6 | HALF A MILLION FLEE UNREST IN MOSUL

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

5.2%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

6.1%

6.7%6.2%

Govt estimates

7.3% 6.0%5.4%

5.9%

6.2%

Source: World Bank GEP report

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Locals quiz RAB men for suspicious movement n Abid Azad

It was around 3am yesterday. Some vil-lagers of Dakkhin Saljana under Shiba-loy police station in Manikganj heard loud noise from a road. Coming out of houses, they found some � ve unknown persons with torches trying to rescue their microbus trapped in the muddy road.

Later, the locals came together to the spot suspecting them to be robbers, and after enquiry, found them includ-ing the driver to be members of the Rapid Action Battalion. However, none of them had uniform.

Eyewitness Habibur Rahman, 30, said: “We did not see them before. Their disposition was suspicious since they were trying to rescue the vehicle with the help of a seesaw, which was PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Police threaten Ekram loyals n Mohammad Jamil

Khan with our Feni Correspondent

Police are allegedly threaten-ing supporters of slain Fulgazi upazila chairman with dire con-sequence if they go on with the agitation programmes demand-ing punishment to those in-volved in the murder of Ekram.

The demonstrations that have been taken place over the last consecutive 20 days pro-testing the murder seemed to

have died down with the threat of law enforcers.

Police o� cials of the district are allegedly carrying out raids

on the houses of Ekram sup-porters and threatening them to stop their ongoing programmes that include mass signature

campaign, hartal, formation of human chain and protest rally.

Along with police members of district Awami league and close associates of local ruling party lawmaker Nizam Uddin Hazari are also intimidating Ekram supporters to suppress the movement, said a supporter of Ekram.

As a part of the latest demon-stration programmes, mem-bers of Nagarik Committee and Ekram Mancho announced to

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Tra� ckers kill 6 illegal migrantsin Bay of BengalRescued 140 Malaysia-bound men say their boat was stranded for 10 daysn Kailash Sarkar, with our

Cox’s Bazar Correspondent

At least six people were killed and 140 others injured, of them 27 hit by bul-lets, when armed tra� ckers � red on a trawler carrying illegal Malaysia-bound passengers in the Bay of Bengal near the St Martin’s Island yesterday.

The passengers caught four tra� ck-ers, including Myanmar and Thailand nationals, while the rest managed to � ee on boats, said Commander AKM Maruf Hassan, intelligence o� cer of the Bangladesh Coast Guard.

Members of the Coast Guard re-covered � ve dead bodies while they suspect the body of another illegal mi-grants was washed away after he had received bullets and fallen into the sea.

Four of the � ve dead bodies were identi� ed as Selim, 19, Saiful, 40, Rubel, 35, and Monir, 30.

A total of 318 Bangladeshis, two Thai nationals and one from Myanmar were in the Malaysia-bound trawler, coast guard sources said. Of the Bangladeshi passengers, most were inhabitants of Sonapur and Teknaf.

Quoting some rescued passengers, Maruf said the tra� ckers had begun � r-ing on the passengers during a clash be-tween the two groups around 12 noon.

“The clash erupted when the pas-sengers asked the tra� ckers to return to the St Martin’s Island as the trawler had remained stranded in the Bay for some 10 days,” he told the Dhaka Trib-une. Sources said the trawler’s engine had stopped working on its way to Ma-laysia, while the victims faced severe food shortage during the ordeal.

However, another source said the trawler had remained stranded having been intercepted by the Myanmar Bor-der Guard Police near Cheetah Hill.

Maruf also said no government o� -cials or forces of Myanmar was involved in the killing, adding that the tra� ckers were equipped with � rearms.

When contacted, Coast Guard Teknaf Station Commander Kazi Ha-runur Rashid said: “Five bodies were recovered from the trawler and around 40 were rescued of whom 27 were hit by bullets. The others are also being rescued.”

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

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7 | BUREAUCRACY A MAJOR BOTTLENECK

District AL and local MP supportersjoin hands

The trawler that carried Malaysia-bound passengers, six of whom were killed with many others injured by human tra� cking brokers,return to St Martin’s Island yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 2014

All-out campaign against illegal migration n Rabiul Islam

The government is going to launch a mass awareness programme against ille-gal migration across the country to put a check on it, particularly on the sea route.

“We will issue a circular on illegal immigration tomorrow [today] and it will be sent to all the union parishads to create awareness among the people about the risk of it, especially on the sea route,” said Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain at the Secretariat yesterday while exchang-ing views with a delegation of the newly-formed platform “Reporters for Bangladeshi Migrants.”

The minister made the remarks when the journalists drew his atten-tion to the incident in which six people were reportedly killed and 124 others injured in a clash between some 300 illegal Malaysia goers and  the human tra� ckers on-board a trawler near St.

Martin’s, Cox’s Bazar yesterday. Illegal migration to Malaysia has been

sporadically prevalent on the sea route due to slow legal processes, Khandker Mosharraf said, adding that those who are involved in human tra� cking get 10 years in jail as per the existing law.

Referring to a meeting between PM Sheikh Hasina and her Malaysian coun-terpart in Dhaka a couple of months back, the minister said a vested quar-ter of both countries has spent huge amounts of money so that the govern-ment to government system in migra-tion is doomed to fail.

“But both countries are determined to follow the G to G system and the labour � ow to the country (Malaysia) will increase soon,” the minister said, adding that a team was also scheduled to visit Malaysia on June 24 to take initiatives to increase the � ow of labour. Under the system, a migrant has to spend Tk24,000 to go to Malaysia whereas previously, it was Tk3-4 lakh. l

Freed Bangladeshi sailors to return todayn Rabiul Islam

Seven Bangladeshi sailors who were released by the Somali pirates last week are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka this morning.

They will arrive at 8:40am at Shah-jalal International Airport in the capi-tal, according to a press release issued by the Foreign Ministry.

The survivors were part of the crew of MV Albedo, a Malaysian � agged ves-sel that was hijacked by Somali pirates on November 26, 2010.

Following a lot of persuasion by the Bangladesh government, as well as relevant international organisations, the seven Bangladeshis were released alive on the evening of June 6 this year.

After being released, they were tak-

en to Nairobi where the Bangladesh High Commission arranged for their travel documents as well as accom-modation, medical check-ups and air tickets to Bangladesh.

United Nations O� ce on Drugs and Crime and the London-based Maritime Piracy and Humanitarian Response Programme actively worked with the government to recover the sailors. l

Formalin treated mango destroyed in Chittagongn CU Correspondent

A mobile court destroyed 186kg of for-malin treated mangoes in a drive at the wholesale market in Chittagong city’s station road area yesterday.

Hasibul Hasan, executive magistrate of the district administration, led yes-terday’s drive and destroyed the man-goes when they discovered the pres-ence of alarming levels of formalin.

KM Hanif, assistant director (AD) of Bangladesh Standard and Testing In-stitution (BSTI), said the mobile court also � ned the vendors responsible Tk20,000 under the Food Security Act.

“The drives will be continued,” he added.

BSTI and Chittagong district admin-istrations jointly conducted the drive with the assistance of law enforcement agencies. l

Robber killed in mass beatingn Our Correspondent, Savar

A robber died early yesterday due to a mass beating in Savar, Ashuliya.

Witnesses said locals caught a rob-ber when a group of robbers tried to � ee after an unsuccessful attempt to rob a businessman’s house in Sadarpur area. After nabbing him, the agitated locals gave him a mass beating, leaving him dead on the spot.

The businessman, Kanchan Ali, said a group of 10-12 robbers broke the main gate of his house early yesterday. At this, his family members started

screaming and he informed some lo-cals and neighbours about the incident.

When the locals gathered around the house, the robbers blasted two cocktail bombs and attempted to � ee. At one stage, the locals caught one of the gang members and beat him mer-cilessly, leaving him dead on the spot, Kanchan added.

O� cer-in-Charge of Ashuliya police station Sheikh Badrul Alam said the body was sent to Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital morgue for an autopsy. The identity of the deceased could not be known, the OC added. l

PADMA BRIDGE

Army selected for river bank protection work n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has decided to give the Bangladesh Army the task of pro-tecting a 1300-metre stretch of bank of the Padma River in Mawa-Kandirpa-ra-Jashaldhia areas.

The Water Resources Ministry had already sent a proposal for the protec-tion of the river bank to the cabinet division, a senior ministry o� cial said, adding that the proposal will be placed before the cabinet committee on eco-nomic a� airs for approval on Sunday.

The o� cial said the proposal should be submitted to the economic a� airs committee as the ministry had selected the Bangladesh Army for the river pro-tection work of the Padma River. The river bank protection project involves Tk152.11 crore.

Continued erosion by the mighty river near Mawa old ferry terminal is now posing threat to the Padma Bridge site and also the Mawa-Kewrakandi new ferry terminal.

According to the ministry proposal, if the river erosion goes on, the design of the bridge would have to be partially altered.

This will mean changing the loca-tion of several pillars. All these will increase the bridge’s construction cost and in case, the erosion continues this year, the bridge authorities would have no other options but to bring some changes in the bridge’s design, accord-ing to the proposal.

The much-talked-about Padma Bridge will connect the southwestern region of the country with the capital. Construc-tion of the 6.15km long bridge involving about $2.3 billion may start this year. The government will fund the mega project.

The project was to be originally funded by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Jica and the Islam-ic Development Bank. But the donors backtracked on funding the project on the grounds that corruption had taken place in selecting the project’s super-vising consultant. l

Judge embarrassed to hear Ershad’s radar case n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka special judge felt embarrassed yesterday to hear the arguments in the radar purchase corruption case against Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad and four others. The day was set for the recording of clos-ing arguments at the court of Dhaka’s Di-visional Special Judge Md Abdur Rashid.

But when the trial proceedings start-ed around 2:35pm, the judge felt em-barrassed and declined to hear the ar-gument, public prosecutor Md Shahin

Ahamed Khan told the Dhaka Tribune. The judge said: “I feel embarrassed;

I did not hear the arguments in the case [earlier]. The case will be sent back to the Dhaka’s District and Sessions Judge’s Court.”

Defence lawyer Sheikh Sirajul Islam said: “I do not know why the judge re-fused to hear the arguments.”

The closing arguments began on May 29 after the recording of the wit-ness’ depositions.

Ershad, also the special envoy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, did not

appear before the court. His counsel was present on his behalf.

Two other accused – former air force chiefs Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Sultan Mahmud and Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed – were present.

Assistant Superintendent of the then Anti-Corruption Bureau Md Ali Haider � led the case with Cantonment police station against � ve accused on April 4, 1992. The case says Ershad, in collusion with the four other accused, purchased radars for the air force and caused the state a loss of Tk64 crore. l

Food minister: Dialogue not necessaryn Our Correspondent, Savar

It is not necessary to hold a dialogue with any political party and the mass people are living happy lives, said Food Minister Quamrul Islam yesterday, while inaugurating a two-day long dig-ital fair at Savar in the outskirts of the capital as the chief guest.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rah-man dreamt of a “digital Bangladesh” and the Awami League government, led by Bangabandhu’s daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been work-ing relentlessly to ful� l that dream.

A total of 30 stalls have been taking part in the fair with the aim to inform peopole about di� erent innovative digital ideas.

The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Savar Upazila Nirba-hi O� cer Kamrul Hasan Molla, while Upazila Chairman Alhajj Ko� l Uddin and former female vice-chairman Rokeya Haque were present, among others. l

Dhaka South City Corporation authorities evict illegal establishments at the entrance of Suhrawardy Udyan on the Dhaka University campus yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

Locals quiz RAB men for suspicious movement PAGE 1 COLUMN 6brought from a nearby house without informing the dwellers. So, � rst we took them as robbers.

“One of them who claimed to be a Major-ranked o� cial told us that they were from RAB’s intelligence wing and going to Faridpur. But all of them were in plain clothes.”

After the arrival of police within around one hour upon information provided by the locals, some more RAB persons came to the spot – situated near Nayakandi Bazar. The � ve and nine RAB members who came later were taken to the police station around 6am.

OC of Shibaloy police Rakibuzzaman said: “Firstly, they were � ve in number. Later, nine more RAB members arrived at the scene. Of them, three were wear-ing RAB-inscribed jackets. We have 14 RAB members enlisted in our directory.”

However, the locals claim that four RAB men came to the spot on foot lat-er, not nine.

According to the Shibaloy police,

the � ve RAB members are Maj HM Selimuzzaman, Lt Sarfaraz, driver Lance Corporal Waaz Uddin, Lance Corporal Alamgir and soldier Sha� que.

The nine other members are Deputy Assistant Director Enamul, Sergeant A Alim, SI Hanif, ASI Yunus, Corporal Ka-birul, Corporal Ra� que, Soldier Ajibul, and soldiers Didar and Shahabur.

It was also found that neither the lo-cal people nor the police were aware of the reason behind the RAB members’ movement in that particular area and their destination.

The OC said: “The RAB informed us that they were patrolling in the area. We were not informed about any further details. Therefore, we do not know why they came and where they were going.”

The local people said it was the � rst time they had seen RAB members in the village. The elite force members claimed that they had been heading for Faridpur but used that road mistakenly.

There was another confusion re-garding the number of � rearms recov-

ered from the RAB men. According to the police, they re-

covered three pistols, 21 round bullets and a black microbus having a number plate “Dhaka Metro Cha 53-4792.”

But the witnesses said except for the driver, there had been four pistols with the four RAB members.

Witness Habibur said while he was leaving the spot, the rear door of the NOAH microbus opened itself. “When I went close to the door, I saw a switched-on laptop and discovered my photo on its screen. As I moved aside, the photo was not there.

“I saw three loaded bags, a large brown-coloured envelope and the lap-top inside the microbus,” he said. There was no one else inside the vehicle.

He suggested that a video camera might be functioning either in the lap-top or anywhere inside the microbus.

“It made us very much concerned about them. The police came to the spot swiftly and left the place in a hurry along with the RAB men,” said Harun, anoth-

er witness who is the son of local Union Parishad member Neel Chan Dhali.

“The Major-ranked person did not look like an o� cer at all considering his disposition. He and the four other members were wearing T-shirts, pants and leather sandal,” he added.

Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Md Wahiduzzaman said: “The � rst � ve RAB members informed us that they were from the RAB head-quarters while the rest from RAB 4.”

They were brought to the police sta-tion around 6am, he said. “We handed all of them over to RAB 4 Commander Md Foyzul Islam Mandal around 8:30 am,” the o� cial added.

RAB’s Media Wing Director Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “Neither the RAB men were con� ned by the villag-ers nor detained by the Shibaloy po-lice. The RAB men took shelter at the Shibaloy police station as their micro-bus faced faulty on the way to Faridpur to conduct an operation.” l

Police threaten Ekram loyals PAGE 1 COLUMN 5hold a 48-hour general strike at Fulga-zi but no one was found active on the hartal day.

Nizam supporters along with the law enforcers went to one of the con-veners of Ekram Mancho and Jubo League leader of Fulgazi Golam Rab-bani’s house last Tuesday and threat-ened him. After that, he disappeared.

Police also raided the house of Jakir Hossain, a leader of Bazar Banik Sami-ty and general secretary of Fulgazi Sa-dar Union, last Tuesday and since then he has also gone into hiding.

The Dhaka Tribune correspondent tried several times to reach both Rab-bani and Jakir but their mobile phones were found switched o� .

However, Ahmed Nasir Uddin, o� cer-in-charge of Fulgazi police station, said police would never bar Ekram supporter from staging demon-strations, rather they would help them.

Meanwhile, Fulgazi Upazila Awa-

mi League President Jamal Uddin and acting secretary Nurul Islam in a joint statement on Tuesday late night said there was no existence of Ekram Mancho and Nagarik Committee in the upazila.

However, the agitation programmes and demonstration over the past 20 days were organised under the banners of Ekram Mancho and Nagarik Committee.

Rezaul Haque Jashim, elder brother of Ekram, said police along with sup-porters of district Awami League sup-pressed the movement.

He alleged that police were staging drama in the name of investigation, as there was no progress and the master-mind still not arrested.

When contacted, Abdur Rahman, president of Feni district Awami League, denied the allegation of threatening Ekram supporters. “I also want the killers be punished.”

After the death of Ekram on May 20, police so far arrested 25 people.

Of them, 13 have given confessional statements where the names of local ruling party lawmaker Nizam Hazari, and his associates Jahangir Adel and Jiaul Mister came up.

In the latest development, district police have taken local shooter Engineer Rasel on a � ve-day remand.

He was arrested by district DB po-lice on Tuesday night around 9:30pm from Academy Road area.

Paritosh Gosh, superintendent of police of Feni, told the Dhaka Tribune that the investigation was under pro-gress and the police were arresting the criminals.

No one involved in the murder would be spared, he said adding that there was no question of saving the criminals.

Asked about intimidating the peo-ple involved in demonstration he said there was no question of giving threat to anybody. This is nothing but a base-less claim, he said. l

Tra� ckers kill six PAGE 1 COLUMN 2Maruf said the Coast Guard members had arrived on the scene with addition-al boats and brought back the deceased and injured passengers, and also the detained tra� ckers, to the St Martin’s Island.

The trawler was carrying over 300 passengers, he said, adding: “Accord-ing to locals, some of the stranded passengers sought help from their rel-atives over phone.”

Maruf said the dead bodies, injured passengers and the detained tra� ckers were handed over to local police.

Tofayel Ahmed, additional superin-tendent of police in Cox’s Bazar, said they had received � ve bodies and 40 injured men around 6pm and the in-jured were admitted to the 10-bed hos-pital on the island.

According to Coast Guard o� cials, they had reached the trawler around 3pm and brought it back to the island around 6pm. l

Two women enjoy yesterday’s sudden rainfall which brought some relief to city residents. The photo was taken in the capital’s TSC intersection SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 2014

12 charged with human tra� ckingn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A case was � led yesterday against 12 people, including the OC of a police station, on the charge of human traf-� cking.

Miazi Selim Ahmed, director of Human Resources and Health Foun-dation, � led the case with the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal 5 in Dhaka.

Judge Tanjina Ismail of the tribunal recorded the plainti� ’s statement, but she did not pass any order that day.

The accused are Babul Miah, OC of Sabujbagh police staiton, OC (in-vestigation) Tajul Islam, Sub-Inspec-tor Mintu, Emon, Brishti, Rohom Ali, Swapon, Akash, Nazma, Nasima, Sur-ma, Banu alias Surma Banu, and Sumo-na Sardarni.

The complainant mentioned in his statement that the accused, in collu-sion with each other, were involved with tra� cking women and children and lured the victims to the capital from di� erent parts of the country. l

3rd and 4th class employees to get deputation allowancen Mohosinul Karim

The third and fourth class civil and military service employees serving on deputation in di� erent o� ces will be awarded deputation allowances.

A Public Administration Ministry cir-cular dated June 4 said the employees will get deputation allowances, which will be about 20% of their basic salaries.

The circular would not be applicable to RAB, SSF, and PGR members and the employees who received special deputa-tion allowances, risk allowances or spe-cial guard allowances. The allowance has been made e� ective from February 10. l

Court accepts charges against Destiny men n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday accepted charges against Destiny Group o� cials, including its Managing Director Ra� qul Amin, Destiny 2000 Ltd President Lt Gen (retd) M Harun-ur-Rashid and 49 others, in two money laundering cases involving around Tk 4,200 crore.

Judge of Dhaka Senior Special Judg-es Court Md Jahrul Haque issued arrest warrants against 46 fugitives out of the 51 accused. The court also directed o� -cers-in-charge of di� erent police stations concerned to submit reports by July 13.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Md Ba-diuzzaman submitted petitions before the court seeking bail for four of the accused, including Ra� qul Amin, but the court rejected it without holding a hearing on it.

Earlier on January 16, the Anti-Cor-ruption Commission (ACC) approved the charge sheets in the two cases against 51 o� cials of Destiny Group for swindling money.

On May 4, the anti-graft body sub-mitted charge sheets in two cases against a total of 51 top Destiny Group o� cials on charges of embezzling and siphoning o� Tk4,119 crore from the clients’ deposits. ACC Deputy Direc-tor Mozahar Ali Sarder and Assistant Director Taw� qul Islam submitted the charge sheets before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

According to the charge sheets, the accused misappropriated the money through Destiny’s tree plantation proj-ect and the cooperative � rm, and laun-dered it abroad. The o� cials embez-zled the money in the name of paying salaries, honorariums, commissions, incentives and promotional costs. They transferred the money to their bank ac-counts and to those of 20 companies under the group.

The names which appeared on the charge sheets include Ra� qul Amin, Harun ur Rashid, Mohammad Hos-sain, Gofranul Huq, Sayed-ur Rahman, Mejbah Uddin Swapan, Syed Sazzad Hossain, Irfan Ahmed Sunny, Farha Diba, Jamshed Ara Chowdhury, Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, Nepal Chandra Biswas, Zakir Hossain, Azad Rahman, Akbar Hossain Sumon, Shirin Akhter, Lt Col (retd) Didarul Alam, Ra� qul Is-lam Sarkar, Majibur Rahman, Sumon Ali Khan, Saidul Islam Khan Rubel, Abul Kalam Azad and 29 others.

On July 31, 2012, the ACC � led the cases under the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2004 and 2012 with Kalabagan police station against 22 of-� cials of Destiny Group, accusing them of embezzling around Tk3,285 crore.

Harun-ur-Rashid was freed on bail but Ra� qul Amin, Mohammad Hos-sain, Didarul Alam and Ziaul Haque Mollah are now behind bars.

The remaining 46 are on the run. l

Witness: Qaisar led atrocitiesin Madhabpur n Udisa Islam

A new witness against Syed Moham-mad Qaisar yesterday said the accused had asked the Pakistani occupation forces to kill his maternal uncle’s younger brother during the 1971 Liber-ation War.

Mohammad Omar Ali, 62, from Lo-haid of Madhabpur in Habiganj, testi-� ed at the International Crimes Tribu-nal 2 as the 21st prosecution witness.

“On May 14 or 15 of 1971, I was eating with my uncle Akram Ali Chowdhury’s younger brother Noor Ali Chowdhury at his home, when one of my friends Abdul Khaleque came and told us that

Qaisar, his men and the Pakistani Army forces had entered our village,” Omar said.

After some time, the accused en-tered the backyard. The witness and his friend then hid in the house’s gra-nary, Omar said.

“Then Qaisar hinted to the troops to kill Noor Ali, and they shot him dead. The accused killed my uncle as he had not allowed Qaisar to hold a meeting in our yard during the 1970 elections,” he claimed.

The witness continued: “They also shot my uncle Akram Ali but he sur-vived. That day, the forces killed at least seven people in our village.”

After the deposition, defence coun-sel SM Shahjahan cross examined him and the tribunal adjourned the hearing until today.

Earlier, Abdus Sobhan Tarafder, another defence counsel for Qaisar, grilled the 20th prosecution witness, Md Abdul Motaleb, who testi� ed on Tuesday. The witness described the rape of indigenous woman Hiramoni Santal by two army men in the pres-ence of the accused at a tea estate in 1971.

Former Jatiya Party state minister Qaisar is facing 16 charges of crimes against humanity he had allegedly committed in Habiganj. l

BLAST IN CTG MADRASA

Charge sheet against Mufti Izharul, 5 others submittedn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The charge sheet of a murder case was submitted yesterday accusing � ve per-sons, including Hefazat-e-Islam Senior Nayeb-E-Ameer Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury.

Sub-InspectorMd Shah Alam of Khulshi police station, who is also the investigating o� cer of the case, sub-mitted the eight-page charge sheet before the General Registry O� ce of Chittagong Metropolitan Court in the morning, naming 16 prosecution wit-nesses’ names.

The accused are Mufti Izharul, his son and Hefazat-e-Islam Training Sec-retary Harun and their accomplices and madrasa sta� Junaied, Habibur Rahman and Mohammad Ishak, said Md Rezaul Masud, additional deputy commissioner (prosecution) of Chit-

tagong Metropolitan Police. Excepting Mufti Izharul, all the oth-

er accused are behind bars.The IO in the charge sheet said Mufti

Izharul and his son Harun patronised explosives production and the other three accused assisted in the o� ence.

Earlier, on October 7, 2013, a deadly blast at a hostel room in Jamiatul Ulum Al Islamia Madrasa in Lalkhan Bazar of the port city killed three persons in-cluding two students of the madrasa.

Mufti Izharul is the founding direc-tor of the madrasa.

Later, police carried out a search at the madrasa and found some ex-plosives and huge quantities of gre-nade-making materials.

Three cases – one for murder, one for possessing explosives and the oth-er for possession of acid – were lodged with Khulshi police station. l

Witness: Subhan ordered my uncle’s killing n Udisa Islam

The 12th prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Maulana Abdus  Sub-han yesterday described the brutality committed by the accused and his fel-lows during the 1971 Liberation War.

Abdur Rahman Sarder, 66, a day labourer from Sahapur in Ishwardi of Pabna, also blamed Subhan for the kill-ing of at least eight people, including his paternal uncle.

He said: “On May 2 of 1971, Maula-na Abdus Subhan, along with the Paki-stani troops, came into our village and set the houses on � re. Some 25 army men entered our house and Subhan, pointing at my uncle, told them ‘he is an Awami-tree [organiser] , kill him.’

Following the order, the Pakistani Army shot him dead. Subhan’s cohorts looted our house and set it on � re.”

Another uncle Bakul told the wit-ness that the troops and their local collaborators led by Subhan had killed Rajab Ali, Shamsur, Aktar Pramanik, Chand Ali Pramanik, Anar Praman-ik, Rahim Pramanik and Hamid Ud-din that day and burnt down at least12 houses.

After his deposition, defence coun-sel SM Shahjahan Kabir cross examined the witness and the tribunal adjourned the trial until today, leaving it incom-plete.

Acting chief of Pabna Jamaat and chairman of Peace Committee during the war, Subhan is facing nine charges of crimes against humanity. l

BLOGGER RAJIB MURDER

SC stays bail of accused, orders to surrender n Nazmus Sakib

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered Sadman Yasir Mahmud, who was re-leased on bail on June 4 in the blogger Rajib Haider murder case, to surren-der before the lower court within two weeks.

Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, the chamber judge of the Appellate Divi-sion, passed the order, staying the HC order that had granted the accused a six-month bail on June 1.

The top court’s order came after a

petition was � led on behalf of the state by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Deputy Attorney General Khur-shedul Alam.

The Supreme Court lawyers Khand-ker Mahbub Hossain and BM Elias rep-resented Sadman.

Rajib, an activist of the Shahbagh movement which sought capital pun-ishment for all war criminals, was hacked to death in the capital’s Pallabi on February 15 last year.

The activist used to write on di� er-ent blogs under the pen name “Thaba

Baba.”In his last Facebook status, he de-

manded a ban on the institutions owned by the Jamaat-e-Islami. A day after his murder, Rajib’s father, Nazim Uddin, registered a murder case with Pallabi police station.

Two weeks after the � ling of the case, the investigating o� cer arrested � ve North South University students who had reportedly confessed that they had killed Rajib on orders given by the chief of Ansarullah Bangla Team, a Bangladesh-based group of

people who allegedly sympathise withAl-Qaeda. 

On February 18 this year, a Dhaka court took the charge sheet pressed against eight individuals including Sadman, a student of North South Uni-versity, into cognisance.

