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saturDay<br />
Dhaka: February <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong>; Falgun 4, 1425 BS; Jamadi-us Sanni 10,1440 hijri<br />
www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www. tbtbangla.com<br />
Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.17; No.23; 8 Pages~Tk.8.00<br />
international<br />
Nearly 24 mln<br />
Yemenis need<br />
aid: UN<br />
>Page 3<br />
science & technology<br />
Is it possible to remove<br />
Google from our life?<br />
>Page 5<br />
economy & business<br />
PRAN national pickle<br />
winners awarded<br />
>Page 6<br />
UN seeks US$ 920 mn for<br />
Rohingya humanitarian crisis<br />
2 killed in<br />
Thakurgaon<br />
clash named<br />
in BGB case<br />
THAKURGAON :Two men, killed in<br />
Tuesday's clash with Border Guard<br />
Bangladesh in the district, were named<br />
in a case filed by BGB on Thursday<br />
night, reports UNB.<br />
Nayeb Subedar Ziaur Rahman, company<br />
commander of Thakurgaon BGB<br />
50 Battalion's Betna border outpost,<br />
filed two cases against more than 250<br />
villagers over the clash that left three<br />
people dead.<br />
One of them accuses three men -<br />
including Nabab Ali and Sadekul Islam<br />
killed in BGB firing - of smuggling cattle<br />
from India. The third accused is<br />
Bakua Union's Swechchhasebak<br />
League unit President Abul Kashem,<br />
said Md Amiruzzaman, officer-incharge<br />
of Haripur Police Station.<br />
The other case specifically named 19<br />
persons for attacks on BGB troopers.<br />
There are 250 other accused in the case<br />
but they have not been named.<br />
Thakurgaon BGB 50 Battalion<br />
Commanding Officer Lt Col Tuhin<br />
Mohammad Masud confirmed filing of<br />
the cases. OC Amiruzzaman said the<br />
cases accuse the villagers of obstructing<br />
state law enforcement, attacking BGB<br />
troopers, attempting to snatch firearms<br />
and damage weapons, trying to kill the<br />
border troopers, among others.<br />
"We have accepted the cases," the<br />
police officer said. "Further steps will be<br />
taken after we get directives from<br />
Thakurgaon police superintendent."<br />
Three people were killed and at least<br />
<strong>16</strong> others injured after BGB members<br />
opened fire during, what the paramilitary<br />
force claimed, a clash with cattle<br />
smugglers.<br />
Zohr<br />
05:17AM<br />
12:15 PM<br />
04:<strong>16</strong> PM<br />
05:57 PM<br />
07:11 PM<br />
6:31 5:54<br />
DHAKA : United Nations aid agencies<br />
and NGO partners on Friday appealed<br />
to raise US$ 920 million to meet the<br />
massive needs of more than 900,000<br />
Rohingyas from Myanmar and over<br />
330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in<br />
host communities, reports UNB.<br />
They, together, launched the <strong>2019</strong><br />
Joint Response Plan (JRP), the third<br />
joint humanitarian appeal and builds on<br />
achievements made thus far in Geneva<br />
in order to further stabilize the situation<br />
of Rohingyas and address the humanitarian<br />
crisis.<br />
Critical aid and services such as food,<br />
water, sanitation and shelter represent<br />
more than half of the funding needs this<br />
year, said the UN refugee agency -<br />
UNHCR. Other key sectors of the<br />
appeal include health, site management,<br />
protection activities including<br />
child protection and addressing sexual<br />
and gender-based violence, education<br />
and nutrition, it said.<br />
More than 745,000 Rohingya have<br />
fled from Myanmar's Rakhine State to<br />
Bangladesh since August 2017, escaping<br />
violence in Myanmar and joining<br />
roughly 200,000 others already displaced<br />
in the Cox's Bazar area by previous<br />
cycles of violence.<br />
With the generosity and support of the<br />
Bangladeshi authorities and local communities,<br />
who were the first to respond<br />
to the emergency, critical needs were<br />
met and many lives were saved.<br />
"The solidarity shown by the government<br />
of Bangladesh and the commitment<br />
of humanitarian partners ensured<br />
the successful implementation of the<br />
first Joint Response Plan in 2018.<br />
Moving forward, we reiterate our commitment<br />
to meeting the dire needs of<br />
this population and urge the international<br />
community to support these<br />
efforts," said International Organization<br />
for Migration Director General<br />
António Vitorino.<br />
UN High Commissioner for Refugees<br />
Filippo Grandi said their humanitarian<br />
imperative today is to stabilise the situation<br />
of stateless Rohingyas and their<br />
Bangladesh hosts. "We are hoping for<br />
timely, predictable and flexible contributions<br />
in order to meet the goals of this<br />
year's appeal."<br />
He said but while they tackle these<br />
immediate humanitarian needs they<br />
must not lose sight of solutions.<br />
Grandi repeated his call to Myanmar<br />
Barrister Razzaq quits Jamaat<br />
DHAKA : Barrister Abdur Razzaq<br />
resigned from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-<br />
Islami on Friday as he said the party failed<br />
to apologise for its anti-liberation war role<br />
in 1971 and reform the organistion based<br />
on reality. The Jamaat assistant secretary<br />
general sent his resignation letter from<br />
the UK to Jamaat Ameer Maqbul Ahmed<br />
in the morning, reports UNB.<br />
In his resignation letter, signed by his<br />
personal assistant Kausar Hamid, cited<br />
two reasons behind his resignation from<br />
the Islamic party.<br />
He said Jamaat did not apologise to<br />
people for its anti-liberation war role in<br />
1971 and the party could not reform itself<br />
in light of reality of the 21st century considering<br />
the political change in other<br />
Muslim majority countries.<br />
"I tender my resignation from<br />
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami with immediate<br />
effect," Razzaq, who joined the party<br />
in 1986, said in his resignation letter.<br />
Mentioning that he defended the top<br />
Jamaat leaders accused in war crime<br />
cases with his best ability, the lawyer said<br />
though Jamaat wholeheartedly embraced<br />
the independence of Bangladesh, the<br />
party's role in opposing the historic struggle<br />
for liberation in 1971 casts a deep dark<br />
shadow over all of its achievements and<br />
contributions.<br />
"For these reasons, I've always believed<br />
and continue to believe that an apology by<br />
Jamaat to the nation is not only a moral<br />
to take urgent action to address the root<br />
causes of this crisis which have persisted<br />
for decades, so that people are no longer<br />
forced to flee and can eventually return<br />
home in safety and dignity.<br />
"We encourage countries in this<br />
region and beyond to show solidarity<br />
with Bangladesh and to support<br />
Myanmar to start creating conditions<br />
for voluntary, safe and dignified return<br />
of Rohingya refugees," Grandi continued.<br />
The new JRP sets out a comprehensive<br />
humanitarian effort shaped<br />
around three strategic objectives.<br />
By bringing together 132 partners -<br />
UN agencies, international and national<br />
NGOs and government bodies in a collective<br />
effort - the Plan aims to deliver<br />
protection to refugee women, men, girls<br />
and boys, provide life-saving assistance<br />
and foster social cohesion.<br />
Over the past 12 months aid agencies<br />
have worked to improve the conditions<br />
across refugee settlements<br />
through the support provided under<br />
the 2018 JRP-providing basic assistance,<br />
upgrading living conditions in<br />
the camps and putting in place disaster<br />
risk mitigation measures for monsoon<br />
and cyclone seasons.<br />
imperative but also necessary to absolve<br />
its post-1971 generation of the stigma,"<br />
Razzaq observed.<br />
In 1971, he said, their predecessors had<br />
opposed the independence of Bangladesh<br />
and failed to publicly protest the atrocities<br />
committed by the Pakistan Army." In the<br />
47 years since independence, successive<br />
party leaderships have failed to apologise<br />
for the party's role in 1971 or even to<br />
explain the party's position on the struggle<br />
for independence. Now, more than<br />
ever, Jamaat needs to clarify its 1971<br />
stance."<br />
Razzaq said over the last two decades<br />
he had been trying relentlessly to persuade<br />
Jamaat to have a frank discussion<br />
on the events of 1971, Jamaat's role in<br />
those events and why it decided to support<br />
Pakistan and apologise for that decision.<br />
"Finally, in January <strong>2019</strong>, I advised<br />
the leadership of the necessity of taking<br />
responsibility for its predecessors' role in<br />
1971. In the absence of any better or viable<br />
alternative, I also advised to dissolve<br />
Jamaat. But, all my efforts have been<br />
unsuccessful. My decades of advice had<br />
fallen on deaf ears."<br />
The lawyer also said Jamaat's failure to<br />
address the 1971 issue and apologise has<br />
resulted in a stigma being attached to<br />
those who were not involved in the decision.<br />
This continued failure of Jamaat has<br />
given further ground for it to be seen as an<br />
anti-independence party.<br />
Children choosing their books in the Amar Ekushey Book Fair.<br />
Thousands of Muslim devotees offered Jumma prayer at Biswa Ijtema ground yesterday. Photo : Star Mail<br />
Suhrawardy Hospital<br />
fire is a lesson for<br />
all : Health Minister<br />
DHAKA : Stressing the need for<br />
improving the fire fighting capabilities<br />
at all government hospitals, Health and<br />
Family Welfare Minister Zahid<br />
Maleque on Friday said the fire incident<br />
at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical<br />
College Hospital (SSMCH) is a lesson<br />
for all concerned, reports UNB.<br />
"Now it's a must to improve the fire<br />
fighting capabilities of all government<br />
hospitals," he said at a press briefing on<br />
the fire accident at SSMCH held at his<br />
Baridhara residence.<br />
The Minister said that all the electrical<br />
connections and the damaged sections<br />
of the hospital will be examined to<br />
find out the reason behind the accident.<br />
The Health and the Home Ministries<br />
formed two separate committees to<br />
investigate whether a short-circuit<br />
caused the fire or something else.<br />
'Out of the 18 units of the hospital,<br />
only two- Gynecology and Pediatricsare<br />
closed for now as they were the<br />
most damaged," he added.<br />
The Minister hoped that the hospital<br />
will be fully operational soon.<br />
"In all government hospitals firefighting<br />
equipment will be checked regularly.<br />
Safety Drills will be conducted at<br />
regular intervals," the minister said.<br />
Director General of the Health<br />
Directorate Abul Kalam Azad was also<br />
present at the briefing.<br />
On Thursday, a fire broke out at<br />
Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College<br />
in the afternoon which was doused<br />
after around four hours. The fire<br />
allegedly originated at a storeroom on<br />
the first floor of a new building of the<br />
hospital.<br />
Photo : Star Mail<br />
Four-day Biswa Ijtema begins<br />
Gazipur : Biswa Ijtema, one of the<br />
largest Muslim congregations in the<br />
world, began on the bank of the<br />
Turag River at Tongi here after Fazr<br />
prayers on Friday.<br />
Ijtema began with "Aambayan"<br />
(general sermons) by Pakistani<br />
Islamic scholar Maulana Ziaul Haq.<br />
This year, the Biswa Ijtema is being<br />
held for four days in a single phase.<br />
On the first two days, followers<br />
of Maulana Jubair Hassan will<br />
participate in the Biswa Ijtema on<br />
Friday and Saturday and they will<br />
leave the ground after Akheri<br />
Munajat on Saturday afternoon.<br />
Later, the followers of Maulana<br />
Muhammad Saad Al Kandhalvi will<br />
take part in the Biswa Ijtema on<br />
Sunday and Monday and conduct<br />
their Akheri Munajat on the last<br />
day.<br />
Several lakh devotes are expected<br />
to offer Juma prayers on the first day<br />
of the Ijtema on Friday.<br />
Thousands of devotees from home<br />
and abroad started thronging the<br />
bank of the Turag River to take part<br />
in the religious event to seek divine<br />
blessings of the Almighty Allah.<br />
An eight-layer security measure has<br />
been taken for the event with the<br />
deployment of huge members of different<br />
law enforcement agencies in<br />
and around the Ijtema ground. The<br />
venue has been brought under CCTV<br />
surveillance.<br />
There will be special train and bus<br />
services to ease the communication<br />
of the devotees.<br />
Gazipur Metropolitan Police<br />
Commissioner YM Belalur Rahman<br />
on Thursday said the Ijtema ground<br />
is under CCTV surveillance and<br />
watchtowers have been set up to<br />
ensure security.<br />
Members of law enforcement agencies<br />
are performing their duties while<br />
intelligence surveillance has been<br />
beefed up.<br />
Check-posts have been set up in<br />
lanes, intersections and all the<br />
entries of the ground, said the GMP<br />
commissioner.<br />
Besides, free medical camps have<br />
been set up near the Ijtema ground to<br />
provide free health care services and<br />
medicines among the devotees.<br />
The first phase of Biswa Ijtem was<br />
scheduled to be held from January 11<br />
to 13 while the second one from<br />
January 18 to 20 last, but those were<br />
postponed due to the December-30<br />
national election.<br />
Later, it was decided that the Biswa<br />
Ijteam would be held once instead of<br />
two phases this year.<br />
Tabligh Jamaat has been organising<br />
the Ijtema at the venue since<br />
1967.<br />
The Ijtema was held in two phases<br />
from 2011 to 2017 to ease the<br />
accommodation and transportation<br />
problem.<br />
One-party rule imposed<br />
undercover of democracy : BNP<br />
DHAKA : BNP senior leader Dr<br />
Abdul Moyeen Khan on Friday<br />
alleged that the government has<br />
imposed an autocratic role in the<br />
country undercover of democracy,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
"The government has established<br />
an unwritten one-party rule Baksal,<br />
but they pretend to be democratic<br />
and often talk about democracy," he<br />
said.<br />
Speaking at a human-chain programme,<br />
the BNP leader further<br />
said," The country's people must be<br />
aware of the government which was<br />
branded as neo autocrat by a<br />
German-based research institution.<br />
This regime is indulging in autocratic<br />
acts undercover of democracy."<br />
He said a government which pretends<br />
to be democratic is more dangerous<br />
than an autocratic regime.<br />
Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal arranged<br />
the programme in front of the Jatiya<br />
Press Club demanding the release of<br />
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.<br />
Dr Moyeen, a BNP standing committee<br />
member, said their party<br />
wants to restore people's democratic<br />
and voting rights the way their<br />
founder Ziaur Rahman established<br />
multi-party democracy in the country.<br />
"We must restore democracy<br />
after freeing Khaleda Zia from jail."<br />
He alleged that the government<br />
sent Khaleda to jail as part of its plot<br />
to eliminate their party, but BNP still<br />
remains united and a strong party.<br />
The BNP leader said the 11th parliament<br />
does not represent people as it<br />
was formed through an election of<br />
'vote rigging and vote robbery'.<br />
Speaking at another human chain<br />
programme, Gonoshasthya Kendra<br />
founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury<br />
urged all the democratic forces to take<br />
to the streets to realise people's rights.<br />
"There's no alternative to waging a<br />
strong movement to realise people's<br />
rights. Democracy won't be restored<br />
unless all political parties get united<br />
and take to the streets," he said.<br />
Desh Bachao Manush Bachao<br />
Andolon formed the human chain in<br />
front of Jatiya Press Club, demanding<br />
Khaleda's release.<br />
Zafrullah urged BNP leaders and<br />
activists to get organised and wage a<br />
strong movement to have Khaleda<br />
released from jail.
