09-10-2018

tuesDaY 

Dhaka: October 9, 2018; ashwin 24, 1425 BS; Muharram 28,1440 hijri 

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com 

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.16; No.251; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00 

international 

China accuses 

ex-Interpol chief of 

bribery, other crimes 

>Page 7 

art & culture 

Mixed veg and 

omelette muffins 

>Page 8 

sport 

Mbappé leads recordbreaking 

PSG to 5-0 

win over Lyon 

>Page 9 

Negligence to patients not 

acceptable, warns PM 

DHAKA : Issuing a warning that no 

negligence to patients to be accepted, 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

on Monday sharply criticised the 

physicians who are not available at 

their work stations at the upazila 

level, reports UNB. 

"We're appointing doctors and 

nurses as required, but it's regrettable 

that our doctors don't stay in 

upazilas, where it's supposed to 

have 10 doctors in one upazila hospital...only 

one doctor is found in 

some areas," she said. 

The Prime Minister said this while 

inaugurating the Golden Jubilee celebration 

programme of Sher-e- 

Bangla Medical College, Barishal 

through videoconferencing from her 

official residence Ganobhaban. 

The government, she said, has 

upgraded the 31-bed upazila hospitals 

to 50-bed ones while 100-bed 

district hospitals to 250-bed ones. 

She said the government is 

appointing doctors and other supporting 

staff accordingly. 

"In some places, there're operation 

theatres, but no doctor, surgeon, 

anesthetist and nurse! We'll 

set up institutions and those will 

DHAKA : The High Court on Monday cancelled 

Relief and Disaster Management 

Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury 

Maya's conviction in a graft and acquitted 

him from the charges, reports UNB. 

Maya was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment 

by a lower court in the graft case. 

An HC bench of Md NazrulIsalm 

Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam 

delivered the judgment. 

Maya's lawyer barrister Syed Ahmed 

Raja said that the HC acquitted Maya from 

the graft charges and overturned his jail 

sentence accepting an appeal filed by him. 

The HC on Sunday fixed on Monday to 

deliver its verdict after re-hearing on the 

DHAKA : The Cabinet on Monday approved 

in principle the draft of Narcotics Control 

Bill, 2018 with a provision of death sentence 

Zohr 

04:40 AM 

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04:05 PM 

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remain neglected, how come! This 

cannot be allowed," she said. 

The Prime Minister also mentioned 

that the government is setting 

up medical colleges and institutions 

as per the demand and now it 

is the responsibility and duty of the 

doctors to provide services to people. 

"I hope, people will get that 

service." 

The Prime Minister said the government 

has taken a number of programmes 

to take medicare facilities 

to the doorsteps of people. 

About nuclear energy, Hasina 

said the government has conducted 

a survey in some islands of the 

Barishal areas to set up another 

nuclear power plant. "I've a plan 

to establish the next nuclear 

power plant at an island in this 

region." 

Hasina said a feasibility study is 

on to transmit gas through pipeline 

from Bhola to Barishal where there 

is gas crisis. "Gas is necessary to 

build some industries in this area," 

she said. 

Health and Family Welfare 

Minister Mohammad Nasim and 

State Minister Dr Zahid Maleque 

HC acquits Maya from 

graft charge 

appeal filed by Maya against the lower 

court's conviction. 

Earlier on August 14 the HC set October 

7 for delivering its verdict in the case. 

On June 13, 2007, Assistant Director of 

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), 

Nurul Alam filed the case with Sutrapur 

Police Station for amassing wealth worth 

Tk. 29 lakh illegally. 

A Special 

Judges Court on 

February 14, 

2008, sentenced 

Maya to 13 years 

jail and also fined 

him Tk 5 crore 

over the wealth 

accumulation. 

Maya filed an 

appeal on May 

25, 2009, with 

High Court and 

the HC cancelled 

the sentence of 

the Awami 

League leader on 

October 27, 2010. 

Later, on June 14, 2015, a three-member 

bench of Appellate Division led by former 

Chief Justice SK Sinha cancelled the HC 

order acquitting the ruling party leader 

from the graft charges and ordered to rehear 

his appeal. 

Death sentence for trading, using 

over grams of Yaba 

or life-term imprisonment as punishment 

for producing, trading and using more than 5 

grams of Yaba or more than 25 grams of 

heroin and cocaine. The approval was given 

at the weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at 

the Prime Minister's Office with Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. 

Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul 

Alam briefed reporters at the Secretariat after 

the meeting. 

"The punishment for transporting, trading, 

storing, producing, processing, applying 

and using more than five grams of Yaba or 

amphetamines will be the death penalty or 

life-term imprisonment," said the Cabinet 

Secretary. 

In case of less than five grams of Yaba, he 

said, the punishment will be minimum one 

year in jail and maximum five years' imprisonment 

alongside the fine. 

The Cabinet Secretary said Yaba or 

amphetamine substances group was included 

into the A-category narcotics in the proposed 

law as it is not in the existing Narcotics 

Control Act 1990. 

also spoke at the programme. 

From the same videoconference, 

the Prime Minister inaugurated four 

modern buildings having 345 flats 

at Doyaganj and Dholpur City 

Colony under Dhaka South City 

Corporation for its cleaning staff. 

Speaking on the occasion, Hasina 

said she always treats a person as a 

human being and shows respect 

accordingly. "The Father of the 

Nation taught us this." 

The government has already taken 

initiatives to replace the old system 

of cleaning up the city with modern 

equipment. "We'll collect the modern 

equipment like garbage trucks, 

hovers and other-related machinery," 

she said. 

Hasina directed the ministry concerned 

to take initiatives to ensure 

accommodation for the cleaning 

staff engaged at the district and 

upazila levels. "We've to ensure 

their accommodation." 

Local Government and Rural 

Development and Cooperatives 

Minister Khandker Mosharraf 

Hossain and Dhaka South City 

Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokan 

also spoke at the programme. 

TK 37 lakh VoIP 

equipment, SIM 

cards seized in 

BTRC drive 

DHAKA : Bangladesh Tele communications 

Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in 

a drive seized 10,9,47 illegal Voice over 

Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment, 

including SIM cards worth Tk 37 lakh, in 

the capital from September 9 to 20, 

reports UNB. 

BTRC acting chairman Jahurul 

Haque came up with the information at 

a press briefing at his office on Monday. 

BTRC officials along with members of 

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) conducted 

drives in Mohammadpur, Adabar, 

Badda and in a residential area under 

Uttara Paschim thana, he said. 

The team also arrested eight people in 

connection with the recovery, said the 

acting chairman adding that cases have 

been filed with the police stations concerned 

under the BTRC Act. 

The seized SIM cards included 5,075 

of Teletalk, 3,897 of Robi, 1,414 of 

Grameenphone and 426 of Banglalink 

SIMs. The BTRC has been successful in 

detecting illegal VoIP business using 

modern technology and the government 

will be able to save TK 50 crore 

annually through preventing illegal 

VoIP business, he said. 

Jahurul Haque also said mobile 

phone operators will be fined in this 

connection. 

Workers of Truck-Lorry-Covered van Sramik Union check the license of vehicles. 

President signs Digital 

Security Bill into law 

BNP rejects Digital Security Act, calls it a 'black' law 

DHAKA : President Abdul Hamid has 

assented to the much-talked- about 

Digital Security Bill passed in the 22nd 

session of the current parliament, making 

it a law, reports UNB. 

President's Press Secretary Joynal 

Abedin on Monday confirmed UNB that 

the President signed the Bill into law. 

The 22nd session of the 10th parliament, 

which was prorogued on 

September 20, passed a total of 18 bills, 

including the Digital Security Bill 2018 

and Road Transport Bill 2018. 

Amid concerns from different quarters, 

the 'Digital Security Bill, 2018' was 

passed in Parliament on September 19 

to deal with cybercrimes, including 

hurting the religious sentiment, negative 

propaganda against the Liberation 

War and Bangabandhu, and illegal 

activities in e-transactions and spreading 

defamatory data. 

Voicing its deep regret at the passage 

of the Digital Security Bill 2018, which it 

considers to be used against the freedom 

guaranteed by the constitution, 

media freedom and freedom of speech, 

the Editors' Council at a meeting on 

September 22 decided to stage a human 

chain on September 29 in front of the 

Jatiya Press Club. 

Urging the Editors' Council to postpone 

its human-chain programme, 

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu 

invited the editors to sit with him and 

others. 

After a meeting with the Editors' 

Council on September 30 Law Minister 

Anisul Huq said Editors' Council's 

objections to nine sections of the 'Digital 

Security Bill' and its demand for 

amending those would be placed before 

the Cabinet for discussions. 

Besides, BNP urged the people from 

all walks of life to put up a strong resistance 

against the Digital Security Bill, 

2018 terming it a dangerous 'black' law. 

Hours after the disclosure that 

President Abdul Hamid signed the 

Digital Security Bill, BNP on Monday 

announced not to accept such a 'black' 

law. 

"We don't accept today's law (Digital 

Security Law). In fact, we don't accept 

any law of this government as those 

were passed in a parliament which has 

no legitimacy," said BNP secretary general 

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. 

However, Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina defended the law saying that 

there is nothing to be worried about the 

Digital Security Bill 2018 as it would not 

gag the voice of the journalist community. 

"I've seen several noted editors, journalists 

and wise persons of society giving 

their opinions against it. They're 

only concerned about whether their 

voice is gagged. But their voice has not 

been gagged," she said while delivering 

the valedictory speech of the 22nd session 

of the 10th parliament on 

September 20. 

Addressing a press conference on 

October 1, the Prime Minister said the 

journalists who do not provide false 

news need not to be worried over the 

upcoming law. 

On Monday at Kalabagan playground of the capital, the formalities of Durgapuja was started. 

Photo: Star Mail 

Photo: Star Mail 

Appellate Division 

gets 3 more judges 

DHAKA : Three judges of the High 

Court were appointed judges to the 

Appellate Division of the Supreme 

Court on Monday, raising the number 

of judges in the Appellate Division to 

seven, repots UNB. 

Those newly appointed judges are 

Zinat Ara, Abu Bakar Siddiquee and 

Md Nuruzzaman. 

President Abdul Hamid gave the 

appointment on Monday, said Barrister 

MD Saifur Rahman, a special officer of 

the Supreme Court. 

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain 

will administer the oath to the Judges at 

the Supreme Court Judges' Lounge at 

10:30 am on Tuesday. 

Currently, there are four judges-Syed 

Mahmud Hossain, Muhammad 

Imman Ali, Hasan Foez Siddique, and 

Mirza Hussain Haider-at the Appellate 

Division. 

Gas price hike 

unlikely 

anytime soon 

DHAKA : Bangladesh Energy 

Regulatory Commission (BERC) is now 

going slow with its move to increase gas 

prices in the country. 

BERC was long waiting for a government 

decision on supplementary duty 

(SD) waiver on import of pricey liquefied 

natural gas (LNG) and has been 

planning to raise gas prices upon calculating 

the SD waiver implications. 

Though the energy regulator has 

received the SD waiver SRO (statutory 

regulatory order) from the National 

Board of Revenue (NBR) last week, it's 

now weighing the pros and cons of the 

timing of the gas price hike decision, 

especially just ahead of the upcoming 

national election. 

BERC sources told UNB that after the 

receipt of the SRO, top bosses of the 

energy watchdog body received some 

advices from the Prime Minister's 

Office that prompted them to rethink 

about the announcement of the gas 

price hike. 

However, BERC Member Mizanur 

Rahman said the regulatory body is 

now recalculating the issue relating to 

gas price adjustment. 

"We're passing through a critical 

time. So, it may take some more times 

for BERC to announce its decision", he 

told UNB on Monday. 

Energy sector insiders believe that the 

things are getting delayed as the BERC 

is now going slow on its price hike decision 

to avoid any political repercussion 

ahead of the national election due in 

December-January. 

Secondly, they said, gas price is a very 

sensitive issue which always has a multiple 

effects on different sectors. Any 

decision from energy regulator on gas 

price will have a big implication on the 

overall economy, which is not expected 

in such a situation, said an energy sector 

insider.

NEWS 

TueSDAY, 

OCTOBer 9, 2018 

2 

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) arranged a view exchanging meeting on 'Digital Security Law- 

2018' chaired by Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir. Photo : TBT 

IPCC for rapid changes in society 

to limit global warming to 1.5°C 

DHAKA : Limiting global warming to 

1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching 

and unprecedented changes in all aspects of 

society, the Intergovernmental Panel on 

Climate Change (IPCC) said in a new 

assessment, reports UNB. 

With clear benefits to people and natural 

ecosystems, limiting global warming to 

1.5°C compared to 2°C could go 

hand in hand with ensuring a more 

sustainable and equitable society, the IPCC 

said on Monday. 

The Special Report on Global Warming of 

1.5°C was approved by the IPCC on 

Saturday in Incheon, Republic of Korea. 

It will be a key scientific input into the 

Katowice Climate Change Conference in 

Poland in December, when governments 

review the Paris Agreement to tackle climate 

change. 

"With more than 6,000 scientific references 

cited and the dedicated contribution of 

thousands of expert and government 

reviewers worldwide, this important report 

testifies to the breadth and policy relevance of 

GD-1235/18 (6 x 3) 

the IPCC," said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the 

IPCC. 

Ninety-one authors and review editors from 

40 countries prepared the IPCC report in 

response to an invitation from the United 

Nations Framework Convention on Climate 

Change (UNFCCC) when it adopted the Paris 

Agreement in 2015, according to IPCC 

statement issued from Incheon, South Korea. 

The report's full name is Global Warming of 

1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the 

impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above 

pre-industrial levels and related global 

greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the 

context of strengthening the global response 

to the threat of climate change, sustainable 

development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. 

"One of the key messages that comes out 

very strongly from this report is that we are 

already seeing the consequences of 1°C of 

global warming through more extreme 

weather, rising sea levels and diminishing 

Arctic sea ice, among other changes," said 

Panmao Zhai, Co-Chair of IPCC Working 

Group I. 

Stepmother 'kills' 

minor boy in 

Chapainawabganj 

CHAPAINAWABGANJ : A 

minor boy has been killed 

allegedly by his stepmother 

at Haripur Miapara in the 

district town, reports UNB. 

Police recovered the body 

of Ahmed Hridoy, 8, son of 

Abdur Rahim of the area, in 

the early hours of Monday. 

Officer-in-charge of 

Chapainawabganj Police 

Station Ziaur Rahman said 

Hridoy went missing on 

Sunday night. His father 

informed police of the 

matter and filed a general 

diary. 

Around 2 am on Monday, 

locals spotted his body, 

which bore injury marks in 

the cheek and throat, behind 

their house. 

Later, police recovered the 

body and sent it for autopsy. 

After the incident, police 

detained Hridoy's 

stepmother Rozina Akhter 

who reportedly confessed to 

her involvement in the 

killing. He told police that 

she beat the minor boy to 

death over family feud, the 

OC claimed. 

Man killed as 

tractor plunges 

into a river in 

Cumilla 

CUMILLA : A driver of a 

tractor was killed when a 

brick-laden tractor plunged 

into the Gumti river 

following collapse of a bailey 

bridge on Daudkandi- 

Batakandi road at 

Kadamtoli in Daudkandi 

upazila on Monday, repots 

UNB. 

The deceased was 

identified as Khokon Mia, 

son of Amzad Mia of 

Mogarchar village in 

Dharmapasha upazila in 

Munshiganj district. 

Police said the tractor fell 

into the river following the 

collapse of a bailey bridge 

around 10 am, leaving 

Khokon dead on the spot. 

On information, police 

recovered the body and sent 

it to a local hospital morgue. 

The local administration 

hanged a signboard banning 

movement of heavy vehicles 

on the bailey bridge after the 

collapse of a pillar of the 

bridge over Gumti River two 

years back. 

Bus driver, helper 

held with 21,200 

Yaba pills in 

Chattogram 

CHATTOGRAM : Members 

of Rapid Action Battalion 

(Rab) in a drive arrested a 

bus driver and a helper along 

with 21,000 Yaba tablets 

from Karnaphuli area of the 

port city early Monday, 

reports UNB. 

