07-12-2018

friDaY 

DhAkA: December 7, 2018; Agrahyan 23, 1425 BS; Rabiul Awal 28,1440 hijri 

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com 

Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.16; No.303; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00 

international 

Indonesian hostage 

rescued from Abu Sayyaf 

militants in Philippines 

>Page 7 

art & culture 

How over-controlling 

parenting affects 

your child 

>Page 8 

sport 

Man United 

scramble 2-2 draw 

with Arsenal 

>Page 9 

Address root causes of Rohingya 

crisis, US to Myanmar 

SC upholds 

Khaleda's bail 

in Cumilla 

arson case 

DHAKA : The Appellate Division 

of the Supreme Court on 

Thursday upheld the High Court 

order that had granted bail to 

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a 

case filed under the Explosive 

Substances Act over the arson 

attack in Cumilla on January 25, 

2015, reports UNB. 

The seven-member bench of 

Appellate Division led by Chief 

Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain 

passed the order following a petition 

filed by the state. 

The SC also asked the authorities 

concerned to file leave-topetition 

in the regular bench and 

fixed December 13 for next hearing. 

On November 28, the HC bench 

of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and 

Justice SM Mozibur Rahman 

granted bail to BNP Chairperson 

Khaleda Zia in the case. 

On October 15, Khaleda's lawyer 

filed a bail petition with the High 

Court after the Special Judge 

Court-1 of Cumilla denied the former 

prime minister bail on 

September 13 in the case. 

The HC accepted Khaleda's 

appeal for hearing and issued a 

rule seeking explanation as to why 

she would not get bail on October 

24. 

On 25 January 2015, a covered 

van was set on fire at Haiderpool 

of Chouddagram municipality on 

the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. 

The following day, sub-inspector 

Nuruzzaman of Chouddagram 

Police Station filed a case against 

the BNP chairperson and 31 other 

leaders and activists of the party 

over the incident. 

Juma 

05:09 AM 

01:15 PM 

03:35 PM 

05:14 PM 

06:35 PM 

6:28 5:11 

DHAKA : US Ambassador to 

Bangladesh Earl R Miller has urged 

Myanmar to address the root causes 

of Rohingya crisis expressing strong 

support to hold accountable those 

responsible persons for the atrocities 

committed against Rohingyas 

in Myanmar, reports UNB. 

"It's Myanmar's responsibility to 

address the root causes of the 

refugee crisis, including providing 

the Rohingya access to citizenship, 

freedom of movement, access to 

livelihoods, and other key recommendations 

of the Annan 

Commission," he said. 

The US envoy made the remarks 

in a statement as he completed his 

first visit to Cox's Bazar on 

Thursday during which he visited 

several Rohingya camps and 

Bangladesh host communities from 

December 4. 

He heard heartbreaking stories 

from recently arrived refugees and 

consulted with UN and government 

officials and NGO representatives 

on current issues and future challenges 

in the refugee response. 

The visit to Cox's Bazar by US 

Ambassador to Bangladesh signifies 

the importance of the Rohingya 

refugee issue to the United States, 

said the US Embassy in Dhaka. 

He described Bangladesh as a 

strategic US partner in the region 

and characterized the strong US- 

Bangladesh relationship as one 

driven by common interests. 

Ambassador Miller highlighted 

US sanctions against five Myanmar 

military and border guard police 

generals as well as two Myanmar 

military units. 

He welcomed Bangladesh's continued 

commitment to returns that 

are fully voluntary, safe, dignified, 

and based on informed consent. 

The US has provided nearly $346 

million to assist Rohingyas and host 

communities in Bangladesh affected 

by the displacement since the 

current crisis started in August 

2017, said the US Embassy in 

Dhaka. 

In addition, the US contributes 

DHAKA : BNP secretary general Mirza 

Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday 

thanked the Election Commission for 

'ensuing justice' as most of their aspirants 

whose nominations had been 

declared illegal got back their candidatures 

through appeals, reports UNB. 

Taking to reporters at BNP chairperson's 

Gulshan office, he also hoped that 

their Chairperson's nomination will be 

declared valid if the Commission 

ensures justice to her. 

"We think the declaration of most of 

our candidates valid is our victory. We 

also hope our leader Khaleda Zia will 

also be declared a legal candidate if justice 

is ensured," he said. 

Fakhrul said the Returning Officers 

declared illegal the nominations of many 

of our candidates but most of them were 

considered as legal runners through the 

Election Commission hearing. "So, I 

thank the Election Commission." 

more than $200 million annually in 

development assistance. 

The US Ambassador went to 

Konarpara to see the internally displaced 

Rohingya sheltering in noman's 

land, where a tall border 

fence has been built just behind 

them. 

He visited a number of refugee 

camp facilities, including health 

clinics, food distribution points, 

counter trafficking and disaster 

shelters, and learning centers, in 

both Ukhia and Teknaf sub-districts, 

where he gained an appreciation 

for the complexity and enormity 

of the relief effort. 

In all of his meetings, 

Ambassador Miller expressed US 

gratitude and admiration for the 

extraordinary generosity of the 

Bangladesh people in sheltering the 

more than 700,000 Rohingyas who 

have fled to Bangladesh since 

August 2017, said the Embassy. 

Ambassador Miller presented his 

credentials to President M Abdul 

Hamid on November 29. 

Dhaka Court sent the teacher of Viqarunnisa Noon School Hasna 

Hena to jail as she influenced a student of class-9 Aritree Adhikari 

to commit suicide. 

Photo: Star mail 

EC earns BNP's appreciation as Fakhrul 

thanks it for 'ensuring justice' 

He alleged that the Returning 

Officers declared illegal most of their 

candidates' nominations as they had to 

obey the government order and they 

could not ensure justice in many cases 

for that reason. 

Replying to a question, Fakhrul said 

they may announce a partial list of their 

final candidates for different constituencies 

after 8 pm. 

He alleged that the government, 

being afraid of defeat, is now using state 

machineries to influence the election. 

The BNP leader also alleged that law 

enforcers continued the arrest of their 

leaders and activists hampering their 

organisational activities. 

He urged the government and the 

Election Commission to stop arresting 

opposition activists and create a 

proper election atmosphere so that all 

the parties can exercise their democratic 

rights. 

Apparel workers to get minimum 

salary Tk 8,000 from Dec 

DHAKA : The minimum wage for the 

apparel workers across the country 

announced by the government will be 

effective from this month, said an official 

release. "The government has 

raised the minimum monthly wage 

for 4.4 million garment workers by 

around 51 percent to Tk 8,000 from 

the existing Tk 5,300 with effect from 

December," said state minister for 

labour M Mujibul Haq Chunnu while 

chairing the 38th meeting of the crisis 

management core committee at the 

ministry conference room here. 

The seven stages of the wage structure 

has been increased in line with the 

wage structure fixed in 2013, he said. 

He said that of the Tk 8,000, Tk 4,100 

is basic wage, Tk 2,050 house rent, Tk 

600 medical allowance, Tk 350 conveyance 

allowance and Tk 900 food 

expenditure. 

Side by side, the state minister 

warned that the government will not 

tolerate any anarchy in the apparel 

industries ahead of the upcoming 

national polls. He advised the workers 

and owners of the apparel industries 

to be more careful so that none 

of the quarters can create any anarchy 

by instigating the workers of the 

sector ahead of the 11th parliament 

polls scheduled for December 30 

this year. 

Election Commission on Thursday declared 81 candidatures as valid after hearing 160 petitions filed against 

the rejection of their nomination papers by returning officers. The Commission, the appellate authority, 

competed its first-day hearing and disposed of almost all the 160 petitions. 

Photo : Star Mail 

Viqarunnisa 

teacher lands 

in jail over 

Aritree's suicide 

DHAKA : A court here on Thursday sent 

Viqarunnisa Noon School and College 

class IX class teacher Hasna Hena to jail 

in a case filed in connection with suicide 

of Aritree Adhikari, reports UNB. 

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Abu 

Sayeed passed the order denying her 

bail plea when inspector Kamrul 

HasanTalukdar of Detective Branch of 

police produced her before the court. 

Earlier, Hasna Hena's lawyer 

Jahangir Alam submitted a petition 

seeking her bail. Detectives in a drive 

arrested Hasna Hena from the city's 

Uttara area on Wednesday night. 

Aritree Adhikari, a Class-IX student, 

reportedly committed suicide at their 

Shantinagar residence in the city on 

Monday after allegedly being rebuked 

by teachers for using mobile phone during 

examination. Victim's father Dilip 

Adhikari filed a case against three 

teachers of the school. 

BNP gets back candidates in 

four constituencies 

DHAKA : BNP has got back their single 

candidates in three constituencies-Bagura-7, 

Jamalpur-4, 

Manikganj-2 and Dhaka-1 - after the 

Election Commission cleared its aspirants' 

candidature for the parliamentary 

seats after hearing their petitions, 

reports UNB. 

The Commission, the appellate 

authority, started its three-day hearing 

at 10am on Thursday over petitions 

filed against the decision of the 

returning officers over the rejection 

and acceptance of nomination papers 

in different constituencies 

Now the BNP's valid contestants 

for the four constituencies are 

Morshed Milton for Bagura-7, 

Faridul Kabir Talukder (Shamim) 

for Jamalpur-4, Abidur Rahman 

Khan for Manikganj-2 and 

Khandaker Abu Ashfaq of Dhaka-1. 

Ruling Awami League fielded no 

candidate for 36 constituencies, 

while BNP for five parliamentary 

seats in the 11th national election 

slated for December 30. 

During Sunday's scrutiny of nomination 

papers by the returning officers, 

all BNP aspirants lost their candidature 

in six constituencies - 

Sunamganj-3, Manikganj-2, 

Jamalpur-4, Pabna-1, Bagura-7 and 

Dhaka-1, while AL aspirants in three 

constituencies - Kurigram-4, 

Satkhira-1 and Narayanganj-3. 

As of 2pm, the EC, headed by Chief 

Election Commissioner KM Nurul 

Huda, heard some 100 petitions at 

the Nirbachan Bhaban in the city. Of 

the petitions, the EC cleared the can- 

AL-led 14 alliance starts 

campaign Dec 11 

DHAKA : Awami League (AL) led-14 

alliance candidates will start campaign 

on December 11 for the upcoming 11th 

parliamentary elections scheduled to 

be held on December 30. 

"AL led-14 alliance candidates will 

start campaign from Sirajganj district 

on December 11 for the upcoming 

general election slated for 

December 30," General Secretary of 

Samyabadi Dal Dilip Barua told 

journalists. 

The decision was taken at a meeting 

of the central committee of 14-party 

alliance at the AL central office at 

Bangabandhu Avenue here yesterday. 

The alliance will conduct electoral 

campaign in Motijheel, Lalbagh and 

Mirpur areas of the capital city on 

December 13, 14 and 15 respectively. 

Apart from this, the 14-party coalition 

will conduct the electioneering in 

Feni on December 19, Kushtia on 

didature of 56 contestants, including 

BNP candidates Golam Maula Rony 

of Patuakhali-3 and Morshed Milton 

of Bagura-7. 

However, the EC kept its decisions 

pending over 5-10 other petitions. 

Among others who got back their 

candidatures with the EC's order 

include BNP contestants Tamij 

Uddin of Dhaka-20 and Major (retd) 

Akhteruzzaman of Kishoreganj-2 

Abdul Majid for Jhenaidah-2, 

Mohammad Shahjahan for 

Patuakhali-3, Abdul Kaiyum 

Chowdhury for Sylhet-3, Fazlur 

Rahman for Joypurhat, Hasadul 

Islam for Pabna-3, Ainul Haque for 

Sirajganj-3, Joynal Abedin for 

Mymensingh-7, AKM Mukhlesur 

Rahman for Sherpur-2, Selim 

Bhuiyan for Dhaka-5, Tozammel 

Haque for Manikganj-1, Ahammad 

Taibur Rahman for Mymensingh-3, 

Abu Asif Ahmed for Brahmanbaria-2, 

Syed Abu Bakar Siddique for Dhaka- 

14, BNP candidates Abdul Khaleque 

for Kurigram-3, Nurul Amin for 

Chattogram-1, Mostafa Kamal Pasha 

for Chattogram-3, Prof M Yunus for 

Cumilla-5. 

Besides, other valid candidates 

declared by the EC include Sumon 

Sanyamat for Patuakhali-1, Afsar Ali 

for Satkhira-2, Jahirul Islam Mintu 

for Madaripur-1 , Mahbub Alam and 

Joynal Abedin for Gazipur-2, 

Jasmine Noor Baby for 

Brahmanbaria-6, Mustafa Selim for 

Rangpur-4, SM Shafiqul Alam for 

Khulna-6, Jubair Ahmed for 

Habiganj-1, Abdullah Al Helal for 

December 21, Rajshahi on December 

22, Naogaon on December 23 and 

Gaibandha on December 24. 

Barua said the election campaign 

would be extended if it is necessary. 

During the campaign, the alliance 

candidates will narrate people of the 

country about the development projects 

taken and finished during the 

tenure of the present government to 

make the country as a middleincome 

as well as a developed 

nation. 

With AL Presidium member, the 

central 14-party spokesperson and 

Health Minister Mohammed Nasim in 

the chair, the meeting was attended by 

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, 

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) General 

Secretary Shirin Akhter, NAP leader 

Ismail Hossain and Bangladesher 

Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) Convener 

Rezaur Rashid Khan, among others. 

Brahmanbaria-3, Abu Bakar 

Siddique for Mymensingh-2, 

Sulaiman Khan Rabbani for 

Habiganj-4, Alauddin Mridha for 

Natore-4, Yunus Ali for Kurigram-4, 

Anisuzzaman for Barishal-2, 

Kamruzzaman Swadhin for 

Jhenaidah-3, KM Mujibul Haque for 

Cumilla-3, Foyzul Munir Chowdhury 

for Sylhet-5, Abdul Mannan for 

Jhenaidah-4, Syed Anwar Ahammad 

Liton for Brahmanbaria-3, Mamunur 

Rashid for Brahmanbaria-5 and Zakir 

Hossain for Dhaka-14, Mahfuzar 

Rahman for Kurigram-4, Mokhlesur 

Rahman for Brahmanbaria-2, 

Mahbub Alam for Lakshmipur-1, 

Niamul Bashir for Chandpur-5, 

Ashraf Uddin for Brahmanbaria-2, 

The EC kept its decisions pending 

over the candidatures of BNP candidates 

Mir Mohammad Nasir for 

Chattogram-5, Abdul Wadud 

Bhuiyan for Khagrachhari, 

Towhidul Islam for Panchagar-1 

and AKM Mahbubur Rahman for 

Bogura-6. 

Some 160 petitions will be disposed 

of on Thursday maintaining 

the serials of the appeals while 150 

on Friday and the remaining 233 

will be sorted out on Saturday. 

A total of 543 petitions were filed 

with the Election Commission within 

stipulated three days till 

Wednesday challenging the decisions 

of returning officers over the 

rejection and acceptance of nomination 

papers submitted by aspirants 

to contest the next national 

election.

NEWS 

FrIDAY, 

DeCeMBer 7, 2018 

2 

Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote organized a discussion meeting marking 55th death anniversary of 

Hossain Suhrawardi. 

Photo : TBT 

CU student's 

hanging body 

found on campus 

CHATTOGRAM : Police 

recovered the hanging body of 

a student of Chittagong 

University from a cottage 

(privately-run mess) on the 

campus on Thursday 

morning, reports UNB. 

The deceased was identified 

as Jahangir Raju, hailing from 

Sonaimuri in Noakhali district 

and a student of Economics 

Department of 2014-15 

session. Sajjad Hossain, a 

student of Law Department, 

said that as Raju's phone was 

found switched off for a long 

time his brother contacted 

with his friends over phone. 

His friends knocked the 

door of his room around 8:30 

am. Getting no response they 

peeped through the window 

and saw his hanging body. 

On information, police 

recovered the body, said Belal 

Uddin Jahangir, officer-incharge 

of Hathazari Police 

Station. Proctor Ali Azgar 

Chowdhury said that it is not 

clear yet whether it was 

suicide or murder. 

Bangladesh 

elected as bureau 

member of ICC 

DHAKA : Bangladesh has been 

elected as member of bureau of 

International Criminal Court 

(ICC) for the next two years 

(2019-20) in the 17th session of 

the Assembly of State Parties to 

the Rome Statute, at The 

Hague, Netherlands, reports 

UNB. 

Starting on December 5, the 

assembly will end on 

December 12. Bangladesh, 

South Korea and Japan have 

been elected for 2019 while 

Bangladesh, South Korea and 

Palestine for 2020 as 

members of the Asia-Pacific 

region. 

'Bureau' ICC is the highest 

policy making body of 21 

states out of 123 states. The 

'Bureau' ICC has been 

entrusted with finalizing 

budget, electing judges, 

prosecutors, deputy 

prosecutors and taking 

decision on election. 

cvwb-399/2018-2019 

GD-1558/18 (5 x 3) 

Google honours Tareque 

Masud with a Doodle 

DHAKA : Search engine giant Google is celebrating the 62nd 

birth anniversary of renowned Bangladeshi filmmaker 

Tareque Masud with a Doodle on its homepage on Thursday, 

reports UNB. 

In its doodle, the search engine giant shows an image of a 

hand holding a 'clay bird', created based on the filmmaker's 

renowned film 'The Clay Bird'. 

Tareque Masud was born in Nurpur Village of Faridpur 

District in Bangladesh on December 6 in 1956. 

Doodles are a special, temporary alteration of the company's 

logo, on Google's homepage, that honour notable personalities. 

"The first Bangladeshi director to participate in the Oscars 

or to be honored at Cannes, Tareque Masud was a driving 

force within his country's independent film movement," 

Google wrote in its Doodle. 

Giving special thanks to Google, the film maker's wife 

Catherine Masud said, "It is a great honor to have Tareque 

Masud's legacy recognized by Google. Tareque was a visionary 

and a pioneer of Bangladeshi cinema, an inspiring figure 

for young people in his own country and beyond. Although 

he made films for the people of Bangladesh, his work also 

spoke to the world through universal themes of tolerance, 

compassion, and justice." 

Tareque started his career with his first film Adam Surat 

(1991) (The Inner Strength), a documentary on the legendary 

Bangladeshi painter S.M. Sultan, in 1982. His 1995 feature 

length documentary on the '71 Liberation War, Muktir Gaan 

(1995) (Song of Freedom) brought record audiences and 

became a cult classic. He also made many other films on the 

war, including Muktir Kotha (1999) (Words of Freedom), 

Narir Kotha (Women and War) (2000) and Naroshundor 

(The Barbershop)(2009). 

In 2002, he completed his feature film The Clay Bird 

(2002) (The Clay Bird), which was based on his childhood 

experience in the Madrassa. The film won the Critics' Prize 

(FIPRESCI Prize) at the Cannes Film Festival (2002), was 

the first Bangladeshi film to compete in the Oscars, and was 

released in many countries around the world. 

