03-06-2018

SUnday 

Dhaka:June 3, 2018; Jaisthya 20 1425 BS; Ramadan 17,1439 hijri 

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com 

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.16; No.151; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00 

inTeRnaTiOnal 

Nearly 700 get Ebola 

vaccine in Congo; 

more cases possible 

Zohr 

>Page 7 

Magistrate 

appointed to look 

into Councilor 

Ekramul's death: 

Home Minister 

DHAKA : Home Minister Asaduzzaman 

Khan Kamal on Saturday told UNB that 

a magistrate has been appointed to look 

into the 'shady circumstances' that led to 

the death of Teknaf municipal ward 

councilor Ekramul Haque, reports UNB. 

He also said that the magistrate will 

investigate and then submit a report 

based on his findings, after which 

appropriate steps will be taken by his 

ministry. 

Kamal added that if anyone intentionally 

caused his death, then legal 

measures would be taken against that 

person. There has been media outcry 

over killing of Ekramul in 'shady circumstances' 

during the ongoing war on 

drugs. Victim's family members also 

came up with strong evidences that differ 

with the RAB's official statement as 

to how Ekramul had died on May 26. 

"Such investigations are standard 

procedure if allegations of cold-blooded 

murders arise," the minister said, "this 

incident will similarly be looked into 

and is already underway." 

Regarding the allegations made by 

Ekramul's family, the minister said that 

the family did not lodge any formal 

complaint challenging the official statement 

yet. 

RAMADAn 

Ramadan Date Sehri Iftar 

17 June 3 03:39 AM 06:46 PM 



03:48 AM 

12:00 PM 

04:36 PM 

06:55 PM 

08:10 PM 

5:10 6:43 

DHAKA : The decision to sign a 

Memorandum of Understanding 

(MoU) between United Nations agencies 

and Myanmar is being seen as a 

first and necessary step since the "conditions 

are not yet conducive" for return 

of Rohingyas, says the United Nations. 

United Nations agencies and 

Myanmar have agreed a framework 

which it is hoped will lead to the repatriation 

of Rohingya refugees, but only if 

their "voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable" 

return from camps in 

Bangladesh can be guaranteed, according 

to UN News Center. 

Since August last year, some 700,000 

mainly-Muslim Rohingya have fled 

Rakhine State, in majority-Buddhist 

Myanmar, for Bangladesh. 

Most say, according to UN News 

Center, they were fleeing violence and 

persecution, including a military campaign 

by Myanmar forces, which began 

in response to violent attacks by 

Rohingya insurgents. 

The agreement - reached by the Office 

of the UN High Commissioner for 

Refugees (UNHCR), the UN 

Development Programme (UNDP) and 

the Government of Myanmar - will be 

officially signed within a week or so, 

with the exact date to be confirmed, the 

UN says. 

Under the agreement, UNHCR and 

UNDP will be given access to Rakhine 

State, including to refugees' places of 

CHATTOGRAM : Musa Hawlader, a 

resident of Askar Dighi area in the port 

city, now has to buy Iftar items from 

hotels and restaurants as there is no gas 

supply to cook those at home, reports 

UNB. 

"I know, these iftar items which I buy 

from restaurants is unhealthy but I've no 

option but to do that...we've been suffering 

a lot for the last several weeks due to 

inadequate supply of gas," he said. 

Residents of different areas in the port 

city, including Momin Road, 

Jamalkhan, Rahamatganj, Andarkilla, 

Pathorghata, Kazirdeuri, Muradpur, 

Bibirhat, Hamzarbagh, Hillview, 

Agrabad, Chowmuhoni, Madhyam 

Halishohor, Mirzapul, Chandgaon, 

Faridarpara, Bottol Mazar Gate, Ghat 

Farhad Begh, Bou Bazar, DC Road, 

Chawkbazar, Boro Miah Mosque, 

Kapashgola, KB Aman Ali road have 

been going through the same problem. 

Residents of 30 wards among 41 

wards of the Chattagram City 

Corporation are the worst sufferers. 

The gas crisis turns acute from5pm to 

7pmwhich is the time for preparing 

meals for Iftar, said Roksana Begum, a 

resident of Jamalkhan area. 

Sources at Karnaphuli Gas 

Distribution Company Limited 

aRT & CUlTURe 

Priyanka Chopra, Nick 

Jonas were spotted 

at a dinner date 

>Page 8 

Decision to sign MoU first, 

necessary step before 

Rohingya repatriation: UN 

origin and potential new settlement 

areas, that so far the UN has been 

unable to access since the violence escalated 

last August. 

The access, once effective, will allow 

UNHCR to assess local conditions and 

help the refugees to make informed 

decisions on voluntary return. 

The agreement will also allow the two 

UN agencies to carry out needs assessments 

in affected communities and 

strengthen the capacity of local authorities 

to support the voluntary repatriation 

process. 

The Advisory Commission on 

Rakhine State - a neutral and impartial 

body composed of six local experts and 

three international experts, chaired by 

former UN Secretary-General Kofi 

Annan - has proposed concrete measures 

for improving the welfare of all 

people in Rakhine State. 

Its recommendations include establishing 

a clear and voluntary pathway to 

citizenship and ensuring freedom of 

movement for all people there, irrespective 

of religion, ethnicity or citizenship 

status. 

Meanwhile, the UN migration 

agency, known formally as the 

International Organization for 

Migration (IOM), is helping Rohingya 

refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, 

properly prepare for the monsoon season, 

which is getting underway, said the 

UN News Center. 

Gas crisis hits Ctg hard; people's 

woes worsen in Ramadan 

(KGDCL) said the number of residential 

clients in the port city is around 4 lakh. 

Besides, there are about 3,000 industrial 

clients in factories and industries. 

The total demand of gas in the city is 

550 million cubic feet while the supply is 

only 250 million cubic feet, which is half 

of the demand, the sources said. 

KGDCL officials said the gas supply 

from national grid has declined, aggravating 

the gas crisis in the city. 

It was supposed to supply LNG gas, 

imported from Qatar, in the city from 

the floating plant through a pipeline. 

But the supply process has been 

deferred as fault was detected in the 

pipeline, said the officials adding that if 

the supply starts within a month then 

there will be no gas crisis. 

Ismail Hossain, a resident of Jamal 

Khan area, said," We often hear that the 

crisis will be over within a month after 

the import of LNG gas. But days are 

passing by without a solution in sight." 

KGDCL Managing Director engineer 

Khayez Ahmed said the crisis has intensified 

from the beginning of Ramadan. 

Before Ramadan, the gas stations of the 

city remained closed from3pmbut during 

Ramadan the pumps are closed 

at5pm.The residential clients have been 

suffering for the growing demand. 

SPORT 

Tigers to face 

Afghanistan in 

1st T20 today 

>Page 9 

National Eidgah Maidan is being prepared to hold Eid Jamat. 

Mistakes can occur 

in anti-narcotics 

drive: Quader 

DHAKA : Road Transport and Bridges 

Minister Obaidul Quader on Saturday 

that one or two mistakes may occur 

during the ongoing anti-narcotics drive, 

reports UNB. 

"It's a huge drive, one or two mistake 

can occur during it" the minister said in 

reference to recent outcry over the 

death of a ward councilor in 'shady circumstances' 

during the war on drugs. 

Talking to reporters over the alleged 

murder of Teknaf municipality councilor 

Ekramul Haque, the minister said 

if it is proved in investigation that 

Ekramul fell victim to the anti-narcotics 

drive of the law enforcement agencies 

then proper measures will be taken by 

the government. 

If innocent people fall victim to the 

ongoing anti-narcotics drive, the government 

will take proper step after 

investigation, he assured. The minister 

was inaugurating a special bus service 

for women - 'Dolonchapa' - as the chief 

guest at Bangabandhu International 

Conference Center in the city. 

Quader claimed, "People are happy 

with the anti-drug drive and the death 

of Ekram did not make it questionable 

at all'. 

He said everyone wants a drug-free 

country but if anyone gets harassed or 

victimised then they (govt) would be 

tough against it. 

The minister also said "Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina suggested us to 

be aware about this kind of harassment 

of innocent people." 

"Ekram was a member of Awami 

League. The members of law-enforcement 

agencies would not remain out of 

the purview of investigation and punishment." 

Rangs in the collaboration of Eicher 

launched the special bus service for 

women. 

Four Bangladeshi fallen 

peacekeepers honoured in UN 

DHAKA : Four fallen Bangladeshi peacekeepers 

have been honoured at the United 

Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York, 

reports UNB. 

The four fallen peacekeepers from 

Bangladesh are Sergeant Md Altaf 

Hossain, Lance Corporal Md Jakirul Alam 

Sarkar, and Private Md Monowar 

Hossain, who lost their lives while serving 

with the United Nations 

Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization 

Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), and Private 

Md Abdur Rahim who served with the UN 

Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization 

Mission the Central African Republic 

(MINUSCA). 

Bangladesh is the second largest contributor 

of uniformed personnel - over 

6,990 enlisted military and police personnel 

- to UN peacekeeping operations 

worldwide. 

Commemorating the International Day 

of United Nations Peacekeepers at its 

headquarters in New York on Friday, UN 

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres paid 

tributes to the service and sacrifice made 

by UN "blue helmets" for the cause of 

peace around the world, according to UN 

News Centre. 

Since the first peacekeeping mission 

deployed 70 years ago, more than 3,700 

military, police and civilians who chose to 

serve, have lost their lives. 

"These peacekeepers gave their lives to 

protect the lives of others. We're forever in 

their debt, and they're always in our 

hearts," said Guterres at a wreath-laying 

ceremony at the UN Headquarters. 

Last year saw the highest number of 

fatalities in many years - 132 individuals 

from 37 countries - for UN peacekeepers 

as a result of malicious acts. 

While 2017 was challenging in the face 

of rising threats, it also showed the value of 

UN peacekeeping, said the Secretary- 

Photo : TBT 

General. These peacekeepers laid down 

lives to protect the lives of others. 

"The closure of two of them, in 

Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia, is a landmark 

on the road to peace and stability in 

a region that was once in chaos. When the 

right strategies, resources and political 

support are in place, United Nations 

peacekeeping saves and improves lives for 

millions of people," the UN chief added. 

Marked annually on May 29, the 

International Day of United Nations 

Peacekeepers was established by the 

General Assembly to pay tributes to the 

contributions of uniformed and civilian 

personnel to the work of the organisation. 

This year, the UN chief spent the 

International Day in Africa, with peacekeepers 

at MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping 

mission in Mali; currently the most 

dangerous in the world. Since its establishment, 

in 2013 to help stabilise the north- 

African country, 169 military, police and 

civilian peacekeepers have lost their lives. 

He said he was deeply impressed by the 

work being done by all personnel in the 

mission, given the daunting challenges 

they face: "Threatened by terrorists, criminals 

and armed groups of all kinds, they 

are helping to build peace, to protect civilians 

and guarantee the political process," 

said the UN chief. 

Also today, the organisation awarded 

the Dag Hammarskjold Medal to military, 

police and civilian personnel who lost their 

lives while serving under the UN flag. 

At the Medal ceremony, the Secretary- 

General spoke of the increasingly complex 

challenges facing peacekeepers on the 

ground, and that despite the overwhelming 

difficulties, civilian and uniformed UN 

personnel who had made the ultimate sacrifice 

- collectively and individually - had a 

"profound impact on the communities 

they served".

NEWS 

SUNDAY, 

JUNE 3, 2018 

2 

DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia and other officials seen at the clothes distribution program 

yesterday. 

Photo : TBT 

'Drug addict' commits 

suicide in police 

station in Noakhali 

NOAKHALI : An alleged drug addict committed suicide by 

hanging himself while in custody at Sonaimuri Police Station 

in the district on Saturday. 

The deceased was identified as Tajul Islam Tushar, 23, a 

rickshaw puller and son of Mominul Islam of Daulatpur 

village in the upazila. Tushar committed suicide by hanging 

himself with his cloth (lungi) from the ceiling of the room, 

said AKM Jahirul Islam, additional superintendent of district 

police. Being informed by Tajul's father that he was 

consuming drugs at his house, police arrested him along with 

9 pieces of Yaba pills around 2:30 am. 

The body was sent to Noakhali General Hospital for 

autopsy, police said. 

Masud Jamil Khan 

hosts Iftar Mahfil for 

Kumarkhali residents 

KUSHTIA : Young entrepreneur Masud Jamil Khan Farhan, 

grandson of Brigadier General Shaheed Jamil Uddin Ahmad 

(Bir Uttam) and late MP Anjuman Ara Jamil, hosted an Iftar 

and doa mahfil for the people of Kumarkhali upazila on 

Friday, reports UNB. 

Thanking everyone for attending the event, Masud, who is 

also a member of the local Awami League unit's finance and 

planning committee, said during his welcome speech that it 

was due to the grace of Allah that such a huge gathering was 

made possible. 

He urged everyone to look after others' welfare, as it is an 

important tenet of Ramadan and prayed that he could be on 

the right path to help the people of the district. 

During the event, he was accompanied by his wife Katie Z. 

Khan, headmaster of Hasimpur Primary School Md Nur 

Uddin, assistant commander of Kumarkhali Muktijoddha 

Command Babul Hossain and others. 

Bus-covered van collision 

kills 4 in Sirajganj 

SIRAJGANJ : Four people were killed and 23 others injured 

in a collision between a bus and covered van in Saidabad area 

of Sadar upazila early Saturday. 

The identities of the deceased could not be known yet. 

Syed Shaheed Alam, officer-in-charge of Banghabandhu 

Bridge West Thana, said the Gaibandha-bound 'Shyamali 

Paribahan bus' collided with the covered van on 

Banghabandhu Bridge West road, leaving three people dead 

on the spot and 24 others injured. Among the injured, one 

died at hospital. 

Benapole port users 

threaten strike 

BENAPOLE : Seven port users' organizations have 

threatened to go for an indefinite strike at Benapole port 

protesting 'harassment by Border Guard Bangladesh(BGB) 

members through seizing their imported goods.' 

The decision was taken at a meeting on Friday, reports 

UNB. 

The organizations are-Benapole customs clearing and 

forwarding agents association, import and exporters 

association, truck owners association, transport owners 

association, truck workers union, C&F agent staff association 

and Benapole port workers union. 

Mofijur Rahman Sazon, president ofBenapole customs 

clearing & forwarding agents association, alleged that BGB 

men harass importers by seizing their legally imported 

goods. Denying the allegation, Lieutenant Colonel Ariful 

Hoque, commanding officer of 49 Border Guard Battalion, 

said BGB members do not harass the importers. 

EU in flux as US 

alliance creaks, 

populists rise in Italy 

Certainties Europe has relied on for decades seem to be 

crumbling: that the U.S. is a reliable trade partner, and that 

the founding members of the EU all remain committed to the 

bloc. 

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs 

on European steel and aluminum, dismissing Europe's pleas, 

and an anti-EU populist government took office in Italy. 

Added to Britain's expected departure next year from the 

European Union, the milestones show a region entering a 

new state of flux, with potential implications for the 

prosperity of its people and global relations. 

"Germany and France should very quickly show joint 

political leadership now," said Daniela Schwarzer, director of 

the German Council on Foreign Relations. 

That role would belong in large part to Germany's Angela 

Merkel and France's Emmanuel Macron when it comes to 

strengthening Europe's currency union. Collectively, the EU 

could seek to ease worries about trade by strengthening 

commercial ties with other partners like Japan, China and 

countries in South America. 

But the trade relationship with the U.S. is the biggest in the 

world, and will be hard to make up for, if the U.S. and EU 

escalate their spat by imposing counter-tariffs on each other. 

U.S. trade helped Europe recover from the devastation of 

World War II and enriched U.S. companies that sold 

consumer goods to the continent. A souring in relations 

could also have implications for cooperation in other 

spheres, like security. 

"The situation is worrying, it could escalate," said the EU's 

trade chief, Cecilia Malmstrom, adding that the tariffs could 

hurt global economic growth. "The United States is playing a 

dangerous game." 

The EU officials were far more cautious in their reaction to 

the political situation in Italy, for fear of further provoking 

supporters of the new government led by the antiestablishment 

5 Star Movement and the anti-immigration 

the League. But they were likely not less worried, having seen 

European financial markets plunge this week on Italy's 

political chaos. 

Law professor and political neophyte Giuseppe Conte was 

sworn in Friday as the head of Italy's populist government. 

The two parties plan tax cuts and more spending, including a 

basic income for the poor, that would likely clash with EU 

limits on deficits. An initial failure to agree with President 

Sergio Mattarella on a government led to a sharp sell-off in 

Italian markets Monday and Tuesday. 

Italy, one of the original signers of the 1957 Treaty of Rome 

that created a common market and paved the way for today's 

European Union, has the second heaviest debt load in 

Europe after Greece, at 132 percent of annual economic 

output, and the market tremors underlined the currency 

union's ongoing vulnerability after a 2010-2012 debt crisis. 

The parties' rise to power in Italy will be a blow to 

supporters of the EU, as it could embolden anti-EU parties, 

which have won elections in some countries in Eastern 

Europe, like Hungary and Poland. And it comes just as the 

EU enters a key six months of negotiations with Britain on 

the country's exit from the bloc. 

To stir things up a bit more, Spain's government lost a noconfidence 

vote Friday and conservative Prime Minister 

Mariano Rajoy was replaced by socialist Pedro Sanchez. 

The developments leave other EU leaders looking for a 

strategy ahead of a summit on June 28-29. The meeting was 

originally supposed to agree on how to strengthen the EU 

and the euro based on proposals from Macron, whose 

election victory in May 2017 over nationalist euroskeptic 

opponent Marine Le Pen gave a temporary sense that the tide 

of populist discontent had been turned back. 

Hopes for an agreement at the summit have narrowed to a 

few issues, such as upgrading the eurozone's bailout fund for 

troubled countries. Others have been rejected or kicked into 

the long weeds because countries like Germany fear of 

sharing financial risk with shakier members. 

Youth Club of Bangladesh organized an Iftar Mahfil in the capital city yesterday. 

Photo : TBT 

Officials says 6 

police officers 

killed in attack 

in Mexico 

Six police officers were killed 

by gunmen in the northcentral 

Mexico state of 

Guanajuato on Friday, 

authorities said. 

State Interior Secretary 

Gustavo Rodriguez 

Junquera said the dead 

officers were traffic police 

and he promised that "this 

crime will not go 

unpunished." 

Rodriguez Junquera did 

not say how the attack 

occurred, but local media 

reports said the officers were 

killed by shots fired from a 

passing vehicle. 

Guanajuato was long a 

relatively peaceful state, but 

in recent years it has been 

plagued by crime gangs 

TRADE MOVES: The 

Trump administration 

delivered a gut punch to 

America's closest allies, 

imposing tariffs on steel and 

aluminum from Europe, 

Mexico and Canada in a 

move that drew immediate 

vows of retaliation. The 

parties will likely keep 

negotiating, and contentious 

talks between the U.S. and 

China are due to resume 

during the weekend. Experts 

say a trade war remains a 

remote possibility, but the 

disputes have been weighing 

on the markets for months. 

COMMODITIES: 

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 

70 cents to $66.34 per 

barrel. Brent crude, the 

international standard, lost 

70 cents to $76.86. 

Gold slipped $5.20 to 

$1,299.50 per ounce. 

CURRENCIES: The dollar 

Japanese rose to 109.49 

Japanese yen from 108.64 

yen late Thursday. The euro 

fell to $1.1667 from $1.1685, 

and the British pound rose 

to $1.3349 from $1.3289. 

Petrobras CEO 

resigns, raising 

questions over 

Brazil economy 

The president of Brazilian 

state oil company Petrobras 

resigned on Friday, the latest 

fallout from a crippling 

truckers' strike over fuel 

prices that has widespread 

implications for the future of 

Latin America's largest 

economy. 

The dayslong strike led to 

massive shortages of 

supplies ranging from food 

to medicine, shuttered 

thousands of public schools 

and grounded numerous 

flights. 

It ended earlier this week 

when the government 

announced plans to 

subsidize a 10 percent drop 

in the price of diesel for 60 

days. President Michel 

Temer and several ministers 

went to great lengths to 

argue that bucking to 

truckers' demands would 

not interfere with Petrobras' 

ability to set prices, a key 

part of the company's 

rebuilding plan after a 

massive corruption scandal. 

They also said Petrobras 

CEO Pedro Parente, widely 

respected in financial and 

government circles in Brazil 

and beyond, would remain 

in place. 

The markets, however, 

were not convinced that the 

future was bright. Petrobras' 

stock price dropped sharply 

in the last two weeks, 

reversing large gains made 

in recent years. On Friday, 

Petrobras stock prices 

tumbled further, trading 17 

percent lower from the close 

on the most recent day of 

trading in Brazil. 

In his resignation letter, 

Parente said the strike had 

set off an intense debate over 

Petrobras' pricing policies 

but little reflection about the 

realities of world fuel prices. 

"My remaining as 

president of Petrobras 

would not contribute 

positively to the alternatives 

the government must come 

up with going forward," he 

wrote. The development 

raises questions about the 

future of one of Brazil's most 

important companies. 

Ultimately, truckers and 

many other sectors in Latin 

America's largest nation 

want a permanent return to 

the recent past. 

River bank protection 

work begins at four 

points in Fulchhari 

upazila 

GAIBANDHA: The much 

awaited river bank 

protection work along the 

Jamuna River from Baguria 

to Gano Kabor under 

Fulchhari upazila in the 

district began yesterday, 

reports BSS. 

Bangladesh Water 

Development Board 

(BWDB) is implementing 

the work at a cost of TK 

295.50 crore while 

Dockyard and Engineering 

Works Ltd of Bangladesh 

Navy will construct the 

development work at four 

points of the upazila, office 

sources said. 

The aim of the work is to 

protect the vulnerable areas 

of the upazila from the 

devastating erosion side by 

side with saving the 

homesteads and the arable 

land, sources said. Deputy 

speaker of the Jatiya 

Sangshad and local 

lawmaker Advocate Fazle 

Rabbi Miah inaugurated the 

development work at Gano 

Kabor, Singria, Balashighat 

and Baguria points of the 

upazila through unveiling the 

plaques as the chief guest. 

