03 May, 2016

SECOND EDITION

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

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Boishakh 20, 1423, Rajab 25, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 11

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www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

Short circuit behind Karwan Bazar fire? n Arifur Rahman Rabbi Although there was no electricity at the Hasina Market when a devastating fire broke out on Sunday evening, shop owners and the Fire Service believe that the fire was most likely caused by an electric short circuit as generators were running at the time.

Babul Khan, the general secretary of the market association, told the Dhaka Tribune that power had gone out during the nor'wester that raged through the city right before the fire broke out.

The market was also closed for May Day but a handful of shops in the periphery were open.

“But the generators were running. Some of the wiring is very old. We think it may have been a short circuit,” he said.

He said shop owners believed the fire started in or near one of the closed shops that stored either kerosene or some other flammable material.

Fire engulfed Hasina Market, a collection of wholesalers of household items, at Karwan Bazar Kitchen Market in the heart of Dhaka, right after a powerful storm on Sunday evening. Starting from 8pm, 26 Fire Service units fought the fire frantically for about two hours before it was brought under control.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Small trader Fazlu Miah, who got his shop burned in Sunday’s devastating blaze at Hasina Market in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar, salvage undamaged notes in the ash heap yesterday morning SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

No environmental clearance for Banshkhali plant

WB: Chinese wage hike boon for BD women

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

INSIDE

The Department of Environment (DoE) has refused to issue an environmental clearance certificate for the proposed 1,224 megawatt imported coal-fired power plant of S Alam Group in Banshkhali, Chittagong; apparently because there were some issues with the submitted documents.

According to the minutes of an April 28 DoE meeting on environmental clearance certificate on,

it was decided that a certificate would not be issued to the Banshkhali plant.

The DoE meeting was presided by Sultan Ahmed, director and convener of of the environmental clearance certificate committee.

“We found that some documents and information submitted

by S Alam group were missing.

We have asked them to re-submit those,” Sultan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Under the circumstances, the

construction of this controversial power plant is facing another road block in its implementation.

Earlier on April 4, four people were killed in a clash between police and two groups of villagers over the construction of the coalbased power plant.

On February 16, the government signed a deal allowing the joint venture of Bangladesh’s S Alam Group, and China’s SEPCO-3 Electric Power Construction Corporation and  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Rising Chinese wages could have favourable impacts on Bangladesh's female workers, with a 1% increase in Chinese apparel prices raising Bangladeshi firm's demands for female labour by 0.44%, a World Bank report has said.

A 1% increase in expected wages in Bangladesh's readymade garment sector would make it 30.6% more likely for women to join the labour force, said a report titled

Stitches to Riches: Apparel Employment, Trade, and Economic Development in South Asia that was released at a programme in Dhaka yesterday afternoon.

It said the US demand for Bangladeshi apparel exports could go up by 1.36% for every percent increase in Chinese wages.

At the programme, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh Qimiao Fan said: “The apparel sector in Bangladesh tells a remarkable  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Uni teachers seek justice for Prof Rezaul

Myanmar to thaw Bangladesh ties

After Laden’s death alQaeda still going strong

Islami Liberation Front sends hit list of 10 people

Teachers of all public universities staged a work abstention yesterday, demanding immediate arrest of the killers of RU Prof Rezaul Karim Siddique.  PAGE 3

Maintaining inward policies for the last five decades, Myanmar is going to attempt to better relationships with its neighbours and the rest of the world, a government official said.  PAGE 5

Five years ago on the first day of May, elite US special forces soldiers raided a walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and ended history’s most intense manhunt.  PAGE 21

An outfit named Islami Liberation Front sent a hit list of 10 dignitaries, including teachers, politicians and journalists, of Rajshahi to Natore Press Club yesterday.  PAGE 32

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

Three remanded over Hindu tailor murder Afzal Hossain, n Mohammed Tangail

A Tangail court yesterday sent three men to six days in police custody for interrogation in connection with the murder of Hindu

tailor Nikhil Chandra Joardar.

The suspects – a local Jamaat-e-Islami leader, a BNP activist and a madrasa principal – were accused in two separate cases.

Joardar, 50, was hacked to death by three motorcycle-borne assail-

ants at his shop in Gopalpur on Saturday. Militant group Islamic State reportedly claimed responsibility for the murder.

Joardar’s wife Arti Rani and local police filed two separate cases that were handed over to the de-

tective branch on Sunday.

A day later, police arrested Gopalpur upazila unit Jamaat Secretary Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Badsha, Jamaat mouthpiece Daily Inqilab’s local correspondent and Gopalpur Press Club Vice-Presi-

dent Aminul Islam, and BNP activist Jhantu Mia. The suspects were produced before the court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Anjan Kanti Das, who rejected their bail pleas and granted police time for interrogation. l

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

No environmental clearance for Banshkhali plant WB: Chinese wage hike boon for BD women HTG Group to build an ultra supercritical thermal power plant with a net capacity of 1,224MW at a cost of $2.4bn.

But Power Division officials are now expressing concerns that the plant might not be implemented at the proposed Banshkhali location as local protesters have declared fresh demonstrations.

According to the minutes of the 369th meeting of the DoE, S Alam group was asked to revise the environmental impact assessment report (EIA).

The revised report must have

signatures and seals from senior officials of S Alam Group on each page. It must also contain other necessary supporting documents.

An official from DoE said other conditions would be added for S Alam group to secure the clearance certificate.

The official said as there had been a controversy centring the project, they were choosing to take a “slow-on policy” on the project so that there would be no pressure on them in the future.

That is why every thing was being meticulously checked before

issuing a clearance certificate. It might take a lot more time for the final issuance, the official hinted.

Seeking anonymity, an official with the Power Division told the Dhaka Tribune that this project of S Alam has become a hindrance against the implementation of other government projects.

If the project failed to get environmental clearance, then the implementation of this project will be delayed; so this makes the implementation of the project a distant possibility, the official added. l

Short circuit behind Karwan Bazar fire?

Fire Service and Civil Defence DG Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan said the firefighters also believed the blaze could have started from electric sparks.

“There was flammable material in the corner where the fire started.

Also, witnesses said a transformer explosion was heard sometime before the accident,” he said.

A four-member probe body headed by Zohurul Amin, deputy director of Fire Service Dhaka unit, has been formed to investigate the fire incident, said Ali Ahmed.

On the other hand, the association’s Senior Vice-President Ismail Hossain alleged that the Fire Service had not arrived in time to respond to the fire.

No water was carried by the units who reached the spot first.

The fire spread to the entire market due to the negligence of firefighters, Ismail alleged.

‘Losses worth Tk100 crore’

Shopkeepers reported that almost all of their shops and goods had burned down in the fire and they were estimating a loss of roughly Tk100 crore.

They urged the government not to give token handouts to the shop owners but rebuild the affected shops and provide some means such as easy loans for the traders to get back on their feet.

Officials from Dhaka district administration were at the site of the disaster yesterday collecting information on how much damage the fire had caused.

Nurul Islam, project implement officer of Tejgoan Development Circle, told the Dhaka Tribune that the information would be submit-

ted to the deputy commissioner of Dhaka district, after which decisions would be made on future steps.

Trader Babul Mia said all of his five shops in the market – one hotel and four wholesale department stores – had been been burned down.

“I do not know what to do now,” he said.

“Because of May Day all the shops were shut. There was nothing outside the shops. Now I am a street beggar. I have lost about Tk2 crore worth of goods. Where will I get the money?”

Several owners were seen crying in front of their burned down shops.

Mozammel Hossain Helal, owner of Mama Store, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had not only lost about Tk50 lakh worth of cigarettes, the fire had gutted the shop’s cash box, which contained Tk20-25 lakh.

“Last time a fire broke out at Hasina Market in 2001, the government did not help us with anything. So, I do not think that the government will help us now,” he said.

Market General Secretary Babul Khan said 180 shops out of 186 were destroyed in the fire. The losses were roughly Tk100 crore.

The association would be arranging a meeting soon and talk to all owners and traders to determine future course of action, he added.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq were on the spot on Sunday evening even as the fire was being put out.

The government would decide on compensation for the victims following the Fire Service’s probe report, Kamal told reporters. Mayor Annisul said Dhaka Wasa and the Power Division had jointly worked with the Fire Service to douse the fire.

Sheikh Md Maruf Hossain, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said four platoons of police personnel were deployed to the spot to avoid any kind of untoward incident.

Property conflicts Organising Secretary Monjur Hossain said the market association was allocated the plot from Rajuk in 1986.

In 2000, the market won a case against the government that sought to return the property to state ownership.

In 2006, the owners signed a contract with a development company to build a multi-storey building there.

But because of a lack of reasonable progress, they cancelled the contract after 38 months. Currently, the market owners are embroiled in a legal dispute with the construction company over this contract.

Several signboards reading “Location for proposed multi-storey market complex, managed by: North Karwan Bazar Traders’ Welfare Association” can be seen around Hasina Market.

The government also has an ongoing project to move the entire Karwan Bazar kitchen market to three separate markets in Dhaka. Under that plan all wholesalers like the ones in Hasina Market are to be moved to a new city corporation market in Mohakhali by April next year. l

story of women’s empowerment by significantly increasing female participation in the labour sector.”

The study found that apparel production was fairly mobile and responsive to price changes.

If Chinese prices increase 10%, US imports from South Asia would increase by 13–25% depending on the country. For Southeast Asia this would be 37–51% depending on the country, the study found.

For Bangladesh, if Chinese prices or wages rose by 10 percent under current policies, employment would rise in parts of the sector providing to the US market, by 4.22 percent for males and 4.39 percent for females.

But for the EU market, apparel employment would drop by 0.74 percent for males and 0.77 percent for females.

To increase the apparel sector’s potentials to create jobs, the World Bank suggested that the industry strengthen the value chain by improving productivity and adopting policies such as additional incentives and transparency to attract more FDI and ensure access to buyers and additional capital.

The global lender also suggested improving quality and product diversity by reducing import barriers to man-made fibres, upgrading compliance and reliability by ensuring that social policies such as safety conditions in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are enforced and encouraging firms to relocate to EPZs. Commenting on product diversity of Bangladesh, the World Bank said that it is a primary destination for basic commodity items

produced in long runs, predominately made from cotton including trousers, knit and woven shirts and sweaters. Firms mostly specialised in low value and mid market priced apparel and have not penetrated the high end apparel market.

The analysis of labour demand showed that the number of jobs created in response to higher demand for exports in the garments industry was higher than in other sectors like agriculture. The report also said there was a wage premium in the RMG sector versus agriculture.

If apparel wages remain higher than in sectors like agriculture, apparel holds the potential to increase female labour force participation, which, in turn, would be good for development.

As of 2012 data, Bangladesh has the largest apparel export industry of the four South Asian countries at $22.8 billion, and the largest market share at about 6.4% of global apparel exports. The apparel industry is also extremely important to the economy, accounting for 83% of total exports.

The industry is considered a “growth supplier” like Pakistan — rather than a “stable supplier” like India and Sri Lanka — in that it has increased export value and global market share since the early 1990s.

China revises its minimum wages upwards at least once every two years. Last year average income for industrial workers grew by 7.4%.

However, the Chinese government has been mulling freezes on the wage growth due to economic slump. l

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CID to examine evidence in Xulhaz-Tonoy murder n Arifur Rahman Rabbi

Students of English Department of Rajshahi University brings out a symbolic coffin procession on the campus yesterday as protests against the murder of Professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique continue AZAHAR UDDIN

University teachers seek justice for Prof Rezaul n Tribune Desk

Teachers of all public universities across Bangladesh staged a threehour work abstention programme yesterday, demanding the immediate arrest of the killers of Rajshahi University Professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique.

Teachers wore black badges and began their programme at 10am.

No classes were held, but tests under the office of the controller of examinations took place.

The work abstention programme was called by Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association.

Teachers of Dhaka University held a rally in front of the Arts Building in the morning, where

speakers criticised the failure in apprehending the culprits behind the brutal murder of Prof Rezaul.

The work abstention programme was also observed in Sylhet’s Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST).

Teachers there wore black badges and staged a sit-in in front of the central library of the university, reports our SUST correspondent.

SUST Teachers’ Association President Dr Syed Shamsul Alam said the culture of escaping justice was only fuelling militants, warning that continuation of such a situation would make people afraid of seeking knowledge.

Meanwhile, teachers at Rangpur’s Begum Rokeya University also observed work abstention and

kept all departments and offices locked.

A sit-in programme was also staged by the teacher on the campus, reports our Rangpur correspondent.

Similarly, classes were also not held in Khulna University. Teachers there also staged a sit-in programme at Hadi Chattar in the afternoon, says our Khulna correspondent.

Speakers at the sit-in said the intention of the killers was to obliterate all torchbearers of knowledge and to plunge the country into darkness.

In Gazipur, teachers at Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology (Duet) also wore black badges and observed the work ab-

stention yesterday.

President of Duet Teachers’ Association, Prof Mohammad Asaduzzaman Chowdhury, condemned the killing of Prof Rezaul and demanded exemplary punishment for the perpetrators, our Gazipur correspondent reports.

On April 23, suspected Islamic extremists hacked to death Rajshahi University’s English department teacher Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique, the fourth teacher of the institution to be killed in a decade.

Well-known for his enthusiasm for music and literary works, Prof Rezaul was hacked with machetes by two assailants on motorcycle in an alley near his house in Shalbagan area of the town around 7:30am. l

Lawmakers mourn Mujibur Rahman's death n Tribune Desk

Yesterday’s sitting of the Parliament was adjourned to mourn the death of sitting member of parliament (MP) and former state minister for health Capt (retd) Mujibur Rahman Fakir.

As per tradition, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury adjourned the business for the day just after adopting a condolence motion on the death of the ruling Awami League MP elected from Mymensingh 3 constituency.

Before passing the condolence motion, a number of MPs took part in a discussion and recalled the life and works of Fakir who was

elected as MP in the 8th, 9th and 10th parliament.

The speaker moved the condolence motion, which was passed unanimously by the House.

Mujibur Rahman Fakir died yesterday morning at the age of 70 in Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. He had been suffering from heart diseases.

In the condolence motion, the speaker said Mujibur Rahman, being a wise politician, eminent doctor and social worker, has

played a special role in the national arena.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Chief Whip ASM Feroz, former health minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque, State Minister for Food Nuruzamman Ahmed, Awami League MPs Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Anwarul Abedin Khan (Mymensingh 9) and Zahid Maleque, and Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam (Mymensingh 8) joined the discussion. l

A Dhaka court has allowed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to examine 10 sets of evidence in two separate cases filed in connection with the murders of LGBT activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy.

The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Nurunnahar Yasmin passed the order on April 28, but the news was confirmed only yesterday by court police Sub-Inspector Mohammad Shahid.

Kalabagan police Inspector KM Ashraf Uddin and Sub-Inspector Ansar Ali filed two separate petitions respectively seeking the court's permission for the CID to examine one set of evidence in a murder case and nine others in a weapons case.

The court granted the CID permission to look for fingerprints or other related evidence that might expedite the identification and arrest of the perpetrators.

The evidence in the murder case are two khaki-colored cardboard boxes. The killers reportedly brought the boxes as part of their disguise as courier service personnel. After committing the murders, the suspects left the boxes in front of the building's gate.

The items found within the box reportedly include four pieces of coconut and several other small goods.

The nine sets of evidence in the weapons case are: a pistol, three bullets, a firearm, a machete, a towel, two lungis, a mustard-coloured cloth, a bag and a piece of white paper.

On April 25, Xulhaz, the editor of Bangladesh's only LGBT magazine Roopbaan, and his friend Tonoy were killed in a flat in Kalabagan.

Several men hacked them to death before fleeing the scene. They also injured a security guard and a police official as they fled, leaving behind some clues in the process.

Although more than a week has passed, no arrest has so far been made.

However, several police sources told the Dhaka Tribune that the Detective Branch has detained four or five suspects in connection with the double murder.

But no official confirmation has so far been made on this regard.

When asked for a comment, Monirul Islam, the chief of Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, only said that the investigation was ongoing.

Detectives suspect that Xulhaz was targeted for his advocacy of homosexuality and that the killers were members of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team who are currently operating under the banner of Ansar al-Islam. l

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Recruiting agencies asked to pay back 74 migrants n Ashif Islam Shaon

The Supreme Court yesterday asked recruiting agencies to pay back 74 aspiring migrant workers the money they had paid for going to Libya, with an addition of 10% interest.

The four-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice

Surendra Kumar Sinha asked the Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry to recover the money if the agencies fail to refund the 74 workers within three months.

The decision came after the state moved an appeal against the High Court’s decision that had asked the Foreign Ministry to issue

no objection certificates (NOCs) to the workers within 15 days.

On April 3, after an initial hearing, the High Court gave an interim order with a rule following a writ petition jointly filed by the workers who received work permits and visas to go to Libya.

The workers were unable to go

Three journalists injured in Feni Hayat, n Tushar Chittagong At least three journalists including the Dhaka Tribune's Feni correspondent have been injured after clashes broke out between two groups of journalists at the Feni Press Club.

Dhaka Tribune's Rafiqul Islam, who is also the president of the Feni Press Club, was severely injured and was undergoing treatment at Feni

Sadar Hospital as of 11:30pm, said Feni's Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Shahriar.

He said the other two injured were Asian TV's Zafar Selim and Gram Desh newspaper's Shah Alam.

Shahriar said a group of journalists attacked the other over existing disputes over the Feni Press Club. However, no weapons were used during the attack, he added.

But Ekattor TV correspond-

ent Jahirul Haq Milu claimed at least five people, including himself, were injured in the attack that was led by Somoy TV's Bokhtiar Munna. Dainik Janata's Mujibur Rahman was the other person who was injured, Milu said.

Feni Sadar Hospital's Doctor Asim Kumar Saha told the Dhaka Tribune that Rafiqul has chop wounds on his head and other body parts and might be sent to Dhaka for better treatment. l

BUP teams claim podium spots in Creative Challenge 2016 Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong Presenting new ideas and solutions based on garment industry, deep sea port and modernisation of Chittagong Port, Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) won the four-day long business competition of Chittagong University on Sunday.

The final round of the Inter Business School National Business Idea and Branding Competition tilted “Creative Challenge 2016” was held at World Trade Centre in Chittagong city’s Agrabad.

Two teams of BUP secured both the championship and the runners-up title.

With the slogan “Building Chittagong, Branding Bangladesh”, Finance and Banking Debating Association of CU have organised the programme for the third time at the university.

A total of 120 participants

under 40 public and private universities took part in the competition.

