Japan cuts fiscal 2011 growth forecast

Japan on Friday cut its economic growth forecast for this fiscal year to 0.5 per cent from 1.5 per cent, citing the impact of the March 11 quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters.

In fiscal 2012, which starts in April, the government expects growth to recover to between 2.7 and 2.9 per cent in the world's number three economy, due in part to a post-disaster reconstruction drive.

The Cabinet Office report warned of risks ahead — especially the strong yen, which hurts exporters, as investors have rushed to the safe-haven currency amid financial market turmoil sparked by US and European debt woes.

Japan's triple calamity five months ago killed more than 20,000 people, devastated large areas of the northeast and sparked a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant, which continues to leak radiation into the environment.

'Our country's economy suffered a sizeable contraction in real GDP for the January-March quarter because of the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake,' said the Cabinet Office in its report.

'The Great Earthquake caused damage to production bases in disaster-hit areas and led to a huge decline in nationwide output,' said the report, which also stressed that after the quake 'consumer demand plunged'.

The report forecast industrial output will grow 1.5 per cent, down from 2.5 per cent projected earlier, due to the tsunami that cut supply chains and forced many companies to shutter plants and halt production.

The disaster also caused power shortfalls that have forced a summer-time electricity saving campaign. Only 15 of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors are now operating, with more due to cease operations soon for regular checks.

The impact of the quake, Japan's worst disaster in the post-war era, will see private consumption contract 0.2 per cent this year from an earlier estimate of 0.6 per cent growth, said the report.

Japan, with its rapidly ageing population, has been plagued for decades by a cycle of low domestic demand and falling prices.

The report also forecast an unemployment rate of 4.7 per cent in fiscal 2011.

The real GDP outlook was broadly in line with one by the Bank of Japan last month. The BoJ cut its growth forecast for the year to March to 0.4 per cent, and kept a projection of 2.9 per cent growth for fiscal 2012.

'Looking to the future, we need to pay attention to the impact of the growing uncertainties in the global economy as well as of fluctuations of foreign exchange rates on the Japanese economy,' the report added.

The yen has been hovering near its post-World War II high of 76.25 to the dollar, which it hit in turbulent trading in the week after the quake.

Last week, Japan staged a large unilateral currency market intervention, selling yen and buying dollars, in a bid to weaken its soaring currency and safeguard the nation's budding post-quake recovery.

A strong yen hurts Japan's key export sector by making its good less competitive abroad and cutting into companies' repatriated overseas earnings, prompting some firms to shift their production abroad.

Japan is due to announce GDP figures for the April-June quarter on Monday, and analysts expect the data to show that the economy shrank by an annualised 2.6 per cent, the third straight quarterly contraction.

Takahiro Sekido, chief economist with Credit Agricole Securities Asia BV, forecast a return to growth in the July-September quarter.

'Japan's recovery from the disaster has been faster than originally thought,' he said. 'It's true that there are some downside risks, but Japan's recovery is expected to be strong enough to offset the negative impact of the strong yen.'

Source : New Age

40 years on from gold standard, bugs crow

Gold, and only gold, will be our salvation when the value of companies, banks, countries and even money itself melts away. Gold, not shifting currencies, is the foundation of wealth and security. Gold is back, for good.

This is the song of the 'gold bugs' - the fervent fans of the precious metal who have clung to its investment value for three generations and now glow in the reflected lustre of a record price approaching $2,000 for just one ounce.

Monday will mark the 40th anniversary of the United States' abandonment of the gold standard. But gold bugs kept the faith — even when prices stayed under $500 for nearly 25 years after their 1981 peak.

Their passion derided, dismissed as hopelessly out dated doomsayers, their love for the metal seemed irrational.

The gold bug label itself goes back to master of the supernatural Edgar Allen Poe and his story of that name, a tale of golden beetle whose bite sends the hero to a chest of gold and jewels.

It reappeared as one of the first campaign buttons — a brass bug sported by supporters of William McKinley in the bitter US presidential election of 1896.

McKinley, the first presidential candidate to barnstorm across the nation, backed the gold standard against his Democratic opponent's proposal that it should be joined by silver in a fixed ratio. Loser William Bryan slipped into history but bimetallism lived on for a little in the think tanks of the day.

Fast forward and the financial crisis of 2008 has made gold the darling of investors from hedge funds to taxi drivers, and sparked a near-doubling of prices.

'Gold has been rising against all national currencies, and that's significant,' James Turk, founder of bullion dealer Goldmoney, said.

'When there are problems with a national currency... people begin to worry about the value of their money, whether they're going to lose purchasing power because of inflation or other problems. As a consequence, they look for safe havens.'

He was speaking as a true gold bug — not in the dark days after Lehman Brothers' demise in 2008, nor in the depths of last year's euro zone debt crisis, nor after Standard & Poor's recent downgrade of the United States' top-notch credit rating.

Turk's view came in a BusinessWeek interview he gave in 2005, well in advance of the current financial crisis.

'My long-standing forecast, made in a Barron's interview in October 2003, is that $8,000 per ounce will be reached sometime between 2013-2015,' he told Reuters this week.

