05-07-2018
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THURSDAY<br />
DHAKA:July 5, <strong>2018</strong>; Ashar 21, 1425 BS; Shawal 20,1439 Hijri<br />
www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com<br />
Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.16; No.176; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
Malaysian ex-PM<br />
Najib charged with<br />
breach of trust, graft<br />
>Page 7<br />
ART & CULTURE<br />
Scarlett Johansson<br />
criticised for taking<br />
on trans role<br />
>Page 8<br />
SPORT<br />
Flashy Brazil relying<br />
on balance, rock-solid<br />
defense at World Cup<br />
>Page 9<br />
Diversify trade basket to boost exports<br />
to Switzerland, beyond: Envoy<br />
DHAKA : Switzerland Ambassador to<br />
Bangladesh Rene Holenstein has said<br />
Bangladesh should diversify its trade basket<br />
and place focus on newsectors - leather,<br />
ceramic, IT - to boost its exports to<br />
Switzerland and beyond, which is currentlylimited<br />
to apparel products mainly,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
"The trade figure may look small compared<br />
to Bangladesh's trade with other<br />
countriesbut what impresses me is that the<br />
bilateral trade has almost tripled since<br />
2010 and is expectedto cross$1billion mark<br />
in the coming years," he told UNB in an<br />
interview at his office.<br />
Ambassador Holensteinsaid he hasregular<br />
exchanges with the Swiss companies<br />
operating in Bangladesh as well as therepresentatives<br />
of the Bangladeshi business<br />
community who tell him about the businessopportunities<br />
and challenges in<br />
Bangladesh.<br />
"The main challenges identified by the<br />
investors I talk to are namely, infrastructural<br />
limitations, bureaucratic red-tape, weak<br />
policy implementation and insufficient<br />
legal security," he said while responding to<br />
a question.<br />
The diplomat said Bangladesh should<br />
address these issues "in a more emphatic<br />
manner" to boost potential and existing<br />
investors' confidence to attract more FDI.<br />
"I am confident that with further<br />
improved infrastructure and energy supply,<br />
regulatory predictability and legal security,<br />
Bangladesh will become a more preferred<br />
destination for the Swiss businesses<br />
in the future," he said.<br />
Ambassador Holenstein said the year<br />
BNP trashes media<br />
reports on strained<br />
relations with Jamaat<br />
20-party to work for single<br />
alliance candidates in city<br />
polls, says Fakhrul<br />
DHAKA : Trashing media reports on<br />
the party's strained relations with<br />
alliance partner Jamaat, BNP on<br />
Wednesday said all the components of<br />
the 20-party combine decided to work<br />
together for single mayoral candidates<br />
in Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barishal city<br />
polls, reports UNB.<br />
"There's no question of having a conflict<br />
with Jamaat over the city polls candidates.<br />
The 20-party meeting endorsed a resolution<br />
to work together," said BNP secretary<br />
general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.<br />
He came up with the remarks while<br />
talking to reporters after a meeting of<br />
the BNP-led 20-party alliance at the<br />
BNP chairperson's Gulshan office.<br />
According to the schedule announced<br />
by the Election Commission, the elections<br />
to Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barishal city<br />
corporations will be held on July 30.<br />
About media reports that Jamaat will not<br />
compromise with BNP in Sylhet over its<br />
candidate, Fakhrul said they are not<br />
thinking of it as the 20-party decided to<br />
work for a single candidate.<br />
"We've installed Ariful Haque<br />
Chowdhury as a mayoral candidate in<br />
Sylhet polls and the 20-party approved it,"<br />
he added. "The meeting has decided that<br />
the 20-party alliance will work together<br />
actively for single (mayoral) candidates in<br />
the three city polls," said 20-party coordinator<br />
and BNP standing committee member<br />
Nazrul Islam Khan.<br />
Zohr<br />
03:50 AM<br />
12:00 PM<br />
04:42 PM<br />
06:54 PM<br />
08:20 PM<br />
5:15 6:51<br />
<strong>2018</strong> is "very important" for the people of<br />
Bangladesh as the national election will<br />
take place at the end of this year.<br />
"As a friend of Bangladesh, it is our sincere<br />
hope that the next election, held in a<br />
free, fair and inclusive manner, will further<br />
bolster the democratic strides made by the<br />
country," the envoysaid.<br />
Ambassador Holenstein said like<br />
Switzerland or any other nation, the topic<br />
of human rights is very much important<br />
forBangladesh. "Human rights are<br />
enshrined as fundamental rights in the<br />
constitution ofBangladesh."<br />
Responding to a question, he said drug<br />
trafficking is a global problem, which has to<br />
be responded by maintaining a moral highground<br />
and upholding the rule of law and<br />
access to justice.<br />
The boom in the textiles and chemical<br />
sectors is making Bangladesh an attractive<br />
place forSwiss investment, said the Swiss<br />
Ambassador.<br />
In 2017 bilateral trade volume between<br />
Switzerland andBangladesh recorded an<br />
impressive growth of more than 14 percent<br />
totaling 676.8 million SwissFrancs.<br />
"Investments and reinvestments from<br />
the Swiss companies in Bangladesh are<br />
also increasingsteadily," he said.<br />
Mentioning that Switzerland has a<br />
strong focus on innovation and technology,<br />
the envoy said, "I seepotentials for Swiss<br />
companies providing technological solutions<br />
to Bangladesh in the coming days."<br />
He said they have to also identify new<br />
areas of economic cooperation - hi-tech,<br />
clean-tech,renewable energy - where the<br />
two countries can mutually benefit from<br />
the collaboration<br />
During the Presidential visit in February<br />
<strong>2018</strong>, the Swiss President and Prime<br />
Minister of Bangladesh welcomed the<br />
positive developments of bilateral trade<br />
and investmentand stressed the need to<br />
further strengthen the bilateral relations<br />
including in the area of tradeand investment<br />
"Bangladesh's aspirations for 2021 and<br />
its remarkable socio-economic achievements<br />
in the last decades are impressive.<br />
To accelerate this growth in an inclusive<br />
and sustainable manner, it is important to<br />
continue to respect the fundamental<br />
human rights principles in the country," he<br />
said. The diplomat said atpresent, development<br />
and economic cooperation are the<br />
two main pillars ofbilateral relations<br />
between the two countries. "Cultural ties<br />
are also expanding rapidly."<br />
The two countries regularly have high<br />
level exchanges.<br />
Bilateral relations "received renewed<br />
momentum" during the visit of the<br />
President of the Swiss Confederation Alain<br />
Berset, in February <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
"During this important visit, which is<br />
indeed a milestone in the bilateral relations,<br />
our twocountries placed strong<br />
emphasis on forging closer economic and<br />
technological cooperation, "Ambassador<br />
Holensteinsaid.<br />
Since his arrival in Bangladesh, almost a<br />
year ago, Ambassador Holenstein has visited<br />
most of the divisions inBangladesh.<br />
"Wherever I went, I felt genuine warmth<br />
and curiosity of the people towards<br />
Switzerland as well as its people."<br />
President asks PGR to ensure<br />
foolproof security<br />
DHAKA : President Abdul Hamidon<br />
Wednesdaylaid emphasis on acquiring<br />
the expertise of IT and strategic development<br />
including time befitting training to<br />
ensure the foolproof security in any circumstances,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The President said this while addressing<br />
the Darbar of President Guard<br />
Regiment (PGR) at Shahid Captain<br />
Hafiz Hall at the PGR Headquarters in<br />
Dhaka Cantonment on the occasion of<br />
its 43rdfounding anniversary.<br />
"You know, terrorism and militant<br />
activities have increased amid the<br />
changed global scenario. Terrorism is<br />
now not a problem for a single country,<br />
it's now a global problem. The types of<br />
terrorism and crime are being changed<br />
with the rapid expansion of the science<br />
and technology," the President said.<br />
Emphasising on the necessity of the IT<br />
and strategic development, the head of<br />
the state added "You have to acquire the<br />
expertise of Information technology (IT)<br />
and strategic development including<br />
time befitting training to ensure the<br />
foolproof security in any circumstances<br />
to secure the very important persons of<br />
the state. The security system will be<br />
established in a coordinated, foolproof<br />
and all-out manner."<br />
"There is no alternative to training in<br />
the military career as training makes<br />
one disciplined, help acquire the professional<br />
knowledge and increase skill and<br />
teach sympathy and obedience. So you<br />
have to take training regularly," he said.<br />
The president said "The prime duty of<br />
PGR is to ensure the security of the very<br />
important persons of the state. In one<br />
hand, it is very important, on the other<br />
hand, it is sensitive too.<br />
Most of the persons for whom you<br />
ensure security are political personalities<br />
and closely connected with politics.<br />
So you have to consider of ensuring public<br />
engagement of the VVIPs with due<br />
importance."<br />
"It will be your credit if you perform<br />
your duties ensuring the continuous<br />
public engagement alongside providing<br />
the highest security for the VVIPs as<br />
they carry out political activities apart<br />
from discharging state and government<br />
duties and maintain good terms with<br />
leaders and activists," he said.<br />
People of seven villages of Kalapara upazila under Patuakhali district remain water stagnant by the tidal<br />
water for last one week.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seen at a function in her office marking the signing of the Annual<br />
Performance Agreement (APA) of ministries and subordinate bodies <strong>2018</strong>-19 fiscal at the International<br />
Conference Center (ICC).<br />
Flood situation<br />
worsens in 5<br />
districts amid rains<br />
DHAKA : Heavy rains for the last few days<br />
and onrush of water from the upstream submerged<br />
low-lying areas in Rangamati,<br />
Khagrachhari, Sylhet, Sunamganj and<br />
Nilphamari districts.<br />
According to reports reaching the UNB<br />
news desk, various parts of Barkol and<br />
Bilaichhari upazilas in Rangamati went under<br />
water following torrential rains and onrush of<br />
water from hills.<br />
Besides, water in the Kaptai Lake was flowing<br />
above the danger level on Wednesday.<br />
Sources at Kaptai Water and Electricity<br />
Center said the authorities concerned have<br />
opened eight out of 16 gates of the spillway of<br />
the dam to release 4500 cusec water to the<br />
Karnaphuli River to avoid the danger and handle<br />
the excessive pressure of water.<br />
Meanwhile, the road communications<br />
between Chattogram and Rangamati<br />
remained suspended since Tuesday<br />
morning due to landslides at different<br />
points on the road.<br />
In Khagrachhari, different parts of<br />
Dighinala upazila, which had experienced serious<br />
flooding barely two weeks ago, were flooded<br />
again on Wednesday due to torrential rains<br />
for the last two days. Locals said Dighinala-<br />
Langdu road went under water, disrupting<br />
communication. Farmers fear a huge loss of<br />
crops due to the flood.<br />
In Sunamganj, several lakh people have got<br />
marooned in Dowarabazar, Shalla, Tahirpur,<br />
Dharamapasha upazilas due to flood caused<br />
by the rains. The Surma River was flowing 80<br />
centimeters above the danger level at<br />
Sholosahar point.<br />
Besides, low-lying areas-Sahebbari,<br />
Nabinagar and Natunbazar-of the town went<br />
under water and many educational institutions<br />
were shut as those got swamped by rainwater.<br />
The local Water Development Board<br />
has recorded 120mm of rainfall till Wednesday<br />
morning. District Relief and Rehabilitation<br />
officer Faridul Haque said that every upazila<br />
has been allocated 10 tonnes of rice and Tk<br />
50,000.<br />
Scheme soon to bring educational<br />
institutions under MPO : PM<br />
SANGSAD BHABAN : Prime Minister<br />
Sheikh Hasinaon Wednesdaytold<br />
Parliament that the government will take<br />
a scheme soon to bring educational institutions<br />
under the Monthly Pay Order<br />
(MPO) following a recently formulated<br />
policy, reports UNB.<br />
"The Non-government Educational<br />
Institutions' (School and College)<br />
Manpower Organogram and MPO Policy,<br />
<strong>2018</strong>' has been issued with a view to enlisting<br />
the remaining non-government educational<br />
institutions under the MPO on<br />
the basis of a specific policy. A scheme will<br />
be taken soon over the MPO enlistment<br />
issue following the policy," she said during<br />
the question-answer session in the House.<br />
The Prime Minister came up with the<br />
disclosure replying to a question from<br />
Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam<br />
(Mymensingh-8).<br />
Sheikh Hasina said two committees<br />
have already been formed to receive and<br />
manage online applications as well as<br />
scrutinise the institutions in line with the<br />
rules to this end.<br />
Assuming power, the Awami League<br />
government has brought some 1,624 nongovernment<br />
institutions under the MPO<br />
scheme for improving the quality of education,<br />
she said.<br />
Fakhrul Imam, in his question, wanted<br />
to know what measures the government<br />
has taken so far for the development of<br />
education after assuming power.<br />
In reply, the Prime Minister came up<br />
with a detailed answer focusing on the<br />
government measures taken for the development<br />
of the pre-primary, primary, secondary,<br />
technical and vocational,<br />
madrasah and higher education. She said<br />
the present government has brought a<br />
total of 137,546 teachers and staff of nongovernment<br />
secondary schools, colleges<br />
and madrashas under the MPO scheme<br />
since 2009.<br />
Now, there is no village in the country<br />
without having any primary school, she<br />
said, adding that the government has set<br />
up 1,125 primary schools in villages which<br />
had no any primary school.<br />
Sheikh Hasina said the Awami League<br />
government has so far appointed a total of<br />
165,225 assistant teachers and 4,400<br />
headmasters to primary schools since<br />
2009. "A process is on to recruit 10,000<br />
more assistant teachers."<br />
She said the net enrolment rate (NER)<br />
in the primary education has reached<br />
97.97 percent in <strong>2018</strong>, which was 90.9<br />
percent in 2006.<br />
The Prime Minister said the dropout<br />
rate at the primary level came down to<br />
18.08 percent in <strong>2018</strong> from 50.5 percent<br />
in 2006.<br />
Noting that mothers were motivated to<br />
give their children homemade food in tiffin<br />
boxes, she said 96.71 percent students<br />
now go to schools with tiffin boxes provided<br />
by their mothers.<br />
Dhaka Steel Works resuming<br />
operation 24-yr after closure<br />
DHAKA : Speakers at a programme on<br />
Wednesday stressed the importance of<br />
increased connectivity among the South Asian<br />
counties through implementing Belt and Road<br />
Initiative (BRI) and the Bangladesh, Bhutan,<br />
India, Nepal (BBIN) Initiative for the benefit of<br />
the smaller countries and to utilize their potentials,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The inaugural programme of COSATT<br />
Regional Conference on "Importance of BRI<br />
and BBIN for South Asia" was organised by<br />
Bangladesh Institute of International and<br />
Strategic Studies (BIISS) in collaboration with<br />
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).<br />
Speaking as the chief guest, on behalf of<br />
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali,<br />
KamrulAhsan, Secretary (bilateral and consular)<br />
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said<br />
Bangladesh is aware of its location bridge in<br />
between South and South East Asia and its<br />
potential within the connectivity architecture of<br />
this region.<br />
Mentioning that regional connectivity has<br />
much importance for Bangladesh, he said in the<br />
changing world, which is brought closer<br />
through various modes of connectivity,<br />
Bangladesh also seeks to connect with the<br />
region and the rest of the world through transportation<br />
network and other connectivity initiatives.<br />
Comprehensive connectivity will generate<br />
trust and confidence in the relation among<br />
countries of the region, he added.<br />
While claiming that there has been visible<br />
improvement of bilateral connectivity between<br />
Bangladesh and India in the recent time,<br />
Kamrul Ahsan said, this connectivity can be<br />
utilised by other countries beyond India such as<br />
Bhutan and Nepal.<br />
Bangladesh is actively participating in many<br />
bilateral regional and sub-regional connectivity<br />
actiivites like BRI and BBN, he said.<br />
BIISS Director General Major General AKM<br />
Abdur Rahman in his welcome speech said<br />
without achieving genuine and sincere connectivity<br />
among the countries of South Asian<br />
region, the countries will never be able to proceed<br />
as it is expected and as the potentials they<br />
have.<br />
Dr Nishchal N Pandey, Director of Centre for<br />
South Asian Studies in Nepal, said the borders<br />
of the region got closed due to many reasons<br />
while Europe and other regions have started<br />
opening up theirs.<br />
"BRI and BBIN are grand doer's projects of<br />
great significance in South Asia. Both of them<br />
promised a great deal in terms infrastructural<br />
development and connectivity, trade, transit,<br />
tourism and energy cooperation between the<br />
countries", he said adding that, "There are challenges<br />
but the promises these two project holds<br />
are of greater value."
NEWS<br />
THURSDAY,<br />
JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
2<br />
Sangbadik Nirjatan Protirodh Committee formed a human chain in front of National Press Club yesterday.<br />
Photo : TBT<br />
Archaeologists urge<br />
Albania to protect<br />
underwater heritage<br />
Researchers are urging<br />
Albanian authorities to<br />
build a museum to display<br />
hundreds of Roman and<br />
Greek artifacts and ancient<br />
shipwrecks that are sitting<br />
under the country's barely<br />
explored coastline.<br />
Archaeologists at the<br />
Albanian Underwater<br />
Archaeology conference<br />
warned Tuesday that the<br />
wealth of underwater<br />
artifacts in the country's<br />
southwestern seabed, near<br />
its border with Greece,<br />
could easily fall prey to<br />
looters or treasure hunters.<br />
James Goold, chairman of<br />
the Florida-based RPM<br />
Nautical Foundation, said<br />
the objects - dating from the<br />
8th century B.C. through to<br />
World War II - would be a<br />
great tourist attraction if<br />
properly displayed.<br />
Goold's RPM has mapped<br />
out the Ionian seabed from<br />
the Greek border all along to<br />
the Vlora Bay, finding at<br />
least 22 shipwrecks from<br />
the ancient times to World<br />
War II and hundreds of<br />
ancient amphorae. Those<br />
long, narrow terracotta<br />
vessels carried olive oil and<br />
wine along trade routes<br />
between North Africa and<br />
the Roman Empire, where<br />
Albania, then Illyria, was a<br />
crossroad.<br />
"The time has come to<br />
build a museum for<br />
Albanian and foreign<br />
tourists," said Albanian<br />
archaeologist Neritan Ceka.<br />
Some amphorae may have<br />
already been looted - they<br />
are not infrequently seen<br />
decorating restaurants<br />
along the Albanian<br />
coastline.<br />
Albania is trying to protect<br />
and capitalize on its rich<br />
underwater heritage, long<br />
neglected by its former<br />
communist regime, but<br />
preservation still receives<br />
scarce funding from the<br />
government in one of<br />
Europe's poorest nations.<br />
The arrival of RPM's<br />
Hercules research vessel 11<br />
years ago was "a real<br />
revolution," Ceka said,<br />
praising its professional<br />
divers, high-tech sonar and<br />
remotely operated<br />
underwater vehicle.<br />
RPM and a joint<br />
Albanian-Italian expedition<br />
are the only scientific<br />
underwater efforts in<br />
Albania so far, both with the<br />
government's approval.<br />
Now RPM believes it's<br />
time for the not-for-profit<br />
Institute of Nautical<br />
Archaeology research<br />
organization, which is based<br />
in Texas, U.S., to explore the<br />
possibilities of excavating<br />
shipwrecks, a financially<br />
expensive and scientifically<br />
delicate process.<br />
"There's a special<br />
environment in Albania,<br />
because the coast has been<br />
so protected for so many<br />
years," said INA's David<br />
Ruff, a former commander<br />
of a nuclear-powered<br />
submarine.<br />
Ruff said "one of the real<br />
gems of Albania is the<br />
Butrint site" - a UNESCOprotected<br />
ancient Greek and<br />
Roman site in<br />
southernmost Albania close<br />
to the Greek border.<br />
Two killed in Mymensingh,<br />
Jashore 'gunfights'<br />
DHAKA : Two suspected drug traders were killed in separate<br />
incidents of reported gunfights in Mymensingh and Jashore<br />
early Wednesday, reports UNB.<br />
In Mymensingh, Jalal Uddin, 38, a suspected drug trader,<br />
was killed in 'gunfight' with police at Habirbari in Bhaluka<br />
early Wednesday.<br />
Being informed that a gang of drug peddlers were trading<br />
drugs at Khandakar Para, a team of Detective Branch (DB) of<br />
police in association with members of Bhaluka Model Police<br />
Station conducted a raid there around 2:30 am, said Ashiqur<br />
Rahman, officer-in-charge of district DB police.<br />
Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the criminals<br />
hurled brickbats and then opened fire targeting the<br />
policemen, prompted them to retaliate, triggering a gunfight.<br />
Later, police recovered the body of Jalal from the spot, said<br />
the OC. The law enforcers also recovered 200 pieces of Yaba<br />
tablets, four bullet shells, one sharp weapon and one<br />
motorbike from the spot. Jalal was wanted in six several<br />
cases, said police. In Jashore, an unidentified young man,<br />
aged around 35 years, suspected to be a drug trader, was<br />
found dead on Chougaccha-Jashore road at Chanda Afra in<br />
Chougaccha upazila around 2:30 am.<br />
Being informed that two gangs of drug traders were<br />
exchanging bullets, a team of police went there and recovered<br />
the bullet-hit body, said Shamim Uddin, officer-in-charge of<br />
Chougaccha Police Station.<br />
However, sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the<br />
traders managed to flee the scene, police said.<br />
The body was sent to Jashore General Hospital morgue for<br />
an autopsy. Two bullets, one pistol and 3.5 kgs of hemp were<br />
recovered from the spot, said the OC.<br />
With the latest, at least 123 people were killed in 'gunfights'<br />
with members of law enforcement agencies while 38 bodies<br />
of suspected drug traders were recovered after reported gun<br />
battles between rival groups during the countrywide antinarcotic<br />
drives since 15 May.<br />
Another dies due to<br />
'medical negligence' in Ctg<br />
HATTOGRAM : Tension mounted at a private clinic in the<br />
port city early Wednesday following the death of an elderly<br />
patient allegedly due to medical negligence, reports UNB.<br />
The deceased Hazi Mohammad Lokman Chowdhury, 69,<br />
of Chandgaon residential area, had been undergoing<br />
treatment at Fortress Private Clinics in Panchlaish area for<br />
around one month, suffering from bronchitis.<br />
Farhad Uddin, son of the victim, alleged that Dr Shimul<br />
Bhoumik, a physician of the clinic, visited Lokman in the<br />
dead of night. During the check-up, the doctor removed the<br />
oxygen mask to observe the patient closely. After sometimes,<br />
the patient died in front of the doctor, said the victim's son.<br />
Soon after the incident, the physician managed to escape<br />
from the clinic. But, tension had been prevailing in the<br />
hospital over the issue.<br />
Later, being informed, police rushed in and brought the<br />
situation under control, said Mozammel Haq, officer-incharge<br />
of Panchlaish Police Station. "We have received a<br />
complaint and are investigating it," he added.<br />
DU VC mourns death<br />
of Prof Halima Khatun<br />
DHAKA : Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Dhaka University (DU)<br />
Professor Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman on Wednesday paid last<br />
tribute to language movement veteran Dr Halima Khatun at<br />
the central Shaheed Minar.<br />
DU Pro-VC (Academic) Prof Dr Nasreen Ahmad and Pro-<br />
VC (Administration) Prof Dr Muhammad Samad were also<br />
present while placing wreaths at the coffin of Dr Halima<br />
Khatun. In a condolence message, the VC said that the nation<br />
has lost an intellectual who had multidimensional<br />
qualifications. Her contribution to the 1952 Language<br />
Movement and the 1971 Liberation War will be remembered<br />
for ever, he said. Dr Akhtaruzzaman prayed for the eternal<br />
