24 Aug, 2014

Vadro 9, 1421 Shawal 27, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 142

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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7 | CAREER

11 | OP-ED

15 | SPORT

THE PIECE THAT DOESN’T FIT

NOTHING WRONG WITH LEAKAGE?

NOTHING WRONG WITH BANGLADESH BATSMEN: NARINE

Much power gets wasted in streetlamps Lamps are switched on long before sunset and kept on hours after sunrise

n Aminur Rahman Rasel Because of the negligence of the city corporation staff in switching street lamps off and on, 420MW of power worth about Tk34 lakh is wasted every month, which could have been used to meet the demand of 4,000 non-urban households or an entire district town.

According to a recent survey by the government’s Power Cell, street lamps should be turned on just before sunset and turned off right after sunrise every day. But in reality, the staff of the two city corporations in Dhaka turn these lamps on at least half an hour before sunset and leave them on even two hours after sunrise.

Considering that there are a total of 71,276 street lamps in the city with a

combined power demand of 7MW per hour, the two hours of extra service on an average costs 14MW per day and 420MW per month.

The report assumes that the current cost of generating each unit of power is Tk6.5.

Most street lights are conventional fluorescent, halogen and sodium, and very few of them are energy saving. The survey report recommends that the conventional fluorescent and sodium lamps should be replaced by energy-saving light emitting diode (LED) lamps.

Two power distribution companies – Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) and Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) – supply electricity to the two city corporation areas.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A car tries to squeeze its way through a street that has been narrowed by a high-voltage mobile transformer in the capital’s Moghbazar. The transformer had been left there by the authorities after the one overhead went out of order a few days ago MEHEDI HASAN

Nur Hossain for Anup Chetia? n Rabiul Islam The Bangladesh government is set to hand over Ulfa General Secretary Anup Chetia to the Indian authorities in exchange for the repatriation of Nur Hossain, the prime accused in Narayanganj seven murder case, according to an Indian Bangla daily.

Anandabazar Patrika published the report in its online edition yesterday.

“We have not yet reached such a decision while the matter of Anup Chetia is a big issue,” Bangladesh Home Secretary Mozammel Hoque Khan told the Dhaka Tribune last evening.

He, however, said the issue of Anup Chetia might arise during the home

secretary level meeting between the two neighbouring countries.

The meeting is scheduled to be held in the first week of September in India, a senior Home Ministry official said.

On the contrary, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan on June 8 told the House that the process to send the detained Ulfa leader was under way.

Quoting an unnamed source of the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh, the Bangla daily reported that the two countries had reached an understanding in this regard.

Meanwhile, an official of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka on Friday met Anup Chetia at Kashimpur jail.

Chetia told the official that he agreed to return home if there was no legal bar.

“Later, the process to free him from Bangladesh jail and handing over to the Indian security forces has begun,” Anandabazar quoted a source of Bangladesh Home Ministry as saying.

Police arrested Anup Chetia, chief of separatist organisation Ulfa (United Liberation Front of Assam) in 1997 at a house of Mohammadpur in the capital.

He was sentenced to seven years’ jail in three cases filed for possessing arms, fake passport and his illegal intrusion.

Even though his jail term ended on February 25, 2007, he still has been languishing in Bangladesh jail.

Transgender woman seeks legal recognition n Moniruzzaman Uzzal Mamun Molla alias Tanisha Yasmin Chaity has been seeking legal recognition as a hijra for nearly a decade. Although born male, she does not identify herself as a male.

Standing 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 60kg, she has always been more comfortable identifying as a female.

In her own words, she described herself as a transgender woman. But the law, while it recognises three distinct genders, is ambiguous about the exact status transgender people. The government officially recognised hijra as a third gender on January 26, 2014.

Hijra has traditionally referred to intersex people, referred to by the now obsolete term hermaphrodite, who exhibit physical or genetical variations on the male-female divide.

Transgender people on the other hand, are those who are born with one gender and

wish to switch to another gender. Some people may be both intersex and transgender.

Gender, which is a social construction, is a question of self-identity. Sex assignment is a question genetics and the physical expression of genitalia.

Chaity has now applied to the National Human Rights Commission chairman seeking permission to be officially recognised as a hijra.

She told the Dhaka Tribune over the telephone that she wanted to live her life as a woman. And she wanted the legal right to use and be addressed by her feminine name.

Since the law cannot accommodate a switch from male to female status, Chaity is seeking recognition as a hijra to legitimise her feminine self-identity.

This official recognition would be reflected in all of her official documents and identity papers.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

INSIDE 3 | News

Since the very beginning of the war crimes trials in 2010, most of the accused have been trying to secure bail on different grounds, apparently to get the mercy of the International Crimes Tribunal judges.

4 | News

The disposal of complaints and cases filed over the reclaiming of vested properties has been tardy. Officials said a number of flaws in the Vested Property Return Act prevented them from speeding up the proceedings.

6 | Nation

The shockingly low number of staff at Habiganj Sadar Adhunik Hospital has made it difficult to serve patients well and they are just patching things up as well as possible.

8 | World

Egypt has called on Israel and the Palestinians to accept an indefinite ceasefire and resume indirect talks in Cairo to end the Gaza crisis, Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

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Bounty has never quite worked for police Jamil Khan and n Mohammad Tazlina Zamila Khan Last December, after a group of criminals vandalised and set fire to cars and shops and exploded bombs in the capital’s Fakirerpul Bazar area, police published a list of 11 individuals and declared Tk1 lakh bounty for each of them.

That particular incidence of violence was thought to be a part of the massive anarchy that men from Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Chhatra Shibir staged around the country after their

leader Abdul Quader Molla had been hanged for war crimes on December 12, 2013.

Interestingly, the list that Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) made public through a media briefing on December 23, and later put up on its website and social media, did not mention any name; the list comprised only 11 photographs.

During that briefing, Monirul Islam, a joint commissioner of the Detective Branch of Police, said: “If anyone comes forward to help police arrest  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Armed robbery rampant in the capital n Mohammad Jamil Khan Six or seven people broke into Khorshed Alam’s gold shop in the Tantibazar area of the capital, shot him in the hand and made off with Tk15 lakh in cash, according to Kotwali police station records.

The incident took place just after sunset on Wednesday, at a location a mere seven minutes’ walking distance from the Tantibazar police box. Two days after the armed robbery, police admitted they had no leads.

As they made their getaway, the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Destiny to get an administrator n Asif Showkat Kallol The government has moved to appoint an administrator for Destiny 2000 Limited to protect the assets of the infamous multilevel marketing company that allegedly cheated almost one crore people.

The Commerce Ministry will convene an inter-ministerial meeting today to scrutinise the legal aspects of

On July 31, 2012 ACC filed two cases against Destiny Chairman, MD and 20 others appointing an administrator on the basis of the recommendations made by a government-sponsored commission, sources said.

“We will sit together on Sunday to examine the legal issues of appointing an administrator. We want to take fruitful steps so that the money can be given back to the members of the cooperative entity,” Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said like another MLM company

JUBOK, “we will try to do something about the conversion of the company.”

Last week, the government formed an eight-member committee to appoint an administrator for JUBOK to protect the assets. According to sources, the government now wants to repay the money, deposited by the members of Destiny, by selling its assets worth around Tk3,500 crore. To collect the huge sum, Destiny, in the name of making high profits, had lured over three crore people.

A Dhaka court last week rejected the bail petitions of Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin and its Director Mohammad Hossain in two money laundering cases.

On July 31, 2012, the ACC filed the two cases against Destiny 2000 Limited Chairman Lt Gen (retd) M Harunur Rashid, MD Rafiqul and 20 others on a charge of misappropriating investors’ money amounting to Tk3,285 crore.

Charges in the cases were pressed against 51 officials on May 4.

If found guilty, the accused persons could be sentenced to a maximum of 12 years’ jail, besides refunding double the amount to the victims of the alleged fraud through the government. l

News

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Nazrul's wife wins in Narayanganj city poll n Tribune Report

The wife of slain Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam won in yesterday's by-election for the post of ward 2 councillor under Narayanganj City Corporation.

Nazrul's wife Selina Islam Beauty defeated her main opponent Iqbal Hossain by bagging 5,266 votes. Iqbal got

1,958 votes.

Returning Officer and District Election Officer Md Tarifuzzaman announced the unofficial result around 7pm at the Narayanganj district administration office.

The post fell vacant after the killing of ruling party leader Nazrul, along with six others in late April.

Vote casting started in the morning

Mob kills 3 robbers n Our Correspondent, Noakhali

A mob killed at least three suspected robbers and injured three others at Chiringa village in Noakhali’s Kabirhat upazila in the early hours of yesterday.

Of the deceased, one was identified as Azad, 32, while two others could not be identified immediately.

The injured robbers were identified as Arif, 28, Abir, 24, Nur Nabi, 29 and Ripon, 27 and the wounded villagers as Harun-ur-Rashid, 55, Md Saddam, 25, and Abdur Rahim, 28. They all were admitted to Abdul Malek Ukil Medical College Hospital in Noakhali.

Kabirhat police station OC SM Mahbubul Alam confirmed this incident and detailed that a gang of robbers numbering 12 to 15 went to the house of Enayet Bepari at the village at about 2am.

While they were trying to break down the door, the inmates of the house got wind of it and informed their neighbours and relatives over the telephone.

After that, they started shouting seeking help and locals announced about the robbery by mosque loudspeaker.

Hence, the robbers tried to flee but the villagers caught them and beat up them.

Two robbers, including Azad, died on the spot while five others received injuries. Three other villagers were also injured as the robbers stabbed them.

Police rushed to the scene hearing of the incident and sent the injured seven people – five robbers and three villagers – to Abdul Malek Ukil Medical College Hospital. Of the five injured robbers, one died at around 7:am. Police recovered two light guns, five rounds of bullets and three sharp weapons from the spot. l

and ended at 4pm amid tight security measures at the eight centres of the ward where the number of voters was 16,729.

The ward comprises Shiddhirganj's Mijimiji, Painadi, Mouchak, Notun Moholla, Abdul Ali pool, Hirajheel, Mujibbagh and Mitali Market areas.

Even though the candidates had earlier alleged plots to rig votes, yes-

terday afternoon both said they were happy with the overall situation.

A huge number of police and RAB personnel were deployed in the polling areas to keep things under control.

Nazrul and six others were abducted in Narayanganj on April 27. Their bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya after a couple of days. l

2 teachers face action n JU Correspondent

Jahangirnagar University authorities removed Prof Ali Akand Mamun of Botany department on charge of violating university’s job code.

On the other hand, Accounting and Information System department lecturer AKM Anisuzzaman was suspended for sexual harassment of female students.

Sources said that the decision was taken at a regular syndicate meeting at JU administrative office yesterday night.

Meanwhile, the central committee of Bangladesh Chhatra League expelled four leaders and activists of Jahangirnagar University unit over a clash between two groups at Moulana Bhashani Hall on early Wednesday morning.

Sheikh Russel, office secretary of

BCL, confirmed the news yesterday.

He said the activists – Aninda Baroi, general secretary of Chhatra League’s Moulana Bhashani Hall unit, Ishtehad Ahmed Bijoy, assistant secretary of Chhatra League’s JU unit, and activists Ekhtekhar-uz-Zaman Shonchoy and Shanto Kumar Nath – were expelled on charge of violating code of conduct.

The central committee also dissolved Chhatra League’s Moulana Bhashani unit, he added.

The JU authorities suspended 16 students and BCL activists and banned them from the campus following the attack.

When contacted in this regard, Rajib Ahmed Rasel, general secretary of Chhatra League’s JU unit told the Dhaka Tribune: “Chhatra League never allows terrorism, and this punishment is the evidence of it.” l

Nur Hossain

Armed robbery rampant in the capital

Transgender woman

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Look back of life

On June 3, 2005, a team of RAB 4 arrested Arman in the capital’s Dhanmondi area after getting information from a paid source. At that time, the home minister rewarded two RAB officials who conducted the drive. But nobody knows what reward the informer got.

However, Monirul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are bound to give the bounty to the informers and we have already done that on several occasions after getting credible information leading to an arrest.”

According to DMP Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman, if someone wants to help police with information and be eligible for getting a reward, that person will have to first contact the Media Cell of DMP. “If an informer gives information about a criminal we will first verify it.

Then if we manage to catch the criminal, then the informer gets the bounty money through the Media Cell of DMP. If we cannot catch the criminal, the informer will not get any money,” he said. l

Anandabazar reported that in 2009, the government of Sheikh Hasina had handed over a number of top leaders including Ulfa Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa. The Indian government started peace talks with them while Anup Chetia supporting the initiative expressed intention to return home.

But due to some legal bars, the government could not hand over Anup Chetia.

Bangladesh and India have signed a number of agreements including extradition treaty. Hence, the return of Anup Chetia has become a matter of time.

On Friday, JP Singh of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka met the Ulfa leader at Kashimpur jail in Gazipur. The jailer was present.

The envoy said he wanted to know whether Aup Chetia was interested to return home. In response, the Ulfa leader said: “I have already applied to the government for my return. There is no question of objection.”

According to Anandabazar, handing over of Nur Hossain is now at final stage.

Meanwhile, Tipu Munshi, the chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Ministry, told reporters on August 19 that the ministry had sent necessary documents to the Foreign Ministry for bringing back Nur Hossain.

Kolkata police arrested Nur Hossain and his two accomplices in a joint drive with the Anti-Terrorist Squad on June 14 from a fourth floor flat of multi-storey Indraprastha apartment complex.

On April 27, NCC panel mayor Nazrul Islam and six others were abducted.

Later, their bodies were recovered from Shitalakhya river on April 30. Nur committed the murders allegedly with the help of members from elite force RAB. l

criminals shot at random, hitting local cloth trader, Jewel Sheikh, in the abdomen. Both men are undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

AKM Firoz, officer-in-charge (OC) of Kotwali police station, said an investigation was under way, but the suspects had not been tracked down and the looted money had not been recovered.

Business owners and residents in the capital say armed robberies have become an all too common occurrence. More significantly, muggers were now increasingly using firearms and bombs, police detective branch (DB) sources confirmed.

When asked about the situation, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that law enforcers were aware of the situation. He said the incidents were being investigated, sometimes with satisfactory results.

But police had made no progress in investigating a robbery at Dilu Road in Moghbazar on Tuesday, in which robbers detonated crude bombs and fired gunshots as they looted Tk30 lakh in broad daylight, according to Ramna police station records.

Even worse was the August 17 mugging of Mujibur Rahman, during which the victim was shot and injured in front of Mirpur police station before the robbers had made off with Tk30 lakh, according to Mirpur police station records.

Cases not registered

Human rights organisations allege that the actual number of incidents may be double the number registered as cases by police.

They said local police stations take

down general diaries in robbery incidents rather than filing them as cases.

Police insiders said that police stations often did not want to register the cases in order to lessen their work load.

General diary investigations are far less demanding than those required for registered cases, sources said.

Police statistics showed a total of 164 registered cases of robbery across the country this May. Of these, 23 took place in the capital. In June, 174 cases were registered, of which 35 occurred in the capital, while 145 robbery cases were registered in July, of which 27 took place in Dhaka.

But a search of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) register book revealed at least 30 people had been treated at the hospital just last week for injuries sustained in muggings. Many more people were treated in similar incidents at Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, the Orthopaedic Hospital and various private hospitals.

The high incidence of treatment for mugging related injuries at hospitals compared with the number of registered cases suggests that muggings and armed robberies were under-reported, sources said.

In many cases, victims were not able to register their cases due to alleged non-cooperation by the police.

The chief executive of the Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, Advocate Alina Khan, said a monitoring cell was needed to ensure that police registered mugging and robbery cases.

Criminals were getting away because police were not registering cases in these incidents and were not working properly at the field level, she added.

Although Dhaka Metropolitan Police

The surveyors have also found that the lamps on the streets, leading from Mirpur 10 intersection to the Sony Cinema Hall in the capital, do not have approval from Desco. As a result, the power used by these lamps is getting wasted unmonitored.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) CEO Ansar Ali Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have instructed the operators to switch on the street lamps just after sunset and turn them off right after sunrise. However, there

are some areas in the city where the rules are not being followed properly.”

He claimed that DNCC did not owe any amount to the DPDC. Instead, the DPDC owned money to the DNCC. Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) CEO MB Enamul Haque said: “If you find any case where the street lamp switching system schedule was broken, you may specify it and we will take action against the irresponsible operators.” He also claimed that the DSCC did not owe any bill to Desco. l

Chaity’s lifestyle, manner of dress, behaviour, and manner of speech are feminine. Two years ago, she underwent surgery to remove her penis. She changed her name in an affidavit from Mamun Molla to Tanisha Yasmin Chaity.

The human rights commission directed the forensic medicine department of Dhaka Medical College (DMC) to carry out the first ever gender identification test in Bangladesh.

The test offered evidence of Chaity’s sex assignment. It was not clear how gender identity would be established from the medical examination.

A four member medical board consisting of two forensic medicine specialists, a gynecologist and an anatomist, headed by Professor Dr Habibuzzaman Chowdhury, head of the forensic medicine department, conducted the examination and submitted the report.

The other board members were Professor Dr Ferdousi Islam, head of the gynaecology department, Professor Dr Shamim Ara, head of the anatomy department and Dr Momtaz Ara, lecturer in forensic medicine at DMC. When asked about the medical tests, Chaity yesterday said to the Dhaka Tribune over the telephone from Patuakhali: “I don’t understand the law but I want recognition to live my life fully and with dignity.”

Chaity said: “Although I was born a male child, I later found that I had the characteristics of a female. I have already changed my name to Chaity through an affidavit.”

“Maybe I am genetically male but I am totally female in nature and mind,” she said.

“If the board truly considered my problems they would not recognise me as male. I consider myself a female and I want to live as a female,” she added.

It was learnt that the medical board had conducted both physical and internal tests. The tests included an X-ray of the whole abdomen, karyotyping and an ultrasonogram of the external genital tract.

Professor Dr Habibuzzaman Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune it was the most unique test he had ever conducted in his 25 year career as a doctor.

He said the medical tests showed Tanisha Yasmin Chaity was genetically male.

ka Tribune: “Samrat was arrested after we got a specific complaint. How he was released is a matter of the court. Police do not reveal the name of informers to the culprits; these are baseless complaints. Police never help any criminal by disclosing the identity of informers.”

Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said: “Who gets bail and who does not depends on the court. Police is responsible for arresting the criminal and they performed their duty.”

It is generally the paid informers who help police with information. An informer told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is not surprising that common people do not respond to the bounty announcements. Even we, whose identities should be kept secret, continuously keep getting threats from criminals.”

Asked why they were not responding to the bounty announced in December last year, the informer said there were two reasons.

An informer generally works under an officer of a police station. The in-

former said neither he nor his fellows had yet been directed by their reporting officer to give information about those 11.

The second reason is that the informers have never been paid any money from the bounty for tipping them off. On most past occasions, law enforcers who conduct a raid for arresting a criminal usually get the money instead.

Sources said depending on the magnitude and stature of criminals, an informer gets between Tk500 and Tk5,000 for tipping police off. The police authorities in the metropolitan cities have individual Source Money Funds of their own from where they pay the informers. However, in case a bounty is announced, the police authorities manage the money from other sources.

A high official from the police headquarters on condition of anonymity told the Dhaka Tribune: “We already give huge amounts of money to the informers. Therefore, after an arrest, the

reward money is distributed among the members who had joined the drive.”

The practice of announcing bounty for criminals itself is not very common in Bangladesh. Before the one announced in December, the last such bounty could be dated as far back as 2005. And the first ever bounty in the country’s history was declared only in 2001.

In December 2001, the Home Ministry first announced a reward of Tk15 lakh for information leading to 23 high profile criminals of Dhaka including Kala Jahangir, Joy, Haris, Rasu, Prokash, Killer Abbas, Arman, Subrata Bain, Pichchi Helal, Pichchi Hannan, Tokai Sagar, and so on.

In June 2004, a team of RAB 1 arrested Pichchi Hannan in a clinic in Savar near Dhaka. It was RAB’s first successful operation after it was formed. The same day, the RAB 1 team was rewarded with Tk50 lakh. However, there are allegations that the members of that team did not get any money. Pichchi Hannan was killed in a “crossfire” later that year.

Much power gets wasted in streetlamps  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

According to the report, there are 1,123 metering and 1,247 switching points in the city corporation areas on paper. There should be one or more switching points under each of the metering points. Each of the switching points is used for turning one or more lamps on and off.

The metering points are used to keep track of the price of power consumed by the street lamps.

However, the Power Cell surveyors have found that, in reality, there

are neither enough metering points, nor enough switching points. Moreover, because switching points are not installed in the right places, voltage fluctuates and results in dim lighting in some places and unnecessarily bright lighting at other places.

According to the report, at present, one switch-man turns on 33 lamps in an average every day. It recommends increasing the number of switch-man and strengthening the monitoring to stop the huge power wastage.

Bounty has never quite worked  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

the miscreants red-handed, they will be awarded Tk1 lakh. If anyone helps in arresting criminals possessing explosives, crude and petrol bombs, they will be awarded Tk25,000.”

Eight months have passed after that list was made public and the DMP still has no idea about the names of those 11, let alone arrested anyone. It is evident that the bounty idea did not work out for the police.

On August 9 this year, 19 leaders and activists of Shibir were arrested in the capital’s Mohammadpur area while they were allegedly holding a secret meeting.

Police later said the Shibir men were arrested for staging violence in the streets last year, but could not confirm whether there were any from the list of 11.

According to DMP sources, the Detective Branch (DB) is currently investigating around 20 cases filed against at least 1,000 named Jamaat-Shibir men and many others unnamed in connec-

tion with street violence.

DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media) Masudur Rahman recently told the Dhaka Tribune: “Police is trying to trace them [the 11 in the bounty list]. Solving political cases usually takes time.”

Sources say there is no instance in history where a bounty is announced and a common citizen has helped police in arresting a criminal by giving information or any other means. The common perception is that although police always pledge to keep informers’ identity secret, the citizens do not trust police enough to tip them off even if they have any information.

On July 18, police arrested top criminal Samrat after a businessman in the capital’s Jatrabari tipped them off about the criminal’s den. However, just a couple of days later, Samrat came out on bail and started threatening the businessman for giving information to police.

Oboni Shankar, officer-in-charge of the Jatrabari police station, told the Dha-

DB marked out 441 places in the capital as mugging danger zones, muggings and robberies were taking place everywhere in the capital.

When asked about this, Monirul Islam, DB joint commissioner, said police had arrested a number of armed robbers but most of them had got out on bail and were soon back on the streets, committing crimes.

Police sweep capital

After a spate of daring armed muggings left a number of gunshot injured victims in its wake, the police yesterday launched a week-long special drive to combat criminal gangs.

Together with Detective Branch (DB) officers, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), yesterday began to sweep through the capital in search of armed robbery gangs.

Meer Rezaul Alam, joint commissioner (crime) of the DMP, confirmed that a decision was taken during the monthly security meeting to conduct a drive to bring the soaring crime levels under control.

Motijheel, Ramna and Mirpur police station crime units ran anti-crime sweeps from August 5 to August 11. Renewed crime-busts started last night, he said.

When asked about the drive, Shirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Khilgaon police station, said a list of noted criminals had been prepared and raids were under way to bring them to book.

Sayed Ziauzzaman, officer-in-charge of Pallabi police station, said his station had received instructions from headquarters to launch the special drive and his staff was focused on arresting criminals and recovering illegal firearms. l

Tanisha Yasmin Chaity was a male baby. She was born in Jadovlakkhikol village of Rajbari district on December 1, 1990. Her parents named her Mamun Molla. Her father’s name is Moslem Molla.

Dr Momtaz Ara, a forensic doctor and a member of the medical board charged with determining Chaity’s gender, told the Dhaka Tribune that Chaity said in her personal statement that while in class eight she felt a difference between herself and the boys.

Her face seemed more feminine and she preferred to express behaviours and attitudes more common among girls than boys. When she was young, Chaity’s penis was very small and she lacked testes, the doctor said.

Finishing school and sitting for the higher secondary examinations was a struggle, Chaity says.

Her father didn’t take Chaity’s gender identification easily. Her father threw her out of the house. She took shelter with the hijra society in Rajbari and continued her schooling from there.

After passing the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations in 2007 she passed her Higher Secondary School Certificate examinations in 2009. Her SSC and HSC certificates list her name as Mamun Molla.

But her voter identification card issued on October 7, 2010, lists her name as Tanisha Yasmin Chaity. On July 7, 2012, Dr Golam Rahman Shajahan, assistant professor of the burn and plastic surgery unit of Savar Gono University Medical College, performed a surgical operation to remove Chaity’s penis.

On December 9, 2012, Tanisha applied to the Rajbari court to change her name but the court suggested that she undergo a medical test to ascertain her gender.

Chaity applied to the National Human Rights Commission on April 8, 2014, seeking permission to be recognised as a hijra.

Hosne Ara Akhter, additional district and sessions judge, issued a letter on May 15 to the principal of DMC to carry out the necessary tests to ascertain Chaity’s gender identity.

When asked about the problematic results with the identity tests, Chaity yesterday said to the Dhaka Tribune over the phone: “I don’t want to understand the law, I just to be recognised for who I am.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Sunday, August 24, 2014

War criminals ‘staging drama’ to get bail n Udisa Islam Since the very beginning of the war crimes trials in 2010, most of the accused have been trying to secure bail on different grounds, apparently to get the mercy of the International Crimes Tribunal judges.

To ensure bail, they have allegedly been staging dramas to establish “oldage complications.”

The International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 does not have a provision for bail.

However, sources say the upcoming amendment proposal to revise the ICT Act may include the provision – a move opposed by the war trial campaigners. Some prosecutors involved with the trial process are also against the change, but they think it would stop such dramas.

So far, only two persons – BNP leader Abdul Alim and former Jatiya Party state minister Syed Mohammad Qaisar – got bail for their physical conditions.

The last drama, mentioned by the prosecution, was staged by Qaisar who, throughout the trial processs, wanted to get the mercy of the tribunal. His trial ended last week and the case has been placed for verdict.

The prosecution claims that Qaisar started to use a wheelchair when he pleaded for bail and later he tried to establish that he was sick.

When Alim got the privilege for his old age, Qaisar followed the same technique and was caught red handed by the tribunal on several occasions.

On August 20, at the end of the trail against him, prosecutor Rana Dasgupta informed the tribunal about the techniques used by Qaisar. “The accused is not as sick as he tried to show during the trial period,” he said.

Stating some examples, he said: “This is a strategy to ‘seek mercy’ from the tribunal.”

The prosecutor said: “Earlier, before the start of the trial, the accused came to the tribunal, walking. But when he pleaded for bail, he needed a wheelchair to move.”

