04-03-2018

More documents

Recommendations

Info

NATIONAL SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2018 6 Child Health Development and Death Prevention Monitoring Project unveiled in Balikandi Upazila under Rajbari distric yesterday. Photo: Mahedi Hasan Masud 819 houses brought under power network in Chandpur CHANDPUR: A total of 819 houses of seven villages under Faridganj upazila of the district have been brought under rural electrification network by Chandpur Palli Bidyut Samity-2 (CPBS) on Saturday, reports BSS. Local lawmaker Dr M Shamsul Haque Bhuiyan formally inaugurated the electrification programme at a simple function held at Kamta village as chief guest. The seven villages are: Kamta, Badarpur, Bachpar, Sachonmegh, Surungachile, Subidpur and Shaldah. Upazila chairman Abu Sahed Sarker, vice chairman Wahidur Rahman and deputy general manager of Kamta zonal office Rafikul Islam were present, among others. CPBS brought an area of 13 kilometres under rural electrification network spending Taka about 1.96 crore. Jatka Conservation Week-2018 ends in Gaibandha GAIBANDHA: Jatka Conservation Week-2018 ended in Sadar upazila of the district on Friday with a call to ensure the sustainable production of national fish Hilsha, reports BSS. This year's theme of the week was "We will not catch jatka: Fishermen remain alive, Country smiles". Marking the week, Sadar upazila administration and upazila fisheries office chalked out elaborate programmes till March 2. The programmes included bringing out rally, holding motivational meeting to the students and awareness campaign to the fishermen living on the river bank, conducting mobile courts at hats and bazaars and arrangement of ha-du-du and swimming competitions to the fishermen and distributing prizes to the winners. On the concluding day, a discussion organised by Sadar Upazila Fisheries Office was also held at the auditorium of Gidari Union Parishad Complex with Union Parishad (UP) chairman Harun-or-Rashid Edu in the chair. Sanjoy Banerjee, senior upazila fisheries officer, attended the meeting as the main focal person and said Hilsha fish had been playing remarkable role in our national culture, employment generation, poverty alleviation, earning foreign exchange and fulfilling the protein demand of the people since long. He also urged all individuals and organisations concerned to come forward with positive attitude to preserve the jatka anyhow to help boost production of Hilsha in the river of the Brahmaputra. An old insolvent school master, Jatindranath Malo of Madhukhali is handed cash money sent by two friends from Canada-US by another friend stays in the Upazila at Madhukhali Press Club under Faridpur district. Photo: Shah Jahan Helal World Wildlife Day observed in Rajshahi RAJSHAHI: Speakers at a post-rally discussion here today unequivocally called for proper conservation of wildlife for maintaining environmental balance and ecosystem, reports BSS. They also stressed the need for more public awareness about importance of the wildlife. Existence of wildlife including big cats is very important for protecting the biodiversity, they said. Department of Social Forestry and Deputy Commissioner Office jointly organized the rally and discussion in front of Shaheed AHM Quamaruzzaman Central Park and Zoo in the city to mark the World Wildlife Day-2018. Some voluntary organizations including Bangladesh Biodiversity Conservation Federation (BBCF), Bangladesh Livestock Society (BLS), Better Nature and Society and Save the Nature and Life supported the programme. "Big Cats Predators under threat" was the main theme of the day. Deputy commissioner of Rajshahi Helal Mahmud Sharif and Additional Superintendent of Police Abdur Razzaque addressed the discussion as chief and special guests respectively with BBCF President Prof Jalal Uddin Sarder in the chair. Divisional Forest Officer Sazzad Hossain, BLS General Secretary Dr Hemayetul Islam and BBCF Secretary Mijanur Rahman also spoke. Prof Jalal Sarder opined that the wildlife population has been gradually declining due to various reasons including shrinking of their habitat. That is why timefitting measures should be adopted. Helal Mahmud Sharif said wildlife sanctuary is very important for protecting natural world. So, ensuring security to the wildlife has become an urgent need, he said. In remembrance of slain police officers, police of Sundarganj Police Investigation Centre place floral wreath to their memorial yesterday in Gaibandha district. Photo: M Sarkar Rana Rajshahi became volatile from beginning of March, 1971 RAJSHAHI: The overall situation in the city of Rajshahi became volatile with the spontaneous protest of general masses from initial stage of March in 1971 when the then Pakistani rulers had postponed the scheduled March 3 session of National Assembly, reports BSS. Postponement of the scheduled parliament session by the Pakistani ruler, as part of a heinous conspiracy, instantly turned the Rajshahi people revolutionary since the beginning of March in 1971 with spontaneous protest of the common people. Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman rejected cancellation of the scheduled parliament session from March 3 and called strike on March 2 in Dhaka and on March 3 throughout the country. Recalling the situation of that time, Advocate Abdul Hadi, former mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation, said thousands of people came out on the streets spontaneously under the banner of Sarbadaliyo Chhatra Sangram Parishad and Shramik Sangram Parishad. "The people demonstrated their protest and demanded immediate handover of power to Awami League, the party which secured great majority in 1970 general election," he said. Public and private offices and business activities came into a total halt, academic activities of the educational institutions were suspended while production in mills and factories throughout the city remained stopped for an indefinite period. It was part of a spontaneous protest that turned the city into a place of fierce movement and demonstrations. Total general strike was observed in the city paralyzing the civic lives and business activities. To gear up the movement by cashing the hit generated in the political field, cross-section of freedom-loving people took out series of processions on eightkilometer road from Rajshahi University to Rajshahi court breaking curfew on March 3 in conformity with the central programmes. The Independence-seeker Bangalees paraded the city streets here chanting slogans 'Jago Jago Bangalee Jago', 'Beer Bangalee astro Dhoro, Bangladesh Swadheen koro'. At around 11.30 am on the same, the then occupation forces from the adjacent Telephone Exchange Building opened fire targeting a procession in Ranibazar area killing at least one person and injuring many others. The brutal attack and killing of innocent people had fuelled fiery minds of the protesting people and the movement got new momentum with more vigorous protest at city's most of the parts and district. During the Liberation War, Rajshahi witnessed both great atrocities by the Pakistan army and heroic struggles by the freedom fighters. The largest mass grave in Bangladesh is located in Rajshahi University, which was used as Pakistani army camp during the Liberation War of 1971, recalled by valiant Freedom Fighter Dr Abdul Matin. On the other hand, one of the biggest great battles of the Liberation War took place near Rajshahi. Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir, who died in the battle, was awarded the highest honour (Bir Shrestho) by the Bangladesh government after the war. Contribution in the war of independence began from the massive movement in 1969 to protest the illegal and unlawful tyranny of the Pakistani government, the students of the university became furious. On February 18, 1969 the students of the university broke out a protest procession where the police force took preparations to shoot at the procession. The then Proctor and professor of the Chemistry Department Dr Shamsuzzoha laid down his life to save the students from the bullet pierced by the then Pakistani law-enforcing agency. During the Liberation War, Rajshahi University teachers, officials and students played an imperative role to free the country from the Pakistani forces. The Shabash Bangladesh Chhattar, martyr archives, mass grave yard, and tombs of Dr Shamsuzzoha, Sukhrojjon Samaddar, Mir Abdul Qaiyum and Shaheed Habibur Rahman and presence of the existing freedom fighters make it a glorious one. Officers of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture inspects a field of high yielding verity, BINA Masur-8 in Magura Sadar Upazila yesterday. Photo: Khan Rokibul Haque Int'l seminar on 'Tagorean characterization of women' held at IU ISLMAIC UNIVERSITY: An International seminar titled "The influence of world literature on the Tagorean characterization of women" was held at Islamic University (IU) in Kushtia on Saturday, reports BSS. English department of the university organised the seminar at Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman central auditorium