The arrestees are driver Md 

Ohidul Alam, 46, son of 

Sirajul Islam, hailing from 

Satkania and helper Md 

Moshraf Ali, 42, son of Abdul 

Majed Sikder, hailing from 

Cox's Bazar district. 

Tipped of that a 

consignment of Yaba tablets 

being brought from Cox's 

Bazar, a team of Rab-7 set up 

a special check post in front of 

Toybiya and Saleh Super 

Market. 

On suspicion, the Rab team 

asked a Dhaka-bound bus of 

'S Alam Paribahan' to stop. 

When the bus was trying to 

GD-1229/18 (5 x 3) flee ignoring the signal, the 

Rab team halted it. 

GD-1227/18 (8 x 4) 

Foot Overbridges: 

Accessibility remains 

a sticking point 

DHAKA : Patients, the physically-challenged, women, 

the elderly and children often fail to avail themselves of 

overbridges (or 'footbridges') to cross roads as the initial 

climb-up the flight of stairs-often to a height of two 

storeys-leaves them severely depleted in terms of energy, 

besides being time-consuming, reports UNB. 

While visiting different areas of capital Dhaka, the 

UNB correspondent came across a number of such 

people. 

All of them who braved the road sharedone common 

calculation: the risk associated with crossing the road at 

ground level, snaking one's way around stationary 

vehicles or even scrambling at the sight of speeding ones, 

was outweighed by the physical exertion and time it 

would take to cross overhead. 

By far the more physically challenging part comes first, 

that is, in the very act of climbing up the stairs to get on 

the bridge. 

There are three foot overbridges in the city's Shahbagh 

area, all of them lacking any sort of special arrangement 

for people who may not be in an idealshape to attempt 

the pretty steep (unlike stairs in most houses, they tend 

to rise up in one steep incline) climb, very often in 

sapping conditions brought on by the heat and humidity. 

And it is even worse for those nursing any disabilities. 

One way around the problem that has been tried 

abroad could be to provide escalators on the side used to 

climb onto the overbridge. 

Some veryimportant institutions such as Bangabandhu 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University, Ibrahim 

Cardiac Medical College and BIRDEM Hospital are 

located in the area. 

During a recent visit to the area, the UNB 

correspondent spoke to a number of pedestrians who 

expressed their frustration and distress at the risks they 

were forced to take, just to cross the road. 

Rabbi Bhuiyan, a second-year student of Dhaka 

University said, "I feel sorry but nothing to do for the 

patients, physically challenged people, women, and 

children who struggle to cross the road." 

Suman came to the PG hospital with his mother who 

was not able to walk. But he was seen crossing the road 

using the foot overbridge carrying his mother in his 

arms. 

Coming down the other side, clearly exhausted, he 

laments how much easier it would have been had there 

only been a lift or escalator to get on the bridge-as some 

cities in southeast Asia do it. 

Dhaka's two city corporations have so far built over 80 

such overbridges in the city, with 32 in South City 

Corporation and 49 in North City Corporation. But only 

two of them-one at Banani and another near the Airporthave 

the escalator facility. 

Though it was planned to provide the escalator at one 

end of every overbridge, there has been no progress so 

far. 

Contacted, DSCC Chief Engineer Al Ahmed said, "One 

of the key functions of the Engineering department of the 

city corporation is to construct the footbridges and 

underpasses, but we didn't think too much for the 

patients, the physically-challenged, women, the elderly 

and children in the design." 

He further said, "But we're planning to provide special 

services making the best use of technology soon. We've 

launched a feasibility test in six places for setting up 

escalators." 

Joint Secretary of 'Bangladesh Environment 

Movement' and architect Iqbal Habib also expressed 

frustration and said all the infrastructure projects are 

taken to serve the purpose of businesspeople, not the 

common people. 

Stressing the big change in the current system of traffic 

management, he also said the city corporations should 

design their works aiming to serve the people. All 

possible things should be addressed for making it userfriendly 

ones before finalising any project. 

Bishwanath village police 

leading miserable life 

with low pay 

Members of the Village Police in Bishwanath upazila of the 

district are leading an inhuman life thanks to low pay and 

absence of any financial benefits, reports UNB. 

Whatever they receive for a month's salary is not enough to 

run even a week, yet they are always on law enforcement duty 

for 24 hours a day. 

Sources said each union parishad has 10 members of the 

Village Police, where one is assigned as a Dafadar (Inspector) 

and the others as Mohalladar (constables), who are paid Tk 

3,400 and 3,000 a month respectively. 

Their salaries are half paid by the government and half by 

the respective union parishad authorities. 

Apart from festival bonuses, they do not receive any other 

fiscal benefits or facilities, yet they are assigned to nighttime 

duties, village courts, social programmes and accident spots. 

Some members of the Village Police told UNB that apart 

from nighttime duties, they are also engaged in assisting UP 

chairmen, provide crime-related information, birth-death 

certificate registration, tax collection and other duties, for 

which their salary is not enough to run their own family 

expenses. 

They said a day-labourer earns Tk 300-500 a day, but they 

earn only Tk 100-110 a day. They lead their lives and 

maintain the chain of command even after such 

complications at times even their salaries are not regularly 

cleared. 

Bangladesh Village Police Employees' Union (BVPEU) 

demanded the government take measures to prevent wage 

discrimination against the VP and include them in the pay 

scale of the fourth-class government employees. 

Nali Shukla Baidya, a village police member of 

Bishwanath's Daulatpur union, said his salary is not enough 

to make ends meet. As a result, his family has to skip one of 

three daily meals. 

Taimur Ali, another member of Sadar union parishad, said 

the fortunes of many had changed after independence but 

not those of the Village Police. 

Ishward Ali, a Dafadar from Khajanchi union, echoed 

similar sentiments and said even at his advanced age, his 

salary is not enough to purchase his medicines or bear the 

education cost of his children. 

Passenger held with 3,000 

Yaba pills at Dhaka airport 

DHAKA : Officials of Customs Intelligence arrested a 

passenger along with 3000 Yaba pills at Hazrat Shahjalal 

International Airport here on Sunday, reports UNB. 

The arrestee, identified as Jasim Uddin, landed at the 

airport from a domestic flight of Novoair (VQ-912) from 

Chattogram at 5:25pm. 

Tipped off, a team of Custom Intelligence took position at 

the domestic terminal of the airport and obstructed Jasim as 

he came forward, said a customs official. 

Later, the team recovered 60 packets of Yaba pills worth Tk 

17lakh. 

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METRO 

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018 

3 

No alternative 

to victory of 

AL: HT Imam 

DHAKA : Prime Minister's 

Political Affairs Adviser and 

Awami League Advisory 

Council Member HT Imam 

yesterday said there is no 

alternative to victory of 

Awami League in the next 

general election. 

"We will be able to win in 

the next general election 

with our election symbol 

'Boat' under the leadership 

of Prime Minister and 

Awami League President 

Sheikh Hasina," he told a 

discussion at Jatiya Press 

Club here. 'Pratyagata 

Prabashi Awami Forum' 

organized the discussion. 

Food Minister Advocate 

Qamrul Islam addressed the 

discussion as the special 

guest with 'Pratyagata 

Prabashi Awami Forum' 

Convener MA Kashem in the 

chair. 

The PM's adviser called 

upon the Awami League 

leaders and workers to work 

unitedly to ensure the 

party's victory in the 

parliamentary election. 

Manna accuses govt of 

oppression 

DHAKA : Convener of Nagorik Oikya Mahmudur Rahman 

Manna on Monday claimed that no government was such an 

oppressive one in last 48 years like the current government. 

He also said Ershad's government was not so oppressive 

either, reports UNB. 

"Government is harassing and torturing people filing illegal 

cases whenever someone wages movement. The state has 

been turned into a police country", he alleged. 

Manna made these remarks while addressing a discussion 

meeting on the occasion of two parties - Sonar Bangla Party 

and Jonodol - joining the Juktrofront at the Jatiya Press 

Club. 

Claiming that an anti-government unity is gaining 

momentum all over the country, Manna said, "People can't 

apply their voting rights. Their votes have been cast by others 

before they could reach the polling station. In the name of 

voting, the country can't be deceived. These deceptions have 

to be stopped. We want to establish effective democracy in 

the country through unity". 

Criticizing the activities of Election Commission (EC) the 

former vice president (VP) of the Dhaka University Central 

Students' Union (Ducsu) said that in the name of election, 

the government staged a farce in 2014 and that time EC had 

helped government in organising it. 

Manna further said that they have given 5-point demand 

from Juktofront for an acceptable election. He said BNP, 

Juktofront, and Nagorik Oikya yesterday (Sunday) 

announced a united movement. 

Presided over by Sonar Bangla Party President Sheikh 

Abdur Noor, the meeting was also addressed by JSD (Jatiya 

Samajtantrik Dal) General Secretary Abdul Malek Ratan, 

Organizing Secretary Mosharraf Hossain, Bangladesh 

Janadal Chairman Mahbubur Rahman Joy Chowdhury and 

many others. 

DU 'Cha' unit 

admission 

test result 

published 

DHAKA : The first year 

honours admission test 

results of 'Cha unit' of Dhaka 

University (DU) under its 

Fine arts faculty for 2018-19 

academic session have been 

published on Monday with 

19.45 percent pass rate, 

reports UNB. 

DU Vice-Chancellor Prof 

Dr. Md. Akhtaruzzaman 

announced the results at the 

central admission office at 

the administrative building 

of the university at 1pm. 

A total of 269 students 

(19.45%) passed the written 

examination held at 22 

September among the 1,383 

admission seekers, the VC 

said. 

The MCQ test of this unit 

was held on the 17th 

September. 

The results can be viewed 

from the university website 

'We Demand Safe Road' arranged an emergency press conference as it's founder Ilias Kanchon has been 

banned in all the bus terminals. 

Photo : TBT 

Expats urged to 

work together 

to achieve 

Bangladesh's 

dev goals 

DHAKA : Bangladesh High 

Commissioner to Singapore 

M Mustafizur Rahman has 

urged the expatriate 

community to work together 

to achieve the targets 

outlined in Vision 2021 and 

Vision 2041 and thus build 

'Sonar Bangla', reports UNB. 

He highlighted the 

visionary dream of the 

Father of the Nation 

Bangabandhu Sheikh 

Mujibur Rahman. 

The High Commissioner 

was addressing a seminar as 

part of Bangladesh 

Development Fair 2018 in 

Singapore on Sunday. 

A documentary on the 

development of Bangladesh 

was screened following the 

seminar, said the High 

Commission on Monday. 

The fair aimed to portray 

the achievements and 

development projects of the 

government over the 

decade. 

Citing statistics and data, 

the High Commissioner 

delineated the achievements 

of the government of Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina in 

the socio-economic 

development of the country. 

He also highlighted the 

development projects 

undertaken by the 

government for the welfare 

of senior citizens, freedom 

fighters and underprivileged 

people in the rural areas. 

The High Commissioner 

mentioned the attractive 

investment incentives 

offered by the Bangladesh to 

foreign investors. 

A special feature of the fair 

was the cultural programme 

which was designed, 

directed and presented 

entirely by expatriate 

Bangladeshi workers in 

Singapore. 

The cultural performance 

of Bangladeshi workers 

enthralled the audience 

which received high 

appreciations from the floor. 

Singapore Bengali 

Literature, an organization 

of Bangladeshi workers in 

Singapore installed a book 

stall at the fair where 

renowned literature works 

of Bengali Language were 

displayed. 

A large crowd of members 

of Bangladesh community 

and some foreign guests 

visited the fair. 

GD-1230/18 (6 x 3) 

GD-1231/18 (14 x 4) 

MoFA urges 

all to verify 

forged 

letters sent 

to banks, FIs 

DHAKA : A group of people, 

using forged signatures of 

officials at Ministry of 

Foreign Affairs, are sending 

letters to various banks and 

financial institutions 

apparently seeking financial 

support in the name of 

publishing various 

publications marking 

international days, reports 

UNB. 

The Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs (MoFA) has recently 

detected such move by a 

section of unscrupulous 

people. 

The Ministry on Monday 

urged all to remain all alert 

about such letters in a 

statement and urged all to 

contact with the Director 

General of External Publicity 

Wing ( 9562952) to verify 

any such letter. 

GD-1233/18 (10 x 3)

EDITORIAL 

TUESDAy, 

oCToBER 9, 2018 

4 

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam 

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

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com 

Tuesday, October 9, 2018 

Becoming a global hub 

of quality medicine 

A 

fter 

apparels the pharmaceuticals industry has been 

one of the success stories of Bangladesh in the last 

three decades. Bangladesh had to depend largely for 

medicines on multinational companies and imports in the 

1970s and early 80s. Now local companies meet almost 98 

percent of domestic demand worth around USD 2 billion 

or Tk 16,000 crore. 

The sector is not only catering to domestic needs, but also 

exporting to 145 countries including the United States and 

Europe. The value of pharmaceutical exports were close to 

USD 100 million in fiscal 2016-17. 

According to experts , Bangladesh's pharmaceuticals 

industry is going to be a major player in the global export 

market in the next three to five years.The industry's 

inception dates back to the 1950s when a few 

multinationals and local entrepreneurs started with 

manufacturing facilities in the then East Pakistan. By 1982, 

many top ranking multinationals established their 

manufacturing facilities in this part of the world. 

Prominent among them were Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) , Glaxo, 

Fisons, Squibb, Hoechst, ICI, May & Baker and Organon. 

Pharmaceutical industries in Bangladesh are gifted with 

unparalleled potential to grow in the days ahead as they 

enjoy a number of competitive advantages. The industry's 

ability to comply with guidelines of quality assurance has 

put it on a solid base. Almost all companies are equipped 

with World Health Organization (WHO) Good 

Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. 

Bangladesh's ability to face competition from developing 

countries like India, China, Brazil and Turkey in its export 

markets is due to Bangladesh pharmaceutical's strict 

quality compliance. The most important indicator is the 

capability of the industry to achieve excellence and go 

beyond general international standards. 

A good number of companies including Square Pharma, 

Renata and Eskayef have won accreditation from the U.K. 

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency 

(MHRA). Incepta and Beximco Pharma have been 

accredited by EMEA (Austria) and the Therapeutic Goods 

Administration (TGA-Australia), respectively. These 

accreditations will allow them to enter the lucrative market 

with very competitive prices and standards as reputed 

global players. The government of Bangladesh emphasizes 

on its national drug policy that all the pharmaceutical 

manufacturers must strictly comply with the standards. 

The Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) is a 

term recognized worldwide as a holistic approach for the 

control and management of manufacturing and quality 

control testing of food and pharmaceutical products. 

Bangladeshi pharmaceutical industries are expanding 

exportable items quite fast. Bangladesh is now exporting a 

wide range of pharmaceutical products covering all major 

therapeutic classes and dosage forms like tablets, capsules 

and syrups. 

Bangladesh is also exporting high-tech specialized 

products like, HFA, inhalers, suppositories, 

hormones, steroids, oncology, immunosuppressant 

products, nasal sprays, injectibles and IV infusions. 

The sector enjoys sound footing due to the local pull 

of heavy demand for medicines by the country's over 

160 million people. 

Bangladesh now has an average life expectancy of 65 

years, which is at the top end in South Asia. Growth in local 

demand will naturally follow increases in per capita 

income.The industry welcomed over 50 new factories in 

the last three years, of which about two dozen started 

marketing with an aggressive sales and promotion 

strategy. The sector is active in API (active pharmaceutical 

ingredients). Twenty-one different companies now locally 

manufacture 41 API's. However, compared to huge local 

demand, more API industries need to be set up. 

Pharmaceutical industries' potential has multiplied with 

the recently approved API industrial park in Munshigonj at 

a cost of $30 billion. 

The API Park will inject fresh momentum into the 

pharmaceutical industry. The country can save at least 70 

percent of the amount and the park is expected to 

transform the industry as a major export earner with the 

potential to export products worth $750 million per year 

within the next five years. 

At this moment, Bangladesh imports 80 percent of its 

pharmaceutical raw materials from aboard. A good 

number of skilled professionals from home and abroad 

are joining the industry's human resources pool every 

year. 

