinuddin set himself afire<br />
around 4:30 am pouring kerosene on him as he had been a<br />
drug addict for the past 12 years.<br />
Sub-inspector of Bangshal Police Station Md Ajgar<br />
Rahman said the body was sent to Dhaka Medical College<br />
Hospital for autopsy.<br />
Experts stress<br />
on exploring gas<br />
to tap South’s<br />
potentials<br />
DHAKA : Energy experts at<br />
a seminar on "Prospects of<br />
Bhola Gas Field and Energy<br />
Security" opined that the<br />
government should move<br />
steadily for exploration of oil<br />
and gas, specially in the<br />
southern coastal belt of the<br />
country, reports UNB.<br />
"We should not say we are<br />
flouting on gas or we are<br />
running out of gas. Rather,<br />
we should say we have huge<br />
potentials in our new turf of<br />
Bhola and its adjoining areas<br />
in the southern region", said<br />
eminent energy expert Prof<br />
Badrul Imam while making<br />
a keynote presentation at the<br />
seminar, organised by<br />
Forum for Energy Reporters<br />
Bangladesh (FERB), at<br />
Dhaka Club in the city.<br />
He noted that two gas<br />
fields in Bhola (Shahbazpur<br />
and Bhola North) have a<br />
cumulative recoverable<br />
reserve of 1.2 to 1.5 trillion<br />
cubic feet gas.<br />
Prime Minister's Energy<br />
Advisor Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi<br />
Chowdhury, who also spoke<br />
at the function as chief guest,<br />
said the government has<br />
been pursuing an energy<br />
policy where it looks for<br />
diversified energy-mix.<br />
"We're importing LNG to<br />
meet the growing demand of<br />
energy, side by side our gas<br />
exploration works", he said<br />
adding that the government<br />
is not only waiting for the<br />
exploration works.<br />
With FERB chairman<br />
Arun Karmaker in the chair,<br />
the seminar was also<br />
addressed by chairman of<br />
Geology Department at<br />
Dhaka University Kazi<br />
Matin Uddin Ahmed,<br />
Russian oil giant Gazprom<br />
International's managing<br />
director Surgey Tumanov,<br />
former managing director of<br />
Bapex Amzad Hossain and<br />
Prof Maksud Kamal.<br />
Bangladesh Bio-diversity Conservation Federation (BBCF) organized a rally in Joypurhat yesterday<br />
marking World Life Day-<strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Photo : Masrakul Alam<br />
A discussion meeting on health awareness was held in Raninagar of Naogaon district yesterday.<br />
Photo : TBT
METRO<br />
SUNDAY, MARCh 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
3<br />
Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumer Association formed a human chain in<br />
front of National Press Club yesterday.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
Water rally with 100 boats<br />
held marking Jute Day<br />
DHAKA : An exciting colorful water rally<br />
with 100 traditional boats was held in the<br />
capital's scenic Hatirjheel as part of the<br />
government's ongoing campaign to make<br />
use of jute and jute products popular ahead<br />
of the National Jute Day on March 6.<br />
The boats, decorated with colourful<br />
festoons and balloons, displayed jute and<br />
jute products along with portraits of Father<br />
of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh<br />
Mujibur Rahman and Prime Minister<br />
Sheikh Hasina created huge enthusiasm<br />
among the spectators.<br />
People from all ages flocked on banks of<br />
the entire Hatirjheel to enjoy the rare boat<br />
rally.<br />
Textiles and Jute Minister M Imazuddin<br />
Pramanik was present as the chief guest<br />
while State Minister for Textiles and Jute<br />
Mirza Azam as the special guest, a press<br />
release said.<br />
The government has chalked out<br />
weeklong programme including rally, road<br />
show, art camp, poem festival, seminar and<br />
symposiums, started from February 27<br />
centering the National Jute Day.<br />
Pramanik called upon all to work along<br />
with the government from their respective<br />
positions for making the use of jute and jute<br />
products more popular in home and<br />
abroad.<br />
"We have taken various programmes to<br />
aware people about the economic benefit of<br />
jute," he said and added that the present<br />
government is committed to revive the past<br />
glory of golden fiber, the pride of<br />
Bangladesh After the boat rally, a buzzing<br />
concert was held on the bank of Hatirjheel<br />
with lively performance of the country's<br />
popular singers.<br />
Textiles and Jute Secretary Faizur<br />
Rahman and heads of different<br />
organizations under the ministry were also<br />
present on the occasion.<br />
BNP to hold rallies<br />
in all divisional<br />
cities: Mosharraf<br />
DHAKA : BNP senior leader<br />
Khandaker Mosharraf<br />
Hossain on Saturday said<br />
their party will hold rallies in<br />
all the divisional cities,<br />
including the capital, to drum<br />
up public support and press its<br />
Chairperson Khaleda Zia's<br />
release from jail, reports UNB.<br />
"We're carrying out our<br />
movement in a peaceful and<br />
disciplined manner. We'll<br />
hold a rally on March 12 at<br />
Suhrawardy Udyan<br />
demanding our chairperson's<br />
release," he said.<br />
Speaking at a discussion, the<br />
BNP leader further said, "Not<br />
only that, we've a scheduled<br />
rally to be held in Khulna on<br />
March 10. We'll gradually hold<br />
rallies in the divisional cities<br />
and some districts."<br />
Through the rallies, he said,<br />
they will also apprise people<br />
about the government's 'evil<br />
design' to hold another<br />
unilateral election keeping<br />
Khaleda in jail in a 'false and<br />
fabricated' case.<br />
Jatiyatabadi Ulema Dal<br />
arranged the programme at<br />
Dhaka Reporter's Unity<br />
(DRU) demanding Khaleda's<br />
immediate release.<br />
Mosharraf, a BNP standing<br />
committee member, said they<br />
have already informed people<br />
about the 'injustice' done to<br />
Khaleda by the government<br />
through distributing leaflets.<br />
"We're reaching out to people<br />
with peaceful programmes to<br />
drum up public support."<br />
The Freshers' Reception for the students of undergraduate and graduate programs of the Spring<br />
semester <strong>2018</strong> of Eastern University (EU) was held on Saturday at the Permanent Campus of the<br />
University.<br />
Photo : Courtesy<br />
Bangladesh Labor Party organized a discussion meeting in the national press club<br />
yesterday.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
DU's budding writers<br />
gain a leg-up with Boi<br />
Mela debuts<br />
DHAKA : Almost two dozen young and up-and-coming<br />
writers of Dhaka University wrote new books for Amar<br />
Ekushey Boi Mela <strong>2018</strong>, where most have had their<br />
books published for the first time, reports UNB.<br />
A majority of the new writers of Dhaka University have<br />
shown their interest in poetry. "Kabita Kingba<br />
Maddharat ar Prolap" written by Tazwar Rizon,<br />
"Onisshes" of Hussain Imran, "Obakto Unuvuti" of<br />
Mominul Islam, "Nijossho Karagar" of Osit Devnath,<br />
"Protuttorer Opekkhau Notice Board" of Probal Kumar<br />
Das and Mahbubur Rahman, "Nilamborir Nil Kanna" of<br />
Fatema Tasnim and so many other poets came forward<br />
with their debuts.<br />
The novel writers also aren't too lagging behind.<br />
Sumona Mridha, a 3rdyear student Pali and Buddhist<br />
Studies department, published her first novel-Gohon<br />
Maya - at the fair. Besides her, Taffahul Jannat Maria<br />
wrote "Shunno Baluchor" and Sharif Khan came with<br />
"Kichu Ful Kichu Vul" to promote our Bengali literature.<br />
Some writers ventured into non-fiction and essays.<br />
Ariful Islam came with "Arguments of Argue" to clear<br />
some controversial question about Islam.Ariyan<br />
Opurbo's "Nagorik Hemleker Obak Mrittupan" and<br />
Abdullah Adil Mahmud's "Mohabisser Simana" are also<br />
the results deep research.<br />
"Book fair is symbol of youth, symbol of courage,<br />
symbol ofexcitement, symbol of charm," said noted Folk<br />
Literature collector and researcher Syed Akhi Haque,<br />
adding that in this technological era, it is encouraging<br />
that our youth still come forward to publish books that<br />
undoubtedlyprove that our literature is expanding.<br />
Akhtaruzzaman, a lawyer by profession and a resident<br />
of Paltan area, was gossiping as he moved from one stall<br />
to another and bought more than 30 books. He said he<br />
specifically sought out new authors' books as he gets<br />
inspiration by reading their books.<br />
"There is no new writer, everyone is a writer. Though<br />
their books are published for the first time I don't call<br />
them new writer," said Mehedi Hasan, Publisher of the<br />
Bengali publication,when answering a question that how<br />
much new author's book publish in that year from his<br />
publication.<br />
Expressing his optimism about our rising authors,<br />
Mehedi Hasan said that this youth will one day shine<br />
brightest in Bengali literature and culture.<br />
Speakers for preventing<br />
money laundering to<br />
sustain development<br />
DHAKA : Speakers at a conference have urged the concerned<br />
authorities and high officials of banks to put in their best<br />
efforts to prevent money laundering and terror financing<br />
from the banking sector for sustaining the development.<br />
"Banks will have to take necessary steps for preventing the<br />
risk of money laundering and terror financing to sustain their<br />
banking businesses in the country," said Bangladesh Bank<br />
(BB) Deputy Governor and Head of the Bangladesh<br />
Financial Intelligent Units (BFIU) Abu Hena Mohd Razee<br />
Hassan. The deputy governor was speaking as the chief guest<br />
at the inaugural session of the "Chief Money Laundering<br />
Compliance Officers Conference-<strong>2018</strong>" held on Friday at a<br />
hotel in Cox's Bazar, said a release.<br />
BFIU organised the conference in association with the Anti<br />
Money Laundering Compliance Officers of Banks in<br />
Bangladesh (AACOBB). BB Executive Director and BFIU<br />
Deputy Head Mijanur Rahman Joddar attended the<br />
conference as the special guest while Executive Director of<br />
the BB Chittagong Office Mohd. Humayun Kabir and BFIU<br />
Adviser Deboprashed Debo Nath were present at the session.<br />
Among others, chief executive officers and chief money<br />
laundering compliance officers of different scheduled banks<br />
took part in the conference. Razee Hasan said the banking<br />
sector is playing a vital role to keep stable the currency<br />
market for developing the economic activities of the country.<br />
"The government is working to sustain the economic<br />
development and success of poverty alleviation through<br />
forming effective policies and regulations," he added. He<br />
urged the banks to take upgrade technology for providing the<br />
best banking services to their clients as there is no alternative<br />
without modern technology in the present banking.<br />
Referring to different initiatives of many banks, Razee<br />
Hassan said, the participating officials of the conference can<br />
gather experience on the ways of preventing money<br />
laundering and terror financing through exchanging views<br />
and discussions.Mijanur Rahman Joddar said Bangladesh<br />
government, BFIU and different law enforces agencies are<br />
working to prevent money laundering and terror financing<br />
and Bangladesh is showing better performance from many<br />
countries.<br />
AvBGmwcAvi/†bŠ/<strong>2018</strong>/533<br />
01/<strong>03</strong>/18<br />
GD-343/18 (8 x 4) GD-345/18 (7 x 4)
EDITORIAL<br />
SUNdAy,<br />
MARCH 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
4<br />
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam<br />
Telephone: +8802-91<strong>04</strong>683-84, Fax: 91271<strong>03</strong><br />
e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com<br />
Sunday, March 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Weekly holiday<br />
The weekly holiday's schedule of two days on Friday and<br />
Saturday was welcomed by government employees and<br />
others who have a rather comfortable existence unlike<br />
the very competitive occupations of others in the population.<br />
Civil servants and many of those who work in NGOs and<br />
similar organisations do not have to compete so much with<br />
others at the local and international levels for the safety and<br />
assurance of their earnings . The regular remunerations of<br />
these classes are ensured by the government and their non<br />
government employing bodies respectively.<br />
The same is not the case with business organisations which<br />
have a stake in remaining at work as long as possible<br />
throughout the week to be able to run viably their business<br />
operations. More and not less work is the key to success in<br />
businesses and also uninterrupted working conditions.<br />
Businesses also create and provide the lion's share of the<br />
country's wealth and income. They keep the government<br />
going in the financial sense with their taxes, levies, charges and<br />
other payments in a myriad of ways. Thus, they ought to be<br />
regarded as very important stakeholders in the running of the<br />
country or its economy. No government should be complacent<br />
about the rightful demand of businesses because smooth<br />
operations of business organisations also translate into very<br />
major contribution towards the economic security of the<br />
country. The government itself is so much dependent on the<br />
success of business for its own resourcefulness in the form of<br />
getting amply various revenues.<br />
Businesses in Bangladesh are substantially linked to the<br />
world outside and international trade is very largely and<br />
fruitfully carried with the developed countries where weekly<br />
holidays are observed on Saturday and Sunday. Thus, the<br />
operationalisation of weekly holidays on Friday and Saturday<br />
in Bangladesh has meant that its business operators remain<br />
cut off from international contacts for three days at a stretch ;<br />
three out of the seven working days are being lost to them as a<br />
result.<br />
How the government could overlook the prevailing weekly<br />
holidays in other Islamic countries ? In Pakistan, for example,<br />
which is an Islamic republic, Sunday and not Friday is the<br />
weekly holiday. The same is observed in Malaysia and some<br />
other Muslim countries. There is nothing in the Islamic<br />
tradition that forbids work after the weekly Jumma prayers on<br />
Friday. Therefore, apart from a short interval for the Jumma<br />
prayers on Friday, there is no reason for that day to be not a<br />
full working day and Bangladeshis are not going to be less<br />
pious or less Islamic for working on Friday. But these<br />
conditions were ignored to favour the rather populist decision<br />
to retain the holiday on Friday with an eye for some sections of<br />
voters to the serious detriment of the country's economy or its<br />
businesses.<br />
Then, there is also the point of whether a country like<br />
Bangladesh should be reducing its work hours so much as<br />
part of conservation of resources in the face of stresses<br />
showing up on the macro economy. The view of most of the<br />
professionals and economists is the opposite. They say that the<br />
best way to cope with the situation is carrying out austerity or<br />
frugality in spending where the same would matter and<br />
redouble our productive work efforts in support of greater<br />
economic or business activities. This is their more credible<br />
proposal for coming out of the woods in the economic sense<br />
and that would involve not lengthening the weekly holidays<br />
but shortening it. In other words, one day holiday on Sunday<br />
seems to be the right course of action to take.<br />
The FBCCI is the biggest representative body of businesses<br />
in the country and the views expressed by its leaders are to be<br />
regarded as reflective in general of the business community as<br />
a whole. The FBCCI leaders have called on the government to<br />
immediately revise the weekly holidays schedule now in force<br />
which, in their view, is seriously undermining business<br />
activities and proving to be economically not gainful for the<br />
country. They, therefore, have requested the government to go<br />
for only one day holiday on Sunday. If that is not entirely<br />
possible, they would want half holiday to be observed on<br />
Saturday and no holiday on Friday except for an interval from<br />
work for an hour for the Jumma prayers on that day.<br />
Business leaders have powerful or irrefutable points in their<br />
favour in demanding a revision in the weekly holiday<br />
schedule. First of all, , they rightly feel that they are very<br />
important stakeholders in the national economy providing 80<br />
per cent of the revenues to the government and 90 per of the<br />
jobs. Thus, they should be duly consulted by the government<br />
while setting a weekly holiday schedule . If they cannot earn<br />
enough due to the enforcement of an unfavourable holiday<br />
schedule, then how they are going to pay enough revenues to<br />
the government or sustain the existing number of jobs or<br />
create new ones respectively, they contend.<br />
The present government has started enjoying the confidence<br />
of the people for its various decisions and actions that have<br />
been taken so far. This government will find greater<br />
appreciation for its policies and will be doing the right thing<br />
by responding promptly and positively in line with the<br />
suggestions that have been made by the business community<br />
about the weekly holiday schedule. No government loses<br />
credibility but earns only gratitude and appreciation by<br />
responding timely to the legitimate grievances of important<br />
sections in the population. In this case, what the businessmen<br />
are pleading for represents not only their own narrow interests<br />
but the well-being of the national economy as well. Therefore,<br />
the same deserve a swift and befitting response from the<br />
government.<br />
It needs to be supremely realised that the greatest need for<br />
us now as a nation, collectively, as well as individually, is to<br />
work more and more relentlessly for the vital positive<br />
transformation to occur at both levels. The greater the<br />
number of hours worked by the people of a country, the higher<br />
its gross domestic product (GDP) or national pie to be shared<br />
by all. With a nation's total output of goods and services going<br />
up, it has progressively more and more resources at its<br />
disposal to satisfy the needs of its people. The standard of<br />
living, income and wealth of people go up as they work longer<br />
hours and produce more. The Japanese people used to be<br />
addicted to work that laid the foundation for their prosperity.<br />
No nation can expect to reach a well off economic position and<br />
hold on to that state by working less. The same is possible by<br />
only working more that indicates the imperative of a shorter<br />
weekly holiday schedule in the context of Bangladesh.<br />
Putin’s combative message rings alarm bells<br />
Russian President Vladimir Putin has<br />
made clear his priorities for his next<br />
six-year presidential term. In his<br />
annual state-of-the-nation address, he<br />
spent a good time talking about Russia's<br />
new strategic weaponry.<br />
Revanchism and confrontation continue<br />
to drive Putin's agenda. He recognised that<br />
some of the ambitious goals he set before<br />
the 2012 election - such as increasing labour<br />
productivity by 50 per cent or drastically<br />
reducing poverty - weren't achieved, but<br />
argued there would have been no progress<br />
had he not raised the bar.<br />
These were enormous spending<br />
commitments in his speech. Putin didn't<br />
explain how they would be funded and<br />
didn't promise any structural reforms that<br />
might uncover hidden economic reserves.<br />
He just mentioned "new tax conditions"<br />
that the government would have to create<br />
without stunting economic growth. The<br />
president's much discussed speech can be<br />
summed up in the following tweets by<br />
Sergey Aleksashenko, former deputy<br />
governor of the Russian central bank:?"I<br />
know there are problems, we'll solve them<br />
by throwing money at them. Where will the<br />
money come from? A niggling question, we<br />
won't discuss it.<br />
"There are tough problems, I know. It's<br />
because bureaucrats aren't doing a good<br />
job. I'll show them!"<br />
But Putin visibly came alive for the<br />
second half of the address, which was<br />
entirely devoted to Russia's military<br />
resurgence and punctuated by computergenerated<br />
videos in the style of 1990s video<br />
games. These purported to demonstrate<br />
LeONId BeRSHIdSky<br />
new weapons, which Putin assured his<br />
audience have all been successfully tested<br />
with some going into mass production.<br />
These included several varieties of<br />
missiles, including a heavy ballistic one,<br />
Sarmat, and new types of cruise missiles all<br />
capable, according to Putin, of bypassing<br />
US missile defences. The cruise missiles<br />
would have an unlimited range, thanks to<br />
nuclear-powered engines, and the videos<br />
showed them dodging around the areas<br />
dOMINIqUe MOISI<br />
covered by US anti-missile installations.<br />
The audience whooped as the missile<br />
trajectories converged somewhere in the<br />
Western Hemisphere. Putin also bragged<br />
about nuclear-powered underwater drones<br />
that could go faster and travel much further<br />
than any modern torpedoes. No nation, he<br />
said, has similar weapons today, and they're<br />
all built with new, post-Soviet technology.<br />
This part of the speech carried a threepart<br />
message to western, primarily US,<br />
leaders: n "We've never ceased to be a major<br />
nuclear power, but no one would listen to<br />
us. Listen to us now!" (This line was greeted<br />
with a standing ovation)<br />
n If you believed Russia was permanently<br />
left behind after the Soviet Union's breakup,<br />
you miscalculated: "Russia<br />
