8 | ‘NO COMPROMISE ON CRIMEA’

20 pages | Price: Tk12SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Joishthya 25, 1421Shaaban 9, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 69

7 | THE C IS FOR 11 | NO BURDEN OF EXPECTATIONS 15 | ARGENTINA ‘FAB FOUR’ TO LIGHT UP WC

6 | NationA number of bailey bridges across the Pirojpur-Mathbaria-Patharghata areas are in poor shape, with accidents becoming frequent in these regions.

14 | SportBrazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari shrugged o� complaints from a restless home crowd as his team wrapped up their World Cup prepara-tions with a 1-0 win over Serbia on Friday.

8 | WorldMore than three months after Ukraine’s pres-ident � ed to Russia in the wake of months of street protests, Petro Poroshenko was sworn in yesterday as the troubled country’s new president.

9 | WorldThousands of people enraged by power cuts during an extreme heat wave rioted across northern India, setting electricity substations on � re and taking power company o� cials hostage, o� cials said yesterday.

B1 | BusinessMainul Islam, a university student in Dhaka, was looking to buy a television set. He lives in a house with three other fellow students. As there is no TV set in their room, they are desperate to get one within their a� ordability before the FIFA World Cup begins on June 12.

3 | NewsAlthough country’s political scenario commonly sees opposition activists being repressed and victimised by ruling party loyalists, pattern of political violence seems to be changing as most of the victims over the last few months had been activists of AL.

5 | NewsMost of the foot-over-bridges in the capital have been grabbed by hawkers with their makeshift shops, creating hassle for the commuters.

INSIDE

n Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

A madrasa teacher of modest means, Anas Madani, son of Hefazat chief Sha� , has recently started the con-struction of at least � ve multi-storied buildings on a total of 20 kathas of land at di� erent places in the upazila, ac-cording to sources.

The market price of each katha of land in the area is said to be Tk40 lakh.

Anas is a teacher at the Al Jamai-tul Ahlia Darul Uloom Moinul Islam madrasa in Hathazari upazila in Chit-tagong and the publicity secretary of Hefazat-e-Islam, the Qawmi madra-sa-based Islamist out� t that emerged strongly last year by staging several showdowns in the capital and placing a 13-point demand to the government.

Madrasa sources said Anas’s month-ly salary – his only known source ofincome – could be Tk15,000-Tk16,000 at best.

A labourer, who works at the construc-tion site of one of those buildings in the Eidgah area in the upazila, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Hujur [Anas] comes here regularly and inspects the con-struction... His friend Ahsan Ullah had been overseeing the construction work on his behalf.”

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Anas claimed that he owned only one of the buildings on a 3.5 katha land that was owned by his father Sha� .

The rest of the land and the build-ings, he claimed, were owned by his friends Ahsan Ullah, Jashim Uddin, Farid and Nezam Uddin.

Local residents and Hathazari ma-drasa sources said Ahsan is known as a land broker in the area, the other three were his “bodyguards” and there was no chance that they could own so much of land in the area because they did not have any known source of income.

They also said other than the 3.5 kathas of land that his father owned,

Anas purchased the remaining 16.5 kathas of land in the name of his “friends” after May 5 last year.

The Dhaka Tribune correspondent tried to dig out information about the owners of the lands from the local land o� ce but could not get any conclusive information.

Local residents said the di� erent areas that the 20 kathas of land was lo-cated in, were very much inside the He-fazat’s power zone and hence knowing anything in detail about the purchase and ownership of the land was next to impossible.

This correspondent, who has recent-ly visited the areas several times, had experienced visible threats from the followers of Anas.

“My father’s disciples from home and abroad donate huge amounts of money to him. I have been erecting two buildings in the Eidgah area and Chan-draghona with that money,” Anas told the Dhaka Tribune.

Asked why he was spending Hefaz-at’s money, Anas said the money was actually donated by disciples to his fa-ther, not to the organisation.

However, seeking anonymity, a nayeb-e-ameer of Hefazat told the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Sha� ’s son Anas gets rich overnightHefazat leaders allege he is misappropriating donations meant for May 5 ‘victims’

Sushama Swaraj likely to visit Dhaka onJune 26n Tribune Report

Just after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on his � rst foreign visit to Bhutan by the end of this month, Delhi will be sending out a concurrent signal to Dhaka that Bangladesh is also on top of the mind for the new administration in India.

Indian External A� airs Minister SushmaSwaraj is likely to make her � rst foreign visit to Bangladesh in this connection on June 26, according to a report by Kolkata Telegraph.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who sent the Speaker of the Parliament for Modi’s inaugural, had written to him suggesting that he should consider Dhaka for his � rst foreign trip as prime minister.

Modi, who had been refused avisa by the US as chief minister ofGujarat for issues over the 2002 riots, is now set to set foot in the US for what is likely to be one of his � rst visits at the beginning of his tenure as primeminister.

Modi is scheduled to be in Bhutan on June 14 and 15, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, TsheringTobgay, tweeted yesterday evening.

Tobgay, who was in Delhi for Modi’s swearing-in, said he was “honored and humbled” that NarendraModi chose Bhutan for his � rst foreign trip as prime minister.

“The Prime Minister’s ‘inbox’ on foreign policy is full,” external a� airs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbarud-din said here today [yesterday]. The spokesperson could not give de� nite dates for each of the visits that he said were still being worked out.

Since the gathering of the SAARC leaders at his inaugural, Modi has sig-nalled that the neighbourhood would be his priority in foreign policy issues. The choice of Bhutan — probably In-dia’s friendliest neighbour — was dic-tated largely by that logic.

“Since the results of the elections were announced there has been a lot of interest from around the globe to meet our new political leadership. The inbox on foreign policy is very crowded,” the spokesperson said.

The calendar entries on foreign vis-its and meetings with foreign leaders for the rest of the year start with Sun-day, June 8, when the Chinese foreign minister reaches New Delhi as a spe-cial envoy of the Chinese President on a two-day visit. The Chinese foreign

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Incentives, threats to cover up Ekram murdern Mohammad Jamil Khan with our

Feni Correspondent

Top leaders of Feni Awami League and its associate bodies are allegedly trying to silence the people who are protest-ing the killing of the Fulgazi upazila chairman, either by tempting them with better positions within the par-ty ranks or by intimidating them with muscle-� exing.

The leaders, many of whom are sus-pected to be connected with the mur-der of Ekramul Haque, have reportedly invested around Tk20 lakh to coax the people who were staging demonstra-tions demanding justice for the killing.

Golam Rabbani, joint convener of Jubo League’s Fulgazi unit and lead-er of Ekram Moncho – a platform de-manding justice for the murder – told the Dhaka Tribune that some close associates of a top ruling party leader

of the district had o� ered him many incentives including property and a better position in the party to stop the ongoing demonstrations. Rabbani said those associates were now threaten-ing to silence him after he had rejected their o� ers.

“We will not fear any threat or stop our ongoing protests until the killers are arrested and punished,” he added.

The slain chairman’s family sources said attempts were being made to buy their silence, adding that Ekram’s wife Tasmina Akhter was o� ered the candi-dacy in the upazila chairman post un-der the condition that she would keep mum about the murder. When asked about this, Tasmina told the Dhaka Tribune that she had nothing to say about the issue as the people of Feni knew well who killed Ekram.

On May 20, armed criminals shot and burnt alive the Fulgazi Chairman

on the Academy Road of Feni town in front of witnesses. The killing prompt-ed an outcry throughout the country, while protest programmes and several rounds of hartals had been staged fol-lowing the murder at Fulgazi.

Sources within the ruling party’s Ful-gazi unit claimed that the people trying to manipulate the protesters included supporters of district Chhatra League President Jahirul Islam Jewel and dis-trict Jubo League Joint Convener Su-shen Chandra Sheel, both of whom are close associates of ruling party law-maker Nizam Uddin Hazari.

Without mentioning any names, Ful-gazi Chhatra League Convener Ashiqur Rahman Asif told the Dhaka Tribune that they were continuously receiving threats from people who are closely re-lated to the district committees of the Chhatra League and Jubo League.

However, when contacted, Jewel and Sushen both denied allegations about their involvement, and said the claims were nothing but baseless infor-mation by a vested quarter to foil their image.

On the other hand, a leader of district unit of Awami League, on condition of anonymity, said the latest attempts of manipulating demonstrators came after local leaders were recently reproached by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

A few days back district Awami League President Abdur Rahman, Vice-President Khairul Bashar Tapan,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

7 Bangladeshis released from pirates’ captivityn Tribune Report

Somali pirates yesterday released sev-en Bangladeshi sailors, who were ab-ducted from a Malaysian � ag-carrying merchant ship on the high seas of the Indian Ocean nearly four years ago.

The released Bangladeshis were Go-lam Mostafa, Aminul Islam, Habibur Rahman, Zakir Hossain, Abul Quasem Sardar, Limon Sarker and Nurul Haque.

They were being � own to Kenya by a special aircraft of the United Nations O� ce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Khorshed Alam, secretary at the Minis-try of Foreign A� airs’ Maritime A� airs unit, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The UNODC authority and Bangla-desh High Commission would receive

the crew in Kenya’s capital Nairobi where they would undergo medical checkup at the Aga Khan Hospital, Nai-robi, he said.

Nurul Islam, father of one of the hostages, Aminul Islam, told the Dha-ka Tribune that the Kenyan Embassy in Dhaka contacted and informed him about the release of his son.

Bangladesh High Commission in Nairobi was already instructed to pre-pare their travel documents, a foreign ministry press release said.

As soon as the required formalities were completed by the UNODC, the Bangladesh High Commission in Nairo-bi would arrange for the seven crew to return to Bangladesh.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Construction work of several buildings, allegedly owned by Anas Madani, is going on at Eidgah area of Hathazari upazila (top). Rangunia Health Care Hospital, which is also owned by Anas, has also added three new � oors on top of its original one-storey structure over the last few months DHAKA TRIBUNE

‘My father’s disciples from home and abroad donate huge amounts of money to him. I have been erecting two buildings in the Eidgah area and Chandraghona with that money’

Ekram’s wife Tasmina Akhter was o� ered the candidacy in the upazila chairman post

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina meets Maldives’ Vice-President Mohamed Jameel Ahmed at Kunming Conference Centre in China yesterday BSS

Janaza of eminent journalist Mahbubul Alam was held in front of National Press Club yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

7 Bangladeshis released from pirates’ captivity PAGE 1 COLUMN 6A gang of Somali pirates hijacked the Malaysian-� agged container ship, MV Albedo, from the Indian Ocean on No-vember 26, 2010.

In a report, Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper however said six Bangla-deshis, three Sri Lankans and an Ira-nian and an Indian were among the 11 crewmen released yesterday.

Terming this hostage one of the long-est-running Somali piracy cases, it also said the crewmen were facing their � rst hours of freedom after three years and seven months as hostages, during which their pirate captors often used torture.

The men escaped with the help of some of their pirate captors in the early hours of Friday morning and � ed to a nearby village where they were taken in by government-a� liated milita, the newspaper quoted a senior Somali an-ti-piracy o� cial as saying.

“Few of them had shoes, some had only their underclothes, but they managed to escape through a window and reach a place of safety,” said Omar Sheikh Ali Osoble, counter-piracy focal point for the Galmudug regional ad-ministration.

“We collected them and put them in a nice hotel last night. They had air-conditioning and hot water, and all of them were so happy this morning. They were not in a bad condition, but they told us stories of their experiences which were terrible.

“Some of them were beaten very badly. Sometimes they were forced to call their people at home to say they

needed money to be released, and they were close to dying, and they were beat-en while they were on the telephone. All of them are so happy to be free.”

Early on in the hijacking, one crew-man was shot dead by the pirates in an apparent � t of anger after negotiations with the ship’s owners broke down. Then last summer, the vessel sank in a storm, resulting in � ve of the crew drowning along with � ve of the pirates as they abandoned ship.

Due to lack of usual maintenance, MV Albedo sank on July 7 in 2013 and the ab-ducted crew were shifted by the pirates to another hijacked � shing vessel.

The Telegraph also reports, the 11 seamen released were then transferred to a ramshackle house near the Somali port of Hobyo, a notorious pirate ha-ven, where they have been held ever since. They were expected to be � own to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

“They have lost a lot of weight, but otherwise seem in reasonable health and in good spirits, which is remarkable considering what they been through,” said one source.

The Albedo, a Malaysian-� agged container ship, was originally captured in November 2010 with a crew of 23 from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Iran and Pakistan.

Rather than pay the $8 million ran-som demanded by the pirates, the ship’s Iranian owners, who are thought to have been uninsured, simply went to ground, o� cials involved in the case told The Telegraph last year.

The Pakistani crew members were

freed after a Pakistani businessman raised a $1.2 million ransom payment. But no similar funds were forthcoming for their fellow crew members, despite terrifying accounts emerging of the men’s mistreatment by their captors as they tried to raise the pressure.

Some of the seamen were beaten with gun butts, locked in containers, and had the skin of their palms torn with pliers. At one point, the entire crew were packed into an empty swim-ming pool without food or water for three days. The ship’s captain, Jawad Khan, bore the brunt of the hijackers’ anger as he tried to keep them calm. On one occasion, he was tied up and lowered into the sea as pirates sprayed bullets around him.

The international anti-piracy force that patrols the Indian Ocean was unable to attempt a rescue because it feared the hostages would almost certainly be killed if they attempted to do so.

The exact circumstances of the re-lease of the � nal Albedo crewmen is unclear. However, it is thought that the pirates may have been persuaded to ac-cept a much lower ransom than origi-nally expected.

The ship was among the cases re-ceiving assistance from Colonel John Steed, a former British military attache to Kenya and United Nation’s coun-ter-piracy expert, who now runs the Secretariat for Regional Maritime Secu-rity, an organisation which specialises in dealing with Somalia’s “forgotten” piracy cases. l

Sha� ’s son Anas gets rich overnight PAGE 1 COLUMN 2Dhaka Tribune that Anas had been mis-appropriating the donations that the followers of the organisation donat-ed for helping the “victims” of Shapla Chattar.

Some of the top leaders of the Isla-mist out� t told the Dhaka Tribune that Anas had recently drawn very close to his father Shah Ahmed Sha� , chief of Hefazat.

After the skirmishes between Hefaz-at men and law enforcers at the Shapla Chattar in Motijheel in the capital on May 5 last year, Sha� , in his 80s, had reportedly gone through a trauma and had since been depending heavily on his son for the out� t’s operational mat-ters.

Hefazat leaders said Aanas had tak-en advantage of the favour from his fa-ther and had become more in� uential than the other top leaders of the Isla-

mist out� t.They had been unhappy with the

way Anas had been managing the or-ganisation’s funds but had not dared say anything because of his in� uences over their supreme leader.

The Islamist out� t has been claim-ing since the May 5 incident that hun-dreds were killed in a clash with police but had never managed to come up with credible proof.

“None of the leaders of the organisa-tion knows what has happened to the money collected from the supporters and well-wishers,” said a joint secre-tary of the out� t.

He alleged that most the money had gone to Anas, who had been using it for getting wealthier.

The joint secretary also alleged that Anas had been taking huge sums of money from both the ruling Awami League and the BNP.

He said Hefazat was supposed to join the BNP’s “March for Democracy” on December 29 last year; but Anas, after having accepted money from the ruling party, managed his father Sha� to refrain from joining the programme.

There are also allegations that Anas has taken money from the BNP to mo-bilise his people for the march pro-gramme.

Azizul Hoque Islamabadi, organis-ing secretary of Hefazat, said: “Con-structing buildings with the money that hujur [Sha� ] gets from his disci-ples is a not a big thing. His followers visit him every Thursday and Friday and give him money.”

He also said: “Look at some of the ‘pirs’ around the country and how much wealth they own... If he wanted to spend all the donation for his own, he could have put up a building every month.” l

Incentives, threats cover up PAGE 1 COLUMN 4General Secretary and MP of Feni 2 Nizam Uddin Hazari and district Mohila Awami League President Jahanara Begum went to the Ganabahaban to meet the premier.

Sources said, during the meeting with Hasina, Nizam and Tapan claimed that BNP-Jamaat activists were involved with the murder; but in response the prime minister asked them why Awami League activists were being arrested.

Another source within the party’s Feni district unit claimed that Ekram’s wife and sons – who were scheduled

to accompany the local leaders to Ganabhaban – were not taken to the meeting as they might have commented to the prime minister regarding the mastermind of the killing.

When asked about the meeting at Ganabhaban, Nizam Uddin Hazari, said the leaders had gone to meet the premier to seek advice on the problem that was created through Ekram’s death.

However, he claimed to have no hand in attempting to manipulate the protesters, adding that he would take action if anyone provided proof of such threats. l

Sushama Swaraj likely to visit Dhaka on June 26 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6minister’s visit will be followed by the visit of the French foreign minister on Monday.

Speaking on Modi’s much-antici-pated visit to the US in September, the spokesperson said: “Amongst the ear-liest to contact the then PM-designate was US President Barack Obama who invited him to visit at an early date”. l

Yunnan governor assures of promotion of trade with Bangladesh n BSS

Governor of Yunnan Province of Kun-ming Qin Guangrong yesterday as-sured Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of taking initiatives by his provincial government for promotion of trade and investment with Bangladesh.

He also put emphasis on enhancing people-to-people contact, saying his provincial government would give im-portance to promote tourism between the two countries and create oppor-tunities for Bangladeshi students for study in Kunming.

The governor said this at a meeting with Sheikh Hasina at her hotel suite in

the evening. PM’s Press Secretary AKM Shamim

Chowdhury briefed reporters after the meeting. Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haq was present.

The Prime Minister requested the Yunnan governor for quick execution of the project for construction of road from Kunming to Chittagong via Myanmar.

“Connectivity is the only way for boosting ties,” she said, adding that Bangladesh gives importance to con-nectivity with Kunming, as it is the gateway to South and Southeast Asia and the closest as neighbour.

The governor said Bangladeshi goods have a big market in Kunming.

“The provincial government would take measures for easy marketing of the Bangladeshi goods in Yunnan to re-duce trade gap between the two coun-tries,” he said.

Later, the Prime Minister joined a banquet hosted in her honour by the Yunnan governor.

Meanwhile, a Bangladesh business delegation based in Beijing and Hong Kong and a team of Bangladeshi stu-dents pursuing higher education in di� erent institutions in Kunming also called on the Prime Minister at her ho-tel here this evening.

In the meetings, Sheikh Hasina urged members of the business delega-

tion to explore Chinese investment for jute and leather sectors in Bangladesh.

She said the government would ex-tend all possible support to foreign in-vestors in the jute sector.

The Prime Minister inquired about the wellbeing of the students. “The students have many things to learn from China,” she said, urging them to take opportunity during their stay in Kunming.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, PM’s Advisor HT Imam, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, State Minister for For-eign A� airs Md Shahriar Alam, and PM’s Media Advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, among others, were present. l

Petrobangla: PPC to decide LNG terminal project’s faten UNB

The fate of the longstanding LNG ter-minal project is likely to be decided at a meeting of the Project Processing Com-mittee (PPC) tomorrow, said Petrobang-la chairman Dr Hussain Monsur.

The Petrobangla chairman said that they received a term-sheet of US-based consortium of Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy last month about the project.

After the scrutiny, he said, it was put forward to the Energy Ministry to place it at the PPC meeting.

The PPC is an inter-ministerial body formed comprising representatives from di� erent ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Law and also the Bangladesh Bank.

Once the US � rm’s proposal is cleared by the PPC, Petrobangla will move ahead with the project.

The Energy Ministry already pro-posed holding a PPC meeting, but Fi-nance Ministry o� cials expressed their inability to be present at the meeting for their busy schedules with budget preparation. “Finally, the PPC meeting was rescheduled for June 9,” Dr Hus-sain Monsur told UNB.

The government undertook the move � rst in 2009 to set up an LNG terminal at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal as part of a plan to import lique� ed natural gas from the Gulf state of Qatar to resolve the country’s nagging gas crisis.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the Gulf nation to import 5 million tonnes of LNG per year. The government then invited an international tender to set up the � oat-ing LNG terminal at the Moheshkhali Island.

As per the government plan, the LNG terminal must have a re-gasi� cation capacity of at least 500,000 Mcf (1,000 cubic feet) per day to supply it to the national gas network.

The project also should have berthing and mooring facilities for LNG vessels with a capacity of 138,000-260,000 cubic meters. The Petrobangla invited bids from international forms for the project to implement it on build-own-operate-transfer basis for 15 years.

After a long exercise of tender process, the US-based consortium of Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy was selected for the project. But some of the terms and conditions of the US � rm were found to be unclear for which the Petrobangla sought a clari� cation.

Meanwhile, Petrobangla has softened some of the tender conditions like slashing down the performance guarantee (PG) amount to US$ 11 million from $20 million through negotiations with the US � rm.

O� cial sources said the US consortium quoted US$0.39 per Mcf (1,000 cubic feet) as a processing fee to cover the installation cost of the LNG terminal.

It also sought Petrobangla’s e� orts for mobilising credit support for engaging an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.

The Petrobangla chairman said the US � rm has proposed setting up the LNG terminal with its own funding. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank commercial lending wing, expressed its willingness to provide the required fund for the project. l

JCD LEADER TAUHID KILLING

Osmani Medical expels 10 BCL menn Tribune Report

Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College authority has expelled 10 activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League in connec-tion with the murder of medical stu-dent and also JCD leader Tauhid.

The expelled BCL men are -- Sou-men Day, BCL president of OMCH unit, Saiful Hye, general secretary, Mush-� quzzaman Akand, organising secre-tary, BCL activists Ra� , Ha� z, Pathan,

Abu Shahin Fahim, Shariful, Jubayer Ibne Khaled and Ripon.

The expulsion order, signed by the principal of the college Dr Morshed Ahmed Chowdhury, was issued on Sat-urday afternoon.

According to the expulsion order, the medical authority expelled the BCL activists as they are the accused in Tou-hid murder case.

Following the expulsion order, the city BNP of Sylhet withdrew their half-

day hartal that was scheduled to be ob-served on Sunday.

City BNP president in a press confer-ence announced the withdrawal of the programme that they declared in pro-test of the killing.

Tauhidul Islam, a fourth year stu-dent of MBBS 49th batch and also a JDC leader, was beaten to death by uniden-ti� ed miscreants on Wednesday (June 4). Later, Tauhidul succumbed to his injuries on Thursday. l

'Budget criticism does not suit BNP'n Imran Hossain Sheikh

Criticism over the budget for FY 2014-15 does not suit BNP, Awami League General Secretary and also LGRD Min-ister Syed Ashraful Islam has said.

The minister has made the state-ment while talking to the journalists after paying homage to the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

on the occasion of the historic six-point day at capital’s Dhanmondi on Satur-day morning.

Syed Ashraf said: “Criticism does not suit with them, who placed budget wearing uniform. They have no right to criticise.”

Asked about economists’ criticism over the budget, the AL general secretary said: “No other economist except De-

bapriya Bhattacharia criticised over the budget implementation. So, there is no meaning of replying to his comments.”

Syed Ashraf has termed the budget as ‘people- oriented.’

Awami League presidium members Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Shahara Khatun and AL Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif were present, among others. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

Ashraf: Conspiracy on to unseat Hasina from powern Emran Hossain Shaikh

The ruling Awami League yesterday claimed that a vested quarter had been conspiring to unseat Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power.

“There is no chance to remove Sheikh Hasina from power through elections. The vested quarter has been making attempt to unseat her from power in an illegal way,” AL Gener-al Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said while addressing a programme at Engi-neers Institution in the capital.

The ruling party organised the pro-gramme to mark the historic Six-point Day. It observed the day through day-long programmes, including placing wreath to the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Syed Ashraf, also the LGRD minister,

urged the party men to get united say-ing that if they unite, no one would be able to make their blueprint successful. “If we remain alert, incidents like Au-gust 15 will not recur,” he said.

About the proposed budget, the AL spokesperson said the budget was an economic view of the government. “People who don’t believe in the ideol-

ogies of the government, they will not support it. The government does not see any problem with such opposition.”

Pointing � nger at critics, the minis-ter said, “If you don’t accept the pro-posed budget, you can place proposals to the � nance minister for its changes.”

Regarding the issue of black money whitening in the budget, he said there was much ado about nothing.

“The country’s economy has not been destroyed, although there has been a provision of whitening black money over the last 30 years,” he said.

Hinting at Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the CPD, the LGRD minister raised question over the activities of some non-governmental organisations.

“Many people have set up organisa-tions with foreign donations and they work in their favour. The so-called

patriotic individuals are mislead-ing the people,” he said, adding that they neither know about the history nor the law, neither economics norpolitics.

Issuing a note of warning against the BNP for terming the incumbent gov-ernment illegal, AL Joint General Sec-retary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif advised them not to invite danger.

“You are talking about movement. Carry on with your movement and let us see it. You are in daydream that foreign friends would help you take of-� ce,” he said.

AL leaders Sahara Khatun, Ahmad Hossain, Habibur Rahman Siraj, Badi-uzzaman Bhuiyan Dablu, MA Aziz and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, among others, addressed the pro-gramme with Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury in the chair. l

Ershad: Budget utopian, target unattainablen Manik Miazee

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has termed the proposed budget for the � s-cal year 2014-15 utopian.

He said the budget implementation would not be possible as no rule of law and democracy prevail in the country.

The politician, however, suggested the budget be revised.

“The budget is not ambitious but unrealistic. The government needs po-litical stability for the successful imple-

mentation of the budget and put an end to extrajudicial killings, enforced disap-pearance and all other crimes like that.”

The JaPa chairman made the re-marks in his o� cial reaction at a post budget press brie� ng at the capital’s Banani yesterday.

The JaPa chief in his speech also ex-pressed his confusions over the imple-mentation of the proposed budget and said the Jatiya Party would place its opinions on it in parliament.

The former military dictator criti-

cised the government for poor alloca-tions in almost all the sectors. He, how-ever, expressed his satisfaction over the defence allocation.

He particularly expressed his dis-satisfaction over the allocations in ed-ucation, agriculture and health sectors saying they did not receive adequate allocations.

Ershad also said the proposed bud-get did not speci� cally say anything about employment generation, ready-made garments sector and its workers.

He demanded a rise in tax free in-come ceiling to Tk3 lakh from the exist-ing Tk2.20 lakh which the � nance minis-ter has proposed to remain unchanged.

Replying to a query, the JaPa chief said he had placed the budget reaction in the presence of the opposition lead-ers of the parliament.

Jatiya Party General Secretary Zi-auddin Ahmed Bablu, presidium mem-bers SM Foysal Chisti and Abdur Sobur Asud were present, among others, at the press brie� ng. l

Deaths of AL activists bucking the trend Ruling party men increasingly becoming victims of attacks, party feudsn Emran Hossain Shaikh

Although the country’s political sce-nario commonly sees opposition activ-ists being repressed and victimised by ruling party supporters, the pattern of political violence seems to be changing as most of the victims over the last few months had been activists of Awami League.

According to media reports from the last two months, at least 39 polit-ical killings took place in the country. Among the deceased, 24 people be-longed to the Awami League or its asso-ciate bodies, while only seven victims belonged to the BNP or the Jamaat. The rest of the victims belonged to di� erent political parties including the JSD, the CPB, and the UPDF.

Ruling party leaders have said such incidents were “unexpected,” but claimed that some “intruders” who have in� ltrated the Awami League were carrying out the killings to spoil the party’s image.

There are allegations that most of the political killings including the much-talked-about murders of Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and Feni’s Fulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haque were results of internal clashes of the party. Sources within the Awami League also said most of the attacks took place to establish dominance.

On the other hand, records be-tween January and March suggest that BNP-Jamaat activists were more frequently attacked than ruling party leaders at the start of this year com-pared to now.

According to rights body Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), majority of the victims of political killing during the � rst three months of the year belonged to oppo-sition parties. Among the 60 political

activists who were killed in separate incidents between January and March, including in alleged “gun� ghts” with law enforcers, 38 people were BNP-Ja-maat activists, while 21 belonged to the Awami League.

Political violence also claimed the lives of 27 civilians and three law en-forcers during the time, according to the ASK.

Asked about the issue, Awami League Presidium Member Nuh-Ul Alam Lenin admitted that many of the victims belonged to their party, adding: “We are embarrassed for the unexpect-ed incidents.”

He added that some ruling party activists might be involved with such violence because of personal vendetta.

Expressing the party’s stance against the culprits, the leader said: “The prime minister has a strong stance against the recent killings that are spoiling our image. She will take necessary action, irrespective of whether the culprits are party men or not.”

