11 jan, 2015

Paush 28, 1421 Rabiul Awal 19, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 277

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

20 pages | Price: Tk12

B4 | BUSINESS

7 | CAREER

11 | OP-ED

12 | SPORT

KERRY TO PUSH INDIA TO GIVE US FIRMS GREATER ACCESS

MAKING GOOD DECISIONS UNDER PRESSURE

2015 IS GOING TO BE A MILESTONE IN WORLD HISTORY

‘EVEN OUR HOME CONDITION IS NOT EASY’

Teacher killed, train derails Three suffer burn injuries on the fifth day of BNP alliance’s indefinite blockade In Comilla, miscreants cut away n Tribune Report three feet of railway track near NanA Gaibandha teacher was killed, a Comilla train derailed and buses and shops fire-bombed yesterday as the BNP and its allies unleashed a programme of arson and violence across the country in the name of enforcing the blockade.

On the fifth day of the indefinite blockade, violence in the capital and other districts yesterday left at least three people with burn injuries and one dead. Vehicles were vandalised and torched during the enforcement of the blockade.

Miscreants cut away three feet of railway tracks in Comilla causing a train to be derailed The head teacher of Chhoto Bhagavanpur Government Primary School in Gaibandha, Altaf Hossain, 50, died at Rangpur Medical Collage Hospital yesterday. Miscreants vandalised three passenger buses, 20 three-wheelers and torched a cotton-laden truck on the Dhaka-Rangpur Highway. Police hurled 70 rounds of bullets and arrested four Chhatra Shibir activists in this regard, confirmed officer in charge of Polashbari police station Mujibur Rahman.

Officer-in-Charge of Govindaganj police station ABM Jahidul Islam said a case had been filed against 100 activists of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir.

BNP strike in Dhaka district likely tomorrow n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla The BNP-led 20-party alliance is likely to call a daylong general strike for tomorrow in Dhaka district and adjacent eight others.

Seeking anonymity, a BNP leader of Dhaka district told the Dhaka Tribune last night that the alliance had decided to make the call for the strike today.

The strike is likely to be enforced in Gazipur, Narayanganj, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Narsingdi, Dhaka, Comilla and Mymensingh. But he did not clarify if it would be enforced in the capital too.

An indefinite blockade of the alliance is already in force. The alliance is also stubborn about continuing agitations until the demand for an election under a non-partisan government is met.

The Awami League, which assumed power for a second term after the January 5 election last year, is scheduled to hold a rally in the city tomorrow marking the first anniversary of the election. l

galkot Railway Station, causing a train to be derailed around 5am on the Dhaka-Chittagong railway line.

Four wheels of a train carriage and two wheels of the engine of the Chittagong-bound Godhuli Express went off the tracks. Railway links were restored after six hours, at 11am.

OC of Laksham Government Railway Police station Ahsan Habib said a four-member probe committee had been formed after the incident. Police are preparing to file a case, he said.

In Dhaka’s Rampura area, attackers hurled two Molotov cocktails at the Bangladesh Television building around 1:45pm, witnesses said.

Sub-Inspector Enamul Hossain of Rampura police station said no one was injured when one of the explosives went off in a flower pot in front of the building and the other exploded nearby.

No arrests were made, he said.

Assailants hurled three Molotov cocktails before an office of the Awami League in Gulistan of the capital. Police held Sadik Ahmed, 24, in this regard.

Paltan police Sub-Inspector Shawkat Hossain said: “Sadik exploded the cocktail before the Awami League officer around 2:30pm and police, with the help of locals, arrested him. A case has been filed against him.”

In the capital’s Tejgaon area, one person suffered burns when miscreants torched a bus around 7:30am near the Tejgaon Mohila College.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Mother of driver Abul Kalam cries at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College hospital yesterday as his son lies with 33% of his body burnt in an arson attack on his car in the capital’s Moghbazar on Friday night during the BNP-led 20-party alliance’s indefinite blockade programme. Doctors said his condition was critical

5 new patients added as horror of flame continues n Mohammad Jamil Khan

People in different areas continue to be the victims of strike-time violence such as crude bomb explosions and arson attack on vehicles as the countrywide indefinite blockade imposed by the 20-party alliance is still in effect.

Dr Partha Shankar Pal, resident surgeon of Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s burn unit, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday the unit was getting new patients daily and the situation resembled that in late 2013.

“We have now around seven patients who are receiving treatment and three of them remain in a critical condition,” he said.

Five new burn victims were admitted to the burn unit yesterday. Four of them were injured in capital while the other in Narayanganj.

Abul Kalam, a driver by profession, is one of the five who had 33% of his body burnt, including his respiratory organs.

Sitting beside the 28-year-old on the bed, his mother Safia Begum was shed-

n Tribune Report India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah had no conversation with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia over phone on Wednesday as claimed by the BNP, two private television stations and the state-run news agency BSS said yesterday.

But the BNP still maintains that the BJP leader had talks with the BNP chairperson. Khaleda’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan yesterday issued a press note, claiming that he was present with his party chief when the telephone conversation took place.

Ekattor TV yesterday quoted Amit Shah as saying “No, no. This is a fake

A file photo taken on April 21, 2013 shows a woman walking past burnt houses, in Baga, after a two-day clash between officers of the Joint Task Force and members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram AFP

n AP Hundreds of bodies – too many to count – remain strewn in the bush in Nigeria from an Islamic extremist attack that rights group Amnesty International suggested on Friday is the “deadliest massacre” in the history of Boko Haram.

Mike Omeri, the government spokesman on the insurgency, said fighting continued on Friday for Baga, a town on the border with Chad where insurgents seized a key military base on January 3 and attacked again on Wednesday.

“Security forces have responded

rapidly, and have deployed significant military assets and conducted airstrikes against militant targets,” Omeri said in a statement.

District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims were children, women and elderly people who could not run fast enough when insurgents drove into Baga, firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles on town residents.

“The human carnage perpetrated

by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous,” Muhammad Abba Gava, a spokesman for poorly-armed civilians in a defence group that fights Boko Haram, told The Associated Press.

He said the civilian fighters had given up on trying to count all the bodies.

“No one could attend to the corpses and even the seriously injured ones who may have died by now,” Gava said.

The five-year insurgency killed more than 10,000 people last year alone, according to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations. More than a million people are displaced inside Nigeria and hundreds of thousands have fled across its borders into Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.

An Amnesty International statement said the town reportedly was

5 | News

6 | Nation

15 | Entertainment

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

3 | News

4 | News

Four days of public hearings will begin on proposals to raise retail power tariffs submitted by five electricity distribution companies between January 20 and 25.

ding tears and praying to Allah for her son yesterday.

On Friday, Kalam parked the car he drives in front of Agora Shopping Centre in Moghbazar and was sleeping inside when miscreants hurled a Molotov cocktail at the vehicle around 11:30pm.

He took his employer Raju Ahmed there to attend a marriage ceremony.

“I was in the party when I heard a loud sound. I quickly came out on the street and saw the car burning, with Kalam inside it,” said Raju.

Kamal, who hails from Barisal, lives

with his younger brother Ibrahim in a rented house in Dhaka.

Ibrahim said he was worried about bearing the expenses of Kalam’s treatment their family was poor.

In a separate incident, two mosque staff in Kamrangirchar - Abdul Gafur, 30, and Mizanur Rahman, 32 – sustained burn injuries as the bus carrying them came under an arson attack. They were headed to Kamrangirchar from Gabtoli by a bus of Sohan Paribahan.

The fire burnt both the legs of Gafur  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

‘2,000 killed in Boko Haram massacre’ BJP chief denies having called Khaleda

INSIDE Almost two-thirds of public employees will lose out financially if time scales and selection grades are scrapped in accordance with the recommendations of the National Pay and Services Commission (NPSC), official sources said.

MEHEDI HASAN

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday inaugurated the academic activities of 11 new public medical colleges, aiming to fulfill the country’s huge demand for physicians to provide better medical services to the people.

At least 75 people, including policemen and journalists, were injured in a series of clashes between two groups of two villages over erecting a building on a government land in Madaripur yesterday.

After almost one year of suffering at the censor board, the romantic thriller “The Director” starring popular actress Poppy and directed

by Kamruzzaman Kamu got its approval on January 8.

news. Not any contact from our side,” in response to its query if he had phoned Khaleda.

Talking to another TV station, the BJP leader said: “This is totally a rumour.”

On Wednesday, the BNP claimed that the BJP president had called Khaleda and inquired about her health. But on Friday an online news portal claimed that the news was false as no such conversation had taken place between the two leaders. The ruling Awami League, too, ridiculed the BNP for falsehood.

The BNP, however, challenged the news and claimed that the government had been spreading misleading information.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, January 11, 2015

95 vehicles attacked in seven days in Dhaka

Most of the attacks were made after sunset n Mohammad Jamil Khan A total of 95 vehicles came under attack in the capital since January 4 till yesterday night, with the majority of those attacked in the evening and afterwards, according to police and Fire Service statistics.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia announced an indefinite blockade across the country from January 6, but vehicles have been set on fire since January 4.

Statistics on the attacks show that those mostly took place between 2pm and 9pm.

Requesting anonymity, a top Dhaka Metropolitan Police official told the Dhaka Tribune that transport-related violence would mostly be perpetrated early in the morning during blockades and general strikes in the past but the recent attacks were made after the sunset for the most part.

“The trend is such because officers experience burnout after working all day. They usually do not stay fully alert at the time and that is the chance miscreants take,” he said.

DMP sources said officers who discharge duties at night take over around

8pm but the daytime officers get exhausted after 6pm and hence surveillance becomes loose.

On January 4, miscreants set fire to 17 vehicles and vandalised six buses.

On January 5, seven buses were torched and six vehicles were vandalised.

The number of buses set ablaze on January 6 was 17 and two vehicles were also vandalised. 11 vehicles were set on fire January 7.

On January 8, 23 vehicles were torched while on January 9, nine vehicles were set on fire and another one was vandalised.

Eleven vehicles were torched till 9pm yesterday.

DMP Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune police surveil key spots of the capital to maintain law and order.

“We also have a host of plain-clothes officers who work to avert any possible attacks. But miscreants generally makes attacks abruptly and leave the scenes straight away,” he said.

“We are trying our best to prevent such attacks and are optimistic that we will be able to make headway shortly,” added Masudur. l

Pro-blockade supporters torch a passenger bus at Shahbagh area in the capital during the BNP-led indefinite blockade. The photo was taken yesterday evening

Iqbal Sobhan: Tarique should be brought to book for distorting history n BSS

BNP senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman should be brought to book for his derogatory remarks on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well as distorting history, said Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, media adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Staying abroad, Tarique Rahman is resorting to falsehood on various his-

torical facts to hatch conspiracy against the country, he told a discussion on “Bangabandhu and Bangladesh” at the Jatiya Press Club yesterday.

Sohojoddha Muktijoddha Command organised the discussion marking the historic Homecoming Day of Bangabandhu.

With Sohojoddha Muktijoddha Command President Asaduzzaman Zakir in the chair, Journalist Subhash Singh Ray,

BJP chief denies

n UNB

With absolute disregard to any safety measure, labourers climb up to paint a high rise building in the Johnson road of the capital. A moment of carelessness may cost them their life or life-long disability MEHEDI HASAN

regarding Tarique’s return to home for facing trials,” he said.

“Anti-liberation forces are hatching conspiracy to halt trial process of war criminals. But their conspiracy will be failed,” he added.

Iqbal Sobhan said people of the country have joined the efforts of the present government to build a middle-income country in light of sprit of War of Liberation. l

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have congratulated Maithripala Sirisena on his election as Sri Lankan president.

In separate messages issued on Friday night, the president and the prime minister hoped that bilateral relations between the two friendly countries would further be widened and deepened during his Presidency.

President Abdul Hamid in his message said: “It’s my immense pleasure to warmly congratulate you on your victory in the Presidential election of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.”

Under Sirisena’s leadership, Hamid said, the people of Sri Lanka will experience greater peace, progress and prosperity in the coming days. He conveyed his very best wishes for his success in his high office and for his good health,

happiness and personal wellbeing.

In her message to Maithripala, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said: “I wish to extend my heartiest congratulations to you on your election to the high office of the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.”

She also congratulated the people of Sri Lanka for peacefully and judiciously exercising their democratic right to elect their leader.

“The choice they have made is a reflection of their respect for the ethos of democracy, good governance and the rule of law. I wish you all success in achieving your vision for a new era of reform and stability in Sri Lanka,” he said.

The prime minister said Bangladesh deeply values its warm, friendly relations with Sri Lanka that have been developed and consolidated over the years through sustained interactions at the bilateral, regional and international fora. l

5 new patients added

2,000 killed in Boko Haram massacre

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

razed and as many as 2,000 people had been killed.

If true, “this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram’s ongoing onslaught,” said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for the London-based rights group.

In Washington, US State Department Spokesman Jen Psaki condemned the attacks. “We urge Nigeria and its neighbours to take all possible steps to address the urgent threat of Boko Haram.

“Even in the face of these horrifying attacks, terrorist organisations like Boko Haram must not distract Nigeria from carrying out credible and peaceful elec-

tions that reflect the will of the Nigerian people,” Psaki said in a statement.

The previous bloodiest day in the uprising involved soldiers gunning down unarmed detainees freed in a March 14, 2014, attack on Giwa military barracks in Maiduguri city. Amnesty said then that satellite imagery indicated more than 600 people were killed that day.

Emergency workers said this week they are having a hard time coping with scores of children separated from their parents in the chaos of Boko Haram’s increasingly frequent and deadly attacks.

Just seven children have been reunited with parents in Yola, capital of

Adamawa state, where about 140 others have no idea if their families are alive or dead, said Sa’ad Bello, the coordinator of five refugee camps in Yola.

He said he was optimistic that more reunions would come as residents return to towns that the military has retaken from extremists in recent weeks.

Suleiman Dauda, 12, said he ran into the bushes with neighbours when extremists attacked his village, Askira Uba, near Yola last year.

“I saw them kill my father, they slaughtered him like a ram. And up until now I don’t know where my mother is,” he told The Associated Press at Daware refugee camp in Yola. l

ka, miscreants torched a three-wheel auto rickshaw yesterday evening. A fire service team rushed to the spot and doused the fire, confirmed Shahzadi Sultana, Fire Service and Civil Defence duty officer.

In Barisal, police dispersed pro-blockade pickets yesterday in the morning in the Kawnia area of the city, said Kazi Mahbub, Kawnia police station officer-in-charge.

Law enforcement agencies were patrolling the city ready to bring any situation under control, Shoaib Ahmed, deputy commissioner (headquarters) of Barisal Metropolitan Police said.

Blockaders allegedly torched a passenger bus in the Dhulipara area of the Moulvibazar-Bralekha Road of Brah-

minbazar under Kulaura upazila of the district yesterday.

According to locals and police sources, as the Moulvibazar-bound bus from Kulaura reached Dhulipara point, a group of blockaders chanted slogans and stopped the bus.

At this stage, passengers of the bus got down hurriedly and blockaders set the bus on fire. They also attacked several CNG-run auto-rickshaws at the spot.

Confirming the incident, Amol Kumar Dhar, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kulaura police station, said a case would soon be filed.

A bus was torched in Magura on Friday night, Magura Assistant Police Superintendent, Shudarshan Kumar Roy,

said.

Around 11:30pm Friday, miscreants set fire to a bus in Vian Square in Magura town.

Miscreants set fire to the parked bus while its supervisor was sleeping in it.

Realising the bus was on fire, he jumped to safety after breaking through a glass window. A case is yet to be filed in this connection, he said.

In Chapainawabganj, two bus helpers received burn injuries from Molotov cocktail explosions. The injured are Abdur Rahim, 48, and Masud, 18. Police sources said miscreants hurled explosives at 11 goods-laden trucks while crossing the Consat Bazar area.

The injured were taken to Chapainawabganj Sadar Hospital. l

while Mizanur got his knees and hands burnt completely.

Rickshaw puller Amulya Barman, 45, was admitted to the burn unit as his face, hands and respiratory organs were burnt.

He was going to Gabtoli from Jatrabari on a bus which was torched in front of Tejgaon Mohila College around 7:30am yesterday.

Amulya, with 12% burn injuries, said he was going to Gabtoli to board a bus to travel to Panchagarh as his family lives there.

“But now the violence brought me to the hospital bed,” he said. Al Masud, 65, who claimed himself as a freedom fighter, was admitted to the burn unit with 8% burn injuries in his body.

He sustained injuries when miscreants set ablaze a bus of Bandhan Paribahan in front of a clinic in Narayanganj at 8:30am yesterday. He was on his way to Dhanmondi to join a programme. Masud’s brother SM Kajol said his brother did not get married and joined the 1971 Liberation War to fight for the country’s independence.

“It seems my brother fought for nothing as the situation in the country is worsening every day. We commoners are suffering for a handful of people who are only interested in only having their personal interests served,” he said.

Dr Partha said physicians were trying their best to treat the patients but everything depended on the Almighty. l

Teacher killed, train derails

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The Dhaka Tribune also attempted several times to contact Amit Shah but could not reach him over the phone.

After the denial of the BJP chief, Maruf Kamal Khan, the press secretary to the BNP chairperson, yesterday said: “We now have nothing to add to what we said earlier. That the telephone conversation took place is 100% true.”

Maruf even claimed to have talked to those close to Amit Shah and learned that “there was no scope for the BJP chief to give any interview to the media here as he has been very busy with electoral campaigns and collecting members for the party.” When contacted, several senior leaders of the BNP refused to make any comment as they claimed to have been in the dark on the issue. l

Freedom Fighter Fulu Sarker, leaders of the Muktijoddha Comand, among others, addressed the discussion.

“Tarique Rahman has to be brought back to home for facing trial for his derogatory remarks on Bangabandhu and many settled issues of history,” Iqbal Sobhan said.

“I hope the government of United Kingdom will extend all necessary cooperation to Bangladesh government

President, PM greet Sri Lanka’s new president

Experts: Vested interest bars environment laws into effect n UNB Speakers at a convention in the capital yesterday blamed a vested quarter for the non-implementation of the policies and laws related to environment.

“Government high-ups are sincere to protect the environment. But various policies, laws and steps taken to protect the environment cannot yield desired results due to noncooperation some particular people,” said urban planner Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury.

Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan (BAPA) and Bangladesh Environment Network (BEN) jointly hosted the daylong prgramme “Environment Policies and Acts’ Implementation Problems” at Krishibid Institution Bangladesh.

Urban expert Prof Nazrul Islam said since there are many policies, laws and directives of court in favour of environment, those are not properly enforced.

He said the government must be strict to implement environmental policies and laws properly.

Planning Secretary Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam said there is no alternative except prioritising the environment in development efforts. “Taking lessons from the previous experiences, all of our development programmes and activities must be environmentfriendly.”

Stating the government’s firm stance in this regard, Environment and Forest Secretary Nazibur Rahman said: “We are working to protect the public interest. There will be no compromise in case of protecting the environment.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

The injured man is Amulya Barman, 45, a rickshaw puller. Another rickshaw puller who was with Amulya, Anil Chandra, said: “We live in the Singboard area of Siddhirganj in Narayanganj. We are going to Panchagarh.”

He said they were going to Gabtoli on a local bus when two youths on a motorcycle torched the bus and fled the scene. Amulya’s face and hands were burned badly.

Assistant Sub-Inspector of Tejgaon police station Khorshed Alam said the injured man was rushed to the Burn Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Around 5:45am miscreants torched a Belal Paribahan passenger bus at Shahbagh square.

Bus driver Nurul Islam said two youths got into the bus at the Press Club and sat in the back seat.

As the bus crossed Matsya Bhaban, passenger noticed a fire inside the bus but the two youths had jumped off and fled the scene.

Around a dozen passengers were inside the bus during the incident.

Sub-Inspector of Shahbagh police station said no one had been injured.

In the evening, around 6:25pm, four crude bombs were exploded in the Panthapath area of the capital. One bomb went off inside a shop called Orchid Glass and Thai Aluminium.

Sumon, 28, an employee of the shop, was injured in the attack.

In the Madhya Badda area of Dha-

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, January 11, 2015

3

65% of public employees stand to lose from NPSC proposals n Asif Showkat Kallol Almost two-thirds of public employees will lose out financially if time scales and selection grades are scrapped in accordance with the recommendations of the National Pay and Services Commission (NPSC), official sources said.

The second, third and fourth grade employees of just six big ministries – home, defence, primary and mass education, education, health and family planning, and public administration – amount to 65.41% of the total public workforce.

Two-thirds of public employees are at risk of decreased purchasing power if the proposals are implemented.

A report prepared by Finance Division officials using data from division-based IBAS revealed that the number of second, third and fourth class employees of the six major ministries – some 1.38 million personnel – is 65.41% of the government’s total workforce of 2.10 million employees.

The Finance Division report pointed out that it is difficult to get promotions

under the existing employment and appointment rules. The NPSC has recommended the cancellation of time scales and selection grades under which public servants now get salary increments without being promoted.

The report said time scales and selection grades are currently the only means whereby third and fourth class employees can receive salary increases.

According to the data analysis, third and fourth grade employees of the Army, Navy, Air Force, police, Ansar, Border Guard Bangladesh, jail guards, fire services, schools and primary schools, health services, and transportation drivers will be negatively affected by the scrapping of time scales and selection grades because getting promotions is not very easy.

A Home Ministry employee said: “Those who are enjoying benefits will continue to get them but we will lose Tk8,000 per month from July if the NPSC recommendations are implemented from the beginning of the next fiscal year.”

Commission Chairman Mohammad

Farashuddin, a former governor of Bangladesh Bank, yesterday announced the decision to scrap provisions for time scales and selection grades.

Most administrative cases filed at the courts by government employees are over disputes regarding time scales and selection grades, he said.

The last secretary committee meeting on Wednesday remained divided on the question of scrapping time scales and selection grades.

The committee noted that lower grade employees would suffer financially from the implementation of the proposal, meeting sources said.

The NPSC also recommended that government reduce the number of lower level employees to make the administration more efficient. The pay commission conducted three surveys among public servants to assess their perception of time scales and selection grades.

The report observed that the existing system of time scales and selection grades complicates the process of fixing salaries and leaves open scope for corruption. l

The Mohakhali bus terminal, normally buzzing with activity, appears to be relatively quiet on the fifth day of the non-stop countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP and its allies. The picture was taken yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Eight days of Khaleda’s confinement

Blockade throttles demand and disrupts supply of fuel oil

Ctg Nursing College teacher hacked by masked men

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Losses to filling stations have started to mount as the BNP-led countrywide blockade stifled demand for fuel oil, interrupted fuel deliveries from depots to filling stations and intimidated filling stations into remaining closed.

Fuel oil consumption decreased significantly because the continuous blockade and shut-downs have disrupted vehicular movements across the country.

“Many transportation company owners are not operating their vehicles out of fear of attacks,” Mohammad Nazmul Haque, president of the Petrol Pump and Tank-Lorry Owners Association told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said under normal conditions around 12,000 tonnes of diesel, petrol and octane were sold across the country every day.

“Now we are selling a mere 2,000 tonnes per day. Our losses have been huge for the last couple of days. We have incurred crores in losses,” Nazmul said.

Even as owners of trucks, buses and tankers have not been buying fuel oil for the past few days because of the blockades, filling stations have also

BNP Chairperson and 20-party alliance chief Khaleda Zia has passed eight days at her Gulshan office, which remained cordoned by a good number of law enforcers yesterday too, amid an indefinite blockade under way for the fifth consecutive day.

The three-time former premier’s movement is now limited to her chamber and an adjacent room of the second floor of the building.

A group of 11 former bureaucrats went to Khaleda’s office yesterday and held talks with her for around an hour.

Earlier, pro-BNP professionals and leaders of Mohila Dal, the BNP’s women wing, met with Khaleda at the office.

The law enforcers did not bar her relatives from entering the building to provide her cooked foods.

No senior leaders of the party or the alliance went to Khaleda’s office yesterday as most of them have been on hiding, reportedly fearing arrest.

In the last one week, the law enforcers arrested a number of top leaders including acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at an emergency meeting with the party’s senior leaders on Thursday reaffirmed her government’s stance to go tough against the BNP-Jamaat’s “atrocities” in the name of movement.

Meanwhile, the ruling Awami League high command yesterday directed the party leaders and lawmakers to stay alert on the streets so that the BNP-Jamaat men could not carry out any violence and sabotage.

Since Saturday night, party leaders Selima Rahman, Abdul Kayum, Shamshur Rahman Shimul Biswas, Maruf Kamal Khan, Mahbub Al-Amin Dew and Shirin Sultana among others have been accompanying Khaleda at her office.

Khaleda was confined at her office on January 3 night while going to the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters. Later she tried to go out of the office on January 5 to join the scheduled rally, but barred. After that, she did not make any attempt to leave her office but announced countrywide blockade for an indefinite period.

Terming it “Democracy Killing Day,” she announced to hold a rally on January 5 denouncing the January 5, 2014 election that her alliance had boycotted.

But as the ruling Awami League had earlier called a mass rally for the same day to celebrate one year of the election, the DMP imposed ban on all sorts of meetings and processions until further notice in the capital.

During Khaleda’s attempt on January 5, police used pepper spray to disperse her party colleagues who were chanting slogans from inside the office premises. After that Khaleda reportedly fell sick.

Khaleda’s office was padlocked the same day but opened the following day. The main gate was locked again on January 6 for some time.

At least 11 sand- and brick-laden trucks were stationed around the office on January 4 night but those were removed on Tuesday. l

remained shut out of fear of blockade violence.

Of the 9,000 filling stations in the country, most stayed shut because of the blockade, the president of the Petrol Pump and Tank-Lorry Owners Association said.

‘We are selling a mere 2,000 tonnes of fuel oil per day. Normally, 12,000 tonnes are sold each day. We are losing crores’ Transport vehicle owners have been unwilling to operate their vehicles on the streets because of the ongoing political violence.

“We risk facing political violence on the roads and highways. Most filling stations are located beside major thoroughfares,” Nazmul said.

A petrol pump worker from the Mohammadpur area of the capital said his pump remained closed out of fear of violence and vandalism.

“We cannot get fuel at most petrol pumps in the capital. The pumps are

AL men to join law enforcers against BNP’s ‘anarchy’ n Abu Hayat Mahmud As the Awami League-led government has decided to go tough against the “violent activities” and “sabotage” of the BNP-Jamaat alliance, the ruling party plans to work with the law enforcement agencies on the streets side by side.

After Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had shared the government’s decision with her party’s senior leaders, the central high command yesterday directed lawmakers, and presidents and general secretaries of different units around Dhaka to stay alert.

The directives came after a joint meeting of the party held at the party president’s political office at Dhanmondi chaired by General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, also the LGRD minister.

Terming the BNP-Jamaat activities “anarchic” and “sabotage,” Syed Ashraf urged the leaders to resist them alongside the law enforcers at any cost, meeting sources said.

