24-01-2019

thursDaY 

DHaKa : January 24, 2019; Magh 11, 1425 BS; Jamadi-ul awal 17,1440 Hijri 

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com 

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.16; No.348; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00 

international 

China demands US 

drop Huawei extradition 

request with Canada 

>Page 7 

art & culture 

Photographers tease 

Janhvi Kapoor addressing 

her Sara Ali Khan 

>Page 8 

sport 

Chittagong Vikings 

beat Rajshahi Kings 

by 6 wickets 

>Page 9 

Afghan envoy urges PM 

to reopen Bangladesh 

mission in Kabul 

DHAKA : Newly appointed 

Afghanistan's ambassador in Dhaka 

Abdul Qayoom Malikzad on 

Wednesday requested Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina to reopen Bangladesh's 

diplomatic mission in Kabul saying that 

Afghanistan is keen to promote trade 

and business relations with 

Bangladesh. 

He made the request paying a courtesy 

call on Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina at the latter's official residence 

Ganobhaban in the city, reports UNB 

PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim 

briefed reporters after the meeting. 

The Afghan ambassador said 

Afghanistan has a long history and close 

relations with Bangladesh and 

Afghanistan was one of the first countries 

to recognize Bangladesh. 

He also stressed strengthening the 

ties with chambers of commerce of the 

two countries. 

He said they are keen to import pharmaceuticals 

items from Bangladesh as 

it produces good quality medicine. 

Welcoming the new Afghan envoy to 

Bangladesh, the Prime Minister put 

emphasis on strengthening trade relations 

between Dhaka and Kabul. 

Bangladesh gives value its relation with 

neighbours, she said. 

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh 

imports huge dry food items from 

Afghanistan and Afghanistan can 

import high quality medicines from 

AL to finalise candidates 

for DNCC, Kishoreganj-1 

by-polls Saturday 

DHAKA : The nomination board of 

Awami League is going to hold a 

meeting on Saturday to finalise the 

party's candidates for the by-elections 

to the vacant mayoral post of Dhaka 

North City Corporation (DNCC) and 

Kishoreganj-1 constituency billed for 

February 28, reports UNB. 

"Our party's nomination broad 

meeting on January 26 (Saturday) 

will pick the candidates for by-elections 

to Dhaka North City 

Corporation mayoral post and 

Kishoreganj-1 seat," he said. 

Quader, also the Road Transport 

and Bridges Minister, came up with 

the remark while talking to reporters 

after a views-exchange meeting with 

the officials and employees of 

Bangladesh Road Transport 

Authority (BRTA) at its headquarters. 

He said the nomination board will 

determine the candidates considering 

their competence and popularity. 

Replying to a question, he said their 

party may pick anyone from party's 

late MP Syed Ashraful Islam's family 

Zohr 

05:25 AM 

12:15 PM 

04:03 PM 

05:43 PM 

06:59 PM 

6:41 5:40 

Bangladesh. 

The Afghan envoy appreciated 

Bangladesh's graduation from the 

group of Least Developed Countries 

(LDCs). 

He also congratulated Sheikh Hasina 

for her party's victory in the last general 

election. 

In reply, Sheikh Hasina said people 

voted for Awami League as they get 

benefitted when Awami League comes 

to power. Sheikh Hasina said her government's 

commitment is to make 

Bangladesh a poverty- and hunger-free 

country and fulfill the basic needs of 

people as dreamt by Father of the 

Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur 

Rahman. 

The Prime Minister focused on her 

government's social safety net programmes 

for marginalised people saying 

that the government is providing 

incentives for promotion of education 

of poor families, and for distressed people 

particularly women. 

The Afghan ambassador informed 

the Prime Minister that the two countries 

are waiting for signing of five 

memorandums of understanding 

(MoU). 

Abdul Qayoom Malikzad informed 

the Prime Minister that democracy in 

his country is progressing. 

PM's Principal Secretary Md Nojibur 

Rahman and PMO Secretary Sajjadul 

Hassan were present. 

based on competency for the 

Kishoreganj-1 constituency by-polls. 

The Kishoreganj-1 seat fell vacant 

as ex-AL general secretary and its 

elected MP Syed Ashraful Islam died 

on January 3, four days after the 

December-30 general election. 

The DNCC mayoral post fell vacant 

as its mayor Annisul Huq passed 

away on November 30, 2017. 

In January 2018, the Election 

Commission had announced a schedule 

for the by-election to the DNCC mayoral 

post as well as 36 general councillor 

posts and 12 reserved councillor posts 

for the 36 new wards being added to the 

capital's two municipalities-equally 

divided between the north and south. 

Later, the High Court stayed the byelection 

following a writ petition. 

The EC announced the fresh schedule 

for the by-election on Tuesday 

after the High Court order clearing 

the way to hold it. 

Six Unipay2u officials 

get 12 yrs jail for 

money laundering 

DHAKA : A court here on Wednesday 

sentenced six people, including chairman 

and managing director of multilevel 

marketing (MLM) company 

Unipay2u, to 12 years rigorous imprisonment 

in a money laundering case, 

reports UNB. 

The six convicts are Chairman Md 

Shahiduzzaman Shahin, managing 

director Mohammad Muntasir 

Hossain, Executive Director Masudur 

Rahman, Advisor Monjurul Ehsan 

Chowdhury, General Manager AM 

Jamshed Rahman, and Director HM 

ArshadUllah. Among them, 

Shahiduzzaman Shahin, Masudur 

Rahman and Monjurul Ehsan 

Chowdhury remained absconding. 

The court also fined them Tk 2702, 

41, 11,784 each. 

Seventh span of the 6.15-kilometre Padma Bridge was installed on the 36th and 37th pillars of the 

bridge at Zajira point in Shariatpur on Wednesday. 

Photo : Star Mail 

BNP seeks greater 

unity to push for 

fresh polls 

BOGURA : Accusing Awami League of 

destroying the country's election system, 

BNP on Wednesday urged opposition 

parties to forge a greater unity to 

force the government to hold a fresh 

election under a non-party administration, 

reports UNB. 

"Awami League has become the mass 

enemy of people by staging a mockery 

in the name of an election. They've got 

isolated from people after the national 

election as they destroyed the country's 

election system," said BNP secretary 

general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. 

The BNP leader further said, "We've turned 

down the results of the December-30 election. 

All the parties will have to get united to 

have the election annulled. Now we'll have to 

forge a greater unity, and carry out a struggle 

to force the government to hold the election 

under a neutral government." 

He came up with the remarks while 

exchanging views with local BNP leaders 

and activists at a hotel in the district 

town on his way back to capital Dhaka 

from his home district Thakurgaon. 

Fakhrul alleged that the country is 

now in a deep crisis as the ruling party 

returned to power resorting to 'vote 

frauds'. Stating that their party is now 

passing through a critical time, he 

urged BNP leaders and activists to 

remain united and strengthen the 

party. "Now our main responsibility is 

to make the party stronger further and 

forge a greater unity." The BNP secretary 

general also called upon his party 

colleagues to wage a mass movement 

from Bogura to have party chairperson 

Khaleda Zia freed from jail. 

Rural infrastructures projects must 

improve rural life : Tajul 

DHAKA : Local Government, Rural 

Development and Cooperatives 

Minister Md Tajul Islam yesterday said 

that projects to be taken by the Local 

Government Engineering Division 

(LGED) must aim to improve the quality 

of life generating dynamism in rural 

economy. 

"The rural infrastructure projects to be 

implemented by the LGED needs to 

infuse dynamism in rural life," he told a 

review meeting on the progress of 

LGED's annual development projects of 

the 2018-19 fiscal at his ministry's conference 

room at Secretariat here. 

The minister said the projects must be 

simultaneously implemented within the 

stipulated timeline maintaining quality. 

Tajul, however, said the country would 

need to overcome many challenges for 

its transformation as a developed country 

in the coming days while "The rural 

communication system will play the 

most important role for attaining the 

desired development." 

State minister for Rural Development 

and Cooperatives Swapan Bhattacharya, 

ministry officials and LGED's project 

directors were also present, among others, 

at the meeting. 

HC asks Cumilla tribunal to dispose 

of Khaleda's bail plea by Feb 4 

DHAKA : The High Court on Wednesday 

asked the lower court concerned to dispose 

of the petition filed seeking bail to 

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia by 

February 4 in a case filed over killing of 

eight people in an arson attack on a bus in 

2015, reports UNB. 

The HC bench of Justice Md Rezaul 

Haque and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed 

the order after hearing the petition. 

Earlier on Januray 20, Khaleda's 

lawyer Barrister Kayser Kamal on behalf 

of Khaleda filed the petition with the 

High Court. 

Cumilla court deferred the bail petition 

hearing of the case for the fourth times, 

he said. 

On January 16, Cumilla additional district 

and sessions judge Md Ali Akbar 

deferred the hearing on charge framing 

and bail petition of BNP chief. 

It also fixed February 4 for hearing on 

the petition. 

Eight people were killed and at least 20 

others injured in a petrol bomb attack on 

a bus at Jogmohanpur in Chouddagram 

upazila on February 3, 2015 during the 

BNP-led alliance's movement. 

Two cases were filed against Khaleda 

Zia in this connection. 

Coworkers, kiths and friends of Freedom Fighter and legend lyricist Ahmed Imtiaz paid their last tribute to 

him in the capital city on Wednesday. 

Photo: Star Mail 

Seventh span of 

Padma Bridge 

installed 

MUNSHIGANJ : Around 900 

meters of the much-hyped Padma 

bridge is visible now following the 

installation of another span 

named F-6 on the pillars no 36 

and 37 on Wednesday, reports 

UNB. 

The 150 meter span, weighing 

3,140 tones, was installed at 

Jajira point around 10 am. This 

is the sixth span of Padma 

Bridge at Jajira point, and the 

seventh span of the Padma 

Bridge overall. 

The works of Padma Multipurpose 

Bridge became visible with the 

installation of 150-metre first span 

on the pillars no 37 and 38 on 

October 30, 2017. Later, the 2nd, 

3rd and 4th and 5th spans were 

installed on the pillars no 38-39, 39- 

40, and 40-41 respectively in 2018. 

Besides, the F-1 span (super 

structure) was kept on the pillar 

no 4 and 5 in Mawa point due to 

the construction works of pillar no 

6 and 7. 

Earlier, the span was taken to 

the Jajira point on Tuesday afternoon 

by the 3,600 ton capacity 

floating crane 'Tian -E' from the 

Mawa Kumarbhog Construction 

Ward, five kilometer away from 

the Jajira point. 

Engineers concerned of the 

Padma Bridge authority, said the 

span was kept at near the jetty for 

several days as it could not be 

floated due to poor navigability. 

The construction work on the 

country's largest bridge started in 

December in 2015. 

The 6.15-km bridge will have a 

total of 41 spans, each 150 meters 

long. 

According to the engineers concerned, 

a total of 41 spans will be 

installed on 42 concrete pillars. 

Besides, 17 spans were ready to 

fix while the work for constructing 

18 more in underway. 

Ijtema to be held 

in February 

DHAKA : Home Minister 

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on 

Wednesday said that Bishwa 

Ijtema will be held in February, 

reports UNB. 

The minister came up with the 

announcement while briefing 

reporters after a meeting with two 

factions of the Tabligh Jamaat at his 

secretariat office. 

"In today's meeting it was decided 

that the Bishwa Ijtema will be 

held in Tongi in February. The 

two factions jointly will organize 

the second largest congregation of 

the Muslims after Hajj," said the 

minister. 

Two factions of the Tabligh 

Jamaat-one led by Maulana 

Wasekh and other by Moulana 

Zubair-were present at the meeting 

where everyone spoke openly and it 

came out successful, he added. 

"But how and when the gathering 

will be held will be decided in 

another meeting tomorrow 

(Thursday) at Religious Affairs 

ministry at 10:30 am,"he added. 

Responding to a question from a 

journalist, the minister said that a 

decision was made that Maulana 

Saad of India will not join Ijtema 

this time. 

When asked about how many 

phases of the Ijtema will be held 

this year, the minister said, "It will 

also be decided in tomorrow's meeting." 

Meanwhile, State Minister for 

Religious Affairs Sheikh 

Mohammad Abdullah said that 

Ijtema will be held once in a year 

and unitedly. 

"No separate Ijtema will be held. 

The clashes those happened across 

the country are not desirable at all," 

he added. 

The first phase of Biswa Ijtem was 

scheduled to be held from January 

11-13 while the second one from 

January 18-20. But it was not held 

as per the schedule due to the 11th 

parliamentary election.

NEWS 

THuRSDAY, 

JANuARY 24, 2019 

2 

I want to return to Bangladesh: Mungunzul 

Md. Khalilur Rahman, Secretary, Bangladesh council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and 

Hakim Manzural, Managing Director, Bangladesh branch office ATM Engineering CSC (Russia) exchanging 

document after Signing a research memorandum of understanding on Ruppur Nuclear Power plant 

waste water Treatment at the BCSIR conference room in the city 23 January 2019. Photo : Courtesy 

Jubo Dal leader's decomposed 

body found in Chattogram 

CHATTOGRAM : Police recovered the decomposed body 

of a local Jubo Dal leader from a house in Kazir Deuri area in 

the city on Tuesday night, reports UNB. 

The deceased was identified as Rashedul Hasan Milton, 39, 

hailing from Mirsarai upazila and a senior member of 

Chattogram City unit Jubo Dal executive committee. He used 

to live in a rented house in the area. 

As bad adour was coming out from his room, locals 

informed police. 

On information, police recovered the body breaking open 

the door of his room, said Md Mohsin, officer-in-charge of 

Kotwali Police station. 

Outgoing Navy chief meets PM 

DHAKA : Outgoing Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nizamuddin 

Ahmed made a farewell call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at 

her official residence Ganobhaban on Wednesday, reports UNB. 

PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the 

meeting. 

The Prime Minister appreciated the Navy chief for discharging 

his duties successfully during his tenure. 

The outgoing Navy head expressed his gratitude to the Prime 

Minister for extending all-out support to him in performing his 

duties as its chief. 

Admiral Nizamuddin, who assumed the command of 

Bangladesh Navy as 14th Chief of Naval Staff on January 27, 

2016, goes on retirement on January 26 next. 

On January 20 last, Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG) Director 

General Rear Admiral AMMM Aurangzeb Chowdhury was 

appointed the new Chief of Naval Staff. 

His appointment will come into effect on January 26 when he 

will be promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral. 

DHAKA : Mungunzul was born in 

Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. 

She studied at Music and Dance College, 

where her talent began to bloom. She 

graduated from the Culture and Art 

University of Mongolia, reports UNB. 

Mungunzul specialized in acting. She 

won the top prize in a competition 

named after Shakespeare, for playing the 

role of Juliet. 

She established the independent 'DOZ 

Entertainment' production. Mungunzul 

has acted in TV shows, movies and 

dramas. She also opened a comedy TV 

channel and worked in many TV 

programmes that were well received by 

the audience. 

She has also acted in several foreign 

movies and was the protagonist in 

'People with blue spots'. The opening 

ceremony of the movie was held in the 

Government Palace of Mongolia. It was 

awarded with the prize 'Precious 

heritage of France'. The movie was 

premiered in Paris and then successfully 

played in Inner Mongolia, People's 

Republic of China. 

She was also involved with many 

movies as an artist and producer, 

including 'Blue shadow of mountain' 

(drama, in supporting role), 'It is pretty 

hard when my child becomes grown up' 

(comedy, in supporting role), 'The day 

after I fell in love' (comedy, in main role), 

'Ticket for life' (film against drug 

/drama, protagonist), 'People with blue 

spots' (drama, protagonist), 'Fly away' 

(drama, shot in Korea, protagonist) and 

'Life like a movie' (comedy, in 

supporting role). 

This year, she will be seen in three 

international films. Mungunzul was 

given the 'Northern Star' prize for her 

contribution to the art of cinema. 

She was also the winner of the TV 

show 'Mongolian Dancing with Stars' in 

2012. UNB's Shafik Russell finally got to 

go for treasure hunts on her private boat. 

You won the Best Actress (global). Tell 

us something about your journey and 

experience? 

Mungunzul: My family is involved 

with filmmaking. My husband is an 

actor and director. I have a film 

production company. I won the 'Best 

Supporting Actress' award in 2012 and 

the 'Best Actress' award in 2013. Apart 

from them, I also won the global award 

best actress from Delhi Noida film 

festival 2016. 

I have been involved with the film 

industry for 10 years and have acted in 

many films and a variety of comedy 

shows. But I want to work with many 

experienced artists because I want to 

learn more. I want to learn from others 

every day. I am waiting for the right 

moment to come up with my dreams. 

That's why I really want to know and 

study more. 

You are working as a programmer at 

DIFF. Tell us something about this 

experience and the response of the 

audience you are getting from this 

event? 

Mungunzul: This is my first visit to 

Dhaka and participation in the Dhaka 

International Film Festival. I had a 

different perception about Bangladesh 

before coming here. My eight-day stay 

has changed my views. I would like to 

thank Ahmed Muztaba Zamal who has 

organized DIFF. We first met in Pusan 

and he invited me to join DIFF as one of 

the juries. He has big connections 

around the world. 

This festival is very well-organised and 

the people are very friendly. As a guest, I 

am leaving Bangladesh with a good 

experience. 

6 gold bars recovered in Chuadanga 

CHUADANGA : Members of Boarder Guard Bangladesh 

(BGB) recovered 6 gold bars weighing 700 gram from Nastipur 

border in Damurhuda upazila on Wednesday noon, reports 

UNB. 

Imam Hasan, director of Chuadanga BGB-6 Battalion, said 

being tipped off over gold smuggling to India, a team of BGB 

conducted a drive along main border pillar no 80 and 

challenged a young man around 12:30pm. 

Sensing danger, the youth fled the scene leaving a packet 

wrapped with a paper. 

Later, the BGB members recovered the gold bars worth Tk 25 

lakh from the packet. 

Fire burns Nat'l Jute 

Mills in Sirajganj 

SIRAJGANJ : Around 400 bales of jute were gutted in the fire 

that broke out at National Jute Mill at Raipur in Sadar upazila 

on Wednesday, reports UNB. 