peace of her departed soul and conveyed sympathy to the<br />
bereaved family.<br />
Two agreements on e-GP<br />
signed at BRUR<br />
RANGPUR : The authority of Begum Rokeya University,<br />
Rangpur (BRUR) yesterday signed two separate agreements<br />
on e-Government Procurement (e-GP) with two private<br />
sector commercial organisations.<br />
"The BRUR authority singed the e-GP contracts with Flora<br />
Limited and Nadia Furniture Limited at a function held at<br />
conference room of the administrative building of the<br />
university," said a press release.<br />
Vice-chancellor of BRUR Professor Dr Nazmul Ahsan<br />
Kalimullah was present in the agreement ceremony.<br />
Registrar of BRUR Muhammad Ibrahim singed the<br />
agreements on behalf of the university while Manager (Incharge)<br />
of Flora Limited Sahebul Alam Khondker and<br />
General Manager (Sales) of Nadia Furniture Limited singed<br />
on behalf of their respective organisations.<br />
Officials of the university and two commercial<br />
organisations were present, the release added.<br />
Thais work to<br />
install internet<br />
in flooded cave<br />
Thai authorities are working<br />
to with navy SEALs to run a<br />
fiber optic internet line into<br />
a flooded cave in northern<br />
Thailand where 12 young<br />
soccer players and their<br />
coach are trapped.<br />
Communication<br />
technician Phoowanart<br />
Keawdum said Wednesday<br />
that once the cable is<br />
installed, phone calls to the<br />
cave will be possible.<br />
Authorities tried to do the<br />
same Tuesday, but the<br />
equipment was damaged by<br />
the water.<br />
In latest videos released by<br />
the Thai navy, the boys and<br />
coach say they're fine. The<br />
group entered the cave in<br />
northern Thailand on June<br />
23 before flooding cut off the<br />
main entrance. Rescuers are<br />
studying how to extract<br />
them safely.<br />
Thailand's navy is<br />
continuing to release videos<br />
of the young soccer players<br />
trapped in a flooded cave in<br />
northern Thailand.<br />
The two latest videos<br />
posted to a navy Facebook<br />
page late Wednesday<br />
morning show a navy SEAL<br />
treating minor cuts on the<br />
feet and legs of the boys with<br />
antibiotic ointment. Several<br />
of the boys are seen smiling<br />
as they interact with the<br />
navy SEAL, who cracks<br />
jokes.<br />
Other boys are seen<br />
sleeping under foil warming<br />
blankets.<br />
A previous video released<br />
early Wednesday showed<br />
the boys saying they were<br />
healthy.<br />
The Thai official<br />
overseeing the rescue<br />
operation of a soccer team<br />
trapped in a flooded cave<br />
says the boys have been<br />
practicing wearing diving<br />
masks and breathing.<br />
Officials have said that<br />
teaching the 12 boys and<br />
their coach to dive may be<br />
the only way to get them out<br />
of the cave, but other options<br />
are being explored.<br />
AL leader's<br />
throat-slit<br />
body found<br />
in M’singh<br />
MYMENSINGH : Police<br />
recovered the throat-slit<br />
body of a local Awami<br />
League (AL) leader from his<br />
pond at Khagati village in<br />
Trishalupazilaon<br />
Wednesday, reports UNB.<br />
The deceased was<br />
identified as Abdul Matin<br />
Master, a freedom fighter<br />
and also the president of<br />
ward no 8 of Mathbaria<br />
union unit Awami League.<br />
Locals spotted the throatslit<br />
body of Matin in his<br />
pond around 10:30 am and<br />
informed the matter to<br />
police. On information,<br />
police recovered the body<br />
and sent it to the local<br />
hospital morgue, said Jakiur<br />
Hossain, officer-in-charge of<br />
Trishal Police Station.<br />
Matin come out from his<br />
home around 12 am on<br />
Tuesday and went to his<br />
pond to watch out, said<br />
family his members.<br />
The motive behind the<br />
killing could not be known<br />
immediately, said the OC.<br />
Youth shot<br />
dead in<br />
Cox’s Bazar<br />
COX'S BAZAR : A young<br />
man was shot to death<br />
allegedly by some miscreants<br />
at Pahartoli Islampur in the<br />
district town on Tuesday<br />
night, reports UNB.<br />
The deceased was<br />
identified as Ismail, 27, son of<br />
Lalu Mia of the area.<br />
Farid Uddin Khandaker,<br />
officer-in-charge of Sadar<br />
Model Police Station, said a<br />
group of miscreants opened<br />
fire on Ismail around 9 pm<br />
while he was in Pahartoli<br />
Islampur area, leaving him<br />
critically injured.<br />
Later, he was taken to sadar<br />
hospital where the doctors<br />
declared him dead.<br />
Police suspected that<br />
miscreants might have killed<br />
him over enmity between two<br />
criminal groups, said the OC.<br />
Laborers busy at dockyard in Narayangaj.<br />
Merkel pledges 'every<br />
effort' to avert US trade war<br />
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that the<br />
European Union will make every effort to avoid a trade war<br />
with the United States, and underlined her country's<br />
commitment to raise defense spending gradually - another<br />
point of contention with Washington.<br />
President Donald Trump's administration has imposed<br />
tariffs on EU steel and aluminum imports and is mulling<br />
whether to add tariffs on cars, trucks and auto parts, something<br />
that could be painful for Germany with its major auto industry.<br />
"It is worth every effort to try to defuse this conflict so that it<br />
doesn't turn into a real war, but of course there are two sides to<br />
that," Merkel told the German parliament, noting that the head<br />
of the EU's executive Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, will<br />
soon travel to the U.S. She added that the good functioning of<br />
the world economy depends on countries working together as<br />
partners, and also questioned the value of measuring surpluses<br />
and deficits by trade in goods alone. If digital services were<br />
included, she said, it's likely that the U.S. would have a trade<br />
surplus with Europe. "It is almost old-fashioned only to count<br />
goods and not to count services," she said.<br />
The U.S. is also pressing Germany over what it considers<br />
insufficient defense spending ahead of NATO's July 11-12<br />
summit in Brussels. In 2014, NATO allies agreed to stop<br />
cutting defense budgets, start spending more as their<br />
economies grew and move toward a goal of devoting 2 percent<br />
of GDP to defense within a decade.<br />
Germany's current spending amounts to 1.24 percent of<br />
GDP. Merkel said that, though spending is rising, "relative to<br />
what others are doing in terms of their gross domestic product,<br />
that is far from sufficient." She added that "that is why we have<br />
committed to spend 1.5 percent of gross domestic product for<br />
this by 2025," and defended Germany's position.<br />
Man gets life term jail<br />
for rape in Cumilla<br />
CUMILLA : A court here on Wednesday sentenced a man to<br />
life term imprisonment for raping a widow in Daudkandi<br />
upazila in 2001, reports UNB.<br />
Judge of Women and Children Repression Prevention<br />
Tribunal-3 Sheikh Hafizur Rahman pronounced the verdict.<br />
The convict, Kabir Hossain, of Gopalpur village of the<br />
upazila, was tried in absentia. The court also fined him Tk<br />
50,000, in default, to suffer six months imprisonment<br />
further. According to the case statement, Kabir had forcefully<br />
entered the house of Halima Khatun, widow of Shanti Miah,<br />
and violated her on November 9, 2001. She became<br />
pregnanent Halima filed a case on May 11, 2002 with<br />
Daudkandi police station. Police submitted a charge sheet<br />
against the accused on July 25 in the same year.<br />
Two IU students suspended<br />
for 'cheating' in exams<br />
ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY : The authorities of Islamic<br />
University (IU) in Kushtia have suspended two students for<br />
one academic year over the allegation of copying notes in<br />
exam halls, reports UNB.<br />
The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of 'crime<br />
in exam and discipline committee' at the vice-chancellor's<br />
office around 11:00 am on Wednesday.<br />
Vice-chancellor Professor Dr M Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari<br />
issued the suspension order against Nasrin Nahar, final year<br />
student of Department of Law and Sabbir Ahmed, third year<br />
student of Biotechnology and Genetics Engineering<br />
department, said acting Registrar SM Abdul Latif.<br />
They were suspended for violating the examinations' rules<br />
and regulations, he added.<br />
Man killed in city road<br />
crash<br />
DHAKA : A man who was using a motorbike ridesharing<br />
service died as a state-run BRTC bus crushed him at Airport<br />
intersection in the city on Wednesday, reports UNB.<br />
The deceased was identified as Nazmul Hossain Fuad, 32,<br />
an employee of a private company and son of Abul Bashar of<br />
Dakkhin Khan in the city. Sub-inspector Shariful of Airport<br />
Police Station said Nazmul was heading towards Mohakhali<br />
for his office on a motorcycle in the morning.<br />
When the motorbike reached Airport intersection, a BRTC<br />
bus knocked the vehicle from behind, killing Fuad on the<br />
spot as the bus smashed his head at 9 am. The motorcycle<br />
rider was injured in the accident, said the SI.<br />
10 drug traders among<br />
42 held in Satkhira<br />
SATKHIRA : Police in a drive arrested 42 people including<br />
ten suspected drug traders from different parts of the district<br />
on Wednesday, reports UNB.<br />
Of the arrestees, five each were held from Sadar, Ashashuni<br />
and Kaliganj upazilas, seven from Kalaroa, three from Tala,<br />
13 from Shyamnagar, two each from Debhata and<br />
Patkelghata upazilas of the district, said Azam Khan,<br />
inspector of Special Branch of Police.<br />
Police also recovered some drugs during the drive. The<br />
arrestees were wanted in several cases, he added.<br />
GD-899/18 (5 x 3)<br />
Heavy rain<br />
inundates low-lying<br />
areas in Rangamati<br />
RANGAMATI : Many lowlying<br />
areas of Barkol and<br />
Bilaichhari upazilas of the<br />
district went under water<br />
following torrential rain and<br />
onrush of water from the<br />
hills, reports UNB.<br />
Besides, water in Kaptai<br />
Lake was flowing over the<br />
danger<br />
levelon<br />
Wednesdaydue to the<br />
incessant rainfall. Sources at<br />
Kaptai Water and Electricity<br />
Center said the authorities<br />
concerned have opened<br />
eight out of 16 gates of the<br />
spillway of the dam to<br />
release 4500 cusec water to<br />
the Karnaphuli River to<br />
avoid the danger and to<br />
handle the excess water<br />
pressure. Meanwhile, the<br />
road communication<br />
between Chattogram and<br />
Rangamati remained<br />
suspended since Tuesday<br />
morning due to landslides at<br />
different points on the road.<br />
However, ommunications<br />
on internal routes of<br />
Rangamati remained normal.<br />
Six gamblers<br />
jailed in Sirajganj<br />
SIRAJGANJ : A mobile<br />
court here sentenced six<br />
gamblers to six-month<br />
imprisonment each in<br />
Raiganj upazila on Tuesday,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The convicts are Sajib<br />
uddin Talukdar, 33, son of<br />
Sujabat Ali Talukdar of<br />
Gopalpur village, Masud<br />
Rana, 27, son of Abdul<br />
Khalek of Rupkhara village,<br />
Jakir Hossain, 26, son of<br />
Joynal of Gotitha village,<br />
Afsar Ali, 55, son of Insaf Ali<br />
of Sreerampur village,<br />
Shafiqul Islam, 38, son of<br />
Sarkar of Nimgacchi village,<br />
Abdul Hannan, 37, son of<br />
Iman Ali of Bhuiyat village<br />
in the upazila.<br />
Tipped off, a team of Rab-<br />
12 conducted a drive in the<br />
area and arrested six people<br />
while they were gambling on<br />
Monday night.<br />
Photo : Star Mail
METRO<br />
THURSDAY, JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
3<br />
DUJ and BFUJ staged demo demanding trial of journalist Rubel Khan's daughter Raifa Khan.<br />
Photo : TBT<br />
Building<br />
construction<br />
in cantonment<br />
areas cannot<br />
be delayed<br />
SANGSAD BHABAN :<br />
Parliament passed 'The<br />
Cantonment Bill, <strong>2018</strong>' on<br />
Wednesdayincorporating<br />
tougher punishment for<br />
delaying the construction of<br />
buildings and breaking<br />
traffic rules in cantonment<br />
areas, reports UNB.<br />
Law Minister Anisul Huq<br />
piloted the bill in the House<br />
and it was passed by voice<br />
vote.<br />
The amount of various<br />
fines and fees for 43<br />
different subjects, including<br />
exceeding the deadline of<br />
building construction,<br />
violation of traffic rules,<br />
begging with distorted<br />
organs, carrying arms and<br />
firecrackers in the areas<br />
under Cantonment Board<br />
have been substantially<br />
increased from the ones<br />
described in the 90-year-old<br />
law.<br />
Emergency<br />
power plants<br />
to get more<br />
time for<br />
completion;<br />
bill placed<br />
SANGSAD BHABAN : The<br />
'Speedy Supply of Power<br />
and Energy (Special<br />
Provision) (Amendment)<br />
Bill, <strong>2018</strong>' was placed in<br />
Parliamenton<br />
Wednesdayextending some<br />
provisions of the existing<br />
law by three years, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
The bill seeks the<br />
amendment as the<br />
construction of power<br />
plants for ensuring quick<br />
supply of power and energy<br />
in the country is yet to<br />
complete. State Minister for<br />
Power and Energy Nasrul<br />
Hamid Bipu placed the Bill<br />
and it was sent to the<br />
respective parliamentary<br />
standing committee for<br />
further scrutiny. The<br />
committee was asked to<br />
submit its reportwithin<br />
three days. With the<br />
passage of the bill, some<br />
provisions of the Speedy<br />
Supply of Power and Energy<br />
(Special Provision) Act-<br />
2010 will remain effective<br />
tillOctober 11, 2021.<br />
Elected student<br />
union essential for<br />
universities: Noor<br />
DHAKA : Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzanman Noor<br />
yesterday said elected student unions should exist in the<br />
universities to run the cultural and co-curricular<br />
activities properly, reports BSS.<br />
"Cultural activities are hardly seen at the universities<br />
including the Dhaka University (DU). One of the main<br />
reasons is there is no student unions or these are inactive<br />
in the educational institutions," Noor commented while<br />
addressing a book launching ceremony at the DU.<br />
Minister Asaduzzanman Noor unveiled the cover of the<br />
book titled "Dhaka Bishwabidyaloy Sangskritik O<br />
Shikkha Sahayak Karmakanda: Ekal O Shekal" (Cultural<br />
and Co-curricular Activities in Dhaka university: Past<br />
and Present) edited by Professor Dr Shaikh Abdus<br />
Salam.<br />
National and Emeritus Prof of DU Dr Anisuzzaman<br />
presided over the function organised by Center for<br />
Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences<br />
(CARASS) at its auditorium.<br />
Noor said cultural activities were not only<br />
entertainment but also a means of political movements<br />
at their time.<br />
"Government started working with the universities<br />
intensively to enhance their cultural activities. We will<br />
spread this in future," said the minister.<br />
Anisuzzaman said, "Our first duty should return back<br />
elected student unions so that they can return back the<br />
glorious past co-curricular activities. And the second is<br />
to tell the political parties to control their student wings<br />
as Dhaka University will not be the center of terrorism."<br />
DU Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Samad<br />
said cultural activities should enhance in the educational<br />
institutions to uproot militancy.<br />
Dean of the Faculty of Arts Dr Abu Md Delwar Hosain,<br />
Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Dr Sadeka Halim,<br />
DU Alumni Association President AK Azad and Dr<br />
Shaikh Abdus Salam spoke at the programme.<br />
Countrymen to<br />
reject corrupt<br />
politicians: Hanif<br />
SYLHET : Awami League Joint General Secretary<br />
Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif. MP, on Wednesday said the<br />
people of the country are in favour of development and<br />
they will reject the corrupt politicians during polls.<br />
"The people of Khulna and Gazipur cities rejected the<br />
corrupt politicians in city corporation polls and they will<br />
also reject such politicians in the upcoming Sylhet City<br />
Corporation election," he said, addressing an extended<br />
meeting of Sylhet district and city units of Awami League<br />
at Dakkhin Surma.<br />
AL Organizing Secretaries Ahmad Hossain and<br />
Advocate Misbah Uddin Siraj addressed the meeting as<br />
special guests with AL district unit President and Zilla<br />
Parishad Chairman Advocate Luthfur Rahman in the<br />
chair.<br />
Hanif said there is no apprehension regarding the city<br />
polls as the leaders and activists of AL are more united<br />
now.<br />
He said, "We will win in the city polls as well as in the<br />
upcoming general elections under the dynamic<br />
leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."<br />
AL city unit President and Sylhet City Corporation<br />
candidate Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, Vice President<br />
Gazi Jafar Sadeq Koyes, lawmaker Mahmud Us Samad<br />
Chowdhury, former lawmaker Jebunneccha Haque and<br />
former permanent representative to United Nations Dr<br />
AK Abdul Momen, among others, addressed the<br />
meeting.<br />
Executive<br />
Chairman of<br />
Binary University<br />
meets DU VC<br />
DHAKA : Executive<br />
Chairman of Malaysian<br />
Binary University of<br />
Management<br />
and<br />
Entrepreneurship Prof<br />
Joseph Adaikalam yesterday<br />
met Dhaka University (DU)<br />
Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr<br />
Md Akhtaruzzaman, reports<br />
BSS<br />
Prof Dr Asif, Dean of Binary<br />
Graduate School of the<br />
Malaysian University, and<br />
Prof Tahmina Akhtar of DU's<br />
Institute of Social Welfare and<br />
Research were present on this<br />
occasion.<br />
During the meeting at the<br />
DU VC's office, they discussed<br />
the possibilities of taking joint<br />
collaborative academic and<br />
research programmes on<br />
management, information<br />
technology<br />
and<br />
entrepreneurship by the<br />
University of Dhaka and the<br />
Binary University of<br />
Management<br />
and<br />
Entrepreneurship, Malaysia.<br />
They stressed producing<br />
skilled graduates for making<br />
Bangladesh a developed<br />
country. They also discussed<br />
the possibilities of<br />
establishment of "Asian<br />
Leadership Institute" at DU<br />
with the financial support<br />
from Malaysia to develop<br />
leadership quality of<br />
graduates.<br />
They have agreed to sign a<br />
Memorandum<br />
of<br />
Understanding (MoU) in this<br />
regard soon.<br />
AL calls central<br />
working committee<br />
meeting on Sunday<br />
DHAKA : The Awami League<br />
Central Working Committee<br />
(ALCWC) will hold a joint<br />
meeting with presidents and<br />
general secretaries of AL<br />
associate bodies, AL Dhaka<br />
city North and South units,<br />
Dhaka district and other<br />
districts around Dhaka on<br />
Sunday.<br />
The meeting will be held at<br />
AL's new office building in<br />
city's Bangabandhu Avenue<br />
here at 11 am, said a press<br />
release. The AL lawmakers as<br />
well as the presidents and<br />
general secretaries of Dhaka,<br />
Manikganj, Gazipur,<br />
Narayanganj and<br />
Munshiganj districts will be<br />
present in the meeting.<br />
AL General Secretary and<br />
Road Transport and Bridges<br />
Minister Obaidul Quader.<br />
A press conference was held by Progotisil Chhatra Jote at Madhur Canteen of Dhaka University<br />
yesterday.<br />
Photo : TBT<br />
US celebrates<br />
242nd anniversary<br />
of independence<br />
DHAKA : US Ambassador in<br />
Dhaka Marcia Bernicat on<br />
Wednesday said America's<br />
Independence Day is a<br />
reminder of the enduring<br />
truth that a people can<br />
design their own future - one<br />
that constantly seeks to<br />
ensure the right to life,<br />
liberty and the pursuit of<br />
happiness for all its citizens,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
It is not just the<br />
anniversary of the birth of<br />
their nation, she said in a<br />
message marking the day.<br />
"Each year, on the 4th day<br />
of July, we celebrate<br />
American democratic<br />
principles, which have<br />
helped shape the world.<br />
Before he died on the 50th<br />
anniversary of our<br />
independence, Thomas<br />
Jefferson, the author of the<br />
Declaration<br />
of<br />
Independence, anticipated<br />
our celebration today,<br />
writing, "For ourselves, let<br />
the annual return of this day<br />
forever refresh our<br />
recollections of these rights,<br />
and an undiminished<br />
devotion to them," she said.<br />
Today, Bernicat said, she<br />
is happy to celebrate with<br />
these rights and founding<br />
principles that have endured<br />
for 242 years-these<br />
universal rights and<br />
principles that, in many<br />
ways, connect two countries<br />
and serve the common<br />
welfare of our citizens and<br />
the world.<br />
"Thank you for celebrating<br />
our Independence Day with<br />
us," she said.<br />
500 mmcfd LNG to go<br />
into national grid by<br />
this month: Adviser<br />
DHAKA : The government will start the<br />
supply of 500 mmcfd liquefied natural<br />
gas (LNG) into the national grid by this<br />
month to meet the country's growing<br />
power demand and spur the industrial<br />
growth, reports UNB.<br />
Prime Minister's Energy Adviser Dr<br />
Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury came up with<br />
the announcement on Wednesday while<br />
speaking at a dialogue on energy sector.<br />
"We can assure you that the imported<br />
LNG will come to our system by this<br />
month and it'll play an important role in<br />
our economy," he said.<br />
Policy Research Institute (PRI) in<br />
collaboration with Asian Infrastructure<br />
Investment Bank (AIIB) arranged the<br />
dialogue titled 'Determining Bangladesh's<br />
energy infrastructure needs for today and<br />
tomorrow' at a city hotel.<br />
Dr Elahi urged the entrepreneurs and<br />
investors to come up with plans for<br />
setting up new industries as the LNG will<br />
help reduce the crisis of primary source of<br />
fuel.<br />
He said the government is not spending<br />
any money for LNG as the private sector<br />
is investing around Tk half a billion for its<br />
import.<br />
The energy adviser said the first LNGladen<br />
ship has remained anchored at the<br />
floating storage refueling unit (FSRU)<br />
terminal located at Moheshkhali Island in<br />
the Bay of Bengal. "It's taking time to add<br />
the LNG to the national grid due to strong<br />
current in the bay and some other<br />
problems."<br />
He said they will conduct a test run of<br />
the LNG supply to the national grid by on<br />
People from all walks of life pay respect to language movement veteran Dr Halima Khatun at Central<br />
Shaheed Minar.<br />
Photo : TBT<br />
Bill passed<br />
to give BMD<br />
legal shape<br />
SANGSAD BHABAN : A bill<br />
titled, 'Abhawa Ain, <strong>2018</strong>',<br />
first such legal framework in<br />
the country to deal with the<br />
issues relating to the<br />
meteorological activities, was<br />
passed in Parliamenton<br />
Wednesday, reports UNB.<br />
The Bill which was placed<br />
by Law MinisterAnisul Huq<br />
in the House on April 8 was<br />
passed by voice vote.<br />
Once enacted, the law will<br />
give the Bangladesh<br />
Meteorological Department<br />
(BMD) a legal shape.<br />
The law sorted the<br />
activities and services of the<br />
department, which mainly<br />
deals with the forecasting the<br />
natural disasters and<br />
everyday weather patterns.<br />
The proposed law has also<br />
defined the term<br />
'meteorology' and<br />
'meteorological<br />
phenomenon', tsunami,<br />
earthquake and other<br />
natural disasters.<br />
It has defined the eligibility<br />
of the persons to be<br />
considered as the<br />
meteorological scientists.<br />
According to the Bill, all<br />
atmospheric events<br />
happening within the space<br />
and beyond will be<br />
considered as the<br />
meteorological henomenon.<br />
Under the proposed law,<br />
the BMD will have the<br />
authority to take training and<br />
research programmes for the<br />
capacity building of its<br />
manpower.<br />
GD-894/18 (3 x 3)<br />
Iqvmv-RtZt-252/18<br />
GD-898/18 (4 x 3)<br />
July 15.<br />
Dr Elahi said the government has<br />
already installed a pipeline from<br />
Moheshkhali to Anwara in Chhattagram<br />
for the LNG supply.<br />
He said they are installing another<br />
pipeline for wider gas supply as three<br />
more ships to arrive in Chittagong with<br />
the LNG.<br />
The country's gas supply is likely to<br />
increase by 500 million cubic feet per day<br />
(mmcfd) when the LNG will be there in<br />
the system. "The people of the entire<br />
country will be benefited when the LNG<br />
will add to the national grid," the adviser<br />
added.<br />
Currently, the country's gas supply is<br />
about 2,550 mmcfd against a demand for<br />
over 3,000 mmcfd.<br />
About the pricing of LNG, Dr Elahi said<br />
they are working on it and the price will<br />
be tolerable. "We'll gradually increase its<br />
price. We hope the government will give<br />
us support to manage the deficit"<br />
He laid emphasis on the prudent use of<br />