'I've stayed with that forecast over the years and see no reason to change it.'

The world's current financial woes are only going to get worse if current policies continue, he believes, meaning the rally in gold prices is unlikely to stop here.

'Politicians and central bankers are making decisions that debase national currencies, and the resulting bad monetary policies they are following are causing the gold price to rise,' he said.

Gold's latest push to record highs has gone hand-in-hand with a plunge in Wall Street stocks to their lowest in nearly a year, while the dollar is languishing near multi-year lows.

Long-term gold bull David Beahm, vice president of marketing and economic research at New Orleans bullion dealer Blanchard and Co, says worries over the stability of the stock markets will be a key driver of higher gold prices.

'The best investment right now is gold,' he said. 'By diversifying one's portfolio with a negatively-correlated gold, investors can protect themselves from deep plunges in the equity market.'

'There is no news in the market today or over the coming few months that is likely to stop the current gold bull market, as the fundamentals are firmly in place for gold to continue its rise,' he says.

Traditional investment commentators have dismissed gold — which, with no 'intrinsic' value of its own, is only really as valuable as a buyer thinks it is — as a classic bubble.

But those who have predicted its crash since it rose above $700 an ounce in 2006, on a simple 'what goes up, must come down' analysis, have consistently been proved short-sighted.

Gold prices traded in a relatively narrow range from $250-420 an ounce for the whole of the 1990s. They have since more than quadrupled from that high, peaking at a record just below $1,800 an ounce earlier this week.

Their rise accelerated sharply from 2005 onwards, breaking through $1,000 an ounce in 2008 as the weaker dollar fuelled demand for alternative stores of value.

Now gold bulls are predicting that prices, now around $1,750 an ounce, but still short of an inflation-adjusted high of nearly $2,500 in 1980, could climb even higher.

Source : New Age

Tk 61cr tourism promo campaign from Nov

The government is going to start a Tk 61-crore international tourism promotional campaign 'Visit Bangladesh' from November targeting to increase numbers of foreign tourists from present four lakh to one million.

'We have taken yearlong international campaign on tourism promotion to attract more foreign tourists here,' civil aviation and tourism minister GM Quader told the news agency on Friday.

He said they had set a target of receiving one million foreign tourists during the campaign and expecting more than two million afterwards.

As per the decision of a meeting of Bangladesh Tourism Board chaired by the tourism minister last week at the secretariat, BTB, the national tourism organisation of the country will hold the 'grand celebration programme' of the 'Visit Bangladesh' campaign in November next.

The ministry is expecting many foreign dignitaries and international tour operators at the grand celebration programme, to be inaugurated by prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Taleb Rifai and tourism ministers of several countries including Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, France and Indonesia have already shown their interest to join at the gala programme, an official of BTB said.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina declared the year 2011 as the tourism year and the tourism ministry planned to launch 'Visit Bangladesh 2011' campaign marking the year.

'The allocation of more than Tk 60 crore for promotion of tourism showed commitment of the present government to make country's tourism sector as one of the major source of foreign exchange earning,' GM Quader said.

The country has lots of tourist tempting treasures in natural beauty, culture, heritage and archaeological aspects, he said, adding, 'But we never conducted such huge international promotional campaign to attract travellers.'

However, finance ministry approved Tk 61 crore against the demand of civil aviation and tourism ministry's Tk 260 crore promotional programme.

'The finance ministry told us to start the campaign with this initial amount and they would disburse more later on,' the minister said.

The government has planned to continue the campaign until 2014, if the BTB can conduct tourism promotion successfully in the first year, BTB sources said.

The tourism board has already chalked out lots of events round the year blending with traditional, cultural, tribal and religious festivals, it said.

During the campaign country's tourism promotional video documentaries and television commercials will be aired through world's many famous television channels across the globe, the source said.

The campaign also includes staging road shows and Bangladesh week in different countries as well as inviting foreign renowned international travel writers and journalists to visit Bangladesh.

Source : New Age

Vegetables price still high, chilli becomes dearer

The price of green chilli increased while the prices of vegetables remained high in the retail market over the past week.

The prices of other essential commodities including sugar and edible oils have remained unchanged during the period.

Shoppers at the Palashi Bazar and Karwan Bazar said they had to cut down their budgets for the daily livelihood because of the exorbitant hike in prices of essential commodities including vegetables since Ramadan began.

On Friday, green chilli's retail price was Tk 100 per kilogram, a hike of Tk 20 per kg over the last week at Karwan Bazar and Palashi Bazar.

Vegetable vendors said the price of chilli increased a lot due to supply shortage created by the relentless rainfall during the last week.

'The price of green chilli went up to Tk 150 a day before, but it came down to Tk 100 per kg on the day,' said Fazlur Rahman, a greengrocer at Karwan Bazar.

The day saw long aubergine being retailed at Tk 40 to Tk 50 per kg, local cucumber at Tk 50 per kg and high breed variety of cucumber at Tk 30 per kg.