Mentioning the last day of the prosecution’s argument, Rana said when the

tribunal judges were leaving the room, the accused stood up like a normal man, without any support.

“Whenever Qaisar entered the courtroom, his hands used to shake continuously as if he wanted to grab a stick. But when the tribunal left the court, the shaking suddenly stopped.

“During the prosecution’s argument session, Qaisar was sleeping and his hands were not shaking. At that time, his son quietly informed the accused about the matter and asked him to continue the fake moves,” Rana explained.

Earlier, top war crimes convicts including Ghulam Azam, Delawar Hossain Sayedee and Motiur Rahman Nizami, and younger accused including ATM Azhar and Mir Kashem Ali continuously pleaded for bail.

Most of them sought bail on “health grounds.”

While appearing before the court they looked sick and pale, though after the daily proceedings, their real faces were exposed. They tried to act sick, especially before the CCTV cameras.

Bail provision opposed

Sources at the Law Ministry last month said the new amendment to the ICT Act might include the provision of bail as well as specific punishment of organisations for committing war crimes.

Prosecution thinks that the bail provision may be included to stop the dramas concocted by the accused to get bail.

A prosecutor seeking anonymity said: “The provision may not be good for our cases. During investigation, we face so many barriers because of the political influence of the alleged war criminals. If they are granted bail, then they may hamper the work flow.”

War crimes activist Shahriar Kabir questioned the bail provision. “In every case, whenever the accused pleads for bail, the tribunals handle the petitions. Is there any accused who needs bail? This is silly. Everyone related with the trial should think about the flow of the trials,” he said.

He also expressed frustration about the six war crimes cases that are pending verdicts. l

Locals push a car after it got stuck in a pothole on a road submerged in ankle-deep water in the capital’s Malibagh area yesterday

Government hatching conspiracy to keep BNP away from politics n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday alleged that the government was now hatching a conspiracy to keep his party away from politics and also elections.

“The government is filing false cases one after another against Khaleda Zia. Cases were filed also against Tarique Rahman. Now, they have been included in the August 21 grenade attack case. The purpose of this is just to keep the BNP from the politics,” the party spokesman said while addressing a programme at National Press Club marking Mahmudur Rahman’s 500th day in jail.

He also claimed that the government had also curbed the people’s freedom of speech.

“Our right to stage demonstration has also been snatched away. Now, permissions need to be taken to hold in-house discussions. The government is even set to curtail the freedom of the media by implementing the broadcast policy,” he added.

Regarding the lawmakers authority to impeach the Supreme Court judges, Fakhrul said: “The government has giving back the authority to the parliament to impeach judges. The government is giving back power to the parliament which does not represent the

people’s mandate.”

The BNP leader also alleged that the government had not only politicised the administration, but also the judiciary too. Condemning the August 21 grenade attack, Fakhrul said: “We had condemned the attack then and we condemn it now too. But, the government is implicating Tarique Rahman to mislead the countrymen.”

Claiming that militancy rose during the Awami League government, he further added: “BNP does not believe in militancy and does not support militancy either. Militancy rose its head during the Awami League government and we took steps to eliminate it.” l

MEHEDI HASAN

Ershad urges BNP to join his party n Our Correspodent, Feni Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad urged the Bangladesh National Party men to join his party, shunning the alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami.

As chief guest at the biennial conference of Feni district JP at Mizan Maidan, he said that his party was the real nationalist force.

Presided over by district JP President Mosharaf Hossain Bhuiyan, the conference was also addressed by JP Secretary General Ziauddin Bablu, Presidium Member and Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud and other leaders.

If the people voted his party into power, he would eliminate terrorism and corruption, said the former President. l

AL launches photo album on BNPJamaat violence n Emran Hossain Shaikh

Friends and relatives of Jinnati Hossain form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday demanding her release from jail SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

The ruling Awami League yesterday launched a photograph album “Bloodstained Bangladesh”, showing the barbaric activities carried out by the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami last year.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the photo album at Osmani Memorial Hall in the capital.

Laila Khatun, wife of police constable Hazrat Ali who was killed in political violence, said, “They [BNP-Jamaat] brutally killed my husband. At first, I could not identify him. Later, I could identify him seeing his name on the badge......

What offence I have committed? I want trial of my husband’s killers.....”

While speaking, she became unconscious and fell down on the dais.

Later, the prime minister made her get up within a short time. Apart from Laila, five other victims shared their experience and demanded justice. At the programme, Sheikh Hasina conveyed her sympathy to the victims, promising that her party would always stand by them.

She urged the countrymen to be

BSS

aware of BNP-Jamaat plot in carrying out large-scale violence.

Criticising the BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami, the AL president said they were playing with people’s lives.

“They are killing people in the name of movement. “ Sheikh Hasina said the nationwide incidents of violence unleashed by the activists of the BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami in 2013 had reminded her of the Pakistani massacre in 1971.

Ramzan Ali, father of Monir who

Govt set to amend Power and Energy Fast Supply Enhancement Act n Asif Showkat Kallol The government is set to amend the Power and Energy Fast Supply Enhancement Act with an aim to extend the tenures of rental and quick rental power plants due to huge demand for new electricity connections, official sources said.

There is also reason to extend the tenures of rental power plants as the government has failed to start operation of new gas-based power plants across the country, they added.

No base load power plants especially coal-based power plants start operation in the country during the tenure of the present Awami League government, even though 36 gas-based power plants and 34 rental and quick rental power plants are now operating in the country.

“The government is in troubles to

give 13 lakh electricity connections as it needs to generate extra 1,500MW power from the existing power plants,” a Power Division official said. “So, the Power Division has proposed amending the act.”

The official said the Power Division had already sent the proposal for extending the tenures of a dozen rental and quick rental power plants having the capacity of 1,300MW. Besides, the government continued negotiations with the Bangladesh Army-run Machine Tools Factory Ltd to set up 600MW coal-based power project under the act.

The official said the proposal for amendment to the act is likely to be placed before the cabinet meeting tomorrow (Monday). Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over the meeting.

As per the proposal, the tenures of

rental and quick rental power plants are likely to be extended by three to five years till 2018.

State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid said the government was looking for cheap electricity sources as it imported electricity from India. “But the government is yet to take the decision to import more electricity from India.”

As a result, he said, they depended on rental and quick rental power plants. “We are determined to meet the growing demand for electricity. So, it will be a logical decision to amend the act for the extension of the tenures of rental power plants,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the number of applications for power connections stood at 13 lakh till June this year. The demand for power connections had increased in rural areas across the country because of significant business activities visi-

ble there. Power Division sources said a large- scale small business units had been set up in rural areas in last couple of years and mud houses turned into concert buildings.

The power generation capacity in the country is now 10,000MW while it is generating only 7,000MW per day.

The AL government had raised the capacity of electricity by 5,000MW during the period between 2009 and 2014 while the number of new electricity connections given by the government stood at 3,504,557.

Power Division sources said one crore people had come under the electricity coverage across the country. Different electricity distribution companies had received 1,274,415 applications till July this year. Only in July, they received a total of 109,144 applications.

The government produces electrici-

ty from diesel-fired plants at a cost between Tk16 and Tk18 per unit, according to Power Division officials.

In last fiscal year, a total of Tk6,900 crore was spent for subsidy for rental power plants while the amount of subsidy for this fiscal year was Tk7,500 crore.

The cabinet committee on public purchase this month extended the tenure of 53MW United Ashuganj Rental Power Project by five years and agreed to purchase electricity from it at Tk 3.2848 per unit.

The government in February extended the tenures of two rental power projects, having the capacity of 128.5MW, by five years each. The projects are 50MW DAP power and 78.5MW Max power.

The tenures of nine rental power projects were also extended during the previous tenure of the Awami League government. l

was burnt to death in Gazipur, shared his experience at the programme.

“My baby was burning in front of my eyes,”he said.

Cabinet members, MPs were present at the launching ceremony along with the envoys of Russia, India, China, Canada, Palestine, Vietnam, Vatican City, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, North Korea, Bhutan, Libya and Egypt.

In the programme, AL also screened a 16-minute documentary on BNP-Jamaat’s mayhem in 2013. l

Ivy Rahman’s death anniversary today n Tribune Reports Today is the 10th death anniversary of late Awami League leader Ivy Rahman, a victim of the August 21 grenade attacks in 2004.

Ivy Rahman, wife of late President Jillur Rahman and women affairs secretary of Awami League, died on August 24 succumbed to her injuries 58 hours after being seriously injured in a grenades attacks on the Awami League’s rally in Dhaka.

Special prayers will be offered at her residence ‘Ivy concord’ at Gulshan-2 after Asr prayers.

Her son Nazmul Hassan MP, also the head of Bangladesh Cricket Board, has requested family members, friends and well wishers to be present at the prayers. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Vested property return petition disposal sluggish Land Ministry has already started the process to further amend the law n Mohosinul Karim The disposal of complaints and cases filed over the reclaiming of vested properties has been tardy. Officials said a number of flaws in the Vested Property Return Act prevented them from speeding up the proceedings.

A senior official of the Land Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune that a bill seeking amendment of the existing law might be tabled in the upcoming parliament session.

“It would remove the shortcomings of the existing law,” he said.

The latest amendment to the act was made last year.

Senior Secretary of the Land Ministry Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the ministry had already begun the procedure of amending the act, having detected a number of pitfalls during its implementation.

“The draft of the amended bill was sent to the ministries concerned, including the Law Ministry. It will also be sent to the cabinet seeking approval to table it in the parliament,” he added.

An official involved in the preparation of the draft told the Dhaka Tribune that it would be placed in the cabinet meeting in early September.

According to Land Ministry sources, there are around nine lakh acres of vested property land in the country.

Of those, two lakh acres fell in “Ka” category, which in now under the supervision of the government. Some government offices were erected on the lands and some were leased to others.

The remaining seven lakh acres were assigned “Kha” category, but the government failed to establish its authority over those properties. Those were occupied by influential politicians.

The 2013 amendment of the law saw the cancellation of the “Kha” category.

It would be considered that properties falling in “Kha” category were never included in the vested property list, said the amendment. But nothing was mentioned about the ownership of these properties.

Officials said the latest initiative to amend the law was chiefly being taken to clarify the provision for selecting owners for the lands falling into the “Kha” category.

According to ministry officials, tribunals led by assistant judges are now dealing with complaints and cases filed against “Ka” category properties. Disposal is sluggish due to the flaws in the law and the delayed identification of “Ka” category properties in different districts.

The government also invited applications from the real owners of “Kha” category properties and assistant commissioners (land) were authorised to deal with those.

However, some senior ministry officials said the authorised officers are scared to deal with the applications as most of the “Kha” category properties are under the occupation of local and central influential figures.

“The officers requested that the ministry remove the flaws in the law. They are receiving the complaints now and will begin the disposal procedures once the amendment is done,” said an official.

According to the ministry, tribunals in different districts have received around one lakh complaints and cases regarding the return of vested properties listed in the “Ka” category.

Complaints and cases involving “Kha” category properties are being received from July 14 this year and will be received till July 13, 2015. l

A man uses a temporary bridge over an open drain to bring out filtered water cans out of a water filtering factory in the capital’s Jurain yesterday. The condition of the factory would make one doubt of the ‘filtered drinking water’ it produces to sell to customers MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Overcrowded launch now stuck in the Meghna n Tribune Report

An overcrowded launch has now gotten stuck on a shoal in the Meghna river in Chandpur with more than 800 passengers aboard beyond its capacity exposing gross negligence and weak monitoring in the water transport sector.

MV Sattar Khan-1 started for Patuakhali from Sadarghat Bus Terminar on Friday afternoon only to be stuck on the shoal at Charmonipur area in Chandpur’s Haimchar upazila around 10:30pm.

A launch passenger, Mojibur Rahman, said: “The launch stopped sud-

denly with a big shake. We all thought it was going to sink. The passengers started running from one end to another. Later we came to know that the lower part of the launch has gotten stuck.”

After that, they staged demonstrations demanding their return to Patuakhali by another transport.

They became calm only after local administration promised that they would be sent to their destination by an alternative transport.

The passengers had to spend the whole night at the shoal until they were rescued by Raf Raf-2 launch 15 hours later at around 1:30.

Executive Magistrate Md Rakibul

Hasan said the passengers would be sent to Patuakhali by another launch in the afternoon while the stuck launch will be hauled to safety after the tide comes in.

He added that police had detailed all the launch staff and seized its papers for carrying passengers beyond its capacity.

Chandpur shipping police’s Officer-in-Charge Jahidul Islam confirmed the rescue of the passengers as well as arrest of the stuck launch staff and seizure of its papers.

A passenger, Shanu Miah, told reporters that many passengers, particularly children, had fallen sick due to

Husband throws acid on wife for dowry in Gaibandha n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha A woman was rescued by her parents on Tuesday night from her residence in Poschim Shinga village in Gaibandha’s Gobindaganj upazila, three days after her husband threw acid on her.

The victim, Monju Ara Momi, 25, suffered severe burns on her entire body from the attack and was in a critical condition when she was rescued, said her father Abdul Motin.

He said her daughter, originally from Khiribari village in the same upazila, was married off to Abu Sufian of Poschim Shinga village three years ago, with a dowry of Tk70,000 in cash and household furniture.

After a year of marriage, Sufian started demanding more dowry from Momi, and he frequently beat her, Motin said.

Last Sunday, on the night of the attack, Sufian made the same demand for dowry and told Momi to go to her

A man walks past a stolen dustbin post, which had been installed to stop littering, at the capital’s Hatirjheel area yesterday.

RAJIB DHAR

Hundreds of Jamalpur locals besiege PDB office n Our Correspondent, Jamalpur More than 500 electricity consumers besieged the office of the Power Development Board (PDB) in Jamalpur yesterday.

Last month, the PDB issued exorbitant electricity bills to almost every household in the city, alleged a number of agitated consumers who had vandalised the windows of the office of Iqbal Hossain, executive engineer of the Jamalpur Power Development Board.

The amounts that appeared in the bills were two to three times higher than usual. Moreover, many of the bills

were prepared without reading the meters, they claimed.

The consumers had to face hassles at the PDB office when they went to address the issue, claimed Motiur Rahman Chowdhury, a consumer.

The situation was brought under control when police arrived at the scene and the PDB officials gave assurances to the protesting crowd.

Iqbal Hossain said the bill for the month of July had been halted.

New bills would be prepared after reading the meters to assess power consumption. l

parents’ house. When Momi refused to do so, an angered Sufian started beating her, and at one point, he threw acid at her.

Though Momi suffered burns on her body, Sufian locked her up in the house

He kept her locked up to prevent her from getting treatment to keep her from getting medical help, her father said.

Hearing her cries, the neighbours informed her parents, but when they went to see her on Wednesday morning, Sufian did not let them in.

Later at night, with the locals’ help, Motin rescued his severely injured daughter from the house and took her

to Gobindaganj Upazila Health Complex.

Dr Shahinul Islam Mondol, residential medical officer at the health complex, said Momi was in a critical condition when she was brought in.

She was given primary treatment at the health complex, but was referred to Rangpur Medical College Hospital for better treatment, he said.

However, Momi’s family took her to Shahid Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital instead, where she is currently under treatment, said her family.

Momi’s brother filed a case with Gobindaganj police station in this regard on Thursday.

Police said Sufian and his mother were in hiding. Zahidul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gobindaganj police station, said they were trying their best to bring the culprits to book and would give all kinds of legal support to Momi. l

Tarun addresses seminar on entrepreneurial ecosystem n Tribune Report Professor Tarun Khanna, director of the Harvard South Asia Institute and Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor of the Harvard Business School, delivered a speech at a seminar titled “Developing an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Emerging Economies.”

The seminar was held at BRAC Centre in the capital’s Mohakhali on Tuesday, says a media release.

The event was also attended by BRAC officials and stakeholders who are interested in the promotion of entrepreneurship in Bangladesh, as well as BRAC University VC Syed Saad Andaleeb.

Dr Khanna highlighted the critical role entrepreneurs play in advancing a nation’s economy and bringing forth prosperity. He said emerging economies can be benefited greatly if favourable circumstances that nurture and bolster entrepreneurial ventures prevail. l

Career festival at United International University n Tribune Report A day-long career festival was held yesterday at the United International University (UIU) auditorium in the capital.

The event was presided over by UIU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Rezwan Khan and graced by many distinguished speakers, says a media release.

In the programme, the speakers discussed different aspects of the recruitment and selection process of different corporate sectors.

CV writing and interview techniques, leadership development, job searching techniques, corporate etiquette & professional grooming and other important issues were discussed at the seminar, aiming to help the participants to make the right decisions about their careers.

The speakers also advised the students to be more attentive in their academic studies in order to be prepared to face the challenges of the present job market. l

scarcity of food and water inside the launch.

When Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Subrata Kumar Dey was asked about this, he said: “We have rescued the passengers but could not provide them food on board.”

Earlier on August 4, overcrowded Pinak 6 launch capsized in the Padma River, 800 yards off Mawa ghat (jetty) with over 250 passengers on board while it was heading towards the jetty Forty eight bodies have so far been recovered from the Meghna and Padma rivers after the launch capsized in the mighty river while 62 passengers of the ill-fated launch are still missing. l

Two SAU students stabbed, two shot in capital n Ashif Islam Shaon Two students of Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University (SAU) sustained injuries after being stabbed by muggers in front of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) -2 office in capital’s Agargaon area yesterday.

The victims are Konkon Chakma and Ovi Chakma, both first year students of SAU. The two were attacked while returning to their campus dormitory after having supper at Agargaon intersection around 2:30am.

Four muggers with lethal weapons came out of a white private car and snatched away their wallets and cell phones.

“As I tried to escape, the muggers started stabbing me. They also stabbed Ovi indiscriminately as he tried to help me,” said Konkon who is now out of danger.

“We cried for help but nobody from the RAB office came to help us,” he said.

Later the two managed to reach the main gate of the university where the guards and students came and admitted them to Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital.

As Ovi’s condition deteriorated, he was transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Dr Md Hasan at DMCH said: “Ovi sustained serious injuries in his hand, leg and lower abdomen. We have conducted a surgery. He is not out of danger.”

In another incident, unidentified miscreants shot two men in capital’s Middle Badda area yesterday.

The victims are Md Saiful Islam, 47, a contractor of Dhaka Electric Supply Authority and Md Julfikar Ali, 35, a security guard of A&Z Company.

DMCH police camp Inspector Mozammel Haque said the injured were taken to DMCH around 12:30pm. Of them, Saiful sustained a bullet injury on his right knee while Julfikar was shot on his right leg.

A witness, who took them to hospital, told police that some youths opened fire on Saiful several times. In the incident, Julfikar was also shot.

Saiful is a resident of Middle Badda.

His brother Shafiqul Islam said: “I think he was shot over business rivalry. We heard that some unknown youths shot him from behind.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

DNCC's Azampur School cattle market a curse for students, locals Sources allege influence of ruling party affiliates in setting up the cattle market n Abu Hayat Mahmud The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) authority has decided to set up a temporary cattle market at Azampur Government Primary School playground and its adjoining areas again, without seeking permission from the school authority and disregarding the sufferings of the residents.

Although the local government body had assured the Dhaka Tribune last year that the cattle market would be relocated elsewhere to end the hardships of the students, commuters and local residents, no changes were made regarding the location of the cattle market this year and DNCC flouted a tender inviting leasers in this regard.

Every year, the city corporation organises a temporary cattle market for Eid-ul-Azha on the Azampur Primary School playground and its adjoining areas on Section-6 of Uttara Residential Model Town in the capital.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, sev-

eral residents and students of some 20 educational institutes have alleged that the cattle market does no good for the locals as the city corporation also organises another large cattle market at Sector-10 and 11.

At the same time, locals and DNCC sources have alleged that several influential leaders of different associate bodies of the ruling party had been forcing the city corporation to set up the cattle market on the school premises for some quick cash.

Last year, the tender for setting up the Azampur cattle market was awarded to Jubo League leader Mahbubur Rahman at a bid of Tk72,00,000 only.

Meanwhile, authorities of Azampur Primary School have alleged that the DNCC continues to set the cattle market on the school compound without seeking permission.

Nargis Sultana, headmaster of Azampur Primary School, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Every year, the cattle market leaves the school compound

in a very sorry state. There are holes and animal waste everywhere and the school children can no longer play there.”

“Not only does the cattle market damage the playground, the pungent smell of animal waste rotting on the ground ruins the educational environment of the school,” she explained.

Saying that the authorities had repeatedly tried to stop the DNCC from setting up the cattle market on the school compound, she added: “After the cattle market ends, DNCC does very little to clean the animal waste.”

At the same time, officials and students of nearby schools have also expressed that they face hardships every year due to the cattle market.

An official of Delhi Public School (DPS), seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Students and guardians face difficulty when arriving at the school as a huge numbers of cattle block the roads.”

“Sometimes we have to suspend

5

Sunday, August 24, 2014

classes from a week in advance to avoid the problems caused by this cattle market,” he added.

Earlier in 2013, DNCC's former chief estate officer Md Fasiullah told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are concerned about the cattle markets at Azampur Government Primary School, Agargaon and Taltola. We are planning to shift the markets to other spots from next Eid (this year).”

However, DNCC only managed to cancel the Taltala market and will be going ahead with the Azampur and Agargaon cattle markets.

When contacted, DNCC Chief Estate Officer Aminul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have arranged the cattle market for the locals so that they can purchase their sacrificial animal easily.”

Echoing the same view, DNCC Chief Executive Officer BM Enamul Haque said: “After Eid every year, we clear the playground properly. Besides, we also pay the school authority every year for using the playground.” l

Student leaders protest price hike of CU admission form n CU Correspondent Leaders and activists of left parties formed a human chain yesterday, protesting the price hike of the admission form at Chittagong University (CU).

Under the banner Progotishil Chhatra Jote, the CU leaders and activists of Shomajtantrik Chhatra Front, Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Bangladesh Chhatra Federation staged the demonstration at the Shaheed Minar premises in the university around 12:30pm.

The price of CU’s admission form for the Honour’s first year intake in the 2014-15 academic year has been fixed at Tk500, which was Tk475 last year and Tk400 the previous year.

The leaders also submitted a memorandum to the vice-chancellor of the university demanding an immediate reduction of the admission form’s price.

Fazle Rabbi, convener of the CU unit of Shomajtantrik Chhatra Front, Mehedi Hasan Nobel, general secretary of the CU unit of Bangladesh Chhatra Union, and Anwar Sadat Junayed, pres-

19th anniversary of Yeasmin killing today

Mawa-Kawrakandi ferry service hampered by strong currents n Our Correspondent, Munshiganj Hundreds of vehicles were stranded at the Mawa and Kawrakandi ferry ghats, creating long tailbacks, as the ferry service was stopped due to the strong currents in the Padma River.

Large numbers of passengers have been suffering because of the long tailbacks at the two ghats, and goods-laden trucks have been stuck at the ghats for the last two days.

Manager Sirajul Haque of Mawa BIWTC told the Dhaka Tribune that the ferries were not being able to provide regular services because of the strong currents in the river, thereby creating the long tailbacks.

Water was flowing just 2cm below the danger level in the Padma yesterday, the manager said, expressing concerns that water would flow above the danger level by nighttime.

Sources said only 11 ferries out of 16 were operating on the Mawa-Kawrakandi route, adding that the other five were non-operative because of technical problems. However, only six of the active ferries were providing services at night, they added.

Earlier on Tuesday, the ferry service on the route was suspended when the Ro Ro Ferry Ghat 3 suddenly went under water at night. The ferry service became regular on Thursday after the ghat 3 was shifted to ghat 2.

BIWTA Chairman Shamsuzzoha Talukdar said a new ghat 3 was being constructed near the speed-boat ghat and would be completed within two days. l

WEATHER

THUNDERSHOWER

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:24PM SUN RISES 5:37AM FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

32

Chittagong

30

26 25

Rajshahi

33

26

Rangpur

31

26

Khulna

32

25

Barisal

32

25

Sylhet

30

25

Cox’s Bazar

30

25

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

35.2ºC Rajshahi

24.6ºC Chittagong

Source: Accuweather/UNB

n Tribune Desk

Passengers of a city bus come down and push the vehicle after it broke down in the middle of Shahbagh intersection yesterday

Amu urges women to remain united n

BSS

Awami League Advisory Council Member Amir Hossain Amu yesterday called upon the women to stand united against the communal forces.

"Women will have to stand against them who want to suppress and women have to be united against communal forces," he made the call at a discussion on the 39th martyrdom of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and National Mourning Day in front of the party central office at Bangabandhu Avenue.

Awami Jubo Mohila League (AJML) organized the discussion, while president of the organization former lawmaker Nazma Akter presideed over. The programme was also addressed, among others, by Railway Minister M Mazibul Hoque, general secretary of AJML Apu Ukil, vice president Zakia Parveen and lawmaker Sabina Akter Tuhin.

Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

4:19am 5:36am 12:01am 4:34pm 6:25pm 7:43pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Amu, also industries minister said people of Bangladesh are god-fearing, but not fanatic, adding, "All the people of the country irrespective of cast, creed and religion are now united to build a non-communal Bangladesh under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."

People of the country particularly women have to remain alert so that no conspiracy designed by the evil forces would not be materialized in the sacred soil, the minister said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working for women's development; he said women would have to resist them who assumed to power by misguiding women in the name of religion.

The senior AL leader also urged Jubo Mohila League leaders and workers to aware women across the country and protest such of these propagandas. l

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Today is the 19th anniversary of Yeasmin killing .

On this day in 1995, Yeasmin was gang-raped and subsequently killed by some unruly police personnel in Dinajpur.

Three policemen--assistant sub inspector Mainul Islam, constable Abdus Sattar and pickup van driver Amrit Lal --had been hanged till death following a court order on August 31 in 2007 in the case filed at Kotwali Police Station in this regard.

People from all strata of life took to the streets in Dinajpur in protest against the brutality and police opened fire on them in which seven persons including Samu, Siraj and Quader had been killed. Since then, the Day is being observed as Women Repression Prevention Day. To mark the day, different socio-cultural organizations including Mahila Parishad, Balubari Women Development Association and Palla Sree have chalked out elobrate programme.

The programmes include placing wreaths at the grave of Yeasmin, holding discussions, day-long doa mahfil and special prayer. l

Nahid: Most private universities are successful n Mushfique Wadud Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday said most private universities in the country were successful and some of them were maintaining international standards.

Addressing the inauguration programme of an international conference on Social Sciences and Humanities, the minister said: “A few universities are not abiding by the laws, and actions will be taken against them. But most private universities in the country are successful.”

The Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR) at Independent University, one of the private universities in Bangladesh, organised the first ever international conference on Social Sciences and Humanities titled “Identity in the Globalised World: Dimensions, Transformations and Challenges.”

