01-11-2018

thursDaY 

DHAkA: November 1, 2018; kartik 17, 1425 BS; Safar 17,1440 Hijri 

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com 

Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.16; No.271; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00 

international 

Sheikh Salman urges 

respect for rules in 

AFC election 

>Page 7 

art & culture 

Wanna get fit? 

start rawling! 

>Page 8 

sport 

Shakib Al Hasan joins 

Steven Smith in UAE 

T20x league 

>Page 9 

PM to lead 22- member team 

in dialogue with Oikyafront 

DHAKA : A 22-member 14-party delegation, 

led by Awami League 

President and Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina, will sit in talks with the 16- 

member Jatiya Oikyafront team at 

Ganobhaban on Thursday evening, 

reports UNB. 

Awami League announced the 

names of the 14-party delegation 

members at a press release signed by 

party office secretary Abdus Sobhan 

Golap on Wednesday. 

Of them, 18 leaders are from 

Awami League while four others 

from its alliance partners. 

The other AL leaders are Obaidul 

Quader, Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail 

Ahmed, Matia Chowdhury, Fazlul 

Karim Selim, Mohammad Nasim, 

Abdur Razzak, Kazi Zafar Ullah, 

Ramesh Chandra Sen, Advocate 

Anisul Huq, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, 

Dr Dipu Moni, Jahangir Kabir 

Nanonk, Abdur Rahman, Abdus 

Sobhan Golap, Dr Hasan Mahmud 

JSC, JDC exams 

begin today 

DHAKA :This year's Junior School 

Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil 

Certificate (JDC) examinations will begin 

on Thursday with the participation of 

26,70,333 examinees, reports UNB. 

Students from 29,677 educational 

institutions will sit for the examinations 

at 2,903centres across the country. 

A total of 22,67,343 students --10,43,752 

boys and 12,23,591 girls-will sit for the JSC 

examination, while 4,02,990 examinees -- 

179,980 boys and 2,23,010 girls-for the JDC 

examination, raising the total to 26,70,333. 

Some 2,46,353 irregular students will take 

part in the JSC examination while 34,251 in 

the JDC. The number of special students in 

JSC is 1,30,785 while in JDC 30,548. 

Besides, 578 students will sit for the 

JSC and JDC examinations in nine 

overseas centres. The JSC examinations 

will end on November 15 while 

JDC on November 14. 

191 killed in Oct across 

country, says BHRC 

DHAKA : A total of 191 people were 

killed in various incidents across the 

country in October, according to 

Bangladesh Human Rights Commission 

(BHRC), reports UNB. 

Of them, two were killed for dowry while 

21 in family feuds, 41 in social violence and 

six people in political violence, according 

to a report prepared by the organisation 

based on information gathered from different 

districts, upazilas and municipalities 

as well as national dailies. 

Besides, 12 people were killed in the 'hands 

of law enforcement agencies', two were killed 

by BSF, five due to negligence of physicians, 

seven after abduction, nine in disappearing 

cases, 84 under mysterious circumstances 

and two after rape, the report said. 

Expressing concern over the killings, 

the BHRC in a statement urged law 

enforcement agencies and other government 

offices concerned to perform their 

duties with more responsibility. 

It also urged the government and the 

law enforcement agencies to take effective 

measures to end torture on children 

as well as killings. 

Zohr 

04:49 AM 

11:50 AM 

03:45 PM 

05:23 PM 

06:55 PM 

6:04 5:20 

and SM Rezaul Karim. 

The four 14-party leaders are 

Samyabadi Dal leader Dilip Barua, 

leader of Workers Party of 

Bangladesh Rashed Khan Menon, 

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal leader (JSD) 

Hasanul Huq Inu and JSD-faction 

leader Moinuddin Khan Badal. 

On Tuesday night, Jatiya 

Oikyafront sent the names of its 16- 

member delegation, led by Dr Kamal 

Hossain, to Awami League for the 

talks to be held at 7pm on Tuesday. 

The other Oikyafront delegation 

members are BNP secretary general 

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, 

standing committee members 

Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, 

Moudud Ahmed, Jamiruddin 

Sircar, Mirza Abbas, JSD president 

ASM Abdur Rob, vice president 

Tania Rob, general secretary Abdul 

Malek Ratan, Nagorik Oikya's 

Mahmudur Rahman Manna and 

SM Akarm, Gono Forum general 

secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu, 

executive president Subrata 

Chowdhury, Jatiya Oiky Prokriya's 

Sultan Mohammad Mansur, ABM 

Mostafa Amin and Gonoshasthya 

Kendra founder Dr Zafrull 

Chowdhury. 

Meanwhile, Road Transport and 

Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader 

said the Prime Minister wants to sit 

in dialogue with other parties as well. 

Talking to reporters at the secretariat, 

he also anything can be discussed 

at the dialogue. "The Prime 

Minister has no precondition... talks 

can be held on any issue." 

In favour of Jatiya Oikyafront, Dr 

Kamal Hossain on Sunday sent a letter 

to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

seeking dialogue over the national 

election. 

In response to it, Sheikh Hasina 

sent a letter to Dr Kamal on Tuesday 

morning and invited Oikyafront 

leaders to join the dialogue. 

Dialogue, election can't 

be fruitful with Khaleda 

Zia in jail: BNP 

DHAKA : BNP secretary general 

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on 

Wednesday said no dialogue and 

election will be fruitful keeping 

their chairperson Khaleda Zia in 

jail, reports UNB. 

A day before Oikyafront's scheduled 

talks with Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina, he came up with 

the remark at a human-chain programme 

in front of the Jatiya 

Press Club in the city. 

"The government on one hand 

has offered dialogue and extended 

Khaleda Zia's punishment on the 

other. These are two conflicting 

moves, which don't demonstrate 

the government's sincerity for 

talks," Fakhrul said. 

He further said, "Neither any 

dialogue nor any election will be 

fruitful keeping Khaleda Zia in 

jail. So, we would like to call upon 

you please return to the path of 

democracy and create a democratic 

atmosphere." 

The BNP leader said the government 

must fully accept 

Oikyafront's seven-point demand 

for holding a credible and neutral 

election. "First of all, our leader 

(Khaleda) must be freed as no 

election can be meaningful without 

her release." 

BNP formed the human chain 

protesting the conviction of its 

chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia 

Charitable Trust graft case. 

Several hundred BNP leaders 

and followers formed the human 

chain around 11:00 am in front of 

the Jatiya Press Club amid tight 

security. 

They chanted various slogans 

demanding the immediate release 

of their leader Khaleda Zia. 

Police cordoned off the protesters 

to fend off any trouble. 

BNP senior joint secretary general 

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Monday 

announced a three-day countrywide 

programme, including the 

human chain, protesting the conviction 

of its chairperson Khaleda 

Zia in the Zia Charitable Trust 

graft case. 

As part of the programme, the 

party will also observe a token 

mass-hunger strike on Thursday 

in all metropolitan cities and district 

towns. 

On Monday, a Dhaka court 

sentenced BNP chairperson 

Khaleda Zia and three others to 

seven years' rigorous imprisonment 

each in the much-talkedabout 

Zia Charitable Trust corruption 

case. 

On Wednesday the city dwellers suffered much in huge traffic jam. The Photo was taken from 

Topkhana road Dhaka. 

Photo: Star Mail 

On Wednesday, Ganoforum President Dr Kamal, General Secretary Mostafa Mohsin, JSD president ASM 

Abdur Rab and General Secretary Abdul Malek Ratan participated in a meeting at the resident of Krishak 

Sramik Janata League president Abdul Kader Siddique. 


Having dialogue 

always better: 

Bernicat 

DHAKA : Mentioning that having dialogue 

on any issue is always better, outgoing 

US Ambassador to Bangladesh 

Marcia Bernicat hoped on Wednesday 

that the beginning of recent dialogue 

process among the political parties will 

bring something good for Bangladesh, 

reports UNB. 

Bernicat made the remarks when she 

made farewell call on President Abdul 

Hamid at Bangabhaban, said President's 

Press Secretary Joynal Abedin after the 

meeting. 

Prime Minister and Awami League 

President Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday 

invited leaders of Jatiya Oikyafront and 

Bikolpo Dhara Bangladesh (BDB) to 

join talks with her party on Thursday 

and Friday respectively over the next 

general election. 

During the meeting with Bernicat, the 

President spoke of excellent bilateral relations 

between Bangladesh and the US. 

"The bilateral relationship between 

Bangladesh and the US has been strengthened 

alongside the expansion of the volume 

of trade and investment," he said. 

Abdul Hamid also congratulated Bernicat 

on completion of her tenure successfully. 

Praising the US role over the 

Rohingya crisis, he expressed the hope 

that its support to face the future challenge 

of the Rohingya crisis and ensure 

their safe repatriation to their homeland 

in Rakhine state of Myanmar will 

continue in the coming days. 

The US envoy lauded the role of 

Bangladesh over the Rohingya issue. 

"The support from the US for Rohingyas 

and their safe and respected repatriation 

will be continued in the future," she said. 

Bernicat became the US Ambassador 

to Bangladesh on February 4, 2015. She 

is expected to leave Dhaka on Friday. 

2,260 Rohingyas to return 

home in 1st batch in 

mid-Nov: Official 

COX'S BAZAR : A total of 2,260 

Rohingyas of 485 families will be repatriated 

in the first phase as Bangladesh 

and Myanmar agreed to begin their 

repatriation in mid-November, said a 

senior official on Wednesday, reports 

UNB. 

Permanent Secretary of Myanmar's 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Myint Thu 

told reporters that they have verified 

about 5,000 Rohingyas and the first 

batch of repatriation will begin in mid- 

November. 

He made the remarks while briefing 

reporters at Kutupalong Rohingya 

camp in Ukhia upzila of the district in 

the afternoon. 

The joint working group members 

from both sides, including Foreign 

Secretary M Shahidul Haque, visited 

Rohingya camps on Wednesday and 

talked to Rohingya representatives. 

Rohingyas, however, said they will 

not go back to their place of origin in 

Rakhine if their basic rights, including 

citizenship and housing facilities, are 

not provided. 

On Tuesday, Bangladesh and 

Myanmar agreed to begin the repetition 

of the first batch of Rohingyas by mid- 

November. The third foreign secretarylevel 

JWG meeting, held at State guesthouse 

Meghna in the city, was cochaired 

by Permanent Secretary Myint 

Thu of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 

DHAKA : Police reportedly arrested 

at least 20 leaders and activists of 

BNP and its associate bodies, 

including Sramik Dal president 

Anwar Hossain, after the party's 

human chain programme in the city. 

"Police arrested our 20-25 leaders 

and activists just after the conclusion 

of our human-chain programme 

in front of the Jatiya Press 

Club," BNP assistant organising 

secretary Abdus Salam Azad told 

UNB. 

He said the arrested party leaders 

include Anwar Hossain, Dhaka 

north city unit organising secretary 

Farroque Hossain, its leaders Amir 

Hossain, Ripon, Mahbubur Rahman 

Dipu and Mostak Sarker. 

The BNP leader said the arrested 

BNP men were taken to Shahbagh 

and Ramna police stations. 

BNP formed the human chain 

protesting the conviction of its 

chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia 

Myanmar and his Bangladesh counterpart 

Senior Secretary M Shahidul Haque 

of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

After the third foreign secretary-level 

JWG meeting held at State guesthouse 

Meghna in the capital, Myanmar 

Permanent Secretary Myint Thu said 

they had a very friendly and candid 

meeting and came up with the "very 

concrete results" on the commencement 

of the repatriation. 

"We've shown our political will, flexibility, 

and accommodation in order to 

commence the repatriation at the earliest 

possible dates," he said. 

The Myanmar official claimed they 

have streamlined lots of local directives 

to promote awareness on repatriation 

among the returnees. 

"We're also promoting public policy 

which includes police personnel together 

with the local communities to maintain 

and promote law and order," he 

said adding that they are also promoting 

awareness on the fundamental principles 

so that people can get access to justice 

system if they encounter any issue. 

Bangladesh and Myanmar formed the 

Joint Working Group (JWG) on 

December 2017 to start the repatriation of 

Rohingya refugees by January 23, 2018. 

In May, the Myanmar side urged the 

Bangladesh side to start the repatriation 

of the earlier verified 778 Muslims and 

444 Hindus. 

Sramik Dal president among 

'20 others' held from BNP's 

human chain 


Several hundred BNP leaders 

and followers formed the human 

chain around 11:00 am in front of 

the Jatiya Press Club amid tight 

security. 

BNP secretary general Mirza 

Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and its other 

senior leaders addressed the programme. 

A good number of party leaders 

and activists started leaving the 

programme venue after 11:30 am 

fearing police actions after its conclusion. 

Before concluding the rally 6 minutes 

ahead of the scheduled time, 

Fakhrul called upon the law 

enforcers not to arrest their party 

leaders and activists on their way 

back home. 

"I would like to call upon the law 

enforcers you please don't arrest 

anyone from here. It's our request to 

you," he insisted.

NEWS 

SATuRDAY, 

NOvEMBER 1, 2018 

2 

RCC area to be expanded 

soon: Liton 

RAJSHAHI: The area of Rajshahi 

City Corporation (RCC) is going to be 

expanded to 900 square-kilometers 

from its existing 95.56 squarekilometers, 

reports BSS. 

City Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman 

Liton revealed this while addressing a 

view-sharing meeting with all partner 

and associate organizations at city 

bhaban conference hall here Tuesday. 

Liton said the periphery will be 

expanded to the entire areas of twelve 

police stations of Rajshahi 

Metropolitan Police (RMP). 

Chaired by RCC Chief Executive 

Officer Shah Momin the meeting was 

addressed, among others, by 

Chairman of Rajshahi Development 

Authority (RDA) Prof Bazlur 

Rahman, Managing Director of 

Rajshahi WASA Sultan Abdul Hamid, 

RDA Chief Executive Officer Dr 

Dewan Shahriar Firoj and RCC 

Secretary Rejaul Karim. 

Mayor Liton said area of the city's 

southern part will be enhanced 

through capital dredging of the river 

Padma. Tourist city will be built 

through establishing resort, cottage 

and amusement park on the 

reclaimed land. 

RCC and RDA will work together to 

build more residential and commercial 

areas in the days ahead, Liton added. 

Narrating his planning for 

development of the city he said Taka 

10,000 crore projects will be 

implemented within next five years in 

Rajshahi city for improving living and 

livelihood condition of its people. 

Liton said Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina is very much positive towards 

development of the city. So, he 

expected that there will be no 

financial problem of implementing 

the development. 

He added Rajshahi WASA Surface 

Water Treatment Plant Project with 

Taka 4,062 crore has already been 

approved in ECNEC meeting for 

providing treated water to Rajshahi 

people. 

Leather industrial estate will be 

established here aims at improving 

socio-economic condition of the 

region through flourishing the leather 

sector. 

A site of 100 acres of land has 

already been selected at Harian and 

Belpukur areas for the purpose. 

Regional office of Bangladesh Small 

and Cottage Industries Corporation 

(BSCIC) is working in this regard. 

Liton said he is committed to 

generating employment opportunities 

for one lakh unemployed people. 

Implementation of Bangabandhu Hitech 

Park here is progressing fast and 

employment scopes for more than 

14,000 youths will be created after its 

successful completion. 

He expressed his commitment of 

building Rajshahi as a prosperous, 

modern and developed city and to 

expedite industrialization process in the 

city and its outskirts and sought all-out 

cooperation of the city dwellers for 

successful implementation of the 

projects. 

"We have plans of setting up five 

star hotels, BKSP, cricket venue, 

agricultural university and heart 

foundation in the city," Liton 

asserted. 

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh visited the Kantajir Shrine at Kaharol of Dinajpur 

yesterday. 

Photo : Star Mail 

CEC to meet 

President this 

afternoon 

DAHKA : Chief Election 

Commissioner KM Nurul 

Huda will meet President M 

Abdul Hamid at 

Bangabhaban this 

afternoon. 

"An election commission 

(EC) delegation led by its 

CEC is scheduled to meet 

with the President at 

Bangabhaban at 4 pm 

tomorrow," President's 

press secretary Joynal 

Abedin told BSS yesterday. 

The CEC will be 

accompanied by four 

election commissioners 

during the meeting. 

Taking to BSS, EC 

secretary Helal Uddin 

Ahmed said, "It's a courtesy 

call-on." 

He added: "We'll apprise 

the hounrable President of 

overall preparations for the 

next Jatiya Sangsad 

election." 

Apple unveils new 

Macs, iPad Pro 

Apple has unveiled a new 

version of its MacBook Air 

laptop, this time made of 

recycled aluminum, as well as 

a new Mac Mini and an iPad 

Pro, all pricier than their 

predecessors, reports Arab 

news. Nearly 10 years after the 

launch of the first MacBook 

Air by the late Steve Jobs, his 

successor Tim Cook presented 

on Tuesday the latest version 

of this PC, just 1.56 cm thick, 

compared to 1.94 cm (0.75 

inches). This model was made 

with 100 percent recycled 

aluminum and recycled 

plastic, a change which 

reduces its carbon footprint, 

Apple said. 

Last year Apple announced 

it would aim for a circular 

production system for its 

iPhones, which it said would 

allow for making new 

products with recycled 

materials. 

The Mac Mini unveiled 

Tuesday - the latest version of 

Apple's high-performance 

mini desktop computer - is 

also manufactured with 

completely recycled 

aluminum and plastic as well. 

Apple is not the only 

computer manufacturer to 

use such material, but a report 

by Greenpeace last year called 

it among the best performers 

in the industry in terms of 

going easy on the 

environment. 

In its most basic model, 

with 128 gigabytes of 

memory, the MacBook Air 

will be available November 7 

in the United States at a price 

of $1,199, which is $200 more 

than the simplest current 

version of the computer. 

Obituary 

Former Chairman of 

Bangladesh Council of 

Scientific & Industrial 

Research (BCSIR) and 

woman scientist Dr Flora 

Jaibun Majid died on 30th 

October (Inna lillahi.... 

Rajiun). She was one of the 

pioneers among of female 

scientists. She plays an 

important role in the field of 

research and development 

of plant and nutrition 

science. She wrote many 

science research books. 

All officials of BCSIR 

prayed for her departed soul 

rest. 

Executive Magistrate of BRTA Sohel Rana conducted drive yesterday near the Tigerpass police box 

of Chattogram. 


7 Jamaat 

men held in 

Satkhira 

SATKHIRA : Police in 

separate drives arrested 

seven leaders and 

activists of Jamaat-e- 

Islami including Advocate 

Rabiul Islam Khan, 

convener of Nagorik 

Oikkya, from different 

places in Sadar upazila 

early Wednesday, reports 

UNB. 

The other arrestees 

include Maulana Abdul 

Waresh Ali, Yeasin 

Ali, Abul Hossian, 

Akteruzzaman, Bablu, 

Rabiul Islam and Rubel 

Hossain. 

Tipped off, a team of 

police conducted separate 

drives in the areas and 

arrested them in 

connection with sabotage 

cases, said Mostafizur 

Rahman, officer-incharge 

of Sadar Police 

Station. 

Bus driver 

jailed in 

Rajshahi 

RAJSHAHI : A court here 

on Tuesday sentenced a 

bus driver to one year and 

three months jail in an 

accident case, reports 

UNB. 

Rajshahi Chief Judicial 

Magistrate Court-3 Judge 

Ujjal Mahmud sentenced 

Selim Khan, 50, son of 

Ershad Ali, to the jail 

term for killing a 

motorcyclist in a road 

accident. 

The court also fined him 

Tk 5,000, in default, to 

suffer, one month more in 

rigorous imprisonment. 

According to the 

prosecution, Goutam 

Kumar Sarkar, 22, of 

Parisho village in Tanore 

upazila, was killed when a 

minibus hit his 

motorcycle in 2015. 

Sunil Kumar, maternal 

uncle of the victim filed 

the case against Selim 

Khan with Tanore Police 

Station. 