Tomato was being sold on the day at Tk 70 to Tk 80 per kg, bitter gourd (karolla) at Tk 40-50 per kg, snake gourd (chichinga) at Tk 35 per kg, ridge gourd (jhingaa) at Tk 40 per kg, okra at Tk 40 a kg, teasle gourd (kakrol) at Tk 30 per kg, pointed gourd (patol) at Tk 30 a kg, potato at Tk 16 and papaya at Tk 15 per kg in Palashi and Karwan Bazar.

Lemon was sold at Tk 10- to Tk l5 a pair while coriander leaf was being retailed at Tk 300 per kg.

Greengrocers claimed although the price of some vegetables used in Iftar preparations had increased with the advent of Ramadan while prices of other vegetables did not mark any significant rise.

The retailers at Karwan Bazar kitchen market on Friday claimed that they were selling the commodities at the rates written on the chart displayed in front of their shops.

Although the retailers were selling sugar, soya bean oil, and palm oil at the set rates, the prices of other commodities varied a lot from shop to shop.

On Friday, sugar was being sold at the government-set price of Tk 65 per kg, loose soya bean oil at Tk 109 per litre, and loose super palm oil at Tk 99 per litre at Hatirpul market and Karwan Bazar.

Grocers said that they were able to sell sugar and edible oil at the government-set price as the supply was adequate in the last few days.

They suggested strict surveillance by the authorities concerned to thwart any attempt by the refiners and wholesalers to create an artificial crisis of sugar.

As on Friday, the price of local onion was being sold at Tk 38 to Tk 45 per kg while imported onion was being retailed at Tk 34 to Tk 36 per kg.

Australian chickpea was being retailed on Friday at Tk 65 to Tk 70 per kg and Myanmar chickpea at Tk 85 to Tk 90, showing no change in the week.

On Friday at Karwan Bazar, the retail price of broiler ranged between Tk 135 and Tk 140 per kg, beef of the local cow was sold at Tk 270 per kg while that of imported cow at Tk 250 per kg.

The price of coarse rice was between Tk 32 and Tk 38, medium-grade rice between Tk 38 and Tk 44, fine varieties of rice between Tk 44 and Tk 54, while the price of loose flour was ranged between Tk 24 and Tk 32.

The retail price of local variety red lentil was

Tk 90 to Tk 95 per kg

and the Nepali variety at

Tk 80 to Tk 90.

Source : New Age

Sales of savings certificates drop

Sales of National Savings Certificates in 2010-11 fiscal dropped by nearly Tk 9,534 crore compared to the previous year because of the tax imposed by the government on profits from savings schemes.

National Savings Directorate officials said the net sales of NSCs stood at Tk 2,056.90 crore in 2010-11 compared to Tk 11,590.64 crore in 2009-10 fiscal.

The sales of the certificates in the last fiscal were 77 per cent less than the target set at Tk 7,477 crore.

High interest rates of commercial banks also caused the sales of certificates to go down, the officials added.

This year the government has fixed the target of NSCs sales at Tk 6,400 crore and experts are optimistic about the increase in sales due to some new initiatives taken in the current fiscal by the government.

The NSD officials said that in the first month of July the sales of NSCs increased as the government announced new rates of savings certificates, social security premium and tax at source reduction of 5 per cent.

Sales of NSCs dropped as investors cashed more NSCs to invest in the booming stock market, said officials.

Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman said that the main reasons for the fall in investment in the savings certificates were the surges in stock prices before the January market crash, tax on profits and the low deposit rates of banks.

He said that the new initiative to cut tax at source of 5 per cent instead of previous year's 10 per cent would help increase NSC sales.

'Government's bank borrowing rose significantly due to over emphasis on the banking system. The pressure will ease if there is enough investment in the NSCs,' he added.

He suggested that the government should emphasise on local investments to reduce pressure on the economy as well as habit of depending on the external sources.

The NSC has three types of savings certificates, the 5-year period Bangladesh Savings Certificates, the three-month profit-based savings certificates and the Pensioner Savings Scheme Certificates.

The Post Office Savings Bank has two types of savings scheme—term savings and general savings. The interest rate for term savings is 10 per cent and for the general savings 7.5 per cent.

Past interim government's finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam said that small and middle income people invested their money in the NSCs for security.

'The decision of tax at source on the NSCs pressured the total investment in this sector but it will rise in this fiscal as the government has reduced the tax on profit and also increase in interest rate,' he said.

The low rate of investment in NSCs and booming capital market last year were very much related as people invested their money in the stocks instead of NSCs, Mirza Azizul said.

'The attractive interest rate in the deposit schemes is also a reason for less investment in the savings certificates,' he added.

Source : New Age

Hanif Ali Sheikh dies

The Natore Press Club president, Hanif Ali Sheikh, died at 55 at Rajshshi Medical College Hospital in the early hours of Friday.

He had long been suffering from cardiovascular diseases and was admitted to Natore Modern Hospital Thursday evening with a cardiac arrest and was taken to RMCH later, where he died from a major stroke, his family said.

Survived by two wives, a son and two daughters, Hanif Ali Sheikh was also district unit general secretary of the ruling Awami League.

In his long career he had served as the editor of local daily Uttar Banga Barta, vice-chair of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Natore unit, president of Ingit Theatre, a local cultural organisation, and as a former chairman of Satni union council.