The seven other accused are Muf-ti Jasim, Faisal Bin Nayeem alias Dwip, Maksudul Hasan alias Anik, Mohammad Ehsan Reza alias Rum-man, Nayeem Sikder alias Irad, Na� z Imtiaz and Redwanul Azad aliasRana. l

An agitated motorbike rider vandalises a microbus after it rammed into his bike while travelling on the wrong side of the capital’s Mayor Hanif Flyover yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Members of Gonotantrik Budget Andolon form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday, demanding separate budgets for the districts NASHIRUL ISLAM

WEATHER

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 3:44am Sunrise 5:10am Zohr 11:59am Asr 4:38pm Magrib 6:46pm Esha 8:14pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:47PM SUN RISES 5:10AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW36.6ºC 23.0ºC

Satkhira Rajshahi

THURSDAY, JUNE 12

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 38 30Chittagong 35 28Rajshahi 42 30Rangpur 34 27Khulna 40 28Barisal 37 29Sylhet 37 26Cox’s Bazar 34 29

THUNDERSHOWER OR RAIN

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

MPO allocation rises by 19.04% n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has increased the allo-cation for Monthly Pay Order by 19.04% in the proposed budget for the next � s-cal year compared to the outgoing � s-cal year without giving a single penny to any new educational institutions.

An o� cial of the � nance division said, “We have allocated huge amount of money in the outgoing and next � s-cal years to teachers and employees of educational institutions for their sal-aries and allowances compared to the previous � scal year.”

Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech did not utter any word about the allocation for new education-al institutions under the MPO system despite huge pressure from lawmakers in last � ve years, but negotiation is con-tinuing between two ministries over re-introducing MPO for new educational institutions, the o� cial said.

In the next � scal year budget, Tk7489.24 crore has been allocated for MPO, up by 19.04% than the initial budgetary allocation in the outgoing � scal year, but it has been increased by 4.23% compared to the revised budget.

It is 25.63% of the total budget out-lay on education in the next � scal year. The MPO revised budget outlay is Tk7137.06 crore, but the initial amount was Tk6290.14 crore.

Muhith in his budget speech last week proposed Tk29,213 crore for edu-cation sector which is the highest allo-cation in the budget.

Education Secretary Dr Muhammad Sadique told the Dhaka Tribune yester-day, “We get surprised that the � nance division has not allocated fund for new educational institutions. MPO budget outlay has increased by over 18% be-cause of pay hike of MPO teachers and sta� .”

He also said two ministries are still

talking about reintroduction of the MPO system for new educational insti-tutions.

The education ministry o� cials said the government needed Tk1,600 crore more for under-MPO institutions.

However, the ministry in a survey found that 6,391 educational institu-tions under MPO had higher number of teachers than requirement. There are 27,647 educational institutions with a total of 370,579 teachers and 109,728 sta� under MPO system.

The World Bank in its report last year said the government policy to award MPO facility to schools for improving the quality of education had largely failed. “There has been no strong im-petus for improvement in the schools under the MPO system and underper-forming schools are hardly penalised,” the report said.

The report titled Seeding Fertile Ground: Education That Works for

Bangladesh also said political support rather than adherence to quality crite-ria appears to be more important for the continuation of MPOs.

Before budget announcement, the � nance minister, who had obstinately refused to provide any budgetary allo-cation for MPO, softened his stance.

Muhith said he would grant fund only if the education ministry stream-lines the schools, colleges and madra-sas.

In the face of strong demand placed by the parliamentary standing com-mittee on � nance ministry, he said the government had a role in the expansion of educational institutions across the country.

In the last � ve years, he outright re-jected the demand of lawmakers who allegedly make some quick bucks from teachers and employees of non-gov-ernment educational institutions, promising them MPO facility. l

Reformation of police law stressed n Adil Sakhawat

The number of female police o� cials needs to be increased as they, like their male counterparts, are working at grassroots level to check crime, said Parliament Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

“Policewomen also work for the de-velopment of women,” she said while addressing the inauguration of the Second National Conference of Bangla-desh Women Police Network (BWPN) at Police Sta� College Bangladesh in the capital yesterday.

Commenting on the work envi-ronment of female police, Shirin said: “Women police o� cials work in some places where they have only male col-leagues. If the number of female police o� cers is increased, they will feel com-fortable when working with their male colleagues.”

She praised the police reform pro-gramme (PRP) as its second phase was running in collaboration with UNDP, DFID and EC.

The speaker inaugurated the new

website of the BWPN during the pro-gramme.

Deputy Inspector General Mili Bishwas, who is also the President of BWPN, said the network now has seven regional committees capable of solving the problems of women police o� cials outside the capital.

National Project Director of PRP and Additional Inspector General Mokh-lesur Rahman said: “The Police Act formulated during the British period in 1861 is still e� ective in Bangladesh but it needs to be reformed. I would request the speaker to take immediate steps to reform the age-old law.”

He said female police members out-performed their male colleagues in various di� erent police stations and gained the trust of people.

“If the act is reformed, policewom-en will get more opportunities to prove themselves,” he added.

At present, female police o� cials comprise 5.26% of the total police force, a number which was only 2% in 2008, said State Minister for Home Af-fairs Asaduzzaman Khan. l

Minor boy hurt in crude bomb blast in capital n Mohammad Jamil Khan

A 10-year-old schoolboy sustained serious injuries to his hands in an abandoned crude bomb blast in the capital’s north Mugda area yester-day when he started playing with the bomb, thinking it was a cricket ball.

The victim, Rabbi Hossain alias Robi, is a class-II student and the son of Abul Hos-sain, an employee of a decorator shop. He was whisked o� to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in a critical condition.

Riaz Morshed, residential surgeon of

DMCH emergency unit, told the Dhaka Tribune, “Robi’s hands were both bad-ly damaged in the explosion. However, the condition of the right hand was comparatively severe, and the child will face di� culty in the future when trying to use it.”

Robi’s father Abul Hossain, who used to reside in house number 11/F in the area, said his child had gone to play cricket in front of his resident around 9:30am and at one stage, he found the abandoned cricket ball-like crude bomb.

When he hit the bomb, which was wrapped in red tape, with cricket bat, it went o� with a big bang, leaving him injured. In this regard, Mugda police station OC Faruk Hossain said they visited the spot after being informed. “Miscreants might have left the bomb behind when committing some of-fence,” the OC explained. l

Fire at Secretariat n Mohosinul Karim

A � re broke out yesterday afternoon at a Secretariat building in the capital.

The � re originated from a Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism electric-ity distribution box due to an electric short circuit around 4:40pm in the top � oor of a 19-storey Secretariat building,

However, no casualties were report-ed in the � re incident.

The o� cials and employees of the civil aviation and education ministries rushed there and got the � re under control within 10 minutes. Later, sev-eral � re service units visited the spot, the witnesses said. l

23 hurt in clash between BGB and villagersn Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

At least 23 people were injured in a clash between law enforcers and indig-enous villagers over the setting up of a new BGB battalion o� ce at Babuchhara of Dighinala upazila in Khagrachhari on Tuesday afternoon.

A temporary BGB checkpost and the BGB soldiers’ kitchen were vandalised and two ri� es were broken during the clash. Po-lice � red bullets and teargas shells to bring the situation under control.

Among the injured are Mayarani Chakma, Saheli Chakma, Kamala Ratan Chakma, Anita Chakma, Ananda Chak-ma, Surati Chakma, and several others.

Witnesses said a group of indigenous

women and BGB personnel got into an altercation when the latter put a � ag in the proposed helipad area for BGB 51 bat-talion. The situation intensi� ed and led to an hour-long clash when the women claimed they owned the place and that it was beyond the BGB’s jurisdiction.

Major AKM Rabiul Hasan at BGB Khagrachhari sector headquarters said the BGB 51 battalion was reformed to ensure maximum security in the area.

“A meeting of the law enforcement agencies was held in the afternoon. Around 300 indigenous women at-tacked, ransacked and vandalised the camp in the evening,” he said.

The indigenous women uproot-ed a BGB � ag put up by the BGB of-

� cials in the batt allion area, said of-� cer-in-charge of Dighinala police station, Shahadat Hossain Tito.

“When BGB members demanded an explanation, the women began making a racket and soon the local men joined them. At one stage, they vandalised the soldiers’ kitchen. A clash ensued which left 23 people, including villagers and BGB members, injured, and they were all sent to the hospital,” said Tito.

On-duty doctor at Dighinala Upazila Health Complex Dr Nishan Chakma said they had received 14 patients, including 13 women, until around 8:30pm.

Three of the injured were sent to Khagrachhari Sadar Hospital.

Several public representatives said a over-the-phone meeting was held at BGB battalion’s o� ce where BGB of-� cials, Babuchhara upazila Chairman Sugata Priyo Chakma, two vice-chair-men and some local in� uential people participated. During the meeting, both parties promised that they would wait till the � nal verdict on the ownership of the battalion area was delivered by the court.

Sources said the land was acquired in Babuchhara in 1991 to set up a BGB battalion but local indigenous people had � led a writ petition with a higher court when they got apprehensive that they would be evicted.

The � rst o� cial founding anniver-sary of the BGB battalion was observed in Babuchhara on May 22 this year, fol-lowing which the locals came into con-� ict with BGB over the land. l

A journey from ‘I’ to ‘We’n Tribune Report

The Youth Leadership Summit 2014 started yesterday in the capital’s Bang-abandhu International Conference Center (BICC).

Organised by Bangladesh Youth Leadership Centre (BYLC), the theme of the three-day event is “Strengthen-ing the Spirit of Public Leadership: A Journey from I to We.”

Nur Mohammad, secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ejaj Ah-mad, the founder and president of BYLC, and Sarah Cooke, the country representative of DFID-UK, inaugurat-ed the summit.

In his inaugural speech, Nur Mo-hammad said: “If you [youths] play a solo game, you will lose until you work in a team. That is the reason why lead-ership is very important. The endless potential of the youth will be utilised by the state.”

Sarah Cooke said: “Whether in pol-itics, the civil service or civil society, public leadership is as important as leadership in the private sector. It is about integrity, vision, building coali-tions, and the ability to seize opportu-nities to make changes for the better.”

The delegates participating at the summit will be trained to explore their leadership skills. Around 50 national and international speakers, including Barrister Sara Hossain, farmer rights activist Shykh Seraj, British High Com-missioner Robert Gibson and Swedish Ambassador to Bangladesh Anneli Ken-

ny will speak at the event.Sumaiya Tabassum, BYLC volun-

teer, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We re-ceived around 2,000 applications from 61 countries. Among them, we chose 450 local and 50 foreign delegates.”

“We sought compassion, courage and competence in each delegate. The government is working to create a youth policy. The delegates will make recommendations for the policy,” Na-beel Khan, facilitator of BYLC, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will address the closing ceremony on Friday where delegates will give her the recommendations for youth poli-cy. There will be around eight panels, and each panel will discuss on various topics, such as gender and leadership, public leadership and others. There will be a career panel as well, where delegates will be sharing their plans about their career,” he added.

The curriculum of the summit fol-lows that of the Harvard Institute for Leadership.

Taslima Rahman, a delegate and a BBA student at Dhaka University, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I want to learn about leadership and how to commu-nicate with people. I also came here to make new friends.

“In the recommendation, I want to suggest a change in our education sys-tem. Our education system is not skill-based, but rather, it is more theoretical. Now times have changed and practical knowledge is worth more.” l

Robbery at jewellery shop in city n Mohammad Jamil Khan

A group of armed assailants committed a vicious robbery at a jewellery shop in the capital’s Tantibazar area yesterday, where they shot the owner and sta� in broad daylight.

The robbery took place around 2:30pm when the area was crowded.

Police said some 6-8 people entered the shop which was on the ground � oor of seven storied Nawab Bhaban in the area. They wore black masks and start-ed � ring indiscriminately inside the shop. They then looted around 100 tolas of gold from the shop, holding Sumon Sutradhar, 38, the owner of

the shop, and Gonga, 22, a sta� , at gun point, said Uttam Saha, the owner of a nearby shop.

When locals attempted to stop the robbers as they were leaving the spot, the robbers shot Suman and Gonga.

Suman is undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and Gonga was taken to a private clinic for treatment.

Hearing the gunshots, the locals tried to come closer, but the criminals � red several more gunshots and blasted crude bombs, enabling them to get away.

When asked about the looted valu-ables, Papon, Sumon’s brother-in-law, told the Dhaka Tribune that it was not

possible to calculate the losses until Su-man got well, since only Sumon knew the real � gure. He, however, estimated that it might be around 100 tolas.

When contacted, Lalbagh division Additional Deputy Commissioner Ab-dus Salam said police had been inves-tigating the incident and trying to nab the culprits and recover the gold.

No one was arrested in this connec-tion till the � ling of this report.

Meanwhile, shops owners and sta� in the area staged a demonstration by closing their shops and demanded the immediate arrest of the attackers and that stern measures be taken against them. l

Di� erent artists stage a sit-in at Chhobir Hat on the Dhaka University campus yesterday, protesting vandalism and looting of art pieces there SADIA MARIUM

Family members take care of a woman, who was injured in the clash between BGB and Dighinala villagers yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Gowher Rizvi, international a� airs adviser to the prime minister, addresses the inauguration ceremony of the Youth Leadership Summit 2014 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

When he hit the bomb, which was wrapped in red tape, with cricket bat, it went o� with a big bang, leaving him injured

5NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 2014

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Nor’wester kills 4 in two districts n Tribune Report

At least four people were killed and 10 others injured when a nor’wester hit Chapainawabganj and Faridpur dis-tricts yesterday.

Our Faridpur correspondent said two people, including a school student, were killed when a storm swept over three unions of Boalmari upazila.

Babul Sheikh, 40, a farmer from Be-radi village in the upazila, was killed when he fell into a ditch during the storm.

Tia, 14, a Class IX student of Satur High School and the daughter of Mo-

hon Pramanik of Shonapur village, was also killed when a tree branch col-lapsed on her during the storm.

Witnesses said the violent storm lasted for 10 minutes and swept through at least 30-35 villages of the upazila around 11:45 am.

Over 500 houses were damaged and a number of trees were uprooted dur-ing the storm.

Saiduzzman, Boalmari Upazila Nir-bahi O� cer, visited the areas.

Our Chapainawabganj correspond-ent said two people, including a teen-age girl, were killed and 10 others in-jured when a nor’wester hit Binodpur,

Durlavpur, Chakirti unions in Shibganj upazila and Choudala, Alinagar and Bangabari unions in Gomostapur upa-zila.

Witnesses said Niyoti Rani, 20, the daughter of Anil Kumar of Ranibari Chandpur village of Shibganj upazila, was killed when struck by lightning during the storm.

Palsar Ali, 13, the son of Mosharraf Hossain of Chamatola village under Binidpur union of Shibganj upazila, was also killed when a tree branch col-lapsed on him in the morning, while he was plucking mangoes during the storm. l

Three killed in clashes n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

At least three people, including two children, were killed and 120 others in-jured in two separate clashes yesterday in Mithamoin and Karimganj upazilas of Kishoreganj district.

The deceased were Morjina Akter, 10, the daughter of Abdur Rahim and a Class IV student of a local primary school in Ghagra village, Robin Mia, 12, a Class V student and the son of Asad Mia, and Jakaria, 35, the son of Rusmat Ali of Bargharia village in Karimganj.

Mithamoin police station O� cer-in-Charge Nasiruddin Bhuiyan said: “The supporters of local AL leaders Ha� z Ud-din Member and Abu Naser locked into a clash, using locally made weapons, around 12pm over the establishment of

supremacy in the area, leaving the chil-dren dead on the spot and about 100 others injured.”

He said: “Of the injured, Jusef, 12, Lokman Mia, 13, Shahinur Begum, 20, Toiob Ali, 30, Salam Mia, 32, Mirjahan, 14, Mukhlesur Rahman, 18, and Nabi Hossain, 25, were sent to Mymensin-gh Medical College and Hospital and Kishoreganj Adhunik Sadar Hospital in critical conditions and others were sent to di� erent clinics in the upazila.”

In Karimganj upazila, the support-ers of Ratan Mia and Hares Mia locked into a clash around 12:30pm at Bargha-ria over a trivial matter, leaving Jakaria dead on the spot and 20 others injured.

Of them � ve were sent to hospitals in critical conditions. Additional police were deployed in the areas. l

Nirmul Committee man shot dead n Our Correspondent,

Jhenaidah

The district unit general secretary of Ghatak Dalla Nirmul Committee was shot dead in a Jhenaidah village on Tuesday night.

The deceased was Rintu Munshi, 40, the son of Ha-bibur Rahman Kathi Munshi of Marundi village.

Jhenaidah police station O� cer-in-Charge Shahabud-din Zaad said some miscre-ants had shot Rintu while he and his associate Abdul Majid were going to the village on a motorcycle. They were rushed to Jhenaidah Sadar Hospital in critical states and on duty doc-tors declared Rintu dead. l

Four killed in road accidentn Our Correspondent,

Tangail

At least four people were killed and seven others in-jured in separate road acci-dents in Basail and Kalihati upazilas of Tangail district yesterday.

The deceased were Mas-ud Rana, 35, a CNG-run au-to-rickshaw driver, Bonna Begun, 30, and her daughter Ratri Akhter, 8, from Jamal-pur, and Azam, 28, the son of Ruhul Amin of Chittagong.

Basail police station O� cer-in-Charge Delowar Ahmed said: “A CNG run au-to-rickshaw collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction in Baoikhola area on the Dha-ka-Tangail highway around 8am, killing the auto-rick-shaw driver on the spot and injuring � ve others.”

In Kalihati upazila, a lorry collided head-on with a truck near a filling sta-tion in Rasulpur area on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bang-abandhu highway around 5:30am, killing truck driver Azam on the spot and in-juring four others. l

Transport strikes cause much misery in 2 districts n Tribune Report

Thousands of people living in Chua-danga and Mymensingh have su� ered immensely as the transport owners and workers went on a transport strike for an inde� nite period yesterday.

The transport workers in Chua-danga called the strike protesting the vandalism of two buses while drivers observed the strike protesting the ban on the operating of CNG-run auto rick-shaw on highways.

In Chuadanga, transport workers put up a barricade of stagnant buses on Shahid Hasan Chattar road, causing all modes of transport to remain halted on all the streets of the district.

During the strike, no transport ran on the Chuadanga-Meherpur, Chua-danga-Jessore, Chuadanga-Jhenaidah, Chuadanga-Hatboalia and Chuadanga-Karpasdanga routes.

No long distance buses, trucks, lor-ries or covered-vans were seen operat-ing on the roads during the strike.

Local commuters su� ered the most because of the strike.

Salim Hayat, a businessman, came

to the district from the capital and said he could not go to Dhaka because there was no transport availabile. “I am wait-ing for the end of the strike,” he said.

Hazera Bewa, a resident of Sadar upazila, said it was urgent for her to visit Jhenaidah for some family a� airs, but she could not manage to get trans-port, even after waiting for hours. She said, “I would have to su� er again if I wanted to go back home.”

Rabiul Haque, a labourer leader, told the Dhaka Tribune that as bus owners demanded a ban on human hauliers on highways and roads, the human hauli-er workers had vandalised two buses in Nutun Bazar area of the district yester-day morning.

They also vandalised two buses at Daulatdia, he informed, adding that they had gone on strike protesting all the destructive activities of auto rick-shaw drivers.

Abul Kalam Azad, General Secretary of Bus Owners’ Association demanded that the district administration imme-diately arrest the attackers and ensure their punishment.

He said they would continue the

strike until their demands were met. Their other demands include tak-

ing steps to stop police from taking il-legal tolls on the roads and highways, putting an end to their harassment by BRTA authorities when issuing driving licenses and the withdrawal of ‘false’ cases � led against transport workers.

Mohammad Kamruzzan, additional assistant police commissioner, said they had a meeting with the transport workers, but they had yet to reach a consensus.

He said, “We are trying to resolve the crisis.”

In Mymensingh, transport workers observed a strike, protesting the ban on the operation of CNG-run auto rick-shaw on highways.

They said they would continue their agitation programmes if the authorities did not withdraw their decision.

Abdur Nur, sergeant of Hatihata highway police out post, said as road ac-cidents increased on highways because of the random operations of human hauliers, so the district administration had taken the decision to not allow un� t vehicles to operate on highways. l

A trees beaks into several pieces after storm hit Chapainawabganj yesterday morning. The photo was taken from Gomostapur village DHAKA TRIBUNE

Woman trampled to death in Sherpur n Our Correspondent, Sherpur

A woman was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants early yesterday at Chandapara village in Sribardi upa-zila of Sherpur.

Locals said a herd of about 35/40 wild elephants entered the village from Ko-rnajhora hill around 2:30am and stam-peded over several houses in the village.

Umesa Bewa, 42, the wife of late Sai-dur, was trampled to death by the el-ephants when they attacked her house.

Sribardi Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Ha-biba Sharmin con� rmed the incident.

At least 10 people have been killed, several hundred houses and trees were uprooted and standing crops were damaged since last year. l

Thursday, June 12, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World6

Donations dry up for crisis-ridden AAPn Agencies

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elec-tions whenever the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was in news, for good or bad rea-sons, funds came pouring in.

From party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s detention in Gujarat, to his announce-ment to take on Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the Lok Sabha elections or people slapping him while campaign-ing in Delhi — AAP’s online donation graph went up.

But not anymore.Call it donor’s fatigue or their loss

of faith in the party, the donations for the 18-month party has dried up and not even news of crisis in the � edgling political out� t gets them to loosen their purse strings.

On June 8, the day the rift between Kejriwal and senior party leader Yogen-dra Yadav played out in the media, the AAP could mop up a paltry Rs. 8,293 from its donors. Again when Kejriwal opted for jail in the Nitin Gadkari defa-mation case on May 21, the money that came in party’s co� ers was Rs. 7.42 lakh. The next day on May 22 it went down to Rs. 5.62 lakh and dipped to Rs. 58,000 on May 23, the day he once again refused to pay the bail amount.

The two occasions marked a de-parture from earlier trends when such news would have got the party’s cash register ringing.

On April 4, when Kejriwal was slapped in Dakshinpuri area in south Delhi, the party received Rs. 1.46 crore as compared to Rs. 47.94 lakh the pre-vious day. Similarly when Kejriwal was detained by the Gujarat police on March 5 and clashes broke out in Delhi between AAP and BJP supporters, the donations went up to Rs. 24.49 lakh from Rs. 8.57 lakh a day before.

On March 26, a day after Kejriwal an-nounced his decision to take on Naren-dra Modi from Varanasi in the Lok Sabha elections, the party collected over a crore, up from Rs. 48 lakh on March 25. However the funds have dried up for the party after it faced setbacks in the Lok Sabha elections. June has been particu-larly bad with donation � gures in thou-sands (as compared to an average of Rs. 30 lakh a day in April) with an exception of June 10 when the party managed to notch up Rs. 1.38 lakh. l

Fearful of cyberspooks, China struggles to break its Microsoft habitn Agencies

As Beijing and Washington trade ac-cusations of cyber-espionage, China is trying to curb some of America’s biggest information technology � rms here. But it is a long way from breaking its dependence on giants such as Mic-rosoft and IBM, local analysts say.

That means that though Beijing has been talking tough in recent weeks – lashing out at US companies that China says have helped the National Security Agency to spy on Chinese o� cials and citizens – its options are few.

“There have always been e� orts [by China] to displace western technolo-gy,” points out Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA, a Beijing-based consultancy specializing in the tech sector. “But there have been no local alternatives.”

Since Edward Snowden’s revela-tions about the NSA’s massive data collection programs, Chinese o� cials have complained bitterly that Beijing has been a prime victim of US cyber-es-pionage. The US Department of Justice, meanwhile, last month unsealed in-dictments against � ve Chinese military o� cers, accusing them of hacking into US companies’ computers in order to steal trade secrets.

That prompted quick retaliation. China said foreign technology compa-nies would be vetted for possible na-tional security breaches – a move that could hit US � rms’ sales in the biggest PC market in the world.

A few days earlier China had an-nounced that it would forbid the use of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system on government computers; the state-run Xinhua news agency said the decision was designed “to ensure computer security” without further explanation.

At the end of last month, Bloomberg News cited four sources as saying that government agencies are pushing Chi-nese banks, which are largely state-owned, to replace their IBM servers with a locally made brand.

And as the website of the ruling Communist party’s youth wing decried what it called Cisco’s “disgraceful role” in China as a tool of the US govern-ment, the Chinese authorities released a report � nding that “the nine major US software and hardware providers o� er core technology support to US intelligence.”

Microsoft OS upgradesMicrosoft’s ubiquitous software is widely used – and pirated – in China. It is not clear which operating system the Chinese government will choose to replace Windows XP, the outdated OS that most government computers cur-rently run on but which Microsoft no longer supports.

Windows 7 appears the only option, since Chinese scientists have not man-aged to develop an operating system to match Microsoft’s products. But it raises the same dilemma: Should China’s government rely on a soft-ware platform that is US designed and controlled?

A news item broadcast on state-run television last week questioned Win-dows 8 security and warned that “who-ever controls the operating system can control all the data on the computers using it.”

China has developed its own home-grown platform: computers in some branches of the Chinese military and a few government departments run on an operating system developed by a Chinese � rm, Zhongbiao. But it is less stable than Windows and has made little headway in the consum-er marketplace says Dai Xiangjun, a security expert at CCID, a Beijing IT consulting � rm.

“It is hard to say” when a local � rm might develop a computer operating system to rival Windows, adds Mr. Dai. “But it will take a long time.” l

Half a million � ee unrest in Mosuln Agencies

As many as 500,000 people have been forced to � ee the Iraqi city of Mosul af-ter hundreds of Islamist militants took control of it, the International Organi-zation for Migration (IOM) said.

Troops were among those � eeing as the jihadists from the ISIS group took the city and much of Nineveh province. The head of the Turkish mission in Mo-sul and 24 consulate o� cials have also been seized, local sources said.

PM Nouri Maliki has asked parlia-ment to declare a state of emergency. The US said the development showed ISIS was a “threat” to the entire region.

ISIS - the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is also known as ISIL - is an o� shoot of al-Qaeda. It now con-trols considerable territory in eastern Syria and western and central Iraq, in a campaign to set up a militant enclave straddling the border.

‘Chaotic situation’Residents of Mosul - Iraq’s second city - said jihadist � ags were � ying from buildings and that the militants had announced over loudspeakers they had “come to liberate” the city.

“The situation is chaotic inside the city, and there is nobody to help us,” said government worker Umm Karam. “We are afraid.”

Sta� working for the IOM in Mosul say that all o� cial buildings there have been taken over, including police and military bases, and the airport.

Many police stations were reported to have been set on � re and hundreds of detainees set free.

“The army forces threw away their weapons, changed their clothes, aban-doned their vehicles and left the city,” Mahmud Nuri, a resident � eeing Mo-sul, told the AFP news agency.

There has been a large number of civilian casualties, the IOM says, and some mosques have been converted into clinics to treat the injured.

Late on Tuesday, ISIS militants were also reported to have taken the nearby town of Baiji, home to Iraq’s largest oil re� nery, but they now appear to have

withdrawn in the face of army and po-lice reinforcements.

Meanwhile, US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the situ-ation in Iraq was “extremely serious” and that the US supported “a strong, co-ordinated response to push back against this aggression.” l

Al Gore praises Edward Snowdenn Agencies

Edward Snowden has secured his highest endorsement yet in the US when former vice-president Al Gore described the leaking of top secret in-telligence documents as “an important service,” the Guardian reported.

Asked if he regarded Snowden as a traitor or whistleblower, Gore veered away from the “traitor” label. He re-fused to go as far as labelling him a whistleblower but signalled he viewed him as being closer to that category than a traitor, saying: “What he re-vealed in the course of violating im-portant laws included violations of the US constitution that were way more serious than the crimes he committed.”

