26 dec, 2014

Paush 12, 1421 Rabiul Awal 3, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 262

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

16 pages plus 24-page weekend supplement | Price: Tk12

WEEKEND

6 | HERITAGE

9 | OP-ED

10 | SPORT

TECH IT OR LEAVE IT

CHILD’S WAR

SHOULD WE HAVE SEEN THIS COMING?

TAMIM GOES UNDER BLADE IN A WEEK

Five sackfuls of currency, gold bars recovered

Public servants against contractual appointments in administration n Asif Showkat Kallol

Mohammad Ali says a Sirajganj upazila chairman asked him to store 528 gold bars worth Tk20cr n Mohammad Jamil Khan The soft bed, fancy cabinet and costly furniture was just the tip of the iceberg of the treasure stashed away in a Purana Paltan flat raided by the Custom Intelligence and Investigation Department (CIID) yesterday.

Beyond the glossy exterior of the well-appointed furniture lay a staggering amount of wealth hidden in every con-

A search of dolls, wardrobes, steel drums to store rice in and showcases turned up bundles of currency notes that required almost five sacks to contain ceivable nook and cranny, so much so, in fact, that it took five sacks to collect it all.

A CIID search of the flat, assisted by Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), yesterday yielded local currency amounting to Tk4.5cr in cash, Saudi and UAE denominated currency worth Tk15 lakh and 528 gold bars weighing 61.5 kilogrammes having an estimated local price of Tk20cr.

Around 10:30pm, at a press briefing held at its Malibagh office, CIID Direc-

ACC: Moosa confesses to having arms business n Adil Sakhawat ACC Commissioner M Sahabbuddin Chuppu yesterday said business tycoon Moosa Bin Shamsher during the interrogation confessed that he had an arms business.

Moosa also confessed to the commission that he had earned Tk51,000cr ($7bn) deposited in Swiss Bank through arms business.

But he could not answer to the question whether his arms business was legal or illegal, said the commissioner.

After an international business magazine published reports on his lavish and unusual lifestyle the ACC ran an inquiry to find out the sources of his unusual income.

He confessed to have earned $7bn through his arms business but he denied to answer elaborately about his arms business to the inquiry officer as he termed such business confidential.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

tor General Mainul Khan said: “Mohammad Ali has been under surveillance for a long time. He has long been suspected of involvement in the hundi and gold smuggling businesses.”

His passport shows several visits to Dubai, the official said, and investigators will look into his travel, contacts, possible links to Biman officials recently arrested for gold smuggling and a Sirajganj upazila chairman that Mohammad Ali claims is the owner of the gold.

“Officials began the operation around 5pm at Apartment 7, House 29/1, Purana Paltan owned by Mohammad Ali and recovered the valuables after conducting the drive for nearly two hours,” DMP Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said officials retrieved the gold bars from under the bed and wardrobe.

A search of dolls, steel wardrobes [almirah], steel drums to store rice in, and showcases turned up bundles of currency notes that required almost five sacks to contain.

DC Masud said in addition to the recovery of valuables, officials retrieved several passports from the house and conducted a drive on another apartment also belonging to Mohammad Ali, but that raid yielded nothing of interest.

According to officials, each of the 528 gold bars weigh 10 tolas. Of the recovered currency notes, most is local currency but some of it is denominated in United Arab Emirates Dirhams and Saudi Arabian Riyals.

Deputy Director of Custom Intelligence and Investigation Department Mostafizur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune his agency had known about an illegal currency, gold and hundi business being run from the house for some time.

He said before starting the drive, flat owner Mohammad Ali claimed he had 235 Saudi Riyals in his house but the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

These windfall seeds of Sundari and Gol trees should have been germinating on the banks of Passur River in the Sundarbans. Seventeen days after the capsize of an oil tanker, these seeds lie lifeless at Joymonir Gol yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

AL blames BNP for Bakshibazar violence

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

n Abu Hayat Mahmud

The BNP high command has alerted its district and upazila units in Gazipur that they will have to fight back if their Chairperson Khaleda Zia is barred from attending a rally in Gazipur on Saturday.

The party is determined to hold the rally even if the authorities deny them permission. They have planned to sit in for a gathering at the very place they are blocked either by authorities or ruling party men.

Insiders said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had asked district leaders and activists to make all-out preparations to make the rally successful. She passed the order in a meeting held at her Gulshan office on Wednesday night.

Yesterday afternoon, senior leaders from the party’s Dhaka city unit held a meeting with their convener Mirza Abbas at his Dhaka residence.

Fazlul Haque Milon, organising secretary of Dhaka Division and president

2 | News

3 | News

3 | News

4 | News

Two Bangladeshi workers were killed after they were trapped in wet concrete following the collapse of a floor being levelled at an LRT terminal construction site in Putra Heights, Selangor, Malaysia, on Wednesday.

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

BNP men asked to fight back if obstructed in Gazipur of Gazipur district BNP, said: “We will hold a rally at any cost. If we are barred, we will resist. We are not going to backtrack.”

The BNP-led 20-party alliance announced holding a rally at the Bhaw-

We have received two applications. If they create anarchy, we will not allow anyone al Badre Alam College playground in Gazipur on December 27; Khaleda was scheduled to speak there.

Later, Gazipur district unit Chhatra League, student front of the ruling Awami League, announced a rally of their own at the same place and day.

Things heated up in the area as men from both parties – especially those from the student youth fronts – tried to take over the college playground. Sub-

sequently, police cordoned off the playground to avoid untoward incidents.

On Tuesday night, Chhatra League and Jubo League activists vandalised and torched the banners and festoons that the BNP men have put up to publicise their rally and stuck theirs. Police later took control of the ground and its adjacent areas.

A senior BNP leader said some 20,000-30,000 leaders and activists will accompany and guard Khaleda Zia’s motorcade on December 27.

“If we are obstructed at Tongi, then the rally will be held right there,” the leader said.

Gazipur district police chief Harun-ur-Rashid said: “We have received application from both the parties and are evaluating them. But, if they intend to create anarchy in the name of a rally, we will not allow anyone.”

Harun also said: “Both parties have already tried to take control of the playground, but we have driven them  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Ruling Awami League yesterday squarely blamed BNP for Wednesday’s clash at Bakshibazar saying that BNP unleashed the violence as part of its plan to foil the trial of Khaleda Zia. BNP men created the anarchy on the instruction of its Chairperson Khaleda Zia, it alleged.

Awami League made the remarks at a press conference after a party meeting.

The meeting was held at party President Sheikh Hasina’s political office at Dhanmondi to finalise programmes to be held on the “Victory of Democracy Day” on January 5 and Bangabandhu’s Home Coming Day on January 10.

“BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia let loose a reign of terror at Bakshibazar and Dhaka Medical College areas with her party’s armed cadres after being sure about her conviction in corruption,” said Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif.

Awami League Joint General Secretary Hanif claimed that the BNP and

INSIDE Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina praised the role of Bangladesh Television (BTV) for spreading Bengali culture and heritage around the world.

A vast majority — 93.5% — of serving government employees are against contractual appointment in various administrative posts, a pay commission report has said.

Government officials interviewed by the National Pay and Services Commission (NPSC) have said excessive contractual recruitments have been blocking their promotion, resulting in frustration.

The issue came up in a report that the NPSC has submitted to the government earlier this week proposing revision of salaries for public servants and pensioners.

According to the government’s Public Administration Division, around 200 administrative posts are currently held by retired civil and military officials, appointed on contracts. Just a year ago, the number was 115.

The commission, led by former Bangladesh Bank governor Mohammad Farashuddin, said in the report that too many contractual appointments have opened up scope for nepotism and politicisation of the civil service.

Only 378 out of a total of 5,472 government servants surveyed by the NPSC were in favour of contractual appointments.

A member of the commission told the Dhaka Tribune: “In most cases, contractual jobs have been given to retired or serving army personnel and sometimes to retried bureaucrats...Because of these appointments, existing carders are feeling deprived.”

Another commission member said: “Administrative cadres are usually controlled by the bureaucracy. So, neither appointing people from outside nor cancelling contractual jobs is easy.”

Some officials believe that political governments get the opportunity to appoint people contractually because of the declining standard of civil bureaucrats.

“Contractual appointment is a common practice around the world for better service. But excessive contractual appointments of chosen officers to key positions in the name of better service have become common in Bangladesh,” observed a senior official of the Establishment Ministry.

The two central jails have closed-circuit cameras, mobile phone jammers and 24/7 security checking but nothing can stop top criminals from contacting the outside world.

A travel agency businessman from the capital’s Jatrabari area, who went missing four days ago, was killed at the behest of his wife over her extramarital affairs, the Detective Branch of police said yesterday.

5 | World

Pope Francis condemned the “brutal persecution” of minorities by Islamic State insurgents and said the joy of Christmas was marred by the suffering of children.

7 | Entertainment

A soiree of Rabindra Sangeet by promising Bangladeshi singers Avik Deb and Avaya Dutta will be held today at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in the capital’s Gulshan.

B1 | Business

The budget for FY2014-15 was said not to be a good one for the telecom industry as it increased VAT to 15% from 10% on mobile handsets import.

its student wing Chhatra Dal terrorists first launched the attacks in a bid to create a political unrest in the country.

Referring to the attack on Awami League lawmaker Chhabi Biswas by Chhatra Dal Hanif said: “If such violence continues people too will attack the cars of BNP leaders.”

Hanif asked BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and the leaders of her party to stop delivering provocative speech and refrain from terrorist activities.

Awami League never tolerates violence and terrorist activities, Hanif said and urged the government to punish those BNP men involved in the violence and attacks on Chhabi Biswas.

When visiting Chhabi Biswas at the DMCH State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal denied involvement of Chhatra League in Wednesday’s violence in Bakshibazar.

He also solely blamed BNP and its student wing Chhatra Dal for the chaos and anarchy.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Friday, December 26, 2014

Boxing Federation secretary accused of extortion Kuddus says not first time Jacko has spread ‘misinformation’ about him n Mohammad Jamil Khan Ali Jacko, a former five-time world kick-boxing champion, yesterday brought an allegation of extortion against Bangladesh Boxing Federation Secretary.

Ali Jacko, a Bangladesh-born British citizen, brought the allegation at a press briefing at Rajmoni Ishaka Hotel in the capital.

“When I won the boxing championship for the first time, I decided to do something for our country. And to do soI started contacting the Ministry of Sports and came to Bangladesh on No-

According to the case statement, Jacko took Tk7,00,000 from Aminul in exchange for providing a job to his brother Mehedi Hassan in Britain vember 1 the same year,” Jacko said.

“Before I came to Bangladesh to boxing federation, the ministry told me that I could be able to choose boxers by myself.”

But Boxing Federation Secretary Kuddus Khan opposed it and put forward some conditions saying “I have to pay him Tk7,00,000 for each of the boxers I pick up.”

Kuddus also wanted his son to be included in the training team, he alleged.

As, he said, he denied Kuddus told him that Jacko could not take boxers this way: “I have came to Bangladesh formally after contacting with the ministry.”

Jacko blamed some media for pub-

lishing negative report on him.

He strongly believed that federation Secretary Kuddus influenced those media correspondents to run stories against him.

Jacko further said: “The more surprising part is that someone named Aminul Islam with whom I have never met filed a case against me on charge of trafficking young people.”

He said he only knows one FIR-listed person who is his Personal Secretary Shafiqul Islam while he claimed he was not at all acquainted with other two persons named Mizan and Abul Hossain.

Second FIR-listed accused in the FIR was shown as his driver, he said.

According to the case statement Jacko met Aminul at Longbitch Hotel lobby at Gulshan-2 on November 14 where Jacko used to stay and took Tk7,00,000 from Aminul in exchange for providing a job to his brother Mehedi Hassan in Britain.

Jacko denied the allegation.

He termed it a false, baseless and fabricated saying that Kuddos brought the allegation as he refused to pay him.

“I don’t know, how, the magistrate of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court just issued a warrant against me without verifying the case paper. It is my personal opinion that I think the court needs to be more careful about it,” added Jacko.

The Dhaka Tribune contacted Secretary of Boxing Federation MA Kuddus Khan. He refuting the allegation, said: “I have no personal enmity with Jacko.

Why should I file a case against him.”

“This is not the first time, Jacko was spreading misleading information about me. I have already sent a letter to the Sports Ministry to take action against him,” added Kuddus. l

A manhole without a cover, a common sight in Dhaka, lies in the middle of a busy street in Kakrail posing a risk of accidents to commuters. The photo was taken yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Chhatra Dal and Chhatra League trade barbs and threats following Bakshibazar clashes n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Just the day after a clash between the two arch-rivals, Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the BNP, on Thursday said the Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League, is not a student organisation but a “militant” organisation.

“Through the statement of general secretary of Chhatra League, it is clear that Chhatra League is an organisation of imbeciles. They not only attack opposition men with indecent language

150 BNP men sued over Bakshibazar clash n Tribune Report Two cases were filed against 150 leaders and activists of the BNP and its youth and student wings in connection with Wednesday’s clash with Chhatra League men in Bakshibazar of the city.

Former Chhatra Dal president Azizul Bari Helal and incumbent President Rajib Ahsan have been named as accused in a case filed on the night of the incident.

Sub-Inspector Saheb Ali of Nilkhet

police camp filed the case with Shahbagh police station against 23 identified and some 50-60 unidentified Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal men. They were accused of attempting to murder Awami League MP Chhabi Biswas and also of arson, vandalism and attack on law enforcers.

In another case filed with Chawkbazar police station by SI Delwar Hossain, some 70 identified and another 30-40 unnamed BNP men were accused for assaulting the police.

As of yesterday police detained around 50 persons in connection with the case.

On Wednesday, BNP leaders and activists clashed with Chhatra League activists near Bakshibazar makeshift court ahead of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s appearance in the court in two corruption cases. At least 30 people including AL MP Chhabi Biswas were injured in the clash. Miscreants also torched the lawmaker’s car parked in front of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. l

Tofail: Khaleda wants to destabilise country n Our Correspondent, Bhola Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia wants to destabilise the country just when it is going along the path of development.

“Remember Pakistan where 146 peo-

ple were shot dead at an army-run school.

Pakistan is a dysfunctional state and some wants to make Bangladesh similar,” he said while inaugurating a programme in Bhola, marking the Bangladesh Television’s Golden Jubelee yesterday.

Khaleda had on Tuesday threatened an all-out movement in the new year,

2015, just six days away. Just within less than 24 hours on Wednesday noon, her party leaders and activists clashed with Chhatra League activists near Bakshibazar makeshift court ahead of her appearance before it in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. At least 30 people were injured in the clash. l

but many senior leaders of the Awami League have also become victims of their indecent attacks,” said a Chhatra Dal press release.

The press statement, signed by Chhatra Dal President Rajib Ahsan and General Secretary Akramul Hasan, also said: “But this time the Chhatra League general secretary’s statement has passed all previous records of indecency. This proves that Chhatra League is not a student organisation rather a militant organisation.”

Activists and supporters of arch ri-

vals BNP and Awami League locked in a series of clashes yesterday centring on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s appearance in a Dhaka court, turning the Bakshibazar, Plassey and Chankharpool areas of the capital into battle zones.

At least 40 people on both sides, including ruling party lawmaker Chhabi Biswas, were injured during the clashes.

Ruling party MP Chhabi Biswas was injured during the clashes yesterday around noon. In the evening, Siddique Nazmul Alam, general secretary of the Awami League’s student body, in a

Prime minister urges BTV to improve programmes n BSS Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday highly praised the role of Bangladesh Television (BTV) in flourishing Bangali culture and heritage across the world asking the national television channel to cope up with technology and public demand.

She said: “BTV must produce life-oriented programmes to attract audience.

It should not be limited in supplying information. The national television must work as an institution which will guide taste and behaviour of the people.”

The prime minister made the statement while inaugurating weeklong Golden Jubilee programmes of Bangladesh Television at a function at its Rampura Bhaban premises yesterday.

Sheikh Hasina said the government wants to make BTV as a real national institution. So BTV must keep it abreast

with new technologies and public demand while producing programmes.

As the prime national broadcaster, BTV’s responsibility was quite different from private channels, she said. “Private channels give priority to their business while BTV have to give importance to the demand of the people,” she added.

She asked the concerned officials to create scope for talented, creative and competent persons in producing BTV’s programmes to retrieve the past glory.

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor and PM’s Media Advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury attended the function as special guests while Information Secretary Martuza Ahmed was in the chair.

Noted singer Ferdousi Rahman, also the first singer of the television, and first Director General of BTV Jamil Chowdhury attended the function as guests of honour. l

Five sackfuls

AL blames BNP for Bakshibazar

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

drive yielded a huge sum of money hidden away in holes inside the wardrobe and even in holes inside the walls of the house, he said. Officials said counting the money took some time because they “have to note down the serial numbers of the bills.”

Mohammad Ali, the flat owner, said there was around Tk4cr in his hoard of cash. But he said the gold bars that the CIID officials recovered do not belong to him.

Mohammad said Sirajganj Sadar Upazila Chairman Riaz Uddin, a close associate, asked him to hold the gold in his house for him. He said he did not know anything else about it.

Asked about the currency, Mohammad said he was a businessman and the owner of Ali Sweets in the capital’s Dhanmondi neighbourhood. He said he had a property development company called “Sava.”

He said as a businessman he needed available cash and because transferring or carrying money to and from the bank is not safe, he keeps a large amount at home. A member of the National Board of Revenue, Fariduddin, said at the briefing that the operation was a success and such drives would increase.

Asked about filing a case in this regard, CIID Deputy Director Mostafiz said Mohammad Ali is in custody and will be shown arrested once a case is filed after the money is recounted.

No case had yet been filed in this regard when the report was written at 11:55pm. l

Customs Intelligence officials calculate the huge amount of local and foreign currencies recovered from a house in the capital’s Purana Paltan area yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Awami League Publicity and Publication Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud at another programme alleged that BNP-Jamaat terrorists unleashed a reign of terror on the court premises on Wednesday to hinder the trial proceeding.

On Wednesday, BNP leaders and activists clashed with Chhatra League activists near Bakshibazar makeshift court ahead of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s appearance in the court in two graft cases.

At least 30 people including ruling party MP Chhabi Biswas were injured in the clash.

Following the clash, two cases were filed against 150 leaders and activists of BNP and its youth and student wings on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, about January 5 programme of BNP, the Awami League leader Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif warned at yesterday’s press conference that any move to deteriorate law and order would be resisted with an iron hand.

In another discussion meeting at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital Awami League Dhaka city unit General Secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya instructed the party activists to take to the street from the beginning of January to resist BNP-Jamaat.

On November 12 Awami League announced that it would observe January

5 (the day when the national election was held in 2014) as the “Victory Day of Democracy”.

The BNP-led 20-party alliance, however, termed January 5 a “Black Day” and also announced several programmes on the day.

On Monday the alliance sought permission from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police to hold public rallies in the capital on January 3 and 5 to mount pressure on the government to hold national election under a non-partisan government.

The BNP and its associated organisations leaders also vowed that they would take to the street on January 5 at any cost. l

BNP men asked  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

away. Until a decision is made, we hope that they will be able to restrain themselves.” On Wednesday, centring Khaleda Zia’s court appearance in a graft case, the Bakshibazar area in Old Dhaka turned into a battlefield as BNP and Awami League men locked into an hour-long clash. Allegedly, police remained silent in the beginning and eventually attacked on the opposition men to disperse the mob. Days before the Wednesday skirmishes, there were media reports that the BNP had been planning a major showdown. l

Facebook status threatened to beat up BNP bigwigs like “stray dogs.”

“As Chhatra League has lost its courage to face the opposition on a level playing field, they are just screaming. This associate body of the Awami League remains busy in the manipulation of tenders, extortion and other misdeeds under the direct patronage of the government,” the press statement said.

“If thy continue such language then militant Chhatra League will be resisted,” it said. l

Picnic trawler capsizes in Meghna n Our Correspondent, Bhola A picnic trawler carrying 50 passengers capsized in the Meghna River in Tazumuddin upazila of Bhola district.

However no one was reported to be injured in the incident, which took place yesterday around 3pm at Katakhali area of the river.

Chachara union parishad Chairman Abu Taher said two trawlers hired by Friends Club of Lalmohan upazila were going to Monpura with about 150 passengers.

“At one point, the trawler driven by Jasim hit a hidden shoal and capsized.

However, passengers of the other trawler rushed to the spot and rescued all the passengers,” he added. l

Public servants  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

There are allegations that despite being inefficient, many people were appointed for contractual jobs only from political considerations.

When contacted, former adviser to a caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “Ending contractual jobs in the public administration without building an efficient regular work force will not be a good idea.” l

ACC: Moosa  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

“But he has to answer those questions.”