At the final round, a total of five teams from – Chittagong University, North South University, Bangladesh University of Professionals and East West University – were given topics over Chittagong deep sea port, blue economy, modernisation of Chittagong Port and prospect and challenges of specialised EPZ sectors.

The competitors presented their corporate ideas with an aim to promote Chittagong and the country and displayed various development models over the topics. The judges announced the winners based on the uniqueness and project-implementation probability, among other points, of the teams.

CU Finance department’s Associate Professor Tanvir Mohammed Arif presided

over the final day’s programme.

CU BBA faculty Dean Professor Dr Jahangir Alam, Marketing department chairman and also Rotary Chittagong district Governor Tayeb Chowdhury, CU MBA Association General Secretary ANM Wajed Ali, Abul Khair “Marks” brand division InCharge Tameem Hasan, CU Accounting department’s Professor Dr Harunur Rashid, Sourthen University BBA faculty Dean Professor Dr ANM Abdul Muktadir were also present.

Marks, a brand of Abdul Khair Group, sponsored the programme with a view to developing intellectual aptitude of the nation. Pragmat, a private company, will provide free management consultancy to the winner of the competition.

English daily Dhaka Tribune was the media partner of the competition. l

Azizul Haque to be remembered n Tribune Desk Dr SM Azizul Haque, president of Bangladesh Mathematical Society(BMS) and former head of Department

of Mathematics, University of Dhaka, has died recently.

A doa mahfil and condolence meeting will be held at 10am, May 7 at Rezaur Rahman Auditorium of AF Mu-

jibur Rahman Mathematics Building at DU to remember the scholar.

Teachers, students and well-wishers are requested to join the function. l

as the Foreign Ministry, on November 19 last year, imposed restrictions on Bangladeshi citizens regarding visit to the country.

The state then moved an appeal against the HC order which was heard by the apex court yesterday.

Additional Attorney General Murad Reza told reporters that be-

cause of the order, the move to send people to Libya despite the country being a war zone has stopped.

Bangladesh has already brought back more than 40,000 working citizens from the war-affected Libya, which has been in chaos since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011. l

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

Joy calls Khaleda a liar and a thief n Tribune Desk Countering BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s accusations against him, prime minister’s ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy yesterday called the BNP chief a liar and a thief.

Joy, also the son of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, made the remarks in a status posted on his official Facebook page.

In the post, Joy wrote: “A woman [Khaleda Zia] who has stolen money from orphans, one whose son [Tarique Rahman] is a fugitive accused by the FBI for corruption, really should not be throwing mud at Bangabandhu’s grandson.”

In response to Khaleda’s questions about references to $300m in Joy’s account, Joy responded by saying: “I am not that rich.”

“Madam, if you know where the $300 million is, please let me know.

I would like to donate it to orphans.”

Joy said: “Your henchmen Mahmudur Rahman and Shafik Rehman stole secret FBI documents listing all my bank accounts but could not find it.”

His Facebook status further read: “Khaleda Zia on other hand, is a liar and a thief.” l

Woman burnt to death by husband n Md Emroz Khandakar, Pabna A woman in Pabna has been burnt to death allegedly by her husband over financial disputes.

Salma Khatun, 28, died from her burn injuries at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital yesterday. The mother of two suffered the injuries on Sunday night in Pabna’s Ishwardi upazila.

Her husband Shahabul Mallik, a tea-stall owner, has gone into hiding following the incident.

Salma’s cousin Sumon Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune that Salma used to work at a factory in Ishwardi EPZ and saved her salaries in a bank account for her children. Shahabul had been pressuring Salma for share of that money, Sumon said.

During a fight on Sunday night, the husband tied Salma to a tree, poured petrol on her and set her on fire. Neighbours rescued her, while she was eventually sent to the RMCH – where she died yesterday around 8pm.

Pakshi police station Sub-Inspector Ibrahim Hossian said a drive was on to arrest Shahabul. l

Students of Tejgaon campus of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology stage a demonstration yesterday demanding punishment to a teacher after an allegation of sexual harassment was brought against him SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Myanmar to thaw Bangladesh ties n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Maintaining inward policies for the last five decades, Myanmar is going to attempt to better relationships with its neighbours and the rest of the world, a government official said.

“I am quite sure the new government wants to maintain good ties with Dhaka,” said Secretary of Foreign Relations Committee of Myanmar Parliament Bo Bo Oo. He was of the view that relations between previous governments in Naypyidaw and Dhaka was “quite chilled”.

Myanmar had general election in November where Nobel Laureate Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) had a landslide victory. It took over on April 1 with huge expectation from the people to change the society.

“I hope that the new government will change the course and also the Bangladesh government will take steps to remove all barriers,” he said.

He, however, said it is really

TEMPERATURE FOREC AST FOR TODAY

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN TUESDAY, MAY 3

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and South East Asia.

Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar are trying to establish an economic corridor from Kolkata to Kunming to improve the socioeconomic condition of the subregion where 400 million people live.

Former president and current Chief Patron of ruling NLD Tin Oo believed that every problem must be settled peacefully.

“We have a common border. We are going to observe the principle of the Panchshila for the peaceful coexistence of both sides,” he said.

Panchshila or Panchshila Treaty is the five principles of peaceful coexistence of nations.

“We have a good border. We are trying our best to stay peacefully as far as we can,” he said.

The 90-year-old army man turned politician said he was the commander of BangladeshMyanmar border during the independence war.

Former spokesperson and a member of the central committee of NLD Nyan Win said there is a big

hard to remove all barriers in a day and that both sides should reach out to better ties. He said border dispute and military exercises from the both sides were main reasons behind cold relations between the neighbours.

“I suppose the NLD government will try to improve relations and efforts will also be made from the Bangladesh side,” he said.

He said after the 1962 coup in Myanmar by General Ne Win, the government, driven by narrow nationalism sentiment, changed the policy and principles of bilateral relations.

About the new democratically elected government, he said: “I have my own optimistic thinking and I believe that it will be fine, it will be okay.”

He stressed improving trade relations considering that volume is not even $100 million. “The bilateral trade is quite low and we need to beef up from both sides.”

About connectivity, he said this is a very good chance for Myanmar to have corridor with Bangladesh 38

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36.8ºC Satkhira

19.5ºC Srimangal

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difference between the democratic government and the previous military government.

“They were thinking of all the matters through military minds.

We think issues using political means. It is a big difference,” he said.

He said foreign policy remains same, but the technique is different from government to government.

About Bangladesh-Myanmar relations, he said if there are too many arguments, it would not be beneficial for both sides and things would not proceed. “We have to remain friends. We are friends,” he said.

Nyan Win said they have to deal with all the bordering countries including Bangladesh, India, China, Thailand and Laos.

About resolving problems through discussion, he said both Bangladesh and Myanmar did it in the past.

“I think three years ago there was a problem in Naf River. We solved that through discussion and solve it peacefully,” he said. l Sylhet

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Fajr: 3:58am | Zohr: 11:55pm Asr: 3:21pm | Magrib: 6:31pm Esha: 7:58pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

New initiative to secure decent work for migrants n Adil Sakhawat Bangladesh, Switzerland and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched an initiative yesterday to contribute to the application of the overseas employment policy and strengthening of public and private institutions in order to secure decent work for Bangladeshi migrant workers.

The Application of Migration Policy for Decent Work for Migrant Workers project, executed by the ILO and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), will run until March 2018. A further threeyear phase is then likely to be added to it, with the total budget standing at $7.25 million until 2021.

The initiative will be implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment as well as workers’ and employers’ organisations. It will

continue from the recently completed Promoting Decent Work through Improved Migration Policy and its Application in Bangladesh project which came to an end in December 2015 and was also financially backed by the SDC. The new project will help strengthen the institutions responsible for managing migration to deliver quality labour market information, occupational classification, pre-departure training accreditation and welfare services abroad.

It will also provide research and technical advisory support for strengthening labour negotiations for decent work, and will facilitate the engagement of stakeholders, including workers’ and employers’ organisations, in all processes.

While launching the initiative in Dhaka, Begum Shamsun Nahar, secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare, said: “The Bangladesh government is committed to

ensuring safety and dignity of men and women migrants in destination countries as well as to supporting them upon their return.”

Srinivas Reddy, ILO country director for Bangladesh, said: “This new project builds on the success of our past efforts. By working at levels ranging from policy to the grassroots, it will help ensure that systems of migration management are responsive and promote decent work.”

Beate Elsässer, deputy head of mission at the embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh, said: “Labour migration and associated remittances are a vital component of the economy in Bangladesh as well as a lifeline for many workers and their families. This initiative represents a continuation of Swiss support for the government of Bangladesh as it streamlines policies and builds institutions for safe labour migration and decent work.” l

Mahbub: Rehear case that led to CG annulment n UNB

Former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Khandker Mahbub Hossain yesterday demanded the Supreme Court rehears the case in which the 13th amendment to the constitution having provisions for an election-time caretaker government was declared illegal.

He made the demand while talking to reporters at his SCBA Bhaban office, as the apex court has taken an initiative to rehear 168 cases the verdicts of which former Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain and former Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury could not write while in service.

Mahbub Hossain, also BNP chairperson’s adviser, said: “If this is the apex court’s decision [that verdicts written after retirement

are not acceptable], the judgment declaring the caretaker government system illegal have to be reheard.”

BNP leader Mahbub Hossain claimed that former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque signed the verdict annulling the caretaker government system void 16 months after his retirement.

Claiming that the judgment written by the former chief justice after his retirement is illegal, the pro-BNP lawyer expressed the hope that the incumbent chief justice would come up with his specific opinion in this regard.

He also hastened to comment that they think the writing judgment after the retirement is illegal as judges turn to be ordinary masses after their retirement. “So, this case should also be reheard.” l

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DT

News

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

FIRE IN SUNDARBANS

Many accused still at large n Tribune Desk Although Bangladesh Forest Department has filed three cases accusing 23 people in connection with fires that broke out at Chandpai range, east Sundarbans recently, law enforcers yet to arrest many of them.

Forest Department filed a case against 11 suspects in connection with the fire that broke out in Tultala area of the Sundarbans under Chandpai Range in Sharankhola upazila on April 27.

Station officer (Dhansagar station) of Chandpai Range Sultan Mahmud filed the case against them with Sharankhola police sta-

tion on Sunday night.

Officer-in-charge of the police station Shah Alam Miah said among the 11 people sued in the case, five are unidentified suspects and police have already arrested two suspects – Nazrul Islam and Sohel Halder of Pochem Rajapur village for their alleged involvement in the forest fire.

The Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and a Unesco world heritage site, saw four fire incidents in just one month.

Three cases were filed against 28 people in connection with the fire incidents.

Local people alleged that villagers living nearby the Sundarbans of-

ten entered the forest and set fire to it to collect firewood and when the burnt area of the Sundarbans goes under water during monsoon they use it to catch fish. They also use the fire-damaged area as cattle grazing ground during the dry season.

Forest officials have claimed that fire that broke out in Dhansagar area, Chandpai range of Sundarbans, Khulna On April 27 was a subversive act.

Moreover, Forest and Environment Ministry had formed a committee led by Joint Secretary of the ministry Md Mojahed Hossain to investigate all fire incidents that took place in Sundarbans in the last 14 years. Forest and Environment

Ministry also sent a letter to Sundarbans forest range.

Locals said people who set fire to forest were very influential as they had connection with political high-ups. Nobody dared to raise voice against them.

Earlier, on April 19, another fire broke out in Nangli area under the same range.

On April 14, a fire originated at Dhansagar station and gutted forestry on several acres of land before the forest officials, firefighters and locals managed to extinguish the blaze.

On March 27, a fire broke out in Nangli area. Firefighters managed to bring the fire under control by

the morning of March 28.

The probe body formed over March 27 fire submitted its report on April 4.

The probe blamed carelessness of local people for the fire incident.

Six people have also been sued in connection with the fire incident.

Prime accused of the case was Shahjahan Hawladar, vice-president of Swarankhola upazila unit Awami League.

Forest officials also filed a case against five people in connection with April 19 fire incident.

In the last 14 years, there have been 25 fire incidents in Chandpai and Sharankhola ranges of the Sundarbans. l

Seven testify in 7-murder case Hossain, n Tanveer Narayanganj

A Naraynganj court yesterday recorded deposition from seven witnesses in the sensational seven-murder case in presence of the 23 arrested suspects in the case.

Narayanganj District and Sessions Judge Syed Enayet Hossain recorded the deposition of Sub-Inspector Riazul Haque, Constable Badrul Alam, Mokter Hossain, Anwar Hossain, Sub-Inspector Wahiduzzaman, Constable Selim Reza and slain Moniruzzan’s wife Morsheda Akter.

Public Prosecutor Wazed Ali Khokon said the court fixed May 9 for the next hearing.

Morsheda Akter burst into tears while she was testifying in the court. She demanded death-sentence of Noor Hossain, the prime accused of the murder case.

“We have demanding a fair trial in the case for three years. We have lost everything in the years. Now, I am living in my parents’ house with my children as there is no alternative way to live after the murder of my husband,” she added.

The accused including Noor Hossain are very influential and the ruling party-backed people are trying to save the accused, she alleged.

Earlier in the day, 23 accused in the cases including prime suspect Nur Hossain and three former RAB officials were brought to the Narayanganj court from Kashimpur Prison under tight security.

On April 27, 2014, Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Nazrul Islam, his three associates and driver were abducted from Fatullah area in the city. At the same time, senior lawyer of the Narayanganj District Judge’s Court Chandan Kumar Sarker and his driver were abducted on their way to Dhaka. l

Blatantly disregarding the potential health hazards, water from the same source is being used to fill jars waiting to be supplied in shops in different areas in Dhaka and to wash a motorcycle. The source of the water is a public toilet. The photo was taken in Jurain Bazar of Dhaka on Sunday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Cargo vessel owners call off strike n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong

The cargo vessel owners withdrew their strike upon government’s assurance of revising the newly declared wage structure for the vessel workers.

“We have decided to withdraw our strike upon shipping minister’s assurance of revising the newly announced wage offer for the workers,” said Khorshed Alam, senior vice-president of Bangladesh Cargo

Vessel Owners Association (BCVOA).

“A meeting with the shipping minister Shajahan Khan in the chair was held in Dhaka yesterday.

In the meeting, the minister has assured the cargo vessel owners that a committee involving labour directorate would be formed soon for fixing a fresh logical wage structure,” added Khorshed.

On Thursday, the cargo vessel owners stopped plying goods-laden vessels following the government’s

decision to review the minimum wages of vessel workers-possibly keeping the highest wage at Tk10,000 and lowest at Tk 9,000- for three classes of workers in the sector.

On Tuesday night, vessel workers who had been on a strike since April 20 midnight to press home their 15-point demand called off their strike upon assurances from the government of meeting their demands.

The government formed a committee to finalise the new mini-

mum wages – keeping the highest wage at Tk 10,000 and lowest at Tk 9,000 – for three classes of workers in the sector.

Vessel workers enforced the indefinite strike on April 20 midnight.

However, two days after its enforcement, the vessel strike was partially postponed on Friday night when the workers decided to run only passenger-carrying vessels until May 10. l

DT

8

News

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

CU TAPOS MURDER CASE

Charge sheet pressed against 29 BCL men Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong Implicating 29 leaders and activists of ruling party’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), Police Bureau Investigation (PBI) yesterday pressed charges in connection with killing Tapos Sarkar, a first year student of Sangskrit department of Chittagong University (CU).

“PBI’s Chittagong Division Inspector Mostafisur Rahman submitted the charge sheet in Tapos murder case implicating 29 BCL leaders and activists before a Chittagong Court around 4:30pm, said Chittagong Court Inspector AHM Mosiur Rahman.

“In the charge sheet the IO also suggested dropping the name of Rupum Biswash, a student of botany department of CU, from the case as his involvement was not found during the investigation”, added the court inspector. Rupum Biswash, was former mass education affair secretary of CU BCL unit, said campus sources.

In the charge sheet, Asrafuzzaman Asha, the former deputy cultural affair secretary of CU BCL unit, was made prime accused, but he went into hiding soon after the incident, said PBI 6sources.

Taposh Sarkar, an activist of Choose Friend with Care (CFC), a shuttle train based BCL faction of CU unit, was shot dead by rival group Varsity Express (VX) men at Shah Amanat dormitory on the campus on December 14, 2014 over establishing supremacy at the university.

Police and campus sources said the two groups-VX and CFC, backed by Chittagong Metropolitan unit Awami League (AL)’s general secretary ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, had locked into a turf war at Shah Amanat over placing flower wreath during observing Martyred Intellectual Day on on the day.

Earlier, Hathazari police had investigated the murder case and later the murder case was handed over to PBI in 23 July, 2015.

Following the clash on December 14, 2014, police had raided the

Shah Jalal Dormitory, dominated

by BCL men and recovered one light gun, four rounds of pistol bullets, Jihadi books, sharp weapons and arrested 30 BCL men on the same day.

Later, police filed an arms case with Hathazari police station in this connection mentioning five BCL men and after one day of the murder, Taposh’s classmate Hafizul Islam filed the murder case accusing 30 BCL leaders and activists of VX group, including Asha, on December 16.

Meanwhile, the five members probe committee formed by CU has also submitted the probe report on May’s last week in this year while it remain unopened till filing this report, said campus sources.

CU Student’s Welfare and Advisor Center’s director Professor Khan Tawhid Osman, also the head of probe committee, told Dhaka Tribune that the 5 to 6 pages report was submitted to the former CU vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Anwarul Azim Arif. l

NEWS IN BRIEF Trawler capsizes in Padma, two missing Two labourers went missing as a sand-laden trawler capsized in the Padma River in Paturia, Manikganj on Sunday night. Md Shamim Hossain, in-charge of Paturia naval police, said a sand-laden trawler was heading towards Paturia ghat. As soon as the vessel reached near Paturia ghat 3, it sank due to strong current and wind. Of eight labourers who were on board of the engine trawler, six managed to swim ashore, but two have been remained missing since then. Members of firefighter and naval police could not trace them till yesterday evening.

– Our Correspondent, Manikganj

15 hurt as two groups clash in Chittagong At least 15 people were injured when two groups of villagers locked into a clash over possession of brick kiln in Chittagong’s Banshkhali upazila on Sunday. Md Alamgir, officer-in-charge of Banshkhali police station, said there had been a longstanding dispute two groups of villagers over the ownership of a brick kiln. “The disputing groups locked in a clash which left at least 15 injured,” added the OC. The Chittagong Medical College Hospital sources said 15 injured persons were admitted to the hospital. They were undergoing treatment at the hospital. No case was filed in this connection.

