10 Aug, 2014

Shraban 26, 1421 Shawal 13, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 128

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

8 | CAREER WORKPLACE SHOULD SUPPORT BREASTFEEDING MOTHERS

20 pages | Price: Tk12

9 | WORLD

11 | OP-ED

REBELS REPAIRING MOSUL DAM, KURDS IN RUSH TO ARMS

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID

15 | SPORT ARSENAL HARNESS COMMUNITY SPIRIT IN MAN CITY CLASH

Officials’ sincerity ‘only an eyewash’ Dozens of unfit vessels allegedly allowed in the Mawa-Kawrakandi route for bribes Islam Shaon, from Mawa n Ashif and Mohammad Jamil Khan,

in Dhaka Rescue vessel Kandari 2 has detected a metallic object, which is much similar to capsized Pinak 6, under water of the Padma River near Mawa yesterday, six days after the overloaded launch sank.

Although the object’s length matched with Pinak 6, the rescuers were yet to confirm it until filling of this report at 10:30pm last night.

The salvage operation was suspended around 9pm for bad weather and the officials were not certain when the work would resume.

In the meantime, the death toll rose to 46 as six more bodies were found yesterday. Of them, 28 bodies were handed over to their family members after confirming their identities.

Unidentified 15 bodies were buried as anonymous – 12 on Friday while burial process of three others was completed yesterday.

Although there were names of 139 persons on Friday in the list prepared by the local administration, the government yesterday declared that the actual number of missing persons is 67.

The 49 persons whose names were earlier mentioned in the missing list have been found alive. Among them, 22 are male, 17 female and 10 children.

The Dhaka Tribune randomly made calls on phones of several of these 49 people and found the claim to be true.

Mojibur Rahman, inspector (investigation) of Srinagar police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that the mobile phones of these persons had been

in Dhaka Yesterday afternoon, the Bangladesh Internal Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) suspended the operation of launches and sea-boats in the Mawa-Kawrakandi route, saying the weather was not good.

Since Monday – the day Pinak 6 capsized in the Padma River – the BIWTA officials have not been allowing any launch or sea-boat to carry more than their capacities.

Most launches that operate on the route are allowed to carry up to 85 passengers, and every time a vessel reaches that limit, the officials have not been letting anymore people get on board.

Moreover, officials, along with policemen, are not letting any launch or sea-boat without life jackets and sufficient life-saving equipment to operate in the route.

There is no reason to think that these are something that needed to be done because of the major accident that took place on August 4, when the launch Pinak 6 that has a capacity of carrying 85 people, capsized in the rough Padma with nearly 300 on board.

It neither reportedly had the fitness nor was big enough to be allowed to ply on a rough river in bad weather. It also did not have enough life-saving arrangements. But despite all these, it was allowed to carry passengers and the result was one of the deadliest river-route disasters in the country’s history.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Every time he comes to Padma, Shamim stares at the cruel and rough sea that took away his friend Imran when Pinak 6 capsized a few days ago

Bleak future awaits Tuba workers

Tuba workers to get July dues today n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi n Tribune Report The workers of five garment factories The management of Tuba Group is set to pay its workers of five garment factories the outstanding wages for July and the overtime dues today.

The workers would be paid at 2pm at the BGMEA headquarters in Karwan Bazar area, as decided at a meeting of the garment owners’ platform, government, factory management and labour leaders in the city yesterday.

“As per our promise made earlier, the BGMEA compelled the owner of Tuba Group to pay the wages for the month of July and the outstanding overtime amounts,” BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

under Tuba Group are in dark about their job security since those were already facing crisis of funds while the recent agitations for dues have brought the matter to the forefront.

Neither the factory owner nor the BGMEA or the government, who have been mediating to pay the workers’ dues, did not make it clear whether these factories would be in operation any longer.

There are around 1,500 workers in these five factories, which are currently shut as the workers went on hunger strike on July 28 demanding three months’ outstanding wages, overtime and Eid bonuses.

The factories are Tuba Fashion, Tuba Textile, Mita Design, Taif Design and Bughsan Garments.

At a meeting yesterday, the government, the BGMEA, the factory management and labour leaders decided to pay due wages for the month of July and overtime for the last three months from today. But the meeting did not discuss the issues of running the factories and payment of the current month.

The wages for May and June have already been paid by the BGMEA. The Tuba Group had 12 RMG units and of them, five were shut since the devastating fire incident at its Tazreen Fashions killed over 112 workers on November 24, 2012.

Of the seven units operational now, only two factories – Tuba Garments and

Tuba Printing – are running properly and there is no unrest since the workers are paid regularly. But the five other factories in operation are in trouble since they do not have enough orders to pay the wages, officials say.

“I have already got the wages for two months and hope that the rest will also be paid. But frustration has gripped me about the continuation of my job,” Kamal Hossain, a worker of the Tuba Group, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said it would be tough for him to get another job immediately if the factory management decided to announce lay off. “The garment owners have somewhat stopped recruiting workers after the implementation of the new wage structure,” Kamal added.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Nationwide strike falls on deaf ears n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Ready-made garment (RMG) workers yesterday snubbed a call for a countrywide apparel industry strike called by Tuba Group Sramik Sangram Parishad to protest a police attack on them last Thursday.

Police had attacked workers and labour leaders, on a hunger-strike since July 28, who had been agitating for the payment of overdue wages.

It was business as usual for workers at apparel factories in Mirpur, Rampura, Kafrul, Kazipara and Farmgate where the call for action failed to stimulate interest.

Workers at factories in Savar, Gazipur and Ashulia showed up for work as usual on yesterday morning.

“I did not want to participate in the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Tuba workers’ nationwide strike seems to have little impact on the industrial areas. Workers of a factory come out for lunch yesterday afternoon at Jirabo in Ashulia near Dhaka RAJIB DHAR

The monthly downlink fees of foreign television channels for broadcasting programmes in Bangladesh will be increased to Tk3 lakh from TK1.5 lakh.

3 | News

Collecting samples for DNA tests could be the only way to properly identify the missing passengers of Pinak 6 in the future, according to Professor Dr Sharif Akteruzzaman, head of the National DNA Profiling Laboratory at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY

‘What have we done to deserve this?’ n Tazlina Zamila Khan It was around 4pm on June 14, 2014, when a team of around 200 BGB soldiers (Border Guard Bangladesh) attacked some women planting a banana tree on their own land in Babuchora, Dighinala upazila, Khagracahri district.

BGB men fired rubber bullets and tear gas and charged batons on them, evicting 84 people from 21 families from their own homes.

This episode was narrated yesterday by 16 year-old Apshari Chakma, a victim of the incident, at a press conference arranged by eight organisations including Pahari Chhatra Parishad, Hill Women’s Federation and Sajek Land Rights Protection Committee at the National Press Club in the capital.

“Around 18 people were injured and BGB filed false cases against 150 indigenous people with Dighinala police station,” Apshari said.

Apshari and her mother were among the accused in the cases. They were detained by police while being treated at Khagrachari District Hospital on June 17. Apshari was held for 12 days at a juvenile correctional centre. She was later released on bail.

She said BGB 51 battalion members were forcibly taking over 29.81 acres of land in order to build a head office for the force. Eighty-four people, 20 of them children, took shelter in two rooms of Babuchora High School. The children have stopped going to school out of fear. Many were sick due to the poor living conditions, she said.

“What fault have we committed?

4 | News

The government is yet to decide on what actions it would take to put an end to a long-standing conflict between the civil administration and the police department which has been hindering coordination in various state activities for the last 38 years.

5 | News

Chittagong’s criminals were doing brisk business under the cover of darkness provided by the Chittagong City Corporation’s inability to keep roads and alleys well-lit at night.

6 | Nation

Farmers in the northern district are forced to bear additional expenses to cultivate Aman paddy this season as the rainfall has not been adequate compared to last season.

12 | Entertainment

When rock buffs got sick of their earphones, Live Square, under the banner of Rock Inc brought out one of the biggest, energetic rock concerts of the year.

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

INSIDE 4 | News

Pinak 6-like object detected, rescuers say Islam Shaon, from Mawa n Ashif and Mohammad Jamil Khan,

13 | Sport

Opener Imrul Kayes thinks one should give more emphasis on scoring as many runs as possible and worry less about the wicket and the conditions..

Why are we being evicted from our own land?” asked Pragyan Jyoti Chakma, a member of Dighinala Land Protection Committee.

“Our houses, cattle and even clothes were seized by the BGB. They are barring us from entering our own homes.

Our income depends on our resources like cattle and poultry. We’ve been made into beggars,” he said.

In addition to occupying 21 families’ homesteads, the BGB also occupied the sites of a now-defunct government

‘Our houses, cattle and even clothes were seized by the BGB. They are barring us from entering our own homes’ primary school and a Buddhist temple.

Around 105 students used to study at the Number 2 Baghaichari Government Primary School, but it is no longer in operation.

Members of the 21 evicted families came to the capital to publicise their plight. They demanded that their land is returned to them, that false cases against them are dropped, that corrupt BGB and police personnel are punished, that detainees held under the false cases are released, that victims of the eviction are compensated for their financial and psychological distress, and that officers of the state no longer victimise indigenous people. l

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Foreign satellite channels to pay double to enter Bangladesh n Mohosinul Karim The monthly downlink fees of foreign television channels for broadcasting programmes in Bangladesh will be increased to Tk3 lakh from TK1.5 lakh.

Upon approval of the Law Ministry, the Information Ministry will issue gazette notification for increasing the fees.

Information Ministry Joint Secretary Md Abul Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that the decision came last week. Upon implementation of the proposal, the fees would be doubled than the existing amount.

According to the Information Ministry, only around 20 foreign TV channels are paying a monthly downlink fee of Tk1.5 lakh “The government’s plan was to fix the rate up to Tk10 lakh per month. However, later the decision was changed considering the possibility of a rise in subscription fees of cable TV network,” he said.

He said: “At present, the local cable TV network subscription fee is Tk300.

Although the downlink fee will be increased, the local subscription fees will not be changed. The cable operators will have to collect fees of previous months at the government fixed rate from the clients.”

Asked about realising extra charges from the clients, Abul Hossain said: “It is true that some of the operators

charge the clients extra. We have requested Bangladesh Television, which is responsible for issuing license to the local cable TV operators, to take steps in this regard.”

“Licenses of the cable operators who will charge clients more than the government fixed rate and beam unauthorised foreign channels without paying the government will be cancelled,” he added.

Currently, around 50 foreign TV channels are broadcasting in Bangladesh, most of which do not pay any downlink fee to the government.

These channels include Star Jalsha, Star Plus, Star Gold, Zee Cinema, Sony Pix, Hangama etc.

According to the Information Ministry, only around 20 foreign TV channels are paying the ministry a monthly downlink fee of Tk1.5 lakh. The local cable operators are reportedly involved in the act of tax evasion by the foreign channels. BTV is planning to carry out a special drive against cable TV operators who have been catering channels that are not officially authorised by the government.

Such operators would be penalised both physically and financially, the joint secretary said.

When asked about broadcasting Bangladeshi channels in India, he said: “The government is trying to show the channels there but owners of the channels must come forward as a monetary issue lies there. They have to pay the downlink fees to India and make the local operators of India interested to show the channels.” l

Passengers remain stranded at the Mawa Launch Terminal yesterday as all water vessels were off the Mawa-Kewrakandi route following Pinak 6 capsize

Pro-AL BUFJ concerned over new broadcasting policy n Emran Hossain Shaikh The pro-Awami League faction of the Bangladesh Union of Journalist (BFUJ) yesterday expressed concerns over various clauses of the new National Broadcasting Policy, though the faction had earlier thanked the government for formulating the policy.

During a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday, the faction also claimed that some clauses of the new policy were threats to the country's mass media.

Addressing the programme, the fac-

3 killed in train-human haulier crash n

Our Correspondent, Natore

Three people, including a newly-wed woman, were killed while four others sustained serious injuries in a crash between a train and a human haulier at the Yeasinpur rail crossing in Natore yesterday.

The deceased were identified as Sazeda Khatun, 20, wife of Alif Hos-

sain, Sundari Begum, 60, wife of Nasu Mia and Jolekha Begum, 55, wife of Hossain Ali, all residents of Paikordol village of Natore sadar upazila.

Among the deceased, Sazeda Khatun married Alif Hossain a few days before Eid-ul-Fitr.

Aslam Uddin, officer-in-charge of Natore police station, confirmed the

deaths to the Dhaka Tribune.

He said around 12:30pm, a Paikordol-bound human haulier crashed with Rajshahi-bound train “Barendra” at the southern gate of Yeasinpur Rail Station while crossing the lines, leaving the three women dead on spot and injuring at least four others. All of them were inside the human haulier. l

Fate of five Tuba factories uncertain  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

Meanwhile, a section of workers of Tuba Group have decided to quit work fearing uncertainty. Since several units had been shut earlier due to crisis of funds, they fear that these five factories may also be closed.

“We had promised to pay the wages for the last three months and the overtime dues. The matter is solved as the dues for July will be paid on Sunday,” BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim told the Dhaka Tribune.

Asked about the workers’ job security, Azim said: “It is matter of the factory management.”

State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu said: “It is not our duty to see whether the factories will run or shut.”

He told the Dhaka Tribune: “It was our duty to ensure the payments and we have done it. If the factory owners decide to shut the units, then the workers’ dues will have to be paid as per the law.”

Though the factory owner, Delowar Hossain, is freed from jail on bail, he is

yet to make any decision over running the factories.

“The factory owner was running the factories even giving subsidies to keep those operational. But the recent unrest may prompt the owner to lay off,” a manager of a sister concern of Tuba Group, who preferred not to be named, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said: “Through subcontracts, the factory can earn 80% of the total wages to be paid, while the remaining was paid by the owner. As there is crisis of

Nationwide strike falls on deaf ears  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

strike because it didn’t represent common demands for RMG workers. This was a specific case for Tuba workers,” Ariful Islam, a worker of IDS Group in Senpara Parbata, told the Dhaka Tribune. Labour leaders did not call on us to participate and we were not barred from coming to work, he added.

Another worker at the same factory said: “If I had participated in the strike, then it might become difficult to collect my July wages which will be paid this week.”

“It was just like any other day. All of the workers of Snowtex Apparel came to work as usual,” said Ibrahim Sarker,

security-in-charge at the factory.

“We know about the strike but we weren’t told to stage a strike in the factory,” Amena Akter, who works at Mahmud Jeans Limited in Safipur, Gazipur district, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The leader of the strike, Mosrefa Mishu, claimed that police and local AL leaders barred workers from participating in the strike. She said the workers were told not to participate in the strike.

“There was a tense situation in the industrial area because of the strike declaration and we deployed a sufficient number of police in the industrial zone to avert unrest,” Deputy Inspector Gen-

eral (DIG) of the Industrial Police Abdus Samad said to the Dhaka Tribune. He said the industrial area was calm.

“Workers of all RMG factories attended work as usual. The call to strike

by Tuba Group Sramik Sangram Parishad failed to attract other workers because it did not cover issues of common interest to all workers,” said BGMEA vice president Shahidullah Azim.

At least 1,200 workers of five factories of Tuba Group had been fasting for 11 days in the Hossain Market area of Badda in the capital, demanding the payment of three months’ wages, overtime and Eid bonuses.

Officials’ sincerity ‘only an eyewash’  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

According to sources in the Bangladesh Inland Waterways’ Association, a total of 87 launches are registered to operate in the Mawa-Kawrakandi route that connects the people of 21 southern and southwestern districts with the rest of the country.

Most of them are over 30-40 years old and not fit enough to operate; but instead they operate all right and often ignore warning signals.

There are allegations that a section of BIWTA officials, in association with some policemen, allow all these to happen in exchange of bribes.

Shahin, owner of Akther Boat Company which has 35 sea-boats in the route, told the Dhaka Tribune that the sincerity that the officials had been showing since the capsize was nothing but an “eyewash; everything will go

back to the usual very soon.”

He said: “We operate sea-boats at night and despite bad weather even there is warning signal number five; but no one stops us... Yes, police come to us when our launches run in bad weather.

But we sometimes give them Tk150 and sometimes Tk50, and they happily go away without doing anything.”

The BIWTA officials are no different. “They come to the terminal to stop launches that carry passengers in excess of their capacities. But when Tk500 bills go into their pockets, they have no problem with the excess passengers,” Shahin said.

“After the accident, we bought 96 life jackets for our 35 boats at Tk900 each.

But we will not need them anymore once the journalists go away,” he said.

Sources, understandably seeking anonymity, said some influential men

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

affiliated with the ruling Awami League are involved with the evil bribery and extortion racket.

Mohiuddin, BIWTA port officer at Mawa, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is not true that we do not stop launches from operating in adverse weather and with excess passengers. We always try to do that but the launch owners do obey us.”

As was expected, he denied allegations of bribery saying it was completely “baseless.”

The distance from Mawa to Kawrakandi is 5km. Given that the government-fixed fare for the route is Tk1.7/ km, a passenger should only pay Tk9.

But, nobody will be able to cross the river unless they pay triple of that rate which is around Tk30. The sea-boats charge passengers as much as Tk150 for crossing the river.

tion's President Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul said the policy was optimistic, but expressed concerns over some clauses of its chapter three, four and five.

The journalist leader, who was a member of broadcasting policy formulation committee, blamed the government solely for the limitations of the policy.

He said: “I was a member of the policy-making committee, but I did not know about the drafting. Even I was not even informed at the time of draft finalisation or what issues were introduced in the policy.”

Terming some provisions of news and programme casting not acceptable, Bulbul said: “Not only us but also them, who were involved in formulating the draft, claimed about contradiction in the policy.”

He urged the government to formulate an independent broadcasting commission with accommodation of quality personalities who would finalise a fresh broadcasting policy within a short period of time.

Referring to a clause of the new policy that any kind of statement that foils the image of army, government

Tuba workers to get July dues  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

At the meeting, the labour leaders placed three demands – to ensure payment of Eid bonuses, keeping factories operational and not to harass the workers by law enforcement agencies.

However, the issues of Eid bonuses and job security were not discussed while the government assured that the workers would not be harassed.

The five units are Tuba Fashion,

funds, the decision on keeping the factories operational will be made after the payment of all dues by Sunday.”

Amjad, manager of Tuba Printing, said: “The management is yet to decide on the five factories. But I have came to know that the decision may be taken after paying the due wages.”

Another official said several orders of subcontract had been withdrawn following the agitations which might be another reason for the owner to shut the factories. l

Tuba Textile, Mita Design, Taif Design and Bughsan Garments.

At least 1,200 workers of the five factories started hunger strike on July 28 at Hossain Market in the capital’s Badda area demanding the payment of three months’ wages, overtime and festival bonuses together before Eid. As the workers continued the demonstration, the police padlocked the building on Wednesday and drove

officials and law enforcement agencies would be not published, the journalist leader said the clause was contradictory with the laws – right to information.

He said: “The media will expose any news regarding corruption and human rights violation.”

He also urged the government not to execute any of the new clauses until formation of the independent commission.

The press conference was attended by, among others, Dr Uthfal Sarkar, Abdul Jalil Bhuyan and Saiful Islam Talukder. l

away the agitating workers to evacuate the building that houses three factories the following day.

Meanwhile, on those two days, the BGMEA paid the dues for May and June – around Tk2.5 crore to 1,475 workers.

On Thursday, State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu at a press briefing warned that actions would be taken against the Tuba Group owner if the dues were not paid by today. l

Pinak 6-like object detected  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The agitation led to government pressure on the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA) to agree to pay part of the arrears. Police attacked workers after some of them refused to take partial payment of the dues, rejecting the BGMEA’s offer of just two months’ wages. Police charged truncheons on the workers and cleared the area. Later that day, all of the unpaid workers were paid two months’ back pay.

Tuba factory owners agreed to pay the remaining month’s wages as well as overtime dues at 2pm today at the BGMEA office. But there was no offer to pay Eid bonuses yet. l

switched off while they also took much time to reach destinations following the incident on August 4 morning.

Object very similar The trace of the metallic object has finally given the rescuers some light of hope.

Officials say rescue vessel Kandari 2 traced the metallic object at around 65 feet depth and it is about 16-17 metre long. The length of Pinak 6 launch is about 16 metres.

Engineers at the rescue vessel say the object remained under the water in tilted condition while the launch sank tilted aside. “The metallic object’s present position is around 400 metres away from the accidental spot.”

M Manjur Karim Chowdhury, chief hydrograph officer of Bangladesh Navy at Chittagong Port, told the Dhaka Tribune that although the suspected object matched, “we are still not confirm that it is Pinak 6. We found this object and keeping eye on it round the clock.”

He further mentioned that they were facing some troubles due to strong current. “The divers were not able to reach the spot for bad weather.”

Captain Nazrul Islam of Bangladesh

Navy, coordinator of the rescue team, told the Dhaka Tribune that the metallic object had been traced on Friday night.

“We found it using ‘side scan navigation range,’ but we are still not confirmed whether it is Pinak 6. We will only able to say clearly about it after we pull it up,” he said.

Six bodies recovered About the recovery of six bodies, Kutubur Rahman, additional superintendent of police of Munshiganj, told the Dhaka Tribune that those bodies had been found in Noakhali, Munshiganj and Bhola areas.

Of them, identity of one person was confirmed by an identity card found in his pocket. The victim is Ahmed Khan Litu. Relatives identified another named Moin – a three-year-old boy.

Moin’s father Mizanur Rahman and mother Rokhsana Begum also died in the accident. Another person of the same family, Moin’s eight-year-old sister Mili is still missing.

GMM Jafarullah, the deputy commissioner of Madaripur, said they had completed the burial process of three more unidentified bodies yesterday at Shibpur municipality graveyard. l

What makes crossing the river more dangerous for passengers is that the sea-boats are often piloted by untrained drivers; when they operate in the dark of night – which of course is completely prohibited – the risk of accidents are even higher, sources say.

Abul Bashar, director of port and traffic of BIWTA, told the Dhaka Tribune: “There are only 87 registered launches in the route which can carry only 10,500 passengers per day. But generally, they carry at least 30,000 passengers every day. The number triples and quadruples during festivals.”

He explained: “As a result, it is basically impossible to control the excess passengers and the irregularities.

Things get hard for us because we do not have the capacity to tell passengers to not cross the river on this route.”

Khalilur Rahman, chairman of the

Mawa unit of Bangladesh Inland Water Ways Association, basted the officials saying: “It is true that we take some extra passengers to cope up with the pressure; but what do the BIWTA officials do throughout the year. When an accident happens and journalists pour in, they take some steps and do not allow excess passengers.”

He also said: “Everything will go back to normal once everything settles down... The owners operate unfit launches because the authority gives them the permission. So, owners cannot be held guilty. Ask the authority concerned.”

The Dhaka Tribune has talked to the Department of Shipping, the BIWTA and police about all these allegations.

None of them were ready to take the responsibility.

Zakiur Rahman Bhuyan, director

general of the Department of Shipping, said their duty was to only provide fitness certificates to launches. “It is the traffic inspectors and port officials’ duty to check whether a launch is maintaining order. BIWTA mainly coordinates this and we have almost nothing to do in this regard.

“Despite that, we conducted mobile court drives to check such irregularities; but because of labor shortage, it has always been a difficult task,” Zakiur said.

However, police said checking whether a launch was carrying excess passengers was not their responsibility.

“Police can only give security to passengers,” said Jakir Hossain Mojumder, acting police super of Munshiganj.

He also denied allegations about bribery. “River officials look after the capacity of launches. So why should police take bribes?” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Clockwise from top left: A child joins a rally demanding amendment of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Commission, in front of the Central Shaheed Minar marking the International Indigenous Day. Indigenous women perform a traditional dance. Women browse through items on display at a fair organised inside the Bangla Academy premises. A man blows a traditional horn during the celebrations.

Members of the indigenous community bring out a colourful rally in Rajshahi Photo: MEHEDI HASAN/ RAJIB DHAR/ AZAHAR UDDIN

PINAK 6 DEATHS

‘DNA test last resort for future identification’ n Moniruzzaman Uzzal Collecting samples for DNA tests could be the only way to properly identify the missing passengers of Pinak 6 in the future, according to a DNA expert.

Professor Dr Sharif Akteruzzaman, head of the National DNA Profiling Laboratory at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said it would be a miracle if any of the missing people were found alive.

“If all the missing passengers have died by now then not a single body would remain fresh. All the bodies must have severely been decomposed.

This is why only DNA test could help identify the missing bodies, if found,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

The launch with more than 270 passengers on board sank in Padma river near Mawa ferry terminal on last Monday. According to the government list, the death toll reached 43 until yesterday noon. Of the 43, only 27 identities could be confirmed till yesterday while

the remaining 16 remained unidentified.

The number of missing people is 122 on the government list.

Dr Sharif said collection of samples was vital for DNA test and to detect the identity afterwards.

“Collecting gum from both upper and lower part would be the best way to collect samples for DNA test from any dead body found now,” he said.

“Samples of gum should be kept in a bottle, or somewhere else. However, the bottle should be filled with a normal saline first and the sample should then be dropped in it. It is the best way to send the sample to the DNA laboratory,” explained Sharif.

He also said samples of an organ or clothes would not be useful as the body might be found in a badly decomposed state and DNA would not be found in the vesture.

Fariduddin, superintendent of Madaripur police, told the Dhaka Tri-

bune yesterday that 15 unidentified bodies were buried (12 on Friday and 3 yesterday) at the municipal graveyard of Shibchar.

“We collected DNA samples of the bodies that might be used in the future if any relatives approach us. We will send the samples to laboratory when the rescue operations will come to an end,” he said.

“Teeth, nails and tissues of the unidentified bodies were collected. We also marked each of the graves with separate numbers to easily identify the buried people following DNA tests,” added Farid.

Dr Sharif said nobody from either the Shipping Ministry or police officially contacted them till yesterday noon.

In addition to Jarip 10 and Kandari 2, rescue vessel Shandhani of the BIWTA, and two ships of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Agnibinash and Agnishashak joined search operations to locate the launch. l

Santu Larma: Time is up for implementing CHT peace accord n Abid Azad

Bangladesh Adibashi Forum President Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, popularly known as Santu Larma, yesterday said time is over to appeal to the government for ensuring the rights of indigenous people and implementation of the peace accord signed between the Awami League government and PCJSS 17 years ago.

“Now, we need to be organised to hold strong protests against the government and dominant groups in the country to ensure the security of our life, rights and land,” Larma, also the chairman of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, said while addressing a programme at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.

He also added: “If the government thinks that the indigenous people are divided, then it will be making a great mistake.”

“From today and from this holy place, I want to call on all indigenous people to come forward to hold protests with more strength than before,”

he added.

National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman inaugurated the programme, releasing colourful balloons. Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon attended the inaugural function as the chief guest.

Speakers at the programme demanded amendment to the term “Khudro Nritattik Jonogosthi” (small ethnic group) and implementation of the peace accord as soon as early.

The NHRC chairman said: “The law was enacted in the name of ensuring the rights of indigenous people. I have no idea how can the government withdraw the term “indigenous” and deny to accept the indigenous people of the country.”

The civil aviation minister said: “We have engaged in a new debate after the 15th amendment to the constitution, although there are so many developments in the 15th amendment. This is a stupid logic that there are no indigenous people in the country. There are some people who consider the indigenous issue on security grounds.”

“I want to say clearly that the peace

accord should be implemented as soon as possible,” he added.

Robayet Ferdaus, an associate professor at Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University, said: “The state talks about democratic development, but we see military dominance over a part of the country. The state with the continuation of demographic politics wants to eliminate the indigenous people from their own land.”