Litchi production in 

Panchagarh overtakes 

last year’s yield 

PANCHAGARH: Litchi, the month-watering fruit, has 

arrived in the local markets of the district, reports BSS. 

Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) sources said 

the farmers are happy here as this year's output has reached 

beyond their expectation. The commercial cultivation of 

litchi was started about 10-year ago in the district and is 

increasing every year, the sources said. Some 1,000 hectares 

of land has been brought under litchi cultivation in the 

district this year whereas it was 850 hectares last year. This 

year's per hectare expected outcome is 525 tonnes whereas 

495 tonnes in previous year, the sources added. 

Five varieties of litchi- local variety, China-2, 3 and 4 and 

Bombay- are grown by the farmers in the district. Among 

them, China-2, 3 and 4 are on great demand in markets. 

A bundle of 50 of local variety litchi is being sold at Taka 

100 to Taka 150 in the local markets now. 

Farmer Abdul Malek of Dangapara village under Debiganj 

upazila said, "I sold my litchi orchard on two acres of land at 

Taka three lakh to the wholesaler." Md Samchul Huque, 

deputy director of Panchagarh DAE, told BSS that this year's 

production of litchi is good than earlier. 

45 houses brought under 

power network in Habiganj 

HABIGANJ: A total of 45 houses of Hossainpur village under 

Madhabpur upazila of the district have been brought under 

rural electrification network by Habiganj Palli Bidyut Samity 

(HPBS) yesterday, reports BSS. 

Local lawmaker Advocate Mahabub Ali formally 

inaugurated the electrification programme at a simple 

function held at the village as chief guest. 

Andiura union parishad chairman Faruq Pathan presided 

over the function. HPBS brought the village under rural 

electrification network spending Taka 16 lakh. 

A roundtable meeting on `government effort in mitigating waterlog in the 

capital city' was held at the VIP Lounge of National Press Club yesterday. 

Photo : TBT 

Italian populists 

sworn into power as 

euroskeptics cheer 

Italy's president swore in western Europe's 

first populist government Friday, featuring a 

mix of anti-establishment and right-wing 

ministers who have promised an "Italy first" 

agenda that has alarmed Europe's political 

establishment. 

The continent's euroskeptic politicians 

cheered the birth of the new government 

coalition of the 5-Star Movement and the 

right-wing League party. Milan's stock 

market closed up 1.5 percent Friday after a 

last-minute deal Thursday averted the threat 

of an early election that could have turned 

into a referendum on whether Italy should 

ditch the shared euro currency. 

President Sergio Mattarella, who 

negotiated through three months of political 

deadlock to finally find a workable 

government, presided over the ceremony in 

the gilded Quirinale Palace. Eighteen 

ministers - five of them women - took the 

oath of office, pledging to observe Italy's 

constitution and work exclusively in the 

interests of the nation. 

The ministers feature a mix of 5-Star and 

League loyalists and a political neophyte in 

the form of Premier Giuseppe Conte, who 

was still teaching his law classes at the 

university in Florence up until Thursday. 

The key economy ministry went to a 

mainstream economist, Giovanni Tria, who 

is close to the center-right Forza Italia party 

of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi. Mattarella 

had vetoed the 5-Star-League's first 

proposed candidate for the post because of 

his euroskeptic views. 

The ceremony Friday afternoon capped a 

roller-coaster week of political and financial 

turmoil that saw stock markets around the 

world plunge and Italy's borrowing rates 

soar on the threat of a new election in 

Europe's third-largest economy. 

It also came on the eve of the nation's 

Republic Day holiday, the day in 1946 when 

Italy abolished the monarchy and gave birth 

to the First Republic. 

The improbably fast rise of the grassroots 

5-Star Movement and its alliance with the 

right-wing, anti-immigrant League has been 

dubbed the birth of Italy's Third Republic, 

after Italy's political order was largely 

drubbed in the March 4 national vote. 

"Look at this spectacle!" marveled 5-Star 

leader Luigi Di Maio moments before the 

swearing-in ceremony. In a Facebook post 

featuring a photo of the 5-Star ministers, he 

said: "There are a lot of us, and we're ready to 

launch a government of change to improve 

the quality of life for all Italians." 

After the ceremony, Conte headed to the 

premier's office to formally take the reins - 

and a symbolic little bell - from ex-Premier 

Paolo Gentiloni. 

Conte's deputy premiers are his two more 

seasoned political masters: Di Maio and 

Matteo Salvini, head of the League. Di Maio, 

who pledged to give needy Italians a basic 

income, takes over as economic 

development minister, while Salvini heads 

the interior ministry, the key position to 

enforce his pledge to expel hundreds of 

thousands of migrants. 

After the swearing-in, Salvini told 

reporters his first order of business would be 

to "reduce the arrivals and increase the 

expulsions" of migrants, as well as the costs 

associated with their care. 

"The immigration question is still hot, so I 

will ask all who are concerned with it how we 

can improve it," he said. 

Yet migrant arrivals to Italy actually 

plunged in the last year under the center-left 

Democratic Party, which signed 

controversial deals with Libya to beef up 

coastal patrols and prevent migrants from 

setting out in smugglers' boats across the 

Mediterranean Sea. 

The Cabinet also includes defense attorney 

Giulia Bongiorno as the new minister for 

public administration. A center-right 

lawmaker, she is legendary for defending ex- 

Premier Giulio Andreotti against mafia 

collusion charges and defending the exboyfriend 

of American student Amanda 

Knox against murder charges. 

The changing of the guard sets the stage for 

obligatory confidence votes in Parliament 

next week. Between them, the League and 5- 

Stars have a thin parliamentary majority, 

and some right-wing lawmakers outside the 

government have vowed to abstain rather 

than vote against them. 

Europe's populists and right-wingers 

cheered the new government as a slap in the 

face to Brussels, headquarters of the 28- 

nation European Union. 

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen 

tweeted: "It's a victory of democracy over 

intimidation and threats from the European 

Union." Le Pen shares the League's firm 

stance against immigrants. 

Nigel Farage, former leader of Britain's 

UKIP party that played a key role in the 

Brexit campaign for Britain to leave the EU, 

wished good luck to the two Italian parties. 

"Gotta stay strong or the bully boys will be 

after you," he warned. 

It was a reference to EU officials, who have 

made clear in recent days their concerns - in 

occasionally undiplomatic terms - about 

Italy's euroskeptic direction. 

European Commission President Jean-

METRO 

SuNDAY, JuNE 3, 2018 

3 

Experts for changing 

attitude, raising awareness 

to cut maternal mortality 

DHAKA : As women in both rural and 

urban areas of the country do not have 

adequate knowledge about reproductive 

health, the experts advise to raise 

awareness among them to reduce 

maternal mortality rate, reports BSS 

They also suggest changing mentality 

towards women and taking more care of 

pregnant mothers. 

The experts say pregnancy is not a 

sickness. Yet, around 13 percent women 

aged between 15 years and 49 years die 

from delivery related complications. 

These deaths result mainly from 

negligence towards women. Such deaths 

are preventable, according to a report 

titled 'Maternal Mortality and Health 

Services for Mothers in Bangladesh 

Study 2016: Preliminary Report'. Such 

studies were conducted earlier in 2001 

and 2010. 

In 2001, 20 percent cause of women's 

death was pregnancy related while it 

decreased 14 percent in 2010 and after 

six years it came down to 13 percent. 

The report showed that most women 

aged between 20 years and 34 years are 

dying from pregnancy related 

complications. Beside this, 24 percent 

women are dying of cancer and 23 

percent of blood infection related 

diseases. 

According to the study report of 2016 

made by Bangladesh government, in 

every one lakh, a total of 196 pregnant 

mothers are dying every year. The report 

said currently the rate of delivery in 

health centers has increased to 47 

percent (2016) which was 9 percent in 

2001 and 23 percent in 2010. 

Experts said all the government and 

non-government organisations should 

work together for providing necessary 

information of reproductive health to the 

adolescents for their healthy life. 

They mentioned that proper knowledge 

and education on reproductive health 

could help adolescents boost their level 

of confidence in carrying out safe life. 

Quamrun Nahar, a researcher on 

reproductive health, said conversations 

between older generation and the 

adolescents regarding sexuality are a rare 

case and to avoid complexities associated 

with adolescents' physiological 

development, parents should discuss this 

issue very cordially with their children. 

Dr Nazmun Nahar said, "People in our 

country feel embarrassed to discuss 

about sexual topics. There was a strong 

belief among guardians that adolescents 

would be encouraged to have sexual 

experiment because of the discussion." 

She said sometimes they feel 

adolescents are too young to understand 

the topic. Culture and religious beliefs 

are also barriers to talking about the 

issue, she added. 

Word Councilor Hasibur Rahman Manik distributing bin among the fruit businessmen to make 

aware about the cleanness. 

Photo: TBT 

Ctg AL leader Liaquat 

Ali's 19th death 

anniversary observed 

CHATTOGRAM: The 19th 

death anniversary of former 

Labor Affairs Secretary of 

Chattogram city Awami 

League and former 

commissioner Liaquat Ali 

Khan was observed in a 

befitting manner yesterday, 

reports BSS. 

Marking the day, 

Chattogram City AL 

organized a discussion on the 

premises of a mosque at 

Pachlaish Chalitatali in the 

city with its acting President 

Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury 

in the chair. 

AL central Organizing 

Secretary Barrister Mohibul 

Hassan Chowdhoury 

(Nowfel) addressed the 

discussion as the chief guest 

while city Mayor and General 

Secretary of Chattogram City 

AL AJM Nasir Uddin was the 

main speaker. 

Addressing the discussion, 

Nowfel urged the party men 

to work to strengthen the 

leadership of Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina to protect 

democracy. 

"We have to make all-out 

efforts for strengthening the 

leadership of Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina to protect 

democracy. You have to keep 

in the mind that antiliberation 

forces are still 

active against democracy, 

independence and 

sovereignty of the country," 

he said. He said his father 

Mohiuddin Chowdhury had 

declared war against those 

forces on the streets taking 

the party leaders and activists 

with him. 

Vice-Presidents of the city 

AL Naim Uddin Chowdhury, 

Ibrahim Hossain Chowdhury 

Babul and Khorshed Alam 

Sujan, Organizing Secretary 

Noman Al Mahmud. 

Eid shopping gains 

momentum in Khulna 

KHULNA : With around two weeks left for the holy Eidul-Fitr, 

one of the biggest religions festivals of the 

Muslims, Khulna city has been caught by Eid shopping 

fever with modern and traditional shopping malls 

bustling with shoppers from all strata. 

All the city markets are seen busy selling their 

commodities to shoppers. 

Customers are thronging the shopping centres from 

morning till midnight. 

With a rise in the number of buyers, traffic jam in the 

city's busy market areas and intersections, especially 

from Picture Palace area to KDA New Market, has 

become acute. 

Khulna New market, Dukbanglow intersection 

Dukbanglow barobazar, Shahid Suhrawardi market, Jalil 

tower, safe and save meena Bazar, Daulatpur, and 

Khalishpur, market are crowded with people. 

The buyers, mostly middle income people, are found 

moving from shop to shop asking prices of goods. 

Roadside footpath shops and small shops of lower price 

market are found more crowded than the big shopping 

malls. 

Meanwhile, a large number of makeshift shops have 

sprung up on the pavements of the city on the occasion 

of Eid. Prices of different varieties of cloths, particularly 

cotton, tissue, silk and synthetic, have registered a sharp 

rise although the shops are almost full of a variety of 

garments. 

Most upper class buyers are crowding different big 

shopping centers, while the low-income group people are 

also seen purchasing their desired items from the 

footpath shops in the city. 

Supply of goods, including foreign brands, in the 

market is abundant. The goods vary from luxury to 

household items. Varieties of Indian sarees and three 

pieces also flooded the shopping centers, especially KDA 

New Market. 

Muhammad Hassan, owner of Hassan Cloth Store at 

Borobazar market, said our store is packed with Eid 

shoppers. I am pleased for selling well in the last few 

days. 

"Indian Saris and Salwar Kamij (Three Piece), which 

cost between Tk 2500-7500 a piece, are sold 40-50 

pieces every day," said Md. Emdad Hossain, owner of 

'Pabna Emporium' at KDA New Market.Varieties of 

Indian Saris, Lehanga and Bangladeshi jamdani, silk and 

bootik saris which cost Tk 2500-10,000 a piece are sold 

everyday, he said. 

Most shopkeepers are seemingly happy with their sale 

and the profit being earned from the purchaser, he 

added. 

27 held during 

anti-drug 

drive in city 

DHAKA : Dhaka 

Metropolitan Police 

(DMP) during antinarcotics 

drives on 

Saturday arrested 27 

people from city's Bihari 

camp in Pallabi area for 

taking and selling illegal 

drugs, reports UNB. 

A Special team of the 

DMP, including Pallabi 

Police Station, Detective 

Branch, Special Armed 

Police and Dog squad 

conducted the drives at 

Kalshi and Bihari camps of 

Mirpur-11 and Mirpur-10 

at around 10 am and 

continued until 12:00 pm, 

said Officer-in-Charge of 

Pallabi police station 

Dadan Fakir. 

During the drives, the 

police arrested 27 people 

for taking and selling 

illegal drugs and recovered 

2,150 pieces of Yaba pills, 

674 grams heroin, six kg 

hemps, and 60 lite local 

wines from their 

possessions, the OC 

added. 

Anti-narcotic 

drive to protect 

youths: Matia 

SHERPUR : Agriculture 

Minister 

Matia 

Chowdhury on Saturday 

said the anti-narcotic drive 

is being carried out to 

protect the youth and 

future generation of the 

country, reports UNB. 

"Drug traders - no 

matter which party they 

belong towon't be 

spared," said the minister 

while distributing Eid gifts 

among the poor at Kapasia 

in Nolitabari upazila. 

The minister said a 

section of people is 

criticising the drive saying 

it is a violation of human 

rights. "But they won't 

able to stop it," she said. 

Matia said, "Those who 

are becoming the victims 

of drug abuse have also 

human rights, and Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina is 

determined to root out 

drugs from the country." 

She distributed new 

dresses, saris and cash Tk 

500 each among 504 

meritorious female 

students, one sari each 

among 3,130 poor women, 

Eid dresses among 680 

young males, 10 kg rice 

among vulnerable groups 

and dates around 12,00 

poor people in the area. 

Additional Deputy 

Inspector General (DIG) of 

Police Md Rafiqul Hasan 

Goni, LGRD Deputy 

Director ATM Ziaul Islam, 

Nalitabari Upazila 

Parishad Chairman Md 

Mokhlesur Rahman 

Ripon, Upazila Awami 

League President Ziaul 

Islam Master, were, 

among others, present at 

the programme. 

Bangladesh Christian Association formed a human chain in front of Press Club yesterday protesting 

attack on Church in Indonesia. 

Photo : TBT 

Bangladesh wants 

safe, sustainable 

repatriation of 

Rohingyas: Shirin 

DHAKA : Speaker Dr 

Shirin 

Sharmin 

Chaudhury has said 

Bangladesh wants 

voluntary, safe, peaceful 

and 

sustainable 

repatriation of Rohingyas 

through bilateral 

discussions and with 

support of the 

international community, 

reports UNB. 

She said this while 

addressing 

an 

international conference 

on Rohingyas in Paris on 

Friday, said a Parliament 

Secretariat handout on 

Saturday. 

The France-Bangladesh 

Friendship Group 

arranged the international 

conference on 'Rohingya 

situation in Myanmar and 

Bangladesh' at the 

National Assembly of 

France. Noted human 

rights activists, lawyers 

and lawmakers attended 

the conference. 

Dr Shirin said 

Bangladesh has set a rare 

example of humanity by 

providing shelter to 

Rohingyas. Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina has opened 

a new era of humanity by 

opening the border to 

Rohingyas, she added. 

Mentioning that 

Bangladesh is maintaining 

the bilateral negotiations 

with Myanmar over the 

repatriation of Rohingyas, 

Dr Shirin hoped that 

Myanmar will complete 

the process of safe and 

peaceful return of 

Rohingyas to their 

homeland. 

The Speaker sought 

relentless support and 

vigilance from the 

international community 

in this regard. 

President of France- 

Bangladesh Friendship 

Group Daniele Obono, 

MP, human rights activists 

Dr Maung Zarni, Razia 

Sultana and Tun Khin, 

lawyer Nay San Lwin and 

human rights researcher 

Prof CR Abrar spoke on 

the occasion. President of 

France-Gambia 

Friendship Group Jean 

Francois Mbaye presided 

over the function. 

DNC starts distributing nationwide 

anti-narcotic festoons today 

DHAKA : The Department of Narcotic 

Control (DNC) is set to start today 

distributing festoons among different 

educational institutions across the 

country aimed at creating awareness 

among the people about the adverse 

impact of drugs. 

"We are going to start distributing antinarcotic 

festoons across the country to 

create awareness among educational 

institutions from Sunday to make 

students aware about harmful impact of 

taking drugs mainly to keep them away 

from drugs," DNC Director General (DG) 

Mohammod Jamal Uddin Ahmed told 

BSS. 

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan is 

likely to inaugurate the campaign as the 

chief guest from a programme to be held 

at Sidheswari campus of Stamford 

University this morning. 

The DNC chief said that they are trying 

to involve all the social powers in the 

awareness campaign aimed at waging a 

vibrant social movement against the 

abuse of narcotics. 

"Anti-narcotic committees in schools, 

colleges and madrashas up to the degree 

level have been entrusted with conducting 

the campaign across the country. It will 

help reduce the demand of drugs among 

the student manifold," he added. 

"Only drives against narcotic could not 

stop the social menace until and unless a 

social movement is raised against it, so 

the drives and awareness campaigns will 

be continued side by side to stop it," he 

DHAKA : A two-day 

National Children and 

Youth Programming 

Contest began yesterday at 

district-level giving a boost 

to build skilled and 

information technology 

literate youths for future 

to help materialize the 

dream of Digital 

Bangladesh. 

Winning teams from 

district-level 'Scratch and 

Python' programming 

contest will be invited to 

participate in the national 

campaign and the ultimate 

round of the contest 

Earlier, an intensive 

training event was held 

between May 12 and May 

30 for 5400 students of 64 

districts in 180 Sheikh 

Russell Digital Labs across 

the country. 

A Training of Trainers 

(TOT) programme was 

also held on April 16-17 at 

Krishibid Institute for 360 

ICT teachers and Lab 

Coordinators of Sheikh 

Russell Digital labs. 

Leading youth platform 

'Young Bangla' and 

Bangladesh Computer 

Council (BCC) are jointly 

organizing the contest to 

motivate children in 

programming. 

In a recent event of 

Business Process 

Outsourcing (BPO) 

summit, Prime Minister's 

ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed 

Joy announced to involve 

ICT schooling for primary 

school students. 

"As the priority of Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina to 

build a skilled and IT 

adept youth for future, 

CRI (Centre for Research 

opined. 

"As part of the campaign, the DNC will 

distribute 40,000 festoons inscribed with 

the adverse impacts of taking drugs, 

among the schools, colleges and 

madrashas," DNC Deputy Director 

(preventive education) Rabiul Islam said. 

He also said that over 29,000 antinarcotic 

committees formed at different 

educational institutions by DNC will 

mainly carry out the campaign across the 

country. 

Another Deputy Director (Dhaka 

metro) of DNC Mukul Jyoti Chakma said 

that they have already sent letters to 

educational institutions through the 

Education Ministry to take appropriate 

measures in conducting the anti-narcotic 

awareness campaign. 

He said that they also requested the 

University Grants Commission (UGC) to 

conduct such campaigns at educational 

institutions under it. 

In Dhaka metropolis, 193 anti-narcotic 

committees will carry out the campaign, 

he added. 

The government took the move in 2009 

with forming 5,779 committees first when 

the students were getting increasingly 

inclined towards taking drugs and other 

narcotic substances. 

The five-member committee is headed 

by chief of the concerned institution with 

its physical or religious teacher as the 

member secretary. Three other members 

of the committees are - a teachers' 

representative, a guardian, and a student. 

Nat'l children programming 

contest begins in districts 

and Information) is 

carrying out a special 

programming contest all 

over the country to 

motivate children into 

programming in 

association with ICT 

Division Bangladesh" said 

Posts, Telecommunication 

and Information 

Technology Minister 

Mustafa Jabbar. 

CRI Associate 

Coordinator Tonmoy 

Ahmed said "For the first 

time we are calling 

primary level students to 

participate in scratch 

programming contest and 

we are introducing a 

proper programming 

contest 

where 

participants will learn and 

have to do coding in 

contests not just a quiz 

test like past years". 

Bangladesh Press Institute organized a training on reporting of child and woman development. 

Photo : TBT

EDITORIAL 

SUNDAY, 

JUNe 3, 2018 

Overcoming the politics of pessimism 

4 

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam 

Telephone: +8802-9104683-84, Fax: 9127103 

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com 

Sunday, June 3, 2018 

For effectively 

discouraging 

tobacco 

The world. The day was 

World Anti Tobacco Day was observed in 

Bangladesh on Thursday with the rest of the 

ritually observed in 

Bangladesh but in seminars and discussions 

meetings held on the occasion, hardly positives were 

mentioned about the situation in Bangladesh 

related to tobacco use. It appears from various 

studies, the smoking habit in Bangladesh instead of 

declining is rather showing an uptrend specially 

among younger people . 

The tobacco producers in Bangladesh contend 

these days that they pay good revenues to the 

government and how smoking is related to a 

business from the growers' to producers' level and 

how the curbing of the same would reduce the level 

of economic activities. But economists maintain that 

economic activities that lead to much greater social 

or economic or health costs than the benefits they 

generate, are undesirable. According to WHO, 

though Bangladesh earns around Taka 2,400 crore 

per year from the tobacco sector, country incurs a 

loss of some Taka 5,000 crore as treatment costs for 

fatal diseases and subsequent death caused by 

smoking. And experts in the country consider the 

WHO supplied estimate as a conservative one ; they 

maintain that the negatives from smoking are 

several times higher than the ones stated in the 

WHO report. 

