2 killed in road crashes

Two persons were killed in two separate road accidents yesterday in the capital's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and Tongi Industrial area.

A speedy bus at Nabisco intersection hit Mofazzol Paloan, 60, around 9:30am while he was crossing the road. The bus was bound for Mohakhali, police said.

Police rushed him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where he died after a while.

The victim came to the city from his village at Munshiganj Sadar on Sunday. He went to Tejgaon Land office and met with the accident while returning to his relative's house at Mirpur, said Officer-in-Charge of Tejgaon Industrial Police Station Omar Faruque.

Police seized the bus. The driver of the bus, however, escaped.

Meanwhile, police recovered an unidentified body of a youth, aged around 30, from Lake Road adjacent to the Chandrima Udyan yesterday around 6:30am.

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police said a vehicle hit the victim in check shirt and 'lungi'.

Both the bodies were sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsies.

Source : The Daily Star 

Marriage, divorce up weight

Both marriage and divorce can trigger weight gain, according to research being presented at the American Sociological Association.

There is an increased risk of piling on the pounds in the two years after a marriage starts or ends, according to their study of 10,071 people.

Newly-married women were at greatest risk of "large" weight gains.

Some gains may "pose a health risk", say the authors from Ohio State University.

The study followed people from 1986 to 2008 and monitored changes in body mass index (BMI) - a weight/height ratio measurement - and marital status.

The researchers compared the BMI of people who married or divorced with those who were already married or stayed single.

LIFE-CHANGING
Even after adjusting the data for each person's health, education, employment, poverty and pregnancy - there was still an increased risk of weight gain associated with marriage and divorce.

In women, marriage increased the risk of a small increase in weight (up to a three point increase in BMI) by 33%. There was a 48% higher risk of large weight gains (more than a three point BMI increase).

Newly-divorced women had a 22% increased risk of small weight gain.

Men were 28% more likely to have small increases in weight after marriage and 21% after divorce.

The report concludes: "All marital transitions act as a weight shock, encouraging small weight gains regardless of the destination marital state."

Lead author, Dmitry Tumin, said: "To some extent, marriages for women promote weight gains that may be large enough to pose a health risk."

Helen Riley at the British Nutrition Foundation charity said: "These are significant changes in someone's life. It can change their living situation and the types of food they eat.

"But different people deal with it in different ways and it can be positive for some people."

Source : The Daily Star 

Push still on to kill Hasina: Alleges Ashraful

Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday alleged ground is being created to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Addressing a discussion meeting, he said some of the country's television channels and newspapers are publishing "exaggerated reports" that might create instability in the society and help the conspirators to create the ground for killing her.

Awami League arranged the discussion at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the afternoon in remembrance of the people killed in the August 21 grenade attack in 2004.

"A very deep conspiracy is on to destabilise the country and to kill

Sheikh Hasina," said Ashraful, also the LGRD minister.

He said the masterminds behind the August 15, 1975 bloodbath are still very much active in their bid to kill Hasina. "They know that Sheikh Hasina is in the centre of the spirit of all pro-liberation patriotic people."

Ashraful said that on August 15, 1975 the killers tried to annihilate the entire family of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. But Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana luckily escaped death as they were abroad.

"August 21 (in 2004) was another attempt to murder Sheikh Hasina," he said.

Chaired by AL presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, the meeting was also addressed, among others, by party presidium members Suranjit Sengupta and Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim.

Source : The Daily Star 

Joj Miah 'confession:' BNP sticks to fake guns

Joj Miah, who has been cleared of August 21 grenade attack charges through investigation, is once again being brought in the scene as the real culprit by BNP, to save Tarique Rahman and other leaders of the party.

Some seven weeks after the Criminal Investigation Department submitted a supplementary charge sheet accusing BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's elder son Tarique and 29 others, BNP has once again claimed Joj Miah is the real culprit.

"I am thankful to Allah that the truth has unfolded in the latest investigation," Joj Miah told The Daily Star yesterday over the phone.

"The then state minister for home, the prime minister's son and other BNP leaders stand accused in the case. And to protect them, BNP is now accusing me. They almost saved them by imposing the blame on me back then," he added.

During the BNP-Jamaat alliance rule in 2005, Joj Miah, a petty criminal, was implicated in the August 21 grenade attack cases. The then CID obtained a confessional statement from him where he described the plot behind the attack and his involvement.

He alleged that underworld gang Seven Star Group led by Subrata Bain Shuvro, one of the most wanted criminals, carried out the attack.

The investigators also implicated ward-level AL leader and former ward commissioner Mokhlesur Rahman, claiming that Joj had identified Mokhlesur as one of the plotters.

The August 21 blasts, carried out in attempts to assassinate Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and other top leaders, killed 24 people including Ivy Rahman, wife of now President Zillur Rahman. Hasina and other AL top brass narrowly escaped death.

Based on Joj Miah's confessional statement, the then BNP-Jamaat administration was about to conclude the investigation. However, Joj's weak statement drew strong media scrutiny, and it was proven to be false and fabricated.

At one point, Joj's sister revealed to the media that CID had been paying the family Tk 2,500 per month as allowance since her brother's arrest.

Contacted, current investigation officer of the case, CID's Special Superintendent of Police Abdul Kahar Akand, declined to talk about BNP's latest claim regarding Joj Miah.

"I'd only say Joj Miah's story was nothing but a staged drama," said Akand, who submitted the latest supplementary charge sheet in July.

The supplementary charge sheet mentioned that confessional statements of Joj Miah and two others "have been proven to be fabricated and a lie".

Three former CID officials are now facing criminal charges for their role in obtaining false confessional statements and diverting the case to wrong direction hiding the real culprits. They are now in jail as accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases.

Meanwhile, BNP leaders on the seventh anniversary of the attack on Sunday said the CID during their tenure had rightly implicated Joj Miah in the cases.

"The supplementary charge sheets are politically motivated," said BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a press briefing at the party's central office on Sunday.

