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Leading News
Bhola-3 by-poll today
Prestigious battle of ballots between AL and BNP
UNB, Bhola
Voters in Lalmohan and Tajumuddin are going to cast their
ballots tomorrow (Saturday) in the much trumpeted and
apparently politically significant by-elections in Bhola-3
parliamentary constituency.
In a straight battle of ballots ruling Awami League
candidate Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon and BNP candidate
ex-minister Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed are contesting for
the seat.
Political and election observers will be keeping close
watch on the holding of the election and its outcome.
People across the country are also showing interest to
know the results of the election, which is expected to be
tightly contested.
Many analysts see it as a prestigious battle of ballots
between the ruling party and the opposition, as the voting
takes place after 15 months' rule of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina's 'Grand Alliance' government.
Senior leaders of both the parties joined the noisy
election campaign marked by clashes and allegations and
counter-allegations in the country's remote constituency.
Opposition leader Khaleda Zia's BNP considers the
by-election as a test case to weigh the government's
popularity in the wake of acute crises of electricity,
water and gas as well as soaring prices of essentials.
Ruling Awami League also takes the by-election as a
prestige issue and chance for a renewed mandate in favor
of the Hasina government. Some analysts believe the
election results might influence the future course of
domestic politics.
A total of 236,922 eligible voters - more than 50 percent
female - are expected to exercise their franchise to elect
their representative to parliament.
Returning Officer Nuru-zzaman says 52 polling centers out
of 86 are being considered risky.
Eighty-six presiding officers have been appointed from
outside Bhola-3 constituency to conduct the polls. As part
of the security measures, a five-member strike force will
be posted at each polling center while two EC officials
will be on duty in every Union Parishad as observers.
Besides, five judicial magistrates will be on patrol for
summary trial of charges of violating election rules.
Alongside police and ansar, 250 RAB members will be
deployed in Lalmohan and Tajumuddin upazilas on the day of
the election.
Power
crisis can’t be eased thru profit-oriented private sector
Speakers at roundtable favour govt projects
UNB, Dhaka
Speakers at a roundtable here today (Friday) said that the
nagging severe power crisis cannot be eased through the
profit-oriented private sector.
There is no alternative to long-term government project to
produce power, gas and coal with a view to mitigate the
prevailing crisis.
Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) organized the
roundtable, titled ‘Power Crisis and what's to be done',
at the party office. CPB president Manzurul Ahsan Khan
presided over the function, which was moderated by eminent
economist Prof MM Akash.
Prof. Dr. Shamsul Alam of Chittagong University of
Engineering and Techno-logy (CUET) presented the keynote
paper.
Justice Golam Rabbani, Convener of the National Committee
to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port
Engr Sheikh Mohammad Shahidullah, its member-secretary
Prof. Anu Mohammad, economist Dr. Asaduzzaman, former
director of Power Cell BD Rahmatullah, Bimal Biswas of
Workers Party and BSD general secretary Khale-quzzaman
took part in the discussion.
Criticizing the government, they said it only gives
assurance to the people but does not take effective steps
to cope with the power crisis.
The government rather sustains the crisis with a view to
handing over the ownership of the power sector to the
multinational companies, they alleged.
The speakers stressed the need for strengthening the Power
Development Board (PDB), Rural Electrification Board (REB)
and Petrobangla with efficient professionals as
chairpersons.
Prof Anu Mohammad said the PDB have shown more skill in
the power generation sector than the multinational
companies. He suggested prioritizing the government power
plants instead of giving emphasis on the rental power
plants.
The government, he said, should carry out immediate repair
to the government power plants for capacity-building, and
enhance gas supply to these plants which provide power at
the cheapest rate.
On coal mining, Anu Mohammad said the government can take
coal gasification project as pilot project in lieu of
open-pit mining. He also urged the government to refrain
from entering into any export-oriented, harmful agreement
on energy.
Sheikh Shahidullah said the power crisis has arisen due to
"massive corruption and for lack of patriotism."
Suggesting diversification of power generation, he said
the government should concentrate on alternative sources
like solar energy and wind power.