The fire was ignited at the loom section of the mill around 6:30 

am and spread soon, said Abdul Hamid, deputy director of 

Sirajganj Fire Service. 

On information, five firefighting units went to the spot and 

extinguished the blaze after four hours of frantic effort. 

However, the reason behind the incident could not be known 

immediately. 

GD-141/18 (7 x 4) 

Iqvmv-RtZt-38/19 

GD-143/18 (7 x 4) 

GD-145/18 (7 x 4)

METRO 

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2019 

3 

Alejandra López García, Chargé d'affaires for the Embassy of Spain in Dhaka and adviser developer 

Fahad Bin Malik Newaz of Economic and Cultural Affairs paid a courtesy call on JnU 

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mijanur Rahman on Wednesday. 

Photo : Aslam Hossain 

Rab arrests 2 for 

selling stolen 

mobiles 

DHAKA : Rapid Action 

Battalion (Rab) arrested two 

suspected members of a 

syndicate involved in selling 

stolen handsets from the 

city's Gulistan on Tuesday 

night, reports UNB. 

This gang changes 

International Mobile 

Equipment Identity (IMEI) 

numbers before selling the 

stolen phones. Rab 

recovered 37 handsets, 13 

IMEI changing devices, 

three tools boxes and other 

electronic devices from their 

possession. 

"A Rab-3 team raided 

Gulistan underground 

mobile market acting on a 

tip-off and arrested Md 

Shakil Ahmed, 25, owner of 

'Asha Telecom', and Prabir 

Roy, 30, owner of ' Prabir 

Telecom'," said Additional 

Superintendent of Police 

Bina Rani Das. During 

primary interrogation, they 

reportedly confessed about 

buying stolen handsets. 

BMCCI seeks comprehensive info policy 

for branding Bangladesh abroad 

DHAKA : Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of 

Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) President 

Syed Moazzam Hossain on Wednesday laid 

emphasis on a comprehensive information 

policy for disseminating information among 

the people through mass media to ensure 

sustainable development, reports UNB. 

He also urged the government to take 

necessary initiatives for branding 

Bangladesh abroad. 

The BMCCI Board of Directors led by its 

President met Information Minister Dr 

Hasan Mahmud at his secretariat office and 

discussed the issues. Moazzam Hossain also 

talked about a Free Trade Agreement with 

Malaysia which is under discussion for 

signing. The Information Minister said 

policy reforms, policy simplification and 

need based policy formation are necessary 

for conducive business environment, 

according to BMCCI. 

He said RMG is the biggest export earning 

sector undoubtedly but Bangladesh needs 

diversification of products finding other 

potential export items. 

The Minister suggested framing out a 

sector-specific policy demand. 

BMCCI Vice Presidents Raquib 

Mohammad Fakhrul (Rocky), and Syed 

Almas Kabir, Hon. Secretary General 

Shabbir Ahmed Khan, Directors Md. 

Showkat Ali, Syed Moinuddin Ahmed, 

Jamilur Rahman, and Secretary Hasanur 

Rahman Chowdhury were also present 

during the meeting. 

Inmate dies while 

undergoing 

treatment at RMCH 

RAJSHAHI : A prisoner died while undergoing 

treatment at Rajshahi Medical College 

Hospital (RMCH) on Tuesday, reports 

UNB. 

The deceased was identified as Abdul 

Jabbar, 45, son of Javed Ali of Paba upazila, 

said Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge 

of Rajpara Police Station. 

The inmate was serving jail sentence at 

Rajshahi Central Jail, hesaid. 

On January 15, he fell sick and the prison 

authorities took him to RMCH. 

Last tributes 

paid to Bulbul 

DHAKA : Hundreds of 

people from all walks of life 

thronged the Central 

Shaheed Minar on 

Wednesday to pay their last 

tributes to Ekushey Padakwinning 

lyricist, composer 

and music director Ahmed 

Imtiaz Bulbul, reports UNB. 

His body was taken to the 

Shaheed Minar around 11 am 

so that fans and well-wishers 

can pay their last respect. The 

body was kept there until 

12:30 pm. 

Bulbul, also a freedom 

fighter, was also given a 

guard of honour at the 

Shaheed Minar premises. 

A delegation on behalf of 

President M Abdul Hamid 

placed a wreath on his coffin 

while cultural personality 

and former minister 

Asaduzzaman Noor, state 

minister for cultural affairs 

KM Khalid paid homage to 

Imtiaz Bulbul.Awami League 

leader Mahbubul Alam Hanif 

on behalf of the ruling party 

placed a wreath on the coffin 

of the noted lyricist. 

His first namaj-e-janaza 

was held after Zohr prayers at 

Dhaka University mosque 

while the next namaj-ejanaza 

will be held at the 

Bangladesh 

Film 

Development Corporation 

premises. 

Bulbul will be laid to 

eternal rest at Mirpur 

Martyred Intellectuals' 

Graveyard after Asr prayers. 

Bulbul was taken to Ayesha 

Memorial Hospital at 

Mohakhali after he suffered a 

heart attack at 4 am on 

Tuesday where doctors 

declared him dead 

His body was kept at the 

mortuary of a hospital. 

PM to inaugurate 4th RCG 

conference today 

DHAKA : The three-day-long fourth 

Regional Consultative Group (RCG) 

conference will begin in the city on 

Thursday, reports UNB. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is 

scheduled to inaugurate the conference at 

Intercontinental Hotel around 10 am, 

Enamur Rahman, state minister for Disaster 

Management and Relief Ministry, told 

journalists at the Secretariat on Wednesday. 

RCG was established to tackle the major 

disasters and strengthening the 

Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination 

for Asia and the Pacific, to make plans in 

coordination with the Civil and Military 

manpower, to practice and to implement 

disaster response programs, experience, 

teaching and exchange of information. 

A total of 120 representatives from 26 

countries and 24 regional and international 

organizations will take part in the 

conference, he said. 

The government will strengthen the 

combination of civil and military to combat 

the situation arising due to the displaced 

Myanmar citizens entering Bangladesh, said 

the Minister. Meanwhile, a simulation show 

will be organised during the conference to 

increase skills and tackling power during 

natural disasters like earthquake, he said. 

Policy reforms necessary for 

business environment: Hasan 

DHAKA : Information 

Minister Dr Hasan 

Mahmud yesterday said 

policy reforms, policy 

simplification, needbased 

policy formulation 

and reduced outdated 

polices are necessary for 

conducive business 

environment. 

"We need to work on 

reducing trade gap with 

other countries. But, first 

of all we need to enhance 

our capacity," he said 

while meeting with the 

Board of Directors of 

Bangladesh-Malaysia 

Chamber of Commerce 

and Industry (BMCCI) 

led by its President Syed 

Moazzam Hossain at his 

secretariat office in the 

city, said a press release. 

He said ready-made 

garment (RMG) is the 

biggest export earner of 

the country, but 

Bangladesh needs to 

encourage diversification 

of products in line with 

finding other potential 

export items. 

He suggested to frame 

out a sector-specific policy 

demand. 

Moazzam Hossain 

proposed for a 

comprehensive 

information policy which 

can play catalytic role in 

disseminating 

information among the 

people. 

He also urged the 

minister to take necessary 

initiatives for branding 

Bangladesh. 

BMCCI Vice Presidents 

Raquib Mohammad 

Fakhrul (Rocky), and 

Syed Almas Kabir, 

Secretary General 

Shabbir Ahmed Khan, 

Directors M Showkat Ali, 

Syed Moinuddin Ahmed, 

Jamilur Rahman and 

Secretary Hasanur 

Rahman Chowdhury 

were also present. 

Dbœq‡bi MYZš¿ 

†kL nvwmbvi g~jgš¿ 

GD-140/19 (10 x 4) GD-144/19 (12 x 4)

EDITORIAL 

ThuRsDAY, 

JAnuARY 24, 2019 

4 

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam 

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

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com 

Thursday, January 24, 2019 

pM's warning against 

graft by civil servants 

P 

rime 

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 compensations. 

Rise of female politicians has a message for all 

At the end of this month, Nancy 

Pelosi will retake her position on 

the podium behind the US 

president as he gives his State of the 

Union address. As speaker of a House 

that is more female and more racially 

diverse than at any time in American 

history, Pelosi on the dais will represent 

more than just Democratic gains: She will 

be a visual symbol of a profound shift in 

how those with power might wield it. 

For too long, female power has been 

calculated using the arbitrary measuring 

stick of how men exercised authority; 

women, as a result, largely shaped 

themselves to these male-determined 

standards and norms. But the women of 

the 116th Congress are redefining what it 

means to be powerful and reshaping 

some of the most dearly held American 

fables in the process. 

Power, for all of American history, has 

been white and male, and maintaining 

that monopoly has required a series of 

agreed-up conventions and plot lines. A 

handful of women and people of colour 

have, in recent years, managed to get a 

foot in the door, but the definition of what 

power means, and the male-centred story 

of how one gets it, remains in place. 

According to this script, power is 

meritocratic; those who earn it do so 

individually through their own hard 

work. Power has a particular look and a 

particular sound: tall and deep-voiced. 

Power is all-encompassing: A partner 

and children are the backdrop for a life 

centred on the pursuit of greatness; 

family indicates that the powerful person 

is grounded enough to be trusted, but the 

family is fundamentally a body that 

benefits from the powerful person, not a 

body that benefits him and 

fundamentally enables his success. 

Within this story of meritocracy is the 

Many media outlets, hostile and 

non-hostile, local, regional and 

international, have characterized 

the civil war and internal political conflict 

in Yemen as a Saudi-Yemeni war, or a 

war waged on Yemen by the Kingdom 

and its allies. They have also blamed the 

human suffering of the Yemeni people 

since the start of Operation Decisive 

Storm on March 25, 2015, and the 

political, social, economic and sectarian 

disintegration of the Yemeni state, on that 

"war." 

But nothing could be farther from the 

truth, because this interpretation moves 

the Yemeni crisis away from its objective 

causes, which are purely Yemeni. It also 

does not allow for solutions that deal with 

these causes, or lead to a sustainable 

national solution to the Yemeni national 

crisis. 

Crowds of Yemenis, as in other Arab 

countries, took to the streets in 2011 and 

joined in the so-called Arab Spring, 

demanding change. They wanted change 

based on a new social contract that would 

take the Yemeni state and people to a 

better future. The Yemen did not slip into 

chaos and armed conflict, as other Arab 

states did. Yemeni wisdom prevailed and 

they accepted brotherly efforts by Saudi 

Arabia and other Gulf states to achieve a 

peaceful power transition and establish a 

provisional authority for a fixed period, 

during which time a new social contract 

that would satisfy all Yemenis would be 

formulated. 

The Gulf Initiative and its executive 

mechanism, signed up to by all Yemeni 

promise that anyone can achieve political 

power and success if they are good 

enough and if they work hard enough; 

that elected offices have for so long so 

wholly rested in male hands suggests 

simply that men have long been more 

worthy of them. 

As a result, and by necessity, barrier 

breakers have largely followed this same 

script, from the practical to the 

JIll FIlIpovIC 

descriptive to the aesthetic. When women 

and people of colour did gain political 

power, their ascension was often used to 

prop up the existing meritocratic 

narrative: They had achieved, and so 

anyone can. The subtext: Perhaps the 

dearth of women and people of colour in 

office meant they hadn't worked hard 

enough for it. 

This narrative of American political 

power is pervasive enough to be largely 

invisible. The women who folded 

themselves into the existing story were 

perhaps not so much doing it 

intentionally as acting according to the 

script on offer, without much space to 

imagine something different. 

But as more women have entered the 

political realm, they have created more 

space for authenticity over selfaggrandisement. 

This is especially true as 

politicians come from a wider diversity of 

communities and backgrounds, each 

with different norms around authority. 

Today's rising female politicians tell a 

very different story than "I worked hard, 

and so I got here by myself." One by one, 

they credit those who inspired their 

success, supported their ascent and 

cleared the trail so they could walk further 

power, for all of American history, has been white 

and male, and maintaining that monopoly has 

required a series of agreed-up conventions and 

plot lines. A handful of women and people of 

colour have, in recent years, managed to get a foot 

in the door, but the definition of what power 

means, and the male-centred story of how one gets 

it, remains in place. 

political forces, including the Houthis, 

was the authorized reference for this 

peaceful power transition and formed a 

road map for Yemen's political future. 

This initiative and its executive 

mechanism included convening a 

national dialogue conference to develop a 

new vision for the future of the country, 

drafting a constitution and holding a 

referendum on it, and holding 

presidential and legislative elections 

based on the new constitution. The 

Yemenis succeeded again, and held their 

comprehensive national dialogue from 

March 18, 2013, to January 25, 2014. 

They agreed on their new social contract 

and on the outcome of this dialogue and 

started implementing what they agreed 

upon. Everyone was optimistic about this 

civilized achievement, believing that 

Yemen was on its way to escaping the 

impasse of the Arab Spring. No one was 

happier than Saudi Arabia with this 

Yemeni national achievement, which 

would have resulted in a new legitimacy 

in Yemen, through which Yemen would 

continue to receive support for its 

development, security and stability. 

still. 

When Ayanna Pressley, a new 

representative from Massachusetts, took 

up residence in Shirley Chisholm's 

former office, she framed it not as a goal 

achieved but as one marker on a long 

trajectory toward equality. 

Rashida Tlaib, a new representative 

from Michigan and one of two Muslim 

women now serving in Congress, showed 

up to her swearing-in in a thobe, a 

traditional Palestinian robe, asserting 

that her story is not one of American 

Horatio Alger achievement but of a 

particular, and particularly marginalised, 

place in the world. 

Ilhan Omar, the other Muslim woman 

now in Congress, and Alexandria Ocasio- 

Cortez of New York wore Suffragist white 

on the day of the swearing-in. Noting she 

pRInCe TuRkI Al-FAIsAl 

Ignoring the facts regarding the causes 

and circumstances of the Kingdom's 

intervention in Yemen and trying to hold 

the Kingdom responsible for the suffering 

of Yemen contradicts reality and does an 

injustice to the Kingdom's efforts. 

There is an Arab proverb which says, 

"The winds blow only in ways that ships 

do not desire". The Houthis, with the 

complicity of former President Ali 

Abdullah Saleh and his followers - all of 

whom were partners in the national 

dialogue and signatories to its outcomes - 

were waiting for a chance to turn against 

this achievement for their own reasons, 

But nothing could be farther from the truth, because 

this interpretation moves the Yemeni crisis away from 

its objective causes, which are purely Yemeni. It also 

does not allow for solutions that deal with these causes, 

or lead to a sustainable national solution to the Yemeni 

national crisis. 

including a non-state sectarian cause, as if 

they did not want Yemen to settle down 

and move toward the future by consensus 

and the participation of all its people. 

They exploited the fragility and weakness 

of the legitimate provisional authority to 

overthrow it, and lead Yemen in another 

direction. 

The coup of the Houthis and their 

supporters, their occupation of Sanaa 

in September 2014, and the 

imprisonment of the symbols of the 

legitimate authority left this authority 

is the youngest congresswoman in 

history, Ocasio-Cortez made explicit the 

fact that her success is not a story of 

bootstraps but of a web of support. From 

these women, the message is clear: Their 

strength comes from collaborative, 

generational efforts to move toward the 

good. The promise of America is not the 

possibility of individuals going at it alone 

and achieving in a high-profile way as a 

result, and the purpose of politics is not 

personal empowerment. 

The gift of power requires the 

responsibility of appreciating who came 

before you and how you might do your 

part to push forward. Powerful men have 

always considered their individual 

legacies. These powerful women seem 

more interested in their role in improving 

an evolving and complex ecosystem. 

In some ways, this refusal to take full 

individual credit for professional success 

is a very female thing, and perhaps itself 

springs from sexism: Women who are 

seen as individually ambitious or selfglorifying 

pay a price - unlikeability - that 

men do not. It may be safer for powerful 

women to make clear that they got to 

where they are because of significant 

support from those around them, and to 

focus their origin stories on home and 

community. 

But the fact that this version of a hero's 

journey grows partly out of sexism 

doesn't make it any less true. If voters can 

see the group effort that enables power 

and achievement, it could diminish the 

collective discomfort with powerful 

women. It can also help illustrate the 

unearned advantages that put some 

people in power. Women shouldn't adapt 

to the existing lie; men in the political 

realm should be more honest. 

Source: Gulf news 

saudi Arabia and Yemen: Misinterpretations of a legitimate intervention 

The news trickling out of Zimbabwe is 

shocking, but hardly surprising. Over 

the past week, thousands have taken 

to the streets to protest rising fuel prices, 

astronomical inflation and a government 

seemingly unwilling or unable to fix the 

economy of one of Africa's poorest 

countries. 

Making matters worse, Zimbabwean 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa blocked 

social media as the protest intensified. In 

the resulting blackout, hundreds have 

been arrested and further unknown 

numbers injured and killed. 

Speaking with the governmentcontrolled 

Sunday Mail newspaper this 

week, a spokesman for the president 

vowed that government action thus far was 

a "foretaste of things to come." 

The wave of violence comes on the heels 

of a massive fuel-price hike and resulting 

national strike. Zimbabwe's economy has 

taken a recent turn for the worse as the 

government has in essence run out of 

money. Inflation is at levels - roughly 40% 

- not seen since the government was forced 

to abandon its own currency in favor of the 

US dollar 10 years ago. 

While the government has blamed 

"terrorists" and members of the opposition 

Movement for Democratic Change for the 

violence, few see any constructive way out. 

Indeed, a review of the European and 

American press on the crisis paints a 

similar picture. They have generally 

bemoaned the violence but have done little 

to place the events in a larger picture of 

African economic health and possible 

openings for change. 

Perhaps this is due to fatigue over yet 

another failure story coming from one of 

Africa's poorest nations. If we compare the 

coverage of the Internet blockage with the 

stories out of Egypt in 2011 when thenpresident 

Hosni Mubarak cut off the Web 

in the last days of his rule, the difference is 

stark. The world was aghast at Mubarak's 

audacity in taking his country offline. In 

Zimbabwe, however, those reports that 

exist at all are confined to the bottom of the 

world section of major media outlets. 

Both China and Russia have moved 

aggressively to court the new Mnangagwa 

administration. With the promise of 

desperately needed capital, they have 

found an eager partner in Zimbabwe's new 

leader There are, however, a couple of 

places that have kept a keen eye on events 

in Southern Africa: Beijing and Moscow. 