– Our Correspondent, Chittagong

One held with yaba pills in Chittagong The police seized 8,000 yaba pills after searching a private car on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar Highway at Lohagara upazila in Chittagong yesterday. The police also arrested the driver of the car identified as Md Ekhlas, 35. Mohammad Shahjahan, officer-in-charge of Lohagara police station, said the contraband stimulating pills were concealed beneath the driving seat of the car which heading towards Chittagong from Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar. Police said Ekhlas has been involved with yaba trading in the locality for long. He was going to Dhaka with the tablets. A case was lodged under narcotics act in this connection.

– Our Correspondent, Chittagong

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www.dhakatribune.com

Two BCL men accused of harassing textile student n Bipul Sarker Sunny, Dinajpur Two local Chhatra League members in Dinajpur have been accused of physically harassing a female student.

Both the accused – Sultan Mahmud Shihab and Imran Hossain – and the victim study at Dinajpur Textile Institute.

After the incident that took place yesterday, the victim filed a complaint with the university authorities but they allegedly attempted to suppress it.

Shihab, son of Zulfiker Mridha of Gaibandha’s Jarippur village, and Imran, son of Zakirul Hossain of Jamalpur’s Akandapara village are members of the 17-member committee of Chhatra League’s Dinajpur Textile Institute unit.

According to the complaint of the female student, Shihab and Imran entered her classroom and asked all other students to leave.

Imran himself also left the classroom in a while and Shihab after that verbally abused her and manhandled her.

The victim also mentioned in the complaint that Shihab had pestered her with phone calls and har-

assed her on the street in the past.

Acting principal of the institute ABM Fazlul Karim told journalists it was a trivial incident and would be settled internally.

‘It was nothing but a misunderstanding.

One of the two accused was detained and was later released on bond but the key accused has gone into hiding’ “It was nothing but a misunderstanding. One of the two accused was detained and was later released on bond but the key accused has gone into hiding,” he added.

Dinajpur Kotwali police station Officer-in-Charge AKM Khalequzzaman said police were not aware of the incident as neither the victim nor the institute authorities had lodged a complaint.

Shihab could not be reached for comment. l

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DT

Tech

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

Underrated HTC 10 Everything you could possibly want in a flagship phone.

But is it the best?

n Mahmood Hossain For many, HTC has gone quietly under the radar, leaving its new HTC 10 flagship phone in an unfamiliar zone. This is to be expected after its average take on the HTC 9. Naturally, people were disappointed, and left the HTC brand somewhat undesirable.

There was no real innovation or attractive incentives that other Android smartphones were offering in the market. With that said, the HTC 10 is actually a pretty darn good phone.

At first glance, it’s a bit chunky.

However, once it’s in your hands, there is no mistaking that this device is not premium. It not only looks premium, it feels premium in your hands, and that’s always a good thing. And let’s face it, wouldn’t you want to hold something that actually feels like something you genuinely paid a

lot for? From the physical buttons to the more defined edges of the phone, the HTC 10’s design is noteworthy.

Even though HTC has ditched the dual-front BoomSound speakers, the speakers at the bottom of the phone and at the top-front work well together.

They aren’t as great sounding as its predecessors, but it isn’t something to fuss over. Truth is, most people use earbuds and headphones anyway. Higherend headphones actually work amazingly with this phone. Audio aside, the specs are dead-on. They nailed it with the Snapdragon 820 chip, Adreno 530 GPU, matched with the 4GB of RAM. Let’s not forget the slot for expandable storage. We all love and want extra space, no doubt about that.

Under the hood specs give the experience in navigating and operating of the HTC 10 a

wonderfully smooth one. The 3,000mAh battery boosts the overall experience as well, it can last pretty much the whole day.

The camera, on the other hand, is a different story. It’s not the greatest, but it’s decent. The 12-megapixel camera does an okay job with 4K video and honing in the colour accuracy of its photos.

Overall, the new HTC 10 is actually worth the buy. The design isn’t radical but welcoming. The specs are definitely of today’s standards, which makes your everyday use of the phone, a joyous one. This new flagship is a solid device, and worth giving HTC another chance. l

Huawei Y6Pro Factsheet Huawei Consumer Business Group today reveals the Huawei Y6Pro, one of the only phones in the market that can last for days of heavy usage, and the ideal device for those who need their phone to last and last. Its super-powerful battery also boasts an extremely quick charge time – just 10 minutes of charging from 0% battery delivers 3 hours of call time – and if that wasn’t enough, the device doubles as a portable charger, powering up devices and other phones on the go.

At Huawei’s, more than USD30 billion accumulated in Research and Development investment over last decade, the device has been

put through up to 50 different vigorous performance and safety tests, to ensure it matches the demands a smartphone fanatic would put on it.

The most powerful battery in its category • 4000mAh battery Y6Pro provides about 90 hours of light use, 48 hours of heavy use and 12 hours of web surfing.

Feature-packed camera experience • 13MP rear-facing camera with F2.0 aperture • 5MP front-facing camera with F2.2 aperture • Seven piece multi-layered lens used to create a superior lens experience • Panorama mode • Photo editing features, including 10-level auto face enhancement Stunning, tactile design • Distinct thin metallic texture coating technique • Non-conductive vacuum coating • Anti-false touch button design • Ergonomic water-wave curve handset design l

DT

10

Feature

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

CBA10 Youth Conference building bridges n Adnan Qader The key to building a more resilient future is to break barriers that divide us. Building bridges amongst people, generation, race, and cultures, is a stepping stone towards a positive future, and what can be a better bridge than the youth of our nation and the world’s. CBA10 successfully hosted the 5th Youth Conference in Dhaka, on April 26-27. The conference was hosted under the joint collaboration of ICCCAD, Plan International Bangladesh, Save the Children, WaterAid, Actionaid, BYEI, and NSU. Climate change has always been an important topic; this year has by far been the hottest, and Bangladesh has failed to see the lights of 'kaal boshakhi' storm yet, until yesterday. But talking about our current generation, I think highlighting the adverse effects of climate change is more important than its existing acknowledgment.

One must understand that to win a race against climate change, one must start tackling the problems.

Hence, adaptation and building resilience is a crucial aspect for our

Apekshya Niraula Talking to Apekshya Niraula, I started off the conversation in Bangla, failing to realise she is from Nepal. This phenomenon

Lars Bernd

current status quo, especially for the youth.

This year’s Youth CBA became a platform for youths to be the agent for change under the theme of urban resilience. Some of the key topics covered were gender, hygiene, governance, migration, leadership, and innovative thinking.

The question raised by the young participants was not why but how such diverse topics were related. Encouraging them to participate is not only a viable solution but a mandatory one.

Gender Points on gender equality was addressed. “Beauty is not only for women but men too,” some of the quotes stressed on the derivation of a mindset created in the current status quo, talks about women empowerment only. However, this wasn’t the case, the importance of men’s rights were also covered in the session. It is highly crucial that women and men get the platform to pave the path for equality for a better construction of our SDG goals.

“Breaking barriers and coming

out of the box aspect on tackling climate change, and both men and women play a crucial role, hence equality must be recognised” – said Ina F Islam, a participant.

Migration It’s hard for certain people who live in the comfort of their cities to believe that problems such as climate change exists. As they live in an air cooled bubble, they question why were so many people migrating into the cities. What they fail to understand is that climate change is real and people do suffer from it.

13% of the total population of migrants coming into the cities is the youth, and they play a crucial part in contributing to the city’s economy. Starting from the RMG sectors, vendors, rickshaw pullers, one cannot imagine the contribution they do for our city's growth. But one seldom forgets why they are here in the first place.

Nearly four million disaster related displacements have been reported over the period of 2008 to 2013. In the mid-century, half of all Bengalis are likely to be living in the urban centres. Hence it is crucial for the

youth of the urban areas to be more aware of the problems due to over population, displacement, and the diseases caused by migration, so that they are more reliant for the latter.

Hygiene On hygiene and the importance of water sanitation, the speakers from WaterAid highlighted the problems of urban water sanitation.

More than 13% of public toilets are unclean in Dhaka city, and are rendered unusable. And the youth's solution to the problem is not just initializing acts towards resilience but incorporating them form a bottom up approach.

Cleaning hands before and after meals and before serving are some of the common practices which should be implemented, but awareness should be done in every household and schools to enhance he practicing ability.

Delta Plan The youth conference sealed the bridge by implementing some important sessions, where innovators and professionals contributed ideas and knowledge

sharing rounds. The launch of the delta plan and youth competition builds the idea around the give and take relation, where youth can contribute to the current problems of the delta region. A major idea of discussion regarding the plan and its projected fruit in the future was the role of the urban youth to aid in slowly producing tangible yields to the plan. This session was conducted by Jennifer Khadim from ICCCAD. All in all the youth conference summed up the importance of youth engagement and idea sharing for the youth. It created a platform for young people to engage in ideas of the current status quo, and they learned how to incorporate ideas for overall preparedness. The youths left with the promise of building and shaping their stepping stone for the betterment of the future. l Compiled by Adnan Qader, Communications, Youth Programme International Center For Climate Change and Development with contributions from Samiul Alam, Tasneem Disha, Kh Zannath and Kim Z Sabir

alone shows that human beings are human beings regardless of race, gender creed, and color. The only thing that separates us is our nations and perspective. Apekshya is a human rights activist, who believes in building bridges to understand perspectives of different nations. She was mesmerised by how people from Bangladesh are paving the path for development, and want to implement strategies in Nepal, under our picture, hoping to set an exemplary role in building resilience. She quotes, “As a youth it is crucial to encourage my generation, to protect my future it is crucial that I learn to protect my present.”

Lars Bernd from Unicef, India, talked about resilience in schools of India on tackling disaster. Imamul Azam from Plan International Bangladesh, stressed the importance of earthquake resilience in school level. He stressed that schools should be well constructed, a committee should be present to overlook the problems, and earthquake education should be incorporated in school curriculum.

Photos: Courtesy

Pablo Suarez

Climate games hosted by Pablo Suarez depicted and gave snippets of the importance of resilience in terms of community based

adaptation. He raised the importance of community working together in terms of decision making. Again building bridges amongst strangers and training individuals to work together was the main agenda of the climate games. This year’s games concentrated on floods, droughts, cyclones, and disaster preparedness.

DT

Editorial 11

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

INSIDE

Where the press can work freely The great poet and Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore dreamed of a country ‘where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; where knowledge is free’ PAGE 12

The importance of April 29 This was the day on which Adolf Hitler realised that he would soon be killed by the approaching Soviet Army. He and his long time companion, Eva Braun, married that night, and, a few hours later, took their own lives PAGE 13

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Labour rights begin at home

The Narada-Saradha sting effect Politics is not what people watch on TV and politicians are not those who appear in newspapers or TV shows, but they are local leaders and those higher-ups whose presence is crucial to get a bed in a public hospital, to get ration cards, or NREGA wages PAGE 14

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

The views expressed in Opinion articles are those of the authors alone. They do not purport to be the official view of Dhaka Tribune or its publisher.

I

t is disturbing that the poor work conditions endured by domestic workers are still commonly overlooked in most national discussions on labour rights.

The exclusion of domestic workers from the 2006 Labour law has exacerbated a situation in which household workers are routinely denied reasonable time off and are paid pitiful wages.

While the government has recognised this problem by approving the Domestic Worker Protection and Welfare Policy 2015, it is still long overdue for it to implement this act and launch a national awareness program to make sure it is upheld.

This is especially urgent for the estimated 400,000 children engaged in full-time domestic service. It needs to be a top priority to make sure all children engaged in domestic work are safeguarded and provided with education.

However, the scale of abuse and neglect associated with domestic work runs much deeper than underage workers alone. Instances of physical, mental, and sexual harassment among the country’s two million domestic workers are shockingly high. Ain O Salish Kendra records dozens of cases of violence against domestic workers every year, with at least 19 deaths occurring in the first nine months of 2015 alone.

By laying out common sense directives on working hours, stopping the employment of child workers, providing entitlements to leave, pay, training, and medical care, and protecting domestic workers from harassment, the new act can go a long way to changing attitudes.

The government must make it a top priority to make sure domestic workers are treated with dignity and respect.

Employers and employees alike will benefit from a clear framework that guarantees minimum rights and protection for domestic workers.

Improving rights for domestic workers will make things better for all workers.

By raising the floor for neglected domestic workers, employers in other lowskilled industries will be incentivised to do more to raise standards.

All workers can benefit from higher standards to ensure domestic workers are treated with dignity

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DT

Opinion

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

Democracy can only flourish where the press can work freely A free press plays an essential role in any working democracy

n Marcia Bernicat

T

oday, we celebrate World Press Freedom Day. Established by the United Nations, it offers us an opportunity to celebrate the essential role that press freedom plays in a democracy.

As President Obama said, World Press Freedom Day is “a time for us to reflect and honour all those journalists who are languishing in jail as we speak right now, are being harassed, are in danger, and, of course, journalists whose lives were lost.”

Around the world, we pay tribute to journalists, who defend democratic ideals because of their commitment to discovering and sharing the truth, despite the enormous dangers they face.

The great poet and Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore dreamed of a country ‘where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; where knowledge is free.’

I believe he was dreaming of a Bangladesh where writers of all types, thinkers, and journalists could share the truth as they understand it, without fear of reprisal. We honour that vision together

Is no news better than bad news?

Journalists play an essential role in a democracy.

They hold our leaders, and us -- the citizens -- accountable; they provide an unvarnished portrait of our society and of ourselves; they help ensure good governance.

Because of their role, journalists are often targeted by those who feel threatened.

Too many have been jailed, intimidated, or even killed as they have endeavoured to report

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on the challenges facing their communities, their countries, and our world.

Democracy can only flourish where the press can work freely.

As journalists defend our democracy, we must defend them.

We must protect press freedom as a fundamental human right to the benefit of citizens everywhere.

The great poet and Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore dreamed of a country “where the

mind is without fear and the head is held high; where knowledge is free.”

I believe he was dreaming of a Bangladesh where writers of all types, thinkers, and journalists could share the truth as they understand it, without fear of reprisal. We honour that vision together. l Marcia Bernicat is US Ambassador to Bangladesh.

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DT

Opinion

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

The importance of April 29 A day to remember, for all sorts of weird reasons

Thailand and Indonesia where new golf courses were being built.

Small farmers were being pushed off their agricultural land, which were gradually transformed. Exotic soil and grass, chemical fertilisers, fungicides and weedicides, as well as machinery, were all imported to substitute for natural eco-systems.

The environmental impacts included water depletion and toxic contamination of the soil, underground water, surface water, and the air. This in turn led to health problems for local communities, populations downstream, and even golfers, caddies, and chemical sprayers in golf courses.

This was the day on which Adolf Hitler realised that he would soon be killed by the approaching Soviet Army. He and his long time companion, Eva Braun, married that night, and, a few hours later, took their own lives

Sometimes, it’s good to just let your hair down and dance

n Julian Francis

T

here are a number of reasons that make April 29 a very special day, bringing both joy but also considerable sadness.

April 29 is International Dance Day, a day to “let your hair down” and enjoy yourself. Country dances around the world are celebrated with both the old and the young having an enjoyable time. The International Dance Day message author for 2016 is Canadian Susanne Chui, and her message reads: “Initiated in 1982 by the International Dance Committee of the UNESCO International Theatre Institute, International Dance Day falls on April 29 of every year, commemorating the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre, a distinguished choreographer that brought about significant reforms in ballet production.

Since 2005, the Canadian Dance Assembly has issued a Canadian message in conjunction with the UNESCO message. This year, CDA invited East Coast artist Susanne Chui of Mocean Dance to share her inspirational message to all Canadians.”

“We are always in motion; our blood flows, our lungs expand and contract, and our hearts beat like a drum keeping time. All around us the world is in motion; leaves flutter, waves roll and crash, cars zip by. Inside of this wonderful life-song our minds and spirits swirl, connecting us to our inner and outer worlds and to each other. Dance is inside and all around us; all we have to do is open to it.”

“Remember the first time you felt the urge to dance. Perhaps it was a moment of pure joy or a moment of sorrow; maybe you were alone or with others, in your living room, in a dance class, in

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an open field; perhaps there was music playing or perhaps it was quiet. Something inside of you could not be contained. You were moved and it moved you. Dancing from this place is expansive, it’s electric. You can see it in children moving freely; you can see it in someone letting loose on a dance club floor; and you can see it in a brilliant performance on stage.”

“It is from this pure place of dance that I call upon us to awaken this International Dance Day (and every day!), and to share it with the world.”

“Happy International Dance Day!”

1991 cyclone

In Bangladesh, we remember the devastating cyclone of April 29, 1991, Cyclone 2B, which devastated the coastline and offshore islands of Chittagong, Chakoria, and Cox’s Bazar.

Although the official death toll was

138,000, it is estimated that many more perished on that fateful night.

It took several weeks to recover the bodies of the victims. As many as 10 million people, by some accounts, were left homeless by Cyclone 2B. Additionally, a million head of cattle were lost. Because of this, and the heavy loss of crops, shortage of food supplies posed a critical danger to the survivors.

World No-Golf Day

April 29 is also observed in some countries as “World No-Golf Day” because, on this day in 1993, the Global Anti-Golf Movement was launched at a meeting in Penang, Malaysia by some Asian environmental organisations.

At that time, the cost of playing golf in places like Japan had skyrocketed and golf tourism started whereby Japanese businessmen would travel to countries like

Adolf Hitler and April 29, 1945

This was the day on which Adolf Hitler realised that he would soon be killed by the approaching Soviet Army.

He had learned that day how the Italian war-time leader Mussolini had been brutally killed and his dead body put on public display.

Hitler was determined to avoid that sort of end. He and his long time companion, Eva Braun, married that night, and, a few hours, later took their own lives.

This writer, born on April 29, 1945, believes that Hitler, in fact, committed suicide on hearing of his (the writer’s) birth! l Julian Francis received the ‘Friends of Liberation War Honour’ from the Government of Bangladesh in March, 2012. He has worked in many poverty alleviation projects in Bangladesh where he continues to live and work as an independent consultant.

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The Narada-Saradha sting effect Trinamool may not be able to repeat its 2011 assembly election performance

n Garga Chatterjee

E

ven before the stillunverified-but-widelybelieved-to-be-authentic footage by Narada showing top Trinamool leaders, including some very senior minsiters and MPs, accepting bundles of hard cash and talking indiscreetly about various deals and fixings, the Trinamool did not exactly enjoy a public perception of being an incorruptible party.