Bangladesh can continue with the patented products up 

to 2032 as per trade related intellectual property rights 

(TRIPS). Pharmaceutical industries are now legally 

allowed to reverse engineer, manufacture and sell generic 

versions of on-patent pharmaceutical products for 

domestic consumption as well as for export to other LDCs. 

This has created a big opportunity to make Bangladesh as 

a new chemical entity. With about 45 years of experience in 

pharmaceutical formulation and marketing Bangladesh is 

in a position to share those with both LDCs and developing 

countries where needed. Apart from the regular 

investment in pharmaceutical industries and API, 

opportunities of bioequivalence study, validation report, 

clinical trials and manufacturing plant audit mechanism 

have been created. 

Currently, bio equivalency tests are conducted in 

Singapore, Malaysia and in European countries resulting 

in huge expenditure of pharmaceutical industries. More 

investments in these sub-sectors would be needed in 

future. Foreign investors can take advantage of the 

flourishing industries. 

It is estimated that over $250 million have been invested 

in this sector over the last couple years in terms of facility 

modernization as well as new facilities.Needless to 

mention that all of these investments were directed 

towards developing full cGMP compliant facilities, which 

can meet stringent regulatory requirement of any country 

of the world. 

Such investment has already started paying off as most of 

these companies have either already received certification 

or are on the verge of getting approval from world toughest 

regulatory bodies like U.S. FDA, U.K. MHRA, TGA 

Australia and European Union. This has opened up wider 

range of opportunities for the industry whereby these 

Bangladeshi companies can now export pharmaceutical 

products to any part of the globe capitalizing on the $600 

billion plus global pharmaceutical market. 

Criticism of Israeli policy is not anti-Semitic 

Iwas provoked to write this 

discussion of what is and what 

isn't anti-Semitism by an article 

in Haaretz on the "controversy" 

created by the awarding of the 2018 

Nobel Prize in Chemistry to George 

P. Smith. According to the 

reporting, Dr Smith is not only a 

brilliant scientist whose work has 

helped lead to the creation of new 

drugs that can treat cancer and a 

range of autoimmune diseases, but 

he is also an outspoken supporter of 

Palestinian rights and a critic of 

Israeli policies. 

The Haaretz piece notes that Dr 

Smith has long been "a target of 

pro-Israel groups" and is listed on 

"the controversial Canary Mission 

website" - used by supporters of 

Israel to harass and silence critics. 

As I read through the article 

looking for evidence of Smith's sins, 

I found quotes saying that he 

"wished 'not for Israel's Jewish 

population to be expelled' but 'an 

end to the discriminatory regime in 

Palestine'". At another point, 

Haaretz quotes from an op-ed 

written by Smith condemning 

Israeli policies in Gaza which he 

concludes by expressing his support 

for the Boycott, Divestment and 

Sanctions movement (BDS) calling 

it "Palestinian civil society's call for 

It was her unbearably sorrowful eyes 

that struck me most viscerally when I 

first met Nobel Peace Prize winner 

Nadia Murad. These eyes bore 

hauntingly eloquent testimony to the 

unbearable atrocities she had endured. 

As Daesh attacked the Sinjar region of 

Iraq, Murad and hundreds of other 

Yazidi girls witnessed family members 

and neighbors slaughtered. These girls 

were enslaved, violently raped, tortured 

and traded from one fighter to another. 

Many were killed, many are still being 

held, and the fate of many will never be 

known. Having faced brutal reprisals for 

an earlier attempt to escape, Murad 

risked her life by fleeing when her captor 

left the door unlocked. But she did not 

just survive. She courageously stood up 

and told the world about the brutality 

that women like her had faced, as 

beatings and gang rape became routine. 

When asked whether she had 

contemplated suicide, she responded 

that they had already died many times 

over, yet lived in constant fear that the 

future held far worse horrors. 

Another thing that struck me about 

Murad is that she does not have an ounce 

of self-pity. She rarely talks or thinks 

about herself. I ask her how she is, and 

she immediately tells me about the 

wellbeing of those who escaped from 

captivity. Coming from a culture where 

speaking of sexual violence is an absolute 

taboo and victims face ostracization, 

Murad demanded that she be named 

and photographed to shatter the wall of 

silence and shame against innocent 

victims of rape. 

The Ghurian iron mine in 

Afghanistan's Herat province is a 

perfect pilot investment target for a 

proposed US/Uzbekistan mining venture 

underwritten by the US Overseas Private 

Investment Corporation (OPIC), 

according to Dr Mohammad Humayon 

Qayoumi, chief adviser to the president of 

Afghanistan. 

Speaking to Capitol Intelligence at the 

Trans-Caspian Forum in Washington, 

DC, in May, Qayoumi said the Ghurian 

mine, located on the Iranian border, could 

be used to supply iron ore to smelters in 

the north and south of Afghanistan, and 

even to the United Arab Emirates. 

The openness by Afghanistan to US 

private-sector investment in the country's 

nascent mining sector directly contradicts 

a US State Department assessment 

prepared for President Donald Trump 

stating that Afghanistan does not have the 

infrastructure, transportation, regulatory 

or environment controls to support 

private-sector mining in the country. 

US private-sector investment in mining 

activity via Uzbek and Kazakh mining 

companies will be one of critical issues 

raised in US Commerce Secretary Wilbur 

Ross's upcoming trade mission to 

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan at the end of 

this month. 

The trade mission follows high-level 

summits between Trump and his Uzbek 

counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev on May 

16 and with Kazakh President Nursultan 

Nazarbayev on January 18. 

The discussion of a US/Uzbek venture 

follows the signing of a memorandum of 

understanding between Mirziyoyev and 

OPIC president Ray Washburne during 

the Uzbek president's Oval Office meeting 

the global community of conscience 

to ostracise Israeli businesses and 

institutions until Israel repudiates 

[their violence against Palestinians] 

and the Palestinian people, 

including the exiles, achieve full 

equality with the Jews in their 

shared homeland". 

I read all of this in the context of 

this worrisome campaign that is 

unfolding in the United States to 

silence critics of Israel or the 

exclusivist vision of Political 

Zionism. It is a well-funded multipronged 

effort, one component of 

which is the shadowy Canary 

Mission website that publishes the 

names, photos, and backgrounds of 

pro-Palestinian students and 

professors - terming them anti- 

with Trump on May 16. 

The Trump administration is working to 

win over strategic Central Asian countries 

with large US private-sector investments 

as a way to extricate US soldiers from 

Afghanistan and the region. The 

presidents of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan 

were able to announce US private-sector 

deals worth an aggregate of US$15 billion 

during their meetings with Trump. 

One of the key strategies to reboot the 

Afghan economy is to develop the 

country's lucrative but greatly unexploited 

mining sector, which is rich in iron ore, 

copper, lithium and even gold. 

"Afghanistan is an El Dorado for miners 

but the security risks scare away most 

Western miners. It is almost the exclusive 

domain of the Chinese and Russians," a 

Bank of Nova Scotia mining banker has 

said. 

While US-Uzbek government relations 

are strong, the Central Asian country lacks 

dynamic business leadership with the very 

notable exception of Uzbek-Russian steel 

and media mogul Alisher Usmanov. 

The owner of Russian/Ukrainian steel 

JAMES J. ZoGBy 

BARIA AlAMUDDIN 

Semites or supporters of terrorism. 

It does so with the expressed 

purpose of harming their careers. 

The Canary Mission list is also used 

to taint and smear these activists to 

intimidate politicians from 

engaging with them. And the lists 

have been used by the Israeli 

government to deny entry to, in 

particular, Palestinian-Americans 

or progressive American-Jews 

As I read through the article looking for evidence of 

Smith's sins, I found quotes saying that he "wished 'not 

for Israel's Jewish population to be expelled' but 'an end 

to the discriminatory regime in Palestine'". At another 

point, Haaretz quotes from an op-ed written by Smith 

condemning Israeli policies in Gaza which he concludes 

by expressing his support for the Boycott, Divestment 

and Sanctions movement (BDS) calling it. 

PK SEMlER 

seeking to see family, study, teach, 

or simply visit that country. 

While the Canary Mission has 

done its best to keep its operations, 

leadership and funding secret, 

recent articles published in the 

Jewish press have revealed that the 

project has been financially 

supported by some mainstream 

group Metalloinvest and an early investor 

in Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook through 

his Digital Sky Technology (DST) group, 

Usmanov remains one of the most 

powerful business leaders in the former 

Soviet Union and is ranked as the 37thrichest 

man in the world. 

Unlike his fellow so-called oligarchs 

such as Renova Group owner Viktor 

Vekselberg or former Rusal chief Oleg 

Deripaska, Usmanov has deftly managed 

to avoid being be placed on the US 

Treasury Department's OFAC (Office of 

Foreign Assets Control) sanctions list. 

"Usmanov is the only person I can think 

[of] with enough clout to get Uzbek 

mining companies to work in Afghanistan 

and at the same time get Western banks 

and funds moving on the venture," a 

source close to the Trump administration 

said. 

Uzbekistan's ambassador to the United 

States, Javlon Vakabov, told Capitol 

Intelligence that Usmanov was making 

significant social-responsibility 

investment such funding the construction 

of a mosque in Tashkent and 

American Jewish philanthropic 

entities. 

In addition to the Canary Mission, 

there is the campaign that seeks to 

criminalise support for BDS or to 

penalise supporters of the 

movement to hold Israel 

accountable for its systematic 

violations of Palestinian rights. This 

effort is massively funded by the 

likes of Sheldon Adelson and we 

now learn, also from a recent 

expose in a prominent American 

Jewish newspaper, by millions of 

dollars funnelled to the campaign 

from the government of Israel. 

Then there is legislation currently 

pending in Congress designed to 

make boycotting Israel a crime, 

complementing the 25 states that 

have already passed laws denying 

salaries, contracts, or benefits to 

individuals who support BDS. 

Finally, in a replay of the effort 

that pressed the United Kingdom's 

Labour Party to define criticism of 

Israel as anti-Semitic, Trump's 

appointment to lead the Civil 

Rights Office at the US Department 

of Education has made clear his 

intent to investigate anti-Israel 

activism on college campuses as 

forms of anti-Semitism. 

Source: Gulf news 

The 2018 Nobel Prize: Spotlighting an epidemic of sexual violence 

In doing so, she facilitated the 

traumatic process of released women 

being welcomed back by communities 

that may once have shunned them. She 

consequently enjoys heroic status among 

the women of Sinjar. Murad and her 

legal team spearheaded the international 

campaign for Daesh personnel to be held 

to account for crimes against humanity. 

She visits refugee camps in Iraq, Greece 

and other locations, where Iraqis remain 

in harrowing conditions and vulnerable 

women continue to face the threat of 

sexual violence. 

Dr. Denis Mukwege was awarded the 

Nobel Prize along with Murad for his 

work in treating thousands of women 

who had been violently raped during the 

Congolese conflict. He continued his 

work despite assassination attempts 

after publically criticizing the Congolese 

government's failure to protect women. 

We can no longer pretend to be 

unaware of this plague of sexual violence 

by powerful men against defenseless 

women worldwide. 

The joint recognition of Murad and 

Mukwege was an ingenious way for the 

Nobel Prize Committee to highlight 

sexual violence against women 

worldwide. In conflict zones and 

supposedly civilized nations whose 

political elites should know better, this 

recognition does not come a moment too 

soon. 

I was deeply touched by Murad's 

harrowing autobiography, which she 

named "The Last Girl," hoping that her 

campaign would ensure that she would 

In doing so, she facilitated the traumatic process of released women 

being welcomed back by communities that may once have shunned 

them. She consequently enjoys heroic status among the women of 

Sinjar. Murad and her legal team spearheaded the international 

campaign for Daesh personnel to be held to account for crimes 

against humanity. She visits refugee camps in Iraq, Greece and 

other locations, where Iraqis remain in harrowing conditions and 

vulnerable women continue to face the threat of sexual violence. 

be the "last girl in the world with a story 

like mine." However, as the committee 

chairman observed, women in these 

conflicts are "used as a weapon of war." 

Systematic rape has recently been 

documented against Rohingya women. 

Even in Iraq, there are plentiful 

warning signs that such a scenario could 

repeat itself. The specters of terrorism, 

militancy and religious hatred have not 

been banished. Daesh is once again 

reconstituting itself in remote parts of 

central Iraq. 

Meanwhile, Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi 

paramilitary forces - which themselves 

have been complicit in systematic war 

crimes such as sectarian cleansing and 

sexual attacks against displaced women - 

are today consolidating their position in 

government. The unleashing of sectarian 

forces was among the factors that tore 

Iraq apart in 2014 and allowed Daesh to 

embark on its genocidal campaign 

against the country's minorities. Are the 

same mistakes being repeated? 

I was overjoyed at this year's choice of 

Nobel Prize, not least because this 

avoided the farcical scenario of the award 

going to US President Donald Trump 

and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

Yet for Murad, this is a bittersweet 

moment: Nobody could envy the horrors 

she endured to achieve this pinnacle of 

global recognition. Responding to the 

award, she said: "I think of my mother, 

who was murdered by Daesh, the 

children with whom I grew up, and what 

we must do to honor them. Persecution 

of minorities must end." 

The most recent occasion I met Murad, 

there was a twinkle of happiness in those 

still-sad eyes. She was with her fiancé, 

and her human rights activism had given 

her a cause toward which she could focus 

her energies. Murad's and Mukwege's 

awards must not just be a complacent 

slap on the back, but a reminder to us all 

of how women are disproportionately 

victimized in conflicts. 

Source: Arab news 

Afghanistan's mineral wealth catches Trump's eye 

"Afghanistan is an El Dorado for miners but the security 

risks scare away most Western miners. It is almost the 

exclusive domain of the Chinese and Russians," a Bank 

of Nova Scotia mining banker has said. 

While US-Uzbek government relations are strong, the 

Central Asian country lacks dynamic business 

leadership with the very notable exception of Uzbek- 

Russian steel and media mogul Alisher Usmanov. 

redevelopment and restoration of the 

ancient city of Bukhara, a UNESCO World 

Heritage site. 

Frustrated with the lack of progress by 

US military forces in Afghanistan, Trump 

ordered his administration to promote US 

private sector investment in mining in the 

country, according to Bob Woodward's 

best-selling White House exposé Fear: 

"Afghanistan continued to frustrate 

Trump…. In late September, he had 

hosted a reception at the United Nations 

annual meeting in New York. Azerbaijan 

President Ilham Aliyev and his wife posed 

for a picture with the Trumps. The 

Azerbaijan leader passed word that the 

Chinese were mining substantial amounts 

of copper from Afghanistan. 

"Trump was furious. Here was the 

United States paying billions for the war, 

and China was stealing copper. 

"Afghan president [Ashraf] Ghani had 

dangled the possibility that the United 

States would have exclusive access to vast 

mineral wealth, untouched in the 

Afghanistan mountain ranges. His 

argument: There's so much money to be 

made, don't walk away. Rare-earth 

minerals, including lithium, a main 

ingredient in the latest batteries. Some 

exaggerated estimates held that all the 

minerals in Afghanistan might be worth 

as much as several trillion dollars. 

"Trump wanted the minerals. 'They 

have offered us their minerals!' he said at 

one meeting. 'Offered us everything. Why 

aren't we there taking them? You guys are 

sitting on your ass. The Chinese are 

raiding the place.'" 

Source: Asia times

DEVELOPMENT 

Tuesday, 

October 9, 2018 

5 

International organizations forge 

partnership to end famine 

Development Desk 

The United Nations, World Bank, International 

Committee of the Red Cross, Microsoft Corp., Google 

and Amazon Web Services today announced an 

unprecedented global partnership to prevent future 

famines. 

The international organizations, with support from 

leading global technology firms, are launching the 

Famine Action Mechanism (FAM)-the first global 

mechanism dedicated to preventing future famines. 

In the past, responses to these devastating events has 

often come too late, once many 

lives have already been lost, 

incurring high assistance 

costs. The FAM seeks to 

change this by moving towards 

famine prevention, 

preparedness and early actioninterventions 

that can save 

more lives and reduce 

humanitarian costs by as 

much as 30%. The initiative will 

use the predictive power of data to 

trigger funding through appropriate 

financing instruments, working 

closely with existing systems. 