Recently, tobacco producers are turning their 

attention more to poor and developing countries to 

expand their business because tobacco 

consumption has been falling in the developed 

countries due to greater understanding of the health 

risks. But in a country like Bangladesh, tobacco 

producers with smart indirect publicities and other 

enticing activities are trying to habituate particularly 

the younger generation to become smokers. This 

must have the most undesirable impact on national 

health and productivity. The youth of a country are 

its potential workforce. For them to lose their vitality 

and health from a negative habit can be most 

unfortunate. Thus, this year's slogan on World Anti 

Tobacco Day has rightly adopted the slogan of 'plain 

packaging' to reduce the attraction of tobacco among 

present and potential smokers. 

Our government needs to discourage tobacco 

consumption through penal taxes, greater antitobacco 

publicity and a host of other innovative 

measures. The government introduced some years 

ago a law that provides for paying penalties for 

smoking in open places. 

But this law exists in paper only. Its enforcement is 

not seen. The view of experts is that heavy taxes on 

tobacco producers or cigarette makers can be more 

effective to regulate smoking. But this suggestion, 

too, appears not to have been considered seriously. 

In this backdrop, it was reported sometime ago 

that the government was considering to make the 

prevailing law related to tobacco consumption 

stiffer through some amendments in it. The aim 

would be to create provisions in the law for higher 

fines for smoking in public places and for the 

producers to display on cigarette packets clearer 

warning about the risks of smoking. 

But it is also imperative to discourage tobacco 

cultivation in the first place to put a hard brake on 

the malaise at source. It is noted that increasingly 

farming areas in Bangladesh are being utilized for 

tobacco cultivation as yields from tobacco 

cultivation are seen as relatively more financially 

gainful than growing other healthy crops. Thus, it is 

so important that farmers should be motivated to 

grow these other crops in place of tobacco. To this 

end, the growers of the healthy crops will have to be 

extended proper price supports and other financial 

incentives to undercut the appeal of tobacco 

growing. Government may also consider strictly 

restricting the acreage under tobacco farming from 

now on justifying the move also on the ground that 

tobacco farming adds to toxicity of the soil. 

As for the regulation on open smoking , in its 

present form, the regulation is seen seldom applied 

and remains mostly ignored by the enforcers. So, 

this is the real challenge : stricter enforcement of the 

anti-tobacco laws for the gamut of these to bring 

about the significant desired results. 

Government should also consider creating 

disincentives through appropriate fiscal policies that 

would discourage the tobacco industry. 

Abig reason Western politics is in 

such disarray is voters' pessimism 

about the future. According to the 

Pew Research Center, 60% of Westerners 

believe today's children will be "worse off 

financially than their parents," while 

most Europeans think the next 

generation will have a worse life. To 

paraphrase the philosopher Thomas 

Hobbes, they expect youngsters' lives to 

be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish - and long. 

Pessimism afflicts those who have lost 

out economically, as well as those who 

worry that they (or their communities) 

may be next. It affects young people 

anxious about their prospects and older 

people nostalgic for their youth. And it 

encompasses both economic fears that 

robots, Chinese workers, and immigrants 

are threatening people's livelihoods, and 

cultural fears that white Westerners are 

losing their privileged status both locally 

and globally. 

When people doubt that progress is 

possible, they tend to fear change of any 

kind. Rather than focusing on 

opportunities, they see threats 

everywhere and hold on tighter to what 

they have. Distributional cleavages come 

to the fore - toxically so when overlaid 

with identity clashes. Western politics can 

become rosier again, but only if 

politicians first address the root causes of 

the gloom. 

Today's naysayers come in three 

shades. Accepting pessimists - often 

center-right voters who are doing fine but 

are worried about the future - believe that 

shaking up the system is impossible or 

undesirable, so they grudgingly accept 

their country's diminished prospects. 

Politicians of this type seem content, in 

effect, to manage a relatively comfortable 

decline. 

Anxious pessimists, often on the center 

left, are glummer about the future, but 

seem content merely to soften its hardest 

edges. They want to invest a bit more, and 

to distribute more equitably the meager 

proceeds of weak growth. But they are 

also increasingly fearful of technological 

change and globalization, and thus seek 

to limit their pace and scope. The goal of 

center-left politicians of this kind seems 

to be to make an uncomfortable decline 

more tolerable. Finally, angry pessimists - 

often populists and their supporters - 

think economies are rigged, politicians 

corrupt, and outsiders dangerous. They 

have no desire to manage decline; they 

want to destroy the status quo. And they 

PHILIPPE LEgrAIn 

may pursue lose-lose outcomes simply so 

that others will suffer. What these groups 

have in common is a dearth of viable 

solutions. Both accepting and anxious 

pessimists focus so much on the risks and 

difficulties of change that they ignore the 

pitfalls of inaction - not least the rise of 

populism - while angry pessimists 

assume that they can smash the system 

while maintaining its benefits. Western 

societies, for all their flaws, provide 

unrivaled prosperity, security, and 

freedom. Authoritarian nationalism and 

economic populism endanger that. 

While the West's relative decline is 

almost inevitable, its economic 

dysfunction is not. Yet pessimism can be 

self-fulfilling. Why undertake difficult 

reforms if a dark future seems 

preordained? 

While the West's relative decline is 

almost inevitable, its economic 

dysfunction is not. Yet pessimism can be 

Dr. THEODOrE KArASIK 

self-fulfilling. Why undertake difficult 

reforms if a dark future seems 

preordained? As a result, accepting and 

anxious pessimists tend to elect 

governments that duck difficult decisions 

(witness Germany's grand coalition), 

while angry pessimists make matters 

worse (by voting for Donald Trump's 

"America First" agenda or for Brexit, for 

example). 

It doesn't have to be this way. As French 

President Emmanuel Macron has 

demonstrated, bold leaders can succeed 

with a message of hope, openness and 

inclusion, and by promoting a vision of 

progress based on credible reforms. In 

my book European Spring, I set out a 

blueprint for economic and political 

change in Europe, much of which could 

apply to other overly pessimistic 

countries - notably the United States. 

Inspiring and reassuring voters is a 

political challenge, not a technocratic one. 

But it also requires ambitious policies to 

expand the economic pie faster and share 

it more fairly. Three big changes would 

help. First, governments must do more to 

spur productivity growth, which is the 

basis for higher living standards. 

Stimulating investment - in green 

technologies, for example - would boost 

demand now and increase productive 

capacity later. Funding new research, 

expanding access to risk capital, and 

crafting supportive regulation would also 

help. 

Source : Asia Times 

Cuba a key player in global campaign against Iran 

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al- 

Jubeir this week visited Cuba for two 

days. His visit should not come as a 

surprise, as Riyadh's policy toward 

Havana and the wider Caribbean Basin 

has followed a new line of thinking. 

Saudi-Cuban ties date back to 1956, 

with the Kingdom opening its Embassy 

in Havana in 2011. In May 2017, King 

Salman held talks in Jeddah with Cuban 

Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas 

and they agreed on bolstering economic 

cooperation. Saudi Arabia has also 

granted Cuba loans through the Saudi 

Development Fund to finance projects 

worth over $80 million. 

Al-Jubeir's visit to Cuba shows how 

Riyadh needs Havana to be part of its 

anti-extremist program. Riyadh is 

seeking to bring Cuba into its fold, 

especially against Iran, in order to 

mitigate any support from Havana to 

Tehran as the confrontation between the 

US and Iran grows. 

Saudi Arabia is no longer standing by 

and watching how Iran conducts its 

foreign policy anywhere in the world. 

Riyadh took notice of how Cuban-Iranian 

relations have developed over time and 

given Tehran a hub in the Caribbean. 

But there is a bigger issue. Cuba's 

alliance with Iran dates back to 1979, 

when Fidel Castro became one of the first 

heads of state to recognize Iran's clerics. 

Over the years, Castro created a unique 

relationship between secular, communist 

Cuba and theocratic Iran, united by a 

Arecent attack in France that killed 

three people, including an army 

officer who swapped himself for a 

woman hostage and was murdered, has 

once again raised the usual questions 

on terrorism, the ways to fight the 

scourge, and popular solutions. 

Analyst Richard Labeviere, in a recent 

book Terrorism, the hidden face of 

globalisation, starts with some basic 

findings: These intellectually-deficient 

criminals want publicity - let's not give 

it. They want to be recognised as 

"enemies" - let's not declare war on 

them. On the contrary, let's start from 

square one, which is fighting crimes. 

One thing is to see the facts, react 

emotionally and run the same story 

repeatedly on TV networks to give 

terrorists the publicity they seek. 

Another is to try and reflect. Is it 

nonsense 'to make war' at a concept or a 

modus operandi? One must be at war 

with whoever uses terrorism, the ones 

who are well-identified enemies. The 

petty criminals who have been 

radicalised - or have not yet been, or 

even possibly never will be - all deserve 

special attention. Many of them are 

already known, and necessary tools 

already exist to fight them: Increased 

domestic intelligence, more control of 

the internet, better jail management, 

stronger social monitoring with no 

wiggle room for extremist preachers or 

gang leaders. When you look at the 

number of convicted terrorists who will 

be released from jail in the coming 

years, it is clear there is no time to lose. 

Fighting crime is a priority since 

around 50 per cent of these small-time 

thugs-turned-terrorists have a history 

of offences and served jail time. 

Anxious pessimists, often on the center left, are glummer 

about the future, but seem content merely to soften its hardest 

edges. They want to invest a bit more, and to distribute more 

equitably the meager proceeds of weak growth. But they are 

also increasingly fearful of technological change and 

globalization, and thus seek to limit their pace and scope. The 

goal of center-left politicians of this kind seems to be to make 

an uncomfortable decline more tolerable. 

common hatred of the US and the liberal, 

democratic West. 

Barack Obama sought to engage Cuba 

and Iran by initiating discrete and patient 

diplomatic approaches with two of 

America's most aggressive antagonists. 

Last year, when US President Donald 

Trump signaled a reversal of Obama's 

previous Cuban policy, Havana rushed to 

Tehran to sign cooperation agreements. 

As part of the non-aligned movement, or 

what is left of it, Cuba and Iran have 

teamed up for decades as part of 

ideological struggles. Now, in the age of 

geopolitics, this argument no longer has 

any validity given that countries are 

taking sides in a new dynamic involving 

the future of Iran. Saudi Arabia is no 

longer standing by and watching how 

Iran conducts its foreign policy anywhere 

in the world. 

Fight against terror should be on all fronts 

Discussions in France on monitoring 

suspected criminals and convicted 

criminals (a priest was murdered some 

months ago by an extremist wearing an 

electronic bracelet) and preventive 

custody of suspects, all miss a 

preliminary step: The need to restore 

state authority, starting with the 

territories the Republic has abandoned 

and prosecuting the offenders. 

It is especially important when 

"fighting terrorism" becomes "fighting 

Islamist terrorism". 

The roots of terrorism, indeed, are 

diverse: Economic problems and social 

handicaps, uncontrolled immigration 

and missed integration, international 

tensions and external conflicts. The first 

one will require decades of continuous 

action; the second one is a matter of 

political will - and French President 

Emmanuel Macron is discovering how 

difficult it is to pass a bill on the subject. 

The third one requires a little bit of 

intellectual honesty. 

LUC DEBIEUvrE 

Before the Joint Comprehensive Plan 

of Action, Tehran's support for Havana 

was significant. In total, Cuba has 

received the equivalent of more than $1.2 

billion in loans from Iran since 2005. 

With this financing, Cuba has begun to 

make critical investments in the 

rehabilitation of Soviet-era 

infrastructure. Iran is funding some 60 

projects, ranging from the acquisition of 

Barack Obama sought to engage Cuba and Iran by initiating 

discrete and patient diplomatic approaches with two of 

America's most aggressive antagonists. Last year, when US 

President Donald Trump signaled a reversal of Obama's 

previous Cuban policy, Havana rushed to Tehran to sign 

cooperation agreements. As part of the non-aligned 

movement, or what is left of it, Cuba and Iran have teamed up 

for decades as part of ideological struggles. 

750 Iranian-made rail cars to the 

construction of power plants, dams, and 

highways. This infusion of Iranian capital 

is seen as a strategic threat. 

Geographically, Cuba's strategic 

location has enabled Iran, on at least one 

occasion, to engage in electronic attacks 

against US telecommunications that 

posed a threat to the Iranian regime. This 

type of behavior by Iran in Cuba is no 

longer acceptable. Recent claims of sonic 

"Islamist terrorism" came late in the 

story of terrorism. In the Middle East, it 

was preceded by "Zionist terrorism", as 

reminded by the murder of United 

Nations Representative Earl Folke 

Bernadotte by the Lehi Jewish terrorist 

group in occupied Jerusalem in 

September 1948. Not to mention the 

April Deir Yassin massacre. Oddly, a 

recent petition-gathering move by 

French intellectuals against "Islamist 

terrorism" brought together the brave 

people - although a bit naive - with best 

supporters of those people who have 

The roots of terrorism, indeed, are diverse: Economic 

problems and social handicaps, uncontrolled 

immigration and missed integration, international 

tensions and external conflicts. The first one will 

require decades of continuous action; the second one is 

a matter of political will - and French President 

Emmanuel Macron is discovering how difficult it is to 

pass a bill on the subject. The third one requires a little 

bit of intellectual honesty. 

been trampling for 70 years the rights of 

Palestinians over their land. Such 

mixing can only add confusion, 

especially when we see the continuing 

Israeli infringements of international 

law. 

Reflecting on "Islamist terrorism" 

leads to an analysis of international 

events, and for a government it means 

adapting its foreign policy accordingly. 

Where are these terrorists coming 

from? Syria or Turkey? And so many of 

warfare against the US Embassy in 

Havana may be tied to Tehran's ability to 

harass US diplomats, although such 

activity could also be linked to other 

countries and their tit-for-tat balance 

sheet in this new geopolitical Cold War. 

Al-Jubeir's visit to Cuba is tied to the 

future of Venezuela, as Havana and 

Caracas have been aligned for decades. 

With OPEC member Venezuela in 

serious political and financial trouble, 

Saudi Arabia is keenly aware that Havana 

is a back door to Venezuela. Cuban 

support for Venezuela is across many 

spheres of political, economic and, 

especially, security and intelligence 

matters. Saudi foreign policy toward 

Venezuela is not only about Cuba and 

Iran but also the future of oil markets. 

Getting between Havana and Caracas is 

good for Saudi foreign policy in the 

Caribbean. 

Trinidad and Tobago, meanwhile, is 

one of the largest liquefied natural gas 

producers in the world. As the leading 

producer of oil and gas in the Caribbean, 

Trinidad and Tobago maintains the most 

favorable economic climate in the region. 

Saudi interest in Pemex and Mexico's 

energy infrastructure is also part of 

Riyadh's calculus for the future of energy. 

As the energy picture changes in the 

Caribbean, Riyadh wants a front row seat 

for what comes next in America's 

strategic backyard. 

Source : Arab news 

them! Who allowed them to enter the 

country with arms and ammunition? 

Who paid them locally? These foreign 

fighters who keep coming back to 

France are tomorrow's terrorists or 

their sponsors. 

Globally, it is common knowledge 

that the wars waged by the United 

States have created more terrorists 

than they have eliminated. The endless 

war in Syria provides the right 

conditions for terrorism to grow - 

especially if western media censors 

people who dare ask the 'wrong' 

questions: Who is financing the 

supposedly neutral 'Syrian Rights 

Observatory' based in London? Who is 

behind the supposedly humanitarian 

organisation, whose faked news and 

images overflow daily western TV 

screens? Who will be honest enough to 

remind us that the bulk of 'Syrian 

Nationalist Rebels' are part of Al Qaida 

and Daesh, holding the civilian 

population in Aleppo or Ghouta as 

human shields? 

To fight terror successfully, wars 

must be short and the enemy welldefined. 

So one should not be 'at war' 

with "Islamist terrorism" or any other 

concept such as "underground 

Islamism" - even though strong 

opinions by Muslims would be 

welcome in the debate. With growing 

crimes in France, the diverse resources, 

which are widely available, ought to be 

better utilised. And abroad, a variety of 

actions should be employed to prevent 

the wars from being long-winding. 

That is the real challenge. 

Source : Gulf News

HEALTH 

SUNDAY, 

JUNE 3, 2018 

5 

Studies found that people with big brains have a different brain structure too. 

Photo: Ben Birchall 

Does brain size matter? 

Jessica Hamzelou 

What's the benefit of a bigger brain? It turns out 

that in larger human brains, regions involved in 

bringing together information are 

hyperexpanded - but we don't know what affect 

this might have on brain function yet. 

Armin Raznahan at the US National Institute 

of Mental Health in Maryland and his colleagues 

discovered this by comparing brain images from 

around 3,000 people. They compared the area of 

80,000 points across the cortex - the large part 

of our brains that is involved in higher functions 

like thinking. 

Analysing these, they found that some 

particular areas expanded more than others in 

people who had an overall larger brain size. 

These regions seem to be involved in integrating 

information from across the brain, he says. 

These expanded areas are the same regions 

that have grown relatively larger throughout our 

evolution, and they continue to grow in our early 

lives, becoming relatively larger in adult brains 

than they are in child brains. 

It isn't clear if this confers any benefits though. 

Past research has found that people with larger 

brains do tend to have a higher IQ, but the 

relationship is subtle - brain size only accounts 

for around 5 per cent of the variation in IQ, says 

Raznahan. 

It could just be that certain regions need to be 

relatively larger in larger brains. "In order for 

things to work well, you need to organise a bigger 

brain in a fundamentally different way to a small 

brain," says Raznahan. 

The team also found that some brain regions 

were smaller than expected in bigger-brained 

individuals - those involved in processing 

emotion, movement, and vision. 

Raznahan's team plan to compare brain 

regions in people with and without psychiatric or 

brain disorders, to see if they can identify 

differences that might explain symptoms or help 

guide treatment. 

Blood test can reveal Early 

Stage Cancer 

Rachel Baxter 

One of the biggest issues with cancer 

is that it is frequently diagnosed far 

too late. The symptoms can often be 

quite generic, like tiredness and 

weight loss, so many people don't find 

out they have the disease until it has 

really taken hold. Unfortunately, this 

is also when it is much harder to treat. 

But scientists have made a 

breakthrough. They have identified a 

new kind of blood test that can 

determine the presence of 10 different 

cancers long before tumors even 

occur. While the test isn't 100 percent 

accurate and still needs more work, 

the lead researcher has hailed it as 

"potentially the holy grail of cancer 

research." 

Dr Eric Klein told The Telegraph 

newspaper of the UK that the new test 

could help doctors "find cancers that 

are currently hard to cure and at an 

earlier stage when they are easier to 

cure."We hope this test could save 

many lives." 

It all sounds rather promising, so 

what does it actually involve? The 

technique is known as a liquid biopsy. 

Essentially, it involves screening the 

blood for DNA molecules released by 

cancerous cells. At the moment, 

depending on the type, cancers are 

often identified through scans and 

biopsies. A number of different blood 

tests are also currently used to check 

out things like blood cell count, liver 

and kidney function, and the 

presence of substances produced by 

tumors. 

What's exciting about the new 

development is that it can screen 

people for signs of cancer years before 

they show symptoms of the disease. 

Therefore, if further research proves 

successful and the test starts to be 

used, it could allow doctors to screen 

patients for certain kinds of cancer, 

potentially saving many lives. 

According to The Telegraph, the UK's 

National Health Service (NHS) could 

start using the blood test within the 

next five years, but some state that 

figure is overly ambitious. 

"Now, as the NHS marks its 70th 

anniversary, we stand on the cusp of a 

new era of personalized medicine that 

will dramatically transform care for 

cancer and for inherited and rare 

diseases," Simon Stevens, chief 

executive of NHS England, told The 

Guardian. 

The research on the new test was 

presented recently at the American 

Society of Clinical Oncologists annual 

meeting in Chicago. The study 

involved 1,627 participants, 749 of 

whom were free from cancer and 878 

who had just been diagnosed. 

The liquid biopsy test correctly 

identified pancreatic, ovarian, liver, 

and gallbladder cancers at least 80 

percent of the time. It wasn't quite as 

good at diagnosing lymphoma and 

myeloma (which originates in the 

bone marrow) - spotting them 77 and 

73 percent of the time respectively - 

but was still pretty good. It identified 

bowel cancer 66 percent of the time, 

lung cancer 59 percent of the time, 

and head and neck cancers 56 percent 

of the time. Despite being "several 

steps away" from real-world 

application, and tested on a fairly 

small group of people, the scientists 

say the findings are promising. 

After further clinical development, 

the blood test could one day be used 

on everybody, and specifically 

targeted at those over the age of 40 

who are at a higher risk of developing 

cancer. Nevertheless, there are over 

100 types of cancer, and this new test 

only detects 10. Still, if this field of 

research grows, effective early tests 

could one day be applied to many 

kinds of cancer, in turn saving many 

lives. 

The blood test can detect 10 types of cancer years before patients show symptoms of the disease. 

Photo: Shutterstock 

Things everyone should understand 

about HIV and AIDS 

Zahra Barnes 

There are plenty of sexually 

transmitted infections out 

there. The saving grace of 

infections like chlamydia 

and gonorrhea is that they're 

easy to get rid of with the 

right medication. But of the 

STIs that don't yet have a 

cure, HIV and AIDS loom 

large. 

Over 1.1 million people in 

the United States have HIV, 

or 

human 

immunodeficiency virus, 

according to AIDS.gov. It 

seems like the scariest STI 

because when left untreated, 

the illness can progress and 

end up having fatal 

consequences. 

But thanks to celebrationworthy 

advances in 

medicine, HIV is far from 

the death sentence it used to 

be. Treatment can even get 

the virus down to 

undetectable levels in 

people's blood. In addition 

to being manageable, there's 

another key thing to keep in 

mind: HIV is preventable, 

too. Here, doctors explain 

what you need to know. 

There's no immediate sign 

a person's developed HIV. 