His first namaz-e-janaza was held on the Natore Bar Association premises in the morning.

His body was sent to his village home at Satni after the second namaz-e-janaza at the Central Eidgah after jumma prayers and attended by state minister for home Shamsul Haq Tuku, Rajshahi mayor AHM Khairujjaman Liton, lawmakers, local leaders of AL and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, among others.

He was buried at his family graveyard at village Satni.

Source : New Age

Viqarunnisa probe committee gets five days more

The committee formed by the government to investigate the sexual harassment at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College was given five days more to submit its findings, said officials at the Dhaka education board on Friday.

'We have given the committee five more days after it sought time,' the chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka, Fahima Khatun told New Age on Friday.

She said that Thursday was the last day of the 10 working days given to the committee to submit its report but it sought more time on the day.

Government formed the five-member committee after the students of the institution had staged demonstrations for couple of days in mid July, demanding punishment of Parimal Jayadhar, a teacher of the school arrested on charge of violating a student, and removal of the college principal, Husne Ara Begum, for defending the accused for long time.

Dhaka Education Board examination controller Wahiduzzaman is the convener of the five member committee.

He said, 'We are trying hard to submit the report as soon as possible. We have done all our tasks and now preparing the report.'

The committee was asked to investigate whether anyone instigated students for violent protests, whether there was any negligence of the principal and of the committee members to tackle the incidents.

The government on July 13 dissolved the managing committee of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College after some committee members, in absence of the managing committee chairman Rashed Khan Menon, had removed Husne Ara Begum as the principal and appointed senior teacher Ambia Khatun to the position.

The government on July 14, appointed Manju Ara Begum as the acting principal of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College after a weeklong protest by students demanding removal of the then principal Husne Ara Begum.

Source : New Age

12,500 yaba tablets seized

Members of the Border Guard Bangladesh Friday seized 12,500 pieces of yaba tablets from Teknaf in the district.

Being tipped off, they raided a house of Hasan Ahmed at Baro Habibpara village under sadar unoin and seized the yaba tablets at around 3:00pm, sources said.

But owner of the house managed to flee.

Source : New Age

10 children bitten by mad dogs in Chandpur

At least 10 children were bitten by mad dogs in Matlab south upazila sadar Thursday afternoon.

Victims and locals said while returning home from schools some mad dogs bit the children on the road from College Gate to Matlab Bazaar area.

Matlab municipal mayor Enamul Hoque Badol said that mad dog killing drive would be launched soon in Matlab municipal area.

Source : New Age

Labourer drowns in Padma

A farm labourer drowned in the River Padma near Pakuria village under Bagha upazila of the district Friday afternoon.

Locals said the labourer was Abdur Razzaque, 27, son of Bhezu Pramanik of Kaligram village under the same upazila, drowned while he was swimming in the river after finishing his work at around 3:00pm.

Locals recovered the body.

Source : New Age

Khaleda flies to KSA next week for umrah

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, is likely to visit  Saudi Arabia next week at the invitation of the Saudi King to perform umrah.

The visit may take place on August 18.

BNP chairperson's office said that the date of her visit to Saudi Arabia would be finalised on Sunday.

Source : New Age

Suranjit urges BNP to join dialogue with EC

Awami League advisory council member Suranjit Sengupta on Friday urged the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party to join the Election Commission-sponsored dialogue for the sake of democracy and free, fair and credible elections.

Suranjit told a discussion in the city that skipping the dialogue by the BNP could give an impression that the party did not want free and fair elections.

The Election Commission invited BNP to the dialogue it was holding with political parties on issues like RPO, demarcation of constituencies, appointment of election commissioners and use of electronic voting machine. But BNP did not attend the talks.

'BNP wants to go to power through backdoor so they are not interested in dialogue with the Election Commission…It is trying to  stand in the way of free and fair polls,' Suranjit said at the discussion organised by Bangabandhu Mancha at the Dhaka Reporters Unity office.

He said an independent Election Commission was a prerequisite for holding credible polls.

Suranjit urged the law, home and foreign ministries to work together for bringing back the fugitive killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from abroad.    

The discussion was organised ias part of National Mourning Day, which falls on August 15, the 36th death anniversary of the country's founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Dhaka city AL general secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowd-hury Maya and its publicity secretary Abdul Haque Sabuj took part in the discussion.

Source : New Age

Light vehicle drivers demand pay hike, festival allowance

Light vehicle drivers on Friday urged the government to meet their demands that include increase in their wages to at least Tk 10,000 a month and festival allowance equal to a month's wage before Eid-ul-Fitr.

They put forth the demand at a human chain the Bangladesh Light Vehicle Driver Workers' Union formed in front of the National Press Club.

The other demands are that their working hours should be eight hours a day, they should be given overtime bill for working beyond eight hours, they should be given at three day's leave at the time of each Eid festival, they should be given life insurance coverage by vehicle owners and no cases should be filed against them under Section 302 in the Bangladesh Penal Code, which relates to murder, for traffic accidents.

Speakers at the human chain said that thousands of drivers were engaged in driving privately-owned light vehicles such as cars, micro-buses, jeeps and four- wheel human haulers who were paid betwene Tk 5,000 and Tk 8,000 a month for their work for a time stretching up 16 hours a day.