The Saudi Gallery takes visitors 

on a colorful journey 

Stepping into The Saudi 

Gallery exhibit that is running 

on the sidelines of Misk Art 

2018 in Durrat Arriyadh, I 

couldn't help but remember 

my recent interview with the 

CEO of the MISK Art Institute 

Ahmed Mater when he said: 

"This is Saudi Arabia's 

Renaissance age." 

Curated by the Jeddahbased 

Athr gallery, the mini 

contemporary and modern 

art fair showcased eight 

galleries and presented the 

work of dozens of talented 

artists, reports Arab news. 

A diverse collection of 

creativity bounced off the 

walls, demanding to be seen, 

read and stared at. From 

paintings to sculptures, the 

myriad art forms on show 

commanded attention. 

"We decided to bring artists 

who are mostly Saudi or lived 

in Saudi (Arabia) or who have 

GD-1369/18 (5 x 3) 

shown in Saudi (Arabia) for a 

long time," Mohammed 

Hafez, Athr gallery's founder, 

told Arab News. 

"We basically broke the 

gallery into two main sections: 

The main works, on the left 

and right-hand walls, and 

smaller works by either 

emerging artists or 

established artists as we 

wanted to bring in a selection 

of accessible works so that 

younger collectors or buyers 

could find them interesting," 

he added. The exhibition 

featured an array of artistic 

forms, something that Hafez 

believes is important. 

"There are works from all 

over Saudi Arabia. We made a 

point of showing different 

mediums: Photography, 

calligraphy, neon (work), 

video and installations." From 

the Desert Designs gallery, 

representative Raneen 

Bukhari told Arab News that 

the drive to showcase the 

work of a range of artists was 

as important as presenting 

different forms of art. 

Artwork by Abdullah Al- 

Sheikh, a Saudi artist who 

studied in Iraq. (Basheer 

Saleh/AN) 

"We have four artists - 

people who started 20 years 

ago and those who have just 

started their journey," she 

said. "We've been working 

with a lot of artists through 

the years, but we wanted to 

highlight the ones that have 

really good audience 

connection." 

C and F agents association organized a press conference in Chattogram yesterday. Photo : Star Mail 

GD-1366/18 (5 x 4)

METRO 

THURSDAY, NoVEMBER 1, 2018 

3 

Southeast University (SEU) Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) organized a day long "Closing Workshop of IQAC 

Project" on Wednesday at SEU Seminar Hall, Main Building, Banani, Dhaka. Prof. Dr. A.N.M. Meshquat Uddin, Vice 

Chancellor of SEU presided over all the Sessions. Prof. Mesbahuddin Ahmed, Chairman of Bangladesh Accreditation Council 

inaugurated the workshop as the Chief Guest. Prof. Dr. Sanjoy Kumar Adhikary, Head of Quality Assurance Unit, HEQEP-UGC 

graced the Inaugural Session as the Special Guest. M. Kamaluddin Chowdhury, Representative Member of BoT, SEU Trust also 

addressed in the workshop. Dr. M A Hakim, Director of IQAC of SEU gave the Welcome Speech and presented the achievements 

of IQAC Project. Heads of Self-Assessment Committee (SAC) of all Academic departments of SEU presented their 

improvement plans in the 2nd session. 

Photo : Courtesy 

BAT wins Bangladesh 

Innovation Award for 

SDG Inclusion 

DHAKA : The British American Tobacco 

(BAT) Bangladeshhasown the Bangladesh 

Innovation Award under SDG Inclusion 

category, reports UNB. 

BAT director KH Masud Siddiqui and 

head of legal and external affairs Mubina 

Asaf received the award on behalf of the 

company, according to a press release issued 

by the company. 

Bangladesh Brand Forum has initiated the 

award to honour best innovative companies 

of the country. 

"This award is recognition of our 

commitment and we will continue to serve 

our people and the society," said Mubina 

Asaf. 

'Probaho' is a CSR initiative by BAT 

Bangladesh whereby pure drinking water is 

brought to arsenic-prone areas. 

The groundwater in many villages of 

Bangladesh is contaminated with arsenic, 

sometimes reaching levels as high as 1-2 

mg/L whereas, WHO has fixed the 

acceptable levels of arsenic in water to be 

0.01 mg/L, the release reads. 

BAT Bangladesh operates in many areas 

that lie in these zones, it added. 

"Through this project, 73 water filtration 

plants have been installed so far, which 

extracts groundwater and runs a purification 

process where arsenic, iron, manganese, 

phosphates and other impurities are 

neutralized before the water is distributed to 

people." 

BAT Bangladesh uses the SIDKO filtration 

unit, a government-approved communitybased 

technology for this project, it said 

adding, "The filtration plants purify 

approximately 350,000 litres of drinking 

water, bringing smiles to 175,000 people 

every day." 

2 held at Dhaka 

airport with gold 

bars at rectums 

DHAKA : Customs 

Intelligence and 

Investigation Directorate 

(CIID) members detained 

two passengers and 

recovered five gold bars 

weighing around 500 

grams from their rectums 

at Hazrat Shahjalal 

International Airport on 

Wednesday, reports UNB. 

Based on specific 

information, a CIID team 

challenged two passengers- 

Shamim Ahmed and Abdul 

Awal-when they were 

about to leave the airport 

through the green channel 

of the customs hall after 

they landed at the airport 

by a Malinda Air flight 

from Malaysia around 12 

noon, said CIID sources. 

During preliminary 

interrogation, the duo 

denied carrying any illegal 

goods. 

However, in the face of 

strict grilling, they 

confessed at one stage that 

they were carrying gold 

bullion inside their 

rectums, said CIID 

Director General Dr Md 

Shahidul Islam. 

Finally, the team 

recovered five gold bars 

from their rectums 

applying a special 

technique, he said, adding 

that legal steps were taken 

against the detainees. 

BNP men form human 

chain protesting 

Khaleda's jailing 

DHAKA : As part of its countrywide 

scheduled programme, BNP leaders and 

activists formed a human chain in the city on 

Wednesday protesting the conviction of its 

chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia Charitable 

Trust graft case, reports UNB. 

Several hundred BNP leaders and 

followers formed the human chain around 

11:00 am in front of Jatiya Press Club amid 

tight security. 

They chanted different slogans demanding 

the release of their leader Khaleda Zia 

immediately. 

BNP senior leaders including its secretary 

general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is 

scheduled to address the programme which 

will be ended at noon. 

Police cordoned off the protesters to fend 

off any trouble. 

All metropolitan city and district units of 

the party are also scheduled to observe the 

programmes at their convenient time and 

places. 

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul 

Kabir Rizvi on Monday announced a threeday 

countrywide programme including the 

human chain protesting the conviction of its 

chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia 


As part of the programmes, the party will 

also observe a token mass-hunger strike on 

Thursday in all metropolitan cities and 

district towns. 

On Monday, a Dhaka court sentenced BNP 

chairperson Khaleda Zia and three others to 

seven years' rigorous imprisonment each in 

the much-talked-about Zia Charitable Trust 

corruption case. 

National Youth day 

Thursday 

DHAKA : The National 

Youth Day will be observed 

across the country on 

Thursday in a befitting 

manner, reports UNB. 

The theme of this year is - 

"Youth awaken to build 

Bangladesh, 

Banghabandhu's 

Bangladesh". 

Different government 

and non-government 

organizations have taken 

elaborate programmes to 

mark the day. 

A programme arranged 

by the Youth and Sports 

Ministry will be held at 

Banghabandhu 

International Conference 

Centre (BICC). Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina is 

expected to inaugurate the 

programme as the chief 

guest. 

President Abdul Hamid 

and Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina issued separate 

messages marking the 

day.. 

In a message President 

Abdul Hamid said, 

Knowledge-oriented, 

skilled and ideal youth 

society is backbone of the 

nation. Their position will 

be against drugs, terrorism 

and militancy. To build the 

country as Sonar Bangla, 

the youths need to keep 

patriotism, dutifulness and 

affection towards people of 

the country awake." 

In a message on the eve 

of the day, Prime Minister 

said, "We are working to 

turn Bangladesh a middle 

income country during the 

golden jubilee of the 

independence in 2021 and 

a developed country by 

2041. There is no 

alternative to build the 

youth force as skilled in 

modern technology for 

achieving the goal. The 

youths are main force to 

establish a digital, 

knowledge-based and 

peaceful society." 

She hoped that the 

youths will contribute to 

build Sonar Bangla , the 

dream of Father of the 

Nation Banghabandhu 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, 

through highest utilization 

of their talent and vigor. 

Sending 

workers to 

Malaysia 

begins soon 

DHAKA : Sending 

Bangladeshi workers to 

Malaysia will begin soon as 

the two governments have 

agreed to open the process for 

all the recruiting agencies 

breaking previous syndicate 

system. 

"We have held the second 

working committee meeting 

today. The main goal of the 

meeting was to send workers 

to Malaysia as soon as 

possible. We both the parties 

are working to take a realistic 

decision to this end," 

Expatriates' Welfare and 

Overseas Employment 

Secretary Rownaq Jahan told 

newsmen yesterday after the 

meeting. 

"There will be no more 

syndicate system and from 

now on all recruiting agencies 

can send workers to Malaysia. 

We have made the process 

open for all," she added. 

The secretary said the two 

governments have arrived at a 

consensus on bringing down 

the cost of sending workers 

and launching a unified 

system. 

Show on marine 

wildlife begins 

Thursday at BSA 

DHAKA : A five-day-long 

interactive exhibition 

focusing marine wildlife 

'Healthy Ocean, Healthy 

People' will begin at 

Bangladesh Shilpakala 

Academy (BSA) here on 

Thursday, reports UNB. 

The 

Wildlife 

Conservation Society 

Bangladesh (WCS) will 

organise the first-of-itskind 

interactive exhibition 

aiming to exhibit about 

marine wildlife in the Bay 

of Bengal and Bangladesh's 

efforts to conserve them. 

Cultural Affairs Minister 

Asaduzzaman Noor will 

attend in the inaugural 

ceremony as the chief guest 

while 

country 

representative of WCS 

Bangladesh Dr Zahangir 

Alam will preside over the 

session. 

Organisers said that 

visitors can explore the 

amazing diversity of 

dolphins, whales, sharks 

and other Ocean Giants in 

Bangladesh's marine 

waters and to discover why 

the survival of these 

threatened Ocean Giants in 

the Bay of Bengal is critical 

to the continued growth 

and well-being of our 

nation. 

They also said their 

exhibition will combine 

life-size animal models, 

games, a documentary 

movie, captivating 

photographs and 

fascinating facts in 

attractive displays. 

A premiere of short 

documentary film on 

Marine conservation in 

Bangladesh by Helal Sujon 

commissioned by BCAS 

Bangladesh will be 

screened in the opening 

ceremony. 

The exhibition is open to 

all from November 1 to 5 

from 11 am to 8 pm. 

Huawei 

campaign 

winners 

meet with 

Shakib 

DHAKA : The winners of 

'Play with Shakib' campaign 

launched by leading 

technology and smartphone 

manufacturing company 

Huawei, met and played 

with all-rounder cricketer 

Shakib Al Hasan on 

Tuesday, reports UNB. 

The event was held at NDE 

Sports Facility in 

Bashundhara residential 

area where the campaign 

that started during Eid ul- 

Fitr this year, also 

concluded. 

Kelvin Yang, Country 

Director of Huawei 

Consumer Business Group 

in Bangladesh, said "We 

have more to deliver than 

simply providing quality 

handsets to our valued 

customers, which is 

developing a sustainable 

relation with them." 

"That is why we gifted our 

selected customers some 

memories which they would 

love to cherish", he added. 

Former Secretary and President of Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Golam Rahman 

addressing at the inaugureal ceremony of' Consumer Complaint Center: Call Center' and online portal 

Voktakantha held today at Daffodil International Univwersity. 

Photo : Courtesy 

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain seen at 

the 71st meeting of board of directors of Bangladesh Palli Unnayan Academy, Comilla. Photo : Courtsy 

DU publishes students' database to 

prepare voter list of DUCSU poll 

DHAKA : The Dhaka 

University (DU) authorities 

yesterday published the Hallwise 

draft list of regular 

students for preparing the 

final voter-list for the 

upcoming Dhaka University 

Central Students' Union 

(DUCSU) and Hall Union 

Elections. 

DU Vice-Chancellor (VC) 

Prof Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman 

formally inaugurated the 

students' database at 

Professor Abdul Matin 

Chowdhury Virtual Classroom 

adjacent to the VC's office. 

DU Pro-VC (Academic) 

Professor Dr Nasreen Ahmad, 

Pro-VC (Administration) 

Professor Dr Muhammad 

Samad, Proctor AKM Golam 

Rabbani, DU Teachers' 

Association president Prof 

ASM Maksud Kamal, Provosts 

of the residential halls, among 

others, were present at the 

function. 

While addressing the 

programme, 

VC 

Akhtaruzzaman said, "We 

have prepared the database of 

38,493 students under 18 halls 

of the university. Primarily, 

there are 23,984 male 

students and 14,509 female 

students. The final voter list of 

DUCSU polls will be prepared 

from the database." 

This draft voter list will be 

available in the websiteducsu.du.ac.bd. 

For any 

correction, students are 

directed to apply in writing to 

their respective Hall Provost 

office by November 30, 2018. 

A hard copy of the voter list is 

also available at the Hall 

offices. 

Earlier on September 15, 

after a meeting with several 

student organizations DU VC 

Akhtaruzzaman at a briefing 

said that the DUCSU polls 

might be held by March 2019. 

In this regard, the VC said, 

"We are working step by step 

to hold the DUCSU poll 

according to the constitutional 

rules of DUCSU". 

The last DUCSU and hall 

union polls were held in 1990. 

8-month ban on 'jatka' 

catching starts Nov 1 

BAGERHAT : An eightmonth-long 

countrywide ban 

on catching, selling, hoarding 

and transporting 'jatka' (hilsa 

fry less than 25 centimetres in 

length) will begin on 

Thursday aiming to increase 

production, reports UNB. 

District and divisional 

fishery officers said the 

authorities imposed the 22- 

day ban on catching hilsa fry 

from November 1 to June 30 

across 7,000 square kms of 

coastal, estuarial and riverine 

areas to ensure free breeding 

of the popular fish. 

During the period, the 

government will provide 

assistance to the fishermen, 

they said. Dr Anisur Rahman, 

the chief scientific officer of 

Chandpur Fisheries Research 

Institute said the hilsa 

mothers have already started 

to move towards the coastal 

areas for laying eggs. A Hilsa 

can lay 21 lakh eggs. 

Zia Haider, a Fisheries 

officer of Bagerhat zone, said 

if the ban will be followed 

strictly, at least five lakh 

metric tons of hilsa 

production is possible in the 

next season. The government 

will provide 40 kgs of rice to 

the fishermen per head in 

each month during the ban, 

he said. 

According to the fisheries 

department, there are 16-20 

lakh registered fishermen in 

the country and of them, 

39,103 are in the district, he 

said. Following the 

government move to increase 

hilsa production, some 4.96 

lakh metric tons of hilsa was 

produced in the fiscal year 

2016-2017 while it increases 

to 5.9 lakh in the fiscal year 

2017-2018, he added. 

Rafiqul Islam and Abu 

Taleb, two fishermen of 

Sharankhola uapzila, said the 

government should have to 

provide food to those 

fishermen who will refrain 

from catching fish during the 

ban.

EDITORIAL 

THUrSDAY, 

nOVeMBer 1, 2018 

4 

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam 

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

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com 

Thursday, November 1, 2018 

Widening economic 

opportunities for 

women 

The last available population data on 

Bangladesh puts the number of males 

in the population at 69.1 per cent and 

females at 65.7 per cent. Thus, the 

population is divided almost half and half 

between males and females. This knowledge 

should be sufficient to indicate why selective 

efforts are necessary to integrate the nearly 

half of the female population of the country 

to the job market to boost the GDP and raise 

income. 

Keeping the women restricted to only 

unpaid household activities means a huge 

denial of their work output to the national 

economy that could otherwise substantially 

raise the country's total GDP and hence per 

capita GDP leading to a positive change in 

the poverty situation. 

But females continue to be exploited in 

Bangladesh , generally, from 

discriminations at work places . A report 

sometime ago quoted an International 

LabourOrganisation (ILO) report that a 

typical female factory worker earns on 

average 21 per cent less than her male 

counterpart in Bangladesh. The report 

then went on to say that work place 

discrimination is seen more at menial jobs 

than at higher paying white collar jobs 

requiring higher education and expertise. 

But the menial female workers are far 

greater in number than the office workers 

and more and more females are breaking 

traditional restrictions and seeking and 

getting jobs that even include hard ones such 

as brick breaking, assisting in construction 

works, etc. They are joining the labour force 

from both a desire to supplement their 

income to take care of themselves as well as 

their families. Female work outside the 

homes in poor families can mean invaluable 

supports in contributing towards the family's 

food budget, rents, child rearing and other 

costs. 

Thus, it is very undesirable and a case of 

gross inequity if they are paid notably lesser 

amounts for works which are the same done 

by their male co-workers. If there are is no 

legislation to prevent such work-place 

discrimination, then the same needs to be 

introduced at the earliest. Not only the 

introduction of such a law , its enforcement 

at all levels will hold the key to its success. 

Even publicities are required to make the 

employers conscious of their duty and 

obligation to pay the female workers equally 

for the same type and amount of works done 

by male workers. 

The position of women, their expected 

contribution to the national economy, 

their desirable social and family roles, all 

of these things and more need to change 

under clear cut policies formed to that end 

and pursued sincerely. It must be realized 

that there are formidable social and so 

called religious barriers to be overcome for 

women to get their due and make a far 

bigger contribution to the economy. The 

traditional view in Bangladesh society is 

that the best place for a woman is within 

the confines of her home. 

This is an antithesis of the functioning of a 

modern economy that invites paid work in 

different sectors of the economy by both 

males and females to maximise production, 

income and consumption. But untenable 

cultural and religious traditions still tend to 

discourage females from working outside 

their homes in this country. Then, there is 

the tendency to marry off girls in their teens 

specially among the poor that destroy their 

aspirations for education and 

unemployment by imposing on them early 

motherhood and household chores. Thus, 

these socio-cultural hurdles to females 

coming into the mainstream of employment 

in the country need to be crossed with the 

building of widespread social awareness and 

formation and execution of appropriate 

governmental policies. 

Patients’ rights at private medical facilities 

The health care sector is one of the 

most important sectors in any 

country, as it sees society interact 

and benefit from its services without any 

exception. Many people turn to private 

medical institutions for higher-quality 

services and shorter waiting times than 

public facilities. 

With the expansion and spread of 

private medical institutions, 

newspapers and social media are 

constantly whimpering about the 

exploitation by some of these facilities of 

patients who are in dire need of medical 

services. I definitely believe that 

frequent complaints and random 

defamation of this exploitation will not 

lead to the expected outcomes if patients 

do not know their rights at private 

health facilities. For this reason, today 

we will be addressing the most 

important rights guaranteed by the 

Ministry of Health to beneficiaries of 

private medical services. 

Initially, charging the patient for the 

opening of a file at a hospital or private 

clinic is a clear violation and must be 

reported immediately to the Ministry of 

Health. 

The health institution must also 

provide the patient with sufficient 

information to enable him or her to give 

permission to proceed with the 

proposed treatment. This includes, of 

course, enabling the patient to discuss 

the care and services they will receive. 

When it comes to relations among 

Donald Trump's America, 

Vladimir Putin's Russia and Xi 

Jinping's China, observers everywhere 

are starting to talk about a return to an alltoo-familiar 

past. 

"Now we have a new Cold War," 

commented Russia expert Peter 

Felgenhauer in Moscow after President 

Trump recently announced plans to 

withdraw from the Intermediate-Range 

Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The Trump 

administration is "launching a new Cold 

War," said historian Walter Russell Mead 

in The Wall Street Journal, after a series 

of anti-Chinese measures approved by 

the US president in October. And many 

others are already chiming in. 

Recent steps by leaders in Washington, 

Moscow and Beijing may seem to lend 

credence to such a "new Cold War" 

narrative, but in this case history is no 

guide. Almost two decades into the 21st 

century, what we face is not some mildly 

updated replica of last century's Cold 

War, but a new and potentially even more 

dangerous global predicament. 