On the other hand, party Joint Gen-eral Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif claimed: “After the January 5 poll, frus-trated BNP-Jamaat activists had joined our party through di� erent channels and these intruders have been carrying out such violence.”

He, however, admitted that some incidents have been the result of the party’s internal clash.

Hanif said they were identifying the “intruders” who were damaging the party’s reputation and that “they [in-truders] will face legal actions even if they are in� uential.”

Earlier, in a joint meeting of the par-ty on June 2, Prime Minister Sheikh Ha-sina, also the Awami League president, said the situation would be brought un-der control after the budget session. l

Jabed: Govt considering Dhaka-Ctg expresswayn BSS

State Minister for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Jabed yesterday said that the government was mulling over intro-ducing Dhaka-Chittagong expressway in addition to the four-lane highway.

“I have already ventilated the plan to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who is utmost sincere about the development of Chittagong like Dhaka,” he added.

The minister was addressing the website inaugural ceremony of Amra Chatgabashi (www.chatgabashi.org) at Chittagong Press Club.

Terming Chittagong, a 2200-year old city, the minister said Chittagong has its own culture, history and tradition

that should be preserved for the sake of national interest.

Referring to a criticism by a cer-tain quarter about a newly introduced � yover in the port city, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said the responsible per-sons should pass judgment in respon-sible way.

“This quarter is, in a planned way, a� ecting the development process of the city”, he said adding that they should come forward to help the devel-opment process shunning the path of negative criticism.

Inaugurating the website, Chit-tagong Mayor M Manjur Alam Manju said an integrated approach is vital for overall development of the city. l

Two Juba League leaders run over by busn Tribune Online Report

Two leaders of Juba League, youth a� liate of ruling Awami League, have been killed as a bus rammed into a motorcycle in Joka area on Dhaka-Aricha highway in Manikganj on Saturday morning.

The deceased were identi� ed as Sobjel Ali, 26, organising sec-

retary of Baniajury Union Juba League, and Rubel Hossain, 25, publicity secretary of the unit.

Ghior police station O� -cer-in-Charge (investigation) Nazmul Nishat told the Dhaka Tri-bune that the bodies were sent to Manikganj Sadar hospital morgue.

Police held the bus driver after the accident, said the OC. l

4 held in Jagannath Hall raidn DU Correspondent

Police detained four out-siders in a raid at the Jagan-nath Hall of Dhaka Univer-sity early yesterday at the behest of the DU authority to evict outsiders and re-cover illegal arms.

During the raid in the two buildings of the hall, the law enforcers could not recover any arms, as the information of the raid was leaked, witnesses said.

DU acting proctor Pro-fessor Amzad Ali con� rmed the news of the raid. l

‘Many people have set up organisations with foreign donations and they work in their favour. The so-called patriotic individuals are misleading the people’

Hawkers in the capital’s Gulistan remain busy selling jerseys of di� erent football-playing nations, as hundreds of people go there to buy jerseys of their favourite teams ahead of the World Cup 2014. The photo was taken yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Bangladesh Student Council form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday, demanding a stop to leakage of di� erent public exam question papers SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

80 RMG workers hospitalised taking water at CEPZn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

At least 80 workers of a ready-made garment factory situated at Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) became sick yesterday after drinking allegedly contaminated water at their workplace.

A large number of workers, most-ly women, of Peninsula Garment Ltd owned by Major (retd) MA Mannan started vomit food with headache and stomach ache in the morning after hav-ing water supplied by the factory, said

police sources.Of them, one was whisked o� to

Chittagong Medical College Hospital, 20 others were to Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) Hospital while the rest workers re-ceived � rst aid.

Quoting on-duty doctors of the hos-pital, Arifur Rahman Arif, Inspector (intelligence) of Industrial Police in Chittagong, said the apparel workers imbibed the factory-supplied water and got sick around 8:30am.

Meanwhile, the CEPZ authorities declared a holiday for the factory fol-lowing the incident, the inspector con-tinued.

Md Ahsan Kabir, General Manager of CEPZ, said: “The workers initially blamed the water supplied by the factory for their sickness. We have already collected the water sample for testing.”

The GM, however, claimed psy-chological breakdown caused the mass-sickness that panicked the work-ers more than reality. l

MPs get special allocation for test relief n Mohosinul Karim

Members of Parliament have been given special allocation for test relief under the rural infrastructure mainte-nance programme taken by the Disas-ter Management and Relief Ministry.

Each of 300 MPs will get 140 metric tonnes of wheat while 50 women MPs for reserved seats will get 50 metric tonnes of wheat each.

The ministry has issued an order asking the department of disaster man-agement to allocate food grains to the lawmakers.

The department of disaster man-agement also issued an order which was sent to deputy commissioners last week for releasing the allotment of food grains for the projects to be sub-mitted by the MPs within June 10.

According to the ministry’s order, food grains allocated for the programme will be used for maintenance of rural in-frastructures such roads, grounds of ed-ucational institutions, places of worship and rickety bridges or culverts.

The o� cials concerned said phys-ical work of small projects would be completed and food grains must be distributed among the bene� ciaries by June 30, the last day of the current � s-cal year.

Earlier, the ministry also allocated 300 metric tonnes of rice to each of the MPs of general seats while women MPs for reserved seats got 100 metric tonnes of rice each under Food for Work pro-gramme.

Physical work of the projects still goes on against the allocations given in last April. l

ARTICLE 19 project to protect women journos n Tribune Report

The Bangladesh chapter of ARTICLE 19, with the support of Free Press Unlimit-ed, has launched a new project to pro-tect women journalists in the country.

The project, called “Righting Wrongs Against Women Journalists”, was inau-gurated at a function at the YWCA audi-torium in the capital yesterday.

A two-day workshop on protect-ing women journalists began after the function, said a press release.

“We have been working with wom-en journalists to ensure that their safe-ty and security are protected….So, we are delighted to undertake this new programme, which will support many more women journalists to enable them to speak without fear and work in an enabling environment,” said Tahmi-

na Rahman, director of ARTICLE 19 for Bangladesh and South Asia.

The function was attended by over 60 women journalists, online activists and community radio initiators.

Shah Alamgir, director general of the Press Institute of Bangladesh, Tasmima Hossain, acting editor of fortnightly “Anannya” and Nasimun Ara Haque Minu, president of Bangladesh Nari Sangbadik Kendro (centre for women journalists) were also present.

ARTICLE 19 Bangladesh has been campaigning to end gender-based dis-crimination in the media and censor-ship against women journalists.

Women journalists in Bangladesh face many challenges, including low pay, and lack protection from threats, harass-ment and fraudulent litigation, accord-ing to the organisation’s website. l

Quader promises for e� ective steps to prevent road accidents n UNB

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said yesterday coordinated steps would be taken to prevent road accidents.

“Road accidents have become a na-tional problem. It will be prevented through coordinated steps,” he said.Quader was speaking at the launching of a campaign to build awareness about road safety organised by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) at Mohakhali.

He called for involving civil society members, renowned � gures and media workers in the campaign.

Quader said his ministry will be transparent in spending the money that will be available during the 2014-15 � scal year starting July 1.

He said his ministry needs more funds for building district-level roads than what has been proposed in the budget. l

Worker dies falling from rooftop in Chittagongn CU Correspondent

A construction worker was killed yes-terday after falling from an under con-struction building in Jamal Khan area under Chittagong city.

The deceased, Azizur Rahman, 28, son of Goltaj Rahman, hails from Sadar upazila of Chapainawabganj district, said police sources.

Nayek Jahangir Alam of Chittagong Medical College Hospital police out-post said the construction worker acci-dentally  fell down from the 12th � oor of the under construction building at Sirirgora of Jamal Khan under Kotwali police station around 9am when he was working on the rooftop.

Later, the injured was taken to the CMCH in a critical condition where the on-duty doctor pronounced him dead, added Nayek Jahangir. l

Govt urged to ratify UN Watercourses Convention n Abu Hayat Mahmud

The government should ratify the Unit-ed Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of Interna-tional Watercourses 1997, said envi-ronmentalists, academics and rights activists.

They said if Bangladesh had rati� ed the convention, it would have been binding for India to refrain from divert-ing water of international rivers unilat-erally.

The concerned citizens made the demand at a discussion organised by 12 environmental organisations at the National Press Club yesterday.

They advocated for Bangladesh’s rati� cation of the convention on the law of the non-navigational uses of in-

ternational watercourses for securing the rightful share of all the internation-al rivers’ water.

The 1997 convention is the only in-ternational treaty on the uses and con-servation of all waters that cross inter-national boundaries.

According to the convention, the countries signing the treaty will not be able to take any harmful step for their member countries.

To turn the convention into a law, it needs to be rati� ed by its 35 member countries.

The speakers at the discussion blamed the Bangladesh government for negligence in signing the convention.

Bangladesh voted in favour of the convention while it came into being in 1997.

Vietnam signed the convention last month as the 35th signatory and the convention would be turned into a law in August.

Prof Nazrul Islam, an urban planner, urged the government to sign the con-vention immediately.

Prof Anu Muhammad of Jahangirnagar University criticised the government for the delay in signing the treaty.

“Our government thinks that the Indian government is a powerful one, and because of its submissive foreign policy, the government delays signing the convention,” he said.

Chaired by M Inamul Haque, the programme was addressed, among others, by Prof Asif Nazrul and keynote speaker Hasnat Kaium. l

New apartments to be constructed for ministersn Mohosinul Karim

Around 20 new apartments will be con-structed on the Minto Road and Hare Road for the ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers to resolve the policy makers’ housing crisis in the country.

The Ministry of Housing and Public Works will implement the project, said o� cials at the ministry yesterday, add-ing that the building code will be fully followed in the project in order to keep intact the legacy of the area.

Earlier, the ministry had construct-ed 20 more apartments in the same area for the ministers during ruling Awami League’s 1996-2001 government.

Housing and Public Works Minis-ter Mosharraf Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune last week: “We are planning to build the new apartments in the posh area considering the scarcity of standard accommodation for the policymakers.”

He said most of the existing build-ings of the areas had become unlivable. Moreover, now it had become tough to maintain them properly.

But the government would not like to destroy the old buildings, keeping in mind their heritage value. Instead, new apartments would be built at the abandoned vacant spaces on the Minto Road and Hare Road area, he added.

When asked about the number of unusable buildings in the area, the minister said, “We are yet to assess the number concretely. But, it will be done shortly to build the necessary number of apartments.”

“We will construct 20 new apart-ments for the minister’s use initially. The construction will be started soon as per legal procedures,” said Mosharraf.

He continued, “After completion of the construction of new apartments, the ministers residing in the risky or be-low-standard houses will be shifted to those apartments. The risky or bellow standard houses will be renovated then.”

The buildings would be constructed with the money from the annual devel-opment budget of the ministry. Around four or � ve high-rises might be con-structed in this regard, he informed.

There are around 70 houses and apartments on the Minto Road, Hare Road and Bailey Road area, known as ministers’ residential area in the city.

Apart from ministers, state minis-ters and deputy ministers, advisors to the prime minister and opposition leader, top bureaucrats and police per-sonnel also live in the area.

The area also houses Dhaka Metro-politan Police headquarters and o� ce of the Detective Branch of the police and several state guest houses. l Peter D Pogose, a member of the Pogose family, addresses a reunion programme of Pogose School in Dhaka on Friday DHAKA TRIBUNE

A woman speaks at the Women’s Leadership Summit 2014 organised by Bangladesh Brand Forum at the Westin hotel in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Leadership summit: Bangladesh still needs to address women’s rightsn Syeda Samira Sadeque

Despite the government and the oppo-sition being led by women, Bangladesh still needs to address women’s rights and their access to the corporate world, participants said at the Women’s Lead-ership Summit 2014 yesterday.

The role of women in the workplace and how it is underrated in Bangladesh, as well as globally, was the theme of the daylong summit, hosted by Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF).

“If we cannot use the potential and possibilities of women and turn them into a source of power for society, then we are actually losing manpower. So, with this concept, we thought of having this event,” Nazia Andaleeb Preema, advisor of BBF, told the Dhaka Tribune.

With the aim of changing

society’s mindset on women’s roles, especially in the corporate sector, discussions at the event focussed on topics ranging from women’s health, discrimination and the “glass ceiling” at work place.

Referring to the gendered upbring-ing of children in our society as a “vi-cious cycle”, Mehtab Khanam, a pro-fessor of psychology, said: “The whole society is responsible for teaching males and females.”

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, a lawyer and executive director of Bangladesh Envi-ronmental Lawyers Association, linked issues of women and the environment in context of Bangladesh, such as the river being the access to water, and the mother of the family being the facilita-tor of that access.

Saida Muna Tasneem, director gen-eral (UN & human rights) at the foreign

ministry, pointed out how women were often assigned ministries dealing with “softer” issues like education and chil-dren, which turns into a psychological barrier that must be addressed.

Other topics discussed includ-ed workplace harassment and global drop-out rate of women in careers.

“Women’s careers are full of pot-holes,” said Naazneen Karmali, editor of Forbes India. “In addition to balanc-ing work and family, we also have to balance our split-personalities, qual-ities that were appreciated at work, such as decisiveness or aggression, are the ones we would have to leave at work when we returned home to our family.”

However, referring to her own ca-reer as a business journalist and that of other role models, Karmali said those factors, too, could be overcome. l

Each of 300 MPs will get 140 metric tonnes of wheat while 50 women MPs for reserved seats will get 50 metric tonnes of wheat each

WEATHER

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 3:43am Sunrise 5:09am Zohr 11:58am Asr 4:38pm Magrib 6:45pm Esha 8:12pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:45PM SUN RISES 5:10AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW36.4ºC 25.2ºC

Srimangal Dinajpur

SUNDAY, JUNE 8

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 37 29Chittagong 33 27Rajshahi 39 29Rangpur 32 26Khulna 37 37Barisal 36 28Sylhet 36 25Cox’s Bazar 33 27

THUNDERSHOWER OR RAIN

Hawkers continue grabbing foot-over-bridges n Tazlina Zamila Khan

Most of the foot-over-bridges in the capital have been grabbed by hawkers with their makeshift shops, creating hassle for the commuters.

Farmgate foot-over-bridge, one of the busiest over bridges in the capital, was seen full of makeshift shops and beggars, impeding the free movement of the pedestrians. This over-bridge is used by a large numbers of people as there is no other way to cross the road on foot.

The temporary shops installed by the hawkers are seen at most of the foot-over-bridges in the capital causing huge discomfort to the commuters.

The same scenario was observed in other foot-over-bridges in Gulistan, Gabtoli, Housebuilding, Abdullahpur and Motijheel areas.

Sources said there were around 34 foot over bridges under the Dhaka North City Corporation and over 30 bridges under the Dhaka South City Corporation.

A pedestrian, Abdul Kuddus, who had been passing the Farmgate foot-over-bridge with her 12-year-old daughter, said: “Hawkers have grabbed most of the areas of the bridge. The makeshift shops have been creating hassles in our movement.”

Another pedestrian, Abdur Rashid, 65, said: “Hawkers even sit on the stairs blocking the way for people. It seems that the bridges have been built for hawkers and we cannot use them.”

Although government has taken moves in the past to evict hawkers, all of the steps have been in vain, he added.

Earlier on November 1, 2010, the

government decided to evict all the hawkers from the foot-over-bridges, but the move was suspended as per the request from The Hawkers’ Asso-ciation.

The association had requested the government for proper rehabilitation, so that they could run their business without any disruption.

Meanwhile, it is the responsibility of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and both city corporations to free the bridges from hawkers.

Mir Rezaul Alam, joint commission-er (tra� c) of the DMP told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are continuously evict-ing hawkers from footpaths, roads and foot-over-bridges. But, after eviction, they again grab the areas.”

Earlier, the DNCC had taken plans to free the footpaths and foot overpasses, which were never implemented.

Brig Gen Md Abul Khair, DNCC chief engineer, claimed that he was aware of the illegal grabbing of footpaths and foot overpasses by vendors.

Khair said: “We have taken a plan to evict hawkers from footpaths, and foot overpasses and clear them. Their pres-ence is halting the movement of pedes-trians, and we will evict them soon.”

When asked, a hawker, Monu Mia, said: “I run my family by earning mon-ey through vending. I don’t have mon-ey to hire a shop inside a big market. So, I am sitting over bridges to sell my goods.”

Another vendor Azgar Ali said: “Evic-tion of vendors is not a solution. We are selling goods for the sake of our family. If government gives us employment and rehabilitation then we will not sell goods at the foot-over-bridges.” l

BCL men beat up two students n CU Correspondent

Some activists of Bangladesh Chha-tra League Chittagong University unit yesterday beat up two students of CU’s communication and journalism de-partment inside their classroom over political rivalry.

The victims are Ra� q Haider and Monirul Islam Sohan, third year stu-dents of the department, said the de-

partmental sources.Witnesses said around 10-12 Chha-

tra League men, led by Rahsedul Is-lam, fourth year student of sociology department and loyal to city Awami League President ABM Mohiuddin group, entered into the victims’ class-room and started a � ght.

At one stage, the Chhatra League men started beating the duo with iron rods and sticks, alleging the students to

be “Shibir men.”The daily Inqilab’s  CU Correspon-

dent Sakirul Haque Toru was also phys-ically harassed by the attackers as he protested the incident.

On information, the teachers of journalism department rushed to the spot and rescued the students.

Acting chairman of the depart-ment Atikur Rahman said the proc-tor was already informed. The

proctor had assured that punitive measures would be taken against theattackers.

CU Proctor Professor Siraj Ud Dowla said stern measures were being taken against the involved individuals.

Confessing the incident, Rashedul Islam, the Chhatra League man, said Ra� q was an activist of Shibir, adding that the incident inside the classroom was “unexpected.” l

BARISAL UNIVERSITY VIOLENCE

Case lodged against50 students n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Barisal University authorities lodged a case yesterday with Barisal’s Kotwali police station against 50 of its students for vandalising the registrar’s o� ce and injuring four people on Thursday.

Kotwali police station O� -cer-in-Charge Shakhawat Hossain said BU Estate O� cer Saiduzzaman lodged the case quoting names of four stu-dents – Aqib Javed Khan, Reza Sharif, Enamul Moni, and Al-Mamun – along with 45-50 other unnamed students as accused.

The complainant in the case alleged that the accused students on Thursday vandalised the equipment and furni-ture at the BU registrar’s o� ce and in-jured four o� cials and sta� s.

Among the injured, Assistant Regis-trar Bahauddin Golap was admitted at Barisal’s Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital, while the other three - Saiful Islam, Nusrat Jahan, and Sanjia Sultana Tamanna – were treated at local health facilities.

Sub-Inspector Kabir Hossain has been appointed as investigation o� cer of the case, OC Shakhawat said, adding that the police have started drives to arrest the accused and were trying to collect photos and video clips printed and broadcasted in media.

BU Vice-Chancellor Prof Harunor Rashid Khan said the case was lodged after a seven-member probe commit-tee, led by BU syndicate member Prof Md Hanif, submitted its report on Fri-day. Stern disciplinary action would be taken against the attackers based on the � ndings of the probe committee, the BU VC added.

Meanwhile, Barisal Bishwabidyaloy Karmakarta Karmachari Oikya Pari-shad, a platform of the university’s o� cials, continued its protest pro-grammes yesterday by holding a rally on the university campus.

They announced continuing their ongoing work abstention, demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits, and assurances of safety of the univer-sity o� cials.

Manirul Islam, BU acting registrar and convener of the parishad, presided over the rally.

On the other hand, seeking ano-nymity, several students claimed that the VC did not lodge any case against road transport owners and workers when students were being repeated-ly attacked, but ordered to � le a case against students as soon as Assistant Registrar Bahauddin Golap, who stu-dents claimed was an agent of the VC and road transport owners, was as-saulted.

Agitating students also declared Golap as a persona-non-grata in the campus for his role against the interests of the students and threatened to boycott class and exams if Golap was not removed from his post and cases against students were notwithdrawn.

Preferring to stay unnamed, a lec-turer of the university who is also a leader of a BU teachers association, blamed the VC for creating instabili-ty on the campus by politicising the situation, as well as accusing him of maintaining an autocratic rule by holding 23 posts alone, and carry-ing out nepotism, corruption andirregularities. l

CNG station owners postpone striken Aminur Rahman Rasel

Owners of CNG refuelling stations postponed their strike, which was sup-posed to start today, until August 24 as the government assured them of con-sidering their demands.

President of Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Own-ers Association, Zakir Hossain Noyon, announced the postponement of their strike scheduled to begin at 6am today.

The decision came after State Min-ister for Energy Nasrul Hamid had assured the owners to ful� l their de-mands by August 14, Zakir said.

The owners had met the state minis-ter at his Baridhara residence.

CNG refuelling station owners had called the strike to press home a sev-en-point demand, including a rise in CNG prices and installation of Elec-tronic Volume Correction (EVC) meters at refuelling stations to replace the ex-isting ordinary meters. l

Workers block street for dues n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Several hundred workers of two ready-made garment (RMG) factories yester-day blocked a street of Chittagong city demanding their outstanding salaries and protesting the sack of workers from the factories.

Around 600 workers of Tekno Dress and Wakia Fashions, owned by one Mohammad Faisal, took to the streets on Dewanhat Intersection at 9am de-manding their dues since April, said Matiul Islam, o� cer-in-charge (OC) of Double Mooring police station.

The workers also alleged that the factories’ authorities have adopted pol-icy of retrenchment by � ring the work-ers without showing any logical cause for minimising their costs, he said.

Due to the blockade on the Sheikh Mujib Road in the port city’s Dewanhat area from 9am to 11am, the commuters experienced huge tailback on the road under excessive summer heat, said po-lice and locals.

Inspector (intelligence) Arifur Rahman Arif of Industrial police in Chittagong said the workers start-ed their demonstration inside the

factories around 8:30am and later they came out of their factories and blocked the road to press home theirdemands.

Additional police force from Dou-ble Mooring police station and indus-trial police rushed to the spot being informed and tried to calm down the agitated RMG workers, he also said.

The protesting workers, howev-er, withdrew their blockade from the busy road after two hours when they got assurance from the owners’ side that their demands would be met soon, added OC Matiul. l

Curtain falls on Digital World 2014 n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The four-day Digital World 2014 at the Bangabandhu International Confer-ence Centre in the capital ended yester-day amid a heavy presence of visitors and students.

The country’s biggest Information and Communication Technology expo-sition was an event to attract local and foreign investments, to showcase Ban-gladesh’s achievements in the sector, and to spread positive messages about the sector both at home and abroad.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith was present as the chief gust at the concluding ceremony. Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Abdul Latif Sid-dique and State Minister of ICT Zunaid

Ahmed Palak were present along with the president and general secretary of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).

Earlier on June 4, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the event. The conference centre buzzed with vis-itors for the last four days.

The event was arranged for the third time, with the other two in 2011 and 2012.

During an interview session of the candidates, who dropped CVs since the exposition opened, yesterday, nine well-known IT � rms, including Brain Solution Ltd, Twister Media, Pixel Net Technology, Metaphor International and Ezora Solutions, interviewed more than 150 candidates.

“Although the event was arranged in

Dhaka, it also generated hype outside the capital because it was streamed live. We hope we will soon be able to turn IT into our main source of earn-ings,” Palak said.

Earlier in the day, organisers ar-ranged a special session for school students named “Children’s Digital World”. Notable author and teacher Professor Dr Md Zafar Iqbal, Nishat Ma-jumder, the � rst Bangladeshi woman to climb the Everest, and several other renowned personalities participated in the session.

Morten Lund, who founded or co-invested in more than 100 high-tech start-ups including Skype, was present and said he was amazed to see such a large number of IT enthusiasts in the country. l

Eminent cultural personality Kamal Lohani and educationist Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui visit a drawing competition for children ‘Boishakhe Chhobi Ako, Joishthe Prodorshoni’ at the Joynul Gallery of the department of � ne arts, Dhaka University yesterday RAJIB DHAR

A large number of people visit the Digital World 2014 at the Bangbandhu International Conference Centre on the last day yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

3 killed in road accidentAt least three people were killed and 35 others injured as a bus plunged into a roadside ditch on Dhaka-Khulna highway at Pona area under Kashiani upazila in the district yesterday. The deceased were identi� ed as Fouzdar Shikder, 60, son of Lal Mia Shikder of Keshabpur in Netrakona district, Khokon Mallik, 28,son of Shomer Mallik of Nandia in Narail district, and Odud Mridha, 70, son of Ashik Mridha of Bashgram village in Narail district. Kashiani police station O� cer-in-Charge Monirul Islam said: “A Narail-bound bus of ‘Diganta Paribahan’ plunged into a roadside ditch on Dhaka-Khulna highway in Pona area around 4am, leaving three people dead on the spot and 35 others injured.” The injured were taken to Kashiani Upazila.– Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

10 injured in clashAt least 10 persons including two women were injured in a clash between two rival groups at Koneshwar village at under upazila of the district yesterday. Witnesses said, in the evening, some miscreants led by Abdur Rahman Madber attacked their neigbhours Ilias Gazi and his brother Abdul Motin Gazi with lethal weapons over a minor incident, leaving at least 10 persons. On information, local people rushed to the spot and stopped the clash. Of the injured, Ilias Gazi, Abdul Motin Gazi and Saon were admitted to Shariatpur Sadar Hospital and others were admitted to Damuddya Upazila Health Complex. Ashraful Amin, o� cer-in-charge of Damuddya police sta-tion, said the clash took place between the supporters of Abdur Rahman Madber and family members of Mojibur Rahman Gazi in

the village over a piece of disputed land. – Our Correspondent, Shariatpur

12 rescued, 3 tra� ckers heldBorder Guard Bangladesh rescued 12 tra� cking victims including a child at Raghunathpur frontier along Benapole land port in Jessore Friday night. Lt Col Matiur Rahman, director, 26 BGB, reported the incident to the Dhaka Tribune. The BGB men raided the area at around midnight and rescued 12 victims just before the tra� cking attempt. Of them, 11 are men and one is a child. During the drive, they arrested three human tra� ckers, said the BGB director. A case was lodged with Benapole port police station in this regard, he added.– Our Correspondent, Jessore

NEWS IN BRIEF

PDB ‘middlemen’ having a � eld day n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

In clear violation of the power policy, the Power Development Board (PDB) has continued supplying illegal dual connections in eight villages of Bahuli and Kalia Haripur unions of Sirajganj Sadar upazila that are actually under Palli Biduyt Samity (PBS).

In the last month, nearly 50 poles were installed in Dhitapur-Alal, Dhi-tapur-Kanu, Mansumi, Char-Kalyani, Bara-Chakuli, Kashiahata, Baoitara and Kadai villages.

To provide illegal dual connections and to increase load, PDB has already installed two transformers in Kashiaha-ta and Baoitara, while Dhitapur is await-ing installation of another. The villages got more than 200 new connections in the last one month while another 500 new connections are in the o� ng.

Nearly 75,000 applications for new connections from PBS clients, living in remote areas in nine upazilas of the dis-trict, have piled up at Sirajganj PBS head-quarters and other o� ces. There are al-legations that the applications have not been attended as PBS o� cials and clients failed to reach a consensus over bribes.

As no PBS connection is currently being provided, clients are trying to contact PDB brokers and middlemen.

Because of alleged agreement between PBS o� cials and PDB brokers, PBS con-nections are not being provided deliber-ately, allowing PDB brokers easy access to supply dual connections in PBS areas. The brokers are raking in a large sum.

Both PDB and PBS o� cials are keep-ing mum on PDB men installing poles and transformers at night in PBS vil-lages. PDB’s illegal dual connections in PBS areas are depriving the state co� er of valuable funds, but o� cials of both bodies are only sending letters to the ad-ministrative o� ce, blaming each other.

In the wake of reports of supplying illegal dual connections in PBS areas, former executive engineer of Sirajganj PDB Krishna Kanti Roy and caretaker engineer of Pabna region Moazzem Hossain were recently transferred as part of the punitive measures taken against them, but the wrongdoing still goes unabated. The brokers have be-come active again soon after Abu Hena Mostafa joined as PDB’s new resident and executive engineer in Sirajganj.

“After carrying out a probe, we have informed the o� ce of the PBS senior general manager of PDB supplying ille-gal connections in PBS areas, but no ac-tion has yet been taken,” said Sirajganj PBS Deputy General Manager Nasimul Haque. l

Bailey bridges across Pirojpur in bad shapen Our correspondent, Pirojpur

A number of bailey bridges across the Pirojpur-Mathbaria-Patharghata areas are in poor shape, with accidents be-coming frequent in these regions.

Sources said the bridges were con-tinued being used, despite being run-down.

Established � rst during the Ershad regime, the bridges were carpeted only once, in 1998, when the Awami League government was in power.