containment has failed." n The US antimissile<br />
defence system and the expansion<br />
of Nato infrastructure to Russia's borders<br />
These included several varieties of missiles,<br />
including a heavy ballistic one, Sarmat, and new<br />
types of cruise missiles all capable, according to<br />
Putin, of bypassing US missile defences. The cruise<br />
missiles would have an unlimited range, thanks to<br />
nuclear-powered engines, and the videos showed<br />
them dodging around the areas covered by US<br />
anti-missile installations. The audience whooped<br />
as the missile trajectories converged somewhere<br />
in the Western Hemisphere.<br />
are "ineffective and a useless financial<br />
burden." "This is not a bluff," Putin insisted<br />
- a claim that I hope will never be tested.<br />
Some Putin allies were enthused about<br />
the threatening part of the speech.<br />
Margarita Simonyan, head of the RT<br />
channel, noted: "If a US president delivered<br />
such an address, 99 per cent of the<br />
population and certainly the entire<br />
establishment would support it. Here,<br />
though, we get all this moaning and<br />
indignation - why the hell do we need these<br />
weapons, what an aggressive message. Why<br />
don't you just get the hell out!"<br />
I'm inclined, however, to agree with<br />
another Muscovite who - like me - now lives<br />
overseas, art dealer Marat Guelman, who<br />
posted: "I'm truly beginning to fear for the<br />
country. It's not just a new burst of the arms<br />
race. It's some kind of madness."<br />
The problem is not so much with the<br />
modern weapons - a country as big as<br />
Russia needs military strength - as with<br />
what the weapons are needed to defend.<br />
Without a clear vision of the future or an<br />
attractive model for others to imitate,<br />
without any soft power to speak of, without<br />
an economic model that can ensure<br />
sustainable growth or keep people out of<br />
poverty, the missile-rattling is terrifying. In<br />
the context of an election with a<br />
predetermined result, Russia's growing<br />
military might means better protection for<br />
the regime.<br />
Putin's fascination with the new toys is<br />
understandable. But his mischievous<br />
suggestion that listeners suggest names for<br />
some of them ("Volodya", Simonyan<br />
immediately proposed, using the<br />
diminutive form of Putin's first name) has<br />
more symbolic meaning than the president<br />
put into it. Sarmat, Kinzhal (Dagger) and<br />
any new names "patriots" come up with for<br />
the weapons leave a question: Are these the<br />
only internationally recognisable brands<br />
modern Russia is capable of producing? If<br />
not, why can't I remember any other ones?<br />
Source : Gulf news<br />
Italy’s moment of truth draws near<br />
In 1841, Italian composer Giuseppe<br />
Verdi completed his celebrated opera<br />
Nabucco. "Va, pensiero," his famous<br />
aria describing the fate of the Hebrews in<br />
the desert, would go on to become a<br />
rallying cry for Italian patriots fighting for<br />
liberation from the Austrian Empire.<br />
Then, in a sesquicentenary<br />
performance conducted by Riccardo<br />
Muti at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome in<br />
2011, Nabucco was put in the service of<br />
democracy. Silvio Berlusconi, the prime<br />
minister at the time, was present in the<br />
audience, and he would wake up the next<br />
day to headlines in the Italian press such<br />
as, 'Berlusconi overthrown by Verdi'. Of<br />
course, it would be more accurate to say<br />
that Berlusconi, who was forced to resign<br />
later that year, overthrew himself,<br />
through his displays of personal excesses<br />
and financial corruption.<br />
With Italy approaching a decisive<br />
parliamentary election tomorrow, such<br />
historical references are useful once<br />
again. But whereas Italians were<br />
mobilising against Austria in 1841, today<br />
they may be heading towards an<br />
"Austrian model" of governance by a<br />
coalition of the Right and the extreme<br />
Right. And whereas Berlusconi was<br />
falling from grace in 2011, he is now a<br />
potential kingmaker. At 81, he incarnates<br />
an ageing and increasingly cynical Italy.<br />
Some voters are returning to him out of<br />
conviction; others because they fear the<br />
alternatives would be even worse.<br />
At the same time, the election's<br />
outcome has been all but impossible to<br />
predict, because the process has become<br />
so complex that even the most<br />
It was 73 years ago - almost to the day<br />
- that Winston Churchill travelled to<br />
Fayoum Oasis in Egypt for a meeting<br />
with the king of Saudi Arabia.<br />
"His own cup-bearer from Mecca<br />
offered me a glass of water from its<br />
sacred well, the most delicious that I had<br />
ever tasted," wrote Churchill of this<br />
encounter with King Abdulaziz al Saud.<br />
If that meeting in the desert was an<br />
early chapter in relations between<br />
Britain and Saudi Arabia, then we will<br />
turn a new page on March 7 when his<br />
grandson, Crown Prince Mohammed<br />
bin Salman, visits London.<br />
There will be those who would object to<br />
engaging with a kingdom that is a<br />
powerhouse of the Middle East and,<br />
incidentally, one of Britain's oldest<br />
friends in the region.<br />
If you have any sympathy with such<br />
views, then let me highlight a few salient<br />
facts.<br />
In the eight months since Mohammed<br />
bin Salman became crown prince, Saudi<br />
Arabia has introduced exactly the kind of<br />
reforms that we have always advocated.<br />
The ban on women driving has been<br />
overturned. Gender segregation has<br />
been relaxed. The kingdom has adopted<br />
an official target for women to account<br />
for 30 per cent of the workforce: in<br />
February women were allowed to<br />
register their own businesses. Women<br />
now attend sporting events and from<br />
next month cinemas will open their<br />
doors to everyone. If you are inclined to<br />
dismiss these advances, then I will<br />
respectfully suggest that you are making<br />
a profound mistake. Change does not<br />
come easily in Saudi Arabia. In a matter<br />
sophisticated voters are having trouble<br />
understanding it. Owing to a new<br />
electoral law, around 40 per cent of<br />
parliamentary seats will be decided by<br />
first-past-the-post voting, with the rest<br />
allocated proportionally.<br />
Still, even if most bets are off, one can<br />
reasonably assume two things about this<br />
election. First, voter abstention will be<br />
high, especially among the young. This is<br />
not May 1968, when students across Italy<br />
took to the streets. Today, young Italians<br />
are deserting the ballot box - though one<br />
cannot rule out the possibility that they<br />
will eventually return to the streets.<br />
Second, the election will leave Italy<br />
divided, not just politically and socially,<br />
but also geographically. The populist Five<br />
Star Movement (M5S) is particularly<br />
strong in the south, the far-right<br />
Northern League is powerful in the north,<br />
and Venetians are increasingly dreaming<br />
about autonomy, or even independence.<br />
Future of Saudi Arabia, Muslim world depends on success of Crown Prince<br />
of a few months, genuine reform has<br />
taken place after decades of stasis.<br />
And that fact tells an important story.<br />
The crown prince and his father King<br />
Salman have together embarked on the<br />
social and economic renewal of Saudi<br />
Arabia, launching a national programme<br />
known as Vision 2<strong>03</strong>0. In October the<br />
crown prince said that the overarching<br />
goal was to build a "country of moderate<br />
Islam that is open to all religions and to<br />
the world". He also promised to<br />
"eradicate promoters of extremist<br />
thoughts".<br />
Tens of thousands of British jobs<br />
depend on our exports to Saudi Arabia<br />
Boris Johnson<br />
If you are tempted to brush off those<br />
phrases as platitudes aimed at outsiders,<br />
consider that the crown prince was<br />
speaking not in English in some western<br />
capital but in Arabic to an audience in<br />
Riyadh. His words have been given<br />
meaning by the establishment in his<br />
capital of a new centre to counter the<br />
BORIS JOHNSON<br />
Fears that Italy could be returning to<br />
the time when it was a mere "geographic<br />
expression" are probably overstated. Yet,<br />
Italy could well reclaim the title of "sick<br />
man of Europe" in the weeks to come,<br />
especially if the election produces no<br />
majority and a hung parliament. Russia,<br />
for its part, would welcome that outcome,<br />
and has probably been doing everything<br />
it can to bring it about.<br />
An Austrian-style alliance between<br />
With Italy approaching a decisive parliamentary<br />
election tomorrow, such historical references are<br />
useful once again. But whereas Italians were<br />
mobilising against Austria in 1841, today they may be<br />
heading towards an "Austrian model" of governance by<br />
a coalition of the Right and the extreme Right. And<br />
whereas Berlusconi was falling from grace in 2011, he<br />
is now a potential kingmaker. At 81, he incarnates an<br />
ageing and increasingly cynical Italy.<br />
Berlusconi's Forza Italia and Matteo<br />
Salvini's Northern League would also<br />
bode ill, because it would put Italy at odds<br />
with the rest of the European Union's<br />
(EU) founding members.<br />
Similarly, a significant victory for M5S<br />
would be undesirable. The impulse to<br />
reject the status quo is so strong among<br />
Italian voters that they have not been<br />
deterred by M5S's failure to govern<br />
properly in Rome, where it captured the<br />
mayoralty in June 2016. And yet M5S<br />
financing of terrorism. What conclusion<br />
should we draw? I believe that the crown<br />
prince, who is only 32, has demonstrated<br />
by word and deed that he aims to guide<br />
Saudi Arabia in a more open direction.<br />
The worst response would be for<br />
Britain to criticise from the sidelines or<br />
shun the kingdom altogether; instead<br />
our role must be to encourage him along<br />
this path. Be in no doubt: the future of<br />
Saudi Arabia - and indeed the region and<br />
the wider Muslim world - depends on his<br />
Nor can we uphold the British national interest.<br />
Remember that tens of thousands of British jobs<br />
depend on our exports to Saudi Arabia, which climbed<br />
to £6.2 billion in 2016, a 41 per cent rise since 2010.<br />
When it comes to keeping Britain safe, intelligence from<br />
Saudi Arabia has been crucial in the struggle against<br />
terrorism. The simple truth is that British lives have<br />
been saved and attacks prevented because of our<br />
security cooperation with Saudi Arabia.<br />
success. Hence the importance of the<br />
crown prince's visit to London. This will<br />
be a chance to strengthen our<br />
relationship with Saudi Arabia, both as<br />
an end in itself and as the best means of<br />
promoting reform.<br />
I will not minimise Britain's differences<br />
with the kingdom. I want Saudi Arabia to<br />
do more to protect human rights. But we<br />
cannot deliver these messages or resolve<br />
our disagreements unless we meet the<br />
kingdom's leaders.<br />
Nor can we uphold the British national<br />
probably cannot achieve a parliamentary<br />
majority, and it has vowed not to enter<br />
into coalitions with other parties.<br />
The only positive scenario, then,<br />
would be an unlikely - but not<br />
impossible - alliance between former<br />
prime minister Matteo Renzi's centreleft<br />
Democratic Party and Forza Italia. A<br />
coalition government comprising these<br />
two parties, would most likely result in<br />
Paolo Gentiloni, the well-regarded<br />
current prime minister, remaining in<br />
power.<br />
That would probably satisfy France<br />
and Germany, as well as the European<br />
Commission. The main problem,<br />
though, is that Renzi has remained<br />
unpopular since he resigned as prime<br />
minister following a daring, but<br />
unsuccessful attempt to enact<br />
constitutional reforms through a<br />
referendum in December 2016.<br />
Despite Italy's grim economic, social,<br />
and political situation - to say nothing of<br />
the growing tensions surrounding<br />
migration from Northern Africa -<br />
financial markets have been relatively<br />
serene. Investors neither seem to fear an<br />
M5S victory, nor are they particularly<br />
concerned that Italy's youth<br />
unemployment is close to 33 per cent, or<br />
that its rate of economic growth is below<br />
the EU average. Are investors<br />
underestimating the risk that the EU's<br />
third-largest economy could plunge into a<br />
downward spiral into polarisation and<br />
paralysis?<br />
Source : Gulf News<br />
interest. Remember that tens of<br />
thousands of British jobs depend on our<br />
exports to Saudi Arabia, which climbed<br />
to £6.2 billion in 2016, a 41 per cent rise<br />
since 2010. When it comes to keeping<br />
Britain safe, intelligence from Saudi<br />
Arabia has been crucial in the struggle<br />
against terrorism. The simple truth is<br />
that British lives have been saved and<br />
attacks prevented because of our security<br />
cooperation with Saudi Arabia.<br />
This relationship has long been<br />
important for global security. Saudi<br />
Arabia was a firm ally during the Cold<br />
War and, amid all the turbulence of the<br />
Middle East, the kingdom has generally<br />
acted as a force for stability and<br />
moderation. It was the late King<br />
Abdullah who threw his diplomatic<br />
weight behind a two-state solution to the<br />
Arab-Israeli conflict by proposing the<br />
bold Arab Peace Initiative.<br />
Today Britain and Saudi Arabia are<br />
working together to counter Iran's<br />
disruptive behaviour in the Middle East<br />
and bring the war in Yemen to an end.<br />
Last year King Salman took the farsighted<br />
decision to pursue a<br />
rapprochement with the Shia-led<br />
government in Iraq, something that will<br />
help to stabilise the country after the<br />
defeat of ISIS. You might reply that far<br />
more needs to be done to reach a<br />
peaceful settlement in Yemen and<br />
ensure that aid gets through to everyone<br />
in need. I agree. That is exactly why we<br />
need to discuss these vital matters with<br />
the crown prince during his visit to the<br />
UK.<br />
Source : Arab News
HEALTH<br />
SUndAy, mARCH 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
5<br />
5 things heartbreak can<br />
do to your brain<br />
A women using an insulin pump.<br />
Photo: david J. Phillip<br />
There may Actually Be Four<br />
Kinds of Type 2 diabetes<br />
ed CARA<br />
Our conception of diabetes might be way off-base, a<br />
large international collaboration of researchers argue<br />
this month in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.<br />
Rather than just type 1 and type 2 diabetes, there could<br />
be at least five broad ways the insulin disorder manifests.<br />
Diabetes is best understood as a breakdown of the<br />
process that maintains proper glucose levels in the<br />
body. Typically, the hormone insulin, produced in the<br />
pancreas, moves glucose from the bloodstream into<br />
your cells, where it's converted into energy.<br />
People with type 1 diabetes, as we traditionally understand<br />
it, have an immune system that attacks and<br />
destroys the cells that make insulin, rendering them<br />
permanently insulin-deficient. This condition typically<br />
shows up early in life. Those with type 2 diabetes, who<br />
make up around three-quarters of all cases, either stop<br />
producing as much insulin they once did, or they stop<br />
responding to the presence of insulin as easily.<br />
In this latest study, the Swedish and Finnish<br />
researchers analyzed the medical records of around<br />
15,000 patients newly diagnosed with diabetes. The<br />
records were obtained from five patient registries established<br />
in both countries. They looked at six variables<br />
that are often used to determine the type and severity of<br />
a specific diabetes case, from the age of diagnosis to<br />
BMI to the level of insulin resistance. They found there<br />
were clearly five distinct groups of patients that could be<br />
seen across every registry they examined.<br />
The first group basically fit the bill of type 1 cases:<br />
Young, otherwise healthy people whose insulin supply<br />
was demolished by their immune system. The remaining<br />
four groups could best be thought as subtypes of<br />
type 2. There were patients whose cells also stopped<br />
producing insulin, but not because of their immune system;<br />
they were often young and in otherwise good<br />
shape. The third group was made of patients whose<br />
bodies kept making insulin but had stopped responding<br />
to it. These patients had the most severe symptoms, a<br />
very dysfunctional metabolism, and were typically overweight<br />
or obese. Patients in the fourth group were also<br />
often overweight, but their bodies weren't resistant to<br />
insulin, and they had milder symptoms and a healthier<br />
metabolism. The fifth group was made of patients who<br />
developed diabetes later on in life; they also had the<br />
mildest symptoms.<br />
Breaking out these subgroups and recognizing them<br />
as distinct types of diabetes could hopefully lead to better<br />
tailored treatment, the researchers say. People with<br />
severe insulin-resistant diabetes, for instance, could be<br />
treated more aggressively since they'd be at greater risk<br />
of developing serious complications.<br />
"Current diagnostics and classification of diabetes are<br />
insufficient and unable to predict future complications<br />
or choice of treatment," said lead author Leif Groop, an<br />
endocrinologist at the Lund University Diabetes Center<br />
in Sweden as well as the Folkhalsan Research Centre in<br />
Finland, in a statement. "This is the first step towards<br />
personalised treatment of diabetes."<br />
Other researchers caution that the team's results need<br />
to be replicated elsewhere, using even more diverse<br />
patient samples. And there still are unanswered questions<br />
about how relevant these differences are. "We also<br />
need to know if treating these groups differently would<br />
produce better outcomes." Sudhesh Kumar, a professor<br />
of medicine at Warwick Medical School, told.<br />
Groop and his colleagues next plan to develop a web<br />
tool that would help assign patients to specific clusters<br />
using the same variables, which is expected to aid both<br />
future research efforts and doctors treating patients<br />
now. It's currently estimated that over 420 million people<br />
globally have diabetes, according to the World<br />
Health Organization.<br />
Tom PACKeR<br />
If you've managed to come to this point<br />
without having your heart broken, I'm not<br />
sure whether to give you a standing ovation<br />
or to decide that we're probably in a<br />
fight. Sadly, heartbreak is a part of life, and<br />
the best that any of us can do is choose an<br />
ice cream flavor to drown our tears in and<br />
trust in all the fairy tales that suggest<br />
there's a happy ending out there for all of<br />
us. The thing about heartbreak, though, is<br />
that it's not all in your heart - because<br />
there are some fascinating things heartbreak<br />
can do to your brain. And while<br />
learning about the science behind all of<br />
this isn't going to protect you from future<br />
post-breakup distress, it should help you<br />
feel a little less crazy and insecure when<br />
you're working through it yourself. Heartbreak<br />
is a complicated business whether<br />
you're experiencing it or studying it, and<br />
I'm sure there is new information coming<br />
out all the time about what happens to our<br />
physiology when we're in the throes of<br />
sadness. Here are just a few things that<br />
happen to your brain after a split. According<br />
to a study of functional MRI scans<br />
published on PubMed, "acute grief" - aka<br />
the feeling you experience when you get<br />
your heart stomped on - is associated with<br />
increased activity in several regions of the<br />
brain, and per Psychology Today, the<br />
same areas of the brain are activated<br />
when people feel emotional pain as are<br />
activated when they feel physical pain.<br />
The soreness and other twinges you experience<br />
after heartbreak aren't just "in your<br />
head"… they're in your brain.<br />
As a result of the heightened brain activity,<br />
your body is prompted to release<br />
stress hormones, including cortisol and<br />
adrenalin, according to Science Alert.<br />
These hormones cause additional physical<br />
symptoms like nausea and difficulty<br />
breathing. According to a study conducted<br />
by a psychologist, neurologist, and<br />
Heartbreak can a fascinating things to your brain.<br />
anthropologist described in Greater Good<br />
Magazine, so many regions of the brain<br />
are stimulated after you've been heartbroken<br />
that it can be a challenge to know how<br />
you really want to handle the situation.<br />
The orbital front cortex is involved in controlling<br />
emotions and learning from past<br />
experiences, but when other parts of your<br />
brain are triggering you to go a little crazy,<br />
you can only imagine the inner warfare<br />
that ensues. This explains why you might<br />
feel so confused and why your behavior<br />
might be unpredictable after a breakup!<br />
This is, well, upsetting, but a breakup<br />
plays a weird trick on you, because its<br />
effect on your brain isn't all that different<br />
from that of an exciting new romantic<br />
relationship. According to Science<br />
Alert, a recently-in-love brain closely<br />
mirrors the brain of an addict going<br />
through withdrawals because of the<br />
activation of reward neurons and<br />
dopamine, a feel-good hormone.<br />
Dopamine leaves the brain wanting<br />
more, and since you obviously want<br />
more after a breakup, there are a lot of<br />
Photo: Collected<br />
similarities between the mind in these<br />
two wildly opposite emotional states.<br />