Snowden, the former CIA and Na-tional Security Agency computer spe-cialist, leaked US and British documents to the Guardian and Washington Post in June last year, starting a worldwide de-bate on surveillance and privacy.

His revelations have led to proposed changes in legislation in the US and a backlash against government surveil-lance by major telecoms and internet companies. But he remains a polarising � gure in the US. An NBC poll a fortnight ago showed 24% backing him and 34% disagreeing with his actions, with 40% having no opinion.

Snowden’s hope of a return to the US is dependent on a change in a major shift in opinion that would allow him to escape a lengthy prison sentence. His supporters will seize on Gore’s comments to help make the case that he should be allowed to return to the US as a free man. l

Ukraine gets six days to pay gas payments n Agencies

Russia gave Ukraine an extra six days to make payments for natural gas as the countries resumed European Union-brokered talks in Brussels. The new deadline is 10am Moscow time, June 16, Alexey Miller, chief executive o� cer of Russian gas exporter OAO Gazprom, said yesterday in Brussels after meeting with EU Energy Commis-sioner Guenther Oettinger.

Ukraine won’t pay before Russia ac-cepts a new “package” deal, including gas price changes, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said after that, according to Interfax. Both comment-ed before the three-way negotiations between Oettinger, Prodan and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak started at about 10am local time.

The EU, dependent on Russian gas piped through Ukraine for about 15

percent of its supplies, is trying to bro-ker a deal to maintain shipments amid a dispute over payments for the fuel. In Ukraine, government forces and rebels claiming allegiance to Russia continue to clash in the east of the country.

Oettinger is optimistic an agreement to end the gas price dispute can be ar-rived at in the next few days, he told reporters yesterday evening.

Meanwhile, Russia o� ered to lower Ukraine’s price by $100 per thousand cubic meters through an export-duty break, Ukrainian Prime Minister Ar-seniy Yatsenyuk said in Kiev yester-day before the talks. The country can’t accept that because Russia is able to change the decision any time, he said. Ukraine insists the supply agreement in place since 2009 should be changed.

“We know Russian tricks and we stick to our proposal to change the con-tract,” Yatsenyuk said. l

Famous Scots divided over independence

For scottish independenceo Actor Sean Connery - “As a Scot and

as someone with a lifelong love for both Scotland and the arts, I believe the opportu-nity of independence is too good to miss.”o Author Irvine Welsh - “I’m totally for

independence, totally. I think everyone is, even the unionists. It’s the process which is being argued about, not the principle.”o Film Director Ken Loach - “If I had

the chance to be independent from the Tory-Liberal-New Labour bunch, I’d jump at it .. I think: go for it. Other colonised countries have asserted their indepen-dence.”o Actor Brian Cox - “This whole argu-

ment has nothing to do with the pound. It’s not about any of these things they say are important; it’s about ... trying to get back to egalitarian principles, which is so present in the Scottish character.”

o Actor Alan Cumming - “The evi-dence is clear - in the past 15 years we have become stronger economically, socially, culturally and globally. The world is waiting for us and I know Scotland is ready.”

Against scottish independenceo Writer JK Rowling - “The more I have

read from a variety of independent and unbiased sources, the more I have come to the conclusion that while independence might give us opportunities, it also carries serious risks.”o Football manager Alex Ferguson - “If

ever there was a time to be wary of Scot-land pulling out of the UK, it is now. It would be a distraction from what really matters - the economy, jobs, schools and hospitals.” o Actress Emma Thompson - “Why

insist on building a new border between human beings in an ever-shrinking world where we are still struggling to live along-side each other?”o Comedian Billy Connolly - “I don’t

believe in having more layers of government that ordinary people will have to pay for. I think it’s time for people to get together.”o Actor Ewan McGregor - “I’m a Scots-

man and I love Scotland with all my heart. But I also like the idea of Great Britain, and I don’t know that it wouldn’t be a terrible shame to break it all up.” l

In the battle over Scottish independence, a rising number of famous Scots have gone public with their views on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom or not. Following is a list of some of them

Sean Connery JK Rowling

TAXI DRIVERS, UNITE!

People hold placards during a Europe-wide protest of licensed taxi drivers, denouncing taxi hailing apps that are feared to � ush unregulated private drivers into the market, in front of the Olympic stadium in Berlin, June 11. Many of these drivers are immigrants, hailing from di� erent corners of the world REUTERS

Members of the Kurdish security forces pose for a picture as they take part in an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Kirkuk June 11. Baghdad will cooperate with Kurdish forces to try to drive militant out of Mosul, Iraq’s foreign minister said yesterday, a day after an al-Qaeda splinter group seized the country’s second biggest city REUTERS

Computers in some branches of the Chinese military and government departments run on an operating system developed by a Chinese � rm, Zhongbiao

When election results were declared on May 16, the party received Rs. 22 lakh, and since then it has been a downhill trend

Are you satisfied with the present state of relationship between Bangladesh and Russia?

Alexander: Bangladesh and Russia share same views on many inter-national programmes and issues discussed in the UN system. Both countries share a view of real necessi-ty of a multipolar world system and a more equitable economic system.

Russia has been maintaining relationships with a score of countries. Is there anything unique in Russia’s relations with Bangladesh?

Alexander: For us, Bangladesh is not just a long tested friend. We, practically, were at the cradle of Bang-ladesh’s statehood. We witnessed the birth of Bangladesh in 1971 and 1972. An interesting fact is that the present foreign minister of Bangladesh, AH Mahmood Ali, in the start of his career, served in the then Pakistan mission at the UN [in New York]. During the Lib-eration War in 1971, he maintained the contacts with the chief of the Russian mission at the UN. As diplomatic and political e� orts during the war, our ambassador vetoed three times in fa-vour of Bangladesh at the UN Security Council.

You have said at a BIISS discussion that Bangladesh holds an important place in the list of foreign policy priorities of Russia. Will you elaborate the importance?

Alexander: Bangladesh is an important player of the South Asiaan sub-continent. And you know our principle general line is that we are in favour of development of all the international systems in directions of equality and equal rights for every

country, and respect of mutual inter-ests of all the main stakeholders.

Bangladesh, a Muslim country with about 160 million people, plays an important role in international organ-isations, including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. We, the Russian Federation, are only an observer in it. So, we highly value the positive role Dhaka plays at the OIC.

Than in SAARC, which is also a very prosfective regional organisation, Bangladesh plays important role to develop the economies of the member countries.

Have you been facing bottlenecks hindering the opportunities to improve relationship between the two countries?

Alexander: Our present relationship is � ne. But it can be developed further. There are a few bottlenecks. But the toughest, I suppose, is the bureaucra-cy in both countries. We are mutually responsible for this bottleneck.

Providing duty-free access of Bangladesh-origin goods to the Russian market is considered to be a major tool to increase the trade volume up to US $1bn rapidly. Will Russia provide Bangladesh the access? When?

Alexander: In 2013, the bilateral trade was not less than $800m. I hope, in the end of this calendar year, it will reach the level mentioned by the Russian president during his talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Krem-lin in January, 2013.

It is impossible to do right now [to provide duty-free access in Russia only]. Because, Russia has formed a custom union with Belorussia and Ka-zakhstan [Eurasian Economic Union].

This union is responsible for import to the region. Bangladesh needs to raise to the union the issue of making its export duty free for the region.

I do not understand why the ready-made garment sector here is wasting time just seeking to increase export to only Russia instead of the entire union.

I am happy to know that the Com-merce Minister Tofail Ahmed is, right now, in exploration of possibility to help comprehensive trade arrange-ment with the governments of Eura-sian Economic Union and Russia.

Are Russian investors taking the advantages of the Export Processing Zones and Special Economic Zones here? To what extent are they interested?

Alexander: I must admit that our exporters are as lazy as their Bangla-deshi colleagues, equally-equally. So, I don’t put all the responsibility on Bangladesh. Both sides are responsible for this. There is not a lot of infor-mation about the Export Processing Zones. Our investors are not well aware of the procedures of the EPZs.

Absence of direct banking relationship between the two countries has been hampering bilateral trade. When will these facilities be set up?

Alexander: Absolutely agree with the � rst sentence of the question. But for the second part of the question, I’m unable to answer right now. I’m quite happy with my meeting with Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman and Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, who are completely aware of this bottleneck. I hope that sooner or later this will be resolved with the representation of our banks

with Bangladeshi banks. Of course, it will be a great support for the trading companies.

How do you see the possibility of a financial settlement between the Taka and the Russian Rouble by encouraging a currency swap?

Alexander: In general, everything is possible. But I’m not sure if it will be possible right now.

Recently, Russia has withdrawn restrictions imposed temporarily on frozen food import from four Bangladeshi companies. To what extent will this decision help increase frozen food export?

Alexander: I’m not sure what the production capabilities of these Bang-ladesh seafood compainies are, and to what extent they can increase exports to Russia. But it is possible if, at least, they can reach the level of our sanitary authority’s requirements – they are tougher than the European Union.

An agreement between the two countries involves the construction of a nuclear power plant(NPP), nuclear fuel supply and disposal. Keeping in consideration the Chernobyl disaster, and lack of NPP expertise here, will you assure Bangladesh that the plant will not bring any disaster?

Alexander: The issue of safety is a matter of great concern, and justi� ed concern for many including Bangla-desh Atomic Energy Comission o� -cials. I assure you that we are not any less concerned about safety of the NPP.

It is an investment to resolve the power crisis of the country which is a critical and decisive key for economic and social development.

Of course, a single nuclear power plant, even if it is of a capacity of 2000MW, is not enough as the country su� ers from a huge de� cit of power. The � rst NPP will, however, be a deci-sive component.

By the way, Russia had set up pow-er plants in Ghorasal and Chittagong around the middle of the 1990s. These plants are still in operation, provid-ing approximately 20% of all energy production.

I must admit great satisfaction at the present Bangladesh government’s e� ort to involve international partners for resolving energy crisis and diversi-fying the source of energy generation.

Your prime minister has recently said that Bangladesh will require a partner to construct the second NPP. Bangladesh government is in the pro-cess of making a deal with Japan for establishing a coal-based power plant. The same promises were made by the Indian government. The Chinese are also in the process of providing a power plant.

I believe, if the country can go through political stability for 5 to 10 years, then the energy crisis will be de� nitely resolved.

One more year aspect is that two years ago a prominent Russian com-pany, Gazprom, signed agreements for drilling for natural gas. Till now seven wells are completed. I’m happy to report that these seven wells produce about 400 mcf per year. It is not a bad piece of energy cake. The company is in the process of drilling the eighth well in Bhola.

Moreover, what I want to stress is, all these wells will be national prop-erties of Bangladesh. We didn’t sign so called share-pro� t agreement like some western gas companies.

In another aspect, I o� er apology to Japanese partners that my word may sound cynical, the Fukushima tragedy gave us a good chance for further improving of reliability of reactors of our design, which are, right now, more reliable than any other design.By the way, I invite all readers of the Dhaka Tribune to visit the Atomic

Energy Information Centre installed at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rah-man Novo Theatre. It will be a matter to know what kind of a nuclear power plant is to be constructed at Ruppur by Russia.

One more aspect I would like to draw attention of the readers to, is that Russia provides around 50 govern-mental scholarships for Bangladeshi post-graduation students every year. Having in mind the present require-ment, this year, for the � rst time, we enrolled 10 Bangladeshi students who will study nuclear physics courses for nuclear power plants. So, in 5 to 10 years, Bangladesh will have a good unit of your own specialists for managing the NPPs.

What are the strategies that dictate Russian defence cooperation and military supply to Bangladesh?

Alexander: Supplying defence items is a matter of purposes, and we do not compete with each other [ex-porting countries]. In some items our conditions are more preferable. And in some items the others may make a better o� er.

We provide combat aircrafts, an-ti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, and armoured personnel careers.

You have said in March that Russia is stepping up public diplomacy to make a ‘comeback’ in Bangladesh. What prompted Russia to come back?

Alexander: We have very compre-hensive relations with Bangladesh, and are convinced that not only eco-nomic relations enrich both countries, but also cultural interaction, public education – the so called soft power – all that have signi� cance for fast de-velopment and better understanding.

I’m really happy to inform the Dhaka Tribune readers that this year, 2014, is scheduled to have the days of Russian Culture in Bangladesh. Right now, we are in the process of the visit of two ministers, with a Russian delegation, sometime in between October to December this year. It is not a one-day show, and particularly not one man show. There will be dozens

of participants from our side. And the next year, 2015, will be the days and year of Bangladeshi culture in Russia.

I recall the time of the middle of the 1970s when our kids in Russia could read Bangla fairy tales translated in Russian. Here, for last two years, practically every day, I have heard from Bangladeshi friends and colleagues how happy they were reading Russian liter-ature in Bangladesh. When such a level of cultural exchange will be arranged, I will consider my mission is easy.

There was an idea of modernising the Russian Cultural Centre in Dhaka, and connecting its library with Moscow’s national library and national museum. When this idea will be materialised?

Alexander: Yes, there is such an idea, and I think it is a great opportu-nity. Sitting here in Dhaka, any visitor will have free access to the collections of Russian museums, or can read books from our libraries. It is not a small collection. But realisation of this idea, I must admit, is delayed due to some technicalities. I do hope by the end of the year, or the start of the next one, we will be able to provide these facilities.

Now Russia has been supporting the policy of a multipolar world order instead of the unipolar or the bipolar system that has dictated international politics for several decades. Why has this happenned?

Alexander: I think it is neither me, nor my country, but certainly, some countries are keen to go back to the atmosphere of the cold war.

For instance, what we are witness-ing in Ukraine, states the necessity of pursuing a policy for the formation of such a multipolar system where there are a few gravity centres – not two, not three, but a few. And all the players in the international arena can pursue their own interests, but not, of course, at the expense of their neighbours.

Look, there are very promising groups of countries, such as the BRICS Union that incorporates Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. In South East Asia there is the ASEAN, very in� uential, and promising.

We do not dismiss the role of the European Union. And indeed the United States, we are against one thing – the direct imposition of their will, their examples, and their views on anybody else.

What is the update about the possible cooperation for a Bangladeshi communications satellite?

Alexander: It will be a great oppor-tunity for launching the satellite for Bangladesh. l

7Special Thursday, June 12, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Russian Ambassador Alexander A Nikolaev sat for an exclusive interview with the Dhaka Tribune on June 2 at his o� ce. Dhaka Tribune Special A� airs Editor Shahidul Islam Chowdhury conducted the interview

‘Bureaucracy a major bottleneck for trade relations’

Area: 17 million sq km (6,563,706 sq mi)Population: 144 millionCapital city: Moscow (with 9 million inhabitants)People: 81% Russian, 4% Tatar, 3% Ukrainian and numerous ethnic minoritiesLanguage: RussianReligion: Russian Orthodox Cristianity, Catholicism, Islam, Animism, BuddhismCurrency: Rouble (1 USD = approx. 26,3 roubles)Government: FederationPresident: Vladimir Putin

GENERAL INFORMATION ON RUSSIA

l Formal diplomatic relations with Bangladesh: from January 25, 1972

l Contribution of Russia in Bangladesh: Installation of power plants,

l Bilateral Trade: almost US$800m in 2013, l Major exports from Bangladesh: knitwear, woven garments,

jute yarn and twine, raw jute, leather goods, frozen shrimps etc.l Major import from Russia: power plants, military hardware,

fertilizers, metal-roll, raw materials for textile industry, l Major o� cial deals: Installing Nuclear Power Plant in

Bangladesh, gas extraction and military-hardware purchase, l Last top level visit: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited

Moscow in January, 2013

MAJOR ENGAGEMENTS WITH BANGLADESH

Born in Moscow, 1950, Alexander graduated in International Relations from the Moscow State University in 1973. He joined diplomatic service in the same year.

He has been the Ambassador Ex-traordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Bangladesh from March 8, 2012.

Asked if he was aware about the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, he said, ‘I was a last year [university] student … I knew that a Liberation War going on for Bangladesh.’

About when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited Moscow in early 1972, Alexander said: ‘I was in Moscow at that time. I recall the crowd of Muscovites [inhabitants of Moscow]. It was not orchestrated. They were there to see the leader of a newly born state.’

Alexander is married, and has two daughters and a grandson

‘I believe, if the country can go through political stability for 5 to 10 years, then the energy crisis will be de� nitely resolved’

Editorial8 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Pay attention (4)6 By way of (3)7 Electric insulator (4)9 At hand (4)10 Grinding tooth (5)11 Interior decoration (5)12 Girl’s name (3)14 Nuisances (5)17 Radiolocation (5)20 Tree (3)21 Apple of the eye (5)23 Numeral (5)25 Prized fur (4)26 Egyptian goddess (4)27 Pale (3)28 Niggardly (4)

DOWN1 Obstruct (6)2 Dodged (6)3 Dreadful (4)4 Lubricant (3)5 Distant (3)7 Additional (4)8 Members of plays (5)10 Cleaning implement (3)13 Weathercocks (5)15 Salty (6)16 Brandished (6)18 Copies (4)19 Cricket score (3)22 Muslim leader (4)23 Wrongdoing (3)24 Vigour (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 13 represents V so � ll V every time the � gure 13 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

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PEANUTS

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Muhith criticises BNP in budget speechJune 5

RonnieI’m glad I didn’t watch and hear him speak all this. For the record, our � nance minister should know better than publicly making a mockery of himself by castigating BNP for boycotting the January 5 “election.”

Surely, he knows that he doesn’t have the

slightest moral, much less legal, authority to be passing the national budget. Gosh, the unsightly shamelessness of it all.

Concerned citizenNo one listens to you, sir. Drum on for your own ears and entertainment.

Children of War: The � lm is the thing?June 7OsmaniaWatching a rape scene, graphic or otherwise, is not meant to be comfortable. The writer has either expressed himself poorly, or may need urgent therapy.

Mosabber Rahman Osmania: Exactly. Watching a rape scene is not meant to be comfortable. And watching a horror � lm is not meant to be comfortable either. I understand. But the � lm-going public should be informed about it. Interestingly, during “Conjuring,” they put up a sign in front of the theatre warning the audience about the scary content: “Not for the weak-heart-ed.” Moreover, they also warned us at the ticket counter, plus, they stamped a warning sign on the tickets.

This time we got an R-rated � lm released uncut for the � rst time in local theatres with brief nudity and graphic content. However, no warning or a “for mature audience” notice was given. In this article, I wanted to inform the readers, it’s not for everyone. I hope you reconsider your therapeutic prescription.

Ehtesham BatenDid the censorship board ever get a look at this movie?

Truly the world’s gameOver a month of excitement kicks o� today with the opening of the

FIFA World Cup in Sao Paulo.For fans in Bangladesh, it means many nights staying up

through the early hours. It will be a truly global spectacle enjoyed by billions.

We trust rival fans will share the spirit of sport in each other’s company. And we hope that local politicians will desist from killjoy complaints about people � ying foreign teams’ � ags.

As recent economic protests in Brazil have highlighted, the World Cup also holds up a mirror to the world’s problems. While FIFA has been involved for some years in initiatives to improve working conditions in supply chains, including in Bangladesh, which this year has supplied over $500m of merchandise, it is presently embroiled in controversies relating to bribery and the poor treatment of migrant workers in Qatar.

If the tournament increases interest in these issues, this will be a welcome bonus.

Bangladesh’s football team has a long way to go before it can expect to reach the World Cup � nals. However, Asia’s population means that FIFA can be expected to increase the number of teams qualifying from Asia.

If we can build on the country’s historic enthusiasm for football, it will hopefully not be many tournaments before the country can look forward to taking part � rst hand. The Bangladesh Football Federation needs to keep nurturing talent, so that Bangladeshi youngsters watching this year’s games will be inspired to earn a chance to play on the world stage.

China’s $1.2bn investment in RMG We welcome the BGMEA’s success in signing an agreement with

Oriental International Holding, a Chinese company, to develop a new garment industrial park in Munshiganj.

The planned agreement to build a 470-acre industrial park in Gazaria is budgeted to cost $1.2 billion and will be one of the largest ever investments in Bangladesh.

When completed, it will provide a huge boost to the RMG industry. Oriental has agreed to develop land, roads, and power plants, and build structures for sale to BGMEA and BKMEA factory owners. Its plans envisage setting up accessories factories to supply raw materials, thereby reducing costs and improving productivity.

Taken together with China’s agreement to construct a tunnel under the Karnaphuli River in Chittagong, the RMG deal sets the seal on a highly successful visit and is a further sign of healthy relations between our two nations.

Building new factories is vital to the RMG industry, which is responsible for over 80% of our export earnings. This project can help to both secure vital jobs for RMG workers and act as a beacon to attract new investment from companies seeking to relocate to Bangladesh.

With many garment factories requiring remediation and safety improvements, � nding land on which modern, safe, and more productive factories can be developed is the most urgent priority for the economy.

The Munshiganj project has been facilitated by the government allocating land at Baushia. It should pro-actively seek more land which can be set aside in this manner to attract further investments.

The project is vital to secure RMG jobs and act as a beacon for new investment

A global spectacle enjoyed by billions. If it increases interest in other issues, this will be a bonus

Learning early onJune 6

Zero-AgendaI think it would be an experiment worth conduct-ing to see how home-schooling works against our traditional education.

TJ Zero-Agenda: Students in Bangladesh are already home-schooled. Here we call it private tuition. It’s not like they learn much in the schools anyway.

Zero-AgendaTJ: Not in an exclusive way. What I was suggest-ing would have no association with any public institutions at all.

Ingenious � re protection and alarmJune 5SA MansoorA news report from Pirojpur, published on May 29, speaks of a remarkable device that can be used in � re� ghting. No doubt, he’s brilliant and deserves national honors and recognition. We must see to it that he gets it. Such future genius is indeed a boon to the nation.

The device has two functions: It can douse the initial � re, and if that does not stop it, the device sets up an alarm and also sends a mobile phone call to the nearest � re brigade. This is the really fascinating and ingenious part of the device, and some enter-prising factory or industrial organisation should get together with this talented man to develop, patent, and market this potentially useful safety gadget.

Possibly it is made of a combination of optical sensors, and automatic circuit breakers that trigger the � ame retardant chemical spray, and after some time; if it senses more heat, then sends the mobile phone message.

The problem with � re� ghting in our nation usually lies with the time taken by the � re brigade to respond to and reach the site of the � re. The problem at the � re station boils down to the time lag between getting the mobile call, or any signal, from the � re site, and then mobilising and reaching the place.

I’m sure it’s di� cult for � re� ghters to keep their mental and physical state � t, so as to keep alert and remain totally ready to react swiftly at all times, while on stand-by. This waiting for a signal, with nothing to do during the stand-by time, is a tremendous mental and psychological load. One wonders if our � re department has access to any studies on, or informa-tion and best practices in, this important matter that may have been developed by � re brigades of other more developed and advanced countries.

Chicken or egg?June 5

SMMany decades back in school, we used to ask:

Which came � rst, the chicken or the egg? Today, this age-old question has been answered by the AFP report, published in your business page on

June 2. Financially, it seems the “egg” comes out � rst.

Just imagine, (and I quote): “A giant vat containing 50,000lbs of egg yolk, will be salted

and shipped to Mexico (from USA) later this week for mayonnaise production!” So said the

founder of this “egg factory.” Their family business started back in the 1940s in Thompsonville, near

New York City, when it was only a chicken farm. Eliot Gibber, the present successor, has stopped

farming chickens, and now it is an industrial egg-cracking facility, set up on the earlier 165 acre

chicken farm. Now, eggs in bulk are brought in, turning out various products, from egg whites,

egg yolks and whole eggs!Now, I am confused; it seems the egg won the

race, while the chicken farm is a distant second, if at all!

Defence gets TK16,462 crore allocation

June 5

Maurizio MazzucotelliIn 2004, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, following the

violent riots against the whites, many Europeans with children reached the home of the Bangla-

deshi battalion for protection.The battalion closed its doors and advised

them to reach the French base ... on the other side of the city!! Unnecessary and cowardly

troops, deployed only to receive the money of the mission.

Not the right cureJune 5

OsmanAccording to homeopathy, sea-water is a cure

for terrorists, because the ocean’s got some Bin Laden dissolved in it.

Cheque payment must for house rent over Tk 25,000

June 5

Fahad AlamThis means, like VAT, we the “mango” people will have to pay another indirect payment when the

landlords decide to increase rents due to this.

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

n Tunku Varadarajan

In the next few weeks, as the 2014 soccer World Cup is in full � ow in Brazil, we should have proof of

whether Qatar won its bid to host the 2022 soccer World Cup by means of good old-fashioned bribery. If the an-swer is yes, there is every chance that the news will throw a malign shadow over the tournament in Brazil. Gaudy, dodgy FIFA, the governing body of world soccer whose operating meth-ods are a permanent invitation to cor-ruption, will have no digni� ed option but to strip host-nation status from Qatar and begin proceedings to confer it on another nation. This would be unprecedented, and enormously ugly, but the cup’s sponsors — Visa, Adidas, Sony, Coca-Cola, and others — are indi-cating that nothing else would satisfy them: A cup in Qatar would sully their brands.

And yet, even as we grapple with the question of whether suitcases full of cash did the hosting trick for the Emirate, we ignore the equally press-

ing question of another controversial World Cup-in-waiting: That of 2018, in Russia. Compared with Qatar’s alleged transgressions — the grubby purchase of votes and favours — Russia is in full-scale breach of international law, hav-ing invaded and annexed the territory of a neighbouring, sovereign state. If Russia is still in possession of Ukrain-ian territory in 2018, why should that country be entitled to host the World Cup? With Vladimir Putin certain to be in power that year, so long as he’s capable of drawing breath, it is almost certain that the expansionist nature of the Russian state will remain essential-ly unchanged.

The larger goal, of course, is not to strip Russia of the cup as an end in itself, but to � nd ways to hurt Moscow so much that it will relinquish the territory it has annexed from Ukraine. As we have seen in the weeks that fol-lowed the gobbling up of Crimea, there is little will in the West to embark on the sort of economic sanctions that could hobble the Putin-state. In fact, the modern history of economic sanc-

tions suggest that such measures can, in the case of a stubborn and resource-ful renegade, lead to a hardening of national resolve, as was the case with South Africa in the Apartheid years.

The example of South Africa, however, also shows that sporting sanctions can bite — and bite painfully, especially in a state with sporting prowess and pedigree. So why not start right now, threaten to move the 2018 cup out of Russia,

where memories of the 1980 Olympic boycott are still raw (especially in Putin’s neo-Soviet circles)?

That World Cup is far away enough to allow a pivotal question to be asked immediately, one that would apply to Qatar, too: In awarding the World Cup to a host nation, shouldn’t there always be a designated “fallback host,” a runner-up that has formal hosting rights in the event that the designated host � nds itself unable — or is found un� t — to host the cup? If that had been the norm already, FIFA would not now � nd itself in uncharted waters, asking itself what to do in the event that Qatar capsizes. We would have had a readymade alternative, as we would have had for 2018 as well.

Those who lost out to Russia had all the conventional qualities of a World Cup host, and were all entirely worthy: England, Portugal and Spain (bidding jointly), and Belgium and the Netherlands (also bidding jointly). They had transparent bids, credible histories as footballing nations, and had not annexed another country’s

territory since the end of the Second World War. Had any of these countries received a formal “stand-by” designa-tion from FIFA, a lobbying campaign could have been initiated, challenging Russia’s moral and political � tness to host the World Cup without opening up the question of who the alternate host would be.