On 13 August 2011, Tareque and Mishuk along with three 

others were killed in a road accident on Dhaka-Aricha highway 

in Ghior Upazila of Manikganj while returning to Dhaka 

from Manikganj after visiting a shooting location. 

The accident happened when a microbus carrying the two 

celebrities collided with a bus on the highway. 

Wall Street dives on angst 

over growth, US-China truce 

Wall Street stocks plunged Tuesday on worries about US economic 

growth and revived doubts about trade wars as the 

Trump administration sent mixed signals on their detente 

with China. A day after global stocks rallied on a weekend 

US-China announcement suspending new tariffs, international 

markets mostly pulled back as investor focus shifted to 

the lack of concrete progress in reaching a long-term agreement 

to the dispute. 

"Can the US and China really resolve their differences in 90 

days?" asked Rodrigo Catril, senior strategist at National 

Australia Bank. 

"It seems that more details and signs of progress will be 

needed if the initial trade truce warm fuzzy feeling is to be 

sustained." 

Trader 

hacked dead 

in Benapole; 

5 held 

BENAPOLE : A trader was 

hacked to death allegedly by 

his rivals at Kazirber in 

Sharsha upazila early 

Thursday, reports UNB. 

The deceased was 

identified as Zahidul Islam 

Zahid, 32, a C&F agent and 

son of Abdur Jabbar 

Tarafdar of Narayanpur 

village in Benapole. 

Quoting locals, Mashiur 

Rahman, officer-in-charge 

of Sharsha Police Station, 

said Zahidul gave Tk 7 lakh 

to Beauty Khatun, wife of 

Jharu Dalal, for sending him 

to abroad. Later, instead of 

sending Zahid to abroad as 

promised, Beauty cheated 

the money. 

Later, Zahid locked into 

altercations several times 

with Beauty over the issue. 

On Wednesday night, 

Beauty called Zahid to her 

home in Kazirber village 

saying to return the money. 

When Zahid went there, 

Beauty I association with her 

associates stabbed him 

indiscriminately, leaving 

him dead. 

Later, they dumped the 

body into the banana 

orchard after keeping it 

inside a sack. 

On information, police 

recovered the body and sent 

it to local a hospital morgue 

for an autopsy. 

Meanwhile, police 

arrested five people-Beauty 

Khatun, her daughter Sumi 

Khatun, 24, Rahima Begum, 

50, wife of Muktar Ali, 

Ferdousi, 32, wife of Khalid 

and Khalid's son Al-Amin in 

connection with their 

suspicious involvement in 

the killing. During primary 

interrogation, Beauty 

admitted her guilt, said the 

OC. 

2 Bangladeshis 

bag awards at 

Kashmir World 

Film Fest 

DHAKA : Bangladeshi film 

'Haldaa', directed by 

Tauquir Ahmed, has 

clinched the Best Feature 

Film (Fiction) award at the 

4th Kashmir World Film 

Festival, reports UNB. 

Monjurul Islam Megh, 

an International Film 

Festival distributor, 

submitted films from 

Bangladesh, Tunisia and 

Kazakhstan to Kashmir 

World Film Festival, 

including Haldaa, which is 

based on the fishing 

community that lives off 

the Haldaa River in 

Chittagong. 

Haldaa was not the only 

film by a Bangladeshi to 

make a splash at this year's 

KWFF. 

'The Fear of Silence' 

(Bhoy) by Zuairijah Mou, 

won the award for Best 

Short Fiction. 

Short Fiction (Jury's 

Special) The 'Illusion 

Seller' (Khayolfurush) by 

Sharofat M. Arabova- 

Singh of Tajikistan. 

The award for best film 

in the 'Kashmir Section' 

was won by 'The Stitch' 

(Teab) by Aasiya Zahoor. 

Benapole Port on the 

verge of full automation 

BENAPOLE : Benapole Port, the 

country's biggest land port, is on the path 

to full-fledged automation with the 

installation of all necessary electronic 

devices going on full-swing, reports UNB. 

With an estimated cost of Tk 52 crore, 

the port area will be equipped with 

automation machines and close-circuit 

television (CCTV) cameras and a 

boundary wall all along the port area, 

according to port authorities. 

"The port has plans to install 1400 

CCTV cameras there to ensure foolproof 

security in the port area," said Belal 

Hossain Chowdhury, commissioner of 

Benapole Customs House. 

Trade between Bangladesh and India 

may be expected to multiply as a result, as 

the checking and discharging of the goods 

will be easier and faster once the port area 

is digitalised, he added. 

"Two C&F agents will be provided with 

high-level training from the beginning of 

2019, so that they can handle the 

automated movement of goods easily and 

effectively," said Prodush Kanti Das, 

director of Benapole port. 

He also expressed high hopes saying 

that traders of both the countries will be 

able to keep an eye on their goods passing 

through the border without being 

physically present at the port, thanks to 

the automation process allowing for 

remote tracking. 

Though the customs houses were 

brought under the CCTV monitoring 

earlier this year, the plan is for the entire 

port area to be covered by CCTV, in order 

to prevent smuggling and even aid the 

detection of unwanted intruders along the 

border within the shortest possible time. 

"We are heaving a sigh of relief at 

learning of the automation project, as this 

will boost trade volumes by ensuring 

smooth and hassle-free goods 

transportation along the border," said 

vice-president of the port's Clearing & 

Forwarding (C&F) agents Aminul Haque. 

Matiar Rahman, Chairman of India- 

Bangladesh Export-Import Sub- 

Committee, said they had long been 

demanding foolproof security for their 

goods through the automation of the port 

area "in order to augment the trade 

baskets for both countries." 

"There still remain some other 

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad handed over memorandum to Gaibandha Deputy Commissioner to 

protect sexual harassment. 

Photo : Star Mail 

Asian markets 

track Wall St rout 

as confusion, 

uncertainty reign 

Asian markets fell 

Wednesday following a rout 

on Wall Street, as investors 

were bombarded by a 

"perfect storm" of problems 

that erased the positivity 

seen at the start of the week. 

The glum mood 

overshadowed hints from 

Donald Trump at more time 

to resolve the China-US 

trade row, as well as soothing 

comments from China about 

their desire to push on with a 

weekend agreement between 

the world's top economies. 

Trading floors are awash 

with uncertainty over the 

agreement Trump 

hammered out with Xi 

Jinping to much fanfare - 

and an initial market rally - 

in Buenos Aires, with little 

clarity emerging and the US 

president shifting his tone. 

While he hailed the deal at 

first, on Tuesday he warned 

on Twitter "remember, I am 

a Tariff Man", adding "When 

people or countries come in 

to raid the great wealth of our 

Nation, I want them to pay 

for the privilege of doing so". 

Then, in another tweet he left 

open the door to an 

extension of the agreement's 

90-day timeline to end the 

row. 

we`ÿ r/Rb-513(2)/6/12/18 

GD-1560/18 (6 x 3) 

drawbacks to be addressed to harness the 

potential of the port and the port 

authority should deal with those on a 

priority basis," he added. 

It takes only three hours for a truck to 

reach Benapole after loading goods from 

Kolkata, which is only at a distance of 84 

kilometres, making it a major 

transportation hub for the business 

communities of both Bengals in 

particular. 

Injured while 

saving minor from 

beating, college 

student dies in 

hospital 

SYLHET : A college student who 

sustained severe injuries while trying to 

save a minor boy from a beating by local 

boys at Nidanpur village in Bianibazar 

Municipality on Monday, died at a city 

hospital on Wednesday, reports UNB. 

The deceased was identified as Hossain 

Ahmed, 18, son of Samir Uddin, a 

resident of the area and also second year 

student of Bianibazar Govt College. 

Locals said Suman Ahmed, son of 

Muhib Ali of the area and his accomplices 

were beating a minor boy in front of 

Nidanpur Government Primary School in 

the area around 3pm Monday. 

The culprits became furious on Hossain 

when he tried to prevent them from 

beating the minor and, at one stage, they 

thrashed Hossain, leaving him severely 

injured. 

The injured was rushed to Sylhet 

Osmani Medical College Hospital and 

later shifted to a city hospital where he 

succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday. 

Officer-in-charge of Bianibazar Police 

Station Abani Shankar Kar said they are 

trying to arrest the accused after a case 

was filed with the police station on 

Wednesday. 

Countrymen to 

guard polling 

centers: Nasim 

DHAKA : Awami League 

Presidium Member and 

central 14-party spokesperson 

Mohammad Nasim yesterday 

said there is no need for any 

political party to guard the 

polling centers as the 

countrymen will do the job. 

"The December 30 polls day 

will be the day of victory for the 

pro-liberation forces. The proliberation 

forces could never 

be defeated in the month of 

victory. You have no need to 

guard the polling centers. The 

people of the country will 

guard the centers," he said at a 

press conference at AL central 

office in city's Bangabandhu 

Avenue. 

Earlier, Nasim, also the 

health and family welfare 

minister, presided over a 

meeting of the14-party alliance 

centering the upcoming polls. 

Regarding a comment of 

BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul 

Islam Alamgir on guarding the 

polling centers, Nasim said, 

"We don't understand why 

BNP is threatening without 

any reason. There is no need to 

guard the polling stations." 

About an allegation of 

Oikyafront leader Dr Kamal 

Hossain on level playing field, 

the AL senior leader said it is 

their habit to make allegations 

without any reason. The polls 

environment across the 

country is peacefully, he 

added. 

Urging the new voters to cast 

their first votes in the favour of 

the pro-liberation forces, 

Shipping Minister Shajahan 

Khan, who was also present on 

the occasion, said there is no 

alternative to the victory of the 

pro-liberation forces. 

"I urge all of you not to cast 

yours votes for any antiliberation 

candidates," he 

added. Samyabadi Dal 

General Secretary Dilip Barua, 

JSD General Secretary Shirin 

Akther, NAP leader Ismail 

Hossain and BSD leader 

Rezaur Rashid, among others, 

were present in the press 

conference.

METRO 

friDAY, DECEMBEr 7, 2018 

3 

Dhaka, Delhi ties well 

beyond strategic 

partnership: BD Envoy 

Dhaka : Bangladesh High 

Commissioner to India Syed 

Muazzem Ali on Thursday said 

Bangladesh and India have been able 

to consolidate the friendly bilateral 

relations to a new level which is well 

beyond the "strategic partnership", 

under the leadership of two Prime 

Ministers, reports UNB. 

"We count on India's assistance in 

furthering our successes. Together, 

we would build cherished 'Shonar 

Bangla' [Golden Bengal]. That would 

be the best tribute we can pay to our 

martyrs and freedom fighters. And, of 

course, Bangladesh's success will be 

your success, as you were directly 

involved in the birth of our nation," 

he said. 

High Commissioner Muazzem Ali 

said this at a seminar 

commemorating Bangladesh 

Liberation War of 1971 at Jawaharlal 

Nehru University (JNU) on 

Thursday. 

JNU and India Foundation, a think 

tank, jointly organised the seminar, 

said the High Commission in New 

Delhi. 

JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagades 

Kumar and India Foundation director 

Maj Gen Dhruv Kotoch also spoke at 

the event. 

Muazzem Ali said Prime Minister 

Sushashoner Jonno Nagarik organized a discussion meeting at National Press Club yesterday on 

election manifestos. 

Photo : TBT 

GD-1557/18 (9 x 4) 

Sheikh Hasina is 'doing miracle in her 

mission' of building 'Shonar Bangla', 

the dream of Bangabandhu Sheikh 

Mujibur Rahman. 

He said Bangabandhu's bold and 

visionary leadership showed 

Bangladesh how to stand up from a 

war-ravaged situation and his able 

daughter current Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina is doing miracle in the 

mission of completing her father's 

unfinished tasks. 

"The contributions of these two 

great leaders of Bangladesh, the 

father and the daughter, have been 

best described by none other than the 

Prime Minister of India Narendra 

Modi, who said, "Bangabandhu 

founded Bangladesh and his daughter 

Sheikh Hasina saved it", said the 

freedom fighter-turned diplomat. 

He said Bangladesh, under the 

dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina, 

is today one of the fastest growing 

economies in the world with 7.86 

percent GDP growth. 

"Bangladesh is now often 

mentioned as a 'model of economic 

development'. Recently, we have 

qualified for the graduation from LDC 

status to the status of a Middle- 

Income Country. Our ultimate 

pursuit is to emerge as a developed 

country by 2041," said Muazzem Ali. 

Recalling with gratitude India's 

wholehearted support to Bangladesh 

Liberation War, the envoy paid 

homage to the brave Indian soldiers 

who had laid down their lives for the 

independence of Bangladesh. 

He also paid tributes to the valiant 

war veterans who had fought side by 

side with them in War of 

Independence in 1971. 

The envoy told the seminar that the 

Bangladesh Prime Minister, during 

her last visit to India in April 2017, 

honoured members of the families of 

Indian martyrs through an 

unprecedented Sommanona or 

honour giving ceremony in Delhi. 

Some more families of the war 

martyrs will be honoured at the 

upcoming Victory Day on December 

16 at the Eastern Command in 

Kolkata, he said. 

Bangladesh also honoured with the 

"Friends of Bangladesh Liberation 

War Award" all its friends who had 

extended their support and 

cooperation to our War of Liberation. 

"The emotional bonds stemming 

from the invaluable contributions of 

the government and people of India 

during our Liberation War remain a 

dominant factor in Bangladesh 

political, cultural and social wave," 

said Muazzem Ali. 

Dbœq‡bi MYZš¿ 

†kL nvwmbvi g~jgš¿ 

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD organized press conference yesterday in the capital city marking declaration 

of election manifesto. 

Photo : TBT 

Photo exhibition 

'American Landscape' 

in city from Saturday 

DHAKA : A 12-day-long 

photo exhibition titled 

'American Landscape' by 

Shibly Shiraj will begin at 

the city's EMK Centre on 

Saturday, reports UNB. 

Amanullah Khan, 

chairman of United News of 

Bangladesh (UNB), will 

formally inaugurate the 

exhibition at Edward M 

Kennedy (EMK) Centre, 

Midas Center, House-5, 

Road-16 in Dhanmondi 

around 11 am on Saturday. 

Eminent academician 

Professor Nazrul Islam, 

former Chairman of the 

University Grants 

Commission, will be present 

as the chief guest. 

The exhibition will remain 

open from 10 am to 8 pm till 

December 20. 

Oikyafront to 

hold rally at 

Suhrawardy 

Udyan on Dec 10 

DHAKA : Jatiya Oikyafront, 

led by Dr Kamal Hossain, 

wants to hold a rally at 

Suhrawardy Udyan in the 

city on December 10 ahead 

of the 11th parliamentary 

elections, reports UNB. 

On behalf of the 

Oikyafront, BNP senior joint 

secretary general Ruhul 

Kabir Rizvi announced the 

plan at a press conference at 

the party's Nayapaltan 

central office on Thursday. 

"Jatiya Oikyafront will 

arrange a rally at 


capital on December 10 

(Monday)," he said. 

Rizvi said the rally, 

scheduled to begin at 2pm, 

will be addressed by senior 

leaders of the Oikyafront. 

He said they have already 

sent separate letters to 

Suhrawardy Udyan 

authorities and Dhaka 

Metropolitan Police seeking 

permission to hold the rally. 

On November 6 last, 

Oikyafront held a rally at 


capital to drum up public 

support in favour of the 

alliance's various demands. 

On October 13, BNP 

together with Dr Kama 

Hossain-led Jatiya Oikya 

Prokriya, JSD and Nagorik 

Oikya launched the Jatiy 

Oikyafront to press for their 

seven-point demand. Later, 

Abdul Kader Siddiqui-led 

Krishak Sramik Janata 

League joined the alliance. 

President starts 

3-day Chattogram 

tour today 

DHAKA : President M Abdul 

Hamid will go to Chattogram 

on a three-day visit to Chattogram 

to attend several programmes 

at Bangladesh Military 

Academy (BMA) and 

Bangladesh Naval Academy 

(BNA) from today afternoon. 

"The President will attend 

President Parade 2018 at 

BMA at Bhatiary on Saturday," 

President press secretary 

Joynal Abedin told BSS 

yesterday afternoon. 

He added: "The President 

will also attend Midshipman 

2016 batch and direct entry 

officer 2018 /B batch winter 

President March-Post 

(Kujkaowaj) 2018 at BNA in 

Chattogram respectively on 

Sunday." 

President Hamid will leave 

Dhaka for a three-day visit to 

Chattogram on Friday afternoon. 

The head of the state is 

scheduled to return Dhaka on 

Sunday afternoon. 

Home Minister warns 

of legal action against 

rumour-makers 

DHAKA : Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday 

urged all not to share any information on social networking 

sites without verification, warning that legal action would be 

taken against the people involved in spreading rumour 

through social media. 

"Don't share or upload any information without 

verification. We are working to identify the people involved 

in spreading rumour. Legal action will be taken against those 

who will be found guilty in this regard," he said. 

The home minister came up the warning while unveiling a 

documentary tilted 'Mithya Rukhe Satya Jan' at RAB media 

centre at Kawran Bazar here. 

A cyber crime cell has already been set up at RAB (Rapid 

Action Battalion) headquarters to keep a close eye on the 

cyber criminals as none of the rumour-makers can be spared, 

he said. About the negative impacts of rumour on the society, 

Asaduzzaman said: 

"We do not forget the incidents at Ramu in Cox's Bazar and 

Nasirnagar in Brahmanbaria yet. We also observed that the 

road safety movement was given into another direction". 

Describing rumour as a stick of match, which can strike a 

big fire, the home minister said the social as well as state 

equilibrium can be hampered if rumour is brought out on 

social media. 

Speaking on the occasion, Inspector General of Police 

(IGP) Dr Mohammad Javed Patwary also called upon all not 

to spread any rumour on social networking sites. 

Public Security Division Secretary of the Home Minister 

Mostofa Kamal Uddin said: "Spreading rumour on the social 

networking sites is a criminal offence. Action will be taken 

against the people, who spread rumour, under the Digital 

Security Act". 

RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed said a section of 

people are out to spread rumour to create anarchy ahead of 

the upcoming national election. "They are now trying to 

mislead the nation through spreading rumour and we will 

definitely bring them to book," he said. 

DNCC 

conducts 

eviction 

drive in 

capital 

DHAKA : Dhaka North 

City Corporation (DNCC) 

yesterday conducted 

illegal establishment 

eviction drive in city's 

Taltola and Agargaon 

areas, reports BSS. 

Executive Magistrate of 

Dhaka North City 

Corporation M Sajid 

Anwar led the eviction 

drive from 10.30am to 

2.30pm. 

During the drive, the city 

corporation eviction team 

recovered about 20,000 

square feet area by 

removing illegal 120 semipaka 

tin-shed shops and 

nurseries. 

"The DNCC will continue 

its eviction drives against 

the encroachers who 

illegally build structures 

on streets and footpaths," 

said the DNCC Executive 

Magistrate. 

Among others, DNCC's 

regional executive officer 

Gullal Singh was present 

during the drive. 

Workers of NTKC staged demo in Gazipur yesterday demanding arrear. 