Meanwhile, the education minister's claim came just few days after

Transparency International, Bangladesh claimed that they found gross irregularities in private universities of the country.

In his speech, the minister brushed aside the TIB claim, and said private universities were important in the country's education sector, as public universities were not adequate.

“The ministry does not differentiate between private and public universities,” Nahid said.

Putting emphasis on research activities, Nahid also said: “Universities should create new knowledge. All universities must be research oriented. Otherwise, our universities will be useless.”

The minister also said the ministry would take initiatives to amend the University Grants Commission law to run the universities more smoothly.

Speaking at the programme, Professor Willem van Schendel from University of Amsterdam said Bangladesh had

already entered in the new global network and the scholars of the country were also contributing globally.

Echoing the education minister's voice, IUB Vice-Chancellor M Omar Rahman said research activities were not luxuries but an important part of higher education.

Omar urged the government to increase the budgetary allocation for education sector, particularly for higher education sector, so that they could carry out research activities.

Mentioning that despite having potentials, many female students dropped out before starting higher education. The IUB VC said initiatives should be taken to check the drop out of female students.

The three-day conference, where renowned social science researchers from home and abroad will present a total 64 research papers, is scheduled to end tomorrow. l

Journalist lodged general diary against BCL leader n FM Mizanur Rahaman

PRAYER TIMES

ident of the CU unit of Bangladesh Chhatra Federation, spoke at the event, among others.

Addressing the participants of the human chain, the leaders alleged that the university authorities had plotted to transform the basic human need of education into a commercial commodity, as they increased the price of the admission form every year.

Mehedi said: “This is a part of the University Grants Commission’s 20year plan for the universities to generate their own income, following the advice of the World Bank.”

The speakers said every student aspired to take admission at higher education institutions, but it was getting difficult for the students seeking places at CU because of the university authorities’ attitude towards higher education.

This way, the education system would be restricted to only a section of people, they claimed.

The activists announced that they would bring out a procession on August 27, protesting of the price hike as well. l

The general secretary of the Chittagong University Journalist Association (CUJA) lodged a general diary (GD) against a Chhatra League leader in Chittagong yesterday after receiving a death threat.

Tasnim Hasan, Chittagong University correspondent for the daily Prothom Alo, filed the GD with Hathazari police station yesterday evening.

He said he had received a death threat from Ashrafuzzaman Asha, for-

mer deputy secretary of cultural affairs of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) CU unit, on August 21.

Asha, also a Master’s student of the botany department at CU, threatened him because he had written a report about an attack on cops by BCL men on August 20.

Hathazari police station Officer-in-Charge Ismail Hossain said the newsman had filed the GD seeking personal safety.

Police were looking into the matter, he said. l

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid speaks at an international conference on Social Sciences and Humanities in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Sunday, August 24, 2014

B’baria High School staff unpaid for three months Correspondent, n Our Brahmanbaria A total of 24 employees, including 19 teachers, enlisted for the monthly pay order in Brahmanbaria High School have not been getting the government salary for three months because of a crisis centring the legality of the post of the headmaster.

Consequently, the school’s staff are financially strained and suffering along with the family members.

It was learned that the period of employment of the school’s Headmaster Abul Kasem had ended in December,

The school’s Mathematics teacher Nazrul Islam said they have been financially suffering because they have not been able to draw their salary for three months although they have nothing to do with the deadlock 2011, but the school’s managing committee has extended the time frame of his job for another five years.

In this regard, Comilla Secondary and Higher Secondary Board declared the post held by the headmaster was illegal because he had reached the retirement age of 60 and they sent several letters to the school authorities to send the him into retirement.

In response to the letter, Abul Kasem sent a letter to the board quoting the job extension by the school committee and he claimed the legality of the post.

In this situation, Sadar Upazila Nir-

bahi Officer (UNO) Ashraful Alam directed the bank authorities not to discharge the salary in favour of papers signed by the headmaster whose signature is mandatory to draw the payment.

However, later the school authorities filed a case against the UNO with a local court in this connection.

In this regard, the school’s Mathematics teacher Nazrul Islam said they have been financially suffering because they have not been able to draw their salary for three months although they have nothing to do with the deadlock.

The School Management Committee President Md Shafikul Alam said a case was launched against the UNO to prevent any blockade in paying salaries and the solution would come legally although the salary’s part, which supposed to give by the school authorities, was being paid regularly.

Abul Kasem said: “The UNO in a visit declared holding the post by me is illegal and he has directed the bank authorities not to receive the papers signed by me, which is out of my knowledge.”

Brahmanbaria Education Officer Kazi Salim Ullah said sixty years exceeded by any teacher can not hold the post and the headmaster did not follow the rules as per which he could be reinstated in the post.

The officer also stated that only the removal of the headmaster from the post would drive end the crisis.

UNO Ashraful Alam said: “I am the president of the district secondary teachers samity and I have sent several eradication letters to the headmaster who is not paying any heed to it. In this situation, I have directed the bank to stop the distribution of salaries so that the public money does not go to waste.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Habiganj hospital severely understaffed n Mohammad Nur Uddin, Habiganj

The shockingly low number of staff at Habiganj Sadar Adhunik Hospital has made it difficult to serve patients well and they are just patching things up as well as possible.

Most of the posts of doctors, nurses and other employees have remained vacant for a long time and so the staff that the 100-seat hospital currently employs is able to only serve half the patients admitted there.

There are 40 posts of doctors, but only 23 are filled at present. The senior gynaecologist post, which is the most important, has been vacant for three consecutive years now.

There are no specialists at the hospi-

tal and so the few staff who work there are doing their best to make sure that patients do not get upset at the treatment they receive. In order to do so, pediatricians are seen providing eye treatment, while sex and skin specialists are attempting orthopedic treatment. This is the state of the most advanced hospital in the district.

Moreover, the posts of hospital caretaker, junior consultant, anasthesiologist, residential medical officer, pathologist, radiologist and health education officer have also been unmanned for a long time.

Senior Consultant (surgery) Dr Md Mostafizur Rahman is working as the senior consultant of cardiology and the doctor who was junior consultant

of cardiology is now working as senior consultant, medicine.

Consultant (skin and sex) Dr Syed Mujibur Rahman Palash is working as junior consultant for orthopaedics and surgery and the junior consultant (ear, nose and throat) Dr Md Mukhlesur Rahman is currently senior consultant for orthopaedics and surgery.

Dr Md Ziaur Rahman, consultant (paediatrics), is providing eye treatment. There are 56 posts for nurses at the hospital. Of them, only 30 are filled.

Though it states 30 on paper, in reality it is 26, since four nurses are working elsewhere.

There are 24 third class posts, including medical technology pharmacists and, of them, 24 are filled while

seven remain vacant.

There are 62 fourth class posts, including gate man and sweeper and 49 are filled while 13 are vacant.

When Civil Surgeon Nasir Uddin Bhuiyan was asked about this, he admitted that there was a shortage of doctors, nurses and other staff at the hospital. “We have repeatedly notified the higher authorities of the staff shortage, but they seem to be insensitive to this,” he explained.

“More caesarean operations and other surgeries are done here than at any other hospital in the country. But there are no specialised doctors here to perform such surgeries. Often, doctors are brought here from elsewhere for these surgeries,” he added. l

Ebola virus check at Sona Masjid Robber leader hacked to death n border not satisfactory

Youth held with Tk100 crore worth of cobra venom n Our Correspondent, Jessore n Our Correspondent, Members of Border Guard Bangladesh arrested a young man on Friday night from Amrakhali area of the district for possession of cobra venom worth Tk100 crore.

BGB also seized a private car from the possession of the arrested Mohammad Miron Kazi, 28, who is the son of Akbar Kazi of Kathmari village under Benapole port police station.

Acting on a tip-off, a BGB team intercepted a Jessore-bound private car around 9pm and recovered 12 pounds and two ounces of the snake venom, kept in seven jars, from the trunk of the vehicle, said BGB-26 Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Jahangir Hossain, adding that the value of the seized venom would be about Tk100 crore.

The BGB men arrested Miron for carrying the venom and seized the car.

Later, he was handed over to Benapole port police station. l

Chapainawabganj

Despite a government enforced red alert at Sona Masjid border, medical checkups at this immigration point, to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, are moving at a sluggish pace.

As a result, passport holders from India are entering Bangladesh without any checkup.

Civil Surgeon of Chapainawabganj Dr AKM Mozhar Hossain said, according to the directive of the Health Ministry, a 7-member medical team had been set up at Sona Masjid immigration point on August 11. The team consists of a medical officer, pharmacist, health inspector, medical assistant, health assistant, nurse and MLSS. However, a recent visit to this, the second largest land port of

Our Correspondent, Satkhira

the country, has revealed a different scenario. Incoming passengers were seen passing through immigration without any medical checkup.

There were no banners, designated areas or any efforts on the part of the medical team to examine the passengers for Ebola virus.

Having no seating area, members of the medical team were seen lazing around the check post.

They alleged that Dr Kushol Kumar Bandha, the head of the team, had come to the spot only once after the team began their activities.

When contacted, Dr Kushol said in his defense that he could not visit as there was a lack of doctors at Shibganj Health Complex. He, however, did not have satisfactory answers as to the work being done by the medical team.

Abul Bashar, a sub-assistant

medical officer, said according to the government notice, they had been working regular hours at the check post daily, but had not identified any Ebola virus patient yet. He admitted that their work was getting hampered due to infrastructural limitations.

Denying any allegation of inefficiency, Immigration Officer SI Ataur Rahman said they were aware of the situation and had been supporting the medical team to check passengers.

About 1200 hundred passengers, including passport holders, cross Sona Masjid point everyday in order to traveling between India and Bangladesh for work, business, medical and personal reasons. Local residents have urged the authority to step up the Ebola virus checkups in order to prevent any outbreak. l

Human chain to save Sonahat port in Kurigram n Our correspondent, Kurigram

Protesters form a human chain yesterday to save the Sonahat Bridge, which is the only connection with the land port in the district, in front of the Kurigram Press Club DHAKA TRIBUNE

UP member beaten to death n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

A UP member of Idelpur Union Parishad was beaten to death yesterday at Chak Bhagbanpur village under Sadullapur area of Gaibandha district.

The deceased is Yusuf Mandal, 50, the son of Makbul Mandal of the village and the prime accused of the Rana Mollah murder case.

Locals said Yusuf and his people had allegedly killed Rana Mollah, 27, a year

ago because of an enmity.

The murder case was filed accusing 31 people and police arrested Yusuf immediately after the filing of the case.

Yusuf, who was freed on bail recently, had been making death threats against Rana’s family members, according to Rana's younger brother Mithu.

Mithu said: “Yusuf came to our house around 9pm on Friday and asked us to withdraw the case. At one stage of

the argument, locals gathered in front our house and started beating him.”

“On being informed, police rushed in at 10pm but they failed to rescue him from the angry mob. Later, RAB members came and rescued a critically injured Yusuf around 12 midnight.”

Sadullapur police station Officer-inCharge Zia Latiful Islam said: “Yusuf was admitted to Gaibandha Sadar Hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment at 2am.” l

The local people of Kurigram yesterday formed a human chain urging the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to save Sonahat Bridge and the road connecting the Sonahat land port with the highway.

General people and the students from the district gathered in front of the press club in Kurigram around 12pm yesterday.

The meeting was followed by a rally which circled the major roads in the district.

The speakers at the meeting demanded that the authority take immediate measures to save Sonahat land port and its connecting bridge from the heavy current created by the onrush of water coming down from the upstream. l

Unidentified miscreants hacked a local robber gang leader to death yesterday in Machkhola area under Sadar upazila.

The deceased, Abu Daud, was the chief of Daud Bahini and the son of Solaiman Gazi of the area.

Satkhira Sadar police station Officer-inCharge Golam Rahman said: “Some unidentified miscreants cornered Daud while he

was headed to a local fish firm where he used to sleep at night, and hacked him up.”

“Later, locals rescued him and admitted him to Satkhira Sadar Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries around 12:30am.”

The official said: “Some 12 cases, including murder, robbery and extortion had been filed against the deceased with the police station.”

A case will be lodged in this connection soon, OC added. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Career

7

Sunday, August 24, 2014

The piece that doesn't fit n Career Desk

but it also shows that you are ready to break the norms to establish what you think is right. This is necessary for being a trendsetter and innovator.

Stories about successful people, particularly rags to riches stories, have always been touted to us whilst growing up; successful people in these stories always have a set of particular characteristics – they are persistent, innovative, resilient, and passionate. However, in the real world, the qualities of success cannot be put into such a neat little box.

Bangladesh is obsessed with business schools; so much so that BBA is almost synonymous to an undergraduate degree in common parlance. In business school we learn about all the qual-

Hyperactive

Being discontent with lethargy means that your mind is constantly thinking of something and never at rest. It is a proof of an active mind that is much needed for entrepreneurs to be able to come up with quick solutions.

Rude

You might come off as impassive or even rude to many for not participating in social pleasantries, but nobody understands that it is because you find these unnecessary and sluggish and that you would rather stay away and be forced to participate in false social norms. These are not signs of being unsocial; rather, it means you have no time to waste being a part of the facade the rest of us work all our lives to keep up.

Some people have too big and active a mind and imagination to work under someone else ities of successful entrepreneurs and we learn why one needs to be passionate and so forth to become a successful entrepreneur. All of it sounds true and logical; yes, most entrepreneurs do share a few certain qualities. But can entrepreneurship really be taught?

If it was so, then all entrepreneurs would use the same proven track record for success.

The truth is there is no fixed formula for becoming a successful entrepreneur. Each entrepreneur has their unique way of seeing a situation. Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art, but somewhere in between; entrepreneurs are like agents who are constantly inventing and reinventing ways of solving the many problems

A word or two on insurance n Career Desk

Actuary – a person who calculates risks for insurance companies Assessor – a person who calculates the BIZ value of something Claim – an applicaVOCAB tion for payment under an insurance policy; to make a claim Comprehensive – (of an insurance policy) all-inclusive; providing complete protection Consequential loss – a loss that happens as a consequence of or as a result of another Cover – the protection given by an insurance policy 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 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 Policyholder – the person to whom an insurance policy is issued Premium – a payment, usually monthly, yearly etc, for an insurance policy Product liability – liability or responsibility of a firm for damage caused by one of its products 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

”

‘If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.’

Dhirubhai Ambani

Un-hire-able

Some people have too big and active a mind and imagination to work under someone. They want to carve out their own niche, walk their own path and let others follow. These are the ones who realise their entrepreneurial talent after losing a job or five. If you have a similar history, maybe you should not lose hope just yet.

BIGSTOCK

faced by people, while turning a profit in the process.

Nothing about entrepreneurship can be taken for granted or expected.

Nobody can predict the future or insure against the risks you will be facing so

it is on you alone to save yourself and survive. That’s why being an entrepreneur is not easy as most entrepreneurs will tell you; and the fact that so few among business school graduates actually go on to become entrepreneurs is

the most telling evidence.

Since entrepreneurship involves doing things unconventionally, thinking out of the proverbial box, the following is a list of “weird” traits that are common among entrepreneurs. Which of

these supposed “weaknesses” can you call your biggest strengths?

Tempestuous

Having a tendency to disobey rules set by others portrays you as rebellious

Obsessive

Once you start on something it is impossible to let it go unfinished. This characteristic is the single most distinguishable trait of an entrepreneur; it shows undying commitment towards work which is needed for success. This is driven from extreme passion for what you do to the point that it becomes an obsession. l

Are you procrastinating? n Ahsan Sajid

Simply defined, procrastination is putting off to-do things that one should be focusing on right now, usually in favour of doing something that is more enjoyable or comfortable but not as important. Procrastination occurs when there is a significant gap between when one intends to do a task, and when one actually does it.

If you have found yourself procrastinating, you’re not alone. Everyone procrastinates to some degree. However, some fall prey to a cycle of procrastination so unceasingly that it disrupts their life and career and gets in the

way of them fulfilling their potential.

If you are honest with yourself, you should already know if you’re procrastinating or not. To be sure, check the following list of common procrastination habits and ask yourself if you are guilty of it. n Are you filling out your entire day with easy, low-priority tasks from your list of things to do? n Do you have to read an email several times before starting work so you can figure out what to do with them? n Do you feel the need to get some fresh air, stretch your legs and get a cup of coffee a minute after you sit down with a high priority task? n Are you intentionally avoiding looking at your

to-do list even though you know you’ve left something important undone? n Are you getting sucked into unimportant conversations in real life, or online, or saying yes to unimportant tasks to fill your time instead of attending to the important ones already on your list? n Are you simply waiting for the “mood” to strike?

Putting off an unimportant task isn’t procrastination; it’s prioritisation. If you have a genuinely good reason to put something off, you are probably not procrastinating. However, if you are simply making an excuse, and you should know if you are, you are procrastinating and the more you do it, the more exponentially your to-do list is going to grow! l

BIGSTOCK

Getting back to the daily grind n Ahsan Sajid People deal with getting back to work after a break differently. While some are refreshed, energised and proactive, looking forward to tackling a rewarding week back, many suffer from the post-vacation blues where our body is at work but our mind is stuck in a tropical island paradise.

BIGSTOCK

Snack towards a high octane workday n Ahsan Sajid Our eating habits at work can dictate how we feel throughout the day. Certain foods may be making you more fatigued, slowing down your efficiency past midday and thus adversely affecting your output.

Foods can provide two types of energy. Those with a high glycemic index are often higher in sugar and carbohydrates, flooding the body with insulin causing a brief boost of energy, followed by drowsiness and hunger. Proteins, fats and fibre rich foods which have a low glycemic index release sugar at a slower rate and provide longer periods of sustained energy.

The following is a list of five high energy snacks which are easy to eat at work and will leave you feeling attentive and wound up.

Almonds

Almonds are packed full of healthy fats, fibre and protein. They not only deliver a host of nutrients but provide you with energy and keep your appetite sated until your next meal. However, while snacking on almonds, it pays to

remember that a little goes a long way with these calorie dense nuts.

Yogurt

Yogurt gives you a big energy boost while the protein in it keeps you feeling full for longer. These days there are a number of local and affordable single-serve yogurts available in a variety of flavours which are easy to store and eat at work. They can be a real treat for the post-lunch hunger pang.

Bananas and apples

Loaded with vitamin C, antioxidants and fibre, fruits are great if you need a small energy burst in between tasks, and bananas and apples are the easiest to carry to and eat at work.

Coconut water

This tropical fruit is low in calories, naturally fat free, contains more potassium than four bananas, packed full of electrolytes and super hydrating.

There’s no dearth of coconuts in Dhaka and a single glass of coconut water can instantly pick you up.

Popcorn

With popcorn you get a lot of volume and fibre which makes you feel full for longer. You can find them in low fat and single-serve packs which are low in calories and will take you at most three minutes to make, if your workplace has a microwave. The drawback with this snack is you may have to share it with colleagues. l

If you are depressed and feeling nostalgic about the amazing vacation you just had, start planning your next one; even if it’s half a year away, it’ll give you something to look forward to

The following are a few suggestions that may help you ease back into work without succumbing to the depression stage.

Plan

Coming back to work after being out of touch for a prolonged period does not make for a smooth transition. To avoid this unpleasant suddenness, a day or two before your return, call a few colleagues and catch up on what everybody has been up to, if there is any news from work etc.

Keep it casual but make sure to get updates regarding all the projects that have been on hold during your absence. Start getting on top of your inbox the night before unless you want to spend the first day back just replying to emails.

Meet a colleague

There is always one person at work you are closer to than the rest; meet this person for a breakfast date before your first day back. The purpose is the same as the previous suggestion, to get updates on what has been going on and also to get in the proper mindset for work.

Tidy up

Tidying up is a great first exercise to practice after getting back. It is a way to start with something small that will gradually get you in an active mindset, make sure you find anything that may have been left for you at your desk, and also remind you of projects you’ve been working on.

Most importantly however, it will reaffirm the importance of being present both in body and mind and the fact that vacation time is over.

Take it easy

Don’t take on too much work on your first day back. Screen unimportant calls. Schedule meetings that are not time-sensitive further down the week.

Spend the first day back catching up properly and making sure you are well-versed in everything that has happened in your absence.

Plan future vacations

Perhaps the most important point to take to heart: plan your next vacation.

If you are depressed and feeling nostalgic about the amazing vacation you just had, start planning your next one; even if it’s half a year away, it’ll give you something to look forward to, because at the end of the break the most devastating feeling is having little to look forward to.

It doesn’t have to be a major vacation; it can be a weekend away or just a daylong outing with friends. Having something fun and exciting coming up is one of the most effective ways to get out of the post vacation blues. l

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

NEWS BITES

Ukraine’s Poroshenko sees removal of Russian ‘mercenaries’ as key to peace

World

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Egypt calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire n Agencies

n Reuters, Kiev

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday, after talks with Germany’s Angela Merkel, that he was ready to work with Europe to bring peace in his country but he said Ukraine would never sacrifice territory or give up its independence.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Merkel, he said peace could come quickly to his country once armed separatist fighters and “foreign mercenaries” - meaning from Russia - were removed.

“The Ukrainian side and our European partners will do everything possible to bring about peace - but not at the price of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the independence of Ukraine,” he said. l

Ann Summers says sorry over Isis underwear

n AFP, London

Adult retailer Ann Summers apologised Saturday after launching a range of lingerie named Isis – but said it did not support jihadists in Iraq and Syria and had no plans to withdraw the line.

Ann Summers’ Isis range includes lacy black and white bras, thongs and suspenders and is for sale online and in its shops, which number over 100 across Britain.

The retailer – which also stocks sex toys, bondage gear and fancy dress – named the range after the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility.

But it shares its name with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the jihadist group now known as the Islamic State (IS).

A spokeswoman for Ann Summers said that names for its ranges are chosen months before their launch. l

Migrant boat carrying 250 capsizes off Libya

n AP, Tripoli A boat carrying over 250 migrants capsized off the Libyan coast near the capital Tripoli, a coast guard official said Saturday.

Abdel-Latif Mohammed said that 16 people had been rescued since the coast guard was alerted to the incident late Friday. The body of an 18-monthold child was pulled from the water as rescue operations continued off the shores of al-Qarbouli, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.

The coast guard has not yet confirmed the number of deaths, but estimated the sinking boat carried at least 250 people, he added.

The migrants, mostly African nationals, were heading to Europe on a perilous journey that kills scores of people every year.

Libya has grown increasingly lawless since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, making it a migration hub for sub-Saharan Africans.l

Palestinian boys look on from behind a stage where a giant poster showing a Hamas military wing fighter is displayed during a demonstration in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, photo taken on August 17 AFP

WHO warns of ‘shadow zones’ and unreported Ebola cases n Reuters, Geneva/Monrovia Families hiding infected loved ones and the existence of “shadow zones” where medics cannot go mean the West AfricanEbola epidemic is even bigger than thought, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Some 1,427 people have died among 2,615 known cases of the deadly virus in West Africa since the outbreak was first identified in March, according to new figures released by the WHO on Friday.

However the UN agency, which has faced criticism that it moved too slowly to contain the outbreak, said that many cases had probably gone unreported.

Independent experts raised similar concerns a month ago that the contagion could be worse than reported because some residents of affected areas are chasing away health workers and shunning treatment.

Despite initial assertions by regional health officials that the virus had been contained in its early stages, Ebola case numbers and deaths have ballooned in recent months as the outbreak has spread from its initial epicentre in Guinea.

“We think six to nine months is a reasonable estimate,” Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Security, said during a visit to Liberia, speaking of the time the agency now believes will be required to halt the epidemic.

An Ebola outbreak will be declared

All Russian aid vehicles ‘leave’ Ukraine n Agencies A Russian aid convoy, which has escalated further tensions between the West and Russia, has returned from rebel-held eastern Ukraine to Russian territory, observers of OSCE, the Vienna-based rights and security organisation, have said.

A storm of anger was expressed by Western capitals after the convoy entered Ukraine on Friday without the permission of the Ukraine government in a move Kiev called «invasion.”

The development comes as German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Kiev to push for a ceasefire between pro-Russia fighters and Ukraine.

The return of the convoy “is complete,” the acting head of the OSCE mission observing the Russian border crossing close to Donetsk, Paul Picard, told AFP news agency.

“We have counted 220 vehicles returning today” plus the seven support vehicles that returned on Friday, said Picard.

The OSCE said that only 227 vehicles had crossed the border, while Russian authorities had previously said the convoy consisted of around 280 lorries.

Ukrainian spokesman Andriy Lysenko confirmed departure of 184 vehicles earlier in the day.

“According to our information as of 1pm (10:00GMT), the departure from the territory of Ukraine by 184 Russian vehicles has been confirmed,” he told

Reuters news agency.

Kiev had expressed repeated fears that Russia may be using the vehicles to smuggle in weapons to pro-Kremlin rebels, a charge denied by Russia.

Merkel and Obama’s warning US President Barack Obama and Merkel had warned following a telephone call on Saturday that the Russian decision to send in the convoy marked a “dangerous escalation” of the four months of conflict in Ukraine.

Russia says the convoy that entered Ukraine on Friday is for humanitarian purposes, but Ukraine, the US and other Western powers say the Russians failed to abide by conditions set

by Ukraine and the International Red Cross (IRC).

Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN ambassador, said that Moscow “waited long enough and it was time to move.”

However, Valentyn Nalivaychenko, Ukraine’s state security chief, said: “We consider this a direct invasion by Russia of Ukraine.”

Merkel will hold talks with President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday, three days ahead of the first meeting in months between Poroshenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Minsk alongside top EU officials.

Merkel recently said that the main goal of her planned trip to Ukraine was to help secure a ceasefire, reiterating that there could be no military solution to the crisis. l

over in a country if two incubation periods, or 42 days in total, have passed without any confirmed case, a WHO spokesperson said.

Invisible caseload

Under-reporting of cases is a problem especially in Liberia and Sierra Leone, currently the two countries hardest hit.

The WHO said it is now working with Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to produce «more realistic estimates.”

Nigeria, the fourth country affected, confirmed two new cases on Friday, bringing the total number of recorded cases there to 14. The country’s health minister said both patients caught the disease from people who were primary contacts of the Liberian man who first brought it to the economic capital Lagos.

The stigma surrounding Ebola poses a serious obstacle to efforts to contain the virus, which causes regular outbreaks in the forests of Central Africa but is striking for the first time in the continent›s western nations and their heavily populated capitals.

“As Ebola has no cure, some believe infected loved ones will be more comfortable dying at home,” the WHO said in a statement detailing why the outbreak had been underestimated.

“Others deny that a patient has Ebola and believe that care in an isolation ward - viewed as an incubator of the

disease - will lead to infection and certain death.”