Chuppu told the journalists.

The commissioner also said the ACC had taken the issues seriously and until finding the source of his arms business and unusual income the commission will stick to its inquiry.

The anti-graft body will also investigate the sources of income of Moosa as a Bangladeshi citizen and his income tax payment, the commissioner informed.

“On December 18, the commission interrogated him for the first time. So in future if the commission thinks that Moosa needs to be interrogated extensively, the commission will summon him again.” told Chuppu.

The anti- graft body took the decision to investigate into the allegation against Moosa on November 3.

Inquiry Officer and ACC Senior Deputy Director Jainul Abedin Shibli asked Moosa to appear before the commission on December 4. But Moosa appeared before the commission on December 18 to face the questionings. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Gang leaders control criminal underworld from jails n Mohammad Jamil Khan

The two central jails have closed-circuit cameras, mobile phone frequency jammers and round-the-clock security check-up but nothing can stop top criminals from contacting the outside world.

They maintain liaison with their accomplices by using secret codes and cell phones to control the underworld even from behind bars.

They are extorting, dealing in arms business and even killing people without facing any charge through their middlemen called “contract killer”.

Most of the hired killers come from young age group and the deal is cut in exchange for a hefty amount, sources from the underworld criminals and intelligence officials said.

The top criminals manage everything in connivance with a section of dishonest officials and security guard officials in both central jails – Dhaka Central Jail and Kashimpur Central Jail.

In recent times the country has witnessed a sharp rise in criminal activities especially murders and most cases killers are hired.

The law enforcers found involvement of “contract killers” in the murder of tannery trader Sattar in the capital’s Hazaribagh area on December 14.

RAB came to know that top criminal Emon, staying in jail masterminded the murder and the plan was executed by a hired goon in a bid to take control of extortion business in Hazaribagh tannery industry.

Lt Col Masud Rana, commanding officer of RAB-2, said they got the information of involvement of top criminal Emon while investigating the case.

They are now keeping an eye on Emon’s accomplices to trace out the entire racket, added Lt Col Masud.

In June this year, some contract killers attempted on the life of former president of Chhatra League and Awami League leader Enamul Haque Shamim.

One of the killers was 19-year-old Mehedi Hossain Saikat.

The interesting part is that he was hired by top criminal Ashiq’s close associate Monir. Monir made the deal with Saikat only for Tk5,500. He was given only Tk500 in advance to kill Shamim.

The information was unearthed after the arrest of Saikat.

On may 15 this year assailants killed Water Development Board contractor Sultan Ahmed. Police said two contract killers participated in the killing mission.

Sanowar Hossain, additional deputy commissioner of Detective Branch (DB) of Police, however said use of contract killers in killing and other criminal activities is not something new.

Due to massive crackdown many top criminals were caught and now behind bars while some others escaped out of the country, he said.

“Contract killing came to a cease but once again it has sprouted and surprisingly most of the killers are aged between 18 and 24,” he said.

Not only Emon other top criminals like Khandokar Nayem Ahmed Titon, Sohel alias Freedom Sohel, Khorshed Alam alias Rashu, Abbas alias Killer Abbas, Kamal Pasha alias Pasha, Arman, Moshiur Rhaman Kochi and Imamum Hossain Helal alias Picchi Helal are too allegedly hiring killers to establish their supremacy in their respective hunting grounds.

A member of underworld gang said they used to pass cell phones into the jail by managing the security guards of the prison.

Criminals inside the jail put the phone in a condom tied to a piece of rope and then hide it in the toilet cistern, he said.

Cell phones are also kept inside a television or radio set or in a packet of

biscuit,” says the gang leader requesting anonymity.

“Sometimes they exchange information by using code word on a chit as they are brought out of the jail to appear before a court, he said while talking to this correspondent over cell phone from abroad.

A couple of months back there was a huge reshuffle in the jails across the country based on reports of negligence in duty.

The Ministry of Home Affairs also formed a committee with high officials to stop such offences inside jails.

The committee has already submitted its recommendations to the authorities concerned.

The report suggested that use of cell phones be stopped in jails and instead it advised the jail authorities to set up phone booths at every jail.

The report went so far as to advise the authorities to completely stop cell phone frequency in the area.

Brig Gen Sayed Iftekhar Uddin, inspector general of prison, however denied that criminals communicate with their accomplices over mobile phone staying inside jails.

The jails have strict laws and vigilance in place and there is no way of doing such things, he said. l

Three people were injured in a fire at a house in Dakhkhin Keraniganj area of Dhaka early yesterday.

The victims are Shahin, 26; and his two sisters Taslima, 16, and Aasia, 15.

They are undergoing treatment at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.

Doctors at the hospital said Shahin received 30% burns in his body, while Aasia and Taslima received 45% and 30% burns respectively.

The fire broke out when Aasia struck a match and lit a fire to turn on a gas burner for cooking foods in their kitchen at Par Gendaria Sarkarbari around 5:30am, said South Keranjganj police station Officer-in-Charge Jamal Uddin.

Meanwhile, Shahin and Taslima were suffered burn injuries as they tried to rescue Aasia, he said.

The fire might have originated due to a leakage in a gas pipeline, he added.

Monir Hossain, a neighbor of the victims, said they heard a big sound from the house in the morning. Later, it was found that a fire broke out at the house.

The neighbors brought the flame under control after about 30 minutes efforts.

Earlier on August 20, five members of a family had sustained burn injuries in a fire originated from mosquito coil at the same house. Later, three of the injured had died while undergoing treatment. l

WEATHER

DRY WEATHER LIKELY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:19PM SUN RISES 6:40AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 26 27 24 25 26 26 27 27

14 15 10 11 10 13 10 16

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

30.0ºC Cox’s Bazar

8.3ºC Chuadanga

Source: Accuweather/UNB

n Tribune Report Beerangonas (war heroines) should be conferred the highest gallantry award for their contribution to the country’s achievement of independence in 1971, urged the participants of the first winter school of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Justice, Liberation War Museum yesterday morning.

At the closing ceremony of the eightday programme at the Proshika Human Resource Development Centre, Manikganj, they presented a list of intents to spread the core message of the Liberation War and the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) through campaign, activism, and movement.

The forty participants from different academic disciplines of both public and private universities as well as from various professional sectors also vowed to initiate a movement to try the 195 prisoners of war, who were handed over to Pakistan through the tripartite agreement among Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Pakistan however took no visible step in trying those suspected war criminals in the last four decades.

Welcoming their vow, special guest Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, an academic and popular writer, expressed his will-

n Tribune Report

A passenger dares to cover this huge distance by jumping off a bus in the capital’s Malibagh area yesterday. The sorry state of the road bears no sign of the recently done repair work there MEHEDI HASAN

Two suspected criminals killed in shootout in two districts n Tribune Report Two suspected criminals were killed and three others injured in police shootouts in Pabna and Comilla districts yesterday.

Our Comilla correspondent reports, four suspected criminals received bullet wounds in a gunfight with the Detective Branch of Police early yesterday. Of the four, Azad Khan, 25, succummed to his injuries at Comilla Medical College Hospital. The other three injured were Kawser, 22, Jewel, 20, and Sayam, 22.

According to the police, Azad was the associate of Jira Sumon, the ringleader of inter-district robbery gang.

He was son of Shamsher Khan and hailed from Asok Tola under the district’s Sadar upazila.

The DB police Sub-Inspector Firoz said following a tip-off, they raided Talpara Bridge area in the Sadar upazila around 3am where Azad and five others were taking preparations to commit a robbery.

The DB official said when they approached the area, sensing the presence of law enforcers, the gang started firing at them to which police also retaliated.

During the 30-minute gunfight,

ingness to extend help to such an initiative with documents and evidence of his father’s killing by Pakistani army in 1971.

About the current trial of local collaborators, he said, “There may be many criticisms of the present government on different issues, but we all should support the government in conducting the trial of the war criminals.”

Chief guest Ferdousi Priyobhashini, a war heroine, conferred certificates and three special awards to the participants for their best academic excellence, performance and role playing in a non-judicial hearing.

The winter school included lectures on genocide, justice, transitional justice, witness and victim protection and support, visit to a battle field and place of occurrence of genocide, screening of documentaries on the Liberation War and related issues, cultural performance and group exercise on each of the areas.

Local and international experts, academicians on genocide and international criminal laws, prosecutors and investigators of the ICT took classes on various matters related to genocide and its justice and prevention. Liberation War Museum Trustees Sarwar Ali, Mofidul Hoque, and prosecutor Tureen Afroz were present at the programme. l

PRAYER TIMES 5:18am 6:38am 11:59am 3:43pm 5:19pm 6:40 pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Azad was critically injured and later succumbed to his injuries around 5:30am at the hospital, the SI said. The other injured were given primary treatment at the same hospital, he added.

Our Pabna correspondent reports that a suspected robber was killed by police in an alleged gunfight on Lalpur-Ishwardi road near Raju Cinema Hall in Ishwardi.

The dead was Jahangir, 30. The police said they also recovered a revolver and a bullet from the spot.

Biman Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Ishwardi police station, said a gang of robbers were looting passengers after forcing them to stop their vehicles near Raju Cinema Hall around 4am.

Police then went to the spot and at one stage, the criminals shot at them, prompting the police to retaliate, the OC said. Most of the gang members fled the scene while Jahangir was found bullet-wounded at the spot, the OC claimed.

The police first took Jahangir to Ishwardi Upazila Health Complex and then to Pabna Medical College Hospital. He had succumbed to his injuries on the way to hospital, Biman Kumar said. l

Two Bangladeshi workers were killed after they were trapped in wet concrete following the collapse of a floor being levelled at an LRT terminal construction site in Putra Heights, Selangor, Malaysia, on Wednesday.

According to a report by Bernama, Malaysian state news agency, the bodies of the workers were recovered from the collapsed wet concrete around 10:30pm on Wednesday and 1:10am yesterday.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Assistant Director of Operations Mohd Sani Harul said: “The body recovered Wednesday had been identified as that of Md Suman Mollah, 30, while the body found yesterday is yet to be identified.”

“The bodies were sent to Serdang Hospital for a post mortem,” he added.

Sani said the first floor where six workers were levelling wet concrete collapsed at 4:20pm, trapping the two workers, who were on the ground floor at the LRT terminal construction site in Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru, Putra Heights of Selangor.

Four of the six workers who fell along with the flooring were injured while two escaped unhurt, he said, adding that the injured workers were sent to the Putrajaya and Serdang hospitals.

Sani said the Selangor Fire and Rescue personnel called off the searchand-rescue operation after the second body was recovered early yesterday.

This is the second accident involving the LRT construction this year. In the first, on June 26, a man and a woman were injured when a steel beam fell on a car at Jalan Lapangan Terbang Subang. l

Chhatra League blames BNP for Bakshibazar clash n Arif Ahmed The Chhatra League yesterday blamed the BNP and its associate bodies for the clash at Bakshibazar in the capital.

They said they just tried to “protest” the attacks by them on Dhaka University (DU), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) and Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on Wednesday.

The BNP however blamed the Chhatra League saying they were attacked by the Awami League and Chhatra League men.

The student wing of the ruling Awami League termed this a “propaganda” against them.

To protest this “propaganda,” they held a press conference at the central office at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.

At the press conference, H M Badiuz-

zaman Shohag, president of the ruling party’s student wing, said BNP top “terrorists” had attacked DU, Buet and Dmch.

“Chhatra League activists went to protest it and when a clash ensued, we ordered our activists to leave the scene.”

When Shohag was asked about the Chhatra League’s involvement in the clash, which was reported by media yesterday, he said: “They are not BCL men; they are rebels of BNP”.

The BNP-led 20-Party Alliance set December 27 for holding a rally in Gazipur and its leader Khaleda Zia asked her party leaders to make it a success at any cost.

The Chhatra League meanwhile declared to hold a rally at the same place on the same day to protest the recent remarks of the BNP’s Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

When Shohag was asked about the December 27 rally, he said: “Chhatra League has already completed all their relevant activities to make the rally a success.”

“BCL will stage the rally at any cost”, he said, adding: “If any chaos is created on that day over the rally, the BNP has to take the responsibility”.

He also said they would announce further programmes against the BNP until Tarique apologised for his remarks on the Bangabandhu.

At least 40 persons from both sides, including Awami League MP Chhabi Biswas, were injured during the clash on Wednesday.

Chhatra League Vice Presidents Joydeb Nandi, Mohiuddin Mahi and Joint General Secretary Mostafhizur Rahman Mostaque, Dhaka University Chhatra League General Secretary Omar Sharif were present at the press conference. l

Bangladeshi farmer shot dead

by BSF, two more injured n Our Correspondent, Chuadanga

Fajr Sunrise Jumma Asr Magrib Esha

‘Beerangonas deserve highest gallantry award’

Two Bangladeshis killed in Malaysia site accident

Three siblings injured in fire in capital n Tribune Report

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

3

Friday, December 26, 2014

The Border Security Force (BSF) of India shot dead a Bangladeshi farmer while he was working in the field on Bangladesh side. Two more farmers were injured in the same incident.

The incident took place yesterday evening at Medenipur border area in Jibonnagar upazila of Chuadanga district.

According to the Director of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) 6 of Chuadanga Lieutenant Colonel SM Moniruzzaman, Mashiur Rahman, 35, Jamal

Hossain, 28 and Abdul Aziz, 25 were working on the agricultural land near the border.

“At around 5pm, the patrolling group of Putikhali camp under 173 BSF battalion opened fire on them without any instigation. Mashiur died on the way to the hospital,” he said.

The BGB director further said they had filed a formal complaint against BSF in a flag meeting right after the incident.

“We will also send a protest letter to the top level and try to organise a commander-level flag meeting,” he added. l

Agitated workers of Azim Garments Ltd block a road in the capital’s Mohammadpur area yesterday fearing that the factory might shut down without paying their two months’ overdue wages DHAKA TRIBUNE

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Friday, December 26, 2014

Cheating wife has husband killed in the capital n Mohammad Jamil Khan

lover Emon and uncle Masum because of family conflicts that had arisen over her extramarital affairs.

“They took position around 10:30pm at Khan Bhaban in Jatrabari on December 20 to kill Altaf. When he entered the house after work, they beat him up and strangled him to death,” Deputy Commissioner Masud said.

They then took the body to Gazipur National Forest to get rid of it, transporting it in a rented microbus around 11pm on December 21, he said.

Detectives recovered Altaf’s body based on statements made by Mousumi and Masum, and sent it to Gazipur Sadar Hospital for autopsy.

A murder case was filed with Jatrabari police station by the victim’s brother Jalal. Police are searching for the two absconding accomplices, Imon and Emon, Masud added. l

A travel agency businessman from the capital’s Jatrabari area, who went missing four days ago, was killed at the behest of his wife over her extramarital affairs, the Detective Branch of police said yesterday.

The victim was Altaf Hossain, 45.

Detectives arrested the victim’s second wife, Mousumi Akther, 21, and Mousumi’s uncle, Masum, 25, for their suspected involvement in the killing.

“Based on information from the arrestees, detectives recovered the body of Altaf from Lion Forest in the National Park, under Joydebpur police station of Gazipur, on Wednesday,” Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman said.

Masud said Altaf lived with his wife at Khan Bhaban in the Konapara area

of Jatrabari. On December 21 around 8:30am, the victim’s younger brother, Jalal Hossain, tried to call him on his cell phone but found that it was switched off, Masud said.

Jalal later called Mousumi’s cell phone but she denied knowing anything of Altaf’s whereabouts. Failing to track his brother down, Jalal filed a general diary with Jatrabari police station, Masud said.

Upon receiving the complaint, DB Police Assistant Commissioner Mahmud Naser Jony started an investigation and found that Mousumi was involved in Altaf’s disappearance, Masud said.

“The DB, upon getting the evidence, arrested Mousumi and her uncle Masum from the Jatrabari area around 2:30am on December 23,” he said.

In primary interrogation, Mousumi told detectives she planned to kill Altaf with her younger brother Imon,

JaPa leader’s son held for mugging n Tribune Report

Political showdown continues centring BNP’s Gazipur rally

Navy seizes 90,000 yaba tablets from bay

A listed mugger of Chittagong’s Bakalia zone, who is also the son of a local Jatiya Party (JaPa) leader, was held on Wednesday.

A team of Bakalia police station arrested him from Shah Amanat Bridge area of the port city.

Saddam Hossain, 23, son of Shah Alam and Rabeya Basri Bokul, allegedly snatched a mobile phone from a man named Nurul Islam in the area under Bakalia police station around 9pm.

Receiving a complaint from Nurul, police held Saddam by conducting a raid in the area and recovered the mobile phone, said Bakalia police station Officer-in-Charge Mohammed Mohsin.

“Saddam was an accused in four cases lodged with Bakalia police station. His mother Rabeya Basri Bokul contested in the last city corporation election in Chittagong for the reserved post of female councillor,” he said.l

n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

With just a day to go before the rally of the BNP at Gazipur’s Bhawal Badre Alam College ground tomorrow, tension in the area is soaring as activists and leaders of the Awami League and the BNP continue to flex muscle.

The ruling party’s associate organisations Jubo League, Chhatra League and Sramik League brought out a procession yesterday afternoon as part of their on going demonstration against the BNP rally.

Wielding sticks and chanting slogans, they toured the Dhaka-Tangail highway before holding a brief rally in front of the college campus. Central member of Jubo League Heera Sarkar, convenor of Bhawal college unit of Chhatra League Idris Ali and joint convenor Faizur Rahman spoke at the rally among others.

Officer-in-Charge of Joydebpur po-

lice station Khandkar Rezaul Karim Reza said a large number of law enforcers and a water cannon had been deployed in and around the college field.

“We also arrested four activists of the BNP and its various wings in allegation of anarchy. But there were cases against them already,” he added.

Meanwhile, Chhatra Dal, the student body of the BNP, prepared to bring out a procession around noon but later cancelled the plan.

District’s Chhatra Dal Senior Vice-President Monirul Islam Monir said police did not allow them to bring out any procession.

President of Gazipur unit of the BNP, AKM Fazlul Haq Milon said: “Though we have the permission, we are not allowed go to the rally ground. But others are holding processions and rallies under police protection. No matter what the obstacles are, we will make the December 27 rally a success.”

50km traffic jam on Dhaka-Comilla Highway n Tribune Report A 50-kilometre long traffic congestion created on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway yesterday following a road accident, causing sufferings for commuters.

Highway police sources said a vegetable-laden truck overturned in Nimsar area in the morning.

Although the vehicular movement resumed after the truck was removed from the spot within an hour, but the

situation did not improve that much due to the pressure of huge vehicles on the highway.

Officer-in-Charge of Mainamoti Highway police station Sohel Ahmen said a huge rush of vehicle was noticed since morning until night on a 50 kilometres stretch on the highway from Alekhachar to Daudkandi.

Moreover, the traffic congestion created as a large number of vehicles ran on the highway due to three-day holi-

days from Thursday to Saturday.

Advocate M Sobhan who was coming to the capital by a bus of Asia Paribahan said: “I travelled three kilometres in six hours.” He said he had started from Maiyar around 8am and reached Daudkandi around 2:30pm.

He said: “Police are struggling to ease traffic jam.” “We are clearing the road by rushing in additional personnel to the spot as soon as we get any report of traffic jam from any place.” l

AGM of Gemini Sea Food held n Tribune Report The 32rd annual general meeting of Gemini Sea Food Ltd was held in the capital on Monday. Chairperson of the company Ameena Ahmed presided over the session. This year, the company sold commodities worth Tk95.45 crore earning a profit of Tk7.46 crore.

The profit stands at Tk1.14 crore and net profit stands at Tk0.15 crore. l

FOUR MURDER CASE

Prime accused arrested Correspondent, n Our Mymensingh

The prime accused in the case for murder of a local Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal leader and three members of his family in Bhaluka upazila was arrested early yesterday.

The arrested was identified as Hafizur Rahman Tanu, 25.

On a tip-off, a team of Mymensingh police in association with Gazipur police launched a drive in the Tongi and arrested Tanu, sources at Mymensingh police said.

Earlier, on December 16, the bodies of Rafiqul Islam Bachchu, general secretary of Habirbari union unit of Sramik Dal, and his wife Parul Akhter and two daughters Jiniya Akhter, 6, and Rima Akhter from Tongi of Gazipur district were found at their house in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh. l

Traffic sergeants checking driving licence and registration documents of a car in Rajshahi’s Kamaruzzaman intersection yesterday as part of RMP’s ongoing drive to penalise unauthorised motor vehicle drivers in the city DHAKA TRIBUNE

He further added that police had arrested about 15 of their activists in the last three days.

Extending support to Chhatra League’s protest programmes, district AL General Secretary Azmat Ullah Khan said it was beyond political norms for Tarique Rahman to make such remarks on Bangabandhu.

