19-01-2019

saturDay 

Dhaka : January 19, 2019; Magh 6, 1425 BS; Jamadi-ul awal 12,1440 hijri 

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com 

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.16; No.343; 8 Pages~Tk.8.00 

intErnational 

Trump, Pelosi 

feud heats up 

again 

>Page 3 

sciEncE & tEch 

Is it possible to 

remove Google from 

our life? 

>Page 5 

Economy & BusinEss 

Toshimitsu Motegi 

visit's BJIT 

>Page 6 

UN HR expert Lee due today 

to discuss Rohingya issues 

DHAKA : The UN Special Rapporteur 

on the situation of human rights in 

Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, arrives here 

on Saturday to see the Rohingya situation 

in Cox's Bazar district amid 

Myanmar's continued denial to her 

access to Rakhine State, reports UNB. 

Lee, who earlier said incidents in 

Rakhine State bear the "hallmarks of 

genocide" and called for accountability 

in the strongest terms, also plans to 

visit the island of Bhashan Char in 

Noakhali. The Bangladesh government 

has planned to shift Rohingyas 

to the island. 

The UN Special Rapporteur will be 

arriving here from Thailand where 

she has been since January 14. 

Lee will present her findings and recommendations 

at the 40th session of 

the Human Rights Council in March 

Trawler capsize 

in Meghna: 

Rescue operation 

continues 

MUNSHIGANJ : The search for 

the 20 workers, who went missing 

after a soil-laden trawler capsized 

in the Meghna river, and the 

sunken trawler resumed on 

Friday for the 3rd day, reports 

UNB. 

Members of Bangladesh Inland 

Water Transport Authority 

(BIWTA), Fire Service, River 

Police and Bangladesh Coast 

Guard are trying to locate the 

trawler with the help of side-scan 

sonar system. 

The trawler, carrying 34 workers 

from Cumilla, sank in the river 

at Charjhapta in Sadar upazila 

around 3am on Tuesday after it 

collided with an oil-laden tanker 

while heading towards Fatulla in 

Narayanganj. 

Although 14 workers managed 

to swim ashore, the rest went 

missing. All the workers hail from 

Pabna and Sirajganj districts. 

Although the rescue teams 

found the image of a trawler-like 

metal object in the riverbed in the 

solar, it was not sure whether it 

was the sunken trawler, said 

BIWTA Chairman Commodore 

Mozammel Haque from the spot. 

Meanwhile, the air of the riverbank 

became heavier with the 

wails of the relatives of the missing 

workers who were desperately 

looking for their loved ones. 

The relatives thronged the riverbank 

for news on the fate of the 

trawler capsize victims. 

A nine-member probe body 

headed by Additional District 

magistrate Mobassherul Islam 

was formed to investigate the capsize 

incident. 

Zohr 

05:26 AM 

12:15 PM 

03:58 PM 

05:38 PM 

06:55 PM 

6:43 5:35 

2019, according to a message received 

from Geneva. 

The Myanmar government has maintained 

its decision to cease cooperation 

with the Special Rapporteur, and 

refused her entry to Myanmar. 

"I still seek to engage with the 

Myanmar government and I remain 

committed to my mandate to monitor 

the situation of human rights in 

Myanmar. I'll continue to meet with 

people from Myanmar and speak out 

about human rights issues that occur 

around the country," said Lee in a 

statement announcing her Thailand 

and Bangladesh visit. 

The Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar are the 

victims of human rights violations 

committed in the midst of the violence 

that erupted in August 2017 forcing 

over 800,000 Rohingya people to 

Govt to spend Tk 2,000cr 

to ensure non-stop power 

supply to Dhaka, N'ganj 

DHAKA : A move is underway to 

implement a Tk 2,000 crore project to 

ensure uninterrupted power supply to 

Dhaka's central and south-west zones 

and major parts of Narayanganj within 

the next three years, reports UNB. 

According to official sources, Dhaka 

Power Distribution Company Ltd 

(DPDC) has undertaken the project to 

implement it during the 2019-2022 

period as part of its development programme. 

"Once the project is implemented, the 

DPDC will be able to build a power distribution 

system to ensure non-stop 

electricity supply to consumers living in 

major parts of the two cities," DPDC 

Executive Director Ramiz Uddin told 

UNB. 

He said the project got the approval 

of the Executive Committee of the 

National Economic Council (Ecnec) on 

November 7 last year, which was its last 

meeting under the previous government. 

Of the total cost, the government will 

finance Tk 1,882 crore while the DPDC 

will provide Tk 78 crore from its own 

funds to implement the project. 

"Now we're preparing tender documents 

to float the tender to award contract 

for the job," he added saying it 

may take one month or two to complete 

the tender invitation process. 

Power Division officials said the new 

project was undertaken as part of the 

government's current target to improve 

power distribution and transmission 

system after its success in power generation. 

take shelter in Bangladesh. 

These Rohingya people have been living 

in camps administered by 

UNHCR and the government of 

Bangladesh with support from a slew 

of UN agencies and international 

NGOs since August 2017. 

On January 9, the United Nations 

appealed to all sides in Myanmar to 

intensify efforts to find a peaceful 

solution to the situation and to ensure 

humanitarian access to all people 

affected by the violence. 

The acting Resident Coordinator and 

Humanitarian Coordinator for 

Myanmar, Knut Ostby, said they are 

"deeply concerned" about the situation 

in northern and central Rakhine 

State, where an estimated 4,500 people 

have been displaced so far due to 

recent fighting there. 

They said although the country's 

power generation reached a benchmark 

of over 11,000 MW through its installed 

generation capacity of 18,000 MW but 

uninterrupted power supply in the capital 

city and elsewhere in the country is 

yet to be ensured due to poor distribution 

and transmissionnetwork. 

"As a result, many areas face power 

outage despite surplus power generation," 

said a senior official at the Power 

Division. 

Officials said DPDC mainly operates 

power distribution systems in Dhaka's 

central and south-west parts and major 

parts of Narayanganj city, and the project 

will be implemented in the two 

cities. 

Officials said the project will facilitate 

the uninterrupted power supply until 

2030 and another new project will be 

required to continue such facility. 

Under the project framework, a good 

number of old substations, each having 

33/11 kV capacity, will be replaced with 

new ones while 165 km of new source 

lines will be built and 33,157 electric 

poles will be installed, 1,642 km of 

overhead lines will be renovated. 

Installation of 361 km 11 kV underground 

distribution lines and 2,575 

transformers have been included in the 

project, according to the official 

sources. 

DPDC now distributes about 1,531 

MW of electricity among its 1.178 million 

consumers and the electricity consumption 

in its command area has been 

witnessing about 12 percent growth a 

year. 

Due to dust at Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) ground, the visitors are moving wearing with 

musk. 

Photo: Riya Chowdhury 

On the occasion of landslide victory in 11th National Parliamentary Election, Awami League will 

organized victory rally at Suhrawardy Udyan which has been adorned by the photos of the father of 

nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The picture was taken on Friday. Photo: Star Mail 

AL rally at Suhrawardy 

Udyan Saturday to 

celebrate polls victory 

DHAKA : Awami League will hold 

a grand rally at the Suhrawardy 

Udyan in the city on Saturday to 

celebrate the massive victory of the 

party in the 11th parliamentary 

elections, reports UNB. 

AL President Sheikh Hasina will 

be present at the programme as the 

chief guest. 

Awami League won an absolute 

majority bagging 257 seats in the 

recent election. 

The party-led Grand Alliance 

secured 288 seats out of total 299. 

Of them, alliance component Jatiya 

Party got 22 seats and will act as the 

main opposition in parliament. 

However, the election in 

Gaibandha-3 constituency was 

postponed following the death of a 

candidate. 

Though BNP and its alliance partners 

joined the election, the party 

bagged only six seats while its 

alliance partner Gano Forum two 

seats. However, the Jatiya 

Oikyafront MPs still did not take 

the oath of office. 

On January 7, Awami League 

President Sheikh Hasina along with 

her 46 cabinet members took oath 

following her party's massive victory 

in the 11th national election. 

Apart from the Prime Minister, 

there are 24 ministers, 19 state ministers 

and three deputy ministers in 

the new cabinet. 

Of the 47-member cabinet, 27 are 

new faces who are picked in a bid to 

infuse dynamism into the cabinet 

activities to implement the election 

manifesto the ruling party placed 

before the nation. 

Quader foresees 

'split' in Oikyafront 

DHAKA : Awami League General 

Secretary Obaidul Quader on Friday 

predicted that the Jatiya Oikyafront will 

not survive for lack of principles and 

ideals in the alliance, reports UNB. 

"This coalition (Oikyafront) lacks 

principles and ideals. The way the 

Oikyafront was formed, it seemed from 

the beginning that the alliance won't 

survive," he said while talking to 

reporters at the AL president's 

Dhanmondi political office. 

Mentioning that the number of party 

aspirants for the reserved MP seat has 

seen a rise this time, Quader, also Road 

Transport and Bridges Minister, attributed 

it to the increase in party's popularity 

and acceptability. 

He, however, said dedicated party 

leaders and activists will be given priority 

for this. "Especially, those worked 

for the party in the last election with 

SAVAR : The prime accused in a case 

filed over the death of a garment worker 

following 'gang-rape' was found dead 

in Khagan area here on Thursday night, 

reports UNB. 

Police recovered the bullet-hit body of 

Ripon, 39, line chief of Yagi Bangladesh 

Garments Ltd where the rape victim 

used to work, from an empty field 

inside Amin Model Town with a placard 

tying around his neck which reads: 

"I'm the mastermind of the rape case". 

Officer-in-charge of Savar Model 

Police Station Abdul Awal said locals 

spotted the body at night and informed 

them. 

Later, the recovered the body and 

sent it to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical 

College Hospital in the capital for 

autopsy, he said. 

The OC also said they were yet find 

any clue as to who killed him and 

dumped the body in the field. 

Meanwhile, Ripon's cousin Shafiqul 

Islam claimed that he went out of their 

house 5-6 days ago after getting a phone 

call but did not return home. 

Ripon and his four associates intercepted 

the female RMG worker while 

she was returning home from her workplace 

at Beron in Ashulia on January 5 

last. 

They took her to a field behind their 

factory and took turns to rape her. A 

case was filed over the incident the following 

day. 

dedication will be given priority," he 

said. 

Turning to the party's Suhrawardy 

Udyan rally scheduled for Saturday, the 

ruling party leader said AL President 

and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will 

send out important messages from the 

rally. "She will warn party leaders and 

activists against misuse of power. She'll 

ask them to stay away from corruption, 

drugs and terrorism declaring her zero 

tolerance against the menaces." 

He also said there will be directives 

from the rally to the party men to 

deeply get involved in the fight against 

drug abuse. "Besides, the Prime 

Minister will unveil her development 

plan at the rally." 

Awami League will hold a grand rally 

at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday to 

celebrate the massive victory of the 

party in the 11th parliamentary election. 

RMG worker's death 

after rape: Prime 

accused found dead 

However, the girl died at their residence 

at Jamgora on January 7. 

Later, a murder case was filed with 

Ashulia Police Station where Ripon was 

made price accused, said its OC 

(Investigation) Javed Masud. 

'Abducted' 

carpenter found 

dead in Savar 

SAVAR : Police recovered the body of 

a carpenter, who was allegedly abducted 

by some miscreants on January 12 

,from Charsangur village of Dhamrai on 

Friday morning, reports UNB. 

The deceased was identified as Jotish 

Majumdar, 45, of Charbardail area. 

Quoting locals, Sub-inspector Eklas 

Hossainof Savar Model Police Station 

said a group of miscreants abducted 

Jotish when he went to Nama Bazar for 

purchasing daily commodities. 

Later, the abductors demanded Tk 

60,000 from the victim's family as ransom 

over phone. 

Following the incident, a written 

complaint was lodged with the police 

station on the same day. 

Meanwhile, police arrested prime 

suspect Md Halim, 35, in this connection 

and according to his statement 

they recovered the body from a ditch on 

a riverbank.

NEWS 

SATurDAY, 

JAnuArY 19, 2019 

2 

Bangladesh Diploma Fisheries Association held a meeting at Matsya Bhaban Auditorium of the capital city yesterday 

demanding implementation of diploma scale and prompt promotion. 

Photo : TBT 

'Women filmmakers still 

face disadvantages' 

DHAKA : 'Through Her Eyes' is an 

initiative which showcases works of 

Bangladeshi women filmmakers. 

Goethe-Institut, Bangladesh is cohosting 

the event. Its Director Kirsten 

Hackenbroch spoke to UNB about 

various aspects of the event and how it 

can benefit Bangladeshi women 

filmmakers. 

What are the objectives of 'Through 

Her Eyes' initiative? 

The Goethe-Institut and the 

International Film Initiative of 

Bangladesh want to promote 

Bangladeshi women filmmakers with 

'Through Her Eyes'. 

There are a few female filmmakers 

who have become internationally 

successful. However, looking at 

bothBangladesh and the global 

perspectives, we see that women 

filmmakers still face disadvantages and 

find it more difficult to join the 

international independent film 

community [but they] continue to 

produce films. 

So, we really want to create a 

platform where young, aspiring and 

talented filmmakers from Bangladesh 

can ask questions to those who have 

already gone through the international 

stage, can reflect on their possession, 

on their career perspectives and enter 

into discourse with the larger group of 

society. You are helping through the 

process but do they get any financial 

help from this? 

The programme that we are setting 

up now is not a programme for 

financial assistance. It's where young 

filmmakers have a chance to find a 

forum or space to discuss, to share their 

sorrows, and get guidance. 

What can evolve from this is that we 

will understand the needs of the young 

filmmakers in general and young 

female filmmakers in particular. [We 

hope to understand] what kind of 

support will they need, what sort of 

PM mourns death 

of ex-Mahila AL 

president 

Ashrafunnesa 

DHAKA : Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina on Friday 

expressed deep shock at the 

death of former president of 

Bangladesh Mahila Awami 

League, former MP and 

freedom 

fighter 

Ashrafunnesa Mosharraf. 

In a condolence message, 

the Prime Minister prayed 

for salvation of the departed 

soul and expressed deep 

sympathy to the bereaved 

family members, reports 

UNB. 

25 kgs venison 

seized in 

Sundarbans 

SATKHIRA : The Forest 

Department seized 25 kgs of 

venison from Terkathikhal 

area in the Sundarbans 

under Burigoalini Forest 

Station in Shyamnagar 

upazila on Thursday night, 

reports UNB. 

On information, forest 

guards conducted a drive in 

the around 8pm and seized 

the venison, said Burigoalini 

Forest Station official KM 

Kabir Uddin. 

seminar, workshop sessions would be 

helpful, what kind of information is not 

readily available in Bangladesh. With 

this series, we hope to understand, and 

then [we] should be able to react and 

design the programmes. 

Is there any mission statement for 

Goethe-Institut? Why Goethe-Institut 

is doing that? Is there any story behind 

that? 