A visit to the areas revealed that the bailey bridges in Mathbaria upa-zila were in worst condition, with their � shplates remaining patched up some-how, and nuts and bolts falling apart from the bridges.

On May 7, the Lalpool Bailey Bridge in Mirukhali union under Mathbaria collapsed with a goods-laden truck, in-juring one Madrassa student, Mahbub. On September 9, another truck got stuck as the � shplate supporting the bridge broke down.

The commuters in the area said they have to risk their lives while crossing the bridge.

According to a Pirojpur � sh trader Babul Khan, the truckers charge them more for carrying goods across the bridges.

Mathbaria Municipality Mayor Ra� -uddin Ahmed called upon the authori-ties concerned to renovate the bridges immediately.

Engineer Fakhrul Islam of Pirojpur Roads and Highways Department said of the 24 bailey bridges covering 37 kil-ometres across Pirojpur-Mathbaria-Pa-tharghata, 10 were in a very bad shape.

Contacted, Executive Engineer Abu Hena Mohammad Mostofa Kamal at-tributed the run-down conditions of the bridges to scarcity of funds.

He said they had put forward a pro-posal to higher authorities for the con-struction of new bridges.

“We will start work soon after we get the nod of the high-ups and alloca-tion.” l

Eight murdered across districts n Tribune Report

At least eight people were killed in Naogaon, Satkhira, Habiganj, Dhaka, Feni and Jessore districts yesterday.

Our Naogaon correspondent said three people were killed as two groups of villagers clashed over a land-related dispute at Mithapur village in Badal-gachhi upazila.

The deceased were identi� ed as Shahidul Islam, Abdul Wadul and Am-jad Hossain, residents of the village.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Mahfuz Afzal said there had been a longstanding dispute between Sha-hidul Islam and Hasan Ali over the ownership of a piece a land.

At night, the supporters of Hasan attacked Shahidul and his associates while they were at a meeting over the issue.

At one stage, they stabbed Shahidul, Wadul and Amjad indiscriminately, leaving them seriously injured.

Shahidul died while he along with the other two was being rushed to Naogaon Sadar Hospital.

Wadul and Amjad were later taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital following deterioration of their condi-tion.

They, however, died at the hospital.Azizul Haque, o� cer-in-charge of

Badalgachhi police station, con� rmed

the incident. Later, agitated local peo-ple vandalised houses of Hasan Ali and Saiful Islam.

On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Since the incident, a tense situation was prevailing in the area.

To avert further trouble, additional police personnel have been deployed in the area.

Satkhira correspondent said a young housewife was beaten to death alleged-ly by her husband and mother-in-law over a dowry-related con� ict at Rasul-pur village in the district town.

The victim was identi� ed as Rabeya Khatun,17, wife of Rabiul Islam, a resi-dent of the village.

Local sources said since after their marriage, Rabiul had often tortured Rabeya for dowry.

At night, Rabiul and his mother Rok-eya Khatun beat Rabeya mercilessly over the issue, leaving her seriously injured.

Hearing Rabeya’s screams, local people rescued Rabeya and took her to Satkhira Sadar Hospital where on-duty doctors declared her dead.

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

Police also arrested Rabiul and his mother.

Enamul Haque, o� cer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station, con� rmed the in-cident.

Habiganj corresponded reported a teenage boy was murdered at Shahpur village in Madhabpur upazila.

The deceased was identi� ed as Shamim Mian ,14, son of Ayub Ali of the village.

Police said Shamim went missing since Friday and later locals found the body lying in the area.

On information, the police went to the spot and recovered the body.

The body was sent to Habiganj Sadar Hospital morgue.

Abdul Basit, o� cer-in-charge of Madhabpur police station said: “ The police are trying to nab the criminals.”

Savar Correspondent said a disabled woman was killed by her sister-in-law at Jadurchar Mahalla in Hemaetpur un-der Savar of Dhaka district.

The deceased was identi� ed as Shil-pi Akter, 25, daughter of Babul Mian.

Sources said Shila Akter, sister of Shilpi, had been married o� with Sharif Mian in the area.

After the marriage , Sharif and Shila used to quarrel over family feud and Sharif tortured her.

On the day, Sharif tortured Shila leaving her critically injured. He at-tacked Shilpi leaving her to die while she tried tried to save her sister.

On information, police recovered the body and sent it to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.

Dipak Kumer Saha, o� cer-in-charge of Savar model police police station, said Shilpi had been killed over family feud.

Sharif went into hiding after the in-cident, said police.

Feni correspondent said a postmas-ter was shot dead at Daulotpur village in Sadar upazila.

The deceased was identi� ed as Mahbubul Haque, 55, postmaster of Mmatazmiar post o� ce.

Locals said miscreants shot him while he was sleeping at night.

Later, he was sent to Chittagong Medical and Hospital where he died.

Jasimuddin, local UP chairman, con-� rmed the incident.

Jessore correspondent said a youth was stabbed to death at Dumdia village in sadar upazila here following a mon-ey-related dispute.

The deceased was identi� ed as Alamgir Hossain, 30, son of Abul Kalam of Kamarpara at Dumdia village under Kotwali police station area.

Locals said Alamgir borrowed some money from Shahabuddin of the village and they were locked in an altercation.

At one stage, Shahbuddin and his associates stabbed Alamgir with sharp weapons around 11pm, leaving him dead on the spot. l

Businessman’s death from RAB torture protested in B’barian Our Correspondent,

Brahmanbaria

Local people yesterday protested against the death of businessman Shahnur Alam from RAB’s torture in Brahmanbaria’s Nabinagar upazila.

They also demanded registration of a case against Rab-14 Captain Major Sakib Siddique and 10 others, who had allegedly been involved in picking up and torturing Shahnur.

Earlier, on April 29, they allegedly picked up Shahnur, son of Union Pari-shad member Rois Uddin of Nabinagar upazila’s Bogorhor village, from his home and inhumanly tortured him in their cus-tody. He died of injuries on May 6.

Ever since, the family had been to the police station time and again for � l-ing a murder case, but they could not make them register a case against the elite force in this connection.

As a last resort, they went to the court to have the police receive a case on the murder. On Wednesday, Senior Judicial Magistrate Nazmun Nahar or-dered Nabinagar police to register a case on the murder, but just a day after, he was taken o� duty until further notice.

Her withdrawal from duty for an inde� nite time frustrated the victim’s family and local people, prompting them to take to the streets for justice in Juba League activist Shahnur ‘murder’.

The locals yesterday took out a pro-cession at Nabinagar Purbo Union Pari-shad premises and ended in front of the National Press Club and held a rally there.

Nabinagar Upazila Awami League leaders Nasir Uddin, Mahbubur Rah-man, Krishak League leader, Abdus Salam and BNP leader Helal Uddin, victim’s brother and plainti� Mehedi Hasan also spoke at the rally.

They said the government had

formed the Rab for catching terrorists and muggers, but they were picking up people and extorting them and were killing them in case they were not giv-en any extortion money.

They demanded that the guilty be arrested and put on trial immediately and said tougher programmes would otherwise follow.

According to the charge � led by Me-hedi before the court, Shahnur was tor-tured to death by RAB men, who were used by a manpower merchant named Nazrul who owes to them Tk7,20,000.

After the RAB picked him up in April, they had said in a press release that they captured him because he had been accused of various criminal activ-ities, including arsons and extortions.

Earlier on Thursday, Nabinagar Of-� cer-in-Charge Rupok Kumar Saha said they had no case � led against Shahnur over any criminal incident. l

Adequate tree plantations needed for � ghting climate change n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Massive tree plantations can help re-duce carbon emission at a substantial level, making it a key factor in facing the adverse impact of climate change in the vast Barind tract.

The observation was made by green activists during a campaign of plant-ing trees at Rajshahi University and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, marking the World Envi-ronment Day.

Volunteers for Bangladesh, an as-sociate organisation of Jaago Founda-tion, planted over hundred trees at the

university campuses over the course of two days, yesterday and on Friday.

The campaign organisers said op-timum forestation could help stop degradation of environment and bio-diversity making the country a safe habitat for everyone. Expanding the country’s forest area by up to 25% of the total landscape will protect Bang-ladesh from the possible and alarming consequences of the ongoing climate changes.

The organisers also stated that there was no alternative to creating more for-est areas for which adequate � nancial support from both national and inter-

national donor agencies was required. Stressing the need for formulat-

ing time-be� tting policies, they also pointed out that the present impacts of climate change have adversely a� ected the region’s agriculture, irrigation, nav-igation, ecology, bio-diversity, weath-er, environment and underground wa-ter levels.

As part of the campaign, a bicycle rally was also brought out yesterday by some 50 volunteers of Volunteers for Bangladesh from the Rajshahi Railgate area in the morning. The rally, after travelling to major points of the city, ended at C and B crossing. l

A three-wheeler laden with goods gets stuck in-between � shplates supporting the bailey bridge in Pirojpur-Mathbaria area. The picture was taken recently DHAKA TRIBUNE

Volunteers for Bangladesh, a nation-wide association of Volunteer Action Groups, plants sapling as part of its tree plantation campaign on Friday and Saturday on the campus of Rajshahi University and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology DHAKA TRIBUNE

Recognising individual intelligence pro� lesn Career Desk

IQ tests are not an acceptable re� ection of a person. These tests work better for some people than for others simply because some people are better with words and logic, not because they are more intelligent. There are many such individuals at any workplace who are

extremely good at what they do, but their IQ is possibly quite low because words and logic are not their strong suit.

History of the IQ testIntelligence testing started in the late 19th century in Paris where Alfred Bi-

net developed a test designed to iden-tify children with special educational needs. His approach of measuring in-telligence was rapidly adapted across the world and schools began testing children and designing their curricu-lum around the children’s IQ.

Almost a century later in the 1970s, a Harvard professor of education, How-

ard Gardner questioned the traditional de� nition of intelligence on which the IQ test was based. He proposed that people had many other gifts and tal-ents that weren’t re� ected in the tradi-tional ideals of intelligence. He created a model based on a variety of sources

– neurophysiological research, stud-ies with autistic people, geniuses and protégés.

In 1983, Howard Gardner published Frames of Mind, which suggested sev-en di� erent types of intelligence – lin-guistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial-visual, in-terpersonal and intrapersonal. His mul-tiple intelligences theory is a well-es-tablished model for understanding the many ways in which human intelli-gence works.

The multiple intelligencesAccording to Gardner, his theory “chal-lenge[s] an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suf-� ces to test student learning. Indeed, as currently constituted, our educa-tional system is heavily biased toward linguistic modes of instruction and assessment and, to a somewhat less-er degree, toward logical-quantitative modes as well.”

He further argues that “[a] contrast-ing set of assumptions is more likely to be educationally e� ective. Students learn in ways that are identi� ably dis-tinctive. The broad spectrum of stu-dents - and perhaps the society as a whole - would be better served if disci-plines could be presented in a numbers of ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means.”

Take the multiple intelligences test on the right to � nd your intelligence type and career prospects.

The seven learning styles originally presented by him are:Linguistic: These learners are good at using words e� ectively. They have highly developed auditory skills and often think in words. They like reading, playing word games, making up poetry or stories. They can be taught by en-couraging them to say and see words, read books together.

Logical–Mathematical: They are par-ticularly pro� cient at reasoning and calculating; these learners think con-ceptually, abstractly and are able to see and explore patterns and relationships. They like to experiment, solve puzzles and ask questions. They feel a need to learn and form concepts before they can deal with details.

Musical: These learners show sensi-tivity to rhythm and sound. They love music and are also sensitive to sounds in their environments. They may study better with music in the background.

Bodily–kinesthetic: They use the body e� ectively, like a dancer or a surgeon. These learners have a keen sense of body awareness. They like movement, making things by hand, touching etc. They communicate well through body language and can be taught through physical activity, hands-on learning, acting out, role playing etc.

Spatial-visual: These learners think in terms of physical space, as do archi-tects and sailors. They are very aware of their environments and like to draw, do jigsaw puzzles, read maps etc. They can be taught through drawings, verbal and physical imagery.

Interpersonal: These learners are great at understanding and interacting with others. These students learn through interaction.

They have many friends, empathy for others and street smarts. They can be taught through group activities, seminars, dialogues etc.

Intrapersonal: These learners have a keen understanding their own inter-ests and goals. They tend to shy awayfrom others and are in tune withtheir inner feelings; they havewisdom, intuition and motivation, as well as a strong will, con� dence and opinions. l

Career 7DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

The C is forn Ahsan Sajid

We spend a big part of an average work-day communicating with others. We do it when we are in a meeting, debating with colleagues, participating in con-ference calls, replying to emails, pitch-ing a new idea – it goes on. We often have workdays when we spend the whole day doing nothing but commu-nicating.

If we were to dot certain i's and cross certain t's of communication, we could give our work that much needed pro-ductivity boost.

ClearWhen communicating with a col-league, be clear and to the point. Ask yourself what your purpose in commu-nicating with this person is.

If you can’t answer it, then they won't know what you’re talking about either.

To be clear, do not communicate too many ideas in one sentence. Make sure the person you are communicating with knows what you mean without having to infer or make assumptions on their own.

ConciseBrevity is the soul of wit, but whether witty or not, being concise is one of your biggest assets at work. Being con-cise means sticking to the point and keeping it brief.

No one wants to read six sentenc-es when two will su� ce. To make sure you’re being concise, check to see if you are using a lot of � ller words such as “for instance,” “basically,” “I mean” etc. Check if you have any unnecessary sen-tences and whether if you have reiterated any point several times in di� erent ways.

ConcreteMaking a message concrete gives the audience a clear picture of what you're telling them. Without straying from the focus of the communication, provide details (but not too many) and vivid facts and your message will be solid.

CorrectBeing correct in communications doesn’t only refer to proper spelling and grammar but whether or not it � ts your audience, whether the technical terms used are not above their level of education, whether you’re spelling or

pronouncing their names correctly etc.

CoherentCoherent communication is logical communication. All points are related and relevant to the main topic of dis-cussion and the tone and � ow of the text is consistent.

CompleteA complete message is one where the audience is well aware of the point in discussion, has everything they need to be informed about and take action.

Make sure your message includes a “call to action” so they know what you want them to do, and all other relevant information such as contact names, dates, times etc.

CourteousCourteous communication is friendly, open, and honest. A courteously com-municated message should not have any hidden insults, backhand compliments, or passive-aggressive tones that may be considered workplace harassment.

Even when you disagree with some-one, keep their viewpoint in mind, and be empathetic to their needs. l

Score the statements in the white-out boxes only ScoreI like to learn more about myselfI can play a musical instrumentI � nd it easiest to solve problems when I am doing something physicalI often have a song or piece of music in my headI � nd budgeting and managing my money easyI � nd it easy to make up storiesI have always been physically well co-ordinatedWhen talking to someone, I tend to listen to the words they use not just what they meanI enjoy crosswords, word searches or other word puzzlesI don’t like ambiguity, I like things to be clearI enjoy logic puzzles such as 'sudoku'I like to meditateMusic is very important to meI am a convincing liarI play a sport or danceI am very interested in psychometrics (personality testing) and IQ testsPeople behaving irrationally annoy meI � nd that the music that appeals to me is often based on how I feel emotionallyI am a very social person and like being with other peopleI like to be systematic and thoroughI � nd graphs and charts easy to understandI can throw things well - darts, skimming pebbles, frisbees, etcI � nd it easy to remember quotes or phrasesI can always recognise places that I have been before, even when I was very youngI enjoy a wide variety of musical stylesWhen I am concentrating I tend to doodleI could manipulate people if I choose toI can predict my feelings and behaviours in certain situations fairly accuratelyI � nd mental arithmetic easyI can identify most sounds without seeing what causes themAt school one of my favourite subjects is / was EnglishI like to think through a problem carefully, considering all the consequencesI enjoy debates and discussionsI love adrenaline sports and scary ridesI enjoy individual sports bestI care about how those around me feelMy house is full of pictures and photographsI enjoy and am good at making things - I'm good with my handsI like having music on in the backgroundI � nd it easy to remember telephone numbersI set myself goals and plans for the futureI am a very tactile personI can tell easily whether someone likes me or dislikes meI can easily imagine how an object would look from another perspectiveI never use instructions for � at-pack furnitureI � nd it easy to talk to new peopleTo learn something new, I need to just get on and try itI often see clear images when I close my eyesI don’t use my � ngers when I countI often talk to myself – out loud or in my headAt school I loved / love music lessonsWhen I am abroad, I � nd it easy to pick up the basics of another languageI � nd ball games easy and enjoyableMy favourite subject at school is / was mathsI always know how I am feelingI am realistic about my strengths and weaknessesI keep a diaryI am very aware of other people’s body languageMy favourite subject at school was / is artI � nd pleasure in readingI can read a map easilyIt upsets me to see someone cry and not be able to helpI am good at solving disputes between othersI have always dreamed of being a musician or singerI prefer team sportsSinging makes me feel happyI never get lost when I am on my own in a new placeIf I am learning how to do something, I like to see drawings and diagrams of how it worksI am happy spending time aloneMy friends always come to me for emotional support and advice

n Add the scores in each column and write the total for each column in the correspond-ing boxes below.

n Your highest scores indicate your natural strengths and potential - your natural intelli-gences.

n There are no right or wrong answers. n We are most successful when we learn, develop and work in ways that make the best use

of our natural intelligences. Focus on learning and work will be most rewarding for you.

Intelligence type Your totalsLinguistic

Logical-MathematicalMusical

Bodily-KinestheticSpatial-VisualInterpersonalIntrapersonal

Intelligence type Career possibilities Preferred learning style

Linguistic Writer, lawyer, journalist, trainer, English teacher, poet, linguist, translator, PR/media consultant, TV/radio presenter

Words and language

LogicalMathematical

Scientist, engineer, accountant, statistician, researcher, analyst, banker, insurance broker, deal-maker, trouble-shooter, director

Numbers and logic

Musical Musician, composer, DJ, music producer, pia-no tuner, acoustic engineer, environment and noise advisor, voice coach

Music, sounds and rhythm

Bodily-Kines-thetic

Dancer, actor, athlete, soldier, � re-� ghter, per-formance artiste, � sherman, driver, gardener, chef, acupuncturist, healer, adventurer

Physical experience and movement, touch and feel

Spatial-Visual Artist, designer, cartoonist, story-boarder, architect, photographer, sculptor, town-plan-ner, visionary, inventor, engineer, cosmetics and beauty consultant

Pictures, shapes, images

Interpersonal Therapist, HR professional, mediator, leader, counselor, politician, educator, clergy, psy-chologist, teacher, doctor, healer, organiser, carer, advertising professional, coach, mentor

Human contact, communications, teamwork

Intrapersonal Arguably anyone who is self-aware and in-volved in the process of changing personal thoughts, beliefs and behaviour in relation to their situation, other people, their purpose and aims

Self-re� ection, self-discovery

Multiple Intelligence Test(Based on Gardner's model and adapted from businessballs.com)

Score the following statements in the white box next to each statement:1 = Mostly Disagree, 2 = Slightly Disagree,

3 = Slightly Agree, 4 = Mostly Agree

No one wants to read six sentences when two will su� ce. To make sure you’re being concise, check to see if you are using a lot of � ller words such as 'for instance,' 'basically,' 'I mean' etc

Sunday, June 8, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Climate change helps seas disturb war dead!n Agencies

Rising sea levels have disturbed the skel-etons of soldiers killed on the Marshall Is-lands during World War Two, BBC reported.

Speaking at UN climate talks in Bonn, the Island’s foreign minister said that high tides had exposed one grave with 26 dead, adding the bones were most likely those of Japanese troops.

Driven by global warming, waters in this part of the Paci� c have risen faster than the global average.

With a high point just two metres above the waters, the Marshall Islands are one of the most vulnerable locations to changes in sea level.

The 29 atolls that make up the Marshall Islands are home to around 70,000 people. The corals that have formed the island chain are highly vulnerable to the surrounding seas.

The waters are not just threatening to overwhelm their defences, they are eroding roads while the salt makes the land infertile.

Spring tidesNow the waters are posing a new, maca-

bre challenge.“These last spring tides in February to

April this year have caused not just inunda-tion and � ooding of communities but have also undermined regular land, so that even the dead are a� ected,” said foreign minister Tony De Brum, speaking on the sidelines of the UN climate negotiations.

“There are co� ns and dead people being washed away from graves, it’s that serious.”

He gave details of an island in his constit-uency where a mass grave with 26 bodies had been exposed.

“We think they are Japanese soldiers,

no broken bones, no indication of war, we think maybe suicide,” he said.

The Islands were occupied by the Japa-nese during World War Two, until they were driven out by US forces.

In the years that followed the Islands

were subject to dozens of nuclear weapons tests.

Now, according to their political leaders, they face an existential threat from global warming that is expanding the seas that surround them. l

Intensi� ed search for kidnapped Nigerian girlsn AFP, United Nations

The African Union is involved in inten-sifying e� orts to � nd more than 200 Ni-gerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram two months ago, its Ugandan ambassador said in New York.

Asked what the AU was doing to help, Mull Katende said it was engaged in “quiet diplomacy, because some of this information, we don’t want it to reach those who abducted the children.”

“We look forward to their recovery as soon as possible, and all heads of state of the African Union have o� ered their support,” he said after talks between AU and UN counterparts in New York.

The Ugandan diplomat said Nigeria could learn a lesson from his own coun-try’s 20-year war against Lords Resis-tance Army rebels, “on how to isolate Boko Haram from the population.”

Asked how negotiations for the girls’ release could be advanced, Katende told reporters: “There are intensi� ed e� orts and a number of countries are helping Nigeria.”

“Now some of those e� orts cannot come into the public, but these ef-forts are there, and we are hoping that these girls can be recovered very soon,” he added. l

Jihadists take hostages on Iraq campus, 59 killed in northn AFP, Ramadi

Jihadists took students and sta� hos-tage at Anbar University in the Iraqi city of Ramadi yesterday, while � ghting between security forces and militants in a northern city killed 59 people.

Iraq is su� ering its worst violence in years, and militants have launched major operations in three provinces in recent days that have killed well over 100 people and highlighted their long reach.

In Ramadi, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant gunmen in� ltrated the university from the nearby Al-Tasha area, killed its guards and then blew up a bridge leading to its main gate, police said.

An AFP journalist said special forces later spearheaded an assault to retake the campus, with heavy gun� re heard.

Security forces “liberated all of the male and female student hostages from the dormitories in Anbar University” and regained control of checkpoints at its entrances, Deputy Interior Minis-ter Adnan al-Assadi said in an emailed statement.

But he did not refer to the fate of university sta� , and it was unclear if

the assault was over or if some other areas remained under militant control.

‘Never forget’ Before the military assault began, a stu-dent told AFP by telephone from inside the university that she and other wom-en were ordered to gather in one place, after which the leader of the militants addressed them.

“We will teach you a lesson you will never forget,” he said, according to the student’s account.

In the northern city of Mosul, heavy � ghting between militants and security forces entered its second day on Satur-day, killing 21 police and 38 militants, an o� cer and mortuary employee said.

Fighting erupted in Mosul on Friday morning and continued into the night, while twin suicide bombings targeted a minority group east of the city, and soldiers shot dead suicide bombers to its south.

At least 36 people were killed in Fri-day’s violence in Mosul and elsewhere in Nineveh province.

A day earlier, militants seized sev-eral parts of Samarra in a major assault that was only repelled after house-to-house � ghting and helicopter strikes in which dozens died.

A crisis broke out in the desert prov-ince of Anbar, west of Baghdad, in De-cember when security forces disman-tled a longstanding Sunni Arab protest camp near provincial capital Ramadi.

Anti-government � ghters subse-quently seized control of parts of Ra-madi and all of Fallujah, to its east, and security forces have so far failed to drive them out.

The United Nations said on Friday that the con� ict in Anbar is believed to have forced nearly 480,000 people from their homes.

They join some 1.1 million others displaced by past years of violence in Iraq. l

‘ No compromise on Crimea’n Reuters, Kiev

Ukraine’s new president Petro Poro-shenko said his country would never give up Crimea and would not compro-mise on its course towards closer ties with Europe, spelling out a combative and de� ant message to Russia in his in-augural speech on Saturday.

The 48-year-old billionaire yester-day took the oath of o� ce before par-liament, buoyed by Western support but facing an immediate crisis in rela-tions with Russia as a separatist upris-ing seethes in the east of his country.

Russia annexed the Crimean penin-sula in March, weeks after street pro-tests ousted Poroshenko’s pro-Moscow predecessor, Viktor Yanukovich, in a move that has provoked the deepest crisis in relations with the West since the Cold War.

“Citizens of Ukraine will never en-joy the beauty of peace unless we settle our relations with Russia. Russia oc-cupied Crimea, which was, is, and will be Ukrainian soil,” Poroshenko said in a speech that drew a standing ovation.

He had told this to Russia’s Vladimir Putin when the two met on Friday at a World War Two anniversary ceremony in France, he said.

Poroshenko, who earned his fortune as a confectionery entrepreneur and is known locally as the “Chocolate King,” said he intended very soon to sign the economic part of an association agree-ment with the European Union, as a � rst step towards full membership.

This idea is anathema to Moscow, which wants to keep Ukraine in its own post-Soviet sphere of in� uence.

His voice swelling with emotion, Po-roshenko stressed the need for a united Ukraine and the importance of ending

the con� ict that threatens to further split the country of 45 million people. He said it would not become a looser federalized state, as advocated by Russia.

“There can be no trade-o� about Crimea and about the European choice and about the governmental system. All other things can be negotiated and discussed at the negotiation table. Any attempts at internal or external en-slavement of Ukraine will meet with resolute resistance,” Poroshenko said.

Poroshenko, Ukraine’s � fth presi-dent since independence, won a land-slide election on May 25 after promis-ing to bridge the east-west divide that has split the country and thrust it into a battle for its survival.

Ukrainians hope the election of Poros-

henko, who is married with four children, will bring an end to the most tumultuous period in their post-Soviet history.

The forceful speech by Poroshen-ko, who served as foreign minister and minister for economic development in previous administrations, drew an ova-tion from guests and VIPs who includ-ed Lithuanian President Dalia Grybaus-kaite, US Vice-President Joe Biden and senior EU o� cials.

Cheering crowds later greeted him on a walk in blazing sunshine on the square in front of Kiev’s St Sophia’s Ca-thedral, which was decked out with the blue and yellow national � ags.

Eastern war zoneSince Poroshenko’s election, govern-

ment forces have stepped up their op-erations against the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine who want to split with Kiev and become part of Russia.

The rebels have fought back, turning parts of the Russian-speaking east into a war zone. On Friday they shot down a Ukrainian army plane and killed a member of the interior ministry’s spe-cial forces in the separatist stronghold of Slaviansk.

Poroshenko vowed to have no truck with “bandits” but urged pro-Moscow separatists to lay down their arms, of-fering a guarantee to provide a safe cor-ridor for Russian � ghters to go home.

“Please, lay down the guns and I guarantee immunity to all those who don’t have bloodshed on their hands.” l

Twitter chews up Obama after gum ga� e at D-Dayn Agencies

Social media users tore into Barack Obama on Friday after the US president was seen chewing gum during solemn ceremonies to mark the 70th anniver-sary of the D-Day landings.

People took to Twitter to denounce Obama’s “shameful” and “vulgar” chewing, with one user attacking him as a “lout.”

“Obama do you want a Coke too while chewing gum while the Marseillaise is

being played?” said toto_des_bois, refer-ring to the French national anthem.

“The Queen arrives and you have Obama chewing gum, #DDay70” said diminou, another Twitter user.

The US leader faced similar attacks on social media after he was seen ap-parently chewing gum during Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December.

The most powerful man in the world has faced an on-o� battle to quit smok-ing and often chews a nicotine-based gum to drive away the craving. l

Verdict postponed for Badie over inciting violencen AFP, Cairo

An Egyptian court yesterday postponed to July 5 the verdict in the trial of Mus-lim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Ba-die and 47 others for inciting violence that killed two people last summer.

However, it sentenced to death 10 de-fendants who are on the run, and a � nal ruling on their cases is expected July 5.

After the army ousted Islamist Mo-hamed Morsi last July, Badie was one of thousands of the deposed president’s supporters arrested in a crackdown that also left more than 1,400 dead.

He is being tried in nearly 40 cases, all of which potentially carry the death penalty, and has already been sen-tenced to die in one case.

In April, a court in the city of Minya sentenced him and nearly 700 alleged Morsi supporters to hang over the murder and the attempted murder of policemen. A � nal ruling in those sen-tences is expected on June 21.