In response to the BNP claim, Joj Miah said, "The truth has now come in the light. Previously, CID had forcefully obtained the confessional statement from me during my detention."

"Back then, I couldn't say anything to anyone. Even the magistrate who took my statement was their man," he told The Daily Star.

The latest supplementary charge sheet says that Tarique Rahman gave Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) leaders the go-ahead to stage the grenade blasts a few days before the attack.

The attack was the outcome of collaboration between Huji, influential leaders of BNP and Jamaat, and some officials of the home ministry, police, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, National Security Intelligence and Prime Minister's Office, it said.

Source : The Daily Star 

Factory, shop fined for pollution

The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined a washing factory and a food shop for polluting environment in the capital's Uttara area.

A DoE team in a drive fined Intraco Washing Plant Tk 12.48 lakh for dumping untreated chemical waste into a nearby canal through drains.

Intraco Design Ltd, a garment factory, set up the washing plant in Dakshin Khan residential area in Uttara without the department's clearance, said DoE Director Mohammad Munir Chowdhury.

It has been running without any effluent treatment plant, he said.

The factory owner has been asked to remove the unauthorised washing plant from the residential area within a month.

The team also fined Captain's World, a food shop, Tk 30,000 for causing noise pollution with electric generators beyond permissible level in sector-4 of Uttara.

The noise levels of the shop's two generators were found at 97 and 85 decibels while the permissible level is 70 decibels, said Munir.

The shop owner has been directed to keep the noise level within the permissible level.

Source : The Daily Star 

Rebels wage final battle for Tripoli: World powers back Libya opposition; Gaddafi's sons detained

Libyan rebels yesterday declared the "Gaddafi era" over after taking control of most of Tripoli, as jubilant fighters streamed into the capital to join battles near the strongman's compound.

Rebel commanders say they have taken control of about 80 percent of the capital, including the headquarters of state TV.

World leaders hailed the rebels' dramatic rout on Sunday of loyalist forces in Tripoli, urging Muammar Gaddafi to admit defeat, as Libyans around the world celebrated the veteran leader's imminent downfall.

"The Gaddafi era is over," rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil told a news conference in Benghazi, eastern Libya, reports AFP.

Gaddafi was a hunted man yesterday as loyal remnants of his forces made a last-ditch stand in the capital.

Rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), told a news conference yesterday afternoon that he had no idea where Col Gaddafi was.

The rebels now claim to have detained three of Col Gaddafi's sons -- Saif al-Islam, Muhammad and Saadi.

Saif has been indicted with his father for crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is negotiating his transfer.

Two other sons, Khamis and Mutassim, were reported by Arab media to be with those still fighting.

Nearly 48 hours after a pincer thrust on Tripoli by the irregular rebel armies, launched in tandem with an uprising in the city, Gaddafi's tanks and sharpshooters appeared to hold only small areas, including his Bab al-Aziziya headquarters.

Gaddafi loyalists remain in control of the streets around the Rixos Hotel, where many Western journalists are based.

And rebels fighting in the west of the city were pushed back late on Monday.

"We are bracing ourselves for another night of intense street fighting," a Tripoli resident told the BBC.

Civilians, who mobbed the streets late on Sunday to cheer the end of dictatorship, stayed indoors as gunfire crackled. Gaddafi's prime minister showed up in Tunisia.

More Libyan embassies abroad hoisted the rebel flag.

Laila Jawad, 36, who works at a Tripoli nursery, told Reuters after the rebels swept into the city: "We are about to be delivered from the tyrant's rule. It's a new thing for me.

"I am very optimistic. Praise be to God."

But after a defiant audio address on Sunday, urging citizens to take up arms against rebel "rats", no more was heard from a man who is one of the world's longest ruling leaders and who vowed do die fighting rather than surrender.

Various officials said they did not know where he was.

Gaddafi's prime minister, Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, arrived late on Sunday on the Tunisian island of Djerba -- a favoured location for defectors and negotiators from Tripoli. Local sources could give no account of what he was doing there.

A rebel official in the eastern city of Benghazi, seat of the opposition National Transitional Council, said some of its representatives had slipped in to Tripoli in recent days to make contact with authorities hitherto loyal to Gaddafi with the aim of averting a breakdown of order in the capital.

There have been concerns that tribal, ethnic and other divisions among the diverse armed groups opposed to Gaddafi could lead to the kind of blood-letting seen in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. However, the presence of former Gaddafi aides in the rebel camp is cited by some as cause to hope the opposition can prove more inclusive than that in Iraq.

NTC head Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who was Gaddafi's justice minister until joining the revolt in February, told a news conference in Benghazi: "I call on all Libyans to exercise self-restraint and to respect the property and lives of others and not to resort to taking the law into their own hands."

Reuters correspondents saw rebel forces hunt sharpshooters from building to building. Sporadic gunfire and shelling kept civilians off the streets, waiting anxiously for the fighting to end after a brief outpouring of jubilation late on Sunday.

"Revolutionaries are positioned everywhere in Tripoli," said a senior rebel in the city, who used the name Abdulrahman.

"But Gaddafi's forces have been trying to resist.

"There is gunfire everywhere," he added, saying government tanks were in action near Tripoli's Mediterranean port and downtown near Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound. "Snipers are the main problem," he said. "There is a big number of martyrs."

A government official told Reuters 376 people on both sides were killed, and about 1,000 wounded, though it was unclear how the figures were arrived at. At the Rixos Nasr hotel, where the government had obliged foreign reporters to stay throughout the war, pro-Gaddafi guards prevented journalists from leaving.

WORLD REACTION
Western powers who deployed air power in support of various rebel groups in different regions, urged the "Brother Leader" to accept his 42 years of absolute power were over, and to end the bloodshed after six months of civil war that has ebbed and flowed erratically across the sparsely populated desert nation.

US President Barack Obama in a statement: "The momentum against the Gaddafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant."

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the Libyan leader had "committed appalling crimes against the people of Libya and he must go now to avoid any further suffering for his own people".