Yes, certainly. First of all, the Goethe- 

Institut is a cultural and language 

institute. We are supporting cultural 

activists' ideas, especially from the 

independent artists, around the world 

to pursue entering into global dialogues 

and to pursue the work that they can 

[produce] and support them as much 

as we can. 

Weorganiseda Berlinale spotlight in 

September 2018, particularly for films. 

The Berlinale International Film 

Festival came to Bangladesh with two 

delegates. We organised 

theBerlinatespotlight together with 

DocLab and the IFIB (International 

Film Initiative of Bangladesh). 

Three Bangladeshi films are going to 

Berlinale. How is theirprospective? 

It's a huge success. There have been 

films from Bangladesh and filmmakers 

going to Berlinale but not in big 

numbers. So, I see it as somewhat 

connected also to the Berlinale 

spotlight. [It's a] chance for 

Bangladeshi filmmakers to engage with 

people from Berlinale to understand 

what kind of programme they offer and 

now it's a huge success to see that three 

filmmakers in one year are going to 

Berlinale. 

I am very happy to see that. And I 

hope that through the work that we are 

doing, through the programme 

'Through Her Eyes', [we'll] have a 

stable flow of Bangladeshi independent 

filmmakers going to represent their 

projects at film festivals such as the 

Berlinale also the Doc Club, the doc 

Californians were cleaning up and drying off 

Friday after a series of storms dumped heavy 

rain and snow throughout the state, caused 

at least six deaths and forced the rescue of 

more than a dozen people in rushing rivers, 

reports UNB. 

Road crews will be working to clear mud, 

debris and trees that blocked some roads 

from Malibu to San Francisco. In Ventura 

County, residents were urged to avoid 

coming into contact with storm runoff or 

ocean water for several days after flooding at 

an RV park sent 4,500 gallons (17,000 liters) 

of sewage into a river. 

The latest storm moved east Thursday and 

was set to unleash heavy rain, snow and 

wind in Colorado. "(It) will be slamming the 

East Coast by Sunday," National Weather 

Service forecaster Steve Anderson said. 

"From Maine to Florida." 

The three-day drenching put a dent in 

California's drought, dumping as much as 10 

inches (25 centimeters) of rain in parts of 

Southern California, and between 3 and 6 

inches (7.6 and 15 centimeters) in Los 

Angeles. 

Rain and snow that battered the state 

canceled flights, uprooted trees, knocked 

down power lines and caused localized 

flooding. 

A 57-year-old hiker was in critical 

condition Thursday night after a boulder hit 

her in Malibu. In Riverside and San 

Bernardino counties east of Los Angeles, 

firefighters rescued 13 mostly homeless 

people who became stranded on islands in 

the Santa Ana River. 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's 

light click Documentary Film Festival 

in July. 

Is there any long-term plan or future 

plan with the current initiative? 

The future plan is to really see from 

the discussions that we will have at 

Goethe-Institut what the young 

filmmakers need in order to continue 

or for more sustained engagement in 

the independent film industry. [We'll 

come up with] workshops or seminars 

or we could bring experts from 

Germany to work with the young 

filmmakers here in Bangladesh. 

What do you expect from this event? 

What I expect is that the forum we 

offer will lead to a greater network 

among young filmmakers, so that 

especially those who are new in the 

profession don't feel intimidated by, for 

example, the dealings with 

international festivals which can be 

quite a headache. 

So, we really hope that this sharing 

between seniors and juniors, between 

more experienced and less 

experiencedfilmmakerswill create an 

atmosphere of helping each other, of 

being available for each other, of being 

mentors to the younger generation. 

Obviously, the programme is very 

much an offertothe film community 

and I would be very glad if the film 

community itself takes charge of the 

programme and really explains or 

expresses their wishes on how the 

programme should continue in future, 

what particular discussion they would 

need in order to be able to improve or 

make the work they aredoing more 

sustainable. So, [the expectation is] to 

understand the talented filmmakers' 

perspective. 

I think there are brilliant Bangladeshi 

independent films. It's more about a 

chance to have more people to tell their 

stories and to have more people who 

are really talented to get the support 

they need to tell the stories. 

California dries off after 

storms batter state for days 

Department posted a dramatic video of a 

helicopter rescue of one person caught in the 

rising San Gabriel River. 

Also in Los Angeles, about 20 residents 

were evacuated from their homes in the 

Hollywood Hills when mud slid from 

beneath a house. No one was hurt and the 

residents were allowed to return home 

several hours later. 

In San Francisco, fallen trees blocked the 

city's iconic cable car tracks for hours 

Thursday and similarly delayed other 

commuter trains in region. In the Marin 

County community of Mill Valley, just north 

of San Francisco, a man was killed when he 

jumped into the street to dodge a falling tree 

Wednesday night and was hit by a van, 

according to the California Highway Patrol. 

Road crews will be working to clear mud, 

debris and trees that blocked some roads 

from Malibu to San Francisco. In Ventura 

County, residents were urged to avoid 

coming into contact with storm runoff or 

ocean water for several days after flooding at 

an RV park sent 4,500 gallons (17,000 liters) 

of sewage into a river. 

The latest storm moved east Thursday and 

was set to unleash heavy rain, snow and 

wind in Colorado. "(It) will be slamming the 

East Coast by Sunday," National Weather 

Service forecaster Steve Anderson said. 

"From Maine to Florida." 

The three-day drenching put a dent in 

California's drought, dumping as much as 10 

inches (25 centimeters) of rain in parts of 

Southern California, and between 3 and 6 

inches (7.6 and 15 centimeters) in Los 

Angeles. 

2 motorcyclists 

killed in Bogura 

road crash 

BOGURA : Two 

motorcyclists were killed as 

their vehicle hit a tree beside 

Talora-Jamdar road at 

Kalipara village in Kahalu 

upazila on Thursday, reports 

UNB. 

The deceased were 

identified as Suja Uddin 

Khan, 36, son of late Samsul 

Khan of Luknathpara village 

in Durgapur Union Parishad 

and also the former chairman 

of the union, and Lebu Khan, 

55, son of Sabir Khan of the 

same village. 

Officer-in-charge of Kahalu 

Police Station Sawkat Kabir 

said the accident took place 

when a speeding motorcycle 

carrying three people crashed 

into a banyan tree beside the 

road around 7pm, leaving the 

duo dead on the spot. 

Bus-truck 

collision claims 2 

lives in Cumilla 

CUMILLA : Two passengers 

of an auto rickshaw were 

killed as their vehicle collided 

head on with a speeding bus 

on Cumilla-Noakhali 

highway at Chandanabazar 

village in Laksham upazila 

on Thursday afternoon, 

reports UNB. 

The deceased were 

identified as Idris Mia, 55, 

resident of Paschimgaon 

village in Lakhsham 

municipality and Al-Amin, 

35, hailing from Amtali 

village in the upazila. 

Officer-in-Charge of 

Lakhsham Police Station 

Manoj Kumar De said a 

Noakhali bound bus hit the 

auto rickshaw in the 

afternoon, leaving the duo 

dead on the spot. 

Three passengers of the 

auto-rickshaw including its 

driver, who were also injured 

during the collision, were 

taken to a private hospital in 

Laksham. 

GD- 103/19 (10 x 4) 

After cover-up trial, 

officer who shot teen 

to be sentenced 

A judge rejected allegations that the 

shocking video of Laquan McDonald's 

death proved that Chicago police officers 

tried to stage a cover-up in the fatal 

shooting of the black teen. Now another 

judge must decide how long the officer who 

pulled the trigger spends behind bars, 

reports UNB. 

Jason Van Dyke was convicted in October 

of second-degree murder and 16 counts of 

aggravated battery. He will likely go to 

prison for at least several years, if not 

decades, when he's sentenced Friday. 

But critics of the police department and 

protesters who cheered Van Dyke's 

conviction are clearly worried after a judge 

on Thursday acquitted three officers 

accused of trying to conceal what happened 

to protect Van Dyke, who was the first 

Chicago officer found guilty in an on-duty 

shooting in a half century and probably the 

first ever in the shooting of an African- 

American. 

"We will be down here tomorrow by the 

hundreds, and we will cry out for justice for 

Laquan," activist Eric Russell said after the 

hearing in which Cook County Judge 

Domenica Stephenson acquitted former 

officer Joseph Walsh, former detective 

David March and officer Thomas Gaffney 

on charges of obstruction of justice, official 

misconduct and conspiracy. 

Friday's hearing will be emotional. Van 

Dyke's wife and young daughters, who 

pleaded for leniency in letters submitted to 

the judge, will make statements. Court 

officials do not know if McDonald's mother, 

who has remained silent ever since her 

son's Oct. 20, 2014, death, will speak. 

The courtroom will be packed with 

activists worried that Judge Vincent 

Gaughan will impose a light sentence. 

Thursday's verdict "means that if you are 

a police officer you can lie, cheat and steal," 

said a shaken Rev. Marvin Hunter, 

McDonald's great uncle. 

Stephenson accepted the argument that 

jurors in the Van Dyke case rejected: that 

the video that sparked protests and a 

federal investigation of the police force was 

just one perspective of the events that 

unfolded on the South Side. 

The judge said the video showed only one 

viewpoint of the confrontation between 

Van Dyke and the teen armed with a small 

knife. She found no indication the officers 

tried to hide evidence or made little effort to 

talk to witnesses. 

"The evidence shows just the opposite," 

she said. She singled out how they 

preserved the graphic video at the heart of 

the case. 

Prosecutor Ron Safer tried to put a 

positive spin on the verdict. 

Jason Van Dyke was convicted in October 

of second-degree murder and 16 counts of 

aggravated battery. He will likely go to 

prison for at least several years, if not 

decades, when he's sentenced Friday. 

But critics of the police department and 

protesters who cheered Van Dyke's 

conviction are clearly worried after a judge 

on Thursday acquitted three officers 

accused of trying to conceal what happened 

to protect Van Dyke, who was the first 

Chicago officer found guilty in an on-duty 

shooting in a half century and probably the 

first ever in the shooting of an African- 

American. 

"We will be down here tomorrow by the 

hundreds, and we will cry out for justice for 

Laquan," activist Eric Russell said after the 

hearing in which Cook County Judge 

Domenica Stephenson acquitted former 

officer Joseph Walsh, former detective 

David March and officer Thomas Gaffney 

on charges of obstruction of justice, official 

misconduct and conspiracy. 

Friday's hearing will be emotional. Van 

Dyke's wife and young daughters, who 

pleaded for leniency in letters submitted to 

the judge, will make statements. Court 

officials do not know if McDonald's mother, 

who has remained silent ever since her 

son's Oct. 20, 2014, death, will speak. 

The courtroom will be packed with 

activists worried that Judge Vincent 

Gaughan will impose a light sentence. 

Thursday's verdict "means that if you are 

a police officer you can lie, cheat and steal," 

said a shaken Rev. Marvin Hunter, 

McDonald's great uncle. 

Stephenson accepted the argument that 

jurors in the Van Dyke case rejected: that 

the video that sparked protests and a 

federal investigation of the police force was 

just one perspective of the events that 

unfolded on the South Side.

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, 

JANUARY 19, 2019 

3 

Internal Revenue Service employees, front row from the left, Brian Lanouette, of Merrimack, N.H., 

Mary Maldonado, of Dracut, Mass., and Maria Zangari, of Haverhill, Mass., display placards during 

a rally by federal employees and supporters, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019, in front of the Statehouse, in 

Boston, held to call for an end of the partial shutdown of the federal government. Photo : AP 

Trump, Pelosi feud heats up again 

She imperiled his State of the Union address. He denied her 

a plane to visit troops abroad, reports UNB. 

The shutdown battle between President Donald Trump 

and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing out as a surreal 

game of constitutional brinkmanship, with both flexing political 

powers from opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as 

the negotiations to end the monthlong partial government 

shutdown remain stalled. 

In dramatic fashion, Trump issued a letter to Pelosi on 

Thursday, just before she and other lawmakers were set to 

depart on the previously undisclosed trip to Afghanistan and 

Brussels. Trump belittled the trip as a "public relations event" 

- even though he had just made a similar warzone stop - and 

said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to 

negotiate to reopen the government. 

"Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying 

commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative," 

wrote Trump, who had been smarting since Pelosi, the day 

before, called on him to postpone his Jan. 29 State of the 

Union address due to the shutdown. Denying military aircraft 

to a senior lawmaker - let alone the speaker, who is second 

in line to the White House, traveling to a combat region 

Ex-judge: Romania 

ruling could collapse 

murder trials 

A top Romanian legal expert 

says a court ruling that the 

country's prosecutors 

obtained evidence illegally 

could collapse murder and 

child pornography trials, 

reports UNB. 

Romania's Constitutional 

Court ruled this week that 

secret protocols signed 

between the Prosecutor's 

office and the Romanian 

Intelligence Service in 2009 

and 2016 were unconstitutional. 

The system helped 

prosecutors obtain evidence 

through phone taps and other 

electronic surveillance, 

Prosecutors declassified the 

protocols last year. 

Augustin Zegrean, chief 

judge of the Constitutional 

Court from 2010 to 2016, 

said Friday that "bribery, 

drug trafficking, people trafficking, 

murder, child 

pornography and other cases" 

could be affected by 

Wednesday ruling. 

"What about people currently 

serving sentences? Do 

you let them out? " Zegrean 

told The Associated Press by 

telephone. 

Avalanche in Kashmir 

Himalayas kills 1, leaves 

9 missing 

An avalanche at a 

Himalayan mountain pass 

in Indian-controlled Kashmir 

has killed one person 

and left another none people 

missing, reports UNB. 

Top civil administrator 

Baseer Khan says the avalanche 

hit Khardung La 

pass in the remote Ladakh 

region early Friday and 

trapped 10 people under 

snow. 

Khan says one body has 

been recovered while rescue 

teams of police and 

army soldiers are searching 

for the missing. 

Avalanches and landslides 

are common in 

Kashmir, which is divided 

between India and Pakistan 

and claimed by both 

in its entirety. Last year, 11 

people were killed after 

their vehicle was hit by an 

avalanche in the northwestern 

Kupwara area. 

- is very rare. Lawmakers were caught off guard. A bus to ferry 

the legislators to their departure idled outside the Capitol 

on Thursday afternoon. 

The political tit-for-tat between Trump and Pelosi laid bare 

how the government-wide crisis has devolved into an 

intensely pointed clash between two leaders both determined 

to prevail. It took place as hundreds of thousands of federal 

workers go without pay and Washington's routine protocols 

- a president's speech to Congress, a lawmaker's official trip 

- became collateral damage. 

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said the speaker planned 

to travel to Afghanistan and Brussels to thank service members 

and obtain briefings on national security and intelligence 

"from those on the front lines." He noted Trump had 

traveled to Iraq during the shutdown and said a Republicanled 

congressional trip also had taken place. 

Trump's move was the latest example of his extraordinary 

willingness to tether U.S. government resources to his 

political needs. He has publicly urged the Justice 

Department to investigate political opponents and threatened 

to cut disaster aid to Puerto Rico amid a spat with the 

island territory's leaders. 