power and bringing a change in people's<br />
habit of unnecessary wasting of<br />
electricity. "We should be very<br />
responsible in using electricity ....we<br />
shouldn't waste it."<br />
"We should also look for a smart grid<br />
system so that we can allocate power for<br />
per household to reduce its wastage and<br />
ensure equity," the energy adviser said.<br />
He said a rich person should not allow<br />
consuming power as per his or her will.<br />
"The allocation of power won't be<br />
determined by pocket. It should be<br />
determined by the technology."<br />
Dbœq‡bi MYZš¿<br />
†kL nvwmbvi g~jgš¿
EDITORIAL<br />
THURSDAY,<br />
JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
4<br />
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam<br />
Telephone: +8802-9104683-84, Fax: 9127103<br />
e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com<br />
Thursday, July 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
The next golden goose<br />
A<br />
lthough<br />
the garments sector was able to cope<br />
with the effects of a lingering global recession<br />
and growing workers induced troubles, under<br />
the circumstances one should not realistically pin too<br />
much hope on the sole garments sector to keep<br />
economic growth and employment creation<br />
reasonable in the context of Bangladesh. Bangladesh<br />
requires, specially, the rise of some other sector<br />
rapidly to offset the losses which are already noted in<br />
the manpower export sector to maintain its<br />
macroeconomic stability.<br />
There are limitations to the country's traditional<br />
economic sectors in rapidly expanding or increasing<br />
earnings. For example, no substantial increase in<br />
earnings from export-oriented jute, leather and<br />
frozen foods industries can be expected. The same<br />
have to go through the whole hog of investments in<br />
their capital machinery, benefit from favourable<br />
demand situation in importing countries and other<br />
related factors, to be able to expand in the medium<br />
and longer terms when what Bangladesh badly<br />
requires is the fastest development of some other<br />
sector in the 'short' term with least capital<br />
investment to face up to its present economic<br />
difficulties.<br />
Out of the emerging new sectors, shipbuilding<br />
shows the possibility of turning into a major sector<br />
but that too could happen in the mid and longer<br />
terms. Only information technology (IT) related<br />
outsourcing activities seem to indicate any<br />
immediate major earning prospect for the country in<br />
the 'short' term which is the imperative.<br />
Investments in IT infrastructures would be<br />
relatively much less and already the country<br />
possesses considerable capacities in the sector. Only<br />
proper policy implementation by the government<br />
and enabling supports, can lead to the taking-off of<br />
this factor at the soonest.<br />
The already existing facilities for IT outsourcing<br />
activities in the country have been pointing to its<br />
potentials. But regrettably the same are not being<br />
exploited fully as these should have been.<br />
Bureaucratic impediments are complained to be the<br />
main impediment facing the growth of outsourcing<br />
in the IT sector. In a recent study by the world<br />
famous IT organization, Gartner, Bangladesh was<br />
included among 30 countries with the most IT<br />
outsourcing possibilities and in the Asian region its<br />
position was 9th in this regard. According to a recent<br />
World Bank report more then 8,000 Bangladeshi<br />
young software developers had found jobs in the<br />
industry in the past two years in Bangladesh and<br />
nearly 1,000 of them were working in Denmark-<br />
Bangladesh IT joint ventures. Industry sources said<br />
Bangladeshi IT industry had also developed business<br />
relations with clients in Japan and other parts in the<br />
world .<br />
Safquat Haider, a director of the Bangladesh<br />
Association of Software and Information Services,<br />
said the IT potentials of Bangladesh had increasingly<br />
been pointed out by industry monitors globally. 'The<br />
IT industry is warming up for a breakthrough, as<br />
global clients are calling local companies increasingly<br />
and a significant local market is also being readied,'<br />
said Haider, whose IT company, CIPROCO,<br />
develops telecommunication, geographic<br />
information system and enterprise resource<br />
planning solutions for clients at home and abroad.<br />
It appears that only a greater supportive role from<br />
the government can lead to a decisive breakthrough<br />
for IT outsourcing activities in Bangladesh. It is<br />
relevant to mention here that the renowned Intel<br />
company was allowed in 20<strong>05</strong> to train 5,000 IT<br />
teachers in Vietnam and later on to invest about a<br />
billion dollars in the IT sector of that country. This<br />
allowed the IT sector of Vietnam to flourish very<br />
quickly. It is now in a leading position for<br />
outsourcing from the Asia region.<br />
A far greater offer than Intel in Vietnam was made<br />
to Bangladesh by Microsoft's Chief Bill Gates when<br />
he also visited Bangladesh when a BNP led<br />
government was in power and offered to the<br />
Bangladesh government a proposal to train 10,000<br />
IT teachers and train up 0.1 million trainee workers<br />
for IT outsourcing tasks. But nothing happened<br />
afterwards. It appears that the bureaucracy in<br />
Bangladesh characteristically reacted to this<br />
wonderful offer by shelving it and forgetting it. But<br />
Bangladesh would be well set on its way to become a<br />
formidable IT outsourcing power by now if this very<br />
promising offer from fabled Bill Gates was taken up<br />
and positively acted upon in time.<br />
Like the golden goose, the IT sector could be laying the<br />
golden eggs by now to secure the country's economy from<br />
the threats confronting it from shrinking opportunities for<br />
our migrant workers and growing squeeze on the<br />
employment conditions in the country.<br />
A booming IT outsourcing industry could absorb<br />
millions of educated and even semi-educated young<br />
people and create alternatives in the horizon of<br />
employment when employment prospects abroad<br />
are becoming tougher and bleaker. It has been<br />
estimated that out of the emerging sectors in the<br />
economy, IT outsourcing holds out the most promise<br />
to even surpass the garments and manpower export<br />
sectors at the earliest provided it is not frustrated by<br />
bureaucratic obstructions.<br />
The present Awami League led government is taking a<br />
lot of interest in the IT sector. The same should be<br />
reflected in the fastest establishment of an IT park at<br />
Kaliakaur near Dhaka. It should also address many<br />
bright suggestions from our experts that have been<br />
made for the development of our IT sector.<br />
Be thankful for the Brexit deadline: On everything else May procrastinates<br />
What's the naughtiest thing<br />
British Prime Minister Theresa<br />
May has done? She would have<br />
us believe that running through fields of<br />
wheat was her greatest misdemeanour,<br />
but really a far worse habit that she still<br />
regularly indulges in is to kick things into<br />
the long grass for as long as possible.<br />
May's tendency to procrastinate is most<br />
obvious in the way she has handled the<br />
Brexit negotiations, delaying important<br />
Cabinet discussions on Britain's future<br />
trading relationship with the European<br />
Union (EU) for months. But her<br />
predilection for putting off difficult<br />
decisions is actually more dangerous<br />
when it comes to domestic policy,<br />
because she has no deadline by which<br />
she must make up her mind.<br />
There is no Michel Barnier breathing<br />
down the prime minister's neck on social<br />
care, for instance. The sector is on its<br />
knees and has no long-term funding<br />
settlement despite decades of promises<br />
from politicians. Every day, many<br />
hospitals have hundreds of patients who<br />
are medically fit for discharge yet have no<br />
social care package in place so they can<br />
leave. Care providers are giving up and<br />
local authorities are watching the black<br />
holes in their budgets yawn wider.<br />
May's allies insist she is acutely aware<br />
of the problems in the sector, given that<br />
she was the prime minister who tried to<br />
use a general election manifesto to solve<br />
the crisis. But of course, that 2017<br />
manifesto fell apart, and the experience<br />
of the "dementia tax" has made leaving<br />
the matter well alone far more tempting.<br />
Health ministers are desperate for a<br />
solution soon, as is National Health<br />
Service's (NHS) England chief Simon<br />
BY ISABEL HARDMAN<br />
Stevens. But though May and the British<br />
Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, were<br />
able to cajole the Treasury into a £20<br />
billion (Dh96.8 billion) settlement for<br />
the NHS over the next five years, none of<br />
that money was earmarked for social<br />
care. The chancellor, Philip Hammond,<br />
is adamant that social care must be<br />
discussed in the usual way in a spending<br />
review, alongside all the other<br />
departments vying for cash such as<br />
defence. So there is now a conflict<br />
between those ministers who don't think<br />
social care can wait much longer, and<br />
those who believe Hunt's department<br />
has gained more than enough money<br />
already.<br />
That most of the Cabinet are<br />
demanding more money isn't really<br />
May's fault: Many of her ministers are<br />
having to deal with the legacy of cuts<br />
made under David Cameron's<br />
government. There is much private<br />
frustration in the departments of Health<br />
and of Local Government - which also<br />
has a responsibility for social care - that<br />
local authority budgets were plundered<br />
in the 2010 spending review. Old cuts<br />
have left deep wounds, and ministers<br />
have grown tired of applying sticking<br />
plasters.<br />
But the prime minister is lacking in<br />
sufficient authority and will to tell those<br />
loudly campaigning for more money,<br />
such as the defence secretary, Gavin<br />
Williamson, to keep quiet and negotiate<br />
in private, as Hunt did with the NHS<br />
cash. And while giving the NHS more<br />
money is an obvious piece of good<br />
political public relations, social care<br />
reform isn't nearly so easy, as it involves<br />
telling a public who largely think such<br />
provision is free that they are going to<br />
have to spend their own money, either<br />
through taxation or when they access the<br />
care. One trick Stevens in particular<br />
seems keen to pull is a little-noted line in<br />
the NHS funding settlement that the<br />
DR. MAJID RAFIZADEH<br />
government will "ensure that social care<br />
doesn't impose additional pressure on<br />
the NHS". He remarked this weekend<br />
that the "obvious implication" of this is<br />
there will be more money coming for<br />
social care. It's not clear the Treasury<br />
knows what it has signed up to, let alone<br />
whether it will honour this commitment.<br />
The sector has been waiting for a green<br />
paper on social care, but over the past<br />
year the regular conversations I've had<br />
with those working on it have seen it<br />
grow greener and greener: Not so much<br />
long grass as deep forest. Hunt recently<br />
admitted that this document had been<br />
delayed until the autumn, and it is my<br />
understanding that the paper will set out<br />
a number of options for consultation,<br />
rather than a preferred option with a<br />
definite timetable for implementation, as<br />
campaigners have called for.<br />
This is typical May: Aides report the<br />
prime minister will take ages to ensure<br />
she knows every single detail about a<br />
policy before even starting on the<br />
decision-making process, which only<br />
concludes at the very last minute. This<br />
week she plans to stage a lock-in at<br />
Chequers in order to get her ministers to<br />
agree on key aspects of Brexit. She's only<br />
adopted this tough approach because<br />
she simply has no time left in the<br />
negotiations with the EU.<br />
Time ran out for social care a long<br />
while back, but just as those wheat fields<br />
were apparently irresistible to the young<br />
prime minister, so is the long grass that<br />
helps her avoid making the decisions her<br />
job requires.<br />
Source : Gulf news<br />
Iranian regime should be held accountable for its terrorist activities<br />
Europeans officials have foiled a<br />
terrorist attack targeting a large<br />
convention in Paris called "Free<br />
Iran," which I attended. An Iranian<br />
diplomat and several other individuals of<br />
Iranian origin were arrested in France,<br />
Belgium and Germany on Monday. This<br />
is the first time that an Iranian official has<br />
been arrested for such a blatant act<br />
related to orchestrating a terrorist attack.<br />
Why would Iran get engaged in such<br />
activity? Most likely, from the Iranian<br />
regime's perspective, such a large-scale<br />
terror attack would have eliminated<br />
many of the regime's opponents once and<br />
for all, if it had proceeded according to<br />
plan. After all, the regime was successful<br />
in holding onto power after Supreme<br />
Leader Ruhollah Khomeini's 1988 fatwa<br />
"led to the killing of 30,000" people who<br />
opposed it, according to his former<br />
deputy Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali<br />
Montazeri.<br />
Tens of thousands of dissidents and<br />
human rights defenders attended the<br />
Free Iran convention. Many European,<br />
American and Middle Eastern leaders<br />
and influential people were there,<br />
including former US House of<br />
Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich,<br />
ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani,<br />
former Canadian Foreign Minister John<br />
Baird, French-Colombian politician and<br />
ex-senator Ingrid Betancourt, US author<br />
and chairman of the Center for Equal<br />
Opportunity Linda Chavez, and Italy's<br />
Nowadays, Britain's words and<br />
actions on the world stage are so at<br />
odds with its values that one must<br />
wonder what has happened to the<br />
country. Since the June 2016 referendum<br />
favoring an exit from the European<br />
Union (Brexit), British foreign policy<br />
seems to have all but collapsed - and even<br />
to have disowned its past and its<br />
governing ideas.<br />
Worse, this has coincided with the<br />
emergence of US President Donald<br />
Trump's erratic administration, which is<br />
pursuing goals that are completely<br />
detached from those of Britain - and of<br />
Europe generally. Trump's abandonment<br />
of the Iran nuclear deal, combined with<br />
Russian President Vladimir Putin's<br />
increasing belligerence and Chinese<br />
President Xi Jinping's growing<br />
ambitions, indicates that the world is<br />
entering an ever-more confrontational<br />
and dangerous phase.<br />
Trump's evident lack of personal<br />
chemistry with British Prime Minister<br />
Theresa May - and the Anglophobia of his<br />
new national security adviser, John<br />
Bolton - ensured that this was never going<br />
to be the best of times for the United<br />
Kingdom. But it also doesn't help that<br />
generations of British foreign-policy<br />
hands have regarded themselves as<br />
ancient Greeks to America's Rome.<br />
To a Brit like myself, this analogy<br />
always seemed too confident. Having<br />
lived in the United States, I suspected that<br />
American leaders did not heed the advice<br />
of British diplomats nearly as much as<br />
those diplomats liked to think.<br />
Still, if ever there was a moment for<br />
Britain to sprinkle some of its<br />
That most of the Cabinet are demanding more money<br />
isn't really May's fault: Many of her ministers are having<br />
to deal with the legacy of cuts made under David<br />
Cameron's government. There is much private frustration<br />
in the departments of Health and of Local Government -<br />
which also has a responsibility for social care - that local<br />
authority budgets were plundered in the 2010 spending<br />
review. Old cuts have left deep wounds, and ministers<br />
have grown tired of applying sticking plasters.<br />
former Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi di<br />
Sant'Agata. Without a doubt, Iran is now<br />
going to use its highly bogus diplomatic<br />
skills and smiles to divert attention from<br />
this heinous act. Iran's technocrat foreign<br />
minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif, has<br />
already dismissed the issue, stating on<br />
Twitter: "How convenient: Just as we<br />
embark on a presidential visit to Europe,<br />
an alleged Iranian operation and its<br />
'plotters' arrested. Iran unequivocally<br />
condemns all violence & terror anywhere,<br />
and is ready to work with all concerned to<br />
uncover what is a sinister false flag ploy."<br />
But it is also important to point out that<br />
this terrorist plot ought not to come as a<br />
surprise. The Iranian regime is listed as<br />
the top state sponsor of terrorism. Its ties<br />
to extremist and terrorist groups such as<br />
Al-Qaeda are well substantiated. Robust<br />
The end of global Britain<br />
characteristic calm and resolve over<br />
world affairs, that moment is now. And<br />
yet the UK appears to have checked out.<br />
Since World War II, Britain's close<br />
relationships with continental Europe<br />
and the US have served as the two<br />
anchors of its foreign policy. But now,<br />
both lines have in essence been severed.<br />
If ever there was a moment for Britain<br />
to sprinkle some of its characteristic calm<br />
and resolve over world affairs, that<br />
moment is now. And yet the UK appears<br />
to have checked out<br />
At the same time, the British<br />
government's all-consuming preoccupation<br />
with untying the Gordian knot of Brexit has<br />
blinded it to what is happening in the rest of<br />
the world. And its blinkered view seems<br />
certain to persist.<br />
Negotiating the terms of Britain's<br />
withdrawal from the EU is likely to take<br />
years, and the outcome will inevitably<br />
have implications for the country's unity,<br />
given the intractable issue of the<br />
Northern Irish border. Even if that issue<br />
can be sorted out, a campaign in Scotland<br />
to link it to the EU rather than to London<br />
evidence, including a US federal court<br />
ruling, found "Iran furnished material<br />
and direct support for the 9/11 terrorists."<br />
Eight of the hijackers passed through Iran<br />
before heading to the US.<br />
Iran also provided funds, logistical<br />
support and ammunition to Al-Qaeda<br />
leaders, sheltering several of them in<br />
exchange for attacks on US interests. The<br />
But it is also important to point out that this<br />
terrorist plot ought not to come as a surprise. The<br />
Iranian regime is listed as the top state sponsor of<br />
terrorism. Its ties to extremist and terrorist groups<br />
such as Al-Qaeda are well substantiated. Robust<br />
evidence, including a US federal court ruling,<br />
found "Iran furnished material and direct support<br />
for the 9/11 terrorists." Eight of the hijackers<br />
passed through Iran before heading to the US.<br />
Iranian regime continued to support Al-<br />
Qaeda in Iraq and other countries with<br />
the goal of pushing out forces that are<br />
rivals to Tehran. The existence of this<br />
alliance clearly explains why Al-Qaeda<br />
has never attacked Iran.<br />
The Iranian regime also attempted to<br />
assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the<br />
US with a bomb at a well-known<br />
restaurant in Washington in 2011.<br />
Without a doubt, Iran is now going to<br />
will continue to command the attention<br />
of the government and civil service for the<br />
foreseeable future.<br />
At any rate, the promise of a "global<br />
Britain" freed from the chains of the EU<br />
was never more than idle talk and<br />
sloganeering. At the recent<br />
Commonwealth Heads of Government<br />
Meeting in London, business and<br />
political leaders from Commonwealth<br />
countries around the world heard plenty<br />
of Brexiteer bluster, but little concrete talk<br />
of future trade deals. India is one country<br />
that could potentially be a major UK trade<br />
Likewise, most of those outside the "Leave" camp<br />
regard the Brexiteers' aspiration for Britain to lead<br />
the vast "Anglosphere" into a brave new world as a<br />
comical delusion. To be sure, the show of US and<br />
European support after the alleged nerve-agent<br />
attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in<br />
Salisbury, England, might suggest that Britain is<br />
still punching above its weight.<br />
partner after Brexit. The problem is that<br />
Indians see Britain and Europe as one<br />
market. To them, Britain's quest to adopt<br />
its own rules and standards amounts to a<br />
frivolous inconvenience. Before<br />
expanding trade and investment with<br />
Britain, India will most likely pursue a<br />
deeper relationship with the EU. Indeed,<br />
India never saw Britain as a particular<br />
champion of its interests inside the EU.<br />
Likewise, most of those outside the<br />
"Leave" camp regard the Brexiteers'<br />
aspiration for Britain to lead the vast<br />
use its highly bogus diplomatic skills and<br />
smiles to divert attention from this<br />
heinous act<br />
Many people have been killed by the<br />
Iranian regime in terrorist attacks.<br />
Examples of such destructive behavior<br />
include the 1983 suicide bombing in<br />
Lebanon that killed 241 American<br />
servicemen (220 Marines, 18 sailors and<br />
three soldiers); the Khobar Towers<br />
bombing of 1996; and the 2000 attack on<br />
the USS Cole, with the direct support and<br />
involvement of Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda.<br />
The other issue to pay attention to is<br />
linked to the arrested Iranian diplomat,<br />
who was residing in a foreign embassy<br />
and had been enjoying diplomatic<br />
immunity. His involvement in the foiled<br />
terrorist attack must be considered to be<br />
so grave that the Austrian Foreign<br />
Ministry gave the Iranian regime an<br />
ultimatum and pointed out: "The Iranian<br />
diplomat will be denied diplomatic status<br />
within 48 hours because of the existence<br />
of a European arrest warrant."<br />
The international community should<br />
be aware that it is believed the Iranian<br />
regime uses its embassies and consulates<br />
in foreign countries as cells to promote<br />
extremism and support militias and<br />
proxies. For example, an Iranian<br />
ambassador and 14 other diplomats were<br />
expelled from Kuwait last year over links<br />
to a "spy and terror" cell.<br />
Source: Arab news<br />
"Anglosphere" into a brave new world as<br />
a comical delusion. To be sure, the show<br />
of US and European support after the<br />
alleged nerve-agent attack on a former<br />
Russian spy and his daughter in<br />
Salisbury, England, might suggest that<br />
Britain is still punching above its weight.<br />
The coordinated expulsion of Russian<br />
spies from the EU and the United States<br />
was a victory for British diplomacy, and<br />
suspicions that the Russians were<br />
exploiting Britain's increasing isolation<br />
seem to have mobilized the North<br />
Atlantic Treaty Organization. But the<br />
larger truth is that the Russians are right:<br />
Britain is now Western Europe's weak<br />
link. Thus it is only a matter of time before<br />
Putin probes British weakness again.<br />
And, as if the old sin of turning a blind eye<br />
to Russian oligarchs laundering money<br />
through the UK were not problematic<br />
enough, the suicidal act of quitting the EU<br />
leaves Britain with fewer tools to combat<br />
Russian meddling in its affairs.<br />
Britain is losing its influence over EU<br />
cybersecurity and energy policies just as<br />
cyber-warfare and energy geopolitics are<br />
becoming key fronts for hostile state and<br />
non-state actors. Worse, at the same time<br />
that Britain is giving up its seat at the EU<br />
table, it also seems to be giving up its<br />
liberal-democratic values. During the<br />
Brexit referendum campaign, the Leave<br />
camp openly stoked hostility toward<br />
outsiders. And the recent "Windrush"<br />
scandal over the government's poor<br />
treatment of Caribbean-born legal<br />
residents has reprised the illiberal legacy of<br />
May's previous tenure at the Home Office.<br />
Source : Asia times
HEALTH<br />
THURSDAY,<br />
JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
5<br />
Artificial ovary to enable<br />
women conceive after<br />
chemotherapy<br />
We make up for some of the calories we burn during exercise, but not all.<br />
Photo: iStock<br />
Exercise results in weight<br />
loss, if done enough<br />
Gretchen Reynolds<br />
Can working out help us to drop<br />
pounds after all? A provocative new<br />
study involving overweight men and<br />
women suggests that it probably can,<br />
undercutting a widespread notion that<br />
exercise, by itself, is worthless for<br />
weight loss.<br />
But the findings also indicate that, to<br />
benefit, we may need to exercise quite a<br />
bit. In theory, exercise should<br />
contribute substantially to weight loss.<br />
It burns calories. If we do not replace<br />
them, our bodies should achieve<br />
negative energy balance, use stored fat<br />
for fuel and shed pounds.<br />
But life and our metabolisms are not<br />