Given international rankings and comparative abilities, there are usually around 10 European Union teams in every World Cup. Add to that the US, Japan, and South Korea, and one has a dozen teams whose absence from the cup would be enough for sponsors to consider pulling out too. In that event, Russia’s hosting of the 2018 World Cup would almost certainly unravel. FIFA, not an organisation to walk away from money, would scarcely countenance a situation where the money walks away from it. It would have no choice but to revoke Russia’s hosting rights and award the cup to a country which oth-er Western countries (and the Western companies that are sponsors of) � nd acceptable.

With its vast distances, many ugly cities (beyond St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg), and a xenophobic population, Russia isn’t a natural � t for a tournament that celebrates a joyous spontaneity of skill and diversity. Russia bid for the cup purely to bolster its international prestige, and, given its indefensible conduct on the interna-tional stage, it would only be � tting to � nd ways to deny Moscow the prestige it craves. No country has the unfettered right to host the World Cup — and certainly not one that seizes by force the territory of others. The aim of this exercise, one has to believe, is to maneuver Moscow into the circle of good global citizenship. And a serious debate on taking away the 2018 World Cup would help achieve that goal. So, let’s kick o� … l

Tunku Varadarajan is a writer-at-large for The Daily Beast. A former editor of Newsweek, he is the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter research fellow in Journalism at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. This piece was previously published in The Daily Beast.

n Avilash Roul

In a remarkable display of faith in regional cooperation, the new prime minister in Delhi invited all

the heads of governments and their representatives of Saarc and Mauri-tius to his swearing-in. Interestingly, except for a common dinner hosted by the president of India, the Saarc leaders never met as a group. Are we looking forward to a robust, frequent, e� ective, and e� cient regional dia-logue on a myriad of issues regarding South Asia, especially on the environ-ment front? Too early to predict, but we shall be hopeful.

The responses from India’s neigh-bours are surprisingly warm, felici-tating the occasion. The attendance points towards the previous govern-ment’s dilly-dallying of bilateral as well as regional foreign policies. While o� cially pronounced as a gesture to Saarc members, a series of bilateral talks occurred without emphasising on obvious Indo-Pak talks.

The � rst day, � rst show of the new government has given su� cient pointers for reading future prospects. From hosting leaders and preparing the timing and sequences of bilateral meetings to press brie� ng, the Indian foreign o� ce did it with a compact strategy for re-energising Saarc. It is too early to judge the Saarc leaders’ presence and the success of the region-al bloc in coming days. However, it is clear that the new right-wing govern-ment is interested in developing the region as a whole, providing mutual dividends to India and others.

The potential of mutual dividends is huge but untapped. There are plenty of issues that should trigger regional cooperation, but they are left unat-tended. Can the countries pull their socks up and address these common but serious issues?

Water resource management, especially for transboundary rivers, must be addressed. “Harnessing” transboundary rivers is exploitative and a narrow view in itself, which is a wrong basis for formulating a resource management agenda. So far, all the bilateral water treaties are project-spe-ci� c and bereft of addressing com-prehensive river ecology. Prominent among others is the Inter Basin Water Transfer (IBWT), famously known as river-linking project, which is set to be revived under this government, despite one of its cabinet minister’s opposition to the project.

To begin with, India must put the river-linking project on the Saarc platform to get “consent” from its neighbouring countries where trans-boundary rivers are to be linked. The secretaries of the water ministries of Saarc governments must meet in regular intervals to move forward on discussing transboundary rivers.

Energy would be the next priority to attract de� nitive concerns. The South Asian rivers are attractive to investors, both public and private, for hydropower. The Indian government has promised Bhutan 2650 megawatts of power generation. International � nancial institutions like World Bank and ADB, and countries like the US, China, Russia, and Japan are standing by to support this � nancially.

Coal power projects have already been exported to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka by the previous government, and internal talks are ongoing for the transfer of thermal power to Pakistan. The South Asian governments must

discuss the cost e� ectiveness of such hydropower or coal power projects in the interest of the environment and the South Asian population before sealing the projects.

The threat of climate change has shifted the so-called talks on national security. The Saarc countries have the opportunity to move out of such traditional thinking which is only fuel-ling military expenditure rather than focusing on human development.

Interestingly, the � rst Saarc regional study was commissioned on green-house gases and natural disasters in the early 90s to send a common South Asian stand at the Earth Summit. The next common stand emerged only in 2009 at Copenhagen. The Colombo Declaration and Thimpu Declaration are examples of the right step in stand-ing together on climate change. As Saarc got the status of an observer at the UN-sponsored climate negotiation, countries must maximise this space e� ectively.

While South Asian countries are facing similar threats and challenges, they shy away from pulling together as a unit. Bilateral skirmishes should not overshadow larger regional goals. Each South Asian country participated with their own bag of problems and oppor-tunities in the numerous international environmental negotiations. For example, under endangered species treaties, most South Asian countries are signatory, but there is hardly any agreement between the countries. The countries have never shown an inter-est in striking a common approach prior to these international global platforms. That might be the reason India has been taking away most of the opportunities provided by such international forums like the number of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects under UNFCCC, � nan-cial support from Global Environment Facilities (GEF), and Clean Investment Fund (CIF).

Protecting Sundarbans and its tigers under the India-Bangladesh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) since 2011 came late, but it is a way forward to accommodate other pressing environmental issues. South Asian countries have the momentum to help each other in addressing grave environmental threats such as climate refugee, cross border movement of displaced people, the increasing pace of natural disasters, illegal wildlife trade, protecting coastal areas, and so on. The increased frequency of region-al environmental diplomacy can bring people together for respectful and mutually bene� cial solutions.

South Asian countries should give environmental diplomacy a chance under Saarc in the coming days. l

Avilash Roul is a Senior Fellow (Water, Energy and Environment), Society for the Study of Peace and Con� ict (SSPC), India.

9Op-Ed Thursday, June 12, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Murad Qureshi

While we condemn the forced annexation of Crimea by Putin, we should not forget the crippling chronic

annexation of Palestine by Israel illus-trated by the settlements in the West Bank, and their menacing presence in the daily lives of Palestinians. 

Several stark reminders of this reali-ty were apparent to my colleagues and me during our recent visit to Palestine. During a tour of Greater Jerusalem, we saw � rst-hand the impact on Pales-tinians of the illegal settlements and house demolitions. Taking just one example of basic utilities services; water consumption is some 200 litres plus for residents of the settlements but only 90 odd litres for Palestinians.

Most Palestinians would be lucky to get a rubbish collection, but they are regular in the settlements; even though the Palestinians are still paying the same. The house demolition pro-gram is at the sharp end of a targeted campaign to eliminate properties of families being dispossessed, often on dubious legal grounds, and sometimes very cruelly in the middle of the night.

Refugee camps surrounded by the separation wall in Jerusalem like the one in Shafut have 70,000 residents and receive limited emergency services from the occupying Israeli administration, and yet, construction of the wall of separation is relentless as highlighted during the recent Papal visit. The aim is clear, and that is to isolate Palestinian villages like Abu Dis from the rest of Jerusalem.

I was also struck by the ghost town

in the middle of the city of Hebron im-mediately surrounding the Abrahamic mosque which has become a military zone. Palestinians are banned from walking down the road in Hebron. If ever there was a potential � ash point, this was it, because of the religious sig-ni� cance a� orded by all sides to this site. It felt like a ticking time-bomb.

In Hebron, we witnessed Palestinian children detained by Israel security for nothing more than throwing stones, with two youth shot dead on Nakba Day near Ramallah. We discovered children from the settlements were dealt with by Israeli civil law whilst Palestinian children have military law applied. There are currently over 200 Palestinian children being detained in prison by the Israeli government, often arrested from their beds.

There are also another 200 Pales-tinians in “administrative detention,” held without charge. When we met some of their relatives, we discovered many were on hunger strike, demand-ing an end to the use of administrative detention. This is a procedure that allows the Israeli occupation to arrest

any Palestinian, any time without charge or trial based on “secret infor-mation” that neither the lawyer nor the prisoner can see.

Interestingly, it’s a practice which was introduced by the British, so we have a responsibility to try and end this. Our delegation also experienced some of this aggressive treatment

when we joined the wall protest in Bil’in. The Israeli military responded in their usual way by dispersing tear gas aimed at the protesters.

But the � rst sign of Israeli policy is demonstrated by the reception which the Israeli border control at Tel Aviv airport a� ords their visitors. Quite apart from the fact that in order to get to the West Bank you need to pass through the occupiers points of access (even though Gaza has its own airport strips left behind by the British).

They then embark upon a torrent of aggressive questioning and intimi-dation. They seemed obsessed with my family lineage, asking me repeat-edly for the names of my father and grandfather. Several hours of repeated questioning and interrogation, waiting

around, and an approach designed to make it clear to me in no uncertain terms that I was not welcome, made a very bad start for my trip.

After which, l can only imagine what Palestinians must go through on a daily basis each time they have to pass through check points like Qalan-dia where you see 18-year-old soldiers with sub-machine guns treating them pretty appallingly.

If there is hope, then we saw it in two guises. In Nablus we saw an amazing lively Palestinian city giving us a glimpse of what an unoccupied Palestine could be like. And also, the emergence of some very impressive Palestinian female politicians as their unity government is put in place is recognised by the world. Both Hannen Zoabi MP in the Knesset and the Mayor of Bethlehem, Dr Vera Babon caught my eye in particular. Strong women, with a clear and positive outlook bode well for both the future administration of Palestine and its political culture.

My trip was an eye-opener. It is one thing to see these images of segrega-tion, mistreatment, and su� ering on a television screen, but quite another to experience them. So, international kowtowing to the Israeli government needs to end now, as it only under-stands the language of power and punishment.

By boycotting the settlements and their produce, and by campaigning for sanctions against the Israeli state, we can make our own voices heard and make a stand against oppression and occupation. l

Murad Qureshi is an elected member of the London Assembly.

Still occupied

Construction of the wall of separation is relentless. The aim is clear, and that is to isolate Palestinian villages from the rest of Jerusalem

South Asian countries have the momentum to help each other in addressing grave environmental threats

No country has the unfettered right to host the World Cup — and certainly not one that seizes by force the territory of others

Revitalising Saarc

Don’t give 2018 to Putin

These walls take away the rights of Palestinians REUTERS

Apurbo as single parent in Megh Maa

n Limana Solaiman

Apurbo will be seen in the role of a single parent in the tele� lm “Megh Maa” which will air on Maasranga TV tonight at 8pm. The play addresses the responsibility and stress

attached to single parenthood, especially with a man on the pedestal. Written by Masum Reza and directed by S A Haque Olik, the tele� m also features Bindu as the lead female.

Dhaka Tribune caught up with Apurbo to learn about his

take on single parenting and the actor said: “‘Megh Maa’ is one of my favourite � ctional stories. Roles like this do not come our way very often and the little girl who played my daughter did an amazing job in bringing out the father in me.”

In real life, Apurba is expecting his � rst child this very month and the excited to be father requested his fans and well wishers to pray for the safe birth of his child.

About his notions on parenting, Apurbo said: “As

a father I’ll try to provide my child with the very best that I can a� ord not only in monetary terms but also in terms of ethics, decency and virtue.”

In the tele� lms “Megh Maa,” Auntu lost her mother at birth and is raised by her father alone. Apurbo works in a multinational corporation and has limited time to spend with his daughter who has an active imagination. They move into a new apartment where Bindu is their neighbour. She is a lecturer at a private university and seeing the little girl’s melancholic state, she starts spending time with Auntu whenever she is home from work. One day, Auntu calls Bindu “Megh Maa” much to the irritation of her father. He forbids Auntu to address Bindu by the name and scolds her when she refuses to do so. When Apurbo senses that the situation isgetting out of hand, he movesto a new area with his daughter in tow.

In the mean time, Bindu starts missing Auntu terribly and realises that she has forged a stronger bond with the little girl than mere sympathy for her motherless state. She becomes desperate and starts to have hallucinations of Auntu calling her, standing outside her door and the � gment of her imagination muster up many more images of the little girl.l

An anthology of artistic expressions n Shadma Malik

A group art exhibition titled “Chitrolekha” featuring the art of seven diverse artists is going on at the Dhaka Art Center. The exhibition is a treat for the spectators as it o� ers a variety of themes and mediums.

As always, Nazir Hossain’s friendly tiger acts as an envoy for a cause. This time the tiger is promoting green society. His scroll art “Shobuj Gaa” is about the beauty of the greenery of rural Bengal. The tiger explains how it has emerged out of the colour green. Legendary artist S M Sultan has also portrayed his master pieces on “Shobuj Bangla.” The scroll depicts rhythm and sensibility in preserving nature and to bring peace in society.

Rajib Roy’s series of paintings are a reminiscence of his childhood. He said: “We feel nostalgic in every moment of our life. This happens mostly when we are faced with challenges and think back about the simpler days of our childhood.” One of his paintings show a girl stepping into adult shoes

“It has an insightful message, every child would like to grow and explore the world someday.”

Sadequr Rahman’s painting “Heritage” aims to protect the rich cultural heritage, one of the biggest assets of the country which is at risk.

“Klanto Dupur” by Rumana Islam Rupa represents a lazy afternoon. The leaves are lifeless and there is no sign of people in the

painting that has a melancholic quality.Arup Majumder’s “Mayan Civilisation” is

about the history of the lost civilisation of the Mayan’s which is shrouded in mystery.

Suvu Ghosh’s series of painting “Love” narrates romanticism and intimacy between

two people. Rezowan Pilow’s painting captures a moment in time and expressions of life.

Chitrolekha is a group which has been formed by seven artists from the Fine Arts department of the University of Dhaka. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 201410

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

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

Nature and People Close to NatureTime: 3pm – 9pmAlliance Francaise de DhakaDhanmondi

Group Art ExhibitionTime:10:30am – 5:30pmNalinikanta Bhattashali HallBangladesh National MuseumShahbag

FilmThe Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3D)Pompeii (3D) & (2D)300 Rise of an Empire3 Days KillTarkataTime: 10am – 10pmStar CineplexLevel 8Bashundhara City13/3 Ka, Panthopath

TODAY IN DHAKA

The search for an icon

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Fakhrul Are� n Khan’s “Aim in Life” is about to hit the cinemas. The celebrated documentary � lmmaker, with three acclaimed works under his belt, is investing e� ort and talent to break ground with his � rst � ction enterprise, which portrays the spiritual journey of a young boy.

The � lm centres on Abir, a young orphan on his lifelong quest for someone to look up to, a role model to help him contribute positively to society. His � rst choice is his maternal uncle Ra� q, the family’s patriarch and sole breadwinner. During his adolescence, Abir’s loyalties shift to Belayet, a distant relative who happens to be a religious leader. Then he begins college, turns left-wing, and � nds a new icon in a political leader named Hasan. Even this changes when he falls in love with a wealthy girl Shammi, who replaces everyone else in his heart. Is this the end of his search? The � lm attempts to answer the question.

Mostly young actors have been cast in the lead roles of the � lm. Showvon and Nishat, young, talented, with an academic background in acting, play Abir and Shammi respectively. M Hamid, theatre activist and actor will appear in a guest role. Arko Suman directed the music.

The � lmmaker’s debut work “Al Badar” on war crimes in Bangladesh, received the Best Documentary in National Film Awards 2011 while his other two documentary “The Speech” and “Haq-er Ghar” was appraised in home.

The � lm, made independently, is in post-production and scheduled to hit cinemas in November. l

Meet the last maneaters

n Entertainment Desk

Watch out for the fascinating documentary “The Last Maneaters,” about the last tigers in the world to hunt, kill, and eat humans, on National Geographic Channel today at 5:30pm.

They live in the Sundarbans, gnarled � ngers of thick impenetrable mangrove forest swamps. It is a place where the daily quest for a net full of � sh, or even an armload of � rewood gathered from the forest � oor, can prove fatal. Here, up to 80 people every year are killed and eaten by tigers. The villages are � lled with orphan and widows

and people who have harrowing tales of survival. An adult Bengal tiger can weigh as much as 500 pounds. When it decides to attack, the results are almost always lethal. Guns and armor are of little use in this area where a stealth attack from the rear can occur with no warning. It is the reality of life in the Sundarbans.

People here understand the risk. They understand that in the Sundarbans, humans are not the most dominant animal. That if a tiger decides to kill, it can and will. This is a place where tigers do not live in fear of people. Here tigers reign supreme. l

Feud alert! Miley Cyrus dump on Selena Gomezn Entertainment Desk

Miley’s friendship with Selena Gomez reportedly "turned sour" in 2008 because of Nick Jonas.

The “Wrecking Ball” hitmaker sparked rumours of a feud when she performed her track FU while holding a crude cardboard cut-out of the brunette beauty with her middle � nger up before throwing it de� antly into the crowd during her Bangerz World Tour in Milan, Italy on Sunday night, and friends close to the duo claim they have had issues since they both dated the former Jonas Brothers star.

A source close to Selena, 21, told E! News that she has always taken the "high road" with Miley, but has never really liked her.

The insider added: "This has been going on for a while."

Meanwhile, a friend close to Miley said: "Their issue dates back to their Disney days... Things turned sour after Miley broke up with Nick Jonas in late 2007. The following year, Nick began seeing Selena and that is when the beef blew up."

The controversial cardboard cutout, created by a fan, featured a photograph of Selena's head on a half-naked body.

While it appears there's no love lost between Miley, 21, and Selena, the blonde singer is good friends with her rival's on-again, o� -again boyfriend Justin Bieber. l

Sonic the Hedgehog movie in the worksn Entertainment Desk

Sony Pictures Entertain-ment has teamed up with Sega-owned � lm production company Marza Animation Planet to develop a “Sonic the Hedgehog” mov-ie.

The � lm, based on the hit video game property, is set to be a mix of CG-an-imation and live action and will be written by Evan Suss-er and Van Robichaux.

The big screen adventure will look to “capture Sonic's irreverent tone and spirit” and will feature a whole host of iconic characters from the franchise, in-cluding Dr Eggman.

"There are limitless stories to tell with a character like ‘Sonic the Hedgehog,’ and a built-in international fan base," said Hannah Minghella, Columbia Pic-tures' president of production.

"Along with our wonderful creative partners at Marza, we're looking to cap-ture everything that generations of fans know and love about Sonic while also growing his audience wider than ever before."

Sonic is a $1bn franchise with over 140 million games sold to date.Marza Animation Planet CEO Masanao Maeda added: "Sonic has had dozens

of adventures on the console and the small screen, and we're thrilled that he's now coming to the big screen.

"Sony Pictures has had great success with hybrid animated and live-action features, and we're con� dent that this collaboration will bring a fresh take to Sonic, while still capturing everything that the fans love about him." l

11DHAKA TRIBUNE

Russell shines with the ball, Sagicor take series 2-0 n Mazhar Uddin

Following his brilliant hundred in the � rst one-dayer, Andre Russell once again stamped his authority on the opposition as Sagicor High Perfor-mance Centre defeated Bangladesh A by three wickets in the second match and claimed the three-match series 2-0 with a game left at the Windward Park in Barbados on Tuesday.

Captain Naeem Islam won the toss and elected to bat � rst but the decision went horribly wrong for the Bangladesh A side as man-of-the-match Russell re-moved both the openers Imrul Kayes (nine) and Soumya Sarkar (11) cheaply with the visitors losing wickets at reg-ular intervals.

Top-order batters Marshal Ayub and skipper Naeem were the highest scor-ers for their side as they both scored an identical 45 but their inability to prolong their innings proved to be fa-tal as the second-string national side were bundled out for 179 in 46.5 overs. Russell scalped six wickets giving away only 26 runs in 8.5 overs.

In reply, the hosts were in a spot of bother after fast bowler Robiul Islam picked up three early wickets for Ban-gladesh A and later medium-fast bowl-

er Muktar Ali took two wickets in quick succession as Sagicor were reeling at 103/7 in 22 overs.

However, wicket-keeper-batsman Chadwick Walton and Ashley Nurse ensured a nervy win for Sagicor as the pair added 77 runs for the eighth wicket to also clinch the series for their side. Walton, who was the highest scorer for Sagicor, remained unbeaten on 45 with the help of three boundaries while Nurse was undefeated on 40 smashing half a dozen fours.

For Bangladesh A, Robiul took three wickets conceding 59 runs in his 10 overs while Muktar and Farhad Reza picked up two wickets each.

Bangladesh A will play their third and � nal one-dayer today in Barbados before taking on the same opposition in a two-match Twenty20 series to con-clude their month-long tour. l

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Sport FINISHING TOUCHA � ag maker puts his � nal touches on an Argentina � ag at Shankhari Bazar in Old Dhaka yesterday. The demand for � ags in Bangladesh is currently very high with the Fifa World Cup starting in Brazil from tonight – MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Did you know?

Greece kept more clean sheets than any other side in European World Cup quali� cation

campaign (8)

New-look England seek home comfortn AFP, London

England will look to put the memory of their 5-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia be-hind them and prove there is Test life be-yond Kevin Pietersen when they face Sri Lanka in the � rst of a two-match series at Lord’s on Thursday.

And with England still smarting from the run out, backing up, of Jos Buttler during Sri Lanka’s 3-2 series-clinching one-day win at Edgbaston, the Test cam-paign has been “spiced up” in the words of home captain Alastair Cook.

Six players who featured in England’s last Test, a crushing 281-run defeat by Australia aren’t in England’s 12 for Lord’s.

Star batsman Pietersen, whose inter-national career was terminated by the England and Wales Cricket Board after the Ashes on account of his ‘distracted’ nature is the most high-pro� le absentee.

But he has been joined on the side-lines by opener Michael Carberry, wick-etkeeper Jonny Bairstow, seamer Boyd Rankin, leg-spinner Scott Borthwick and Ben Stokes, although it was a lack of match � tness that lay behind the all-rounder’s omission.

England’s team could feature three debutants in Australia-born opener Sam Robson, who plays at Lord’s for Middle-sex and all-rounder Chris Jordan and

Moeen Ali, both of whom have played one-day internationals.

Meanwhile, fast bowler Liam Plun-kett, whose ability to bowl at 90mph is something England hope will unsettle the tourists’ batsmen even on what is set to be a typically good Lord’s pitch, is in line for a recall seven years after his � rst Test.

Thursday’s match will also mark En-gland’s � rst Test since Peter Moores be-gan his second spell as head coach.

For all England capitulated in Austra-lia, in the last � ve years they have won 21 out of 33 home Tests, drawing eight and losing just four.

Sri Lanka have never won a Test se-ries of more than one match in England.

It is a record veteran batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene would love to alter on what is set to be the duo’s last tour of Britain and their team may not have a better chance given the later than usual start to the series mini-mises the impact of ‘English’ conditions.

Sri Lanka will hope the likes of seam-er Shamina Eranga and compact opener Kaushal Silva can shine in cricket’s most celebrated arena.

Thirteen Tests have now passed since England, who have recalled wicketkeep-er/batsman Matt Prior despite his trou-blesome Achilles injury, managed the benchmark score of 400 in an innings. l

Farashganj runners up in C’ship Leaguen Tribune Desk

Farashganj MFS � nished their Pre-mier Bank Bangladesh Championship League campaign as the runners-up. They handed Agrani Bank a 2-1 defeat in their ultimate league match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yes-terday.

However, it was Agrani Bank who went ahead in the match inside 10 min-utes. Rabbi netted the opening goal of the match with just seven minutes on the clock before Farashganj crawled back in the game after the breather.

Mohammad Ripon and Gafur Khan scored one goal each in the 61st and 87th minute respectively.

The result had little e� ect on the standing as the Old Dhaka out� t had al-ready con� rmed their promotion to the Bangladesh Premier League.

They ended the second tier with 35 points, nine behind champions Rah-matganj. l

England’s captain Alastair Cook (L) holds the series trophy with Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews, ahead of their � rst Test today, at Lord’s in London yesterday REUTERS

BANGLADESH A TOUR OF WEST INDIES Fifa Congress stung by Blatter resign callsn AFP, Sao Paulo

Football rulers hold their annual con-gress on Wednesday amid calls from top European football for president Sepp Blatter to end his reign as Fifa president and damaging corruption accusations against Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid.

Michael van Praag, head of the Dutch football association, said Blatter should quit when his term ends next year. A similar demand was made by David Gill, vice-chairman of England’s Football As-sociation,

Blatter, 78, o� cially opened Fifa’s an-nual congress at a gala in Sao Paulo on Tuesday night without mentioning the attacks or corruption controversy. He is expected to announce on Wednesday that he will seek a new four year term.

“Tonight we are in a festive mood be-cause let’s say the discussions and all of what’s linked with Fifa and is so import-ant nowadays, we will discuss it tomor-row,” Blatter told said.

Fifa investigator Michael Garcia is to discuss his inquiry into the Fifa vote on the 2022 World Cup awarded to Qatar and the 2018 tournament that will be held in Russia at the Congress.

The corruption allegations and crit-icism of Blatter have threatened to fur-ther taint the opening of the latest World Cup in Sao Paulo on Thursday. Brazil is already struggling with protests over the cost of the event.

Van Praag challenged Blatter when he

appeared before a closed meeting of the European confederation, Uefa. Some federations are angry because Blatter said in 2011 when he secured his latest term that it would be his last.

“Mr Blatter, this is nothing personal but if you look at Fifa’s reputation over the last seven or eight years, it is being linked to all kinds of corruption and all kinds of old boys’ networks things,” Van Praag said he had told Blatter.

“Fifa has an executive president and you are not making things easy for your-self and I do not think you are the man for the job any longer.”

Blatter replied that he would not resign straight away, according to the o� cial.

The English FA’s Gill also said it was “disappointing” that Blatter had changed his stance and the Fifa leader should leave next year.

“I think we need a full, frank and open debate about what Fifa needs go-ing forward.”

Uefa president Michel Platini has been touted as a possible rival to Blatter

when the Fifa vote is held in May next year. Platini has said he will only decide his candidacy in September.

Van Praag said that if Platini does not stand then Uefa should agree another candidate to stand against the Swiss of-� cial.

Blatter was given a standing ovation when he spoke before the African, Asian and North American-Caribbean confed-erations on Monday. “This time, before Uefa, he did not get it,” van Praag said.

Blatter has been Fifa’s president since 1998. But his rule has never seen a con-troversy like the accusations that Qatar paid for votes when Fifa chose the Gulf country to host the 2022 World Cup.

Qatar has strongly denied involve-ment in wrongdoing. But allegations made in British newspaper The Sunday Times are expected to be raised at the Fifa congress.

Garcia, a former US federal prosecu-tor, has completed his report but it will not be handed to a Fifa adjudicatory chamber until mid-July. Blatter has said no decisions will be taken until Septem-ber or October.

Fifa faces mounting pressure as � ve of its six major sponsors, who account for hundreds of millions of dollars of � -nance each year, have called for a thor-ough investigation of the allegations.

The embattled Fifa leader has hit back at critics however by saying that racism is behind the corruption accusa-tions. l

Britain’s Andy Murray trains as his newly-appointed French coach Amelie Mauresmo (C) looks on during a practice session at day three of the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club in west London yesterday AFP

Hazard ‘certain’ to stay at Chelsean AFP, Brussels

Eden Hazard said he is “100% certain” to stay with Chelsea next season in an interview with Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure published Tuesday.

“I am 100% certain to stay at Chelsea. Everyone knew that really,” the 23-year-old attacking mid� elder, who was a target of French champions Paris St Germain, told the paper.

The wealthy French club are said to have o� ered 75 million euros for Haz-ard, who had been subject to some se-vere criticism from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho in the latter part of the season.

Hazard is presently with the Belgian squad at the World Cup in Brazil.

“In football, you never know. Bam! Things happen,” he said. “But I am under contract with Chelsea and I want to stay.”