In 2017, more than 20 

million people across northeastern 

Nigeria, Somalia, 

South Sudan and Yemen faced 

famine or famine-like 

conditions, the result of a 

complex intersection of conflict, poverty, climate 

change and food prices. These conditions continue in 

many parts of the world today, derailing hard-won 

development gains in chronically poor countries. 

Today, 124 million people live in crisis levels of food 

insecurity, requiring urgent humanitarian assistance 

for their survival. Over half of them live in areas 

affected by conflict. 

"The Famine Action Mechanism, FAM, is an 

important new tool that will help to predict and 

therefore prevent food insecurity and famine before 

they have a chance to take hold. Crisis prevention 

saves lives. With the Famine Action Mechanism, we 

are renewing our pledge to Zero Tolerance for famine 

and acute food insecurity," said United Nations 

Secretary-General António Guterres. 

"The fact that millions of people-many of them 

children-still suffer from severe malnutrition and 

famine in the 21st century is a global tragedy," World 

Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said. "We are 

forming an unprecedented global coalition to say, 'no 

more.' The Famine Action Mechanism is a 

preventative approach that knits together innovative 

technology, early financing, and strong partnerships 

on the ground in an effort to prevent famine. It will 

help us deploy our combined resources to protect the 

poorest and most vulnerable, and it will allow us to 

refocus our collective attention on the millions of 

chronically food-insecure people who suffer each 

year." 

The UN, WB and other international organization proposed innovative partnership 

to end famine worldwide. 

Photo: Collected 

"The ICRC, working on frontlines around the 

world, sees the deep suffering inflicted by conflict 

and violence. Famine is often a devastating symptom 

of protracted war. We are hopeful that new models of 

collaboration such as this will bring new solutions 

and reduce food insecurity at scale," said ICRC 

President Peter Maurer. 

The FAM will promote investments that tackle the 

root causes of famine at the first warning signs. It will 

help build vulnerable people's livelihoods, safety nets 

and coping mechanisms. In the last decade, the Bank 

has invested up to $3 billion annually in food security 

initiatives and will be looking for additional ways to 

increase these investments in future projects and 

programs. 

The FAM will use state-of-the-art technology to 

provide more powerful early warning to identify 

when food crises threaten to turn into famines. These 

alerts will trigger pre-arranged funding and action 

plans by donors, humanitarian agencies and 

governments to generate earlier and more efficient 

interventions. 

"If we can better predict when and where future 

famines will occur, we can save lives by responding 

earlier and more effectively," said Brad Smith, 

President of Microsoft. "Artificial intelligence and 

machine learning hold huge promise for forecasting 

and detecting early signs of food shortages, like crop 

failures, droughts, natural disasters, and conflicts. 

Microsoft is proud to join Amazon and Google in 

developing solutions to 

address this humanitarian 

need." 

Google, Microsoft and 

Amazon Web Services and 

other technology firms are 

providing the world's top 

expertise to develop a suite of 

analytical models called 

"Artemis" that uses advanced 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 

Machine Learning to estimate 

and forecast worsening food 

security crises in real-time. 

These forecasts will help guide 

and promote decision makers 

to respond earlier. 

"Artificial intelligence and 

other advanced technologies 

can be a powerful force for 

good, and we've already seen that they have the 

potential to help farmers identify disease in cassava 

plants, keep cows healthier and more productive, 

and integrate overall relief efforts. Google is proud to 

partner with the World Bank on the Famine Action 

Mechanism to help prevent future famine in 

communities around the world," said Kent Walker, 

Google's Senior Vice President of Global Affairs and 

Chief Legal Officer. 

"We are proud to play a role in the FAM initiative, 

and to work collaboratively to solve one of the world's 

most pressing issues," said Teresa Carlson, Vice 

President of Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web 

Services, Inc. "Public-private collaborations like this 

one allow us to collectively bring cutting-edge 

technology to leading humanitarian organizations, 

giving them innovative tools to predict and prevent 

famine, and to ultimately save lives." 

A Venezuelan migrant carries a baby near a bus terminal in Bogotá. Photo: Raul Arboleda 

Global migration policies need 

urgent implementation 

Francesco Rocca 

This week, representing the world's largest 

humanitarian network, I will join several highlevel 

UN general assembly discussions on 

migration. I will take every opportunity I can to 

press for actions to match words on safe, orderly 

and regular migration. 

Up for discussion will be the hard-won global 

compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, 

the world's first comprehensive road map to 

ensuring that all migrants, regardless of legal 

status, have access to the protection and 

assistance they need. Those who adopt it will 

have the support of 12 million Red Cross and 

Red Crescent volunteers and staff, as well as 

many other organisations that are ready to help 

them turn their commitments into action. 

Early September brought reports of dozens 

more women, men and children drowning in the 

Mediterranean after their flimsy and 

overcrowded boat capsized somewhere between 

Libya and Malta. Nearly 300 survivors, 

including pregnant women, babies, and people 

with serious burns and injuries, were eventually 

rescued by the Libyan coastguard and returned 

to Libya. There, they were placed in detention 

centres renowned for their horrible conditions. 

This is the human consequence of a deal 

designed to slow the flow of migrants from Africa 

and the Middle East to Europe. In the meantime, 

independent rescue boats that have been safely 

delivering shipwrecked migrants to European 

harbours are now prohibited from doing so. As 

criminalising aid and skirting responsibility 

become more prevalent, it is no surprise that 

more than 1,700 migrants have perished or gone 

missing in the Mediterranean this year. 

This, shamefully, is what migration looks like 

today along one of many dangerous routes that 

desperate people - migrants and refugees - feel 

compelled to take in order to escape war, 

disaster, exploitation, political crisis, 

persecution, poverty and other hardships. 

This, unacceptably, is what is still happening 

even as governments champion managed and 

humane migration, at this week's UN general 

assembly in New York and beyond. In 

December, these same leaders will hopefully 

adopt the critically important global migration 

compact and commit to protecting people on the 

move, treating them with dignity, ensuring 

access to vital assistance and expanding safe and 

legal pathways for them. 

The rhetoric, sadly, does not yet match the 

reality. In remote desert towns of Niger, I met 

recently arrived migrants who were in dire 

straits. 

They were receiving little aid beyond the 

medical care delivered by the Red Cross and 

overstretched local services. Their grim choice is 

to remain there in the harshest of conditions or 

continue across the Sahara towards northern 

Africa. Neither option is acceptable or safe. 

The progress of poverty reduction may stall 

Anita Makri 

Extreme poverty is getting more and 

more concentrated in parts of Sub- 

Saharan Africa, says the Gates 

Foundation in a report whose findings 

are backed up by estimates from the 

World Bank and the World Data Lab. 

This means that poverty reduction on 

the continent should be "the world's 

priority for the next three decades", 

write Bill and Melinda Gates in the 

Goalkeepers data report, which was 

released ahead of an event held with 

heads of state and other guests this last 

September during the UN General 

Assembly in New York. 

The message echoes warnings in this 

year's world food security report, also 

released this month by UN agencies, 

which documents a recent reversal of 

the decline in the number of hungry 

people globally - a situation that's 

getting worse on the African continent. 

Goalkeepers is the foundation's 

campaign to accelerate progress 

towards the Sustainable Development 

Goals (SDGs). After an optimistic first 

report published last year, the campaign 

now warns that extreme poverty - 

defined as living on less than US$1.90 

per person per day - could begin to rise 

by 2050, a trend that undermines 

progress towards the SDGs. 

"To put it bluntly, decades of stunning 

progress in the fight against poverty and 

disease may be on the verge of stalling," 

say Bill and Melinda Gates. "If current 

trends continue, the number of poor 

people in the world will stop falling-and 

could even start to rise." 

They put this down to rapid 

population growth in some of the 

poorest countries, particularly in sub- 

Saharan Africa, and conclude that the 

solution is to invest in youth. "What 

happens to the large number of young 

people there [in Africa] will be the single 

biggest determinant of whether the 

world makes progress toward the 

Sustainable Development Goals." 

This is because Africa's young 

population is booming while the rest of 

the world's is shrinking, according to the 

report; and human capital investments 

have worked for other countries before. 

While young people may have fewer 

opportunities in countries plagued by a 

series of problems, from political 

instability to climate change and high 

rates of malnutrition, they can also drive 

economic growth. "They are the 

activists, innovators, leaders, and 

workers of the future," says the report. 

A different set of 2030 forecasts, 

released earlier this year by the World 

Data Lab, signalled the overall trend. 

They say their analysis shows that SDG1 

- "End poverty in all its forms 

everywhere" - will become increasingly 

harder to achieve, especially in sub- 

Saharan Africa. "In our model, when 

you go up to 2030, the [poverty 

reduction] rate is falling and it's almost 

come to a standstill," says Kristofer 

Hamel, chief operating officer at the 

World Data Lab. 

Martin Hofer, a data scientist at the 

World Data Lab, says that age is an 

important factor but so are gender and 

education - and investing in young 

people's education has a double impact. 

Inequalities between African countries are becoming stark. 

"First it improves the growth rates of a 

country, just because higher human 

capital is always favourable for growth. 

And women's education reduces the 

fertility rate at the same time." 

An update to the World Bank's 

poverty statistics also released this week 

points to similar global trends to 2030. 

It explains that the change is down to a 

slower decline in poverty rates, which is 

driven by a shift in where poor people 

are concentrated: from regions with 

higher economic growth (East Asia and 

South Asia) to regions with lower 

growth regions. The Bank's forecast 

suggests that nearly nine in 10 

extremely poor people will live in sub- 

Saharan Africa by 2030. 

According to the World Data Lab's 

World Poverty Clock, which shows how 

poverty changes in real time, Nigeria 

has already topped the world's poorest 

in June this year, and the DRC on track 

to surpass India next year, with over 60 

per cent of its population living on less 

than US$1.90 per day. 

The Democratic Republic of Congo 

(DRC) and Nigeria fall under the 

spotlight of the Gates foundation too. Its 

analysis predicts that the two countries 

will be home to 40 per cent of the 

world's extremely poor people by 2050. 

The two analyses also agree that 

Ethiopia is a success story: a country on 

track to be the first sub-Saharan Africa 

country to achieve SDG1 by 2050, or 

before 2030, depending on the model. 

Along with other success stories such as 

Tanzania, this signals the diversity 

between and within countries on the 

continent. 

Australian aids in developing countries are delivered through private sector. 

Photo: DFAT 

The role of the private sector in aid delivery 

Jonathan Pryke 

The role of the private sector in 

development has been hotly contested 

since the private sector first became 

engaged in development. In recent years 

in Australia the situation has become 

particularly acute, with revelations that 

just ten companies now manage close to 

20% of the aid budget. The development 

NGO community and other groups are 

quick to criticise. 

In a report by Australian aid statistical 

summaries illustrates that even though 

aid delivered through commercial 

suppliers has been increasing since the 

merger of AusAID into DFAT, it was still 

2% higher as a proportion of total aid 

expenditure in 2006-07. Since then, aid 

implemented by the private sector has 

increased, in nominal terms, from $655 

million to $858 million, but overall aid 

has increased from $2.88 billion to $4.03 

billion. The reality is that the private 

sector has had, and will continue to play, 

a crucial role in development. The 

Australian government should remain 

agnostic when it comes to modalities of 

aid delivery for any given aid project. 

It should, however, be careful about the 

ways in which it engages the private 

sector, and what for. As capacity has 

thinned out within DFAT there has been 

a growing tendency to engage the private 

sector to handle more of the burden of 

project design, project review, and in 

some instances independent project 

oversight. The most recent case of this 

was the publicly-tendered PNG Quality 

and Technical Assurance Group, worth 

$3.7 million over three years, a project 

designed to contract a private sector party 

to provide oversight over two private 

sector facilities - The Justice Services and 

Stability for Development and the PNG 

Governance Facility. This project is no 

doubt born out of a necessity for these 

large projects demanding a larger degree 

of oversight than DFAT has the internal 

capacity to manage (especially given the 

already-high administrative ratio in the 

Australian aid program). But there must 

be a better way than having the aid 

program pay a private sector company to 

provide independent oversight over 

another private sector company 

implementing an aid program. 

The Australian aid program has always 

relied on the private sector and 

consultants to varying degrees to 

supplement and provide as-needed 

independent reviews and assistance on 

project design. However, the volume at 

which this is happening under DFAT 

needs to be reviewed, and the 

department's in-house capacity needs to 

be rebuilt so that the it does not run the 

risk of outsourcing its brain. 

One solution could be to enhance the 

mandate of the Office of Development 

Effectiveness to include independent 

oversight of project design and 

implementation, as well as project 

evaluation. Another topic that has 

received much attention within 

development circles is the role of private 

sector managed sector-wide aid facilities. 

In late November 2017, Jacqui de Lacy, 

a widely respected aid professional 

formerly of AusAID/DFAT and now of 

Abt JTA Associates, wrote a persuasive 

piece for Devpolicy defending the role of 

facilities in development. Facilities, in 

essence, are private sector managed 

programs that take responsibility for all 

development activities in a particular 

sector in a recipient country. Facilities are 

justified on the terms of value for money 

(one overhead instead of many), 

efficiency (reducing demands on 

Embassy/High Commission time), and 

greater flexibility/responsiveness. 

Facilities are nothing new for the aid 

program. Sector-wide programs were 

implemented in the days of AusAID, and 

mature sector-wide programs are now in 

the third or even fourth phases. There are 

currently around 20 active facilities in the 

Pacific islands region alone, accounting 

for more than $1.5 billion in aid 

commitments over a 10-year period. 

Jacqui pegged the figure at anywhere 

between 8 and 35% of the bilateral aid 

program as now being managed under a 

facility model. The appetite for facilities 

under DFAT continues to grow, and 

larger facilities have emerged in recent 

years. 

As more of the bilateral aid program is 

channelled into larger facilities, there are 

mounting concerns that the rationale 

behind the facilities approach may not be 

transferring into practice. There is a clear 

efficiency dividend in the facility model, 

but it also puts more of our eggs into one 

basket, thereby enhancing 

implementation and performance risk. 

The larger the facility gets, the greater the 

risk that they become 'too big to fail'. And 

the larger the contracts become, fewer 

firms have the capacity to bid on or 

manage them. There is also a rationale 

that facilities can help free up DFAT staff 

to focus on strategy, relationship and 

performance. This only works if DFAT 

staff can appropriately distance 

themselves from the day-to-day micromanagement 

of a facility, which may 

often not be the case in practice. Facilities 

can also potentially reduce the burden on 

partner governments by only having to 

coordinate with one project. Again, this is 

dependent on facilities being given the 

latitude necessary to engage directly with 

government, which may not be the case 

in all instances. 

The performance of facilities is also 

varied. A recent independent review of 

the PNG Transport Sector Support 

Program, one of the largest facilities, 

showed it to be working quite well. The 

Australian Government again should not 

take a dogmatic role on facilities. They 

have been a component of the aid 

program for some time. If we are to 

continue to invest in a smaller number of 

larger aid projects, however, we have to 

have a better understanding of when they 

work and why.

NATIONAL 

TUeSDAY, OCTOBeR 9, 2018 

6 

Tight security planned ahead 

of Durga Puja in Dhamrai 

MIlon sIddIkI, dhaMraI Correspondent: 

an emergency meeting on security on 

the occasion of the upcoming durga 

puja was held in dhamrai on Monday. 

dhamrai police station oC deepak 

Chandra saha said that strict security 

will be strengthened by law 

enforcement agencies in every puja 

mandaps. among others, successful 

mayor of dhamrai municipality alhaj 

Golam kabir Mollah, all councilors and 

all union leaders and members of 

dhamrai police station were also 

present at the occasion. 

It is to be noted that, this year around 

durga puja festival will be celebrated in 

200 durga puja Mandaps in 

dharmarai upazila. the ceremonies of 

puja will start on october 15 and will 

end on october 19. due to the occasion, 

making and decorating the idols in 

dhamrai is going on with full swing. 

according to the dhamrai puja 

udjapan Committee, puja festival will 

be held at around 200 durga puja 

Mandaps. 