Both China and Russia have moved 

aggressively to court the new Mnangagwa 

administration. With the promise of 

desperately needed capital, they have 

found an eager partner in Zimbabwe's new 

leader. 

Before reviewing each country's strategic 

aims in deepening relations with 

Mnangagwa, it is useful to consider the 

state of international involvement in Africa 

more broadly. 

The United States, under the direction of 

President Donald Trump's national 

security adviser, John Bolton, announced 

a new Africa policy in December. Aside 

from a commitment to countering terror 

groups across the continent, Bolton 

underlined America's goal of undermining 

China's and Russia's growing economic 

influence through investment. 

Speaking to reporters at the time, Bolton 

said "China uses bribes, opaque 

agreements and the strategic use of debt to 

hold states in Africa captive to Beijing's 

wishes and demands. Its investment 

ventures are riddled with corruption, and 

do not meet the same environmental or 

ethical standards as US development 

projects." 

Russia's renewed efforts in Africa echo 

the US approach to containing China's 

growing influence. Gone are the days of 

Russian involvement in African liberation 

struggles based on Marxist political 

calculations. Just as China uses its 

economic muscle to invest in struggling 

African economies, so too does Moscow. 

This is especially true in Southern Africa, 

where Russia has been marketing 

everything from nuclear power plants to 

military cooperation. As the violence 

engulfed the streets of Harare last week, 

Mnangagwa was in Russia trying to raise 

with no option but to confront the 

aggression against legitimacy, 

especially when it became clear that the 

goal of the Houthis and their 

supporters was greater than what was 

declared. They started to expand to 

other parts of Yemen and establish 

their own authority. They wanted to 

kidnap the Yemeni state and impose 

their vision, system and expansionist 

sectarian doctrine, which is linked to 

Iran, on Yemen, at the expense of the 

Yemeni national consensus 

represented by the outcomes of the 

national dialogue. This is the main 

cause of what is happening in Yemen, 

and the Houthis and their allies bear 

full responsibility for it. There will be no 

way out of this crisis unless the coup 

leaders are defeated and the Yemeni 

state and its institutions are restored by 

all means possible. 

Legitimacy in Yemen, represented by 

President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi 

and his government, did not have the 

means to face this aggression and restore 

the state, so they had to request the 

support of their closest brother country, 

Saudi Arabia, whose national security is 

linked to the security and stability of 

Yemen. President Hadi formally asked 

the Kingdom to assist the legitimate 

authority to counter the aggression and 

restore the Yemeni state. The Kingdom 

asked him to write an official letter stating 

his request, and to send copies to the 

United Nations and the Arab League. 

Source: Arab news 

West leaves Russia, China an open field to court Zimbabwe - and the rest of Africa 

Joseph DAnA 

money. 

The president even sent tweets from 

Moscow appealing for calm among his 

people. The only problem was that no one 

could read them because Twitter had been 

blocked. 

When all is said and done, China is the 

true innovator in Africa. Through myriad 

investments in infrastructure, Beijing 

manages a form of debt-trap diplomacy 

across the continent. Zimbabwe, in this 

regard, is a crown jewel. On the eve of his 

election last year, Mnangagwa flew to 

Beijing to discuss investment deals and the 

future of his country's economy. 

Given the staggering economic 

challenges facing Harare, it will be nearly 

impossible for Zimbabwe to get back to a 

healthy economy without a massive 

infusion of capital. Just this week, South 

Africa turned down a request for a US$1.2 

billion loan to Zimbabwe, noting that it 

simply didn't have the money to lend. 

In previous decades, Harare would have 

sought Western financial assistance. But a 

decade of sanctions against the Robert 

Mugabe regime and general lack of interest 

in the internal problems of poor African 

countries mean that that is no longer in the 

cards. As such, the likes of China and 

Russia will step in to fill the void and also 

enjoy newfound geopolitical capital. 

Source: Asia times

HEALTH 

THURSDay, 

JaNUaRy 24, 2019 

5 

Irregular sleep patterns slowly make us ill 

Linda Geddes 

Do you set an alarm to wake you up on weekdays, then hit the 

snooze button at weekends because you need more sleep? If 

so, you could be experiencing social jetlag - a condition 

associated with weight gain, reduced mental performance 

and chronic illness. 

"Social jetlag promotes practically everything that's bad in 

our bodies," says Till Roenneberg, professor of 

chronobiology at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, 

who coined the term. It occurs when we go to bed later and 

wake up later at the weekend than on weekdays. Like normal 

jetlag, it is a consequence of being forced to shift our bodies 

between two time zones: one dictated by work and social 

obligations, the other by our internal timing system, the 

circadian clock. It is estimated that two-thirds of us 

experience at least one hour of social jetlag a week, and a 

third experience two hours or more - equivalent to flying 

from London to Tel Aviv and back each week. 

How much social jetlag you experience is down to the 

magnitude of the mismatch between your two time zones. 

People's sleep preference, known as their chronotype, is 

largely dictated by genes. "Owls" - whose natural tendency is 

to stay up late and not wake until 10 or 11am - experience 

more social jet lag than "larks", because they struggle to get 

enough sleep in the week and sleep in at weekends to catch 

up. However, an extreme lark pressured into staying up late 

at weekends by friends will also suffer. 

As anyone who has experienced normal jetlag will know, 

one of the most obvious symptoms is trouble sleeping. The 

body takes a while to adapt to a new time zone - typically a 

day for every time zone you cross. Similarly, says 

Roenneberg: "Social jetlag and sleep deprivation are 

practically inseparable." 

Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to many of the 

same illnesses as social jetlag, including type 2 diabetes, heart 

disease, obesity and depression; and has been declared a 

public health epidemic by the World Health Organization 

and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 

study by the Rand Corporation calculated that inadequate 

sleep costs the UK £50bn a year - equivalent to 1.9% of GDP 

- due to decreased productivity and sickness. Sleep 

deprivation also takes its toll on our daily lives, affecting our 

vigilance, hand-eye coordination, memory, logical reasoning 

and emotional stability. 

However, social jetlag doesn't only disrupt the amount of 

sleep. A study of undergraduates found that those who kept 

irregular bedtimes had poorer quality sleep than those with 

Social jetlag promotes practically everything that's bad in our bodies,' says a professor of 

chronobiology. 

Photo: Christophe Gowans 

more consistent sleep schedules, even though they got 

roughly the same amount overall. Irregular sleep was also 

associated with poorer academic performance. Andrew 

Phillips, now at Monash University in Melbourne, who led 

the study, says: "This suggests sleep regularity is very 

important - it's not just about getting the right amount of 

sleep, for example by sleeping in at weekends." 

It has other consequences, too. Inside each of our cells is a 

molecular clock that governs the timing of almost every 

physiological process in our bodies. The most obvious of 

these is when we feel sleepy or alert, but circadian clocks also 

control when we secrete hormones, the activity of our 

immune cells, our body temperature, even our mood at 

different times of day and night. 

These clocks run on roughly (though not precisely) 24- 

hour schedules - larks tend to have slightly faster clocks, and 

owls slightly slower ones - synchronising through signals 

from a tiny patch of brain tissue known as the 

suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which acts as a kind of 

internal Greenwich Meridian. It knows the time through its 

interactions with light-responsive cells at the back of the eye, 

which evolved to register the rising and setting of the sun. 

If you change the timing of your light exposure - as you do 

when you go to bed and wake earlier on weekdays, or when 

you fly across time zones - the timing of the clocks in your 

organs and tissues also shift, although at different rates. If 

you constantly shift the timing of your sleep and light 

exposure, as you might if you regularly sleep in at weekends, 

your clocks will be perpetually out of synchrony. 

"Almost all the hormones in your body are on some sort of 

circadian rhythm and when you are shifting your sleep time, 

the entire system is not going to be working as efficiently as 

it should," says Sierra Forbush, a research assistant at the 

University of Arizona College of Medicine. She recently 

presented data from a study of 984 adults that suggested 

that, for every hour of social jetlag a person experienced each 

week, there was an 11% increase in their likelihood of having 

cardiovascular disease. Social jetlag was also associated with 

worse mood and greater levels of sleepiness and fatigue. 

Another study found that adults with higher levels of social 

jetlag were more likely to be overweight or obese and have 

metabolic syndrome (which is associated with the 

development of type 2 diabetes) compared with those with 

more regular sleep patterns - even after controlling for how 

much sleep they got. 

"We found that just one hour of social jetlag led to the 

accumulation of about two additional kilograms of fat mass, 

on average, by the age of 39," says Michael Parsons, a 

circadian biology researcher at the Medical Research 

Council's Harwell Institute in Oxfordshire, who led the study. 

"Although you often see this increase in fat and body mass 

index in shift workers, we were surprised that a relatively 

small amount of social jetlag - equivalent to flying across one 

time zone each week - could be associated with a relatively 

large increase in such things." 

He cautions that factors such as eating too much and not 

getting enough exercise play a greater role in weight gain. 

However, he says: "As a society, it's something we need to 

consider when deciding whether or not we should keep such 

things as daylight savings time [another source of social 

jetlag] or introduce more flexible working hours to better fit 

with people's chronotype."Which leads us to the question of 

what to do about it. It is unlikely that the occasional lie-in will 

be detrimental to your health - indeed, if it is the only way of 

catching up on sleep you have missed during the week, it is 

probably a good idea. "If you have accrued a sleep debt, it 

needs to be paid back," says Phillips. "However, a much 

healthier alternative is to try to maintain a regular sleep 

pattern throughout the week and get more sleep each day." 

One way of achieving this would be to allow greater 

flexibility in people's working hours, so that owls could 

start work later and therefore get the recommended seven 

to eight hours of sleep each night. If he were an employer, 

Roenneberg says, he would ban the use of alarm clocks 

and instruct employees to start work only once they had 

had adequate sleep. "The majority of employees would 

still be in the office by 10am or 11am, but this would 

increase productivity, sick days would go down, and I 

would get your best time as an employer," he says. "It's a 

win-win situation."However, there may be a simpler 

solution: light. Although people's chronotype is genetically 

determined, environment also influences sleep timing. 

Studies have shown that when people are sent camping - 

removing them from the influence of artificial light and 

exposing them to more daylight . 

What should we eat to 

save the planet? 

Michael Le Page 

To meet the global climate crisis 

that is approaching, big lifestyle 

changes are required of those of 

us who live in affluent 

countries. The good news is that 

our way of life can remain 

meaningful and worthy as our 

consumption becomes 

sustainable. 

There's one step you can take 

right away to reduce harm to 

Mother Earth-eat less meat and 

move toward a plant-based diet. 

Could a diet save the planet? Photo: 

This is one of the most effective 

things we can do because the 

food we now produce and 

consume is destroying the very 

ecosystems that we depend 

upon for survival. Here are 

some of the grim facts. 

The U.S. uses about one-half 

of its land for agriculture. 

Unfortunately, the majority is 

used to raise livestock such as 

cattle, hogs, and poultry, or for 

crops consumed by livestock. 

For example, the U.S. uses over 

90 million acres of good 

agricultural land to produce 

corn, which is mostly fed to 

livestock. This is also true 

internationally. Much of the 

deforestation of the Amazon 

rainforest is for grazing and 

growing soybeans, of which 80 

percent is used as livestock 

feed. 

Besides its enormous carbon 

footprint, the meat industry 

employs other outmoded, 

unsustainable practices, 

including the use of pesticides 

and chemical fertilizers, 

monocultures, GMOs, and 

inhumane treatment of 

livestock. Industrial agriculture 

degrades the soil, water, and 

atmosphere on an 

unprecedented scale while 

harming wildlife and humans. 

Another major problem with 

the way we currently produce 

Ilka & Franz 

and consume food is that more 

than 30 percent of food is 

wasted. So-called "imperfect" 

produce is left in the field or 

discarded on the way to market 

or at the store. Edible food is 

left to rot in our refrigerators. 

Much of it ends up in landfills 

where it emits greenhouse 

gases. We can all do our part to 

reduce waste by using left-overs 

and eating the fresh produce we 

buy (why not add saggy veggies 

to a soup?). 

With 7.6 billion people on 

earth, the demand for food is 

enormous and constantly on the 

rise. It's easy to get caught up in 

the panic and feel we can't make 

a difference. But we can change 

our diet and agricultural 

systems to heal the earth as we 

heal ourselves. We should not 

dismiss the power of our voices 

and the choices we make. 

Even one person-such as youcan 

make a big difference by 

eating less meat and moving 

toward a plant-based diet. Here 

are some of the contributions 

you'll make to the health of the 

planet (as well as your own). 

Compared with beans, beef 

requires 20 times more land 

and creates 20 times more 

greenhouse gases to produce 

the same amount of protein. If 

you eat 100 grams (3.5 ounces) 

of meat every day, about one 

serving for most meat eaters, 

your diet puts out about 7.2 kg 

of carbon dioxide emissions 

(from farm to table). If you are 

vegetarian, your daily carbon 

emissions drop dramatically. 

Replacing meat consumption 

with plants frees up valuable 

agricultural land to grow foods 

eaten by humans instead of 

livestock. It reduces hunger and 

helps feed the earth's growing 

population with healthy, 

sustainable food. 

If you do eat meat, what kind 

of meat you eat makes a big 

difference. Beef creates more 

than double the emissions of 

pork, and close to four times the 

emissions of chicken. Lamb is 

even worse than beef. Fruits, 

vegetables, and nuts create less 

than one-third the emissions of 

chicken (and a twelfth of beef). 

So as a first step, drop beef 

and lamb from your diet and 

limit your daily consumption 

of meat to less than four 

ounces. This starts you on the 

way to a healthier diet for you 

and for the earth. In addition 

to caring for the environment, 

caring about the people along 

the food production chain is 

an important aspect of 

deciding what to eat. Jobs in 

the animal agriculture 

industry are grueling and take 

a physical and psychological 

toll on workers. As 

corporations force high 

production rates, workers 

slaughter and process animals 

for hours on end with little 

time for breaks. U.S. data 

shows that compared to the 

industry average, workers in 

the meat industry sustain 

higher rates of injury from 

"tasks associated with 

musculoskeletal disorders, 

exposure to chemicals and 

pathogens, and traumatic 

injuries from machines and 

tools." 

Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea in young children. 

Chelsea Whyte 

Rotavirus vaccine may protect children from developing type 1 

diabetes. In Australia, the vaccine for rotavirus - the most 

common cause of severe diarrhoea in young children - was 

added to routine early-childhood immunisations in 2007. 

Kirsten Perrett at the University of Melbourne in Australia 

and her colleagues compared the rates of diabetes in the 8 years 

before and after the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine. They 

found a 14 per cent drop in type 1 diabetes in children age 0 to 4, 

Photo: Phanie 

Protecting children from developing type 1 diabetes 

Teal Burrell 

A SIMPLE calculation lies at the heart of a lot of mainstream 

weight loss advice. If calories out exceed calories in, you will 

lose weight. It is why both exercise and diet are said to be key 

to staying trim, and why many of us feel we can make 

amends for overindulging by joining the gym or dusting off 

our running shoes. 

But if you have ever increased how much exercise you do 

and found it did little to shed the pounds, you have probably 

had an inkling that the sums don't add up. Despite tipping 

the balance in favour of calories out, the scales don't budge. 

This is the so-called exercise paradox. Until recently, it has 

been explained away by the logic that exercise leaves people 

hungry so they eat more. 

It now turns out something weirder is going on. Working 

out a lot doesn't appear to burn more calories than doing a 

little. In fact, going mad in the gym doesn't seem to burn any 

more calories than moderate activity a few days a week and 

taking the stairs, for instance. 

Researchers are scratching their heads as to how to 

reconcile this. And while it might be bad news for those who 

had hoped to run off those festive dinners, there is a flip side. 

Those who exercise intensively through a sense of guilt or 

obligation might be happier, and possibly wealthier, taking it 

easier. 

but no change in children 5 to 14 years old. Perrett says that is 

likely because the children in the study under age 5 were born 

after the introduction of the vaccine, which must be given before 

exposure to the virus to have any protective effect. Rotavirus 

infects pancreas cells by hijacking a natural receptor on their 

surface, which leads to cell death. The vaccine stops this process 

in insulin-producing cells, which may be why it is effective 

against diabetes as well. Perrett and her team our now looking 

into links between type 1 diabetes and reduction in pancreas size 

associated with the disease. 

Does more exercise helps to 

burn more calories? 

Forget the idea that to lose weight you just need 

to work off more calories than you consume. 

Photo: Patrick George

NATIONAL 


6 

Locals of Palash upazila wants Javed 

Hossain as the upazila chairman 

Habiganj Police Super Mohammad Ullah BPM (Service) recently disturbed warm clothes among the 

poor people of the remote areas of different upazilas of Habiganj district with his own initiative. 

Photo: Mamun Chowdhury 

Habiganj Police Super Mohammad 

Ullah stands beside poor people 

mamun ChoWDhury, habiganj CorresPonDent: 

Police super mohammad ullah 

bPm (service) is suppressing 

crime strongly in habiganj. along 

with it he made an example by 

standing beside the poor coldstricken 

people. 

mohammad ullah joined the 

habiganj District superintendent 

of Police a few days before the 

eleventh parliamentary elections. 

since joining, he changed the 

concept about police among the 

general people with his efficient 

work and ethics. the police 

superintendent of habiganj is 

setting examples continuously with 

his hard work. 

bangladesh police have already 

caught the eyes of everyone with 

their brave role in eradicating all 

forms of crime including eveteasing, 

militancy and drug trade. 

habiganj Police superintendent 

has adopted the different strategies 

to control theft, robbery, hijacking, 

drug trade and village fights. 

recently he stood beside the poor 

people of the whole district. he is 

continuously distributing winter 

clothes, blankets and sweatshirts. 

many people are now calling his 

humanitarian Police super. he is 

distributing warm clothes to the 

remote areas of different upazilas 

of habiganj district with his own 

initiative. 

in this context, superintendent of 

Police mohammad ullah said that 

poverty will be reduced if rich 

people stand beside poor people. 

he urged the wealthy to come 

forward to serve the helpless 

people. he said that there are a lot 

of wealthy people in the society; if 

they come forward then poverty 

will decline throughout the whole 

country. if a wealthy person wants 

then he can stand by one hundred 

poor people. in this way, if 100 

wealthy people stand beside the 

poor, then poverty of 1000 poor 

will be reduced. therefore, i urge 

the rich people of the society to 

stand beside the underprivileged 

people. 

it was learnt that in the winter, 

police super mohammad ullah 

distributed warm clothes among 

poor, helpless, cold-stricken 

people. he distributed winter 

clothes in baniachang, lakhai, 

habiganj sadar, Chunarughat and 

bahubal upazilas of the district. 

the superintendent of Police has 

now distributed 12 thousand cold 

clothes to the cold-stricken people 

in different areas of the upazila, 

including tea gardens. 

