15 June 2014

Ashar 1, 1421 Shaaban 16, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 75

SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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TOMORROW

7:00AM Ivory Coast vs Japan

1:00AM France vs Honduras

10:00PM 4:00AM Switzerland vs Ecuador Argentina vs Bosnia and Herzagovina

B1 | POLITICAL CONSENSUS KEY TO DEV

7 | POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF FOOTBALL

9 | AFGHANS VOTE IN CRUNCH RUN-OFF POLL WORLD CUP MATCHES

Mirpur clashes kill 10 Biharis Argument over exploding firecrackers triggers arson attacks

Finger of blame pointed at MP Elias n Abid Azad

n Ashif Islam Shaon and Abid Azad At least 10 people including nine members of a family were killed in a series of clashes between Urdu speaking people of old Kurmitola Bihair camp in Kalshi, police and locals over explosion of fire crackers in Mirpur of the capital yesterday.

The almost three-hour-long clash ensued after Fajr prayers in front of a mosque following arguments as some Bihari youths had exploded firecrackers on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat defying requests of the devotees and the police.

hit by pellets allegedly fired by the police during the clash, succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

More than 50 people were also injured in the clash. Of them, a 16-year-old girl

Despite the fact that firecracker explosions led to the clash among Bihari people, cops and locals from adjacent Bauniabad area, the Bihari community pointed a finger at local lawmaker Elias Uddin Mollah.

They alleged that the lawmaker’s men took advantage of the situation that left 10 people killed, including nine who were burnt alive.

The community sees the incident as a ploy to grab the land belonging to Bihari camp, electricity and water supply business.

The clash that killed at least 10 people and injured many took place in Kalshi of the capital’s Mirpur area under Pallabi police station Saturday, a day after Shabe-Barat night, a holy night for the Muslim community.

The Bihari people claimed that the lawmaker and his men brought police and local youth from Bauniabad area to fuel this violence and now they call it a clash among themselves.

They added that at first about 200-250 people came from Bauniabad followed by another 400-500, all backed by around 200-250 policemen.

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P3 KALSHI, A BATTLEFIELD At the time of the clash, the law enforcers fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells while the Biharis retaliated with brickbats. Taking the chance, “miscreants” showed up with lethal weapons.

A total five houses in the camp were burned down and several others vandalised and looted.

It was unclear about who torched the homes as different versions came from police, Biharis and the locals. The Biharis alleged that some youths from Bauniabadh area set the houses on fire.

On the other hand, local Bangalees and law enforcers said it was an internal feud between two groups of Biharis.

Victims’ family members and other Biharis claimed that police had helped the attackers. They alleged that they could

Locals rush an injured to the hospital during a clash between Biharis and police in Kalshi area of the capital’s Mirpur yesterday not rescue the people who were burnt aliveas the police lobbed teargas canisters and rubber bullets.

Sheikh Yusuf Harun, deputy commissioner of Dhaka, confirmed the death of nine people, mostly children and wom-

en, following the clashes.

The nine victims of a single family had died as they could not come out of the house as it was locked from outside, witnesses said.

Another person Md Azad, 35, who was

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Inspiring Costa Rica stun Uruguay

Sardar Fazlul Karim dies

n Mohammad Abu Bakar Siddique

n AFP, Fortaleza

Prolific writer and philosopher Sardar Fazlul Karim died in the capital’s Samarita Hospital at the age of 89 at 12:45am today.

Dr Anup Kumar Saha confirmed the death at 12:45. Sardar Fazlul Karim was under supervision of a three-member panel of doctors including Dr Kazi Dween Mohammad and Abdur Razzak.

Sardar Fazlul Karim, a former teacher of Dhaka and Jahangirnagar University, had been suffering from old-age complications.

Costa Rica came from a goal down to beat Uruguay 3-1 in a huge World Cup upset Saturday as the Copa America champions suffered for the absence of star striker Luis Suarez.

After Edinson Cavani gave the South Americans the lead from the penalty spot in the first half, Costa Rica roared back with two goals in three minutes from Joel Campbell and Oscar Duarte.

With Liverpool star Suarez confined to the bench recovering from a knee injury, Costa Rica grabbed a third through substitute Marcos Urena to throw Group D, which also features England and Italy, wide open. Uruguay’s Maxi Pereira was red-carded in injury time to compound his team’s misery.

Uruguay had the ball in the net after

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Copacabana beach and it football culture from Sao Paulo, Brazil

Costa Rica defender Oscar Duarte (L) celebrates scoring with team mate Junior Diaz during their Group D match against Uruguay at the Castelao Stadium in Fortaleza yesterday AFP

Fabulous, fantastic, and beautiful are the words that can be dubbed as the perfect synonym of Copacabana Beach, the hub of million people every day with a serene tranquility.

Copacabana begins at Princesa Isabel Avenue and ends at Posto Seis (lifeguard watchtower Six). Beyond Copacabana, there are two small beaches: one, inside Fort Copacabana and other, followed by: Diabo (“Devil”) Beach. Arpoador beach, where surfers used to go after its perfect waves, comes in the sequence, followed by the famous area of Ipanema.  Page 2 column 1

Two crewmen describe captivity ordeal Nur Hossain arrested n in Kolkata Rabiul Islam

It was November 26, 2010. Four Somali pirates on a speedboat came to the Malaysian flag-carrying merchant ship MV Albedo in the Indian Ocean. The ship owned by Iranian Aumit Khusro was going to Nairobi from Dubai.

Two of the seven Bangladeshi sailors on that ship returned on Thursday and described their harrowing tales while speaking to the Dhaka Tribune.

“We were 23 sailors on board and were busy with our respective duties. Sudden-

ly, three pirates holding AK 47 got into the ship with the help of a ladder and we were scared,” said Zakir Hossain at Marino Hotel in the capital’s Uttara on Friday evening.

Of the 23 crewmen, there were seven Bangladeshis, seven Pakistanis, six Sri Lankans, two Indians and one Iranian, he said.

“We were instructed to go to a fishing trawler about 10 kilometres away.

We followed the order. Upon reaching it, we saw seven people in the trawler and they got onto our ship with arms,”

he said.

“Following their instruction, we then reached Harvidaro, a place near Somalia which is a notorious hotbed of piracy, on December 1, 2010. We saw two to three boats coming, with 12 to 15 people on each. The captain, meanwhile, managed to send the message of piracy through email to the ship owner. We ate normal food as they allowed us to cook our food.

“After a few days, they brought a translator. The translator talked to the  Page 2 column 2

n Tribune Report

the information of his arrest.

Me a nw h i l e , a high official of Bangladesh intelligence said Nur Hossain was arrested with three of his ac

Kolkata police last night arrested Nur Hossain, prime accused of seven murders in Naryanganj, a police official in Baguihati police station confirmed the news of his arrest to the Dhaka Tribune over phone.

While contacted at 2:30am at Baguihati police station over phone the duty officer wishing not to be named confirmed

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INSIDE 3 | News

15

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police with the help of mobile courts destroyed over 12,500 maunds of fruits along with around 25 lakh litchis and realised over Tk15 lakh as fine from traders in last three days.

4 | News

State Minister for Science and Technology Yeafesh Osman has said the government is planning to set up another nuclear power plant with a capacity of 2,000 megawatt with Japanese assistance.

5 | News

The number of honours, master’s and degree students of the colleges across the country under the National University lessened 23 percent in 2012 compared to the previous year, says the data collected from University Grants Commission.

6 | Nation

Onslaught of erosion by the Padma river has now become a cause of concern for hundreds of families living in Naria and Janjira upazilas of the district.

8 | World

Iran could contemplate cooperating with its old adversary the United States on restoring security to Iraq if it saw Washington confronting ‘terrorist groups in Iraq and elsewhere,’ Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday.

14 | Sport

It had been billed, in boxing parlance, as a ‘rematch’ of the World Cup final from four years ago but no-one expected the old champion to be staggering around the ring in the final round with their knees buckling. *** World champions Spain’s 5-1 mauling by the Netherlands was especially symbolic for the disastrous role played by captain and talisman of three consecutive major tournament victories Iker Casillas.

15 | Sport

France begin their quest to wipe away the pain of an embarrassing showing at the World Cup in 2010 when they begin their campaign in Brazil against Honduras on Sunday. *** Fifa on Friday banned German football legend Franz Beckenbauer from any football-related activity for 90 days after he refused to speak to an inquiry into allegations that Qatar paid bribes to secure votes for its 2022 World Cup bid.

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, June 15, 2014

BJP's tough stance on border control n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman The new BJP government in India, apparently, is trying to build a platform to allow lethal weapons to BSF who are guarding the Bangladesh-India border.

“The UPA2’s strange decision of disarming the BSF in the area and instructing it not to use lethal weapons in tackling anti-national elements has only emboldened criminal groups in the region,” said a report submitted by a central BJP team to its president.

The team is formed by BJP President and Home Minister Rajnath Singh to obtain first-hand information on the incidents of attack on BJP workers allegedly by activists of TMC in West Bengal on May 31, said a press release of BJP. In the immediate past, Congress-led government in India withdrew use of lethal weapons by BSF, whose members are allegedly responsible for border killings, including the sensational Felani murder.

The team in its report alleged that the border “sees vigorous infiltration and illegal trade of all kinds of goods,

smuggling of cattle, human trafficking, and fake currency notes.”

“These groups have also emerged as threats to national security and the issue at hand must be examined keeping this backdrop in mind,” the press release said.

The probe team also alleged that a certain section among Trinamool Congress leaders were harbouring activists and criminals of the Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh, a central BJP team found in an investigation.

“The border area with Bangladesh is a new home for Islamic fundamentalist groups. They are being patronised by the Trinamool Congress government for their vote-bank politics,” said the report.

BJP alleged that activists and criminals of the Jamaat-e-Islami crossed over to West Bengal to create communal tension and fan fundamentalist ideas.

“Some of these elements have openly canvassed for the Trinamool Congress during the last elections and one of them Abdul Barik Biswas was seen sharing dais with TMC MLA Debasree Roy,” it added. l

Inspiring Costa Rica stun Uruguay  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

15 minutes but Diego Godin’s effort was rightly ruled out for offside.

German referee Felix Brych called it right again in the 22nd minute when defender Junior Diaz was penalised for hauling down Uruguay skipper Diego Lugano in the box.

Up stepped Paris Saint-Germain striker Cavani to calmly bury the penalty to the right of Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas. It was Cavani’s 22nd goal in 63 internationals.

In the 54th minute, Costa Rica were

level with 21-year-old Campbell, who spent last season on loan at Olympiakos from Arsenal, firing in a superbly controlled drive from Cristian Gamboa’s cross.

It got better three minutes later when Duarte dived bravely at the feet of Christian Stuanito to head in a freekick for a 2-1 lead.

Substitute Urena latched on to a fine pass by the influential Campbell in the 84th minute to make it 3-1 before Pereira became the first player sent off at these finals for a wild lunge on Campbell. l

Sardar Fazlul Karim dies

138 gold bars seized at Chittagong airport n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Relatives of a dead burst into tears following a clash between locals, Biharis and police in Kalshi area of the capital's Mirpur yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

BIHARI CAMP KILLINGS

Khaleda demands judicial probe n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday demanded a judicial investigation into the Bihari Camp killing to unravel the mystery and exemplary punishment of those responsible for the massacre, says a press release.

The former premier also demanded proper compensation to the victims and for their rehabilitation.

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Bihari people said the youth attacked their houses and shops and some of them were torched.

They also claimed that some 20-25 people carried pistols with them while many had sharp weapons, bamboo, sticks and bricks.

“I have been living here from 43 years, but I have never seen such violence before and it is hard to believe that the local people can resort to violence against us,” said Ajimunnessa Ashrafi, a resident in that Bihari camp.

“All this happened because we denied providing electricity supply from our supply channel which was established by the Bangladesh Army,” she said.

A Bihari man Munna, 48, an eyewitness who received rubber bullet injury, said: “A few days ago the lawmaker along with the officer-in-charge and second officer of Pallabi police station including the lawmaker’s men came here and asked us to be silent if the

ty in 1942; he studied English for a few days but shifted to Philosophy.

Involved in progressive politics as a student, the then Pakistan government threw him into jail. He spent almost the Pakistan period in jail in four phases.

He was elected a member of Constituent Assembly of Pakistan while in prison.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and National Professor Abdur Razzak brought him back to the Dhaka University immediately after the independence of Bangladesh in 1972 as he was removed from the university during the regime of Ayub Khan and Monem Khan.

Sardar Fazlul Karim wrote scholarly books on philosophy, Darshankosh (Bengali Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

He translated books of Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau and Engels. l

Copacabana

Mirpur clashes kill 10 Biharis

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The area will be one of the four “Olympic Zones” during the 2016 Summer Olympics. The borough of Ipamena is the most visited part as almost all the hotels including the Rio Othona Palace, the biggest; is located opposite the blue waters separated only the ever busy road.

There is always however always a touch of football is there. Men, women, boys, and girls were playing football, and the big Fifa Fan-Fest stage with a big screen held thousands of people where on Friday game, that saw Spain being mauled by Netherlands the celebration of the Dutch supporters were wild. It was not only the Dutch supporters who celebrated the victory; a good number of Chilean fans also celebrated their success over Australia. Notable was that the celebration was the same for the fans as it were for the Chilean players and their coach over their success. Interestingly everytime a goal was scored a bottle of bear was bought and shared by a group of fans.

Just think about the business, thousands of bottles sold in a just a minute. The bikini clad women enjoying the sun were also found kicking a football occasionally.

As you walk down the road you will see a lot of sand-made sculptures. Using fine white sand, water and glue these sculptors presented their creations to visitors. Two works, one by Jojita and one by Vierra, Jojita crafted out a castle and Vierra crafted a group of women enjoying the beach with a replica of the World Cup. The finishing of their craft were superb and it attracted almost any one who passed by.

Beach football is something special as it requires different technique and tactics. The superb skills of Brazilan flavour were evident when the players curved and chopped the ball, went aerial to receive and generated power in side volleys. In beach football aerial side volleys are lethal weapons as you don’t have the fear of getting injured. Former England defender Rio Ferninand working as a columnist of Daily Mail enjoyed the late night football yesterday. l

was admitted to the DMCH burn unit with 17% injuries while four others – hit by bullets – tookprimary treatment.

Bihari Camp dweller MdYasin, who works at a salon, said his wife Baby, 40, son Ashik, 27,Ashik’s wife Shikha, three daughters – Shahana, 26, Afsana, 19, and Roksana, 16, twinsLalu and Bhulu, 14, and Shahana’stwo-year-old son Marufdied in the arson attack.

Yasin survived as he was outside the small house at that time.

The first round of three-way clashes ended around 8:30am.After the fire fighters recovered the charred bodies, the Biharis took those to a Bihari welfare office.

They engaged in a fresh clash with the police after 9am. Both the Biharis and the police pelted bricks at each other while the law enforcers lobbed teargas canisters.

Around 3pm, following negotiation

with the administration and assurance of bringing the killers to book, the Biharis let the local administration and the police to take the bodies to Dhaka Medical College morgue for post mortem examination.

The Dhaka deputy commissioner announced to give the familiesTk20,000 for burial of each victim.

According to witnesses, some Bihari youths were exploding firecrackers in front of a mosque at Bauniabandh Notun Rasta intersection during Fajr prayers. The devotees inside of the mosque asked them to stop but they did not.

At one stage,being informed police came and asked the youths to refrain from such act but they did not. The law enforcers and the devotees chased the youths to the Bihari camp leading to a chase and counter-chase. Police and devotees retreated.

After some moments, police being

electricity was supplied to houses of “Raju Basti” (A slum).”

“Then a quarrel erupted as we denied providing electricity to Raju Basti,” he added.

Many Bihari people claimed that the OC threatened them.

Munna later claimed that police filed a case of electricity theft against 20 Bihari people including four women.

“I am one of the accused,” he said.

Another Bihari man Shahjahan said they were threatened several times by both police and the lawmaker’s supporters.

Raju Basti that accommodates 40 families is situated next to the new Kurmitola Bihari camp, according to local Bihari people.

They added that the new camp which consisted of around 412 houses was established by the army in the period of last caretaker government.

The Biharis claimed that the slum area which stretches over 50 bighas of land was once an open field used for

vegetable cultivation by their people.

But after the Awami League came to power, the lawmaker’s supporters grabbed that land and raised some 40 houses that were rented.

Some Bihari people, requesting anonymity, said the lawmaker’s men Kala, Tayob, Tazu, were the masterminds behind grabbing this land.

“Several times the lawmaker’s men vandalised their water and electricity channels,” said Shahjahan, another Bihari man.

The Bihari people also claimed that every time they were threatened by the time they tried to prevent the theft of power supply.

Ashraf Uddin, a local resident in that area and a private employee, said: “Last night around 11pm I heard 4050 young unknown men explode firecrackers which made a loud bang while there were 3-4 police men on patrol.”

“I did not find such a scenario in my life before. It was an unexpected situation for people in the area,” he added.

“Such incident would not have occurred if the outsiders were not called there,” he concluded. l

reinforced chased the Biharis when more locals joined hands with them.

Biharis also retaliated with brick-chips.

At one stage of the clash,five houses were set on fire around 8:00am. Nine members of a house were burnt alive while members of other houses escaped the arson attack.

However, DMP Deputy Commissioner Imtiaz Ahmed claimed that the clash had ensued because of internal feud among the Biharis.

“On the occasion of Shab-e-Barat, some Bihari youths were exploding firecrackers in front of a mosque during the Fazr prayers and another group of Biharis resisted them which triggered the clash. Police rushed to the spot and dispersed them. Meanwhile, some miscreants burnt down the houses taking advantage of the clashes,” he said.

Imtiaz also alleged that some police members too had been confined to the

camp and beaten up at that time.

On the other hand, Abdur Jabbar Khan, chief of Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee (SPGRC), claimed that the attack had been pre-planned to drive the Biharis away.

“This incident is not new for us.

Following the construction of Kalshi Road, price of land has shot up. A vested quarter has been trying to grab the camp’s land,” he said.

When enquired about the vested quarter, he said: “Those, who do politicsand have anti-social elements, goons and arms, plotted the attack.

“This is not the result of a Bihari-Bangalee feud.”

A number of Biharis claimed that some Jubo League activists came to the Kalshi Kurmitola Bihari Camp a few days back to take an illegal electricity connection for the nearby Bauniabandh Slum. But they were refused.

As a sequel to the incident, the Jubo

League men might have torched the houses, they alleged.

They also blamed local Awami League lawmaker Ilias Uddin Molla for his involvement in instigating the clash.

“He came to us for negotiation. We did not agree as the lone transformer we were provided for free electricity cannot bear the load of extra connections. The lawmaker and the police with him threatened us withdire consequences,” said a Bihari leader seeking anonymity.

Residents of Bauniabandh slum – some 300 yards off the KalshiBihari camp, claimed that the clashhad taken place between two rival groups of Biharis. They did not take part in the clash.

Monir Hossain, a resident of another nearby slum in Balurmath, said he had seen around 300 people along with the policemen heading towards the Bihari camp just before the fire incident. l

months in a jungle. We slept in a piece of plastic cloth there. There was a ditch four miles away. I along with another sailor had to bring water in a 20-litre can three to four times every day on foot.”

“They asked us to inform our families that we would not be released without money. We did accordingly.

Our families informed the government and the media ran reports. For the rest four months, we were kept in a room in a village of Somalia.

“We were given potato, onion, oil, salt and rice. We cooked but the food was really insufficient. After 6 months, we were taken back to the ship.”

During the six months, Zakir said there was no translator in the ship and no negotiation with the owner was held.

“We had to open 50 containers in the ship though there was no equipment in those. It was really hard to open the

containers. The pirates suspected that there were arms in those. There was a swimming pool in the ship. We were taken to the swimming pool and one of the pirates urinated on us.”

He said: “One day the pirates found diesel concealed in the ship and became furious. In retaliation, we were not given any food for 36 hours. We were not even allowed to use the toilet.”

“On July 6 last year, the ship sank and four Sri Lankans drowned. We managed to swim to a fishing trawler and after 10 days, 11 of us were taken to land. We ended up in a room in a village in Somalia. Finally, we were able to go free because of assistance of the United Nations,” Aminul said.

Abul Kashem, Habibur Rahman, Nurul Haque, Golam Mostofa and Limon Sarker were released. Another four sailors securing release included two Sri Lankans, one Indian and one Iranian. l

Two crewmen describe captivity ordeal  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

owner and demanded 20 million dollars for our release. The owner cried and said he was poor, had only one ship, and was incapable of paying such a large sum. He offered 3 lakh dollars but the pirates did not agree.”

Zakir said: “Our movement was restricted. We were allowed to use the toilet but ordered to finish within a minute. We were living in fear. They would occasionally slap and shout at us. For the first three to four days we lived under severe restriction as they did not believe us. We were allowed to have breakfast but not together.”

This is how we stayed nearly for four months, said Zakir, adding that the negotiation between the translator and the owner continued before they finally reached a deal amounting to 1.2 million dollars.

“The translator then met with the pirate leaders outside the ship but they

Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. The statement harshly criticised the ruling party for the clash at the Bihari Camp, which claimed at least 10 lives and left hundred others injured.

"Any sort of criminal activity is against humanity. These criminals are the enemy of the people," she condemned terming the attack launched jointly by the law enforcers and Awami League criminals as 'cowardly'. l

Finger of blame pointed at MP Elias

He was admitted to the hospital a few days back with cardiac complications but as his condition deteriorated doctors shifted him to the ICU. Mujahidul Islam Selim, president of the Communist party of Bangladesh, the party which he had been affiliated with till his death, said his body will be taken to the party office at Purana Paltan at 11 before it is kept at the Bangla Academy where people of all walks of life will pay their last tribute to him.

His funeral will take place in front of the central mosque of the DU. Sardar Fazlul Karim was born on May 1, 1925 in Barisal. After his graduation and post-graduation in Philosophy from Dhaka University he joined there as lecturer in 1946 at the age of 21.

He was admitted to Dhaka Universi-

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Pointing her finger at law enforcement agencies and the ruling party men for attacking the opposition party men and commoners, she added: "As the government has been using law enforcement agencies as its own, law enforcers have not only been attacking the opposition leaders and activists but also the common people who are now passing their days in fear," she said.

The press release was signed by BNP

The customs authorities of Chittagong airport last night seized 16kg gold which was left abandoned in a luggage – possibly smuggled from Dubai.

No one was arrested in this connection. The seized 138 bars were kept at the Chittagong Customs House of the airport.

Qazi Rezaul Hasan, assistant customs commissioner at the airport, told the Dhaka Tribune that the flight of Fly Dubai landed at the airport around 7:40pm.

The officials had found the luggage without any owner at the customs checking panel and discovered the gold bars wrapped in polythene bags.

The seized gold would worth around Tk6.9 crore, he said.

On Friday night, the customs authorities arrested a person with 16 gold bars worth Tk80 lakh from the same airport. Those bars were being carried inside table fans.

Existing law allows a person to carry highest 200gms gold from abroad after paying the fixed duties at the airport while a passenger can bring highest two kilograms of gold only after providing prior notice to the authorities concerned and paying the duties in line with a circular of the Bangladesh Bank, Rezaul said.

According to the customs sources, about 2,500 gold bars worth more than Tk100 crore were seized from the airport this year including the ones of yesterday.

The recovered amount last year was 686 gold bars worth Tk35.30 crore. l

disagreed on the amount. They brought a new translator after a few days and the negotiation began again. The new translator informed the owner that the pirates did not accept the amount and it had to be raised. The owner, however, said he was unable to do so.

“After four months, when we had no food left, they supplied rice, flour, salt, oil and potato. On April 1, 2011, the second translator allowed us to talk to our families.”

Describing his first contact with his family since being taken into captivity, Zakir said: “I talked to my elder brother and said we were held by pirates.

My brother said he knew that. Then I talked to my mother. Both of us cried.”

The pirates hated Indians as Indian warships had captured them in the past and kept them in Indian jails for years, said Zakir.

“On June 25, 2011, they perhaps made a plan to kill one of us. Along

with the translator, the commander pirate who captured the ship asked us to come to the bridge from where the ship is controlled. They were holding AK 47 and looked ferocious. Two of them took a look at all of us, went away and one came back.

“Raju, one of the 23 crewmen, was asked to go with the pirates. After 10 to 15 minutes, we heard three shots. The translator announced after a while that Raju had been killed and his body had been kept in the deep freezer. He told the owner that four more among us would be killed.”

Zakir said: “In April 2012, the pirates took away seven people outside the ship. Of them, three were Pakistanis, one Sri Lankan, one Bangladeshi (Aminul Islam), one Indian, and one Iranian. For six months, they stayed outside the ship.”

Describing his stay in jungle, Aminul Islam said: “We were kept for two

Nur Hossain arrested in kolkata  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

complices in Kaliakair area under Baguhati police station yesterday around 11:30pm (Indian Standard Time).

He was arrested from a fourth floor apartment of multi-storey Indraprastha apartment complex owned by some Seema Singh, who lives in Mumbai.

The two other accomplices of Nur were identified as Asif and Shamim.

Quoting Indian sources, the official said they would be taken to the local police station. They will be produced in the Barasat Court today.

Law enforcing agencies of Bangladesh are yet to confirm the news of the arrest. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Sunday, June 15, 2014

DMP destroys 12,500 maunds of fruits in 3 days Firecrackers sound jolt n Kailash Sarkar

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police with the help of mobile courts destroyed over 12,500 maunds of fruits along with around 25 lakh litchis and realised over Tk15 lakh as fine from traders in last three days.

Claiming the success in the anti-formalin drives, the DMP authorities at a press conference yesterday warned the traders that they would search the warehouses to check the balance of formalin.

DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam at the press conference held at its media centre on Minto Road said they had intensified vigilance and started the process of gathering information in this regard.

The DMP used to set up mobile courts and check-posts at eight entrances to the capital for 12 hours every day from 8:00pm to 8:00am with the personnel from the Bangladesh Police and Bangladesh Standards Testing Institution in addition to magistrates.

On the first day of the drives from 8:00 pm on Wednesday to 8:00 am on Thursday, the police and mobile courts destroyed around 3,000 maunds of mangoes, 200 maunds of berries and 15 lakh litchis.

Two traders were also jailed for two months each, another for 15 days and Tk12.85 lakh was realised as fine from 12 traders.

During the period, a total of 1,925 trucks, including 208 trucks loaded with fruits, entered the capital city

through eight entrances.

On the second day, 1,286 vehicles were searched when 2,850 maunds of mangoes, 794 maunds of berries, 5.62 lakh litchis and 355 maunds of other fruits were destroyed while 21 cases were filed and Tk50,500 was realised as fine.

Earlier, 4,073 maunds of mangoes, 43 maunds of berries, 4.40 lakh litchis, 1,675 pieces of pineapples, 140kg tomatoes, 110kg apples, 200 pieces of bananas, 20kg Thai litchis and 33kg grapes

were seized and destroyed on Friday.

Tk1.70 lakh was also realised as fine during the drive.

Executive Magistrate Liakat Ali, who led the mobile court at Gabtoli, said 75% of the fruits were found formalin-mixed while the rest 25% were found formalin-free as those were unripe.