After the meeting, Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have discussed about successfully holding Monday’s rally. The meeting also discussed about the ongoing violence and sabotage, and measures to resist them.”

Azmat Ullah Khan, general secretary of the Gazipur unit, who was also present at the meeting, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The party’s highcommend directed us to get ready for resisting any anarchic situation created

by BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazate-Islam.”

The meeting was arranged to make tomorrow’s rally at Suhrawardy Udyan successful. Party President Sheikh Hasina will be present at the rally when the central leaders of the 14-party alliance will also speak.

Although the party officially announced the rally to marking Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day, sources told the Dhaka Tribune that the party leadership was preparing for a massive show down by gathering thousands of people.

Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, another joint general secretary of the party, said no violence and secret attack created by the BNP-Jamaat would not be tolerate.

“If BNP does not stop violence in the name of movement, people will stop them by labelling them as ‘terrorists.’”

On the “fake” statement of six US congressmen in favour of the BNP and a rumoured phone conversation between the BNP chairperson and the India’s ruling BNP chief, Hanif said the Law Ministry was looking into the matter. If needed, the ministry would take legal action against the BNP leaders involved with the “forgery.”

On Thursday, Hasina at an emergency meeting with senior leaders said the government would go tough against the BNP-Jamaat for carrying out violence.

She also hinted that movement of the BNP chief might be restricted further if she provoked more anarchy.

Meanwhile, a senior leader seeking anonymity said the Awami League in no way would compromise or hold any dialogue with the BNP. The next general election would be held in 2019 in line with the constitution (under the incumbent government), said the leader, also a former minister.

Yesterday’s meeting also asked the ward-level leaders of the capital to take to the streets today to thwart any subversive activities of the blockade supporters on the occasion of Akheri Munajat of the Biswa Ijtema, the senior leader told the Dhaka Tribune. l

closed,” a bus driver who works in the capital said.

The country’s lone oil importer and distributor, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), sells its oil to refuelling stations through the state-owned Padma, Meghna and Jamuna oil companies.

“There is no crisis of fuel oil,” the BPC Chairman A M Badrudduja told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

But the BPC chairman admitted that Kurigram district had been dry for the last two days due to a lack of fuel supply from depots to filling stations.

He said: “About 90% of petroleum fuel is transported across the country via the waterways. Eight percent of fuel oil is supplied via rail and two percent is transported by road.”

“We have decided to take special measures for the roads. We will seek support from law enforcement agencies and the district administrations to transport fuel during the blockade,” Badrudduja said.

According to the BPC, 44% of petroleum products is consumed by the communications sector, 22.47% is used in power generation, 20.95% in agriculture, 4.43% is used by industries and 8.15% by households and others. l

A female teacher of Chittagong Nursing College was hacked by masked miscreants near her residence in Telipatti area under Panchlaish police station of Chittagong city yesterday morning.

The dead Anjoli Debi, 50, was senior teacher of the college and wife of Rajendra Nath Deb, hailing from Gobindaganj area of Gaibandha district, police sources said.

Hearing the news of her death, students of the college staged demonstrations and gave a 24-hour ultimatum to authorities concerned to arrest the killers, said a third year student Masum Rabbani.

Several hundred students of the college boycotted classes and brought out a procession from their college campus which paraded adjoining city roads. Later, they organised a rally in front of CMCH Forensic Building and gave their ultimatum.

Quoting Anjoli’s husband Rajendra, police said four masked men attacked Anjoli on Telipatti Road near her residence around 9:30am when she was waiting for a rickshaw to go to her workplace. The miscreants suddenly

came and hacked her indiscriminately, leaving her critically injured.

Later, she was rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital by locals and admitted into Intensive Care Unit where she succumbed to her injuries around 11:45am due to excessive bleeding, said CMCH police outpost In-Charge Sub-Inspector Jahirul Islam, quoting duty doctors.

He said: “The body had hack bruises on the head and limbs. It has been sent to CMCH morgue for autopsy.”

Chittagong Metropolitan Police Panchlaish Circle Assistant Commissioner Dipok Jyoti Khisha said the killed might have been preplanned.

“As mobile, money or other valuables of the victim were not snatched, it indicates that it was not an attempt of mugging,” he said adding that she might have had enmity with somebody in her workplace, family or in the local area.

Panchlaish police station Officer-inCharge Mohammad Mohiuddin said they were investigating into the matter and taking all possible outcomes into cognisance.

He said no one has been arrested in this connection yet but legal measures were under process. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Electricity price hike hearings start January 20 n Aminur Rahman Rasel Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) will begin four days of public hearings on proposals to raise retail power tariffs submitted by five state-owned electricity distribution companies, at the TCB Bhaban in Karwan Bazar between January 20 and 25.

“We hope to hold the public hearings from January 20 and a final decision will be made afterwards,” BERC Chairman AR Khan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The hike, if approved, will take the price of electricity to Tk5.51 per unit from the existing Tk4.70, at bulk level The power distribution companies have incurred huge losses from purchasing electricity from costly rental and quick rental power plants.

Earlier, the five state-owned electricity distribution companies submitted their respective proposals in accordance with a decision of the government to hike retail power tariffs by between 17.45% and 25.89% per kilowatt-hour.

The Rural Electrification Board (REB) sought a 25.89% rise in its existing tariff, West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited asked for an increase of 21.31%, Power Development Board (PDB) sought 22%, Dhaka Power

Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) 17.85% and Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) 17.45%.

They urged the BERC to make the proposed increased power tariffs effective from January 1, 2015.

The hearing on the proposals of the West Zone Power Company will be held on January 21, the proposals of DPDC and PDB will be heard on January 22 and the REB and DESCO proposals on January 25.

Additionally, the BERC will begin a hearing on increases to wheeling charges and bulk electricity tariffs.

“Wheeling” refers to the transfer of electrical power through transmission and distribution lines from one utility’s service area to another’s.

The PDB has proposed that BERC raise the electricity tariff at bulk level by 18.12% or Tk0.81 per unit.

The hike, if approved, will take the price of electricity to Tk5.51 per unit from the existing Tk4.70, at bulk level.

The production cost of each unit of power is around Tk6.54, therefore the PDB is losing Tk1.84 per unit at present.

The hearing on the PDB’s bulk power tariff proposal will be held on January 20.

The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), which receives electricity wheeling charge from its clients – distribution companies – at the rate fixed by the BERC, has sought increased charges as well.

The PGCB proposed that BERC raise the wheeling charge at 132Kv level by 70.77% or Tk0.3873, and at 33Kv level by 70.06% or Tk0.3896 per unit.

The hearing on the PGCB’s proposals to raise wheeling charges will be held on January 21. l

Despite a recent awareness campaign by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police on jaywalking, city dwellers continue to defy law and cross streets in a risky manner. In the photo taken yesterday, an elderly woman crosses the busy Shahbagh intersection literally with her life in hand SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Tk1.3 lakh misappropriated from 40-day job scheme programme in Lakshmipur per day n Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur Union Parishad-level public representatives and ruling party leaders have allegedly been misappropriating Tk1.3 lakh per day from 40-day income-generating programme in Lakshmipur’s Raipur upazila.

The government allocated Tk1.05 crore for 40 projects in 10 unions of the

upazila.

A total of 1317 vulnerable people are supposed to be employed under the projects, each earning Tk200 per day.

However, more than half of them have been falsely employed.

According to a finding by our correspondent, a chairman has 10 people and the members have 35 and the ruling party men 20 falsely employed un-

der four job schemes per union.

Seeking anonymity, a source said the project implementation officer also receives commission over this misappropriation.

Raipur Upazila Chairman Master Altaf Hossain Howlader said he was aware of this and added that he would inform the local MP about this.

Project Implementation Officer Gol-

am Sorowar said he had not received any such allegation.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sharmin Alam said she would take actions if she received any specific complaint regarding this.

MP for Lakshmipur 2 Mohammad Noman said necessary actions would be taken if anybody was involved in the projects. l

Case lodged against 700 Sunamganj BNP activists for assaulting police n Our Correspondent, Sunamganj

A person injured in a crude bomb attack during the BNP-led 20-party alliance‘s indefinite blockade is taken to hospital. The photo was taken from Panthapath area in the capital yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

BLOCKADE OR ROAD CRASH VICTIM? ‘Execute CHT treaty before Rangamati projects’ “My nephew was the only hope for n Our Correspondent, Bandarban n Mohammad Jamil Khan his family. I do not know what would

Confusion arises over truck driver’s death

Parbatya Chattagram Pahari Chhatra Parishad, also known as PCP, yesterday held a rally demanding a halt in the activities of Rangamati Science and Engineering University and Rangamati medical college projects as long as the hill tracts treaty comes into effect.

Recently, the government has been approaching with both projects for the hilly district.

PCP local unit activists brought out a procession in support of the ongoing blockade prevailed in Rangamati in the district town in the morning and they held the rally in front of Bangabandhu Mukto Mancho.

In the programme, the speakers demanded immediate implementation of the treaty before the projects.

PCP Dhaka city unit Office Secretary Suman Marma, Rangamati unit President Mosta Marman and General Secretary Nitta Lal Chakma addressed the event among others. l

Police and families have differed over how a truck driver died yesterday.

Emdadul Islam Raju, 35, who hailed from Gurudashpur village in Natore, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) about 6:10pm.

The victim, who was married with a four-year-old-child, was admitted to the hospital around 10:45am.

The victim received head injury in a picketers’ attack near Mohasthangar in Bogra around 3am while driving to Dhaka with his truck laden with potato, a person called Helal Uddin, who brought him to the hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He was rushed to a local clinic but his condition began worsening and so doctors referred him to Dhaka for better treatment, he said.

Physician Pijush Kanti said he was injured blood had severely been clotted in the victim’s head, resulting in his death.

now happen to his family,” Victim Raju’s uncle Robiul told the Dhaka Tribune, adding that as far he knew his nephew had died after being injured in a picketers’ attack.

Bogra’s Shibganj police station Officer-in-Charge Ahsan Habib however told the Dhaka Tribune that there only occurred a road crash at the place where it was being said that truck driver Raju had been injured in a picketers’ attack around 2:30am.

OC Habib added that since there did not occur any kind of picketers’ attack there, there is no question of his death after being injured in anything but a road crash.

One hour later, he revisited the area and called up the Dhaka Tribune, saying there did not really take place any picketers’ attack there.

The BNP’s non-stop blockade has been enforced across the country since Tuesday. l

Police have filed four cases, accusing 684 BNP leaders and activists of assaulting them in Sunamganj since Tuesday. The party has been enforcing non-stop blockade across the country since Wednesday.

Over 93 persons, including District Chhatra Dal Joint Convenor Kamrul Islam Raju and Swechchhasebak Dal leader Golam Mawla were arrested in the cases.

The fear of further arrests has meanwhile forced hundreds of BNP men to desert houses while the party has claimed that there is little presence of the Jamaat and its student wing in the ongoing movement.

On January 5, Sub-Inspector Anwar Hossain filed a case against 86 persons, including District Swechchhasebak Dal Convenor Abdullah Al-Noman and Chhatra Dal Convenor Nurul Islam with Sadar police station.

Of the accused, 30 have been kept unnamed in the case.

Another case was filed with the

Mejban on occasion of Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day Correspondent, n Our Gopalganj For the first time, residents of Raozan upazila from Chittagong yesterday hosted a Mejban programme in Tungipara on the occasion of home coming day of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

As part of the historical programme, many people from the upazila being accompanied by Communications Minister Obaidul Quader and lawmaker ABM Fozle Karim Chowdhury from Chittagong 6, reached Tungipara in the morning and placed wreaths on the grave of Bangabandhu.

Later, Obaidul Quader inaugurated the event on the field of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman University. l

same police against 117 persons hours after Chhatra Dal and Chhatra League men clashed with police at the old bus stand on January 8.

Of the accused, 80 have been named in the case.

Terming the cases false, District Chhatra Dal Convenor Nurul Islam said such cases were being filed only to harass the party leaders and activists On January 6, Sub-Inspector Habib filed a case with Dakshin Sunamganj police against 174 persons, including District BNP Convenor Faruk Ahmed.

Of them, 24 persons, including Faruk, have been named in the case.

Meanwhile, another case, according to police sources, has been filed with the same police against 307 persons,

including Dharmapasha Upazila Chairman and BNP Convenor Motaleb Khan for assaulting police during a BNP factional clash in the upazila town.

Of the accused, 57 have been named in the case.

Terming the cases false, District Chhatra Dal Convenor Nurul Islam said such cases were being filed only to harass the party leaders and activists.

Dakshin Sunamganj BNP Convenor Faruk Ahmed said eight members of his family were made accused in the “false” cases and so police were raiding their village home every day.

District BNP Convenor and former MP Nasir Uddin Chowdhury said the government was having these cases filed by police against them only to hamper the peaceful movement.

He urged the government to withdraw the cases and release of those arrested in the case.

Superintendent of Police Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid said they would continue their drives to arrest those accused in the cases in order to keep law and order under control in the district. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Following the indefinite blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance, road communication across the country suffered disruption due to rampant attacks on vehicles plying the highways. Under this circumstance, the government declared to provide security to ensure safe movement of vehicles. Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) are seen positioned at various points of national highways yesterday as part of this security measure. In Chittagong, armed BGB men remain alert to avert any untoward incident while some BGB members are patrolling the highways in Kushtia and Sylhet to allow goods-laden trucks and passenger buses to reach their destinations AZAHAR UDDIN/DHAKA TRIBUNE

Robotics, Programming contest at Ruet begins tomorrow n RU Correspondent A two-day-long competition on robotics and programming at the Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (Ruet) will begin tomorrow.

The university’s Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, the Embassy of United States in Bangladesh, and IEEE Students Branch will jointly organise the event, said a press release.

Some 130 teams from 25 universities will participate in the contest. This for the first time when more than 100 teams are going to take part in the national level robotics competition, it said.

In different categories, the winners will be given prizes worth of Tk1.45 lakh, it added.

Workshops on career building in the field of robotics and programming will also be held with participation of around 500 professionals, teachers and students.

Ruet Vice Chancellor Prof Rafiqul Alam Beg will attend the programme as the chief guest.

Representatives from US embassy, teachers from different universities and professionals from various organisations will also attend the event. l

WEATHER DRY WEATHER LIKELY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:29PM SUN RISES 6:44AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 29 26 24 22 25 26 27 26

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

13 16 10 10 9 12 12 16

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

27.0ºC Sitakunda

8.6ºC Chuadanga

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:23am 6:42am 12:06am 3:53pm 5:29pm 6:49pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

11 more new govt medical colleges in country

Sonali Bank GM under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asks physicians to work with mentality of serving people ACC scanner n UNB

n Adil Sakhawat

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday inaugurated the academic activities of 11 new public medical colleges, aiming to fulfill the country’s huge demand for physicians to provide better medical services to the people.

The prime minister launched the new medical colleges through videoconferencing from her official residence Ganabhaban in the capital.

Of the 11 public medical colleges, six are government medical colleges located in Sirajganj, Tangail, Manikganj, Jamalpur, Patuakhali and Rangamati, while the rest five are army medical colleges located in Rangpur, Jessore, Chittagong, Comilla and Bogra.

Speaking on the occasion, Hasina urged the country’s physicians to extend their hands with the real mentality of serving the people.

Providing health services is a noble profession and it is the basic right of people, she said.

“The aim of physicians have to be serving people, not only earning money or making own fortune,” Hasina said adding that her government took various steps for the development of the health sector.

The prime minister hoped that the new medical colleges would play an effective role in creating efficient doctors as the country has huge demand for physicians.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has approved an inquiry against ATM Mizanur Rahman, general manager of Foreign Trade Division of Sonali Bank, on the allegation of accumulating wealth illegally.

To run the inquiry, the ACC appointed Assistant Director Masudur Rahman on December 31 last year, an official of the ACC confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune.

While serving as the deputy general manager between February 2011 and December 2014, Mizanur had earned huge amount of money as bribes by providing loans worth Tk7,000-8,000 crore violating banking rules – through submitting false documents and without taking security money.

The commission has already sent notice to the state-owned bank asking the authorities to provide its loan documents from 2011 to 2013.

Mizanur has become owner of a house in the capital’s Banani area, a land in Uttara worth Tk5 crore and two cars worth Tk10 crore. Apart from these, he accumulated huge amount of wealth illegally, the ACC official said.

The ACC might summon Mizanur after scrutinising the loan documents.

At that time, Mizanur was the DGM of Foreign Remittance Management Division. He was given promotion as GM recently. l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurates educational activities of newly established six government medical colleges and five army medical colleges through a video conference at her office yesterday PID These colleges would help reduce pressure on the doctors in the future when new physicians will come out successfully from there, she said.

Hasina regretted that Bangladesh’s health sector remained neglected for a long time though the country needed more medical colleges and universities to create physicians for the country’s huge population.

She mentioned that her government has taken steps to establish medical universities in every divisional head-

quarters, and the process of establishing two new medical universities -- one in Chittagong and another in Rajshahi --to this end is going on fast.

“This is how we can ensure better healthcare services in every corner of the country.”

The prime minister also talked to leaders, public representatives and army officials of the respective districts and regions through the videoconferencing, and assured them of fulfilling their various demands of respective

regions, including establishment of a full-fledged university in Jamalpur.

Sheikh Hasina hoped that Bangladesh would become a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed and most prosperous one in South Asia by 2041.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim delivered the welcome address while State Minister Jahid Malek, Army Chief General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan, PMO Secretary Abul Kalam Azad and Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhuri were present. l

40 BNP-Jamaat leaders, activists held in Rajshahi

Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day celebrated across country

n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

n BSS

Police nabbed about 40 leaders and activists of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami in midnight special drives in different areas of the district yesterday.

The drive kept conducted before dawn from at dead hours of night, RMP sources confirmed.

Of them, 26 were arrested from Bagmara, Puthia, Godagari, Charghat and Mohonpur upazilas and 14 were from separate places under Motihar, Boalia, Shah Makhdum and Rajpara police stations.

All of the arrested were sent to jail after showing producing before a local court, confirmed Rajshahi Metropolitan police (RMP) Assistant Commissioner and its spokesman Ifte Khayer Alam.

They were shown arrested in different cases launched over arson, sabotage and destruction of public properties, Alam continued.

When contacted, RMP Commissioner Muhammad Shamsuddin told the Dhaka Tribune that aim of such sort of drives was to resist the acts of sabotage in the name of blockade, which would be kept continued in the future.

However, BNP’s joint secretary and also Rajshai city unit President Mizanur Rahman Minu urged upon the blockaders halting the Dhaka-bound goods-laden trucks anyhow.

The leader also urged the party activists to make a strong blockade at the major points in Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj so that the goods-laden trucks could not enter Dhaka from the northern districts.

Minu made the call in a rally after a procession in the city yesterday morning on the fifth consecutive day of the unidentified blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

On the other hand, the long-route buses were seen plying on the highway in a large scale while many goods-laden trucks also left the district for Dhaka under protection from police and BGB members, said Rajshahi Highway Transport Group General Secretary Manjur Rahman Pitar.

No major incident of violence was reported during the blockade hours.

In the morning, blockaders set fire to a plum-laden truck on the Chapainawabgang-Rajshahi highway in Kashimpur area of Godagari upazila. l

Hundreds of people from all walks of life, particularly leaders and workers of the ruling Awami League and its associate bodies, yesterday paid glowing tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by placing wreaths at his portrait on the premises of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi in the capital in observance of his 44th Homecoming Day. On this day in 1972, Bangabandhu, the architect of independent Bangladesh, returned to the sacred soil of independent and sovereign Bangladesh via London and New Delhi after remaining imprisoned in jails in Pakistan during the entire nine-month-long Liberation War. With his return, the long arduous struggle for independence of the country’s people culminated into a totality.

The hopes and aspirations of the people would not have fulfilled without the presence of the supreme commander of the war in a new-born nation.

People from all strata thronged the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at

Dhanmondi Road 32 from different localities since early morning for placing wreaths on the portrait of Bangabandhu. The eastern and western crossings of the road on the banks of Dhanmondi Lake turned into a sea of people.

At 7am, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the head of the government placed wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu there. She stood there in solemn silence for sometime as a mark of respect to the chief architect of the country’s independence. Later, Hasina, as the president of ruling Awami League, along with party stalwarts placed wreaths.

Awami League Advisory Council members Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupta, Presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury and Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, joint general secretaries Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif and Dr Dipu Moni and organising secretaries AFM Bahauddin Nasim and Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury were present.

After the departure of the premier, leaders of the Dhaka city unit Awami League and its front organisations, and other socio-cultural-professional bod-

ies placed wreaths.

The other programmes of the day included discussions, milad and doa mahfils and special prayers for the eternal peace of the soul of Sheikh Mujib.

Bangabandhu Parishad organised a discussion at Dhaka Reporters Unity marking the day with its General Secretary Dr SA Malek in the chair.

Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote held a discussion at Bir Uttam Kwaza Nizamuddin auditorium at Segunbagicha with its Vice-President Mobarak Ali Shikdar in the chair while Bangamata Parishad organised a discussion at the National Press Club with its President Mozaffar Hossain Paltu in the chair.

On behalf of the Awami League, it’s Presidium member Obaidul Quader placed wreaths at the mausoleum of Bangabandhu at Tungipara, Gopalganj.

The leaders and activists of the Awami League in Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal, Pabna, Laxmipur, Barguna, Khagrachchari, Dinajpur, Natore, Jamalpur, Rangpur, Panchagarh and other district headquarters and upazilas also celebrated the day with elaborate programmes. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Tea garden youths find employment in fish farming n Our Correspondent, Moulvibazar The lush and expansive tea gardens of Moulvibazar are fast becoming a popular breeding ground for fresh water fishes.

Many educated but unemployed youths of the district are taking up the profession of pisciculture in the tea gardens because of high profit margin.

According to The Department of Fisheries (DoF), fish farming has been introduced in many tea gardens of the district’s Kulaura, Juri, Borolekha, Kamalgaj, Rajnagar and Sri Mangal upazilas.

The DoF said about 3,500 metric tonnes of fishes, worth Tk45 crore, are cultivated in these tea gardens each year The main tea gardens well known for fish farming are Borolekha upazila’s Shahbajpur, Chhotolekha, Keramatnagar and Hafizabad tea gardens, Juri upazila’s Sagornal, Fultola and Dhamai tea gardens, Kulaura’s Clevedon, Ispahani, Rehana, Marina, Rangichhora and Chatlapur tea gardens, Kamalganj upazila’s Madhobpur, Shamsernagar, Rajnagar tea gardens and some gardens of Sri Mangal.

The DoF said about 3,500 metric tonnes of fishes, worth Tk45 crore, are cultivated in these tea gardens each year. While some tea gardens manage the farming themselves, some also lease out the water bodies to young entrepreneurs.

Fresh water fishes, mostly tilapia, grass carp, silver carp, ruhi and koi, are

NEWS IN BRIEF Fire at transport company storeroom A fire broke out at a storeroom of a transport company office in Lon Office Para in the town early yesterday. Fire service sources said the fire had originated at a storeroom of ‘Jamuna Transport Company Ltd’ around 1am and engulfed the adjacent area soon. On information, firefighters from Jessore, Jhikargachha and Manirampur went to the spot and doused the fire after ten hours of hectic efforts. The reason behind the fire could not be known immediately. The company owner claimed the losses caused by the fire could go up to Tk1.5 crore. Kotwali police station Officer-in-Charge Enamul Haque said police investigated the incident.

– Our Correspondent, Jessore

usually cultivated in the water bodies of the tea garden. During the monsoon, these water bodies are created at the bottom of the tea plantation hills by retaining the rain water. Moreover, each tea estate consists of large water bodies primarily used for irrigation purposes during the summer.

Pisciculture in the district gained popularity mainly in 2006 under the guidance of the then fisheries officer of Kulaura upazila Fanindra Chandra Sarkar. He helped spread the methodology among the tea garden owners in other upazilas as well.

Fanindra Chandra was also famous for introducing a fish fry nursery in the Hakaluki Haor. During his six years of stay in Kulaura, he encouraged many youths to take up pisciculture as a profession.

Abu Mohammad, a fish farmer of Ispahani tea garden, said he leased some of the land of the tea garden after completing his education. “This is not only a profitable business but also a peaceful one because of the serene, beautiful setting of the tea gardens. I have about 10 people to look after my fish farm thus generating employment for the locals,” he added.

He, however, alleged that the local fisheries department never provided any support to the entrepreneurs.

“Even for a small problem, if I call someone from the office, I would have to give him a good amount of money,” Abu Mohammad claimed.

When contacted, Moulvibazar district fisheries officer Mohd Shafiquzzaman said fish cultivation in the tea gardens was a profitable business and his office provided support and suggestion whenever needed.

“We provide many kinds of assistance, for example testing the Oxygen level of the water bodies. We also give advises regarding fish food and provide training to the farmers,” he said. l

Miscreants killed Bablu Hembrom, leader of Adivasi Chhatra Parishad’s Rajshahi College unit, on Thursday night at Moyenpur village under Tanor upazila in Rajshahi. Jatiya Adivasi Parishad and residents of Bablu Hembrom’s village organise a human chain in the upazila town in protest against the killing AZAHAR UDDIN

Jubo League man killed in Chapainawabganj

Teen murdered over refusal to marry

Correspondent, n Our Chapainawabganj

n Our Correspondent, Noakhali

A Jubo League activist was hacked to death by his rivals at BN Bazar in Shibganj upazila on Friday night.

Mukul Ali is son of Robiul Islam Tunu of Shibganj while the attack injured another two men who were with Mukul. They were later admitted to Shibganj Upazila Health Complex.

Police said the 35-year-old had a longstanding feud with his step uncle Afzal over land properties worth Tk2 crore.

Section 144 imposed in Rangamati after clash n Our Correspondent, Khagrachari Local administration yesterday imposed section 144 in the district town for an indefinite period prohibiting mass gathering following a clash between Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) and ruling party activists.

Police sources said at least 15 people were injured in triangular clash ensued among Chhatra League, some Bengali organisations and PCP around 9:30am in Banrupa Bazar area over the inauguration of the academic activities of Rangamati Medical College.

Earlier, PCP called a blockade programme protesting the inauguration of

Rangamati Medical College.

The PCP demanded implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace accord before starting the activities of the medical college.

When some Jubo League and Chhatra League activists brought out a procession from Hapiar Mor in the town for going to the medical college premises some PCP activists chased them, triggering a clash. On information police went to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Later, the local administration imposed section 144 in the area apprehending further trouble. Police, Rab and army personnel were deployed in the area. l

Cold-stricken people get blankets A total of 2,000 cold-stricken distressed people in Char Alatali and Char Narayanpur Union Parishads under Sadar upazila of Chapainawabganj got blankets yesterday.Agriculture Sustainable and Socio Economic Development under its “Nodi O Jiban Project-2” sponsored the warm clothes for the distressed and marginalised community to lessen their sufferings to some extent.