Santu Larma presided over the programme, moderated by BAF Secretary Sanjib Drong.

Later, a cultural programme was held at the venue. After the programme, a colourful procession was brought out from Shaheed Minar which ended at Teachers-Students Centre of Dhaka University.

Santu Larma also inaugurated an Adibashi fair, organised by Manusher Jonno Foundation at the Bangla Academy.

Speaking on the occasion, Sultana Kamal said: “We demand setting up of language academy for each language in the country. The rights for language should be ensured properly.” l

New sweeper colony to cost DSCC 14.98% more than estimation n Asif Showkat Kallol The government has decided to build 440 small flats for cleaners in Dhaka – a deal that is going to cost 14.98% more than estimation because of a three-year delay and a re-floating of tender.

The cleaners – better known as sweepers who keep the roads and streets of the capital clean – work under the two city corporations. The new flats are planned for those who work under the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).

Currently, there are two “sweeper colonies” in the capital – one in Kamalapur and the other in Dayaganj, both built in the early 1990s during HM Ershad’s tenure – that accommodate

most of the 8,000 sweepers who work under the DSCC. In 2007, a six-storied colony in Dayaganj collapsed soon after it was erected before anyone could move in.

There are allegations that the erstwhile united Dhaka City Corporation authority resorted to huge corruption, using poor building materials that led to the collapse. The remnants of the building can be still seen.

The Anti-Corruption Commission is currently investigating an allegation of using “poor quality raw materials” for building the colony that led to a Tk58 lakh loss of public money.

Because the two existing colonies were meant to accommodate only about 5,132 people permanently, the

housing crunch has always remained acute because the building that collapsed was of no help. Apart from the congestion factor, shortage of water, gas and sewerage have been making life really difficult for the residents.

There are two other temporary colonies in Dhaka – one in Hajaribagh and the other near the Mitford Hospital.

The living conditions are extremely poor in those colonies and the boarders desperately need alternate dwellings.

Ramu Das, a resident of the Dayagonj colony where most of the sweepers live, told Dhaka Tribune: “We are living in the first building that was constructed in 1990. It has been really painful because of the raging crisis of water, sewerage and gas supply.”

On the ground and the first floors of the colony, there were a number of shops given out on rent. However, those on the first floor are now being used by many sweeper families as oneroom flats. Understandably, there is no ventilation, sanitation and water-gas supply in those shops.

“We pay Tk1,000 as rent for living in the tiny shop-rooms without gas and electricity,” Ramu described their ordeal.

According to the documents of the recently finalised tender, prepared three years ago and re-floated earlier this year, the estimated cost for building the 472sq-ft flat was Tk68.67 crore.

But, Navana Construction Limited, the lowest bidder, has quoted Tk78.96 crore. Initially, 11 firms quoted prices,

of whom four were selected.

The same tender was floated once before in 2013 but was cancelled because the government had said none of the bidders were qualified enough for the work. A total of 13 firms competed in that tender.

A proposal, signed by LGRD Ministry Secretary Manjur Hossain, says the government has plans for constructing five 10-storied buildings for cleaners who work under the two city corporations of Dhaka. Starting at the end of this year, the project is set to end in 2017.

The proposal also says that the price quoted by Navana is higher than the estimated cost but is 5.6% lower than the current market price.

The secretary told the Dhaka Tri-

bune that considering the level of inflation over the last three years, the rise in project cost was justified.

At present, there are about 55 lakh sweepers in the country who work under various local government authorities.

About 300 years ago, during the British rule, the forefathers of these sweepers were brought from Indian states such as Madras, Kanpur, Hyderabad and other states in the south.

They were mainly ultra-poor people who came here looking for a better life.

Because the cast they belong to is considered the lowest among the Hindus, they have always found it hard to find accommodation because of the social taboo against them. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Government yet to move to end conflict Elahi: Govt should frame energy saving between police and civil administration electronics law n Mohosinul Karim

The government is yet to decide on what actions it would take to put an end to a long-standing conflict between the civil administration and the police department which has been hindering coordination in various state activities for the last 38 years.

Civil servants have long been stating that police officials generally ignore directives or requests of the administration and repeatedly violate the rules of business by calling coordination meetings on various issues on their own.

Sources in the administration told the Dhaka Tribune that the conflict between the two major arms of the state intensified after the government separated the administration from the judiciary, dissolving magistracy powers of civil servants.

Although the conflict existed as an open secret following the separation, several incidents of clashes and conflicts between the two departments in recent times had brought the issue out in the open.

In June this year, Jamalpur Deputy Commissioner (DC) Shahabuddin

Khan filed a complaint with the cabinet division against the district's Superintendent of Police (SP) Nazrul Islam for violating rules of business by calling a coordination meeting on law and order for Ramadan at his office.

As per the rules of business, only deputy commissioners are authorised to call such meetings as head of the district administration. However, SP Nazrul called a coordination meeting without informing the DC. Later, the deputy commissioner called another meeting on June 26 and invited the SP to join the discussions.

But the meeting did not find the presence of the police superintendent or any other representative from the police department.

Earlier in March, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Md Emdad of Louhajang police station under Munshiganj district assaulted Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) ATM Mahbub-ul-Karim of Gazaria upazila following a disagreement over the distribution of polling instruments and papers during the upazila polls.

Following the incident, the cabinet division asked the home ministry to take action against ASI Emdad. How-

ever, the home ministry order against Emdad was allegedly ignored by local police high-ups.

Deputy commissioners have also alleged that district police authorities refuse to provide police forces for any operation or mobile court drives citing a shortage in manpower.

During the Deputy Commissioner’s Conference held in July, DCs also proposed formation of a separate police unit under the district administration to help them execute their duties easily.

When asked, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune last month that the issue was not a major problem and initiatives have been taken to solve the problem in a mutually acceptable way.

State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadique took a different view of the conflict.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune last week, Ismat said: “The government has nothing here as this problem was created during Ziaur Rahman’s military rule.

Zia recruited several retired army officers as police superintendents during his tenure and they never cared about the civil bureaucrats.

“It has been like this for the last 38 years. Previously, police had to follow orders from DC's because civil servants had magistracy power. But the police administration has started to consider themselves as independent after the separation of the judiciary from administration.

“The government is planning to settle this problem by bringing field level police administration under the divisional commissioners. The deputy inspectors general of different ranges would also be brought under the commissioners. This may help reduce some of the trouble,” she added.

Police high-ups rejected the allegations of a departmental conflict and claimed that as public servants there was no scope for conflicts between the civil administration and the police.

“There is no scope for conflict between the administration and the police. If there is any allegation, we will place the issue before the authorities concerned and look for a mutual solution to the problem,” Assistant Inspector General of Police Headquarters Mohammad Jallaluddin told the Dhaka Tribune. l

n Aminur Rahman Rasel Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Power and Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said the government should pass a law that will make mandatory to use fewer energy consuming sophisticated equipments in industrial and household level to save energy.

“In the law, the energy consumers could be given a time-frame to upgrade their equipment. If they fail to do so, their connection may be disconnected,” Tawfiq-e-Elahi said while speaking a seminar arranged by Petrobangla on the occasion of National Energy Security Day at its auditorium in the capital yesterday.

The day is observed across the country commemorating the historic decision in 1975 of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to buy five gas fields from the then Shell Oil Company for the state.

Tawfiq opined that Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) can start work on the issue.

During the event, Petrobangla Chairman Hossain Monsur said they have

taken initiatives to meet the country’s energy demand by increasing gas production. “Daily gas production was 1,744 million cubic feet in January, 2009, which has currently reached at 2,350 mcf.”

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid termed ensuring energy security a major challenge, saying: “We are trying to secure the future by strengthening human resources development for the sector. In this regard, we have already taken a decision to use natural gas and fuel oil properly,” “Our coal deposit and extraction are the most important issue now and we will have to adopt a decision in this regard.” He also stated.

Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Md Tajul Islam, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman A R Khan, Energy and Mineral Resources Division Secretary Md Abubakar Siddique, Power Division Secretary Monowar Islam and senior officials were also present among others. l

Bayaan Collective begins five-day events on partition today n Tribune Report

International conference on classrooms starts at ULAB n Tribune Report

The Bayaan Collective will be holding a series of discussions and presentations titled Nations and Notions: Partition Week at different venues in the city from Sunday to Thursday.

The events will be organised in collaboration with the University Press Limited and media partner The Dhaka Tribune, according to a press release.

Interdisciplinary academics, artists, media persons and activists will participate in the events, including panel discussions, workshops and film shows during the week.

To know about the events in details, log onto www.bayaancollective.org l

The two-day international conference titled “The 21st Century Classroom: Directions, Issues and Changes” opened on University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh’s (ULAB) Dhanmondi campus on Friday.

This is the second conference hosted by the ULAB, where UGC Chairman (state minister) Prof Dr AK Azad Chowdhury was present as chief guest, says a press release.

The conference is being attended by 70 academics from 29 different universities of seven countries and there are two special panels tabled by the American Centre and British Council.

The UGC chief said South Korea has surpassed all other nations mainly due to the contribution of its private universities, while the country’s private universities will have to do the duty.

In the event, ULAB Vice Chancellor Prof Imran Rahman highlighted communication skills as one of the prerequisites to get a job. “There is no getting away from the fact that you need English in today’s world where globalization has made it one work place.”

Brenden McSherry, the country director of British Council, echoed the voice of the VC. l

Ershad off to India on 6-day visit n UNB Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad left the country yesterday for Kolkata in India on a six-day private visit, said a party official.

Ershad’s son Eric Ershad and Personal Secretary Maj (retd) Khaled Akhter also accompanied him.

The JaPa chief, also a special envoy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is scheduled to return home on Thursday.

JaPa Secretary General Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, presidium members, including Ershad's political secretary, Sunil Shuvo Roy, went to the airport to see him off. l

A building housing the office of Kumabhog Union Parisad collapses due to continuous erosion along the bank of the Padma River in Louhajang of Munshiganj

MEHEDI HASAN

New JaPa body for DCC South announced Daffodil University gives free n laptops to 850 students Manik Miazee

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad yesterday announced a new committee for the Dhaka South City Corporation with Syed Abu Hossain Babla as the convener and Johirul Alam Rubel as the member secretary.

Through a party statement, the JaPa chief announced the new committee dissolving the old one. The statement, signed by the party’s central Joint Office Secretary Abul Hassan Ahmed Juwel, also said the decision was made

following the section 39 of the party charter.

Earlier, JaPa presidium member Kazi Firoz Rashid had been acting as the president of the old committee.

Contacted, Kazi Firoz Rashid told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our party chief does not want me in the party activities.

In the situation, I think, party activities cannot be perfectly carried out by me. For this reason, I told the party chief to cancel my post.”

Party insiders said the decision

was made following recent conflicts between JaPa chief Ershad and his wife Rawshan Ershad, the opposition leader.

Earlier, on July 27, Rawshan issued a letter to Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury to announce Kazi Firoz Rashid as the deputy leader of the opposition party in the parliament.

However, on August 7, Ershad issued a statement saying such decision to appoint the deputy leader was yet to be taken by the party. l

n Tribune Report Daffodil International University (DIU) yesterday distributed 850 free laptops to its students to adapt them to the latest ICT friendly education and to help them grow and compete in an international labour market It was the tenth such event carried out by the university. Vice Chancellor Professor Dr M Lutfar Rahman was pres-

ent as chief guest, says a media release.

The university authorities had earlier taken a gigantic initiative called “One Student: One Laptop” programme. Every student admitted into DIU from Summer Semester 2010 and onward is getting a free laptop.

The function was also attended by DIU Registrar Prof Dr Syed Akter Hossain and Director of Student Affairs Syed Mizanur Rahman, among others. l

KGDCL observes National Fuel Security Day Obituary n Tribune Report Rifat Hassan, husband of Rabindra Sangeet singers Rani Aklima, a Bangladeh expatriate in New Zealand, died on Friday of brain cancer at Oakland Hospital.

He was 48, said a press release.

Rifat had been diagnosed with the fatal disease since February last year.

After a namaj-e-janaza at Oakland, he was buried yesterday in Kelton Cemetery. Rifat was involved in various socio-cultural activities involving the immigrant Bangalee community.

He left behind his wife, two sons and a host of relatives to mourn the death.

The family sought prayers from the relatives, friends and others for the freedom and peace of the departed soul. l

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL) yesterday observed National Fuel Security Day 2014 in Chittagong city with different programmes.

As a part of the celebration, a colourful procession was brought out from Chittagong MA Aziz Stadium Gymnasium premises around 10am which stopped at Chittagong Press Club after parading the city roads, said a press release from KGDCL. After the procession, a rally was held before Chittagong Press Club where Managing Director Abdul Matin of KGDCL spoke among others.

“The then government of Bangladesh started the Fuel sector purchasing five gas fields from Shell Oil Company on August 9, 1975, and since then, National Fuel Security Day is being ob-

served on August 9 every year” he said.

The MD also said the present government is working to develop the sector and he urged the officials and the employees of KGDCL to work hard to improve the quality of their service to the country.

General Manager (Administration) Chowdhury Ahsan Habib, General Manager (Marketing) Engineer Firoz alam, General Manager (Operation) Engineer SR Khan, General Manager (Eng Service) Engineer Md Sahid Ali, General Manager (Planning and Development) Engineer Dhurjoti Prasad Deb and Secretary Neazur Rahman, among others, were present at the programme.

The press release also said most of the officials and staff of KGDCL, carrying banners, festoons and placards, took part in the procession and rally. l

Former Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed addresses at a national dialogue on the country’s garment sector, in the capital yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Dark Ctg streets a haven for criminals n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Chittagong’s criminals were doing brisk business under the cover of darkness provided by the Chittagong City Corporation’s (CCC) inability to keep roads and alleys well-lit at night, police said.

After a week-long survey of Chittagong by night, the Dhaka Tribune found that darkness prevailed at 48 points on the port city’s roads where severed electric lines and fused light bulbs made it easy to commit crimes.

Police said trouble spots were chronically unlit. The Dhaka Tribune found four street lamps fused from Tigerpass to Kodomtoli road and another two street lights damaged in the Central Railway Building area where three murders and 150 muggings took place in the last seven months.

Murders and muggings take place at night in areas that are dark, Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Assistant Commissioner Shah Mohammad Abdur Rouf of Kotwali circle said.

Electricity connection wires on Sheikh Mujib road, from Barek Building to Saltgola Crossing adjoining the Chittagong Port area, were severed at several points leaving the much-used areas in the dark.

The Dhaka Tribune found street lights switched off on roads around Jamboree field, Karnaphuli Shishu Park and adjoining areas soon after dusk on two consecutive days.

Police sources said drug peddlers and muggers assaulted commuters with impunity in unlit areas.

Street lights around various city thoroughfares and residential streets were fused, easing the path for criminals to operate, police sources said.

Narail set to celebrate Sultan’s 90th birth anniversary n Our Correspondent, Narail Different cultural organisations are prepared to celebrate the 90th birth anniversary of renowned artist SM Sultan in a befitting manner at his village home in Masumdia village, Narail.

The SM Sultan Foundation, the district administration and SM Sultan Birth Celebration Committee 2014 have chalked out a daylong programme to mark the birthday of the celebrated painter.

SM Sultan Bengal Art College and other educational institutions and cultural organisations would also celebrate his birth anniversary in a befitting manner.

The daylong celebration would begin by placing floral wreaths at the artist’s Mazar. An art competition and discussions would also be held at Shishu Swarga auditorium. l

On June 27, at around 10pm, businessman Afjal Hossain was returning home from his office when muggers robbed him at gunpoint in the Tigerpass area. He was stopped by another gang of thieves in Serson road, near his residence, and beaten mercilessly when they found he had nothing left to be looted.

Both assault sites, equipped with street lamps, were dark because the lights had been switched off, he said.

CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder said crime in these areas would be reduced if street lights operated properly.

“Criminals love to work in the dark and mobile police teams are helped by good lighting,” he said.

Superintendent engineer (Electrical) of the CCC, Mahfuzul Haq, said repair work of damaged lights and electricity connections was a continuous process but admitted there were delays because of manpower shortages. The CCC manages some 47,000 lights, of which 41,000 are street lamps of various types and the rest are in offices, schools and marketplaces.

Councillor for the CCC’s 12th ward, Babul Haque, who is also the chief of the city corporation electrical affairs standing committee, said 100 tube lights were supplied to each ward every month and two mechanics and four helpers were assigned to every ward for maintenance work.

“Repair work has been delayed due to the rainy season, but we are actively on the job. There aren’t any bureaucratic complexities in this process,” he said. He said street lights in areas hit hard by crime would be fixed. l

Members of a social welfare organisation form a human chain in Khulna demanding a ban on unfit vehicles plying city roads

Two held with 5,600 yaba pills in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Police early yesterday detained two people with 5,600 yaba tablets worth Tk11.20 lakh from Kotwali in Chittagong city.

They were Abul Hossain, 21, and Nasir Uddin, 21.

The duo, who was nabbed near Ri-

fles Club around 2:50am, were in a car.

Sub-inspector Sanjoy Sinha of Kotwali police station said he took notice of the suspicious movement of the two and decided to search the car.

“The pills in 28 small plastic packets were found inside the vehicle,” he said.

The vehicle was said to be owned by someone named Shafiq in Cox’s Bazar

An effort by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD) to strengthen local government by mandating the creation of 13 standing committees in each union parishad (UP) has proven ineffectual.

Local sources said the committees had been mandated to deal with a comprehensive range of matters from taxation to audits to family dispute resolution.

Mirroring national government on a smaller scale, standing committees consider issues of local importance and provide recommendations to union parishads, much like parliamentary committees do for parliament.

The local government, however, does not wield the fiscal power that parliament enjoys. Insiders in local government have complained that funding issues have weakened the ini-

tiative. But ordinary citizens said they hadn’t heard about the committees or that they had heard of them, but that they did not meet.

In a tour of several Moulvibazar sadar unions, the Dhaka Tribune found that standing committees usually did not meet and, in any case, standing committees made recommendations according to the wishes of the UP chairman.

Several UP chairmen, on condition of anonymity, admitted that the system was not working. They said more financial support from the government was needed to empower the UPs do their job better.

Mizanur Rahman, who works as divisional coordinator for Sylhet for Mass-line Media Centre, an NGO that works extensively with local government, said introducing the standing committees was a good thing. “If standing committees were made more functional, the UPs capacity to provide

services would be enhanced,” he said.

Common people said they did not know about the union parishad’s standing committees. When contacted, many people, including Iqbal Ahmed and Mahmud Miah of Momrujpur village and Mohsin Murad of Sathal, said they did not know such committees existed.

UP chairmen of different union parishads in Moulvibazar sadar upazila including Raja Miah of Akhail Kura, Musarof Husen Badsha of Chadnighat and Sujit Kumar Das of Amtail said standing committees could help develop union parishad operations and services. But they said it was difficult to implement recommendations made by standing committees because union parishads did not have the financial ability to do so.

An October 2009 gazette notification ordered each of the country’s 4,550 union parishads to set up 13 standing committees, composed of 5 to

DRIZZLE

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Barisal

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Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

4:09am 5:30am 12:05am 4:44pm 6:39pm 8:00pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

7 members presided over by an elected member of the UP. The notification required that one-third of the presidents of the standing committees be women, and that meetings be convened every two months.

The committees were set up for finance and establishment; accounts and audit; taxes and collection; education, health and family planning; agriculture, fisheries and livestock; village infrastructural development and maintenance; law and order; birth and death registration; sanitation, water supply and sewerage; social welfare and disaster management; environment and forestation; family dispute arbitration and women’s and children’s welfare; and culture and sports.

The provision requires that recommendations of the standing committees be placed before the UPs for consideration and that UP authorities had to respond in writing about recommendations it had not accepted. l

“Abul and Nasir said one Abul Kalam gave them the yaba pills and asked them to hand those over to a man in exchange for Tk5,000. They, however, could not tell the name of the recipient,” added Rouf.

A case was filed with Kotwali police station against Abul Kalam along with the two detainees in this connection.l

Menon: CHT peace accord will be fully implemented n UNB Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon yesterday said the Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) Peace Accord would be implemented fully during the tenure of the present government to ensure rights of the indigenous people.

“The rights of the indigenous people will be given back,” he said while addressing a discussion meeting organized by Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, an organization of indigenous people, at Central Shaheed Minar in the capital marking the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.

DU VC Prof Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Dr Mizanur Rahman and President Communist Party of Bangladesh Mujahidul Islam Selim, among others, spoke at the programme. l

CU Shah Amanat hall to reopen next month

WEATHER

Dhaka

but official records showed Ali Akbar, a resident of Gulshan in Dhaka, is the owner, said Assistant Commissioner Shah Mohammad Abdur Rouf of Kotwali circle under Chittagong Metropolitan Police.

“Shafiq said he bought the car and would rent it to tourists. The arrestees also hired it from Shafiq in the name of travelling,” he said.

Moulvibazar UP standing committees idle n Our Correspondent, Moulvibazar

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Participants of a discussion on saving Buriganga river pose for a photograph at the Basila Old Government Primary School premisis in the capital yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Call for standing united against Buriganga pollution n Tribune Report Speakers at a discussion yesterday called on all to stand united against those who are encroaching on and polluting the Buriganga river violating laws and court directives.

They made the call at the discussion titled “We want the Buriganga to be free from pollution and swimmable all the year round”, marking WaterKeeper Swimmable Water Weekend 2014 in the city, according to a press release.

The Buriganga Keeper, an organisation that fights against the pollution in

the lifeline of capital Dhaka organised the event on the premises of Basila Old Government Primary School situated alongside the river.

Former Caretaker Government Adviser Sultana Kamal, who presided over the discussion, said: Those of us live alongside the river must work as its keepers together and keep it swimmable all the year round.

“Because if a river is destroyed, nothing like civilisation and life can be saved.”

Another former Caretaker Government Adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury said: “Our

children now feast their eyes on the rivers by watching them on the computers. They learn how to swim in the swimming pool, which cuts us to the quick.”

She called for fast-tracking the prime minister’s recent directives in preserving the river navigability.

BELA Chief Executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan, BAPA Joint General Secretary Shahjahan Mridha Benu, former captain of the National Cricket Team Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, actor Hasan Masood and freedom fighter Sultan Ahmed Tipu, among others, spoke at the discussion. l

Chittagong University (CU) authorities have announced to reopen the Shah Amanat hall, one of the major student dormitories of the university, next month which was closed down for an indefinite period following a fierce clash between Bangladesh Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir on January 12.

The dormitory would be open for students from next month upon completion of the legal procedure, CU Proctor Professor Siraj Ud Dowla told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said previous allotments have been cancelled and additional measures had been taken to avert any further untoward situation on campus.

The previous 632 seats in the dorm where over 1200 students used to re-

side had been cancelled while circular seeking new applications for seat allotment would be published within two or three days, said campus sources.

Professor Siraj said students have to reapply for new seats, adding that the Shah Amanat hall was dominated by the Islami Chhatra Shibir like four other male dormitories of the university.

“After closing the dormitory the students have spread out to different locations, therefore, it was quite impossible to get all of them back together. However, the old students will get priority while selection,” said the CU proctor.

More than six months ago, CU authorities closed down the dormitory following a clash that left Mamun Hossain, a fourth year student of Soil Science Department, dead and at least 20 activists of Chhatra League and Chhatra Shibir injured. l

Two held with fake notes in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Police nabbed two people with five counterfeit notes of Tk1,000 denominations from Bakalia area in Chittagong city yesterday morning.

The arrestees are Sohel Khan, 35, of Narsingdi, and Sheikh Ajmir, 21, of Mymensingh district, said police sources.

Officer-in-charge of Bakalia police station Mohammad Mohsin said they detained the duo from Chairmanghata of Kalamia Bazar around 10am while they were attempting to make transactions with the phony notes.

A case was lodged with Bakalia police station in this connection, he added. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Lack of rainfall makes Aman production costlier n Hasibur Rahman Bilu Farmers in the country’s northern district have been forced to bear additional expenses to cultivate Aman paddy this season as the rainfall has not been adequate compared to last season.

Acknowledging the fact, officials at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said the lack of adequate rainfall in the region this season had pushed additional irrigational cost to around Tk175 crore.

Sources at the DAE said some Tk307 crore was spent as supplementary irrigation costs in the northern region in the last Aman season, whereas farmers now have to spend around Tk475 crore this season due to rainfall inadequacy.

Passengers have been suffering a lot as one of the two sea-trucks on the Bhola-Lakshmipur route remain inoperative for last six days because of mechanical faults.

Master of the damaged sea-truck Khijir 7 Nazrul Islam said the vessel syddenly broke down on July 3, adding that it would take time to repair the vessel.

As a result of the situation, the other sea-truck had been carrying additional passengers which is very risky and other passengers were taking their lives at risk using eingine-run boats to cross the Meghna river, defying a government ban to cross the danger zone in the Meghna. Some other passengers were using ferry services on this route.

Several passengers said no special service was provided on the Bhola-Lakshmipur water route and as a result the passengers were suffering a lot. l

Lack of adequate rainfall in the region this season had pushed additional irrigational cost to around Tk175 crore Earlier, the DAE set a target to harvest more than 55 lakh metric ton of Aman rice in more than 20.69 lakh hectares of land in the region.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Saiful Islam, a farmer from Baliadighi village of Shahajahanpur upazila, said in the last season he only had to pay around Tk300 once as a supplementary irrigation expense for cultivating Aman paddy on his 30 decimal piece of land.

However, DAE officials from 16 northern districts had initially estimated that supplementary irrigation costs will rise to Tk3,000 to Tk4,500 per hectare on an average, compared to last season.

When asked, DAE Deputy Director

Four Hijb-ut Tahrir activists nabbed n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Farmers use a machanised irrigation machine to channel water into their croplands in Bogra due to inaduquate rainfall during this season (Bogra) Chandi Das Kundu said around 16,715 mechanised irrigation machines, including 112 deep tube wells, have been operating in 12 upazilas in the district to tackle the drought situation, which had grown to almost double than the last year.

According to DAE’s Bogra office, 231 millimetres (mm) of rainfall was recorded in August last year whereas only 21mm of rainfall was recorded in the nine days of August this year.

At the same time, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) said only

129mm of rainfall on an average was recorded on July in Teesta, Brahmaputra and Dharla river basins, which was at 538mm last year.

Md Abul Kalam Azad, acting additional director of the DAE in Rajshahi, told the Dhaka Tribune that around 18

Pirganj-Dhaka highway in sorry state

Detained man dies in Jessore hospital n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon n Our Correspondent, Jessore Roughly more than 1,00,000 people A detained man died on Friday at a hospital in Jessore just while he was being sent to jail.

The deceased’s name was Babu Khan, 35, son of Dabir Khan from Goakhola village in Avaynagar upazila.

Chhoyer Uddin, the officer-in-charge of Avaynagar police station, said Babu was sent to jail by the court in a drug related case on Friday. Considering Babu’s poor health, the court also ordered to provide Babu with proper treatment.

Jailer of Jessore Central Jail SM Mahiuddin Haidar said when, around 7pm, Babu was brought to the Jail gate, his physical condition deteriorated, and he was directly sent to Jessore Medical College Hospital, where he died around 10pm.

The jailer also informed that Babu was addicted to heroin. Sub-inspector Swapan Kumar Biswas from the Kotowali police station said the deceased’s body was sent to JMCH morgue for an autopsy. l

suffer everyday while travelling along a road that connects Thakurgaon with Dinajpur as the road has been in a rundown state for so long.