“Now green fruits are being carried as part of a technique to dodge the law enforcers,” said the magistrate, adding that there are scope for mixing formalin with fruits some time later. l

Hasina: Remand Khaleda, Tarique for Zia killing n Emran Hossain Shaikh Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina yesterday said the killers of Ziaur Rahman could be identified if Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Zia were taken on remand.

“Why should I be in remand, rather both mother (Khaleda) and son (Tarique Zia) should be taken into remand to know the link with the killing of Zia,” the premier said responding to a query of a journalist at a press conference.

The press conference was organised over her recent visit to China at her official Gonobhaban residence.

Recently, Tarique Rahman at a programme said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should be placed on remand to unveil the mystery of Zia killing, alleging Hasina had an involvement in the killing.

At the same time, while talking with diplomats Khaleda Zia demanded a dialogue with the government for holing a mid-term election.

Replying to a query on dialogue, Hasina questioned with whom the government would hold the dialogue, when Khaleda wanted dialogue and her son her (Hasina) remand.

“Mother wants dialogue and son wants my remand. Before demanding dialogue, they must decide what they want first,” she said.

Responding to another query, she ruled out any possibility of talks with Khaleda and said, “I have phoned her and received bitter words. How can I forget those words? And now I have to rethink to phone her.”

Responding to another question in terms of dialogue, Hasina however said, “We do politics for the country and its people. We will do anything for the interest of the people.”

Responding to a query whether Tarique Rahman would be brought back to country to face trials of the cases like the 21 August Grenade attack and 10-truck arms smuggling, the premier said, “Everything will be done for the interest of the cases.”

Responding to another question, the premier bitterly criticised a section of civil society members. Without mentioning any name, the premier said they had a strong desire to enjoy the power but dare not go to the people. l

Bihari camp out of sleep n Ashif Islam Shaon

Residents of Kalshi in the capital’s Mirpur were jerked awake when firecrackers rocked the area just after Fazr prayers in the early hours of yesterday.

“My two-year-old daughter and wife woke up in fear. Frightened, we went to the rooftop to see what happened. The sky above Kalshi road was engulfed in smoke,” said Minhaz Ahmed, a resident of the area.

No one in the area ever thought that these firecracker explosions, which are seen as a common tradition in celebrating the Shab-e-Barat, could lead to such a huge clash between police, Biharis and locals and leave at least 10 people dead, nine of whom belonged to a family that was burnt alive.

I was informed that people were exploding crackers there around 3:30am. The torching of houses and clashes took place in the morning

Dhaka Metropolitan Police use a bulldozer to destroy formalin-treated seasonal fruits in the capital’s Demra area yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Pankaj: India to evaluate building of deep-sea port n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran has said India will evaluate the building of a deep-sea port by China at Sonadia through its security lens.

“New Delhi will support and welcome any infrastructure development project in Bangladesh, but if we do see a conflict between the aims which I have described to you and our security aims and our national strategic objectives, then of course there will be that line to cross,” he said in an interview with Ekattor television on Friday.

The Indian envoy said building the deep-sea port at Sonadia would be okay to New Delhi if it could contribute to re-

gional prosperity.

Bangladesh had invited all interested countries to develop a deep-sea port at Sonadia and China, the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands expressed their desire to build it.

During the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to China last week, Dhaka and Beijing discussed the issue and agreed to continue the negotiations.

About the January 5 elections, Pankaj Saran said that was a constitutional requirement. “I do not see that issue will be revisited today because today the agenda is different.”

About the recent arms haul in Habiganj, he said there are people trying to disturb peace and instigate instability in both countries. “I do not think that

either country benefits from allowing such forces or such people to succeed.”

Security of Bangladesh and India are closely interlinked and that there is no other option except for the two countries to work together to combat terrorism, he added.

Pankaj said Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in parliament last week spelled out new BJP government’s priorities.

“We have clearly got a priority for development of an integrated and interconnected South Asia, a South Asia which is prosperous and stable. And the government is committed to building upon these relationships.”

He said there would be lot of interests in Bangladesh as to what next and

urged to judge the new government by its actions.

The Indian envoy acknowledged that a lot of discussion on water issue was actually taking place outside the framework of the Joint Rivers Commission.

“It was felt that if you can get your work done through other forums, let’s try that approach,” he said.

He, however, said in the last meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission, both agreed to begin work on discussing the sharing of water on six rivers in addition to Teesta and Feni.

“Time will definitely come in near future when we will have to come back to the negotiating table and discuss the question of water sharing with Bangladesh,” he said. l

“We have been living here since independence, but never seen such a fiesta of crackers. There were law enforcers present in the area. Then, from where did these firecrackers come from?” asked Minhaz.

“Youths from the Bihari camp and the Bauniabadh slum seemed to have been in a competition. If one party exploded a cracker, another exploded two in response,” he added.

Similarly, many residents of the area said police should investigate from where such amount of illegal firecrackers came from.

However, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) claimed that this year incidents of firecracker explosions during Shab-e-Barat were much lower than previous years.

While visiting the victims of the clash at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, DMP Commissioner Benzir Ahmed said: “We have requested all not to explode any kinds of crackers. Such actions do not go with the theme of Islam. Now, should we go from door to door and make them aware of this?”

On the other hand, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal termed the incident “just an accident.”

“I was informed that people were exploding crackers there around 3:30am.

The torching of houses and clashes took place in the morning,” he said.

Saying that a probe committee has been formed in this regard, he further added: “The fire can start in many ways, but we cannot ascertain the cause without an investigation.”

Asked what measures the law enforcers took to prevent cracker explosion, he said, policemen remained alert. l

Foreign Ministry: Creating labour National Electronic Service System wings in Europe ‘counterproductive’ to be introduced at all the ministries n Kamran Reza Chowdhury The Expatriates Welfare Ministry’s move to create 101 more labour counsellor posts in different foreign missions may prove to be counterproductive for Bangladesh, the foreign ministry has warned.

The ministry came up with the observation since the host countries are evicting foreign workers and illegal migrants for economic slowdown and higher unemployment rates.

In 2012, the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry initiated the move to create 101 posts in some countries such as Greece, Spain, Russia, South Africa, Australia and Switzerland, apparently in an effort to protect the rights of Bangladeshi workers.

Most of these countries are either plagued with economic slowdown or anti-migrant sentiment. The number of Bangladeshi workers there is very low.

For instance, South Africa will not accept Bangladeshi workers as unemployment rate there is at 27%, says the Foreign Ministry.

The ministry alleged that the posts were created in violation of the government’s Rules of Business that stipulate getting prior clearance from the foreign ministry.

Again, Australia and Switzerland are not labour importing countries.

The Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry told the Foreign Ministry that the posts

were created in the face of the people’s demands and upon clearance from the Public Administration and the Finance Ministries.

On May 26 the officials of the two ministries had a joint meeting to get their differences of opinion sorted out with Foreign Secretary (bilateral, training and consular) Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

South Africa will not accept Bangladeshi workers as unemployment rate there is at 27% An Additional Secretary Jahangir Alam and some of his colleagues represented the Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry at the meeting, which was also attended

by Director General of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) Shamsun Nahar.

“Due to economic slowdown and other reasons, countries such as Spain and Greece are sending back Bangladeshis. There is no chance of exporting manpower to Russia which faces Muslim separatism in its southern portion,” Mustafa Kamal told the meeting.

He said the Bangladesh Ambassador SM Saiful Hoque, not a career diplomat, in Moscow had opposed the creation of a labour wing there.

“The opening of the labour wing in Switzerland and Australia will send a

wrong message, ultimately affecting the bilateral ties with them,” said Mustafa adding that the European countries would even maintain reservations about visas to Bangladeshis.

Jahangir Alam told the meeting: “As the posts have already been created we should not talk more on this issue.

In future, we will consult the Foreign Ministry regarding commissioning such new posts.”

On July 5, 2012, Shamsun Nahar, an additional secretary of the Public Administration Ministry, suggested that the Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry should seek the opinion of the Foreign Ministry, which was the authority on creating any post in the foreign missions.

“But the foreign ministry’s opinion was not sought,” she said, reading the minutes of the meeting. She said the posts to be created were subject to the approval of the foreign ministry.

Out of a total of 69 missions of various types, Bangladesh maintains labour wings in 16 missions, mainly the Middle Eastern countries, since Dhaka’s relations there are mainly focused on labour export.

For instance, over 22 lakh Bangladeshis work or live in Saudi Arabia, where Bangladesh tops among the workforce suppliers there.

Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry officials say they will initiate the move to create the posts of drivers for the labour counsellors, who will get a fulltime vehicles. l

n Moniruzzaman Uzzal The government is planning to introduce National Electronic Service System (NESS) at all of its ministries.

Instead of existing conventional paper work, the officials and employees would handle the documents through e-service system. Through the e-service system, it would save time and help the officials concerned to take decisions quickly from anywhere in the world.

Information and communication ministry will train the people concerned regarding the introduction of the e-file system. The government has set a roadmap to introduce the e-file system among 60% of all the ministries by next three to four years.

A primary decision was made yesterday at a high level meeting of the secretaries and high officials at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to introduce the e-file system. Officials of Access to Information (a2i) programme of the PMO organised the meeting.

Abul Kalam Azad, senior secretary of the PMO presided over the meeting while Ismat Ara Sadek, state minister for Public Administration and Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, cabinet secretary were the special guests.

All the secretaries of different ministries unanimously agreed to the implementation of the system as soon as possible, sources said.

Seeking anonymity, one of the high

officials told the Dhaka Tribune that the officials of the a2i programme showed a presentation about the e-filing system before the participants. They informed that the PMO has already introduced the e-file system at its office. It has also been introduced in 409 offices across 64 districts.

When this reporter wanted to know about the system, the official explained that traditionally every ministry received documents through papers. In this new system; after receiving any document, every office will scan it through scanner machine and send it to officials concerned. There will be a space set for the comment of the officials concerned which shows direction to his superiors or subordinates. It would be written through software in every file. The officials will click on the

comment and get to see it.

Primarily, the officials will introduce the e-file to the less complex files and when they become used to with the new system; they will go for files with complex nature.

When asked, the cabinet secretary told the Dhaka Tribune that the e-file has already been introduced in all the 64 districts and the response is pretty encouraging. Considering the district level performance, the secretariat is still lagging behind, he said.

Since the pattern of work in the secretariat is different, so we don’t want to go slowly rather we want to implement it steadily. Cabinet division has been monitoring the e-service system at the secretariat and yesterday’s meeting was all about reminding them of the process, he added. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Plans afoot for another nuke power plant with Japanese assistance n Aminur Rahman Rasel State Minister for Science and Technology Yeafesh Osman has said the government is planning to set up another nuclear power plant with a capacity of 2,000 megawatt with Japanese assistance.

“We are thinking of meeting our growing electricity demand as soon as possible by taking steps to build another nuclear power plant,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“We will send our team to carry out survey in many isolated coastal islands in the country’s southern part,” he said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had recently expressed her wish to build another nuclear power plant in the southern part of the country after successful completion of the first one at Rooppur.

“In this regard, we need to take preparations from now as it will take enough time to complete the whole process,” said Hasina who inaugurated the groundwork at 2,000MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Pabna on October 2, 2013.

The master plan aims to generate at least 4,000MW power from nuclear power plants.

Bangladesh expects to add 2,000MW of electricity to the national grid by 2021 from the two nuclear plants currently being commissioned at Rooppur with Russia’s support.

“The prime minister has sought Japanese assistance in the field of nuclear power plant during her recent visit,” Yeafesh said.

Bangladesh and Japan at a seminar held on June 4-5 in Dhaka discussed

the peaceful use of nuclear energy and nuclear non-proliferation.

Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, the Integrated Support Centre for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Nuclear Security of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, co-organised the seminar.

When asked why Bangladesh opted for Japanese assistance instead of China or other countries, he said Japan has globally reputed technology in nuclear plants.

In reply to another question why Bangladesh sought help from Japan when it is gradually withdrawing itself from nuclear energy, the state minister said, “Tokyo is working on the restart of its nuclear power plants.”

On March 10 this year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country would restart nuclear power

plants whose safety is confirmed by nuclear regulators.

“Japan had Fukushima disaster and have thorough knowledge about it and Bangladesh wants to have all information related to it so that the incident does not happen in Bangladesh,” Yeafesh said.

Almost all of Japanese nuclear reactors were offline after the disaster and the Japanese people are deeply concerned over the aftermath of the crippled Fukushima plant which still leaks highly contaminated water into the ocean.

About 30% of Japan’s total electricity was supplied by nuclear power plants before March 2011. But nuclear power now accounts for only 1.7% with thermal power generation making up the shortfall in the fiscal year 2012 ended in March 2013. l

College teacher jailed for professional misconduct n Tribune Report Jessore administration yesterday arrested a college teacher and his associate with answer scripts of public exam and later a mobile court sentenced each of them to two-year jail terms as they were found guilty of professional misconduct.

National University sources said Akbar Ahammed, lecturer of English department of Jessore MM College, contacted some examinees who appeared in the Honours Part-2 examination, 2012 and lured them to increase their marks in English paper in exchange of bribe.

The authorities of the National University came to know about this

through anonymous sources and informed the minister for education and Jessore district administration.

At the behest of the minister and with the aid of controller of exams, local administration arrested the accused teacher red-handed along with his accomplice Roisul Islam, a peon of the college, from the New Market area of Jessore on May 13.

Later a mobile court handed down the sentence of two-year jail terms to each of them.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and National University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Harun-or-Rashid thanked the deputy commissioner of Jessore and the officials concerned for their prompt actions. l

CIC: RTI Aºct includes intelligence agencies n Tazlina Zamila Khan Chief Information Commissioner Mohammed Farooq yesterday said in case of corruption and human rights, the country’s Rights to Information Act bounds intelligence agencies like RAB, Army and CID to disclose information to citizens as per their request.

He made the observation while ad-

596 applications blamed the commission for not providing information where 22 requests were rejected dressing a discussion, titled “Five years of Information Commission,” jointly organized by the Information Commission and online daily Bdnews24, in the capital yesterday.

Farooq further added that as per Section 32 of the RTI, intelligence agencies that are not involved in maintaining state security must provide the information to any Bangladeshi citizens within 30 days of receiving a request.

In the discussion, the commission also disclosed that in 2010, 25,410 requests were received by the commission where some 25,335 were replied.

Photojournalist Jahirul Haque dies n Tribune Report Veteran photojournalist Jahirul Haque, personal photographer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, passed away in a New Delhi hospital yesterday morning. He was at 71.

Jahirul died at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences Hospital around 8am, where earlier he was kept on life support.

On June 5, he was transferred to India from the BSMMU following the complications of Hepatitis C. Jahirul was the founder president of photojournalist association and had worked with the Dainik Ajkal of Kolkata as special correspondent. l

However, in the last five years, the commission received some 61,420 requests, of which some 59,525 were answered.

Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori, said: “The number of applications has been very low in comparison with the country’s 16 crore populace. We need the role of the information commissioner in every section and there should be a provision for punishment of officers for not complying.”

She blamed the negligence of the commission officers and public behind the lack of popularity of the act.

“In a recent survey of RTI forum, 45% percent of the respondents were aware of the act. Of the 54% only 12% applied,” said Tahmina Rahman, director for Bangladesh and South Asia at Article 19.

So far, 596 applications blamed the commission for not providing information where 22 requests were rejected for not following proper procedures.

Commission took 299 applications into cognizance and ordered the hearing of 296. Information was provided for 274 applications.

Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Md Nazrul Islam said: “We have a culture of secrecy. Our information has not been in an organised form. It would be easy when all information will be digitalised.” l

Although a year has passed since the Sylhet City Corporation vowed to evict all illegal street shops within its jurisdiction, the overall picture of the city remains as it was. This picture was taken yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

Government decides to ban African Government yet to Magur to save local fishes appoint trustee n board members

NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DISABLED PROTECTION TRUST

Mohosinul Karim

African Magur (Clarias Gariepinus) is going to be banned to save local fishes from its devouring in the country.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock recently decided to prohibit importing, breeding, culturing, carrying and selling the giant fish.

African Magur, well known as a giant species of fish, eat local small fishes. As a result, local variety fishes cannot grow along with such giant fishes, said officials at the minister.

The same ministry also decided to restrict dewatering fisheries, such as water bodies where local fishes are being produced and grown to ensure that none can attempt to destroy any local fish.

Keeping all the provisions, the ministry has decided to amend the “Protection and Conservation of Fish Rules, 1985.”

A gazette, signed by the ministry’s Senior Assistant Secretary Md Muhibuzzaman, was issued recently amending the rules to protect and preserve the local varieties of fish in the country.

According to the amended rules, no persons shall import, breed, culture, carry, sell, receive, market, expose and possess African Magurs. It will be strictly prohibited in the country.

The amended rules also read that catching, carrying, selling, receiving, marketing, exposing and possessing of several local fishes will be prohibited for a certain period.

Catching, carrying, selling, receiving, marketing, exposing and possessing of Hilsha fishes below 25 centimeters in length, well known as Jatka, will be restricted in between November and June of any year.

It will also be prohibited to catch, carry, sell, receive, market, expose and possess Catla, Rui, Mrigal, Kalbaush and Ghania fishes that are below 25 centimeters in length in between July and December of the year.

It will also be prohibited to catch, carry, sell, receive, market, expose and possess Pungas fishes below 30 centimeters in length in between November and July, Silon, Bhola and Ayre fishes in between February and June and Boal fishes in between April and August. l

Higher tax on cigarettes demanded

The government is yet to announce the names of the members of the advisory council and trustee board or appoint any official to the Neuro-developmental Disabled Protection Trust to start its functioning despite forming the trust on June 4.

State Minister for Social Welfare Promod Mankin yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that the advisory council would be formed comprising the ministers and persons concerned and led by the Prime Minister according to a law passed in the parliament.

The trustee board will mainly look after the enforcement of the law and it can also provide registration to the organisations interested to work on autism

n Tribune Report Environmental activists on Thursday demanded that the government impose higher tax on cigarettes than that proposed in the budget bill for the fiscal 2014-2015.

Speaking at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club, they claimed that the current tax of 17.72 percent will not come to any use to prevent smoking.

The conference was organised by Campaign for Clean Air, a non-government organisation, to press home their budget related demands.

Joint convener of the organization Nazrul Islam Khokon read out the key-note paper while eminent dramatist Aronnya Anwar, Rajib Salehin and Tasdirul Haq Khan were present on the occasion.

They also said the allocation of Tk911 crore in the environment sector is not enough and the allocation sum should be increased. l

n Mohosinul Karim

Workers repair the boundary wall of a shrimp farm at Kohubunia in Teknaf yesterday

RAJIB DHAR

“The trustee board will also be formed soon led by Saima Hossain Putul, grand-daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She has been working to organise the neuro-development activities including autism at the international level. She has achieved an international position recently as recognition of her activities,” he added.

The ministry would issue gazette notifications shortly forming the advisory council and trustee board to activate the trust soon. Several officials will also be appointed for the trust office, he said.

He said the trust was formed to help create scope for flourishing talents of

the autistic and disadvantaged children. Some organisations would be set up to ensure lifelong accommodation for the autistic persons under the trust.

Around 73 service and help centres were set up in 64 districts of the country for providing ‘one stop’ services to the disabled and autistic people, ministry sources said.

According to the ministry, on June 4, acting secretary of the ministry Nasima Begum issued a gazette notification forming the trust in compliance of the Neuro-developmental Disabled Protection Trust Act passed in the parliament on November 10 last year.

The trust will be considered as active from the date of the gazette issued.

The law highlighted the issues relating to providing assistance to the autistic children, their nurture, security and rehabilitation in the society.

According to the law, there will be an advisory council, headed by the Prime Minister. A total of 13 ministers and state ministers concerned with the autism issue will be members of the advisory council. There will be a trustee board comprising experts and other stakeholders headed by an eminent person.

The trustee board will mainly look after the enforcement of the law and it can also provide registration to the organisations interested to work on autism.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 2 unveiled the plaques of the foundation stone of the National Disability Complex to be constructed in the capital’s Mirpur and declared turning the National Foundation for the Development of the Disabled into the Disabled Development Directorate.

Hasina’s previous government had also passed the Disabled People’s Rights and Protection Act 2013. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

23% slide in NU honours, master’s and degree students n Mushfique Wadud The number of honours, master’s and degree students of the colleges across the country under the National University lessened 23 percent in 2012 compared to the previous year, says the data collected from University Grants Commission (UGC).

According to the data, the NU has 2007 colleges that enrolled total 1,650,088 students under the programmes in 2011 while the figure stood at 1,268,450 in 2012.

Of the courses, honours programme shouldered the burden of the decrease, which enrolled 514,410 students in 2012 while the number was 671,496 in 2011.

Teachers and students claimed that the decline was caused for preferring the private universities by the students for the courses.

The education cost in the private colleges is almost same compared to that of some private universities. As a result, the students choose the private universities for the programmes.

On the other hand, the NU colleges have severe shortage of teachers and lack of establishment facilities.

According to the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, some 3500 posts have been vacant in the 306 colleges, even 60 of which have no principal.

Another reason behind the slide is session jam while it takes six to seven years to complete a four-year honours

programme, the affected NU students claimed.

“The expenses are almost same but we have to wait six to seven years to complete honours. In this situation, a private university completes the course within just four years. Then why I go to the NU colleges?,” Golam Kibria, a student who got admitted himself with a private university for master’s degree after completing graduation from a NU college, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Teachers said development of the colleges is suffering most because of having administered those under two types of administration. Although the NU is responsible for the academic activities of these colleges, Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education looks

5

Sunday, June 15, 2014

after the administrative activities of the colleges.

Professor KM Rezaul Huq, principal of Gouripur Munsi Fazlur Rahman Government College, blamed the poor infrastructure of the colleges for the decrease in students.

“The facilities of the colleges have to increase to attract students,” he continued.

National University Pro Vice Chancellor Munaz Ahmed Noor said he was unaware about the slide, telling that he would check it later.

He also stated that the National University authorities have taken handful measures to reduce the session jam to ensure quality education in the colleges. l

4 arrested for attempted robbery at Pubali Bank n Our Correspondent, Barisal Four people were arrested early yesterday for attempted robbery at Pubali Bank Galachipa branch of Patuakhali.

Shishir Kumar Pal, officer-in-charge of Galachipa police station said among the arrested, Monirul Islam, 30, and Sumon, 28, were members of the robber’s gang. Ramkrishna Pal was the owner of Hotel Sourav in Galachipa municipal town and Sohag was the hotel’s staff, he added.

According to Pubali Bank Branch Manager Zakir Hossain, the robbers entered the bank on Friday night by cutting the grill of a window when the bank’s guard, Abdul Latif, was engaged in Shab-e-Barat prayer.

At one point, local youths spotted the window used by the robbers and when they were about to alert the

Body of a school boy recovered from Kirtipasha canal

28 establishments gutted n Our Correspondent, Barisal

n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Police on Friday morning recovered the body of a school boy from the Kirtipasha canal in Jhalakathi, who reportedly went missing the previous day.

The victim’s father, a day-labour Anwar Hossain said his son Mehedi Hasan, 12, a Class-VI student of Kirtipasha Prosanno Kumar School, left home to deposit a loan installment at around 3pm Thursday and did not return.

Later, fishermen on Kirtipasha canal recovered Mehedi’s body at around 7am Friday and informed the police.

'Russell and Rakib had threatened Mehedi over a dispute in a local cricket match' Jhalakathi Sadar police station Officer-in-Charge Shilmoni Chakma said police recovered the dead body and found injury marks on the ears and others parts of the body.

“There were also marks on his throat and the neck was broken,” he added The dead body was sent to Jhalakathi General Hospital for an autopsy and then handed over to his family members in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the victim’s father has filed a case with Jhalakathi police, accusing two neighboring brothers, Russell, 20, and Rakib, 18, of killing his son over a cricket match dispute.

Russell and Rakib had threatened Mehedi over a dispute in a local cricket match. They abducted my son in a pre-planned way and then killed him, alleged the victim’s father.

Later, locals detained the two accused and their father Halim and handed them over to police for interrogation, police sources confirmed. l

WEATHER POSSIBLE HEAVY RAIN

SUNDAY, JUNE 15 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:47PM SUN RISES 5:11AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 38

Dhaka

28

Chittagong

32

28

Rajshahi

39

29

Rangpur

38

26

Khulna

38

28

Barisal

38

28

Sylhet

37

25

Cox’s Bazar

32

28

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

38.4ºC Khulna

22.8ºC Chuadanga

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

3:44am 5:11am 11:59am 3:18pm 6:47pm 8:15pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

guard, three robbers came out trying to flee.

Locals succeeded in chasing down Monirul Islam and handed him over to the police.

OC Shishir Kumar said after Monirul was interrogated, police arrested Sumon from Hotel Sourav in Kheyaghat area of the municipal town and detained the owner and a staff of the hotel.

During the interrogation, Monirul said he was from Terokhada, Khulna and Sumon was from the Barisal Sadar, but both of them were living near Ashulia of Dhaka, added the OC. Kamol Chandra Dey, duty officer of Galachipa police station, said there were four robbers and police were trying to arrest the other two.

No case was lodged in this connection at the time of filing this report. l

Retailers from across the country gather at the traditional mango wholesale market at Baneshar Haat in Putia of Rajshahi yesterday

Study: efficient devices can save 2,640MW electricity n UNB Some 2,640 MW of electricity can be saved from the current use of 7,650 MW through efficient devices and equipment, said a study conducted by the Power Division.

Power Division’s Joint Secretary Siddique Zobair carried out the study as part of the government move to improve efficiency in power sector.

The study found that there is a potential for saving of 1020 MW of electricity from residential and commercial uses. Currently, the residential and commercial lights, particularly the bulbs, consume 1700 MW of the country’s total electricity.

But if the conventional and CFL bulbs in residences and offices are replaced with the LED bulbs, the power consumption will come down significantly as LED bulbs consume much less electricity than any other bulbs.

The LED lamp is a light-emitting

diode (LED) product that is assembled into a lamp (or light bulb) for use in lighting fixtures.

LED lamps have a lifespan and electrical efficiency that is several times better than incandescent lamps, and significantly better than most fluorescent lamps, with some chips able to emit more than 100 lumens per watt, said experts.

Siddique Zobair said sometimes LED bulbs consume only 12% electricity to provide 100 percent light of an incandescent lamp or conventional bulb.

The study said about 30 MW load could be saved from tube-lights from the existing 120 MW of their consumption if their ballasts are replaced with improved ones.

The study found that fans used in residences, offices and other places are consuming 1300 MW of electricity. But this consumption is possible to bring down to 780 MW by using efficient fans through replacement of the existing

ones. In that case, 520 MW of electricity will be saved.

Siddique Zobair said the existing fans normally consume 80-100 watt of electricity. But now efficient fan was invented and these fans consume 60 watt of electricity.

The highest electricity is now being consumed by motors used for different purposes in industries and other places. The study says the motors consume 1800 MW. But if “variable drive”-a new device-is installed in the motor, it will improve its efficiency and reduce the electricity consumption. Through this device, 20 percent load could be reduced in each motor and in total 360 MW load could be reduced, the study found.

The refrigerators consume 350 MW of electricity while air-conditioners consume 1600 MW electricity. But once inverters are installed in the compressors of the refrigerators and air-conditioners, this will improve significantly their efficiency and reducing their consumption. l

AZAHAR UDDIN

A devastating fire gutted at least seventeen business establishments and eleven residential units at Bakerganj Bandar, about 22 kilometres from Barisal city, early yesterday.