Apparently, the brain is only truly stable<br />
in people who are in a relationship. Go<br />
figure!<br />
Rates of sexually transmitted diseases are rising<br />
AlICe KleIn<br />
SEXUALLY transmitted infections<br />
(STIs) are at best unpleasant and at<br />
worst life-threatening. They can also be<br />
hard to spot. The majority of people<br />
with chlamydia, the most common bacterial<br />
STI, display no symptoms at all.<br />
Most women with gonorrhoea will<br />
show no signs of the disease, which can<br />
cause infertility if left untreated.<br />
Syphilis often goes undetected as well,<br />
because its symptoms are similar to<br />
those of many other diseases. Early<br />
signs include sores and cuts. At later<br />
stages, victims can suffer from numbness,<br />
blindness and, in rare cases,<br />
death. Moreover, having gonorrhoea or<br />
syphilis also makes a person more susceptible<br />
to contracting HIV. All bacterial<br />
STIs are curable with a course of<br />
antibiotics if detected at an early stage.<br />
Rates of these three diseases rose in the<br />
United States in 2015, according to<br />
America's Centres for Disease Control<br />
and Prevention (CDC). Gonorrhoea<br />
and syphilis had plunged to record<br />
lows, thanks to antibiotic treatment<br />
and the increasing use of condoms in<br />
the late 1970s. Chlamydia, for which<br />
complete national data are only available<br />
since 2000, also started to dip<br />
recently. But worryingly, this downward<br />
trend is now in reverse.<br />
There are several reasons for the<br />
increase. Gonorrhoea is showing signs<br />
of becoming drug-resistant, making it<br />
harder to treat. The rise in chlamydia<br />
could reflect more screening as well as<br />
an increase in incidence: as more men<br />
are being tested, the reported prevalence<br />
has risen by 20% since 2011.<br />
Finally, condomless sex among homosexual<br />
men is rising. In CDC surveys<br />
47% of gay men reported having<br />
unprotected anal sex over the past year<br />
in 2005. By 2011, the most recent comparable<br />
year, that had grown to 57%.<br />
The CDC posits that one possible reason<br />
is that more effective drugs have<br />
made HIV a treatable disease rather<br />
than a death sentence. STIs tend to be<br />
concentrated among distinct population<br />
groups, which should help health<br />
policymakers to focus their efforts. The<br />
majority of new cases of gonorrhoea<br />
and primary and secondary syphilis<br />
were in gay and bisexual men. Women<br />
are more likely to acquire an STI<br />
through heterosexual intercourse than<br />
men. The young also show higher risk,<br />
mainly because they are more likely to<br />
engage in unsafe sex. There are also<br />
huge disparities between races and ethnicities.<br />
Blacks suffer STIs at a much<br />
higher rate than any other group:<br />
chlamydia is six times more common<br />
among black women than white ones,<br />
and for gonorrhoea the ratio is ten-toone.<br />
In addition, STIs are most prevalent<br />
in Southern states. Louisiana has the<br />
highest rate of gonorrhoea and the second-highest<br />
for chlamydia. Poverty is a<br />
possible factor: twice as many blacks as<br />
whites live below the poverty line. In<br />
2012, the budgets of more than half of<br />
state and local programmes in the US<br />
that provide testing and treatment for<br />
STIs were cut. It takes more than condoms<br />
to protect a country from STIs.<br />
Studies show that weight loss may cause early Alzheimer's disease.<br />
Photo: Getty<br />
Weight loss Tied to early<br />
Alzheimer’s<br />
Public health campaigns encourage people to get tested for STIs.<br />
Photo: Joel Carillet<br />
SAlynn BoyleS<br />
A subtle speeding up of weight loss that<br />
can accompany aging may be a very<br />
early warning sign of Alzheimer's disease,<br />
new research suggests. Older people<br />
in the study who were followed for<br />
an average of six years lost twice as<br />
much weight in the year before the first<br />
signs of dementiadementia appeared<br />
as people who did not develop<br />
Alzheimer's-related dementias - 1.2<br />
pounds compared with a weight loss of<br />
0.6 pounds per year.<br />
The acceleration in weight loss was<br />
too small to help physicians identify<br />
Alzheimer's earlier in individual<br />
patients, the study's researchers<br />
remarked. But the finding may help<br />
researchers better understand the disease.<br />
The new research appears in the<br />
September issue of the Archives of<br />
Neurology. "We are getting glimpses<br />
into what is happening with the brain<br />
in the pre-symptomatic stage before<br />
dementia occurs," says David K. Johnson,<br />
PhD. Among patients already<br />
diagnosed with Alzheimer's-related<br />
dementia, rapid weight loss has long<br />
been associated with faster disease progression.<br />
But the course of weight loss<br />
prior to the development of memory<br />
loss and other symptoms of dementia<br />
has not been well understood.<br />
The study is not the first to suggest<br />
a link between weight loss and the<br />
development of Alzheimer's disease.<br />
Early in 2005, a long-term study<br />
involving 1,800 Japanese-American<br />
men followed for 32 years found that<br />
elderly men with dementia lost an<br />
average of 10% of their body weight<br />
in the years before they were diagnosed.<br />
It remains unclear how and why<br />
Alzheimer's disease influences weight<br />
loss long before clinically recognizable<br />
symptoms appear. There were no<br />
major differences in reported appetite<br />
among future Alzheimer's patients<br />
and those who did not develop<br />
dementia in the newly reported study.<br />
Study researcher Consuelo Wilkins,<br />
MD, told that a better understanding<br />
of weight loss prior to the development<br />
of Alzheimer's-related dementia<br />
may help researchers in their efforts<br />
to identify the disease earlier. "Early<br />
detection is important because the<br />
medications that we have to treat<br />
Alzheimer's can only delay progression,"<br />
she says. "The earlier treatment<br />
is started, the better."
NATIONAL<br />
SUNDAY, MARCH 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
6<br />
Child Health Development and Death Prevention Monitoring Project unveiled in Balikandi Upazila<br />
under Rajbari distric yesterday.<br />
Photo: Mahedi Hasan Masud<br />
819 houses<br />
brought under<br />
power network<br />
in Chandpur<br />
CHANDPUR: A total of 819<br />
houses of seven villages under<br />
Faridganj upazila of the<br />
district have been brought<br />
under rural electrification<br />
network by Chandpur Palli<br />
Bidyut Samity-2 (CPBS) on<br />
Saturday, reports BSS.<br />
Local lawmaker Dr M<br />
Shamsul Haque Bhuiyan<br />
formally inaugurated the<br />
electrification programme at a<br />
simple function held at Kamta<br />
village as chief guest.<br />
The seven villages are:<br />
Kamta, Badarpur, Bachpar,<br />
Sachonmegh, Surungachile,<br />
Subidpur and Shaldah.<br />
Upazila chairman Abu<br />
Sahed Sarker, vice chairman<br />
Wahidur Rahman and deputy<br />
general manager of Kamta<br />
zonal office Rafikul Islam<br />
were present, among others.<br />
CPBS brought an area of 13<br />
kilometres under rural<br />
electrification network<br />
spending Taka about 1.96 crore.<br />
Jatka Conservation Week-<strong>2018</strong><br />
ends in Gaibandha<br />
GAIBANDHA: Jatka<br />
Conservation Week-<strong>2018</strong><br />
ended in Sadar upazila of the<br />
district on Friday with a call<br />
to ensure the sustainable<br />
production of national fish<br />
Hilsha, reports BSS.<br />
This year's theme of the<br />
week was "We will not catch<br />
jatka: Fishermen remain<br />
alive, Country smiles".<br />
Marking the week, Sadar<br />
upazila administration and<br />
upazila fisheries office<br />
chalked out elaborate<br />
programmes till March 2.<br />
The programmes included<br />
bringing out rally, holding<br />
motivational meeting to the<br />
students and awareness<br />
campaign to the fishermen<br />
living on the river bank,<br />
conducting mobile courts at<br />
hats and bazaars and<br />
arrangement of ha-du-du<br />
and swimming competitions<br />
to the fishermen and<br />
distributing prizes to the<br />
winners.<br />
On the concluding day, a<br />
discussion organised by<br />
Sadar Upazila Fisheries<br />
Office was also held at the<br />
auditorium of Gidari Union<br />
Parishad Complex with<br />
Union Parishad (UP)<br />
chairman Harun-or-Rashid<br />
Edu in the chair.<br />
Sanjoy Banerjee, senior<br />
upazila fisheries officer,<br />
attended the meeting as the<br />
main focal person and said<br />
Hilsha fish had been playing<br />
remarkable role in our<br />
national<br />
culture,<br />
employment generation,<br />
poverty alleviation, earning<br />
foreign exchange and<br />
fulfilling the protein demand<br />
of the people since long.<br />
He also urged all<br />
individuals<br />
and<br />
organisations concerned to<br />
come forward with positive<br />
attitude to preserve the jatka<br />
anyhow to help boost<br />
production of Hilsha in the<br />
river of the Brahmaputra.<br />
An old insolvent school master, Jatindranath Malo of Madhukhali is handed<br />
cash money sent by two friends from Canada-US by another friend stays<br />
in the Upazila at Madhukhali Press Club under Faridpur district.<br />
Photo: Shah Jahan Helal<br />
World Wildlife<br />
Day observed<br />
in Rajshahi<br />
RAJSHAHI: Speakers at a<br />
post-rally discussion here<br />
today unequivocally called<br />
for proper conservation of<br />
wildlife for maintaining<br />
environmental balance and<br />
ecosystem, reports BSS.<br />
They also stressed the<br />
need for more public<br />
awareness about<br />
importance of the wildlife.<br />
Existence of wildlife<br />
including big cats is very<br />
important for protecting the<br />
biodiversity, they said.<br />
Department of Social<br />
Forestry and Deputy<br />
Commissioner Office jointly<br />
organized the rally and<br />
discussion in front of<br />
Shaheed<br />
AHM<br />
Quamaruzzaman Central<br />
Park and Zoo in the city to<br />
mark the World Wildlife<br />
Day-<strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Some voluntary<br />
organizations including<br />
Bangladesh Biodiversity<br />
Conservation Federation<br />
(BBCF), Bangladesh<br />
Livestock Society (BLS),<br />
Better Nature and Society<br />
and Save the Nature and Life<br />
supported the programme.<br />
"Big Cats Predators under<br />
threat" was the main theme<br />
of the day.<br />
Deputy commissioner of<br />
Rajshahi Helal Mahmud<br />
Sharif and Additional<br />
Superintendent of Police<br />
Abdur Razzaque addressed<br />
the discussion as chief and<br />
special guests respectively<br />
with BBCF President Prof<br />
Jalal Uddin Sarder in the<br />
chair.<br />
Divisional Forest Officer<br />
Sazzad Hossain, BLS<br />
General Secretary Dr<br />
Hemayetul Islam and BBCF<br />
Secretary Mijanur Rahman<br />
also spoke.<br />
Prof Jalal Sarder opined<br />
that the wildlife population<br />
has been gradually declining<br />
due to various reasons<br />
including shrinking of their<br />
habitat. That is why timefitting<br />
measures should be<br />
adopted.<br />
Helal Mahmud Sharif said<br />
wildlife sanctuary is very<br />
important for protecting<br />
natural world. So, ensuring<br />
security to the wildlife has<br />
become an urgent need, he<br />
said.<br />
In remembrance of slain police officers, police of Sundarganj Police Investigation Centre place floral<br />
wreath to their memorial yesterday in Gaibandha district.<br />
Photo: M Sarkar Rana<br />
Rajshahi became volatile from<br />
beginning of March, 1971<br />
RAJSHAHI: The overall situation in<br />
the city of Rajshahi became volatile<br />
with the spontaneous protest of general<br />
masses from initial stage of March in<br />
1971 when the then Pakistani rulers had<br />
postponed the scheduled March 3<br />
session of National Assembly, reports<br />
BSS.<br />
Postponement of the scheduled<br />
parliament session by the Pakistani<br />
ruler, as part of a heinous conspiracy,<br />
instantly turned the Rajshahi people<br />
revolutionary since the beginning of<br />
March in 1971 with spontaneous<br />
protest of the common people.<br />
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu<br />
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman rejected<br />
cancellation of the scheduled<br />
parliament session from March 3 and<br />
called strike on March 2 in Dhaka and<br />
on March 3 throughout the country.<br />
Recalling the situation of that time,<br />
Advocate Abdul Hadi, former mayor of<br />
Rajshahi City Corporation, said<br />
thousands of people came out on the<br />
streets spontaneously under the banner<br />
of Sarbadaliyo Chhatra Sangram<br />
Parishad and Shramik Sangram<br />
Parishad.<br />
"The people demonstrated their<br />
protest and demanded immediate<br />
handover of power to Awami League,<br />
the party which secured great majority<br />
in 1970 general election," he said.<br />
Public and private offices and<br />
business activities came into a total<br />
halt, academic activities of the<br />
educational institutions were<br />
suspended while production in mills<br />
and factories throughout the city<br />
remained stopped for an indefinite<br />
period. It was part of a spontaneous<br />
protest that turned the city into a place<br />
of fierce movement and<br />
demonstrations.<br />
Total general strike was observed in<br />
the city paralyzing the civic lives and<br />
business activities.<br />
To gear up the movement by cashing<br />
the hit generated in the political field,<br />
cross-section of freedom-loving people<br />
took out series of processions on eightkilometer<br />
road from Rajshahi<br />
University to Rajshahi court breaking<br />
curfew on March 3 in conformity with<br />
the central programmes.<br />
The Independence-seeker Bangalees<br />
paraded the city streets here chanting<br />
slogans 'Jago Jago Bangalee Jago',<br />
'Beer Bangalee astro Dhoro,<br />
Bangladesh Swadheen koro'.<br />
At around 11.30 am on the same, the<br />
then occupation forces from the<br />
adjacent Telephone Exchange Building<br />
opened fire targeting a procession in<br />
Ranibazar area killing at least one<br />
person and injuring many others.<br />
The brutal attack and killing of<br />
innocent people had fuelled fiery minds<br />
of the protesting people and the<br />
movement got new momentum with<br />
more vigorous protest at city's most of<br />
the parts and district.<br />
During the Liberation War, Rajshahi<br />
witnessed both great atrocities by the<br />
Pakistan army and heroic struggles by<br />
the freedom fighters.<br />
The largest mass grave in Bangladesh<br />
is located in Rajshahi University, which<br />
was used as Pakistani army camp<br />
during the Liberation War of 1971,<br />
recalled by valiant Freedom Fighter Dr<br />
Abdul Matin.<br />
On the other hand, one of the biggest<br />
great battles of the Liberation War took<br />
place near Rajshahi. Captain<br />
Mohiuddin Jahangir, who died in the<br />
battle, was awarded the highest honour<br />
(Bir Shrestho) by the Bangladesh<br />
government after the war.<br />
Contribution in the war of<br />
independence began from the massive<br />
movement in 1969 to protest the illegal<br />
and unlawful tyranny of the Pakistani<br />
government, the students of the<br />
university became furious.<br />
On February 18, 1969 the students of<br />
the university broke out a protest<br />
procession where the police force took<br />
preparations to shoot at the procession.<br />
The then Proctor and professor of the<br />
Chemistry Department Dr<br />
Shamsuzzoha laid down his life to save<br />
the students from the bullet pierced by<br />
the then Pakistani law-enforcing<br />
agency. During the Liberation War,<br />
Rajshahi University teachers, officials<br />
and students played an imperative role<br />
to free the country from the Pakistani<br />
forces.<br />
The Shabash Bangladesh Chhattar,<br />
martyr archives, mass grave yard, and<br />
tombs of Dr Shamsuzzoha, Sukhrojjon<br />
Samaddar, Mir Abdul Qaiyum and<br />
Shaheed Habibur Rahman and<br />
presence of the existing freedom<br />
fighters make it a glorious one.<br />
Officers of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture inspects a field of high yielding verity, BINA<br />
Masur-8 in Magura Sadar Upazila yesterday.<br />
Photo: Khan Rokibul Haque<br />
Int'l seminar on<br />
'Tagorean<br />
characterization<br />
of women' held<br />
at IU<br />
ISLMAIC UNIVERSITY:<br />
An International seminar<br />
titled "The influence of world<br />
literature on the Tagorean<br />
characterization of women"<br />
was held at Islamic University<br />
(IU) in Kushtia on Saturday,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
English department of the<br />
university organised the<br />
seminar at Birshreshtha<br />
Hamidur Rahman central<br />
auditorium of the campus<br />
around 11.30am.<br />
IU VC Professor Dr M<br />
Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari<br />
addressed here as the chief<br />
guest while Pro-VC Professor<br />
Dr M Shahinoor Rahman<br />
spoke the seminar as special<br />
guest.<br />
Tagore scholar and a wellknown<br />
author Professor Dr<br />
Bina Biswas, former head of<br />
the English department of<br />
Jawaharlal<br />
Nehru<br />
Technological University,<br />
Hyderabad delivered the<br />
keynote speech related with<br />
Tagorean characterization of<br />
women.<br />
Professor Dr Mia M<br />
Rashiduzzaman, acting<br />
chairman of the department,<br />
presided over the seminar<br />
conducted by M Sazzad<br />
Hossain Jahid, assistant<br />
professor of the department.<br />
Some five hundred teachers<br />
and students of the<br />
department took part at the<br />
seminar including Assistant<br />
Professor Prodip Kumar<br />
Adhikari, Mrs. Tanzila<br />
Shahid, Mrs. Sonia Sharmin<br />
and Prakash Chandra Biswas.<br />
Four killed, six injured in<br />
separate road accidents<br />
COX'S BAZAR: At least four people were killed and five<br />
others injured in a road accident in Harbang Goyalmara area<br />
on the Cox's Bazar-Chittagong highway here yesterday<br />
morning, reports BSS.<br />
Chittagong Highway police sources said the accident<br />
occurred when a private car from Ukhiya upazila of Cox's<br />
Bazar collided head-on with a passenger bus of 'Shyamoli<br />
Paribahan' in the area, leaving four people dead on the spot<br />
and wounding five others.<br />
The deceased were Ali Akbar, 30, son of Badha Mia of<br />
Ukhiya upazila, car driver Jainul Abedin, 22, son of Shamsul<br />
Alam, Shahab Uddin, 19, son of Mir Ahmed, Mohammad<br />
Mamun, 21, son of Abdul Gafur.<br />
Officer in-charge (OC) of Chakaria thana Bakhtiar Uddin<br />
Chowdhury said the injured were taken to Chakaria hospital<br />
for treatment. Later, they were shifted to Chittagong Medical<br />
College and Hospital as their condition deteriorated.<br />
In another accident, motorcycle rider Ripon, 22, was<br />
seriously injured when a tomtom, locally made threewheeler,<br />
collided head-on with his motorcycle in Malughat<br />
area of Chakaria upazila here at 10.00 this morning.<br />
He was admitted to Chittagong Medical College and<br />
Hospital. Malumghat and Chittagong highway police<br />
confirmed the incidents.<br />
Mustafizur for ensuring qualitative<br />
and quantitative primary education<br />
RAJSHAHI: Primary and Mass Education Minister<br />
Mustafizur Rahman, MP, asked all the officials and teachers<br />
concerned to put in their best efforts to ensure qualitative<br />
and quantitative primary education, reports BSS.<br />
"You have to take the responsibility to reach the light of<br />
education to all the children and there is no alternative to it"<br />
he reminded them. He was addressing a daylong workshop<br />
titled "Sharing Best Practices to Enhance Quality Primary<br />
Education" at Rajshahi Medical College auditorium in the<br />
city today as chief guest.<br />
The minister said the present government is pledged to<br />
ensure quality primary education for the sake of freeing of<br />
the nation from the curse of illiteracy. He mentioned the<br />
district, thana and upazila level officials and teachers should<br />
discharge their duties with utmost sincerity and honesty to<br />
supplement the government endeavor effectively.<br />
Chaired by Director General of Directorate of Primary<br />
Education (DPE) Dr Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal,<br />
Commissioner of Rajshahi division Nur-Ur-Rahman, DPE<br />
Directors Saber Hossain and Bijoy Bhushan Paul, Joint<br />
Secretary of Primary and Mass-education Ministry Sheikh<br />
Atahar Hossain and Divisional Deputy Director of DPE Abul<br />
Khayer also spoke.<br />
Groundnut<br />
cultivation gains<br />
popularity in<br />
Panchagarh<br />
PANCHAGARH:<br />
Groundnut cultivation is<br />
gaining popularity among<br />
the farmers in the district<br />
recently as soil and<br />
weather condition are very<br />
suitable for groundnut<br />
cultivation, reports BSS.<br />
Department of<br />
Agriculture Extension<br />
(DAE) office sources said a<br />
total of 8,000 hectares of<br />
land have been brought<br />
under groundnut<br />
cultivation in the district<br />
this year with the<br />
production target of 14,300<br />
tonnes of groundnut.<br />
The farmers of the<br />
district have cultivated<br />
high yielding groundnut in<br />
their lands. Now seed<br />
groundnut is being sold<br />
Taka 5,000 to Taka 5,500<br />
per mound in local<br />
markets.<br />
Sunil Kumar, a farmer of<br />
Sabouspara village under<br />
Debiganj upazila said, last<br />
year I cultivated groundnut<br />
on three bighas of land<br />
spending Taka 10,000 and<br />
I earned Taka 30,000 by<br />
selling groundnut in the<br />
local market.<br />
"I have cultivated<br />
groundnut on my five<br />
bighas of land this year and<br />
I am expecting to earn<br />
Taka 70,000 from the<br />
groundnut after meeting<br />
all expenditure" he said.<br />
Deputy Director of DAE<br />
M Shamsul Haque told<br />
BSS the farmers of the<br />
district are showing more<br />
interest in cultivation<br />
groundnut.