During the warm clothes 

distribution programmes, 

additional police super sm Fazlur 

rahman, rabiul islam, shailon 

Chakma, sm raju ahmed, 

assistant superintendent of Police 

Parvez alam Chowdhury, 

habiganj sadar Police station oC 

mohammad sahidur rahman, 

Chunarughat Police station oC 

Km ajmeruzzaman, baniachang 

Police station oC rashed 

mobarak, lakhai Police station oC 

emran hossain, bahubal Police 

station oC masuk ali and police 

officials. 

Police super mohammad ullah 

said that these warm clothes are 

being distributed with his personal 

initiative. in phases, the warm 

clothes will be distributed among 

poor women, men and children in 

other upazilas. 

Rajbari Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Shawkat Ali as the chief guest in distributed prizes 

among the winners of the sports competition of Rajbari Government Boys High School on 

Wednesday. 

Photo: M Moniruzzaman 

Annual Sports Competition of AK Bangla School held 

Pintu Debnath, Kamalganj 

CorresPonDent: 

annual sports competition 

of aK bangla school was 

held at the school premises 

in Kamlganj on Wednesday. 

good neighbors bangladesh 

moulvibazar CDP organized 

the occasion. 

CDP manager john 

brigen mallick chaired the 

occasion while Kamalganj 

upazila secondary 

education officer, samsun 

nahar Parvin was present as 

the chief guest at the 

occasion. among others, 

President of Kamakuri 

reporters unity and editor 

of Kamalkuri Pintu 

Debnath, Vice-president of 

Kamalganj Press Club 

shabbir elahi, uP member 

manindra Kumar singh, 

academic Council President 

jatindra Kumar singh, 

social worker abdul mumin, 

head teacher of aK bangla 

school surchandra singh 

and , syed anisuzzaman 

mizan were also present at 

the occasion. 

a pleasant cultural event 

was held at the occasion. 

later prizes were distributed 

among 66 students 

participating in 18 games. in 

the second phase, a guardian 

assembly was held. 

Kamalganj Upazila Secondary Education Officer, Samsun Nahar Parvin as 

the chief guest distributed prizes among the winners of the sports competition 

of AK Bangla School in Kamalganj on Wednesday. Photo: TBT 

tareq Pathan, Palash CorresPonDent: 

residents of Palash upazila wants to 

see syed javed hossain as the upazila 

chairman again. in 2014 upazila 

parishad elections, bangladesh 

awami league nominated candidate 

syed javed hossain won by a huge 

margin. 

it was learnt that since javed 

hossain was elected as the chairman, 

he has made ample changes in Palash 

upaila. in past few years he has 

developed Palash upazila by building 

various roads, culverts, bridges, new 

buildings of educational institutions, 

old building renovation, various 

union parishad complex buildings, 

numerous streetlights in the upazila, 

modern multipurpose buildings, 

mosque, madrasa, temples and solar 

panels. he has set an example by 

doing such development works. 

the amount of development that he 

has completed in the last five years for 

the welfare of Palash upazila is visible 

and commendable and the locals of 

Plash upazila in 100 percent satisfied 

with him. When talked with more 

Patuakhali DC 

distributes 

blankets 

among poor 

people 

jalilur rahman, PatuaKhali 


blankets were 

distributed among poor 

and helpless people under 

the initiative of Patuakhali 

district administration on 

tuesday. 

Patuakhali Deputy 

Commissioner matiul 

islam Chowdhury 

distributed the blankets as 

the chief guest. among 

others, additional deputy 

commissioner (general) 

md hemayet uddin, 

district magistrate nurul 

hafiz and sadar upazila 

nirbahi officer mst. latifa 

Zannati were also present 

at the occasion. 

on tuesday night 

blankets were distributed 

among 400 poor families 

in laukhali of sadar 

upazila. earlier, 10 

thousand blankets have 

been distributed in eight 

upazilas of Patuakhali 

district, informed relief 

and rehabilitation officer 

mohammad nazruli 

salam. 

Deputy Commissioner 

matiul islam Chowdhury 

said that according to the 

directives of Prime 

minister sheikh hasina, 

every poor family of 

Patuakhali district will be 

given blankets. 

Annual sports 

competition held 

in Rajbari 

Government Boys 

High School 

m moniruZZaman, rajbari 


annual sports competition 

and prize distribution 

ceremony of rajbari 

government boys high 

school was held on 

Wednesday at the school 

grounds. 

Deputy Commissioner 

mohammad shawkat ali as 

the chief guest inaugurated 

the annual sports 

competition and distributed 

prizes among the winners in 

a grand ceremony at the 

school ground in the 

morning. at the occasion, 

rajbari Zila Parishad 

Chairman valiant freedom 

fighter Fakir abdul jabbar, 

acting superintendent of 

Police md rakib uddin, 

headmaster bela rani 

sarker, senior teachers 

mosharraf hossain, manjur 

hossain and Praddut 

Kumar also spoke at the 

occasion. 

in the sports competition, 

more than three hundred 

students of the school took 

part. 

than 100 people of the upazila, they 

said that it is their good fortune that a 

person like syed javed hossain who 

is honest, skilled, meritorious is the 

upazila chairman. they also informed 

that no other upazila chairman has 

done the amount of development 

work like javed hossain. he has kept 

an unprecedented set of records for 

the upazila by constructing a new 

road's and by repairing the erosion 

roads. 

Party sources informed that syed 

jabed hossain is the best upazila 

chairman and he is the sole awami 

league candidate for the upazila 

Parishad election. javed hossain is 

currently busy campaigning hard for 

the upcoming election. in front of the 

people in front of the public, the 

government has shown the 

development picture. some of the 

party leaders are saying that syed 

javed hossain is almost the final 

candidate for the upazila parishad 

election. 

in this context syed javed hossain 

with the support of former mP 

Kamrul ashraf Khan (Poton) and 

current parliament member, 

president of awami leagueDr 

anwarul ashraf Khan (Dilip) i was 

able to keep my promise by 

completing most of development 

works for Palash uapzila. the 

remaining works are currently 

underway. i want to give my 100 

percent for the people. i am confident 

that people will vote for me in the 

upcoming election. 

Patuakhali Deputy Commissioner Matiul Islam Chowdhury as the chief 

guest distributed blankets among poor and helpless families of Sadar 

upazila on Tuesday night. 

Photo: Jalilur Rahman 

Anwarul elected president, Arifa gen 

secy of BOU Teachers Association 

shamsul haque, gazipur 

Correspondent: anwarul 

islam and arifa rahman 

ruma were elected 

president and general 

secretary of bangladesh 

open university (bou) 

teachers association 2019 

election under the ideology 

of bangabandhu sheikh 

mujibur rahman and trust 

in the spirit of liberation 

war. Professor of 

agriculture and rural 

Development school oF 

bou Prof. md. Farid 

hossain as the chief 

election commissioner 

announced the results on 

Wednesday. 

the others members of 

the panel are: Vice 

President Dr. sarker md 

noman, treasurer md. 

tariqul islam, joint 

secretary md. abdus 

sattar, Cultural secretary 

Syed Javed Hossain 

rajshahi: speakers at a discussion here 

unanimously observed that strict 

enforcement of traffic rules side by side with 

creating wide-ranging mass-awareness 

could be the crucial means of freeing the 

society from road traffic accidents, reports 

bss. 

they mentioned that the country 

experiences many road accidents every year 

claiming scores of lives and injuring many 

others. the total loss of properties in the 

accidents is estimated huge money. 

they made this observation while 

addressing a post-rally street-corner meeting 

to mark the traffic week-2019 at Fire brigade 

crossing in the city on tuesday. 

traffic Division of rajshahi metropolitan 

Police (rmP) organized the meeting titled 

"road safety and raising of massawareness". 

large number of police officials and 

members, professional and business leaders, 

public in general and students and scouts 

Anwarul Islam and Arifa Rahman Ruma were 

elected president and general secretary of 

Bangladesh Open University (BOU) Teachers 

Association 2019 on Wednesday. Photo: TBT 

md. Fakhrul islam 

Patwari, executive Council 

members; md. touhidul 

islam, Dr. md. anwarul 

haque, maruf mia, 

Kamruzzaman, abu naser 

mohammad tofail 

hossain, asm mahmudul 

hasan, asma akhter shelly 

and rubia rahman. 

Strict enforcement of 

traffic rules stressed 

from various schools and colleges joined the 

programme. 

Deputy Commissioner (traffic Division) of 

rmP anirban Chakma, Director of rajshahi 

Chamber of Commerce and industry sadrul 

islam, local unit president of nirapad sarak 

Chai advocate towfik ahsan and its Vicepresident 

Waliur rahman addressed the 

meeting. 

anirban Chakma says utmost importance 

should be given on enhancing drivers' skills, 

awareness on traffic law and tendency to 

obey law among the public in general for 

road safety. 

there is no alternative to awareness to 

prevent road traffic accidents which create 

grave concern. enhancement of competence 

and awareness of the professional drivers 

and others concerned is very important to 

this end. 

if the drivers drive their vehicles carefully 

the existing number of road accidents could 

be reduced to a greater extent.

INTERNATIONAL THUrSDAy, 

jANUAry 24, 2019 

7 

Meng Wanzhou, Executive Board Director of the Chinese technology giant Huawei, attends a session 

of the VTB Capital Investment Forum in Moscow, Oct. 2, 2014. 

Photo : AP 

China demands US drop Huawei 

extradition request with Canada 

China on Tuesday demanded the U.S. 

drop a request that Canada extradite a 

top executive of the tech giant Huawei, 

shifting blame to Washington in a case 

that has severely damaged Beijing's 

relations with Ottawa, reports UNB. 

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua 

Chunying said Meng Wanzhou's case 

was out of the ordinary and Canada's 

extradition treaty with the U.S. 

infringed on the "safety and legitimate 

rights and interests of Chinese citizens." 

Hua said China demands that the U.S. 

withdraw the arrest warrant against 

Meng and "not make a formal extradition 

request to the Canadian side." She 

is wanted for allegedly lying to banks as 

Landslides, flooding 

from dam kill 6 in 

central Indonesia 

Torrential rains that overwhelmed 

a dam and caused 

landslides killed at least six 

people and displaced more 

than 2,000 in central 

Indonesia, officials said 

Wednesday, reports UNB. 

The dead included two 

infants who drowned and a 

man who was electrocuted 

after the floods began late 

Tuesday, said Adnan 

Purichta Ichsann, the chief 

of Gowa district in South 

Sulawesi. 

Rescuers were still evacuating 

residents to shelters at 

a government office and 

mosques, Ichsann said. The 

national disaster agency 

said more than 2,000 people 

were in temporary shelters. 

Indonesian TV and video 

posted on YouTube showed 

half submerged homes and 

rescuers in boats reaching 

people clinging to tire inner 

tubes in the floodwaters. 

Staff at the Bili Bili dam, a 

rock-fill embankment, didn't 

have time to provide 

advance warning of the 

water release, Ichsann said. 

"Torrential rain caused a 

dam to be overwhelmed by 

water, forcing us to open it 

to prevent a greater danger. 

This is what caused flooding 

in some areas," Ichsann 

said. 

Deadly landslides and 

floods are a frequent occurrence 

during seasonal rains 

in Indonesia. A landslide in 

Sukabumi on the main 

island of Java earlier this 

month killed 32 people. 

Ichsann said the death 

toll could rise as areas hit by 

landslides are waiting for 

heavy earthmoving equipment 

to join the search 

effort. 

Rescuers were still evacuating 

residents to shelters at 

a government office and 

mosques, Ichsann said. The 

national disaster agency 

said more than 2,000 

people were in temporary 

shelters. 

Indonesian TV and video 

posted on YouTube showed 

half submerged homes and 

rescuers in boats reaching 

people clinging to tire inner 

tubes in the floodwaters. 

Several bridges were 

damaged by the flooding 

and power has been cut to 

the district. 

part of an effort to evade sanctions on 

Iran. 

Hua's remarks came after more than 

100 academics and former diplomats 

signed a letter calling on China to 

release two Canadians detained in 

apparent retaliation for Meng's arrest. 

They also follow a report by the Canadian 

newspaper Globe and Mail that the 

U.S. plans to formally request Meng's 

extradition to face charges that she 

committed fraud by misleading banks 

about Huawei's business dealings in 

Iran. The U.S. Justice Department said 

it is continuing to pursue Meng's extradition 

and would meet any deadlines 

set under the extradition treaty 

between the U.S. and Canada. In a 

statement, the Justice Department 

thanked Canadian authorities for their 

"support in our mutual efforts to 

enforce the rule of law." 

China detained former Canadian diplomat 

Michael Kovrig and Canadian 

entrepreneur Michael Spavor on Dec. 

10 in an apparent attempt to pressure 

Canada to release Meng, who was 

arrested Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. 

authorities. Meng is Huawei's chief 

financial officer and the daughter of its 

founder, Ren Zhengfei. Huawei has 

close ties to China's military and is considered 

one of the country's most successful 

international enterprises, operating 

in the high-tech sphere where 

China hopes to establish dominance. 

Australia asks about 

dual citizen reported 

missing in China 

The Australian government said Wednesday 

it is seeking information about a Chinese- 

Australian writer who has been reported 

missing in China in what a friend suspects is 

part of a Chinese backlash against Canada's 

arrest of a top Chinese telecommunications 

executive, reports UNB. 

Novelist and influential online commentator 

Yang Hengjun was a Chinese diplomat 

before he became an Australian citizen. 

Friends say he had been living in the 

United States with his wife and stepdaughter 

and had returned to China late last 

week. 

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs 

and Trade said in a statement it is "seeking 

information about an Australian citizen who 

has been reported missing in China. Owing 

to our privacy obligations we will not provide 

further comment." 

Australian consular assistance can include 

liaising with local authorities, including local 

police when an Australian has been reported 

missing. 

Yang's friend, University of Technology 

Sydney academic Feng Chongyi, said he 

believes Yang is being detained in Beijing by 

the Ministry of State Security. 

The disappearance comes a month after 

China's detention of two Canadians, entrepreneur 

Michael Spavor and former diplomat 

Michael Kovrig, in what was widely seen 

as retaliation for Canada's arrest of Huawei 

Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at 

the request of the United States. 

Feng, who has been in contact with Yang's 

family and friends, said Yang's disappearance 

was "directly linked to the Huawei 

case." 

"I see his arrest as the extension of Chinese 

hostage diplomacy to take him as a hostage 

to press the Australian government and the 

Canadian government, American government," 

Feng told Australian Broadcasting 

Corp. 

Feng was detained in China in 2017 near 

the end of a three-week trip during which he 

was researching human rights lawyers, and 

was questioned by security services for several 

days before he was allowed to return to 

Australia. He said on his return to Sydney 

that he was unable to discuss the details of 

his experience. 

Yang's disappearance comes ahead of a 

visit by Defense Minister Christopher Pyne 

to China. Pyne left Australia on Tuesday for a 

weeklong visit to Japan, then China and Singapore. 

Pyne said the Australia-China defense relationship 

was a key component of the broader 

bilateral relationship. 

"The government is committed to maintaining 

a long-term constructive relationship 

with China, founded on shared interests and 

mutual respect - China and Australia's success 

will go hand-in-hand," Pyne said in a 

statement Tuesday. 

Yang, his wife and her daughter flew from 

New York on Jan. 18 and arrived in 

Guangzhou on Jan. 19, Feng said. The wife 

and child then flew on to Shanghai without 

him, Feng said. 

The Australian government said on Wednesday that it is seeking information 

about a Chinese-Australian writer who has been reported missing in China in 

what a friend suspects is part of a Chinese backlash against Canada's arrest of 

a top Chinese telecommunications executive. 

Photo : AP 

Air raids kill 10 militants 

in Afghanistan's 

western province 

Afghan fighting aircraft targeted 

a Taliban hideout in 

Ab Kamari district of 

Afghanistan's western 

Badghis province on Tuesday, 

killing 10 militants on 

the spot and injuring four 

others, the official said 


Acting on a tip-off, the 

fighting aircraft pounded a 

Taliban hideout in Kokchili 

village of Ab Kamari district 

Tuesday afternoon, provincial 

government spokesman 

Jamshid Shahabi said, 

adding that a weapon cache 

of the militants were also 

destroyed due to the 

airstrikes. 

Government forces 

launched operations against 

Taliban positions in parts of 

Ab Kamari district early last 

week and so far, according to 

the official, several villages 

have been recaptured and 

the law and order have been 

restored. Taliban militants 

have not commented on the 

report. 

Striking taxi drivers 

in standoff with 

police in Madrid 

UN envoy: No access 

for UN peacekeepers 

to Lebanon tunnels 

The United Nations' envoy to the Mideast 

said Tuesday that peacekeepers in Lebanon 

have not been given access to tunnels 

stretching into Israel, which U.N. officials say 

violate a case-fire resolution that ended a 

devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah 

in 2006, reports UNB. 

Nikolay Mladenov told the Security Council 

that the U.N. peacekeeping mission 

known as UNIFIL has confirmed that two 

tunnels crossed the U.N.-drawn Blue Line 

between Lebanon and Israel, but "has not 

been granted access to the confirmed entry 

points of a tunnel near Kfar Kila on the 

Lebanese side." 

He did not say whether Lebanon's government 

or the Hezbollah militant group was 

blocking access for UNIFIL, but U.S. deputy 

ambassador Jonathan Cohen blamed the 

government. 

Cohen accused Hezbollah, an Iranian ally, 

of threatening international peace and security 

with the extensive tunneling exposed by 

Israel, which has reported uncovering six 

tunnels into its territory. 