Dutch Bangla Bank Limited, Unnoyan Somonnoy and Concern Worldwide supplemented the endeavor initiated by corporate social responsibility programme of Bangladesh Bank. Main thrust of the five-year Nodi O Jiban programme is to ensure food security of the extreme poor community through involving them in diversified productive and income generating activities.

– Our Correspondent, Chapainawbganj

Son kills father A son killed his father at Natun Kalabaria village of Bagatipara on Friday night.

Police arrested Sentu Sarker, 25, who killed his father Guljar Sarker, 55. Locals said Guljar stopped looking after Sentu and his two daughters after taking a second wife in 2002. Sentu’s mother Rehana started working as a maid to support her children. The youth got angered with Guljar for long over this and hit him with sharp weapons in the night, leaving him dead on the spot. Guljar’s second wife lodged a murder case soon after the murder, said Bagatipara police station SI Mohidul Islam.

– Our Correspondent, Natore

Two policemen help an injured member of Detective Branch to safety during a series of violent clashes between two rival groups in Madaripur yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

75 hurt in Madaripur clashes n Our Correspondent, Madaripur At least 75 people, including policemen and journalists, were injured in a series of clashes between two groups of two villages in the district yesterday.

Clashes erupted between villagers in Tantikandi and Charprasannadi over erecting a building on a government land in Tekerhat.

The injured were admitted to different local hospitals.

Police said a feud over establishing dominion prevailed between the groups for long and yesterday’s clashes broke out around 10:30am.

Taking position on the banks of the Kumar River, the rival groups blasted bombs, fired shots and used local weapons during the clashes.

Police and BGB managed to bring the situation under control around 4pm.

A 15km tailback was created on both sides of Dhaka-Barisal highway as vehicles stopped running soon after the clashes broke out.

Traffic resumed under police protection after 3:30pm.

Assistant Superintendent of Police in Madaripur Abu Bakkar Siddique said police were deployed on both sides of the river to avert further unrest. l

Police earlier arrested Afzal, a BNP activist, in a case filed over the feud.

Afzal’s supporters intercepted Mukul and his companions on Friday and a clash broke out between the two groups.

Mukul was stabbed during the clash, which led to his death.

One of Afzal’s supporters, who was injured in the clash as well, was admitted to Shibganj Upazila Health Complex but he fled from there to avoid arrest. Police are now trying to nab him.

Chapainawabganj Superintendent of Police Bashir Ahmed said police were probing the incident. l

Being infuriated for a denial of a marriage proposal a youth allegedly stabbed to death the girl and then he tried to kill himself at Naldia village in Senbagh upazila yesterday.

The fateful incident took place to Archana Rani Das, 19, daughter of Subash Chandra Das, from the village.

Quoting locals, Senbagh police station Mominul Islam, said Ripon Chandra Das, son of Tapan Chandra Das from the village, entered Rani’s house around 10am and proposed her to marry him.

When she rejected, he got angry and started stabbing her indiscriminately.

At one stage Ripon also stabbed himself to commit suicide. Hearing the scream of both locals rushed to the spot and found both in the pool of blood.

They immediately took her to the local hospital where doctors declared her dead.

Police arrested Ripon and got admitted to Noakhali Abdul Malek Ukil Medical College Hospital under police custody.

A case was filed in this connection, the OC continued. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Career

7

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Making good decisions under pressure

T

n Ahsan Sajid

Why experience counts

In case you ever wondered why experience matters so much when you are looking for a job, according to the RPD Process, as people become more adept in their chosen field through experience, their ability to recognise patterns is enhanced.

This gives them more options to choose from. This means that, more often than not, the first option they choose will work. Their rapid and effective movement through the recognition primed decision making model is what makes them experts.

he military, the police and fire-fighters often have to make life-or-death decisions within a moment’s notice that not only affect their lives but the lives of others on their team or civilians. Surgeons and pilots have to regularly make decisions affecting the lives of those under their care. One wrong choice could threaten the lives of many. How do these people, working in such extremely high pressure situations make these decisions so quickly?

There is no great technique behind it and the process of decision making is one of the most primal parts of our consciousness. The Recognition-Primed Decision (RPD) Process explores this method of decision making. The RPD Process can be used to make better decisions in high-pressure situations.

Intuition versus rationale

About the RPD Process

The RPD Process was first identified by research psychologists Gary Klein, Roberta Calderwood, and Anne Clinton-Cirocco in the late 1980s. Klein then published the process in his 1999 book “Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions.” Klein is best-known for pioneering the field of naturalistic decision making – the study of how people make decisions in demanding and high-pressure situations.

In 1985, the researchers who were then studying decision making in the army realised that these expert decision-makers were not comparing lists of options. They were not even comparing two options. So they ended up revising the whole research project and came up with a model of how people

BIGSTOCK

actually make decisions. This description they called the recognition primed decision making model.

How it works

In a given situation, the decision maker picks up cues and indicators that let them recognise patterns. Based on these patterns and the decision they have to make, the person chooses a single course of action or an “action

script” that they consider will achieve the outcome.

Klein and Co wondered how people could assess this single option if they were not comparing it to something else. What they found was that the decision maker would run the action script through a mental simulation.

The mental simulation was based on mental models that the decision maker had developed through experience. In

other words, the decision maker has an idea how things work based on the knowledge that has been gained from experience. The decision maker compares the option against what is known to work.

If the decision maker considers the action script will achieve the outcome, they go ahead.

If they consider that it might not work because of a potential prob-

lem, they may try and alter the action script in some way. If mentally they don’t think it will work, they discard it completely, and choose a second action script.

This is then mentally rehearsed and so on until they find an action script that they think will work. This is then utilised. Note that in this recognition primed decision making model there is no comparison of alternatives.

Youth Leadership Bootcamp 2015: Your potential turnaround n Tasnim Jara

BIGSTOCK

Five firms to watch out for in the first half of 2015 n Nakibul Hoq With a major start-up movement in place, 2014 can definitely be termed as the start-up year. This is the year that saw many start-ups gaining recognition and generating a feasible revenue stream. Today Dhaka has become a major hub for start-ups in South Asia and many have shown incredible promise and prowess in bridging the gap between customer needs and business.

2015 therefore awaits more successes and failures for these companies.

Some will transition into the next year with ease and will achieve brand recognition, while others will make mistakes and learn from them. Fortunately, the environment has never been better in Dhaka to begin your own business and exercise your flair for some challenges through entrepreneurship.

In this list, not in any particular order, we have compiled the five startups we should definitely look out for in the first half of 2015. These are the businesses that GradConnect thinks will rear their heads out of their garages and achieve recognition and sustenance in the market.

Panacea Systems Ltd Website: http://www.bdpanacea.com/

Panacea is basically an ICT solutions provider formed as the amalgamation of several tech junkies who came together with a vision to develop homegrown tech solutions for Bangladesh’s gigantic market. It achieved widespread recognition recently after proposing an extremely innovative and

feasible solution for tackling the $130m counterfeit medicine industry of Bangladesh at the GIST Bootcamp Dhaka 2014. The team has also been invited to attend the GIST Global Bootcamp 2014 at Washington DC.

WebAble Website: http://webable.com.bd/

WebAble started its journey only this year with a bright young team of tech-savvy professionals, talented online artists and content marketers.

Yet, even in this short while they have captured quite the mindshare when it comes to building brands over the social media.

Some will transition into the next year with ease while others will make mistakes and learn from them LightCastle Partners Website: http://www.lightcastlebd. com/

LightCastle Partners was set up by four young visionaries who left behind their comfortable careers in corporate banking of multinational banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citi to set up their own business analytics firm.

Probably one of the first few of its kind in Bangladesh, LightCastle Partners aims to shape future business practices and thoughts by providing a stream of consultancy services based on business analytics and big data.

Chaldal.com Website: http://www.chaldal.com/

This leading e-commerce site is currently leading the rapidly growing Bangladeshi online grocery and home delivery marketplace. Founded by Waseem Alim, Zia Ashraf and Tejas Viswanath, this e-commerce site raised its seed funds from the California based venture capitalist firm 500 Startups. As the domestic internet penetration soars and the government undertakes ambitious plans to bring the entire country under the roof of the worldwide web, chaldal.com will be able to take advantage of its first-mover privilege in this huge market.

NewsCred, Inc Website: www.newscred.com/

NewsCred/Inc can’t exactly be called a start-up, since it has been here for around six years now. Offering high quality content marketing solutions, NewsCred’s clients include well-known global brands such as Pepsi, Zurich Insurance and Orange Telecom. With offices in New York and Dhaka, so far the company has raised around $20m in two rounds of investments in the United States. By using the most up-to-date technology and enhanced online marketing services, this firm surely has a very bright future ahead for the better part of next year. l Nakibul Hoq is the Lead Manager, Content & Analytics at GradInsights, the research service of GradConnect. More articles from Nakib and the team can be found at www. grad-insights.com.

How many of us know how to write a resume or a cover letter properly? Even among university graduates, the proportion is quite low, which is unfortunate and unacceptable. This, however, is just one example of the gap that the education system leaves in our formal learning process.

We are equipped with tons of facts and figures but have little idea about their relevance in the workplace. We learn a great deal in our colleges and universities but are deficient in our responsibilities as a citizen, a friend, a teacher, a civil servant or as an authority figure. We invest our time and money but are left lacking in basic requirements to enter the job market, for example a CV in the correct format.

To address these issues among others, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC), the country’s first leadership institute, presents a national residential Youth Leadership Bootcamp every two years. Following the great success of Bootcamp 2013 in Chittagong, Bootcamp 2015 is going to take place in a beautiful Tea Resort at Srimangal, Sylhet on Feb 24-27, 2015.

Through a competitive selection process, the Bootcamp brings together a hundred participants from across the nation, which makes it a melting pot of ideas, creativity and diversity.

On the first day, the participants are oriented with the experiential learning process where rather than being instructed, they learn to derive lessons by themselves. The next day, their views on leadership are challenged.

Whether leadership is about being at the forefront, how interspersed leadership and authority are in our perceptions and how leadership can help us each day are some of the topics that are looked into.

To excel in any field, to become better humans and for our society to progress as a whole, leadership is a crucial concept that our youth needs to embrace. This key aspect is explored extensively on the second day.

The next day is about experiences.

In our academic system, we remain busy entirely with studies during our whole tenure as students and get a chance to know about workplaces only after we graduate. This way, we miss out on opportunities to develop ourselves and prepare accordingly for work, during our student life.

The Bootcamp comes with a change in gears and takes the participants on exposure visits to renowned companies – profit, non-profit and NGOs. They meet the top management and see for themselves what it takes to

reach there. The hands-on experience is intended to act as a guide for each participant on how they should mold themselves to have an impact on the real world when they embark on their careers.

Equipped with the knowledge of the outer world, on the fourth day, the participants take sessions on properly writing cover letters, CVs, resumes and other skills which will give them an edge in the job market. The last day is about putting ideas into expressions and making sense of the whole journey. The participants identify their loyalties and challenges, align their priorities and chalk out an action plan for themselves.

BIGSTOCK

Sabia Nawsheen, a fourth year student of Pharmacy at MIU and a participant of Bootcamp 2013 says, “Be it critical thinking, career planning or networking, Bootcamp was a lifechanging event for me. Through this, I got a chance to nurture myself once again. Rather than regretting about life at forty, it’s better to take charge of it at twenty. Going with the flow and not having a plan means you don’t know where you’ll end up. Having a life map figured out and realistically working with a vision of who you want to be is absolutely essential, but inherently rare.”

Youth Leadership Bootcamp is carefully tailored to help you do just that. It is here to give you a headstart in life. To learn more, visit www.bylc.org/bootcamp2015. The deadline is January 7, 2015. Don’t miss it! l Tasnim Jara is studying at Dhaka Medical College and is a BBLT graduate-turnedLeadership Facilitator. She was a Leadership Facilitator in Youth Leadership Bootcamp, 2013.

What Klein and Co are suggesting in their recognition primed decision making model is the use of intuition as well as rational decision making models, but with intuition leading the way. Intuition is used to recognise situations and help to decide how to respond, and analysis is used to verify that our intuitions are appropriate to the situation.

Initially Klein suggested that 90% of important decisions were probably made this way, with more than 90% of routine decisions. Subsequent research has suggested that his initial ideas were actually biased in favour of rational decision making. So the research actually underestimated how often people use a recognition primed decision making process.

The process of the recognition primed decision making model is being used to replace the conventional army military decision making process (MDMP) in many units, because it works. Plans using the recognition primed decision making process are found to be bolder and better adapted to situational demands than the other plans. l

Expert presentations

n Career Desk Audience rapport (noun) - relationship of presenter with audience, especially when good Body language (noun) - non-verbal communication through facial expressions, body movements etc.

Finally . . . - Typical word used to signal the last of several points or subjects Flip chart (noun) - a pad of large paper sheets on a stand for presenting information For example . . . - Typical phrase used to signal an illustration or sample of a particular point Handout (noun) - anything (report, sample etc) handed or given to people at a presentation In conclusion . . . - Typical phrase used to signal the summing up or final part of a presentation OHT (abbreviation) - overhead transparency; sheet of film with image for an overhead projector Overhead projector (noun) - device that projects an OHT onto a screen Pointer (noun) - device (rod or electric torch) for indicating things on a map, screen etc.

Screen (noun) - large, flat, reflective white surface on which films, slides etc are projected Signal (verb) - to help the audience understand where one is in a presentation Slide (noun) - small (usually 35mm) photographic transparency To start with . . . - Typical phrase used to signal the beginning of a particular subject or topic Turning now to . . . - Typical phrase used to signal a change from one subject or topic to another Visual aids (noun) - things that one can look at in a presentation, like films, maps, charts etc.

Whiteboard (noun) - large, flat, white surface or board on which to write or draw with markers

WORDS OF WISDOM

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success Henry Ford

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Yemeni al–Qaeda claims France’s most–wanted woman French magazine attack HAYAT BOUMEDDIENE

n AFP, Paris A crossbow in her hands and covered top–to–toe in a black Islamic headwear and robe that leaves only her eyes visible – that is the image now circulating of France’s most–wanted woman: Hayat Boumeddiene.

The 26–year–old is partner to Amedy Coulibaly, one of the three gunmen shot dead by police after three days of mayhem in France.

The photo, first published by Le Monde newspaper, contrasts with the one French police issued in its public appeal to locate her following Friday’s bloody drama, in which Coulibaly was killed by police commandos after he took hostages in a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

The mugshot provided by the police shows a sleepy–eyed young woman, her face and brown hair showing, whom they had questioned in 2010 about Coulibaly.

The police notice, however, warns that she is considered “armed and dangerous.”

She is suspected of being Coulibaly’s accomplice in the murder of a policewoman in southern Paris on Thursday, during a massive manhunt for two brothers who a day earlier massacred 12 people at the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Police also suspect she might have had a hand in Coulibaly’s supermar-

‘Married’ in 2009

Hayat Boumeddiene

AFP

ket hostage–taking, though she was not identified among the dead or wounded.

Coulibaly was a 32–year–old longtime criminal who apparently became a radical Muslim during one of his frequent stints in prison.

He claimed in a brief phone call to French television station BFMTV midway through the supermarket siege that he belonged to the Islamic State jihadist group.

Coulibaly also said he had coordinated his hostage–taking with the other two gunmen, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, who claimed separately to BFMTV that they belonged to another fundamentalist group, Al–Qaeda in Yemen.

Cherif Kouachi, a 32–year–old Frenchman of Algerian descent, was said to have pushed Coulibaly, also a French citizen, towards extreme Islam while the two were in prison together.

There was “constant and sustained” communication between Boumeddiene and the girlfriend of Cherif Kouachi, according to Paris’s chief prosecutor François Molins, who said “more than 500 calls” were made between the two women in 2014.

Investigators are now going through telephone records and wiretaps, and other material seized during searches, to determine the extent of the complicity and anyone else who might be connected to the gunmen.

But the focus right now is on Boumeddiene.

Coulibaly moved back in with her in May last year when he was released from his last period behind bars.

One of seven children to a mother who died when she was six, Boumeddiene was put into foster care with her young siblings because her father, a delivery man, was unable to take care of them.

She had a religious ceremony in 2009 to “marry” Coulibaly, though such unions are not recognised in France unless preceded by a civil ceremony conducted by local officials, and the couple lived in a modest apartment in the poor suburb south of Paris. l

n Agencies Al–Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the French satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine, saying the shooting was an operation to teach the French the limits of freedom of expression.

Abu Hareth al–Nezari, an senior member of Al–Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), made the claim in an audio recording published online late on Friday.

“Some French were not polite with the prophets and that was the reason why a few of the believers, who loved Allah and his prophet and loved martyrdom, went to them to teach them how to behave and how to be polite with the prophets and to teach them that the freedom of expression has limits and boundaries,” al–Nezari said in the recording.

He also warned that France would not enjoy security unless it stopped what he called a “war” on Islam.

Why do images of the prophet offend Muslims?

In the years before the attack, Charlie Hebdo had drawn repeated threats for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, among other controversial sketches.

Wednesday’s attack on the magazine’s office, that left 12 people dead, and ensuing hostage seizes have shocked France and triggered a mas-

sive seucity operation. In addition to those killed at Charlie Hebdo, three civilians and two police officers have been killed.

One of the attackers, Said Kouachi, claimed to have been trained and financed by al–Qaeda in Yemen.

Yemeni intelligence officials confirmed to Al Jazeera that he had indeed been in Yemen in 2011, fighting with al– Qaeda, and had been deported.

If confirmed, the attack would be the first time AQAP has successfully carried out an operation in the West after at least two earlier attempts. The group is considered the most active and dangerous branch of al–Qaeda.

Al Jazeera’s Omar Al Saleh, reporting from the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, said AQAP had previously made attempts to attract supporters in the West, including by launching an online magazine. It has also called on individuals to carry out attacks independently – referred to as “lone wolf” attacks.

AQAP orchestrated the December 2009 attempt to bomb an American passenger jet over Detroit in which Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab failed to detonate explosives.

In 2010, the group attempted to send bombs in packages to be delivered to targets in the US, but the packages were intercepted on flights through Europe and the United Arab Emirates. l

Libya’s factions agree to new talks in Geneva next week

Two bombings kill eight people in Iraq

n Reuters, Tripoli

n AP, Baghdad

Libya’s factions have agreed to a new round of UN–backed negotiations to attempt to end the conflict destabilizing the North African country three years after its civil war ousted Muammar Gaddafi.

The meeting, announced after United Nations envoy Bernardino Leon met rival parties in Libya, will take place next week in Geneva, the UN mission said in a statement yesterday.

Libya, which is a major oil producer, has slipped deeper into division since the overthrow of Gaddafi, with two rival governments and two parliaments, each backed by competing groups of heavily armed former rebel fighters.

“In order to create a conducive environment for the dialogue, Special Representative Leon has proposed to the parties to the conflict a freeze in military operations for a few days,” the UN said.

The statement did not make clear who would attend the talks or give an exact date. But it said the meeting would seek to address the formation of a unity government, drafting a new constitution and ending of hostilities.

Negotiators have struggled to bring the two sides to the table during months of consultations. Fighting has also complicated attempts to broker talks.

This represents a last chance which must be seized. l

Iraqi authorities say two separate bombings on commercial streets have killed eight people in and around Baghdad.

Police officials say a bomb exploded Saturday at a wholesale market in Baghdad’s western district of Baiyaa, killing five people and wounding 11 others.

Later on, a bomb blast inside on a commercial street killed three people

and wounded nine others in the town of Madian, about 20 kilometers (14 miles) southeast of the capital.

Medics confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.

Iraq is facing its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of US troops as the Islamic State group is in control of about a third of the country. l

Charlie Hebdo attack: Extra troops for Paris n BBC Some 500 extra troops are being deployed around Paris after three days of terror in the French capital killed 17 people.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said all necessary measures were being taken to protect the country.

Police in France are hunting for any accomplices of three gunmen killed by police on Friday after two sieges.

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in silent marches to remember the victims in Nice, Pau and Orleans.

President Francois Hollande has warned the danger is not over yet.

“We have to be vigilant. I also ask you to be united – it’s our best weapon,” said Mr Hollande in a televised address on Friday night.

After a security cabinet meeting yesterday, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said France would remain on its highest state of alert “for the next few weeks.”

He promised tight security for a massive unity march in Paris on Sunday.

Those set to attend Sunday’s unity rally include UK Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“Sunday, the French people will cry out their love of liberty,” said Prime Minister Manuel Valls. l

Canada arrests two brothers on terrorism charges n AFP, Ottawa Canadian police arrested two brothers on terrorism–related charges, less than three months after the country suffered two Islamist–related attacks – one of them on the nation’s parliament.

Ashton Carleton Larmond and Carlos Larmond were charged with counts related to terrorist activities, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

They were both listed as 24 years old and appear to be twins. l

Cyprus Airways shuts down after order to repay state aid n BBC Cyprus’ national carrier has ceased operations after an EU decision it must repay over 65m euros (£50m) in illegal state aid.

The EU Commission said the Cypriot government had breached rules on support for struggling companies.

Cyprus Airways has repeatedly received aid between 2007 and 2013.

The government, which owns 93% of Cyprus Airways, had searched unsuccessfully for outside investors.

“The company has ceased being a viable entity, and cannot continue to operate,” said finance minister Harris Georgiades.

He said there would be alternative arrangements covering Cyprus Airways flights from Saturday.

The Commission undertook an in– depth investigation after the government in Nicosia approved repeated state aid packages to the airline.

Publishing the investigation’s results, the Commission was highly

critical of Cyprus Airways’ restructuring plans. It said they were based on “unrealistic assumptions,” failed to address the cause of the airline’s difficulties and were taking longer to implement than EU rules permitted.

Under EU rules, struggling companies can be given aid under what the Commission terms the “one time, last time” principle.

Governments may grant a one–off tranche of aid to support a restructuring process once within a period of 10 years. The rule is intended to prevent companies becoming reliant on government support and gaining unfair advantage over rivals.

“Cyprus Airways has received large quantities of public money since 2007 but was unable to restructure and become viable without continued state support... injecting additional public money would only have prolonged the struggle without achieving a turn–around,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. l

Pedestrians look on as big storm waves pound on the flooded quay in Dagebuell, Germany, Strong winds have caused disruption in Scotland and northern Germany, with several railway lines closed. National railway Deutsche Bahn said routes from Hamburg to Hannover, Berlin and Bremen were closed on Friday, along with several others in the country’s north, due to uprooted trees and high winds AP

UN: Sierra Leone now to SpaceX fails in landmark bid to recycle a rocket control Ebola epidemic n AFP, Miami

n AFP, Freetown Sierra Leone now has the means to curb the Ebola epidemic, the new head of the UN mission for the fight against the disease and a senior World Health Organization official said.

“Sierra Leone is in much better shape today to control Ebola than it was a few weeks ago,” UN Ebola mission chief Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said at a press conference in the capital Freetown Friday, on his first visit to the west African countries ravaged by the outbreak.

“From everything I’ve seen so far, I am optimistic that Sierra Leone can get by,” he said, though he

warned it would require “considerable effort by all.”

WHO deputy head Bruce Aylward said it was his fifth trip to the country and that on the previous four it was clear that Sierra Leone could not stop Ebola.

He said there had been a huge change since his last visit, with beds available and burial teams, but stressed the need to use the new resources effectively.

The officials spoke as the government said Pujehun district in the south had become the first in the country to have no new cases registered for 42 days, twice the incubation period of the virus. l

SpaceX said Saturday it failed in a landmark attempt to recycle its Falcon 9 rocket, after the equipment collided with an ocean platform and broke to pieces.

Still, the California–based company said the test was a step forward toward one day transforming the aerospace industry and making rockets reusable much the same as airplanes.

“Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship but landed hard,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter.

“Close but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho.”

Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur who co–founded PayPal and runs Tesla Motors, wants to be able to reuse rockets much the way commercial airlines fly the same planes again and again.

SpaceX hopes its efforts will open a new era in modern rocketry, which wastes millions of dollars after each launch when pieces of the rocket are left to fall into the ocean after blastoff.

Saturday’s experiment involved firing the rocket’s engine three times to guide the first stage to a landing spot about 200 miles (322 kilometers) off the coast of northern Florida.

The landing site for the Falcon 9 was a powered barge floating in the ocean near the city of Jacksonville, Florida.

This “autonomous spaceport drone ship” measures 300 by 100 feet (90 by 30 meters), with wings that extend its width to 170 feet.

Since the launch took place in the dark, Musk said the team did not get good video images of the landing and impact.

“Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment will need to be replaced,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Didn’t get good landing/impact video.

Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and... actual pieces.”

SpaceX has had some success with two previous attempts to make a controlled landing of the Falcon 9 in the ocean, slowing it to a hover before it splashed down.

The launch’s primary mission was to send the unmanned Dragon cargo ship to orbit, and that went smoothly after two delays in recent weeks due to rocket problems.

The gleaming white Falcon 9 rocket launched in the predawn darkness from Cape Canaveral, Florida, propelling the cargo ship toward the International Space Station with supplies and food for the six astronauts aboard.

The Dragon cargo vessel should arrive at the space station at 6:12am (1112 GMT) on Monday, NASA said.

The cargo ship is carrying more than 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) of supplies to the astronauts living in orbit.

“Up to this point we have a 100 percent successful mission under way,” said NASA commentator George Diller after the spacecraft’s solar arrays were deployed.

Cargo trips have become routine for SpaceX, and this marks the fifth mission as part of a $1.6 billion dollar contract with NASA to supply the ISS over a dozen trips.

SpaceX’s success is especially critical because its competitor, Orbital Sciences, which has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to supply the space station, suffered a catastrophic rocket failure in October, forcing an end to its supply missions until further notice. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Sri Lanka’s new leader moves to form cabinet n Agencies New Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has begun assembling a cabinet on his first day in office as he looks to deliver on pledges to improve the country’s diplomatic standing and implement democratic reforms.

Sirisena, who surprisingly defeated veteran strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in Thursday’s election, was trying to form a “national unity” cabinet that would include members from a cross section of political parties in parliament, an aide said yesterday.

“The main task is to choose a cabinet and the work is already under way,” Nishantha Warnasinghe told the AFP news agency.

Sirisena, a one–time ally of Rajapaksa, had offered a 100–day programme to carry out urgent political and economic reforms, including moves to cut back on the powers of the president which Rajapaksa had handed to himself during a decade in office.

Sirisena was elected with 51.28 percent of the votes, to the former leader’s 47.58 percent. It was a remarkable setback for a leader who had appeared certain of victory when he called snap polls in November.

Shortly after being sworn in, Sirisena appointed as new prime minister

Kejriwal, Bhushan mount scathing attack on Modi n Agencies Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, saying that those who wanted to be anarchists should go join the Naxalites in the jungles and not talk about anarchy in Delhi, Kejriwal said that he has never indulged in such personal attacks.

“The BJP had no positive agenda for Delhi. The PM spoke negatively of the 15 years that the Congress was in power. But did not utter a single negative thing about our 49–day rule.