NEWS<br />
SATURDAY,<br />
FeBRUARY <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong><br />
2<br />
A human chain was formed in front of National Press Club yesterday protesting termination of<br />
150 laborers without any salary. Photo : TBT<br />
Vasilyev no longer Monaco's<br />
vice-president<br />
Vadim Vasilyev has been released from<br />
his role as vice president and CEO<br />
following a six-year stint at Ligue 1<br />
struggling side Monaco, the club's<br />
president Dmitry Rybolovlev<br />
announced through a statement on<br />
Thursday, reports UNB.<br />
Rybolovlev said that over the six years<br />
of Vasilyev's tenure at Monaco, they had<br />
come a long way together and achieved<br />
much success, including the team's first<br />
Ligue 1 title in 17 years and a semifinal<br />
appearance in the Champions League.<br />
"However, over the past year, serious<br />
mistakes had been made that have led to<br />
the team's worst performance in seven<br />
years," he said.<br />
The 2017 French champions languish<br />
at 18th after 24 rounds this season. The<br />
team at this position need to contend for<br />
a top-flight spot next season through the<br />
School teacher<br />
injured in attack<br />
in Narayanganj<br />
NARAYANGANJ : A school<br />
teacher was injured in an<br />
attack by some young men<br />
over a trifling matter at<br />
Dhamgarh Malamat in<br />
Bandar upazila on Friday,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The injured was<br />
identified as A Rob alias<br />
Hasan, 65, a teacher of<br />
Kuripara High School of the<br />
upazila.<br />
Rafiqul Islam, officer-incharge<br />
of Bandar Police<br />
Station, said Hossain, and<br />
alleged criminal and an<br />
associate of death-row<br />
convict Patha Samsur, used<br />
the pond of the teacher for<br />
cultivating fish without<br />
giving him any money.<br />
Recently, the teacher<br />
asked Hossain to free his<br />
pond as he wanted to fill up<br />
the pond.<br />
Angered by the incident,<br />
Hossain swooped on the<br />
teacher in the morning and<br />
beat him up with a hockey<br />
stick, leaving him injured.<br />
He was taken to the<br />
upazila health complex.<br />
Man held<br />
with arms in<br />
playoffs.<br />
"Since recently, I have had to deal with<br />
the club's problems. I took a number of<br />
difficult, but, in my opinion, necessary<br />
decisions.<br />
"In particular, I called Leonardo<br />
Jardim myself, apologizing for the<br />
mistake made back in October and<br />
asking him to return to lead the team. I<br />
have approved all of his proposals in<br />
relation to the acquisition of new players<br />
during the winter transfer window,"<br />
Rybolovlev pointed out.<br />
Jardim was fired as head coach last<br />
October, but took the helm again just<br />
three months later.<br />
"Now it is time for change. Changes<br />
relate not only to the players, but also to<br />
the top management of the club,"<br />
Rybolovlev talked about Vasilyev's<br />
departure, adding that "I am very<br />
Hailie Deegan spent more time at Daytona<br />
500 media day than any other driver. The<br />
17-year-old was a guest host for<br />
NASCAR.com, trading in her firesuit for a<br />
microphone and interviewing one Cup<br />
Series star after another. It was the closest<br />
Deegan will get to the action at Daytona<br />
International Speedway during<br />
Speedweeks, reports UNB.<br />
It also might be the last year she's a<br />
spectator.<br />
Deegan has her sights set on driving in the<br />
entry-level ARCA Series in 2<strong>02</strong>0, a<br />
precursor to what she hopes will be a lengthy<br />
racing career that rises to the premier Cup<br />
Series. NASCAR will do all it can to help,<br />
even putting the teenager in front of the<br />
camera on one of the sport's busiest days.<br />
And with fan favorite Danica Patrick<br />
missing from Daytona for the first time since<br />
2011, Deegan, Natalie Decker and others<br />
have a void to fill.<br />
"At the end of the day, there's a reason why<br />
there hasn't been a girl or woman winning in<br />
NASCAR's highest level," Deegan said.<br />
"There's a lot of room for improvement. For<br />
sure, I want to be the first to do it and<br />
hopefully more girls will end up winning.<br />
But I want to be the first."<br />
grateful to Vadim for all that he has<br />
done for our club, and I wish him all the<br />
best."<br />
Rybolovlev said that he's planning to<br />
submit a new candidate for the posts of<br />
vice president and CEO to the club's<br />
board of directors for consideration on<br />
February 22.<br />
"It is not the first time that Monaco<br />
finds itself in a crisis situation. Seven<br />
years ago we managed to get through it.<br />
We are striving to repeat that success,"<br />
Rybolovlev said.<br />
Showing his gratitude to Rybolovlev<br />
and supporters, Vasilyev added that<br />
"during this time, I did my best to<br />
ensure that the club achieved the results<br />
we expected."<br />
"Despite the challenges of recent<br />
months, I am proud of the results that<br />
we achieved over these six intense years.<br />
No female drivers in Daytona 500,<br />
but pipeline has potential<br />
DHAKA : The new executives of Indian<br />
Media<br />
Correspondents<br />
Association,Bangladesh (IMCAB) have been<br />
elected unopposed for the year <strong>2019</strong>-2<strong>02</strong>0,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Bashudeb Dhar of the Daily Statesman<br />
(Kolkata), Quddus Afrad (Daily Anandabazar<br />
Patrika, Kolkata) and Rafiqul Islam Sabuj<br />
(Daily Desher Katha, Agartala) have been<br />
elected president, vice president and<br />
generalsecretary respectively.<br />
The other elected office-bearers are: joint<br />
general secretary- Sahidul Hasan Khokon<br />
(The India Today), treasurer Masum Billah<br />
(Daily Jugashankha, Kolkata/Assam) and<br />
organizing secretary Mir Afroz<br />
Zaman(United News of India- UNI), said a<br />
press release on Friday.<br />
Executive members are Anisur<br />
Rahman(Press Trust of India-PTI), Aminul<br />
Hoq Bhuiyan (Daily EiSomoy), Layek<br />
Uzzaman (Daily Din Darpon, Kolkata), Rajib<br />
Khan (Zee Akash Media) and Abu Ali (Daily<br />
Jagaran, Agartala).<br />
Dip Azad, general secretary ofoutgoing<br />
committee of IMCAB will remain as member<br />
of the executivecommittee according to the<br />
constitution of the organization.<br />
The election of the executive committee of<br />
IMCAB was scheduled to beheld on February<br />
17 in the biennial general meeting.<br />
Decker has a head start. The 21-year-old<br />
Toyota driver will make her Truck Series<br />
debut Friday night at Daytona, one of three<br />
women in the field. Jennifer Jo Cobb and<br />
Angela Ruch are the others.<br />
Decker failed to qualify for a trucks race at<br />
Martinsville Speedway in 20<strong>16</strong> and spent<br />
the last two years in ARCA. She had nine<br />
top-10 finishes in 20 starts last season for<br />
Venturini Motorsports. She moved to DGR-<br />
Crosley this season and will run 12 Truck<br />
Series races as well as a combination of<br />
NASCAR K&N and two more ARCA events.<br />
She finished sixth in the ARCA season<br />
opener at Daytona last weekend.<br />
She got behind the wheel of the No. 12<br />
Tundra for the first time Thursday, taking<br />
part in two practices. "I was really nervous,"<br />
the ultra-positive Decker said. "I was trying<br />
to hide it." "I'm going in trying to learn as<br />
much as I can for next year," she added. "But<br />
I really want to win a race."<br />
Decker could be in as many five series in<br />
<strong>2019</strong>. She has five starts planned in the<br />
Trans Am road-racing series and will learn<br />
in late March whether she lands one of 18<br />
spots in the W Series, an all-female<br />
developmental series set to launch in<br />
Europe.<br />
IMCAB gets new executives<br />
According to election schedule the date of<br />
submission of nomination papers was on<br />
February 12.<br />
But it was seen that eleven candidates<br />
submittednominations papers for eleven<br />
posts, one candidate for eachpost, said the<br />
press release.<br />
On this ground, Haroon Habib, Chairman<br />
and Khairuzzaman Kamal,member of the<br />
committee formed to run the election<br />
declared the candidates elected unopposed.<br />
The other elected office-bearers are: joint<br />
general secretary- Sahidul Hasan Khokon<br />
(The India Today), treasurer Masum Billah<br />
(Daily Jugashankha, Kolkata/Assam) and<br />
organizing secretary Mir Afroz<br />
Zaman(United News of India- UNI), said a<br />
press release on Friday.<br />
Executive members are Anisur<br />
Rahman(Press Trust of India-PTI), Aminul<br />
Hoq Bhuiyan (Daily EiSomoy), Layek<br />
Uzzaman (Daily Din Darpon, Kolkata), Rajib<br />
Khan (Zee Akash Media) and Abu Ali (Daily<br />
Jagaran, Agartala).<br />
Dip Azad, general secretary ofoutgoing<br />
committee of IMCAB will remain as member<br />
of the executivecommittee according to the<br />
constitution of the organization.<br />
The election of the executive committee of<br />
IMCAB was scheduled to beheld on February<br />
17 in the biennial general meeting.<br />
SSC examinee<br />
abducted<br />
outside exam<br />
centre, stabbed<br />
near pond<br />
MADARIPUR : A Secondary<br />
School Certificate (SSC)<br />
examination was stabbed in<br />
front of his examination<br />
centre in Shibchar upazila<br />
on Thursday, reports UNB.<br />
The injured Shuvo<br />
Haolader, <strong>16</strong>, who was<br />
supposed to sit for<br />
Thursday's Finance and<br />
Banking examination, was<br />
rushed to Shibchar Upazila<br />
Health Complex and later,<br />
moved to Faridpur Medical<br />
College Hospital considering<br />
the severity of his injury.<br />
Family and hospital<br />
sources said Shuvo, son of<br />
Ali Mia Haolader, hailing<br />
from Bhanga upazila,<br />
reached the exam centre at<br />
Sheikh Fazilatunnesa<br />
Government Girls' High<br />
School around 9:30am.<br />
An alleged terrorist Nahid<br />
and another called Shuvo<br />
while he was entering the<br />
centre and brought him to<br />
the bank of a nearby pond.<br />
Later, the culprits stabbed<br />
Shuvo on his legs<br />
indiscriminately with<br />
Chinese axe, leaving him<br />
severely injured.<br />
Medical Officer of<br />
Shibchar Upazila Health<br />
Complex Dr Imdadul Haque<br />
said the extent of Shuvo's<br />
injury was fatal. The tendon<br />
of his right leg might have<br />
been cut off.<br />
Officer-in-Charge of<br />
Shibchar Police Station<br />
Zakir Hossain said police are<br />
trying to arrest the accused.<br />
College student<br />
stabbed dead<br />
in Barishal:<br />
One held<br />
BARISHAL : A college<br />
student was killed and<br />
another injured in an attack<br />
by a young man at<br />
Bangabandhu Udyan in the<br />
city on Thursday, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
The deceased was<br />
identified as Rubel Hossain,<br />
1st year student of<br />
Brajamohon College and<br />
son of Gias Uddin of Ujirpur<br />
upazila.<br />
Quoting victim's family,<br />
police said Mehedi Hasan<br />
Rony, ex-husband of Sauda,<br />
daughter of Nesar Ali, used<br />
to disturb Sauda and a<br />
general diary was lodged<br />
with the local police station<br />
in this regard.<br />
On Thursday, Sauda along<br />
with his younger brother<br />
Rafasan and Rafsan's friend<br />
Rubel and Mitul went to<br />
Bangabandhu Uddyan.<br />
At one stage, Rony<br />
swooped on Sauda with a<br />
sharp weapon. When Rafsan<br />
and his friends tried to save<br />
Sauda, Rony hit Rubel with a<br />
sharp weapon, leaving Rubel<br />
and Mitul injured.<br />
Later, they were taken to<br />
Sher-e-Bangla Medical<br />
college Hospital where<br />
doctors declared Rubel<br />
dead.<br />
On information, police<br />
went to the spot and<br />
arrested Rony, said Nurul<br />
Islam, officer-in-charge of<br />
Kotwali Police Station.<br />
2 Rohingyas held<br />
with 14,000 Yaba<br />
pills in Cox's<br />
Bazar<br />
DHAKA : Members of Rapid<br />
Action Battalion (Rab)<br />
arrested two Rohingyas<br />
along with 14,000 Yaba<br />
tablets from Balukhali in<br />
Ukhia upazila on Thursday,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The arrestees are as Sohel,<br />
21, son of Osman and Nur<br />
Halim, 22, son of Sirajul<br />
Iqbal. Tipped off, a team of<br />
Rab-7 conducted a drive in<br />
the area and arrested them<br />
along with 14,000 Yaba<br />
tablets worth Tk 70 lakh in<br />
the afternoon.<br />
The arrestees were handed<br />
over to Ukhia Police. The<br />
arrestees are as Sohel, 21,<br />
son of Osman and Nur<br />
Halim, 22, son of Sirajul<br />
Iqbal.<br />
Bangladesh signs 2 MoUs<br />
with Netherlands for watersector<br />
capacity building<br />
DHAKA : Bangladesh and the Netherlands<br />
have signed two memorandums of<br />
understanding (MoUs) for capacity building<br />
of the water sector in Bangladesh, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
The Water Resources Ministry signed the<br />
MoUs-one with Deltares, a prominent Dutch<br />
research organisation involved in waterrelated<br />
research, and the other with the IHE<br />
Delft Institute for Water Education, a world<br />
famous Dutch institution involved in<br />
pertaining education, training and research<br />
in the water sector. Water Resources<br />
Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar and Science<br />
Director of Deltares Jaap Kwadijk and<br />
Rector of IHE Delft Prof Dr Eddy Moors<br />
signed the MoUs on behalf of their respective<br />
sides on February 13, said the Bangladesh<br />
Embassy in The Hague on Friday.<br />
Bangladesh Ambassador to the<br />
Netherlands Sheikh Mohammed Belal<br />
joined the signing ceremony at the IHE Delft<br />
while Director General of Bangladesh Water<br />
Development Board Engr Md Mahfuzur<br />
Rahman was, among others, present.<br />
The MoU with the Deltares will enable the<br />
Bangladesh ministry to have support from<br />
Deltares in water research, particularly in the<br />
fields of delta planning, river management,<br />
policy planning and implementation,<br />
management of floods and droughts, water<br />
quantity and quality, disaster management,<br />
coastal polder management as well as<br />
geotechnical, river and coastal engineering,<br />
etc.<br />
The MoU with the IHE Delft will enable<br />
capacity development of future young water<br />
professionals from Bangladesh through<br />
tailor-made short courses, MSc and PhD<br />
programmes, including training courses on<br />
basin-wide water resources management;<br />
joint action research to identify innovative<br />
and practical solution for water resources<br />
management in Bangladesh; and<br />
collaboration regarding proposed<br />
international training institute by the Water<br />
Resources Ministry for water resources<br />
development and management.<br />
During his visit to IHE Delft, Secretary<br />
Anwar, Ambassador Belal and members of<br />
Bangladesh delegation exchanged views<br />
with Bangladeshi students at the institute.<br />
They discussed the modalities how to<br />
increase the number of students in the<br />
Netherlands and particularly in IHE Delft.<br />
These initiatives could be seen as a followup<br />
work of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's<br />
official visit to the Netherlands in 2015 as<br />
well as preparatory work for the<br />
implementation of Bangladesh Delta Plan<br />
2100, said the embassy. Bangladesh<br />
Ambassador to the Netherlands Sheikh<br />
Mohammed Belal joined the signing<br />
ceremony at the IHE Delft while Director<br />
General of Bangladesh Water Development<br />
Board Engr Md Mahfuzur Rahman was,<br />
among others, present.<br />
The MoU with the Deltares will enable the<br />
Bangladesh ministry to have support from<br />
Deltares in water research, particularly in the<br />
fields of delta planning, river management,<br />
policy planning and implementation,<br />
management of floods and droughts, water<br />
quantity and quality, disaster management,<br />
coastal polder management as well as<br />
geotechnical, river and coastal engineering,<br />
etc.<br />
The MoU with the IHE Delft will enable<br />
capacity development of future young water<br />
professionals from Bangladesh through<br />
tailor-made short courses, MSc and PhD<br />
programmes, including training courses on<br />
basin-wide water resources management;<br />
joint action research to identify innovative<br />
and practical solution for water resources<br />
management in Bangladesh; and<br />
collaboration regarding proposed<br />
international training institute by the Water<br />
Resources Ministry for water resources<br />
development and management.<br />
Cover of a book titled ' Dakterbari' was uncovered at Sinha Lounge of<br />
Dhaka Club yesterday.<br />
Photo : TBT<br />
Thai party fields transgender<br />
candidate for prime minister<br />
As Pinit Ngarmpring, he was a CEO and<br />
sports promoter, well known in the world of<br />
Thai soccer. Now, under her preferred new<br />
name of Pauline Ngarmpring, she's pursuing<br />
a bid to become the country's first<br />
transgender prime minister.<br />
The 52-year-old is one of three candidates<br />
put forward by a political party for the post in<br />
next month's general election, reports UNB.<br />
She says she wants her nomination to<br />
bring hope to the marginalized and to open<br />
up political space for future generations of<br />
LGBT people.<br />
With over a month to go before the March<br />
24 polling day, she campaigned this week in<br />
one of Bangkok's more infamous nightlife<br />
areas.<br />
Many vulnerable or exploited people work<br />
in this twilight zone of go-go bars, cheap<br />
hotels and massage parlors. It's exactly the<br />
constituency the Mahachon party seeks to<br />
represent, and she's eager to hear their<br />
concerns.<br />
"Our welfare, mostly. Health," masseuse<br />
Wassana Sorsawang says are her concerns,<br />
as she stands outside a shop in an alley off<br />
the street. She complains that she and her<br />
colleagues often work double shifts, and it<br />
affects their health.<br />
The Mahachon party is contesting some<br />
200 seats in the 500-member House of<br />
Representatives. About 20 of the candidates<br />
are openly LGBT. Pauline joined only last<br />
November. Now, as their second-ranked<br />
nominee for prime minister, she finds herself<br />
a political trailblazer, a unique symbol of the<br />
fight for equality.<br />
It's fine, she said, even if she cannot<br />
achieve her goal of becoming prime minister<br />
"because I am the first one who dares enough<br />
to announce . 'hey, we can do it!'"<br />
"We are not saying we are better than male<br />
or female," she said. "We just want to say we<br />
are equal."<br />
Until three years ago, Pauline was Pinit: a<br />
father of two, a reporter turned businessman<br />
who became well known by founding a<br />
soccer fan association that became<br />
influential in Thai sporting circles.<br />
Since her gender transition she's made it<br />
her mission, she said, to educate society. Her<br />
new political role gives her the perfect<br />
platform to counter those who still view<br />
LGBT rights - and her candidacy - with<br />
skepticism.<br />
"Nowadays people say, 'Oh you are<br />
transgender? You want to become our prime<br />
minister. It's going to be funny, it is going to<br />
be a very strange story,'" she said.<br />
"But I don't think that way," she said.<br />
"Whatever you are, you have your value. You<br />
love yourself and then you share with<br />
people."<br />
The party hopes its human rights-based<br />
agenda will appeal in particular to Thailand's<br />
large LGBT and sex worker population. One<br />
policy is to legalize prostitution.<br />
The result, Pauline says, could be up to 10<br />
lawmakers in Parliament, thanks to a new<br />
electoral system that allocates some of the<br />
seats through proportional representation.<br />
But, even given the country's traditionally<br />
accepting view of sexual fluidity, she knows<br />
she is not destined to lead the country.<br />
"I will not be a prime minister. But it<br />
doesn't matter. It will take some time and it<br />
is not going to be the end of the world after<br />
the next election," she said.<br />
"It doesn't have to be me. It can be the next<br />
generation."<br />
The Mahachon party is contesting some<br />
200 seats in the 500-member House of<br />
Representatives. About 20 of the candidates<br />
are openly LGBT. Pauline joined only last<br />
November. Now, as their second-ranked<br />
nominee for prime minister, she finds herself<br />
a political trailblazer, a unique symbol of the<br />
fight for equality.
INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY,<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong><br />
3<br />
A 12-year-old boy carries soap supplied by the UN in the Bani Harith neighbourhood of Sana'a in<br />
Yemen.<br />
Photo : AP<br />
Nearly 24 mln Yemenis need aid: UN<br />
The United Nations and its humanitarian<br />
partners on Thursday released a<br />
needs assessment for Yemen, reporting<br />
nearly 24 million people in need of<br />
"some form of humanitarian or protection<br />
assistance," a UN spokesman said,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
"The crisis remains the worst in the<br />
world with an estimated 80 percent of<br />
the population -- that's nearly 24 million<br />
people -- in need of some form of<br />
humanitarian or protection assistance,<br />
including 14.3 million people who are<br />
in acute need," said UN spokesman<br />
Stephane Dujarric.<br />
"The number of acute need people is<br />
now 27 percent higher than it was last<br />
year," he told reporters at a regular<br />
briefing, in announcing a pledging conference<br />
sponsored by Sweden, Switzerland<br />
and the world organization set for<br />
Feb. 26.<br />
"More than 20 million people across<br />
the country are food insecure, half of<br />
them with extreme levels of hunger,"<br />
Dujarric said. "For the first time we<br />
have confirmed pockets of catastrophic<br />
hunger, with 238,000 people affected<br />
in some locations."<br />
The United Nations and its humanitarian<br />
partners have been warning for<br />
several weeks that the Arab country is<br />
on the brink of famine, a result of a<br />
nearly four-year-old civil war.<br />
"Some 3.2 million people require<br />
treatment for acute malnutrition, 2<br />
U.S. moving troops<br />
for "military<br />
adventure" against<br />
Venezuela: Cuba<br />
The Cuban government on<br />
Thursday criticized the<br />
recent U.S. troop movements<br />
in the Caribbean, saying<br />
that Washington is<br />
preparing for a military<br />
intervention in crisis-hit<br />
Venezuela, reports UNB.<br />
In a statement, Havana<br />
said that between Feb. 6 and<br />
10, there were flights of military<br />
transport aircraft to the<br />
airport in Puerto Rico, the<br />
San Isidro Air Base in the<br />
Dominican Republic, and to<br />
"strategically located"<br />
Caribbean islands.<br />
It said the flights originated<br />
from U.S. military installations<br />
where its Special<br />
Forces units and Marines<br />
operate and these forces are<br />
often used in "covert actions,<br />
including against leaders of<br />
other countries."<br />
The statement also<br />
described possible U.S. military<br />
actions in Venezuela as<br />
"a military adventure disguised<br />
as humanitarian<br />
intervention."<br />
Venezuela is currently<br />
troubled by a political crisis.<br />
Opposition leader Juan<br />
Guaido declared himself<br />
interim president on Jan. 23<br />
and was recognized by the<br />
United States and some other<br />
countries. Guaido's declaration<br />
came about two<br />
weeks after President Nicolas<br />
Maduro, who won the<br />
2018 presidential vote, was<br />
inaugurated for a second<br />
term on Jan. 10.<br />
Havana in its statement<br />
also accused Washington of<br />
seeking a "coup d'etat in<br />
Venezuela through the illegal<br />
self-proclamation of a<br />
president."<br />
In addition, it said U.S.-led<br />
humanitarian aid to<br />
Venezuela, if any really, is far<br />
from making up for the<br />
damage made by Washington's<br />
economic blockade<br />
against Caracas.<br />
million under 5 (years of age) and more<br />
than 1 million pregnant and lactating<br />
women, for a total of 17.8 million people<br />
who lack access to safe water and<br />
sanitation," he said. "Almost 20 million<br />
people lack access to adequate health<br />
care."<br />
An estimated 3.3 million people<br />
remain displaced in Yemen, up from<br />
2.2 million last year, and this includes<br />
685,000 people who fled fighting in<br />
Hodeidah and on the west coast from<br />
June onward, the spokesman said.<br />
Hodeidah is a key west coast port city<br />
and home to the Red Sea Mills, housing<br />
enough grain to feed millions of<br />
people for a month, but presently inaccessible<br />
to aid workers, the UN has<br />
said. Negotiations between government<br />
and rebel representatives were<br />
suspended last week for leadership<br />
consideration of a tentative accord on<br />
demilitarizing the port to allow access<br />
to humanitarian aid and the distribution<br />
of it to those in need.<br />
"The number of acute need people is<br />
now 27 percent higher than it was last<br />
year," he told reporters at a regular<br />
briefing, in announcing a pledging conference<br />
sponsored by Sweden, Switzerland<br />
and the world organization set for<br />
Feb. 26.<br />
"More than 20 million people across<br />
the country are food insecure, half of<br />
them with extreme levels of hunger,"<br />
Dujarric said. "For the first time we<br />
have confirmed pockets of catastrophic<br />
hunger, with 238,000 people affected<br />
in some locations."<br />
The United Nations and its humanitarian<br />
partners have been warning for<br />
several weeks that the Arab country is<br />
on the brink of famine, a result of a<br />
nearly four-year-old civil war.<br />
"Some 3.2 million people require<br />
treatment for acute malnutrition, 2<br />
million under 5 (years of age) and more<br />
than 1 million pregnant and lactating<br />
women, for a total of 17.8 million people<br />
who lack access to safe water and<br />
sanitation," he said. "Almost 20 million<br />
people lack access to adequate health<br />
care."<br />
An estimated 3.3 million people<br />
remain displaced in Yemen, up from<br />
2.2 million last year, and this includes<br />
685,000 people who fled fighting in<br />
Hodeidah and on the west coast from<br />
June onward, the spokesman said.<br />
Hodeidah is a key west coast port city<br />
and home to the Red Sea Mills, housing<br />
enough grain to feed millions of<br />
people for a month, but presently inaccessible<br />
to aid workers, the UN has<br />
said.<br />
Negotiations between government<br />
and rebel representatives were suspended<br />
last week for leadership consideration<br />
of a tentative accord on<br />
demilitarizing the port to allow access<br />
to humanitarian aid and the distribution<br />
of it to those in need.<br />
Indonesia land-burning fines<br />
unpaid years after fires<br />
Indonesian plantation companies fined for<br />
burning huge areas of land since 2009 have<br />
failed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars<br />
in penalties meant to hold them accountable<br />
for actions that took a devastating environmental<br />
and human toll, reports UNB.<br />
The palm oil and pulp wood companies<br />
involved in fires owe more than $220 million<br />
in fines and the figure for unpaid penalties<br />
for environmental destruction swells to $1.3<br />
billion when an illegal logging case from<br />
2013 is included, according to separate summaries<br />
of the cases compiled by Greenpeace<br />
and the Ministry of Environment and<br />
Forestry.<br />
Indonesia's annual dry season fires were<br />
particularly disastrous in 2015, burning 2.6<br />
million hectares (10,000 square miles) of<br />
land and spreading health-damaging haze<br />
across Indonesia, Singapore, southern Thailand<br />
and Malaysia. The World Bank estimated<br />
the fires cost Indonesia $<strong>16</strong> billion and a<br />
Harvard and Columbia study estimated the<br />
haze hastened 100,000 deaths in the region.<br />
President Joko Widodo and other senior<br />
officials vowed action but repeated legal<br />
appeals by the 10 companies taken to court<br />
by the environment ministry have dragged<br />
the cases out for years.<br />
The ministry has issued statements trumpeted<br />
progress in sanctioning companies<br />
involved in land fires. But the two companies<br />
mentioned in those statements that have<br />
paid fines totaling $2 million involved environmental<br />
damage from open cast mining,<br />
not fires, the ministry's law enforcement<br />
director-general, Rasio Ridho Sani, told The<br />
Associated Press.<br />
Greenpeace Indonesia said the unpaid<br />
fines are money owed to the Indonesian people<br />
that could pay for large-scale forest<br />
restoration and for health and emergency<br />
infrastructure for when the fires strike again.<br />
"By not enforcing these laws the government<br />
is sending a dangerous message: company<br />
profit comes before law, clean air,<br />
health and forest protection," forests campaigner<br />
Arie Rompas said in a statement Friday.<br />
In a case that cited fires between 2009 and<br />
2012, palm oil company Kallista Alam<br />
appealed its 336 billion rupiah ($24 million)<br />
fine all the way to the Supreme Court and<br />
then sought a judicial review of the Supreme<br />
Court decision against it.<br />
Fires intentionally set by the company in<br />
2012 to clear land for palm oil tore through<br />
the Tripa peat swamp in Aceh on the island<br />
of Sumatra, killing wildlife including endangered<br />
Sumatran orangutans and blanketed<br />
surrounding areas in a thick haze.<br />
Indonesia's annual dry season fires were<br />
particularly disastrous in 2015, burning 2.6<br />
million hectares (10,000 square miles) of<br />
land and spreading health-damaging haze<br />
across Indonesia, Singapore, southern Thailand<br />
and Malaysia. The World Bank estimated<br />
the fires cost Indonesia $<strong>16</strong> billion<br />
and a Harvard and Columbia study estimated<br />
the haze hastened 100,000 deaths in the<br />
region.<br />
President Joko Widodo and other senior<br />
officials vowed action but repeated legal<br />
appeals by the 10 companies taken to court<br />
by the environment ministry have dragged<br />
the cases out for years.<br />
Thick haze from forest fires shroud Palangka Raya in central Borneo in<br />
October 2015.<br />
Photo : AP<br />
Brazil proposes minimum<br />
retirement age<br />
amid social security<br />
reform<br />
Brazil proposes that the<br />
social security reform establishes<br />
a minimum retirement<br />
age of 65 for men and<br />
62 for women, the government<br />
announced Thursday,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
A bill on the new social<br />
security regime, which has a<br />
transition period of 12 years,<br />
will be sent to Congress for<br />
approval on Feb. 20, said<br />
Rogerio Marinho, secretary<br />
of labor and social security<br />
at Ministry of Economy.<br />
The social security reform<br />
requires changes to the<br />
Brazilian Constitution. To<br />
be approved, an amendment<br />
requires a majority of<br />
three fifths in both houses.<br />
Brazilians currently do not<br />
have a minimum retirement<br />
age. Men are qualified to<br />
retire once they work for a<br />
minimum of 35 years and<br />
women 30 years.<br />
They can also retire at 65<br />
after contributing at least 15<br />
years to the social security<br />
system. Some categories,<br />
such as teachers, policemen<br />
and rural workers, are<br />
allowed to retire slightly earlier.<br />
In Brazil, life expectancy<br />
at birth in 20<strong>16</strong> is 71 years<br />
for men and 79 for women,<br />
according to the World<br />
Health Organization.<br />
With the proposed<br />
reform, in addition to the<br />
required years of contribution,<br />
workers have to obey<br />
the minimum age requirements,<br />
which will lead to<br />
many citizens working for<br />
over 40 years before retirement.<br />
Full details of the reform<br />
bill will only be known on<br />
Feb. 20.<br />
Though the government<br />
has said that the reform is<br />
necessary for the country to<br />
resume growth, critics think<br />
that the new system will put<br />
an excessive burden on<br />
poorer workers.<br />
In Brazil, life expectancy<br />
at birth in 20<strong>16</strong> is 71 years<br />
for men and 79 for women,<br />
according to the World<br />
Health Organization.<br />
With the proposed<br />
reform, in addition to the<br />
required years of contribution,<br />
workers have to obey<br />
the minimum age requirements,<br />
which will lead to<br />
many citizens working for<br />
over 40 years before retirement.<br />
Death toll in deadliest car bombing<br />
in Kashmir climbs to 41<br />
Security officials say the death toll from a car<br />
bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir has<br />
climbed to 41 after rebels fighting against<br />
Indian rule struck a paramilitary convoy in<br />
the single deadliest attack in the divided<br />
region's volatile history, reports UNB.<br />
India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police<br />
Force spokesman Sanjay Sharma said Friday<br />
that at least 41 soldiers died in Thursday's<br />
attack.<br />
The attack is likely to ratchet up tensions<br />
between already hostile India and Pakistan,<br />
who administer parts of the territory but<br />
claim it entirely. Kashmir has experienced<br />
renewed attacks and civilian protest against<br />
Indian rule in recent years as a new generation<br />
of Kashmiri rebels has revived the<br />
armed rebellion.<br />
Officials said a local Kashmiri militant<br />
rammed an explosives-laden van into a bus<br />
as the convoy reached Lethpora, a town outside<br />
Srinagar.<br />
Indian paramilitary soldiers stand by the wreckage of a bus after an explosion<br />
in Pampore, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 14, <strong>2019</strong>. Security<br />
officials say at least 10 soldiers have been killed and 20 others wounded by a<br />
large explosion that struck a paramilitary convoy on a key highway on the outskirts<br />
of the disputed region's main city of Srinagar.<br />
Photo : AP<br />
Netanyahu leaves Poland after plane<br />
mishap delayed departure<br />
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin<br />
Netanyahu was forced to spend an<br />
extra night in Warsaw after his plane<br />
was damaged following an airport<br />
mishap shortly before departure. He<br />
departed around noon Friday, marking<br />
an inauspicious ending to a turbulent<br />
visit, reports UNB.<br />
The prime minister and his entire<br />
entourage were on-board a chartered<br />
El Al plane the night before after a twoday<br />
visit to a high-profile security conference,<br />
when a vehicle towing the aircraft<br />
on the runway crashed into it. A<br />
photo circulated to traveling journalists<br />
showed large scrapes in the underbelly<br />
of the aircraft.<br />
Netanyahu and his wife were taken<br />
off the plane and ushered back to their<br />
hotel. Other aides, including<br />
Netanyahu's national security adviser<br />
and his military secretary, spent the<br />
night on the aircraft, saying they did<br />
not want to go through the hassle of<br />
pre-boarding security checks again.<br />
A replacement plane was dispatched<br />
from Israel to urgently return the prime<br />
minster before the beginning of the<br />
Jewish Sabbath at sundown.<br />
The mishap happened as<br />
Netanyahu's government is trying to<br />
purchase an official plane for the prime<br />
minister to use.<br />
It capped a tumultuous visit for<br />
Netanyahu, who was in Poland for a<br />
U.S.-sponsored security conference<br />
attended by several high-profile Arab<br />
officials from Gulf countries.<br />
Netanyahu had hoped to use the<br />
gathering to showcase his budding ties<br />
with the Gulf Arabs. But a verbal gaffe<br />
and a video leaked by his office threatened<br />
to overshadow the event.<br />
On the eve of the meeting, Netanyahu<br />
appeared to call on other participants<br />
to prepare for "war with Iran." His<br />
office later said he had been mistranslated<br />
and only called on other countries<br />
to "combat" Iranian influence in the<br />
US envoy says talks<br />
made headway<br />
The Latest on China-U.S. trade talks in Beijing<br />
(all times local):<br />
Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says<br />
U.S. and Chinese negotiators "made headway on<br />
very, very important" issues in talks on a technology<br />
dispute, reports UNB.<br />
Lighthizer expressed optimism but gave no<br />
details after President Donald Trump's economic<br />
adviser said he yet to decide whether to go<br />
ahead with a March 2 tariff increase.<br />
Business groups and economists said the two<br />
days of talks in Beijing were unlikely to be<br />
enough time to resolve the sprawling dispute.<br />
They said China's goal probably was to persuade<br />
Trump they were making enough progress to<br />
postpone the penalties.<br />
In a courtesy call on Chinese President Xi Jinping<br />
after the talks wrapped up, Lighthizer said,<br />
"We feel we have made headway on very, very<br />
important and difficult issues. We have additional<br />
work we have to do but we are hopeful."<br />
Two days of U.S.-Chinese trade talks have ended<br />
with no immediate indication whether they<br />
made progress on a battle over Beijing's technology<br />
ambitions.<br />
Delegations led by U.S. Trade Representative<br />
region.<br />
Late Thursday, his office briefly<br />
leaked a video showing Bahrain's foreign<br />
minister, and representatives of<br />
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates<br />
playing down the Israeli-Palestinian<br />
conflict and harshly criticizing Iran.<br />
Netanyahu's office said the video's<br />
release was a "technical error" and<br />
quickly deleted it.<br />
Vadim Vasilyev has been released<br />
from his role as vice president and CEO<br />
following a six-year stint at Ligue 1<br />
struggling side Monaco, the club's president<br />
Dmitry Rybolovlev announced<br />
through a statement on Thursday.<br />
Rybolovlev said that over the six<br />
years of Vasilyev's tenure at Monaco,<br />
they had come a long way together and<br />
achieved much success, including the<br />
team's first Ligue 1 title in 17 years and<br />
a semifinal appearance in the Champions<br />
League.<br />
"However, over the past year, serious<br />
mistakes had been made that have led<br />
to the team's worst performance in seven<br />
years," he said.<br />
The 2017 French champions languish<br />
at 18th after 24 rounds this season. The<br />
team at this position need to contend<br />
for a top-flight spot next season<br />
through the playoffs.<br />
"Since recently, I have had to deal<br />
with the club's problems. I took a number<br />
of difficult, but, in my opinion, necessary<br />
decisions.<br />
"In particular, I called Leonardo<br />
Jardim myself, apologizing for the mistake<br />
made back in October and asking<br />
him to return to lead the team. I have<br />
approved all of his proposals in relation<br />
to the acquisition of new players during<br />
the winter transfer window,"<br />
Rybolovlev pointed out.<br />
Jardim was fired as head coach last<br />
October, but took the helm again just<br />
three months later.<br />
"Now it is time for change. Changes<br />
relate not only to the players, but also to<br />
Robert Lighthizer and his Chinese counterpart,<br />
Vice Premier Liu He, met at a government<br />
g.uesthouse. They left without talking to<br />
reporters. Earlier, President Donald Trump's top<br />
economic adviser said he has yet to decide<br />
whether to go ahead with a March 2 tariff<br />
increase on Chinese imports from China. Companies<br />
and investors worry the fight between the<br />
two biggest global economies could drag on<br />
weakening world growth.<br />
U.S. and Chinese envoys are holding a second<br />
day of trade talks after the top economic adviser<br />
to President Donald Trump said he has yet to<br />
decide whether to go ahead with a March 2 tariff<br />
increase on imports from China.<br />
Business groups and economists say the two<br />
days of negotiations due to run through Friday<br />
are too brief to resolve a sprawling dispute over<br />
Beijing's technology ambitions. They say China's<br />
goal is to persuade Trump to push back the<br />
March 2 deadline.<br />
Trump's economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, told<br />
reporters in Washington the "vibe is good" in the<br />
talks, but he said Trump has made no decision<br />
on whether to escalate the dispute by letting the<br />
March 2 tariff hike go ahead.<br />
the top management of the club,"<br />
Rybolovlev talked about Vasilyev's<br />
departure, adding that "I am very grateful<br />
to Vadim for all that he has done for<br />
our club, and I wish him all the best."<br />
Rybolovlev said that he's planning to<br />
submit a new candidate for the posts of<br />
vice president and CEO to the club's<br />
board of directors for consideration on<br />
February 22.<br />
"It is not the first time that Monaco<br />
finds itself in a crisis situation. Seven<br />
years ago we managed to get through it.<br />
We are striving to repeat that success,"<br />
Rybolovlev said.<br />
Showing his gratitude to Rybolovlev<br />
and supporters, Vasilyev added that<br />
"during this time, I did my best to<br />
ensure that the club achieved the<br />
results we expected."<br />
"Despite the challenges of recent<br />
months, I am proud of the results that<br />
we achieved over these six intense<br />
years. "I am convinced that the group is<br />
on the right track and that by the end of<br />
the season the players will have had the<br />
opportunity to show their best to save<br />
this wonderful club," he said.<br />
The prime minister and his entire<br />
entourage were on-board a chartered<br />
El Al plane the night before after a twoday<br />
visit to a high-profile security conference,<br />
when a vehicle towing the aircraft<br />
on the runway crashed into it. A<br />
photo circulated to traveling journalists<br />
showed large scrapes in the underbelly<br />
of the aircraft.<br />
Netanyahu and his wife were taken<br />
off the plane and ushered back to their<br />
hotel. Other aides, including<br />
Netanyahu's national security adviser<br />
and his military secretary, spent the<br />
night on the aircraft, saying they did<br />
not want to go through the hassle of<br />
pre-boarding security checks again.<br />
A replacement plane was dispatched<br />
from Israel to urgently return the prime<br />
minster before the beginning of the<br />
Jewish Sabbath at sundown.