Barisal Fire Service and Civil Defence Station Officer Md Alauddin said primarily it is assumed that the fire began from an electric short circuit on the first floor on the chamber of Dr Kanai Lal after midnight.

Later, firemen from Barisal, Nalcity, Jhalakathi and Patuakhali reached the spot at around 12:35am and jointly dowsed the blaze after a three-hour long effort.

Initially, losses from the blaze have been estimated to be at Tk50 lakh.

Bakerganj municipal chairman Lokman Hossain Dakua said the flame spread quickly in the market as the area was densely populated with business and residential establishments.

Although no causalities were reported, at least ten to fifteen people were reportedly injured while trying to extinguish the blaze, said Bakerganj police station Officer-in-Charge Nurul Islam. l

Engineer couple charged with domestic help murder n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Police have charged an engineer couple with the murder of a 12-year-old domestic help called Zakir, who was found dead on April 4, at their house in Chittagong city.

They charged the couple with the murder in a charge sheet submitted before Chittagong Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Kotwali police station Sub-Inspector Mohammad Kamruzzaman, who is investigating the domestic help’s death, had submitted the charge sheet.

The couple he has charged with the murder are Engineer Nowshad Zaman, 39, of a non-government organisation and his wife Engineer Dilruba Chowdhury, 35.

Investigation Officer Kamruzzaman mentioned 11 persons as prosecution witnesses in the charge sheet.

He said Zakir had worked at the engineer couple’s residence for a year where the ill-fated boy had faced mental and physical torture most of the

time without any reason or for his fault in household chores.

“On April 4, the couple strangulated the boy, but made a suicide drama to hide their offence,” said SI Kamruzzaman; adding that police found the fact after a long investigation.

The 12-year-old domestic help, Md Zakir, son of Nur Hossain, hailing from Laxmipur, was killed at the residence of the engineer couple while the police initially termed the incident as a suicidal incident.

But, the post mortem report of the dead body said that Zakir was strangulated to death.

As police lodged an unnatural death case with Kotwali Police Station in this connection, they pleaded before the court to shift the case into murder case and the case was shifted to a murder case on April 23.

Police nabbed husband Nowshad on April 4 and Dilruba was nabbed on April 24, however, she was released from the prison on bail. l

Call to make RMCH more patients friendly n BSS Speakers at a views-sharing meeting underscored the need for making Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) and its one-stop crisis center (OCC) more patients- friendly and need-oriented.

They viewed that many of the common people especially the poor and marginal are totally dependent on the public hospital for their emergency health problems.

Likewise, they said the hospital must be functioned as a pro-people organisation so that the hopes and aspirations of the people are reflected properly.

Conscious Citizens Committee (CCC), a sister organisation of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), organized the meeting with the management of RMCH at its conference hall here yesterday.

RMCH Director Brigadier General AKM Nasir Uddin, who presided over

the meeting, sought all-out cooperation to run the hospital successfully alongside upgrading the standard of healthcare services.

He assured of his all possible cooperation for issuing medical certificate to the OCC victims within three days or maximum seven days. Necessary measures will be taken to bring its activities and services under transparency and accountability, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, CCC Convener Prof Dr Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan underscored the need for making the hospital's service delivery activities more effective and need-oriented through arranging public awareness meetings frequently.

He said put emphasis on making all the administrative and management activities including the services of doctors, nurses, medical technologists and others concerned transparent and accountable so that the patients in general could derive total benefits of the hospital. l

Although listed as an archaeological site, vested quarters continue ignore the law and erect bamboos on the premises of Gabinda Mandir in the name of religious festivals, in Putia of Rajshahi yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Padma erosion takes serious turn 500 homesteads, farmland have been devoured n Our Correspondent, Shariatpur Onslaught of erosion by the Padma river has now become a cause of concern for hundreds of families living in Naria and Janjira upazilas of the district.

According to sources, only in the last two weeks, over 500 homes, a vast track of farmland and many trees have been devoured by the river, turning many people homeless.

The government map of the upazilas has already been changed due to the erosion.

Visiting the erosion affected areas like Sureshwar, Kaderpur and Saheberchar under Naria and Naoduba, Majhirghat under Janjira upazilas, this correspondent witnessed a grim scenery of the areas.

The rapacious river is devouring arable land, dwelling houses, hundreds of trees and the field of standing crops

in a moment. The affected people have taken shelter at safer places with their belongings.

The people of the river bank areas are shifting at different places to escape the fury of the river. The people of the affected areas have no other alternative to earn their livelihood. They are to starve with their families.

Chondipur, Kaderpur and Sureshwar areas have become desolate as most of the inhabitants of the once throbbing human settlements have left for elsewhere and the rest are also packing up their belongings.

It may be stated that most of the erosion affected people have been passing their days under open sky.

The erosion affected people of the district urge the government to take immediate steps to build up flood control embankment to check erosion and demand to rehabilitate these unfortu-

Bangladeshi arrested in India with fake rupee n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon A Bangladeshi national was arrested by Indian police from a place opposite to Ratnai border under Baliadangi upazila of Thakurgaon, some 30km inside Indian territory, with one lakh Indian counterfeit notes on Friday.

BGB and local sources said Mizanur Rahman, 26, hailed from Udaypur village under Harinmari union of the upazila, crossed the border near pillar no 382 of Ratnai border and police of Chakuria police station in North Dinajpur district detained him.

Commanding Officer of 30 BGB Thakurgaon Lt Col Kamal Ahmed confirmed the arrest but could not say any-

thing about the fake notes.

He said the higher authorities of BGB were informed of Mizanur’s arrest and were requesting to take steps to bring him back.

Commander of BGB Thakurgaon sector Colonel Golam Mostafa said there would be no flag meeting as Mizanur had not been arrested

by BSF. “But because he is a Bangladeshi citizen, BGB is closely observing the matter,” he said.

A local journalist said relatives of Mizanur in India informed his family members in Bangladesh that Mizanur had been arrested by Indian police with fake Indian currency. l

nate erosion hit floating people.

The locals Jaman Mia, Kalu Bepari and Motaleb Chokder said the river has become more furious this year.

They opine that the erosion occurs twice in a year-once at the time of onrush of flood water and again at the time receding water with increasing of water flow in the river.

KM Ismail Huq, Chairman of Naria Upazila Parishad said at least 500 families in Sureshwar, Saheberchar, Kunderchar, Chondipur, WAPDA areas under Naria and Khejurtala, Naoduba and Palerchar, Majhir ghat areas under Jajira upazila became homeless during the last two week due to the erosion.

He also said that they also visited the affected areas and helped the people.

BM Mozammel Huq, MP of Shariatpur-1 constituency, visited the areas and assured the homeless people to rehabilitate them as soon as possible. l

1,200 bottles of Phensidyl syrup seized in Joypurhat n Our Correspondent, Bogra Bogra police yesterday seized 1200 bottles of phensidyl syrup from a truck in Joypurhat.

They arrested the truck driver while another person was able to flee.

Details of the arrested driver and the escaped person could not be known immediately.

Shibganj police station officer-incharge (OC) Md Khalequzzaman said they had on a tip-off seized the truck from an area under the jurisdiction of Joypurhat’s Kalai police after chasing it from Shibganj’s Mokampur point of Dhaka-Dinajpur road. A case was filed with Shibganj police. l

Thirty arrested for vandalism, looting houses in Jhenaidah n Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah Police arrested 30 persons on Friday morning on charges of vandalism and looting following the murder of an Awami League activist in Jhenidah.

Earlier on Tuesday night, unknown criminals shot dead Awami League Serajul Islam Rintu Munshi. He was loyal to Abdul Malek, a leader of AL Jhenaidah unit.

Immediately after the murder, supporters of Rintu vandalised and looted the houses of those believed to be loyal to another Awami League leader Shahidul Islam, said Officer-in-Charge Shahabuddin Azad of Jhenaidah Sadar police station.

They vandalised and looted property worth several crores of taka in two days from the day that Rintu was

NEWS IN BRIEF Policeman arrested for harassing housewife A police constable of Jhenaidah Police Lines was arrested while attempting to harass a housewife at Maladharpur village in Moheshpur upazila of the district on Friday. The policeman was Sohel Rana, son of Matiar Rahman of Badekhanpur village under Chowgachha upazila in Jessore. Mizanur Rahman, brother of the housewife, said his brother-in-law had been an expatriate in Malaysia for long. “In absence of my sister’s husband, Rana has been harassing her for a long time. As attention was drawn to Rana’s family in this regard, they settled it and Rana signed a written statement on a non-judicial stamp, committing that he would not annoy my sister anymore,” said Mizanur. In violation of the commitment, Rana on the day tried to harass the housewife again.

The villagers caught Rana and handed him over to Moheshpur police. On-duty Subinspector Ishaque Ali said Rana was taken to Moheshpur police station. Officer-in-charge of Moheshpur police station M Shahjahan Ali said although the matter was settled with the family of the housewife, disciplinary action would be taken against him.

– Correspondent

Journo hacked in Chuadanga A correspondent of a local daily in the district was hacked by an unknown gang leaving him critically injured on Friday allegedly centring previous hostility. The victim, Russel Ahmed Munna, 22, son of Abu Jafar of village Senerhuda under Jibannnagar upazila, is the Uthli union correspondent of the locally published daily ‘Akash Khabar’.

Officer-in-Charge Iqbal Ahmed of Jibannagar police station told the Dhaka Tribune Russel was attacked by the gang around 10:30am on Friday while he was returning home on his motorbike from Uthli Bazar of

Jibannangar. He was first rushed to Jessor General Hospital but was shifted to Dhaka Orthopaedic Hospital as his condition deteriorated. The victim’s father, Abu Jafar, described the hack as an attempt to murder.

Tasirul Alam, the editor of the daily, said they were still in the dark whether Russel was hacked because of his involvement with the newspaper. But whoever attacked him, it was obvious that they wanted to kill him since he was severely wounded. Police had already started investigation into the incident and they were trying to nab the attackers, the OC added.

– Correspondent

Woman, son killed in wall collapse A woman and her minor son were killed in house collapse during heavy rain at Kashiachapon village in Panchbibi upazila of the district on Friday. The dead are : Julekha Begum, 30, wife of Azizul Islam, and her one-year son Amanullah. Witnesses said the mother and son died when the mud wall of their house collapsed during heavy rain in the morning. Nejarat deputy collector (NDC) Abu Raihan Dolon said :”The victims’ family has been initially given Tk 10,000 as government grant for the burial.”

– Correspondent

3 children drown in Naogaon Three children yesterday drowned at Sapahar upazila in Naogaon. They were Sufia Khatun, 8, Nafiza, 7, daughters of Sajeman Ali and Sanjida, 7, of Sultan Hossain of the upazila’s Kormudanga village. While bathing at Kuroil bil (water body) near their homes on Friday, they had gone beyond their depths in the water and drowned, said Shafiul Azam, officer-in-charge at Sapahar police station.

– Correspondent

killed. Later the police managed the situation deploying additional forces in the affected areas, he said.

Five cases were lodged so far with the Jhenaidah Sadar police station in connection with the murder and looting incidents, the OC also said.

The arrested were sent to jail through the court as their bail prayers had been rejected, the OC added. l

Criminal killed in gunfight n Our correspondent, Noakhali A criminal and also chief of Bashar bahini (group) was killed in a gunfight with police at Jogikhal of Alaipur union under Begumganj upazila in the district yesterday.

The deceased was Abul Bashar, 45, son of Md Golam Mostafa of Ovirampur village.

Superintendent of police SM Ashrafuzzaman said law enforcers arrested Bashar Friday morning and took him to Jogikhal area to recover firearms.

“When police reached the spot, Bashar’s accomplices began shooting at them, trying to snatch Bashar away.

Police also fired to save themselves. At one stage, Bashar was hit by bullet and died on the spot,” he said.

Police recovered a gun and nine bullets from the spot, Ashrafuzzaman said.

Bashar was accused in 10 cases including robbery, rape and killing, he said. l

Businessman hacked to death n Our Correspondent, Comilla A transport businessman was hacked to death at Satananda village in Daudkandi upazila on Friday.

The dead was identified as Raja Mia, 40, general secretary of Gazaria Transport Owners’ Association.

Quting victim’s family members, Daudkandi thana OC Abu Salam Mia said Raja Mia went out of his house at 12 midnight on Thursday after receiving a phone call.

Raja’s wife found her husband’s blood-stained body on the courtyard of her house in the morning and informed police. l

The Padma River erosion in Naria upazila devours homesteads

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

Sunday, June 15, 2014

7

Political philosophy of football Modelling football is particularly difficult because of the very nature of the game.

Does this nature pose more difficulty in football than in other sports?

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

M

n Jyoti Rahman

acroeconomists have an abysmal record when it comes to forecasting. As Tim Harford documents, as late as September 2008 — when the Lehman Brothers collapsed — consensus among the economists at the Wall Street and City of London was that no major economy would fall into recession in 2009. Not deterred by such abysmal failure, market economists have ventured into predicting the World Cup. The overwhelming favourite is Brazil.

And economists of Goldman Sachs — which dominates the Wall Street the way Brazil dominates football — have actually published the analysis behind their prediction. According to their analysis, Brazil has a nearly 50% chance of winning. Of course, Brazil is also the favourite in the betting

Why is football, despite the randomness, dominated by a few big names? The answer, in one single word, is socialism!

markets. But at the time of writing (few hours before the kick off ), betting agencies such as Ladbrokes were implying only around 25% chance of a Brazil win.

Why are the Goldman Sachs boffins so much more bullish on Brazil? The bankers try to predict the score of every match based on a regression analysis that uses the results of every official match played since 1960 (about 14,000 observations). Their model also accounts for factors such as home ground and home continent advantages.

Now, even the best regression analysis is only right on average. And the chances of getting it right, on average, increases with longer form league formats that involve a large number of matches. In that format, the so-called “fundamental” factors — as reflected in past performance — dominates.

That’s why, if Brazil were to play, say, Australia a dozen times, we could be very confident that Australia would be

thrashed, on average.

But the World Cup isn’t like a long season of league matches. Particularly in the knock-out stage of the Cup, a team may win or lose on some random events such as a referee mistake or penalty shootouts. And that kind of randomness can’t, by definition, be modelled.

Modelling football is particularly difficult because of the very nature of the game. It is that nature that, quite often, may yield results that seemingly appear contrary to the run of the play — a side playing much “better” seem to lose by a single goal from the other side. Does this sort of thing appear to be more common in football than in other sports?

Tyler Cowen, an American economist, has a theory about football: The rules of the game are simple, but a lot of complex interactions result from this simple set of rules; It is hard to quantify what a “good” play is (that is, the data cannot tell you which complex interaction is better), and a lot depends on intuition that are typically developed at an early age.

I am intellectually attracted to empiricism — using ugly data to slay beautiful hypotheses, this is the scientific process. The beautiful game may just be the stuff of metaphysics. One can argue that with an average that is three standard deviations above the mean of all batsmen, Bradman is the greatest. One simply cannot argue for Pele or Maradona that objectively.

The general unpredictability, together with the fact that so many more countries play it than rugby, cricket or hockey, would suggest that many more teams will be successful at the World Cup football than in other sports. For example, there are less than a dozen countries (at most, being charitable to some weaker teams) that make the pool of potential winners in cricket. This is also the case in rugby and hockey.

And yet, the pool of finalists, no matter what the sport is, is actually quite small. Seven countries have made the football final in my life time.

This compares with six in cricket, five in rugby, and six in hockey. As Zafar Sobhan says, betting on World Cup football is easy money.

But what about club football?

Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal between them have won all but one English premiere league since its inception in 1992-93. AC Milan, Juventus and Internazionale between them have won the

Italian Serie A all but twice in these years. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Valencia between them won the Spanish league all but once in that period. If you know nothing about football but predict that one of these teams will win the next league, you will have a pretty good chance of being right.

Compare this with American sports.

Over a dozen teams have won the Superbowl in the past couple of decades.

You may not know anything about baseball, but you have probably still heard of the New York Yankees. The Yankees have won the World Series only five times since 1992. Eleven teams have won the World Series in that time. The most iconic sport team of the 1990s must be the Chicago Bulls under Michael Jordan. But even the Bulls won only five NBA titles since 1992, and eight teams have won the championship in that time.

Predicting the winner in an American league is pretty hard if you knew nothing about the sport. And learning something requires effort. I’m no psychologist, but I’d hazard a guess that it is difficult to pick up a new sport after your 15th birthday. If you don’t know anything about basketball, rooting for the Bulls on the basis of Jordan’s name is no use as they haven’t made a final since 1998.

Perhaps this is why the World Cup is so popular in Bangladesh — all you need to do is to root for Brazil or Argentina to have a good time.

So, why is football, despite the randomness, dominated by a few big names?

The answer, in one single word, is, socialism!

American sports have a draft system whereby incoming young talent do not get to choose who they play for but must go to the team that drafts them. And by and large, the draft order is determined in inverse order of the previous season’s standings — that is, the worst teams get to pick first.

Plus, in most American leagues, there is a salary cap that limits the total team spending as well as how much a team can pay an individual. Neither condition holds in European football leagues, allowing, in effect, the bigger teams to outbid everyone else.

America as the bastion of socialism?

Yes, indeed. And there is more to this.

Think about Marx’s predictions about capitalism. Marx said that capitalism would collapse because competition will give way to monopoly. Of course, this prediction has not

come to pass. There are two reasons why competition has not led to monopoly in most markets. First, most markets have firm entry as well as firm exit in the long run. That is, people enter a market when they see existing firms earning lots of profit. Secondly, there is technological progress, which opens up all sorts of new products and markets. Both factors work to prevent monopoly in the longer run.

However, in the context of a sports league, clearly neither of these can happen. There can only be so many clubs, and rules of the game change slowly, if at all.

So Marx’s prediction of competition giving way to monopoly may well come true in an unregulated league.

To prevent this from happening, you

the second quarter of the last century, were also countries that flirted with establishing a strong totalitarian state based on a dominant ethnic group or ideology or religion. The point is made most starkly when we look at two antipodean lands.

Blessed with bounty of the land, Argentina and Australia were both among the richest countries a century ago. Both countries were hit hard in the aftermath of the Great War and the Great Depression. One turned to a semi-fascist populism and bouts of military regimes, the other remained a liberal democracy throughout. One suffered economic crises every decade or so, the other is still among the richest of all countries.

One is football-crazy, the other is sportsmad, but has no national code as such.

Marx’s prediction of competition giving way to monopoly may come true in an unregulated league

need outside intervention, you need redistribution, you need, for the lack of a better word, socialism!

Therefore, football-lovers of the world, unite!

Let the international unite the human race.

Okay, okay, I get carried away.

American sport may be socialist, but socialism has had little success in America. Indeed, the Anglophone countries, in general, have always been far more liberal — in the English sense of the word — than continental Europe. And football does not mean the same thing around the English speaking world. Even in England, “football codes” other than soccer still fill stadiums. In fact, England already won a “football” World Cup in 2003.

Why is it that no single football code has dominated the entire Anglophone world the way football (that is, soccer) has come to dominate Europe and its former colonies?

Could it be that the multitude of football codes in Anglophone countries is linked to the deeply ingrained liberalism/libertarianism of these societies? Countries where a single football code came to dominate, typically by

Australia has virtually no chance of winning the World Cup. Neither does America or England. In fact, no liberal democracy has ever won the World Cup — England in 1966 was more of a social democracy than a liberal one.

So, what kind of political system is best at winning the World Cup? That’s what Franklin Foer explored, finding: fascist countries beat communist teams; military juntas beat fascists; social democracies beat military juntas; European Union members are likely to do well; former communist countries do better now than they did under red flags; colonisers tend to do better than the colonised; oil rich countries don’t do well; and neo-liberal economic reform doesn’t help — Argentina hasn’t won in nearly three decades.

Foer also had a caveat: The political reality most likely to produce a Jules Rimet trophy (sic) at any given moment in history: whatever form of government has taken up residence in Brasilia that week. l Jyoti Rahman is a political blogger. This article was previously published in jrahman. wordpress.com.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Iraq: How its collapse could redraw boundaries n Reuters, Beirut The capture of Iraqi cities Mosul and Tikrit by al Qaeda-influenced jihadis has not only redrawn the map of a country corroded by sectarian hatred, it could also redesign West Asia’s national boundaries set nearly a century ago after the fall of the Ottoman empire, and lead to a forging of new regional alliances.

As well-armed forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) raised their black flags over Mosul last week, routing an Iraqi army that fled rather than fight, the future of Iraq as a unitary state hung in the balance.

As they pressed south towards Baghdad, the rest of the region, the United States and other powers woke up to the prospect that this Jihadi comeback could establish a dangerous base in the heart of the Middle East - an Afghanistan on the Mediterranean.

“What we are witnessing is the fragmentation of power. The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will never be able to centralize power in the same way he has,” says Fawaz Gerges, a West Asia expert at the London School of Economics. “We are seeing a redrawing of boundaries for sure.”

As the conflict escalated, Iraq’s most senior Shi’ite cleric on Friday urged his followers to take up arms to defend themselves against the Sunni revolt.

A rare message from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest religious authority for Shi’ites in Iraq, said people should unite to fight back against the insurgency by ISIL fighters and former Saddam loyalists.

A stunned region

The peshmerga forces of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq meanwhile seized Kirkuk, the oil-rich region bordering their self-governing territory, stepping into a security vacuum to claim a prize they have always regarded

‘Iran nuclear deal possible by July 20 with goodwill’ n Reuters, Ankara President Hassan Rouhani urged world powers yesterday to cut a deal with Iran by a July 20 deadline to end a dispute over its nuclear program, arguing that in any case sanctions meant to restrict its atomic activity have frayed beyond repair.

He told a news conference in Tehran that the economic curbs had been softened by his government’s policy of detente, replacing one of confrontation with the West, and “will not be rebuilt” even if the Islamic Republic and the six big powers fail to reach a final agreement by July 20. “The disputes can be resolved with goodwill and flexibility ... I believe that the July 20 deadline can be met despite remaining disputes.

If not, we can continue the talks for a month or more,” he said.

“During the nuclear negotiations we have displayed our strong commitment to diplomacy,” Rouhani went on, in comments broadcast live on state television. “(But even) if a deal can’t be reached by July 20, conditions will never be like the past. The sanctions regime has been broken.”

Iran and the powers will hold another round of talks in Vienna on June 16-20 to tackle a deadlock which has raised the likelihood that the deadline will lapse without a deal meant to head off the risk of a Middle East war over the nuclear issue. An outright failure of the faltering talks would strengthen the position of conservative hardliners in Iran’s clerical establishment against Rouhani, who has endeavoured to improve relations with the United States. The countries severed ties during a hostage crisis after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

“The West should use this opportunity to reach a final deal in the remaining weeks. American hawks and Israel will be blamed for (any) failure of the talks,” Rouhani said. Israel, Iran’s regional arch-foe, has cast doubt on whether diplomacy is capable of curbing in Iranian nuclear activity and, if it cannot, has threatened to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. Its scepticism is shared by hawkish supporters in the US Congress.

The latest round of negotiations in Vienna last month ran into difficulties when it became clear that the number of centrifuge enrichment machines that Iran wanted to maintain was well beyond what would be acceptable to the West. l

as their own. The ease with which ISIL, a Sunni Jihadi movement that has fed on the civil war in Syria and staked out the ungoverned space between eastern Syria and western Iraq, swept into Iraqi cities has stunned a region seemingly inured to shock. The insurgents, led

by Iraqis who broke with al-Qaeda, are pressing south to Baghdad.

Some experts say they may be over-reaching. But while ISIL’s predecessors were defeated in 2007-08 by Sunni tribal militias empowered by US forces, ISIL has exploited Sunni anger at Maliki’s sectarianism and inherited networks from Saddam Hussein’s army.

“ISIL has been able to embed itself with a disaffected and alienated Sunni community,” says Gerges. “If you observe how ISIL has been waging war you see a skilled mini army, confident, that has command and control, is motivated and using war tactics.”

Redrawing the borders

The million-strong Iraqi army, by contrast, trained by the United States at a cost of more than $20bn, is hobbled by low morale and corruption that impedes its supply lines. Its effectiveness is hurt by a perception among Sunnis that it pursues the hostile interests of the Shi’ites, a majority in Iraq, raised to power by the US led invasion of 2003.

The Kurdish capture of Kirkuk overturns a fragile balance of power that has held Iraq together since Saddam’s fall. Iraq’s Kurds have done well since 2003, running their own affairs while being given a fixed percentage of the country’s overall oil revenue. But with full control of Kirkuk - and the vast oil deposits beneath it - they could earn more on their own, eliminating the incentive to remain part of a failing Iraq.

US President Barack Obama threatened military strikes against ISIL, highlighting the gravity of the group’s threat to redraw borders in a region already wracked by war. l

Top Shi’ite cleric issues call to fight jihadist rebels n Reuters, Baghdad

Iraqi men raise up weapons and shout slogans as they demonstrate in the central Shiite Muslim shrine city of Najaf on June 14 to show their support for the call to arms by Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani AFP

Iran offers cooperation over Iraq situation if US tackles regional militants n Reuters, Ankara Iran could contemplate cooperating with its old adversary the United States on restoring security to Iraq if it saw Washington confronting “terrorist groups in Iraq and elsewhere,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday.

Rouhani, a pragmatist who has presided over a thaw in Iran’s relations with the West, also said Tehran was unlikely to send forces to Iraq but stood ready to provide help within the framework of international law. Baghdad has not requested such assistance, he added.

Shi’ite Muslim Iran has been alarmed by the seizure last week of several major northern Iraqi towns by Sunni Islamist insurgent forces and their sweep southward to within an hour’s drive of Baghdad, and not far from the Iranian border.

“We all should practically and verbally confront terrorist groups,” Rouhani told a news conference broadcast live on state television. Asked if Tehran

For now, Iran will send advisers and weaponry, although probably not troops, to boost Baghdad would work with Washington in tackling the advances by Sunni insurgents in Iraq, he replied: “We can think about it if we see America starts confronting the

terrorist groups in Iraq or elsewhere.”

Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are bent on recreating a mediaeval caliphate spanning territory they have carved out in fragmenting Iraq and Syria, where it has exploited a power vacuum in the midst of civil war.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters earlier this week that Tehran, which has strong leverage in Shi’ite-majority Iraq, may be ready to cooperate with Washington in helping Baghdad fight back against the jihadist ISIL rebels.

The official said the idea of cooperating with the Americans was being discussed within the Tehran leadership. For now, according to Iranian media, Iran will send advisers and weaponry, although probably not troops, to boost Baghdad. l

Iraq’s most senior Shi’ite Muslim cleric urged followers to take up arms against a full-blown Sunni militant insurgency to topple Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a conflict that threatens civil war and a possible break-up of the country.

In Washington, US President Barack Obama said he was reviewing military options, short of sending combat troops, to help Iraq fight the insurgency but warned any US action must be accompanied by an Iraqi effort to bridge political divisions.

In a rare intervention at Friday prayers in the holy city of Kerbala, a message from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is the highest religious authority for Shi’ites in Iraq, said people should unite to fight back against a lightning advance by militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Fighters under the black flag of ISIL are sweeping south towards the capital Baghdad in a campaign to recreate a mediaeval caliphate carved out of fragmenting Iraq and Syria that has turned into a widespread rebellion against Maliki.