The original Cold War, which lasted 

from the late 1940s until the collapse of 

the Soviet Union in 1991, posed a colossal 

risk of thermonuclear annihilation. At 

least after the Cuban missile crisis of 

1962, however, it also proved a 

remarkably stable situation in which, 

despite local conflicts of many sorts, the 

United States and the Soviet Union both 

sought to avoid the kinds of direct 

confrontations that might have triggered 

a mutual catastrophe.In fact, after 

confronting the abyss in 1962, the leaders 

DIMAH TAlAl AlSHArIf 

Also, the patient must be informed by 

appropriate and explicit means of the 

impact of a refusal to undergo treatment 

on their condition and its complications. 

In addition, the patient has the right to 

be made aware of the expected costs 

before starting the treatment through a 

clear and accurate report, which 

includes the value of each service, with 

the right to inquire about any point that 

may not be understood. The proper 

exercise of such rights will greatly 

contribute to the patient's involvement 

in the therapeutic plan, which is another 

right and explicit commitment by the 

doctor. 

Furthermore, the patient has the right 

to obtain information and sufficient 

reasons that indicate the need for 

of both superpowers engaged in a 

complex series of negotiations leading to 

substantial reductions in their nuclear 

arsenals and agreements intended to 

reduce the risk of a future Armageddon. 

What others are now calling the New 

Cold War - but I prefer to think of as a 

new global tinderbox - bears only the 

most minimal resemblance to that earlier 

period. As before, the United States and 

its rivals are engaged in an accelerating 

arms race, focused on nuclear and 

"conventional" weaponry of everincreasing 

range, precision and lethality. 

All three countries, in characteristic Cold 

War fashion, are also lining up allies in 

what increasingly looks like a global 

power struggle. 

ut the similarities end there. Among the 

differences, the first couldn't be more 

obvious: the US now faces two 

determined adversaries, not one, and a 

far more complex global conflict map 

(with a corresponding increase in 

potential nuclear flashpoints). At the 

same time, the old boundaries between 

MICHAel KlAre 

JAreD BernSTeIn 

specific diagnostic investigations to 

avoid any exploitation by the 

institutions with medical procedures 

that are essentially unnecessary. 

For this reason, I strongly suggest 

establishing permanent and impartial 

committees to monitor and review 

patients' files at various institutions to 

determine the extent to which the 

patients need to undergo diagnostic 

tests. Such committees will contribute to 

reducing the excessive demand for tests 

under the pretext of checking and 

reassuring the patient's condition. 

In the event of an emergency and 

regardless of the patient's ability to bear 

the financial burden of treatment, the 

facility is obliged to provide emergency 

treatment immediately, without any 

"peace" and "war" are rapidly 

disappearing as all three rivals engage in 

what could be thought of as combat by 

other means, including trade wars and 

cyberattacks that might set the stage for 

far greater violence to follow. 

To compound the danger, all three big 

powers are now engaging in provocative 

acts aimed at 'demonstrating resolve' or 

intimidating rivals, including menacing 

US and Chinese naval maneuvers off 

Chinese-occupied islands in the South 

China Sea 

To compound the danger, all three big 

powers are now engaging in provocative 

acts aimed at "demonstrating resolve" or 

intimidating rivals, including menacing 

US and Chinese naval maneuvers off 

Chinese-occupied islands in the South 

China Sea. 

Meanwhile, rather than pursue the sort 

of arms-control agreements that 

tempered Cold War hostilities, the US 

and Russia appear intent on tearing up 

existing accords and launching a new 

nuclear arms race. 

delay, until the medical condition 

stabilizes. This right is linked to the duty 

of the doctor to provide the required 

emergency care. 

As for medical reports, the patient is 

entitled to receive them free of charge - 

including sick leave reports. 

Moreover, it is prohibited for the 

medical institution to require the patient 

to go to a particular pharmacy to get 

prescriptions or a specific laboratory to 

undergo tests or check-ups. The system 

ensures patients' freedom to choose the 

pharmacy or laboratory they wish to 

use. This right addresses and confronts 

the illegal interests and benefits shared 

between some private hospitals and 

certain pharmacies and laboratories. 

Intensifying the supervision of private 

medical facilities and issuing 

appropriate penalties to deter offenders 

is required, and should be 

supplemented by patients knowing their 

rights. Private medical institutions must 

also activate these rights through the 

proper development and modernization 

of their systems, regulations and 

internal policies, especially in light of the 

allocation of health services and 

partnership between the public and 

private sectors in accordance with the 

national transformation plans that we 

are currently witnessing. 

Source : Arab news 

The new global tinderbox: It’s not your mother’s Cold War 

Aweek out from a critically 

important United States midterm 

election, I'm struck by the role that 

fear has played in getting us to this 

moment.Diagnosing how fear became 

such a powerful political force is tricky 

because the minute you point fingers, 

you trigger precisely the divisive fight 

that keeps America stuck in this dark 

hole. This leads some to try to ascribe 

blame to both sides, but that's often just 

a thin tactic to try to sound balanced. 

In fact, over the past two years, US 

President Donald Trump's strategy has 

become transparent: Get the potentially 

politically powerful working-class to fear 

each other. 

As long as groups whose political 

alignment could seriously improve, their 

lot are at each other's throats, the 

political machine can quietly go about its 

business. 

The accompanying media strategy is 

equally key to the success of the agenda: 

Keep the actual policies off the front 

pages, and when they show up there, 

discredit them. Keep the fearmongering 

part on the front pages.Adam Serwer, 

writing in the Atlantic, correctly 

describes this powerful strategy: "Trump 

considers the media 'the enemy of the 

people' only when it successfully 

undermines his falsehoods; at all other 

times, it is a force multiplier, obeying his 

attempts to shift topics of conversation 

from substantive policy matters to racial 

scaremongering." You could hope 

members of Trump's party might care 

about the future enough to mediate the 

damage, but their political cowardice of 

In addition, the patient has the right to be 

made aware of the expected costs before 

starting the treatment through a clear and 

accurate report, which includes the value of 

each service, with the right to inquire about 

any point that may not be understood. The 

proper exercise of such rights will greatly 

contribute to the patient's involvement in the 

therapeutic plan, which is another right and 

explicit commitment by the doctor. 

The original Cold War, which lasted from the late 1940s 

until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, posed a 

colossal risk of thermonuclear annihilation. At least after 

the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, however, it also proved a 

remarkably stable situation in which, despite local conflicts 

of many sorts, the United States and the Soviet Union both 

sought to avoid the kinds of direct confrontations that 

might have triggered a mutual catastrophe. 

A referendum on America’s future 

standing up to Trump and their 

allegiance to the tax cut/deregulation 

agenda renders them hopeless. 

This all sounds awfully cynical, and it 

is, but if that's all it was, it wouldn't be so 

effective. A key element of Trump's 

endless fear campaign is making a group 

with a disproportionate electoral power 

(thanks to both Senate apportionment 

and the electoral college) - older, nonurban, 

white voters in swing, rust-belt 

states - feel like they're finally being 

heard. This empathetic embrace not only 

includes acceptance and validation of 

their fears and prejudices. It also targets 

establishment politicians as dismissing 

these voters' concerns and giving jobs 

and incomes that they believe should be 

theirs to immigrants and people of 

colour. 

Some readers may cringe at the claim 

of Trump's empathy with this group, but 

to do so may well be to discount what 

may be his only genuine, heartfelt 

sensibility. He connects with his base 

because he too has been (and is even 

more so now) looked down upon by 

elites who discredit his intelligence, 

wealth and ability. He's not just riling up 

his base at those rallies; he's sharing their 

anger at being viewed as "deplorable". 

It's an incredibly effective strategy. 

Fear of immigrants, "the caravan" 

embedded with "Middle-Easterners", 

people of colour, Muslims, the 

government, 

"globalists", 

environmentalists, and so on, is, under 

economic conditions that prevail today 

Some readers may cringe at the claim of Trump's 

empathy with this group, but to do so may well be to 

discount what may be his only genuine, heartfelt 

sensibility. He connects with his base because he too has 

been (and is even more so now) looked down upon by 

elites who discredit his intelligence, wealth and ability. 

He's not just riling up his base at those rallies; he's 

sharing their anger at being viewed as "deplorable". 

(economic insecurity in a period of global 

and technological change), political 

rocket fuel. But it has two fundamental 

problems, two flaws in its DNA that 

ultimately destroy its host, two unstable 

ingredients that render its powerful fuel 

combustible. First, it is politically nonrepresentative, 

and second, it is model 

for seizing power, not for governing. 

Regarding governing, those in power 

These factors could already be steering 

the world ever closer to a new Cuban 

missile crisis, when the world came 

within a hairsbreadth of nuclear 

incineration. This one, however, could 

start in the South China Sea or even in the 

Baltic region, where US and Russian 

planes and ships are similarly engaged in 

regular near-collisions. 

Why are such dangers so rapidly 

ramping up? To answer this, it's worth 

exploring the factors that distinguish this 

moment from the original Cold War era. 

It's a tripolar world, baby 

In the original Cold War, the bipolar 

struggle between Moscow and 

Washington - the last two superpowers 

left on planet Earth after centuries of 

imperial rivalry - seemed to determine 

everything that occurred on the world 

stage. This, of course, entailed great 

danger, but also enabled leaders on each 

side to adopt a common understanding of 

the need for nuclear restraint in the 

interest of mutual survival. 

The bipolar world of the Cold War was 

followed by what many observers saw as a 

"unipolar moment," in which the United 

States, the "last superpower," dominated 

the world stage. During this period, which 

lasted from the collapse of the Soviet Union 

to the Russian annexation of Crimea in 

2014, Washington largely set the global 

agenda and, when minor challengers arose 

- think Iraq's Saddam Hussein - employed 

overwhelming military power to crush 

them. 

Source : Asia times 

haven't a clue as to what to do about 

health care, education, climate change, 

infrastructure, poverty, inequality, 

retirement security, housing, trade, 

geopolitics, or any other of the challenges 

for which complex societies need 

functioning, amply funded governments. 

They only know how to use fear to stay in 

power, and how to use that power to 

redistribute wealth upwards. 

As for representation, even when you 

combine them, Trump's base voters and 

the high-end beneficiaries of the 

Republican agenda are a minority of the 

electorate (here again, structural aspects 

of America's antiquated system reinforce 

this problem). The rest of us are getting 

increasingly angry about the extent to 

which national politics fails to represent 

Americans. After the Judge Kavanaugh 

debacle, I asked whether US politics still 

had the capacity to self-correct this flaw. 

The most recent incidents of domestic 

terror and murderous hate crimes only 

increase the urgency of that question. 

Before the current dystopia set in, I had 

worked in the previous US 

administration, but until I sat down to 

write this op-ed, even I - perhaps because 

of my privileged position as a white man 

- didn't fully understand the meaning of 

"the audacity of hope". As I read that 

phrase today, it speaks to the audacious, 

if not ahistorical, hope that the power of 

unifying with others based on our 

commonalities will be strong enough to 

block the fearmongers from exploiting 

our differences. 

Source : Gulf news

HEALTH 

THURSDAy, 

novEmBER 1, 2018 

5 

Height may affect cancer risk 

The unstated goal of most company-sponsored studies is to increase the bottom line. 

Photo: Gracia Lam 

Confused by nutrition research 

Health desk 

Tall people are at a greater 

risk of cancer because of 

having more cells in their 

body, new research has 

found. A person's risk of 

developing cancer increases 

by 10% for every 10 

centimeters they are over the 

average height, the study 

said, because they have 

more cells which could 

mutate and lead to cancer. 

Average height was 

defined in the study as 

162cm (5 feet, 4 inches) for 

women and 175cm (5 feet, 9 

inches) for men. The 

findings match with 

previous research, which has 

also connected height to an 

increased risk of developing 

a range of health problems 

including blood clots, heart 

problems and diabetes. 

Leonard Nunney, a 

professor of biology at the 

University of California 

Riverside, analyzed previous 

sets of data on people who 

had contracted cancer - each 

of which included more than 

10,000 cases for both men 

and women - and compared 

the figures with anticipated 

rates based on their height. 

He tested the hypothesis 

that this was due to the 

number of cells against 

alternatives, such as possible 

hormonal differences in 

taller people, which could 

lead to an increased rate of 

cell division. 

A link was found between 

a person's total cell number 

and their likelihood of 

contracting cancer in 18 of 

the 23 cancers tested for, the 

study says. 

The research also found 

that the increase in risk is 

greater for women, with 

taller women 12% more 

likely to contract cancer and 

taller men 9% more likely to 

do so. Those findings 

matched with Nunney's 

predicted rates, using his 

models, of 13% for women 

and 11% for men. 

"We've known that there is 

a link between cancer risk 

and height for quite a long 

time - the taller someone is, 

the higher the cancer risk," 

Georgina Hill from Cancer 

Research UK told to a 

prominent media house. 

Does your height hinder heart health? 

Photo: Collected 

Jane E. Brody 

Confused about what to eat and drink to 

protect your health? I'm not surprised. 

For example, after decades of researchsupported 

dietary advice to reduce 

saturated fats to minimize the risk of 

heart disease and stroke, along comes a 

new observational study of 136,384 

people in 21 countries linking 

consumption of full-fat (read saturated) 

dairy foods to a lower risk of death from 

cardiovascular disease. 

But without dissecting each study 

included in this meta-analysis, it is not 

possible to say what might be behind 

this surprising result and whether you 

should now resume putting cream in 

your coffee and whole milk in your 

cereal bowl. The study may simply 

mean that consuming the equivalent of 

three servings of dairy products a day is 

healthful, not saturated fat per se. 

Caution is in order, especially since 

another new study, this one a randomly 

assigned clinical trial, found that three 

weeks on a diet rich in saturated fat 

caused liver fat and insulin resistance to 

rise far higher than diets high in sugar 

or unsaturated fat. Or maybe you 

bought into the hype about 

pomegranate juice as an antioxidant 

superfood, only to learn from an 

illuminating new book that the healthpromoting 

evidence for this expensive 

fruit drink derives mainly from $20 

million of company-sponsored 

research. 

In the book, "Unsavory Truth: How 

Food Companies Skew the Science of 

What We Eat," Marion Nestle, emerita 

professor of nutrition, food studies and 

public health at New York University, 

points out that "pomegranates might 

have high antioxidant activity," then 

asks "compared to what?" Are they 

more healthful than (much cheaper) 

grapes?Here's how the company POM 

Wonderful responded to Dr. Nestle's 

challenge: "Comparing the health 

benefits of our product to other juices is 

not a key objective of our extensive 

research program." To which I would 

ask, "If you're selling 'health,' why 

wouldn't it be?" 

The answer, as Dr. Nestle's extensive 

research shows, is that the unstated goal 

of most company-sponsored studies is 

to increase the bottom line. "It's 

marketing research, not science," she 

said in an interview. It matters not 

whether the food in question is 

considered healthy, like wild 

blueberries and avocados, or it's laden 

with health-robbing calories from fats, 

sugars and refined starches. 

Noting that nutrition research, 

especially that funded by industry, 

"requires careful interpretation," she 

suggests an approach that all 

consumers would be wise to follow: 

"Whenever I see studies claiming 

benefits for a single food, I want to know 

three things: whether the results are 

biologically plausible; whether the study 

controlled for other dietary, behavioral, 

or lifestyle factors that could have 

influenced its result; and who 

sponsored it." Consider the studies 

sponsored by the soft-drink industry, in 

which Coca-Cola has led an effort to 

undermine the contribution of sugarladen 

carbonated water to the nation's 

obesity epidemic. For example, the 

company funded a study of childhood 

obesity that, without looking for a 

possible link between overweight and 

sugary soft drinks, concluded that low 

physical activity, inadequate sleep and 

lots of television watching were most 

important. 

To make such conclusions appear 

valid, Coca-Cola enlisted the 

participation of university-based 

scientists all of whom stood, directly or 

indirectly, to profit financially from 

their association with the research. 

The "who sponsored it" issue forms 

the crux of Dr. Nestle's book. It is a 

critically important question to ask, not 

just with regard to foods, but also for 

drugs, supplements, exercise regimens, 

skin creams, mattresses and any other 

product or service that may - or may not 

- impact the health of consumers. 

Increasingly, actual or potential 

conflicts of interests - factors that can 

consciously or subconsciously influence 

the outcomes of research - are being 

brought to public attention. In 

September, the director of clinical 

research at the prestigious Memorial 

Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 

relinquished his post after failing to 

disclose the millions of dollars he 

received from pharmaceutical 

companies whose drugs he studied. An 

investigation revealed that he had put a 

positive spin on results that other 

researchers found wanting. In 

September, a piece in the Upshot 

section of The New York Times 

described yet another type of conflict 

prominent in the reporting of drug 

trials: What studies get published (most 

negative findings never see the light. 

How to get up early and feel fantastic 

Linda Geddes 

Do you wake up to the sound 

of birdsong or an electronic 

ringtone? Perhaps you use a 

dawn simulator or an app 

that won't stop beeping until 

you have walked at least 100 

paces. It is increasingly 

unlikely that you groggily 

grope for the stop button on a 

traditional alarm clock. 

According to John Lewis, 

alarm clock sales are down 

16% on 2017. Instead, many 

people are relying on phone 

alarms or dawn simulators, 

which claim to more gently 

rouse you from slumber. 

Now the clocks have gone 

back and the days are 

shortening, it may seem 

harder than ever to get out of 

bed. So, what is the best way 

to wake up? 

There is nothing wrong 

with using your phone alarm 

- unless its other functions 

are interfering with your 

sleep. Several studies have 

indicated that greater phone 

use, particularly in the runup 

to bedtime, results in 

worse quality sleep. The main 

reason is the light from 

screens altering the timing of 

the brain's master clock, a 

cluster of cells that dictates 

the timing of all the other 

biological clocks in the body. 

Exposure to bright or blueenriched 

light at night shifts 

its timing later, which means 

we feel tired later and our 

bodies are still in sleep mode 

when it is time to get up in the 

morning. Light also has a 

Learn to embrace the new day. Photo: Collected 

direct alerting effect on the 

brain, which makes it harder 

to fall asleep. 

If you do sleep with your 

phone, set it to night mode to 

filter out blue light and adjust 

the brightness setting to dim. 

Nick Littlehales, an elite 

sports sleep coach and the 

author of the book Sleep, says 

you should also switch it to 

silent and rest it on a soft 

surface to dampen any 

vibrations from incoming 

alerts. In an ideal world, we 

wouldn't need alarm clocks; 

we would simply go to bed 

when we felt tired and sleep 

until we were ready to wake 

up. However, the ubiquity of 

artificial light after dusk 

means that relying on when 

we feel sleepy to dictate our 

bedtimes isn't very helpful. 

Our natural sleep rhythm has 

shifted later, yet most of us 

must wake up at a prescribed 

time to go to work or school, 

meaning our sleep is cut 

short. It also means that we 

often wake up when our 

bodies think it is still nighttime, 

which increases feelings 

of "sleep inertia" - the 

grogginess you experience 

immediately upon waking. 

US researchers showed that 

when people were sent on a 

camping trip and denied 

access to their electronic 

gadgets, their circadian 

rhythms shifted about two 

hours earlier, which meant 

they felt sleepier earlier and 

got more sleep. That depends 

on your chronotype - your 

natural sleep-timing 

preference - which is 

hardwired in your genes. "It 

is not a choice and it is very 

difficult to change," says 

Matthew Walker, a professor 

of neuroscience at the 

University of California, 

Berkeley, and the author of 

Why We Sleep. Some people 

are larks and predisposed to 

wake up early, others are late 

types who naturally sleep in; 

most of us lie somewhere in 

between. However, even 

night owls can become a little 

more lark-like if they reduce 

their exposure to light at 

night and seek out bright 

light from the moment they 

wake up, which pushes the 

master clock earlier. These 

innate sleep preferences also 

vary with age. Teenagers' 

sleep timing typically shifts 

about two hours later, while 

as we get older, we become 

progressively more lark-like. 