Elderly people and pregnant women are the worst sufferers because they have a bumpy ride while commuting along the road.

Our correspondent visited the road himself.

He saw the six-kilometre part of the road from Dinajpur’s Pirganj to Shalguni and the twelve-kilometre part of the same road in Dinajpur’s Bochaganj

upazila were full of potholes, which makes the journey for the elderly and the pregnant a nightmare.

The worst thing is that the Shoa bridge and the road that goes through Banshgarha at Pirganj upazila are not at all worth using.

They pose a severe risk for the travellers, because of which the vehicles, including Dhaka-bound buses, BRTC gate-locked buses, goods-laden trucks, are often seen stuck here.

Fresh potholes have recently formed in front of Krishnapur, Setabgang Filling Station, Krishnapur Bazar, Daulatpur Bazar at Dinajpur’s Bochaganj upazila.

Such potholes become unidentifiable during the rainy season, when rain waters deposit on the potholed road making it invisible for road users, including drivers.

Pirganj Upazila Engineer Tajmil Khan said: “We have got an allocation of Tk80 lakh this fiscal year for expanding the five-kilometre road from Pirganj to Shalguni up to 18 feet. We hope that the construction will begin soon.”

Bochaganj Upazila Engineer Md Rojdid Ahmed said: “Road works are becoming impossible for us because we are not getting an adequate allocation for it. However, the road will be repaired soon.’ l

One held for rape in Tetulia n Our Correspondent, Panchagarh Police arrested a man in Tetulia yesterday for raping a school girl on Thursday.

The detainee is Biplob, 23, the son of Roisuddin from Aziznagar village under Tetulia upazila in Panchagarh.

Police arrested Biplob yesterday, around 10pm, from Tetulia Health Complex, where he was receiving treatment as he was severely beaten up by the victim’s neighbours.

A case regarding the rape was lodged with Tetulia police station by the victim’s father Nasir Uddin on Friday night.

It can be mentioned here that Biplob raped the girl at her house on Thursday night, and when the victim cried out for help her neighbours rescued her and caught Biplob. After beating him up, they admitted him to the health complex. l

Two convicted fugitives in rape case held n Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur

Local police in a secret drive arrested two fugitives, who were previously sentenced to 14 years in jail respectively in two cases filed for molestation, from different upazilas of the district early yesterday.

The arrested are Shahab Uddin, son of Abdur Rahim, of Charfalkan village of Kamalnagar upazila, and Sala Uddin, son of Ali Hossain, of Charbangshi village of Raipur upazila, says Nasimul Hoque, ASP of Lakshmipur Police Headquarters.

Afterwards, the convicts were sent to the court, the ASP continued. l

Only one vessel for Bhola-Lakshmipur passengers n Our Correspondent, Bhola

A brick-laden tractor slowly crosses the Pirganj-Dhaka highway in Thakurgaon yesterday as the thoroughfare had been in a depleted condition for a long time DHAKA TRIBUNE

Four killed in 4 districts n Tribune Report

At least four people were killed in Natore, Netrokona, Satkhira and Chapainawabganj districts yesterday.

Natore correspondent reports: A septuagenarian was killed at Naldanga upazila in the district.

The deceased was identified as Sheher Ali Pramanik,70, son of late Nuru Pramanik at Kashiabari village in Bramhapur union of the upazila.

Manirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Naldanga police station said the body of Sheher was found infront of bathroom near his house.

On information, police recovered the dead body and sent it to Natore Sadar hospital morgue for autopsy.

In Netrakona, an activist of Bangladesh Chhatra League was killed in a factional clash over establishing supremacy on the campus of Netrakona Government College.

The victim was identified as Ifti, 17, first year student of the college and son of Mirza Azizur

Rahman of Kalibari area in the sadar upazila.

Witnesses said some BCL activists of the college locked in an altercation with Ifti around 1pm on the campus following supremacy.

At one stage, they chopped Ifti with sharp weapon, leaving him critically injured.

He was rushed to Netrakona Sadar Hospital where doctor declared him dead.

Kawser, officer-in-charge of Netrakona Sadar thana, confirmed the incident.

In Satkhira, a pirate was killed in an encounter with police at Singhortoli area of Sundarbans of the district.

The pirate was identified as Mintu Gazi, 33, son of Abdul Mannan of village Chadnimukha under Shyamnagar upazila.

His brother Shontu Gazi, 28 was also arrested from the spot.

Aminul Islam Biplob, officer-incharge of Shyamnagar police station, said acting on a tip off, a team of police arrested the pirates Mintu Gazi and Shontu Gazi from their village.

Police also recovered one pipegun with four rounds of bullets from their possession.

Later, they were taken to Singhortoli to recover fire arms.

OC said, sensing the presence of police, the associates of pirate Mintu Gazi opened fire at them, prompting the law enforcers to fire back.

At one stage, pirate Mintu Gazi was caught in the line of cross fire.

In Chapainawabganj, an Awami league activist was killed as miscreants hurled bombs in Shibganj upazila.

The victim was identified as Ataur Rahman Folen, 60, son of Fazlur Rahman and brother of Poura Awami League acting president Niamot Ali of Sheikhtola Mor in the upazila.

He was active with AL politics.

Witnesses said some miscreants threw 7/8 bombs targeting Folen when he was sitting at a shop at Sheikhtola bazaar, leaving him dead on the spot.

Ashikur Rahman, officer-incharge of Shibganj police station, confirmed the incident. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

percent of Aman cultivable land in the division was now facing draught.

He also said apart from mechanised irrigation machines and traditional irrigation machines, farmers in his region were also using water from natural resources to meet their needs. l

Members of Sylhet airport police station nabbed four activists of banned Islamist organisation Hijb-ut Tahrir at a masjid near the station on Friday night.

OC of the police station Shah Zaman said the detainees – Md Jewel, Saidur Rahman Tanvir, Ahmed Sharif and Razu Ahmed – would be presented before the court within 24 hours.

Police said the four were nabbed while they were distributing leaflets of the banned organisation. All the detainees except Razu got release from jail just a week ago. l

International Day of World’s Indigenous People observed n Tribune Report The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was celebrated throughout the country with various programmes to mark the day.

This year’s theme for the day was “Bridging the gap: implementing the rights of indigenous peoples”.

Rangamati correspondent reports: Bangladesh Adivasi Forum Chittragong Hill Tracts chapter chalked out various programmes to observe the day.

A discussion was held at Rangamati Municipality office complex in the morning. Speakers at the discussion urged the Government to ensure constitutional rights of the ethnic peoples through implementation of the CHT Accord.

If the government does not implement the rights of ethnic peoples, the demand will be secured through movement, they added.

Ushaton Talukdar MP was the chief guest at the meeting. Among others, president of Parbatya Chattragram Janasanghati Samity, Rangamati Gunendu Bikas Chakma, Secretary of CHT Headmen Network, Rangamati Shanti Bijoy Chakma, Sadar upazilla chairman Arun Kanti Chakma spoke at the meeting while president of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, CHT chapter Prokriti Ranjon Chakma presided over the function.

After the discussion, a colourful procession was brought out in the district town.

The rally started from Rangamati

Pourasava office premises and finished at Rangamati Outer Stadiuam meeting spot.

In Moulvibazar, Khasi and Garo communities organized rally, discussion meetings and cultural programme in observance of the day.

Grater Sylhet Adivasi Forum brought out a colourful rally from Catholic Mission area in the district town. After parading the main thoroughfares, the rally ended at local Shaheed Minar.

International Indeginous Day Observance Committee also held a discussion meeting at Borolekha Pouroshova conference room after bringing out a procession at Borolekha upazaila headquarters.

Thakurgaon correspondent adds: Nationlal Adivasi Forum Thakurgaon chapter brought out a colourful procession from in front of Thakurgaon Press Club.

Later, a discussion was held in the hall room of the press club presided over by the forum’s president Surza Mur Mur. Among others, USDO executive director Dr Shahiduzzaman, CPB president Mirazul Islam and advocate Imran Chowdhury spoke on the occasion.

In Chapainawbgnaj, a colourful procession was brought out from in front of Fire Service office in the district town demanding to implement the rights of indigenous peoples.

A discussion was also held on the occasion. Among others, Uttarbanga Adibasi Forum president Hingu Mur Mur, Korneleus Mur Murmu and Stphen Saren spoke on the occasion. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Career

The workplace should provide support for breastfeeding mothers n

Shirin Khan

Mammals have produced milk for the young of their species to nurture their babies at the breast for the last 400,000 years. Decade after decade, babies are being fed by the mother’s breast milk exclusively to ensure the utmost nutrition supplementation, a fact that fortunately is agreed on by all.

Evidence suggests that mothers leaving small children at home to return to work have less productivity and more likely to discontinue the work Defined simply, exclusive breastfeeding is feeding the baby with only breast milk (including expressed breast milk or wet nurse) and not a single drop of water; the regimen may allow receiving oral rehydration solution or any medications like syrups till the end of 180 days, or the first six months.

The next question arises about the reasons and benefits of this exclusive breastfeeding issue. Breastfeeding, especially when done exclusively for the first six months, helps babies develop immunity against a number of diseases. But unfortunately, the busy schedule of a working mother prevents her to exclusively breastfeed her baby nowadays.

According to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2011, exclusive breastfeeding in our country has increased to 64% from 43% in 2007. These numbers indicate that we are heading forward, although at a slow rate.

In 2011 the finance ministry issued a gazette notification amending Rule 197(1) of Part-I of the Bangladesh Service Rules extending the maternity leave from four months to six months to provide support towards exclusive breastfeeding to children. Accord-

ing to the amended rule, a female government servant will be entitled to maternity leave twice during her service. However, this extended maternity leave is not yet applicable to the mothers working in the private sector.

This forces mothers working in the private sector to go back to work, often soon after delivery mainly due to workplace policy constraints. Evidence suggests that mothers leaving small children at home to return to work have less productivity and more likely to discontinue the work.

In the private sector in Bangladesh, in addition to not having paid maternity leave for six months, many of the workplaces do not provide health service provisions at the workplace.

It is very regrettable that many private sector employers do not allow a necessary six month maternity leave to the expectant mothers working in their organisations, despite all the government offices already having implemented it.

There is need for organisations to be more mother-friendly and consid-

A word or two on insurance n Career Desk

BIZ VOCAB

Actuary – a person who calculates risks for insurance companies Assessor – a person who calculates the value of something

Claim – an application for payment under an insurance policy; to make a claim

Liability – the state of being liable; anything for which a person is liable Liable – legally obliged to pay for damage, injury etc; responsible Loss – death, injury, damage etc that is the basis for a claim Loss adjuster – a person who assesses the amount of compensation arising from a claim Policy – a contract of insurance

Comprehensive – (of an insurance policy) all-inclusive; providing complete protection

Policyholder – the person to whom an insurance policy is issued

Consequential loss – a loss that happens as a consequence of or as a result of another

Premium – a payment, usually monthly, yearly etc, for an insurance policy

Cover – the protection given by an insurance policy

Product liability – liability or responsibility of a firm for damage caused by one of its products

Employer’s liability – liability or responsibility of a firm for damage caused to one of its employees Goods in transit – property, merchandise or any goods in the process of being transported Insurance broker – agent who arranges insurance; middleman between insurer and policyholder

Public liability – responsibility of a firm for damage caused to a member of the public Reinsurance – the insuring of a risk by one insurance company with another Risk – chance or possibility of injury, loss etc; person or thing causing risk

WORDS OF WISDOM

”

Take up one idea.

Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Swami Vivekananda

According to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2011, exclusive breastfeeding in our country has increased to 64% from 43% in 2007. These numbers indicate that we are heading forward, although at a slow rate er the plight of working mothers. The best way to ensure working mothers breastfeed exclusively is by creating a baby-friendly environment at workplaces. For example, Eminence, a non-profit and nongovernment organisation, working in the areas of health and nutrition has made breast-

7

Sunday, August 10, 2014

feeding practices one of its major focused areas. Eminence has been supporting, promoting, protecting and advocate breastfeeding.

The organisation believes in practicing exclusive breastfeeding at the workplace by providing small baby crèche for working women. Eminence encourages its women staffs to bring their babies in the premises after completion of their provision of four months maternity leave.

This is a triumphant example of exclusive breast feeding with a very small and simple effort from an organisation. With this small attempt to ensure better nutrition and a brighter future for children, we can breastfeed our babies exclusively as a working mother as per our wish.

A current release issued by Institute of Public Health Nutrition (IPHN) has named this year’s theme for the breastfeeding mothers “Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life.” The ministry of health, IPHN and Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation are jointly observing the week through various programmes of significance. l

Tackling stress head on n Career Desk

Working too much or too little leads to stress building up. Hard work is a healthy indication of being sincere at work. But overworking causes stress, depression and a gradual erosion of motivation; all of these are responsible for a fall in productivity. At the same time, people who do not work at all, those dealing with long term unemployment also experience chronic stress.

Numerous researches in the fields of medical science and psychology show that stress takes lasting and harmful tolls on both your mind and body. Tangible damages done by stress to your health include diabetes, headache, obesity, high blood pressure and even heart attack. It also leads to psychological problems like anxiety and distrust which can disrupt your mental balance.

Coping with stress is a two-step process. Identify the source of what triggers your stress and take actions to mitigate it. Work stress is caused from various factors such as job insecurity, dissatisfaction at work, overworking etc. Whether it is fear of doing a presentation or nightmares of not getting due work done, whatever leads to stress should not be ignored. There is no permanent cure for stress relief, but knowing how to balance work with the right amount of relaxation helps.

Know your limits

There is no end to work. No matter how much you work, there will always be work remaining. On top of that when your boss dumps extra work, you happily accept it all to impress him, not looking at your desk inundated with due assignments. You just gave birth to stress.

This is when you should pause before nodding to your boss, look at your list of assignments before providing a reasonable answer. If the extra work is

too much for you then politely offer to do it at a later date.

Start ahead to stay ahead

If poor time management issues like not meeting deadlines or arriving late at work are the sources of your stress, simply start early. Do not wait for last minutes. They never work. Plan your daily work ahead of time and get them done one by one. This will minimise stress levels by keeping adrenaline at bay.

Have a break

Do not work continuously for long hours. Take intervals between assignments to break the monotony. Go out to the cafeteria, see what your colleagues are doing and chat with them.

Talking your way through stress is a surefire way to calm yourself. You will be amazed at what petty gossips among colleagues can do at these times to take your mind off of the tension. But remember to get back to work on time.

Exercise

Nothing refreshes the mind better than an hour long stride along the park after a long day’s work. Just like talking, you can also walk yourself out of stress.

Some exercise on the way is not a bad idea. If you believe the power of mediation and yoga can help you relax, then you are already on your way to achieving nirvana.

Know thyself

Ask yourself the following questions: Am I getting what I want from my job?

Am I confident at what I do? If your answers are negative, it might be time to change your job or to improve yourself.

Job security and job satisfaction might not be correlated but these are signs that you are not happy with your life which leads to anxiety. l

Cut out your bad habits n Ahsan Sajid

We employ a variety or combination of communication styles in our dayto-day interactions to make our point, convince, request, suggest etc. Simple techniques like using examples, allegories, anecdotes, hypotheses etc come so naturally to us that we never think about it. Similarly, there are a number of negative communication behaviours and styles that slip into our daily exchanges without us being any the wiser.

No matter how much more experience and wisdom you have than the person you are communicating with, nobody likes to constantly hear ‘should.’ Stop telling people what they should or shouldn’t do These negative behaviours get in the way of effective relationship building, networking and simple civility. At the work place, they are more noticeable and thus more reproachable. Eliminating negative communication behaviours is not an easy task. It means having to be aware of what you are saying, how, when and where you are saying it at all times. Heed the age-old wisdom, “think before you speak.”

Following is a short list of common negative communications behaviours or styles. How many of them are you guilty of?

Complaining

Continuous whining about the heat, traffic or your workload may all be different ways to break the ice or to find common grounds with another person, but you do not want to be known as a complainer. Ask yourself if you are always complaining about something or

the other, and how interested others are to hear about it. This isn’t a difficult habit to eliminate.

Disagreeing

A number of people get used to routinely disagreeing with everybody. Whether you are right or not, try some tact.

At work, during breaks, people usually make small talk. If someone says something you disagree with it is often best to overlook it than to turn your cafeteria into the parliamentary floor.

Disrupting

This is something all parents teach their children from an early age and yet a sur-

prisingly large number of people never pay heed. Do not disrupt someone else’s train of thought. Do not start talking while another person is still talking. If you have something to say wait till the other person is done, or interject politely. Do not hijack the conversation.

Pushing

No matter how much more experience and wisdom you have than the person you are communicating with, nobody likes to constantly hear “should.” Stop telling people what they should or shouldn’t do. “Should” is a very patronising word, if you absolutely must use it, do so without talking down at

anybody. If you have to correct someone’s way of doing things, there are ways to show them how to do things effectively without actually saying “You should do this.”

Seeking approval

Don’t incessantly look for approval; I had a colleague who would always ask what I thought after presenting an idea; but she wasn’t looking for my thoughts, she was looking for my approval, for me to say “That is great!” or “You are right.” If someone agrees with you, they’ll make it clear. Don’t engineer situations where you trap them into agreeing with you or flattering you. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

NEWS BITES

Poll: Support for Scottish independence drops after TV debate

n Reuters, London

Support for Scottish independence has fallen following a TV debate last week and the campaign to split the United Kingdom will need a dramatic turnaround if it is to win a forthcoming referendum, a poll showed yesterday.

The Survation poll for the Scottish Daily Mail newspaper said 50% of respondents planned to vote against independence in a ballot due on September 18 that will decide whether Scotland breaks its 307-year union with England.

It was the highest level of support for remaining part of the United Kingdom in all Survation polls since February.

By contrast, just 37% said they planned to vote for a split while 13% said they were undecided. Excluding undecided voters, support for independence stood at 43% against 57% in favor of the union.

Chief Executive of Survation Damian Lowe told Reuters the ‘yes’ campaign would need to see a “seismic change” in order to win, and had to answer key questions, particularly over which currency an independent Scotland would use.

“I think they’ll need to go back to the drawing board on some of these issues and come back with some answers,” he said.

The last Survation poll, published on Aug. 3, showed support for independence at 40%, with 46% against and 14% of respondents undecided.

This latest survey capped a bad week for Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, the head of the pro-independence camp who was widely seen to have lost Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling, the leader of the campaign to keep Scotland in the UK. During the televised clash, Salmond was repeatedly pushed on how an independent Scotland would keep the pound, given that the British government had excluded a currency union.

Although different surveys show varying levels of support for the “yes” campaign, none show it in the lead, with supporters of secession struggling to make any headway since the end of March.

Most commentators had predicted that Salmond, a powerful speaker, would notch up a rhetorical TV victory to breathe new life into his flagging campaign.

However, the Survation poll said 53% of voters thought Darling had won, with nearly a quarter saying it had made them more likely to vote ‘no’ to independence. Just 28% thought Salmond had come out on top.

Survation polled 1,100 people in Scotland aged over 16 years old on Aug. 6 and 7. l

World

No truce until Hamas demands met, Gaza blockade continues n Agencies The Palestinian group Hamas has reiterated that there will be no new ceasefire until Israel meets their demands, defying attempts by Egypt to broker a new deal amid renewed fighting.

“We are not going to agree to a ceasefire without having all of our demands met,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoem said in a statement to Al Jazeera.

“We will not go back. We are going to continue the war until we achieve our goal. This is what our people want.”

Barhoem said Israel’s “intransigence will get it nowhere” and Hamas will make no concessions.

Among the reported demands of Hamas are the lifting of the Israeli blockade in Gaza, and the reopening of its seaport and airport.

On Saturday, Chris Gunness, the spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), joined calls for an end to the seven-year blockade.

“Huge swathes of Gaza have been levelled. We cannot rebuild it with our hands tied behind our backs,” he said.

“The blockade must end. We are beyond the realm of humanitarian action alone. All those directly and indirectly responsible for the carnage and destruction must engage.”

The month-long conflict flared again after mediators tried but failed to extend a ceasefire that expired on Friday morning and which Israel accused Hamas of breaching with pre-dawn rocket attacks.

Israel launched more than 30 aerial attacks in Gaza yesterday, killing five Palestinians, and militants fired rockets at Israel as the conflict entered a second month, defying international efforts to negotiate an agreement for an extended ceasefire.

Five Palestinians were killed and at least 31 others wounded in Friday’s air strikes, said Qudra. Among the dead was a 10-year-old boy.

Some Palestinian families who had returned home during the 72-hour

truce trickled back to shelter in UN-run schools as fighting resumed.

In the al-Tuffah district of Gaza City, hundreds of refugees were seen living in classrooms, laundry hanging off balconies and a scrum of people queuing for UN food handouts.

The violence seemed to delay any progress in talks brokered by Egypt aimed at securing another truce. Israel had no plans to send negotiators back to Cairo “as long as the shooting goes on,” an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

Medical officials in Gaza said two Palestinians were killed when their motorcycle was bombed and the bodies of three others were found beneath the rubble of one of three bombed mosques.

Another attack reduced a security complex belonging to Gaza’s dominant Hamas faction to a huge cloud of smoke, but there were no casualties. In other attacks, three houses were bombed, and fighter planes strafed open areas, medical officials said.

Fighting between Israel and Hamas has now killed at least 1,903 Palestinians, including at least five people in Gaza on Saturday.

A total of 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians on the Israeli side have also been killed since Israel began its offensive on July 8.

In the Egyptian capital Cairo, the foreign ministry called on both sides “to return immediately to the ceasefire and exploit the opportunity available to resume negotiations on the very limited sticking points that remain in the fastest possible time.”

Egypt mediates the talks but is meeting separately with each party.

Israel and Hamas deny each other’s legitimacy, with Hamas rejecting Israel’s right to exist and Israel rejecting Hamas as a “terrorist organisation.”

Egyptian mediators are waiting to hear back from the Israelis after Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath, ends at sundown on Saturday. l

Sunday, August 10, 2014

S K I R M I S H AT T H E M A I DA N

A Maidan self-defence activist holds a stone by a barricade burned by them during clashes with residents of Kiev yesterday, as thousands of the residents came to remove barricades and tents from the city’s central Independence Square, also known as Maidan, and free Khreshchatyk Street for the traffic AFP

Ukraine claims Russian ‘invation’ stopped, Moscow ridicules n Reuters, Kiev Ukraine said on Saturday it had headed off an attempt by Russia to send troops into Ukraine under the guise of peacekeepers with the aim of provoking a large-scale military conflict, a statement Moscow dismissed as a “fairy tale.”

Ukraine has made several similar statements about Russian aggression during months of conflict with separatists on its eastern border with Russia that it says are backed

by Moscow none of which have been independently verifiable.

A senior aide to Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said a large Russian military convoy had been heading for the border on Friday under a supposed agreement with the Red Cross, but had stopped after an appeal by Kiev to Russia.

n Reuters, Istanbul

n BBC

Clouds gather over the Bosphorus behind a Turkish flag during a storm on August 7, in Istanbul

AFP

Egypt court dissolves Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing n Reuters, Cairo An Egyptian court yesterday dissolved the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, dealing a crippling blow in the campaign to crush Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement.

A court banned the Muslim Brotherhood itself in September, but that ruling did not mention its political wing, leaving open the possibility it could be allowed to run in parliamentary elections, due late this year.

Saturday’s supreme administrative court ruling excludes the Brotherhood from formal participation in electoral politics, potentially forcing the movement underground, particularly as it has lost the sympathy of large swathes of the public.

The court’s ruling called for the FJP to be dissolved and its assets seized by the state. Its decision is final and cannot be appealed, a judicial source said.

The FJP’s lawyer called the ruling political and said it was unconstitu-

tional to deprive the defence of the right to appeal.

“The legal reasons given do not justify this ruling but this is a political decision to get rid, not just of the Freedom and Justice Party, but of all the parties that were established after the revolution of January 25, 2011,” lawyer Mahmoud Abou al-Aynayn told Reuters.

“I expect other parties to be dissolved too.”

The Muslim Brotherhood, once Egypt’s oldest, best organised and most successful political movement, has seen hundreds of its members killed and thousands detained since then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew elected president and Brotherhood member Mohamed Mursi 13 months ago, following weeks of protest.

Mursi, who ruled for a year, and other Brotherhood officials were rounded up in the wake of his ousting and hundreds have been sentenced to death in mass court rulings that have drawn

to Ukraine’s presidential press service.

Chaly said Poroshenko held urgent talks with his security chiefs and world leaders, though he did not specify which ones. Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said separately he had called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov who had assured him the convoy would be stopped.

“As of now, the danger of provocation has been removed, but operational staff continue to work,” Chaly said.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, dismissed the statement by Chaly as untrue.

“Each time Kiev is more and more inventive in creating fairy tales,” she said, noting that special protocols had to be completed before Russian troops could be sent abroad. l

‘Kurdish Obama’ challenges perceptions with Turkish presidential bid

DANGEROUS, OMINOUS, BEAUTIFUL

Health warning on ‘laughing gas’ use A health warning has been issued by councils across England and Wales about the dangers of inhaling “laughing gas.”

Formally known as nitrous oxide, the gas – mostly used in medicine – has become a popular recreational drug, known for its relaxing effects.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents about 400 councils, issued the health warning and said councils were seizing large hauls of the drug.

Taking the gas is not illegal.

The LGA issued the warning on behalf of councils, which took over responsibility for public health matters in April 2013.

The gas is inhaled by users in a balloon. The LGA estimates that about 500,000 young people frequently take nitrous oxide.

The LGA warning says regular intake of the chemical can lead to oxygen deprivation, which can result in loss of blood pressure, fainting and even heart attacks.

It also warns that prolonged exposure can cause anaemia, bone marrow suppression and poisoning of the central nervous system.

The association said it was concerned by some internet clips, which had been posted on social networking sites and appeared to show children inhaling the gas.

Katie Hall, chairwoman of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said: “It is deeply disturbing that this drug, which can be highly dangerous, is still widely viewed as safe.

“It is imperative that users understand just how harmful it can be. This gas can kill – and much more needs to be done to get this message across.”

She also called on internet corporations to “step up to the plate” and “show responsibility by providing health warnings and links to drug awareness charities.” l

It was not immediately clear what convoy Poroshenko’s aide was referring to.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday it had finished military exercises in southern Russia, near the Ukrainian border, which the United States had criticised as provocative.

“A huge military convoy accompanied by Russian soldiers and equipment was moving towards the Ukrainian border, allegedly by agreement with the Red Cross,”Valery Chaly, deputy head of Poroshenko’s administration, said.

No one at the Red Cross was immediately available to comment.

“A humanitarian column with ‘peacekeepers’ was to enter the territory of Ukraine, clearly to provoke a full-scale conflict,” he said, according

criticism from Western governments and human rights groups.

Sisi, who went on to win a presidential election in May, vowed during his campaign the Brotherhood would cease to exist under his rule.

The FJP was established in June 2011, in the aftermath of the uprising that removed Hosni Mubarak from power after 30 years and inspired hopes for more pluralistic politics in Egypt.

It went on to win parliamentary and presidential elections, but many Egyptians became disillusioned with Mursi after he gave himself sweeping powers and mismanaged the economy, taking to the streets in protest and prompting the army move against him.

But the leading lights of the 2011 uprising, many of them secular youth activists, have also found themselves on the wrong side of the new political leadership, many of them receiving long sentences for breaching a new anti-protest law by taking part in small and peaceful gatherings. l

Unthinkable just a few years ago, Selahattin Demirtas’ bid for Turkey’s highest office underscores how Kurdish politics has entered the mainstream even as Kurds in neighbouring Syria and Iraq push for more automony.