Dr. Shamsul Alam in his keynote suggested the government
to enact a law banning export of mineral resources before
entering into any contract with foreign companies on
offshore gas exploration.
Govt
set to announce ‘farcical’ results of by-election: Delwar
UNB, Dhaka
BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain on Friday
said the government set the stage to announce a farcical
result of Bhola-3 parliamentary by-election knowing its
certain defeat in the polls.
"The government is poised to forcibly prove its popularity
through declaring prearranged results of farcical
by-election realizing that people are not with them
because of their failure in all sectors," he said.
Addressing a press briefing at the BNP's Nayapaltan
central office in the afternoon, Delwar threw a challenge
to the government to prove its popularity by holding free,
fair and neutral election "if it has the honest courage."
He also condemned and protested the attack by the ruling
party activists and cadres on demonstrations staged at
different points in the capital city demanding to resolve
the crisis of electricity, water and gas.
BSS adds: Khandaker Delwar Hossain Friday said his party
would launch a vigorous movement, if the Bhola-3
parliamentary by-election is not held in a free, fair and
neutral manner.
He expressed the hope that the BNP candidate would win, if
the polling is held free and fair in Bhola-3 constituency.
The BNP secretary general urged the Election Commission to
work neutrally. Delwar alleged that the BNP leaders and
activists are being harassed in the Bhola-3 constituency.
This is not a polling atmosphere at all, he added.
He presented a list of BNP leaders and activists injured
in Lalmohan and Tajumuddin upazilas on the last part of
the election campaign.
BNP leaders MK Anwar, Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia, Amir
Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Abdul Mannan,
Abdus Salam and Rafiq Sikder were also present at the
briefing.
BNP wants to create anarchy to foil
by-election: Hanif
UNB, Dhaka
Ruling Awami League Friday alleged that the BNP wants to
create anarchy for foiling the Bhola-3 by-election so that
they could get an issue against the government.
AL joint secretary Mahabub-Ul-Alam Hanif made the
allegation at a press conference at AL president's
political office in Dhanmondi.
He said, "BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia would win the
by-election but BNP candidate Hafiz would lose."
"Khaleda Zia will win because she wanted to lose the
election and will try to make it an issue. On the other
hand, Hafiz will lose the election," he added.
He said that opposition BNP is continuously trying to
establish that there is anarchy in Bhola, but the fact is
totally reverse.
He said that the heat that the BNP wanted to spread
regarding the by election through media is totally false
and fabricated.
He believed that there will be a free, fair and acceptable
election in Bhola-3 constituency tomorrow (Saturday).
He alleged that the defeat of Hafiz is inevitable and BNP
know that very well. "BNP's field level activists did not
participated in the election campaign," he said.
In this connection he said after January 11, 2007 the role
of Hafiz was against the party and for that the field
level party men are not in favor for his candidature.
Hanif mentioned that the opposition party is engaged in
making an issue out of this by-election and they would do
whatever possible to ruin the election.
He demanded the Election Commission to ensure the security
of the voters so that they could cast their votes in favor
of their candidate.
He also said that the AL would face BNP's political
activities politically. "And we know that very well."
27 activists injured in BNP-AL
clashes in the capital
UNB, Dhaka
Some 27 activists were injured during sporadic clashes
between the workers of BNP and Awami League in Mirpur
Friday afternoon, police and witnesses said.
Police and RAB rescued around 67 BNP leaders of Mirpur and
Pallabi including two DCC Councilors who were besieged at
the DCC councilor office of Ward no. 6 allegedly by
activists of the local ruing party.
They were reportedly gheraoed for about two hours from
3:55 pm.
Police rescued them at about 6pm and took them to Pallabi
thana.
The city BNP organized the demonstration in front of the
Councilor's office of Ward no.6 in Mirpur to press for
resolving the crisis of electricity, water and gas.
BNP workers and supporters started assembling at the venue
from about 2:45 pm and later they brought out a
procession.
Witnesses said at around 3:30 pm when the procession
reached near 'Challantika' crossing at Mirpur 11, some
workers of Awami League launched attack on the
demonstrators and dispersed them by pelting brickbats.