Photo : TBT 

GD-1555/18 (6 x 3)

EDITORIAL 

FRIDAy, 

DECEMbER 7, 2018 

4 

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam 

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

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com 

Friday, December 7, 2018 

Improving Dhaka’s 

environment 

O 

nly 

inaugurating some glittering projects like 

Hathirjheel cannot compensate for the lack of 

comprehensive policies and their timely 

implementation for the overall improvement of the 

environment of Dhaka city. While the Hathirjheel project has 

been a salutary addition towards improving the environment 

and connectivity in Dhaka city, there are noted lapses in 

protecting and uplifting the environment in many other 

places of the city. Thus, a comprehensive plan and its 

execution are needed on the whole that would lead to a 

desired upgrading in the environment of the city as a whole. 

And not only creation of new environment oriented projects 

are enough which is starkly evident in the Hathirjheel project. 

Only days after its opening, the otherwise beautiful place was 

turning untidy from carelessly thrown away rubbish by 

visitors. The flower beds in the project were also reportedly 

raided by them. There were even reports about defecation on 

the pavements here. So, all newly opened projects as well as 

the older ones that lend positively to the environment of the 

city, must also be accompanied by round the clock 

supervision or maintenance activities. 

Residents of Dhaka city with over 15 million people, are 

exposed to environmental hazards and this situation is 

worsening day by day. But unfortunately, the governmental 

response to the same is inadequate.In a city already 

overloaded with population, more people from all over the 

country are coming with their desperate bid to settle here. 

The influx of population has resulted in not only high density, 

but also growth of slums in a more alarming way. 

The management of different kinds of wastes -- solid, 

clinical, human, industrial and others-- is poor and the issues 

are not being addressed properly. About 400 tons out of 

3,500 tons of solid waste, generated in the city everyday, 

remain on the roads and in open spaces. Vehicles of Dhaka 

City Corporation (DCC) remove the rest solid wastes and 

carry those to dumping grounds, which are again located in 

open spaces near densely populated areas contributing to air 

and water pollution. 

Medical waste contains highly toxic metals, toxic chemicals, 

pathogenic viruses and bacteria , which can lead to health 

problems for humans from exposure to the same. Medical 

waste presents a high risk to doctors, nurses, technicians, 

sweepers, hospital visitors and patients due to arbitrary 

management . It is a common observation in Dhaka City that 

poor scavengers, women and children collect some of the 

medical wastes (e.g. syringe-needles, saline bags, blood bags 

etc.) for reselling despite the deadly health risks. It has long 

been known that the re-use of syringes can cause the spread 

of infections such as AIDS and hepatitis . The collection of 

disposable medical items (particularly syringes), its re-sale 

and potential re-use without sterilization create a serious 

disease burden. 

The safe disposal and subsequent destruction of medical 

waste is a key step in the reduction of illness or injury through 

contact with this potentially hazardous material, and in the 

prevention of environmental contamination . The 

transmission of blood-borne viruses and respiratory, enteric 

and soft tissue infections through improper medical waste 

disposal is well known. The management of medical waste 

therefore, has been of major concern due to potentially high 

risks to human health and the environment . 

The growing number of hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic 

laboratories in Dhaka City exerts a tremendous adverse 

impact on public health and environment. All of the 

hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic laboratories are considered 

here as health care centres (HCC) . Some 600 HCC in Dhaka 

city generate a huge amount of wastes a day . Like ordinary 

household wastes, medical wastes are generally dumped into 

Dhaka city Corporation (DCC) bins. It is reported that even 

body parts are dumped on the streets by the HCC. The liquid 

and solid wastes containing hazardous materials are simply 

dumped into the nearest drain or garbage heap respectively. 

Proper management of medical waste is crucial to minimise 

health risks. The improvement of present waste management 

practices for HCC in Bangladesh will have a significant longterm 

impact on minimising the spread of infectious diseases. 

Medical wastes require specialized treatment and 

management from its source to final disposal. Simply 

disposing of it into dustbins, drains, and canals or finally 

dumping it to the outskirts of the City poses a serious public 

health hazard. Thus, there is a need to initiate a concentrated 

effort to improve the medical waste management to reduce 

the negative impact of waste on: environment, public health 

and safety at health care facilities. 

Most of the still remaining tannery industries in the city's 

Hazaribagh area and some other industries at Tejgaon area 

leave hazardous industrial wastes untreated. Experts fear 

that in near future the untreated industrial wastes by seeping 

underground might severely pollute the underground water 

which is still the main source of water in the city. 

Meanwhile, the inadequate and faulty sewerage network in 

the city is able to carry only about one third of the total sewage 

to the only sewage treatment plant at Pagla in Narayanganj. 

The city generates more than 0.1 million cubic metres of 

sewage everyday. A huge quantity of sewage oozing out of the 

city's faulty sewerage network is severely polluting the city's 

roads and lanes, canals, water bodies and the Buriganga 

river. Untreated sewage is also discharged into the river 

directly and regularly. 

Two studies conducted in the last three years suggested 

average noise levels were almost double than permissible 

levels and rising fast. Sound levels in Dhaka are almost twice 

as loud as the law permits, creating an unhealthy 

environment for residents, say scientists from the 

Department of Environment. 

Thus, only inaugurating some show case projects like 

Hathirjheel is no substitute for sincerely taking up a strictly 

time bound plan for the restoration of the environmental 

health of the entire city on a sustainable basis. And routine 

maintenance activities must accompany such projects. 

With populations growing, along 

with continued urbanisation and 

climate change, there is no 

question that we will need far more 

cooling. By 2050, according to the Green 

Cooling Initiative, there could be more 

than 9.5 billion cooling appliances 

worldwide - more than 2.5 times today's 

3.6 billion. Cooling, however, is energy 

intensive. Even with the development of 

more efficient cooling technologies and 

other more aggressive energy mitigation 

strategies, the cooling sector will, on 

current trajectory, increase its overall 

energy consumption by at least 90 per 

cent to 7,500TWh/year by 2050, up from 

3,900TWh in 2017. 

However, that is only half the picture. 

Despite the significant growth in cooling 

equipment stock, much of the world will 

remains considerably underserved 

compared with the most advanced 

nations. Put another way, even with some 

9.5 billion cooling appliances in use by 

2050 this will not be sufficient to deliver 

universal access to cooling, let alone meet 

targets to reach the United Nation's 2030 

Sustainable Development Goals. 

Without 'Cooling for All', food and 

medicine loss in the supply chain will be 

high; food poisoning from lack of 

domestic temperature management will 

be significant; farmers will lack market 

connectivity, hundreds of millions of 

people will not have safe, let alone 

comfortable, living or working 

environments; medical centres will not 

have temperature-controlled services for 

post-natal care, etc. 

Effective refrigeration is essential to 

preserve food and medicine. It underpins 

industry and economic growth, is key to 

sustainable urbanisation as well as 

As an organization of the fossil-fuel 

industry, OPEC, meets in Vienna, 

the United Nations' COP24 

climate talks are taking place nearby in 

Katowice, Poland. The coal-rich province 

of Silesia, where sits Katowice, was 

wrested from Austria by Frederick the 

Great of Prussia. Now, major oil 

producers must decide whether to fight 

the new energy transition or try to annex 

their share. 

All the leading oil and gas players - 

companies and countries - confront two 

interlinked challenges. The first, 

represented by the series of talks that 

include this month's 24th Conference of 

the Parties to the UN Framework 

Convention on Climate Change, the Paris 

Accord of 2015 and other international 

climate negotiations, is the growing 

concern over climate change. 

The latest report by the 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 

Change (IPCC) laid out disturbingly the 

scale of the challenge required to keep the 

global temperature rise below 1.5 or 2 

degrees Celsius, as the Paris Accord 

requires. Warming to date is already 1 

degree Celsius. 

And non-fossil-fuel technologies are 

rising in response. Solar and wind power 

continue to set new records for low cost, 

the cost of batteries to store renewables' 

intermittent output is falling too, and 

sales of electric vehicles are growing 

sharply. New designs of nuclear power 

plants intended to be cheaper and safer 

than their forebears are also under way. 

It has always been my contention 

that much of the blame for the 

failure to bring peace to the Middle 

East is the result of the outright bias of 

much of the mainstream American 

news media. Such media outlets claim 

to champion free speech but are 

hypocritical in practice, applying 

double standards when it comes to 

certain issues. 

For sections of the mainstream news 

media in the US, you can be obnoxious 

and disrespectful to an American 

president, but you had better not cross 

the line when it comes to challenging 

Israel. 

We saw two scenarios last month that 

illustrate perfectly how this hypocrisy 

works at CNN, which aggressively 

defended the right of its White House 

correspondent Jim Acosta to challenge 

President Donald Trump, while ousting 

commentator Marc Lamont Hill, who 

dared to criticize Israel's policies. 

When Trump suspended Acosta's 

White House accreditation for 

badgering him during a press 

conference on Nov. 7, much of the 

mainstream American news media 

went into a "free speech" rage. The 

media outburst against Trump's action 

was deafening. They went berserk with 

criticism of the ban, arguing that Acosta 

has the absolute right to question an 

American president, asserting that 

denying him access to the president's 

press conferences was a violation of the 

The energy drain in the cold economy 

providing a ladder out of rural poverty. It 

increasingly makes much of the world 

bearable - or even safe - to live in. But the 

growth of artificial cooling will create 

massive demand for energy and, unless 

we can reduce our need for cooling and 

roll out solutions for clean and 

sustainable cooling provision, this will 

cause high levels of CO2e and pollution. 

As an indication of the impact of 

widespread global access to cooling, at the 

University of Birmingham we have 

looked at scenarios where the world has 

"Cooling for All". The number of cooling 

appliances rises to more than 14bn. Even 

assuming accelerated technology 

progress projections delivering aggressive 

energy performance improvements, the 

energy requirement still equates to 

15,500 TWh which is approx 2.5x the 

6,300 TWh maximum sector allocation 

envisaged by the IEA 2 degrees scenario. 

To achieve the required amount of 

cooling within the energy budget 

available would require us to double the 

efficiency of our cooling devices on 

average, in addition to the technology 

progress proposed currently. 

The leading petroleum producers 

include national oil companies (NOCs) - 

such as Saudi Aramco, Qatar Petroleum 

and Rosneft - and international 

corporations, such as Shell, ExxonMobil 

and Total. Some, such as Equinor 

(formerly Statoil) of Norway, are largely 

state-owned but behave mostly like the 

international firms. The classic NOCs are 

the repositories of their host country's 

hydrocarbon resources, often the 

dominant driver of the economy, exports 

and government revenues. These big 

hydrocarbon companies and countries 

can conceive of in essence three future 

strategies in response to climate change 

and new energy sources. 

They could double down on their 

current path, aiming to maximize profits 

before climate limits and non-oil 

technologies really have an impact. 

Natural declines in producing fields mean 

heavy investment in new supplies still will 

US Constitution. In the tsunami of 

media protests against Trump's action, 

CNN filed a lawsuit in the federal court. 

Dozens of mainstream news operations 

then filed briefs in support of CNN and 

Acosta. 

"While President Trump has made it 

clear he does not respect a free press, he 

has a sworn obligation to protect it. A 

free press is vital to democracy, and we 

stand behind Jim Acosta and his fellow 

journalists everywhere," CNN declared 

in a contemptuous attack against 

Trump. 

Despite Acosta's confrontational and 

disrespectful conduct, the mainstream 

news media largely came down hard on 

Trump. It has been tougher on Trump 

than on any previous chief executive. 

Ray Hanania 

Chief New York Times White House 

correspondent Peter Baker said on 

Twitter: "This is something I've never 

TOby PETERS 

RObIN MIllS 

RAy HANANIA 

Alternatively to "green" this volume of 

electricity would require more than 50 

per cent of the total projected renewables 

capacity for all demands from transport 

to industry to our cities under the IEA's 2 

degrees Celsius scenario. 

The world must not solve a social crisis 

by creating an environmental 

catastrophe; we need to ensure access to 

affordable cooling with minimum 

environmental impact and maximum 

efficient use of natural and waste 

resources. 

If cooling is to be sustainable, then we 

need more efficient air-conditioners and 

Without 'Cooling for All', food and medicine loss in the 

supply chain will be high; food poisoning from lack of 

domestic temperature management will be significant; 

farmers will lack market connectivity, hundreds of 

millions of people will not have safe, let alone 

comfortable, living or working environments; medical 

centres will not have temperature-controlled services 

for post-natal care, etc. 

be required even after demand begins to 

shrink. Countries such as Saudi Arabia 

and Russia are likely to remain among 

the world's lowest-cost suppliers. 

Investing in refineries in major 

developing economies, such as India and 

China, and pipeline links to them, can 

anchor these suppliers in growing future 

markets. Or, they could pursue climatecompatible 

hydrocarbons. That would 

involve switching progressively from oil 

to gas, which emits 25% less carbon 

dioxide when burned, and is also cleaner 

and more efficient. Oil and gas can also be 

converted into petrochemicals, which will 

continue to be needed in growing 

quantities. Biofuels are already blended 

into gasoline and diesel, but raise 

concerns over competing land uses and 

negative effects on biodiversity. 

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) 

takes emissions from coal-, oil- or gasfired 

power plants and industry and 

seen since I started covering the White 

House in 1996. Other presidents did 

not fear tough questioning." The White 

House Correspondents' Association, 

which advocates for news media 

freedoms, called the revocation of 

Acosta's access "unacceptable." 

Despite Acosta's confrontational and 

disrespectful conduct, the mainstream 

news media largely came down hard on 

Trump. It has been tougher on Trump 

than on any previous chief executive. 

A federal judge on Nov. 16 ordered 

Acosta's White House access restored. 

Days later, Trump introduced new 

rules for reporter conduct at press 

conferences, limiting journalists to one 

question and one follow-up. The 

president had narrowed his focus on 

Acosta's obstreperous confrontation, in 

which he had asked multiple questions, 

became argumentative with the 

president, and even resisted when a 

fridges, but this is not enough. We must 

also see a fundamental overhaul of the 

way cooling is provided. 

The Cold Economy is the development 

of cohesive and integrated system-level 

strategies to mitigate and meet cooling 

needs sustainably within our climate 

change, natural resource and clean air 

targets, while supporting economy 

growth. 

This involves understanding the 

multiple cooling needs and the size and 

location of the thermal, waste and wrongtime 

energy resources to define the stepchange 

novel energy vectors, thermal 

stores, clean cooling technologies and 

novel business models, policy and 

societal interventions to optimally 

integrate those resources and cooling 

needs through self-organising systems. 

Core to this is using surplus cold and 

heat. For example, we should harness the 

cold energy of liquefied natural gas (LNG) 

along with industrial waste heat and lowgrade 

geothermal energy. By 2025, we 

shall be throwing away billions of dollars 

of waste cold from LNG alone, primarily 

into the sea. 

To achieve the necessary step change, 

we need to start by asking ourselves a new 

question. No longer 'how much green 

electricity do we need to generate?' but 

rather 'what is the service we require, and 

how can we provide it in the least 

damaging way?' 

Given the urgency and magnitude of 

the challenge and the multi-partner and 

multidisciplinary research and delivery 

mechanisms required, to lead this work 

we urge the establishment of a 

multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence for 

Clean Cooling to bring the global 

expertise together to research and 

develop the step-change pathways for 

achieving sustainable cooling while 

meeting social and economic cooling 

needs. Toby Peters is professor in Cold 

Economy at the University of 

Birmingham, UK. 

Starting today, we will run one opinion 

article on sustainability issues every week 

leading up to the Abu Dhabi 

Sustainability Week, which runs from 

January 12 to 19, 2019 

Source : Gulf news 

How will oil producers meet the challenge of climate change? 

The leading petroleum producers include national oil companies 

(NOCs) - such as Saudi Aramco, Qatar Petroleum and Rosneft - 

and international corporations, such as Shell, ExxonMobil and 

Total. Some, such as Equinor (formerly Statoil) of Norway, are 

largely state-owned but behave mostly like the international 

firms. The classic NOCs are the repositories of their host 

country's hydrocarbon resources, often the dominant driver 

of the economy, exports and government revenues. 

Double standards on Acosta, Hill reflect widespread pro-Israel bias 

When Trump suspended Acosta's White House accreditation 

for badgering him during a press conference on Nov. 7, much 

of the mainstream American news media went into a "free 

speech" rage. The media outburst against Trump's action was 

deafening. They went berserk with criticism of the ban, arguing 

that Acosta has the absolute right to question an American 

president, asserting that denying him access to the president's 

press conferences was a violation of the US Constitution. 

disposes of them safely underground, or 

turns them into useful products such as 

ceramics or plastics. Oil companies are 

experts both in injecting fluids 

underground and in chemical processes. 

Converting natural gas to hydrogen and 

capturing the carbon dioxide released 

would produce a valuable fuel that could 

be used in home heating, industry and 

eventually ships and planes. 

So far, the US oil companies are largely 

following the first approach, since the rise of 

shale oil presents them with an 

unparalleled opportunity on home turf. A 

recent change in the US tax code, though, is 

encouraging companies such as Occidental 

to expand carbon-dioxide capture to 

liberate more oil from mature fields. 

Most NOCs are pursuing a mix of the 

first and second strategies. Some of them, 

such as Petróleos de Venezuela, are barely 

able to keep their core business alive. But 

Saudi Aramco probably is the most 

advanced in growing its petrochemicals 

activities, with the recent acquisition of 

compatriot SABIC. Abu Dhabi National 

Oil Company's recently announced 

strategy also includes a major turn to 

petrochemicals, alongside investments in 

emerging markets, a new focus on gas 

and expansion of its CCS projects. 

The third path would be radically 

different: to explore a gradual transition 

to non-carbon energy, including solar, 

wind, nuclear, electric vehicles and 

batteries. 

Source : Asia times 

White House intern tried to take the 

microphone away. CNN's aggressive 

defense of Acosta's right to challenge 

Trump was in sharp contrast to its 

rapid abandonment of Hill, an African 

American who CNN favored as a paid 

commentator and who often criticized 

Trump. Hill was a speaker at the UNsponsored 

International Day of 

Solidarity with the Palestinian People 

on Nov. 28. During his 21-minute 

review of Palestinian-Israeli history, 

Hill criticized Israel's policies and cited 

the 60-plus laws Israel has adopted to 

discriminate against Palestinians 

"because of their religion." 

He referred to the Palestinian 

suffering of 1948 as the "Nakba" 

(catastrophe) - a word banned in Israel 

- detailed Israeli atrocities against 

Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the 

Occupied Territories, denounced 

Israel's illegal settlements, and called 

for justice for all, regardless of religion. 

Hill ended his remarks by explaining 

the need for "international action that 

will give us what justice requires, and 

that is a free Palestine from the river to 

the sea." 

Before he could explain his 

comments, CNN fired him. He was not 

allowed to explain that he was speaking 

about applying "equal rights" and 

"human rights" inside Israel and the 

Occupied Territories. 

Source : Arab news

STRATEGIC ISSUES 

FRIDAY, DeCembeR 7, 2018 

5 

What comes after the Caspian Sea deal? 