Gazipur Superintendent of Police Haroon-ur-Rashid said they had been observing the situation. “It will be better if the parties resolve it mutually. But we will not allow anyone to create anarchy in the name of rally,” he added.

The BNP-led alliance recently announced to hold a public rally at Gazipur where Khaleda Zia is expected to speak as the chief guest.

However, on Sunday, Convenor of Gazipur Chhatra League Delwar Hossain vowed to thwart the BNP rally if Tarique Rahman did not apologise for his remarks on Bangabandhu. l

Bangladesh Navy seized 90,000 yaba tablets and a motorboat carrying them from the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port.

Commander Shamim Mohammad Khan said while patrolling, navy’s Special Warfare Diving and Salvage team chased the motorboat around 1am sensing its suspicious movement.

“Sensing the presence of navy personnel, the peddlers jumped into the water and swam to the shore,” he said.

The seized tablets worth Tk4.55 crore and the boat were handed over to the Chittagong Customs House.

With the latest seizure yesterday, navy and coastguard officials have seized around 11 lakh yaba tablets this year from the Karnaphuli estuary, said sources in the two law enforcement units.

The smugglers now prefer the Kan-

rnaphuli estuary over the land route of Teknaf. Mostly they use fishermen and fishing trawlers to carry the contraband items, said a Navy official.

The navy’s anti-smuggling cell said a large number of fishing trawlers operate on the outer anchorage, therefore, it was hard to trace which vessel contained yaba.

Smugglers are bringing the drug items into the country from Myanmar through the water routes on fishing trawlers.

Three teams are working behind the process, said the sources.

A syndicate from Myanmar hands over the tablets to the second syndicate near Saint Martin Island in Bangladesh who are mainly fishermen of the bay. They take the items to the third party which are the locals near the Karnaphuli River bank, they finally hand over the tablets to the yaba traders in the locality. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

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Friday, December 26, 2014

Pope condemns Islamic State, decries suffering of children n Reuters, Vatican City

Pope Francis leads a Christmas Eve mass at St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican to mark the nativity of Jesus Christ

AFP

Pope Francis yesterday condemned the “brutal persecution” of minorities

by Islamic State insurgents and said the joy of Christmas was marred by the suffering of children in the Middle East and around the world.

Tens of thousands of people flocked to St. Peter’s Square to hear the Argentine pope deliver his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message, marking the second Christmas since his election last year.

He condemned Islamic State fighters who have killed or displaced Shi’ite Muslims, Christians and others in Syria and Iraq who do not share the group’s ideologies.

“I ask him, the savior of the world, to look upon our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Syria, who for too long now have suffered the effects of ongoing conflict, and who, together with those belonging to other ethnic and religious groups, are suffering a brutal persecution,” he said.

Later he departed from his text and spoke emotionally of “children displaced due to war and persecution, abused and taken advantage of before our very eyes and our complicit silence.”

“I think also of those infants mas-

sacred in bomb attacks, also those where the Son of God was born,” he said, without elaborating. Again without elaborating, he spoke of “contemporary Herods,” with blood on their hands, referring to the Biblical king who ordered children to be killed because he saw Jesus as a threat to his power.

He also spoke of “infants killed in the womb” condemning abortion as a product of “a culture that does not love life.”

Speaking of the plight of refugees he asked that “indifference be changed into closeness and rejection into hospitality, so that all who now are suffering may receive the necessary humanitarian help to overcome the rigors of winter, return to their countries and live with dignity.”

He appealed for an end to conflicts in African countries, urged dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, condemned the attack by Taliban militants that killed more than 130 students in Pakistan last week, and thanked those helping the victims of the Ebola epidemic.

On Christmas eve, Francis made a surprise telephone call to comfort Christian refugees in a camp in Ankawa, Iraq. “You are like Jesus on Christmas night. There was no room for him either ...” he told them. l

Al-Shabab ‘strikes AU base’ in Somalia n Agencies

Protests sparked after shooting near Ferguson

Islamic State did not shoot down Jordan plane, says US

Somalia’s al-Shabab fighters have attacked African Union soldiers’ main base in the capital Mogadishu, according to Somali officials and witnesses.

The African Union force said all of its personnel as well as UN staff were unharmed in Thursday’s attack, disputing claims from a Shabab spokesman.

Colonel Ali Houmed, an AU force spokesman, confirmed the attack without providing further details. Somali police official Abdi Ahmed spoke of strong explosions at the rear entrance to the base and exchanges of gunfire, while Shabab claimed responsibility.

“Our fighters are inside the headquarters of the foreign troops in Somalia,” Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told the AFP news agency, also claiming several African Union soldiers had been killed.

A Western security source told AFP there were between 15 and 20 attackers and it was unclear whether they had entered the base.

The AU force headquarters is a fortified structure located on the grounds of the Mogadishu airport, which has also been placed under high security and is home to several embassies.

There are currently some 22,000 AU troops as part of the force, known as AMISOM, deployed since 2007.

AU peacekeepers from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti have been battling al-Shabab for years and have forced the group out of Mogadishu.l

n AP, Berkeley

n BBC

Turk arrested for ‘insulting’ Erdogan n AFP A 16-year-old high school student has been arrested in central Turkey for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by accusing him and his ruling party of corruption, local media reported yesterday.

The young boy, identified by his initials MEA, was believed to be a member of a leftist organisation, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.

He was delivering a speech on Wednesday in the central Anatolian city of Konya, a bastion of Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), in memory of a young secular teacher killed by Islamists in 1930, according to the newspaper.

The boy is now facing up to four years in prison if convicted on the charge.

Turkey’s government faced an unprecedented wave of protests in 2013 against the authoritarian and conservative policies of Erdogan, who was then prime minister.

The AKP government was shaken by a vast corruption scandal last December that dragged down four ministers facing accusations of bribery and influence-peddling.

Erdogan, who was elected president in August, angrily accused his former ally-turned-foe, US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, of concocting the graft scandal. l

Demonstrators took to the streets for a second night after a white police officer in Berkeley, Missouri, killed a black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him.

Dozens of protesters held a vigil late Wednesday at the gas station in the St. Louis suburb where Antonio Martin was shot, and they briefly blocked traffic on Interstate 170 during a march before returning to the station. Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall told KMOV-TV that six to eight people were arrested.

Later, about 75 people staged a peaceful protest early Christmas morning outside of a nearby church, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Police in riot gear were present.

The actions were calmer than a night

before, when a crowd of about 300 people gathered at the gas station, throwing rocks and bricks in a scene reminiscent of the sometimes-violent protests that followed the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson.

Unlike in the death of Brown, who was unarmed and whose shooting was not captured on video, Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said Wednesday that surveillance footage appeared to show Martin pulling a gun on the unidentified 34-year-old officer who questioned him and another man about a theft at a convenience store.

Hoskins urged calm, saying, “You couldn’t even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York,” a reference to the chokehold death of Eric Garner, another black man whose death was caused by a white police officer. l

China will follow nuclear policy of self-defence n Agencies China yesterday said there was no change in its policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, days after the country tested a new long range intercontinental ballistic missile with multiple war heads which could hit targets at a range of 12,000km.

“China has the legitimate right to conduct scientific tests within its borders. The tests are not targeting any country or targets,” Chinese defence ministry spokesman Col Yang Yujin told a media briefing here.

He was responding to questions about recent US media reports about its next generation intercontinental ballistic missile, the DF-41 which could reach almost all parts of United States.

Yang said there is no change in China’s policy of no first of use of nuclear weapons.

“What needs to be pointed is that China pursues a nuclear policy of self defence. Its policy of no first use of nuclear weapons has not changed,” Yang said.

Last week the Washington Free Beacon reported that the PLA conducted the full test of the DF-41 involving multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles on December 13.

Other media reports said the missile can carry up to 10 warheads, which separate from the rocket body during the final, third stage of flight and target individual cities.

The DF-41 flight test, using an unknown number of inert manoeuvring warheads, is being viewed by US intelligence agencies as a significant advance for China’s strategic nuclear forces and part of a build-up that is likely to affect the strategic balance of forces, the Beacon which earlier reported on Chinese missile tests said.

China’s nuclear arsenal is estimated to include around 240 very large warheads. That number is expected to increase sharply as the Chinese deploy new multiple-warhead missiles.

The current deployed US strategic warhead arsenal includes 1,642 warheads, the Beacon report said. l

The Jordanian plane that crashed in Syria was not shot down by Islamic State (IS) militants, the US says.

The plane was lost in IS territory on Wednesday morning, and the pilot has been captured.

IS militants said that they shot down the plane with a heat-seeking missile.

However, the US says “evidence clearly indicates” that this is not true.

Jordan is one of four Arab states in a US-led coalition that has launched air strikes on IS targets in Syria.

The F-16 fighter jet is the first coalition aircraft to be lost on IS territory since air strikes began in September.

IS fighters have published photographs showing the pilot being captured. They named the pilot as Flight

Lieutenant Moaz Youssef al-Kasasbeh.

In a statement, US Central Command (Centcom) said it strongly condemned the actions of IS, and confirmed the group “has taken captive the downed pilot.”

It did not say what could have caused the plane to crash.

However, it said it would not tolerate IS’s “attempts to misrepresent or exploit this unfortunate aircraft crash for their own purposes.”

“Evidence clearly indicates that Isil [IS] did not down the aircraft as the terrorist organisation is claiming,” it added.

Centcom added that the Jordanians were “valued partners” whose pilots had “performed exceptionally well” during its campaign.

The US had launched planes after

Chinese university bans Xmas, says it is ‘kitsch’ n Reuters

A university in northwestern China has banned Christmas, calling it a “kitsch” foreign celebration unbefitting of the country’s own traditions and making its students watch propaganda films instead, media said yesterday.

The state-run Beijing News said that the Modern College of Northwest University, located in Xian, had strung up banners around the campus reading “Strive to be outstanding sons and daughters of China, oppose kitsch Western holidays” and “Resist the expansion of Western culture.”

A student told the newspaper that they would be punished if they did not attend a mandatory three-hour screening of propaganda films, which other students said included one about Confucius, with teachers standing guard to stop people leaving.

“There’s nothing we can do about it, we can’t escape,” the student was quoted as saying.

An official microblog belonging to one

of the university’s Communist Party’s committees posted comments calling for students not to “fawn on foreigners” and pay more attention to China’s holidays, like Spring Festival.

“In recent years, more and more Chinese have started to attach importance to Western festivals,” it wrote.

“In their eyes, the West is more developed than China, and they think that their holidays are more elegant than ours, even that Western festivals are very fashionable and China’s traditional festivals are old fashioned.”

Christmas is not a traditional festival in officially atheist China but is growing in popularity, especially in more metropolitan areas where young people go out to celebrate, give gifts and decorate their homes.

Western culture, particularly in the form of US pop culture, is wildly popular with young, educated Chinese, which occasionally causes discomfort for the generally quite conservative ruling Communist Party. l

the Jordanian jet crashed, but the pilot was seized before a rescue attempt could be made, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The pro-IS Raqqa Media Center posted photos on its Facebook page that appeared to show the captured pilot, and men taking the aircraft out of what appeared to be a lake or river.

In a statement, the Jordanian military said: “Jordan holds the group and its supporters responsible for the safety of the pilot and his life.”

Lt Kasasbeh’s father, Youssef al-Kasasbeh, issued an appeal to IS leaders through Jordanian newspaper Saraya.

“May Allah plant mercy in your hearts and may you release my son,” he said. l

HK police arrest 12 pro-democracy protesters n AP Hong Kong police say they arrested 12 protesters who were blocking several roads in the Mong Kok neighborhood overnight Wednesday as pro-democracy demonstrators returned to the site hundreds had occupied for more than two months.

Police said in a statement yesterday that police used pepper spray and batons to break up the protest and arrested demonstrators on charges ranging from assaulting a police officer to failing to produce proof of identity. The statement said two police officers were injured in the operation.

Over the fall, thousands of protesters occupied three busy neighborhoods to demand that residents of the semi-autonomous city be allowed to elect their top executive in 2017 from an open list of candidates. Chinese officials are requiring that a committee believed friendly to Beijing select the candidates. l

MH17: Russian claims having witness ‘Kiev’s move to join Nato who blames Ukrainian pilot dangerous for Europe’ n Agencies Russian investigators announced on Wednesday that they had new proof from a witness that a Ukrainian pilot fired a missile on the day of the Malaysia Airlines crash which killed 298 people.

The witness, who was not named, worked at an airfield in the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk where he claimed to have seen a warplane take off on 17 July with air-to-air missiles and return without them.

An investigative committee statement said the testimony of the man “is

important proof that Ukrainian military was implicated in the crash of the Boeing 777.”

The MH17 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists, who have been fighting Kiev forces since April.

Ukraine and the west accuse Russia of supplying the rebels with a surfaceto-air missile launcher but Russia has issued several opposing theories, one of which involves a Ukrainian military jet allegedly seen next to the Boeing.

The statement by investigators

came on a day Kiev and the separatists were due to hold a new round of ceasefire talks.

They concluded the “difficult” marathon talks on later on Wednesday without agreeing the date of a new round aimed at ending the pro-Russian uprising devastating the ex-Soviet state’s industrial east.

The five-hour preliminary discussion in the Belarussian capital Minsk had been tentatively due to be followed by a second meeting on Friday at which a final accord was to be signed. l

n Reuters, Moscow Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine’s pursuit of Nato membership posed a danger to European security and that the West was using Kiev’s bid to join the Atlantic alliance as a way to fuel confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.

The Kiev parliament’s renunciation of Ukraine’s neutral status this week as a step toward joining Nato has outraged Moscow and deepened the worst confrontation between Russia and the West since

the end of the Cold War. Lavrov is the latest Russian official to speak out against the Kiev’s bid in recent days, and who have made clear Russia would see the Nato membership of such a strategic former Soviet republic with a long common border as a direct military threat.

“There are a few Western countries that want to maintain the crisis in Ukraine and to maintain and boost the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, including through provocative efforts toward membership in the Atlantic alliance,” he said. l

6

Child’s war

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Heritage

WIKIMEDIA

Child’s War, much neglected, or overshadowed, in both Britain, and the history of the lands that are now Bangladesh, was far from legendary. But, it perhaps marks, as much as anything, the role of individuals in history

T

n Tim Steel he history of the British Empire sometimes appears replete with the victories that built, and protected it. All good young Britons were weaned on such songs as “Rule Britannia,” or the rousing “British Grenadiers,” and observations about “the Empire upon which the sun never sets,” spanning the globe, as it did.

All this, before it was finally brought down by economic necessity.

Child’s War, however, much neglected, or overshadowed, in both Britain, and the history of the lands that are now Bangladesh, was far from legendary. But, it perhaps marks, as much as anything, the role of individuals in history.

The outcome of the war depended, undoubtedly, on the Emperor Aurangzeb’s military abilities, as much as the start of the war describes, in lurid terms, the greed that so often lies at the outbreak of such conflicts. ‘Child’s War’ ended in failure, and a humiliating defeat for Britain’s Imperial ambitions; failure and humiliation that we would do well to remember is often a rite of passage to achievement.

It was perhaps the earliest of the attempts that the British made to secure access to, if not control of, the rich opportunities for profitable trade in,

and through, the lands of Bengal. That the attempt ended with such complete humiliation of the British may explain why it never seems to have made its way into histories of Britain.

It seems to have taken the East India Company some time, in its adventures in India, to appreciate that Bengal, with its capital in Dhaka, and described by the Emperor Aurangzeb as, the ‘Paradise of Nations’, for its wealth and trade, was, in fact, where all the best business could be done.

Its first ‘factory’, was set up on the west coast, at Surat, close to Bombay, in 1612. Its second base was established at Madras, in 1640. Distracted, for a while, by the English Civil War, its third base became Bombay itself, ceded as a part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza, Princess of Portugal, on her marriage to King Charles the Second, and leased by the Company in 1688.

However, it already had come to recognise that there was a good reason for the Portuguese interest in the lands around the Ganges delta, and begun to seek an opportunity to establish a base for itself in that commercial heartland.

Described by the great English diarist, John Evelyn, in unflattering terms, ‘This merchant most sordidly avaricious etc’, the ‘etc’ leaving little to the imagination, Sir Josiah Child, having amassed a fortune, mostly, it seems, as a supplier to the Commonwealth navy of Cromwell, his wealth readily enabled him to survive the restoration of King Charles the Second, and, securing with that wealth, great influence, he became a director of the East India Company in 1677, rising to Deputy Governor, and finally Gover-

In its own way, Child’s War may, perhaps, be regarded as, in many ways, more instructive in a history of Bangladesh than the apparently better remembered tales of defeat and loss

Portrait of Sir Josiah Child by John Riley

Friday, December 26, 2014

WIKIMEDIA

nor, in 1681.

It is unsurprising, since no one has ever doubted that the spread of the British Empire was commercial in motivation, that such men as Sir Josiah, ‘who helped create colonies merely by finding personal reason for making money’, were the talented manipulators of the resources of their country, for personal gain.

As Governor of the East India Company, he was, doubtless, one of the shrewd investors and managers who were amongst the first to recognise that Bengal was, in fact, where the greatest potential in British interest in South Asia lay, not least, we may suppose, for its resource in saltpetre, the main component of gunpowder, of which it proved to have an estimated 70% of all known supply.

In 1681, the Company sent, as the first Governor of its interests in Bengal, William Hedges, a well connected former employee of the Levant Company, to Bengal.

A year later, presumably at the suggestion of Child, he was instructed to approach Shaista Khan, the Mughal Governor of Bengal, and a maternal uncle of the Emperor Aurangzeb, to negotiate an Imperial directive that would allow England trading privileges throughout the Mughal Empire. The approach, however, was evidently of sufficient arrogance that Aurangzeb broke off the negotiations.

Within three years, Child’s evident influence, especially with the Navy, and no doubt his wealth, ensured that, in 1685, probably facilitated by the confusion that surrounded the death of King Charles, and the controversial succession of his brother, James, Admiral Nicholson was sent east, with twelve ships of war, armed with 200 cannon, and crewed by 600 men. All to be reinforced by a further 400 men in Madras, with instructions to seize the Port of Chittagong. Also in the cargo were a further 200 cannon, to support armed invasion of the surrounding lands and placate the zaminders of those lands, establish a mint, and enter into negotiations with the ruler of neighbouring Arakan, from whom Chittagong had been taken twenty years earlier by the Mughals.

An early example of the appreciation of the British of the potential for playing off two sides to benefit their own interests!

En route from Britain, however, as so often happened in those days of sailing ships, the fleet was broken up by weather, and ended up, not at Chittagong, but in the Hooglie river, where, four or five years later, the East India Company would eventually establish a nascent development of what would become, first Fort William, and, later, Calcutta.

Had the lesson from this first attempt been remembered, and had Bengal, following the death of Aurangzeb, not seized on a high degree of autonomy from its Mughal rulers, history may well have been changed, not just for the lands that are now Bangladesh, but also, arguably, the entire world

The arrival of such a formidable fleet in the Hooglie alarmed Shaista Khan. However, any prospect of reaching an accommodation, if, indeed such a prospect had ever been a realistic one, ended when, following the beating of three English sailors on shore leave, the admiral opened fire on the local community.

Negotiations reopened some months later, following a standoff; negotiations which the Mughals chose, unsurprisingly, to prolong whilst they gathered an army sufficient to cope with the British … not least because their own war ships simply could not match those of the British.

A sailor named Job Charnock now had command of the fleet, and whilst the negotiations dragged on, he set up a base on the island of Ingelee, in the mouth of the Hooglie River. However, lacking fresh water, within three months, half the troops were dead from fever.

The standoff was ended when the remaining ships sailed back to the west coast, with a support base at the newly acquired Bombay, and resorted to harassing Mughal ships in what may, realistically, be described as piracy. The harassment is believed to have included the capture of a Mecca bound pilgrim ship, accompanied with the pilgrim’s wealth.

Aurangzeb, forced to recognise the British mastery of the sea, reopened negotiations. However, reinforcements for the British arrived from England, under the command of Captain Heath, who, sailing back to the east coast, first bombarded Balasore, then sailed on to Chittagong. Finding that city well defended, he returned to the East India Company base at Madras.

Aurangzeb at once ordered the confiscation of all English property in India, and before long, only the “facto-

ries” in Bombay and Madras were left, under seige.

Finally, assembling his fleet, Aurangzeb sent it to blockade Bombay.

After a year of the blockade, the British surrendered, and the adventure ordered by Child had ended in complete failure and humiliation.

The Company, determined to attempt, one last time, to maintain a presence in a country whose enormous potential they had come to recognise, sent emissaries to Aurangzeb, where they were instructed to further humiliate themselves by prostration before the Emperor, and offer large sums of money as compensation and indemnity.