This means we did a good job, “ AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said at a news conference.

“It doesn’t make a difference what I am. At least I am not corrupt,” Arvind Kejriwal said.

Arvind Kejriwal said that they could see that BJP is nervous. “They do not have any positive agenda for the Delhi polls,” the AAP chief added.

“They neither know how to protest nor to govern. We know both. Only we can end corruption,” Kejriwal said. The AAP leader added, “We ended corruption in Delhi in 49 days. What has BJP done at the Centre?”

Earlier yesterday in Thiruvananthapuram, lawyer and senior APP leader Prashant Bhushan alleged that the Modi government was trying to implement “four dangers of communalism, obscurantism, fascism and anti–people pro–corporate economic policies.”

Bhushan, who was in the capital of Kerala to campaign on the platform of anti–corruption movement, said the Narendra Modi government had plans to rollback some progressive legislations brought in by the previous UPA regime.

He said, “There are four dangers under this rule. They are communalism, obscurantism, fascism and anti–people pro–corporate economic policies.” l

2 men die in Catholic parade in Manila n AP, Manila A raucous Roman Catholic procession in which up to a million Filipinos packed the streets of the capital for a chance to get close to a centuries–old statue of Jesus Christ left two men dead and about 1,000 hurt, officials said Saturday, in a prelude to a much larger turnout expected during next week’s visit by Pope Francis.

Huge crowds jostled for 20 hours Friday around a carriage carrying the wooden Black Nazarene with a cross along Manila’s streets. The faithful threw small towels at volunteers on the carriage to wipe parts of the cross and the statue in the belief that the Nazarene’s mystical powers to cure ailments and provide good health and fortune will rub off on them.

One volunteer accompanying the statue died of a heart attack. Another man was found lifeless on the ground, apparently pinned by the people’s massive surge toward Quiapo Church at the end of procession before dawn Saturday, said Francis Tolentino, chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. l

the parliamentary opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is expected to wield considerable power.

Wickremesinghe is also seen as having significantly better relations with the West and neighbouring India.

Rajapaksa fell out with the West over human rights and allegations of war crimes at the end of a drawn–out conflict with Tamil separatists in 2009.

Several leaders, including the Indian and Canadian prime ministers, boycotted a Commonwealth summit hosted by Rajapaksa in November 2013 over his refusal to allow an international investigation into claims of large–scale killings at the end of the war.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British leader David Cameron were among the first to congratulate Sirisena.

In an address to the nation soon after being sworn in on Friday, Sirisena promised to mend Sri Lanka’s ties with the international community.

“We will have a foreign policy that will mend our ties with the international community and all international organisations in order that we derive maximum benefit for our people,” he said.

“We will work with friendship and brotherhood and cooperation with all states.” l

Portion of the tail of AirAsia Flight 8501 floats on the water as Indonesian navy divers conduct search operations for the black boxes of the crashed plane in the Java Sea

AirAsia jet’s tail lifted, no black boxes found

Pakistani cartoonists tread fine line in land of blasphemy laws

n AP, Pangkalan Bun

n AFP, Islamabad

A tail section from the crashed AirAsia plane became the first major wreckage lifted off the seabed Saturday, but the all– important black boxes were not found inside two weeks after Flight 8501 went down, killing all 162 people on board.

The red metal chunk, with the words “AirAsia” clearly visible across it, was brought to the sea’s surface using inflatable balloons. The cockpit voice and flight data recorders, located in the plane’s rear, must have detached when the Airbus A320 plummeted into the sea Dec. 28, said Indonesian military commander Gen. Moeldoko. Their recovery is essential to finding out why it crashed.

However, Moeldoko, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said pings believed to be coming from the black boxes were detected Saturday.

The boxes’ beacons emit signals for about 30 days until the batteries die, meaning divers have about two weeks left to find them.

“I am fully confident that the black boxes are still not far from the tail,” Moeldoko said.

The debris was brought up from a depth of about 30 meters (100 feet) and towed to a ship, where it was hoisted onto the deck. The vertical stabiliser was still largely intact, but the attached jagged fuselage was ripped open and tangled by a mess of wires. l

In the face of Pakistan’s prolific use of blasphemy laws and a culture of political violence, cartoonists must tread a thin line. But they do find ways to poke fun at the powerful – including religious extremists.

The conservative nation of 200 million people is consistently ranked one the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, with reporters often caught between powerful spy agencies and Islamist militants.

Without subscribing to all the ideas of Charlie Hebdo’s satirists killed this week for their depictions of Prophet Mohammed, the country’s caricatur-

ists have sustained a proud, decades long tradition of pushing the envelope of free speech.

“Everybody has a red line. I can make cartoons against terrorism, terrorists but not about the Prophet,” said Rafique Ahmad, who is known by the pen name “Feica” and is regarded as a legend among Pakistani cartoonists.

“I have drawn lots of cartoons about bigots, fanatics, these fundamentalists,” added Feica, who began his career in the late seventies during the harsh rule of Islamist General Zia ul–Haq when censorship was rife.

In Pakistan, the controversial blasphemy law carries the death penalty for those who insult the

AP

Prophet Mohammed.

There are currently 14 languishing on death row for the charge, while mobs often carry out their own form of justice as was the case when a Christian couple were burnt to death at a brick kiln last November.

Though the constitution guarantees freedom of expression, it is ring– fenced: attacks against the “glory of Islam” and the “security” of the country are strictly prohibited.

Caught between a powerful military that has led three coups in the country’s history and the rising menace of Islamist extremists who have waged an insurgency against the state for more than a decade. l

As reforms stall, US and Myanmar to discuss human rights n AP, Washington

Filipino devotees wave handkerchiefs to cheer the image of the Black Nazarene (top right) during its annual procession to celebrate its feast day Friday, in Manila, Philippines AP

N Korea offers to suspend nuclear tests in return for end to US drills n Reuters, Seoul North Korea said yesterday it was willing to suspend nuclear tests if the United States agreed to call off annual military drills held jointly with South Korea, saying the exercises were the main reason for tension on the Korean peninsula.

The proposal, which the North’s official KCNA news agency said was conveyed to Washington on Friday through “a relevant channel,” follows an often–repeated demand by Pyongyang for an end to the large–scale defensive drills by the allies.

“The message proposed (that) the US contribute to easing tension on the Korean peninsula by tem-

porarily suspending joint military exercises in South Korea and its vicinity this year,” KCNA said in a report. “(The message) said that in this case the DPRK is ready to take such a responsive step as temporarily suspending the nuclear test over which the US is concerned,” KCNA said, using the short form for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, the last in February 2013, and is under layers of UN sanctions for defying international warnings not to set off atomic devices in pursuit of a nuclear arsenal, which Pyongyang calls its “sacred sword.”

It often promises to call off nuclear

and missile tests in return for comparable steps by Washington to ease tensions. It reached such a deal in February 2012 with the United States for an arms tests moratorium only to scrap it two months later.

The United States and South Korea have stressed that the annual drills, which in some years involved US aircraft carriers, are purely defensive in nature, aimed at testing the allies’ readiness to confront any North Korean aggression.

Tension peaked on the Korean peninsula in March 2013 when the North ratcheted up rhetoric during the annual drills, with Pyongyang threatening war and putting its forces in a state of combat–readiness. l

The United States is hoping to nudge Myanmar’s quasi–civilian government on stalled reforms during a high–level human rights dialogue, yet expectations are limited as the former pariah nation enters a crucial election year.

International scrutiny of Myanmar’s rights record is intensifying as it gears up for its first nationwide vote since a repressive junta ceded power in 2011. Optimism that greeted its initial opening and release of hundreds of political prisoners has faded, and skepticism is growing over its transition to democracy. The military is resisting constitutional reform and Buddhist nationalism is growing.

Top State Department human rights envoy Tom Malinowski’s trip, beginning Sunday, will coincide with a 10–day visit

by UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee. She arrived this week and on Friday examined the grim conditions faced by 140,000 minority Rohingya Muslims who have been dumped in dirty camps since they were displaced in sectarian violence that began three years ago.

The government’s failure to prevent Buddhist–Muslim clashes, and continued discrimination against the stateless Rohingya — an estimated 100,000 fled the country also known as Burma in the past two years — are at the top of a long list of enduring human rights concerns.

During two days of talks in Naypyitaw, the capital, starting Wednesday, US officials will also discuss with Myanmar officials reforms needed to its outdated legal system, the growing problem of land grabs, and recent detentions of peaceful demonstrators and journalists.

The Obama administration views its diplomatic opening to Myanmar, which began in 2012, as a major foreign policy achievement, and says problems on the path to democracy were to be expected.

On a visit last November, President Barack Obama acknowledged backsliding in reforms but underscored Washington’s continued support.

US lawmakers and rights activists,

however, have become increasingly critical both of President Thein Sein’s government and the US approach.

“Until the US government stops wagging their finger at the Burmese government’s human rights record with one hand while using the other hand to give them economic handouts, the Burmese government can and will continue to ignore complaints about their human rights record,” said Jennifer Quigley, president of the US Campaign for Burma, a Washington–based advocacy group.

Changes to a junta–era constitution before elections in late 2015 appear increasingly slim, meaning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi — Malinowski is scheduled to meet with her — will be unable to contest for the presidency. The constitution also guarantees the military 25 percent of parliamentary seats.

Malinowski will meet with civil society activists in the main city of Yangon before the talks in Naypyitaw On Sunday, Malinowski will visit the northern Kachin state, where clashes between government forces and ethnic rebels have rumbled on for the past three years, harming the prospects for wider peace with insurgent groups. He’ll visit camps holding some of estimated 120,000 uprooted by the fighting.

Malinowski will meet with civil society activists in the main city of Yangon before the talks in Naypyitaw, which will be the second such human rights dialogue since the normalisation of diplomatic relations.

Lt Gen Anthony Crutchfield, deputy commander of the US Pacific Command, will join the dialogue, meeting senior representatives of the Myanmar military to discuss military conduct and reform. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Sunday, January 11, 2015

CODE-CRACKER

No reason to deny bail to Rubel

A

leading member of Bangladesh’s cricket squad for the forthcoming World Cup, Rubel Hossain, has been denied bail in a court case filed under the Women and Children Repression Act. The case brought by Naznin Akter Happy, a film actress, alleges Rubel had promised to marry her only to backtrack after their personal relationship soured.

For all the attention and gossip generated by this affair, it is self evidently a legally contentious and tendentious matter, as reports suggest it is merely about a relationship between two consenting adults, which went wrong.

Given that Rubel voluntarily presented himself before the court, it is unfair to deny him bail in such a matter. There is no convincing argument to keep him in jail pending trial as his high profile job means he is not likely to abscond.

The argument for denying him bail rests on the seriousness of the charge as Section 9(1) of The Prevention of Oppression Against Women and Children Act 2000, states whoever has sexual intercourse without lawful marriage with a woman by fraud, shall be said to commit rape.

It is wrong in principle for the law to bring affairs between consenting adults into the definition of rape. The absence of coercion also makes it impractical for the law to fairly arbitrate on promises made in private.

At the very least, this act needs to be interpreted narrowly, but would be better amended, as its contentiousness may bring the law into disrepute, and it trivialises the very serious offense of rape.

In the meantime, on the face of the facts available, there is no reason to deny bail to Rubel Hossain. Nor are there any grounds for dropping him from the World Cup squad, in our opinion.

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

The long war

It is wrong in principle for the law to bring affairs between consenting adults into the definition of rape

A decentralised approach to learning

T

he prime minister’s move to inaugurate 11 new medical colleges, along with plans of setting up one university in each division of the country is a commendable initiative.

Not only does this stand to make sorely needed improvements in our higher education infrastructure, it may alleviate many of the nation’s problems by encouraging decentralisation.

We need to focus on improving our university and college system in every way we can, but the plans should include taking some pressure off our congested capital city.

Universities in every division would mean meritorious students with high potential do not all have to flock to Dhaka.

Many of our private universities have already proven a worthy alternative to public education. However, we cannot ignore the need for accessible medical colleges in other parts of the country.

Bangladesh, because of its population, has a high demand for medical professionals. It follows, then, that we need more medical colleges. As of now there are 29 public and 54 private medical colleges in the country, but this number is not adequate.

High quality accessible education is an economic priority for the nation and is one of the key challenges for the government in 2015.

Higher education outside of Dhaka has been suffering because qualified teachers are reluctant to leave the capital to work.

It is time to combat this problem of over-centralisation, and invest in facilities that make it attractive to teach and study outside of Dhaka.

Invest in facilities that make it attractive to teach and study outside of Dhaka

December 30

Moofy I am stunned at how insightful this article is.

Subrata The identification of the symptom is excellent in the article. I do have the same feeling, but the explanation of its original cause is quite naive.

Unlike India or any other country, the dominant patriotic narrative in Bangladesh was almost wiped away by the state machineries during the post-75 era. The “fundamentalism” of the progressives has a lot to do with that existential threat it faced.

The author either unknowingly or deliberately ignores that fact (in Bangladesh, it is difficult to know the purpose). He cites the example of Turkey’s AKP and, quite surprisingly, does not see a parallel in Bangladesh. While in reality, Zia and the subsequent regimes sold their Bangladeshi nationalism and constitutional amendments

What is your New Year’s resolution?

January 1

Nelson Apu Being a kind person to all, being attentive towards my studies, respecting my parents, and doing something good for the nation.

Rubaiyat Karim To stop all wars and live in peace.

New books, new class, new year

January 2

MV Looks like a picture-perfect image of happiness.

Congratulations BTV

December 29

solely in the name of “preserving, promoting, and protecting” the different religious identities of the people of Bangladesh, very different from the cultural nationalist identity that the dominant narrative in 71 promoted. The conflict of narratives and identities has a much longer history in Bangladesh.

The author is also naive to think that it is the “uneducated Hefazatis” who are perceived as the main threat by the secularists. Rather the “fundamentalist progressives” continue to view the ruling classes of 1975-1995 as the main threat to the “narrative” they try to protect. The poor Hefazat-type guys are simply a side story.

And, on top of that, the argument that religious fundamentalism is getting globally discredited and, therefore, will soon be wiped away from Bangladesh is quite funny. But being an ostrich is an individual choice, just like religion. So, no comment.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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.

Before we follow Jihad into deathtraps December 30

Wahid Choudhury “The main responsibilities for the death go to the officials concerned and employees of Bangladesh Railway, as well as the contractors who had kept the pipe open, with enough space to swallow a human body.”

Very well said. I only hope that people in power will get to read this valuable piece and take lessons from it. Then again, I am a hopeless dreamer.

RS The government authorities should refrain from passing meaningless remarks at any time.

The firefighters obviously need to work harder.

Congrats to those youth who were able to recover Jihad’s body.

Foxymophandlemama Punishment should be an auxiliary move. The important thing to focus on in this situation is the sweeping improvement of our first-response teams and organisations.

rose “On December 25, 2014, Bangladesh Television observed its golden jubilee. We hope BTV will always be with us, delivering such entertainment and information to the mainstream, uninterrupted by any political forces.” Indeed. I hope BTV will continue to telecast its useful programs.

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 15 represents N so fill N every time the figure 15 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.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Of the ear (4) 4 Sport (4) 8 Spirit (3) 9 Level (4) 10 Cicatrix (4) 11 Grudge (5) 12 Nidus (4) 14 Briny (3) 15 Tree (3) 17 Male sheep (3) 19 Weep (3) 21 Lacerate (4) 23 Assumed name (5) 26 Ladder’s step (4) 27 Refuse (4) 28 Specialised skill (3) 29 S-shaped moulding (4) 30 Serpents (4)

DOWN 1 Shellfish (6) 2 Country (4) 3 Remedies (5) 4 Animation (3) 5 Sheeplike (5) 6 Allow (3) 7 United (3) 11 Fixed gaze (5) 13 Cults (5) 16 Combines (6) 18 American state (5) 20 Victorian river (5) 22 Grooves (4) 23 Fuss (3) 24 Limb (3) 25 Vote in favour (3)

Six to die for killing govt staff December 30

SM The crime was committed in 2005, and the verdict was given today. How can this be called a Speedy Tribunal court? Still, we are happy that the case has ended.

Friend of poverty December 30

Amit “There are more beggars than billionaires in Bangladesh, but the pandemic is a problem only if it is seen.”

Ah yes, the prickly conundrum of poverty.

It seems that the solution here is the same as with any other problem – hide it and hope it disappears.

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

Madiha Throw in the fact that NGOs are sprouting up to teach beggars English because they think it will help, and you can see why poverty is still a real issue. No one has the guts or the commitment for a real solution.

SE The government should focus more on poverty reduction.

Karl Hungus The only privilege the poor can afford is a cleaner conscience.

Dreampie Karl Hungus: I can see what you’re getting at, but last I checked, the poor are just as much prone to exhibiting unscrupulous behaviour as much as the privileged are.

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Sunday, January 11, 2015

A tribute to Justice Habibur Rahman n Shadman M Khan

T

BIGSTOCK

2015 is going to be a milestone in world history

A

n Sheikh Hasina Wazed s we are stepping into the New Year, we need to have an image of 2015 and also beyond.

The future is not entirely unpredictable. The best way to predict our future is to create it ourselves.

Our world in 2015 and post-2015 will be what we now dream it to be. How it will look will depend largely on what our actions are now. Our actions should therefore reflect our words, and that is the only way we can predict and build a tangible future.

Our vision for the world beyond 2015 should focus on people – on the aspirations and hopes of the people – in a just and a fair world. This is largely steered by promoting a culture of peace, right to development, right for equal future, empowerment of people particularly women and the underprivileged, access to education for all, health and greater economic opportunities – thus ensuring a secular, progressive, and democratic human society. Realising these visions depends on every human being of this world, public and government alike.

Poverty and ignorance are the greatest impediments to development, and therefore eradication of poverty and access to education should remain at the very heart of the contemporary development debate of the Post2015 Development Agenda. With 60 million children still remaining outside schools, 75% of them girls, and 1.3 billion people still living in extreme

poverty, we can never really attain sustainable development unless we address these issues.

The Government of Bangladesh has integrated the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) into the national five-year plans and also in our Vision-2021. This people-centric vision aspires to transform Bangladesh into a knowledge-based, technology-driven, middle income country by 2021. We have already met, or are on track to meet MDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Poverty has been reduced from 57% in 1991 to below 25% today.

Eradication of poverty and access to education should remain at the heart of the debate

I also need to mention that although the MDGs have been the most successful global anti-poverty push in history, the progress is uneven and unequal within and among countries and regions. Over 1.3 billion people still live in utter poverty. As we reflect on the newer development challenges, poverty alleviation therefore should be the cornerstone of the Post-2015

Remembering Justice Morshed n Syed Mansoob Murshed

J

anuary 11 marks the birth anniversary of the late Justice Syed Mahbub Murshed, who passed away in 1979. He will be remembered for many things, particularly his fearless independence on the bench and many landmark judgements, chiefly on constitutional issues.

Justice Murshed is remembered for his judgements in constitutional cases, such as the “Ministers” case, the “Pan” case and the “Basic Democracies” case. The latter two were overturned by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, but the first is perhaps best remembered and worth recalling.

Those of a certain age and inclination will remember the Ministers case in 1963 as it was about whether a cabinet minister could simultaneously be a legislator in the National Assembly. But, there was a far greater issue at stake, and that concerned the permissibility of judicial review under the 1962 constitution of Pakistan.

As the late Professor Ralph Braibanti pointed out in a paper entitled, Pakistan: Constitutional Issues in 1964, Asian Survey, 5 (2): 79-87, Article 133 of Pakistan’s 1962 constitution virtually precluded judicial review, but Murshed’s judgement in the Ministers case swept that impediment away.

And Murshed’s contribution to that success can well be argued to have been more than inconsiderable, as was what was to follow later in the Pan case regarding Centre-Province

relations, and the Basic Democracies case, striking at the core of the inadequacies of the system at the time.

In the English legal tradition, until a few decades ago, there was no judicial review in any shape or form, and that country still lacks a written constitution. But there is a curious concept of “equity” in English law dating back to jurisdiction in the Court of Chancery in medieval times.

Under this principle, a dispute may be resolved by appealing to morality where there is no remedy in statute or common law. Later, we have grown to know “equity” to be based on the principles of natural law or justice.

Justice Murshed applied this principle with great gusto on many occasions, such as with cases involving the requisitioning of property (particularly from religious minorities), and in the Convocation case.

There are many ways of remembering Justice Syed Mahbub Murshed, chief among which was his love of what was right, fair, and true, however inconvenient.

As John Kenneth Galbraith once stated: “To the adherents of the institutional truth there is nothing more inconvenient, nothing that so contributes to discomfort, than open, persistent articulate assertion of what is real.” l Syed Mansoob Murshed is a Professor of Economics at the ISS Netherlands and Coventry University.

Agenda.

Acknowledging the fact that girls’ right to education is mandatory to combat different forms of discriminatory and harmful practices against them that are still prevalent in many societies in our world, every policy of the Government of Bangladesh is targeted towards removing obstacles to girls’ education and empowerment.

We made education free for our girls up to Grade 12 and have plans to take it to graduate levels. Stipends and free meals for female students from poorer families have helped achieve gender parity in primary and secondary schools.

In 2014, out of the 12.8 million stipend recipients including from the Prime Minister’s Education Trust Fund, 75% were girls. 60% positions in primary schools are reserved for female teachers. Non-formal education measures have enabled girls who have dropped out of school to continue education. Education receives the highest importance in our Women Development Policy that was formulated in 2011.

We have taken measures to set up six technical educational institutions only for girls. In addition to selfemployment, skills training, collateralfree small loans are being offered to potential college-going women entrepreneurs.

We have established in Chittagong the first Asian University for Women to promote higher education for girls from Asian countries. We have taken

these measures keeping in mind our vision of the post-2015 world, and our mission to play an active and equal role in the coming decade.

In Bangladesh, the percentage of women is rising fast in all professions including politics, civil service, judiciary, armed forces, technical profession, aviation (pilots), sports including cricket, football, and even mountaineering, as our girls have conquered Mount Everest.

Bangladesh today is perhaps the only country in the world that has to its credit a female prime minister, female speaker of the parliament, female leader of the opposition, and a female leader and deputy leader of the parliament. Many western societies may not be able to match this.

Our female work-force has risen from 24% to 36% in the last three years, contributing to our 6.2% growth rate. Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of ready-made garment in the world and 90% of that entire global sector is laboured by our young energetic female workforce.

We learn from our past experiences and at times from mistakes. Our past makes us stronger. Let us keep in mind the lessons taught by our past, and build our future based on what we have learned. Let us keep in mind that all that is ever important is the “now” in which we live in and all that is going to be important is the “tomorrow” that we leave for our children. l

he oldest memory I have of meeting him was when I first met him, but back then I didn’t know who he was. I was around 11 years old so I can’t remember it clearly, but somehow we (my father, my younger sister, and myself) gave him a lift from his previous house in Gulshan to his BILIA office in Dhanmondi.

It was after dark when he got in our car wearing a purple panjabi. A few moments later, after he got in, a strong, sweet aroma wafted through the air. He was wearing a blueberry perfume, my sister and I sitting in the front concluded. I don’t remember much afterwards.

I next met him in his new house in Gulshan overlooking the lake. I noticed that he had set up a little garden in the balcony. My father, trying to get me to do something productive, had taken the liberty to assign me with a certain task. I soon found out that the word “productive” meant translating one of Justice Muhammed Habibur Rahman’s Bengali books, Gangaridhi Theke Bangladesh.

It was a meagre 200 pages, but with the typos and the unusual choice of words, it might as well have been a LOTR book written in Daedric. It encompassed all that has happened to the land that we call Bangladesh today since thousands of years ago.

I was therefore required to spend my evenings at his house regularly.

And I was glad. He was a very energetic man for his age and terribly fun to be with. Every day we met, we used to sit down and he would tell me stories about all the countries and places he had been to. He had learnt, and to a large extent, almost all the languages used in Europe when

Sheikh Hasina Wazed is the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

he visited it. Did I mention that he nicknamed me Shaad?

His study boomed with trinkets and gifts of all sizes he had received or bought on his trips. From coins to pens to stale unopened bags of green tea, he had it all.

His desk was piled with newspapers, documents, letters, and invitations. I imagined all of it toppling over if I even breathed on it the wrong way. I often used to arrange his desk so that we wouldn’t have to find him senseless under a paper avalanche one fine day; loose pages at the top and newspapers in the trash.

He habitually went for a morning walk and brought home strangers, sometimes homeless, to have breakfast with him. Once he brought a Buddhist monk home, and on the next day the monk gave him a plant as a sign of appreciation.

We ended up spending more time discussing things than we did working.

My exams came up and I stopped going. On the last day I saw him, he told me about how he wanted a lemon tree sapling. I took it upon myself and found him one from a tree fair nearby.

The last time I talked with him was when he called me a few days before he passed away, to know when I would next visit him. He even mentioned that the plant I had gotten him was alive and growing. I told him that I will visit him as soon as my exams ended.

I'll end this piece by saying that words will do no justice in describing this man. And I think that we are all a little bit poorer and a little bit sadder at his unexpected death. May he rest in peace. l Shadman M Khan is a student of law under University of London’s international program at LCLS (south).

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Blasphemy and tolerance n Tasneem Khalil

F

or some years now, the editors and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo were trying to push a message to their readers – that Islam is an intolerant religion and Muslims are barbarians. This was just one message among many. There were other targets of lampooning including Jesus Christ, Kim Jong-Un, Jewish rabbis, and French far right politicians.

The satirical attacks on Islam and Muslims were often vile and tasteless.

The archive of racist, anti-Muslim cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo may well prove to be a goldmine for postmodern scholars, critical theorists and Edward Said wannabes – a primary source for essays with titles like “Knowledge production through hegemonic copulation of subaltern religious icons in Orientalist sequential art” (extra points for citing Foucault and Žižek). Many of us, however, looked at those cartoons and then just yawned. Tactless satire can indeed be very boring.

Then came the massacre of January 7, and our slumber was broken not because some French cartoonist poked us but because two gunmen broke into the editorial office of Charlie Hebdo and slaughtered twelve people. Kalashnikovs are more useful than pencils, especially for executing the staff of a newspaper who insulted Islam and its prophet. It was a brutal, gruesome carnage. What messages about Islam and Muslims were ultimately established by whom? I leave the answer to this question for my readers to work out. Verily, Allah knows best.

Within hours of the massacre in Paris, we have been reminded by different people from different directions that those gunmen (and their getaway driver) do not represent Muslims and their actions do not conform to Islam.

Quite a no-brainer.

Two, three, or even 20,000 Muslims are not representative of nearly 2 billion Muslims worldwide. And establishing a connection between actual teachings of Islam and repugnant actions by some of its followers is not always an easy exercise – not easier than establishing the connection between the Catholic prescription of clerical celibacy and sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests.