Stanislav Pritchin 

The presidents of the five countries with coastlines on the 

Caspian Sea - Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and 

Turkmenistan - agreed in August on the sea's legal status 

after 22 years of negotiations. U.S. sanctions against Iran 

have somewhat devalued the importance of the agreement, 

especially with regard to implementation of economic 

projects in the region. However, the agreement can become 

the foundation of a regional security system and form the 

international legal basis for establishing goodneighborliness. 

This, in turn, significantly reduces the risks of 

regional conflicts. 

The Caspian summit in August was the latest step in 22 

years of discussions and dispute over the status of the sea, but 

it is by no means a finalized comprehensive agreement. In 

particular, ownership of the southern part of the seabed (and 

what it contains) is still in limbo. Iran, with the smallest 

coastline, is still holding out. 

According to Article 7 of the Convention, the surface of the 

sea stays in common use with exception of a 15 mile zone 

extending out beyond the coast lines, plus another 10 miles 

each for exclusive fishing, under full control of littoral 

countries. Meanwhile, the Convention has had to fudge the 

details and not include geographical coordinates of the 

borders or even state the principle by which delimitation 

should occur. The compromise is that delimitation should be 

solved in both two- and three-sided formats as applicable. 

Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkmenistan will use a variant of the 

middle modified line. It will help, for instance, Iran to lift 

domestic political obstacles for negotiations with Azerbaijan 

on a real delimitation of the southern part of the Caspian Sea. 

Access to hydrocarbons is the most important element but 

the Convention has other elements too. It prohibits non- 

Caspian countries from establishing military bases or having 

armed forces present in any of those five countries. This part 

of the Convention was approved at an opportune moment to 

respond appropriately to the newly emerging challenges to 

regional security. 

The introduction of a new package of U.S. sanctions against 

Iran in early November, as well as the work of U.S. diplomacy 

in the region with Iranian neighbors, have returned the 

situation in the Caspian Sea region to the state of 2015, before 

the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action 

(JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program. The presence of 

the Convention reduces the risk of military conflict in the 

region, but of course cannot neutralize the impact of 

economic sanctions on regional cooperation. 

Of more potential significance for Western energy 

Successful realization of the opportunities opened by the deal will depend on political will among the 

Caspian littoral states. 

Photo: RPPIS 

companies, the agreement sets up rules for the construction 

of major transborder projects such as a Trans-Caspian 

pipeline. This means that, officially at least, there are no 

political obstacles for this long-discussed project and its 

implementation depends solely on economic and security 

factors. 

The Convention is an important step for regional 

cooperation but it is not the final step in the battle for the 

ownership of the Caspian. True, it has summed up the 

meager progress made over the past 22 years and shown the 

West that some regional cooperation between autocracies is 

possible. In the wake of the summit, there are several issues 

that still need to be worked out over the next few years. The 

most promising trend is a dialogue between Iran and 

Azerbaijan. The countries are on the way to activating 

cooperation, including in the energy sector. Iranian 

President Hassan Rouhani's official visit to Baku in March 

resulted in a preliminary agreement on joint development of 

oil and gas fields. New common energy projects in the region 

might be expected, but cannot be developed without Western 

technologies due to geological difficulties. Thus U.S. 

sanctions became a serious obstacle for the deepening of 

Azeri-Iranian cooperation. According to unofficial 

information, SOCAR, the Azeri state oil company, has 

informally suspended the implementation of its agreements 

with Iran. 

In this regard, the position of Brussels will play a crucial 

role for implementation of Azeri-Iranian energy projects 

and Iran's transformation into a supplier of oil and gas to 

the European Union. If the European Commission turns 

words about its support for energy companies against U.S. 

sanctions into actions it would help to develop new 

important connections for European energy security 

projects. Meanwhile, the Convention and additional 

documents set up a legal framework governing the 

construction of large infrastructure projects, the 

implementation of which may affect the environment of 

the sea. Conditionally, if Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan 

plan to build a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, they should 

provide their neighbors with full information about the 

parameters of the project, technical characteristics, and 

geographic coordinates of the route. After that, within a 

period of not more than 180 days, the interested parties 

should provide their recommendations on the elimination 

of possible negative consequences of the project. 

Consultations are also envisaged to agree on the final 

parameters of the project. In other words, nonparticipants 

of such projects will still have information about them and 

can ask to implement additional measures for protection 

of the environment. 

However, despite lifting legal restrictions for the 

Trans-Caspian project several political hurdles can 

negatively affect the implementation of the pipeline. 

For instance, Chinese influence in the Caspian region is 

becoming more and more ponderous, especially on the 

east coast. Due to Chinese position as the main (and 

today the only) major consumer of Turkmen gas, 

Beijing could also argue against the Trans-Caspian 

pipeline. This influence will increase even more if 

China's plans to construct a fourth branch of the gas 

pipeline from Turkmenistan to China through 

Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan are 

implemented. Beijing would be not only to the main 

consumer of regional natural gas but a main energy 

dispatcher in Central Asia. 

Azeri-Turkmen relations have a long way to go. 

Despite Baku's attempts for a joint exploration of the 

controversial Serdar/Kapaz oil field, Ashgabat 

systematically declines. Such stubbornness adversely 

affects not only bilateral relations, but also the political 

environment for the implementation of the Trans- 

Caspian project. In this regard, it is also interesting how 

the Trans-Caspian project approval procedures will be 

implemented in practice. It's not clear whether Russia 

and Iran would use the Protocol try to increase the cost 

of the project or delay its construction due to 

environmental requirements. 

The implementation of agreements made in Aktau will likely 

occur in the next year or two. However, successful realization 

of the emerging opportunities will largely depend on political 

will and the willingness of the participating countries and 

foreign companies to overcome the many political, technical 

and financial difficulties and constraints. 

The upside of US-China trade war 

China's first overseas military base provides an interesting test case for its global 

ambitions. 

Photo: RPPIS 

China’s strategic bases in Africa 

Tyler Headley 

Since its construction, the Chinese 

People's Liberation Army Support 

Base in Djibouti has become an 

increasingly important outpost in 

the Horn of Africa. The base's 

geostrategic location yields insights 

into China's machinations for the 

region. 

Roughly two years ago, China's 

negotiations with Djibouti for the 

People's Liberation Army Navy's 

(PLAN) first overseas military base 

successfully concluded. On July 11, 

2017, the PLAN deployed ships from 

the South Sea Fleet to officially open 

the base. The opening ceremony on 

August 1, 2017 was followed a month 

and a half later with live fire 

exercises. China has avoided using 

overt military terminology to 

describe the base, as Mordechai 

Chaziza notes, "preferring instead to 

use the terms 'support facilities' or 

'logistical facilities.'" China still 

maintains that the base is primarily 

for nonmilitary activities; last year, 

the state-run news agency Xinhua 

wrote that "the Djibouti base has 

nothing to do with an arms race or 

military expansion, and China has 

no intention of turning the logistics 

center into a military foothold." 

Analysis from Stratfor cast doubt on 

China's claim, showing the military 

base has become heavily fortified 

with an underground space of 

23,000 square meters. 

Also, in the year since the base 

officially opened, it has been party to 

controversy including the United 

States. Washington alleged that 

China was directing powerful lasers 

from its base at nearby U.S. planes, a 

nuisance and provocation that 

injured two airmen. China has 

denied the allegations. 

Much of the tension is attributable 

to a plethora of countries 

establishing bases in the Horn of 

Africa for its geostrategic location. 

Djibouti offers a prime opportunity 

for third party state actors to observe 

and defend international commerce 

passing through the Bab el-Mandeb 

strait, a shipping passage renowned 

as the fourth most important world 

chokepoint for oil exports and 

imports. Because of the strait's close 

proximity to Somalia and piracy 

originating from its shores, state 

powers have strong incentives to 

conduct frequent anti-piracy 

operations. Because of the 

opportunity to run anti-piracy 

missions in addition to 

counterterrorism and myriad other 

activities, the United States, France, 

Japan, and Italy all maintain bases in 

Djibouti. The United States' military 

base in Djibouti - Camp Lemmonier 

- is its only permanent base on the 

African continent, with more than 

4,000 troops deployed. 

China's military involvement in 

the Horn of Africa, primarily 

consisting of anti-piracy missions, 

began a decade ago. Today, in 

addition to anti-piracy operations, 

declassified analysis from CNA 

posits that China's naval facility in 

Djibouti will support four other key 

missions: intelligence collection, 

non-combat evacuation operations, 

peacekeeping operation support, 

and counterterrorism. 

All of these objectives are in line 

with a nascent but escalating policy 

of global military engagement 

stretching from the South China Sea 

to East Africa. One of the primary 

mechanisms for achieving this stated 

goal is a strong navy, allowing China 

to project its power across the globe. 

Naval bases like the one in Djibouti 

will be integral to achieving this 

ambition. A Pentagon report from 

last year noted that the Djibouti base, 

"along with regular naval vessel visits 

to foreign ports, both reflects and 

amplifies China's growing influence, 

extending the reach of its armed 

forces." China refuted this claim, and 

Chinese Foreign Ministry 

spokeswoman Hua Chunying 

argued the Pentagon was making 

"irresponsible remarks about 

China's national defense 

development in disregard of the 

facts." The Djibouti base was 

constructed within the context of 

growing China-Djibouti economic 

relations, which allowed China to 

create their base over the United 

States' objections. The Import- 

Export Bank of China has loaned 

Djibouti nearly $1 billion dollars, and 

sources indicate that China provides 

nearly 40 percent of funding for 

Djibouti's large-scale infrastructure 

and investment projects. Some of the 

most notable among these are the 

Doraleh Multipurpose Port, the 

Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway, and the 

Ethiopia-Djibouti Water Pipeline. 

China's base in Djibouti may be a 

harbinger of more to come in the 

region. As China continues its policy 

of Belt and Road investments in 

Africa, which appear to include 

provisions for more ports in East 

Africa, ensuring the security and 

stability of those investments will of 

critical importance. Counterpiracy 

and counterterrorism will become 

increasingly imperative in the years 

to come, especially in places like the 

Horn of Africa where instability 

meets economic opportunity. Thus, 

China's base in Djibouti may not be 

just a military outpost but also a 

learning experiment for future bases 

on the continent. 

Yigal Chazan 

With the world braced for further escalations in the U.S.- 

China trade war, Southeast Asian economies are 

experiencing some benefit from the dispute, which appears 

to be accelerating the relocation of manufacturing capacity 

from the Chinese mainland to the region. 

While export-orientated ASEAN members are unlikely to 

escape the economic harm caused by the tit-for-tat tariffs 

imposed by Washington and Beijing on each other's 

products, it may be mitigated by the shift in production, 

helping to sustain the region's healthy growth - with the likes 

of Vietnam, whose GDP rose by 6.98 percent between 

January and September, an eight-year high, set to be among 

the main beneficiaries. 

The transfer of manufacturing capacity represents 

something of a turnaround in fortunes for Southeast Asia, as 

a recent paper by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), 

looking at the impact of the trade war on Asia, pointed out. 

The EIU noted that in some ways relocation is a reversal of a 

trend earlier this century "when China's rise as an export 

powerhouse diverted investment from ASEAN economies 

that were still reeling from the 1997 Asian financial crisis." 

Rising land and labor costs in China have for some time 

been prompting foreign companies based there, along with 

domestic firms, to invest in factory output in Southeast Asian 

states, enticed by geographic proximity, lower wages, 

improving infrastructure as well as liberal trading policies 

and sizable local consumer demand. The shift has been 

dubbed the "China Plus One" strategy, whereby investors 

move some of their Chinese operations to a neighboring 

country in order to lower overhead. 

The trend is likely to be expedited by the trade war between 

China and the United States, as companies based in China 

attempt to evade margin-squeezing tariffs. The relocation of 

plant capacity may at least in part account for some of the 

ASEAN region's 18 percent rise in Foreign Direct Investment 

(FDI) in the first half of 2018. Thailand and the Philippines 

saw the biggest increases, with surges in manufacturing 

investments. 

In September, an American Chamber of Commerce survey 

of more than 430 U.S. companies in China revealed that 18.5 

percent - including those involved in consumer products, 

technology and telecom hardware, chemicals, and the 

automotive sector - had been considering transferring their 

manufacturing to Southeast Asia, or had already done so, due 

to the recent tariffs and/or concerns over the future of U.S.- 

China trade relations. Many Hong Kong businesses are also 

reportedly making plans to move their production from the 

Chinese mainland to Vietnam and Malaysia and other 

countries in the ASEAN region. 

Notwithstanding the economic uncertainties associated 

with the spillover of market turmoil in Turkey and Argentina 

and higher U.S. interests rates, ASEAN members look like 

good relocation bets for companies wishing to limit the 

fallout from the U.S.-China trade war. The United States 

appears to be buying more and more of the region's output. 

In August, U.S. imports of products from Vietnam increased 

by 11.3 percent compared to the same month last year. The 

corresponding figures for Indonesia and Cambodia were 6.4 

and 3.8 percent, respectively. 

It is not just foreign companies based in China that are 

eyeing Southeast Asia. As of the end of last year, there were 

more than 4,000 Chinese firms in the region, employing 

about 300,000 locals - some of the operations linked to the 

Belt and Road initiative (BRI), according to the South China 

Morning Post. Indeed, economic links between the bloc and 

its neighbor, which have a free trade agreement and are 

currently negotiating a more comprehensive regional deal, 

are anticipated to grow significantly. In June, at bilateral 

talks in Singapore, ASEAN and China representatives agreed 

to intensify efforts to achieve their twin goals of two-way 

trade and investment of $1 trillion and $150 billion 

respectively by 2020. 

Yet there are risks associated with strengthening ties. 

ASEAN members supplying parts for goods assembled in 

China could see demand for their exports slow if the United 

States slaps more tariffs on finished products. Also, Chinese 

investors that choose to transfer some or all of their 

production to the region in order to evade the trade war may 

attract the attention of U.S. regulators, as they become more 

alert to attempts to conceal exports' country of origin. 

Relations between most Southeast Asian countries and the 

United States are good, but that could change if Washington 

felt the region was providing Beijing with an opportunity to 

circumvent higher tariffs. 

While China-based foreign manufacturers' relocation of 

production capacity is likely to boost ASEAN economies, 

some observers believe that this will not happen overnight. 

In its recent paper, the EIU suggested the upside may not 

come about for a few years as multinationals complete the 

lengthy bureaucratic process of shifting production, "As a 

result, the negative, disruptive effects of the trade war will 

predominate in the short term." It is a salutary reminder that 

while some accrue benefit from trade wars, disputes like this 

are usually zero-sum games. 

Southeast Asian countries may gain from shifting production linked to the tit-for-tat tariff dispute. 

Photo: AP

NATIONAL 

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018 

6 

Expelled AL leaders have formed 

Oikya Front: Mirza Azam 

JULFIKAR BABLU, MADARGANJ CORRESPONDENT: 

State Minister for Textiles and Jute 

Alhaj Mirza Azam MP said that 

expelled leaders of Awami League have 

joined with BNP and Jamaat and 

formed Oikya Front. The expelled 

people are now against Liberation War 

embroiled in the fighting to make 

criminals like Khaleda Zia and Tarique 

Zia as president and prime minister. 

He said these while addressing a 

special extended meeting organized by 

Madarganj Jubo League in upazila 

auditorium hall room on Thursday. He 

further said that the work of Jamalpur- 

Madarganj and Bogra- Sariakandi link 

roads till the Jamuna River is 

completed. Within 2-3 months, the 

ferry service will be available on the 

Jamuna river connection. After that 

various transport vehicles and buses 

will be started with direct bus to North 

Bengal. For this transportation costs 

and time will be less. 

Upazila Jubo League President Md. 

Faridul Islam chaired the meeting 

while among others, General Secretary 

Shafiqul Islam, district Awami League's 

organizing secretary Abdulhah Al- 

Ameen Chan, Upazila AL president 

Babu Jiban Krishna Saha, Vice 

President Babu Arun Kumar Saha, 

Upazila chairman Obaidur Rahman 

Belal and organizing secretary Raihan 

Rahmatullah Rimu were also present at 

the occasion. 

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Awami League Organizing Secretary and AL's nominated candidate 

for Dinajpur-2 (Biral-Bochaganj) constituency as the chief guest addressed a joint extended 

meeting Biral upazila on Thursday. 

Photo: Tajul Islam 

BNP nominated numerous criminals 

like Khaleda Zia: Khalid Mahmud 

TAJUL ISLAM, BIRAL CORRESPONDENT: 

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Awami 

League Organizing Secretary and AL's 

nominated candidate for Dinajpur-2 

(Biral-Bochaganj) constituency in the 

11th Parliamentary Elections, said that 

BNP has nominated many criminals 

like Khaleda Zia. As a result, the 

Election Commission has canceled the 

nomination of criminals. Now they are 

trying to question the Election 

Commission after cancellation of their 

nominations. 

He said this while addressing a joint 

extended meeting organized by Biral 

upazila Awami League at Biral 

municipality Hussnay (Mayors 

Chattal) to ensure the victory of the 

Awami League nominee candidate in 

the Dinajpur-2 constituency. 

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury further 

said that there is no level playing field 

in Bangladesh. He said when the war 

criminals go to polls in an independent 

country, when the freedom fighters 

contest with them at the election then 

there is no chance of level playing field. 

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrested an arms trader 

along with a foreign pistol from Sadipur border area in Benapole on 

Thursday. 

Photo: Jahirul Islam Ripon 

Dead body of CU student recovered 

CU CORRESPONDENT: 

Jahanghir Alam Raju, a 

twenty-four-year-old student 

of Chittagong University has 

been found dead by the local 

people in Hathazari Upazila 

on Thursday morning. The 

police of Hathazari thana 

have recovered Raju's body 

from and sent it to 

Chittagong Medical College 

(CMC). 

Sazzad, one of the local 

students of CU has informed 

to Hathazari police station 

that Raju was one of his best 

friend and locally well known 

student of Economics 

department, session (2014- 

15). He can't believe it as 

usual death since Raju has 

always lived an ordinary life 

for a long time. But on 

Thursday Raju's parents 

called Sazzad and was 

looking for Raju. He then 

rushed to Raju's cottage and 

found his dead body. 

Belal Uddin Jahanghir, OC 

of Hathazari thana said to 

The Bangladesh Today that 

based on the 'Prima Facie' it 

seems like a suicide but they 

are not sure about it and 

that's why they are going on 

an extreme investigation. 

Professor Ali Asgar 

Chowdhury, Proctor of CU 

informed to the Bangladesh 

Today that it's a matter of 

great concern that we can't 

be assure of it whether it's a 

suicide or a murder but it 

seems that probably he has 

committed a suicide. So for 

assuring it frantically, we 

requested to Hathazari thana 

to bring out an authentic 

information by propelling a 

transparent autopsy at CMC. 

Ultimate victory became visible since 

December in Rangpur region 

RANGPUR: The ultimate victory started 

becoming visible as decisive fights of the 

freedom fighters and allied forces started 

defeating and pushing back the occupation 

forces from Rangpur region since beginning of 

December, 1971, reports BSS. 