They alleged that the drivers could not run their family with such a small amount of money amid soaring prices.

The drivers generally do not get festival allowance or leave during festivals, they alleged.

They gave a warning that they would launch tough agitation programmes if their demands were not met immediately.

Source : New Age

Tahrir holds rally in Dhaka today

Banned Hizb ut-Tahrir, Bangladesh announced in wall posters that it would hold a rally at the Muktangan in the city today.

Rapid Action Battalion director and spokesman M Sohail told New Age that holding a rally by the banned outfit at Muktangan was absolutely out of question.

Tahrir activists pasted posters on walls at important city points and distributed leaflets.

Witnesses said that its posters pasted on city walls at important points.

The posters call for the establishment of Khilafat system of government.

'Neither Hasina, nor Khaleda qualify for this responsibility,' Tahrir said in a recent statement.

It also said, 'Only Khilafat system of governance can protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and dignity of Bangladesh.

In the posters it pledged to safeguard Bangladesh's sovereignty, natural resources like oil and gas by developing a powerful defence force free from the influence of the United States, the United Kingdom and India.

On October 22, 2009, the government banned Hizb ut-Tahrir on the ground of 'public security.

Meanwhile, on August 8, 9, and 10, it held rallies at 14 places in the capital city to drum up support for its rally set for Saturday.

The law enforcement agencies said they arrested most of the key leaders of the organisation since the organisation was banned.

On July 27, its 41-year old adviser Mahmudul Bari was arrested at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport as he was preparing to leave for Malaysia.

Bari was allegedly coordinating its activities after the arrest of senior leaders including, its chief coordinator Mohiuddin Ahmed and senior leaders Golam Mowla and Kazi Murshedul Huq, RAB officials said.

According to RAB and the police around 350 leaders and activists of Hizb ut Tahrir were arrested since it was banned.

Source : New Age

10 hurt in B’baria clash

At least 10 people were injured in a clash between two rival groups at Shikanika village in Nabinagar upazila of Brahmanbaria early Friday.

The police and locals said two groups of Jasim Uddin and Abdur Rob were locked in a clash over construction of a boundary wall in between their houses leaving at least 10 people injured from both sides at Shikanika village after Sehri.

Of the injured, two people were admitted to Nabinagar Upazila Health Complex, then shifted to Comilla Hospital as their condition deteriorated. Others took treatment in different health centres.

Being informed the police went to the spot and arrested two people in this connection.

Source : New Age

Libyan rebels on offensive 6 months into uprising

Rebels were rattling the gates of oil town Brega on Friday as they advance in eastern Libya and pushing an offensive at Tuarga in the west, almost six months after rising up against strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

They are also pushing forward in the western Nafusa mountains against Gaddafi's forces, which a top NATO commander said were no longer able to launch a credible military offensive.

The rebels, inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, launched popular protests against Gaddafi on February 15. They vowed that in just a 'a few days' they plan to retake the strategic oil hub of Brega, nestled on the Gulf of Syrte.

Rebels, backed by NATO helicopters, have tried for the past three weeks to seize the vital port 240 kilometres southwest of their eastern stronghold Benghazi.

By late Thursday, after a day of fighting, the rebels said they had taken control of one of three residential zones in Brega.

'Every day, we are gaining ground. We are at the entrance of the city. Some of our fighters have even got inside the residential area,' said Fawzi Bukatif, a civil engineer and a top commander of the insurrection.

In Brussels, a NATO operations report said that, among other targets in the country, air strikes had hit an armed vehicle, a multiple rocket launcher and an artillery piece in the vicinity of Brega on Thursday.

Meanwhile, rebels from Misrata are on the offensive against Gaddafi's troops in the town of Tuarga in an effort to end the barrage of missiles hitting the western town almost daily.

Commanders and fighters said the rebels had pushed into the centre of Tuarga, around 40 kilometres south of Misrata on Thursday.

'They are firing rockets into Misrata every day,' said Tareq, a 26-year-old fighter.

'Today is the day we stop them; today we moved inside Tuarga,' he said on Thursday.

NATO had softened the ground for the rebels overnight on Wednesday, hitting three command and control nodes and two military storage facilities in Tuarga.

After that starting gun Hajj Ali, commander of the Taliq Freedom Brigade—which stopped Gaddafi forces reaching Misrata's port in earlier battles — said rebel forces were moving into the centre of Tuarga in a pincer from the west and east.

The rebels hope to cut of supply lines to the town and disrupt rocket positions, but Ali said they were moving cautiously.

'We have to be careful. It does not look like they have hostages, but there are a lot of snipers,' he said.

On Thursday evening, there were scenes of jubilation in Misrata over news that the offensive had been successful in reaching the town.

Car horns blared and tracer fire was shot into the air in celebration.

But rebel officials admitted there was still some fighting to do.

NATO was authorised in March by UN Security Council resolution 1973 to defend Libya's civilian population from attacks by Colonel Gaddafi's regime, which faces a popular revolt after 42 years in power.

The alliance's top Libya commander, Canada's Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, said the air strikes had affected Gaddafi's military capabilities.