Though the Trinamool banks heavily on its supremo Mamata Banerjee’s personal honesty (“Shototar protik,” or the symbol of honesty, very common in Trinamool election propaganda graffiti in West Bengal’s walls and banners), the same cannot be said about the functionaries of the party itself.

All across the Indian Union, kickbacks and fixings are the everyday norm. While that doesn’t make it right by any account, it is not unique. What is probably unique is the sheer breadth of the party leadership that appears to be indulging on camera in activities that many of them were believed to be indulging in many ways.

The Narada “expose” is not the first corruption charge that has put Trinamool in the dock. Before that came the Saradha scam and a sustained media campaign of the syndicate-raj of the Trinamool.

The Saradha scam that affected a huge number of people with many losing their life’s savings is only one of several such ponzi schemes that have affected West Bengal in recent times.

What sets Saradha apart is the very public bonhomie that the Trinamool leadership shared with the Saradha chief Sudipto Sen and also the West Bengal government patronage of some of its media ventures.

However, the emergence and popularity of Saradha, like small-savings scheme, have to be seen in the context of the systematic attack unleashed by the Central government on the traditional small savings schemes like Post Office by decreasing agent commissions and making return rates unattractive in order to extract these savings of the poor and channelise that into big corporate economy.

This drove millions of poor people to such ponzi schemes in West Bengal and many other states.

Even after the Saradha implosion and a sustained media attention on the issue, Trinamool’s electoral fortunes did not diminish

-- as was evident in the municipal elections, the Panchayat elections, and in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the last one being conducted with the assistance of central forces and hence less tainted by the allegations of partisan policing and election monitoring that has plagued local body elections in West Bengal for the past four decades. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamool reduced every other party of West Bengal to low single digits in terms of seats, itself winning more than 75% of the seats.

And that brings us back to politics and at the root of it all, the people.

Outside the upper-middle class silos of urban citizenry who do not have to interact with the political class for anything, the only kind of corruption that really gets on their nerves is in small bribes they need to pay to get work done fast; both politics and corruption have very different meanings.

Firstly, politics is not what people watch on TV and politicians are not those who appear in newspapers or TV shows, but they are local leaders and those higherups whose presence is crucial to get a bed in a public hospital, to get ration cards, or NREGA wages,

Mamata Banerjee’s individual honesty is no excuse for her party’s dishonesty

Politics is not what people watch on TV and politicians are not those who appear in newspapers or TV shows, but they are local leaders and those higher-ups whose presence is crucial to get a bed in a public hospital, to get ration cards, or NREGA wages, or basic infrastructure like roads and sanitation

or basic infrastructure like roads and sanitation. That many of their political leaders, across the political spectrum, take money regularly is not an open secret. It is open knowledge.

Hence, it does not come with the same sense of shock. The sense of outrage on the loot of funds, especially public funds, is directly proportional to the stake and power an individual has in the workings of the government.

Neither the central government nor the state governments have given the people any such stake.

Hence, corruption is a fact of life and while not irrelevant, does not have the same priority as an election issue as more basic and life-relevant issues like food security, livelihood, personal and family security (in case of

minorities of various kinds), access to government schemes, rural health infrastructure, rural road situation, daily police atrocities, government support to small farmers for agriculture and various other issues have.

It is not that Narada or Saradha does not matter. It does and the Trinamool might not be able to repeat its 2011 assembly election performance. The majority has seen both CPI(M) and Trinamool functionaries get very rich over the years, in front of their eyes.

So, even if the Narada footage is sensational, it is not exactly new knowledge. That knowledge about corruption and the corrupt has largely been factored into the voting patterns of the people, is true for Saradha.

The effect of Narada is yet to be

seen. However, till now, no opinion poll, including those taken after the Narada “expose” was public, has the Trinamool losing these elections. Things can change rapidly, but that’s where we are now. Trinamool Congress has a particular problem.

Through its rise to political power, it has been able to alienate much of the big corporates who typically bless electoral politics and politicians with “favours.”

That’s how all major parties are run.

Political leaders and their governments that have alienated big corporates still have a party to run and hence they have no choice but to lean towards small volume “donations” from much smaller sized players. The greater are the instances of money exchange, the

REUTERS

greater is the chance of getting caught. Big corporates “donate” for big stakes -- in rivers, oceans, mines, forests, etc. Small players play for medium-size government contracts and such.

If the Trinamool had relented on its stance on land acquisition and allowed forcible acquisition of peasant land by government for the “greater public good” of giving it up to big corporates, it wouldn’t have found itself in the soup that it is presently in. A party that has faced the Saradha and Narada combo would have been written off long ago.

But that’s not true for Trinamool and that says as much about the political culture and reality of West Bengal as it does about the image of the Trinamool and the CPI(M) at the grassroots, where the majority is.

If the Trinamool loses to the CPI(M)-led alliance, one of the things it will signify is that grassroots-level corruption in the Trinamool era affected the majority more than in the CPI(M) era -- not that the Trinamool is some uniquely corrupt entity. l Garga Chatterjee is a political and cultural commentator. He can be followed on twitter @gargac.

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Business 15

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

INSIDE Workers’ leaders for safe workplace, job security Several trade union leaders have demanded a living wage, safe workplace, job security and the right to form unions for workers in the Bangladesh’s industrial sectors. PAGE 16

IEA chief: Oil price bottoming depends on global growth International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said yesterday that oil prices may have bottomed out, providing that the health of the global economy does not pose a concern. PAGE 17

Capital market snapshot: Monday DSE Broad Index

4,171.4

-0.6% ▼

Index

1,020.0

-0.5% ▼

30 Index

1,599.2

-0.8% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

4,611.8

4.3% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

100.3 -12.7% ▼

CSE All Share Index 12,821.0

-0.8% ▼

30 Index

-0.8% ▼

Selected Index

11,893.9 7,794.9

-0.7% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

245.0

14.4% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

10.8

34.6% ▲

10 banks overexposed by Tk2,000 crore to stocks

Bangladesh Bank says the banks need not sell shares to adjust the amounts with regulatory limit the decision as the policy supcapital market exposure to 25% of n Jebun Nesa Alo port is being offered only to the 10 their equity by July, 2016. Before Ten banks have a total of Tk2,000 crore overexposure to the capital market, but will not need to sell shares to adjust the amount in line with regulatory limit.

Bangladesh Bank says it will provide the banks with all necessary policy supports to bring down the exposure.

“The banks concerned have been asked to submit their proposal on what kind of support they need to adjust their stock investment beyond their regulatory limit,” said Subhankar Saha, executive director of Bangladesh Bank, in a clarification yesterday.

“Bangladesh Bank will provide support on case-to-case basis in line with their requirements,” he added.

Subhankar Saha admitted that the continuous downfall in stock prices had a connection with the adjustment of banks’ overexposure.

“There is a confusion about adjustment of banks’ stock investment overexposure, which led the market to decline,” he told a press conference at the central bank headquarters.

According to the bank company law (amended), the commercial banks will have to reduce their

the new bank company law was enacted, the banks were allowed to invest up to 10% of their liabilities in the stock markets.

‘Bangladesh Bank will provide policy supports to adjust overexposure’ Of the 10 banks, two banks have submitted their proposals to the central bank to convert their shares, which they are holding now and lend to their respective subsidiaries, into their capital of subsidiaries, according to Bangladesh Bank.

The rest eight banks delayed to submit their proposals as they are yet to take approval from their respective boards.

“If the banks’ stock overexposure convert their holdings and loans into their capital of subsidiaries, they need not to sell their holdings for bringing down their investment on shares within the regulatory ceiling of 25% of their capital,” said Subhankar.

He said Bangladesh Bank would not issue any circular in this regard to avoid generalising

banks that are overexposed to the capital market.

“Forty-six banks have already brought down their stock investment to the regulatory limit. So they need not to raise the capital of their subsidiaries,” said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

The stock market has been on decline for a long time as investors sold off their holdings in anticipation of heavy sell-off from the banks for their overexposure adjustment.

The key index DSEX of the Dhaka Stock Exchange slumped to one-year low last week.

“Bangladesh Bank informally directed those 10 banks not to go for selling of shares to adjust the overexposure,” said a senior executive of the central bank. He said the banks were under strict monitoring whether they were going to sell shares.

The central bank blamed the panic selling pressure from the retail investors for the recent market fall.

Bangladesh Bank hoped that when capital of subsidiaries would be raised, there would be more room for the banks to invest on stocks even after adjustment of overexposure. l

NBR urged to relax provision for whitening undisclosed money n Syed Samiul Basher Anik Income tax lawyers have urged the revenue authorities to relax existing legal provisions for whitening the undisclosed money from the upcoming fiscal year.

“Once the provision is relaxed, it will help bring a huge amount of undisclosed money to the mainstream economy and also stop the capital flight from the country,” said the tax lawyers during a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in the city yesterday. NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman presided over the meeting held at the NBR headquarters.

The leaders of Dhaka Taxes Bar Association (DTBA) also demanded the NBR raise the tax-free ceiling for individual taxpayers from next budget, so the ceiling gets consistent with the living costs of people.

The conditions for legalising undisclosed money remain very hard for such money holders to comply with, said DTBA President Abbas Uddin.

He said: “The NBR should relax the provision in case of investment of the undisclosed money in industrial and income generating sectors to encourage undisclosed money holders to make investment.”

He also feared that a huge amount of money might be smuggled out from the country if such benefit is not offered.  PAGE 16 COLUMN 1

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Workers’ leaders for safe workplace, job security

Stocks extend losses with volatility

n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Stocks extended their losses for the sixth straight session yesterday, as selling spree continued.

The benchmark index DSEX lost over 24 points or 0.6% to 4,171—its lowest since May 7 last year.

The Shariah index DSES was marginally down 5 points or 0.6% to 1,020. The blue chip comprising index DS30 dropped by over 13 points to 1,599.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX ended at 7,795, shedding over 55 points.

Being perplexed for the continuous fall, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission discussed with the top brokers and merchant banks the necessary steps to prevent the fall.

The market participation im-

Several trade union leaders have demanded a living wage, safe workplace, job security and the right to form unions for workers in the Bangladesh’s industrial sectors.

The leaders of several federations made the demands, while addressing the May Day rally, under their respective federation in front of National Press Club in Dhaka on Sunday.

“Ensure a safe workplace for RMG workers, allow trade unions in each factory of Bangladesh, grant a living wage for all the workers,” Nazma Akter, president of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, said.

Nazma urged the factory owners to provide six-month maternity

leave and 20% employment opportunity for disabled people. She also urged the government to ensure compensation for industrial accidents as per ILO Convention 121 and a 20% yearly increment along with two festival bonuses equal to the full wage.

“Occupation health and safety is very important for a worker. While a safe workplace and a healthy working environment are needed for better production,” Sirajul Islam Rony, president of Bangladesh Garment Workers’ Employee League said.

Meanwhile, people with different disabilities called the owners to ensure their employment as per their capacity to include themselves in the development process.

People with disabilities have the

right to exercise labour and trade union rights on an equal basis like the others, said leaders of Disabled Child Foundation.

The government as well as private sector entrepreneurs have to create employment opportunities for the disabled in order to power their working capability, he said.

“Though, I am physically challenged, I have the capacity to do something. I do not want to beg, I want an opportunity to earn,” Milan, a physically-challenged person who took part in a May day rally in front of the Press Club, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The physically challenged have to be included in productive work so they can contribute to the country as well as bear their own living expenses, he added. l

n Kayes Sohel

proved, as the total turnover increased 4.3% to Tk460 crore, mainly due to block trade of Tk138.5 crore in BATBC. Food and allied and bank were the most-traded shares, making up about 55% of the day’s total trade value.

Non-banking financial institutions, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications suffered the highest, almost 1% each.

Engineering, textile, banks and power closed also lower. Power and life insurance, however, managed to close positive.

Scripwise price movement was observed based on quarterly and annual corporate declarations. For example, Aramit Cement climbed more than 16%, Confidence Cement 14% and Emerald Oil 8% as their dividend payout satisfied investors. l

Grameen Bank ties up with SureCash n Tribune Business Desk Grameen Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to use SureCash mobile payment platform for its operation, the bank said in its statement yesterday.

Under the MoU, GB members will use SureCash mobile banking to receive loans, make installment payments and save money, using their own phones on a pilot basis.

Grameen Bank GM (Audit) Mahbubur Rahman and SureCash CEO Dr Shahadat Khan signed the MoU in presence of Acting Managing Director Ratan Kumar Nag, GM (Central Accounts Department), Babul Saha of Grameen Bank and CBO Md Abu Taleb of SureCash along with other high officials of the organisations.

Nag said: “Grameen Bank always welcomes new technology.

By introducing mobile banking service, Grameen Bank and Sure-

Cash will bring a new dimension to microfinance movement globally. This will make payments easier and safer for our members and reduce risk of carrying cash for our employees.”

SureCash is a complete mobile banking and payment platform, currently operating in agreement with six scheduled banks in Bangladesh.

Using this platform, a customer can send money all over the country, make various payments such as education fees, utility bills and online purchases, recharge mobile balance and receive personal remittance using own phone. Customers may open mobile banking account or deposit/withdraw cash at any of 40,000 SureCash retail agents across the country.

Grameen Bank, currently, serves more than 8.8 million members through 2,568 branches around the country. l

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

NBR urged to relax The association also demanded that the NBR should reduce the rate of penalty for failure in non-submission of income tax returns in time.

According to existing provisions, NBR will fine Tk1,000 penalty at a time or the 50% of tax payable as fine if any TIN holder fails to submit tax return within the deadline.

“50% penalty is too high and it needs to be rationalised,” said Go-

lam Sarwar, former president of the association.

The association also demanded withdrawal of the provision of depositing a portion of disputed tax amount assessed by taxmen as a condition for filing case in courts.

Currently, a taxpayer has to pay 10% of disputed tax for filing case in Taxes Appellate Tribunal and up to 25% of disputed tax for filing reference case in the High Court. l

Grameenphone CMO Yasir Azman displaying a ‘most affordable’ smartphone at the launching yesterday

GP

Grameenphone launches smartphones at less than Tk3,000 n Ishtiaq Husain Grameenphone has launched “most affordable” smartphones in partnership with handset makers LAVA and Okapia. The price range is within Tk3,000.

While launching the products in Dhaka yesterday, the mobile phone operator said this is to provide many, who want to use Internet on mobile phone but cannot afford a suitable handset, with smartphones at affordable prices.

Grameenphone launched two types of smartphones - LAVA Iris

505 and Okapia Alo. LAVA Iris will be sold at Tk2,945 and the Okapia Alo at Tk2,595.

“Although Bangladesh has the high-speed mobile Internet service, many still cannot use that due to lack of affordability to buy a smartphone,” said Yasir Azman, chief marketing officer of Grameenphone.

Currently, only 23% of the mobile phone users in Bangladesh have smartphones having access to the high-speed mobile phone Internet, he said.

Garmeenphone said the customers will receive a number of

value propositions from Grameenphone on purchase of the handsets, which are the lowest priced 3G-enabled smartphones in the local market.

The customers will receive 7-Day Early Life Failure (ELF) benefit, under which, if they find any manufacturing defect within 7 days the smartphone will be replaced for the client.

The customers will also receive “exiting bundle of benefits to feel a total cost of ownership for free.” Both handsets will have 1-year warranty from respective manufacturers. l

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‘Oil price bottoming depends on global growth’ n Reuters, Kitakyushu International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said yesterday that oil prices may have bottomed out, providing that the health of the global economy does not pose a concern.

Oil prices hit 2016 highs on Friday with Brent crude reaching $48.50 a barrel on optimism that a global oil glut will ease. That, coupled with a weaker dollar, has helped lift crude futures by more than $20 a barrel since prices plumbed 12-year lows below $30 in the first quarter.

A decline in non-OPEC production amounting to more than 700,000 barrels per day this year, and production outages such as in Nigeria and Kuwait, have driven the rally, Birol told Reuters on the sidelines of the Group of Seven energy ministers’ meeting in Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan.

International Energy Agency’s chief Fatih Birol speaks at a news conference REUTERS Asked if oil prices had bottomed out, he said: “It may well be the case, but it will depend on how the global economy looks like. In a normal economic environment, we

will see the price direction is rather upwards than downwards.”

“We believe under normal conditions towards the end of this year, second half of this year but

Sluggish factory activity sets global tone for second quarter n Reuters, Sydney Asian factories barely grew in April and those in the euro zone did little better despite heavy discounting, setting a sluggish tone yesterday for the global economy in the second quarter.

Japanese manufacturing activity shrank last month at the fastest pace in more than three years as major earthquakes disrupted production, while the former bright spot of India sank to a four-month trough and growth in China was all but flat.

The euro zone reading edged up only marginally, painting a more subdued picture of an economy that grew an encouraging 0.6% between January and March.

With manufacturing dogged by insufficient demand and excess supply, the regional readings are likely to reinforce the view that a recent pick-up in economic momentum will be difficult to sustain and further policy stimulus is needed.

“The backdrop remains one of sub-trend growth, inflation that is below target, difficulty in increasing revenue as margins are sacrificed to win modest volume gains, slow wage growth cramping spending and central banks that have used up much of their policy ammunition,” said Alan Oster, chief economist at National Australia Bank.

That has been a factor in foot-dragging by the Federal Reserve over a follow-up to its December rate hike, leaving the markets in a sweat in case US policymakers move in June.

The equivalent manufacturing reading from the US Institute of

Supply Management later yesterday was forecast to dip back to a modest 51.4, from 51.8, ahead of the always-pivotal payrolls report out on Friday.

While the Fed is contemplating when to hike next, the European Central Bank is preparing to buy corporate bonds as part of its trillion-plus euro asset purchase program.

The economy is growing but the pace is still very moderate. There’s no reason to the ECB to change its policy stance So far, the massive ECB stimulus and weaker euro has yet to feed through to euro zone factories which operated only marginally faster in April.

Markit’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 51.7 from March’s 51.6, a marginal improvement from an earlier flash estimate of 51.5.

“The economy is growing but the pace is still very moderate.

There’s no reason to the ECB to change its policy stance,” said Christoph Weil, economist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Deep discounting

Manufacturing growth was strong in Italy and, buoyed by rising demand at home and abroad, hit a three-month high in Germany. But in France activity contracted at the

steepest rate in a year.

What will probably make particularly grim reading for ECB policymakers is the deep price cuts factories were again forced in to in order to drum up new business.

The survey’s output price index was 47.4, higher than March’s 47.1 but the second-lowest since early 2010. Euro zone inflation again fell below zero last month as energy prices dropped.