More important than when 

you prefer to get up is 

consistency in the timing of 

your sleep. If you go to bed 

and wake up later at 

weekends, you are effectively 

giving yourself jet lag - and 

when your alarm clock wakes 

you at 7am on Monday, your 

body will still think it's nighttime. 

"The most important 

advice I can give people who 

are struggling with sleep, or 

want to get good-quality 

sleep, is to keep it regular," 

says Walker. 

Yes, provided you go to 

sleep at about the same time 

every night and wake at the 

same time each morning, 

says Lisa Artis, an adviser for 

the Sleep Council. "Your 

internal body clock will 

strengthen and you will start 

to wake naturally at a time 

that suits you. However, if not 

setting an alarm is going to 

make you anxious about 

sleeping in and missing a 

train or an important 

meeting, you should set the 

alarm," she adds. "Otherwise, 

you will spend most of your 

time in bed worrying you 

won't get enough sleep." 

Much of this research has 

been in the context of 

emergency situations, such as 

waking from house fires. A 

study published last week 

found that children were 

three times more likely to 

wake up if they heard their 

mother's voice compared 

with a high-pitched smoke 

alarm, and they also woke up 

faster. 

The problem with probiotics 

Aaron E. Carroll 

Even before the microbiome craze - the hope that the 

bacteria in your gut holds the key to good health - people 

were ingesting cultures of living micro-organisms to 

treat a host of conditions. These probiotics have become 

so popular that they're being marketed in foods, 

capsules and even beauty products. 

Probiotics have the potential to improve health, 

including by displacing potentially harmful bugs. The 

trouble is that the proven benefits involve a very small 

number of conditions, and probiotics are regulated less 

tightly than drugs. They don't need to be proved 

effective to be marketed, and the quality control can be 

lax. 

In a recent article in JAMA Internal Medicine, Pieter 

Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard 

Medical School, urges us to consider the harms as well 

as the benefits. Among immune-compromised 

individuals, for instance, probiotics can lead to 

infections. 

Consumers can't always count on what they're getting. 

From 2016 to 2017, the Food and Drug Administration 

inspected more than 650 facilities that produce dietary 

supplements, and determined that more than 50 

percent of them had violations. These included issues 

with the purity, strength and even the identity of the 

promised product. 

Probiotic supplements have also been found to be 

contaminated with organisms that are not supposed to 

be there. In 2014, such a supplement's contamination 

arguably caused the death of an infant. 

Given all of this, what are the benefits? The most 

obvious use of probiotics would be in the treatment of 

gastrointestinal disorders, given that they are focused on 

gut health. There have been many studies in this 

domain, so many that early this year the journal 

Nutrition published a systematic review of systematic 

reviews on the subject. 

The takeaway: Certain strains were found useful in 

preventing diarrhea among children being prescribed 

antibiotics. A 2013 review showed that after antibiotic 

use, probiotics help prevent Clostridium difficileassociated 

diarrhea. A review focused on acute 

infectious diarrhea found a benefit, again for certain 

strains of bacteria at controlled doses. There's also 

evidence that they may help prevent necrotizing 

enterocolitis (a serious gastrointestinal condition) and 

death in preterm infants. Those somewhat promising 

results - for very specific uses of very specific strains of 

bacteria in very specific instances - are just about all the 

"positive" results you can find. 

Many wondered whether probiotics could be 

therapeutic in other gastrointestinal disorders. 

Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case. 

Probiotics didn't show a significant benefit for chronic 

diarrhea. Three reviews looked at how probiotics might 

improve Crohn's disease, and none could find sufficient 

evidence to recommend their use. Four more reviews 

looked at ulcerative colitis, and similarly declared that 

we don't have the data to show that they work. The same 

was true for the treatment of liver disease. 

Undaunted, researchers looked into whether 

probiotics might be beneficial in a host of disorders, 

even when the connection to gut health and the 

microbiome was tenuous. Reviews show that there is 

insufficient evidence to recommend their use to treat or 

prevent eczema, preterm labor, gestational diabetes, 

bacterial vaginosis, allergic diseases or urinary tract 

infections. 

Reviews looking at the treatment or prevention of 

vulvovaginal candidiasis in women, pneumonia in 

patients hooked up to respirators, and colds in 

otherwise healthy people show some positive results. 

But the authors note that the studies are almost all of 

low quality, small in size, and often funded by 

companies with significant conflicts of interest. 

Individual studies are similarly disappointing for 

probiotics. One examining obesity found limited effects. 

Another showed they don't prevent cavities in teeth. 

They don't help prevent infant colic, either. 

None of this has prevented probiotics from becoming 

more popular. In 2012, almost four million Americans 

used them. In 2014, the global market for probiotics was 

more than $32 billion. 

It's not clear why. Even in specific diarrhea-focused 

areas, the case for them isn't as strong as many think. As 

with nutrition research, much of this has to do with 

study design and how proof of efficacy doesn't translate 

into real-world applications. "Sometimes small studies 

suggest strains work, but when a larger more well-done 

study is performed, they no longer seem to," Dr. Cohen 

said. 

When research is done on probiotics, it usually 

involves a specific organism, defined by genus, species 

and even strain. When used in studies, they are pure and 

carefully dosed. But when we buy probiotics off the 

shelf, especially when they are in food products, we 

often have no idea what we're getting. 

A lot of trust has been put into the idea that gut bacteria can be a key to good health. 

Photo: Alfred Pasteka

NATIONAL 

THURSDAY, NOvEMBER 1, 2018 

6 

Bangabandhu's nephew and parliament member of Bagerhat-1 constituency Sheikh Helal 

Uddin MP as the chief guest addressed the inauguration ceremony of Sheikh Helal Kabaddi 

Stadium in Bagerhat on Wednesday. 

Photo: Nihar Saha 

Student community policing awareness 

meeting held in Betagi 

MohSiN KhaN, Betagi CorreSpoNdeNt: 

Students in Betagi upazila of 

Barguna have pledged their 

commitment against child marriage, 

dowry and drugs. along with it, they 

pledged their commitment against 

militancy, terrorism and eve teasing. 

it is learned that student community 

policing awareness meeting was held 

in 30 educational institutions in 

different places of the upazila in 

association with teachers and 

students. 

on Monday a student community 

policing awareness meeting was held 

at patuakhali adarsha Secondary 

School auditorium of the upazila. 

head master of the school Bazlur 

rahman chaired the occasion while 

Betagi police Station officer incharge 

Mohammad Kamruzzaman 

Miah was present as the chief guest at 

the program. all the teachers and 

students of the school including 

Betagi police Station Si aminul islam 

were also present at the occasion. 

after the awareness meeting, the 

students took oath against drugs, 

dowry, child marriage, eve-teasing, 

terrorism and militancy. the local 

people said that this kind of special 

initiative of the police has brought 

awareness among the people of all 

walks of life. they also came forward 

to implement the government's 

program so that the next generation 

could be safe. 

it has been learned that teachers 

also pledged their commitment 

against dowry, drug, child marriage 

eve-teasing, terrorism and militancy. 

Cast vote to boat, not candidates: 

Sheikh Helal 

Nihar Saha, Bagerhat CorreSpoNdeNt: 

Bangabandhu's nephew and 

parliament member of Bagerhat-1 

constituency Sheikh helal Uddin Mp 

has urged to cast vote to boat symbol, 

not candidates in the upcoming 

parliamentary election. Whoever 

awami league president and prime 

Minister Sheikh hasina nominates, 

make that person the winner 

forgetting the differences. the leaders 

and workers must be united. We do 

not want to go back again in 2001. 

he said this while addressing as the 

chief guest at a function after laying 

foundation stone of the construction 

of the mural of Bangabandhu in 

Shaheed Minar chattar in Bagerhat 

city. Sheikh helal further said that 

during the last 10 years prime 

Minister Sheikh hasina's government 

has made unprecedented 

development in all areas. We need to 

show the picture of the development 

of the awami league government to 

ordinary voters by going to every 

house. general people should 

understand that there is no 

alternative to awami league for the 

continuation of development and 

progress of the country. the mural of 

Bangabandhu is being constructed by 

district administration by spending 

half a crore taka. 

later he inaugurated Sheikh helal 

Kabaddi Stadium, built in front of 

Bagerhat Sheikh helal Uddin 

Stadium. it has been constructed with 

the support of Bangladesh Kabaddi 

Federation and Bagerhat district 

police with half a crore taka. earlier in 

the morning, Sheikh helal Uddin Mp 

addressed a concrete rally at lakhpur 

alhaz ambia ishak Collegiate girls 

School ground in his constituency in 

Fakirhat upazila. 

Khulna mayor talukder abdul 

Khaleque, central awami league 

leader SM Kamal hossain, district 

awami league president dr Md. 

Mozammel hossain Mp, general 

Secretary and Zila parishad chairman 

freedom fighter Sheikh 

Kamruzzaman tuku, Mir Shawkat ali 

Badshah Mp, Mayor of Bagerhat 

municipality Khan habibur rahman, 

awami league leader Farida akhter 

Banu lucy, deputy Commissioner 

tapan Kumar Bishwas and police 

Super pankaj Chandra roy were 

among others also present at the 

occasions. 

Betagi Police Station Officer in-charge Mohammad Kamruzzaman Miah was present as the 

chief guest at a student community policing awareness meeting at Patuakhali Adarsha 

Secondary School auditorium of the upazila recently. 

Photo: Mohsin Khan 

Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) Dr. Biresh Chandra Goswami 

as the chief guest addressed a sample crops harvest (BINA Dan-17) and Farmers' Field Day at 

Baneswaradi UP Chattar of Nakla upazila of Sherpur on Wednesday. Photo: Shahajada Swapan 

State Minister for Water Resources Lt Colonel (Retd) Nazrul Islam Hiro MP (Birpratik) as the chief 

guest distributed scholarship among GPA-5 recipient students of SSC and HSC examinations for 2016- 

2017 fiscal year at Narsingdi Shilpakala Academy auditorium on Wednesday. Photo: Selim Miah 

Narsingdi Zila 

Parishad honours 

meritorious students 

Md SeliM Miah, NarSiNgdi CorreSpoNdeNt: 

State Minister for Water 

resources lt Colonel (retd) 

Nazrul islam hiro Mp 

(Birpratik) said that said, 

students must become a good 

human being and be patriotic 

along with good education 

and take the country forward 

by implementing the dream of 

Bangabandhu's golden Bengal 

by holding the spirit of 

liberation war. 

he said this while 

addressing the reception of 

the gpa-5 recipients of the 

SSC / equivalent and hSC / 

equivalent examinations of 

the district in 2016-2017 fiscal 

year hosted by Narsingdi Zila 

parishad in Narsingdi district 

Shilpakala academy 

auditorium on Wednesday 

morning. 

Narsingdi Zila parishad 

Chairman alhaj abdul Matin 

Bhuiyan presided over the 

function while among others, 

chief executive officer of 

Narsingdi Zila parishad 

deepak ranjan adhikari, 

Narsingdi additional deputy 

Commissioner (iCt) 

Mohammad Saiful islam, 

Narsingdi municipal mayor 

Kamrul islam and Zila 

parishad panel mayor 

obaidul Karib Mridha were 

also present at the occasion. 

at the program 3205 gpa-5 

recipient students in SSC 

examination received 2 

thousand taka each and 978 

gpa-5 recipient students in 

hSC examination also received 

2 thousand taka each. the 

students also received onetime 

education scholarship 

and honorary medal. 

Experts for creating awareness 

to prevent AIDS 

raNgpUr: experts here have stressed on 

creating awareness among the vulnerable 

group of people by disseminating education, 

knowledge and social values to prevent 

spread of hiV/aidS, reports BSS. 

rangpur drop-in-Centre (diC) of light 

house Consortium under management of 

international Centre for diarrhoeal disease 

research, Bangladesh (iCddr,B) organised 

programme at Civil Surgeon conference room 

on tuesday. 

the meeting was arranged under 

prioritized hiV prevention Services for Key 

population in Bangladesh with assistance of 

the global Fund project to bring vulnerable 

group population under medicare facilities 

for preventing spread of these diseases. 

public representatives, transgender people, 

teachers, lawyers, police, religious leaders, 

civil society members and local elite 

participated in the programme. 

deputy Commissioner enamul habib 

attended the meeting as the chief guest with 

Civil Surgeon dr abu Md Zakirul islam in the 

chair. deputy director of the department of 

Social Services abdur razzaque and deputy 

Civil Surgeon dr Kaniz Sabiha addressed as 

special guests. 

rangpur diC Manager of 'light house' 

Mohammad Shahabul islam delivered 

keynote presentation narrating activities of 

the organisation and latest national level 

statistics of hiV/aidS infection and related 

deaths. 

"a total of 5,586 people were infected with 

hiV viruses and 924 with aidS in 

Bangladesh till 2017. of them, 125 aidS 

patients died in 2017 alone," Shahabul said. 

lawyer advocate isahaque ali, 

representative of transgender community 

Marufa akhter Mitu, journalist Nazrul islam 

raju, City Councilor Muntaseer Shamim 

laiku, imam Md Zinnuraine, purohit girija 

Sankar Chakraborty, Ngo executive Sarothi 

rani Saha, among others addressed. 

Sarothi rani Saha said if the vulnerable 

groups continue their unsafe sexual habit and 

blood donation, possibility of spreading the 

hiV/aidS and other Sexually transmitted 

diseases (Stds) may increase. 

dr Zakirul islam urged public 

representatives and community leaders for 

conducting awareness building campaign 

among vulnerable groups and floating sex 

workers in both urban and rural areas. 

74 held in Satkhira 

special drives 

SatKhira: police, in special drives 

arrested 74 persons including 14 activists of 

Jamaat-e-islami, two activists of BNp and 

three drug traders from eight upazilas of the 

district in 12-hour ending at 8am last 

morning, reports BSS. 

police also seized 30 bottles phensidyl and 

64 pieces of Yaba tablets during the drives. 

Sources with the district police said they 

were picked up from different areas of the 

district. 

during the drives, Satkhira Sadar police 

arrested 22 persons including eight activists 

of Jamaat-e-islami, two drug traders along 

with 42 pieces of Yaba tablets and 30 bottles 

of phensidyl and an activist of BNp, Kalaroa 

thana police arrested eight persons including 

a drug trader along with 22 pieces of Yaba 

tablets, tala thana police arrested five 

persons, Kaliganj thana police arrested six 

persons including three activists of Jamaat-eislami, 

Shyamnagar thana police arrested 

eight persons, assasuni thana police arrested 

eight persons, patkelghata thana police 

arrested 13 persons including three activist of 

Jamaat-e-islami and an activist of BNp and 

debhata thana police arrested four persons. 

the arrested people are accused in several 

cases, including charges of subversive 

activities, filed with different police stations in 

the district. 

the arrested were sent to jail. 

Free seed's and 

fertilizers 

distributed in 

Madarganj 

JUlFiKar BaBlU, MadargaNJ CorreSpoNdeNt: 

Free farming seeds and fertilizers were distributed in 

Madarganj upazila chattar of Jamalpur on Wednesday. 

UNo aminul islam chaired the program while Upazila 

Chairman obaidur rahman Belal was present as the chief 

guest at the occasion. among others, agriculture officer Syed 

tanvir ahmed, agriculture extension officer Mahmudul 

hasan Mizan and general Secretary of Krishak league pulak 

parvez were also present at the occasion. 

Mustard seed, maize seed, boro paddy, bt brinjal seeds and 

fertilizer were distributed among 2010 farmers at the 

occasion. 

Sample harvest, 

farmers field day 

held in Nakla 

ShahaJada SWapaN, NaKla CorreSpoNdeNt: 

Sample crops harvest (BiNa dan-17) and Farmers' Field 

day was held in Baneswaradi Up Chattar of Nakla upazila of 

Sherpur on Wednesday. Bangladesh institute of Nuclear 

agriculture (BiNa) Nalitabari sub center arranged the 

occasion and was financed by weather-modification project. 

deputy director agriculturist ashraf Uddin presided over 

the function while director general of Bangladesh institute 

of Nuclear agriculture (BiNa) dr. Biresh Chandra goswami 

was present as the chief guest. among others, the training 

wing director Jahangir alam, president of Upazila awami 

league freedom fighter Mostafizur rahman and Secretary 

Shafiqul islam Jinnah, Niratin akter, BiNa Nalitabari sub 

center officer Nasrin akter were also present at the occasion. 

around two hundred farmers were present at the Farmers' 

Field day. 

Madarganj Upazila Chairman Obaidur Rahman Belal along with UNO Aminul Islam and 

Agriculture Officer Syed Tanvir Ahmed distributed free farming seeds and fertilizers among 

farmers in Madarganj upazila chattar of Jamalpur on Wednesday. Photo: Julfikar Bablu

INTERNATIONAL THURSDAY, 

7 

NOVEMBER 1, 2018 

Asia Football Confederation President Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa speaks during an inauguration 

ceremony of the new building for the Asia Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. 

Photo: Internet 

Sheikh Salman urges respect 

for rules in AFC election 

The head of soccer's governing body for 

Asia has announced his bid for re-election 

and urged that election "rule and 

regulations must be respected." 

Asian Football Confederation President 

Helicopter 

crash kills 25 in 

Afghanistan 

An Afghan official says an 

army helicopter carrying 

senior officials has crashed 

in bad weather in the western 

Farah province, killing 

all 25 on board. 

Naser Mehdi, a 

spokesman for the provincial 

governor, says the helicopter 

crashed around 9:10 

a.m. (0440 GMT), shortly 

after taking off from the 

mountainous Anar Dara 

district heading toward 

nearby Herat province. 

He says the passengers 

included the deputy corps 

commander 

of 

Afghanistan's western zone 

and the head of the Farah 

provincial council. 

An Interior Ministry official 

says a suicide bomber 

has struck outside the 

country's largest prison on 

the eastern edge of the capital 

Kabul, killing seven 

people, including prison 

workers and security personnel. 

Interior Ministry 

spokesman Najib Danish 

says the attacker early 

Wednesday targeted a bus 

carrying prison workers. 

The sprawling Pul-e- 

Charkhi prison houses 

hundreds of inmates, 

including scores of Taliban. 

According to Abadullah 

Karimi, a prison official, 

the attack occurred near 

the prison gate where a 

number of visitors were 

waiting to pass a rigorous 

security check before 

entering. 

Two killed in 

helicopter crash 

in U.S. New 

York state 

Two people were killed and 

another two injured in a 

helicopter crash in the 

northern part of the U.S. 

state of New York on Tuesday, 

local media reported. 

The incident took place 

around 4:15 p.m. (2015 

GMT Tuesday) when a 

maintenance helicopter got 

tangled in power lines and 

caught fire before crashing 

in Beekmantown. 

The helicopter was contracted 

by the New York 

Power Authority, according 

to a spokesperson of 

the agency. 

The victims include utility 

workers who were conducting 

line inspection. 

There is yet no detail 

about the incident and the 

local police couldn't be 

reached immediately for 

comments. 

Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa took office 

in 2013 to finish the term of former 

president Mohamed bin Hammam. 

Bin Hammam was banned for life from 

all football-related activities by worldgoverning 

body FIFA. Sheikh Salman 

of Bahrain will be seeking his third 

term. He completed Bin Hammam's 

term and then was re-elected in 2015. 

Elections will be held next April. 

US steps up scrutiny of funds for 

asbestos exposure victims 

The Trump administration has stepped up 

scrutiny of asbestos trust funds, concerned 

that the pots of money intended to help people 

exposed to the hazardous substance are 

being depleted by fraudulent claims, harming 

victims, businesses and the government. 

The Justice Department in the last two 

months has demanded trust documents as 

part of a civil investigation, opposed the creation 

of another trust it said lacked sufficient 

safeguards, and argued against the appointment 

of a lawyer it said was too conflicted to 

represent victims. 

The actions take aim at a system that over 

decades has paid out billions of dollars to the 

sick and cancer-stricken, but that critics say 

is opaque and prone to fraud and manipulation 

by well-connected lawyers. The government's 

intervention aligns it with business 

groups who have long complained about the 

process. 

"We have an interest in fraud and consumer 

protection, so if there is fraud happening 

out there that is cognizable under federal 

law, that's the type of thing the Justice 

Department tends to get interested in," acting 

Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio 

said in an interview. 