"We commend UNIFIL's work to keep the 

Blue Line under control, but it is unacceptable 

that the Lebanese government has not 

yet given UNIFIL access to the tunnel 

entrance on their side of the Blue Line," 

Cohen told the council. 

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon complained 

to the council that "the Lebanese 

army has taken no action in response, allowing 

Hezbollah to continue building these 

tunnels undisturbed." 

Danon alleged that Iran funnels $7 billion 

to militant groups across the region, including 

$1 billion to Hezbollah, which he said has 

"grand plans to take over the Israeli Galilee" 

and invests millions in every tunnel. He provided 

no information on how Israel calculated 

its estimate of Iranian spending, which 

also included $4 billion to the Syrian government, 

"hundreds of millions" to Iran's proxies 

in Iraq, tens of millions to Houthi Shiite 

rebels in Yemen, $70 million to Palestinian 

Islamic Jihad and $50 million to Hamas, 

which controls Gaza. 

Mladenov noted that Lebanon has been 

without a government for over eight months 

and called on all parties to resolve their differences 

so the country "can address the man 

pressing challenges it faces, including that of 

a struggling economy." 

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mladenov 

said that "we should have no illusions 

about the dangerous dynamics ... which continue 

to unfold before our eyes" and have 

eroded "the possibility of establishing a 

viable, contiguous Palestinian state." 

He pointed to Israel's latest new settlement 

plans and approvals, nearly half to be built 

deep in the West Bank, which the Palestinians 

say must be part of their state. He also 

cited "additional attempts to pass legislation 

that would directly apply Israeli law to the 

territory of the occupied West Bank, raising 

fears of future annexation." 

Mladenov said the chance for peace 

opened more than 25 years ago with the 

Oslo accords, which were enshrined in 

U.N. resolutions and bilateral agreements, 

but has "eroded as the prospect for credible 

negotiations has dimmed, only to be 

replaced by the lack of hope and the growing 

risk of a one-state reality of perpetual 

occupation." 

Striking Spanish taxi drivers 

demanding more regulations 

for app-based ridehailing 

services are blocking 

access to a trade exhibition 

center in Madrid where a 

major tourism fair begins 


Riot police have been 

deployed as the drivers, 

many wearing the yellow 

traffic safety vests used by 

protesters in neighboring 

France, burn tires and block 

traffic on a highway circling 

Spain's capital. 

The drivers are demanding 

regional authorities in 

Madrid find a solution like 

the one offered Tuesday in 

Barcelona that would force 

users of apps like Uber and 

Cabify to contract rides one 

hour in advance. The webbased 

companies are threatening 

to cease operations in 

Barcelona, while taxi drivers' 

unions are discussing on 

Wednesday whether to 

accept the terms. Extensive tunneling has been exposed by Israel. Photo : AP 

In Congo, the Tshisekedi no 

one had expected takes power 

Felix Tshisekedi has emerged from his 

father's shadow to become Congo's 

next president. For decades that post 

eluded his father, the venerated opposition 

politician, Etienne, whose death in 

2017 helped catapult his son into the 

limelight, reports UNB. 

The passage of power from father to 

son is a familiar story in Congo, where 

President Joseph Kabila took office at 

age 29 after the assassination of his 

father, Laurent, in 2001. He stayed on 

two years beyond his mandate amid 

delayed elections that finally took place 

on Dec. 30. 

Now Tshisekedi, 55, is taking over after 

a disputed vote, with his inauguration 

on Thursday marking troubled Congo's 

first democratic transfer of power since 

independence in 1960 from Belgium. 

Many Congolese say his surprise victory 

is one the largely untested opposition 

leader did not earn. 

Runner-up Martin Fayulu on Sunday 

lost a court challenge to election results 

despite presenting leaked data from 

Congo's electoral commission showing 

he easily won. Fayulu has declared 

himself the only legitimate president, 

but Congolese largely have not heeded 

his call for peaceful protests. 

Fayulu and his supporters have 

accused Kabila of making a backroom 

deal with Tshisekedi when 

the ruling party's candidate did 

poorly in the vote. Fayulu, an opposition 

lawmaker and businessman 

who is outspoken about cleaning up 

Congo's sprawling corruption, has 

been seen by some as a bigger 

threat to Kabila and his allies. 

Tshisekedi "was somebody who would 

compromise and somebody they felt 

they could work with because he wasn't 

saying he would launch an investigation 

into Kabila," said Andrew Edward 

Tchie, research fellow at the International 

Institute for Strategic Studies. 

His presidency will essentially be "a 

continuation of the regime," Tchie said. 

Even if Fayulu had been declared the 

winner "it would have been the same 

thing," given that Kabila's ruling coalition 

won a majority of the National 

Assembly. 

Tshisekedi, who was largely quiet after 

the election, has not addressed the allegation 

of a secret deal. He told supporters 

after the court's declaration of his 

victory that "the Congo that we are 

going to form will not be a Congo of 

division, hatred or tribalism. It will be a 

reconciled Congo, a strong Congo that 

will be focused on development, peace 

and security." 

Nobody thought the electoral process 

would be peaceful, Tshisekedi has said, 

and no one thought an opposition candidate 

would win. 

After division among African leaders 

over the disputed vote, some have congratulated 

Tshisekedi and urged Congolese 

to move on in the interest of stability 

after decades of rebel-led turmoil 

that have left millions dead. 

Until his surprise victory, Tshisekedi's 

most notable political act had been 

briefly supporting Fayulu as the candidate 

of an opposition coalition last year 

but then breaking away within a day to 

pursue the presidency himself. 

High court lets military implement 

transgender restrictions 

The Trump administration can go ahead with its plan to 

restrict military service by transgender men and women 

while court challenges continue, the Supreme Court said 

Tuesday, reports UNB. 

The high court split 5-4 in allowing the plan to take effect, 

with the court's five conservatives greenlighting it and its four 

liberal members saying they would not have. The order from 

the court was brief and procedural, with no elaboration from 

the justices. The court's decision clears the way for the Pentagon 

to bar enlistment by people who have undergone a gender 

transition. It will also allow the administration to require 

that military personnel serve as members of their biological 

gender unless they began a gender transition under less 

restrictive Obama administration rules. 

The Trump administration has sought for more than a year 

to change the Obama-era rules and had urged the justices to 

take up cases about its transgender troop policy immediately, 

but the court declined for now. 

Those cases will continue to move through lower courts 

and could eventually reach the Supreme Court again. The 

fact that five justices were willing to allow the policy to take 

effect for now, however, makes it more likely the Trump 

administration's policy will ultimately be upheld. 

Both the Justice and Defense departments released statements 

saying they were pleased by the Supreme Court's 

action. The Pentagon said its policy on transgender troops is 

based on professional military judgment and necessary to 

"ensure the most lethal and combat effective fighting force." 

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said lower 

court rulings had forced the military to "maintain a prior policy 

that poses a risk to military effectiveness and lethality." 

Before beginning to implement its policy the administration 

is expected to need to make a procedural filing in one 

case in Maryland challenging the plan.

ART & CULTURE 

THURsDay, 

JaNUaRy 24, 2019 

8 

Academy Awards 

'Roma,' 'The Favourite' Dominate 

Oscar With 10 Nominations Each 

"Roma," a black-and-white, 

Spanish language coming-of-age 

drama, and "The Favourite," a 

comedy about life in the court of an 

obscure English monarch, 

dominated nominations for the 91st 

Academy Awards, picking up a 

leading 10 nods apiece. The 

competition for the top honor also 

includes "Black Panther," the 

blockbuster comic book film; "A 

Star is Born," a rock 'n roll remake of 

an oft-told love story; and "Vice," a 

scabrous look at the life of former 

Vice President Dick Cheney. 

Marvel adventure became a cultural 

sensation and a rallying cry for the 

power of inclusion at a time when 

Hollywood is under pressure to 

produce more movies starring 

women and people of color. 

"A Star Is Born" and "Vice" scored 

eight nominations each, with "Black 

Panther" close behind with seven 

nods. "Green Book" and "Bohemian 

Rhapsody" each racked up five 

nominations. 

Glenn Close picked up her 

seventh Oscar nomination for "The 

Wife," an indie drama about a 

packed on 40 pounds to transform 

himself into the conservative 

politician, and despite the fact that 

he's already been rewarded for "The 

Fighter" (he shed weight for that 

one), he could be well positioned to 

earn his second statue following a 

Golden Globes win. Right now, 

Bale's main rivals for the prize are 

likely to be Rami Malek, nominated 

for his performance as Mercury in 

"Bohemian Rhapsody," and Bradley 

Cooper, recognized for his work as 

an alcoholic singer in "A Star is 

Born." Malek won the Globe for best 

Glass 

A Security guard, David Dunn uses his 

supernatural abilities to track Kevin 

Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who 

has twenty-four personalities. 

Genre 

Directed By 

Written By 

Cast 

In Theaters 

Runtime 

Studio 

: Drama, Mystery & 

Suspense 

: M. Night 

Shyamalan 

: M. Night 

Shyamalan 

: Bruce Willis, James 

McAvoy, Samuel L. 

Jackson, Sarah 

Paulson, Anya 

Taylor-Joy, 

Spencer Treat Clark 

: Jan 18, 2019 Wide 

: 110 minutes 

: Universal Pictures 

sTORylINE : 

From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. 

Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining 

from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb 

and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as 

Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast. 

Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb's 

superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while 

the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds 

secrets critical to both men. 

"Roma's" strong morning 

solidifies Netflix's position as a 

major force in prestige filmmaking, 

not to mention a company that is 

willing to spend top dollar to 

promote its films to Oscar voters. It 

is the first time Netflix has earned a 

best picture nomination. "The 

Favourite's" recognition comes as 

Fox Searchlight, the studio behind 

the critically adored film is 

preparing for life under a new 

corporate parent, the Walt Disney 

Company. 

The remaining films among the 

eight nominees for best picture are 

"BlacKkKlansman," a thriller about 

a black detective's infiltration of the 

Ku Klux Klan, "Green Book," a road 

trip dramedy that unfolds in the 

Civil Rights era, and "Bohemian 

Rhapsody," a biopic of Freddie 

Mercury that endured the firing of 

its director Bryan Singer to emerge 

as a box office sensation. This year, 

also marks the first time that a 

superhero film, "Black Panther," has 

earned a best picture nod. The 

H O ROsCOPE 

aRIEs 

(March 21 - April 20) : As 

articulate Mercury enters 

Aquarius, the coming weeks can 

be a time of inspiring social 

encounters and opportunities for new 

friendships to emerge. This seems to be part 

of an ongoing and very positive. 

woman whose contributions to the 

career of her husband, a Nobel 

Prize-winning author, have been 

overlooked. If she loses, Close will 

become the unluckiest actress in 

Oscar history, lapping Thelma Ritter 

and Deborah Kerr, both with six 

losses, for that questionable 

distinction. Close's main 

competition is likely to come from 

Lady Gaga, the pop singer who 

dazzled critics with her turn as a 

blazing new vocal talent in "A Star is 

Born," or Olivia Colman, the English 

actress who ably unearthed the 

bruised heart of an otherwise 

gorgon of a queen in "The 

Favourite." The other contenders 

are Yalitza Aparicio for her work as a 

kind-heartted nanny in "Roma" and 

Melissa McCarthy for her turn as a 

misanthropic literary forger in "Can 

You Ever Forgive Me?" 

Best actor is also looking to be a 

tight race. As expected, Christian 

Bale earned his fourth nomination 

for his chameleonic turn as Dick 

Cheney in "Vice." The Welsh actor 

actor in a drama, while Bale took the 

best actor in a comedy prize. The 

Oscars don't distinguish between 

the categories in that way. The other 

nominees were Willem Dafoe for his 

work as a tortured Vincent Van 

Gogh in "At Eternity's Gate" and 

Viggo Mortensen as a racist bouncer 

in "Green Book." Despite being 

recognized for his acting Cooper was 

snubbed for his work directing "A 

Star is Born." 

Instead, the directing category 

includes "Roma's" Alfonso Cuaron, 

a previous Oscar-winner for 

"Gravity," "Vice's" Adam McKay, 

"The Favourite's" Yorgos 

Lanthimos, and "Cold War's" Pawe? 

Pawlikowski. The fifth slot went to 

Spike Lee for "BlacKkKlansman." It 

was astoundingly, the first directing 

nomination for Lee, despite a 

resume that includes such classics as 

"Malcolm X" and "Do the Right 

Thing." Lee was also nominated for 

producing "BlacKkKlansman" and 

for co-writing its screenplay. 

-Variety 

lIBRa 

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23) : While you 

likely have matters to attend 

to, there is real potential for 

enjoying yourself, welcoming 

more playfulness into your life, and for 

getting involved in those activities you truly 

relish. 

art Cave: Inside switzerland's 

magical new gallery 

With its grottos, stalactites and walls blasted from rock, the Muzeum 

Susch is like a Bond villain's secret lair. 

Pebbles from a nearby riverbed form a chunky cobbled floor in the 

entrance to the new Muzeum Susch in Switzerland, as if a tributary once 

flowed through the building. Maybe it still does. The sound of dripping 

water can be heard coming from the end of a corridor, where a shiny trickle 

snakes down a bare rock face. There are other strange things going on. Peer 

through one opening and you find a gnarled column of earth plunging 

down into the basement, as if it's the remains of an archaeological dig. 

Another passage is encrusted with viscous white goo, forming stringy 

stalactites that lead to a curious cave downstairs. 

In this beguiling new gallery in the Engadin valley, it is hard to tell where 

nature ends and artifice begins. It is located on the site of a 12th-century 

monastery, in a rambling complex of buildings that formerly housed a 

vicarage, hospice and brewery, and the young architects Chasper 

Schmidlin and Lukas Voellmy have concocted a magical place where the 

historic fabric, contemporary art and the raw geology of the landscape 

collide. The project is the brainchild of Gra?yna Kulczyk, former wife of the 

late billionaire industrialist Jan Kulczyk, and one of Poland's richest 

women. A 68-year-old with a platinum-blond bob and a fondness for skintight 

leather, Kulczyk has been collecting art since she was a law student in 

the 1970s. She has amassed an impressive haul, predominantly focused on 

female artists, which she describes as a "matrilineage through global art 

history". 

In 2004, Kulczyk established an arts and retail complex in a former 

brewery in her hometown of Pozna?, but sold it in 2015 to concentrate on 

this Swiss outpost, after plans for a base in Warsaw fell through. The 

resulting combination of deep-pocketed patronage and Swiss precision is 

one of the most exquisitely crafted private museums realised in recent 

years. 

-The Guardian 

"Belonging": First Bangladeshi 

Documentary Film in HaF 

Bangladeshi project 

'Belonging' is the first selected 

documentary film in the 17th 

Hong Kong-Asia Film 

Financing Forum (HAF), said 

a press release. The forum has 

selected 23 projects for 

presenting at the Hong Kong 

Convention and Exhibition 

Centre. It will be held from 18 

to 20 March 2019. 

'Belonging' is a Khona 

Talkies production by 

Rubaiyat Hossain and Aadnan 

Imtiaz Ahmed. The film 

director, Abid Hossain Khan 

along with the producers, will 

attend the forum in March. 

Previously, a fiction project 

'Made in Bangladesh' by 

Rubaiyat Hossain participated 

in the same platform in 2017. 

'Belonging' is awarded the 

Bangladesh Government Film 

Fund for documentary in 

2018-19 session. 

Abid Hossain Khan 

examines the tragedy of the 

Muslim-majority Rohingya 

people in 'Belonging'. The story 

is about a 6-year-old Nushaida 

starts a journey to find her 

parents at refugee camps in 

Bangladesh after separating 

from them while fleeing 

Myanmar. 

HAF is a well renowned filmfinancing 

platform in Asia. It is 

an organised platform for 

filmmakers to get in touch to 

other financiers, producers, 

bankers, distributors and 

buyers for potential coproduction 

ventures. 

The projects making this 

year's short-list, selected from 

more than 350 submissions, 

hail from 10 countries and 

territories across the region, 

including Bangladesh, China, 

Hong Kong, Taiwan, Iran, 

Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, 

Philippines and South Korea. 

They come from established 

directors of popular 

mainstream cinema, veteran 

independent filmmakers and 

young talent, all of whom 

seeking funding and industry 

partners. 

TaURUs 

(April 21 - May 21) : A surge of 

activity in a more prominent 

sector can see you keen to connect 

with movers and shakers who may 

be able to help you move up in the world or 

accomplish a key goal. 

GEMINI 

(May 22 - June 21) : The focus on 

your sector of far horizons is 

enhanced from today, as Mercury 

your guide planet, moves into 

Aquarius. You may seek ideas and inspiration by 

travelling to new places. 

CaNCER 

(June 22 - July 23) : Now is the 

time to dig deep and look to 

those matters that may be 

depleting your resources, time 

and energy. With the Sun and insightful 

Mercury in an intense zone, it can pay you to 

look beneath the surface and consider. 

lEO 

(July 24 - Aug. 23) : Relationships 

seem to be going through a 

positive phase, with the current 

star map revealing 

opportunities to talk things through, 

negotiate and to work together on projects or 

challenges with a partner or as part of a team. 

This can be quite an inspirational time too. 

VIRGO 

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23) : The Moon 

in your sign can connect you with 

feelings that you may have been 

too busy to notice until now, but 

that could encourage you to pause and reflect. 

They may not provide any earth-shattering 

revelations, but can bring you closer to 

knowing what you really want. 

sCORPIO 

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) : With the Sun in 

your home zone, encouraging you 

to ease off the accelerator when you 

can, the coming weeks can be 

excellent for getting extra rest where possible, 

eating nurturing food and enjoying some self-care. 

saGITTaRIUs 

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): If good things have 

come your way more easily than usual 

over recent days, this is likely down to 

a positive aspect between sweet Venus 

and upbeat Jupiter, in your sign. And you could still get 

some pleasant surprises over the coming day or so. 

CaPRICORN 

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20) : The coming 

weeks can be an opportunity to do 

some financial planning and 

perhaps to consider ways to save 

money by paring back expenses. It can be the 

little things that once removed, add up to a 

substantial amount. 

aQUaRIUs 

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19): With 

dexterous Mercury entering 

your sign from today, fresh 

ideas can bubble up and breath 

new energy into ongoing projects and into life 

in general. The novel and unique might 

greatly appeal, as can new slants on old ideas. 