In Saturday’s case, Badie is accused of inciting violence in which two peo-ple were killed in the Nile Delta city of Qaliub, only days after the military ousted Morsi on July 3.

He faces charges of inciting murder, inciting the spread of chaos, and incit-ing attacks on public and private prop-

erties, defence lawyer Mohamed Abou Leila told AFP.

Saturday’s hearing was marred by chaos, as the 38 defendants in custody, including Badie, chanted anti-military slogans after entering the caged dock and were insulted by a witness, an AFP correspondent reported.

Other defendants in the Qaliub tri-al include senior Brotherhood o� cial Mohamed al-Beltagui, well-known Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazy, two former Morsi cabinet ministers and two ex-MPs from the Brotherhood.

Along with Morsi, Badie, Beltagui and Hegazy are being tried on separate charges of mass prison breaks and attacks on police stations during the 2011 uprising that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi is due in a separate court in that case on Saturday.

The deposed president also faces charges of espionage in collaboration with the Palestinian Islamist move-ment Hamas.

He is on trial for inciting the killing of opposition protesters in December 2012 outside the presidential palace.

In March, the same court that sen-tenced Badie to die triggered an inter-national outcry when it handed down the same sentence for 529 alleged Mor-si supporters on similar charges. l

Ukraine’s new president – who is he?n AP, Kiev

More than three months after Ukraine’s pres-ident � ed to Russia in the wake of months of street protests, Petro Poroshenko was sworn in yesterday as the troubled country’s new president. The billionaire, widely called “the Chocolate King” because his fortune is rooted in the candy business, faces huge challenges posed by the violent insurgency in Ukraine’s east and the country’s stumbling, corruption-plagued economy. A look at Poroshenko and what’s ahead for him:

Who is the chocolate king?The 48-year-old, who is estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth $1.6 billion, started his rise by importing cocoa beans into the Soviet Union in 1991. The project ballooned into the immensely popular can-dy manufacturer Roshen, the foundation of a business empire that now includes ship-building and one of the country’s most in� uential TV stations.

Unlike many other Ukrainian billion-aires, Poroshenko did not make his money in murky post-Soviet privatizations, boost-ing his reputation as a “good tycoon.”What are his politics?Poroshenko began his political career in 1998 as a lawmaker in a Russia-friendly par-ty and went on in 2001 to help found Par-ty of Regions, the political engine behind ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. But in 2004 he threw his weight behind the Or-ange Revolution protests that arose after fraud-plagued presidential elections.

He served as head of national security for a few months, but stepped down after months of feuding with the prime minister and allegations of improperly trying to help one of Ukraine’s major tycoons. He

later returned to serve as foreign minister, and brie� y as economics minister after Yanukovych came to power in 2010.

Poroshenko supports signing an as-sociation agreement with the European Union, but has spoken against holding a vote on whether Ukraine should seek Nato membership. He says it’s important to mend ties with Russia quickly; rela-tions with Moscow should be equal and should not undermine Ukrainians’ desire for closer ties with the European Union, he says.

What will he do next?Poroshenko faces a growing pro-Rus-

sian uprising in the east of the country, where o� cials say more than 200 people have been killed in clashes between insurgents and Ukrainian forces. Moments after being sworn in, Poroshenko called on armed groups to lay down their weapons and o� ered amnesty to “those who do not have blood on their hands. “ He also prom-ised dialogue with citizens in the east, but not with the insurgents who have declared two regions to be independent “peoples’ republics.” l

Ukrainian soldiers of the guard of honour march during Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko inauguration ceremony in Kiev AFP

Laura beach in the Marshall Islands WIKI

‘We will teach you a lesson you will never forget,’ he said, according to the student’s account

9Sunday, June 8, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Americans split on prisoner swap of Taliban for US soldiern Reuters, Washington

Americans are deeply divided over whether the Obama administration did the right thing by swapping � ve Taliban leaders to win the freedom of Afghanistan prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl, according to Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Friday.

Americans strongly agree the Unit-ed States should make every e� ort to free prisoners of war like Bergdahl, an Army Sergeant who was captured in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. But they also think the prisoner swap deal set a dangerous precedent.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll of 958 Amer-icans interviewed online found that 44 percent disagreed with the statement that trading Taliban prisoners for Berg-dahl was “the right thing to do,” with 26 percent of them strongly disagreeing.

Twenty-nine percent of those polled said they thought the prisoner swap was the right thing to do and 27 percent said they were not sure, the poll found.

Bergdahl was handed over to US spe-cial operations forces in Afghanistan last Saturday after the Obama adminis-tration agreed to send � ve Taliban lead-ers held at Guantanamo prison to Qatar, where they must remain for a year.

After an initial wave of euphoria over the release, the deal triggered a backlash

among US lawmakers angry because they were not given 30 days notice be-fore the transfer of the Guantanamo prisoners, as required by law. Some of Bergdahl’s former Army comrades said they believe he deserted his post.

White House counselor John Podesta on Friday told a Christian Science Mon-itor breakfast that President Barack Obama knew the prisoner swap would be a “controversial decision.”

The president said he acted quickly because he was faced with a “delicate situation that required no publici-ty” and that he had no regrets about the action.

“This is something that I would do again and I will continue to do wher-ever I have an opportunity, if I have a member of our military who’s in

captivity,” he told NBC Nightly News. “We’re going to try to get ‘em out.”

Obama decided to personally an-nounce the exchange in the White House Rose Garden, accompanied by Bergdahl’s parents, in order to ex-plain to the public the reasons behind the decision, Podesta told a breakfast meeting.

The uproar over the prisoner swap has left Americans with con� icted views of the events, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

Asked whether they thought Berg-dahl was a patriot or a traitor/deserter, 65 percent said they did not know. Only 13 percent said they viewed Bergdahl as a patriot and 22 percent saw him as a traitor/deserter.

The respondents overwhelmingly agreed the United States should make every e� ort to recover prisoners of war, with 78 percent agreeing with that statement, including 48 percent strongly agreeing.

At the same time, they also thought trading � ve Taliban leaders for Berg-dahl set a “dangerous precedent for future kidnapping or hostage-tak-ing,” with 66 percent agreeing with the statement, including 43 percent strongly agreeing.

The poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. l

Cheer up, Thailand. That’s an order! n AP, Bangkok

Cheer up, Thailand. The junta aims to return happiness.

The military junta that seized power here last month has no plans to restore civilian rule any time soon. But it has launched an o� cial campaign to bring back something else it says this divided nation desperately needs — happiness.

The project has involved free con-certs, free food, alluring female danc-ers in suggestive camou� age mini-skirts, even the chance to pet horses trucked into downtown Bangkok with makeshift stables and bales of hay. The fair-like events are supposed to pave the way for reconciliation after a de-cade of political upheaval and coups.

But critics point out the feel-good project is being carried out alongside an entirely di� erent junta-led campaign — an e� ort to sti� e all opposition to the army’s May 22 putsch, which deposed a government elected by a majority of Thai voters three years ago.

“The very � rst question you have to ask is, whose happiness are they talking about?” said Pavin Chachaval-pongpun, a Thai professor of Southeast Asian studies at Kyoto University who has refused to respond to a junta sum-mons ordering him to return home and report to the army.

“I’m sure this is not happiness for Thais who want a civilian government, whose rights were taken away by the coup,” he said. “It’s surreal. And it’s ridiculous to believe this will create an environment conducive to reconcilia-tion. That can’t happen when the mil-itary is harassing, hunting and detain-ing its enemies.”

Last month’s coup, the 12th in Thai-land since the end of absolute monar-chy in 1932, ousted a civilian govern-ment accused of abuse of power and corruption that had increasingly been cornered by protesters, the courts, and � nally the army.

The junta says it had to restore or-der after half a year of political turmoil left dozens dead and the government paralyzed. And it insists it will be a

neutral arbiter. But since taking power, the army appears to be carrying on the � ght of the anti-government protesters by mapping out a similar agenda to re-draft the constitution and institute po-litical reforms before elections, and go-ing after politicians from the grassroots “Red Shirt” movement that had vowed to take action if there was a coup.

Although the junta has censored partisan media on both sides, it has be-gun prosecuting opponents and sum-moned hundreds of politicians — most-ly those who supported the former government or were perceived as criti-cal. The moves have forced some of the nation’s most prominent activists and scholars to � ee or go into hiding.

Deputy army spokesman Col. Weer-achon Sukondhapatipak said the clampdown was necessary because “if you let people talk at the moment, they will talk with emotion, they will be very critical.”

The aim of the project, dubbed “Re-turn Happiness to the People” by the military, is to get people “to relax,” he said. “We’re trying to create an atmo-sphere to gain trust and build con� -dence. That is the plan.”

And the junta is serious about it.The weekly radio address of military

ruler Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha is now titled, “Bringing Back Happiness to the Nation.” It is also now prefaced with a new song Prayuth commissioned called “Return Happiness to Thailand.” l

Di� cult but steady progress for Afghan womenn AP, Kabul

In a nation where most women remain second-class citizens, many cloaked from head-to-toe in burkas, one group has bro-ken down formidable barriers by forming an Afghanistan women’s football league.

The standards of the grounds, and the play, may fall short of world class, but the delight at breaking the shackles of the conservative society is clear to see. So too is the determination to become the new face of Afghan women, gaining dignity for themselves and other women in their war-torn country while also improving their image worldwide.

The competitors in the Kabul league do have to make some concessions to the con-servative protocols of the society, wearing head scarves and also covering their legs, yet even those accommodations have done little to reduce the disapproval and even ostracism they face for entering what is regarded as a male preserve.

The sport is very popular in Afghanistan, even if it is rare to � nd more than rudimen-tary facilities anywhere outside the capital. Even rarer is the sight and sound of women on the pitch.

But at a recent semi� nal match of the Kabul Women’s Premier League at the Football Federation Stadium, the shouts of encouragement and joy were unmistakably female and were not dampened by the heavy rain, even if the stands were largely empty.

“It is disappointing, but we are grateful to have it,” Afghan Club player Nadia Derweshi said of the meager attendance at

the league semi� nal game which her team won 4-0.

Derweshi started playing football eight years ago and is a goalkeeper for the female

national team.Hajar Abulfazl, a 22-year old national

team player, says it will take the passing of generations for Afghan society to accept

girls and women playing football, yet she is optimistic about the future and the prog-ress of her teammates.

“It is very di� cult to convince families to accept and let their daughters to join in a football team,” said Abulfazl, who herself doubts and resistance from many when she took up sports but was thankful for the support of her parents.

Abulfazl who is also director of Afghani-stan’s female football committee, says that at least 22 female teams are registered, so far only in Kabul, but in other more conservative rural provinces there was little progress.

The Afghan football federation women’s committee was established only in 2004. During the early years the committee started by picking football fans from local schools and initially it was di� cult to � nd girls and young women who were willing and able to take what was the relatively risky and fraught step of joining an orga-nized league.

When the committee was � rst estab-lished, the only members were seven sports trainers from local schools around Kabul. Now the committee’s website says there are nearly 1,000 participants.

Mohammad Yousef Kargar, the coach of Afghanistan’s national men’s team in two stints up until the start of this year, said the medium-term goal for the women’s team is participation in the South Asian Games, though he recognizes the impediments.

“In a conservative country like Afghan-istan there are many limitations when it comes about women,” Kargar said. “It is not easy to implement all plans or programs. l

Flash � oods kill 60 in Afghanistann AFP, Kunduz

Flash � oods have killed around 60 peo-ple in northern Afghanistan, washing away hundreds of homes and forcing thousands to � ee, o� cials said yester-day warning that the death toll was ex-pected to rise.

The � oods in the remote mountain-ous district of Baghlan province come a month after a landslide triggered by heavy rains buried a village and killed 300 people in a nearby region.

The twin disasters highlight the challenges facing underdeveloped Af-ghanistan’s next leader as the country heads into the second round of the presidential election on June 14.

“People have lost everything they had – houses, property, villages, agri-cultural � elds, cattle,” Baghlan police spokesman Jawed Basharat said about the � oods. “There’s nothing left for them to survive. People don’t even having drinking water,” he added.

Afghan disaster management o� -cials said they were scrambling to get food and medical aid to the area after torrential rains unleashed the � oods, which forced thousands of people to � ee their houses.

O� cials recovered 58 bodies from the inundated areas, including wom-en and children, with several people said to be missing, according to the Na-

tional Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

“There is a lot of stagnant water, and there are more bodies under the rubble and mud,” Mohammad Nasim Kohzad, head of NDMA in Baghlan, told AFP. “We are still looking for other victims of this � ood.”

‘Massive’ damage The governor of the province, Sultan Mohammad Ebadi, said the death toll stood at 59, warning that the extent of the disaster was “massive” and the toll was expected to rise sharply.

“The � oods destroyed four villag-es, and washed away 2,000 residen-tial houses, agricultural � elds and also killed thousands of cattle,” the gover-nor of Guzargah-e-Nur, Noor Moham-mad Guzar, told AFP.

O� cials were further assessing the extent of the damage on life and prop-erty in the a� ected area, the deputy head of the National Disaster Manage-ment Authority said.

“Our teams have also provided some edibles (food items) and medi-cation to the a� ected people. More aid will get there soon,” said Mohammad Aslam Sayas.

Last month a landslide triggered by heavy rains buried a village in a remote area of northeast Badakhshan province killing at least 300 people. l

Indians riot as heat wave prompts power cutsn AP, Lucknow

Thousands of people enraged by pow-er cuts during an extreme heat wave rioted across northern India, setting electricity substations on � re and tak-ing power company o� cials hostage, o� cials said yesterday.

The impoverished state of Uttar Pradesh has never had enough power for its 200 million people — about the population of Brazil — and many receive only a few hours a day under normal conditions, while 63 percent of homes have no access to electricity at all.

But recent temperatures that soared to 47 degrees Celsius (117 Fahrenheit) have caused power demand to spike at 11,000 megawatts — far higher than the state’s 8,000 MW capacity — triggering blackouts that shut down fans, city wa-ter pumps and air conditioners.

Thousands of people stormed an electricity substation Friday near the state capital of Lucknow, ransacking o� ces and taking several workers hostage for 18 hours until police inter-vened Saturday morning, state utility o� cial Narendra Nath Mullick said.

Elsewhere, an angry crowd set � re to an electricity substation in Gonda, 180 kilometers (112 miles) southeast of Lucknow. It took three hours for � re-� ghters to put out the � ames on Friday. Another substation was set on � re in Gorakhpur, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akilesh Yadav said o� cials were trying to pur-chase power from other states, though

they were also facing shortages amid the extreme heat.

Power was largely restored to most areas by Saturday afternoon, leading dozens of people who were still pro-testing outside Lucknow’s Indira Nagar substation to go home.

Residents had been particularly an-gry about the power cuts after receiv-ing reliable supplies through the Indian

elections, which ended May 16. Since then, only some regions have been guar-anteed unbroken power supplies, while others have received little to none.

The High Court in the city of Alla-habad is now hearing a petition alleging discrimination in power distribution, and has asked the government to explain why some regions allegedly were receiv-ing preferential treatment. Those regions

include the city of Varanasi, the par-liamentary constituency of new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as con-stituencies held by Yadav and other top o� cials in Uttar Pradesh’s ruling party.

Meteorological o� cials said tem-peratures would likely remain high through at least Tuesday in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Delhi and other areas of northern India. l

N Korea detains US tourist; three now in custodyn Reuters, Seoul

North Korea said it had detained an American tourist for violating its laws after entering the secretive state in April, bringing the number of US citi-zens held by Pyongyang to three.

Pyongyang has held a number of US citizens in the past, using them as a tool to extract visits by high-pro� le � gures, including former President Bill Clinton, but it has recently rejected visits by of-� cials to discuss their cases.

North Korea periodically accuses the United States of military hostil-ity and conspiracy to overthrow its leadership. The two states have been locked in a tense diplomatic con� ict over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.

The latest American to be held was being questioned by authorities for con-duct inappropriate for the purpose of his visit as a tourist, state media report-ed on Friday. The North’s KCNA news agency named him as Je� rey Edward Fowle and said he entered the country on April 29. It gave no further details.

US media reported that Fowle is 56 years old and from Miamisburg, Ohio, and worked in the Moraine city street department. A neighbour speaking on WDTN television in Ohio said he is a fa-ther of three who was travelling alone on the trip. l

In this photo taken June 1, an Afghan female soccer player kicks a ball in a shooting exercise to get ready for Afghanistan’s � rst female football premier league, in Kabul AP

In this June 4 photo, a woman is taken a photograph with a Thai soldier in front of a sign that reads: ‘Return Happiness to the People’ at Bangkok’s Victory Monument AP

An Indian cycle rickshaw puller drinks water on a hot day in Allahabad, India AP

Critics point out the feel-good project is being carried out alongside an entirely di� erent junta-led campaign — an e� ort to sti� e all opposition to the army’s May 22 putsch

Twenty-nine percent of those polled said they thought the prisoner swap was the right thing to do and 27 percent said they were not sure

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Ten years (6)6 Edge (3)9 Likeness (5)10 Large volume (4)11 Governs (5)12 Monkey (3)13 Fate (6)15 Waistband (4)18 Prayer ending (4)21 Emphasise (6)24 Neckwear (3)25 Out of order (5)28 Operatic air (4)29 Dogma (5)30 Japanese monetary unit (3)31 Replenishes (6)

DOWN1 Highland daggers (5)2 Flightless bird (3)3 Paci� es (5)4 Mature (3)5 Furniture item (4)6 Wander (4)7 Obstruct (6)8 Encounter (4)14 Mineral spring (3)16 Dress (6)17 Garden tool (3)19 American state (5)20 Cosy retreats (5)21 Remain (4)22 Check (4)23 Satisfy fully (4)26 Adults (males) (3)27 Ply the needle (3)

CROSSWORD

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.

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 17 represents B so � ll B every time the � gure 17 appears.You have one letter in the control grid to start you o� . Enter it in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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Sonar Bangladesh vs digital BangladeshJune 3

Sa� at MonjurWe are not hearing either the Sonar Bangla of Bangabandhu or the digital Bangladesh of Sheikh Hasina by any of the ministers of the sitting government, or even the current PM. Rather we are hearing about murders, abductions, forced disappearances, rapes, crimes occurred by RAB and law enforcement agencies, and corruption by ministers etc.

If we look back at the newspaper headlines of the last few days, we � nd that this is a common phenomenon. When the agitation led by Ilias Ali, re-garding the withdrawal of river-water from Sylhet, intensi� ed against the Indian government, he was

abducted. Journalists Sagor and Runi were mur-dered. Mayor Lokman of Narshingdi was murdered. Twoki was murdered in Narayanganj. Seven were recently murdered, including Nazrul Islam, the pan-el mayor of Narayanganj. Upazila chairman Ekram of Fulgazi in Feni was also recently murdered, with many others.

Yet, every time ministers of the sitting govern-ment and even the PM commented that all perpe-trators would be punished, we have seen no real actions that re� ect their words. Only dragging their feet. Please, AL, live up to your words. Work solely for the people and let God pass on the verdict for your treatment of the people.

Stolen mobile phones on sale onlineMay 31

goodbro“Section 411 and 412 of the Penal Code 1860 say anyone carrying stolen properties will be subjected to legal actions.”

Section 411 of the Penal Code 1860. Great, an almost 150-year-old law still ex-ists. I thought we were independent and had passed the phase of slavery so we could make our own laws!

Look to the WestJune 2

ndsI don’t have the necessary competence and knowledge to analyse all those questions raised in the article, but my common sense feeling, which may be entirely wrong, is that the prime reason of West Bengal politics getting degenerated was the Left front’s remaining in power continuously for more than a quarter century with an absolute majority. People made the grave mistake of putting a particular political platform in pow-er for such a long time, which enabled them to take the form of a monster that destroyed every norm of a democratic polity. Absolute power is a sort of poison that kills every living thing. In West Bengal, exactly that has happened; their democratic polity is dead.

Collaborate to grow new businessThe International Chamber of Commerce and HSBC have launched

the ICC Knowledge Centre to provide a new platform for learning and networking.

We believe more businesses need to emulate this type of knowledge facilitation initiative.

Exporters need better access to resources, and up-to-date trade infor-mation, as well as training facilities and conferences, in order to make the most of their potential.

Improving knowledge sharing and promoting success stories can be highly e� ective ways to inspire and help new businesses to grow. If the economy is to keep moving forward and grow exports and the GDP, business organisations generally need to become more ‘outward focused’ on marketing their industry.

Too many bodies in the country expend excessive energy on inward looking matters. It has become commonplace to see professional bodies split into cliques and political factions, and to see internal elections give rise to costly legal disputes.

It is a gross waste of time and energy for groups established to promote common interests, become mired in such politicking and internal disputes.

The economy needs more trade bodies and professional organisations to be focused on sharing expertise and working for the greater good.

Skills development and training is the most important area where improved collaboration can bene� t the country’s businesses.

There should also be more co-operation on developing pro-active export initiatives and opening more trade liaison o� ces abroad, rather than being reliant on ‘third party’ trade fairs and intermediaries. The Bangladesh brand needs businesses to become more outward focused to sustainably grow our exports.

Worker helpline a smart idea

More RMG factory owners are beginning to open up or welcome telephone helplines for workers.

While not a substitute for good industrial relations, they can be a handy tool, providing a readily accessible way for employees to express concerns about workplace issues.

The trend will be boosted further this month as the Alliance for Bangla-desh Worker Safety begins its programme to roll out helplines for workers at 100 factories by the end of this year.

Using a mobile phone, workers will be able to report safety and secu-rity concerns in a con� dential and veri� able manner. The helpline coordinators will check and share collected information so that issues can be investigated and followed up by factory managers and buyers.

Improving worker voice is a key challenge for the RMG industry. Historically one barrier has been that trade unions have not been representative of the predomi-nantly young, female, workforce, or have been misused for extortion purposes. Another has been restrictive labour rights laws, which the government has been reforming in response to the GSP issue.

It is vital for stakeholders to keep working together to overcome such obstacles. The better that owners and employees can work together constructively, the less the risk of safety concerns going unchallenged. Ensuring e� ective representation of employee concerns will also help to identify and resolve other types of worker grievances.

Well functioning factories tend to ensure such mechanisms. The indus-try should encourage all factory owners to emulate them. In time, this will diminish the need for whistleblower-style helplines.

Stakeholders should keep working together to improve worker voice

There should be more co-operation on skills and export initiatives

Ghosts of World Cups pastJune 2

Osmania We should never have started chasing India and Pakistan on cricket and nuclear power. One day, FIFA will give Asia a lot more space in the real World Cup. That’s where we want to be.

Zero-AgendaIt’s ba� ing how we have a lot of passion for foot-ball in the international context, yet vast swathes of seats are seen empty during local games. I don’t buy this hollow enthusiasm.

3,000 USTC students face study disruptionsMay 31

USTC studentIt is true that the teachers have whipped up the students into a frenzy to serve their own ulterior motives, ie getting a salary hike. Nonetheless, the students have a valid point. The 25th, 26th, and 27th batches have been refused registration on the basis that USTC has not complied with BMDC regulation. If the university had any integrity, they would have at least refused to admit additional students once the issue was raised in 2012 for the 25th batch. However, these 1,200 students would be bringing an in� ux of close to Tk2.4bn, so who can turn their back on that?

The bottom line is that the Janesheba Founda-tion and the university syndicate are comprised of a group of greedy, arrogant, and disgustingly corrupt men and women who have absolutely no care about the state of the university. What’s amusing to me personally is that the bulk of the university fees are designated as “development fees.” My question to the Janesheba Foundation and the university syndicate is this: The develop-ment of what? Your bank accounts? They are a shame to the memory of the late Professor Nurul Islam, the founder of USTC, and to Bangladesh in general.

Ukraine hopesJune 1Abelard the Greek LoverVery well written. As hollow as my words may ring, I truly wish the situation at Ukraine was better than the status quo.

Thai army rulers prepares emergency economic measures

June 2Someone

The army’s brazen, albeit premeditated, power grab in Thailand is an atrocious and alarming event. And now we’re seeing the power usurpers’ predictable

tactics of intimidation and repression of the public. I can only hope that enough ordinary Thais are able

to resolutely resist and reverse General Prayuth’s un-warranted coup. Even Thais who have been � ercely

clamouring to see ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra go, ought to realise that their own favoured leaders need

to contest and actually win elections (something they have been completely incapable of achieving for

more than a decade) to be elected to government. They can’t be more deluded than to think that the opposition can now somehow sneak in to

power through a political back door. To illegally oust a democratically-elected incumbent prime

minister through blatant judicial engineering, and acquiescing to an army takeover in the country,

only sabotages Thai democracy, exacerbates existing divisions, and ensures that Thailand will

be left in turmoil for quite a long while yet.

CPD suspects huge capital � ight in FY14

June 2

Hafeejul AlamWho will check this possible mis-invoicing? Mr

Finance Minister, please wake up!

Britain’s zero-hour contracts eyed by other countries

June 2

vihanNo please! I’ve lived in the UK for many years and

the so called “zero hour” contracts are a violation of the rights of hardworking people. Especially young

people are badly a� ected by such contracts.

Making history won’t be a bed of roses

June 2

rezvi newazI think the writer should have cross-checked the

data regarding the placement of the budget of the late Saifur Rahman. As far as I know, he placed

at least 10 times.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

11Op-Ed Sunday, June 8, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Khawaza Main Uddin

It’s been far from the reality of the pledge by the � nance minister. In his budget speech, he spelt out a few measures haphazardly and reiterated old ones in support of

businesses. AMA Muhith employed euphemisms or expressed pious wishes and great expectations, but forwent o� ering a breakthrough for an inclusive political economy.

Incentive packages with credible, innovative approaches that could have pulled investors back in business with renewed zeal were all but expected. This is something which is missing from the budget documents.

The minister instead set an un-realistically high target of growth at 7.3% for the next � scal year, given this year’s attainment of a 6.2% growth, which too has been contested by all others outside his government. A key assumption in favour of projected growth is “favourable weather and political stability.”

Unfortunately, we have not come across any business leaders or poten-tial investors who would believe that. What needs to be done to reinvig-ourate con� dence in investors, accord-ing to them, is to ensure a peaceful political process on top of every other step required.

The minister remained evasive when I asked him how he would attain such growth, given the investment scenario and a variety of constraints in doing business.

Why then, has he set targets which are unlikely to be achieved? Simply because he has to do it to justify the Awami League clinging to power, by painting a bright picture or outlining high-sounding budgetary measures.

While following an ad hoc policy in authoring such a budget, Muhith

has abandoned the � ve-year plan, as the Center for Policy Dialogue said. He repeatedly mentioned “� ve years” either to glorify activities during AL’s previous tenure, or to generate hopes of survival for the regime following the controversial January 5 polls. The issue of the manifesto for that one-sided, non-participatory election came three times in his speech only as a reference.

Who cares if the manifesto is trans-formed into � scal programs, or when and if the ballot was rigged and ma-nipulated? The � nance minister was even smart enough to omit the title of AL’s 2013 manifesto “Marching Ahead Bangladesh: Road to Peace, Demo-cratic Development and Prosperity.” A student of English literature, Muhith preferred a more appropriate title for the 2014-15 budget – “Beckoning a New Era of Prosperity.”

Will the genuine democratic de-velopment continue to beckon us the way the sky (horizon) appears to have touched our neighbourhood? It’s pos-sible that the leaking of public exam question papers under Nurul Islam Na-hid’s jurisdiction, the seven murders in Narayanganj, the abductions and killings in Feni and elsewhere, allega-tions of bribery against law enforcers, cheating with gold medals, plunder-

ing bank money, and the patronising terrorist godfathers are samples of the quality of governance this administra-tion can o� er the nation.

There is no one in parliament, legally and practically, to debate the budget proposals – for the � rst time in a democratic setup since 1991. This is reminiscent of the rubberstamped budget during the Ershad regime. Popular will, as often re� ected in the

opposition’s demand for, and the protest against, � scal measures, is no longer tenable in Bangladesh.

Thus, it’s been an exercise in arithmetics, doling out bene� ts to a few, and the narcissism of the Awami mind. Look at the 2009-10 budget and the proposed one – the di� erence is the presence and absence of popular support in the two, respectively.

The BNP has � nished its duty of criticising the budget proposals by terming the government illegitimate. Squarely blaming the BNP for political unrest, AL displays its unwillingness to create any space for dialogue in resolv-ing the present political crisis.

So, knowing full well the situation is devoid of democratic pluralism, the � nance minister came up with proposals and ideas that he considers are “realistic” in serving the interests of the regime.