Second US-North Korea 

summit the focus of talks 

High-level talks aimed at finalizing a second 

summit between President Donald Trump 

and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are 

planned for this week in Washington, U.S. 

officials said, reports UNB. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected 

to meet former North Korean spy chief 

Kim Yong Chol at a Washington hotel on Friday. 

The meeting will likely be followed by a 

Kim visit to the White House, where he could 

meet with Trump, according to two officials, 

who were not authorized to discuss the matter 

publicly and spoke Thursday on condition 

of anonymity. 

Neither the U.S. nor North Korea has 

announced any meetings, although Kim 

Yong Chol arrived earlier Thursday in Beijing, 

where he was booked on a flight to the 

U.S., South Korea's Yonhap News Agency 

reported. A motorcade that included the 

North Korean ambassador's car and a Chinese 

car with a sign reading "state guest" 

could be seen departing from a VIP area at 

the airport. 

Trump has spoken several times of having 

a second summit with Kim early this year 

and has exchanged multiple letters with the 

North Korean despite little tangible progress 

on a vague denuclearization agreement 

reached at their first meeting in Singapore 

last June. Since then, several private analysts 

have published reports detailing continuing 

North Korean development of nuclear and 

missile technology. 

At a conference of U.S. diplomats at the 

State Department on Wednesday, Vice President 

Mike Pence acknowledged the lack of 

progress. He called the Trump-Kim dialogue 

"promising" but stressed that "we still await 

concrete steps by North Korea to dismantle 

the nuclear weapons that threaten our people 

and our allies in the region." 

A planned meeting between Pompeo and 

Kim Yong Chol in New York last November 

was called off abruptly. U.S. officials said at 

the time that North Korea had canceled the 

session. 

A White House official, while not confirming 

plans for Friday's meeting, said "a lot of 

positive things" are happening related to 

North Korea's denuclearization. The official 

said Trump and Kim Jong Un had established 

a "good relationship" and that U.S.- 

North Korea conversations were continuing. 

The official, who also spoke on condition of 

anonymity, said the two sides were "working 

to make progress" on the denuclearization 

goal and that Trump "looks forward to meeting 

Chairman Kim again at their second 

summit at a place and time yet to be determined." 

The talks had stalled over North Korea's 

refusal to provide a detailed accounting of its 

nuclear and missile facilities that would be 

used by inspectors to verify any deal to dismantle 

them. The North has been demanding 

that the U.S. lift harsh sanctions and provide 

it with security guarantees before it 

takes any steps beyond its initial suspension 

of nuclear and missile tests. 

Kim Jong Un expressed frustration in an 

annual New Year's address over the lack of 

progress in negotiations. But on a visit to Beijing 

last week, he said North Korea would 

pursue a second summit "to achieve results 

that will be welcomed by the international 

community," according to China's official 

Xinhua News Agency. 

North Korean official Kim Yong Chol is expected to meet Mike Pompeo on 

Friday. 

Photo : AP 

ASEAN ministers rock 

no boats in Myanmar, 

S. China Sea 

Foreign ministers of the 10- 

member Association of 

Southeast Asian Nations 

have hewed to the group's 

practice of reaching the least 

provocative consensus possible 

in discussions of such 

divisive issues as Myanmar's 

Rohingya crisis and 

China's territorial claims in 

the South China Sea. 

A two-day Foreign Ministers' 

Retreat that ended 

Friday was the group's first 

meeting since Thailand 

took its over annual chairmanship, 

reports UNB. 

The host's summary of the 

meeting emphasized the 

humanitarian role ASEAN 

members could play in 

Myanmar's Rakhine State, 

from which more than 

700,000 members of the 

Muslim Rohingya minority 

fled to escape a brutal government 

counterinsurgency 

campaign. 

It claimed progress on concluding 

a Code of Conduct in 

the South China Sea, long 

touted as a way of avoiding 

volatile confrontations in the 

disputed territory. 

Russian officials 

rule out attack in 

building collapse 

Russian authorities are 

denying reports that a terrorist 

attack was to blame 

for an explosion that 

brought down an apartment 

block, killing 39 people, 

reports UNB. 

The explosion ripped 

through a building in the city 

of Magnitogorsk in the Ural 

mountains on Dec. 31. 

Sparse official reports and a 

security incident the following 

day fed speculation that 

the explosion was a targeted 

bombing. 

The Islamic State weekly 

online newspaper al-Nabaa 

in its Thursday issue claimed 

responsibility for the explosion 

in Magnitogorsk, saying 

that it did not do so earlier 

for security reasons. 

Palestinian forces soldier 

on amid Israeli raids, US 

neglect 

On a cold winter's night earlier this month, a 

convoy of 10 Israeli armored jeeps drove into 

the heart of the West Bank city of Ramallah 

and parked in front of the Palestinian police 

headquarters, reports UNB. 

Soldiers fanned out, searching nearby 

shops for security cameras after a pair of 

recent shooting attacks against Israelis in the 

occupied territory. The raid attracted dozens 

of stone-throwing Palestinians, and the 

Israelis responded with tear gas and rubber 

bullets. 

It was the latest in a series of Israeli raids 

into urban areas that the Palestinians say 

undermine their own U.S.-trained security 

forces. Those forces have been coordinating 

operations with Israel in the West Bank for 

years but ties have frayed as the peace 

process ground to a halt. 

"This humiliates the Palestinian Authority," 

said Zakariya Musleh, head of Palestinian 

military intelligence. "It's a clear message 

from the occupying power that we are not a 

partner for peace." 

The Palestinian Authority has faced 

mounting protests over the security coordination 

as the Trump administration pursues 

policies seen by critics as obliterating whatever 

chance remains for a two-state solution, 

from recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital 

to cutting off economic aid to the Palestinians. 

And yet the security coordination 

with Israel has endured for more than a 

decade, through one crisis after another, 

including three wars in Gaza and clashes at 

Jerusalem's holiest site. 

This is in part because the Palestinian 

Authority and Israel have a shared enemy in 

the Hamas militant group, which drove 

Palestinian security forces from Gaza in a 

week of street clashes in 2007, less than two 

years after Israel withdrew from the 

territory. 

The Israeli military declined to comment 

on the recent raids or the security cooperation. 

Alon Eviatar, a retired Israeli colonel who 

served in the Palestinian territories for nearly 

three decades, said Israel is aware of the 

political pressure the Palestinian Authority 

faces. He said Israeli forces only launch their 

own West Bank raids in "sensitive cases" 

when they need to quickly apprehend an 

assailant or act on highly classified intelligence. 

"The Israeli side was afraid (of) a real escalation 

in the West Bank, especially in Ramallah," 

he said, referring to last month's shootings, 

in which gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers 

at a West Bank bus stop and wounded 

seven Israelis outside a settlement, including 

a pregnant woman whose baby later died. 

Israeli forces killed one of the suspected gunmen 

in December and arrested the other earlier 

this month. Both were found north of 

Ramallah. 

In this Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, Israeli forces deploy during a raid 

in the West Bank City of Ramallah. Israel has been launching raids into the 

heart of Ramallah, and the U.S. is cutting off aid and taking actions that many 

fear will obliterate any remaining hope for a two-state solution. Photo : AP 

Australian police arrest man over 

Israeli student’s death 

Australian police arrested a man Friday 

for questioning over the death of an 

Israeli student in Melbourne, while the 

victim's tearful father visited the 

flower-strewn crime scene where her 

body was found, reports UNB. 

Aiia Maasarwe was slain at 12:10 a.m. 

on Wednesday shortly after she got off 

a tram in the Melbourne suburb of 

Bundoora. 

A 20-year-old was taken into custody 

on Friday morning in the neighboring 

suburb of Greensborough, a police 

statement said. Police did not say if any 

charges have been filed. 

The 21-year-old victim was studying 

at La Trobe University in Melbourne as 

an exchange student from Shanghai 

University in China. 

Her father Saeed Maasarwe arrived 

in Melbourne on Thursday to bring her 

body home. He cried Friday when he 

saw an impromptu floral memorial 

arranged by members of the public at 

the site where her body was found 

behind a hedge not far from the tram 

stop. 

"This is the last place my daughter - 

was here," the father told reporters. "I 

had many dreams to be with her." 

The father was also among hundreds 

of people who attended a vigil later on 

the steps of the Victoria state parliament 

in honor of the victim and in a 

protest against male violence. 

Saeed thanked the crowd for coming 

and said if someone else had died, his 

daughter would "be the first" to come to 

the vigil. 

"This is Aiia," he said before breaking 

down in tears. 

Police have not detailed the attack on 

Maasarwe, which they assume was random 

and opportunistic. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison 

revealed that she had been raped. 

"I just want to begin by saying how 

devastated I am by the despicable, tragic 

and violent killing and rape of Aiia 

Maasarwe," Morrison told reporters in 

Fiji. 

"Every woman in Australia - every 

person in Australia - should be able to 

travel home in safety. I can't begin to 

think of what I could say to her family," 

he added. 

Her uncle, Abed Kittani, told the Australian 

Broadcasting Corp. that 

Maasarwe was speaking by phone to a 

younger sister when she was attacked. 

"She heard the cars passing by and 

she was helpless, she couldn't do anything," 

Kittani said of the sister. The sister 

sent messages, but there was no 

response. 

"Instead of coming home with a 

diploma, she is coming back in a coffin," 

Kittani said. 

Another uncle, Rame Maasarwe, 

said: "We cannot believe that something 

like this happened in Australia; 

we think it's very safe there." 

Congo court poised to rule on 

presidential vote challenge 

Congo's constitutional court is 

poised to rule as early as Friday 

on a challenge to the presidential 

election results. But the 

African Union continental 

body has issued a surprise lastminute 

request for Congo's 

government to suspend the 

announcement of final results, 

citing "serious doubts" about 

the vote, reports UNB. 

Declared runner-up Martin 

Fayulu has requested a 

recount, alleging fraud. 

Upholding the official election 

results could spark violence 

in a country hoping for its 

first peaceful, democratic 

transfer of power since independence 

in 1960. 

The AU statement late 

Thursday said heads of state 

and government agreed to 

"urgently dispatch" a high-level 

delegation to Congo to find "a 

way out of the post-electoral 

crisis" in the vast Central 

African nation rich in the minerals 

key to smartphones and 

electric cars around the world. 

The statement reflects concern 

by Congo's many neighbors 

that more unrest could 

spill across borders. The delegation 

including heads of state 

will leave for Congo on Monday, 

an AU spokeswoman said. 

There was no immediate 

Congo government comment. 

Fayulu has asked for a 

recount of the Dec. 30 election, 

asserting that Congo's electoral 

commission published provisional 

results wildly different 

from those obtained at polling 

stations. 

He makes the extraordinary 

accusation of an election rigged 

in favor of the opposition, 

asserting that outgoing President 

Joseph Kabila made a 

backroom deal with the 

declared winner, Felix 

Tshisekedi, when the ruling 

party's candidate did poorly. 

The electoral commission 

has said Tshisekedi won 38 

percent of the vote and Fayulu 

34 percent. However, results 

compiled by the influential 

Catholic Church's 40,000 election 

observers show Fayulu 

won easily with 61 percent. 

In leaked data published this 

week by some media outlets, 

attributed to the electoral commission 

and representing 86 

percent of the votes, Fayulu 

won 59.4 percent while 

Tshisekedi received 19 percent. 

The court could uphold the 

election results, order a recount 

or order a new election. 

It is likely that the court, full 

of Kabila appointees, will confirm 

Tshisekedi's victory, said 

Adeline Van Houtte, an analyst 

at the Economist Intelligence 

Unit. 

"It will come with the risk of 

increased instability, which 

could put a halt on the electoral 

transition," Van Houtte said in 

a statement. "However, it 

would also mean that Kabila 

will have avoided the worstcase 

scenario for him," a Fayulu 

presidency. 

Fayulu, a lawmaker and 

businessman who is outspoken 

about cleaning up Congo's 

sprawling corruption, is 

widely seen as more of a 

threat to Kabila, his allies and 

their vast wealth. Tshisekedi, 

the son of charismatic opposition 

leader Etienne who died 

in 2017, is relatively untested 

and has said little since the 

election.

EDITORIAL 

SATURdAy, 

jAnUARy 19, 2019 

4 

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam 

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

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com 

Saturday, January 19, 2019 

PM’s warning against 

graft by civil servants 

Prime Minister (PM) in a meeting at the Civil 

Administration Ministry on Thursday signaled what 

the future beholds for our civil servants if they should 

fail to deliver from now on as per people's expectations. In 

fact, in her speech she bluntly underlined what would be the 

main ruling quality of her administration in the next five 

years. She minced no words while addressing the gathering 

when she said salaries and perks of civil servants have been 

very sub substantially raised in the last five years. So, why 

should countrymen not get the expected improved 

performance from civil servants. Surely they can no more 

complain they are under motivated specially in the financial 

sense. 

Indeed, the national pay scales involving the salaries of 

government employees working in the ministries and 

departments, plus the ones serving in autonomous 

organizations, were revised at an unprecedented rate in the 

last nine years. The substantial rise coming gradually after 

a long time and in the backdrop of rising inflation and costs 

of living would be justified on the face of it. The hikes were 

indeed well received by the public sector employees. But it 

cannot be said that these increases in monetary 

compensation would create the grounds for all round 

contentment in the country for the gains would not accrue 

to employees engaged in the vast private sector. 

The civil servants who number a little over 0.1 million 

persons are a small section of the total workforce in the 

country. But every time their salaries went up, it was noted 

that a spurt in the prices of essential goods followed with the 

sellers explaining that the higher purchasing power and 

demand created from salary hikes of government's 

employees gave justification for such raising of prices on 

their part. But the rise in the prices of essential goods also 

affected the very great number of those in the workforce 

who were not benefited in any way by rise in their 

purchasing power or could not negotiate such increases of 

salaries or wages received by them. Thus, they became the 

sufferers from attempts to give greater payments to 

government employees . 

The ex-finance minister while declaring the higher salary 

scales-progressively-- expressed the hope that such 

misfortunes would not hit the ones in the private sector. He 

thought that production and supply of essential goods in the 

market were quite ample and unhindered. Therefore, there 

would be no scope for the sellers to increase prices and, 

therefore, the government employees would likely enjoy 

their upcoming financial gains and private sector employees 

would not come under a new spell of price pressure. 

The consumers in general would like to keep their faith in 

the minister's statements. But they knew it might not be 

realistic also to have such confidence in the backdrop of 

their past experiences in this regard. As it is, prices and 

charges of goods and services respectively rise in 

Bangladesh without any rational or economic reasons. 

Thus, as the sellers and providers of goods and services were 

provided with the evidence that a section of the consumers 

had acquired a hefty rise in their earnings, the 

formerresorted to their familiar behavior. Only firm 

government monitoring of the price situation and taking 

appropriate actions in relation to the same, pursuing 

policies to help the keeping of production of foodstuffs and 

other essentials on the high side and also facilitating 

adequate and timely import of these essentials, were needed 

to create conditions for keeping the price lines stable. 