This first attempt by the East India Company may well have given the Mughals some hint of both the arrogance, and the opportunism, as well as the intrinsic weakness of the British and the East India Company. Had the lesson been remembered, and had Bengal, following the death of Aurangzeb, not seized on a high degree of autonomy from its Mughal rulers, history may well have been changed, not just for the lands that are now Bangladesh, but also, arguably, the entire world.

That British historians have relegated the humiliating outcome of this adventure to the sidelines of what was to become a rather glorious, and commercially successful history, even allowing for further such humiliations, especially the century later defeat by the American colonists, is perhaps unsurprising.

In its own way, Child’s War may, perhaps, be regarded as, in many ways, more instructive in a history of Bangladesh than the apparently better remembered tales of defeat and loss. l Tim Steel is a communications, marketing and tourism consultant.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Friday, December 26, 2014

RABINDRA SANGEET soiree at IGCC today

n

Entertainment Desk

A soiree of Rabindra Sangeet by promising Bangladeshi singers Avik Deb and Avaya Dutta will be held today at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in the capital’s Gulshan area at 6:30pm.

Avik Deb, a promising Rabindra Sangeet artiste, has been training at Shurer Dhara, a prestigious cultural institute in the country, under the

Exhibition

16th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh Time: 11am – 8pm National Art Gallery Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Shifting Sands Time: 12pm – 8pm

The Truman Show Zee Studio, 2:50pm

tutelage of Rabindra Sangeet legend Rezwana Chowdhury Bannya.

The proud recipient of the Prothom Maan, a competition organised

by Bangladesh Rabindra Sangeet Sammelan Parishad in 2009, Avik has won many accolades in his short career.

He won the first prize for his Rabindra Sangeet renditions at the Tagore Festival at Darlington Hall in Devon, the UK. Avik has also performed Rabindra Sangeet in London and Ireland.

Avaya Dutta is a versatile exponent of Rabindra Sangeet in the country. She has trained in Rabindra Sangeet under the tutelage of eminent singers such as Wahidul Haque, Sanjida Khatun, Rashbihari Chakroborty, Mita Haque.

Avaya completed her six years’ course on Rabindra Sangeet at Chhayanaut in Dhaka and is currently working as an assistant teacher at the prestigious cultural institution.

She is enlisted as a regular artiste on BTV. l

Bengal Art Lounge 60, Gulshan Avenue

Film

Meghmallar, Ouija Interstellar, Gone Girl Annabelle, Pipra Bidda Ek Cup Cha, Into The Storm, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3D

7

An insurance salesman discovers his entire life is actually a T.V. show.

The Color of Money HBO Hits, 4:35pm

AMA Muhith, the finance minister, appreciates the Nakshi Kantha artworks collected from the private collection of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin as Abul Khair Litu, the chairman of Bengal Foundation and artist Maksuda Iqbal Nipa accompany him at the Chhayanat Sanskriti Bhaban on Tuesday

Fast Eddie Felson teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé the ropes of pool hustling.

Nakshi Kantha on display at Bengal Gallery

The Mexican HBO Defined, 10:30pm

n Nadira Sultana Ava An exhibition of Nakshi Kantha – a type of quilt embroidered by hand – is taking place at Bengal Shilpalaya in Dhanmondi, organised by the Bengal Foundation to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin on December 29.

Twenty-two Nakshi Kantha, collected from the private collection of Zainul Abedin, are on display at the exhibition, which opened on Tuesday and will run until January 10, open for everyone from 12-8pm.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith was chief guest, and Jahanara Abedin, Shilpacharya’s wife, was special guest at the inauguration of the exhibition on Tuesday.

The colourful patterns and designs of Nakshi Kantha was derived from

Time: 12:30pm – 10:00pm Blockbuster Cinemas, Jamuna Future Park The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 John Wick, Meghmallar Brick Mansions Time: 10am – 10pm Lavel 8, Star Cineplex

Bangla word “naksha,” which refers to artistic patterns. The early kanthas had a white background accented with red, blue and black embroidery; later, yellow, green, pink and other colours were included. Geometrical designs, human beings, animals and others are depicted through complicated yet eye-catching sewing generally on light colour fabrics. Kanthas are made throughout Bangladesh, but the greater Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Faridpur and Jessore areas are most famous for this craft.

In December last year, Bengal Foundation and Italian publication house Skira Editore jointly published a book titled “Great Masters of Bangladesh: Zainul Abedin.” It is a part of a series of publications by Bengal Foundation about prominent artists of Bangladesh. The book comprises

the life and work of the Shilpacharya, his surroundings and country, society and the art movement in Bangladesh enlightening the thought of the legendary artist.

The great contribution of Zainul Abedin in the art world has an effective influence on his family members. Their paintings were exhibited last year at Bengal Gallery under the title “Shilpacharyar Prosharito Shilpangan.” Bengal Publications also released Bangla book “Zainul Abedin”

by Abul Mansur. The monthly magazine Kali O Kalam has issued a special birth centenary volume.

Bengal Foundation has also been working with the artist’s family and preparing a series of exhibitions, which will be displayed at the Foundation’s three exhibition spaces in Dhaka. l

A man tries to transport an ancient gun called The Mexican while his girlfriend pressures him to give up his criminal ways.

Taken 2 Movies Now, 1:05pm

In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper.

KATHAK DANCE FESTIVAL UNDER WAY

NISHO and URMILA in a love story n Entertainment Desk Nisho and Urmila have recently starred as a couple new in love in a single-episode drama titled “Chirkut.” Due to air today on Maasranga TV at 7:40pm, the drama has been written and directed by Tanim Parvez and features Koyel and Oni as well.

The story follows Nisho, who falls for Urmila at first sight in one of his friend’s

birthday party. Urmila also develops fondness for Nisho, but the duo cannot express their feelings to each other.

One day, they coincidently meet at a bus stop; the ice breaks, and they start talking. In a few days, their strange acquaintance begins to take the shape of a relationship, when Nisho expresses his love towards Urmila through a note, saying if she refuses him, then he will never see her again. l

Kathak experts from around the country presented a powerful, stamping footwork to the complex rhythms of on-stage musicians at Chhayanaut Sanskriti Bhaban in a threeday Kathak Dance Festival 2014, which ends today. Organised by the Kathak Dance Community, this is the third instalment of the festival KHAN HASAN MD RAFI

LANA DEL REY gives away Big Eyes song as Christmas present n Entertainment Desk KATHERINE WATERSTON joins Steve Jobs biopic n Entertainment Desk On the heels of her breakout performance in “Inherent Vice” opposite Joaquin Phoenix, Katherine Waterston has nabbed the female lead in Universal’s Steve Jobs biopic, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Michael Fassbender is playing Apple founder and innovator Steve Jobs while Seth Rogen is attached to the role of co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Waterston will play Chrisann Brennan, Jobs’ high school girlfriend, longtime partner and the mother of his first child.

Danny Boyle is directing the untitled film based on Walter Isaacson’s book and adapted by Aaron Sorkin.

Waterston plays the ex-wife of Phoenix’s character in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Inherent Vice,” now in theaters.

Her previous films include “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her” and “Night Moves” starring Jesse Eisenberg. l

On the eve of both Christmas and the opening of Tim Burton’s film “Big Eyes,” singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey — in partnership with Yahoo!, Google Play and The Weinstein Co. — has decided to provide her fans with free downloads of her Golden Globe award- and Critics’ Choice award-nominated song from the film, which is also entitled “Big Eyes,” via Yahoo! through Google Play.

Del Rey told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m beyond excited and grateful that my fans have such a cool, unique opportunity to listen to ‘Big Eyes’ for free just in time for the holidays. What a phenome-

KALKI KOECHLIN lands a role in sociopolitical drama

nal thing that Yahoo!, Google Play and The Weinstein Company have joined together to make this happen and give audiences the gift of music.”

Harvey Weinstein, cochief of The Weinstein Co. — which is distributing “Big Eyes” added, “Lana and I were thrilled to plan a Christmas present to her fans by sharing her Golden Globe-nominated song from the movie.

Burton weighed in: “Lana’s style has such a great timeless sensibility, which fits the film so perfectly.” l

n Entertainment Desk

The Interview goes to YouTube, Google Play and Xbox were not possible. We are pleased n Entertainment Desk we can now join with our partners Sony’s “The Interview” will become available today on a variety of online platforms including YouTube Movies, Google Play, Microsoft’s Xbox Video and Sony’s own dedicated website www.seetheinterview.com, the studio has announced. The movie, which will go online at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, can be rented for $5.99 and purchased in HD for $14.99.

“It has always been Sony’s intention to have a national platform on which to release this film,” Michael

Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Entertainment, said. “With that in mind, we reached out to Google, Microsoft and other partners last Wednesday, Dec. 17, when it became clear our initial release plans

to offer the film nation-wide today.

“We never stopped pursuing as wide a release as possible for ‘The Interview.’ It was essential for our studio to release this movie, especially given the assault upon our business and our employees by those who wanted to stop free speech. We chose the path of digital distribution first so as to reach as many people as possible on opening day, and we continue to seek other partners and platforms to further expand the release.” l

Known for her unconventional roles, Kalki Koechlin recently surprised the audience as a cerebral palsy patient in the coming of age film “Margarita With A Straw.”

Now the actress is all set to star in a novel drama titled “Mantra.”

She plays the daughter of an industrialist portrayed by Rajat Kapoor. However, the details of her character are still being kept under wraps. Rajat, on the other hand, mentioned that the film will explore the social and political impact when India’s economy was liberated. Set in the 90s, the story of the film is based in Delhi. We also hear that the name “Mantra” is inspired by a restaurant’s name in the film.

Directed by debutant Nicholas Khargonkor, “Mantra” also stars Adil Hussain, Shiv Pandit and Canadian actor Lucien Dube. The film is slated to go on floors in January 2015. l

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Friday, December 26, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Don’t return to violence

T

ensions over violent street agitation have once again escalated, as BNP and ruling party activists clashed in the capital resulting in 40 people getting injured. It is also unacceptable that law enforcement personnel did not intervene in the clash for quite some time, allowing the mayhem to continue as though such behaviour were acceptable.

The run up to the January 5 elections saw a tremendous amount of political violence on the streets around this time last year, as the country was being assaulted with a series of hartals and blockades. Not only were lives lost, the nation suffered incalculable economic losses.

However, in this past year, we have clawed our way back to relative political stability. Since political uncertainty has been down, our resilient economy has been able to bounce back, with business confidence largely restored.

However, these fresh clashes in the capital threaten to undo all the good that has been achieved this year. Our culture of violence is self-destructive, and we should do all we can to continue to move away from it, not return to it. Political differences between the two clashing parties should be sorted out through negotiations and compromise, not through endangering lives, destroying property, causing general panic, and hurting the economy.

We appeal to both parties to not reverse all the improvements that have been made in terms of peace and stability in 2014, and implore them to shun violence for a stable 2015.

We appeal to both parties to not reverse all the improvements that have been made in 2014

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

Writing history December 16

nds A prodigal historian has emerged, now residing in London, who has taken upon himself the arduous task of redefining our history of the struggle for freedom and the Liberation War. We can hope that, however belated it might be, the nation can feel proud of this world-class historian, unmatched with anybody else in the world of research and academic excellence.

Karl Hungus Another contemplative yet off-the-beaten-path piece from the author. I’ve always firmly believed that our nation is somewhat of a man-child that is still clutching onto the ghosts of the past; nice to see someone finally concluding that train of thought.

Mr Kahn Thank you for a somewhat unusual (but celebratory nonetheless) op-ed on Victory Day. One simply cannot predict what Bangladesh will do next.

India launches largest rocket and unmanned capsule December 18

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 18 represents N so fill N every time the figure 18 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

shottikar bangalee The birth of worthwhile things is always painful, and it is apt that our Liberation War lasted for a period of nine months. But the baby was born, it went off into the world, and it grew up. We gave birth to it, yes, but has the child had good parenting?

A citizen This author is always a treat to read. Got me wondering though, what would really be the “mid-life” period for a nation? How long do we expect to survive?

Madiha Quite often, patriotism is mistaken for blind worship of a false ideal. This piece reminds us that we can be proud of who we are, while still maintaining perspective and the ability to think critically. That is far more respectful to the past than anything else.

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.

Court tells investigation officer to present all probe-related documents December 10

Free up farming

T

he agricultural sector in Bangladesh would benefit from opening up to market forces and international trade. The idea that a free market system hurts our economy and threatens our food security is a misguided one. We should not close ourselves up to possibilities of rice export.

In fact, it would be beneficial for our food security if farmers were freed up to pursue the cultivation of other crops, or engaged in other businesses instead of having to produce a surplus of rice.

Not only would that encourage the growth and development of other goods, it would benefit rice farmers as well – rice farmers should be free to pursue the most profitable road, and there should not be restrictions on them about which market – foreign or domestic – they can sell to.

In some cases, due to a lack of adequate storage facilities, storing surplus crops has even been a problem for some farmers who have been left with little choice but to dispose of the glut. That kind of waste in resources can be avoided by freeing up barriers to trade.

While our nation’s food security is a matter of utmost imperative, we should not fall into the trap of believing self-sufficiency is the only way to go. The way forward is not in trying to shield farmers from the free market; it is in increasing our own competitiveness through better training and better investment in latest agricultural technologies.

We should not close ourselves up to possibilities of rice export

Sharif Mirza When will it be our turn to launch one?

Committee formed to solve elevated expressway fund crisis December 18

Shammi Huda “Bangladesh Bridge Authority had initially awarded the contract to the Italian-Thai Development Company for Tk8,703 crore; the estimated cost now is over Tk9,000 crore.”

Committee? Just put the shipping minister in charge. Highly resourceful chap with a history of getting things done. In fact he solved the Sundarbans disaster just by talking about it.

Furthermore, he could probably afford to invest the tk297cr from his spare change.

AH “Sagar, news editor at Maasranga, and his wife Runi, senior reporter of ATN Bangla, were killed at their rented flat in the capital’s Rajabazar on February 11, 2012.”

How could the IO (investigating officer) have the courage to ignore court orders and fail to appear? Unbelievable!

N’ganj seven murders: HC questions sincerity of RAB’s probe December 11

Habib Regarding the court’s comment on the promotion of the probe committee to PSC, I remember how unfortunate and manipulative it was to change the judge of the Manzur murder trial day before the verdict. Was not that naked interference by Hasina? The court should have challenged that.

But, then again, there is really no rule of law in Bangladesh.

CERN’s inspiration for science December 16

HC shows green light to the sex workers’ return December 18

Humanitarians of Bangladesh “Osamajik Karjokolap Protirodh Committee to ensure safe return of the sex workers.”

Hope this will make a difference. The conservatives must be stopped.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Thespian (5) 4 Female horse (4) 7 Very small (6) 8 Gathering of witches (5) 10 Fasting period (4) 11 Projecting corner (5) 12 Lair (3) 14 Cast off (4) 17 At all times (4) 19 Land measure (3) 20 Register (5) 23 Napoleon’s isle of exile (4) 25 Sun-dried brick (5) 26 Leave empty (6) 27 Impression left by blow (4) 28 Wear away (5)

DOWN 1 Gallery of shops (6) 2 Augury (4) 3 Circle (4) 4 Stubborn animals (5) 5 Consumed (3) 6 Give up (6) 9 Weathercock (4) 13 Develop gradually (6) 15 Circle of light (4) 16 Expunge (6) 18 Respond (5) 21 Scold (4) 22 German river (4) 24 Prohibit (3)

RetiredBUET “We hope this agreement will help develop more research within the country.”

It has been nearly 100 years since Dhaka University could fairly be described as an Oxford of the East. With political violence crippling our education system, I won’t live long enough to see that day again, but for the country’s sake, we must all hope that the next generation will bring real change.

The fight for freedom today

CALVIN AND HOBBES

December 16

vhs Excellent piece. Glad to see Mahdin Mahboob is back!

Zaman Excellent writing. Keep it going, and write more.

PEANUTS

Syed Sazzad Dipon Good and informative write-up. Eight to 10 corpses arrive every day – that is very saddening and alarming at the same time! I actually had a two-day stopover in Dubai this September, and I could instantly observe that the conditions under which these foreign remittance earners were living would bring tears to anyone’s eyes.

Plus, the harassment that they have to go through starting from the BD airport itself is unimaginable. We seriously need to learn to appreciate these assets of our country!

Drinkin’ & Revenge A poignant shout out to our brothers and sisters toiling abroad. Well done.

From Trafalgar Square to war-torn Bangladesh December 16

RB “We chose to come back. We made a conscious decision. We were hopeful for the country.”

Memories of a difficult, but hopeful time. We should remember those days better.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

9

Friday, December 26, 2014

Should we have seen this coming? the landed oils. From the avifaunal and biodiversity points of view, the pollution of sand bar and mud flat were equally significant.

The study noted that, in the event of an oil spill, selecting the clean-up and rehabilitation areas on a priority basis according to environmental sensitivity maps should be taken into full consideration in advance. Natural flushing could be expected along the river banks and erosion-prone steep shores, so mechanical cleaning was of minimum necessity there.

A lesson learned is that the costs of inaction can be enormous, with potentially irreversible impacts SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

I

n Albab Akanda

n 2001, the Asian Development Bank funded a million dollar study on oil spill contingency planning for Bangladesh (TA 3357). The study, led by Japan Oil Engineering, had several components, among which the effects on mangroves in the Sundarbans Reserve Forest (SRF) of a potential oil spill in the Pussur River was analysed scientifically by national and international experts.

The TA was developed against the backdrop of the growing threat of environmental degradation at the two major ports of Bangladesh. Oil spills represented a threat to general port operations, particularly at Chittagong port, which had the only oil refinery in the country. Direct oil spill risks at Bangladesh’s second port, Mongla port, while less than at Chittagong, owing to the lower oil transport vol-

umes and absence of an oil refinery, were nonetheless significant for environmental reasons.

Mongla port is located 3km north of the SRF, which has been declared a World Heritage Site. Mongla is reached mainly through a 100km-long navigational channel that runs through the SRF. Without proper management, monitoring, and risk assessment, the movement of oil and chemical products through the SRF represented a potential major threat to the area.

The extensive mangrove areas of the Sundarbans are highly sensitive to pollutants. Among those, oil pollution does not only mean an immediate destruction of a large number of species and the destruction of the habitat, but also that deterioration of the mangroves may also lead to major changes in sediment transport and erosion, thus changing navigational conditions and reducing the chances of rehabilita-

tion of the area.

The study was designed to take a two-tiered approach to the environmental problems at the two ports.

First, at a policy level, it developed the basis of a national oil spill contingency plan that would provide the legal, regulatory, and operational frameworks for oil spill response mechanisms for Mongla and Chittagong ports. The study prepared manuals on port environmental management, forest oil spill impact assessment and monitoring, oil spill response training, as well as providing fellowships in field operations.

The program also included a twoweek study tour and intensive training in Singapore by the Singapore Ports Authority and East Asia Response Private Limited (EARL), an internationally reputed institution with IMO Levels 2 and 3 facilities.

Second, on a biodiversity conservation plane, the program analysed

the risk of contamination of areas within the SRF which are sensitive to pollution caused by oil spills, with papers on water quality and sensitivity maps, species diversity, and impact on mangroves. The Sundarbans is one of the most valuable and irreplaceable ecosystems in the globe.

The program emphasised how it was critical that Bangladesh recognised the seriousness of the situation in the Sundarbans and initiate early responses to that potentially significant environmental threat.

Of the prominent and important tree species found in the Sundarbans (Sundari, Gewa, Baen, Keora, Kankra, Passur, Golpatta), Sundari is most vulnerable to oil spills. The most potentially heavily-affected areas appeared to be such places as the Sundari-dominant areas, lower ground level, gentle inclined shore, inner fringe and basin, mud flat, and direct contact points to

T

A

few days ago, I was driving down Hatirjheel, admiring the sunset in the hazy summer sky, when you stopped alongside me at the signal. There we were, just the two of us, fellow Dhaka-ites, silently rejoicing the traffic-free roads of a Friday afternoon, when you did something I imagine you (surely?) didn’t mean to: You craned your neck out of your window, gargled and then lobbed a ball of spit … at my car.

Perhaps you underestimated your lung power, and didn’t think the projectile would cover the two feet between our vehicles. Then again, maybe you intended it to splatter on my car – which is white by the way – in a Pollockian fashion. We didn’t have a chance to catch eyes, you and I, before the signal turned green. But I’d like to assume that some corner of your brain registered at least a smidgen of remorse (did you know that paan, once dry, can only be scraped off with a steel sponge?)

for the last couple of years.

We Bangladeshis are personally very clean people. We brush our teeth and take a bath/shower every day, and wash our hands before we eat.