After sometime the BNP activists regrouped and built up
resistance resulting in chase and counter-chase. At one
stage the BNP activists took shelter in the office of DCC
councilor of Ward no 6. The AL activists kept the office
under siege. Councilors of Ward no. 6 Hasan and Masud Khan
of Ward no. 10, both belongs to BNP, were also confined in
the office.
Police ADC of Mirpur Elias told UNB that those rescued
were taken to Pallabi thana to avoid further trouble.
BNP organized the demonstration in different parts of
Dhaka City from Wednesday last.
Road accidents kill 6,000 yearly
BSS, Chittagong
Drivers are directly and indirectly liable for 70 percent
of road accidents that claim over 6,000 lives and injure
3,0000 people annually.
Participating in a workshop on road accident, the speakers
said the mishaps also cause economic losses of Taka more
than 5000 crore per annual. Among the victims, 50 percent
are below 30 while 75 percent left maimed to lead a very
inhuman life until death.
Bangladesh Road Trans-port Authority (BRTA), Chittagong in
cooperation with Chittagong district administration
organized the workshop at Chittagong Zilla Parishad
auditorium Friday afternoon to raise awareness among the
professional drivers and reduce road accidents.
Around three hundred owners, drivers and workers of
different mode of transports on long distance routes and
commuters services participated in the workshop. Mozammel
Hoq Khan, secretary of the Roads and Railway Division of
the Ministry of Communication, spoke at the function as
the chief guest. With Farid Uddin Chowdhury, deputy
commissioner of Chittagong in the Chair. While presenting
an overview of the road mishaps, Mozammel Hoq Khan said
nearly 20 people on an average are killed and 80 injured
in road
accidents in the country everyday.
Hajj activities under government
management inaugurated
BSS, Dhaka
State Minister for Religious Affairs Advocate Mohammad
Shahjahan Miah Friday sought cooperation from all for
peaceful and smooth performing of holy Hajj under the
government management this year.
He said this while inaugurating the government management
Hajj activities through distributing forms among the
pilgrims at the conference hall of Baitul Mokarram
National Mosque after Juma prayers.
The state minister hoped that the pilgrims would be able
to perform holly Hajj smoothly under the government
management this year. In this connection, all necessary
steps would be taken by the government.
He said, according to the agreement with Saudi Gove-rnment,
a total of 75,000 pilgrims-15,000 under government
management and 50,000 non-ballottee pilgrims-can perform
holy Hajj this year.
Shahjahan Miah said eight houses have already been rented
for the 15,000 pilgrims around the Harem Sharif
considering the convenience of Hajjis.
Hajj forms will be distributed from all deputy
commissioner's offices and district level Islamic
Foundation offices on Monday.
Secretary of the ministry Kazi Habibul Awal called upon
all concerned to perform their responsibility with
dedication and sincerity to make Hajj management smoothly.
The inaugural function was presided over by Director
General of Islamic Foundation,Shamim Mohammad Afzal.
Later, a manajat was offered by Khatib of Baitul Mokarram
National Mosque, Prof Moulana Mohammad Salah Uddin.
Back Page
Int’l community needs to work
together to ensure food security: Muhith
BSS, Dhaka
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said food security
rem-ains a priority area for the Bangladesh government.
"The Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been
taking all necessary steps to ensure that in Bangladesh",
he said this while addressing at a roundtable forum on
'Food Security' hosted by US Se-cretary of Treasury
Timothy Geithner in Wash-ington Thursday. The
international community also has a role in this vital
area, he added. The Finance Minister is now in Washington
on an official visit. The Roundtable was attended, among
others, by policy makers, bankers and academics, said
message received here Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, Timothy Geithner said that the
Obama administration attaches great importance to ensure
food security for all and with this goal in mind the US
government has organized the Roundtable forum, a message
said. The Roun-dtable was followed by a Press Conference.
The Bangladesh Finance Minister was the only
representative from the recipient countries who attended
the press conference along with Secretary Geithner, World
Bank President Robert Zoellick and US Philanthropist Bill
Gates. Speaking before the members of the press, the
Bangladesh Finance Min-ister emphasized the need for more
allocation in Rese-arch and Development to increase food
production. To cope with the shortage of food, he
underscored the importance of storage facilities to meet
such shortage in different countries.