EDITORIAL<br />
SATURdAY,<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong><br />
4<br />
US invite to Taiwan's leader would be too risky<br />
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam<br />
Telephone: +88<strong>02</strong>-9104683-84, Fax: 9127103<br />
e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com<br />
Saturday, February <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong><br />
The regrettable outflow<br />
of a strategic resource<br />
The 1950's began amid optimism about the<br />
development of Asian countries including<br />
Bangladesh. It was assumed that<br />
investment, education, and modern<br />
management would be sufficient for their<br />
economic growth.<br />
But by the 1960's, disillusionment spread.<br />
The progress of developing countries was<br />
uneven, it fell short of aspirations, the<br />
developed countries grew faster, and therefore<br />
international gaps widened rather than<br />
narrowed. The "brain drain" issue moved from<br />
scholarly analysis and newspaper<br />
recriminations onto the floor of the United<br />
Nations General Assembly in late 1967.<br />
Resolutions introduced by developing<br />
countries demanded that richer members<br />
(particularly the United States) change their<br />
migration policies, encourage foreign students<br />
to learn the skills needed at home, encourage<br />
these students to return, and compensate the<br />
developing countries for losses.<br />
Human capital, as a strategic resource, is<br />
flowing out of the economy of Bangladesh<br />
where it can make the greatest contribution to<br />
human welfare, and into economies already<br />
well-supplied with trained, capable, scientific<br />
and administrative personnel.<br />
A nation is considered to be modern and<br />
advanced by surveying the extents of its<br />
technological developments in the field of<br />
science and industry. The main sources of the<br />
knowledge and know-how for these<br />
technologies are the educated and motivated<br />
individuals who include scientists, doctors,<br />
engineers, teachers, business pioneers, etc.<br />
But in a country like Bangladesh where most<br />
of the people are illiterate, advancement in<br />
development is at stake. On the other hand, the<br />
ones who are educated and capable of<br />
contributing towards the growth of the nation,<br />
prefer to live abroad. There is a significant<br />
number of highly educated Bangladeshis<br />
abroad who contribute to the welfare of foreign<br />
countries.<br />
Statistics show that 65 per cent of the newly<br />
graduated doctors in Bangladesh attempt to<br />
practice abroad. While in the country, there are<br />
millions of children suffering from<br />
malnutrition and childhood diseases. One can<br />
only imagine what improvements the newly<br />
graduates could have made in the country if<br />
they were to practice there. Moreover, every<br />
year thousands of people die due to untreated<br />
diseases.<br />
Even though there are some free treatment<br />
opportunities, the doctors that are available are<br />
usually inexperienced. The public is well aware<br />
of this fact and, therefore, whenever a<br />
complicated operation is to be performed, the<br />
patient, if he happens to be from wealthy<br />
family, is rushed to either Singapore, India or<br />
Thailand. The fate of the poor patient, on the<br />
other hand, lies in the hands of the<br />
inexperienced doctor.<br />
The generally held conception among the<br />
people of Bangladesh is that anything "foreign"<br />
is better. They would rather go and struggle to<br />
survive in a richer country than struggle in their<br />
own land. The underdeveloped countries have<br />
found themselves woefully short of technical<br />
and professional personnel in the key<br />
administrative and research positions. Today,<br />
as never before, there is a "common market" for<br />
brain power which transcends national<br />
boundaries. The improved transportation and<br />
communication available have facilitated the<br />
increased rate of brain drain that drags<br />
Bangladesh backwards into ignorance.<br />
The cream of our students is migrating for<br />
overseas institutions of higher learning-some<br />
through scholarships, others by self-finance;<br />
very few of them ever return. If this trend of<br />
brain drain continues, Bangladesh will surely<br />
face major challenges, if not facing them<br />
already, in the initial decades of this century.<br />
Neighbours such as India and Pakistan have<br />
taken several initiatives to bring back their<br />
expatriates from overseas destinations. It is<br />
high time for our government to act and take<br />
measures to address the situation of brain drain<br />
by initiating discussions with the Bangladeshi<br />
immigrants.<br />
With US President Donald<br />
Trump preparing for his<br />
second summit with Kim<br />
Jong Un and tensions between<br />
Beijing and Washington continuing to<br />
intensify, a group of five key American<br />
senators wrote a letter to House<br />
Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to<br />
invite Taiwan's unpopular president<br />
to address a joint session of Congress.<br />
Many onlookers have struggled to<br />
define exactly what that invitation will<br />
mean for the Taiwan Strait if it is<br />
extended. Is there a danger that the<br />
gesture will exacerbate tensions<br />
between the United States and China?<br />
China is one of America's' rivals and<br />
has constantly pressed Taiwan into<br />
submission, and tried to stifle it and<br />
maintain the fiction of the one-China<br />
policy. Beijing has continued to escalate<br />
rhetoric and actions that threaten<br />
Taiwan's democracy and sovereignty.<br />
The only way to preserve Taiwanese<br />
democracy, at this moment, is the<br />
status quo and measured, practical<br />
policy. It's a good thing the vast<br />
majority of Taiwanese voters<br />
understand this.<br />
Taiwan needs Washington's strong<br />
support, but the Americans should be<br />
careful not to adopt a belligerent<br />
posture. Relations between Beijing and<br />
SAUDI Crown Prince<br />
Mohammad bin Salman is set to<br />
arrive in Pakistan tomorrow.<br />
The visit will play an important role<br />
in strengthening the two countries'<br />
economic ties, with MBS ready to<br />
commit to a historic investment in<br />
Pakistan. Last year, Prime Minister<br />
Imran Khan travelled to Riyadh to<br />
negotiate a bailout package, which<br />
led to a $6 billion pledge from the<br />
kingdom.<br />
This significant financial support is<br />
undoubtedly a welcome relief to our<br />
economy. However, as the crown<br />
prince and our premier establish the<br />
agenda for the upcoming visit, it is<br />
important that the latter prioritise<br />
the issue of the over 3,300 Pakistanis<br />
currently languishing in Saudi<br />
prisons with the foreign delegation.<br />
Despite being a crucial geopolitical<br />
ally, the kingdom executes more<br />
Pakistanis than any other foreign<br />
nationality, with at least 20<br />
executions in 2014, 22 in 2015, seven<br />
in 20<strong>16</strong>, 17 in 2017, and 30 in 2018 -<br />
nearly 100 in the last five years.<br />
Our governments of the past have<br />
taken no notice of these prisoners'<br />
situation, providing little in the way<br />
of legal or financial assistance, partly<br />
due to a lack of proper protocols<br />
provided to Pakistani missions and<br />
largely due to political indifference.<br />
As former chief justice of the Lahore<br />
High Court, Justice Syed Mansoor<br />
Ali Shah remarked in 2017: "It<br />
appears that the government has<br />
adopted a policy of 'no policy' on<br />
overseas Pakistanis in Arab countries<br />
especially."<br />
On Feb 13, Foreign Minister Shah<br />
Mehmood Qureshi assured that the<br />
THE Warsaw meeting seems to<br />
have failed before it even started.<br />
This is due mainly to what players<br />
in the Middle East see as an<br />
unprecedented retreat by US President<br />
Donald Trump's administration in the<br />
face of an assertive Russia and Iran.<br />
The conference, as expected, did not<br />
rally consensus for a serious drive to<br />
change the behavior of the Iranian<br />
regime, since the objectives of those<br />
meeting in Warsaw were so divergent on<br />
the means to confront Tehran in the<br />
region and globally.<br />
Maybe the US and Europe should<br />
instead have called for a Euro-US<br />
meeting to counter the Russian and<br />
Iranian Trojan horses within the West,<br />
which have been interfering in elections,<br />
funding radicals, and promoting an anti-<br />
Western narrative.<br />
The US retreat from the Middle East<br />
under the Trump administration is<br />
making allies jittery, and Trump's style of<br />
erratic decisions on international affairs<br />
is pushing all those who orbit the US<br />
model of liberal democracy to scramble<br />
for containment or bilateral deals to<br />
circumvent America's chaotic foreign<br />
policy.<br />
The conference was surely a good<br />
photo opportunity but, as it drew to a<br />
close on Valentine's Day, it reflected how<br />
fractured our world has become.<br />
The US withdrawal from Syria, the<br />
inefficiency of US policies and military<br />
interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan,<br />
the trade wars with China, the alleged<br />
collusion with Vladimir Putin's Russia,<br />
Washington have been tense in recent<br />
months, and because the US does not<br />
officially recognize Taiwan's<br />
government and there are so many<br />
global flashpoints that could quickly<br />
divert the Trump administration's<br />
attention, there is a concern is that the<br />
US might take an outspoken stance on<br />
Taiwan and then suddenly soften its<br />
tone, which could leave the island in an<br />
even more vulnerable position.<br />
Taiwan is just a part of the broader<br />
context of Sino-American relations. If<br />
Beijing is taking some hard knocks as a<br />
way of expressing displeasure with<br />
Washington's actions, it pays a price in<br />
inviting President Tsai Ing-wen.<br />
Experts on Taiwan said the senators'<br />
proposal is flawed and Taiwan would<br />
suffer, as a gesture that intended to help<br />
KENT WANg<br />
it would only hurt it. This is because<br />
Beijing would take the opportunity to<br />
squeeze Taipei even more than it is<br />
already.<br />
Washington exercises tremendous<br />
influence on the Taiwan issue. How the<br />
US Congress exercises that influence<br />
could well affect the future prosperity<br />
and safety of 23 million people. Taiwan<br />
must maintain a balanced relationship<br />
with the United States on the one hand<br />
Washington exercises tremendous influence on the Taiwan<br />
issue. how the US Congress exercises that influence could well<br />
affect the future prosperity and safety of 23 million people.<br />
Taiwan must maintain a balanced relationship with the United<br />
States on the one hand and with China on the other. Will inviting<br />
Taiwan's president to Washington mean wading into a conflict in<br />
the Taiwan Strait that could escalate into outright war?<br />
government would raise this issue,<br />
specifically regarding those who have<br />
been incarcerated for petty crimes,<br />
with the Saudi delegation. It is great<br />
that the government has begun to<br />
acknowledge the plight of citizens<br />
imprisoned overseas.<br />
Over 3,300 Pakistanis are currently<br />
languishing in Saudi prisons.<br />
However, the government has an<br />
obligation to afford the protection of<br />
the law to all Pakistanis wherever<br />
they may be, as per the Constitution,<br />
especially those who face the<br />
harshest punishments. Pakistanis<br />
imprisoned abroad have to navigate<br />
local courts without access to<br />
lawyers, impartial translators, or<br />
adequate consular assistance. They<br />
are at a significant disadvantage due<br />
to their lack of understanding of the<br />
legal process, incapability to<br />
communicate directly with the court,<br />
and inability to produce evidence<br />
from Pakistan in their defence.<br />
The recent spate of executions of<br />
Pakistanis carried out by Saudi<br />
Arabia have come at a time when our<br />
government and the kingdom are<br />
negotiating a prisoner transfer<br />
agreement (PTA), which would allow<br />
and with China on the other. Will<br />
inviting Taiwan's president to<br />
Washington mean wading into a<br />
conflict in the Taiwan Strait that could<br />
escalate into outright war? The<br />
invitation is contrary to a fundamental<br />
principle of US relations with China<br />
and for Washington, it could be a fatal<br />
strategic blunder.<br />
A more urgent PTA<br />
MUhAMMAd USMAN<br />
thousands of Pakistani prisoners to<br />
be repatriated, making it easier to<br />
investigate the circumstances of their<br />
alleged crimes and allowing them the<br />
dignity of returning home and<br />
completing their sentences.<br />
The last government seemed to<br />
have made some progress in March<br />
2018. The federal cabinet approved<br />
prisoner transfer agreements with<br />
China and Saudi Arabia, subject to<br />
the 'respective inputs' of the foreign,<br />
The PML-N government suspended all PTAs in 2015 as prisoners<br />
repatriated from Britain were set free without completing their<br />
sentences under dubious circumstances. These PTAs were eventually<br />
reinstated by a Supreme Court order in April last year but it is unclear<br />
whether they are still in force, since the current government has<br />
announced that it is negotiating PTAs with the UAE and Britain.<br />
Trump's reservations on the EU as a<br />
whole, and his questioning of NATO's<br />
role are examples that will make many<br />
diplomats jittery around US Secretary of<br />
State Mike Pompeo in Warsaw.<br />
The proposed meeting of 70-plus<br />
foreign ministers in Poland was<br />
eventually watered down to 50 or 60<br />
senior representatives, mainly ministers,<br />
deputy ministers and ambassadors: A<br />
game of numbers that makes Iran,<br />
Russia and their allies grin. The initial<br />
conference theme of containment of Iran<br />
also shifted to become a "Ministerial to<br />
Promote a Future of Peace and Security<br />
in the Middle East" in order to<br />
accommodate allies with economic<br />
interests with Iran, mostly Europeans.<br />
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed<br />
Javad Zarif has dubbed the meeting in<br />
Poland the "Warsaw Circus".<br />
Many Arab countries have for long held<br />
Iran responsible for incitement and<br />
meddling in their affairs, exporting its<br />
Islamic revolution through propping up<br />
groups loyal to its cause in Iraq, Lebanon,<br />
MohAMEd ChEBARo<br />
defence and law ministries.<br />
However, no evident progress has<br />
been made on this front and 24<br />
Pakistanis have been executed since<br />
April last year. These Pakistanis<br />
could have been repatriated and<br />
reunited with their families had the<br />
PTA been finalised.<br />
The PML-N government<br />
suspended all PTAs in 2015 as<br />
prisoners repatriated from Britain<br />
were set free without completing<br />
their sentences under dubious<br />
circumstances. These PTAs were<br />
eventually reinstated by a Supreme<br />
Court order in April last year but it is<br />
unclear whether they are still in<br />
force, since the current government<br />
has announced that it is negotiating<br />
Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and Gaza to<br />
undermine the states and societies of<br />
those countries.<br />
Trump walked away from what he<br />
called a "terrible" 2015 nuclear deal<br />
negotiated by his predecessor Barack<br />
Obama, which left Tehran free to develop<br />
its ballistic missile technology and pursue<br />
its indirect military interference in many<br />
Arab countries. But the EU has defied<br />
Trump and kept its commitment to the<br />
accord by setting up a financial tool for<br />
European firms to skirt US sanctions and<br />
keep doing business in the Middle East's<br />
second most populous country.<br />
Even Poland - always eager to please<br />
Washington as it fears a resurgent Russia<br />
- has been at pains to continue backing<br />
the agreement. Poland, as co-host, even<br />
chose to tone down the conference's aims<br />
to a vague goal of seeking peace in the<br />
Middle East, rather than mentioning<br />
Iran as the main precursor for the<br />
meeting.<br />
European officials, especially those<br />
from France and Germany, are livid<br />
The use of military force would be<br />
catastrophic for those on both sides<br />
of the Taiwan Strait, and for the<br />
region. But how far does the United<br />
States intend to push this? And why<br />
would Washington conclude that<br />
this ill-considered symbolic gesture<br />
is worth the risk? The invitation<br />
would make substantive cross-Strait<br />
progress more difficult, not less.<br />
That these questions must now be<br />
considered highlights the disorderly<br />
nature of US-Taiwan-China trilateral<br />
relations.<br />
Concern over China's reaction is the<br />
main reason Congress would choose<br />
not to invite President Tsai. The<br />
Americans should ask themselves<br />
whether hosting a speech by an<br />
unpopular Taiwanese president is<br />
worth taking such a risk.<br />
If the president of Taiwan were to<br />
speak to a joint meeting of Congress, it<br />
would provoke an enormous backlash<br />
from Beijing. An act such as allowing<br />
her to address Congress might be just<br />
the excuse Beijing would use to take<br />
military action. Would the United<br />
States really commit forces to that fight,<br />
treaty or not? I hope we never get to<br />
find out.<br />
Source : Asia Times<br />
PTAs with the UAE and Britain.<br />
Regardless, it is crucial that these<br />
PTAs are finalised at once. It is<br />
equally important that our<br />
government demand that the Saudi<br />
government halt all executions until<br />
a PTA is finalised. Otherwise,<br />
prisoners that could be repatriated<br />
would remain at the mercy of judges<br />
who can overturn their sentences<br />
without any forewarning. Last year,<br />
Justice Project Pakistan came to<br />
know that several Pakistanis<br />
imprisoned in Saudi Arabia had their<br />
life sentences converted to death<br />
sentences without any forewarning.<br />
Several of these Pakistanis have<br />
already been executed.<br />
Pakistan will not be alone in its<br />
demand for the repatriation of its<br />
prisoners. India has negotiated an<br />
extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia,<br />
and the UK, US and Philippines have<br />
all signed prisoner transfer<br />
agreements with Saudi Arabia in the<br />
past. At a time when we are<br />
furthering our economic relationship<br />
with the Saudis, it is important to<br />
remember that a humanitarian<br />
obligation exists too.<br />
Finalising a PTA with Saudi Arabia<br />
and demanding that the Saudi<br />
government halt all executions of<br />
Pakistanis until a PTA is finalised<br />
would be an excellent step towards<br />
fulfilling a commitment Mr Khan<br />