Doubts about the effectiveness of the global monetary policy arsenal resurfaced last week when the Bank of Japan refrained from offering any hint of more stimulus, hitting stocks as the yen surged - a trend that continued on Monday.

Industry was already struggling to recover from the April earthquakes that halted production in the southern manufacturing hub of Kumamoto, and the Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing PMI fell to 48.2 from 49.1 in March.

In China, Sunday’s official PMI reading was barely positive at 50.1, a cold shower for those hoping fresh fiscal and monetary stimulus from Beijing would enable a speedy pick-up.

The findings were “a little bit disappointing”, Zhou Hao, senior emerging market economist at Commerzbank in Singapore, wrote in a note. “...This hints that recent China enthusiasm has been a bit overpriced and the data improvement in March is short-lived.”

South Korea’s activity stabilize at 50, but it also reported demand from China was the worst in three months, with exports to its biggest market tumbling 18.4% on-year. l

latest 2017, markets will rebalance.”

Birol said he hopes to see a rebound in upstream oil investments next year, following a 40% curb in investments over two years. NonOPEC output is set to fall by more than 700,000 barrels per day this year, the biggest decline in around 20 years, he said.

“What we would like to see is, after a big decline in 2015 and 2016, there will be a rebound in investments (in 2017), and bringing (investments) to the level of $600bn once again,” he said.

Birol said a third year of decline in investments would be problematic for oil markets as it could cause oil price spikes and increase volatility, which would not be good for consumers.

With global oil demand seen growing by 1.2 million bpd this year, the draw in global oil stock-

piles will start soon, which will help push up oil prices, he said.

“I think the trend is that there’s a decline of stocks worldwide and the stock building rate is slowing down considerably, and we expect towards the end of this year stock draw will start to kick in,” he said.

Birol said that despite the recent rally in oil prices, it will take a while to change the direction of falling US oil production.

“It will depend on how high the price recovery will go and how long the level of prices will stay,” he said.

“Our analysis shows we need $60-$65 of oil prices in order to reverse the trends in shale oil and this would require also some time for shale oil to come back because there’s a lot of work to be done.

We think up to one year is needed in order for shale oil production to change the trends.” l

Asian central banks tinker with policy transmission to rev up growth n Reuters, Manila Central banks in Asia’s emerging markets are introducing new policy tools to get lenders to cut borrowing costs and move credit more quickly through their slowing economies.

Analysts say the recent moves by countries like India, Indonesia and the Philippines will help short-term market rates more closely reflect changes in benchmark policy rates, although desired results may not come as fast as some would like.

“The changes in the Philippines, Indonesia and India are all aimed in the same direction: making monetary transmission stronger,” said Vaninder Singh, Asia economist at RBS in Singapore.

“This, in my view, is a good development as it helps improve the monetary infrastructure within Asia.”

Importantly, these steps also help reduce the need for central banks to deploy unconventional and controversial policies, such as quantitative easing or negative rates.

In India and Indonesia, key emerging economies in the region, authorities have recently announced steps to unclog the credit channels as external demand wilts and deflationary pressures slash factory output and overall growth.

Analysts say there are a host of issues undermining policy transmission in much of Asia, including redtape, regulatory hurdles and the captive funding sources for businesses.

An International Monetary Fund working paper in 2015 also highlighted a high dependence on bank loans as a the primary source of financing

for Asia’s corporates as a cause of constrained bank credit channels.

Growth in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, slowed to a six-year low last year, heaping pressure on the central bank to get traction on its monetary policy.

Bank Indonesia (BI) has cut its rates three times this year but remains frustrated lenders have not lowered loan rates.

This month, BI announced a move to use the seven-day reverse repurchase rate as its new policy benchmark - instead of the 12 month rate - to better align lending rates with rates in the more liquid money market.

In India, central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan this month announced steps to prod banks to pass on the full benefits of monetary stimulus to the wider economy by cutting the reserves banks are required to hold with the central bank and injecting liquidity.

The Philippines will also start using an interest rate corridor from this quarter to guide market interest rates towards its main policy rate.

In first gear

The proposed fixes, however, may take some time to produce an impact, analysts say, as lenders will need to have confidence in both liquidity conditions and the trajectory of market rates whenever central banks move the policy lever.

In India, for instance, rising bad loans in the past four years have put pressure on bank balance sheets, in turn making lenders reluctant to pass on Reserve Bank of India’s rate cuts. l

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Indonesia takes aim at palm oil after forest fires n AFP, Jakarta

France warns could nix TTIP if agriculture threatened n AFP, Paris

Indonesia is pushing to ban new palm oil operations after last year’s haze-belching forest fires were partly blamed on the industry’s expansion, but producers are warning the move could hit the economy and green groups are sceptical.

President Joko Widodo in April proposed a halt on granting new land for palm oil plantations in the world’s top producer of the edible vegetable oil, a key ingredient in many everyday goods, from biscuits to shampoo and make-up.

In a statement, he said that “palm oil concessions available at the moment are already adequate” and urged producers to concentrate on using better seeds to increase their yields.

Plantations on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo have expanded in recent years as demand for palm oil has skyrocketed, bringing huge profits to companies and healthy tax revenues to the government.

But the rapid growth has been blamed for the destruction of tropical forests that are home to many endangered species, and forest fires that occur every year during the dry season due to illegal slashand-burn clearance.

The 2015 blazes were the most serious for some years, worsened by dry weather caused by an El Nino phenomenon, and cloaked large stretches of Southeast Asia in toxic smog for weeks, causing hundreds of thousands to fall ill, disrupting air travel and fuelling anger at Jakarta.

The proposed moratorium on new concessions is the latest move

by Widodo aimed at reducing environmental destruction caused by the industry and halting the annual smog outbreaks.

France will reject the ambitious TTIP transatlantic trade pact if it endangers the future of French agriculture, President Francois Hollande warned yesterday.

“We in France have to defend a certain number of principles” and be “extremely vigilant as it is the future of agriculture which could be at stake,” Hollande’s office said.

French politicians have queued up in recent days to express reservations about the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pact, while public support for the pact has also noticeably been sagging in neighbouring EU powerhouse Germany.

Hollande said France was watching the TTIP proposals take shape “but will say no to any conclusion which would put our agriculture in difficulty.”

He added that France wanted to see trade based on principles “including environmental ones,” while stressing the importance of certain products retaining protected designation of origin status, such as cheeses and champagne.

Hundreds of products across the European Union enjoy such status within an EU legal framework. Hollande weighed into the debate after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Tuesday that any deal “will not succeed if it does not guarantee that the (quality) standards we have in France for our citizens’ health and environment will be maintained.”

France’s minister of state for foreign trade Matthias Fekl is also hawkish on the outcome. Asked if a deal may be reached before the end of US President Barack Obama’s term in January, Fekl, French envoy to the TTIP talks, said last week: “No, I don’t think so. The likelihood, or risk, of reaching any accord is fading.” l

Plantations on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo have expanded in recent years as demand for palm oil has skyrocketed, resulting in the destruction of vast tracks of jungle AFP

Indonesia is one of the top 5 import partners of Bangladesh, according to Bangladesh Bank data. Bangladesh imported goods worth $1.4bn or 3.7% of total imports in FY15 from Indonesia But the Indonesian Palm Oil Association warned that the ban could damage a mainstay of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy that supports 24 million jobs, directly or indirectly.

“Palm oil is a strategic sector which contributed $19bn in exports in 2015,” said Tofan Madji, a spokesman for the group, which represents some 650 companies.

“It contributes to economic growth, especially in remote areas.”

‘Forest will keep burning’

Activists were cautious about the

proposal, with Greenpeace Indonesia warning it would not be effective unless the government introduces a tough regulation, rather than just a weaker “presidential instruction”.

The details of the proposed moratorium are still being discussed, and it is not yet clear when it will be adopted, the environment ministry said.

Kiki Taufik, Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner, also warned of implementation problems as various parts of government would need to work together for a ban to operate smoothly.

“This is probably one of the hardest parts. Lack of coordination among officials is common and it often leads to bad implementation of regulations,” Taufik said.

Implementation of laws is also difficult due to heavily decentralisation of power across the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with rules set in Jakarta often flouted by local administrations.

A moratorium on new logging permits on primary forest and peatlands - defined as areas not logged in recent history - has been in place since 2011, but campaigners say it has sometimes been ignored when local governments grant concessions.

The palm oil plan follows a 2015 ban on new development on all peatlands after swathes of carbon-rich peat were drained for use as plantations in recent years, creating highly flammable areas. l

CORPORATE NEWS

Prime Bank Limited and Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) have recently signed an agreement on providing customers of BTCL with the facility to pay bills at selective branches of Prime Bank Limited. The bank’s managing director, Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury and managing director of BTCL, Golam Fakhruddin Ahmed Chowdhury signed the agreement

AB Bank Limited has recently celebrated its 34th founding anniversary by organising a cultural programme, said a press release. Minister for Cultural Affairs, Asaduzzaman Noor and the bank’s first sponsor chairperson, M Morshed Khan were present on the occasion along with the bank’s chairperson, M Wahidul Haque

| seminar |

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Biz Info

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

| holiday |

Mother’s Day Celebrations at Six Seasons

Dr. Ed L Hansen, Managing Director, PGA-International presenting in the Work Session

Work Session on Emotional Intelligence held at ULAB University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organised a work session on Emotional Intelligence, held on Monday, May 2, 2016 at ULAB Auditorium. The session was conducted by Dr Ed L Hansen, Managing Director of PGA-International.

Dr Ed L Hansen has more than 30 years of practical C-level

experience in simple to complex organisations, in starts-up to stable mature organisations.

In his presentation, he showed the comparison between the reactions of people who are IQ dominant and EQ dominant. He said emotional intelligence requires effective communication between the

rational and emotional centers of the brain.

The session ended with the vote of thanks by ULAB Vice-Chancellor, Prof Imran Rahman. Faculty members and administration members were present in the work session, while Student Affairs Office coordinated the session. l

views of Gulshan lake and the city. Sky Pool’s buffet dinner will be available at Tk1,999 all inclusive, per person. At Saran Rom Thai Spa, special mother and daughter getaway package can be enjoyed at Tk4,999, all inclusive. For more details, contact: 01987009810, 01987009838. l

| restaurant |

| health |

Tawa

Apollo Hospitals

Apollo Hospitals Dhaka has observed a graceful event in observance of the Autism Awareness month (April 4th, 2016 was World Autism Awareness Day). The event was held with the topic of ‘General Medical and Dietary Management Challenges of Autism Spectrum Disorders.’ A mini medical camp was organised by the dietary department. The event was held at the auditorium of Apollo

This Mother’s Day, honour your mother by giving a special treat to her at Six Seasons Hotel.

Treat her with a complimentary lunch or dinner at Bunka Restaurant, with 80 plus items along with a delicious Mother’s Day special cake. Not to be outdone, Sky Pool restaurant is hosting a special Mother’s Day buffet dinner with scenic

Hospitals Dhaka on the morning of April 28th, where 50 students of a voluntary organisation PFDA (Parent forum for Differently able Children) had a measurement of weight, height, BMI, blood pressure, and blood glucose level. The PFDA children actively participated in a spontaneous and lively cultural performance.

Dr Farzana Islam, Specialsit of the Child Development Centre, and Tamanna Chowdhury,

Principal Dietician of Apollo Hospitals Dhaka presented two scientific papers on feeding, eating, nutrition in autism spectrum disorder, and challenges of medical management of these children.

Sajida Rahman Danny, Founder President of Parents Forum for Differently Able, and Executive Director of PFDA-Vocational Training Center, was present at the event. l

The interior of Tawa is cozy and comfortable enough for your long chit-chats with friends and family. Pictures of Dhaka city in its younger years hang from its walls, that can make any city dweller nostalgic. The tranquil atmosphere with bright natural light during the day, and ambient lighting when night falls, along with a wide selection of scrumptious kebabs, and curries at an affordable price range, makes this restaurant an

impressive and remarkable place for arranging social parties and get-togethers. The servers are affable and courteous, and their service is prompt. Overall, Tawa provides an impeccable and exemplary dine-in experience with lip-smacking kebabs and delicious curries, worth reminiscing.

Address: House 02, Road 08, Block D, Banani, Dhaka Hotline : 01630-547000 l

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Downtime

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Mock (4) 6 Drinking vessel (3) 7 Shift (4) 9 Prosecutes (4) 10 Love god (5) 11 Of the kidneys (5) 12 Incite (3) 14 Kingly (5) 17 Staggers (5) 20 Everyone (3) 21 Month (5) 23 Indistinct (5) 25 Period of prosperity (4) 26 Not working (4) 27 Melody (3) 28 Becomes firm (4)

DOWN 1 Court food (6) 2 Come forth (6) 3 Trick (4) 4 Mild explosion (3) 5 Colour (3) 7 Stubborn animal (4) 8 Essential (5) 10 Vehicle (3) 13 Icy cold (5) 15 In abundance (6) 16 Peruvian animals (6) 18 After due time (4) 19 Secret agent (3) 22 Wading bird (4) 23 Combine (3) 24 Arch (3)

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 17 represents C so fill C every time the figure 17 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.

A B C DE FG H I J K L MN O P Q RST UVWXYZ

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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.

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

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World 21

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

INSIDE

Five years after bin Laden’s death, al-Qaeda still going strong n Tribune International Desk

Global al-Qaeda franchises Al-Qaeda franchises have emerged on several continents since Osama bin Laden founded the Sunni jihadist network in 1988. Although the rival Islamic State group (IS) is considered the main extremist threat at present, groups affiliated with al-Qaeda -- whose name means The Base in Arabic -- have held their ground.

PAGE 22

Son of Pakistani immigrant favourite to run London Sadiq Khan, a Muslim lawmaker from Britain’s opposition Labour Party, is the strong favourite to win London’s mayoral election on Thursday after a bitter contest marked by religious tensions and accusations of racism.

PAGE 23

Five years ago on the first day of May, elite US special forces soldiers raided a walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and ended history’s most intense manhunt.

The death of Osama bin Laden was a significant symbolic blow to al-Qaeda, the violent jihadist organisation that he co-founded in the late 1980s.

But it was hardly the end of the group, which has lived on under the leadership of the bespectacled Egyptian physician Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Al-Qaeda is maybe stronger today than it was even at the time of the attacks of September 11, 2001,” says Scott Stewart, vice-president of tactical analysis at the intelligence firm Stratfor.

“It’s absolutely been diminished in some ways, but despite all the effort to stamp it out, al-Qaeda has managed to create an ‘arc of jihad’ that stretches from West Africa all the way to Southeast Asia.”

The organisation now claims a presence in 60 countries worldwide, with recent inroads in India and Bangladesh. It’s a situation that bin Laden always envisioned.

Al-Qaeda was intended to be the vanguard of a larger movement, a core of hardened jihadis who would provide resources and support to cells fighting apostate governments around the world.

“Always be sceptical of claims that al-Qaeda is on the verge of defeat, or that they’re irrelevant.

Terrorist organisations wax and wane, but al-Qaeda has proven to be truly resilient,” says Jeremy Littlewood, assistant professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Fighting the long war

Aussie entrepreneur reveals himself as bitcoin creator Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright told the BBC that he was the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin, but some scepticism remained about the identity of a person who until now has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.

PAGE 24

After 9/11, al-Qaeda became synonymous with terror. That has started to change in recent years, however, with the rise of the Islamic State (IS) and its campaign of incredible violence.

The two groups are now locked in a fierce battle for both practical gains, like fighters and territory, but also for the “hearts and minds” of jihadis, Littlewood says. It is a fight for the very soul of the broader jihadist movement.

Very different philosophies about how to wage war against their perceived enemies amplify this conflict.

Al-Qaeda has always taken a

Timeline of the 2011 Osama bin Laden mission

Five years on from the covert US operation that led to the killing of the Al-Qaeda chief, the CIA has tweeted a timeline of events as they unfolded Mission target: wanted dead or alive, head of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, codename “Crankshaft” May 1, 2011 in Washington 1:25 pm (Washington time) -@POTUS*, DCIA Panetta, & JSOC commander Admiral McRaven approve execution of op in Abbottabad. #UBLRaid *President of the United States Barack Obama 3:30 pm (00:30 am May 2, local time) 2 helicopters descend.

1 crashes, no injury

Edited CIA tweets 1:51 pm Helicopters depart

3:39 bin Laden found on third floor and killed

KABUL Jalalabad

Abbottabad Peshawar

AFGHANISTAN

3:39 - 4:10 Team retrieves materials for analysis 4:05 first helicopter leaves ISLAMABAD

5:53 Choppers return

TRIBAL REGION

4:08 assault team destroys crashed helicopter 4:10 backup chopper picks up remaining members

PAKISTAN 120 km Sources:@CIA

“long war approach,” a doctrine that bin Laden himself championed, according to Stewart.

It is absolutely essential, the reasoning goes, to defeat distant enemies-namely US and its allies - that prop up apostate regimes in the Middle East with money and arms. An enduring caliphate cannot be established until that happens. It could take 100 years, or it could take 1,000 years. No matter.

“Many more experienced jihadis have remained loyal to the idea at the centre of al-Qaeda that they should target Western states and meticulously lay the groundwork at the local level before a caliphate,” says Littlewood.

A more pragmatic approach

Despite IS’s battlefield successes, there’s growing consensus that al-Qaeda poses a greater longterm threat to both stability in the Middle East and to security of

Western nations.

This sentiment was backed up in a January report published by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC-based thinktank, that concluded the current US strategy has put too much emphasis on defeating IS while al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria has flourished.

Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, as it is alternatively known, has had a presence in Syria since the early days of the civil war.

Perhaps more than any other satellite, Jabhat al-Nusra illustrates how al-Qaeda plans to remain a potent force for years to come.

“It’s taken a very pragmatic approach, ingratiating itself with local populations and working, when necessary, with other more moderate rebel groups to achieve what it wants, namely the defeat of the Syrian regime,” says Stewart.

An idea that lives on

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group’s affiliate in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, has taken a similar approach, with fighters marrying into prominent families and allying with influential tribal leaders.

Once al-Qaeda becomes the dominant force in an increasing number of regions, it will be able to turn its attention back to its quintessential enemy: the US and its allies.

“It is fighting a long, long war, and its willing to fight that war for as long it takes, generation after generation. Al-Qaeda, more than anything, is an idea,” says Stewart.

“As long as that idea lives on, al-Qaeda is very, very dangerous.” l

[This is an excerpt of a CBC article, which can be found at http://bit. ly/21qlk04]

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World

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

POINTS TAKEN

Global al-Qaeda franchises Al-Qaeda franchises have emerged on several continents since Osama bin Laden founded the Sunni jihadist network in 1988.