But, what about fundamentalist Muslims or Islam in Islamic countries? In other words, how tolerant are Islamists (armed or unarmed) and Islamic/Muslim societies (theocracies or paratheocracies) towards those who commit the crimes of blasphemy and apostasy (perceived or real)?

Here, it is quite clear that a significant number of Muslims worldwide are virulently intolerant of criticism or insult of their religion (blasphemy) and ruthless against deviation from their religion (apostasy). And this is not exclusive to members of al-Qaeda, ISIS, or Boko Haram.

Take the cases concerning Humayun Azad, Taslima Nasreen, or Daud Haider in Bangladesh. Azad’s book Naree was banned in 1995; Nasreen was forced into exile in 1994; Haider was forced into exile in 1974/75. Their crimes? Blasphemy and apostasy.

And all of these were years before al-Qaeda became the leading franchise

of global jihad. Even then, it was not al-Qaeda (or JMB, or Jamaat) that imprisoned cartoonist Arifur Rahman in 2007 or arrested four bloggers in 2013 or sacked a minister in 2014. These were not random events. For the first time is an event, the fifth time is a statistic. Are Bangladeshi Muslims tolerant of academic or feminist critiques of Islam (as opposed to vile, tasteless, and provocative cartoons) – what do the numbers say?

The numbers, of course, are very clear about worldwide Muslim attitude or tolerance towards blasphemy and apostasy. Take the study by Riaz Hassan of Flinders University in Australia. Between 1996 and 2002, Hassan surveyed more than 6,300 Muslims in seven countries about their religious and societal attitudes. One of the questions in the survey was concerning “a person [who] publicly admitted that he/she did not believe in Allah.”

In Egypt, 91% respondents agreed that “a book he/she wrote should be removed from the library;” 94% agreed that “he/she should not be allowed to preach his beliefs to others;” 69% agreed that “he/she should be fired from a job in the government;” 90% agreed that “he/she should not be allowed to teach in a university/school.”

The survey found Muslims in Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia to have a “strong” attitude against blasphemy/apostasy. In a survey of surveys in 2012, PEW Research Centre found apostasy outlawed or penalised in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Maldives, Malaysia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,

Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and UAE – all members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Given these names and numbers, it is quite difficult to digest the claim now being advanced that Charlie Hebdo “was asking for it by provoking” and therefore the victims of the massacre themselves were responsible for their own murders.

Note the similarity between this and the most common of rape apology – “women get raped because they dress provocatively.” We of course do not blame or hold responsible all men when some men perpetrate sexual violence. However, we can never deny the role of patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism in fuelling men’s violence against women, especially when such violence is seen as a sign of masculinity or mardangi.

When some Muslims resort to deadly violence because they were somehow provoked by blasphemy of others, we must then look into religious intolerance that fuels such violence. On the question of intolerance, there already is the laudable call for more tolerance towards Muslims in Western societies.

We must stay alert against antiMuslim bigotry and hate crimes following the massacre in Paris. At the same time, Muslim/Islamic societies must also issue a call for more openness and tolerance – especially towards those who criticise, ridicule, or even attack Islam. For tolerance is not a claim, but a practice. l Tasneem Khalil is the Editor of Independent World Report.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, January 11, 2015

NOTICE The draw of the Walton Dhaka Tribune Fifa World Cup 2014 Quiz will be held at the Dhaka Tribune office today at 3pm. Participants are requested to be present on the occasion.

13 Sharapova beats

Ivanovic to win Brisbane Int’l

14 Fourth Test

drawn as India dig deep

Sport

‘Even our home condition is not easy’ n Minhaz Uddin Khan Having scored the most runs among the Bangladesh batsmen in one-day internationals last year, wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim will be expected to lead from the front in the batting department when the Tigers embark on their 2015 ICC World Cup journey in Australia-New

Zealand. The right-handed middle-order batsman topped the charts last year with 704 runs from 14 innings.

For obvious reasons, expectations on the Bogra lad will be high among the Tigers faithful every time the diminutive batsman walks into the middle during the global showpiece event.

However, Mushfiq told Dhaka Tri-

bune yesterday that rather than creating pressure, expectations will inspire him to perform.

“I do not think there is any pressure on me to be honest. Rather, I see it as a very big inspiration. Expectations have been created because I have been performing in the last two-three years,” said the 26-year old yesterday.

Mushfiq thinks the upcoming World Cup will be a challenge for the Tigers. “Because, we have not toured Australia and New Zealand in the last few years and at the same time, the platform is quite big – it is the World Cup. “My aim will be to do what I have been doing for some time now. I will try to make an effort to contribute the way my team

Away from the hectic schedules of training, Bangladesh Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim enjoys the leisure of his home

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

need me to be,” he added.

It has been widely suggested that Bangladesh might struggle to cope with conditions Down Under but according to the Tigers Test skipper, the cricketers should not pay any heed to that and just concentrate on their task.

“There can always be discussions on different things at different times,” said Mushfiq.

“But, the players should not think much of these things. This in turn will help us to be cool in our heads and concentrate on what needs to be done,” he added.

The country’s first and only double centurion in Tests explained further on the issue. “I will say even our home condition is not that easy to be honest. Let that be against a lower-ranked team or a top one.

At the end of the day we have to play good cricket and get results, even at home. Yes, one advantage that you do have at home is that you have the crowd and the known people behind you.”

Mushfiq added that the two-week training camp at Allan Border Field in Brisbane will help ease some of the enormities of their steep challenge, if not fully. “It will be challenging but I will never say doing well there will be impossible for us. The stage will be big to show our individual skill and I hope everyone will be prepared for that,” said the former ODI skipper.

Mushfiq concluded by saying the Tigers will look to their pace attack and top-order batsmen in order to fetch results.

“Having a good combination with the top six batsmen and our pace bowlers, I think we have the capability to win even four or five matches but having said that, we will need our fast bowlers and batsmen to do their jobs properly,” he concluded. l

Akram visits panicked Mexico pose unknown threat Ihsan sports sponsors national hockey team Rubel in jail BCB to back nat’l pacer if case is irrelevant n Raihan Mahmood

n Minhaz Uddin Khan Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director and cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan, accompanied by his wife, visited national paceman Rubel Hossain at Dhaka Central Jail yesterday. Rubel’s parents were also present during Akram’s visit.

Rubel was sent to jail last Thursday by a Dhaka court in a case filed by film actress Naznin Akter Happy under the Women and Children Repression Act. A Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate passed the order after Rubel surrendered before the court and pleaded unsuccessfully for bail last Thursday morning. Since then, the 25-year old cricketer has passed three nights behind bars.

“Me and my wife went to see him (Rubel) at 11am today (yesterday),” Akram told the media yesterday. “His parents were already there when I went to see him,” he added.

When queried if Akram paid the visit on behalf of the BCB, he said, “Not at all.

It was a personal visit. I tried to go and see him last Friday but it was not possible.

“I visited Rubel because of the personal relation that I have with him. We have been close for a long time. I will try to get him out of the mess, to be honest,” said the former captain.

Akram informed that Rubel looked

panicked of the whole situation. “This I think is usual. Anyone going through this situation will panic. But as I said, I will look into the matter personally now,” assured Akram.

Meanwhile, BCB president Nazmul Hasan said the board will back Rubel only if they find out that the case filed by the film actress is an irrelevant one.

“The BCB will support Rubel in every manner possible, if the case is not relevant,” said Nazmul at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday upon his return from Singapore.

“I will first look into the merit of the case and will then consult with the legal team of the board. Rubel will get all necessary support from the board,” the BCB boss added. Rubel is scheduled to attend a hearing today where he will appeal for bail.

Ever since he has been jailed, Rubel’s spot in the Bangladesh World Cup squad came under scrutiny. It has been rumoured that Rubel, if unavailable, will be replaced by another pacer, Shafiul Islam, who was earlier named as a standby by the BCB. The BCB chief though hoped that Rubel will get bail and will therefore be available for the World Cup. Rubel started to attract the headlines for the wrong reasons when the film actress on Dec 13 last year filed a case against Rubel at Mirpur Model Thana. l

Comfit Ltd star on second day in Corporate Football n Tribune Desk

The second day of the Mir Corporate Football Fiesta, powered by International Turkish Hope School, started off with the intense battle between IDLC and Spell-Bound. Both teams squandered glorious opportunities but the difference was made by Syed Mashrur Ali who scored the all-important goal to help IDLC register their second win in as many matches.

Comfit Composite Knit Ltd put up a strong performance against HSBC as the former claimed full points with a dominating 6-0 win over the bankers.

Raju scored two goals while their cap-

tain, Sumon, Jahir, Sakib and man-ofthe-match Tanin netted one apiece.

Meanwhile, hosts ITHS cruised past

RESULTS

IDLC

1-0

Spell-Bound

Comfit

6-0

HSBC

ITHS

5-0

Accenture GPIT

Bando Design

9-1

Dhaka Tribune

Accenture GPIT 5-0 with Mehmet scoring a brace for the winners. However, it was the midfield performance from Eres which saw him bag the player-ofthe-match award.l

Unknown quantity Mexico remain a headache for the Bangladesh hockey team, who fly to Singapore today to take part in the Hockey World League Round 2, scheduled to be held from January 17-25. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is still to confirm whether Mexico have pulled out from the event although the world’s leading online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is claiming that they have indeed withdrawn from the tournament.

Mexico, more popular in football than hockey, finished second in the Hockey World League Round 1 after competing against Brazil and Gautemala.

Coach Mamunur Rashid admitted yesterday that playing against an unknown opponent has its disadvantag-

Abahani rope in Hungarian trio n Shishir Hoque Abahani have recruited three players from Hungary in order to reinforce their squad for the forthcoming football season. The trio – two midfielders and one striker – arrived in Dhaka yesterday morning.

George Kottan, Abahani’s Austrian-Hungarian head coach, joined the traditional Sky Blues on December 22 last year and acted as the bridge between the players and the club.

The three players are Szabolcs Csordas, Illes Ayula and Denjen Gabor. Among the trio, Csordas previously played in Hungary’s first division football.

“Amongst the three, one is a left-winger, one prefers the number nine role while the other is a playmaker,” said Kottan, the 68-year old former Bangladesh coach, yesterday.

Abahani manager Satyajit Das Rupu yesterday said, “Kottan brought them all from Hungary. He said good things about the players’ quality. We will find out soon.”

With the arrival of the Hungarian trio Abahani now have five foreign booters in their camp[ now. As per the new rule introduced this season a club will be eligible to register five foreign players with three taking the field. l

es. “We know nothing about Mexico.

Though they are currently ranked 35th, five places behind us, we cannot take anything lightly. We know nothing about their playing style or their approach.”

Bangladesh have been grouped with a strong Poland side, Japan and Mexico so the match against Mexico is quite crucial. Bangladesh have to beat Mexico in Group B in order to finish at least third and avoid Malaysia, the top-seeded team of Group A, in the quarterfinals. Oman, hosts Singapore and the Ukraine are the other teams of Group A. Ahead of the tournament, Bangladesh will play three practice matches – against Malaysia A tomorrow, Malaysia Under-23 this Tuesday and Oman two days later.

Bangladesh’s first match of the Hockey World League Round 2 is

against Japan this Saturday. Bangladesh’s next opponents will be Japan on January 18 followed by Poland on January 20.

Meanwhile, with the tournament just around the corner, the Bangladesh hockey team received a big boost. Pakistani sports-gear manufacturer, Ihsan, will provide all the Bangladesh team members with composite hockey sticks, covers and hockey shoes.

Bangladesh will also reap the benefits of a high-profile coach during the tournament as the FIH has organised a five-day coaching programme for the aspiring coaches from today till this Thursday. Former national forward and assistant manager of Bangladesh, Rafiqul Islam Kamal, BKSP coach and former national player Jahid Hossain Raju and former player Rubel Hossain will attend the course. l

Did you know?

Since 2003, no player has created more chances (835) in the Premier League than Steven Gerrard

Halsall hopes for good cricket n Minhaz Uddin Khan Bangladesh fielding coach Richard Halsall believes that good cricket, irrespective of conditions and pitches, will stand the Tigers in good stead in the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

There has been a lot of talk, mostly outside the dressing room, regarding the alien conditions Bangladesh are expected to face Down Under. But Halsall, a former Zimbabwean cricketer, thinks a professional side should be able to perform wherever they play.

“You play good cricket, it doesn’t matter where you are,” Halsall told the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

“You will win games. Obviously, things lean one way. We have just seen the Indians play well against Australia’s seam attack. They (India) played well against the seamers in England but got bowled out by the spinners,” he added.

The 46-year old fielding coach said outside pressure is normal ahead of such a mega event before adding, “But, it is more to do with the fact that you are playing away from home, where you are not comfortable. This causes more doubt and instability than pitches. Some of our players have never

You play good cricket, it doesn’t matter where you are. You will win games, says Halsall played in Canberra, New Zealand or MCG (Mebourne Cricket Ground) before.”

The former assistant coach of England also said hitting the ball hard will be crucial given the long boundaries of the Australian grounds. “The intensity is going to be very important. The ball is going to be hit really hard, there will be a lot of rope-work as a result. People are looking for boundaries more often nowadays. It is going to be very role-specific, so people will be practising their positions. The more you are happy with your role, that familiarity breeds confidence.”

Halsall went on to praise the improved fielding displays of a few Bangladesh cricketers.

“What has been really pleasing is the collective effort of the team to be honest. So you can see some of the senior players like Tamim [Iqbal] now diving around. Two people chasing the ball, people prepared to dive and maybe hurt themselves. It is also nice to have the calming influence of Shakib [al Hasan]. It is amazing how the inclusion of one or two gun fielders, like Sabbir [Rahman], trickles down elsewhere.

Hopefully they do some special things in Australia.” l

Shakib’s Renegades go down fighting n Tribune Desk Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan suffered mix fortunes with the bat and the ball as his side, the Melbourne Renegades, went down to a narrow three-wicket defeat against the Melbourne Stars in a cliffhanger of a game in the KFC Big Bash Twenty20 League 2014-15 in Melbourne yesterday.

Batting first, the Renegades put up 153/6 on the board, led by the efforts of their opener Matthew Wade (71 off 49 balls) and middle-order batsman Tom Beaton (34 off 29 balls).

Shakib failed with the willow as he scored one run from five deliveries before being caught just in front of the mid-wicket boundary rope by Luke Wright off the bowling of John Hastings.

James Faulkner was the most successful bowler for the Stars taking three wickets for 19 runs from three overs.

In reply, the Stars had to play the full quota of their overs to reach the target with three wickets intact.

Glenn Maxwell’s 44-ball 66 piloted the Stars’ chase while discarded English cricketer Kevin Pietersen chipped in with a run-a-ball 49.

Ben Stokes (2/22) was the wreckerin-chief for the Renegades. With the leather, Shakib scalped the import-

Tamim Iqbal enjoys the Big Bash match of Melbourne Renegades at MCG yesterday ant wicket of skipper Cameron White (eight off five balls) as the Bangladesh all-rounder clean bowled the hard-hitting batsman. Shakib finished with bowling figure of 1/23 from his four overs and was introduced in the second over of the Stars’ innings.

Courtesy the win, the Stars rose to third position in the eight-team

standings with six points from as many matches. The Renegades on the contrary are second bottom with four points from six matches.

The Renegades’ next match is scheduled for this Tuesday against Brisbane Heat in Melbourne. The match will start at 2:40pm and Star Sports 4 will telecast it live. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

13

Sunday, January 11, 2015

QUICK BYTES

SAvWI, 1ST T20I

Messi, Serena back Asia school campaign

South Africa R B R. Hendricks lbw b Cottrell 12 12 M. van Wyk c Gayle b Holder 17 15 F. du Plessis c Sammy b Russell 38 20 R. Rossouw not out 51 40 D. Miller c Bravo b Cottrell 24 21 F. Behardien not out 18 12 Extras (lb2, w3) 5

A campaign backed by sports stars Lionel Messi and Serena Williams was launched Friday to put millions of children in school, starting in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal. The “1 in 11” campaign shines a spotlight on the 58 million children out of 650 million globally who are deprived of an education - one in 11 school-age children.

Messi and tennis star Williams are featured in a videoclip for the campaign organised by the UN children’s agency UNICEF, the FC Barcelona Foundation and the Qatar Foundation’s Reach Out to Asia (ROTA) organization. Organisers hope to raise up to $15 million from an art auction at Sotheby’s in London next month of donated works by Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, the first event in the fundraising effort. Funds will go to build schools and train teachers in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal to put nearly half a million children in school, including many who are handicapped, said Essa al Mannai of ROTA. The goal over time is to expand the effort to more countries.

–AFP

Total (4 wkts, 20 overs) Fall of wickets 1-30 (Hendricks), 2-33 (Van Wyk), 3-79 (Du Plessis), 4-127 (Miller)

Bowling Cottrell 4-0-33-2 (2w), Holder 4-0-20-1, Russell 4-0-43-1 (1w), Nurse 3-0-24-0, Bravo 3-0-26-0, Sammy 2-0-17-0

R B West Indies D. Smith lbw b Imran Tahir 20 20 C. Gayle c Van Wyk b Imran Tahir 77 31 M. Samuels c Rossouw b Imran Tahir 41 32 D. Bravo c Hendricks b Parnell 8 13 K. Pollard not out 8 13 A. Russell c Abbott b Parnell 6 9 D. Ramdin c Abbott b Wiese 2 6 D. Sammy not out 0 5 Extras (b4, lb1, w1) 6 Total (6 wkts, 19.2 overs)

‘Old’ Venus beats Wozniacki in Auckland Venus Williams became one of the oldest players to win a WTA title when she beat Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the Auckland Classic on Saturday. The 34-year-old Williams took a little while to get going but managed to overcome the blustery conditions and a fired up Wozniacki to begin her Australian Open preparations by capturing her 46th career title. The American, who lost the final on the central Auckland courts to Ana Ivanovic last year, had looked well out of sorts as she struggled to adjust to the wind and hot conditions before she eventually prevailed 2-6 6-3 6-3 in 110 minutes. “I am an old tennis player now,” said Williams, who became the fourth oldest winner on the WTA Tour at 34 years, five months and 24 days, with only Billie Jean King, Kimiko Date-Krumm and Martina Navratilova having been older. “I waited until I was 33 until I came to New Zealand and that was the biggest mistakes of my life.” Wozniacki had wasted little time in forcing Williams onto the back foot, holding two break points in the opening game before the American finally held serve.

–Reuters

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 2 5:30PM Chennai Open 2015 Italian Serei A 1:40AM Napoli v Juventus

Star Sports 4 8:40 AM T20 Big Bash League Hobart Hurricanes v Perth Scorchers 2:10 PM Brisbane Heat v Sydney Sixers English Premier League 7:20 PM Arsenal v Stoke City 9:50 PM Manchester United v Southampton

Wang Dalei of China shouts at the referee during their first round Asian Cup match aganist Saudi Arabia at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane yesterday

AFP

Golden goalies shine brightly n AFP, Sydney Birthday boy Wang Dalei's penalty stop helped China upset Saudi Arabia 1-0 as a string of top saves made all the difference at the Asian Cup on Saturday.

South Korea and Uzbekistan also had their goalkeepers to thank as they both won by the same 1-0 scoreline on a cliff-hanging day two in Australia.

Surprise result of the day belonged to China, who edged three-time winners Saudi Arabia in Brisbane courtesy of Yu Hai's deflected second-half free kick.

Just moments before the goal Wang, who was celebrating his 26th birthday, kept China in it when he dived to his

left to save Naif Hazazi's tame penalty.

Victory put a huge smiles on the faces of Alain Perrin's China, who have never won the Asian Cup and will now be eyeing their first appearance in the knockout stages since hosting the tournament in 2004.

"Our tactics worked very well, we hit them on the counter-attackeding and caused a lot of trouble for our opponents," Perrin told reporters. "The match was very, very difficult for us but we gained a lot of joy from it. We've been preparing for this tournament for a long time."

South Korea, World Cup semifinalists in 2002 but seeking a first Asian title in 55 years, got off to an unconvincing start as they beat Oman 1-0 through Cho Young-Cheol's strike in stoppage time at the end of the first half in Canberra.

English-based goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi produced some quality saves but had a moment to forget as he parried a rebound to Cho, who gobbled up the chance with a clinical finish.

But Korean shot-stopper Kim Jin-Hyeon later superbly tipped Imad

ASIAN CUP RESULTS

South Korea

1-0

Oman

1-0

North Korea

1-0

Saudi Arabia

Cho 45+1

Uzbekistan Sergeev 62

China Yu 81

Al Hosni's header onto the bar to ensure the Taeguk Warriors came away with all three points.

Oman coach Paul Le Guen was left fuming at referee Peter O'Leary's de-

cision to wave away a penalty appeal when Qasim Saeed looked to have been brought down in the box.

Uzbekistan also relied heavily on goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov as they ground out a 1-0 win over unfancied North Korea in torrential rain.

Nesterov saw little action in the Group B tie but he was alert enough to acrobatically palm away Pak Kwang-Ryong's powerful header just before the final whistle.

Man-of-the-match Igor Sergeev's 62nd-minute header was the only score of a game hit by a mid-match downpour, but Uzbekistan deserved their win in Sydney.

Twice Asian player of the year Server Djeparov set up the goal as the 2011 semifinalists showed they could be ready for another assault on the Asian Cup's latter stages. l

Sharapova beats Ivanovic to win Brisbane International n Reuters, Brisbane

Maria Sharapova beat Ana Ivanovic in the final of the Brisbane International on Saturday in a display that bodes well for her chances at the Australian Open.

It has been seven years since Sharapova won her only Australian Open title but if she can take her form from Brisbane to Melbourne, a second title does not seem out of the question.

Sharapova had to work hard to beat Ivanovic, coming from behind to beat her 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3 but the Serbian is a good measuring stick.

Sharapova not only beat Ivanovic in the 2008 Australian Open final but both women are in devastating form heading towards the first grand slam of the season, starting on Jan. 19.

"I played four good matches against very different types of opponents," Sharapova said. "I couldn't have asked for better preparation."

The Russian dropped just nine games in getting to the final while Ivanovic showed nerves of steel to see off her opponents to join Sharapova, ranked number two in the world.

It was a match that could have gone either way but Sharapova proved too strong once she got her nose in front in the deciding third set at the Pat Rafter Arena.

"She deserved to win the first set, no doubt, but I hung in there," Sharapova said. "It was important to get that break. I held that and the third set came down to a few points really." Winning the Brisbane International provided Sharapova with her 34th WTA title.l

n Minhaz Uddin Khan The first ever biography on a Bangladesh sportsman, “Shakib al Hasan – apon chokhe, bhinno choke”, written

by Debabrata Mukhopadhyay, was launched at the Dhaka Public Library auditorium yesterday.

Shirin Akhter, Shakib’s mother, was present in the launching ceremony as the chief guest while former captain and Bangladesh’s first Test centuri-

on, Aminul Islam, attended the programme as the special guest.

“I am very happy that a book has been written on Shakib and I feel lucky to have been able to launch the book.

I have seen myself the work the writer (Debabrata) had to put in behind the book. I hope the book will be a success,” said Shirin during the launching ceremony.

Shakib’s mother also requested everyone to pray for the betterment of

1:55 AM Atletico Madrid v Barcelona

Ten Action French Ligue 1 7:00 PM Olympique Lyon v Toulouse 10:00 PM Nantes v Metz 2:00 AM Monaco v Bordeaux

Ten Cricket 7:00 PM Former cricket captain Aminul Islam Bulbul (2R) and Shakib al Hasan’s mother (2L) display the book on Shakib al Hasan written by Debabrata Mukhopadhyay (R) at Dhaka Public Library auditorium yesterday COURTESY

Bowling Abbott 4-0-30-0, Rabada 4-0-38-0, Wiese 2.2-0-20-1, Parnell 4-0-39-2, Imran Tahir 4-0-28-3, (1w), Behardien 1-0-8-0 West Indies won by four wickets; lead three-match series 1-0

Hurricane Gayle blasts WI to victory n AFP, Cape Town Chris Gayle blasted 77 off 31 balls as the West Indies beat South Africa by four wickets in the first Twenty20 international at Newlands on Friday.

The big left-hander thrashed eight sixes and five fours in a brutal assault on the South African bowlers.

His innings included an extraordinary sequence during which he hit 52 runs off 11 balls - five sixes, five fours and a two. After making only one run off the first six balls he faced, he reached his half-century off 17 balls. Only India’s Yuvraj Singh, who reached his half-century off 12 balls against England in Durban during the 2007 World Twenty20, has reached 50 off fewer deliveries.

“It’s a captain’s nightmare,” admitted South African skipper Faf du Plessis. “I thought we posted a really good total.” l

Halep wins Shenzhen Open title

n AFP, Shenzhen

Maria Sharapova of Russia (L) lifts the winning trophy next to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia after their women’s singles final at the Brisbane International in Brisbane yesterday AFP

Shakib’s biography launched

Spanish La Liga

2nd T20 International West Indies v South Africa

168

Fall of wickets 1-78 (Smith), 2-114 (Gayle), 3-147 (Bravo), 4-154 (Samuels), 5-161 (Russell), 6-164 (Ramdin)

Ferrer meets Berdych in Qatar final David Ferrer, who has played much of his career in the shadow of Rafael Nadal, earned himself the chance to atone for his compatriot’s first round loss by reaching the final of the Qatar Open. Ferrer goes on to face Tomas Berdych for the title after a victory in three tie-break sets against Ivo Karlovic ended a remarkable sequence from a unique opponent. The giant Croatian became the first active player to pass 9,000 aces on Wednesday, knocked out the world number one Novak Djokovic on Thursday, and delivered 30 aces which carried him past the former US Open champion Andy Roddick’s total of 9,074 on Friday. Karlovic is stil1 1,111 aces behind Croatian compatriot Goran Ivanisevic’s 10,183, which is the all-time record, but he allowed two tight chances of reaching the final to slip away in the second and third sets. That though had much to do with Ferrer’s stubbornness and courage in a 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) win in which there were no breaks of serve.

–AFP

165

his son. “It is your blessings that have driven my son to wherever he is today. I will request everyone to keep continue praying for him so that he can achieve more for the country,” she added.

Aminul on the other hand shared some interesting memories of Shakib.

“I have travelled to places like China, Kuwait and South Korea to develop cricket on behalf of the Asian Cricket Council. I think I met people who had never even heard of cricket but knows the name Shakib. I have seen people in [South] Korea getting excited about Shakib during the Asian Games a few months ago,” said Aminul.

“I hope the book will be a success.

There has not been much written on sportspersons in our country but I want to see this book written by Debabrata as the start. I hope other journalists, who have seen sportspersons up close, will come forward and write books regularly from now on,” he added.

The book includes exclusive interviews of Shakib’s father, wife, three former coaches, Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe bin Mortaza and contains excerpts from legendary cricket figures like Jacques Kallis, Sanjay Manjrekar and Wasim Akram. l

Top seed Simona Halep of Romania roared to victory on Saturday in the WTA Shenzhen Open final, downing Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets.