'The Gaddafi regime's forces continue to be weakened, both in strength and their will to fight,' he said, speaking from his Italian headquarters.

Source : New Age

Indians shoot 2 Bangladeshis dead in Sylhet

Two Bangladeshis were shot dead and another was injured when Indian Khasia tribesmen from the other side of the border fired into a group of Bangladeshi labours lifting stones from the River Bagaiya at Gowainghat about 4:30am on Friday, the police and local people said.

The deceased were Kamal Uddin alias Zahur, 32, of Bisnakandi, and Kamal Miah, 30, of Natun Bhanga Badnartuk in the upazila in Sylhet.

Fellow labourers using boats recovered the body of Zahur immediately while Kamal's body sank into the river near pillar 1263, the police said quoting the people present there.

The Border Guard Bangladesh later recovered the body of Kamal Miah from the river about 9:00am.

The injured Imam Uddin was given treatment in a local clinic, sources said.

BGB 5 Battalion commander lieutenant colonel Shafiul Azam told New Age in the afternoon that India's Border Security Force was immediately contacted over telephone and a protest was lodged regarding the killing of the two Bangladeshis.

He said that a meeting between the local camp officials of the Border Guard Bangladesh and India's Border Security Force was held in the afternoon.

'BSF officials at the meeting said that they would warn their citizens against firing into Bangladeshis in the future,' Azam said adding that the BSF had little control over their civilians.

The Gowainghat police officer-in-charge, Younus Miah, said that relatives of Zahur and Kamal Miah in the afternoon were trying to seek local administration's permission to bury the bodies without post-mortem examinations.

Source : New Age

BNP feares Khaleda arrest before visit of Manmohan

The opposition apprehends that the government might arrest the leader of the opposition and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia before the Indian prime minister's visit to Bangladesh to satisfy him by signing deals compromising national interest.

BNP leaders made the allegation while taking part in a human chain organised by Bangladesh Sammilito Peshajibi Parishad outside the National Press Club on Friday. The human chain was organised to protest at a recent case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission against Khaleda and the warrant for arrest of BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman.

BNP standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy said it was being heard Khaleda and other senior leaders would be arrested before Manmohan Singh's visit in a bid to satisfy him by signing various deals by sacrificing the national interests.

Another standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Mia said the 'false' case had been filed against Khaleda so that no movement could be built up against the signing of 'uneven' agreements during Manmohan Singh's visit.

Representatives from different professions joined the human chain and spoke on the occasion.

The speakers included Supreme Court Bar Association president Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Peshajibi Parishad convenor Mahmudur Rahman, Dhaka University teachers Sadrul Amin and AFM Yusuf Haider, Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal president Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal and Peshajibi Parishad member secretary  AZM Zahid Hossain.

Source : New Age

Pry school headmaster beaten to death

A primary school headmaster was beaten to death allegedly by a tractor driver and his associate in Chalakchar area at Manohardi in Narsingdi Thursday night.

The victim was Shiraj Uddin, 50, headmaster of Number 7 Chalakchar Government Primary School.

Local and police sources said in the afternoon on Thursday Razu Miah was driving his tractor over the school field. The headmaster rebuked for damaging the school field by the tractor.  At this Raju threatened headmaster Shiraj Uddin.  At about 8:00pm headmaster Shiraj while returning home at north Chalakchor, Raju and his accomplices allegedly beat Shiraj to death.

Salah Uddin Titu son of Shiraj field a case accusing driver Raju and his four accomplices of the murder.

The police arrested Raju and his accomplice Akaram Hossain, 28.  The police recovered the body and sent it to Narsingdi General Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Source : New Age

UK riots claim pensioner’s life as police defend tactics

Riots in England claimed a fifth life Friday with the death of a pensioner who confronted looters in the worst unrest for decades, as a row over policing the violence erupted between top officers and politicians.

More than 1,500 people have been arrested over the rioting in London and other English cities this week, and the courts sat for a third consecutive night on Thursday as they dealt hundreds of cases.

The police in London meanwhile arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of the murder of a man attacked by a mob during looting on Monday.

Richard Mannington Bowes, 68, was set upon in the affluent west London suburb of Ealing, which experienced some of the worst violence during the four nights of rioting, as he attempted to stamp out a fire started by a gang of youths.

He died in hospital late Thursday, the fifth fatality after the deaths of three men in Birmingham who were run over as they defended local businesses, and the shooting of a man in Croydon, south London.

The attack on Mannington Bowes 'was a brutal incident that resulted in the senseless killing of an innocent man,' said detective chief inspector John McFarlane of London's Metropolitan Police.

Inquests were due to open Friday into the deaths in Birmingham, England's second biggest city, which saw three young men of South Asian origin mown down by a car as they stood guard against looters outside a petrol station.

On the political front, a row escalated between police and politicians as both sides sought to deflect blame for the crisis.

The police have been criticised for their reluctance to crack down hard on the first riot in the north London district of Tottenham on Saturday, saying the cautious approach encouraged unrest to continue and spread across the country.

The number of officers on the streets of London was boosted from 6,000 to 16,000 after the unrest escalated and the same number remained on the streets of the capital on Thursday.