Often there are no 

indications at all. Some 

people might develop a 

reaction to the virus that 

causes flu-like symptoms-a 

fever, rash, sore throat, 

headache, or other 

annoyances that are easy to 

write off as a normal illness. 

But while this tends to clear 

up on its own, HIV is still in 

the body, and it's not until 

later that the damage 

becomes obvious-and 

dangerous, Chris Carpenter, 

M.D., section head of 

infectious disease and 

internal medicine at 

Beaumont Hospital in Royal 

Oak, Michigan, tells SELF. 

"Most people recover from 

[the initial reaction] and in 

general do well for several 

years, but inside, the virus is 

chipping away at their 

immune system to the point 

that they develop AIDS," 

Carpenter says. Specifically, 

the HIV virus attacks a white 

blood cell known as the CD4 

cell or T-cell. "It's a 

lymphocyte that's very 

important in protecting us 

against certain types of 

infections and cancers," 

Carpenter explains. 

Healthy people usually 

have 500 to 1,600 T-cells per 

cubic millimeter of blood, 

says AIDS.gov. When 

someone's number of T-cells 

drops below 200 per cubic 

millimeter of blood, their 

HIV has officially progressed 

to AIDS. 

"Folks with HIV come 

from all walks of life. It's not 

just one socioeconomic class 

that struggles with this, 

although some do more than 

others," Carpenter says. Gay 

and bisexual men of all races 

are most severely affected, 

but women made up 19 

percent of the United States' 

over 44,000 new HIV 

diagnoses in 2014. 

AIDS can cause symptoms 

like chills, fever, sweats, 

swollen lymph glands, 

weakness, and weight loss, 

but it doesn't usually kill 

people. Instead, the culprits 

are "opportunistic 

infections," like pneumonia 

or various cancers, that a 

person's weakened immune 

system can't fight off. 

Without treatment, people 

with AIDS usually survive 

for around three years. Once 

they're infected with an 

opportunistic infection, life 

expectancy drops to a year. 

The exact length of time 

A T cell is under attack from HIV. 

depends on the illness, what 

doctors can do to treat it, 

and how much someone's 

damaged immune system 

can take. 

The virus is only 

transmitted through certain 

bodily fluids: blood, semen, 

pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum), 

rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, 

and breast milk. For 

infection to occur, these 

fluids need to come into 

contact with mucous 

membranes, which are 

found inside the mouth, 

penis, vagina, and rectum. 

Anal sex is most likely to 

transmit HIV. "It's namely 

because of the trauma, 

mucosal breakdown, and 

bleeding," Carpenter says. 

While less likely, it can also 

be passed through vaginal 

sex. And while the risk is 

"extremely low," it's also 

possible to pass it through 

oral sex. But HIV can't be 

transmitted through kissing 

(unless both people are 

making out deeply and have 

open sores or bleeding 

gums), sitting on a toilet 

seat, using the same utensils 

as someone who has the 

virus, or other forms of 

casual contact. 

Beyond sex, HIV can also 

be transmitted when 

injecting drugs with needles 

because of the blood 

involved. 

When HIV was first 

discovered in the 1980s, it 

was a terminal illness. "In 

the '90s, there were 

medications that were 

effective but difficult to 

tolerate. In the 2000s, there 

were more tolerable 

medications, but people still 

struggled with side effects," 

Carpenter says. "Now, we're 

very good at handling HIV." 

HIV treatment is based on 

antiretroviral therapy, or 

ART. "If taken the right way, 

every day, this medicine can 

dramatically prolong the 

lives of many people infected 

with HIV, keep them 

healthy, and greatly lower 

Photo: NIAID 

their chance of infecting 

others…Today, someone 

diagnosed with HIV and 

treated before the disease is 

far advanced can live nearly 

as long as someone who 

does not have HIV," says the 

Centers for Disease Control 

and Prevention. ART can 

come with side effects, like 

anemia, diarrhea, fatigue, 

and more, but doctors work 

with patients to find the drug 

cocktail least likely to cause 

these issues. 

Although ART is not a 

cure, it can bring someone's 

viral HIV load to 

undetectable levels. Their 

immune systems can rebuild 

without being under 

constant siege, and their 

chances of passing the virus 

to others lower dramatically. 

ART is necessary to prevent 

HIV from progressing to 

AIDS. Everyone between the 

ages of 13 and 64 needs to be 

tested for HIV at least once, 

but many doctors 

recommend HIV testing at 

least once a year if you're 

having sex. (Here's more 

information on when to get 

tested based on your 

relationship status.) There 

are different kinds of HIV 

tests, but the most common 

one looks for antibodies in 

the blood, not for the virus 

itself, Abdur-Rahman 

explains. The body often 

needs three to 12 weeks to 

mount that antibody 

response, so it can take 

around that long or longer 

for a test to show up positive, 

according to the CDC. 

There's nothing shameful 

about getting tested, or 

talking about it. In fact, both 

are important. "If you're 

going to have a sexual 

relationship, you need to be 

able to sit down and discuss 

all the things that can 

happen: pregnancy, HIV, 

and other STDs," Abdur- 

Rahman says. 

If someone is at continued 

risk of getting HIV, either 

because of their sexual 

activity or drug use, they can 

use pre-exposure 

prophylaxis to drastically 

reduce their odds of getting 

the virus. PrEP, as it's 

commonly known, is a 

medication marketed under 

the name Truvada. Daily use 

of PrEP, which is a 

combination of two HIV 

drugs, can lower the risk of 

getting HIV from sex by over 

90 percent and from 

injection drug use by more 

than 70 percent. It can cause 

side effects like nausea but 

they usually goes away. 

If you're part of a "mixedstatus" 

couple, or a pairing 

in which one person has HIV 

and the other doesn't, PrEP 

can be a great idea. But 

barrier methods are still a 

must for lowering the risk of 

getting the virus (and other 

STDs), says Carpenter. 

Abdur-Rahman has 

diagnosed pregnant women 

with HIV, which means they 

could pass it to their offspring. 

If a pregnant person starts on 

ART treatment as early as 

possible, the risk of 

transmitting HIV to the baby 

can be 1 percent or less, 

according to the CDC. Doctors 

may also decide on a C-section 

to further lower the risk. And 

since HIV is transmissible via 

breast milk, doctors advise 

against breastfeeding for new 

moms with HIV. PEP, which 

needs to be started within 72 

hours of exposure to work, can 

reduce your risk of getting 

HIV if you were exposed 

during sex, during drug use, or 

if you were sexually assaulted. 

It needs to be taken once or 

twice daily for 28 days. If you 

think you were exposed, talk 

to your doctor, call a 

healthcare clinic, or go to an 

emergency room. Any one of 

these options should be able to 

get PEP for you as quickly as 

possible, or better direct you to 

someone who can. 

Autophagy: The secret to a long life 

Alfredo Carpineti 

We constantly hear how recycling is 

important. It turns out that matters 

both for the environment and for our 

own body. Researchers have 

discovered that organisms that can 

efficiently dispose of bad cells have an 

extended lifespan and better quality of 

life. 

The discovery builds on two decades 

of research on autophagy, the process 

by which the body destroys and 

recycles cells that are old or damaged. 

As reported in Nature, researchers at 

UT Southwestern Medical Center 

found that genetically engineered 

mice with high levels of autophagy 

lived longer, healthier lives compared 

to their "regular" counterparts. 

"Specifically, they have about a 10 

percent extension in lifespan and are 

less likely to develop age-related 

spontaneous cancers and age-related 

pathological changes in the heart and 

the kidney," Dr Beth Levine, director 

of the Center for Autophagy Research 

at UT Southwestern, said in a 

statement. 

Analysis of the animals' organs 

showed that the mutant mice had 

fewer signs of aging, including less 

scarring of their hearts and livers and 

less age-related cancers. Twenty years 

ago, Dr Levine discovered the genes 

that regulate autophagy. Her team 

and associated groups have shown 

that the genetic machinery for 

autophagy is involved in extending 

roundworms' lifespan and that mice 

Tiding up your cells linked to longer life expectancy. 

Photo: Collected 

with high levels of autophagy are 

partially protected from Alzheimer's 

disease. The research question for this 

study was whether increasing 

autophagy is both safe and beneficial 

for animals, especially mammals. 

"These studies have important 

implications for human health and for 

the development of drugs to improve 

it," said Dr Levine, who is also a 

Howard Hughes Medical Institute 

Investigator. "They show that 

strategies to increase the cellular 

housekeeping pathway of autophagy 

may retard aging and aging-related 

diseases. The results suggest that it 

should be safe to increase autophagy 

on a chronic basis to treat diseases 

such as neurodegeneration. 

Furthermore, they reveal a specific 

target for developing drugs that 

increase autophagy." 

The creation of drugs is the ultimate 

goal of this research. The team have 

some preliminary compounds that 

could be suitable for such a goal. 

While human testing is still far in the 

future, they hope to have people with 

age-related conditions to be among 

the first to trial this approach.

NATIONAL 

SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 2018 

6 

A view exchange meeting on anti-terrorism-militancy-drug and child marriage was held at Baliakandi 

police station of Rajbari district on Saturday. Rajbari Police Super Asma Siddika Mili addressed the meeting 

as the chief guest while office in-charge of Baliakandi police station, Hasina Begum chaired the occasion. 

Photo: Mehedi Hasan 

RHD implements Taka 4,742.73 cr 

projects in Rajshahi zone 

RAJSHAHI: The Roads and 

Highway Department (RHD) has 

been implementing various 

infrastructure development 

schemes involving around Taka 

4,742.73 crore in the zone, reports 

BSS. 

Works of six important projects 

were completed at a cost of around 

Taka 456.24 crore during the last 

five fiscals till June last contributing 

a lot towards improving road 

communication in the zone. 

Implementation works of another 

Taka 4,286.49 crore projects are 

progressing at present, said Abu 

Rawshan, Additional Chief Engineer 

of RHD, while talking to BSS on 

Thursday. 

Construction works of a 12.50-km 

Shaheed Monsur Ali road from 

Pipulbaria to Dhunat via 

Sonamukhi was completed after 

spending Taka 67.94 crore. 

Reconstruction and widening 

works of a 51.626-km road from 

Kansat to Vholahat via Rohanpur 

was also completed at a cost of Taka 

31.50 crore. 

Development works of 24.58-km 

road including a 263-meter bridge 

of Naogaon-Badalgachhi-Patnitala, 

67.59-kilometer Patnitala- 

Shapahar-Rohanpur and Godagari- 

Amnura-Nachole-Parbatipur-Adda 

roads were implemented at a total 

cost of around Taka 247.06 crore. 

Besides, district road development 

project has been executed with an 

estimated cost of Taka 109.75 crore 

in the zone comprising of Rajshahi, 

Chapainawabgonj, Naogaon, 

Natore, Pabna and Sirajgonj district, 

Engineer Rawshan added. 

Currently, implementation works 

of pavement widening project 

including median of the Natore 

town's main road from Harishpur 

bypass crossing to Banbelghoria 

bypass crossing is underway with an 

estimated cost of around Taka 58.33 

crore. 

"We are developing 74-km 

important regional highways 

maintaining standard and widening 

at an estimated cost of around Taka 

439 crore," he said adding that 

finishing works of the unfinished 

19.5-km Naogaon-Atrai-Natore 

highway is progressing at a cost of 

Taka 201.29 crore. 

Four-lane and the rest two-lane 

elevation works of 21.74-km portion 

of the Nolka-Sirajgonj-Soidabad 

regional highway is going on 

involving Taka 264.26 crore. 

Projects for construction of 

266.57-meter Ullapara Railway 

Overpass in Sirajgonj and 81.97-km 

one regional and two district 

highways in Naogaon involving 

Taka 406.94 crore were already 

given approval in ECNEC meeting 

recently. 

Construction works of 14 bridges 

and culverts on different regional 

and national highways are 

progressing with a total cost of 

around Taka 17.63 crore under 

periodic maintenance programme. 

Apart from, repairing and 

maintenance works of 152.892-km 

roads were either completed or 

nearing completion involving 

around Taka 1.91 crore under 13 

packages of periodic maintenance 

programme. 

Roadside tree plantation activities 

on the improved roads are 

progressing successfully that will 

ultimately help reduce carbon 

emission to a substantial level and 

that is very important to face the 

adverse impact of climate change 

here including its vast Barind tract. 

Engineer Abu Rawshan said that 

the implemented projects have 

started contributing enormously to 

raising standard of living and the 

ongoing schemes will supplement 

the process upon successful 

completion. 

Sreepur sadar union Parishad of Magura district announced a Tk 2.9 crore budget for 2018-19 fiscal on 

Wednesday. Union Parishad Secretary Md. Akidul Islam announced the budged at Sreepur M.C pilot 

Secondry School hall room while Sreepur sadar union Parishad Chairman Md. Moshiar Rahman 

chaired the programme. Among others, Sreepur Upazila Awami League President(In-Charge) Md. 

Abul Kalam Azad, Upazila Muktijoddha Commander Ikram Ali Biswas and Sadar union Awami League 

President Badiar Rahman Mondol were also present at the occasion. 

Photo: M.R. Jinnah 

'Barshali Dhan' gains popularity 

among Gaibandha farmers 

GAIBANDHA: Farming of 

'Barshali Dhan', a variety of 

transplanted Aus paddy (T-Aus), 

has gained much popularity among 

farmers of the district in recent 

years for its desired output, reports 

BSS. 

Department of Agriculture 

Extension (DAE) sources said after 

harvesting Boro paddy the land 

remained totally useless and fallow 

for three months until the start of T- 

Aman paddy cultivation. 

If seedlings of Barshali Dhan are 

transplanted on the land just after 

harvesting the Boro paddy in the 

month of Baishakh, the farmers 

could harvest it at the end of Bahdra 

or in the first week of Srabon. 

In this way, a farmer could get 

three crops including T-Aman 

paddy, Boro paddy in a year easily 

and be economically benefited side 

by side with achieving food security 

for his family. 

The sources said like the previous 

years the farmers of the district were 

motivated to cultivate the T-Aus 

variety on their land this year. And 

accordingly the farmers cultivated 

the T-Aus variety on 4800 hectares 

in all the seven upazilas of the 

district during the current season. 

The sources said the variety 

includes BRRI Dhan 28, BRRI 

Dhan 42, BRRI Dhan 43, BRRI 

Dhan 48, BR 26, parija, and Qudrat. 

Abu Bakar Akanda, a farmer of 

Shantiram village under 

Sundarganj upazila, said he farmed 

the T-Aus variety on two bighas of 

land this year to get additional crop 

in the gap of the Boro and Aman 

season. 

Rashedul Islam, Sundarganj 

upazila agriculture officer, said if the 

weather is favorable, the farmers 

can get 14/15 maunds of paddy from 

a bigha of land with a nominal cost. 

Rashedul Islam also said the 

farming of T-Aus variety has gained 

much popularity among farmers of 

Sundarganj uapzila than other 

upazilas of the district as a total of 

2500 hectares of land of the upazila 

were brought under the farming this 

season. 

The seedlings of the T-Aus variety 

have grown well on the land and 

taken a greenish look which gives 

the growers expectation to get 

desired output against the crop. 

Deputy director (DD) of DAE 

AKM Ruhul Amin told BSS that the 

department set a target to farm the 

variety on 1682 hectares this year, 

but the target was exceeded with 

bringing more 3118 hectares under 

the farming. 

38, including 

drug traders 

held in Dinajpur 

DINAJPUR: Law 

enforcers, in special drives 

arrested 38 persons 

including 16 drug traders 

from different areas of the 

district in 12-hour ending at 

8am last morning, reports 

BSS. 

Law enforcers also seized 

118 bottles of Phensidyl 

during the drives. Police said 

they were picked up from 

different areas of the district 

on different charges. 

During the drives, 

Dinajpur Sadar police 

arrested 10 drug traders, 

Biral Thana police arrested 

two persons, Birampur 

Thana police arrested three 

drug traders, Kaharole 

Thana police arrested three 

persons, Chirirbandar 

Thana police arrested four 

persons, Birganj Thana 

police arrested four persons, 

Nawabganj Thana police 

arrested two persons, 

Phulbari Thana police 

arrested two persons, 

Parbatipur Thana police 

arrested two persons and 

Bochaganj Thana police 

arrested three persons. 

Mango trading gains momentum in 

Rajshahi, Chapainawabgonj 

RAJSHAHI: Mango trading has started 

gaining momentum in different markets of 

Rajshahi and Chapainawabgonj districts with 

appearing varieties of the seasonal fruit along 

with rushing buyers from across the country, 

reports BSS. 

The markets famous for mango business 

including Baneswar, Shaheb Bazar, 

Haragram, Upashahar, Shalbagan, Rajabari, 

Godagari, Kansat and Rohanpur have got an 

eye-catching look amidst bumper production. 

Many of the small-businessmen are seen 

selling mango on roadsides or vending at 

localities on rickshaw-vans. 

Montu Sarker, lease-holder of Baneswar 

Bazar, said farmers and traders have started 

harvesting mango after getting instruction 

from the district administration this year. 

That's why mangoes are appearing in the big 

market for the last 10 to 12 days as Gopalbhog 

and some other indigenous varieties have 

become ripen naturally. 

He said at least ten trucks mangoes are 

being transported to various markets across 

the country including the capital city Dhaka 

from here. Like the previous years, people 

from across the country are coming to 

Rajshahi and its outskirts especially 

Baneshawar Bazar to buy quality juicy 

mangoes. Forman Ali, a wholesale trader, 

said Gopalbhog mango is being sold at Taka 

1,000 to 1,700 per mound according to 

quality while the native varieties at Taka 600 

to 1,200. 

He also said around 2,500 mound mango is 

arriving here every day. Mango business will 

become peak after next seven to eight days 

when all the improved varieties will be 

harvested. Besides the market, hat and other 

growth centre ones, the mango-based trade 

and business has changed the rural economic 

scenario of the region as a whole. 

"We are selling 30 mounds of mangoes at 

Taka 2,000 per mound every day," said 

Emdadul Haque, a mango trader of Shaheb 

Bazar. The daily selling rate will hit to 80 to 

90 mounds when all the major varieties will 

come, he added. 

Centering the marketing of mango, also an 

important cash crop in the region, a large 

number of people are involved in various 

types of works. 

SM Mustafizur Rahman, Additional 

Director of Department of Agriculture 

Extension, said mango was cultivated on 

26,150 hectares of land with a production 

target of 2.44 lakh metric tons in 

Chapainawabgonj, 12,671 hectares with 

production target of 1.62 lakh metric tons 

in Naogaon, 56,021 metric tons 

production target from 4,823 hectares in 

Natore district. 

Salim Uddin Tarafdar, lawmaker of Naogaon-3 constituency (Mohadevpur-Badalgachi) inaugurated 

fire service and civil defense station as chief guest in Mohadevpur upazila on Saturday. Among others, 

Ahsanul Kabir, deputy director of Rajshahi division fire service and civil defense, AKM 

Morshed, deputy assistant director of Naogan fire service and civil defense, Golam Nurani Alal and 

senior vice president of upazila AL were also present at the occasion. Photo: Shakhawath Hossain 

Eid shopping gains momentum in Khulna 

KHULNA: With around two weeks 

left for the holy Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the 

biggest religions festivals of the 

Muslims, Khulna city has been caught 

by Eid shopping fever with modern 

and traditional shopping malls 

bustling with shoppers from all strata, 

reports BSS. 

All the city markets are seen busy 

selling their commodities to shoppers. 

Customers are thronging the 

shopping centres from morning till 

midnight. 

With a rise in the number of buyers, 

traffic jam in the city's busy market 

areas and intersections, especially 

from Picture Palace area to KDA New 

Market, has become acute. 

Khulna New market, Dukbanglow 

intersection Dukbanglow barobazar, 

Shahid Suhrawardi market, Jalil 

tower, safe and save meena Bazar, 

Daulatpur, and Khalishpur, market 

are crowded with people. 

The buyers, mostly middle income 

people, are found moving from shop 

to shop asking prices of goods. 

Roadside footpath shops and small 

shops of lower price market are found 

more crowded than the big shopping 

malls. 

Meanwhile, a large number of 

makeshift shops have sprung up on 

the pavements of the city on the 

occasion of Eid. Prices of different 

varieties of cloths, particularly cotton, 

tissue, silk and synthetic, have 

registered a sharp rise although the 

shops are almost full of a variety of 

garments. 

Most upper class buyers are 

crowding different big shopping 

centers, while the low-income group 

people are also seen purchasing their 

desired items from the footpath shops 

in the city. 

Supply of goods, including foreign 

brands, in the market is abundant. 

The goods vary from luxury to 

household items. Varieties of Indian 

sarees and three pieces also flooded 

the shopping centers, especially KDA 

New Market. 

Muhammad Hassan, owner of 

Hassan Cloth Store at Borobazar 

market, said our store is packed with 

Eid shoppers. I am pleased for selling 

well in the last few days. 

"Indian Saris and Salwar Kamij 

(Three Piece), which cost between Tk 

2500-7500 a piece, are sold 40-50 

pieces every day," said Md. Emdad 

Hossain, owner of 'Pabna Emporium' 

at KDA New Market.Varieties of 

Indian Saris, Lehanga and 

Bangladeshi jamdani, silk and bootik 

saris which cost Tk 2500-10,000 a 

piece are sold everyday, he said. 

Most shopkeepers are seemingly 

happy with their sale and the profit 

being earned from the purchaser, he 

added. 

Fresh Mind club of Kalapara upazila hosted an Iftar and Doa Mahfil at Muktijoddha Complex on 

Saturday. Professor Nurbahadur Talukder, president of Fresh Mind club chaired the event. 

Among others, Kalapara UP chairman Abdul Motaleb Talukder, officer in-charge of Kalapara 

police station Jahangir Hossain, DGM of Kalapara Palli Bidyut Samity MMA Sayed and AGM 

Ahsan Habib were also present at the occasion. 