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police for Rangpur Range, Devdas Bhattacharya handed 

over honorary crest to Dinajpur Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) Sushant 

Sarker for his special contribution in maintaining law and order situation in the Sadar Circle 

area on Saturday. 

Photo: Tajul Islam 

Dinajpur ASP (Sadar Circle) Sushanta 

Sarker honoured for excellence 

taJul IslaM, BIral Correspondent: 

dinajpur additional superintendent 

of police (sadar Circle) sushant sarker 

was awarded as the best circle of 

rangpur range for his special 

contribution in maintaining law and 

order situation in the sadar Circle area 

and Biral police Inspector atM Golam 

rasul received special award for the 

recovery of illegal arms and for 

arresting the accused. 

deputy Inspector General (dIG) of 

police for rangpur range, devdas 

Bhattacharya handed over the 

honorarium crest to the additional 

superintendent of police (sadar Circle) 

of dinajpur and the special award to 

police inspector of the Biral police 

station (oC) atM Golam rasul. 

rangpur range's dIG devdas 

Bhatratacharya chaired the monthly 

crime review meeting at rangpur range 

office on september 7. 

In the meeting dinajpur additional 

superintendent of police (sadar Circle) 

sushant sarker was selected as the best 

circle for preventing child marriage, 

eve-teasing, playing effective role in the 

formation of safe road, providing 

flowers to the drivers for having proper 

documentation, holding public 

awareness road rally, drug recovery, 

destruction of narcotics and terrorists, 

arrest of absconding accused in regular 

cases, arresting drug dealers and hosts 

of drug abusers and for overall 

contribution to maintain the law and 

order situation in the sadar Circle area. 

Dhamrai Police Station OC Deepak Chandra Saha chaired an emergency meeting on security on the 

occasion of the upcoming Durga Puja was held in Dhamrai on Monday. Photo: Milon Siddiki 

MKK distributes free sheep 

among poor in Joypurhat 

Masrakul aloM, Joypurhat Correspondent: 

non-governmental organization 

'Manob kallyan kormosuchi' (Mkk) 

distributed free sheep among poor and 

disabled people with a vision to create 

socio-economic development and work 

place for them at the premises of the 

organization in khetlal upazila of 

Joypurhat on sunday. the program was 

financed by Bangladesh nGo 

Foundation. 

khetlal upazila social service officer 

rafiqul Islam was present as the chief 

guest at the distribution ceremony. 

among others, executive director of the 

organization Golam Mostafa, president 

abdur rouf Molla and treasurer of 

Joypurhat press Club Masrakul alom 

were present at the occasion. 

the Chief Guest distributed sheep 

among the poor and disabled people of 

the upazila. In addition, two tree saplings 

were distributed among every member's 

at the occasion. 

It is to be noted that since the 

establishment of the organization in 

2003 for the improvement of the quality 

of life of the poor, socio-economic status 

of the poor people has developed 

drastically under training programs such 

as tailoring, poultry, goat-keeping, 

vegetables production and care 

programs. 

A view exchange meeting on the occasion of the Durga Puja was held in Mirzapur of Tangail on 

Monday. 

Photo: Rayhan Sarkar 

Rajshahi city corporation (RCC) mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton as the 

chief guest addressed the inaugural ceremony of a three-day art exhibition 

titled 'Bangabandhu and Bangladesh' at Rajshahi University (RU) on 

Monday. 

Photo: TBT 

Three-day art exhibition 

inaugurated at RU 

ru Correspondent: 

a three-day art exhibition titled 

'Bangabandhu and Bangladesh' has been 

inaugurated at rajshahi university (ru) on 

Monday. Vice-Chancellor (VC) of ru, M 

abdus sobhan inaugurated the exhibition at 

shaheed shukharanjan samadder studentteacher 

cultural center (tsCC). 

the program was organized by the national 

Mourning day observation Council of Fine 

arts Faculty. 

ahM khairuzzaman liton, mayor of 

rajshahi City Corporation (rCC) as the chief 

guest at the art exhibition program said, the 

language of a painting is more deeper than 

volumes of script. I have seen all the paintings 

and all of the paintings are beautiful. the 

painting speaks of our mind, talking about the 

demands. Before the war of liberation, the 

demand of east Bengal was highlighted by 

painting. youth have to raise the language of 

painting against the common oppression of 

the society. at the same time, he has urgued 

the use of painting to stand against drug, 

terrorism, militancy. 

liton further said, I have resolved all the 

internal problems of the city. an art gallery 

will be established soon in rajshahi to expand 

the work area of the students of the arts. 

prof. dr. siddhartha shankar talukder, 

president of fine arts faculty presided over the 

ceremony where the special guest pro-VC of 

ru, professor ananda kumar saha and prof. 

Chowdhury Md. zakaria. prof. Golam sabbir 

sattar of Geology and Mining studies, ru 

Chhatra league president Golam kibria and 

General secretary Faisal ahmed runu were 

also present in the ceremony. 

tasafia sumaiya and Mahmudul Islam, 

students of the Faculty of Fine arts, 

conducted the program. of the 58 paintings, 

8 paintings were awarded. the exhibition will 

be held till 10th october in the tsCCC 

premises. 

View-exchange 

meeting on 

Durga Puja held 

in Mirzapur 

rayhan sarkar, MIrzapur 

upazIla Correspondent: 

Mirzapur police station 

organized a view exchange 

meeting with president and 

secretary of upazila puja 

udjapan parishad on the 

occasion of the durga puja 

in Mirzapur of tangail. the 

view exchange meeting was 

held on Monday at shaheed 

Bhabani prasad saha 

auditorium of Mirzapur 

Government College. 

Mirzapur upazila puja 

udjapan parishad president 

hitesh Chandra pulak 

chaired the meeting while 

general secretary promthes 

Goswami shankar 

conducted the meeting. 

among others, upazila 

assistant Commissioner 

(land) Md. azgar hossain, 

Mirzapur Government 

College principal salah 

uddin ahmed, Mirzapur 

police station officer-incharge 

akM Mizanul 

haque, nanda dulal 

Goswami, uttam kumar 

sen lalu, sunil Chandra 

Barman, panel mayor 

Chandana dey, former 

president of Mirzapur press 

Club niranjan kumar pal, 

Bharteshwari homes 

teacher Banshi Mohan and 

upazila puja udjapan 

parishad joint general 

secretary tapan sheth were 

also present at the occasion. 

Khetlal upazila Social Service Officer Rafiqul Islam as the chief guest distributed free sheep among 

poor and disabled people of the uapzila at the office premises of 'Manob Kallyan Kormosuchi' in 

Khetlal upazila on Sunday. 

Photo: Masrakul Alom 

RCC to implement slum and 

horijon uplift scheme 

raJshahI: rajshahi City Corporation 

(rCC) is going to implement a taka 1.20- 

crore infrastructure development project 

for improving the living and livelihood 

condition of slum and harijon people, 

reports Bss. 

"We have given work order to the 

contractors and the project would be 

completed within two months," said 

ashraful haque, Chief engineer of rCC. 

he said the project has been adopted 

considering the vulnerability of the 

merginalized population. the project has 

provision of uplifting road, drain, 

footpath and other infrastructures. 

In the preliminary stage, four horijon 

communities were brought under the 

project for development, engineer haque 

added. he mentioned that the rural poor 

people with their recurrent disaster 

exposures are migrating into urban areas. 

these new comers face a high 

employment crisis in city and with very 

poor-quality housing and other wellbeing 

further tapping them into a deeper 

urban poverty cycle. 

Climate change is becoming a threat to 

the urban environment and development 

and livelihood as well the uncertainty. 

the urban poverty is highly linked with 

rural disaster risks. 

the urbanisation situation, particularly 

the housing in the city is getting more 

acute with every passing year. 

to address the problem, rCC from its 

Community housing development Fund 

(ChdF) has provided housing support 

for 201 families in 47 settlements in 25 

wards out of total 30 in the metropolis. 

around tk 32.5 million have been 

distributed as housing loans from the 

fund. ChdF has established a process for 

providing land tenure security and 

housing through a number of primary 

savings groups. ChdF is operating its 

financial activities. all those improved 

settlements previously known as slums 

are now well-designed community 

housing. 

noor Islam, executive engineer of 

rCC, said the beneficiary communities 

identify and give priorities to the 

environmental, social and economic 

challenges they face as well as the 

required actions to address them. 

Meanwhile, around 53,000 people of 

12,500 households living in different 

slum areas in the city are getting timefitting 

tools of improving their living and 

livelihood condition through reducing 

multi-dimensional poverty and 

deprivation. 

to this end, an empowering situation 

has been created so that the targeted 

people can be able to get access to 

adequate, safe and affordable housing, 

basic and inclusive services and upgrade 

slums. 

under the project, 17,500 youths, 

including around 13,000 females of 15-29 

age group is getting empowerment and 

entrepreneurship privileges through 

need-based promotional activities. 

of them, 3,000 youths are being 

imparted either three or six-month needbased 

vocational and technical training 

and job placement for improving their 

living and livelihood condition. 

engineer nur Islam said the project 

intends to promote socio-economic 

empowerment of the beneficiary people. 

linkage has been developed between the 

youth entrepreneurs and various 

financial institutions including banks.

INTERNATIONAL TUeSdAy, 

7 

OCTOBer 9, 2018 

China accuses ex-Interpol chief 

of bribery, other crimes 

China is investigating the former 

president of Interpol for bribery and 

other crimes, Beijing said Monday in 

a notice that indicated the Chinese 

official may also be in trouble for 

political transgressions. 

Meng Hongwei, China's vice minister 

for public security, was being investigated 

as a result of his "willfulness" and 

has only himself to blame, according to 

a statement posted on a government 

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, China's Vice Minister of 

Public Security Meng Hongwei delivers a campaign speech at the 85th session 

of the general assembly of the International Criminal Police 

Organization (Interpol), in Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 10, 2016. The top Chinese 

police official was elected president of Interpol on Thursday, setting off 

alarm bells among rights advocates over the legitimization of abuses and lack 

of transparency within China's legal system. 

Photo: AP 

UN report on global warming 

carries life-or-death warning 

Preventing an extra single degree of heat could 

make a life-or-death difference in the next few 

decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems 

on this fast-warming planet, an international 

panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide 

little hope the world will rise to the challenge. 

The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental 

Panel on Climate Change issued its gloomy 

report at a meeting in Incheon, South Korea. 

In the 728-page document, the U.N. organization 

detailed how Earth's weather, health and 

ecosystems would be in better shape if the world's 

leaders could somehow limit future humancaused 

warming to just 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit (a 

half degree Celsius) from now, instead of the 

globally agreed-upon goal of 1.8 degrees F (1 

degree C). Among other things: 

- Half as many people would suffer from lack of 

water. 

- There would be fewer deaths and illnesses 

from heat, smog and infectious diseases. 

- Seas would rise nearly 4 inches (0.1 meters) 

less. 

- Half as many animals with back bones and 

plants would lose the majority of their habitats. 

- There would be substantially fewer heat 

waves, downpours and droughts. 

- The West Antarctic ice sheet might not kick 

into irreversible melting. 

- And it just may be enough to save most of the 

world's coral reefs from dying. 

"For some people this is a life-or-death situation 

without a doubt," said Cornell University climate 

scientist Natalie Mahowald, a lead author 

on the report. 

Limiting warming to 0.9 degrees from now 

means the world can keep "a semblance" of the 

ecosystems we have. Adding another 0.9 degrees 

on top of that - the looser global goal - essentially 

we`ÿ r/Rb-234(2)/8/10/18 

GD-1237/18 (5 x 3) 

means a different and more challenging Earth for 

people and species, said another of the report's 

lead authors, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of 

the Global Change Institute at the University of 

Queensland, Australia. 

But meeting the more ambitious goal of slightly 

less warming would require immediate, draconian 

cuts in emissions of heat-trapping gases 

and dramatic changes in the energy field. While 

the U.N. panel says technically that's possible, it 

saw little chance of the needed adjustments happening. 

In 2010, international negotiators adopted a 

goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees C (3.6 

degrees F) since pre-industrial times. It's called 

the 2-degree goal. In 2015, when the nations of 

the world agreed to the historic Paris climate 

agreement, they set dual goals: 2 degrees C and a 

more demanding target of 1.5 degrees C from 

pre-industrial times. The 1.5 was at the urging of 

vulnerable countries that called 2 degrees a death 

sentence. 

The world has already warmed 1 degree C since 

pre-industrial times, so the talk is really about the 

difference of another half-degree C or 0.9 degrees 

F from now. 

"There is no definitive way to limit global temperature 

rise to 1.5 above pre-industrial levels," 

the U.N.-requested report said. More than 90 scientists 

wrote the report, which is based on more 

than 6,000 peer reviews. 

"Global warming is likely to reach 1.5 degrees C 

between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase 

at the current rate," the report states. 

Deep in the report, scientists say less than 2 

percent of 529 of their calculated possible future 

scenarios kept warming below the 1.5 goal without 

the temperature going above that and somehow 

coming back down in the future. 

website. 

The scant details provided on Monday 

raised further questions about the scope 

of the allegations made against Meng and 

whether they pertain in any way to his 

work at the international police agency. 

They also shone an unflattering light on 

secretive, extralegal detentions in China 

that have ensnared dissidents and 

allegedly corrupt or disloyal officials alike 

at increasing rates under the authoritarian 

rule of President Xi Jinping. 

Monday's notice of a high-level meeting 

of public security officials elaborated on a 

terse announcement late Sunday by an 

anti-graft agency of the ruling Communist 

Party that said Meng was suspected 

of unspecified crimes. The Sunday 

announcement was issued barely an hour 

after Meng's wife made a bold appeal to 

the world for help from Lyon, France, 

where she is based. 

Meng is the latest high-ranking official, 

and one with an unusually prominent 

international standing, to fall victim 

to a sweeping crackdown by the 

ruling Communist Party on graft and 

perceived disloyalty. Shortly after China's 

announcement about the investigation 

on Sunday, Interpol said Meng 

had resigned as the international police 

agency's president. 

Chinese officials appeared to be scrambling 

to respond to an unfolding scandal. 

In the early hours of Monday, Zhao Lezhi, 

the minister for public security, chaired a 

meeting attended by senior officials of the 

ministry's party committee to discuss 

Meng's case, the statement said. 

"We should deeply recognize the serious 

damage that Meng Hongwei's bribetaking 

and suspected violations of the law 

have caused the party and the cause of 

public security and deeply learn from this 

lesson," Monday's announcement said. 

The 64-year-old Meng's unexplained 

disappearance while on a trip home to 

China late last month prompted the 

French government and Interpol to 

make their concerns known publicly in 

recent days. 

Turkey summons Saudi 

ambassador over missing 

journalist 

A Turkish official says the 

Saudi ambassador to Turkey 

has been summoned to the 

ministry to request Riyadh's 

cooperation in an investigation 

over journalist Jamal 

Khashoggi who went missing 

after visiting the Saudi 

consulate in Istanbul last 

week. 

A ministry official says 

Deputy Foreign Minister 

Sedat Onal met with the 

Saudi ambassador on Sunday. 

Private NTV television 

said Turkey requested permission 

to search the consulate 

building. 

A Turkish official told The 

Associated Press that Turkey 

has "deepened" its investigation 

without providing further 

detail. 

Turkish officials claim the 

Washington Post contributor 

was slain at the consulate 

and that his body was later 

removed. President Recep 

Tayyip Erdogan did not confirm 

the alleged killing saying 

he would await the result 

of an investigation. 

Saudi officials have denied 

the allegations as baseless. 

Thai police seek 

shooters who 

killed tourist in 

crossfire 

Police in Thailand searched 

Monday for suspected members 

of teenage gangs 

involved in a shooting that 

killed a nearby Indian 

tourist and injured four others, 

two critically, outside a 

Bangkok shopping arcade. 

Police spokesman Col. Krissana 

Patanacharoen said the 

shooting occurred Sunday 

night after a group of 

teenagers got into a heated 

argument and opened fire at 

each other near the parking 

lot of the Centara Watergate 

Pavilion arcade. He said a 

group of tourists that was 

waiting to board a bus was 

caught in the crossfire. 