Hazard, whose father is his personal manager and had said last week his son’s future would not be discussed during the � nals so he was fully focussed on the tournament, said he had received no o� er from Paris and indicated that he wants to extend his deal with Chelsea.

“We are talking quietly (with owner Roman Abramovich). It is just the start. He has told me he wants me to stay and that its ‘a question of trust for me’. That shows I have done a good job and he is counting on me.” l

Murray makes ideal start to Mauresmo eran AFP, London

Andy Murray made the perfect start to his bold venture with new coach Amelie Mauresmo on Wednesday as the Wim-bledon champion opened his Queen’s Club title defence with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Murray sent shockwaves through the tennis world when he announced on Sunday that Frenchwoman Mauresmo would replace Ivan Lendl, who quit in March, as his coach for at least the grass-court season.

The 27-year-old’s decision to ignore several high-pro� le male coaches to hire Mauresmo, a former world number one and Wimbledon champion, has been the talk of the sport for the last three days.

Mauresmo, the current France Fed Cup captain, has tried her hand at coaching on several occasions since retiring in 2009.

She had a brief spell working with male player Michael Llodra in 2010, but in the testosterone fuelled world of men’s tennis few leading players have

female coaches and the decision is seen in some quarters as a major gamble.

In the circumstances, a routine sec-ond round victory at this Wimbledon warm-up was exactly the kind of � rst date the pair needed as Murray, bidding to win Queen’s for a record-equalling fourth time, proved far too strong for world number 92 Mathieu.

Since losing to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon � nal, Murray has been unstoppable on grass and his winning run, which brought him Olympic gold, a � rst Wimbledon crown and a third Queen’s ti-tle, has now extended to 19 matches.

Murray’s next opponent in the third round will be Czech 15th seed Radek Ste-panek, who defeated Australian Bernard Tomic 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5).

Asked what Mauresmo would make of his performance, Murray told the BBC, “I don’t know, I’ll go and speak to her and see what she thinks. I served pretty well. It was a good start to the grass-court sea-son. I have great memories here and al-ways enjoy coming back.” l

New Zealand in command in Kingstonn AFP, Kingston

Experienced seamer Tim Southee and debutant o� -spinner Mark Craig shared the bowling honours as New Zealand dismissed the West Indies for 262 to take a potentially match-winning 246-run � rst innings lead late on the third day of the � rst Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica on Tuesday.

By the close, the Black Caps had extended that advantage to 260 in reaching seven for two in their second innings.

Opener Peter Fulton and � rst innings centurion Kane Williamson fell cheaply but the tourists go into the fourth day still very much in command.

On a dry, wearing pitch that is expect-ed to deteriorate further over the remain-ing two scheduled days of the match, the tourists are already in an excellent posi-tion to take the lead in the three-match series with what would be only their sec-ond Test match win in the Caribbean. l

Fifa has an executive president and you are not making things easy for yourself and I do not think you are the man for the job any longer

BRIEF SCOREBangladesh A 179/10

Naeem Islam 45, Marshal Ayub 45Andre Russell 6/28Sagicor High Performance Centre 180/7

Chadwick Walton 45*, Ashley Nurse 40*Robiul Islam 3/59

Sagicor HPC won by three wickets

12 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 2014

CHILD LABOUR ELIMINATION

Disparity between planning and execution results in slow progressn Udisa Islam

The curse of child labour continues to plague the country as the disparity be-tween the planning and the execution of initiatives by authorities concerned have failed to eliminate the sweatshops that employ underage workers.

Child rights activists claimed that the realities of society push children into working in hazardous jobs, as there is an absence of any committed e� ort to � nd a solution to the crisis. Children who were forced to work in deplorable conditions also said they had no other choice unless they were o� ered rehabilitation.

The businesspeople who hire child labourers for their shops or factories also admit that there has been no sig-ni� cant change in the situation over the last decade.

Basu Mallik, a businessman from Mirpur who employs 10 boys at his shop, said even though he wants better futures for those children, they would starve if he refused them a chance to earn mon-ey. The people who set plans for the bet-terment of the children have never met any child labourers and did not know what these children want, he said.

There are also di� erences of opinion

among the child rights groups. Some of them emphasise the urgency to ed-ucate the child labourers, while others call for the eliminationof child labour altogether; but no e� ective rehabilita-tion measures have been taken thus far.

Raihan has been working in a tan-nery along with at least a hundred oth-er children, since he was 11 years old. Now a 19-year-old teen, Raihan said he had been working in poor condi-tions for the past eight years in order to support his family. Although Raihan was o� ered admission to non-formal schools on several occasions, he did not take the opportunity, saying that he would get no job with a “street ed-ucation” in a country which was full of unemployed people.

The scenario, however, was di� er-ent for 10-year-oldTutul, who previ-ously worked in a battery recycling factory. When the opportunity arose, he joined anon-formal school where he studied for one and a half years un-til his teacher told him that the course had ended. Without properly � nishing his education and unwilling to return to a life of toil, Tutul has now become a drug dealer.

Several other child labourersalso said they were willingly doing their jobs as

nobody could give them any alternative. Meanwhile, rights activists said

the lives of many child labourers have descended into uncertainty as plans to eliminate child labour do not include any e� ective rehabilitation strategies.

“If we employ children for limited hours in a safe environment, work-ing may be valuable to them and their families,” noted rights activist Khushi Kabir told the Dhaka Tribune.The child labourers could be prevented from tak-ing wrong paths in their lives if people listened to their experiences and en-sured better work environments for them, she added.

On the other hand, Mujibur Rah-man, secretary-in-charge of the Labour Ministry, denied that there were di� er-ences between plans and reality. Saying the government was against eliminat-ing child labour without ensuring reha-bilitation, Mujibur, however, admitted that their resources were limited.

Around 50,000 children engaged in hazardous jobs in labour-dense areas of the capitalwere supposed to receive non-formal education and skill-devel-opment trainingunder a project called “Jhukipurno Srom Niroson”(elimina-tion of hazardous labour) which began in 2010. However, the targeted number

of participants could not be reached, while the participants could also not be supplied with the equipment needed to start their own businesses once the training was complete.

Under the project, children were trained to work in the sectors of beauty parlours, mobile and computer servic-ing, motor mechanic, rickshaw servic-ing and sewing machine operator.

Seeking anonymity, a girl who re-ceived training under the project, said it was not possible for them to start a new business if the trainer could not provide them with a sewing machine, as the garments did not o� er jobs to underage girls.

With the crisis prevailing, the coun-try will observe the World Day against Child Labour today, with the theme: “Extend Social Protection: Combat Child Labour!” Di� erent organisations have chalked up elaborate programmes to mark the day.

According to the last child labour survey conducted in 2003, about 3.2 million children, aged between � ve and 17, were engaged in active labour. Of them, at least l.3 million were involved in hazardous jobs, with boys comprising at least 91% of the child labourers. l

Educationists demand stern action against question leakagen Mushfi que Wadud

Leading educationists in the country urged the Education Ministry to be stricter in order to prevent the recur-ring incidents of question paper leak-age and suggested that laws should be formulated ensuring stern punishment for those responsible for the leakages.

The suggestions came at a meeting between the educationists and Educa-tion Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at the Secretariat yesterday.

The educationists agreed that secu-rity for the question papers should be strengthened, and for that, it was nec-essary to increase the use of informa-tion technology in examination man-agement.

“We suggested that the education minister and the ministry be conscious about question paper leakage and con-tinue their e� orts to prevent such in-cidents in the future,” said Professor Emeritus of Dhaka University Anisuz-zaman after the meeting.

There have been several allegations of question paper leakage in the recently ended Higher Secondary Certi� cate examinations. The Education Board of Dhaka postponed the HSC English second paper exam following a claim that the question had been leaked.

Professor Mohammad Zafar Iqbal

said he had expressed his anger over the question leakage at the meeting.

He said a law should be formulated to take punitive actions against those responsible for the leakage.

Meanwhile, according to sources at the meeting, some educationists urged the ministry not to approve any new private universities and private medi-cal colleges.

In addition, the educationists said the ministry should be cautious about allowing foreign universities to open branches in Bangladesh, and make sure they do not merely do business in the name of o� ering an education.

The issue was raised by Professor Pran Gopal Datta, vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, the sources said.

Others raised questions about the quality of education in some private universities and Honour’s courses of-fered in colleges under the National University.

They also urged the ministry to con-sider reforms in the grading and exam-ination systems.

Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed raised questions about the grading of answer scripts, according to the meet-ing sources.

He said the number of GPA 5 scorers were increasing because of the liberal grading, though their academic skills

were not improving.Artist Hashem Khan said a fear had

developed among the primary school students due to the high number of ex-aminations.

He suggested that there be no exams until Class IV.

Historian Muntassir Mamoon ech-oed Hashem Khan’s suggestions, say-ing school goers were exposed to too many examinations.

He also opted against the Junior School Certi� cate examinations and said the curriculum should be re-viewed frequently.

He raised questions about changing the pictures and madrasa syllabus fol-lowing an objection from the madrasa teachers.

He also said religion should not be imposed on children.

At a press brief after the meeting, the education minister said the minis-try would consider all the suggestions and determine its next course of action accordingly.

He also said those responsible for question leakage would not be spared and the ministry would do everything to prevent question leakages in the fu-ture.

Professor Rehman Sobhan, Profes-sor Salahuddin Ahmed and Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui were also pres-ent at the meeting, among others. l

War crimes suspect Tarafder arrestedn Udisa Islam

Police, with the help of the Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal investigation agency, yesterday arrested Abdul Latif Tarafder, a suspect in a war crimes case, from Badhal union in Bagerhat’s Kachua upazila.

Sources in the probe agency said Tarafder was arrested after the tribunal issued a warrant for his arrest, while police sources said the suspect might be presented before the tribunal today. Tarafder is one of the three accused in

the case. The other two include prime suspect Sheikh Sirajul Islam alias Siraj Master and another whose name was not disclosed by the authorities.

Investigators are probing their al-leged involvement in several crimes against humanity committed in Shakharikatthi of Bagerhat during the Liberation War.

The agency reportedly maintained caution in not releasing news about the

arrest warrant ahead of the drive, in an attempt to arrest all three suspects. However, the two other suspects man-aged to evade arrest.

Abdul Hannan Khan, chief of the inves-tigation agency, told the Dhaka Tribune that the trio were part of a criminal enter-prise and the agency was determined to arrest the fugitive suspects as well.

When contacted, Syed Sayedul Haque, the conducting prosecutor for this case, refused to disclose the details of the case as the two other suspects were still on the run.

The agency has reportedly neared the end of its probe into the alleged crimes by the three men, and found evidence of their involvement in force-fully converting around 200 people as well as other crimes that they commit-ted against humanity in 1971. They also might be charged for genocide.

According to investigators, Siraj was a key associate of razakar founder AKM Yusuf during the Liberation War and in-volved in crimes against humanity in-cluding genocide, murder and torture in Shakharikatthi. Siraj was allegedly the executor of crimes planned by Yusuf, a Ja-maat leader who died on February 9 while on trial for crimes against humanity.

In November 4, 1971, at least 40 un-armed civilians from the Hindu com-munity in Bagerhat’s Shakharikatthi were killed. l

DHAKA-CHITTAGONG EXPRESSWAY

Joint venture picked as consultant n Asif Showkat Kallol

An Australia-New Zealand-Japan-Bang-ladesh joint venture is likely to get the consultancy job to provide technical as-sistance for detailed study and design for the Dhaka-Chittagong expressway.

The government has planned to build the expressway exclusively for local exporters and importers carrying goods at high toll to earn large amount of revenues.

According to a study conducted by the Asian Development Bank, about 90% of the country’s total imports and exports are transported through the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

The appointment of a consultant had been delayed by four months as consulting � rms were at loggerheads with the Roads and Highways Division over the design of the proposed ex-pressway, said a senior o� cial of the Communications Ministry. The RHD wanted to make an extra design of the main bridge, he added.

Due to intervention of the Asian De-velopment Bank, the foreign joint ven-ture � rms had shown interest in taking the job under package I. The Communi-cations Ministry sent its proposal to the cabinet committee on public purchase for approval which is likely to be placed on Sunday, the o� cial said.

Roads Division Secretary MAN Sid-dique said the consultancy � rms would start work soon as the ADB had � nal-ised negotiations with them.

On March 13 last year, the cabinet com-mittee on economic a� airs gave its nod

for a six-lane Dhaka-Chittagong express-way under public-private partnership.

As per the ministry’s proposal, three consultancy � rms would be appointed for the construction of the expressway and the RHD had selected Snowy Moun-tains Engineering Corporation Interna-tional Pty Ltd of Australia in the joint ven-ture with Oriental Consultants of Japan in association with the Association Consult-ing Engineers Consultants Ltd of Bangla-desh and Castalia Ltd of New Zealand.

The consultant � rms will be ap-pointed for Tk83.22 crore. The techni-cal assistance project for detailed study and design of the Dhaka-Chittagong ex-pressway was approved on April 4 last year at a cost of Tk97.87 crore and the work was supposed to start in March last year and complete in August 2016.

According to the main proposal, if the Dhaka-Chittagong expressway is built on an elevated level, its cost would be $6.1bn. If it is constructed at ground level, the cost would be $2.2bn. The expressway would be built under build-own-operate-transfer system.

According to an ADB study con-ducted a couple of years ago, 60% of vehicles using the highway are goods carriers while 27% heavy vehicles carry passengers. The number of vehicles on the route would increase 1.5 times or double in the next � ve years.

The study also said it took around 8-10 hours and sometimes even more to go the 250km distance on the highway. It also suggested constructing a four-lane highway by 2016, a six-lane by 2027 and an eight-lane expressway by 2034. l

B L O W I N G I N T H E W I N D

People get scattered as a sudden storm blows away the marquee of a stage made for Communications Minister Obaidul Quader to open the construction of the third phase of metro rail depot in the capital’s Uttara area yesterday. Obaidul had to be rushed to safety FOCUS BANGLA

2 new upazilas to start activities soonn Mohosinul Karim

The o� cial activities of two newly formed upazilas are going to commence shortly, say gazette noti� cations issued yesterday by the Cabinet Division.

The new upazilas are Osmaninagar under Sylhet district and Guimara un-der Khagrachhari district.

The Cabinet Division issued the ga-zette noti� cations yesterday, granting approval to the establishment of the upazilas, following a decision of the National Implementation Committee for Administrative Reforms (NICAR) led by the prime minister.

According to the noti� cations, Os-maninagar upazila will be formed com-prising eight union parishads of Bala-ganj upazila – Umarpur, Sadipur, West Poilanpur, Goala Bazar, Tazpur, Day-ameer, Burunga Bazar and Usmanpur.

Guimara upazila will comprise three union parishads: Guimara of Matiran-ga, Sindukchhari of Mahalchhari and Hafchhari of Ramgarh upazila.

An organogram for 238 employees, including 26 police personnel, was ap-proved by the Cabinet Division. The ministries, divisions and departments were instructed to assign o� cials and employees for the upazila o� ces.

Earlier, NICAR approved the propos-al for founding the two new upazilas in the two districts, which had already been in operation as police stations un-der other upazilas. l

PM’s painting goes viral on Facebook n Tribune Report

A painting by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has gone viral on Facebook.

The painting, portraying the natural beauty of Bangladesh’s riverside dur-ing monsoon, was created by Hasina in 1994.

Nasrul Hamid, the state minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, shared a photo of the paint-

ing on his Facebook page yesterday afternoon. The post went viral with some 456 likes and some 28 comments within hours. It has also been shared 96 times till � ling the report.

“This image of nature has been painted by the premier herself in 1994,” Nasrul said in the photo caption.

In the painting, some small boats are seen stationed on a river bank while the sky seems to be cloudy. l

SOURCE: FACEBOOK

The investigation agency did not release news about arrest warrant ahead of the drive, but two suspects managed to escape

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

S3 | RONALDO SHINES IN RETURN

Joishthya 29, 1421Shaaban 13, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 73

MAIN NEWSPAPER INSIDE 24-PAGE WORLD CUP SPECIAL S4 | BRAZIL, ARGENTINA IN THEIR OWN EYES

A child runs in front of a mural painting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil AFP

Brazil homeless movement calls o� protestsn Sao Paulo

The Homeless Workers’ Movement, a mainstay of the anti-World Cup demonstrations that have shaken Bra-zil in recent months, has reached a deal with authorities not to protest during the tournament.

The group said that in exchange for a promise not to take to the streets it had extracted key concessions from author-ities, including a pledge to build houses on land the movement illegally occu-pied last month near the Sao Paulo sta-dium that will host Thursday’s kick-o� .

“The movement isn’t against the Cup. We won’t protest either against the Cup or during it,” spokeswoman Jussara Basso told AFP.

Authorities have also agreed to give the movement’s members priority access to a federal housing program called “My House, My Life,” a govern-ment website con� rmed. Thousands of movement families have set up a tent city in Sao Paulo just a few kilometers from Corinthians Arena, baptizing their squatter camp the “People’s Cup.”

The movement had also been a key player in broader protests against the more than $11 billion being spent on the World Cup, saying it should have been used to address pressing needs in hous-ing, education, health and transport. l

n AFP, Rio De Janeiro

Brazil’s President Dilma Roussef vowed that her country is ready to host the most trouble-plagued World Cup in his-tory from Thursday as she confronted public anger at the multi-billion-dollar price tag.

The four-week feast of football in the sport’s spiritual homeland gets un-der way in Sao Paulo, where Brazil face Croatia at 5:00pm (2000 GMT).

The start of the four-yearly extrav-aganza is the acid test for organisers and football’s governing body FIFA, who have been scrambling to get Brazil ready for the biggest single sport event.

The � rst of 64 matches which cul-minate with the July 13 � nal in Rio de Janeiro will be staged in the Corinthians Arena, a symbol of the chaotic build-up.

Rousse� acknowledged that orga-nizing the cup was tough, but she in-sisted that the 12 stadiums are ready and told foreign fans Brazil would wel-come them with “open arms” like Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue.

“Brazil overcame the main obstacles and is ready on and o� the pitch for the cup,” she said in a nationally televised address late Tuesday.

Rousse� said she understood the protesters but insisted they are wrong.

“For any country, organizing a cup is like playing a game, sweating and often su� ering, with the possibility of extra-time and penalty kicks,” Rousse� said. “But the � nal result and celebra-tion are worth the e� ort.”

PAGE S2 COLUMN 1

Troubled World Cup poised to kick-o�

Brazil look to turn on the stylen AFP, Sao Paulo

Brazil are desperate to make a powerful state-ment of intent in Thurs-day’s World Cup opener against Croatia as they seek to relieve the suf-

focating pressure that has engulfed the team in the build-up to the tournament.

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has the luxury of being able to � eld the same team that destroyed world champions Spain 3-0 in the � nal of last year’s Con-federations Cup, with Barcelona star Neymar the focal point of a powerful and settled line-up.

The � ve-time champions are expect-ed to qualify from their group without too much trouble but Barcelona de-fender Dani Alves admitted there was anxiety ahead of the Sao Paulo opener, as they seek to ease the jitters.

“I have always said that if you don’t feel anxiety it is not worth being a pro-fessional athlete. The opening game is di� cult, important,” said Alves.

“The three points count but so does the idea of sending out a message to our rivals. The most important game at the World Cup, for everyone, is the opening game.”

He added: “We will only know on

Thursday if everything is OK. We are very con� dent and we want this moment to come. We want to enjoy the World Cup. We are going to try to give a good image.”

The only question mark for tourna-ment favourites Brazil for the match at the new Corinthians Arena would ap-pear to be over the out-of-sorts Oscar, with his impressive Chelsea team-mate Willian pushing for a starting berth.

But Scolari, who masterminded

Brazil’s last World Cup win in 2002, is likely to stick with his tried-and-tested winning formula against 18th-ranked Croatia after the same 11 edged past Serbia 1-0 in a friendly last week, cour-tesy of a goal from Fred.

Brazilian reserve striker Jo, speaking after training on Tuesday, said the mood in the camp was calm but the nerves would be jangling as kick-o� approached.

And squad member Bernard said it was crucial to start the tournament with a win as Brazil chase their � rst World

Cup tournament win on home soil.“There are no easy games and the

game against Serbia was very compli-cated,” said the winger. “They are quite a well-balanced side. I think the game against Croatia will be similar.”

Croatia will be missing Bayern Mu-nich striker Mario Mandzukic because of a red card he picked up in a match against Iceland in November.

But they also boast Real Madrid’s Luka Modric in their line-up, who said the key to the game would be the mid-� eld battle, admitting the task of taking on Brazil in their own backyard was daunting.

“Virtually every game is decided in the mid� eld. In most situations the winner is the team that has the better mid� eld,” said Modric. And Modric, fresh from winning the Champions League with Real Madrid, highlighted the danger of Neymar, hailed by many as the key man for Brazil.

“Neymar did not have the best of sea-son with Barcelona, but when he plays for Brazil, he is a completely di� erent player,” said Modric. “But I believe that we will � nd a way to stop him.”

The match will be played in the 61,600-capacity Corinthians Arena, which was delayed by accidents in which three workers were killed. l

How the name Pele came into being

Believe it or not - Pele, a r g u a b l y

the greatest ever footballer to have played the game actually hates the name he is known by and has been famous for all these years. The King revealed the mystery regarding the genesis of his name in a launching programme of a video blog and the TV show ‘The Real Pele’ written by his daughter Kely at the Sao Paulo Stadium yesterday.

The only three time World Cup winner said he was not named Pele by his parents. “My father named me Edson resembling the name of the scientist Thomas Edison and I was very proud of that. But when I started playing football, may be the technique was di� erent and some-body started calling me Pele. What can I do? Gradually Pele became a brand worldwide,” said Pele.

The football magician also add-ed that the language and the ap-peal of the beautiful game have not changed. “I believe the game has not changed. It’s the good players who present it di� erently. When we played, we felt the same heat in the � eld. Nowadays only the rules have been changed, football has not changed,” said Pele.

“The rules protect the footballers more now than they did in our times. It was really tough to face the chal-lenges. Nowadays the rules protect the footballers and it is for the better-ment of the game,” added Pele.

Pele admitted that the modern PAGE S2 COLUMN 6

from Sao Paulo, Brazil

Where: The Corinthians arena, Sao Paulo Capacity: 61,606 When: Thursday, June 12, 1700 local (2000 GMT/4 PM ET) Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)Probable teamsBrazil12-Julio Cesar, 6-Marcelo, 3-Thiago Silva, 4-David Luiz, 2-Dani Alves, 8-Paulinho, 17-Luiz Gustavo, 11-Oscar, 10-Neymar, 9-Fred, 7-Hulk. Croatia1-Stipe Pletikosa; 11-Darijo Srna, 5-Vedran Corluka, 6-Dejan Lovren, 2-Sime Vrsaljko; 18-Ivica Olic, 7-Ivan Rakitic, 10-Luka Modric, 20-Mateo Kovacic, 4-Ivan Perisic; 9-Nikica Jelavic. Key stats

Brazil have played in the opening game of a World Cup on three previous occa-sions, beating Scotland (1998) and Mex-ico (1950) and drawing with Yugoslavia (1974).

Croatia have failed to register a win in their last four games at the World Cup � nals. Their last victory was a 2-1 win over Italy in June 2002.

Brazil have won their opening game at the last eight World Cup tournaments.

Previous meetingsThere have been two between the teams. The � rst was a 1-1 draw in a 2005 friendly in Split, the other a 1-0 win for Brazil in the group stage of the 2006 World Cup. Last meeting: June 13, 2006, Berlin, Germany, World Cup group stage - Brazil 1 Croatia 0

FACT BOX (Brazil v Croatia)

Heartbreak and horse placenta

n Iresh Zaker

Being a generally positive person, I will start what I hope will be a month long series of articles on the World Cup with the happy topic of heartbreak. Here are my credentials on the subject. I have been a diehard fan of the Liverpool football club for the last 30 years. Enough said.

Why heartbreak and not horse placenta? Trust me I will write extensively on a horse’s uterus in the days to come, especially if said equine body part ends up deciding who wins the Golden Boot. But for now I will concen-trate on what I feel is a social responsibility.

I am old enough to have engrossedly watched eight world cups. Out of these Bra-zil and Argentina have won three. So at least 62.5 percent of the time, about 150 million Bangladeshis have su� ered heartbreak. The � gures are alarming, more so because we don’t take this stu� lightly. It’s not like, for the average fan, Argentina deservedly getting knocked out of the world cup is akin to a bad shingara in the morning, which legitimately causes sadness but on a minor level. They will literally die, and/or then kill people who support Brazil, and in most instances those people would have died anyway because Brazil would not have won either. It is a grim cul de sac of madness. One which I would have abided much more easily had most of these people not looked at me blankly when I started an animated discussion on Arturo Vidal (gotta look out for him) during the intervening years.

Let’s face it. Some if not most of our fans do not give a horse’s placenta about football. They still believe that Brazil play the Samba, and that Maradona is the greatest coach,

banker, guitarist, and horse whisperer in the world. Clearly what rules the day during the thirty days of the cup is not the reality or the science of football, but rather a set of ob-scure convictions drawn greatly from ghosts of emotions past. Not the kind of stu� that we should be risking lives and limbs for.

So here is a futile piece of advice from someone who has been stripped of pride and peace by unworthy ga� ers like Roy Hodgson. Get yourself incredibly occupied elsewhere during the next month. Start a new romance, write a book, study the reproductive process in horses. Do anything to take your mind o� of what’s going on in Brazil. Should your team look like they might take the trophy, start watching. Otherwise go back to what you were doing. It’s only a month, and this way, after the month is over you will either be unbelievably happy or go back to not caring about football. In the meantime you will have saved yourself and those around you, and preserved the bodies and brains that are so valuable to Bangla-desh, except during the World Cup month. l

GROUP H

GROUP E

GROUP G

GROUP F

GROUP A GROUP B

GROUP C GROUP D

Algeria Belgium Russia South Korea

Ecuador France Honduras Switzerland

Germany Ghana Portugal United States

Argentina Bosnia-Herzegovina

Iran Nigeria

Colombia Greece Ivory Coast Japan Costa Rica England Italy Uruguay

Brazil Cameroon Croatia Mexico Australia Chile Netherlands Spain

GROUP H

GROUP E

GROUP G

GROUP F

GROUP A GROUP B

GROUP C GROUP D

Algeria Belgium Russia South Korea

Ecuador France Honduras Switzerland

Germany Ghana Portugal United States

Argentina Bosnia-Herzegovina

Iran Nigeria

Colombia Greece Ivory Coast Japan Costa Rica England Italy Uruguay

Brazil Cameroon Croatia Mexico Australia Chile Netherlands Spain

VThe Corinthians arena, Sao Paulo

Thursday, June 12, 5:00PM local (2:00AM BST)

A

DT GUIDE TO THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

Dhaka Tribune June 12, 2014

Brazil legend Pele kisses his daughter Kelly Christina at the launching ceremony of a video blog and the TV show ‘The Real Pele’ in Sao Paulo yesterday RAIHAN MAHMOOD

THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Troubled World Cup poised to kick-o� PAGE S1 COLUMN 1Construction of the $424 million (313m euros) 61,600 Sao Paulo venue ground to a halt in November when a giant crane toppled over and killed two workers. A third labourer died in an accident in March. Eight workers have died while racing to complete World Cup-related projects.

The 12 World Cup stadiums were due to be ready by the end of Decem-ber. Six missed the initial deadline.

Only this week, workers could be seen busily wiping seats, checking beams and installing wiring just days before the opener, which will be attended by 12 heads of state, UN

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and assorted VIPs.