of the campus around 11.30am. IU VC Professor Dr M Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari addressed here as the chief guest while Pro-VC Professor Dr M Shahinoor Rahman spoke the seminar as special guest. Tagore scholar and a wellknown author Professor Dr Bina Biswas, former head of the English department of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad delivered the keynote speech related with Tagorean characterization of women. Professor Dr Mia M Rashiduzzaman, acting chairman of the department, presided over the seminar conducted by M Sazzad Hossain Jahid, assistant professor of the department. Some five hundred teachers and students of the department took part at the seminar including Assistant Professor Prodip Kumar Adhikari, Mrs. Tanzila Shahid, Mrs. Sonia Sharmin and Prakash Chandra Biswas. Four killed, six injured in separate road accidents COX'S BAZAR: At least four people were killed and five others injured in a road accident in Harbang Goyalmara area on the Cox's Bazar-Chittagong highway here yesterday morning, reports BSS. Chittagong Highway police sources said the accident occurred when a private car from Ukhiya upazila of Cox's Bazar collided head-on with a passenger bus of 'Shyamoli Paribahan' in the area, leaving four people dead on the spot and wounding five others. The deceased were Ali Akbar, 30, son of Badha Mia of Ukhiya upazila, car driver Jainul Abedin, 22, son of Shamsul Alam, Shahab Uddin, 19, son of Mir Ahmed, Mohammad Mamun, 21, son of Abdul Gafur. Officer in-charge (OC) of Chakaria thana Bakhtiar Uddin Chowdhury said the injured were taken to Chakaria hospital for treatment. Later, they were shifted to Chittagong Medical College and Hospital as their condition deteriorated. In another accident, motorcycle rider Ripon, 22, was seriously injured when a tomtom, locally made threewheeler, collided head-on with his motorcycle in Malughat area of Chakaria upazila here at 10.00 this morning. He was admitted to Chittagong Medical College and Hospital. Malumghat and Chittagong highway police confirmed the incidents. Mustafizur for ensuring qualitative and quantitative primary education RAJSHAHI: Primary and Mass Education Minister Mustafizur Rahman, MP, asked all the officials and teachers concerned to put in their best efforts to ensure qualitative and quantitative primary education, reports BSS. "You have to take the responsibility to reach the light of education to all the children and there is no alternative to it" he reminded them. He was addressing a daylong workshop titled "Sharing Best Practices to Enhance Quality Primary Education" at Rajshahi Medical College auditorium in the city today as chief guest. The minister said the present government is pledged to ensure quality primary education for the sake of freeing of the nation from the curse of illiteracy. He mentioned the district, thana and upazila level officials and teachers should discharge their duties with utmost sincerity and honesty to supplement the government endeavor effectively. Chaired by Director General of Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) Dr Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal, Commissioner of Rajshahi division Nur-Ur-Rahman, DPE Directors Saber Hossain and Bijoy Bhushan Paul, Joint Secretary of Primary and Mass-education Ministry Sheikh Atahar Hossain and Divisional Deputy Director of DPE Abul Khayer also spoke. Groundnut cultivation gains popularity in Panchagarh PANCHAGARH: Groundnut cultivation is gaining popularity among the farmers in the district recently as soil and weather condition are very suitable for groundnut cultivation, reports BSS. Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) office sources said a total of 8,000 hectares of land have been brought under groundnut cultivation in the district this year with the production target of 14,300 tonnes of groundnut. The farmers of the district have cultivated high yielding groundnut in their lands. Now seed groundnut is being sold Taka 5,000 to Taka 5,500 per mound in local markets. Sunil Kumar, a farmer of Sabouspara village under Debiganj upazila said, last year I cultivated groundnut on three bighas of land spending Taka 10,000 and I earned Taka 30,000 by selling groundnut in the local market. "I have cultivated groundnut on my five bighas of land this year and I am expecting to earn Taka 70,000 from the groundnut after meeting all expenditure" he said. Deputy Director of DAE M Shamsul Haque told BSS the farmers of the district are showing more interest in cultivation groundnut.