We keep our houses speck-free clean.

But when it comes to public places, as people we are simply unable to keep our streets, our railway stations, our hospitals, etc clean.

This is the state of affairs everywhere in Bangladesh, including towns and cities, as well as in the streets of the capital. We simply have very poor civic sense or social ethics.

What is civic sense? Civic sense encompasses the unspoken norms of society, which help it run smoothly without someone tripping on somebody else’s toes. Civic sense is all about having consideration for a fellow human being. It means being polite, showing consideration to others, driving in one’s lane without honking, throwing one’s garbage into dustbins, smoking only in designated places, not spitting in public places.

The list can go on.

Civic sense is all about having consideration for a fellow human being. It means being polite, showing consideration to others

As we start promoting Beautiful Bangladesh to the world, we need to grow a new consciousness as a nation. As we travel from Motijheel to Uttara or Agrabaad to GEC, we find the roadsides or public places littered with garbage, and people spitting and peeing in public places. This leaves us with a feeling that the whole country has been turned into a dump.

How have we allowed this state of affairs as a nation? It is truly a matter of concern. This is happening when Bangladesh has been rising with unprecedented economic growth rates

To know your enemy, they say, is to understand him. So in an effort to deconstruct this better, I went through the articles and publications by behavioral research firm Final Mile in India (they are in deep trouble in this issue). Co-founder Ram Prasad and his team have been doing field research on spitting and here’s what they’ve discovered: “No Spitting” signs are, not surprisingly, pretty ineffectual, and in fact do just the opposite, stimulating the body’s production of saliva rather than prohibiting it (the brain’s control mechanism kicks in with those

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Albab Akanda is a retired staff member of the Asian Development Bank.

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Trying to incite violence?

Just don’t do it n Mohd Fahad Ifaz

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On the other hand, virtually inaccessible forests of inner fringe and/ or inner basin might have difficulties in heavy clean-up operations, so that it would be unrealistic to save many trees. Clean-up activities, then, should be concentrated on the relatively easy places to handle, for example muddy and sandy flats or outer fringe forests, with the permanent presence of Department of Forestry staff and continued observation and monitoring.

The study emphasised that it was of prime importance to respond to an oil spill incident immediately on-site. Every effort possible should be made to contain and recover the spilled oil and not to let it stand. As the deployment of booms or skimmers might be delayed and have little effect, particularly in the monsoon season,

the use of dispersants could be a viable option, but those dispersants would only work under certain, limited circumstances.

As oils such as diesel and petrol disperse naturally, within the shortest periods, most attention should be given to tackling heavy fuels. The study recommended more field tests to clarify the effect and toxicity of dispersants to the SRF mangrove ecosystems and the most effective, least toxic, dispersant is to be screened for future use.

The study noted that improvised booms could be made from readily available materials, such as bamboos, logs, gunny bags, raw jute, rags, and straw bales, to collect the floating oils on the water surface. Involvement of locals in combating the oil spills, if possible, was highly recommended from the viewpoint of more cost-effective operation.

At a workshop on the results of the study on September 25, 2001, the then minister of agriculture, shipping, and fisheries had observed that the “lack of a monitoring and regulatory framework for the movement of oil and chemical products … is a significant threat to the SRF.” The government had promised to do all it could to protect the SRF. It is a pity that, despite the study, detailed recommendations, and intensive training, nothing substantive was done to institutionalise those recommendations. Would we have been fully prepared for what happened a few days ago? Perhaps not entirely, but at least the problem would have been recognised formally with the creation of technical and community response teams, and international support mechanisms.

Nonetheless, much of the material could be useful in developing current response mechanisms. A lesson learned is that, unless there is prompt and timely responsiveness, the costs of inaction can be enormous, with potentially irreversible impacts. l

of us who care, hence preventing the non-spitters among us from spitting).

Secondly, when one thinks that he/she is being watched, chances are they’ll be less likely to spit.

Placing an image of a pair of human eyes or a stick figure on walls helps significantly, but here’s the kicker: It works only if the area where someone is spitting happens to be clean in the first place. That, of course, would require a municipal system that regularly cleans the filthier parts of the city.

A more efficient way to go about addressing the problem is to simply refrain from mentioning it. Ram Prasad adds that: “If a lot of people are spitting, the thing to do is not get into saying that a lot of people are spitting like the headline in the newspaper … one way of communicating it correctly is to say ‘less people are spitting now’ or ‘places where spitting has reduced’ – you have to choose the norm you want to communicate.” But again, that relies on external factors, like a particularly social behaviour-savvy newspaper editor.

We’re privately smart but publicly dumb. This partly explains why you, “Spitter,” lob one on someone’s car, on the street, in a stairwell, or in the lift, but will never ever do such a thing in your home. Also, in one corner is a weak regulatory system that doesn’t punish offenders severely enough and a total lack of self-regulation on your part.

So, what can be done? We could remove the safety net of knowing you’ll never be detected. This is easily accomplished by plastering the city with banners of shame – someone takes a photo of an offender, ie you, and spreads it via cellphone. Obviously, this would require the regulatory system to function efficiently, which fortunately for you, it does not.

Thus, Spitter, you see, everything is on your side to carry on in the offensive manner in which you have done so successfully for so many years. But while we dither about finding the best solution, you could try something a tad simpler (in case you wanted to be helpful): Just don’t spit. l Fahad Ifaz is a private sector development consultant.

n Nadeem Qadir

T

he latest comment on the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made

by BNP leader Tarique Rahman is not totally unexpected, but I wish he had not done so, for good reasons.

If I am correct, he said anybody who went against the ruling Awami League was labeled a Razakar, and thus Bangabandhu – oops, sorry, in his words “Sheikh Mujib” – too was a Razakar as he had disbanded the AL to form BKSAL in 1974.

First, the young BNP leader should know the basics of history before commenting on them. BKSAL was created by bringing together all political views, and not by disbanding any party, in a bid to unite the new fledgling country called Bangladesh.

Quarters vested, both national and international, especially pro-Pakistani elements, were trying to destroy our hard-earned independence and revert us back to some kind of Pakistani supremacy, if not a return to East Pakistan.

A retired pro-Pakistan army officer I knew at that time had rejoiced Bangabandhu’s assassination and Ziaur Rahman’s assumption of power, saying: “We will now have a confederation with Pakistan.” He was dismissed

by Bangabandhu for collaborating with the Pakistani army. That dream, however, never materialised.

Secondly, Tarique Rahman’s assassinated father, the late President Ziaur Rahman, made friends with anti-Bangladesh elements such as Shah Azizur Rahman, and had allowed Ghulam Azam to enter Bangladesh.

Then came Begum Khaleda Zia, who gave Ghulam Azam Bangladeshi nationality and made two war criminals full cabinet ministers. They are often referred to with words so unkind you’d be hard-pressed to understand, but it is natural.

The Daily Star’s magazine reported in its December 19 issue that after Bangabandhu’s assassination in 1975, all records of the music and the instruments that were used during production at the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra had arbitrarily disappeared.

“Those who carried out the coup in

Tarique’s comments may cause damage 1975 tried their best to demolish all the inheritance of war …” said renowned composer Sujeya Siam.

President Ziaur Rahman, instead of correcting it, continued to tag along with our anti-independence enemies, which was not expected, as he was a valiant freedom fighter. Thus, he still faces such criticism from the ruling AL. But, as I have written before, disrespecting a man like Bangabandhu, or for that matter any elderly person, is not the teaching the two of us received when we grew up together in Dhaka Cantonment. I never made comments as a journalist on Begum Khaleda Zia. What I write, I write like an elder brother, and it is up to Tarique to either accept it or reject it. He can make himself the example of a different kind of political game. Respecting great men brings good, not bad.

Thirdly, Tarique Rahman’s utterances remind me of a school friend who loved to tease others and enjoyed infuriating his targets. I think it is best

BIGSTOCK

to ignore him. Here, I want to tell my fellow journalists that they should be judgmental in picking news items, and must understand when they are being used for political ends. I think the BNP is very good at using the media, with many of their useless briefs with no substance.

Tarique too, I believe, wants to remain in the limelight through his unwelcome comments, and is using the media to serve his purpose.

Last, but not the least, is that if Tarique’s comments are tantamount to inciting violence, it is breaking the British law for asylum-seekers, or, for that matter, someone who is staying in Britain for medical or other such reasons.

As I write this, his comments are threatening widespread violence in Gazipur over a rally of his party. How the British government looks at the situation is an important factor. l Nadeem Qadir, a senior journalist, is a UNCA Dag Hammarskjold Scholar in journalism.

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, December 26, 2014

11 EPL braced

for bumper Boxing Day

11 ‘Balotelli not

suited to Liverpool’s style’

Sport

Did you know?

Thierry Henry is the only player to score 100+ goals at a single stadium (Highbury) in Premier League history

Tamim goes under blade in a week n Minhaz Uddin Khan Tamim Iqbal, who is scheduled to fly for Australia tonight, will get his injured left-knee operated on December 29 or January 3. However a necessity of the operation on the Bangladesh Test vice-captain, suffering from Grade 1 meniscus injury, will only be decided after he meets orthopaedic surgeon Dr David Young at Melbourne this Monday.

According to Bangladesh Cricket Board official, Young, who also operated on Bangladesh one-day international captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza, informed of being free to operate on either Monday or January 3 and if Tamim needs to undergo the surgery it has to be done on one of the two dates.

Meanwhile, it is understood Tamim has been advised to be mentally prepared for the operation.

Tamim’s injury has put both the left-handed batsmen and the national selection panel into a dilemma. Medical theory states the operation is a minor one and the recovery period takes three to four weeks. However there is a “but” to it. The recovery time may vary from person to person which has put both Tamim and the national selectors in doubt of his availability for the ICC World Cup 2015, only 49 days away.

“An operation is a must for the individual to get fully fit from the meniscus injury,” said BCB chief physician Dr De-

bashish Chowdhury yesterday.

“Tamim will need to get operated to get 100 percent fit and he is mentally prepared for that. Dr Young will see him first and then decide if an operation is needed. We want Tamim to get 100 percent fit. He (Young) has informed us of two available dates for the operation and we have advised him to get the operation done as soon possible if needed,” Debashish added.

January 7 is the last date for all participating teams in the World Cup to declare their 15-man squad. Chief selector Faruk Ahmed will wait till the last day and observe Tamim if he undergoes the operation.

“I believe Tamim will be able to perform in the Australia and New Zealand because he is a stroke player,” said Faruk. “We want him in the squad but we will need to assess the situation first.” l

Chung Mong-gyu, the 52nd and current president of the South Korea Football Association will arrive in Dhaka today on a two-day visit.

Mong gyu, one of South Korea’s leading business leaders and Chairman of Hyundai Development Company, will be accompanied by Kim Dae Dong, the vice president of South Korean Football Association, his assistant An Shoo Whan and also his son.

The 52-year old South Korean FA president is scheduled to meet Kazi Salahuddin, the president of the Bangladesh Football Federation and witness the international friendly between Bangladesh Premier Football League champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club and the visiting Busan IPark at the Bangabandhu National Stadium tomorrow. l

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

No Kohli-Dhawan spat, Malan’s first X-mas away from the comforts of home says MS Dhoni n Cricinfo

KFA president due today n Raihan Mahmood

During the occasion of Christmas, Prime Doleshwar’s English recruit Dawid Malan points to a reindeer at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel yesterday

MS Dhoni has sought to rubbish reports that there had been a spat between Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli on the fourth, and last, morning of the Gabba Test.

Both the batsmen had copped blows on their batting arms in the nets before the start of play, but Dhawan’s injury was worse and he was late in informing the team of his unavailability to bat. So Kohli, the next man in, only got five minutes’ notice.

“That kind of a scenario, there is a bit of unrest in the dressing room,” Dhoni had said in the press conference after the Test. “The calmness of the dressing room goes for a toss. It was a bit late to verbally resolve the problem.”

There have been reports and speculation that during those five minutes Kohli argued with Dhawan, accused him of running away from the challenge, and that the team director Ravi Shastri had to separate the two. Dhoni, in his inimitable style, said it was the farthest thing from the truth.

“Yeah, actually that was the case,” Dhoni joked, “Virat used a knife and he stabbed Shikhar. When he recovered

out of that we pushed him out to bat.

“These are all stories. Marvel and Warner bros should pick them up and make a movie out of it. I don’t know where it comes from. If someone from the team has actually told you this, it will be interesting if you give us the name of the individual who said this.

This is what has happened because his imagination is really brilliant, and he should be working for Warner Bros or another movie company. And he doesn’t deserve to be in our dressing room because he has created something that hasn’t been there at all. Stuff like that makes good stories for the tabloid, and maybe it helps them sell it.

As far as reality is concerned, there is nothing like that.”

A day before the Melbourne Test, Kohli and Dhawan walked towards the nets together, and were seen sharing jokes and Dhoni insisted the atmosphere in the dressing room was quite fine.

“We have a fantastic dressing room, and there have been no issues. It goes in the media whenever the team travels and we face difficult situations.

Some of the journalists start making their own story up and start putting it forward.” l

n Mazhar Uddin It has been a different Christmas for Prime Doleshwar’s English cricketer Dawid Malan. Due to his commitment in the Super League phase of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League (DPL), Malan had to spend the special day at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel reading books by the poolside for the major part of yesterday.

The 27-year old cricketer is playing in his second successive season for Doleshwar and is one of very few cricketers taking part in the DPL who spent Christmas away from home And Malan admitted yesterday that this is a totally new experience for him.

“This is a totally different experience than I am used to. I previously met my parents on Christmas day in South Africa before but yes, this is the first time I am away from home on Christmas,” Malan told Dhaka Tribune yesterday from the confines of the hotel.

“It’s obviously tough being away from home and friends. That’s obviously tough but that’s part of life. Meeting new people and making friends - that’s part of learning in order to grow in life,” he said.

The left-handed batsman, who also bowls handy leg-spinners, picked up nine wickets and scored 340 runs in 10 matches so far this season and has no doubt been one of the key performers for Doleshwar.

Malan though refused to delve into his personal achievements. Rather, the English cricketer praised the teamwork of Doleshwar, who won their last match convincingly by nine wickets against Kalabagan Cricket Academy last Wednesday. He also reserved special mention for skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and national cricketer Mominul Haque.

“I think we have a good team with a great bunch of guys. But, we lost a couple of matches earlier which we should have won. But, you know we can’t blame ourselves. If we can win all the matches in the Super League then things might go in favour of us for the title race,” he said.

Malan, who also plies his trade for Middlesex in the English county circuit, informed that the pitches here need to be more pace-bowling friendly.

“I think the wickets in the first ten or eleven matches in the league were not that good as it’s sort of low and slow which I don’t think they would be fac-

ing in Australia where the pitches will be quick and bouncy,” he said, referring to the seam-friendly wickets in Australia-New Zealand, the co-hosts of next year’s ICC World Cup. “But, there are seamers in Prime Bank and the other clubs, like Rubel [Hossain]. If he and the others are allowed to play then I think they (Bangladesh) can compete in those conditions,” he added.

Malan also said the Tigers will need to work hard in the batting department if they are to fare well in the upcoming World cup. He is of the opinion that senior cricketers like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiq and Shakib al Hasan will have to play a vital role for their side.

The middle-order batsman also gave his observation when asked to compare the domestic scene in Bangladesh to that of the English county circuit.

“I think the environment here, where the players are under a lot more pressure, is almost like if you don’t perform you will be dropped which is not obviously ideal when you look to create players. And in terms of pitches spinners play a massive role here which is the nature of the sub-continent. Every team have more than two good spinners,” he said. l

Maruf hoping to cash in on Japan experience n Raihan Mahmood

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club players celebrate Christmas with their overseas recruits Emeka (C) and Landing Darboe at the club practice groud yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club head coach Maruful Haque hopes his charges will cash in on the experience of playing against the Japan Under-21 football team recently when the Bangladesh Premier League champions take on K-League side Busan IPark in a friendly at Bangabandhu National Stadium tomorrow.

Maruf appeared to have a clear concept of the South Korean top-flight club.

“I have seen a couple of their matches.

More or less they play the same pressing football like Japan. A good number of my players, especially the defence, represent the national side. I hope they will carry their form into this match and cope with the pressure.”

The 45-year-old tactician emphasised on the importance of a quick passing display against the former AFC Champions League winners. “Busan IPark are technically and tactically superior than us. We have to rely on teamwork-based quick passing foot-

ball. There is the option of inserting three foreign players and upfront I intend to hold the ball – an aspect that was missing in the Japan match.”

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has taken a number of initiatives with a view to pack the big bowl.

Around 20 moving vans have been simultaneously selling the match-ticket and the BFF Development Fund lottery tickets across the capital city. The ticket price has been set at Tk30 for the gallery and Tk60 for the VIP stands. Every ticket will be accompanied by a free lottery ticket for the consumer. Large banners have been hung on a number of foot-over bridges across the capital.

“We were quite encouraged with the audience during the Japan U-21-Bangladesh friendly. We took a number of initiatives to take the match to the spectators. The same steps have been taken for the spectators of this match.

We hope the match will be an entertaining one,” BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag said yesterday.l

Busan IPark arrive in capital n Raihan Mahmood Four-time Korean League champions Busan IPark arrived in Dhaka yesterday to play a friendly against Sheikh Jamal DC, scheduled for tomorrow at Bangabandhu National Stadium. The match will kick off at 5pm.

The 24-man contingent of Busan IPark comprising 18 players - two goalkeepers, seven defenders, five midfielders and four forwards - are being accompanied by six officials. The Busan-based club are former AFC Champions League winners.

The K-League outfit are bringing in their local players and the squad does not boast any of their foreign recruits.l

Sport

DHAKA TRIBUNE

11

Friday, December 26, 2014

Ivory Coast in budget dispute ahead of CAN n AFP, Abidjan

QUICK BYTES

Cameroon’s Song left out of Nations Cup Cameroon have left in-form West Ham United midfielder Alex Song out of their 23-man squad for next month’s African Nations Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea which was named on Tuesday.

Song had asked the English Premier League club to be released for the tournament despite fears over the Ebola virus but is not in the plans of coach Volker Finke, who has ignored the 27-year-old since this year’s World Cup in Brazil. Song was sent off for elbowing Croatia striker Mario Mandzukic in a 4-0 group stage World Cup defeat and handed a three-match ban from competitive internationals

by FIFA. Song’s omission will be a relief for West Ham manager Sam Allardyce, who is expected to lose defensive duo Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate for the tournament, with Senegal’s squad scheduled to be announced on Friday.

Finke has retained just eight players from the squad that crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage without earning a point and having scored one goal while conceding nine. The Nations Cup team is likely to be captained by Sevilla midfielder Stephane Mbia.

–Reuters

Zola appointed as Cagliari boss Serie A strugglers Cagliari have appointed club favourite Gianfranco Zola as their new coach, the club announced on Wednesday. Zola, 48, replaces Zdemak Zemen who was sacked on Monday after a series of poor results left the Sardinian club hovering just above the relegation zone with just one win in 12 games since September.

In a short matter-of-fact statement on the club’s website, Cagliari announced the appointment under the headline “Welcome back Gianfranco”. The club said he would take over on Sunday when the players resume training after the Christmas lay-off and would be assisted by another former Italian international striker, Pierluigi Casiraghi.

Earlier in the day, another candidate for the job, former Italy international goalkeeper Walter Zenga, ruled himself out of the running after talks with president Tommaso Guilini. Zenga wrote on Twitter: “I would like to thank president Tommaso Giuilii and everyone at Cagliari for thinking of me but with regret I am forced to decline. At the moment, for professional and personal reasons I intend to remain in Dubai.”

–Rome

UAE lose captain Khaseif for Asian Cup The United Arab Emirates suffered a big blow to their Asian Cup preparations with captain Ali Khaseif missing next month’s tournament in order to complete his national service, local media reported. The 27-year-old goalkeeper had originally been named in the travelling party but did not board the plane in Dubai for Australia on Tuesday, Emirati daily Sport360 reported on Wednesday. The Al Jazira stopper had originally been called for national service before last month’s Gulf Cup of Nations but deferred it to play in the tournament in Saudi Arabia.

–Reuters

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 1 6:00PM (Friday) Australia v India 3rd Test, Day 2

Star Sports 2 8:50 PM English Premier League Burnley v Liverpool

Star Sports 4 2:00 PM KFC T20 Big Bash League Perth Scorchers v Melbourne Renegades

Mohammed Shakil (L) of Khilgaon Pragati Sangsad lands a punch on Mohammed Al Amin of Muktijoddha Sangsad during their Victory Day Boxing match at the Boxing Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

The Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) has rejected the budget allocated by the country’s government for the Elephants’ Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) campaign, dismissing it as insufficient.