“People who are capable of carrying arms and fighting the terrorists in defense of their country ... should volunteer to join the security forces to achieve this sacred goal,” said Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai, delivering Sistani’s message.

Those killed fighting ISIL militants would be martyrs, he said as the faithful chanted in acknowledgement.

Amidst the spreading chaos, Iraqi Kurdish forces seized control of Kirkuk, an oil hub just outside their autonomous enclave that they have long seen as their historical capital, three days after ISIL fighters captured the major city of Mosul.

There are concerns that sectarian and tribal conflict might dismember Iraq into Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish entities. The atmosphere in Baghdad was tense on Friday, the streets were empty, residents were stock-piling food and arming themselves. l

49 killed as rebels shoot down Ukrainian military plane

The night America very nearly nuked itself

n Reuters, Kiev/Donetsk

n Agencies

Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian army transport plane with an anti-aircraft missile as it came in to land early yesterday in the eastern city of Luhansk, killing all 49 military personnel on board.

The toll is the highest suffered by government forces in a single incident since they launched a military operation to halt the rebellion in east Ukraine against the country’s pro-European leaders in Kiev and to try to prevent the country splitting up.

The Defence Ministry said in a statement the Il-76 plane was shot down in

a “cynical” attack by rebels using an anti-aircraft weapon and a heavy-caliber machine gun. The Prosecutor General’s office said nine crew and 40 paratroopers had been killed and that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile at 1:10 a.m. (2210 GMT on Friday).

The Luhansk region is at the heart of the rebellion launched in April by separatists who want Russia to absorb the Russian-speaking east following the annexation of Crimea in March.

Government forces control Luhansk airport but local media said fighting was under way yesterday in the city, control of which is important for patrolling the nearby border with Russia.

The rebels also said the Ukrainian air force had fired on the industrial town of Horlivka, just north of region’s main city, Donetsk.

Rebels also shot down a military cargo plane last week, killing three people, and a general was among 14 killed when they hit an Mi-8 transport helicopter on May 29.

Scores of rebels, civilians and soldiers have been killed in the violence since April and more than 100 protesters, most of them seeking closer ties with the West, were killed in clashes with police in February which led to the fall of Ukraine’s Moscow-leaning president. l

Kenya’s ‘iconic’ tusker elephant killed n Agencies Satao, one of Kenya’s largest elephants, has died after being shot by poachers using poisoned arrows, The Independent reported.

Satao was one of the last surviving ‘great tuskers’, elephants with tusks so large they reach down to the ground. He had been living in the Tsavo East National Park in northern Kenya but had become a target for poachers, who were using GPS and mobile phones to track him.

For 18 months, the Kenyan Wildlife Service joined forces with the Tsavo Trust to monitor Satao’s movements using aerial reconnaissance and ground personnel within his known home range. Despite this, poachers were still able to reach him and in March, the 50-year-old elephant was shot by poachers using poisoned arrows. Vets rushed to the scene to treat him and he went on to make a surprise recovery.

But in May, an elephant carcass was discovered by June Richard Moller, Executive Director of the Trust, and on Friday the Trust confirmed it was Satao, who had been killed by a poisoned arrow.

In a statement, the Trust paid tribute to “the most iconic and well-loved tusker” and mourned “a great life lost so that someone far away can have a trinket on their mantelpiece.”

It said: “This magnificent elephant was widely known in Tsavo East National Park, where he was observed with awe by many thousands of Tsavo’s visitors over the years. l

Only dumb luck saved America from a nightmare scenario in January 1961 when an Air Force B-52 carrying two nuclear bombs broke apart in flight dropping the weapons on farmland near the city of Goldsboro in North Carolina.

Both bombs had been knocked by the accident into “armed” mode ready to detonate as they fell from the sky, The Independent reported.

Documents declassified by the National Security Archive last week leave little doubt as to how close America came to catastrophe.

“Multi-Megaton Bomb Was Virtually ‘Armed’ When It Crashed to Earth” the headline on the report reads. Just as chilling was an observation from the then US Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara.

“By the slightest margin of chance, literally the failure of two wires to cross, a nuclear explosion was averted,” he said.

“The impact of the aircraft break-up initiated the fusing sequence for both bombs,” the summary of the documents said.

Less dangerous was the first bomb. The deployment of its parachute slowed the rate of fall and the loss of a safety pin cut off power from its internal generator.

The second bomb fell freely and, according to the details in the report, cycled through six of the seven steps to final detonation. Only damaged wiring stopped it from going off.

Nor were these small bombs. The plane, which suffered a right wing failure as it flew through the night sky, was carrying two MK39s, each weighing 10,000 pounds with an explosive yield of 3.8 megatons.

That compares with yields of 0.01 and 0.02 megatons for the bombs dropped respectively on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The crash of the bomber was seen by a local farmer. “I heard the whine of an airplane about to land, then there was a big explosion. It almost knocked me out of bed. I got up and ran to the window and saw my whole field on fire.”

But he can have had no idea how much graver the events of that night might have been. The full scope of the near-calamity was first revealed in the book Command and Control by Eric Schlosser released last year.

Just how many other such accidents involving thermonuclear payloads have happened over the decades isn’t clear but there are at least 21 declassified reports of airborne incidents involving nuclear bombs between 1950 and 1968. l

Sexual violence summit ends on hopeful note n AP, London A conference focusing on rape in conflict zones ended on an upbeat note Friday, with hundreds of participants from Somalia to Kosovo encouraged by an outpouring of international support.

US Secretary of State John Kerry told participants it was time to “banish sexual violence to the dark ages and the history books.”

“We will not tolerate rape as a tactic of war and intimidation,” he said.

Activists, diplomats and rape survivors left the four-day London summit, co-hosted by actress Angelina Jolie and British Foreign Secretary William Hague, believing they had made progress in better prosecuting offenders and protecting victims — especially those in developing countries and conflict regions.

Organizers said 155 countries signed a declaration of commitment to end sexual violence in conflict and many, including the US and Britain, pledged funds to support the cause.

Deeq Mohamed, a Somali delegate, said he came away encouraged by the global support, although he knew there was no easy answer to the scourge of sex crimes in war zones.

“You see all the people around the world here and you realize you’re not alone anymore,” he said. “Everybody is making their little difference, and that can make a big change.”

Jolie, a UN special envoy, arrived Friday with partner Brad Pitt.

“I believe that one of the outcomes of this summit is that this subject is now firmly on the top table of international diplomacy,” the actress said. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Afghans vote in crunch run-off poll n AP, Kabul

Despite a Taliban threat to stay away, Afghans lined up yesterday to vote in a presidential runoff between two candidates who both promise to improve ties with the West and combat corruption as they confront a powerful Taliban insurgency and preside over the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of the year.

Whoever wins faces major challenges in trying to bolster Afghanistan’s security forces against a relentless insurgency and improving the nation’s economy and infrastructure at a time when international aid for Afghanistan is drying up. But many said just holding the country’s first peaceful transfer of authority was a major success.

The presidential hopefuls —former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank official and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai — differ more in personality than in policy. Both have promised to sign a long-delayed security pact with the United States. That would allow nearly 10,000 American troops to remain in the country for two more years to conduct counterterrorism operations and continue training and advising the ill-prepared Afghan army and police.

“I voted today for my future, because it is still not clear — the country is at war and corruption is everywhere and security is terrible. I want the next president to bring security above all and jobs,” said 20-year-old Marya Nazami, who voted for Ahmadzai.

The Taliban intensified attacks ahead of the vote and warned people to stay away from the polls, but the Islamic

An Afghan resident casts her ballot at a polling station in Jalalabad on June 14. Afghans yesterday headed to vote in the second-round election to choose a successor to Hamid Karzai AFP militants failed to disrupthe first round on April 5 and security forces launched a massive operation. Troops frisked voters before allowing them into polling stations and erected checkpoints around the capital of Kabul to search cars for explosives or other weapons.

Trucks also were banned from the city.

Still, the militants made their presence known. A series of rockets slammed into areas in the eastern Khost province, near the Pakistani border, killing six civilians and wounding eight, according to provincial government spokesman Mubarez Mohammad Zadran. Elsewhere in the east, a mortar shell killed two other civilians and wounded three in Logar province. Several other explosions were reported in Kabul and else-

where, but those caused no casualties.

President Hamid Karzai, who has grown increasingly alienated from his one-time US allies during his two terms in office, has refused to sign the pact.

Many voters said they were eager to get the bilateral security agreement signed after watching Islamic extremists seize large sections of Iraq nearly three years after US troops withdrew from that country. Iraq’s Shiite-led government had discussed with the Americans the possibility of a residual US force but the two sides were unable to reach an agreement.

“Iraq is burning,” Abbas Razaye, a 36-year-old shopkeeper, said after voting in a mosque in western Kabul. “We need the foreign troops for the time be-

ing. Otherwise our history of civil war will repeat itself and Afghanistan will deteriorate even more than Iraq.”

Abdullah and Ahmadzai were facing off after none of the eight candidates in the first round won the majority needed to avoid a second round. Abdullah emerged as the front-runner after he garnered 45 percent of votes in the initial balloting; Ahmadzai was second with 31.6 percent. The two have since campaigned as much for the support from their six former rivals as from Afghans themselves.

Abdul Hakim, a 25-year-old businessman, said he voted for Abdullah in both elections, and he has high expectations. “I want Abdullah to remove corruption and poppy cultivation and bring security. He should definitely sign the BSA,” he said.

With Karzai out of the race, Ahmadzai has gained the support of many Pashtuns who voted against him five years ago, particularly in the Taliban heartland in southern Afghanistan.

Unlike the previous round, when long lines and ballot shortages prompted authorities to extend the voting, polls closed on schedule at 4 p.m. ( 1130 GMT, 7:30 a.m. EDT.) Official preliminary results to be announced on July 2, final on July 22. Interior Minister Mohammad Umar Daudzai said that in all, around 150 attacks were recorded, including rockets, roadside bombs and gunbattles.

Karzai, who has led the country since the US invasion toppled the Taliban in the months after the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks but was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, cast his ballot at a high school near the presidential palace. l

A look at the 2 Afghan presidential hopefuls

Abdullah Abdullah

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai

Abdullah, a 53-year-old former foreign minister, was the runner-up in the 2009 disputed elections won by Karzai. He emerged as the front-runner this time after he garnered 45 percent of the votes in the first round of balloting on April 5. Abdullah, whose mother is ethnic Tajik and father is Pashtun, has an advantage in name recognition and political organization. He was a close aide to the late Ahmad Shah Masood, the Northern Alliance rebel commander famed for his resistance to Soviet occupation and the Taliban. Abdullah has a strong following among ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan’s north, but his perceived weak support among Pashtuns — Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group at 42 percent — could keep him from winning a majority of votes.

Ahmadzai, a 64-year-old Pashtun who once served as finance minister and worked at the World Bank, came in second with 31.6 percent of the votes in the initial balloting. An academic with a reputation as a somewhat temperamental technocrat, Ahmadzai received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University and taught at Johns Hopkins University during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He gave up US citizenship to run in the 2009 elections but won only 3 percent of that vote. This time, he has gained the support of four former presidential contenders — Qayyum Karzai, Qutbuddin Hilal, Hedayat Amin Arsala and Mohammad Doud Sultanzai — as well as other former vice presidential candidates. l

UN: Taliban changing from religious group to criminal enterprise n Reuters, United Nations

Burial ban blamed for spike in China suicide rates n Agencies Burial has been a tradition in China for thousands of years. But some people apparently have felt so strongly about the recent change banning the practice that there have been a spate of alleged suicides to avoid the new rule, The Independent reported. A ban on burials kicked in at the beginning of June in Anhui province, forcing residents to choose cremation as their only send-off option.

Family members of six people who lived in the eastern region of the country said that their loved ones had timed their suicides for May to avoid the June ban. Zheng Shifang, from the village of Luting, was one of the six who committed suicide. She was 83 when she died, choosing to take her own life after village committee staff sawed her coffin – which she kept at home – in half in front of her.

The local government, however, told the media that the suicides were not connected to the burial ban and that people had given up their coffins voluntarily. Provincial officials reportedly offered around £100 to those that handed in their coffins by the deadline.

The new rule has been introduced in an attempt to save limited land resources. However, the change has stirred the passions of many, with large numbers in the country seeing ancestor worship as hugely important. The Chinese government has tried on several occasions over the years to nudge the population towards other forms of burial. Besides cremation, there has been a recent push for burials at sea. l

Deep underground, water, US offers groundbreaking defence water everywhere but not technologies to India a drop to drink n Reuters, Washington If you want to find Earth’s vast reservoirs of water, you may have to look beyond the obvious places like the oceans and polar ice caps. Scientists on Friday said massive amounts of water appear to exist deep beneath the planet’s surface, trapped in a rocky layer of the mantle at depths between 250 miles and 410 miles (410 km to 660 km).

But do not expect to quench your thirst down there. The water is not liquid - or any other familiar form like ice or vapor. It is locked inside the molecular structure of minerals called ringwoodite and wadsleyite in mantle rock that possesses the remarkable ability to absorb water like a sponge.

“It may equal or perhaps be larger than the amount of water in the oceans,” Northwestern University geophysicist Steve Jacobsen said in a telephone interview. “It alters our thoughts about the composition of the Earth.”

“It’s no longer liquid water that we’re talking about at these great depths. The weight of hundreds of kilometers of rock and very high temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 Fahrenheit) break

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Sunday, June 15, 2014

down water into its components. And it’s not accessible. It’s not a resource in any way,” Jacobsen added.

Jacobsen said water is taken down into the mantle with minerals during the process known as plate tectonics - the slow, inexorable movement of the colossal rock slabs that make up the Earth’s surface.

When the minerals containing this water reach certain depths, they break down in a process called dehydration and release the water to form magmas. Such “dehydration melting” is common in the shallow mantle and forms the source for magmas in many volcanoes.

In a study published in the journal Science, the researchers present evidence that this is also occurring much deeper in the mantle in a region called the “transition zone” between Earth’s upper and lower mantle.

The study combined lab experiments involving synthetic ringwoodite being exposed to conditions simulating the heat and pressure of the “transition zone” and observations of events in this zone based on seismic data from a network of more than 2,000 seismometers across the United States. l

n Agencies The US has a number of “groundbreaking” defence technologies, including a helicopter and an unmanned aerial vehicle program, to offer to India for co-development and co-production, a top Pentagon official said yesterday.

“We have a number of offers on the table for India. There’s a groundbreaking offer to share in the next generation of the Javelin missile, co-production and

co-development,” under secretary of Defence for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Frank Kendall, told reporters.

He said the offers in the list also include a helicopter program and an unmanned aerial vehicle program. “We have an artillery piece. We have a number of things in different stages of process,” said Kendall, who has been tasked

by US defence secretary Chuck Hagel to lead Pentagon’s Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) with India.

The Indian side during the previous UPA regime was led by former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon whose replacement is yet to be announced by the Modi government.

Kendall said the US would continue with the initiative while looking for additional opportunities. “We also had some good discussions about science and technology cooperation. So to some extent, it will be continuing the work that we’ve already started.” l

Myanmar ruling dents Suu Kyi presidential bid n Agencies A parliamentary committee has voted against changing a clause in Myanmar’s constitution that bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running for president. The clause bars anyone whose spouse or children are loyal to foreign countries from becoming president or vice president. Suu Kyi’s late husband

and her two sons are British citizens.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is expected to mount a strong challenge in next year’s general election, with a good possibility of winning, but without Suu Kyi as a prospective president, its backers may flag in their support.

Twenty-six of the 31 members of the committee tasked with recommend-

ing changes voted against amending the clause. The decision by the committee last week was not publicised, but a member who did not want to be identified because he is not supposed to speak to the media confirmed the result of the vote to the AP news agency.

The decision still needs to be endorsed by the full parliament, but a change appears highly unlikely. l

The Taliban’s reliance on extortion and kidnappings, along with narcotics and illegal mining operations, is transforming it from a group driven by religious ideology into a criminal enterprise hungry for profit, UN sanctions monitors said in a new report.

“In addition to voluntary or forced donations from Afghan businesses outside the country as well as voluntary donations motivated by religious or ideological convictions, the Taliban have established a fairly sophisticated system to generate resources inside the country,” a report by the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team on the Taliban said. “Increasingly Taliban finances also rely on abductions of wealthy businessmen for ransom.”

The report said executing civilians and aid workers helps the Taliban reassert their power, block security improvements and prevent economic development 13 years after it was ousted from power by a US invasion. Taliban revenue generation is uneven. In provinces such as Nimroz and Kandahar, the Taliban are financially self-sustaining, while others depend on payments from the central leadership.

In Kandahar, the Taliban raise $7 million to $8 million a month from narcotics, extortion and mining, the report said. l

Thai junta lifts nationwide curfew n AP, Bangkok Thailand’s military government announced that it has fully lifted a nationwide curfew it imposed after seizing power last month, saying there is no threat of violence and that tourism needs to be revived. Political protests and criticism of the coup, however, remain banned by the junta, which said a return to elected civilian rule cannot be expected for at least 15 months.

The curfew had earlier been reduced to four hours from seven hours, and had been lifted in several resort areas popular with tourists after complaints from the tourism industry over the financial damage it was causing.

“The overall situation in other areas of the country has been resolved and there is no tendency toward possible violence. Therefore, in order to relieve and mitigate the impact on people’s daily lives, and to boost tourism by Thais and foreigners, the curfew order is being canceled in the rest of the country,” the junta said in a statement issued Friday night.

Army commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha told civil servants earlier Friday that a temporary constitution would be drafted and an interim government installed in about three months. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Sunday, June 15, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Simplify system to broaden the tax base

W

ith the new budget setting more ambitious income and spending targets, it is important for the government to progress moves to widen the base of taxpayers and to increase

revenues.

The future health and development of the economy makes it a key goal for government finances to become self-sufficient.

Although a lot of progress has been made in the past two decades in reducing reliance on foreign aid, the tax base still remains too small to be efficient and fit for purpose.

Less than 2% of the population pays income tax. In part, this is explained by the low levels of typical incomes.

The standard annual income tax-free threshold for individuals stands at Tk2.2 lakh, or three and half times the RMG minimum wage.

However, the country also suffers huge amounts of tax avoidance and evasion.

It is clearly not fair to taxpayers, who pay their dues in full, to leave people who can afford to pay outside the system.

While initiatives to improve administration and collection systems by, for instance, facilitating online tax returns, are helping to boost the amount of taxes collected, the government still needs to address the underlying reasons for underpayment of taxes.

Complicated rules which facilitate avoidance or high-import duties, which can often simply encourage avoidance and smuggling, need to be progressively reformed.

Bringing more citizens into the system makes the government more accountable for the delivery of services. It will benefit everyone, including people on lower incomes who still pay indirect sales taxes, by making more money available for public services.

Complicated rules which facilitate avoidance need reform

Be heard Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

Sheikh Hasina and her comment June 9 was a failure.

Sheuly Haque The general public does not bother with who has At first Hasina tried to eliminate Zia’s name in Bangcome to power or who killed whom. They want to ladesh by changing the name of Zia International live in peace, with at least a minimum number of Airport, incurring a huge amount of public money. meals to live on. But, at present, the law and order The general public wanted to know why this was situation is in turmoil, as is the traffic situation. Exdone. Many guessed the reason as being to tarnish tortions, forced disappearances and murders are the popularity of Zia. They revised textbooks, very common. wherever Zia was mentioned, soon after coming Formalin is used in all foods, including fish to power.

Not very long ago, Hasina said Zia would have and fruits, and the public is fed up with it, but been tried for Bangabandhu’s murder if he was Sheikh Hasina has done nothing to cut off its use alive. This is really a thought-provoking statement. altogether. We are ingesting poison in every way.

Another interesting thing to note: Hasina returned I request Sheikh Hasina to put in all effort to solve to Bangladesh on May 17, 1981 and Zia was mur- the problems we face, and make real changes to the way we are forced to live, not come up with dered on May 30, 13 days later.

Tareq said Zia was a successful leader, but Mujib superficial and useless ones.

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he Bangladesh Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently launched its “2020: Empower 5000” initiative, with the goal of helping 5,000 women entrepreneurs grow their businesses into the mainstream of the private sector, by 2020.

Although women are making steady gains in levels of education and employment, economic opportunities still remain limited for many, especially in rural areas.

This initiative can help provide valuable inspiration and make more headway for female entrepreneurs.

For Bangladesh to prosper, it is vital that the country encourages many more new businesses. Encouraging more women entrepreneurs to create jobs is an important and absolutely essential way to achieve this.

The economy needs to build equal opportunities and make the optimum use of human capital in order to grow to its full potential. Business leaders and government need to support more such initiatives.

In particular, the government can help by removing archaic and arbitrary regulatory barriers to accessing finance; this is needed in any case to help all entrepreneurs who are obstructed by bureaucracy regardless of gender disparity.

Helping Bangladesh’s entrepreneurs flourish can only yield good things for the country. Benefits can be achieved, whether economic, technical, or social, by unleashing the creativity of entrepreneurs.

An added benefit of promoting female entrepreneurship is, of course, that it will empower more of our country’s women in an economic sense by availing them with more avenues – a sign of true, tangible gender equality. This can only be a good thing for our country.

Encouraging more women entrepreneurs is absolutely essential

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

SUDOKU Policy for foreign university promulgated despite protests

June 7

Entrepreneurship, empowerment, and equality

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 13 represents L so fill L every time the figure 13 appears.

You have one letter in the control grid to start you off. Enter it in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

As you get the letters, fill in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check off the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

Lalon Shah It’s about time BD frees up its service sector. Why not open up the health sector as well and allow, for instance, foreign doctors to practice? That will teach a lesson to the patient-killers masquerading as doctors in our country. And it might save millions of dollars Bangladeshis spend in medical tourism overseas.

Noman Ahmed Khan Very good initiative, I believe. If quality is controlled with due care, and lower than a certain rank foreign universities are not given license, this is a good initiative. All private universities in the country are not providing good education as well.

We need to improve the overall quality and not bar global opportunities. Only good private universities should survive, and only good foreign universities should operate here, if we want to build a precious human resource and take the country forward. Very true in the long run.

The app for appayon

June 7

SA Bangalis are not the only ones to have traditions of hospitality. The Greeks, Iranians, and many more have traditions of hospitality towards strangers, that is described in their histories and mythologies.

More and more upper-class Bangladeshis may have iPhones, but not Bangladeshis in general.

Do you see a prevalence of iPhones in Korail, or Rayerbazar?

Ashraf: Budget criticism does not suit BNP

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

June 7

Ronnie But it certainly suits Mr Ashraf, after paying his “homage” to Sheikh Mujib’s “portrait,” to be waving away the criticisms of the new national budget. Who else in our political landscape, but BNP, does the minister imagine to have the strongest credentials to be constructively critiquing the budget? Certainly not the lapdog “opposition” that his party has let inside parliament.

Also, even if Mr Debopriyo Bhattachariya was the “only” economist (and he is not) to be criticising the budget, it’s remarkable how Mr Ashraf so cavalierly dismisses the necessity of responding to those criticisms.

He brusquely brushed them aside with an apparently astonishing degree of smug complacency. And oh, the budget being “people-oriented,” of course, when the government has just unveiled a fresh blueprint for fleecing the “people” of this country.

Bangladesh-Myanmar border conference begins on June 10 June 7

Tangled Abstract Fallacy We have to reciprocate, and respond proportionately to the indiscriminate firepower used by the Border Guards of Myanmar. Our armed forces and/or paramilitary troops should unleash a lesson that the Myanmar personnel are obliged to store in their long-term memory. We are not a weak/banana republic, and our neighbours should optimally keep that in their minds.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Annoying child (4) 4 Dash (4) 8 Floor covering (3) 9 Power of rejecting (4) 10 Outer covering (4) 11 Cut off (5) 12 Dexterous (4) 14 Knight’s title (3) 15 Tree (3) 17 Faucet (3) 19 Short sleep (3) 21 Monkeys (4) 23 Not moving (5) 26 Acting part (4) 27 Purplish brown (4) 28 Goal (3) 29 Encourage in crime (4) 30 Incline (4)

DOWN 1 Carrier (6) 2 Dry (4) 3 Melodies (5) 4 First woman (3) 5 Riverside embankment (5) 6 Consumed (3) 7 And not (3) 11 Thong (5) 13 Conclusive (5) 16 Up-to-date (6) 18 Cost asked (5) 20 Danger (5) 22 Unspecified number (4) 23 Mineral spring (3) 24 Bath (3) 25 Permit (3)

Bangladeshi shot dead by BSF

June 8

anon Murders by these thugs have become the norm.

Hardly worth the news anymore. In the future, perhaps the headlines will go like this: No killings

by BSF in the last 24 hours!

Sir Abed receives Princeton honorary degree

June 8 Mukul Sir Fazle deserves this accolade. He is a Bangladeshi icon and we are proud of him. Congrats, Sir Fazle.

CALVIN AND HOBBES Extensive plan to develop tourism

PEANUTS

June 7 RealMoghul While improving long-distance transportation is a good start, it’s going to take a lot more planning to create a seamless experience for tourists for them to consider Bangladesh as a destination on which to spend their hard-earned money.

I feel that no matter what plans are taken, many tourism officials and staff of tourism facilities are completely inept to create world-class facilities. Most Bangladeshis who travel overseas also do not understand proper tourism etiquette, and I have no doubt that the authorities in charge of creating these attractive features are completely clueless about what it would take.

While Hatirjheel was a nice project to take up, it still falls far behind in terms of quality of construction. There seems to be very poor aesthetic sensibility when taking up these projects. What may seem attractive to us (because we’ve been so accustomed to seeing poor quality design and construction in Bangladesh) has become the standard for beauty, but, sadly, falls far short of international standards (even within the region). These are hardly going to be attractive to foreign tourists.

If only I were in charge ....

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

Op-Ed

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Sunday, June 15, 2014

Stand together n Md Abdul Quayyum

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ne of the fundamental precepts of human rights is the principle that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) stipulates that everyone is entitled to the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration irrespective of their status, including their racial and social origin.

The situation of indigenous people is not encouraging. They are facing difficulties fighting for their land

There’s something fishy about our food

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Please stop poisoning us

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n Ekram Kabir ur hearts sank when we heard Police Commissioner Benazir Ahmed announcing that check posts would be put up in order to prevent formalin from entering Dhaka city. No one believed the police would actually do something to save food items from being infested with this chemical. Everybody thought this announcement was another ploy to extort some money, as the month of Ramadan was near. Many also thought this initiative would put hospitals in trouble, where this chemical is really needed.

The police commissioner also commented that adding this kind of poison in food items was tantamount to murdering someone. A recent report in Dhaka Tribune said: “Over 46% of the food items that are available in the market are adulterated, and all the samples of some of the most popular items were found to be contaminated with harmful chemicals.”

The Public Health Laboratory in the Institute of Public Health showed that 100% of the samples of food products like chocolate, cake, chhana, yogurt, pickles, dried fish, fruit syrup, sesame oil, and vegetable oil were adulterated.

Poribesh Bachao Movement, in a test, found formalin in 100% of blackberries, 95% of lychees, and 66% of mangoes in Dhaka markets.