Halep, the number one seed and third-ranked female player in the world, dispatched number eight seed Bacsinszky 6-2, 6-2 in 62 minutes in the $500,000 tournament to score her ninth WTA title.

“I wasn’t feeling very well before the match - I was a little bit sick - so I told myself I have nothing to lose, just go on court, be relaxed, stay focused and fight for every point,” Halep said in remarks posted on the WTA website.

“It worked and I felt really relaxed today,” she said. l

Federer tames Dimitrov to reach Brisbane final n Reuters, Brisbane Roger Federer moved to within one win of his 1,000 career victory when he crushed Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday to reach the final of the Brisbane International.

The Swiss maestro produced a masterclass display to brush aside his young challenger, dubbed “Baby Fed”, 6-2 6-2 in just 53 minutes.

Federer will now play Milos Raonic in Sunday’s final after the big-serving Canadian blasted 34 aces past Kei Nishikori to win the first semi-final 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 7-6(4).

If Federer wins his 83rd career title on Sunday he will join Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl as just the third man to chalk up 1,000 ATP match wins.

“It’s a goal for the season, so I still have time to get to a thousand,” he said. “I hope it’s tomorrow, clearly.

“It’s a really big number, no doubt about it. Love to get it tomorrow, especially in the finals in an ATP event where most of my wins have come.

“If not tomorrow, I hope it happens

at the Australian Open. Been a lot of the matches, a lot of toughening out plays.

“I don’t know if it’s a goal, but it would definitely be an incredible milestone to reach.”

The 33-year-old holds a 7-1 win record over Raonic, one of the new young guns starting to make their mark on the game.

Dimitrov is also regarded as one of the most promising emerging talents after reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year but was unable to mount a serious challenge against Federer.

The world number two broke Dimitrov in the opening game then three more times to complete a straight-sets win at the Pat Rafter Arena.

Despite not having won a grand slam title since 2012, Federer is steadily improving his form leading into the Australian Open, starting Jan. 19.

He struggled in his opening match against little-known John Millman but took just 39 minutes to win his next match with Australian qualifier James Duckworth.l

14

Sport

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sunday, January 11, 2015

‘Flat pitches, dropped catches didn’t help Aussies’ n AFP, Sydney Flat pitches and dropped catches made it tough going for Australia’s bowlers in the four-Test series against India, skipper Steve Smith said Saturday.

The Australians took the series 2-0, but plucky India held on for a second successive draw over five days in the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

This year’s result is a turnaround for Australia after a humiliating 4-0 defeat

by India on their home turf in 2013.

But Smith said the Aussies might have won by a greater margin if not for the unresponsive pitches and bungled catches.

Shaun Marsh’s dropped catch on Saturday when Murali Vijay was on 42 - on the way to 80 - was Australia’s 17th missed fielding opportunity in the series.

“I think the wickets have been extremely flat and it’s been tough to take 20 wickets,” he said.

“Throughout this season we’ve let ourselves down in the field. Perhaps if we had taken a few more chances, it might have been a little bit different.

“They are not the standards we set as an Australian cricket team.

“We have a lot of work to do on our fielding, with one-day series and the World Cup coming up, to get our standards up where we want them to be.”

Australia won the opening two Tests in Adelaide and Brisbane, but could not take 20 Indian wickets in the remaining Tests in Melbourne and Sydney, which finished in draws.

“It has been tough to get 20 wickets in this Test series,” he said.

“The wickets haven’t broken up quite as much as we thought they would. I don’t know the reasons for that.

“The bowlers have toiled extremely hard throughout these four Test matches and I’m really proud of the way they gone through these games.”

Smith finished as the player of the series. Apart from his hundreds he took some exceptional catches, none better than his brilliant flying right-handed grasp at second slip to dismiss Rohit Sharma for 39 on Saturday.l

Chelsea assistant coach rules out Messi swoop n Reuters, London A Chelsea deal for Barcelona forward Lionel Messi would be impossible under financial fair play rules, assistant coach Steve Holland said on Friday.

The Argentine’s future at Barca has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks amid media reports of a bust up with coach Luis Enrique and talk of a potential move away from the Nou Camp.

Holland, standing in at the club’s weekly news conference for Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, said it was unlikely the London club could bring the 27-yearold to Stamford Bridge without breaching UEFA’s stringent spending controls.

“Jose has made it quite clear that in this window his expectation is that nobody comes and nobody goes,” he said.

“This club conforms with financial fair play. We’ve brought one or two players in over the last 12 months but it’s quite clear that players have been sold to balance the books.l

AUSvIND, DAY 5 Australia 1st innings 572 for 7 (S. Smith 117, D. Warner 101; M. Shami 5-112) India 1st innings 475 (V. Kohli 147, L. Rahul 110; M. Starc 3-106)

R India 2nd innings M. Vijay c Haddin b Hazlewood 80 L. Rahul c Warner b Lyon 16 R. Sharma c Smith b Watson 39 V. Kohli c Watson b Starc 46 A. Rahane not out 38 S. Raina lbw b Starc 0 W. Saha lbw b Lyon 0 R. Ashwin lbw b Hazlewood 1 B. Kumar not out 20 Extras (b6, lb6) 12 Total (7 wickets; 89.5 overs)

Real Madrid

3-0

Espanyol

Rodriguez 12, Bale 28, Nacho 76

Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez celebrates scoring against Espanyol yesterday REUTERS

252

Fall of wickets 1-48 (Rahul), 2-104 (Sharma), 3-178 (Vijay), 4-201 (Kohli), 5-203 (Raina), 6-208 (Saha), 7-217 (Ashwin)

Australia captain Steven Smith (C) holds the Border-Gavaskar trophy along with his team after the final day of their fourth Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday REUTERS

Bowling Starc 19-7-36-2, Harris 13-3-34-0, Lyon 30.5-5-110-2, Hazlewood 17-7-31-2, Smith 2-0-7-0, Watson 8-2-22-1 Australia won four-match series 2-0

Test drawn as India dig deep n Reuters, Sydney Australia were denied a dramatic victory and forced to settle for a 2-0 series win when India survived a nervous final session to force a draw in the fourth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Steve Smith’s side were aggressive to the very last ball but unable to break the eighth wicket pairing of Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and grab a third win to go with those they achieved in Adelaide and Brisbane.

The tourists, who were handed a victory target of 349 when Australia declared on their overnight score of 2516, collapsed from 160-2 at tea to 217-7 but Virat Kohli had promised his team would never throw in the towel and they were true to his word.

They had reached 252-7 when Australia ran out of overs in the early evening gloom.

There was a period around the tea

break when Kohli and opener Murali Vijay flirted with going for the victory, which would have smashed the previous record for a successful fourth innings run chase in a Test at the ground.

Once their third wicket partnership was broken with the departure of Vijay for 80, however, it was damage limitation all the way as Kohli (46), the luckless Suresh Raina (0), Wriddhiman Saha (0) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1) all quickly followed.

That the last three were all out leg before wicket was an indication that the pitch was finally producing some turn and movement after being something of a batsman’s paradise for much of the match.

It was also fitting reward for Australia’s bowlers, particularly paceman Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon, who had bowled with discipline and accuracy in the first two sessions without being able to claim more than two wickets.

The field closed in around Rahane

(38 not out) and Kumar (20 not out) with often just one Australian outside the cordon but the Indian batsmen held firm to secure a second successive draw after the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

Given the lack of success for both sides in each other’s countries in recent years, that could be considered something of an achievement for India.

“We took them to the end on three occasions, two were draws and one was a loss that could have gone either way,” Kohli, who deputised for Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Adelaide and took over permanently in Sydney after the wicketkeeper called time on his test career.

“I’m really, really proud of the way the guys have played in this series.

Australia has had to earn both the victories they’ve had.”

The series started late with a schedule rejigged and compacted after the death of former Australian batsmen Phillip Hughes.

With 5,870 runs scored by both

sides, it featured more runs than any other four-match Test series with Smith (769) and Kohli (682) leading the way with four centuries apiece.

Both got their fourth in Sydney, Smith’s 117 leading his side to their imposing first innings tally of 572-7 declared and Kohli’s 147 the gel in India’s 475.

India learned yet again, however, that you cannot win Tests in Australia without disciplined and accurate pace bowling to take 20 wickets, however strong a batting line-up you possess.

Smith has clearly marked himself out as permanent Test captain when Michael Clarke’s back finally forces him out of the game, even if he will return to the ranks for next month’s 50-over World Cup. “I’ve really enjoyed it, I’ve had a great time,” Smith said. “The boys have done everything I’ve asked of them. They’ve worked their backsides off every day and I couldn’t be prouder of them for the way they’ve performed in this series.” l

Virat Kohli said India must learn from Australia’s bowlers if they are to improve as a Test side after holding the Australians to a draw in the final Sydney Test on Saturday.

Kohli, who took over the Test captaincy after Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s shock retirement following the third Melbourne Test, said he was proud that India made Australia earn their 2-0 win in the four-Test series.

“At the international level there is a lot for us to improve on as a Test side, especially seeing the way the Australians bowl. I think that’s something we need to learn from big time,” he said.

“If we can improve on that we’re going to be a very strong Test team moving forward.”

Kohli, who scored an Indian record series aggregate of 692 runs at 86.50 against Australia, said his team made the home side fight all the way.

“The result has not gone our way but we have played the kind of cricket that we wanted to and honestly Australia have had to earn both the victories they’ve had,” he said.

“When we get more composure and improve on a few areas, you will see us cashing in on those important moments. What matters is they won the series. We did not. But the way we played in this series is something very exciting for us and something to look forward to in the future.”

Kohli said India must learn from Australia’s bowlers if they are to win Tests away from home. India have won only one of their last 23 Tests overseas.

“Especially someone like Josh Hazlewood who has put the ball in the right spot in all three of his Test matches,” Kohli said.

“That’s something we need to work on big time if you want to take 20 wickets and win Test matches.”

Kohli said it had been challenging yet enjoyable playing against a competitive Australian team in front of vocal crowds.l

Chelsea pull clear as Man City held n Reuters, London Chelsea re-asserted themselves as Premier League leaders with a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday as champions Manchester City were held to a draw at Everton.

Jose Mourinho's team have watched a nine-point advantage over City vanish and began the day with an identical record but edged two points clear with goals from Oscar and Diego Costa sealing a 10th home league win out of 10.

City took the lead late on at Goodison Park through Fernandinho but Steven Naismith earned the hosts a point.

Chelsea have 49 points from 21 games with City on 47.

Queens Park Rangers fell into the relegation zone after a 2-1 loss at Burnley, becoming the first Premier League side to lose their first 10 away games of the season.

Both sides ended with 10 men at Leicester City where the hosts stayed bottom despite beating Aston Villa 1-0 while Tony Pulis enjoyed a winning reign as West Bromwich Albion's man-

10-man Madrid back on track with Espanyol win RESULT

B 165 40 90 95 88 3 6 22 30

‘India must learn from Aussie bowlers to win more away Tests’ n AFP, Sydney

n AFP, Madrid Real Madrid returned to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Espanyol on Saturday, despite playing most of the second-half with 10 men, to move four points clear at the top of La Liga.

Cristiano Ronaldo was restored to the starting line-up after being rested from the off in a 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in midweek and he set up James Rodriguez to open the scoring 12 minutes in.

Gareth Bale then doubled the hosts advantage with a sumptuous free-kick, but their route to a comfortable three points was complicated when Fabio Coentrao was sent-off eight minutes into the second period.

Espanyol, though, failed to make their man advantage count as Nacho added a third 14 minutes from time to put the pressure of Madrid’s title rivals Barcelona and Atletico, who face each other at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti made four changes in all from the side that slipped to a 2-0 defeat at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday. l

EPL RESULTS

ager thanks to 1-0 defeat of Hull City.

Swansea City and West Ham United drew 1-1.

Later on Saturday in London Tottenham Hotspur can move into fourth position with victory at Crystal Palace who find themselves joint bottom in Alan Pardew's first league game in charge.

Earlier, Lazar Markovic scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool as Brendan Rodgers's side beat 10-man Sunderland 1-0 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

Markovic put Liverpool in front on nine minutes when the Serb bundled his way into the Sunderland area and fired a shot past Costel Pantilimon to score the only goal of the game.

The 20-year-old Markovic, who is yet to show his best form since joining from Benfica in July, then hit a spectacular volley against the bar before former Black Cats midfielder Jordan Henderson struck the Sunderland post.

Sunderland midfielder Liam Bridcutt was sent off for a second bookable offence at the start of the second half, but the home side came close to an equaliser when Adam Johnson's long-distance strike hit the underside of the bar and bounced clear.

Liverpool remain eighth in the Premier League table with 32 points from 21 matches, while Sunderland are 14th with 20 points from 21 games. l

Holders Juve set for Napoli test n AFP, Milan

In-form Atletico seek to pile pressure on Barca

United seek spark as Saints close in n AFP, London

Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio has brushed off suggestions of a crisis, insisting the champions’ resolve will remain intact when they visit in-form Napoli looking for their first win of the year on Sunday.

Juventus saw their lead over title challengers Roma reduced to a point on Tuesday when Mauro Icardi struck late for Inter to level Carlos Tevez’s fifth-minute opener in Turin. Roma will go top if they beat Lazio in the city derby on Sunday afternoon, heaping further pressure on a Juventus side that lost the Italian Super Cup final to Napoli in Doha in their last game of the year. l

n Reuters, Barcelona

Manchester United will attempt to stave off an assault on their third-place position in the Premier League table when they welcome closest pursuers Southampton to Old Trafford on Sunday.

United have gone 10 games without defeat since losing 1-0 at joint-leaders

Burnley

2-1

Arfield 12, Ings 37

Chelsea

QPR Austin 33-pen

2-0

Newcastle

1-1

Manchester City

Oscar 43, Costa 59

Everton Naismith 78

Leicester

Fernandinho 74

1-0

Aston Villa

Konchesky 45+1

Sunderland

0-1

Liverpool Markovic 9

Swansea

1-1

West Ham

Noble 74-og

West Brom

Carroll 43

1-0

Hull

Berahino 78

SERIE A FIXTURES Inter Atalanta Cagliari Fiorentina Verona Roma Sampdoria Napoli

v v v v v v v v

Genoa Chievo Cesena Palermo Parma Lazio Empoli Juventus

In-form Atletico Madrid will aim to pile pressure on a Barcelona side reeling from a rift between coach Luis Enrique and star player Lionel Messi in a crunch La Liga clash on Sunday.

It was an all-or-nothing match last time the two sides met at the Camp Nou in the final game of last season with a draw giving the visitors the title.

Now while the stakes are not as high, a negative result could have a major impact on the future of Luis Enrique.

It is a perfect time for Diego Simeone’s Atletico side to face Barca who have failed to convince this season and are embroiled in a supposed rift between Luis Enrique and Messi.

The pair are believed to have almost come to blows during a training session last Friday and then had a heated argument after Sunday’s La Liga defeat by Real Sociedad.

That result left champions Atletico level with Barcelona on 38 points, one less than leaders Real Madrid who also have a game in hand of their two title rivals.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa (back) embraces teammate Oscar as they celebrate his goal during their EPL match against Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge yesterday REUTERS

While Barcelona have hit the headlines for the wrong reasons, Simeone has gone about the business of adapting new players to his system with quiet efficiency.

In the wake of the departure of key players such as striker Diego Costa, they

LA LIGA FIXTURES Almeria Athletic Bilbao Granada Barcelona

v v v v

Sevilla Elche Real Sociedad Atletico Madrid

started the season slowly but have picked up the pace and began the New Year with a victory over Levante in La Liga followed by a win against Real Madrid in the first leg of their King’s Cup last 16 tie.

Returning hero Torres has been the centre of attention since arriving back at the Calderon in the January transfer window but he had a quiet game against Real. Simeone urged patience with the Spain striker, who left Atletico for Liverpool and then moved to Chelsea and Milan.l

EPL FIXTURES Arsenal v Stoke City Man United v Southampton Manchester City on November 2, but they have taken only six points from a possible 12 after drawing three of their last four matches.

It has prevented Louis van Gaal’s side from fully exploiting recent slipups by co-leaders Chelsea, who they trail by nine points, and has allowed Southampton to close to within one point.

After a run of four straight defeats in late November and early December, including a 2-1 loss in the reverse fixture, Ronald Koeman’s side have won three and drawn one of their last four games.l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Sunday, January 11, 2015

POPPY starrer The Director gets censor board nod

15 Catch Me If You Can HBO Hits, 6:15pm Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks

n Entertainment Desk After almost one year of suffering at the censor board, the romantic thriller “The Director” starring popular actress Poppy got its approval on January 8.

Directed by Kamruzzaman Kamu, the film was placed before the censor board on February 11 last year. However, the censor board members informed the director, through a written letter after watching the film on February 25, that the film was ‘inconvenient for screening’.

Following the decision, a front was established demanding the release of the film.

Since then a lot of protests had happened against the decision highlighting the issue in the mass media.

Subsequently, Kamruzzaman Kamu applied again for the approval and finally the censor board allowed the film to be screened under few conditions.

About the film, Kamruzzaman Kamu said: “The film is of a new genre in the country. I made the film avoiding the conventional format with a hope that the audience would love it.”

The story of “The Director” revolves around a rural guy who comes to the city with a dream of becoming a filmmaker. The struggles of reaching his dream have been depicted in the film.

Marzuk Russel, the small screen actor, paired up with Poppy in the film while Mosharraf Karim, Sweaty, Nafiza and Kochi Khondokar played the other central characters. l

A true story about Frank, who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars’ worth of checks.

Mime art Jemon Kormo Temon Phol staged at BSA n Entertainment Desk A mime art titled “Jemon Kormo Temon Phol” was staged for the second time at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital on Friday.

The play was premiered on October last year. Written by Nithor Mahbub,

the play addresses the social issues such as religious violence, politics, woman violence, eve teasing and food adulteration.

It also depicts the negative impact of the issues in the lives of the people.

The production is divided in 14 scenes. l

A musical evening by popular singer Habib Wahid was held at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre, Dhanmondi on Friday

n Entertainment Desk

According to a report on Pinkvilla.com, cricketer Virat Kohli has a fan in Sonam Kapoor. The actress apparently said that she finds him hot, states the report. Sonam, who attended Farah Khan’s 50th birthday bash, was asked about her favourite cricketer at press interaction, to which she replied saying that Virat Kohli is hot.

Sonam Kapoor is one Bollywood diva who is known for being honest and doesn’t believe in being diplomatic. Her positive attitude and confidence makes her one of the boldest and most beautiful actresses in B-town. People love her for being herself and her family is also proud of her. l

A glamorous fashion show was arranged on the occasion of the opening of the 5th branch of SS Dress, Banani in the capital. Clad in red dress, brand model of the fashion house, Nijhum Rubina walked down the ramp. Lux Channel I Superstar 2007, Bidya Sinha Saha Mim was the guest on the Friday evening programme. Tabassum Anila Hridi choreographed the show KHAN HASAN MD RAFI

Interstellar voted 2014’s most overrated movie by Metacritic users Interstellar, Christopher Nolan’s ambitious space odyssey about a last ditch mission to find a new home for humanity, has been named the most overrated film of 2014 by users of review aggregator site Metacritic.

Nolan’s futuristic epic, which has largely failed to set the awards season

on fire, but did garner four nominations at the Baftas, was named ahead of Oscar-tipped Richard Linklater coming-of-age drama Boyhood in the site’s annual poll.

The next most overrated films, according to Metacritic users, were comic book space opera Guardians of the Galaxy, dystopian blockbuster The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -

Most overrated movie of 2014 as voted by Metacritic users 1 Interstellar 2 Boyhood 3 Guardians of the Galaxy 4 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Pt. 1 5 Birdman

A scene from Interstellar

An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners.

Devil Star Movies Action, 10:30pm Cast: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green

SONAM assumes Virat is hot

n Entertainment Desk

The Monuments Men Star Movies, 7:00pm Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray

Part One and another awards season favourite, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s black comedy Birdman.

However, in a somewhat confusing turn of events, Boyhood (first) and Interstellar (second) were also named the two best movies of the year by users. Boyhood also has the highest possible Metacritic rating, 100/100, from critics. l

A group of people are trapped in an elevator and the Devil is mysteriously amongst them.

Russell Brand documentary to open SXSW n Entertainment Desk A documentary about the comedian and Hollywood actor turned maverick political activist Russell Brand is to open the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in March.

Directed by two-time Sundance film festival prize-winner Ondi Timoner, “Brand: A Second Coming” examines its subject’s journey from drug addict to anti-capitalist firebrand. “Ondi Timoner’s bold and lively documentary on Russell Brand knocked us out with its humour, insight and raw energy, pulling back the curtain on a truly passionate figure as he grapples with fame, influence and where we are as a 21st century society,” said Janet Pierson, SXSW’s head of film.

Also announced early for the festival – the full lineup is due on February 3 – was Michael Showalter’s “Hello,” “My Name Is Doris,” starring Sally Field as a romance-seeking sexagenarian who becomes embroiled in the Brooklyn hipster scene. The 2015 SXSW film festival runs from March 13 to 21 in Austin, Texas. l

SHAH RUKH comes out in support of PK n Entertainment Desk Aamir Khan starrer “PK” has been in controversy ever since the very first poster of the film was unveiled, but the matters went out of hand post release of film as various religious groups protested against the film and wanted the film to be banned.

Numerous celebrities and well known personalities have praised Aamir and his performance in the film. Now, the latest to join the list happens to be none other than Shah Rukh Khan.

The actor said, “I think films once censored shouldn’t be questioned. Films in India have to undergo a rigorous censor and once that’s done it’s officially passed. Yes, there will always be people who have issues but they shouldn’t take it into the system where the whole idea of censorship stretches to the extent of being banal. That goes against the logic of censorship.”

The actor further added “A team of good thinking people from films feel that a film is not controversial, not troublesome, will not evoke any kind of negativity and is fit to be consumed by people. I think they are the ultimate authority and give that much value to it. I know a lot of people have very radical ideas about censorship but theirs is the final say,” The film recently broke all the records to become the first Hindi film to cross the three hundred crore at box-office domestically. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Sunday, January 11, 2015

BTRC gets tough on mobile companies’ quality standards n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The country’s telecoms regulator will get tough on mobile operators to ensure a high quality of service for consumers including publishing service guidelines so subscribers know their rights, according to a decision taken last week.

Last year, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) gave guidelines to mobile operators to improve their service quality but it was not implemented by operators.

“The commission has taken the decision to publish a booklet to ensure quality telecoms services and to set parameters,” Md Sarwar Alam, secretary of the BTRC told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said the telecoms watchdog plans to make the booklet available to subscribers so that they are aware of their rights as consumers.

BTRC started to formulate a comprehensive set of guidelines on service quality in 2009. In January last year, at a commission meeting, the guidelines were agreed upon but not implemented fully.

Mobile operators have requested to meet with the BTRC before the fresh guidelines are finalised.

BTRC sources said a meeting had been scheduled for January 13 where the chief executive officers of all six operators will be present.

Another senior officer of the BTRC said the commission had evidence that operators had deprived users mostly in regard to internet use and this would now be monitored. He said the BTRC

He said: “Some operators were found to have declared different offers on their Facebook pages without prior permission, so we will monitor operators’ web and Facebook pages regularly.”

Recently the regulator began monitoring operators’ advertisements and cross-checking what had received approval against what they were offering.

“We favour simplifying offers. We want advertisements that are clear cut and we want new offers in newspaper advertisements to be approved first,”

he said.

Another Telecoms Ministry sources said some operators were using their subscriber base as an advertising market, sending advertisements without the proper permission of subscribers.

Under last year’s guidelines, operators would have to ensure a call success rate of 75% to maintain service standards. For data service, operators will have to maintain at least 80% speed rate of the offer announced.

The guideline said at least three call attempts out of four have to be successful to access the network to maintain service quality.

Quality of service parameters for mobile telecoms services introduced a new benchmark with 13 key performance indicators to assess mobile phone operators’ service quality. Generally, complaints against operators’ voice services are most frequent in Bangladesh, so regulators have concentrated on it.

The BTRC wants to monitor the quality of river, railway and highway connectivity where customers often suffer. Parameters have also been included to fix network congestion.

The regulator insists that operators respond well to customer care queries, and will monitor how they are dealt with and how they are responded to.

Despite a BTRC instruction to make 121 a toll-free customer care number, operators did not pay heed to the request. Instead, they made a separate number, 158, toll-free, but customers are unaware of the number. l

On the third and last day of the first phase of the Biswa Ijtema, thousands of devotees are thronging the banks of the River Turag for the Akheri Munajat. A bird’s eye view of the Ijtema ground shows hundreds of make-shift tents and bridges made to facilitate the Ijtema goers.

In a tiny tent made of jute, four devotees are seen absorbed in prayer with their Tasbih (prayer beads). Meanwhile, due to the on going blockade and lack of public transport, devotees ride to the Ijtema on a dilapidated three-wheeler risking their lives MEHEDI HASAN

consider the vulnerable zones for fund mobilisation, he mentioned that extreme poverty rate in those zones was higher than the other places.

He was speaking at a session titled “Political Economy and Climate Finance.” A good number experts and researchers from home and abroad has been participating in the four-day-long conference that began on Thursday.

Gobeshona, a knowledge network for research on climate change in Bangladesh, aims at making research on climate change more effective and ready for take-up by the practitioners.

According to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Bangladesh is identified as being at specific risk from climate change due to its exposure to sea-level rise and extreme events like salinity intrusion, drought, erratic rainfall and tidal surge which will hamper the country’s food as well as livelihood security.

The coastal zones of Bangladesh is vulnerable to sea-level rise while the

northern part of the country is identified as drought-prone areas.

The government formulated the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) in 2009 as a guideline to tackle the negative impacts of global warming.

Under the guideline, the government created the BCCTF with its own resources in 2010 to take adaptation measures. It received Tk2,700 crore as of the current fiscal from the government’s revenue budget.

Of the total fund, 218 government projects were approved with estimated cost of around Tk1,970. The Water Resources Ministry received the highest allocation for building infrastructures like embankment and dams while the second highest fund receiving sector is the food security, social protection and health.

In addition to the BCCTF, the government created another fund named Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF) with the contribution of development partners including the

European Union, Denmark, Canada and the UK. Regrading finance, TIB’s Zakir said both the funds had addressed climate change vulnerability partially by approving the projects but failed to improve conditions in the poverty-stricken climate vulnerable areas.

Md Kamruzzaman, programme coordinator of climate change at Islamic Relief Bangladesh, urged the government to establish a separate ministry or body to coordinate with the issue of climate change. It would help avoiding the rising anomalies regarding project distribution and fund management, he observed.

However, Dr Saleemul Huq, director at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), said the government should emphasis on mainstreaming the issue of climate change, rather not forming a separate body for it.

Integrating climate change in all the development measures planned by the government could bring the best outcome, he added. l

would subscribe to various packages to monitor how well the operators were delivering on their connectivity and data commitments.