INTERNATIONAL<br />
SUnDAy, MARCH 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
7<br />
A worker loads steel products onto a vehicle at a steel market in Fuyang in central China's Anhui<br />
province Friday, March 2, <strong>2018</strong>. China has expressed "grave concern" about a U.S. trade policy<br />
report that pledges to pressure Beijing but had no immediate response to President Donald<br />
Trump's plan to hike tariffs on steel and aluminum. The Commerce Ministry said Friday that<br />
Beijing has satisfied its trade obligations and appealed to Washington to settle disputes through<br />
negotiation.<br />
Photo : AP<br />
China asks US for talks,<br />
liaison to defuse trade<br />
tensions<br />
A person briefed on the matter says President<br />
Xi Jinping's top economic adviser<br />
has told U.S. business leaders in Washington<br />
that China hopes the White House will<br />
revive high-level dialogue on economic<br />
disputes and name a new chief liaison to<br />
defuse mounting trade tensions, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
The person said Liu He told a round-table<br />
of executives, including former Treasury<br />
Secretary Hank Paulson, that he would take<br />
Local governments sued<br />
a U.S. agency Friday to<br />
demand a fix to a decadesold<br />
problem of sewage<br />
flowing downhill from<br />
Mexico and spilling onto<br />
U.S. wetlands and beaches,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The cities of Imperial<br />
Beach and Chula Vista and<br />
the Port of San Diego said<br />
the International Boundary<br />
and Water Commission's<br />
U.S. section has failed to<br />
meet obligations under the<br />
federal Clean Water Act to<br />
treat the runoff from Tijuana,<br />
allowing toxins and<br />
bacteria to spread in the<br />
Tijuana River Valley and<br />
out to the Pacific Ocean.<br />
Polluted waters caused<br />
beaches in parts of Imperial<br />
Beach, a city of about<br />
30,000 people, to close<br />
more than 200 days in<br />
2015 and more than 160<br />
days in 2016 and last year,<br />
according to the lawsuit in<br />
federal court in San Diego.<br />
Cross-border sewage has<br />
charge of China's economic reform efforts<br />
later this month and sought a list of U.S.<br />
demands for what China could do to ease<br />
tensions. They requested anonymity to discuss<br />
a confidential meeting.<br />
Liu was dispatched to Washington to<br />
smooth over ties with China's largest trading<br />
partner. But the trip has been overshadowed<br />
by President Donald Trump's<br />
announcement Thursday of tariffs on steel<br />
and aluminum imports.<br />
San Diego-area<br />
governments sue<br />
to stop Mexican<br />
sewage flow<br />
long been a sore topic in<br />
San Diego but a spill last<br />
year led to mounting pressure<br />
on U.S. and Mexican<br />
officials to do more. Imperial<br />
Beach residents complain<br />
about the stench,<br />
especially during winter<br />
rains.<br />
"You ask what brings a<br />
community to a tipping<br />
point. I don't know, but<br />
we're there," said San<br />
Diego Port Commissioner<br />
Dan Malcolm. "It's death<br />
by a thousand cuts."<br />
The International<br />
Boundary and Water Commission's<br />
U.S. section,<br />
which works with Mexican<br />
counterparts to enforce<br />
bilateral agreements,<br />
referred a request for comment<br />
to the U.S. Justice<br />
Department, which did not<br />
immediately respond.<br />
The long-expected lawsuit,<br />
filed in federal court in<br />
San Diego, also names<br />
Veolia Water North America,<br />
part of the French company<br />
Veolia Environnement,<br />
which operates a<br />
border water treatment in<br />
San Diego for the commission.<br />
The lawsuit says the<br />
treatment plant has failed<br />
to catch hundreds of millions<br />
of gallons of wastewater<br />
since 2015.<br />
Veolia said it has fully<br />
complied with its contract<br />
and that some waste never<br />
reaches its collection system.<br />
"The plant and related<br />
infrastructure are simply<br />
not designed to prevent or<br />
treat all wastewater discharges<br />
originating in Mexico<br />
that flow into San Diego<br />
County," the company said.<br />
The commission notified<br />
California officials this<br />
week that it is not legally<br />
required to treat sewage<br />
and collect trash that spills<br />
from Mexico and that it<br />
cannot commit any money<br />
to treatment unless the<br />
U.S. State Department<br />
secures money from Congress.<br />
Mushers, fans gather<br />
for world's most<br />
famous sled dog race<br />
Hundreds of barking dogs<br />
and excited fans are converging<br />
on Alaska's largest<br />
city for Saturday's ceremonial<br />
start of the famed Iditarod<br />
Trail Sled Dog Race, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
The morning trek along<br />
snow-heaped streets in<br />
downtown Anchorage gives<br />
fans a chance to mingle with<br />
mushers and their furry<br />
teams before the competitive<br />
portion of the 1,000-<br />
mile (1,600-kilometer) race<br />
to Nome begins Sunday in<br />
the community of Willow to<br />
the north.<br />
The event comes amid a<br />
plethora of troubles for race<br />
organizers, including a former<br />
winner's dog doping<br />
scandal, the loss of a major<br />
sponsor and increasing<br />
pressure from animal rights<br />
activists following the deaths<br />
of five dogs connected to last<br />
year's race.<br />
Iditarod officials acknowledge<br />
the problems have<br />
been a growing process for<br />
organizers.<br />
Perhaps the most challenging<br />
issue was the October<br />
disclosure that four dogs<br />
belonging to four-time winner<br />
Dallas Seavey tested<br />
positive for a banned substance,<br />
the opioid painkiller<br />
tramadol, after his secondplace<br />
finish last March<br />
behind his father, Mitch<br />
Seavey. The race's leadership<br />
faced criticism for not<br />
releasing the information<br />
sooner.<br />
The Iditarod said it couldn't<br />
prove Dallas Seavey<br />
administered the drugs to<br />
his dogs, and didn't punish<br />
him. Since then, the rules<br />
have been changed to hold<br />
mushers liable for any positive<br />
drug test unless they can<br />
show something beyond<br />
their control happened.<br />
Seavey has denied administering<br />
tramadol to his<br />
dogs. He is sitting out this<br />
year's race in protest over<br />
the handling of the doping<br />
investigation. Instead, he is<br />
in Norway to participate in<br />
another sled dog race, the<br />
Finnmarkslopet, which<br />
begins next week.<br />
Republicans ignore Trump's policy<br />
whims but not on trade<br />
Republicans in Congress have learned<br />
to ignore President Donald Trump's policy<br />
whims, knowing whatever he says one<br />
day on guns, immigration or other complicated<br />
issues could very well change by<br />
the next, reports UNB.<br />
But Trump's decision to seek steep tariffs<br />
on steel and aluminum imports has<br />
provoked rarely seen urgency among<br />
Republican lawmakers, who are scrambling<br />
to convince the president he would<br />
spark a trade war that could stall the<br />
economy's recent gains if he doesn't<br />
reverse course.<br />
The issue pits Trump's populist promises<br />
to his voters against GOP free trade<br />
orthodoxy and the interests of business<br />
leaders. And unlike recent immigration<br />
and gun policy changes that require legislation,<br />
Trump can alter trade policy by<br />
executive action. That intensifies the<br />
pressure on congressional Republicans to<br />
change his mind before he gives his final<br />
approval for the penalties as early as next<br />
week.<br />
House Speaker Paul Ryan called<br />
Trump after the president's surprise<br />
announcement, and continues to hope<br />
the White House will reconsider the decision.<br />
Top lawmakers, including Sen. Ben<br />
Sasse, R-Neb., have also offered the president<br />
their own private counsel. Some are<br />
appealing to his desire for a robust stock<br />
market and warning the tariffs could<br />
unravel some of the gains they attribute<br />
to the tax bill he signed last year.<br />
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman<br />
of the House Ways and Means Committee,<br />
tried one of the most direct lines that<br />
lawmakers have to the White House:<br />
Talking to Trump through cable TV news.<br />
"The president has not yet issued these<br />
tariffs," Brady told Fox News Thursday,<br />
hours after Trump announced the tariff<br />
targets. "He's been continuing to listen."<br />
Listening to various viewpoints,<br />
though, has never been the gripe against<br />
Trump.<br />
Unlike former President Barack Obama,<br />
who often irked lawmakers for lecturing<br />
them during meetings, Trump<br />
retains a level of popularity among Capitol<br />
Hill Republicans in part because he's<br />
more than happy to invite lawmakers in<br />
and hear them out. But problems have<br />
arisen when members of the legislative<br />
branch leave the White House under the<br />
impression Trump was on their side - or<br />
at least willing to consider their views -<br />
only to find out later that his support<br />
drifted away.<br />
The dynamic played out repeatedly<br />
during last year's health care debate over<br />
replacing the Affordable Care Act. Just<br />
this week, Trump publicly belittled a<br />
modest gun background check bill from<br />
the No. 2 Republican senator, John<br />
Cornyn of Texas, during a televised White<br />
House meeting. Democrats appeared giddy<br />
with the president's praise of gun control<br />
proposals, while Republicans fumed.<br />
"I love the president, but people disagree<br />
sometimes," Sen. John Kennedy,<br />
R-La., said.<br />
But true to form, Trump's flirtations<br />
with gun control showed signs of subsiding<br />
by week's end. A day after his meeting<br />
with lawmakers, the president tweeted<br />
that he had a "Good (Great!) meeting" in<br />
the Oval Office with the National Rifle<br />
Association. The gun lobby's executive<br />
director also tweeted afterward that<br />
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence<br />
"don't want gun control."<br />
While it's still unclear what gun control<br />
measures, if any, Trump will formally<br />
endorse, his back-and-forth on the matter<br />
was reminiscent of his waffling on<br />
immigration earlier this year. With a government<br />
shutdown looming, Trump welcomed<br />
lawmakers for a Tuesday meeting<br />
at the White House to discuss immigration<br />
law changes. During the televised<br />
session, he told them he would take the<br />
political "heat" and sign into law whatever<br />
Congress could agree to pass.<br />
Two days later, on Thursday, Sens.<br />
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dick<br />
Durbin, D-Ill., dashed to the White<br />
House to present their bipartisan agreement.<br />
But the session ended in heated<br />
exchanges after Trump rejected the bill<br />
and used crude language to question why<br />
the U.S. would want to welcome immigrants<br />
from Africa and some other<br />
nations.<br />
"Let's talk about two Trumps - the<br />
Tuesday Trump and the Thursday<br />
Trump," Graham said later during a Judiciary<br />
Committee hearing as he replayed<br />
the week that was. "Tuesday we had a<br />
president that I was proud to golf with,<br />
call my friend."<br />
"I don't know where that guy went. I<br />
want him back," Graham said.<br />
Republicans, who have the majority in<br />
the House and Senate, have largely<br />
learned to take these setbacks in stride.<br />
They all but shrug off the president's policy<br />
pivots, just as Ryan and Senate Majority<br />
Leader Mitch McConnell often decline<br />
to comment on the Trump tweet of the<br />
day.<br />
But on trade tariffs, Republicans say<br />
the stakes are too high for them to sit back<br />
and wait for Trump to change his mind.<br />
Indeed, their relentless public condemnation<br />
of the tariffs was notably sharper<br />
than their typical handling of the president's<br />
policy whims.<br />
Not wise, said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-<br />
Utah. A "big mistake," said Sen. Pat<br />
Toomey, R-Penn. "Kooky," said Sasse.<br />
Trump, after the White House's own<br />
internal deliberations, proposed a 25 percent<br />
tariff on imported steel and 10 percent<br />
on aluminum. That quickly sparked<br />
global warnings of retaliation and left the<br />
financial markets reeling.<br />
Republican lawmakers, and some outside<br />
groups, want Trump to at least consider<br />
a more targeted approach, or<br />
exemptions for countries that engage in<br />
what they view as fair trade practices.<br />
"We're all urging the president, look,<br />
continue to narrow this to these unfairly<br />
targeted products," Brady said.<br />
In this Jan. 25, <strong>2018</strong> photo, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to reporters as he arrives at<br />
the office of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is moderating bipartisan negotiations on immigration,<br />
at the Capitol in Washington. Republicans in Congress have learned to ignore President<br />
Trump's policy whims, knowing whatever he says one day he'll change by the next. There's even<br />
a name for it: the Tuesday president or the Thursday president, referring to his two-day reversal<br />
on immigration. But Trump's decision to impose tariffs is another matter. Photo : AP<br />
Marshall Islands creates virtual<br />
money to raise hard cash<br />
A surfer rides a wave in Imperial Beach in San Diego, Calif., Friday, March, 2, <strong>2018</strong>. Local governments<br />
in the San Diego area have sued a U.S. agency to stop sewage from spilling into the<br />
country from Mexico. The cities of Chula Vista and Imperial Beach and the Port of San Diego say<br />
the International Boundary and Water Commission's U.S. section has failed to meet obligations<br />
to prevent Tijuana sewage from flowing across the border through the Tijuana River Valley to<br />
the Pacific Ocean. U.S. beaches are often closed as a result. The lawsuit says polluted waters<br />
caused parts of Imperial Beach to close more than 200 days in 2015 and more than 160 days in<br />
2016 and last year. Photo : AP<br />
The tiny Marshall Islands is creating<br />
its own digital currency in order to<br />
raise some hard cash to pay bills and<br />
boost the economy, reports UNB.<br />
The Pacific island nation said it<br />
became the first country in the world<br />
to recognize a cryptocurrency as its<br />
legal tender when it passed a law this<br />
week to create the digital "Sovereign,"<br />
or SOV. In the nation of 60,000, the<br />
cryptocurrency will have equal status<br />
with the U.S. dollar as a form of payment.<br />
Venezuela last month became the<br />
first country to launch its own cryptocurrency<br />
when it launched the virtual<br />
Petro, backed by crude oil reserves.<br />
The Marshall Islands said the SOV will<br />
be different because it will be recognized<br />
in law as legal tender, effectively<br />
backed by the government.<br />
The Marshall Islands is partnering<br />
with Israeli company Neema to launch<br />
the SOV. It plans to sell some of the<br />
currency to international investors<br />
and spend the proceeds.<br />
The Marshall Islands says the SOV<br />
will require users to identify themselves,<br />
thus avoiding the anonymity<br />
that has kept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies<br />
from gaining support<br />
from governments.<br />
"This is a historic moment for our<br />
people, finally issuing and using our<br />
own currency, alongside the USD (U.S.<br />
dollar)," said President Hilda Heine in<br />
a statement. "It is another step of manifesting<br />
our national liberty."<br />
The Marshall Islands is closely<br />
aligned with the U.S. under a Compact<br />
of Free Association and uses the dollar<br />
as its currency. Under the compact, the<br />
U.S. provides the Marshall Islands<br />
with about $70 million each year in<br />
assistance. The U.S. runs a military<br />
base on Kwajalein Atoll. Lawmakers<br />
passed the cryptocurrency measure<br />
Monday following five days of heated<br />
debate. It's unclear when the nation<br />
will issue the currency.<br />
Leaders hope the SOV will one day<br />
be used by residents for everything<br />
from paying taxes to buying groceries.<br />
The law states that the Marshall<br />
Islands will issue 24 million SOVs in<br />
what it calls an Initial Currency Offering.<br />
Half of those will go to the government<br />
and half to Neema.<br />
The Marshall Islands intends to initially<br />
sell 6 million SOVs to international<br />
investors. It says it will use the<br />
money to help pay the budget, invest<br />
in projects to mitigate the effects of<br />
global warming, and support those<br />
people still affected by U.S. nuclear<br />
testing. The country also intends to<br />
hand out 2.4 million SOVs to residents.<br />
Neema Chief Executive Barak<br />
Ben-Ezer said the SOV marked a new<br />
era for cryptocurrency.<br />
"SOV is about getting rid of the<br />
excuses" for not shifting to digital<br />
assets, he said in a statement. He said<br />
it solved a huge problem with cryptocurrencies,<br />
which haven't previously<br />
been recognized as "real" money by<br />
banks, regulators and the U.S. Internal<br />
Revenue Service.