The government agreed to hand over 310 million CFA Francs (£370,965, $575,805) to help the Ivory Coast in their bid to win the tournament in Equatorial Guinea, which runs from January 17 to February 8.

However, FIF vice-president Sory Diabate told national media on Tuesday: “We can’t go to the CAN with 310 million CFA Francs. We have transmitted and justified our expenditure.”

The country’s sports minister was willing to hand over the amount from a total provisional budget of 3.5 billion CFA Francs.

However, the Ivory Coast went to the 2013 Cup of Nations in South Africa with a total budget of 3.9 billion CFA Francs, with the government eventually helping out to the tune of 2.7 billion as the Elephants were knocked out by Nigeria in the quarter-finals.l

EPL braced for bumper Boxing Day n AFP, London While professional footballers in the rest of Europe sleep off their Christmas hangovers, the Premier League ploughs on regardless on Friday with a bumper schedule of traditional Boxing Day fixtures.

For the first time in the 2014-15 season, all 20 English top-flight clubs will be in action on the same day, with leaders Chelsea’s home game against high-flying London rivals West Ham United the stand-out match.

Chelsea’s professional 2-0 victory at Stoke City on Monday allowed Jose Mourinho’s side to re-establish a threepoint lead over champions Manchester

City, who visit West Bromwich Albion on Friday.

The visit of fourth-place West Ham marks the start of a run of five

FIXTURES Arsenal Burnley Chelsea Crystal Palace Everton Leicester City Man United Sunderland Swansea City West Brom

v v v v v v v v v v

QPR Liverpool West Ham Southampton Stoke City Tottenham Newcastle Hull City Aston Villa Man City

games in less than two weeks, which includes an FA Cup third-round tie at home to second-tier Watford on January 4.

Mourinho’s side also remain in contention in the League Cup and the Champions League, and midfielder Nemanja Matic believes they can go all the way in all four competitions.

Belgian winger Eden Hazard is a doubt for Chelsea after hobbling off against Stoke, with Brazilian playmaker Oscar a potential candidate to replace him.

Injuries are a major concern for second-place City, who will be without all their senior strikers -- Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic and top scorer Sergio

Windies look to fight back on friendlier pitch against Proteas n Reuters, Port Elizabeth West Indies can look forward to more favourable batting conditions for the second Test in Port Elizabeth on Friday as they look to overcome the mental scars of collapsing on Pretoria’s seamer-friendly strip.

The tourists were outplayed in the innings and 220-run defeat and will be particularly disappointed with the way they crumbled with the bat to score just 332 runs in the match in a little more than 100 overs.

However, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has been through good and bad times before with the side in his

20-year international career, believes there is no cause for alarm.

“We’re disappointed after Centurion. I think we’re a better team than that,” Chanperpaul told reporters.

“We just have to put it behind us and take it as a learning experience and do better in this next match.

“The guys we have here are the best in the Caribbean, that’s the reason why they’re here. They’ve all scored runs in the past, scored a lot of hundreds in regional cricket.”

West Indies can at least take heart from their last visit to St George’s Park where they won in a 2-1 series defeat in 2007, their only away victory against a

Aguero -- for the trip to West Brom.

But they can equal a club record of nine successive wins if they prevail at The Hawthorns and manager Manuel Pellegrini believes that after a mid-autumn wobble, his side have rediscovered the form that swept them to the title in May. Third-place Manchester United saw a six-game winning run come to an end in a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa last weekend, but confidence at Old Trafford remains high ahead of Friday’s visit of Newcastle United.

Fifth-place Southampton, who are two points behind West Ham, visit Crystal Palace on Friday, having snapped a damaging run of five straight

defeats in all competitions by winning 3-0 to home to Everton last weekend.

North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are both two points below Southampton.

Arsenal host Queens Park Rangers, while Tottenham visit bottom club Leicester City.

Liverpool, runners-up last season, are a further five points off the pace in 10th place, but after last Sunday’s lastgasp 2-2 draw with Arsenal, manager Brendan Rodgers said he remained confident of a top-four finish.

On Boxing Day Liverpool travel to third-bottom Burnley, who trail Palace on goal difference in the battle to escape the relegation zone. l

‘@HAYDOSTWEETS: MERRY #CHRISTMAS IF SHOAIB AND I CAN MAKE #PEACE SURELY YOU GUYS CAN TOO’

major Test playing nation since beating England in Birmingham in 2000.

The Port Elizabeth pitch is expected to be less seamer-friendly, harder and drier, taking some of the bite out of the top-ranked South African pace attack that wreaked havoc in Pretoria.

Du Plessis added that the home side were also wary of a backlash from the tourists.

South Africa are almost certain to play leg-spinner Imran Tahir and could also hand a debut to batsman Temba Bavuma after wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock was ruled out of the series with an ankle injury. AB de Villiers will continue to keep wicket. l

‘Balotelli not suited to Liverpool’s style’

QPR’s Ferdinand hoping to be busy during holiday fixtures

n Reuters

n Reuters, London

Mario Balotelli will return to Liverpool’s squad for the festive programme but manager Brendan Rodgers was hardly effusive in his praise of the Italy’s striker’s credentials on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old Balotelli has struggled to make an impact at Anfield since his 16 million pounds ($24.88 million) move from AC Milan in August, managing two goals in 15 games.

At his pre-match news conference Rodgers welcomed mercurial Balotelli’a return for a busy holiday programme, starting with a trip to lowly Burnley on Friday, but suggested the former Manchester City player is not suited to Liverpool’s style.

“We’ve seen that it is not really his game, Rodgers said, referring to the high-pressing approach that worked so well with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in tandem last season.l

After nearly 20 years spent working through the Christmas holidays Rio Ferdinand could be forgiven if he wanted to put his feet up and enjoy the fruits of his long career.

Instead, the former Manchester United and England defender is hoping to be as busy as possible during the packed festive fixture list, helping Queens Park Rangers edge away from

the wrong end of the Premier League.

Since leaving Manchester United after 12 trophy-laden years last summer, the 36-year-old has found opportunities at QPR limited and has made only four appearances for the club.

“It’s a beautiful day for training,” the father of three told Sky Sports from QPR’s training ground early on Friday.

“It reminds me a little bit of (Ryan) Giggs at Manchester United, he never really got his boots on until Christmas.

6:35 PM

“I played a bit at the beginning of the season and come out of the team and hopefully now I will get some minutes.

“We’ve not got the blessings of the biggest squad in this league, we’ve got 25 players, a small group that the manager rotates and he will have to utilise us so we can stay fresh.”

Ferdinand made more than 400 appearances for United and won nearly every honour in the game, but life at QPR is throwing up new challenges.l

National Bodybuilding begins today n Raihan Mahmood

English Premier League Chelsea v West Ham 8:50 PM Manchester United v Newcastle United 11:20 PM Arsenal v Queens Park Rangers

Star Sports HD 1 11:30 PM English Premier League West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City

Ten Action 11:30 PM Sky Bet Championship Watford vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Ten Cricket West Indies Tour of South Africa 2:30 PM 2nd Test, Day 1 Save the sea campaign initiated by Walton was held at the Cox’s Bazar beach yesterday

COURTESY

The Bay Emporium 26th National Bodybuilding, 11th Masters and 1st National Services Bodybuilding starts at the National Sports Council gymnasium today.

There will be eight different weight categories in the 55-, 60-, 65-, 70-, 75-, 80-, 80+kilogrammes events.

The Bangladesh Bodybuilding Federation said around 150 participants will compete in the two-day event.

The weight measurement of the bodybuilders will be held today followed by the main competitionl

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Friday, December 26, 2014

Clockwise from left: Children rejoice on Christmas eve with Santa Claus at a party arranged by the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka Ahead of Christmas eve, two Muslim women take a selfie in front of the giant Christian manger displayed in Manger Square in Bethlehem on December 18 A Hindu family taking a selfie while visiting the Jopmala Rani Church in the capital’s Tejgaon area on the eve of Christmas A view of Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity as people gather for Christmas eve celebrations in the biblical West Bank city of Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, on Wednesday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK/ RAJIB DHAR/AFP

No verifiable databank on road accidents

District-level road safety monitoring councils have not managed to keep the records properly In October, 36 people died in Natore tion,” said Muhammad Showkat Ali, er hand, says the number of death is An alarming picture n Shohel Mamun nearly 4,000. Our own observation A study on road accidents by local or- in a fatal crash between two buses. secretary at the BRTA. Though road accidents are a cause for serious concern in the country, there is no verifiable databank on the number of accidents in the country, as well as the number of deaths and injuries per accident.

Various government and other organisations have their own sets of data on road accident casualties, but there is a significant discrepancy among these data sets.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), which is in charge of road transport regulation, collects all the information regarding the road accidents that occur every month from the police headquarters. However, they only receive the information that are recorded by police through First Information Report (FIR) and cases.

“We get the information from the FIRs and complaints on road accidents.

But there are indeed many cases which are not filed with police. So after a certain point, we have to work on estima-

He also mentioned that there were road safety monitoring councils in every district, supervised by the district administrations, which are supposed to keep records on the road accidents, but are not active.

According to police sources, around 3,000 people die in road accidents annually across the country. However, a World Bank study conducted in 2010 puts the figure at 12,000 per year, while a World Health Organisation study in 2011 says it is 18,000.

Ilyas Kanchan, actor, prominent road safety activist and chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai (We Demand Safe Roads), said the disparity among various organisations’ data on road accidents were alarming.

“According to Buet’s Accident Research Institute (ARI), the death toll rate from road accidents is around 10,000-12,000 every year, while countless people are injured or become disabled. The BRTA, on the oth-

says it is around 15,000 people,” he told the Dhaka Tribune, adding that the annual loss due to road accidents amounts to around Tk5,000 crore to Tk7,000 crore.

“A uniform system needs to be in place to monitor and collect data on road accidents. In most of the cases, it is the unskilled drivers who cause the accidents. The authorities must ensure proper monitoring while issuing driving licences in order to reduce the accidents,” he said.

Ilyas Kanchan’s claims were echoed

by Samsul Haque, former director at the ARI and a professor at the civil engineering department at Buet.

“Unskilled drivers are a major reason behind the frequent road accidents. The authorities concerned should test the drivers’ skills properly before issuing drive licences, otherwise it would not be possible to reduce the number of road accidents,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Another addict beaten to death at rehab centre in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Another addict died in Chittagong on Wednesday allegedly from severe injuries after he was beaten at a rehabilitation centre, three days after he was admitted there.

Police said Director Jahangir Alam of Somoy Drug Rehabilitation Centre, located in the city’s Agrabad area, beat the victim, Sujit Dhar, 40, with iron rods, hitting him repeatedly on the head and body on Monday night when Sujit demanded drug shots.

The next morning, after being notified by the rehab staff about his injuries, Sujit’s family took him to a private clinic, where he died.

Sujit’s brother Ajit Dutta filed a case with the Double Mooring police station on Wednesday night in this connection.

Police sent Sujit’s body to the Chittagong Medical College post-mortem, and later handed the body over to his family members, said Hasanuzzaman Molla, assistant commissioner at the Double Mooring Circle of Chittagong Metropolitan Police.

His family took Sujits body to their village in Lohagora, Narail for burial.

Police raided the rehabilitation centre but found no one. The Dhaka Tribune also visited the rehab and found iron rods and shackles in all the rooms.

The windows were locked, and a putrid smell hung in the air.

The rehab was established in a rented house in 2005. Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, the owner of the property said the rehab’s director as well as staff members fled after Sujit died.

Rakib Amin, a neighbour, said Ja-

hangir used to beat his patients most of the times.

On October 31, another addict named Nizam Uddin was found dead in a rehab in the city. His family claimed he was tortured to death.

Ekram Hossain, director of the Department of Narcotics Control Chittagong metro region, said Somoy Rehabilitation Centre was a registered facility and was shut down by the director after the incident.

Chowdhury Imrul Hasan, superintendent inspector at DNC Chittagong metro region, said rehabilitation was supposed to be motivation-driven treatment, not torture-based.

“We are looking into the recent death of two drug addicts at two rehab centres. If they are found guilty, their licences will be cancelled,” he said. l

ganisation Jatri Kalyan Samity was released on Wednesday at National Press Club in the capital, which states that around 30 people on average die every day due to road accidents, the annual number being 10,000 to 12,000.

Sources in Police, BRTA and Road Transport and Highways Division said the number of road accidents increased particularly during winter and monsoon in the country.

This winter, several fatal road accidents occurred in different parts of the country.

In the past few days, 19 accidents occurred in different areas across the country that killed at least 42 people and injured a large number of others.

On Tuesday, eight passengers died in Jhalakathi, and on Wednesday 10 died in Tangail due to road accidents.

On November 29, prominent journalist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury died after being struck by a reckless bus driver in the capital’s Kawran Bazar area.

Speaking at the research presentation of Jatri Kalyan Samity on Wednesday, columnist Syed Abul Maksud said the government had no proper system to prevent or reduce road accidents.

“If a disease was causing 10,00012,000 people to die, it would have caused a global stir. But people have gotten accustomed to road accidents.

“The government has to formulate an appropriate policy in this sector and implement it properly to reduce road accidents,” he said.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, MAN Siddique, secretary at the Road Transport and Highways Division, said it was true that many people died in road accidents, but it was not because of road-related problems.

“Both the drivers and the road users are responsible for the road accidents, and it is possible to reduce their number by strengthening the relevant authorities to enforce road safety,” he said. l

Christmas celebrated across the country n Mohammad Abu Bakar Siddique Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the Christian community, was celebrated with enthusiasm and various arrangements yesterday across the country.

The day began with prayers in different churches in the capital in the morning. The biggest prayer took place at Japamala Rani Church in Tejgaon.

Prayers were held twice at the Roman Catholic Church in Kakrail.

President Abdul Hamid exchanged Christmas greetings with foreign diplomats, dignitaries and members of the Christian community in the afternoon.

Conveying best wishes for all, he cut the cake with the Christians.

Christians celebrated the occasion with their friends and families, exchanging greetings and gifts. They followed rituals and gave donations to helpless neighbours and relatives.

Many programmes were organised across the capital to celebrate Christmas. The five-star hotels organised special events, including dinners and appearance of Santa Claus. l

WHO: Ebola death toll rises to 7,588

n Reuters

The global death toll from Ebola has risen to 7,588 out of 19,497 confirmed cases recorded in the year-old epidemic raging in West Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.

The virus is still spreading intensely in Sierra Leone, especially in the north and west, with 315 new confirmed cases reported in the former British colony in the week to December 21, it said.

These included 115 cases in the capital Freetown.

“The neighbouring district of Port Loko experienced a surge in new cases, reporting 92 confirmed cases compared with 56 the previous week,” the WHO said.

In Sierra Leone, information about how to prevent and treat Ebola was provided to more than 5,000 households between December 10 and 17 as part of a major awareness

campaign, it said.

In Guinea, 156 confirmed cases were recorded during the same period. The was “the highest weekly case incidence reported by the country in this outbreak,” the WHO said.

“This was largely due to a surge in cases in the south-eastern district of Kissidougou, which reported 58 confirmed cases – onethird of cases reported in the country in the past week,” according to the WHO. Noting the district had previously reported no more than five cases per week, it said the surge showed the need for continuing vigilance even where the virus was not widespread.

In Liberia, where case incidence has been declining for the past month, 21 cases were reported in the week to December 21.

Montserrado county, including the capital Monrovia, still has the highest

rates of the disease nationwide, while along the Côte d’Ivoire border to the east, Nimba county reported 3 confirmed cases, its first in 9 weeks, the WHO said.

Five additional countries – Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Spain and the United States – have had imported cases and are included in the global toll.

The Ebola crisis, which claimed its first victim in Guinea exactly a year ago, is likely to last until the end of 2015, according to Peter Piot, a scientist who helped to discover the virus in 1976.

Medical detective work will be the next phase in the fight against Ebola. The United Nations will deploy hundreds of health workers to identify chains of infection as the virus passes from person to person, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in Accra, Ghana on Wednesday. l

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employers gear up for minimum wage revolution

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

2014: A stagnant year for ICT and telecom

‘Largest’ web portal launched

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

n Tribune Report

ITU success does little to ICT sector n Tribune Report Retaining membership in International Telecommunication Union with some other award-winning countries has earned global respect for Bangladesh but contributed little to bring in considerable change to the country’s Telecom and ICT sector.

In last week of October, Bangladesh secured 115 votes in ITU election and appeared seventh in 13 seats for Asia and Australasia region.

Even the country was ahead of India, Thailand and Pakistan while country like Malaysia, Iran lost in the vote battle.

ITU, a specialised agency of the United Nations, has 193 member states. Of them, 167 voted to elect the 48-member council for a four-year term.

The council works to formulate policy and regulation for global telecommunications sector.

Earlier in June this year, Bangladesh achieved the prestigious WSIS Project Award 2014 in ICT application.

Geneva-based Information and Technology overseer, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), awarded the prize. l

Bangladesh (Amtob).

But the Wi-MAX operators experienced a bad year as the number of Wi-MAX Internet users slipped every month. As of November, the number has dropped to 249,000 from 315,000 in the beginning of the year while the mobile companies boast having more than 41.5m Internet users.

“We are getting so called fastest internet service in the city, but call drops are frequent and the quality of service is poor,” said Sanzida Khanom, a student at East West University.

During the year there was also an expansion of mobile banking service.

Data showed at the end of the year the country exceeded 120m active SIM

cards with with 45m Internet connections.

The country’s Facebook users crossed 10m as of November. Business has also found a place on Facebook.

“Currently the country has more than 1,000 e-commerce entrepreneurs as Facebook commerce is increasingly becoming popular,” said Razib Ahmed, president of e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB).

In 2014 BTRC had faced row over dues from telecom service providers, which totalled more than Tk5,320 crore as outstanding fees, charges and revenue sharing amounts. The regulator’s all steps failed to recover the money.

Hi-tech park was a much-talked is-

sue in the year. It has not been possible to be built in last one and half decades.

Export of Internet bandwidth to India remained another big issue in the year. But no decision on the export was made.

The regulator could not introduce Mobile Number Portability (MNP) after trying for long though it was demand of time.

Launching of the country’s own satellite Bangabandhu-1 could not be possible. It was scheduled to be launched

by June 2014. After changes of date twice, it has been now set for 2017.

The cut in international incoming call termination rate led to a loss of $22.43m revenue for government in

The government launched a national portal “bangladesh.gov.bd” accommodating over 25,000 of its websites in November 2014 and claimed the portal be the world’s largest.

According to the authorities, it was one of their major successes in 2014 in the country’s IT sector. The aim of the portal is to reduce confusion and protect the sites from being hacked.

The portal would give a common design and layout to all the government websites that are currently hosted and maintained individually by the respective departments.

The PMO’s Access to Information (A2I) programme developed the portal now being maintained by the respective ministries, divisions and wings of government offices.

According to A2I, it is an exemplary programme where the websites of 4,550 union offices, 14,640 upazila offices, 4,032 district offices, 455 divisional offices, 64 district council offices, 488 upazila parishad offices, 55 ministries and divisions, 345 departments and 414 city or municipal corporations are being covered.

A total of 50,000 officials have been trained up for maintaining the portal.

The sites contains 20 lakh contents, more than 40,000 pictures, information on all the educational institutions, government offices and their contact persons, government gadgets, freedom fighters lists and descriptions of historical and tourist attractions.

The A2I also hopes to uphold the citizens’ right to information through this portal. In August 2011, A2I began the journey of readying the national portal from Comilla.

On this development, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said: “Bangladesh has had an information revolution over the last few years.

More than 25,000 websites under a single platform is a proof of that.” l

BTRC flouts telcom law FY15 budget not ‘digital-friendly’ n Tribune Report

The telecom regulator took some steps in the outgoing year, violating the country’s telecommunication law.

Rearrangement of revenue sharing percentage was one of them as the government did that issuing an executive order following BTRC’s recommendation.

In the year, the regulator also unlawfully recommended establishing a cartel in the country’s telecom market.

Besides, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission allowed a spectrum merger between two companies though this was banned by the law.

It provided wrong information to convince the government to slash in-

ternational incoming call termination rate as some politically influential people wanted such cut. The aftermath was an increase in incoming call but fall in the government earning.

Earlier on September 18, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved a recommendation to reduce the termination rate from 3 US cents to 1.5 cents per minute.

BTRC allowed two Russian telecom partners - Bangladesh Internet Exchange Ltd (BIEL) and New Generation Graphics Limited (NGGL) - for full spectrum merger.

But according to telecom law, the spectrum cannot be merged.

The companies launched the service with a brand name of “Ollo.” l

Merging the ministries n Tribune Report After a long wait the government brought the ICT and the Telecommunication sectors under a same ministry in February this year to strengthen digitisation programme of the country.