The crucial struggles for independence 

sparked in the region centering Rangpur since 

beginning of March when common people 

began showing stiff resistance against the 

Pakistani junta with the only target of achieving 

victory. The Bangalee nation guessed the deeprooted 

conspiracy of hatred Pakistani President 

Yahiya Khan who cancelled on March 1 the 

scheduled parliament sitting on March 3 and 

declared curfew on the day. 

Rejecting cancellation of the scheduled 

parliament session vehemently, Father of the 

Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 

called strike on March 2 in Dhaka and March 3 

in the country when people of Rangpur started 

becoming mobilised. 

Without making any delay, thousands of 

people brought out protest processions 

breaking curfew in Rangpur city on March 3 

challenging the Pakistani regime. 

The crucial struggles factually began in 

Rangpur from March 3 when minor boy 

Sangku Samajhder, 12, embraced martyrdom 

as non-Bengali Sarforaz Khan opened gunfire 

on him in the protest procession at 9 am. 

Rangpur turned into a volatile city through 

sacrificing Sangku along with two of its other 

brave sons on March 3 when the situation went 

out of control of the Pakistani regime forcing 

them to declare curfew from March 3 to 5 in the 

city. 

Former District Muktijoddha Commander 

Mosaddek Hossain said, "Bangabandhu in his 

historic March 7 speech in 1971 mentioned 

martyrdoms of the heroic Rangpur sons on 

March 3." 

BNP is Jamaat's shelter giver. They 

nominated the families of the war 

criminals who were executed by the 

courts in the name of BNP. He 

demanded the Election Commission 

to exclude criminals and their 

families from the electoral process of 

Bangladesh to undermine the 

election. 

Finally he urged all the leaders and 

supporters at the meeting to go to 

every voter's and seek vote for boat 

symbol to continue the progress of the 

Awami League government. 

Arms trader 

held with 

foreign pistol 

in Benapole 

Jahirul Islam Ripon, 

Benapole Correspondent: 

Members of Border Guard 

Bangladesh (BGB) arrested 

an arms trader along with a 

foreign made pistol from 

Sadipur border area in 

Benapole Port area on 

Thursday. 

The arrestee was identified 

as Abdus Salam 23 son of 

Mohammad Ali of the 

village. 

Lt Col Ariful Haque , 

commanding officer, 49 

Border guard Battalion said 

that, tipped off a team of 

BGB-49 battalion conducted 

a drive in the area at around 

9.00 am and arrested 

Abdus Salam along with a 

foreign made pistol from his 

possession. He is an arms 

trader, BGB CO added. 

BGB handed him over to 

Benapole port police station 

along with the pistol. A case 

was filed in this connection. 

23 held in 

Dinajpur 

special 

drives 

DINAJPUR: Law 

enforcers, in special drives 

arrested 23 persons 

including two drug traders 

from different areas of the 

district in 12-hour ending 

at 8am last morning, 

reports BSS. 

Law enforcers also seized 

50 bottles of Phensidyl 

during the drives. 

Police said they were 

picked up from different 

areas of the district on 

different charges. 

During the drives, 

Dinajpur Sadar police 

arrested seven persons 

including two drug traders 

along with 50 bottles of 

Phensidyl, Birganj Thana 

police arrested three 

persons, Phulbari Thana 

police arrested two 

persons, Parbatipur Thana 

police arrested three 

persons, Chirirbandar 

Thana police arrested three 

persons, Biral Thana police 

arrested three persons and 

Ghoraghat Thana police 

arrested two persons. 

Several cases, including 

charges of subversive 

activities, are pending with 

different police stations 

against the arrested 

persons, the sources 

added. 

The arrested persons 

were sent to jail. 

State Minister for Textiles and Jute Alhaj Mirza Azam MP as the chief guest addressed a special 

extended meeting organized by Madarganj Jubo League in upazila auditorium hall room on 

Thursday. 

Photo: Julfikar Bablu 

World Soil Day-2018 

observed in Rajshahi 

RAJSHAHI: Soil 

scientists and researchers 

at a post-rally discussion 

here on Wednesday 

stressed the need for 

protecting soil health for 

increasing crop production 

to ensure food security of 

the country, reports BSS. 

They expressed concern 

over declining soil 

productivity due to 

indiscriminate use of 

chemical fertilisers and 

pesticides round the year. 

The soil scientists and 

researchers were addressing 

the rally organized to mark 

the World Soil Day-2018. 

'Be the Solution to Soil 

Pollution' was the main 

theme of the day. 

Regional office of Soil 

Resource Development 

Institute (SRDI) organized 

National Anti-Tuberculosis Association of Bangladesh (NATAB) on Thursday organized a view exchange in 

Jamalpur to create social movements to prevent Tuberculosis disease. 

Photo: M Sultan Alam 

NATAB holds view exchange 

meeting in Jamalpur 

M SULTAN ALAM, JAMALPUR CORRESPONDENT: 

A view exchange meeting was held 

with journalists working in Jamalpur 

on Thursday to create social 

movements to prevent Tuberculosis 

disease. National Anti-Tuberculosis 

Association of Bangladesh (NATAB) 

organized the meeting at a restaurant 

in the city. 

NATAB Jamalpur District unit 

president Tanvir Ahmed Hira chaired 

the meeting while deputy Civil Surgeon 

Dr. Mustakim Mahmud Sadi was 

present as the chief guest at the 

occasion. Among others, Retired senior 

TB consultant of Chest Disease Clinic, 

Jamalpur Dr Ahmed Ali Akand, 

the discussion in its 

conference room in the city. 

Chaired by Dr Abu 

Tawab Khandaker, 

principal scientific officer 

of SRDI, the meeting was 

addressed, among other, 

by deputy director of 

Department of 

Agriculture Extension 

Shamsul Haque, principal 

scientific officer of 

Bangladesh Wheat and 

Maize Research Institute 

Dr Ilias Hossain, SRDI 

Senior Scientific Officer 

Dr Nurul Islam and 

senior scientific officer of 

Bangladesh Agriculture 

Research Institute Dr 

Shakhawat Hossain. 

During his keynote 

presentation, Md 

Kamruzzaman, principal 

scientific officer of SRDI, 

said soil nutrients have 

gradually been declining 

due to multifarious 

reasons creating a 

negative impact on the 

soil productivity. 

He 

viewed 

disproportionate use of 

chemical fertilizers and 

harmful pesticides for 

cultivation of high 

yielding varieties of 

different crops and 

vegetables are mainly 

blamed for the continued 

decline in soil nutrients. 

"Organic matter 

requirement is at least 2.5 

per cent in a normal soil, 

whereas the content in 

the area was found less 

than 1.3 per cent and even 

less than one per cent in 

some soils," he revealed. 

He said optimum level 

general secretary of Jamalpur district 

press club and editor of 

Jamalpurnews24.com Advocate Yusuf 

Ali and general secretary of Jamalpur 

Press Club Dulal Hossain were also 

present at the occasion. 

At the meeting, the speakers urged 

everyone to be aware of Tuberculosis 

disease prevention as well as delivered 

the message that it is possible to get 

cured from Tuberculosis disease 

through proper treatment. The press 

and electronic media journalists 

working in the district were also 

present at the occasion. 

Upazila AL president (Acting) MA 

Latif chaired the meeting while among 

others, District Awami League general 

of organic matter is a 

must for building and 

maintaining positive soil 

properties and normal 

soil ecosystem that 

supports plant growth. 

Dr Tawab Khandaker 

told the meeting that 

organic manure improves 

the chemical and physical 

properties of soil like its 

structure by acting as 

binding agent and the 

good structure enhances a 

favorable air-water status 

of soil from which plant 

and micro-organisms can 

take air, water and 

nutrient elements. 

Likewise, input and 

output balance of plant 

nutrient elements should 

be equal for maintaining 

the nutrient status of the 

soil. 

secretary and district council chairman 

Azizul Imam Chowdhury, joint general 

secretary Farukuzzaman Chowdhury 

Michael, Upazila Awami League senior 

president and mayor of municipality 

Sabujar Siddique Sagar, vice-president 

and freedom fighter Commander Abul 

Kasem Oru, lecturer Reazul Islam, 

Joint General Secretary Ramakant 

Roy, Youth and sports affairs secretary 

Mosharraf Hossain, municipal 

convener Idris Ali, former deputy 

commander freedom fighter Rahman 

Ali, women's leader Kulsuma Khatun, 

Mollah Ilias Ali, Awal Hossain 

Chowdhury, Noor Islam and Jubo 

League president Abdul Malek were 

also present at the occasion.

INTERNATIONAL fRIDAY, 

DeCeMBeR 7, 2018 

7 

Bloody rivalry erupts between 

al-Shabab, IS group in Somalia 

3 killed in attack 

in southeast 

Iran city of 

Chabahar 

At least three people were 

killed and several others 

were injured in an attack in 

the southeast Iran city of 

Chabahar on Thursday 

morning, official IRNA news 

agency reported. 

The terrorists targeted a 

police station in Chabahar by 

a car loaded with explosives, 

the governor of Chabahar city 

was quoted as saying. 

The car was trying to enter 

the police station, but it was 

stopped by the security 

guards and the suicide 

attacker blasted the car at 

the gate of the station, Rahmdel 

Bameri said. 

Pakistan opposition 

rally clashes with 

police, dozens hurt 

Pakistani officials say supporters 

of the country's 

opposition leader, Shahbaz 

Sharif, have clashed with 

police in the eastern city of 

Lahore, leaving dozens of 

protesters hurt. 

Thursday's violence erupted 

when riot police used batons 

to prevent Sharif's supporters 

from reaching an anti-graft 

tribunal where he appeared to 

face a pre-trial hearing over 

alleged links to a multi-million 

dollars housing scam. 

Maryam Aurangzeb, a spokeswoman 

for Sharif's Pakistan 

Muslim League party, says police 

beat the party's supporters without 

any provocation. Police say 

they prevented demonstrators 

from trying to storm the court. 

Sharif, the opposition leader 

in parliament, has been held 

in custody by the National 

Accountability Bureau since 

October. 

He is accused of influencing 

authorities to award contracts 

for a housing program to a 

company with which he had 

political connections 

A bloody rivalry has emerged between 

extremist groups in Somalia as the al- 

Qaida-linked al-Shabab hunts upstart 

fighters allied to the Islamic State group, 

who have begun demanding protection 

payments from major businesses, officials 

tell The Associated Press. 

The rivalry supports some observers' 

suspicions that al-Shabab, now scrambling 

to defend its monopoly on the 

mafia-style extortion racket that funds its 

high-profile attacks, is drifting from its 

long-declared goal of establishing a strict 

Islamic state. 

The manhunt began in October with 

the killing of a top leader of the IS-linked 

group by a suspected al-Shabab death 

squad in the capital, Mogadishu, according 

to several Somali intelligence officials, 

who spoke on condition of 

anonymity because they were not 

authorized to speak to the media. 

When the body of Mahad Maalin, 

deputy leader of the IS-affiliated group, 

was found near a beach in Mogadishu, it 

set off a hunt for suspected IS sympathizers 

within al-Shabab's ranks, officials 

said. Maalin had been suspected of trying 

to extend his group's reach into the capital. 

Last month, the Islamic State group's 

Al Naba newsletter noted deadly attacks 

on its fighters in Somalia and warned 

that "when the time of response comes 

from the Islamic State, with God's will, 

we will be excused." 

The IS-affiliated group in Somalia, 

largely made up of al-Shabab defectors, 

first announced its presence in 2016 with 

attacks in the far north, far from 

Mogadishu and most al-Shabab strongholds. 

Though estimated at a few hundred 

fighters at most, their emergence in one of 

the world's most unstable countries has 

been alarming enough that the U.S. military 

began targeting it with airstrikes a 

year ago. While al-Shabab and its thousands 

of fighters have hunted down suspected 

IS sympathizers before, they had 

not taken the young group's expansion 

seriously until now, observers say. 

"Al-Shabab miscalculated IS's organizational 

capability and ambitions to 

extend its reach beyond the north, having 

judged it by its handful of fighters there, 

and thus missed the bigger picture," said 

Mohamed Sheikh Abdi, a Mogadishubased 

political analyst. 

The revelation by businessmen that ISlinked 

operatives had begun making 

extortion demands took al-Shabab's leadership 

by surprise, prompting the manhunt 

that has led to assassinations and 

the detention of over 50 suspected ISlinked 

extremists, including foreign fighters, 

two Somali intelligence officials told 

AP. One suspected IS-linked fighter from 

Egypt was shot dead on Nov. 18 in Jilib. 

As members of the Islamic State group 

flee shrinking strongholds in Iraq and 

Syria, fears have grown that the fighters 

will find a new and welcome home in 

parts of Africa. 

Alarmed by al-Shabab's deadly attacks, 

the IS-linked group has expanded its 

own assassination campaign. IS's Amaq 

news agency, turning its attention to the 

young affiliate, has released videos showing 

what it called killings by the group's 

death squad. 

IS-linked fighters already had claimed 

responsibility for 50 assassinations in 

southern Somalia between October 2017 

and August, often against federal government 

officials, according to a report 

released last month by the United 

Nations panel of experts monitoring 

sanctions on the country. 

The wreckage of a car is seen after a suicide bombing at the gate of a police headquarters 

in the southeastern Iranian port city of Chabahar on Dec. 6. Photo: Internet 

State TV says suicide car bombing 

kills 2 in southeast Iran 

A suicide car bomber attacked a police headquarters 

in the southeastern Iranian port city 

of Chabahar on Thursday, killing at least two 

people and wounding 15, state TV reported. No 

one immediately claimed responsibility for the 

attack, though a semi-official news agency 

blamed a Sunni jihadi group for the assault. 

State television broke into its regular broadcast 

to report the attack as such assaults are 

rare in the Islamic Republic. 

Rahmdel Bameri, a provincial official, told 

state TV that a suicide attacker driving a vehicle 

loaded with explosives drove up to the 

police headquarters. He said police officers 

blocked the vehicle and started firing at the 

driver, who then detonated his explosives. 

State TV also aired footage of smoke rising 

over the city. State television said two police 

officers were killed, lowering an initially reported 

death toll of three without explanation. 

State authorities did not identify who was 

behind the attack. No militant group immediately 

said it was behind the bombing. However, 

the semi-official Tasnim news agency, 

believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary 

Guard, blamed the attack on Ansar 

al-Furqan, a Sunni jihadi group. 

Ansar al-Furqan is known to operate in 

Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan 

Province, which sees occasional attacks by 

Baluch separatists and drug traffickers. A year 

ago, the group claimed to have blown up an oil 

pipeline in Iran's southern Khuzestan 

province. 

Chabahar, near Iran's border with Pakistan 

on the Sea of Oman, is home to a new port 

recently built and is an economic free zone for 

the country. 

The attack comes as Iran's economy reels in 

the wake of the U.S. re-imposing sanctions 

lifted by Tehran's nuclear deal with world 

powers. While Iran still complies with the 

accord, President Donald Trump withdrew 

America over the deal in part due to Tehran's 

ballistic missile program, its "malign behavior" 

in the Mideast and its support of militant 

groups like Hezbollah. 

While rare, Iran has been targeted in recent 

years by militant attacks. 

In September, gunmen disguised as soldiers 

opened fire on a military parade in Ahvaz, 

killing at least 24 people and wounding over 

60. Arab separatists and the Islamic State 

group both claimed the assault. Iran's supreme 

leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blamed Saudi 

Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the 

attack, allegations denied by both countries. 

A coordinated June 2017 Islamic State group 

assault on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah 

Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran's 

1979 Islamic Revolution, killed at least 18 people 

and wounded more than 50. 

An Indonesian hostage kidnapped nearly three months ago by the Abu Sayyaf Group escaped Thursday from abductors and 

was rescued by the Philippine military in Sulu province in the southern Philippines. 

Photo: Internet 

Paris fears new 

protests violence 

despite Macron's 

retreat 

Paris police and store owners 

are bracing for new violence at 

protests Saturday, despite President 

Emmanuel Macron's surrender 

over a fuel tax hike that 

unleashed weeks of unrest. 

Police unions and local 

authorities are holding 

emergency meetings Thursday 

to strategize - while disparate 

groups of protesters 

are sharing plans on social 

networks and chat groups. 

After the worst rioting in 

Paris in decades last weekend, 

many shops and restaurants 

in the center of the 

capital are expected to shut 

down Saturday, fearing a 

repeat of the violence. 

Macron on Wednesday 

agreed to abandon the fuel 

tax hike, but protesters' 

demands have now expanded 

to other issues. 

Protesting students are 

disrupting schools and universities 

Thursday, and drivers 

are still blocking roads 

around France, now 

demanding broader tax cuts 

and government aid. 

New Zealand 

police search for 

22-year-old 

British tourist 

New Zealand police were 

searching Thursday for a 22- 

year-old British tourist who 

has been missing for five 

days and failed to contact 

her parents on her birthday. 

Grace Millane was last seen 

on Saturday evening in central 

Auckland. She had been 

staying at a backpacker hostel 

and left some of her belongings 

there. Her birthday was 

on Sunday and police said it 

was unusual for her not to 

contact her family then. 

Detective Inspector Scott 

Beard told reporters the 

investigation is focusing on 

videos from surveillance cameras 

around the city. He urged 

anyone who has seen Millane 

or knows her to contact police. 

"The police investigation 

today has concentrated on 

her movements and activities 

in Auckland since she's 

arrived in New Zealand," 

Beard said. 

Indonesian hostage rescued from 

Abu Sayyaf militants in Philippines 

An Indonesian hostage kidnapped nearly 

three months ago by the Abu Sayyaf 

Group escaped Thursday from abductors 

and was rescued by the Philippine military 

in Sulu province in the southern 

Philippines. 

Military and police authorities said 

Indonesian fisherman, named Usman 

Yusuf, 35, managed to escape at dawn 

from his abductors in the jungle camp 

where he was being held in the remote village 

in Panamao town in Sulu. 

Yusuf was seized in September, along 

with another Indonesian Samsul Saguni, 

by Abu Sayyaf militants while fishing off 

Palau off Semporna archipelago in Sabah, 

Malaysia, according to a military report. 

They were reportedly brought to Talipao 

town also in Sulu where they were 

kept. 

Police said Yusuf managed to escape 

and run several kilometers until he 

reached a village in Luuk town. Villagers 

reportedly helped him by alerting the military 

in the area, authorities added. 

A military report said Yusuf was rescued 

at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday. 

Yusuf's companion Saguni is still in the 

hands of Abu Sayyaf Group along with 

two other foreign hostages, a Dutch 

national and a Vietnamese, plus some Filipino 

hostages. 

The kidnapping of Yusuf and Saguni 

took place despite a trilateral agreement 

among the militias of the Philippines, 

Malaysia and Indonesia on patrolling the 

waters in that region. 

The Armed Forces of the Philippines 

will deploy an army division in Sulu 

mainly to track down the Abu Sayyaf terrorists. 