Police Lt. Col. Kasem Pipitkul, 

the investigator in charge 

of the case, said four people 

were hospitalized - an Indian 

and a Laotian who are in critical 

condition and two Thais. 

Krissana said police are 

examining bullet casings, 

interrogating witnesses and 

viewing security camera 

video to try to identify the 

shooters, who fled the scene. 

Maj. Gen. Surachet Hakpal, 

commissioner of the 

immigration bureau, said 

the shooting stemmed from 

an earlier dispute between 

two groups of teenagers 

whose conflict flared Sunday 

night when they began 

drawing weapons at a nearby 

snooker club. 

A rescue worker stands near a collapsed house during a search for earthquake victims in Balaroa 

neighborhood in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, Monday, Oct. 8, 2018. 

Photo: AP 

Confirmed deaths 

near 2,000, still more 

likely in Indonesia 

The death toll from the 

devastating earthquake 

and tsunami on 

Indonesia's Sulawesi 

island neared 2,000 on 

Monday, but thousands 

more are 

believed unaccounted 

for and officials said 

search teams plan to 

stop looking for victims 

later this week. 

The official toll hit 

1,948, mostly in the 

hard-hit city of Palu, 

said Jamaluddin, an 

official from the disaster 

task force who uses 

one name. He corrected 

the number during 

a news conference in 

Jakarta after initially 

saying it was 1,944. He 

said a navy ship had 

docked in the area and 

opened a field hospital. 

Willem Rampangilei, 

head of the National 

Board for Disaster 

Management, said 

GD-1236/18 (8 x 4) 

there could be as many 

as 5,000 victims still 

buried in deep mud in 

Balaroa and Petobo, 

two of Palu's hardesthit 

neighborhoods. But 

he added that number 

must be verified by his 

teams because it is an 

unofficial figure which 

came from village 

heads in the area. The 

Sept. 28 quake caused 

loose, wet soil to liquefy 

there. It is too soft to 

use heavy equipment 

for recovery, and 

decomposition of bodies 

is already 

advanced. 

"It is impossible to 

rebuild in areas with 

high liquefaction risk 

such as Petobo and 

Balaroa," he said, 

adding villages there 

will be relocated. 

Talks were underway 

with religious authorities 

and surviving family 

members to decide 

whether some areas 

could be turned into 

mass graves for victims 

entombed there with 

monuments built to 

remember them. 

Officials reiterated 

that the search is 

expected to end on 

Thursday. However, 

the deadline could be 

extended if needed. 

Rampangilei said life 

is starting to return to 

normal in some areas 

affected by the disaster. 

Immediate food 

and water needs have 

been met, and the local 

government has started 

to function again. 

Many schools have 

been completely 

destroyed, but he said 

classes will resume 

where possible. However, 

many students 

are still too scared to 

return. 

Two American 

researchers win Nobel 

economics prize 

Two American researchers 

have been awarded the 

Nobel Prize for economics 

for studying the interplay of 

climate change and technological 

innovation with economics. 

William Nordhaus of Yale 

University and Paul Romer 

of New York University were 

announced winners of the 9- 

million-kronor ($1.01 million) 

prize on Monday by the 

Royal Swedish Academy of 

Sciences. 

The academy said Romer's 

work "explains how ideas are 

different to other goods and 

require specific conditions to 

thrive in a market." Previous 

macroeconomic research had 

emphasized technological innovation 

as a driver of growth but 

had not modelled how market 

conditions and economic decisions 

affected creation of new 

technologies, the academy said. 

Nordhaus in the 1990s 

became the first person to 

create a model that 

"describes the global interplay 

between the economy 

and the climate," the academy 

said. He showed that 

"the most efficient remedy 

for problems caused by 

greenhouse gases is a global 

scheme of universally 

imposed carbon taxes."

ART & CULTURE 

TUESDAy, 

OcTOBER 9, 2018 

8 

'NUPUR': THREE DEBUTANTS IN RANADEEP 

SARKER'S RURAL LOVE STORy 

The critical success of his debut 

directorial 'Not A Dirty Film' has 

set the bar high for Ranadeep 

Sarker's 'Nupur' which is 

releasing today, September 21. 

Against the backdrop of the 

Peter Berg's long-awaited 

Rihanna documentary 

coming soon 

Rihanna fans have more to look forward to this year 

than maybe another album. Director Peter Berg's (Mile 

22) documentary about the musician, which he's been 

working on for three years, will finally come out before 

the end of 2018. The filmmaker recently told us a bit 

about the untitled Rihanna documentary, which he 

calls a "pretty comprehensive profile." 

Berg and Rihanna first collaborated on Battleship, 

which was the singer's first feature film, and their doc 

was announced over three years ago and described as 

an "unfiltered look into Rihanna's life and how she's 

ascended to become a global icon." Berg and his 

production company, FILM 45, reportedly set out to 

make a documentary along the lines of D.A. 

Pennebaker's classic Bob Dylan doc, Don't Look Back. 

Berg wanted to tell the story of "a young artist at the 

top of her professional field" in a movie that's "much 

more a character study than a music film." Since news 

first broke about the doc, we haven't heard much about 

it, but Berg told us we'll see it within the next two 

months, whether in theaters or on a streaming service: 

I think she's an extraordinary young woman and it 

really is kind of a pretty comprehensive profile of what 

goes in to making her this talent that she is. The work 

ethic, the talent, luck, the hustle, the vision. She's a 

really, really interesting woman and the movie will be 

out in about a month and half, two months we'll be able 

1970's in Purulia, the narrative 

follows an emotional journey of 

two individuals Nupur and 

Bangsi who can't speak since 

their birth. Inspired by the 

mythical love saga of Radha- 

Krishna, 'Nupur' offers the same 

essence of passionate romance 

using a poetical and musical 

backdrop. 

This film marks the debut of 

three new faces - Tanusree as 

Nupur, Suvojit Kar as Bangshi, 

and Jammy Banerjee as Raghu. 

Biswajit Chakraborty, Debika 

Mukherjee, Lucky Barua, 

Sreerupa Saha, and Bijoli Sarkar 

form the rest of the cast. 

Screenplay, choreography and 

direction are by director 

Ranadeep himself and the 

soulful music of the film has been 

composed by Pancham and Dew. 

'Nupur' is unique in the sense 

for the first time a Bengali film 

has been made inspired by 

Jaidev's 'Geet Govind' and the 

famous 'Sukh Sari Kotha'. The 

divine Love Saga of Radha and 

Krishna will no doubt bring back 

the wave of romanticism. 

|Source: TOI] 

to start showing it. 

Something that makes the documentary so exciting is 

that when Berg depicts legends on camera, like boxing 

trainer Freddie Roach for an HBO series or Wayne 

Gretzky for the 30 for 30 episode "Kings Ransom," he 

gets up close and personal. Berg shows giants in 

intimate and revealing moments, while also digging 

deep into their world and profession. To see Rihanna at 

work or off-the-clock in that sort of immersive fly-onthe-wall 

style could make for an extraordinary 

experience. 

H O ROScOPE 

A Yeti is convinced that the elusive creatures 

known as "humans" really do exist. 

Release Date 

Director 

Writers 

Stars 

Taglines 

Genres 

Also known as 

Runtime 

Country 

Language 

Production 

: 28 September 2018 (USA) 

: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jason 

Reisig 

: Karey Kirkpatrick, Clare Sera 

: Channing Tatum, James 

Corden, Zendaya 

: Not every legend is a tall tale 

: Animation, Adventure, 

Comedy 

: Smallfoot 

: 96 minutes 

: USA 

: English 

: Warner Animation Group, 

Warner Bros. Animation, 

Warner Bros 

MIXED VEG AND 

OMELETTE MUFFINS 

ABOUT MIXED VEG AND OMELETTE MUFFINS RECIPE: 

Mixed Veg and Omelette Muffins are a go to snack for any party. 

With the goodness of healthy oats and a zest of melted cheese, it is a 

perfect finger food recipe. The kitchen friendly ingredient list make 

it a hassle free and easy-to-make health loaded savoury muffin. This 

Continental recipe is perfect for breakfast and is prepared using egg, 

carrots, capsicum, oats and mozzarella. When you are pressed for 

time, omelette muffins loaded with veggies are the best thing that 

can compliment both taste and nutrition. Pair it up with a cup of hot 

tea or coffee, and enjoy this lip-smacking treat with your friends and 

family on a game night or a house party. 

INGREDIENTS 

- 3 egg 

- 1 cup grated carrot 

- 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper 

- 1/4 cup chopped capsicum (green pepper) 

- 1/4 cup chopped onion 

- handful frozen peas 

- 1/4 cup rolled oats 

- salt as required 

- 1 teaspoon black pepper 

- 1/4 cup mozzarella 

SMALLFOOT 

STORyLINE : 

A man's life 

takes an 

unexpected turn 

when he 

accidentally 

blows up his 

place of 

employment. 

Forced to attend 

night school to 

get his GED, he 

must now deal 

with a group of 

misfit students 

and a feisty 

teacher who 

doesn't think 

he's too bright. 

|Source: IMDb 

- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 

PREPARATION: 

Step 1/3 

Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius and chop the vegetables. 

After this, mix all the chopped and grated vegetables into a bowl. 

Take a separate bowl, and beat the eggs and oats together and mix 

well. 

Step 2/3 

Now, mix the ingredients of both the bowls and whisk properly. 

Grease the muffin pan with vegetable oil and add veggies, mixture 

of beaten eggs and oats. Top it up with grated mozzarella cheese. 

Step 3/3 

Now, bake the muffins in the pre-heated oven for about 25 

minutes and serve hot. Complement it with tea or coffee. 

|Source: TOI] 

Pavel registers the title of goopy gyne 

bagha byne 2.0 film as googa baba 

ARIES 

(March 21 - April 20): Natives 

of Aries are often confident and 

energetic people, who should 

consider setting up arrangements for larger 

family gatherings like reunions. Natives of this 

sign are often driving forces in the professional 

and political areas. 

TAURUS 

(April 21 - May 21): The 

obstacles you face at the 

moment may be daunting but 

you have what it takes to overcome them. 

Don't try to avoid what fate sends your way 

over the next few days - it is designed to 

strengthen you, not destroy you. 

GEMINI 

(May 22 - June 21): There may 

be times when you would like 

nothing better than to cut 

yourself off from the world at 

large but that simply isn't possible. Make 

the best job of what you are expected to do 

and try to steal a few hours for yourself 

later on. 

cANcER 

(June 22 - July 23): Some 

things are important and some 

things are not and if you don't 

yet know the difference then it's time you 

found out. This should be a productive time 

for you but you need to learn how to say 

"no" when people ask you for favours. 

LEO 

(July 24 - Aug. 23): If you are 

not yet getting the rewards and 

the respect you deserve don't 

worry, in a matter of days your 

name will be on everybody's lips. The sun in 

Aries makes you both creative and 

adventurous, so do something out of the 

ordinary. 

VIRGO 

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

tempted to go on a journey today 

but the planets warn it could 

lead you in some unforeseen directions, so 

make sure you take a map and don't promise 

to be at a certain place at a specific time - 

because you won't make it. 

LIBRA 

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): At some 

stage over the next few days 

you will see or hear something 

that makes you view the world in a new 

light. A change of perspective will lead to 

new ways of thinking, ways that answer all 

the questions you have been asking. 

ScORPIO 

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): Find out 

why a partner or loved one is 

behaving so erratically, then 

do what you can to assist them. Most likely 

their problems are nowhere near as big as 

they think they are and can quite easily be 

corrected - as can your own! 

SAGITTARIUS 

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

sign of boundless selfconfidence 

and that's good 

because you will need it over 

the next few days. If you are not happy in 

your current environment don't be afraid to 

pack a bag and take off for a few days. 

cAPRIcORN 

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

lack purpose at the moment but 

that will change if you look for 

ways to express yourself. 

Whatever challenges come your way, and there 

will be plenty, see them as opportunities to be 

embraced rather than as threats to be avoided. 

AQUARIUS 

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

keep setbacks in perspective. If 

you can learn to take yourself a bit 

less seriously over the coming 

week then your problems, such as 

they are, will fade into insignificance. Rest 

assured your successes will always outnumber 

your failures. 

PIScES 

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20): It does not 

matter if other people approve 

of what you are doing, it 

matters only that it means 

something to you. The very last thing you 

should be doing now is asking friends and 

family for their opinions - it's your views 

that count. 

Of the three parties running the 

race to Shundi, Pavel has turned 

out to be the canniest. When 

others were busy announcing 

their ventures, he quietly got his 

film's title registered as Googa 

Baba, which is bound to have the 

maximum recall value as a 

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne 2.0 

film. The others - Prosenjit 

Chatterjee and Anindya 

Chattopadhyay - will have to 

settle for something different. 

Smart boys finish first. 

|Source: TOI 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (3D) 

11:45 pm, 1:45 pm, 2:30 pm 

Incredibles (3D) 

6:45 pm 

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (3D) 

11:30 am, 4:45 pm, 7:40 pm 

Kin (2D) 

12:15 pm, 4:30 pm 

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2D) 

11:30 am, 7:45 pm 

Captain Khan (2D) 

2:00 pm, 5:00 pm 

The Nun (2D) 

11:45 am, 2:00 pm, 2:40 pm, 4:15 pm, 5:00 

pm, 6:30 pm, 7:15 pm, 8:00 pm 

The Predator (3D) 

11:30 am, 2:30 pm, 5:15 pm 

*Authority reserves the right for any changes. 

SHOWTIME 

Final Score (2D) 

11:10 am, 1:30 pm, 3:40 pm, 5:40 pm, 8:45 pm 

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (3D) 

10:30 am, 5:45 pm 

The Predator (3D) 

10:40 am, 1:00 pm, 3:20 pm, 5:50 pm, 8:10 pm 

The Nun (2D) 

10:50 am, 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, 1:20 pm, 2:00 

pm, 3:10 pm, 3:30 pm, 4:40 pm, 5:20 pm, 7:20 

pm, 7:30 pm, 8:00 pm 

Bhaijaan (2D) 

2:00 pm, 7:50 pm 

Poramon 2 (2D) 

11:00 am, 4:50 pm 

*Authority reserves the right for any changes.

SPORTS 

9 

TueSDAY, OCTOBeR 9, 2018 

Lionel Messi scored a brilliant equaliser as Barcelona's winless run in LaLiga stretched to four 

matches following a 1-1 draw at Valencia. 

Photo: AP 

Messi's brilliant equaliser 

helps Barcelona to a 1-1 

draw with Valencia 

Sports Desk: 

Barcelona played to a 1-1 draw with 

Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium on 

Sunday night in La Liga, reports AP. 

The hosts seized the lead inside two 

minutes, as Ezequiel Garay took 

advantage of some slack defending to 

tap home a Dani Parejo corner at the 

far post. 

Lionel Messi equalised for Barcelona 

midway through the first half. The 

Barcelona captain swapped passes with 

Luis Suarez and then fired a low shot 

past goalkeeper Neto. 

Barcelona went on to dominate 

possession for the majority of the game 

but could not find a winner. The result 

means they have been knocked off the 

top of the table and sit a point behind 

Sevilla in second. 

Barcelona were again without the 

injured Sergi Roberto and Samuel 

Umtiti against Valencia, which meant 

Nelson Semedo continued at rightback, 

while Thomas Vermaelen 

partnered Gerard Pique at centre-back. 

Yet Valencia took less than two 

minutes to open the scoring. 

Vermaelen missed a corner in from the 

left. It then hit Pique and fell to an 

unmarked Garay, who knocked it 

home. 

The goal means Barcelona have gone 

five games without keeping a clean 

sheet, a stark contrast to last season 

when their title defence was built on 

rock-solid defensive foundations. 

It could have been worse for the 

visitors. The goal boosted Valencia, and 

they caused Barcelona big problems in 

the opening stages. 

Michy Batshuayi went close with a 

couple of shots, as did Geoffrey 

Kondogbia. Goncalo Guedes was a real 

threat down the left with his pace. His 

departure after 12 minutes due to 

injury was a big relief for Barca. 