predictable or fair, as multiple exercise<br />
studies involving people and animals<br />
show. In these experiments,<br />
participants lose less weight than<br />
would be expected, given the energy<br />
they expend during exercise.<br />
The studies generally have concluded<br />
that the exercisers had compensated<br />
for the energy they had expended<br />
during exercise, either by eating more<br />
or moving less throughout the day.<br />
These compensations were often<br />
unwitting but effective.<br />
Some researchers had begun to<br />
wonder, though, if the amount of<br />
exercise might matter. Many of the past<br />
human experiments had involved<br />
about 30 minutes a day or so of<br />
moderate exercise, which is the amount<br />
generally recommended by current<br />
guidelines to improve health.<br />
But what if people exercised more,<br />
some researchers asked. Would they<br />
still compensate for all the calories that<br />
they burned. To find out, scientists<br />
from the University of North Dakota<br />
and other institutions decided to invite<br />
31 overweight, sedentary men and<br />
women to a lab for measurements of<br />
their resting metabolic rate and body<br />
composition.<br />
The volunteers also recounted in<br />
detail what they had eaten the previous<br />
day and agreed to wear a sophisticated<br />
activity tracker for a week. The<br />
scientists then randomly divided them<br />
into groups. One group began a<br />
program of walking briskly five times a<br />
week on a treadmill until they had<br />
burned 300 calories, which took most<br />
of them about 30 minutes. (The<br />
sessions were individualized.)<br />
The men and women in the group<br />
that had burned 1,500 calories a week<br />
with exercise proved to have<br />
compensated for nearly 950 of those<br />
calories, the numbers indicated.<br />
Interestingly, those in the other<br />
group had also compensated for some<br />
of the calories they had burned, and to<br />
almost the exact same extent as those<br />
who had exercised less, adding back<br />
about 1,000 calories a week, the<br />
calculations showed.<br />
But since they had expended 3,000<br />
calories a week, they had wound up<br />
with a weekly deficit of about 2,000<br />
calories from exercise and lost fat, the<br />
researchers concluded. The findings<br />
were published in the American<br />
Journal of Physiology-Regulatory,<br />
Integrative and Comparative<br />
Physiology. How the volunteers had<br />
compensated was not absolutely clear,<br />
says Kyle Flack, an assistant professor<br />
at the University of Kentucky, who<br />
conducted the experiment as part of his<br />
graduate research. People's resting<br />
metabolic rates had not changed<br />
during the study, he says, whichever<br />
group they had been in. Their activity<br />
monitors also showed few differences<br />
in how much or little they moved<br />
during the day.<br />
So the caloric compensation must<br />
have involved overeating, he says. But<br />
the volunteers did not think so. "Their<br />
food recall did not show differences" in<br />
how much they reported eating at the<br />
start and end of the study, Dr. Flack<br />
says.<br />
Over the course of the week, these<br />
volunteers burned 1,500 extra calories<br />
with their exercise program. The other<br />
group began working out for twice as<br />
long, burning 600 calories per session,<br />
or about 3,000 calories per week.<br />
The exercise program lasted for 12<br />
weeks. The researchers asked their<br />
volunteers not to change their diets or<br />
lifestyles during this time and to wear<br />
the activity monitors for a few days.<br />
After four months, everyone returned<br />
to the lab and repeated the original<br />
tests.<br />
The results must have been<br />
disconcerting for some of them. Those<br />
men and women who had burned<br />
about 1,500 calories a week with<br />
exercise turned out to have lost little if<br />
any body fat, the tests showed. Some<br />
were heavier. But most of those who<br />
had walked twice as much were thinner<br />
now. Twelve of them had shed at least 5<br />
percent of their body fat during the<br />
study. The researchers then used<br />
mathematical calculations, based on<br />
each person's fat loss (if any), to<br />
determine whether and by how much<br />
they had compensated for their<br />
exercise.<br />
Keep seeing the same doctor<br />
contributes in lower death rates<br />
Nice to see you again, doc.<br />
Seeing the same doctor doesn't just<br />
give you the comfort of a familiar face -<br />
it might save your life. Denis Pereira<br />
Gray of St Leonard's Medical Practice<br />
and colleagues at the University of<br />
Exeter, UK analysed the results of 22<br />
studies from nine countries with<br />
different health systems. Eighteen of<br />
the studies found that people who saw<br />
the same doctor over time had<br />
significantly lower death rates.<br />
Because the studies use different<br />
ways to measure continuity, it wasn't<br />
possible to get an overall estimate for<br />
how big the reduction in mortality is.<br />
One recent study looked at 396,838<br />
patients with diabetes in Taiwan. In<br />
those with a high level of continuity, the<br />
death rate was half as high as those<br />
with low continuity.<br />
The benefits of continuity were not<br />
limited to family doctors or GPs, but<br />
applied to specialist physicians,<br />
psychiatrists and surgeons too. The<br />
Photo: Hero Images<br />
relationship could be<br />
because people with poor<br />
health need to see more<br />
different doctors, but the<br />
studies tried to account for<br />
this.<br />
Studies have shown that<br />
patients who see the same<br />
doctor consistently have<br />
higher satisfaction, are<br />
more likely to follow<br />
medical advice, take up<br />
preventative care such as<br />
immunisations more often<br />
and have significantly<br />
fewer unnecessary<br />
hospital admissions.<br />
"When a patient sees a<br />
doctor they know and get<br />
on with, they talk more<br />
freely and give that doctor<br />
much more relevant<br />
information, sometimes<br />
quite<br />
personal<br />
information or anxieties<br />
they have, and the doctor<br />
can then tailor the advice<br />
and management plans<br />
much more subtly," says<br />
Pereira Gray.<br />
However, being able to<br />
give patients continuity is<br />
increasingly challenging<br />
because of a shortage of<br />
GPs. According to a recent<br />
study in England, the chance of seeing<br />
the same GP fell by 27 per cent between<br />
2012 and 2017.<br />
The importance of continuity is<br />
seriously underappreciated in health<br />
systems, says Pereira Gray. "It's seen in<br />
hospitals and general practices as a<br />
kind of convenience to give the patient<br />
they want to see," he says. "It's<br />
becoming clearer that this is about the<br />
quality of medical practice."<br />
Health Desk<br />
Scientists have taken<br />
further steps in creating<br />
an artificial ovary that<br />
could one day used to<br />
help women who have<br />
been left infertile after<br />
cancer treatment.<br />
Researchers from the<br />
Rigshospitalet in<br />
Copenhagen, Denmark,<br />
took ovarian tissue from<br />
cancer patients and<br />
stripped it of cells. They<br />
then transplanted this<br />
structure into mice and<br />
found that it could<br />
support the survival and<br />
growth of the follicles.<br />
Twenty follicles were<br />
transplanted in and a<br />
quarter of them survived<br />
for at least three weeks.<br />
It is hoped that this<br />
artificial ovary could be<br />
implanted back into<br />
women and restore their<br />
fertility after cancer<br />
treatment. "This is the<br />
first time that isolated<br />
human follicles have<br />
survived in a<br />
decellularised human<br />
scaffold," said Susanne<br />
Por, who presented the<br />
work at the European<br />
Society of Human<br />
Reproduction and<br />
Embryology (ESGRE)<br />
annual meeting in<br />
Barcelona today.<br />
Cancer treatments can<br />
often damage the<br />
ovaries, blocking the<br />
production of eggs and<br />
A scanning electron microscope image of a human ovary.<br />
making pregnancy<br />
impossible. Women<br />
diagnosed with cancer<br />
can have their eggs<br />
frozen. Sometimes,<br />
doctors may offer to<br />
remove or freeze all or<br />
part of an ovary for retransplantation<br />
after<br />
treatment. However,<br />
this runs the risk of<br />
reintroducing cancer<br />
cells, as some cancers<br />
can spread to the<br />
ovaries. An "artificial<br />
ovary" could reduce this<br />
risk.<br />
Nick Macklon, medical<br />
director at London<br />
Women's Clinic, said<br />
this is an "exciting<br />
development" but added<br />
that further research is<br />
needed to prove its<br />
usefulness in humans.<br />
Stuart Lavery,<br />
consultant gynaecologist<br />
at Hammersmith<br />
Hospital, said that if this<br />
is shown to be effective,<br />
it offers huge advantages<br />
over IVF and egg<br />
freezing.<br />
"Because potentially<br />
these small pieces of<br />
tissue will have<br />
thousands of eggs and<br />
clearly if it does work,<br />
there's the advantage of<br />
then getting pregnant<br />
the old-fashioned way,"<br />
says Lavery. Artificial<br />
ovaries could also one<br />
day help relieve women<br />
of some of the symptoms<br />
of the menopause.<br />
Marriage may be good for<br />
your heart<br />
Nicholas Bakalar<br />
Being married may reduce the risk of<br />
heart disease and cardiovascular<br />
death, a review of studies has found.<br />
Researchers pooled data on more than<br />
two million participants in 34 studies<br />
carried out in the United States,<br />
Britain, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Spain,<br />
Greece and eight other countries.<br />
They found that compared with<br />
married people, those who were<br />
unmarried - whether never married,<br />
widowed or divorced - were 42<br />
percent more likely to have some form<br />
of cardiovascular disease and 16<br />
percent more likely to have coronary<br />
heart disease. The unmarried also had<br />
a 43 percent increased likelihood of<br />
coronary heart disease death and a 55<br />
percent increased risk for death from<br />
stroke. Stroke risk was increased for<br />
the unmarried and divorced, but not<br />
for the widowed.<br />
The authors acknowledge that the<br />
study, published in Heart, has several<br />
weaknesses. While most analyses<br />
adjusted for multiple variables, these<br />
varied across studies, and some<br />
factors were not accounted for,<br />
including financial stability,<br />
medication adherence and social<br />
support. Being married may reduce<br />
the risk of heart disease and<br />
cardiovascular death, a review of<br />
studies has found.<br />
Researchers pooled data on more<br />
than two million participants in 34<br />
studies carried out in the United<br />
States, Britain, Japan, Russia,<br />
Sweden, Spain, Greece and eight other<br />
countries. They found that compared<br />
Being widowed, divorced or never married increases the risk of heart disease.<br />
Photo: Manfred Kag<br />
with married people, those who were<br />
unmarried - whether never married,<br />
widowed or divorced - were 42<br />
percent more likely to have some form<br />
of cardiovascular disease and 16<br />
percent more likely to have coronary<br />
heart disease. The unmarried also had<br />
a 43 percent increased likelihood of<br />
coronary heart disease death and a 55<br />
percent increased risk for death from<br />
stroke. Stroke risk was increased for<br />
the unmarried and divorced, but not<br />
for the widowed.<br />
The authors acknowledge that the<br />
study, published in Heart, has several<br />
weaknesses. While most analyses<br />
adjusted for multiple variables, these<br />
varied across studies, and some factors<br />
were not accounted for, including<br />
financial stability, medication<br />
adherence and social support.<br />
Photo: Collected
NATIONAL<br />
THURSDAY, JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
6<br />
Two-day cultural fest to<br />
begin in Gopalganj<br />
NAZRUL ISLAM, GOPALGANJ CORRESPONDENT<br />
A two day cultural festival will begin on 20th July in Gopalganj<br />
Shilpakala Academy. The cultural fest will include discussion,<br />
Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul Sangeet, poetry recitation, palli<br />
geeti, lalon geeti, and various other traditional songs.<br />
The decision was taken at a preparation meeting in<br />
Gopalganj circuit house auditorium on Wednesday. Deputy<br />
Commissioner (DC) of Gopalganj Mohammad Mokhlesur<br />
Rahman Sarker chaired the meeting. Among others,<br />
Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Abdullah Hel<br />
Baki, Assistant Police Super Md Masudur Rahman, Upazila<br />
Nirbahi Officer Shammi Akhter and general secretary of<br />
Reporters Forum S M Nazrul Islam were also present at the<br />
occasion.<br />
A group of journalists of Chattogram on Tuesday demanded punishment of guilty doctors, closure of<br />
Max Hospital and cancellation of certificate of Dr Faisal Iqbal Chowdhury over death of Raifa Khan.<br />
Photo: S M Akash<br />
Journalists continue protest<br />
in Chattogram<br />
S M AKASH, CHATTOGRAM BUREAU CHIEF<br />
A group of journalists of Chattogram<br />
continued their protest programme on<br />
Tuesday on Central Shaheed Minar<br />
premises over death of two and a half<br />
year old girl due to alleged wrong<br />
treatment in Max Hospital in<br />
Chattogram. The journalist leaders<br />
demanded punishment of guilty<br />
doctors, closure of Max Hospital and<br />
cancellation of certificate of Dr Faisal<br />
Iqbal Chowdhury, Bangladesh Medical<br />
Workshop<br />
on CAMS<br />
held in<br />
Narsingdi<br />
NARSINGDI : A daylong<br />
workshop on continuous air<br />
monitoring station (CAMS)<br />
under the Clean Air<br />
Sustainable Environment<br />
(CASE) Project was held at<br />
Narsingdi Sadar Upazila<br />
Parishad hall room here on<br />
Tuesday, reports BSS.<br />
Narsingdi Sadar Upazila<br />
administration organized<br />
the workshop.<br />
Dr. SM Monzural Hannan<br />
Khan, project director and<br />
additional secretary of<br />
Forests and Environment<br />
Ministry, addressed the<br />
workshop as the chief guest.<br />
Narsingdi Sadar Upazila<br />
Nirbahi Officer Mohammad<br />
Selim Reza, ATM<br />
Mahabubul Karim, deputy<br />
director of Local<br />
Government Division, and<br />
Narsingdi Sadar Upazila<br />
Parishad Chairman Monzur<br />
Elahi were the special<br />
guests.<br />
The workshop mentioned<br />
that a memorandum of<br />
understanding (MOU) was<br />
signed for establishment of<br />
the continuous air<br />
monitoring station. This is<br />
one of the 10 priority<br />
projects of Prime Minister<br />
Sheikh Hasina.<br />
Bumper Jute<br />
production<br />
likely in<br />
Panchagarh<br />
PANCHAGARH: Farmers<br />
and DAE are expecting<br />
bumper jute production in<br />
the district this year as the<br />
weather condition was<br />
favorable for cultivation of<br />
jute, reports BSS.<br />
DAE has also given<br />
modern technology training<br />
to the farmers for boosting<br />
jute production. It has also<br />
supplied high quality of jute<br />
seeds, fertilizers among the<br />
farmers at a cost of free.<br />
Department of<br />
Agriculture extension office<br />
sources said, jute cultivated<br />
on 8,130 hectares of land in<br />
the district with the<br />
production target 19,000<br />
metric tonnes.<br />
Farmer Sunil Kumar said<br />
that jute cultivation is<br />
increasing as farmers are<br />
getting fair price of jute as<br />
now the time the jute is<br />
using sack, small bag.<br />
Association's Chittagong chapter<br />
general secretary. If the demands are<br />
not met by Sunday they will announce<br />
tougher movement, the leaders said.<br />
In addition to journalists, several<br />
political and socio-cultural<br />
organisations also joined the rally to<br />
express their solidarity to journalists's<br />
demands.<br />
Raifa Khan, daughter of the daily<br />
Samokal's senior correspondent in<br />
Chittagong Rubel Khan, who was<br />
suffering from cold and sore throat died<br />
allegedly due to wrong treatment at<br />
Max Hospital early Friday.<br />
Chattogram Union for Journalist<br />
(CUJ) president Nazim Uddin Shyamal,<br />
Chattogram Press Club president Kalim<br />
Sarwar, secretary Suklal Das, BFJU<br />
leader Molla Zalal, CUJ general<br />
secretary Hasan Ferdous, former<br />
president Reaz Hyder Chowdhury, The<br />
Bangladesh Today Chattogram Bureau<br />
Chief M A Akash among others, spoke.<br />
ACC holds mass hearing<br />
in Chaugachha<br />
YAKUB ALI, CHAUGACHHA CORRESPONDENT<br />
Anti-Corruption Commission held a mass<br />
hearing organised by Jessore and<br />
Chaugaccha upazila corruption<br />
prevention committee at Divine center in<br />
Chaugachha upazila under Jessore<br />
district on Wednesday.<br />
Jessore DC Abdul Awal chaired the<br />
programme while Commissioner of Anti-<br />
Corruption Commission AFM Mizanur<br />
Rahman was present as the chief guest.<br />
Among others, Anti Corruption Commission<br />
Director Moniruzzaman, Jessore Police<br />
Superintendent Anisur Rahman, Director of<br />
District ACC Md. Abdul Gaffar, Assistant<br />
Director Md. Wazed Ali Gazi and Md Abu<br />
Raihan, Deputy Director Monirul Islam,<br />
Upazila Chairman Bir Freedom Fighters SM<br />
Habibur Rahman, Upazila Executive Officer<br />
Md. Ibadat Hossain, Officer-in-charge of<br />
Police Station Khandaker Shamim Uddin,<br />
mayor of municipality mayor Nul Uddin Al<br />
Mamun Himel, Chairman of 11 unions,<br />
Headmaster of school, college and madrasa,<br />
Upazila autonomous officer, sub-registrar,<br />
upazila rural power officer, agricultural officer,<br />
all the officers of the government offices of<br />
upazila, general secretary of the upazila Mehdi<br />
Masud Chowdhury, upazila President of Anti-<br />
Corruption Prevention Committee Assistant<br />
Professor Kamruzzaman and General<br />
Secretary Tomis Ddina were also present at the<br />
occasion.<br />
Commissioner of Anti-Corruption Commission AFM Mizanur Rahman<br />
addressed a mass hearing as the chief guest at Divine center in<br />
Chaugachha upazila on Wednesday.<br />
Photo: Yakub Ali<br />
Caritas Bangladesh provided financial support among the financially insecure<br />
but meritorious students of NCM High School and Patharia gangkul<br />
mansuria senior(fazil)madrasha of Barlekha upazila under Moulvibazar<br />
district on Wednesday.<br />
Photo: Abdur Rob<br />
Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Gopalganj Mohammad Mokhlesur Rahman Sarker on Wednesday<br />
chaired a preparation meeting of a two day cultural festival which is scheduled to begin on 20th July<br />
in Gopalganj Shilpakala Academy.<br />
Photo: Nazrul Islam<br />
Boutique houses<br />
contribute to<br />
women empowered<br />
RAJSHAHI: Many women<br />
have got the chance of<br />
attaining self-reliance<br />
together with employing<br />
their near and dear ones in<br />
income-generating activities<br />
through operating boutique<br />
houses in the city and its<br />
outskirts, reports BSS.<br />
Talking to BSS here, some<br />
of them termed the venture<br />
as an effective means of<br />
women empowerment and<br />
social contribution.<br />
Amena Begum, owner of<br />
Maisha Boutique and<br />
Fashion House at<br />
Upashahar Koyerdara in the<br />
city, narrated her success<br />
story. She supplies goods of<br />
order to different parts of the<br />
country successfully.<br />
More than 100 women<br />
coming<br />
from<br />
underprivileged and<br />
disadvantaged families are<br />
working in her industry as<br />
labourers.<br />
"We supply our finished<br />
goods to more than 14-15<br />
districts including Dhaka,"<br />
said Tahmina Akhter Minu,<br />
owner of Minu Boutique<br />
House in Shapura area. She<br />
is satisfied over her business<br />
that generates employment<br />
of around 50 women.<br />
"We want to highlight our<br />
heritage side by side with the<br />
business," Minu said adding<br />
that business promotion is<br />
very important for women<br />
empowerment along with<br />
their<br />
economic<br />
emancipation.<br />
"We have founded<br />
'Angona Boutique and<br />
Fashion' being operated by<br />
our Angana Mohila Samity<br />
successfully making more<br />
than 100 women incomegenerator,"<br />
said Iffat Ara,<br />
director of the samity.<br />
Similarly, Daudpur<br />
Mohila Kolyan Samity's<br />
Shefali Boutique and<br />
Mohona Mohila Kolyan<br />
Samity's Mohona Boutique<br />
have made at least 175 other<br />
women self-reliant.<br />
"We have linked around<br />
50 women with skill<br />
development training for<br />
their livelihood," said<br />
Anwara Begum, president of<br />
Dashmari Distressed<br />
Women<br />
Welfare<br />
Association.<br />
After completing their<br />
training they are doing<br />
block, boutique and<br />
embroidery works in their<br />
respective areas and many of<br />
them attained their longcherished<br />
economic<br />
emancipation.<br />
Anwara Begum told BSS<br />
that the boutique houses<br />
were established and<br />
operated with assistance of<br />
the district women affairs<br />
office. Shobnom Shirin,<br />
District Women Affairs<br />
Officer, told BSS that the<br />
department .<br />
Farmers get jute fibre extraction<br />
machines in Gaibandha<br />
GAIBANDHA: A total of 22 entrepreneurs<br />
of three upazilas in the district got Aashkols<br />
(Jute fibre extraction machines) from<br />
RDRS Bangladesh today to ensure the<br />
quality of the jute fibre to earn fair prices<br />
against the output.<br />
A simple function was also held at the<br />
conference room of Gaibandha Govt.<br />
Technical Training Center (GGTTC) at<br />
Farazipara, an outskirt of the district town,<br />
on Wednesday noon with programme<br />
manager of RDRS Bangladesh Porsia<br />
Rahman in the chair.<br />
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Gautam<br />
Chandra Pal addressed the function as the<br />
chief guest and Principal of GGTTC M.<br />
Atiqur, Sadar upazila agriculture officer<br />
AKM Sadiqul Islam and chief inspector of<br />
jute here Mokbul Hossain were present at<br />
the event as the special guests while<br />
regional manager of Practical Action<br />
Bangladesh Nehal Azmat Mohi was the<br />
moderator.<br />
The speakers underscored the need for<br />
introducing the modern jute extraction<br />
technology to the farmers without delay to<br />
get quality jute fibre to help the growers<br />
earn economical profit in a bid to change<br />
their lots gradually.<br />
DC Gautam Chandra Pal emphasized for<br />
popularizing the jute fibre extraction<br />
machines to the farmers' community in the<br />
day ahead to get quality jute fibre for<br />
producing high quality jute value added<br />
products and creating its demand in both<br />
the national and the international market.<br />
The DC also urged the concerned to build<br />
the Aashkols at local workshops at larger<br />
scale and sell it to the farmers at reasonable<br />
prices to expand the technology at grass<br />
root level of the district.<br />
Later, DC Gautam Chandra Pal formally<br />
handed over the Aashkols to the<br />
entrepreneurs of Sundarganj, Fulchhari<br />
and Shaghata upazilas of the district.<br />
The entrepreneurs in their instant<br />
reaction expressed their deep satisfaction<br />
and thanked all the concerned for providing<br />
the Aashkols to them at reasonable cost.<br />
Earlier, the entrepreneurs were provided<br />
with need base training on the operation of<br />
the Aashkols under the project.<br />
A view exchange meeting was held between valiant freedom fighter<br />
Advocate Abdur Rahman and editor of daily Sirajganj Barta Abdul Hamid<br />
Khan Hira at Sirajganj Barta's office on Wednesday. Among others, news<br />
editor of Sirajganj Barta Abdul Halim, chief reporter and The Bangladesh<br />
Today's district correspondent Badrul Alam Dulal and staff reporter of<br />
Jamuna Television Golam Mostar Rubel were also present. Photo: TBT<br />
36, including drug traders held in Dinajpur<br />
DINAJPUR: Law enforcers, in special drives arrested 36 persons including 16 drug traders<br />
from different areas of the district in 12-hour ending at 8am last morning, reports BSS.<br />
Law enforcers also seized 3,000 pieces of cow fattening tablets and 150 bottles of Phensidyl<br />
during the drives. Police said they were picked up from different areas of the district on<br />
different charges.<br />
During the drives, Dinajpur Sadar police arrested 10 persons including six drug traders,<br />
Biral Thana police arrested two persons, Birampur Thana police arrested two persons,<br />
Bochaganj Thana police arrested three persons, Chirirbandar Thana police arrested two<br />
persons, Birganj Thana police arrested two drug traders, Nawabganj Thana police arrested<br />
three persons, Phulbari Thana police arrested four drug traders, Parbatipur Thana police<br />
arrested two persons and Ghoraghat Thana police arrested two persons.<br />
Several cases, including charges of subversive activities, are pending with different police<br />
stations against the arrested persons, the sources added. Meanwhile, members of Border<br />
Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in a drive detained four drug traders with 3,000 pieces of cow<br />
fattening tablets and 150 bottles of Phensidyl around 11pm from Hili Railway Station in<br />
Hakimpur upazila of the district.<br />
Later, the detained persons were handed over to the Hakimpur Thana police, BGB said.<br />
The arrested persons were sent to jail.