Philippine security forces have been trying 

to crush the Abu Sayyaf terrorists 

since early 2000. The terrorists often carry 

out kidnappings, bombings and 

beheadings in western Mindanao, particularly 

in their lair in the island provinces 

of Basilan and Sulu. 

Honduran woman in migrant 

caravan gives birth in US 

A Honduran woman affiliated with a caravan 

of Central American migrants gave 

birth on U.S. soil shortly after entering 

the country illegally amid growing frustration 

about a bottleneck to claim asylum 

at official border crossings. 

Border Patrol agents arrested the 

woman Nov. 26 after she entered the 

country illegally near Imperial Beach, 

California, across the border from Tijuana, 

Mexico, Customs and Border Protection 

said Wednesday. She was arrested 

with her 20-year-old husband and 2-yearold 

son. 

The woman, who was eight months 

pregnant, was taken to a hospital after 

complaining about abdominal plan the 

day after her arrest, Customs and Border 

Protection said. The family was released 

from custody on Sunday, pending the outcomes 

of their immigration cases. 

Univision reported that the family is 

seeking asylum and hoped to join family 

in Columbus, Ohio, while their cases are 

pending. Maryury Serrano Hernandez, 

19, told the network giving birth in the 

U.S. was a "big reward" for the family's 

grueling journey. 

U.S. inspectors at the main border 

crossing in San Diego are processing up to 

about 100 asylum claims day, leaving 

thousands of migrants waiting in Tijuana. 

Some are crossing illegally and avoiding 

the wait. 

President Donald Trump said in October 

that he could end birthright citizenship 

with a swipe of his pen. Most scholars 

on the left and right share the view 

that it would take a constitutional amendment 

to deny automatic citizenship to 

children born in the U.S. to parents who 

are in the country illegally. 

Of the more than 6,100 migrants staying 

in a temporary shelter run by the city 

of Tijuana last week, 3,936 were men, 

1,147 were women, and 1,068 were children. 

Scores of pregnant women traveled with 

the caravan through Mexico before reaching 

the U.S. border. In Pijijiapan in the 

southern state of Chiapas, Dr. Jesus 

Miravete, who volunteered his services in 

the town's plaza, said he treated a few 

dozen pregnant women, including 16 for 

dehydration after being on the road for 

weeks. 

In October, a Guatemalan woman 

gave birth to the first known caravan 

baby at a hospital in Juchitan. Mexico's 

governmental National Human Rights 

Commission said it had arranged for 

medical attention for the woman, who 

was 38 weeks pregnant, and the girl was 

healthy. 

Pakistan kicks out 18 charities 

after rejecting final appeal 

Pakistani protesters from the Tehreek-i-Labaik Yah Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLYRAP) religious group shout religious slogans 

during a protest in Islamabad . 

Photo: Internet 

Pakistan is kicking out 18 international 

charities after rejecting their final appeal to 

stay in the country, a move that an aid 

group spokesman said Thursday would 

affect millions of desperately poor Pakistanis 

and lead to tens of millions of aid dollars 

lost. The majority of the shuttered aid 

groups are U.S.-based, while the rest are 

from Britain and the European Union, 

according to a government list seen by The 

Associated Press. 

Another 20 groups are at risk of also being 

expelled after authorities a few months ago 

singled out some 38 international aid 

groups for closure, without any explanation. 

The development is the latest in a systematic 

crackdown on international organizations 

in Pakistan, with authorities using 

every bureaucratic excuse, such as discrepancies 

in visa and registration documentation, 

to target the organizations. There is also 

a perception in Islamabad that the United 

States and European countries have secretly 

brought spies into Pakistan under the guise 

of aid workers. On Thursday, Pakistan's 

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari 

tweeted that the 18 were asked to leave for 

spreading disinformation. "They must leave. 

They need to work within their stated intent 

which these 18 didn't do," she said. 

Umair Hasan, spokesman for the Pakistan 

Humanitarian Foundation - an 

umbrella representing 15 of the charities - 

said those charities alone help 11 million 

poor Pakistanis and contribute more than 

$130 million in assistance. 

"No organization has been given a clear 

reason for the denial of its registration 

renewal applications," Hasan said. 

Pakistan and its security forces are still 

stinging from a 2011 covert operation 

that involved a Pakistani doctor, an aid 

group and a vaccination scam to identify 

Osama bin Laden's home, aiding U.S. 

Navy Seals who tracked and later killed 

him. Islamabad says the United States 

never notified it of the daring nighttime 

raid in the Pakistani garrison city of 

Abbottabad - just a few miles from Pakistan's 

top military academy - in advance 

and that the mission that nabbed bin 

Laden invaded its sovereignty. 

Many believe the sweeping crackdown 

on aid groups is the fallout from the CIA 

sting operation in which Pakistani doctor 

Shakeel Afridi, posing as an international 

aid worker, used a fake hepatitis vaccination 

program to try to get DNA samples 

from bin Laden's family as a means of pinpointing 

his location. 

Afridi was subsequently arrested and 

remains in jail in northwestern Pakistan. 

Washington has repeatedly demanded his 

release. The crackdown "simply marks the 

latest chapter in an ongoing effort to push 

back against foreign NGOs in Pakistan," 

said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of 

the Asia Programs at the Washingtonbased 

Wilson Center. "It's hard to overstate 

the significance of the hunt for bin Laden 

and the impact it had on Pakistani perceptions 

of foreign NGOs."

ART & CULTURE 

fRiDAy, 

DECEMBER 7, 2018 

8 

'Outlaw King' star Chris Pine 

says film's bloodlust 

is overshadowed 

by brief nudity 

THE PREDATOR 

When a young boy accidentally triggers the universe's 

most lethal hunters' return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of 

ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent 

the end of the human race. 

Release Date : 14 September 2018 (USA) 

Director : Shane Black 

Writers : Fred Dekker, Shane Black 

Stars : Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob 

Tremblay 

Taglines : The Hunt has Evolved 

Also known as : Ollie 

Genres : Action, Advanture, Horror, Sci-fi, Thriller 

Runtime : 107 minutes 

Country : Canada, USA 

Language : English 

Production : Twentieth Century Fox, Davis 

Entertainment, TSG Entertainment 

Filming location : Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 

STORylinE : 

From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets 

of suburbia, the hunt comes home. Now, the universe's 

most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier 

than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves 

with DNA from other species. When a young boy 

accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag 

crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can 

prevent the end of the human race. |Source: IMDb] 

How over-controlling 

parenting affects your child 

Chris Pine on Friday 

expressed surprise that, for all 

the bloodlust in Netflix's 

Outlaw King, audiences were 

preoccupied with his full-front 

nudity onscreen after the 

Robert the Bruce epic opened 

the Toronto Film Festival on 

Thursday night. 

"We all have certain body 

parts, and people want to talk 

about that, but there's so 

much deboweling and 

beheading in this film, it 

nearly makes your mind spin," 

Pine told a press conference 

for Outlaw King at Bell 

Lightbox in Toronto. "That 

somehow [the violence] to a 

human modern audience is 

not nearly as interesting or 

revelatory than someone 

showing a sex scene or a 

penis." 

In Outlaw King, Pine 

reunites with Hell or High 

Water director David 

Mackenzie for a historical epic 

about Robert the Bruce, the 

Scottish king. 

Shot in 8K, the historical 

epic moves back and forth 

between epic battle scenes and 

intimate moments, which had 

social media buzzing after the 

movie revealed Pine's nudity 

during a bathing scene. "The 

guy's having a bath, and 

people don't tend to do that 

with their clothes on," 

Mackenzie added in defense of 

his star. 

Pine urged movie audiences 

to question why showing 

people making love, or "what 

we have is somehow a Google 

Alert." The more important 

message from Outlaw King, he 

added, is "human beings can 

be beasts." 

"It was really important to 

show that we are all animals 

ultimately," he told the TIFF 

presser. "We are animals on 

the savannah and the tigers 

have come over, and one of 

these animals is going to win." 

|Source: Hollywood Reporter 

Dear parents, take note! Overcontrolling 

parenting, according to a 

study, can negatively affect your kid's 

ability to manage his or her emotions 

and behaviour."Our research showed 

that children with helicopter parents 

may be less able to deal with the 

challenging demands of growing up, 

especially with navigating the 

complex school environment," said 

Nicole B. Perry, lead author of the 

study. 

"Children who cannot regulate their 

emotions and behaviour effectively 

are more likely to act out in the 

classroom, to have a harder time 

making friends and to struggle in 

school." Children rely on caregivers 

for guidance and understanding of 

their emotions. They need parents 

who are sensitive to their needs, who 

recognise when they are capable of 

managing a situation and who will 

guide them when emotional 

situations become too challenging. 

This helps children develop the 

ability to handle challenging 

situations on their own as they grow 

up, and leads to better mental and 

physical health, healthier social 

relationships and academic success. 

Managing emotions and behaviour 

are fundamental skills that all 

children need to learn and overcontrolling 

parenting can limits those 

opportunities, according to Perry. 

The researchers followed the same 

422 children over the course of eight 

years and assessed them at ages 2, 5 

and 10, as part of a study of social and 

emotional development. During the 

observations, the research team asked 

the parents and children to play as 

they would at home. "Helicopter 

parenting behaviour we saw included 

parents constantly guiding their child 

by telling him or her what to play 

with, how to play with a toy, how to 

clean up after playtime and being too 

strict or demanding," said Perry. "The 

kids reacted in a variety of ways. Some 

became defiant, others were apathetic 

and some showed frustration." 

Over-controlling parenting when a 

child was 2 was associated with 

poorer emotional and behavioural 

regulation at age 5, the researchers 

found. Conversely, the greater a 

child's emotional regulation at age 5, 

the less likely he or she was to have 

emotional problems and the more 

likely he or she was to have better 

social skills and be more productive in 

school at age 10. 

environments," said Perry. 

"Our findings underscore the 

importance of educating often wellintentioned 

parents about supporting 

children's autonomy with handling 

emotional challenges." Perry 

suggested that parents can help their 

children learn to control their 

emotions and behaviour by talking 

with them about how to understand 

their feelings and by explaining what 

behaviours may result from feeling 

certain emotions, as well as the 

consequences of different responses. 

Then parents can help their children 

H O R O SCOPE 

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. 

(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. 

Similarly, by age 10, children with 

better impulse control were less likely 

to experience emotional and social 

problems and were more likely to do 

better in school. "Children who 

developed the ability to effectively 

calm themselves during distressing 

situations and to conduct themselves 

appropriately had an easier time 

adjusting to the increasingly difficult 

demands of preadolescent school 

SHOWTIME 

identify positive coping strategies, like 

deep breathing, listening to music, 

coloring or retreating to a quiet space. 

"Parents can also set good examples 

for their children by using positive 

coping strategies to manage their own 

emotions and behaviour when upset," 

said Perry. 

The study has been published in the 

journal Developmental Psychobiology. 

|Source: TOI] 

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. 

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. 

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 

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 

ViRGO 

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

tempted to go on a journey today 

but the planets warn it could lead 

you in some unforeseen 

directions, so make sure you take a map and 

don't promise to be at a certain place at a 

specific time - because you won't make it. 

liBRA 

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. 

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. 

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 

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018 

9 

Cheteshwar Pujara marks his 16th Test century with quiet celebrations against during 1st Test in 

Adelaide on Thursday. 

Photo: AP 

Pujara-inspired India reach 9-250 

on day one against Australia 

Sports Desk: Australia have silenced Virat Kolhi and every 

member of India's star-studded top order bar Cheteshwar 

Pujara, who fought back fastidiously with an impressive 

century on day one of the first Test at Adelaide Oval, reports 

AP 

Thursday's play finished with Pujara being run out for 123 

by a superb direct hit from Pat Cummins, who had one 

stump to aim at after toiling for 19 overs as temperatures hit 

38 degrees. India will resume at 9-250, having crashed to to 

3-19 then 6-127 before Pujara rallied with help from the tail. 

Tim Paine, who lost the toss, will lament the way his side 

failed to keep their foot on the tourists' throat. 

But after eight months of soul-searching and scathing 

criticism, there was lot for disillusioned fans and Paine to like 

as his side finally started their first home Test since the Cape 

Town cheating scandal and first match on free-to-air TV this 

season. Usman Khawaja, stationed at gully and playing two 

days after his brother was arrested, led the way as Australia 

dominated the opening hour. Khawaja helped remove Kohli 

for three, flinging himself to the left to complete a dramatic 

dismissal after Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc both 

picked up a wicket in their opening spell. 

Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul and Murali Vijay were all 

out edging in the morning session to Australia's fast bowlers, 

who bent their backs in sapping heat to extract rearing 

bounce and generate good pace. 

"They are pretty poor shots, really, from top-order 

international players," Ricky Ponting said in commentary for 

the Seven Network. Rohit Sharma's post-lunch dismissal to 

Nathan Lyon on 37 was the low point of India's ill-disciplined 

innings, while Lyon also ended an entertaining cameo from 

Rishabh Pant. 

Pujara halted the home side's momentum with his first 

century in Australia, soaking up 246 balls. On the other hand 

Pujara rated his 16th Test ton as among his most memorable, 

hitting seven fours and two sixes in his 246-ball stay at the 

crease as wickets fell around him. "It was one of my top 

innings in Test cricket, I could say top five. I can't rate 

whether it was one of the best but the teammates who were 

appreciating said that this is one of the best," he said.Pujara 

began slowly, grinding out ones and twos, and only really 

started going after the bowlers as they tired towards the end 

of the day. He was run out attempting a quick single on the 

second-last ball of the day by a diving Pat Cummins. 

"I was a bit disappointed but I had to take that single 

because only the last two balls were left and I thought I 

should be on strike, so I took the chance but he fielded 

brilliantly," he explained. 

Yasir Shah fastest to 200 Test 

wickets, breaks 82-year record 

Sports Desk: Pakistan's leg-spinner 

Yasir Shah Thursday became the 

fastest cricketer to take 200 Test 

wickets, breaking an 82-year-old 

record on the fourth day of the third 

Test against New Zealand, reports 

BSS. 

The 32-year-old trapped 

nightwatchman Will Somerville leg 

before for four - his second wicket of 

the New Zealand second innings - to 

reach the milestone in his 33rd Test, 

beating Australian leg-spinner 

Clarrie Grimmett's record of 36 Tests 

achieved against South Africa in 

Johannesburg in 1936. 

Yasir, whose 14 wickets helped 

Pakistan level the series 1-1 in Dubai, 

now has 27 wickets in the three Tests 

against New Zealand. 

His 14 for 184 were the second best 

match figures in a Test for Pakistan, 

behind former captain and current 

prime minister of Pakistan Imran 

Khan, who bagged 14 for 116 against 

Sri Lanka in Lahore in 1982. 

New Zealand, resuming at 26 for 2 

on Thursday, fell to 37 for 3 after 

Yasir removed Somerville and were 

still needing 37 runs to make 

Pakistan bat again. Yasir began the 

Abu Dhabi Test with 195 wickets in 

32 Tests and on the opening day 

grabbed three early wickets but BJ 

Watling resisted with 77 not out, 

leaving him having to complete his 

landmark in the second innings. 

Since taking seven wickets on debut 

against Australia in 2014, Yasir has 

been a key figure in Pakistan's Test 

team. 

He took 12 wickets in that 2-0 series 

win over Australia in United Arab 

Emirates in 2014 and followed that 

with 15 against New Zealand in a 1-1 

draw the same year. That was 

followed by 24 wickets against Sri 

Lanka in 2015 and 10 in a match to 

beat England at Lord's a year later. 

He took 21 and 25 wickets 

respectively in series wins over the 

West Indies. 

Yasir was also the fastest Pakistani 

to 50 wickets (nine Tests), reached 

100 wickets in 17 Tests - second only 

to Englishman George Lohmann who 

took 16 matches during a Test in 

Johannesburg in 1896. 

Celtic miss out on chance 

to climb back to top spot 

Sports Desk: Celtic missed the 

chance to climb back to the top of the 

Scottish Premiership after Motherwell 

scored a late equaliser as 10-man 

Rangers slipped to defeat against 

Aberdeen, reports BSS. 

Brendan Rodgers' side paid the price 

for failing to build on Ryan Christie's 

13th-minute opener as their 

dominance in possession at Fir Park 

counted for nothing and they were left 

to rue a first-half penalty miss by Leigh 

Griffiths. 

The champions were heading back 

to the top of the table three days after 

Rangers leapfrogged them but 

Johnson's 88th-minute strike ensured 

Kilmarnock travel to Parkhead on 

Saturday as leaders following 

Aberdeen's 1-0 win at Ibrox. 

Steven Gerrard admits he is 

struggling to tackle a discipline 

problem after striker Alfredo Morelos 

was sent off in the Rangers manager's 

first home defeat as boss. 

Yasir Shah celebrates his 200th Test wicket against New Zealand, during 3rd Test in Abu Dhabi on 

Thursday. 

Photo: AP 

Liverpool's Klopp 

criticises Burnley 

approach after 

Gomez injury 

Sports Desk: Jurgen 

Klopp hit out at Burnley's 

physical approach as 

Liverpool were left with a 

major injury worry after 

battling back from a goal 

down to maintain their 

unbeaten start to the 

Premier League season on 

Wednesday, reports BSS. 

A 12th win means 

second-placed Liverpool 

have made their best-ever 

start to a top-flight season 

after 15 games but Klopp 

revealed his plea to match 

officials to protect his 

players from a series of 

robust sliding challenges 

from the Clarets was 

largely ignored. 

Joe Gomez faces a spell 

on the sidelines after the 

England defender was 

carried off early in the 3-1 

win at Turf Moor, which 

cut Manchester City's 

advantage at the top to two 

points. 

Gomez will have scans 

on an injured left ankle 

following a full-blooded 

challenge from defender 

Ben Mee. 

"Burnley had a specific 

plan to be really aggressive 

and really physical," said 

Liverpool's German boss. 

"Joe is injured, and 

probably not only a little 

bit. We have to see what 

he's like. We don't know at 

the moment and we have 

to see tomorrow. It's his 

ankle." 

Burnley manager Sean 

Dyche made no apologies 

for his side's approach as 

the hosts picked up just 

one yellow card, but Klopp 

added: "I'm pretty sure 

saying this won't make me 

a lot of friends here, but 

that's not the job I have. 

"I said (to the officials) 

after the first challenge, I 

don't know who did it, but 

it was like a sliding 

challenge where the player 

came in from six or seven 

yards and gets the ball. 

Everybody likes it but I 

said to them 'please, tell 

them they can't do that'. 

"The referees have to 

make sure it doesn't 

happen. You get the ball, 

nice, but then, boom, you 

get the player as well. 

Sports Desk: Boca Juniors landed in Spain 

on Wednesday as they prepare to end the 

long-running Copa Libertadores final saga 

over two weeks after a fan assault threw the 

fixture into doubt, reports BSS. 

Boca players were greeted by an army of 

fans outside their hotel in Madrid as they 

prepare to finally dispute the second leg of 

the final against arch-rivals River Plate on 

Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, 

with the scores level at 2-2 after the first 

match at Boca's La Bombanera ground 

almost a month ago. 