Peace talks between Turkey and Kurdish rebels, overseen by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to try to end a three-decade war, have brought two years of calm and paved the way for Demirtas to run as Turkey’s first openly Kurdish presidential candidate.

“My candidacy is merely the most visible aspect of how much Turkey has changed as racism and extreme nationalist sentiment weaken,” Demirtas, 41, said in an interview.

Though other Kurds have figured prominently in Turkish political history, some supporters liken his candidacy to Barack Obama’s run to become the first African-American US president.

A big difference is that Demirtas is unlikely to win.

Erdogan, a devout conservative credited with overseeing a tripling of Turks’ wealth over the past decade, is the clear front runner to become Turkey’s first popularly elected president in Sunday’s election.

Two surveys last month put his support at upwards of 55%, despite a corruption scandal earlier this year, anti-government protests last summer and charges that he has polarised society along secular and religious lines.

Main opposition candidate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu was 20 points behind, with Demirtas in a distant third with under 10%.

Demirtas’ candidacy burnishes Erdogan’s credentials as peacemaker after he took a considerable political risk to begin talks with Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who in 1984 launched the uprising that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

Erdogan attracts about half the votes of Kurds, who make up a fifth of Turkey’s 76 million people. But Demirtas rejects the idea that his candidacy is Erdogan’s “gift to Kurds.”

“Turkey is changing but this is due to our efforts. If it were up to Tayyip Erdogan, he would have blocked my candidacy.”

Ihsanoglu’s supporters say Demirtas is dividing the opposition, helping deliver victory to Erdogan, who, for his part, accuses Demirtas of stoking Kurdish nationalist passions.

As US officials look to Kurds in Iraq, who want independence, to check Islamist militants, Kurds like Demirtas see their future within Turkey.

New kurdish image

“Kurds and American blacks have had to fight racism,” Demirtas said of comparisons with Obama. “Our candidacies are important in the fight to make equality more of a reality.”

Witty and with a toothy grin, Demirtas’ handsome image appears widely with his schoolteacher wife and two daughters, adjusting the image of Kurdish politicians among Turks with long memories of PKK violence.

The United States, Turkey and the EU list the PKK as a terror group, and most precursors to Demirtas’ People’s Democracy Party (HDP) have been outlawed for PKK links.

“That we have an outwardly Kurdish candidate from a Kurdish nationalist party is an incredible change,” said Aliza Marcus, author of “Blood and Belief,” a book about the PKK. “His campaign allows Turks to see Kurds in a different light ... beyond the image of terrorists.”

Thousands of Kurdish politicians and activists spent up to five years in jail without conviction until most were released this year under a law linked to the peace process.

In 1994, four Kurdish lawmakers were jailed for a decade after taking the oath of office in Kurdish, a language banned outright until 1991.

Called “Mountain Turks,” Kurds’ ethnicity was denied. Politicians in the 1980s claimed the name came from “kart kurt,” the crunching sound made while treading in snow.

Demirtas’ parents spoke Turkish and not their native Zaza dialect with their seven children. “They tried to assimilate us because they knew the burden of being Kurdish,” he said. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Rebels repairing Mosul dam, Kurds in rush to arms n

Reuters, Baghdad

Islamic State insurgents who seized Iraq’s biggest dam in an offensive that has caused international consternation have brought in engineers for repairs, witnesses said on Saturday, as nervous Kurds stocked up on arms to defend their enclave nearby.

The jihadi Islamists have captured wide swathes of northern Iraq since June, executing non-Sunni Muslim captives, displacing tens of thousands of people and drawing the first US air strikes in the region since Washington withdrew troops in 2011.

After routing Kurdish forces this week, Islamic State militants are just 30 minutes’ drive from Arbil, the Kurdish re-

gional capital which up to now has been spared the sectarian bloodshed that has scarred other parts of Iraq for a decade.

Employees of foreign oil firms in Arbil were flying out. Kurds were snapping up AK-47 assault rifles in arms markets for fear of imminent attack, although these had been ineffective against the superior firepower of the Islamic State fighters.

Given the Islamic State threat, a source in the Kurdistan Regional Government said it had received extra supplies of heavy weaponry from the Baghdad federal government “and other governments” in the past few days, but declined to elaborate.

An engineer at Mosul dam told Reuters that Islamic State fighters had

brought in engineers to repair an emergency power line to the city, Iraq’s biggest in the north, that had been cut off four days ago, causing power outages and water shortages.

“They are gathering people to work at the dam,” he said.

A dam administrator said that militants were putting up the trademark Islamic State black flags and patrolling with flatbed trucks mounted with machineguns to protect the facility they seized from Kurdish forces earlier this week.

The Islamic State, comprised mainly of Arabs and foreign fighters who want to reshape the map of the Middle East, pose the biggest threat to Iraq, a major oil exporter, since Saddam Hussein was toppled by a US-led invasion in 2003. l

Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment on the front line in Khazer August 8

REUTERS

Obama: No American solution to Iraq’s crisis n Al Jazeera President Barack Obama has said he would not allow the United States to be dragged into another war in Iraq, making it clear that American combat troops will not return to fight in the country.

Speaking in his weekly address on Saturday, Obama vowed to continue air strikes against self-declared jihadists in northern Iraq “if necessary” to protect US diplomats and military advisers.

US fighter jets have bombed positions of the Islamic State group near the city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, an assault that would allow the federal and Kurdish governments to claw back areas lost in two months of conflict.

“I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq. American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq, because there’s no American military solution to the larger crisis there,” Obama said.

The US president’s order for the first air strikes on the embattled country since he put an end to US occupation in 2011 came after fighters from the Islamic State group made massive gains on the ground, seizing a major dam and forcing a mass exodus of religious minorities.

The Pentagon on Friday said US forces bombed an artillery position after the Islamic State attacked Kurdish regional government forces who are defending Erbil.

Hours later, it said a drone destroyed a mortar position and jets hit a seven-vehicle convoy belonging to the Islamic State with eight laser-guided bombs.

The US operation began with air drops of food and water for thousands of people hiding from the group in a barren northern mountain range.

The UK is also delivering aid and has announced it is sending medics to northern Iraq.

Many people who have been cowering in the Sinjar mountains for five days in searing heat and with no supplies

are Yazidis, a minority that follows a 4,000-year-old faith.

Late Friday, the Pentagon said that cargo planes escorted by combat jets made a second air drop of food and water to “thousands of Iraqi citizens” threatened by the fighters on Sinjar mountain.

Obama accused the Islamic State group, which calls Yazidis “devil-worshippers,” of attempting “the systematic destruction of the entire people, which would constitute genocide.”

Washington’s ‘broader strategy’ The UN said it was “urgently preparing a humanitarian corridor.”

Kurdish peshmerga forces, short of ammunition and stretched thin along a huge front, had been forced to retreat in the face of brazen assaults by the Islamic State.

Their withdrawal from the Christian heartland on Wednesday and Thursday sparked a mass exodus – 100,000 people according to Iraq’s Chaldean patriarch – and spurred Western powers into action.

“Fighters captured US-made weapons as Kurdish troops withdrew from various regions. Washington also wants to address that,” Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Erbil, said.

In his address, Obama laid out Washington’s “broader strategy” in Iraq: “We will protect our citizens. We will work with the international community to address this humanitarian crisis. We’ll help prevent these terrorists from having a permanent safe haven from which to attack America. And we’ll continue to urge Iraqi communities to reconcile,” he said.

Obama came to office determined to end US military involvement in Iraq, and in his first term oversaw the withdrawal of the huge ground force deployed there since the 2003 American-led invasion.

But the capture of huge swathes of land by the Islamic State group, who in late June proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq, has brought a country already rife with sectarian tension closer to collapse. l

Rahul thinks UP riots US call for South China Sea freeze engineered, BJP does not gets cool response from China n Agencies

Leaders of India’s ruling BJP and the Samajwadi Party yesterday traded allegations over the frequent incidents of communal violence in Uttar Pradesh, after Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi told a newspaper that he believed the clashes were “artificially engineered.”

The communal clashes in the state were part of a deliberate strategy to “divide the poor and pit brother against brother,” Rahul had said in his speech.

BJP claims Congress was ‘spreading communalism’ Media reports say there have been over 600 incidents of communal tension or violence between the end of May and July this year in Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by the SP. Rahul on Wednesday led his party’s vociferous demand for an urgent discussion on communal violence in Lok Sabha. He had surprised many when he had rushed to the well of

the House and accused the Speaker of being biased.

Though he refrained from naming any political party in his statement, the SP, which has faced much flak over the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, seemed to do just that.

SP leader Rajendra Chauhdhary told media personnel, “The BJP thinks that (since) they have come to power at the Centre, they have got the license to do riots in UP.” “Since the SP government came to power, the BJP and the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) have constantly tried to spread communal tension in the state,” he added.

A furious BJP hit back by claiming the Congress was “spreading communalism.”

BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said, “Uttar Pradesh has the SP, which supports the Congress, and riots are happening there. The Congress itself is behind the communal riots.”

Reacting strongly to Rahul’s comments, another senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “He should stop using his secularism formula. People have rejected them (Congress) and he is still not able to understand.” l

Suu Kyi’s party at crossroads n Agencies Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi faces an uphill battle if she is to become her country’s next president, posing new challenges for the party that she led through years of military dictatorship.

A military-drafted constitution bans her from the presidency because her late husband and child are foreigners. Her opposition party is trying to change that rule before next year’s election, which is shaping up as a critical test for an unconsolidated democracy, The Christian Science Monitor reported.

Should it fail, the National League for Democracy (NLD) – which is hugely popular – will struggle to find a replacement candidate. The battle over the constitution also exposes the limits of democracy under what remains a military-dominated system in Myanmar (also known as Burma).

In May, the NLD launched a two-

month campaign calling for amendments to the constitution. This week it said it had collected 5 million signatures in support of its campaign.

“I dare say that there has never been a case such as this, where 5 million people supported a movement out of their own free will. This is [the] first time in our country’s history,” Ms. Suu Kyi told reporters Wednesday in the capital Naypyidaw.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here Friday on a three-day visit amid criticism from the US Congress over the pace of political reforms under President Thein Sein, a retired general who is the country’s first civilian leader in five decades.

Last month Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky warned that the remaining US sanctions against Myanmar would be kept in place unless Suu Kyi was allowed to stand for president. As it stands, he said, the provision barring her from running would “cast a pall over the legitimacy of the election.” l

n Reuters, Naypyidaw A US proposal for a freeze on provocative acts in the South China Sea got a cool response from China and some Southeast Asian nations yesterday, an apparent setback to Washington’s efforts to rein in China’s assertive actions.

To China’s annoyance, the United States is using a regional meeting in Myanmar this weekend to step up its engagement in the maritime tension by calling for a moratorium on actions such as China’s planting of a giant oil rig in Vietnamese waters in May. Its ally the Philippines has also called for a freeze as part of a threestep plan to ease tension in the resource-rich sea, through which passes $5 trillion of trade a year.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, on Saturday for the ASEAN Regional Forum, joining foreign ministers and other top diplomats from China, Russia, Japan, India, Australia, the European Union and Southeast Asia among others.

“The United States and ASEAN have a common responsibility to ensure

9

Sunday, August 10, 2014

the maritime security of critical sea, lands and ports,” Kerry said in opening comments.

“We need to work together to manage tensions in the South China Sea and to manage them peacefully, and also to manage them on the basis of international law.”

But Le Luong Minh, secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the US proposal was not discussed by ASEAN ministers because there was already a mechanism in place to curtail sensitive action such as land reclamation and building on disputed islands.

China says situation stable

The top ASEAN diplomat said it was up to ASEAN to work with China to reduce tension by improving compliance with a 2002 agreement, as they also work to conclude a binding Code of Conduct for maritime actions. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also lay claim to parts of the sea.

“It is up to ASEAN to encourage China to achieve a serious and effective implementation of this commitment, rather than ASEAN asking whether it

should support or not support the (US) proposal,” he said.

Most claimants have flouted the 2002 guidelines, leading to rising tension in the South China Sea between four ASEAN claimant nations and China, which claims 90% of the waters.

The rancour has split ASEAN, with several states including some of the claimants reluctant to antagonise Asia’s economic giant.

China rejects US involvement in the dispute and has already dismissed the proposal for a freeze. China accuses the United States of emboldening claimants such as the Philippines and Vietnam with its military “pivot” back to Asia.

“Currently the situation in the South China Sea is stable on the whole. There has not been any problem regarding navigation in the South China Sea,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters.

Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario also appeared to tone down his proposal for a freeze or moratorium on activities causing tension in the South China Sea, calling instead for a “cessation” in remarks to reporters on Friday. l

M O N S O O N I N M YA N M A R

A man walks with his bicycle along a flooded street in Bago township, around 100 kilometres (62miles) north of Yangon on August 8.

Heavy downpours in recent days have caused severe flooding in Bago and Mon states AFP

NEWS BITES

Hagel: US, India must improve defense cooperation

n AP, New Delhi

The United States and India must seize opportunities to collaborate more on defense development and not let government red tape and other problems stymie progress between the two nations, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday.

Capping two days of meetings here, Hagel’s speech to New Delhi business leaders and scholars reflected the hopes and frustrations of America’s struggles to forge weapons development agreements with India.

Hagel leaves India with few concrete agreements, acknowledging the two countries — the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest — must be “results oriented” and do more to “transform our nations’ defense cooperation from simply buying and selling to co-production, co-development, and freer exchange of technology.”

In meetings with top Indian government leaders he pressed for broader coordination in new weapons production, including a pilot plan for the two nations to jointly develop a next-generation anti-tank missile. The US is hoping to partner with India as it modernizes its military, but Indian leaders are more interested in co-development opportunities than in simply buying American-made weapons. l

Modi terms Amit Shah BJP’s man of the match in 2014 polls

n Tribune Desk

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday praised Amit Shah, his close associate and current president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying he was the man of the match of the BJP team that won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

He also pledged to fulfil expectations of the people who voted him to power in the elections, while stressing his government was headed to the “right direction,” Hindustan Times reported.

Speaking at the saffron party’s national council meet at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi, Modi also justified India’s tough stand at the World Trade Organization (WTO) – in order to ensure “food for the poor” – and heaped praises on new BJP chief Amit Shah.

In the face of opposition by the West, India had recently decided not to ratify WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement without any concrete movement in finding a permanent solution to its public food stock-holding issue for food security purposes.

Modi said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should promote social causes such as energy conservation, building toilets, education of the girl child to bring about a change. l

Nawaz Sharif regrets Pakistan’s bad relations with India

n Tribune Desk

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday regretted that Pakistan was having bad relations with key neighbour India and said it was time the two had good relations.

Addressing the National Security Conference in Islamabad, which was attended by ministers, chief ministers, political leaders of all major parties, army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and other senior civil and military officials including ISI chief Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam, Sharif noted with dissatisfaction that his country was not having good ties with neighbours.

The prime minister hoped that the planned meeting of the two countries’ foreign secretaries will help move the ties forward, The Times of India reported.

Sharif also said Pakistan wants to improve ties with Afghanistan and hoped that the new leadership in that country will cooperate with him.

The Pakistani leader also criticized moderate cleric Tahir-ul Qadri who has been challenging the government with a wave of protests resulting in clashes with police in Punjab.

Sharif offered olive branch to former cricketer Imran Khan, the chief of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf, saying that the government was ready to settle the issue of rigging allegations by recounting the ballots in some constituencies.

Khan has given call for a mammoth rally on August 14 in Islamabad to protest against the alleged rigging of last year polls which brought Sharif to power.

The prime minister also said that economic outlook of the county was changing and promised to tackle the crippling energy crisis and terrorism in the country. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Sunday, August 10, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Stop the rule of the baton

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

W

e strongly disapprove of the excessive use of force displayed by the police, while dispersing protests by those supporting the Tuba Group workers on hunger strike.

The workers, who were demanding their overdue wages and festival bonuses, were subjected to unnecessary force from rubber bullets, teargas canisters, and water cannons. Several photojournalists at the scene were also injured from all the chaos.

The police actions while charging at the workers exhibited hostile and unprofessional attitudes with much use of foul and abusive language.

Disturbingly, it was reported that some police personnel threatened to rape protesters if they refused to disperse from the area.

There is no excuse for our law enforcement to exhibit such unlawful behaviour.

The level of violence and intimidation imposed on unarmed members of the public during this protest amounts to a gross mishandling of the situation and is completely beyond the pale.

It shows that members of the police force lack any awareness of the rights of the public, and habitually resort to brutality and coercion.

Our law enforcers need improved sensitivity training to help officers uphold law and order by consent.

Authorisation to use deadly force should be limited only to those situations where it is truly needed, rather than being called on as a first resort. Charging at unarmed citizens with batons, as in the case of Tuba garments, is not justified. To this end, police need to be trained on what constitutes a proportional and valid response, and how to sensibly and professionally deal with these types of incidents.

There is no excuse for violence and intimidation on unarmed members of the public

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Saudi men can’t marry Bangladeshis August 6

Ayesha Kabir Lucky women.

Afsan Chowdhury Ayesha Kabir: hahhahahah. Is this restriction allowed in Islam?

Daud Isa Ayesha Kabir: Do you think Saudis care about Islam at all?

Mir Mahbob Ali Ayesha Kabir: A Saudi prohibition – so what? Our ladies sure do not want to get into a dungeon.

Harris Sid Ayesha Kabir: Two words: Their loss!

Nahiyan Bin Asadullah Afsan Chowdhury: Absolutely ridiculous! This is racism, not Islam.

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 6 represents D so fill D every time the figure 6 appears.

You have two letters in the control grid to start you off. Enter them 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.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Mir Abdur Rashid Mostafa Ayesha Kabir: No wonder there are groups dedicated to the overthrow of the Saudi family.

CA Shahrukh The Saudi government takes the role of a match-maker and chooses on behalf of Saudi men!!

Pritum Aladeen Saha Funny, but this is really nice for Bangladeshi women, that they cannot marry (and/or afford) a Saudi men! Nice, because Saudi people have not been known for their humanity. Rather, they’ve been known for marrying a lot, earning a lot, leaving their women a lot, or imprisoning them behind purdah … blah blah blah.

Ashish Majumder Bangladeshi women are hereby saved.

SUDOKU 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.

Respect the rights of indigenous people

A

t the launch of the 20th International Indigenous Day on August 9, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on countries all around the world to recognise and celebrate the valuable and distinctive identities of indigenous peoples and communities.

Despite some progressive moves over the past two decades, government policy is failing to fully respect and protect the rights of indigenous peoples in Bangladesh.

Violent attacks against indigenous people and attempts to forcefully grab land still take place frequently.

Unfortunately, successive governments have neglected their obligation to ensure equality in the maintenance of political, social, economic and land rights for all peoples.

The current government has not acted on promises made in its election manifesto to protect the rights of the country’s various indigenous communities and has still not implemented key aspects of the CHT Peace Accord.

Official inaction undermines the rule of law and damages human rights.

Adivasi communities in Bangladesh bear the brunt of the consequences of this failure in official policy. This is bad for all our country’s people.

Failure to protect human rights only encourages lawlessness, increases communal tensions and holds back development.

Eliminating violence and human rights abuses which afflict indigenous people must be a top priority.

The government needs to do much more however. It should support the right of minority groups to self identification as indigenous people.

As a nation, we need to do more celebrate diversity. Only by doing so can we help to ensure equality and peace for all our citizens.

The government should celebrate diversity and support the rights of indigenous communities

CROSSWORD Cartoonist Pran, creator of Chacha Chaudhary, dies August 6

Anon I enjoyed a large part of my childhood by reading those comics. Rest in peace, cartoonist Pran.

Tasnima Zaman The Chacha Chowdhury comics made my childhood extra special. RIP cartoonist Pran.

Ashraful Islam Siam You will be remembered for as long as the 1980s generation survives. We had no computer games, no PC, no internet. Only thing we had at that time as a source of entertainment was Pran comics.

Rest in peace, sir.

Tahsin Momin Thank you for making our childhood awesome!

RIP! We’ll miss you#Pran!

Ashrafi Ash Soo sad!

Masud Hasan Oh no … you made my childhood!

Now, my troubles begin August 4

Pro Myth Ius Brilliant!

Irina Veleva Thank you for sharing this article! I hope more people get to read this. So very few of us know about what’s happening in the CHT.

The grinch that stole Eid August 2

Shahina Tahir Good to know the writer is a passionate journalist. The world is so busy being prejudiced against Muslims that to see them as victims becomes almost embarrassing.

ACROSS 1 Teaching period (4) 4 Arresting device (5) 9 Choler (3) 11 Wicked (4) 12 Company of lions (5) 13 Precious metal (4) 14 Poker stake (4) 15 Of the nose (5) 19 Headwear (5) 21 Mild explosions (4) 25 S-shaped moulding (4) 26 Dodge (5) 28 Metal (4) 29 Domestic animal (3) 30 Slowly (mus) (5) 31 Wagers (4)

DOWN 1 Helpful hints (4) 2 Do wrong (3) 3 Be monarch (5) 5 Delight (6) 6 English river (4) 7 Scottish garment (4) 8 Tree (5) 10 Stanza (5) 16 Away (6) 17 Zodiac sign (5) 18 Mar (5) 20 Commerce (5) 22 Wicked giant (4) 23 Day labourer (4) 24 Limbs (4) 27 Morse element (3)

IG prisons: Biplob sent to Comilla jail to shut media mouth August 6

Ahsan Habib My question to IG is: Are you going to see through the legality of the procedure and punish the law-breakers besides “shutting the mouths” of the journalists?

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Neymar back injury healing ‘satisfactorily’

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

August 6 SM Get well soooonnn!

Tagore’s 73rd death anniversary being observed

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

August 6 Sheikh Jinat Mahmid And when old words die out on the tongue, New melodies break forth from the heart; And where the old tracks are lost, New country is revealed with its wonders.

Arifur Rahman On the occasion of Poet Laureate Rabindranath Thakur’s death anniversary, I wish to share my sentiments and admiration with everyone on this page.

‘We give appointment dates for Indian visa application’

August 4 Nipa Purnima Thank you for your article. Nice to see it here. If I want to make an online appointment date for an Indian visa, how much is the cost?

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Diplomacy, not war n Ziaur Rahman

T

Syed Ishtiaque Reza is Director of News, Ekattor Television.

he unity of society is often punctuated by military aggression that could have been thwarted by diplomatic negotiations.

The age-old art of diplomacy has saved the universe many a time from spiraling downwards to chaos, death, and destruction. With a proper resolve and engagement philosophy of a just world, walking into a logical, democratic, and diplomacy-driven environment can muster much needed spark to settle differences and live and let live.

This is the moral high ground that society and civilisation ought to be aspiring to. Unfortunately, the military engagement over Gaza by Israel and its vastly superior military might has not only bloodied its streets, killing and mutilating thousands of innocent children, mothers, and general citizens, but the stench of the dead and dying have wreaked havoc into the minds of conscientious citizens the world over.

The world has seen demonstrations against the Israeli killings of the citizens of Gaza from Chicago to London in the West, to cities from the rest of the world. Even sensible citizens in Israel have come out in droves to put an end to this brutal and unjust war that they claim to be undertaking to eradicate any further threat from Hamas, the counterforce in Palestine. In this game of cat and mouse, innocent people are crushed like flies, and some are living with the scars of brutality so deep that the world has no answer.

The brutality is so steep that the sentiment of the world is surely tipping in the direction of Palestine these days. Israel is paving its way to self-destruction. Israel, due to its military prowess, is overlooking logic and rather irresponsibly using weapons and not taking a diplomatic route to iron out their differences with the people in Gaza. History reminds us that Hitler and other despots of the world had their downfall after committing crimes against humanity.

A recent poll in the UK claims that almost two-thirds of the British public (62%) believes that the Israeli government is committing war crimes.

These polls decidedly create an image problem for Israel; many people, especially in the Muslim world, have strengthened their resolve to boycott Israeli products and services. During the cataclysmic economic failure of the Western capitalism in the 2007-08 period culminated in swelling frustrations, many left-leaning initiatives came about, including the Occupy movement.

The current movement of humanity desires to end the one-sided war and has geared certain momentum in questioning the moral ground of the military assault by Israel on the people of Gaza having greater rights to this land that Israel has laid claim to only recently, and is slowly and cleverly encroaching.

The fight between Israel and Palestine is so one-sided that even a CIA counter-intelligence veteran, spending a career monitoring Israeli and Palestinian military capabilities, said: “Compared to what the Israelis are using, the Palestinians are firing bottle rockets.” The playing field is so uneven that bitter sparks of dissent runs among humanitarian agencies, and the inactivity of these agencies have been questioned in the media and social media space. Human rights

police? Were they all on holiday? I looked for them everywhere, but failed to spot them anywhere. On the second day of Eid, there were some traffic police in sight, but they stood there without really making any difference to the chaotic situation of the road.

We saw how the Khulna-bound Simanto Express hit a bus and left 11 people dead, and injured 50 others.

Why? Because the line man of the rail station fell asleep. Similar incidents have occurred previously also, so why haven’t we rectified ourselves?

A few years back, a man on a motorbike got stuck to the rear bumper of a car near Dhanmondi Road 27. He was dragged by the car through Mirpur Road and was killed, even though the pedestrians and other cars watched as bystanders.

The event left us flabbergasted for quite some time. The same thing was repeated recently by a microbus which dragged a young man from Shyamoli to Daressalam road almost half a kilometer, and left him dead.

Dhaka roads are filled with people,

yet the microbus couldn’t be stopped.

After the first incident, in 2004, the High Court had issued a directive on not using extra bumpers on private motorised vehicles which could be dangerous for pedestrians and rickshaws and bicycles.

But the use of extra bumpers is rampant in and around the country.

Nobody seems to care. There was a drive to remove the bumpers right

Truth on air?

BIGSTOCK

Be afraid, be very afraid n Syed Ishtiaque Reza

T

he first national broadcasting policy, the draft of which the cabinet approved recently, is a widely discussed issue among media professionals.

Many national and international media houses have called me for my opinion on this very important issue.

The reaction was too immediate at that moment. I feel that it is time to explain the law in detail.

As a media professional, I welcome the government move for a policy which should help define how well this burgeoning media market would serve the public interest. But I am scared too, as there are some provisions in the policy that badly affect media freedom and democracy in the country, and I am scared that bureaucrats and politicians are to implement a policy for a sector which is in a relentless struggle to ensure people’s right to know.

Usually, our politicians say that freedom of expression and the right of the public to information are fundamental to the establishment and nurturing of a democratic society. This is fine as long as they are in the opposition, forgetting it as soon as they come to power.

We, the media practitioners, know very well that people have the right to know the truth, and it is the duty of the media to provide the truth to the public without fear of harassment or coercion. On the other hand, it is the state’s responsibility to protect and safeguard the rights and freedoms of the citizens, including those associated with the media.

If this is the context, the approved policy needs to be reviewed by the media professionals from their own

context. The government claims that the policy is meant to ensure the free flow of information and make the media socially responsible. We need to ask a very simple question here: Are politicians themselves socially responsible?

There is scope for misinterpretation of many of the clauses by the bureaucrats and by those in power. The policy says that no one can utter any “inconsistent and misleading information” at talk shows. This is a direct threat to freedom of expression as authorities can term any information as “inconsistent” and “misleading.”

middle of a crowd was published in some online news sites. According to the policy, the police department can say that such a news item was aimed at ridiculing the force if it is aired.