From our fruits to milk, and our

paddy to betel leaves, everything is contaminated with either formalin or some other type of deadly chemical.

Our commerce minister himself was quoted as saying that he esd scared to buy fruits, and that was why he didn’t consume any fruit.

have suggested taking action against the offenders who poison our food.

But nothing seemed to work to prevent the injection of formalin or carbide or any such substance into our food. The government has again started a drive against the offenders.

Why are we failing to put a stop to this unhealthy practice? Why are we failing to convince these greedy, dishonest businessmen that they are helping to destroy the entire nation?

Investigations say chemicals are being added at the root when the fruits are still on the tree. First, some plant growth regulator hormones are added for increasing fertility of the plants.

Then, the embryonic fruits are stockpiled in a closed warehouse. After that, chemicals are added in two phases. Two types of chemicals, sodium carbide and formalin, are added mostly to mangoes, jackfruits, lychees, bananas, etc.

Potassium permanganate is injected into watermelons and calcium carbide is added to bananas. Physicians say these chemicals can lead to kidney diseases, liver cirrhosis, cancer, and many other incurable health problems.

Many in the government, as well as at social levels, have tried to voice this concern for a few years now. Many

However, we suspect this ongoing drive would also fail, as the existing law seems too weak to stop this practice. In many countries of the world, offenders who poison food get the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Wrongdoers here get away too easily with a mere fine or short-term imprisonment.

We don’t yet have any effective measures against these poisonmongers. However, a law was enacted last year – Safe Food Act 2013 – that has categorised 23 offences for which criminals will face a maximum of five years in jail or a Tk1 lakh fine. Of them, 13 offences are non-bailable. The law says public servants failing to discharge duties stipulated in the law would face departmental disciplinary action.

The law has many more clauses, but this law hasn’t yet been implemented anywhere in the country.

Having said that, questions loom: Why are we failing to put a stop to this unhealthy practice? Why are we failing to convince these greedy, dishonest traders and businessmen, as well as the farmers, that they are helping to destroy the entire nation and their children who are also getting those contaminated food items?

When the media reports on this detrimental practice, our mobile courts become active and file cases against or penalise a few small fry, and then the cause gets lost in the unwillingness to follow them up.

A few citizens’ groups have recently started a campaign urging all consumers not to have the food items and fruits that are reportedly contaminated with poisonous chemicals. It’s about time that the citizens finally started voicing concern against the devious practice. The state of affairs, as far as poisoning our food is concerned, has gone so far that it’d require a Herculean effort to clean the minds of thousands of traders who are mixing poison in our food for more money.

All citizens need to continue their activism so that the government becomes really sincere in saving the future of this nation. Otherwise, we’ll have a very sick nation in 20 years. l Ekram Kabir is Executive Editor of Natunbarta.com.

What are they there for? n Esam Sohail

I

t is a consolatory sigh of relief that the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to investigate the case of the telecom minister who allegedly ordered the government owned telecom provider to cut off the connection of a company owned by a political opponent. That such an order came in direct and clear defiance of the High Court’s verdict is of little consolation to the victimised company. Where exactly was the telecom regulatory body BTRC in all this?

The same place that every other statutory body, commission authority, and panel is in Bangladesh: Nowhere to be seen except in seminars in Dhaka hotels and on donour-paid junkets abroad. The whole concept of independent agencies like NRB, Rajuk, BTRC, Office of the Information Commissioner, BTA, and so on, came about to bring professionalism into sector regulation and take petty politics out.

To that end, millions upon millions of donour dollars have been invested in writing the relevant laws, training the staff, and deploying infrastructure and technology. That of course, is the written law, which, in our political culture, is somewhat divorced from reality and has been so for a while.

The story is told of a newly-minted professor at Dhaka University’s law faculty in the mid-1960s who had given an exam to her first year contract and property law students with this

standard question amongst the many being asked: What three ways does one acquire property? One of the examinees was honest to the proverbial fault and wrote down, as an answer: “Theft, bribery, and other means.”

The student received partial credit for the tongue-in-cheek response! The professor was none other than her country’s first woman barrister Salma Sobhan, a pioneering legal legend who was not known for her frivolity in matters of the law. Nonetheless, Barrister Sobhan was a realist not without a sense of humour, and had seen the unvarnished reality of politics at closer quarters than most of her contemporaries.

Most of Salma Sobhan’s later years, almost to her last day on this planet, were dedicated to public interest litigation, pushing for the sublime majesty of the law to become the reality of the land in Bangladesh.

That gap between the letter of the law and the reality on the ground continues to be gaping when it comes to the operation of statutory commissions. Far from the professional detachment and independent judgment expected of these panels of supposed experts, what the public experiences and the nation reads through its newspapers is quite the opposite: Ministerial and prime ministerial edicts simply conveyed to these commissions to be implemented without further scrutiny.

In any governance structure with a modicum of decency, the very hint

that a cabinet member – let alone a ruling party executive – would try to influence such a regulatory panel would result in resignations and apologies. Conversely, the fact that so many commission chairmen and regulatory body executives can simply shirk their responsibilities by saying “the minister said so/did not say so” also results in atrophied governance where the buck is easy to pass.

A dozen or more statutory bodies shirk their professional duties out of sycophancy

Ask yourself this: If the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman has to “recommend” that the home minister investigate a gruesome human rights tragedy, why exactly is there such an august commission to begin with? Or, for that matter, if the civil aviation minister can snap a finger and successfully ask the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAB) to cancel the airworthiness certificate of an airlines owned by a political opponent, why do we even have a CAAB? The law is there; there is little confusion about it: Whether it is the

Bangladesh Bank, the CAAB, the NHRC, the BTA, or Rajuk, they all exist so that professional experts can provide detached, impartial, and evidence-based oversight to large sectors of the economic landscape, without interference from incumbent political office holders of the day.

It is part and parcel of the principle of separation of powers: Politicians in a legislature craft the broad policies, and experts apply those policies impartially and with professional detachment.

Mixing the two not only abrogates that principle of separation, but opens the door wide for corruption.

The result is a backward slide on the already bumpy road to modern good governance. The ultimate victim is the average citizen whose right to clean and efficient government is violated with impunity on a daily basis.

Had the BTRC acted as the regulator according to its own foundational law, the corruption allegations about the minister may never had a chance to materialise. The same can be said for a dozen or more similar statutory bodies who shirk their professional duties out of sycophancy which does few people any good in the long term, including the objects of that sycophancy itself.

Why not take a slightly different approach for a change and, well, follow the law in its letter and spirit? l Esam Sohail is an educational research analyst and college lecturer of social sciences. He writes from Kansas, USA.

But the situation of the indigenous people of the world, including Bangladesh, is not very encouraging. They are still facing many difficulties fighting for their land and way of life, as intruders or settlers gradually joined them in their habitat.

Indigenous peoples constitute a least 370 million individuals, representing 6% of the total world population, among which 260 million live in Asia, making it the most culturally diverse region in the world. Loss of control over their land and natural resources is a common problem for the indigenous in Asia, and Bangladesh is no exception.

Nearly 2.5 million indigenous people belonging to 46 different ethnic groups live in the country. They are concentrated in the regions of Mymensingh, Sylhet, and Rajshahi in the north, and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in the south-east. They face discrimination not only on the basis of their religion and ethnicity, but also because of their indigenous identity and their socio-economic status. Their constitutional recognition still remains a far cry.

In addition, the lands of indigenous peoples have been encroached upon and settled by newcomers. With little legal protection, they can rarely recover the lands they traditionally occupied. All over the north of Bangladesh, indigenous people say they are concerned about what they call encroachment onto their homelands by Bengali settlers. Years of discrimination have cast the indigenous people into poverty, further damaging their chances at empowerment and opportunities to improve their situation.

According to the 2013 Human Rights Report on indigenous peoples in Bangladesh, the number of human rights violations against indigenous peoples had increased in 2013 compared to 2012 due to political unrest and other incidents. Three from CHT and seven others from the plain lands were killed. Among them, 82 were from CHT and 41 were from plain lands. At least 2,000 people from 400 families in CHT fled to no man’s lands adjacent to the neighbouring state of India due to communal attacks. In many cases, it was seen that the violence was carried out by the settlers.

The report also said the issue of land-grabbing had increased in 2013 as well. 3,792 acres of land in CHT was grabbed by settlers, private companies, or in some cases, the government. Additionally, another 84,542 acres of land is under the process of acquisition in the name of reserved forest.

Situation of land-grabbing in plain land areas is also a threat, a report published in The Daily Star on August 5 said: “Plain Land Indigenous Communities including Santal, Hajong,

Khashi, Orao, Dalu, Patro and Pahanlost over 6 lakh bighas of land to the grabbers in last 30 years.”

This shows how much the livelihood and lifestyle of the indigenous people have been transgressed upon by outsiders. This is leading to forced migration for the indigenous communities. Indigenous people currently make up less than half of the total population of the CHT region, whereas three decades ago they used to be the vast majority.

It’s still ongoing, in an episode of violence that took place on May 30, at least 20 Khasi people were injured by land grabbers at Nahar Punjee, a locality of the indigenous community, in Moulvibazar’s Srimangal upazila.

The mastermind behind the attack, reportedly, was the manager of Nahar Tea Garden, a local enterprise which had claimed some 200 acres of land from where the Khasi people reside.

As a worldwide development organisation, Oxfam promotes social justice and fights poverty by working with communities around the world, and in Bangladesh it has been implementing the “Diversity and Indigenous Peoples Leadership Project” since 2007 in 12 districts, with its partners, aiming to improve the lives of indigenous peoples.

Oxfam arranged a two-day Human Rights Fair last month in Sylhet to promote, disseminate, and popularise the understanding of the diversity and rights of the indigenous communities linked with human rights.

With the theme “Promoting equality, valuing diversity, and protecting human rights,” the fair provided an opportunity to link the human rights issues of the indigenous communities living in Sylhet with the duty-bearers and rights-holders.

Attending the inauguration session of the event, William Hanna, head of the European Union Delegation to Bangladesh, said Bangladesh had a rich culture with diverse communities from ethnic minorities and indigenous people, but they often suffer as their rights are violated.

“We can’t separate human rights and cultural diversity. To protect their rights, the whole society must stand together,” he said.

Human rights activist, and former adviser to the caretaker government, Sultana Kamal, urged everyone to step forward in stopping violence against indigenous people and to stand beside them. “Everyone born on this earth is entitled to all the basic human rights, without distinction of any kind, such as race, religion, ethnicity or other statuses,” she said.

The number of human rights violations against indigenous peoples had increased in 2013 due to political unrest

Realising the importance of the media’s role in protecting the rights of the indigenous communities, four journalists were honoured at the event for their courageous reporting on the rights of indigenous people.

Different indigenous communities in Sylhet, displayed their cultural diversity in the fair.

Such events, in larger scales, can help raise awareness of the issues surrounding the human rights of indigenous communities. l Md Abdul Quayyum is the Media and Communications Coordinator for Oxfam.

BIGSTOCK

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Preity Zinta accuses exboyfriend of molestation An FIR on Bollywood actor Preity Zinta’s alleged molestation charge against her ex-boyfriend and business partner, industrialist Ness Wadia, was registered on Saturday, police said. The Wadia scion, however, said the charges were “baseless” and he was “shocked at the complaint.”

The first information report was lodged on the basis of a detailed written compliant handed over at the Marine Lines police station by Zinta late on Thursday.

An investigating officer said police have started calling witnesses over the issue and will also scan the CCTV footage of the alleged incident which took place on May 30 in Mumbai during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match.

On Thursday night, Zinta, in a written complaint, accused the Wadia scion and co-owner of the King XI Punjab IPL team of molesting and abusing her.

Among other things, Zinta has accused Wadia of grabbing her hand and abusing her during a cricket match in Wankhede Stadium here.

In a statement to the media on Saturday, Zinta claimed that her intention (behind the complaint) “is not to harm anyone but only to protect myself.”

“This is a very difficult time for me and I would like to request the media to please respect my privacy regarding this matter,” Zinta appealed in the statement. l

Mim and Shuvo in a scene from Tarkata

Tarkata fizzles n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

wise you're in for some disappointment.

Despite the hype generated by a star-studded cast, a big budget and well-timed teasers, Mostofa Kamal Raj's much anticipated Tarkata seems to be missing the mark. Released on June 6, the film is currently showing at more than 90 cinema theatres across the country.

We quizzed audience members outside Balaka theatre to gauge the response to the film and following are a few reactions that should help you decide if it's worth a watch or not.

Big screen, small plot and soured boredom Commercial cinemas demand big plots and high stakes for the big screen. This is absent, and efforts to maximise on a small plot has not sat well with the viewers. Nusrat, 20, a student and audience member, says that the transparent attempt to exaggerate the plot bores her, and she doesn't like to watch such films on the big screen.

Family drama vs romance The film puts an old-school emphasis on the relationship between siblings portrayed by Arefin Shuvo and Moushumi, while the romance between Shuvo's character and Bidya Sinha Mim is reported to be lacking chemistry and passion. This movie is worth a watch if you rate family drama over romance; other-

TV drama plus sides A possible reason for the disappointment could simply be in the choice of the cast members, and the filming technique, all of which have been borrowed from the small screen. With close and medium shots framing the television actors, the film has more of a TV drama flavour. Ashraful, 19, said that the film felt like a TV soap with songs.

Konjush goes to Florida World Fest

n Entertainment Desk Loko Natyadal’s most popular theatre production “Konjush” will be staged at the American Association of Community Theatre World Fest on June 17 and 18 in Florida, USA. Stage dramas from seventeen countries including Australia, Italy, Argentina, Canada, China, Russia and others are taking part in the international prestigious festival. The theatre troupe informed, the 646th and the 647th staging of the play will be staged on the occasion.

The play “Konjush” is an adapta-

tion of “The Miser,” by the famous French playwright Moliere. Popular theatre personality and veteran actor Tarik Anam Khan has adapted the play while Liaquat Ali Lucky, the troupe president and the director general of BSA, directed the drama.

It portrays a “Dhakaiya” (a resident of old Dhaka) as central character, a rich and hilarious old man named Haider Ali whose local Dhaka accent language punches into the play. Through Haider Ali’s story, “Konjush” attacks the selfish and opportunistic tendencies of the privileged class.l

Undeveloped screenplay Artistic license may be an argument, but when the audience isn't buying the story, it may be worth considering. Iftekhar, 23, a private service holder, said that the film seems to suffer an undeveloped screenplay and he compared it to the recently released “Ami Shudhu Cheyechi Tomai”, which he felt had a better story.

Sights and sounds While many commercial films from Dhaka struggle to afford clear print and colour correction, this film easily passes the test and the audience seems satisfied with the effort in the field. Furthermore, The background score was composed by Arefin Rumey and seems well-received.

So if nothing else, it's a great sensory experience. l

Exhibition

Of Man and Earth II Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Art Lounge, Gulshan Avenue Rd-131, Circle -1 Unconsciously Conscious Time: 9am to 9pm

Alliance Francaise de Dhaka Road-3, Dhanmondi 18 Photography exhibition

by Shahidul Alam Marking the abduction of Kalpana Chakma,

Drik Gallery Time: 3pm- 8pm

Film

The Amazing SpiderMan 2 (3D) Pompeii (3D) & (2D) 300 Rise of an Empire 3 Days Kill Tarkata

Time: 10am – 10pm Star Cineplex, Level 8 Bashundhara City 13/3 Ka, Panthopath

Theatre

Dokkhina Sundori

By TheatrEX Time: 7pm Natmondol, DU

X-Men storms Star Cineplex n Entertainment Desk The seventh installment of the X-Men film series,"X-Men: Days of Future Past" is running at Star Cineplex in the capital from Friday.

The film premiered in New York City on May 10 and was officially released on May 23.

The film proved to be the best reviewed and the highest-grossing film in the X-Men film series, being highlighted by its fresh visual style and storyline.

Here, the X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants. The story focuses on two time periods and Wolverine being sent to 1973 to save the future of mankind.

Directed by Bryan Singer, the film stars an ensemble cast, including Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry and many more. l

The Wolf of World Cup

n Entertainment Desk

TODAY IN DHAKA

sail down to Sao Paulo. Leo was joined by 21 of his friends.The yacht is 482 feet long and is believed to The “Wolf of Wall Street” star Leonardo DiCaprio has be the fifth largest in the world. It belongs to Sheikh taken over one of the world's largest superyachts in or- Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emitates and owner of Manchester der to watch the opening game of World Cup in style.

The 39-year-old actor reportedly flew to Rio de Ja- City FC. Seen in the stands wearing a Brazilian scarf around neiro to board the famous “Topaz” luxury yacht and his neck, the 39-yearold actor tried to keep a low profile as he watched the game.

However, it was hard for his yacht to do the same considering its imposing size.

It is not clear whether DiCaprio and his friends have borrowed the yacht from Sheikh Mansour or if they are renting it off the wealthy Man City owner.

This is not the first time Leo has thrown a party on the Topaz.

In April this year, Leo teamed up with Jamie Foxx and Orlando Bloom to host an 80s themed party on the Topaz in New York. l Leonardo Decaprio at the game between Brazil and Croatia in San Paulo, Brazil

Marking the Father's Day, single-episode play Aloy Bhubon Bhora, written by Richi Solaiman and directed by Choyonika Chowdhury, will be aired on NTV at 9pm tonight.

The play revolves around a visually impaired father played by Shahiduzzaman Selim and his daughter played by Tahsin who reside in a small town outside Dhaka. Their harmonious relation becomes threatened while the daughter falls in love with a man who lives in Dhaka. He wants the girl to marry him and start their new life in the capital city. But the obedient daughter does not agree to the proposition and the guy falls into a big dilemma

Angelina Jolie honoured by Queen Elizabeth II n Entertainment Desk Angelina Jolie can add royal recognition to Hollywood stardom. The Oscar-winning actor has been named an honorary dame — the female version of a knight — by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. Jolie, a United Nations special envoy, received the honour on Friday for her work combating sexual violence in war zones.

Jolie has spoken of scaling back her movie roles to focus on humanitarian work. She said: "To receive an honour related to foreign policy means a great deal to me, as it is what I wish to dedicate my working life to."

Jolie, 39, has been made a dame of the British Empire — one of the highest honors awarded by Britain — for raising global awareness of violence against women as the co-founder of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative. However, because she is a foreign citizen, she cannot be addressed as "dame," and the award was given on an honorary basis.

Previous US recipients of honorary knighthoods include director Steven Spielberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former President Ronald Reagan.

Jolie, who was in London this week to co-host an international summit on sexual violence, was among hundreds of people recognised in the queen's annual Birthday Honours List for services to their community or national life. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

13

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Mushfiq believes in comeback

Bangladesh coach Chandika Haturusingha speaks in a team huddle as captain Mushfiqur Rahim and other players listen during their practice session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

All about making an impression The whole country is caught up with the Fifa World Cup which creates a good opportunity for the Bangladesh national cricket side to play the three-match one-day international series against India without any “huge” pressure.

Bangladesh will play the first match today at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium against an Indian side which has very few renowned names.

Opportunities are up for grab for both sides in their one-week affair as the hosts eye an impressive return to the year which has so far produced only disappointments and criticisms. On the other hand, led by Suresh Raina for the first time, the visitors must not take the

Sri Lanka greats repel England Sri Lanka star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jaywardene held firm against England in the first Test at Lord’s on Saturday.

The tourists were 212 for two at lunch on the third day after losing just one wicket in the morning session.

Sangakkara, yet to score a Test hundred at ‘the home of cricket’, was 73 not out and Jayawardene, whose three previous Lord’s Tests had yielded two centuries, unbeaten on 29.

Their third-wicket stand was so far worth 61.

However, Sri Lanka were still 363 runs behind and requiring a further 164 to avoid the follow-on after Joe Root’s maiden Test double century had taken England to 575 for nine declared.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka had fought back well to be 140 for one at stumps on Friday’s second day.

BRIEF SCORE, TEA Sri Lanka 309 for 4 Sangakkara 121*, Mathews 14* England 575 for 9 dec Joe Root 200*, MJ Prior 86 Kaushal Silva was then 62 not out and Sangakkara 32 not out.

Play resumed Saturday in gloomy overcast conditions that led to the floodlights being switched on.

But it was pace and bounce, rather than swing, that did for Silva.

Silva, together with Sangakkara, put on 97 for the second wicket to take Sri Lanka to 151 for two.

His exit brought in Jayawardene to partner Sangakkara in what was set to be the duo’s last Test at Lord’s.

Jayawardene showed his touch by deliberately uppercutting fast bowler Liam Plukett over the slips for four – a shot made all the safer by England following the modern trend of doing without a third man.

Meanwhile, Sangakkara went to 50 off 102 balls, including six fours. l

series lightly, which their cricket board signified by sending an “IPL” team, and prove that they are still a prominent side no matter who plays.

The series might consist only three one-dayers and no big Indian star, but for Mushfiq and Co it will be about making an impression in front of their latest mentor Chandika Haturusingha who took charge of the side last week after former coach Shane Jurgensen quit the position following a poor first quarter in 2014.

The last time Bangladesh beat India in an ODI was during the 2012 Asia Cup in Dhaka when the hosts sprang a surprise to spoil Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international hundred.

Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan are still the names the Tigers will be relying heavily on. Given the current form Tamim will possi-

bly look to settle in and get some runs under his belt before blasting his way while Shakib’s, who averaged 33 in the IPL this season, all-round effort will be invaluable to the side.

The Haques - Mominul and Anamul - should make for a stable top-order with Nasir Hossain, placed in the lower middle order.

With the ball the veterans Mashrafe bin Mortaza and Abdur Razzak will be expected to deliver. The least amount of pressure will be on AlAmin Hossain and the two newest members in the squad – Mohammad Mithun and Taskin Ahmed. Taskin in his T20 debut showed glimpses of becoming the future of Bangladesh’s pace attack and it will be interesting to see how the teenager copes in the 50over format.

Meanwhile, Raina, who has been

playing under MS Dhoni for years in his international and IPL career, will look to prove his leadership quality with a side that is not only without Dhoni, but also Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.

The big gaps were filled by Robin Uthappa, who finished as the IPL-7’s leading run scorer with 660 runs, and Manoj Tiwary, who last played for India two years ago and lost his place despite a hard-fought century.

The bowling unit is, however, pretty balanced with the likes of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra teaming up with newcomers Akshar Patel (left-arm spin) and Parvez Rasool (offspin). After a fruitful IPL season with the ball where he finished as the highest wicket taker with 23 scalps, Mohit Sharma will carry the baton of the fast bowling department. l

Bangladesh’s Akbor Haider Munna, who went to Brazil to watch the World Cup, witnessed the thrilling match between Spain and Netherlands at the Fonte Nova Arena on Friday and carried the lone Bangladesh flag at the venue COURTESY

Raina braces for new challenge In the absence of eight regular players including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and run-machine Virat Kohli, makeshift Indian skipper Suresh Raina thinks that the three-match ODI series against hosts Bangladesh beginning from today will be a good challenge for his young side. Raina, in his third stint as captain of the national team, also backed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their decision to send an understrength side.

“I think it’s a good contest between India and Bangladesh as both the sides are playing with new players. Both the teams are young so we are all looking forward to it,” Raina told the media yesterday.

“I don’t think they (the board)

took the decision lightly. If you look at the young side, a lot of players have done well in the IPL (Indian Premier League) and first-class cricket. You have to give chances to the youngsters. The [2015 ICC] world cup is coming and you need to try a lot of players. I think it’s a good opportunity for the youngsters to do really well in this series and see how it goes in the upcoming matches,” said the 27-year old left-handed batsman.

The visiting Indian side have three uncapped players in Kedar Jadhav, Akshar Patel and Parvez Rasool with the trio performing credibly in IPL 7 while the quartet of Manoj Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara and Robin Uthappa alongside wicket-keeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha returned to the national set-up after a long hiatus.

“It’s a great opportunity for all the players to do well. Some are coming back to the Indian team,

some are getting their chance to play. It’s important to stick together. It’s a short tour for us where we have to play three ODIs in seven days and no gaps in between. So you have to plan very well and work really hard,” he added.

Raina refused to engage himself in a war of words with his counterpart Mushfiqur Rahim with the Bangladesh captain recently declaring a number of times that the visitors might have under-estimated the hosts by sending a weakened squad.

“I think the Bangladesh captain said we are coming with the A team.

Actually, we are playing between two countries. It’s really important for us to play fearlessly. It will be a great battle between India and Bangladesh,” he added.

Following the first ODI today, the second and third one-dayers will be held on June 17 and 19 respectively.

All the games will take place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. l

Seven ODI losses in as many games this year makes for poor reading and Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim expressed his belief that they will be looking to set the record straight as the hosts begin the first of the three-match series against India today at Mirpur.

Bangladesh are on a poor run of form and skipper Mushfiq believes that a series win against their neighbours will restore their confidence following a below-par start to the year for the Tigers. And in the pre-match presser at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday, the 25-year old wicket-keeper-batsman stated that the hosts would target a win in all of their games.

“The target is obviously to win every game. We are playing ODI cricket after a long time. It is important for us to play as a group. The way we played in the last two years, maybe we were unable to replicate it in 2014. We have been working hard during training.

Now we have to bring it out on the field. Inshallah we will start fresh from tomorrow (today),” said Mushfiq.

The short, week-long series will be the first assignment for new head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and bowling coach Heath Streak and Mushfiq informed that he discussed the probable team combination with the coaching duo

on the eve of the clash. “We had a normal chat as we have a match tomorrow (today) so we discussed the team combination, wicket, what happens under lights and so on. We are trying to give him (Hathurusingha) information as quickly as possible because he is new,” he said.

Even though the visiting Indian side are missing regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, star batsman Virat Kohli and a host of other established names, Mushfiq is of the opinion that the visitors will still pose a strong challenge.

“This might be a young Indian side but they are still strong. All the good IPL (Indian Premier League) players have come. However, it will not be very easy for them as Twenty20s and ODIs are different. Still, it will be a challenging series,” Mushfiq added.

The Tigers suffered the ignominy of going down to defeats in all of their ODIs this year that began with three losses against Sri Lanka at home in a bilateral series and a miserable Asia Cup campaign which includes a humiliating 32run beating at the hands of Associates Afghanistan. Mushfiq though notified that after a grooming class under renowned psychologist Azhar Ali recently, members of the Bangladesh team were ready to forget the debacles and move on.

Meanwhile, the 15-member Bangladesh squad includes two uncapped players- Mithun Ali and young paceman Taskin Ahmed, and Mushfiq concluded by announcing that both had a good chance of making their debut in this series.l

The temple of Brazilian football is ready

from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil is eagerly waiting to welcome the Maracana Stadium as a World Cup venue after 64 years as the marvelous piece of infrastructure is all set to greet the football fans across the world.

The partially newly-built stadium is being remodeled as an eco-friendly venue and it was the scene of the 1950 World Cup final. The stadia hosted close to 200,000 fans in the grand finale 64 years ago and in the process became the world’s largest stadium by capacity.

Now, with a seating capacity of 78,838 spectators, the Maracana might just be the ultimate stage for a fan to enjoy the football.

The pitch will aid fast and free-flowing football as the thinner blades of the new grass are supposed to help the ball roll more quickly down the field. The grass was imported from the United States and grown on a turf farm in Saquarema in the state of Rio de Janeiro until it was ready to be transplanted on the pitch.