Under hardly any pressure on implementation, Muhith has shown the luxury of sharing his own thoughts on decentralisation and administra-tive reforms despite the proven lack of commitment of his government to the devolution of power. Transfer of power to local entities, division of power between local government bodies, specialised bureaucracy at the grassroots, and fair revenue sharing are such issues for them.

The � nance minister customarily held pre-budget consultations where most proposals came from a single group – the businesspeople. Some of their expectations have been met in the budget. However, the most critical issue – the restoration of business con� dence – has not been addressed as Premier Sheikh Hasina and company are adamant in defying popular expec-tations of holding a widely participat-ed election.

Is the government angry with the people for their failure to turn up in the January 5 polls, or vote for the AL candidates in the city corporation elections prior to the national polls? It would have been sympathetic towards them for the increasing costs of living, which, I am sure, have never been correctly re� ected in o� cial estimates of in� ation.

Food adulteration is killing an entire generation but the government is not using the budgetary instruments to stop the import, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and sale of hazardous chemicals and foods. Instead, the prime minister resorted to mockery using formalin to demean the BNP’s leadership, cruelly ignoring the health hazard for its rampant use in food items. l

Khawaza Main Uddin is Executive Editor, ICE Business Times.

No burden of expectations

n Mamun Rashid

A popular television program host on budget day asked me to explain all the budget complex-

ities in a simple way, more important-ly, in a way understandable by his common viewers. I was mostly talking about tax incidences. Public � nance textbooks taught to me in my school days were taking command of me. I could not help it. Maybe our teachers in those days didn’t emphasise too much on public speaking or populist approaches.

However, when a village lady from Brahmanbaria’s Kashba upazila asked me: “While you are emphasising on increasing investment and creating an investment-friendly environment to create employment, don’t you think that political uncertainty will play a deciding role here?” Then and there I stood corrected. We underestimate our readers and audience so much. They are not asking us to make economics easy. They have learned to appreciate the underlying economic fundamen-tals too. They are asking: What do we get in exchange of what?

Where is the utility of a large public administration? What are we getting from the public utility companies? What are our regulatory bodies deliv-ering? How will these numbers help us get into a new phase of the growth story? One could ask, with so many knowledgeable people spread all over the country, why do we believe our politicians?

I was born in a humble family in a remote sub-district in southern Bangladesh. I can’t say I have seen abject poverty, but we had to learn the tricks of managing well within limited means. I studied economics for eight years. Simple economics says: Provide breaks or incentives to those who can make the best use of them.

For the last few years, Bangladesh has been included in Goldman Sachs’s Next 11 list. JP Morgan included us in the “frontier � ve.” People are watch-ing Bangladesh along with Vietnam, the Philippines, Egypt, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

In this backdrop, the budget in Bangladesh can’t be a public balance sheet analysis or an income-expendi-ture statement. It needs to be more. I am sorry to say, the more time goes by, the weaker our � nancial management or economic governance is becoming.

I am not talking about the size of the budget, the selection of growth-impacting projects or their timely implementation, higher taxes on rich people, or tax imposition on the “fattening streams” of the econ-omy. I am talking of overall manage-ment.

While the budget document is trying to do justice to environmental concerns, you see taxes have been in-creased on hybrid vehicles. When tax evasion is rampant among non-traded companies, was it necessary to reduce the turnover tax? When the govern-ment is trying to become more direct in tax incidences, why is source tax

dominating so much in income tax, or even value added tax.

Why not bring in more people within a lower tax slab, say 5%? Why can consultants, researchers, and economists get away by paying only 10%, withholding taxes? Why is there no � nal assessment? Any apartment owner in Dhaka city could have assets in excess of Tk2cr, and pay an extra 10% on his paid taxes. Why not grad-ually bring 25 million interest-bearing account holders paying regular source taxes under the tax net? Instead of bringing more people under the tax net, why kill the golden goose?

A few years back, I came across a list of 49 persons paying more than Tk1cr in individual income tax. With my more than two decades of active banking experience, I could not � nd more than one known name on the list. These were all individual importers, or civil or public contractors. There too, most of their taxes were realised as source tax.

We are still saddened to see most of our budgetary allocations going for non-developmental sectors, be it education, health, or even social safety nets. It is sickening to see that in an emerging economy like ours, larger allocations are going towards keeping an ine� cient, back-dated, and increas-ingly politicised public administration.

It is bad to observe that despite repeated requests and suggestions, we could not impose a minimum possible accountability on our state-owned enterprises, or improve the � nancial administration in the large-spending ministries. Most of our regulatory body chiefs are being appointed on political considerations, hence they re-main dependent on the insiders most-ly playing according to the gallery, or maneuvering things to his bene� t, or for his own vested group.

A 6% average GDP growth rate is not bad at all. But we need more to bring out more people out of pover-ty, to create more employment, and build a solid national wealth. We need respectable institutions to safeguard the interest of the common people. Growth also has side e� ects.

We want our public representatives to truly represent us, our dreams, and build around them. We can’t put our hands on our hearts and say we already have it. We don’t know when our leadership will subscribe to the whole truth, not the half truth. l

Mamun Rashid is a business professor and � nancial sector entrepreneur.

Where is the economics?

n Iffat Nawaz

A few times a week in my childhood home, the door bell would ring right when lunch

was served. Someone would rush to the door. At the gate there would be a distant relative or a friend of the family with a mid-afternoon hungry sun-drenched smile. They would join us for lunch.

My mother, like many other mothers in this country, would always cook an extra pot of rice for the suprise guest. We would work out the meal somehow, there was always room for a guest and that’s how many of us grew up.

When foreign visitors come to our land, they talk about our hospitability, how nice the people are here, how

we always open doors for others – the appayon in our villages, and it doesn’t even have to be your own village home, but a friend’s, a friend of a friend. It doesn’t matter.

There is always a porch to sit on and drink a little water, without formality, without a promise of something in return. The only expected return to that traditional Bengali hospitality is perhaps a big smile, and appreci-

ation towards the host. “Khub bhalo laglo,” “apnara eto apon kore dekhen” “erokom torkari toh kokhono khai ni ageh, eto shaad!” – “It’s been a pleasure,” “you make me feel like one of your own,” and “I have never tried a dish like this in my life, what taste!” And everyone is happy, the host, the guests, and we move on to the next house, the next afternoon, the next bit

of happy exchanges.But what happens when the hos-

pitability becomes more of a tradition and not a matter from the heart? We continue doing what our mothers did, we expect others to do the same. The ones who don’t, we think of as too Westernised or mannerless. We invite each other and eat catered food in our Dhaka concrete jungle. There are parties in response to other parties, the host may not be all smiles, but everything else in the room looks perfect. Because our mothers taught us that.

I wonder now, where this Bengali hospitability came from, towards strangers and known ones. Was it to befriend strangers, to show we are no threat to them in case they were going to invade our lands and take over our homes? Was it because we sought knowledge, and strangers and faraway guests brought news from places beyond ours? Or was it just for the sake of networking? I scratch your back and maybe some day you will scratch mine?

In the land of telecom, more and more Bangladeshis are now hooked on the iPhone and the fascinating apps which smart people are discovering every day. In our city, appayon, true

appayon, is slowly becoming a thing of the past, and by no means do I think it’s a bad thing.

In fact, I am all for an app for appayon. I would request the smart people who make this app to design it the colour of the mid-afternoon sun, with a pot of rice as the icon. It would be a customised app according to your

personalities, and will calculate how to act with acquaintances, old relatives, family friends, friends, friends of friends.

The app will set your limitations and give us tips on the traditional right thing, and the modern day right thing according to our lives. One would cater to their guests in that respect,

some will be fed, some will be given space to stay, and others just a cup of tea. The space between one another is increasing every day. We don’t treat all as equals here anymore anyway. Might as well have an app to justify it. l

I� at Nawaz is Acting Editor, Arts & Letters, Dhaka Tribune.

The app for appayonS A L T A N D H O N E Y

The minister remained evasive when I asked him how he would attain such growth, given the investment scenario

I would request the smart people who make this app to design it the colour of the mid-afternoon sun, with a pot of rice as the icon

The budget can’t be a public balance sheet analysis or an income-expenditure statement. It needs to be more

BIGSTOCK

Has he set targets that are unlikely to be met? RAJIB DHAR

Nature & Peoplen Entertainment Desk

A solo art exhibition by artist Apurba Ranjan Biswas titled “Nature and Peo-ple Close to the Nature” has begun at the Galerie Zoom of Alliance Française de Dhaka. A total of 20 artworks on acrylic and pen-ink media are on dis-play for the two weeks long show.

Olivier Litvine, Director, Alliance Française de Dhaka has formally opened the exhibition as the chief guest while Professor Jamal Ahmed, chair-man of Department of Drawing and Painting, University of Dhaka, accom-panied him as the special guest during the ceremony that held on Friday.

Ahmed in his brief statement has expressed his best wishes for the suc-cess of this art exhibition and hoped that the audience would enjoy viewing Apurba’s artworks.

Artist Apurba feels that our riverine country is a hub of beauty. A piece with pathways, paddy � elds, and small huts altogether has formed an incredible art space.

The artist believes that the great-est beauty can be found in nature. His works depict rural beauty and the rela-tionship between human and his sur-roundings. l

No strings attached n Shadma Malik

Wealthy and privileged Apurbo lives the unrestrained party lifestyle, living it up with his girlfriend Sarika in town. Through a series of incidents, the young Romeo gets in touch with his cultural roots, and becomes what he once thought of as a “backdated” person. This is the story of tele� lm “Backdated,” written and directedby Apurbo himself, addressing whathe believes to be “the moral degradation” of the present generation, while extolling the practical and emotional values of the culture of our society where family bond is the � rst priority.

In a conversation with Apurbo, he said: “I have been writing this story for quite a long time. I discovered only I can portray the story and convey the message in a manner that I want.”

Apurbo who has a keen interest in photography and an institutional background in graphic animation said: “It is challenging to juggle the work of an actor, director and writer simultaneously, but my experience working with good directors encouraged me to take up such a challenge.”

The tele� lm will be aired on a satel-lite channel this Eid.

Best known for his good looks,

Apurbo has come a long way since his modelling days. Although Apurbo mostly acts for romantic scenes, he stars in a feature � lm “Gangster Re-turn” which will release soon where he breaks from his previous image and appears as an action hero. The

actor-director is happy with the way things are on small screen as far as his career is concerned.

Apurbo is also planning to open a restaurant in the capital soon. He is also making time for his family and ex-cited to welcome his � rst child. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 201412

Exhibition Of Man and Earth IITime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Art Lounge,Gulshan AvenueRd-131, Circle -1

Unconsciously ConsciousTime: 9am to 9pm Alliance Francaise de Dhaka Road-3,Dhanmondi

Can You Handle the Truth?Time: 9:30am – 8:00pmEMK Center,Road-16,Dhanmondi

Theatre Ja Nei BharoteTime: 7:00pm – 8:30pmExperimental Theatre Hall ,Shilpakala Academy

TODAY IN DHAKA

Shakib Khan, Apu Biswas and Bobby at the Chonburi Stadium,Thailand for the shooting of a song from � lm ‘Hero: The Superstar’ directed by Badiul Alam Khokon. Shakib Khan and Apu are supposed to take part in the shooting of another movie Raja Handsome in Thailand under the same director

Forrest Gump runs again!n Entertainment Desk

The heart-warming 1994 epic starring “Forrest Gump” is all set to hit the the-atres again marking its 20th anniversa-ry.

Paramount is re-releasing the Oscar winning � lm directed by Robert Ze-meckis in IMAX theatres on September 5, according to the Hollywood Report-er. The � lm was originally released in theatres July 6, 1994, and was a crit-ical and commercial smash, grossing $677m worldwide.

It was nominated for a whopping 13 Academy Awards and earned six awards, including best actor for Hanks and best director for Zemeckis. The

� lm co-stars Robin Wright, Sally Field and Gary Sinise and is based on the novel by Winston Groom.

Recent theatrical re-releases have had mixed success at the box o� ce. “The Lion King” netted $94m domes-tically when it was re-released in 3D in 2011, but other e� orts—including “Phantom Menace” in 2012—have not been so fortunate.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” added an extra $3m to its co� ers from its 2012 IMAX re-release.

“Forrest Gump” is currently ranked at 31 on the list of all-time highest domestic grosses. It stands $4.5m behind 2010′s “Alice in Wonderland” at 30. l

Living historyn Najmal A Nadvi

Open-air theatre has been around for a very long in our heritage and culture. How about a performance about our heritage and culture staged within one of the oldest archaeology sites in Ban-gladesh? On June 6, Shilpakala Acad-emy and Oittijho Onweshon staged a performance titled Wari Bateshwar, a part of BSA’s year-long environmental theatre project.

The play is about the 2500 years old historical landscape, and its signi� -cance on the geography of the country.

Wari Bateshwar is believed to be the cradle of Bengali civilisation.

The drama demonstrates the life-style that existed 2,500 years ago with characters who show our forefathers’ occupation of making and selling am-ulets, muslin and also war weapons.

Another segment reveals how Pro-fessor Su� Mosta� zur Rahman and Habibullah Pathan rediscovers the for-gotten site. The narrators bridge the gap between the historic and contem-porary times.

The presentation was made accessi-ble to all classes and types of people. The story of our elders was exhibited

in a brilliant display of art direction through a dazzling light and sound ef-fects of modern standards.

Through the drama the massage

was clear to the public that the heri-tage sites are very important in keep-ing us connected to our ancestors.

The play is written by Tanvir

Ahmed Sydney and directed by Som-rat Pramanik while Komol Khalid is the music director and Enam Ara Saki is in charge of the wardrobe. l

NAJMAL A NADVI

Hate Story 2 out in Julyn Entertainment Desk

Following the success of its prequel in 2012, a tale of an erotic love story coupled with sweet vengeance “Hate Story 2” is slated to be released this July 18.

Featuring television actors Jay Bha-nushali and Surveen Chawla, “Hate Story 2” revolves around a woman who is robbed of her love, dignity and life from a powerful man, played by actor Sushant Singh.

Produced by Vikram Bhatt and di-rected by Vishal Pandya, “Hate Story 2” is bold with several erotic bedroom scenes. The action also runs high as Surveen’s character slowly turns into a deadly woman seeking revenge.

The Censor Board has also asked the � lm’s producers to tone down the trailer for it to be aired on television.

The prequel “Hate Story” which starred Paoli Dam, Gulshan Devaiya and Nikhil Dwivedi was well received and became a box o� ce success. l

Surveen Chawla in Hate Story 2

Lopez and Casper Smart split amid rumoured transsexual textsn Entertainment Desk

After two and a half years together, American Idol judge Jennifer Lopez and choreographer Casper Smart have called it quits. The relationship has been on rocks lately, especially during Smart’s alleged transsexual scandal.

The famous couple has been hit with rumours of the boy toy dancer texting a transsexual. According to The Mirror, the actor was � irting on Instagram with transgender model So� e Vissa. The Dirty reports that sexual exchanges, includ-ing some nude pictures, were secretly made to each other behind Lopez’s back. Lies upon lies could have been the ul-timate reason for their public breakup.

The split supposedly doesn’t come as a surprise to close friends because Smart was already in the process of moving out. JLo has been away on the road promoting her latest al-bum, A K A.

Maybe Smart didn’t feel he was getting enough attention from his signi� cant other. The “Jenny from the Block” diva can also be seen canoodling with the hunky British model David Gandy in her latest video, “First Love.” The megastar even wore a nude bodysuit at KISS’s concert in 2014. l

Hrithik signs for ‘Mohenjo Daro’n Entertainment Desk

Actor Hrithik Roshan is all set to team up with his “Jodhaa Akbar” di-

rector Ashutosh Gowariker after � ve long years. Roshan has signed Gowariker’s love story, “Mohenjo Daro.”

The story is set during the ancient Indus Valley ci-vilisation and is scheduled to start � lming in the last quarter of 2014.

Apparently, the direc-tor had approached the actor earlier, but is only now that he has given the nod.

Hrithik said, “The In-

dus Valley civilisation is very centric to India but is also interesting and intriguing for the rest of the world. But more than anything I am tru-ly excited to once again be working with Ashutosh. I think the right words would be ‘We’re back!’”

“I wrote my � rst draft of “Mohenjo Daro” three years ago and I thought of him as my hero. I am glad Hrithik and I are working together on this. He will single-handedly bring great value to my � lm and enhance it tremendous-ly with his presence,” said the direc-tor. According to Ashutosh, the “Core of the story is Mohenjo Daro - seen through the eyes of the lovers.”

Reports also say that Sonakshi Sinha will be paired with Hrithik. l

13DHAKA TRIBUNESunday, June 8, 2014

Sport 14 15 Argentina ‘Fab Four’ to light up World Cup

Did you know?Miroslav Klose

becomes Germany’s all-time record goal-

getter yesterday with 69 goals (Gerd Müller

had scored 68)

Wheels come o� ‘Rolls Reus’ World Cup hopesDAYS TO GO

4

From Bangladesh to Brazil

In the context of Bangladesh, very few people get the rare opportunity of seeing their favourite international football team in � esh. Even a less amount of fans receive the chance to witness a World Cup game. Fur-thermore, a paucity of people get to watch their favourite team as World Cup hosts.

Therefore, it was quite normal for Akbar Haider Munna to feel like he was on cloud nine as he will get to savour all the afore-mentioned dreams. A Brazil supporter since childhood, Munna will realise all his dreams as he is set to be present in three games in the impending Fifa World Cup with one of those three games featuring the hosts in their second outing against Mexico on June 17 in Fortaleza, Brazil. After 64 long years, Brazil once again got the chance to stage a World Cup and Munna will fully utilise the opportunity a� orded to him.

Munna, who owns a non-professional football club, better known as an under-ground football club, Club 11, must consider himself as one of the luckiest ones having got the chance to watch the heavyweight encounter between defending champions

Spain and last edition’s � nalist the Neth-erlands in a Group B clash on June 13 in Salvador. The third and � nal game awaiting Munna is also another blockbuster game, three-time champions Germany taking on Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in a Group G tie on June 16 in Salvador.

“As a Brazil fan, I could not reject the op-portunity. It had always been my dream to watch a football match of Brazil but could not make it happen in the past due to � nan-cial reasons. This time, I have been planning it from last year. As it is a World Cup and will be held in Brazil, it is more than a dream to

me,” said the lucky Brazil fan who will � y to London tomorrow before setting o� to Rio de Janeiro the following day. While staying in Rio for 11 days, he will be joined by one of his friends from Thailand.

The football-lover started watching the beautiful game from 1986 and was one of the witnesses of probably the world’s greatest ever footballer Diego Armando Maradona lifting the World Cup for the Albiceleste. Besides, he stayed in Germany along with his family in 1982 and his father is a Germany fan but Munna, however, did not change his mind from supporting Brazil, “I love their (Brazil) passion for the game, their technique and the dribbling skills of their players. I just love the way they play.”

“I wished to attend all of Brazil’s match-es. I bought my World Cup tickets through my uncle who lives in England and I also wanted to see one of England’s match. However, due to time strain as the Rama-dan is near added with the humid tem-perature in Brazil, I cut short my plan,” said the 35-year old who is a director at Com� t Composite Knit Ltd, Patromax Re� nery Ltd and Shajibazar Power Company Ltd. l

Mashrafe hoping for quickies to improve

Veteran Bangladesh paceman Mashrafe Bin Mortaza made his international de-but in a Test match against Zimbabwe in Dhaka 13 years ago. Former Zimba-bwe captain Heath Streak, who is now the bowling coach of the Tigers, was his opponent back then.

Since then, the 40-year old Zim-babwean’s designation has changed from a fast bowler to a mentor but for Mashrafe things are still the same. Given Streak’s � ne track-record as an international cricketer, Mashrafe be-lieves the former right-arm seamer’s recruitment as the bowling coach of the Bangladesh cricket team can only be a good thing with less than a year to go to the ICC World Cup in the pace-friendly conditions of Australia-New Zealand.

“I think we are doing some good work in the nets at the moment and I hope that the bowlers will have a good experience with him,” Mashrafe told the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

“Spinners are usually given priority in Bangladesh but after quite a long time, pace bowlers are coming back strongly.

“The World Cup is in Australia and New Zealand where wickets will be

bouncy. Pace bowlers are needed to be backed in this regard as they will have a bigger role to play there. So it is real-ly good the way things are happening,” said the Narail Express.

The 30-year old is hoping that Streak’s stint as bowling coach will be followed by the emergence of new pace bowling talents in the country.

“None of the South Asian teams have a good pace backup except for Pa-kistan. It will be great if we can produce a few pacers in the upcoming years,” said Mashrafe.

Meanwhile, healthy competition is currently prevailing in the pipeline of national pacers and it was evident in the recently announced 15-man nation-al squad for the upcoming ODI series at home against India. Three pace bowl-ers – Mashrafe, Al Amin Hossain and uncapped Taskin Ahmed – were select-ed with Rubel Hossain missing out and the likes of Sha� ul Islam and Robiul Is-lam patiently waiting their turn.

Rubel was Bangladesh’s highest ODI wicket-taker in the 2013-14 season, but his expensive spells this year probably cost him a place. In six ODIs this year, Rubel conceded more than 60 runs on four oc-casions although the sling-action pace-man still found a way to pick up wickets.l

Long-awaited BPL judgement today

The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) tribunal will let the ICC, BCB and the ac-cused individuals know of its complete judgement on last year’s BPL match � x-ing allegations today through email.

Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury, the convener of the three-member committee told Dhaka Tribune that the process would remain con� dential and only those involved would be informed of the tribunal’s decision. “We will email them our verdict along with the reasons behind it,” said Khademul yesterday. “We will also explain the reasons why we acquitted six individuals in our short hearing in February,” he added.

The tribunal in its short judgement announced on February 26 this year, acquitted six of the nine individuals which included players and o� cials charged with match-� xing related of-fenses during the second edition of BPL in 2013. Dhaka Gladiators chairman Salim Chowdhury, the team’s Indian CEO Gaurav Rawat, bowling coach Mo-hammad Ra� que, and three players in-cluding Mosharraf Hossain, Mahbubul Alam and Darren Stevens were all ac-quitted of all charges after the Tribunal concluded its hearing.

Justice Khademul further informed that the sanction judgement would be the most important part of the whole

saga and though it was earlier reported that sanction judgement would be held on June 18, Khademul now thinks it will be delayed.

“We will hold the sanction judge-ment on June 18 or 19. Both the prose-cution and the defendants will be able to appeal against tribunal’s complete decision during the sanction judge-ment,” explained Khademul.

Earler both ICC and BCB expressed disappointment over the short judge-ment of the tribunal announced on February 26 this year. However, both parties were in consensus that the deci-sion to appeal will depend on the com-plete judgement of the tribunal.

The tribunal in its short judgement found Dhaka Gladiators’ managing direc-tor Shihab Chowdhury guilty of making an attempt to � x the Gladiators’ match against the Chittagong Kings in February last year while their players Mohammad Ashraful and Kaushal Lokuarachchi from Sri Lanka pleaded guilty to the tribunal.

Former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent, whose name popped up during the tribunal hearings, was also found to be involved with � xing. The former opener who played for Khulna Royal Bengals in BPL 2, was found involved not only with corruption in BPL but in few other domestic T20 matches around the globe also. Lou also pleaded guilty to the tribunal. l

Siddikur in race for title

Siddikur Rahman reoccupied his place into contention for a third Asian Tour victory as the Bangladesh gol� ng sen-sation slammed a stunning bogey-free seven-under-par 64 to move to sec-ond place after the third round of the Queen’s Cup yesterday.

The 28-year-old � nished the third round with a superb display that in-cluded seven birdies and not a single bogey to hit a total of 11-under-par 202 aggregate at Santiburi Samui Country Club in Thailand – the place where Sid-dikur began his career.

“It was really a great round, a bo-gey-free round. Seven great birdies. I’m really happy, especially my putting which I got back. My hitting was excel-lent, overall it was very good,” enthused

Siddikur in the Asian Tour website.“The � rst six holes, it didn’t go in

but on seven, I got a birdie putt from four feet and then hit another putt from 15 feet and on the last few holes, I managed to get three in a row. It was all down to my putting,” said Siddikur, who needed only 25 putts.

Following six straight pars, Siddikur produced the � reworks at Santiburi Samui, a course where he has enjoyed three top-10 � nishes, as he narrowed his overnight � ve-shot de� cit on Thai-land’s Poom Saksansin to one.

“I practiced more on my putting after yesterday’s round. I think that helped me a lot as I got my feel back. I’m in good form, I feel con� dent. This is one of my favourite places in Asia. I’m con� dent and looking forward to tomorrow.”

Other Bangladesh golfer Zamal Hos-sain stepped down to joint 31st place with a third round two-over-par 73 yesterday.

Meanwhile, Thai golfer Poom, however, still remain at the top for three straight days carding a three-under-par 68 yesterday at the $300,000 Asian Tour event with a 12-under-par 201 aggregate. l

Children play football in a street decorated with a gra� ti of Brazil national football players referencing the 2014 World Cup in the neighborhood of Ceilandia in Brazil, on Friday REUTERS

Akbar Haider Munna

Portugal need more than Ronaldo to � ourish

Portugal’s troubles in the World Cup quali� ers have shown that they will need a lot more than an on-song Cris-tiano Ronaldo to mount a serious chal-lenge in Brazil.

Although they can beat any team on their day, Portugal are prone to unex-plained lapses and can be chronically wasteful in attack.

Portugal reached Brazil in style with Ronaldo netting all their goals over the two legs of a memorable 4-2 aggregate playo� win over Sweden.

But that performance masked a dif-� cult quali� cation campaign in which they were held to unexpected draws by Northern Ireland and Israel and forced into the drama of a two-leg playo� after losing Group F’s top spot to Russia.

It could have been even worse had Ronaldo not dug them out of a hole in the match away to Northern Ireland, scoring a second-half hat-trick in a 4-2 win after they had trailed 2-1 and been reduced to 10 men.

“We certainly had an inconsistent campaign. If that wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t have had to contest a playo� ,” said coach Paulo Bento.

Worryingly for Portugal, Ronaldo has su� ered some nagging minor inju-

ries in the run-up to the World Cup and was rested for their friendly against Greece in Lisbon and Portugal’s train-

ing sessions after complaining of mus-cular pain in his left thigh.

After years of basing their game around a playmaker, � rstly Rui Costa and then Deco, Portugal have

changed their style to try and get the best out of Ronaldo.

Although they traditionally play a

possession game, under Bento they have started to mix this with long passes into space for Ronaldo and Nani to run on to.

After Ronaldo, mid� elder Joao Moutinho has become the most in� u-

ential player in the team. The Monaco player is part of a � uid three-man mid-� eld triangle which dictates the pace, tirelessly recovering balls and deliver-ing pinpoint passes.

Joao Pereira and Fabio Coentrao are two energetic fullbacks who like to burst forward and, in Pepe and Bruno Alves, they have a � ery, intense pair of centre backs, sometimes too much so.

A big concern is the centre forward position where Helder Postiga and Hugo Almeida have been less than clin-ical.

The highly unpredictable Ricardo Quaresma would have been an inter-esting alternative, but was overlooked by Bento, the third World Cup in a row where he has been in contention for a place and has missed out.

There is plenty of experience in the side with Raul Meireles, Bruno Alves, Postiga, Pepe and Pereira all over 30 and one of the criticisms aimed at Ben-to is that he has been too conservative in his team selections.