Think about the Narayanganj seven-murder incident. Can you think of any stories against the RAB members who were involved with the murder had there been a policy like this? If the media does not have the right to inform the people of the allegations made by the victims’ relatives about the involvement of three RAB men (actually army officers) in the murder case, it will be the death of the media.

I am really afraid the policy will gag our freedom, and thus the right of the people to know

We can expect all efforts to be made by broadcasters and talk show moderators to correct errors in facts at the earliest opportunity. We can also expect editorial cautiousness, but we should not have anything imposed by the government.

The policy says there cannot be any news or program that ridicules the armed forces and other law-enforcement agencies. This clause is highly unacceptable. This is an attempt to give a license to the police, RAB, and other law enforcers to do anything.

The other day, a picture of a police officer physically harassing a girl in the

The policy tried to shield public servants as there is the provision that there cannot be news and programs against them if they are in the positions of giving any sort of judgment. I am not sure what the government actually wants.

Why would the corrupt government officers not come under public scrutiny if it is really in power to ensure governance?

Broadcasters should ensure that the content of news and current affairs programs are always presented in as balanced a manner as possible. But we are not ready to hear judgment from a bureaucrat about our content.

The policy imposes restrictions on airing news or programs that invade personal privacy, impede state security, or hurt religious and non-communal values. These all are vague and are going to open a floodgate of opportunities for corrupt politicians and government employees to kill media.

I would like to humbly ask the information minister to name a single media house in Bangladesh that has so far undermined the spirit of the liberation war or defamed the armed forces.

If the answer is no, then why is such a clause included in the policy? Should we take lessons from politicians or bureaucrats on issues such as security, sovereignty, and national ideology?

I am really afraid the policy will gag our freedom, and thus the right of the people to know. The government says that the Information Ministry will enforce the policy until the Broadcast Commission is set up. Some media people are supporting this. I am afraid of the commission too. The experience here regarding all commissions is not pleasant. Partisan people are posted in the commissions who are more pro-government than the government itself.

There was no reason to hurry the approval of this policy in the cabinet.

This is nothing but a move to strictly regulate the media. This will ultimately turn out to be a sword hanging over the shoulders of media professionals.

We believe that there is the need for a broadcast policy, but the procedure of rushing it through bureaucracy is really flawed. Let the broadcasters themselves formulate their own policy instead of giving the blade to the bureaucrats or the goons. l

advocates are claiming that plain and clear genocide is taking place right under our noses while the world plays a nonchalant role.

In line with global consensus, we earnestly place a call for stopping the genocide by Israel. We want the USA to show their moral ground by supporting the righteous and not the aggressor (Israel in this context). More than 1,800 people are dead in Palestine, all in the pretext of self-defense, and the deaths continue to mount. Passionate voices are rising around the world due to the insanity and the media promotion by Israeli organs and supporters like the USA and others.

Had this brutality taken place in other parts of the world, where natural resources are aplenty, we would have seen USA, Nato, UN, and all international bodies screaming venom and sending their own combat forces all in the spirit of safeguarding democracy and establishing a rights-based society.

Where is this spirit to unsettle the aggressor? Where is the world body now to take Israel to task? Why are the world bodies in hibernation and their voices timid as a squirrel in the forest?

Is it because Palestine is a part of the forgotten humanity with no mineral-rich enclaves?

Or is it that Muslims in Palestine need to be slowly annihilated for grabbing more territories by Israel?

Whatever the reasons, it is a shame that murder and destruction is the preferred method in achieving their vision. It is greed tainted with the blood of children and destitute women, and it shall always be written in the annals of history that Israel raped and ravaged Palestine.

The state of Israel will ultimately self-destruct from despair and shame, lofted at them from across the world. Israel may lose friends due to their avarice and total disrespect to humanity. Even when the USA begins to see through their fallacious logic in supporting Israel in the current context, they may also withdraw their support. Israel should have a moment of re-awakening, cease and desist from this murder and destruction, and only then can peace be contemplated. The world will eventually put down a mad dog and we want the world to truly bring sense and sensibilities into the bosoms of the Israeli government and pave the way for a peaceful negotiation to co-exist with Palestine.

As citizens of a free world, we have to vehemently oppose the insensitive and rapacious murder by the government of Israel. We therefore place our votes of severe discontentment and want international bodies to treat this murder and killing as genocide and bring justice on the perpetrators. Upright citizens do not support Hamas either because citizens believe that guns are not the answer – peace is.

The essence of this article is to signal peace to Israel, therefore, let this message travel to the right quarters so that actions do take place, bringing sanity to the crazy order that Israel has subjected the world into. The world is tired of death and destruction. Israel, Hamas, and the world at large, we welcome you all to build bridges of hope, not enmity, so the children of the world live in peace. Finally, I join in prayers for the departed souls in Palestine and other regions of the world and seek justice for their nonsensical deaths. l Ziaur Rahman is CEO of IITM.

n Jackie Kabir

A

photo was posted by a friend on a social media. One of the comments that followed was: “This must be photoshopped.”

Of course, the comment was from someone who did not reside in Dhaka.

Well, for those of us living in Dhaka, this is very familiar picture, and we are well acquainted with this kind of real life situation.

It takes hours for us to reach our destinations. We suffer insurmountable pain for travelling in and around Dhaka city. The month of Ramadan was another matter altogether, as devoted Muslims frantically tried to reach home before Iftar.

In the process, some people had to break their fast on roads and highways. Traffic jams govern our metropolitan lives. Much have been written and said about traffic jams. Newspapers and talk show participants keep showering us with their wise words, telling us how we can get rid of the traffic jam.

But who listens to whom?

The government has constructed numerous flyovers in different areas of Dhaka city, only to experience more traffic on and below the flyovers, and finally where the cars from both above and below meet on the same road.

We, the city dwellers, take our lives in our hands when we get out of our houses

The schools that operate in residential areas were shut down for Ramadan, meaning fewer cars moved around during particular times of the day.

Even then the traffic moved at a snail’s pace during the second half of the day.

We are hearing about elevated expressways being built in the city. According to some experts, it will further

deteriorate our traffic condition, but we know the plan will go on accordingly, for some people will benefit from it. Why don’t they make a plan for the traffic system, which could be done with much less amount?

A few years back, the dwellers of Dhaka were relieved during the Eid holidays, as most people left Dhaka and number of public and private transport reduced. This year, people experienced the same kind of jam from Eid evening on the main roads of the city.

The other parts of the city roads were quite empty, but strangely, no one followed any traffic signal at any junctions. So it was chaos – a competition between the cars from all sides.

It was very scary to see how no one waited for anyone else for the red or the green signals. This also happens during heavy downpour and late at night. It is as if we can do whatever we like when there is no one there to stop us.

What is happening to us? Are we going backwards to the age of lawlessness? Where were the traffic

COURTESY

Home in one piece

after the incident in 2004, but people seem to have forgotten about it now.

We, the city dwellers, take our lives in our hands when we get out of our houses, and pray to the Almighty that we reach our destination safely. That is all we have to depend on. May Allah bless us all. l Jackie Kabir is Director at Tairunnessa Memorial Medical College and Hospital.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Sunday, August 10, 2014

TODAY IN DHAKA

Rock music scenario rejuvenated with RockNation 3

Theatre

Chandrabatee

By Asma Akter Liza Time: 7:30pm EMK Center, MIDAS Center, Dhanmondi

Film

Most Welcome 2

George Clooney’s wedding to be in Vogue n Entertainment Desk Artcell was one of the most anticipating bands of RockNation 3 concert Photos: Khan Hasan Muhammad Rafi

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak When rock buffs of the country got sick of their earphones, Live Square, under the banner of Rock Inc brought out one of the biggest, energetic rock concerts of the year to spread the joy of music and arrange for a bigger, better and louder experience.

After their April show, this time around the organisers brought out Artcell as the gig-stopper along with exuberant performing bands Cryptic Fate, Nemesis, Power Surge, Avoidrafa (Rafa and Friends), Echoes, Minerva and Owned. The event was held on August 8 at the Winter Garden, Hotel Ruposhi Bangla and the gates were open to all from 4:00pm.

The endless queue which formed from 3pm onwards demonstrate the fact how rock enthusiasts are desper-

ate to experience live rock acts. An estimated 1200 fans checked into the concert premises.

Around 5pm band Owned took to the stage with a song of the revolutionary rock band Nirvana. Minerva, famed for their live act, came on stage with their original track “Ashirbad” and went on to perform a tribute song to Bangladeshi rock, which was a compilation of Azam Khan’s “Bangladesh” to James’s “Sultana Bibiana” to LRB’s “Ghumonto Shohore.”

Echoes came on next and took the concert to another level with a cover of Pink Floyd’s emblematic piece “Comfortably Numb.”

Shortly after Echoes, the crowd started chanting Rafa! Rafa! as Rafa’s backstage presence was noticed through a short video log. Avoidrafa (Rafa and Friends) literally created a wave among the crowd with two System Of A Down tracks “Chop Suey!” and “Toxicity” followed by their own track “Chup Chap Artonad.”

When Power Surge entered, they turned the area into a mosh pit with their performance.

Nemesis got on stage next and this time the crowd were just content to

watch them perform. Cryptic Fate dazzled with “Cholo Bangladesh” and other popular tracks.

A surprising act of the event was when John Kabir, former member of Black stepped onstage with acoustic performances and upon his exit, invited Artcell back on the stage.

The organisers informed that the next RockNation will include some international groups probably from India, Sri Lanka or Norway and they are also planning to go open-air from 2015.

RockNation was powered by Micromax Mobile and supported by Bellissimo Ice Cream. Radio Foorti was the media partner of the event. l

George Clooney’s wedding will feature in America’s Vogue magazine.

The “Monuments Men” actor and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin are set to tie the knot in Italy next month, and among the guests at the celebrations will be the publication’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

A source said: “She wouldn’t go there and not cover it.”

Amal is expected to wear a gown created by Oscar de la Renta and, because the designer is a close friend of Anna, the dress will feature heavily in the wedding coverage.

The insider told the New York Post newspaper’s Page Six column: ‘”She and Oscar are such good

friends and want to give him some attention.”

Meanwhile, the groom will reportedly wear Giorgio Armani and a team of designers recently flew to his Italian estate for fittings with the 53-year-old actor and the male members of the wedding party.

George and Amal, are planning a small and intimate wedding but will also celebrate with a number of parties before and after the nuptials, which are reportedly taking place in Venice on September 20.

According to reports, they are going to have top security, but include a really small group. Very intimate, and mostly family.

The couple got engaged in April after seven months of dating. l

Maleficent Transformers: Age of Extinction (3D) X-Men: Days of Future Past (3D) Edge of Tomorrow (3D) Star Cineplex, Level 8 Bashundhara City Panthopath Tejgaon Hercules 3D Most Welcome 2 The Fault in Our Stars Hero Honeymoon Noah 3D Godzilla 3D Blockbuster Cinemas, Ka- 244 Pragati Avenue Kuril

Rabindra Sangeet artiste and patron Ameenah Ahmed performed on the opening day of a two-day long cultural programme ‘Tobu Mone Rekho’ marking the 73rd death anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore on Friday at the Shawkat Osman Hall, Central Public Library, Shahbag. The programme was organised

by Bangladesh Rabindra Sangeet Shilpi Sangstha SADIA MARIUM

Tughril Ahmed of Echoes

Zohad of Nemesis

Filmstar Babita, who is the Goodwill Ambassador of Distressed Children and Infants International and the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena inaugurated a new Telemedicine Center of DCI in Kalyanpur in the capital

Chhayanaut observes Tagore’s death anniversary

James Cameron at the bottom of the sea

Rang Rasiya hints at social issues

n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk

In March 2012, Cameron piloted a one-man submersible called the Deepsea Challenger to the bottom of the Mariana Trench: The deepest part of the ocean, at 35,787 feet. His was only the second voyage down to these depths, which is part of his reason for going. The world has been explored to death. But the ocean? The way Cameron sees it, it’s the final frontier here on Earth.

His new film “Deepsea Challenge 3D” documents the director’s often-harrowing journey to make the deepest solo dive in history, an expedition that included several false starts, rough seas and the tragic loss of two crew members in a helicopter accident.

Produced by National Geographic and directed by John Bruno, Ray Quint and Andrew Wight, “Deepsea Challenge 3D” also sheds some light on Cameron’s unconventional pastime. Cameron said he finds his deepest pleasures far away from film sets, under the sea. l

The first trailer of “Rang Rasiya,” based on Ranjit Desai’s novel on Raja Ravi Varma, is out.

Directed by Ketan Mehta, the film stars Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen in the lead roles. Rajat Kapoor and Ashish Vidyarthi also feature in the movie.

In the two minute, 17

“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”

- Rabindranath Tagore.

n Shadma Malik Aficionados of Tagore swarmed the Chhayanaut Shangskriti Bhaban to mark the 73rd death anniversary of Tagore on August 8. The curtain was raised with the resonance of sitar and president of Chhayanaut Sanjida Khatun chaired the event. The stage was set with a backdrop of Tagore’s portrait and the lighting complimented the atmosphere of the programme where Sanjida elaborately discussed the life and philosophy of Tagore along with his songs.

The artistes who presented solos are Sanjida, Saikat Mukherjee, Mohammad Sifayet Ullah Mukul, Azizur Rahman Tuhin, ATM Jahangir, Abdul Wahid, Fahmida Khatun and Tania Mannan among others.

A choral song “Sun Lo Sun Lo Balika” by the teachers of Chhayanaut was an enjoyable presentation.

Many of the numbers performed represented Tagore’s philosophy on life and death.

After the soothing songs, a dance piece “Amay Khomo He Khomo” presented by Warda Rihab with vocal support by Sanjida, captivated the audience.

The Friday evening was indeed a successful reminisce of Tagore’s philosophy. l SADIA MARIUM

seconds video, Randeep Hooda is seen as the rebel painter fighting charges of obscenity for his creations. It is refreshing to see Hooda play the subtle rebel’s role - one who does not flare his nose or has anger boiling in his eyes when he responds to allegations. When a priest asks him who gave him the permission to paint gods, he stays calm and replies that the Gods gave him the permission. l

Did you know?

Stuart Broad’s boundary run percentage of 69.1% since January 2013 is the 3rd highest behind Samuels & Gayle, 500+ balls

Sport

Sunday, August 10, 2014

14 Arsenal harness

Community spirit in Man City clash

14 Ibrahimovic

double earns PSG draw

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Sangakkara’s 10th

double ton puts Sri Lanka ahead

New look DPL all set for pool transfer window n Minhaz Uddin Khan The two-day national players’ transfer window of the Dhaka Premier League 2014/15 will open from today at the office room of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolitan (CCDM) at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. The 23-member pool consists of players who wore the Bangladesh shirt in the last one year.

The ‘Players’ by Choice’ system implemented in the last season has been terminated after enormous protest from the club officials. However, the BCB took two bold decisions this time which should be beneficial for the domestic circuit. The board has divided the pool players into two categories - ‘A’ comprising 17 players (batsmen, spinners and all-rounders) whilst ‘B’ is made up of just six fast bowlers.

The second decision – a club will be allowed to field only one overseas player, but register seven – a decision that should encourage the local cricketers.

Last season a club was allowed to play three foreigners and register 10.

Meanwhile, it is being widely said suspended national all-rounder Shakib al Hasan, who has been recently handed a ban from any form of cricket for six months by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), will be allowed to participate in the upcoming league after the southpaw appealed to the board to reconsider his punishment.

The BCB is yet to set a meeting date to discuss the appeal but it was learnt that the board, under special consideration, will allow him to participate in the transfer process of the non-pool players which will be held on August 27-28.

A club is allowed three players from the pool as per the CCDM directives - two from ‘A’ and one from ‘B’. This fresh order from the CCDM came as a blessing for the pacers who are other-

wise neglected (if inside pool-quota) by the clubs.

The seamers - Mashrafe bin Mortaza and Al-Amin Hossain opted to remain in their existing tents of Mohammedan Sporting Club and Abahani Limited respectively, Robiul Islam signed for Kalabagan KC, Rubel Hossain to Gazi Tank, Shafiul Islam to Prime Doleshwar and Taskin Ahmed for Prime Bank.

According to sources, at least five top-clubs – Abahani, Mohammedan, Gazi Tank, Prime Doleshwar and Prime Bank have already confirmed their pool cricketers with defending champions Gazi a step ahead from others as they already have strengthened their fort by roping in local performers Jahurul Islam, Alok Kapali, Rokibul Hassan, Sharif Ullah, Naeem Islam Jr and Mosharraf Hossain Rubel.

Meanwhile, hard hitting batsman Ziaur Rahman has signed for the Sky Blues while the club is also in talks with Imrul Kayes and Anamul Haque Bijoy. The Bangladesh under-19 star all-rounder Mosaddek Hossain Saikat remained with Abahani as they also added Abdul Majid, Shuvagoto Hom, Soumya Sarkar, Enamul Haque Jr, Taijul Islam, Sadman Islam and Nazmul Apu. They are also linked with Saqlain Sajib, leg spinner Jubair Ahmed Likhon and quickie Shubhashis Roy. Naeem Islam and Mohammad Mithun are the other quota players for Mohammedan while Alauddin Babu, Nur Hossain Munna, Ariful Haque, Sajedul Islam and Tanvir Haider are among the domestic performers who have already signed for the Black and Whites.

Runners-up Prime Doleshwar are eying a better finish as they have roped in Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim from Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club alongside retaining Mominul Haque. Mahmudullah, Farhad Reza and rookie pacer Taskin Ahmed will wear Prime Bank CC jerseys. l

WHO TO WHERE Gazi Tank Tamim Iqbal, Sabbir Rahman, Rubel Hossain Abahani Al Amin Hossain, Ziaur Rahman, Imrul Kayes/Anamul Haque Bijoy Mohammedan Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Naeem Islam, Mohammad Mithun Ali Prime Doleswar Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque, Shafiul Islam

Prime Bank Mahmudullah, Taskin Ahmed, Forhad Reza Kalabagan KC Shamshur Rahman, Marshal Ayub, Robiul Islam Kalabagan CA Arafat Sunny, Nasir Hossain Sheikh Jamal Abdur Razzak Victoria, Old DOHS, Partex, Brothers Yet to confirm any pool players

Players of BCB Green and BCB Red leave the field after the end of the first innings during their practice game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday

Wijetunge snubs Bangladesh

Openers shine in last warm-up game n Minhaz Uddin Khan n Minhaz Uddin Khan Riding on opener Anamul Haque’s 93, Mushfiqur Rahim led BCB Red bagged a seven-wicket victory against Mashrafe bin Mortaza’s BCB Green in the 50-over daynight practice affair at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

Muktar Ali (61) and Imrul Kayes (59) helped BCB Green to put 201 on the scorecard losing all wickets in 44 overs as the bowlers, unlike the first practice match, had a good outing with Sohag Gazi, Jubair Likhon and Mahmudullah picking up two wickets each for BCB Red. The batsmen suffered poor fate as Mominul Haque, who opened the innings, was out for nought while his partner Shamsur Rahman fell after scoring 27. Mithun (0) and Nasir Hossain (20) also failed to make any impression.

In reply, the opening pair of Tamim Iqbal and Anamul put on 114 runs to give BCB Green a solid start to their chase. Tamim returned to runs as his willow produced 70 runs off 66 balls and although BCB Red chased down 201 37.5 overs with Anamul unbeaten on 93, instruction from head coach Chandika Hathurusingha allowed the match to be continued till Anamul reached his ton.

He eventually was unbeaten on 103 off 108 balls with nine boundaries and four maximums in his brilliant innings. l

Practice matches will help team: Imrul n Minhaz Uddin Khan National team’s top-order batsman Imrul Kayes thinks one should give more emphasis on scoring as many runs as possible and worry less about the wicket and the condition. According to the 27 year old left-handed batsman, being able to score under any situation should boost the confidence of Bangladesh batsmen, which is something they can carry with them to the West Indies later this month.

Imrul scored 59 for BCB Green against BCB Red in the 50-over practice game held amongst the national cricketers at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. Being able to score on a wicket where the ball skidded and moved came as a joy to Imrul as he said, “The wicket was a bit skiddy and a sporting one. The ball was moving a bit and that’s why the advantage was there,” he said after BCB Green’s innings where they were bowled out for 201 in 44 overs.”

“The wickets in the West Indies will be completely different. We have to be among runs to face the issue with ease.

That should be our aim,” said the persevering southpaw from Meherpur.

Another challenging part on the day for Imrul, a regular opener, was to bat at number three and execute it well.

Imrul revealed he was asked to bat

at no. 3 by head coach Chandika Hathurusingha who wants him to play at this position. Chandika’s move, however, was not surprising to many as Imrul had played at number three position for most of his career.

“I discussed with coach and he said that he wanted me to play at number three. So he asked me to be prepared for that,” said Imrul before adding, “If a batsman scores no matter where or what condition is. The good knocks give you the confidence. So I think it’s good that I am getting runs and I hope to carry this confidence in the WI series.”

Kayes was in good form during Bangladesh A team’s recent tour of the West Indies and he thinks this is another fact which can be a confidence booster.

“I tried to produce my best performance over there. Overall I tried to play well and I have managed to carry that confidence so far and hopefully it will continue,” said Imrul. He believes the two practice matches will help Bangladesh to assess its level of performance and application of skills.

“It was good obviously because we trained hard before the practice matches and it was required for us.

We needed these practice matches especially for our batsmen to apply their best skills and may be we were able to do that.” l

MUMIT M

Former Sri Lanka cricketer Piyal Wijetunge has turned down Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) offer as the spin bowling coach of Bangladesh national team after receiving a counter offer from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The counter offer for Wijetunge from SLC is believed to be higher than what the BCB offered.

This news from BCB comes on the back of a news published in Dhaka Tribune two days ago which expressed uncertainty surrounding Wijetunge’s appointment.

BCB, understandably, expressed its disappointment over Wijetunge eventually turning his back on Bangladesh.

“Before signing the agreement with us, he (Wijetunge) should talk to the Lankan board,” said BCB media and communication committee chairman Jalal Younus.

“It’s now certain that he won’t be coming to Bangladesh. So we’ve to look for another coach for our spinners,” Jalal added.

BCB, however, was successful in securing the services of Ruwan Kalpage as the Tigers’ fielding coach and the former Sri Lanka cricketer is expected to begin his new assignment with the Tigers’ within next two to three days, according to Jalal. Kalpage, himself an off-spinner, could mentor the spinners

for the time being, Jalal hinted.

“Kalpage was also an off-spinner during his playing career. He can help our spinners though it was not stated in his job criteria. However, we’ll decide after he arrives in the country,” said Jalal to the media personnels.

Kalpage joining the Bangladesh national side will mean he becomes the fourth new member of the team’s support staff after head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, bowling coach Heath Streak and trainer Mario Villavarayan.

Earlier in the previous week, both Kalpage and Wijetunge resigned from

Piyal Wijetunge (L) with Ajantha Mendis

FRIENDSHIP HOCKEY SERIES

India win again to seal series 3-0 n Shishir Hoque Bangladesh national hockey team ended their three-match friendship hockey series against India with a 3-1 defeat in the last game played at BKSP yesterday. The visitors had already secured the series on last Friday after they won the second match. Yesterday’s victory meant a comprehensive 3-0 series win for the visitors.

The young Bangladesh side started the game brightly and produced some speedy counter attacks with a scoring chance in the second minute after a fine work by Rabbi Salekin Rocky and Milon Hossain before a defensive error from Belal gifted India the lead after just six minutes into the clock.

Apart from that error by Belal, the hosts defended well throughout the game and didn’t allow the opponents to score anymore from five penalty corners in the opening half.

However, drag-flicker Gurjinder Singh doubled the visitors’ lead from a penalty corner in the 38th minute before national striker Puskor Khiso Mimo pulled one back in the 58th min-

their respective Sri Lanka job. The Lankan board accepted Kalpage’s resignation letter but managed to lure Wijetunge to stay back.

“The ExCo and Wijetunge had a discussion and Wijetunge decided to withdraw his resignation,” SLC CEO Ashley de Silva revealed to the media.

“The negotiations had something to do with a better offer too.”

At a time when Sri Lanka spinner Sachitra Senanayake’s bowling action is under scrutiny, SLC needed Wijetunge more than any other time to stay with the struggling off-spinner. l

ute after connecting a hit of Milon Hossain. Bikram Kanta scored another for the visitors in the next minute to seal the victory for the Indians.

However, despite not winning a single game and scoring only three goals to India’s ten, the home side can still take positives from the series, believes Bangladesh’s Pakistani coach Naveed Alam.

“The scoreline (2-1) in the first game was good but I was not satisfied with the team’s performance.

The boys played better in the second game but the result was unexpected.

The last game increased the fighting spirit of the players,” said Naveed after the game.

Bangladesh will now host the first round matches of World Hockey League in the first week of September in Dhaka.

Bangladesh became the champions in the first round in the last edition of World Hockey League. After that Bangladesh will take part in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea which begins from September 19 of this year. l

INTERNET

AstroTurf on Paltan ground n Shishir Hoque

The Bangabandhu National Stadium outer ground, also known as the Paltan ground, is likely to have artificial turf installed on it. The Ministry of Youth and Sports has taken the initiative to set up a AstroTurf in December alongside a modern training center and gymnasium.

Arif Khan Joy, the Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports and former Bangladesh footballer, confirmed, “Paltan ground will wear a new look with the synthetic turf and the pioneer football league will be held there while the club officials can also train their players for a fixed fee.”

At present BFF has only one AstroTurf at Arambag while another is being considered for the Kamalapur Stadium after National Sports Council leased the venue for 20 years.

The venue had two galleries at north and west end before the then government dismantled them in 1991-92 to annex it to the stadium complex. The second and third division league matches took place regularly at the venue, but this stopped after every kind of political rallies and meetings at the ground were banned by the government in 2009.

Meanwhile, it was learned that a local agent of a German company named The Modern Builders International Limited will visit the venue today. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Arsenal harness Community spirit in Man City clash n AFP, London Vindicated by their FA Cup triumph, Arsenal approach Sunday’s Community Shield face-off with Manchester City buoyed by the belief that they are now credible challengers for the Premier League title.

May’s 3-2 win over Hull City ended a long and painful nine-year trophy drought for the North London club, and as they return to Wembley Stadium, Arsenal are setting their sights on even bigger prizes.

Manchester City’s 6-3 win over Arsenal last term exposed the big-game frailties that were to fatally undermine Arsene Wenger’s side’s title pursuit, but with a trophy under their belts at last, there is renewed belief at the Emirates Stadium this season.

“There’s been a little bit of negative media (coverage) regarding Arsenal not winning things over the years, but the whole way through that, since I’ve been at the club, we’ve always believed that it will happen soon,” midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain told journalists this week.

“So the fact it did happen (winning the FA Cup), I don’t know if it was a relief, but it was just a really nice reward for the hard work and the togetherness that we’ve had to show for a little while.

“It does start winning momentum and once you know you can win a competition like that, it gives you confidence to go into games and into competitions thinking you can win and expecting to go far.”

Sunday’s encounter in the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season has been given an edge by Wenger’s decision to publicly query City’s con-

duct during the close-season transfer window.

The Arsenal manager wondered aloud if Frank Lampard’s arrival on loan from City’s sister club New York City was an attempt by the Premier League champions to contravene UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.

He then appeared to suggest that City had illegally opened talks with new signing Bacary Sagna, the French right-back, while he was still an Arsenal player.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger

His comments were dismissed by City manager Manuel Pellegrini, who said: “I think as managers, we have enough problems with our own teams to be talking about other teams.”