Corpses are often buried without official notification. And there are “shadow zones,” rural areas where there are rumours of cases and deaths that cannot be investigated because of community resistance or lack of staff and transport.

In other cases health centres are being suddenly overwhelmed with patients, suggesting there is an invisible caseload of patients not on the radar of official surveillance systems.

Flights blocked

On Friday, the WHO said it had drawn up a draft strategy plan to combat the disease in West Africa, and details would be released early next week.

David Nabarro, Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Ebola, who was travelling with the WHO’s Fukuda in Liberia, said the strategy would involve ramping up the number of health workers fighting the disease.

“It means more doctors, Liberian doctors, more nurses, Liberian nurses, and more equipment,” he said.

“But it also means, of course, more international staff.”

The affected West African countries were already struggling with few doctors and fragile healthcare systems before the Ebola outbreak. And health workers have been among the hardest hit by the disease. l

Egypt has called on Israel and the Palestinians to accept an indefinite ceasefire and resume indirect talks in Cairo to end the Gaza crisis, Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry on Saturday called for “concerned parties to accept a ceasefire of unlimited duration and to resume indirect negotiations in Cairo.”

Earlier, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had met his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, to discuss the conflict that has killed more than 2,000 people.

A previous round of truce talks collapsed on Tuesday, shattering nine days of calm, as the deadly six-week conflict between Israel and Hamas resumed.

Since then, 84 Palestinians and one Israeli have died as a result of the violence.

“As soon as a ceasefire goes into effect, the two sides can sit down and discuss their demands,” Abbas said, adding that the Palestinian delegation would include Hamas as in past rounds.

Abbas’s meeting with Sisi came after he held two rounds of talks in Qatar on Thursday and Friday with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, whose movement is the de facto ruler of Gaza.

Intensified raids Israel said it had carried out 35 air

strikes over the Gaza Strip on Saturday and that around 30 rockets and mortar rounds hit Israel, with another three intercepted.

Witnesses and Palestinian officials said two mosques were destroyed in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza, while a third, in the Shati refugee camp, which had already been damaged, was bombed again.

The deadliest air strike levelled a home in Al-Zawayda in central Gaza, killing a couple, their sons aged three and four, and a 45-year-old aunt, medics said.

Neighbours said the family house had been bombed earlier in the conflict and that the family had returned to camp out in the ruins, when it was hit overnight by an F16.

The intensified air strikes came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed harsh retribution for the killing of a four-year-old boy at his home in kibbutz Nahal Oz on Friday.

Israel said an armed group fired the deadly mortar round from next to a school in the Zeitun neighbourhood of Gaza City, which it called a “shelter maintained by Hamas authority,” correcting an earlier statement in which it had stated it was an UN-operated facility.

At least 480 Palestinian children and one Israeli child have been killed, since the conflict began, UNICEF said. l

National Guard starts to pull out of embattled Missouri town n Reuters, Ferguson National Guard troops began leaving Ferguson, Missouri, on Friday in a sign authorities are increasingly confident they have quelled the worst of the violence that erupted after a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager.

Two straight nights of relative calm have created a sense of guarded optimism among some residents and officials that protests over the weekend will be more peaceful and largely devoid of the looting and violent clashes that drew national attention to the St. Louis suburb over the past two weeks.

Police made only isolated arrests Wednesday and Thursday nights. But some cautioned the calm may not hold: Weekend nights can often be more combustible, since more people tend to be on the streets, and funeral services are planned on Monday for 18-year-old Michael Brown.

“Monday night will be a critical night,” said Bishop Edwin Bass, president of the St. Louis church Urban Initiatives of the Church of God In Christ.

“The funeral could have a big impact on the mood of the community.”

The White House said it was encouraged by the situation over the past few days, and that President Barack Obama

is monitoring and getting regular briefings.

A local grand jury, made up of three blacks and nine whites, met this week to begin hearing evidence in the case, a process St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said could last into mid-October. Nine votes are needed for an indictment.

In addition to local activists and clergy, a contingent of US civil rights workers and community activists from Georgia, Florida, Detroit and elsewhere have set up shop in Ferguson and say they plan to remain in town for an extended period.

The patchwork of groups, including the Dream Defenders and the National Lawyers Guild, are holding training and strategy sessions for local young people and others who want to continue to peacefully protest Brown’s death. They are instructing teams of “legal observers” on how to document complaints of police harassment and abuse.

A flier one group has been handing out states, “Today It’s Ferguson, Tomorrow It’s You,” and it pictures white police officers with dogs facing off against black youth with hands raised in the air.

The Dream Defenders, a civil rights group, is calling for a national walkout of college students on Monday. l

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

A tank drives on the course of the Tank Biathlon world championship in Alabino outside Moscow August 16. The tank competition, where teams compete in tests of driving and shooting, for the first time brought together crews from 12 countries: Angola, Armenia, Belarus, Venezuela, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Kuwait, Mongolia, Russia and Serbia, local media reported REUTERS

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

US hostage rescuers dropped from night sky, Syria activist says n Reuters, Beirut/Washington It was just after midnight on July 4 when at least two dozen US Delta Force commandos arrived on heavily armed Black Hawk helicopters in Akrishi, a small town near the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa on the bank of the Euphrates River.

Before they landed to search for American hostages including journalist James Foley, they destroyed a crucial target: anti-aircraft weapons at a jihadist base about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of the city, a stronghold of Islamic State militants seeking to build a monolithic Islamic state.

The above account and other details of the raid have emerged from witnesses who spoke with a member of a Syrian opposition activist group, who identified himself as Abu Ibrahim al Raqaoui. Raqaoui told the information to Reuters in an interview via Skype from inside Syria.

His group also posted witness accounts of the raid on Facebook soon after it took place. The posts, which were viewed by Reuters, have since been taken down.

“The raid happened just after midnight,” Raqaoui said. “The helicopters first started destroying anti-aircraft weapons.” Reuters could not verify the account.

The White House publicized details of the raid on Wednesday, a day after Islamic State jihadists posted a video showing Foley being beheaded. The White Housesaid the commandos failed to find Foley or other hostages and that it was prompted to make the announcement after several US news organizations learned of the operation.

The US military incursion into the heart of Islamic State territory, made on US Independence Day, ended in disappointment when the soldiers found no prisoners.

‘Burned the camp’

After landing, the commandos blocked the main road to Raqqa and moved toward a makeshift jail believed to hold Foley and other hostages, Raqaoui said. Discovering Foley wasn’t there, they attacked the base, which the militants had named “Bin Laden,” after the former al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin

Laden, Raqaoui said. They lit it on fire, he said.

“According to villagers, they burned the camp and killed all the ISIS fighters,” he said, using one of the acronyms that refer to the Islamic State.

US officials said “many” Islamic State fighters were killed and one American soldier was wounded when a helicopter came under fire. Raqaoui’s account puts the number of wounded US soldiers at two.

The mission was authorized by President Barack Obama and based on US intelligence, including information from hostages who have been released, the administration said. US officials would not confirm that it was on July 4.

It was first direct ground engagement between the United States and Islamic State militants, and the first known US ground operation in Syria since the start of its civil war in 2011.

The raid’s failure to bring hostages home underscores the limits of US intelligence about Syria’s chaotic conflict.

“We believed we had a good case for where they might be,” said one US official who declined to be identified. l

IS demanded Dr Aafia’s release in ransom n Agencies Militants belonging to the Islamic State had reportedly demanded the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and others extradited to the United States in exchange for American photojournalist James Foley and other Western hostages, said a report published on The Independent.

An e-mail was sent to the family of Mr Foley in which the Al Qaeda splinter group had claimed that they had offered “prisoner exchanges to free the Muslims currently in your detention” which included Dr Aafia.

Dr Aafia, a Pakistani neuroscientist, was sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 by a US federal court for trying to kill US agents and military officers.

The e-mail said that despite offering prisoner exchanges to free those who were detained in the US, the government “proved very quickly that this is not what you are interested in.” The report quoted the GlobalPost as saying that Foley’s family had received their first message from his captors last year on November 26, asking for money after more than a year had elapsed without any contact.

“After the militants had proved to the Foleys and investigators that they were in fact holding Jim, they made their sole demand for a ransom of 100 million euros (about $132m) or the release of unspecified prisoners held by the United States,” the GlobalPost said. l

n Agencies

Children paddle, as they use discarded styrofoam as makeshift boats, to collect floating plastic recyclables on the Manila Bay to sell to junk shops for 10 pesos (2 cents) per kilogram, in Navotas City, north of Manila August 22 REUTERS

Rescuers have been searching desperately for survivors in Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture where a landslide killed at least 42 people.

At least 43 others are missing, officials told the Kyodo news agency.

Police quoted by the agency say that more people could be unaccounted for, buried by mudslides and not yet reported as missing.

About 3,000 rescue personnel have been trying to remove mud and debris hampering the search.

Torrential rains have led to the evacuation of up to 100,000 people.

Experts say the chances of survival for people trapped without food or water in such a disaster decreases significantly after the first 72 hours, which passed early on Saturday.

On Friday afternoon all searches in the area were called off when the shape of nearby hillsides appeared to change, raising fears that more landslips could be on the way.

“Operations in (two districts) were halted as hills there were becoming misshapen,” a Hiroshima police spokesman is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

The landslides happened after the equivalent of a month’s rain fell in the 24 hours up to Wednesday morning, Japan’s weather agency said.

Dozens of homes in a residential area close to a mountain on the outskirts of Hiroshima were buried.

Among those killed was one 53-year old rescue worker who died when a second landslide struck after he had already pulled several people to safety.

Reports said he was killed while holding a toddler he was trying to rescue. l

Yemen government offers to resign to end Houthi protests n Reuters, Sanaa Yemen’s government offered on Saturday to resign within a month and to review an unpopular decision to cut fuel subsidies in an attempt to end protests by the Shi’ite Houthi movement, a government source told Reuters.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis massed in the capital Sanaa on Friday in a protest called by the Houthis to demand the government’s resignation and a reversal of the subsidy cuts.

[ID:nL5N0QS3V5] The rally came at the end of a week of demonstrations that have piled pressure on President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has struggled to keep order in the US-allied country which borders major oil exporter Saudi Arabia.

The source, who is from Yemen’s presidential committee, said officials had handed to the Houthis a draft proposal that includes an offer to form a new government within a month and to set up an economic committee to review the fuel subsidy issue.

“This proposal will take effect in exchange for the Houthis removing their camps from Sanaa, they can either respond or leave the capital if negotia-

tions fail,” said the source.

There was no immediate response to the offer from the Houthis, who have been fighting for years for more power for their Zaydi Shi’ite Muslim sect in north Yemen.

Analysts say they have capitalised on public anger over the subsidy cuts to bring supporters out on the streets to push to join a new government as the majority Sunni country moves towards a federal system that devolves more power to regions.

On Friday, the movement set up tents near the interior, telecommunications and electricity ministries in a side street that leads to Sanaa’s airport, saying they would stay until their demands were met.

Yemenis are unhappy about the government’s decision in late July to cut energy subsidies to ease the burden on its budget deficit, a move which led to a rise in fuel prices.

The government spent about $3bn on subsidies last year, nearly a third of state revenues.

A previous attempt by the government to cut subsidies in 2005 led to unrest that left about 20 people dead and more than 200 wounded. The reform was cancelled. l

Lunch in Raiwind: ‘Zardari fully supports PM Nawaz’

MONSOON BLISS

Japan landslide: Rescuers race to find survivors n BBC

9

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday said that any solution to the ongoing political deadlock should be within the limits of the constitution.

The political leaders met for lunch at the premier’s Raiwind residence as Zardari reached Lahore from Karachi. The two discussed the ongoing political stalemate induced by the protests led by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in the federal capital over a sumptuous lunch that included Zardari’s favourite vegetarian dishes as well as the traditional biryani and qorma.

In a press conference of PML-N representatives held after the meeting of the political leaders, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the prime minister and Zardari are in agreement that any step taken should be within the limits of the constitution.

“Zardari has fully supported PM Nawaz... for the supremacy of the con-

stitution and democracy,” he said.

He said that the two discussed Pakistan’s overall economic direction which has been stalled due to the ongoing protests and maintained that they need to resume. “Pakistan is experiencing financial losses because of this deadlock…the cancellation of trips by heads of state, postponement of the IMF review as well as the delay in finalising details for the Dasu project is happening due to this,” he said.

“This is why our party has shown flexibility,” Dar said. “All parties except PTI have agreed that they will hold the Constitution supreme,” he said Dar also said that Nawaz has thanked Zardari for his support and added that representative from different parties are welcome to discuss the matter with PTI but that any solution should be within constitutional limits. “There is no compromise on extra legal steps.”

When asked what the PPP leader had to say about Imran Khan’s demand that the premier resign, Dar responded by saying: “Zardari sb is clear on this –

Massacre derails talks on new Iraq government

NEWS BITES

Thousands gather in Nepal for human flag record

n Agencies

Sunni politicians in Iraq have suspended talks to form a new government, in protest of a mass killing inside a mosque in the northeastern province of Diyala.

In a statement on Saturday, Salim al-Jabouri, speaker of the Iraqi parliament, denounced as “terrorists” the Shia armed group suspected of killing at least 73 people inside a Sunni mosque .

“There are those who want to thwart the political process,” Jabouri, the country’s leading Sunni politician, said. “They are targeting the Iraqi society and its social structures.”

Jabouri and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak are demanding that outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the main Shia parliamentary bloc hand over the perpetrators within 48 hours and compensate the families of victims, the AP news agency reported.

Iraq’s newly appointed prime minister, moderate Shia Haider al-Abadi has also condemned the attack.

“I strongly condemn the killing of civilians and worshippers in Diyala province and I call on the citizens to reject these attempts by the enemies of Iraq to exploit the incident in order to stir up strife between the sons of the same homeland,” he said.

The attack on the Musab bin Omair Mosque in the village of Imam Wais in Diyala province began with a suicide bombing near its entrance during Friday prayers, followed by a raid by gunmen who stormed the building, opening fire on worshippers, security officials said.

Footage of the attack posted later on YouTube appeared to show the dead strewn across the mosque floor, including the body of at least one child.

Renewed sectarian strife

there is no question of the prime minister’s resignation.”

At the press conference, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Zardari had pledged at the meeting that his party will not support any extra-constitutional measures to resolve the crisis.

Elaborating on the former PPP chairman’s engagements on the matter, Asif said after the meeting, Zardari had gone to Mansoora to meet with the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) leadership after which the PPP leader will meet with some Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) leaders.

Railways Minister Saad Rafique said today’s meeting was testament to the fact that both PML-N and PPP were committed to strengthening democracy.

Rafique said the present attack is not on the government but on the Constitution and the Parliament.

“We value the fact that Asif Zardari came over to discuss the matter ... sense has prevailed...Imran Khan should learn from the political sagacity here,” he said. l

n AP, Katmandu

Tens of thousands of people holding colored boards gathered in Nepal’s capital on Saturday in an attempt to break the record for the largest human national flag.

The crowd comprised mostly students, but other participants included doctors, government workers, politicians and business executives — all of whom stood for hours in an open area in the heart of Katmandu.

One of the event’s organizers, Ashish Chaulagai, said more than 38,000 people were estimated to have formed Nepal’s flag, shaped as two red triangles with a blue border. Nepal is the only country whose flag is not quadrilateral. The last record was set in Pakistan. l

Maharashtra: Ink thrown on minister, one arrested

n Agencies A picture shows an aerial view near Arbil in northern Iraq on August 21 Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from the Kurdish capital of Erbil, said there were worries that the latest attack could spark wider sectarian violence and further delay the formation of a new government, as the country fights the threat of the Islamic State group, which is trying to establish a new state in Iraq and Syria.

“Everyone has been terrified that this could be the incident that could spark another civil war,” our correspondent said. “What we have seen in the past here is that Shia militias and Sunni fighters come in where there is a

security vacuum, and that is certainly what we are seeing in Iraq.”

As of Saturday afternoon, political leaders continued a meeting held in an attempt to avert more division.

According to local sources, the attack could have been in retaliation for a roadside bomb attack at a recruitment event organised by the same armed group.

Attacks on mosques have in the past unleashed a deadly series of revenge killings and counter attacks in Iraq, where violence has returned to the levels of 2006-2007, the peak of a sectarian strife.

AFP

In July, Shia armed groups executed 15 Sunni Muslims and then hung them from electricity poles in a public square in Baquba, police said.

Diyala police officials told the Reuters news agency they had provided Shia militias with names for hit lists so that suspected members of the Islamic State group could be tracked and executed.

Iraqi security forces killed more than 255 Sunni prisoners in July in apparent retaliation for killings of Shias by the Islamic State group, according to Human Rights Watch . l

The incident occurred when the senior Congress leader was about to sit in his car in Rajapur village after attending a function in Ahmednagar assembly constituency, he said.

An activist ran towards him and threw ink on Thorat’s clothes.

The attacker - identified as Bhausaheb Hasse - was immediately caught by police as he attempted to escape.

Thorat’s supporters ransacked a nearby Shiv Sena office and blocked roads to protest against the incident, an official said.

The revenue minister has appealed to his supporters to maintain calm. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Sunday, August 24, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Make insurance compulsory for launches

I

t is long overdue for the law to make it mandatory for launch owners to take out insurance policies covering passengers.

Past proposals for compulsory insurance on launches, similar to that required for air, rail and road journeys have been sidelined for many years.

With dozens of capsizes taking place annually, and at least 4,500 people killed in launch accidents over the past four decades, the government needs to take concerted action to improve passenger safety.

One concerning aspect of the lack of compulsory passenger insurance is that capsized vessels themselves are sometimes insured, often at the insistence of banks giving loans to buy boats, but passengers are not covered.

A similar picture exists in relation to payments by the River Welfare Fund formed by the Shipping Department. Monies from this fund are primarily used to compensate owners for lost vessels while the amounts it pays to compensate victims are nominal.

It should be straightforward to turn this picture around, by making it compulsory for launch operators to hold insurance policies for their passengers. Authorities would then simply need to demand evidence of a mandatory insurance policy whenever an owner asks for a launch fitness certificate.

At a stroke this would increase total funds available to compensate victims. More importantly, insurers would naturally be incentivised to ensure vessels are adequately maintained and operated and to pressure authorities to enforce higher standards.

Compulsory passenger insurance would protect the public by forcing all launch operators to improve safety standards.

Compulsory passenger insurance would protect the public by incentivising safety improvements

Expedite flood relief operations

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rowing numbers of people are being affected by floods as heavy rainfall causes river levels to rise.

Districts in the north of the country such as Gaibandha and Kurigram have seen tens of thousands marooned and numerous schools and offices closed as river levels in the Brahmaputra and Teesta have breached safety limits.

Kurigram has suffered over 100 chars and 10,000 hectares of cropland being inundated after flood water washed away key embankments.

Flooding damage is not just restricted to northern areas. At least 50,000 people in Bhola have been marooned in the last month, after a Water Development Board embankment was destroyed. Repeated flash floods have also seen large areas of Khagrachhari isolated after the Dhaka-Feni Highway was disconnected for over 5 days.

With more rain forecast and reports of over 180 people being killed across India and Nepal, the situation is likely to become more serious.

As more dams and embankments come under pressure, upstream nations are likely to release more gates on barrages causing even more water to flow downstream.

It is absolutely vital that the government speeds up nationwide flood relief operations. Key supplies of clean water, food and medicines are at risk in many flood-stricken districts.

Co-ordination must be improved to ensure priority is given to distributing relief as quickly and effectively as possible. Where practical, efforts should be made to repair or shore up flood embankments and to build up emergency supplies to help communities at risk of being cut off.

Warnings of more rain must be heeded so that every effort is made to help people affected.

Heed warnings of more floods. Improve co-ordination of flood relief operations

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

Bangladesh cricket needs creative ideas August 18

Farid Uddin Shahab This letter is in reference to the appointment of a specialist psychiatrist as a psychological skill development coach by BCB to muscle up the mental strengths of Bangladeshi cricket players. This step is very praiseworthy, but there is a lot more to be done in order to improve the team’s overall performance levels against top international sides.

Just like Australian cricket, Bangladesh cricket needs new creative ideas. In fact, the cricket board in Australia regularly organises exclusive creative thinking workshops to train its players how to generate untapped creative ideas that may help its

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 3 represents V so fill V every time the figure 3 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

cricket team win the cricket world cup, including the rest of the tournaments, one-days and test match series to be played with international teams.

Now with the help of a local think-tank called Go4Ideas.com, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has also started conducting exclusive workshops to enhance creative thinking skills among its cricket players. BCB needs to follow suit as these kinds of special workshops help in utilising creative thinking when it comes to winning. Our national cricketers may perform well if taught how to think creatively and may generate new creative ideas to win against any international side.

Doctor allegedly breaks newborn’s leg August 18

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.

Nabila Shams-Hassan If she is indeed guilty, then shame on this doctor for her dastardly deed!

Shahed Kazi Dishonest doctor. She admits to the accident but initially she said it was from infection. We cannot have such an irresponsible and dishonest doctor like her working on patients.

The man who took a bullet for Bangabandhu

Zabed Anwar Shahed Kazi: I agree. So sad!

August 15

Mustafizur Rahman Tansen “Jamil tried to reassure his wife and children: ‘Bangabandhu is in danger. How can I not go?’”

We mourn Jamil’s death, as well as that of Bangabandhu.

Talat Islam Jamil was a true soldier, not a coward or traitor.

Javed Arun Zaman I was ashamed of myself as a Bengali. So many of the stalwart Awami Leaguers changed their allegiance overnight. Traitors, betrayers, and greedy bastards! Colonel Jamil was the only man who had the guts and allegiance to the president to respond to his call for help to confront the assassins.

CROSSWORD Is Dhaka unlivable?

August 17

Mila Ramen Yes. A thousand times yes.

Jute minister: Khaleda responsible for the sorry state of jute industry August 16

ACROSS 1 Sacrificial table (5) 4 Brave man (4) 7 Clergyman (6) 8 Danger (5) 10 Hasty (4) 11 Notions (5) 12 Beast of burden (3) 14 Protuberance (4) 17 Body of water (4) 19 Briny (3) 20 Get up (5) 23 Sibilate (4) 25 Weary (5) 26 Staggered (6) 27 Part of a yacht (4) 28 Gourd (5)

DOWN 1 Call for aid (6) 2 Sour (4) 3 Govern (4) 4 Severe (5) 5 Greek letter (3) 6 Begin again (6) 9 Hazard (4) 13 Literary ridicule (6) 15 Consumer (4) 16 Forgive (6) 18 Blackboard support (5) 21 Article (4) 22 Flank (4) 24 Bishop’s territory (3)

Sajid Hasan Shuvo It reduced her votes in the 2009 election.

Century-old evidence law ‘favours’ rapists August 18

Ekram Kabir This should have been the lead story. Anyway, thanks for focusing on this. :)

Iranian the first woman to snare maths ‘Nobel’ August 16

Arch Bishop Is she going to be prosecuted for being out without hijab and for having married a Jew?

CALVIN AND HOBBES

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER Audrey Hepburn’s granddaughter poses for Harper’s Bazaar

August 16 Tanzia Islam She’s still not as elegant as her grandma. *sighs*

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

Political magic

August 20 Student of politics Bangladesh politics is indeed strange! It’s sum and substance seems to be that our expert politicians can rapidly produce viable and real “tax-free cash,” the return on investment made by their charismatic voices and deeds in the realm of the dotted lines, behind the scene. Though democratic in principle, they usually act otherwise!

That is the fundamental contradiction in our politics, where principles and practices are poles apart and the twain never seem to meet!

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Sunday, August 24, 2014

How to get better managers n Shahidur Rahman

I

Good results, bad practices

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Nothing wrong with leakage?

T

n Khawaza Main Uddin he education minister is trying to make sense of nonsense, and fool us once again. After the publishing of the results of the Higher Secondary Certificate examinations of 2014, Nurul Islam Nahid claimed that the reported leakage of question papers had no effect on the success rates.

How was he so sure of it?

He has, I guess, good reason to make such arguments. Firstly, he knows none of the beneficiaries of the leakage would come out and say: “Hey, I did it.” Secondly, what we don’t know is whether the minister had applied his power and authority to “customise” the results sheets.

He actually wants to justify the question paper leakage (which was confirmed even by his ministry’s probe body) by showing an El Dorado in the results. Please see one sample of the hidden truth – examinees under the Dhaka board scored 92.59% in English this year compared to last year’s 82.30%. And the minister still advised us to believe his words.

His comrades might say he has ensured equal opportunities for both – the culprits and the innocents who could now compete in the race for higher education. He is backed by the prime minister who criticised those questioning the results and the knowledge of our children.

Yes, it’s not a bad idea to appease the young generation by offering something very cheap, if you can for-

get the ultimate cost of overall decline in quality.

This political approach reminds us of the record of “mass success” in the Secondary School Certificate examinations in 1972, thanks to unfair means to the extent of open book examinations at many centres.

What a gift to the youngsters in a newly independent country. Many of them later lost their academic track during their college days or ended up beleaguered in their professional lives.

Karim, a teacher who migrated from Dhaka to rural areas in Tangail to establish schools and mentor helpless students.

He often gave “sermons” to youths: “Why do you think of adopting unfair means in examinations? You can’t copy or imitate in any real-life competition, be it creative work or sports.”

Regrettably, I found very few people who understood his words properly.

The malpractice in education has triggered corruption in different

It’s not a bad idea to appease the young generation by offering something very cheap. Forget the overall decline in quality

Why don’t we recall the so-called “Tofail BCS”? In 1973, candidates of civil service examinations were selected following recommendations from Tofail Ahmed.

As a result, many unqualified persons were presented with high positions in the public service, while some bright officers belonging to that batch had never been able to shed the stigma.

Need I repeat, a wrong horse of history can guide us nowhere but anarchy.

In our boyhood, we came in close touch with an enlightened Fazlul

sectors – leakage of safety net benefits, manipulation of tenders, violence and moneymaking in recruitment tests, pilferage of judicial documents, food adulteration, cheating with crests, and forgery with votes.

The education minister once said it was difficult to maintain secrecy of question papers in this age of information technology, when questions are stored in PCs. His statement prompts me to say that his government should have either stopped computerisation or cancelled the system of examinations for good. He finishes his duty by pro-

viding books to the students at the beginning of the year – a show which has nothing to do with quality of learning.

And why will the students read if there is no value in reading? So much is our complacency that we don’t need to compete at the international academic levels.

We don’t have the target of producing scientists, creative people, and writers who would be capable of winning the Nobel Prize. Thus, building human resources stands to be mere political rhetoric.

Here is some proof: Bangladesh ranks 25th in education, 23rd in information and communications technology, and 27th in invention and knowledge-based economy among 28 countries in South Asia and the Pacific as revealed in a study by the Asian Development Bank.