Russia and China also issued statements saying they were willing to accept what the Libyan people decided, and hinted that Col Gaddafi should step down.

POPULAR REJOICING
Civilians had flocked late on Sunday to Green Square, long the showpiece of the leader's personality cult, waving rebel flags. Some said they would rename it Martyrs' Square.

Young men burned the green flags of the government and raised the rebel tricolour last used by the post-colonial monarchy which Gaddafi overthrew in a military coup in 1969.

But yesterday, a Reuters correspondent with rebels moving in from the west watched commanders of the irregular force try to hold their men back from rushing ahead in the city, insisting they check buildings methodically for snipers.

It was slow work and there will little sign of coordination between rebel units. The all-green flags of the Gaddafi government were still hanging in many streets -- an indication that rebels did not feel safe enough to rip them down.

"We just arrived and our priority is to secure the city," said Hisham Bourajad, a commander of what he described as the Tripoli Revolutionary Brigade as his force probed forward.

Source : The Daliy Star 

German central bank slams EU debt rescue measure

The German central bank expressed concern on Monday over measures taken at a July 21 European summit to help Greece, saying they could undermine budgetary discipline and increase risks for creditors.

'The recent decisions transfer several risks to creditor countries and their taxpayers and mark a new major step towards a mutual sharing of risks in the case of fragile public finances and economic errors by certain eurozone countries,' the Bundesbank said in its monthly report for August.

On July 21, European heads of state and government approved a second Greek rescue package worth some 160 billion euros and an extension of the capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility.

Those measures 'weaken the foundations of the currency union' which is based on 'fiscal responsibility and discipline through the capital markets,' the Bundesbank said.

Because the move did not simultaneously provide creditor countries with much influence or control over budget practices in the countries in question, they might find it easy to build up more debt, the German central bank argued.

It criticised in particular the purchase of

sovereign bonds by the European Central Bank, which also reduced the motivation to adopt 'appropriate financial policies,' it said.

After lying dormant

for several months, the ECB bought 22 billion euros ($32 billion)

worth of sovereign bonds last week, a move that

supported Italy and

Spain.

The EFSF is to take over such bond purchases from the ECB once national parliaments have approved the decision.

Source : New Age

Humidity, volatility fail to deter banker flow to Asia

Abhay Pande is getting adjusted to Singapore's year-round heat and tropical humidity. His living space is tighter, compared to the New York home where he and his family used to live.

Though the Citigroup banker misses the summer breeze and ample room of his suburban, US Northeast life, he was pleased to find his work schedule buzzing with activity, the minute he arrived in Asia.

'They asked JFK why he was running for president and he said: 'That's where the action is.' Professionally, this part of the world is where the action is,' said Pande, Citi's head of industrials global banking for Southeast Asia. He arrived in Singapore about two weeks ago with his wife and two children.

Asia's financial markets are down this year, and while hiring continues in certain areas, the industry is a long way off from its high-flying days before the credit crisis.

Still, a steady stream of US and European-based bankers continue to make the long trek East, to cities like Hong Kong and Singapore, where the overall fee pool is smaller but where economic growth keeps business opportunities flowing.

The volume of primary stock offerings has grown every year since 2008, with Hong Kong the top city for IPOs globally the last two, at one point hosting more offerings than New York or London combined. Bond issuance hit a record last year.

Asia billionaires reached a record high of 332 this year according to Forbes magazine. That has helped fuel demand for jobs in Singapore, where Asia's wealth management industry has historically been based.

'Over the next 20 to 40 years, Asia is going to be the principal growth driver for the global economy,' Pande said.

Rajiv Lulla recently moved to Hong Kong, looking to get closer to Asian markets and to his family in India.

Lulla, Asia head of transportation investment banking for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, started in the new job about three months ago.

He was previously based in Paris, where his wife would buy fresh produce and groceries every morning in a street market next to the home where they lived with their two sons.

She now slogs through Hong Kong's famous wet markets, walking past loud and smelly stalls of bloody fish heads, dried seahorses and murky tanks of eels, bass, crabs and other crawling, slithering ocean life.

For those who prefer, expensive foreign produce and meats are available too in the high-end markets located closer to Hong Kong's Central district, and the island's upscale south side.

'Hong Kong is unique in that it provides tremendous opportunity to immerse yourself in the Chinese culture, but still retains the comforts of the west and what you're used to,' said Lulla, who was unpacking the last boxes from the move last weekend.

Source : New Age

Germany to balance finances sooner than expected

Germany, Europe's powerhouse economy, said Monday it would balance its public finances sooner than expected, slashing this year's projected budget deficit to 1.5 per cent from 2.5 per cent.

As eurozone partners work on ever tighter austerity plans to balance their books, Germany leads the pack in the strength of its finances — it had a 2010 deficit of 3.3 per cent, just above the EU ceiling of 3.0 per cent despite having spent heavily on stimulus programmes to offset the worst recession since 1945.

'The positive development this year will continue until 2015, which will allow us to balance the accounts in 2014,' the ministry said in a monthly report published on its Internet site.

Germany previously aimed to balance its finances by 2016 under a law requiring the government to ensure that it does not overspend.

The public deficit — the shortfall between revenues and spending — includes regional state budgets along with those of municipalities and the national social security system.

Under the terms of the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, governments are not supposed to exceed a public deficit of 3.0 per cent of Gross Domestic Product and must work towards a balance or even surplus in times of economic growth.

Total accumulated debt, meanwhile, 'will fall between now and the end of the year to 80 per cent of GDP and will thus be about three percentage points lower than in the previous year,' the ministry's report said.

In 2015, Germany forecasts public debt equivalent to 71 per cent of GDP, down from 2010's 83.2 per cent — still well above the EU limit of 60 per cent but positive compared with, for example, Italy's 120 per cent.

Germany, which underwrites a large share of the eurozone rescue packages, is getting its own finances in order on the back of strong economic activity that has helped cut unemployment.

The narrowing public deficit might give the conservative-liberal government coalition a chance to implement tax cuts in time for elections in 2013.