SUNdAy, MArCH 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
8<br />
Oscars <strong>2018</strong>: Star Wars'<br />
Mark Hamill on why he'd<br />
rather watch from home<br />
He's going to the Oscars for the first<br />
time in four decades - but Star<br />
Wars' Mark Hamill says he'd rather<br />
be watching the ceremony in his<br />
pyjamas, reports BBC.<br />
Hamill - Luke Skywalker in the<br />
films - last attended in 1978 when<br />
Star Wars: A New Hope was up for<br />
best picture.<br />
Speaking at the Oscar Wilde<br />
Awards, where he was being<br />
honoured, he said it was "much<br />
more fun" to watch from home.<br />
Hamill, presenting an Oscar on<br />
Sunday, said he hopes the<br />
ceremony is "fun and lighthearted".<br />
He was speaking at the<br />
so-called Irish Oscars, where he<br />
was one of the honorees, along with<br />
Dunkirk actor Barry Keoghan,<br />
Home Alone and Schitt's Creek star<br />
Catherine O'Hara and Ray<br />
Donovan actress Paula<br />
Malcomson.<br />
On the green grass carpet<br />
(instead of a red one), he said he'd<br />
enjoyed all those years of "watching<br />
it in my pyjamas, saying 'look at her<br />
hair!' "Now I have to put on a<br />
tuxedo and be part of it because I'm<br />
presenting," he told the BBC.<br />
"Believe me, as big an honour as it<br />
is, to be part of it, it's much more<br />
fun to be watching it at home." In<br />
what could be a politically-charged<br />
year for the Oscars, Hamill hopes<br />
the ceremony gives people a chance<br />
to have fun. "I hope it's fun and<br />
light-hearted, you know?," he said.<br />
"Sometimes it's shaded by causes<br />
and politics but I think it's a good<br />
time for everyone to just relax and<br />
enjoy themselves. I know that's<br />
what I'll do. "What happens when<br />
you present is you go backstage<br />
early - and I don't come back to my<br />
seat. I just hang out backstage, eat<br />
all the free food and just stay away<br />
from my seat - there's always the<br />
seat-filler. Usually they're much<br />
more handsome than I am, so it's a<br />
win-win." Hamill will be presenting<br />
best animated short at the<br />
Hollywood ceremony. He joked:<br />
"They didn't pick animated short<br />
because I'm too short to be a<br />
Stormtrooper did they? Oh, they're<br />
so cruel."<br />
Abhishek<br />
Bachchan and<br />
‘Manmarziyaan’<br />
team’s ‘quiet<br />
meal’ in a dhaba<br />
takes an<br />
unexpected<br />
turn<br />
Painting exhibition<br />
‘Chitra Pate<br />
Bangabandhu’<br />
underway in city<br />
Harvey Weinstein 'Casting Couch'<br />
statue debuts pre-Oscars<br />
A golden statue of a bathrobe-clad Harvey<br />
Weinstein, seated regally atop a couch with<br />
an Oscar in hand, took up temporary<br />
sidewalk residence close to the site of<br />
Sunday's Academy Awards, reports BBC.<br />
"Casting Couch" is a collaborative work<br />
between a Los Angeles street artist known as<br />
Plastic Jesus and Joshua "Ginger" Monroe,<br />
designer of 2016's nude Donald Trump<br />
statues placed in major U.S. cities.<br />
The life-sized Weinstein sculpture,<br />
displayed Thursday on Hollywood<br />
Boulevard, aims to spotlight the<br />
entertainment industry's sexual misconduct<br />
crisis and the disgraced studio mogul's role in<br />
it, Plastic Jesus said.<br />
"There's so much about Hollywood that's<br />
great and celebrated in the Oscars, but there's<br />
also this underbelly of darkness within the<br />
industry that we often sweep under the<br />
carpet or ignore," said Plastic Jesus, formerly<br />
a London-based photographer. The phrase<br />
"casting couch," used to describe the demand<br />
of sexual favors for work, may seem a relic of<br />
a bygone era but is "still very much a part of<br />
the Hollywood culture," he said. Plastic Jesus<br />
said he and Monroe first considered a<br />
standing Weinstein statue but quickly<br />
decided to incorporate a chaise lounge. The<br />
project, made of fiberglass and acrylic resin,<br />
was in the works for two months. It will be on<br />
display this weekend, weather permitting.<br />
Visitors to the sculpture were sitting next to<br />
the faux Weinstein and taking selfies, turning<br />
it into an interactive installment, Plastic<br />
Jesus said. It also expands the symbolism, he<br />
said.<br />
"For many, many people, aspiring actors<br />
and actresses, that would have been their<br />
dream to be close to Harvey," but that reality<br />
has proven a nightmare for some, the artist<br />
said.<br />
A 10-day solo Pata Painting exhibition<br />
titled 'Chitra Pate Bangabandhu' of<br />
Patua Nazir Hossain is underway at the<br />
Bangladesh National Museum, reports<br />
BSS.<br />
The inauguration ceremony of the<br />
32nd solo Pata Painting (patachitra)<br />
exhibition was held on Friday.<br />
Prominent artist Hashem Khan was<br />
present as the chief guest while poet<br />
and filmmaker Dildar Hossain attended<br />
the ceremony as the special guest.<br />
Pata Painting (patachitra) is a<br />
traditional art form characterised by<br />
religious and social motifs and<br />
imageries. Pata is a Bangla word<br />
evolved from the Sanskrit patta<br />
meaning cloth.<br />
The exclusive exhibition will end on<br />
March 11.<br />
Abhishek Bachchan, Vicky Kaushal and Taapsee Pannu<br />
have already begun working on Anurag Kashyap's<br />
'Manmarziyaan'. Now, Abhishek has shared an interesting<br />
and funny incident that took place recently, reports BBC.<br />
After wrapping up a day's work in Amritsar, Anurag<br />
apparently suggested that team have a 'quiet meal' at a<br />
dhaba. However, as the video shared by Abhishek will<br />
prove, it was anything but quiet. Taking to Instagram, the<br />
actor shared a short video of his team sitting in a dhaba as<br />
hundreds of fans thronged around them and can be heard<br />
shouting and cheering. Anurag can be seen smiling at the<br />
silly situation even as Abhishek sarcastically says, "Enjoy<br />
your meal."<br />
Abhishek captioned the post as, "When your Director<br />
suggests "let's have a quiet meal at a dhaba"<br />
Get latest news & live updates on the go on your pc with<br />
News App. Download The Times of India news app for<br />
your device. Read more Entertainment news in English<br />
and other languages.<br />
The nine contenders for the<br />
best picture Oscar<br />
From a quirky fairy tale romance to a dark<br />
comedy about a murder investigation, via a<br />
couple of coming-of-age tales and a horror<br />
satire, the contenders for the best picture Oscar<br />
offer audiences an array of genres and themes,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
Here is a brief summary of the nine films<br />
vying for the most prestigious prize at Sunday's<br />
Oscars ceremony: - 'Three Billboards Outside<br />
Ebbing, Missouri' -<br />
Martin McDonagh's darkly funny<br />
tragicomedy has surged at the 11th hour to go<br />
into Sunday as the narrow favorite in what<br />
most experts are characterizing as a four-way<br />
race with "The Shape of Water," "Get Out" and<br />
Lady Bird."Oscarologists see its star Frances<br />
McDormand as a sure thing for the best actress<br />
statuette for her visceral turn as a rage-filled<br />
grieving mother at loggerheads with the local<br />
police over the failure to find her daughter's<br />
killer.<br />
The film's late momentum comes as<br />
something of a surprise after it was hit by the<br />
biggest backlash of any of this year's<br />
contenders.<br />
The criticism mainly centers on what has<br />
been perceived as a cheap redemption for<br />
racist, violent cop Dixon, played by Sam<br />
Rockwell-a performance that has made<br />
him a favorite for best supporting actor<br />
honors.<br />
- 'The Shape of Water' -<br />
Guillermo del Toro's romantic Cold War-era<br />
fantasy tells the story of a mute cleaning<br />
woman who falls in love with a captive magical<br />
river creature in a secret US government lab in<br />
1960s Baltimore.<br />
The movie starring Sally Hawkins, Richard<br />
Jenkins and Octavia Spencer nabbed the most<br />
Oscar nominations with 13, including best<br />
picture, director and actress.<br />
It has lost some momentum in the best<br />
picture race, where it was the favorite for<br />
several weeks but now is in second place in the<br />
betting.<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): The 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. They 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 />
The 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 />
SUNdAy, MARCH 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
9<br />
Bancroft fifty helps Australia extend lead.<br />
Windies<br />
revenge not on<br />
Simmons mind<br />
despite axe<br />
HARARE: Phil Simmons<br />
insists that leading<br />
Afghanistan to the 2019<br />
World Cup and not exacting<br />
revenge over his West Indies<br />
compatriots is his only<br />
priority when the 10-team<br />
qualifying tournament gets<br />
underway on Sunday,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
Simmons, who played 26<br />
Tests and 143 ODIs for the<br />
West Indies from 1987 to<br />
1999, was sacked as coach of<br />
the Caribbean side in 2016,<br />
just five months after<br />
leading them to the World<br />
Twenty20 title in India.<br />
His sacking had been<br />
preceded by a suspension<br />
the previous year for<br />
publically criticising the<br />
West Indies selection policy.<br />
Simmons, 54, took over<br />
the reins of Afghanistan in<br />
December and his mission<br />
to get the newly-minted Test<br />
team to a second successive<br />
World Cup in England and<br />
Wales next year.<br />
Afghanistan take on<br />
Scotland in their opening<br />
match at Bulawayo on<br />
Sunday with Simmons<br />
playing down his team's<br />
status as one of the<br />
favourites to reach the finals.<br />
"I am not putting the<br />
'favourites' tag on me. We<br />
have just come here to play<br />
cricket, we need to play<br />
proper cricket and win this<br />
tournament," said Simmons<br />
who has plenty of 'inside<br />
knowledge' of his opponents<br />
in the three-week qualifying<br />
event. As well as West<br />
Indies, the former allrounder<br />
has coached hosts<br />
Zimbabwe and enjoyed a<br />
successful eight-year spell in<br />
charge of Ireland with whom<br />
he reached two World Cups.<br />
Afghanistan are in Group<br />
B with Zimbabwe, Scotland,<br />
Nepal and Hong Kong.<br />
The West Indies, world<br />
champions in 1975 and 1979<br />
but forced to qualify this time<br />
around, are in Group A with<br />
the Netherlands, Papua New<br />
Guinea, Ireland and the<br />
United Arab Emirates. Three<br />
teams from each pool go<br />
through to the Super Sixeswhere<br />
Afghanistan and the<br />
West Indies could meet-with<br />
the top two sides at the end<br />
of the process booking their<br />
spots at the 2019 World Cup.<br />
Pre-season test: Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel hopeful of challenging Mercedes.<br />
Photo: Internet.<br />
Rise of Twenty20 leaves cricket<br />
facing testing questions<br />
LONDON: "In this ultra-modern age counter<br />
attractions have multiplied many times since<br />
my youthful days," wrote a former England<br />
batsman as he questioned whether teenagers<br />
had the time to "devote to cricket", reports BSS.<br />
That the ex-international was Herbert<br />
Sutcliffe and he was writing in a pamphlet<br />
following England's defeat in the 1950/51 Ashes<br />
series, shows that worrying about the future of<br />
cricket, and English cricket in particular, is<br />
nothing new.<br />
But whereas Sutcliffe was concerned by iceskating<br />
and greyhound racing taking people<br />
away from cricket, the worry now is about how<br />
one type of cricket --- Twenty20 franchise<br />
leagues-could spell the end of another in fiveday<br />
Tests. The recent decisions of England<br />
internationals Adil Rashid and Alex Hales to<br />
sign 'white-ball' only county contracts (a red ball<br />
is used in traditional first-class matches) this<br />
season, thereby opting out of Test contention,<br />
heightened these concerns. Rashid and Hales<br />
have not played a Test since 2016 but the worry<br />
for some is that, without a major alteration to<br />
cricket's congested schedule and a change in<br />
spectator habits-Tests outside of England and<br />
Australia often draw paltry crowds-their<br />
example may be followed by that of more highprofile<br />
cricketers. Jonny Bairstow, a Yorkshire<br />
and England team-mate of Rashid, is alive to<br />
the danger although the wicket-keeper remains<br />
committed to continuing his Test career.<br />
"If we're not careful, there are going to be<br />
more and more people (giving up red-ball<br />
cricket)," Bairstow, currently on tour with<br />
England in New Zealand, said. "You've got<br />
lucrative tournaments... (to) go off for five<br />
weeks and earn a heck of a lot of money... (with)<br />
the strain and stress on the body of bowling<br />
(only) fours overs compared to 24 in a day in<br />
Test cricket." Bairstow's thoughts were echoed<br />
by Test colleague James Anderson, with<br />
England's all-time leading Test bowler adding:<br />
"I just hope and pray there is enough love for<br />
Test cricket out there, not just the players that<br />
are playing at the moment but players coming<br />
through still having the ambition and drive to<br />
play Test cricket in the future."<br />
Bairstow and Anderson grew up in an<br />
environment where the most reliable way for<br />
cricketers to maximise their income was to<br />
become an established Test player as this would<br />
lead to a larger wage packet and enhanced<br />
opportunities for sponsorship deals.<br />
VAR set for <strong>2018</strong> World<br />
Cup approval<br />
ZURICH: Football's law-making body on<br />
Saturday was set to approve the use of video<br />
assistant referee technology (VAR) at this<br />
summer's World Cup, overriding purists<br />
concerned about technology disrupting the<br />
game, reports BSS.<br />
The International Football Association<br />
Board (IFAB) meeting in Zurich is widely<br />
expected to rubber-stamp the move already<br />
backed by FIFA's top brass, including<br />
president Gianni Infantino.<br />
VAR can only be used when there is doubt<br />
surrounding any of four key game-changing<br />
situations: after a goal, penalty decisions,<br />
after a straight red card or in cases of<br />
mistaken identity.<br />
It has already been implemented in top<br />
European leagues including the German<br />
Bundesliga and Italy's Serie A-along with<br />
tests in multiple other leagues-but opinion is<br />
still divided.<br />
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said<br />
this week that European football's governing<br />
body would not introduce VAR in next<br />
season's Champions League due to ongoing<br />
"confusion" surrounding its use.<br />
Others have voiced concern about video<br />
assistance being used too often, slowing<br />
down the game and possibly breaking a<br />
team's momentum.<br />
That is an issue confronting major North<br />
American sports like baseball and American<br />
football, where different forms of video<br />
replay have been in use for several years and<br />
where calls to shorten match length have<br />
risen. But the desire to avoid ferociously<br />
disputed calls-especially in high-profile<br />
moments-appears to have tipped FIFA to<br />
support using VAR at this summer's World<br />
Cup in Russia.<br />
One iconic example that VAR could<br />
theoretically have prevented is Diego<br />
Maradona's "Hand of God" goal that saw<br />
Argentina beat England in the 1986 World<br />
Cup.<br />
For Infantino, who will be on hand<br />
Saturday for the IFAB announcement,<br />
international football cannot allow anyone<br />
with a smart-phone having access to better<br />
information than a World Cup referee.<br />
"In <strong>2018</strong> we cannot anymore afford that<br />
everyone in the stadium and everyone in<br />
front of a TV screen can see within a few<br />
minutes on his phone whether the referee<br />
has made a big mistake or not, and the only<br />
one who cannot see it is the referee", he said<br />
last month.<br />
"So if we can help the referee then we<br />
should do it," he added.<br />
Representatives of the 32 teams that have<br />
qualified for the World Cup meeting in the<br />
Black Sea resort of Sochi this week voiced<br />
confidence that the expected VAR rollout<br />
would be a positive for the tournament.<br />
Photo: BBC.<br />
Ali, Rashid spin England<br />
to dramatic win over New<br />
Zealand<br />
WELLINGTON: Moeen Ali was as<br />
surprised as anyone as he combined<br />
with Adil Rashid to plunder New<br />
Zealand's batting stocks in England's<br />
dramatic four-run victory in the third<br />
one-day international in Wellington on<br />
Saturday, reports BSS.<br />
Not even an unbeaten 112 by Kane<br />
Williamson could save New Zealand<br />
after their top order disappeared in Ali<br />
and Rashid's devastating spell of five<br />
wickets for 23 runs in 41 deliveries.<br />
When time was up New Zealand were<br />
230 for eight in reply to England's 234<br />
after Chris Woakes bowled two dot<br />
balls to Williamson to end the match.<br />
"My plan was just to try and bowl<br />
tight, it doesn't really change game to<br />
game, and the wickets just came," said<br />
man of the match Ali, who finished<br />
with three for 36 while Rashid took two<br />
for 34.<br />
"They weren't great balls, but the<br />
balls in between were building<br />
pressure." The game boiled down to<br />
New Zealand skipper Williamson<br />
needing a six off the final ball, but a<br />
wide yorker from Woakes meant he<br />
was unable to deliver. New Zealand<br />
appeared to have the game in their<br />
hands at 80 for one in the 18th over,<br />
before Ali and Rashid turned the<br />
match. Williamson denied there were<br />
concerns about the brittle New Zealand<br />
batting performance. "Not really. It was<br />
a game where we weren't at our<br />
smartest. We didn't adjust well on a<br />
tough surface and that's all it is," said<br />
Williamson, adding it was a "very<br />
frustrating" defeat.<br />
"Starting off in our second innings we<br />
were in a position of strength after<br />
maybe 15 overs then we stumbled a bit<br />
in the middle which really hurt us ...<br />
and just a shame not to get across the<br />
line. "And credit to the way the English<br />
spinners bowled through the middle.<br />
They were outstanding."<br />
Ben Stokes took a stunning dive to his<br />
left to catch Colin Munro (49) off<br />
Rashid to ignite the slump as New<br />
Zealand went from a comfortable 80<br />
for one to 1<strong>03</strong> for six.<br />
Williamson, who had struggled for<br />
runs in recent innings and missed the<br />
second ODI, which England won,<br />
because of a hamstring strain, returned<br />
to the arena with an imperious<br />
performance for his 11th ODI century.<br />
He faced 143 deliveries and was in the<br />