INTERNATIONAL SUnDAy, MARCH 4, 2018 7 A worker loads steel products onto a vehicle at a steel market in Fuyang in central China's Anhui province Friday, March 2, 2018. China has expressed "grave concern" about a U.S. trade policy report that pledges to pressure Beijing but had no immediate response to President Donald Trump's plan to hike tariffs on steel and aluminum. The Commerce Ministry said Friday that Beijing has satisfied its trade obligations and appealed to Washington to settle disputes through negotiation. Photo : AP China asks US for talks, liaison to defuse trade tensions A person briefed on the matter says President Xi Jinping's top economic adviser has told U.S. business leaders in Washington that China hopes the White House will revive high-level dialogue on economic disputes and name a new chief liaison to defuse mounting trade tensions, reports UNB. The person said Liu He told a round-table of executives, including former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, that he would take Local governments sued a U.S. agency Friday to demand a fix to a decadesold problem of sewage flowing downhill from Mexico and spilling onto U.S. wetlands and beaches, reports UNB. The cities of Imperial Beach and Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego said the International Boundary and Water Commission's U.S. section has failed to meet obligations under the federal Clean Water Act to treat the runoff from Tijuana, allowing toxins and bacteria to spread in the Tijuana River Valley and out to the Pacific Ocean. Polluted waters caused beaches in parts of Imperial Beach, a city of about 30,000 people, to close more than 200 days in 2015 and more than 160 days in 2016 and last year, according to the lawsuit in federal court in San Diego. Cross-border sewage has charge of China's economic reform efforts later this month and sought a list of U.S. demands for what China could do to ease tensions. They requested anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting. Liu was dispatched to Washington to smooth over ties with China's largest trading partner. But the trip has been overshadowed by President Donald Trump's announcement Thursday of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. San Diego-area governments sue to stop Mexican sewage flow long been a sore topic in San Diego but a spill last year led to mounting pressure on U.S. and Mexican officials to do more. Imperial Beach residents complain about the stench, especially during winter rains. "You ask what brings a community to a tipping point. I don't know, but we're there," said San Diego Port Commissioner Dan Malcolm. "It's death by a thousand cuts." The International Boundary and Water Commission's U.S. section, which works with Mexican counterparts to enforce bilateral agreements, referred a request for comment to the U.S. Justice Department, which did not immediately respond. The long-expected lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Diego, also names Veolia Water North America, part of the French company Veolia Environnement, which operates a border water treatment in San Diego for the commission. The lawsuit says the treatment plant has failed to catch hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater since 2015. Veolia said it has fully complied with its contract and that some waste never reaches its collection system. "The plant and related infrastructure are simply not designed to prevent or treat all wastewater discharges originating in Mexico that flow into San Diego County," the company said. The commission notified California officials this week that it is not legally required to treat sewage and collect trash that spills from Mexico and that it cannot commit any money to treatment unless the U.S. State Department secures money from Congress. Mushers, fans gather for world's most famous sled dog race Hundreds of barking dogs and excited fans are converging on Alaska's largest city for Saturday's ceremonial start of the famed Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, reports UNB. The morning trek along snow-heaped streets in downtown Anchorage gives fans a chance to mingle with mushers and their furry teams before the competitive portion of the 1,000- mile (1,600-kilometer) race to Nome begins Sunday in the community of Willow to the north. The event comes amid a plethora of troubles for race organizers, including a former winner's dog doping scandal, the loss of a major sponsor and increasing pressure from animal rights activists following the deaths of five dogs connected to last year's race. Iditarod officials acknowledge the problems have been a growing process for organizers. Perhaps the most challenging issue was the October disclosure that four dogs belonging to four-time winner Dallas Seavey tested positive for a banned substance, the opioid painkiller tramadol, after his secondplace finish last March behind his father, Mitch Seavey. The race's leadership faced criticism for not releasing the information sooner. The Iditarod said it couldn't prove Dallas Seavey administered the drugs to his dogs, and didn't punish him. Since then, the rules have