For a small country, Portugal have had an exceptional record at big tour-naments over the past decade, reaching the � nal at Euro 2004, the semi-� nals at the 2006 World Cup, the quarter-� -nals of Euro 2008 and the semi-� nals of Euro 2012. l

THE STARS BATTLING INJURY

Hamstring

Atletico MadridForward

25

10

Knee injury Leg injuries

DIEGOCosta

29

1102

Real MadridForward

Liverpool27

771

Forward

LUISSuarez

SPAIN URUGUAY PORTUGAL

Age Club Position World Cup appearances Type of injuryCaps

CRISTIANORonaldo

LEADERBOARD, DAY 3 Player R1 R2 R3 To Par Tot1 Saksansin (THA) 66 67 68 -12 (201)2 Siddikur (BAN) 68 70 64 -11 (202)3 Wiratchant (THA) 71 68 67 -7 (206)3 Niyomchon (THA) 68 68 70 -7 (206)3 Seuk-Hyun (KOR) 69 66 71 -7 (206)

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Japan edge past ZambiaYoshito Okubo netted the winning goal in stoppage time to give bloodied Japan a 4-3 victory over Zambia on Friday in the Asian champions’ � nal World Cup warm-up match. Milan striker Honda scored two goals and United forward Shinji Kagawa added another, but it took second-half entrant Okubo to send Japan to Brazil with a 3-0 mark in tune-up friendlies. Japan fell behind by two goals but they rallied behind their star attackers for the victory. –AFP

Jelavic sinks Socceroos in warm-upNikica Jelavic gave Croatia a 1-0 win over Australia in a warm-up game Friday ahead of their World Cup opener against hosts Brazil next week. The Hull City striker broke the deadlock in the 58th minute after he bene� ted from a de� ected ball and slotted home unmarked in the penalty area. Jelavic’s goal came after delightful interplay between Real Madrid

playmaker Luka Modric and Inter Milan’s Mateo Kovacic on the fringe of the penalty area. –AFP

Russia captain Shirokov ruled outRussia captain Roman Shirokov has been ruled out of this month’s World Cup in Brazil because of an Achilles tendon injury and will be replaced in the squad by Pavel Mogilevets, coach Capello con� rmed on Friday. The 32-year-old mid� elder, who � nished the Russian domestic season on loan at FC Krasnodar from Zenit, su� ered the injury in a game against Lokomotiv Moscow on April

26 and has not played since. After joining up with the national squad Shirokov underwent an individual training programme. –Reuters

Brazilís Fred celebrates after scoring against Serbia during a friendly at Morumbi stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday AFP

Germany’s mid� elder Marco Reus reacts injured on the pitch during their international friendly against Armenia in Mainz, central Germany on Friday AFP

England’s Rooney (L) is sprayed with water for cooling down as Raheem Sterling (2L) and Daniel Sturridge (3L) look on during a training session in Miami on Friday REUTERS

Gerrard revels in England captaincy

Steven Gerrard will captain England at a World Cup for the second time but believes Brazil will be the � rst tournament he holds

the role ‘for real’ having not felt that previous manager Fabio Capello truly believed in him as skipper.

Liverpool mid� elder Gerrard captained England in South Africa four years ago but only after � rst choice Rio Ferdinand was injured and John Terry was stripped of the role due to the controversy surrounding him at the time.

“Capello didn’t believe in me as his number one captain, Roy does. I don’t know what it was, I think he did believe in me as a player and our relationship was totally � ne, I enjoyed working under him, but at the time when he had to pick a captain we had Rio Ferdinand

here and John Terry as well,” Gerrard told reporters on Friday.

“Maybe he thought they were going to o� er something di� erent from me or maybe they were his preferred choice which was totally up to him. But for me now I know that I’m Roy’s number one captain which is a big con� dence boost for me,” he said.

While Gerrard enjoys having the full backing of his manager in his captaincy skills he said the formal position doesn’t change his behavior as a senior member of a youthful squad.

“I’d have still behaved in the same way four years ago (as now). If I wanted to go and put my arm around a player or show a bit of authority I’d do it in front of John. I’m sure he respected that.

“Just because I’m the captain with the armband on I still want the likes of Frank (Lampard) and Wayne (Rooney) and Phil Jagielka to be leaders in there with me and backing me up and we do

it together. But of course I’d rather be captain than vice-captain for sure,” he added.

The 34-year-old says he is relishing being part of a young squad that he believes is better than the one Capello took to the last World Cup.

“There are two players pushing in every position to get into the 11 and I don’t think there’s much between those two players in every position. I think the manager is probably capable of picking four or � ve teams for the It-aly game and you wouldn’t see much di� erence in the standard,” he said.

“That’s what gives me hope and also to know that whichever 11 he picks we’ve got some fantastic talent on the bench to come in when needed.

“I think they (the young players) have brought their form from the in-dividual clubs into the set up. That’s what I’ve noticed in the training so far and hopefully they continue that into the tournament. l

Fred winner steadies Brazil

Brazil coach Luiz Fe-lipe Scolari shrugged o� complaints from a rest-less home crowd as his team wrapped up their World Cup preparations

with a 1-0 win over Serbia on Friday.A second-half goal from centre-for-

ward Fred secured an unconvincing win for Brazil, who were subjected to boos and catcalls by sections of their support as they struggled to break down the Serbians.

Scolari brushed o� the restive reac-tion of the Sao Paulo crowd after the win, saying his team had got used to being booed by fans.

A crowd of 67,042 saw Fluminense striker Fred slide an e� ort home de-spite being grounded after a challenge to end stubborn resistance by the Ser-bians, who kept Brazil starlet Neymar in check throughout.

The visitors took to the pitch wear-

ing shirts bearing the legend “Serbia needs Help” after heaving � ooding in May left some 50 preople dead.

But it was Brazil who were � ounder-ing early on as they took time to � nd their rhythm.

As mid� elder Oscar admitted af-terwards to Globo TV: “It was tough. Serbia played very well and people will now hope things go better against Cro-atia. I am sure they will.”

The � rst chance fell to the Serbians, with Manchester City star Aleksandr Kolarov getting the better of Barcelona fullback Dani Alves before � ring in an e� ort just o� target.

Fans swiftly grew impatient and some started to demand Scolari turn to former striker Luis Fabiano, now 33 and not in the squad though he has managed a goal every other game in 45 appearances.

With just six days to go before they begin their quest for a sixth World Cup title – but � rst at home after their fail-ure against Uruguay in 1950 – Brazil showed signs of sluggishness. l

Wheels come o� ‘Rolls Reus’ WC hopes

Germany su� ered a major blow ahead of the World Cup � nals on Saturday as an ankle injury ruled mid� elder Marco Reus out of the

tournament, the German Federation announced.

The 25-year-old Borussia Dortmund star, known as ‘Rolls Reus’ and scorer of seven goals in 21 appearances for Germany, su� ered a slight tear to ankle ligaments shortly before half-time in Friday’s 6-1 friendly win over Armenia.

He was helped o� the pitch by two of the medical sta� and taken to hospital in Mainz where scans revealed the damage.

“Marco is obviously very disap-pointed to miss the World Cup and also for us it is a real blow,” said German coach Joachim Loew.

“When we learnt last night (Friday) that the injury was to the ligament we knew his chances of going to the World Cup were over.”

Loew called up the 22-year-old central defender Shkodran Musta� , capped just once and who plays for Se-rie A side Sampdoria.

Reus’s withdrawal is a serious blow to Loew as he had been in superb form towards the end of the season, scoring eight goals and creating � ve in the last nine games of the Bundesliga season.

He also scored a double against eventual Champions League winners

Real Madrid in their quarter-� nal sec-ond leg match. Reus is the latest big star to see his World Cup hopes dashed because of injury.

Colombia’s talismanic striker Ra-damel Falcao, France winger Franck Ribery and Italian mid� elder and AC Milan skipper Riccardo Montolivo have all been ruled out in the past week.

Musta� , who had a spell at English Premier League side Everton before joining Sampdoria, had been left out of the original 23-man squad named by Loew last Monday following a 2-2 draw in the friendly with Cameroon.

“We are taking someone (Musta� ) who was with us at the training camp (in Italy) with us and who is into the rhythm of the squad,” said Loew. l

Costa denies he was o� ered World Cup chance with Brazil

Spain striker Diego Costa has refuted Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari’s claims that he contact-ed him over playing the World Cup for the host

nation.The Brazil-born forward chose to

represent Spain, where he plays his club football with Atletico Madrid, and made his debut for the team in a friend-ly against Italy last March.

He was a revelation in La Liga last season, hitting 36 goals, as Atletico won the league and reached the Champions League � nal, and he will be an import-ant addition to Spain’s armoury as they look to retain the World Cup.

Costa said that Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque convinced him to play for the reigning world champions while

Scolari never approached him.“Scolari never called me by tele-

phone. The only coach that I spoke with was Del Bosque who showed interest in me, invited me for a meal and made me realise that I was in his plans,” Costa told reporters in Washington, where Spain are preparing for the World Cup.

“I am Brazilian and that is not going to change but I want to win the World Cup with Spain.”

Costa was responding to comments on Friday by Scolari who said that he wanted the striker to play for Brazil.

“I was going to call him up for the World Cup. Was I wrong? I don’t know,” Scolari told O Estado de Sao Paulo. “He would be at the World Cup with Brazil. I spoke to him two times about it.

“The problem is that there are oth-er interests behind everything. With Diego Costa a Spanish citizen it opens doors in Europe.” l

Greece down Bolivia in tune-up

Greece, backed by a partisan crowd at Red Bull Arena, scored once in each half to beat Bolivia 2-1 on Friday in their � nal World Cup tune-up match.

Panagiotis Kone and Kostas Katsouranis scored for Greece – who open their World Cup campaign in Brazil on June 16 against Colombia – but a goalkeeping ga� e allowed Bolivia to pull one back late in the game.

The drought ended in the 20th min-ute when Dimitrios Salpingidis � red a cross into the area that Kone headed past goalkeeper Romel Quinonez into the right corner for a 1-0 lead. l

Portugal snatch late win over Mexico

Coach Paulo Bento admitted there was work to do after his Portugal side missed the � repower of Cristiano Ron-aldo in snatching a 1-0 friendly win over fellow World Cup quali� ers Mex-ico on Friday.

Sweating on the � tness of talisman Ronaldo with the Brazil showpiece just six days away, Portugal could only draw 0-0 with Greece last weekend and were hanging on for another goalless stalemate.

But deep into injury time, up popped stand-in skipper Bruno Alves with a thumping header to seal a victo-ry Portugal barely deserved.

Manchester United winger Nani had been anonymous, while gangly for-ward Eder failed to convince, leaving Bento with plenty to ponder ahead of Tuesday’s � nal warm-up match with the Republic of Ireland.l

Six-goal Germany crush Armenia in � nal warmup

Germany produced a dazzling display of attacking football to thrash Arme-nia 6-1 in their last World Cup warmup on Friday but Marco Reus could be in doubt for the � nals after twisting his ankle.

The Germans, looking to end an 18-year wait for an international title, scored all their goals in the second half after mid� elder Reus was taken to hos-pital for checks after being injured in the 43rd minute.

Mario Goetze struck twice and Lukas Podolski, Andre Schuerrle, Benedikt Hoewedes and Miroslav Klose, who be-came his country’s all-time top scorer with 69 goals, were also on target as the hosts hit � ve goals in 18 minutes.

“It was obvious we were much fresher today,” coach Joachim Loew told reporters, referring to Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Cameroon. “In the second

half we upped the tempo as well.“When we switch on that turbo my

team can do a lot of things. I am looking forward to the tournament.”

Germany, who take on Portugal, Ghana and United States in World Cup Group G later this month, were without � rst-choice keeper Manuel Neuer who is recovering from a shoulder injury.

Neuer, expected to be � t for the group opener against Portugal, was re-placed by Borussia Dortmund’s Roman Weidenfeller for the second consecu-tive international.

The deputy keeper was rarely called into action as Germany took the initia-tive from the start. They missed early chances through Reus and Thomas Mueller, starting as the only forward with Klose on the bench.

Reus missed several good chances before he was hurt, an injury that in-stantly silenced the 27,000 crowd.

Schuerrle, who also scored on Sun-day, gave the fans something to cheer when he drilled the ball in after 52 min-utes following good work from Podolski.

Mesut Ozil, a second-half substitute

after recent below-par performances, rattled the post with a low drive be-fore Armenia levelled when Henrikh Mkhitaryan beat Dortmund team mate Weidenfeller with a 69th-minute penalty. Germany then put their foot on the gas to � re � ve goals in an explosive � nish.

Podolski, hitting top form at just the right time, picked up a clever pass from Ozil to score in the 71st minute before Hoewedes added another goal two minutes later.

“We have to be ready from the very � rst game,” said Podolski after claim-ing his � rst international goal for more than a year. “That is where it counts because if you win that � rst game then you can bene� t from a big tailwind.”

Klose, who came on as a substitute, broke Gerd Mueller’s 40-year Germany record by notching a 69th goal on his 132nd appearance with a diving header.

Goetze completed the rout with a late double. l

RESULTSMexico 0 1 Portugal Alves 90

Greece 2 1 BoliviaKone 20, Katsouranis 53 Cardozo 69

Costa Rica 1 1 IrelandBorges 64-P Doyle 18

Japan 4 3 ZambiaHonda 40-P, 75, Katongo 9, Sinkala 29, Kagawa 73, Okubo 90+1 L. Musonda 89

Brazil 1 0 SerbiaFred 58

Germany 6 1 ArmeniaSchuerrle 52, Podolski 72, Mkhitaryan 69-PHoewedes 73, Klose 77, Goetze 82, 89

Russia 2 0 MoroccoBerezutsky 29, Zhirkov 58

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

Sunday, June 8, 2014

NAT’L CRICKET CHAMPIONSHIP

Second round line-up con� rmedThe second round line-up of the 34th National Cricket Championship was completed after the conclusion of the � rst-round games on Friday. Eight teams – Mymensingh and Faridpur from Dhaka division, Naoga from Rajshahi division, Satkhira from Khulna division, Dinajpur from Rangpur division, Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet – quali� ed for the second round of the limited-over compe-tition. The eight teams have been placed in two groups and will play each other on the basis of a league format. Only the group champi-ons will progress to the � nal. The second-round matches will start on June 11. The matches will be played at Shahid Chandu Stadium in Bogra and Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox’s Bazar. The � nal will take place in Cox’s Bazar on June 20. Unlike the � rst round, all matches of the second round will be played on turf wickets.

–Tribune Desk

Walton Bodybuilding Championship starts todayThe � rst edition of the Walton Smart Television Beach Bodybuilding Championship will get underway at the Laboni Point in Cox’s Bazar today. The three-day event will be played out in eight di� erent weight categories - 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85+kg.

–Tribune Desk

Lukaku doubts future at ChelseaBelgian striker Romelu Lukaku has said he will likely have to leave Chelsea in the close season amid speculation that the London side are about to sign Diego Costa. The 21-year-old forward has spent the last two seasons on loan at West Brom and Everton as he has been repeatedly overlooked at Stam-ford Bridge. That is not something Lukaku, who scored 16 goals for Ever-ton last season, expects to change any time soon. “You know Chelsea: every year they buy a new top striker,” he told several newspapers. “I remember me coming into the dressing room last year and seeing Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba and going: ‘Whoah! What’s happening here?’ “But no problem. Many clubs are interested in me. “At this stage I have to look to myself. I have to play a good World Cup. That’s very interesting for all the players looking for a transfer, and I must be one of them. Chelsea know my point of view.”

–AFP

Internacional hero Fernandao dies in helicopter crashFernandao, the swashbuckling striker who led Internacional to Copa Libertadores and World Club Cup triumphs in 2006, has died in a helicopter crash in central Brazil, his former club said on Saturday. He was 36. The helicopter crashed with � ve people on board and none survived, according to news reports. “I am saddened by the death of #Fer-nandão, a hero to all Internacional fans and all lovers of football,” Brazil-ian President Dilma Rousse� , herself an Inter fan, said on Twitter. “On the � eld he was world champion, o� the � eld he was an example of a man of character.” Fernando Lucio da Costa played 190 times for the Porto Alegre club and scored 77 goals. He also managed the side in 2012.

–Reuters

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DAY’S WATCH

Players of Amigos FC receive the Underground Champions League-4 trophy from former national footballer Kaiser Hamid on Friday. Amigos beat Club 11 4-3 in the � nal at the Abahani outer basketball ground. Captain of Amigos, Imranur Rahman was the top scorer in the � ve-a-side futsal tournament with 17 goals COURTESY

Argentina ‘Fab Four’ to light up World Cup

Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero and Angel di Maria form one of the most sublime attacking forces in football, but their goals may not be enough to win the World Cup for Ar-gentina.

Los Cuatro Fantasticos, as fans call them, are all 26, came through Argen-tina’s ranks together and are hitting the peak of their careers.

Coach Alejandro Sabella is spoiled for choice as he takes his fancied team to the World Cup to take on Nigeria, Bosnia and Iran in Group F.

Barcelona’s Messi has deposed Di-ego Maradona as Argentina’s leading scorer -- with 37 strikes in 85 appear-ances -- and is rated as the world’s most valuable footballer.

Higuain, of Italian side Napoli, has 22 goals from 36 internationals; Ague-ro, who has just won the English title with Manchester City, 21 goals from 50 games and di Maria, triumphant in the Champions League with Real Madrid, 11 goals from 45 games.

Sabella could play them any way he wants and that kind of � repower has made Argentina second favourites to win the cup, behind Brazil.

The coach struggled however to get

the right formation after he arrived in September 2011.

“Today the team plays with three attackers (Messi, Aguero and Higuain) of an extraordinary level, plus di Maria, who is a fourth attacker,” said Sabella.

Di Maria normally plays an o� ensive mid� eld role for Argentina.

“It is very di� cult to take one out,” Sabella added. “But we are going to continue like this.”

Even if one of the fab four is injured,

Sabella has plenty of support to fall back on.

Carlos Tevez could not even make the Argentine squad despite a brilliant season with Juventus. Sabella could not handle managing a squad with

Messi and Tevez.But he still has Rodrigo Palacio of In-

ter Milan and Ezequiel Lavezzi of Paris St Germain, who both got games in the 3-0 friendly win over Trinidad and To-bago on Wednesday.

Aguero and Higuain were rested for that match.

Normally Sabella plays Higuain as the target man, Aguero on the left, di Maria in mid� eld and Messi marauding on the right.

The lineup makes Argentina a huge threat on the counter-attack.

Messi cast aside some of the weight of playing for the national team, scor-ing 18 goals in his last 16 games, includ-ing World Cup qualifying.

But Sabella makes frequent chang-es to the formation and the rest of the team poses problems for him.

Javier Mascherano will have to carry many of the defensive duties in mid-� eld and centre back Federico Fernan-dez and left-back Marcos Rojo have regularly been exposed.

The team are favourites to win their group. Argentina will face pressure as they were the winners the last time the tournament was held in South America, in Argentina in 1978. The last time they got past the quarter � nals was in 1990. l

Nadal, Djokovic target Paris history

Rafael Nadal and No-vak Djokovic clash for a 42nd time on Sunday with the French Open title and a place in the record books at stake.

World number one Nadal hopes to wrap up a ninth triumph in nine � nals in Paris and take his record to 66 wins and just one defeat.

Victory would also make the 28-year-old the � rst man to win Ro-land Garros � ve years in a row and give him a 14th Grand Slam title, just three behind the record of 17 held by Roger Federer who is nearly � ve years older.

Djokovic, who has six majors to his name, needs a Roland Garros trophy to become just the eighth man in history to have won all four Grand Slam events.

He also has the advantage of having defeated Nadal in their last four meet-ings, including on clay in the Rome Masters � nal last month.

The momentum, however, appears to be with Nadal who allowed Wimbledon champion Andy Murray just six games in a brutal semi-� nal demolition on Friday.

“It’s nothing new for Novak to be in the � nal here. He has the motivation to win Roland Garros for the � rst time for sure,” said Nadal who has won their last three Grand Slam meetings and all four of their previous encounters at Ro-land Garros.

“But at the same time, he has the pressure to win for the � rst time.”

Djokovic was defeated by Nadal in the 2012 � nal but came desperately close to beating him in the semi-� nals in 2013 when he led 4-2 in the � nal set.

The 27-year-old Serb, who is playing in his 13th Grand Slam � nal compared to Nadal’s 20th, believes the key to victory is to take the Spaniard out of his com-fort zone on the Philippe Chatrier court where he has only lost once, a fourth round exit to Robin Soderling in 2009.

“It’s a very wide and very big court. He likes to have that visual e� ect, as well, because it appears that he gets ev-ery ball back,” said Djokovic.

“He feels more comfortable when he plays on the bigger court. That’s one of the reasons why he’s so successful here.

“But we played some really close and good matches, good quality matches

the last two years here, especially the one last year serving at 4-3 in the � fth set to go 5-3. It was a very close one.

“And knowing that I was that close to win against him the past two years gives me that reason to believe that I can make it this time. He’s not unbeatable.”

The rivalry between the two men stretches back to 2006.

Their � rst meeting was in the quar-ter-� nals at the French Open when Djokovic retired with back trouble.

Since then they have fought out a series of classic battles, most notably the 2012 Australian Open � nal which lasted almost six hours.

That match won by Djokovic was played under the Melbourne � ood-lights whereas Sunday’s � nal is expect-ed to be greeted by bright sunshine and temperatures pushing towards the 30-degree mark. No wonder Nadal was all smiles.

“For me it is much better when the weather is like today. My ball creates more topspin. The ball goes quicker in the air, and with my forehand I am able to create more with less,” said Nadal who has a career 13-4 winning record on clay over Djokovic. l

Pietersen � ops on return to action in England

Kevin Pietersen su� ered a disappoint-ing return to action in English cricket as he scored just � ve runs for Surrey in their � ve-wicket defeat against Essex on Friday.

Pietersen’s � op came in a domestic Twenty20 clash at the Oval, where the controversial batsman was playing for the � rst time on home soil since his ac-rimonious removal from the England team in the aftermath of the dismal Ashes whitewash in Australia.

To add insult to injury for the South Africa-born star, who was reportedly axed by England due to the breakdown of his relationship with several senior players, he had been teased by former England team-mate Ravi Bopara on Twitter earlier on Friday, with the Es-sex all-rounder telling him; “Don’t let me get you out”.

That was exactly what happened as Pietersen tried to smash Bopara over

the long-on rope but only found the hands of Ryan ten Doeschate for � ve.

Pietersen walked out to the middle to loud cheers, his seasonal debut having been delayed because of a � nger injury su� ered playing for Delhi, but was soon heading back to the dressing room.

He nudged his way along to � ve be-fore trying to go big to Bopara and Ten Doeschate took a great catch on the � y.

Pietersen’s failure left Surrey strug-gling to a total of 151 for six and Essex made comfortable work of the chase, thanks largely to a thrilling base laid down by Jesse Ryder.

The New Zealander walloped a 16-ball 31 before perishing to Kevin O’Brien. Ryder hit the � rst ball for four, the second for six and accounted for all of Essex’s � rst 25 runs.

Mark Pettini was a junior partner to Ryder and went not long after, run out for 12, but that just allowed Tom West-ley (44) and Ten Doeschate (43 not out) to get the job done. l

Sharapova wins French Open in second longest � nal

Maria Sharapova won her second French Open and � fth career major on Saturday with a 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 win over Romania’s Simona Halep in the tournament’s second longest � nal.

At 3hr 02min, it was just two min-utes shy of the 1996 � nal between Ste� Graf and Aranxta Sanchez.

Sharapova, the seventh seed, won her � rst Roland Garros title in 2012 and was runner-up last year to Serena Wil-liams.

Halep, the fourth seed, was playing in her maiden � nal at a Grand Slam and was hoping to become the � rst Roma-nian champion since Virginia Ruzici, now her manager, in 1978.

Saturday’s win took Sharapova, 27, level with Martina Hingis as a � ve-time Grand Slam title champion.

Simona Halep evened up winning the second set 7-6 (5) after the Russian had won the � rst 6-4.l

Windies want revenge against Kiwis

West Indies will be bent on revenge while New Zealand are concerned about the crooked arm of a key op-position bowler heading into the � rst match of the three-Test series starting on Sunday at Sabina Park in Jamaica.

While much of the local focus on the � xture has centred on local hero Chris Gayle becoming just the ninth Carib-bean cricketer to play 100 Tests, the bludgeoning opening batsman’s im-pending landmark has taken a backseat in the minds of the visitors, with coach Mike Hesson raising questions as to the match referee’s ability to e� ectively police the action of Shane Shillingford.

Suspended from the international game for the second time in his career

following two Tests in India last No-vember, the tall o� -spinner is set for a return on a pitch that may lack the ven-om of old but should still have enough bounce to allow both the Dominican and the even more gangling left-armer Sulieman Benn of Barbados to pose sig-ni� cant threats.

“It’s quite hard to see how they actu-ally police that,” Hesson said on Friday in reference to the ability of o� cials to detect whether or not Shillingford bowls the “doosra,” a delivery that has been a key weapon in earning him 65 wickets in 14 Tests but which he is not now allowed to use following the latest remedial work on his action.

West Indies, who were comprehen-sively beaten 2-0 in New Zealand six months earlier, are likely to opt for a bal-

anced attack that could see late call-up Jason Holder sharing the new ball with either Kemar Roach or Jerome Taylor, both of whom are returning from injury.

New Zealand’s build-up to only their sixth Test series in the Caribbean has involved two warm-up matches, a rar-ity in recent times given the congested international calendar.

Both � xtures against local teams in the western Jamaican venue of Tre-lawny were low-scoring a� airs, al-though there was enough evidence to suggest that it may be worthwhile in-vesting in uncapped o� -spinner Mark Craig even if the seam attack, led by Trent Boult and Tim Southee, will again be key to their pursuit of just a second Test match victory in the West Indies since their � rst tour here in 1972. l

Jardim appointed new Monaco coach

Monaco have appointed Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim as the club’s new boss on a two-year contract with the option for a third season, the Ligue 1 side announced on Friday.

Jardim, 39, replaces Claudio Ranieri at the helm after the Italian parted ways with Monaco last month having guided the principality out� t to second place and a spot in the Champions League. Jardim left his post at Sporting Lisbon in May after just one year in the job.

“I am very happy to work for Mo-naco because it’s a big club. I believe very strongly in this project and I think we will do good things together as a group,” said Jardim in a statement on Monaco’s website.

“AS Monaco is a team with quality players. There are a lot of young talent-ed players and I will do everything to help them progress,” he added.

Vice-president Vadim Vasilyev said the club was “convinced that Leonardo Jardim was the right man to lead the

project going forward”.“He’s a coach who has achieved ex-

cellent results at his former clubs. He is very motivated and forms part of this new generation of coaches who bring a new dynamic to the table. He is ambi-tious, just like us. It’s exactly the type of pro� le that we were looking for,” added Vasilyev.

After starting his coaching career in the Portuguese lower divisions Jardim took over Beira Mar in 2009 and guided them to promotion to the top � ight the following season.

He then helped Braga to a third-place � nish during the 2011/12 cam-paign before moving to Greece to take over the reins at Olympiacos.

His time in Greece was short-lived though and he returned to Portugal, where he penned a two-year contract with Sporting, who he steered to sec-ond the past season.

Jardim is expected to be o� cially presented at Monaco around the time players return for pre-season training on June 30. l

Russia’s Maria Sharapova reacts after a point against Romania’s Simona Halep during their French tennis Open � nal match at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris yesterday AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

Indigenous teacher raped, pushed o� hill n Our Correspondent, Bandarban

Police have recovered the body of a fe-male school teacher, who was allegedly raped and pushed o� a hill, in Roang-chari of Bandarban.

The dead woman was identi� ed as U Pru Marma, 23, a teacher at Ananda School run by Brac. Her body was re-covered from the bottom of Naresatang hill, 100ft from the peak, in Bangchhari yesterday morning.

Her parents began looking for her in the evening on Friday as she went out in the morning but did not return home till then, said police.

Local indigenous people saw her body around 11pm at the bottom of the hill and informed police. Her head was bashed with a stone, eyes gouged out, and there were marks of injury in dif-ferent parts of the body.

The body was sent to Bandarban Sa-dar Hospital for autopsy.

Roangchari Upazila Chairman Key

Ba Mang Marma said the girl had been raped before she was pushed o� the hill which resulted in her death. Police and locals also hinted the same.

Complicity of the Rohingyas in the kill-ing was alleged. Local indigenous people were enraged at the incident and demand-ed immediate arrest of the criminals.

Meanwhile, wood worker Musa Alam, who was suspected to be in-volved in the murder, was lynched by locals yesterday noon. The 35-year-old hailed from Bajalia union of Satkania upazila in Chittagong.

His body was brought to Bandarban Sadar Hospital morgue in the afternoon but no case was � led in this connection.

Police have also arrested Tarachan Tangchenga alias Bijoy, 26, in connec-tion with the murder of the school-teacher.

O� cer-in-charge of Roangchari po-lice station Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan said they were trying to arrest the perpetra-tors who had killed the teacher. l

Question paper ‘leaked’ again!HSC English exam to be held despite question leckage rumoursn Mushfi que Wadud

The English second paper examination of Higher Secondary Certi� cate under Dhaka Education Board will be held on schedule despite rumours about ques-tion paper leak.

Dhaka Education Board Chairman Taslima Begum told the Dhaka Tribune last night that the English second paper examination will be held today as per the schedule.

About allegations of question paper leak, she earlier in the evening saidthey had not heard about any such news. “I will be at the o� ce till 10:00 pm. If we � nd any leaked question, we will take action accordingly,” sheadded.

But at 10:40pm she told the Dhaka Tribune that they found the rumour to be baseless.

The English examination was sched-uled for May 8, but later postponed fol-

lowing allegations of question paper leak. Rumour has it that the question paper of the rescheduled examination has also been leaked.