In 2008 the then caretaker government took the initiative to merge ICT and telecom ministries, but they finally could

not do that. In 2010 the Awami Leagueled grand alliance government split science, information and communication technology ministry into two ministries - one for ICT and another for science.

After three and half years, ICT and telecommunication were brought under a same ministry. Abdul Latif Siddiqui was in charge of both ministries before having been sacked from the cabinet. l

n Tribune Report

The budget for 2014-15 fiscal year was said not to be a good one for the telecommunication industry as it increased value added tax to 15% from 10% on mobile handsets import and introduced Tk100 tax on SIM replacement.

The budget also imposed 1% surcharge on a handset purchase and use of phone. However, the decision is yet to be implemented as the regulations are not finalised.

The industry experts said the decision strengthened daily digital experience of the users.

TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, expressed disappointment over taxation issues on budget.

“Mobile operators are one of proud partners for building a ‘digital Bangladesh’ but the taxation process is an impediment to that and so it should be revised,” Nurul Kabir said on Tuesday.

But on the quality issue, Mostafa Jabbar, an ICT and telecommunication entrepreneur, said the mobile operators’ service quality has drastically fallen in these days and the BTRC didn’t do anything against it.

RAJIB DHAR

While looking back to 2014, the country’s telecommunication sector witnessed a significant growth in mobile Internet users with the expansion of third generation mobile broadband service across the country. Nearly 10m subscribers enjoyed the facility.

But except the 3G expansion and related rise in Internet users, the telecom sector made no other remarkable progress in the outgoing year, according to market insiders.

“Sorry to say, I haven’t found any notable success in telecom and ICT sectors in 2014,” Mostafa Jabbar, an ICT entrepreneur, told the Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday.

“There were a very few successes. I would say overall performance was not good,” he added.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission’s data showed as of November this year the country saw an increase of over 7.2m Internet users.

The growth was 35.85% compared to previous year. The growth of active SIM connections was not that good.

While in 2012 the market enjoyed having 11.7m active SIM cards, in 2013 the number came down to 6.1m and now to 5.6m.

But in 2012 the Internet market had 2.6m new customers and added 5.3m new connections in 2013 and 7.2m in 2014.

With the increase in mobile Internet users, the smartphone market received a good response from the customers in the year, which expects a further rise in the coming year.

“The rise in Internet use was satisfactory in the outgoing year as we had been able to establish a faster networking across the country. It will also be boon for building a ‘digital county’ soon,” said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of

last two and half months. Besides, the revenue sharing percentage was restructured under an executive order.

However, some projects raise hopes in the sector. On March 7 Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) officially joined the submarine cable SEA-ME-WE-5 – its second – and hopes to get connected to it by the last quarter of 2016.

Fourteen foreign companies will construct and maintain the cable. The companies will provide up to 24Tbps Internet bandwidth to BSCCL. The government also introduced digital signature in November this year with a limited scale.

In diplomatic side, the government was successful in retaining council membership in International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the world’s highest policy making body of the sector.

But the country’s representation in last tenure was not good and could not provide any any significant help for the betterment of the country.

While talking with Dhaka Tribune, Mostafa Jabbar, also the former president of Bangladesh Computer Samity, praised the merger of the ICT and Telecommunication ministries.

But he said the merger could make any significant development in the sector.

“Young minister was a good thing.

It has also some negative aspects,” Mostafa Jabbar said.

“We saw five ministers in the telecom and ICT ministries in last two and half years – three ministers in the ICT section only in two years. But could they make any significant development?” Mostafa Jabbar said.

On the other hand, TIM Nurul Kabir said the budget was not favourable for the telecom industry as it imposed surcharge on handsets and mobile phone uses. The government also increased value added tax to 15% from 10% on mobile handset imports, he said. l

“The call drops are too much that it has become regular part of mobile

phone calls,” Mostafa Jabbar told the Dhaka Tribune. l

Citi NA: Macroeconomic stability key to achieve growth target n Tribune Report Better governance in the banking system and macro-economic stability are the keys for attaining the economic growth set by the government for the current fiscal year, said the US-based Citi Bank NA. Other factors like development of markets for long term finance, further trade liberalisation, and stronger attention to efficient implementation of infrastructure investments, with necessary changes relating to regulation and policy formulation also remain key factors in this process, it said.

It suggested Bangladesh to explore new job markets in Africa and South America for earning more remittance as challenges in traditional Middle East markets are rising.

The Citi’s observation was made in its annual market update 2014, the first half of 2014, released in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Evaluating 2014 economic performance of Bangladesh, it said weathering severe disruptions in production, transport and

services delivery in late 2013, although lingering political uncertainties from the previous year resulted in a deceleration in private investment growth - affecting the transmission of the relative macroeconomic stability into higher economic growth.

As per the data published by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the GDP growth for FY14 (July 2013-June 2014) was 6.1%. The growth was primarily driven by the industry sector, notwithstanding a decline in industrial growth from 9.6% in FY13 to 8.4% in FY14.

“The overall growth outlook for FY15 (July 2014-June 2015) is favorable and growth recovery has begun with the return of political stability,” the update of the Citi said.

The FY15 budget has set an ambitious 7.3% growth target. Achieving this will require the total investment to GDP ratio to rise by over 5 percentage points from 28.7% in FY14 to 33.8%, it said.

About inflation, it said the proposed salary hike of the government employees and

administered price adjustments pose upside risks to inflation.

“Inflation is expected to maintain a downward trend throughout the FY15 on continued policy restraint,” the Citibank NA said.

Bangladesh Bank has set a 6.5% inflation target for the ongoing fiscal. “Achieving the FY15 inflation target will depend on international price trends as well as domestic demand and supply conditions,” it said.

The inflation reached 5.84% in November from 5.74% in the previous month due to a rise in house rent, transportation costs, education and medical expenses and other nonfood items, according to the update.

“If oil prices in the local market are adjusted to reflect the slump in global oil prices, it may further contribute to reduce inflation in the economy,” it said.

On apparel sector, the update said with the current political stability and steady growth in demand for ready-made garment (RMG), the US$33.2bn export target for the FY15 seems attainable. “The long term sus-

tainable growth is pivoted on exploring new markets as well as diversification of the export basket,” it added.

Since remittance has significant contribution to the country’s economy, the Citibank NA said “To sustain the growth in remittance earnings, the government also needs to explore new job markets in Africa and South America with rising challenges in traditional Middle East markets.

It said the current fiscal is portraying a different story, as the flow of inward remittances grew by 11.42% to $6.2bn during the July-November period of the FY15, against $5.56bn in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. l About the greenback and local currency, it said during the first three quarters of 2014, Taka showed a trend of steady appreciation against US Dollar.

Bangladesh Bank’s interventions in the foreign exchange market have limited the loss of external competitiveness by stemming any significant nominal appreciation of the Taka. l

B2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Friday, December 26, 2014

Japan $29bn stimulus seeks quick boost for regional economies n Reuters, Tokyo Japan aims to give a quick boost to lagging regional economies and low-income households with subsidies, merchandise vouchers and other schemes in a $29bn stimulus package aimed at rejuvenating a two-year reflationary effort, a draft of the plan showed.

The draft, seen by Reuters on Wednesday ahead of its official release, also urges the Bank of Japan to hit its 2% inflation goal as quickly as possible, and promises to do its utmost to halve Japan’s primary budget deficit in the fiscal year starting next April, to curb a runaway public debt.

The package, worth around 3.5tn yen ($29.06bn) and expected to be approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet on Saturday, follows a massive victory by his ruling coalition in a general election earlier this month, giving him a fresh mandate to push through his “Abenomics” stimulus policies.

The stimulus will not require fresh debt issuance as the Finance Ministry will fund it with unspent money from previous budgets and tax revenues that have exceeded budget forecasts as the economy recovered, officials say.

The package centres on subsidies and payouts to local governments to carry out steps to stimulate household consumption and support small firms, as Abe focuses on regional economies ahead of nationwide local elections planned in April.

Eligible schemes could include distributing coupons to buy merchandise or fuel subsidies for low-income

n AFP, Shanghai

Japan's Prime Minister and the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Shinzo Abe, attends a news conference households. It will also seek to bolster the housing market by lowering the mortgage rates offered by a government home loan agency.

The draft says the economy is still in a moderate recovery trend but lingering areas of weakness persist, including consumer spending, which was hit

Buildings are pictured in Beijing's central business district

REUTERS

China’s bankers enjoy first pay hike since global financial crisis n Reuters, Hong Kong

Chinese investment banks have awarded pay rises to their staff for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis, buoyed by a surge in China-related deals, but salaries and bonuses still trail far behind those paid by Western banks.

Chinese investment banks traditionally baulk at paying outsized salaries, though some are just as profitable as Wall Street rivals. They were especially frugal in the lean years after the crisis, but this year’s boom has finally loosened their purse strings, headhunters and compensation experts say.

“This is the first time since 2009 we have seen an increase of base and total compensation,” said Maggy Fang, managing director for executive compensation in Asia Pacific at human resources consultancy Towers Watson.

Chinese investment banks raised bonus payouts by an average of around 12% this year, while base salaries for the sector rose by about 6.5%, according to Towers Watson. Overall, total compensation levels at Chinese investment banks rose 9.2% in 2014.

Bonuses are expected to rise again in 2015, said Fang, though she did not give a figure.

Pay levels at China’s investment banks have a long way to go to catch up to those at international firms. Chinese banks pay around half as much as their Wall Street rivals in terms of base salary, say headhunters.

Even top Chinese banking roles pay a relative pittance compared with global firms.

Jiang Jianqing, the chairman of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, takes home around $326,000 in salary,

Chinese shares jump on new business support measures

bonus and benefits, according to the bank’s 2013 annual report, while a managing director at a Western investment bank in Hong Kong can expect to make up to $450,000 in base salary alone.

Still, the bump in Chinese pay marks a turnaround for a sector that has seen total compensation fall heavily over the past four years, according to Christian Brun, a founding partner at executive recruiting firm Wellesley Partners in Hong Kong.

Booming

Despite a slow-down in the Chinese economy, investment banking business has been booming. China-related deals in equity capital markets surged 69% in the first 11 months of the year compared with the same period in 2013, while M&A deals jumped 77%, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Chinese banking culture is typically more conservative when it comes to pay, and there are restrictions on the use of stock incentive plans, a common feature of Western bank compensation.

But that is slowly changing: Chinese banks are providing additional benefits such as retirement plans, heathcare, and cash allowances, according to Towers Watson’s Fang.

Beijing may also be softening its line on incentive schemes, as it looks to professionalise state-owned firms.

Privately owned Minsheng Bank this year became the first Chinese commercial bank to offer share incentives to employees as part of a broader pilot program, with other banks expected to follow suit pending regulatory approval.

“With potential revisions in the law, we see some intent to introduce equity incentive plans in the future,” said Fang. l

REUTERS

Chinese shares jumped yeterday after the government announced new corporate support policies aimed at boosting the economy, in thin trade with most Asian markets closed for the Christmas holiday.

Shanghai jumped 3.36%, while Shenzhen gained 1.44%.

Markets in Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Korea, India, the Philippines and Indonesia were closed for public holidays.

Other Asian markets slipped, with Tokyo shedding 0.25%, Bangkok falling 1.32%, and Taipei losing 0.3%.

This came despite a positive lead from Wall Street, which edged Wednesday to a fresh record in a holiday-shortened session, one day after topping 18,000 points for the first time ever.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 6.04 points (0.03%) to 18,030.21, posting its sixth straight gain.

The broad-based S&P 500 snapped a five-day winning streak, falling a scant 0.29 (0.01%) to 2,081.88, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.05 (0.17%) to 4,773.47.

US stocks have been on a tear since the Federal Reserve last week kept interest rates low and pledged a cautious approach to raising rates.

Late Wednesday China’s State Council, or cabinet, announced pref-

erential policies for Chinese manufacturers, including a promise to extend financial support, especially to largescale equipment makers, to expand their exports.

“China’s new round of stimulus polices has helped the market to recoup earlier losses,” Northeast Securities analyst Shen Zhengyang told AFP. “However, it may further consolidate around the current level as ups and downs like these are quite normal for a capital-driven market.”

Among the announced measures were also a promise to reduce red tape for Chinese companies listing on foreign stock markets as well as a loosening of restrictions on overseas bond issuance by domestic corporations.

The Shanghai index has gained over 20% since China announced a surprise interest rate cut in late November, with the market experiencing swings around the symbolic 3,000 mark.

Construction companies rose on expectations for lower costs after the supportive policies in equipment sectors.

On the Shanghai market, China Railway Construction Corp. surged by its 10 percent daily limit to 13.74 yuan while China Railway Erju Co. also jumped 10 percent to 15.58 yuan.

Insurance companies were among Thursday’s biggest gainers. China Life Insurance Co. jumped in Shanghai by its 10% limit to 27.87 yuan while Ping An Insurance (Group) Co rose 4.45% to 64.31 yuan. l

hard by an April sales tax hike.

“This package is aimed at ensuring a virtuous economic cycle and spreading the benefits of Abenomics to all regions by swiftly focusing on fragile parts of the economy,” it said.

The aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus deployed under Abenomics

has boosted stock prices and driven down the yen, producing windfall gains for big exporting companies and share investors. But low-income groups, small firms and rural areas have been hit hard by rising import costs caused by a weak yen, and by a rise in living costs due to the sales tax hike. l

China offers fresh support for outbound investment n Reuters, Beijing

Russia says currency crisis over, but inflation set to soar

China will simplify currency rules and step up credit support for firms investing overseas, the cabinet said on Wednesday.

It was the government’s latest move to encourage use of excess factory capacity at home and help local firms grow globally.

The government will allow firms investing abroad to exchange money directly at banks without first registering with the authorities.

It will also help firms to “go out” to expand abroad with more bank support for major equipment makers, the cabinet said, calling for “diversified use of foreign exchange reserves”.

In September, the Ministry of Commerce simplified rules to make it easier for domestic companies to invest overseas Increased outbound investment helps China to export surplus capacity and makes Chinese products, especially equipment products, more competitive internationally, the cabinet said.

The government has been encouraging firms to invest abroad to help slow down the rapid build-up of foreign exchange reserves and help local firms become more competitive internationally.

The government will simplify its approval procedure for banks to set up branches overseas, and for firms to list shares abroad and pursue mergers and acquisitions, it said.

The geographical limit on issuing yuan-denominated bonds by domestic firms and banks in overseas markets will be abolished.

In September, the Ministry of Commerce simplified rules to make it easier for domestic companies to invest overseas.

China’s outbound investment by non-financial firms hit $89.8bn in the first 11 months of 2014, up l1.9% from a year earlier. China drew $106.2 bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 11 months.

At the meeting, the cabinet also pledged to “revitalise” fiscal funds to support the slowing economy. It aimed to channel some leftover money into public facilities and infrastructure projects, the cabinet said.

But it pledged to crack down on “special fiscal accounts” that local governments have used to contain off-budget funds that are out of the central government’s reach. l

n Reuters, Moscow

Russia said its currency crisis was over yesterday but warned that inflation is set to climb above 10 percent, adding to the problems facing President Vladimir Putin’s government as it fights its worst economic crisis since 1998.

The ruble plunged to all-time lows last week on heavy falls in the price of oil, the backbone of the Russian economy, and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis that made it near impossible for Russian firms to borrow on Western markets.

But it has since rebounded sharply after authorities took steps to halt its slide and bring down inflation, which after years of stability threatens Putin’s reputation for ensuring the country’s prosperity.

Those measures included a hike in interest rates to 17% from 10.5%, curbs on grain exports and informal capital controls.

“The key rate was raised in order to stabilize the situation on the currency market. ... That period has already, in our opinion, passed. The ruble is now strengthening,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the upper house of parliament on Thursday.

He added that interest rates would be lowered if the situation remained stable. Standard & Poor’s credit ratings agency said this week it could downgrade Russia to junk as soon as January due to a rapid deterioration in “mone-

tary flexibility”.

Keen to avert a downgrade, Russia said it had started talks with ratings agencies to explain the government’s actions. Siluanov said the budget deficit next year would be “significantly more” than the 0.6% of gross domestic product originally planned.

The ruble slumped to 80 per dollar in mid-December from an average of 30-35 in the first half of 2014. It has strengthened in the last few days to trade as strong as 52 per dollar on Thursday, in part thanks to government pressure on exporters to sell hard currency.

Russians have tracked the exchange rate closely since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when hyper-inflation wiped out their savings over several years in the early 1990s.

Inflation spike

Russia imports large amounts of food, high-tech equipment and cars. As the ruble weakens it has to pay more for its imports, which pushes up inflation at home and in turn encourages people to protect their earnings by buying dollars, thereby adding to the pressure on the rouble.

Putin’s economic aide Andrei Belousov said on Thursday that annual inflation could reach around 11% by the end of 2014 - surpassing the psychologically important 10% mark for the first time since the 2008/09 global financial crisis.

Prices for some goods, such as beef and fish, have risen 40 to 50% in recent months after Russia slapped an import ban on certain Western food products in retaliation for European Union and US sanctions over Ukraine.

Bank officials say they saw a spike in withdrawals from ruble deposits in mid-December as Russians rushed to convert their savings into hard currencies.

The deputy head of top state lender Sberbank, Alexander Torbakhov, said this week that demand for hard currencies spiked to five times usual levels last week, when the rouble plummeted to all-time lows.

But he added that the bank had seen depositors returning in large numbers after most lenders ramped up their deposit rates, some offering as much as 20 percent in annual interest.

“We have managed to cope (with deposit withdrawals). Can the situation be repeated? Yes, it can,” Torbakhov said, declining to discuss what could trigger a new flurry of withdrawals.

Analysts say that apart from oil prices, they will watch ratings agency decisions.

S&P warned this week there was at least a 50% chance it would cut Russia’s sovereign rating below investment grade within 90 days. Moody’s ratings agency warned this week that Russia’s GDP could contract by 5.5% in 2015 and 3% in 2016 due to weaker oil prices and the ruble’s slide. l

New York City Ballet dancers from this year's production of The Nutcracker visit the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on the morning of December 24, 2014 in New York City. The market opened above 18,000 points for the first time in its history this morning AFP

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Friday, December 26, 2014

Expats eyeing the exits after Russian ruble plunges n AFP, Moscow The plunge of the ruble hasn’t left only Russians shell shocked - foreign workers from traders to maids are considering bailing out as Moscow turns from an El Dorado into a financial black hole.

The phenomenon is not quantifiable nor is there anything to indicate an exodus of expatriates is under way, but many admit to considering whether it is time to leave Russia after the ruble shed a quarter of its value in a couple of days last week.

While the ruble has recovered somewhat, it is still down some 40% against the dollar and euro this year, leaving many in a precarious financial position.

Joy left her three young children in Manila earlier this year to cash in on the high wages offered by well-to-do Muscovites to clean their apartments.

“When I arrived in April, I was paid 1,500 rubles, or 42 dollars (30 euros), for four hours of housecleaning,” said the 28-year-old. “Today, for the same work, it comes out to just 20 dollars (16 euros).”

She had been lured here from the Philippines by friends who had been working in Moscow.

“They told me the ruble was very stable and there wasn’t as much competition as in other cities,” said Joy. She had been sending home up to

two-thirds of her earnings to support her family in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries.

‘Marooned in Moscow’

“My goal was to have saved up enough to pay for my oldest son to continue his studies and buy a moto-taxi for my husband so he would have a job,” said Joy. “I also wanted to repair the roof of my parents’ house ... but today I realise that is impossible.”

Now, she said, “I don’t earn enough to send home for them to survive. My parents don’t understand, they think I’m working less, and I feel guilty.”

Joy is comparatively lucky to be getting paid at all as many migrant labourers, particularly those from former Soviet republics who work on construction sites, are not.

“Employers have now stopped paying altogether, referring to the crisis,” said Anara Beisheyeva, a lawyer for Migration and Law, an organisation that works with migrant labourers in Russia.

“They tell them: ‘there is no money, we are closing’,” said Beisheyeva. “People are being left with nothing.”

She said for the moment most migrant labourers were sticking around, hoping for a quick end to the crisis rather than returning home with empty pockets.

CORPORATE NEWS

But even buying the ticket home could soon be out of reach for some, as the prices of plane tickets are set in dollars.

“They are becoming more and more expensive while I am earning less and less money,” said Joy. “I’ll have to decide quick or I’ll might end up being marooned in Moscow.

‘Black Monday every day’

At the other end of the social ladder, a French trader in his 30s regrets having taken up a job in Moscow with a Russian bank at the end of September.

“They offered me a good salary and big bonus,” said Olivier. “I told myself this was the opportunity to work in a dynamic market that has been growing for four years and that it is a good idea to leave Europe which is stagnating.”