That could help boost domestic consumption which appears threatened by constant discussion of bailout packages for partner countries on the eurozone's southern rim.

Source : New Age

Japan signals readiness to intervene in currencies

Japan will take decisive action against any speculative moves in the currency market, finance minister Yoshihiko Noda said, signalling Tokyo's readiness to intervene to stem further yen rises after its spike to a record high last week.

Noda said he saw recent yen rises as even more one-sided than before and that Tokyo would exchange information closely with other countries regarding currencies, suggesting it would stay in frequent contact with its Group of Seven partners.

'We will watch markets even more closely than before to see whether there is any speculative activity. We won't rule out any measures and will take decisive action when necessary,' Noda told reporters on Monday.

Noda, prime minister Naoto Kan and top government spokesman Yukio Edano all repeated the phrase throughout the day, a sign that it has become the new line Tokyo would use to warn markets that intervention is an imminent possibility.

Market expectations of currency intervention briefly sent the dollar to a one-and-a-half week high of 77.23 yen on Monday, off the record low of 75.95 yen hit last Friday.

But prospects of intervention failed to offset stock market worries about slowing US growth, pushing Tokyo's Nikkei average .N225 to a five-month closing low.

Tokyo intervened unilaterally in the currency market and eased monetary policy on August 4. But the steps have not stopped investors from seeking the yen as a safe haven against risk.

Trade minister Banri Kaieda, who along with Noda is a contender to replace Kan when he steps down as early as the end of this month, said on Monday it would be best if Japan and the United States could jointly intervene in the currency market, according to Kyodo news agency.

'Intervention is aimed at teaching (market players) that if they buy the yen too much, they will get burned,' he said.

But Kaieda does not have jurisdiction over currency policy, and was likely expressing his hope than signalling that any serious negotiation with Washington has taken place.

Markets are bracing for another round of intervention but doubt whether it will be effective in sustainably weakening the yen, particularly with little chance that Tokyo can persuade its G7 counterparts to act jointly in the currency market.

'I don't think Japan will intervene as long as the dollar stays around current levels above 76.50 yen. But if it falls back below 75, it may step in. The authorities are ready to act at any time and that's probably the message they are trying to send,' said Naoki Iizuka, senior economist at Mizuho Securities.

'Stock prices may briefly rally if Tokyo intervenes. But it would be difficult to change the market's (weak-dollar) trend.'

If the government were to intervene, the BoJ is ready to support the yen-weakening effort by holding off from draining the extra yen that flows to the markets via intervention, and possibly by easing monetary policy further.

The BoJ will consider loosening policy, possibly before its next rate review in September, if yen gains push down Tokyo stock prices enough to hit business sentiment, sources familiar with the central bank's thinking have said.

Policymakers, however, are caught in a dilemma. They know the limits of trying to stem yen rises with policy action. But if they hold off on meeting words with action for too long, the effect of verbal warnings will quickly fade.

Upcoming events that may drive down the dollar, such as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's speech on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and US payrolls data on September 2, may also wipe out any yen-weakening effect if Tokyo acts now.

Source : New Age

StanChart in talks for Iraq’s Warka

Standard Chartered Plc is in talks to buy a stake in Warka Bank, one of Iraq's biggest private banks, a central bank official said on Monday.

Iraq's central bank has a three-stage plan for banks to increase their capital to $213 million by June 2013 to spur lending in the war-battered state as it emerges from the shadow of sanctions and the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Hassan al-Haidari, a central bank advisor, said the London-based Standard Chartered had been in negotiations with Warka for the past 3-4 months.

'There are talks with them. It's been going on for a while,' Haidari told Reuters.

'They (Standard Chartered) wanted more than 50 per cent but they (Warka) wanted (to give) less than 49 per cent.'

Standard Chartered declined to comment.

Abdul-Aziz Hassoun, executive director of the Iraqi Private Banks League, an independent organisation to support private banks, said the talks had not yet reached an advanced stage as Standard Chartered was still doing due diligence on the bank.

'Warka Bank is trying to get rid of its liquidity crisis and its failure to increase its capital to higher levels through negotiations with Standard Chartered as a partner,' Hassoun said.

He said Warka needed less than 100 billion Iraqi dinars ($90 million) to enhance its liquidity.

Iraq has seven state-owned banks, 23 private banks and eight Islamic private banks, according to the central bank website.

Its banking sector is dominated by two state-owned banks, Rafidain and Rashid, which are undergoing restructuring to eliminate debt racked up after years of war and sanctions.

Much of Iraq's private banking activity is limited to deposit services and a small amount is personal lending.

Warka Bank for Investment and Finance, which was established in 1999, has 130 branches and 350 ATM machines around Iraq.

Source : New Age

Thai economy shrinks as exports lose steam

Thailand's economy contracted 0.2 per cent in the second quarter as parts shortages caused by Japan's massive earthquake led to a sharp slowdown in exports, government data showed Monday.

On a year-on-year basis, economic growth weakened to 2.6 per cent, from a revised figure of 3.2 per cent in the first quarter, the National Economic and Social Development Board reported.

'The slower growth in the second quarter was due to a contraction in the industrial sector because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, while total investment slowed,' said NESDB secretary-general Arkom Termpitayapaisit.

Gross domestic product had expanded by 2.0 per cent in first quarter from the previous three-month period — the quickest pace in a year.

Export growth slowed to 19.2 per cent in the second quarter, from 27.4 per cent growth in the first.

Japan's March 11 twin natural disasters led to supply disruptions in Thailand, particularly at local plants operated by Japanese carmakers.

The NESDB revised its 2011 growth forecast for the Thai economy to a range of 3.5-4.0 per cent, from 3.5-4.5 per cent previously, blaming the economic woes of the United States and Europe.

Thailand, whose economy rebounded strongly from political violence last year, has raised its key interest rate by 200 basis points since July 2010 to tame inflation. Monetary policymakers are due to meet again on Wednesday.