INTERNATIONAL<br />
THURSDAY,<br />
7<br />
JULY 5 <strong>2018</strong><br />
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives at a court house in Kuala Lumpur,<br />
Malaysia.<br />
Photo: Internet<br />
Malaysian ex-PM Najib charged<br />
with breach of trust, graft<br />
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was charged<br />
Wednesday with criminal breach of trust and corruption, two<br />
months after a multibillion-dollar graft scandal at a state<br />
investment fund led to his shock election defeat.<br />
He pleaded not guilty to all charges. "I claim trial," he said<br />
in a barely audible voice as he stood in the dock at the High<br />
Court in Kuala Lumpur. A judge set bail at 1 million ringgit in<br />
cash ($250,000) and ordered Najib to surrender his two<br />
diplomatic passports.<br />
The patrician and luxury-loving Najib, wearing a suit and a<br />
red tie, appeared calm and smiled as he was escorted into the<br />
court complex. He was arrested Tuesday by anti-graft officials<br />
over a suspicious transfer of 42 million ringgit ($10.4<br />
million) into his bank accounts from SRC International, a<br />
former unit of the 1MDB state investment fund that U.S.<br />
investigators say was looted of billions by associates of Najib.<br />
Najib was charged with abuse of power leading to gratification<br />
under Malaysia's anti-corruption law and three counts of<br />
criminal breach of trust. Each charge has a maximum penalty<br />
of 20 years in prison. Whipping is also a penalty but Najib<br />
would be exempt because of his age.<br />
Malaysia's new attorney general, Tommy Thomas, who is<br />
heading the prosecution, said the 1MBD case has attracted<br />
global attention and "brought shame to the country." Najib's<br />
laywer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah protested the comment<br />
calling it "nonsense" and "coffeeshop talk."<br />
Najib, 64, has accused Malaysia's new government of seeking<br />
"political vengeance." At a news conference after the<br />
hearing, Najib said a trial was "the best chance for me to clear<br />
my name after all the slander and accusations." It is set to<br />
President Donald Trump<br />
spoke with three more<br />
potential Supreme Court<br />
candidates on Tuesday as a<br />
key senator privately aired<br />
concerns about one of the<br />
contenders.<br />
As Trump weighs his<br />
options, he has heard from<br />
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who<br />
has expressed reservations<br />
about one top potential<br />
nominee, Brett Kavanaugh,<br />
according to a person familiar<br />
with the call but not<br />
authorized to publicly disclose<br />
details of it. The activity<br />
around Kavanaugh was<br />
an early glimpse of the frenzied<br />
jockeying around the<br />
short list of candidates in the<br />
run-up to Trump's July 9<br />
announcement.<br />
With a narrow 51-49 GOP<br />
majority in the Senate, losing<br />
any Republican senator<br />
could begin to doom a nominee.<br />
Paul's objections echo<br />
those made by outside conservative<br />
groups over<br />
Kavanaugh, who is seen as a<br />
top contender for the vacancy<br />
but who activists warn is<br />
too much of an establishment-aligned<br />
choice.<br />
Trump has said he'll<br />
choose his nominee from a<br />
list of 25 candidates vetted<br />
by conservative groups. Top<br />
contenders include federal<br />
appeals judges Kavanaugh,<br />
Raymond Kethledge, Amul<br />
Thapar and Amy Coney Barrett<br />
- all of whom spoke with<br />
Trump on Monday.<br />
"These are very talented<br />
people, brilliant people,"<br />
Trump said Tuesday during<br />
an appearance in West Virginia.<br />
"We're going to give<br />
you a great one."<br />
The White House says<br />
Trump has spoken to seven<br />
candidates. There were the<br />
four interviews Monday, as<br />
well as a conversation with<br />
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of<br />
Utah, who is not regarded as<br />
a top contender but who is<br />
being pushed by key conservatives.<br />
Trump has also spoken<br />
with Thomas Hardiman,<br />
who has served with<br />
Trump's sister on the 3rd<br />
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals<br />
in Philadelphia, according to<br />
a person familiar with the<br />
conversation who also was<br />
not authorized to publicly<br />
discuss it. Another candidate<br />
considered a top contender<br />
is Joan Larsen, who serves<br />
on the federal appeals court<br />
in Cincinnati. Trump's<br />
choice to replace Kennedy -<br />
a swing vote on the ninemember<br />
court - has the<br />
potential to remake the<br />
court for a generation as part<br />
start Feb. 8, subject to confirmation at a preliminary hearing<br />
next month. New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad<br />
reopened investigations into 1MDB that were stifled under<br />
Najib's rule. Najib set up 1MDB when he took power in 2009<br />
but the fund amassed billions in debts and is being investigated<br />
in the U.S. and several other countries.<br />
He and his wife were questioned last month over the SRC<br />
case by the anti-graft agency and were barred from leaving<br />
the country.<br />
The attorney-general's case says the $10 million that Najib<br />
allegedly received via SRC was a bribe for approving government<br />
guarantees of loans totaling 4 billion ringgit (nearly $1<br />
billion) in 2011 and 2012 that were apparently became part<br />
of the ransacking underway at 1MDB.<br />
Police have also seized jewelry and valuables valued at<br />
more than 1.1 billion ringgit ($272 million) from properties<br />
linked to Najib. U.S. investigators say $4.5 billion was stolen<br />
and laundered from 1MDB by Najib's associates, including<br />
some $700 million that landed in Najib's bank account.<br />
While in power, Najib said the $700 million was a donation<br />
from the Saudi royal family. Najib's laywer Muhammad<br />
asked for the case to be expedited. Najib "is anxious to clear<br />
his name," he told the High Court. "We are pretty confident<br />
about this case." Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at<br />
John Cabot University in Rome, said Najib's arrest was the<br />
"inevitable outcome" after he lost power. ,"It shows the<br />
resolve of the new government to address previous abuses of<br />
power. It has been done judiciously so far and speaks to a<br />
needed reckoning for Malaysia and a key step toward a cleaner<br />
governance," she said in an email.<br />
Trump talks to 3 more candidates<br />
for Supreme Court vacancy<br />
of precedent-shattering<br />
decisions on abortion,<br />
health care, gay marriage<br />
and other issues. Recognizing<br />
the stakes, many Democrats<br />
have lined up in opposition<br />
to any Trump pick, and<br />
Republicans lawmakers and<br />
activists are seeking to shape<br />
the president's decision.<br />
For his part, Trump has<br />
sought advice from White<br />
House counsel Don<br />
McGahn, outside advisers<br />
like Leonard Leo, on leave<br />
from the Federalist Society,<br />
and has been making calls to<br />
lawmakers, including Paul.<br />
Paul has told colleagues<br />
that he may not vote for<br />
Kavanaugh if the judge is<br />
nominated, citing<br />
Kavanaugh's role during the<br />
Bush administration on cases<br />
involving executive privilege<br />
and the disclosure of<br />
President Donald Trump looks at members of the audience during his<br />
remarks at a Salute to Service charity dinner in conjunction with the PGA<br />
Tour's Greenbrier Classic at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs,<br />
W.Va., Tuesday, July 3, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Photo: Internet<br />
documents to Congress, said<br />
the person familiar with<br />
Paul's conversations who<br />
spoke to The Associated<br />
Press on condition of<br />
anonymity.<br />
The senator has more than<br />
once threatened to withhold<br />
his vote on key Trump priorities<br />
citing ideological disagreements,<br />
most recently<br />
the nomination of Secretary<br />
of State Mike Pompeo. But<br />
Paul has repeatedly yielded<br />
to Trump's personal lobbying<br />
to back his nominees and<br />
legislation, often citing<br />
unspecified concessions<br />
from the president.<br />
Paul's office did not<br />
respond to requests for comment.<br />
His concerns mirror<br />
comments from some conservatives<br />
who view<br />
Kavanaugh as a more establishment-aligned.<br />
Islamic<br />
State says<br />
leader's<br />
son killed<br />
in Syria<br />
The Islamic State group<br />
says the son of its leader<br />
has been killed fighting<br />
Syrian government forces.<br />
The announcement of the<br />
death of the young son of<br />
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi<br />
appeared on the group's<br />
social media accounts late<br />
Tuesday. It included a picture<br />
of a young boy carrying<br />
a rifle and identified<br />
him as Huthaifa al-Badri.<br />
The statement, dated this<br />
month, said he was an elite<br />
fighter, known as an "inghimasi,"<br />
who was killed while<br />
fighting Syrian and Russia<br />
troops at a power station in<br />
the central Homs province.<br />
It did not specify when he<br />
was killed.<br />
The Syrian Observatory<br />
for Human Rights, a war<br />
monitoring group, said the<br />
most recent IS operations<br />
in the area were in the first<br />
two weeks of June.<br />
Al-Baghdadi has been<br />
reported killed or wounded<br />
on a number of occasions<br />
but is widely believed to<br />
still be alive. Little is known<br />
about al-Baghdadi's family,<br />
but a woman and a child<br />
who were said to be his wife<br />
and daughter were<br />
detained in Lebanon in<br />
2014.<br />
IS has been driven from<br />
nearly all the territory it<br />
once controlled in Syria<br />
and Iraq, though it still<br />
maintains a presence in the<br />
Syrian desert and remote<br />
areas along the border.<br />
The Syrian Observatory<br />
for Human Rights, a war<br />
monitoring group, said the<br />
most recent IS operations<br />
in the area were in the first<br />
two weeks of June.<br />
The Observatory said late<br />
Tuesday that one of the<br />
group's last pockets in the<br />
eastern Syrian province of<br />
Deir el-Zour came under<br />
intense shelling from the<br />
U.S-led coalition. At least<br />
12 militants are believed to<br />
have been killed in Hajin,<br />
the Observatory said.<br />
60 migrants refused by<br />
Italy and Malta arrive in<br />
Barcelona<br />
A rescue ship carrying 60 migrants<br />
arrived Wednesday in a Spanish port<br />
after being refused entry by Italy and<br />
Malta, the second time in a month that a<br />
humanitarian group has been forced to<br />
travel for days to unload people rescued<br />
in the central Mediterranean.<br />
The Italian government is blocking private<br />
rescue boats that it blames for<br />
encouraging human traffickers to launch<br />
unseaworthy boats loaded with migrants<br />
toward Europe.<br />
But the aid groups deny having any link<br />
to smugglers in Libya or elsewhere, and<br />
say they are being forced to leave unattended<br />
the busy migrant sea transit route<br />
where deaths are mounting.<br />
The Open Arms rescue ship completed<br />
a four-day journey to Barcelona, in<br />
northeastern Spain, after it saved 60 people<br />
Saturday from a rubber boat floating<br />
in waters north of Libya.<br />
The migrants come from 14 different<br />
countries and include five women, a 9-<br />
year-old boy and four older teenagers,<br />
some of them unaccompanied. The Spanish<br />
aid group Proactiva Open Arms said<br />
they were generally in good health but<br />
some may have fuel burns.<br />
The migrants were going through<br />
health checks and identification procedures.<br />
Authorities granted them a 30-day<br />
permit to apply for residence or asylum<br />
in the European Union. Many have relatives<br />
in Germany, Belgium and France.<br />
According to the International Organization<br />
for Migration, more than 500 people<br />
have died trying to cross from Libya<br />
since the Aquarius, another charity rescue<br />
ship, was blocked from ports in Italy<br />
and Malta in early June. The 630<br />
migrants were finally taken in by Spain<br />
and France.<br />
Doctors Without Borders blamed the<br />
deaths on the European Union's inaction.<br />
"The EU is abdicating their responsibilities<br />
to save lives, blocking search and<br />
rescue and condemning people to be<br />
trapped in Libya," the group said in a<br />
tweet Wednesday. "Any deaths caused by<br />
this are now at their hands."<br />
In all, IOM says 1,4<strong>05</strong> people have died<br />
in the dangerous Mediterranean Sea<br />
crossing this year.<br />
The Open Arms docking in Barcelona<br />
was followed closely by the Astral, a sister<br />
boat run by the same organization<br />
where four European Parliament lawmakers<br />
witnessed the rescue operation.<br />
Lawmaker Javier Lopez of Spain said<br />
the rescue boat's arrival was a reason "to<br />
celebrate life" but deplored the mounting<br />
death toll in the Mediterranean.<br />
Lopez said Europe should be able to<br />
manage the number of migrants arriving<br />
by sea this year- around 50,000 so far<br />
into Spain, Italy and Greece.<br />
"Aren't we, 500 million Europeans,<br />
able to manage the arrival of 50,000 people?"<br />
he said.<br />
On Monday, July 2, <strong>2018</strong>, migrant women look at a crew's computer<br />
aboard the Open Arms aid boat, of Proactiva Open Arms Spanish NGO.<br />
Spain's government said Barcelona will be the docking port for the aid boat<br />
traveling with 60 migrants rescued on Saturday in waters near Libya and<br />
rejected by both Italy and Malta.<br />
Photo: Internet<br />
India asks WhatsApp to prevent<br />
misuse after mob killings<br />
India's government says it has asked<br />
WhatsApp to take "immediate action"<br />
to prevent the social media platform<br />
from being misused to spread rumors<br />
and irresponsible statements like<br />
those blamed for recent deadly mob<br />
attacks in the country.<br />
At least 20 people have been killed in<br />
mostly rural villages in several Indian<br />
states by attacking mobs that had<br />
been inflamed by social media. Victims<br />
were accused in the viral messages<br />
of belonging to gangs trying to<br />
abduct children. The brutal attacks,<br />
which began in early May, have also<br />
left dozens of people injured.<br />
Although Indian authorities have<br />
clarified that there was no truth to the<br />
rumors and the targeted people were<br />
innocent, the deadly and brutal<br />
attacks, often captured on cellphones<br />
and shared on social media, have<br />
spread across the country.<br />
India's ministry of electronics and<br />
information technology said in a<br />
statement late Tuesday that the<br />
lynchings were tied to "irresponsible<br />
and explosive messages" circulated<br />
on WhatsApp. It wasn't specific on<br />
the preventative measures it expected<br />
to be taken by WhatsApp, which is<br />
owned by Facebook.<br />
"While the law and order machinery<br />
is taking steps to apprehend the culprits,<br />
the abuse of platforms like<br />
WhatsApp for repeated circulation of<br />
such provocative content are equally a<br />
matter of deep concern," the ministry<br />
said.<br />
The ministry said WhatsApp "cannot<br />
evade accountability and responsibility."<br />
"The government has also conveyed<br />
in no uncertain terms that WhatsApp<br />
must take immediate action to end<br />
this menace and ensure that their<br />
platform is not used for such malafide<br />
activities," the statement said. "Deep<br />
disapproval of such developments has<br />
been conveyed to the senior management<br />
of the WhatsApp and they have<br />
been advised that necessary remedial<br />
measures should be taken to prevent<br />
proliferation of these fake and at<br />
times motivated/sensational messages."<br />
WhatsApp said in a blog post that it<br />
would institute awards for research<br />
on "spread of misinformation" on its<br />
platform. "We will seriously consider<br />
proposals from any social science and<br />
technological perspective that propose<br />
projects that enrich our understanding<br />
of the problem of misinformation<br />
on WhatsApp," the post said.<br />
The Indian Express, an English-language<br />
daily newspaper, quoted a<br />
WhatsApp spokesman as saying, "The<br />
situation is a public health problem<br />
which will require solutions from outside<br />
the company as well, including<br />
the government."<br />
The official said that the "responsibility<br />
is beyond any one technology company"<br />
and "requires partners," according<br />
to the paper.<br />
"I think it's up to the Indian government<br />
to decide what is the right mechanism<br />
to address the spate of killing<br />
that is occurring. It is going to have to<br />
be a collaboration," the official said.<br />
Danish PM: Trump has “unilateral<br />
focus” on defense spending<br />
Denmark's prime minister said Wednesday a letter from President Donald<br />
Trump accusing NATO allies of not spending enough on defense focused too<br />
much on figures but not on what countries have done.<br />
Lars Loekke Rasmussen said Trump demonstrated "a unilateral focus on military<br />
spending as a percentage of the gross domestic product on defense." He<br />
added: "We can be proud of our contribution to the common security and Denmark<br />
will stand tall at the NATO summit next week."<br />
He was referring to a letter Trump sent ahead of a July 11-12 summit to several<br />
NATO allies in Europe and Canada demanding they boost their defense spending.<br />
Trump wrote that "the United States is increasingly unwilling to ignore the<br />
European failure to meet shared security commitments."<br />
After Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, NATO allies agreed<br />
to stop cutting defense budgets and start moving toward a goal of devoting 2 percent<br />
of GDP to defense within a decade.<br />
"We recognize that Denmark is taking action to increase defense spending,"<br />
Trump wrote in the letter, dated June 19, to Denmark's prime minister. "Still<br />
there is no explanation as to why the United States continues to devote more<br />
resources to the defense of Europe when the continent's economies, including<br />
Denmark's, are doing well. There is a growing frustration that some Allies have<br />
not stepped up as promised."<br />
Loekke Ramussen said: "Denmark takes a large responsibility in relation to<br />
international matters and in relation to NATO in particular. Measured in military<br />
expenses per inhabitant, Denmark occupies a 5th place."<br />
Other European NATO allies, including Norway and Germany, on Tuesday also<br />
pushed back against U.S. criticism. The upcoming NATO summit is the first<br />
major meeting since the fractious Group of Seven talks in Canada last month.<br />
NATO officials are concerned that trans-Atlantic divisions over trade tariffs, as<br />
well as the U.S. pullout from the Paris global climate agreement and the Iran<br />
nuclear deal, could undermine alliance unity.