made in his emphatic first speech<br />
upon taking office. It would prove<br />
that our relationship with Saudi<br />
Arabia is a mutually respectful one,<br />
one that goes beyond photo-ops,<br />
economic or military ties.<br />
Source : Dawn<br />
US-EU discord evident at troubled Warsaw summit<br />
The proposed meeting of 70-plus foreign ministers in Poland was eventually watered<br />
down to 50 or 60 senior representatives, mainly ministers, deputy ministers and<br />
ambassadors: A game of numbers that makes Iran, Russia and their allies grin. The<br />
initial conference theme of containment of Iran also shifted to become a "Ministerial<br />
to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East" in order to<br />
accommodate allies with economic interests with Iran, mostly Europeans.<br />
about the conference, which they see not<br />
only as an attempt to increase pressure<br />
on Iran, but also to lead EU members<br />
into rubber-stamping the US' Middle<br />
East agenda, as championed by the<br />
president's son-in-law and senior<br />
adviser, Jared Kushner.<br />
The sole senior EU power to send its<br />
foreign minister will soon be leaving<br />
the bloc. British Foreign Secretary<br />
Jeremy Hunt agreed to attend, if only<br />
to ratchet up support for a flagging<br />
Yemen cease-fire.<br />
The conference was surely a good<br />
photo opportunity but, as it drew to a<br />
close on Valentine's Day, it reflected how<br />
fractured our world has become and how<br />
tense the relationship between Europe<br />
and the US is. Meanwhile, the absence of<br />
Russia and China is an indication of the<br />
failure of multilateral action and<br />
diplomacy in the world today.<br />
Even amongst traditional allies,<br />
differences were prominent in Warsaw,<br />
as conflict in the Middle East intersected<br />
with other global crises like the fear of<br />
Russian assertiveness returning to<br />
Eastern Europe and the rise in tensions<br />
within the EU due to the growth of rightwing<br />
populism.<br />
If anything, Warsaw should have been<br />
a venue for Europe to clear the air with<br />
Washington, as EU officials have<br />
expressed outrage at the US' alleged<br />
efforts to widen divisions within the bloc<br />
and encourage members to leave the<br />
union or downgrade ties with Brussels.<br />
Source : Arab News
SCIENCE & TECH<br />
SATurDAY,<br />
FeBruArY <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong><br />
5<br />
Google permeates almost every facet of online life, making it difficult but not impossible to remove.<br />
Photo: Arnd Wiegmann<br />
Is it possible to remove Google from our life?<br />
Jack Schofield<br />
Google's motto used to be "don't be evil",<br />
but in the eyes of some it has now taken<br />
on the mantle of the "evil empire" from<br />
Microsoft, which Bill Gates and crew<br />
inherited from the IBM mocked in the<br />
Mac's launch advert in 1984. The EU has<br />
fined Google €2.4bn (£2.2bn) for abusing<br />
its search monopoly by favouring its<br />
products. Most recently, Google was<br />
fined €4.34bn for "very serious illegal<br />
behaviour" in using Android "to cement<br />
its dominance as a search engine",<br />
according to the EU's competition<br />
commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, a<br />
charge the company contests.<br />
Google started by taking over the<br />
search engine market. It now dominates<br />
smartphone operating systems<br />
(Android), browsers (Chrome), webbased<br />
email (Gmail), online video<br />
(YouTube) and maps. It is also<br />
challenging in other areas with its own<br />
cloud platform, an online office suite,<br />
Chromebooks, Waze, Nest and so on.<br />
Google is far advanced in driverless cars<br />
(Waymo) and artificial intelligence<br />
(DeepMind). Resistance is futile. You will<br />
Linda Kinstler<br />
Should one be so unlucky as<br />
to find oneself, as I did, lying<br />
awake in bed in the early<br />
hours of the morning in a<br />
hostel in La Paz, Bolivia,<br />
listening anxiously to the<br />
sound of someone trying to<br />
force their way into one's<br />
room, one could do worse<br />
than to throw a chair under<br />
the doorknob as a first line of<br />
defence. But this is not what<br />
I did. Instead, I held my<br />
breath and waited until the<br />
intruder, ever so mercifully,<br />
abandoned his project and<br />
sauntered down the hall.<br />
The next morning, when I<br />
raised the incident with the<br />
hostel employee at the front<br />
desk, he said the attempted<br />
intrusion had just been an<br />
innocent mistake, a<br />
misdirected early-morning<br />
wake-up call gone wrong,<br />
and what was the big deal,<br />
anyway? Fuming, I turned to<br />
the highest authority in the<br />
be assimilated.<br />
We can probably agree Google has won<br />
by delivering high-quality products, and<br />
more than 40 corpses in the Google<br />
Graveyard - soon to be joined by its awful<br />
social network, Google+ - prove it doesn't<br />
always win. But there are other problems.<br />
First, Google now controls web<br />
development to the point where not even<br />
Microsoft can compete, as shown by the<br />
latter's recent decision to replace its<br />
EdgeHTML browser engine with the<br />
open source Chromium on which<br />
Google's Chrome browser is based. Users<br />
were supposed to benefit from<br />
competition between rival<br />
implementations of open web standards,<br />
but today Chromium and therefore<br />
Chrome is the standard.<br />
As Firefox-developer Mozilla has<br />
pointed out, "from a social, civic and<br />
individual empowerment perspective,<br />
ceding control of fundamental online<br />
infrastructure to a single company is<br />
terrible". Second, many of us have<br />
problems with Google's business model,<br />
which the Harvard Business School<br />
professor Shoshana Zuboff has called<br />
"surveillance capitalism". Google<br />
world of international travel,<br />
the only entity to which<br />
every hotel, restaurant,<br />
museum and attraction in<br />
the world is beholden: I left<br />
the hostel a bad review on<br />
TripAdvisor.<br />
TripAdvisor is where we<br />
go to praise, criticise and<br />
purchase our way through<br />
the inhabited world. It is, at<br />
its core, a guestbook, a place<br />
where people record the<br />
highs and lows of their<br />
holiday experiences for the<br />
benefit of hotel proprietors<br />
and future guests. But this<br />
guestbook lives on the<br />
internet, where its<br />
contributors continue<br />
swapping advice, memories<br />
and complaints about their<br />
journeys long after their<br />
vacations have come to an<br />
end.<br />
Every month, 456 million<br />
people - about one in every<br />
<strong>16</strong> people on earth - visit<br />
some tentacle of<br />
TripAdvisor.com to plan or<br />
assess a trip. For virtually<br />
every place, there exists a<br />
corresponding page. The<br />
Rajneeshee Osho<br />
International Meditation<br />
Resort in Pune, India, has<br />
140 reviews and a 4 out of 5<br />
rating, Cobham Service<br />
Station on the M25 has 451<br />
reviews and a rating of 3.5,<br />
while Wes Anderson's<br />
fictional Grand Budapest<br />
Hotel currently has 358<br />
reviews and a rating of 4.5.<br />
Over its two decades in<br />
business, TripAdvisor has<br />
turned an initial investment<br />
of $3m into a$7bn business<br />
by figuring out how to<br />
provide a service that no<br />
other tech company has<br />
quite mastered: constantly<br />
updated information about<br />
every imaginable element of<br />
travel, courtesy of an evergrowing<br />
army of<br />
contributors who provide<br />
their services for free.<br />
Browsing through<br />
TripAdvisor's 660m reviews<br />
finances its free services by tracking users<br />
and targeting them with advertisements.<br />
In fact, it tracks you across the web even<br />
if you never visit any Google properties<br />
because other websites commonly use<br />
Google AdWords, AdMob, DoubleClick,<br />
Google Analytics, and its other tracking<br />
or advertising products.<br />
From your searches and site visits,<br />
Google probably knows more about you<br />
than your mother or your spouse, and<br />
there's no telling where that information<br />
will eventually end up. If you use an<br />
Android phone, Google can also track<br />
your physical location, and if you turn<br />
that off, you lose directions, "find my<br />
phone" and other features.<br />
The simplest way to avoid most Google<br />
products is to switch to the Microsoft or<br />
Apple equivalents, in whole or in part.<br />
Some would see this as jumping out of the<br />
frying pan into the fire. However, Satya<br />
Nadella's new Microsoft is different from<br />
the old one, and driven by other metrics<br />
(usage instead of units). It is building a<br />
broader cross-platform ecosystem than<br />
either Google (everything online) or<br />
Apple (everything on Apple).<br />
TripAdvisor: Travel in the 21st century<br />
The world's biggest travel site has turned the industry upside down.<br />
Photo: Getty<br />
is a study in extremes. As a<br />
kind of mirror of the world<br />
and all its wonders, the site<br />
can transport you to the<br />
most spectacular<br />
landmarks, the finest<br />
restaurants, the most<br />
"adrenaline-pumping"<br />
water parks, the greatest<br />
"Hop-On Hop-Off<br />
Experiences" that mankind<br />
has ever devised. Yet<br />
TripAdvisor reviews are also<br />
a ruthless audit of the earth's<br />
many flaws. For every<br />
effusive review of the Eiffel<br />
Tower ("Worth the hype at<br />
night," "Perfect Backdrop!"),<br />
there is another that<br />
suggests it is a blight on the<br />
face of the earth ("sad, ugly,<br />
don't bother"; "similar to the<br />
lobby of a big Vegas casino,<br />
but outside".)<br />
TripAdvisor is to travel as<br />
Google is to search, as<br />
Amazon is to books, as Uber<br />
is to cabs - so dominant that<br />
it is almost a monopoly. Bad<br />
reviews can be devastating<br />
for business, so proprietors<br />
tend to think of them in<br />
rather violent terms. "It is<br />
the marketing/PR<br />
equivalent of a drive-by<br />
shooting," Edward Terry,<br />
the owner of a Lebanese<br />
restaurant in Weybridge,<br />
UK, wrote in 2015.<br />
Marketers call a cascade of<br />
online one-star ratings a<br />
"review bomb". Likewise,<br />
positive reviews can<br />
transform<br />
an<br />
establishment's fortunes.<br />
Researchers studying Yelp,<br />
one of TripAdvisor's main<br />
competitors, found that a<br />
one-star increase meant a 5-<br />
9% increase in revenue.<br />
Before TripAdvisor, the<br />
customer was only<br />
nominally king. After, he<br />
became a veritable tyrant,<br />
with the power to make or<br />
break lives. In response, the<br />
hospitality industry has<br />
lawyered up, and it is not<br />
uncommon for businesses to<br />
threaten to sue customers<br />
who post negative reviews.<br />
Why Silicon Valley can’t fix itself<br />
Ben Tarnoff<br />
Big Tech is sorry. After<br />
decades of rarely<br />
apologising for anything,<br />
Silicon Valley suddenly<br />
seems to be apologising for<br />
everything. They are sorry<br />
about the trolls. They are<br />
sorry about the bots. They<br />
are sorry about the fake<br />
news and the Russians,<br />
and the cartoons that are<br />
terrifying your kids on<br />
YouTube. But they are<br />
especially sorry about our<br />
brains.<br />
Sean Parker, the former<br />
president of Facebook -<br />
who was played by Justin<br />
Timberlake in The Social<br />
Network - has publicly<br />
lamented the "unintended<br />
consequences" of the<br />
platform he helped create:<br />
"God only knows what it's<br />
doing to our children's<br />
brains." Justin Rosenstein,<br />
an engineer who helped<br />
build Facebook's "like"<br />
button and Gchat, regrets<br />
having contributed to<br />
technology that he now<br />
considers psychologically<br />
damaging, too. "Everyone<br />
is distracted," Rosenstein<br />
says. "All of the time."<br />
Ever since the internet<br />
became widely used by the<br />
public in the 1990s, users<br />
have heard warnings that it<br />
is bad for us. In the early<br />
years, many commentators<br />
described cyberspace as a<br />
parallel universe that could<br />
swallow enthusiasts whole.<br />
The media fretted about<br />
kids talking to strangers<br />
and finding porn. A<br />
prominent 1998 study<br />
from Carnegie Mellon<br />
University claimed that<br />
spending time online made<br />
you lonely, depressed and<br />
antisocial.<br />
In the mid-2000s, as the<br />
internet moved on to<br />
mobile devices, physical<br />
and virtual life began to<br />
merge. Bullish pundits<br />
celebrated the "cognitive<br />
surplus" unlocked by<br />
crowdsourcing and the<br />
tech-savvy campaigns of<br />
Barack Obama, the<br />
"internet president". But,<br />
alongside these optimistic<br />
voices, darker warnings<br />
persisted. Nicholas Carr's<br />
The Shallows (2010)<br />
argued that search engines<br />
were making people<br />
stupid, while Eli Pariser's<br />
The Filter Bubble (2011)<br />
claimed algorithms made<br />
us insular by showing us<br />
only what we wanted to<br />
see. In Alone, Together<br />
(2011) and Reclaiming<br />
Conversation (2015),<br />
Sherry Turkle warned that<br />
constant connectivity was<br />
making meaningful<br />
interaction impossible.<br />
Still, inside the industry,<br />
t e c h n o - u t o p i a n i s m<br />
prevailed. Silicon Valley<br />
seemed to assume that the<br />
tools they were building<br />
were always forces for good<br />
- and that anyone who<br />
questioned them was a<br />
crank or a luddite. In the<br />
face of an anti-tech<br />
backlash that has surged<br />
since the 20<strong>16</strong> election,<br />
however, this faith appears<br />
to be faltering. Prominent<br />
people in the industry are<br />
beginning to acknowledge<br />
that their products may<br />
have harmful effects.<br />
Internet anxiety isn't<br />
new. But never before have<br />
so many notable figures<br />
within the industry seemed<br />
so anxious about the world<br />
they have made. Parker,<br />
Rosenstein and the other<br />
insiders now talking about<br />
the harms of smartphones<br />
and social media belong to<br />
an informal yet influential<br />
current of tech critics<br />
emerging within Silicon<br />
Valley. You could call them<br />
the "tech humanists".<br />
Amid rising public concern<br />
about the power of the<br />
industry, they argue that<br />
the primary problem with<br />
its products is that they<br />
threaten our health and<br />
our humanity.<br />
It is clear that these<br />
products are designed to be<br />
maximally addictive, in<br />
order to harvest as much of<br />
our attention as they can.<br />
Tech humanists say this<br />
business model is both<br />
unhealthy and inhumane -<br />
that it damages our<br />
psychological well-being<br />
and conditions us to<br />
behave in ways that<br />
diminish our humanity.<br />
The main solution that<br />
they propose is better<br />
design. By redesigning<br />
technology to be less<br />
addictive and less<br />
manipulative, they believe<br />
we can make it healthier -<br />
we can realign technology<br />
with our humanity and<br />
build products that don't<br />
"hijack" our minds.<br />
Apple founder Steve Jobs posing with a<br />
Macintosh computer.<br />
Photo: Ted Thai<br />
What to consider before buying a mobile phone<br />
Jack Schofield<br />
Phone manufacturers and others<br />
can and do test their phones, usually<br />
for certification purposes. The<br />
performance test results you want, if<br />
you can get them, are the Total<br />
Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS) value for<br />
reception and the Total Radiated<br />
Power (TRP) for transmission.<br />
These probably don't qualify as<br />
easy for an ordinary punter to<br />
understand. Also, they are derived<br />
by testing performance in ideal<br />
conditions with a simulated base<br />
station in an anechoic chamber, not<br />
with a fading signal on a wet and<br />
windy hillside.<br />
Either way, I don't think phone<br />
manufacturers are likely to use TIS<br />
in their marketing. There are too<br />
many variables for it to be a reliable<br />
guide to real-world reception. For<br />
example, studies have found<br />
significant differences between<br />
holding a phone in the left hand and<br />
holding it in the right hand, which I<br />
assume is connected with the way<br />
manufacturers position their<br />
antenna(s). The size of your hands<br />
and the angle at which you hold the<br />
phone also make a difference.<br />
The tests were created by the CTIA<br />
- originally the Cellular<br />
Telecommunications Industry<br />
Association - to certify wireless<br />
devices' over-the-air performance,<br />
and a brief glance at the 591-page<br />
PDF will show how complicated it is.<br />
For example, you could measure<br />
peak performance with a directional<br />
aerial, but then users would have to<br />
orient the phone towards the unseen<br />
transmitter for the best results.<br />
Instead, the CTIA requires the<br />
"average spherical effective radiated<br />
receiver sensitivity (TIS) to be<br />
measured". This should mean a<br />
phone works equally well in all<br />
directions, but it's complicated to<br />
calculate and still a compromise.<br />
Another problem is making<br />
antennas work with different 2G, 3G<br />
and 4G phone networks that operate<br />
at different frequencies. A phone<br />
that works well with GSM 900<br />
might be terrible with UMTS 2100.<br />
The downside of having a phone<br />
that talks to most networks is that it<br />
won't be optimised for the one you<br />
actually use.<br />
Also, because human bodies have<br />
not been standardised, TIS and TRP<br />
measurements are made with<br />
dummy heads and hands filled with<br />
liquid. Results may vary if you use<br />
real people. In the end, the only<br />
measurements that matter are the<br />
ones you get with your head and<br />
hands with the specific frequencies<br />
used by your EE network. We are<br />
left with "ask a friend" and the notvery-helpful<br />
"try it and see".<br />
Most tests assume that all models<br />
of a particular phone will perform in<br />
the same way, but Ofcom found<br />
differences. As with other products,<br />
phones that look identical can vary.<br />
In some cases, they may have been<br />
assembled in different countries,<br />
and use slightly different<br />
components. In others, the circuitry<br />
may have been revised between<br />
editions. Even if the internal<br />
components seem to be the same,<br />
there could be some sample<br />
variation, without a phone actually<br />
being faulty.<br />
This makes me wonder if your<br />
Moto 3 is below average in reception<br />
performance. In most cases, no one<br />
would ever know, but you are<br />
literally an "edge case". With a new<br />
phone, it might be worth asking the<br />
supplier for a different sample, but it<br />
may be too late for that.<br />
It would be interesting to know<br />
what would happen if you swapped<br />
phones and sims with your wife. You<br />