Besides, the government is expected to be ready and 

capable to play the role of the honest broker or facilitator in 

different areas of the private sector, to get salaries and other 

benefits to workers and employees raised. This is imperative 

for workers and employees in general in the country to be 

not bypassed from upward readjustment of their financial 

compensation like their counterparts in the public sector. 

But these tasks will have to be approached very carefully 

taking into consideration the capabilities of the private 

sector employers to pay higher amounts. At any rate, there 

should not be any diktats issued to the private sector in these 

matters. 

But the most important thing is the government 

employees should find satisfaction from their raised 

earnings. They should now be motivated to do their work 

with enthusiasm and honesty. Government will have to 

keep a watch mounted to ensure that the same would 

happen. Otherwise, there would be hardly any justification 

for paying the higher salaries and benefits. The salary hikes 

need to be followed by proper reforms in the government's 

bureaucracy to this end. 

As it is, there are hardly credible signs available that higher 

salaries and perks have generally and notably motivated our 

civil servants to work and behave to give convincing proof 

that they are ready to act relatively incorruptibly and 

efficiently. They are still found largely clinging on to their 

old habits of taking bribes and harassing people with their 

delaying tactics and demands. We, therefore, come to the 

conclusion that the solution of higher salaries to achieve 

better behavior of civil servants is too simplistic in the 

Bangladesh context. The civil servants need to be under a 

very stern 'accountability' structure linking non termination 

of their jobs with properly observing a code of conduct that 

would compel them not to take bribes and serve sincerely to 

the best of their abilities while in in interaction with 

members of the public. Government deserves some 

commendation for working to increase the monetary 

benefits of civil servants. But such increased pay and perks 

will be justified only on government ensuring that the civil 

servants would be obliged to discharge their duties at least 

commensurate to their raised monetary and other 

The incentive for KSA to go early to global bond markets 

An employee at Saudi Aramco's Ras 

Tanura oil refinery and terminal. 

(Reuters) 

Saudi Arabia, and indeed the rest of the 

Gulf countries, have signaled their 

intention to tap the international capital 

markets at record levels in 2019. But 

there is a risk as the year goes on that 

those markets will be more demanding, 

and may charge the issuers more for their 

services. 

The Kingdom was the first one into the 

global debt markets earlier this month, 

with a $7.5 billion bond offering that was 

instantly snapped up by international 

investors. It was a clear sign of two things: 

First, that all those international 

roadshows of last year - especially in the 

US, the world's biggest bond market - had 

paid off; and secondly, that there is still a 

good appetite for the Kingdom's financial 

offerings, which some analysts had 

suggested would be weakened by the 

international storm over the murder of 

journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

Bonds are a pretty straightforward 

proposition. The buyers look at the 

coupon and the terms, and decide more 

or less mathematically if the issue is 

attractive. You should not draw too many 

conclusions about the appetite for more 

direct forms of foreign investment, such 

as joint ventures or acquisitions, or 

participation in the Kingdom's 

privatization program. 

Those troops that US President 

Donald Trump is supposedly 

withdrawing from Syria might not 

be going home any time soon. They might 

find themselves redeployed in Latin 

America. 

On January 10, Nicolas Maduro was 

sworn in for his second term as president 

of Venezuela. "I tell the people," Maduro 

said, "this presidential sash is yours. The 

power of this sash is yours. It does not 

belong to the oligarchy or to imperialism. 

It belongs to the sovereign people of 

Venezuela." 

These two terms - oligarchy and 

imperialism - define the problems faced 

by Maduro's new government. 

Despite 10 years of governance by the 

socialist forces first led by the late Hugo 

Chavez and now by Maduro, the 

Venezuelan oligarchy remains firmly 

intact. It dominates large sections of the 

economy, holds immense amounts of the 

country's social wealth and controls the 

main media outlets. 

A walk through the Altamira 

neighborhood in eastern Caracas is 

sufficient to gauge the resilience of the 

wealthy, most of whom have homes in 

Spain and in Florida as well. Pelucones is 

the name used to define them - bigwigs, a 

term with aristocratic connotations. They 

have resisted all attempts by the socialist 

Bolivarian movement to expand political 

and economic democracy in the country. 

This oligarchy, through its media, 

controls the political and social narrative, 

defining the nature of Venezuela's crisis 

to its advantage. For this small sliver of 

the population, all of Venezuela's serious 

problems are blamed on the Maduro 

movement. None of the problems are laid 

on the doorstep of their long domination 

of Venezuela, nor do they cast an eye at 

the United States, which has tried to 

The core of United States President 

Donald Trump's electoral strength 

remains unchanged - voters are 

drawn to his divisive rhetoric, culture 

warfare and xenophobia. But among a 

smaller, but still significant, slice of 

Trump's support - those who like his 

promise to stand with working people on 

economic issues - this will be the year 

when cracks in Trump's backing finally 

emerge. 

Trump's economic populism was never 

the central force behind his election - that 

was his angry cleaving of America along 

social, cultural and racial lines. But in 2016, 

there were some voters who picked Trump 

because he espoused working-class 

economics: A massive infrastructure 

package, a minimum-wage hike, tough 

action against drug companies and antioutsourcing 

policies. Invoking The Usual 

Suspects, CNN's Chris Cillizza recently 

called Trump's success in courting working 

voters on his economic message "a trick 

Trump pulled". 

For his opponents, the idea that Trump 

was a true champion of the economic 

interests of working people always seemed 

absurd. But a combination of savvy 

positioning, a willingness to abandon GOP 

orthodoxy on trade, some tough-on-Wall 

Street rhetoric and unfair (but effective) 

misrepresentation of Hillary Clinton's 

record helped Trump claim this mantle. 

And his early moves after the election - 

such as intervening to preserve jobs at a 

Carrier plant in Indianapolis - reinforced 

But the bond sale was a good start for 

Saudi Arabia, and looks certain to be the 

first of many offerings this year. Saudi 

Aramco has already said it will seek to 

raise international capital, most likely to 

help finance the acquisition of a 

controlling stake in Sabic later in the year. 

It is unlikely Aramco will try to borrow 

the whole of the estimated $70 billion 

cost of that deal; indeed, Aramco 

chairman Khalid Al-Falih specifically 

talked down some of the wilder talk about 

the size of the bond. 

But Saudi Arabia will undoubtedly 

come in earnest to global capital markets. 

This continues a trend that began round 

about the time oil prices started to 

plummet in 2014. In the past two-and-ahalf 

years, Saudi Arabia has sold nearly 

$60 billion of bonds, making it one of the 

FRAnK KAne 

biggest emerging-markets issuers in the 

world. 

Saudi Aramco has already said it will 

seek to raise international capital, most 

likely to help finance the acquisition of a 

controlling stake in Sabic later in the year. 

Of course, those two events - falling oil 

prices and debt issuance - are closely 

But the bond sale was a good start for Saudi Arabia, and looks 

certain to be the first of many offerings this year. Saudi Aramco 

has already said it will seek to raise international capital, most 

likely to help finance the acquisition of a controlling stake in 

Sabic later in the year. it is unlikely Aramco will try to borrow 

the whole of the estimated $70 billion cost of that deal; indeed, 

Aramco chairman Khalid Al-Falih specifically talked down 

some of the wilder talk about the size of the bond. 

suffocate the Bolivarian revolution since 

1999. Imperialism is a word that is rarely 

used these days. It is relegated to histories 

of colonialism in the distant past. There is 

little understanding of the suffocating 

way that financial firms and 

multinational businesses drive their 

agenda against the development 

aspirations of the poorer nations. 

There is even less understanding about 

the muscular attitude of countries such as 

the United States, Canada and the 

Europeans against states that they deem 

to be a problem. 

The gunsights were once firmly on 

West Asia and North Africa - on Iraq, 

Libya, Syria and Iran - but now they are 

focused on Latin America - on Cuba, 

Nicaragua and Venezuela. These 

countries face economic sanctions and 

embargoes, threats of annihilation, covert 

operations and war. The definition of 

imperialism is simple: If you don't do 

what we tell you to do, we'll destroy you. 

Pressure on Venezuela has been 

intense. Trump has repeatedly called for 

the overthrow of the Bolivarian 

government, led by Maduro. Sanctions 

have been ratcheted up. Economic 

warfare has become normal. Threats of a 

military invasion are in the air. On 

VijAy PRAShAd 

connected, and they are also the reason 

why credit could get tougher for Gulf 

issuers later this year. In a nutshell, there 

is no certainty that oil revenues will be 

sufficient to fill the gaps in public finances 

created by ambitious government 

spending plans. 

The Saudi budget for 2019 projected a 7 

percent increase in government spending 

this year. Some analysts deduced that the 

budget assumed an oil price of around 

$80, a price that would be sufficient to 

January 4, the Lima Group of 13 Latin 

American governments and Canada said 

it would not recognize Maduro as the 

president of Venezuela. Behind them sits 

the US State Department, which has put 

pressure along the hemisphere for the 

isolation of Venezuela as well as Cuba and 

Nicaragua. The State Department 

characterized the inauguration of the new 

president as "Maduro's illegitimate 

usurpation of power." Diplomatic 

This oligarchy, through its media, controls the political 

and social narrative, defining the nature of Venezuela's 

crisis to its advantage. For this small sliver of the 

population, all of Venezuela's serious problems are blamed 

on the Maduro movement. none of the problems are laid 

on the doorstep of their long domination of Venezuela, nor 

do they cast an eye at the United States, which has tried to 

suffocate the Bolivarian revolution since 1999. 

language has dissolved into this kind of 

crudity. The Lima Group was set up for 

one reason: to overthrow the current 

government of Venezuela. It has no other 

purpose. Sanctions and diplomatic 

withdrawals are part of the Lima Group's 

arsenal. Buoyed by the election of farright-wing 

politicians such as Brazil's Jair 

Bolsonaro and enthused by the 

fulminations of Trump, the Lima Group 

has tightened the pressure. 

Argentine President Mauricio Macri 

went to Brasilia to meet Bolsonaro, where 

he condemned the "dictatorship" of 

Maduro, and accused him - personally - 

of being responsible for the difficulties in 

Venezuela. This is harsh language, 

rhetoric that sets in motion a dangerous 

push toward regime change in Venezuela. 

The Lima Group's violations of the UN 

maintain the fiscal deficit at current 

levels. Some predicted that $95 per barrel 

would be required to balance the budget 

completely. 

Most experts expect oil to remain in the 

$60-$70 band this year. Of course, there 

are a huge number of variables that could 

change this one way or the other, but a 

marker price of around $65 seems 

reasonable. 

At that level, the Saudi deficit position 

will deteriorate in the course of the year, 

putting pressure on the Kingdom's 

sovereign balance sheet. This is not such 

a bad thing. The Kingdom has decided 

where its priorities lie, and has decided a 

relatively high level of government 

spending is necessary and desirable at 

this stage in the economic cycle. It is the 

policymakers' call. 

But the bond markets will pay heed to 

the trend. In a recent report, Fitch 

Ratings - one of the big international 

ratings agencies that are expert at these 

things - said that it expected high levels of 

fiscal expenditure to be pared back in the 

course of 2019, should oil prices remain 

roughly at $65. 

The bond markets can help 

compensate and keep government 

spending on track. But they will exact a 

price for their help. 

Source : Arab news 

US has its gunsights on Venezuela 

this posture. But two years into Trump's 

presidency, the reality of his economic 

policies - massively favouring big 

corporations and the wealthiest Americans 

- is laying bare the campaign rhetoric. 

Trump still hasn't sent bills to Congress to 

fund infrastructure, limit outsourcing or 

raise the minimum wage; his signature 

piece of legislation - the 2017 Tax Act - 

slashed taxes for big corporations and did 

virtually nothing for the middle class. His 

tough talk aimed at drug companies hasn't 

been followed by any serious action. This 

stripping away of Trump's populist veneer 

is accelerating. He lost a midterm election 

when Democrats found their voice on the 

Affordable Care Act, arguing that Trump 

put the interests of insurance companies 

ahead of people with pre-existing 

conditions. Even some Trump devotees 

are raising questions. Fox News host 

Tucker Carlson, normally a stalwart ally, 

recently admitted, "a country where a 

shrinking percentage of the population is 

taking home an ever-expanding 

proportion of the money is not a recipe for 

a stable society". Or, as a more rank-andfile 

Trump supporter recently told the 

New York Times: "I voted for him ... I 

thought he was going to do good things. 

He's not hurting the people he needs to be 

hurting."More systematically, a recent poll 

showed that while white voters who are 

not college educated still believe Trump is 

trying to do "what is best for the country", 

they have lost confidence that Trump's 

economic policies are in their interest. 

These voters now believe - by nearly a twoto-one 

margin - that "Trump's policies put 

wealthy people first rather than working 

and middle class people". That is a 

devastating verdict from a group whose 

support Trump needs to keep the 

presidency. 

Charter have been helped along by the 

Organization of American States (OAS), 

which held an extraordinary session to 

push its members to take economic and 

diplomatic steps for the "restoration of 

democratic order" in Venezuela. It 

perhaps needs to be emphasized that 

"restoration of democratic order" is a 

euphemism for regime change. 

When US Ambassador to the United 

Nations Nikki Haley tried to draw the UN 

Security Council into such language - of 

dictatorships and regime change - she 

was rebuffed by the other members. In 

November 2017, for instance, Bolivia, 

China, Egypt and Russia boycotted an 

informal meeting called by Haley. No 

other such meeting has been possible. 

There is worry that the Trump 

administration will attempt in Venezuela 

what the Barack Obama administration 

conducted in Honduras, or worse, what 

the George W Bush administration 

conducted in Iraq. 

It begins 

Maduro was not permitted to take his 

oath in the National Assembly. He was 

blocked by Juan Guaidó, leader of the 

opposition. That is why Maduro took 

his oath in the Supreme Court, a 

procedure that is validated by the 

constitution. 

Strikingly, the head of the OAS, 

Uruguayan politician Luis Almagro, sent 

out a tweet that welcomed Juan Guaidó 

as the president of Venezuela. Guaidó, to 

his credit, had not claimed the 

presidency. It was, instead, a foreign 

official from a regional body that has 

superseded the Venezuelan people and 

attempted to install a new president in 

Caracas. 

Source : Asia times 

Trump’s popularity has begun to sink 

RonAld A. KlAin 

Moreover, Trump is losing his grip on voters 

focused on economics during relatively good 

economic times. What happens as the effect of 

the Trump tax cut stimulus tapers off this 

year? With many experts predicting an 

economic cooling off for 2019, Americans who 

are already dubious about who is "winning" in 

the Trump economy are likely to get 

considerably more uneasy. 

Moreover, Trump is losing his grip on 

voters focused on economics during 

relatively good economic times. What 

happens as the effect of the Trump tax cut 

stimulus tapers off this year? With many 

experts predicting an economic cooling off 

for 2019, Americans who are already 

dubious about who is "winning" in the 

Trump economy are likely to get 

considerably more uneasy. 