Barcelona have gone four games 

without a win in La Liga and will have 

to improve defensively to retain their 

title. 

Suarez has come under scrutiny this 

season after a slow start. He looked 

slow and off the pace in Barcelona's 

opening three games, but he has shown 

in his last two matches he remains the 

perfect partner for Messi. 

Against Tottenham Hotspur in the 

UEFA Champions League on 

Wednesday he produced two brilliant 

dummies, which allowed Messi to go 

through and score. 

On Sunday he combined well again 

with the Argentinian for Barcelona's 

equaliser. 

Suarez has only managed three La 

Liga goals this term, and Ernesto 

Valverde will want more from the 

Uruguayan. Yet his understanding with 

Messi remains a key part of this 

Barcelona team. 

Arthur kept his place in the Barcelona 

team after impressing against Spurs on 

Wedesday, which meant Ousmane 

Dembele again started on the bench. 

The Brazilian put in another strong 

display and looked at home in La Liga 

despite the game's being only his 

second league start in Spain. 

The 22-year-old rarely wasted a pass 

in the first half. He was always 

available, moved the ball quickly and 

helped Barca dominate possession. 

Valverde has been happy to rotate his 

team this season in search of the right 

balance. On current form, Arthur looks 

the better midfield option ahead of 

Dembele. 

Barcelona will be back in action after 

the international break when they 

welcome Sevilla to the Camp Nou on 

Oct. 20. Valencia will play host to 

Leganes the same day. 

Nadal, Djokovic 

to play exhibition 

in Saudi Arabia 

Sports Desk: 

World number one Rafael 

Nadal on Sunday said he has 

agreed to play an exhibition 

match against fellow Grand 

Slam title winner Novak 

Djokovic in Saudi Arabia in 

December, reports BSS. 

The match between the 

two stars will take place at 

Jeddah's King Abdullah 

Sports City on December 22. 

"Thanks for the invitation 

and looking forward to 

playing and visiting for the 

first time," Nadal said on 

Twitter. 

Nadal, the reigning French 

Open champion, has 17 

Grand Slam titles to his 

name. 

Former world number one 

Djokovic, now at three in the 

rankings, won Wimbledon 

and the US Open this year to 

take his majors collection to 

14. 

Djokovic and Nadal have 

played 52 times in their 

careers with the Serb leading 

their head-to-head 27-25. 

Saudi Arabia has hosted a 

series of international sports 

events in recent months. 

The first women's 

professional squash 

tournament took place in 

January while last month 

saw Britain's Callum Smith 

knock out compatriot 

George Groves in a World 

Boxing Association super 

middleweight boxing bout in 

Jeddah. 

Mbappé leads 

record-breaking PSG 

to 5-0 win over Lyon 

Sports Desk: 

Kylian Mbappe tore Lyon 

to shreds on Sunday with 

four goals as a 5-0 thrashing 

at the Parc des Princes saw 

Paris Saint-Germain set a 

new French top-flight record 

of nine straight wins to start 

a season, reports BSS. 

Thomas Tuchel's Ligue 1 

leaders broke the 82-yearold 

record of eight 

consecutive wins set by 

Olympique Lillois in 1936, 

having equalled the mark 

with their 3-0 victory at Nice 

last weekend. 

"Fantastic, incredible. It 

was super hard in the first 

half, it was a crazy match," 

PSG coach Tuchel told 

Canal+. 

A Neymar penalty gave 

PSG a ninth-minute 

advantage, but Presnel 

Kimpembe was sent off just 

after the half-hour mark to 

give Lyon hope. Bruno 

Genesio's side threw away 

their man advantage, though, 

as Lucas Tousart was 

dismissed, and after missing 

a string of chances, the 

sensational Mbappe capped 

an virtuoso display by scoring 

four times in 13 minutes to 

seal history for PSG. 

The capital-city giants, 

bidding for a sixth title in 

seven seasons, are already 

eight points clear of secondplaced 

Lille at the top of the 

table, with Lyon five points 

further back in sixth. 

Lyon endured the worst 

possible start to the match, 

as star man Nabil Fekir was 

forced off injured in the 

seventh minute, and the 

hosts were awarded a spotkick 

just seconds later. 

Mbappe raced to reach a 

loose ball, and visiting 

goalkeeper Anthony Lopes 

needlessly charged off his 

line to bring down the 

teenager. Neymar stepped 

up and sent Lopes the wrong 

way with a stuttering run-up 

to score his 11th goal of the 

season. 

Lyon responded well, 

though, with veteran 

goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon 

having to shovel a Memphis 

Depay free-kick over the bar, 

before Di Maria was 

fortunate not to concede a 

penalty for handball. 

The reigning champions 

thought they had got lucky 

again when Kimpembe was 

only shown a yellow card for 

a nasty tackle on Tanguy 

Ndombele, but with the 

young midfielder lying 

stricken on the ground, a 

video review resulted in the 

centre-back's punishment 

being upgraded to red. 

Mbappe almost put PSG 

out of sight three times in 

the space of five minutes - 

powering clear after Cornet's 

unwitting effort and drilling 

against the far post, seeing 

Lopes dive at his feet as he 

ran through one-on-one, 

and shooting too close to the 

Lyon 'keeper. 

But the World Cupwinner's 

persistence finally 

paid off in the 61st minute as 

he latched onto the ball 

inside the area after Neymar 

had burst forward, turned 

his man and smashed the 

ball in off both posts. 

Confidence was coursing 

through PSG, and the 

floodgates opened as centreback 

Marquinhos drove into 

the box and squared for 

Mbappe to stab in his eighth 

goal of the campaign. 

Neymar soon sent the 19- 

year-old bearing down on 

goal yet again, and Mbappe 

lofted the ball into the net to 

complete an incredible 

eight-minute hat-trick. 

He was not done there, 

though, as he pounced to 

slam home his fourth with 

16 minutes left after Neymar 

had seen a low shot blocked. 

Khadija's six-for sets up 

big Bangladesh win 

Sports Desk: 

Off-spinner Khadija Tul 

Kubra returned 6/20 to 

shoot Pakistan out for 94 

before the Bangladesh 

batters knocked off the runs 

without fuss in the one-off 

one-day international, 

reports ICC. 

The fixture, on the back of 

Pakistan's 3-0 win in the 

four-match Twenty20 

International series, was all 

Bangladesh as Kubra 

scripted a Pakistan batting 

collapse in just 34.5 overs at 

Sheikh Kamal Stadium in 

Cox's Bazar. Fargana Hoque 

then scored an 81-ball 48 as 

Bangladesh went over the 

line in just 29 overs for the 

fall of four wickets. 

Kubra's was an 

outstanding achievement - 

the first five-wicket haul by a 

Bangladeshi woman in 

ODIs, and the best ODI 

figures by any Bangladeshi 

bowler, man or woman, 

ever. Mashrafe Mortaza's 

6/26 against Kenya back in 

August 2006 was the 

previous best. 

She took charge after Lata 

Mondal, the right-arm 

medium pacer, had sent 

back Muneeba Ali after an 

opening stand of 38 runs. 

Ayesha Zafar was Kubra's 

first victim, and then she 

sent back Nida Dar and 

Umaima Sohail before 

accounting for the 

dangerous Javeria Khan, 

Pakistan's captain topscoring 

for her team with 

29. That made it four for 

her, and she finished up 

with the wickets of Sidra 

Nawaz and Nashra Sandhu. 

Chasing 95 for victory, 

Bangladesh lost openers 

Ayasha Rahman and 

Sharmin Akhter quickly 

with just six runs on the 

board, but Hoque and 

Rumana Ahmed 

resurrected the chase with 

an 81-run stand for the third 

wicket. 

Ahmed scored 34 and 

Hoque 48 before both of 

them fell on the same team 

score - 87. But Mondal and 

Fahima Khatun scored the 

remaining runs quickly 

enough. 

Khadija tul Kubra took the best ever bowling figures by Bangladesh in Women's ODIs as Pakistan 

were beaten by 6 wickets in Cox's Bazar. 

Photo: ICC 

Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring against Lyon on Sunday at the Parc des 

Princes stadium in Paris. 

Photo: AP 

Bale, De Bruyne 

in first Ballon 

d'Or nominees 

Sports Desk: 

Real Madrid and Wales 

forward Gareth Bale and 

Manchester City's Belgium 

midfielder Kevin De Bruyne 

were among the first 10 

nominees for the Ballon d'Or 

award announced on 

Monday, reports BSS. 

Bale, who scored two goals 

in Real's triumph in the final 

of the Champions League 

against Liverpool, joins his 

club teammate Karim 

Benzema among the first 

wave of 30 nominees for the 

year's best player. 

De Bruyne was nominated 

for helping his club win the 

Premier League and his 

country reach the World Cup 

semi-finals. 

The winner of the 

prestigious award organised 

by France Football magazine 

will be announced on 

December 3. 

Having lost out in the FIFA 

best player of the year award 

to Luka Modric, Cristiano 

Ronaldo takes his place 

among the 30 nominees for 

the Ballon d'Or that were 

being unveiled in stages 

throughout Monday. 

The Juventus forward, 

currently facing allegations of 

rape dating back to 2009 that 

he strenuously denies, has 

already won the Ballon d'Or 

five times and is the current 

holder of the award. 

Manchester City forward 

Sergio Aguero is nominated as 

is another prolific South 

American striker, Edinson 

Cavani of Uruguay and Paris 

Saint-Germain. 

Kovac already in trouble 

at stuttering Bayern 

Sports Desk: 

Bayern Munich coach Niko 

Kovac is already under 

pressure after four matches 

without a win and he is 

acutely aware that the 

German champions are not a 

club that deals well with 

failure, reports BSS. 

Kovac only took over at 

Bayern in the summer and 

was portrayed as a long-term 

leader after the venerable 

Jupp Heynckes had 

successfully steadied the ship 

for a season on a temporary 

basis after Carlo Ancelotti was 

sacked. The 46-year-old's 

reputation had risen after he 

won the German Cup with 

Eintracht Frankfurt in May, 

beating Bayern in the final. 

But Bayern's 3-0 home 

defeat to Borussia 

Moenchengladbach has left 

his team sixth in the table - 

the last time the club went 

winless in four matches in the 

first half of the season was 

2009. 

"Kovac in the eye of the 

storm," Stern news weekly 

said on its website. 

"A Bayern coach who looks 

shaky after just 11 matches. 

After winning the title for six 

seasons in a row, that seems 

unimaginable. But that is 

exactly what is happening to 

Niko Kovac," Bild newspaper 

said in its online edition. 

After Saturday's loss, Kovac 

faced the inevitable questions 

about his future. 

"I know how football works, 

and the mechanics of the 

Bundesliga and Bayern," the 

German-born Croat said. 

"And I know that you get less 

time at Bayern than 

elsewhere." 

Kovac had moved quickly 

on Friday to defuse criticism 

from his players, with 

Colombian striker James 

Rodriguez telling reporters 

that the new coach's training 

sessions were insufficiently 

rigorous and his policy of 

rotating his team was 

angering some of the stars. 

"We're not at Frankfurt 

here," Rodriguez jibed. 

Kovac's response then was 

to deny that he had lost his 

players' support - but that was 

before 

the 

Moenchengladbach debacle. 

Pressed on whether he still 

had their backing now, Kovac 

said on Saturday: "I had their 

support after the first seven 

games (when Bayern were 

undefeated), so I assume I 

still have it." 

Bayern's bosses Uli 

Hoeness and Karl-Heinz 

Rummenigge left the Allianz 

Arena without saying a word. 

A year ago, the powerful duo 

removed Ancelotti from his 

job after Bayern lost 3-0 to 

Paris Saint-Germain in the 

Champions League. 

Matthew Hayden injured 

in surfing accident 

Sports Desk: 

Matthew Hayden has suffered multiple injuries after being 

involved in a surfing accident in Queensland. The former 

Australia opener was surfing with his son near Stradbroke 

Island where he was knocked over by a wave, reports Cricbuzz. 

The incident happened on Friday (October 5) and has resulted 

in a fractured spine and torn ligaments. "Just wanted to say a big 

thank you to all our mates on Straddie who have been so 

supportive," Hayden conveyed through an Instagram post. 

"Especially Ben & Sue Kelley for the fast diagnosis with MRI, CT 

scan. Fractured C6, torn C5,C4 ligaments safe to say I truly have 

dodged a bullet. Thank you everyone. On the road to recovery." 

"It was an hour into the session and we had had half dozen 

waves together and I got this one right-handed wave which I sort 

of ducked under and that is pretty much all I can remember," 

Hayden told Courier Mail about the accident. "I wasn't knocked 

out. I was speared into the top of the sandbank onto the top of 

my head. Then it twisted my head with my own weight and the 

weight of the wave. I heard this god almighty click in my neck. I 

did not get knocked out but I sort of came to and rolled up on my 

back."

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 

BANGLADESHTODAY 10 

THE 

TUESDAy, OCTOBER 9, 2018 

PRAN achieves BRC Certificate 

PRAN Group, a leading food 

processor and exporter, has achieved 

British Retail Consortium-BRC 

certificate. PRAN Agro Limited and 

Natore Agro Limited, two sister 

concern of PRAN Group, received 

the recognition from the UK based 

BRC Certification Body recently, a 

press release said. 

Eleash Mridha, Managing Director 

of PRAN Group, disclosed the 

achievement through a press 

conference held at PRAN Center in 

the capital's Badda. 

BRC certificate guarantees the 

standardization of quality, safety and 

operational criteria and ensure that 

manufacturers fulfil their legal 

obligations and provide protection 

for the end consumer. BRC 

certificate are now a fundamental 

requirement of manufacturers and 

food service organizations for 

exporting its products to the Europe 

and America. 

Addressing the press conference, 

Eleash Mridha said, "Recently, two 

companies of the PRAN Group 

achieved BRC Certificate. The 

products under the companies 

include PRAN Spice, PRAN Mustard 

Oil, Mr. Noodles and PRAN 

Sauce.As a result, we will easily enter 

the Europe and America region to 

export our products." 

"PRAN always try to give its 

customers best products by 

maintaining quality in every step of 

manufacturing. So this is another 

document on behalf of PRAN Group 

that talk to our products quality," 

Eieash Mridah added. 

He further said that, PRAN is the 

highest exporter in the spice 

category from Bangladesh. We are 

exporting our spices more than 

hundred countries. Now, we will able 

to send our products in every corner 

of the world." 

Sheikh Sajjad Hossain, Executive 

Director of PRAN Agro Ltd, Tanvir 

Hasan, Deputy General Manager of 

Natore Agro Ltd, Toshan Paul, Head 

of Marketing of Noodlesand 

Mahamudul Hasan, Brand Manager 

of PRAN Spice also present at the 

program. 

Chinese yuan 

weakens to 

6.8957 against 

USD Monday 

The central parity rate of the 

Chinese currency renminbi, 

or the yuan, weakened 165 

basis points to 6.8957 against 

the U.S. dollar Monday, 

according to the China 

Foreign Exchange Trade 

System. 

In China's spot foreign 

exchange market, the yuan is 

allowed to rise or fall by 2 

percent from the central 

parity rate each trading day. 


yuan against the U.S. dollar is 

based on a weighted average 

of prices offered by market 

makers before the opening of 

the interbank market each 

business day. 

The following are the 

central parity rates of the 

Chinese currency renminbi, 

or the yuan, against 24 major 

currencies announced on 

Monday by the China Foreign 

Exchange Trade System: 


yuan against the Hong Kong 

dollar is based on the central 

parity rate of the yuan against 

the U.S. dollar and the 

exchange rate of the Hong 

Kong dollar against the U.S. 

dollar at 9 a.m. in 

international foreign 

exchange markets on the 

same business day. 

The central parity rates of 

the yuan against the other 22 

currencies are based on the 

average prices offered by 

market makers before the 

opening of the interbank 

foreign exchange market. 

Economic Watch: China to cut 

reserve requirement ratio, with 

monetary Policy unchanged 

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) 

decided on Sunday to cut the reserve 

requirement ratio (RRR) for RMB 

deposits by one percentage point starting 

from Oct. 15, but the stance of China's 

monetary policy remains unchanged. 