So, under this education regime, the question of quality is not an issue, and accordingly, question paper leakage is not any major crime.

The minister has just announced that the government would soon enact laws featuring imprisonment and fines for those spreading rumours to create confusion over question paper leaks.

This means the people, including media professionals, would be discouraged to speak out or lodge complaints about the process of question paper leakage. It’s a hurrah for the culprits who will easily save themselves from the formal legal process. l Khawaza Main Uddin is Executive Editor at ICE Business Times.

n 1980, Daewoo – one of the major exporters of garments in South Korea – signed a five-year collaboration agreement with Desh Company, the first garment company in Bangladesh. The agreement included collaborations in the areas of technical training, purchase of machinery and fabric, and plant set-up and marketing, in return for a specific marketing commission on all exports by Desh during the contract period. 130 Desh supervisors and managers went to Daewoo’s Pusan Plant in South Korea for six months of training in the export-oriented garment business.

The outcome of the collaboration was significant, as Desh’s export value reached more than $5m in 1986/87.

Later, many trainees left Desh Company at various times to set up their own competing garment firms. As a result, the training these employees received from Daewoo spread throughout the country and an uncharted territory in an impoverished country was explored.

After 33 years, a debate has been raised about whether mid-level managers should be sent abroad for training, or if we should set up a local training school governed by foreign experts. But this time, it is not about how to do the business, rather how to improve the skills of manager.

The lack of skilled managers is a key constraint to the growth of the Bangladesh garments industry as explored by the McKinsey report. In response to this deficiency, German development agency GIZ and Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI) set up a training school to produce skilled mid-level managers.

The Bangladesh Institute of Management (BIM), in collaboration with GIZ has launched a Diploma Course on “Productivity and Quality Management” which is designed to meet the technical needs of middle management working in this sector.

In spite of these efforts, I think there is another way to overcome this drawback. Every year, hundreds of students are graduating from public and private universities after completing Bachelor of Business Studies.

The majority of them are interested to work either in banks or in telecommunication. They first start their careers in these organisations by doing internships or part-time jobs in call centres while studying.

In order to attract this skilled workforce, companies also participate in job fairs. But my concern is: Why don’t students from business studies backgrounds not think of becoming employees in the garments sector by taking the responsibility of manager?

This is the sector that represents Bangladesh to the global world, an industry that has created a branding image of the country, but we have failed to utilise the skills of our graduates in this industry. From the students’ point of view, as I understand, one of the reasons is that the salary package is below their expectations.

The entrepreneurs, on the contrary, explain it in a different way – these students do not have the experience required for the garment industry. But

is it a strong reason?

Every job goes through a provisional period when newly appointed employees take training so that they understand what they are going to do. If there is space for them in the garments sector, business graduates can take that training. Although such training takes a short period, there is no way to deny the advantages.

The lack of skilled managers is a key constraint to the growth of our garments industry

As students, they take courses such as industrial law, human resource management, and other courses which are very relevant to factory management skills. The educated managers can easily guide the workers about labour laws and responsibility to the company. It is not only about sharing and using knowledge, but also developing a skill to do a job in an efficient way.

If they don’t have experience in garments factories, let’s offer internships to the business graduates. Besides the classroom environments, nowadays students strengthen their potential by participating in community work through student clubs at home and abroad.

Thinking of the real life challenges, the universities have created an environment for spontaneous participation of students in co-curricular activities, creating leaders for the future, and providing opportunities for community service activities. Not using these skills in the garments sector would cost a lot.

Ludovico Alcorta, a director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, and Christopher M Woodruff, an economics professor at University of Warwick said: “Bangladesh will not be able to raise its garment exports to $30 billion by 2015 and $50 billion by 2021 without improving workers’ productivity.”

One of the key factors to increase workers’ productivity is the management team you have accommodated in your factory. To achieve that, it is high time to change the perceptions of the garment owners about how to utilise the knowledge and skills of business graduates.

Instead of capitalising this resource, the owners of garments companies are more interested in short-term training of existing managers. This can be an immediate response, but it can’t be a permanent solution. Initiatives need to be taken on how to attract business graduates to work in this industry, and it should be done for the sake of sustaining the growth of the industry. l Shahidur Rahman is an Associate Professor of Sociology at BRAC University, and author of Broken Promises of Globalisation: The Case of the Bangladesh Garments Industry published by Lexington Books.

Where do you come from? n Garga Chatterjee

H

ow you came to be the way you are is one of your most important aspects. You may be a person, a culture, an institution or a company. Whether you like it or not, in the subcontinent, people are inquisitive about origins.

While this line of inquiry may appear “backward” to the modern-urban types, this is one of the more dependable ways in which humans have always tried to know what lies beneath public pretension. We must remember that the institutional father of the Indian Army is the British Indian Army.

Only then we can put into greater context what “our” men do in Kashmir. Anybody who has been tortured by the police in the Indian Union may do well to remember that its institutional father is the Imperial Police, a force designed to terrorise the population when they dissent and to protect legal and illegal rights of the powerful.

The joint father of the civil services of Bangladesh, Indian Union, and Pakistan was called the Imperial Civil Service. The post-Partition one in the Indian Union is now called Indian

Administrative Service or IAS. When a few thousand college graduates with top-ratings in the dowry bazaar “administer” a billion plus people, with most of their sons and daughters ending up in the Delhi-Mumbai-New York-London power circuit – spanning pimping, business, politics, arts, and ethnic marts, the “I” in the Imperial shows it to be alive and kicking in these “I = Indian” times.

No wonder, the IAS in these nominally post-imperial times represent one of the few ways by which a few of the riff-raff can aspire to be courtiers.

The rest of the seats belong to the anointed at birth, as it always has been. At one point of time, Bengalis dominated this Imperial service. The scions of that nomenklatura are still eating out the interest of that ill-begotten socio-economic capital.

There is an anger simmering in Hindi-land, in spite of the Hindi tweets and Hindi-language diplomacy after the Narendra Modi regime started.

Over the last few years, the proportion of candidates from a sub-continental language background who have successfully cracked the civil service examination has decreased drastically.

It is a matter of shame that one does not need to exhibit proficiency in any sub-continental language to join the elite cadre. Natives continue to remain natives. In some recent changes to the pattern of the preliminary examination, a component called the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) has drawn particular ire from those who give the examination in their mother-tongue.

Some questions of the CSAT are exclusively in English; Hindi translation is available for the rest. It is important to note that. It is important to note that for non-Hindi speakers, not a single question of the CSAT or common components of the preliminary/main examination are available in their mother-tongue.

The anti-English lobby seems to have won this round as some concessions have been granted in the form of non-counting of English marks. But this round of protest is just the expression of a certain politics – it goes well beyond a simple IAS affair.

It seems that Hindi-belt socialism without its erstwhile bite is back in a curious form. When one sees a united parade of Pappu, Akhilesh, Sharad, and other ideologically lapsed upper

and middle Gangetic children, grandchildren, and grand-dacoits remembering Lohia’s Hindi cause, one should be suspicious.

One mother language’s cries about discrimination are heard more clearly than others Hindi-wallahs who don’t raise any voice about Hindi-imposition and propagation in non-Hindi regions by Union government subsidy suddenly want to project all Desi mother-tongue wallahs as the wronged party in the CSAT controversy. Solidarity is not a one-way street and it can be restored only when all 22 languages of the eighth schedule of the constitution are treated equally in the Indian Union for all government purposes.

This includes holding all UPSC

examinations in all 22 languages at all stages. Hindi, as a purported victim of injustice and marginalisation, has to first acknowledge the more marginalised victims of the Indian Union’s policy of limiting official functions to Hindi and English.

There are predictable cries from elite quarters about the inherent inadequacy of subcontinental languages for certain functions. But then, they ask, how will the “parochial” Tamil or Maithili speaker conduct affairs in foreign service where English is the dominant language?

Those functions of the Union government, including external affairs that unquestionably need mastery in English, can have their own English-compulsory exam. Better still, people can be trained to learn the foreign language, vis-à-vis wine glass holding training.

But for all other administrative services, do we really need the IAS, given that the states have their own civil service cadres well versed in the state language(s). This matter goes beyond language. If Narendra Modi is half as serious about federalism as he states he is, the government should take this

opportunity to revisit the Union and concurrent lists with the objective of transferring items to the state list.

Administrators speaking Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Tamil, Kannada can manage their affairs in their respective regions as they have done for centuries before the Union was commissioned by the constituent assembly apparently for public service.

This diverse public needs public institutions and public servants who represent this diversity by being socio-culturally rooted in the regions they serve.

The Delhi-centric rootless class cannot have a self-serving veto, just because they descend on the city and entrench themselves in universities and coaching classes with the hopes of an IAS berth.

They wielded the veto successfully for the cow-belt matters.

In this union of ostensibly equal citizens, one mother language’s cries about discrimination are heard more clearly than others. The subcontinent has good examples of what can happen, what a marginalised linguistic nationality can do when they are pushed to the wall. l Garga Chatterjee is a freelance contributor.

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment I don’t want to marry a film star n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

A

What’s your role in “Warning?” Any exception this time?

This time around, I am playing the enraged victim whose parents were killed by a mafia leader. For genuine portrayal of the character, I have tried out several looks which are not that glamorous.

But I really hope the audience will appreciate my effort.

Which one of your films established you with a trademark role?

Honestly speaking, till date I have not had any chance to work in any film with such trademark role but I hope someday someone (director) will come to me with such a role that is especially designed for me only.

KHAN HASAN MUHAMMAD RAFI

Haider was a life changing experience

Are we going to see you in “Agnee 2?”

refin Shuvo, the diligent macho actor is going to be one of the busiest actors of Dhallywood.

With three films in pipeline “Kistimat,” “Chhaya Chhobi” and “Chhuye Dile Mon” the actor has already worked with many of Dhallywood’s dazzling divas including Purnima, Bidya Sinha Mim, Jaya Ahsan, Mahiya Mahi, Momo to name a few. Currently the actor is shooting for “Warning” against Mahiya Mahi. During the pause of the shooting in BFDC, the Dhaka Tribune caught up with the actor about his recent works and many more.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

I am not playing in that sequel.

n Entertainment Desk

Why?

Actor Shraddha Kapoor says being part of Vishal Bhardwaj’s upcoming release “Haider” was a life changing experience for her.

“Haider” is the Bollywood adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and the final film of his trilogy that began with “Maqbool” followed by “‘Omkara.”

“I have first time experienced a different world of cinema which Vishal sir has put me in. I was surprised to see myself. Also audience wants to see you in different roles. I feel lucky and fortunate to be part of this film. It was a life changing experience for me,” Shraddha said.

The film also stars Tabu, Shahid Kapoor, Irrfan Khan and Kay Kay Menon in pivotal roles.

“In my fifth film to share screen space with such great actors is unbelievable. I feel fortunate to get this opportunity. It was phenomenal to work with such actors. I used to pinch myself every day,” Shraddha said. The film is set in Kashmir.

“I had come to Kashmir three-four days before shooting to understand the dialect of Kashmiri people,” she added.

As trailers of “Haider” have got a positive response Shraddha hopes the film also does well.

“Usually commercial films have similar feel to the promos but this film is drastically set in a different world. We have got good response for the trailer. The audience is also demanding to see something different,” she said. The film is scheduled to be released on October 2. l

I think I have already given all my efforts and dedication to what the character demand. Now I have nothing left that I could give to “Agnee 2.”

How about tying knot with a heroine?

I have never given a thought to this before. To be honest, I do not want to engage any heroine with my life.

I have my respect and honour for them as artistes and colleagues. But I think a simple girl would suit me the most. I don’t want to marry a film star.

Who was your childhood crush?

Kabori Sarwar was my childhood crush.

Even when I watch her performance in the song “Ektush Khani Dekho” I wonder it could have been so fortunate and adventurous to work with her at that time.

What is your dream role?

If I get opportunity to portray a character of a handicapped man or a mute then I would do that with full dedication. Take Kamal Haasan and Sridevi’s “Sadma” as example. Sridevi’s performance as autistic woman was superb. I need that kind of role to prove my acting ability. l

Emma Stone to make Broadway debut n Entertainment Desk

Twisted

Zcafe 6:30pm Twisted is a show where the never-attempted has been attempted: From monkey dance in Nepal to weird inventions: this show has it all.

Caught in the Moment

Animal Planet 9:30pm From the next generation of Animal Planet explorers, enthusiastic naturalist Vanessa Garnick and young wildlife filmmaker Tristan Bayer bring to the viewers - Caught in the Moment. This 10-part series catches rare and wild animal behaviours at critical moments in time.

Hollywood actress Emma Stone will replace Michelle Williams and make her Broadway debut as singer Sally Bowles in the musical “Cabaret.” The 25-year-old actress, who starred in Woody Allen’s “Magic in the Moonlight” and superhero action franchise “The Amazing Spider-Man,” will begin on Nov. 11 in the musical set during the rise of Nazism in Berlin.

“Cabaret” is based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1939 novel “Goodbye to Berlin,” which chronicles in part the seedy cabaret nightlife of the German capital in the final years of the Weimar Republic. l

The first solo painting exhibition of artist Shama Shaiom titled “Ode to Beauty” began in Galerie Zoom, Alliance Française de Dhaka on Friday evening. Her work is influenced by post-impressionism and surrealism.

She pays tribute to flowers, as a thing of beauty and joy. She tries to find the sublime through meditation. A nature lover Shaiom sells seashells in the seashore in her dream and often discovers life as a tree in her thoughts and depicts it with full passion on her canvases.

Escaping from reverie, she also captures the cityscape in her paintings. With colours at times subdued, at times bright, her attempt to explore the radiant realism is there for one to enjoy. The exhibition will be open to all until September 4

Gravity stars reunite for political film n Entertainment Desk Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock is set to reunite with her “Gravity” costar George Clooney for new film “Our Brand is Crisis.”

The film, which will be directed

by David Gordon Green, is based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, which focuses on the use of American political campaign strategies in South America, reported Variety online. Bullock, 50, will also serve as executive producer alongwith Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov.

The actress is currently attached to the Sony pic “Tupperware Unsealed” which revolves around the inventor of Tupperware. l

Band Stentorian perform at the Last Revolution concert

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak Underground music scene of the country revived once again with a participation of twelve bands in the gig “Last Revolution” at the Institute of Engineers Bangladesh Auditorium yesterday presented by Music Theater Live.

Cryptic Fate, the much anticipated band of the gig, took the stage as showstopper and the band’s heavy yet melodic sound brought the fans to life who were unsure about the performance of the band until the last minute.

Though the band seemed to be little disappointed over less number of audience at the time of their stage seizing the viewers’ constant demand for songs from the band’s latest album “Noy Mash” and vigorous cheering reversed the atmosphere in a while. Cryptic Fate started surfing wave of groovy sound with heavy metal track “Rag” followed by “Bichchhu” a track from the latest album, and a few of their popular tracks. Sarfaraz Latifullah and Farhan Samad, the guitarists of the group, were on chipper form in front of the crowd, as if their rolling riffs could have flattened the venue.

Stentorian began their performance with their original track “Onubhuti” and covered songs of a few internationally acclaimed bands including Guns N’ Roses’ and AC/DC track. The vocal, Rabiul Awal Real, delivered the requisite

pitch with his voice to uphold the beauty of classic hard rock and the audience welcomed them thoroughly.

With unique performance on stage and reciprocation with audience Mechanix seized the stage with the track “Bhranto Shopno” followed by “Bismoy,” “Shopner Chorus,” and “Oporajeyo.” An unfettered joy in the air at hearing one of band’s landmark sounds being brought to life and seemingly a similar sense of happiness on stage that people willingly responded to that sound.

Regiment, a band established with the aim to raise voice against injustice and massacre occurred in the Liberation War performed an original track with such lyrics and music. They also covered a few songs including Dream Theatre’s “Pull Me Under” and System Of A Down’s “Toxicity.”

Ashes, a psychedelic rock group with alternative lyrics and music, distributed their debut album titled “Chharpoka” among the attendants performed few of their songs from the latest album including “Chup Chap Sharadin” followed by a performance paying tribute to the legendary Bangladeshi band Nagar Baul.

Other bands who performed in the gig were Owned, Minerva, Dr. Doctor, Silent Time, Unspecified, Connected and Metrical. The gig was first initiative by Music Theatre Live who are committed to bringing similar shows in the future with more variance. l

Shakira’s hit number Loca ‘broke copyright laws’ n Entertainment Desk A hit song performed by Colombian pop star Shakira was indirectly copied from another songwriter’s work, a federal judge in New York has found.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein said Shakira’s Spanish-language version of “Loca” in 2010 had infringed on a song by Dominican singer Ramon Arias Vazquez.

Her English language version of Loca which featured Dizzee Rascal - was “not offered into evidence” at the trial.

Neither version of Loca was released as a single in the UK. However, the Spanish language version - a collaboration with Dominican rapper Eduard Edwin Bello Pou, better known as El Cata - was widely released as a single around the world. It went on to sell more than five million copies and topped Billboard Magazine’s Latin charts.

SAZZAD HOSSAIN

It was also included on her 2010 album “Sale el Sol.” For English language markets, the album was titled “The Sun Comes Out” and both versions of the song were included.

In a ruling on Tuesday, Judge Hellerstein said that while the hit single had been based on an earlier version of a song recorded by Bello [El Cata], that itself had been copied from Arias Vasquez’s original song.

“There is no dispute that Shakira’s version of the song was based on Bello’s version,” wrote the judge in his ruling. l

Did you know?

Chelsea yesterday have named an unchanged XI for the first time in the Premier League since 28th October 2012 (v Manchester United)

Sport

Sunday, August 24, 2014

14 Costa scores

again as Chelsea snare Foxes

15 Maqsood, Fawad

stun Sri Lanka in first ODI

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Nothing wrong

with Bangladesh batsmen: Narine

BPL third edition on the cards?

Tournament Governing Council eyes end of this year as possible window pensation. However, as eight months n Minhaz Uddin Khan of the year 2014 is already past, the Chairman of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) governing council Afzalur Rahman Sinha has revealed that Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is considering to hold the third edition of BPL ahead of the next ICC World Cup-2015 scheduled to be held in Australia-New Zealand.

The money-spinning domestic Twenty20 tournament hit a stumbling block since its 2nd edition in January-February 2013. Irregularities in players’ payment, mismanagement, match fixing allegations and a subsequent but prolonged investigation followed by trials are the reasons why the tournament has failed to see light even though it has been 18 months since BPL 2 ended.

We’ve held a meeting where we’ve discussed many issues from the 1st and 2nd BPL and besides these, some decisions regarding BPL 3 have also been taken “We are hopeful to hold BPL 3,” said BPL GC chief Sinha after coming out from a BPL GC meeting at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium yesterday.

“We want to organise the tournament between December 2014 and January 2015, ahead of the next ICC World Cup-2015,” Sinha added further.

This is the first time since the second BPL that BPL GC seems to have taken a strong move of organizing the next edition of the tournament and taking the aftermath of the unwanted events following the end of BPL 2 into consideration, this move is certainly worthy of giving rise to questions. It was learned upon query that BCB is looking to avoid legal issues understandably. According to the contract between BCB and the seven BPL franchises, the board is responsible to organize the tournament every year and failing to do so will give the franchises an opportunity to take legal action, and ask for monetary com-

BPL GC aims to start the tournament before the December 31 deadline while keeping a close eye on the Tigers’ Future Tours Programme (FTP) commitments in mind.

Bangladesh are scheduled to host Zimbabwe in a Test and ODI series in early November while Pakistan are supposed to tour Bangladesh in January 2015 according to the FTP of International Cricket Council (ICC).

“Considering the gap in the FTP, we have provisionally fixed a slot and taken decision to hold the next BPL. We’ve tentatively decided to hold BPL3 towards the end of the current year,” said Sinha.

“We’ve held a meeting where we’ve discussed many issues from the 1st and 2nd BPL and besides these, some decisions regarding BPL 3 have also been taken.”

However, Sinha, also an influential board director of BCB, refused to give any further details, “But we cannot reveal any more about it at the moment.

We will first place our decisions in the next board meeting and once approved, we will disclose all about most of the issues.”

Dhaka Tribune learned from sources withing BCB that the BPL GC plans to bring a major change in the format of the money spinning Twenty20 tournament which includes replacing the franchisees, revising the players’ fee structure and reducing loopholes from the legal contracts.

The next BCB meeting is scheduled to take place on August 26 and this meeting has become all the more significant as alongside the final decision on BPL-3, a decision regarding the reconsideration of the ban slapped on all-rounder Shakib al Hasan is also supposed to be taken in that meeting.

The former national skipper was suspended from all forms of cricket for six months and will not be issued NOCs until December 31, 2015 due to his indiscipline. Shakib later appealed to the board to reduce the sanctions on his national and international sporting activities. l

Bangladesh Under-23 forward Aminur Rahman Sajib celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Bangladesh Army at the Army Stadium yesterday

MUMIT M

Awful defence mars U23s’ final practice match n Shishir Hoque The Bangladesh Under-23 football team displayed an awful defensive performance in their fourth practice match as they toiled hard before eventually overcoming an amateur Bangladesh Army side 5-4 at a soggy Army Stadium pitch in Dhaka yesterday.

The 5-4 scoreline clearly portrays how shaky the defence was as all the four goals shipped by the national side were conceded in the first half. The only positive the national team can take forward from this match is the way they came back from a 4-2 deficit in the second half.

The U23s defeated the same opponents comfortably by 3-1 nine days ago following which Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif left for the Netherlands to attend to his ailing father. Assistant coach Rene Koster deployed a 4-4-2 formation in the opening half which went horribly wrong. A

4-3-3 formation, however, introduced in the second half rescued him from further humiliation, thanks to defender Atikur Rahman Meshu’s brilliant hattrick.

“The first half was horrible, terrible from our side. Everybody was very nervous. But I’m glad that they showed it today (yesterday), not Tuesday, which

RESULT BD U-23 Wahed 10 Meshu 14, 56, 63 Sajib 83

5 4

BD Army Silon 13, 31 Tarek 22, 39

will be a more important match. Now I know which players can handle the pressure and which players can’t, which players can build up and which can’t,” said Koster after the game.

“The second half was much better. I want the players to get prepared for Tuesday and play like the way we played in the second half today (yes-

terday),” added Koster. The U-23 side will face Nepal at home in the first of two friendlies on August 26 as part of their preparation for the upcoming 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea next month.

It was goals galore in the opening half yesterday which began with Bangladesh taking the lead with just 10 minutes into the clock through their inform striker Wahed Ahmed who continued to prove his worth in the side.

Silon Khan though equalised for Army three minutes later before Meshu put his side ahead again just a minute later.

Army captain Tareq Aziz restored parity in the 22nd minute but the visitors’ plight worsened when Silon and Tarek each netted one more in the 31st and 39th minutes respectively to take the scoreline to 4-2.

Koster made some changes in the second half favouring skipper Mamunul Islam, Babu and Meshu as his midfield trio in a 4-3-3 formation. Me-

shu showed great skills by scoring two more to complete his hattrick - one from a free-kick in the 56th minute and the other from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute.

Aminur Rahman Sajib continued to impress and had an immediate effect on the match by grabbing the winning goal in the 83rd minute after coming on as a substitute.

When queried why the Bangladesh backline was often troubled by the Army attackers, Koster gave his reasons behind the poor display. “Of course it is alarming but don’t forget we couldn’t train all week due to rain and water on the practice ground. We only went to the gym and trained lightly at some small parts of the field. It was our first practice match in a week,” he said.

Meanwhile, national team manager Amirul Islam Babu informed that De Kruif will arrive tomorrow and will be present during Bangladesh’s first friendly against Nepal on Tuesday. l

National cricketer slams 10 goals as big guns rout day two RESULTS Midas Financing Hotel Orchard Trust Bank Rahimafrooz Bangla Cat Tiger IT STS Group Chevron BD NSU Incepta MM Ispahani Bangla Trac General Electric Pepsi ULAB

(won via walkover)

1 4 0 16 3 2 1 4 3 7 0 13 2 2 3 7 2 1 3 3 1 2 4 1 2 4 3 2 v

Qubee Beximco Pharma IPDC IIDFC HRC Group Gemcon Group HSBC Securex Kazi Farms Stellar Digital Therap BD BAT Spellbound Citybank Airtel

n Arsalan Quddus The big guns of the tournament have been piling the pressure on the minnows and newbies of the group stages, and that reflected directly on the score line in the first six games yesterday. As many as 54 goals were netted in those matches of the second day with many of them in double digits.

Debutantes Hotel Orchard Suites were in for rude awakening by the tournament favourites, Beximco Pharma, who made the Orchard goalkeeper pick the ball out of their nets a total of 16 times! Arafat Sunny, who also happens to be a national cricket player, of Beximco Pharma scored a total of 10 goals in the match alone - surely a tournament record. It also makes him a front runner for the Golden Boot. A shell shocked Orchard Suites were left to lick their

An action from the match between Securex and Chevron BD yesterday

COURTESY

wounds and prepare for their next match.

Qubee continued their winning run after upsetting last years champions by beating Midas Financing, 4-1. The game was tied at a goal a piece at half time after a spirited performance by the newcomers. But Qubee’s experience showed in the 2nd half as Rakib scored a fine brace in the closing minutes. Noor-e-Alam and Yasir also added to Qubee’s cause while Zunaid Bin Islam pulled one back for the financial firm.

Newcomers and associate sponsor IPDC put on a valiant effort against tournament old boys Trust Bank Ltd. The game may have ended 3-2 for Trust Bank, but it was the leasing company that left the STM Hall with their heads held high. Team captain Samiur Rahman scored a brace for IPDS and guided his boys to a respectful finish.

IIDFC’s captain Biplob guided his team to a 4-1 win against Rahimafrooz Storage and scoring 2 in the process. Shohib Haider Noon Hossain adding a goal each for IIDFC. Bangla Cat have faced HRC Group many times over the years in this very tournament.

But if ever an encounter epitomized the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt”, it would have to be this one. The two went at each other with hammer and tongs, but it was HRC who proved too strong in the final whistle as they out scored Cat in a 7-3 encounter.

Rion doing his goal tally no harm as he scored 4 screamers for HRC bringing his total to nine in two games with teammate Sijon on seven.

Md Arifur scored a double for Bangla Cat. Tiger IT found out how ruthless the Ascent Cup can be to debutante teams as the in-form Gemcon Group romped home with 13-0 pasting. At times it almost seemed as if it were a Gemcon practice session, as they passed the ball around with ease, much to

IPDC players celebrate scoring a goal against Trust Bank at the STM Hall yesterday the Tiger IT’s frustration. Apart from the three hattrick heroes - Shamim, Monu and Munna Rikto and Punnell Hombron scored braces.