With the Sun also now in Aquarius. 

PIsCEs 

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20): You may 

want to keep a new fascination 

under wraps, at least until you 

feel comfortable telling others 

about it. If this is a developing bond, then 

privacy to get to know each other away from 

those who may be only too keen to give their 

opinion, can be a good thing. 

Photographers tease Janhvi Kapoor 

addressing her sara ali Khan 

Actress Janhvi Kapoor was caught in an 

awkward moment when photographers 

decided to pull her leg and call her 'Sara 

Ji' as she stepped out of her trailer. 

When Janhvi hears it, she says, "He is 

doing it intentionally." She says it with a 

smile on her face, understanding that 

the photographers were trying to tease 

her. 

Janhvi was also trolled recently for an 

outfit that she wore for the shoot of a 

popular magazine. Instagram page Diet 

Sabya called out the actor's stylist and 

the designer for plagiarising Balmain's 

design. She was also trolled for her wig, 

the dress and also for nepotism. Some 

even gave a shoutout to Rhea Kapoor 

and Sonam Kapoor, who had posted a 

long note on why one of the Anamika 

Khanna designs that Diet Sabya had 

featured in their Instagram site was not 

a copy. 

On the work front, Janhvi will be seen 

in the biopic of Indian Air?Force officer 

Gunjan Saxena, who was the first female 

Indian pilot. A picture of Jahnvi dressed 

in IAF?uniform was leaked on the social 

media. Janhvi will also be seen in Karan 

Johar's big-budget directorial Takht, 

which will also star Ranveer Singh, Alia 

Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Vicky 

Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar and others. 

Recently speaking of her late mother, 

actor Sridevi, Janhvi had said, "I think, I 

was still in that state of shock, to be very 

honest. I think I am still in shock. None 

of it has been processed. Like, I have no 

memory of three or four months. You 

know at the end of the day, we have the 

same blood in us. I don't remember 

anything of those four months but I do 

remember that one day when we were 

sitting in Harsh (Harshvardhan Kapoor, 

Anil Kapoor's son and Janvhi's cousin) 

bhaiya's room and Arjun bhaiya and 

Anshula didi came in, I think that was 

the one day when I felt like, 'Ok maybe 

we might be okay." 

-The Hindustan Times

SPORTS 

THURSDAY, 

JANUARY 24, 2019 

9 

Mushfiqur was calm and controlled during his 46-ball 64-run knock against Rajshahi Kings on 

Wednesday. 

Photo: Collected 

BPL 2019: 

Chittagong Vikings beat Rajshahi 

Kings by 6 wickets 

Sports Desk: Mushfiqur Rahim's 

decisive knock which saw Chittagong 

Vikings bag their sixth win of this season's 

BPL to climb to the top of the 

standings at the Sher-e-Bangla National 

Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on 

Wednesday. 

Mushfiqur was calm and controlled 

during his 46-ball 64-run knock and 

he was given a helpful hand by allrounder 

Mosaddek Hossain as the 

duo dug deep during an 88-run 

unbroken partnership after Vikings 

lost four wickets for 71 runs. Rajshahi 

have been banking on the death overs 

magic of Mustafizur Rahman in this 

tournament so far and it seemed he 

would cause an upset when Mushfiqur 

hit one hight towards deep 

Westbrook triples 

as Thunder edge 

Portland 

Sports Desk: Russell 

Westbrook bagged his 14th 

triple double of the season as 

the Oklahoma City Thunder 

overpowered Western Conference 

rivals the Portland 

Trail Blazers on Tuesday, 

reports BSS. 

Westbrook finished with 

29 points, 10 rebounds and 

14 assists - to reach double 

digits in three key statistical 

categories - while teammate 

Paul George led the scoring 

with 36 points in a 123-114 

victory at the Chesapeake 

Energy Arena. 

The win saw the Thunder 

improve to 29-18, tightening 

their grip on third place in 

the West ahead of fourthplaced 

Portland, who 

slipped to 29-20 with the 

defeat. 

While Westbrook and 

George led the Thunder's 

scoring, they received support 

throughout the lineup, 

with every starter posting 

double-digits. 

New Zealand's Steven 

Adams and shooting guard 

Terrance Ferguson had 14 

points apiece while Jerami 

Grant had 11 points. Dennis 

Schroder added 13 off the 

bench in his 22 minutes on 

court. 

"It's very important to get 

everyone involved," Westbrook 

said. "We've got so 

many guys in this team that 

are talented. We try to get 

everyone involved and into 

the game." 

The burden of Portland's 

scoring was once again 

shouldered by Damian Lillard, 

who had 34 points. C.J. 

McCollum added 31 points 

while Bosnian international 

Jusuf Nurkic added 22 

points. 

In the Eastern Conference 

on Tuesday, Toronto bagged 

their 36th win of the season 

with an emphatic 120-105 

defeat of the Sacramento 

Kings at Toronto's Scotiabank 

Arena despite resting 

star Kawhi Leonard. 

The Kings, who fell to 24- 

24 after the loss, jolted the 

home crowd after taking a 

34-29 first-quarter lead. 

But the Raptors clicked 

into gear in the second quarter 

to build a four-point lead 

at half-time which held onto 

after the interval. 

square-leg, the fielder only managed 

to help it on for six as he fumbled a 

pretty straight forward catch. 

Mosaddek Hossain (43* off ) hit the 

fourth delivery from the final over, to 

hand a six-wicket victory to the Vikings 

that took them to the top of the table 

after nine matches. 

Earlier, Rajshahi were sent in to bat 

first and they lost a couple of wickets 

early with Soumya Sarkar and Marshal 

Ayub falling cheaply in a slow start. 

Laurie Evans was once again at hand 

and he along with partner in crime Ten 

Doeschate, starred in a fifty partnership 

for the third-wicket but Kings were in a 

bit of trouble as they lost Doeschate and 

Zakir in quick succession. Evan picked 

up his fifty off 45 deliveries with a four 

of Khaled Ahmed before he accelerated, 

hitting three fours off Abu Jayed in 

the 17th over before he hit Khaled for 

two sixes in the next over. He also perished 

to Khaled in the same over as he 

top-edged the paceman after a 56-ball 

74. 

Christiaan Jonker came in and finished 

the innings with a flurry of 

boundaries, hitting three fours and 

two sixes in a 20-ball 36 to see 

Rajshahi post a challenging 157/5 on 

the board. 

Brief Scores: Rajshahi Kings: 157/5 

(Evans 74, Jonker 36*, Khaled 2/30, 

Frylinck 1/31). 

Chittagong Vikings: 159/4 (Mushfiqur 

64*, Mosaddek 43*, Sunny 3/22, 

Miraz 1/25). 

PSG fined 100,000 

euros for racial 

profiling 

Sports Desk: A collective 

negligence led to racial profiling 

at youth-team level 

inside Ligue 1 champions 

Paris Saint-Germain, 

French league authorities 

said Tuesday when fining 

the club 100,000 euros 

($114,000), reports BSS. 

The affair began when 

French investigative website 

Mediapart revealed racial 

profiling by talent scouts 

since 2013 where potential 

youth signings were identified 

by their ethnicity. 

The Qatari-owned club 

also face an upcoming hearing 

from the Paris prosecutors 

on the same matter. 

The football league said 

the use of these forms had 

no part in a general racial 

profiling culture. 

"From what we can see 

PSG did not use the information 

on ethnicity for discriminatory 

ends. There is 

no case of discrimination 

that can be proved," LFP disciplinary 

commissioner 

Sebastien Deneux said at a 

press conference. "It is more 

a case of individual clumsiness 

and collective negligence," 

he said, explaining 

how the system came into 

being.The youth candidates 

were categorised as French, 

North African, West Indian 

or African. Such profiling is 

illegal in France. 

One of PSG's youth team 

directors Bertrand Reuzeau, 

who was in charge from 

2013-2015, was given a suspended 

fine of 10,000 euros 

for his role in the matter. 

The club itself launched an 

internal investigation in 

October "to understand how 

such practices could exist 

and decide what measures 

to take".The club claimed 

after its own review that 

there had been no discrimination 

or measures targeting 

ethnic groups. 

Cristiano Ronaldo pleads guilty 

to tax fraud at Madrid court 

Sports Desk: With a guilty plea and a 

huge fine, Cristiano Ronaldo finally put 

an end to his tax ordeal in Spain, 

reports UNB. 

Nearly four years after an investigation 

was opened, Ronaldo appeared at 

a court in Madrid on Tuesday to plead 

guilty to tax fraud and agree to a fine of 

nearly 19 million euros ($21.6 million). 

The Juventus forward, who was facing 

charges stemming from his days at Real 

Madrid, spent about 45 minutes in 

court to sign the agreement. He was 

also given a two-year suspended sentence. 

Ronaldo will not have to serve time in 

prison because judges in Spain can suspend 

sentences for two years or less for 

first-time offenders. 

The Portugal star smiled broadly 

after leaving court despite the unwanted 

trip back to Madrid, where he played 

until last summer. 

"It's done," he said briefly as he 

walked past some of the hundreds of 

journalists outside the court house. 

He later posted a photo on Twitter of 

himself smiling while apparently taking 

a selfie inside an airplane. The picture 

was accompanied by emoticons that 

included a "thumbs-up." 

Ronaldo arrived in court in a black 

van and was wearing sunglasses, a 

black sports coat, black pants and white 

tennis shoes. He stopped to sign an 

autograph before walking up some 

stairs leading to the court house. He 

was accompanied by his lawyers and 

his partner, Georgina Rodriguez. Police 

officers escorted him. 

The court had dismissed Ronaldo's 

request to enter the building directly 

from the parking lot, which would have 

allowed him to avoid the media. The 

request was made for security reasons, 

but the court said it didn't think the 

measure was needed despite the player's 

notoriety. 

Court officials said Ronaldo didn't 

make any comments while in the courtroom 

to sign the agreement. 

On his way out of the court house, he 

again stopped to sign autographs for a 

few fans who were wedged among the 

journalists. He also made a thumbs-up 

sign as people gathered near the court. 

Ronaldo made the deal to plead guilty 

with Spain's state prosecutor and tax 

authorities last year. 

The investigation reportedly began 

in 2015, and two years later a state 

prosecutor accused Ronaldo of four 

counts of tax fraud from 2011-14 

worth 14.7 million euros ($16.7 million). 

Ronaldo was accused of having 

used shell companies outside Spain to 

hide income made from image rights. 

The accusations didn't involve his 

salary from Real Madrid, his club 

from 2009 until joining Italian champion 

Juventus last year. Ronaldo 

played for Juventus the night before 

his court appearance in Madrid, helping 

the Serie A leader earn a 3-0 win 

against last-place Chievo Verona. 

In 2017, Ronaldo spent about 90 

minutes answering questions in court 

and told a judge he never tried to 

avoid paying taxes. Separately, Ronaldo 

is facing a rape allegation in the 

United States. Kathryn Mayorga filed 

a civil lawsuit in Nevada in September 

claiming Ronaldo raped her in his Las 

Vegas hotel room in 2009. Police 

reopened an investigation into the 

allegation at her request. Ronaldo has 

denied any wrongdoing. 

Former Real Madrid player Xabi 

Alonso also was in court in Madrid 

on Tuesday. He is accused of 

defrauding tax authorities of about 2 

million euros ($2.3 million) from 

2010-12. 

The retired Spain midfielder denied 

any wrongdoing after spending nearly 

three hours in the court house. 

"I've done everything correctly, never 

tried to hide anything," he said. "I'm 

confident justice will be done." 

Alonso had initially been found 

innocent but the case against him was 

reopened. 

He could be sentenced to five years 

in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 

4 million euros ($4.5 million), in addition 

to the amount allegedly defrauded. 

The charges are related to Alonso's 

income from image rights. He played 

for Madrid from 2009-14. 

Several other soccer figures have 

been subjected to investigations from 

tax authorities in Spain in recent 

years, including Lionel Messi, Jose 

Mourinho, Javier Mascherano, 

Marcelo, Luka Modric, Alexis 

Sanchez, Ricardo Carvalho, Angel Di 

Maria, Radamel Falcao and Fabio 

Coentrao. 

Messi was found guilty three years 

ago, along with his father, on three 

counts of defrauding tax authorities of 

4.1 million euros (then $4.6 million) 

on income made from image rights. 

Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo leaves a Madrid courthouse with his girlfriend Georgina 

Rodriguez after pleading guilty to tax evasion. 

Photo: AP 

Spin twins set up crushing victory 

for India over New Zealand 

Sports Desk: A match billed as a runfest 

was turned upside-down by India's spin 

twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal 

on Wednesday, as New Zealand were 

crushed by eight wickets in the first one-day 

international in Napier, reports BSS. 

India arrived at the ground with captain 

Virat Kohli expecting 300-plus to be par but 

when his bowlers rolled New Zealand for 157 

the outcome became a formality. 

"When I lost the toss I thought it's going to 

be 300 plus but the way the guys bowled and 

created pressure turned out to be absolutely 

opposite," he said. 

"You know, 150 on that kind of a wicket 

was quite an easy total to chase down and it 

all boils down to the effort of the bowlers." 

Yadav and Chahal delivered a spin bowling 

masterclass, mesmerising New Zealand with 

six wickets between them, while Mohammed 

Shami claimed three as New Zealand folded 

for a mere 157 with 12 overs to spare. 

The target was reduced by two runs and 

one over for India following a 30-minute 

break when the setting sun blinded the eyes 

of players and umpires. 

But the interruption made no difference to 

Shikhar Dhawan, who was unbeaten on 75 

after leading India to mow down the target in 

34.5 overs. 

A disappointed New Zealand captain Kane 

Williamson blamed his side's effort on an 

inability to handle the precision Indian 

attack. 

"Usually you come here and you're thinking 

300-plus, sometimes mid 300s, but it 

certainly wans't that and required a bit more 

graft," he said. 

"Judging by some of the dismissals it 

showed we didn't adjust as quickly as we 

would like to." 

Coming off a series win against Australia, 

India showed they are building nicely as a 

well-balanced unit four months out from the 

World Cup, while for New Zealand there is 

work to be done. 

The New Zealand innings folded so quickly 

that India had time to bat for nine overs 

before the scheduled break, reaching 41 with 

Dhawan on 29 and Sharma on 11. 

Sharma went on the second ball after the 

interval, with Doug Bracewell making the 

breakthrough, before the players left the field 

again when the setting sun reached a dangerously 

low angle. 

When India's innings restarted again, 

Dhawan on 31 was dropped by wicketkeeper 

Tom Latham. 

It was a costly error for New Zealand as the 

left-hander, who passed 5,000 ODI runs in 

the course of the innings, went on to make 

his 26th half century. 

Kohli, a day after becoming the first player 

to clinch all three top International Cricket 

Council honours including cricketer of the 

year, was caught behind for 45. Ambati 

Rayudu finished not out 13. 

When New Zealand elected to bat, it took 

Shami only eight deliveries to clean out 

openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro 

before Yadav and Chahal worked their 

magic. 

Ross Taylor's run of six successive 

half-centuries came to an end when he was 

caught and bowled by Chahal for 24. 

Tom Latham, reputedly New Zealand's 

best player of spin, went the same way for 11. 

Williamson, so often saddled with the task 

of rescuing his side, reached 64 before he fell 

to Yadav. 

New Zealand were then 146 for seven, with 

the last three wickets adding only 11 more 

runs. 

Yadav finished with four for 39, Chahal 

took two for 43, while Shami had three for 19 

off six overs. 

The second match in the five-match series 

is on Saturday in Mount Maunganui. 

The Indian wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav (right) and Yuzvendra Singh 

Chahal (second from left) proved unplayable for the New Zealanders. 

Photo: AP 

Pliskova slays Serena as Djokovic 

cruises into semis 

Sports Desk: Serena Williams's bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title was 

brought to a halt in sensational style at the Australian Open Wednesday by Karolina Pliskova, 

but fellow former champion Novak Djokovic cruised into the semi-finals, reports BSS. 

The American great had beaten world number one Simona Halep in the fourth round but 

folded against the tall Czech seventh seed, who saved four match points before winning 6-4, 

4-6, 7-5 under the hot Melbourne sun.Her reward is a clash against Japan's Naomi Osaka for 

a place in the final, after the Japanese fourth seed brutally swatted aside the injured Elina Svitolina 

6-4, 6-1. 

World number one Djokovic enjoyed an early night when courageous Kei Nishikori retired 

with a thigh strain when losing 6-1, 4-1 after going through three five-set epics during the 

tournament. It kept the Serb's bid for a record seventh Australian title on track and he will 

now meet French 28th seed Lucas Pouille, who beat power-serving Canadian Milos Raonic 

7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4 to make his first Slam semi. 

It was a gut-wrenching defeat for Williams, who battled back from a set down and was leading 

5-1 in the third and serving for the match, only to throw it away with some wild shots as 

frustrations bubbled to the surface."There's nothing I did wrong on those match points. I 

stayed aggressive. She just literally hit the lines on some of them," said the dumbfounded 37- 

year-old, who rolled an ankle but refused to blame it for the defeat. 

Since returning last year from giving birth, Williams has made four unsuccessful attempts 

to match Margaret Court's long-time standing 24 Grand Slam titles, and the wait continues 

with the French Open in May her next chance."The big picture for me is always winning," she 

added. "I'm not going to sit here and lie about that. It hasn't happened yet, but I feel like it's 

going to happen." For Pliskova, it is only her third semi-final at a major. She made the last 

four at Roland Garros in 2017 and the US Open a year earlier, where she beat Williams before 

losing the final to Angelique Kerber. "I was almost in the locker-room but now I am standing 

here as a winner. It is a very good feeling," she said after depriving Williams of a US Open 

final rematch with Osaka. 

Paine tells bowlers to bounce out 

Sri Lanka after humbling loss 

Sports Desk: Australian captain Tim Paine said Wednesday that Sri Lanka should prepare 

themselves for a bouncer barrage when the first day-night Test gets under way in Brisbane 

this week, reports BSS. 