middle for most of the New Zealand<br />
innings after the early dismissal of<br />
Martin Guptill for three.<br />
Williamson shared a 68-run stand<br />
with Munro, and once Ali and Rashid<br />
had destroyed the rest of the recognised<br />
Rafael Nadal out of Indian Wells Masters & Miami Open with hip injury.<br />
Neymar’s golden foot<br />
to go under the knife<br />
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil: Brazil and<br />
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar<br />
was to undergo surgery for a broken right<br />
foot Saturday, putting the planet's most<br />
expensive footballer out of action until the<br />
eve of the World Cup, reports BSS.<br />
The operation, performed by national<br />
team surgeon Rodrigo Lasmar, was<br />
expected early morning in the Mater Dei<br />
hospital in Belo Horizonte, where Neymar<br />
checked in the previous night.<br />
Jose Luiz Runco, a former chief medical<br />
officer for the Brazilian team, told AFP<br />
that the surgery to mend the broken fifth<br />
metatarsal "is not difficult" and should<br />
take between one hour and 90 minutes.<br />
What concerns Brazil and PSG is how<br />
long it will take Neymar to get back on the<br />
field, scoring goals. Lasmar describes the<br />
break as serious and says that recovery<br />
will take from two and a half to three<br />
months.<br />
That leaves PSG without the strikerwhose<br />
transfer from Barcelona cost the<br />
club a record 222 million-euro ($264<br />
million) last August-when they face Real<br />
Madrid in a make-or-break Champions<br />
League clash next Tuesday.<br />
Neymar has scored 28 goals in 30<br />
appearances in all competitions for PSG<br />
since arriving, a prolific performance cut<br />
short by the injury on February 25 during<br />
PSG's 3-0 drubbing of Marseille.<br />
Brazil's concern is that Neymar will be<br />
coming back only a few weeks before the<br />
June start of the World Cup in Russia.<br />
After a remarkable turnaround in<br />
fortunes since the shambolic exit in a 7-1<br />
defeat against Germany in the 2014 cup,<br />
Brazil is seen as a top contender this time.<br />
A big part of that optimism, though,<br />
depends on the talented Neymar.<br />
Neymar returned from Paris to his villa<br />
on the Brazilian coast Thursday and on<br />
Friday night flew to Belo Horizonte.<br />
In the heated atmosphere around the<br />
operation, Brazil's Globoesporte website<br />
claimed that Neymar was expected to<br />
come by helicopter and had booked a<br />
whole wing of the Mater Dei hospital. But<br />
a local newspaper reported he would take<br />
a more modest suite measuring around 80<br />
by 40 feet (24 x 12 meters). Staff at the<br />
hospital, a tall building with mirrored<br />
windows, were put on paparazzi<br />
lockdown, with a ban on using their<br />
cellphones anywhere near the star.<br />
However, an AFP photographer was given<br />
access to a room similar to the one<br />
Neymar was due to take-a small suite with<br />
basic furniture and a second room for the<br />
patient.<br />
Neymar, 26, is hardly camera shy.<br />
Ahead of his arrival at the hospital he put<br />
up a picture on Instagram of himself in a<br />
wheelchair with his actress girlfriend<br />
Bruna Marquezine sitting on his lap and<br />
kissing him.<br />
The image-conscious PSG star also<br />
posted a close-up of his hand, tattooed<br />
with a small cross, holding Marquezine's<br />
hand.<br />
Neymar will feel the weight of a nation's<br />
expectations as he races to recuperate in<br />
time for the World Cup. He's already<br />
seems sure to miss two warm-up<br />
friendlies against Russia and Germany in<br />
March.<br />
However, he is in good hands. Lasmar's<br />
father Neylor was also the Brazilian team<br />
doctor in the 1980s and operated on<br />
another big star of the Brazilian<br />
footballing galaxy, Zico-getting him ready<br />
in time for the World Cup in Mexico.<br />
Neymar has scored 28 goals in 30<br />
appearances in all competitions for PSG<br />
since arriving, a prolific performance cut<br />
short by the injury on February 25 during<br />
PSG's 3-0 drubbing of Marseille.<br />
Brazil's concern is that Neymar will be<br />
coming back only a few weeks before the<br />
June start of the World Cup in Russia.<br />
After a remarkable turnaround in<br />
fortunes since the shambolic exit in a 7-1<br />
defeat against Germany in the 2014 cup,<br />
Brazil is seen as a top contender this time.<br />
A plus for Neymar is that the enforced<br />
break from competitive football may do<br />
him as much good as it threatens harm.<br />
"When you think how exhausting the<br />
European season is, he could even arrive<br />
fresher than the others, both physically<br />
and emotionally," said Cristiano Nunes,<br />
the physiotherapist for Brazilian first<br />
division club Internacional in Porto<br />
Alegre.<br />
"He'll return with a real desire to play<br />
football and to show his potential."<br />
New Zealand batting he engineered a<br />
revival with Mitchell Santner. Santner<br />
was given the benefit of the doubt on<br />
two when Jason Roy took a catch at<br />
ground level and there was no clear<br />
evidence the ball had not touched the<br />
grass.<br />
From there he was more circumspect<br />
to reach 41 before being run out when a<br />
Woakes attempt to stop a Williamson<br />
drive deflected off the bowler's<br />
fingertips and on to the stumps, with<br />
Santner caught out of his crease.<br />
Woakes, defending 15 runs in the<br />
final over, conceded two twos and a six<br />
to Williamson and then fired in two dot<br />
balls to prevent a New Zealand victory.<br />
England, having been sent into bat<br />
first, struggled to 234 built around a 71-<br />
run stand for the fourth wicket by Eoin<br />
Morgan and Stokes. Although the<br />
wicket offered variable bounce it held<br />
no serious demons, and the top nine<br />
England batsmen all reached double<br />
figures. Their problem was no one<br />
could settle in long-term, and New<br />
Zealand part-time medium pacer Colin<br />
de Grandhomme was allowed to bowl<br />
10 overs in which he took one for 24.<br />
Ish Sodhi was more expensive with<br />
his leg breaks but still claimed three<br />
wickets for 53, while there were three<br />
late run outs as England.<br />
Photo: BBC.<br />
U-14 School Handball<br />
tournament begins<br />
today<br />
DHAKA: The Pran RFL U-14<br />
School Handball tournament<br />
( boys' and girls') begins<br />
tomorrow (Sunday) at<br />
Shaheed Captain M Mansur<br />
Ali Handball Stadium in the<br />
city, reports BSS.<br />
Bangladesh Olympic<br />
Association (BOA) deputy<br />
secretary general and<br />
Bangladesh Cricket Board<br />
director Najib Ahmed is<br />
expected to inaugurate the<br />
meet as chief guest while<br />
former BHF president Kazi<br />
Abul Hakim and Pran<br />
Confectionary's head of<br />
marketing Shakhawat Ahmed<br />
will be present as special guests.<br />
A total of twenty four school<br />
teams -- 12 of boys' and 12 of<br />
girls'-are participating in the<br />
meet, sponsored by Pran RFL<br />
and organized by Bangladesh<br />
Handball Federation (BHF).<br />
Pran RFL will provide Taka,<br />
1,50,000 out of the total<br />
competition budget of Taka<br />
1,70,000 to run the meet. In<br />
this regard, a press conference<br />
was held on Saturday at the<br />
adjoining hall room of<br />
Bangladesh Handball ground<br />
to provide all the details of the<br />
meet.<br />
BHF general secretary<br />
Asaduzzaman Kohinoor, Pran<br />
RFL brand manager Yousuf<br />
Arafat, tournament committee's<br />
chairman Masum Samia Shila<br />
and tournament committee's<br />
secretary Ayesha Zaman Khuki<br />
were present on the occasion.<br />
Participating schools:<br />
Boys' teams - South Points<br />
School and College , Heed<br />
International, Sunny Dale,<br />
Dhanmondi Tutorial,<br />
Scholastica Mirpur, Narinda<br />
Govt. High School, Dhaka<br />
Residential Model College,<br />
Ideal School and College,<br />
Shaheed Police Smrity<br />
College, Saint Gregory<br />
School, BAF Shaheen College<br />
and Scholastica Uttara.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS<br />
SUnDAy,<br />
THE<br />
BANGLADESHTODAY<br />
MARCH 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
10<br />
The year of <strong>2018</strong> is expected to be a significant year in terms of diplomatic relationship between<br />
Vietnam and Bangladesh as Bangladesh is all set to welcome the Vietnamese President Tran Dai<br />
Quang who will arrive on a three-day state visit on <strong>04</strong> March <strong>2018</strong> with an aim to intensify trade &<br />
investment advancement and to create favorable conditions for businesses between these two countries.<br />
Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka is hosting a Vietnamese Food Festival <strong>2018</strong> along with a<br />
Vietnamese Cultural Week in honor of the Vietnamese President His Excellency Tran Dai Quangin collaboration<br />
with the Embassy of Vietnam in Bangladesh and Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<br />
The eventful Festival will provide a Three-dayCultural Fair at the Hotel's Ballroom along with a<br />
Gastronomical Adventure of VietnameseFoodat Café Bazar Restaurant starting from 06 March to 08<br />
March.<br />
Photo: Courtesy<br />
German new car sales jump in<br />
February: Industry data<br />
Sales of new cars increased strongly<br />
in Germany in February, industry<br />
data showed Friday, but shipments of<br />
diesel vehicles continue to fall in the<br />
wake of repeated scandals.<br />
The number of new cars registered<br />
on the country's roads rose by seven<br />
percent to 261,700 last month, figures<br />
from manufacturers' association VDA<br />
showed.<br />
That brought the total for the first<br />
two months of the year combined to<br />
531,100 vehicles, the highest level<br />
since 1999, the VDA said in a<br />
statement.<br />
Nevertheless, sales of new diesel<br />
cars continued to decline, separate<br />
data from the KBA vehicle licensing<br />
authority showed.<br />
While 62.9 percent of new cars were<br />
petrol powered, diesel vehicles<br />
accounted for just 32.5 percent -- 19.5<br />
percentage points lower than a year<br />
U.S. sales of new cars and<br />
trucks tailed off in February as<br />
automakers eased up on<br />
discounts.<br />
Sales fell 2 percent from last<br />
February to 1.3 million,<br />
according to Autodata Corp.<br />
Among major automakers,<br />
only Toyota, Subaru and<br />
Volkswagen reported sales<br />
gains over last February.<br />
Ford's U.S. sales chief Mark<br />
LaNeve said automakers<br />
spent an average of $65 less<br />
per vehicle on incentives in<br />
February compared to the<br />
same month last year. That's a<br />
stark contrast from 2017,<br />
when incentive spending<br />
often climbed $300 or $400<br />
per month.<br />
LaNeve said discounts<br />
could grow during the spring<br />
and summer, when tax<br />
returns arrive and more<br />
people shop for vehicles. But<br />
based on the first two months<br />
of this year, he expects<br />
automakers to remain fairly<br />
disciplined. In the past, heavy<br />
before.<br />
Diesel drivers, politics and industry<br />
were held in suspense in February, as<br />
a court decision approached on<br />
whether the oldest cars powered by<br />
the fuel could be banned from city<br />
centres to fight air pollution.<br />
Judges at the Federal<br />
Administrative Court in Leipzig finally<br />
approved the measure this week.<br />
Now city, state and federal<br />
governments, drivers, the auto<br />
industry and environmentalists must<br />
wrangle over how to meet targets for<br />
levels of harmful nitrogen oxides<br />
(NOx) and fine particles in city air-if<br />
possible without driving bans.<br />
In the meantime, the possible urban<br />
exclusion zones and a plummet in the<br />
resale value of diesel vehicles have put<br />
buyers off the fuel.<br />
World-leading carmaker<br />
Volkswagen-at the origin of the diesel<br />
US auto sales fell 2 percent<br />
in February<br />
discounting has led to<br />
overproduction and steep<br />
declines in automakers'<br />
profits.<br />
Here are some details<br />
regarding February sales:<br />
General Motors Co. sales<br />
fell just under 7 percent to<br />
220,905. Sales were dragged<br />
down by the Chevrolet<br />
Silverado pickup truck, GM's<br />
top-selling vehicle. Silverado<br />
sales were off more than 16<br />
percent from a year ago, when<br />
the company had record<br />
February sales of SUVs and<br />
pickup trucks. GMC and<br />
Chevrolet sales were down for<br />
the month but Buick and<br />
Cadillac sales rose.<br />
Ford Motor Co. sales also<br />
fell 7 percent to 194,132. Ford<br />
said its car and SUV sales<br />
were down but sales of the F-<br />
Series pickup - its biggest<br />
seller - inched up 3.5 percent.<br />
Ford brand sales were down 6<br />
percent while luxury Lincoln<br />
sales plummeted 23 percent.<br />
Toyota Motor Corp. sales<br />
rose 4.5 percent to 182,195<br />
vehicles. Sales of its top-seller,<br />
the Camry sedan, jumped 12<br />
percent as an updated version<br />
went on sale. Luxury Lexus<br />
sales also rose 5 percent.<br />
Fiat Chrysler's sales fell 1<br />
percent to 165,9<strong>03</strong>. Jeep<br />
brand sales jumped 12<br />
percent and Alfa Romeo sales<br />
were also up, but Ram truck<br />
sales fell 14 percent because of<br />
a drop in fleet buyers.<br />
Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat sales<br />
also fell on low consumer<br />
demand for cars.<br />
Nissan Motor Co. sales fell 4<br />
percent to 129,930. Demand<br />
for Nissan cars fell 17 percent<br />
but truck and SUV sales were<br />
up 9 percent, led by the Rogue<br />
small SUV. Nissan's luxury<br />
Infiniti brand saw sales fall 7<br />
percent.<br />
Honda Motor Co. sales fell 5<br />
percent to 115,557. Sales of its<br />
best-seller, the CR-V SUV,<br />
dropped 19 percent despite a<br />
recent redesign. Luxury Acura<br />
sales were up 1 percent.<br />
scandal after it admitted in 2015 to<br />
cheating regulatory tests on millions<br />
of cars worldwide-has found itself in<br />
the spotlight again in recent weeks<br />
after it emerged that monkeys had<br />
been used in diesel emission tests.<br />
The Wolfsburg-based firm was<br />
nevertheless able to increase sales of<br />
its own-brand cars 12.4 percent yearon-year<br />
last month, claiming more<br />
than 18 percent of the German<br />
market, the KBA data showed.<br />
Neither was there much impact<br />
from the scandal on sales of BMW or<br />
Mercedes-Benz-the two high-end<br />
carmakers that helped finance the<br />
primate study.<br />
Over the first two months,<br />
homegrown carmakers increased<br />
their German sales by around 8.0<br />
percent, while foreign manufacturers<br />
saw their sales grow by 13 percent, the<br />
VDA said.<br />
Greece says<br />
gets green<br />
light for more<br />
bailout funds<br />
Greece said Friday that EU<br />
experts have approved a<br />
fresh cash injection under its<br />
bailout loan programme<br />
which is due to wrap up later<br />
this year.<br />
The Greek finance<br />
ministry said in a statement<br />
that the 5.7 billion euros<br />
($7.0 billion) should be<br />
disbursed in mid-March<br />
following approval by<br />
lawmakers in several<br />
eurozone countries.<br />
The approval by experts<br />
working for the Eurogroup<br />
of eurozone finance minister<br />
marks the formal closure of<br />
the third review by Greece's<br />
creditors under the current<br />
bailout programme.<br />
The current programme<br />
worth a total of 86 billion<br />
euros agreed in 2015 runs<br />
until August this year, after<br />
which the southern<br />
European nation hopes to<br />
fully return to market<br />
financing and get back on its<br />
own two feet.<br />
Polwel Super Market Malik Samiti election 2017-2020 was held recently. Kaium Talukder and Jasim<br />
Uddin were elected as the president and general secretary in the election. Photo: Courtesy<br />
Infineon, SAIC<br />
set up electric<br />
car joint venture<br />
in China<br />
German computer chip<br />
maker Infineon said Friday it<br />
is teaming up with China's<br />
biggest car maker, SAIC<br />
Motor Corporation, to<br />
produce power modules for<br />
the Chinese electric car<br />
market, the world's biggest.<br />
Infineon said in a statement<br />
it will hold a 49-percent stake<br />
in the new Shanghai-based<br />
company, SAIC Infineon<br />
Automotive Power Modules<br />
(SIAPM), which will make<br />
inverters-vital parts that<br />
convert power from the<br />
battery to a form that can be<br />
used by the car's engine.<br />
SAIC will hold the other 51<br />
percent.<br />
The joint venture has<br />
already received the necessary<br />
regulatory approval and will<br />
begin large-scale production<br />
in the second half of this year,<br />
Infineon said.<br />
SIAPM will focus on the<br />
massive Chinese market for<br />
electric or hybrid vehicles,<br />
which saw 794,000 sales last<br />
year according to local auto<br />
industry association CAAM.<br />
Meanwhile, Infineon will<br />
continue independently to<br />
supply customers outside<br />
China.<br />
Complex electric car quotas<br />
that Beijing will enforce from<br />
next year are expected to<br />
accelerate a growing trend<br />
towards electric mobility.<br />
Annual production of<br />
hybrid and all-electric cars in<br />
China could reach two million<br />
vehicles by 2020 and 4.3<br />
million by 2024, or around 45<br />
percent of the forecast global<br />
market, Infineon said, citing<br />
an IHS Markit analysis.<br />
OPPO the Selfie Expert and<br />
Leader in going to launch an<br />
upgraded version of A71. It is<br />
equipped with 5MP A.I.<br />
Beauty Recognition<br />
Technology Selfie Camera.<br />
Together with OPPO's A.I.<br />
Beauty Recognition<br />
Technology, A71 2GB brings a<br />
more realistic and natural<br />
selfie experience to more<br />
young consumers, along with<br />
the 16GB ROM and 3000<br />
mAh battery. As a whole<br />
makes the A71 2GB a versatile<br />
product, a press release said.<br />
The Managing Director of<br />
OPPO Bangladesh Damon<br />
Yang confirmed about this<br />
handset and said, "Yes, we will<br />
be bringing A71 2GB in<br />
Bangladesh's market as well.<br />
We are going to launch this<br />
handset on 6th of this month."<br />
He added that, "OPPO claims<br />
leadership in the Selfie feature<br />
and being the leader in the<br />
market we always want to give<br />
the best in convenient price.<br />
A71 2GB would be OPPO's<br />
first A series that sports<br />
Artificial Intelligence (AI)<br />
technology for Selfies in the<br />
entry level smartphone. We<br />
expect this one would create<br />
tremendous consumer delight<br />
in the market."<br />
OPPO A71 2GB is the new<br />
generation Selfie expert. It will<br />
come with a 5 MP front lens<br />
with beauty recognition A.I<br />
US President Donald<br />