Yet FIFA o� cials are bullishly back-ing Brazil, with President Sepp Blatter, under-� re over his handling of corrup-tion allegations against Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid, strongly backing the hosts.

“We at FIFA, we are con� dent, it will be a celebration,” said Blatter. “After the tournament kicks o� I think there will be a better mood.”

But the spectre of social unrest and transport chaos looms large.

A wage strike by Sao Paulo subway workers last week brought the city to a standstill, and led to riot police � ring

teargas to break up protesters before the walkout was suspended on Monday.

Union leaders have threatened to re-sume the strike during the tournament if their demands are not met. On Tues-day, subway workers in Rio de Janeiro, which hosts seven games including the � nal, threatened similar action.

Authorities worry about a repeat of nationwide protests around the FIFA Confederations Cup last year.

The estimated $11 billion Brazil is spending on the World Cup tourna-ment has angered many in a country with chronically under-funded health and public services and violent crime.

The rapid spread of last year’s

protests caught Brazilian authorities o� -guard, and a massive security blanket will be draped across the World Cup in an e� ort to avoid a repeat of the clashes.

Around 150,000 police and soldiers and some 20,000 private security o� cers will be deployed across the 12 host venues to counter protesters whose slogan is “the Cup will not take place.”

In April, Rio’s famous Copacabana district witnessed violent clashes after residents of a nearby favela accused police of shooting dead a local man.

And resentment at the vast amounts lavished on the tournament -- Brazil

is believed to be the most expensive World Cup in history -- remains.

Brazil’s footballers were targeted by striking teachers as they set o� for their training camp outside Rio last month.

“An educator is worth more than Neymar,” teachers chanted, referring to the team’s star striker.

Despite the o� -� eld problems, the tournament itself promises to be a classic.

Brazil, chasing a record sixth World Cup, host the tournament for the � rst time since their loss to Uruguay in the climax of the 1950 � nals, when their neighbours in� icted a defeat which be-came a national trauma. l

Pele worried about great expectations for Neymarn AFP, Rio De Janeiro

Brazil star Neymar is under too much pressure to deliver the hosts with a sixth World Cup trophy, football legend Pele told the BBC.

The 22-year-old Barcelona striker -- who has scored seven goals in Brazil’s nine successive friendly wins leading into the � nals -- is too young to be load-ed with such expectations said Pele ahead of the hosts opening game with Croatia in Sao Paulo on Thursday.

Pele’s comments came despite his impressive performances for Brazil at last year’s Confederations Cup -- the mini dress rehearsal for the World Cup -- which saw them overwhelm present World Cup holders Spain 3-0 in the � -nal with Neymar scoring a spectacular goal.

“Neymar is young,” three-time World Cup winner Pele told the BBC.

“It is a heavy pressure for him to get all the responsibility.”

Pele, 73 and Brazil’s record goalscor-er with 77 goals, said coach Luiz Felipe Scolari -- who coached Brazil to the last of their � ve World Cup trophies in 2002 -- had succeeded in turning the team into an outstanding defensive unit,

which has often been the weakness in the national side.

They have scored 30 goals and con-ceded just two in their nine consecutive victories since losing to fellow World Cup � nalists Switzerland last August.

“For the � rst time in history, Brazil has a defence better than they attack,” said Pele.

“The mid� eld back is fantastic. Very organised. I hope we can adjust from the mid� eld forward.” l

Brazil police fear protest violence at WC openern Reuters, Sao Paulo

Brazilian police fear street demonstrations will erupt in violence prior to the World Cup’s opening game on Thurs-day in Sao Paulo, as in-

telligence indicates a few hundred pro-testers will try to block roads leading to the stadium.

Police have used phone wiretaps and social media to gather information on protesters’ movements and plans before the opener between Brazil and Croatia, which will attract 60,000 fans, leaders of world soccer body FIFA and about a dozen heads of state, including Brazilian President Dilma Rousse� .

Demonstrations have raged on and o� since last June as Brazilians vent their anger against what they see as govern-ment overspending on the month-long tournament, among other issues.

At their peak, the protests drew more than 1 million people into the streets. They have been signi� cantly smaller in recent months but police are worried about what they describe as a hard core

of radicals, mostly young men, who have vandalized buildings and clashed with police at previous events.

Several protest groups have called on Facebook for their followers to gath-er in downtown Sao Paulo on Thursday at 10 a.m. (1300 GMT) and then head toward the Arena Corinthians, some 12 miles (20 km) east. The game is set to start at 5 p.m.

Surveillance indicates some pro-testers are planning to evade police barricades and cut o� Radial Leste, a key thoroughfare that will be used by VIPs to get to the stadium, according to three o� cials informed of the intel-ligence.

Protesters or disgruntled subway workers who have taken strike action this month may also try to obstruct the train line that most fans will use to get to the game, the o� cials said.

Police have strict orders to keep roads and public transportation open.

“If the protesters try to keep fans from arriving, the situation could get ugly,” one o� cial said on condition of anonymity. “Police will keep the roads open, I guarantee.” l

Swiss guinea pig seeks mantle of Paul the Octopusn AFP, Geneva

A Swiss guinea pig has joined a menag-erie of soothsaying animals tasked with predicting World Cup scores after the 2010 success of deceased soccer oracle Paul the Octopus.

Madame Shiva is setting her sights lower than other animal pundits, how-ever, by focusing only on her home team’s matches in Brazil.

The 20-month-old guinea pig has already tipped Switzerland to beat Ec-uador in their opening Group E game on Sunday, said the international de-velopment charity Swissaid, which put Madame Shiva’s skills to the test.

She was placed on a mini soccer pitch with the colours of Switzerland and Ecuador at either end.

With a brief sni� of the pitch, Ma-dame Shiva darted to the Swiss end, where in a sign of approval, she left a single dropping.

She was watched by former Swit-zerland manager, Frenchman Gilbert

Gress, who said she was spot on.“Her prediction tallies with what’s

going to happen on Sunday, when Swit-zerland beat Ecuador,” Gress said.

Madame Shiva’s next job will be to forecast the result of her team’s crunch clash with neighbours France on June 20, and their � nal group match against Honduras � ve days later.

Her job will continue if the “Nati” achieve their goal of at least a berth in the knock-out stages.

Swissaid said Madame Shiva’s new role was about more than football.

The charity works closely with smallholders in Latin America, notably Ecuador -- where guinea pigs are raised for meat and their droppings are used for organic compost -- and it aims to raise awareness of the animals’ impor-tance.

Paul, the German octopus, won worldwide fame by correctly predict-ing the results of several games at the 2010 World Cup using its tentacles. It died shortly after the tournament.l

Uruguay coach says not sure when Suarez will be � tn Reuters, Belo Horizonte

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez does not know when forward Luis Suarez, working hard on his � tness after knee cartilage surgery, will be ready to play again, he said on Tuesday.

“He’s responding very well and his spirits couldn’t be better. He’s working full out on his physical � tness,” Tabarez told a news conference after Uruguay’s � rst practice at their training base near Belo Horizonte.

“As we have no set deadlines, I don’t know if we’ll have him for the � rst match, for the second, for the third. If it were up to me, Suarez would play to-morrow.”

Uruguay kick o� their World Cup Group D campaign against Costa Rica followed by matches against England and Italy. Suarez told his Twitter fol-lowers on the squad’s arrival in Brazil that his left knee is recovering well from his keyhole surgery on May 22 and he is in a good frame of mind.l

World Cup bonuses cause stir from Spain to Cameroonn AFP, Paris

From Cameroon’s play-ers refusing to board their plane for Brazil to Spain’s massive o� er, World Cup bonuses have already caused a stir be-

fore a ball has been kicked in anger.As ever it was an African country,

this time Cameroon, who kicked up the � rst fuss over bonuses.

In 2006 it was Togo while last time out in South Africa it was again Camer-oon whose players threatened to go on strike.

This time Samuel Eto’o and his team-mates initially refused to board their plane for Brazil on Sunday unhap-py at the amount o� ered them by the government.

An o� er of 76,000 euros ($104,000) per man was rejected before the play-ers eventually accepted that amount plus six percent of the revenue generat-ed by their federation at the World Cup.

Even if they are eliminated in the group stages they stand to earn a mini-mum of $21,000 extra each.

Quibbling over such sums is a far cry from the extravagant o� er dangled out in front of Spain’s reigning world and European champions.

They stand to earn a staggering 720,000 euros each should they lift the trophy for the second time in succes-sion, but less impressive performanc-es would result in drastically reduced earnings.

Their bonuses, like those for Ger-many, only kick in at the quarter-� nal stage, where Spanish players would re-ceive 60,000 euros compared to 50,000 euros for the Germans.

Thereafter, however, the Spanish bonuses start to accelerate away, with Germany’s players ‘only’ set to earn 300,000 euros a man if they win.

- Brazil payday -Hosts Brazil are also in line for a

bumper payday, with squad members reported to earn around 1 million reais

($448,000) if they go all the way.Those may seem astronomical sums

but they must be taken into consideration alongside the fact that FIFA will give $35 million to the winning federation, $25 million to the runners up with the two losing semi-� nalists gaining $22m and $20m depending on whether they win or lose the third-placed play-o� .

Spain’s massive bonuses should also be considered alongside the 600,000 euros they earnt for winning Euro 2012 -- the World Cup is a bigger, more pres-tigious competition that generates far more money.

While the likes of Germany and Spain set out what their players will earn depending on what stage of the competition they reach, for others, such as Cameroon, bonuses are tied to simply being a part of the squad that turns up.

Australia’s players have also been o� ered a simple fee for making the World Cup of Aus$200,000 ($187,000, 138,000 euros) each. l

A woman walks past a mural depicting Brazil’s forward Neymar in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, a day ahead the opening game of the FIFA World Cup 2014 AFP

How the name Pele came into being PAGE S1 COLUMN 2day media is playing a big role to glo-balize the game. “Now the communi-cation is far better and it is wonderful. I can’t even imagine what the modern day media can do. Now most of the Bra-zilian players play outside the country but we can see them. We did not play outside the country during our times. Football has been bene� ted by the support of the media,” said the King of Football from Brazil.

The Facebook page of the TV show is titled “The Real Pele”, in twitter @therealpele and @akelychristina and in Instagram TheRealPeleteam. l

Bus strike hits World Cup host city Nataln AFP, Brasília

Bus drivers in Natal, one of Brazil’s 12 World Cup host cities, have announced they will go on strike Thursday, the day the tournament opens.

Union leader Paulo Cesar Ferreira said the strike would a� ect both bus-es and mini-buses, the only form of public transport in the northeastern city, which is hosting four World Cup matches starting with Mexico versus Cameroon on June 13.

Workers decided to keep 30 percent of the � eet on the road to avoid para-lyzing the city completely, Ferreira said.

But the strike leaves organizers scrambling to � nd alternative trans-port to get fans to the 42,000-capacity Dunas Arena.

Ferreira denied the union was using the World Cup as leverage.

“Our negotiations take place at the same time every year. The Cup was a coincidence,” he told AFP. l

Italy’s national player Mario Balotelli (L) watches as his coach Cesare Prandelli gestures during a training session ahead of the 2014 World Cup at the Portobello training center in Mangaratiba yesterday REUTERS

Neymar is young. It is a heavy pressure for him to get all the responsibility

S2 World CupDHAKA TRIBUNE

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Most World Cup wins5 - Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)

Player to have appeared at most World Cup � nals5 - Antonio Carbajal (MEX) (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966) and Lothar Matthaeus (GER) (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998)

Most goals scored in a match5 - Oleg Salenko for Russia in 1994 in their 6-1 win over Cameroon in the group pahse.

Number of teams that have won WC8 - Brazil, Uruguay, Germany, Spain, England, Italy, France, Argentina.

Fastest goal scored11 seconds by Hakan Sukur in 2002 for Turkey against South Korea in the third placed match which the Turks won 3-1.

Most goals scored at one WC � nals13 - Frenchman Just Fontaine in 1958.

Record World Cup � nals scorer:15 - Ronaldo or ‘The Phenomenon’ as

the Brazilian striker was nicknamed accruing the goals over three World Cups in 1998, 2002 and 2006

Youngest player to play at a � nals:Norman Whiteside when he played for Northern Ireland at the 1982 � nals when he was 17 years, one month and 10 days old.

Most appearances by a country at the � nals:19 - Brazil is the only country to have appeared at all the World Cup � nals since the inaugural one in 1930 – the ones scheduled for 1942 and 1946 did not take place because of World War II and its immediate aftermath.

Oldest player to appear at a � nals:Roger Milla in the 1994 � nals in the United States when he was 42 years, one month and eight days old.

Worst disciplinary recordArgentina whom in 70 games have received 103 yellow cards, one double yellow (straight red) and nine red cards.

WORLD CUP RECORDS

Rousse� defends Brazil’s spendingn Reuters, Rio De Janeiro

Less than 48 hours be-fore the month-long soc-cer World Cup kicks o� in Brazil, President Dil-ma Rousse� defended the cost of hosting the

tournament, vowed to punish corrup-tion and urged her compatriots to give visiting fans a warm welcome.

Following a year of protests over the roughly $11 billion Brazil is spending to host the World Cup, Rousse� said in a televised address on Tuesday that investments in stadiums, airport ter-minals and other infrastructure would provide long-term bene� ts for the country.

“We did this, above all, for Brazil-ians,” she said, repeating an argument she has put forth that the public works implemented for the tournament “won’t leave in suitcases along with the tourists.”

The tournament, which kicks o� on Thursday when Brazil faces Croatia in São Paulo, is the most costly World Cup since the competition began 84 years ago.

While residents across the 12 host cities complain that many promised development projects are delayed, or

never materialized, Rousse� sought to underscore what has been accom-plished. She rejected the “false dilem-ma” that World Cup spending some-how diminished investments in health, education and other public services.

Rousse� , who seeks a second term in October, noted that public spend-ing on health and education were among the budget lines that have grown the most during her presidency. In the three years since Brazil start-ed building World Cup stadiums, she said, the country has spent 212 times as much on health and schools as it has on arenas.

Earlier on Tuesday, o� cials at FIFA, soccer’s governing body, sought to de-� ect criticism that the organization was making huge pro� ts at the expense of Brazilian taxpayers.

Because of the cloud of corruption that often hangs over FIFA, and a long history of graft in Brazil itself, many Brazilians assume that the high costs of the tournament, and the delays and unful� lled promises, are the result of wrongdoing.

Rousse� said the country is audit-ing all of the spending and promised to punish any corruption. “If any irregu-larities are proven,” she said, “those re-sponsible will be punished.” l

Five new technologies at the World Cupn AFP, Rio De Janeiro

The 2014 World Cup will represent the � rst time that goal-line technology has been used at football’s showpiece event, but technological advances will also shape the tournament in other ways.

Here, AFP Sports identi� es � ve new technologies that will aid players, o� -cials and fans during the competition, which starts on Thursday:

Vanishing foamIn a bid to prevent teams from illegally gaining ground at free-kicks, referees at the tournament will be armed with small canisters of vanishing foam. The biodegradable white substance will be sprayed on the pitch to mark where free-kicks should be taken from and the 10-yard distance that the opposition’s defensive wall must observe. Known as Aero Comex Futline, the substance

dissolves within a minute. “Players respect it,” says Australian referee Ben Williams. “It’s a great innovation and I’m looking forward to using it.”

The ‘Twitterwall’The German Football Federation (DFB) has installed a specially designed ‘Twitterwall’ at the Germany team’s hotel near Porto Seguro in the east-ern Brazilian state of Bahia. Using the hashtag #aneurerseite (#onyourside), supporters can send picture messages encouraging the team that will be dis-played on the wall for the players to see. A similar idea was used at Frank-furt airport before the squad � ew out to Brazil.

WhatsAppUruguay’s players have been keeping in touch with each other prior to the tournament by using the WhatsApp

instant messaging service on their smartphones. Striker Edinson Cavani revealed that he and his team-mates used the app to share their thoughts on the World Cup draw, which saw the South American champions paired with England, Italy and Costa Rica. “It was a bit like ‘Oh, Italy! Oh, England!’” Cavani told Britain’s FourFourTwo magazine. “That messaging group is great for keeping us in contact because we’re playing all around the world and we can support each other. In that mo-ment, it went crazy!”

Ultra High Definition televisionThe 2014 World Cup will be the � rst tournament to be partly captured in Ul-tra High De� nition (UHD), which boasts a resolution approximately four times higher than conventional High De� ni-tion television and requires a satellite network capable of handling 100 mega-

bits of data per second. The tournament is seen as a trial run for the technology, which is not yet widely available.

iPadsEngland’s players have each been equipped with iPads containing person-alised information about their group-stage opponents. The Football Associ-ation has designed a scouting app that allows Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and their team-mates to access person-al data and video footage of the speci� c opponents they will come up against at the tournament. England have also been using heat chambers and wearing extra layers of clothing in training in a bid to replicate the humid conditions in the Amazonian city of Manaus, where they will play Italy on Saturday. “We’ve made progress,” said mid� elder James Milner. “We haven’t left any stone unturned, and our preparation has been very good.” l

Japan’s Nishimura to referee openern Reuters, Natal

Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura, who showed Felipe Melo a red card as Brazil crashed out of the World Cup quarter-� -nals four years ago, will o� ciate Thurs-day’s opening match of the 2014 tourna-ment between the hosts and Croatia.

FIFA announced the match o� cials for the � rst four matches on Tues-day, handing the honour of blowing the opening whistle in Sao Paolo to Nishimura, who will be assisted by com-patriots Toru Sagara and Toshiyuki Nagi.

The 42-year-old dismissed Melo for stamping on Dutch winger Arjen Robben in the 73rd minute of the last eight con-test in Port Elizabeth four years ago, ef-fectively ending Brazil’s hopes of coming back from 2-1 down and their dreams of a sixth world title. l

Ramos looking for Brazil revengen AFP, Curitiba

Despite being the reigning champions, Spain have revenge on their mind, ex-perienced defender Sergio Ramos said Tuesday from Curitiba, where he was named as a UNICEF ambassador.

Spain may have won the World Cup in South Africa four years ago but last year they were humbled 3-0 by hosts Brazil in the Confederations Cup � nal.

And now Ramos, 28, says he and his team-mates have the ideal opportunity to get their own back for that rare defeat.

“We’ve already been in Brazil for the Confederations Cup -- football always gives you a chance for revenge after you get this little thorn in your side.

“We’re the champions, there’s high expectation. It’s always possible but

winning a World Cup is very di� cult.”Quite apart from the opportuni-

ty to right the wrong from June 2013, Ramos, who also spoke of his pride at being named a UNICEF ambassador, said there was something special about playing in a World Cup in Brazil.

“It’s always a dream to play in a World Cup and to do so in Brazil, who have a very prestigious team that has always made a di� erence and always been favourites, you dream about wearing your country’s jersey and play-ing in a World Cup, and all the more if it’s in Brazil.”

But the Real Madrid star, capped 116 times since making his international debut in 2005, insisted his country are not getting carried away with them-selves, particularly given they have

been paired in Group B alongside the team they beat in the � nal in 2010, the Netherlands.

“The most important thing is to make the most of the World Cup. First up there are three excellent teams in Hol-land, Chile and Australia before we can start thinking about the second round, quarter-� nals, semi-� nals or � nal.

“We have to take it one game at a time, which is what will guide us to success, that alongside humility and hard work.

“We’re prepared to face the best in the world, which is what gives you prestige.”

Being a cornerstone � xture both in the Spain and Real teams, Ramos has won everything there is to win in both club and international football.l

The World Cup may be starting at Brazil but equally important battles are taking place in � elds across Bangladesh. The picture was taken yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Ronaldo shines in return for Portugaln Reuters, East Rutherford

Cristiano Ronaldo provided Portugal with a major con� dence boost ahead of the World Cup when he made a suc-cessful return from injury in a 5-1 romp against Ireland on Tuesday.

Playing his � rst match since the Champions League � nal, Ronaldo’s presence helped reignite Portugal’s stuttering attack at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Ronaldo was not among the scorers and was substituted after 64 minutes but showed glimpses of his best and came through the friendly unscathed after missing his country’s last two warm-up matches because of problems with his left knee and right thigh.

“I think he did well, considering he has not been playing,” said Portu-gal manager Paulo Bento, speaking through a translator.

“Players like Ronaldo are important for every team they play for ... and it’s the same for us.”

Ronaldo, the World Player of the Year, almost scored in the 18th minute with a dipping free kick that hit the post and again in the 37th minute with a header he directed straight at Irish

goalkeeper David Forde.Hugo Almeida pounced on Forde’s

rebound to register the second of his two � rst-half strikes as the Europeans rediscovered their scoring touch after managing just one goal in their two previous friendlies against Mexico and Greece.

Almeida opened the scoring in the third minute when he climbed above the defence and headed a cross from Silvestre Varela into the back of the net.

Portugal scored again in the 20th minute when Fabio Coentrao � red in a low shot from the left that took a wick-ed de� ection o� Irish defender Richard Keogh straight over Forde’s head.

Trailing 3-0 at halftime, Ireland pulled one back early in the second half when Wesley Hoolahan took a quick free kick and James McClean turned inside and ri-� ed a shot from his left foot into the corner.

“It was a very, very tough game for

us, as we expected it would be, with one of the best players in the world starting in the game,” said Ireland man-ager Martin O’Neill.

“He (Ronaldo) of course is absolute-ly vital to Portugal’s hopes of doing well. While they’ve got a number of re-ally brilliant players, he’s obviously one of the two top players in the world.”

Portugal dominated the rest of the match, banging in two late goals against an Irish side that failed to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil. Substitute Vi-erinha scored in the 77th minute when Forde initially saved his header but parried the ball straight back to him.

Then Coentrao � nished o� the rout when he clinically � nished o� an inch-perfect pass from Nani, who impressed after replacing Ronaldo for the last 25 minutes and had a late back-heeled goal disallowed for o� side.

Mid� elder Raul Meireles, who has had a thigh problem, also played 64 minutes while central defender Pepe, who has been struggling with a leg muscle injury, came on for the last 25 minutes in anoth-er welcome boost for Portugal who are drawn in the same group as Germany, Ghana and the United States for the World Cup, which starts in Brazil on Thursday. l

Peruvian shamans perform a ritual while holding a fake World Cup trophy and posters of various players outside the National Stadium in Lima on Tuesday. The shamans are blessing the 2014 World Cup host nation Brazil and key football players good luck REUTERS

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (R) tries a shot past Ireland’s David Meyler during their international friendly match in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Tuesday REUTERS

Players like Ronaldo are important for every team they play for ... and it’s the same for us

S3World CupDHAKA TRIBUNE

World CupDHAKA TRIBUNES4

Brazil mid� eld gives Scolari food for thought

n AFP, Teresópolis

Brazil have plenty of rea-sons to be optimistic

as they head into the opening game of

their bid to � nal-ly win the World Cup on home

soil.Technical co-cor-

dinator Carlos Alberto Parreira has said that he is so con� dent Brazil can win the ‘hexacampe-onato’, a sixth World Cup, be-cause “we have the best defence in the world”, marshalled by Par-

is Saint-Germain duo Thiago Silva and David Luiz.

Their presence, along with full-backs Dani Alves and Marcelo, masks

any doubts surrounding the condition of goalkeeper Julio Cesar, while at the other end of the � eld Brazil have the po-tential superstar of the � nals in Neymar.

“When things are going bad, we try to do everything to get the ball to Neymar,” said striker Fred, underlining the importance to the Selecao of the 22-year-old Barcelona forward.

But elsewhere coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has some thinking to do in mid� eld, where questions are be-ing asked about the players who

have formed his � rst-choice trio in that area ever since last year’s trium-

phant Confederations Cup run.In the 3-0 victory against Spain in the

� nal of that competition, Luiz Gustavo and Paulinho provided the protection to the defence while Oscar was charged with o� ering the creative spark.

Those three played together in last Friday’s 1-0 win against Serbia in Bra-zil’s � nal warm-up game and most indications from the national team’s training camp in Teresopolis, 100 ki-lometres north of Rio de Janeiro, this week have been that Scolari will again � eld the trio in Thursday’s Group A opener against Croatia.

However, Paulinho, of English Pre-mier League side Tottenham Hotspur, was criticised for his performance against Serbia and Oscar has not redis-covered his best form since a poor sec-ond half to the club season with Chelsea.

“He was our best player for months, from August to December. He was ab-solutely fantastic. After that he’s been up and down,” said Chelsea manag-er Jose Mourinho recently, and there have been some calls for Oscar to be replaced in the starting line-up by his club colleague Willian.

Concern as to the form of those alongside him means there will be great-er emphasis on Luiz Gustavo as Brazil try to deal with the considerable threat posed by a Croatian mid� eld containing world-class talents in Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Ivan Rakitic of Sevilla.

The 26-year-old of German club Wolfsburg started out as an attacker but has had to drop back to enjoy suc-cess at the highest level and will now ful� l a role carried out by the likes of Dunga and Gilberto Silva in great Brazil teams of the recent past. l

Croatia need to step up as a team: Modricn Reuters, Manaus

Most Croatian players have improved individually since Euro 2012 but only the June 12-July 13 World Cup will show whether the team can match the sum of its parts, playmaker Luka Modric said.

The Croatians take on hosts Brazil in Sao Paulo in the tournament’s open-er on Thursday and Modric assessed there was a thin line between success and failure in the 32-nation event.

“We could go far if we get past the group stage,” the mid� elder told re-porters in Croatia’s Praia do Forte base on Tuesday.

“I can see very clearly that many of us have improved massively as individuals since Euro 2012 but it is yet to be seen whether we have progressed as a team.

“It’s been a while since we played a match as big as this one, we know the Brazilians respect us and we are also aware how � red up they will be to make a winning start on home soil.

“They are a phenomenal team with Marcelo, Thiago Silva and Neymar the three outstanding players in my opinion.

“Hence we have to breathe as one on the pitch because none of us can put up a one-man show against a team of such fortitude. It will be a titanic tussle in mid� eld and we are doomed if we sur-render possession and sit back.”

The Croatians, who stunned the world when they reached the 1998 tournament semis in their � rst World Cup as an independent nation, have since � attered to deceive.

They failed to progress beyond the group stage in any of their three follow-ing World Cup appearances and also fell short in Euro 2012, � nishing behind eventual winners Spain and runners-up Italy in a tough preliminary pool.

Brazilian-born striker Eduardo da Silva said Croatia’s fate in the tourna-ment could be heavily in� uenced by their performance against the host na-tion.

“Brazil are the tournament favou-rites so beating them will be a big ask but how well we hold our own could determine our achievement in the group stage of the competition.

“On the other hand, it will be very di� cult for them to come back if we score � rst. My family will be here and I am not sure who they will support but the most important thing is that we play well to keep a good atmosphere in the dressing room.” l

Brazil were booed o� in their � nal World Cup friendly against Serbia, despite winning 1-0.

Luiz Felipe Scolari already knows his favoured starting XI, which means the likes of Dante, Ramires and Willian should miss out on a place in the � rst-team.

The host nation has never lost their opening World Cup game, with the 20 previous hosts winning 14 and drawing six of their openers.

Brazil’s one previous tournament as hosts saw them defeat fellow 2014 Group A members Mexico 4-0 in their opening game (1950).

Eight of the last 12 opening matches at World Cups have produced one goal or less.

Brazil are taking part in their 20th World Cup. They are the only team to have taken part in every single tourna-ment.

A Selecao have won the most games (67) and scored the most goals (210) at the World Cup.

Brazil have won eight of their last nine World Cup games in the group stages (1 draw). Their last defeat dates back to 23 June 1998 against Norway (1-2).