Photo: Gautam Chandra Haldar

INTERNATIONAL 

SUNDAy, JUNE 3, 2018 

7 

Salvator Mundi' buyer named 

new Saudi Culture Minister 

Saudi Arabia's King Salman issued a number of royal 

decrees, including naming a young prince who is close to 

his son and heir as head of a newly established Culture 

Ministry early Saturday. 

The new Minister of Culture, Prince Bader bin Abdullah 

bin Farhan Al Saud, was identified last year by the 

New York Times as the mystery buyer of a $450 million 

Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus, the most expensive 

painting ever sold at auction. 

The Wall Street Journal reported the prince had acted 

as a proxy for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 

when he purchased the "Salvator Mundi" painting. The 

Saudi Embassy in Washington said Prince Bader purchased 

the painting on behalf of the Louvre Abu Dhabi 

museum in the neighboring United Arab Emirates. 

Prince Bader is a contemporary of the 32-year-old 

crown prince and the two attended King Saud University 

in Riyadh around the same time, according to the New 

York Times. In 2015, Prince Bader was appointed as 

chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, 

which publishes major Arabic newspapers and which 

had long been under the control of King Salman's branch 

of the family. 

In another decree early Saturday, the king relieved 

Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al Sheikh 

from his longtime post as head of the Islamic Affairs 

Ministry. He had served in the post for nearly 20 years 

until 2014, was replaced for three months and then reappointed 

in 2015. 

Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Sheikh, 

another member of the Al Sheikh family, was appointed 

to succeed him. 

He previously served as head of Saudi Arabia's morality 

policy, known as the Commission for Promotion of 

Virtue and Prevention of Vice. In an interview with the 

Saudi-run Arab News in 2012, he was quoted as saying 

he did not support hard-line views on gender mixing. He 

said it was permissible for unrelated men and women to 

interact under certain conditions so long as they are not 

in seclusion. He also supported a decision to allow 

women to work in lingerie and cosmetic stores, and supports 

a ban on the marriage of minors. 

The Al Sheikh family have a long and close history with 

the ruling Al Saud family. They are descendants of 

Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, whose ultraconservative 

teachings of Islam in the 18th century are widely 

referred to as "Wahhabism" in his name. 

Among other key changes, the king named Ahmed bin 

Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al-Rajhi as minister of labor. He 

is a well-known Saudi businessman whose billionaire 

father oversees Al Rajhi Bank and the Al Rajhi Banking 

and Investment Corporation. 

In other decrees, King Salman renamed several natural 

reserves after deceased Saudi clerics and royal family 

members from the first Saudi state of the early 19th century. 

He renamed three other reserves after his late 

father, King Abdulaziz, himself, and his son, the crown 

prince. 

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers a keynote address at the opening dinner of the 17th 

IISS Shangri-la Dialogue, an annual defense and security forum in Asia, held in Singapore, Friday, 

June 1. 

Photo: Internet 

India's Modi urges Indo-Pacific 

to fight protectionism 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

on Friday urged countries in the Indo- 

Pacific region to unite against protectionism 

and cross-border tensions, 

including those in international waters, 

for the prosperity of all. 

Speaking at an annual security conference 

in Singapore, Modi said the 

region faces an array of challenges. "We 

see growing mutual insecurity and rising 

military expenditure. Internal dislocations 

turning into external tensions, 

and new fault lines in trade and competition 

in the global commerce," he said. 

"I am increasingly convinced, with 

each passing day, that the destinies of 

those of us who live in the region are 

linked. Today, we are being called to 

rise above divisions and competition to 

work together." 

Modi was the keynote speaker the 

Shangri-La Dialogue, attended by U.S. 

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, 

defense officials and academics from 

43 countries. 

He said India was interested in 

strengthening its relationships with 

partners in the region and beyond, 

including China, Japan and Southeast 

Asia. 

Police fire on funeral 

of Kashmir man 

killed by soldiers 

Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir fired 

shotgun pellets and tear gas at hundreds of mourners 

Saturday during a funeral march for a man killed when 

he was run over by a paramilitary vehicle during a 

protest. 

The angry mourners were marching with the man's 

body to a graveyard in Srinagar on Saturday when police 

and soldiers used force to stop them. Police said the 

marchers were defying a government order that bans 

assembly of more than four people in the city. 

Residents said youths from the funeral regrouped in 

the winding streets of the city's downtown and threw 

stones at troops while chanting slogans in favor of rebels 

and demanding an end to Indian rule over disputed 

region. Fierce clashes broke out in several places in the 

city. 

Police later took the custody of the body and allowed 

only a handful of relatives to take the body for the burial 

the city's main martyr's graveyard where hundreds of 

rebels and civilians killed since the start of an anti-India 

armed rebellion are buried. 

The man was critically injured Friday and died 

overnight in a hospital after a paramilitary armored vehicle 

crushed at least two men during an anti-India 

protest. 

Armed police and paramilitary soldiers laid razor wire 

and steel barricades at roads and enforced a curfew in 

old parts of Srinagar to restrict participation in the 

funeral. Authorities cut mobile internet services in Srinagar, 

and reduced connection speeds in other parts of the 

Kashmir Valley, a common government practice to prevent 

anti-India demonstrations from being organized. 

Friday's incident was the second of its kind in recent 

weeks. Last month, a young man was killed when a when 

a police armored vehicle ran over him during clashes 

with government forces in Srinagar. 

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, a disputed 

Himalayan territory divided between nuclear-armed 

rivals India and Pakistan but claimed by both in its 

entirety. In recent years, the Indian-controlled portion 

has seen renewed rebel attacks and repeated public 

protests against Indian rule. 

Residents said the armored vehicle in Friday's incident 

drove wildly into a crowd of anti-India protesters, slamming 

into a half-dozen people and crushing at least two 

men beneath its wheels, injuring them critically. 

An Associated Press photographer captured the horror 

in a series of photographs of the other injured man, who 

doctors say is still in critical condition. 

Indian officials blamed the protesters and said the 

crowd was trying to drag the soldiers from their vehicle. 

Police, however, said the incident was a mistake by the 

nervous driver. 

"Our interests in the region are vast 

and our engagement is deep. We are 

also helping build economic capabilities 

and improve maritime security for 

our friends and partners," he shared. 

ASEAN accounts for over 20 percent 

of India's overseas investment. 

Earlier Friday, Modi met Singapore's 

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and 

called for an "open, fair and transparent" 

maritime agreement that would 

make international waters more secure 

amid increasingly tense territorial disputes 

in the South China Sea. 

China is pitted against smaller neighbors 

in multiple disputes over islands, 

coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial 

to global trade. Beijing has rejected 

accusations it's militarizing the area 

and has been working with the 10 

members of the Association of Southeast 

Asian Nations to reach a code of 

conduct to avoid frictions. 

Modi and Lee agreed to step up cooperation 

in naval defense, cybersecurity 

and fight against drug trafficking. They 

formed a working group to link their 

countries' payment systems and 

reviewed an economic agreement that 

has boosted bilateral trade from $9 billion 

in 2004 to over $18 billion. 

Lee welcomed India's strengthened 

relationship with Singapore and the 

region. 

"Singapore, as the current chair of 

ASEAN, will work with India to continue 

strengthening the regional architecture, 

and in particular to conclude the 

Regional Comprehensive Economic 

Partnership," he said, referring to a 

proposed free trade agreement 

between ASEAN and Australia, China, 

India, Japan, South Korea and New 

Zealand. 

The Shangri-La Dialogue will tackle 

issues including terrorism, Myanmar's 

refugee crisis and security on the Korean 

Peninsula. 

Mattis has also sharply criticized 

what he called Beijing's disregard for 

international law in the South China 

Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its 

entirety. 

The Pentagon cited evidence China 

has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air 

missile systems and electronic 

jammers to contested areas in 

the Spratly Islands, where China has 

built military installations on manmade 

islands. 

In this photo taken Friday, May 25, 2018, UNICEF staffer Jean Claude Nzengu, center, talks with 

members of an Ebola vaccination team as they prepare to administer the vaccine in an Ebola-affected 

community in the north-western city of Mbandaka, in Congo. 

Photo: Internet 

Nearly 700 get Ebola vaccine 

in Congo; more cases possible 

More than 680 people have received 

Ebola vaccinations in the three 

health zones where dozens of cases 

of the deadly virus have been confirmed, 

Congo's health ministry said. 

Health experts are pushing to find 

contacts of those infected, having 

already located more than 1,000. 

Nearly 500 people have been vaccinated 

in Mbandaka, the 1.2 million-population 

provincial capital of 

northwest Equateur province, since 

May 21, the health ministry said late 

Thursday. More than 110 have been 

vaccinated in rural Bikoro, where the 

outbreak began, and 70 in the even 

more remote Iboko. 

There have been 37 confirmed 

Ebola cases, including 12 deaths. 

There are another 13 probable cases, 

according to the health ministry. 

In an Ebola plan released this week 

Socialist Pedro 

Sanchez sworn 

in as Spain’s 

prime minister 

Pedro Sanchez was sworn in 

as Spain's prime minister Sunday, 

a day after the Socialist 

leader successfully ousted 

predecessor Mariano Rajoy 

who lost a no-confidence vote 

in parliament. 

Rajoy was in attendance at 

the ceremony held in the royal 

Zarzuela Palace and shook 

Sanchez's hand after the new 

leader was sworn in by King 

Felipe VI before they posed for 

a photo with the monarch 

along with the speakers of the 

lower Congress of Deputies 

and the Senate. 

Sanchez toppled Rajoy following 

a court ruling in a 

major corruption case involving 

the conservative leader's 

Popular Party. Parliament voted 

180-169 Friday to replace 

Rajoy's government with one 

led by Sanchez. One lawmaker 

abstained. 

Spain is the eurozone's No. 4 

economy and an influential 

member of the European 

Union. Sanchez and his party 

are staunch supporters of the 

EU and the shared currency. 

Sanchez has vowed to fight 

corruption and help those 

Spaniards affected by years of 

public spending cuts under 

Rajoy's government. He also 

pledged to hold an election 

soon, while not setting a date. 

Sanchez will lead a minority 

government and will need the 

support of both the far-left 

Podemos (We Can) party and 

the backing of a motley crew of 

regional parties and Catalan 

secessionists to get anything 

done in government. 

Sanchez has pledged to open 

talks with the separatist leader 

of northeastern Catalonia, 

which is set to recover the 

large degree of self-rule after 

chief Quim Torra swears in his 

Cabinet later on Saturday. 

The forming of a Catalan 

government will automatically 

end the extraordinary 

takeover by Spain's central 

powers of the region as part of 

its crackdown following a 

failed declaration of independence 

by Catalonia in October. 

The 46-year-old Sanchez is 

Spain's seventh prime minister 

since the return to democracy 

following the death of dictator 

Gen. Francisco Franco in 

1975. 

by the World Health Organization, 

the U.N. health agency predicted 

there could be up to 300 cases in the 

coming months, noting there could 

be three times as many contacts to 

chase if the virus spreads in urban, 

as opposed to rural, areas. 

Although WHO said "more than 

half" of newly confirmed Ebola 

cases had been previously identified, 

a substantial portion of cases 

are showing up that were not being 

monitored, meaning the disease is 

in some cases spreading unnoticed. 

WHO also said officials would likely 

need more triage, isolation and 

treatment centers, possibly including 

one in the capital, Kinshasa. It 

said additional aircraft, helicopters 

and boats were needed to manage 

the challenging logistics of the outbreak 

and that it might ultimately 

cost $56 million to contain Ebola. 

The U.N. health agency said that 

based on an initial assessment of 

Bikoro, "there is an approximate 

movement of over 1,000 people per 

day by river, road and air at major 

points of entry." It recommended 

that neighboring countries strengthen 

their capacity to identify imported 

cases of Ebola, including by 

implementing exit screening. 

WHO said the risk of spread to 

elsewhere in Africa was high but that 

the risk of global transmission was 

low. It added that even though 

experts had concluded the outbreak 

conditions do not currently merit 

being declared a global emergency, 

the situation would be reevaluated if 

the epidemic spikes significantly or 

if there is international spread. 

Trump, NKorea’s Kim 

back on for summit 

After a week of hard-nosed negotiation, 

diplomatic gamesmanship and no shortage 

of theatrics, President Donald Trump 

has announced that the historic nuclearweapons 

summit he had canceled with 

North Korea's Kim Jong Un is back on. 

The June 12 meeting in Singapore, the 

first between heads of the technically stillwarring 

nations, is meant to begin the 

process of ending North Korea's nuclear 

program, and Trump said he believes Kim 

is committed to that goal. The announcement 

puts back on track a high-risk summit 

that could be a legacy-defining 

moment for the American leader, who has 

matched his unconventional deal-making 

style with the mercurial Kim government. 

Despite recently envisioning Nobel laurels, 

Trump worked on Friday to lower 

expectations for a quick breakthrough. 

"We're going to deal, and we're going to 

really start a process," Trump said. He 

spoke from the South Lawn of the White 

House after seeing off a senior Kim deputy 

who spent more than an hour with him in 

the Oval Office. Much had been made of a 

letter his visitor was bringing from the 

North Korean leader, but Trump's comments 

left it unclear when he had even 

managed to take a look at it. 

The president said it was likely that more 

than a single meeting would be necessary 

to bring about his goal of denuclearizing 

the Korean Peninsula. He said, "I think 

you're going to have a very positive result in 

the end, not from one meeting." 

In the latest sign of hostility cooling 

down but hopes kept in check, Trump said 

he had unilaterally put a hold on hundreds 

of new sanctions against the North, without 

Kim's government even asking. "I'm 

not going to put them on until such time as 

the talks break down," he said. 

"I don't even want to use the term 'maximum 

pressure' anymore," Trump added, 

referencing his preferred term for the punishing 

U.S. economic sanctions imposed 

on North Korea in response to its nuclear 

and ballistic missile tests. But he said he 

would not remove current sanctions until 

the North took steps to denuclearize. 

Trump warmly greeted Kim Yong Chol, 

the vice chairman of the North Korean ruling 

party's central committee, in the Oval 

Office, where a brief encounter meant for 

the hand delivery of a personal letter from 

Kim Jong Un became a longer discussion 

of areas of disagreement between the two 

countries. 

After the meeting, Trump posed for photos 

with Kim Yong Chol outside the Oval 

Office, and they talked amiably at Kim's 

black SUV before he was driven away. 

Trump told reporters he hadn't yet read 

the letter from the North Korean leader 

and added with a smile, "I may be in for a 

big surprise, folks." But minutes earlier, he 

had described the note as "a very interesting 

letter," and teased journalists about 

revealing its contents. 

Later Friday, deputy White House press 

secretary Hogan Gidley confirmed that 

Trump had read the letter, but he did not 

reveal its contents. 

Plans for the meeting in Singapore had 

been cast into doubt after Trump suddenly 

announced his withdrawal last week, only 

to announce a day later that it could still get 

back on track. White House officials cast 

the roller-coaster public statements as 

reflective of efforts by each leader to test 

the resolve of the other. 

Trump cited increasingly bellicose statements 

from the North - and ignored messages 

about summit logistics - when he 

announced he was backing out of the summit 

in a strongly worded letter. He cited 

"tremendous anger and open hostility" by 

Pyongyang but also urged Kim Jong Un to 

call him. By the next day, he was signaling 

the event could be back on after a conciliatory 

response from North Korea. 

Within days, three teams of officials in 

the U.S., Singapore and the Korean demilitarized 

zone began meeting on preparations 

for the summit. 

Trump has declined to publicly acknowledge 

whether he's spoken directly with 

Kim Jong Un ahead of the talks. 

Kim Yong Chol, whisked to the Oval 

Office by White House chief of staff John 

Kelly, is the most senior North Korean to 

visit in 18 years, a symbolic sign of easing 

tensions after fears of war escalated amid 

North Korean nuclear and missile tests last 

year. 

Questions remain about what a deal on 

the North's nuclear weapons would look 

like. Trump said Friday he believed Kim 

Jong Un would agree to denuclearization, 

but the two countries have offered differing 

visions of what that entails. Despite Kim's 

apparent eagerness for a summit with 

Trump, there are many doubts that he 

would fully relinquish his nuclear arsenal, 

which he may see as his guarantee of survival. 

U.S. defense and intelligence officials 

have repeatedly assessed the North to be 

on the threshold the capability to strike 

anywhere in the continental U.S. with a 

nuclear-tipped missile - a capacity that 

Trump and other U.S. officials have said 

they would not tolerate. 

Defense ministers from Japan and South 

Korea offered very different views of the 

North Korean leader at an international 

security conference in Singapore. Japan's 

defense chief urged caution in dealing with 

North Korea, while his South Korean counterpart 

said there was no reason to question 

the North Korean leader's sincerity. 

Trump has promised that he will provide 

"protections" for Kim and his government 

in return for giving up the nuclear program. 

He also indicated that South Korea.

ART & CULTURE 

sUNDAy, 

JUNe 3, 2018 

8 

salman Khan poses with Dharmendra, 

Bobby Deol and adds race 3 zinger 

Bollywood actor Salman 

Khan, who is gearing up for 

his Eid release, posed with 

veteran actor Dharmendra 

and his son and co-stor Bobby 

Deol, as he hilariously added a 

Race 3 meme zinger to the 

photograph. 

"Our Dharmji is our Dharmji! 

Chalo in this special case your 

Dharamji, too," Salman on 

Friday tweeted the 

photograph with the 

yesteryear star. His caption is 

inspired by actor Daisy Shah's 

line "Our business is our 

business..." from the film. 

The Race 3 trailer, which 

came out on May 15, was 

heavily trolled with many 

memes being made on it and 

its dialogues. 

The third instalment of the 

action blockbuster Race 

franchise, also stars 

Jacqueline Fernandez, Anil 

Kapoor, Saqib Saleem and 

Freddy Daruwala. 

Race 3 also features Saqib 

Saleem, Daisy, Anil and Bobby 

in lead roles. 

The previous two films were 

directed by Abbas Mastan and 

featured Saif Ali Khan, Anil 

Kapoor and Bipasha Basu. 

Anil Kapoor has featured in all 

Race films. 

Trailer of 

Vikram starrer 

saamy square 

to be out 

on June 3 

Priyanka chopra, Nick Jonas 

were spotted at a dinner date 

Priyanka Chopra, who is rumoured to be 

dating American singer Nick Jonas, was 

spotted on a dinner date with him. The 

duo dined at the Toca Madera in West 

Hollywood on Thursday, an onlooker told 

People magazine. 

"They were very affectionate with each 

other and seemed to not care who saw. 

Priyanka ran her hands through his hair at 

one point and they were laughing and even 

dancing to the music," the source said. 

The stars shared guacamole, ceviche, 

and tacos at the restaurant and "seemed 

really into each other," added the source. 

The Quantico star became friends with 

Jonas last year. However, the rumours of 

them being a couple started floating after 

they were spotted enjoying Beauty and 

the Beast Live in Concert at the 

Hollywood Bowl last week before 

spending the rest of Memorial Day 

Weekend together. 

H o roscoPe 

ArIes 

(March 21 - April 20): 

Natives of Aries are often 

confident and energetic 

people, who should consider 

setting up arrangements for larger family 

gatherings like reunions. Natives of this 

sign are often driving forces in the 

professional and political areas. 

TAUrUs 

(April 21 - May 21): The 

obstacles you face at the 

moment may be daunting 

but you have what it takes 

to overcome them. Don't try to avoid 

what fate sends your way over the next 

few days - it is designed to strengthen 

you, not destroy you. 

GeMINI 

(May 22 - June 21): There 

may be times when you 

would like nothing better 

than to cut yourself off 

from the world at large but that simply 

isn't possible. Make the best job of 

what you are expected to do and try to 

steal a few hours for yourself later on. 

LIBrA 

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): At 

some stage over the next 

few days you will see or 

hear something that makes 

you view the world in a new light. A 

change of perspective will lead to new 

ways of thinking, ways that answer all 

the questions you have been asking. 

scorPIo 

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): Find 

out why a partner or loved 

one is behaving so 

erratically, then do what 

you can to assist them. Most likely 

their problems are nowhere near as big 

as they think they are and can quite 

easily be corrected - as can your own! 

sAGITTArIUs 

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Yours is 

a sign of boundless selfconfidence 

and that's good 

because you will need it 

over the next few days. If you are not 

happy in your current environment 

don't be afraid to pack a bag and take 

off for a few days. 

The trailer of Saamy Square, the 

sequel of the hit 2003 film Saamy, will 

be unveiled on Sunday. 

Tweeting the news on Saturday, 

Thameens Films wrote: #Saamy 

Square Trailer from tomorrow 11 AM. 

Directed by Hari, the film stars 

Chiyaan Vikram and Keerthy Suresh 

in the lead roles. 

Vikram will return as the hotheaded, 

foul-mouthed and uptight cop 

Aarusaamy in the sequel. 

In May this year, the first look 

motion poster of the film was released. 

From it, one could sense that the story 

starts in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu and 

ends in New Delhi. 

The motion poster features Vikram 

seated on what appears to be a 

milestone. On one side, it is written 

Tirunelveli and as the camera pans, we 

can read New Delhi written on the 

other side. 

When the film was first announced, 

Trisha who starred in the first film as 

well, was expected to work in it. 

However, the actor walked out of the 

project, citing 'creative differences'. 

Tweeting about her decision, Trisha 

wrote in October last year, "Due to 

creative differences, I have chosen to 

opt out of Saamy 2. Wishing the team 

goodluck." 

According to reliable sources from 

the film's unit, it will be shot across 

places such as Delhi, Noida, Agra, 

Jaipur, Nainital and Kathmandu 

among other places. 

shikha Talsania: I did not 

look at Veere Di Wedding 

as a female-oriented film 

Actor Shikha Talsania says if people offer 

her a role similar to the one that she played 

in Veere Di Wedding, she wouldn’t mind 

and would bring some variation. 

Asked what if she gets more roles similar 

to her character Meera, Shikha told IANS: “I 

won’t mind doing a similar role. I will bring 

variation to that. I know that after the 

release of Veere Di Wedding, people might 

just offer me more roles like Meera. I have 

no problem with that. Give them all to me, I 

will do some variation or the other to that 

through my performance.” 