Trump on Friday welcomed<br />
the prospect of a trade war,<br />
remaining defiant in the face<br />
of the global uproar sparked<br />
by his sudden<br />
announcement of steel and<br />
aluminum tariffs.<br />
With global stock markets<br />
tumbling and allies riled, the<br />
president greeted the<br />
negative reaction by raising<br />
the stakes and vowing even<br />
harsher trade policies.<br />
In a blistering series of<br />
morning tweets, he said he<br />
would seek to impose<br />
"reciprocal taxes" on all<br />
imports from trading<br />
partners that charge duties<br />
on American exports.<br />
That would ratchet up the<br />
a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ' s<br />
EU and South American<br />
bloc extend trade talks<br />
The European Union and<br />
the South American trade bloc<br />
Mercosur are extending talks<br />
on a free trade deal by a<br />
couple of weeks to resolve<br />
"four or five" outstanding<br />
issues, officials from both<br />
sides said on Friday.<br />
Paraguay's foreign minister,<br />
Eladio Loizaga, said the<br />
discussions had advanced and<br />
"we can be satisfied" with the<br />
progress so far.<br />
Even though the current<br />
round of face-to-face talks<br />
wrapped up in Paraguay's<br />
capital on Friday, the decision<br />
was taken to keep the<br />
negotiations going through<br />
teleconferencing and emails,<br />
Loizaga said.<br />
"We can't close them<br />
completely. There are four or<br />
five issues in this moment, but<br />
I don't foresee a big problem,"<br />
said Edita Hrda, the chief for<br />
the Americas for the EU's<br />
foreign policy service.<br />
She said she expected the<br />
deal could be signed before<br />
June, when Paraguay's term<br />
chairing the talks comes to an<br />
end.<br />
There is a desire among the<br />
parties to reach agreement<br />
before Brazil-<br />
Latin America's biggest<br />
economy-enters campaigning<br />
for October presidential<br />
elections.<br />
Mercosur comprises Brazil,<br />
Argentina, Paraguay and<br />
Uruguay. Troubled oil<br />
producer Venezuela was<br />
suspended indefinitely from<br />
the bloc last year.<br />
Discussions between<br />
Mercosur and the EU toward<br />
tech. The A.I. Beauty<br />
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confrontational "America<br />
First" trade policy far<br />
beyond the hefty steel and<br />
aluminum tariffs he<br />
announced Thursday-which<br />
come despite strenuous<br />
objections from stunned<br />
advisors and powerful<br />
industry groups.<br />
The wide-ranging actions,<br />
if imposed, would eviscerate<br />
the rules-based global<br />
trading system the US<br />
helped to build, and<br />
drastically raise the chances<br />
of a trade war.<br />
But in an early morning<br />
tweet Trump seemed to<br />
welcome the prospect,<br />
saying "trade wars are good,<br />
and easy to win."<br />
Allowing imports into the<br />
US market duty free when<br />
a free trade deal began two<br />
decades ago.<br />
Loizaga identified<br />
automobiles and auto parts as<br />
one of the biggest sticking<br />
points remaining in the talks,<br />
specifically technical<br />
standards. Agriculture was<br />
another.<br />
and to where it matters most<br />
for young consumers. The<br />
super 2GB operating<br />
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while three independent card<br />
Defiant Trump welcomes<br />
‘easy to win’ trade war<br />
similar exports face tariffs is<br />
"not fair or smart," Trump<br />
said on Twitter.<br />
"We will soon be starting<br />
RECIPROCAL TAXES so<br />
that we will charge the same<br />
thing as they charge us.<br />
$800 Billion Trade Deficithave<br />
no choice!"<br />
He also defended his<br />
decision Thursday to impose<br />
25 percent tariffs on steel<br />
imports and 10 percent on<br />
aluminum.<br />
And while some allies, like<br />
Canada, had hoped to be<br />
spared the tariffs, a senior<br />
administration official said<br />
Friday that Trump had ruled<br />
out allowing countries to be<br />
exempted, which could<br />
inflame tensions even<br />
further.<br />
Any resulting accord with<br />
the EU would blaze a path for<br />
other free trade pacts with<br />
Mercosur. Negotiations are to<br />
begin next week between the<br />
South American bloc and<br />
Canada and Singapore, with<br />
South Korea discussions due<br />
to begin later.<br />
Trump takes steel rod to markets<br />
with trade war threat<br />
Donald Trump's controversial decision to slap tariffs on<br />
steel and aluminium imports, followed up with tweets<br />
apparently welcoming a trade war, sent world stock markets<br />
slumping.<br />
Equity markets, already on edge over worries about rising<br />
US interest rates, tanked after the president imposed levies<br />
on the commodities in his "America First" policy.<br />
The tariffs -- 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on<br />
aluminium-cover two materials that are the lifeblood of the<br />
construction and manufacturing sectors.<br />
Trump followed up the tariff announcements with tweets<br />
on Friday that boasted trade wars are easy to win and<br />
threatened to impose reciprocal taxes on trading partners.<br />
"Equity markets are under serious pressure after President<br />
Trump revealed his plans to levy tariffs on imported steel and<br />
aluminium," said market analyst David Madden at CMC<br />
Markets UK.<br />
"The decision is part of Trump's 'make America great again'<br />
campaign, but traders fear it could trigger a trade war."<br />
US markets, which nosedived on Thursday after the initial<br />
announcement, fell at the opening bell on Friday. The Dow<br />
Jones Industrial Average was down 1.2 percent in late<br />
morning trading, after having lost 1.7 percent the day before.<br />
European equities fell sharply, with Frankfurt tanking 2.2<br />
percent on worries about the eurozone's powerhouse<br />
German economy, with Paris falling even more -- 2.4<br />
percent.<br />
Slumping shares in mining companies penalised London's<br />
FTSE 100, which ended the day down 1.5 percent.<br />
"While Donald Trump considers himself pro-business, the<br />
imposition of tariffs across the aluminium and steel sector<br />
has led to fears over a collapse in global trade," added IG<br />
analyst Joshua Mahony.<br />
"The threat of a trade war was always likely to hit the<br />
export-driven German economy hardest."<br />
OPPO is bringing an upgraded Pocket-<br />
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'Only losers' in<br />
US-EU trade war:<br />
French minister<br />
French Economy Minister<br />
Bruno Le Maire warned the<br />
United States against a trade<br />
war with the EU on Friday,<br />
saying there would "only be<br />
losers" in such a standoff.<br />
Le Maire said US President<br />
Donald Trump's plans to<br />
impose tariffs on steel and<br />
aluminium imports would, if<br />
confirmed, be "unacceptable".<br />
He called for a "strong,<br />
coordinated and united<br />
response from the EU".<br />
Trump triggered a furore on<br />
Thursday by announcing he<br />
would slap tariffs of 25<br />
percent on steel and 10<br />
percent on aluminium to<br />
protect US producers.<br />
The announcement caused<br />
an outcry among US allies<br />
such as Canada, the EU,<br />
Mexico and Australia as well<br />
as China, the world's biggest<br />
steel producer.
MISCELLANEOUS<br />
11<br />
SuNDAY, MArCh 4, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Washington Legislature phases<br />
out Atlantic salmon farming<br />
The Washington Legislature on Friday<br />
voted to phase out marine Atlantic<br />
salmon aquaculture, an industry that<br />
has operated for decades in the state<br />
but came under heavy criticism after<br />
tens of thousands of nonnative fish<br />
escaped into waterways last summer,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
After lengthy debate, the Senate<br />
passed the bill on a 31-16 vote. The<br />
House earlier passed it on 67-31 vote<br />
and it now heads to Gov. Jay Inslee, a<br />
Democrat who has expressed support.<br />
The bill would end state leases and<br />
permits for operations that grow<br />
nonnative finfish in state waters when<br />
current leases expire in 2022.<br />
The bill targets Canada's Cooke<br />
Aquaculture Pacific, the largest<br />
producer of farmed Atlantic salmon in<br />
the U.S., whose net pens in northwest<br />
Washington collapsed Aug. 19. Cooke<br />
currently has two leases with the state.<br />
State officials last month blamed<br />
Cooke's negligence for failing to<br />
maintain its net pens. They said the<br />
escape of the salmon put the state's<br />
ecosystem at risk and fined the<br />
company $332,000. Up to 263,000<br />
invasive Atlantic salmon escaped into<br />
Puget Sound, raising fears about the<br />
impact to native Pacific salmon runs.<br />
Sen. Kevin Ranker, a Democrat who<br />
sponsored similar legislation in the<br />
Senate, said the "state ban is a strong<br />
stance to ensure the protection of our<br />
marine environment and native<br />
salmon populations." Joel Richardson,<br />
vice president of Cooke, said in a<br />
statement that the company was<br />
"deeply disappointed" with the bill's<br />
passage, the potential impact on the<br />
industry and "more than 600 rural<br />
workers and their families that rely<br />
upon salmon farming for their<br />
livelihoods."<br />
He said the company will evaluate its<br />
operations and investments in the state<br />
and ensure that whatever decision they<br />
make puts families and workers first.<br />
Richardson told lawmakers last<br />
month that Cooke would be able to seek<br />
damages under a provision of the<br />
North American Free Trade Agreement<br />
if the measure passed. He said the bill<br />
would strip the Canada-based<br />
company of its $76 million investment<br />
in the state in an unfair way. He did not<br />
address that issue in his statement<br />
Friday.<br />
Sen. Judy Warnick, a Republican,<br />
said "we are putting an industry out of<br />
business." Other Republicans who<br />
opposed the bill said it would put<br />
people out of work, shut down a vital<br />
industry and set a bad precedent.<br />
"This is the wrong action tonight and<br />
I'm just appalled that this is the<br />
direction we're going," said Sen. Shelly<br />
Short, a Republican.<br />
Republicans introduced numerous<br />
amendments that were rejected,<br />
including proposals to allow growing<br />
native fish or single-sex Atlantic<br />
salmon in net pens and a tax incentive<br />
package to help the industry transition<br />
to other operations.<br />
Atlantic salmon farming has been in<br />
the state since the 1980s but remains<br />
controversial in the Northwest, famed<br />
for its native Pacific salmon runs and<br />
where tens of millions of dollars are<br />
spent each year to bring back declining<br />
populations of wild Pacific salmon<br />
stock. Washington state joins Alaska,<br />
which has banned commercial finfish<br />
aquaculture. Oregon and California do<br />
not have commercial salmon farming<br />
operations. State officials last month<br />
blamed Cooke's negligence for failing to<br />
maintain its net pens. They said the<br />
escape of the salmon put the state's<br />
ecosystem at risk and fined the<br />
company $332,000. Up to 263,000<br />
invasive Atlantic salmon escaped into<br />
Puget Sound, raising fears about the<br />
impact to native Pacific salmon runs.<br />
"Phasing out of industrial ocean fish<br />
farms in Washington is a victory for our<br />
oceans and coastal communities," said<br />
Hallie Templeton with Friends of the<br />
Earth in a statement.<br />
Cooke, based in New Brunswick,<br />
Canada, is the only company to farm<br />
Atlantic salmon in state waters. The<br />
company bought operations from Icicle<br />
Acquisition Subsidiary in 2016. It was<br />
in the process of getting permits for an<br />
expanded operation near Port Angeles<br />
when the net pens off Cypress Island<br />
capsized.<br />
Nor’easter hits<br />
East Coast,<br />
grounds flights<br />
and halts trains<br />
A nor'easter pounded the<br />
Atlantic coast with<br />
hurricane-force winds and<br />
sideways rain and snow<br />
Friday, flooding streets,<br />
grounding flights, stopping<br />
trains and leaving 1.6 million<br />
customers without power<br />
from North Carolina to<br />
Maine. At least five people<br />
were killed by falling trees or<br />
branches, reports UNB.<br />
The storm submerged cars<br />
and toppled tractor-trailers,<br />
sent waves higher than a<br />
two-story house crashing<br />
into the Massachusetts<br />
coast, forced schools and<br />
businesses to close early and<br />
caused a rough ride for<br />
passengers aboard a flight<br />
that landed at Dulles Airport<br />
outside Washington.<br />
"Pretty much everyone on<br />
the plane threw up," a pilot<br />
wrote in a report to the<br />
National Weather Service.<br />
The Eastern Seaboard was<br />
hammered by gusts<br />
exceeding 50 mph, with<br />
winds of 80 to 90 mph on<br />
Cape Cod. Ohio and upstate<br />
New York got a foot or more<br />
of snow. Boston and Rhode<br />
Island were expected to get 2<br />
to 5 inches.<br />
The storm killed at least<br />
five people, including a 77-<br />
year-old woman struck by<br />
a branch outside her home<br />
near Baltimore. Fallen<br />
trees also killed a man and<br />
a 6-year-old boy in<br />
different parts of Virginia,<br />
an 11-year-old boy in New<br />
York state and a man in<br />
Newport, Rhode Island.<br />
Floodwaters in Quincy,<br />
Massachusetts,<br />
submerged cars, and<br />
police rescued people<br />
trapped in their vehicles.<br />
High waves battered<br />
nearby Scituate, making<br />
roads impassable and<br />
turning parking lots into<br />
small ponds. More than<br />
1,800 people alerted<br />
Scituate officials they had<br />
evacuated, The Boston<br />
Globe reported.<br />
Massachusetts Gov.<br />
Charlie Baker activated<br />
200 National Guard<br />
members to help victims.<br />
Will firms go elsewhere after<br />
Georgia lawmakers-Delta spat?<br />
Georgia lawmakers' decision to punish Delta<br />
Air Lines for publicly distancing itself from<br />
the National Rifle Association was an<br />
extraordinary act of political revenge, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
By killing a proposed tax break on jet fuel,<br />
pro-gun Republicans won a political victory<br />
that could pay off in the short term, but other<br />
companies won't soon forget that Georgia<br />
allied itself with the NRA over one of its<br />
largest private employers, with 33,000<br />
workers statewide.<br />
"When you inject naked politics - and<br />
that's what this is - into the economic<br />
equation, I think that it does have the chance<br />
of spooking the business community," said<br />
Tom Stringer, a New York-based consultant<br />
for the business-advisory firm BDO. "One<br />
thing about the business community is that it<br />
has a very long memory."<br />
The uproar began last Saturday when<br />
Delta stopped offering fare discounts to NRA<br />
members in the wake of the school massacre<br />
in Florida. On Friday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian<br />
insisted in a memo to employees that the<br />
company was "not taking sides" on gun<br />
control and made the decision in hopes of<br />
removing itself from the gun debate. He said<br />
the company's "values are not for sale" and<br />
"we are proud and honored to locate our<br />
headquarters here."<br />
Delta recently signed a 20-year lease to<br />
keep its hub at Hartsfield-Jackson<br />
International Airport in Atlanta, and<br />
business consultants said other Atlantabased<br />
firms, such as Coca-Cola and UPS, will<br />
likely stay put too. But GOP lawmakers'<br />
willingness to use public money to try to<br />
intimidate corporations could damage<br />
Georgia's ability to attract new industry -<br />
including Amazon, which recently named<br />
metro Atlanta a finalist for its coveted second<br />
headquarters.<br />
"I think it's fair to say that this situation<br />
would not be helpful to the state of Georgia<br />
in potentially securing the Amazon site," said<br />
Jerry Funaro, Chicago-based vice president<br />
for global marketing at TRC Global Mobility,<br />
a relocation management company. "They<br />
could certainly say that this would be a<br />
reason to look elsewhere."<br />
Amazon didn't immediately respond to a<br />
message seeking comment.<br />
Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who is<br />
running in a crowded primary for governor<br />
in May, set the stage for the fight with a tweet<br />
Monday saying conservatives would fight<br />
back. He defended the move Friday.<br />
"We cannot continue to allow large<br />
companies to treat conservatives differently<br />
than other customers, employees and<br />
partners," Cagle wrote in an opinion piece<br />
published by The Atlanta Journal-<br />
Constitution. "The voters who elected us and<br />
believe strongly in our rights and liberties<br />
expect and deserve no less."<br />
Another GOP candidate for governor,<br />
Secretary of State Brian Kemp, even<br />
suggested using the estimated $38 million<br />
the state would save by killing jet fuel tax<br />
break to pay for a tax-free "holiday" on<br />
purchases of guns and ammunition.<br />
Other GOP leaders openly cringed at the<br />
combative tone Cagle and others took.<br />
Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who is<br />
term-limited and serving his final year,<br />
bemoaned the controversy as an<br />
"unbecoming squabble" fueled by electionyear<br />
posturing. GOP House Speaker David<br />
Ralston called it "not one of our finer days"<br />
when the firestorm erupted Monday.<br />
Republicans have controlled the<br />
governor's mansion in Georgia since 20<strong>03</strong>, a<br />
deep red streak that makes this year's GOP<br />
gubernatorial nominee a likely favorite in<br />
November.<br />
Deal and other governors for decades have<br />
made it a priority to ensure Georgia was an<br />
attractive location for prospective employers,<br />
said Charles Bullock, a political science<br />
professor at the University of Georgia. Before<br />
the NRA controversy, he said, many GOP<br />
lawmakers defended the jet fuel tax break as<br />
necessary to protect jobs.<br />
"What this really does is it says, in terms of<br />
setting priorities, that taking a stand on the<br />
NRA is more significant," Bullock said. "The<br />
jobs thing now is pushed to the back."<br />
After Delta announced it was cutting ties<br />
with the NRA, it took pro-gun Republicans<br />
just days to make good on their threats by<br />
passing a sweeping tax bill - minus the jet<br />
fuel tax break.<br />
Deal, who said an estimated $5.2 billion in<br />
overall tax savings was too important to<br />
sacrifice, swiftly signed the measure into law<br />
Friday. He vowed to keep pursuing the jet<br />
fuel exemption as a separate issue.<br />
Delta revealed Friday that the NRA<br />