In an emergency session of parliament Thursday, prime minister David Cameron said police would be given extra powers to prevent future trouble but also voiced criticism of their tactics.

'Initially the police treated the situation too much as a public order issue — rather than essentially one of crime,' he told lawmakers.

Home secretary Theresa May has also said there were not enough officers on duty on Monday, the worst night of the unrest during which police in London arrested more than 300 people.

But senior officers hit back Friday in rare public attacks on the country's political leaders, who last year introduced tough austerity measures which include cuts to police forces across Britain.

Tim Godwin, the acting head of the Metropolitan Police, pointedly noted that 'people will always make comments who weren't there', and defended the policing of the riots.

'With the unprecedented scenes that we found in London, I have got some of the best commanders that we have seen in the world... that showed great restraint as well as great courage,' he told reporters.

Cameron and May were on holiday when the riots broke out, and returned early this week to take control, but senior officer Hugh Orde, who represents Britain's police chiefs, said their presence was an 'irrelevance'.

He also criticised a claim by May that she had ordered police forces across the country to cancel all staff leave, saying that she 'has no power whatsoever to order the cancellation of police leave.'

Courts across the country, which have been working round the clock to process cases, faced another busy day on Friday to deal with the more than 500 people charged over the disturbances.

Despite Cameron's criticism that many of the rampaging youths came from broken homes with absent parents, there was growing evidence that adults were willing to report their own children to the police over the riots.

In Manchester, a mother marched her 15-year-old son down to the local police station after she recognised him in pictures of rioters prising open the shutters of a shop on Tuesday, the police said. He was arrested on suspicion of looting.

Among those hauled before the courts on Thursday was an 18-year-old girl from London who is a youth ambassador for the 2012 London Olympics. She was accused of throwing bricks at police and stealing from shops.

Source : New Age

The Economist again criticises Bangladesh

A week after inviting the government's ire, The Economist has now come up with two more articles on Bangladesh.

This time, however, there is no mention of 'bags of Indian cash and advice' in either article, appearing in the London-based magazine's August 13 edition and also uploaded on its web site on Friday.

Banyan, a regular column on Asia, focuses on Bangladesh's politics this week with the heading 'In the name of the father: An obsession with Bangladesh's past may explain its prime minister's growing intolerance'.

The other report, under the head 'The poisonous politics of Bangladesh' indicates from the outset that it is not going to be laudatory.

The Banyan starts with commending the country's state of economy. 'The economy, with annual output of around $100 billion, grows by nearly 7 per cent a year and is fuelled by the world's third-largest clothes-export industry. Aid money gushes in, and good things are done against poverty.'

This stability in economy, the write-up points out, is hardly reflected in the state of the country's politics with new corruption cases filed against opposition chief Khaleda Zia, arrest warrants against her elder son Tarique Rahman and indictment of the other son Arafat Rahman.

On the other hand, the courts in the country have quashed corruption cases against Awami League figures, the first article says.

The relationship between Hasina and Khaleda is termed one of 'legendary mutual animosity'.

With a general election in a few years, the article says that Sheikh Hasina could have tried to embed democracy to become the first person to be re-elected to the office of Bangladesh's prime minister.

 'Sadly, judging by her recent behaviour, she seems to seek instead to crush the opposition and provoke an election boycott, silencing pesky critics as she goes.'

Referring to rumours, The Economist article says Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus was 'resented for his high international profile, which threatened to eclipse the sacred memory of Sheikh Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh to independence'.

According to the article, Yunus's other sins included his accepting the Nobel peace prize that 'Sheikh Hasina felt should have been hers, failing to commiserate after an assassination attempt on her in 2004, and being ungrateful for the help she gave Grameen'.

Mentioning a new constitutional requirement declaring Sheikh Mujib the Father of the Nation and ordering all offices in the country to display his portrait, the UK-based magazine says, 'Hasina wants her father to be revered'.

It questions the Awami League government's move to try war crime suspects, saying that the government has made a 'mess' of it.

'Even sympathetic outsiders say it has bungled forthcoming war crimes trials of seven men over their alleged role in the war and massacres of 1971,' the article reads.

The magazine also criticises the recent amendment process. 'Most troubling is the hasty rewriting of the constitution on June 30, especially the scrapping of a provision for caretaker administrations to run elections.'

The Supreme Court in a verdict on May 10 suggested keeping the provision for two more elections, to avoid provoking social strife.

'Sheikh Hasina herself had insisted on the arrangement when in opposition. In office, she heedlessly went ahead and junked it. That bodes ill for fair and peaceful polls in 2013.

'Nor do Orwellian touches inspire confidence. The constitution, or at least most of it, shall not be amended in future. Anyone who dares criticise it may be prosecuted for sedition. Mrs Zia has already been warned for having complained about it. Merely to back such a complaint is now illegal. Thought-crime may be next.'

The article says Sheikh Hasina's dream for Bangladesh 'differs profoundly from that cherished by her countrymen'.

'She hopes to emulate not Indonesia or India today, but the country imagined by her father before his murder in 1975.'