In any case, neither Lampard nor Sagna will be involved on Sunday, as they are among eight City players who are still working their way back to full fitness ahead of the start of the league season on August 16.

Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Fernandinho and cap-

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini

tain Vincent Kompany are unavailable due to their involvement in the latter stages of the World Cup. Spanish striker Alvaro Negredo is sidelined with an injury, but new arrivals Willy Caballero, the Argentine goalkeeper, and Fernando, the Brazilian holding midfielder, could feature.

Arsenal’s trio of German World Cup winners - Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski - will not feature as they are also some way short of fitness.

Theo Walcott remains sidelined by a knee problem, but new signings Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers and Alexis Sanchez could all play a part after making their debuts in last weekend’s Emirates Cup pre-season tournament.

City face an exacting start to the season, with games against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in the campaign’s early weeks, and midfielder Yaya Toure says that Sunday’s game will provide a timely gauge of their preparedness.

“It’s a really interesting way to start the season, the Community Shield, against a top team like Arsenal at Wembley,” the Ivorian powerhouse told City’s official website.

“Even though we have only just started to train together as a full squad, we will be ready.

“It’s not just the Community Shield either - our first five or six games are looking really difficult for us, but that makes it exciting and it means that we have to hit the ground running and have a strong start.”

The game will see vanishing spray - deployed by referees to keep the defensive wall 10 yards back at freekicks - used in English football for the first time.l

Five questions to ponder in the Community Shield Will Sanchez make a good first impression?

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger splashed out £35 million on Chile forward Alexis Sanchez in the hope the former Barcelona star can provide the kind of game-changing brilliance that can turn a team from title pretenders into serious contenders for the English crown.

In the absence of the injured Theo Walcott, the 25-year-old is likely to start on the right wing, where he has been deployed for much of his career, but Wenger believes he can also be a major threat as a striker. Either way, Sanchez needs to get off to the kind of fast start that eluded Arsenal’s club record signing Mesut Ozil last term.

coming at right-back, but Wenger, who also signed Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton in the past, sees Chambers as a heir to Adams, whose defensive acumen and passion made him an Arsenal legend, and has already moved the youngster to centre-back in the Gunners’ pre-season matches.

Fernando aims to be a City slicker

Can Toure have his cake and eat it?

Yaya Toure was the colossus at the heart of City’s surge to the title last season, but the Ivory Coast midfielder heads into the new campaign with concerns over his commitment to the champions after a series of disputes.

Toure’s agent bizarrely criticised City for failing to provide him with a cake for his birthday, and then more seriously suggested the player had not been allowed to spend time with his dying brother.

Despite suggestions he was trying to engineer a move back to his old club Barcelona, Toure is adamant he wants to stay, but actions will speak louder than words at Wembley.

‘New Adams’ Chambers must justify Wenger’s faith Wenger continued to plunder Southampton for young English talent when he paid £16 million deal to sign Calum Chambers in pre-season, then immediately added to the weight of expectations on the teenage defender’s shoulders by hailing his new acquisition as the next Tony Adams.

The 19-year-old has made only 20 starts in his promising career, with most

City fans should get their first glimpse of the man nicknamed ‘the Octopus’ as Fernando prepares for his debut in the midfield holding role.

Signed from Porto for £12 million, the gangly Fernando earned his memorable label after he continually dispossessed Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney with his long legs during a Champions League match against Manchester United in 2009. More of the same in a City shirt this weekend would quickly endear the Brazilian to his new team.

Jovetic back in the firing line Plagued by injury and illness last season, Stevan Jovetic endured a frustrating first campaign in the Premier League, but the Montenegro striker is back to full fitness and showing why City boss Manuel Pellegrini bought him from Fiorentina for £22 million.

Given the chance to start while Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo recover from injuries, Jovetic has already scored four times in City’s warm-up matches, prompting Pellegrini to say: “If he’s fit all year, he will be a very important player for us.” l

Ibrahimovic double earns PSG draw

City seal swoop Hart faces battle to remain for Argentine n Reuters, Reims youngster Zuculini number one: Pellegrini Paris St Germain’s Zlatan for a starting position in the forthcomIbrahimovic struck twice n AFP, London n AFP, Manchester ing campaign. and missed a penalty in Manchester City completed their swoop for Argentine midfielder Bruno Zuculini from Racing Club on Friday.

Although Zuculini has now officially sealed his move, the Argentina Under-20 international had already been part of City’s pre-season tours of Scotland and the United States and scored in the Premier League champions’ friendly against Kansas City. The 21-year-old, who is available for Sunday’s Community Shield against Arsenal, said he can’t wait to sample life at a major club after leaving Argentine team Racing for a fee reported to be in the region of £3 million ($5 million).

“I’m very excited about the future.

I am looking forward to the experiences which this move will bring and to improving myself as a player,” he told City’s website. l

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has warned Joe Hart he has no room for error if he wants to remain the team’s first-choice goalkeeper.

Hart suffered a dip in form last season which saw him replaced in goal for a month by Costel Pantilimon before the England international re-established himself as Pellegrini’s regular number one.

City allowed Pantilimon to depart the club in June when his contract expired and the Romanian subsequently joined Sunderland on a free transfer.

But Pellegrini replaced him in the City squad with Argentine Willy Caballero, who he signed from former club Malaga during the close season.

The Chilean indicated Caballero, 32, will be better placed to challenge Hart

And Pellegrini may elect to give Caballero an early chance to impress when the Premier League champions face Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday.

“I have two No. 1 goalkeepers,” Pellegrini said. “Willy is a very good goalkeeper, I know him from Malaga. I think he is very happy here. That is why I say we have a stronger squad than last year.

“I will make the decision who will start against Arsenal, not only the goalkeeper, the whole team. I am sure Willy will be very important for us but I also continue thinking we have the best goalkeeper in England in Joe Hart.

“Top teams need two players for each position because we have to play so many games during the year.”l

an enthralling 2-2 draw at Stade de Reims as the French champions avoided an embarrassing defeat when the Ligue 1 season got underway on Friday.

PSG, without newly-signed Brazil defender David Luiz, are favourites for a third straight title but will be disappointed at not holding on to an early lead and allowing a physical but technically weaker Reims to get in front before halftime.

PSG’s Argentina midfielder Javier Pastore found Ibrahimovic just inside the area in the seventh minute, allowing the Sweden striker to slide the ball through Reims keeper Johnny Placide’s legs for his first goal of the season.

PSG then missed three easy chances

Rodwell warns youngsters against lure of City glamour n Reuters, London England midfielder Jack Rodwell has warned local talents against succumbing to the glamour of his former employers Manchester City and advised them to instead sign for a club where they would get sufficient playing time.

The 23-year-old joined Sunderland on Tuesday on a five-year deal after limited first team opportunities in his two-year stint at the Premier League champions.

“I would probably say don’t sign

Moyes’ season was a disaster, says Neville n AFP, London Phil Neville has branded Manchester United’s miserable season under failed boss David Moyes as a complete disaster.

Former United defender Neville was a member of Moyes’ coaching staff last term as they limped to a dismal seventh place finish in the Premier League just one year after being crowned champions in Alex Ferguson’s final season.

The 37-year-old, who played under Moyes at Everton, has since left Old Trafford following the arrival of Louis van Gaal as United’s new boss.

But that hasn’t stopped Neville reflecting on what went wrong during one of the worst season’s in United’s

illustrious history.

“I’ve had sleepless nights thinking about what happened last year,” Neville told the BBC’s Test Match Special.

“There is part of me that thinks it was an impossible job to follow Sir Alex Ferguson. I think Van Gaal has an easier task now, following the man that followed Sir Alex. It was a really difficult job for David Moyes and I think rather than blame him, there has to be collective responsibility taken throughout the whole club.

“Last year was a complete failure, and a disaster from my point of view.”

But Neville remains a fan of the Scot despite his United woe and believes he will bounce back when he returns to management.l

now, I’d say get as much football as you can,” Rodwell, who stood out at his first club Everton, told reporters when asked for his advice to teenagers.

“The first thing I’d ask is, ‘how good are you?’ You just never know - you could go there, do really well and be winning league titles and everything.

“But just because you’re English and young it doesn’t mean you’re not going to play for Manchester City. I would just say weigh up your options and ask yourself if you want to be playing regularly.” l

AFC bans two players for doping violations n Reuters Avchiev Takhir of Kyrgyzstan and Doan Ngoc Hao of Vietnam have been slapped with two-year bans for doping violations, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Saturday.

Defender Avchiev failed a dope test following Kyrgyzstan’s May 19 match against Palestine during the AFC Challenge Cup, the AFC said in a statement.

Midfielder Hao tested positive for levo-methamphetamine after Vietnam’s April 30 match against Iraq at the AFC Futsal Championship.

Both players were eligible to appeal their suspensions, the AFC added. l

Paris Saint-Germain’s forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (L) celebrates next to his teammate Edinson Cavani after scoring during their French L1 match against Reims at the Auguste Delaune Stadium in Reims on Friday AFP

to kill the game in the first 20 minutes, with Ibrahimovic hitting the post and then having a penalty saved by Placide.

“It’s a waste. We gave away the game ourselves, when we should have won it,” PSG coach Laurent Blanc was quoted as saying by French media. “We gave Reims a stick to beat us with and they took advantage and used it.”

RESULT Reims

2 2

Oniangue 22, Devaux 35

PSG Ibrahimovic 7, 62

After looking overwhelmed, Reims capitalised on some sloppy defending when midfielder Prince Oniangue got on the end of a freekick to score in the 22nd before Antoine Devaux linked up with striker Gaetan Charbonnier to beat keeper Salvatore Sirigu.

However, PSG regrouped at halftime and found their rhythm with Ibrahimovic’s chip from near the goalline in the 63rd slipping through

Placide’s hands for his second of the game.

PSG’s Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani, who has been linked with a move to the English Premier League, was denied his wish to play up front instead of on the wing and looked frustrated throughout the game as Blanc kept Ibrahimovic, Ligue 1 top scorer for the past two seasons, in the number nine position.

PSG’s midfield trio of Thiago Motta, Marco Verratti and, Pastore, who gave the best display of the night, proved too strong for a Reims side hampered by losing last term’s top performer Gregorz Krychowiak to Sevilla in the close season.

PSG began their bid for a Ligue 1 title hat-trick without the world’s most expensive defender, Luiz, who was unveiled to the media on Friday after signing from Chelsea for a 50 million euros ($67.05 million) transfer fee in June. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Sangakkara hits 10th double ton

QUICK BYTES

Vermaelen flies in for Barcelona medical The versatile Belgium centre-back has arrived in Catalunya to seal a switch to Camp Nou, after snubbing interest from Manchester United. Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen is in Spain to undergo a medical and complete his €19 million move to Barcelona. The Blaugrana agreed a deal for the Belgium international with the Gunners on Friday, with the centre-half snubbing interest from Manchester United to seal a switch to La Liga. Arsene Wenger had previously admitted that he would rather sell the 28-year-old to a foreign club rather than a domestic rival and, after being given a straight choice between Old Trafford and Camp Nou, Vermaelen plumped for Catalunya.

–Goal.com

n Reuters, Galle Kumar Sangakkara struck a sparkling 221 to move to the second spot in the all-time list of test double centurions as Sri Lanka grabbed lead before declaring their first innings on day four of the first test against Pakistan on Saturday.

Sangakkara’s 10th double century put him just two behind Australian great Don Bradman’s 12 as Sri Lanka declared at 533 for nine wickets for an 82-run first innings lead before returning to strike a late blow as well.

Sangakkara (10) has gone clear of Pakistan were four Brian Lara (9) in 2nd place on list of for one wicket in their players with most Test double tons. second innings at Bradman hit 12. stumps, having lost Sangakkara has become the third opener Khurram Manplayer after Sachin Tendulkar and zoor for three to RanRicky Ponting to score 26,000 intergana Herath. national runs Ahmed Shehzad was one not out and Sangakkara s Test average of 63.4 Saeed Ajmal yet to after turning 30 is the 3rd highest, open his account with minimum 20 innings.

Pakistan still trailing Sangakkara has hit his 200th score by 78 runs with nine of 50+ in international cricket, in wickets in hand. his 625th innings - the 4th player to The day, however, achieve this. belonged to Sangakkara who brought up his Angelo Mathews has a Test average double century with of 85.3 as captain. Only Don Brada single off Ajmal, man (101.5) has a higher average as sparking off celebraskipper, 5+ innings. tions in the ground.

STATS

Pistorius trial ends, verdict set for Sept 11 A verdict in the high profile murder trial of sports star Oscar Pistorius has been set for September 11, after lawyers on Friday wrapped up five months of drama-filled proceedings. Eighteen months after Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013, the Paralympian’s fate now lies in the hands of South African Judge Thokozile Masipa. “We shall be back here on the 11th of September at 9:30 for the judgment,” said Masipa, drawing proceedings to a close. Pistorius stands accused of deliberately shooting dead his glamorous 29-year-old lover with hollow point “cop killer” bullets after an argument.

–AFP

Villa sign Valencia defender Cissokho Aston Villa signed French defender Aly Cissokho from Spanish club Valencia on Friday. Cissokho agreed a four-year contract with Villa as the left-back made a quick return to the Premier League after spending last season on loan at Liverpool. “Aly Cissokho has joined us on a four-year deal from ValenciaCF, subject to international clearance,” a post on Villa’s official Twitter feed announced. The 26-year-old, who has one cap for France, made 15 Premier League and four cup appearances for Liverpool and is believed to have cost Villa in the region of £2 million ($3.3 million).

–AFP

Milan reveal Diego Lopez agreement The Real Madrid goalkeeper is poised to finalise a free transfer to the San Siro outfit in the coming days. Real Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez is set to join AC Milan after agreeing personal terms with the club. The Twitter account of Milan’s official television channel revealed the news with a message welcoming the keeper on Saturday morning. The Serie A side’s CEO and vice-president, Adriano Galliani, also confirmed the news to fans on Saturday. “Diego Lopez to Milan is a done deal at 99%,” he is quoted as saying by Italian publication Gazetta dello Sport. Lopez is expected to undergo a medical on Monday before signing a four-year contract with the San Siro outfit in a deal that will see the 32-year-old earn about €2.5million per season.

–Goal.com

DAY’S WATCH Ten Cricket 9:30AM Pakistan Tour of Sri Lanka 2014 1st Test Day 5 Star Sports 1, 3, HD1 3:00PM India tour of England 4th Test, Day 4 Star Sports 2 Pro Kabaddi League 8:15PM Jaipur v Kolkata 9:30PM Patna v Bangaluru Star Sports 4

n AFP, Manchester

18 18 17 7 1 27 4 46 10 9 0 4 161

Bowling Anderson 9-4-18-2, Woakes 9-2-37-1, Jordan 12-1-65-2, M Ali 13-3-39-4 Man of the match: Stuart Broad England won by an innings and 54 runs and lead the five-match series 2-1

Moeen Ali starred in a dramatic England victory for the second time in as many matches as they crushed India by an innings and 54 runs to win the fourth Test at Old Trafford on Saturday with more than two days to spare.

India suffered their second spectacular collapse of the match in losing nine wickets after tea on the third day - including five for 13 in 21 balls - as England went 2-1 up in the five-match series ahead of next week’s finale at The Oval.

Ali took four for 13 in 37 balls on the way to innings figures of four for 39 in 13 overs.

At tea, India were 33 for one in their second innings - with all-rounder Chris Woakes having taken his first wicket of the series to dismiss Murali Vijay.

But this was quickly transformed into 66 for six.

What made this slump all the more extraordinary was England fast-medium bowler Stuart Broad, who took six for 25 in India’a first innings 152 all out where they had been eight for four ear-

Win for Bangladesh women in World Chess Olympiad n

Tribune Desk

Bangladesh women team defeated Chinese Taipei in their 6th round game while the Open Chess team lost to Singapore on Friday in the 41st World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway.

In the women’s section, the victory was a comfortable one for the Bangladeshi women as they cruised past Chinese Taipei by 3-1 points. WIM Shamima Akter Liza, WIM Rani Hamid and Sharmin Sultana Shirin registered victories against Lin Yu-Tong Elaine,Liao Jo-Yu and Cho Hung-Ling respectively

while the only defeat came when WFM Nazrana Khan Eva lost to Gao Yi Ping.

They now have six match points alongside 12 game points from six matches.

Meanwhile in the Open section, Bangladesh lost to Singapore by 1.5-2.5 points in the 6th round. Grandmaster Niaz Murshed beat Lee Qing Aun and GM Enamul Hossain Razib drew with WIM Gong Quinyun as both GM Ziaur Rahman and GM Abdullah al Rakib lost to GM Zhang Zhong and IM Goh Wei Ming Kevin respectively. The Bangladesh Open team now have five match points and 11.5 game points in their tally. l

Pakistan 1st innings 451 (Younis Khan 177, Asad Shafiq 75, Sarfraz Ahmed 55, Abdur Rehman 50, Dilruwan Perera 5-137, Rangana Herath 3-116) Sri Lanka 1st innings (overnight 252-2) U. Tharanga lbw b Junaid 19 K. Silva c Sarfraz b Talha 64 K. Sangakkara st Sarfraz b Rehman 221 M. Jayawardene lbw b Junaid 59 A. Mathews c Younis b Ajmal 91 K. Vithanage c Shafiq b Ajmal 5 N. Dickwella c Shafiq b Ajmal 5 D. Perera c Junaid b Ajmal 5 D. Prasad st Sarfraz b Ajmal 31 R. Herath not out 6 Extras: (b5, lb11, w7, nb4) 27 Total (for 9 wkts declared, 163.1 overs) 533 Fall of wickets 1-24 (Tharanga), 2-144 (Silva), 3-257 (Jayawardene), 4-438 (Mathews), 5-450 (Vithanage), 6-458 (Dickwella), 7-475 (Perera), 8-511 (Sangakkara), 9-533 (Prasad).

Bowling Junaid 33-9-104-2 (w2), Talha 27-4104-1 (nb4, w5), Ajmal 59.1-8-166-5, Rehman 39-2-123-1, Shehzad 5-0-20-0 Pakistan 2nd innings Khurram Manzoor c Dickwella b Herath 3 Ahmed Shehzad not out 1 Saeed Ajmal not out 0 Extras: 0 Total (for one wicket, six overs) 4 Bowling Herath 3-2-3-1, Eranga 1-1-0-0, Perera 2-1-1-0 Pakistan trail by 78 runs with nine wickets in hand

England’s Chris Jordan celebrates cleaning up India’s Pankaj Singh to win the fourth Test match at Old Trafford in Manchester yesterday AFP ly on - was off the field after being hit on the nose by a Varon Aaron bouncer after trying to hook the fast bowler for a third six in as many balls.

This latest collapse started when Gautam Gambhir gloved a short ball from Anderson to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

Next ball, the start of a new over, saw 53 for two become 53 for three when Pujara was given out lbw to Ali. It became 61 for five when Virat Kohli’s miserable tour continued when, on seven, he edged Anderson to Ian Bell at second slip.

Then a crowd drenched in sunshine

had more to cheer when R Jadeja was caught at slip by Chris Jordan off Ali. India captain Dhoni trying to attack Ali was brilliantly caught for 27 by Gary Ballance, diving to his right at midwicket. India were now 105 for 7, with all-rounder Ali having taken four for 13 in 27 balls.

B Kumar, ‘caught’ off a Jordan noball on nine, did not make the most of his reprieve when run out for 10 by Ali. Jordan, however, got in on the act by taking the last two wickets in as many balls, with Varun Aaron caught behind and Pankaj Singh yorked for a duck as India were dismissed for 161 in 43 overs.

Pankaj Singh’s long wait for a first Test wicket - after a debut record worst wicketless return of none for 179 at Southampton - eventually ended when the 6ft 6in paceman took two for four in 15 balls with the new ball.

He dismissed both Joe Root (77) and Buttler (70) after the pair had put on 134 for the seventh wicket.

But England still compiled a total of 367 that gave them a first-innings lead of 215 - more than enough runs as it proved to withstand Broad’s absence. l

Steyn, debutant Piedt restrict Zim n Reuters, Harare Debutant off-spinner Dane Piedt and Dale Steyn took four wickets each as South Africa restricted Zimbabwe to 248 for nine at close of play on the first day of their one-off Test on Saturday.

Home captain Brendan Taylor weighed in with a lusty 93 in what was a lone defiance against the South African attack on a flat Harare Sports Club wicket that offered nothing for the quicks, but had plenty of turn.

Debutants Donald Tiripano (nine) and John Nyumbu (zero) will resume on Sunday in the hope of frustrating the Proteas further.

Off-spinner Piedt recorded figures of

four for 90 and picked up a wicket with his first ball in test cricket.

Piedt trapped Mark Vermeulen (14) leg before wicket to become the second

BRIEF SCORE, DAY 1 Zimbabwe 1st Innings 248/9 (89.0 ov) Masakadza 45, Taylor 93, Williams 24, Steyn 4/45, Piedt 4/90 South African to achieve the feat in test cricket, and the first in 108 years after Bert Vogler against England. It was the 19th time a bowler has had success with the first ball of his career in test history.

The 24-year-old then bowled Hamil-

ton Masakadza (45) and two balls later had Regis Chakabva caught at short mid-wicket by Hashim Amla for a duck.

Crucially, Piedt then picked up the key wicket of Taylor seven runs short of what would have been a deserved fifth test century when he picked out JP Duminy on the massive mid-wicket boundary.

Steyn toiled hard for his four for 45.

He had Vusi Sibanda caught at third slip by Alviro Petersen for a duck and Sean Williams edged behind to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock on 24.

He also trapped Richmond Mutumbami leg before wicket for 21, while Tendai Chatara was adjudged caught behind by De Kock. l

William sisters set for Montreal semis Birthday boy Federer beats n AFP, Montreal

8:00PM FA Community Shield Arsenal v Man City 1:00AM Rogers Cup: Toronto Final Star Sports HD2 9:00PM MotoGP: Indianapolis Main Race Ten Action 2:00PM South Africa Tour of Zimbabwe 1st Test Day 2 Sony Six Caribbean Premier League 10:00PM Guyana Amazon v St Lucia Zouks 2:00AM Barbados Tridents v Jamaica Tallawahs

His batted for 11 hours and 38 minutes, hitting 24 fours in his marathon 425-ball knock.

Sangakkara endured some torrid moments, however, before reaching the double century when Ajmal followed up the dismissal of Angelo Mathews (91) before the tea break with a further three cheap wickets as Sri Lanka slumped to 475-7.

Ajmal, without a wicket in the previous 47 overs, picked up four for 13 in 6.3 overs, also dismissing Kithuruwan Vithanage, Niroshan Dickwella and Dilruwan Perera.

Sangakkara’s marathon knock came to an end when he stepped out to Abdur Rehman and was stumped by wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

Sri Lanka appeared set to bat through the afternoon session unscathed until Pakistan picked up the wicket of Mathews when the batsman pushed forward at an Ajmal delivery and was caught in the slip. The dismissal ended his 181-run stand with Sangakkara.

Earlier Sangakkara, still on his overnight score of 102, cut the first ball he received from Junaid Khan straight to point where Abdur Rehman spilled an easy catch. At the other end, Mahela Jayawardene, making his penultimate test appearance, got off the mark for the day with a streaky four off Junaid but was out the next ball when he was trapped lbw on 59. l

SCORECARD, DAY 4

Ali leads another England rout of India

FOURTH TEST, DAY 3 India 1st Innings 152 (MS Dhoni 71; S Broad 6-25, J Anderson 3-46) England 1st Innings (overnight: 237-6) 367 (J Root 77, J Buttler 70; B Kumar 3-75, Aaron 3-97) India 2nd Innings M Vijay lbw b Woakes G Gambhir c Buttler b Anderson C Pujara lbw b Ali V Kohli c Bell b Anderson A Rahane c and b Ali MS Dhoni c Ballance b Ali R Jadeja c Jordan b Ali R Ashwin not out B Kumar run out (Ali/Buttler) V Aaron c Buttler b Jordan Pankaj Singh b Jordan Extras Total (all out; 43 overs)

15

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Serena Williams (USA) reacts after winning against Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) on day five of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament at Uniprix Stadium on Friday AFP

Serena and Venus Williams will clash in the semi-finals of the Montreal WTA tournament after the American sisters battled through tough three-setters in the quarter-finals on Friday.

World number one Serena outlasted Caroline Wozniacki to clinch a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory, while Venus also came from a set down to end the run of Spanish 14th seed Carla Suarez Navarro, the third round conqueror of Maria Sharapova, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

This is the 25th meeting between the two as Serena will take a 14-10 career lead in into Saturday’s match.

The 32-year-old has won their last five meetings as Venus has failed to beat her younger sister since a three-set victory in Dubai five years ago.

Despite her recent success, Serena said Friday she dreads playing her sister. l

Ferrer for semi-final spot n AFP, Toronto

Roger Federer marked his 33rd birthday by beating David Ferrer for the 15th straight time to reach the semi-finals of the ATP Tour’s Toronto Masters tournament on Friday.

A sellout crowd sang Happy Birthday to the second seed early in the second set, and cheered post-match as the 17-time grand slam winner was presented with an oversized chocolate cake to mark the occasion.

Federer remains a perfect 4-0 on matches played on his birthday.

“At 33 it’s a dream to be playing tennis at this level,” said Federer, who lost his first set to Ferrer since 2010 as the Spanish fifth seed took the match into a deciding third set after losing ten previous sets in a row against the Swiss.

“I really enjoyed the match, it’s al-

ways a challenge against David. My goals now are to stay injury-free and try and go out on my terms.

“I have two titles this year and I hope to win more, It all starts again tomorrow on the court.”

Federer will face his next test against another Spaniard when he takes on Feliciano Lopez, a winner over Canadian sixth seed and 2013 finalist Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.

Federer boasts an unblemished 10-0 record in that series, which began 11 years ago. Raonic had reached semi-finals in nine of 11 previous events and was coming off a title last week in Washington.

Lopez saved six break points to hold for 3-2 in the third set on his way to the upset win. Lopez will compete in his third career semi-final at a Masters 1000 and is seeking his first win.l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Sunday, August 10, 2014

Biman faces frequent troubles on Dhaka-Kathmandu route A flight fails to land in Nepal because of technical difficulties; Biman sends another aircraft to carry the passengers back n Muhammad Zahidul Islam An air craft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines failed to land in Tribhuban International Airport in Nepal on Friday afternoon as it had a throttle stagger and returned to Dhaka.

Throttle-stagger is a maintenance controller that maintains the speed of a craft that plays a vital role in landing and taking off.

After the national flag carrier returned to Dhaka it again flew for Kathmandu after 18 hours of its scheduled time, sources said.

Over the last ten days the A310-300 S2-ADK aircraft of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines has faced at least three technical glitch.

On the evening of July 28 a Biman flight of BG-701 flew to Nepal but when it landed four of its left-side tyres exploded, sources informed.

Even though the A310-300 S2-ADK had a schedule to return to Dhaka it could not do so. The Biman authorities had to send another aircraft to Nepal to carry back the Dhaka-bound passengers.

On Wednesday afternoon the A310300 S2-ADK was scheduled to leave for Kathmandu but it could not take off due to technical glitch. It went to Nepal on Thursday morning.

“I have heard about frequent problems on the Dhaka-Kathmandu route and we might have to think about the A310-300 S2-ADK,” AM Mosaddique Ahmed, acting chief executive officer of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said he had no technical knowhow but from a customer’s point of view it is untolerable.