ART & CULTURE<br />
THURSDAY,<br />
JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
8<br />
Ayesha Takia's husband claims she's getting<br />
death threats, seeks police help<br />
Farhan Azmi, Mumbai<br />
restauranteur and husband<br />
of Bollywood actor Ayesha<br />
Ranbir Kapoor fans don't need<br />
to wait for long to see the actor<br />
in action again. Two of his films<br />
are already announced.<br />
While Brahmastra, in which<br />
he is working with his<br />
girlfriend Alia Bhatt, will hit<br />
the screens on August 15, 2019,<br />
his other film Shamshera will<br />
be released on July 31, 2010.<br />
Film trade analyst Taran<br />
Adarsh tweeted the film's<br />
release date.<br />
Currently, Ranbir's Sanju, in<br />
which he plays controversial<br />
Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, is<br />
ARIES<br />
(March 21 - April 20):<br />
Natives of Aries are often<br />
confident and energetic<br />
people, who should consider<br />
setting up arrangements for larger family<br />
gatherings like reunions. Natives of this<br />
sign are often driving forces in the<br />
professional and political areas.<br />
TAURUS<br />
(April 21 - May 21): The<br />
obstacles you face at the<br />
moment may be daunting<br />
but you have what it takes<br />
to overcome them. Don't try to avoid<br />
what fate sends your way over the next<br />
few days - it is designed to strengthen<br />
you, not destroy you.<br />
GEMINI<br />
(May 22 - June 21): There<br />
may be times when you<br />
would like nothing better<br />
than to cut yourself off<br />
from the world at large but that simply<br />
isn't possible. Make the best job of<br />
what you are expected to do and try to<br />
steal a few hours for yourself later on.<br />
CANCER<br />
(June 22 - July 23): Some<br />
things are important and<br />
some things are not and if<br />
you don't yet know the<br />
difference then it's time you found out.<br />
This should be a productive time for<br />
you but you need to learn how to say<br />
"no" when people ask you for favours.<br />
LEO<br />
(July 24 - Aug. 23): If you<br />
are not yet getting the<br />
rewards and the respect you<br />
deserve don't worry, in a<br />
matter of days your name will be on<br />
everybody's lips. The sun in Aries makes<br />
you both creative and adventurous, so<br />
do something out of the ordinary.<br />
VIRGO<br />
(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): You may<br />
be tempted to go on a<br />
journey today but the planets<br />
warn it could lead you in<br />
some unforeseen directions, so make<br />
sure you take a map and don't promise<br />
to be at a certain place at a specific time<br />
- because you won't make it.<br />
Takia, put out a series of<br />
tweets tagging Mumbai<br />
Police on Tuesday. He said<br />
This is the new release<br />
date for Ranbir<br />
Kapoor's Shamshera<br />
running in cinema halls.<br />
Interestingly, Sanjay will<br />
also be seen in an important<br />
role in Shamshera.<br />
The film will feature Vaani<br />
Kapoor opposite Ranbir. She<br />
was last seen with Ranveer<br />
Singh in Befikre.<br />
The Karan Malhotradirectorial<br />
is set to go on floors<br />
by the end of this year and the<br />
shooting is expected to wrap by<br />
mid-2019.<br />
Ranbir will be seen in a role<br />
of dacoit in Shamshera. In an<br />
earlier interview with PTI,<br />
H O ROSCOPE<br />
Ranbir said, "Shamshera is<br />
not a story of a 'daaku', but a<br />
film based in the 1800s, it is<br />
about a dacoit tribe who are<br />
fighting for their right and<br />
independence from the<br />
British.<br />
There was a great story of<br />
heroism, a story rooted in our<br />
country which actually<br />
LIBRA<br />
(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): At<br />
some stage over the next<br />
few days you will see or<br />
hear something that makes<br />
you view the world in a new light. A<br />
change of perspective will lead to new<br />
ways of thinking, ways that answer all<br />
the questions you have been asking.<br />
SCORPIO<br />
(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): Find<br />
out why a partner or loved<br />
one is behaving so<br />
erratically, then do what<br />
you can to assist them. Most likely<br />
their problems are nowhere near as big<br />
as they think they are and can quite<br />
easily be corrected - as can your own!<br />
SAGITTARIUS<br />
(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Yours is<br />
a sign of boundless selfconfidence<br />
and that's good<br />
because you will need it<br />
over the next few days. If you are not<br />
happy in your current environment<br />
don't be afraid to pack a bag and take<br />
off for a few days.<br />
CAPRICORN<br />
(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): You seem<br />
to lack purpose at the<br />
moment but that will change<br />
if you look for ways to express<br />
yourself. Whatever challenges come your<br />
way, and there will be plenty, see them as<br />
opportunities to be embraced rather than<br />
as threats to be avoided.<br />
AQUARIUS<br />
(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19): Stay calm<br />
and keep setbacks in<br />
perspective. If you can learn<br />
to take yourself a bit less<br />
seriously over the coming week then your<br />
problems, such as they are, will fade into<br />
insignificance. Rest assured your successes<br />
will always outnumber your failures.<br />
PISCES<br />
(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20): It does<br />
not matter if other people<br />
approve of what you are<br />
doing, it matters only that<br />
it means something to you. The very<br />
last thing you should be doing now is<br />
asking friends and family for their<br />
opinions - it's your views that count.<br />
that his wife, mother and<br />
sisters are being threatened<br />
by a man.<br />
He also accused the police<br />
of not doing anything about<br />
the threats.<br />
DahiyaIPS has illegally<br />
frozen our bank accounts<br />
Dear PM @narendramodi ji<br />
@SushmaSwaraj Pls<br />
intervene!! #betibachao." A<br />
source close to the Azmi<br />
family told Times Now that<br />
the litigant is intimidating<br />
the family.<br />
The source said, "He (the<br />
litigant) somehow got<br />
Ayesha's number. So long he<br />
did not have Ayesha's<br />
number.<br />
Now he is messaging her<br />
on WhatsApp and saying,<br />
'You and your husband will<br />
be in jail very soon. In ten<br />
days the police are going to<br />
pick you up'.<br />
He's intimidating her. He's<br />
also intimidating Farhan's<br />
sister who is pregnant.<br />
happened back then."<br />
He also said, "It is a<br />
departure from the kind of<br />
films I have done, it is not the<br />
coming-of-age lover boy roles<br />
which I have done often.<br />
Shamshera is in the<br />
aspirational space, the space of<br />
true, badass commercial<br />
cinema."<br />
Sushant Singh Rajput not doing<br />
Chanda Mama Door Ke, to<br />
work on his own space film<br />
Sushant Singh Rajput has opted<br />
out of Chanda Mama Door Ke<br />
due to date conflicts but plans<br />
to develop his own space movie,<br />
according to a release. The 32-<br />
year-old actor, who was<br />
recently in news for buying land<br />
on the Moon, plans to make<br />
what he claims would be India's<br />
first space film, to be developed<br />
via Innsaei Ventures Pvt Ltd, a<br />
company a co-founded by<br />
Rajput and entrepreneur Varun<br />
Mathur.<br />
Scarlett Johansson has been<br />
criticised for taking on the role<br />
of a transgender man in a new<br />
film. The Avengers star will<br />
play 1970s Pittsburgh crime<br />
boss Dante "Tex" Gill, who<br />
was born Jean Gill, in Rub &<br />
Tug.<br />
According to a local US<br />
newspaper obituary, Dante -<br />
who died in 2003 - is said to<br />
have identified as a man and<br />
asked to be called "Mr Gill".<br />
"There are literally so many<br />
trans actors that could've been<br />
cast in this role," one person<br />
wrote on Twitter.<br />
The obituary in the<br />
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -<br />
which refers to Dante as a<br />
"she" throughout - says: "For<br />
years, according to police, Ms<br />
Gill ran a string of [massage]<br />
parlours as fronts for<br />
prostitution, all the while<br />
insisting that she was a man<br />
and telling everyone she<br />
wanted to be known as 'Mr<br />
Gill'."<br />
It adds: "She may even have<br />
undergone the initial stages of<br />
a sex change that made her<br />
"Sushant's passion for the<br />
Moon and space is second to<br />
none in this sphere. He has<br />
unparalleled interest to learn<br />
more about the universe, and to<br />
delve into anything that might<br />
help him understand this<br />
phenomenon further. However,<br />
since there was a lot of up and<br />
down in this film, Sushant will<br />
not be able give his dates to this<br />
project (Chanda Mama...) since<br />
he has his hands full with many<br />
projects.<br />
The King and I :<br />
timeless classic<br />
or dated relic?<br />
The King and I is back in the West<br />
End, 67 years on from its Broadway<br />
debut. Is the musical showing its<br />
age, or has it still something to say<br />
to modern audiences?<br />
Shall we dance? That's the<br />
question posed by a new<br />
production of The King and I,<br />
Richard Rodgers and Oscar<br />
Hammerstein II's classic musical<br />
about East meeting West.<br />
The show, about a 19th Century<br />
British widow who travels to Siam<br />
(now Thailand) to tutor its<br />
monarch's many children, boasts<br />
appear masculine."<br />
Several people have<br />
criticised Scarlett for taking<br />
on a role they say should have<br />
gone to a trans man.<br />
The actress was previously<br />
familiar tunes, adorable child actors<br />
and lavish production values.<br />
Yet its portrait of a white woman<br />
being both fascinated and repelled<br />
by a society depicted as both<br />
backward and barbarous can't help<br />
but feel patronisingly out of step<br />
with modern sensibilities.<br />
Reviewing the current<br />
production, which launched in New<br />
York in 2015 and won four Tonys,<br />
the Telegraph's Dominic Cavendish<br />
calls The King and I "one of the<br />
most problematic musicals of the<br />
20th Century American canon."<br />
Scarlett Johansson criticised for<br />
taking on trans role<br />
accused of "whitewashing" for<br />
her role in 2017's Ghost In The<br />
Shell, in which she played a<br />
character that was originally<br />
written as Asian. Rupert<br />
Sanders, who directed Ghost<br />
In The Shell, is set to direct<br />
the biopic. And some people<br />
see this as a continuation of<br />
the 33-year-old taking roles<br />
that she shouldn't.<br />
While others are<br />
suggesting roles she might<br />
take in the future. However<br />
some people say they don't<br />
understand the controversy<br />
around the news - arguing<br />
that an actor's job is to take<br />
on roles that are different to<br />
who they are in real life.<br />
A representative for Scarlett<br />
reportedly gave Bustle<br />
comment from the actress<br />
herself, referencing other<br />
actors who have played trans<br />
roles.<br />
"Tell them that they can be<br />
directed to Jeffrey Tambor,<br />
Jared Leto, and Felicity<br />
Huffman's reps for comment."<br />
Newsbeat has contacted<br />
representatives for Scarlett.
SPORTS<br />
THURSDAY, JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
9<br />
Five of the best players<br />
at the FIFA World Cup<br />
Sports Desk: Russia <strong>2018</strong> has been one of<br />
the most entertaining FIFA World Cup<br />
tournaments in recent history, reports AP.<br />
Fans worldwide have been blessed with<br />
riveting encounters between the world's<br />
best players. Now only eight teams remain<br />
and half of them have never lifted football's<br />
most coveted crown.<br />
The following five players who remain in<br />
the tournament have been immense for<br />
their countries and could potentially lead<br />
them to football's Holy Grail.<br />
Harry Kane: The England captain is<br />
currently the tournament's leading<br />
goalscorer with six strikes behind his<br />
name.<br />
Kane carries his country's best hopes of a<br />
first world title since they won the crown<br />
on home soil in 1966.<br />
The Tottenham Hotspur forward scored<br />
a brace in England's opening game against<br />
Tunisia and then followed it up with a hattrick<br />
against lowly Panama in a 6-1<br />
thrashing of the central American side. He<br />
again found the net from the penalty spot<br />
in the last 16 clash against Colombia.<br />
He might not be the most exciting<br />
forward to watch but he gets the job done.<br />
Coutinho: Neymar may be the poster boy<br />
of the Brazilian side but Coutinho has been<br />
the man at the forefront of Brazil's attacks.<br />
Despite having a quiet game in the last 16<br />
match against Mexico, the Barcelona<br />
attacker was Brazil's best player in the<br />
group stages.<br />
With opposition defenders splitting their<br />
attention between Neymar and Gabriel<br />
Jesus, Coutinho could steer Brazil to a<br />
record-extending sixth World Cup<br />
triumph.<br />
Kylian Mbappe: Pace, power and<br />
passion, that's French teenager Kylian<br />
Mbappe.<br />
The French wonder blew Lionel Messi's<br />
Argentina away in the last 16 knockout<br />
phase.<br />
A stern challenge against a resolute<br />
Uruguay defence awaits in the<br />
quarterfinals.<br />
At the tender age of 19 years and wearing<br />
the French number 10 jersey synonymous<br />
with Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini,<br />
the talented youngster has outperformed<br />
his seniors.<br />
His exuberance of youth and ruthless<br />
nature in front of goal has been a welcome<br />
addition to a French side full of attacking<br />
talent.<br />
Luka Modric: If Ivan Rakiti? is the heart<br />
of the Croatian side then Modric is the<br />
soul. The Real Madrid playmaker has been<br />
the architect of Croatia's fluid display en<br />
route to the last 8.<br />
Modric is arguably the world's best<br />
central midfielder. He has taken his club<br />
form to the international stage leading an<br />
unfancied side.<br />
With Rakiti? by his side, the Croatians<br />
are on course to matching their 1998<br />
semifinal appearance.<br />
However the hosts Russia could have<br />
other ideas.<br />
Romelu Lukaku: The Manchester United<br />
forward has been pivotal for the Belgian<br />
Red Devils. Lukaku has been an<br />
uncomfortable brute force up front for<br />
opposition defenders in Russia.<br />
He has Kane in his sights for the coveted<br />
Golden Boot award for the leading scorer.<br />
His four goals have been crucial for<br />
Belgium, who are considered dark horses,<br />
but his silent role in the build-up to the late<br />
dramatic winner against Japan in the last<br />
16 was more important.<br />
Japan captain<br />
retiring after<br />
World Cup<br />
dreams dashed<br />
Sports Desk: Japan captain<br />
Makoto Hasebe has<br />
announced his retirement<br />
from the national team, on<br />
the heels of the squad's<br />
heartbreaking ejection from<br />
the World Cup in a match<br />
against Belgium, reports<br />
BSS.<br />
"I have decided to end the<br />
chapter of my career with<br />
the national team with this<br />
tournament," Hasebe wrote<br />
on his Instagram account.<br />
The 34-year-old defensive<br />
midfielder's departure from<br />
the Blue Samurai could<br />
mean a changing of the<br />
guard for the team, with<br />
former AC Milan striker<br />
Keisuke Honda, 32, also<br />
saying he plans to retire<br />
from the national squad.<br />
Hasebe, who won the<br />
German Cup with Eintracht<br />
Frankfurt last season, has<br />
been on the national team<br />
for more than 12 years under<br />
five coaches.<br />
This year's World Cup is<br />
his third, after South Africa<br />
in 2010 and Brazil in 2014,<br />
and saw his team come<br />
heartstoppingly close to the<br />
quarterfinals before<br />
crashing out against<br />
Belgium.<br />
Japan were ousted after<br />
Belgium came from behind<br />
to win 3-2 in their first<br />
match in the knock-out<br />
round.<br />
Brazil's forward Roberto Firmino (L) celebrates with teammates scoring his team's second goal<br />
during the Russia <strong>2018</strong> World Cup round of 16 football match between against Mexico at the Samara<br />
Arena in Samara on July 2.<br />
Photo: AP<br />
Flashy Brazil relying on balance,<br />
rock-solid defense at World Cup<br />
Sports Desk: While the focus is on<br />
Neymar's flashy scoring ability and his<br />
other antics in Russia, Brazil's steady<br />
progression at the World Cup has<br />
solidified the team's status among the<br />
favorites left in the tournament,<br />
reports AP.<br />
Nemesis Germany is gone. So are<br />
Lionel Messi and Argentina. Cristiano<br />
Ronaldo and Portugal are out.<br />
But for Brazil, the word favorite -<br />
"favorito" in Portuguese - is taboo.<br />
"We feel confident but not like the<br />
favorites because we know that there<br />
are other quality teams that have great<br />
potential. The favoritism comes from<br />
the press and the fans," winger Willian<br />
said. "We want to remain firm in our<br />
goal, which is to move step by step and<br />
reach the final."<br />
The five-time World Cup champions<br />
opened the knockout round on<br />
Monday night by defeating Mexico 2-<br />
0 for their third straight shutout in<br />
Russia. Neymar scored his second<br />
goal of the tournament in the 51st<br />
minute, and substitute Roberto<br />
Firmino scored in the 88th in Samara.<br />
Neymar again grabbed attention for<br />
his theatrics after he tangled up with<br />
Mexico's Miguel Layun, who stepped<br />
on the Paris Saint-Germain star's right<br />
ankle. Neymar writhed on the field in<br />
apparent agony before popping back<br />
up and finishing the match.<br />
Brazil goes on to face Belgium in the<br />
quarterfinals on Friday in Kazan. The<br />
Belgians are coming off a 3-2<br />
comeback win against Japan in<br />
Rostov-on-Don.<br />
Brazil was ranked second by FIFA<br />
upon arrival in Russia, but the team<br />
opened with a lackluster 1-1 draw<br />
against Switzerland. Since then, Brazil<br />
hasn't conceded a goal, winning three<br />
successive games 2-0.<br />
Neymar, who had been recovering<br />
in previous months from a broken<br />
foot, gave the world-class<br />
performance that everyone hoped for<br />
on Monday. He has two goals and an<br />
assist in the tournament, giving him<br />
six career World Cup goals.<br />
Other players have risen to the<br />
occasion, too. In the group stage,<br />
Philippe Coutinho had two goals and<br />
an assist and earned Man of the Match<br />
honors twice. Against Mexico, it was<br />
Willian who showed flashes of<br />
brilliance.<br />
Additionally, the defense has been<br />
steady throughout, anchored by<br />
captain Thiago Silva and goalkeeper<br />
Alisson. The only other team<br />
remaining that has conceded just one<br />
goal is Uruguay.<br />
Brazil has allowed just five shots on<br />
target at this World Cup, fewest of any<br />
team.<br />
"It's a huge joy to be doing an<br />
excellent cup and to be growing with<br />
every game," Silva said. "I hope that in<br />
the next game of (the) quarterfinals,<br />
we can even be better prepared<br />
because with the victories the trust<br />
automatically grows."<br />
Defender Miranda echoed that<br />
sentiment: "We're growing in the<br />
tournament. We hope to continue this<br />
way. We need to grow even more."<br />
Coach Tite has put an emphasis on<br />
balance since the South American<br />
qualifiers, and Brazil was the first<br />
team to earn its way to Russia. Brazil<br />
has yet to lose in eight matches this<br />
year.<br />
Of course, the ultimate goal is to<br />
erase some of the disappointment of<br />
the last World Cup, when Brazil was<br />
embarrassed on home soil by<br />
Germany in a 7-1 semifinal loss.<br />
"People have asked us a lot about<br />
Germany. I don't think we should<br />
worry about Germany and about what<br />
happened. Soccer is to play it, not to<br />
speak about it," Silva said. "We no<br />
longer need to focus on Germany<br />
because we don't have a way to change<br />
that story. We only need to think<br />
ahead now, game by game, and seize<br />
our opportunities."<br />
Perhaps that approach will give<br />
Brazil a sixth star over its crest.<br />
"I hope. I hope," Willian said about a<br />
sixth title. "It's going to be difficult.<br />
And like I said before, we have to<br />
continue this way, work hard and<br />
continue to improve ourselves."<br />
The World Cup winner's trophy is seen during the 68th FIFA Congress at the Expocentre in Moscow<br />
on June 13, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Photo: AP<br />
Pakistan knocks<br />
hosts Zimbabwe<br />
out of T20I series<br />
Sports Desk: Pakistan<br />
knocked Zimbabwe out of<br />
the Twenty20 tri-series in<br />
Harare in a closely-fought<br />
encounter on Wednesday,<br />
beating the hosts by seven<br />
wickets with five deliveries<br />
to spare, reports BSS.<br />
Captain Sarfraz Ahmed<br />
saw his side home with an<br />
unbeaten 38, meaning that<br />
Zimbabwean allrounder<br />
Solomon Mire's efforts<br />
earlier in the game went in<br />
vain. Mire struck 94, the<br />
highest score by a<br />
Zimbabwean in a Twenty20<br />
international, but<br />
Zimbabwe's 162 for 4 was<br />
not enough to overcome the<br />
world's top ranked T20I side.<br />
Pakistan's chase was given a<br />
rapid start by the openers.<br />
Haris Sohail and Fakhar<br />
Zaman took 56 from the<br />
Powerplay, but Sohail holed<br />
out soon afterwards.<br />
When Zaman skied Mire<br />
to depart for 47, Pakistan<br />
needed more than eight runs<br />
an over from the last eight<br />
overs, but Ahmed's innings<br />
of calm precision kept them<br />
up with the asking rate.<br />
Executing his attacking<br />
strokes perfectly, Ahmed<br />
found the gaps and the<br />
boundaries whenever they<br />
were needed.<br />
He displayed a particularly<br />
deft touch with his late cut,<br />
taking boundaries off leftarm<br />
spinners Tendai<br />
Chisoro and Wellington<br />
Masakadza with the stroke.<br />
With four runs needed<br />
from the final over, it was<br />
also the shot he used to end<br />
the game, gliding seamer<br />
Chris Mpofu to the third<br />
man boundary.<br />
England's Anderson<br />
to test injured<br />
shoulder ahead of<br />
India series<br />
Sports Desk: England's all-time leading wicket taker<br />
James Anderson could be in line for a return to the<br />
national side for the upcoming five-Test series with India<br />
after undergoing rehabilitation on a longstanding<br />
shoulder injury, reports BSS.<br />
The 35-year-old swing bowler - who has taken 540<br />
wickets in 138 Tests -has been out of action since early<br />
June, but will hope to prove he is fit in a second XI match<br />
for his county Lancashire on July 15.<br />
Anderson is then due to play a County Championship<br />
match against old rivals Yorkshire in the "Roses match"<br />
on July 22.<br />
He has described the schedule for the Test series<br />
against India, which begins at Edgbaston on August 1, as<br />
"ridiculous" with all five matches crammed into a sixweek<br />
period.<br />
"England seamer Jimmy Anderson will make his<br />
return to competitive cricket for Lancashire second XI in<br />
a three-day match against Nottinghamshire at Old<br />
Trafford starting on July 15," read a statement from the<br />
England and Wales Cricket Board.<br />
"Anderson, who has not played since the second Test<br />
victory over Pakistan on June 3, has spent the past<br />
month rehabilitating a long-standing right shoulder<br />
injury and returned to bowling working with Lancashire<br />
and England staff in the past seven days.<br />
"As part of his plan, before the first Test against India<br />
starting on August 1, he will play for Lancashire seconds<br />
against Nottinghamshire and the Roses match in the<br />
County Championship Division One match against<br />
Yorkshire at Old Trafford starting on July 22."<br />
Anderson has struggled with the shoulder injury over<br />
the past two years and acknowledged after England<br />
squared the two Test series with Pakistan - in which he<br />
took nine wickets at an average of 19.11 - he needed to<br />
rest it, with the India matches coming thick and fast.<br />
"I just need to get in the gym and get it strong," he said<br />
in June.<br />
"The India schedule is ridiculous with five Tests in six<br />
weeks and that will put a lot of stress on it."<br />
Colombia coach<br />
laments fouls<br />
against England<br />
at World Cup<br />
Sports Desk: Eight yellow<br />
cards. A head-butt. Yelling<br />
players surrounding the<br />
referee. Gamesmanship and<br />
spikiness across the pitch.<br />
Decided on a penalty shootout,<br />
the World Cup drama of<br />
England vs. Colombia would<br />
have been better without the<br />
ugliness. Among those who<br />
thought so: Colombia coach<br />
Jose Pekerman, reports<br />
BSS.<br />
"When there are so, so<br />
many fouls and<br />
interruptions I think that's<br />
not good," he said. "We<br />
shouldn't only look at<br />
Colombian players. We<br />
should also look at England<br />
players."<br />
Struggling at times to keep<br />
control of the game,<br />
American referee Mark<br />
Geiger dished out six yellow<br />
cards to Colombian players.<br />
Four of them were in a<br />
particularly ill-disciplined<br />
12-minute second-half spell<br />
that included Colombia<br />
midfielder Carlos Sanchez<br />
wrestling England striker<br />
Harry Kane to the ground on<br />
a set-piece in the penalty<br />
box. Kane scored from the<br />
spot. The two England<br />
players cautioned were<br />
Jordan Henderson and<br />
Jesse Lingard.<br />
"There were so many<br />
interruptions in the game,<br />