STS Group and HSBC were locked in a vicious dogfight which ended in 2-2 draw.

STS’s poster boy and part time rock idol, Jabed got on the score sheet along with teammate Omar Faruk. HSBC’s Nazmul Huda scoring two for his side.

Securex were looking ominous as they took their old foes Chevron to the cleaners in a 7-3 romp. Their lively No 9 Shoriful scoring four past the Chevron keeper, while Mosabber and Monir also added to the security companies cause. Atik scored 2 for Chevron and Mannaf added another for the oil and gas explorers.

Newcomers North South University faced another debutante team Kazi Farm

and won the tie with a solitary goal. The faculty members were all smiles at the final whistle while Kazi Farm were left to reflect on what went wrong. However, with Group I still wide open, they are still in a position to turn their fortunes around should they beat Viz RT in their next match.

Pharmaceutical giants Incepta played out a hard fought 3-3 draw against Stellar Digital. Ahad, Salman and Mahir converted for the Stellar, while Shyak pulled 2 back Incepta, and Awal added another.

The Big Bang Theory (Therap BD) clawed out 2-1 victory against a plucky MM Isphani Ltd team. Safwan and Saad both featuring in the score line for Therap while Amin pulled one back for Ispahani. Ascent Cup stalwarts Bangla Trac went head to head against British American Tobacco and their star striker Em-

COURTESY

ran Khan put four past BAT goalkeeper Shihan. The tobacco firm must have found the going tough after their 3 year absence in this tournament and having such seasoned opposition as Bangla Trac did not help one bit. The absence of Shiblee Shakik Ahmed weighed heavily on the tobacconists shoulder.

Rookie team Spellbound virtually pulled a rabbit out of their hat by beating General Electric in their 2nd match of Group N. Jubair Azaz scoring a cool hattrick for the PR firm. It was back to the drawing board for GE, as they prepare for damage control against Metlife Alico who they face in their next fixture. l Arsalan Quddus is a key member of the organiser Excalibur Entertainment, a die hard Manchester United fan and also a passionate football fanatic.

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Arsenal stage late comeback Costa scores again as Chelsea snare Foxes their own when David Nugent burst n Reuters, London clear only for the Foxes striker to be

Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud (R) celebrates scoring the equalising goal as Everton midfielder Gareth Barry reacts in the background during their English Premier League match at Goodison Park in Liverpool, northwest England yesterday AFP

Schalke’s nightmare start continues n AFP, Berlin Schalke 04’s nightmare start to the new German season continued on Saturday as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Hanover.

The visitors were dumped out of the German Cup by third division Dynamo Dresden on Monday but Klaas Jan-Huntelaar’s goal looked set to give them victory on the opening weekend of the Bundesliga.

Last season the Dutch striker’s 12 goals helped Schalke finish third and he opened his account for the new campaign 90 seconds into the second half.

But the home side levelled 20 minutes later, when Leonardo Bittencourt surged down the right and picked out Edgar Prib.

Two minutes later Hanover got what proved the winning goal. Summer signing Joselu tried his luck from outside the box and the former Hoffenheim striker’s shot took a slight deflection

before nestling in the corner.

Elsewhere, Thomas Schaaf enjoyed his return to the Bundesliga as his Eintracht Frankfurt side beat visiting Freiburg 1-0.

RESULTS Hoffenheim

2 0

Augsburg

Szalai 33, Elyounoussi 35

Hanover Prib 67, Joselu 70

Hertha Berlin Schieber 16, 47

Frankfurt Seferovic 15

Cologne

2 1

Schalke 04 Huntelaar 47

2 2

Werder Bremen

1 0

SC Freiburg

0 0

Hamburg

2 1

VfL Wolfsburg

Lukimya 53, Di Santo 55

On Friday Bayern Munich

Mueller 37, Robben 47

Olic 52

Schaaf had taken a year out of football after spending 14 years at Werder Bremen and an early strike from Haris Seferovic gave him plenty to smile about. l

Redknapp piles pressure on Spurs boss Pochettino n AFP, London QPR manager Harry Redknapp has piled pressure on Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino ahead of his return to White Hart Lane by insisting anything other than a top-four finish will be a failure for his old club.

Redknapp will be back at Tottenham for the first time since he was sacked in 2012 following the breakdown of his relationship with chairman Daniel Levy.

Redknapp says he is a fan of Pochettino, but that didn’t stop him heaping a little more pressure on his counterpart’s shoulders ahead of London derby.

“They should be pushing to get into the top four, and if they don’t it would be a disappointment for Tottenham,” Redknapp said.

“That’s what they’ve been trying to do the past couple of seasons, and anything below would be a disappointment. They’ve got fantastic players, they’ve spent over £100 million in the transfer market, and so they’re entitled to be a good team. l

Arsenal scored twice in the last seven minutes to escape with a 2-2 draw at Everton on Saturday after the home side had largely dominated the Premier League encounter at Goodison Park.

Aaron Ramsey scored after 83 minutes and substitute Olivier Giroud planted home a header in the 90th to cancel out the lead Everton held after first-half goals from Seamus Coleman and Steven Naismith.

The result meant Arsenal stayed third in the early-season table with four points from two games although their run of six successive league victories, which started after they lost 3-0 at Everton in April, came to an end.

Chelsea, who beat Leicester City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, and Swansea City, who sank Burnley 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium, head the standings with six points.

In the day’s other matches West Ham United won 3-1 at Crystal Palace while the games between Aston Villa and Newcastle United and Southampton and West Bromwich Albion both ended goalless.

Diego Costa scored for the second match in succession as Chelsea made it two Premier League wins from two matches this season with a 2-0 victory at home to newly-promoted Leicester City on Saturday.

After a goalless first half, Chelsea twice almost took the lead at the start of the second period.

Oscar hit the far post with a curling shot from the right before Branislav Ivanovic’s header was well saved by Kasper Schmeichel, son of former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter.

Leicester, who held Everton to a 2-2 draw last week, then had a chance of

denied by Thibault Courtois, again preferred by Jose Mourinho to Petr Cech, when one-on-one with the keeper.

But £32 million ($55 million, 40 million euros) Spain striker Costa, who scored in last week’s 3-1 win at Burnley, marked his home debut by turning in Ivanovic’s cross from eight yards out in the 63rd minute.

Swansea, fresh from their shock opening day victory away to Manchester United, made it two wins from two with a 1-0 success at home to Burnley secured by winger Nathan Dyer’s 23rd-minute goal.

West Ham bounced back from a 1-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur with a 3-1 win away to managerless Crystal Palace.

Southampton and West Bromwich Albion shared the points in a goalless draw and Saturday’s early kick-off between Aston Villa and Newcastle ended the same way.

Newcastle, beaten 2-0 by reigning champions Manchester City last weekend, have still to score in the Premier League this season after centre-back Mike Williamson was sent off in stoppage-time for a second bookable offence. l

RESULTS Aston Villa Chelsea Costa 63, Hazard 77

Crystal Palace Chamakh 48

Southampton Swansea Dyer 23

Everton Coleman 19 Naismith 45

0 0 2 0

Newcastle

1 3

West Ham

0 0 1 0

West Brom

Leicester

Zarate 34, Downing 37, Cole 62

2 2

Burnley Arsenal Ramsey 83 Giroud 90

From ‘king of Manchester’ to ‘devil’: Van Gaal n Reuters, London Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has poured scorn on critics who he says have made a “devil” of him after one defeat in his new job.

United’s 2-1 home defeat by Swansea City was the shock result on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season. They face a tricky game at Sunderland on Sunday and Van Gaal is appealing for patience.

“Two weeks ago I was the king of Manchester and now I am the devil of Manchester,” he told a news conference on Friday.

“It’s the football world and it is especially the media in this football world.

“I think the fans of Manchester are intelligent. I’ve already said that it shall be difficult in the first three months, for the players and also for the fans.”

Former United hero Paul Scholes said in a newspaper column this week that he was “scared” for United’s immediate future, to which Van Gaal responded: “I can imagine the fans are scared. They have to believe. Paul Scholes has to believe.

“The club have hired me because of my philosophy, not because I am nice. Although I am. I am not hired to be fired. I am hired to build up a team.

That process needs time.”

Supporters had been expecting a better start, however, after a hugely disappointing season in which United finished seventh in the table.

It was their lowest final position since 1990 and the Swansea defeat was their first loss in an opening home game for 42 years.

They have won their last three league games at Sunderland but were beaten 2-1 in last season’s League Cup semi-finals.

Striker Robin van Persie, who was captain of the Netherlands World Cup team under Van Gaal, is fit to return after missing the Swansea game but new signing Ander Herrera is out injured, leaving United short of midfield players. l

Mandzukic hands Atletico Super Cup win over Real Madrid n AFP, Madrid Atletico Madrid gained some measure of revenge for their Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid by beating their city rivals 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon on Friday to win the Spanish Super Cup 2-1 on aggregate.

The hosts made the best possible start as Mario Mandzukic volleyed home the winner from Antoine Griezmann’s pass after just 90 seconds.

Real boss Carlo Ancelotti had named Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench due to the effects of a hamstring injury that had seen him withdrawn from the first leg.

However, even the Portuguese couldn’t break down Atletico’s typically well-organised defence as they held on to end Real’s hopes of claiming six trophies this season.

As well as leaving Ronaldo on the bench, Ancelotti also fuelled speculation over Angel di Maria’s future by excluding the Argentine from his squad entirely.

Atletico boss Diego Simeone was sent off midway through the first-half for protesting that right-back Juanfran hadn’t been allowed back onto the field quickly enough after receiving treatment for a facial injury.

The Argentine could be in for a severe ban as he confronted the assistant referee and sarcastically applauded the decision.

Victory was Atletico’s first at home against Real in 15 years and continued Simeone’s amazing run of success since

taking charge of the club just under three years ago.

Real were caught out by a flying start from Atletico as Raphael Varane’s misjudged header allowed his French international teammate Griezmann to feed Mandzukic to score his first goal since signing from Bayern Munich.

The visitors slowly grew into the game, though, and Luka Modric was inches away from a spectacular equaliser when he volleyed just over from outside the area.

James Rodriguez then began to dictate the pace of the game and he was only denied a leveller by a spectacular save from Miguel Angel Moya before the Colombian also directed a header just wide of the target. Ronaldo made his entrance at the break as he replaced the ineffective Toni Kroos.

And Real’s miserable evening was rounded off in stoppage time as Modric was sent off for a second bookable offence when he upended Cristian Rodriguez. l

Ten-man PSG held at struggling Evian n Reuters, Paris Champions Paris St Germain were held to a 0-0 draw at lowly Evian after playing the last half-hour with 10 men following Yohan Cabaye’s dismissal as their sluggish start to the Ligue 1 season continued on Friday.

PSG, playing at Annecy without their talismanic injured Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, had midfielder Cabaye sent off in the 62nd minute for a second bookable offence.

PSG, who have taken five points from their first three games, dominated possession but struggled to create chances, with their Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani missing his best chance in the 26th minute when he slipped inside the area.

Another attempt by Cavani, set up by Lucas, in the 70th minute, was knocked away by Evian goalkeeper Jesper Hansen.

It was the second competitive match for PSG’s Brazil centre back David Luiz since he joined the club from Chelsea in June for an estimated 50 million pounds ($83.5 million), making him the world’s most expensive defender. l

Atletico Madrid’s Diego Godin (C), Koke (L) and Mario Mandzukic celebrate with the trophy after they won the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on Friday

REUTERS

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Maqsood, Fawad stun SL in first ODI

QUICK BYTES

Veteran umpire Ratan Ghosh no more Veteran umpire and scorer Neel Ratan Ghosh, 70, passed away in the capital city on Thursday morning. As a match official Ghosh had provided his dedicated service to Bangladesh cricket for three decades ever since the country’s independence. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) expressed profound sadness at the passing away of the veteran umpire and scorer. The board also extended heartfelt sympathies to the family of the departed and prayed for the salvation of his soul.

–Tribune Desk

n AFP, Hambantota

BJMC, Panchagarh to face off in final Team BJMC and Panchagarh reached the final of the Walton Air Conditioner National (Under-19) Youth Women’s Handball Tournament 2014 after winning their respective semifinal matches yesterday. In the day’s first semifinal, BJMC handed Jamalpur a humiliating defeat of 24-0 at the M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium. Shirina Akter and Shumi netted seven and six goals respectively for the victors. In the second semifinal at the same venue, Panchagarh earned a comfortable 19-9 victory over Naoga as Rubina and Masuda scored six and five goals respectively for the winning side. The third-place deciding match between Jamalpur and Naoga will be held today at the same venue.

–Shishir Hoque

Brandao set for court hearing after Motta headbutt

SC Bastia’s Brazilian striker Brandao was held in custody for several hours on Friday and will face charges following his headbutt on Paris Saint-Germain’s Thiago Motta, a court source told AFP. The 34-year-old will appear in court on November 3 on charges of committing premeditated assault in a sporting arena and causing his victim to be signed off work for seven days. The Paris Public Prosecutor’s department had launched a preliminary investigation into the incident last Saturday at the Parc des Princes, which was filmed

by CCTV cameras inside the tunnel.

–AFP

Samaras signs for West Brom Greece striker Georgios Samaras has joined West Bromwich Albion on a two-year deal, the English Premier League side announced Friday. Samaras has arrived at the Midlands club on a free-transfer after leaving Celtic in pre-season following six years with the Glasgow giants, having arrived at Parkhead from Manchester City in 2008.

However, the 29-year-old did not feature in yesterday’s trip to Southampton where the Baggies drew 0-0.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Sony Six 7:30PM World Kabaddi League 2014 Delhi: Day 6 3:00AM Major League Soccer Portland Timbers v Seattle Sounders 4:45AM Fifa U-20 Womens WC Final 2014 Star Sports 4 5:30PM F1: Belgian GP Main Race Spanish La Liga 11:00PM SD Eiber v Real Sociedad 1:00AM Barcelona v Elche CF 3:00AM Levante v Villarreal Star Sports 2 Pro Kabaddi League 8:15PM Bengaluru v Kolkata 9:30PM Mumbai v Delhi 1:00AM La Liga Celta Vigo v Getafe Star Sports 1 Barclays Premier League 6:30PM Tottenham v QPR 9:00PM Sunderland v Man United Ten Action French Ligue 1 2014/15 6:00PM Olympic Lyon v Racing Club De Lens 9:00PM AS Saint-Etienne v Stade Rennais

15

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Pakistan’s Sohaib Maqsood (L) and Shahid Afridi celebrate winning the first ODI against Sri Lanka at the Rajapakse Cricket Stadium in Hambantota, Sri Lanka yesterday AFP

Sohaib Maqsood and Fawad Alam put on a 147-run stand as Pakistan recovered from the brink to defeat Sri Lanka by four wickets on Saturday and take the lead in the three-match series.

The tourists, chasing a Duckworth-Lewis target of 275 in 45 overs, fought back after being 106-5 to scrape home off the penultimate ball of the match in Hambantota.

Maqsood remained unbeaten on a glorious 89 off 73 balls as Shahid Afridi smashed the winning boundary off seamer Nuwan Kulasekara to the point fence.

Alam was dismissed for 62 by Lasith Malinga when 22 still remained for victory off the last three overs, but Maqsood and Afridi battled on to help Pakistan record a good win.

Sri Lanka had made 275-7 after being sent in to bat in overcast conditions, but rain after six overs of their innings reduced the game from a full 50-oversa-side contest to 45.

Opener Ahmed Shehzad scored 49 but no other top-order batsman settled in to make a big score till Maqsood and Alam turned the game Pakistan’s way.

Earlier, Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews smashed 89 off 85 balls and Mahela Jayawardene made 63 to give

SCORECARD

their side a seemingly commanding total.

Jayawardene, 37, who retired from Tests earlier this week to concentrate on one-day cricket till next year’s World Cup, hit eight boundaries in his 73rd half-century in the shorter format.

Sri Lanka slumped to 75-4 by the 18th over before Jayawardene and Mathews put on 116 for the fifth wicket.

Mathews hit nine fours in his best score in one-day cricket, but it was Ashan Priyanjan’s unbeaten 39 off 15 balls at the end that bossted the total.

Lanky left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, who stands at seven feet, one inch (2.16 metres), generated good bounce from the moisture-laden pitch to claim two wickets for 48 runs.

Wahab Riaz, one of the three leftarm seamers for Pakistan alongside Irfan and Junaid Khan, took three for 50.

The tourists were without their top spinner Saeed Ajmal, who has flown to Australia to undergo tests of his bowling action after being reported by the umpires during the preceding Test series which Sri Lanka swept 2-0.

Meanwhile, Hambantota will also host the second one-dayer on Tuesday due to bad weather in Colombo, the original venue. The third and final match will be played in Dambulla on August 30. l

Williams looking to wave American flag again n Reuters Serena Williams will once again be counted on to wave the Stars and Stripes at the U.S. Open as she takes centre stage at New York’s Flushing Meadows with the next generation of American tennis hopefuls waiting in the wings.

The world number one has always made a point of how special it is to play at home and there is no bigger stage than centre court at the U.S. National Tennis Center during the year’s final grand slam.

Expectations weigh on Williams but it is a burden she has capably carried on her muscular shoulders since claiming her maiden grand slam on the New York hard courts in 1999 and 14 years later continues to do the heavy-lifting for U.S. tennis.

“I love playing in the USA,” said Williams after winning the Western &

Southern Open in Cincinnati on Sunday.

“Just feels so good it be an American and play in America.

“I love holding up the trophy. For me, there is no better feeling.”

Williams has reached the U.S. Open winner’s circle five times, including the last two years, and is favoured to add a sixth to her collection when the gates swing open on Monday at Flushing Meadows.

She arrives in New York proclaiming to be at the top of her game, riding the momentum from hard court titles in Stanford and Cincinnati that book-end a semi-final appearance in Montreal where she lost to her resurgent sister Venus.

Adding to Williams’s confidence, the path to the Sept. 7 women’s final has been cleared of at least one major obstacle with another limping.

The last two years Williams has needed three sets to tame Victoria Azarenka and lift the crown but the Belarusian has missed a large chunk of the current campaign with a foot injury and is a big

question mark. Another potential threat, world number three and Australian Open champion Li Na, will not play in New York due to a knee injury.

“It (Cincinnati) was definitely the best performance of the (summer) hopefully not the last,” said Williams. “My first day of practice (at Cincinnati) something just clicked.

“I don’t know, I think all the hard work was just paying off.

“This is definitely a level that could take me to the title.”

If there is one cloud hanging over Williams’s U.S. Open buildup it has been her less than stellar play in the three grand slams where she has failed to reach the quarter-finals.

A fourth round loss at the Australian Open followed by a second round exit at the French and a third round upset at Wimbledon has left the U.S. Open as Williams’s last opportunity this season this to add to her haul of 17 grand slam singles titles.

“To me, Serena’s still at her best, bet-

ter than everyone else,” U.S Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez told Reuters.

“Having said that, we’ve seen her falter at the majors and not be at her best.

“So I think that gives hope to everybody else, that she isn’t invincible.”

While the New York fans have provided Williams with a lift, Fernandez says history has laid heavily on her.

A victory at Flushing Meadows would move Williams level with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all-time list with 18 titles behind only Australian Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22).

“She’s playing for history now and she gets uptight,” said Fernandez. “She’s the first person to admit it.

“She knows the importance of this.

She’s going to be 33 years old.

“The window is closing, even though she’ll play, hopefully, a few more years.

So each major is precious.”

Williams, who will turn 33 on Sept. 26 has dutifully held the fort in recent years, waiting for reinforcements from the next generation of American tennis to arrive. l

Shakhtar stadium hit by shelling n Reuters, Kiev Shakhtar Donetsk’s Donbass Arena, which hosted a semi-final at the Euro 2012 championship, has been damaged by shelling in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, the club said on Saturday.

Nobody was injured in the explosions which occurred early on Saturday morning.

“On 23 August, at 6.00, two powerful explosions occurred at Donbass Arena,” the club said on its website (www.shakhtar.com).

“As a result of shelling, there are numerous damages of the northwestern facade of the stadium, communications, equipment and detached building of the energy centre, which is located in the northern part of the Donbass Arena park. There are no casualties among the stadium staff.”

The stadium opened five years ago, with club owner Rynat Akhmetov spending around $400m on the project.

The 52,000-seat stadium hosted five matches at Euro 2012 and regularly hosted Champions League matches.

“It is hard to assess the damage. We have to examine the extent of the destructions,” Shakhtar chief executive Serhiy Palkin told the Xsport channel. l

Sri Lanka U Tharanga c Akmal b Riaz 18 T Dilshan lbw b Irfan 6 K Sangakkara c Shehzad b Hafeez 25 M Jayawardene run out 63 D Chandimal c Riaz b Irfan 6 A Mathews b Riaz 89 T Perera b Riaz 13 A Priyanjan not out 39 N Kulasekara not out 3 Extras: (lb3, w10) 13 Total (for seven wickets, 45 overs) 275 Fall of wickets 1-16 (Dilshan), 2-55 (Tharanga), 3-55 (Sangakkara), 4-75 (Chandimal), 5-191 (Jayawardene), 6-228 (Perera), 7-247 (Mathews).

Bowling Irfan 9-0-48-2 (w4), Junaid 9-1-75-0 (w5), Riaz 9-0-50-3, Hafeez 8-0-32-1 (w1), Afridi 9-0-57-0, Alam 1-0-10-0 Pakistan Ahmed Shehzad b Perera 49 Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Mathews 21 Younis Khan c Kulasekara b Mathews 3 Umar Akmal c Malinga b Perera 15 Misbah-ul Haq c Sangakkara b Herath 13 Fawad Alam c Priyanjan b Malinga 62 Sohaib Maqsood not out 89 Shahid Afridi not out 14 Extras: (b4, w7) 11 Total (for six wickets, 44.5 overs) 277 Fall of wickets 1-39 (Hafeez), 2-47 (Younis), 3-79 (Akmal), 4-94 (Shehzad), 5-106 (Misbah), 6-253 (Alam).

Bowling Malinga 9-0-60-1 (w6), Kulasekara 8.50-56-0, Mathews 9-0-48-2 (w1), Perera 7-0-43-2, Herath 9-0-49-1, Dilshan 2-0-17-0 Pakistan won by four wickets (D/L)

Kvitova, Rybarikova reach WTA New Haven final n AFP, New Haven Reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova advanced to the WTA New Haven hardcourt tournament final Friday with straight-set triumphs.

Fourth-ranked Kvitova fired 11 aces in defeating Australia’s Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-1 while Rybarikova hit seven aces in a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Italy’s Camila Giorgi at the US Open hardcourt warm-up event.

Second seed Kvitova, the 2012 New Haven winner who lost to Simona Halep in last year’s final, will be the third seed at the US Open.

Rybarikova, ranked 30 spots below her rival at 68th, denied Giorgi on all 11 of her break-point chances to win in 83 minutes at the Yale University hardcourts.

Rybarikova, 25, ousted top-seeded Halep on Tuesday. l

2ND ODI DEFEAT IN STATS

Sunil Narine picked up three wickets in the second ODI and initiated Bangladesh’s collapse from 57-3 to 70 all out on Friday

Nothing wrong with Bangladesh batsmen: Narine n Cricinfo Sunil Narine does not think there is anything wrong with the Bangladesh batsmen and has said West Indies are only taking advantage of home conditions. Narine said he has tried to keep his spells as simple as possible, but tell that to the Bangladesh batsmen.

Despite dominating him in Tests less than two years ago, they now find his deception unfathomable and are facing the danger of spending all of this tour trying to avoid getting tangled by him.

His three-wicket burst in the middle of Bangladesh’s 248-run chase in the second ODI sucked the life out of their batsmen. Narine removed Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah in successive deliveries before picking up Sohag Gazi in his next over as the visitors were

bowled out for just 70.

“I don’t think I have done anything differently [than in the past],” Narine said. “Whatever I have been doing in the past 2-3 years that have given me success, I have tried to keep it simple as possible. You sometimes tend to try to do too many things and forget what was working for you.

“When you’re on top of your game, it is important to do the basics properly and change only a few things, and move on from there. I didn’t get wickets in the first game but I think I bowled pretty well. I was just doing the basics again today.”

In the 2012 Test series, Narine went wicketless in three out of four innings, and conceded 343 runs in two matches at an economy-rate of 4.36. Shakib al Hasan apparently had come up with

CRICINFO

the plan to go after him from the start.

That plan is possibly back in Dhaka right now, as Bangladesh have played Narine without much purpose.

He, however, felt that West Indies were taking advantage of familiar conditions. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the Bangladesh batsmen.

They are very capable. I think it is just our time to be on top of the game. We have had some rough times in Bangladesh where they have home advantage.

“Now we have the home advantage.

We are continuing what we are doing and trying to build momentum ahead of the Test matches. I wouldn’t think they are rusty. The wickets are not as flat as Bangladeshi wickets, it is more giving. Their bowlers have something to work with. You need to set a foundation and work on it.” l

177

WIs’ margin of victory, their biggest against Bangladesh, and their 6th biggest overall.

For Bangladesh, this is their 7thworst loss by runs. Their largest defeat remains a 233-run loss to Pakistan in 2000.

16

No. of times that Bangladesh have been bowled out for 100 or less in an ODI, more than any other team. Next highest on the list are Zimbabwe (12) and Sri Lanka (11). The lowest score that Bangladesh have been bowled out for (twice) is 58, once against India earlier this year, and famously against West Indies in the 2011 World Cup.

13

No. of runs for which Bangladesh lost their last 7 wkts. This is Bangladesh’s second worst seven-wicket collapse in their ODI history.

The fewest runs for which they have lost 7 wickets is eight, which happened against India in June 2014.

10

No. of batsmen who did not get to double figures during Bangladesh’s innings. Bangladesh have faced this ignominy once before, against South Africa during the 2011 WC. Overall, there have been 15 such instances in ODI cricket, including two of all 11 players making single digit scores, by Canada and Zimbabwe, both against Sri Lanka.

52.9

Bangladesh’s runs scored by Tamim Iqbal during his innings of 37, out of the team’s total of 70. This is the second highest percentage of team runs scored by a Bangladesh batsman when the team has been bowled out.

The highest such percentage is 54.8, also by Tamim, when he scored 125 out of Bangladesh’s total of 228 against England at Dhaka in 2010.

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Sunday, August 24, 2014

India and Pakistan exchange deadly fire n Agencies

Two men use a raft made of banana trees to commute through the flooded areas of Char Dighalkandi in Gaibandha yesterday

FOCUS BANGLA

Flood conditions worsen in Feni, Chittagong and Tangail n Tribune Report The overall flood conditions in the country have worsened because of heavy rainfall in last few days, posing threats to health, education, communication and agriculture sectors in different districts. The rural flood victims had been suffering from acute food, shelter and drinking water crisis because of the flood.