But just two weeks after his arrival, Olivier was disillusioned with his ruble salary that was quickly losing value in euro terms.

If the trader thought he’d see “double-digit inflation quickly compensated with regular raises” to his salary, Olivier said he “never expected a Black Monday every day.”

The term is shorthand for a market crash, and traders in Moscow have taken to using Black Tuesday for the day last week when the ruble shed 20 percent of its value, shooting to over 80 to

Mobile phone company, Okapia has recently launched seven service centres at Rajshahi, Rangpur and Sylhet. The company’s chairperson, Subrata Das and managing director, Tofazzul Hossain were present at the inaugural ceremonies

NRB Commercial Bank Limited has recently opened its 25th branch at Chandraganj in Lakshmipur. Industrialist, MS Ahsan inaugurated the branch at the presence of the bank’s chairperson, Engr Farasath Ali

Mercantile Bank Limited has recently opened its 98th branch at Jhitka Bazar in Manikganj.

The bank’s chairperson, Morshed Alam inaugurated the branch

don their currency it is time for foreigners to leave,” said Olivier, adding he was ready to buy his plane ticket home.

5,000 shillings ($1.80, 1.48 euros).

The duo, friends since age eight, are happy with the local reception to their products. But they were “amazed” when they began receiving orders for both cocoa beans and butter from a Swiss factory about two months ago.

“We realised that what we were doing is not as ordinary as maybe we thought it was,” said Okuye, adding they’ve also sold to South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Britain.

A businessman in Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa exporter, has also been lapping up their treats.

“People are eager to know this kind of chocolate coming from Uganda,” said Okuye, adding their products were “more organic” than most chocolate as they had a higher cocoa content.

“Ghana’s interest was so amazing, they were asking even to be agents.” l

REUTERS

“I will be the first to leave because I am single and have no children, but the others won’t be far behind.” l

Dollar gives up US GDP data gains in Asia n AFP, Tokyo

On a sprawling, lush cocoa plantation in Mukono outside the Ugandan capital Kampala, farmers have been sampling chocolate for the first time ever.

“When we gave our farm manager the first product to taste his face was so amazing, he was saying ‘really this is coming out from what we are doing?’” said Felix Okuye, 28, the executive director and co-founder of startup Pink Food Industries.

“The taste of the chocolate and the taste that is familiar to him with the cocoa from the pods is two different things. The foreigners have a higher affinity with a bit of bitter chocolate, whereas Ugandans seem to have a sweet tooth.”

In the east African nation, chocolate is a luxury product bought by people in

the medium and upper income bracket.

“When you were growing up and you had a parent or relative going out of the country, you would always tell them ‘you bring me chocolate’,” Pink Foods CEO and co-founder Stephen Sembuya, 28, told AFP. The chocolate on the shelves of Kampala’s major supermarkets is usually from Switzerland, Belgium, Brazil, Malaysia and Turkey. A 100g bar normally sells for about 20,000 shillings ($7.25, 5.90 euros), according to the entrepreneur. However since May this year, the pair have been selling their own “Uganda” brand of chocolate, mainly through social media, to Kampala restaurants and hotels who use it for deserts, pastries and in ice-cream.

“Our present price is quite good, low compared to the imported chocolate,” Sembuya said, adding a 50g bar costs

Russian ruble strengthens in thin trade

Amit Singhal: Google going where no search engine has gone before

n AFP, Moscow Hotel Orchard Suites has recently gave out complementary air ticket to the winners of its competition at the company’s corporate get-together

the dollar and 100 to the euro.

“It’s clear, the Russians are selling all of their rubles, and when locals aban-

Uganda takes on the chocolate market n AFP, Mukono

National Bank Limited has recently opened its 178th branch at Roumari in Kurigram.

The bank’s senior executive vice president and regional head of Rajshahi, Wasif Ali Khan inaugurated the branch

An employee counts Russian ruble banknotes at a private company's office in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia

Russia’s rouble strengthened yesterday as exporters sold foreign currency in response to government pressure and to meet tax payments, but trading volumes were thin as many Western markets were closed for the Christmas Day holidays.

At 0825 GMT, the rouble was 1.7% stronger against the dollar at 52.55 RUBUTSTN=MCX and gained 1.5% to trade at 64.53 versus the euro EURRUBTN=MCX. The rouble earlier hit its highest against the dollar and euro since Dec 4 and has trimmed its losses against the greenback to around 37% this year.

The Russian currency is supported towards the end of each month by tax payments to the state budget that require Russian exporters to convert part of their foreign-currency earnings into rubles.

Forex sales have also risen after the government told large exporters on Tuesday that by March 1 they must bring their net foreign exchange assets back to the levels of Oct 1.

Analysts, however, are cautious on the near-term outlook for the rouble, saying much depends on oil prices, which remain weak, and progress in talks to secure a lasting peace in eastern Ukraine.

“We think the short-term upside for the rouble is limited,” Dmitry Polevoy at ING Bank said in a note, also citing the risk of Russia being downgraded to ‘junk’ status by ratings agency S&P as a factor weighing on investors’ mood.

The central bank has spent over $80bn defending the rouble this year amid a slump in oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis that have restricted Russian firms’ access to international capital markets.

It said yesterday that it and the Finance Ministry had not conducted forex market interventions on Dec 23.

Russian shares were mixed on Thursday, largely reflecting the moves in the rouble.

The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 2.4% to 834 points, while its rouble-based peer MICEX traded 0.5% lower at 1,393 points. l

The dollar lost more ground in thin Asian trade yesterday, after a rally powered by decade-high US economic growth figures.

In Tokyo afternoon trade, the US unit bought 120.14 yen, weakening from 120.44 yen in New York, although the greenback was still up from the 119yen level earlier this week. “With a lack of fresh cues, the dollar will continue to lack the momentum to test its upside,” Mizuho Securities FX strategist Kenji Yoshii told Dow Jones Newswires.

The greenback got a boost on Tuesday as the US Commerce Department raised its estimate for third-quarter growth from 3.9% to 5%, the best since 2003. l

n AFP Google search guru Amit Singhal believes the search-engine of the future will be “a perfect personal assistant” - knowing what you want, when you want it.

Although people can travel to the moon’s surface without leaving their armchairs, search-engine developments so far are just “baby steps” to “the holy grail of search”, Singhal told AFP in a rare interview.

Singhal, 44, has already brought transformational change to the Internet since he took over development of Google’s search engine in 2000, when the web was still relatively limited and access achingly slow.

The “Google fellow” - the title the California company bestows on its top thinkers - sees a world of “knowledge on demand” before people even know they want it, as speech recognition, language understanding, touch technology and computer advances combine.

The search engine of the future will be the “perfect personal assistant giving you benefit of all technical knowledge, enhancing your thought processes”, he said.

Singhal dismisses criticism by some scientists that having all the information at people’s fingertips could create lazy minds, shortening attention spans and reducing capacity to remember information.

“People always worry about change,” he said.

“We have to teach people to swim with the flow of technology, not swim against it,” he said.

“There were worries about the Gutenberg printing press - that it would destroy the beauty of the spoken word, but we’re far better off with the knowledge it’s brought,” he said.

“People worried TV would stop people reading books but that hasn’t happened,” he noted.

“The Internet has made people more productive - removing barriers to getting information,” he said.

Search is at the core of Google, which fields millions of questions a day

An illustration picture shows a Google logo with two one Euro coins, taken in Munich REUTERS in more than 110 languages.

Singhal’s vision has helped make it the most visited search engine globally, as well as one of the planet’s most profitable companies.

“These are immensely exciting times” with search technology “going through an exponential period” of change, he said.

“Ultimately I believe this will give mankind healthier, happier lives, not just through wearable technology, but the sum total of information that will be within our reach to improve lives.”

‘Trekkie’ fan

When Singhal talks about his technological inspiration and the future of search engines, he smiles and says: “Star Trek.”

Singhal watched the popular science-fiction show obsessively growing up in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

The series -- Singhal viewed repeats so often he knew the dialogue by heart -- gave him a dream about a future where a computer like the one on the starship Enterprise could provide any information immediately.

And life has given Singhal, a graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology and Cornell University, the chance to help develop just that kind of technology.

“I imagined a future where a starship computer would be able to answer any question I might ask, instantly.”

“We’re closer to that dream than I ever thought possible during my working life,” said Singhal, adding that he was “blessed to do something I love”.

Singhal is in charge of what Google calls its “search algorithms”, which decide how best to retrieve information and answer questions.

His team tests thousands of search algorithms every year, adjusting, tweaking and inventing. The key is ranking information, giving the most pertinent answer first.

The more Google keeps users happy, the better it is able to beat competition from Yahoo and other sites, and also draw lucrative advertisement to its pages.

Just as USS Enterprise Captain James Kirk never had to type a question into the spaceship’s computer, asking it questions aloud instead, Singhal sees searches heading in the same way with better voice recognition.

Singhal was in New Delhi to announce launch of Google’s new Hindilanguage content website.

Nearly all of India’s 198-million English speakers are already online and Google hopes the local-language website will add 300-million more Internet users. l

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Friday, December 26, 2014

Tesco-style accounting risks well known in retail industry n Reuters, London Tesco Plc’s disclosure of huge accounting mistakes over contracts with its suppliers shocked industry analysts and executives, but not because they didn’t realise the potential for disaster.

On the contrary, they assumed that everyone in retailing was fully aware of the risks involved in accounting for rebates paid by suppliers to Britain’s biggest supermarket groups, thanks to auditors’ warnings.

Therefore Tesco’s revelation on Monday that it had overstated its profit forecast for the first half of the year by 250m pounds ($409m) came as a nasty surprise and wiped 2bn pounds off its stock market value.

Auditors routinely list risks that companies may face, and this year they have raised the supplier rebates which have become a major part of the grocery business - in a number of firms’ accounts following a change in disclosure rules.

The auditors for all three of Britain’s biggest publicly-quoted retailers

- Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons told investors in their most recent annual reports that their businesses faced material risks regarding the reporting of the supplier rebates. Those at the smaller online retailer Ocado did likewise.

These cash payment or discount deals take many different forms, but suppliers typically offer them to the retailers in return for additional efforts to promote their products.

Accountants said that such disclosures by auditors reflected more the growing importance of the supplier rebates than worries that companies didn’t know how to account for them.

“The rules are pretty well established,” said a senior auditor at one big accounting firm who asked not to be named.

Companies can even buy software packages to help to track, analyse and account for such payments.

Nevertheless, deciding how the rebates should be treated in accounts requires companies to exercise discretion, and therein lies the risk of the kind of trouble that has hit Tesco.

Companies don’t publish how much they receive in payments from suppliers. But France’s Carrefour (CARR.PA), which vies with Tesco as the world’s second largest supermarket group by revenue, said at the end of last year that it had over 1 billion euros (now $1.3 billion) in outstanding receivables from suppliers in relation to rebates and other commercial incentives.

One industry executive said that rebate programmes typically lasted less than six months so the actual payments - known as supplier or commercial income - for a group of Carrefour or Tesco’s size could run to billions of pounds.

This may explain the size of writedown at Tesco.

The company blamed “accelerated recognition of commercial income and delayed accrual of costs” within its UK food business for the overstatement of its expected half-year profit.

Some analysts said the mistake could reflect grey areas that sometimes exist when accounting for complex agreements, but others were sceptical

that such a big downgrade could have resulted from a mere interpretational misunderstanding.

“This, in our view, is not all an accounting issue but more a behavioural issue instilled by previous management,” said Mike Dennis, retail analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in London.

Dennis and other analysts said they expected the problem was linked to attempts by the previous leadership team, including CEO Phil Clarke who lost his job in July, to revive the flagging business. Analysts at Bernstein warned investors that the irregularities had probably gone on for years “since the pressure started on Tesco in 2011”.

Reuters attempts to contact Clarke and former CFO Laurie McIlwee were unsuccessful. Tesco declined to comment on whether staff might have felt pressure to account for promotions aggressively.

A matter of judgment

Tesco gave little detail about what kinds of mistakes it suspects were made, but analysts said the statement

about accelerated income recognition suggested a number of possible mechanisms.

Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne, who was previously a supply chain director of Tesco Asia, said managers - possibly under pressure to improve earnings - might have brought forward promotions and the right to book supplier rebates.

He said that managers might also have booked rebates that bridged more than one period, in an earlier single period.

Sales forecasts could also have been a factor.

Rebates are often tied to volumes.

Last year British media reported that retailer John Lewis had told suppliers it expected a 0.75% discount in prices, or a reduction of over 5% if sales rose by 50%. In such a scenario, exactly how much rebate a manager could book would depend on the projected sales growth.

John Lewis declined to comment on its programme.

David McCarthy, an analyst at HSBC,

Citigroup selling its Japan retail bank business n AFP, Tokyo Citigroup said yesterday it was selling its century-old Japanese retail banking operations to major lender Sumitomo Mitsui as part of an effort to shrink its consumer business globally.

Financial details were not released, but Japanese news reports estimated the deal to be worth about 40bn yen ($333m).

Under the agreement, Sumitomo unit SMBC Trust Bank would acquire Citibank Japan’s operations including 32 retail branches, 740,000 customers, 1,600 employees, and deposits worth 2.5tn yen.

The transaction is expected to be completed in late 2015.

“The sale represents another step in Citi’s strategy of further streamlining its Global Consumer Bank,” the US company said in a statement, adding that it would keep its profitable Japanese commercial banking operations.

The US firm entered the Japanese market in 1902, one of the first foreign lenders to operate in the country.

Since the US bank brought in a new chief in late 2012, it has been cutting retail operations in a host of countries, including Honduras, Turkey, Romania, and Uruguay.

In Japan, low interest rates, following years of economic slump, have squeezed retail businesses. l

Weak commodity prices boon for India, hurt Malaysia and Australia

n Reuters, Singapore

Journalists sit aboard an A350 during an hour flight over France on December 22, 2014. Airbus delivered its first next-generation A350-900 plane to Qatar Airways Monday in a formal ceremony that kickstarts its bid to erode rival Boeing's dominance in the lucrative long-haul market AFP

Anxious German employers gear up for minimum wage revolution n

Reuters, Berlin

Michael Pirl is about to raise prices at his hotel in rural east Germany to cover a spike in labor costs as a national minimum wage takes effect, and he hopes new events like dinner shows will keep the customers coming.

Like most German employers, he’ll have to pay all his 74 staff at the fourstar Ringhotel “Zum Stein” at least 8.50 euros an hour from Jan. 1 and he’s worried about how this will impact business at the retreat 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Berlin.

“To what extent can you persuade guests to continue buying or consuming the same amount of products? If the beer or wine gets more expensive,

said slowing sales growth at Tesco could have contributed to any inaccuracy in such calculations. “We suspect Tesco may have been booking promotional rebates based on historic precedent rather than on current volumes,” he said.

Peter Pope, Professor of Accounting at the London School of Economics, said rebates were often tied to a retailer performing certain tasks. This meant a manager might also wrongly recognise revenues by booking them even when a supplier might feel they have not been earned.

Several of these methods of improving earnings were flagged up in the auditors’ notes included in the Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury and Ocado annual reports.

This highlighted, Pope said, how internal controls should be there to avoid the kind of problems Tesco suffered. “Because there is so much need for judgment and discretion to be exercised, good internal audit procedures should really monitor the veracity of all assumptions,” he said. l

would you drink the same amount as before?” he said. Maintaining the hotel’s existing salary structure will increase his wage costs by 8%.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government agreed in April to introduce Germany’s first country-wide wage floor in a victory for the Social Democrats (SPD), who made it a condition for joining a coalition with Merkel’s conservatives last year.

Some economists believe the reform will boost consumption - which Berlin is relying on to drive economic growth - while others say it could reduce purchasing power if it causes firms to cut jobs or hike prices.

More than one in four German firms expect to be directly affected. Of those,

People walk into the the Mall of Berlin shopping centre in Berlin

more than half said they would need to take counter-measures such as cutting staff or increasing prices, a survey by the Munich-based Ifo institute found.

The law comes at a time when Europe’s largest economy has cooled and the government faces pressure from European partners to boost weak investment.

While 21 out of 28 European Union states have a minimum wage, Germany has long resisted, using sector- or regionwide collective wage deals. But these have become far less frequent since 1998.

Trade unions have broadly welcomed the change of tack, mindful of the sharp expansion of the low-wage sector since 2003, when Gerhard Schroeder, Merkel’s SPD predecessor,

REUTERS

liberalized labor laws. Reports have since surfaced of workers earning as little as 2 euros an hour.

Job cuts?

The minimum wage is expected to weigh hardest on firms in the east, where workers earn less than the national average and fewer are covered by collective deals. Hotel and catering industry body DEHOGA said staff costs could surge by around 20 percent in some regions.

But how the reform will affect the labor market seems harder to call, with some economists seeing little impact, while others estimate up to 570,000 positions could be lost.

Mario Ohoven, head of a lobby group for the Mittelstand - the small and medium-sized firms that form the backbone of the economy - said the new law would be a “job killer”.

“Job cuts, declining investment and higher costs are the price that companies and citizens will pay for what is supposedly a great social achievement,” he said.

Ohoven said around a third of bakeries in the east faced the threat of closure and that the new legislation put hotels and restaurants, where the share of staff costs is particularly high at up to 40%, in a tough position.

Enzo Weber of Germany’s Institute for Employment Research (IAB) said there was a risk that the minimum wage would slam the brakes on rising employment, though he saw no major impact on jobless numbers.

“The minimum wage increases costs for employers but can also have positive effects like filling vacancies and providing job stability,” he said.

But back at the Ringhotel, Pirl is taking no chances. He plans to cut costs by holding off on investments and, at least for now, not replacing any staff who leave. l

Many Asian currencies have eased this year while the value of commodities has hit new lows, yet the impact on each country in the region has differed with India benefiting, Indonesia seeing mixed blessings, and Malaysia and Australia being largely hurt.

Big commodity consumers like India are benefiting from lower import costs for fuels and raw materials as a smaller fall in the rupee this year means their buying power has not been eroded.

The rupee has shed less than 3 percent against the dollar this year, versus a 12% decline last year.

Indonesia, one of the world’s top importers of oil products, is reaping the benefits of an almost 50 percent drop in crude prices since June and a smaller fall in its rupiah currency. But Indonesia’s revenues from coal, of which it is the world’s top exporter, have fallen a quarter this year.

For countries like Malaysia and Australia, which rely on commodity exports for revenues while importing most other goods, the recent developments are damaging. Falling revenues from crude oil for Malaysia, or iron ore and coal for Australia are also devaluing their currencies, making imports costly and threatening Australia’s first recession in 20 years. l

Saudi projects big deficit in 2015 on oil price drop n AFP, Riyadh Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, yesterday announced a 2015 budget with a huge $38.6bn deficit due to the sharp decline in oil prices but still raised spending.

A statement read on state-run television said spending for 2015 is projected at 860bn riyals ($229.3bn) and revenues at 715bn riyals ($190.7bn).

Projected spending is slightly higher than the 855bn riyals planned for this year, but revenues are 140bn riyals lower than estimates for 2014, said the statement read after a cabinet session chaired

by Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz.

The budget shortfall is the first deficit projected by the OPEC kingpin since 2011 and the largest ever for the kingdom.

Over the past decade, Saudi Arabia overspent budget projections by more than 20% and if the trend is maintained next year, the deficit will be much higher.

The price of oil, which makes up more than 90% of public income in Saudi Arabia, has lost about half of its value since June due to a production glut, weak global demand and a stronger US dollar.

Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim alAssaf said this month that Riyadh will continue massive public spending despite the sharp decline in oil prices.

Assaf said the budget comes during “challenging” global economic conditions but reserves built over many

DILBERT

years have given Saudi Arabia “depth and a line of defence that come in handy in times of need”.

In royal decrees issuing the new budget, King Abdullah called for “rationalisation of spending” and for the “accurate and efficient implementation of the budget”.

“You are aware of the slowdown in growth in the global economy and the events in the petroleum market that led to the sharp fall in oil prices,” the statement quoted the king as saying.

If oil prices remain at the current level of about $60 a barrel for benchmark Brent crude, Saudi Arabia is expected to lose half of its oil revenues of $276 billion posted in 2013.

No figures have yet been provided for this year’s budget results.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that due to the drop in oil price, Saudi Arabia will post a budget deficit this year.

But the wealthy kingdom, which pumps around 9.6 million barrels per day, can easily tap into huge fiscal buffers, estimated at $750bn, to meet the budget deficit.

King Abdullah authorised the finance minister to draw “from the reserves” to meet the deficit or through borrowing.

Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s lowered its outlook for Saudi Arabia to stable from positive following the slide in oil prices. l