been changed to hold mushers liable for any positive drug test unless they can show something beyond their control happened. Seavey has denied administering tramadol to his dogs. He is sitting out this year's race in protest over the handling of the doping investigation. Instead, he is in Norway to participate in another sled dog race, the Finnmarkslopet, which begins next week. Republicans ignore Trump's policy whims but not on trade Republicans in Congress have learned to ignore President Donald Trump's policy whims, knowing whatever he says one day on guns, immigration or other complicated issues could very well change by the next, reports UNB. But Trump's decision to seek steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports has provoked rarely seen urgency among Republican lawmakers, who are scrambling to convince the president he would spark a trade war that could stall the economy's recent gains if he doesn't reverse course. The issue pits Trump's populist promises to his voters against GOP free trade orthodoxy and the interests of business leaders. And unlike recent immigration and gun policy changes that require legislation, Trump can alter trade policy by executive action. That intensifies the pressure on congressional Republicans to change his mind before he gives his final approval for the penalties as early as next week. House Speaker Paul Ryan called Trump after the president's surprise announcement, and continues to hope the White House will reconsider the decision. Top lawmakers, including Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., have also offered the president their own private counsel. Some are appealing to his desire for a robust stock market and warning the tariffs could unravel some of the gains they attribute to the tax bill he signed last year. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, tried one of the most direct lines that lawmakers have to the White House: Talking to Trump through cable TV news. "The president has not yet issued these tariffs," Brady told Fox News Thursday, hours after Trump announced the tariff targets. "He's been continuing to listen." Listening to various viewpoints, though, has never been the gripe against Trump. Unlike former President Barack Obama, who often irked lawmakers for lecturing them during meetings, Trump retains a level of popularity among Capitol Hill Republicans in part because he's more than happy to invite lawmakers in and hear them out. But problems have arisen when members of the legislative branch leave the White House under the impression Trump was on their side - or at least willing to consider their views - only to find out later that his support drifted away. The dynamic played out repeatedly during last year's health care debate over replacing the Affordable Care Act. Just this week, Trump publicly belittled a modest gun background check bill from the No. 2 Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, during a televised White House meeting. Democrats appeared giddy with the president's praise of gun control proposals, while Republicans fumed. "I love the president, but people disagree sometimes," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. But true to form, Trump's flirtations with gun control showed signs of subsiding by week's end. A day after his meeting with lawmakers, the president tweeted that he had a "Good (Great!) meeting" in the Oval Office with the National Rifle Association. The gun lobby's executive director also tweeted afterward that Trump and Vice President Mike Pence "don't want gun control." While it's still unclear what gun control measures, if any, Trump will formally endorse, his back-and-forth on the matter was reminiscent of his waffling on immigration earlier this year. With a government shutdown looming, Trump welcomed lawmakers for a Tuesday meeting at the White House to discuss immigration law changes. During the televised session, he told them he would take the political "heat" and sign into law whatever Congress could agree to pass. Two days later, on Thursday, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., dashed to the White House to present their bipartisan agreement. But the session ended in heated exchanges after Trump rejected the bill and used crude language to question why the U.S. would want to welcome immigrants from Africa and some other nations. "Let's talk about two Trumps - the Tuesday Trump and the Thursday Trump," Graham said later during a Judiciary Committee hearing as he replayed the week that was. "Tuesday we had a president that I was proud to golf with, call my friend." "I don't know where that guy went. I want him back," Graham said. Republicans, who have the majority in the House and Senate, have largely learned to take these setbacks in stride. They all but shrug off the president's policy pivots, just as Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell often decline to comment on the Trump tweet of the day. But on trade tariffs, Republicans say the stakes are too high for them to sit back and wait for Trump to change his mind. Indeed, their relentless public condemnation of the tariffs was notably