discount that triggered the showdown had<br />
barely been used. Offered recently for NRA<br />
members flying to the group's <strong>2018</strong><br />
convention in Dallas, only 13 discounted<br />
tickets had been sold, Delta spokesman<br />
Trebor Banstetter said.<br />
Delta isn't the only company to take action<br />
since the Feb. 14 slayings of 17 students and<br />
educators in Parkland, Florida, by a gunman<br />
armed with an AR-15 assault-style rifle.<br />
Walmart, Kroger and Dick's Sporting Goods<br />
have tightened their gun sales policies.<br />
Meanwhile, MetLife, Hertz and others have<br />
joined Delta in ending business ties with the<br />
NRA.<br />
The extent of the backlash Georgia might<br />
face from businesses is unclear. But firms<br />
from outside the South may think twice<br />
about Georgia if they see a clash of corporate<br />
values on guns and other social issues, said<br />
Jon Gabrielsen, a business-strategy<br />
consultant who worked 17 years in Georgia<br />
before moving recently to Mexico.<br />
28.10.0008.<strong>04</strong>7.<strong>03</strong>.009.17/32 (Gjwc)<br />
GD-347/18 (13 x 4)<br />
GD-346/18 (9 x 4)
UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY<br />
SuNDAy, DHAKA, MARCH 4, <strong>2018</strong>, FAlGuN 20, 1424 BS, JAMADI-uS-SANI 15, 1439 HIJRI<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina waiving her hand at a rally at Khulna Circuit House on Saturday.<br />
Quader warns<br />
BNP against<br />
violence in name<br />
of movement<br />
DHAKA : Road Transport<br />
and Bridges Minister and<br />
Awami League General<br />
Secretary Obaidul Quader on<br />
Saturday warned BNP that<br />
the law enforcement agencies<br />
would take necessary<br />
measurers if the party carries<br />
out any sort of violence in the<br />
name of movement.<br />
"We would face BNP's<br />
strategy of movement politically,<br />
if it remains political. If<br />
the party carries out violence<br />
and sabotage in the name of<br />
movement, the law enforcement<br />
agencies would take<br />
necessary actions to protect<br />
the life and property of people,"<br />
he told newsmen while<br />
conducting a leaflet distribution<br />
campaign in the city's<br />
New Market area.<br />
The campaign is going on<br />
since March 1 to make successful<br />
the Awami League's<br />
public rally at the historic<br />
Suhrawardy Udyan on<br />
March 7 marking the<br />
anniversary of the landmark<br />
speech of Father of the<br />
Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh<br />
Mujibur Rahman delivered<br />
at the Race Course (now<br />
Suhrawardy Udyan) on the<br />
day 47 years back in 1971.<br />
The minister said: "We are<br />
stepping forward for holding<br />
the next general election in a<br />
free, fair and neutral manner<br />
in line with the constitution<br />
so that it can be acceptable to<br />
all."<br />
Palindromo Meszaros Captures the Aftermath<br />
of Hungary’s Worst Toxic Spill<br />
INTERESTING NEWS<br />
In October 2010, the small town of<br />
Ajka, Veszprém County, in western<br />
Hungary, witnessed an environmental<br />
disaster that is considered the worst in<br />
the country’s history. The wall of a waste<br />
reservoir in an aluminum factory collapsed,<br />
releasing around a million cubic<br />
metres of toxic waste. The two meterhigh<br />
red toxic mud slide flooded several<br />
nearby localities, burying buildings, poisoning<br />
fields and killing nine people. It<br />
took nearly a week to contain the spill<br />
and several weeks thereafter to cleanup.<br />
But every where the sludge touched, it<br />
left behind an indelible red line.<br />
Bangladesh improved<br />
in graft ranking: PM<br />
KHULNA : Prime<br />
Minister Sheikh Hasina<br />
on Saturday said<br />
Bangladesh's position has<br />
improved in the world corruption<br />
index as the government<br />
took various<br />
steps to eliminate corruption,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
"After coming to power<br />
in 2009, the government<br />
tried to eliminate corruption<br />
from Bangladesh.<br />
Now Bangladesh got its<br />
recognition, Bangladesh<br />
advanced two steps in<br />
removing corruption," she<br />
said.<br />
Sheikh Hasina was<br />
speaking at the 58th<br />
Convention of the<br />
Institution of Engineers,<br />
Bangladesh (IEB) at<br />
Khalishpur here.<br />
During the BNP-Jamaat<br />
regime, she said,<br />
Bangladesh was on top of<br />
the world corruption<br />
index for five consecutive<br />
years.<br />
Hasina said the government<br />
has taken steps so<br />
that the rule of law could<br />
be established.<br />
"We've taken proper<br />
steps so that people can<br />
get benefits of the rule of<br />
law," she said.<br />
The PM also said the<br />
government has taken<br />
various measurers against<br />
militancy, terrorism and<br />
drug abuse.<br />
Recently, Transparency<br />
International in its corruption<br />
perceptions index<br />
said Bangladesh has progressed<br />
by two positions<br />
and ranked 143rd out of<br />
180 in the ascending order<br />
on the list of the most corrupt<br />
countries in the world<br />
in 2017. The country<br />
placed 17th on the<br />
descending list.<br />
The Berlin-based organisation<br />
also revealed that<br />
Bangladesh scored 28 on<br />
scale of 0 to 100.<br />
According to the data,<br />
Bangladesh ranked 15th,<br />
13th, 14th, 16th, and 13th<br />
in 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013,<br />
and 2012 respectively.<br />
The Prime Minister<br />
urged the engineers to play<br />
more proactive role with<br />
their professional competence,<br />
honesty and sincerity<br />
to implement the development<br />
plans of the government.<br />
"The main responsibility<br />
of implementing the<br />
development activities of<br />
the government is entrusted<br />
upon you."<br />
She urged the engineers<br />
to devote themselves to<br />
the development of innovative<br />
strategies and technology<br />
to invent alternate<br />
energy, energy efficient<br />
technology and low-cost<br />
homes considering<br />
resource constraint.<br />
Hasina also urged them<br />
Six months after the incident, Spanish<br />
photographer Palindromo Meszaros<br />
decided to document the effects of the<br />
massive spill through this set of photographs<br />
entitled “The Line”. Mészáros<br />
creates these images by lining up the tip<br />
of the red stains with the horizon line in<br />
each photograph making it look as if<br />
someone had painted the town red on<br />
purpose.<br />
"Sometimes people think that it is a<br />
conceptual installation when they start<br />
watching," Meszaros says. "It's an effect I<br />
was definitely looking for — something<br />
could seem beautiful and evocative<br />
somehow but at the same time make<br />
people understand how terrible it was."<br />
to give importance to environment-friendly<br />
infrastructure<br />
and technologies<br />
used to minimise losses of<br />
earthquake and disasters<br />
to make the development<br />
works sustainable.<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina assured of extending<br />
all support to the EIB<br />
saying the Awami League<br />
government always<br />
remained beside them.<br />
She said Bangladesh is<br />
no longer lags behind in<br />
the areas of science and<br />
technology. "Bangladesh<br />
is now a role model of<br />
development with 7.28<br />
percent growth last fiscal<br />
year."<br />
The Prime Minister also<br />
sought support of everybody<br />
to build Bangladesh<br />
as a country free from<br />
poverty and hunger.<br />
She also conferred<br />
AMIE degree on 97 successful<br />
students of engineering<br />
professional<br />
course.<br />
EIB President Kabir<br />
Ahmed Bhuiyan presided<br />
over the function while its<br />
General Secretary<br />
AbdusSabur and its<br />
Khulna centre Chairman<br />
Abdullah Sadik and president<br />
of convention<br />
preparatory committee<br />
MoniruzzamanPolash,<br />
among others, spoke on<br />
the occasion.<br />
Road to 7th March'<br />
concert to enthrall<br />
Khulna fans Monday<br />
DHAKA : Leading youth platform<br />
Young Bangla will stage<br />
'Road to 7th March' concert at<br />
Khulna circuit house ground on<br />
Monday marking the anniversary<br />
of Bangabandhu's landmark<br />
7th March speech.<br />
Popular rock musical bands<br />
Mechanix and Nemesis will<br />
perform in the concert to mesmerize<br />
the fans with rock<br />
music. No ticket or prior registration<br />
is required to enter the<br />
concert venue as it is open for<br />
all.<br />
This is the first time the<br />
Young Bangla is taking its<br />
annual immensely popular live<br />
musical show 'Joy Bangla<br />
Concert' outside Dhaka with<br />
the title 'Road to 7th March".<br />
The youth network under the<br />
auspicious of Center for<br />
Research and Information<br />
(CRI) has been organising the<br />
concert annually since 2015.<br />
This year, the celebration is<br />
more significant for the country<br />
as the United Nations<br />
Educational, Scientific and<br />
Cultural Organisation<br />
(UNESCO) has recognised the<br />
landmark speech of<br />
Bangabandhu as a world documentary<br />
heritage.<br />
The main concert will be<br />
staged at the Bangladesh Army<br />
Stadium on March 7 as leading<br />
musical bands Powersurge,<br />
Arbovirus, Shunno, Nemesis,<br />
Cryptic Fate, Lalon, Chirkutt<br />
and Artcell will perform.<br />
Photo : PID<br />
Islamic Foundation<br />
creates 1.59 lakh jobs<br />
DHAKA : Two projects of<br />
Islamic Foundation have created<br />
employment facilities for<br />
1,58,702 people, an official said<br />
yesterday. The projects are titled<br />
mosque-based child and mass<br />
education programme and education<br />
and resource centre proggramme,<br />
reports BSS<br />
Assistant project director of<br />
the mosque-based child and<br />
mass education programme<br />
Alman Hossain told BSS that a<br />
total of 81,067 people got job<br />
under the mosque-based child<br />
and mass education programme,<br />
while 77,635 people<br />
have been employed under<br />
education and resource centre<br />
programme. He said under the<br />
mosque-based child and mass<br />
education programme, children<br />
were imparted education on different<br />
subjects including<br />
Bangla, Mathematics, English,<br />
Arabic to make them skilled<br />
workforce with moral values.<br />
An exciting colorful water rally with 100 traditional boats was held in the capital's scenic<br />
Hatirjheel.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
Employment growth<br />
drops in RMG<br />
sector: CPD<br />
DHAKA : Claiming that the<br />
employment growth in Ready<br />
Made Garments (RMG)<br />
enterprises somewhat decelerated<br />
in recent years, Center<br />
for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on<br />
Saturday said that the percentage<br />
of female workers in<br />
the enterprises is also declining,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Dr Khondaker Golam<br />
Moazzem, Research Director<br />
of CPD came up with this<br />
information at a dialogue<br />
over his research work<br />
'Ongoing Upgradation in<br />
RMG Enterprises:<br />
Preliminary Results from a<br />
Survey' arranged by CPD in a<br />
city hotel.<br />
Dr Moazzem conducted a<br />
research on 193 enterprises<br />
and 2270 workers and found<br />
it out that 47.37 per cent of<br />
large enterprises and 25 per<br />
cent of medium enterprises<br />
use advanced technology and<br />
female workers are proportionately<br />
less knowledgeable<br />
about operating different<br />
Election campaign thru' social<br />
media likely to be restricted<br />
Dhaka : The Election<br />
Commission has drafted the<br />
code of conduct for the<br />
upcoming parliamentary<br />
polls banning election campaign<br />
on social media and<br />
electronic displays, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
The Commission incorporated<br />
the new provision in<br />
the draft code of conduct for<br />
political parties and candidates<br />
in the national election<br />
as a number of political parties<br />
suggested the EC to contain<br />
social media rumor and<br />
propaganda joining the EC's<br />
dialogue in the last year.<br />
According to the section<br />
7(Ka) of the draft code, no<br />
candidate, supporter or<br />
political party can conduct<br />
any campaign on social<br />
media, including facebook,<br />
twitter and viber.<br />
The same section also says<br />
no electronic and display<br />
board can be used in the<br />
election campaign.<br />
The EC's Committee for<br />
Legal Reform, headed by<br />
Election Commissioner<br />
Kabita Khanam, drafted the<br />
code of conduct last week<br />
brining some changes to the<br />
existing code of conduct of<br />
2008, which was subsequently<br />
amended ahead of<br />
the 2014 national election.<br />
The Committee, at a meeting<br />
last week, decided to<br />
place the draft code of conduct<br />
at the Commission's<br />
meeting to get its clearance,<br />
said EC officials preferring<br />
not to be quoted.<br />
machines compared to their<br />
male peers which might be<br />
the reason behind the<br />
decrease of female workers in<br />
this sector.<br />
The survey report shows<br />
that high level of genderimbalance<br />
in the management<br />
profession has been<br />
continued as managers of the<br />
factories are overwhelmingly<br />
male.<br />
Though the size of RMG<br />
enterprises, in terms of number<br />
of workers, has getting<br />
marginally bigger, overall<br />
gender balance among production<br />
workers in RMG<br />
enterprises has become less<br />
female dominated.<br />
The report reveals that<br />
share of female employment<br />
in upper and middle grades<br />
are slowly rising in case of<br />
middle grades like grade III,<br />
IV and V, but female workers<br />
remain scant in top grades<br />
such as Grade I and II.<br />
According to the survey<br />
results, difference between<br />
Then the code of conduct<br />
will be sent to the Law<br />
Ministry for vetting before<br />
the EC finalises it, the officials<br />
said.<br />
Kabita Khanom could not<br />
be reached over phone<br />
despite repeated attempts by<br />
the UNB correspondent for<br />
comments.<br />
Besides, a provision has<br />
been proposed in the code of<br />
conduct that no live animal<br />
(jibontoprani) can be used<br />
as election symbol during<br />
the polls campaign.<br />
Following a brief hearing,<br />
'electoral enforcement officers'<br />
will be able to award<br />
punishment to any candidate<br />
or supporters of any<br />
candidate for violating the<br />
code of conduct before the<br />
election.<br />
The provision has been<br />
proposed aiming to take<br />
prompt action against the<br />
violation of the code of conduct.<br />
The 'electoral enforcement<br />
officer' is a new terminology<br />
which has been used<br />
here instead of probe committee<br />
as such jargon has<br />
also been used in the draft<br />
Representation of Peoples<br />
Order.<br />
Any aggrieved or political<br />
party can seek remedy to any<br />
election anomaly from the<br />
electoral enforcement officer<br />
or lodge complaint with the<br />
officer.<br />
Besides, if the Election<br />
Commission deems any<br />
complaint as objective, it<br />
may send the complaint to<br />
male and female wages is<br />
about 3 per cent which indicates<br />
gender-wage gap,<br />
though at limited level.<br />
Though female workers in<br />
lower grades receive higher<br />
wages, those of middle grades<br />
are paid lower than their<br />
male counterparts on average.<br />
As per the survey, workers'<br />
monthly wage is on average<br />
Tk 7,270 for male workers<br />
and Tk 7,058 for female<br />
workers excluding bonuses.<br />
However, the speakers and<br />
participants of the dialogue<br />
identified lack of technology<br />
training and social security<br />
for female workers, the number<br />
is going down.<br />
A representative from<br />
Bangladesh Mukto Sramik<br />
Federation said, female<br />
workers are now mostly preferred<br />
in production and finishing<br />
floor only in the factories,<br />
while the male workers<br />
are preferred for the other<br />
sections.<br />
the officer concerned or the<br />
electoral enforcement officer<br />
for looking into the anomaly.<br />
In addition, if any anomaly<br />
somehow comes to the<br />
notice of the Commission, it<br />
can send the matter to the<br />
officer concerned or electoral<br />
enforcement officer for<br />
investigation, or give directive<br />
to the returning officer,<br />
the presiding officer and law<br />
enforcement agencies to<br />
take instant actions against<br />
any anomaly.<br />
In the draft code of conduct,<br />
Zila Parishad chairmen<br />
have also been termed as<br />
'very important persons<br />
enjoying the government<br />
benefits'.<br />
In the existing code of conduct,<br />
the Prime Minister, the<br />
Speaker, ministers, the chief<br />
whip, the Deputy Speaker,<br />
the Opposition Leader, the<br />
Deputy Leader of the House,<br />
the Deputy Opposition<br />
Leader of the House, state<br />
ministers, whips, deputy<br />
ministers and any other person<br />
enjoying the equivalent<br />
status, MPs and city corporation<br />
mayors are defined as<br />
very important persons.<br />
To arrange a rally during<br />
the election, it will require<br />
permission from the proper<br />
authorities over the day,<br />
time and venue of the rally,<br />
and the authorities will have<br />
to inform its decision within<br />
24 hours after receiving the<br />
written application in this<br />
regard, according to the<br />
draft code of conduct.<br />
Dhaka ready to<br />
welcome Vietnamese<br />
President Sunday<br />
DHAKA : President of<br />
Vietnam Tran Dai Quang<br />
awaits a rosining reception<br />
as he arrives here on a threeday<br />
state visit on Sunday,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The Vietnamese President,<br />
who arrived in New Delhi on<br />
Friday evening on a threeday<br />
visit, is coming here at<br />
the invitation of his<br />
Bangladesh counterpart<br />
Abdul Hamid when the two<br />
countries are looking for a<br />
broader trade and investment<br />
ties.<br />
President Abdul Hamid<br />
will receive Tran Dai Quang<br />
as he is scheduled to arrive at<br />
Hazrat<br />
Shahjalal<br />
International Airport at 4pm<br />
on Sunday by a special flight,<br />
an official told UNB.<br />
Cabinet members, including<br />
Foreign Minister AH<br />
Mahmood Ali, are also<br />
expected to remain present<br />
on the occasion.<br />
A smartly turned out contingent<br />
comprising members<br />
of Bangladesh Army, Air<br />
Force and Bangladesh Navy<br />
will give guard of honour to<br />
the Vietnamese President.<br />
He will be welcomed with a<br />
21-gun salute.<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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