But plaintiffs' lawyers and asbestos victims' 

advocates say there's scant proof of 

widespread fraud, particularly for a system 

that has accommodated millions of claims. 

And University at Buffalo law professor S. 

Todd Brown said the additional government 

oversight, while not a bad idea, 

"could lead to money going to complying 

with this oversight rather than going to the 

victims." 

The trusts started emerging in the 1980s, 

formed by makers of asbestos-containing 

products who sought bankruptcy protection 

in the face of lawsuits from people who 

feared they had been exposed. The maneuvering 

enabled the companies to shield 

themselves from lawsuits while setting aside 

money to pay pending and future claims for 

asbestos, an environmental hazard once 

found in everyday products that can lead to 

the deadly mesothelioma cancer and other 

illnesses. 

The model flourished. A 2011 Government 

Accountability Office report identified 60 

trusts formed between 1988 and 2010 that it 

said had paid about 3.3 million claims valued 

at more than $17 billion. 

Lawyers for asbestos victims say the 

process enables people to obtain compensation 

for catastrophic illness without drawnout 

lawsuits. "There is incredible irony in the 

fact that an industry that covered up the dangers 

of a known carcinogen for decades, 

leading to the ongoing deaths of 15,000 

Americans a year, is now claiming that its 

victims are committing systemic fraud 

against the trusts - even though no court has 

ever found evidence of such fraud," Peter 

Knudsen, spokesman for the plaintiffs' 

lawyers group American Association for Justice, 

said in a statement. Business groups and 

defense lawyers contend otherwise. 

They say weak oversight allows people to 

collect payments with minimal evidence they 

were harmed by a particular company's 

product, and for illnesses far less serious 

than mesothelioma and lung cancer. They 

argue trust overseers are often tied to wellconnected 

plaintiffs' firms, raising concerns 

of favoritism and cronyism. 

And they say the meager amount of publicly 

available information makes it hard to 

know how decisions on payments are made, 

how much a given individual is receiving or 

whether the exposure evidence submitted to 

one trust is consistent with what's submitted 

to others. 

In 2014, a judge in the bankruptcy case of 

an asbestos gasket maker described a "startling 

pattern of misrepresentation" by 

alleged victims and their lawyers. The judge 

found that plaintiffs repeatedly told Garlock 

Sealing Technologies that it was responsible 

for their exposure and struck large settlement 

agreements with the company, only to 

later file claims with multiple other trusts 

over injuries and exposures they hadn't previously 

disclosed. 

Plaintiffs' lawyers say asbestos victims 

are routinely sickened by multiple companies, 

often making it hard to pinpoint precisely 

who's to blame and leaving them 

with no choice but to seek compensation 

from anyone who may have harmed them. 

The Justice Department stepped up its 

oversight in the last few months. 

In September, it challenged the creation 

of a new trust it said lacked details about 

how it would guard against fraud and 

abuse. The department said in a letter to 

state attorneys general that "it would 

object to plans for asbestos trusts that fail 

to include critical information on how 

asbestos claims will be evaluated, paid and 

reported" or that don't do enough to prevent 

fraud. 

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Andrews Air 

Force Base, Md., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, to travel to Pittsburgh following 

last weekends shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue. Photo: Internet 

Migrants to rest, hope to win mass 

transport to Mexico City 

Thousands of Central American 

migrants in a caravan traveling through 

Mexico planned to rest at least a day or 

longer in the southern city of Juchitan 

beginning Wednesday, hoping to 

organize mass transport northward 

after days of hard walking in tropical 

temperatures that have left them about 

900 miles from the nearest U.S. border 

crossing. 

A second, smaller group, of 1,000 or 

so migrants who forced their way into 

Mexico on Monday was trailing some 

250 miles back, stopping for the night 

in the city of Tapachula. 

At a Tuesday evening assembly, participants 

in the bigger group named a 

committee to negotiate with Mexican 

authorities over a possible "bridge 

plan" that could leapfrog them to the 

Mexico's capital by bus. There was no 

indication from officials whether the 

request to transport the perhaps 4,000 

people remaining in the group would 

be granted. Starting out in Honduras 

more than two weeks ago, the caravan 

migrants have spent their nights camping 

out in the main squares of small 

cities in the southern states of Chiapas 

and now Oaxaca. But a deadly earthquake 

last year destroyed Juchitan's 

central market, prompting it to be provisionally 

moved to the main square - 

meaning there was no room for them 

there.Instead they spent the night on a 

municipal-owned lot on the outskirts of 

town where a high ceiling sheltered a 

cement floor. Outside the structure 

many more bedded down on blankets 

or cardboard sheets in the grass, with 

some lashing tarps to the foliage for 

rudimentary shelter. Full tanks of water 

were set up for people to be able to 

bathe, and a large video screen showed 

soccer programming and then cartoons 

for the kids. The two groups combined 

represent just a few days' worth of the 

average flow of migrants to the United 

States. Similar caravans have occurred 

regularly over the years, passing largely 

unnoticed, but the new ones have 

become a hot-button political issue 

amid an unprecedented pushback from 

U.S. President Donald Trump. 

With just a week to U.S. midterm 

elections, the Pentagon has announced 

it will deploy 5,200 troops to the Southwest 

border, and Trump has continued 

to tweet and speak about the migrants. 

On Monday he said he wants to build 

tent cities to house asylum seekers, and 

Tuesday he floated the possibility of 

ending the constitutional right to U.S. 

citizenship for babies born in the country 

to noncitizens. Experts widely dismissed 

the idea that the president 

could unilaterally change the rules on 

who is a citizen and said it's highly 

questionable whether an act of Congress 

could do it, either. 

"According to what they say, we are 

not going to be very welcome at the border," 

Honduran migrant Levin Guillen 

said when asked about Trump. "But we 

are going to try." 

Guillen, a 23-year-old farmer from 

Corinto, Honduras, said he had been 

getting threats back home from the 

same people who killed his father 18 

years ago. He has been on his own since 

his mother died four years ago, and he 

hopes to reach an aunt who lives in Los 

Angeles and have a chance to work and 

live in peace. "We just want to a way to 

get to our final goal, which is the border," 

he said. 

Worn down from long miles of walking 

and frustrated by the slow progress, 

many migrants have been dropping out 

and returning home or applying for 

protected status in Mexico. The initial 

group is already significantly diminished 

from its estimated peak at over 

7,000-strong. A caravan in the spring 

ultimately fizzled to just about 200 people 

who reached the U.S. border at San 

Diego. 

Deputy foreign ministers from El Salvador, 

Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico 

met Tuesday and agreed to coordinate 

"special attention" for the caravans, 

guaranteeing human rights, 

humanitarian assistance and "a safe, 

orderly and regular migration" in 

accordance with each country's laws. 

Mexico's Interior Department said 

two Hondurans who requested entry 

were identified as having arrest warrants 

back home, one drug-related and 

the other for suspected homicide. They 

were deported. The department said in 

a statement that the men were part of 

"the migrant caravan," but did not say 

which group or specify when they were 

detained at checkpoints in the southern 

state of Chiapas. 

Echoing their countrymen in the initial 

caravan, Hondurans in the second 

group talked of fleeing poverty and 

gang violence in one of the world's 

deadliest countries by homicide rates. 

They said asylum in the United States is 

their primary goal, but some expressed 

openness to applying for protected status 

in Mexico if that doesn't work out. 

"Continue on to the United States, 

that is the first objective," said Carlos 

Enrique Carcamo, a 50-year-old boat 

mechanic. "But if that's not possible, 

well, permission here in Mexico to 

work or stay here." Gerbert Hinestrosa, 

a 54-year-old traveling with his wife 

and teenage son, said he realizes it will 

be hard to achieve his dream of reaching 

the U.S. 

"Right now I feel good," he said. "We 

have barely started, but I think it is 

going to be very difficult." 

Hundreds of migrants hitch a ride in a truck between Niltepec and Juchitan, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 

30, 2018. Photo: Internet 

Possible seabed position of 

crashed Lion Air jet located 

A massive search effort has identified 

the possible seabed location of the 

crashed Lion Air jet, Indonesia's military 

chief said Wednesday, as experts 

carried out the grim task of identifying 

dozens of body parts recovered from a 

15-nautical-mile-wide search area and 

chilling video of passengers boarding 

the fatal flight emerged. 

The 2-month-old Boeing plane 

plunged into the Java Sea on Monday 

just minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, 

killing all 189 people on board. 

"This morning I've been briefed by 

the head of Search and Rescue Agency 

about the strong possibility of the location 

coordinates" of Flight 610, said 

armed forces chief Hadi Tjahjanto. 

"We're going to see it ourselves on location. 

And hopefully that is the main 

body of the plane that we've been looking 

for." 

The disaster has reignited concerns 

about safety in Indonesia's fast-growing 

aviation industry, which was 

recently removed from European 

Union and U.S. blacklists, and also 

raised doubts about the safety of Boeing's 

new generation 737 MAX 8 plane. 

Boeing Co. experts are expected to 

arrive in Indonesia on Wednesday and 

Lion Air has said an "intense" internal 

investigation is underway in addition to 

the probe by safety regulators. 

Locating the fuselage will bring the 

search effort closer to finding the airplane's 

flight recorders, which are crucial 

to the accident investigation. 

Navy officer Haris Djoko Nugroho 

said the 22-meter (72-foot) long object 

is at a depth of 32 meters (105 feet). 

He said divers will be deployed after 

side-scan sonar has produced more 

detailed images. He said it was first 

located on Tuesday evening. 

"There are some small objects that we 

found, but last night, thank God, we 

found a large enough object," he said. 

Data from flight-tracking sites show 

the plane had erratic speed and altitude 

in the early minutes of a flight on Sunday 

and on its fatal flight Monday. Safety 

experts caution, however, that the 

data must be checked for accuracy 

against the plane's black boxes, which 

officials are confident will be recovered. 

Several passengers on the Sunday 

flight from Bali to Jakarta have 

recounted problems that included a 

long-delayed takeoff for an engine 

check and terrifying descents in the 

first 10 minutes in the air. 

Two interviewed on an Indonesian 

current affairs program recalled details 

such as a strange engine sound, a smell 

of burnt cables, and panicked passengers 

crying out for God to save them as 

the plane rapidly lost altitude. Later in 

the flight, a man who was either the 

captain or first officer, walked through 

the plane and returned to the cockpit 

with what looked like a large manual. 

Lion Air has said maintenance was 

carried out on the aircraft after the Sunday 

flight and a problem, which it didn't 

specify, was fixed. 

Officials said the non-stop search 

effort has sent 48 body bags containing 

human remains to police identification 

experts. 

Anguished family members have 

been providing samples for DNA tests 

and police say results are expected 

within 4-8 days. 

Musyafak, the head of Said Sukanto 

Police Hospital, said nearly 150 samples 

for testing have been collected but 

more are still needed, especially from 

parents and children of victims. 

Indonesian TV broadcast a smartphone 

video of passengers boarding 

Flight 610, its mundane details transformed 

into unsettling moments by 

knowledge of the tragedy that would 

transpire. It showed passengers' boarding 

passes being checked and people 

walking along a concourse and then 

down stairs with bright red and white 

Lion Air jets visible on the tarmac. 

At one point, the passenger who shot 

the video, Paul Ferdinand Ayorbaba, 

zooms in on the flight number on his 

boarding pass. A part of the video 

shows passengers walking up the 

mobile boarding stairs attached to a 

Lion jet. 

"My husband sent that video to me 

via WhatsApp. It was his last contact 

with me, his last message to me," said 

Inchy Ayorbaba, interviewed at the 

Jakarta police hospital where she'd taken 

her three children for DNA tests. 

The messaging app's timestamps 

showed the video was sent about 35 

minutes before the plane took off, said 

Ayorbaba, who first saw the message at 

6.30 a.m., some 10 minutes after the 

plane departed, and then went back to 

sleep. 

Indonesia's Transport Ministry has 

ordered all Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes 

operated by Lion Air and national carrier 

Garuda to be inspected. Lion has 

ordered 50 of the jets, worth an estimated 

$6.2 billion, and currently operates 

nine. 

Boeing declined to comment about 

potential inspections globally. 

The aircraft manufacturer told airlines 

in a bulletin, "Boeing has no recommended 

operator action at this 

time," according to two people familiar 

with the matter. 

Lion Air's President Edward Sirait 

told The Associated Press that timing of 

a meeting with Boeing experts is still 

uncertain. Daniel Putut, a Lion Air 

managing director, said Tuesday 

evening the airline hopes to meet with 

Boeing officials on Wednesday afternoon. 

"Of course there are lots of things 

we will ask them, we all have question 

marks here, 'Why? What's the matter 

with this new plane,'" Putut said.

ART & CULTURE 

THURSDAY, 

NOVEMBER 1, 2018 

8 

The Nutcracker and 

the Four Realms 

Wanna get fit? start rawling! 

Want to get fit? Keep aside the walking or 

running on the treadmill, those laps in the pool and 

climbing a motorised wall at the gym. For a new 

regimen will have you do something completely 

different. It's a movement that you did years ago - 

crawling! That's right. The crawling workout takes 

after man's primal movement and has you on your 

knees and palms. It's increasingly being adopted as 

a strengthening and agility tool. Health and fitness 

coaches in the city too, are adding it to workouts 

and for good reason... 

Go ahead, crouch like a tiger, crawl like 

baby! 

It's taking a page out of how animals move as this 

workout aims to bring about a similar agility. It is 

also uses the natural body weight. One report has 

even called this regimen 'the new plank'. Says 

fitness expert Nirmiti Shah, "Several coaches are 

going back to primal movement-based exercises 

like this one. Crawling makes for a superb, coordinated 

workout that builds strength. And it's 

easy to do, so anyone can try it." 

Top 5 reasons to try the crawl workout 

1) Engages the core: Explains fitness expert 

Madhuri Ruia, "The animal flow workout is about 

getting back to the basics. It engages the core and is 

very safe. The spine is not stressed neither is the 

neck cervical. In order to stay upright like animals 

did, you have to use the entire core unit. In doing 

so, you improve your alignment and also the 

shoulder and hip girdle." 

2) It's multi-dimensional: The usual activities 

like running or jogging take place in one plane of 

motion, but the animal flow regimen involves 

multiple planes - sideways, up and down and 

crosswise. As you are in a quadrupedal position 

with all four limbs touching the floor, it becomes 

anti-gravity as it pulls the body down in a 

different way. 

3) Great for toning and flexibility: The primal 

movements bring all those forgotten muscles into 

play. Says trainer Nitin Shetty, "As you perform the 

H O ROSCOpE 

ARIES 

(March 21 - April 20): Natives 

of Aries are often confident and 

energetic people, who should 

consider setting up arrangements for larger 

family gatherings like reunions. Natives of this 

sign are often driving forces in the professional 

and political areas. 

TAURUS 

(April 21 - May 21): The 

obstacles you face at the 

moment may be daunting but 

you have what it takes to overcome them. 

Don't try to avoid what fate sends your way 

over the next few days - it is designed to 

strengthen you, not destroy you. 

GEMINI 

(May 22 - June 21): There may 

be times when you would like 

nothing better than to cut 

yourself off from the world at 

large but that simply isn't possible. Make 

the best job of what you are expected to do 

and try to steal a few hours for yourself 

later on. 

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. 

crawling action, you also increase the range of 

motion at the joints and improve walking 

mechanics." 

4) Needs no equipment: This a body weightbased 

workout that challenges the body without 

using any equipment. It can be done anywhere. 

5) Builds mental sharpness: Crawling challenges 

the neurological system. Adds Madhuri, "It sends 

messages to the mind to balance body weight on 

either side as the weight shifts. Thus, it brings about 

better mind-body coordination." 

DID YOU KNOW? 

There are different variations of crawls you can 

try, such as: 

Getting into position to do the 'bear crawl' 

Baby crawl: First is the baby crawl, which will 

have you make small moves with alternate hand 

and knee as you crawl. Bear crawl: Great for realigning 

the spine, the bear crawl involves moving 

forwards and backwards quickly with your derriere 

facing upwards like a bear. Leopard or panther 

crawl: The panther crawl is where you stealthily 

crawl just inches away from the ground in a 

stalking mode. Inchworm crawl: In the inchworm 

crawl variation, stretch out straight and get into the 

plank position. Look upwards towards the ceiling 

and shuffle-crawl forwards. Gorilla crawl: The 

gorilla crawl is more challenging. Start with the feet 

wider than the shoulder-width. Bend and shift the 

weight on your hands and then jump forwards. 

Place your hands forward and repeat.Watch out! 

If you suffer from knee, wrist, neck or shoulder 

pain, check with the doctor before starting this 

regimen. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

Of late, animal flow workouts such as 'crocodile 

rolls', 'side-walking ape', 'frog leap' and 'scorpion 

reach', are getting popular. They are used in 

therapy as well. The workouts are best done 

barefoot. 

|Source: TOI] 

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. 

A young girl is transported into a magical world of 

gingerbread soldiers and an army of mice. 

Release Date: 

Director: 

Writers: 

Stars: 

Taglines: 

Genres: 

Also known as: 

Runtime: 

Country: 

Language: 

Production: 

Hypnosis for 

weight loss: 

does it work? 

Johnny English 3 Strikes Again (2D) 

12:30 pm, 5:00 pm 

Halloween (2D) 

11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 1:50 pm, 2:30 pm, 4:50 pm, 

7:15 pm 

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (3D) 

11:30 am, 2:30 pm 

A Simple Favor (2D) 

4:35 pm, 7:10 pm 

The Nun (2D) 

2:45 pm, 7:15 pm 

02 November 2018 (USA) 

Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston 

Ashleigh Powell 

Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, 

Morgan Freeman 

In 2018, the legend you know has a 

dark side 

Adventure, Family, Fantasy 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 

99 minutes 

USA 

English 

The Mark Gordon Company, Walt 

Disney Pictures 

If you have tried almost everything under the 

sun and your fat just doesn't seem to budge, you 

might want to try hypnotherapy for weight loss. 

We agree that on the surface it seems almost 

too good to be true. After trying dieting (and 

several types of weird diets), and every exercise 

on the surface of the earth, losing weight by just 

sitting on a couch while some hypnotist worked 

his/her charm seems like a dream come true. 

You have all the reasons to be doubtful of 

this weird method that claims to help you to 

lose weight. After all, we have grown up 

watching in movies how the hypnotist makes 

people cluck like a chicken and extracts 

secrets out of them, but sorry to burst your 

bubble, hypnotherapy is really just you telling 

yourself how you want you to be. Nothing 

more or nothing less. 

While there is not enough research, there are 

a few significant findings that point out the 

correlation between hypnotherapy and how it 

might help in modifying certain behaviours. 

According to a study published in 

International Journal of Clinical and 

Experimental Hypnosis, women who 

underwent hypnotherapy found that it helped 

them with their eating habits and weight loss. 

In addition to this, an analysis by British 

researchers pointed out the direct relation 

Venom (3D) 

12:00 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:10 pm, 8:00 pm 

Debi (2D) 

11:30 am, 1:45 pm, 2:50 pm, 4:00 pm, 5:00 pm, 

6:15 pm, 8:30 pm 

*Authority reserves the right for any changes. 

Storyline : All Clara wants is a key - a one-of-a-kind key that will unlock a 

box that holds a priceless gift from her late mother. A golden thread, 

presented to her at godfather Drosselmeyer's annual holiday party, leads her 

to the coveted key-which promptly disappears into a strange and mysterious 

parallel world. It's there that Clara encounters a soldier named Phillip, a gang 

of mice and the regents who preside over three Realms: Land of Snowflakes, 

Land of Flowers, and Land of Sweets. Clara and Phillip must brave the 

ominous Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger, to retrieve Clara's 

key and hopefully return harmony to the unstable world. |Source: IMDb] 

between hypnotherapy and the release of 

hunger peptides that control how full you feel. 

How does it work? 

If you are expecting a typical hypnotherapy 

session that starts with putting you off to sleep, 

you might end up getting disappointed. 