Paine said that Australia's much-vaunted pace attack hadn't used the bouncer effectively in 

their recent series loss to India. The Australians went into the Test series against India boasting 

one of the most formidable pace attacks in world cricket - but Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood 

and Pat Cummins were comprehensively outbowled by their Indian counterparts. 

To make matters worse, the three pacemen failed to get a single lbw decision as India 

claimed a historic series win. Paine said while praise should go to the Indian batsmen, his 

bowlers will be better prepared when the day-night Test against Sri Lanka begins Thursday. 

"India batted really well," he conceded. 

"Sub-continent players, when the wickets are good, like the ball being bowled at their 

stumps and they don't miss too many when they're in the form some of those guys were in." 

The Australian skipper said the bowling attack, which has lost Hazlewood to injury, would 

have to improve on the lively Gabba wicket. "Look, I would have liked to have been hitting the 

stumps a little bit more than we were and that's been spoken about," he said.

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 

BANGLADESHTODAY 10 

THE 


Photo shows Mohammodi Khanam, Managing Director & CEO, Prime Insurance Company Limited 

is receiving SAFA award from CMA (Dr.) PVS Jagan Mohan Rao, President SAFA for best published 

Annual report for the year 2017 in insurance category. Among others Badal Chandra Rajbangshi, 

Chief Financial Officer, Prime Insurance Co. Ltd is looking on. 

Photo: Courtesy 

Bank of Japan 

lowers inflation 

forecasts again 

Japan's central bank again 

revised down its inflation 

forecasts on Wednesday, in 

the latest sign of its struggle 

to reach a long-sought two 

percent rate that officials 

consider key to boost the 

economy. 

After a two-day meeting the 

policy board left its 

mammoth monetary easing 

programme in place, as 

expected, and lowered the 

inflation forecast for the fiscal 

year ending March next year 

to 0.9 percent from 1.4 

percent. 

It said the decision to revise 

down the forecast was "due 

primarily to the decline in 

crude oil prices." 

The revision in its quarterly 

report follows a previous 

downgrade in late October. 

The BoJ in 2013 embarked 

on a huge bond-buying 

programme in a bid to 

stimulate long-dormant 

prices with the stated aim of 

hitting two percent inflation 

within two years. 

But while the plan - which 

ran in tandem with Prime 

Minister Shinzo Abe's bigspending 

drive to ramp up 

the economy - showed early 

promise, the bank has been 

forced to delay several times 

the date for hitting its target. 

It has in the past blamed a 

"deflation mindset" caused 

by consumers and employers 

used to long periods of low 

growth and deflation. 

While it said Japan's 

economy will likely continue 

to expand, it added that "the 

mindset and behaviour based 

on the assumption that wages 

and prices will not increase 

easily have been deeply 

entrenched". 

Officials have pointed to 

other factors including 

cautious wage and price 

growth from firms, and 

increased technological 

progress that has reduced 

costs and intensified 

competition. 

"It has been taking time to 

resolve these factors that 

have been delaying price 

rises," the bank said. 

The tepid inflation rate has 

meant the BoJ has had to 

maintain its easy money 

policy, even as other central 

banks begin to tighten. 

However, the safe haven 

status of the yen and growing 

global economic uncertainty 

have helped the Japanese 

currency hold its strength 

against the greenback. On 

Wednesday it was slightly 

down at 109.65 per dollar 

compared with 109.37 

Tuesday. 

However, in the longerterm, 

firms will shift toward 

raising wages and prices and 

the country's inflation rate "is 

likely to increase gradually 

toward two percent", it 

insisted. 

The bank also slightly 

lowered the inflation forecast 

for the current fiscal year 

ending March 2019 to 0.8 

percent from 0.9 percent, 

and reduced the projection 

for the year ending March 

2021 to 1.4 percent from 1.5 

percent. 

Those figures do not factor 

in the effects of a 

consumption tax hike 

expected to go into effect in 

around October. 

The BoJ also adjusted 

forecasts for year-on-year 

economic growth rate. 

For the fiscal 2019 it 

revised up its growth 

projection to 0.9 percent 

from 0.8 percent, and for the 

fiscal 2020 it revised up the 

forecast to 1.0 percent from 

0.8 percent. 

The bank pointed to an 

array of downside risks for 

Japan's growth including "US 

macroeconomic policies and 

their impact on global 

financial markets", 

protectionism and Brexit. 

At Davos, China 

slowdown is 'no 

disaster' 

The slowdown in Chinese growth has 

become the latest looming cloud over the 

global economy, but at the World Economic 

Forum in Davos, the advice from Beijing was 

not to worry. 

"China is slowing down but it's not going to 

be a disaster," said Fang Xinghai, vicechairman 

of China's Securities Regulatory 

Commission, a key government watchdog. 

Fang's affirmation of the Chinese 

economy, and the deep worries of outsiders, 

came just days after the government 

reported that China grew at its slowest pace 

in almost three decades in 2018. 

At 6.6 percent growth, the state of the 

Chinese economy became a world concern, a 

sentiment not helped by the festering trade 

war with the US that has destabilised world 

markets. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed the 

government would not let the economy "fall 

off a cliff", using words that hinted that a 

crisis may not be far off. 

But China is simply different, said Fang on 

a Davos panel that was supposed to survey 

the global economy, but got bogged down on 

discussing the troubled Asian powerhouse. 

For Fang, the structure of the Chinese 

government - where the central, communist 

party holds so much control - made fixing 

the economy easier. 

"China has been able to avoid financial 

crisis in the last 40 years. We have a very top 

down approach to financial risk 

management," he said. 

"If there is any risk accumulated in the 

system, the government will step in and 

order the risk to be reduced," he said. 

Economists and analysts roaming the halls 

of the Davos congress centre, where the 

world's business elite meet every year, 

echoed the optimistic assessment. 

Governments in China don't have the kind 

of surprises that lurk in Western 

democracies, including independent 

regulators or central banks. 

"Only two years ago, China was 

considered to be a ticking financial bomb. 

What we are seeing as a recent slowdown is 

simply a consequence of the government's 

very successful effort to deleverage," said Jin 

Keyu, professor at the London School of 

Economics. 

Deleveraging, or cutting back on debt, has 

been seen as a stark challenge for China that 

borrowed heavily to finance mega-projects - 

such as ports, railways and factories - geared 

toward driving exports. 

"Clearly the manufacturing sectors are 

doing poorly but that is for two reasons. One 

is the trade war, the other is that is where a 

lot of debt is," said Nariman Behravesh, chief 

economist at IHS Markit. However, "the 

Chinese will do whatever it takes to keep 

growth above six percent," Behravesh said. 

The economist also questioned why China 

was getting so much negative attention, 

given the risks lurking elsewhere in the world 

economy. 

"I am not sure why there isn't just as much 

attention on Europe. In some ways there is 

just as many risks there," he said. 

Tokyo shares 

recover losses 

after bargain 

hunting 

Tokyo stocks recovered 

from earlier losses to end 

almost flat Wednesday, as 

the dollar firmed while 

investors searched for new 

cues. 

The benchmark Nikkei 

225 index ended down just 

0.14 percent, or 29.19 points, 

at 20,593.72, while the 

broader Topix index fell 

0.60 percent, or 9.40 points, 

to 1,547.03. 

Tokyo shares began 

trading in the red, touching 

the day's low of 20,438.22 a 

minute after the opening 

bell, after Wall Street shares 

ended down. 

But "bargain hunters 

stepped in when the Nikkei 

225 dipped below the 

20,500 mark", and the 

Tokyo market steadily 

reduced losses, Okasan 

Online Securities said in a 

commentary. 

Before lunch, the Nikkei 

recovered ground and the 

index zigzagged between 

positive and negative 

territory in a narrow band 

for the rest of the session, 

ending marginally in the red. 

The dollar fetched 109.66 

yen in Asian trade, up from 

109.37 yen in New York on 

Tuesday, as the Bank of 

Japan kept its policy in place 

while revising down its 

inflation forecasts. 

In Tokyo, exporters were 

broadly lower although 

some gained, with Olympus 

closing up 0.55 percent at 

4,565 yen and Nikon ending 

up 1.06 percent at 1,713 yen. 

Toyota ended down 0.94 

percent at 6,720 yen and 

Nissan was down 0.38 

percent at 910.3 yen. 

Subaru dropped 3.44 

percent to 2,469.5 yen after 

a technical glitch that has 

forced the suspension of 

operations at a domestic 

plant. 

Japan logs first 

trade deficit 

since 2015 

Japan logged a trade 

deficit last year for the first 

time since 2015, with 

exports shrinking amid 

tensions between the 

country's two biggest trading 

partners - China and the 

United States. 

Japan logged the deficit of 

1,203 billion yen ($11 

billion) in 2018 after two 

years of surplus, with annual 

growth in exports slowing to 

4.1 percent from 11.8 percent 

in 2017, according to the 

finance ministry data 

released Wednesday. 

Exports to China 

increased 6.8 percent, 

markedly slower than the 

previous year's 20.5 percent 

growth. 

Growth in shipments to 

the United States slowed to 

2.3 percent from 6.9 

percent. 

"US-bound exports were 

not strong but still solid, 

whereas shipments to Asia, 

notably to China, slowed 

down," said Takeshi 

Minami, chief economist at 

Norinchukin Research 

Institute. 

Prime 

Insurance 

Bagged Safa 

Award 

An ISO certified insurance 

company Prime Insurance 

Company Limited has bagged 

prestigious South Asian 

Federation of Accountants 

(SAFA) Award for its 

published accounts for the 

year 2017 in the insurance 

category. Mohammodi 

Khanam, Managing Director 

& CEO received the award 

from CMA (Dr.) PVS Jagan 

Mohan Rao, President SAFA 

in a program held in Pune 

India on 22nd January, 2019. 

Among others Badal 

Chandra Rajbangshi, Chief 

Financial Officer, Prime 

Insurance Co. Ltd was also 

present on the occasion, a 

press release said 

It is mentioned worthy that 

Prime Insurance Company 

Limited also got this award for 

its published report of 2016. 

SAFA as a forum of 

professional accountancy 

bodies is committed to 

positioning, maintaining and 

developing the accountancy 

profession in SAARC 

countries. 

At the initiative of National Bank's Chairman, a veteran freedom fighter & a renowned organizer 

of the great war of liberation, Zainul Haque Sikder, the bank holds a fire rescue drill trial yesterday. 

The program was organized by the System & Operation Division of NBL & Fire Service & 

Civil Defense and was supervised by the Head of S&OD, NBL, Major Sk. Md. Yusuf Reza (Retd). 

The program was held to make the officials aware of the dos & donts during a fire accident, how 

to prevent those & how to rescue the victims. Managing Director of NBL Choudhury Moshtaq 

Ahmed, Additional Managing Directors Wasif Ali Khan, M.A. Wadud & ASM Bulbul and all the 

officials of NBL Head Office attended the program. 

Photo: Courtesy 

Asian markets mixed as 

dealers battle uncertainty 

Asian markets were mixed 

Wednesday following a 

negative lead from Wall 

Street as investors grow 

nervous about the chances 

of success in China-US trade 

talks ahead of a crunch 

meeting next week. 

The mood remains 

cautious, with the rally that 

has characterised the start of 

the year stuttering owing to 

a slowing Chinese economy, 

a softer global outlook and 

other issues including Brexit 

and the US government 

shutdown, which shows no 

sign of ending soon. 

US investors turned sellers 

on Tuesday after the 

Financial Times and CNBC 

said Washington had 

rejected Beijing's offer of 

preparatory discussions 

ahead 

of the next round of highlevel 

negotiations. 

And while the White 

House denied the reports, 

observers said they 

highlighted the fragility of 

the talks. They also came a 

day after Bloomberg News 

said the two sides were 

struggling to reach 

agreement on the crucial 

matter of intellectual 

property, a key source of US 

anger. 

Hopes that China and the 

US were on the right track 

have helped rally global 

markets in January, having 

suffered a torrid 2018. 

But data showing China's 

economy grew at its weakest 

pace in three decades added 

China, Europe follow Brazil's 

Bolsonaro onto Davos stage 

China and Europe take centre stage in 

front of the world's business elite at Davos on 

Wednesday, a day after Brazil's hard-right 

President Jair Bolsonaro promised reform 

and tried to win over sceptics about his 

environmental platform. 

The annual World Economic Forum 

(WEF) is taking place this week in a global 

context of populism and concern for the 

catastrophic consequences of climate 

change. 

Arriving by train to Davos on Wednesday 

is Greta Thunberg, a Swedish 16-year-old 

who has inspired protests by high-schoolers 

across Europe demanding stronger 

government action to fight global warming. 

Top billing on the WEF stage will go to 

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, who is 

tasked with negotiating a truce in the US- 

China trade war. 

The annual conference in the Alpine ski 

resort was originally expected to see the two 

sides meet, but that was before the White 

House cancelled the US delegation's trip due 

to the government shutdown in Washington. 

Beyond the trade war, Davos-goers are 

also concerned about the economic 

slowdown in China. 

Economic experts predict growth of about 

six percent in China for 2019, which is still 

relatively strong, but below the country's 

stellar rates of recent years. 

to fears it is heading for a 

hard landing, while Xi 

Jinping also showed signs of 

worrying about the effects of 

a slowdown in a speech to 

top provincial leaders this 

week. 

"Investors obviously are 

still a little bit edgy and 

therefore we would 

expect periods of volatility 

to continue," Mark Hackett, 

chief of investment 

research at Nationwide 

Funds Group, said. 

"As the headlines continue 

to get more nerve-wracking 

with regards to a global 

slowdown and trade wars 

and government shutdowns, 

it's easy to spook investors, 

but we think those are 

temporary versus 

permanent." 

Adding to concerns was 

confirmation that the US 

plans to seek the extradition 

from Canada of a top 

executive with Chinese 

telecom giant Huawei before 

the end of January. 

Hong Kong was flat having 

swung back and forth 

through the day, while 

Shanghai closed 0.1 

percent higher and Tokyo 

ended slightly down. 

Sydney was down 0.3 

percent while Singapore 

shed 0.5 percent and Seoul 

added 0.5 percent. 

Wellington, Taipei and 

Manila were all lower while 

Mumbai, Bangkok and 

Jakarta inched up. 

In early trade London and 

Paris each fell 0.4 percent, 

while Frankfurt was off 0.6 

percent. 

Oil prices were slightly 

higher after taking a hit 

Tuesday on lingering 

worries about the effect of a 

slowdown in the global 

economy, and particularly 

China, on demand. 

The commodity has 

jumped around a fifth from 

lows touched in December - 

having dived about 40 

percent from early October - 

but investors continue to fret 

over the demand outlook as 

producers keep the taps 

open. "The story behind the 

broad-based selling (in 

commodities) is an easy one: 

falling demand," said 

OANDA market analyst 

Edward Moya, pointing to 

China's 

slowing growth, the IMF's 

decision to lower its global 

forecasts and downbeat 

outlooks from big firms 

this earnings season. 

"US shale production 

continues to surge and 

pushing refiners to the 

highest pace in 15 years. 

Record stocks of fuel keeps 

the gasoline glut in focus," 

he added. 

On currency markets the 

yen eased against the dollar 

after the Bank of Japan 

again revised down its 

inflation forecasts as it 

struggles to achieve its longsought 

two percent rate. It 

said the decision to revise 

down the forecast was "due 

primarily to the decline in 

crude oil prices". 

Wang will be watched closely to see if 

Beijing has plans for stimulus or to liberalise 

the economy in order to restore ebbing 

investor confidence. 

The clash between Beijing and 

Washington, which is again upsetting the 

markets, has dampened spirits at Davos, as 

signs grow of a broader slowdown in the 

world economy. "This is really the end of 

happy globalisation," said Pascal Cagni, ex- 

CEO of Apple Europe and head of the 

Business France lobby. 

"We are finishing digesting the 2008 crisis 

and we realise that the global governance we 

need is not there," he said. 

Europe also takes its turn at the WEF on 

Wednesday, with German Chancellor 

Angela Merkel making her traditional visit to 

the forum to promote the continent's leading 

economy. 

However, Merkel comes to Davos 

weakened after being forced out of the 

leadership of her CDU party last year. She 

plans to leave office by 2020. 

The Europeans as a whole come to Davos 

under the cloud of Brexit, with Britain's plan 

to divorce from the European Union blocked 

in parliament. 

Prime Minister Theresa May pulled out of 

the conference to handle Brexit as did the 

EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, both 

eager to avoid a "no deal" exit on March 29. 

Rupee spurts 

29 paise 

against US 

dollar in 

early trade 

The rupee rose 29 paise to 

71.15 against the US dollar in 

early session Wednesday on 

increased selling of the 

American currency by 

exporters and banks amid a 

positive opening of the 

domestic equity markets. 

At the Interbank forex 

market, the rupee opened 

higher at 71.19 and advanced 

further to quote 29 paise 

higher at 71.15 against the 

dollar. 

Besides, the dollar falling 

against other currencies 

overseas on lingering worries 

about a global slowdown and 

continuing US-China trade 

tensions, supported the 

Indian rupee, forex dealers 

said. 

However, sustained foreign 

fund outflows capped the 

gains, they added. 

On Tuesday, the rupee had 

skidded by 16 paise - its third 

straight session of loss - to 

close at 71.44 against the US 

dollar amid strengthening of 

the greenback and heavy 

selling in domestic equities. 

Foreign portfolio investors 

(FPIs) sold shares worth a net 

of Rs 78.53 crore, and 

domestic institutional 

investors (DIIs) were sellers to 

the tune of Rs 84.15 crore 

Tuesday, provisional data 

showed. 

Meanwhile, the benchmark 

BSE Sensex rose 37.05 points, 

or 0.10 per cent, to 36,481.69 

after rising to 36,521.47 in 

opening trade.

MISCELLANEOUS 


11 



Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and Christian Aid organized a result sharing workshop 

on "Baseline Study on SDGs situations in Hard to Reach Areas" and "NGO Mapping Under 

Advocacy on SDGs Implementation in Hard to Reach Areas Focusing LNB Imperative" on 

Wednesday in the capital city. 

Photo : Courtesy 

Venezuelans clean up after 

violent protests in capital 

Working class neighborhoods in Venezuela's 

capital cleaned up charred rubble and 

smoldering trash Tuesday as they harbored 

fears that demonstrations called by the 

opposition could spur further violence, 

reports UNB. 