On the evening of July 28 when

the Biman flight BG-701 was about to land the wheels on the left of the carrier might not be working in a balanced way and that is why the tyres blasted, a senior official of the engineering win informed.

What was most frightening the air craft was not stopped on the runway as its wheels caught fire and even the control tower watched the smoke billowing from the plane. Later they sent fire service personnel to take care of it.

The Biman at once sent a 737 Boeing from Dhaka as next day was Eid-ul-Fitr and carred their inbound passengers.

Officials of Biman however claimed that nothing had happened and they also said it was not unusual at all. Later the Biman formed an inquiry committee headed by Mehedi Hasan.

Ten days have already passed but the committee is yet to come to any conclusion.

“As most of the members of the inquiry committee are pilots they are

unnecessary delaying the investigation and if they even submit any report it will not be impartial,” a senior official of engineering wing said requesting anonymity.

Debabrata Banik, Chief Engineer of the Biman on Thursday shrugged the allegation off: All these problems are very minor.

He said: “We have formed a probe committee and after its report is submitted the Biman will take action if anybody is found guilty. l

Quality examiners snub BCS examination duties n Kamran Reza Chowdhury The Public Service Commission fails to attract quality examiners for setting question papers and its moderation and conducting viva voce for the candidates of the Bangladesh Civil Service examinations due to poor remuneration.

Setting questions, moderation and viva voce are considered very important steps in the public service exams, which select good public servants and put in place the bureaucracy and public administration.

Experts say carrying out exam related duties such as oral test, the last step of the BCS, by poor quality examiners is sure to result in the selection of inferior quality public servants, ultimately affecting the country’s bureaucracy that is considered a key to the execution of development initiatives of the government.

The 200-mark oral examination is very important in the selection of the candidates. For instance, a candidate getting 65% marks (on average) in six subjects of the written test may not be able to get finally selected if he/she fails to get good scores in the oral test.

But a candidate with 60% marks in the written test may finally be selected in case he/she gets 90% marks in the oral examination.

The PSC offers the examiners and experts only Tk1,500 for setting question papers, moderation and conducting viva voce for the cadre posts.

The examiners must be busy for up to seven hours a day — from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.

The commission invites reputed university teachers, professors, vice-chancellors, retired secretaries, in-service bureaucrats not below the rank of joint secretary, noted journal-

ists and eminent citizens for the exam related activities.

“Such eminent persons must stay at the commission up to 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm starting at 9:00 am. So, remuneration of Tk1,500 for their valuable working hours is very insufficient,” said a PSC report sent to the Public Administration Ministry last month.

The report, the Dhaka Tribune obtained, said the commission was demanding a hike of the remuneration for the experts. On February 16, the commission requested the Finance Ministry to double the package to Tk3,000.

But the ministry rejected the proposal, leaving the commission to face the problem in getting quality examiners.

“So, eminent and noted experts are rejecting the commission’s offer of exam related works showing different excuses,” said the report, adding that the same experts earned up to Tk5,000

in different educational institutions spending only two to three hours.

Sampad Barua, an additional secretary who routinely serves the PSC for question setting, moderation and oral exams, agrees with the PSC’s observations.

“Many quality experts may not be interested in serving the PSC for poor package. This (Tk1,500) is really very small amount. It should be increased as the purchasing capacity of the amount is very low at present,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Inferior quality teachers having no work may be interested, he said, adding that a section of quality persons would snub the offer.

“But you will get some persons who will not look for better package. They basically go to the PSC out of their commitment for the country,” said Sampad, now posted to Bangabhaban. l

Minister blasts media, calls journalist ‘Khovish’ n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali yesterday categorically termed journalists "Khobish" which roughly means “disgusting” or “dirty” in Bangla.

The minister was addressing a discussion programme in Sylhet Municipality auditorium in the afternoon.

Journalists boycotted the programme protesting the derogatory remarks by the minister.

In his 40-minute speech, the minister also termed journalists non-graduated, non-educated and characterless.

Witnesses said minister Mohosin hurled disparaging words at journalists from the very beginning of his speech.

He also shouted at TV channel journalists present at the discussion and asked them to take away all TV cameras and microphones from the discussion table.

Pointing to the journalists, he said: "Go away from here. I am not here to see your [journalists'] faces."

He said: “None of these [journalists] studied journalism. Only my daughter studied and completed post graduation in journalism.”

Criticising a national daily, the minister said: “It published fabricated news on my statement as I supported a better syllabus for Madrasa students.”

Terming journalists stupid, the angry minister said: “All are filthy, corrupt and stupid. You all know my in-law's house is in Sylhet and on my order people of Sylhet will chase you out.”

"I will see how much you can do after the formation of independent broadcast commission," Mohsin threatened journalists.

Four left-side tyres of the Biman flight BG 701 that flew to Nepal on July 28 caught fire after it landed the airport there. The pictures were taken by a passenger

Abused at home, girls should break the silence n Udisa Islam She could not tell her parents about the first time she faced sexual harassment. It was by one of her relatives at her home.

The HSC student thought that had she spoken up, everyone would have misunderstood her and blamed her instead.

Women’s rights activists claim that in Bangladesh, most perpetrators of sexual harassment are the victims’own family members, and in most cases, the victims refrain from sharing the matter with anyone.

According to the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association, almost 90% of girls aged 10-18 who are victims of sexual harassment are usually harassed by known people, and most of the abusers go unpunished since the incidents are never reported.

Rehana (not real name) shared with the Dhaka Tribune her experience about her uncle who is only four years’ senior to her. “When I was 13 years’ old, my uncle touched me which made me uncomfortable. He continued to abuse me physically and I could not tell anybody about it since he was well-accepted in my family.”

She tried to avoid her uncle whenever he came to the house. And after two years, when she told her mother about her concerns, the housewife told her to keep mum.

Observers say they do not have any statistics on how many girls are actually molested or raped within their homes.

These victims usually do not go to trauma centres, or contact any consultant to get rid of the psychological pressure or guilt they undergo following sexual abuse by known people. They keep mum mainly because they fear being stigmatised by the patriarchal society.

Therefore, such repeated harassment at home as well as in public places hit them so hard that it impedes the

girls’ emotional growth.

Rights campaigner Khusi Kabir said: “We need to break the silence now.

There is no formal institution where the victims can share their feelings and get remedy. They may get some assistance only if they file cases with the National Trauma Counselling Centre.”

She said: “Since most victims do not file cases and are not vocal about their harassment, they feel shaky and are forced to bear the torture all by themselves.”

The counselling centre is a joint initiative of Bangladesh and Denmark governments, under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, and aims at providing mental health support to the women and children who are victims of violence. It identifies, assesses and manages the psychological problems of women victims of violence through individual and family counselling.

Under the same programme, the government in 2012 introduced a national helpline number “10921” to record complaints of women and children facing any sort of violence including sexual harassment.

President of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association Salma Ali said the rights bodies prepare statistics on violence based on newspaper reports.

“When the media reports on sexual harassment, we come to know that these things are happening. And when not, it does not mean that such incidents have stopped; rather it implies that the victims are not filing formal complaints.”

She thinks that the number of women and girls facing sexual harassment at home and outside is much higher than the reported incidents. To change the scenario, the girls must come up with the complaints while the government authorities concerned and the organisations working on sexual harassment should provide necessary assistance. l

BSF kills cattle trader n Our Correspondent, Meherpur

The minister drew huge criticism over his recent his comment over media coverage on Narayanganj seven murder incident.

Referring to the Narayanganj sev-

en murder, he said: “Electronic media houses have been broadcasting the Narayanganj seven murders report to create unrest across the country. You saw that hundreds of people died at

the Twin Tower incident in the US, but they aired it only for a few seconds."

Prior to that comment, he also faced criticism by smoking on the stage during a reception programme for GPA holders. l

A Bangladeshi cattle trader was shot dead by the members of Indian Border Security Force (BSF) on Mujibnagar border in Meherpur district on Friday.

The deceased is Abdul Khalek, 30, son of Dhula Manik, of Majhpara village under Meherpur upazila.

Mujibnagar Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Camp Commander Shafiqul Islam said: “The BSF troops of Sutia camp in Nadia district in India opened fire on Khalek near main pillar no 107

while he was trying to bring cattle to Bangladesh from the Indian territory around 11:30pm.”

Later his associates admitted him to the Meherpur General Hospital where the doctors declared him dead.

After the incident, BGB patrolling has been intensified in the area, said Chuadanga 6 Battalion Commanding Officer Major Jahid.

He said protesting the incident, a letter was sent to the BSF authority around 1am following which a flag meeting between the two security forces was held around 11:30am yesterday. l

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B3 As Malaysia Airlines

faces overhaul, are there lessons from Japan?

B4 Russian food embargo a big blow for EU producers

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Deposit rate falls below 8% after 27 months Deposit rate cut helps push stock prices up

Poor investment demand and increased foreign loan inflow prompt banks to cut deposit rates

n Tribune Report

n Jebun Nesa Alo Interest rates on bank deposits have gone down to as low as 7% in June this year, breaking a steady trend of over 8% in the last 27 months.

The is due to the banks reluctance to collect funds at high interest rate amid sluggish investment climate, bankers said.

The deposit rate stood 7.79% in June from 8.01% in the previous months. It ranged between 8.68% and 8.01% for more than last two years. Earlier, the rate came below 8% in February 2012 and stood at 7.95%. The deposit growth dropped to 15.89% in June from 16.26% in December last year, as a result.

Banks have reduced the interest rate on deposit as they are unable to invest the money due to lack of credit demand, said a senior executive of a private bank.

“We have also reduced the lending rate to encourage entrepreneurs for becoming more active in their business expansion as the economy started returning to normalcy after a prolonged political unrest,'' Pubali Bank Manag-

ing Director Helal Ahmed Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said all the scheduled banks would cut their lending rates gradually as they are under pressure to reduce it because of the robust foreign loan inflow.

The interest rate on advance loans reduced to 13.1% in June from 13.23% in the previous month.

The total deposits of the banking sector increased by 5.15% to Tk610,530 crore in October-December period of 2013 as compared to 50.62% growth to Tk532,633 crore in the same period of previous year, according to latest Bangladesh Bank figures.

The banks failed to utilise the deposits due to lack of investment opportunities before the general election on January 5, said a senior executive of another private bank.

As a result, he said, the banks were

reluctant to collect deposits and reduced the deposit rates to discourage depositors.

Consequently, the depositors are now searching for new opportunities to get lucrative return from their idle money, he said.

“The depositors have turned their eyes on the share market as the retail investors to some extent got back their confidence after the demutualisation of the stock exchanges,'' he said.

The interest rate spread went up abnormally in the recent months due to deeper cut in deposit rate than the lending rate.

As a result, despite warning of the central bank to keep the interest rate spread at the desired level of 5%, the spread between the lending and deposit rates further rose to 5.31% in June, which is highest in 17 months. It was

5.22% in May. At the bankers meeting held last month, the central bank warned the banks of bringing down the spread at a desired level.

The spread was 5.33% in December 2012 when the lending rate was 13.8% and deposit rate 8.47%. The spread ranges between 4.95% and 5.15% in last one and half years.

The central bank though tried to keep the spread at 5%, it went up from February after coming down at 4.99% in January.

The gap rose again as banks were forced to cut their deposit rate due to low investment demand and easing money market conditions. They slashed the lending rate slightly as compared to the deposit rate cut that caused an imbalance between the rates and pushed the spread up, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank. l

Stocks posted rise for the third straight week due to decline in rates on bank deposits and lucrative pricing level, lifting investor sentiment to some extent.

Brokers considered the investors might have started diverting funds from banks to the market as reflected in the increased turnover.

Trading activities was upbeat in the past week ended Thursday, spurred by the fresh funds injection. The week’s DSE daily turnover averaged at Tk544 crore, registering an increase of more than 69% over the previous week's Tk321 crore.

As a result, the benchmark DSEX rose 59 points or 1.4% to close at 4,486, which is 4-week high.

The DSE Shariah Index, DSES, gained 21 points or 2% to 1,026. The comprising blue chips DS30 was up over 26 points or 1.7% to 1,653.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rose 111 points or 1.4% to close at 8,492.

Some of the heavyweight stocks like Grameenphone, ACI, Square Pharma and BATBC led the market rally from the front in the past week.

Lanka Bangla Securities in its weekly market analysis said market continued to rally on the first week of this month on the back of momentum developed by positive corporate earnings of most of the listed companies in April-June quarter.

It said investors' confidence seems

BTCL sees piling of huge audit objections n Muhammad Zahiul Islam Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Ltd (BTCL) is facing a huge pile of 6,813 unresolved audit objections from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which has accumulated since 1972.

The standing committee of public undertakings will hold a meeting today, where the issues will be placed.

The meeting is also expected to discuss unresolved objections of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

Sources in the state-owned company said the erstwhile Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) had 14,066 unresolved audit objections until 2007.

Around 7,000 audit objections is still a huge number for a single company while the new trends signal it will increase further

The resolving process got momentum with the army-backed caretaker government taking power in the year. It helped the authorities reduce the number by more than half.

Dhaka Tribune obtained working paper of today’s meeting, which showed that BTTB in 2007 was able to resolve 7,884 objections which involved Tk2,756.52 crore.

In that year BTTB also faced a new flow of 1,465 objections. However, as the board had resolved a lot of objections,

the number didn’t increase that much.

The next year BTTB received 443 new objections from the CAG but resolved 1,376.

From July 2008 the BTTB turned to BTCL. But the new company continued the resolving process.

In 2008 a total of 577 objections were resolved with receiving 161 new objections.

But after next two years the whole picture started to change. In FY200910, BTCL got 300 new objections and could resolve some 248 objections involving Tk17.56 crore.

In FY2010-11, the state-owned company resolved 188 objections and received 651 new objections.

According to the working paper, a total of 19,927 objections were resolved during 1972 to 2011 out of 26,740 objections.

BTCL acting managing director Swapan Kumar Saha declined to make any comment on the matter saying he has just taken the post. Swapan Kumar Saha was made BTCL acting MD one month ago.

He, however, said: “It has been a problem for long. We can’t change it overnight.”

Official sources said unresolved objections are mainly with telephone bills as the expenditure was larger than the budget.

Objections are also with appointing casual workers as due process was not followed, payment of unapproved bonus on different occasions and irregularities in maintenance work.

According to a senior CAG official, around 7,000 audit objections is still a huge number for a single company while the new trends signal it will increase further.

BTRC is facing eight objections which involve Tk17.01 crore. Out of them, there is a case of Ekushe TV since the private television channel has not yet deposited Tk15.08 crore as equipment, terminal and licence fees. l

to get back to the positive mode as the economy is showing signs of recovery after prolonged period of political turmoil.

IDLC Investments said with the half-yearly earning disclosures as well as the latest monetary policy statement, investors continued shuffling across sectors as well as issues.

It said the investors continued re-balancing portfolio with more focus on selective stocks from fuel and power to telecommunication and cement.

Investors’ confidence seems to get back to the positive mode It said lucrative prices coupled with better earnings and search for investment worthy spread in market dynamics spurred the investors most.

Gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 306 issues traded, 179 advanced, 113 declined and 14 remained unchanged.

Among the sectors, top gaining sectors were telecommunication 4.97%, cement 4% and pharmaceuticals 3.7%.

Conversely, top losing sectors were miscellaneous 1.3%, bank 1.3% and mutual fund 0.7%.

GP dominated the week's top turnover chart, with shares worth Tk173 crore changing hands followed by Beximco, Mobil Jamuna, ACI and Lafarge Surma Cement. l

RMG census stressed to propel its growth n Tribune Business Desk

The minor races and communities in Bangladesh showcase their traditional products at the Bangla Academy premises yesterday, marking the International Indigenous Day-2014 RAJIB DHAR

Russia to import more Bangladeshi shrimp n Asif Showkat Kallol Russian authorities will approve five more Bangladeshi companies to export shrimp to the market as the country wants to increase shrimp import from Bangladesh, said official sources.

Five of 22 “A” category shrimp producing companies will win the approval. However, the companies will have to submit export orders from respective Russian importers before having approval.

Currently, five companies export shrimp to the country, which include Bagerhat Sea Food Ltd, Fresh Foods Ltd, Apex Food Ltd, ARK Sea Food Ltd and Gemini Sea Food Ltd. Russia is Europe’s largest importer in value of animals, meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, according to the European Union. Recently, the country faced economic sanctions from USA, Canada and EU over Ukraine crisis.

In counter, Russia also imposed sanctions on those countries. Canada used to supply shrimp to Russia.

Earlier in December 2013, Russian

government completely suspended import of shrimp from Bangladesh questioning quality of the product. The export resumed in February 2014.

Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosantary Surveillance of Russian Federation withdrew the temporary ban on a Bangladeshi shrimp exporting company early in last February paving the way for resumption of shrimp export to that country.

The currently exporting four companies got approval from the Russian government in September 2009.

To check shrimp quality, a four-member team headed by Science Officer of Fish Directorate Nittya Ranjan Biswas has already started inspection of 16 shrimp firms in Khulna.

On August 15 the team will visit Chittagong to inspect six companies.

Five of these 22 firms are expected to be approved for exporting shrimp to Russia. They are “A” category factories.

Under the quality requirement, a total of 10 lakh CFU (Calorie Forming Unit) is required for 20 gram shrimp to

maintain international standard.

Exporters said Russia offers 10 to 20 cent higher price per kg than the offers by the European Union and the US to Bangladesh.

It makes 30 per cent advance payment after deals so that the exporters can get relief from bank interest.

Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) President Md Amin Ullah said: “Seven per cent of the country’s total frozen foods export worth Tk3.0-3.5bn go to Russia annually.”

He said: “The Department of Fisheries is taking measures to resume export of frozen foods by more local companies. We are hopeful that the market will be opened to these companies soon.”

Bangladesh exported frozen foods worth $418.74m during July-January in fiscal year 2013-14 compared to $332.46m of the same period of last fiscal, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed.

The government has set a target of exporting $578.77m worth of frozen foods this fiscal. l

The country should carry out a Readymade Garment (RMG) census to know the exact number of workers working in the apparel industry and their characteristics, said a leading economist.

"Alongside looking into compliance issue, we need to conduct a RMG survey to know the characteristics of workers...it will largely benefit local apparel makers," said Dr Binayak Sen, Research Director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), at a dialogue held yesterday in the city.

Chintar Chash, a research-oriented organisation, arranged the dialogue titled 'Challenges of RMG Industry and Way Out' at the National Press Club, reports BSS. Former Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed moderated the session while Director of Economic Research Bureau (ERB) and Professor of Economics Department of Dhaka University Dr Shafiq Uz Zaman presented a keynote paper.

Former Caretaker Government advisers Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman and Mahbub Jamil, noted columnist Syed Abul Moksud, Chairman of Chintar Chash Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman and Secretary General of Citizen Rights Movement Tushar Rehman addressed it.

Former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Abdus Salam Murshedi, former president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Fazlul Haque and first vice-president of BKMEA Mohammad Hatem also spoke.

Dr Sen said the RMG survey should be included in the year-long plan of BGMEA. He highlighted different issues including compliance issue and safety standard and labour rights.

About the widely-talked compliance issue, he said as the United States seems to be worried about the issue, it (US) should be engaged in compliance financing in Bangladesh. Bangladesh should follow its historical labour rights instead of international standard, he observed.

The researcher suggested for an inter city connectivity before shifting garment units from the capital.

Dr Hossain Zillur said Bangladesh has advanced forward much than other competitors due to its unique advantage of cheap labour cost. "But skilled labour force will dominate the industry in future. Therefore, entrepreneurs and the government must look into the issue right now," said the economist.

Dr Zillur criticised a section of BGMEA leaders for encouraging sub-contracting saying that this sub-contracting is a threat for the industry. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSE key features August 03-07, 2014

DSE GAINERS

2014

Turnover (Million Taka)

2014

Turnover (Volume)

Shahjibazar Power-N Renwick Jajneswar-A aamra technologies-A Hwa Well Textiles-N Argon Denims Limited-A ACI Limited- A Mozaffar H.Spinning-N MJL BD Ltd.-A Hakkani P& Paper -B Legacy Footwear -A

Dividend (Tk per unit), 2013

Latest close price

Dividend yield

Recent NAV per unit (Taka)

Price/ NAV

Redemption Year

80

952.6

8.40%

1,520.90

0.63

1STICB 2NDICB

40

325.7

12.28%

305.7

1.07

Company

27,208.81 606,422,547

Number of Contract

562,798

3RDICB

25

299.9

8.34%

337.6

0.89

2014

Traded Issues

307

25

213.4

11.72%

298.7

0.71

2014

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

187

4THICB

114

2014

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

5

2014

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2,369.54

2014

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

28.72

2014

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

5THICB

22.5

6THICB 7THICB 8THICB

185.5

11

12.13%

68

13

16.18%

94.2

12

245.5 65.4

13.80%

72

112

16.67%

77.6

0.76 1.04 0.84 0.93

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Closing (% change) 38.16 35.48 20.88 20.83 19.82 19.35 18.49 17.58 16.05 15.42

CSE GAINERS Company aamra technologies-A Hwa Well Textiles-N MJL BD Ltd.-A Mozaffar H.Spinning-N ACI Limited- A Argon Denims Limited-A Legacy Footwear -A Wata Chemicals -A H.R. Textile -A Delta SpinnersA

Closing (% change) 21.98 21.29 19.00 18.94 18.80 17.98 15.35 14.84 14.79 13.30

Average (% change) 37.95 35.27 18.08 18.95 21.03 19.37 18.75 16.71 15.42 14.11 Average (% change) 18.51 19.56 16.12 18.91 18.69 18.00 14.64 14.68 14.92 12.09

Closing average 78.51 279.68 32.06 48.01 52.48 315.75 31.42 95.50 27.85 27.42

Closing average 32.20 48.04 95.37 31.32 313.61 52.51 27.56 243.70 29.50 21.05

Weekly closing 81.10 282.20 33.00 49.30 52.60 317.60 31.40 97.00 28.20 27.70

Weekly closing 33.30 49.00 97.70 31.40 317.20 52.50 27.80 246.90 29.50 21.30

Weekly high 81.10 282.20 33.20 50.00 53.60 325.00 32.40 98.50 29.00 28.30

Weekly high 33.50 49.50 98.50 32.30 320.00 53.80 28.20 247.00 29.50 22.10

Weekly low 59.50 197.60 25.00 40.80 39.00 250.00 27.00 74.00 24.20 22.00

Weekly low 25.00 41.30 74.60 27.20 277.90 44.20 21.70 228.30 26.50 19.20

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

666.980 60.785 237.659 480.430 480.310 1019.701 184.742 1444.585 4.499 35.133

Turnover in million

3.04 3.92 1.39 3.99 3.86 9.22 2.27 5.04 0.28 0.28

Latest EPS

37.887 26.857 26.874 17.151 19.506 61.639 9.975 1.362 0.387 21.440

1.39 3.99 5.04 2.27 9.22 3.86 0.28 6.20 1.75 0.55

Latest PE 25.8 71.3 23.1 12.0 13.6 34.2 13.8 18.9 99.5 97.9

Latest PE 23.2 12.0 18.9 13.8 34.0 13.6 98.4 39.3 16.9 38.3

Dividend disclosures push up trading of mutual funds n Tribune Report

ly announced cash dividend.

Analysts believe that the recent cash dividends will contribute rebuilding the trust on mutual funds.

The close-ended funds managed

by ICB are 1st ICB MF, 2nd ICB MF, 3rd ICB MF, 4th ICB MF, 5th ICB MF, 6th ICB MF, 7th ICB MF and 8th ICB MF. Other than 1st ICB MF, dividend yield (return on units’ current market price) of each of the eight funds is above 10% while 8th ICB MF will provide the highest dividend yield of 16.5%, said a BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage Ltd’s weekly report.

Record date for the entitlement of cash dividend for all these funds is on August 12, 2014. l

Mutual funds sector have recently witnessed a surge in its trading volume after some of the funds have started declaring the yearly cash dividend disclosures.

The sector’s average daily trade last week was of Tk7 crore against Tk3.2 crore daily during a week earlier.

On August 3, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) had declared dividends for its eight listed mutual funds for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

All the eight mutual funds will provide a decent yield on the recent-

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS Company Midas Financing-Z Prime Bank-A Savar Refractories-Z Shinepukur Cera-Z R. N. Spinning-Z GeminiSeaFood-Z Beximco Syn.-Z Shahjalal Islami -A Popular Life Insu. -A NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A

Closing (% change) -24.06 -12.34 -11.74 -8.40 -8.11 -7.45 -6.42 -6.36 -6.28 -6.25

CSE LOSERS Company Midas Financing-Z 5th ICB M F-A Prime Bank-A Shinepukur Cera-Z Shahjalal Islami -A R. N. Spinning-Z Premier Leasing-Z Prime Islami Life -A LR Global BD MF1-A Aziz PipesZ

Closing (% change) -22.81 -10.47 -9.09 -7.69 -7.14 -6.92 -6.41 -5.91 -5.36 -5.33

4486.19556

(+) 1.33%

1652.70721

(+) 1.61%

13799.4191

(+) 1.49%

11303.4682

(+) 1.10%

8492.4212

(+) 1.33%

Average (% change) -24.08 -10.00 -3.45 -6.43 -6.38 -7.41 -6.45 -5.07 -3.20 -3.95 Average (% change) -16.90 -11.12 -6.71 -7.54 -5.09 -6.70 -6.29 -5.89 -5.36 -5.33

Closing average 16.14 21.05 54.55 12.07 23.92 136.67 10.29 10.48 161.12 6.08

Closing average 17.60 182.20 21.55 12.01 10.44 24.24 7.30 84.42 5.30 14.20

Weekly closing

▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▲ Weekly high

16.10 20.60 54.90 12.00 23.80 136.60 10.20 10.30 161.10 6.00

Weekly closing

17.50 24.00 60.00 13.30 25.80 148.00 11.10 11.30 174.00 6.50

Weekly high

17.60 182.20 21.00 12.00 10.40 24.20 7.30 84.40 5.30 14.20

18.00 182.20 23.10 13.00 11.00 26.00 7.70 92.50 5.40 15.00

CSE key features August 03-07, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

1,953.23

Turnover (Volume)

53,690,822

Number of Contract

74,705

Traded Issues

251

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

157

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

89

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,269.18

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.51

Weekly low

Turnover in million

14.80 20.00 52.40 11.40 22.00 135.00 9.50 9.20 159.00 5.90

Weekly low

1.766 46.054 0.121 7.041 41.489 0.304 4.348 37.029 21.865 2.548

Turnover in million

15.90 182.20 20.90 11.70 9.40 24.00 7.20 82.00 5.20 14.10

Latest EPS -6.91 1.96 0.52 0.50 2.74 -1.80 0.66 -1.78 17.00 0.46

Latest EPS

0.087 0.055 1.221 0.302 4.603 8.220 0.138 0.431 0.027 0.004

-6.91 18.67 1.96 0.50 -1.78 2.74 0.10 4.95 0.64 0.42

Latest PE -ve 10.7 104.9 24.1 8.7 -ve 15.6 -ve 9.5 13.2

Latest PE -ve 9.8 11.0 24.0 -ve 8.8 73.0 17.1 8.3 33.8

Weekly news from trade server AGM/Dividend

DIVIDEND: 8THICB: 120% cash, 7THICB: 130% cash, 12.08.2014, 6THICB: 110% cash, 5THICB: 225% cash , 4THICB: 250% cash, 3RDICB: 250% cash, 2NDICB: 400% cash, 1STICB: 800% cash. Record date: 12.08.2014.