For starters, your hypnotherapists would try to 

understand your weight loss goal, your triggers 

and your body type. After this, you will move on to 

the hypnosis session where the hypnotist tries to 

balance the voice in your head. 

Confused? Allow us to explain. 

The voice in your head is the same voice that 

keeps you away from dangers and helps you 

make good decisions. Hypnosis is basically 

SHOWTIME 

turning up the volume of that inner voice that 

prevents you from acting solely on your 

emotions and tuning down the emotional part. 

Ultimately, after the session, you might end 

up training your brain to not act on impulse and 

to eat something healthy. However, it doesn't 

mean that you will not have cravings, but you 

just don't act upon them. 

The bottom line : 

While there is not a lot of clarity on the effect 

of hypnosis on weight loss, owing to the fact that 

there is dearth of research, when combined with 

a weight loss regime, hypnosis seems to show 

good results. 

|Source: TOI] 

Here is how you can stay healthy when 

you are in college 

College is a whole new experience in our 

lives and once we grow old, we realise it is 

one of the most beautiful journeys we have 

ever embarked upon. While college means 

overburdened with assignments and 

unwanted stress, along with long study 

hours and weekend party with friends, a 

little effort and you can manage to stay fit 

during your college years. Read on: 

1) Eat the right amount of food: 

In order to avoid bloating, eat regularly 

and in small portions. Experts suggest five 

to six small meals a day, keeping a gap of 

two hours between two meals, is the perfect 

way to stay healthy without starving 

yourself. 

2) Never skip breakfast: 

No matter how late you are for your first 

lecture, you should not skip the first and 

most important meal of the day: breakfast. If 

eating breakfast is too big a task for you, 

especially when the schedule is very hectic, 

carry few fruits like apples and bananas with 

you in the morning. 

3) Drink two to three litres of water: 

Staying hydrated is very crucial to our 

bodies. Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water every 

day without fail. 

4) Always carry something to 

munch on: 

Unfortunately, hunger doesn't come 

knocking and you must carry some healthy 

snacks to munch on in your bag. 

5) Try out different dishes: 

Although when you are in college, there 

are not too many options to choose from, 

except for the canteen and nearby fast food 

corner, always be open to the idea of trying 

out various dishes as it is important to keep 

incorporating nutrition to your diet in 

various forms. 

|Source: TOI] 

Halloween (2D) 

11:20 pm, 1:40 pm, 4:00 pm, 6:50 pm 

Debi (2D) 

10:40 am, 11:00 am, 12:50 pm, 1:40 pm, 

3:00 pm, 4:20 pm, 5:15 pm, 7:00 pm, 7:30 

pm 

Johnny English 3 Strikes Again (2D) 

2:00 pm 

5 Weeding (2D) 

11:30 pm, 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm 

Venom (3D) 

11:10 am, 1:50 pm, 4:20 pm, 7:10 pm 

The Nun (2D) 

11:30 am, 4:00 pm 

*Authority reserves the right for any changes.

SPORTS 

9 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2018 

Shakib, who is recovering from injury, is set to play UAE T20x tournament from December 23. 

Photo: AP 

Shakib Al Hasan joins Steven 

Smith in UAE T20x league 

Sports Desk: The BCB has granted Shakib Al Hasan an 

NOC to participate in the UAE T20x tournament, meaning 

he will join the likes of Steven Smith, who is currently into the 

seventh month of a one-year ban handed to him by Cricket 

Australia for his part in the Newlands ball-tampering 

incident, Andre Russell and Shahid Afridi. 

Shakib, who is recovering from injury, is set to play in the 

tournament from December 23, a day after the end of West 

Indies' tour of Bangladesh, to January 1 next year. The 

UAET20x league runs from December 19 to January 11, 

clashing with the Bangladesh Premier League. 

Shakib is currently undergoing rehab for a long-standing 

finger injury, which got worse due to an infection during the 

Asia Cup. He underwent an emergency operation in Dhaka 

before heading to Australia for a further check-up. He came 

back to Bangladesh earlier this month and said that his 

return to competitive cricket depended largely on how 

quickly the infection was completely removed, suggesting he 

may be back for Bangladesh's home series against West 

Indies, which begins with the first Test from November 22. 

The sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League T20 

will be held in January-February following which the Tigers 

will travel to New Zealand. 

This will be followed by tour of Ireland in April, and 

eventually the World Cup in England. 

"The physio and I have decided not to put a time frame for 

my return," he said. "Possibly I will start training shortly. I 

have to start strength training from next week. When I will 

start improving gradually, and I will see that I don't have 

problems in playing, I can think of returning to action. Until 

then, I wouldn't want to return, neither the physio will let 

me." 

Shakib said that the UAE stint could give him some match 

practice in his comeback bid. "It will be good preparation for 

me if I can be fit for these matches," he said. I need these 

matches to get back from a major injury and into full 

rhythm." 

Earlier, Akram Khan, BCB's cricket operations chairman, 

on Tuesday (October 30), noted that Shakib Al Hasan will be 

given the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to participate in the 

upcoming UAE T20x - a franchise-based T20 event - 

provided there is no medical issue. 

India tour helps in judging yourself 

as player and coach - Pothas 

Sports Desk: The last time Nic 

Pothas, Windies fielding coach, 

checked his players, they were 'humans 

not robots'. "So we're going to make 

errors under pressure, that's the nature 

of the game." Without reading much 

into Windies' bashing in the Mumbai 

ODI, he believes the way forward for 

his team is to have 'selective amnesia', 

reports Crcbuzz. 

What transpired at the Brabourne 

Stadium - a 224-run defeat - was 

India's biggest ODI win against a full 

member nation. While that may not 

have been a true reflection of the ability 

of the Windies, it was certainly closer to 

the realities of the gulf that lies between 

the two teams than what had 

transpired in the series earlier. 

A few factors did work for the visitors 

in the first three games; primarily, the 

form of Shai Hope and Shimron 

Hetmyer, and the jaded performances 

by India. In a more spirited show by the 

hosts in the fourth ODI, Windies 

struggled to get even the slightest of 

opportunities. 

Pothas credited India for bouncing 

back strongly after the series was 

levelled 1-1 and added, "That's exactly 

what you'd expect from a world leading 

team." 

Windies were never expected to 

challenge India, let alone come to a 

point where they can share series 

honour. The fact that they did that with 

a near second-string unit is credible. 

However, he refused to curtain the 

drawbacks of his side - which is young 

and inexperienced. Among the major 

areas of improvement that he expects 

from the players will be to quickly learn 

to be consistent for long periods of 

time, something that has ailed Windies 

cricket in recent years despite their 

success in the shortest format. And 

unlike Indian players, who mostly learn 

these ropes at lower levels, the Windies 

youngsters are left to do that at 

international cricket. 

"It's a very young team. Not just from 

an international point of view but a 

volume of 50-over cricket point of 

view," he explained. "I think like 

anything, when you play at this level, 

whatever sport it might be, it's always 

going to come down to execution over a 

long period of time. We've seen that we 

can execute for short periods of time. 

The challenge is always going to be to 

execute over 100 overs. If you're going 

to beat India or England or Australia, 

Pakistan, you've got to execute for a 100 

overs. And that takes physical ability, it 

takes skill ability, it takes mental ability. 

And fitness certainly comes in too. 

"Physical fitness is always going to aid 

your recovery, it's going to aid your 

decision-making and it's going to aid 

your execution. So our young guys are 

learning all the time and they're having 

to learn at the international level, which 

is never easy. But they're getting better 

all the time and most importantly 

they're open to that learning. So we're 

very positive on them." 

Having spent almost a month in 

India, touring and playing different 

formats, it's been a long journey so far 

away from home. And with four more 

Windies lost the fourth ODI by a massive margin of 224 runs. 

games to go - and another round of trip 

left from south to the north of the 

country - they are on the Wednesday of 

this tour. While admitting that fatigue 

could play a part in dropping 

performances but doesn't want to use 

that as an excuse for what he believes is 

a professional unit. 

"Travelling to India is always a 

wonderful tour. It's a great tour to judge 

yourself on as a player and as a coach. 

It's a great place to let yourself know 

where exactly you're at with your 

cricket," he said. "You know it's going to 

be tough when you come down here. At 

the end of the day, we're all 

professionals. Every time we walk onto 

the field, you've got to make sure your 

routines are good, make sure your 

processes are good, and you've got to 

compete." 

Unlike India, however, Pothas 

agrees, Windies don't have the luxury 

to rest and rotate their players. A bunch 

of top cricketers opting out and a weak 

bench has resulted in some of the key 

players having to be in the playing XI all 

the time. Jason Holder may have 

grown immensely as an all-rounder 

and a captain but has rarely had 

opportunities to take a break. 

Speaking on the issue, Pothas 

explains: "Jason plays a lot of cricket 

and it's not just what he does on the 

field. As a leader and as a captain he's 

doing well off it as well. He's a worldclass 

performer and he's very 

important to this team. We'll want to 

have him on the field every day for the 

365 days of the year. 

Photo: AP 

All-round Shuvagata 

secures big win for 

Dhaka in NCL 

Sports Desk: An all-round 

performance came from 

Shuvagata Hom saw Dhaka 

Division to register an innings 

and 161 runs victory over 

Dhaka Metropolis in the fifth 

round of tier-2 four-day 

National Cricket League held 

at Shaheed Chandu Stadium 

in Bogra on Wednesday, 

reports BSS. 

Dhaka Metropolis resumed 

their second innings on the 

third day with overnight score 

at 59 for 2 and finally 

dismissed at a paltry total of 

166. 

Overnight batsman 

Shadman Islam top scored 

with 66 runs in the 

Metropolis's dilapidated 

innings followed by 

Mohammad Ashraful 34. 

Taibur Rahman was the 

pick of Dhaka's bowlers as he 

claimed four wickets for 31 

runs. He was well-supported 

by Mosharraf Hossain who 

bagged three wickets for 34 

runs. Besides, Shuvagata 

Hom, after his impressive 

century in the Dhaka's first 

innings, was also shine with 

ball as he captured two 

wickets giving away 19 runs. 

Later, he was named the 

player of the match for his 

impressive performance. 

Meanwhile, the Tier-1 

match between Khulna 

Division and Barishal 

Division at the Barishal 

Divisional Stadium, and the 

Tier-2 game between 

Chittagong Division and 

Sylhet Division at the Sheikh 

Kamal International Cricket 

Stadium in Cox's Bazar did 

not see any action due to rain 

and wet outfield for the third 

day in a row. With those 

matches clearly heading for 

draws and all Tier-2 teams 

with an identical number of 

wins, losses and draws, Dhaka 

are in pole position to take top 

spot in the tier. 

Brief score: Dhaka 

Metropolis 1st innings - 59 for 

8 (dec.), Ashraful 14, Shamsur 

11, Shykat 10, Sakil 4/15 and 

Sumon 3/32. 

2nd innings - 166 for all, 

Shadman 66, Asharful 34, 

Zabid 13, Taibur 4/31, 

Mosharraf 3/34 and 

Shuvagata 2/19. 

Dhaka Division 1st innings - 

386 for all, Shuvagata 106, 

Rony 86, Taibur 56, Mazid 39, 

Shykat 4/21, Shahidul 2/47, 

Onik 2/67 and Arafat 2/146. 

Neymar inspired by ‘monster’ 

Ronaldo and ‘idol’ Messi 

Sports Desk: PSG's Neymar was 

disappointed at being hit with objects from 

the Marseille fans while taking corners, and 

hopes more can be done by French football 

authorities to stamp it out, reports AP. 

PSG's Thomas Tuchel says Kylian Mbappe 

started from the bench against Marseille due 

to disciplinary reasons even though he would 

have liked him to have started. 

PSG may have loads of talent, but Stevie 

Nicol feels the talent is more individualistic 

which causes them to not play as a team and 

under perform in big matches. 

Neymar has said that Lionel Messi is still 

his "idol," despite calling reports saying he 

wants to return to Barcelona as "fake news." 

The Brazil international is into his second 

season with the French champions and was 

recently targeted by Marseille fans throwing 

objects as PSG ran out 2-0 winners in Le 

Classique at Stade Velodrome on Sunday. 

Speaking with the Players' Tribune as part 

of a crossover interview with basketball star 

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, 

Neymar talked about playing and training 

alongside Messi, while he also had praise for 

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo. 

"I played with Messi, who is, for me, one of 

the greatest footballers of all time, and he is 

my idol in football," he said. "With Messi, I 

learned every day, whether during our 

practice, or playing with him, or just 

watching him play. That made me stronger 

and it increased my capacity on the field 

because I kept learning a lot from him. 

"As for Cristiano, he is a monster. Facing 

him is a pleasure and an honour, but we have 

to be more prepared. He is one of the 

greatest in football, so you get smarter, you 

get alert, but at the same time you learn a lot, 

too. "So, they are two of the big guys that I 

can relate to, because I want to learn, I want 

more, I want to win, I want more trophies, 

score more goals. So, I keep learning from 

them every day." Neymar, who recently 

released his own "Inked" comic book series, 

which sees tattoos come to life to fight crime, 

as explained by the comic's creators to Dan 

Hajducky at New York Comic Con, was also 

asked about the toughest moments of his 

career. 

The 26-year-old listed his World Cup 

2014-ending back injury and overcoming his 

injury earlier this year to participate in this 

summer's World Cup in Russia. 

"The first when I injured my back," he said. 

"I was living a dream, playing in a World 

Cup, and then it was over because I got 

injured. For me it was like the end of 

everything. 

"I asked myself: 'Am I ever going to be back 

on the field?' My family and my friends were 

really important for me at that moment-they 

helped me to get up again. 

"The other moment happened this year, 

after my first surgery. It was close to the 

World Cup, I did not see myself playing, and 

my family, my girlfriend [now ex Bruna 

Marquezine] and my friends stayed with methey 

made me believe in my dream: that I 

would play in a World Cup again. These two 

moments are important to me-believing in 

this comeback." 

Neymar went on to pick "amazing" fellow 

PSG and Brazil player Dani Alves as his 

funniest teammate but joked that the ex- 

Barca and Juventus man is "the oldest guy!" 

Meanwhile, former PSG goalkeeping 

coach Nicolas Dehon recalled Les Parisiens' 

infamous Champions League capitulation to 

Neymar-inspired Barca in the Champions 

League back in 2017 and suggested that rally 

still haunts certain PSG players, as well as the 

potentially decisive impact of Thiago Motta's 

absence. "Yes, I think that the PSG players 

on the pitch the night of the rally are still 

traumatised," he told RMC Sport. "Even if 

they have tasted other European 

disappointment, there are still after-effects. 

"I do not know if it is a complex, but there 

is something blocking them. Something like 

that is always in the back of your mind. The 

next time they beat a European giant 4-0 at 

home, the dressing room will cogitate." 

Neymar has said that Lionel Messi is still his idol and Cristiano is a 

monster. 

Photo: AP 

Bangladesh take on India 1st semi-final 

of SAFF U-15 Championship today 

Sports Desk: Motivated Bangladesh take on defending champions India in the first semifinal 

of the SAFF U-15 Championship scheduled to be held today at All Nepal Football 

Association (ANFA) complex ground in Kathmandu, Nepal, reports BSS. 

The match kicks off at 10.30 am (local time) that will be followed by second semi-final 

between Pakistan and host Nepal at the same venue at 14.30 pm. Earlier, the boys in red and 

green stormed into the semi-final crushing the Maldives by 9-0 goals in their opening group 

A match and emerged as group top with a 2-1 goals victory over Nepal in their second and 

final group match. 

Besides, Pakistan beat their arch-rival India by 2-1 goals in their group B opening match 

and emerged group champions defeating Bhutan by 4-0 goals in their group second match. 

The final of the championship is slated on November 3 following the third place deciding 

match. 

Squad: Bangladesh U-15 team- Rabiul Alam, Labibur Rahman, Rajon Howladar, 

Mohammad Raful Rahim, Mohammad Mahedi Hasan, Nihat Jaman Ucchash, Tuhidul Islam 

Riday, Rostom Islam Dukhu Mia, Raja Ansari, Sagor Sorkar, M Maruf Ahmed Mugdho, 

Ariful Haque Shemanto, Najmul Ahmed Sakil, Al Amin, Abu Taleb Pavez, Moinul Islam 

Moin, Kamran Uddin Raju, Mitul Marma, Mehedi Hasan, Helal Ahmed, Ashikur Rahman, 

Ibne Ahad Sakil and Rasel Ahmed. 

All-round Shuvagata secures 

big win for Dhaka in NCL 

Sports Desk: An all-round performance came from Shuvagata Hom saw Dhaka Division to 

register an innings and 161 runs victory over Dhaka Metropolis in the fifth round of tier-2 

four-day National Cricket League held at Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra on Wednesday, 

reports BSS. 

Dhaka Metropolis resumed their second innings on the third day with overnight score at 59 

for 2 and finally dismissed at a paltry total of 166. 

Overnight batsman Shadman Islam top scored with 66 runs in the Metropolis's dilapidated 

innings followed by Mohammad Ashraful 34. Taibur Rahman was the pick of Dhaka's 

bowlers as he claimed four wickets for 31 runs. He was well-supported by Mosharraf Hossain 

who bagged three wickets for 34 runs. 

Besides, Shuvagata Hom, after his impressive century in the Dhaka's first innings, was also 

shine with ball as he captured two wickets giving away 19 runs. Later, he was named the 

player of the match for his impressive performance.Earlier, Dhaka Division were all out for 

386 runs in their first innings in reply to a Metropolis first innings total of 59 for 8 (dec.). 

Meanwhile, the Tier-1 match between Khulna Division and Barishal Division at the Barishal 

Divisional Stadium, and the Tier-2 game between Chittagong Division and Sylhet Division at 

the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox's Bazar did not see any action due to 

rain and wet outfield for the third day in a row. 

With those matches clearly heading for draws and all Tier-2 teams with an identical 

number of wins, losses and draws, Dhaka are in pole position to take top spot in the tier. 

Brief score: Dhaka Metropolis 1st innings - 59 for 8 (dec.), Ashraful 14, Shamsur 11, Shykat 

10, Sakil 4/15 and Sumon 3/32. 

2nd innings - 166 for all, Shadman 66, Asharful 34, Zabid 13, Taibur 4/31, Mosharraf 3/34 

and Shuvagata 2/19. 

Dhaka Division 1st innings - 386 for all, Shuvagata 106, Rony 86, Taibur 56, Mazid 39, 

Shykat 4/21, Shahidul 2/47, Onik 2/67 and Arafat 2/146. 

Rooney urges 

Man United flops 

to show respect 

Sports Desk: Wayne 

Rooney has urged 

Manchester United's underachieving 

stars to show 

more respect for their 

troubled club, reports BSS. 

United are languishing in 

eighth place in the Premier 

League and have made a 

slow start to their 

Champions League 

campaign. 

Sunday's 2-1 win over 

Everton did little to lift the 

gloom around Old Trafford, 

with United manager Jose 

Mourinho under scrutiny 

following a spluttering run 

which has seen key players 

fail to produce consistent 

performances. Mourinho 

has clashed with United 

stars including Paul Pogba, 

Luke Shaw, Alexis Sanchez 

and Anthony Martial. And 

Rooney, who became 

United's record goalscorer 

before leaving in 2017, 

believes it is down to the 

team's highly-paid stars to 

play with more pride and 

passion regardless of their 

issues with Mourinho. 

In an interview with 

Football Focus, published 

on the BBC Sport website, 

DC United striker Rooney 

said: "Obviously they are 

going through a difficult 

period at the minute, but 

Jose Mourinho is very 

experienced and I think 

some players have to do a 

little bit better. "In my 

experience, I have never 

seen or heard of a player not 

wanting to play in the game 

because they have had a 

falling out with the manager. 

"I don't think as a player 

you could do that, you've got 

to respect the club and the 

fans and also respect your 

team-mates.

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 

BANGLADESHTODAY 10 

THE 

THURSDAy, NOveMBeR 1, 2018 

World stocks rally on strong 

US earnings reports 

Prime Bank has recently signed an agreement with DuSai Resort & Spa at Bank's head office. Shaila 

Abedin, Head of Segments of Prime Bank and Regina Nasser, Director of DuSai Resort & Spa, 

exchange documents after signing a deal. Under the deal, Prime Bank's Monarch (Priority Banking) 

Customers, credit/debit card holders and Prime Bank employees will enjoy preferential pricing at 

DuSai Resort & Spa. 