may have a bigger capacitance than<br />
your wife, electronically speaking,<br />
and possibly much bigger hands.<br />
Both can and do affect reception. If<br />
your Moto 3 works better in her<br />
hands, then either you or your sim<br />
are degrading the performance. It<br />
might be worth getting a new sim.<br />
As you already know, using your<br />
phone on a selfie stick can improve<br />
performance. You may also get<br />
better reception by not touching the<br />
phone and using the built-in<br />
speakerphone. You could also try<br />
using a signal booster or repeater.<br />
Why is it that some smartphones have better reception than others and is there any way to<br />
find out which ones are best before buying them?<br />
Photo: Samuel Gibbs
ECONOMY & BUSINESS<br />
6<br />
SATURDAy, FEBRUARy <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong><br />
PRAN national pickle<br />
winners awarded<br />
The gala awards ceremony of 19th<br />
PRAN National Pickle Competition-<br />
2018 was held on Fridayevening at<br />
Bangabandhu International<br />
Conference Center.<br />
Pickle of Nowrin Ahsan of Dhaka<br />
was judged as the 'Pickle of the year'.<br />
She received Tk 2 lakh as prize<br />
money. Besides, a total of 12 women<br />
in four categories - sweet, sour, hot<br />
and mixed - won the awards while<br />
another 35 were given complimentary<br />
awards.<br />
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni<br />
handed over the awards as chief guest<br />
while Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, CEO<br />
and Chairman of PRAN-RFL Group,<br />
Uzma Chowdhury, Director<br />
(Corporate Finance), EleashMridah,<br />
Managing Director of PRAN Group<br />
and Israrul Haque, Executive Director<br />
of Channel-i, among others, were<br />
present at the function.<br />
Addressing the program,<br />
DrDipuMoni said, "Pickle is a part of<br />
our tradition. The women of the<br />
country have been making pickle for<br />
long time. But they never consider it<br />
as a commercial item. This pickle<br />
competition is working as a platform<br />
for the women to move forward."<br />
Ahsan Khan Chowdhury said,<br />
"PRAN is running its activities with<br />
the country's general people<br />
especially women and farmers. PRAN<br />
is entering to world market after<br />
processing the farmer's crops and<br />
becoming popular to the world as<br />
PRAN (heart) of Bangladesh.<br />
PRAN group is working relentlessly<br />
regarding women empowerment. We<br />
have been organizing the event for last<br />
19 years to show the respect to the<br />
activities of country's women folk."<br />
A total of 3,796 participants across the<br />
country took part at the competition<br />
with 7,892 pickles prepared by them.<br />
Nowrin Ahsan of Dhaka, Nuri<br />
Musaiyada of Chattogram, Shabana of<br />
Dhaka won first, second and third<br />
prizes respectively in sour category<br />
while SayedaAsma of Jashore, Rafeza<br />
Rashid of Dhaka and Salma Malek of<br />
Tangailgot first, second and third prizes<br />
respectively in sweet category.<br />
Abida Sultana of Barishal, Sharmin<br />
Jaman of Dhaka and Morjina<br />
Khanom of Khulna won first, second<br />
and third prizes in hot category<br />
whileFarzana Afrin, Laila Yesmin of<br />
Dhaka and Aporupa of Khulanawon<br />
first, second and third prizes<br />
respectively in mixed category.<br />
World stocks slip<br />
with few leads from<br />
US-China talks<br />
World markets were mostly<br />
lower on Friday in the<br />
absence of good news as the<br />
U.S. and China concluded<br />
yet another round of trade<br />
talks in Beijing, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
France's CAC 40 rose 0.4<br />
percent to 5,080.31 while<br />
the DAX in Germany<br />
dipped 0.4 percent to<br />
11,044.17. Britain's FTSE<br />
100 edged up 0.1 percent to<br />
7,2<strong>02</strong>.54.<br />
Wall Street was set for<br />
losses on the open. S&P 500<br />
futures shed 0.3 percent to<br />
2,735.00. Futures for the<br />
Dow were 0.4 percent lower<br />
at 25,327.00.<br />
European traders were<br />
looking out for possible<br />
snap elections in Spain.<br />
Prime Minister Pedro<br />
Sanchez was to make an<br />
announcement Friday after<br />
his government lost a key<br />
budget vote.<br />
American and Chinese<br />
officials were to wrap up<br />
two days of negotiations in<br />
Beijing on Friday. It was<br />
unclear if they made<br />
headway on prickly issues<br />
such as Washington's<br />
unhappiness over Chinese<br />
technology and trade<br />
policies. Both delegations<br />
did not speak to reporters<br />
before Friday's meeting.<br />
The U.S. is set to more<br />
than double import taxes on<br />
$200 billion in Chinese<br />
goods after March 1. But<br />
Trump has hinted that he<br />
may hold off on these if<br />
both sides made enough<br />
progress at the trade talks.<br />
Tea output increases<br />
57 pc in northern<br />
districts<br />
As the tea sector is thriving fast, the 'madetea'<br />
output marked 57 percent increase last<br />
year than previous year in the 'Kartoa Valley'<br />
ecological zone comprising of five sub-<br />
Himalayan northern districts.<br />
Officials at Panchagarh regional office of<br />
Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB) said 84.67-lakh<br />
kg 'made-tea' was produced in 2018 which is<br />
higher by 57 percent than the output of<br />
54.40-lakh kg 'made tea' in 2017 in the valley,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
"Tea was cultivated on 7,645 acres of lands<br />
in Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur,<br />
Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts last<br />
year in the valley," said Senior Scientific<br />
Officer of BTB at Panchagarh Dr Mohammad<br />
Shameem Al Mamun.<br />
Of them, tea was cultivated on 2,243 acres<br />
of land in nine registered and 19 unregistered<br />
tea gardens and on 5,4<strong>02</strong> acres of land in<br />
4,450 small-scale gardens in these five<br />
districts last year.<br />
In Panchagarh, 78.22-lakh kg of 'made tea'<br />
was processed from 3.77-crore kg of green tea<br />
leaves produced on 6,792 acres of land last<br />
year.<br />
In Thakurgaon, 6.45-lakh kg 'made tea' was<br />
processed from 39.07-lakh kg green tea<br />
leaves produced on 742 acres of land last<br />
year.<br />
Besides, 115 small growers cultivated tea on<br />
111 acres of land in Dinajpur, Nilphamari and<br />
Lalmonirhat districts last year.<br />
'Tea farming is expanding fast as BTB is<br />
implementing 'Expansion of Small Holding<br />
Tea Cultivation in Northern Bangladesh<br />
Project' since 2015 at Taka 4.97 crore to<br />
expand tea farming by more 500 hectares of<br />
land within 2<strong>02</strong>0 in the valley," Mamun<br />
added.<br />
The 'small-scale gardening-basis' tea<br />
cultivation on plain lands has become a<br />
highly profitable venture inspiring the local<br />
farmers to expand its cultivation.<br />
"Following continuous expansion of tea<br />
cultivation, production of green tea leaves is<br />
boosting every year in the valley bringing<br />
fortune to many farmers and creating jobs for<br />
the poor, especially women," Mamun added.<br />
"Thirteen tea companies are processing tea<br />
after producing green tea leaves in their<br />
gardens as well as purchasing the same from<br />
farmers to produce 'made-tea' in Panchagarh<br />
and Thakurgaon for selling at Chittagong<br />
Auction Market," Mamun said.<br />
Earlier, 32-lakh kg 'made-tea' was<br />
produced in 20<strong>16</strong>, and 25.21-lakh kg 'madetea'<br />
in 2015 and 14.21-lakh kg 'made-tea' in<br />
2014 and 14.55-lakh kg 'made-tea' in 2013<br />
against only 1.61-lakh kg in 2005 when<br />
commercial basis cultivation began in<br />
Panchagarh.<br />
Talking to BSS, bigger tea grower Matiar<br />
Rahman of village Sonapatila in Panchagarh<br />
said he began cultivating tea on his 4.50 acres<br />
of land as a small-scale tea grower for the first<br />
time in 20<strong>02</strong>.<br />
"I am cultivating tea on about 52 acres of<br />
land now as a small-holder and selling the<br />
produced green tea leaves to 13 tea<br />
processing companies," Rahman said.<br />
Similarly, small-scale tea farmers Abdul<br />
Hakim, Solaiman Ali, Abdur Rahman and<br />
Sekendar Ali of different villages said that tea<br />
farming has brought fortune to their families<br />
along with improving standard of living.<br />
Predicting brighter prospect for expanding<br />
tea farming in the 'Kartoa Valley' ecological<br />
zone, President of Panchagarh Chamber of<br />
Commerce and Industry Abdul Hannan<br />
Sheikh said the tea thriving sector is also<br />
boosting economy in the northern region.<br />
French minister<br />
Britain must<br />
hurry up and<br />
decide on Brexit<br />
France's Europe minister is<br />
urging Britain to "hurry up"<br />
and decide whether it's<br />
leaving the European Union<br />
with or without a deal,<br />
reports BSS<br />
Nathalie Loiseau said on<br />
RTL radio Friday that "it's<br />
time for our British friends<br />
to decide whether they want<br />
to leave amicably or<br />
brutally."<br />
She said the EU worked<br />
hard to reach a Brexit<br />
agreement with British<br />
Prime Minister Theresa<br />
May's government, and "it's<br />
a little hard to understand<br />
that they can't sell their own<br />
proposition."<br />
May suffered another<br />
embarrassing parliamentary<br />
defeat Thursday over her<br />
Brexit strategy, further<br />
raising fears that the<br />
country could crash out of<br />
the EU without a deal, a<br />
development that would see<br />
tariffs imposed on trade.<br />
Loiseau said Britain<br />
should "hurry up" and<br />
decide for all businesses and<br />
citizens affected by Brexit.<br />
US, China hold 2nd day of<br />
talks with no tariff decision<br />
U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators held a<br />
second day of talks Friday after President<br />
Donald Trump's top economic adviser said he<br />
has yet to decide whether to escalate a<br />
technology dispute by going ahead with a<br />
March 2 tariff increase on imports from China,<br />
reports BSS<br />
Business groups and economists say this<br />
week's talks are too brief to resolve a sprawling<br />
dispute over Beijing's technology ambitions.<br />
They say China's goal is to persuade Trump to<br />
push back the March 2 deadline for a planned<br />
duty hike on $200 billion of Chinese imports.<br />
"The vibe is good," Trump's adviser Larry<br />
Kudlow told reporters in Washington.<br />
Trump had made "no decision" on the tariff<br />
hike, Kudlow said. The president said Tuesday<br />
he might let the March 2 deadline "slide for a<br />
little while" if the talks go well.<br />
Kudlow declined to give no details of the talks<br />
but said, "They're covering all the ground.<br />
They're hard at it." The battle between the two<br />
biggest economies has fueled fears it will drag<br />
on weakening global growth.<br />
Delegations led by U.S. Trade Representative<br />
Robert Lighthizer and his Chinese counterpart,<br />
Vice Premier Liu He, were meeting at a<br />
government guesthouse. They said nothing to<br />
reporters before Friday's meeting.<br />
There was no indication whether negotiators<br />
made progress on the thorniest dispute: U.S.<br />
pressure on Beijing to scale back plans for<br />
government-led creation of Chinese global<br />
leaders in robotics and other technologies.<br />
Washington, Europe, Japan and other<br />
governments say those plans violate Beijing's<br />
market-opening obligations. Some American<br />
officials worry they might erode U.S. industrial<br />
leadership.<br />
Trump raised tariffs in July over complaints<br />
Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand<br />
over technology.<br />
The dispute has spread to cover cyber-spying<br />
traced to China, the country's multibillion-dollar<br />
trade surplus with the United States and support<br />
for state industry.<br />
Beijing has offered to narrow its trade surplus<br />
by purchasing more American soybeans,<br />
natural gas and other exports. But the<br />
government has resisted pressure to cut back<br />
development plans it sees as a path to<br />
prosperity and global influence.<br />
An official newspaper, the Global Times,<br />
complained Friday that Washington "wants to<br />
influence China's development direction."<br />
"From politics to economy to ideology, the<br />
United States hopes to intervene in China's<br />
affairs," said the newspaper, published by the<br />
ruling Communist Party.<br />
Chinese officials also balk at U.S. pressure to<br />
accept an enforcement mechanism to monitor<br />
whether Beijing carries out its promises.<br />
Beijing has tried to deflect pressure by<br />
emphasizing China's growth as an export<br />
market. It has announced changes over the past<br />
year to open finance and other fields, including<br />
allowing full foreign ownership in its auto<br />
industry for the first time.<br />
A delegation of the Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed companies (BAPLC), led by its President<br />
Azam J Chowdhury called on Tipu Munshi, MP, the Minister, Ministry of Commerce at the Bangladesh<br />
Secretariat recently. BAPLC congratulated Tipu Munshi, MP on assuming the office of the Minister,<br />
Ministry of Commerce. President BAPLC introduced the members of the Executive Committee and took<br />
up some important issues of the listed companies with the Minister. The delegation thanked the Minister<br />
for his patient hearing and wished him great success in this important new leadership role. Anis A. Khan,<br />
Vice President, BAPLC and Managing Director & CEO of Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB), EC Members<br />
Ruhul Amin, Chairman, Bangladesh Industrial Finance Co. Ltd, Abdullah Al Mahmud, Managing<br />
Director, Hamid Fabrics Ltd, Shahriar Ahmed, Managing Director Apex Foods Ltd. and Md. Amzad<br />
Hossain, Secretary-General of BAPLC were also present at the meeting.<br />
Photo : Courtesy<br />
Outgoing president of Bangladesh Chamber of Industries handed over the responsibilities to the newly<br />
elected president Anwar Ul Alam recently for the year of <strong>2019</strong>-2<strong>02</strong>1.<br />
Photo : Courtesy<br />
Trump's new trade decision<br />
Impose tariffs on<br />
imported cars ?<br />
Sometimes, on a bad night,<br />
Brad Strong wakes at 2 a.m.<br />
and can't get back to sleep.<br />
The insomnia isn't about his<br />
family or money or health. It's<br />
about tariffs, reports UNB.<br />
The Strong family's three<br />
car dealerships in Salt Lake<br />
City could suffer a significant<br />
blow if President Donald<br />
Trump proceeds with a<br />
proposal to impose tariffs of<br />
20 to 25 percent on<br />
imported autos and auto<br />
parts. Strong may be in for a<br />
few more sleepless nights.<br />
Tokyo stocks lose<br />
ground in morning<br />
on yen's rise, subpar<br />
U.S retail data<br />
Tokyo stocks lost ground<br />
Friday morning as the yen's<br />
rise against the U.S. dollar<br />
coupled with subpar U.S.<br />
retail data dented the<br />
market mood, reports BSS.<br />
The 225-issue Nikkei<br />
Stock Average dropped<br />
253.44 points, or 1.20<br />
percent, from Thursday to<br />
20,886.27. The broader<br />
Topix index of all First<br />
Section issues on the Tokyo<br />
Stock Exchange, meanwhile,<br />
lost 14.65 points, or 0.92<br />
percent, at 1,575.<strong>16</strong>.<br />
Food, nonferrous metal<br />
and service-oriented issues<br />
comprised those that<br />
declined the most by the<br />
morning break.<br />
Bangladesh's employment rate<br />
exceeded global average: ILO<br />
International Labour Organisation (ILO)<br />
has said the employment rate in Bangladesh<br />
and other countries in the region exceeded<br />
the global average and was expected to<br />
remain so in the coming years in view of<br />
government's social protection measures,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
"The regional unemployment rate (in Asia<br />
and Pacific countries including Bangladesh)<br />
is projected to remain at around 3.6 percent<br />
until 2<strong>02</strong>0, below the global average," the<br />
ILO said in its World Employment and<br />
Social Outlook:<br />
Trends <strong>2019</strong> (WESO), released recently.<br />
It said the global average of the<br />
unemployment rate was 5.6 percent while<br />
the figure was around 3.6 percent in<br />
Bangladesh and the other Asia and Pacific<br />
nations.<br />
ILO attributed Bangladesh's better<br />
employment scenario to significant social<br />
protection measures while the countries<br />
with higher poverty rates lacked such<br />
measures.<br />
The global labour watchdog, however, said<br />
structural transformation moved huge<br />
workers out of agriculture, but this could not<br />
create significant improvements in job<br />
quality in the region.<br />
It found a large proportion of workers<br />
lacked job security, written employment<br />
contracts and income stability.<br />
"Like many countries in the region,<br />
Bangladesh is facing a number of challenges<br />
related to job security, child labour, and<br />
equal and fair payment for women workers,"<br />
ILO Bangladesh Country Director Tuomo<br />
Poutiainen said coinciding with the release<br />
of the study.<br />
He said if Bangladesh was to meet the<br />
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by<br />
2030 there was a need to ramp up its efforts<br />
on improving social protection, skills<br />
training and occupational safety and health.<br />
"Bangladesh needs to create millions of<br />
decent and sustainable jobs each year if it<br />
wants to reduce poverty and reach middleincome<br />
status.<br />
Poutiainen, however, said Bangladesh<br />
government made important progress in<br />
these areas and continued to move forward<br />
to work on many important labour reforms<br />
jointly with ILO and other development<br />
partners.<br />
Bangladesh's Labour and Employment<br />
ministry along with the Planning<br />
Commission recently commenced a work<br />
with ILO on a comprehensive jobs strategy.<br />
The ILO country chief expected the<br />
initiative to contribute to new employment<br />
initiatives with a special focus on women<br />
and youth.<br />
The ILO report reveals a majority of the<br />
3.3 billion people employed globally in 2018<br />
had inadequate economic security, material<br />
well-being and equality of opportunity.<br />
The progress in reducing unemployment<br />
globally was not being reflected in<br />
improvements in the quality of work either.<br />
ILO feared the persistence of a number of<br />
major deficits in decent work and warning<br />
that at the current rate of progress, attaining<br />
the goal of decent work for all, as set out in<br />
the SDGs seemed unrealistic for many<br />
countries.<br />
The report cautioned that some new<br />
business models, including those enabled by<br />
new technologies, threatened to undermine<br />
existing labour market achievements - in<br />
areas such as improving employment<br />
formality and security, social protection and<br />
labour standards.<br />
It said the scenario appeared for the<br />
policymakers as a major challenge.