The Local Organising Committe (LOC) in a media briefing yesterday said they are fully ready to welcome the World Cup. The new roof made up of fibre glass can be opened in eight minutes and is designed to preserve the water in an underground reservoir that will be later used in the washrooms and the toilets. More than nine percent of the total power consumption will be generated by solar power.

The LOC said they are equipped to clear nine tonnes of waste and garbage expected to be put up by the spectators and the plastic bottles and other recyclable products will be used duly with the fund allotted to help the poor.

The LOC said they are highly confident about hosting everything perfectly as they have hosted 2-3m spectators since its inauguration last year with 261 goals already being scored. They also elaborated that the opening goal was scored by former Brazilian midfielder Juninho Pernambucano who scored for Flamengo against Vasco da Gama.

What will happen to the big infrastructure after the World Cup? The LOC said it would be the venue of relaxation for a family. People buying tickets can spend the whole day in it as it contains 60 bars and snack areas, an airconditioned VIP area with box seats, food and drink included. The family members can visit the museum where many things, including the ball that was used for the match in which Pele scored his 1000th goal, are in store. The spectators can conclude their visit with a football match.

The Maracana have had a lasting effect on football and it will continue for a long time to come. l

Journalist Razib loses laptop in Brazil Rejwan Uz Zaman Razib, sports reporter of Bangladesh’s private TV station Channel 24, covering the Fifa World Cup in Brazil fell victim of burglary following the opening game between the hosts and Croatia in Sao Paulo on Thursday.

Miscreants took the laptop from his backpack while he was returning to his hotel in a metro.

Amidst a crowded gathering, Razib was holding his video camera and the tripod with his hands and the laptop was inside the backpack.

When the train reached Tatuape, a popular destination, he felt an awkward push and within seconds the laptop was gone.

He later informed the local police station but they could not provide any assistance.

Upon knowing about the misfortune which befell Razib, the other Bangladeshi journalists rushed to the spot to console him as he had to absorb a great shock. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Sunday, June 15, 2014

With Van Gaal, Dutchmen are flying again It had been billed, in boxing parlance, as a ‘re-match’ of the World Cup final from four years ago but no-one expected the old champion to be staggering around the ring in the final round with their knees buckling.

And while many will wonder how a Spain team that has dominated international football for the past six years could collapse so dramatically, the other contenders in the tournament will

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Spain 1 9 6 4 5 5 1 0 57%

Ned 5 13 11 1 5 18 3 0 43%

be asking themselves how the Netherlands became the team that did the damage.

Friday’s massacre of the Spanish was a performance that was unrecognisable from the dysfunctional disappointments mustered in Ukraine in defeats

by Denmark, Germany and Portugal.

Coach Louis van Gaal, determined to make up for his failure to even qual-

ify the Netherlands for the 2002 World Cup, has taken full opportunity of his second chance.

Nine wins from 10 qualifying games made the Dutch the first European team to qualify for Brazil and should have served as warning of what was to come - but after their Euro flop, there were few true believers.

Van Gaal has transformed the squad however, while crucially keeping core of players who were truly irreplacable Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben and totally overhauling his defence.

None of the defenders that played against Spain in Soccer City have made the trip to Brazil but experienced midfielders Nigel de Jong and Wesley Sneijder were wisely retained.

Van Persie and Robben showed exactly why they were spared from the cull with two- goals each, and wonderful individual displays, in Salvador.

And one of the younger players Van Gaal has trusted in, Daley Blind, son of assistant coach and former international Danny, was outstanding, creating two goals and delivering quality passing througout the game.

But arguably more important than the personnel decisions was the strategy Van Gaal adopted against Spain injecting a strong pressing style in midfield and devastating counter-attack that was so in evidence against Spain.

Van Gaal had the courage to switch from the 4-3-3 formation that worked so well in qualification to a five-man midfield that restricted Spain’s ability to dominate with their possession football. l

Robin van Persie of the Netherlands (L) heads the ball to score against Spain during their 2014 World Cup Group B match at the Fonte Nova arena in Salvador on Friday

Fallen hero Casillas seeks forgiveness We are all to blame, says Del Bosque World champions Spain’s 5-1 mauling by the Netherlands was especially symbolic for the disastrous role played by captain and talisman of three consecutive major tournament victories Iker Casillas.

The 32-year-old was clearly at fault for the Netherlands’ fourth goal, slotted home by Robin Van Persie, and was earlier booked for his protests after claiming he had been fouled by the Manchester United striker as he flapped to allow Stefan de Vrij to make it 3-1.

The Real Madrid stopper has endured the most difficult 18 month

stretch of his illustrious career.

Dropped by Jose Mourinho in his final season in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, Casillas failed to reclaim his place ahead of Diego Lopez in La Liga this season even once Carlo Ancelotti had replaced the self-proclaimed “Special One.” Yet, Casillas did play in both the Copa del Rey and Champions League and ended the club season on a high by lifting Real’s 10th European Cup, a feeling he described as even greater than winning the World Cup. His chances of winning more silverware come July 13 now seem remote, though, as Casillas was beaten more times in a rampant 46 minutes from the Dutch than he had been in his previous two major tournaments.

Spain will now almost certainly need to win both their remaining games against Chile and Australia just to set up a likely meeting with Brazil in the last 16.

“I am the first one to ask for forgiveness,” he admitted.

“It wasn’t my best game by a long way because I wasn’t up to the task required and I have to know how to face this type of situation. I need to receive the criticisms I know I will receive and think about training and think about the next game.”

Yet, so out of character was his performance that there may not even be a next game for Casillas.

“If I play or left on the bench the manager will decide. All I can do is train well,” he added. l

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque refused to single out any of his stunned players for blame after the holders crashed to a shocking 5-1 reverse to Netherlands in their World Cup Group B opener on Friday.

Spain took the lead in Salvador through a 27th-minute Xabi Alonso penalty before Robin van Persie levelled a minute before halftime but the ragged world and European champions were outplayed by the Dutch in the second period.

It was their worst defeat at a World

REUTERS

Ronaldo 100 percent: Carvalho

Cup since they lost 6-1 to Brazil in 1950 and only their fourth competitive loss under Del Bosque since he took over at the end of 2008.

“It’s certainly not a happy moment for us,” Del Bosque told a news conference.

“As a sportsman, I’d like to congratulate the Dutch side, they overwhelmed us in the second half,” added the 63-year-old.

“At this point it’s not time to point fingers of blame. We are all to blame.

“We have to look ahead and go to our next match and secure a win against Chile.” l

Cristiano Ronaldo is “100 percent” fit and ready for Portugal’s opening World Cup match against the powerful Germans, William Carvalho said on Friday, hailing his team-mate as the best player in the world. The Real Madrid star had ice applied to his troublesome left knee after training on Thursday, sparking fears over his fitness ahead of Monday’s Group G opener.

But Angola-born midfielder Carvalho, speaking at Portugal’s training base, said: “I think he’s now 100 percent fit.”

Ronaldo featured in a 5-1 friendly win over the Republic of Ireland in the United States earlier this week.l

Bring on Brazil, Mexico say after opening World Cup win

Spain’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas (R) reacts after Netherlands’ forward Arjen Robben (C) and midfielder Wesley Sneijder celebrate scoring during their Group B match at the Fonte Nova Arena in Salvador on Friday AFP

Casillas falls short of Zenga record Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas came up short in his bid to break Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga’s long unbeaten World Cup record on Friday.

Had Casillas kept a clean sheet until at least the last four minutes of Spain’s Group B opener against the Netherlands in Salvador, he would have overtaken Zenga’s 517-minute unbeaten run from Italia 1990.

Casillas had not conceded a World Cup goal since Rodrigo Millar scored in the 47th minute of world champions Spain’s final group game 2-1 victory over Chile in South Africa four years ago.

But when Dutch striker Robin van Persie netted in the 44th minute of Friday’s clash, to equalise Xabi Alonso’s earlier penalty, Casillas’s run stopped at 477 minutes, 40 minutes short. l

Mexico are ready to take on five-time champions and tournament hosts Brazil after overcoming two controversially disallowed ‘goals’ to beat Cameroon in their World Cup opener, coach Miguel Herrera said on Friday.

Herrera, who took over last year after a succession of coaches departed, said the 1-0 victory after two Giovani dos Santos efforts were ruled out shows the mental fortitude needed to make a deep run at the finals.

“The team overcame the disallowed goals,” Herrera said. “The team showed they were mentally strong.”

“The players were concentrating and if we maintain it on the pitch and continue to play football like this we can overcome anything.”

In pouring rain and cheered on by a stadium full of their supporters,

Mexico broke through after 61 minutes when Oribe Peralta rifled home a rebound from man-of-the match Dos Santos to secure the victory.

Mexico next face Brazil in Fortaleza on Tuesday in their second Group A

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Mex 1 8 5 2 5 11 1 0 58%

Cam 0 10 4 5 3 12 1 0 42%

match while Cameroon take on Croatia a day later in the jungle city of Manaus.

Cameroon’s German coach Volker Finke declined to use the waterlogged pitch and driving rain as an excuse for the loss, saying his side created enough chances at

the Dunas arena to get a result.

“The conditions are the same for both teams so we can’t complain about the weather,” Finke said. “The pitch itself wasn’t too bad. It’s a pity we didn’t win but both teams had balanced chances.”

Mexico’s Herrera also admitted he was nervous about whether Peralta’s strike would stand but said he would not worry about the refereeing going into the next match.

Brazil beat Croatia 3-1 in the opening game in part due to a contentious penalty awarded to the tournament hosts.

“No we are not thinking of the referee,” Herrera said. “We are thinking of what we have to do. People make mistakes.

“The first two goals were very good goals. I was hoping we could have a goal.

When we scored the first thing I was looking for was the linesman’s flag.”

Former national team player Herrera also said the tens of thousands of fans who roared their support throughout the game despite the rain would provide a big boost to El Tri throughout the finals.l

Another white-knuckle ride for enterprising Chile Chile lived up their reputation as great entertainers with another whirlwind performance in their 3-1 win over Australia on Friday.

Just as they did in 2010, the South Americans played a fast and furious pressing game which at times threatened to blow their opponents away but also left them dangerously exposed at the back.

For much of the game, Chile poured forward in waves, with seven or eight players joining the attack, even when shutting up shop might have been a more sensible thing to do.

The match continued the trend

of open and attacking football at the World Cup, a refreshing contrast to the dour tournament in South Africa four years ago.

Although Chile’s game is based on having as much possession as possible, there is nothing tiki-taka about them.

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Chile 3 11 9 3 1 9 1 0 63%

Aus 1 13 6 1 1 18 3 0 37%

Australia also contributed to the excitement but that was more by accident design as two quickfire Chilean goals left them chasing the game.

Their first goal was typical of their style as it followed a 16-pass move that began in their own half on the left touchline, went back and forth across the pitch before ending up for Sanchez to fire home.

With Australia forced to open up and, and Chile going all out for a third goal, the Cuiaba crowd were treated to a non-stop end-to-end game.

Tim Cahill pulled a goal back out of the blue before halftime and Australia looked more dangerous, if less sophisticated, for much of the second half until Jean Beausejour scored Chile’s third to wrap up the points. l

Chile’s midfielder Arturo Vidal (top) celebrates a goal with teammates during their Group B match against Australia at the Pantanal Arena in Cuiaba on Friday AFP

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Sunday, June 15, 2014

15

France’s young guns hoping to erase memories of 2010 France begin their quest to wipe away the pain of an embarrassing showing at the World Cup in 2010 when they begin their campaign in Brazil against Honduras on Sunday.

Winners in 1998, Les Bleus nearly suffered another disastrous exit in their playoff against Ukraine just to qualify as they had to overcome a 2-0 first leg deficit before advancing 3-2 on aggregate.

However, that comeback has marked a turning point in Didier Deschamps’ time in charge that has led to wave of optimism surrounding the

V France

Honduras

Estadio Beira Rio, Porto Alegre (BRA) 15 Jun 2014 - 16:00 Local time (1:00AM BST)

country’s batch of young stars and that has been stoked by 4-0 and 8-0 thrashings of Norway and Jamaica respectively in pre-tournament friendlies.

“We’ve gone through a rebuilding phase because people still associate the team with Knysna in South Africa (when the players went on strike) and the way in which we exited the tournament,” striker Olivier Giroud told FIFA.com.

Giroud will battle with Antoine Griezmann for a place in Deschamps’ starting line-up in place of Franck Ribery, who was ruled out with back injury.

Honduras are expected to provide a very physical first test for Deschamps’ men.

The Central Americans were reduced to 10 men in a 0-0 draw in a friendly against England in their final warm-up game last weekend in a match in which Deschamps commented the Hondurans showed “aptitude of physical combat.”

However, forward Jerry Bengston believes they are capable of not just ruffling some French feathers but actually winning the game. l

FACT BOX Where: Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte Capacity: 62,160 When: Sunday June 15, 1:00AM BST Referee: Sandro Ricci (Brazil) Probable teams: France

Lloris; Debuchy, Varane, Koscielny, Evra; Cabaye, Pogba, Matuidi; Valbuena, Benzema, Giroud.

Honduras

Valladares; Beckeles, Bernardez, Figueroa, Izaguirre; Garrido, Palacios, Chavez, Espinoza; Bengtson, Costly.

Key stats: Since 1998, the French have not scored in their opening game of a World Cup. Honduras have not scored in their last four World Cup matches.

Previous meetings

The two sides have never met before.

France’s forward Karim Benzema (R) kicks the ball next to assistant coach Guy Stephan (C) and forward Antoine Griezmann during a training session at the Santa Cruz stadium in Ribeirao Preto on Friday AFP

Swiss golden generation look to shine Switzerland will look to justify their top seed tag which raised many eyebrows ahead of the draw for the World Cup finals when they take on South American side Ecuador in Brasilia on Sunday in their opening Group E clash.

While outside Switzerland there may have been snorts of derision at their seeding, there is a lot of expectation within the country that a team with a core of players from the side that won the Under-17 world title in 2009 in Nigeria can become the first Swiss team to reach the quarter-finals since 1954.

Ecuador will be treated with the respect that comes from having finished ahead of Copa America champions and 2010 World Cup semi-finalists Uruguay in South American qualifying.

Their players will be extra motivated to emulate their predecessors in 2006 and reach the last 16 as a tribute to their leading scorer Christian Benitez who collapsed and died last year playing for his Qatari club.

However, Switzerland’s highly-respected German coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, who is in his last tournament before retiring from the sport that has seen him lift the Champions League twice once with Borussia Dortmund and then with Bayern Munich, believes his side are

capable of a big showing and he has a better squad than the one he took to the 2010 finals.

V Switzerland

Ecuador

Estadio Nacional, Brasilia (BRA) 15 Jun 2014 - 13:00 Local time (10:00 PM BST) There they started well with a shock 1-0 win over eventual champions Spain but a loss to Chile and then a draw with Honduras, who are in the same group again, saw them depart after the group stage.

Taiwanese football player Xavier Chen (C) poses for photos with models dress as footballers and holding Brazuca balls, the official soccer ball of the 2014 World Cup, during a press conference in Taipei on Friday AFP

Germany’s Erik Durm was an obscure striker playing in the German third division last year before Borussia Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp converted him into a defender.

The 22-year-old was not even on the radar of Germany coach Joachim Loew until recently but his fairytale journey to the World Cup might even lead him into the starting lineup.

The speedy Durm was called up after some superb Champions League performances, including shutting down Real Madrid’s world record signing Gareth Bale in a 2-0 quarter-final home win in April.

The six-foot (183 cm) left back then completely stymied Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben in Dortmund’s 3-0 victory in Munich four days later, winning plaudits

‘Ribery could have played in WC’ France’s Franck Ribery could have been fit for the World Cup, Bayern Munich’s doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt said on Friday as he rejected French claims it was his treatment that ruled the winger out.

Ribery was dropped from the France squad days before the tournament started after failing to recover from a back injury that had troubled him to-

wards the end of the season.

“He (Ribery) was evidently told not to be treated by Mueller-Wohlfahrt,” said a statement issued through the lawyers of the German doctor, who is at the finals in Brazil for his country’s national team.

“He (Mueller-Wohlfahrt) assumes that had he (Ribery) been treated there would have been the possibility for him to play at the World Cup.” France team doctor Franck Le Gall had said on Thursday that Ribery played as a substitute in the Ger-

man Cup final on May 17 with pain-killing injections despite having suffered from back trouble for several weeks.

“Franck belongs to a club whose method of treatment for all ailments, whatever they might be, is based on injections,” Le Gall said in a strong indictment of the Bundesliga champions.

“We could have chosen to inject him, which we didn’t. At a certain moment he’d had enough of (injections), so we didn’t do that because he’s afraid of jabs.”l

WORLD CUP IN BANGLADESH PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST Send us your photographs to WorldCupBD@dhakatribune.com

DAY’S WATCH Gazi TV, Star Sports 1: 00 PM Bangladesh v India 1st ODI BTV, Gazi TV, Maasranga, Sony Six World Cup 2014 10:00PM Switzerland v Ecuador 1:00AM France v Honduras 4:00AM Argentina v Bosnia and Herzagovina

Fifa on Friday banned German football legend Franz Beckenbauer from any football-related activity for 90 days after he refused to speak to an inquiry into allegations that Qatar paid bribes to secure votes for its 2022 World Cup bid.

“Franz Beckenbauer was today provisionally banned from taking part in any football-related activity, at any level, for 90 days,” said a statement released by football’s governing body.

The 68-year-old Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and as a coach in 1990, was on the Fifa executive board in 2010 when the 2022

tournament was awarded to Qatar. He has always refused to declare who he voted for, but has expressed surprise at Qatar’s victory. Beckenbauer left the Fifa executive in 2011, but remains on its football committee.

Beckenbauer, known as “the Kaiser”, refused to cooperate with Michael Garcia the former US federal prosecutor who headed an investigation in the votes for the Qatar vote and another that awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia. The ban was ordered by Fifa’s Ethics Committee adjudicatory chamber because a breach of Fifa’s code of Ethics “appears to have been committed and a decision on the main issue may not be taken early enough. l

Durm gives Germany more options

Sheikh Jamal rout Chittagong Abahani 8-1 Emeka Darlington slammed a brilliant hat-trick on his return to Sheikh Jamal XI as his team began the third phase of Nitol Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League in style with a massive 8-1 victory over Chittagong Abahani at the M A Aziz Stadium in Chittagong yesterday.

Despite having the support from home crowd, the port city outfit simply couldn’t offer any resistance to Sheikh Jamal’s attacking trio of Darlington, Wedson Anselme and Sony Norde.

The home side, however, took a shocking lead through Osman after just two minutes into the clock and managed to sustain the lead for 26 minutes before Wedson equalized for Sheikh Jamal.

This marked the beginning of a Sheikh Jamal rout as Haitian sensation Sony Norde put the visitors ahead for the first time in the match in the 34th minute while his compatriot Wedson netted his second to give his side a 2 goal cushion after five minutes into the second half.

The star-studded Dhanmondi club, Sheikh Jamal just went berserk afterwards and Darlington completed his hat-trick within 11 second half minutes with his goals coming in the 63rd, 68th and 74th minute while Mostafa and Shakhawat Hossain Rony scored one apiece in the 58th and 83rd minute.

Leading goalscorer Darlington took his goal tally to 19 with the hat-trick, three more than teammate Wedson.

The win also extended Sheikh Jamal's lead to 11 points with Abahani in the second place. l

Ecuador will principally look to Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia, whom coach Reinaldo Rueda appointed captain in the wake of his close friend Benitez dying.

However, while he remains from the side that reached the last 16 in 2006 his experience pales into insignificance compared to that of midfielder Edison Mendez who at 35 and with 111 caps is appearing at his and his country’s third World Cup finals.

Mendez is keen to finish his long career on a final high -- and if the Swiss weren’t already aware of their opponents hunger to win Mendez provided it when he reflected on his childhood and having to scavenge for food. l

Fifa bans Beckenbauer over Qatar inquiry rejection

MOST LIKED PHOTO OF JUNE 14 SAAD FAISAL Investment Banker at IL Capital Picture taken from Kolatoli

For more info visit our FB event page ‘World Cup in Bangladesh’ Photography Contest

for his tenacious defending against one of the Bundesliga’s top scoring threats.

Durm was Loew’s surprise call-up in May. And even though he has just one international cap to his name - a stellar performance in Germany’s 2-2 draw against Cameroon on June 1 - he could end up on the pitch in Germany’s Group G matches against Portugal, Ghana and the United States - especially if Loew wants even more offensive firepower.

“I was a striker for 15 years and I still love to run forward on the attack,” Durm told at Germany’s camp on Friday. “But I know I’m a defender and the object is to prevent goals. I still love everything about the attack, it’s great fun. I’ll always try get into the attack whenever I can.”

His meteoric rise from an unheralded striker in Dortmund’s third division side to a German international defender in just one season is likely to see more unappreciated forwards contemplating a switch to the back. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13 All about making an impression

Sunday, June 15, 2014

14 With Van Gaal, Dutchmen are flying again

15 France’s young guns hoping to erase memories of 2010

Sport

Messi’s moment as Argentina enter WC FACT BOX (ARG v BOSNIA) Where: The Maracana Capacity: 74,738 When: Sunday June 15, 4:00AM BST Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)

Lionel Messi will be attempting to cement his legacy as an all-time great when Argentina tackle Bosnia-Hercegovina in their World Cup Group F opener in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

Trophies, plaudits and individual honours have rained down upon the record-shredding 26-year-old Barcelona sensation over the past few years, but a signature showing at a major international tournament still eludes him.

A four-time Ballon d’Or-winner and three-time European champion with Barcelona, Messi’s devastating ability cannot be questioned, but without success with Argentina, there will always

Probable teams Argentina Sergio Romero, Pablo Zabaleta, Federico Fernandez, Ezequiel Garay, Marcos Rojo; Fernando Gago, Javier Mascherano, Angel Di Maria; Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero Bosnia Asmir Begovic, Mensur Mujdza, Emir Spahic, Ermin Bicakcic, Sead Kolasinac, Izet Hajrovic, Muhamed Besic, Miralem Pjanic, Zvjezdan Misimovic, Senad Lulic, Edin Dzeko

Key stats: Lionel Messi has not scored a goal at the finals since his World Cup debut in Germany in 2006 when Argentina beat Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 and he netted their sixth as a substitute.

V Argentina

Bosnia

Sergio Aguero scored both goals when Argentina beat Bosnia 2-0 in a friendly in the U.S. city of St Louis last November in their second meeting.

Maracanã, Rio De Janeiro (BRA) 15 Jun 2014 - 19:00 Local time (4:00AM BST) be an asterisk against his achievements.

But while his previous World Cup experiences in 2006 and 2010 proved unfulfilling, there is a feeling that 2014 should be Messi’s time.

With Real Madrid’s Angel di Maria, also darting forward from midfield, it ensures that Messi is not the sole focus of opposition defenders’ attentions, but he rejects any notion that Argentina are a one-man team. Napoli striker Higuain is a doubt for Sunday’s match at the Maracana with an ankle injury, but Argentina’s strength in depth in attacking areas is such that Paris Saint-Germain’s Ezequiel Lavezzi is on hand to deputise. l

NEYMAR FACT-FILE Despite being just 22 years old, Neymar’s brace took him into ninth position in Brazil’s all-time goal-scoring charts. Neymar has now scored 33 goals for Brazil and ahead of him are Pelé (77), Ronaldo (62), Romário (55), Zico (52), Bebeto (39) and Rivaldo (34).

Bosnia emerged as an independent nation out of the breakup of former Yugoslavia, founded a national football federation in 1992 and joined FIFA in 1996.

Argentina forward Lionel Messi (C) laughs next to teammates midfielder Lucas Biglia (L), forward Ezequiel Lavezzi (2L), midfielder Javier Mascherano (C bottom), forward Sergio Aguero (2R) and midfielder Fernando Gago (R) during a training session at “Cidade do Galo”, their base camp in Vespasiano on Friday AFP

Previous meetings The teams have played twice with Argentina winning both times.

Last meeting Nov. 18 2013, St Louis, Missouri (friendly) Argentina 2 Bosnia 0

Neymar – the demigod of Brazil ! Colombia thrash Greece

He has surpassed Ronaldo by becoming the youngest player to reach 50 appearances for Brazil.

Aged 22 years, he is the youngest player to find the net twice in a World Cup game since Valeriy Porkujan of the USSR in 1966.

That brace against Croatia also saw him become the ninth player to score a brace in the opening game of the World Cup. He is the seventh player to score twice in Brazil’s first game in a World Cup and the first since 1990.

His second goal was only the third penalty to be scored in the opening match of a World Cup Finals.

He is the second Barça player to score in the opening match. Rafa Márquez was the first, for Mexico in 2010.

Bosnia coach Safet Susic was once a gifted forward who scored 21 goals in 54 internationals for the former Yugoslavia including a hat-trick in a 4-2 friendly win over Argentina in Belgrade in 1979.

from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Though it would be harsh to say, I think many Brazilian players may feel they were undermined as almost all of the Brazilian media made Neymar the focus of attention and headlines in first pages after the hosts’ 3-1 win over Croatia in the opening game of Fifa World Cup 2014 on Thursday.

All the newspapers published Neymar’s different pose of his celebrations after scoring a goal, all the channels

were showing Neymar’s brace and his post match presser all through the day which can easily trigger the feeling that Neymar played alone and there were no other Brazilians in the field. In fact, Neymar is the ultimate poster boy and his stardom in Brazil seems not only untouchable but also unassailable.

Neymar is everywhere which also gives him a demigod status. He is in the billboards promoting different products, in the electronic media for a number of companies and no other Brazil player has as many endorsement deals as Neymar has. May be the football-crazy Brazilian media dedicated the win to Neymar as Brazil had to stage a comeback and it was initiated by none other than Neymar.

Neymar looked very jovial before the match and was hugging and shaking hands with everyone in the field. He ran to Kaka, the Brazilian star who came to the field to inspire the players and gave a long hug. Neymar was in the perfect mental shape ahead of the crucial tie and he did not disappoint the fans whose raucous support reached the highest level of their vocal chord when his name was announced during the

team declaration.

Neymar, however, admitted that it’s the teamwork and not the individual effort and was happy to have scored a brace on the day. “I’m very happy, really happy,” said Neymar. “This is more than I even dreamed of and it’s vital to start a tournament like this with a win. I am happy with the two goals, but the whole team deserves a pat on the back because we kept cool and came from behind,” said the star.

“We’re very strong individually and when we play as a unit, we’re very difficult to beat. It’s not down to just one, two or three players; it’s the team as a whole that works,” concluded Neymar.

Even though the whole of Brazil was shouting “Neymar, Neymar” after the game, former Argentine great Diego Maradona criticized the Brazil team in television show saying this Brazilian side had too many defects and they were too dependent on Neymar.

“Brazil played well but had many problems in the side. They are very dependent on Neymar. It’s not an unbeatable team,” Maradona said in a program on Tele Sur. l

in World Cup return n Reuters, Belo Horizonte Colombia swept aside Greece 3-0 on Saturday to celebrate their first World Cup appearance since 1998 in a free-flowing display that showed their abundance of attacking talent even without top striker Radamel Falcao.