Unrest broke out a day earlier when 

authorities arrested 27 members of the National 

Guard who were accused of launching an 

uprising against President Nicolas Maduro. 

Opposition leaders, who are calling for 

nationwide protests Wednesday, have 

regained momentum in their efforts to 

confront the socialist president as the oncewealthy 

oil nation slides into a deepening 

political and economic crisis, with angry 

residents heeding the call to action. 

Overnight, Venezuelans barricaded streets in 

dozens of Caracas areas that haven't seen such 

turmoil in years. Local merchant Carmen 

Martinez said her neighbors were frustrated by 

rising costs and a lack of basic goods under the 

current government. 

"The people are going into the streets just for 

that reason," Martinez said. "What do you do? 

Nobody seems to notice us." 

The sound of gunfire was heard in some 

neighborhoods, while people in others banged 

pots and pans from their open windows. 

"Here we are all in the same holding pen: 

without light, without water, without 

medicine, without gas and with an uncertain 

future," Juan Guaido, president of the 

opposition-controlled National Assembly, 

wrote on Twitter, calling for nationwide 

demonstrations and urging Venezuelans to 

abandon Maduro. 

Guaido, a member of the Popular Will party, is 

also pursuing a campaign to gain the support of 

the armed forces, which Maduro's government 

GD-139/19 (4 x 3) 

GD-142/19 (5 x 3) 

relies on to suppress unrest. 

Dozens of leaders in the international 

community have joined the chorus calling 

Maduro's presidency illegitimate. U.S. Vice 

President Mike Pence on Tuesday pledged his 

support for the people of Venezuela who take 

to the streets against Maduro. 

"Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no 

legitimate claim to power," Pence said in a 

video message. "He has never won the 

presidency in a free and fair election, and has 

maintained his grip of power by imprisoning 

anyone who dares to oppose him." 

The government has accused the opposition 

of attempting to mount a coup. 

The latest turmoil began Monday when a 

small group of soldiers took captive a captain in 

charge of a police station in western Caracas 

and stole a cache of weapons from another 

outpost. 

Officials said 25 soldiers were quickly caught 

at the National Guard outpost 3 kilometers (2 

miles) from the Miraflores presidential palace, 

and two more arrests were made at another 

location. 

The same night, another group of heavily 

armed national guardsmen published a series 

of videos on social media saying they won't 

recognize Maduro's government, citing 

Guaido's call to action. 

Minister of Communication Jorge 

Rodriguez said at a Tuesday news conference 

that investigators recovered most of the 51 

stolen weapons. The 11 still missing are in the 

hands of the Popular Will party, he said, 

without offering proof. 

"We warn that the nexus has been clearly 

linked between terrorists in the Popular Will 

party and those who perpetrated isolated 

violence yesterday," Rodriguez said. 



A look at Malaysia's 

monarchy before 

sultans pick next king 

After stripping Malaysia's 

royal families of some of 

their powers during his 22- 

year stint as prime minister, 

Mahathir Mohamad almost 

didn't make it to the premiership 

a second time, 

reports UNB. 

Though largely a ceremonial 

post, Malaysia's 

monarch still signs off on 

most laws and appointments, 

including the prime 

minister, and hours after 

Mahathir and his alliance's 

stunning general election 

victory last May, King Sultan 

Muhammad V offered the 

job to someone else. 

The offer was rejected and 

Mahathir heaped pressure 

on the king by holding a 

series of news conferences. 

The king subsequently 

signed off on Mahathir, but 

the hours of uncertainty put 

the spotlight on Malaysia's 

monarchy at a time when 

some of the royals are seeking 

to reassert their influence 

in politics. 

Though Malaysia has only 

had a constitutional monarch 

since 1957, several of 

Malaysia's nine royal families 

trace their roots to centuriesold 

Malay kingdoms that 

were independent states until 

they were brought together 

by the British. 

Russian police 

detain drunken 

man who 

hijacked plane 

Russian police detained a 

drunken man who threatened 

the crew of an passenger 

plane flying Tuesday 

from a Siberian city to 

Moscow, forcing it to land 

shortly after take-off, 

reports UNB. 

The Russian Investigative 

Committee said that the man 

told the Aeroflot crew that 

he was armed and demanded 

the diversion of the plane 

after it had taken off from 

the Siberian city of Surgut. 

The plane landed in the city 

of Khanty-Mansiysk, about 

230 kilometers (145 miles) 

to the west. 

The plane stood on the 

runway in Khanty-Mansiysk 

for more than an hour 

before law enforcement officials 

went onboard. The airport 

was evacuated and the 

area cordoned off. Aeroflot 

said no one was hurt. 

The investigators said the 

man has been identified as 

a Surgut resident who has a 

past conviction for property 

damage. He will now face 

charges of hijacking. 

Israeli shelling kills 

Gaza militant after 

officer wounded 

Israeli shelling of the Gaza 

Strip on Tuesday killed a 

Palestinian militant and 

wounded four others shortly 

after an Israeli soldier 

was shot on the border of 

the coastal enclave, authorities 

said. Following the 

incident, Israel said it 

would halt a key transfer of 

Qatari funds to the Gaza 

Strip, reports UNB. 

The Israeli military said 

that an officer was lightly 

wounded after a bullet hit 

his helmet "during a riot in 

the southern Gaza Strip" 

and that Israeli tanks fired 

at a Hamas militant position 

in response. 

GD-138/19 (20 x 4)

UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY 

ThURSDAY, DhAKA, JANUARY 24, 2019, MAgh 11, 1425 BS, JAMADIUL AWAL 17, 1440 hIJRI 

The construction work stall at Bangla Academy ground going on ahead of Ekushey Book Fair. 

The photo was taken on Wednesday. 

Photo: Star Mail 

Dutch support sought to implement 

Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 

dhaka : bangladesh expects 

netherlands to come forward to support 

it to implement the bangladesh 

delta plan 2100, says bangladesh 

ambassador in The hague, reports 

unb. 

bangladesh also sought dutch support 

for implementation of sustainable 

development Goals (sdGs) and to be a 

partner of development through 

implementation of bangladesh delta 

plan 2100, which is premised on 

greater attention to the grassroots 

through its in-built bottom-up 

approach. 

bangladesh ambassador to the 

netherlands sheikh Mohammed belal 

mentioned netherlands' vast reservoir 

of knowledge and technology, huge 

pool of water and delta related business 

entities and knowledge institutions 

as well as enormous goodwill for 

bangladesh. 

The delta bond between bangladesh 

and the netherlands was reassured in 

a seminar at the littéraire 

sociëteit de Witte in The hague 

recently, said the embassy on 

Wednesday. 

ambassador belal appreciated 

dutch innovation and creativity in 

securing their country from the 

scourge of floods despite large part of 

its being below the mean sea level, and 

underscored that the dutch ingenuity 

in delta management would be critical 

in implementing bangladesh delta 

plan 2100 as well like its technical 

assistance to bangladesh in formulating 

the plan. 

he recalled the historic visit of prime 

Minister sheikh hasina to the 

netherlands in november 2015 and 

the twin-ministerial visit from the 

netherlands to bangladesh in June 

2015 towards forging institutional 

cooperation between the two delta 

countries and the dutch assurance for 

the implementation of bangladesh 

delta plan 2100 to make our delta safe 

and productive for the people. 

prof dr Jaap de heer, Team leader 

and director of the Consortium 

assigned to prepare the bangladesh 

delta plan 2100, made a keynote presentation 

in the seminar. 

he elaborated on the genesis of 

bangladesh delta plan 2100 and 

explained the key features of the plan 

and implementation challenges. 

appreciating the government of 

bangladesh for undertaking a longterm 

plan for sustainable deltaic 

bangladesh, professor Jaap de heer 

underscored the need to mobilize 

required fund and appropriate institutions 

to implement the plan. 

as the delta management in 

bangladesh will largely depend upon 

cooperation with the himalayan basin 

countries due to bangladesh's many 

trans-boundary rivers, professor Jaap 

de heer also emphasized the need to 

have broader regional cooperation in 

the water sector across the basin 

states. 

The ambassador and professor Jaap 

de heer responded to the questions 

asked by the distinguished members of 

the asian Table. The programme was 

moderated by secretary of the asian 

Table ronald staallekker. 

amongst the audience, there were 

former ambassadors, civil servants, 

politicians, consultants in different 

fields with experience in asia in general 

and bangladesh in particular. 

Yanghee Lee 

to visit 

Bhashan Char 

dhaka : un special 

rapporteur on the situation of 

human rights in Myanmar 

yanghee lee will soon visit 

bhashan Char, an island in 

noakhali where the government 

has planned to shift 

rohingyas, to see the situation 

on the ground, reports unb. 

lee, who arrived here on 

saturday, is now visiting Cox's 

bazar to see for herself the 

rohingya situation there amid 

Myanmar's continued denial to 

her access to rakhine state. 

Theun special rapporteur 

has already rescheduled her 

press conference for Friday 

instead of Thursday. 

"Change date for press 

Conference to 25 Jan!!due to 

access to bashan Char island!!! 

Watch live too!," she tweeted on 

Wednesday afternoon. 

she is likely to leave Cox's 

bazar on Thursday to go to the 

island, said an official. 

The un special rapporteur 

arrived 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 2019. 

The Myanmar government 

has maintained its decision to 

cease cooperation with the 

special rapporteur, and 

refused her entry into 

Myanmar. 

earlier on sunday, Foreign 

Minister dr ak abdul Momen 

said the government will take all 

the interested foreigners, 

including diplomats, to 

bhashan Char in noakhali to 

see the situation on the ground 

once the work is completed 

there. 

Over 145,000 Rohingya 

kids return to school in 

Bangladesh: UNICEF 

CoX's baZar : More than 145,000 

rohingya children living in bangladesh 

camps are now attending uniCeF-supported 

learning centres, as a new school year 

begins, reports unb. 

Currently 97 per cent of adolescents and 

youths aged 15 to 24 do not receive any kind 

of education in the camps, says uniCeF on 

Wednesday. This group is extremely vulnerable 

to child marriage, child labour, human 

trafficking, abuse and exploitation, it said. 

Following a "huge effort" from the humanitarian 

community to construct a network of 

around 1,600 learning Centres throughout 

the camps - providing vital access to education 

for children who fled violence in 

Myanmar - attention is now turning to providing 

education for thousands of other children 

who still lack access. 

The aim is to eventually reach 260,000 

children with education this year through an 

extended network of 2,500 learning Centres 

run by 5,000 teachers and rohingya volunteers. 

"The scale of the rohingya refugee crisis 

demanded a rapid response," said 

edouardbeigbeder, uniCeF representative 

to bangladesh. "but we were only able to 

respond to immediate needs and could not 

reach every child. This year we are scaling up 

services to reach more children than ever 

before, while focusing on improving the quality 

of education each child receives." 

The drive to construct more learning 

Centres is part of a far-reaching and comprehensive 

set of initiatives announced by 

uniCeF to increase access to quality education 

for children living in the camps. 

"i've been coming to class for almost a 

month now," said Minara, 11, who studied 

until Class Four in Myanmar, but dropped 

out after arriving in bangladesh because the 

learning Centres she attended were muddy 

and too hot. "it's nice here," she says as she 

surveys the new classroom in kutupalong 

camp run by uniCeF partner CodeC. "it 

doesn't have a muddy floor." 

Motalab, 12, who is blind, is one of about 

600 children with disabilities who have been 

identified to attend school. last year his 

teacher convinced his mother to allow him to 

attend class. since returning to class his 

mood has visibly brightened, he is more outgoing 

and says he enjoys poetry. 

The quality of education in the camps is 

also being improved through expanded 

learning modules and lesson plans. new and 

existing teachers are participating in development 

training programmes. 

"Many children have suffered trauma 

injuries from gunshot wounds and extreme 

violence, restricting their mobility and access 

to services. We see many children with mixed 

learning abilities, physical disabilities, visual 

impairment and speech difficulties," said 

iffat Farhana, education officer, uniCeF 

Cox's bazar. "each of these children has a 

right to education. With more learning 

Centres and more teachers, uniCeF hopes 

to reach every child to help them learn, grow 

and realisetheir potential." 

uniCeF is also targeting adolescents with 

educational training to develop their knowledge 

and vocational skills. 

a uniCeF report last year warned that 

without urgent action, these teenagers are at 

risk of becoming a lost generation. 

"it is through these targeted interventions 

that uniCeF is striving to provide education 

for the hardest-to-reach children, many of 

whom have severe vulnerabilities,"beigbeder 

said. "our aim is to ensure they can be 

equipped with the knowledge and skills they 

require to navigate their future." 

The Great Wall of 

China Hoax 

inTeresTinG neWs 

“Fake news” is a new term, but lies and 

propaganda is as old as written history, 

spread by individuals to aggrandize oneself 

or smear the public image of an 

enemy. Then, there is yellow journalism, 

where newspapers rely on sensationalism 

and the publication of scandal-mongering 

articles and exaggerations of 

news events to increases sales and circulation. 

While this sort of media irresponsibility 

is often seen among competing 

newspapers, there was one time when 

four different newspapers colluded to 

publish a blatant lie. The idea was if all 

four newspapers published the same lie, 

few would question it. 

The nefarious plan was hatched one 

summer evening in 1899, over drinks at 

the bar at oxford hotel in downtown 

denver, Colorado. The four men 

involved in the plot were al stevens, 

Jack Tournay, John lewis, and hal 

Wilshire—all reporters of the four 

denver newspapers—the post, the 

republican, the Times, and the rocky 

Mountain news. each had been tasked 

by their editors to come up with something 

exciting to entertain their readers 

with. each had come up empty. 

according to an article published by 

the denver-based songwriter harry lee 

Wilber in 1939—forty years after the 

event—it was al stevens, the reporter for 

the denver republican, who suggested 

that they fabricate a story. denver, at 

that time—the denver post notes—was 

“full of ethically challenged journalists”. 

Myanmar's internal 

situation aggravating 

Rohingya problem: FS 

dhaka : Foreign 

secretary M shahidul 

haque has said that the 

recent internal situation in 

northern rakhine of 

Myanmar is aggravating 

the prolonged rohingya 

problem and sought us 

support in resolving the 

crisis, reports unb. 

"it is the responsibility 

of the Myanmar authorities 

to create the right condition 

so that all the 

rohingyas currently staying 

in bangladesh feel safe 

to go back to Myanmar," 

he said. 

The Foreign secretary 

held talks with usaid 

administrator Mark 

Green and us under 

secretary of state for 

political affairs 

ambassador david hale 

in Washington on 

Tuesday and conveyed 

bangladesh's message. 

The senior us officials 

welcomed the bangladesh 

Foreign secretary to their 

respective offices and discussed 

issues of common 

interests, said a pid handout 

on Wednesday 

The us officials lauded 

the generosity and tolerance 

of prime Minister 

sheikh hasina for providing 

shelter to the 

Myanmar nationals who 

left rakhine state amid 

persecution by the 

Myanmar army. 

Crescent Jute Mills Ltd in Khulna have set up premium laminating plant (PLP) at a cost of 1.5 crore taka. With 

the help of this machine, the sacks are being made airtight by placing plastics inside. Photo: Titash Chakraborty 

Crescent Jute Mill sets up PLP 

to make airtight jute sacks 

TiTash ChakraborTy, khulna CorrespondenT: 

The use of jute sacks is very less as the 

traders store and market most of the 

products which are not airtight. as a 

result, many products produced in the 

jute mills of the country remain unsold. 

Crescent Jute Mills ltd, the largest jute 

mill in khulna, started making airtight 

jute sacks to overcome this obstacle. For 

this they have launched premium 

laminating plant. 

Jute is a traditional fiber producing 

cash crop of bangladesh. Jute is not only 

environmentally friendly and easily 

decomposable; it also has a huge impact 

in saving the environment and balances 

the agricultural and trade of the country. 

Jute quality of bangladesh is the best 

among other countries due to soil quality 

and climate issues. The use and popularity 

of environmental disastrous fibers 

have reduced as the united nations 

General assembly declared 2009 as the 

international year of natural Fibers and 

due to increasing environmental awareness 

in the developed countries. as part 

of the climate movement, public opinion 

has been created around the world 

against the production and use of water, 

soil and air pollutant polybags. 

Therefore, when the environment is 

threatened due to the use of polythene 

bags worldwide, this jute bags will be 

helpful in reducing pollution. 

almost all jute mills in bangladesh 

have long been responsible for losses. 

The Crescent Jute Mills Company 

limited is making special sacks to store 

seeds and other products, to ensure the 

diversified use of the products to avoid 

losses. in July last year, the premium 

laminating plant (plp) was set up at a 

cost of 1.5 crore taka. With the help of this 

machine, the sacks are being made airtight 

by placing plastics inside. 

sahabuddin kazi, assistant engineer 

(mechanical) of Crescent Jute Mill said 

that the use of plastic projects may be 

destroyed if sacks that are being manufactured 

using this technology are used 

for several times. but the sacks can be 

used repeatedly like jute bags. as a result, 

users will be economically cost-effective. 

he also said, millions of people including 

jute farmers are involved with jutes. so, if 

jute is used, people of different classes 

will be benefitted. 

deputy Manager of the mill 

arifuzzaman Molla said that the mandatory 

act of using jute sacks was very limited. 

The government implemented the 

Mandatory Jute packaging act 2010 in 

order to save the environment, use of 

mandatory jute packing to sell, distribute 

and supply 17 products including fertilizer, 

sugar and rice. in 2012, the government 

passed the compulsory use of jute 

goods instead of harmful plastic for environment 

and health. The law was 

amended again in 2013 as some of the 

issues were not clear. General Manager of 

Crescent Jute Mill Gazi shahadat 

hossain said that 50 specially trained 

laborers are working in premium laminating 

plant. at present, they produce 10 

thousand sacks of 10 and 20 kg capacity 

per day. The quantity of this production 

will be increased in future according to 

the demand. such plans will increase the 

use of jute products and reduce the losses 

of government owned jute mills. he 

also informed that they have chalked out 

plans to produce new products using the 

technology as they have seen considerable 

profit from this product in the last 

six months. 

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

24-01-2019

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?