The match has been delayed ever since 

River fans attacked the Boca team bus hours 

before the match was supposed to take place 

at River's El Monumental stadium on 

November 24. 

River jetted off from Buenos Aires on 

Wednesday afternoon, with Boca already in 

the Spanish capital in order to contest the 

decisive leg of the biggest match in Argentine 

football history at a venue at which they had 

both initially refused to play. 

Over the weekend River joined Boca in 

saying that it was "incomprehensible" that 

the game had been moved to Spain, insisting 

that the club bore no responsibility for the 

"faults in the security operation" for the high 

profile fixture in Buenos Aires. 

On Tuesday Boca hero Juan Roman 

Riquelme slammed the decision to move the 

match away from Buenos Aires to Spain, 

saying that it would make one of the world's 

fiercest derbies "the most expensive friendly 

in history". 

"The final is losing a bit of its magic," 

Cristian Farfalla, a young Boca Juniors 

supporter who made the transatlantic trip 

from Argentina, told AFP. 

"Honestly, I would have preferred the 

game to be played over there (in Argentina). 

But on the other side, I have the chance to be 

able to come and see it, which I wouldn't 

normally have been able to do." 

Man United scramble 

2-2 draw with Arsenal 

Sports Desk: Manchester United extended 

their Premier League winless run to four 

games despite twice fighting back from a 

goal down to earn a 2-2 draw against Arsenal 

at Old Trafford, reports AP. 

With Jose Mourinho dropping Paul Pogba 

and Romelu Lukaku to the bench following 

Saturday's 2-2 draw at Southampton, the 

under-fire manager knew that anything but a 

victory would raise questions over his bold 

selection. Even though United's 

performance was better than in recent 

weeks, it was Arsenal who created the better 

chances and looked the more convincing 

team. 

Goals from Shkodran Mustafi and 

Alexandra Lacazette twice gave the Gunners 

the lead, with Anthony Martial and Jesse 

Lingard responding quickly on both 

occasions for United. But having stated last 

month that he believed his team could climb 

into the top four by the end of the year, 

Mourinho has now seen United claim just 

three points from a possible 12 and they sit 

eight points adrift of the top four in eighth 

place. 

Mourinho conceded earlier this week that 

it was now unlikely that his team would 

make the top four this month, but Arsenal 

have no such worries, even though Emery's 

side dropped down to fifth after failing to win 

this game. 

Emery has transformed Arsenal since 

succeeding Arsene Wenger this summer and 

Wednesday's draw stretched their unbeaten 

run in all competitions to 20 games. 

Mourinho has not hidden his disdain for 

Man United's defensive options this season, 

with the quality of his defenders being an 

issue that the manager has raised more than 

once. With injury and suspensions biting 

hard at Old Trafford, Mourinho had no 

option but to turn to the out-of-favour Eric 

Bailly, Marcos Rojo and Matteo Darmian 

against Arsenal. 

Rojo has missed the majority of this season 

through injury, but even fit, the Argentine 

has been way down the pecking order. 

Wednesday saw his first appearance of the 

season for United, while Bailly has started 

only five games in all competitions. At leftback, 

Darmian was making only his third 

appearance in all competitions after being 

told by Mourinho that he could leave during 

the summer transfer window. 

Summer signing Diogo Dalot has seen his 

progress halted by injury and the young 

Portuguese was making only his fourth 

appearance. Dalot looks a star in the making 

at right-back with his strength, pace and 

attacking adventure, but Rojo, Bailly and 

Darmian face an uncertain future. 

Bailly did enough in this game to suggest 

he warrants more opportunities, while Rojo 

also suggested he can play a role once fully 

fit, despite the lapse in concentration that led 

to Arsenal's second goal. 

Darmian has never seemed comfortable or 

convincing at United, but he didn't harm his 

case for more opportunities off the back of 

Wednesday's game. 

One of the biggest indictments of Arsene 

Wenger's final years as Arsenal manager was 

the manner in which his teams would often 

fail to turn up in games at Old Trafford. The 

famous battles of the early 2000s against 

United are long gone, but Arsenal became far 

too much of a soft touch in the latter years of 

the Wenger era and United games were often 

proof of that. 

Emery took his Arsenal team to Old 

Trafford looking for a first win at United in 12 

years, and even though that ultimately 

proved elusive, Arsenal showed that they are 

once again capable of winning a physical 

encounter with their old foes. 

This Arsenal side looks more physically 

imposing than under Wenger, with Emery 

having added muscle to the flair that he 

inherited. And when referee Andre Marriner 

dished out five yellow cards in the space of 

five minutes in the first half, it was a sign of 

Arsenal's readiness to go to toe-to-toe with 

United. For the first time in a decade, 

Arsenal approached a game at Old Trafford 

with the belief that they could win. They are 

tough and resilient again, as well as being 

dangerous on the counter-attack, so 

although they failed to win, it was a positive 

night for Arsenal. 

The picture shows Arsenal's Alexandre Lacazette scoring their second goal 

against Manchester United. 

Photo: AP 

Boca Juniors arrive in 

Madrid to end Copa saga 

On Monday the two clubs each put 5,000 

tickets on sale to supporters in Argentina at 

3,600 pesos (84 euros), or a quarter of the 

average monthly Argentine salary. 

Meanwhile in Spain 20,000 tickets were 

put on sale for Boca fans outside Argentina 

on Tuesday, and a source close to the match 

organisers told AFP that the same number of 

tickets would go on sale to River supporters 

who live abroad. 

Icardi eyes Ronaldo 

match-up as Inter 

bid to halt Juventus 

Sports Desk: Mauro Icardi said he was 

relishing the chance to measure himself 

against Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time 

as Inter Milan travel to Turin on Friday 

looking to inflict the first defeat of the season 

on Italian champions Juventus and keep the 

Serie A title race alive, reports BSS. 

Juventus have set a frenetic pace this 

season since signing Ronaldo, making a 

record start with 40 points after the first 14 

games in Serie A. 

Napoli are second - eight points behind 

Juventus - with Inter Milan 11 points adrift of 

the champions in third. 

A defeat for Inter in the 'Derby D'Italia' 

between the two northern giants would likely 

be a killer blow to their ambitions and leave 

Juventus free to claim an eighth consecutive 

title. "I've played (Juventus) many times but 

this is the most important since I've been 

here," said Icardi. 

"I won't settle for a draw. We must go there 

without fear. "I can't wait to play against 

Cristiano Ronaldo, it will be a pleasure to 

have him up front. But he's not my problem, 

(defenders) Stefan de Vrij and Milan 

Skriniar are there." 

Sarri slams Chelsea’s 

complacency in 

defeat at Wolves 

Sports Desk: Maurizio 

Sarri accused his Chelsea 

players of over-confidence 

after throwing away a lead to 

lose 2-1 at Wolverhampton 

Wanderers on Wednesday, 

reports BSS. 

Chelsea looked to be on 

course for victory thanks to 

Ruben Loftus-Cheek's early 

opener as the visitors 

dominated the first-half, but 

two goals in four second-half 

minutes saw Wolves secure 

their first win in seven 

games and inflict just Sarri's 

second defeat since taking 

charge in the summer. 

Next up Chelsea face the 

daunting task of halting 

Manchester City at Stamford 

Bridge on Saturday and 

Sarri suggested a jolt to their 

confidence could be a 

blessing, but declared 

himself "worried" by the 

manner of their defeat at 

Molineux. "After this match 

we are less confident but 

maybe it's better because 

sometimes my players show 

me that they have too much 

confidence," said the Italian. 

"We played well for 55 

minutes. After the goal for 1- 

1, which was an accident 

because we were in full 

control of the match, we 

were suddenly another team 

without the right distances 

and without our football. 

"I don't know why. I am 

really very worried, not for 

the result but the fact that 

after the first goal we 

conceded we did not react 

very well.

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 

BANGLADESHTODAY 10 

THE 

FRIDAy, DECEMBER 7, 2018 

Dhaka Bank has signed an agreement on providing cash management services to Partex Star 

Group at Dhaka Bank Corporate Office recently. Md. Ziaur Rahman, Head of Corporate Banking 

Division and Manager of Dhaka Bank Local Office and Peyar Ahamed (FCA), Chief Financial 

Officer of Partex Star Group exchanged the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations. 

Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing Director & CEO and Emranul Huq, Additional Managing 

Director of Dhaka Bank Ltd. were also present at the signing ceremony. Under the agreement, 

Dhaka Bank Ltd will provide automated cash management solution to the client for its all kind of 

payments and collections. 

Photo: Courtesy 

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka suffers 

credit rating cuts 

Two international credit 

rating agencies downgraded 

Sri Lanka by one notch on 

Tuesday following almost six 

weeks of political crisis. 

Fitch said it believed Sri 

Lanka's political upheaval, 

which began with the sacking 

of its prime minister in 

October and has disrupted the 

functioning of parliament, 

exacerbates the Indian Ocean 

nation's external financing 

risks. 

Along with Standard and 

Poor's, it warned that Sri 

Lanka was heading for 

tougher times with politics 

complicating the effects of a 

challenging external 

environment. 

"Investor confidence has 

been undermined, as evident 

from large outflows from the 

local bond market and a 

depreciating exchange rate," 

Fitch said. 

Takeda shareholders agree 

to $60b Shire acquisition 

Shareholders at Japanese 

drug giant Takeda on 

Wednesday approved a plan 

to buy Irish pharmaceuticals 

firm Shire in a deal worth 

around $60 billion, the 

biggest foreign takeover ever 

by a Japanese firm. 

A group of rebel investors, 

including members of the 

founding family, tried to 

thwart the deal but were 

outvoted at an extraordinary 

shareholders' meeting held in 

the western city of Osaka 

where the company has its 

headquarters. 

The scheme was "approved 

as originally proposed", said a 

statement from Takeda, 

adding it should come into 

effect in early January - 

pending approval from Shire 

shareholders, who are to vote 

on the merger plan later 

Wednesday in Dublin. 

The deal, which will create 

one of the world's top 10 drug 

Fitch downgraded Sri 

Lanka from B plus to B, while 

Standard and Poor's also cut 

its rating from B plus to B. 

The crisis began on October 

26 when President 

Maithripala Sirisena removed 

Ranil Wickremesinghe as 

prime minister and replaced 

him with the flamboyant but 

controversial Mahinda 

Rajapakse. 

However 

with 

Wickremesinghe's supporters 

still controlling a majority in 

parliament Rajapakse has lost 

two votes of confidence. 

On Monday the Court of 

Appeal denied Rajapakse the 

authority to act as prime 

minister and stripped his 

cabinet of their powers, giving 

Rajapakse until next 

Wednesday to prove his 

legitimacy. 

Last month Moody's also 

lowered Sri Lanka's rating 

companies, caps a lengthy 

courtship by Takeda of its 

larger rival as it seeks to 

expand overseas. 

"We are delighted that our 

shareholders have given their 

strong support to our 

acquisition of Shire," said 

Takeda CEO Christophe 

Weber. 

Analysts have said the 

buyout would be a smart 

move by Takeda as it looks to 

diversify, and could pay off in 

the long-term, but it has also 

raised concerns that the 

Japanese firm could be 

overextending itself 

financially. 

Takeda plans to finance the 

46-billion-pound ($58.4 

billion) buyout through 

issuing new shares in 

exchange for Shire stock, 

bank loans and bond 

issuance. 

The buyout is the latest in a 

flurry of merger and 

from B1 to B2. 

Sri Lanka has already 

abandoned plans after the 

Moody's downgrade to raise 

money through sovereign 

bonds and will pursue badlyneeded 

revenue elsewhere. 

Sirisena's economic advisor 

said last month that 

"alternative finance" raised 

locally would service much of 

Sri Lanka's $4.5 billion in 

foreign debt repayments due 

in 2019. 

He said Sri Lanka would 

seek to extend a $1-billion 

loan from China by an 

additional $500 million, but 

would only turn to 

international markets for cash 

"as a last resort". 

Sri Lanka's unrest has also 

prompted the International 

Monetary Fund to suspend a 

tranche of a $1.5-billion 

bailout loan agreed to in 

2016. 

acquisition activity in the 

pharmaceutical industry as 

traditional players see profits 

eroded by competition from 

generic medicines. 

Japanese firms in particular 

are facing pressure 

domestically as the 

government tries to cut prices 

of many branded drugs and 

increase the focus on cheaper 

generics to curb health 

spending as the population 

ages rapidly. 

Takeda, led by Frenchman 

Weber, has been actively 

looking overseas for 

acquisitions. 

In 2011 it took over Swiss 

rival Nycomed for 9.6 billion 

euros ($13.6 billion at the 

time). 

Analysts have described 

Shire as an attractive target 

for Takeda, with a portfolio of 

existing treatments in fields 

where the barriers to entry are 

high and profits large. 

Thomson Reuters 

announces 3,200 

job cuts over two 

years 

Financial data and news 

agency Thomson Reuters 

announced Tuesday cuts of 

3,200 jobs and dozens of 

office closures worldwide 

over the next two years as 

part of a restructuring. 

Executives told an 

investor conference in 

Toronto that the staff 

reduction would impact 12 

percent of its workforce, 

while the number of its 

offices would be reduced by 

30 percent to 133 locations. 

"The majority of 

employees have already 

been notified," spokesman 

David Crundwell told AFP. 

He said Thomson 

Reuters routinely looks to 

streamline its operations. 

"This disciplined approach 

sometimes includes the 

need to make personnel, or 

other, changes which allow 

us to balance our internal 

resources with the needs of 

our customers in a highly 

competitive environment," 

he said. 

The markets welcomed 

the company's cutbacks, 

sending Thomson Reuters 

stock up 1.17 percent to 

$50.40 at around 1830 

GMT in Toronto and New 

York. 

The announcement 

comes after the company 

sold a 55 percent stake in its 

financial and risk unit to 

private equity firm 

Blackstone Group in order 

to focus on its legal and tax 

businesses. 

Thomson Reuters is also 

one of the world's largest 

news services, ahead of The 

Associated Press and 

Agence France-Presse, but 

its news operations account 

for only six percent of the 

company's total revenues. 

Last month, it 

reorganized its European 

news bureaus, laying off 

journalists in France, 

Germany and Italy. 

Newswire clients 

including newspapers, 

television, radio and online 

have been struggling with 

an erosion of readership 

and plummeting 

advertising revenues. 

Standard Bank Ltd opened its 126th branch at Rejia Tower, Afaznagar Residential Area, Gate no-1, 

Fatullah, Narayanganj on 06 December 2018. Mamun-Ur-Rashid, Managing Director & CEO of the Bank 

formally inaugurated the Branch as Chief Guest while Md. Tariqul Azam, Additional Managing Director 

of SBL presided over the ceremony. Vice President Syed Mosnoon Ali, PRO Mejba Uddin Ahmed, 

Manager of SBL Afaznagar Branch Margub Ahmed, Local industrialists, businessmen, senior executives 

& officers of SBL, customers and well wishers were present on the occasion. Photo: Courtesy 

Trump 

fears sap 

EU digital 

tax plans 

A top EU official Tuesday 

said the fear of retaliation by 

US President Donald Trump 

has blunted Germany's 

ambition for a European 

digital tax, with Paris and 

Berlin now proposing a 

scaled down version. 

On Tuesday, France and 

Germany tabled a new plan 

that would see a three 

percent tax imposed on 

advertising sales on tech 

giants such as Google and 

Facebook, instead of the far 

wider scope of a doomed 

earlier proposal. 

Paris believes a digital tax 

on the Silicon Valley 

behemoths would be a votegetter 

for mainstream 

parties ahead of European 

Parliament elections next 

May in which anti-EU 

populists are expected to do 

well. "Until now there has 

lacked a clear commitment 

by the Germans," said EU 

economics affairs 

commissioner Pierre 

Moscovici after talks in 

Brussels. 

"There's an elephant in the 

room: the fear of trade 

reprisals by the Trump 

administration that might 

consider a tax as a 

protectionist measure 

against US high tech giants," 

he told reporters. 

Germany especially fears 

damaging tariff hikes on 

vehicle exports to the US 

and top executives are 

expected in Washington on 

Tuesday to try to appease 

Trump and head off a trade 

war. 

US stocks end 

down more than 

3.0pc on trade, 

growth worries 

Wall Street stocks were 

pummeled Tuesday by 

worries over slowing US 

growth and trade conflict 

amid mounting skepticism 

over the US-China tariff truce. 

The Dow Jones Industrial 

Average closed down 3.1 

percent, or almost 800 points, 

at 25,027.07. 

The broad-based S&P 500 

tumbled 3.2 percent to 

2,700.06, while the tech-rich 

Nasdaq Composite Index 

dived 3.8 percent to 7,158.42. 

A day after global stocks 

rallied on a weekend US- 

China announcement 

suspending new tariffs, global 

markets mostly pulled back as 

investor focus shifted to the 

murkiness over what was 

agreed to and the difficulty 

reaching resolution to 

disputes on thorny matters 

such as intellectual property. 

"People are starting to 

dissect the reality to the tariff 

agreement," said Manulife 

AM Senior Portfolio Manager 

Nate Thooft. 

US President Donald 

Trump appeared to be back in 

fighting mode after the 

weekend show of comity, 

saying he would "happily" 

sign a "fair" deal with China 

but was also ready to take a 

harder line. 

On an oil ship off 

Angola, life is work and 

privacy is a luxury 

Moored in the endless South Atlantic 

Ocean far off the coast of Angola, the 

"Kaombo Norte" oil-extraction vessel is a 

deeply impressive sight - 330 metres (1083 

feet) long, with a tower 110 metres high 

sending a burning flame into the sky. 

But inside, daily life on the ship is a 

different matter, with a crew of about 100 

sharing narrow passages and confined 

spaces, living for weeks at a stretch in close 

quarters 24 hours a day. 

The ship, owned by the French Total oil 

company, is an oil tanker converted into a 

FPSO (floating production, storage and 

offloading) vessel, pumping oil from deep 

under the seabed into its vast holds before 

collection - a major innovation for the 

industry. 

Typical among the crew is 30-year-old 

unmarried engineer Benoit Tanguy, who 

shares a low-ceiling office with a colleague 

during the day. 

At night, he squeezes into a small cabin 

that has the rare luxury of a sea view, but 

which he must share with three colleagues. 

Tanguy doesn't complain, saying with a 

laugh: "We have little privacy. But because 

we are always surrounded by people, it 

sometimes helps to spend a few moments 

on your own." 

"We are caught up in work, so the days 

pass very quickly," said Tanguy, who always 

dreamt of a life at sea. 

"When I joined Total, it was exactly to 

work offshore," he said, explaining he spent 

two years on an oil platform off Abu Dhabi 

before taking a posting on the "Kaombo 

Norte". 

His job is to ensure that the ship, located 

250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the 

seaside capital Luanda, draws in oil at 

exactly the right rate from nearly 2,000 

metres under its hull. 

For four weeks in a row, seven days a 

week, he analyses data, looking out for the 

slightest error or problem. 

Then he leaves the ship via a helicopter 

shuttle to the shore and catches a plane 

home to Brittany for four weeks of vacation. 