The greatest show on earth begins today

Fifa World Cup 2014, the month-long festival of football in the spiritual homeland of the sport gets under way with the hosts and � ve time champions Brazil taking on Croatia in the Arena de Sao Paulo today.

The showcase event of the beautiful game will be the highest money-spin-ning edition in the World Cup histo-ry with the amount of prize money amounting to a whopping $358m. The winners get $35m while the runners-up will take away $25m, the third placed team $22m, the fourth placed team $20m, the quarter-� nalists $14m, the round of 16 quali� ers $9m and the group stage teams $8m.

It is worth mentioning here in this regard that for the the prize money for the winners of 2002 edition of this mega football event hosted jointly by Japan and South Korea was just $14.2m which means there has been an in-crease of more than hundred percent in the winners’ prize money after just 12 years.

However, that’s not the end of the story. Fifa World Cup 2014 is poised for such an expensive event that all the 32 participating nations will receive $1.5m each for taking part and team prepa-ration which means it will cost Fifa $48m. Fifa have not forgot to honor

the clubs whose players will take part in the World Cup and will splash out a further $70m as a recognition of their participation in the competition.

The opening ceremony will see Pit-bull, Claudia Leitte, Jennifer Lopez and Olodum grace the ceremony with their thrilling performances. The manifesta-tion of Brazil’s three biggest treasures – its nature, people and football will be showcased by a total of 600 dancers and performers with the focus being a “living” ball. This LED ball has more than 90,000 light clusters creating 7,000 nits of luminance which should enliven the performance. The opening ceremony, which is set to be attend-ed by 12 heads of state along with the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, will also feature a demon-stration by the Walk Again Project.

In addition to the 62,606 fans and dignitaries present in the stadium, the ceremony will also be telecast in 200 territories around the world with more than 160 principal rights holders broad-casting the spectacular event to all four corners of the globe.

The 61,606-capacity stadium is one of the 12 World Cup stadiums which were supposed to be ready by the end of last December. However, construction work missed the deadline of delivery six times and was still going through the � -nal touches on Wednesday. The workers were busily checking beams, tightening di� erent structures and installing wire just a day before the opener.

Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura will handle the opening game and an interesting fact worth a special atten-tion here is that the 42 year old was also in-charge when Brazil lost to the Netherlands in the quarter-� nals of Fifa World Cup 2010 in South Africa. He is remembered for sending o� Bra-zil’s Felipe Melo for stamping on Arjen Robben as the Brazilians surrendered an 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 which also cost Brazil’s coach Dunga his job. l

Brazil and Argentina in their own eyes n Raihan Mahmood

from Sao Paulo

Carlos Alberto and Ezequiel Fernandez Moores, the veteran sports journalists from Brazil and Argentina respectively, � rmly believe that the Fifa World Cup 2014 trophy will remain in Latin America and their teams are ready to lift the title.

Carlos Alberto, the sports editor of popular Brazilian magazine Revista Veja has covered as many as nine Fifa World Cups and looked con� dent about Brazil’s success. “Yes, there were a lot of problems but I � rmly believed that everything will pause once the ball rolls in the � eld. Strikes, riots, protests are normal customs in a democrat-ic society and Brazil is not an exception. I believe all the people will rally together for Brazil’s success after inauguration.

Carlos Alberto also rated Brazil as the top team. “Winning World Cup � ve times and

playing in the home ground de� nitely puts Brazil ahead of all. However, Argentina is a strong contender and of course Germany is there, but with my experience I can say it is di� cult to predict,” said Alberto.

“I remember the 1990 World Cup. When I landed in Italy, the same tune echoed everywhere with the tune being a � nal between Brazil and Italy. Did it happen? No, Germany stunned us all. So who wins in the end is a question only time can answer,” added Alberto.

The veteran World Cup journalist, how-ever, was assertive when asked about Pele. “Winning three World Cups and scoring 1200 goals matters. Who can match him? He is at the top. Maradona won once but was a top player. Messi and Neymar are yet to win the World Cup and haven’t reached that level yet which should warrant a com-parison of them with those fabulous two.”

Alberto further added that this edition

is important for both Neymar and Messi as Neymar has to mould his career with this edition and this might as well be Messi’s last

chance to touch the glittering silverware. Ezequiel Fernandez Moores, the famous

sports journalist of Argentina also seemed

con� dent that this time the cup will remain in Latin America but didn’t forget to pay tribute to Brazil. “We have arrived in the country of football. It may be is going through a tough time due to the presiden-tial election ahead and the condition is complex as football and politics both are playing a role among the mind of the peo-ple. I think it will calm down once the World Cup begins,” said Moores.

Moores was elated to see the World Cup returning to his continent after 36 years. “The last two World Cups have been won by the European sides and this time the time has come for the Latin America. There are countries like Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay who can lift the title. I have every hope that the cup will remain here,” said Moores who has covered seven World Cups so far.

Moores thought Messi had conserved his energy for the greatest show. “Messi has won everything apart from the World

Cup. I think he was cautious for the last few months and that may have a� ected his performance. He is the best at this moment and preserved his energy for the greatest show,” said Moores.

He also drew a comparison between the current Argentine and Brazilian playing trends. “Brazil played attacking football in the past while Argentina was defensive. It was opposite in the last edition and this time it remains the same old style. However, I have to admit this Argentine defense is not so e� cient,” Moores opined.

The gentleman refused to compare Pele and Maradona. “Both played in di� erent times. Pele is a three time World Cup winner while Maradona led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986. The club career of Maradona is better as he played in Europe and enjoyed tremendous success. Pele does not have many success apart from for Santos. I don’t like to compare them,” said Moores. l

from Sao Paulo, Brazil

Croatia will be without star striker Mario Mandzukic for the meeting with Brazil as he is suspended.

Ivica Olic could lead the attack, with Eduardo and Nikica Jelavic starting on the bench in Mandzukic’s absence.

That may see Mateo Kovacic pushed to the left-wing and Ivan Rakitic operate behind Olic.

Danijel Pranjic is a doubt, so Sime Arsaljko may come in at left-back.

Croatia have only conceded 11 goals in 13 World Cup games (0.85/game). It’s the best ratio among the 32 teams taking part in 2014.

Croatia’s last nine World Cup games have produced six red cards.

Brazil won their one previous com-petitive meeting with Croatia 1-0 in the 2006 World Cup; Kaka scored the winner in Berlin that day.

Carlos Alberto Ezequiel Fernandez Moores

Costa happy with Brazilian receptionn AFP, Curitiba

Brazil-born striker Diego Costa claims he has been granted a positive recep-tion from his countrymen despite opt-ing to represent Spain at the World Cup.

Although he made two friendly ap-pearances for his homeland in 2013, Costa chose last October to represent his adopted country Spain, where he has played most of his career.

That sparked fears that he would come under � re from his compatriots when returning to Brazil to play for Spain at the World Cup.

But the 25-year-old Atletico Madrid forward, widely tipped to be on the brink of a move to Chelsea, claims his

reception could not have been better.“Many people in Brazil understand

what went on. Things are going well for me,” he said.

“They have treated me well, just the way I hoped. I have the support of a lot of people who know what happened.”

Costa was called up by Brazil coach Luis Felipe Scolari for a pair of friend-lies against Italy and Russia in March 2013.

Despite that, the Royal Spanish Football Federation made an applica-tion to FIFA in September to call up Costa to Vicente Del Bosque’s team after the striker was granted Spanish citizenship.

A month later Costa announced

his decision to play for Spain, claim-ing Del Bosque showed greater desire than Scolari to win him over to his side, earning a rebuke from Scolari who ac-cused him of “turning his back on the dream of millions.”

Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) judicial director Carlos Eugenio Lopes went much further, demand-ing that Costa be stripped of his Bra-zilian citizenship and claiming that CBF chairman Jose Maria Marin had deemed him “persona non grata”.

Costa did acknowledge that the warm greetings he has received might not continue once he lines up with Spain inside a stadium but he said he was “calm”. l

Jennifer Lopez to perform at WC opener after alln AFP, Rio De Janeiro

Pop superstar Jennifer Lopez will per-form at the World Cup opening cere-mony after all, FIFA said Tuesday, two days after it announced “production issues” would prevent her traveling to Brazil.

Lopez, who recorded the o� cial World Cup song, “We Are One,” with rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte, will perform it with them and Brazilian drumming collec-tive Olodum as originally planned at Thursday’s kick-o� , FIFA said. l

Thursday, June 12, 2014

www.dhakatribune.com/business THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2014

B3 China ramps up spend-ing to spur economy

B4 World Bank sees ‘� at’ growth for developing countries

Mobile importers demand proposed tax be scrapped ‘Proposed tax could reduce a� ordability of users and encourage smuggling’n Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Mobile handset importers urged the government to withdraw the proposed value added tax and duties on the im-ported handsets.

They said the proposed tax could reduce the a� ordability of the lower in-come people and encourage smuggling as the country completely depends on import for the product.

“Proposed taxes will give a rise to smuggling. Lower income consum-ers will also be a� ected. So the taxes should be withdrawn and kept as it is now, or set in inconsistent with that of the ICT sector,” said Mustafa Ra� qul Islam, President of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association (BMPIA).

Mustafa was speaking at a post-bud-get press conference in the city yester-day, organised by BMPIA.

He also said as the government aims to build a “digital Bangladesh,” such tax hike on mobile import will not be consistent with that goal.

“Currently, around 60-70% import-ed handsets are feature phones. As the minimum price is within Tk1,000 each, lower income people usually buy such phones. But tax hike will increase the price to Tk1,100-1,200,” claimed BMPIA president.

The import of mobile handsets has increased manifolds over the last one decade.

While it was 6.22 lakh in FY2004-05, the � gure has risen to 2.01 crore in FY2013-14 since the government grad-ually rationalised duties, BMPIA said.

Illegal entry of handsets has also de-clined remarkably over the period.

The data showed 95% of the hand-sets were imported illegally in 2001-02, which have reduced to only 4% in the FY14.

The “rationalisation of duties” also reduced the minimum price of a hand-set to Tk850 from Tk2,500 in last six years, the association said.

“In such a situation, if taxes are hiked, there will be a negative impact on the market. So it should be kept as now, or set in line with the ICT sector,

or a speci� c duty of Tk100 can be im-posed on a handset import,” Mustafa suggested.

In the proposed budget, Finance Minister AMA Muhith raised Vat to 15% from the present 10%.

BPMIA said 15% Vat is accompanied by 10% customs duty and 5% source tax, making the total rate 30% which is only 7.2% in India.

About the Vat raising, Muhith said the local assemblers have to pay 15% while the importers pay 10%, which creates an uneven competition be-tween them.

The importers should also pay 15% Vat like as the assemblers do, he ar-gued.

But market insiders said there is no local assembler of mobile handsets in the country though some companies are working to start such ventures which will, however, take time.

“Assembling of mobile devices is a complex task. Besides, the country is yet to have an appropriate environment for launching handset assembling plants. The e� orts will take time,” said BMPIA General Secretary Rezwanul Hoque.

Some companies in Bangladesh customise handsets, or work in re-searching or designing products, but the products are made in China, added Rezwanul who is also director at Sym-phony.

He argued: “In Bangladesh, 80% of the people use handsets with prices be-low Tk2,000. Under the proposed tax structure, the importers will have to pay Tk21 as tax for Tk100 price. It will make the handsets beyond the a� ord-ability of most people.”

While contacted, cellular division head of local brand Walton SM Rezwan Alam said there will be no uneven com-petition in the present structure of duty as there is no assembler in the country.

Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh Secretary General TIM Nurul Kabir and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Director Shafqat Haider, among others, also spoke on the occasion. l

FY15 BANGLADESH GDP FORECAST

Wide gap between government and WB estimates n Tribune Report

The World Bank has lowered growth forecasts for Bangladesh due to slow exports and falling remittances.

The Washington-based lender pre-dicts Bangladesh's gross domestic prod-uct (GDP) will stand at 5.9% for � scal year 2014-15 beginning from next month.

It is much lower than the govern-ment projection of 7.3% and its earlier January’s projection of 6% for the out-going � scal year, according to the bank's latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) June 2014 released yesterday.

The GEP report usually is published twice in a year examining growth trends for the global economy.

“Growth in Bangladesh averaged 6.3% during 2010-2013, but slowed to an estimated

5.4% during the � scal year ending in June 2014, adversely a� ected by social unrest and disruptions prior to national elections in January, and by capacity con-straints that have resulted in persistent in� ationary pressures,” said the report.

In its Bangladesh Development Up-date in April, it estimated that the GDP growth will be 5.4% for the outgoing � scal year. This is also much lower than the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics provisional estimate at 6.12%.

The report identi� ed domestic downside risks include stressed bank-ing sectors, slow pace of reforms, and security uncertainties.

“Weak economic growth in recent years has taken a toll on corporate and bank balance sheets. Stressed bank loans (including restructured loans) exceed 10% of loans in Bangladesh.”

Non-performing loans (NPLs) in Bangladesh are concentrated in state-owned banks, which account for about

a third of banking sector assets. NPLs as a share of total loans were the lowest in Nepal at 3.1%.

It said domestic demand in Bangla-desh has been supported partly by ro-bust agricultural harvests and migrant remittances.

As demand from the Euro Area and US improved in the second half of 2013, exports in Bangladesh grew rapidly. Bangladesh’s export growth, however, slowed in Q1 2014, partly due to the lagged e� ect of disruptions caused by political unrest.

Restrictions imposed by countries in the Gulf on the intake of Bangladesh

migrants have resulted in reduced remittances. In� ation in Bangladesh declined during the second and third quarters of 2013, but picked up since Q4 2013, partly due to disruptions caused by political unrest.

South Asia’s GDP grew 4.7% in 2013, about 2.6 percentage points below av-erage growth in 2003-12, mainly re� ect-ing weak manufacturing performance and slowing investment in India.

Growth is expected to pick up mod-estly in 2014, and then rise to about 6% in 2015 and 2016, with � rming global demand and easing domestic con-straints o� setting a tightening of inter-

national � nancial conditions. In its latest report, the Bank has low-

ered its forecasts for developing coun-tries, now eying growth at 4.8% this year, down from its January estimate of 5.3%.

"Growth rates in the developing world remain far too modest to create the kind of jobs we need to improve the lives of the poorest 40%," said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.

The global economy, it said, is ex-pected to pick up speed as the year pro-gresses and is projected to expand by 2.8% this year, strengthening to 3.4 and 3.5% in 2015 and 2016, respectively. l

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

5.2%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

6.1%

6.7%6.2%

Govt estimates

7.3% 6.0%5.4%

5.9%

6.2%

Source: World Bank GEP report

WORLD BANK GROWTH PROJECTION

EU Trade Commissioner may visit Dhaka next monthn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht has expressed his de-sire to visit Bangladesh next month to review Compact Sustainability – a joint initiative to improve labour conditions in the apparel industry of the country.

“He wants to come to Dhaka in July as the Compact was launched on July 8 last year,” Commercial Counsellor at Bangladesh mission in Brussels Tapan Kanti Ghosh told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We have requested the commerce

ministry to � x a date but are yet to get any con� rmation from the ministry,” he said. Gucht, a Belgian politician look-ing after trade issue for the 28-member bloc, will lead an EU delegation and is expected to meet all the stakeholders in the country.

“There is a provision in the Compact that a review of the initiative would be held in 2014 and it would be better if he attends the review meeting as Bangla-desh can explain its expectation from the EU,” Ghosh said.

Gucht launched the Compact for im-

proving conditions for workers in Ban-gladeshi garment factories in the back-drop of the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Savar in April last year, re-sulting in over 1,100 deaths.

The Compact Sustainability seeks to improve labour, health and safety con-ditions for workers as well as to encour-age responsible behaviour by business in the ready-made garment industry in the country. The main features of the Compact is to reform labour laws, re-cruit 200 additional inspectors by 2013 and improve building and � re safety by

June this year.The EU had on many occasions ear-

lier reminded Bangladesh of imple-menting the mutually agreed roadmap to improve the security of readymade garment factories to avert a serious consequence in its export trade. The EU has extended its duty-free quo-ta-free market access under Everything but Arms facility for next 10 years.

It is Bangladesh’s leading trading part-ner with total exports to the EU amount-ed to €9.2bn in 2012, which represents about 10% of the country’s GDP. l

5,000 women entrepreneurs to be ‘empowered’ under BWCCI projectn Tribune Business Desk

Bangladesh Women Chamber of Com-merce & Industry (BWCCI) yesterday launched a “2020: Empower 5000” to help 5,000 women entrepreneurs graduate from micro to SME level as well as bring them into the mainstream of the private sector by 2020.

The initiative was launched Wednesday, at a function organised by the BWCCI at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city.

BWCCI President Selima Ahmad presented the keynote paper while the chamber’s immediate past president Sangita Ahmed delivered the welcome address, reports UNB.

Executive Director of Ain-o-Salish Kendro advocate Sultana Kamal, for-mer adviser to the caretaker govern-ment Geeti Ara Sa� a Chowdhury and Bangladesh Mohila Parishad president Ayesha Khanam spoke on the occasion.

The speakers emphasised on proper utilisation of the fund allocated in the national budget for the development of women.

In his budget speech in Parliament on June 5, Fi-nance Minister AMA Muhith said: “In order to make our womenfolk self-reliant, we will expand microcredit programmes and continue to provide special incen-tives to women entrepre-neurs. A special allocation of Tk100 crore will be pro-vided in the budget for the next year for development of women.”

In her keynote presen-

tation, Selima Ahmad said that the targeted 5000 women entrepreneurs will grow their business and will be a part of the mainstream private sector of Bangladesh.

“These will enable to generate em-ployment, resources in the national economy by paying tax and VAT, en-hance gender equality and reduce pov-erty which will support Bangladesh to be a middle income country,” she added.

The thematic areas of the initiative are capacity development, product development, marketing, research and development, leadership devel-opment, export market promotion, fa-cilitating access to � nance, advocacy, ICT, E-commerce and digitalisation, environmental conservation, reduce gender disparities, sexual and repro-ductive health rights.

Speaking on the occasion, Adv Sul-tana Kamal, also a former adviser to the caretaker government, stressed that the women entrepreneurs should not remain stunted in the SME sector. Rather, they would have to avail the opportunity of becoming big and large

entrepreneurs keeping their skills, e� -ciency and professionalism.

Bangladesh Mohila Parishad Presi-dent Ayesha Khanam said that the gov-ernment, the state and the society would have to come up to assist the bid of the women chamber to groom further wom-en entrepreneurship in the country.

She observed that there should be speci� c monitoring and mechanism tool at the Finance Ministry, Ministry of Women and Children A� airs and at the Planning Commission to monitor proper utilisation of fund for women development.

The BWCCI president also showed in her presentation that about Tk218 crore or some $28 million would be re-quired for materialising the initiative.

Three women entrepreneurs – Jim-my Parvin, Shaila Sultana Mili and Ta-nia Wahab – shared their experiences at the launching ceremony towards be-coming successful entrepreneurs with the help of BWCCI.

Representatives from the concerned ministries and development partners were present at the function. l

Plastic producers still press for 20% cash incentive n Tribune Report

The platform of the plastic manufac-turers and exporters still demands 20% cash incentive as this sector is now facing sti� global competitation, espe-cially in the US market following the suspension of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facilities by the US adminstration since June 27, 2013.

Apart from withdrawal of the GSP facilities, the increased shipment cost has also put this sector in further crisis of global price competativeness, said Jasim Uddin, president of Bangladesh Plastic Good Manufacturers and Ex-porters Association (BPGMEA) yester-day while addressing a press conference at his city o� ce.

The press conference was organised to express the platform’s reactions over the proposed budget for the next � scal year. Expressing his sharp recation over the proposed budget, Jasim Uddin said: The government’s tendency to borrow money from the banks to meet the budget de� cit will not only further increase bank’s interest rates but also hamper the overall private investment due to the fund shortage.

In the proposed budget, the govern-ment had shown a de� cit of Tk61,364 crore and to meet the budget di� ct would be a big challenge for the gov-ernment, said Jasim.

Terming the budget as investment and industry friendly, Jasim hailed the government for proposing an alloca-tion of Tk10 crore for establishing Ban-gladesh Institute of Plastic Engineer-ing and Technology (BIPET) to create skilled manpower for further develop-ing the country’s plastic sector.

B3 COLUMN 4

Telcos want to slap SIM tax on users n Tribune Report

Mobile telecom operators said they would shift the proposed SIM replace-ment tax to the consumers end.

In the proposed budget for FY2014-15, an amount of Tk100 has been � xed as SIM replacement tax.

“If the mobile operators pay the tax, the amount will be Tk145 as they will have to pay an additional Tk45 as corporate tax,” said Chief Operating O� cer at Robi Axiata Limited Mahtab Uddin Ahmed.

He was addressing a post-budget presser organised by the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangla-desh (AMTOB) at a city hotel yesterday.

Due to such taxes, operators have to spend part of their investments on pay-ing those taxes, said Chief Corporate Af-fairs O� cer Airtel Bangladesh Limited Ashraful H Chowdhury.

“Every year 20,000 to 25,000 SIMs are being replaced. We, therefore, are thinking of shifting a portion of the tax to the clients end,” said AMTOB secre-tary general TIM Nurul Kabir.

He also requested the government again to withdraw the Tk300 SIM tax.

Nurul Kabir said: “If these demands are not met, mobile companies will face challenge to call charge rate at the current current level. We no longer want to subsi-dise SIM tax on behalf of customers.”

“We want withdrawal of SIM pur-chase and replacement taxes.”

Currently, listed mobile operators are paying 40% corporate tax while it is 45% for the non-listed compa-nies. The general listed companies are now paying 27.5% corporate tax while non-listed companies are paying 37.5% corporate tax.

Demands also included withdraw-al of 15% VAT on handset imports, re-duction of VAT on Internet usage and exemption of VAT on Internet data modem.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Com-puter Samity yesterday welcomed the proposed budget, but demanded with-drawal of VAT on Internet.

It said withdrawal of 15% Vat on Internet use will help e-business and outsourcing � ourish in the country. l

Association of Mobile Telecom Operators in Bangladesh (AMTOB) holds a post-budget press conference in the city yesterday

ANALYST

B2 Stock Thursday, June 12, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks edge higher on GP rally n Tribune Report

Stocks edged higher with moderate volatility yesterday, after marginal fall due to pro� t taking in the pre-vious session.

The rally was led by heavy-weight Grameenphone that rose more than 3% ahead of its interim dividend deceleration.

The benchmark index DSEX gained 9 points or 0.3% to settle at 4,411, hitting highest 4,434 in the mid-session and lowest 4,401 in the opening session.

The comprising blue chips DS30 rose 14 points or 0.4% to 1,016. The Shariah Index DSES closed at 1,639, rising 15 points or 1%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rallied 51 points to 8,411.

But trading activities declined with total turnover at DSE standing at Tk440 crore, down more than 3% over the previous session. Cement sector contributed more than 14%

of the total turnover. Cement sector was the worst

su� erer with a fall of over 4%, led by sector heavy-weight Lafarge Surma Cement that dropped almost 8%, as the company declared low-er-than-expected dividend.

“Investors were materialising gains from certain scrips while waiting to hunt lucrative opportu-nities across preferred segments,” said DLC Investments in its daily market analysis.

It said in absence of any solid con� rmation, they were a little bit hesitant and observing market-cen-tric behavior.

Pro� t booking took place on banks and non-banking � nancial in-stitutions that declined marginally. However, textile, power, food and pharmaceuticals moved up slightly.

Lanka Bangla Securities said for the investors, there was couple of takeaway from the morning news.

Following the hint of the � nance minister to take capital gain tax at the individual level in consideration, investors might be igniting their ex-pectation on scraping the tax on cap-ital gain at individual level, it said.

Lafarge Surma Cement remained on top of the liquidity chart posting a total of Tk40 crore worth of turn-over, followed by Grameenphone, Square Pharmaceuticals, Mobil Jamuna, BSRM Steel, Generation Next and Eastern Housing Ltd. l

News from trade serverFrom TradeServers:CITYBANK: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on June 10, 2014.EASTLAND: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on June 10, 2014. Cash Dividend and proceeds of Fractional Dividend will be disbursed in due time.FIRSTSBANK: With reference to their earlier news (news disseminated by DSE on March 13, 2014) regarding issuance of Rights share, the Company has further informed that the Board of Directors has recommend-ed to revise the O� er Price of the rights issue @ 1R:2 (1 rights share for every two shares) to Tk. 10.00 each at par instead of Tk. 12.00 subject to approval by the shareholders in the EGM as well as by the Regulatory Authorities. Date of EGM: 19.07.2014, Time: 12:00 Noon, Venue: Hotel Agrabad, Chit-tagong. Record date for EGM: 22.06.2014. Another record date for entitlement of the

proposed rights shares to be noti� ed later after obtaining approval from BSEC.PRIMEFIN: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has elected Mr. Md. Aminul Haque as the Chairman of the Company with e� ect from June 01, 2014.PIONEERINS: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts. The Company has further informed that cash dividend will be distributed on or before June 17, 2014.IPO Subscription: Far East Knitting & Dye-ing Industries Limited subscription date 15-19 June 2014, NRB upto 28 June 2014. @ taka 27, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shurwid Industries Limited sub-scription date 08-12 June 2014, NRB upto 21 June 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. Saif Powertec Limited subscription date 06-10 July 2014, NRB upto 19 July 2014. @ taka 30, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Ratanpur Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 13-17 July 2014, NRB upto 26 July 2014.