The political costs of Trump's trade wars 

will also come home to roost in 2019. It is 

true that culturally conservative farmers 

are standing with Trump even as his trade 

policy devastates their export markets. 

But residents of industrial towns in the 

Rust Belt may be a different proposition. A 

recent forecast from Deloitte said that the 

impact of Trump's tariffs on the 

manufacturing sector still had not yet 

been felt, and that this impact "is likely to 

be significant by late 2019" as "pre-tariff 

inventor(ies) ... will eventually be run 

down" and "manufacturers (forced) to 

decide whether to try to pass on price 

increases or cut back production". That 

could be a gut punch to Trump's narrow 

margins of victory in Pennsylvania and 

Michigan. Trump's base is cultural - and 

unwavering. But his minuscule margin in 

2016 included a critical cohort that 

thought he would stand up for working 

people on economic issues - and that 

support is showing signs of fracturing. 

Source : Washington Post

SCIENCE & TECH 

SATURdAy, 

JANUARy 19, 2019 

5 

Google permeates almost every facet of online life, making it difficult but not impossible to remove. 

Photo: Arnd Wiegmann 

Is it possible to remove Google from our life? 

Jack Schofield 

Google's motto used to be "don't be evil", 

but in the eyes of some it has now taken 

on the mantle of the "evil empire" from 

Microsoft, which Bill Gates and crew 

inherited from the IBM mocked in the 

Mac's launch advert in 1984. The EU has 

fined Google €2.4bn (£2.2bn) for abusing 

its search monopoly by favouring its 

products. Most recently, Google was 

fined €4.34bn for "very serious illegal 

behaviour" in using Android "to cement 

its dominance as a search engine", 

according to the EU's competition 

commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, a 

charge the company contests. 

Google started by taking over the 

search engine market. It now dominates 

smartphone operating systems 

(Android), browsers (Chrome), webbased 

email (Gmail), online video 

(YouTube) and maps. It is also 

challenging in other areas with its own 

cloud platform, an online office suite, 

Chromebooks, Waze, Nest and so on. 

Google is far advanced in driverless cars 

(Waymo) and artificial intelligence 

(DeepMind). Resistance is futile. You will 

Linda Kinstler 

Should one be so unlucky as 

to find oneself, as I did, lying 

awake in bed in the early 

hours of the morning in a 

hostel in La Paz, Bolivia, 

listening anxiously to the 

sound of someone trying to 

force their way into one's 

room, one could do worse 

than to throw a chair under 

the doorknob as a first line of 

defence. But this is not what 

I did. Instead, I held my 

breath and waited until the 

intruder, ever so mercifully, 

abandoned his project and 

sauntered down the hall. 

The next morning, when I 

raised the incident with the 

hostel employee at the front 

desk, he said the attempted 

intrusion had just been an 

innocent mistake, a 

misdirected early-morning 

wake-up call gone wrong, 

and what was the big deal, 

anyway? Fuming, I turned to 

the highest authority in the 

be assimilated. 

We can probably agree Google has won 

by delivering high-quality products, and 

more than 40 corpses in the Google 

Graveyard - soon to be joined by its awful 

social network, Google+ - prove it doesn't 

always win. But there are other problems. 

First, Google now controls web 

development to the point where not even 

Microsoft can compete, as shown by the 

latter's recent decision to replace its 

EdgeHTML browser engine with the 

open source Chromium on which 

Google's Chrome browser is based. Users 

were supposed to benefit from 

competition between rival 

implementations of open web standards, 

but today Chromium and therefore 

Chrome is the standard. 

As Firefox-developer Mozilla has 

pointed out, "from a social, civic and 

individual empowerment perspective, 

ceding control of fundamental online 

infrastructure to a single company is 

terrible". Second, many of us have 

problems with Google's business model, 

which the Harvard Business School 

professor Shoshana Zuboff has called 

"surveillance capitalism". Google 

world of international travel, 

the only entity to which 

every hotel, restaurant, 

museum and attraction in 

the world is beholden: I left 

the hostel a bad review on 

TripAdvisor. 

TripAdvisor is where we 

go to praise, criticise and 

purchase our way through 

the inhabited world. It is, at 

its core, a guestbook, a place 

where people record the 

highs and lows of their 

holiday experiences for the 

benefit of hotel proprietors 

and future guests. But this 

guestbook lives on the 

internet, where its 

contributors continue 

swapping advice, memories 

and complaints about their 

journeys long after their 

vacations have come to an 

end. 

Every month, 456 million 

people - about one in every 

16 people on earth - visit 

some tentacle of 

TripAdvisor.com to plan or 

assess a trip. For virtually 

every place, there exists a 

corresponding page. The 

Rajneeshee Osho 

International Meditation 

Resort in Pune, India, has 

140 reviews and a 4 out of 5 

rating, Cobham Service 

Station on the M25 has 451 

reviews and a rating of 3.5, 

while Wes Anderson's 

fictional Grand Budapest 

Hotel currently has 358 

reviews and a rating of 4.5. 

Over its two decades in 

business, TripAdvisor has 

turned an initial investment 

of $3m into a$7bn business 

by figuring out how to 

provide a service that no 

other tech company has 

quite mastered: constantly 

updated information about 

every imaginable element of 

travel, courtesy of an evergrowing 

army of 

contributors who provide 

their services for free. 

Browsing through 

TripAdvisor's 660m reviews 

finances its free services by tracking users 

and targeting them with advertisements. 

In fact, it tracks you across the web even 

if you never visit any Google properties 

because other websites commonly use 

Google AdWords, AdMob, DoubleClick, 

Google Analytics, and its other tracking 

or advertising products. 

From your searches and site visits, 

Google probably knows more about you 

than your mother or your spouse, and 

there's no telling where that information 

will eventually end up. If you use an 

Android phone, Google can also track 

your physical location, and if you turn 

that off, you lose directions, "find my 

phone" and other features. 

The simplest way to avoid most Google 

products is to switch to the Microsoft or 

Apple equivalents, in whole or in part. 

Some would see this as jumping out of the 

frying pan into the fire. However, Satya 

Nadella's new Microsoft is different from 

the old one, and driven by other metrics 

(usage instead of units). It is building a 

broader cross-platform ecosystem than 

either Google (everything online) or 

Apple (everything on Apple). 

TripAdvisor: Travel in the 21st century 

The world's biggest travel site has turned the industry upside down. 

Photo: Getty 

is a study in extremes. As a 

kind of mirror of the world 

and all its wonders, the site 

can transport you to the 

most spectacular 

landmarks, the finest 

restaurants, the most 

"adrenaline-pumping" 

water parks, the greatest 

"Hop-On Hop-Off 

Experiences" that mankind 

has ever devised. Yet 

TripAdvisor reviews are also 

a ruthless audit of the earth's 

many flaws. For every 

effusive review of the Eiffel 

Tower ("Worth the hype at 

night," "Perfect Backdrop!"), 

there is another that 

suggests it is a blight on the 

face of the earth ("sad, ugly, 

don't bother"; "similar to the 

lobby of a big Vegas casino, 

but outside".) 

TripAdvisor is to travel as 

Google is to search, as 

Amazon is to books, as Uber 

is to cabs - so dominant that 

it is almost a monopoly. Bad 

reviews can be devastating 

for business, so proprietors 

tend to think of them in 

rather violent terms. "It is 

the marketing/PR 

equivalent of a drive-by 

shooting," Edward Terry, 

the owner of a Lebanese 

restaurant in Weybridge, 

UK, wrote in 2015. 

Marketers call a cascade of 

online one-star ratings a 

"review bomb". Likewise, 

positive reviews can 

transform 

an 

establishment's fortunes. 

Researchers studying Yelp, 

one of TripAdvisor's main 

competitors, found that a 

one-star increase meant a 5- 

9% increase in revenue. 

Before TripAdvisor, the 

customer was only 

nominally king. After, he 

became a veritable tyrant, 

with the power to make or 

break lives. In response, the 

hospitality industry has 

lawyered up, and it is not 

uncommon for businesses to 

threaten to sue customers 

who post negative reviews. 

Why Silicon Valley can’t fix itself 

Ben Tarnoff 

Big Tech is sorry. After 

decades of rarely 

apologising for anything, 

Silicon Valley suddenly 

seems to be apologising for 

everything. They are sorry 

about the trolls. They are 

sorry about the bots. They 

are sorry about the fake 

news and the Russians, 

and the cartoons that are 

terrifying your kids on 

YouTube. But they are 

especially sorry about our 

brains. 

Sean Parker, the former 

president of Facebook - 

who was played by Justin 

Timberlake in The Social 

Network - has publicly 

lamented the "unintended 

consequences" of the 

platform he helped create: 

"God only knows what it's 

doing to our children's 

brains." Justin Rosenstein, 

an engineer who helped 

build Facebook's "like" 

button and Gchat, regrets 

having contributed to 

technology that he now 

considers psychologically 

damaging, too. "Everyone 

is distracted," Rosenstein 

says. "All of the time." 

Ever since the internet 

became widely used by the 

public in the 1990s, users 

have heard warnings that it 

is bad for us. In the early 

years, many commentators 

described cyberspace as a 

parallel universe that could 

swallow enthusiasts whole. 

The media fretted about 

kids talking to strangers 

and finding porn. A 

prominent 1998 study 

from Carnegie Mellon 

University claimed that 

spending time online made 

you lonely, depressed and 

antisocial. 

In the mid-2000s, as the 

internet moved on to 

mobile devices, physical 

and virtual life began to 

merge. Bullish pundits 

celebrated the "cognitive 

surplus" unlocked by 

crowdsourcing and the 

tech-savvy campaigns of 

Barack Obama, the 

"internet president". But, 

alongside these optimistic 

voices, darker warnings 

persisted. Nicholas Carr's 

The Shallows (2010) 

argued that search engines 

were making people 

stupid, while Eli Pariser's 

The Filter Bubble (2011) 

claimed algorithms made 

us insular by showing us 

only what we wanted to 

see. In Alone, Together 

(2011) and Reclaiming 

Conversation (2015), 

Sherry Turkle warned that 

constant connectivity was 

making meaningful 

interaction impossible. 

Still, inside the industry, 

t e c h n o - u t o p i a n i s m 

prevailed. Silicon Valley 

seemed to assume that the 

tools they were building 

were always forces for good 

- and that anyone who 

questioned them was a 

crank or a luddite. In the 

face of an anti-tech 

backlash that has surged 

since the 2016 election, 

however, this faith appears 

to be faltering. Prominent 

people in the industry are 

beginning to acknowledge 

that their products may 

have harmful effects. 

Internet anxiety isn't 

new. But never before have 

so many notable figures 

within the industry seemed 

so anxious about the world 

they have made. Parker, 

Rosenstein and the other 

insiders now talking about 

the harms of smartphones 

and social media belong to 

an informal yet influential 

current of tech critics 

emerging within Silicon 

Valley. You could call them 

the "tech humanists". 

Amid rising public concern 

about the power of the 

industry, they argue that 

the primary problem with 

its products is that they 

threaten our health and 

our humanity. 

It is clear that these 

products are designed to be 

maximally addictive, in 

order to harvest as much of 

our attention as they can. 

Tech humanists say this 

business model is both 

unhealthy and inhumane - 

that it damages our 

psychological well-being 

and conditions us to 

behave in ways that 

diminish our humanity. 

The main solution that 

they propose is better 

design. By redesigning 

technology to be less 

addictive and less 

manipulative, they believe 

we can make it healthier - 

we can realign technology 

with our humanity and 

build products that don't 

"hijack" our minds. 

Apple founder Steve Jobs posing with a 

Macintosh computer. 

Photo: Ted Thai 

What to consider before buying a mobile phone 

Jack Schofield 

Phone manufacturers and others 

can and do test their phones, usually 

for certification purposes. The 

performance test results you want, if 

you can get them, are the Total 

Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS) value for 

reception and the Total Radiated 

Power (TRP) for transmission. 

These probably don't qualify as 

easy for an ordinary punter to 

understand. Also, they are derived 

by testing performance in ideal 

conditions with a simulated base 

station in an anechoic chamber, not 

with a fading signal on a wet and 

windy hillside. 

Either way, I don't think phone 

manufacturers are likely to use TIS 

in their marketing. There are too 

many variables for it to be a reliable 

guide to real-world reception. For 

example, studies have found 

significant differences between 

holding a phone in the left hand and 

holding it in the right hand, which I 

assume is connected with the way 

manufacturers position their 

antenna(s). The size of your hands 

and the angle at which you hold the 

phone also make a difference. 

The tests were created by the CTIA 

- originally the Cellular 

Telecommunications Industry 

Association - to certify wireless 

devices' over-the-air performance, 

and a brief glance at the 591-page 

PDF will show how complicated it is. 

For example, you could measure 

peak performance with a directional 

aerial, but then users would have to 

orient the phone towards the unseen 

transmitter for the best results. 

Instead, the CTIA requires the 

"average spherical effective radiated 

receiver sensitivity (TIS) to be 

measured". This should mean a 

phone works equally well in all 

directions, but it's complicated to 

calculate and still a compromise. 

Another problem is making 

antennas work with different 2G, 3G 

and 4G phone networks that operate 

at different frequencies. A phone 

that works well with GSM 900 

might be terrible with UMTS 2100. 

The downside of having a phone 

that talks to most networks is that it 

won't be optimised for the one you 

actually use. 

Also, because human bodies have 

not been standardised, TIS and TRP 

measurements are made with 

dummy heads and hands filled with 

liquid. Results may vary if you use 

real people. In the end, the only 

measurements that matter are the 

ones you get with your head and 

hands with the specific frequencies 

used by your EE network. We are 

left with "ask a friend" and the notvery-helpful 

"try it and see". 

Most tests assume that all models 

of a particular phone will perform in 

the same way, but Ofcom found 

differences. As with other products, 

phones that look identical can vary. 

In some cases, they may have been 

assembled in different countries, 

and use slightly different 

components. In others, the circuitry 

may have been revised between 

editions. Even if the internal 

components seem to be the same, 

there could be some sample 

variation, without a phone actually 

being faulty. 

This makes me wonder if your 

Moto 3 is below average in reception 

performance. In most cases, no one 

would ever know, but you are 

literally an "edge case". With a new 

phone, it might be worth asking the 

supplier for a different sample, but it 

may be too late for that. 

It would be interesting to know 

what would happen if you swapped 

phones and sims with your wife. You 

may have a bigger capacitance than 

your wife, electronically speaking, 

and possibly much bigger hands. 

Both can and do affect reception. If 

your Moto 3 works better in her 

hands, then either you or your sim 

are degrading the performance. It 

might be worth getting a new sim. 

As you already know, using your 

phone on a selfie stick can improve 

performance. You may also get 

better reception by not touching the 

phone and using the built-in 

speakerphone. You could also try 

using a signal booster or repeater. 