The Kaombo oil project - which will pump 

230,000 barrels a day when two ships are 

fully operational next year - is still in its 

early phase, and Tanguy said he never gets 

bored even thousands of miles away from 

his family. 

"In the current stage of development, the 

word 'monotony' does not even exist - there 

is always something to do. Of course I miss 

friends and sport, but I live well," he said. 

Eyes glued to his computer screen, his 

neighbour nods in agreement. At 54, 

Christophe Marx is a veteran of offshore life. 

He has spent 10 years off Angola or 

Nigeria working for a French subcontractor 

and says he has found a balance between his 

work at sea and his family life in the south of 

France. 

"Whenever I have returned to a more 

normal life, with a weekly work rhythm, I 

realised that I was missing life at sea," he 

said, even if a month away at sea does 

sometimes mean missing family events 

back home. 

"The best part (of the four-week on, fourweek 

off way of working) is the month of 

real holiday, among my family, away from 

work. The worst is the month during which 

we are far apart," he said. 

"You can be sure that it is always when the 

washing machine or the car breaks down." 

Aboard the "Kaombo Norte", leisure time 

is scarce and the maze of corridors and 

offices quickly becomes claustrophobic. 

One temptation is to go outside on deck to 

breathe in some sea air, but the climate is 

far from refreshing. 

Mercantile Bank Ltd opened its 130th Branch at Nawabganj, Dhaka yesterdaty. A.K.M. Shaheed Reza, 

Chairman of the Bank inaugurated the Branch by cutting ribbon as the Chief Guest. Bank's Managing 

Director & CEO Kazi Masihur Rahman delivered his welcome speech on the opening ceremony. Bank's 

Director AlhajMosharrof Hossain was also present at the program as Special Guest. 'Nawabganj 

Branch' is located at :Sajeda Complex, Kashimpur, Kolakopa, Nawabganj, Dhaka. Spokeon the occasion 

among others are UpazilaNirbahi Officer (UNO) Md. Tofazzol Hossain, Officer-in-Charge of 

Nawabganj Thana Mostafa Kamal and Chairman of Kolakopa Union Alhaj Md. Ibrahim Khalil. Md. 

Abu Nasir Shafiur Rahman Bhuiya, FAVP &Head of Nawabganj Branch gave his vote of thanks. Senior 

Executives of the Bank, invited guests, elites of the local areas, businessmen and journalists of print 

and electronic Media were present on the Branch Opening Ceremony. 

Photo: Courtesy 

New emissions tests 

brake German car 

sales again 

New car sales in 

Germany dipped again in 

November, official data 

showed Tuesday, as 

automakers continued to 

feel the sting from tough 

new EU emissions tests 

that have led to production 

slowdowns. 

A total of 272,674 new 

cars hit the road last 

month, down 9.9 percent 

year-on-year, the KBA 

transport authority said. 

The figure is an 

improvement however on 

the 30-percent plunge 

seen in September when 

the so-called WLTP 

emissions tests took effect. 

A scramble to adapt cars 

to the new regulations has 

caused bottlenecks at auto 

plants, resulting in fewer 

models hitting the market 

in recent months although 

carmakers are gradually 

catching up. 

The introduction of the 

WLTP procedure was 

spurred by the "dieselgate" 

scandal that started with 

Volkswagen's admission in 

2015 that it had installed 

cheating software in 

millions of diesels to dupe 

pollution tests. 

Once popular diesel cars 

have fallen out of favour 

since then, losing 

significant market share to 

petrol motors. 

Diesels accounted for 

just 34 percent of the 

market in November, but 

analysts pointed out that 

that figure now stood at the 

same level as a year earlier, 

suggesting that the diesel 

plunge could be stabilising. 

Electric vehicles 

meanwhile are gaining 

ground but remain a niche 

market, the KBA data 

showed, with sales up 40 

percent year-on-year. But 

that still amounted to just 

4,300 units sold. 

Despite the damage to its 

reputation over 

"dieselgate", the 12-brand 

Volkswagen group 

continues to claim the 

largest share of the 

German car market at just 

over 18 percent. 

But it too suffered from 

WLTP aftershocks in 

November, with sales 

down 15.4 percent 

compared with a year 

earlier. 

Its luxury subsidiary 

Audi struggled the most, 

with sales plunging more 

than 42 percent. 

There was better news 

for rivals BMW and 

Mercedes, whose sales 

jumped by 11.5 and 6 

percent respectively. 

Industry expert Peter 

Fuss of consultancy EY 

said he expects the WLTP 

after effects to ease in 

December, but fewer 

working days because of 

the upcoming holiday 

season mean German 

carmakers are unlikely to 

end the year on a high - a 

picture that is similar 

across Europe. 

"The European new car 

market has clearly lost 

momentum in recent 

months," Fuss said, 

blaming the one-off effects 

from WLTP but also "a 

gloomier economic 

outlook and increasing 

political uncertainties".

MISCELLANEOUS 

11 

frIDAY, December 7, 2018 

Lebanon says Israel offered 

no proof of border tunnels 

Lebanon's Parliament speaker said 

Wednesday that Israel has presented 

no evidence to prove its claims that a 

network of attack tunnels has been 

built by Hezbollah across the countries' 

shared borders, as Israel's prime 

minister pressed for international 

condemnation of the militant group. 

The U.N. peacekeeping mission 

meanwhile said Wednesday it will send 

a team to Israel to "ascertain facts," 

calling for full access to all locations 

along the border. 

The Israeli military Tuesday 

launched an open-ended operation to 

destroy what it said was a network of 

tunnels built by Hezbollah aimed at 

infiltrating northern Israel. 

Israeli forces did not enter Lebanese 

territory. They were seen operating in 

what looked like a construction site, 

with trucks bringing in equipment and 

drills and bulldozers digging in the 

open territory and farmlands inside 

northern Israel. Hezbollah had no 

immediate comment on the claims or 

the Israeli activities across the border. 

On Wednesday, Nabih Berri, 

Lebanon's parliament speaker and ally 

of Hezbollah, said Israel offered no 

"coordinates or information" about the 

tunnels during the regular weekly 

meeting held at the UN position in 

southern Lebanon. His comments were 

carried by the National News Agency. 

In a statement, the Lebanese army 

called Israeli reports of tunnels across 

the border "allegations." It called on 

Israel to present specific coordinates 

and information about the location of 

such tunnels. The army urged Israel not 

to carry out any work inside Lebanese 

territory. 

The Israeli army released 

photographs, video footage and an 

illustrative map Tuesday of what it says 

is the first of several tunnels snaking 

into Israeli territory that it soon plans 

to destroy. 

The U.N. mission, known as UNIFIL, 

said its regular weekly meeting with the 

Lebanese and Israeli armies discussed 

Israel's "activities" searching for 

suspected tunnels. The Israeli army 

said it used the meeting to express its 

objection to "the severe violation of 

Israeli sovereignty." 

Iqvmv-RtZt-388/18 

GD-1559/18 (8 x 4) 

GD-1561/18 (20 x 4) 

GD-1556/18 (8 x 4)

UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY 

FRiDAy, DHAkA, DeCeMBeR 7, 2018, AGRAHAyAN 23, 1425 BS, RABi-uL-AWAL 28, 1440 HijRi 

Don't want to see the return 

of burning people alive: PM 

GD-1562/18 (7x3) 

On Thursday, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader addressing a meeting organized by 

Swechchhasebak League at Bangabundhu Avenue in the capital. 

Photo: Star Mail 

No alternative for 

AL to win: Quader 

DHAKA : Awami League 

general secretary Obaidul 

Quader on Thursday urged 

their party leaders and 

activists to get united and 

protect the voting centres on 

December 30 as their party 

has no alternative to win, 

reports UNB. 

"There's no alternative for 

us to win. BNP can't turn out 

to be victorious in the polls as 

it couldn't win the movement," 

he said 

Quader further said, 

"Oikyafront's conspiracy tool 

may hit again. If they guard 

the polling stations, Awami 

League must protect the voting 

centres." 

Quader, also the Road 

Transport and Bridges 

Minister,came up with the 

comment while speaking at a 

joint meeting of 

Swechchhasebak League at 

Bangabandhu Avenue. 

He urged their party leaders 

and workers not to be 

complacent about coming 

back to power in the next 

election. "Work together for 

ensuring the victory of all the 

candidates of our party and 

alliance partners." 

The ruling party leader also 

warned that a terrible situation 

will be created like 2001 

one if Awami League gets 

defeated in the election. "If 

we want to avoid such awful 

situation, we all must remain 

united." 

He said they are going to 

start giving the final nomination 

letters to their candidates 

on Thursday and the 

process will be completed by 

Friday. 

Quader claimed that they 

have already reached an 

understating with their 

alliance partners over the 

seat sharing issue. 

He urged their party and 

alliance leaders and workers 

to accept the final nominations 

of the alliance for the 

sake of their greater interests. 

The ruling party leader also 

said there is no reason for 

having any misunderstand 

among their alliance partners. 

"We sat in talks repeatedly, 

and we could nominate 

the good candidates from the 

alliance." 

Quader also hoped that 

those who will get nominations 

from the Grand 

Alliance will come out successful 

in most of the seats. 

fl§viK bs›fl^vtAwat/fl^vt wktey¤t/we`vcb/2018/3294ZvwiL t 

HC orders ROs to 

accept 3 candidates' 

nomination papers 

DHAKA : The High Court 

on Thursday ordered the 

returning officers of the constituencies 

concerned to 

scrutinize the nomination 

papers of three candidates 

after accepting those, reports 

UNB. 

They are Gano Forum candidates 

M D Azharul Islam of 

Kishoreganj-1 constituency, 

M Shafiur Rahman Khan 

Bacchu, Kishoreganj-2 constituency 

and independent 

candidate Sadakat Khan 

Fakkur of Dhaka-16 constituency. 

The HC bench led by 

Justice Tariq Ul Hakim and 

Justice Justice Md. 

Shohrowardi asked the officials 

concerned to abide by 

the order within 12 hours. 

The candidates filed separate 

writs with the HC as the 

returning officers did not 

accept their nomination 

papers on November 28. 

Barrister Motahar Hossain 

and Raju Uddin Sarwar 

stood for two Gano Fourm 

candidates while Barrister 

Imran A Siddiq for Fakkur. 

Father put on 

3-day remand over 

Banglamotor 

incident 

DHAKA : A court here on 

Thursday placed father 

Nuruzzaman Kajol on a 3- 

day remand in a case filed 

in connection with the 

recovery of the body of his 

minor son from a house in 

the city's Banglamotor area 

on Wednesday, reports 

UNB. 

Dhaka Metropolitan 

Magistrate Dhiman 

Chandra Mandal passed 

the order when police produced 

Kajol before the 

court seeking a 10-day 

remand. 

Maliha Akhter, wife of 

Nuruzzaman Kajol filed the 

case against him with 

Shahbagh Police Station on 

Wednesday night, said duty 

officer of the police station, 

sub-inspector Aslam Ali. 

Earlier on Wednesday, 

police recovered the body 

of three-year old boy 

Safayat and rescued his 

brother Surayat from a 

house in the city's 

Banglamotor area which 

remained cordoned off by 

joint forces. 

Police arrested 

Nuruzzaman Kajol for 

keeping his two sons 

hostage at the house. 

DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina on Thursday said the government 

does not want to see the burning 

people alive as done in 2014 and 2015 

in the name of resisting election and 

ousting the government, reports UNB. 

"We saw the horrible picture of burning 

a man alive... such horrible things 

cannot be committed by any normal 

person... what happened in 

Bangladesh in 2014 and 2015 was just 

unbelievable. We don't want such incidents 

to take place in Bangladesh in the 

future," she said. 

The Prime Minister was speaking at the 

closing ceremony of the 107th, 108th and 

109th Law & Administration Courses at 

Bangladesh Civil Service Administration 

Academy in the morning. 

She said 3,900 people were injured 

and 500 killed in 2014 while hundreds 

of institutions and vehicles, rail locomotives 

and coaches, launches were 

demolished at that time. 

Sheikh Hasina said the voting right is 

one of the basic rights of people and 

they will cast their votes whoever they 

like. "Let the democratic trend to continue 

in the country. If it continues, 

then the development of the country 

WB, BD sign $525 m 

deal to improve 

rural connectivity 

DHAKA : The government 

and the World Bank on 

Thursday signed a total of 

US $525 million loan agreement 

with a view to improving 

connectivity and climate 

resilience through building, 

maintaining and improving 

roads and rural bridges, 

reports UNB. 

The US$ 425 million 

"Operation for Rural 

Bridges Program" will be 

implemented to improve 

connectivity and climate 

resilience in 19 coastal districts 

supporting efforts 

existing by the government 

through rehabilitation of 

29000 meters of bridges 

adding 20000 meters of 

new bridges in 61 districts 

across Bangladesh. 

Additionally the government 

also signed US$ 100 

million financing pact with 

the International 

Development Association 

(IDA) to implement "Second 

Rural Transportation 

Improvement Project" 

(RTIP-II) to support the 

rehabilitation of 1433 km of 

Upazila and Union roads 

damaged by natural disasters 

in 2017 as well as maintenance 

of some 6000 km of 

rural roads in 26 districts. 

Mahmuda Begum, 

Additional Secretary of 

Economic Relations 

Divisions (ERD) and 

Quimiao Fan, World Bank 

Country Director for 

Bangladesh, Bhutan and 

Nepal signed the agreements 

on behalf of the government 

and the World 

Bank respectively at 

Economic Relations 

Division in the city. 

"Bangladesh has an extensive 

rural connection" said 

Qimiao Fan mentioning that 

rural bridges play a key role 

in Bangladesh's development 

hence an efficient rural 

road network can have a big 

effect in improving rural 

livelihoods. 

He lauded the government's 

efforts of backing climate 

resilient structures and 

putting resources to the 

cause. 

"By enabling greater connectivity, 

these two projects 

will help rural communities 

to gain safer access for 

schools, health facilities and 

markets," he added. 

Mahmuda Begum said 

both the projects will contribute 

to greater connectivity 

for rural communities and 

boosting growth. 

DHAKA : Amid protests 

by the students of 

Viqarunnisa Noon School 

and College over the suicide 

of Aritree Adhikari, its governing 

body chairman 

Golam Ashraf Talukder on 

Thursday apologized to 

Aritree's family over the 

incident, reports UNB. 

The instructions of the 

Education Ministry and the 

Dhaka Education Board 

have already been followed 

and the governing body is 

also working to fulfill other 

demands of the students 

and guardians, said the 

chairman while briefing 

reporters at VNSC's Baiely 

Road branch. 

Responding to a question 

about students' demand of 

removal of the governing 

body members, he said, " If 

it is required, I will resign." 

Meanwhile, the students 

continued their protests for 

the third consecutive day to 

meet their six-point 

demand. 

They demands are resignation 

of principal and 

ensure punishment of principal 

under section 305 and 

306 for provoking suicide . 

Give care to students 

depending on the behavior 

will be maintained." 

The Prime Minister asked the newly 

recruited public servants of the country 

to perform their duties aiming to develop 

Bangladesh imbued with patriotism 

and affection for people. "Honesty is 

the real power...you have to discharge 

your responsibilities with sincerity and 

the attitude of dutifulness towards people." 

Hasina asked the public servants to 

build the country in such a way so that 

its people could walk in the world arena 

with dignity. 

The Prime Minister directed the 

employees of the republic to remain 

vigil against terrorism, militancy and 

drugs as these evil menaces can destroy 

a family, society and country. 

"Whenever you work, keep this in mid 

always." 

She mentioned that the government 

has been able to control terrorism, militancy 

and drugs in its tenure. "The 

drive against these menaces will continue." 

Besides, she said, all must work rising 

above corruption. 

Briefly describing the various development 

activities taken by her government 

to make Bangladesh a developing 

country, the Prime Minister said this 

also true Bangladesh will no longer get 

the facilities that it is enjoying as an 

LDC. "We won't require those facilities 

at all when we will be able to run our 

country as a developing one." 

She also questioned why the country 

will be regarded lowly just for some little 

mercy and facilities. "Never ever we 

will do that, we have to march forward 

and we will do that." 

State Minister for Public 

Administration Ministry Ismat Ara 

Sadique, Public Administration 

Secretary Faiz Ahmed and Rector of 

the Bangladesh Civil Service 

Administration Academy M Mosharaf 

Hossain also spoke at the programme. 

Rector Award winners SM AZharul 

Islam, Sharif Asif Rahman and M 

Mosaddeq Hossain shared their feelings 

at the function. 

Earlier, the Prime Minister distributed 

certificates among the participants 

of the two courses. 

Later, she enjoyed a colourful cultural 

programme performed by the 

trainees of the 107th, 108th and 109th 

Law & Administration Courses. 

VNSC governing body 

chairman begs apology 

to Aritree's family 

and characteristics of each 

student and considering 

their mental health, physical 

and mental torture will not 

be accepted in any condition. 

Besides, stopping the 

threat of expulsion and illegal 

detention policy, 

appointing counselor to 

ensure mental health of the 

school students, parents, 

teachers and other staff, necessary 

counseling for students 

who will break discipline, 

resignation of governing 

body members and the 

principal and the school 

authority have to seek apology 

for misbehavior with 

Aritree's parent. 

Earlier, Detectives in a 

drive arrested Viqarunnisa 

Noon School and College 

Class IX class teacher Hasna 

Hena from the city's Uttara 

area on Wednesday night. 

Aritree Adhikari, a class- 

IX student, reportedly committed 

suicide at their 

Shantinagar residence in the 

city on Monday after 

allegedly being rebuked by 

teachers for using mobile 

phone during examination. 

Victim's father Dilip 

Adhikari filed a case against 

three teachers of the school. 

Open Terrace BBQ Offer at 

Radisson Blu Chattogram 

This awaiting winter might try your 

patience but nothing beats the simple 

pleasure of a winter barbeque. Going 

to a quality place can cheer you and 

your friends up. Finding a friendly 

open warn place during winter could 

be hard in a city like Chattogram but 

worry no more, as Radisson Blu 

Chattogram Bay View arranged 

Terrace BBQ feast at Asian Fusion, 

food court which offers a tantalizing 

experience of diversity with its 

unique combination of cuisines. The 

variation of BBQ dishes is set to blow 

the foodies minds away. As an 

Appetizer you can take Chef Special 

soup or Chicken Cashew Nut Salad or 

Fried Wings or Chicken Sate all individually 

priced as 500++. There are 4 

different Main Course sets, prices 

started from BDT 1050++ to 

1500++. Among the main course 

options Asian Fusion has mouthwatering 

Burgers, Hot Dogs, Sea food 

platter, Grill Peri Peri Chicken, 

Chicken Adana Kabab and more. 

Added to the main courses, you can 

choose either Rice or Nan according 

to your appetite preference. 

This BBQ feast will be continued 

till the end of winter. Foodies can 

visit not only for the deliciousness of 

BBQ dishes but also for the open terrace, 

smoothing environment and 

music. 

For your reservation please call: 

+8801777701164 

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

07-12-2018

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