‘Leaked’ question paper was post-ed on several Facebook pages since

yesterday afternoon. A Facebook page ‘Proshno Bazaar’ posted a mobile phone number on its status saying,“If anyone wants to get the origi-nal question paper, contact me at 01780730122.”

This correspondent phoned the man who demanded Tk500 for providing the original question paper. “Please send me Tk300 in advance and we will send you the original question paper. After the examination, you have to pay Tk200 more,” the man told this corre-spondent.

The ‘question paper’ of English sec-ond paper examination was also posted on several other Facebook pages.

Earlier, there were rumours of ques-tion leak in mathematics � rst paper ex-amination scheduled for May 24. The leaked questions matched the original ones on which the students took the examination next day. l

Poor and distressed children take food following a drawing competition organised by Human Safety Foundation at Dhaka University’s TSC yesterday. The foundation works for the deprived children of the society RAJIB DHAR

Sleep’s memoryrole discoveredn BBC

The mechanism by which a good night’s sleep improves learning and memory has been discovered by scien-tists.

The team in China and the US used advanced microscopy to witness new connections between brain cells – syn-apses – forming during sleep.

Their study, published in the journal Science, showed even intense training could not make up for lost sleep.

Experts said it was an elegant and signi� cant study, which uncovered the mechanisms of memory.

It is well known that sleep plays an important role in memory and learn-ing. But what actually happens inside the brain has been a source of consid-erable debate.

Researchers at New York University School of Medicine and Peking Univer-sity Shenzhen Graduate School trained mice in a new skill – walking on top of a rotating rod.

They then looked inside the living brain with a microscope to see what happened when the animals were ei-ther sleeping or sleep deprived.

Their study showed that sleeping mice formed signi� cantly more new connections between neurons - they were learning more.

And by disrupting speci� c phases of sleep, the research group showed deep or slow-wave sleep was necessary for memory formation.

During this stage, the brain was “re-playing” the activity from earlier in the day.

Prof Wen-Biao Gan, from New York University, told the BBC: “Finding out sleep promotes new connections be-tween neurons is new, nobody knew this before.

“We thought sleep helped, but it could have been other causes, and we show it really helps to make connec-tions and that in sleep the brain is not quiet, it is replaying what happened during the day and it seems quite im-

portant for making the connections.”

AnalysisThis is just the latest piece of science to highlight the importance of sleep.

A new reason for sleep was dis-covered last year when experiments showed the brain used sleep to wash away waste toxins built up during a hard day’s thinking.

However, there are concerns that people are not getting enough sleep.

As part of the BBC’s Day of the Body Clock, Prof Russell Foster argued that society had become “supremely ar-rogant” in ignoring the importance of sleep, leading to “serious health prob-lems”.

These include: cancer, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, infections and obesity.

The reward for more sleep, Prof Fos-ter argues, is we would all be “better human beings.”

Further tests showed how signi� -cant sleep was.

Mice doing up to an hour’s train-ing followed by sleep were compared with mice training intensively for three hours but then sleep deprived.

The di� erence was still stark, with the sleepers performing better and the brain forming more new connections.

Prof Gan added: “One of the impli-cations is for kids studying, if you want to remember something for long peri-ods you need these connections.

“So it is probably better to study and have good sleep rather than keep stud-ying.”

Commenting on the � ndings, Dr Raphaelle Winsky-Sommerer, from the University of Surrey, told the BBC: “This is very impressive, carefully crafted and using a combination of ex-quisite techniques to identify the un-derlying mechanisms of memory.

“They provide the cellular mecha-nism of how sleep contributes to deal-ing with experiences during the day.

“Basically it tells you sleep promotes new synaptic connections, so preserve your sleep.” l

A visitor checks out colourful cacti yesterday at a month-long tree fair organised in the capital’s Agargaon as part of programmes to mark the World Environment Day SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

‘Govt expects Japanese support for learning and earning project’n UNB

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Ka-mal said yesterday the government was expecting Japanese investment for launching a ‘learning and earning’ pro-ject to build skilled manpower in the country’s information and communi-cation technology (ICT) sector.

“I believe Japan will invest for build-ing skilled manpower in the � eld of ICT. The government is going to take up ‘learning and earning’ project in this regard,” he told a seminar at Barura upazila in Comilla.

The seminar, titled ‘Education, Cul-ture and Civilisation of Japan’, was jointly organised by Shaherbanu Ideal School, Projuktipith and Munsi Jin-nat Ali Welfare Trust. Mustafa Kamal

hoped that the Japanese government will come forward with investment in education and manpower develop-ment sectors in Bangladesh so that the country can achieve the targeted GDP growth in the years to come, said a PID handout.

He noted that building quality and skilled manpower is the topmost pri-ority of the government. “The govern-ment is considering investment in edu-cation sector as a future return.”

Speaking on the occasion, Japanese Ambassador in Bangladesh Shiro Sha-do Shima said the state of economy in Bangladesh is now attracting all the big economies of the world. He also sug-gested that Bangladesh should move ahead with a plan to expand its apparel exports to Eastern countries instead of solely relying on the European and the US markets.

The seminar was held Shaherbanu Ideal School founder Abdul Haque in the chair. l

‘The government is considering investment in education sector as a future return’

Health o� cials ‘unwilling’ to travel abroadn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

In a strange turn of events, health sec-tor o� cials – who are usually eager to grab any opportunity to go abroad on state-sponsored trips – are now unwill-ing to leave the country, fearing that they might be transferred or made OSDs.

As funding deadlines near their end during the � nal few months of every � scal, the o� cials of the Health Min-istry and the health directorate hurry to get their names listed for sponsored trips to international seminars, sympo-siums and training courses.

However, following recent inci-dents, which saw senior health sector o� cials being transferred or made of-� cers on special duty (OSD) while they were abroad, other o� cials are now unwilling to go on international trips

fearing that they might lose their o� ce, said sources within the health sector.

Seeking anonymity, several senior o� cials said that some of their col-leagues had been enjoying trips abroad when they received the unexpected news that they had been reassigned.

The Health Ministry recently reshuf-� ed the ranks among several directors and deputy directors, issuing orders for transfers and assigning OSDs.

Dr Md Shah Newaz, director (ad-ministration) of the Directorate Gen-eral of Health Services (DGHS), was reassigned as the director of Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN); while IPHN Director Dr Hedayetul Is-lam was made an OSD at the DGHS.

Both of them were reportedly at-tending a programme in China when the reshu� ing was carried out. The

two o� cials have since returned to the country and joined their new posts.

Sources said a deputy secretary of the Health Ministry, Humayun Kabir, was also on an international trip re-cently when he was transferred to a di� erent ministry.

Other fresh reshu� es in the sec-tor saw DGHS Director (� nance) Dr Ehetashamul Hoque Chowdhury being made the new director of administra-tion and DGHS Deputy Director Dr Md Ruhul Forkun Siddik being assigned as the new � nance director.

Saruj Kumer Mojumder, director of National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), was also transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, while Dr Akterunnahar of the same institute was appointed as the new director of NIPSOM. l

Journalist Mahbubul Alam laid to rest n Tribune Online Report

Mahbubul Alalm, former adviser of care-taker government and also the former editor of English daily Independent, was laid to rest on Saturday afternoon.

He was buried at his father’s grave around 3pm at Azimpur new graveyard in the city.

Mahbubul Alam breathed his last at BIRDEM Hospital on Friday morning. He was 78.

Earlier in the day, his body was tak-en to National Press Club from United Hospital mortuary around 1:30pm.

People from all walks of life thronged the Press Club premises to bid a last farewell to the senior journalist.

Mahbubul Alam’s second namaz-e-janaza was held at the Press Club premises after Johr prayers. His � rst namaz-e-janaza was held at Azad Mosque at Gulshan in the city after the Asr prayer Friday.

Kulkhani and doa mah� l will beheld at his younger brother Farudul Ahshan Mintu’s Gulshan residence on Monday. l

RAB: Media reports misleading, unwanted n Tribune Report

Rapid Action Battalion has claimed that media reports on the involvement of the force’s higher o� cial following the confessional statements of two ex-RAB o� cials are misleading.

A statement signed by RAB media wing director ATM Habibur Rahman also claimed that such reports are an evil e� ort to hamper the investigation procedure in the Narayanganj seven murder case.

Former RAB o� cers Arif Hossain and MM Rana gave confessional statements last week on the abductions and mur-ders of seven persons in Narayanganj.

Several newspapers published “mis-leading” and “unwanted” reports on June 6 claiming two former RAB o� cers in their confessional statements before the court gave information about the involvement of a top RAB o� cial in the seven murders, the statement said.

The media release claimed that the news articles tarnished the image of the elite force.

The confessional statements were given before an executive magistrate and any statement with court is not

publishable as per law while the trial is underway, it further said.

“A lawyer’s comments claiming the involvement of a senior o� cial of the RAB headquarters just after the confes-sional statements of two former RAB o� cers was a deliberate e� ort,” the RAB statement also said.

The statement termed the media re-ports as an attempt to divert the inves-tigation of the case. l

Arif Hossain and MM Rana gave confessional statements on seven murders in N’ganj

‘Leaked’ question paper was posted on several Facebook pages with phone numbers

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 O� ce: 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

www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

B3 China to boost bank lending power

B4 World Bank sees China growth on track, urges reform

Bangladesh Denim Expo in Dhaka on Nov 11-12n Tribune Report

A two-day “Bangladesh Denim Expo” is scheduled to be held in Dhaka on November 11-12, this year to promote Bangladesh brands to the global mar-ket and share knowledge with the in-ternational producers to get acquinted with the latest technologies.

Denim Expert Limited, a domes-tic denim producer, will organise the international Denim Trade Show in Bangladesh to popularise the brand in international denim industry.

The Expo will be held at Hotel Radis-son Blue Water Garden in the capital on November 11 -12.

Our primary purpose is to create a platform for Denim stakeholders and to make Bangladesh as ‘One Stop Sourcing Platform’ for denim indus-try, which could bring bene� ts to the entrepreneurs, said chief initiator of the expo and Managing Director of the organisation Mosta� z Uddin while addressing a press conference at a city hotel yesterday.

“We expect that Denim goods from Bangladesh will yield greater brand

value in the global market through this initiative,’’ said Mosta� z, who termed the initiative as a not-pro� table one.

A total of 11 foreign participants took part in the last Denim Expo while the organisers are expecting more turnout of apparel entrepreneurs, business-men, fashion professionals and stake-holders of the industry from Europe, US, UK and several Asian countries in the expo this year.

Currently, Bangladesh produces low and mid end products and to reach the high end products, we have to know about the global trend and the latest technologies, said Engr MS Hasan, Di-rector, PARTEX group.

“Our aim is to bring foreign experts here and to enrich our industry by ex-changing our experiences among our-selves,’’ he added.

According to the industry insiders, Bangladesh is the second largest den-im exporter in European markets while it is holding the third largest position in the USA market.

Bangladesh exports denims’ prod-ucts worth around US$600m per an-num to the global market.

Currently, the industry has 25 Denim fabric manufacturers, which produce around 20m yards per month to meet 40% of the total demand. The country, however, needs to import 60% fabric.

The press conference was also ad-dressed, among others, by Kamal Ud-din, Managing Director of Raymotex Corporation and Shohel Rana, Director, Nassa Group. l

World Cup football pushes up TV sales

n Tribune Report

Mainul Islam, a university student in Dhaka, was looking to buy a television set. He lives in a house with three other fellow students. As there is no TV set in their room, they are desperate to get one within their a� ordability before the FIFA World Cup begins on June 12.

“We have arranged Tk12,000 for a television. If you watch (matches) to-gether, there will be more fun,” he said while choosing TV sets at Bangaband-

hu National Stadium Market yesterday.As the biggest football event ap-

proaches, television sales have in-creased substantially, according to the vendors who are trying to cope with the rise in demand.

The LCD and LED TV sets have wit-nessed a particularly increasing de-mand, the market insiders said.

Visits to various TV showrooms in the city found that people of di� erent in-come brackets thronged to purchase TV sets ahead of the World Cup which has

already started dominating daily gossips.To attract the customers, the ven-

dors have o� ered di� erent price dis-counts, ra� e draw and lucky coupons.

There was a particular demand for comparatively cheaper local brands like Walton and Marcel among the cus-tomers who are mostly young.

“New designs (of TV) have been launched keeping prices within a� ord-ability of our consumers,” said Market-ing Director of RB Group of Companies Emdadul Haque Sarker. RB Group is the

producer of Walton brand products.“We have seen 41% hike in May sales

of TV sets from the previous month. Our usual stock of TV sets is 40,000-50,000, but due to World Cup it has been increased to 1.5 lakh,” he said.

The demands of the imported TV sets have also marked big rise before the World Cup. Importers said the sales are much higher than expectation.

Foreign brands suppliers are also making lucrative o� ers to bring the customers to their stores, which in-clude, among others, free travel to one of 32 participating countries after the end of the World Cup.

There will also be a regular discount of Tk1,000 in every product and “the customers” will even enjoy 100% dis-count rubbing scratch cards, said Sabb-yasachi Haque, sales executive of Elec-tra International which is the supplier of Samsung TV in Bangladesh.

Sony Bravia and Rangs televisions are o� ering � ve blue-ray home theater to � ve “lucky customers” through par-ticipation in ra� e draw.

“World Cup have really boosted our sales,” claimed Md Mohiuddin, an o� -cial from of Rangs Electronics. Rangs supplies both of the products to the Ban-gladeshi customers. The prices of CRT television now ranges between Tk5,000 to Tk11,000 while it is over Tk10,000 for both the LCD and LED television sets.

The whole Banganadhu Stadium market was seen buzzing with TV customers selecting “best o� ers” and “best TV sets” for them.

All were in festive mood and would start counting down to football extrav-aganza just after grabbing a TV which is much-coveted at least for the time being. l

Bourses: Capital gain tax may cause setback n Tribune Report

The country’s twine bourses have de-manded reconsidering the proposal of � xing tax on capital gains through sell-ing shares as they considered it to be a setback for the capital markets, and would not be functional under the ex-isting system.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith pro-posed to slap taxes from the gains to be realised by individual investors by sell-ing shares in the capital market.

The proposal said a person will have to pay tax at the rate of 3% of the re-alised gains if his or her gains exceed Tk10 lakh, but do not exceed Tk20 lakh. So far, the gains by general in-vestors remained tax-free.

“It is not operationally possible to implement,” said Swapan Kumar Bala, managing director of Dhaka Stock Ex-change while giving reaction to the pro-posed budget at the DSE yesterday. He demanded continuing with the existing tax exemption in the coming � scal year.

He said it is very di� cult to collect capital gain tax due to multiple BO (bene� ciary owner’s) account in dif-ferent brokerage houses, linked BO accounts and adjustment between the capital gains and losses.

“If an investor sells shares through linked BO account, the selling broker-age house cannot calculate pro� t or loss as the broker will not have the in-formation of buying cost of shares,” he explained.

Besides, he said, the existing trad-ing system does not allow the calcu-lation on adjustment between the capital gain and loss. “The adjustment

between capital gain and loss is neces-sary as par income tax rules.”

In case of multiple BO accounts, Bala questioned how the calculation will be done and who will do this. “With all these perspectives, we think the tax provision cannot be imple-mented right now.”

The DSE, however, appreciated the proposal of o� ering tax exemption fa-cilities for � ve years in graduation rate for demutualised stock exchanges and extending the limit of tax-exempted divi-dend income from Tk10,000 to Tk15,000.

It also thanked the government for the plan in setting up of a Financial Re-porting Council and a Clearing Company.

“Financial Reporting Act will help ensure institutional good governance

while the clearing company would ease the process of introducing derivatives market and establish settlement fund to attract foreign investors,” said Bala.

On reduction of corporate tax for non-listed � rms, he said it cannot be a motivation for listing. “Still the com-panies will get tax bene� ts if listed on the exchanges,” he added.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Chair-man Abdul Mazid in a separate press conference earlier said capital gain tax might push the market to an uncom-fortable position. He said some of the proposed measures are positive and some others negative for the stock market. “But we expect the govern-ment will not take any measures that will a� ect the stock market.” l

IBA team to contest Global Business Challengesn Tribune Report

Team ‘Potter’ from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of Dha-ka University has been selected for competing the Global Busi-ness Challenges, wining the � nal round of the “Chartered Institute of Management Ac-countants (CIMA) 2014.

The 2014 CIMA GBC is an international business man-agement competition de-signed to showcase the very best in the next generation of business leaders. To reach the � nal, students analysed a real life CIMA business sce-nario and presented innova-tive solutions.

The winning team will now repre-sent Bangladesh at the global � nal at Mumbai in India to be held in between August 4 and 7, this year.

B3 COLUMN 1

BEA: 7.3% growth target attainablen Tribune Report

The 7.3% growth target set in the pro-posed budget for the � scal year 2014-15 is attainable only if stable political environment is ensured with increased competency in wealth management, says an analysis carried out by the Ban-gladesh Economic Association (BEA).

BEA analysis also found that the challenges to implement the proposed budget are not so di� cult to face, bringing down the projected in� ation at 7%, as yield of rice has been good this year while food price in the world market is also in a declining trend.

BEA General Secretary Dr Tow� que Ahmed Chowdhury presented the analysis yesterday at a press confer-ence on the proposed budget held at the BEA auditorium in the city. BEA President Dr Abul Barkat and other committee members also attended the press conference.

Terming the political uncertainty as the main obstacle to achieve the growth target Abul Barkat hoped that it would be possible to reach the growth target as the � nance minister in his budget speech had repeatedly assured us of ensuring sustainable political sit-uation for attaining economic growth.

“Providing infrastructural facilities and bring down the cost of doing busi-ness is one of the way to easily enhance the private sector investment but the budget did not de� ne any certain strat-egy in this regard,’’ he, however, said.

Both the government and the Ban-gladesh Bank have to take e� ective measures of uninterrupted individual � nancing.

Recent forgeries occurred in the banking sector made the bankers re-luctant to disburse loans, on the other hand businessmen are also unwilling to take loan due to higher interest rate. The government and Bangladesh Bank should jointly sit to resolve this crisis, Barakat added. l

‘Our aim is to bring foreign experts here and to enrich our industry by exchanging our experiences among ourselves’

Banks ‘highly exposed’ to public borrowingn Asif Showkat Kallol

The asset structure of Bangladesh’s commercial banks is highly exposed to the government making the possibility of dearth of the private credit, said an International Monetary Fund report.

“The share of banks’ net credit to the central government in total bank assets, while similar to the average for the South Asian region, is much higher (about three times) than the average for low-income countries, and also considerably higher than the ratios prevailing in the emerging and advanced economies,” IMF’s recent re-port said.

This leads to a concentration risk, too high a share of assets exposed to a single borrower, said the report ti-

tled “Fourth review under the three-year arrangement under the extended credit facility.” The was dispatched to Finance Minister AMA Muhith for ex-amining the matter.

IMF found increases in banks’ ex-posure to the government have histor-ically been associated with declines in private sector credit growth- a possible indication of � nancial crowding out in an environment where banks are “often forced to purchase government securities.”

The recently data shows that banks’ exposure to the sovereign has been ex-panding rapidly since 2013, reversing a trend decline that started in 2007.

“Keeping the � scal de� cit in check is therefore crucial to allow for an B3 COLUMN 1

DCCI hails budget incentives to SMEsn Tribune Report

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry (DCCI) said the proposed bud-get would help increase GDP growth as it has o� ered more incentives for the expansion of small and medium enter-prises and accelerate industrialisation.

The DCCI in a statement yesterday also hailed the budget for extending the tax holiday facility for the un-der-developed areas from 7 years to 10 years.

Income tax rate for the non-publicly traded companies has been reduced to 35% from 37.5%, which DCCI sees is a positive e� ort and it urged reducing all other corporate taxes, said the chamber.

DCCI also welcomed government’s commitment of developing infrastruc-ture like construction of Padma Bridge, setting up of a tunnel under Karnafuli

River in Chittagong, elevating import-ant highways into four-lanes, estab-lishment of deep sea port and LNG ter-minal.

DCCI viewed that the commitments would encourage the private sector.

It recommended the government to widen the tax net to increase revenue collection up to 17% of GDP by the next � ve years.

Budget to help improve export competitiveness: BEAExporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) has appreciated the proposed budget for the next � scal year which they think is investment-friendly and would help improve the competitive-ness of export-oriented industry, espe-cially the country’s apparel industry.

Steps taken in the proposed budget to boost the country’s economy as well as

export business, trade and commerce, EAB said in a separate statement.

In his budget speech, Muhith pro-posed duty-free import of prefabricat-ed building materials to facilitate facto-ry relocation and � re-safety equipment for the RMG sector as well as to improve � re safety standards. It also hailed the government for reducing source tax on export of apparel items to 0.30%.

They, however, demanded � xing the source tax at the same rate for all other export sectors, introducing uniform dollar exchange rate for exporters, es-tablishment of deep sea port and an allocation of Tk500 crore for enhance-ment of workers’ productivity.

The EAB urged the government to give importance on the implementa-tion of infrastructure projects to expe-dite exports else it would cast negative impact on the export sector. l

A buyer looks at television sets at a city show room recently. The demand of product has risen ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2014

B2 Stock Sunday, June 8, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Weekly news from trade serverAGM/DividendWATACHEM: The Board of Directors has recommended 30% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 27.06.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Factory Premises at Murapara, Rupgonj, Narayangonj. Record Date: 11.06.2014. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 29.78 million, EPS of Tk. 6.13, NAV per share of Tk. 119.82 and NOCFPS of Tk. 10.99 for the year ended on December 31, 2013 as against Tk. 20.00 million, Tk. 4.12 (restated), Tk. 110.86 (restated) and Tk. 0.63 (restated) respectively for the year ended on December 31, 2012.

Audited/unaudited Financial Reports:SINOBANGLA: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 30.04.14 (Nov'13 to Apr'14), the Company has reported pro� t after tax of Tk. 10.32 million with EPS of Tk. 0.52 as against Tk. 2.82 million and Tk. 0.14 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas pro� t/(loss) after tax was Tk. 6.28 million with EPS of Tk. 0.31 for the period of 3 months (Feb'14 to Apr'14) ended on 30.04.14 as against Tk. (1.02) million and Tk. (0.05) respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Fixed Assets/Right/Investment:PHARMAID: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Compa-ny has decided to import following assets immediately: (1) Spare Parts for Ampoule Manufacturing Machine @ Tk. 20.00 Lacs

(approx.) and (2) PSA Oxygen Generator (Oxygen Gas Producer) with standard accessories @ Tk. 55.00 Lacs (approx.).AL-HAJTEX: With reference to their earlier price sensitive news which was dis-seminated in DSE website on 30.01.2014, the company has further informed that, as per item number 1 of the said news, a writ petition (no. 5129) was conducted in the year 2009 where a verdict was made on 20.01.2014. According to that verdict, Agrani Bank limited has deposited Tk. 8,11,25,002 (including both principal and interest) in the current account of the company of Ishwardi Branch out of the company's total claim of Tk. 52,56,09,375.

Credit Rating:ISLAMIBANK: Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL) has rated the Company as "AA+" in the long term and "ST-1" in the short term in consideration of � nancials of the Company up to December 31, 2013 (audited) and other relevant quan-titative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.BRACBANK: Credit Rating Agency of Ban-gladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the surveillance rating of the Company as "AA3" in the long term and "ST-2" in the short term based on audited � nancial statements of the Company up to 31 De-cember 2013 and other relevant quantita-tive as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.SONARBAINS: Alpha Credit Rating Limited (AlphaRating) has rated the Company as

"A" in the long term and "AR-2" in the short term along with a stable outlook based on audited � nancial information of the Compa-ny up to 31st December 2013 and relevant qualitative information up to 31 May 2014.PHENIXINS: Credit Rating Informa-tion and Services Limited (CRISL) has announced the CPA (Claim Paying Ability) Rating of the Company as "AA-" in consid-eration of � nancials of the Company up to December 31, 2013 (audited) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualita-tive information up to the date of rating declaration.AFCAGRO: National Credit Ratings Limited (NCR) has announced the rating of the Company as "A" in the long term and "ST-2" in the short term based on audited � nancial statements of the Company up to December 31, 2013.BRACSCBOND: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has an-nounced the surveillance rating of Subordi-nated Convertible Bond of BRAC Bank Ltd. as "A1" in the long term based on audited � nancial statement of the Company up to 31 December 2013 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative informa-tion up to the date of rating declaration.SHAHJABANK: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has rated the Company as "AA3" in the long term and "ST-2" in the short term based on audited � nancial statements of the Company up to 31 December 2013 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative informa-tion up to the date of rating declaration.

Modest sello� s ahead of budget hit stocks market n Tribune Report

Stock market saw modest sello� s in the past week, as cautious investors preferred staying on the sidelines on the eve of new budget.

Thursday afternoon, the last day of the trading, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposed the budget for the next � scal year beginning next month.

After modest rally in the previ-ous week, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) benchmark index, DSEX, settled at 4,396, shedding 34 points or 0.8%.

The comprising blue chips DS30 index, however, gained nearly 13 points or 0.9% to close at 1,623.

The DSE Shariah Index, DSES, rose 15 points or 2% to 1,008.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, lost 135 points or 1.6% to close the week at 8,334.

Trading activities, however, im-proved a bit but still remained poor. The average daily turnover for the week stood at Tk406 crore, register-ing an increase of over 55% over the previous week.

“Mixed budget expectation and growing worries over government’s strong position on bringing down the banks’ capital market exposure pulled the index down for four con-secutive sessions,” said Lanka Bangla Securities in its weekly market anal-ysis.

Market lost the momentum of the previous week, but average daily turnover was over 55% up from pre-vious week, showing higher partici-pation from investors, it said.

Cement and some engineering stocks moved up with expectation of allocation of fund for Padma Bridge in the budget.

IDLC Investments said market was slow after recent early-year ral-ly, particularly at higher valuation multiples as budgetary expectations were only enough to create little buzz across the bourse. Large cap stocks dominated the turnover list. Besides, directional movement was absent during the week.

“As the week ended, investors were in sello� mode to be in safe ter-ritory,” said IDLC.

As the deposit rates of the banks and NBFIs were coming down, it has much expected that the investable fund may � ow to capital market in-vestment on a risk-adjusted basis, it said.

Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 303 issues traded during the week, 229 declined, 66 advanced and eight remained un-changed.

The major sectors saw mixed per-formance in the week.

Cement, telecommunication and engineering performed better with a rise of over 8%, 7% and 5% respec-tively. Pharmaceuticals advanced marginally.

NBFIs, food and allied su� ered heavily with losing almost 5% each. Banks and fuel and power also ended in red losing more than 4% and 1%.