Though it fails to fulfil a promise to restore his founding constitution's commitment to 'secularism', the new version is mostly loyal to his vision, complete with dated pledges to socialism, The Economist says.

'By attacking opponents, his daughter settles scores with those who opposed Sheikh Mujib. And, as Orwell knew: who controls the present controls the past. And who controls the past controls the future,' the web site reads.

Source : New Age

Apparel workers want pay before Ramadan 20

Leaders of different RMG workers' organisations on Friday demanded the government should take steps to ensure that the workers get salary, bonus and other dues before Ramadan 20.

They also demanded permanent rations of daily commodities for the garments workers, wage hike in line with the market price, implementation of minimum wages and steps against worker retrenchment. They made the demands at different programmes in the capital.

Garment Sramik Sangram Parishad, a combine of nine garment workers rights organisations, formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club.

Coordinator of the combine Rafiqul Islam Pakhik, member secretary Shamsuzzoha, Shabnam Hafij, Samajtantrik Sramik Front leaders Julfikar Ali, and Khalekuzzaman Lipon, with other leaders, spoke at the programme.

They said the garment workers were the most low-paid and they would not be able to observe Eid-ul-Fitr if both the salary of the month of August and festival allowance were not paid before Ramadan 20.

Savar-Ashulia Jagrata Garments Sramik Janata and Samajtantrik Sramik Front separately brought out processions from the National Press Club on the same demand.

The leaders demanded the government should take steps to ensure the rights to forming association and electing union leader.

They also demanded implementation of trade union right in line with the ILO convention no 87 and 98.

They demanded residential facilities for the garment workers in the garment industrial areas, appointment letter, identity card, service book and wage slip to ensure the identity of the workers, implementation of six-month maternity leave, weekly leave, earned leave, festival leave and leave on national holidays.

The leaders also demanded hospital facility along with emergency unit, burn unit and ambulance service in every industrial areas, gratuity, educational institution for the children of the workers and others.

Source : New Age

IRIN, HRW concerned over torture, extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh

As a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture, Bangladesh government's stance against torture remains only in paper as police torture and extrajudicial killings go unabated.

It was stated in a news item run by the United Nations humanitarian information service IRIN on Thursday, referring to the reports of human rights organisation Odhikar and New York-based Human Rights Watch.  Citing the recent examples of torture on Dhaka University student Abdul Kader and college student Limon Hossain, the report said rights activists, officials and citizens called for an end to the continuing police torture and extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh.

In March 2011, RAB was publicly criticised for shooting college student Limon Hossain in the leg in Jhalakathi, southern district of Bangladesh, said the report.

The report headlined 'BANGLADESH: Calls for end to torture, extrajudicial killings' said prime minister's defence adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique and home minister Sahara Khatun defended RAB, which accused Limon and his family of having criminal connections.

Limon was eventually freed after the media and rights activists drew public attention to the case and his innocence, said the report.

Abdul Kadar, a Dhaka University student, told IRIN he was recently tortured and arrested on trumped-up charges on his way home from his sister's house, said the report.

'He said police beat him and used sticks and sharp objects to make him confess to crimes he did not commit. He was charged with possessing lethal weapons, robbery and carjacking, then put in jail. Following campaigns by the media and rights activists, the High Court ordered him to be released on August 3 after 18 days in detention. One of the officers involved has been suspended,' said the report.

'I was not served water while I was crying out in pain and I was not taken to hospital even 18 hours after my arrest,' Kadar quoted to have said in the report.

It quoted Odhikar report to have said at least 10 people had been tortured to death by law enforcement agencies in the first six months of 2011.

It said Odhikar documented 67 torture cases in 2010, of which 22 people reportedly died while there were 68 cases of reported torture in custody in 2009.

The report also quoted New York-based Human Rights Watch to have said nearly 200 people had allegedly been killed by the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite law-enforcement agency, since 2009.

No RAB officer has ever been prosecuted for any of the killings carried out by the force, said the report quoting the Human Rights Watch report.

The report quoted chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh Mizanur Rahman to have said a lack of accountability within the law enforcement system is to blame for the persistent evidence of torture seen by the commission.

'Torture in police custody and extrajudicial killings by law enforcers in Bangladesh is one of our top priority concerns and areas of intervention,' Mizanur Rahman was quoted to have said in the report. 'This must be stopped,' he added.

There is a growing sense of impunity felt by law enforcement officials with regard to torture, and this must stop now or it is going to get worse here, said secretary of Odhikar Adilur Rahman Khan in the report.

'Most of the victims of torture do not report it out of fear; therefore, whatever data we have is just the tip of the iceberg,' he said in the report.  

Our law enforcers need to be trained up on human rights to stop torture and extrajudicial killings, Sultana Kamal, a former adviser to the caretaker government and head of Ain O Shalish Kendra, a legal aid and human rights organisation, and also chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh, said in the report. 'To achieve this goal, "the government's political will is critical," she was quoted to have said in the report.  

Asked to comment on the rights groups' concern about the torture, secretary of the ministry of home affairs Abdus Sobhan Sidker told IRIN: 'The government of Bangladesh does not accept the usage of torture or extrajudicial killing and will do everything in its power to stop it.'

Source : New Age