Source : New Age

Muhith sits with stakeholders on Thursday

The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, will hold a meeting with the capital market stakeholders to discuss the progress of the demutualisation process of the stock exchanges on Thursday.

The meeting will be held at the finance ministry where representatives of the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges, Securities and Exchange Commission, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, two former SEC chairmen will be present, among others, DSE sources said.

'The government is putting emphasis on demutualisation of the bourses after the probe committee for January's stock market crash had strongly recommended demutualising the stock exchanges,' said a DSE official.

The probe committee in its report suggested that demutualisation of stock exchange should be done immediately as it would resolve conflict of interests among brokers and management of stock exchanges.

In March, the finance ministry asked the bourses to make roadmaps of demutualisation. Both the bourses have already completed the formulation of their roadmaps.

Demutualisation is common practice in different stock exchanges across the globe. Demutualisation, however, separates the conflicting interest groups, the management and the brokerage owners' from the process.

Source : New Age

Taka on the rise, more boosts likely

The taka has seen a slight rise against the US dollar.

On Sunday, a dollar was traded for Tk 74.40 to 74.53, whereas on August 9 it was Tk 74.90 to 74.95.

The central bank governor said the strengthening was down to an increase of remittance inflow and a fall in import spendings ahead of Eid.

Atiur Rahman told the news agency on Sunday he hoped taka would appreciate further with growing remittance flow, export earnings and forex reserve on the horizon.

Bangladesh Bank foreign exchange records show taka steadily plummeting over the last year. On July 31 last year, the taka-dollar exchange rate was 69.41, which came down to 70.78 at the end of October. On Jan 31 this year dollar were traded for 71.15, which depreciated to 74.84 at the

end of July.

August 9 was the first day in 13 months when the taka appreciated.

Atiur Rahman dismissed that the worsening US economy had anything to do with taka's progress. 'Export spendings have been falling since June, while remittances have been

growing. Import earnings are also steadily on the rise. That's why taka is getting stronger,' he explained.

'Hopefully the trend will continue,' he added.

The forex reserve was in the vicinity of a healthy $11 billion, Atiur said. He also hinted at some possible boosts to the reserve.

'Several big FDIs (foreign direct investments) will come in soon. We had discussions with a company even (Sunday), though I won't mention any names right now,' he said.

Zayeed Bakht, senior research director with the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said that the country had poor aid flow. 'Much of the aid is stuck in the pipeline. If they would be released, our reserves would be in a much more comfortable situation,'

he said.

Remittance appears to be on the rise since the beginning of the current fiscal year. In July, $1.03 billion worth of remittance came into the country, 20 per cent higher than the previous July.

Letters of credit are on the fall, however, with a 7.7 per cent fall in new LCs in July.

The export earnings grew 29 per cent in July, while the average growth for 2010-11 fiscal was 41.47 per cent.

Net foreign aid in the last fiscal was $1.04 billion while in 2009-10 it was $1.47 billion.

Source : New Age

3 more banks to offer offshore banking

The Bangladesh Bank is going to allow three more commercial banks to open offshore banking branches to utilise the country's foreign currency reserve more effectively and boost competition among the banks.

The banks can open their offshore banking units in areas of their choice.

The central bank has already finalised the process of approving the proposals submitted by EXIM Bank, Social Islami Bank, and Uttara Bank for opening OBUs and informed them about its decision, said a senior BB official.

A senior official of EXIM Bank told New Age on Monday that they had received a letter from the central bank about its decision to approve their proposal for opening OBUs and the bank would initially set up two such units at Gulshan and Motijeel in the capital.

The banks will start their overseas banking operations after completion of the official procedures.

The deposit and lending operations of OBUs are done entirely in foreign currencies.

The overseas banking operations at normal bank branches are carried out over separate counters, maintaining separate offshore banking accounts.

The OBUs, regardless of their location, function in compliance with the provisions of the Export Promotion Zones Act, 1980 and conduct transactions in freely convertible foreign currencies. They use foreign currencies borrowed from the central bank and international lending agencies.

The BB introduced overseas banking to ensure maximum utilisation of its foreign currency reserve in productive sectors and allowed local banks to set up OBUs. The banks were initially allowed to open OBUs in the EPZs only but later they were permitted to extend the facility beyond the zones.

The OBUs also cater to the financial needs of foreign-owned or joint-venture units in the EPZs as foreign investors here do not have access to credit facilities offered by the local financial institutions.

At present, the foreign banks operating in Bangladesh, such as Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, Woori Bank, Citi Bank NA, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, and the State Bank of India, are also licensed to offer offshore banking services.

Besides the foreign banks, 22 local banks are now offering offshore banking services in the country. These are Prime Bank, Dhaka Bank, Southeast Bank, National Bank, Eastern Bank, Bank Asia, Shahjalal Bank, The City Bank, Premier Bank, IFIC Bank, BRAC Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, AB Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Jamuna Bank, One Bank, Pubali Bank, Standard Bank, National Credit and Commerce Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Trust Bank, Mercantile Bank, and United Commercial Bank.

Three more local banks – First Security Islamic Bank, ICB Islamic Bank, and Al-Arafah Islami Bank – also have applied for permission to the central bank for opening OBUs.

 

Source : New Age

Construction worker electrocuted

A construction worker was electrocuted in Rajshahi on Monday morning.

The deceased Arif Hossain, 30, son of Kamal Hossain, lived in Haragram in the Rajshahi city.

Local people said that Arif Hossain was electrocuted as he accidentally came into contact with an electric cable when he was working in a building adjacent to the Rajshahi Bus Terminal in the morning.

Source : New Age

Kushtia bus strike called off

The transport operators resumed the bus services on all routes outbound from Kushtia Monday afternoon, seven hours after they enforced an indefinite strike.

Bus services on the 13 routes from Kushtia to other parts of the country including Dhaka, Jessore, Rajshahi and Khulna remained suspended for seven hours following the strike.

Kushtia bus owners and workers withdrew the indefinite bus strike at about 1:00pm following an assurance from the Roads and Highways Department to take urgent initiative to repair the dilapidated Kushtia-Ishwardi road before the Eid.