@ taka 40, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.Dividend/AGMLAFSURCEML: 5% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 30.06.2014.ASIAINS: 15% cash and 5% stock, AGM: 16.07.2014, Record Date: 19.06.2014.WATACHEM: 30% stock, AGM: 27.06.2014, Record Date: 11.06.2014.AMBEEPHA: 15% cash and 20% stock, AGM: 16.06.2014, Record Date: 28.05.2014.MBL1STMF: 3% cash, Record date: 02.06.2014. AIBL1STIMF: 5.5% cash, Record date: 02.06.2014.ORIONPHARM: 15% cash, AGM: 22.06.2014, Record Date: 21.05.2014. PURABIGEN: 15% stock, AGM: 29.06.2014, Record date: 21.05.2014. SALVOCHEM: 10% stock, AGM: 27.08.2014, Record date: 25.06.2014.ISNLTD: No dividend, AGM: 17.06.2014, RD May 20, 2014.GOLDENSON: 25% stock, EGM and AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

NLI 1st M F-A -9.18 -9.18 8.90 8.90 9.00 8.90 0.289 1.36 6.5LafargeS Cement-Z -8.34 -9.10 80.74 79.10 85.90 78.50 25.837 2.16 37.4GPH Ispat Ltd-A -5.31 -3.24 55.81 55.30 57.00 55.00 2.136 2.42 23.12nd ICB M F -A -5.26 -5.26 270.00 270.00 270.00 270.00 0.027 33.24 8.1Peoples Insur -A -4.55 -4.59 23.09 23.10 23.30 23.00 0.077 2.28 10.1S. Alam CR Steel -A -3.84 -1.99 35.40 35.10 35.70 35.00 0.637 1.90 18.6FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B -3.41 -2.67 17.13 17.00 17.40 17.00 0.138 0.48 35.7BSRM Steels-A -2.95 -1.99 89.84 88.80 92.50 88.00 12.008 4.72 19.0Central Insur -A -2.88 -2.84 27.00 27.00 27.00 27.00 0.135 3.64 7.4Orion Infusions -A -2.66 -1.42 47.87 47.60 48.70 47.50 0.517 4.81 10.0

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

LafargeS Cement-Z -7.75 -10.30 81.10 79.80 87.50 78.20 404.879 2.16 37.5GPH Ispat Ltd-A -5.62 -3.11 56.09 55.40 58.10 53.00 71.871 2.42 23.2FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B -5.03 -5.01 17.07 17.00 18.00 16.30 0.633 0.48 35.6Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z -4.79 -3.15 14.16 13.90 14.90 13.70 5.210 0.04 354.0National Tea -A -4.09 -4.09 810.00 810.00 810.00 810.00 0.081 -71.72 -veBSRM Steels-A -4.01 -2.31 89.94 88.50 93.80 85.00 166.703 4.72 19.1Nitol Insurance -A -3.86 -3.51 30.00 29.90 30.80 29.50 0.450 3.24 9.3S. Alam CR Steel -A -3.84 -1.71 35.71 35.10 36.80 35.00 9.690 1.90 18.8Rahim Textile -A -3.46 -2.41 342.24 337.40 358.50 335.10 1.985 11.16 30.7Kohinoor Chem -A -3.40 -3.81 398.46 400.20 401.00 379.00 0.879 9.37 42.5

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

LafargeS Cement-Z 320,000 25.84 9.66 79.10 -8.34 86.30 85.90 78.50 80.74G Next Fashions-A 820,875 15.39 5.75 19.10 7.91 17.70 19.20 18.00 18.74Square Pharma -A 48,441 13.80 5.16 283.20 0.96 280.50 287.00 280.00 284.81Grameenphone-A 45,400 13.30 4.98 293.70 2.98 285.20 296.00 288.00 293.03BSRM Steels-A 133,665 12.01 4.49 88.80 -2.95 91.50 92.50 88.00 89.84BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 509,888 11.75 4.39 22.90 5.53 21.70 23.60 22.00 23.04BD Submarine Cable-A 62,300 11.38 4.26 183.80 2.57 179.20 184.80 180.00 182.69Appollo Ispat CL -N 333,600 9.39 3.51 27.90 -2.11 28.50 29.00 27.70 28.15UNITED AIR-A 800,708 9.16 3.43 11.50 4.55 11.00 11.60 11.10 11.44Delta Life Insu. -A 30,750 6.05 2.26 194.80 -1.42 197.60 200.00 194.00 196.88Eastern Housing -A 85,403 5.50 2.06 64.80 -0.46 65.10 65.70 63.50 64.36Meghna Petroleum -A 19,394 5.28 1.97 273.60 2.82 266.10 279.00 266.00 272.18Padma Oil Co. -A 15,579 4.94 1.85 316.10 1.25 312.20 320.00 312.00 317.19Aftab Auto.-A 55,584 4.76 1.78 85.70 -1.61 87.10 87.50 85.00 85.57Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 180,000 4.50 1.68 24.90 1.63 24.50 25.40 24.70 25.02

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

LafargeS Cement-Z 4,992,500 404.88 9.26 79.80 -7.75 86.50 87.50 78.20 81.10Grameenphone-A 1,308,718 383.83 8.78 295.10 3.07 286.30 296.20 280.00 293.28Square Pharma -A 1,172,895 334.60 7.65 283.50 0.89 281.00 290.00 257.00 285.28MJL BD Ltd.-A 2,809,549 249.80 5.71 91.20 4.47 87.30 91.60 78.60 88.91BSRM Steels-A 1,853,575 166.70 3.81 88.50 -4.01 92.20 93.80 85.00 89.94G Next Fashions-A 7,334,940 137.62 3.15 18.90 6.78 17.70 19.20 16.00 18.76Olympic Ind. -A 602,125 137.29 3.14 227.20 2.34 222.00 230.00 220.00 228.02Eastern Housing -A 1,871,690 120.69 2.76 65.10 0.31 64.90 66.00 59.00 64.48BD Submarine Cable-A 587,720 107.55 2.46 184.40 2.90 179.20 186.00 161.70 182.99Meghna Petroleum -A 340,939 92.83 2.12 273.20 2.51 266.50 274.80 244.00 272.27HeidelbergCement -A 149,050 74.51 1.70 499.50 1.07 494.20 507.80 494.10 499.91GPH Ispat Ltd-A 1,281,320 71.87 1.64 55.40 -5.62 58.70 58.10 53.00 56.09Golden Son -A 1,447,357 65.82 1.51 44.80 -1.97 45.70 46.20 41.20 45.48Emerald Oil Ind. -N 1,159,500 56.06 1.28 48.00 0.21 47.90 48.80 47.90 48.35Padma Oil Co. -A 172,786 54.75 1.25 315.20 1.06 311.90 321.80 300.00 316.88

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Bangladesh Welding -Z 8.47 5.50 12.65 12.80 12.90 12.20 0.329 0.48 26.4G Next Fashions-A 7.91 5.22 18.74 19.10 19.20 18.00 15.385 2.28 8.2R. N. Spinning-Z 6.18 5.95 27.24 27.50 27.80 26.50 2.474 3.12 8.7BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 5.53 5.74 23.04 22.90 23.60 22.00 11.749 0.59 39.1In Tech Online -A 4.88 4.29 12.87 12.90 13.20 12.30 0.431 -0.80 -veEnvoy Textiles Ltd-N 4.60 4.37 49.89 50.00 52.00 44.00 0.371 1.44 34.6Sonargaon Tex -Z 4.55 3.98 9.15 9.20 9.30 9.00 0.009 -0.92 -veUNITED AIR-A 4.55 4.09 11.44 11.50 11.60 11.10 9.159 0.77 14.9GQ Ball PenA 4.50 4.64 133.83 134.60 136.00 131.60 0.453 2.81 47.6Beximco Syn.-Z 4.40 3.73 9.46 9.50 9.60 8.20 0.167 0.76 12.4

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Progressive Life-A 8.98 9.08 126.40 126.20 127.00 123.00 0.316 2.30 55.0Meghna Con. Milk -B 8.33 8.52 7.90 7.80 7.90 7.70 0.229 -4.85 -veDa� odil Computers -Z 8.33 5.93 11.61 11.70 11.80 10.90 1.091 0.68 17.1G Next Fashions-A 6.78 5.22 18.76 18.90 19.20 16.00 137.615 2.28 8.2Bangladesh Welding -Z 5.83 7.00 12.84 12.70 13.20 11.00 1.871 0.48 26.8R. N. Spinning-Z 5.04 5.76 27.17 27.10 27.90 23.50 10.340 3.12 8.7Savar Refractories-Z 4.99 10.91 60.00 56.80 57.00 56.50 0.009 0.52 115.4Al-Haj Textile -A 4.83 4.16 182.79 184.50 186.70 160.00 45.344 2.00 91.4EBL NRB M.F.-A 4.76 4.76 6.60 6.60 6.60 6.60 0.007 0.47 14.0Ambee Pharma -A 4.72 2.94 327.93 328.60 335.00 290.00 2.773 3.20 102.5

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 199.23 4.56 16.11 4.90 215.34 4.58NBFI 83.34 1.91 5.80 1.76 89.14 1.90Investment 33.74 0.77 2.22 0.67 35.95 0.76Engineering 589.64 13.48 44.77 13.60 634.40 13.49Food & Allied 248.39 5.68 12.70 3.86 261.09 5.55Fuel & Power 608.19 13.91 31.53 9.58 639.72 13.60Jute 3.19 0.07 0.00 3.19 0.07Textile 515.20 11.78 50.29 15.28 565.49 12.02Pharma & Chemical 578.42 13.23 26.14 7.94 604.56 12.86Paper & Packaging 0.47 0.01 17.67 5.37 18.14 0.39Service 125.97 2.88 6.29 1.91 132.26 2.81Leather 31.26 0.71 19.67 5.98 50.93 1.08Ceramic 10.59 0.24 1.44 0.44 12.04 0.26Cement 525.46 12.01 32.03 9.73 557.48 11.85Information Technology 27.53 0.63 3.20 0.97 30.73 0.65General Insurance 33.36 0.76 1.47 0.45 34.83 0.74Life Insurance 69.69 1.59 6.83 2.08 76.52 1.63Telecom 491.37 11.24 24.68 7.50 516.06 10.97Travel & Leisure 88.25 2.02 10.34 3.14 98.59 2.10Miscellaneous 109.75 2.51 15.93 4.84 125.68 2.67Debenture 0.54 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.54 0.01

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4411.17187 (+) 0.21% ▲

DSE Shariah Index : 1016.67144 (+) 0.37% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1639.41621 (+) 0.92% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 13594.22520 (+) 0.23% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11100.23090 (+) 0.96% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8411.34160 (+) 0.61% ▲

DSE key features June 11, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

4,373.56

Turnover (Volume)

84,553,672

Number of Contract 89,273

Traded Issues 295

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

159

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

129

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,294.08

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.81

CSE key features June 11, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 276.19

Turnover (Volume) 7,477,667

Number of Contract 11,282

Traded Issues 212

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

113

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

93

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,196.77

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.63

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

Investors were materialising gains from certain scrips while waiting to hunt lucrative opportunities across preferred segments

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rallied 51 points to 8,411

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 2014

China ramps up spending to spur economyn Reuters, Beijing

China’s central bank said on Wednes-day it will keep monetary policy steady in 2014, even as the � nance ministry said � scal spending had surged nearly 25% in May from a year earlier, high-lighting government e� orts to energize the slowing economy.

Total � scal spending in May rose to 1.3tn yuan ($208.75bn), quickening sharply from a 9.6% rise in the � rst four months of the year.

The higher spending comes as the world’s second-biggest economy got o� to a soft start to the year, growing at its slowest pace in 18 months in the � rst quarter.

The economy has since shown some signs of stabilizing, but the recovery appears patchy and analysts do not rule out further stimulus measures, es-pecially if the cooling property market starts to rapidly deteriorate.

Fiscal revenues rose 7.2% in May from the same month last year, slowing from a 9.2% rise in April. The ministry attributed the slower revenue growth in May to the slowdown in the econo-my and falling property transactions.

China’s central bank has been de-scribing its policy stance as “prudent” in recent years, even when it is clearly loosening or tightening the policy reins. At the moment, for instance, authorities are in a gentle easing mode to counter the cooldown in the world’s second-biggest economy.

The People’s Bank of China said the outlook for external demand was un-certain, capital � ows were volatile, and � nancial risks were weighing on the economy.

The PBOC’s pursuit of stable mon-etary policy contrasts strongly with the � nance ministry’s mini-stimulus, which saw total � scal spending rise 24.6% to 1.3tn yuan ($208.75bn) in May as it brought forward spending sharply, from growth of 9.6% in the � rst four months of the year.

Stimulus measures taken so far by Beijing include speeding up the con-struction of railway projects and pub-lic housing, as well as orders to local

governments to fast-forward their � s-cal spending to prime the economy for growth.

Central government spending rose 15.8% in May from a year earlier while local government expenditure soared 26.9%, the � nance ministry said.

The PBOC said on Monday it will lower the reserve requirement ratio - the level of reserves banks must hold - for those banks that have sizeable loans to the farming sector and small and medium-sized � rms. This is the sec-

ond reduction following a cut in April aimed at rural banks.

To re-orient China’s economy away from exports and investment and to-wards domestic consumption, China will also speed up interest rate liberal-ization this year and work on introduc-ing deposit insurance.

Two separate programs that allow foreigners to invest in Chinese capital markets and Chinese investors to in-vest overseas will also be expanded.

The two schemes are known as

quali� ed foreign institutional investor, or QFII, and quali� ed domestic institu-tional investor, or QDII, respectively.

Chinese leaders have ruled out any large stimulus as the country is still nursing the hangover from the 4tn yuan ($640bn) stimulus implemented during the global crisis in 2008-09, which took local governments deep into debt.

Economic data for May released so far indicate the economy remains wob-bly, with export growth picking up but imports unexpectedly falling.

In� ation picked up to a four-month high, easing concerns the country was slipping into a de� ationary trend but remaining well below the govern-ment’s comfort zone, giving Beijing ample room to step up policy support if necessary.

The yuan currency has also appeared to stabilize after a sharp slide earlier in the year, though traders are not sure if the PBOC is comfortable enough with the export recovery to allow the cur-rency to start appreciating again. l

A clerk counts Chinese 100 yuan banknotes at a branch of China Construction Bank in Hai'an, Jiangsu province REUTERS

Euro dips in Asia ahead of ECB commentsn AFP, Tokyo

The euro dipped in Asia yesterday as investors looked to comments from European Central Bank o� cials later in the day following the ECB’s aggressive stimulus moves to combat the threat of de� ation in the eurozone.

In Tokyo afternoon trading, the European single currency slipped to $1.3537, compared with $1.3545 in US trade, while it also weakened to 138.45 yen against 138.64 yen.

The dollar slipped to 102.27 yen from 102.35 yen on Tuesday in New York.

“Given the extremely light data cal-endar today, we expect range-trading,” Credit Agricole said.

“The market will await the ECB of-� cials to shed light on the details of the easing package in their speeches today.”

Last week, ECB policymakers launched unprecedented easing measures to bolster fragile eurozone growth, saying it would cut its deposit rate to negative territory. This means banks will be charged for leaving funds at the ECB in the hope they might lend to businesses and consumers instead.

The bank also slashed its lend-ing rate to a record 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 purchases, or quantitative easing, similar to that un-dertaken in the United States and Japan.

“It is very likely that selling pres-sure on the euro will intensify further,” Junichi Ishikawa, market analyst at IG Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The dollar faced selling pressure against the yen, despite higher US trea-sury yields and upbeat jobs data last week that suggested the world’s num-ber one economy was back on track.

Investors will be looking to May US retail sales � gures, due Thursday, as well as the Bank of Japan’s two-day policy-making meeting, which wraps up on Friday. l

ACAM gets new MD n Tribune Business Desk

Alliance Capital Asset Management Limited (ACAML) has appointed Asadul Islam Ripon as the new managing direc-tor and chief executive o� cer (CEO).

“Islam will work to develop ACAML’s growing equities platform and to diver-sify � nancial products in Bangladesh as well as in international market,” said a statement yesterday.

Prior to his appointment, Islam served for City Brokerage Limited as founding MD and CEO. l

Singer introduces Beko, Grunding products in Bangladeshn Tribune Report

European home appliances brand “Beko” and electronics brand “Grun-dig” have introduced their business in Bangladesh market through their local distributor Singer Bangladesh.

Singer, an exclusive distributor of Beko and Grundig products for Ban-gladesh market, yesterday formally launched the products of the two Eu-ropen brands at a city hotel. Arcelik group of Turkey owns both Beko and Grundig with 14 di� erent production facilities in � ve di� erent countries.

“We have lunched the two European brands in Bangladesh to o� er the con-sumers more options,” said Managing Director of Singer A M Hamim Rah-matullah while launching the products.

The ceremoney was addressed, among others, by Singer Asia President and CEO Gavin J Walker and Arcelik Asia Project Manager Gurhan Gunal.

Bangladesh, being one of the rapidly expanding market for white goods in Asia, holds a very crucial position in our growth strategy, said Gurhan Gunal.

With the launching of Beko and Grundig poroducts, we intend to achieve a considerable market share in the � rst 3 years and in the long term, our aim is to be one of the major brands in Bangladesh, he added.

Beko brand has the highest market share in Europe for the last � ve years. Beko’s initial o� ering in Bagladesh will be a full-range of white goods (refriger-ators, front-loading washing machine, dryer, dishwasher and ovens) while Grundig will o� ere LED TV and con-sumer electronics and small household appliances. l

Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) has accorded BMCCI Excellence Awards 2013 to three distinguished business leaders for signi� cant contribution in their respective � elds. Norlin binti Othamn, High Commissioner of Malaysia in Dhaka gave away the awards to Salahuddin Kasem Khan, MD of AK Khan & Co Ltd for foreign direct investment, Abdul Matlub Ahmad, chair of Nitol-Niloy Group for export & import and Nasir A Choudhury, advisor of Green Delta Insurance Co Ltd for insurance at a function held at a hotel in Dhaka on June

Premier Bank MasterCard recently launched a MasterCard Reloadable Hajj and Travel Prepaid Card in Bangladesh to cater the requirements of Hajj Pilgrims, HAAB Agents and frequent travelers as an alternate of Travelers Cheque or foreign exchange in cash. Dr HBM Iqbal, chair, Premier Bank Ltd, rea� rmed the commitment of Premier Bank to serve the Hajj pilgrims while delivering his speech as chief guest

BRAC Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Dusai Resort and Spa to provide special discounts to its premium banking customers and platinum credit cardholders. The bank’s head of retail banking division Firoz Ahmed Khan and Regina Nasser, director of sales and marketing at Dusai Hotel and Resorts Limited, signed the agreement

RFL, producer household products and Bangladesh Brand Forum have launched RFL Inspiring Women Award recently at a press conference that was attended by Uzma Chowdhury, director of corporate � nance at PRAN-RFL, Shariful Islam, founder of Bangladesh Brand Forum and RFL’s brand ambassador actress Moushumi

Bank Asia and Western Union introduced a direct-to-bank money transfer service to help expatriates send remittance to any bank account connected to Bangladesh Electronic Fund Transfer Network. The service was launched at a function held at a hotel in Dhaka on Thursday where Western Union’s regional vice president for South Asia Kiran Shetty, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank Nazneen Sultana and Bank Asia’s vice chair AM Nurul Islam were present

Rupali Bank Limited’s chair Dr Ahmed Al-Kabir was the chief guest on the training programme for probationary o� cers in the auditorium of the bank’s training academy recently

Plastic producers still press for 20% cash incentive B1 COLUMN 1“We are going to start training pro-gramme at Bangladesh Institute of Plas-tic Engineering and Technology (BI-PET) by August, this year, to enhance the skills of the manpower, working in the plastic sector,” said Jasim.

Urging the government to withdraw value added tax (VAT) on the locally produced toys, Jasim said reducing supplementary tax on the imported toys would surely cast a negative im-pact on the local toy makers, especially the small ones.

Expressing his satisfaction for giv-ing special thrust on power and energy

sector, the BPGMEA leader, however, said: We have to come out o� the rental power plants and concentrate on the coal-based power plants.

The organisation demanded with-drawal of VAT on plastic recycling in-dustry as it not only helps to reduce ecological impact but also generate jobs for the unskilled people.

He also demanded cash incentives for the plastic industry as like as RMG sector for exploring new markets for the plastic goods across the world. Currently, RMG sector enjoys 3% cash incentives for exploring new markets. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 12, 2014

DILBERT

World Bank sees ‘� at’ growth for developing countriesn AFP, Washington

The World Bank lowered its 2014 growth forecasts for the global econo-my Tuesday, but said advanced econ-omies’ rebound from a rough start would help o� set stagnation in devel-oping countries.

Most of the pick-up in growth this year will come from high-income coun-tries, particularly the United States and the 18-nation eurozone, the World Bank said in its twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects report.

But a rough start to the year - bad weather in the United States, � nancial market turmoil and the Ukraine crisis - dragged down global growth for the year as a whole, the Bank said.

It marked down its 2014 forecast to a 2.8% pace from its January forecast of 3.2%. The global economy grew 2.4% growth in 2013. High-income countries would see stronger growth this year of 1.9% from 1.3% in the previous year, the World Bank said.

But developing countries can expect mixed challenges from the accelerating growth in the rich countries.

As high-income economies expand, their import demand should grow, boosting developing-country exports.

But developing countries will be hard-pressed to � nd the capacity to meet that demand, because most of them already are fully recovered from the 2008 � nancial crisis and grow-ing close to potential, the Washing-ton-based development lender said.

Developing countries were project-ed to grow 4.8% this year, substantially below the 5.3% estimate in January.

“The outlook for developing coun-

tries is for � at growth in 2014. This marks the third year in a row of sub-� ve percent growth and re� ects a more challenging post-crisis global economic environment,” it said.

The World Bank’s latest outlook marked a deterioration from the Jan-uary report, when it had raised its

growth forecasts, saying both rich and developing countries appeared to be “� nally turning the corner” after the global � nancial crisis.

Weakness in China Much of the slowdown this year re� ect-ed weakness in China, the world’s sec-

ond-largest economy. First-quarter growth in Chinese

gross domestic product was only a 5.8% annualized rate, with a sharp de-celeration in industrial output and Bei-jing taking steps to tighten credit.

The Washington-based lender fore-cast growth of 7.6% this year, lower

than China’s 7.7% growth rate in 2013. Beijing’s own target for this year is 7.5%.

GDP growth accelerated slightly in the � rst quarter in India, Mexico and the Philippines. But the pace of growth slowed in Indonesia, Mongolia, Malay-sia and Brazil and turned negative in South Africa and Peru.

Sharp annualized contractions of between eight and 12% occurred in Ukraine, Thailand and Morocco.

The weakness in developing coun-tries re� ected a slew of factors, includ-ing knock-on e� ects from the severe winter in the US; political tensions in Thailand, Ukraine and Turkey; labor un-rest in South Africa; and monetary poli-cy tightening following � nancial market turmoil a year ago, the Bank said.

Actual and structural � scal de� cits are much higher now than in 2007 in developing countries, and debt rose by more than 10 percentage points of GDP in half of them.

The World Bank warned that devel-oping countries need to prepare now with structural reforms while � nancial conditions are easy, because they are likely to tighten over the longer term.

The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, said more robust growth was needed to create the type of jobs that can improve the lives of the world’s poorest 40% .

“Clearly, countries need to move faster and invest more in domestic structural reforms to get broad-based economic growth to levels needed to end extreme poverty in our genera-tion,” Kim said in a statement.

Andrew Burns, lead author of the report, said bottlenecks in energy and infrastructure, labor markets and busi-ness climate in many of the large mid-dle-income countries are holding back economic and productivity growth.”

“Subsidy reform is one potential av-enue for generating the money to raise the quality of public investments in human capital and physical infrastruc-ture,” he said. l

The World Bank building entrance is seen in Washington AFP

Google buys satellite imaging � rm for $500mn AFP, San Francisco

Google announced plans Tuesday to buy the satellite group Skybox Imaging for $500m, in a move to improve map-ping and other services using geospa-tial data.

“We’ve agreed to acquire Skybox Imaging, and we look forward to wel-coming them to Google,” a statement from the Internet giant said.

“Their satellites will help keep our maps accurate with up-to-date imag-ery. Over time, we also hope that Sky-box’s team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief - areas Google has long been interested in.”

Skybox said in a blog post that the goal of the � ve-year-old � rm was “to revolutionize access to information about the changes happening across the surface of the Earth.”

“We’ve built and launched the world’s smallest high-resolution imag-ing satellite, which collects beautiful and useful images and video every day ... The time is right to join a company who can challenge us to think even big-ger and bolder, and who can support us in accelerating our ambitious vision.”

Silicon Valley-based Skybox cur-rently has just one operational satellite but has plans to deploy 24 of them.

The company’s technology enables businesses and others to get highly de-tailed, up-to-date imagery that can be used for supply chain monitoring, mar-itime tracking, and environmental and

humanitarian relief monitoring. In December, Skybox released the

� rst high-resolution, high-de� nition video of Earth taken by a commercial remote sensing satellite, with images of Tokyo, Bangkok, Baltimore, Las Ve-gas, and Aleppo, Syria.

The company founders wrote the � rst business plan as part of a Stanford University graduate entrepreneurship course.

The news comes two months after Google announced a deal to buy Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones that could be used to boost In-ternet access to remote areas.

Google has also been working on its Project Loon, which uses large balloons for transmitting Internet signals to re-gions that are not now connected.

Google said the all-cash deal is sub-ject to regulatory approval. l

Private wealth: Asia-Paci� c to overtake Europe in 2014n AFP, Washington

The amount of private wealth in the booming Asia-Paci� c region excluding Japan will overtake Europe this year and the United States 2018, according to a new study by Boston Consulting Group.

Private � nancial wealth around the world increased by 14.6% last year to

$152tn helped by rebounding stock mar-kets, with the Asia-Paci� c region seeing a 30.5% jump, the BCG report said.

That translated into a the number of millionaire households around the world increasing by 2.6 million, to 16.3 million. Close to half were in the United States.

But there was strong growth in pri-vate wealth in China, where 2.4 mil-

lion households count as millionaires, while Japan’s number of richest contin-ued to fall.

The BCG study, “Riding a Wave of Growth: Global Wealth 2014”, said the largest store of private � nancial wealth - cash, securities, and bank deposits but not including real estate or luxury goods - remains the United States, and Western Europe is second. l

What if the caution of the‘super rich’ ebbs?n Reuters, London

Canny caution or bumbling oversight, the world’s richest people have re-tained huge stockpiles of zero-yielding cash throughout the recent surge in � -nancial asset prices.

Their persistence may have, count-er-intuitively, prolonged the buoyancy of those very assets in the process - helping to in� ate the outsize wealth of the super-rich further.

With the debate about rising in-equality re-invigorated this year by French economist Thomas Piketty’s best-selling book on ballooning wealth gaps, the spending and savings behav-ior of the so-called “plutonomists” has rarely seen more scrutiny or had more in� uence on the economy and markets.

Political clamor for redress through greater taxation of asset incomes, rents, gifts and inheritances may well build. But few expect much change in the rising wealth of the richest 1 per-cent of households or the 0.1 percent deemed ‘high net-worth individuals.’

Yet as stock markets barreled to re-cord highs - with the MSCI’s all-coun-try index up almost 30 percent over the past 18 months - investment advi-sors estimate up to 40 percent of their money remains un-invested and is still parked in deposits.

As the latest equity market surge be-gan early last year, a benchmark survey by CapGemeni and RBC Wealth Man-agement had average cash or deposit holdings among those global wealth

investors at almost 28 percent - more than the 26% held in equity or some 20% in real estate.

De� ning the richest 12 million savers as those with more than $1m in invest-ible assets - excluding their primary residences and collectibles - the sur-vey’s high cash holdings may simply re� ect a preference for banking large slices of wealth rather than risking it in volatile markets.

And, to be sure, returns on the 70% of other investments would have paid handsomely enough anyway.

The richest have always tended to hold relatively high levels of cash. Liq-uid holdings are preferred for wealth protection, tax-avoiding mobility, in-heritances or gifts.

Yet the survey’s cash levels are more than twice the levels registered in the equivalent survey from the height of the pre-crisis go-go years in 2006 and 2007.

And with near-zero interest rates meaning deposits are losing money adjusted for in� ation and with broad market volatility at multi-year lows, the caution is remarkable. What’s more, other surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest cash holdings remain elevated or have actually risen over the past year.

A survey of more than 4,000 rich investors - those with more than $200,000 to invest - conducted at the turn of this year for asset managers Legg Mason showed 26.5% held in cash. An estimate by Wells Fargo puts cash holdings among the wealthiest cli-ents as high as 40%.

Brian Jacobsen, portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Asset Management, said equity markets rallied so quickly after the credit crash that by the time many of these individual investors felt com-fortable enough going back in, both equities and bonds had reached levels they felt were unsustainable.

Retirement and other demographics added to that caution.

“I can’t tell you how many times I go to client events where people say after a 10% correction, then I’m going to al-locate,” Jacobsen said. “But you might be waiting for Godot.

“Precisely because there are so many people waiting for that pullback, it may become a self-destructing ex-pectation. You see a � ve percent move like we did have and people just jump in - and you don’t ever get to the 10% move down.” l

Gaming characters walk around E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo June 10, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. The annual video game conference and show runs June 10-12 AFP

'I can’t tell you how many times I go to client events where people say after a 10% correction, then I’m going to allocate'

A sign is posted in front of the Skybox Imaging headquarters on June 10 in Mountain View, California. Google announced an agreement to purchase the high quality satellite image provider Skybox Imaging for $500m AFP