far too many interruptions,"<br />
Pekerman said. "That hasn't<br />
been good for us. It's hurt<br />
our side a lot."<br />
Wilmar Barrios got the<br />
first yellow card, after he<br />
butted his head into<br />
Henderson's chest.<br />
Determined Uruguay ready<br />
to spoil French party<br />
Sports Desk: Streetwise and<br />
tough yet with a razor-sharp<br />
edge, Uruguay have moved<br />
serenely into the World Cup<br />
quarter-finals, ignoring the<br />
chaos that has swamped<br />
former winners Argentina<br />
and Spain, reports AP.<br />
Uruguay have shown in<br />
Russia they are extremely<br />
difficult to beat yet<br />
sometimes underwhelming<br />
- all things you could have<br />
predicted from La Celeste<br />
before the World Cup.<br />
A slow start and an 89th<br />
minute winner that gave<br />
them a forgettable 1-0 win<br />
over a Mohamed Salah-less<br />
Egypt in their first game,<br />
has now given way to a<br />
campaign with real hope of<br />
winning the World Cup.<br />
With a defence built<br />
around the central pairing<br />
of Jose Gimenez and the<br />
vastly experienced 32-yearold<br />
Diego Godin - they also<br />
play together at Atletico<br />
Madrid - Uruguay have won<br />
all four games in Russia,<br />
conceding a solitary goal.<br />
They are also the only side<br />
to have beaten Russia,<br />
overwhelming them 3-0 in<br />
the group stage in what<br />
appeared to be a reality<br />
check for the host nation<br />
before they want on to stun<br />
Spain in the last 16.<br />
Uruguay extinguished<br />
Cristiano Ronaldo's<br />
Portugal on a thrilling night<br />
in Sochi to reach the<br />
quarter-finals, with Edinson<br />
Cavani scoring two brilliant<br />
goals.<br />
Next up the grizzly,<br />
experienced World Cup<br />
campaigners take on a<br />
young France - the exciting<br />
Kylian Mbappe, and<br />
Gimenez and Godin's<br />
Atletico teammate Antoine<br />
Griezmann - on Friday (Jul<br />
6), bidding for a place in the<br />
semi-finals.<br />
It is as tough a World Cup<br />
fixture as France could<br />
have, and any hope that<br />
their stars will enjoy the<br />
same space they enjoyed in<br />
their 4-3 win against a<br />
disorganised Argentina<br />
have already been<br />
extinguished.<br />
"France's strongest points<br />
are the attackers,<br />
Griezmann and Mbappe,"<br />
Uruguay's veteran coach<br />
Oscar Tabarez said in his<br />
understated yet determined<br />
way after the Portugal<br />
victory.<br />
"If you let France have<br />
space it will be very<br />
difficult."<br />
The freedom experienced<br />
in Kazan will not be granted<br />
to the French by Uruguay's<br />
suffocating defence in<br />
Nizhny Novgorod.<br />
"El Maestro" Tabarez has<br />
been in charge of Uruguay<br />
for 12 years and has not only<br />
forged a strong team which<br />
rarely fail to deliver on the<br />
Edinson Cavani is an injury doubt for Uruguay.<br />
big stage, but also a side<br />
with an immense work ethic<br />
and huge experience.<br />
At this World Cup,<br />
goalkeeper Fernando<br />
Muslera and star striker<br />
Luis Suarez both played<br />
their 100th game for their<br />
country.<br />
Their main doubt for<br />
France is Cavani, who has a<br />
calf muscle injury that<br />
forced him off against<br />
Portugal. He did not train<br />
on Tuesday.<br />
Cavani has played 1<strong>05</strong><br />
times for his country. If he<br />
has not recovered in time,<br />
he could replaced by<br />
Cristhian Stuani, who has<br />
played 42 times for<br />
Uruguay, just 16 fewer times<br />
than Griezmann has<br />
Photo: AP<br />
appeared for France.<br />
And they are marshalled<br />
by the incomparable Godin,<br />
currently 121 caps and<br />
counting.<br />
Uruguay has a "unique"<br />
team spirit because their<br />
victories mean so much to<br />
the players and the country,<br />
one of those inside the<br />
South American team camp<br />
said this week.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS<br />
BANGLADESHTODAY 10<br />
THE<br />
THURSDAY, JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
European stocks<br />
recover as German<br />
political tensions ease<br />
European stock markets recovered<br />
Tuesday as political worries eased in<br />
Germany, but shares in Swiss mining<br />
operation Glencore saw a meltdown on<br />
news of a US legal probe over its global<br />
activities.<br />
Meanwhile, US stocks finished a<br />
holiday-shortened session lower with<br />
Wall Street equities fluctuating with oil<br />
prices.<br />
Europe's benchmark indices were up by<br />
between half a percent and one percent at<br />
the close.<br />
"European markets are in rebound<br />
mode… as an apparent resolution to the<br />
German political impasse has helped<br />
dispel much of the trade war anxiety that<br />
was evident throughout Asia," noted<br />
Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG<br />
trading group.<br />
In high-stakes crisis talks overnight,<br />
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had<br />
put to rest a dangerous row with her<br />
hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer<br />
that had threatened the survival of her<br />
fragile coalition government.<br />
"News that Merkel is safe and the fragile<br />
German coalition will live to see another<br />
day has encouraged traders back into the<br />
Dax, which had been suffering at the<br />
hands of investor anxiety about new snap<br />
elections," said London Capital Group<br />
analyst Jasper Lawler.<br />
But the deal, which essentially<br />
amounted to an about-turn in Merkel's<br />
liberal refugee policy, immediately<br />
sparked resistance from Germany's<br />
neighbors as well as the third member of<br />
her shaky coalition, the Social Democratic<br />
Dhaka Bank elects its Chairman,<br />
Vice Chairman and other Committee<br />
Chairmen of the Board of Directors<br />
Reshadur Rahman has been re-elected as the<br />
Chairman of the Board of the Directors of<br />
Dhaka Bank Ltd on June 28, <strong>2018</strong>. The reappointment<br />
of Rahman will positively<br />
enhance values to Dhaka Bank on its<br />
continuous journey towards excellence.<br />
Rahman is a successful entrepreneur and is<br />
associated with a great deal of progressive<br />
alliance with several companies, a press<br />
release said.<br />
Md. Amirullah has been elected as the new<br />
Vice Chairman of the Board of the Directors<br />
while other Board of Directors include<br />
Abdul Hai Sarker, Rokshana Zaman, Altaf<br />
Hossain Sarker, Mohammad Hanif,<br />
Abdullah Al Ahsan, Khondoker Monir<br />
Uddin, Tahidul Hossain Chowdhury,<br />
Jashim Uddin, Khondoker Jamil Uddin,<br />
Mirza Yasser Abbas, Amanullah Sarker, M.<br />
N. H. Bulu, Manoara Khandaker, Syed Abu<br />
Naser Bukhtear Ahmed, M. A. Yussouf<br />
Khan along with the Managing Director &<br />
CEO Syed Mahbubur Rahman.<br />
Chinese yuan<br />
weakens to 6.6595<br />
against USD<br />
Wednesday<br />
The central parity rate of the<br />
Chinese currency renminbi, or<br />
the yuan, weakened 98 basis<br />
points to 6.6595 against the U.S.<br />
dollar Wednesday, according to<br />
the China Foreign Exchange<br />
Trade System.<br />
In China's spot foreign<br />
exchange market, the yuan is<br />
allowed to rise or fall by 2<br />
percent from the central parity<br />
rate each trading day.<br />
The central parity rate of the<br />
yuan against the U.S. dollar is<br />
based on a weighted average of<br />
prices offered by market makers<br />
before the opening of the<br />
interbank market each business<br />
day.<br />
The following are the central<br />
parity rates of the Chinese<br />
currency renminbi, or the yuan,<br />
against 24 major currencies<br />
announced on Wednesday by<br />
the China Foreign Exchange<br />
Trade System: The central parity<br />
rate of the yuan against the<br />
Hong Kong dollar is based on<br />
the central parity rate of the<br />
yuan against the U.S. dollar and<br />
the exchange rate of the Hong<br />
Kong dollar against the U.S.<br />
dollar at 9 a.m. in international<br />
foreign exchange markets on the<br />
same business day.<br />
The central parity rates of the<br />
yuan against the other 22<br />
currencies are based on the<br />
average prices offered by market<br />
makers before the opening of<br />
the interbank foreign exchange<br />
market.<br />
Party.<br />
London slightly underperformed as<br />
gains in the top UK index were stemmed<br />
by a plunge in the value of Glencore,<br />
which was down a hefty 7.8 percent in late<br />
trading, having earlier fallen even further<br />
after saying it was being probed by US<br />
authorities in a corruption investigation<br />
over its activities in Nigeria, Venezuela<br />
and DR Congo.<br />
US stocks finished decisively lower in a<br />
shortened session ahead of the July 4th<br />
holiday Wednesday. Of the major indices,<br />
the tech-rich Nasdaq fell the most, losing<br />
0.9 percent.<br />
Facebook tumbled 2.4 percent after<br />
confirming it faces investigations by the<br />
Securities and Exchange Commission and<br />
the Federal Bureau of Investigation on its<br />
release of consumer data to now-defunct<br />
political consultancy Cambridge<br />
Analytica.<br />
Tesla Motors was another weak tech<br />
stock, dropping 7.2 percent a day after the<br />
company reported meeting a key<br />
production target for its Model 3 sedan.<br />
Other large technology companies,<br />
including Apple, Google-parent Alphabet<br />
and Microsoft, also fell.<br />
Analysts said market sentiment on Wall<br />
Street shifted when oil prices retreated<br />
after US oil prices briefly breached $75 a<br />
barrel for the first time in more than three<br />
years. The benchmark American contract<br />
finished up 20 cents at $74.14 a barrel.<br />
Earlier, Asian stock markets ended<br />
mixed, with investors awaiting US-China<br />
tariff announcements in the latest trade<br />
war developments.<br />
Abdul Hai Sarker has been re-elected as<br />
the Chairman of the Executive Committee of<br />
the Board of Directors of Dhaka Bank Ltd.<br />
His sincere efforts and dynamic leadership<br />
culminated in a large business conglomerate<br />
in the name of Purbani Group. Executive<br />
Committee also includes of Altaf Hossain<br />
Sarker, Mohammad Hanif, Khondoker<br />
Jamil Uddin, Abdullah Al Ahsan, Mirza<br />
Yasser Abbas and Jashim Uddin.<br />
Meanwhile, Khondoker Monir Uddin has<br />
been re-elected as the Chairman of the Risk<br />
Management Committee of the Board of<br />
Directors of the Bank which also includes<br />
Reshadur Rahman, Rokshana Zaman,<br />
Amanullah Sarker and M. A. Yussouf Khan.<br />
Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed has been<br />
re-elected as the Chairman of the Audit<br />
Committee of the Board of Directors of the<br />
Bank which also includes Mrs. Rokshana<br />
Zaman, Tahidul Hossain Chowdhury,<br />
Manoara Khandaker and M. A. Yussouf<br />
Khan.<br />
US stocks fall amid<br />
tech weakness<br />
Wall Street stocks finished lower on Tuesday with<br />
technology and transportation shares sagging in<br />
light-volume trading ahead of the Independence<br />
Day holiday.<br />
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5 percent<br />
to 24,174.82.<br />
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.5 percent to<br />
2,713.22, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite<br />
Index tumbled 0.9 percent to 7,502.67.<br />
Wall Street stocks had opened mostly higher, with<br />
petroleum-linked shares achieving solid gains as US<br />
oil prices topped $75 a barrel.<br />
But analysts said sentiment shifted after oil prices<br />
retreated from that level at mid-session. Market<br />
swings were accentuated by low trading volumes,<br />
with US markets closing early on Tuesday for the<br />
July 4th holiday.<br />
Technology shares, which had outperformed the<br />
rest of the broader market on Monday, suffered a<br />
weak session.<br />
Facebook tumbled 2.4 percent after confirming it<br />
faces investigations by the Securities and Exchange<br />
Commission and the Federal Bureau of<br />
Investigation on its release of consumer data to<br />
now-defunct political consultancy Cambridge<br />
Analytica.<br />
Tesla Motors was another weak tech stock,<br />
dropping 7.2 percent a day after the company<br />
reported meeting a key production target for its<br />
Model 3 sedan.<br />
Other large technology companies, including<br />
Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft, also<br />
fell.<br />
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United<br />
Continental all dropped at least one percent<br />
following a downgrade by Deutsche Bank.<br />
General Motors fell 1.2 percent despite reporting a<br />
4.6 percent increase in second-quarter US sales.<br />
Ford fell 1.0 percent after reporting a 1.2 percent<br />
increase in June US sales but a 1.8 percent drop in<br />
sales for the first half of the year.<br />
IMF says U.S.<br />
fiscal stimulus<br />
raises risks of<br />
inflation surprise<br />
The International Monetary<br />
Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday<br />
that U.S. fiscal stimulus, the<br />
sweeping tax cuts and<br />
increased government<br />
spending, could raise the<br />
risk of an upward surprise in<br />
U.S. inflation and trigger<br />
financial market volatility.<br />
"At the current stage of the<br />
business cycle, the<br />
expansionary fiscal policy<br />
stance, while boosting U.S.<br />
and global output in the near<br />
term, could increase risks<br />
and uncertainties in the<br />
medium term," the IMF's<br />
executive directors said in a<br />
statement on its annual<br />
check-up of U.S. economic<br />
policies.<br />
"They pointed to an<br />
inflation surprise as an<br />
important risk that, if<br />
realized, could create<br />
volatility in financial<br />
markets, with negative<br />
global consequences," the<br />
IMF said, noting that<br />
emerging markets with<br />
weaker macroeconomic<br />
fundamentals could face the<br />
risk of a marked reversal of<br />
capital flows.<br />
The IMF estimated that<br />
core U.S. inflation would rise<br />
modestly above the Federal<br />
Reserve's target of 2 percent<br />
by mid-year and the central<br />
bank is likely to accelerate<br />
the pace of interest rate<br />
hikes.<br />
The Fed last month raised<br />
short-term interest rates by<br />
a quarter of a percentage<br />
point and envisioned two<br />
more rate hikes in the<br />
second half of the year.<br />
The IMF's executive<br />
directors also raised<br />
"significant concerns" over<br />
the Trump administration's<br />
recent trade policy proposals<br />
that could have damaging<br />
effects beyond the U.S.<br />
economy, trigger retaliatory<br />
responses, and undermine<br />
the open, fair, rules-based<br />
multilateral trading system.<br />
The<br />
Trump<br />
administration has recently<br />
unilaterally imposed high<br />
tariffs on steel and<br />
aluminum imports on the<br />
grounds of national security,<br />
which has drawn strong<br />
opposition from the<br />
domestic business<br />
community and major U.S.<br />
trading partners.<br />
"Directors urged the<br />
authorities to work<br />
constructively together with<br />
their trading partners to<br />
reduce trade barriers and<br />
resolve trade and<br />
investment disagreements<br />
without resorting to harmful<br />
unilateral actions," said the<br />
IMF.<br />
U.S. crude oil<br />
inventories<br />
continue<br />
downtrend<br />
last week:<br />
API<br />
The American Petroleum<br />
Institute (API) on Tuesday<br />
reported a large draw of 4.5<br />
million barrels in the U.S.<br />
crude oil inventories for the<br />
week ending June 29, the<br />
third consecutive week of<br />
decrease.<br />
API reported draws of over<br />
3.0 million barrels and 9.2<br />
million barrels, respectively,<br />
for the previous two weeks.<br />
Oil prices edged up on<br />
Tuesday on rising concerns<br />
about an oil shortage amid<br />
supply disruptions in Libya.<br />
The West Texas<br />
Intermediate (WTI) for<br />
August delivery increased<br />
0.20 U.S. dollar to settle at<br />
74.14 dollars a barrel on the<br />
New York Mercantile<br />
Exchange, while Brent crude<br />
for September delivery was<br />
up 0.46 dollar to close at<br />
77.76 dollars a barrel on the<br />
London ICE Futures<br />
Exchange.<br />
A weaker U.S. dollar also<br />
made the dollar-priced<br />
commodity more attractive<br />
for holders of other<br />
currencies.<br />
FBCCI Standing Committee relating to Ministry<br />
of LGRD and Co-operatives meeting held<br />
A Meeting of the FBCCI Standing Committee relating to Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives<br />
was held recently at FBCCI Board Room. The meeting discussed about development of rural infrastructure<br />
and necessary training & loan facilities for the vast number of youths, a press release said.<br />
The discussants, at the meeting emphasized on development of rural infrastructure to keep pace with the fast growing<br />
development activities of the country. They put emphasis on necessary training & providing loan facilities for the<br />
vast number of youths to start new ventures. The meeting also emphasized on getting proper price of the products<br />
farmers produce around the year, and ensuring storage and export facilities for huge amount of products (fruits and<br />
vegetables) in particular seasons. GaziGolamAshria, Director In- Charge of the committee, presented the detailed<br />
future plan of the committee. Abdul Hakim Sumon, Chairman of the Standing Committee presided over the meeting.<br />
FBCCI Acting President Md. Muntakim Ashraf and the Directors Md. Abu Naser&Hafez Harun-Or-Roshidalso participated<br />
in the discussion. Md. Hasanul Islam ndc, Director of Bangladesh Rural Development Board and Md.<br />
Sadek Mridha, DGM of Small Farmers Development Foundation also spoke on the occasion. Members from different<br />
sectors also took part in the discussion.<br />
Tunisia, China sign<br />
deal on developing<br />
digital economy<br />
Tunisia and China have signed a partnership<br />
agreement on developing digital economy,<br />
the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies<br />
(ITES) said Tuesday.<br />
The deal was inked during the Belt and<br />
Road Digital Economy conference held in<br />
Beijing, the ITES said.<br />
This agreement will offer opportunities for<br />
young Tunisians, especially those in areas<br />
such as telecommunications, fiber optics,<br />
network computing and e-commerce, it said.<br />
Neji Jalloul, director general of ITES,<br />
noted that the Tunisian-Chinese bilateral<br />
trade continues to grow steadily and<br />
fruitfully.<br />
"The new Silk Road connects many<br />
countries from Asian, European and African<br />
continents, allowing everyone more<br />
interconnected, to promote economic,<br />
cultural and digital exchanges," said Jalloul.<br />
"Tunisia and China have had commercial<br />
relations since the Roman times," said<br />
Jalloul. "Furthermore, in terms of<br />
innovation, Tunisia ranks first among<br />
Middle East and North Africa countries and<br />
ranks 40th in the world in the same field".<br />
Jalloul believes Tunisia would be an<br />
international financial platform in the heart<br />
of the Mediterranean region.<br />
"Tunisia has always maintained peaceful<br />
relations with its neighbors and is open to all<br />
cultures and civilizations, "said Jalloul.<br />
With its location at the crossroads of<br />
Europe, the Arab world and Africa, Tunisia<br />
"will be a strategic ally to China, to better<br />
develop the project of One Belt and One<br />
Road Digital Economy," said Jalloul.<br />
Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and<br />
Road Initiative aims to build a trade and<br />
infrastructure network connecting Asia with<br />
Africa and Europe along the trade routes of<br />
the ancient Silk Road.<br />
Vietnam's fertilizer import<br />
almost unchanged, pesticide<br />
import drops in H1<br />
Myanmar regional gov't<br />
grants 5 foreign investment<br />
projects in 10 months<br />
Myanmar's Mandalay region government has granted<br />
five foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth<br />
13.633 million U.S. dollars from August 2017 to June<br />
<strong>2018</strong>, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported<br />
Wednesday.<br />
During the 10-month period, the regional authorities<br />
also approved nine local investment worth 23.129 billion<br />
kyats (16.53 million U.S. dollars).<br />
Myanmar government formed the Mandalay Region<br />
Investment Committee in July 2017, entrusting power to<br />
the regional authorities to approve FDI sought in the<br />
region which does not exceed an initial investment of 5<br />
million U.S. dollars.<br />
According to official figures, the union government<br />
approved a total of 62 FDI projects worth 3.262 million<br />
U.S. dollars and 154 local investment's worth 4.872<br />
trillion kyats (3.48 billion U.S. dollars) across regions<br />
and states during the 10-month period.<br />
Meanwhile, Myanmar recently reformed its<br />
investment commission and will enforce a new<br />
companies law starting Aug. 1.<br />
The move, partly aiming at attracting foreign<br />
investment, will allow the companies to benefit from the<br />
new Myanmar Companies Law which has abolished the<br />
mandated system of submitting an authorized capital as<br />
well as the requirement of an article of association and a<br />
memorandum of association previously prescribed.<br />
The new law will also facilitate rapid registration using<br />
the online registry system.<br />
Vietnam imported nearly 2.3 million tons of<br />
fertilizers worth 651 million U.S. dollars in the<br />
first half of this year, down 5.5 percent in<br />
volume but up 0.3 percent in value against the<br />
same period last year, while spending 474<br />
million U.S. dollars importing pesticides, down<br />
2.4 percent.<br />
In June alone, Vietnam imported 440,000<br />
tons of fertilizers valued at 130 million U.S.<br />
dollars, and spent 90 million U.S. dollars<br />
importing pesticides, according to its Ministry<br />
of Agriculture and Rural Development on<br />
Wednesday.<br />
Vietnamese agriculture experts said local<br />
farmers nationwide should use fewer amounts<br />
of fertilizers, especially inorganic ones, because<br />
they currently waste too much money in overfertilization.<br />
Some 11 million tons of fertilizers are used in<br />
Vietnam every year with conventional urea<br />
used on rice. Local farmers usually lose around<br />
half of the fertilizer amount, an expert said,<br />
noting that the loss can drop 20 percent if hitech<br />
fertilizers are used. In 2017, the country<br />
imported 4.6 million tons of fertilizers valued<br />
at 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, including 1.8 million<br />
tons worth 457.1 million dollars from the<br />
Chinese market, said the ministry.<br />
The fertilizers, mostly urea, Ammonium<br />
Sulfate, Potassium, Diammonium Phosphate<br />
and Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium<br />
fertilizers, were imported mainly from China,<br />
Russia, Japan, Belarus, Indonesia and<br />
Canada.<br />
Quazi Sakhawat Hossain<br />
Tokyo's Nikkei<br />
index closes lower<br />
on tech weakness<br />
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei<br />
225 index closed lower on<br />
Wednesday as high tech<br />
shares dropped sharply<br />
tracking falls on Wall Street.<br />
The Nikkei ended down<br />
0.31 percent or 68.50 points<br />
at 21,717.04 yen while the<br />
broader Topix index edged<br />
up 0.03 percent or 0.45<br />
points to close at 1,693.25.<br />
Analysts said tech shares<br />
suffered partly due to news<br />
that a Chinese court<br />
temporarily banned US firm<br />
Micron Technology from<br />
selling its products.<br />
Investors were cautious<br />
about the trend in Chinese<br />
stocks but "with the<br />
prospects that the yuan's<br />
depreciation is bottoming<br />
out thanks to an<br />
announcement by the<br />
People's Bank of China…<br />
buying back supported the<br />
Japanese market later,"<br />
Okasan Online Securities<br />
strategist Yoshihiro Ito said<br />
in a commentary.<br />
The dollar fetched 110.37<br />
yen in Asian trade, against<br />
110.59 yen in New York late<br />
Tuesday.<br />
In Tokyo, semiconductor<br />
equipment maker Tokyo<br />
Electron dropped 4.44<br />
percent to 17,740 and<br />
semiconductor testing<br />
devices maker Advantest<br />
dived 4.28 percent to 2,189<br />
yen. Game giant Nintendo<br />
dropped 5.27 percent to<br />
34,510 yen and Uniqlo<br />
casual wear operator Fast<br />
Retailing fell 2.14 percent to<br />
48,730 yen.<br />
In contrast, oil developer<br />
Inpex added 2.10 percent to<br />
1,163 yen and oil<br />
refiner JXTG fell 2.60<br />
percent to 796 yen. Chinese<br />
yuan weakens to 6.6595<br />
against USD Wednesday.<br />
Zaker Ahmed<br />
Agrani Insurance gets<br />
Chair and Vice Chair<br />
The board in its 117th meeting held on 28 June <strong>2018</strong><br />
unanimously elected Quazi Sakhawat Hossain (Lintoo) as<br />
the Chairman and Zaker Ahmed, FCA, as the Vice Chairman<br />
of the Board, a press release said.<br />
Quazi Sakhawat Hossain (Lintoo), a Sponsor Director of<br />
the company, obtained B.Sc (Hons.), MSC degree and he is a<br />
successful businessman with versatile business exposure in<br />
Bangladesh. Hossain is the Chairman of MCO Trading Int.<br />
(Pvt.) Ltd. He is associated with a number of socio-cultural<br />
activities.<br />
Zaker Ahmed, FCA, Ahmed, a Sponsor Director of the<br />
company, is a successful businessman. Ahmed is the<br />
Chairman of Jamil Eye & General Hospital, Radiant<br />
Shipyard Ltd. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant. Ahmed<br />
is the Senior Partner of Ahmed Zaker & Co. Chartered<br />
Accountants. He is associated with a few philanthropic<br />
organizations.