“We have decided to give customers automatic replies via SMS their balance after every use and now we are want to apply this to data use as well,” said the senior officer, requesting not to be named.

Despite a BTRC instruction to make 121 a toll-free customer care number, operators did not pay heed to the request. Instead, they made a separate number, 158, toll-free, but customers are unaware of the number

Waiting for Akheri Better assessment pivotal for tackling vulnerability Munajat CLIMATE CHANGE

n Abu Bakar Siddique Bangladesh needs proper assessment of climate change vulnerability to take adequate adaptation measures in tackling the negative impacts of the phenomena, speakers told a discussion yesterday.

At the Gobeshona Conference being held in Independent University of Bangladesh of the capital, they also urged the government to adopt integrated planning as well as financing with proper consideration regarding the vulnerability.

Citing example of cyclone- and drought-prone zones, Zakir Hossain Khan, senior programme manager of Climate Finance Governance at the Transparency International, Bangladesh, said both the regions had received less amount of fund from the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) compared to the other regions. “It proves that the government does not consider the actual need.”

Suggesting that the government

‘Scientific organic waste 12 dead in suicide management can grow bombing by young crop production’ girl in Nigeria n Abu Bakar Siddique

The country can increase crop production as well as reduce the use of chemical fertilisers by managing organic wastes in a scientific manner, said the co-founder of a company that produces compost from wastes.

“The move can also yield some other benefits such as lessening health hazards, creating jobs, and reducing emission of methane and carbon dioxide,” said Iftekhar Enayetullah, co-founder of Waste Concern, during the “Waste and Climate Change” session at the ongoing Gobeshona conference in the capital yesterday.

“The use of compost made from organic wastes can increase crop production by 25-30% and at the same time reduce the use of chemical fertilisers by 35-40%,” he said.

Iftekhar said compost derived from organic wastes could enhance soil quality. “This is crucial for the country’s arable lands as nutrient content of the soil in many parts of the country is decreasing because of excessive farming to meet the growing demand for food.

“Only 17% of the arable lands contain the adequate (3.5%) amount of organic matter,” he added.

AH Md Maqsood Sinha, the other founder of Waste Concern, said increasing the use of organic fertilisers in land would lead to a reduction in that of chemical fertilisers. This will also

reduce the government’s subsidy for chemical fertilisers, he said.

“The current waste management practice which includes dumping and filling up lands has been causing many problems including the spread of diseases, producing methane, and polluting ground as well as surface water. It is estimated that 5.2 million tonnes of solid wastes are generated daily around the world, of which 3.8 million tonnes are produced in developing countries.

In Bangladesh, 70% of the total wastes are considered organic,” said Maqsood.

He said the opportunity to use wastes for producing compost was growing gradually because of the rising population as more population meant more wastes.

“In 1991, the country’s urban population would produce 6,493 tonnes of organic wastes a day but in 2014, the figure soared to 23,688 tonnes a day.

Given the current trend of urbanisation, the total amount of organic wastes will stand at 47,000 tonnes a day in 2015.

“In addition, managing the organic wastes scientifically can also ensure benefits of selling Certified Emission Reduction (a type of emission unit issued by the Clean Development Mechanism),” said Maqsood.

According to Waste Concern, each tonne of organic waste, if treated in a scientific manner, can reduce 0.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission. l

n AFP, Maiduguri At least 16 people were killed yesterday when a young girl, thought to be aged about 10, blew herself up at a crowded market in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the Red Cross and vigilantes said.

The powerful explosion rocked the city’s Monday market at about 12:40pm (1140 GMT) when it was packed with shoppers and traders. The same market was hit twice by female suicide bombers late last year.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Boko Haram militants have increasingly used women and young girls as human bombs in their six-year quest for a hardline Islamic state.

Civilian vigilante Ashiru Mustapha said the explosives detonated as the girl was being searched at the entrance to the market.

“The girl was about 10 years old and I doubt much if she actually knew what was strapped to her body,” he told AFP. “In fact, she was searched at the entrance of the market and the metal detector indicated that she was carrying something.

“But sadly, the explosion went off before she was isolated, killing at least 12 people and injuring many others.”

The market was cordoned off as

health officials began the grim task of sifting through the wreckage and collecting body parts.

He added: “Many people sustained life-threatening injuries.”

Witness Abubakar Bakura said: “The blast split the suicide bomber into two and flung one part across the road.

“Among the dead are two vigilantes who were searching the girl. I am pretty sure the bomb was remotely controlled.”

An attack at the market on December 1 killed more than 10 people, and the previous week more than 45 people lost their lives in an attack there.

Boko Haram launched its first female suicide attack in June last year in the northern state of Gombe and there have been a spate of bombings since, including four in a week in the city of Kano.

In July, a 10-year-old girl was found in Katsina state wearing a suicide vest, prompting speculation that young girls were being forced into becoming human bombs rather than through ideological motivation. l

Alam Durjoy and n Nure Our Correspondent, Gazipur Thousands of devotees, gathered at the Biswa Ijtema ground from home and abroad, are passionately waiting for the Akheri Munajat or the concluding prayers to be offered today, the last day of the first phase of the congregation.

Organisers said the Akheri Munajat would be offered sometime between 11am and 1pm with Indian Maulana Saa’d delivering a sermon followed by the prayer.

Gias Uddin, an organiser of the Biswa Ijtema, said all preparations had been made for the successful completion of the Akheri Munajat, which is expected to be attended not only by the Ijtema goers but also people from all walks of life.

A separate stage on the west side of the ground near the foreign devotees’ place was erected for this purpose, said Gias Uddin.

The Bangladesh Railway has arranged special trains from Akhaura, Comilla and Mymensingh districts for the devotees to attend the Akheri Munajat.

Besides, all the trains passing through the Tongi station would briefly stop there to drop off devotees, said Halimujjaman, a Tongi railway station official.

Shakhawat Hossain, additional superintendent of police (Traffic) in Gazipur said 40 dedicated buses would carry the devotees from Gazipur’s Bhogra Bypass to the Ijtema ground today in the morning. He further mentioned that some roads would remain closed till the Akheri Munajat for all types of vehicles except ambulances and police vans.

The stretch from Bhogra Bypass to Kuril Biswa Road and Savar’s Bypass to Abdullahpur will be shut down as per the plan.

As much as the devotees were looking forward to the Akheri Munajat, some also expressed fear about returning home amid the BNP-led countrywide blockade.

Ameer Masud, a member of Tablighi

Jamaat from Panchbibi of Joypurhat district, said: “After the Akheri Munajat, we will be on the road again in the name of Almighty Allah. Though we do not know what will happen to us, the political situation cannot stop us.”

“Long-haul buses do not want to run because of the BNP’s blockade. I came here by local bus from Narsingdi this afternoon. But going back home safely is now a major concern. At least they should withdraw the blockade for the sake of Akheri Munajat,” said Abul Hossain, a business man from Narsingdi.

Najrul Islam from Sreepur of Gazipur said many people would not be able to fulfil their desire to participate in the Ijtema because of the blockade.

‘It was beyond my expectation that political agenda would hamper our religious tasks,” he added.

Yesterday afternoon, the second day of the Ijtema, 121 dowry-free marriages were held in presence of only the grooms as a tradition of the Tablighi Jamaat.

However, relatives of the newly-wed couples were present during the ceremony, which was led by Indian Maulana Joaher Hasan.

Also on the second day sermons were delivered by Indian Maulana Ismail Hossain after the Fazr prayer followed by Indian Maulana Hazrat Shawkat Ali after the Zohr prayer and Pakistani Maulana Abdul Haq in the evening.

The second phase of Ijtema will begin on January 16 and will end on January 18.

Meanwhile, a total of five devotees died due to health issues in the first two days of the Ijtema.

Abdul Momin, acting officer-incharge of Gazipur police station, said Abdus Salam, 50 from Kapasia of Gazipur died around 8:15pm on Friday.

Besides, Kafil Uddin Mondol, 50, died from cardiac arrest while Jahangir Alam, 65, Khairul Kabir, 55, and Riaj Uddin, 52, died of old-age complications. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

B3 Oil hits April 2009 low,

B4 Kerry to push India to

then pares loss on US oil rig data

give US firms greater access

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2015 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Fitch: Political tensions may hurt foreign investors’ confidence n Kayes Sohel

FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed speaks at a press conference at its office in the capital yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

FBCCI mulls taking legal protection for business n Tribune Report The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) would consider taking legal protection to get rid of destructive political programmes like hartal and blockade as they take a heavy toll on the economy.

The apex trade body came up with the declaration at a press conference in Dhaka yesterday, after a meeting with its board of directors that focused on current political situation and finding a way out as political stalemate affects business.

“In the past, we didn’t think about

BASIS to reach universities for IT skill development n Muhammad Zahidul Islam Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) has taken an initiative to create skilled manpower involving students with IT industry.

The prgramme was announced at a press conference at the Association’s office in the city yesterday.

It is expected to bridge a gap between IT industry and the country’s universities. It will also help increase potentiality of the sector.

As part of the initiative, BASIS launched students’ forum for the country’s public and private universities.

“The students’ forum will introduce students to real-world IT demands along with many other activities to prepare themselves to face challenges,” said BASIS President Shameem Ahsan.

He said the long-term goal of the launching forum is to create adequate skilled manpower in the IT sector.

The forum also targets to prepare the youths to face challenges of the future IT world, Shameem added.

BASIS director Ariful Hasan Opu will deal with forum activities.

There will be one mentor, one organiser and seven executive members including two female students under a forum in every university.

Apart from that, any student from any IT-related department or any student who has interest in IT can join the forum. l

legal protection to get rid of political unrest. But given the prevailing circumstances, we’ll be compelled to seek legal protection if law permits,” FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed said.

He said the board of the FBCCI urged him to go for legal protection as it does not want to get affected further.

“Before the January-5 poll last year, we met Awami League and BNP command, but to no avail,” Akram said in reply to a question.

Transportation has fallen in deep crisis as it suffers a loss of around Tk200 crore every day while industrial production witnesses a downward

trend due to disruption to supply chain, said Akram.

The ongoing political turmoil not only hurts economic growth, but also hampers movement of common people and destroys valuable time of the students, he added.

He observed that Muslim devotees are also facing trouble attending Bishwa Ijtema in the wake of blockade.

The country requires 8% growth in economy supported by an annual investment of Tk2,800 crore to turn the country into a middle-income group by 2021, but the destructive political activities like blockade and hartals are

thwarting the economic prospect.

The apex trade body urged political parties to shun confrontational and violent politics to turn the wheel of economic growth, he adds.

To lessen business losses, the FBBCI called upon the government to waive interest on bank loan as political unrest cuts production and leads to production cost. Kazi Akram stressed the need for a peaceful solution to end the political crises.

The FBCCI first vice-president Monwara Hakim Ali, vice-president M Helal Uddin and its board of directors were present at the briefing. l

The New York based global rating agency Fitch Ratings has said investors’ confidence might be dented due to renewed political tensions, bringing risks to the economic growth.

“Renewed political tensions and violence in Bangladesh in the first week of January may negatively affect foreign investor confidence, raising risks to growth over the long term,” says Fitch in a statement on Friday.

If violence persists and directly disrupts economic activity, especially by inflicting long-term harm to the key readymade garment (RMG) sector, this will be credit negative, it said.

Fitch had highlighted substantial political risk - linked to continued polarisation between the governing and opposition parties - as a key source of uncertainty for Bangladesh’s economic outlook when it assigned the country a ‘BB-’ long-term foreign currency issuer default rating in August 2014 when for the first time Fitch rated Bangladesh after the government allowed the central bank to sign an agreement with the rating agency in February last year.

Two other global rating agencies – Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s – are also providing the ratings for Bangladesh since 2010.

Fitch said the recent clashes follow a period of political violence leading up to the January 2014 election in which more than 300 people were reportedly killed.

The repeat of violence thus far in 2015 shows that tensions remain high, and may further damage foreign investor perception regarding the country’s stability, it said.

“Economic activity could directly be affected in the short term if violence and blockade continue. Protracted protests could also negatively affect domestic demand, consumer confidence, credit growth, and by extension, fiscal revenues, while also fuelling inflation.”

Still, it is important to note that the economy has proven relatively resilient to political protests and blockades in the past, it said.

GDP growth remained robust in FY2014 at 6.1%, even with the prolonged protests in the latter months of 2013, as factories moved work shifts to nights and weekends.

Ficth said the deeper structural risk to Bangladesh from the ongoing polarisation and repeated outbreaks of violence is the potential impact on long-term foreign investment decision-making.

‘Economic activity could directly be affected in the short term if violence and blockade continue’ Moving factories to other countries and changing big suppliers take time, it said. As such, it would be difficult to gauge in the short term the extent to which a continuation of violence would affect foreign investor confidence in Bangladesh as a production centre, it said.

RMG is a principal element in Bangladesh’s development strategy and make up 81% of exports, equivalent to 15% of GDP. The concentration of exports in this sector means that a structural slowdown in the sector or any broader trend to transfer production assets to other countries would threaten Bangladesh’s long-term growth potential and risk a potentially dramatic deterioration of the external balances including the current account flipping from surplus to a large deficit, according to the rating agency. l

Amu: Shahjalal Fertilizer Sonadia deep sea port plan Factory goes for may be dumped n production this year Kayes Sohel

n

Tribune Report

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu yesterday said Shahjalal Fertilizer Factory, which is being set up with an aim to meet the country’s local growing demand, would go for production this year.

“The government has given top priority in establishing the factory with a capacity of producing 5.80 lakh tonne annually to meet the local demands of fertilisers instead of importing from other countries,” said Amir Hossain while briefing the press at his office in the city.

The ministry of industry organised the briefing to inform about the government’s achievements, where the minister highlighted various initiatives and success stories occurred in the industrial sector during the last year after retaining the state power again in January 2014.

Construction of the fertiliser factory will be accomplished by June this year as 93% of construction work has already been done, said the minister.

Regarding the relocation of Tanneries at Savar, Hossain said: “Around 60% construction of Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at Leather Industrial Park in Savar has also been done while the remaining work will be completed

by June this year to ensure eco-friendly

environment in the leather industry.”

Though the leather industry came to a standstill, it is now getting momentum as relocation of the tanneries is almost done and uncertainty has already been removed to make it Eco-friendly one, he added.

According to the ministry data, a total of 155 tanneries were given plots in Savar. The lay out plans of 152 units, out of those companies, have been approved while 144 companies have already started their construction work.

Acquirement of lands, electricity connections and drainage system have already been completed while almost 60% works for establishing CETP has also been done by this time, said Amir.

In response to a question on the relocation of the backward linkage of leather industry, the minister said: “We have also taken all the necessary initiatives to ensure relocation of those factories.”

According to ministry, over Tk1,674 crore was invested in small and cottage industries across the country as the sector employed 23,000 workers in the last year.

Currently, the private entrepreneurs invested Tk18,897 crore in 74 industrial parks across the country, which has produced the goods worth Tk42,509 crore in 2014. l

The government is mulling over abandoning a plan to develop deep sea port in Sonadia island in Cox’s Bazar and instead the proposed Matarbari sea port in the district would be extended up to Sonadia.

“The proposed deep sea port in Matarbari is only 25 kilometres away from Sonadia. This small distance between the two tiny islands makes the government to rethink over Sonadia deep sea port project,” said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

Another decision has also been taken to include Patuakhali district’s Paira deep sea port on the list of six fast-track projects to develop landscape of the country’s south-west region, he said quoting from a recent fast-track monitoring committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Considering the new development, he said the construction plan of Sonadia deep sea port needs further study while Matarbari deep sea port, initially meant for shipping coal to feed coalbased power plant in the area, will be extended up to Sonadia.

Planning minister disclosed the development of deep sea port project in response to questions from reporters at the NEC conference room on Thursday.

Sonadia deep sea port is seen as a potential deep water port that could serve the landlocked parts of India,

Myanmar and China.

Besides, the island is a coveted naval strategic point for global and regional economic powers.

The sea port is first of its kind planned by the Bangladesh authorities as the existing sea port facility is not capable of dealing with the increasing number of export-import containers carrying goods of $55bn annually.

A feasibility study of Sonadia sea port was completed in 2009 but the fund constraints coupled with dilemma over picking a financier on political ground delayed the project, officials said.

Construction of the Sonadia sea port faces uncertainty as the world’s top economic powers do not feel comfortable about China’s involvement with the project, they said.

“Some countries, including India and the United States, are against the Chinese involvement,” Mostafa Kamal said, adding the government, however, does not want to displease any of these influential countries.

In June last year, the government backtracked from signing a scheduled Memorandum of Understanding with China for the construction of the deep sea port.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands, China and the United Arab Emirates have made their presentations at the Prime Minister’s Office on construction of Sonadia deep sea port, said Planning minister.

Ekhanei & OLX to merge into a single platform n Muhammad Zahidul Islam Two biggest online classified marketplace in the country – Ekhanei.com and OLX.com.bd – are merging into a single platform to help Bangladesh users close deal more easily.

By the end of the merger, Ekhanei.com will retain its brand name. Ekhanei.com Managing Director Arild Klokkerhaug has confirmed the Dhaka Tribune about the deal.

“Globally two companies have merged which will strengthen us in the local market also,” he said over phone yesterday.

He also said after completing all procedures, which will take more than a month, the new company will be the most-viewed classified marketplace in Bangladesh.

There is no regulatory procedure for merging, Arild Klokkerhaug said.

Ekhanei.com, backed by a global telecom

powerhouse, Telenor Group, also a parent company of the market leader mobile phone operator, Grameenphone, will be well-positioned with the deal. Schibsted Media Group, an international media group operating in 29 countries, is also the partner of Ekhanei. com while OLX is a sister concern of Naspers, a multinational internet and media group offering services in more than 130 countries.

The venture in Bangladesh will be 50.3%

owned by SnT Classified, an equal shareholding joint venture between Schibsted and Telenor, and 49.7% owned by Naspers, the parent company of OLX.com.bd. In a joint statement yesterday, Ekhanei.com and OLX.com.bd said joining the platform will make it faster and easier than ever for sellers to turn items into cash.

In the Bangladeshi online classified market with Ekhanei.com and OLX.com.bd, Bikroy. com is another market leader company. l

“But we are yet to finalise things about constructing Sonadia deep sea port. It is still under scrutiny.”

Prime Minister, at the Wednesday’s first-track project monitoring committee meeting, asked shipping ministry to assess feasibility of proposed Matarbari sea port in the district’s Maheshkhai island, according to sources concerned.

In August last year, the government approved a Tk360 crore project to set up a deep sea port for handling imported coal for the proposed 1,200 megawatt Matarbari power plant.

“Under the project, the government will set up a deep sea port at Matarbari where 80,000 deadweight tonnes of ships will be able to anchor and this port’s activities will be extended to Sonadia. So, this is a better site for the deep sea port,” the minister said.

About the plan to change Patuakhali’s Paira sea port to a deep sea port, he said a decision has been made in this regard to make the change.

“This project will be included on the list of fast track projects to bring economic dynamism in the country’s southwest regions,” Mostafa Kamal said.

Earlier, the government decided to build the country’s third sea port in Patuakhali’s Paira river under public-private partnership initiative.

It is expected to benefit fisheries, agriculture and manufacturing industries of the region and of the neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan. l

B2

Political tensions weigh on stocks n Tribune Report

while food and allied registered the highest gain of 2.6% followed by power 1.8% and cement 1%.

Banks, non-banking financial institutions and telecommunication also inched higher.

“Gloomy political frontier kept investors cautious to fresh fund injection, putting overall market in a mixed state,” said IDLC Investments in its weekly market analysis.

However, some investors were also thinking differently with future macroeconomic prospects, backed by improved foreign exchange reserve, exports and remittance, it said.

The country is going through various violent political programmes, including non-stop blockade, enforced by the 20-party alliance demanding for fresh national election.

Lucrative prices, stock-wise volatility as well as spread search were under focus by market participants and large-cap stocks remained investors’ concentration, it said.

Lanka Bangla Securities said the market ended the week in positive zone with backing on gain on some large-cap stocks. Though the political front was shaky last week, investors went for some buying activity at the beginning of the year, it said.

Gainers and losers remained almost equal as out of 313 issues traded, 143 advanced and 142 declined and 28 remained unchanged on the DSE. The DSE market capitalisation went up slightly by 0.5% to Tk3,29,356 crore over the previous week.

Lafarge Surma Cement dominated the week’s top turnover chart for the third consecutive weeks with shares worth over Tk69 crore changing hands followed by Agni Systems, DESCO, Saif Powertec and RSRM Steels. l

Rising political tension weighed on stock market in the past week, as investors moved cautiously to avoid risk.

Allowing share netting facility by the securities regulator even failed to fire up investors’ sentiment, as most sessions closed flat during the week that ended Thursday.

In the past week, the benchmark index DSEX ended at 4,968, edging 27 points or 0.6% higher after a significant rise in previous week.

The comprising blue chips DS30 index moved up 11 points or 0.6% to 1,854. The DSE Shariah Index, DSES, rose slightly 7 points or 0.7% to 1,182.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was up 58 points or 0.7% to settle at 9,224.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission introduced share netting facility after several years in a bid to boost turnover that hovered around Tk300 crore in recent days. The turnover figure was deemed very low considering the depth of country’s stock markets.

The week’s turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) averaged Tk279 crore, registering an increase of 33% over the previous week’s average of Tk204 crore.

Investors’ attention concentrated mostly on power, engineering and textiles sectors that made up 40% together of the week’s total turnover value. Heavyweight stocks pulled up the index as Olympic Industries, BATBC, Lafarge Surma Cement and Grameenphone rallied 4%, 2.5%, 1% and 0.2% respectively.

Most sectors also closed flat. Pharmaceuticals was marginally down

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS Company Northern Jute -Z EXIM Bank 1 MF-A Shampur Sugar -Z FarEast Knitting -N PragatiLife Insu. -Z Prime Islami Life -A ICB Islamic Bank-Z Jute SpinnersA Meghna Con. Milk -B Rupali Life Insur.-B

Closing (% change) -16.93 -7.14 -6.90 -6.07 -5.46 -5.40 -5.36 -4.94 -4.76 -4.55

CSE LOSERS Company Prime Islami Life -A Progressive Life-A Aziz PipesZ Fine Foods A Continental Insur. -A Berger Paints-A Premier Leasing-Z LR Global BD MF1-A Provati Insur.-A Sinobangla Indu.-A

Closing (% change) -12.05 -10.00 -8.70 -8.55 -7.41 -5.93 -5.88 -5.88 -5.80 -5.66

4968.71030

(+) 0.55%

1854.14184

(+) 0.59%

15254.7744

(+) 0.74%

12327.5549

(+) 0.47%

9224.2494

(+) 0.64%

Average (% change) -15.18 -31.51 -6.64 -4.53 -5.39 -5.80 -3.28 -3.66 -4.56 -4.16 Average (% change) -6.86 -10.00 -8.61 -1.57 -5.61 -5.93 -3.59 -4.78 -5.73 -5.51

ANALYST

Closing average 237.50 6.52 8.30 26.34 95.24 69.89 5.31 54.55 7.95 52.71

Closing average 68.60 78.30 21.02 10.66 20.34 1,411.09 9.66 4.78 19.42 30.00

Weekly closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 905.16 795.88 224.33 1355.73 905.62 1711.92 12.61 1205.47 1057.59 41.68 529.10 48.65 108.73 780.85 472.38 85.09 148.74 283.31 127.39 273.97 0.00

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ Weekly high

232.60 6.50 8.10 26.30 95.20 70.10 5.30 53.90 8.00 52.40

Weekly closing 68.60 78.30 21.00 10.70 20.00 1,411.10 9.60 4.80 19.50 30.00

304.50 6.70 8.50 27.80 100.00 74.90 5.50 56.70 8.40 54.90

Weekly high 79.90 78.30 22.30 12.00 20.60 1,500.00 9.90 5.10 20.10 31.90

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features January 5-8, 2015

Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

11,074.20

Turnover (Volume)

257,488,831

Number of Contract

294,480

Traded Issues

312

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

152

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

157 3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,652.23

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.15

CSE key features January 5-8, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka)

1,025.60

Turnover (Volume)

25,217,936

Number of Contract

49,076

Traded Issues

264

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

125

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

132

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,558.89

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.02

Turnover in million

222.00 6.40 8.00 26.10 94.00 67.00 5.20 49.10 7.80 52.00

Weekly low

3.217 0.037 0.094 24.400 3.797 5.626 2.421 0.209 0.276 13.410

Turnover in million

67.20 78.30 21.00 10.60 19.40 1,407.20 9.30 4.70 19.00 29.20

0.591 0.117 0.031 0.077 0.200 0.093 0.537 0.595 0.043 0.827

Alltex Industries -Z Shahjibazar Power-N Dacca Dyeing-A Al-Haj Textile -A SAIF Powertec-N Dulamia CottonZ Mithun Knitting -A Bangas -A Delta Brac HFCL-A Samata LeatheR -Z

Closing (% change) 31.97 15.02 13.19 10.01 9.47 8.33 7.77 7.56 7.13 6.64

CSE GAINERS

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

Weekly low

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Latest EPS 1.00 0.64 -52.72 2.28 2.38 4.95 -0.71 -43.64 -4.32 5.33

Latest EPS 4.95 2.30 -0.37 -0.48 2.27 49.25 0.08 0.69 1.97 1.21

Latest PE 237.5 10.2 -ve 11.6 40.0 14.1 -ve -ve -ve 9.9

Latest PE

Company Alltex Industries -Z BD Fixed Income MF-A Standard Ceramic -A EXIM Bank 1 MF-A Dacca Dyeing-A Delta Brac HFCL-A SAIF Powertec-N H.R. Textile -A Apex Foods -A Agni Systems -A

Closing (% change) 31.02 28.30 26.41 18.87 12.50 10.86 9.33 9.29 7.23 6.91

Average (% change) 25.52 13.19 11.05 9.94 9.44 11.86 4.82 7.57 7.56 3.97 Average (% change) 25.73 28.30 26.41 18.87 10.73 10.57 8.93 9.25 7.23 4.67

Closing average 30.99 217.18 15.98 112.71 70.16 7.83 74.42 308.02 76.83 22.50

Closing average 30.83 6.80 49.30 6.30 16.00 78.43 70.05 30.60 100.80 35.18

Weekly closing 32.20 216.70 16.30 113.20 70.50 7.80 76.30 308.70 76.60 22.50

Weekly closing 32.10 6.80 49.30 6.30 16.20 78.60 70.30 30.60 100.80 35.60

Weekly high 32.30 223.00 16.30 115.00 74.00 8.00 77.00 315.00 77.50 22.80

Weekly high 32.30 7.50 50.00 6.30 16.20 82.00 71.20 31.80 100.80 36.00

Weekly low 22.90 170.90 14.30 100.20 64.50 7.00 68.00 283.10 69.00 20.90

Weekly low 22.80 6.80 42.90 6.30 14.10 68.70 62.10 28.50 95.00 33.00

Turnover in million 194.190 51.104 27.295 112.055 304.468 0.167 26.016 38.860 84.014 0.021

Turnover in million 48.614 0.004 0.254 0.003 6.116 2.029 36.547 0.223 0.095 20.897

Latest EPS 3.28 9.00 1.04 1.04 2.36 -3.84 3.40 5.44 5.36 0.05

Latest EPS 3.28 0.48 0.60 0.64 1.04 5.36 2.36 1.75 3.64 1.32

Latest PE 9.4 24.1 15.4 108.4 29.7 -ve 21.9 56.6 14.3 450.0

Latest PE 9.4 14.2 82.2 9.8 15.4 14.6 29.7 17.5 27.7 26.7

News, analysis and recent disclosures KEYACOSMET: The Company has further informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has approved to increase the paid-up capital through issue and allotment of 321,951,055 nos. of fully paid ordinary shares of Tk. 10.00 each to the existing shareholders of Keya Knit Composite Limited, Keya Cotton Mills Limited and Keya Spinning Mills Limited against amalgamation.