Photo: Courtesy 

Pacific rim trade pact goes ahead 

after Australia ratifies 

The Pacific rim trade pact abandoned 

by President Donald Trump will take 

effect at the year's end after Australia 

became the sixth nation to ratify it. 

Australia announced Wednesday 

that it had completed procedures 

needed for the trade arrangement, the 

Comprehensive and Progressive Trans- 

Pacific Partnership, to progress. It will 

take effect Dec. 30. 

The deal is aimed at streamlining 

trade and slashing tariffs to facilitate 

more business activities between 

member nations with a combined 

population of nearly 500 million people 

and GDP of $13.5 trillion. 

"Our ratification means we are 

guaranteeing maximum benefits for 

our farmers and businesses," Simon 

Birmingham, minister for Trade, 

Tourism and Development, said in a 

statement. He said the deal would bring 

annual benefits of up to $15.6 billion to 

the Australian economy by 2030. 

The 11 nations remaining after the 

U.S. withdrawal in early 2017 amended 

the pact to enable it to take effect even 

without its participation. Japan, 

Canada, Mexico and Singapore also 

have ratified it. 

The U.S. departure was a huge loss 

given the size of the American market. 

However other countries are said to be 

interested in joining the trade deal, 

which is seen as a first step toward a 

pan-Pacific free trade zone. 

Trump said he was putting "America 

first" in seeking bilateral deals rather 

than broader ones like the Trans- 

Pacific Partnership. But U.S. Treasury 

Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier 

this year that the U.S. would consider 

rejoining the pact after it deals with 

other priorities. 

Other TPP member countries have 

said they hope the U.S. will rejoin, 

while emphasizing their commitment 

to the global trading system that has 

enabled many of them to build thriving 

modern economies. 

Nearly two-dozen stipulations sought 

by the U.S. in the original TPP deal 

reportedly were shelved after 

Washington withdrew, watering down 

somewhat the plan proclaimed by the 

Obama administration of being the 

"gold standard" for 21st century trade 

rules. 

China manufacturing 

weakens to 2-year low 

amid trade battles 

China's manufacturing 

activity fell to a two-year low in 

October as domestic demand 

weakened, an official measure 

showed Wednesday, adding to 

pressure on Beijing to shore 

up economic growth amid a 

tariff war with Washington. 

The purchasing managers' 

index of the National Bureau 

of Statistics and an industry 

group, the China of Logistics 

and Purchasing, fell to 50.2 

from September's 50.8 on a 

100-point scale on which 

numbers above 50 show 

activity expanding. 

Export orders weakened but 

the biggest impact was from 

cooling domestic demand. 

Auto and real estate sales have 

slumped since Beijing 

tightened lending controls last 

year to rein in a debt boom. 

"Short-term downward 

economic pressure is relatively 

large," economist Zhang 

Liqun said in a statement 

released with the PMI. 

Beijing needs to cut taxes, 

ease lending curbs and take 

others steps to "boost 

confidence in China's private 

sector," Citigroup economists 

said in a report. 

Chinese exports to the 

United States have been 

unexpectedly resilient since 

U.S. President Donald 

Trump's first tariff hikes took 

effect in July in a battle over 

Beijing's technology policy. 

Some of that is due to 

exporters rushing to fill orders 

ahead of duty increases. But 

producers of higher-valueadded 

goods such as factory 

and medical equipment 

express confidence they can 

keep their U.S. market share 

even with higher prices. 

"Softer foreign demand 

doesn't appear to be the main 

culprit," said Julian Evans- 

Pritchard of Capital 

Economics in a report. 

The monthly measure for 

new orders tumbled 1.2 points 

to 50.8, according to NBS and 

the logistics federation. The 

new export order index 

declined 1.1 points to 46.9. 

The report gave no details 

on U.S. demand for Chinese 

goods, but exports to the 

United States have risen by at 

least 13 percent over a year 

earlier each month since 

Trump's first tariff hikes. 

The tariff impact "could 

become more material" if 

companies start to shift supply 

chains out of China to avoid 

higher U.S. charges, said the 

Citigroup economists. 

China's $12 trillion-a-year 

economy already was cooling 

as communist leaders tried to 

steer it toward more selfsustaining 

growth based on 

domestic consumption 

instead of exports and 

investment. 

Economic growth in the 

three months ending in 

September slipped to 6.5 

percent over a year earlier 

from the previous quarter's 6.7 

percent. It was the slowest rate 

since early 2009 during the 

global financial crisis. 

The relative strength of 

China's economy has allowed 

President Xi Jinping's 

government to reject pressure 

for changes in initiatives such 

as "Made in China 2025" that 

call for state-led creation of 

champions in robotics and 

other technologies. 

Washington, Europe and 

other trading partners say 

those plans violate Beijing's 

market-opening obligations. 

The International Monetary 

Fund and other forecasters 

expect this year's economic 

growth to fall to about 6.5 

percent from 2017's 6.8 

percent. 

Central enterprises 

undertake more than 

3,000 OBOR projects 

State-owned enterprises under the direct administration of 

the central government have undertaken 3,116 projects in 

countries along the "Belt and Road" initiative, mainly in 

areas of infrastructure construction and energy and resource 

development, The Paper said, reports Arab news. 

The number of projects undertaken accounts for about 

50% of the infrastructure projects started and scheduled to 

start, while the contract amount accounts for more than 70% 

of the total. 

The overseas expansion is targeting infrastructure 

construction first, then expanding to energy development. 

The next step will be capacity cooperation, said Weng 

Jieming, deputy director of the State-owned Assets 

Supervision and Administration Commission. 

At the end of 2017, there were 10,791 entities of the central 

enterprises overseas, distributed in 185 countries, with total 

overseas assets exceeding 7 trillion yuan. 

Annual operating income was 4.7 trillion yuan and total 

profit was 106.4 billion yuan, Weng added. 

Birmingham, the Australian trade 

minister, said the deal would help 

farmers gain better access to Canada's 

market for grains, sugar and beef, and 

to Mexico's market for pork, wheat, 

sugar and other farm products. 

It will also help iron and steel, leather, 

paper products and medical equipment 

manufacturers who export $19 billion 

annually to other markets within the 

trade pact, he said. 

For New Zealand, the trade 

arrangement will bring duty-free access 

for its exporters of wine, meats, wool, 

timber and fisheries products, the 

government said in a statement. 

The countries that have not yet 

ratified the agreement are Vietnam, 

Malaysia, Brunei, Peru and Chile. 

Separate efforts are underway to 

forge a free trade arrangement within 

Asia called the Regional 

Comprehensive Economic Partnership, 

which encompasses the 10 members of 

the Association of Southeast Asian 

Nations, or ASEAN, as well as Japan, 

South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, 

India and China, but not the United 

States. 

Peppa Pig 

debuts in 

Shanghai after 

controversy 

Peppa Pig's family, 

including Danny Dog and 

Rebecca Rabbit, have finally 

landed in Shanghai, reports 

Arab news. 

The Peppa Pig World of 

Play is now officially open in 

Shanghai LC Mall in 

Pudong. There, children can 

immerse themselves in the 

world of a pink cartoon pig 

in Peppa's 1,100-squaremeter 

indoor play area. 

Despite being known 

worldwide since first 

emerging in 2004, this 

marks the first time that 

characters from the popular 

British pre-school animated 

television series have made 

claim to Chinese territory. 

This, despite the cute 

cartoon having caused what 

is known in China as "Peppa 

Pig virus" earlier this year. 

Six month ago, Peppa Pig 

videos were removed from 

Douyin, China's most 

popular video platform, after 

state media said the 

character was being used 

subversively. 

In a commentary, Global 

Times said, "After Peppa Pig 

started to take on this 

subversive hue and 

subsequently went viral, 

some experts said the 

popularity of the cartoon 

demonstrates the social 

psychology of (content) 

which could potentially 

hamper positive societal 

morals." Ironically, the 

hugely popular cartoon 

character devised for a preschool 

audience found mass 

appeal with Chinese adults, 

many of whom resorted to 

the character for tattoos, 

jokes and even sexually 

suggestive content. 

As a result, the Peppa Pig 

hashtag and content were 

blacklisted by Douyin. The 

ban, however, did not 

extend to other domestic pig 

cartoons, which quickly 

stepped up to fill the gap. 

Global markets were broadly higher 

on Wednesday after big American 

companies reported strong earnings 

for the third quarter, soothing fears 

that rising interest rates may deter 

corporate investment. 

Keeping Score: In Europe, Britain's 

FTSE 100 rebounded 1.7 percent to 

7,151.86. Germany's DAX rose 1.6 

percent to 11,471.98 and France's CAC 

40 rallied 2.1 percent to 5,080.74. 

Wall Street was set for early gains. 

Dow futures added 0.6 percent to 

24,997.00. The broader S&P 500 

futures was 0.7 percent higher at 

2,703.90. 

Asia's Day: Japan's Nikkei 225 

index jumped 2.2 percent to 

21,920.46 and the Shanghai 

Composite index added 1.4 percent to 

2,602.78. Hong Kong's Hang Seng 

rose 1.6 percent to 24,979.69. The 

Kospi in South Korea gained 0.7 

percent to 2,029.69. Australia's S&P- 

ASX 200 reversed early losses, 

finishing the day 0.4 percent higher at 

5,830.30. Shares were higher in 

Taiwan and throughout Southeast 

Asia. 

U.S. Earnings: Big companies 

including Mondelez, which makes 

Oreos, Cadbury chocolates and 

Trident gum, reported strong 

quarterly earnings on Tuesday. 

Mondelez's stocks rose by the most in 

a year, gaining 5 percent to $42.12, 

after it announced third-quarter 

profits that surpassed market 

expectations. Athletic apparel maker 

Under Armour also posted strong 

quarterly earnings. Even Facebook's 

shares inched higher in after-hours 

trading after it reported revenue that 

was slightly under projections. This 

assuaged concerns that steady 

interest rate hikes by the Federal 

Reserve are raising the cost of 

borrowing. Another increase is 

expected later this year, with more to 

come in 2019. 

Eurozone Data: According to 

statistics agency Eurostat, growth in 

the 19-country eurozone slowed in the 

third quarter, its weakest 

performance in more than four years. 

The agency said the eurozone 

economy expanded by 0.2 percent in 

the July-September period, half that 

of the previous quarter. It did not give 

reasons for why growth slowed, but 

economists said Italy's budget 

standoff and uncertainty surrounding 

Britain's exit deal was may have 

shaken investor confidence. 

Analyst's Take: "Global economic 

fundamentals are still intact. 

Although growth has slowed in the 

third quarter for most economies, it's 

not contracting," Francis Tan, an 

investment strategist at UOB private 

bank, said in an interview. "The drop 

in global equities this month, to the 

tune of $8 trillion, makes it an 

irresistible thesis for investors to get 

StanChart signals 

gloom on escalating 

US-China trade war 

back into the action," he said. 

Chinese PMI: On Wednesday, 

China reported that its official 

manufacturing purchasing managers' 

index slowed to 50.2 in October from 

50.8 a month earlier. Figures had 

declined across the board except for 

production outlook, which was 

unchanged. Readings above 50 

indicate expansion, while lower 

numbers indicate contraction on the 

index's 100-point scale. Still, 

sentiment was supported by an open 

call from the Chinese government to 

funds to support the equity markets. 

Bank Of Japan: As expected, 

Japan's central bank kept its 

monetary stance intact as it wrapped 

up its latest policy meeting. The Bank 

of Japan kept the key interest rate at 

minus 0.1 percent and its target for 

long-term bond rates at around zero. 

The bank also downgraded its GDP 

forecast for the fiscal year through 

March, to 1.4 percent from 1.5 

percent, with an estimate of 0.8 

percent for the following fiscal year. 

Energy: Benchmark U.S. crude 

added 34 cents to $66.52 per barrel in 

electronic trading on the New York 

Mercantile Exchange. The contract 

dropped 86 cents to settle at $66.18 a 

barrel in New York. Brent crude, used 

to price international oils, gained 65 

cents to $76.60 per barrel. In the 

previous session, it dropped $1.42 to 

$75.95 a barrel. 

Md. Abdul Kader Joaddar appointed Country Chief 

Financial Officer of Standard Chartered Bangladesh 

Md. Abdul Kader Joaddar 

has been appointed as 

Country Chief Financial 

Officer of Standard 

Chartered Bangladesh. He 

will be a member of the 

Bank's 

Country 

Management Team in 

Bangladesh. Prior to joining 

Standard Chartered, he was 

working as the deputy 

managing director and CFO 

of Brac Bank Limited, a 

press release said. 

Speaking about the 

appointment, Naser Ezaz 

Bijoy, CEO, Standard 

Chartered Bank 

Bangladesh said, "I am 

delighted that Joaddar is 

taking the helm of our 

Finance team. With his 

deep pool of expertise, 

global exposure, drive and 

integrity, I have no doubt 

that Joaddar will become a 

core part of the Bank's 

leadership team as we strive 

Standard Chartered's core 

emerging markets face 

increasing risks from the 

escalating Sino-US trade war, 

the bank warned on 

Wednesday after reporting 

better than expected quarterly 

profit reports Arab news. 

The downbeat comments 

on global trade reflect a more 

pessimistic tone than the 

Asia-focused lender's 

statement in July, in which 

CEO Bill Winters said he saw 

a "minimal" hit to the bank's 

performance from the US- 

China spat. 

The 150-year-old British 

lender is particularly sensitive 

to such tensions, given its 

focus on financing trade 

between Asia, Africa and 

other parts of the world. 

StanChart's pretax profit for 

the three months to Sept. 30 

jumped 31 percent year on 

year to $1.1 billion, beating 

consensus analyst forecasts of 

$978 million. The 

outperformance was helped 

by a reduction in nonperforming 

loans, while worse 

than expected revenue of $3.7 

billion demonstrated the 

bank's continuing struggle to 

boost the top line. 

"Escalating trade tension 

and other macroeconomic 

to drive commerce and 

prosperity of Bangladesh." 

In his career spanning 

over 19 years, Joaddar has 

acquired extensive 

experience within Banking 

factors are affecting sentiment 

in emerging markets," 

StanChart said in one of the 

grimmest predictions on the 

issue by a global bank. 

The world's top two 

economies are already waging 

a tariff war, with US duties 

placed on $250 billion worth 

of Chinese goods and Chinese 

duties on $110 billion of US 

goods. 

StanChart finance chief 

Andy Halford said that, as "an 

indirect effect" of the trade 

war on its wealth 

management and parts of the 

financial markets business, 

the bank had seen some 

clients transacting less and 

adopting a risk-off attitude. 

Wealth management 

income in the quarter 

dropped 4.7 percent from a 

year earlier to $465 million. 

"Standard Chartered is a 

poster child for all the major 

risks circulating the sector - 

global slowdown, trade 

wars, regulatory overhang," 

said KBW analyst Edward 

Firth, adding that the bank's 

share price has reflected 

those risks. 

The better than expected 

profit, however, cheered 

investors. The bank's Londonlisted 

stock was up 6 percent 

and Life Insurance industry 

in the areas of finance, 

performance management, 

financial controls, 

budgeting, forecasting, 

liquidity, balance sheet & 

in morning trade, making it 

the best performer on the 

blue-chip FTSE 100 index. 

British rival HSBC this week 

posted a surprise 28 percent 

rise in third-quarter earnings 

and said the impact of the 

trade war was "not yet 

manifesting itself." 

StanChart reported 

operating expenses of $2.51 

billion for the quarter, up 1.2 

percent year on year, and said 

income growth had been hit 

by sluggish business in Africa 

and the Middle East. 

"But growth fundamentals 

remain solid across our 

markets and we are 

cautiously optimistic on 

global economic growth," 

CEO Winters said. 

The bank is pressing on 

with its application for a 

banking license in Saudi 

Arabia, CFO Halford said on 

Wednesday, despite global 

outrage over the murder of a 

journalist in the country's 

Turkish embassy. 

Winters embarked on a 

sweeping restructuring in 

2015 to weed out a persistent 

bad loan problem and 

improve senior bankers' 

accountability, but StanChart 

has struggled in recent years 

to grow income. 

capital management, 

corporate tax management, 

payments. Joaddar had 

served Standard Chartered 

Bank for 12 years (2003 to 

2015), performing with 

distinction as Financial 

Controller of Standard 

Chartered UAE operation 

from 2006 to 2012. He had 

also performed the role of 

acting CFO for UAE and 

was engaged as Global 

Process Manager for 

General Ledger and 

Accounting - Finance 

Transformation Program. 

Joaddar is a Chartered 

Accountant, qualified in 

2001 from KPMG 

Bangladesh, under the 

Institute of Chartered 

Accountants of Bangladesh 

(ICAB). He also graduated 

with honours in 

Accountancy from the 

business faculty under the 

University of Dhaka. 

OnePlus aims 

to become 

mainstream 

US brand 

Chinese smartphone 

brand OnePlus has deftly 

moved into the sales channel 

of major US carrier T- 

Mobile, aiming to enter the 

mainstream American 

market, The Paper reported, 

reports Arab news. 

Liu Zuohu, CEO of 

OnePlus, said the company 

has reached a landmark deal 

with T-Mobile to sell their 

new product, the 6T, in 

more than 5,600 T-Mobile 

stores across the United 

States from the beginning of 

November. 

As a Shenzhen-based 

startup less than five years 

old, OnePlus is taking the 

high-end boutique route - 

only producing one or two 

flagship products every year. 

The sales channel of the 

US mobile phone market is 

currently dominated by 

telecom operators. 

Relevant statistics show 

that 72% of phone sales were 

made in the stores of AT&T, 

Sprint, T-Mobile and 

Verizon, the four major 

telecom operators in the US. 

The proportion of open 

channels is small. 

T-Mobile is the thirdlargest 

operator in the US, 

with an average growth of 

one million users per 

quarter. With more than 1.6 

million users, it is the second 

fastest growing company 

after Verizon.

MISCELLANEOUS 

THuRsDAY, NOvemBeR 1, 2018 

11 

Biden laments Trump-era tone, 

offers possible 2020 preview 

Former Vice President Joe Biden 

bemoaned the tone of Trump-era 

politics at a campaign stop in Iowa on 

Tuesday, previewing on his first trip to 

the leadoff caucus state how he might 

take on the Republican president 

should he seek the 2020 Democratic 

presidential nomination. 

"It's our leaders who need to set the 

tone and dial down the temperature 

and restore some dignity to our 

national dialogue," Biden said in Cedar 

Rapids while stumping for Iowa's 

Democratic gubernatorial candidate 

and a House candidate from northeast 

Iowa. Biden was on a trip across the 

Midwest campaigning for Democrats 

in states that President Donald Trump 

carried in 2016. 

But the Iowa stop had special 

significance as Biden weighs a third bid 

for the presidency. 

Other rising national Democrats 

eyeing 2020 have visited the early 

testing ground in recent weeks. 

Biden entered the hall to cheers from 

the crowd of more than 1,000. 

"Hello, Iowa. Hello, Cedar Rapids. 

It's been a long time," said Biden, a 

former Delaware senator who has been 

making trips to Iowa since his early 

campaign for the 1988 Democratic 

nomination. 

Biden quickly pivoted from 

pleasantries to attacking Trump's 

moral leadership, indirectly charging 

him with accommodating intolerance 

as president. He said moral leadership 

was particularly important after the 

slayings of 11 people on Saturday at a 

Pittsburgh synagogue, the deadliest 

anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. 

Biden also noted the two African- 

Americans shot dead at a Kentucky 

grocery store and the wave of pipe 

bombs addressed to prominent Trump 

critics, including Biden himself. 

"Three times this past week the forces 

of hate have terrorized our fellow 

Americans for their political beliefs, the 

color of their skin or their religion," 

Biden noted. 

"What the hell is happening to us?" 

Biden thundered. "Our children are 

listening!" 