In another high-tempo match, the South Americans attacked from the off and were rewarded when left back Pablo Amero scored a 5th minute deflected shot, rocking the Greeks whose game plan depends on defensive stability.

Striker Teofilo Gutierrez extended the lead when he stabbed home a 58th minute corner before midfield James Rodriguez sealed the win with a third goal in stoppage time.

The Group C opener in Belo Horizonte’s Estadio Mineirao confirmed that pacy Colombia are a force to be reckoned with despite Falcao’s injury, which overshadowed their buildup.

The match was by no means one-sided though. Forced to attack after con-

ceding, Greece had plenty of chances themselves. Vassilis Torosidis headed just past the post, Panagiotis Kone saw a shot well saved and Giorgos Samaras struck just wide.

RESULT Colombia

3 0

Greece

Armero 5, Gutierrez 58 Rodriguez 90+3

In their best opportunity, veteran striker Fanis Gekas hit the bar with a header on 63 minutes when it looked easier to score, effectively scuppering any chances of a comeback.

The joy was in evidence after Colombia’s first goal, when the players danced together in front of their bench in probably the most colourful celebration so far of the Brazil World Cup. Defeat continued Greece’s dismal record of never keeping a clean sheet at a World Cup finals. They have never gone beyond the group stage either, so will be hoping Group C rivals Ivory Coast and Japan - who meet later on Saturday - are easier foes. l

I’ll put a spell on you

I have to say that I was pretty impressed by the Ghanaian witch doctor, Kwaku Bonsam, who claimed on Ghanaian radio to have telexed a curse on Cristiano Ronaldo’s Neymar featured in most of the nation’s daily front pages on Friday

legs. That is some serious long distance medical intervention. Only problem is that he missed. Ronaldo survived with a minor injury scare, and will resume his shenanigans from the 16th. Seriously can someone just go from behind and strike his nether regions when he does that ridiculous legs akimbo pose prior to each free kick?

Ronaldoness aside, let us not underestimate the potency of the Ghanaian “doctor”. Its not that he does not have power but rather that he lacks accuracy.

Imagine Imran Khan in the very early 70s and you get some idea. Instead of striking down Ronaldo, he has managed to debilitate Ribery, Reus, Higuain, Vidal, and a host of others. The guy is either crosseyed or taking something stronger than his curse, or maybe that IS his curse. Anyway, Mr Witch Doctor, I think it is time for you

to stop with the hexing, at least in the direction of the Rio Jesus. You really don’t want to take Gerrard or Messi out of the proceedings. Maker no mistake, I am not by any stretch of my limited imagination suggesting retirement. No Sir. Bonsams are rarer than 370 Flotsam these days.

I have, in fact, a better plan.

There is a horrible group of sportsmen residing in South Asia. They play this terrible game called cricket, and rarely bring joy to anyone. They don green jerseys and go by the names of Shakib, Tameem, Mushfiq, Mahmudullah, Nasir, etc. Show us what you can do Sir Bonsam. Focus all your maleficence towards this insidious bunch. They are dangerous for Ghana, well actually they are not, but they are a pretty evil bunch.

Just one more request though. Do not improve your aim. Attack Shakib, Tameem,

Mushfiq et al with all your might and spiritual vengeance. If the universe and your sense of direction holds true, you will have incapacitated wonderful people like Raina, Kohli, Rahane, Pujara, and Uthappa.

The world may curse your ineptitude but 16 million depraved and depressed people will sing Bonsam dirges for years to come.

The rationale behind what I am suggesting may not suggest itself to you easily but what great act of altruism was every guided by the strict dictates of reason, which I argue is a manipulative imperialist philosophical construct anyway.

So Mr. Bonsam come to our Bosom, and do your magic. And should one ligament of Shakib be touched, we have our own witch doctors who can do brilliantly horrible things to Essien’s meniscus. Not a threat, just an exposition of the price of failure. We are after all Bonsam buddies all of us. l

RAIHAN MAHMOOD

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

B3 Foreign interns pay the

price for Japan’s labour shortage

B4 Japan to slash corporate tax rate in growth bid

SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Economists see political consensus Textile, apparel makers key to economic development exempted from duties IMPORT OF FIRE SAFETY EQUIPMENT

n Tribune Report Economists at a dialogue in Dhaka yesterday urged the major political parties of the country to ensure a political consensus, which they considered is the key to sustainable economic development.

“Political unity is needed for the economic development, economist Dr Akbar Ali Khan told the dialogue on the national budget for FY2015.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the meeting, moderated by its Chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan.

CPD Research Director Fahmid Khatun presented the keynote paper.

Dr Akbar said constitutional budget is no taxation without presentation.

“But in Bangladesh, we hardly fine representatives of the people.”

He said now there is a question whether the parliament is elected on competitive basis, and there is a question whether any opposition is there.

“So, there would be no meaningful discussion, when there was no opposition. So for all these years, we are having budget but actually the budget procedures are not in line what it should be.”

There are also procedural flaws in the budget, Dr Akbar said, adding that the parliament is given barely three weeks time to discuss while the volume of paper is increasing.

“I do not think any member of parliament will digest it and then deliberate in the parliament. They should not follow the way the budget is presented.”

He suggested revising the sixth five year plan as the budget figures do not have any relevance with the plan.

Former Bangladesh Bank Governor said Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed said the present aggregate state of macro economy is reasonably good, but what is the major challenge I think right now is to contain inflation.

“There is a trend of going down non-food inflation but I have some doubt about the calculation. If it is up

it might bring some pressure on the economy,” he said.

Public investment is going up but private investment, which is involved with job creation, remained sluggish over the years. So, for meaningful and sustainable development, we need private investment, he said.

Ahmed said the administration system should be decentralised. “For the last 40 years we have not been able to decentarlise development approach.

The finance minister proposed to give district budget it does not make any sense without decertralised development. It will be controlled by the Dhaka office. It is an eye-wash.”

About revenue income, he said the target is ambitious but the challenge is to achieve the target. “But I don’t see

Mobile phone handsets importers have apprehended the expected expansion of the 3G internet penetration would be affected if the proposed VAT on the devices in passed.

It would be obvious particularly due to the already expensive devices compatible for the third generation services, they said.

Samsung, one of the top global brands for high-end handsets producer, sees it would have a negative impact in terms of 3G internet penetration.

It already had talks with the phone operators, who think the budgetary measure would affect their huge investment in 3G market.

“Our partners are also scared about their investment,” Hasan Mehedi, head of mobile phone section of Samsung Electronics here, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We have calculated the numbers in different ways, but always found governments revenue from this sector will reduce 15% to 20% if the proposed VAT is implemented.”

A team of handsets importers is scheduled to meet Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith today afternoon to raise their concern about the possible adverse impact.

Choon Soo Moon, managing direc-

cause banks have several limitations like single-exposure limit and other regulations.

He heavily criticized for allocation of Tk5000 crore into the state-owned banks. “This is absolutely waste of public money as the banks lost their money due to their inefficiency and corruption, and failure of internal governance and failure of whole system.”

Former FBCCI president said Mir Nasir Hossain said investment barrier have already identified. But pragmatic steps should be taken for increase of gas production and distribute it on priority basis.

Political stability as well as personal security is crucial to implement the budget and for attracting investment, he said. l

Speakers delivering speech at a dialogue on national budget for FY2015 in Dhaka yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

tor of Samsung Electronics, Bangladesh would also attend the meeting as a team member.

Importers said the proposed tax could reduce the affordability of the lower income people and encourage smuggling as the country completely depends on imports.

Earlier Mustafa Rafiqul Islam, President of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association (BMPIA) had expressed the apprehension at a press conference that the tax measure might encourage smuggling.

He said: “Proposed taxes will give a rise to smuggling. Lower income consumers will also be affected. So, the taxes should be withdrawn.”

A 15% fresh VAT on handset import has been proposed in addition to existing 10% import duties. Another 5% AIT (Advance Income Tax) has also been proposed.

Hasan Mehedi said, as their operation is mainly at the high-end level, it would create a challenge for them to face smuggling.

He said they have taken plans with local mobile operators to flourish internet opportunities before Eid, but the entire plan might now face a setback as a result.

Around 20% of a total around 3 crore handsets now being imported annually are smart phones. l

n Tribune Report

Peninsula Chittagong Limited, a hotel service company, is going to debut at the country’s twin bourses today.

Each share has a face value of Tk10 and an additional premium of Tk20. Investors would be able to buy the shares in lots, each of which contains 200 shares.

It will be the fourth listed company under travel and leisure category at the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

With recent focus being put on developing the country’s tourism sector, the listing is expected to make the capital market more vibrant, according to brokers.

An amount of Tk165 crore mobilised through public offering will be used to construct a hotel named Airport Garden Hotel, which would cost approximately Tk141 crore.

Out of the remaining fund, Tk7 crore will be used for extension of the existing hotel, Tk13.2 crore to

Import of three types of fire safety equipments has been declared duty-free to facilitate ensuring safer working condition in the apparel factories.

The equipments are fire resistant door, sprinkler system and equipment, and emergency light with exit sign and double heads with a public interest view.

A gazette notification was issued last week, limiting the facility only for the RMG industry.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) exempted the importers from the duties considering the safety concerns of garments workers emerged particularly after the Tazreen factory fire and the Rana Plaza tragedy, officials said.

International community also put pressure on the government of Bangladesh to ensure safety of the workers.

Under the benefit, the member factories of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) will now be able to import the fire safety equipment without paying any duties – customs duty, regulatory duty and supplementary duty, said a high official at NBR. Earlier on June 5, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposed the duties on these items to be fully exempted in

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has expressed dissatisfaction over a negative campaign against Bangladesh by certain quarters across the world despite the country’s lot of achievements in many areas.

“Certain quarters tend to downplay the achievements while overplaying the negatives,” he told major US retailers in New York on Friday, according to a message received here yesterday.

He was exchanging views with the retailers as part of his efforts to recover the image of the country’s apparel industry that tarnished to some extent after the fatal incidents of Tazreen Fashion fire and Rana Plaza tragedy.

The US authorities suspended the GSP facilities for Bangladesh, as a result.

Tofail pointed out that the RMG sector being the second largest supplier of the world’s apparel demand has greatly contributed to empower Bangladesh’s women and stabilise society in a big way.

He hoped that the rest of the world, particularly the Western buyers, get a right perspective of the RMG sector as the distorted picture might have misled some quarters about the ground reality in Bangladesh.

Tofail, however, expressed satisfaction over the substantial export

cluded Li & Fung, JC Penney, Hudson Bay Company, American Eagle Outfitters, American Apparel and Footwear Association were keen to know the details of the progress made so far about the workers’ safety and factory standards.

Tofail also held a meeting with the editorial board of the New York Times at its office in the city and urged the US media, including the NYT, to help project the impressive achievements made in Bangladesh.

Efforts to get GSP restored Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed growth, despite the negative propaganda after the Rana Plaza collapse, thanks to the global retailers, including the US ones.

He informed the meeting about the steps taken after the Rana Plaza incident while referring to the reforms and amendments in the regulatory regime, setting out the issues of workers’ safety and labour rights as foremost priorities.

The minister expressed disappointment over the suspension of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) and said Bangladesh had the rightful claims for it as well as duty-free access of its RMG products to the US market as an LDC. Representatives of the retailers in-

Stock investors eye debutant Peninsula n Tribune Report

n Syed Samiul Basher Anik

order to ensure internal security and compliance of standards by the RMG sector.

Maintenance of safety standards has become a core requirement of the global retailers after the Rana Plaza Tragedy that killed at least 1135 people, while injuring over thousands and missing more.

According to an estimate of BGMEA, around 1,200 RMG factories need to install sprinklers while 3,000 other units have to install fire doors to fulfill the requirements of the Accord and Alliance, which would cost more than Tk2,500 crore.

Earlier this month, NBR also allowed the members of BGMEA and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) for duty-free import of materials for pre-fabricated buildings, including hot-rolled iron or steel plate, flat-rolled product of iron or non-alloy steel, I sections, H sections, self-tapping screw, bolts, and aluminum insulation only for once.

Members of the associations can avail of the benefits by maintaining a set of conditions, including submission of certificates from the association, approved building layout plan from the proper authorities, a copy of the land document certified by the association, clear mention on the exact number of materials needed for the construction. l

Tofail alerts US retailers about negative campaign against Bangladesh

New VAT may hurt 3G penetration n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

NBR’s efficiency in tax collection has been developed yet.”

He put importance on brining reforms in the financial institutions as well as regulatory bodies, he said.

Underscoring the need for political stability for implementation of the budget, he said seemingly political stability is there but there is political uncertainty. “Public policy cannot be implemented if there is political uncertainty.”

About capital market, he said I am not comfortable for lowering tax for non-listed companies, which might discourage big companies to go public.

Companies should be less dependent on debt financing or borrowing from banks. They should go to the stock market for the big projects be-

repay the company’s long-term loan and Tk3.6 crore to meet the IPO expenses.

According to the schedule of implementation, the extension of the existing hotel has already been completed while all the works for the Airport Garden Hotel will be completed in June, 2016.

During the year 2013, the hotel had a room occupancy rate of 81% of the total 44,652 rooms while 25% utilisation meets the break-even point.

The company’s net profit stood at Tk14.5 crore after tax in the year while it was Tk13.2 crore in the previous year. The rise of 10% resulted from an increase in revenue by 4% from room occupancy and lowering costs.

The demand of the hotel remains consistent throughout the year apart from the rainy season. Therefore, the quarterly reports should be analysed accordingly, said an analyst. l

Meanwhile, the commerce minister requested US Congressman Steve Chabot to support Bangladesh for GSP restoration as well as granting duty-free market access of Bangladeshi apparels to the US markets.

In response, Chabot, also Chairman of the US Congress Sub Committee on Asia and the Pacific, said he would keep on discussing with his colleagues in the US Congress over restoration of GSP benefits for Bangladesh.

The issue came up for discussions during a meeting between them held in Washington recently.

Earlier, the government submitted a progress report on ‘Bangladesh Action Plan 2013’ to the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for reviewing Bangladesh’s GSP benefits.

The legal authorisation for the GSP

programme expired on July 31, 2013 and the US Congress is considering a legislation that would extend the authorisation of GSP beyond this date, according to the USTR. Bangladesh’s main export apparels had always remained out of the GSP purview, subjecting garment makers to 15.61% duty in the US markets. Before GSP suspension, Bangladesh used to export 0.54% of its total export, or $26 million, under the GSP scheme to the US in a year.

Congressman Chabot said Bangladesh is an important partner of the USA, and both the countries are closely working on counterterrorism, climate change, democracy and human rights.

He praised Bangladesh for its impressive social development and economic growth.

Tofail Ahmed also met a panel of Congressmen and Congresswoman consisting of Joseph Crowley, also cochair of the Bangladesh Caucus, Eliot L Engel, Grace Meng, George Miller and Jan Schakowsky.

The Commerce Minister briefed that on the RMG workers’ rights and safety issues in Bangladesh.

Later, he held a meeting with a panel of five Democrat Congressmen who have been demonstrating serious interest in Bangladesh’s RMG industry in recent years. l

B2 Stocks pass flat week with volatility n Tribune Report

Some large caps shuffled their phases, especially Lafare Surma Cement’s interim dividend disclosure concentrated investors mostly on it to be in a selling mood, according to the IDLC. In the meantime, they started focusing on telecommunication, especially Grameenphone, entering in a gaining streak throughout the week, it said.

Alongside, back and forth trading, merging with market movements instigated investors mostly in profit booking from certain inflated scrips rather than positioning, it said.

Lanka Bangla Securities said market sentiment in the past week was dominated by budget proposal declaration of FY’15 at the end of last week.

It said budget proposal of FY’15 cannot be said capital market friendly. “Investors did not perceive the inauguration of capital gain tax at the individual level favourable for them,” it said.

It said, especially, timing of introduction of such tax is not appropriate, as market sentiment is very shaky now.

Moreover, it said, withdrawal of the provision for 10% tax rebate for companies declaring more than 20% dividend is also very discouraging.

“This will increase effective tax rate for companies that used to pay more than 20% dividend.”

Companies that give more than 20% dividend had an effective tax rate of 24.75% after rebate of 10%.

Now their effective tax rate will rise by 275 basis points. There was no specific motivation for market while tax for non-listed companies was reduced. l

Stocks past the week with flat movement and volatility, as investors reacted negatively to the proposed budget.

The week that ended on Thursday started with huge selling pressure on Sunday last, but market recovered to some extent later. Market was green at the end of the week mainly due to GP’s price hike.

During the week, the DSEX rose slightly 12 points or 0.3% to 4,408, recovering from its fourth consecutive week of losses.

The blue chips comprising DS30 was up 15 points or 1% to close at 1,638. The DSE Shariah Index DSES gained 10 points or 1% to 1,018.

The average daily turnover of the week stood at Tk420 crore from the previous week’s average of Tk410 crore.

At the later part of the past week, almost all the mutual fund gained while seven funds captured top ten gainers list.

Large cap segment was the center of investors’ concentration and gained by 1.25%.

In sectoral performance, telecommunications and engineering performed well, rising 4.7% and 2.4% respectively. Cement and food faced significant level of correction.

IDLC Investments said disclosed national budget FY 2014-15, expectation mismatch and their consequential impact sustained throughout the week.

“Higher capital gain tax imposition disappointed the investors most, psychologically. Resultantly, cyclicality prompted and changed the mode of investments.”

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS Company

Closing (% change)

Wata Chemicals -A Rahim Textile -A Pragati Gen. I -A LafargeS Cement-Z PragatiLife Insu. -A Aramit -A GreenDeltaInsu -A Rupali Life Insur.-A Sinobangla Indu.-A Apex Tannery -A

-19.95 -9.15 -8.72 -8.44 -7.37 -7.22 -7.22 -6.15 -6.08 -6.01

CSE LOSERS Company Wata Chemicals -A Standard Insurance-A Libra Infusions-A Samata LeatheR -Z Pragati Gen. I -A Prime Insur -A Islami Ins.BD-A Kay & Que (BD) -Z Bangladesh Lamps -A Imam Button -Z

Closing (% change) -21.08 -14.02 -10.83 -10.00 -9.49 -8.64 -8.47 -8.33 -8.10 -7.59

4408.80246

(-) 0.77%

1638.08083

(+) 0.85%

13623.1517

(-) 0.96%

11126.2200

(-) 2.17%

8410.4344

(-) 1.59%

Average (% change) -21.41 -7.55 -7.29 -12.88 -9.18 -8.61 -6.58 -6.95 -4.93 -4.79 Average (% change) -21.01 -22.49 -10.83 -10.00 -9.47 -8.64 -8.54 -8.49 -7.81 -8.20

ANALYST

Closing average 301.11 339.04 41.72 79.36 151.51 285.00 87.00 67.50 24.87 146.52

Closing average 365.33 25.40 428.00 27.00 41.01 20.10 22.70 11.00 116.93 7.28

Weekly closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 1839.32 453.55 271.20 3494.86 887.99 2256.33 10.65 2518.29 2281.06 1.86 632.95 198.66 56.75 2770.93 141.05 265.10 423.41 1606.50 414.42 423.85 1.83

▼ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▼ Weekly high

301.40 335.50 40.80 82.50 150.90 283.90 87.40 67.10 24.70 145.50

Weekly closing 365.00 28.20 428.00 27.00 41.00 20.10 22.70 11.00 116.90 7.30

415.00 369.90 45.00 99.30 164.50 304.90 99.30 72.00 26.40 155.00

Weekly high 400.00 30.00 428.00 28.00 45.00 20.10 23.00 11.00 125.00 7.50

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features June 8-12, 2014

Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

20,950.56

Turnover (Volume)

457,806,413

Number of Contract

445,252

Traded Issues

302

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

146

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

154 2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,295.02

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.82

CSE key features June 8-12, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

1,407.76

Turnover (Volume)

37,414,299

Number of Contract

55,146

Traded Issues

249

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

119

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

126

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,205.01

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.73

Turnover in million

290.00 332.00 40.00 75.00 148.30 283.00 79.00 62.00 24.30 144.00

Weekly low 365.00 28.20 428.00 27.00 41.00 20.10 22.40 11.00 116.00 7.20

Latest EPS

93.498 17.162 4.676 2189.179 21.143 4.950 78.714 45.909 29.958 50.292

Turnover in million

Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z Bangladesh Welding -Z Meghna Con. Milk -B Beximco Syn.-Z Al-Haj Textile -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Shinepukur Cera-Z Intl. Leasing-B BD. Thai Alum -B G Next Fashions-A

Closing (% change) 20.35 16.50 15.07 14.94 14.68 12.84 12.24 12.15 12.14 10.78

CSE GAINERS

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

Weekly low

Sunday, June 15, 2014

6.24 11.16 2.52 2.16 2.38 12.56 3.00 5.33 1.04 4.35

Latest EPS

0.299 0.102 0.086 0.125 0.333 0.010 0.079 0.039 0.264 0.048

6.24 2.88 4.20 0.09 2.52 0.92 1.92 -0.92 0.92 -1.85

Latest PE 48.3 30.4 16.6 36.7 63.7 22.7 29.0 12.7 23.9 33.7

Latest PE 58.5 8.8 101.9 300.0 16.3 21.8 11.8 -ve 127.1 -ve

Company Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z Bangladesh Welding -Z BD. Thai Alum -B BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Beximco Syn.-Z Summit Power -A G Next Fashions-A Daffodil Computers -Z Intl. Leasing-B Shinepukur Cera-Z

Closing (% change) 20.35 18.63 13.86 13.43 11.36 10.96 10.84 10.09 10.09 10.00

Average (% change) 20.62 15.99 13.88 12.73 15.66 11.36 10.04 13.32 10.93 13.15 Average (% change) 20.78 18.16 12.59 10.88 10.81 10.84 12.73 8.99 12.17 8.09

Closing average 13.69 12.04 8.45 9.92 182.62 24.11 10.96 12.25 22.84 18.58

Closing average 13.66 12.17 22.72 23.95 9.74 32.30 18.51 12.00 12.07 10.82

Weekly closing 13.60 12.00 8.40 10.00 178.10 24.60 11.00 12.00 23.10 18.50

Weekly closing 13.60 12.10 23.00 24.50 9.80 32.40 18.40 12.00 12.00 11.00

Weekly high 14.90 13.20 8.50 10.30 190.00 25.00 11.30 12.50 23.50 19.20

Weekly high 14.80 12.90 23.30 24.70 9.90 33.70 19.20 12.00 12.20 11.00

Weekly low 11.40 9.50 7.00 7.80 145.00 19.20 8.90 10.00 18.30 15.20

Weekly low 11.40 10.00 19.00 20.00 8.20 27.00 16.50 10.20 10.30 9.60

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

39.412 5.188 1.382 5.383 237.949 153.654 7.514 17.346 22.847 509.039

Turnover in million

0.04 0.48 -4.85 0.76 2.00 0.59 0.64 -1.28 0.84 2.28

Latest EPS

5.764 1.130 1.240 39.773 0.826 6.712 67.048 0.211 1.811 0.349

0.04 0.48 0.84 0.59 0.76 3.00 2.28 0.68 -1.28 0.64

Latest PE 342.3 25.1 -ve 13.1 91.3 40.9 17.1 -ve 27.2 8.1

Latest PE 341.5 25.4 27.0 40.6 12.8 10.8 8.1 17.6 -ve 16.9

Weekly news from trade server AGRANINS: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on June 10, 2014.

RUPALIBANK: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on June 11, 2014.

SIBL: The Company has informed that it has disbursed cash dividend for the year 2013 to the respective shareholders Bank Account(s) through Bangladesh Electronic Fund Transfer Network (BEFTN).

The Peninsula Chittagong Limited: Trading of the shares of The Peninsula Chittagong Limited will commence at DSE from June 15, 2014 under 'N' category. DSE Trading Code for The Peninsula Chittagong Limited is "PENINSULA" and DSE Company Code is 29003.

IPO Subscription: Far East Knitting & Dyeing Industries Limited subscription date 15-19 June 2014, NRB upto 28 June 2014. @ taka 27, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shurwid Industries Limited subscription date 08-12 June 2014, NRB upto 21 June 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. Saif Powertec Limited subscription date 06-10 July 2014, NRB upto 19 July 2014. @ taka 30, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Ratanpur Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 13-17 July 2014, NRB upto 26 July 2014. @ taka 40, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGM LAFSURCEML: 5% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 30.06.2014.

ASIAINS: 15% cash and 5% stock, AGM: 16.07.2014, Record Date: 19.06.2014.

WATACHEM: 30% stock, AGM: 27.06.2014, Record Date: 11.06.2014.

AMBEEPHA: 15% cash and 20% stock, AGM: 16.06.2014, Record Date: 28.05.2014.

MBL1STMF: 3% cash, Record date: 02.06.2014.

AIBL1STIMF: 5.5% cash, Record date: 02.06.2014.

ORIONPHARM: 15% cash, AGM: 22.06.2014, Record Date: 21.05.2014.

PURABIGEN: 15% stock, AGM: 29.06.2014, Record date: 21.05.2014.

SALVOCHEM: 10% stock, AGM: 27.08.2014, Record date: 25.06.2014.

ISNLTD: No dividend, AGM: 17.06.2014, RD May 20, 2014.

GOLDENSON: 25% stock, EGM and AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014.

MERCINS: 10% cash, dividend for the Public Shareholders (B-Group) only, AGM: 16.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014.

CMCKAMAL: 12.50% stock, AGM: 30.06.2014. Record Date: 29.05.2014.

RUPALIBANK: 15% stock, AGM: 31.05.2014, Record date: 14.05.2014.

LEGACYFOOT: 5% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 12.05.2014.

BDTHAI: 5% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 25.05.2014.

MEGHNACEM: 15% cash, AGM:

29.05.2014, Record Date: 14.05.2014.

MONNOSTAF: 10% cash, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 19.05.2014.

INTECH: 10% stock, AGM: 23.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014.

ISLAMIINS: 15% stock, AGM: 09.07.2014, RD: 12.05.2014.

BXPHARMA: 10% cash & 5% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, RD: 18.05.2014.

STANDARINS: 15% stock, AGM: 18.06.2014, RD: 15.05.2014.

BAYLEASING: 17% cash & 15% stock, AGM: 29.05.2014, RD: 12.05.2014.

JMISMDL: 15% cash, AGM: 24.07.2014, RD: 22.05.2014.

SUMITPOWER: 15% stock, AGM: 30.06.2014. RD: 18.05.2014.

KPCL: 25% cash & 5% stock, AGM: 18.06.2014, RD: 14.05.2014.

PREMIERLEA: No dividend, AGM: 26.06.2014, RD: 25.05.2014.

BEXIMCO: 15% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, RD: 18.05.2014.

BXSYNTH: No dividend, AGM: 21.06.2014, RD: 18.05.2014.

SPCERAMICS: No dividend, AGM: 21.06.2014, RD: 18.05.2014.

SPPCL: 10% cash & 10% stock, AGM: 30.06.2014. RD: 18.05.2014.

RENATA: 75% cash & 25% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, RD: 12.05.2014.

GENNEXT: 15% stock, AGM: 19.06.2014, RD: 12.05.2014.

AZIZPIPES: No dividend, AGM: 26.06.2014, RD: 21.05.2014.

RDFOOD: 10% stock, AGM: 29.05.2014, RD: 08.05.2014.