Why is it that some smartphones have better reception than others and is there any way to 

find out which ones are best before buying them? 

Photo: Samuel Gibbs

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 

BANGLADESHTODAY 6 

THE 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2019 

Hamdard Laboratories (WAQF) Bangladesh organized Annual Treatment and Sales 

Conference-2018 yesterday at Yusuf Harun Bhuiyan auditorium. 

Photo: Courtesy 

India's Reliance posts 

8.8pc rise in Q3 profit 

on oil refining business 

Indian conglomerate 

Reliance Industries on 

Thursday reported a 8.8 

percent rise in its third 

quarter consolidated net 

profit, boosted by growth in 

its core business of 

petrochemicals and oil 

refining. 

The Mumbai-based 

company owned by India's 

richest man Mukesh Ambani 

said its consolidated net profit 

for the three months through 

December rose to 102.50 

billion rupees ($1.44 billion) 

from 94.20 billion rupees 

reported a year earlier, even 

as its refining margins fell. 

"In an oil price 

environment that witnessed 

heightened volatility through 

the quarter, RIL has delivered 

strong quarterly results on a 

consolidated basis," Reliance 

chief Ambani said in a 

statement. 

Reliance said it maintained 

robust growth in its retail and 

telecom business which 

helped the company achieve 

overall profitability despite 

global fluctuations in crude 

oil prices. Revenues for the 

period were up 56.4 percent 

to 1.60 trillion rupees. 

Reliance said in a statement 

that its gross refining margin, 

the profit earned from each 

barrel of crude, was down to 

$8.8 in the December quarter 

from $11.6 in the previous 

year. 

Refining margins are a key 

profitability gauge for 

Reliance, one of the world's 

largest refiners. 

The firm has business 

interests in refining, retail, 

telecommunications and 

petrochemicals. 

Meanwhile, RIL's telecom 

venture Jio reported robust 

growth by increasing its 

subscriber base by 27.9 

million for the quarter. 

Jio also reported a 65 

percent rise in its profits to 

8.31 billion rupees, adding to 

the quarterly results. 

Ambani launched Reliance 

Jio with much fanfare in 

September 2016 offering free 

services up to March 2017, 

sparking intense price wars 

which saw consolidation in 

the Indian telecom sector. 

Reliance shares fell almost 

half a percent Thursday 

ahead of the earnings 

announcement, which came 

after the stock market closed. 

Britain's May to miss 

Davos to focus on 

Brexit: Downing St 

British Prime Minister 

Theresa May will miss next 

week's annual World 

Economic Forum meeting in 

Davos to focus on Brexit 

negotiations, sending 

ministers in her place, 

Downing Street said on 

Thursday. 

"She will not be going to 

Davos. She will be focused on 

matters here," May's 

spokeswoman said, adding 

that "there will be government 

ministers attending". 

Downing Street noted May's 

absence at the yearly 

gathering of world and 

industry leaders in the Swiss 

Alps resort was not 

unprecedented for a British 

premier. 

Former prime minister 

David Cameron also missed 

the 2013 and 2015 events, the 

spokeswoman said. 

The prime minister is 

scrambling to put together a 

new Brexit strategy after 

lawmakers on Tuesday 

sparked political turmoil by 

rejecting her draft withdrawal 

agreement with the EU. 

Nervous Europe ramps 

up Brexit preparations 

Europe is ramping up preparations 

for the economic blow of a possible "no 

deal" Brexit, fearing the political crisis 

in London has killed off hopes of an 

orderly divorce. 

Contingency planning has been 

under way for months, but Prime 

Minister Theresa May's apparent 

inability to sell any withdrawal deal to 

parliament has focused minds. 

EU leaders insist the British economy 

will be worst hit by a disorderly 

breakdown in trading ties, but Britain's 

neighbours are also braced for 

disruption. 

Renewed border controls and 

regulatory barriers could slow trade 

and choke ports, and uncertainty hangs 

over the rights of British citizens living 

in EU states. 

A solution may be found, but in the 

meantime here are some of the key 

early decisions made in Brussels and 

key British trading partners. 

While EU negotiator Michel Barnier 

has handled talks with London on the 

divorce deal, planning for a "no deal" 

scenario has fallen to the bloc's 

powerful secretary general, Martin 

Selmayr. 

Brussels has taken a coordinating 

role for member states and published 

88 advisory notes, sector by sector, 

focused on threats to financial markets, 

air traffic, customs and emissions 

trading. 

After Tuesday's failed vote in London, 

the Commission announced plans to 

send teams to all 27 other EU capitals 

to coordinate a continent-wide plan. 

Ireland, the only EU member with a 

land border with Britain, has the next 

most to lose in a chaotic Brexit. 

Politically, concerns have focused on 

how renewed border controls could stir 

potential unrest in Northern Ireland, 

but the economy is also at risk. 

Ireland is hiring 1,000 staff to 

implement agricultural and customs 

checks, although the government has 

faced criticism for failing to disclose 

how many hires have been completed. 

In its 2019 budget, unveiled in 

October, the Republic put aside a 1.5 

billion euro ($1.7 billion) "rainy day 

fund" and a "no deal Brexit" omnibus 

bill will go to parliament in March. 

At the port of Dublin work is under 

way on 33 inspection bays, 270 truck 

parking spaces, a dedicated border 

control post for live animals and office 

accommodation for an additional 144 

staff. 

The Netherlands would be heavily 

exposed because of trading links via 

Rotterdam, Europe's largest port. It has 

set aside 100 million euros for 

preparations, including the 

appointment of 900 new customs 

officers. 

The government also announced 

unilaterally last week that the 

approximately 45,000 British citizens 

and their families currently living in the 

Netherlands will get a 15-month "grace 

period" to apply for a full residency 

permit.France activated its plan for 

handling the effects of a no-deal Brexit 

on Thursday. 

It provides for 50 million euros ($56 

million) of investment in ports and 

airports, infrastructure for carrying out 

border checks and extra car parks to 

help cope with tailbacks. France plans 

to recruit 580 additional customs staff 

and veterinary inspectors. 

Belgium's government is going 

through its own crisis as Britain 

wrangles with Brexit, with Prime 

Minister Charles Michel having lost his 

majority in a row over immigration. 

But legislation has been prepared to 

recruit 115 new public servants to 

reinforce customs and animal and farm 

product health controls. 

The estimated 25,000 British citizens 

in Belgium have been promised they 

will be allowed to stay on reciprocal 

terms to the Belgians living in the UK. 

Fuel price hikes put Zimbabwe on its knees 

Weary-looking Innocent Takura 

reclined in the seat of his small Honda 

sedan near the start of a kilometrelong 

petrol queue that sums up 

Zimbabwe's deepening economic 

chaos. 

"This life is tough, too tough," he said 

as he tried to nap while military police 

wearing red-berets patrolled the line 

and marshalled cars slowly towards 

the pumps at a service station in the 

centre of the capital Harare. 

Drivers waiting hours - even days - 

for fuel in recent months has been one 

of the most visible daily signs that 

Zimbabwe, which has suffered 15 years 

of economic hardship, was entering a 

new phase of turmoil. 

When the government more than 

doubled fuel prices last weekend, it lit 

a tinderbox of public anger that 

exploded in violent protests. 

"A 150 percent price increase. Where 

in the world have you ever seen that? 

Which country?" said Takura, a 30- 

year-old who imports shoes from 

neighbouring South Africa for a living. 

"These policies are unrealistic, 

irrational. That is why people end up 

protesting." 

Trade unions called a national strike 

on Monday and furious demonstrators 

took to the streets in several cities, 

with widespread rioting and looting. 

The unrest is the fallout from a 

currency crisis that has left the 

government unable to pay its bills, 

bank depositors unable to take out 

their money and everyday business 

grinding to a halt. Zimbabwe has used 

the US dollar as its currency since 

2009 when hyperinflation peaked at a 

grotesque 500 billion percent, wiping 

out the 

local Zimbabwean dollar. 

Abandoning its own currency ended 

inflation and brought some stability to 

the country but the supply of US dollar 

notes gradually dried up. 

"When that scarcity became serious, 

that's when government started 

printing 'bond notes'," said veteran 

independent economist John 

Robertson. 

The government's unlikely plan was 

to issue a local currency of "bond" 

notes and coins that it said would be 

equal in value to the US dollar. 

It announced six months in advance 

that it would introduce the token 

currency in late 2016. 

"That was a big mistake," said 

Robertson, because people started to 

move their dollars out of the country. 

On the street, bond notes were soon 

trading at less than US dollars as few 

people ever believed that they were 

equal to greenbacks. 

The currency crisis has created a 

complex daily reality with three tiers of 

pricing - one low price if you can pay in 

US dollar cash, and two far higher 

prices for paying in bond notes or 

electronically. 

The black market is frenzied as 

companies desperately seek out US 

dollars so they can pay for the goods 

that they need to import. 

IMF warns of 

economic hit 

from extended 

government 

shutdown 

While it is too soon to 

gauge the economic damage 

from the US government 

shutdown, the longer it 

continues the worse it will 

be, the International 

Monetary Fund warned 

Thursday. 

The shutdown that has left 

800,000 federal workers 

nationwide without pay is 

the longest on record and 

now in its fourth week. 

"The longer the shutdown 

is in effect the bigger impact 

it will have on the economy," 

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice 

told reporters. 

"We encourage the US 

authorities, in both Congress 

and the executive branch, to 

work together in a spirit of 

compromise to pass a 

funding bill that can reopen 

the federal offices." 

However, he said it is "still 

very early days in terms of 

making an economic 

assessment of the impact of 

the shutdown." 

The IMF is due to release a 

quarterly update of its 

World Economic Outlook on 

Monday, which will include 

a new estimate for US GDP 

growth. 

Minister of State for Economic and 

Fiscal Policy of People's Republic of 

Japan Toshumitsu Motegi visited 

BJIT Head office on 14 January. 

During his visit he had some open 

discussion with JM Akbar (Founder of 

BJIT), Yasuhiro Akashi (Director) and 

top management of BJIT Limited. 

Motegi also talked with some BJIT's 

Students and engineers. Motehi 

shared his views regarding IT 

Industry, Future Technologies, 

Prospects of IT, a press release said. 

Founder of BJIT JM Akbar 

expressed his sincere gratitude to 

honorable minister for his kind visit to 

BJIT. Moreover, he also described the 

prospects of IT Industry on the context 

of Bangladesh & Japan. He 

highlighted the availability of 

Engineers in Bangladesh. He also 

EU slams 

European stocks falter 

on trade tensions, 

Brexit, US shutdown 

Stock markets retreated 

Thursday, with US-China 

tensions, Brexit worries and a 

lingering US government 

shutdown taking their toll to a 

greater or lesser degree across 

the world's trading platforms. 

The pound recovered against 

both the dollar and the euro, a 

day after the UK government 

narrowly survived a noconfidence 

vote. 

Key European markets were 

around half a percent lower at 

the close, while the Dow Jones 

index was slightly softer in the 

late New York morning 

following disappointing results 

from Morgan Stanley and as 

the market showed signs of 

fatigue after a strong run. 

Briefing.com analyst Patrick 

O'Hare said stocks were 

"overbought on a short-term 

basis and due for a period of 

consolidation". 

But the broader S&P index 

and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 

both showed small gains. 

In Europe, meanwhile, 

"political and economic risks 

weigh on sentiment," said 

David Madden, analyst at CMC 

Asian markets rallied 

Friday as another broadly 

positive week drew to a 

close, with investors cheered 

by a report that the US was 

considering lifting tariffs on 

China as officials look to 

hammer out a trade deal. 

Optimism that the world's 

top two economies are on 

course to reach a deal 

ending their long-running 

trade row has helped boost 

equities across the world 

this year. 

And while news that the 

US was carrying out a 

criminal probe into Chinese 

tech giant Huawei caused 

a wobble Thursday, the rally 

resumed after the Wall 

Street Journal story on 

tariff-lifting broke. 

The paper reported 

Treasury Secretary Steven 

Mnuchin had raised the idea 

with Trade Representative 

Robert Lighthizer of 

removing some or all levies 

on Beijing in return for 

structural reforms. 

It said the move was part 

of a bid to reassure markets 

and bolster the odds of a 

bigger trade deal, ending a 

months-long saga that is 

beginning to impact 

economies around the 

world, particularly China. 

However, the Treasury 

Department told AFP that 

no formal recommendation 

had been made by either 

Mnuchin or Lighthizer in 

the talks, which were 

"nowhere near completion". 

Still, investors remained 

upbeat. 

Hong Kong rose 1.3 

Markets UK. 

British Prime Minister 

Theresa May scrambled to put 

together a new Brexit strategy 

on Thursday with cross-party 

talks after MPs sparked 

political turmoil by rejecting 

her previous agreement with 

the EU. 

May reached out to rival 

parties shortly after surviving a 

no-confidence vote 

Wednesday, hoping to 

hammer out a Brexit fix that 

she could present to 

parliament next week. 

Meanwhile after a 

tumultuous December for 

markets, global equities have 

enjoyed a broadly strong 

start to the year, largely thanks 

to optimism China 

and the US will resolve their 

trade row. 

But confidence took a knock 

Wednesday from a report that 

said US officials were carrying 

out a criminal probe into 

Chinese tech giant Huawei and 

could soon indict the firm over 

allegations of theft of trade 

secrets from its American 

business partners. 

discussed about cultural and other 

similarities between Bangladesh & 

Japan. In past years how Bangladeshi 

percent and Shanghai 

ended 1.4 percent higher 

while Tokyo jumped 1.3 

percent. 

Sydney added 0.5 percent, 

Seoul gained 0.2 percent 

and Singapore put on 0.8 

percent, while there were 

also advances in Wellington, 

Taipei and Manila. 

In early trade London and 

Paris each put on 0.6 

percent and Frankfurt was 

0.7 percent higher 

"The US government has 

said that there have been no 

formal talks to scale back 

tariffs, but the market saw 

the half glass full as the 

reports signal that 

concessions are in the 

works," said Alfonso 

Esparza, senior market 

analyst at OANDA. 

However, there was 

scepticism among analysts, 

with the two sides still far 

apart on a number of issues, 

particularly regarding 

intellectual property. 

"Certainly evidence that 

the administration is 

approaching a deal would be 

good news," Laura 

Rosner, senior economist at 

MacroPolicy Perspectives, 

said. 

"We've heard noise 

around trade policy before 

though, so I would want to 

make sure the progress 

happens and sticks." 

On currency markets the 

pound edged up and was 

sitting around two-month 

highs against the dollar as 

dealers bet that Britain will 

not leave the European 

Union without a deal. 

Lawmakers have also 

introduced a bill to ban the 

export of American parts and 

components to Chinese 

telecom companies that are in 

violation of US export control 

or sanctions laws - with 

Huawei and fellow Chinese 

firm ZTE the likely targets. 

"Huawei is effectively an 

intelligence-gathering arm of 

the Chinese Communist Party 

whose founder and CEO was 

an engineer for the People's 

Liberation Army," said 

Republican Senator Tom 

Cotton, one of the bill's 

sponsors. 