Josh Murphy, a Cedar Rapids 

teacher, said he liked Biden's 

forcefulness and hoped Biden runs. 

Biden says he'll decide by early next 

year. 

"He'll take on Trump word for word," 

Murphy said. 

Mary Charipar, a retired Cedar 

Rapids teacher, has mixed feelings. 

"In one sense, I feel he could unite the 

country because everybody loves Joe," 

Charipar said. "But I also feel we need a 

change." 

Biden began the day in Wisconsin 

campaigning for Democratic Sen. 

Tammy Baldwin and Democratic 

gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers, 

who is trying to unseat Republican Gov. 

Scott Walker. 

He was in Ohio on Monday and was 

scheduled to campaign in Missouri on 

Wednesday. Both have competitive 

Senate races. 

NATO says Russian missile test not 

to change its massive exercise plans 

NATO said Tuesday the alliance will 

not change its plans for its biggest 

military exercise since the end of the 

Cold War in Norway after Russia 

announced to test missiles later this 

week in nearby international waters. 

"We were notified last week about the 

planned Russian missile test outside the 

coast here," NATO Secretary General 

Jens Stoltenberg told a press conference 

before an exercise demonstration at a 

waterfront site near Trondheim in 

central Norway. 

"I expect Russia to behave in a 

professional way and it will not change 

the plans of our exercise," he said. 

According to Norway's local media 

reports, the country's civil airport 

operator Avinor has been informed by 

Russian aviation authorities of the 

missile test that will take place on Nov. 

1-3. 

The NATO chief noted that Russia has 

significant naval forces in this area and 

is regularly exercising its maritime 

capabilities off the coast of Norway. 

"We will of course monitor closely 

what Russia does, but they operate in 

international waters and they have 

notified us in the normal way," 

Stoltenberg said. 

Tuesday's hour-long joint 

demonstration with various military 

scenarios was a show of forces for NATO 

dignitaries, foreign observers and the 

international press. 

It was part of the Trident Juncture 

2018 exercise that involves around 

50,000 participants from all 29 NATO 

member nations and its partners 

Sweden and Finland, with about 250 

aircraft, 65 vessels and up to 10,000 

vehicles. 

Russia has said the NATO drills in 

Northern Europe, which started on Oct. 

25 and run through Nov.7, are obviously 

anti-Russian and they lead to 

deterioration of military and political 

situation in the region, according to 

Russia's Sputnik news agency. 

"It is obvious that this fighting 

capabilities demonstration has a distinct 

anti-Russian character," the Russian 

Foreign Ministry's Information and 

Press Department was quoted as saying 

in a statement on Thursday. 

"It has a negative effect on the security 

of all the neighboring countries," it said. 

Russia has also complained that the 

levels of military activities conducted 

by NATO near Russian borders have 

been higher than ever since the Cold 

War. 

Israel to establish 

its first autonomous 

bus system by 2020 

The Israeli southern city of 

Ashdod will establish the 

first autonomous bus 

system in the Jewish 

country after an agreement 

with Singapore's ST 

Engineering company, the 

financial website Calcalist 

reported Tuesday. 

According to the 

agreement, tests will be 

conducted in Ashdod 

using the sensors and 

algorithms of the city's 

autonomous driving 

system, the report said. 

The Israeli company 

Blue White Robotics, 

which has created an 

accurate digital map of the 

city, will run the 

experiments, it added. 

The system is expected 

to come into operation by 

2020, according to the 

report. 

Hong Kong 

journalist, 

martial arts 

novelist Louis 

Cha dies 

Louis Cha, a Hong Kong 

journalist and bestselling 

Chinese martial 

arts novelist, has died at 

age 94 after a long illness. 

The Hong Kong 

newspaper founded by 

Cha, Ming Pao Daily 

News, said he passed 

away Tuesday at a Hong 

Kong hospital. 

Cha's novels about 

ancient Chinese swordsmen 

have sold millions and are 

among the most widely 

read in the Chinesespeaking 

world. 

They inspired film 

adaptations, TV and 

radio dramas, comic 

books and videogames, 

and greatly influenced 

Hong Kong popular 

culture. 

They include "The 

Heaven Sword and the 

Dragon Saber," about a 

kindhearted hero who is 

indecisive but uses his 

kung fu skills to unify a 

divided gang and is 

elected its leader, and 

"The Eagle-Shooting 

Heroes," about a tragic 

hero who sacrifices his 

life in guarding the 

country against invading 

Mongolians. 

Cha was born in 1924 in 

Hangzhou in mainland 

China and graduated from 

the Law School of Suzhou 

in 1948, the South China 

Morning Post said. 

He had planned to 

become a diplomat, but 

began work as a journalist 

in 1947 to support his 

studies. The communist 

revolution in 1949 closed 

off his opportunities to 

enter diplomacy. 

Cha's first novel, "The 

Book and the Sword," 

was published in 1955 

and became an instant 

hit. He went on to write 

14 martial arts novels, 

often under the pen 

name Jin Yong. 

Walmart plans to make 

checkout easier this 

holiday season 

U.S. retailer Walmart 

plans to introduce new 

technologies in order to 

give its shoppers a better 

checkout experience this 

year's holiday season, the 

company said on 

Tuesday. 

The company will 

switch on a new function 

called "check out with 

me" on Nov. 1, allowing 

customers to pay at the 

exact location where the 

goods were stacked up. 

By paying at Walmart 

associates in the busiest 

areas of the stores, the 

shoppers will receive a 

paper or electronic 

receipt for their 

GD-1367/18 (4 x 3) 

GD-1368/18 (5 x 3) 

purchase, helping them 

to bypass the regular 

waiting lines. 

In addition, Walmart 

said it will provide a map 

for each store on its 

mobile app, helping 

shoppers to find their 

favorite items faster and 

easier. 

This will also be the 

first U.S. holiday season 

during which customers 

can shop on Walmart's 

new website. 

The new website will 

introduce curated and 

editorial content, helping 

shoppers to discovery 

what they need easier. 

Moreover, the company 

said that its customers 

can receive free, two-day 

shipping on millions of 

items from marketplace 

sellers without a 

membership fee. 

"The new site, 

combined with 

thousands of new brands, 

curated holiday 

solutions, and our free, 

two-day shipping as well 

as pickup offerings, will 

make it that much easier 

for customers to shop 

Walmart.com this 

holiday season," said 

Scott Hilton, chief 

revenue officer of 

Walmart eCommerce 

U.S. 

Dbœq‡bi MYZš¿ 

†kL nvwmbvi g~jgš¿ 

GD-1370/18 (10 x 4) 

GD-1365/18 (5 x 4)

UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY 

THURSDAy, DHAKA, NovEMBER 1, 2018, KARTIK 17, 1425 BS, SAfAR 21, 1440 HIjRI 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated Sheikh Rasel Gastro liver Institute and Hospital on 

Wednesday at Mohakhali in the capital. 


Country to get 5 more medical 

universities, says PM 

Now, Ershad 

writes to PM 

seeking dialogue 

DHAKA : As the Prime 

Minister has responded to the 

requests of political parties 

and alliances to engage in 

talks, Jatiya Party (JaPa) 

Chairman HM Ershad on 

Wednesday sent a letter to 

Sheikh Hasina seeking dialogue 

with her party over the 

upcoming general election, 

reports UNB. 

Sunil Shuvo Roy, press and 

political secretary to JaPa 

Chairman HM Ershad, handed 

over the letter to the Prime 

Minister's Office around 12:15 

pm. 

Ershad, on behalf of United 

National Alliance (Shammilito 

Jatiya Jote), signed the letter, 

Sunil Shuvo Roy told UNB. 

On Sunday, Dr Kamal 

Hossain, in favour of Jatiya 

Oikyafront, sent a letter to 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

seeking dialogue. In response 

to it, Sheikh Hasina sent a letter 

to Dr Kamal on Tuesday 

morning and invited 

Oikyafront leaders to join the 

dialogue at 7 pm on Thursday 

at Ganobhaban. 

Bangladesh shouldn’t rely 

too much on overseas 

borrowing: ADBI chief 

DHAKA : Bangladesh 

needs to mobilise domestic 

investment alongside 

increasing it in infrastructure 

with 'spillover 

tax revenues' not relying 

too much on overseas 

money as infrastructural 

needs in Bangladesh 

remain enormous, says a 

global development 

expert, reports UNB. 

"Infrastructure needs 

in Bangladesh are huge. 

If you rely too much on 

overseas money, that will 

hurt the development," 

Naoyuki Yoshino, Dean 

of the Asian 

Development Bank 

Institute (ADBI), told 

UNB in an interview at 

the ADB office here. 

The expert, also 

Professor Emeritus at 

Keio University, Japan, 

said the public money 

and money from the 

international lending 

agencies are not enough 

considering the huge 

infrastructural needs in 

Bangladesh. 

"I see traffic jam in 

Dhaka is getting heavier. 

That means you have 

lack of infrastructure and 

transportation," he said 

adding that it is important 

to explore how to 

bring private sector in 

order to construct infrastructure. 

"And the key is 

how to increase the rate 

of return from the investment." 

Prof Yoshino who leads 

the ADBI, the world's 

second best governmentaffiliated 

think tank, said 

many construction companies 

are interested in 

constructing railways, 

highways but they do not 

care about development 

of surrounding areas and 

inclusiveness. 

"They've to realise that 

lots of poor people are 

living in surrounding 

areas and think of how to 

provide finance to them 

and help them start their 

own small business, 

shops, restaurants," he 

mentioned. 

Prof Yoshino encouraged 

Bangladesh to give 

attention more on insurance, 

pension funds, and 

other savings saying it is 

very important for 

Bangladesh to start 

increasing savings - 

short-, medium- and 

long-term to address 

infrastructural investment 

needs. 

DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina on Wednesday promised to set 

up five more medical universities in five 

divisional headquarters if her party is 

reelected in the next national election. 

"...if we can form the government again, 

then Inshallah we'll set up five more 

medical universities in five divisional 

headquarters," she said, reports UNB. 

The Prime Minister said this while 

inaugurating the 250-bed Sheikh Russel 

Gastrolever Institute and Hospital at 

Mohakhali in the city. 

Currently, Bangabandhu Sheikh 

Mujib Medical University is in operation 

in Dhaka, while medical universities in 

Rajshahi, Sylhet and Chattogram are 

under construction. 

About the national election, Sheikh 

Hasina said the election can be held 90 

days prior to the completion of the 

Parliament's tenure. "The Election 

Commission may announce the election 

schedule any time...we'll participate in 

the election," she said. 

She mentioned that if people vote for 

the Awami League again it will be possible 

for the party to serve them. "If there's 

the continuity [of the govt] we'll be able 

to achieve the targets we have set." 

The Prime Minister said the birth centenary 

of Father of the Nation 

The Disgusting Food Museum 

INTERESTING NEWS 

A new museum aimed to assault the 

olfactory senses of visitors and churn 

their stomach opened yesterday in 

Sweden’s third largest city, Malmo. 

Inside are various exhibits that some 

cultures supposedly eat, such as fermented 

shark meat, bull penis, fermented 

herring, maggot cheese and 

ant larvae. It’s so bad that the museum 

provide visitors with vomit bags before 

they enter. 

“I want people to question what they 

find disgusting and realize that disgust 

is always in the eye of the beholder,” 

said Samuel West, the founder of the 

Disgusting Food Museum, who is also 

known for the Museum of Failure. 

“We usually find things we're not 

familiar with disgusting, versus things 

that we grow up with and are familiar 

with are not disgusting, regardless of 

what it is.” 

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 

will be celebrated in 2020, while the 

Golden Jubilee of the Independence will 

be observed in 2021. The government 

fixed 2041 to make the country as a 

developed one while formulated the 

Delta Plan 2100 to make it a prosperous 

one for the future generation, she added. 

"We'll build the country for the future 

generation imbued with the spirit of the 

Liberation War as dreamt by the Father 

of the Nation to make it as hunger- and 

poverty-free one," Hasina said. The 

Prime Minister urged the physicians to 

serve people taking the profession with 

the great devotion and dedication. She 

put emphasis on research works to find 

out the diseases that the people of the 

country suffer from most and what type 

of medicines will be more effective for 

them. "I think, research on this issue is 

very much important." 

The Prime Minister mentioned that 

the main objective of the medical universities 

will be to conduct research. 

"Research works will be conducted in 

the medical universities firstly, while 

medical colleges will be affiliated with 

these universities in their respective 

areas. The medical universities will take 

care of the standards of the curricula of 

the medical colleges," she said. 

Many foods are universally appealing, 

but others can be more of an 

acquired taste. There are approximately 

80 food exhibits in the museum 

belonging to the latter category. A 

large number of these delicacies are 

from Asia and Europe, with China 

leading followed by, surprisingly, the 

United States. Indeed, there are more 

entries from the United States than 

from Central and South America, 

Africa and Australia. Some US 

favorites that made it to the list include 

the classic processed food Spam and 

Twinkies, and root beer, as well as Jell- 

O salad with pasta in it and Pop-Tarts. 

But the truly disgusting might be the 

Rocky Mountain oysters, which are 

deep-fried bull testicles. 

There are some exhibits that might 

actually taste pretty good, but their 

preparation causes extreme suffering 

for the animals being eaten. 

Chaired by Health and Family Welfare 

Minister Mohammad Nasim, the inaugural 

programme, was also addressed, 

by State Minister for Health and Family 

Welfare Ministry Zahid Maleque, PM's 

personal physician Dr Mohammad 

Sirajul Islam Shishir and Family 

Welfare Secretary (Health Services 

Division) Md Serajul Huq Khan. 

The Prime Minister asked the administrative 

officials, doctors and all other 

concerned for proper operation and 

maintenance of the medical institutes 

and hospitals to ensure healthcare services 

to people. She said the government 

is trying hard to reach the health 

services to the doorsteps of people. 

Hasina said Bangladesh is moving 

ahead which will certainly continue in 

the coming days. 

On the occasion, the Prime Minister 

inaugurated the newly-constructed 

National Institute of Laboratory 

Medicine and Referral Centre and laid 

the foundation stone of the vertical 

extensions of the National Institute of 

Mental Health Hospital, Suharawardi 

Hospital, Institute of Kidney Diseases 

and Urology Hospital, Mugda 

Hospital-Dhaka, Asthma Center- 

Dhaka and Health Management 

Institute in Savar. 

HC asks EC not 

to accept BNP's 

amended charter 

DHAKA : The High Court 

on Wednesday asked the 

Election Commission not to 

accept the amended Article 7 

of BNP's constitution and 

dispose of the petition in this 

regard within a month, 

reports UNB. 

A HC bench of Justice Md 

Ashfaqul Islam and Justice 

Mohammad Ali passed the 

order following a petition 

filed by Mozammel Hossain, 

a resident of the city's Kafrul 

area. 

The BNP's amended charter 

has deleted the provision 

against bankrupt, insane, 

corrupt or notorious individuals 

from being BNP candidate 

for contesting Jatiya 

Sangsad elections. 

It has been replaced with a 

provision that the chief of 

BNP will hold the office of 

the chairperson; and any 

person less than 30 years 

cannot be the head of the 

party. 

Advocate Momtaz Uddin 

Ahmed Mehedi stood for the 

petitioner while deputy 

attorney general Al Amin 

Sarker and assistant attorney 

general KM Masud Rumi 

represented the state. 

Advocate Momtaz Uddin 

Ahmed Mehedi, said 

Mozammel, a BNP activist, 

filed a petition with the 

Election Commission on 

Tuesday seeking not to grant 

the constitutional amendment 

of BNP. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurat the newly constructed the central jail in Sylhet 

today. 


Denmark to provide US$ 4.6 m 

more for Rohingyas 

DHAKA : Danish Minister 

for Development 

Cooperation Ulla 

Tornæs on Wednesday 

announced additional funding 

of US$ 4.6 million to 

meet the urgent food needs 

of Rohingyas and host communities, 

reports UNB. 

Tornæs said they are 

doing whatever they can to 

put pressure on the government 

of Myanmar to make 

sure that a political solution 

to the Rohingya crisis is 

found. 

"I can assure you that 

from the Danish government 

side we're putting all 

the pressures that we can 

do," said the Danish 

Minister at a joint press conference 

in a city hotel mentioning 

that Denmark 

remains committed to 

standing by Bangladesh. 

Earlier, the Danish 

Minister and Executive 

Director of the United 

Nations World Food 

Programme (WFP) David 

Beasley jointly visited 

Rohingya camps in 

Kutupalong-Balukhali of 

Cox's Bazar district. 

Denmark has allocated 

US$ 13 million to WFP's 

efforts in relation to the crisis 

since August 2017. 

The Danish Minister said 

her government remains 

committed to supporting 

those affected with both 

humanitarian and development 

assistance. 

She stressed the need for 

further cooperation, dialogue 

and sustained efforts 

from the international community. 

"It has been one year since 

I last visited these camps. 

I'm pleased to see positive 

changes. Indeed, the 

resilience demonstrated by 

the Rohingya community is 

evident to us all. I'm 

impressed with the results 

of the combined efforts of 

the international community 

and the government of 

Bangladesh," the Danish 

Minister added. 

There is of course much 

more needs to be done, 

Minister Tornæs said 

adding, "Yet, I must express 

appreciation for the work 

the WFP is carrying out in 

support of 870,000 refugees 

with protection, food and 

shelter." 

She said those who are 

responsible for atrocities 

committed against 

Rohingyas should be held 

accountable and laid 

emphasis on implementation 

of the Kofi Annan 

Commission recommendations 

and create conducive 

environment in 

Rakhine. 

Responding to a question, 

the Danish minister said the 

sanctions should be directed 

towards individuals who are 

responsible. "This means 

towards specific military 

persons. This has been supported 

by Denmark very 

strongly." 

She said it is very important 

that when they talk 

about sanctions, this has to 

be done in a clever and very 

careful way. "Introducing 

sanctions in general, I 

believe, would hurt 

Myanmar people, including 

the Rohingyas in Rakhine." 

Beasley said he was 

haunted by the stories he 

heard here in Cox's Bazar 

from the people who survived 

unspeakable persecution 

in Myanmar last year. 

"Returning to these camps 

now I'm heartened by the 

obvious improvements and 

I'm more determined than 

ever that the WFP will stand 

with those in need." 

He, however, said more 

work needs to be done to 

support the Rohingya people 

and local Bangladeshi 

communities. 

Beasley said the international 

community needs to 

work with Bangladesh to 

give the Rohingya children 

not just hope for a better 

future, but also the tools to 

thrive, including food, 

health and education. 

3 killed in 

Kushtia, 

Mymensingh 

‘gunfights’ 

DHAKA : Three suspected 

drug traders and an alleged 

robber were killed in separate 

incidents of reported gunfights 

in Kushtia and 

Mymensingh districts early 

Wednesday. In Kushtia, two 

suspected drug traders were 

killed in separate incidents of 

reported gunfights between 

two groups of criminals in 

Sadar and Doulatpur upazilas 

early Wednesday, reports 

UNB. 

Acting on secret information 

that two groups of 'drug 

peddlers' were exchanging 

bullets, a team of police went 

to Kaburhat Madrasha Para in 

Sadar upazila around 2 am, 

said Nasir Uddin, officer-incharge 

of Kushtia Model 

Police Station. Sensing presence 

of the law enforcers, the 

criminals opened fire to 

police, forcing them to fire 

back in self-defence. Later, 

police recovered an unidentified 

man, injured with bullets 

and took him to Kushita 

General Hospital where the 

doctors declared him dead. 

One foreign pistol and 800 

pieces of Yaba tablets were 

recovered from the spot, the 

OC added. In another incident, 

a team of police conducted 

a drive at 

Muslimnagar Field in 

Daulatpur upazila where a 

group of criminals were 

exchanging bullets, said Shah 

Dara, officer-in-charge of 

Daulatpur Police Station. 

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam, Advisory Editor: Advocate Molla Mohammad Abu Kawser, Managing, Editor: Tapash Ray Sarker, News Editor : Saiful Islam, printed at Sonali Printing Press, 2/1/A, Arambagh 167, Inner Circular Road, Eden Complex, Motijheel, Dhaka. 

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

01-11-2018

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