Higher capital gain tax imposition disappointed the investors most, psychologically. Resultantly, cyclicality prompted and changed the mode of investments

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

% change 8.78 2.16 1.29 16.68 4.24 10.77 0.05 12.02 10.89 0.01 3.02 0.95 0.27 13.23 0.67 1.27 2.02 7.67 1.98 2.02 0.01

Million Taka 84.86 39.69 15.10 266.43 60.90 127.56 0.00 236.82 127.58 76.31 29.67 84.21 5.09 194.49 17.70 7.24 28.17 119.40 46.97 67.57 0.06

CSE

% change 5.19 2.43 0.92 16.29 3.72 7.80 0.00 14.48 7.80 4.66 1.81 5.15 0.31 11.89 1.08 0.44 1.72 7.30 2.87 4.13 0.00

Million Taka 1924.18 493.24 286.29 3761.29 948.89 2383.89 10.65 2755.11 2408.64 78.16 662.62 282.87 61.83 2965.42 158.75 272.35 451.58 1725.90 461.39 491.42 1.89

Total

% change 8.52 2.18 1.27 16.65 4.20 10.55 0.05 12.20 10.66 0.35 2.93 1.25 0.27 13.13 0.70 1.21 2.00 7.64 2.04 2.18 0.01

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company LafargeS Cement-Z Grameenphone-A BSRM Steels-A Square Pharma -A Mercantile Bank -A MJL BD Ltd.-A Eastern Housing -A G Next Fashions-A Meghna Petroleum -A GPH Ispat Ltd-A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company LafargeS Cement-Z BSRM Steels-A Grameenphone-A G Next Fashions-A Appollo Ispat CL -N Square Pharma -A BD Submarine Cable-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A Aftab Auto.-A

Volume shares 25,619,500 4,317,675 11,260,144 3,304,139 41,424,331 7,902,307 9,393,554 28,032,064 1,859,701 8,491,020

Volume shares 1,866,000 788,478 238,600 3,706,742 2,223,600 183,264 274,126 1,725,869 1,357,000 384,610

Value in million 2189.18 1257.31 1023.93 923.86 747.54 708.88 604.09 509.04 499.99 475.02

Value in million 158.14 71.48 69.31 67.05 62.51 51.02 50.10 39.77 33.98 33.01

% of total turnover 10.45 6.00 4.89 4.41 3.57 3.38 2.88 2.43 2.39 2.27

% of total turnover 11.55 5.22 5.06 4.89 4.56 3.72 3.66 2.90 2.48 2.41

Weekly closing 82.50 299.30 90.60 283.50 16.00 90.80 65.80 18.50 270.40 55.90

Weekly closing 83.40 90.70 299.00 18.40 28.80 282.90 187.00 24.50 24.60 86.50

Price change -8.44 4.69 1.91 3.17 -3.61 -0.55 6.30 10.78 -0.48 8.54

Weekly opening 90.10 285.90 88.90 274.80 16.60 91.30 61.90 16.70 271.70 51.50

Weekly high 99.30 303.00 100.00 290.00 18.20 94.00 66.90 19.20 276.90 59.20

Weekly low 75.00 270.00 82.00 249.00 14.90 78.60 58.00 15.20 244.00 47.00

Weekly average 79.36 299.29 89.99 283.77 16.19 91.56 66.08 18.58 272.46 56.07

Price change -7.23 1.68 4.88 10.84 8.68 3.21 3.26 13.43 0.82 3.22

Weekly opening 89.90 89.20 285.10 16.60 26.50 274.10 181.10 21.60 24.40 83.80

Weekly high 99.50 97.00 302.00 19.20 29.10 287.00 189.90 24.70 26.00 88.00

Weekly low 75.00 85.00 275.50 16.50 26.00 268.10 176.20 20.00 24.30 81.00

Weekly average 78.56 89.42 298.73 18.51 28.85 283.51 187.52 23.95 24.68 87.01

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Foreign interns pay the price for Japan’s labour shortage n Reuters, Hakusan Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012 was a regular work day at Kameda, a family-owned apparel factory housed in rusting corrugated metal buildings in the western Japanese city of Hakusan. For three Chinese women, it was a day of escape.

At about 6:30 that morning, Ichiro Takahara, a Japanese union organizer, rolled up outside the dormitory where the women lived. Lu Xindi, Qian Juan and Jiang Cheng were waiting - they had been secretly plotting this move for months. Takahara drove them to a convenience store and then to the local labour standards office.

The story behind their flight began three years earlier and more than 900 miles (1,440 km) away in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. There, they signed up with a labour export company to work in Japan’s “foreign technical intern” program, which Tokyo insists is designed to help workers from developing countries learn advanced technical skills.

In a lawsuit filed in a Japanese court, Lu, Qian and Jiang claim that rather than training them, Kameda forced them to work excessive hours at below minimum wage. In 2011, their busiest year, the women were working 16 hours a day, six days a week, with 15 minutes for lunch, according to the lawsuit and work records. For that, they were paid around $4 per hour, according to records reviewed by Reuters.

Other former interns have made similar allegations in dozens of lawsuits filed in Japan. Their case stands out because during the time Lu, Qian and Jiang were working there, Kameda was putting pleats in Burberry clothes.

Japan is a key market for the British luxury brand, generating 12.8% of Burberry’s pre-tax profit, or around 55m pounds ($92.5m), in the year to March 31, 2013.

The profits came from licensing arrangements, some of which date back decades. Today, Burberry maintains licensing arrangements with four Japanese companies. The largest of these is

Nokia to buy smart data firm for its map business n Reuters, Helsinki Finland’s Nokia on Thursday said it has agreed to buy small US company Medio Systems for its navigation unit HERE. The price of the deal, which is expected to close by end-July, was not disclosed. Seattle-based Medio has about 60 employees.

Nokia said Medio’s smart data technology enables it to create digital maps that change according to the situation.

Nokia in April completed the sale of its once-dominant mobile phone business to Microsoft, leaving the group with its networks unit, navigation business and patent portfolio. l

US to sue Citigroup over faulty mortgage bonds n Reuters, New York

Workers stretch their bodies before they start working at a construction site on a public road in Tokyo with apparel manufacturer and retailer Sanyo Shokai, a relationship that began in 1970. Though most of what Burberry produces in Japan is sold there, factories in Japan also supply two stores in Hong Kong that sell the Burberry Blue and Burberry Black lines. Kameda was putting pleats in shirts and skirts sold

by Sanyo Shokai under the Burberry Black line.

Burberry declined to allow Reuters to speak to any executives directly about the Kameda case. Through a public relations agency, it issued a statement saying Burberry had asked Sanyo Shokai to terminate its relationship with Kameda in late 2012 because Kameda was not complying with Burberry’s ethical standards.

Among Kameda’s other clients at this time were some of Japan’s largest trading houses: Itochu and Mitsui Bussan Inter-Fashion (MIF), a whollyowned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co Mitsui said it was unaware of the lawsuit un-

til Reuters contacted the company for comment; MIF said it would monitor the lawsuit and then decide about the company’s relationship with Kameda.

Itochu said it was not aware that Kameda employed foreign technical interns.

Kameda’s website lists department store Isetan as a client. A spokesman for the retailer, now known as Mitsukoshi Isetan, said that it has only been buying women’s apparel from Kameda since January.

The most recent government data show there are about 155,000 technical interns in Japan. Nearly 70% are from China, where some labour recruiters require payment of bonds worth thousands of dollars to work in Japan. Interns toil in apparel and food factories, on farms and in metal-working shops.

In these workplaces, labour abuse is endemic: A 2012 investigation by Japanese labour inspectors found 79% of companies that employed interns were violating labour laws. The Ministry

REUTERS

of Health, Labour and Welfare said it would use strict measures, including prosecution, toward groups that repeatedly violated the laws or failed to follow its guidance in their treatment of technical interns.

Critics say foreign interns have become an exploited source of cheap labor in a country where, despite having the world’s most rapidly ageing population, discussion of increased immigration is taboo. The US State Department, in its 2013 Trafficking in Persons report, criticized the program’s use of “extortionate contracts”, restrictions on interns’ movements, and the imposition of heavy fees if workers leave.

Japan faces a worsening labor shortage, not only in family-run farms and factories such as Kameda but in construction and service industries. It is a major reason that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration is planning a further expansion of the trainee program. l

Yen edges down in Asia after BoJ holds fire on easing n AFP, Tokyo The dollar edged up against the yen Friday after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) stood pat on its stimulus programme, partially reversing a sell-off in New York fuelled by fears over the growing crisis in Iraq.

In afternoon Tokyo trading, the dollar strengthened to 101.87 yen from 101.68 yen in New York although the US unit was still down from levels above 102 yen in Asia on Thursday.

The euro strengthened to 138.04 yen from 137.80 yen in US trade while is was also at $1.3555 against $1.3553.

BoJ policymakers unanimously agreed to hold off any further measures

after a two-day meeting, despite fears that a sales tax rise in April would dent the country’s nascent recovery.

Many analysts, however, expect the BoJ to usher in further easing later this year to counter a downturn from the levy hike, a move that would tend to weaken the yen.

“A case could be made that further stimulus beyond the originally planned two years (of the current easing package) has become unnecessary,” Capital Economics said.

“We think this is premature. For a start, price pressure has moderated, and inflation will likely fall short of the target by the end of the year... We stick to our long-held view that an extension

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Sunday, June 15, 2014

(of the easing package) will be revealed at the late-October meeting,” it added.

The dollar sank in US trade as dealers nervously watch Iraq, where jihadists are heading towards Baghdad after capturing several towns in the north.

President Barack Obama has said he is exploring all options to save the country’s security forces from collapse while US companies have evacuated hundreds from a major air base.

With the militants closing in on the capital, forces from Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region took control of Kirkuk, an ethnically divided northern city they have sought to rule for decades against the objections of successive governments in Baghdad. l

The US Department of Justice is preparing to sue Citigroup Inc on charges that the bank defrauded investors on billions of dollars worth of mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, after talks to resolve the probe broke down, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

A lawsuit could be filed in US District Court in Brooklyn as early as next week, the people said, as the bank and civil prosecutors stood far apart in reaching an agreement on the size of any deal.

The settlement negotiations had involved penalty numbers of $10bn or more, another person familiar with the talks said.

Bloomberg News reported earlier on Friday that the Justice Department had asked the bank to pay more than $10bn, and that the bank had offered less than $4bn.

Citigroup shares were down 1.7% in New York trading following the report.

A Citigroup spokesman declined to comment. Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, declined comment.

The developments come as the Justice Department is preparing a similar lawsuit against Bank of America’s (BAC.N) Merrill Lynch unit, after discussions over a $12bn to $17bn settlement did not produce an agreement.

The $10bn figure for Citigroup was greeted with disbelief by some on Wall Street because the bank had marketed fewer mortgage securities than did some other banks.

Fred Cannon, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said in a research note that he estimates Citigroup may have to pay $6bn to reach a deal with the Justice Department, which could

exceed the bank’s legal reserves and require it to record additional expenses this year. Citigroup’s share price likely already reflects a $3bn addition to reserves, he said.

While Wall Street analysts base settlement estimates on the dollar amount of the securities banks sold, it is much harder for them to know if

US attorney’s offices in Brooklyn and Colorado have been investigating the bank as part of a larger task force probing faulty mortgage securities that helped fuel the housing bubble in the mid-2000s and contributed to its collapse prosecutors have evidence that a bank was especially egregious in packaging poor quality loans and marketing the instruments as safe, and arguably should have to pay more than other banks. Prosecutors also consider the level of banks’ cooperation in investigations and other factors.

Reuters reported in December that the Justice Department was preparing a civil fraud lawsuit against the bank that alleged investors lost tens of billions of dollars on the securities at issue.

US attorney’s offices in Brooklyn and Colorado have been investigating the bank as part of a larger task force probing faulty mortgage securities that helped fuel the housing bubble in the mid-2000s and contributed to its collapse. l

Crude prices up as militants close in on Baghdad n AFP, Singapore Crude prices on Friday extended the previous day’s rally to sit at ninemonth highs after militants closed in on Iraq’s capital Baghdad, fuelling fears over supplies from the major crude producer.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate advanced 47 cents to $107.00 in afternoon trade after surging $2.13 in New York on Thursday to reach its highest level since September.

Brent North Sea crude gained 28 cents to $113.30 per barrel after shooting up $3.07 in London.

Iraq is the second biggest producer in the OPEC oil cartel after Saudi Arabia and any escalation of the violence there could hit supplies, sending prices higher, analysts said.

“Any disruption at OPEC’s second largest producer risks tearing apart the global rebound we had seen this year,” Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said in a note.

Phillip Futures warned that “higher energy prices will apply brakes on a global recovery and may even cause the world to re-enter recession”.

US President Barack Obama has said his national security team “is looking at all the options” to help the Iraqi government.

Iraq, which has the world’s fifth largest proven reserves, pumps an average of about 3.5 million barrels of oil a day.

On Wednesday, OPEC maintained its output ceiling where it has been since late 2011. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi expressed satisfaction with a relatively stable oil market. l

S&P revises Britain outlook to stable from negative n AFP, London Standard & Poor’s lifted yesterday its outlook on Britain’s credit rating to stable from negative, citing the broad recovery and progress in consolidating public finances, and confirmed its top ‘AAA’ assessment.

“Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised its outlook on the United Kingdom to stable from negative,” it said in a statement. The agency also affirmed its ‘AAA/A-1+’ long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings for Britain.

“The outlook revision reflects our view of the robust and broadening recovery in the UK economy, and the further progress that the government is making on consolidating public finances,” it said in a statement.

S&P forecast that the British economy would expand by almost 3% in 2014, and by 2.5% in 2015, propelled by business investment and private consumption.

“We see improving credit and capital market conditions as supportive of growth, along with an expected gradual resumption of positive real wage gains,” it noted.

“We anticipate that the UK’s economic recovery will continue to broaden, benefitting the public finances.”

S&P added: “We expect the domestic economy to continue to expand, and rebalance away form a pre-crisis reliance on private consumption, as productivity performance underpins real wage gains and tradable sectors, both in services and manufacturing, continue to recover.”

Earlier on Friday meanwhile, rival agency Fitch had affirmed its AA+ credit rating for Britain and gave it a “stable” outlook, citing also the country’s accelerating economic recovery.

Fitch noted that “favourable macroeconomic trends, including strong GDP growth, falling unemployment and inflation close to the (Bank of England’s) 2% target, have continued in the UK economy” since the agency’s last review in December.

“Fitch expects the recovery in major advanced economies, including the eurozone, the UK’s largest trading partner, to strengthen gradually in 2014-15, while emerging markets growth will be broadly stable, avoiding the risk of sharp slowdown,” it said in a separate statement. l

Shafiqul Alam, managing director and CEO of Jamuna Bank Limited recently inaugurated the bank’s 161st ATM booth at Sena Kalyan Bhaban in Motijheel, Dhaka as chief guest City Bank has recently signed an agreement with a NGO, Prodipon on providing banking facility to street & working children by opening a bank account with Tk10. The bank’s additional managing director Faruq M Ahmed and Mohammad Ferdousur Rahman, executive director of Prodipon signed the agreement

Mercantile Bank Limited recently declared 8% cash and 12% stock dividends which were approved by the stockholders at the bank’s 15th annual general meeting held at a hotel in Dhaka recently. The meeting was presided over by the bank’s chair M Amanullah

Ali Reza Iftekhar managing director of Eastern Bank Limited formally launched EBL Zero Installment Programme (ZIP) for its credit card holders at a ceremony held in Dhaka on Tuesday

The executive committee of Modhumoti Bank Limited recently held its 12th meeting. The meeting presided by the committee’s chair Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Sunday, June 15, 2014

Japan to slash corporate tax rate in growth bid n AFP, Tokyo Tokyo said Friday it was slashing Japan’s corporate tax rate, one of the world’s highest, as the country’s top central banker called for speedier reforms to unshackle an economy long mired in red tape.

The cuts would bring the levy under 30% within a few years, resulting in a tax rate ranging from 20% to 29%, depending on the jurisdiction.

Company taxes, including a rate of 35.6% in Tokyo, are the second-highest in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) behind the United States, which some critics say has held back the world’s number three economy.

Japan’s levy is made up of both national and local taxes.

Tokyo is cutting the national rate to bring down firms’ overall burden in a bid to stimulate hiring and corporate investment, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces growing pressure to deregulate politically powerful sectors, including the agricultural industry.

“We’re aiming to reduce the effective corporate tax rate ... within a few years,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo, adding that reductions would start from the fiscal year beginning in March 2015.

The conservative premier - who swept to power in late 2012 on a pledge to rescue Japan from years of deflation - said his government wanted to “send a clear message” with the tax cuts.

“Japan’s corporate tax will become growth-oriented ... to help boost jobs and improve people’s livelihoods,” he said.

Abe is facing calls to make good on the final tranche of his growth action plan, dubbed “Abenomics”, which started in early 2013 with a huge public spending spree and an unprecedented monetary easing campaign by the Bank of Japan.

That gave the economy a shot in the arm and set off a stock market rally as firms’ profitability grew on the back of a sharply weaker yen.

But there are growing fears that the nascent recovery may run into trouble without major reforms, after Tokyo hiked consumption taxes in April to bring down its massive national debt.

Time running out

Abe’s hand-picked central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda - a key architect behind Japan’s war on years of falling prices and tepid growth - repeated his call for action on Friday.

“The BoJ strongly expects that the government will implement the (reforms) policy, as it is important to improve labour supply and productivity,” he told reporters, as the BoJ held fire on expanding its massive stimulus campaign after a two-day meeting.

Kuroda added that the BoJ would “support the government” by keeping up its bid to reach a 2% inflation target by next year.

Abe is expected to release further details about his plan later Friday.

Some lawmakers had expressed concern at cutting corporate taxes when only about 30% of Japanese firms pay anything - due to weak finances.

Tokyo’s finances are under increasing pressure as it struggles with the spi-

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves as he arrives for the G7 summit at the European Council building in Brussels ralling healthcare and social costs of a rapidly ageing society.

Abe has pushed through plans to start deregulating the energy sector and improve access to childcare for working parents.

But his much-touted first attempt at a package of structural reforms fell flat last summer, amid accusations they were too timid at taking on Japan’s

many vested interests. On Friday, a government panel gave Abe more than 200 proposals for deregulating sectors including health and agriculture.

They appeared to back off from a planned overhaul of agricultural cooperatives in favour of letting the powerful farm lobby revamp itself.

Doubters say that Abe will not be able to deliver a full-scale overhaul of

REUTERS

the economy, including shaking up rigid labour markets and taking on farmers who fiercely oppose free-trade deals.

The premier faces a delicate balance as ordinary citizens struggle with lacklustre wage growth and rising prices for everyday goods - the result of Tokyo’s bid to stoke long-absent inflation as well as April’s consumption tax hike to 8% from 5%. l

CEO pay up 10-fold since 1978 in US n AFP, Washington Pay for chief executives of US companies has soared nearly 10-fold over the last 35 years to an average of $15.2m in 2013, according to a study released Thursday.

Total compensation, including bonuses and stock options, jumped 937 percent since 1978, said a report by the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which is partially funded by labour unions.

The ratio of CEO pay to that of average workers rose from 29.9-1 in 1978 to 295.9-1 in 2013, the study said.

“The economy is recovering for some Americans, but not for most,” the report said.

“Those at the top of the income distribution, including many CEOs, are seeing a strong recovery while the average worker is still experiencing the detrimental effects of a stagnant labor market.”

EPI tied the shifts in CEO compensation to the fortunes of the stock market.

Average CEO pay fell from $18.5m in 2007 to $10.4m in 2009 as the stock market slumped amid the financial crisis, before gradually rising each of the last four years as US equities have risen.

This trend means CEO pay “often grows strongly simply when the overall stock market rises” and does not necessarily reflect improved performance, EPI said.

Policy ideas proposed in the report include raising taxes on the wealthiest and removing tax incentives that promote stock options. l

Facebook offers users control on ads viewed n APF, San Francisco

An aerial image shows a natural gas flare after sunset outside of Williston, North Dakota REUTERS

OECD sees US growth accelerating through 2015 n Reuters, Washington The US economic recovery should accelerate in coming months as an energy boom, steadily falling unemployment and a rebound in investment push growth to its fastest pace in a decade, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Friday.

In its latest overview of the US economy, the Paris-based group said US gross domestic product would expand 2.5% this year, a touch below a forecast it released last month.

But it maintained its 3.5% growth projection for next year, which would be the strongest advance since 2004.

The OECD is more optimistic on US growth than most private forecasters and some other international organizations, including the World Bank, which looks for growth in 2015 of only 3%.

The OECD said it saw several positive trends converging to make the recovery faster, more entrenched and more driven by private demand.

Low energy prices and continued low borrowing costs, coupled with record corporate stores of cash, should produce a surge of 10% in business investment in 2015, the OECD projected, while steadily falling unemployment would mean rising consumer demand and a firm recovery in housing over the next year.

“The US is the bright spot in the world’s recovery today,” said OECD head Angel Gurria. “This has been building up,” as the United States worked through the aftermath of the crisis and recession and set the stage for domestic demand and investment to take off.

DILBERT

“The US is the one country that has its own growth built in.”

Notably, the OECD said that the steps taken to rein in federal spending and debt in recent years were succeeding.

The drag on the economy from budget cuts has diminished, while federal debt as a percentage of GDP was stabilizing at around 106% - high by world standards but perhaps set to decline.

The OECD, an economic policy organization that includes the world’s largest developed nations, did warn that some trends in labour markets could hurt the country’s prospects.

Despite stronger growth, the group forecast the unemployment rate would decline only slowly, remaining at 6% at the end of 2015 - still above the level typically regarded as full employment.

The jobless rate stood at 6.3% in May. The continued stagnation of wages among middle- and lower-income families has stunted demand and worsened income inequality, the OECD said.

It called for tax law changes and an increase in the minimum wage to address the issue.

Declining labour force participation also poses a problem which the OECD said could be addressed through reform of immigration laws, or employee tax and training programs that encourage people to work. It recommended specifically a broadening of the earned income tax credit.

The OECD said the United States should also cut its 39.1% corporate tax rate, the highest among OECD countries, and reform the system to broaden the base of corporations paying taxes and to give businesses less incentive to book profits abroad. l

Facebook said Thursday it would begin allowing users more information about the ads delivered to them, and to block marketing messages they don’t want to see.

In a blog post, Facebook said its users “tell us they want more control over the ads they see” and that the huge social network is responding to that.

“That’s why we’re introducing ad preferences, a new tool accessible from every ad on Facebook that explains why you’re seeing a specific ad and lets you add and remove interests that we use to show you ads,” the post said.

The option will be available in the United States in the next few weeks, “and we are working hard to expand globally in the coming months,” the statement said.

As an example, Facebook said, “if you’re not interested in electronics, you can remove electronics from your ad interests.”

At the same time, Facebook noted that it would draw from users Web browsing activities - and not just from Facebook - in an effort to target ads for specific users.

“Today, we learn about your interests primarily from the things you do on Facebook, such as pages you like,”

the blog post said.

“Starting soon in the US, we will also include information from some of the websites and apps you use. This is a type of interest-based advertising, and many companies already do this.”

Facebook will also allow users to opt out of this targeted advertising.

“If you don’t want us to use the websites and apps you use to show you more relevant ads, we won’t,” Facebook said.

Joseph Jerome, a policy fellow at Future of Privacy Forum, said Facebook is offering more to advertisers while boosting control for users.

“The one thing Facebook hasn’t been

doing is selling ads targeted based on the websites and apps you use outside of Facebook,” Jerome said in a blog post.

“An individual advertiser could buy an ad, based on your visit to a particular site - but many advertisers couldn’t buy an ad based on your visits to many sites. Now they can.”

At the same time, Jerome said Facebook users will be able to see extensive detail about the ads and to edit their profiles.

“This is one of the most extensive moves to give users a deep look at the data used to target ads that we have seen and should make some users feel more in control of the experience,” he said. l

Wal-Mart to launch e-commerce marketplace in India in July n Reuters, New Delhi Wal-Mart Stores Inc will launch its business-to-business e-commerce platform in the Indian cities of Lucknow and Hyderabad in the first week of July, its India boss said on Friday.

The world’s largest retailer has 20 wholesale outlets in India, including in Lucknow and Hyderabad, which will support its e-commerce services, its India Chief Executive Officer Krish Iyer said.

It would look at rolling out the service to the remaining 18 outlets as well, Iyer said, but not for another six months at least.

“We will not start rolling out to the other 18 stores for the next six months because we will learn from any teething problems and feedback from members,” Iyer told Reuters.

In April, Wal-Mart said it planned to open 50 more wholesale outlets in India over four to five years and start online operations to sell to small shopkeepers, several months after it decided against opening its own retail stores.

The e-commerce service will be available only to its trader members, Iyer said.

India restricts global online retailers from selling their products directly to consumers.

But sources told Reuters this month India could allow global online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc to sell their own products directly to consumers as early as July, removing restrictions that have held back competition in one of the world’s biggest retail markets.

Wal-Mart does not have any immediate plans to sell directly to consumers through its e-commerce service, Iyer said.

“We will continue to focus only on business-to-business ... but that does not mean we will not look at it,” he said.

Iyer said Wal-Mart’s wholesale stores currently cater to consumers within a 20-km radius and the e-commerce business will help the company serve customers from within a 40-km radius of its stores. l

Students from the the University of Pennsylvania General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory observe as their robots play soccer during a live demonstration on June 12 at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC. A team led by Daniel Lee, director of the University of Pennsylvania GRASP pitted several robots in a pre World Cup friendly match AFP

LinkedIn must face customer lawsuit over email addresses n Reuters A federal judge said LinkedIn Corp must face a lawsuit by customers who claimed it violated their privacy by accessing their external email accounts, downloading their contacts’ email addresses and soliciting business from those contacts.

US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, found that while customers consented to LinkedIn’s sending an initial “endorsement email” to recruit contacts, they did not agree to let the professional networking website operator send two reminder emails when the initial email is ignored.

This practice “could injure users’ reputations by allowing contacts to think that the users are the types of people who spam their contacts or are unable to take the hint that their contacts do not want to join their LinkedIn

network,” Koh wrote in a 39-page decision released on Thursday.

“In fact,” she added, “by stating a mere three screens before the disclosure regarding the first invitation that ‘We will not ... email anyone without your permission,’ LinkedIn may have actively led users astray.”

Koh said customers may pursue claims that LinkedIn violated their right of publicity, which protects them from unauthorized use of their names and likenesses for commercial purposes, and violated a California unfair competition law.

She dismissed other claims, including a claim that LinkedIn violated a federal wiretap law, and said customers may file an amended lawsuit.

Crystal Braswell, a LinkedIn spokeswoman, said the company is pleased that some claims were dismissed, and “will continue to contest the remain-

ing claims, as we believe they have no merit.”

LinkedIn is based in Mountain View, California, and had about 300 million users at the end of March.

Larry Russ, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit seeks class action status, a halt to the alleged improper email harvesting and marketing, and money damages. It is among a series of cases challenging the extent to which Internet companies can mine user data to boost profits.

Last September, in a separate decision critical of some of Google Inc’s practices, Koh let Internet users, some with Gmail accounts and some without, pursue a lawsuit challenging the search engine company’s practice of scanning emails to provide targeted advertisements. l