Vast tracts of farmlands in Feni went under water as heavy rain, onrush of water from the upstream and the breakdown of the dam curbing the Muhuri River created the recent flood in the area, our Feni correspondent reports.

Feni Agricultural Development Corporation sources said around 15,000 hectare farmlands were inundated, while the farmers claimed that their losses were heavier than that. The farmers also alleged that the dam was damaged because of negligence on the part of the Water Development Board.

Farhad Hossain, additional assistant director of Feni Agricultural Development Corporation, said the farmers were advised to cultivate BR 20, BR 23 or BR 28 to cover their losses. Proper evaluation of the farmers’ losses would be prepared soon, he added.

In Gaibandha, around 25,000 families had been marooned, communication system had been disrupted and several educational in-

stitutions were shut down because of the increase in water level in the rivers of the district, our Gaibandha correspondent reports.

Gaibandha Water Development Board Executive Engineer Abdul Awal said although the water level in the Ghaghot River decreased by 10cm, it was flowing 15cm above the danger level, while the water level in the Korotoa River had increased by 4cm in last 24 hours.

Only 450 out of the 3,000 flood hit families got aids in Gaibandha’s Kapasia District education officials said a total of 20 educational institutions – 16 primary schools and four high schools – were shut down temporarily because of the worsening flood condition in the district.

It is alleged that flood relief and aids were not adequate in the flood affected areas. Kapasia Union Parishad Chairman Mojnu Mia said only 450 families out of 3,000 flood affected families got flood aids in his area.

In Chittagong, around 1,000 hectare Aman seedbed, 7,500 hectare half-ripen paddy fields and homesteads at Mirsarai upazila went under water caused due to incessant oneweek-long downpour, reports our

Mirsarai correspondent. Moreover, most of the rural roads in the upazila were washed away, leaving the communication system badly disrupted.

Confirming the flood condition in the upazila, Mirsarai Agricultural Extension official Kazi Nurul Alam said the farmers would incur more losses, unless the flood condition improved soon.

Our Tangail correspondent reports that some cracks had developed in the district flood protection embankment in Mohela area of Kalihati upazila due to river erosion brought about by last week’s heavy rainfall.

The local water development board officials were trying to check the erosion by felling sand laden bags.

Tangail WDB Executive Engineer Joity Prosad Gosh said they were trying their best to check the erosion.

Meanwhile, our Jamalpur correspondent reports that overall flood condition in the district remained unchanged since last 24 hours.

Though the water level in the Jamuna River decreased by 5cm at the Bahadurabad point, the water level was still 31cm above the danger level, sources said.

Because of the continuous rainfall for last six days, over 15 villages and some other urban areas were submerged, leaving thousands of people marooned in water.

The people of the affected areas had been suffering from acute drinking water crisis, while a total

India has accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortar rounds on at least three villages in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing at least two members of a family, while Pakistan has said two of its civilians were killed in “unprovoked” fire from the Indian side.

Dharmendra Pareek, a top official of India’s Border Security Force, said the firing early on Saturday was unprovoked, adding that one Indian border guard and three civilians were also injured in the incident, the AP news agency reported.

General Rakesh Kumar, an Indian military official, told Indian television channel NDTV that the unprovoked firing in Arnia and RS Pura sectors prompted India to retaliate.

“The firing started around midnight.

Twenty-two posts and several civilian villages were targeted so we retaliated in equal measure. Several houses have been damaged. Firing is still on in some areas,” he was quoted by NDTV as saying.

Pakistani officials said the latest incident occurred in the Sialkot region, which faces the south of Indian-administered Kashmir and where another civilian was killed by Indian firing last month.

“Today Indian Border Security Forces again resorted to unprovoked firing in the Chaprar and Harpal sectors on the working boundary near Sialkot. Two civilians including a woman and a 60-year-old man were martyred due to BSF firing,” a senior military official told AFP news agency.

India and Pakistan frequently accuse each other of violating a 2003 ceasefire agreement.

In the past two weeks, ceasefire violations have been reported almost every day, with more than 70 violations reported since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge in May, NDTV reported.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, and the two neighbouring countries claim the disputed Himalayan region in its entirety.

Fighters have attacked security bases in Kashmir since the 1990s, when a full-blown insurgency against Indian rule gripped the region.

The Himalayan region, over which India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars, is one of the world’s most militarised zones, with India deploying more than 1.3 million troops to quell the insurgency that has been active since 1989. l

of 101 educational institutions in the district were shut down temporarily because of the flood.

Jamalpur Civil Surgeon Dr Hafizur Rahman said total 77 medical teams were working in the affected areas to provide medical services.

On the other hand, flood situation remained unchanged in Kurigram too, though water receded by 3cm in the Brahmaputra River yesterday.

Around two lakh people had been marooned in the flood water at nine upazilas of the district for eighth consecutive days.

Under different government and non-government initiatives, relief and aids were being distributed among the affected people, but the amount of aid was too little for such large number of people, our Kurigram correspondent reports.

Bajra Union Parishad Chairman Rezaul Karim Amin said at least 10,000 people had been marooned in flood water for last eight days. Of them, around 5,000 people were too poor to afford food during such crucial time, he added.

Regarding the shortage of aids, the chairman said: “I have got only one and a half tonne rice, which can be doled out to 150 people only.”

Kurigram Deputy Commissioner ABM Azad said he had allocated 250 tonne rice and Tk2 lakh, which was now being distributed in the district.

More allocations would follow, he added. l

ACC summons MP Enamul Haque n Adil Sakhawat The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is set to question Rajshahi 4 lawmaker Enamul Haque in connection with accumulation of illegal wealth.

The commission on January 22 initiated an inquiry against six ruling party leaders and a former Jatiya Party lawmaker on charges of amassing illegal wealth.

The probe was prompted by their wealth statements, submitted to the Election Commission before the January 5 elections, which showed dramatic rise in their wealth.

Of the seven men, six were questioned in the last seven months except Enamul.

The ACC on Wednesday served a notice to Enamul asking him to appear at the commission on August 26 to face interrogation, ACC Deputy Director Jatan Kumar Roy said.

Earlier on March 9, the commission sent a notice to Enamul and his wife Tahura Haque asking them to sub-

mit a comprehensive wealth statement containing the list of all the movable and immovable properties they own within seven working days.

Enamul, however, did not act accordingly and sought an extension instead. Complying with his petition, the ACC extended the deadline for submitting the documents till March 31 but the parliamentarian failed to do so.

On April 1, Enamul submitted his statement but ACC rejected it as the deadline expired a day before.

According to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004, the commission usually serves notices to an individual to submit wealth statement if, following primary investigations, it is found that he possesses illegal wealth or gave false information on his wealth in official documents.

The law also empowers the commission to sue someone if he ignores the notice. The offender, in such cases, will be liable to serve up to three years in jail. l

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B3 Draghi ‘confident’ ECB measures will boost economy

B4 After Russia targets

McDonald’s, businesses wonder who’s next

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

NGOs face MRA music

Scrapping of licences accelerates as most of them misuse funds and do not comply with regulatory directives of 6% on savings set by the MRA. n Kayes Sohel The regulator also imposed cap Micro-credit Regulatory Authority has so far canceled licences of 49 non-government organisations (NGOs) on various charges, including misuse of funds, shortage of funds and breaching lending rate terms.

The rate of licence cancellation of NGOs or micro finance institutions (MFIs) has increased following formulation of the Micro-credit Regulatory Authority Rules, 2010 in January 2011 and setting some guidelines, said a senior executive of the authority.

“The activities of NGOs and MFIs have come under strict monitoring of the regulator thanks to the new rules and guidelines,” said MRA Director Md Shazzad Hossain.

It had canceled MFIs licences of four in 2011, 17 in 2012, 19 in 2013 and nine so far this year, according to the data provided by MRA. Some are in the pipeline to lose their licences, officials said.

Shazzad said MRA scrapped the licences due to breaching the rules – most of them misused funds and did not comply with some of the directives despite repeated warnings.

He said the MRA’s goal is to eliminate poverty by ensuring transparency and accountability of micro-credit operations in the country.

According to a latest circular, it has been noticed that some MFIs were not operating in line with its directive that no micro-credit institutions would be allowed to take installments on credit from their respective clients within 15 days from the date of lending.

Moreover, the institutions have given credit at lower interest rate instead

on inter-MFI transactions. No MFIs can charge more than 10% as interest during inter-MFI transactions, according to another circular.

Currently, 696 NGOs are operating in the country, serving around four crore of the country’s around 16 crore people. The authority, however, considered issuing fresh licences to more foreign-funded NGOs and MFIs, said the executive.

Since its inception in 2006, MRA has been continuously making efforts for creating an enabling environment for the micro-finance industry for its sustainable development.

Bangladesh has become the first country in the world to establish a separate entity, MRA, under a separate act to licence, monitor and oversee MFIs, as microfinance had been a private sector initiative all along, and flourished without any formal regulatory entity in most parts of the world.

Though Bangladesh has been the pioneer of micro-credit, it lagged behind some countries in enacting a regulatory framework for this sector.

Over the years, it has brought a number of changes in its rules and regulations.

According to MRA statistics, the sector has created direct job opportunities for over 110,000 people – 82% of them are male and 18% female.

The country’s first micro-finance institution Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) was established in 1972 through which micro-finance activities had started in Bangladesh. l

Md Ali has been working at Dholaikhal spare parts factories for past 25 years. Dholaikhal in the old part of Dhaka city has become a very popular place for trading spare parts of vehicles as the traders here have rich stocks and are quick to provide service MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Govt urged to support IT sector to make ‘Silicon Bangladesh’ n Tribune Report Information and communication technology experts yesterday called upon the government and private enterprises to come up with opportunities for young professionals and university graduates so that they could invest their knowledge in the country’s IT sector to transform into “Silicon Bangladesh”.

They stressed the need for financial assistance for the new IT professionals

Study: Uttara tops list as favorite area to buy or rent

An aerial view of Uttra Model Town

n Tribune Report Uttara is the most popular area for property buyers and sellers in Dhaka, according to a new study.

Gulshan came in the second place, followed by Bashundhara Baridhara,

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Dhanmondi and Mirpur, according to analysis carried out by an online real estate marketplace, Lamudi.

“Uttara, the Dhaka’s biggest satellite town, has topped the list of the mosttrendy spots in the local real estate market,” it said.

Launched in 2013 in Bangladesh, Berlin-based Lamudi is a global property portal focusing exclusively on emerging markets.

The number of properties at Uttara listed on the Lamudi Bangladesh website by developers

and individual sellers is 961 and growing. Lamudi’s Uttara properties have been viewed by a total of 60,113 visitors over the last six months.

Gulshan, the most affluent area of Dhaka and home to the majority of Dhaka’s embassies and high commissions, has a total of 662 properties listed on the Lamudi website, with a total of 28,506 interested buyers and sellers viewing these listings on the site.

Bashundhara Baridhara drew the attention of property seekers in Dhaka for its huge open space with public utilities and civic amenities. With 383 properties listed on the Lamudi website for sell and rent, the listings had a total of 27,454 views in the past six months.

Rajesh Grover, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Lamudi Bangladesh, said the figures showed that new areas were emerging as Dhaka’s top places to live.

“The real estate market is getting more exciting for property hunters, as real estate developers expand their focus to different parts of Bangladesh.

This is obviously great news since a lot of different choices are now available in the market for the customers.”

Dhanmoni that was developed in the 1950s was spotted four on the list of hottest spots in Dhaka real estate market for its amenities including hospitals, malls, schools, banks, offices and universities. Lamudi recorded 20,003 views on the properties listed from Dhanmondi since the last six months.

Mirpur, which is fast becoming the top choice of middle class property seekers in Dhaka for its unique location and the easy connections with other parts of the capital, was placed at number five on the list.

Lamudi currently has a total of 764 properties listed from Mirpur, with 14,079 visitors viewing these properties on the site.

The fast-growing platform Lamudi is currently available in 28 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, with more than 500,000 real estate listings across its global network. l

to implement their innovative ideas to turn the country into an information technology hub in the region.

The experts observed that an emphasis is needed to to be placed for formulation of year-on-year basis plan for the IT sector.

The observation came at a roundtable titled “How can a Silicon Bangladesh be established and can it help develop digital Bangladesh?”

The Daily Ittefaq, a Bangla daily, hosted the programme at its auditori-

um.

Dr Cristian Prokopp, principal consultant, Big data Partnership, UK, made a keynote presentation while Tarin Hossain, executive director of the Daily Ittefaq, conducted the roundtable.

According to the keynote speech, Bangladesh has a market of $250 million with abundant skilled workforce.

In his address as the chief guest, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said not only the gov-

ernment, private sector has to move forward as mentor to guide the new entrepreneurs.

The government is mulling over establishment of more IT institutes like MIT, said the state minister.

Bickery Russel, head of Agent Development Google, BASIS President Shameem Ahsan, Fayaz Taher, Co-Founder of Startupdhaka.org, BCS President Mahfuzul Arif and Rashidul Islam of Bangladesh Computer Council, among others, took part in the discussion. l

India raises sugar import duty to 25%

Salim Osman retains BKMEA presidency

n Reuters, New Delhi

AKM Salim Osman has been reelected unopposed as president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) to serve another two years.

Just after reelection, Salim Osman announced that the new board would work to explore new markets, increase exports and ensure safety and compliance in factories.

The new board will be in charge of running the trade body for 2014-16 term.

There were no other candidates against Salim Osman in the election held at the BKMEA office yesterday.

“The election committee declared him reelected as president of the BKMEA as he faced no contest,” said Mohammad Hatem, former first vice president of the BKMEA. Salim Osman is managing director of Wisdom Attires Limited.

Besides, AH Aslam Sunny was elected first vice president, Monsoor Ahmed second vice president, Masuduzzaman third vice president and GM Faruque vice president (finance). l

India, the world’s biggest sugar consumer, raised the import duty on the sweetener to 25% from 15% as part of efforts to help regional mills struggling with lower prices and higher stocks.

A rise in the duty will make imports unviable for port-based refiners despite a plunge in global prices due to ample supplies from top exporters Brazil and Thailand.

In June, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said the import duty could be raised to 40% from 15% if mills pay farmers’ dues, estimated at nearly 50bn rupees.

Mills say a 70% jump in the price that they have to pay to farmers in the biggest cane-growing state of Uttar Pradesh and a meagre 7% rise in sugar prices have worsened their finances, leading to cane dues.

“There was an import parity but mills were not signing deals, expecting revision in the import duty. At 25 percent duty, imports are not viable,” said

a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm. In the current sugar year to September, India is likely to import just 30,000 tonnes compared with 680,000 tonnes a year earlier, an industry official told Reuters earlier this month.

The benchmark sugar futures in India rose 1 percent after the increase in the duty, while shares of sugar makers such as Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd, Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd and Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd rose more than 4 percent.

“The duty will certainly support prices, but local prices are unlikely to jump. Supplies are adequate,” said Ashok Jain, president of the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association.

Prices in India, the world’s biggest producer after Brazil, fell below the cost of production in some states as the south Asian country produced surplus sugar for the four straight year.

Even in the next year starting October, the country’s output is likely to jump 4 percent to 25.3 million tonnes because of higher cane yields in Maharashtra and Karnataka. l

n Tribune Report

B2

Stock market pauses as profit booking ends 4-week rally n Tribune Report

DSE LOSERS

Green Delta M.F.-A Delta SpinnersA Kay & Que (BD) -Z ICB Sonali Bank 1 MF-A IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A Prime Bank 1st MF-A ICB AMCL IslamicMF-A ICB Emp. PMF-A Beach Hatchery -A

Closing (% change) -16.98 -16.67 -14.48 -13.79 -13.70 -12.63 -11.54 -11.29 -11.11 -11.07

CSE LOSERS Company 6th ICB M F-A ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A Wata Chemicals -A Delta SpinnersA Green Delta M.F.-A IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A Prime Bank 1st MF-A Aziz PipesZ Beach Hatchery -A AMCL 2nd MF-A

Closing (% change) -22.73 -19.23 -18.19 -15.28 -13.46 -12.33 -11.54 -11.25 -10.61 -10.53

4547.05601

(-) 0.16%

1726.43146

(+) 1.20%

14051.1858

(+) 0.02%

11503.0042

(+) 0.68%

8559.4152

(-) 0.43%

Average (% change) -13.46 -15.68 -11.50 -13.26 -14.52 -12.72 -11.73 -11.15 -11.29 -9.78 Average (% change) -21.72 -18.37 -17.05 -15.11 -10.44 -13.04 -10.25 -11.49 -9.32 -9.30

Closing average 4.50 18.17 12.39 7.52 6.30 8.30 4.59 16.58 4.87 22.05

Closing average 51.69 8.49 234.51 18.32 4.63 6.40 4.64 14.17 22.19 5.17

Weekly closing

▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ Weekly high

4.40 18.00 12.40 7.50 6.30 8.30 4.60 16.50 4.80 21.70

Weekly closing

5.10 22.20 14.00 8.60 7.40 9.40 5.20 18.80 5.50 25.50

Weekly high

51.00 8.40 232.50 18.30 4.50 6.40 4.60 14.20 21.90 5.10

DSE GAINERS

Turnover (Million Taka)

BSRM Steels-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A MJL BD Ltd.-A Premier Cement-A aamra technologies-A Beximco Pharma -A Northern Jute -Z LafargeS Cement-Z IDLC Finance -A ACI Limited- A

584,473,080

59.40 9.60 273.00 21.60 5.00 7.30 5.20 14.40 25.00 5.70

557,381

Traded Issues

305

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

67

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

234 4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,401.95

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.11

CSE key features August 18-21, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

2,069.76

Turnover (Volume)

54,033,875

Number of Contract

79,770

Traded Issues

247

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

61

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

182

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,301.25

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.89

Turnover in million

4.40 17.80 12.00 7.50 6.30 8.30 4.50 16.50 4.80 20.50

Weekly low 51.00 8.40 232.00 18.00 4.50 6.40 4.60 14.00 21.70 5.10

Latest EPS

8.842 127.690 0.270 6.267 23.431 5.547 2.914 3.546 3.719 69.689

Turnover in million

Closing (% change) 14.30 13.62 12.16 10.84 10.59 10.23 10.00 8.25 8.04 8.01

CSE GAINERS

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

Weekly low

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Company

26,319.00

Number of Contract

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index :

DSE key features August 18-21, 2014

Turnover (Volume)

profit booking were observed after last few sessions’ gain following Eid festival, resulting in frequent rebalancing by investors.

Lanka Bangla Securities said after four consecutive weeks of bull-run, market took a breather during the past week.

Average daily turnover was Tk658 crore, indicating that the market hold on to its strength during this consolidation period, it said.

Zenith Investments said the sheer size of the volume proves that traders are only taking a pause following the recent upward move.

Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 305 issues traded in the past week, 241 declined, 52 advanced and 12 remained unchanged.

The week was mainly dominated by cement sector which rallied over 6% in with 22% increase in its turnover.

Mutual fund sector was the worst performer last week which lost 14% mainly due to the post record date price fluctuations for corporate declaration. Among the top ten losers in the past week, seven came from the mutual fund sector.

Fuel and power sector gained 1.7%.

Pharmaceuticals ended flat, while telecommunication plunged by 4%.

Banks and non-banking financial institutions lost over 2% and 1.3% respectively. Food and allied sector edged down. l

Stock market paused on profit booking in the past week, breaking the fourth consecutive week of bull-run.

Mainly profit booking on heavyweight telecommunication stocks ended the market flat, as rally in power and pharmaceuticals offset losses in the past week.

The benchmark DSEX closed at 4,547, slightly slipping 7 points or 0.2%. The comprising blue chips DS30 index rose 20 points or 1% to 1,726. The DSE Shariah Index edged 1 points or 0.2% higher to 1,061.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index (CSCX) gained 37 points or 0.5% to close at 8,559.

The week’s daily average turnover at the DSE stood at Tk658 crore, down over 2% over the previous week’s average of Tk672 crore, as the bourse has to shortened trading session to four instead of usual five on occasion of public holiday on Sunday.

Fuel and power, pharmaceuticals, engineering and textile sectors has caught investor attention in the past week, making up 15%, 14%, 12% and 11% respectively of the week’s total turnover.

“Changing the ripple of last week, investors pursued somewhat cautious stance,” said IDLC Investments in its weekly market analysis.

It said natural correction and

Company

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

-0.02 1.41 -1.24 1.60 1.07 1.40 0.73 2.33 0.68 1.70

Latest EPS

0.159 0.101 2.460 11.751 0.669 0.561 0.272 0.040 8.430 0.059

6.47 1.40 6.20 1.41 -0.02 1.07 0.73 0.42 1.70 0.99

Latest PE -ve 12.9 -ve 4.7 5.9 5.9 6.3 7.1 7.2 13.0

Latest PE 8.0 6.1 37.8 13.0 -ve 6.0 6.4 33.7 13.1 5.2

Closing (% change)

Company Khulna Printing-N BSRM Steels-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A MJL BD Ltd.-A Premier Cement-A aamra technologies-A Provati Insur.-A Beximco Pharma -A LafargeS Cement-Z Rupali InsurA

1203.00 13.92 13.62 12.38 12.30 10.97 10.05 10.00 8.65 8.44

Average (% change) 12.42 12.88 8.48 9.65 8.24 9.79 10.00 9.44 8.43 8.69

Closing average

Weekly closing

96.02 38.92 114.67 93.65 35.07 47.21 143.00 112.15 57.89 339.64

Average (% change) 1197.20 12.20 12.98 5.84 10.47 9.05 12.66 9.64 8.80 6.54

Weekly high

97.50 39.20 117.10 95.10 35.50 47.40 143.00 112.80 57.80 341.00

Closing average

Weekly closing

42.03 95.94 38.91 111.37 94.09 35.06 22.96 47.21 112.09 25.74

98.00 41.00 118.50 97.80 35.90 50.00 143.00 117.00 59.10 348.90

Weekly high

43.00 97.40 39.20 117.10 95.90 35.40 23.00 47.30 113.00 25.70

Weekly low

Turnover in million

79.00 31.10 94.00 86.70 29.70 39.00 143.00 105.00 48.00 290.00

Weekly low

44.00 98.00 39.80 118.90 98.80 36.00 23.00 48.00 118.00 26.90

Latest EPS

1095.910 1495.118 1620.352 114.597 271.786 340.149 0.029 1202.456 179.793 816.382

Turnover in million

28.00 80.20 31.30 93.60 86.90 30.00 21.00 38.70 102.10 22.00

4.80 0.88 5.04 3.67 1.39 3.94 -11.08 2.42 3.04 9.22

Latest EPS

288.801 60.251 191.298 62.129 8.606 24.846 2.534 14.080 91.000 1.321

1.31 4.80 0.88 5.04 3.67 1.39 1.52 3.94 2.42 2.72

Latest PE 20.0 44.2 22.8 25.5 25.2 12.0 -ve 46.3 19.0 36.8

Latest PE 32.1 20.0 44.2 22.1 25.6 25.2 15.1 12.0 46.3 9.5

Weekly news from trade server AGM/Dividend Yearly Financial and Dividend of Mutual Funds: 1JANATAMF: NP= Tk. 35.16 crore, EPU = Tk. 1.76. 12.50% 'Re-Investment' Units.

EXIM1STMF: NP= Tk. 12.75 crore, EPU= Tk. 1.28, 12% 'Re-Investment' Units.

IFIC1STMF: NP= Tk. 9.37 crore, EPU=Tk. 0.72, 9% 'Re-Investment' Units. FBFIF: NP= Tk. 44.57 crore, EPU= Tk. 0.81, 10% 'Re-Investment' Units.

TRUSTB1MF: NP= Tk. 19.82 crore, EPU= Tk. 0.91, 10% Re-Investment Units.

EBL1STMF: 7% cash dividend, NP=Tk. 7.14 crore, EPU=Tk. 0.65.

PHPMF1: NP= Tk. 223,033,390.00, EPU= Tk. 1.12, 10% Re-Investment Units.

EBLNRBMF: NP= Tk. 138,938,519.00 , EPU= Tk. 0.85, 10% Re-Investment Units.

ABB1STMF: NP= Tk. 103,731,688.00, EPU= Tk. 0.64, 10% Re-Investment Units.

POPULAR1MF: NP= Tk. 344,401,141.00, EPU= Tk. 1.68, 12% Re-Investment Units.

DBH1STMF: 0.60% cash dividend, NP= Tk. 7.23 million, EPU= Tk. 0.06.

GREENDELMF: No dividend, NP= Tk. -3.28 million, EPU= Tk.-0.02 . Record date. Record date: 01.09.2014.

GRAMEENS2: The Trustee Committee of the Fund has approved the audited accounts of the fund for the year ended on June 30, 2014. The Fund has reported net profit of Tk. 211,455,872.00 with earnings per unit of Tk. 1.54. Taking into consideration available fund from profit & distributable reserves, the Trustee Committee approved 15% reinvestment units as

dividend for the year ended on 30th June 2014 to be issued at a valuation on the last published NAV per unit before the record date. Record date: 01.09.2014.

GRAMEEN1: The Trustee Committee of the Fund has approved the audited accounts of the fund for the year ended on June 30, 2014. The Fund has reported net profit of Tk. 86,982,148.00 with earnings per unit of Tk. 3.41. Taking into consideration available fund from profit & distributable reserves, the Trustee Committee approved 30% reinvestment units as dividend for the year ended on 30th June 2014 to be issued at a valuation on the last published NAV per unit before the record date. Record date: 01.09.2014.

Audited/unaudited Financial Reports: Khulna Printing & Packaging Limited: (Q3): The Company has reported its profit after tax Tk. 42.50 million and basic EPS Tk. 1.61 for the 3 (three) months ended on 31 March 2014 (Jan 2014-March 2014) as against profit after tax of Tk. 27.77 million and basic EPS of Tk. 1.05 for the same period of the previous year. It is to be noted that basic EPS has been calculated based on weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number of shares i.e. 26,400,000 shares for both periods. However, considering Post-IPO 66,400,000 number of shares the Company's basic EPS for the 3 (three) months ended on 31 March 2014 would be Tk. 0.64 For the period of 9 (nine) months (July 2013 to March 2014) ended on 31 March 2014 profit after tax was Tk. 64.89 million and basic EPS was Tk. 2.46

as against profit after tax of Tk. 52.61 million and basic EPS of Tk. 1.99 for the same period of the previous year. It is to be noted that the said EPS has been calculated based on weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number of shares i.e. 26,400,000 shares for both periods.