MISCELLANEOUS<br />
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong><br />
7<br />
The Managing Director of National AgriCare Group KSM Mostafizur Rahman has received the<br />
world prestigious award " GLOBAL ENTREPRENUERSHIP AWARD-<strong>2019</strong>" in the recently held<br />
World Entrepreneurship Summit <strong>2019</strong>, organized by the Global Entrepreneurs Grid (GEG) in<br />
collaboration with prestigious New Horizon College of Engineering on 2nd February <strong>2019</strong> at<br />
Bangalore, India for his outstanding contribution on Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable<br />
Development in Bangladesh.<br />
Photo : Courtesy<br />
First lady makes Valentine's Day<br />
art with pediatric patients<br />
Melania Trump showed love for her<br />
new hometown during a Valentine's<br />
Day arts-and-crafts session with<br />
pediatric patients Thursday, reports<br />
UNB.<br />
At a station where children wrote<br />
their "favorite things" on construction<br />
paper hearts, the first lady went with<br />
"My favorite city is Washington." She<br />
signed the heart with her name and<br />
stuck it on a board on a wall in the<br />
middle of several other hearts.<br />
During the visit to The Children's Inn<br />
on the campus of the National<br />
Institutes of Health outside<br />
Washington, she also helped make<br />
candy boxes - and assisted a line of<br />
children in filling them up with a<br />
variety of sugary treats - and snow<br />
globes.<br />
Amani, a 13-year-old boy from<br />
Judge to weigh fight over<br />
citizenship question on<br />
US census<br />
The Trump administration<br />
will try to persuade a U.S.<br />
judge Friday to let it add a<br />
citizenship question to the<br />
2<strong>02</strong>0 U.S. census for the first<br />
time in nearly 70 years, a<br />
move that opponents say<br />
would lead to an undercount<br />
of immigrants and Latinos,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
Lawsuits by California and<br />
numerous cities in the state<br />
say asking people whether<br />
they are citizens of the U.S. is<br />
politically motivated and<br />
would discourage<br />
immigrants and Latinos<br />
from participating in the<br />
population count.<br />
Judge Richard Seeborg in<br />
San Francisco is not<br />
expected to issue a ruling<br />
immediately after closing<br />
arguments. He heard nearly<br />
a week of testimony last<br />
month in the lawsuits, which<br />
assert that the question<br />
would result in an<br />
undercount that would<br />
jeopardize federal funding<br />
and the state's<br />
representation in Congress.<br />
Census numbers are used<br />
to determine states'<br />
distribution of congressional<br />
seats and billions of dollars<br />
in federal funding.<br />
The lawsuits urge Seeborg<br />
to keep the citizenship<br />
question off the census. A<br />
federal judge in New York<br />
already has barred the<br />
Trump administration from<br />
adding it in a separate set of<br />
lawsuits.<br />
The<br />
Trump<br />
administration says it will<br />
appeal directly to the U.S.<br />
Supreme Court.<br />
The U.S. Justice<br />
Department argues that<br />
census officials take steps to<br />
guard against an<br />
undercount, including<br />
making in-person follow-up<br />
visits, so the final numbers<br />
will be accurate.<br />
Households that skip the<br />
citizenship question but<br />
otherwise fill out a<br />
substantial portion of the<br />
questionnaire will still be<br />
counted,<br />
Justice<br />
Department attorneys said<br />
in court documents.<br />
Mombasa, Kenya, showed her how to<br />
turn a wooden clothespin into a<br />
colorful clip.<br />
"This is a big project," Mrs. Trump<br />
said. Amani has sickle cell disease and<br />
is preparing for a bone marrow<br />
transplant, the White House said. The<br />
first lady told Amani that she will pray<br />
for him. He presented her with a red<br />
heart-shaped box that held a silver<br />
necklace with "Hope & Faith" inscribed<br />
on a silver circle.<br />
The first lady later wrote on Twitter<br />
that she "Loved sharing an afternoon<br />
with such sweet valentines! Your<br />
bravery, strength, and love is amazing."<br />
She thanked The Children's Inn and<br />
NIH for their "lifesaving work."<br />
The Children's Inn is a private,<br />
nonprofit residence for children and<br />
families participating in pediatric<br />
Congress lopsidedly approved a border<br />
security compromise Thursday that would<br />
avert a second painful government<br />
shutdown, but a new confrontation was<br />
ignited - this time over President Donald<br />
Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and<br />
declare a national emergency to siphon<br />
billions from other federal coffers for his wall<br />
on the Mexican boundary, reports UNB.<br />
Money in the bill for border barriers, about<br />
$1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion<br />
Trump insisted he needed and would finance<br />
just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he<br />
wanted. The White House said he'd sign the<br />
legislation but act unilaterally to get the rest,<br />
prompting immediate condemnation from<br />
Democrats and threats of lawsuits from<br />
states and others who might lose federal<br />
money or said Trump was abusing his<br />
authority.<br />
The uproar over Trump's next move cast<br />
an uncertain shadow over what had been a<br />
rare display of bipartisanship to address the<br />
grinding battle between the White House<br />
and lawmakers over border security.<br />
The Senate passed the legislation 83-<strong>16</strong>,<br />
with both parties solidly on board. The<br />
House followed with a 300-128 tally, with<br />
Trump's signature planned Friday.<br />
research at NIH. The first lady was at<br />
the inn on Valentine's Day last year<br />
when she was informed by her staff of a<br />
shooting at a south Florida high school<br />
that killed 17 people. She was greeted<br />
Thursday by Amber, 9, of San Jose,<br />
California. Amber, who participates in<br />
a gene therapy trial, was among the<br />
children with whom Mrs. Trump spent<br />
time during last year's visit.<br />
Mrs. Trump is focusing her work as<br />
first lady on the well-being of children.<br />
"This is a big project," Mrs. Trump<br />
said. Amani has sickle cell disease and<br />
is preparing for a bone marrow<br />
transplant, the White House said. The<br />
first lady told Amani that she will pray<br />
for him. He presented her with a red<br />
heart-shaped box that held a silver<br />
necklace with "Hope & Faith" inscribed<br />
on a silver circle.<br />
Congress OKs border deal; Trump<br />
will sign, declare emergency<br />
Violence, displacement and extremely<br />
harsh conditions in northern and eastern<br />
Syria have killed at least 32 children since<br />
December 2018, the UN children's fund<br />
(UNICEF) reported Thursday, reports UNB.<br />
Persistent fighting in the area surrounding<br />
Hajin, in eastern Syria, has forced thousands<br />
of people to embark on a long and arduous<br />
journey to safety at Al-Hol camp for<br />
internally displaced people -- almost 300 km<br />
to the north, the report said.<br />
Since December 2018, an estimated<br />
23,000 people -- most of them women and<br />
children -- have arrived at the camp after the<br />
three-day journey in harsh desert winter<br />
conditions, with little food or shelter along<br />
the way, it said.<br />
Lack of security has made humanitarian<br />
access to children en route to the camp's<br />
screening area nearly impossible.<br />
The difficult journey, cold weather and<br />
Democrats overwhelmingly backed the<br />
legislation, with only 19 - most of whom were<br />
Hispanic - opposed. Just over half of<br />
Republicans voted "no."<br />
Should Trump change his mind, both<br />
margins were above the two-thirds<br />
majorities needed to override presidential<br />
vetoes. Lawmakers, however, sometimes<br />
rally behind presidents of the same party in<br />
such battles.<br />
Lawmakers exuded relief that the<br />
agreement had averted a fresh closure of<br />
federal agencies just three weeks after a<br />
record-setting 35-day partial shutdown that<br />
drew an unambiguous thumbs-down from<br />
the public. But in announcing that Trump<br />
would sign the accord, White House Press<br />
Secretary Sarah Sanders also said he'd take<br />
"other executive action, including a national<br />
emergency,"<br />
In an unusual joint statement, House<br />
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate<br />
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,<br />
said such a declaration would be "a lawless<br />
act, a gross abuse of the power of the<br />
presidency and a desperate attempt to<br />
distract" from Trump's failure to force<br />
Mexico to pay for the wall, as he's promised<br />
for years.<br />
Over 30 children killed in Syria by violence,<br />
displacement, harsh conditions<br />
since December: UNICEF<br />
long waiting periods at screening centers,<br />
where families wait sometimes for days, have<br />
reportedly contributed to the death of at least<br />
29 children -- including 11 infants in the past<br />
two days alone.<br />
UNICEF said it is assisting children and<br />
mothers fleeing the fighting in Hajin with<br />
blankets, winter clothing, food, water, health<br />
and nutrition services, child-friendly spaces<br />
and child protection and family reunification<br />
services.<br />
In addition, since last week, fighting in<br />
Ma'arat al-Nu'man in Idlib, in northwestern<br />
Syria, has reportedly killed three children<br />
and injured scores more.<br />
UNICEF has appealed to all parties to<br />
facilitate safe, unhindered and sustained<br />
humanitarian access to all children in need,<br />
and has called on those fighting to keep<br />
children out of harm's way, even in areas of<br />
active conflict.<br />
MAG Osmani's 35th<br />
death anniversary<br />
Saturday<br />
SYLHET : The 35th death<br />
anniversary of General MAG<br />
Osmani, the commander-inchief<br />
of the Armed Forces<br />
during the War of<br />
Liberation, will be observed<br />
on Saturday, reports UNB.<br />
Different political,<br />
sociocultural and voluntary<br />
organisations have chalked<br />
out elaborate programmes<br />
to commemorate MAG<br />
Osmani's death anniversary.<br />
Meanwhile, Bangabir<br />
General MAG Osmani Birth<br />
Centenary Udjapon<br />
Parishad, Sylhet organised<br />
several programmes,<br />
including a doa mahfil,<br />
offering fatehta and placing<br />
wreaths at his grave, on<br />
Friday.<br />
Besides, Osmani Museum<br />
will arrange a Qurankhwani,<br />
a doa mahfil and a<br />
discussion on Saturday on<br />
the occasion.<br />
Osmani was born to a<br />
landowning family in<br />
Sunamganj, Assam Province<br />
during the British era on<br />
September 1, 1918 and died<br />
in London on February <strong>16</strong>,<br />
1984.<br />
He was educated in Assam<br />
and Sylhet and graduated<br />
from Aligarh Muslim<br />
University in India.<br />
Three-day book fair<br />
at IU from Feb 19<br />
ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY : A<br />
three-day book fair will be<br />
held at Islamic University<br />
(IU) in Kushtia from<br />
February 19, reports UNB.<br />
It will continue until<br />
February 21, IU<br />
Information,<br />
Publicationand Public<br />
Relations Office Director M<br />
Ataul Haque said on Friday.<br />
IU Vice-Chancellor<br />
Professor M Harun-Ur-<br />
Rashid Askari will address<br />
the inaugural session as the<br />
chief guest while short story<br />
writer Professor Hasan<br />
Azizul Huq of Rajshahi<br />
University will be present as<br />
the chief discussant.<br />
IU Treasurer Professor M<br />
Selim Toha will attend the<br />
function as the special guest<br />
while IU Pro-Vice-<br />
Chancellor Professor M<br />
Shahinoor Rahman will<br />
preside over it, he added.<br />
All preparations have<br />
already been taken to hold<br />
the fair in a peaceful<br />
atmosphere, IU Vice-<br />
Chancellor Professor Rashid<br />
Askari said.<br />
Report: Facebook, FTC<br />
discussing 'multibillion<br />
dollar' fine<br />
A report says Facebook and<br />
the Federal Trade<br />
Commission are negotiating<br />
a "multibillion dollar" fine<br />
for the social network's<br />
privacy lapses, reports UNB.<br />
The Washington Post said<br />
Thursday that the fine would<br />
be the largest ever imposed<br />
on a tech company. Citing<br />
unnamed sources, it also<br />
said the two sides have not<br />
yet agreed on an exact<br />
amount.<br />
Facebook has had several<br />
high-profile privacy lapses in<br />
the past couple of years. The<br />
FTC has been looking into<br />
the Cambridge Analytica<br />
scandal since last March.<br />
The data mining firm<br />
accessed the data of some 87<br />
million Facebook users<br />
without their consent.<br />
At issue is whether<br />
Facebook is in violation of a<br />
2011 agreement with the<br />
FTC promising to protect<br />
user privacy. Facebook and<br />
the FTC declined to<br />
comment.<br />
U.S. recalls nonemergency<br />
personnel from<br />
Haiti amid unrest<br />
U.S. State Department<br />
Thursday ordered the<br />
departure of all nonemergency<br />
U.S. personnel<br />
and their family members<br />
from Haiti due to the<br />
unstable situation,<br />
according to a statement<br />
issued by the State<br />
Department, reports UNB.<br />
White House scrambles<br />
to find pots of money to<br />
use for wall<br />
If President Donald Trump declares an<br />
emergency to build the wall with Mexico, he<br />
still needs money to pay for it. And shifting<br />
money from other accounts to deliver the<br />
$5.7 billion he wants is not without political<br />
problems, reports UNB. The administration<br />
has been eyeing several pots of money -<br />
including disaster funds, counternarcotic<br />
accounts and military construction dollars -<br />
to fund Trump's wall, according to<br />
congressional aides and White House<br />
officials.<br />
White House acting chief of staff Mick<br />
Mulvaney has said there are various<br />
accounts available. One possibility is shifting<br />
a portion of the $13 billion in disaster aid<br />
Congress approved last year for Puerto Rico<br />
and a dozen states, including California and<br />
Texas, hit hard by hurricanes, flooding and<br />
other disasters. The money funds Army<br />
Corps projects, and the Puerto Rico aid alone<br />
totals more than $2 billion.<br />
But Texas lawmakers revolted over White<br />
House plans to tap Hurricane Harvey funds,<br />
and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said<br />
Thursday they won assurances from the<br />
White House that the money won't be used<br />
for the wall.<br />
"We've been pretty clear we thought that<br />
would be a mistake," said Cornyn, who along<br />
with the state's governor and other<br />
lawmakers urged the White House to stay<br />
away from that account. "There's limited<br />
pots of money he can get into, but I'm pretty<br />
confident he won't get into disaster funds."<br />
A more likely option is the military<br />
construction account that's used to upgrade<br />
bases and facilities.<br />
Congressional aides said there is $21<br />
billion available. That includes about $10<br />
billion in funds from the current <strong>2019</strong> fiscal<br />
year that ends Sept. 30, and $11 billion<br />
remaining from the previous four years, said<br />
the aides. They spoke on condition of<br />
anonymity because they weren't authorized<br />
to speak publicly about the funding details.<br />
But tapping the military construction<br />
money also may hit resistance. The money<br />
often goes for improvements to housing,<br />
roads, hospitals and other facilities, and can<br />
be used to eliminate mold or other<br />
hazardous problems at military installations<br />
in congressional districts across the nation<br />
and around the globe.<br />
As an example, the aides said, there is<br />
funding for a medical facility at a U.S. base in<br />
Germany that has been partially constructed.<br />
If those funds were used, the medical center<br />
could be left half built.<br />
White House acting chief of staff Mick<br />
Mulvaney has said there are various<br />
accounts available.<br />
One possibility is shifting a portion of the<br />
$13 billion in disaster aid Congress approved<br />
last year for Puerto Rico and a dozen states,<br />
including California and Texas, hit hard by<br />
hurricanes, flooding and other disasters. The<br />
money funds Army Corps projects, and the<br />
Puerto Rico aid alone totals more than $2<br />
billion.<br />
But Texas lawmakers revolted over White<br />
House plans to tap Hurricane Harvey funds,<br />
and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said<br />
Thursday they won assurances from the<br />
White House that the money won't be used<br />
for the wall.<br />
Trump administration sued<br />
over shift in asylum policy<br />
The Trump administration's policy of<br />
returning asylum seekers to Mexico while<br />
their cases wind through immigration<br />
courts violates U.S. law by putting the<br />
migrants in danger and depriving them of<br />
the ability to prepare their cases, a lawsuit<br />
filed Thursday by civil liberties groups<br />
claims, reports UNB.<br />
The lawsuit in federal court in San<br />
Francisco seeks a court order blocking the<br />
Department of Homeland Security from<br />
carrying out the policy that took effect in<br />
January at the San Ysidro border crossing in<br />
San Diego. The launch followed months of<br />
delicate talks between the U.S. and Mexico<br />
and marked a change to the U.S. asylum<br />
system that the administration and asylum<br />
experts said was unprecedented.<br />
Mexican officials have sent mixed signals<br />
on the crucial point of whether Mexico<br />
would impose limits on accepting families.<br />
The effort began at a San Diego crossing<br />
with Tijuana, Mexico for adults only, but<br />
U.S. officials have started to include<br />
families, which currently account for nearly<br />
GD-283/19 (8 x 3)<br />
half of Border Patrol arrests.<br />
"Instead of being able to focus on<br />
preparing their cases, asylum seekers forced<br />
to return to Mexico will have to focus on<br />
trying to survive," according to the lawsuit<br />
filed by the American Civil Liberties Union,<br />
the Southern Poverty Law Center and the<br />
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies.<br />
"These pressures may deter even those with<br />
the strongest asylum claims to give up,<br />
rather than endure the wait under such<br />
conditions."<br />
Steven Stafford, a spokesman for the U.S.<br />
Department of Justice, said Congress has<br />
"explicitly authorized" Homeland Security<br />
officials to return migrants to a "contiguous<br />
foreign territory" during their immigration<br />
proceedings.<br />
"The Department of Justice will defend<br />
the Department of Homeland Security's<br />
lawful actions in court," he said in a<br />
statement. Homeland Security Secretary<br />
Kirstjen Nielsen said the policy is "a vital<br />
response to the crisis at our southern<br />
border."
UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY<br />
SAtuRDAy, DHAkA, FEBRuARy <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2019</strong>, FAlGuN 4, 1425 BS, JAMADI-uS SANNI 10, 1440 HIJRI<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina shaking hand with the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court<br />
Dr Fatou Bensouda.<br />
Photo : BSS<br />
2 more devotees<br />
die at Ijtema<br />
venue<br />
GAZIPUR : Two more<br />
devotees died of cardiac<br />
arrest at Biswa Ijtema<br />
venue in Tongi on Friday.<br />
With these, the death toll<br />
at the Ijtema venue rose to<br />
four this year, reports UNB.<br />
The deceased were identified<br />
as Shafiqur Rahman, 55<br />
of Feni, Sirajul Islam, 65,<br />
hailing from Kushita district.<br />
Adam Ali, a caretaker of<br />
Maslehal Jamaat, said<br />
Shafiqur died around 4:45<br />
am while Sirajul around 2<br />
am at their respective tents.<br />
Both of them died of cardiac<br />
arrest, said a physician<br />
at the venue.<br />
INTERESTING NEWS<br />
In the seasonally dry, deciduous forests of<br />
northeastern Brazil, obscured by walls of<br />
thorny-scrubs, is a vast landscape made up<br />
of tens of millions of densely packed earthen<br />
mounds. These cone-shaped piles of dirt,<br />
each measuring thirty feet wide at its base<br />
and twice as tall as a grown man, are waste<br />
earth excavated by the termites when they<br />
burrow tunnels under the soil. Researchers<br />
estimate that there are some 200 million<br />
mounds here, covering a vast region nearly<br />
equal to the size of Great Britain. The<br />
amount of soil excavated is over 10 cubic<br />
kilometers, equivalent to the volume of<br />
4,000 great pyramids of Giza. This makes<br />
them the biggest engineering project by any<br />
animal besides humans. Incredibly, some of<br />
these mounds are as old as the Pyramids<br />
themselves.<br />
The mounds remains largely hidden from<br />
view in the deciduous, semiarid, thornyscrub<br />
caatinga forests unique to this part of<br />
Brazil. Locals call them murundus but very<br />
Munich Security Confce kicks off<br />
MUNICH : The three-day<br />
Munich Security Conference<br />
(MSC <strong>2019</strong>) began here on<br />
Friday to discuss the future of<br />
arms control and cooperation<br />
in defence policy as well as<br />
examine intersection between<br />
trade and international security,<br />
effects of climate change<br />
and technological innovations<br />
on the international security,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
The MSC has brought<br />
together over 450 senior decision-makers<br />
and thoughtleaders<br />
from around the world<br />
to engage in an intensive<br />
debate on current and future<br />
challenges of human security.<br />
German Chancellor Angela<br />
Merkel, Afghan President<br />
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani<br />
and Egyptian President Abd<br />
al-Fattah as-Sisi, Prime<br />
Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh<br />
Hasina, member of the 19th<br />
Politburo of the Chinese<br />
Communist Party Yang Jiechi,<br />
Romanian President Klaus<br />
Iohannis, Ukraine President<br />
Petro Poroschenko, President<br />
of Rwanda Paul Kagame and<br />
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim<br />
bin Hamad Al Thani are<br />
attending the conference.<br />
Over 40 other foreign and<br />
defence ministers from the EU<br />
and Nato, Russia, Iran, Iraq,<br />
Qatar, Pakistan and the<br />
Philippines are also taking part<br />
in the conference.<br />
The conference began with<br />
the welcome speech of MSC<br />
<strong>2019</strong> Chairman Ambassador<br />
The 4,000-Year-Old Termite<br />
Mounds The Size of Britain<br />
few people outside of the region have heard<br />
about it. It was only in recent decades when<br />
some of the lands were cleared for pasture<br />
that outsiders have come to discover them.<br />
Roy Funch, from the State University of<br />
Feira de Santana, first saw these fields of<br />
mounds in the 1980s when he arrived in<br />
Brazil as a Peace Corps volunteer. He originally<br />
wrote about them in local popular-science<br />
magazines, but never managed to<br />
stoke much interest in them. Three decades<br />
later, after spotting them again on Google<br />
Earth, Funch returned to Brazil, this time as<br />
a researcher, to learn more about these<br />
mysterious mounds.<br />
Funch and his colleagues found that this<br />
colossal feat of engineering is the work of a<br />
tiny species of termite called Syntermes<br />
dirus, barely half an inch long. These creatures<br />
have been building this landscape for<br />
the past 4,000 years, and they are still present<br />
in the soil surrounding the mounds.<br />
The youngest mound is about 690 years old,<br />
while the oldest was at least 3,820 years old.<br />
Wolfgang Ischinger. Federal<br />
Minister of Defence of Germany<br />
Ursula Von dear Leyen and UK<br />
Secretary of State for Defence<br />
Gavin Williamson delivered<br />
opening statements.<br />
Over the course of the past<br />
five decades, the Munich<br />
Security Conference (MSC)<br />
has developed into the<br />
world's leading forum for the<br />
debate of international security<br />
policy.<br />
Repeatedly rated as "Best<br />
Think Tank Conference" in the<br />
world, the MSC provides a oneof-a-kind<br />
opportunity to discuss<br />
policy at the highest level<br />
in a protected and informal<br />
space. In addition to its annual<br />
flagship conference, the MSC<br />
regularly convenes high-profile<br />
events on particular topics and<br />
regions and publishes the<br />
Munich Security Report.<br />
The goal of the conference is<br />
to provide the best possible<br />
platforms for an open<br />
exchange ofopinions, ideas,<br />
and solutions on the critical<br />
security policy issues.<br />
Farhad urges students to<br />
work together for developed<br />
nation by 2041<br />
DHAKA : State Minister for<br />
Public Administration<br />
Farhad Hossain yesterday<br />
urged students and young<br />
people to work together to<br />
make the country as developed<br />
and prosperous one by<br />
2041.<br />
He said this while speaking<br />
as the chief guest at the<br />
reunion ceremony of former<br />
students at Jagannath<br />
University. Alumni<br />
Association of Management<br />
Studies Department was organized<br />
the ceremony, a press<br />
release said here.<br />
Despite having many hostile<br />
situations, he said,<br />
Bangladesh has made<br />
unprecedented development<br />
in various fields including<br />
economic, social, education<br />
and sports. "To continue this<br />
trend of development, all of<br />
us have to work with merit<br />
and honesty to make<br />
Bangladesh a better country,"<br />
the state minister<br />
added. With Management<br />
Studies Department Alumni<br />
Association's President of<br />
Jagannath University<br />
Rashedul Islam Pallab in the<br />
chair, the ceremony was<br />
addressed, among others, by<br />
Jagannath University Vice-<br />
Chancellor Mizanur Rahman<br />
and National Board of<br />
Revenue Khandaker<br />
Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.<br />
New generation brings<br />
society's positive<br />
changes: Jabed<br />
CHATTOGRAM : Land<br />
Minister Saifuzzaman<br />
Chowdhury Jabed urged<br />
the new generation to bring<br />
positive changes in the society<br />
by their talent and wisdoms,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
"The country will march<br />
forward by the fresh thinking<br />
of the new generation<br />
and their patriotism, honesty<br />
and sincerity," he said<br />
while inaugurating a<br />
"Human Fair" as the chief<br />
guest on Nasirabad Boys<br />
School ground here today.<br />
The Daily Purbokone<br />
Limited organised the function<br />
with the participation<br />
of 50 voluntary organisations.<br />
Terming the new generation<br />
as the part of a larger<br />
community, the Land<br />
Minister said now they have<br />
a different opportunity for<br />
building the nation through<br />
their unique abilities. He<br />
also urged them to take this<br />
journey with a sense of discovery<br />
and open mind and<br />
moved forward individually<br />
and collectively.<br />
Jabed said the present<br />
government has given tax<br />
free facilities to the commercial<br />
organisations under<br />
the Corporate Social<br />
Responsibility (CSR) programme<br />
and the government<br />
also wants to secure<br />
the social responsibility by<br />
them.<br />
Mentioning that the<br />
"Human Fair" is absolutely<br />
a new format in the country,<br />
he said the Purbokone<br />
authority brought the activities<br />
of those social organisations<br />
who have been working<br />
for the people's wellbeing<br />
voluntarily.<br />
The Editor of the Daily<br />
Purbokne Dr Ramij Uddin<br />
Chowdhury delivered the<br />
greeting speech while<br />
Chairman of the Daily<br />
Purbokne limited Jashim<br />
Uddin Chowdhury and Tax<br />
Appellate Commissioner<br />
Badal Sayed addressed the<br />
function, among others.<br />
Emerging technologies in oncology<br />
SCITECH REPORT<br />
Indian healthcare giant<br />
'Apollo Hospitals' has incorporated<br />
the state-of-the-art<br />
innovations of Artificial<br />
Intelligence Systems in cancer<br />
services to create individualized<br />
treatment plans.<br />
In a news release, the<br />
authorities claimed itself as<br />
'pioneer' of latest modes of<br />
cancer treatment - Proton<br />
Therapy - in South-East Asia.<br />
The Apollo Hospital<br />
Mumbai is a home of several<br />
most advanced and recent<br />
cancer treatment technologies<br />
including - the Da Vinci<br />
Robotic Surgery System,<br />
TrueBeam STx, Brachytherapy,<br />
Image Guided Radiation<br />
Therapy, SRS and SBRT.<br />
Besides, the hospital is also<br />
backed by highly experienced<br />
medical, surgical and<br />
radiation oncologists.<br />
Technological innovations<br />
in the field of oncology can<br />
drastically reduce diagnosis<br />
time, as specialists said,<br />
improving treatment outcomes<br />
with improved quality<br />
of life.<br />
Oncology is a branch of<br />
medicine that deals with the<br />
prevention, diagnosis, and<br />
treatment of cancer. The<br />
global standard organization<br />
Joint Commission<br />
International or JCI has<br />
accredited the Apollo<br />
Hospitals in Navi Mumbai<br />
which is considered one of<br />
the leading cancer care centres<br />
in Western India.<br />
The World Health<br />
Organization (WHO) has<br />
estimated a total of 9.6 million<br />
deaths globally to cancer<br />
in 2018. The major causes of<br />
Restore Rohingyas'<br />
fundamental rights: Dhaka<br />
DHAKA : State Minister for Foreign Affairs<br />
M Shahriar Alam has said the international<br />
community has a shared responsibility to<br />
help restore the Rohingyas' fundamental<br />
rights and freedoms, including their right to<br />
return to Myanmar in safety and dignity,<br />
reports UNB.<br />
"By opening our borders to the persecuted<br />
Rohingya, Bangladesh has not only saved<br />
lives but also stabilized the entire region," he<br />
saidat an OIC meeting on Thursday.<br />
He raised the possibility of creating a civilian<br />
"safe zone" for the returnee Rohingyas in<br />
Myanmar, to be monitored by the human<br />
rights and humanitarian outfits in the concerned<br />
regional context.<br />
While briefing OIC Ambassadors and delegates<br />
about the evolving situation with the<br />
crisis, State Minister Alam sought OIC<br />
Member States' support for creating a conducive<br />
situation in Myanmar for the<br />
Rohingyas' safe and dignified return.<br />
The State Minister also shared information<br />
on the government's plans to relocate a<br />
portion of the Rohingya population in Cox's<br />
Bazar to the Bhashan Char island in consultation<br />
with all concerned stakeholders.<br />
The OIC Ambassadors and delegates from<br />
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia,<br />
Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, State of<br />
Palestine and the Maldives reaffirmed their<br />
solidarity with the forcibly displaced<br />
cancer in today's time has<br />
found be obesity, poor diet,<br />
physical inactivity and excessive<br />
tobacco and alcohol consumption,<br />
according to the<br />
UN agency.<br />
Apollo Hospitals<br />
Mumbai also claimed that<br />
around 70 percent of<br />
deaths happen in low and<br />
middle income countries<br />
and globally, one in six<br />
deaths have been found to<br />
be due to cancer.<br />
Marking the World Cancer<br />
Day, there was organized a<br />
scientific session on advancements<br />
in the treatment of<br />
cancer for the medical fraternity<br />
in Dhaka and<br />
Chattogram in participations<br />
of senior consultants from<br />
Apollo Hospitals Navi<br />
Mumbai. Radiation<br />
Oncologist Professor Dr<br />
Shyam Shrivastava and<br />
Surgical Oncologist Dr<br />
Sandip Bipte conducted the<br />
knowledge sharing session<br />
here. Apollo Hospital<br />
Mumbai s Radiation<br />
Oncology Director and Prof<br />
Shyam Shrivastava has experienced<br />
with Tata Memorial<br />
for over three decades as the<br />
Professor and Head of the<br />
Department in Radiation<br />
oncology<br />
According to Prof Shyam<br />
the diagnosing cancer at the<br />
right time is of utmost<br />
importance and that cancer<br />
most certainly is treatable.<br />
Apollo Hospital Mumbai's<br />
Surgical Oncology<br />
Consultant Dr Sandip Bipte,<br />
also a specialist in breast cancer<br />
surgery who completed<br />
his training and expertise<br />
from Tata Memorial Hospital.<br />
Dr Sandip said: The treatment<br />
for breast cancer<br />
surgery is today so advanced<br />
that cancer patients can be<br />
Rohingya and commended Bangladesh for<br />
its generosity in hosting them.<br />
The OIC Member States reiterated their<br />
commitment to help find a peaceful and<br />
lasting solution to the crisis through sustained<br />
engagement in the relevant human<br />
rights and humanitarian fora in Geneva,<br />
aaccording to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs<br />
here. State Minister Alam also had a bilateral<br />
meeting with Michelle Bachelet, UN High<br />
Commissioner for Human Rights, where<br />
they discussed the latest developments with<br />
the Rohingya crisis.<br />
The High Commissioner conveyed her<br />
personal greetings to Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina, and congratulated Bangladesh on<br />
her re-election to the Human Rights Council<br />
(HRC). She assured of continued engagement<br />
of her Office in realizing the newly<br />
elected government's commitments to promoting<br />
the rule of law, good governance and<br />
human rights. The State Minister said that<br />
in course of its efforts to further consolidate<br />
democracy and sustainable development,<br />
the government of Bangladesh would make<br />
all possible efforts to deliver on the huge<br />
mandate given by the electorate.<br />
High Commissioner Bachelet welcomed<br />
Bangladesh's positive consideration of developing<br />
an Action Plan for implementing the<br />
recommendations from its 3rd cycle Universal<br />
Periodic Review in HRC last year.<br />
Govt working to build 'Digital and<br />
Developed Country' : Jabber<br />
NETRAKONA : Post, Telecommunication and ICT<br />
Minister Mustafa Jabbar said yesterday the present<br />
government has been putting its best and sincere<br />
efforts for implementing the Sustainable<br />
Development Goals (SDGs) to build Bangladesh as<br />
a "Digital and Developed Country", reports BSS.<br />
"The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina has been working relentlessly with sincerity<br />
for turning Bangladesh as a "Digital and<br />
Developed Country" soon with developing all the<br />
villages through connecting internet networks in<br />
line with the Vision 2<strong>02</strong>1 and 2041 " he said. The<br />
minister was addressing an inaugural function as<br />
the chief guest of a daylong workshop on "implementation<br />
of SDGs in local level" at local public<br />
hall here.<br />
Office of divisional commissioner in Mymensingh<br />
with the cooperation of governance innovation unit of<br />
prime minister's office and Netrakona district administration<br />
jointly organized the workshop with divisional<br />
commissioner in Mymensingh Mahmud<br />
Hasan in the chair. The function was addressed,<br />
among others, by state minister for fisheries and livestock<br />
Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, principal coordinator<br />
(SDG affairs) of prime minister's office Abul Kalam<br />
Azad, member of the public service commission Uzzal<br />
Bikash Datta and secretary of the prime minister's<br />
office Sazzadul Hasan and deputy commissioner of<br />
Netrakona Main-UL-Islam.<br />
Mustafa Jabbar underlined the need for concerted<br />
efforts of all especially public representatives<br />
and officials for achieving the Sustainable<br />
Development Goals (SDGs) for building up the<br />
country as a "digital and developed country" with<br />
ensuring all modern facilities and latest digital<br />
technologies to all.<br />
treated without any drastic<br />
cosmetic change to the physical<br />
appearance.<br />
"On average he treats<br />
about 2-3 patients weekly<br />
from Bangladesh who are<br />
Indian healthcare giant 'Apollo Hospitals' has incorporated the state-of-the-art innovations of Artificial<br />
Intelligence Systems in cancer services to create individualized treatment plans. Photo : Courtesy<br />
suffering from breast cancer<br />
at Apollo Hospitals Navi<br />
Mumbai,".<br />
All services under the banner<br />
of cancer care including<br />
medical, surgical, radiation<br />
and nuclear medicine treatment<br />
provided by highly<br />
experienced doctors from<br />
Tata Memorial hospital are<br />
available at Apollo Hospital,<br />
Navi Mumbai.<br />
Patients here experience<br />
optimum medical treatment<br />
with time, high-end patient<br />
care services and 'cost effective'<br />
treatment. For more<br />
information contact:<br />
enquiry@medicoexperts.co<br />
m or abhishek_jain@apollohospitals.com<br />
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 <strong>16</strong>7, Inner Circular Road, Eden Complex, Motijheel, Dhaka.<br />
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