The developments follow the 

arrest last year in Canada of 

Huawei's chief financial officer 

Meng Wanzhou, who is the 

daughter of the company's 

founder. She faces extradition 

to the US on Iran sanctionslinked 

fraud charges. 

It also muddies the waters in 

trade talks between Beijing and 

Washington, which looked to 

be on a positive course after 

officials held three days of talks 

earlier this month, with both 

sides seemingly upbeat. 

Toshimitsu Motegi visit's BJIT 

engineers are contributed in IT 

industry of Bangladesh & Japan & how 

BJIT become a good source of 

engineers for Japan. 

Director of BJIT Yasuhiro Akashi 

also shared his views with Motesi. He 

explained how Bangladeshi Engineers 

are performing in Japan. He also 

highlighted the skills and knowledge of 

Bangladeshi engineers. He also 

explained the future plans of BJIT to 

meet the requirement of Japan. 

In the end Toshimitsu Motegi 

expressed his sincere thanks to BJIT 

management and BJIT engineers for 

their wonderful contribution in the IT 

sector both in Japan and Bangladesh. 

He wished all the success of BJIT in 

the upcoming future. BJIT 

management also thanks Honorable 

Minister for his precious time and visit 

to BJIT. 

Asian markets end week 

on a high as China-US 

trade hopes rise 

After her grand Brexit 

plan was soundly rebuffed 

by MPs this week, British 

Prime Minister Theresa 

May has called cross-party 

talks to put together a "Plan 

B" with a more palatable 

agreement by Monday. 

Still, if that does not work, 

there is a growing 

expectation that the March 

29 exit deadline will be 

pushed back to give May 

more time to reach another 

deal or possibly call another 

referendum. 

"For the most part the 

(pound's) move higher 

appears to be more in hope 

than expectation, given the 

default position as it stands 

now remains that the UK 

leaves the EU without a 

deal," said Michael Hewson, 

chief market analyst at CMC 

Markets UK. 

Oil prices rose on the 

China-US tariffs report and 

after OPEC said it had cut 

output in December before a 

new agreement to limit 

supply took effect. 

Both main contracts are 

up around a fifth since the 

end of December, thanks to 

an agreement to cut output 

by OPEC and other key 

producers including Russia. 

That followed almost three 

months of losses that wiped 

around 40 percent off prices 

that was fuelled by supply 

and demand worries. 

And while the commodity 

is on the up, there are still 

concerns about the impact 

of a slowing global economy.

MISCELLANEOUS 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2019 

7 

Lawyer for radical 

Indonesian cleric says 

he will be freed 

Vice-Chancellor of Noakhali University of Science and Technology Prof. Dr. M. Wahiduzzaman visiting the cake festival at Nurjahan Memorial 

Government Primary School. 

Photo : Noakhali Correspondent 

Total lunar eclipse meets 

supermoon Sunday night 

Here comes a total lunar eclipse and 

supermoon, all wrapped into one. 

The moon, Earth and sun will line 

up this weekend for the only total 

lunar eclipse this year and next. At 

the same time, the moon will be ever 

so closer to Earth and appear slightly 

bigger and brighter than usual - a 

supermoon, reports UNB. 

"This one is particularly good," said 

Rice University astrophysicist Patrick 

Hartigan. "It not only is a supermoon 

and it's a total eclipse, but the total 

eclipse also lasts pretty long. It's 

about an hour." 

The whole eclipse starts Sunday 

night or early Monday, depending on 

location , and will take about three 

hours. 

It begins with the partial phase 

around 10:34 p.m. EST Sunday. 

That's when Earth's shadow will 

begin to nip at the moon. Totality - 

when Earth's shadow completely 

blankets the moon - will last 62 

minutes, beginning at 11:41 p.m. EST 

Sunday. 

If the skies are clear, the entire 

eclipse will be visible in North and 

South America, as well as Greenland, 

Iceland, Ireland, Great Britain, 

Norway, Sweden, Portugal and the 

French and Spanish coasts. The rest 

of Europe, as well as Africa, will have 

partial viewing before the moon sets. 

During totality, the moon will look 

red because of sunlight scattering off 

Earth's atmosphere. That's why an 

eclipsed moon is sometimes known 

as a blood moon. In January, the full 

moon is also sometimes known as the 

wolf moon or great spirit moon. 

So informally speaking, the 

upcoming lunar eclipse will be a 

super blood wolf - or great spirit - 

moon. 

In the U.S., the eclipse will begin 

relatively early Sunday evening, 

making it easier for children to stay 

up and enjoy the show. Plus the next 

Indian guru gets 

life sentence in 

murder of 

journalist 

An Indian court sentenced a 

popular and flamboyant 

spiritual guru and three 

followers to life in prison on 

Thursday in the murder 16 

years ago of a journalist who 

published a letter about the 

guru's alleged sexual 

exploitation of women, 

reports UNB. 

The guru, who calls himself 

Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh 

Ram Rahim Insan, received 

the sentence through a video 

link from a prison where he is 

serving a 20-year sentence in 

a separate case involving the 

raping of two female 

followers. 

Judge Jagdeep Singh 

convicted the guru and his 

three followers on murder 

charges last Friday. The 

followers were present in the 

court in the northern Indian 

town of Panchkula. 

"This is the triumph of 

truth, I feel relieved today. 

The prosecution had 

demanded capital 

punishment but we're 

satisfied with the 

punishment," the Indian 

Express newspaper quoted 

Anshul Chhatrapati, the son 

of the slain journalist, as 

saying. 

day is a federal holiday, with most 

schools closed. But the weather 

forecast for much of the U.S. doesn't 

look good. 

Parents "can keep their kids up 

maybe a little bit later," said, 

Hartigan, who will catch the lunar 

extravaganza from Houston. "It's just 

a wonderful thing for the whole 

family to see because it's fairly rare to 

have all these things kind of come 

together at the same time." 

"The good thing about this is that 

you don't need any special 

equipment," he added. 

Asia, Australia and New Zealand 

are out of luck. But they had prime 

viewing last year, when two total 

lunar eclipses occurred. 

The next total lunar eclipse won't be 

until May 2021. 

As for full-moon supermoons, this 

will be the first of three this year. The 

upcoming supermoon will be about 

222,000 miles (357,300 kilometers) 

away. The Feb. 19 supermoon will be 

a bit closer and one in March will be 

the farthest. 

The moon, Earth and sun will line 

up this weekend for the only total 

lunar eclipse this year and next. At 

the same time, the moon will be ever 

so closer to Earth and appear slightly 

bigger and brighter than usual - a 

supermoon, reports UNB. 

"This one is particularly good," said 

Rice University astrophysicist Patrick 

Hartigan. "It not only is a supermoon 

and it's a total eclipse, but the total 

eclipse also lasts pretty long. It's 

about an hour." 

The whole eclipse starts Sunday 

night or early Monday, depending on 

location , and will take about three 

hours. 

It begins with the partial phase 

around 10:34 p.m. EST Sunday. 

That's when Earth's shadow will 

begin to nip at the moon. Totality - 

when Earth's shadow completely 

Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, 

was involved in a car crash Thursday while 

driving in rural England but was not injured, 

reports UNB. 

Buckingham Palace said Philip, 97, was 

checked by a doctor after the accident and 

determined to be fine. 

The palace said the two-car accident 

happened Thursday afternoon near 

Sandringham Estate, the queen's country 

retreat in eastern England. 

Witnesses told the BBC Philip appeared 

"very shocked" and shaken after the 

collision, which caused the Land Rover he 

was driving to overturn. 

Norfolk Police said the drivers of both cars, 

a Land Rover and a Kia, were given alcohol 

breath tests under routine procedures 

following a collision. The force said both 

drivers tested negative. 

"The male driver of the Land Rover was 

uninjured. The female driver of the Kia 

suffered cuts while the female passenger 

sustained an arm injury, both requiring 

hospital treatment," the police force said in a 

state. 

The two women from the Kia were treated 

at nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital and 

discharged, the statement said. 

Witnesses described seeing broken glass 

and debris at the scene. Police did not say 

how the accident happened. There was no 

indication anyone was arrested for a driving 

offense. 

Philip had a passenger in his car, but the 

palace did not identify the person. It is likely 

the prince was traveling with a protection 

officer, a standard security procedure for 

blankets the moon - will last 62 

minutes, beginning at 11:41 p.m. EST 

Sunday. 

If the skies are clear, the entire 

eclipse will be visible in North and 

South America, as well as Greenland, 

Iceland, Ireland, Great Britain, 

Norway, Sweden, Portugal and the 

French and Spanish coasts. The rest 

of Europe, as well as Africa, will have 

partial viewing before the moon sets. 

During totality, the moon will look 

red because of sunlight scattering off 

Earth's atmosphere. That's why an 

eclipsed moon is sometimes known 

as a blood moon. In January, the full 

moon is also sometimes known as the 

wolf moon or great spirit moon. 




moon. 








look good. 

Parents "can keep their kids up 

maybe a little bit later," said, 

Hartigan, who will catch the lunar 

extravaganza from Houston. "It's just 

a wonderful thing for the whole 

family to see because it's fairly rare to 

have all these things kind of come 

together at the same time." 




moon. 








look good. 

Prince Philip, queen's husband, 

uninjured after car accident 

Britain's senior royals. 

Philip has largely retired from public life. 

He has seemed to be in generally good health 

in recent months. 

He and Elizabeth, 92, have been on an 

extended Christmas holiday at 

Sandringham, one of her favored rural 

homes. 

Buckingham Palace said Philip, 97, was 

checked by a doctor after the accident and 

determined to be fine. 

The palace said the two-car accident 

happened Thursday afternoon near 

Sandringham Estate, the queen's country 

retreat in eastern England. 

Witnesses told the BBC Philip appeared 

"very shocked" and shaken after the 

collision, which caused the Land Rover he 

was driving to overturn. 

Norfolk Police said the drivers of both cars, 

a Land Rover and a Kia, were given alcohol 

breath tests under routine procedures 

following a collision. The force said both 

drivers tested negative. 

"The male driver of the Land Rover was 

uninjured. The female driver of the Kia 

suffered cuts while the female passenger 

sustained an arm injury, both requiring 

hospital treatment," the police force said in a 

state. 

The two women from the Kia were treated 

at nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital and 

discharged, the statement said. 

Witnesses described seeing broken glass 

and debris at the scene. Police did not say 

how the accident happened. There was no 

indication anyone was arrested for a driving 

offense. 

Russia spotted 23 

foreign spy planes 

near border over 

past week: report 

Russia detected 23 foreign 

aircraft flying close to its 

border for surveillance 

purposes over the past week, 

the Russian Defense 

Military's newspaper 

Krasnaya Zvezda reported 

Friday, reports UNB. 

Russian aircraft were sent 

to prevent the foreign planes 

from entering the country's 

airspace, said the report, 

adding that there were no 

trespasses. 

Foreign spy planes have 

often been reported flying 

near the Russian border as 

Russia frequently accuses 

the United States and the 

NATO of conducting such 

surveillance activities. 

Last November, a U.S. 

Navy EP-3E Aries plane was 

intercepted by a Russian Su- 

27 fighter jet over the Black 

Sea. 

The U.S. Navy said its 

plane was flying in 

international airspace and 

called the interception 

unsafe, while Russian 

Defense Ministry said that 

the U.S. plane was flying 

near Russian airspace and 

that the Su-27 fighter jet 

identified the U.S. plane "at 

a safe distance." 

Previously, Russia also 

blamed NATO for increasing 

surveillance activities in the 

Baltics and the Black Sea, 

according to Russian news 

agency TASS. 

UN chief hails 

Azerbaijan-Armenia 

meeting over 

Nagorno-Karabakh 

United Nations Secretary- 

General Antonio Guterres 

on Thursday welcomed a 

meeting between the foreign 

ministers of Azerbaijan and 

Armenia over the Nagorno- 

Karabakh conflict, said his 

spokesman. 

Azerbaijani Foreign 

Minister 

Elmar 

Mammadyarov and his 

Armenian counterpart, 

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, held 

a meeting on Wednesday in 

Paris, reports UNB. 

"The secretary-general 

appreciates the continued 

commitment of the sides to 

finding a negotiated and 

peaceful solution to the 

long-standing Nagorno- 

Karabakh conflict and 

particularly welcomed the 

ministers' agreement on the 

need to take concrete 

measures to prepare the 

populations for peace," said 

Guterres' spokesman 

Stephane Dujarric in a 

statement. 

Guterres reiterated the 

UN's full support for the 

important mediation efforts 

of the Organization for 

Security and Cooperation in 

Europe Minsk Group. 

Armenia and Azerbaijan 

have been locked in a bitter 

dispute over the 

mountainous region of 

Nagorno-Karabakh. The two 

countries first clashed over 

the matter in 1988, when the 

region 

claimed 

independence from 

Azerbaijan to join Armenia. 

A lawyer for the ailing radical cleric who 

inspired the Bali bombers says the 

Indonesian government will release him 

from prison next week, reports UNB. 

The lawyer, Muhammad 

Mahendradatta, said Friday the decision 

to release 80-year-old Abu Bakar Bashir 

was made on humanitarian grounds. 

"We have confirmation that President 

Joko Widodo has agreed to release our 

client Abu Bakar Bashir," he told The 

Associated Press. "We haven't had the 

exact date of his release, but because 

Bashir badly needs serious health care the 

release will be carried out no later than 

next week." 

The announcement comes during 

campaigning for a presidential election 

due in April in which opponents of 

Widodo have tried to discredit him as 

insufficiently Islamic. 

Also due to be released from prison next 

week is the former governor of Jakarta, a 

Widodo ally and minority Christian who 

was toppled by a conservative Islamic 

movement in 2016 and subsequently 

sentenced to two years in prison on 

blasphemy charges. 

The 2002 bombings on the popular 

Indonesian tourist island of Bali by al- 

Qaida-affiliated Jemaah Islamiyah 

militants killed 202 people, many of them 

foreigners including dozens of Australians. 

Australia urged Indonesia last March 

against any leniency toward Bashir when 

the government was considering house 

arrest and other forms of clemency. 

Mahendradatta said he wanted the 

release to be without any conditions, 

enabling Bashir to meet supporters and 

give sermons. 

However, another Bashir lawyer, Yusril 

Ihza Mahendra, said the cleric accepted 

conditions and "was willing not to do 

anything other than rest and to be close to 

family," according to Indonesian news site 

Tempo. 

The firebrand cleric was arrested almost 

immediately after the Bali 

bombings. But prosecutors 

were unable to prove a 

string of terrorism-related 

allegations. He was instead 

sentenced to 18 months in 

prison for immigration 

violations. 

In 2011, he was 

sentenced to 15 years in 

prison for supporting a 

military-style training 

camp for Islamic militants. 

The 2002 bombings 

were a turning point in 

Indonesia's battle against 

violent extremists, making 

heavy security a norm in 

big cities and forging closer 

counterterrorism 

cooperation with the U.S. 

and Australia. 