NAVANACNG: (Q1): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 1st quarter ended on 30th June 2014 (Apr'14 to June'14), the Company has reported consolidated net profit after tax (excluding non-controlling interest) of Tk. 78.36 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.14 as against Tk. 66.48 million and Tk. 0.97 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

ASIAINS: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 30.06.2014 (Jan'14 to June'14), the Company has reported net profit after tax of Tk. 56.67 million with basic EPS of Tk. 1.26 as against Tk. 36.01 million and Tk. 0.80 respectively for the same period of the previous year. However, considering 5% bonus share for the year 2013, restated basic EPS is Tk. 1.20 as on 30.06.2014 (Jan'14 to June'14) and Tk. 0.77 as on 30.06.2013 (Jan'13 to June'13) Whereas net profit after tax was Tk. 38.11 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.85 for the period of 3 months (Apr'14 to June'14) ended on 30.06.2014 as against Tk. 18.40 million and Tk. 0.41 respectively for the same period of the previous year. However, considering 5% bonus share for the year 2013, restated basic EPS is Tk. 0.81 as on 30.06.2014 (Apr'14 to June'14) and Tk. 0.39 as on 30.06.2013 (Apr'13 to June'13).

CHANGE OF DSE BROAD INDEX VS SECTORAL INDEX 3%

FuelPowerIndex

DSE BroadIndex

2%

1%

19

12

05

29

22

15

08

01

24

17

10

03

27

20

13

06

29

22

15

08

01

25

18

0%

11

ANALYST

Changing the ripple of last week, investors pursued somewhat cautious stance

-1%

-2%

-3%

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 1370.24 820.97 532.66 3239.99 765.77 3919.53 3.93 3017.48 3652.73 1363.07 212.99 143.13 46.83 1902.96 311.75 326.14 219.07 1678.88 537.90 2247.16 5.85

% change 5.21 3.12 2.02 12.31 2.91 14.89 0.01 11.47 13.88 5.18 0.81 0.54 0.18 7.23 1.18 1.24 0.83 6.38 2.04 8.54 0.02

Million Taka 95.27 64.17 32.35 201.65 51.33 195.09 0.00 250.00 191.02 331.62 7.38 52.27 6.48 146.43 316.20 11.38 14.91 180.16 92.18 246.32 0.03

CSE

% change 3.83 2.58 1.30 8.11 2.06 7.85 0.00 10.06 7.68 13.34 0.30 2.10 0.26 5.89 12.72 0.46 0.60 7.25 3.71 9.91 0.00

Million Taka 1465.50 885.13 565.01 3441.64 817.11 4114.62 3.93 3267.48 3843.75 1694.69 220.37 195.39 53.31 2049.39 627.95 337.52 233.97 1859.04 630.08 2493.48 5.87

Total

% change 5.09 3.07 1.96 11.95 2.84 14.28 0.01 11.34 13.34 5.88 0.77 0.68 0.19 7.11 2.18 1.17 0.81 6.45 2.19 8.66 0.02

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 MJL BD Ltd.-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Khulna Printing-N LafargeS Cement-Z Grameenphone-A BSRM Steels-A Square Pharma -A ACI Limited- A Appollo Ispat CL -N BSC-A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Khulna Printing-N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Grameenphone-A LafargeS Cement-Z BD Submarine Cable-A Appollo Ispat CL -N MJL BD Ltd.-A BSRM Steels-A The Peninsula CTG.-N Square Pharma -A

Volume shares 14,683,643 39,919,402 36,766,500 10,644,500 3,496,585 11,791,414 3,163,763 2,450,264 23,466,600 1,124,950

Volume shares 7,998,000 5,124,490 275,600 807,500 494,842 2,282,200 567,567 650,625 1,625,200 185,730

Value in million 1620.35 1495.12 1361.98 1202.46 1178.34 1095.91 872.87 816.38 741.48 679.62

Value in million 288.80 191.30 92.78 91.00 87.38 71.98 62.13 60.25 58.15 51.32

% of total turnover 6.16 5.68 5.17 4.57 4.48 4.16 3.32 3.10 2.82 2.58

% of total turnover 12.36 8.18 3.97 3.89 3.74 3.08 2.66 2.58 2.49 2.20

Weekly closing 117.10 39.20 43.10 112.80 330.30 97.50 275.70 341.00 30.80 622.00

Weekly closing 43.00 39.20 330.40 113.00 171.70 30.70 117.10 97.40 34.90 275.30

Price change 12.16 13.62 0.00 8.25 -4.04 14.30 0.40 8.01 -1.91 6.92

Weekly opening 104.40 34.50 0.00 104.20 344.20 85.30 274.60 315.70 31.40 581.75

Weekly high 118.50 41.00 45.00 117.00 346.90 98.00 280.00 348.90 33.10 629.50

Weekly low 94.00 31.10 29.00 105.00 310.00 79.00 251.00 290.00 30.20 573.00

Weekly average 114.67 38.92 42.21 112.15 332.49 96.02 276.05 339.64 30.88 621.86

Price change 1203.00 13.62 -4.23 8.65 -6.48 -2.54 12.38 13.92 -1.13 0.00

Weekly opening 3.30 34.50 345.00 104.00 183.60 31.50 104.20 85.50 35.30 275.30

Weekly high 44.00 39.80 353.90 118.00 184.80 32.90 118.90 98.00 36.90 282.00

Weekly low 28.00 31.30 328.40 102.10 168.90 30.20 93.60 80.20 34.80 272.50

Weekly average 42.03 38.91 332.03 112.09 171.05 30.91 111.37 95.94 35.08 275.91

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Sunday, August 24, 2014

B3

Draghi ‘confident’ ECB measures will boost economy

Global stocks pause, dollar jumps on Yellen comments, Ukraine

n AFP, Frankfurt

n Reuters, New York

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said Friday he is “confident” the ECB’s recent policy measures will help get the eurozone economy back on its feet.

But the central bank chief insisted that eurozone governments needed to play their part and press ahead with reform measures, even if they were unpopular.

“I am confident that the package of measures we announced in June will indeed provide the intended boost to demand, and we stand ready to adjust our policy stance further,” Draghi told a meeting of leading central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

However, “no amount of fiscal or monetary accommodation... can compensate for the necessary structural reforms in the euro area,” Draghi insisted.

“There are important reasons why national structural reforms that tackle this problem can no longer be delayed.

This reform agenda spans labour markets, product markets and actions to improve the business environment,” he said.

A copy of Draghi’s speech was made available by the ECB in Frankfurt.

In June, the guardian of the euro cut its key interest rates to new record lows and also unveiled a series of measures aimed at kick-starting lending to businesses in the 18 countries that share the single currency.

Even though the euro area appears to have put the worst of its long crisis behind it and is experiencing an, albeit tentative economic recovery, credit activity to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains stymied, impeding a more robust upturn.

The ECB already pumped unprecedented amounts of liquidity into the banking system back in 2011 and 2012 to help remedy this, but instead of lending the money on to businesses, banks tended to park the

Wall Street and other stock markets paused on Friday, halting the week’s strong gains, as worsening Ukraine tensions dogged trading, while the dollar rose after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said policymakers eyeing interest rate hikes need to move cautiously.

Ukraine on Friday said Russia had launched a “direct invasion” of its territory after Moscow sent a convoy of aid trucks across the border into eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels are fighting government forces.

Moscow, which has thousands of troops close to the Russian side of the border, warned against any attempt to “disrupt” the convoy but did not say what action it might take if Kiev’s military intervened.

“The market probably is a little naive in thinking the Ukraine thing is going to blow over pretty soon,” said Erik Davidson, deputy chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank in San Francisco. “We will probably be talking about Ukraine through the winter.”

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38.27 points, or 0.22%, to 17,001.22, the S&P 500 lost 3.97 points, or 0.2%, to 1,988.40, and the Nasdaq Composite added 6.45 points, or 0.14%, to 4,538.55.

Benchmark 10-year US Treasuries ended up 2/32 of a point in price to yield 2.4%. The 30-year Treasury traded up 22/32 of a point in price to yield 3.15% and benefited from Europe’s weakness, geopolitical concerns and views that US growth is as robust as thought.

The U.S. dollar index, which values the greenback against a basket of a half dozen major currencies, was up 0.2% at 82.310 after setting a 2014 high of 82.456. The euro was off 0.35% against the dollar at $1.323.

“She gave everybody a bone and didn’t commit herself to anything that the market hadn’t already considered,” Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors in New York, said

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi addresses a news conference following the ECB Governing Council meeting in Brussels May 8. The euro zone's moderate recovery is continuing and inflationary pressures are subdued, the European Central Bank said on Thursday, pledging to keep interest rates low for an extended period of time REUTERS cash with the ECB instead.

In order to prevent this recurring, the central bank has introduced negative interest rates on its deposit facility, effectively charging banks for parking their funds with the ECB. It has also drawn up a new liquidity programme tailored in such a way so that the banks will lend the money on to SMEs. Draghi said the ECB would launch these so-called Targetted Long-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTROs) in September and they had “so far garnered significant interest from banks”.

In addition, the ECB is working on a programme to revive the market for socalled asset-backed securities (ABS),

also an important channel of SME financing.

“Our preparation for outright purchases in asset-backed security (ABS) markets is fast moving forward and we expect that it should contribute to further credit easing. Indeed, such outright purchases would meaningfully contribute to diversifying the channels for us to generate liquidity,” Draghi said.

Eurozone exports

Critics complain that the relative strength of the euro is one of the factors hampering recovery because it makes eurozone exports more expensive and adds to deflationary pressures.

“Inflation has been on a downward path from around 2.5% in the summer of 2012 to 0.4% most recently,” Draghi said, insisting that the ECB’s decisionmaking governing council would use “also unconventional instruments to safeguard the firm anchoring of inflation expectations over the medium- to long -term”.

Nevertheless, most recently, the euro has eased somewhat against the dollar, Draghi noted.

“We have already seen exchange rate movements that should support both aggregate demand and inflation, which we expect to be sustained by the diverging expected paths of policy in the US and the euro area,” he said. l

of Yellen’s comments.

In a speech to a gathering of central bankers, closely watched for hints on shifts in monetary policy, Yellen said the US labour market is still bruised from the Great Recession and that the Fed should move cautiously in determining when interest rates should rise.

The U.S. jobless rate has fallen more quickly than expected, but Yellen said the economic disruption of the last five years has left millions of workers sidelined, discouraged or stuck in part-time jobs, which is not captured in the unemployment rate alone.

In such an environment “there is no simple recipe for appropriate policy,” Yellen said, arguing for a “pragmatic” approach that allows officials room to evaluate data as it arrives without committing to a preset policy path.

At the same time, she said, the labour market may in fact be tighter than it seems and the Fed may have to raise rates sooner and more quickly than expected. Higher interest rates tend to boost the allure of the dollar.

“On balance, the speech was a very gradual and nuanced move away from Yellen’s overtly dovish policy stance in the past toward a more balanced view on the economy and on monetary policy,” said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington.

European shares dipped 0.27% after the Russian convoy of aid trucks entered eastern Ukraine without Kiev’s permission. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 nations, was down 0.29%.

Worries about the euro zone slipping toward deflation and near-zero growth pinned German 10-year government bond yields firmly below 1% on Friday.

In commodities trading, spot gold rose 0.22% to $1,280 an ounce, after losing 1.3% on Thursday as rate rise expectations sent it plowing through key support levels to a two-month low. l

EBay considering PayPal spinoff Dollar inches down ahead of n Yellen speech Reuters

EBay Inc is considering a spinoff of PayPal, its fast-growing payments unit, as soon as next year, tech news website The Information reported, citing sources.

Shares of the online retailer jumped nearly 45% to $55.48 at midday.

EBay told potential candidates for the position of PayPal chief executive officer, a post that David Marcus va-

cated in June, about a possible spinoff of the payments unit, the website reported. Marcus is now a Facebook Inc executive.

A PayPal spinoff would mark an about-face for the company. EBay CEO John Donahoe has resisted demands by activist investor Carl Icahn to hive off the payments service, saying PayPal was integral to eBay’s business - and vice versa - and a split would not make sense. l

A. K. Khan Telecom Limited (AKTL), an SBU of AKK (A.K. Khan & Co. Ltd) recently received ISO 9001:2008 certificate from Intertek, on Telco distributions and customer service

Md Abdul Baqi, managing director of Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX), recently received Energy Award-2014 from Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser of the country’s prime minister, at a ceremony held to mark national energy security day this year

First Security Islami Bank Limited held a conference for its managers at a hotel in Dhaka yesterday. AAM Zakaria, the bank’s managing director presided over the conference

n AFP, Tokyo The dollar inched down in Asia Friday as investors awaited a speech by the US Federal Reserve chief for any hint at when the bank will start raising interest rates.

The US unit was changing hands at 103.71 yen in Tokyo afternoon, compared with 103.85 yen in New York Thursday afternoon.

The euro was mixed, buying $1.3287 and 137.81 yen against $1.3280 and 137.91 yen in US trade.

“It is likely to remain very, very quiet today, ahead of Fed Chair’s speech,” National Australia Bank (NAB) said in a note.

All eyes were on he Fed’s annual monetary policy meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the heads of the US and eurozone central banks will speak.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen is schedule to speak first, at 1400 GMT Friday, followed by Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank president, at 1830 GMT. “This forum has been known to signal the Fed’s intentions and at the very least guide market direction with regards to policy. So there is often a lot of anticipation,” the Australian bank said.

The dollar has risen over the past week as solid data and Fed minutes fuelled speculation that the Fed may start raising its key interest rates sooner than expected.

Unless Yellen is supportive of the latest improvements in the labour market, “there is likely to be some USD disappointment,” NAB said.

“The risks are far more weighted to USD downside, than up, at these levels,” it said.

The dollar fell against other AsiaPacific currencies.

It slipped to Sg$1.2478 from Sg$1.2519 on Thursday, to 31.89 Thai baht from 32.06 baht and to 11,655.00 Indonesian rupiah from 11,724.50 rupiah.

The greenback also dropped to 1,017.35 South Korean won from 1,023.90 won, to 43.79 Philippine pesos from 43.82 pesos, to Tw$29.96 from Tw$29.99 and to 60.42 Indisn rupees from 60.63 rupees.

The Australian dollar rose to 93.23 US cents from 92.53 cents, while the Chinese yuan fell to 16.81 yen from 16.88 yen. l

A sign outside the headquarters of JP Morgan Chase & Co in New York

REUTERS

JPMorgan customers targeted in email phishing campaign n Reuters, Boston Fraudsters are targeting JPMorgan Chase & Co customers in an email “phishing” campaign that is unusual because it attempts to collect credentials for that bank and also infect PCs with a virus that steals passwords from other institutions.

The campaign, dubbed “Smash and Grab,” was launched on Tuesday with a widely distributed email that urged recipients to click to view a secure message from JPMorgan, according to security researchers with corporate email provider Proofpoint Inc. JPMorgan, the No 1 US bank by assets, confirmed that spammers had launched a phishing campaign targeting its customers.

“It looks like they sent it out to lots of people in hopes that some of them might be JPMorgan Chase customers,” said bank spokeswoman Trish Wexler.

She said the bank believes most of the spam was stopped by filters at large Internet providers, adding that the email looked realistic because the attackers apparently used a screen grab

from an authentic email sent by the bank.

Users who click on a malicious link are asked to enter credentials for accessing accounts with JPMorgan. Even if they did not comply, the site attempts to automatically install the Dyre banking Trojan on their PCs, according to Proofpoint.

Dyre is a recently discovered piece of malware that seeks credentials from customers of Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, according to email security firm Phishme.

Proofpoint Vice President of Threat Research Mike Horn said it is unusual for spammers to infect PCs with malware while trying to persuade users to provide banking credentials because that increases the odds of detection.

“Usually when they do credential phishing, that is all they do. In this case, they are throwing in the kitchen sink,” Horn said.

Proofpoint saw about 150,000 emails from the group on Tuesday, the first day it noticed the campaign among its customers in the Fortune 500 and

higher education.

That makes it a moderately large campaign, but the largest attempts involve sending more than 1 million pieces of spam over a few days to Proofpoint clients, he said. The firm manages over 100 million email accounts.

Horn said that Proofpoint quickly identified the spam and was able to stop it from infecting its customers, but was not sure how effective it was at infecting others.

Horn said his firm was unsure who was behind the emails, although much of the campaign’s infrastructure was in Russia and Ukraine, and the group’s tactics were consistent with those of Eastern European cybercrime gangs.

An FBI spokesman said he had no immediate comment.

A spokesman for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the key federal agency charged with fighting spam, declined comment.

“Since FTC investigations are non public, I can’t confirm or deny whether we are looking into this issue,” said agency spokesman Jay Mayfield. l

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Sunday, August 24, 2014

People stick with favorites in sea of mobile apps n AFP, San Francisco There may be a growing number of applications for smartphones, but people in the US tend to cling to the few they like and shun the rest, an industry tracker says.

Nearly two-thirds of US smartphone owners download no applications monthly, comScore said in its Mobile App Report.

Nearly half of all app - mini-programs - downloads were done by just seven percent of smartphone owners in any given month, according to the report that was released Thursday.

Fun, functional or hip apps for smartphones or tablets are seen by analysts as key to the popularity of the devices, and rivals such as Apple, Google and Microsoft work hard to get developers to tailor apps to devices powered by their software.

Apple’s online App Store boasts billions of titles available for users of devices powered by the California company’s software.

While more than half of US smartphone owners accessed applications on their gadgets daily, “a staggering” 42% of time was spent in just their favourite app, according to comScore.

“Americans have a difficult time

living without their mobile devices, as evidenced by the vast majority of consumers using apps on their smartphones and tablets nearly every day,” comScore said in the report.

However, nearly three of every four minutes spent using apps was in any of four preferred mini-programs.

Social networking, entertainment and messaging accounted for much of the time spent using mobile apps in the United States, the report indicated.

Internet titans Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay accounted for nine of the top-10 most used apps, according to the industry tracker.

Facebook is the top application in terms of audience size and share of time spent by smartphone users, comScore reported.

People using iPhones spend large shares of their “app time” on general news, radio, photos, social networking, and weather, according to comScore.

Those opting for Android-powered devices devoted a greater share of their time to online search and email.

The annual income of a median iPhone app user was $85,000, compared to $61,000 made in a year by a median Android user, comScore reported. l

Microsoft to unveil new Windows software n AFP, San Francisco

Amazon developing own online advertising software

A news report out Thursday indicated that Microsoft is poised to give the world a glimpse at a new-generation computer operating system that will succeed Windows 8.

The US software titan could hold an event as early as the end of September to provide a look at a version of what is expected to be called “Windows 9,” according to technology news website The Verge.

The introduction will be aimed at developers behind programs designed for computers powered by Windows software. l

n Reuters Amazon Inc is planning to develop its own software for placing advertisements online, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

While the in-house platform is initially planned to replace ads supplied

by Google Inc on Amazon’s own website, the new system could challenge Google and Microsoft Corp’s advertising business in the future, the newspaper cited the people as saying.

Amazon’s system would resemble

Investors look at stock prices next to a sleeping man at a securities exchange in Shanghai on August 22, 2014. Weak data from China and the Fed's more hawkish stance also hurt commodity prices, which investors tend to find more attractive when interest rates are low AFP

Google’s AdWords, and is planned to make it easier for marketers to reach the company’s users, the newspaper reported the people as saying.

The retailer is also building a tool that would help advertising agencies buy in bulk for thousands of advertisers, the Journal said, citing the people.

Amazon is known as a sleeping giant in the ad industry because it has rich consumer data but has been tentative about using it for a lot of advertising.

The company already has an advertising service it employs chiefly on its own website. l

WTO: Argentina broke global trade rules n AFP, Geneva Argentina broke global trade rules by imposing a raft of hurdles for goods sold by partners including United States, the EU and Japan, a WTO disputes panel ruled on Friday.

In the ruling, the World Trade Organization’s watchdog arm said that Buenos Aires should “bring the inconsistent measures into conformity with its obligations” under international rules.

Washington hailed the decision.

“This is a major victory for American workers, manufacturers and farmers,” US trade chief Michael Froman said in a statement.

“Argentina’s protectionist measures impact a broad segment of US exports, potentially affecting billions of dollars

After Russia targets McDonald’s, businesses wonder who’s next

n Reuters, New York

A man walks past a closed McDonald's restaurant, one of four temporarily closed by the state food safety watchdog, in Moscow est in the firm’s global network.

The watchdog said on Thursday it was starting unscheduled checks in several Russian regions, including Sverdlovsk and Tatarstan in the Urals, the central Voronezh region and the region around the capital.

“We are aware of what is going on.

We have always been and are now open to any checks,” a McDonald’s Russia spokeswoman said.

Vulnerable businesses

So far no other prominent Western brand has reported coming under extra scrutiny from the Russian authorities, though there were Russian media reports that Jack Daniels was being investigated. The whiskey producer said it would challenge any accusations about its quality.

Amrest, the Warsaw-listed holder of

the Russian franchises for several other iconic US brands - Starbucks, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King - said last week it had experienced no problems and was doing well.

“We are monitoring closely recent geopolitical developments, to make sure we can adapt to changing conditions and minimise business risks,” said AmRest’s chairman Henry McGovern during a teleconference with investors last week. Nevertheless, big foreign brands are viewed as vulnerable.

French bank Societe Generale published on Thursday a research note saying companies generating most revenues in Russia and therefore most exposed to political risks were BP, British American Tobacco, BASF, Carlsberg, Coca-Cola, Alstom (ALSO.PA) and E.ON. Even some of McDonald’s rivals came to its defence.

In their sights were import licencing rules, which among other things require firms eager to export to the country to import Argentinian goods in exchange.

One of the most well-known examples was German car maker Porsche, which was forced to commit to purchasing Argentinian wine and olive oil in order to get roughly 100 of its cars into the country.

Other contested areas included limiting imports in volume or value, ordering trade partners to make investments in Argentina and to refrain from repatriating profits from Argentina.

The WTO polices global trade accords in an effort to provide its 160 member economies with a level playing field. l

Market leaders seen taking S&P 500 to 2,000

n Reuters, Moscow Russia said on Thursday it was investigating dozens of McDonald’s restaurants, in what many businessmen said was retaliation for Western sanctions over Ukraine they fear could spread to other symbols of Western capitalism.

Russia’s food safety watchdog said it was looking at possible breaches of sanitary rules at McDonald’s, but many in the business community said it was a reflection of the deterioration in relations between Russia and the West over Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country are fighting against government forces.

“Obviously, it’s driven by the political issues surrounding Ukraine,” said Alexis Rodzianko, President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.

“The question on my mind is: Is this going to be a knock on the door, or is this going to be the beginning of a campaign?”

Russia earlier this month slapped bans on Western food imports after Washington and Brussels imposed economic sanctions in response to Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its backing of the separatists.

In a sign of growing frustration at the threat to trade, several mid-tier Russian businessmen signed off on a letter by British entrepreneur Richard Branson calling on politicians to stop the conflict.

“We, as business leaders from Russia, Ukraine and the rest of the world, urge our governments to work together to ensure we do not regress into the Cold War misery of the past,” the letter said.

McDonald’s, which opened its first store in Russia in the dying days of the Soviet Union in 1990, is a very visible symbol of American capitalism in Russia, where it now has 438 branches.

The food safety watchdog ordered the closure of four of its restaurants in Moscow on Wednesday, including that first Russian branch, which is the busi-

in US exports each year,” he added.

Froman’s European Union counterpart, Karel De Gucht, was equally upbeat.

“I’ve made standing up to protectionism one of the hallmarks of my term as EU Trade Commissioner. This case sends an important signal that protectionism is not acceptable,” he said in a statement.

“I call on Argentina to move quickly to comply with the ruling of the WTO panel and remove these illegal measures and open the way for EU goods to compete fairly on the Argentinian market,” he added.

The WTO panel of trade and legal experts was set up in May 2013 to hear complaints filed by Washington, Brussels and Tokyo, which claimed that Argentina was not playing fair.

REUTERS

“This is a major blow to relations between the two countries,” Mikhail Goncharov, the owner of Russian fastfood chain Teremok, told RBC Daily, a newspaper.

“Even the Soviet Union was maintaining those relations because the first McDonald’s opened during the USSR times, and PepsiCo factories continued to function regardless of political crises,” he added.

Since McDonald’s first broke into Russia, it has for many Russian consumers been overshadowed by hundreds of swanky French and Japanese restaurants in the Russian capital, but it remains a powerful symbol, and therefore a prominent target.

On Thursday, outside the shuttered restaurant on Moscow’s Pushkin Square, the closure stirred patriotic sentiment among some people. l

US stocks have been on a roll of late, with the S&P 500 hitting the latest in a series of records on Thursday, and investors expect the index’s momentum to soon carry it to - if not far past - the 2,000 milestone.

The S&P is about 10 points, or 0.4%, from that landmark, which analysts expected would be reached toward the end of the year, according to the most recent Reuters poll.

Reaching it ahead of schedule is the latest affirmation that stocks are widely preferred to bonds, even with further upside seen as limited as the Federal Reserve remains on track to end its bond-buying stimulus program in October.

The level has more psychological than fundamental significance, and it could prompt market participants to consider whether their holdings have become stretched.

The “2,000 (level) has no fundamental significance outside of suggesting that stocks are fully valued and getting more so all the time,” said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston. “We should see some weakness as Fed policy winds down, but I’d still rather own stocks than bonds, as in the long run they’ll continue to expand.”

The S&P is up 7.8% this year, outpacing overseas indexes and shrugging off headwinds such as a weatherdepressed first quarter and political unrest abroad. Both defensive and cyclical stocks have led at times, but trad-

DILBERT

ers expect technology and healthcare names, the market’s current leaders, to drive it over 2,000.

“Now is not the time to seek out value over growth,” said Jeff Mortimer, director of investment strategy for BNY Mellon Wealth Management in Boston.

“Price momentum tends to have stickiness in this kind of market.”

Every S&P sector is positive yearto-date, with tech and healthcare both up about 13%, eclipsing the 11% rise of utilities, the previous leader.

Despite record levels and the lack of any sustained pullback since 2012, investors are finding reasons to buy, with US stock funds getting $9.9bn in inflows last week, according to Thomson Reuters’ Lipper service.

Only two of the 27 industry groups that Wells Fargo monitors are down from 12 months ago, a breadth that leads to year-over-year gains 90% of the time, the firm wrote, with the S&P rising an average of 12.7%.

Optimism about near-term market direction hit a nine-month high in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey, with 46.1% of respondents expecting gains over the next six month.

“There’s a good underlying tone in the market and we still have plenty of prospects for more gains,” said Michael Mullaney, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Co in Boston.

He added that he would not be concerned about valuation until the S&P’s forward price-to-earnings ratio was 17 and its trailing P/E was 20. Those metrics currently stand at 15.7 and 17.4, respectively. l