Although the rival Islamic State group (IS) is considered the main extremist threat at present, groups affiliated with al-Qaeda -- whose name means The Base in Arabic -- have held their ground.

Here is a recap of al-Qaeda’s branches--

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was formed in January 2009 through a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of al-Qaeda, and is seen by Washington as the most active branch of the jihadist network, mainly in Yemen.

The group has exploited conflict between the Yemeni government and Shiite rebels who overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014, expanding its control in the country’s south. AQAP in June 2015 said it had appointed Qassem al-Rimi as its leader after his predecessor Nasser al-Wuhayshi was killed in a US drone strike. Both Rimi and Wuhayshi had tunnelled their way out of a Sanaa prison in 2006 along with 21 others. AQAP claimed the January 2015 attack against satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris, in which 12 were killed, and a botched attack on a US airliner flying to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. Before forming AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed the October 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 US military personnel.

Syria’s al-Nusra Front The al-Nusra Front first emerged in January 2012, 10 months after the start of anti-government protests in Syria that were brutally repressed by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. It was an offshoot of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), then an al-Qaeda affiliate. Al-Nusra, led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is estimated to have between 7,000 and 8,000 combatants, according to specialist Thomas Pierret. In April 2013, al-Nusra refused to join IS and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who later proclaimed al-Nusra the only branch of al-Qaeda in Syria. After that announcement, IS pushed al-Nusra out of its stronghold in the eastern oilrich province of Deir Ezzor.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) AQIM was founded in 2007 when the Algerian Salafist Group for preaching and combat pledged allegiance to Bin Laden. AQIM, which has drawn combatants from all over the Sahara region, set up bases in northern Mali, established drug trafficking networks and kidnapped westerners for ransoms. Some of its hostages were killed. AQIM withdrew to southern Libya following a January 2013 Franco-African military intervention in Mali. It is still active in the Maghreb and the Sahel regions where it has committed numerous attacks, notably in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali.

Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) In September 2014, al-Qaeda announced the launch of a South Asian branch, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), covering its home turf in Afghanistan and Pakistan along with India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Its strength is estimated at 500 to 600 jihadists, but it is linked to groups with thousands more combatants, such as the Afghani and Pakistani Taliban, according to analyst Amir Rana. In 2015-16, AQIS claimed several murders in Bangladesh of publishers and bloggers who were critical of Islam.

Somalia’s al-Shebab Stemming from Somalia’s Islamic Courts, the Shebab group led an armed insurgency that has plunged Somalia into chaos since 1991, declaring their allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2010. The group was chased out of the Somali capital Mogadishu in 2011, but remains a threat in both Somalia and neighbouring Kenya where it carries out regular attacks. l

Source: AFP

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

Nepal, northern India battle worst wildfire in years n Agencies Nepal and parts of northern India are battling their worst forest fires in years that have devastated thousands of hectares of woodland, killed at least 18 people and sent a pall of smoke across the southern Himalayas that can been seen from space.

In Nepal, 11 people have died while trying to fight fires that have razed 280,000 hectares of forest across the country, including two tiger reserves, the worst in six years, reports Reuters.

“This year we have experienced a longer spell of dry weather and the temperatures have risen significantly, contributing to the disaster,” Forest Ministry official Krishna Prasad Acharya was quoted by the news agency.

The worst forest fires in four years in India’s northern Uttarakhand state have killed at least seven people and disrupted the lives of thousands, an emergency official said on Monday.

The Uttarakhand fires have intensified in the past week, torching more than 2,000 hectares of forest.

With dense black smoke billowing in the skies for kilometers, authorities were urging villagers to be on alert and tourists to avoid traveling to the Himalayan foothills, popular during the summer

People are seen outside their home as a forest fire rages in Uttarkhand’s Pauri district HT for their cooler temperatures.

Dozens of fires were spreading unpredictably in the states of Uttarakhand and neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, officials said.

“We are struggling to bring the situation under control,” news agency Associated Press quoted Uttarkhand forest officer Bhanu Prasad Gupta as saying.

The thick smoke and remote, mountainous terrain were making the job difficult for some 9,000 firefighters, army soldiers and forest guards deployed to battle the flames, Gupta said. Nearby villages were asked to stay on alert, but

none has yet been asked to evacuate. Authorities set up 84 monitoring centers to receive reports of new fire outbreaks.

After state firefighters were unable for months to put out the fires, the Indian government sent air force helicopters over the weekend to drop water on blazes covering nearly 23 sq-km of pine forests, but operations were hampered by poor visibility.

The fires began early in February, after a particularly dry winter and two years of poor monsoon rains, and raged out of control last week as summer temperatures soared.

In total, 13 districts of Uttarakhand have been affected, along with 6 districts in Himachal Pradesh.

The fires were worsening the already-high air pollution over northern India, while also destroying forest ecosystems and affecting nesting birds and other animals.

“This can be compared with the worst fire of 2012,” Indian Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi. Four people had been arrested on suspicion of starting forest fires, he added.

In the first four months of this year, there have been more forest fires across India than in all of 2015 or 2014, according to Javdekar. The government counted 20,667 wildfires up to April 21 this year in the Himalayan foothills and in central and eastern India, he told lawmakers. By comparison, there were 15,937 forest fires recorded in 2015, 19,054 in 2014, and 18,451 in 2013.

The number of reported forest fires has jumped to 1,689 so far this year in Uttarakhand, compared to 207 for the whole of 2015, according to data from the Forest Survey of India. Forests cover about a quarter of India’s total area.

India typically sees a rise in forest fires as temperatures rise from mid-March until the rainy season begins in June. l

PORTRAYAL

Son of Pakistani immigrant favourite to run London n Reuters, London Sadiq Khan, a Muslim lawmaker from Britain’s opposition Labour Party, is the strong favourite to win London’s mayoral election on Thursday after a bitter contest marked by religious tensions and accusations of racism.

Polls show Khan, the son of a bus driver who migrated to Britain shortly before Khan was born in 1970, is as much as 20-percentage points ahead of rival Conservative Zac Goldsmith in the race to run one of the world’s top financial centres. If he wins, he will succeed current Conservative mayor Boris Johnson to become the first Muslim to head a major western capital.

London’s population of 8.6m is among the most cosmopolitan in the world and it is rare for identity politics to enter campaigning.

Yet Goldsmith, with the support of Prime Minister David Cameron, has for weeks focused on Khan’s faith and past appearances alongside radical Muslim

Sadiq Khan

REUTERS

speakers, accusing him of giving “platform, oxygen and cover” to extremists.

Former human rights lawyer Khan says he has fought extremism all his life and regrets sharing a stage with speakers who held “abhorrent” views.

He has accused Goldsmith, the elite-educated son of a billionaire financier, of using Donald Trumpstyle tactics to divide Londoners along faith lines, as well as being part of an out-of-touch wealthy elite.

“There’s a chance that there are people who are almost subconsciously put off (voting for Khan) by the dog-whistle racism ... peo-

ple who wouldn’t like to say ‘I’m not going to vote for Sadiq Khan’, but will have a wobble at the ballot box,” said Anthony Wells, director of political and social opinion polling at YouGov. But he added the impact was unlikely to be enough to allow Goldsmith to pull off a surprise victory.

Last week there was a new twist as Kahn’s party was accused of failing to stamp out anti-Semitism in its ranks amid a row over comments by another lawmaker on her Facebook account arguing that Israel should be moved to the United States.

Khan condemned the comment and distanced himself from former London mayor Ken Livingstone, who on Thursday was suspended from the Labour party for supporting the party member at the centre of the controversy.

The two mayoral hopefuls also have opposing stances on one of Britain’s most important strategic decisions: whether to remain a member of the European Union.

Goldsmith wants to leave, Khan

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World

wants to stay.

But even with a June 23 referendum on that issue looming -at which a vote to leave would create serious question marks over London’s role as a global financial centre -- the Brexit issue has barely featured in the campaign.

Both candidates have been eager not to alienate voters who disagree with them on Brexit, saying they will fight for the capital’s interests whichever way the country votes. Otherwise, their policies for the city are largely similar - more affordable housing, more transport investment and better local policing.

It is the political influence that comes with the post, the second-largest direct electoral mandate of any politician in Europe, that is perhaps most at stake. Polling shows neither Khan, 45, nor Goldsmith, 41, is likely to slip easily into the shoes of the incumbent Johnson, whose outsized personality was widely recognised from regular TV appearances before he took office. l

SOUTH ASIA

Sri Lanka sets up panel to investigate Panama Papers Sri Lanka announced Sunday it was setting up a special panel to chase after nationals likely to figure in the Panama Papers, a trove of leaked documents on global tax evasion.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said Colombo would investigate each and every Sri Lankan whose names were likely to come up when the Panama Papers became publicly available on May 9.

-AFP

INDIA

Congress accuses Modi of doctoring DoB, education information Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of doctoring his date of birth and educational qualifications and threatened to reveal the facts. Party leader Jairam Ramesh claimed that Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil would be addressing a press conference on Tuesday on the issue.

-HT

CHINA

Hundreds protest over sacking of Hong Kong editor Hundreds of protesters gathered Monday outside the headquarters of a Hong Kong newspaper where a respected editor was recently sacked after publishing a frontpage story linked to the Panama Papers leak. Protesters rallied over the firing of Keung Kwok-yuen, editor of investigative newspaper Ming Pao, saying it was further evidence of deteriorating press freedoms by China.

-REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

Wealth question hangs over Filipino mayor’s presidential run Allegations that the Philippine presidential election front-runner had a large sum of money in an undeclared bank account were not resolved Monday, allowing the issue to hang over the final week of the closely fought race. Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has alleged Mayor Rodrigo Duterte kept more than $4.2 million in a joint bank account with his daughter that he did not declare publicly in 2014 as required by law.

-AP

MIDDLE EAST

Triple car bombs against Shia pilgrims kill 14 in Baghdad Three bombs went off in and around Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 14 people, including Shi’ite Muslim worshippers conducting an annual pilgrimage inside the capital. The largest blast, which IS said it was behind, came from a parked car bomb in the Saydiya district of southern Baghdad that killed 11 and wounded 30.

-REUTERS

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World

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

USA

US, India discuss antisubmarine warfare US and India are in talks to help each other track submarines in the Indian Ocean, military officials say, a move that could further tighten defense ties between New Delhi and Washington as China steps up its undersea activities. Both US and India are growing concerned at the reach and ambition of the Chinese navy, which is taking an increasingly assertive stance in the South China Sea and is challenging India’s domination in the Indian Ocean.

-REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Man rescued 13 days after Ecuador quake Crews have rescued a 72-year-old survivor of Ecuador’s deadly earthquake almost two weeks after it struck the South American country, Venezuela announced on Saturday.

A visiting Venezuelan search team located Manuel Vasquez, who had been trapped under rubble since the 7.8-magnitude quake that killed 660 people.

-TELEGRAPH

UK

Cameron: Friendship with Boris Johnson damaged

by Brexit David Cameron has admitted that the rift with Boris Johnson over the EU referendum has damaged the pair’s close personal relationship.

The mayor of London’s decision to back the Leave campaign was a particular blow to the prime minister, whose friendship and rivalry with Johnson stretches back to their days at Eton and Oxford.

-THE GUARDIAN

INSIGHT

Fears of Trump drive immigrants to become citizens n Tribune International Desk On a recent Saturday morning in South Florida, 50-year-old Edgar Ospina stood in a long line of immigrants to take the first step to become an American.

Ospina has spent almost half his life in the US after emigrating from his native Colombia, becoming eligible for citizenship in 1990.

But with Donald Trump becoming a more likely presidential nominee by the day, Ospina decided to wait no more, rushing the paperwork required to become a citizen.

Immigrants like Ospina are among tens of thousands applying for naturalisation in the United States in a year when immigration has taken centre stage in the presidential campaign, especially in the race for the Republican nomination.

Trump, the GOP front-runner, has pledged to deport the estimated 11m people living in the US ille-

AFRICA

The death toll in the collapse of a six-storey building in Nairobi rose to 21 on Monday after four more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the residential structure that gave way during weekend storms. Kenya Red Cross said 60 people were still missing, meaning the final toll could be much higher. The building was home to more than 150 families. -AFP

cation, get fingerprinted, pass a civics and English exam and pay almost $700 in fees.

Ivan Parro, citizenship coordinator with the Florida Immigrant Coalition said immigrants laugh when he asks why they want to become Americans. “’You know why,’ they say, ‘I want to vote against racism and

hate,’ “ said Parro.

He says immigrants this year are “desperate to be part of the political process.”

Maria Cristina Giraldo, originally from Colombia and already a US citizen, said she is so fearful of Trump becoming president that she brought five relatives to a naturalisation workshop in South Florida. l

Bitcoin A digital currency that can be used to buy products online or be exchanged for other currencies

How to buy items using bitcoins

Denmark extends ID controls on German border

Kenya building collapse toll rises to 21

Participants hold the ‘Oath of Allegiance’ and American flags during a naturalisation ceremony in Washington, DC last year AP

Aussie entrepreneur reveals himself as bitcoin creator

EUROPE

Denmark on Monday extended random identification checks along the German border until June 2, saying they were needed to deter an extraordinarily large number of refugees and migrants from entering the country. The controls had already been extended five times. Last year Denmark largely served as a transit country for migrants travelling to Sweden, which at the time had some of Europe’s most generous asylum rules.

-AFP

gally. He’s also vowed to bar Muslims from entering the country and threatened to cut off remittances that Mexican immigrants in the US send back home. And he’s called for building a border wall — among other proposals to deal with unlawful immigration, saying the federal government has failed to protect the border from people and drugs illegally entering the country.

That rhetoric, immigrant advocates and lawmakers say, is driving many foreign-born residents to seek citizenship.

Nationwide, naturalisation applications are up 14% in the last six months of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014, according to the government.

And the pool of future US citizens is large. Nearly 9m legal permanent residents, or green-card holders, are eligible to become Americans. Of those, about 4m are Hispanic.

To qualify, immigrants must have been in the country five years, complete a 21-page appli-

A highly volatile currency

Buyer

Craig Wright

Electronic wallet stored on a computer or smartphone

CNN

Private key A secret code, akin to a PIN number

n Reuters, Sydney/Singapore Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright told the BBC that he was the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin, but some scepticism remained about the identity of a person who until now has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.

The BBC reported on Monday that Wright gave some technical proof demonstrating that he had access to blocks of bitcoins known to have been created by the digital currency’s creator.

Unmasking Nakamoto could be significant for the future of bitcoin, a computer-generated, digital alternative to other currencies that has attracted the interest of banks, speculators, criminals and regulators.

Researchers believe Nakamoto may be holding up to 1m bitcoins, which is worth about $440m , and

1

2 Buyer and seller use their private keys to autorise a transfer of bitcoins between their wallets

4

The bitcoin payment is transferred to the seller

3

A network of computers (”miners”) verify the transaction

14.5

million bitcoins are in circulation worldwide A unique address is created for each transaction

xx@domain.com

Seller the price of the crypto-currency could plunge if that was to be unloaded.

Wright declined requests from The Economist to provide further proof that he was Nakamoto.

The BBC said prominent members of the bitcoin community had confirmed Wright’s claim. “I was the main part of it, but other peo-

with no legal framework

ple helped me,” the BBC quoted Wright as saying.

Hopes that Bitcoin would become broadly used helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalisation was $13bn.

But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $7bn currently. Bitcoin fell more than

21

million is the maximum number that can ever be created

3% after news of Wright’s claims, from $454.89 to below $440, before recovering slightly.

Unlike traditional currency, bitcoins are not distributed by a central bank or backed by physical assets like gold, but are “mined” by users who use computers to calculate increasingly complex algorithmic formulas. l

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

INSIDE

Anamul ton propels Gazi Group Cricketers Anamul Haque’s first List A century in 16 months helped Gazi Group Cricketers crush Cricket Coaching School by six wickets in a battle between two newlypromoted sides in the Dhaka Premier League. PAGE 26

Afridi, Shehzad dropped Pakistan’s new selectors yesterday dropped star players Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal from next month’s tour of England after the country’s disastrous exit from the World Twenty20 in India. PAGE 27

The Bangladesh girls are all smiles following their title win in the AFC Under-14 Girls’ Regional Championship in Dushanbe yesterday

AFC U-14 GIRLS’ REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Barca stay ahead, Leicester on brink Barcelona remained at the La Liga summit as the top three sides all won while Leicester City and Bayern Munich missed the chance to secure the Premier League and Bundesliga titles. Bayern were held to a 1-1 home draw. PAGE 28

Pep under pressure for Atletico return Bayern Munich’s coach Pep Guardiola knows he needs to prove his critics wrong by overturning a 1-0 first-leg deficit against Atletico Madrid. Guardiola and Bayern are bidding to avoid losing a semi-final to a Spanish side for the third year running.

PAGE 29

Bangladesh girls thrash India, retain title n Tribune Report The future of women’s football in Bangladesh is all set for a bright future as the Under-14 national side continued their outstanding display in the AFC U-14 Girls’ Regional Championship, clinching their second successive title beating neighbours India in the grand finale in Tajikistan last Sunday.

This is only the second ever title for any Bangladesh women’s team, senior or age-level, in an international competition.

If anyone had the slightest hesitation that last year’s triumph was a fluke, last Sunday’s success would surely wash away all the doubts. The unbeaten Bangladesh girls were more organised, attacking and consistent compared to all the participating teams.

The girls in red and green outplayed rivals India 4-0 in the final in Dushanbe’s Aviator Stadium.

They had also beaten India 3-1 in

the group stage before thrashing Nepal 9-0 and hosts Tajikistan 9-1 in the semi-finals.

This is only the second ever title for any Bangladesh women’s team, senior or age-level, in an international competition

Eight players of the regular starting XI were also part of last year’s title-winning squad while the inclusion of the others in

the 18-member contingent added more glamour and attacking verve to Golam Rabbani Choton’s outfit.

Last year’s star Sanjida, now a key member of the national side, was unable to make the trip this time around and in her absence it was Tohura Khatun who grabbed most of the limelight. Attacking midfielder Tohura, one of eight Kolsindur girls in the squad, was sensational throughout the tournament, netting 10 goals in four matches, including a hattrick in the final. Striker Anuching Mogini also starred for the Bangladesh team alongside a few others.