The decision to withdraw the strike was taken at a meeting at Kushtia Circuit House participated by the Kushtia Paribahan Malik Sramik Oyikya Parishad leaders, the district deputy commissioner, superintendent of police and RHD officers.

The transport operators in Kushtia on Sunday called an indefinite transport strike on the Kushtia–Ishwardi route from 6:00am on Monday.

Source : New Age

Channel 24 launches test transmission

The private television Channel 24 launched its test transmission on Monday.

The channel managing director AK Azad, and director Sheikh Kabir Hossain formally inaugurated the test transmission, said a release.

Expressing hope, AK Azad, also Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry president, said that they could be able to broadcast the channel regularly by December this year.

The channel would broadcast both news and entertainment programmes, the release said.

Channel 24 executive director Hasnain Khurshid, Time Media Limited executive director SM Shahabuddin and Ha-Meem Group executive director of engineering Khan Mohammad Muruzzaman were present among others at the programme.

Source : New Age

Flood-hit people block Razzake’s motorcade

Relief and disaster management minister Abdur Razzaque's motorcade was blocked five times in Tala upazila of Satkhira on Monday by flood-affected people demanding relief material and excavation of three rivers flowing in the district.

Several thousand people who have taken shelter on Khulna-Satkhira Highway after losing their homestead to flood, blocked the road at five spots by putting barricades on it, besieging his caravan of vehicles on its way to Delua and Tala Dak-bungalow from 1:30pm to 3:00pm.

However, they withdrew the blockade following assurances made by the minister that sufficient relief material would be sent to the area and Kabodak, Salta, Betna and Shalikha rivers would be excavated soon.

Several hundred vehicles on both sides of highway remained stranded for about 2 hours due to the blockade.

The minister along with chairman of parliamentary standing committee on relief & disaster management ministry Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, MP, and Rashed Khan Menon, MP, was going to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman College at Delua and Tala Dak-bungalow to distribute relief among several hundred people rendered homeless by flood.

Source : New Age

263 posts of teachers lying vacant in Patuakhali

A total of 263 posts of headmaster and assistant teacher are lying vacant in government primary schools in seven upazila of Patuakhali hampering academic and administrative activities.

According to the Patuakhali district education office sources, there are 582 government primary schools in the district. But 84 posts of headmaster and 179 posts of assistant teachers have been lying vacant since long in the primary schools.

Out of those vacant posts, 21 headmaster and 45 assistant teacher posts are lying vacant in Bauphal upazila, 19 headmaster and 28 assistant teacher posts in Galachipa upazila, 6 headmaster and 20 assistant teacher posts in Kalapara, 3 headmaster and 34 assistant posts in Mirzaganj, 4 headmaster and 17 assistant teacher posts in Dashmina, 4 headmaster and 4 assistant teacher posts in Dumki, 27 headmaster and 31 assistant teacher posts in Sadar upazila.

Sources said that the government, however, was developing the infrastructure of the schools every year. But the government had failed to fill in vacant posts timely and develop the monitoring system of primary education.

Teachers of many primary schools in the district claimed that it was very much difficult for them to run teaching smoothly as they were always doing extra work for not having sufficient teachers.

The academic and administrative activities of the schools were also being hampered severely, the teachers alleged.

The district primary education officer, Amal Krishna Majumder, said that the problem was acute in primary schools of remote areas due to lack of teachers.

The higher authority of primary education assured them of filling in the vacant posts as soon as possible, he said.

Source : New Age

Human chain demands safe roads, waterways

A human chain was formed in the city demanding safe roads, highways and waterways and also resignation of communications minister and shipping minister.

Expressing grave concern over alarming rise in number of deaths on roads due to accidents speakers at the demonstration demanded safety of pedestrians.

They also demanded withdrawal of rotation system in Barisal-Dhaka-Barisal routes.

The speakers lamented that those, responsible for causing accidents on roads and highways are going scot-free due to loopholes in existing laws.

'People responsible for accidents should stand trial and illegal rotation system in Barisal-Dhaka-Barisal routes must be withdrawn', they said.

Presided over by Nazrul Islam Chunnu, president of Barisal Sangskritik Sangathan Samonnoy Parishad, Barisal Press Club president Manabendra Batabayan, president of Barisal Reporters Unity Sushanto Ghosh, president of Barisal division chapter Group Theatre Federation Syed Dulal, secretary of the division unit College Teachers Association Principal Mohsinul Islam, president School Teachers Association of Barisal Habul Das Gupta, member-secretary of Nagorik Samaj  Mizanur Rahman,, AK Azad of CPB, Abdul Hye Mahbub of JSD, Shanti Das of WP, Kazal Gohsh of Sector Commanders Forum and Ashish Kumar, among others, spoke on the occasion.

The speakers called for resignation of communications minister Abul Hossain and shipping minister Shajahan Khan for their failure to take step to repair roads and ensure safe water ways.

Demanding immediate step to stop accidents they called for transparency and accountability in management and maintenance of roads and highways to curb traffic accidents.

They also called upon the authority concerned to identify accident-prone areas across the country and mark those as danger 'zones'.

The participants viewed that people involved in irregularities and corruption in road construction, repair and maintenance should be arrested and punished.

They suggested forming of investigation committees with honest and sincere persons so that probe into mishaps would be done properly and the guilty people will be identified and nabbed.

Demanding safety in waterways they urged the government to dredge rivers and canals and take step against overloading in water vehicles.

They also demanded measures to stop issuance of fake driving licenses and plying of unfit vehicles on roads.

Source : New Age

Extortionists kidnap 5 Teletalk staff, released

Five officials of Teletalk Mobile Operator kidnapped allegedly by extortionists from Lotiban, at about 1:30pm Monday were released in the afternoon.

The five Tele Talk officials were set free at about 5:30pm.

Those kidnapped are marketing officer Ahsan Hosain Tapu, dealer Tarkeq Ahmed Chowdhury, Sr Noor Mohammad, Sr Azizul Haq and driver Arif.