sharper than their typical handling of the president's policy whims. Not wise, said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R- Utah. A "big mistake," said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn. "Kooky," said Sasse. Trump, after the White House's own internal deliberations, proposed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum. That quickly sparked global warnings of retaliation and left the financial markets reeling. Republican lawmakers, and some outside groups, want Trump to at least consider a more targeted approach, or exemptions for countries that engage in what they view as fair trade practices. "We're all urging the president, look, continue to narrow this to these unfairly targeted products," Brady said. In this Jan. 25, 2018 photo, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to reporters as he arrives at the office of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is moderating bipartisan negotiations on immigration, at the Capitol in Washington. Republicans in Congress have learned to ignore President Trump's policy whims, knowing whatever he says one day he'll change by the next. There's even a name for it: the Tuesday president or the Thursday president, referring to his two-day reversal on immigration. But Trump's decision to impose tariffs is another matter. Photo : AP Marshall Islands creates virtual money to raise hard cash A surfer rides a wave in Imperial Beach in San Diego, Calif., Friday, March, 2, 2018. Local governments in the San Diego area have sued a U.S. agency to stop sewage from spilling into the country from Mexico. The cities of Chula Vista and Imperial Beach and the Port of San Diego say the International Boundary and Water Commission's U.S. section has failed to meet obligations to prevent Tijuana sewage from flowing across the border through the Tijuana River Valley to the Pacific Ocean. U.S. beaches are often closed as a result. The lawsuit says polluted waters caused parts of Imperial Beach to close more than 200 days in 2015 and more than 160 days in 2016 and last year. Photo : AP The tiny Marshall Islands is creating its own digital currency in order to raise some hard cash to pay bills and boost the economy, reports UNB. The Pacific island nation said it became the first country in the world to recognize a cryptocurrency as its legal tender when it passed a law this week to create the digital "Sovereign," or SOV. In the nation of 60,000, the cryptocurrency will have equal status with the U.S. dollar as a form of payment. Venezuela last month became the first country to launch its own cryptocurrency when it launched the virtual Petro, backed by crude oil reserves. The Marshall Islands said the SOV will be different because it will be recognized in law as legal tender, effectively backed by the government. The Marshall Islands is partnering with Israeli company Neema to launch the SOV. It plans to sell some of the currency to international investors and spend the proceeds. The Marshall Islands says the SOV will require users to identify themselves, thus avoiding the anonymity that has kept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from gaining support from governments. "This is a historic moment for our people, finally issuing and using our own currency, alongside the USD (U.S. dollar)," said President Hilda Heine in a statement. "It is another step of manifesting our national liberty." The Marshall Islands is closely aligned with the U.S. under a Compact of Free Association and uses the dollar as its currency. Under the compact, the U.S. provides the Marshall Islands with about $70 million each year in assistance. The U.S. runs a military base on Kwajalein Atoll. Lawmakers passed the cryptocurrency measure Monday following five days of heated debate. It's unclear when the nation will issue the currency. Leaders hope the SOV will one day be used by residents for everything from paying taxes to buying groceries. The law states that the Marshall Islands will issue 24 million SOVs in what it calls an Initial Currency Offering. Half of those will go to the government and half to Neema. The Marshall Islands intends to initially sell 6 million SOVs to international investors. It says it will use the money to help pay the budget, invest in projects to mitigate the effects of global warming, and support those people still affected by U.S. nuclear testing. The country also intends to hand out 2.4 million SOVs to residents. Neema Chief Executive Barak Ben-Ezer said the SOV marked a new era for cryptocurrency. "SOV is about getting rid of the excuses" for not shifting to digital assets, he said in a statement. He said it solved a huge problem with cryptocurrencies, which haven't previously been recognized as "real" money by banks, regulators and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Page 1 and 2: Sunday Dhaka : March 4, 2018; Falgu
Page 3 and 4: METRO SUNDAY, MARCh 4, 2018 3 Bangl
Page 5: HEALTH SUndAy, mARCH 4, 2018 5 5 th
Page 9 and 10: SPORTS SUNdAy, MARCH 4, 2018 9 Banc
Page 11 and 12: MISCELLANEOUS 11 SuNDAY, MArCh 4, 2

04-03-2018

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?