Having started her career in Bollywood 

with the 2009 hit film Wake Up Sid, the 

actress worked with director Deepa Mehta 

in Midnight’s Children and Madhur 

Bhandarkar in Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji but it 

seems like she finally got visibility with 

Veere Di Wedding. 

“After Wake Up Sid, I acted in many 

digital films apart from feature films. In 

some, my part got edited out. I was offered 

some films that were never made. I was also 

doing theatre, so a lot of things were going 

on,” she said. 

In Veere Di Wedding, she plays a woman 

who goes through a troublesome marriage. 

The film revolves around four female 

protagonists and is also produced by 

women. Is that the reason she found the film 

special? “When I was offered the role in the 

film, I did not look at the film as a femaleoriented 

film. I see no gender in a story 

because for an actor like me, a good 

character and a good story are the deciding 

factors for a film. In Veere Di Wedding, I 

think each character is very relatable and 

that is what I liked about the film. I think we 

all have met these girls in our daily lives. I 

know people like Meera,” Shikha said. 

This is the first time that she got a chance 

to see herself on the posters of a film. That’s 

“surreal” for her. “You know when you grow 

up in the industry and wish to become an 

actress, you have that on your bucket 

list…that ‘one day I will see myself on a film’s 

poster’. Now that it is happening, I am 

happy! It is a surreal feeling.” 

She is the daughter of renowned actor 

Tiku Talsania. Asked if acting was one of her 

natural career options, Shikha said: “As a 

kid, I was not sure if I wanted to be an actor 

but from the time I realized that this is my 

true calling, I really worked hard to be where 

I am today. 

cANcer 

(June 22 - July 23): Some 

things are important and 

some things are not and if 

you don't yet know the 

difference then it's time you found out. 

This should be a productive time for 

you but you need to learn how to say 

"no" when people ask you for favours. 

Leo 

(July 24 - Aug. 23): If you 

are not yet getting the 

rewards and the respect you 

deserve don't worry, in a 

matter of days your name will be on 

everybody's lips. The sun in Aries makes 

you both creative and adventurous, so 

do something out of the ordinary. 

VIrGo 

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): You may 

be tempted to go on a 

journey today but the planets 

warn it could lead you in 

some unforeseen directions, so make 

sure you take a map and don't promise 

to be at a certain place at a specific time 

- because you won't make it. 

cAPrIcorN 

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): You seem 

to lack purpose at the 

moment but that will change 

if you look for ways to express 

yourself. Whatever challenges come your 

way, and there will be plenty, see them as 

opportunities to be embraced rather than 

as threats to be avoided. 

AQUArIUs 

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19): Stay calm 

and keep setbacks in 

perspective. If you can learn 

to take yourself a bit less 

seriously over the coming week then your 

problems, such as they are, will fade into 

insignificance. Rest assured your successes 

will always outnumber your failures. 

PIsces 

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20): It does 

not matter if other people 

approve of what you are 

doing, it matters only that 

it means something to you. The very 

last thing you should be doing now is 

asking friends and family for their 

opinions - it's your views that count. 

Brian De Palma: Hollywood director 

writing Weinstein 'horror film' 

Hollywood director Brian De Palma 

says he is writing a "horror film" 

script based on the Harvey 

Weinstein scandal. 

De Palma, who directed the horror 

movie Carrie and the crime film 

Scarface in the 1970s and 80s, is 

"following it very closely", he told 

AFP news agency. 

Mr Weinstein has been indicted 

on charges of rape and other counts 

of sexual abuse after handing 

himself in to New York police last 

week. His lawyer has said he denies 

the charges against him. 

"I know a lot of the people 

involved," De Palma, 77, said in an 

interview with AFP in Paris, adding: 

"I've heard stories over the years." 

He said that directors have to "get 

actors' confidence and their love" 

and that "to violate it on any level is 

just to me the worst thing you can 

do, just because of your gluttony or 

your lust". 

Hollywood has been rocked by 

allegations against Mr Weinstein, 

with a large number of women 

coming forward to say they were 

sexually harassed or assaulted by 

the film mogul. 

Last week, Mr Weinstein was 

arrested and charged with rape, a 

criminal sex act, sex abuse, and 

sexual misconduct. The charges 

relate to incidents involving two 

women: one identified by her lawyer 

as the former actress Lucia Evans; 

the other unnamed. 

These are the first criminal 

charges to be brought against Mr 

Weinstein, who denies nonconsensual 

sex and is expected to 

plead not guilty.

SPORTS 


9 

Bangladesh take on Afghanistan today in the first T20I of the three-match series. 

Photo: BCB 

Tigers to face Afghanistan 

in 1st T20 today 

Sports Desk: 

It will be an acid test for Bangladesh as they face Afghanistan 

in the first T20I of the three-match series scheduled to be 

held today at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in 

Dehradun, India, reports BSS. 

The match kicks off at 8.30 pm (BST). 

Following a massive eight-wicket defeat in the practice 

match it has now become a challenge for Shakib and Co. to 

prove their worth against the Afghan bowling attacks led by 

star spinner Rashid Khan. 

Though eighth-placed Afghanistan are ahead of 

Bangladesh in the rankings, there is not much separating the 

two teams. They have faced each other in the shortest format 

only once and that was back in the 2014 World T20 where 

Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by nine wickets. 

The Tigers for the first time playing the bilateral series 

against Afghanistan from behind in ranking. Though Tigers 

skipper Shakib Al Hasan prior to his departure expressed his 

high hope on winning the series by saying: "We'll go match 

by match. The first match is always important as it helps to 

Sports Desk : 

Michael Vaughan has defended 

criticism he leveled at Stuart Broad and 

other members of England's side after 

the fast bowler returned fire after day 

one of the second Test at Headingley, 

reports Cricbuzz. 

Broad, who took three wickets and was 

England's best bowler as Pakistan were 

bowled out for 174, said Vaughan's calls 

for him to be dropped in the lead up to 

the match were a "shot in the dark" and 

that he "doesn't know what the changing 

room is like". Broad also revealed that he 

called Vaughan during the week to 

convey his disappointment at the 

comments and said he thought the 

criticism was unjust. 

Speaking on BBC Test Match Special 

on Saturday morning, Vaughan, who 

was Broad's first England captain, stuck 

by his comments which have come under 

fire, especially on social media. "We 

lambast sports people who come out 

with cliches, so it is good that Stuart has 

got it off his chest," said Vaughan. "A 

private conversation is a private 

conversation and it will stay between me 

and Stuart. The reason why I said they 

should consider it [dropping Broad] is 

that I felt the England Test team needed 

to ruffle a feather or two. It has been very 

comfortable for a long period of time and 

one of the options might have been to 

break up the senior bowling pair. 

"I think the cricket fan out there wants 

to see England win. I do. I want to see 

England play really good cricket and the 

reason I get frustrated is because of the 

amount of talent in that team. If you look 

at the names, the ability and the skill 

levels England have, and the 

performance levels just have not been to 

the standards we expect. We don't want 

to criticize but we want to give them a 

prod every now and again." 

England dominated the first day in 

Leeds and begin day two just 68 runs 

behind Pakistan with eight wickets in 

hand. Broad's comments to the written 

press were almost identical to those he 

gave to radio and TV, suggesting a degree 

of planning. Vaughan commented that 

Broad's comments might be a tad 

premature. "You've got to be careful 

when you choose the time to come out 

and attack which Stuart did last night," 

Vaughan added. 

"They haven't won the Test match yet. 

So the comments last night were geared 

as if they've won the game. He's a senior 

member of the team and I just don't 

think it was the right time to plan that 

attack. He should have played a straight 

bat to the questions. He probably went 

on one because it's been building up. 

"I got the sense it was, 'You can't 

criticize me. I'm Stuart Broad and I've 

been in the team for a long time.' You 

have to be careful in sport that comments 

can come back to bite you, but, on the 

other hand, it is entertaining. And that is 

what we want in sport." England's 

intensity certainly appeared raised after a 

lackluster effort at Lord's though 

Vaughan questioned why a similar 

intensity was missing in the first Test. "If 

the conversations over the last few days 

gather the momentum by staying that if we able to win the 

opening game then the next two games become much more 

easier." 

Bangladesh, who reached Dehradun four days ago, have 

been slowly getting into the groove. The Tigers must miss the 

services of their main pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who had to 

pull-out last minute due to his left foot toe injury problem he 

suffered in the IPL. The team from the war-torn nation has 

come a long way since that tournament and is now capable of 

surprising even the top teams in the shorter formats. 

The ground is in the outskirts of the city but the prospect of 

a first-ever international game in the state has created a buzz. 

A decent crowd is expected to turn up at the 25,000 capacity 

stadium for the series opener to be played under lights. 

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mahmudullah (vicecaptain), 

Tamim Iqbal Khan, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Kumar 

Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Musaddek Hossain 

Saikat, Ariful Haque, Abul Hasan Raju, Mehidy Hassan 

Miraz, Nazmul Islam Apu, Abu Hider Rony, Rubel Hossain 

and Abu Jayed Chowdhury Rahi. 

Vaughan defends incendiary 

comments after Broad returns fire 

have geed them up to go out there and 

prove us wrong, great," Vaughan added. 

"It wasn't just me who criticized them. 

Many have and they deserved it. 

"I just look at performances and over 

the last year, they have lost eight Tests in 

15. They played very poorly in the Ashes, 

lost in New Zealand, lost to a young West 

Indies side at Headingley last year. It 

wasn't just Lord's, it happened last 

summer too when they were bowled out 

twice in 91 overs [sic] at Trent Bridge and 

then responded brilliantly by playing 

really good Test match cricket in the next 

game at The Oval, and then again at Old 

Trafford. 

"I want to know why the England team 

generally - and it's been this way for a 

number of years and I guess it was in my 

time as well - why is it in English sport 

that we have to criticize and get to that 

low point where the team come out and 

say we're going to prove you all wrong. 

England were a different team yesterday. 

You could see that in the warm-ups, you 

could see that in the interviews. Why 

does it need a week of criticisms to get 

that response? 

"I keep hearing from people within this 

England camp that this team is in 

transition? How can it be in transition 

when you've got three of our greatest in 

the team. 

And then you add to [Alastair] Cook, 

[James] Anderson, [Stuart] Broad-Joe 

Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos 

Buttler; fantastic cricketers. How can 

they be in transition? Transition will 

come when the senior three disappear. 

"The reason I get frustrated is because of the amount of talent in that team," justifies Michael 

Vaughan. 

Photo: AP 

Abahani, 

Mariner 

post win in 

premier 

hockey 

Sports Desk: 

Abahani Limited and 

Dhaka Mariners Youngs 

Club won in the Green 

Delta Insurance Premier 

Division Hockey League 

beating their respective 

rivals in the super five 

matches held on Saturday 

at Moulana Bhasani 

National Hockey Stadium, 

reports BSS. 

In the day's first match, 

Abahani Limited dumped 

Ajax Sporting Club by 7-2 

goals. 

IN the day's match, 

Tajuddin Ahmed and 

Roman Sarkar scored a 

brace each while Ashraful 

Islam and Mohammad 

Mohsin netted one goal 

apiece for the traditional 

sky blue Dhanmondi 

'outfit'. 

Indian 

recruit 

Harmandeep and Rajhat 

Sarowar netted one goal 

each for Ajax SC. 

In the day's second 

match, Mariners defeated 

Sonali Bank Sporting Club 

by 6-1 goals. 

In the day's match, Hasan 

Jubayer Niloy scored three 

goals while M Julhaire, 

Farhad Ahmed Situl and 

Ashraf Sayeed netted one 

goal each for Mariners. 

Dwin Islam Emon pulled 

one back for for Sonali 

Bank. 

Bangladesh 

women to 

face Sri 

Lanka today 

Sports Desk: 

The Bangladesh national 

women's cricket team will 

star their ACC Women's 

T20 Asia Cup tournament 

as they face Sri Lanka in one 

of the opening day's 

matches scheduled to be 

held today at Royal Selangor 

Club, Kuala Lumpur, 

reports BSS. 

The match will kick off at 

7.30 am (BST). 

The eve cricket team will 

be playing their next match 

against Pakistan on June 4 

at the Kinrara Oval before 

facing India at the same 

venue on June 6. The 

women's team will face 

Thailand on June 7 before 

clashing against the home 

side, Malaysia on June 9 at 

the Kinrara Oval. 

The top two teams will 

progress to the final 

scheduled to be played at 

the Kinrara Oval on June 

10. 

Prior to the departure on 

Friday, team skipper Salma 

Khatun expressed her hope 

of reaching the final of the 

six-team regional 

tournament. 

She said if they can play 

their best cricket then it 

would be possible for them 

to play the final of the 

tournament. 

The seventh edition of the 

ACC Women's Asia Cup, 

organized by the Asian 

Cricket Council will be the 

third edition played as a 20- 

over tournament. 

The top two teams will 

progress to the final 

scheduled to be played at the 

Kinrara Oval on June 10. 

Prior to the departure on 

Friday, team skipper Salma 

Khatun expressed her hope 

of reaching the final of the 

six-team regional 

tournament. 

The six-nation tournament 

will be contested among 

Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, 

Pakistan, Sri Lanka and 

Thailand. 

Squad: Salma Khatun 

(captain) Nahida Akter, 

Rumana Ahmed, Panna 

Ghosh, Nigar Sultana, Ilily 

Rani Biswas, Fargana 

Haque, Sanjida Islam, 

Khadaija Tul Kubra, 

Sharmin Sultana, Fahima 

Khatun, Jahanara Alam, 

Ayesha Rahman, Shamima 

Sultana and Jannatul 

Ferdous Sumona. 

France shows attacking 

potential with 3-1 win 

against Italy 

Sports Desk: 

France showed glimpses of its attacking 

potential with a 3-1 home win against Italy in 

a World Cup warmup match on Friday, 

reports BSS. 

Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane 

Dembele scored, while Kylian Mbappe was 

involved in center half Samuel Umtiti's 

opening goal. 

Center half Leonardo Bonucci briefly gave 

Italy hope when he made it 2-1 after 36 

minutes. France could have scored more 

with midfielder N'Golo Kante hitting the 

post and Florian Thauvin seeing his late 

volley brilliantly saved. 

"It really could have been a heavier defeat," 

France coach Didier Deschamps said. "We 

have the ability to play fast and create 

chances. If we could finish better then we'd 

feel more comfortable during games." 

Umtiti tapped home from close range after 

eight minutes at the Allianz Riviera stadium 

in the southern city of Nice, scoring when 

Mbappe's volley from right back Benjamin 

Pavard's cross hit goalkeeper Salvatore 

Sirigu's leg and fell kindly to him. 

France's 22-year-old fullbacks both 

impressed, but especially left back Lucas 

Hernandez with his surging runs. 

In the 29th minute, he ignored 

Griezmann's call to pass and carried on 

sprinting into the penalty area, where he was 

upended. 

Griezmann was probably glad Hernandez 

didn't listen. 

From the resulting penalty, Griezmann 

coolly slotted home from a short run-up to 

bag his 20th international goal. The penalty 

was confirmed after the Video Assistant 

Referee was consulted. 

VAR was used again moments later, but 

this time Italy striker Mario Balotelli was not 

awarded a penalty after being fouled. 

However, Balotelli struck the ensuing free 

kick hard and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris 

fumbled the ball straight into the path of 

Bonucci. 

Balotelli, recently recalled by new coach 

Roberto Mancini after a four-year absence, 

looked sharp and went close straight after 

halftime when Lloris kicked away his low 

shot. 

In a classy gesture, sections of the home 

crowd chanted 'Super Mario' - the song Nice 

fans have reserved for Balotelli in the past 

two seasons. 

He scored 33 goals in 51 league games for 

Nice, but his contract is up and he is expected 

to leave. France was most dangerous using 

the searing pace of its forwards on the break. 

Dembele went close after cutting inside 

two defenders and curling a shot against the 

crossbar. Midway through the second half, 

the Barcelona winger netted with a superb 

curling effort from the edge of the penalty 

area. 

France hosts the United States next 

weekend before flying to Russia, where it 

opens its World Cup campaign against 

Australia on June 16. 

Les Bleus take on Peru five days later and 

Denmark on June 26. 

France's Ousmane Dembele (right) celebrates after scoring his side's 3rd 

goal with Paul Pogba during a friendly soccer match against Italy at the 

Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice on Friday. 

Photo: AP 

Sharapova makes 

Chatrier return, 

Nadal faces Gasquet 

Sports Desk: 

Maria Sharapova will return to the 

showpiece Court Philippe Chatrier for the 

first time in three years against fellow 

former world number one Karolina Pliskova 

at Roland Garros on Saturday, while Rafael 

Nadal defends his 15-0 record over Richard 

Gasquet, reports BSS. 

Here are three matches to watch on day 

seven of the French Open: 

Maria Sharapova (RUS x28) v Karolina 

Pliskova (CZE x6) 

Two-time champion Sharapova will play 

her first match on the famous Philippe 

Chatrier court since 2015 when she faces 

sixth seed Pliskova for a place in the last 16. 

"It's been a few years since I have been 

back on the court; so if I do have a chance to 

play on it I will welcome it with open arms," 

she said after her second-round win over 

Donna Vekic. 

Czech Pliskova made the semi-finals here 

last year, and may fancy her chances against 

Sharapova, who had to fight hard to get past 

Richel Hogenkamp and Vekic in her first 

two matches. 

Sharapova has only played Pliskova once 

before, winning in the 2015 Fed Cup final in 

straight sets, although the Czech Republic 

went on to lift the trophy. 

A victory for the Russian would keep alive 

hopes of a mouthwatering 22nd career 

meeting with 23-time Grand Slam 

champion Serena Williams in the fourth 

round. 

Rafael Nadal (ESP x1) v Richard Gasquet 

(FRA x27) 

Nadal will continue his bid for an 11th 

French Open crown against old junior rival 

and home darling Richard Gasquet, whom 

he has beaten 15 times from as many 

meetings. 

The 16-time Grand Slam champion and 

Frenchman Gasquet were both highlyregarded 

as youngsters, but Nadal has 

utterly dominated their rivalry and hasn't 

even dropped a set to his fellow 31-year-old 

since 2008. 

The match is a repeat of Nadal's straightsets 

victory at the same third-round stage 

the last time they met in Paris back in 2005. 

"When I left the match, I was with my 

father at the time, I said, 'he's going to win 

and he might win a lot of Grand Slams 

behind that, because he was incredible'," 

remembered Gasquet. 

"I didn't think he would win (Roland 

Garros) 10 times, but I knew he would win 

five or six." 

Serena Williams (USA) v Julia Goerges 

(GER x11) 

Williams continues her Grand Slam 

return with her toughest assignment so far 

against 11th-seeded German Julia Goerges 

on Court Suzanne Lenglen. 

The three-time winner was facing an early 

exit in her first Slam since the 2017 

Australian Open when she trailed Ashleigh 

Barty by a set and a break, but dragged 

herself back into form in trademark fashion 

to progress. 

Goerges reached the last 16 at Roland 

Garros in 2015, but Serena should have 

plenty of added motivation knowing that 

victory could give her the chance to notch an 

incredible 19th consecutive win over longtime 

rival and five-time Grand Slam 

champion Sharapova. Sharapova has only 

played Pliskova once before, winning in the 

2015 Fed Cup final in straight sets, although 

the Czech Republic went on to lift the 

trophy. 

A victory for the Russian would keep alive 

hopes of a mouthwatering 22nd career 

meeting with 23-time Grand Slam champion 

Serena Williams in the fourth round. 

She has beaten Goerges both times they 

have faced off, including 6-1, 6-1 in the 2010 

French Open second round. 

"I think the name Williams carries a lot of 

weight at Grand Slams," Goerges told SID, an 

AFP subsidiary. 

"But still, you should separate from the 

name a bit, I want to play my game the normal 

way. I'm proud to have progressed this far."

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 

BANGLADESHTODAY 10 

THE 


Recently Handi Restaurant who has a huge reputation for their great food taste in the food industry 

of Bangladesh has opened grand opening, at Purana Paltan. During the grand opening, there was 

Present honorable Minister Asadujjaman Noor M.P.(Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Bangladesh 

Government) the respected owners of Handi Restaurant Imtiaz Uddin Nawshad, Md. Mamunur 

Rashid, Mohiuddin Al Riad Bappi, Abu Sayeed Chowdhury and many known personals of media 

world. 

Photo: Courtesy 

US Commerce Secretary 

in China for talks to 

avoid trade war 

US Commerce Secretary 

Wilbur Ross arrived in 

Beijing Saturday for talks 

aiming to ease tensions 

over tariffs that have 

heightened fears of a trade 

war between the world's 

two biggest economies, 

Chinese state media said. 

Despite announcing a 

truce earlier this month, 

the United States is 

working to finalise planned 

sanctions on Beijing - 

including restrictions on 

Chinese investment, export 

controls and 25 percent 

tariffs on $50 billion in 

Chinese tech goods. 

China has threatened to 

hit back with tit-for-tat 

tariffs on tens of billions of 

dollars in US goods. 

Ross will stay in the 

Chinese capital until 

Sunday, a US government 

official told AFP. 

His visit comes as fears of 

an all-out global trade war 

intensified after the 

European Union, Canada 

and Mexico drew up 

retaliatory measures to 

Washington's stinging steel 

and aluminium tariffs that 

China will cut mostfavored-nation 

(MFN) 

tariffs for 1,449 taxable 

items of daily consumer 

goods starting July 1, from 

an average tariff rate of 15.7 

percent to 6.9 percent, an 

official statement said 

Thursday. 

On average, the tariffs 

were cut by 55.9 percent, 

said the Customs Tariff 

Commission of the State 

Council. 

An MFN tariff is one that 

World Trade Organization 

(WTO) member countries 

promise to impose all of 

their trading partners who 

are also WTO members, 

unless the country is part of 

a preferential trade 

agreement. 

Due to the adjustment, 

MFN temporary duties for 

210 taxable items of 

imported goods will be 

abolished, it said. 

Significantly reducing the 

import tariffs for daily 

consumer goods is 

conducive to expanding 

China's opening-up and 

serves as a major measure 

and action of the country's 

initiative to open its market, 

the statement quoted an 

came into effect on Friday. 