DELTASPINN: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 30.08.2014, Time: 11:30 AM, Venue: Factory premises of the Company at Kaltapara, Gouripur, Mymensingh. Record date: 14.08.2014. The Company has also reported consolidated profit after tax of Tk. 64.90 million, consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.41, consolidated NAV per share (including revaluation) of Tk. 27.26 and consolidated NOCFPS of Tk. 2.98 for the year ended on June 30, 2014 as against Tk. 47.80 million.

Tk. 1.04, Tk. 26.82 and Tk. (0.05) respectively for the year ended on June 30, 2013.

Audited/unaudited Financial Reports:

UN-AUDITED FINANCIALS: ABBANK: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 809.55 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.52 as against Tk. 394.70 million and Tk. 0.74 respectively*.

CITYBANK: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 742.08 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.89 as against Tk. 400.52 million and Tk. 0.48 respectively*.

ALARABANK: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 1,179.42 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.25 as against Tk. 688.34 million and Tk. 0.73 respectively*.

PRIMEBANK: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 1,011.99 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.98 as against Tk. (650.11) million and Tk. (0.63) respectively.* DHAKABANK: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 500.98 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.88 as against Tk. 401.45 million and Tk. 0.71 respectively*.

NCCBANK: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 349.96 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.44 as against Tk. 279.47 million and Tk. 0.35 (restated) respectively*.

SOUTHEASTB: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 1,542.51 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.68 as against Tk. 1,187.10 million and Tk. 1.30 respectively*.

ONEBANKLTD: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 436.71 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.83 as against Tk. 479.64 million and Tk. 0.91 respectively*.

PLFSL: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 105.24 million with EPS of Tk. 0.41 as against Tk. 147.08 million and Tk. 0.57 respectively*.

PREMIERLEA: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 5.87 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.05 as against Tk. 33.46 million and Tk. 0.31 respectively*.

BIFC: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 47.45 million with EPS of Tk. 0.71 as against Tk. (62.82) million and Tk. (0.94) respectively*.

BRACBANK: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 959.24 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.77 as against Tk. 970.44 million and Tk. 1.99 respectively*.

PHOENIXFIN: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 188.27 million with EPS of Tk. 1.55 as against Tk. 183.43 million and Tk. 1.51 respectively*.

SHAHJABANK: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. (594.12) million with consolidated basic EPS of Tk. -0.89 (restated –0.81) as against Tk. 206.87 million and Tk. 0.31(restated 0.28) respectively*.

MERCANBANK:; (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 430.39 million with consolidated basic EPS of Tk. 0.65 ( restated 0.58) as against Tk. 227.88 million and Tk. 0.35 ( restated 0.31) respectively*.

KAY&QUE: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. (3.05) million with EPS of Tk. (0.62) as against Tk. (2.83) million and Tk. (0.59) respectively*.

BSRMSTEEL: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 818.59 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 2.40 as against Tk. 947.45 million and Tk. 2.77 respectively*.

BDWELDING: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 7.08 million with EPS of Tk. 0.17 as against Tk. 11.95 million and Tk. 0.29 respectively*.

KPCL: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 1,158.80 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 3.21 as against Tk. 1,074.13 million and Tk. 2.97 respectively*.

ORIONPHARM: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 709.64 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 3.03 as against Tk. 542.31 million and Tk. 2.32 respectively*.

ACIFORMULA: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 75.82 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.68 as against Tk. 5.17 million and Tk. 0.11 respectively*.

ACI: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 158.31 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 4.61 as against Tk. 24.22 million and Tk. 0.71 respectively*.

GHCL: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 88.05 million with EPS of Tk. 1.22 as against Tk. 78.96 million and Tk. 1.10 respectively*.

Record date for the entitlement of cash dividend for all these funds is on August 12, 2014

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector 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 1854.42 508.89 353.59 2904.83 1011.22 4614.35 7.35 3310.51 4619.95 4.50 386.52 218.08 66.81 1291.94 308.28 250.68 351.21 2085.73 987.84 2070.55 1.54

% change 6.82 1.87 1.30 10.68 3.72 16.96 0.03 12.17 16.98 0.02 1.42 0.80 0.25 4.75 1.13 0.92 1.29 7.67 3.63 7.61 0.01

Million Taka 122.28 47.00 17.85 183.76 128.91 240.33 0.00 347.56 265.96 169.32 30.21 187.50 8.57 100.00 41.39 9.03 20.12 150.38 165.60 222.32 0.02

CSE

% change 4.97 1.91 0.73 7.48 5.24 9.78 0.00 14.14 10.82 6.89 1.23 7.63 0.35 4.07 1.68 0.37 0.82 6.12 6.74 9.04 0.00

Million Taka 1976.71 555.89 371.44 3088.58 1140.12 4854.68 7.35 3658.08 4885.91 173.82 416.73 405.59 75.38 1391.94 349.67 259.72 371.34 2236.11 1153.45 2292.88 1.56

Total

% change 6.66 1.87 1.25 10.41 3.84 16.36 0.02 12.33 16.47 0.59 1.40 1.37 0.25 4.69 1.18 0.88 1.25 7.54 3.89 7.73 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 Grameenphone-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A MJL BD Ltd.-A ACI Limited- A LafargeS Cement-Z Golden Son -A Square Pharma -A The Peninsula CTG.-N Shahjibazar Power-N Meghna Petroleum -A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A The Peninsula CTG.-N Grameenphone-A LafargeS Cement-Z FAR Chemical-N Argon Denims Limited-A Square Pharma -A Appollo Ispat CL -N Padma Oil Co. -A BD Submarine Cable-A

Volume shares 5,566,063 47,973,400 15,917,074 3,407,335 8,250,250 15,521,824 2,755,417 18,966,400 9,657,200 2,354,219

Volume shares 5,678,095 3,381,000 353,800 725,740 1,089,500 1,203,482 230,242 1,766,400 123,293 217,314

Value in million 1738.03 1647.83 1444.59 1019.70 748.15 736.04 728.72 693.82 666.98 666.03

Value in million 195.41 123.87 110.85 65.78 63.48 61.64 60.70 51.10 42.17 39.52

% of total turnover 6.39 6.06 5.31 3.75 2.75 2.71 2.68 2.55 2.45 2.45

% of total turnover 10.45 6.63 5.93 3.52 3.40 3.30 3.25 2.73 2.26 2.11

Weekly closing 323.90 34.10 97.00 317.60 91.80 46.90 269.90 35.30 81.10 280.90

Weekly closing 34.20 35.30 323.20 90.90 59.80 52.50 269.20 28.20 337.10 180.20

Price change 5.20 -5.80 17.58 19.35 7.37 7.08 5.55 2.62 38.16 1.78

Weekly opening 307.90 36.20 82.50 266.10 85.50 43.80 255.70 34.40 58.70 276.00

Weekly high 331.00 39.00 98.50 325.00 94.00 50.00 272.00 38.70 81.10 287.70

Weekly low 295.00 31.60 74.00 250.00 85.10 39.50 243.00 34.20 59.50 257.00

Weekly average 316.77 34.44 95.50 315.75 91.62 46.91 269.68 35.63 78.51 278.78

Price change -5.00 2.62 5.04 6.44 6.79 17.98 5.73 -1.05 1.72 -0.28

Weekly opening 36.00 34.40 307.70 85.40 56.00 44.50 254.60 28.50 331.40 180.70

Weekly high 36.80 38.60 330.00 93.70 61.90 53.80 270.90 29.90 350.50 186.50

Weekly low 32.40 34.20 300.00 85.00 54.30 44.20 251.70 28.10 332.00 164.00

Weekly average 34.49 35.68 317.62 91.19 60.08 52.51 269.28 28.32 336.07 180.30

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Sunday, August 10, 2014

B3

Tiny chip mimics brain, delivers supercomputer speed n AFP, Washington

Members of a group of international experts inspect wreckage at the site where the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed, near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo) in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine REUTERS

As Malaysia Airlines faces overhaul, are there lessons from Japan? n Reuters, Shanghai Fast forward a year, and Malaysia Airlines may have a new CEO, new logo, new livery, maybe even a new name, and fewer employees, airline insiders and brand experts said as the government signalled a "complete overhaul" of the loss-making carrier that has suffered two recent jetliner disasters.

MAS management has been working on a plan that could cut the national airline's over 19,000, largely unionised workforce, freeze pay, speed up retiring older planes and retrofit some of its current fleet to add seats, people close to the airline said.

As part of the restructuring, there have been calls from the airline's unions and others for CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, or AJ as he's more popularly known, to go. People close to MAS said Ahmad was already planning to stand down before the two disasters and that could happen by the year-end.

Managers are also reviewing the carrier's route network, given that its load factor - a measure of how full its planes are - fell sharply after Flight

MH370, a Boeing 777 airliner, disappeared on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew. That load factor is expected to have worsened since another Boeing 777 was brought down over eastern Ukraine last month on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 on board.

Malaysia's state investment fund Khazanah, which owns more than 69% of MAS, has stepped in to take the airline private with MAS looking certain to post a fourth straight year of losses.

Khazanah should come out with a detailed restructuring plan by the end of this month, Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement late on Friday.

"If you paint over the rust, the rust is still there," said Shakeel Adam, managing partner of airline consultancy Aviado Partners, who specialises in airline restructuring and start-ups. "For more than a decade, they have been facing significant structural difficulties common among all legacy airlines at some stage. Over time, MAS's costs have risen and productivity has fallen as the business has grown and become

Yen surges in Asia on Iraq concerns n AFP, Tokyo The yen soared in Asia on Friday as US President Barack Obama's announcement that he had authorised US air strikes on Iraq pushed traders into the Japanese currency.

The dollar dropped to as low as 101.58 yen before recovering to 101.81 yen, but it was still well down from 102.09 yen in New York late Thursday as geopolitical tensions weighed on the unit.

The euro was also lower against the Japanese currency at 136.04 yen from 136.42 yen, while it bought $1.3360 against $1.3363.

Investors tend to buy the yen in times of uncertainty and turmoil.

The unit's sharp rise came after Obama said he had authorised the air strikes on Iraq and humanitarian supply drops to prevent a "genocide" by Islamist extremists against minorities.

But Obama, who was an outspoken critic of his predecessor George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq, said he was not sending back ground forces.

"The currency of choice amidst the turmoil was the safe haven yen," said Chris Tedder, research analyst at Forex.com in Sydney.

Markets largely ignored the Bank

of Japan's decision on Friday to hold off expanding its vast stimulus programme following a two-day policy meeting, despite warning that the country's export and factory output picture was weakening.

The decision was widely expected and investors swiftly turned their focus to a regular post-meeting press briefing from BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda.

Investors were also keeping an eye on the Ukraine crisis.

On Thursday, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Russia to "step back from the brink" during a visit to Kiev and vowed support for Ukraine as fears mounted that Moscow was preparing to send troops into the conflict-torn east of the country.

His comments came as Russia retaliated against tough new Western sanctions, banning most food imports from the United States and the European Union and threatening to block flights over its airspace.

The tit-for-tat moves further heighten tensions between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine.

The dollar was stronger against most other Asia-Pacific currencies. l

more complex with bureaucracy and inefficiency."

Khazanah, which said the restructuring could take up to 12 months, could also sell off MAS's profitable engineering unit and close the cargo business, which is loss-making, the people close to the airline said, adding the agency would eventually look to sell a stake in the airline.

As Khazanah begins the restructuring process, it may look to nearby Japan for a precedent, airline analysts said.

Oneworld partner Japan Airlines (JAL) once ran the world's biggest fleet of Boeing 747 jumbo jets, but became bloated and unprofitable and had to be bailed out by the government three times between 2001 and 2009. In early 2010, JAL went into bankruptcy protection with $25bn of debt.

The government insisted on new management and a tough restructuring. Employees were told to focus on productivity and profitability, and the airline went about tackling its costs; cutting its workforce by a third, slashing pension payouts, retiring older planes and shrinking its route network.

By late 2012, JAL had exited bankruptcy protection and made a successful $8.5bn stock market re-listing. Its shares have since risen around 44%, lagging the main index's 60% gain over that period. Analysts say similar changes at MAS could see it make a successful comeback.

"It needs to figure out how to manage its fleet," said an analyst at Hong Leong, who was not authorised to speak to the media. "If they're going to cut routes, they don't need so many planes. When it plans to renew routes in future, it should look at leveraging with partners like (airline alliance) Oneworld. That helps to cut its costs."

Other experts say MAS needs also to combine any image overhaul with new safety procedures to counter concerns about its airworthiness.

"It's an opportunity for them to demonstrate they can get it right, that they can respond effectively," said Singapore-based Jacqueline Ratcliffe, managing consultant at London-headquartered Regester Larkin, a crisis management and reputation management consultancy. l

Researchers Thursday unveiled a powerful new postage-stamp size chip delivering supercomputer performance using a process that mimics the human brain.

The so-called "neurosynaptic" chip is a breakthrough that opens a wide new range of computing possibilities from self-driving cars to artificial intelligence systems that can installed on a smartphone, the scientists say.

The researchers from IBM, Cornell Tech and collaborators from around the world said they took an entirely new approach in design compared with previous computer architecture, moving toward a system called "cognitive computing."

"We have taken inspiration from the cerebral cortex to design this chip," said IBM chief scientist for brain-inspired computing, Dharmendra Modha, referring to the command center of the brain.

He said existing computers trace their lineage back to machines from the 1940s which are essentially "sequential number-crunching calculators" that perform mathematical or "left brain" tasks but little else.

The new chip dubbed "TrueNorth" works to mimic the "right brain" functions of sensory processing -- responding to sights, smells and information from the environment to "learn" to respond in different situations, Modha said.

It accomplishes this task by using a huge network of "neurons" and "synapses," similar to how the human brain functions by using information gathered from the body's sensory organs.

The researchers designed TrueNorth with one million programmable neurons and 256 million programmable synapses, on a chip with 4,096 cores and 5.4 billion transistors.

A key to the performance is the extremely low energy use on the new chip, which runs on the equivalent energy of a hearing-aid battery.

Sensor becomes the computer

This can allow a chip installed in a car or smartphone to perform supercomputer calculations in real time without connecting to the cloud or other network.

"The sensor becomes the computer,"

Modha told AFP in a phone interview.

"You could have better sensory processors without the connection to WiFi or the cloud.

This would allow a self-driving vehicle, for example, to detect problems and deal with them even if its data connection is broken.

"It can see an accident about to happen," Modha said.

Similarly, a mobile phone can take smells or visual information and interpret them in real time, without the need for a network connection.

"After years of collaboration with IBM, we are now a step closer to building a computer similar to our brain," said Rajit Manohar, a researcher at Cornell Tech, a graduate school of Cornell University.

The chip was fabricated using Samsung's 28-nanometer process technology The project funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) published its research in a cover article on the August 8 edition of the journal Science.

The researchers say TrueNorth in some ways outperforms today's supercomputers although a direct comparison is not possible because they operate differently.

But they wrote that TrueNorth can deliver from 46 billion to 400 billion "synaptic" calculations per second per watt of energy. That compares with the most energy-efficient supercomputer which delivers 4.5 billion "floating point" calculations per second and per watt.

The chip was fabricated using Samsung's 28-nanometer process technology.

"It is an astonishing achievement to leverage a process traditionally used for commercially available, low-power mobile devices to deliver a chip that emulates the human brain by processing extreme amounts of sensory information with very little power," said Shawn Han of Samsung Electronics, in a statement.

"This is a huge architectural breakthrough that is essential as the industry moves toward the next-generation cloud and big-data processing." l

Mercantile Bank Limited has recently held a half-yearly business conference for its heads of branches and divisional offices at a local hotel in Dhaka. The bank’s chairperson Morshed Alam inaugurated the conference as chief guest

World Brand Congress has recently given Anwar Landmark Ltd Global Brand Excellence award for outstanding contribution in real estate and construction sector

EXIM Bank has recently shifted its Sylhet branch to a new location at Mujtaba Tower in Zinda Bazar, Sylhet. The bank’s managing director Dr Mohammed Haider Ali Miah inaugurated the branch as chief guest

Jamuna Bank Limited has recently held its Dhaka Zone’s half-yearly business conference at the bank’s head office in Dhaka. The bank’s managing director and CEO Shafiqul Alam presided over the conference

Numayer Mahbub, CEO of Unicom Enterprise Ltd has recently received Agency Innovation of the Year award at the Global Brand Excellence Awards ceremony in Singapore

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Russian food embargo a big blow for EU producers n AFP, Paris Russia's embargo against food from the European Union will affect 10% of the EU's food exports and may cause a crisis of glut in Europe, industry experts said on Thursday.

The figures, at face value, mean that Russia's announcement on Thursday of a "full embargo" against EU food will deprive Russians of fresh goods in particular.

But it will also have a significant effect on many exporters who will now have to find new outlets and may lose markets to rivals in emerging countries.

European Union ministers are planning a meeting next week to "evaluate" the potential impact of the sanctions, said France's Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll.

The EU's ambassador to Russia, Vygaudas Usackas, said the bloc is also considering appealing to the World Trade Organization over the import ban.

Russia imports 35% of the food it consumes, and imports 10 percent of its needs worth 12bn euros ($16bn) a year from the European Union, official EU statistics show.

Among the 18 EU countries, Germany and the Netherlands are among its biggest suppliers.

Outside the EU, Brazil is a big supplier. Ukraine was also until it become embroiled in the conflict with Russia over eastern Ukraine, which lies behind the tit-for-tat trade sanctions.

Russia accounted for less than 1% of the US's agricultural exports last year at $1.2bn, according to US Department of Agriculture data.

The embargo will likely have the biggest impact on US poultry exports to Russia, which were worth $310m in 2013, nuts, worth $172m, as well as shipments of soyabeans and live animals, mainly cattle.

Vegetables in front line

"Russia exports grains but is a big importer of fruit and vegetables and of processed food such as meat and milk products," the head of the main French farmers' union FNSEA, Xavier Beulin, said.

Experts say the EU product which

The biggest EU supplier of beef to Russia is Brazil by a long way, followed by other countries in Latin America and

by North America, although US meat exports are now also under Russian embargo.

Sales of EU beef had already fallen sharply since 2013 to less than the equivalent of 50,000 tonnes of carcasses from 100,000 tonnes in 2011, the French Institute of beef producers said.

Ostensibly, that is because of health reasons, said Guy Hermouet, at the French national beef federation.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany would be hit hardest in this sector, he said.

Norwegian fish caught in uncertainty

A Russian customer buys cheese in Saint Petersburg on August 7. Russia retaliated against tough new Western sanctions, banning most food imports from the United States and the European Union and threatening to block flights over its airspace. The tit-for-tat moves further heighten tensions between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine, where heavy shelling was reported in the rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk AFP Russians will miss most is vegetables, since Russia imports EU vegetables worth 770m euros per year. Russian imports of EU wines and spirits amount to about 1.5bn euros annually.

In the vegetable sector, Russia imports big quantities of EU apples, tomatoes and peaches, but the European market faces plentiful supply of these perishable goods owing to good pro-

duction this year.

"Russian is shutting off imports but the products which no longer go for export are going to be offloaded in Europe and create a crisis situation," Beulin said.

The president of the French fruit producers' federation, Luc Barbier, said: "In 2012, Spain exported about 100,000 tonnes of fruit to Ukraine and

Rajan's tough inflation stance risks stand-off with government n Reuters, Mumbai Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has set himself a target of lowering consumer inflation and is even ready to raise rates to achieve it, risking friction with the new government if he is seen as overstepping.

Rajan, well known within the RBI for pragmatism, now must work with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which understands the need for – and wants – lower inflation, but doesn't see the value in hard targets.

The governor's people skills may be tested when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attends Sunday's RBI board meeting in Delhi, representing a government that is equally keen on boosting an economy that has just had two consecutive years of sub-5 percent growth.

The meeting comes after Rajan, the star economist appointed by the previous Congress government, surprised markets after the RBI's policy review on Tuesday by establishing in clear terms that the RBI would get consumer inflation down to 8 percent by January 2015 and 6% one year later.

Officials familiar with RBI's stance warn that Rajan is committed to those goals, even if he has yet to receive explicit political backing.

"If we don't get support from the government, then we have to hit it harder," a senior official told Reuters.

"If inflation doesn't come down as projected and supply-side measures are not taken, interest rates may need to go up to reach the 6% goal."

Meeting that target won't be an easy feat in a country with unpredictable monsoon rains and dependent on oil imports. The consumer price index spiked to 11.2% in November before three interest rate hikes from Rajan helped bring inflation down to 7.3% in June.

Rajan will need to tread carefully in pushing the government into action, according to analysts. Although the RBI is not statutorily independent from the finance ministry it has long enjoyed wide latitude in policy-making.

But failure to act on Rajan's pledge to bring down inflation would hurt the central bank's credibility.

Rajan has already displayed some of his pragmatic streak by cutting the mandatory bond reserve requirements

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan attends a seminar organised by the University of Chicago in New Delhi REUTERS

'The finance ministry will not speak about any particular target for inflation, but will work in tandem with the RBI to meet the goal set by the Urjit Patel committee' for lenders in a bid to help the government accomplish its goal of unleashing credit.

"It is a credibility issue," said a second official familiar with the central bank's policy stance.

"The government is RBI's owner, so the RBI has to consult with the government on its executive decisions," he said, adding: "Controlling inflation is the primary responsibility of the central bank and it is a matter of convincing the government that doing so is for the interest of the government and the country."

Jaitley, in public comments, has acknowledged the importance of bringing down inflation, and said he is committed to working with the RBI while

taking limited action such as curbing hoarding of food staples.

But the Modi government has yet to unveil any substantial reforms even after Jaitley surprised markets by committing to meet an ambitious fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of gross domestic product set by the previous Congress-led government.

Nor has the government yet endorsed the inflation targets first unveiled in January by a central bank panel led by deputy governor Urjit Patel.

"The finance ministry will not speak about any particular target for inflation, but will work in tandem with the RBI to meet the goal set by the Urjit Patel committee," said a senior ministry official.

With less than 1-1/2 years until January 2016 - when inflation is supposed to be maximum 6 percent - analysts warn the government must work faster to tackle the supply bottlenecks and food production problems that have so long burdened millions of India's poor.

Meeting the January 2016 target will be "a big challenge as that will need food inflation to fall below 6 percent," said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser at State Bank of India, the country's largest lender. l

Denmark and the Netherlands would suffer most in the dairy sector.

European exports of pigmeat to Russia were already totally blocked by a Russian ban on January 29 owing to a risk of swine fever, on the basis of cases found in wild boar.

Barbier said that European producers now also ran a risk that competitors in Asia or Latin America would fill the gap and take away market share in Russia which EU industries would have difficulty winning back.

In Norway, which is not a member of the European Union, shares in companies raising salmon fell by eight to 11 percent on Thursday due to uncertainty about the outlook. Russia is one of the biggest markets in the world for salmon and the biggest for Norwegian fish products.

European grain prices also fell, but traders said this reflected mainly concern about the outlook for exports of wheat and corn from Ukraine, a leading exporter, set against concern about the effect of heavy rain on wheatfields in northwest France.

At Capital Economics in London, chief emerging markets economist Neil Shearing, commented that the impact of the Russian action was uncertain. Although some countries, notably Lithuania, could be hit hard, the overall impact on EU exports would be small.

"It seems likely that the biggest loser will be Russia itself," he said. l

Russia, and this is now going to arrive on the EU market."

Italy, Spain and France are already competing in a price war over nectarines and prices have collapsed, and the same "catastrophe" looks like engulfing the market for apples, he said. French producers sent fruit worth nearly 26 million euros to Russia in 2012, he said.

"But this year, Poland, which ex-

ported a lot to Russia, is expecting a big crop, which will now arrive on the EU's internal market," Barbier said.

The world association of apple and pear producers, Wapa, said that Poland was by far the biggest producer of apples in the EU, with output expected to total 3.5 million tonnes this year, followed by Italy with 2.3 million tonnes and France with 1.5 million tonnes.

China posts record trade surplus, but domestic economy may lag n Reuters, Beijing

Adidas marketing push an uphill battle against 'cool' Nike

China's buoyant exports pushed its trade surplus to a record in July, fuelling optimism global demand will help counter pressure on the domestic economy from a weakening property sector.

While manufacturing appears to have picked up in the world's secondlargest economy, unexpected weakness in the services sector this week has renewed concerns about the growth outlook. The weak housing market remains China's biggest risk, posing a drag on the broader economy and investor confidence.

Recovering global demand may not be enough to bolster a weak internal economy weighed by a cooling property sector and Beijing's anti-corruption drive, suggesting policy support will likely continue to keep economic growth on track, analysts say.

Exports in July jumped 14.5 percent from a year earlier - the fastest pace in 15 months, the General Administration of Customs said on Friday, doubling from 7.2% in June and roundly beating market expectations. Exports were stronger than expected even after pricing in inflated export data in early 2013, when firms falsified invoices to skirt capital curbs.

Some analysts attributed the export spurt to delayed shipments caused by recent volatility in the yuan which may not sustain. Meanwhile, imports fell 1.6% versus a rise of 5.5% in June, leaving the country with a record trade surplus of $47.3bn for the month.

"The (export) data indicates very strong demand externally and less need for a weak currency," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

"However, imports contracted 1.6% year-on-year, indicating soft domestic demand and a downward pressure on growth. Policymakers are likely to do more to support the domestic economy."

A Reuters poll had predicted a 7.5% rise in exports, a 3% increase in imports and a trade surplus of $27bn.

Financial markets firmed on the data with the Shanghai Composite Index rebounding. It rose 0.25% by midday from its intraday low, when it was down 0.32%. l

n Reuters, Berlin Sportswear firm Adidas probably thought it had hit the marketing jackpot when Adidas-sponsored Germany beat Adidas-sponsored Argentina to win the Adidas-sponsored World Cup. But arch rival Nike may have stolen much of its soccer branding thunder with quirky videos, innovative boots and amusing Tweets, not to mention the odd sponsorship coup of its own such as signing up hosts Brazil. Adidas said it had secured “victory on and off the pitch” at the soccer tournament, providing the highest-scoring boots and generating 22% more discussion on social media than Nike.

But more than half the players displayed Nike's brightly-colored shoes and it was one of Nike's new lightweight "Flyknit" boots worn by Germany's Mario Goetze that volleyed in the winning goal. Nike has been eating into its German rival's market share and some branding experts and investors don't believe throwing more cash

into marketing will necessarily fix the problem. Instead, Adidas needs to spot and set more trends and create a buzz among fashion and sports-mad youngsters. "At the moment, Nike is cool, very cool. If you ask a 20-year-old, they are not going to pick Adidas right now," said Tammy Smulders, head of marketing consultancy SCB Partners. "It is not as easy as just writing a check. They need to be doing more of the viral, underground activities which brings out the cool factor of the brand."

After recently issuing its third profit warning in a year, Adidas said on Thursday it would boost spending on marketing to about 13% of sales in 2014 and to between 13 and 14% of sales in 2015.

The company also said it would give marketing experts more responsibility and bring them closer to sales and product development staff. Adidas spent 12.4% of its 2013 revenue of 14.5bn euros ($19.4bn) on sales and marketing, up from 12.1% in 2012 and already well above Nike, which spent 10.8% of sales of $27.8bn in the year to May 31. l

Adidas soccer shoes are pictured before the company's news conference in the northern Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, near Nuremberg REUTERS

DILBERT