MISCELLANEOUS<br />
THURSDAY, JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong><br />
11<br />
Trump says his awkwardly capitalized tweets are no mistake<br />
President Donald Trump says his awkwardly<br />
capitalized tweets are no mistake.<br />
In a Tuesday afternoon Twitter posting,<br />
Trump is delivering the public service<br />
announcement about his digital statements.<br />
He tweets: "After having written many best<br />
selling books, and somewhat priding myself on<br />
my ability to write, it should be noted that the<br />
Fake News constantly likes to pour over my<br />
tweets looking for a mistake. I capitalize certain<br />
words only for emphasis, not b/c they should be<br />
capitalized!" Spelling errors may be another<br />
matter. He misspells "pore" in the tweet.<br />
Moments after sending that message, Trump<br />
corrected another Tuesday posting critical of his<br />
favorite political punching bag - the press.<br />
GD-896/18 (18 x 3)<br />
Alan Diaz, AP photographer<br />
behind Elian image, dies at 71<br />
Retired Associated Press<br />
photojournalist Alan Diaz , whose<br />
photo of a terrified 6-year-old Cuban<br />
boy named Elian Gonzalez earned him<br />
the Pulitzer Prize, has died. He was 71.<br />
Diaz's daughter, Aillette Rodriguez-<br />
Diaz, confirmed that he died Tuesday.<br />
The cause of death wasn't immediately<br />
known.<br />
"He was the king of the family,"<br />
Rodriguez-Diaz said. "He cared about<br />
all of his friends and colleagues. His<br />
life was photography and my mother."<br />
Diaz's wife, Martha, died nearly two<br />
years ago.<br />
Diaz's iconic image shows an armed<br />
U.S. immigration agent confronting<br />
the boy in the Little Havana home<br />
where he lived with relatives after<br />
being found floating off the Florida<br />
coast.<br />
"Alan Diaz captured, in his iconic<br />
photographs, some of the most<br />
important moments of our generation<br />
- the bitter, violent struggle over the<br />
fate of a small Cuban boy named Elian<br />
Gonzalez, the magnified eye of a<br />
Florida election official trying to make<br />
sense of hanging chads and disputed<br />
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib<br />
Razak was charged in court Wednesday<br />
with criminal breach of trust and<br />
corruption, two months after a<br />
multibillion dollar graft scandal at a state<br />
investment fund led to his shock election<br />
defeat.<br />
Najib, wearing a suit and a red tie,<br />
appeared calm and smiled as he was<br />
escorted into the court complex packed<br />
with reporters.<br />
He was arrested Tuesday by anti-graft<br />
officials over a suspicious transfer of 42<br />
million ringgit ($10.4 million) into his<br />
bank accounts from SRC International, a<br />
former unit of the 1MDB state investment<br />
fund that U.S. investigators say was<br />
looted of billions by associates of Najib.<br />
In a lower court, he was charged with<br />
three counts of criminal breach of trust<br />
and one count of corruption. Each charge<br />
has a maximum penalty of 20 years in<br />
prison. Whipping is also a penalty but<br />
Najib would be exempt because of his age.<br />
The case against him will be transferred<br />
to the High Court where Najib is expected<br />
to make his plea Wednesday.<br />
Najib, 64, denies any wrongdoing and<br />
has accused the new government of<br />
seeking "political vengeance."<br />
In a recorded video posted on social<br />
media hours after his arrest, Najib<br />
apologized to Malaysians but remained<br />
defiant.<br />
"As a normal human being, I am not<br />
ballots in the 2000 presidential<br />
election," AP executive editor Sally<br />
Buzbee said.<br />
"He was gravelly-voiced and<br />
kindhearted, generous with his<br />
expertise. And like all great<br />
photographers, he was patient. He was<br />
able to wait for the moment."<br />
Diaz, who was known to roar,<br />
"Hello, Miami," every time he entered<br />
the AP's South Florida office, brought<br />
the same energy and professionalism<br />
to every story, whether he was<br />
shooting an upcoming weekend<br />
feature or a World Series baseball<br />
game. His good-natured humility and<br />
unwavering focus were often calming<br />
elements for his colleagues in Florida's<br />
frequently chaotic news environment.<br />
He introduced newcomers to some of<br />
the pleasures of Miami, such as<br />
sipping a cafecito in Little Havana.<br />
Not one to boast about past<br />
triumphs, Diaz rarely brought up the<br />
Elian story himself, but he would<br />
usually discuss it with enough<br />
encouragement. He had been<br />
freelancing for AP in November 1999<br />
when a boater found the Cuban boy<br />
Former Malaysia leader charged<br />
with breach of trust, graft<br />
Mayor killed in<br />
Mexican town<br />
where 3 Italians<br />
disappeared<br />
Gunmen killed the mayor of<br />
a town in western Mexico<br />
where three Italian men<br />
went missing in late<br />
January, the Jalisco state<br />
prosecutors' office said<br />
Tuesday.<br />
The mayor of Tecalitlan<br />
was gunned down by<br />
assailants wielding rifles and<br />
a municipal worker was<br />
wounded in the attack<br />
Monday.<br />
The missing Italians are<br />
Raffaele Russo, his 25-yearold<br />
son Antonio Russo and<br />
his 29-year-old nephew<br />
Vincenzo Cimmino, all from<br />
the Naples area.<br />
Several municipal police<br />
officers were arrested in<br />
February in connection with<br />
their disappearance.<br />
Authorities said the agents<br />
apparently handed the men<br />
over to a criminal gang and<br />
they have not been heard<br />
from since.<br />
More than 60 mayors or<br />
mayors-elect have been<br />
killed in Mexico since 2006,<br />
often by criminal gangs.<br />
On Tuesday afternoon,<br />
gunmen in the central state<br />
of Guanajuato killed three<br />
state police officers in an<br />
ambush.<br />
The state security office<br />
said in a statement that<br />
police were responding to a<br />
report of gunshot victims<br />
along the highway between<br />
Jerecuaro and Apaseo el<br />
Alto near the community of<br />
Estanzuela de Romero.<br />
Gunmen in multiple vehicles<br />
attacked the officers.<br />
Authorities said they did not<br />
have information about how<br />
many attackers were<br />
wounded or killed.<br />
GD-897/18 (8 x 4)<br />
perfect but believe me, that the<br />
accusations against me and my family are<br />
not all true," he said.<br />
New Prime Minister Mahathir<br />
Mohamad reopened investigations into<br />
1MDB that were stifled under Najib's rule.<br />
Najib set up 1MDB when he took power<br />
in 2009 but the fund amassed billions in<br />
debts and is being investigated in the U.S.<br />
and several other countries.<br />
Najib and his wife were questioned last<br />
month over the SRC case by the anti-graft<br />
agency and have both been barred from<br />
leaving the country. Police have also<br />
seized jewelry and valuables valued at<br />
more than 1.1 billion ringgit ($272<br />
million) from properties linked to Najib.<br />
U.S. investigators say $4.5 billion was<br />
stolen and laundered from 1MDB by<br />
Najib's associates, including some $700<br />
million that landed in Najib's bank<br />
account.<br />
Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert<br />
at John Cabot University in Rome, said<br />
Najib's arrest was the "inevitable<br />
outcome" after he lost power.<br />
"It shows the resolve of the new<br />
government to address previous abuses of<br />
power. It has been done judiciously so far<br />
and speaks to a needed reckoning for<br />
Malaysia and a key step toward a cleaner<br />
governance," she said in an email.<br />
Malaysia's new attorney general,<br />
Tommy Thomas, will head the<br />
prosecution in the case.<br />
floating in an inner tube in the waters<br />
off Fort Lauderdale. Diaz spent the<br />
next few months chatting with<br />
Gonzalez's relatives and neighbors,<br />
earning their trust by respecting an<br />
order from the boy's uncle to not speak<br />
to the child.<br />
Because of those relationships, he<br />
was the only photographer to capture<br />
the moment when U.S. immigration<br />
agents ended a bitter international<br />
custody battle with a pre-dawn raid<br />
the day before Easter in 2000. The<br />
Pulitzer-winning photo shows an<br />
armed agent reaching out to toward a<br />
terrified Elian, seconds before the boy<br />
was pulled out of his uncle's home so<br />
he could be returned to his father in<br />
Cuba.<br />
Diaz said he was just in the right<br />
place at the right time.<br />
After the image hit the wires and<br />
network television news, Diaz saw how<br />
both Cuban leader Fidel Castro and<br />
Cuban-American community leaders<br />
used it to argue that the other side was<br />
brutal and heartless.<br />
"I have no opinion on it. I shot the<br />
moment. That's all," Diaz said last<br />
GD-895/18 (6 x 2)<br />
year. "Good or bad, that's what<br />
happened that morning."<br />
The AP hired Diaz as a staff<br />
photographer two months after the<br />
raid, kicking off a 17-year-career with<br />
the wire service. Within months of<br />
starting, Diaz was taking photos of<br />
hanging chads during the Florida<br />
recount for the 2000 presidential<br />
election. The next year, Diaz flew to<br />
New York just days after 9/11, when<br />
planes were allowed back in the sky, to<br />
help document the recovery. Diaz was<br />
in Florida for the 2004 and 20<strong>05</strong><br />
hurricane seasons, when storm after<br />
storm caused billions in damage across<br />
the Southeastern U.S. More recently,<br />
he rushed to Orlando in 2016 to cover<br />
another tragedy, a shooting at a gay<br />
night club that left 49 people dead.<br />
"Alan Diaz will be remembered for<br />
taking one of the most iconic<br />
photographs in Miami's history," AP<br />
Miami photo editor Marta Lavandier<br />
said. "But what is less known about<br />
Alan is that he was a humble,<br />
dedicated, hard-working news<br />
photographer that loved covering<br />
every aspect of his community."
UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY<br />
THURSDAY, DHAKA, JULY 5, <strong>2018</strong>, ASHAR 21, 1425 BS, SHAWAL 20 , 1439 HIJRI<br />
Teachers and students of Journalism department of Dhaka University protested the attack on Dr<br />
Fahmidul Haque.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
DU teachers, students<br />
protest police assault<br />
on its professor<br />
DHAKA : Dhaka<br />
University Teachers and<br />
students on Wednesday<br />
held a human chain at the<br />
foot of 'Aparajeyo Bangla'<br />
protesting the assault on<br />
Prof Fahmidul Haq by<br />
police on Tuesday, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
On Monday, Dr<br />
Fahmidul Haq, a teacher<br />
of Mass Communication<br />
and Journalism department<br />
of the university, was<br />
assaulted by policemen<br />
when guardians and civil<br />
society members were trying<br />
to gather at the Jatiya<br />
Press Club to stage<br />
demonstrations, protesting<br />
the ongoing attacks on<br />
and arrests of quota<br />
reform activists.<br />
Speaking at the human<br />
chain programme, Prof Dr<br />
Gitiara Nasreen of Mass<br />
Communication and<br />
Journalism department<br />
said it is the duty of the<br />
state to ensure the safety of<br />
its citizens.<br />
The guardians and<br />
teachers wanted to express<br />
their concern through that<br />
demonstration but they<br />
were assaulted by police,<br />
she said adding that their<br />
freedom to express their<br />
concern has been<br />
snatched.<br />
Dr Gitiara demanded<br />
proper investigation into<br />
the incident and exemplary<br />
punishment of those<br />
involved in it.<br />
Masud Al Mahdi, a former<br />
student of the university,<br />
said, "No result will<br />
come out from these<br />
human chains as we've<br />
been doing these for many<br />
years without having any<br />
justice.<br />
Only protest won't<br />
bring justice, people<br />
have to speak up against<br />
injustice."<br />
Some other teachers and<br />
students of the university<br />
also demanded justice and<br />
condemned the incident<br />
following a protest rally.<br />
On Tuesday, law<br />
enforcers also picked up<br />
Prof Rehnuma Ahmed of<br />
Jagangirnagar University<br />
and former Bangladesh<br />
Chhatra Union president<br />
Baki Billah at that time.<br />
But, they were released<br />
later.<br />
Fahmidul Haq said,<br />
"Police misbehaved with<br />
me even after knowing my<br />
identity. I and Rehnuma<br />
Ahmed got on the van after<br />
police arrested Baki Billah<br />
and wanted to talk to the<br />
police officer. The officer<br />
accused me of damaging<br />
the police vehicle and tried<br />
to arrest me, too. But the<br />
other demonstrators<br />
resisted their attempt."<br />
The Incredible Magdeburg<br />
Water Bridge in Germany<br />
INTERESTING NEWS<br />
The Magdeburg Water Bridge is a navigable<br />
aqueduct in Germany that connects<br />
the Elbe-Havel Canal to the Mittelland<br />
Canal, and allows ships to cross over the<br />
Elbe River. At 918 meters, it is the longest<br />
navigable aqueduct in the world.<br />
The Elbe-Havel and Mittelland canals<br />
had previously met near Magdeburg but<br />
on opposite sides of the Elbe. Ships moving<br />
between the two had to make a 12-<br />
kilometer detour, descending from the<br />
Mittelland Canal through the Rothensee<br />
boat lift into the Elbe, then sailing downstream<br />
on the river, before entering the<br />
Elbe-Havel Canal through Niegripp lock.<br />
Low water levels in the Elbe often prevented<br />
fully laden canal barges from making<br />
this crossing, requiring time-consuming<br />
off-loading of cargo.<br />
Construction of the water link was<br />
started as early as in the 1930s but due to<br />
the World War 2 and subsequent division<br />
of Germany the work remained suspended<br />
till 1997. The aqueduct was finally<br />
completed and opened to the public in<br />
2003.<br />
Biman calls<br />
agencies to buy<br />
hajj tickets<br />
immediately<br />
DHAKA : Biman Bangladesh<br />
Airlines today called Hajj<br />
agencies to buy tickets immediately<br />
as 16,000 seats still remain<br />
unsold warning that no<br />
additional slot will be allotted<br />
by Saudi authorities this year.<br />
"All Hajj agents are requested<br />
to procure their required<br />
tickets immediately to avoid<br />
complexity to transport Hajj<br />
Pilgrims at last moment," said<br />
a press release of Biman yesterday.<br />
Last year, the national flag<br />
carrier had to cancel 24 scheduled<br />
hajj flights as agencies<br />
were reluctant to send the pilgrims<br />
before much ahead of<br />
the Hajj.<br />
According to the release till<br />
today 45,779 tickets have been<br />
issued while approximately<br />
16,000 seats are still available<br />
for the hajj flights between 24<br />
Jul to 10 Aug' 18.<br />
"We would like to carry all<br />
our intending pilgrims, we<br />
don't want to leave anyone behind<br />
here. For that, we are<br />
urging all hajj agencies to buy<br />
tickets in favour of their registered<br />
pilgrims soon," Biman's<br />
General Manager (PR) Shakil<br />
Meraj told BSS.<br />
Biman Bangladesh Airlines,<br />
he said, is very cautious this<br />
time to check any kind of complexity<br />
in hajj flight operation<br />
as Saudi authorities has already<br />
declared that they won't<br />
be able to provide any additional<br />
flight to Biman<br />
Bangladesh airlines this year<br />
before the Hajj.<br />
Last year, Biman<br />
Bangladesh airlines had been<br />
able to manage additional slot<br />
from Saudi authority to operate<br />
hajj flights after cancelled<br />
numbers of hajj flights due to<br />
scarcity of passengers.<br />
3 of a family hacked<br />
dead in Pabna<br />
PABNA : A young man<br />
allegedly hacked three of his<br />
family members to death at<br />
Shona Padma village in<br />
Beraupazilaearly Wednesday,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The deceased were identified<br />
as Buli Begum, 35, wife of<br />
Mithu Sheikh of the village,<br />
her son Tushar, 10, and her<br />
sister Mariam Khatun, 50.<br />
Goutam Kumar Biswas,<br />
additional superintendent of<br />
Pabna Police, said Tuhin, son<br />
of Buli Begum, stabbed his<br />
mother, brother and maternal<br />
aunt with a sharp weapon<br />
while they were sleeping in a<br />
room around 4 am.<br />
Later in the morning, police<br />
recovered the bodies and sent<br />
those to Pabna Sadar Hospital<br />
morgue for autopsy, said<br />
Mozaffar Hossain, officer-incharge<br />
of Bera Model Police<br />
Station.<br />
Heavy rains compounding<br />
Rohingya suffering : UNFPA<br />
DHAKA : Executive Director of<br />
UNFPA Natalia Kanem has said the<br />
heavy rains in Rohingya camps in Cox's<br />
Bazar district and their impact are<br />
already compounding the suffering of<br />
Rohingyas, even as they try to rebuild<br />
their lives, reports UNB<br />
Simple shelters that are little more<br />
than huts with bamboo sticks and plastic<br />
sheeting for walls, and tarpaulins<br />
overhead, are serving a very important<br />
purpose for refugee women and girls<br />
forced to flee their homes to the vast<br />
refugee camps, according to UN News<br />
Centre.<br />
They are offering persecuted<br />
Rohingya who fled the brutal violence in<br />
Myanmar a safe haven where they can<br />
find sanctuary and support, care of UN<br />
workers and partner agencies.<br />
Natalia Kanem visited Cox's Bazar, as<br />
part of UN Secretary-General<br />
António Guterres' delegation.<br />
Many of the women and girls in need<br />
of most care are survivors of brutal<br />
crimes of sexual violence, carried out<br />
allegedly by Myanmar government<br />
forces, who began torching the villages<br />
of Rohingya in Rakhine state last<br />
August, forcing them to flee across the<br />
border.<br />
UNFPA said they have already<br />
stepped up efforts and is working with<br />
partners, including other agencies,<br />
including the UN Children's Fund<br />
(UNICEF) and the Office of the UN<br />
High Commissioner for Refugees<br />
(UNHCR) - together with refugees<br />
themselves and host communities - to<br />
repair and reinforce these spaces as well<br />
and the health centres operated by the<br />
agency.<br />
It is also identifying at-risk groups to<br />
they can be transferred to safety, forming<br />
community watch groups from<br />
among refugee and host community<br />
Next generation to retain govt's<br />
achievements: NHRC chairman<br />
RANGPUR : Chairman of the<br />
National Human Rights<br />
Commission (NHRC) Kazi<br />
Reazul Hoque has said the<br />
next generation will retain all<br />
achievements of the present<br />
pro-children government.<br />
"So why, human rights of<br />
the children should be protected<br />
in the family, education<br />
and workplace," Hoque said<br />
while addressing a viewssharing<br />
meeting held at conference<br />
room of the Deputy<br />
Commissioner yesterday as<br />
the chief guest.<br />
Deputy Commissioner<br />
Enamul Habib presided over<br />
the meeting titled "Role of all<br />
concerned to stop violence<br />
against children" organised by<br />
the district administration<br />
with assistance of the World<br />
Vision Bangladesh (WVB).<br />
Member of NHRC<br />
Nurunnahar Osmani, Vicechancellor<br />
(VC) of Begum<br />
Rokeya University Professor<br />
Dr Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah,<br />
Superintendent of Police<br />
Mizanur Rahman, Acting<br />
President of district Awami<br />
League Mamtaz Uddin<br />
Ahmed and Director of WVB<br />
Chandan Gomes spoke as special<br />
guests.<br />
Government officials, heads<br />
of different government departments,<br />
educational institutions<br />
and different organisations<br />
working for establishing<br />
human rights, teachers,<br />
civil society members and socio-cultural<br />
activists attended<br />
the meeting.<br />
Earlier, separate presentations<br />
were delivered in the<br />
meeting on the Children's Act,<br />
2013, Domestic Worker<br />
Protection and Welfare Policy,<br />
2015, Announcement of the<br />
Ministry of Education, 2010,<br />
High Court Rule, 2010 and<br />
overall activities of NHRC.<br />
The NHRC Chairman said<br />
the government has been<br />
providing cost-free legal aid<br />
to the poor and distressed<br />
people through the district<br />
judges all over the country by<br />
appointing lawyers on behalf<br />
of them for ensuring justice<br />
for them.<br />
"Similarly, over 100 panel<br />
lawyers appointed by the<br />
NHRC are working in the<br />
country," he said, adding that<br />
a regional office of the commission<br />
would be set up at all<br />
divisional headquarters to<br />
make its activities more dynamic.<br />
Former Secretary Ashraf Ud Doula on Wednesday joins in Jatiya Party with flowers.<br />
Party Chairman HM Ershad was present at that time.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
BD's per capita power consumption<br />
'lowest in S Asia, developing nations'<br />
DHAKA : Experts at a dialogue on energy sector on<br />
Wednesday said though the country's power generation<br />
and supply capacity increased remarkably over the<br />
last nine years, its per capita electricity consumption is<br />
still the lowest in South Asia and among the developing<br />
countries, reports UNB<br />
They stressed the need for the diversification of energy<br />
sources to reduce the use of gas as its reserves are<br />
depleting fast.<br />
Policy Research Institute (PRI) in collaboration with<br />
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) arranged<br />
the dialogue titled 'Determining Bangladesh's energy<br />
infrastructure Needs for Today and Tomorrow' at a city<br />
hotel. Presenting the keynote paper at the programme,<br />
PRI executive director Dr Ahsan Mansur said<br />
Bangladesh is on the right track to ensure the electricity<br />
for cent percent households as the government is<br />
planning to increase generation capacity to<br />
22,000MW by FY21.<br />
"However, the major challenges still remain. Despite<br />
the impressive growth in power supply, Bangladesh's<br />
per capita electricity consumption remains one of the<br />
lowest in South Asia and among the developing countries,"<br />
he said. The energy expert said the country's gas<br />
reserves are alarmingly low and rapidly depleting as it<br />
relies on gas for over two-thirds of power generation.<br />
He said though the liquefied natural gas (LNG)<br />
import has just started but, it is very costly. Under<br />
the circumstances, he said, much more diversifications<br />
of energy sources are crucial to reduce the<br />
dependence on gas.<br />
The PRI execute director said the government can<br />
import power apart from setting up more coal-based,<br />
nuclear and hydro power plants and promoting the<br />
renewable energy.<br />
Dr Mansur viewed the average tariff charge by the<br />
Bangladesh Power Development Board is still significantly<br />
low below the average production cost, leading<br />
to higher government subsidy. "Low electricity tariff<br />
rates are also impacting negatively on energy efficiency<br />
investments."<br />
Buet Prof and energy expert Dr Mohammad Tamim,<br />
said power demand is growing highly in residential sector<br />
while it is very low in the industry sector. "So, our<br />
policymakers should make projection considering such<br />
growth rates."<br />
women, to locate those who are pregnant<br />
- often as a result of rape.<br />
Vulnerable women and girls are taken<br />
to more secure settlements or places<br />
with facilities designed to help them<br />
cope with trauma and loss, according to<br />
UN News Centre.<br />
However, it is feared that full brunt of<br />
the monsoon season will discourage<br />
women from seeking vital maternal<br />
health care and other services.<br />
During the recent first heavy rains,<br />
UNFPA health facilities and womenfriendly<br />
spaces saw their use decline by<br />
around 60 percent.<br />
UN Secretary-General Guterres, who<br />
visited the refugee settlement and the<br />
UNFPA facilities on Monday, reiterated<br />
the need to protect those in most need.<br />
"The safety of the Rohingya refugees<br />
during this monsoon season is priority<br />
one," he said, standing amid a monsoon<br />
downpour.<br />
Saudi bus<br />
crash kills 2<br />
Bangladeshis:<br />
official<br />
DHAKA : At least two<br />
Bangladeshis were killed and<br />
over a dozen were critically<br />
wounded as a bus carrying<br />
them in the country's western<br />
Jeddah city crashed this<br />
morning, Bangladeshi<br />
embassy officials in Saudi<br />
Arabia said.<br />
"We have so far confirmed<br />
deaths of two Bangladeshis -<br />
Md Elahi of Magura Sadar<br />
and Mohammad Shahjahan<br />
Miah of Bahubal, Habiganj -<br />
but some 13 more wounded<br />
compatriots are being treated<br />
at three different hospitals,"<br />
Head of Chancery of<br />
Bangladesh Consulate<br />
General in Jeddah Mostafa<br />
Jamil Khan told BSS.<br />
Unconfirmed reports,<br />
however, said the casualties<br />
could be as high as 11.<br />
Khan said consulate officials<br />
are there in the hospitals<br />
to look after the injured<br />
and the details will be given<br />
later once the reports come<br />
from there. It was learned<br />
that the driver of the minibus<br />
carrying Bangladeshi workers<br />
lost his control over the<br />
steering as one of the tires of<br />
the vehicle blew and stuck an<br />
electric pole.<br />
Ctg court accepts<br />
charges against<br />
453 BNP-Jamaat<br />
men<br />
CHATTOGRAM : A court<br />
here on Wednesday accepted<br />
a charge-sheet against 453<br />
leaders and activists of BNP<br />
and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-<br />
Islami in a case filed over the<br />
violence in the city on<br />
January 5, 2015, the first<br />
anniversary of the 2014 general<br />
election, reports UNB.<br />
Additional Metropolitan<br />
Magistrate Mahiuddin<br />
Masud took cognisance of<br />
the charges submitted by the<br />
investigation officer on June<br />
20, said Assistant<br />
Commissioner (Prosecution)<br />
of Chittagong Metropolitan<br />
Police Nirmalenda<br />
Chakraborty.<br />
Those charge-sheeted<br />
include BNP Standing<br />
Committee member Amir<br />
Khosru Mahmud<br />
Chowdhury, joint secretary<br />
general Aslam Chowdhury,<br />
city unit President Dr<br />
Shahdat Hossain and its<br />
General Secretary Abul<br />
Hasan Bakkar and former<br />
Jamaat MP Shahjahan<br />
Chowdhury.<br />
BNP and Jamaat-Shibir<br />
men clashed with law<br />
enforcers during a rally at<br />
Kazir Deuri in the city on<br />
January 5, 2015, leaving<br />
many, including policemen,<br />
injured. Several vehicles<br />
were also vandalised and<br />
torched during the clash.<br />
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam, Advisory Editor: Advocate Molla Mohammad Abu Kawser, Managing, Editor: Tapash Ray Sarker, News Editor : Saiful Islam, printed at Sonali Printing Press, 2/1/A, Arambagh 167, Inner Circular Road, Eden Complex, Motijheel, Dhaka.<br />
Editorial and News Office: K.K Bhaban (Level-04) 69/K, Green Road, Panthapath, Dhaka-12<strong>05</strong>. 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