The fourth RRR cut of the year will cover 

the yuan deposits of large commercial 

banks, share-holding commercial banks, 

city commercial banks, non-county rural 

commercial banks and foreign banks. 

Wen Bin, chief researcher of China 

Minsheng Bank, said that the move would 

unleash 1.2 trillion yuan of capital into the 

market, but it would not change the central 

bank's stance of sticking to a prudent and 

neutral monetary policy, as its goal was to 

reduce financing costs of the real economy. 

A statement of the central bank said that 

some of the liquidity unleashed will be 

used to pay back the 450 billion yuan of 

the medium-term lending facility (MLF) 

that will mature on Oct. 15. 

Zeng Gang, a researcher with the 

Institute of Finance and Banking of the 

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said 

using the RRR cut to replace the MLF 

operation could optimize the maturity 

structure of credit, allow financial 

institutions to access long-term funds 

steadily and therefore reduce the financing 

costs of the real economy. 

This was the second time that the central 

bank used RRR cuts to replace MLF 

operation this year. 

Wu Qing, chief economist of the China 

Orient Asset Management Company, said 

that the move was consistent with market 

expectations, and in the future, the central 

bank might continue to use MLF and other 

tools to make fine adjustments on 

liquidity. 

According to the central bank, the 

incremental capital of 750 billion yuan will 

be injected into the market to support 

small, micro and private enterprises and 

innovative enterprises to enhance the 

vitality and resilience of the Chinese 

economy, strengthen endogenous growth 

momentum and promote the healthy 

development of the real economy. 

The move remains targeted at 

adjustment with a goal to optimize the 

liquidity structure of commercial banks 

and the financial market and to reduce 

financing costs, said the central bank. 

The PBOC will continuously implement 

a prudent and neutral monetary policy, 

refrain from using a deluge of stimulus and 

focus on targeted adjustment to maintain 

sound and sufficient liquidity, facilitate 

rational growth in monetary credit and 

social financing and create a proper 

monetary and financial environment for 

the country to pursue high-quality 

economic development and advance the 

supply-side structural reform, it said. 

The RRR cut will fill in the liquidity gap 

of banks and put no downward pressure 

on the yuan as the country's monetary 

policy is not eased, according to the PBOC 

statement. 

No corrupt element 

will go unpunished: 

ACC Commissioner 

C o m m i s s i o n e r 

(Investigation) of Anti 

Corruption Commission 

(ACC) AFM Aminul Islam 

has said that no corrupt 

element will go 

unpunished. 

"It's high time that we 

have to prevent 

corruption. We can't keep 

an uneven path of 

corruption for our future 

generation. We want to 

establish such a country 

which will be free from 

corruption," he reiterated. 


urged all to raise their 

voice against corruption 

unitedly to fight the long 

persisting social menace 

effectively. 

He was addressing a 

discussion meeting at 

auditorium of Bangladesh 

Employees Welfare Board 

in Rajshahi as chief guest 

today. ACC Divisional 

Office organized the 

meeting on the occasion of 

distributing prizes among 

the best city/district and 

upazila corruption 

prevention committees. 

Forty committees were 

given prizes for their 

laudable contribution to 

forge social resistance 

against corruption on the 

occasion. 

Chaired by Deputy 

Commissioner SM Abdul 

Kader the meeting was 

addressed, among others, 

by 

Additional 

Commissioner of Rajshahi 

Division Aminul Islam, 

Commissioner of Rajshahi 

Metropolitan Police AK 

Hafiz Akhter, ACC 

Director 

Md 

Muniruzzaman and 

divisional director Abdul 

Karim. 


Islam said: "No graft 

suspect will be spared. All 

suspects will be brought to 

justice." 

He mentioned that 

corruption undermines 

economic development, 

increase poverty, 

exploitation and injustice, 

prevent good governance, 

accountability and 

transparency and create 

social and political 

instability and insecurity. 

He further said 

institutional corruptions 

have to be checked first 

before taking lawful action 

against a person who is 

involved in corruption 

willingly or unwillingly. 

Mr Islam also said 

elimination of corruption 

is a very difficult task. 

So, we have to work 

together to reduce 

corruption. 

He laid importance on 

creation of awareness 

among the mass people, 

especially the young 

generation, to eliminate 

corruption from the 

society. Concerted effort is 

crucially important to 

check bribery as it is 

impossible for the ACC 

alone to fight corruption. 

AIIB approves 

8th project with 

loan of USD 455 

mln in India 

The Asian Infrastructure 

Investment Bank (AIIB) has 

recently approved a 455- 

million-U.S. dollar loan 

project for Andhra Pradesh, 

India, making it the eighth 

project approved by AIIB in 

India. 

The new loan project aims 

to build and upgrade the 

road network of Andhra 

Pradesh. The road network 

is about 6,000 kilometers 

long and connects more 

than 3,300 rural 

settlements. After the 

completion of the project, it 

will bring convenience to 

more than 2 million local 

people, improve the 

transportation conditions of 

agricultural products, and 

increase the enrollment rate 

of local children. 

According to the data of 

AIIB, with the approval of 

the above project, the 

amount of loans approved 

by AIIB in India totaled 

1.769 billion U.S. dollars, 

and the loans mainly went to 

the field of infrastructure 

construction, such as 

transportation and electric 

power. 

Saturated Lisbon airport puts 

Portugal tourism boom at risk 

A record number of passengers 

using Lisbon's airport is proving a 

bittersweet achievement as daily 

delays and a lack of space to park 

planes threatens to strangle the goose 

laying golden eggs for Portugal's 

economy. 

Tourists flocking to Lisbon to soak 

up some sun and while away evenings 

listening to Fado music in the city's 

bars has been one of the bright spots in 

Portugal's economy, which was 

wracked by the eurozone debt crisis at 

the start of the decade. 

But with Lisbon's Humberto 

Delgado airport having already in 

2016 passed its capacity forecasts for 

2025, there are mounting concerns 

that without rapid investments it 

might soon act as a choke valve on the 

motor of Portugal's economy. 

In 2017, the airport set a new record 

of 26.7 million passengers, a 66 

percent increase over four years. And 

traffic is up another 11 percent over the 

first eight months of this year. 

The Portuguese government, 

national airline TAP and the tourism 

sector all agree: construction of a 

second airport for the capital needs to 

get underway. 

The plan under discussion is to 

convert Montijo airbase on the 

opposite side of the Tagus river from 

Lisbon into a civil airport. 

As a stop-gap measure, a little-used 

secondary runway at the current 

airport, located in the city's northern 

suburbs, will be closed to make space 

to park planes. 

The Montijo project, which would 

take overall capacity to 50 million 

passengers per year, has been the 

subject of discussions since February 

last year between the government and 

ANA, the operator of 10 Portuguese 

airports that is owned by French 

construction and management firm 

Vinci. 

The discussions are well advanced 

and should be wrapped up soon, say 

both sides. 

But for airlines, the wait is 

uncomfortable. 

"The delivery calendar for our new 

planes is set, but I don't know yet if I'll 

have space to park them. It's really 

frustrating," the chief executive of 

TAP, Antonoaldo Neves, said at a 

recent conference. 

"If we don't move forward with the 

necessary speed, all of Portugal will be 

left behind," he said. 

TAP is the principal airline at Lisbon 

airport, and constraints there could 

begin to stunt their company's growth 

next year. 

"What are we waiting for to move 

forward with the Montijo option?" 

questioned the head of the association 

of tourism firms, Francisco Calheiros. 

Some estimates say Portugal stands 

to lose one million tourists per year 

because of the situation. 

Prime Minister Antonio Costa 

recognised there is "no other solution" 

but said the government is waiting for 

the results of an environmental impact 

study to "make the decision absolutely 

irreversible". The situation Lisbon 

finds itself in is also part of the legacy 

of the eurozone debt crisis, which 

pushed the country into seeking an 

international bailout in 2010. 

As part of the bailout the 

government slashed spending and 

investment, including abandoning 

plans to build an entirely new airport 

in a town adjacent to Montijo. 

"We need to correct the mistake 

made when it was decided not to build 

an airport that we already needed 

then," said Costa. 

In the Photos (From left to right): IsratJahan, Head of Customer Care; Sandeep Debnath, Chief 

Technology Officer; Rajiv Bhattacharya, Sr. Director, Operations of Shohoz Rides and Md. SaydulAlam, 

Top Rider of Shohoz Monthly Campaign - September'18. 

Photo: Courtesy 

Climate, development tipped 

for Nobel economics prize 

The 2018 Nobel season, 

marked by the lack of a 

literature award for the first 

time in 70 years, winds up 

Monday with the economics 

prize which experts say could 

go to research on the climate 

or development. 

The Nobel economics prize 

was created by the Swedish 

central bank "in memory of 

Alfred Nobel" and first 

awarded in 1969, unlike the 

other prizes which were 

created in his last will and 

testament and first awarded 

in 1901. 

As with the other Nobels, 

nominations and 

deliberations are kept secret 

for 50 years, so it's nearly 

impossible to know which 

way the prize committee is 

leaning each year. 

"From a historical 

perspective, there are about 

as many conservative as 

liberal economists in recent 

years and the trend has been 

for diversification: the range 

of fields of research that have 

been honoured has been 

more vast, the choice of 

laureates has been more 

eclectic," economist Gabriel 

Soderberg of Sweden's 

Uppsala University told AFP. 

Last year the prize went to 

US economist Richard 

Thaler, a co-founder of the 

so-called "nudge" theory, 

which demonstrates how 

people can be persuaded to 

make decisions that leave 

them healthier and happier. 

"The heart of the Nobel 

prizes are the awards for 

science, peace and literature. 

The economics prize is not 

formally a Nobel prize," 

Soderberg said. 

That fact may make "the 

jury more attentive to public 

opinion, a little more 

sensitive to the way in which 

the laureate will be received," 

he said. 

This is why "societal 

questions are reflected in the 

prize. The issue of climate 

change is very important 

right now and (for this 

reason) William Nordhaus 

could be honoured," he said. 

Nordhaus, a Yale 

University professor known 

for his research on the 

economic consequences of 

global warming, bears two of 

the typical characteristics of 

a Nobel economics laureate: 

he's a man, and he's 

American, like 70 percent of 

previous prizewinners. 

At 77, he's a decade older 

than the average winner. 

Only one woman has won 

the economics prize since 

1969, Elinor Ostrom in 

2009. 

Micael Dahlen, a professor 

at the Stockholm School of 

Economics, said that was all 

the more reason to give the 

nod to a woman this year. 

"I'd really like to see the 

prize go to (France's) Esther 

Duflo, whose research has 

focused on developing 

economies and gender 

equality, or Cuban-born 

American Carmen Reinhart, 

active in the field of public 

finance," Dahlen explained. 

Meanwhile, Hubert 

Fromlet, a professor at 

Sweden's University of Vaxjo 

singled out several American 

women who could be 

honoured: Anne Krueger, 

the first woman named the 

deputy head of the 

International Monetary 

Fund, Susan Athey, known 

for her work on auctions and 

decision making under 

uncertainty, and Claudia 

Goldin, who researches 

gender inequality. 

"I could also see the prize 

going to a macro-economist 

like Ben Bernanke," the 

former head of the US 

Federal Reserve, said 

Dahlen. 

Among the "usual 

suspects" cited frequently for 

the Nobel are US economists 

Paul Romer and Paul 

Milgrom, and Frenchman 

Olivier Blanchard, a former 

IMF chief economist. 

The youngest Nobel prize 

is this year celebrating its 

50th anniversary. Created in 

1968 to mark the 

tricentenary of the Swedish 

central bank, the Riksbank, 

it is the most prestigious 

prize an economics 

researcher can win. 

Nobel's will stipulated that 

the prizes shall go to people 

who have worked to create "a 

better world". 

According to Micael 

Dahlen, "economics has the 

same sweeping effects on 

society as the other 

disciplines and can therefore 

be considered a prerequisite 

for everything from scientific 

progress to culture and 

peace". 

Shohoz Rides 

accolades the 

best rider 

To promote and inspire 

better ride sharing experience, 

Shohoz Rides awarded their 

best rider of the month at 

capital's Tokyo Square 

Convention Center. Among 

the riders who provided topnotch 

services to the 

passengers, Md. SaidulAlam 

has been selected as the 'Top 

Rider of September 2018' and 

was awarded BDT 1, 50,000 

for his service, a press release 

said. The 'Top Rider of 

September 2018' was selected 

under the month long 

campaign 'Lakhpotir 

ChyeoBeshi' by Shohoz Rides. 

Morocco's expat 

remittances hit 

4.7 bln USD in 8 

months 

Remittances from 

Moroccans abroad reached 

4.7 billion U.S. dollars in the 

first eight months of 2018, 

up 1 percent compared with 

the same period last year, 

the foreign exchange 

regulator said Saturday. 

The remittances, a main 

source of foreign exchange 

reserves in Morocco, came 

from some 5 million 

Moroccan expatriates. 

Between January and 

August, the flows of foreign 

direct investment (FDI) in 

Morocco declined by 8.6 

percent to 1.9 billion dollars 

from a year earlier. 

In 2017, Morocco 

attracted nearly 2.57 billion 

dollars of FDI, up 12 percent 

year-on-year.

MISCELLANEOUS 

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018 

11 

Preparation going on for 

Durga Puja in Khulna 

KHULNA: Preparations for celebration of Durga Puja, the largest 

religious festival of the Hindu community, is progressing fast in Khulna 

city and district, reports BSS. 

The five-day Sharodiya Utsab will begin on October 15 and conclude 

on October 19 through the immersion of idols. 

General Secretary of city unit Puja Udjapon Parisad Prashanta 

Kumar Kundu told BSS that a total of 123 Durga Mandaps has been set 

up in the metropolitan city while 798 Durga Puja Mandaps has been set 

up in all nine upazilas of the district to celebrate Durga Puja. 

While visiting the largest Dharmasava Puja mandap in the city this 

correspondent found that artisans were busy painting the images of 

goddess to make the idols attractive. Khulna Metropolitan Police 

(KMP) and Khulna District Police authorities have separately taken 

adequate security measures for ensuing smooth celebration of Durga 

Puja. KMP commissioner Humayun Kabir said all kinds of security 

measures, uninterrupted electricity supply and traffic management 

would be ensured for peaceful celebration of the festival. 

Khulna Police Super S M Shafiullah said security measures have been 

taken for each temple. 

It is to be informed that a P2G contract has been signed between Sonali Bank Ltd. and Tap'n Pay by 

today 08 October, 2018 Monday at 11.00 am in the Head-quarter of Sonali Bank Ltd. The Managing 

Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sonali Bank Ltd. Obayed Ullah Al Masud and the Chief 

Finance Officer (CFO) of Sonali Bank Ltd. Subhash Chandra Das were present at the ceremony. Dr. 

Kamrul Ahsan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tap'n Payand Abul Hossain Emon, Head of 

Sales and Marketing of Tap'n Pay were also present there. By this contract, customers will not have 

to visit branches of Sonali Bank Ltd. to seek the services that Sonali Bank Ltd. provides; from now 

on, customers will be able to receive the services from Tap'n Pay agent points or by operating Tap'n 

Pay mobile application. 

Photo: Courtesy 

Construction of Police Officers' 

Mess begins in Rangpur 

RANGPUR: Construction works of a 10-storied 

Police Officers' Mess with modern facilities began 

on its site at Keranipara area in the city on Sunday 

afternoon, reports BSS. 

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Bangladesh 

Police for Rangpur Range Devdas Bhattacharya 

inaugurated the construction works at a function 

held on the structure site by unveiling plaque of 

the foundation stone as the chief guest. 

The Public Works Department (PWD) is 

implementing construction works of the twostoried 

building of the 10-storied Police Officers' 

Mess at a cost of over Taka 4.02 crore in the first 

phase. The PWD will construct rest portion of the 

10-storied Police Officers' Mess building in future. 

Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner 

Md Abdul Alim Mahmud, Additional DIG for 

Rangpur range Abdul Mazid, all eight 

Superintends of Police from eight districts under 

Rangpur Range and other police officials were 

present. 

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09-10-2018

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