US President Donald 

Trump first announced 

trade sanctions on China, 

largely focused on the 

Asian giant's theft of US 

intellectual property, in 

March. 

Beijing on Wednesday 

lambasted "sudden flipflops" 

in US policy after the 

Trump administration said 

it would still move to 

impose the sanctions 

against it - just over a week 

after announcing a truce. 

But as Ross arrived, 

China appeared to soften 

its position. 

"China's door for 

negotiation remains open," 

said foreign ministry 

spokeswoman Hua 

Chunying on Friday. 

The US and China 

"should adopt a sincere 

attitude and follow the 

spirit of equality and 

mutual respect to seek a 

win-win solution through 

dialogue and consultation", 

she added. 

The final list of Chinese 

imports covered by the US 

tariffs list will be 

unnamed official of the 

commission as saying. 

On Wednesday, the State 

Council announced a 

decision to further cut 

import tariffs for daily 

consumer goods. 

The average tariff rate for 

clothing, shoes and hats, 

kitchenware, and sports and 

fitness supplies will be 

reduced from 15.9 percent 

to 7.1 percent, and that for 

home appliances such as 

washing machines and 

refrigerators from 20.5 

announced June 15 and 

imposed shortly thereafter, 

while the proposed 

investment restrictions 

and enhanced export 

controls will be announced 

by June 30, according to 

the White House. 

Trump has accused 

China of forcing American 

firms to hand over their 

industrial secrets to 

Chinese companies in 

order to do business in the 

country, a charge that 

Beijing has rejected. 

The US leader has also 

threatened to impose 

tariffs on an additional 

$100 billion in Chinese 

goods if Beijing retaliates. 

Zhu Feng, a professor of 

international relations at 

Nanjing University, told 

AFP he was "not very 

optimistic" about the 

outcome of the latest trade 

negotiations. 

"The chance that there 

will be no trade war at all is 

low. I'm afraid that the 

most practical option for 

the two sides is now to limit 

the extent of the conflict," 

he said. 

China to cut import tariffs 

for 1,449 taxable items of 

daily consumergoods 

percent to 8 percent. 


cultured and fished aquatic 

products and processed 

food such as mineral water 

will be cut from 15.2 percent 

to 6.9 percent, according to 

a statement released after 

the meeting. 


detergents, cosmetics such 

as skin care and hair care 

products, and some 

medicine and health 

products will be cut from 8.4 

percent to 2.9 percent. 

Nifty ends 

below 

10,700, down 

40 points 

The NSE Nifty was down 

40 points yesterday at 

10,696.20 due to emergence 

of selling mainly in realty, 

banking, IT and FMCG 

counters. 

In a volatile session, infra, 

metal and finance service 

stocks weighed by data 

showing manufacturing 

PMI growth has slowed in 

May. 

Investors after digesting 

better-than-expected Q4 

GDP data shifted focus to 

renewed global trade 

tensions after the US 

announced tariffs on steel 

and aluminium imports. 

They also closely monitor 

the movement in crude oil 

prices and rupee. 

In the overseas markets, 

European shares were 

trading higher as Italian 

stocks led the pack after a 

coalition deal appeared to 

end three months of political 

deadlock. 

Asian stocks were mixed 

after 

Trump 

administration's tariffs on 

imports from key allies sent 

US stocks into a tailspin. 

Back home, the 50-share 

NSE Nifty closed at 

10,696.20, down 39.95 

points or 0.37 per cent. The 

index hit a high of 10,764.75 

and a low of 10,681.50 

during the day. 

It saw an intra-day 

movement of about 83.25 

points. 

On the sectoral front, 

realty fell by 1.25 per cent 

followed by PSU Bank 1.03 

per cent, bank 0.98 per cent, 

private bank 0.89 per cent, 

IT 0.79 per cent, FMCG 0.70 

per cent, metal 0.70 per 

cent, infra 0.65 per cent, 

finance service 0.66 per 

cent, media 0.45 per cent 

and energy 0.19 per cent. 

On the other hand, auto 

stocks rose by 0.75 per cent 

after companies announced 

good sales volume data for 

May 2018. 

Major index gainers were 

BajajAuto, Maruti, Bharti 

Airtel, HeroMotoCo, 

Hindalco, Tata Motors and 

Sun Pharma. 

Losers included, Bajaj 

Finserv, ONGC, Eicher 

Motors, Tata Motors, Tata 

Steel, GAIL, M&M, NTPC, 

Power Grid and IndusInd 

Bank. 

British manufacturing sector 

figures point to economic uplift 

The poor performance of the British economy in the first quarter of the year looks to have 

been reversed, according to data for the manufacturing sector released on Friday. 

May's Markit/CIPS manufacturing sector survey suggests that the sector is putting in a 

strong performance in the second quarter, with the purchasing managers' index (PMI) 

beating consensus expectations of a fall among experts and commentators to record a rise 

from 53.9 to 54.4 (above 50 indicates growth). The continued solid global demand for goods 

and sterling's post-Brexit referendum 20 percent devaluation at the hands of markets look to 

still be factors boosting the sector, with the new export order balance picking up from 53.4 to 

54.2. This left the index only a little below its average over 2017 as a whole. The rise in the 

output index contained in the data, which went up from 55.4 to 56.9, leaves the index 

consistent with quarterly growth of 1 percent in May. 

This would translate into a 0.1 percentage point boost for the overall economic figures, an 

increase of a half on the almost-stagnant growth in the economy of 0.2 percent seen in the 

revised official figures for the economy released last week. 

S. Korea's Q1 

GDP grows 1 

pct quarterover-quarter 

South Korea's gross 

domestic product (GDP) 

grew 1 percent in the first 

quarter from the previous 

quarter on brisk exports and 

facility investment, central 

bank data showed Friday. 

The seasonally-adjusted 

real GDP amounted to 395.6 

(367.7 billion U.S. dollars) 

in the January-March 

quarter, up 1 percent from 

the previous quarter, 

according to the Bank of 

Korea (BOK). 

It was down 0.1 

percentage points from the 

preliminary figure, but it 

marked a rebound from a 

0.2-percent decline in the 

fourth quarter of last year. 

It was in line with the 

BOK's growth outlook of 3 

percent for this year. If the 

GDP expands 0.9 percent in 

the second quarter, it would 

meet the BOK's growth 

forecast, according to the 

bank's analysis. Exports, 

which account for about half 

of the export-driven 

economy, led the firstquarter 

economic expansion. 

The outbound shipments 

advanced 4.4 percent in the 

first quarter from a year 

earlier due to strong global 

demand for locally-made 

semiconductors and 

machinery. Imports gained 

4.9 percent in the quarter. 

Headache for ECB as populists 

take power in debt-laden Italy 

The arrival of an anti-austerity, populist 

government in Italy has revived concerns 

about the country's massive debt pile, 

underscoring the pitfalls ahead for the 

European Central Bank as it tries to wean 

the eurozone off its massive monetary 

support. 

"It's the elephant in the room, because 

the problem was never resolved," said 

Pictet Wealth Management economist 

Frederik Ducrozet, noting that Italy was 

the only "highly indebted" euro nation 

not to embark on a structural reforms 

programme. 

After a political rollercoaster ride that 

sent markets into a spin this week, a 

coalition government between the farright 

League party and the antiestablishment 

Five Star Movement is to 

be sworn in Friday. 

While immediate fears that the 

eurosceptic parties could yank Italy out of 

the single currency have been calmed 

with their pick of a pro-euro economy 

minister, the drama in the eurozone's 

third largest economy is far from over. 

Both parties came to power promising 

tax cuts and higher spending - in a 

country already saddled with 2.3 trillion 

euros ($2.7 trillion) of debt and plagued 

by low growth. 

IMF releases $250 m of 

Sri Lanka loan, seeks 

airline shake-up 

The International 

Monetary Fund 

announced the release of 

the latest instalment of Sri 

Lanka's $1.5 billion bailout 

on Saturday, but warned 

that restructuring the lossmaking 

national airline 

was essential to sustain 

economic recovery. 

The IMF welcomed the 

island nation's increase in 

fuel prices last month -a 

precondition for it to 

receive $252 million of the 

three-year loan approved 

in June 2016. 

Sri Lanka's economy has 

been on the mend since the 

IMF bailout, but growth in 

2017 was more sluggish 

than expected and at 3.1 

percent was the slowest in 

16 years. 

The release of the latest 

tranche of the loan had 

been held up pending the 

government agreeing to 

raise fuel prices to recover 

production costs and do 

away with subsidies. 

The IMF said the price 

hike by state-run Ceylon 

Petroleum Corporation, in 

some cases by as much as 

130 percent, was a "major 

achievement" that would 

reduce fiscal risk. 

The price of kerosene oil, 

widely used in rural Sri 

Lanka for cooking and in 

lamps, was also more than 

doubled last month, while 

gasoline prices increased 

by just under 15 percent. 

The IMF said Sri Lanka 

should also implement a 

pricing policy for 

electricity, which is 

currently subsidised for 

households and small 

businesses. 

"It is essential for the 

authorities to implement 

an automatic pricing 

formula for electricity and 

a restructuring plan for Sri 

Lankan Airlines," IMF's 

Deputy Managing Director 

Mitsuhiro Furusawa said 

in a statement. 

One of the biggest drags 

on the country's balance 

sheet is national carrier Sri 

At 132 percent of gross domestic 

product (GDP), Italy's debt burden is 

second only to bailed-out Greece, and 

more than double the European Union's 

60-percent ceiling. 

The near-collapse of the two populist 

parties' efforts to form a government and 

the prospect of snap elections sent Italian 

bond yields spiking in recent days, 

making it more expensive for the 

government to borrow money. 

The bond market turbulence spread to 

Spain and Portugal, prompting the 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung to warn 

of "contagion danger" that could send 

Italy's debt woes spiralling out of control, 

dwarfing the Greek debt crises and 

posing a threat to the single currency in 

the long run. 

That doomsday scenario appears to 

have been averted for now, and Italian 

yields fell on Friday as investors heaved a 

sigh of relief over the deal clinched in 

Rome - a welcome birthday present for 

the ECB on the day the Frankfurt 

institution celebrates its 20th 

anniversary. 

The markets' anxiety about Italy comes 

at a sensitive time for the ECB, 

the eurozone's chief firefighter in a 

Lankan, which has 

accumulated losses and 

debts of over $2 billion and 

is a huge burden on 

taxpayers. 

The government has 

failed to privatise the 

airline due to a lukewarm 

response from investors 

while an attempt to find an 

international partner to 

revive it has also failed. 

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's 

real estate sector has been 

expanding rapidly -raising 

concerns of a bubble - and 

the Central Bank of Sri 

Lanka has said the sector is 

under close watch to 

prevent fallout for banks. 

"While financial 

soundness indicators 

remain stable, continued 

credit 

growth in the real estate 

sector warrants close 

monitoring," said 

Furusawa. China to cut 

import tariffs for 1,449 

taxable items of daily 

consumer goods 

Mr. Noodles distributes iftar to orphans 

'Mr. Noodles is distributing iftar 

meals among underprivileged children 

in orphanages every day across the 

country. During the month of 

Ramadan,Mr. Noodles will distribute 

iftar among 15 thousands orphans, a 

press release said. 

The popular noodles brand has 

already given iftar box among 

seventhousands underprivileged 

children indifferent orphanages of the 

capital and its surrounding areas. 

Riyad Hossain, Brand Manager of 

Mr. Noodles, said, "We have begun 

iftar program from the first Ramadan 

and it will continue before the Eid day." 

"We have distributed iftar among the 

various 

orphanages 

includingAzimpurSir Salimullah 

Muslim Orphanage, Choto Mony 

Yateem Khana, Tejgaon Zamia 

Railway Yateem Khana, 

Mohammadpur Jamia Islamia Baitul 

Falah Yateem Khana, Ashulia Aminia 

Arabia Al Amin Yateem khanaand 

Savar Mowlana Anwer Hossain Shah 

Yateem Khana. Rest of the Ramadan 

day, we will provide iftar in 

Narayanganj, Gazipur, Narsingdi, 

Cumilla, Noakhali and Chattagram. 

Toshan Paul, Head of Marketing of 

Mr. Noodles, said, "We are spending 

money for iftar programevery day by 

allocating a portion of selling Mr. 

Noodles. We are happy to stand beside 

the helpless children of orphanages." 

financial crisis. 

After years of ultra-loose monetary 

policy aimed at bolstering growth and 

pushing up inflation to the bank's target 

of just under 2.0 percent, the ECB is 

inching towards turning off the easy 

money taps as the eurozone recovery has 

gathered strength. 

Although it is still buying 30 billion 

euros in bonds each month, including 

Italian debt, it is widely expected to phase 

out the so-called "quantitative easing" 

programme this year, before raising its 

record-low interest rates in the second 

half of next year. 

But the bank's slow-motion stimulus 

exit has been complicated by the euro 

area's shaky first-quarter growth figures, 

leaving observers to debate whether the 

region has hit a mere soft patch or if a 

downswing is in sight. 

For now, most expect the ECB to stay 

on the sidelines of the Italian turmoil and 

continue carefully preparing markets for 

its stimulus wind-down at the next 

governing council meeting on June 14. 

Already holding some 22 to 25 percent 

of Italian public debt, the independent 

ECB "doesn't want to and can't be 

perceived as aiding any specific country," 

said Ducrozet.

MISCELLANEOUS 

SUNDAY, jUNE 3, 2018 

11 

Ross arrives 

in Beijing for 

talks on trade 

surplus 

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross 

arrived in Beijing on Saturday for talks 

on China's promise to buy more 

American goods after Washington 

revived tensions by renewing its threat 

of tariff hikes on Chinese high-tech 

exports. 

The talks focus on adding details to 

China's May 19 promise to narrow its 

politically volatile surplus in trade in 

goods with the United States, which 

reached a record $375.2 billion last 

year. 

President Donald Trump threw the 

status of the talks into doubt this week 

by renewing a threat to hike tariffs on 

$50 billion of Chinese goods over 

complaints Beijing steals or pressures 

foreign companies to hand over 

technology. 

Private sector analysts say that while 

Beijing is willing to compromise on its 

trade surplus, it will resist changes that 

might threaten plans to transform 

China into a global technology 

competitor. 

China has promised to "significantly 

increase" purchases of farm goods, 

energy and other products and services. 

Still, Beijing resisted pressure to 

commit to a specific target of narrowing 

its annual surplus with the United 

States by $200 billion. 

Following Beijing's announcement, 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven 

Mnuchin said the dispute was "on 

hold." But the truce appeared to end 

with this week's announcement 

Washington was going ahead with tariff 

hikes on technology goods and also 

would impose curbs on Chinese 

investment and purchases of U.S. hightech 

exports. 

The move reflects growing American 

concern about China's status as a 

potential tech competitor and 

complaints Beijing improperly 

subsidizes its fledgling industries and 

shields them from competition. 

Foreign governments and businesses 

cite strategic plans such as "Made in 

China 2025," which calls for state-led 

efforts to create Chinese industry 

leaders in areas from robots to electric 

cars to computer chips. 

"The U.S. focus on so-called 

industrially significant technologies 

heightens the risk of escalation between 

the two countries," BMI Research said 

in a report. "Indeed, while China has 

shown itself willing to compromise in 

the area of trade deficit reduction, it will 

not take any actions which threaten its 

strategically important 'Made in China 

2025' program." 

Trump also has threatened to raise 

tariffs on an additional $100 billion of 

Chinese goods, but gave no indication 

this week whether that would go ahead. 

Earlier, China responded with a 

threat to retaliate with higher duties on 

a $50 billion list of American goods 

including soybeans, small aircraft, 

whiskey, electric vehicles and orange 

juice. It criticized Trump's move this 

week and said it reserved the right to 

retaliate but avoided repeating its 

earlier threat. 

Trade analysts warned Ross's hand 

might be weakened by the Trump 

administration's decision Thursday to 

go ahead with tariffs on steel and 

aluminum imports from Canada, 

Europe and Mexico. 

That might alienate allies who share 

complaints about Chinese technology 

policy and a flood of low-priced steel, 

aluminum and other exports they say 

are the result of improper subsidies and 

hurt foreign competitors. 

GD-815/18 (5 x 4) 

Analysis: Trump hints 

at longer path for 

NKorea to denuke 

Even by President Donald Trump's 

mercurial standards, it was a quick 

shift. 

A week after abruptly canceling his 

historic summit with Kim Jong Un, 

Trump announced it was back on - 

and in the process appeared to accede 

to a key North Korean demand. 

Beyond the symbolism of Friday's 

Oval Office meeting between Trump 

and Kim Yong Chol - the most senior 

North Korean official to step inside 

the White House in 18 years - Trump 

signaled a subtle change in his 

administration's approach toward the 

goal of getting the pariah nation to 

give up its nuclear weapons. 

U.S. officials have previously been 

calling for North Korea to abandon its 

nukes rapidly, with the expectation of 

getting benefits afterward in the form 

of security assurances, sanctions relief 

and the opportunity to boost its 

meager economy. 

But as he spoke to reporters Friday, 

Trump repeatedly referred to the 

June 12 summit in Singapore - a first 

between the leaders of the U.S. and 

North Korea - as the start of a 

"process," and said it was likely that 

more than one meeting would be 

necessary to bring about his goal of 

denuclearizing the Korean 

Peninsula. 

"June 12th, we'll be in Singapore," 

Trump said after his lengthy goodbye 

with Kim Yong Chol, a former North 

Korean military intelligence chief, 

whom he escorted to a black SUV. "It 

will be a beginning. I don't say and I've 

never said it happens in one meeting. 

You're talking about years of hostility; 

years of problems; years of, really, 

hatred between so many different 

nations. But I think you're going to 

have a very positive result in the end." 

Trump gave no indication of what 

kind of timetable he might have in 

mind for getting North Korea to 

abandon a weapons program it views 

as a guarantee for the survival of its 

authoritarian regime. Still, his 

comments marked a sea change from 

the views expressed weeks earlier by 

his national security adviser John 

Bolton, who was notably absent from 

Friday's meeting. 

Bolton, who before taking office in 

April advocated military action 

against North Korea, had pointed to 

the disarmament of Libya in 2003 

and 2004 in exchange for sanctions 

relief as a model for a possible deal 

with North Korea. For the North, that 

was a deeply provocative comparison, 

because Libyan autocrat Moammar 

Gadhafi was killed following U.S.- 

supported military action in his 

country about seven years after giving 

up his fledgling nuclear program. 

Rather than surrender its program 

all at once as Gadhafi did, North 

Korea has repeatedly said it envisions 

a "progressive and synchronous" 

approach, where it gets benefits along 

the way. The latest expression of that 

came Thursday from Kim Jong Un 

himself when he met in Pyongyang 

with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey 

Lavrov. 

In a dispatch Friday, North Korean 

state news agency cited Kim saying 

"he hoped that the DPRK-U.S. 

relations and the denuclearization of 

the Korean peninsula will be solved 

on a stage-by-stage basis." 

Mormons grapple with race 

decades after ban on black leaders 

The Mormon church on Friday 

celebrated the 40th anniversary of 

reversing its ban on black people 

serving in the lay priesthood, going on 

missions or getting married in 

temples, rekindling debate about one 

of the faith's most sensitive topics. 

The number of black Mormons has 

grown but still only accounts for an 

estimated 6 percent of 16 million 

worldwide members. Not one serves in 

the highest levels of global leadership. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday 

Saints has worked to improve race 

relations, including calling out white 

supremacy and launching a new 

formal alliance with the NAACP, but 

some black Mormons and scholars say 

discriminatory opinions linger in some 

congregations from a ban rooted in a 

belief that black skin was a curse. 

In a 2013 essay , the church 

disavowed the reasons behind the ban 

and condemned all racism, saying the 

prohibition came during an era of 

great racial divide that influenced early 

church teachings. Blacks were always 

allowed to be members, but the nearly 

century-long ban kept them from 

participating in many important 

rituals. 

Scholars said the essay included the 

church's most comprehensive 

explanation for the ban and its 1978 

reversal, which leaders say came from 

a revelation from God. 

But it didn't include an apology, 

leaving some unsatisfied. 

"A lot of members are waiting for the 

church just to say, 'We were wrong,'" 

said Phylicia Norris-Jimenez, a 30- 

year-old black Mormon and member 

of the grass-roots Black LDS Legacy 

Committee, a group of women who are 

organizing a conference Saturday in 

Utah to honor the legacy of black 

Mormon pioneers. 

Norris-Jimenez said non-black 

church members still struggle with 

how to talk about the ban or 

understand the pain it causes. She said 

the anniversary celebration honors 

something that should have never 

existed but that it's a good gesture and 

hopefully leads to more discussions 

about race. 

A fellow group member, LaShawn 

Williams, said she finds comfort in her 

belief that the ban was a "policy of 

people, not a policy of God," made 

during a racist time. 

She and her three children are the 

only black members of her 

congregation in Orem, Utah, and she 

tries to talk about race issues regularly 

with the teenagers she teaches in 

Sunday school. 

Williams, an assistant professor in 

social work at Utah Valley University, 

would like an apology. 

"If we preach repentance, we should 

definitely embody it," she said. 

The theme of the anniversary 

celebration in Salt Lake City was "Be 

one," a reference to a Mormon 

scripture. Gladys Knight, one of the 

most famous black Mormons, 

performed, and top church leaders 

gave speeches. 

President Russell M. Nelson said 

comprehending true brotherhood and 

sisterhood can inspire people to "build 

bridges of cooperation instead of walls 

of segregation." 

Pushing the 

envelope: Why 

was Kim’s letter 

for Trump so big 

In dangling its nuclear and 

long-range missiles in 

exchange for American 

security and economic 

benefits, North Korea is 

pushing the diplomatic 

envelope like never before. 

And the envelope is literally 

huge. 

President Donald Trump 

on Friday declared that his 

on-and-off summit with 

North Korean leader Kim 

Jong Un was on again. The 

announcement came after 

Trump hosted a senior 

North Korean envoy at the 

White House, who conveyed 

a personal letter by Kim that 

was inside a white envelope 

nearly as large as a folded 

newspaper. 