They were going to Panchhari upazila town to organise a 'road show' as part of campaign for Teletalk Mobile phone. On way, their vehicle with marks of 'road show' was intercepted by an armed group. They were all kidnapped at gunpoint, said Teletalk officials in the district.

Informed sources said Teletalk had constructed a tower in the area.  The management was at cold war with the local extortionists over the illegal tolls.

Source : New Age

Gas supply from Semutang field to begin Sept

Energy adviser to the prime minister Toufiq Elahi has said gas supply from Semutang gas field will be started from September next.

Construction of 65 kilometre gas pipeline would be completed within September, he added.

He said this after visiting Semutang Gas field at Manikchari upazila of Khagachari Monday afternoon.

He said gas crisis in power plant, fertiliser industries and other industries in Chittagong would be solved after commencing gas supply from Semutang and Sundalpur gas fields, he added.

The state minister for energy Enamul Hoq, energy secretary Mejbahuddin and chairman of Petrobangla Hossain Monsur, among others, accompanied with the adviser during the visit.

Source : New Age

Trial of CU student Sanjay’s killers demanded

Bangladesh Chhatra Union Chittagong University unit on Monday formed a human chain and held a public meeting on Chittagong Press Club premises to mark Sanjay Day.

Sanjay Talapatra, a student of fine arts of the university and a member of Bangladesh Chhatra Union CU unit, was injured on August 20, 1998 in an attack launched allegedly by Bangladesh Chhatra Shibir members. Sanjay succumbed to the injuries two days later at Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

The speakers at the human chain and the rally alleged that no initiatives had been taken to bring Sanjay's killers to book in the past 11 years. They demanded a speedy trial and exemplary punishment of the killers.

Chittagong Union of Journalists general secretary Nazimuddin Shyamol, Bangladesh Chhatra Union Chitagong district unit president Towhid Tipu, and Bangladesh Chhatra Union CU unit president Taslim Uddin, among others, spoke at the programme.

Source : New Age

Main accused in Madaripur remanded

A Madaripur court has placed a former union parishad member on a one-day remand in a case over an arbitration provoking a teenage girl to kill herself.

Judicial magistrate Masud Pervez passed the order on Monday when the police produced Mohsin Bepari, who is thought to be the main man behind the illegal arbitration, before the court with a two-day remand petition.

Mohsin was arrested on Saturday night following filing of a murder case by Hajera Khatun, mother of the girl, Shirin Akther.

Six other people were accused in the case for their role in the arbitration.

Shirin, a grade-X madrassah student from Aoz village of the upazila's Dudhkhali union, hanged herself from the ceiling fan at her house on Friday night after she was publicly humiliated at the arbitration.

Mortaza Sharif, a brother of the victim, on Saturday told reporters that Akhter committed suicide after returning from the arbitration.

She was caned by the arbitrators over an altercation with one of her neighbours, Shah Alam on Thursday, he said.

Meanwhile, two delegations of the Human Rights and Legal Aid Programme of non-government development organisation BRAC and Madaripur Legal Aid Association visited the victim's house on Monday. The High Court on July 31 ordered that such 'arbitration business' must stop amid outcry by human rights groups and media.

Source : New Age

Eviction drive launched at Gazipur

Eviction of unauthorised structure at the side of Dhaka- Mymensingh Highway launched on Sunday.

Besides removal of garbage from the roadside also started.

Garbage piled at the roadside for last several years.

UNO sripur upazila under Gazipur Devashis Nag inaugurated this eviction drive and cleaning programme at Maona crossing under Sripur municipality.

Road and highways initiated this eviction and cleaning programme. Members of Roads and Highways and police jointly continue this programme.

Mehdi Hasan, Engineer of Roads and Highways of Joydevpur unit said they had issued notice to the people to remove their unauthorised structure immediately.

He also said enough time was given to them but they did not bother to remove their unauthorised structure.

Source : New Age

Aman, Aus on vast tracts remain under flood water

Farmers in different flood affected areas across the country are worried about losing their crops as floodwater inundated vast tracts of Aman and Aus paddy fields.

At least 1.10 lakh hectares of transplanted Aman, 6,000 hectares of T-Aman seedling beds, 7,000 hectares of Bona Aman and 20,440 hectares of Aus paddy fields in Jessore region and in Madaripur, Faridpur, Netrokona and Sherpur districts went under floodwater, primary reports from the DAE in different districts said.

DAE sources expressed their apprehension that a large part of paddy in the inundated fields might be damaged, depriving  the farmers of their harvest.

Agriculture officials were assessing the extent of damage and loss of crops in the inundated fields, they said.

Water-logging, overflowing of the river banks, continuous rain and water flow from upstream were the reasons behind the flood and inundation, said officials at the flood forecasting and warning center in Dhaka.

Tapan Kumar Das, a farmer of village Atghara under Tala Upazila in Satkhira district, said all his crops on three bighas of land remained under floodwater for more than three weeks. 'I will get no paddy this year… my family will starve,' lamented Tapan.

Almost 80 per cent of the inundated crops in Satkhira will be damaged as the crops remained submerged for three to five weeks, a DAE official in Satkhira said on condition of anonymity.

The Department of Agriculture Extension director general Md Habibur Rahman, however, claimed that the inundation would not harm the crops as the situation was improving.

'It (inundation) may damage the crops on a very few hectares in different pockets, especially in Satkhira,' he said.

Source : New Age

BNP says AL keen to pocket the funds, not repair the roads

BNP said on Monday that the Awami League government minister were interested more in pocketing the funds than repair the badly damaged roads.

The main opposition party said that the government was making hollow propaganda that it would repair the roads and highways before the Eid simply to mislead the people of the country.

It's a hollow promise to mislead the people, said BNP.

The acting secretary general of the main opposition party, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, told a news conference at BNP central office at Naya Paltan, that the road communication was never so bad in independent Bangladesh in last 40 years.

He said that the people were worried whether they would at all be able to go home to celebrate Eid with their near and dear ones.