FUWANGCER: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has taken the following decision: The Digital Printing Machine whose incremental annual turnover is expected around Tk. 50.00 million is hereby approved to go for commercial production with effect from 07 January 2015 Credit Rating: Credit Rating: CPA (Claim Paying Ability) Rating ASIAINS A+, FEDERALINS A-, CENTRALINS A, CITYGENINS A, POPULARLIF A : These rating were done

by Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL). Long Term & Short Term Rating: AGNISYSL A- in the long term and ST-3 in the short term, BAYLEASING A- in the long term and ST-3, GEMINISEA BBB in the long term and ST-3 in the short term, NPOLYMAR A+ in the long term and ST-3 in the short term, BDFINANCE A- in the long term and ST-3: These rating were done

by Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL). Entity Rating: SONARGA-

ON’s entity rating (surveillance) CC, done

by Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB).

Miscellaneous OLYMPIC: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on June 30, 2014 to the respective shareholders BO Account on December 30, 2014.

PROGRESLIF: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has instructed Mr. Md. Shahjahan Azadi to serve his duty as the Managing Director (Current Charge) of the Company in addition to his current charge of Deputy Managing Director with effect from January 01, 2015.

AL-HAJTEX: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on June 30, 2014 to the respective shareholders BO Account on January 05, 2015. The amount from sale proceeds of fractional bonus shares will be credited to the Bank Accounts of respective shareholders through Bangladesh Electronic Fund Transfer Network (BEFTN).

IPO Subscription: Zaheen Spinning Limited subscription date 28 December 2014 to 05 January 2015, NRB upto 13 January 2015. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. Asian Tiger Sandhani Life Growth Fund subscription date 11 to 15 January 2015, NRB upto 24 January 2015. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market

lot 500. United Power Generation & Distribution Company Limited subscription date 18 to 22 January 2015, NRB upto 31 January 2015. @ taka 60, face value taka 10 and market lot 100. Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 01 to 05 Febuary 2015, NRB upto 14 Febuary 2015. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGM ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 26.02.2015, Record Date: 05.01.2015.

MPETROLEUM: 95% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 16.01.2015, Record date: 04.12.2014.

JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.

PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015, Record date: 22.12.2014.

EASTRNLUB: 30% cash, AGM: 17.01.2015, Record Date: 25.11.2014.

SAMORITA: 20% cash and 10% stock dividend, AGM: 07.01.2015, Record Date: 19.11.2014.

POWERGRID: 10% cash, AGM: 17.01.2015, Record Date: 25.11.2014.

SPCL: 25% cash and 5% stock dividend, AGM: 29.01.2015, Record Date: 27.11.2014.

ANWARGALV: 7.50% cash dividend to the general shareholders, AGM: 12.01.2015, Record Date: 13.11.2014.

SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 24.01.2015, Record Date: 23.12.2014.

DESCO: 5% cash & 10% stock, AGM 03.01.2015 Record Date: 13.11.2014.

13.9 34.0 -ve -ve 9.0 28.7 120.8 6.9 9.9 24.8

Market ended the week in positive zone with backing on gain on some large-cap stocks

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

% change 8.17 7.19 2.03 12.24 8.18 15.46 0.11 10.89 9.55 0.38 4.78 0.44 0.98 7.05 4.27 0.77 1.34 2.56 1.15 2.47 0.00

Million Taka 61.67 50.51 11.94 119.42 170.76 131.44 0.00 163.11 61.61 37.11 62.90 31.93 14.55 64.55 30.50 3.66 7.67 26.04 21.10 43.46 0.06

CSE

% change 5.54 4.53 1.07 10.72 15.33 11.80 0.00 14.64 5.53 3.33 5.65 2.87 1.31 5.79 2.74 0.33 0.69 2.34 1.89 3.90 0.01

Million Taka 966.83 846.39 236.27 1475.15 1076.38 1843.36 12.61 1368.58 1119.20 78.80 591.99 80.59 123.27 845.39 502.88 88.75 156.41 309.35 148.49 317.43 0.06

Total

% change 7.93 6.94 1.94 12.10 8.83 15.12 0.10 11.23 9.18 0.65 4.86 0.66 1.01 6.94 4.13 0.73 1.28 2.54 1.22 2.60 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Company LafargeS Cement-Z Olympic Ind. -A Agni Systems -A DESCO Ltd. -A SAIF Powertec-N Ratanpur Steel -N MJL BD Ltd.-A Beximco Pharma -A Grameenphone-A IDLC Finance -A

Khulna Power-A

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BATBCL -A LafargeS Cement-Z Alltex Industries -Z SAIF Powertec-N WesternMarine -N Hamid Fabrics -N MJL BD Ltd.-A SummitAlliancePort.-A Khulna Power-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A

Agni Systems -A

Volume shares 5,089,543 2,570,453 10,846,479 4,433,615 4,392,906 4,623,116 2,063,859 4,182,012 689,671 3,156,637

3,609,441

Volume shares 50,069 429,974 1,640,303 526,761 603,404 789,990 200,627 299,733 376,153 618,737

601,501

Value in million 691.53 607.57 375.67 323.45 304.47 283.29 266.62 263.64 252.56 243.66

223.56

Value in million 134.04 58.33 48.61 36.55 33.35 30.86 25.93 25.36 23.25 23.00

20.90

% of total turnover 6.24 5.49 3.39 2.92 2.75 2.56 2.41 2.38 2.28 2.20

2.02

% of total turnover 13.26 5.77 4.81 3.62 3.30 3.05 2.56 2.51 2.30 2.27

2.07

Weekly closing 133.30 241.00 35.60 72.50 70.50 60.60 129.90 62.60 365.00 78.80

62.10

Weekly closing 2701.10 134.10 32.10 70.30 54.80 39.10 130.00 82.20 61.80 36.80

35.60

Price change 1.29 3.88 6.59 2.26 9.47 1.85 1.41 0.81 0.19 3.41

Weekly opening 131.60 232.00 33.40 70.90 64.40 59.50 128.10 62.10 364.30 76.20

Weekly high 141.00 242.00 36.00 74.60 74.00 64.30 132.90 64.80 369.20 79.20

Weekly low 130.60 230.00 32.80 69.20 64.50 58.70 126.00 61.10 362.20 74.80

Weekly average 133.58 238.04 35.04 72.37 70.16 60.75 129.89 62.66 365.05 78.17

Price change 5.46 2.13 31.02 9.33 2.05 5.96 1.64 -3.07 3.69 -1.34

Weekly opening 2561.30 131.30 24.50 64.30 53.70 36.90 127.90 84.80 59.60 37.30

Weekly high 2708.10 140.20 32.30 71.20 56.90 41.20 132.10 86.80 63.60 37.90

Weekly low 2562.10 131.00 22.80 62.10 52.30 36.30 126.10 81.80 58.50 36.70

Weekly average 2700.00 133.21 30.83 70.05 54.91 39.38 130.01 82.75 61.94 36.90

3.85

6.91

59.80

33.30

63.60

36.00

59.00

33.00

62.02

35.18

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Sunday, January 11, 2015

B3

Oil hits April 2009 low, then pares loss on US oil rig data n Reuters, New York Global oil markets resumed their slide on Friday, with Brent and US crude hitting April 2009 lows and ending down for a seventh straight week, although prices recovered from their lows after a sharp drop in the US oil rig count.

Benchmark Brent crude broke below $49 a barrel but closed above the $50 support level it had clung to this week after oil services firm Baker Hughes reported the largest drop in 24 years in the number of US oil drilling rigs.

Crude prices had barely moved in the past two sessions after tumbling 10% the first two days of the week.

In Friday’s early trade in New York, prices drifted about 50 cents lower as robust US jobs data for December helped limit losses.

The selling gained force about an hour to noon, pushing both Brent and US crude to an April 2009 trough.

Prices retraced their losses after the rig count issued by Baker Hughes.

“In my opinion we have not stabilized out yet,” said Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors in Laurel Hollow in New York. “I do think that after seven weeks of losses, you will see a bounceback at some

German trade surplus contracts on falling exports n AFP, Frankfurt A sharp drop in German exports caused the country’s trade surplus to contract in November, official data showed on Friday.

Exports declined by 2.1% in November, driving down the trade surplus, the balance between imports and exports, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.

In seasonally adjusted terms, Germany exported goods worth a total of 95.2bn euros ($112bn) in November, down from 97.2bn euros in October, Destatis said. Imports, on the other hand, rose by 1.6% to 77.6bn euros.

That meant the seasonally adjusted trade surplus declined to 17.6bn euros in November from 20.8bn euros in October. l

point, and people are waiting for that to short into. I am.”

Brent LCOc1 settled down 85 cents at $50.11 a barrel, after falling earlier to $48.90. US crude CLc1 settled down 43 cents at $48.36, having hit $47.16 earlier.

For the week, Brent lost 11% and US crude 8%. Brent’s premium to US crude, meanwhile, fell to a near threemonth low of $1.70 a barrel. In June, before the market tumble that erased more than 50% off oil prices, Brent traded nearly $10 higher to US crude.

The number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States fell by 61 this week, the most in a week since 1991, Baker Hughes reported. The rig count has fallen in 10 of the last 13 weeks, from a record high of 1,609 in mid-October.

The current count of 1,421 in the week to Jan. 9 is the lowest since February.

Oil analysis firm Wood Mackenzie said in a report on Friday that even at $40 levels, less than 2% of global crude production was at risk of making losses.

“Operators may prefer to continue producing oil at a loss rather than stop production - especially for large projects such as oil sands and mature fields in the North Sea,” Wood Mackenzie analyst Robert Plummer added. l

A man fills up his car at a petrol station in Rome

REUTERS

Sexy models may be banned Euro zone December sentiment unchanged n from Shanghai auto show Reuters, Brussels

n AFP, Beijing Scantily clad female models who adorn vehicle displays could be banned from this year’s Shanghai motor show, state media reported yesterday.

“We haven’t ruled out the possibility of banning auto-show girls,” the organising committee for the Shanghai Automotive Exhibition said in remarks carried by the Xinhua news agency.

“We are soliciting public opinion to improve the exhibition,” the committee said in a statement.

Female models have been a mainstay at international auto shows for decades and were featured at last year’s Beijing International Automotive Exhibition.

But Yang Xueliang, director of public relations for Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, wrote

in an online post on Friday he had been told that “auto show models are to be banned this year”.

“It is best to cancel the performances, so as to let visitors enjoy a quiet exhibition,” Xinhua quoted him as saying.

No reason has been given for the possible ban, but the media agency said the decision could be down to “moral concern” and security considerations after a deadly stampede in the city on New Year’s Eve killed 36.

Shanghai’s government has since announced tougher registration procedures for large crowd events, which will face cancellation if safety rules are violated.

Xinhua also said the committee may be troubled by the increasingly revealing clothing worn by models at the event, with some even donning see-through clothing without underwear. l

Euro zone economic sentiment was unchanged in December against the previous two months, data showed on Thursday, as a more upbeat end-ofyear mood in the services and retail sectors and among consumers was offset by a gloomier industry.

A monthly survey by the European Commission showed the economic sentiment in the 18 countries that were using the euro in December was 100.7, the same as in November.

Sentiment among consumers improved to -10.9 in December from -11.5 in November and the mood in the retail sector rose to -5.3 from -6.0 buoyed by the Christmas shopping spree.

In a separate release, the European Union’s statistics office said that retail sales in November rose more than expected at 0.6 percent on the month for a 1.5% year-on-year gain.

But the economic survey also

CORPORATE NEWS

showed that consumers’ inflation expectations 12 months ahead continued to fall, reaching 2.7 against 5.7 in November, well below the average since 1990 of 20.2.

Euro zone inflation has been below 1%, which the ECB calls the “danger zone” for deflation, since October 2013 The European Central Bank is concerned that if inflation stays too low for too long, it will change inflation expectations and make consumers hold back their purchases in the hope of even lower prices, triggering deflation.

Inflation in December turned nega-

Policymakers: Low wages, inflation should keep Fed on hold n Reuters

New Zealand Ambassador to Bangladesh, HE Grahame Morton has recently visited the Premier Pavilion of New Zealand Dairy Products Bangladesh Ltd. The Honorary Consul Neaz Ahmed, Policy Adviser Debarshi Dasgupta and SA Mallick, managing director of New Zealand Dairy Products Bangladesh Ltd, accompanied him

NRB Commercial Bank Limited has recently launched its training institute. Director general of BIBM, Dr Toufic Ahmad Chowdhury inaugurated the institute along with a foundation course for the bank’s first batch of probationary officers

Social Islami Bank Limited has recently held its annual business conference for the year 2015 at Savar. The bank’s chairperson, Major Dr Md Rezaul Haque (retd) inaugurated the conference as chief guest Standard Chartered has recently announced Abrar A Anwar as its new chief executive officer for Bangladesh. Jim McCabe, who has led the Standard Chartered franchise in Bangladesh for the last five years, will now take on the role of CEO in Sri Lanka. Abrar, currently Head of Corporate & Institutional Clients, joined Standard Chartered Bank in January 2011. He will continue to be based in Dhaka and has taken up his new appointment from January 1, 2015

Green Delta Insurance Company Limited has recently won an award of Best Non Life Insurance Company, Bangladesh from IFM. Managing director and CEO of Green Delta, Farzana Chowdhury received the award on behalf of the company

tive for the first time since October 2009 as prices in the euro zone fell 0.2% year-on-year, data from the European Union’s statistics office showed on Wednesday.

Euro zone inflation has been below 1%, which the ECB calls the “danger zone” for deflation, since October 2013.

More gloom on price growth came in a separate Eurostat release that prices at factory gates, which show inflationary pressures early in the pipeline, fell 1.6% year-on-year in November, its weakest level in eight months, pulled down mainly by a 5% drop in energy prices.

Economists expect the European Central Bank, which wants to keep consumer prices close to 2% over the medium term, to announce a plan of buying government bonds at its next meeting on Jan 22, to inject more cash into the economy and make prices rise again and stem the risk of deflation. l

Executive committee of Modhumoti Bank Limited has recently held its 22nd meeting. The committee’s chairperson, Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh presided over the meeting

Slow wage growth and low inflation are prompting two top US Federal Reserve officials to call for deferring interestrate increases until next year, and a third to suggest waiting until mid-2015 or later - all despite strong US jobs gains.

“If the (Fed) is to err on the side of being a little late as viewed by history writers or maybe a little early, I prefer to take the risk of being a little bit late,” Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart told Bloomberg News in an interview on Friday.

U.S. employers added more jobs in December than expected, but wage growth slowed, a government report showed earlier in the day.

Lockhart, seen as a policy centrist, said the report is no reason to advance the timing of the Fed’s first rate hike, which he now expects to occur in mid2015 or later.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, speaking with CNBC just after the jobs report, said he is sticking to his call for a rate rise in 2016.

“If we are going to get inflation up to our 2% objective ... we are going to have to see wages increase more,” Evans said. “That’s why I’m in favor of being patient on raising interest rates.”

Both Evans and Lockhart have a vote on the Fed’s policy-setting panel this year. Evans said he thinks inflation will still take years to return to the Fed’s 2% target despite what he called “good, good progress” on jobs.

The Fed has kept short-term interest rates near zero since December 2008, and most central bank officials expect the economy to be strong enough this year to start raising them. Traders share that viewpoint, betting on Friday that the Fed will begin doing so in September.

Late Thursday, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota called for leaving rates where they are for at least another year. Like Evans, he also cited sluggish wage growth and stubbornly low inflation, along with rising bets in financial markets that the Fed will continue to miss its inflation target.

The US bond market’s measures on inflation expectations fell further after the jobs report.

Bets on inflation expectations have “moved down a lot,” Evans said on Friday. “That’s either an assessment by investors that they are expecting continued very low, below-our-objective inflation ... or the cost of low inflation is potentially much higher than they’ve ever experienced before.”

The Fed last month downplayed the decline in market-based measures of inflation, saying that surveys showed economists still firmly expect the Fed to be able to boost inflation back to its target.

Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, who also votes on Fed policy this year, on Friday embraced that view, calling survey measures of inflation expectations rock steady and painting a bright picture of economic growth. l

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Sunday, January 11, 2015

German economic weakness not over yet, data show n AFP, Frankfurt Falling industrial output and exports suggest Germany’s current economic weakness is not over yet, nevertheless, Europe’s biggest economy looks set to regain momentum this year, analysts said on Friday.

Coming hot on the heels of a unexpectedly sharp drop in factory orders earlier this week, the economy ministry calculated in regular data that German industrial production shed 0.1% in November, pulled down by declining activity in the energy and construction sectors.

At the same time, the federal statistics office Destatis estimated that German exports fell by 2.1% in November, causing the country’s trade surplus to contract sharply.

“November’s hard data indicate that Germany’s phase of economic weakness is not yet over, after meagre growth of 0.1% in the third quarter,” said Natixis economist Johannes Gareis.

Nevertheless, at the same time, a lot of the October data had been revised upwards, taking the sting out of the disappointing November numbers, analysts said.

“Early indicators such as order intake and the Ifo business climate index create hope that the German economy will soon pick up at a stronger rate again,” said Commerzbank economist Marco Wagner.

BayernLB economist Stefan Kipar agreed.

Taking the October and November data together, “the indications are that

gross domestic product (GDP) growth was positive again in the fourth quarter,” he said.

“We’re assuming that German output will continue its positive trend in the coming months. Low energy prices will boost consumers’ purchasing power and exporters will benefit from the weak euro this year. The economy should gather momentum during the course of 2015,” Kipar said.

“When looking at other hard data in October-November, the picture looks similarly encouraging,” said UniCredit economist Andreas Rees.

Retail sales were up strongly, and higher employment and rising wages “provide enough ammunition to keep private consumer expenditures going,” he said.

Official 2014 GDP data were sched-

uled for release next week and “we expect growth in 2014 to be 1.5%,” compared with just 0.1% in 2013, Rees said.

Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz was likewise confident that Germany would post “modest output growth in the final quarter of 2014”.

“Although the aftermath of the confidence shock triggered by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine will probably still weigh on investment, domestic demand and in particular consumption look set to drag output upwards,” Schulz said.

“For early 2015, new short-term risks have emerged, especially the Greek political crisis. However, the sharp fall in the oil price should more than offset that over time and help Germany reach trend growth rates from the spring onwards,” Schulz said. l

German carmakers clock up record sales in 2014 n AFP, Frankfurt German automakers BMW, Daimler and Volkwagen said Friday their leading brands attained record sales in 2014, driven by rising demand in all regions.

Top-of-the-range maker BMW said in a statement it delivered more than two million vehicles to customers last year, “the company’s fourth record year in a row.” It said it sold a total 2.118 million BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles, which was 7.9% more than the year before.

“I am delighted that we achieved our target of selling more than two million vehicles in 2014, a new record for the BMW group. We have seen good growth throughout the year, well spread across all major sales regions,” said the group’s sales and marketing chief Ian Robertson.

“We are now looking forward to building on these successes in 2015.”

Separately, Daimler said its Mercedes-Benz brand also posted the “bestever sales in the company’s history.”

Sales of Mercedes-Benz cars rose by 12.9% to 1.65 million, its fourth straight year of record demand.

“Mercedes-Benz is on a course of success. The best sales in our company’s history show that our product offensive is bearing fruit,” said chief executive Dieter Zetsche.

He attributed the group’s success “in particular to our compact cars, the new C-Class and the S-Class.”

But the group managed to increase unit sales in all core markets, Zetsche said. “In 2015, we will continue our product offensive in the SUV (sports utility vehicle) segment,” the CEO added.

Volkwagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, said sales of its VW-brand cars topped the six-million level for the first time, with worldwide sales reaching 6.12 million vehicles.

“The VW car brand has now achieved record sales for the 10th year in a row. We’ve doubled sales of the brand since 2004,” said sales and marketing chief Christian Klingler. l

Why Brent crude’s slide has stopped...for a few days at least n Reuters, Singapore

US Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks during a news conference at the US Embassy in London

REUTERS

Kerry to push India to give US firms greater access n Reuters, Washington Secretary of State John Kerry will push India to make it easier for US companies to do business there on a trip next week that also takes him to Europe to meet officials from Oman, Iran and Bulgaria, US officials said on Friday.

Earlier this week, the State Department said Kerry would travel to India this weekend to attend an investment summit promoted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held in the city of Ahmedabad, in Modi’s home state of Gujarat.

Among the top agenda items on Kerry’s trip, which is to be followed by a visit to India by President Barack Obama for India’s Jan 26 Republic Day celebrations, is breaking down some of

the barriers to US companies.

These include the challenges of local content requirements and patent enforcement as well as liability protections for companies that hope to build nuclear power plants for Indian’s burgeoning need for electricity for its 1.2 billion people.

“There are some tricky issues, which I think the (Indian) government is working its way through,” a senior State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

“We do think that we’re seeing some progress,” the official said, adding that there was no expectation of any breakthroughs during Kerry’s visit and that it was too early to tell if there might be any when Obama goes to India.

While in India, Kerry will meet

Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan, becoming the first US Cabinet member to meet a senior official from the small country wedged in the Himalayas between India and China, US officials said.

On his way to India, Kerry will stop in Munich to call on Oman’s Sultan Qaboos, who has been receiving medical treatment in Germany. A US official said Kerry wished “to express his gratitude for their longstanding and strong relationship.”

On his way back, he will discuss Iran’s nuclear program with the Iranian foreign minister in Geneva on Wednesday. He then visits Bulgaria, which is heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas, to discuss security cooperation and energy diversification. l

If recent oil market history is any guide, Brent crude prices will mark time around $50 a barrel for another few days before resuming their decline.

Why? Because it’s a nice round figure.

The freefall from $100 since August has shaken the roots of a deep conviction that Saudi Arabia will always be looking out for the market should it tank. The more than 50% drop in benchmark Brent crude has shocked traders and confounded analysts, even pushing some to look to social and cognitive psychology for price guidance.

A common corporate hedging strategy is to set up put options around big psychological levels, said Mark Keenan, who heads Asia commodities research at Societe Generale, as he explained why Brent had paused near $80, $70 and $60.

“During the recent downturn, we saw huge quantities of put options bought by oil producers,” he said.

In the last two months of its slide, Brent had loitered at those levels for three to nine days before resuming its drop. Since Wednesday, it has sat just above $50. Analysts at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research said prices may eventually fall as low as $40. l

Coca-Cola to cut 1,600-1,800 jobs n AFP, New York US soda giant Coca-Cola plans to cut 1,600-1,800 jobs in a cost-saving move, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

Coca-Cola, which has struggled to grow sales, said the cuts would come from its corporate headquarters, as well as from its North American and international divisions. The company began notifying employees Thursday.

“As part of our recently announced, multi-year productivity initiatives, we are redesigning our operating model to

streamline and simplify our structure and accelerate the growth of our global business,” the spokeswoman said in an email message.

“As we have acknowledged previously, this redesign work will result in impacts to jobs across our global operations.”

Coca-Cola has struggled with weak sales in its home US market and beyond amid rising health concerns on the link between soda and obesity and other health ills. Global sales were down two percent at $35.1bn for the first nine of months of 2014. l

Euro edges up from nine-year low against dollar n AFP, Tokyo The euro recovered some losses against the dollar in Asia Friday after slipping below $1.800 for the first time in more than nine years, while traders await the release of US jobs figures later in the day.

In Tokyo, the single currency rose to $1.1808 from $1.1754 in New York.

The last time it was below $1.800 was December 2005. It weakened to 140.89 yen Friday from 141.15 yen in US trade.

The unit has taken a hammering in recent sessions as investors bet the European Central Bank will unveil a bondbuying scheme -- known as quantitative easing (QE) - just as the US Federal Reserve considers raising interest rates.

“Poor economic data out of Europe continues to fuel speculation that (ECB

DILBERT

'There aren’t many reasons for the dollar to trend lower' chief Mario) Draghi will introduce some form of policy easing at the January 22 meeting,” National Australia Bank said.

This week saw the release of data showing consumer prices fell in December for the first time in more than five years, fuelling fears the eurozone is on the cusp of a deflationary spiral.

And on Thursday Germany said its factory orders fell 2.4% in November, more than the 0.8% fall expected.

“It does appear that quantitative easing is more likely sooner than later,” Ken Dickson, an Edinburgh-based di-

rector of foreign exchange at Standard Life Investments, told Bloomberg News The dollar eased to 119.32 yen from 119.65 yen in New York, despite growing expectations for strong US payroll figures later in the day.

Analysts said the jobs report was likely to confirm the strength in the world’s top economy with some 245,000 jobs created, pushing the official unemployment rate down a notch to 5.7%.

“There aren’t many reasons for the dollar to trend lower,” said Daisuke Karakama, chief market economist at Mizuho Bank.

“Even if the labour report turns out to be bad, we shouldn’t expect the dollar to fall below 118 yen.”

The dollar weakened against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It fell to 62.35 Indian rupees from 63.10 rupees on Thursday, to 12,636.00 Indonesian rupiah from 12,719.30 rupiah, to Sg$1.3358 from Sg$1.3383, to 44.96 Philippine pesos from 45.05 pesos, to Tw$31.94 from Tw$31.99, and to 32.86 Thai baht from 32.90 baht.

The Australian dollar rose to 81.38 US cents from 81.10 cents. The Chinese yuan slipped to 19.21 yen from 19.25 yen. l

Emiota representative Johann Gobba wears Belty, a smart belt from Paris-based Emiota, at CES Unveiled, at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show media preview day, January 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Belty, the worldís first connected belt, monitors the wearerís waistline measurements and advises when it is time to lose weight. Belty will also automatically loosen when the wearer sits and tighten when the wearer stands. Belty is made entirely in France - a wearable tech item that is also a fashion statement. The product is still under development but Emiota co-founder expects to have Belty on the market by Q4 at a price yet to be determined. 2015 International CES, the world's largest showcase for the latest in consumer electronics, runs on January 6-9, with media preview days on January 4 and 5 AFP