Bangladesh will now their attention to the AFC U-16 and U-19 Championship Qualifiers, scheduled for August and November respectively. If the current squad is continued to be nurtured with care then the Bangladesh fans can certainly hope for more success in the upcoming tournaments. l

COURTESY

FINAL India

0-4

Bangladesh

Anai Mogini 32, Tohura Khatun 2, 52, 64 Referee: Maya Lama (Nepal)

Champions: Runners-up: Third Place: Fair Play: MVP: Top Scorer:

Bangladesh India Iran Tajikistan Roghayeh Jalal Nasab (Iran No 20) Tohura Khatun (Bangladesh No 10)

Nicknamed ‘Kolsindur Messi’, Bangladesh Under-14 footballer Tohura Khatun receives the award for the highest scorer COURTESY

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Salahuddin promises football development n Tribune Report Newly-elected BFF president Kazi Salahuddin yesterday talked with the media as he gave his views on being chosen as the supremo of football’s regulatory body in the country. Here are the excerpts:

What are your thoughts after being elected president?

Have patience, we will keep working for the betterment of Bangladesh football. No one has more experience and interest than us.

Football runs in our blood. We are here to work because we love the game. If the media, government and public continue to support us then we will be successful in our pursuit.

Have you set any plans regarding the future of the Bangladesh girls?

They were brilliant there. If we work with them, they will improve more. I have some plans, let’s hope I can fulfil them.

Where do you want to see Bangladesh football in two years?

I want Bangladesh to play at the very top of Asian football. I want to take football to such a place from where the next president will find things easy and not have to struggle. l

(C-R) Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin, senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy and vice presidents Kazi Nabil Ahmed and Badal Roy place wreath in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi Road No 32 yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Anamul ton propels Gazi GC n Tribune Report Anamul Haque’s first List A century in 16 months helped Gazi Group Cricketers crush Cricket Coaching School by six wickets in a battle between two newly-promoted sides in the Dhaka Premier League.

Chasing 177, Gazi Group rode on Anamul’s ton to reach the target in 33.4 overs in Mirpur. It was the third consecutive defeat for CCS while Gazi Group picked up their second win in three games.

Anamul struck four fours and

seven sixes in his 85-ball 100. He added 139 for the third wicket with Farhad Hossain, who chipped in with 45 off 75 balls. Mohammad Saifuddin took 3 for 26 in 7.4 overs.

Earlier, CCS were bowled out for 176 in 47 overs after being asked to bat. Salman Hossain and Uttam Sarkar made fifties, but only two other batsmen - opener Amit Majumder and No 10 Nasum Ahmed reached double figures. Right-arm medium pacer Mohammad Sharif and off-spinner Mahedi Hasan took two wickets each.

Elsewhere, Victoria Sporting Club picked up their second win in the Dhaka League after beating Kalabagan Cricket Academy by five wickets at the BKSP 3 ground. KCA slumped to their third successive loss.

Batting first, KCA posted 263 for 6 with Irfan Sukkur hitting seven fours in his 116-ball 88, while Mehedi Hasan Miraz contributed with 51 off 44 balls.

VSC reached the target with eleven balls to spare, thanks to fifties from Abdul Mazid and Al Amin before captain Nadif Chowdhury steered his side to the target with an unbeaten 29. Abu Jayed took three wickets.

The game between Legends of Rupganj and Mohammedan Sporting Club was pushed to the reserve day due to a wet outfield. l

BRIEF SCORES Kalabagan CA 263/6 (Sukkur 88, Miraz 51, Sohrawardi2/20) lost to Victoria SC 266/5 (Mazid 69, Al Amin 54, Jayed 3/57) by five wickets

Gazi Group Cricketers’ Anamul Haque cuts one during his match-winning hundred against Cricket Coaching School in the DPL in Mirpur yesterday MI MANIK

Cricket Coaching School 176 (Uttam 54, Salman 52, Sharif 2/22) lost to Gazi Group Cricketers 179/4 (Anamul 100, Farhad 45, Saifuddin 3/26) by six wickets

KFC INDEPENDENCE CUP

Dhanmondi based clubs eye grand finale n Tribune Report

Premier League holders Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club will take on four-time professional champions Abahani Limited today in the first semi-final of the KFC Independence Cup at Bangabandhu National Stadium. The last-four clash will kick off at 5:30pm.

Sheikh Jamal’s route to the semis was slightly smoother than the traditional powerhouse, who made it to the last four having earned the fewest points among all the semi-finalists. Sheikh Jamal, meanwhile, earned the most number of points – 13 – among the quartet.

With that said, both the teams are evenly matched and share a similar trait heading into today’s encounter. Both the Dhanmondi-based outfits are unbeaten in the tournament, the only two sides among 12 participants. Sheikh Jamal won four and drew their other game while Abahani registered two victories against three draws so something’s got to give today evening.

Ever since their inception in 2010, Sheikh Jamal have clinched three Bangladesh Premier League titles and as many Federation Cups but they are yet to taste success in the Independence Cup. The only time they reached the final was in the 2012-13 season so they will be desperate to amend that stat this time around.

Sheikh Jamal won four and drew their other game while Abahani registered two victories against three draws Sheikh Jamal’s strength lie with their foreign attacking trio – Wedson Anselme, Emeka Darlington and Landing Darboe – while English forward Lee Andrew Tuck has what it takes to create all the difference for Abahani, who have recently appointed Serbia-born Croatian head coach Drago Mamic in a bid to bring back their glory days. l

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Afridi, Shehzad dropped from England tour

QUICK BYTES Abahani thrash Wari in Club Cup Hockey With the inclusion of foreign players, Abahani Limited posted a huge 10-0 win over Wari Club in the Club Cup Hockey Tournament at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday. Abahani played their first two matches without their foreign recruits, scoring a combined seven goals. The scenario changed drastically yesterday following the addition of five foreign players. Pakistan’s Shafqat Rasel bagged a hattrick for Abahani while Mohammad Irfan, Shakil Abbasi, Kasif Ali, Maksud Alam Habul, Khorshedur Rahman, Rajib Das and Soyeb Ali netted one apiece for the victors. Meanwhile in the day’s other match between Sonali Bank and Bangladesh Sporting Club, play was called off after only 25 minutes due to power failure. Sonali Bank were leading 1-0 when play was postponed. The remainder of the game will be held today.

TRIBUNE REPORT

Federer out of Madrid Open with back injury Former world number one Roger Federer has pulled out of this week’s Madrid Open with a back injury. The Swiss great travelled to the Spanish capital for the tournament but was unable to practice and announced his withdrawal yesterday. “I don’t want to take any more chances. I’d rather play it safe,” the 17-times grand slam champion told a news conference.

REUTERS

Writers pick Leicester’s Vardy as player of year Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy has been voted Player of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association in the latest twist to his fairytale ride from minor-league journeyman to international striker. The 29-yearold, who built his career at clubs like Stocksbridge, Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town, has notched 22 goals this season to help fire Leicester from 5,000-1 outsiders to odds-on favourites to win the Premier League title.

REUTERS

Aussie captain Smith heads home with injury Australia cricket captain Steve Smith has pulled out of the Indian Premier League to head home for treatment on a wrist injury. Cricket Australia said Smith had laboured due to pain in his right wrist for the past week while playing for Pune in the Twenty20 tournament. Mitchell Marsh was also pulled from the IPL to have treatment on a side strain.

REUTERS

n AFP, Lahore Pakistan’s new selectors yesterday dropped star players Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal from next month’s tour of England, stressing there would be no compromises after the country’s disastrous exit from the World Twenty20 in India.

Former Afghanistan coach Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is heading up the newly formed selection committee as part of wholesale changes following last month’s tournament humiliation, announced 35 players would attend boot camp starting in Kakul from May 14 to June 4.

He said Afridi - who announced he would continue playing the T20 format after resigning as captain in the wake of the event - needed to perform in domestic matches.

“Since we are playing only four T20 matches this year we want to give new players a chance, and that will also allow Afridi to rest and perform in domestic matches,” Inzamam said at a news conference in Lahore.

As for Shehzad and Umar, he said, “the selection committee will not compromise on discipline”.

Spot-fixing convict Salman Butt was also not selected.

Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland serves against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia during their Madrid Open match in Madrid on Sunday.

Radwanska lost the match 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 REUTERS

Butt is also likely to face issues with obtaining a visa to England - though another spot-fixing convict, Mohammad Amir, was included in the squad as he is expected to get the visa after pleading guilty in a UK court.

Butt, Amir and Mohammad Asif were caught in a spot-fixing case on Pakistan’s last tour of England in 2010, taking money for no-balls during the Lord’s Test.

Their five-year ban ended in September last year.

Pakistan will play four Tests, five one-day internationals and a T20 international on a two-month long tour of England.

Squad named for boot camp: Mohammad Hafeez, Sami Aslam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azhar Ali, Sharjeel Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood, Younis Khan, Misbah-ulHaq, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Haris Sohail, Babar Azam, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Asif Zakir, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Mohammad Amir, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Hasan Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Adnan Akmal, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Asgher, Imad Wasim, Bilal Asif, Zohaib Khan l

Kaushik reprises Adams’ frog-in-blender action n Reuters, New Delhi When Paul Adams burst onto the scene with his bizarre way of delivering the ball, many were convinced they would never see anything like it again.

Two decades later, India’s Shivil Kaushik has emerged as the proud heir to the South African spinner’s “frog-in-a-blender” action.

Heads, including Kaushik’s own, turned at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium when the left-arm chinaman bowler made his Indian Premier League debut for Gujarat Lions on Friday.

Pressed into attack in the eighth over, the 20-year-old ambled slightly wide of the crease when a spirit seemed to enter his body as he bent his knees, twisted his torso and sent down the ball rotating his left-arm around his head.

“Shivil Kaushik. Wow!! Wouldn’t have thought we’d ever see that action again. #Gogga #PaulAdams #FrogInABlender,” tweeted former Zimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa.

He was not alone. For many, it brought back memories of Adams’ outrageous action which got him a bagful of wickets, especially in his debut home series against England.

Adams, now coaching Cape Co-

bras, himself appeared amused.

“Remind you of someone! Wow #Kaushik ! Great to see the art of #Chinaman bowling alive,” tweeted ‘Gogga’, who played 45 Tests and 24 one-day internationals for South Africa between 1995-2004.

Kaushik thanked all his coaches for not forcing him to dump the action, however weird it maybe.

“I was eight-years old when I started playing cricket and the first

ball I bowled was this way and I have not changed,” the spinner said after claiming 3-20 against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday.

“Batsmen found it a bit difficult because my action was a bit different. I got a lot of support from all my coaches. They’ve not tinkered my action and been backing me.”

Seeing him bowl is like watching a contortionist perform - straining every muscle in his torso but the

spinner assures his body can cope with it.

“It’s something which comes naturally to me so my body doesn’t take much of a load.”

Kaushik went wicketless in his IPL debut but bounced back against Punjab, dismissing rival skipper Murali Vijay and the Australian duo of Shaun Marsh and Glenn Maxwell.

“The first three balls, I didn’t understand what was happening,” Vijay, who opens for India in Tests, said with a smile.

“It was very difficult for me to pick whether it’s going in or coming out. I did my video analysis before the game and I saw a bit of his bowling, but it was still difficult.

“Maybe the next time I face him, I will be better equipped.”

Once the element of surprise wears off, Kaushik will need much more than just an unorthodox bowling action to graduate to international cricket.

The youngster is now focussing to get his line and length right and refuses to look too far.

“It feels really nice that a lot of people (are) talking about me but I think it’s more important to stay focused and look at our future matches and all I look to do is to contribute to our team.” l

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BUNDESLIGA Bayern Munich

1-1

EPL

M'gladbach

Mueller 6

Hahn 72

5-1

Dortmund

Sobiech 21

2-1 0-0

Darmstadt

1-2

Vrancic 12

Athletic Bilbao

Frankfurt

2-1

Espanyol

Hertha Berlin

Deportivo

Ibisevic 21

2-0

0-0

Bologna

AC Milan

3-3

Frosinone

Real Sociedad At Madrid

Paganini 2, Kragi 44, Dionisi 55

Real Betis

Sampdoria

1-0

Verona

2-0

Inter Milan

0-1

Real Madrid

1-0

Rayo Vallecano

0-2

Barcelona Rakitic 50, Suarez 81

Granada

3-2

Rochina 13, El Arabi 22, Costa 70

Las Palmas Viera 3, 12

LA LIGA TOP TEN P W D L GD Pts

PLAYED SATURDAY

Barcelona

Udinese

1-5

Felipe 47

Jansson 12, Acquah 45, MartĂ­nez 50, 83, Belotti 56

0-0

Villarreal

Griezmann 55

Klose 8, Candreva 84-P

Chievo

Getafe

Bale 80

Pellegrini 58

Lazio

0-2

PLAYED SATURDAY

Vazquez 19, Krsticic 85-og

Sassuolo

Sevilla

Garcia 14, Adrian Lopez 33

Carpi

2-0

1-0

0-2

Valencia

Empoli

Palermo

Orellana 13

Pedro Leon 41, Vigaray 85

Hernanes 44, Zaza 80

Bacca 50, Antonelli 74, Menez 92-P

Celta Vigo

Caicedo 52

SERIE A Juventus

2-1

Aduriz 38-P, Raul Garcia 72

Hamburg

Brandt 2, Bender 16

Benteke 65

LA LIGA

Ingolstadt

Hasebe 56, Aigner 83

Leverkusen

Liverpool

Ayew 20, 67, Cork 33

Lex 17

Mainz

Man City Iheanacho 44, 78

3-1

Swansea

Schalke

Uth 37, Amiri 84

4-2

Long 25, Mane 28, 57, 68

Choupo-Moting 11, Huntelaar 45, Schoepf 80

Hoffenheim

Morgan 17

Southampton

Schuerrle 82

1-3

Hanover 96

Leicester

Martial 8

VfL Wolfsburg

Kagawa 7, Ramos 9, Reus 60, Aubameyang 77, 78

1-1

Man United

Torino

Fiorentina

Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel comes out to make a save from Manchester United midfielder Memphis Depay during their English Premier League match at Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday AFP

36 27 4 5 75

Atletico Madrid36 27 4 5 44

85

Real Madrid

36 26 6 4 73

84

Villarreal

36 18 10 8 123 64

Athletic Bilbao 36 17 7 12 11

58

Celta Vigo

36 16 9 11 -7

57

Sevilla

36 14 10 12 6

52

Valencia

36 11 11 14 0

44

Las Palmas

36 12 7 17 -5

43

Malaga

35 10 12 13 -1

42

Barca stay ahead, Leicester on brink

n Reuters, London

Barcelona remained at the La Liga summit as the top three sides all won while Leicester City and Bayern Munich missed the chance to secure the Premier League and Bundesliga titles.

Bayern were held to a 1-1 home draw by Borussia Moenchengladbach and Leicester drew 1-1 at Manchester United but both teams remained firmly on course to win their leagues.

French champions Paris St Germain equalled the Ligue 1 record points haul in a single season when they thrashed Stade Rennes 4-0 on Friday.

SPAIN

Only one point separates the top three as leaders Barcelona and challengers Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid all picked up victories this weekend.

A lacklustre Barca won 2-0 at

10-man Real Betis thanks to second-half goals from Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez, but Atletico remained level after Antoine Griezmann fired them to a 1-0 home win over Rayo Vallecano.

Real Madrid are one point behind in third and still firmly in the hunt after a Gareth Bale header secured a 1-0 win at Real Sociedad.

Villarreal sealed fourth spot and a place in next year’s Champions League playoff round with a 2-0 win at Valencia.

ENGLAND

Leicester City missed the chance to clinch their first Premier League title when they were held to a 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Sunday but they need only two points from their last two games to seal it.

If Tottenham Hotspur had failed to beat Chelsea yesterday Leicester will secure their first English topflight crown.

Manchester City lost 4-2 at

Southampton to slip three points behind third-placed Arsenal, who beat Norwich City 1-0 on Saturday.

Norwich are second-bottom of the table, a point behind Sunderland, who drew 1-1 at Stoke City, and two adrift of Newcastle United who climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.

GERMANY

Bayern Munich, needing a win to clinch their fourth successive Bundesliga title with two games to spare, were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Thomas Mueller gave Bayern an early lead but Andre Hahn equalised for the visitors 18 minutes from time.

Bayern are five points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who thrashed VfL Wolfsburg 5-1 helped by two goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

ITALY

Juventus, who won their fifth successive title last Monday, refused to let up as they beat Carpi 2-0, their 25th win in 26 league games.

The defeat left Carpi in 17th place, one above the relegation zone, on 35 points, ahead of Palermo on goal difference after the Sicilians beat Sampdoria 2-0.

Second-placed Napoli hosted Atalanta and third-placed AS Roma visited Genoa yesterday.

FRANCE

Champions Paris St Germain equalled the Ligue 1 record points haul in a single season when they thrashed Stade Rennes 4-0 on Friday.

Top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted twice as PSG moved up to 89 points, with Maxwell and Edinson Cavani adding the other goals in a one-sided match.

Olympique Lyon and AS Monaco remained level on 62 points in the

85

race for second place and an automatic Champions League spot after victories over Ajaccio and Guingamp respectively. They meet on Saturday in a decisive match.

Nine-times Ligue 1 champions Olympique Marseille preserved their top-flight status with a 1-0 win at Angers.

NETHERLANDS

Ajax Amsterdam kept up their narrow lead over champions PSV Eindhoven at the top of the Dutch league as both teams won on the penultimate weekend of the championship to set up a decisive final day.

Ajax crushed visitors Twente Enschede 4-0 and PSV overwhelmed bottom side SC Cambuur 6-2, leaving Ajax at the top with a better goal difference by six.

Barring a massive turnaround, they will claim back the title if they win at relegation-threatened De Graafschap next Sunday. l

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MATCH FACTS •

• • • •

•

• •

• • •

BAYERN Bayern drew 1-1 at home with VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday. The result, coupled with Borussia Dortmund’s 5-1 victory over VfL Wolfsburg, means they must wait until next weekend for another chance to clinch their fourth successive Bundesliga title.

The Mönchengladbach fixture was Guardiola’s 100th Bundesliga game in charge of Bayern. His record reads: W80 D11 L9.

Jérôme Boateng (out since 22 January, groin) made his return against Mönchengladbach, playing 68 minutes.

Guardiola’s side face Dortmund in the German Cup final on 21 May. Lahm has made more UEFA Champions League appearances than any other German player.

The 32-year-old played his 104th game in the first leg against Atlético, surpassing Oliver Kahn’s tally of 103.

Badstuber fractured an ankle in training on 13 February and will miss the rest of the season.

ATLÉTICO Atlético have won their last seven games in all competitions.

The Rojiblancos have kept six successive clean sheets. Jan Oblak has 24 to his name this term, more than any other goalkeeper in Atlético’s history, overtaking Thibaut Courtois’s 20 in 2012/13 and 2013/14.