Grameenphone dominated the week’s top turnover chart with shares worth Tk18 crore changing hands ahead of its interim dividend declaration. l

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A -18.92 -18.92 6.00 6.00 7.30 6.00 2.310 1.49 4.0Union Capital -A -15.57 -12.16 20.58 20.60 23.20 19.90 1.035 2.08 9.9ICB AMCL IslamicMF-A -13.81 -13.81 18.10 18.10 19.80 18.10 0.038 2.33 7.8BD Building Systems -A -12.15 -11.70 53.79 53.50 61.00 53.20 10.204 3.01 17.9Provati Insur.-A -11.36 -11.36 19.50 19.50 22.00 19.50 0.046 2.24 8.7Rupali Life Insur.-A -11.18 -10.92 70.91 70.70 83.00 70.00 2.632 5.33 13.3Grameen M F One-A -10.56 -10.37 39.66 39.80 45.90 39.00 2.250 3.40 11.7MBL 1st M. F.-A -10.00 -10.00 5.40 5.40 6.00 5.40 0.791 1.44 3.8Northern G Insur-A -8.50 -11.00 35.60 36.60 38.10 36.50 0.138 6.40 5.6Rupali InsurA -8.47 -8.87 22.70 22.70 25.50 22.50 0.396 2.40 9.5

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Union Capital -A -16.18 -14.99 20.48 20.20 24.30 20.10 11.587 2.08 9.8AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A -15.49 -17.08 6.07 6.00 7.40 6.00 11.880 1.49 4.1MBL 1st M. F.-A -11.67 -11.75 5.33 5.30 6.00 5.30 26.877 1.44 3.7BD Building Systems -A -11.53 -11.21 54.09 53.70 61.70 49.00 94.190 3.01 18.0Provati Insur.-A -11.16 -10.78 20.02 19.90 22.50 19.40 7.233 2.24 8.9Global Insurance -A -10.74 -11.01 21.59 21.60 26.60 20.00 6.151 2.96 7.3EBL NRB M.F.-A -10.00 -10.00 6.30 6.30 6.30 6.30 0.006 0.47 13.4Rahima Food -Z -9.83 -9.53 52.77 52.30 59.90 52.00 9.047 -1.01 -veICB AMCL IslamicMF-A -9.55 -9.35 18.03 18.00 20.50 17.90 2.306 2.33 7.7Beximco Syn.-Z -9.38 -8.71 8.80 8.70 9.90 8.20 3.018 0.76 11.6

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Meghna Petroleum -A 2,125,004 594.94 23.07 272.10 -3.65 282.40 287.00 271.00 274.82Square Pharma -A 1,665,582 456.82 17.71 274.10 1.52 270.00 279.90 268.50 274.96HeidelbergCement -A 346,640 184.25 7.14 522.90 -0.19 523.90 540.00 519.10 529.59Bata Shoe Ltd. -A 152,844 155.85 6.04 980.50 -1.16 992.00 1050.00 980.00 980.50LafargeS Cement-Z 1,459,000 124.77 4.84 89.90 14.52 78.50 93.00 80.00 90.67Grameenphone-A 356,600 101.46 3.93 285.10 7.34 265.60 300.00 267.90 289.69BSRM Steels-A 836,329 69.26 2.69 89.20 20.22 74.20 90.00 75.00 88.08BD Submarine Cable-A 240,956 44.19 1.71 181.10 0.89 179.50 189.40 179.00 181.00Delta Life Insu. -A 201,850 40.43 1.57 197.40 6.30 185.70 214.00 188.00 200.50Generation Next-A 2,195,496 34.81 1.35 16.60 11.41 14.90 16.60 14.10 16.42

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Grameenphone-A 6,444,004 1838.50 9.06 285.90 7.36 266.30 297.40 260.00 291.01LafargeS Cement-Z 14,853,650 1271.62 6.27 90.10 14.78 78.50 93.20 79.80 91.09Meghna Petroleum -A 3,426,285 956.83 4.72 271.70 -3.93 282.80 287.30 259.00 273.73BSRM Steels-A 11,141,233 921.92 4.54 88.90 19.33 74.50 90.00 73.00 87.84HeidelbergCement -A 1,348,360 711.12 3.51 520.90 -0.36 522.80 539.00 508.00 528.90MJL BD Ltd.-A 7,385,373 619.47 3.05 91.30 18.73 76.90 92.40 70.00 88.83Square Pharma -A 2,076,368 571.07 2.81 274.80 1.78 270.00 280.00 246.40 275.35Mercantile Bank -A 26,016,766 485.32 2.39 16.60 -7.78 18.00 19.10 15.80 16.93Delta Life Insu. -A 2,127,150 426.83 2.10 198.50 6.84 185.80 215.00 187.00 200.46ACI Limited- A 1,517,826 389.17 1.92 254.30 5.83 240.30 275.00 229.60 258.82

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Wata Chemicals -A 245.15 245.15 462.50 462.50 500.00 350.00 1.433 9.80 47.2BSRM Steels-A 20.22 17.03 88.08 89.20 90.00 75.00 69.264 4.72 18.7MJL BD Ltd.-A 19.11 14.58 88.25 91.00 92.70 76.00 25.068 4.72 18.7LafargeS Cement-Z 14.52 17.33 90.67 89.90 93.00 80.00 124.769 2.16 42.0Sinobangla Indu.-A 14.41 13.71 26.04 26.20 26.50 23.10 9.068 1.04 25.0Generation Next-A 11.41 10.05 16.42 16.60 16.60 14.10 34.812 2.28 7.2Pragati Gen. I -A 10.76 11.33 45.30 45.30 45.30 43.10 0.009 2.52 18.0Rangpur Foundry -A 9.52 9.52 107.00 107.00 109.00 100.00 1.325 3.08 34.7GreenDeltaInsu -A 9.11 9.19 91.00 91.00 92.00 77.00 0.879 3.00 30.3Eastern Cables-A 7.55 9.50 140.83 138.20 146.90 129.00 7.557 2.03 69.4

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Wata Chemicals -A 529.60 540.70 383.14 376.50 524.60 160.00 240.899 9.80 39.1Al-Haj Textile -A 23.16 24.94 157.89 155.30 167.10 115.00 226.200 2.00 78.9BSRM Steels-A 19.33 16.89 87.84 88.90 90.00 73.00 921.918 4.72 18.6Stylecraft -A 18.76 18.76 1,195.00 1,195.00 1,238.20 1,060.00 3.425 47.83 25.0MJL BD Ltd.-A 18.73 15.88 88.83 91.30 92.40 70.00 619.467 4.72 18.8Rahim Textile -A 18.02 16.82 366.71 369.30 381.00 305.00 45.405 11.16 32.9LafargeS Cement-Z 14.78 18.24 91.09 90.10 93.20 79.80 1271.616 2.16 42.2Sinobangla Indu.-A 13.36 12.42 26.16 26.30 26.70 23.80 64.387 1.04 25.2Generation Next-A 12.84 10.42 16.42 16.70 16.70 13.00 236.776 2.28 7.2GreenDeltaInsu -A 12.01 10.82 93.13 94.20 95.50 80.00 34.610 3.00 31.0

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 1769.62 8.72 120.24 4.36 1889.86 8.20NBFI 403.20 1.99 35.80 1.30 438.99 1.90Investment 325.27 1.60 18.82 0.68 344.10 1.49Engineering 2544.86 12.54 196.04 7.11 2740.90 11.89Food & Allied 980.53 4.83 49.18 1.78 1029.71 4.47Fuel & Power 2480.55 12.23 696.21 25.26 3176.76 13.79Jute 19.98 0.10 0.00 0.00 19.98 0.09Textile 2119.27 10.45 180.45 6.55 2299.72 9.98Pharma & Chemical 3031.98 14.94 542.46 19.68 3574.44 15.51Paper & Packaging 1.92 0.01 50.66 1.84 52.58 0.23Service 324.63 1.60 12.32 0.45 336.94 1.46Leather 230.32 1.14 222.35 8.07 452.67 1.96Ceramic 47.54 0.23 4.49 0.16 52.03 0.23Cement 2302.14 11.35 332.19 12.05 2634.33 11.43Information Technology 88.79 0.44 8.06 0.29 96.85 0.42General Insurance 245.32 1.21 5.62 0.20 250.93 1.09Life Insurance 640.31 3.16 47.71 1.73 688.02 2.99Telecom 2129.74 10.50 145.65 5.28 2275.39 9.87Travel & Leisure 234.78 1.16 40.67 1.48 275.45 1.20Miscellaneous 365.05 1.80 46.78 1.70 411.84 1.79Debenture 2.71 0.01 0.20 0.01 2.91 0.01

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4396.54263 (-) 0.77% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1622.94733 (+) 0.85% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 13537.3875 (-) 0.96% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 10962.8744 (-) 2.17% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8334.0787 (-) 1.59% ▼

DSE key features June 1-5, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

20,288.51

Turnover (Volume)

386,812,861

Number of Contract 425,543

Traded Issues 303

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

74

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

227

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,276.87

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.60

CSE key features June 1-5, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 2,604.59

Turnover (Volume) 37,554,320

Number of Contract 48,829

Traded Issues 249

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

63

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

183

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,179.81

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.42

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

ANALYSTAs the week ended, investors were in sello� mode to be in safe territory

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

China to boost bank lending powerIMF and World Bank, however, say the economy is doing � ne, so it's not necessaryn Reuters, Beijing

China aims to cut the proportion of cash that commercial banks must keep with the People's Bank of China, the banking regulator said on Friday, sig-nalling further monetary loosening al-though the IMF and World Bank say the economy is doing � ne.

The China Banking Regulator Com-mission (CBRC) did not say when re-ductions in banks' reserve requirement ratios would be made, but it is the third time in as many months that Beijing has signalled a cut in RRRs, which would free up more cash for lending needed to shore up growth.

The CBRC did, however, qualify its comments, saying RRR reductions would be available to those banks whose lending to small � rms and the farm sec-tor warranted the reward. It did not elab-orate. The central bank also signalled on Friday that it would keep credit supply ample by letting China's main money market rate fall again this week.

Aside from prospects for reductions in banks' RRR, two bankers told Re-uters on Friday that the central bank has also lent $16bn to commercial banks so that they can issue the money to farming projects.

Both the IMF and World Bank gave China a thumbs-up in separate re-ports this week that said the world's second-biggest economy should hit the government's target of around 7.5% growth this year, and encouraged the more urgent pursuit of reforms.

Some economists say the IMF and the World Bank may have been undu-ly con� dent about China's near-term growth prospects.

"If the government wants to achieve its 7.5% growth target, I don't really agree with the IMF that it can just not do anything," said Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics in Sin-gapore.

"I think the downward pressure on the economy, especially from the prop-erty sector, is still quite signi� cant."

Bu� eted by unsteady global de-mand and slowing domestic invest-ment, growth in China's stuttering economy cooled to an 18-month low of 7.4% between January and March.

A cool-down in a buoyant property market, which contributes more than 15% of China's economic expansion, has fuelled fears that the Chinese econ-omy will face even stronger headwinds in coming months. That has fed inves-tor speculation that China will take � rmer action to boost activity, includ-ing lowering the RRR for all banks.

The economy faces relatively big downward pressures even as the growth rate, employment and in� ation stayed within reasonable ranges, state radio quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying.

Vigilant about shadow banksBanks's RRRs are neither uniform or transparent in China, and members of the ruling Communist Party's politburo have the � nal say on monetary policy, rather than the central bank or banking regulator.

In April, a week after an announce-ment by Li, the PBOC reduced the RRR by between 50 and 200 basis points for some banks.

It did not name the banks or detail what their RRRs were after the cut, but the central bank said only some rural banks bene� ted. Smaller banks tend to have lower RRRs than major banks.

The authorities � agged another cut a week ago, but it is unclear whether that has taken place, though the latest com-ments from the banking regulator have hardened expectations. The last time China reduced the RRR for all banks was in May 2012, when a cut of 50 basis points lowered the ratio to a maximum 20 per-cent for the country's biggest banks.

Authorities have chosen a more nu-anced approach this year, opting to selectively relax policy in areas that it believes require assistance, rather than let money seep into speculative or wasteful activities.

The CBRC also said on Friday that it will tighten supervision of the shadow banking sector to crack down on risky lending that occurs outside bank bal-ance sheets. The World Bank urged China to speed up � scal and � nancial sector reforms to deal with the root cause of its debt problems.

President Xi Jinping said on Friday careful planning of � scal reforms was needed, the o� cial Xinhua news agen-cy said. l

Reuters poll: Rupee rally mostly overn Reuters, Bangalore

The rupee will only make scant gains in the next 12 months as the economy remains weak, although optimism around a new government and a nar-rowing current account de� cit will underpin the currency, a Reuters poll found.

The rupee is among the best-per-forming emerging currencies this year, rising 4 four percent since January.

It hit a one-year high of 58.25 against the dollar on May 22 - a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's land-slide victory in general elections.

But analysts believe its rally is large-ly over.

The poll of over 30 currency strate-gists, conducted June 2-5, predicted one US dollar will fetch 59.25 rupees by the end of June, 59.20 in three months and 60.16 in a year. It was trading around 59.10 early on Friday.

Still, those are the strongest rupee forecasts in a long while. The consen-sus rose above 60 per dollar in the one- and three-month horizons for the � rst time since August and follows strong net in� ows into the � nancial markets.

Over 337bn rupees in foreign money poured into Indian stocks and bonds last month, up from almost nothing in April. The stock market is trading near a record high.

"Much of the rupee's gains in May (were) driven by post-election opti-mism via portfolio � ows into both eq-uities and Indian government bonds," wrote Derek Halpenny at BTMU, who is expecting the rupee to trade at 59 per dollar in a year.

"Modi has been sending all the right signals so far, with considerations to al-low at least 49% of foreign investments into all sectors."

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the � rst to win a majority in three de-cades, is expected to quickly pass key economic reforms and raise foreign investment caps in various sectors of the economy, including defence com-panies.

The � rst peek into the new govern-ment's policies will come around early July when Finance Minister Arun Jait-ley unveils his maiden budget.

Recent data showing a sharp nar-rowing in the current account de� cit to just 0.2% of gross domestic product should also prop up the rupee in the interim.

Still, weak growth will probably prevent the rupee from any signi� cant break higher. The economy grew just 4.6% in the Jan-March quarter.

The US Federal Reserve's current track to end its economic stimulus before year-end will also hold it back. And the Reserve Bank of India has been intervening in the market daily, buying dollars to prevent sharp rises in the cur-rency from strong foreign in� ows. l

Euro dips in Asia after ECB stepsn AFP, Tokyo

The euro dipped a touch in Asia on Fri-day after the European Central Bank (ECB) launched unprecedented easing measures to bolster fragile eurozone growth and prevent de� ation.

The single currency fetched $1.3657 in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from $1.3662 in New York but still up from $1.3600 in Tokyo earlier Thursday.

The euro weakened to 139.76 yen from 139.93 yen, but was also stronger

than 139.43 yen in Tokyo prior to the announcement. The dollar edged down to 102.33 yen from 102.41 yen.

The ECB said after a meeting Thurs-day it would cut its deposit rate to neg-ative territory.

This means banks will be charged for leaving funds at the ECB in the hope they might lend it on to businesses and consumers instead.

It also slashed its lending rate to a re-cord low of 0.15% from 0.25% and said hundreds of billions of euros would be

made available in cheap loans to banks as long as they lent more to the private sector.

Bank chief Mario Draghi said after the meeting that policymakers would also be open to possible asset pur-chases, or quantitative easing, similar to that undertaken in the United States and Japan.

"The ECB managed to surprise rela-tive to high expectations by deliver-ing a full package of easing measures," Credit Agricole said. l

Australia expects Putin at G20 summitn AFP, Sydney

Australian Prime Minister Tony Ab-bott has said he expects Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit this year in Brisbane despite the Russian leader be-ing banned from this week's Group of Seven meeting.

Russia was axed from the G7 meet-ing in Brussels over its annexation of Crimea, with Putin cold-shouldered by the United States and its allies since the March seizure of the peninsula.

Australia is the current holder of the rotating G20 presidency and hosts

the leaders' summit in Brisbane in No-vember.

Abbott said that while he shared serious concerns over Russia's role in Ukraine, there was no indication Putin would not be invited.

"The G20 is an economic meeting whereas the G7 or the G8 has tended to have a very strong security com-ponent," he told Australian media in France late Thursday, where he will at-tend the 70th D-Day commemorations, alongside Putin.

"Obviously there are very grave concerns about the behaviour of

Russia in Ukraine and I can under-stand why the G7 leaders were reluc-tant to sit down with President Putin at this time.

"But when it comes to the prosper-ity of the world, when it comes to the management of international � nances, when it comes to harmonisation of tax-ation rules, when it comes to trying to promote global growth, I think it is best if we can include Russia.

"At this point in time I'm expecting Russia to be well and truly part of the G20 in November," he added in a tran-script provided Friday. l

Banks ‘highly exposed’ to government B1 COLUMN 6increase in private sector credit and, with it, an increase in private invest-ment and growth,” the Fund report said.

The overall budget de� cit of next � scal year is Tk67,552 crore, which is 5% of GDP. Of the amount, Tk24,275 crore will be � nanced from external sources and Tk43,277 crore from 26 do-mestic sources.

Of the domestic � nancing, Tk31,221

crore will come from the banking system and Tk12,056 crore from savings certi� -cates and other non-banking sources.

As per the central bank data, the pri-vate investment went down to 21.3% this year from 21.7% a year ago.

Private sector credit growth slumped to 11.46% in April this year, signi� cantly lower than the target of 16.5% set in the ongoing monetary policy.

Currently, 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20-year

treasury bonds are available in the mar-ket with online trading platform.

The government borrows from this type of long-term tools to meet its budget de� cit. It also borrows by us-ing short-term bills to meet its urgent � nancing. However, many economists say the government now wants to borrow less from treasury bills on the ground of availability of liquidity in the public sector. l

IBA team to contest Global Business Challenges B1 COLUMN 5The winning team members are Mas-tura Tasnim, Ahmed Istehad Shoumik, Tanzir Islam and Rakib Ibnay Hossain.

The four teams the Hu� epu� s, LOL and Potter of Institute of Business Ad-ministration (IBA) and Runners-Up from Bangladesh University of Profes-sionals took part in the Bangladesh � -nal held at a city hotel yesterday.

A total of 178 teams had registered from 36 di� erent universities for the 2014 CIMA GBC in Bangladesh.

The jury board, which includes Rubaba Dowla Matin, Airtel Bangla-desh’s chief service o� cer, Zara Mah-bub, head of customer experience of BRAC Bank Limited, Kabir Yaqub, a di-

rector of Pubali Bank Limited and Syed Tanvir Husain, Grameenphone director for centre of expertise, declared the winner of the Bangladesh � nal.

After the great success of the last year’s competition, CIMA is very excited to hold the sixth GBC. This year India will host to the global � nal, which illus-

trates the competition’s growing inter-national appeal, said Andrew Hardling, Managing Director of CIMA.

He also said the competition repre-sents a real opportunity to showcase the business leaders of the future.

CIMA will send the wining ‘Team Potter’ to the global � nal, where they will compete with teams from 23 other countries.

The participating countries are Aus-tralia, Bangladesh, Mainland China, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Gulf Coast Countries, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Paki-stan, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thai-land, the UK, Vietnam and Zambia. l

'Much of the rupee's gains in May (were) driven by post-election optimism via portfolio � ows into both equities and Indian government bonds'

Modhumoti Bank Limited has observed World Environment Day along with its green banking campaign through planting a tree at the bank’s Gulshan branch premises. The chair on the EC of the bank’s board, Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh planted the tree

Airtel Bangladesh Limited has recently launched its 3G service in Barisal, which ensures its 3G coverage in all the divisional cities of the country. The telecom’s zonal business Manager FM Shahriar Omar Prince was present on the occasion among others

The photo shows a cheque is being handed over to AKM Abdul Malek Chowdhury, deputy managing director of risk management unit in Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd by Ahmed Saifuddin Chowdhury managing director of Bangladesh General Insurance Company Ltd against settlement of claim for Islami Pharmaceutical Industries

Mutual Trust Bank Ltd recently commemorated World Environment Day 2014 through planting trees at vast areas adjacent to Water Bus Terminal at Gabtoli in Dhaka on June 4 in addition to its distribution of saplings amongst customers at the bank’s di� erent branches on June 5

Coca-Cola Bangladesh has recently celebrated World Environment Day on June 5 through holding awareness-building programmes among school kids about conserving the environment for future. The company’s country manager Shadab Khan has talked about its commitments towards protecting the environment

Crude prices rise in Asia after ECB rate cutsn AFP, Singapore

Oil prices rose in Asian trade Friday after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced an unprecedented cut in interest rates in a bid to spur economic growth.

US benchmark, West Texas Interme-diate (WTI) for delivery in July gained three cents to $102.51 a barrel while Brent North Sea crude for July was up eight cents at $108.87 in afternoon trade.

"Crude prices look solid and likely to stay above their previous close as in-vestors digest the ECB announcement," Kelly Teoh, managing director at IR Re-sources in Bangkok told AFP.

"Europe's better-than-expected economic data and the interest rate cut means Brent will hold up," Teoh said.

The ECB on Thursday slashed its de-posit rate to -0.10%. This means banks will be charged for leaving funds at the ECB in the hope they might lend it on to businesses and consumers instead. l

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang claps as he attends the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2014 in Boao REUTERS

CIMA will send the wining ‘Team Potter’ to the global � nal, where they will compete with teams from 23 other countries

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, June 8, 2014

DILBERT

World Bank sees China growth on track, urges reformn Reuters, Beijing

China is likely to meet its economic growth target of 7.5% this year, the World Bank said on Friday, but must persevere with � scal and � nancial sec-tor reforms to deal with the root cause of its debt problems.

"The prospect of growth falling be-low the government target will likely trigger accommodative � scal and mon-etary policies," the Washington-based development bank said in its latest as-sessment of China's economy.

"These measures should help the authorities to reach the indicative growth target of around 7.5% in 2014, but will likely add to current imbalanc-es and vulnerabilities."

The government unveiled a series of targeted measures after the economy got o� to a weak start this year, with o� cial May manufacturing and service sector surveys already showing an im-provement.

The World Bank expected China's economy to grow 7.6% this year on policy support and a recovery of global demand, while it noted growth could slow to 7.5% in 2015.

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it expected China to grow by around 7.5% this year and then slow to around 7% next year.

The World Bank said China's growth momentum could accelerate in the second quarter of 2014, a more upbeat view than many private economists.

A Reuters poll, however, found ana-lysts expect annual GDP growth to slow to 7.3% in the second quarter, with full-year growth of 7.3% in 2014, the weak-est in 24 years and below the govern-ment target of 7.5%.

Reform-minded leaders have ruled

out any large stimulus campaign with the country still nursing the hangover from the 4tn yuan ($640bn) stimulus implemented during the global � nan-cial crisis in 2008-09, which piled up local debt. The new leadership has shown greater tolerance for slower growth as it attempts to steer the econ-omy towards domestic consumption and away from the traditional engines of exports and investment.

"A rebalancing of growth from in-vestment to consumption and from in-dustry to services continues, but there are challenges and rebalancing is slow," the World Bank said.

Still, the World Bank saw downside risks to its 2014 China growth projec-tion, as an abrupt deleveraging of local government debt and a sharp slow-down in the real estate sector could weigh on economic activity.

"We keep the baseline as it is, but we also stress that there are signi� cant downside risks to that projection," Kar-lis Smits, senior economist at the bank, told a brie� ng.

He said there are signs that the gov-ernment may set a lower growth target for next year to help reduce imbalances in the economy, but did not elaborate. The government aims for average annu-al economic growth of 7T under its 12th � ve-year plan that covers 2011-2015.

The World Bank urged China to speed up � scal and � nancial sector re-forms to deal with the root cause of its debt problems.

"Delays in implementing coherent reforms could perpetuate resource misallocation, undermine the health of the banking system, threaten the debt sustainability of local govern-ments, and increase the � scal costs of reforms," it said. l A man talks on his phone near a new residential compound in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, May REUTERS

A new i8 plug-in hybrid sports car developed by German car manufacturer BMW is parked at the BMW world delivery center in Munich, southern Germany. AFP

Google working on 3Dmotion-sensing tabletn AFP, San Francisco

Google on Thursday revealed that is working on a tablet computer with 3D and motion-sensing capabilities in an e� ort dubbed Project Tango.

"The goal of Project Tango is to give mobile devices a human-scale under-standing of space and motion," team member Johnny Lee said at a website devoted to the endeavor.

"Our team has been working with universities, research labs, and indus-trial partners spanning nine countries around the world to build on the last decade of research in robotics and com-puter vision, concentrating that tech-nology into a unique mobile device."

The curtain on the project was pulled back as Google put out word it

will soon put prototypes powered by Nvidia chips in the hands of developers interested in creating applications that take advantage of innovations built into devices. The development kits can be used to make "apps" that track full 3D motion and recognize surfaces of things nearby, according to Google.

The California-based technology ti-tan pulled back the curtain on Project Tango a day after online commerce co-lossus Amazon.com put out word of a June 18 mystery event at which founder Je� Bezos will launch something new.

Online speculation immediately centered on the potential for the Seat-tle-based � rm to unveil a Kindle smart-phone, perhaps with 3D graphics and motion-sensing capabilities. Amazon invited people to request invitations at

website amazon.com/launchevent and even teased the mysterious event in a video posted at YouTube.

The video, titled "Find out what these Amazon customers are talking about," featured people admiring something they were holding out of sight of the camera. Comments included "it moved with me" and "it's very real life and un-comparable to anything I've ever seen."

For months, analysts have speculat-ed about Amazon launching a smart-phone that would be a companion to its Kindle tablets, which help keep con-sumers in the Amazon ecosystem.

Amazon is known for selling its tab-lets at low pro� t margins to compete with Goole and Apple and to be able to sell digital content including e-books and � lms. l

IMF: Britain's economic recovery strong but open to shocksn AFP, London

Britain's economic recovery is robust and becoming more balanced, but ac-tion must be taken to deal with a hous-ing shortage that is causing prices to spiral, the International Monetary fund said Friday.

The IMF report into the country's eco-nomic health warned that the recovery could be derailed by external shocks, such as slowing growth in emerging markets, and advised that the Bank of England keep monetary policy loose for the immediate future.

"The economy has rebounded

strongly and growth is becoming more balanced," it said.

"Although household expenditures played the driving role in the early stages of the recovery, business invest-ment has picked up more recently."

Britain's economy grew by 0.8% in the � rst quarter of 2014 compared with output in the � nal three months of last year, recent data showed. On an annual comparison growth was 3.1%.

The IMF said the rebound was "ex-pected to persist" with real GDP growth remaining strong in 2014 before return-ing to trend rates, but that this outlook could be compromised unless produc-tivity improves.

Despite ever-increasing house pric-es, the group found "few of the typical signs of a credit-led bubble", instead blaming the conditions on a failure to build enough new homes.

External threats to the economy include shocks to growth in emerging markets and the euro area, increased geopolitical tensions and the tapering of unorthodox liquidity measures in the United States.

However, money supply in Britain should "stay accommodative-for now" but policy should be tightened quick-ly "if costs run ahead of productivity growth". l

IMF 'strongly' welcomes ECB interest rate cutsn AFP, Washington

The International Monetary Fund hailed the European Central Bank's un-precedented moves Thursday to pre-vent de� ation in the eurozone, includ-ing cutting key interest rates to new all-time lows.

"We strongly welcome the very pro-active stance taken by the ECB today," said IMF spokesman Gerry Rice.

"And we're encouraged that president (Mario) Draghi indicated that the ECB would be willing to do more if necessary."

After a monetary policy meeting Thursday, the ECB announced rate cuts, including a move that puts its de-posit rate in uncharted territory at neg-ative 0.10%, meaning banks will have to pay the ECB to hold their cash.

The cuts were accompanied by a package of new liquidity measures aimed at boosting bank lending, which has been declining for months.

Backing the decision for the bold moves, the ECB also said it was lower-ing its in� ation forecast for the 18-na-tion eurozone this year to just 0.7%, far

below its target. The IMF had been urg-ing the ECB for months to take action to head o� de� ation as the fragile re-covery in the eurozone spawned weak in� ationary pressures.

But ECB chief Draghi previously had brushed away IMF pressure.

"The IMF has been extremely gener-ous in its suggestions on what we should do or not do ... We are really thankful for that," Draghi said in early April.

"But the viewpoints of the(ECB) governing council are in a sense di� erent." l

German trade surplus widensin Apriln AFP, Frankfurt

Germany's trade surplus widened in April, as exports grew but imports stag-nated, o� cial data showed on Friday.

In seasonally adjusted terms, Ger-many exported goods worth 94.3bn euros ($129bn) in April, up from 91.6bn euros in March, the federal statistics of-� ce Destatis said in a statement.

Imports were unchanged at 76.6bn euros.

That meant the seasonally adjusted trade surplus - the balance between imports and exports - increased to 17.7bn euros in April from 15bn euros in March.

In unadjusted terms, however, the trade surplus narrowed, to 17.4bn eu-ros in April from 18bn euros in March, as exports decreased, Destatis said. l

'Twitter in talks to buy online music � rm SoundCloud'n Reuters

Microblogging platform Twitter Inc has been in talks with Berlin-based audio sharing website SoundCloud in its ef-forts to add a music service to its o� er-ing, the Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the matter.

Twitter has weighed up deals worth billions of dollars and has also consid-

ered buying music-streaming service Spotify and internet-radio provider Pandora Media Inc, the newspaper.

SoundCloud is a platform that enables people to upload, record, promote and share their music and other audio � les.

The company has aggressively ex-panded its capabilities to carry multi-media content. Last year, it acquired "We Are Hunted," a three-person music

streaming-startup from Australia.SoundCloud declined to comment on

the deal while Twitter did not immedi-ately respond to an email seeking com-ment outside regular U S business hours.

Twitter's renewed interest in mu-sic-streaming companies comes after Apple Inc acquired Beats, the head-phones and music-streaming � rm founded by Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre,

for $3bn.The Beats deal was seen as Apple's

e� ort to jumpstart an uneven attempt to make headway in music streaming, the fastest-growing segment of the market, as iTunes sales decline.

Pandora Media and Spotify have raced ahead while Apple's eight-month-old iTunes Radio has not made much of a dent. l

'Although household expenditures played the driving role in the early stages of the recovery, business investment has picked up more recently'