The lawyer, Muhammad 

Mahendradatta, said 

Friday the decision to 

release 80-year-old Abu 

Bakar Bashir was made on 

humanitarian grounds. 

"We have confirmation 

that President Joko 

Widodo has agreed to 

release our client Abu 

Bakar Bashir," he told The 

Associated Press. "We 

haven't had the exact date 

of his release, but because 

Bashir badly needs serious 

S (19) (17) 

GD- 102/19 (6 x 3) 

health care the release will be carried out 

no later than next week." 

The announcement comes during 

campaigning for a presidential election 

due in April in which opponents of 

Widodo have tried to discredit him as 

insufficiently Islamic. 

Also due to be released from prison next 

week is the former governor of Jakarta, a 

Widodo ally and minority Christian who 

was toppled by a conservative Islamic 

movement in 2016 and subsequently 

sentenced to two years in prison on 

blasphemy charges. 

The 2002 bombings on the popular 

Indonesian tourist island of Bali by al- 

Qaida-affiliated Jemaah Islamiyah 

militants killed 202 people, many of them 

foreigners including dozens of Australians. 

Australia urged Indonesia last March 

against any leniency toward Bashir when 

the government was considering house 

arrest and other forms of clemency. 

Mahendradatta said he wanted the 

release to be without any conditions, 

enabling Bashir to meet supporters and 

give sermons. 

However, another Bashir lawyer, Yusril 

Ihza Mahendra, said the cleric accepted 

conditions and "was willing not to do 

anything other than rest and to be close to 

family," according to Indonesian news site 

Tempo. 

The firebrand cleric was arrested almost 

immediately after the Bali bombings. But 

prosecutors were unable to prove a string 

of terrorism-related allegations. He was 

instead sentenced to 18 months in prison 

for immigration violations. 

In 2011, he was sentenced to 15 years in 

prison for supporting a military-style 

training camp for Islamic militants. 

The 2002 bombings were a turning 

point in Indonesia's battle against violent 

extremists, making heavy security a norm 

in big cities and forging closer 

counterterrorism cooperation with the 

U.S. and Australia.

UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY 

SATuRDAy, DHAKA, JANuARy 19, 2019, MAGH 6, 1425 BS, JAMADIul AWAl 12, 1440 HIJRI 

Winter cauliflower is favorite vegetables for maximum people. The Cauliflower is taken from the 

field which was captured from Keraniganj in Dhaka. 

Photo: Star Mail 

Verdicts against 

Tarique to be 

executed after 

repatriation: Anisul 

BRAHMANBARIA : Law, 

Justice and Parliamentary 

Affairs Minister Anisul Huq 

yesterday said verdicts pronounced 

by different courts 

against BNP acting chairman 

Tarique Rahman will be executed 

after bringing him 

back from London. 

"BNP chief Khaleda Zia 

has been sentenced to 10- 

year imprisonment for 

embezzling money meant to 

be spent for orphans. Her 

son Tarique was sentenced 

to life imprisonment for his 

involvement in the plotting 

of the August 21 grenade 

attack. He was sentenced to a 

seven-year imprisonment by 

another court for laundering 

money abroad. We would 

make him to face justice after 

bringing him back from 

abroad," he said. 

Anisul Huq said these 

while addressing a reception 

program organized by 

Akhaura upazila Awami 

League at Akhaura Upazila 

parishad field this afternoon. 

INTERESTING NEWS 

The village of Cloughmills in County 

Antrim, in Northern Ireland, has a small 

model replica of their village displayed 

in their village hall. But unlike many 

miniature models, theirs is made of 

wool. 

The model was created over a period 

of seven months and completed in 2017 

by a group of about thirty old ladies—all 

members of the Cloughmills Crochet 

Club. 

The club was founded by May 

Aitcheson about seven years ago to help 

elderly people socialize and at the same 

time develop crafting skills. Several 

years ago, Aitcheson went to 

Cushendall, a similarly sized place located 

some 15 miles away, and saw a model 

village there that inspired her to make a 

model of Cloughmills. “But ours snowballed,” 

she told BBC. 

The ladies went out and photographed 

Kuwait investigating vandalism 

in Bangladesh Embassy 

DHAKA : Kuwaiti authorities 

are investigating 

Thursday's vandalism and 

physical assaults on staff 

inside Bangladesh Embassy 

in Kuwait by a group of agitated 

Bangladeshi workers, 

said an official on Friday. 

He said the probe is being 

carried out through 

analysing CCTV footage. 

The Bangladesh Embassy, 

however, requested the 

Kuwaiti authorities not to 

harass any innocent worker 

during the investigation process. 

"We'll make sure that no 

innocent worker is harassed. 

We've already talked to officials 

concerned in Kuwait. 

They've assured us in this 

regard," Bangladesh 

Ambassador to Kuwait SM 

Abul Kalam told UNB 

describing what happened 

on the day. 

On Thursday, a group of 

Bangladeshi workers ransacked 

the Embassy property, 

including computers and 

TV, despite assurance from 

the Ambassador to address 

their issues through discussions. 

Some 300-400 

Bangladeshi workers, 

employees of a Kuwaiti company, 

took position in front of 

the Embassy expressing their 

grievances against the company 

over arrears of three 

months - October-December 

2018 - and iqamas (work permits) 

issues in the morning. 

"I had a meeting with a 

small group of them inside 

the Embassy and identified 

their three problems, including 

arrears and iqama renewal," 

said the Ambassador 

conveying the workers' representatives 

to fulfill their 

demand through consultation 

with the company officials. 

Later, the Ambassador had 

another meeting with the 

manager (operation) of the 

Company on the same day at 

Cloughmills’ Crochet Village 

the different buildings in the area, and 

then began to craft the houses, first with 

cereal boxes which they covered with the 

crochet. They even created a few sites 

that no longer exist, including the old 

shirt factory where many of the members 

once worked. 

“People did more and more and by the 

time they all got added on, ours ended 

up very big,” she said. Eventually the 

model village became too big to fit out of 

the doors of the hall, and so it stayed 

there and will continue to as long as 

there are visitors to come and see it. 

Aitcheson and her group used a number 

of techniques to create the different 

textures. 

“Crochet is different from knitting,” 

she explained. “You only use one needle 

for crochet and two for knitting.” 

"It’s different stitches called garter, 

stocking and rib. The trees were just 

wool wound round them.” 

his office asking him to 

address the issues raised by 

Bangladeshi workers. 

Ambassador Kalam said 

the Company representative 

assured him of disbursing 

the arrears by February 5 and 

he also obtained a written 

statement from him for 

resolving the workers' issues. 

When the Company representative 

was going out from 

the Embassy, some of the 

workers stopped him and got 

engaged in scuffling. 

Counsellor (Political) and 

head of chancery Md 

Anisuzzaman and two other 

staff came under attacks who 

were trying to help the 

Company representativeget 

into his car, Embassy officials 

said. 

At one stage, some of the 

workers enteredthe Embassy 

and ransacked its furniture 

indiscriminately despite 

Ambassador's assurances 

and requests to return to 

work. 

Govt to recruit 

more teachers: 

Dipu Moni 

CHANDPUR : Education 

Minister Dipu Moni hinted 

at hiring more teachers on 

Friday to resolve the shortage 

of tutors at schools, 

reports UNB. 

"One of the problems at 

educational institutions is 

the lack of teachers. More 

tutors will be recruited [to 

address the problem]," she 

said at the 50-year anniversary 

of Haimchar Govt Boys 

High School. 

Dipu Moni assured that 

the appointment would be 

transparent "like it has been 

under the Sheikh Hasina-led 

government in the past." 

The minister said the government 

had resolved various 

problems plaguing the 

educational institutions and 

developed the infrastructure. 

"We are addressing the 

issues one after the other 

since it is impossible to do 

everything at once," she said. 

Upazila Nirbahi Officer 

Samar Kanti Basak presided 

over the programme while 

Upazila Parishad Chairman 

Nur Hossain Patwary, 

Deputy Inspector General 

Nibas Chandra Majhi, 

Chandpur Additional 

Deputy Commissioner Md 

Moinul Hossain, Additional 

Superintendent of Police Md 

Mizanur Rahman, among 

others, were present. 

Bangladesh 

for importing 

Hydropower 

from Nepal 

DHAKA : Bangladesh has 

emphasized Hydropower 

import from Nepal establishing 

connectivity and 

increasing economic and 

trade relations between the 

two countries, reports 

UNB. 

The issue came up for discussion 

when outgoing 

Ambassador of Nepal to 

Bangladesh Dr Chop Lal 

Bhushal paid a farewell call 

on Foreign Minister Dr AK 

Abdul Momen at the 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

on Thursday. 

Referring to the priorities 

outlined by Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina, the Foreign 

Minister expressed his 

intention to solidify 

Bangladesh's relations with 

its neighbours including 

Nepal. 

The 

outgoing 

Ambassador thanked the 

Bangladesh government 

for the support he received 

during his tenure. 

The Ambassador appreciated 

the tremendous 

growth and progress made 

by Bangladesh during the 

last ten years under the stable 

political environment 

and able leadership of 

Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina. 

The Foreign Minister 

wished the Ambassador 

Success, good health and 

prosperity in future. 

6 new departments breathe 

new life into KMCH 

KHULNA : The quality of service has 

improved greatly in recent months at 

Khulna Medical College Hospital 

(KMCH), thanks to the efforts of its 

Superintendent Dr ATM Monjur Morshed 

and his staff, reports UNB. 

The hospital now has six new departments 

and a Special Care Newborn Unit 

(SCANU). A psychiatric ward has also 

started functioning while the Burn and 

Plastic Surgery unit has been overhauled. 

Earlier there was no gastro, neurology 

medicine, respiratory medicine, hematology 

and endocrinology departments in the 

hospital. The patients only received primary 

treatment from the external departments. 

On February 7, 2018, a 10-bed neurology 

department was inaugurated by former 

parliamentarian Muhammad Mizanur 

Rahman. 

Neurology department head Assistant 

Professor Dr SM Fariduzzaman said poor 

families had to bear the cost of treatment. 

"Now, they are getting treatment in external 

and internal departments of the hospital," 

he said, adding that the department 

started its journey with five male and five 

female beds. 

Gastro, neurology medicine, respiratory 

medicine, hematology and endocrinology 

departments were inaugurated on the 

fourth floor of the hospital, with seven 

beds in neurology medicine, six beds in 

gastro, seven beds in respiratory medicine, 

eight beds in endocrinology, the doctor 

said. 

Hospital sources said Superintendent 

Morshed initiated many steps after taking 

charge in 2017 to improve services including 

persistent supply of oxygen, shifting 

morgue, banning brokers, and setting up a 

new room beside blood bank. 

Dr Morshed said a SCANU had been 

opened. "We had to fetch oxygen from outside 

for the patients but now this problem 

has been resolved," he said. "Preparations 

to open three new operation theaters are 

complete. We hope to start them when we 

have the manpower." 

Separate wards have been set up for 

males and females in the Burn and Plastic 

Surgery Unit. Senior Staff Nurse of Jharna 

Khatun said the bathroom and dressing 

rooms for males and females would be 

separate from now on. 

One major improvement has been the 

management of food. Every patient, who is 

admitted to the hospital, now gets a meal. 

Saiful Islam, a medicine department 

patient, said the quality of breakfast, 

lunch, and dinner has seen much improvement 

in recent months. 

Fire breaks out at 

closed jute mill 

in Chattogram 

CHATTOGRAM : A fire broke out at a 

closed jute mill in the city's AK Khan area 

on Friday afternoon. 

Deputy assistant director of Chattogram 

Fire Service and Civil Defence M Jasim 

Uddin said the fire originated at Victoria 

Jute Mills, which was earlier shut down, 

around 5:30pm, reports UNB. 

On information, six-firefighting units 

with 13 vehicles rushed in to douse the 

flame, he said. 

Sources said importers have been using 

a number of warehouses of the closed jute 

mill for storing their goods after being 

imported through the Chittagong port. 

A devastative fire broke out on Friday at Victoria Jute Mill of Chattogram. Six units of fire service trying 

to control the fire. 

Photo: Star Mail 

Came from India, '1,300 Rohingyas 

now in Cox’s Bazar transit point' 

COX'S BAZAR : 

Rohingya Muslims, not less 

than 1,300, who entered 

Bangladesh from India 

recently, are now staying at 

Ukhia upazila's Balukhali 

transit point, said an official 

here on Friday, reports 

UNB. 

"At least 1,300 Rohingays 

fled India and entered 

Bangladesh since the 

beginning of the new year. 

They've been kept at a transit 

point," Saikat Biswas, an 

official at Inter Sector 

Coordination Group 

(ISCG), told UNB. 

They (Rohingyas) will not 

be sent to Rohingya camp 

right now and they are now 

under the supervision of 

UNHCR, the UN refugee 

agency. 

Talking to UNB, Refugee, 

Relief and Repatriation 

Commissioner (RRRC) 

Mohammad Abul Kalam 

said the exact number of 

Rohingyas arrived here 

from India will be determined 

through proper 

identification of those living 

in various places 

instead of the transit point. 

On January 4, the UN 

refugee agency sought clarification 

from India over 

the return of Rohingya and 

regretted the India's decision. 

"UNHCR regrets India's 

decision to repatriate a 

group of Rohingya to 

Myanmar, the second such 

return in three months," 

said the UN refugee agency. 

UNHCR said it continues 

to request access and seek 

clarification on the circumstances 

under which the 

return has taken place. 

A family of Rohingya asylum-seekers 

from Rakhine 

State, registered with 

UNHCR in India, was sent 

back to Myanmar after 

being detained in India's 

Assam, where they had 

been serving a prison term 

since 2013 for illegal entry 

into India. 

Despite repeated 

requests, UNHCR said, 

they did not receive any 

response from the authorities 

in India regarding 

requests for access to individuals 

in detention to 

ascertain their circumstances 

and assess the voluntariness 

of their decision 

to return. 

This is the second such 

incident since October 

2018, when India returned 

seven Rohingyas to 

Rakhine State in Myanmar, 

where conditions are not 

conducive to return, 

according to UNHCR. 

There are an estimated 

18,000 Rohingya refugees 

and asylum-seekers registered 

with UNHCR in 

India, living across different 

locations, it said. 

Despite Bangladesh's 

"serious efforts" to resume 

the halted repatriation process, 

the recent deteriorating 

condition in Rakhine 

State of Myanmar has 

brought "much worries" 

among all concerned, 

clouding the repatriation 

prospect, officials indicate. 

More Rohingyas, not in a 

big number, entered 

Bangladesh territory in 

recent days amid the further 

deteriorating scenario 

in Myanmar, they said. 

In recent weeks, the 

intensification of violence 

between the "Arakan 

Army" and the Myanmar 

Army has led to increased 

humanitarian consequences 

for the civilian 

population and caused displacement 

of nearly five 

thousand people in 

Rakhine and Chin States. 

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

19-01-2019

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