Analysts say the huge 

letter is part of meticulous 

steps taken by North Korea 

to present Kim as a 

legitimate international 

statesman who is reasonable 

and capable of negotiating 

solutions and making deals. 

Buffalo Wild 

Wings Twitter 

account hacked 

Restaurant chain Buffalo 

Wild Wings says its Twitter 

account was hacked and 

crude comments were 

briefly posted, but later 

deleted. 

A spokeswoman for the 

Minneapolis-based 

company says Buffalo Wild 

Wings is in touch with 

Twitter and "will pursue the 

appropriate action against 

the individuals involved." 

The company apologized 

on its Twitter account, 

saying the posts "obviously 

did not come from us." 

Known for its sports bar 

fare such as chicken wings, 

Buffalo Wild Wings was 

purchased in a deal finalized 

earlier this year by Roark 

Capital Group, which owns 

Arby's restaurant chain. 

Bluesman Eddy 

Clearwater dies 

of heart failure 

at age 83 

Chicago bluesman Eddy 

Clearwater, lauded for his 

guitar playing and 

flamboyant showmanship, 

has died of heart failure. 

Alligator Records 

announced Clearwater, 83, 

died Friday in Skokie, 

Illinois. 

Known as "The Chief," 

Clearwater was born 

Edward Harrington in 

Macon, Mississippi. A selftaught 

guitarist, he began his 

career in Birmingham, 

performing with gospel 

music groups, including the 

Five Blind Boys of Alabama. 

After moving to Chicago in 

1950, Clearwater drifted into 

the blues, making a name for 

himself as Guitar Eddy. 

UN office impartial 

in Mexico elections, 

despite letter 

The United Nations is 

stressing that it is 

"impartial" in the 

presidential race of 

Mexico's July 1 elections, 

after one of its agencies 

said it would be willing to 

help the front-runner 

clean up government 

purchasing and other 

issues. 

The campaign of leftist 

candidate Andres Manuel 

Lopez Obrador published 

a letter Friday from the 

U.N. Office for Project 

Services saying the agency 

would be glad to meet with 

Lopez Obrador after the 

election to plan assistance. 

Lopez Obrador holds a 

commanding lead in most 

polls and wrote to the 

agency earlier asking for 

assistance in cleaning up 

Mexico's notorious 

contract corruption. 

The deputy spokesman 

for the U.N. secretarygeneral 

issued a statement 

later Friday saying the 

agency's offer "should not 

be interpreted as an 

expression of support to 

any candidate." 

US unemployment hits 

an 18-year low despite 

trade concerns 

Defying fears of a global trade war, U.S. 

businesses have made it abundantly clear 

that they see no reason to stop hiring. 

Employers added a robust 233,000 jobs 

in May, up from 159,000 in April, the 

government said Friday, and helped drive 

the nation's unemployment rate to an 18- 

year low of 3.8 percent. 

In the midst of all that hiring, the 

Trump administration has slapped tariffs 

on steel and aluminum from Europe, 

Mexico and Canada. The White House is 

also threatening China with separate 

duties. And Europe, Mexico, Canada and 

China have vowed to hit back at U.S. 

goods. 

Yet so far, the trade disputes have done 

nothing to knock the nearly 9-year-old 

economic expansion - the second-longest 

on record - off track. Hiring has actually 

picked up this year compared with 2017. 

"The May jobs report revealed 

impressive strength and breadth in U.S. 

job creation that blew away most 

economists' expectations," said Scott 

Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the 

West. 

Some economists do remain concerned 

that the Trump administration's 

aggressive actions on trade could 

eventually hamper growth. The direct 

impact of the tariffs on the nearly $20 

billion U.S. economy will likely be scant. 

But persistent uncertainty about which 

trading partners might be hit next - and 

which U.S. products might be penalized 

in retaliatory moves - could disrupt some 

companies' expansion plans. 

"Risks are brewing ... with the latest 

round of tariffs on aluminum and steel," 

said Joseph Song, an economist at Bank 

of America Merrill Lynch. "However, the 

concerns so far remain on the periphery." 

Should the trade fights worsen, they 

would most likely affect some of the same 

industries that have ramped up hiring 

and lifted the economy. Manufacturers, 

for example, have added 259,000 jobs in 

the past year, a 2.1 percent increase. 

That's the biggest percentage gain in 

factory jobs since 1995. 

Exports have been a big driver of that 

hiring. In 2017, simultaneous growth in 

Europe, China, Japan, and some 

developing countries were a key reason 

that factory output rose. Now, European 

officials are threatening to raise tariffs on 

Harley-Davidson motorcycles and on 

Levi's jeans. 

Roughly an hour before the May 

employment data was released Friday 

morning, President Donald Trump 

appeared to hint on Twitter that a strong 

jobs report was coming. 

"Looking forward to seeing the 

employment numbers at 8:30 this 

morning," he tweeted. 

The president is normally briefed on the 

monthly jobs report the day before it is 

released, and he and other administration 

officials are not supposed to comment on 

it beforehand. 

Larry Kudlow, the president's top 

economic adviser, downplayed Trump's 

tweet. 

"He didn't give any numbers," Kudlow 

said. "No one revealed the numbers to the 

public." 

Investors cheered the jobs data. The 

Dow Jones industrial average finished up 

219 points. Other stock indexes also rose. 

The healthy employment figures make 

it more likely that the Federal Reserve 

will keep raising interest rates this year - 

two and possibly three more times, after 

doing so in March. 

Unemployment dropped from 3.9 

percent in April. When rounded to one 

decimal, as the Labor Department 

typically does, the official jobless rate is 

now the lowest since April 2000. For 

women, unemployment has fallen to 3.6 

percent, the lowest since 1953. 

But the unrounded figure is 3.75 

percent, the lowest since December 1969, 

when it was 3.5 percent. Unemployment 

remained below 4 percent for nearly four 

straight years in the late 1960s before 

reaching 6.1 percent during a mild 

recession in 1970. It didn't fall below 4 

percent again until the dot-com-fueled 

boom of the late 1990s. 

With the unemployment rate so low, 

businesses have complained for months 

that they are struggling to find enough 

qualified workers. But Friday's jobs 

report suggests that they are taking 

chances with pockets of the unemployed 

and underemployed whom they had 

previously ignored. 

Unemployment among high school 

graduates fell sharply to 3.9 percent, a 17- 

year low. For black Americans, it hit a 

record low of 5.9 percent. 

And the number of part-time workers 

who would prefer full-time jobs is down 6 

percent from a year ago. That means 

businesses are converting some parttimers 

to full-time work. 

Companies are also hiring the longterm 

unemployed - those who have been 

out of work for six months or longer. 

Their ranks have fallen by nearly onethird 

in the past year. 

That's important because economists 

worry that people who are out of work for 

long periods can see their skills erode. 

Those trends suggest that companies, 

for all their complaints, are still able to 

hire without significantly boosting 

wages. Average hourly pay rose 2.7 

percent in May from a year earlier, below 

the 3.5 percent to 4 percent pace that 

occurred the last time unemployment 

was this low. 

And there may be more of those 

workers available. The number of 

involuntary part-time workers is still 

higher than it was before the 2008-09 

recession. 

Martha Gimbel, director of economic 

research at Indeed, the job-listing site, 

said some of the fastest-growing search 

terms on the site this year are "full-time" 

and "9-to-5 jobs," evidence that many 

people want more work hours. 

"That suggests there is still this pool of 

workers that employers can tap without 

raising wages," Gimbel said. 

Debbie Thomas, owner of Thomas Hill 

Organics, a restaurant in Paso Robles, 

California, said that finding qualified 

people to hire is her biggest challenge. 

She has raised pay by about a dollar an 

hour in the past year for cooks and 

dishwashers but is reluctant to go much 

higher. 

"You don't want to price yourself out of 

the market," Thomas said. 

The report comes amid other signs that 

the economy is picking up. Consumer 

spending rose in April at its fastest pace in 

five months. And companies are also 

stepping up spending, buying more 

industrial machinery, computers and 

software - signs that they're optimistic 

enough to expand. A measure of business 

investment rose in the first quarter by the 

most in 3½ years. 

Macroeconomic Advisers, a forecasting 

firm, said it now foresees the economy 

expanding at a robust 4.1 percent annual 

pace in the April-June quarter, which 

would be the fastest in nearly four years. 

The economy expanded just 2.2 percent 

in the first quarter.

UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY 

SUNDAy, DHAKA, JUNE 3, 2018, JAiSTHyA 20, 1425 BS, RAMADAN 17 , 1439 HiJRi 

On Saturday Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid tribute to the Bangabundhu Sheikh Mujibar 

Rahman and offered munajat at his grave of Tungipara, Gopalganj. 

Photo: Star mail 

Probe body formed 

over 'police torture' 

on Habiganj journo 

HABIGANJ : A three-member 

probe body was formed to 

investigate the alleged torture 

on a local journalist in police 

custody on Saturday, reports 

UNB. 

A three-member body headed 

by Additional Police Super 

Robiul Islam was formed to 

look into the allegation, said 

acting superintendent of police 

ASM Shamsur Rahman. The 

committee is also asked to submit 

a report within three working 

days, he added. 

On Thursday night, police 

arrested Sirajul Islam Jibon, 

district assistant correspondent 

of Channel S, early Friday 

from his residence at 

Gorurbazar in the district 

town on charges of carrying 

out attack law enforcers. 

On Friday morning, police 

took the journalist to hospital 

citing that he was injured in 

mass beating. Later in the 

afternoon a district court sent 

him to jail after being produced 

before it for attacking 

policemen. 

Meanwhile, several cultural 

organisations formed human 

chains in the town on 

Saturday demanding immediate 

release of Jibon and punishment 

of the policemen 

involved in the torture. 

The Valley of Names 

INTERESTING NEWS 

For over seventy years, people have 

been driving out in their RVs to a remote 

desert area near the city of Yuma, in the 

US state of Arizona, to write their names 

and leave messages on the desert floor. 

Unlike regular graffiti that is hurtful to 

the environment, at Valley of Names 

messages are spelled out by carefully 

arranging rocks and small boulders in 

the hard-packed white sand. 

The practice probably began during 

the Second World War when U.S. Army 

General George Patton brought his soldiers 

to this flat rocky area to train. This 

training camp, known as the Desert 

Training Center, was the largest military 

training ground in the history of military 

maneuvers. The camp grounds stretched 

BD assures UN of probing allegation 

of excessive use of force 

DHAKA : Minister for Law, Justice and 

Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Huq has 

assured the United Nation High 

Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid 

Ra'ad Al Hussein that the government 

would investigate any allegation of excessive 

use of force by the law enforcing agencies 

and would, if proved, bring perpetrators 

to justice, reports UNB. 

He also assured that the on-going operations 

are temporary measures to curb the 

drug problem, and the government looks 

forward to end these as soon as the situation 

comes under control. The minister on 

Friday met Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein in 

Geneva, to discuss protection of human 

rights in Bangladesh and beyond. 

The meeting was a part of the government's 

on-going cooperation and 'respectful 

discourse' with the UN Human Rights 

mechanism, said a press statement of the 

ministry on Saturday. 

The High Commissioner underscored 

that the drug problem is emerging as a 

global phenomenon and Governments 

need to address its demand and production 

aspect, especially through correctional 

measures and not just by using force. 

During the meeting, the High 

Commissioner stated that Bangladesh's 

on-going generosity towards the displaced 

Rohingyas was indeed exemplary to many 

from the outskirts of Pomona, California 

to within 50 miles of Phoenix, Arizona, 

and from the suburbs of Yuma to the 

southern tip of Nevada. 

The earliest messages were probably 

made by the soldiers and the area took 

the name of Graffiti Mesa. After the war, 

the area was rediscovered and by the 

1960's the tradition had become a rite of 

passage for local off-roaders. In the 

1970s, what was a four-acre area with a 

few hundred names swelled to thousands 

of names spread over 1,200 acres 

of the desert floor. 

Every few years a team of volunteers 

would go out to clear away debris from 

the desert winds and replace rocks that 

might have been washed away in a 

storm. These messages are precious; 

some of them are over fifty years old. 

other countries including those from the 

West. He further appreciated 

Bangladesh's proactive and responsive 

engagement with UN Human Rights 

mechanism. 

Minister Anisul Huq appraised the High 

Commissioner on the difficulties being 

faced by Bangladesh due to arrival of the 

forcibly displaced Rohingyas, with special 

emphasis on the recent significant rise of 

problems related to drug trafficking and 

use. 

He informed that this has compelled the 

government to take the initiative to conduct 

the on-going nation-wide anti-drug 

operations, as the youths of the country 

are being hugely and adversely affected by 

the drug menace. 

He mentioned that, while the government 

was in the process of addressing the 

issue through correctional measures and 

of enacting relevant laws and rules, the 

emergence of armed drug syndicates during 

the Rohingya influx has forced 

Government's hands to take stern actions. 

This has resulted in many arrests, and 

unfortunately, some deaths mainly due to 

the armed resistance by the drug dealers. 

Minister Huq is visiting Geneva as the 

leader of Bangladesh delegation to the ongoing 

107th International Labour 

Conference. 

Anti-narcotic 

drive to protect 

youths: Matia 

SHERPUR : Agriculture 

Minister Matia Chowdhury on 

Saturday said the anti-narcotic 

drive is being carried out to 

protect the youth and future 

generation of the country, 

reports UNB. 

"Drug traders - no matter 

which party they belong towon't 

be spared," said the 

minister while distributing Eid 

gifts among the poor at 

Kapasia in Nolitabari upazila. 

The minister said a section of 

people is criticising the drive 

saying it is a violation of 

human rights. "But they won't 

able to stop it," she said. Matia 

said, "Those who are becoming 

the victims of drug abuse 

have also human rights, and 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

is determined to root out 

drugs from the country." 

She distributed new dresses, 

saris and cash Tk 500 each 

among 504 meritorious 

female students, one sari each 

among 3,130 poor women, Eid 

dresses among 680 young 

males, 10 kg rice among vulnerable 

groups and dates 

around 12,00 poor people in 

the area. 

Additional Deputy Inspector 

General (DIG) of Police Md 

Rafiqul Hasan Goni, LGRD 

Deputy Director ATM Ziaul 

Islam, Nalitabari Upazila 

Parishad Chairman Md 

Mokhlesur Rahman Ripon, 

Upazila Awami League 

President Ziaul Islam Master, 

were, among others, present at 

the programme. 

PM hosts 

iftar for 

family 

members, 

relatives 

DHAKA : Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina on Saturday 

hosted an iftar mahfil for her 

family members and relatives 

at her official residence 

Ganobhaban, reports UNB. 

The Prime Minister went 

round different tables set for 

the guests, exchanged pleasantries 

with them and 

enquired about their wellbeing. 

Prime Minister's younger 

sister Sheikh Rehana was 

also present on the occasion. 

Before the iftar, a munajat 

was offered seeking continued 

peace, progress and 

prosperity of the nation. 

Prayers were also offered 

seeking eternal peace of the 

departed souls of Father of 

the Nation Bangabandhu 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, 

Bangamata Sheikh 

Fazilatunnesa Mujib and 

other martyrs of the August 

15 massacre and the War of 

Liberation, and the heroes of 

all democratic movements. 

Senior Pesh Imam of 

Baitul Mukarram National 

Mosque Mufti Maulana 

Mizanur Rahman conducted 

the munajat. 

Besides family members 

and relatives of the Prime 

Minister, Awami League 

leaders, including Sheikh 

Fazlul Karim Selim and 

Obaidul Quader, professors 

and teachers of different universities, 

senior lawyers, cultural 

personalities, writers, 

poets, literati, singers, actors 

and officials of the Prime 

Minister's Office attended 

the iftar. 

DHAKA : BNP senior leader Moudud 

Ahmed on Saturday said their party must take 

harsher programmes to ensure the release of 

their Chairperson Khaleda Zia and force the 

government to hold the next polls under a 

non-party government, reports UNB. 

"It's not possible to have Khaleda Zia freed 

from jail with soft and peaceful programmes. 

So, we must gradually take harsher programmes," 

he said. 

Speaking at an iftar-cum-discussion programme, 

the BNP leader also said their peaceful 

movement will turn into a decisive one in 

due time to force the government to come to a 

negotiation table, and hold the next election 

under a non-party neutral government. 

Rajshahi University Nationalist ex- 

Students Association (Runesa) arranged the 

programme at BNP's Nayapaltan central 

office. Moudud, a BNP standing committee 

member, said many people ridicule their 

party leaders saying there will be no use of 

taking soft and peaceful programmes. "They 

Experts, officials fear 

highway nightmare 

during eid journeys 

DHAKA : The journeys of several millions 

holidaymakers are likely to be more 

torturous this time than previous years 

ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr as over 40 percent of 

national highways are not in good shape, 

fear experts and officials, reports UNB. 

The situation may take a turn for the 

worse as meteorologist Abdur Rahman at 

the Bangladesh Meteorological 

Department said there is a strong chance 

of rain before and during eid as monsoon 

usually sets in around mid-June. 

According to the police headquarters, 

over six million holidaymakers are 

expected to leave the capital on the eid 

occasion. Of them, nearly four million will 

go home by roads. 

Transport expert Prof Shamsul Hoque 

of Buet's Civil Engineering department 

suggested the government not to allow 

light vehicles like car, microbus and 

motorbike on the highways alongside 

truck, lorry and covered-van, three days 

before the eid, for the better use of the 

highways by passenger buses. 

Besides, he said, strong enforcement of 

law and monitoring by the authorities 

concerned are necessary to check the violation 

of traffic rules, overtaking, traffic 

chaos, plying of unfit vehicles, remove 

obstacles to smooth traffic and ensure 

better management at different intersections 

and entry and exit points of the capital. 

Talking to UNB, two officials at the 

Roads and Highways Department (RHD) 

said they conducted a survey recently on 

17,976 km of highways and roads, and 

found 53.63 percent in very good shape 

while the rest problematic, including 20 

percent in poor condition. 

They said 57 percent highways are in 

very good condition while 43 percent are 

problematic which may lead to long tailbacks 

during eid home-goers' journeys 

from and to Dhaka. 

The officials said traffic may go out of 

Moudud for harsher programmes 

to have Khaleda released 

(people) are right. But we need to wait for the 

right time. When the time will come, we'll 

surely work out proper and harder programmes 

to realise our demands." 

He said their party now has three-point 

agenda-freeing Khaleda from jail, expanding 

the 20-party alliance involving more democratic 

parties and people with it and intensifying 

the movement with tougher programmes. 

The BNP leader said they are making their 

best efforts and will continue to do so in the 

future to release Khaleda from jail through a 

legal battle. "But, our lower judiciary is now 

completely under government control." 

"Though it may take time, Khaleda Zia must 

return to us from jail. The government will try 

to prolong her stay in jail by resorting to various 

tricks and controlling the lower court," he 

observed. 

Moudud alleged that the lower court judges 

now cannot work independently due to political 

influence and undue pressure by the executive 

branch. 

gear on most highways connected with 

Dhaka, including Dhaka-Chattogram, 

Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Mymensingh, 

Dhaka-Tangail, Joydebpur-Chandra- 

Tangail-Elenga, Dhaka Aricha, Dhaka- 

Rongpur and Dhaka Khulna, five-four 

days before the eid. 

The holidaymakers heading for 

Chattogram, Cumilla, Noakhali and Feni 

are likely to experience unbearable traffic 

snarls at Sayedabad, Jatrabari Madanpur 

and Sanarpar crossings, Kanchpur, 

Sonargaon, toll plazas of Meghna and 

Gumti Bridges, Madhaiya of Cumilla's 

Chnadina and Fatehpur near Feni. 

The homebound passengers, particularly 

to southern districts, including Jashore, 

Kushtia, Satkhira, Khulna, Barishal, 

Gopalganj and Bagerhat, may have to 

pass stressful time at Paturia-Daulatdia 

and Mawa-Kawrakandi ferry terminals 

waiting for ferries for hours apart from 

immense sufferings on the roads reaching 

the ferry terminals from the capital. 

The passengers on the Dhaka- 

Mymensingh highway are also expected 

to experience painful journeys from Tongi 

to until crossing Joydebpur intersection 

due to poor road condition with potholes 

at many points. 

The eid home-goers of northern districts 

are also likely to face terrible tailbacks 

from Savar to until crossing the 

Bangabandhu Bridge due to the bad 

shape of the highways at different points 

and intersections and incomplete repair 

and construction works. 

Besides, Bangladesh Police has identified 

158 damaged points, including 

bridges, in capital Dhaka and on national 

highways across the country, which may 

hamper smooth vehicular movement 

ahead of the Eid. 

Sources at the police headquarters said 

it has sent a letter to the Road Transport 

and Bridges Ministry urging it to immediately 

repair those damaged points. 

Chattagram city now is the city of green palm fruit. The photo was taken from Kadamtali area of the 

Chattagram. 

Photo: Star Mail 

Bus-covered 

van collision 

kills 4 in 

Sirajganj 

SIRAJGANJ : Four people 

were killed and 23 others 

injured in a collision between 

a bus and covered van in 

Saidabad area of Sadar 

upazila early Saturday, 

reports UNB. 

The identities of the 

deceased could not be 

known yet. 

Syed Shaheed Alam, officer-in-charge 

of 

Banghabandhu Bridge West 

Thana, said the Gaibandhabound 

'Shyamali Paribahan 

bus' collided with the covered 

van on Banghabandhu 

Bridge West road, leaving 

three people dead on the 

spot and 24 others injured. 

Among the injured, one 

died at hospital. 

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. 

Editorial and News Office: K.K Bhaban (Level-04) 69/K, Green Road, Panthapath, Dhaka-1205. Tel : +8802-9611884-85, Cell : 01832166882; Email: Editor : editor@thebangladeshtoday.com, Advertisement: ads@thebangladeshtoday.com, News: newsbangla@thebangladeshtoday.com, contact@thebangladeshtoday.com, website: www.thebangladeshtoday.com

03-06-2018

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