On Sunday Godín and Yannick Carrasco (out since 23 April, ankle) were both passed as fit for the trip to Munich.

Griezmann has scored 30 goals in all competitions this season, his most recent strike coming in the 1-0 defeat of Rayo Vallecano de Madrid on Saturday.

Tiago (out since 28 November, leg) is still sidelined.

DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL TEN 2 12:45AM UEFA Champions League SF: Bayern v Atletico

STAR SPORTS 1 4:00PM AFC Champions League Melbourne Victory v Gamba Osaka

STAR SPORTS 4 4:00PM AFC Champions League Guangzhou Evergrande v Sydney

CRICKET SONY SIX 8:30PM Indian Premier League Gujarat v Delhi

Bayern’s Guardiola under pressure for Atletico Madrid return

Diego Simeone (L) and Pep Guardiola will be going all out for the win in tonight’s Champions League clash between Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich INTERNET

n AFP, Berlin Bayern Munich’s coach Pep Guardiola knows he needs to prove his critics wrong by overturning a 1-0 first-leg deficit against Atletico Madrid in today’s crunch home Champions League semi-final.

Guardiola and Bayern are bidding to avoid losing a semi-final to a Spanish side for the third year running having lost the first-leg last Wednesday at Atletico after Saul Niguez’s early solo strike.

Having won 14 titles in four years at Barcelona and six titles so far in three years with Bayern, Guardiola hopes to sign off in charge of Munich by lifting the

Champions League trophy at the final on May 28 in Milan.

Bayern have exited the Champions League semi-finals for the last two years running with defeats to Real Madrid in 2014, then to Barcelona last year. Another exit at the hands of Spanish opposition will not go down well in Bavaria, especially in the wake of Guardiola’s decision to start the first leg in Madrid with Germany star Thomas Mueller, Bayern’s top scorer in Europe this season, on the bench.

The decision drew plenty of criticism from the German media and, by his own admission, the Munich leg is Guardiola’s “final bullet” in the battle to prove any critics

wrong before he leaves to coach Manchester City next season.

Bayern have been unstoppable at home in Europe this season, winning all five games at the Allianz Arena, but needed extra time to come back from 2-0 down to beat Juventus 4-2 at home in the second leg of the last 16.

They have won all 11 home games in Europe since being hammered 4-0 in the Munich leg by Real Madrid in the 2014 semi-finals, having lost 1-0 in Spain.

But, as they demonstrated in Saturday’s 1-1 Bundesliga draw at home to Borussia Moechengladbach, they are simply not currently playing well, as they typically

Koeman urges Mane to focus on consistency after hat-trick n Reuters Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has urged Sadio Mane to show greater consistency after the striker scored a hat-trick to guide his team to a 4-2 victory against Manchester City on Sunday.

The Senegal-born striker has endured a mixed season for Southampton, scoring 10 league goals so far, but failing to find the back of the net in 19 league appearances between November and March.

The 24-year-old is, however, finishing the campaign strongly with his hat-trick against City taking his

tally to seven goals in his last six league appearances. Koeman said the inconsistency was down to his youth.

“Sadio is a little bit unpredictable sometimes,” the manager told British media. “He’s still a young player, and young players they need sometimes to be more consistent.

“Sadio was focused and clinical (on Sunday). That was one of my criticisms of all of the strikers but we are very productive at home with more chances to score more.”

The win over City lifted Southampton above Liverpool to seventh in the Premier League. l

sat back after taking an early lead through Mueller’s header.

The result denied Bayern the victory which would have confirmed them as Bundesliga champions, now they have to wait until Saturday’s away game at Ingolstadt when they could become the first club to win four straight German league titles.

The good news from the Gladbach draw is that Germany defender Jerome Boateng is fit again after 99 days out with a groin injury having played the first 68 minutes in Munich.

“It was important to get a few minutes. I hope with the emotions of the game I’ll have the strength to play for the 90 minutes (against Atletico). The tempo will be very different,” said Boateng.

“Our chances are good. We’re playing at home, the pitch will be good and we want to put pressure on from the start.”

In turn, Diego Simeone’s Atletico were boosted by the news Uruguay defender Diego Godin and Belgium winger Yannick Carrasco took part in training on Sunday after injury.

Godin has missed the last two weeks with a hamstring injury and is set to return as the cornerstone of Atletico’s defence in their bid to repeat their run to the 2014 final, there they lost 4-1 to Real Madrid after extra-time.

“It is the best thing to have great games and the tiredness matters little,” said Atletico’s Antoine Griezmann, the goal-scorer in their 1-0 Spanish league win over Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, when Simeone made seven changes.

“We are very enthusiastic.

Every player dreams of playing in a Champions League semi-final and we will give everything.” l

Voges taken to hospital after being hit by ball n Reuters, Melbourne Australia batsman Adam Voges was taken to hospital after being struck in the head by a ball while fielding during a county game in England.

The Middlesex captain was hit in the back of the head by a ball thrown to the stumps by a substitute fielder and missed by wicketkeeper John Simpson during the match against Hampshire at Southampton’s Rose Bowl.

Voges had to be helped from the ground by physios and had likely suffered concussion, Middlesex said. l

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Showtime

Winners of New Films, New Filmmakers announced

Friends stars reunited n Showtime Desk n Hasan Mansoor Chatak The concluding ceremony of the year-long competitive film festival, featuring only local films, titled New Films, New Filmmakers, was held at the National Art Gallery Auditorium of BSA, last Saturday.

Jointly arranged by Moviyana Film Society and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, the festival honours three filmmakers for their respective piece of works.

Seemingly, the festival’s top awards are named after three Bangladeshi iconic filmmakers.

In the full-length feature film

category, Akram Khan bagged the Zahir Raihan Best Feature Film Award for his film, Ghashphool, while Palash Rasul’s documentary, Hefazotnama won the Alamgir Kabir Best Documentary Award.

Aminur Rahman Mukul won the Badal Rahman Best Short-film Award for his short film, Oborodh.

Noted filmmaker, Syed Salauddin Zaki, cinematographer Anwar Hossain and filmmaker Morshedul Islam graced the ceremony as the special guests, while film scholar Haider Rizvi and Fahmidul Haq gave speeches on the occasion. Belayat Hossain

Mamun, the festival director and president of Moviyana Film Society, gave the opening speech while Liaqat Ali Lucky, the director general of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, presided over the program.

The festival commmenced in April of last year, and throughout the year, more than 200 films were submitted to the festival, while a total of 139 films were selected by the jury to be screened. So far, 195 local filmmakers have participated in the festival with at least one of their film. l

As Matt LeBlanc dropped in to see Matthew Perry ‘s West End play, Friends fans have been treated to a mini reunion. The former co-stars kept viewers around the world entertained for years as pals Joey Tribiani and Chandler Bing, and it’s nice to see they’re still there for each other after all this time.

Top Gear host, LeBlanc shared a snap on his Twitter account as he posed next to Perry at a performance of The End of Longing on Saturday night. LeBlanc tweeted: “Went to support my pal last night @ MatthewPerry in The End of Longing. Great performances by the whole cast.”

Written alongside a thumbs

up emoji, it’s clear the show was a hit with the star - even if Perry’s commitments to the production meant he missed the full Friends reunion earlier this year.

Although he wasn’t there in person, he did record an introduction for former cast mates, including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow.

While Perry continues his play’s run on the West End in London, LeBlanc has also been spending more time in the UK recently, thanks to his new role fronting Top Gear.

The motoring show’s trailer for BBC America puts him front and centre, ahead of co-star Chris Evans, who is nowhere to be seen in the latest teaser.

12 years of Main Hoon Na celebrated, a sequel to show up? n Showtime Desk Choreographer-director, Farah Khan and superstar, Shah Rukh Khan created a buzz on the internet recently, when their chitchat on Twitter mentioned of making a sequel of Main Hoon Na. As Main Hoon Na turned 12 last Saturday, Shah Rukh went into nostalgic mode. He tweeted: “Making films with friends is so beautiful. Big hug to Farah, Zayed, Sush, Amrita, Mani, Anu, Suniel and all the stars and the crew, and so many others for the hug for MHN. Boman, Shirish, Harry, Keiten, Binduji, Rakhi, Kabir, Naseer, Kiran, and the spitting, Satish. Thanks Farah Khan.”

In reply to his post, Farah suggested making a second instalment of the film. “Come on let’s plan part two,” she said.

The Baadshah of Bollywood also

expressed how badly he misses this film. Besides Shah Rukh, the film also stars Zayed Khan, Amrita Rao, Sushmita Sen, Kabir Bedi, Satish Shah and Suniel Shetty.

The union of Farah and Shah Rukh on the silver screen has usually spelled success, be it Main Hoon Na, Om Shanti Om or Happy New Year.

Actress Sushmita Sen, also thanked choreographer-director Farah Khan, for giving her the ‘most celebrated role’ of her career with Main Hoon Na. The actress, who won the Miss Universe title back in 1994, expressed her gratitude to Farah on Twitter.

While celebrating 12 years of Main Hoon Na on Saturday, Farah tagged Sushmita as her ‘favouritest’ heroine.

To this, Sushmita posted:

“Farah Khan Thank you so much my #Queenmaker for making me #Chandni … our first film and my most celebrated role #12YearsOfMainHoonNa.” Main Hoon Na narrates the story of an Army officer, played by Shah Rukh, and how his life goes for a toss when he goes back to college as a student for a mission.

In the 2004 film, Sushmita played the role of a college professor, and Shah Rukh’s love interest.

Sources: indianexpress, indiatimes

A scoop of Ice Cream

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Showtime

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

WHAT TO WATCH

Around the World in 80 Days HBO 5:08pm A bet pits a British inventor, a Chinese thief, and a French artist on a worldwide adventure that they can circle the globe in 80 days.

Cast: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cécile de France, Jim Broadbent, Adam Godley

n Rumpa Farzana Zaman “No” is such a powerful word. It can make a person feel relieved.

When anyone can say “no” when it’s needed, he or she can be satisfied emotionally. Ice cream is such a film where the word “no” is the main issue. The story might have ended differently, if the lead character could say no.

The story begins with a sweet love story of Priyota and Rounak.

They meet in dramatic fashion, when both of them miss out on a last trip to the main land from an island, while returning to the city. They spend time together and finally fall in love after they get back to the city of joy, Dhaka.

This sweet love story is thrown a curve ball when their union is faced with realities of life. They spend less time together, and

other priorities get in the way as they realise the sweet and sour taste of life. At this point, Priyota has to face an other side of life, the less blissful one. And the other side belongs to Nadim; the rest is battling the situation. The entire story is a roller coaster ride. This sums up Redoan Rony’s film Ice Cream.

The director takes a slight risk in introducing three new faces all at once in his second film ever made. His first venture Chorabali starred famous faces such as, Joya Ahsan and Indroneel Chatterjee. This time his gamble paid off. Nazifa Tushi, as Priyota, has given a solid performance.

Also, Raz as Nadim has made the audience hopeful. He can definitely play a successful hero in the near future if he chooses his projects carefully. Uday

as Rounak also does justice to his roll. Overall, the three newcomers were good choices made by the director.

A good movie also depends on the cinematography and editing.

DOP Orindam Bhattacharya has made this movie lucrative.

The quality of shots have created a benchmark in the industry already. Songs are well connected to the story.

Editing of the movie is also a strong element in this film. The description of a growing tree and parasitic plants is also a good addition to the film.

Ice Cream is a mirror reflection of the current generation.

Nowadays, the choices we make are not simple, and a particular path may not be as easy as we had assumed. But we never think about the consequences.

Director Rony has presented that exact point to the audience, and has successfully given food for thought. Moreover, the story is filled with glamour and has an end like most short stories.

However, there maybe be questionable points in the film, but as it is a fictional movie, there is no sense to finding logic behind every scene. A clear logic or not, this is for a generation that should be thinking deeply about love and relationships.

Overall, Ice Cream is a wellmade glamorous film, where people will be entertained without shedding a single tear.

It’s also a good introduction to some new promising faces like Raz, Nazifa and Uday. Ice Cream is here to make a difference and to entertain all. l

Recently, Bollywood hotness Bipasha Basu and actor, Karan Singh Grover have tied their not.

It was a complete Band Baja Barat type wedding all the way.

From mehendi to reception, there was a royal feeling where Bollywood stars were present to make the wedding colourful.

Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachan and his family, Sonam Kapoor, Sushmita Sen; Malaika Arora,

Iron Man 2 Star Movies 9:30pm With the world now aware of his identity as Iron Man, Tony Stark must contend with both his declining health, and a vengeful mad man with ties to his father’s legacy.

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke The Incredibles Zee Studio 11:10pm A family of undercover superheroes, while trying to live the quiet suburban life, are forced into action to save the world.

Cast: Craig T Nelson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee, Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Louis Shaolin Soccer HBO 11:28pm A young Shaolin follower reunites with his discouraged brothers to form a soccer team using their martial art skills to their advantage.

Cast: Stephen Chow, Man Tat Ng, Wei Zhao, Yin Tse, Hui Li

The Basu wedding!

n Nazia Lopa

Constantine WB 7:25pm It tells the story of irreverent supernatural detective John Constantine, who has literally been to hell and back.

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Djimon Hounsou, Max Baker

Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, all were present to wish the newlywed couple.

Bipasha had a Bengali wedding ceremony, where she looked like the quintissential Bengali bride. She was smiling and

glowing all the time. Dino Maria, Bipasha’s ex-boyfriend was also present there. It was almost like Bollywood has given blessing for her new life at the reception. l Source: The Wedding Story

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Back Page

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016

10 BANKS OVEREXPOSED BY TK2,000CR TO STOCKS PAGE 15

Verdict on 5 Kishoreganj ‘razakars’ today

BANGLADESH GIRLS THRASH INDIA, RETAIN TITLE PAGE 25

Islami Liberation Front sends hit list of 10 people

n Ashif Islam Shaon

n Kamal Mridha, Natore

The International War Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka is set to deliver a verdict today in a case against five Kishoreganj men accused of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of 1971.

A three-member ICT panel led by Justice Anwarul Haque set the date yesterday to deliver the verdict. On April 11, the Tribunal kept the case against the accused from Karimganj upazila waiting for judgement.

The accused are Gazi Abdul Mannan, 88, alleged commander of a Razakar camp, Nasiruddin Ahmed, 62, his brother Shamsuddin Ahmed, 60, Hafiz Uddin, 66, and Azharul Islam, 60.

Shamsuddin is currently in jail.

The others were tried in absentia. Seven charges were brought against the accused including mass killing, murder, confinement, torture, arson and looting committed in their locality in 1971.

The accused were charged for the killing of eight people and injuring another in four villages on November 12, the killing of Miah Hossain of Aila village on November 13, the killing Abdur Gafur of Kalatali after abduction on September 26.

The charges included the abduction, torture and killing of Fazlur Rahman of Atkapara on August 23, the killing of Paresh Chandra Sarkar of Ramnagar on September 7, the torture and killing of Abu Bakar Siddique and Rapali Miah on August 25, and arson and vandalism in Atkapara on September 15.

Some 25 witnesses were produced by the prosecution. The defence declined to produce witnesses.

An outfit named Islami Liberation Front sent a hit list of 10 dignitaries, including teachers, politicians and journalists, of Rajshahi to Natore Press Club yesterday.

Vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University Professor Muhammad Mizanuddin, Rajshai City Corporation’s former mayor and central Awami League leader Khairuzzaman Liton, Rajshahi district Awami League General Secretary Asad, Rajshahi Sadar lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badsha, journalists Shibli Noman, Anu Mostafa and Kazi Shahed, freedom fighter Barjahan Ali Shahjahan, daily Sonali Sangbad Editor Liaqat Ali and daily Sunshine Editor Yunus Ali were on the list.

In the letter containing the list, Islami Liberation Front said it had launched a mission to kill the 10.

A postman handed over the printed letter, which mentioned the president or general secretary of Natore Press Club as the recipient, to the caretaker of the club

around 1.30pm.

Rezaul Karim Reza, president of the club, said the club’s General Secretary Dulal Sarker got the letter around 2pm and informed journalists as well as police of it.

“Police will seriously look into the matter so that the letter cannot spread panic,” he said.

Shyamol Kumar Mukherjee, Natore superintendent of police, said police had launched an investigation after being informed of the letter by the press club authorities.

“But the letter contains no specific name or address of the sender.

Any militant group could do this to have its own interests served.

“But police are always on alert to protect the lives and properties of the people. We have taken the matter seriously and are looking into it,” he added.

Rajshahi Journalists Union President Kazi Shahed, who was on the list, said he was not worried about the death threat.

“A certain quarter is trying to create panic among people by

sending such letters,” he added.

Islami Liberation Front also said in the letter that establishing Islamic Khilafat, and re-establishing complete faith and belief in Allah in the country’s constitution are among its objectives.

In November last year, Ansar al-Islam issued death threats against State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and seven other eminent personalities of Rajshahi.

A letter containing the names of the targets was sent to the office of the daily Sunshine.

The other targets were Vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University Professor Muhammad Mizanuddin, Rajshai City Corporation’s former mayor and central Awami League leader Khairuzzaman Liton, author Hasan Azizul Haque, Rajshahi range Deputy Inspector General of police Iqbal Bahar, Rajshahi Education Board Chairman Professor Dr Abul Hayat, Rajshahi city Awami League General Secretary Dablu Sarker and daily Sunshine Editor Yunus Ali. l

A SCOOP OF ICE CREAM PAGE 31

Ramadan working hours from 9am to 3:30pm n Jebun Nesa Alo The cabinet yesterday set office hours during the month of Ramadan from 9am to 3:30pm, with a 15-minute break at 1:15pm.

The schedule was decided at the cabinet meeting held at the Secretariat, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The cabinet also approved a draft law that doubled company fees.

Fees under Section 2 of the Company Act 1994 have been doubled, Cabinet Secretary Md Shafiul Alam told journalists after the meeting.

“With the new fee structure, the annual revenue from company fees is expected to rise to Tk150 crore, up from the previous Tk70 crore,” he said.

The cabinet also approved a visa exemption agreement with Kuwait, the fifteenth country with which Bangladesh has such agreement. l

Nizami’s review hearing today

The Supreme Court has decided to hear the review petition of deathrow convict war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami seeking review of the top court’s verdict that upheld his sentence for war crimes.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha will hear the review today morning.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Nizami filed the review petition on March 29 seeking acquittal. The International Crimes Tribunal issued his death warrant on March 15 after the Supreme Court released its full verdict. 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