He said that the ruling party men were for a wholesale loot of the road repair and maintenance funds.

Fakhrul said the people are shocked at the government's continued indifference to repair the badly damaged roads and highways even after they cost the lives of noted filmmaker Tareque Masud and journalist Mishuk Munier.

He said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina 'is , as usual, more eager to blame the opposition for the bad shape the roads and highways are in, though BNP had left office more than four and a half years ago.'

Fakhrul said that the badly damaged roads and highways across the country were causing frequent accidents claiming many lives.

He said that more than 100 people died in road accidents in one month.

He said that it was unprecedented in the history of Bangladesh for the owners to keep their buses off the roads due to the unserviceable roads and highways.

He said that the ministers were blaming each other instead of taking the responsibility for their failures.

He said that the people want to know where Tk 1,774 crore disbursed by the Awami League led government for maintenance and repaid of the roads has gone.

He said that the ruling party elements pocketed all the money meant for the repair of the roads and highways.

Fakhrul said that severe criticism from the people as well as from within the ruling party led the Awmi League led government to make a hollow pledge that it would repair the roads and highways before Eid.

It's nothing but a 'hollow assurance' he said.

He said that the scathing criticism compelled the Awami League government    to disburse Tk 690 crore for the repair of the roads when the season would hardly allow the work.

It's nothing but an eye wash, he said.

He said that the government was making a hollow promise that it would repair the roads in seven days.

He said that everyone knows that it would be impossible to repair the roads and highways in seven days.

He said road communication remained undisturbed during the tenure of the BNP led government even after severe floods.

He said that the BNP led government had build many roads, highways and bridges worth Tk 12090.51 core between 2001 and 2006.

He said that the people were surprised at the finance minister and the communications minister blaming each other for the sorry state of the roads.

He said that neither the AL led government nor its ministers care for the people's sufferings they were causing.

The ministers of this government are in a shameless competition of shirking their responsibilities prompted senior leaders of the ruling coalition to demand their ouster, said Fakhrul.

He said that the nation had the misfortune of witnessing the communications minister providing an honourable exit to the corrupt chief engineer of roads and highways by allowing him to resign.

Fakhrul called it would be totally irresponsible for the government to issue driving licence without any test.

He said that this government issued 20,000 driving licences without any test and was planning issue 24,000 more driving licences without the tests on pressure from shipping minister Shahjahan Khan.

He called issuing driving licence without the tests as the recipe for cold blooded murder.

Asked about why the opposition was not going for a tougher movement on the issues affecting the people, Fakhrul said BNP was avoiding calling hartals during Ramandan keeping people's sentiment in the view.

He said that the opposition did not want the people to suffer in any way during the Ramadan.

BNP vice-chairmen Abdullah Al Noman, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, joint secretaries general Rizvi Ahmed and Salahuddin Ahmed were present at the news conference.

Source : New Age

AC, SI among 8 cops arrested for extortion

Eight members of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, including an assistant commissioner, were arrested on Sunday night for their alleged involvement in extortion.

The arrested are RMP AC Toufikul Islam, Rajpara police subinspectors Masud Rana and Matiur Rahman, RMP constables Golam Mortuza, Islam Ali, Sujon Ali, Md Sabuj and Akter Hossain.

The police said the accused had gone to the house of one Dr Abdur Rashid Basunia at Jhautola Mithur More under Rajpara police station in plainclothes on Wednesday night

and forced him to pay them Tk 1 lakh.

They ransacked goods at the house, claiming the goods were smuggled from India. The policemen threatened to implicate him in narcotics smuggling case unless he paid them the money.

Abdur Rashid lodged a complaint on Thursday with the Rajpara police in this connection, officer-in-charge of the police station Mokarrom Hossain said.

A probe body was formed to investigate the matter and the three-member body submitted their report Sunday with evidence of extortion by the lawmen.

After receiving the report, the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police commissioner Mohammad Obaidullah issued an order to lodge a case and arrest them.

The Rajpara police arrested the accused from Rajshhai police lines and produced them in Metropolitan Magistrate Court 3 Monday morning, seeking seven days' remand.

The judge Mezbaul Haque sent the accused to jail and fixed Tuesday as the hearing date, the OC said. 

Source : New Age

Bangladeshis ask migration agency for help

The International Organisation for Migration said Monday that it had dispatched a ship to the Libyan capital Tripoli to evacuate migrants.

The IOM said the ship with a capacity to carry 300 people had left the eastern city of Benghazi earlier Monday.

'The boat, the Tasucu, is due to arrive in Tripoli on Tuesday and will leave for Benghazi as soon as IOM is able to successfully board the migrants,' said the inter-governmental agency.

Meanwhile, the UN's refugee agency said on Monday that thousands of third country nationals were 'trapped in Tripoli' and appealed all sides of the conflict to protect them from harm.

'We have seen at earlier stages in this crisis that such people, Africans especially, can be particularly vulnerable to hostility or acts of vengeance,' UN High Commissioner for Refugess Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

'It is crucial that humanitarian law prevails through these climactic moments and that foreigners — including refugees and migrant workers — are being fully and properly protected from harm,' he said.

For its part, the IOM said more than 5,000 Bangladeshis, Filipinos and Egyptians had asked the migration agency for help to leave the capital.

But with rebels pushing into Tripoli, the IOM said 'it is unclear how many foreign nationals working in the country would still wish to leave', adding that it would carry out further evacuations by sea if necessary.

The agency also urged both parties of the conflict to allow those seeking evacuation to make their way safely to the port.

Those evacuated to Benghazi would first be taken by road to the Egyptian border at Salloum before they get help to return to their home countries, said the IOM.

'The situation is extremely fluid, not only in terms of how many people may have changed their minds about leaving, but also in terms of changing counterparts on the ground,' said Pasquale Lupoli, who is the IOM's regional director in the Middle East.

'We hope the IOM boat will be able to dock on Tuesday on time and that the Organisation will be able to safely carry out its mission,' added Lupoli.

Source : New Age