Referring to Bangladesh's experience, Muhith informed that
the Bangladesh government has put in place a Public
Distribution System (PDS) which has been functioning
effectively. On the necessity of minimum price for the
food producers, the Bangladesh finance minister underlined
the imperative need to find ways in order to strike a
balance between ensuring a minimum price for food
producers and a fair price for the consumers.
As a part of G-8 and G-20 initiative to advance food
security donors have invested in the Global Agriculture
and Food Security Program, a new trust fund administered
by the World Bank. Initial donors to the fund include the
United States, Canada, Spain, South Korea and the world
renowned Gates Foundation. The donors for the fund also
revealed on the occasion that the amount of the money they
committed to the fund. The United States committed $475
million while Canada 230 million, Spain $95 million, South
Korea $50 million and the Gates Foundation committed $30
million, the message added.
Water recycling can help reduce
drinking water crisis: Expert
UNB, Dhaka
The rising crisis of drinking water in the country's rural
and urban areas can be mitigated through household use of
recycled water and with proper treatment of domestic and
industrial wastes before discharging to the water bodies
like rivers and canals.
Experts and environmentalists suggested that immediate
measures are necessary for creating mass awareness to stop
misuse of water and also move for a legal step to protect
the country's natural resources for sustainable
development. "Water is an indispensable natural resource
without which existence of life is not possible," said Dr
Mohammed Ataur Rahman, Director of the Program on
Education for Sustainability of IUBAT (International
University of Business Agriculture and Technology),
emphasizing the importance of fresh water.
He said on average, each person daily uses minimum 200
liters of water in the cities while plants absorb millions
of liters of water everyday. "At least 2,000 liters of
water is required to produce one kilogram of rice
(paddy)." Dr Ataur Rahman said people are only paying a
small fraction of the cost of water, as the actual cost of
purification/ treatment and supply to the utilities are
much high. "Therefore, we should be very careful not to
misuse water." He said taps and showers must not run
continuously during bathing and washing of crockery,
utensils and clothes. Any leakage of pipes and broken
water taps must be repaired or replaced immediately. "Used
bathroom water should be re-used for washing commodes,
used kitchen water for watering kitchen garden," the IUBAT
professor said. He described sources of water as oceans,
underground water, underground circulating, glaciers,
lakes, soil moisture, atmosphere vapors, and rivers.
"Although water is a non-depleting resource like cosmic or
solar energy but fresh water may be regarded as depleting
resource because acute shortage of water has arisen in
many parts of the world," he said. Dr Ataur said although
the total resources of water of the earth are
inexhaustible still a great scarcity of fresh water exists
in Bangladesh, where average rainfall is as high as 2000
mm/year and 143,000 cusec of water flows by the rivers.
He said Dhaka city with 10 million population need
200x10,000,000 liters or 2,000,000,000 liters or 2,000,000
m³ of fresh water a day.
Crisis puts break on cutting poverty
in developing countries
BSS, Dhaka
The global economic crisis has slowed the pace of poverty
reduction in developing countries and is hampering
progress toward the other Millennium Develop-ment Goals (MDGs),
says a new report from the World Bank Group and the
Inter-national Monetary Fund.
The crisis is having an impact in several key areas of the
MDGs, including those related to hunger, child and
maternal health, gender equality, access to clean water,
and disease control and will continue to affect long-term
development prospects well beyond 2015, says the Global
Monitoring Report 2010: The MDGs after the Crisis,
released Friday.
As a result of the crisis, 53 million more people will
remain in extreme poverty by 2015 when the number of
extreme poor could total around 920 million, the report
projects. The number, however, is significantly lower from
the 1.8 billion extreme poor in 1990.
Both the 2008 food price crisis and the financial crisis
that hit that year have played a role in exacerbating
hunger in the developing world. The critical MDG target of
halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger
from 1990 to 2015 appears very unlikely to be met as over
a billion people struggle to meet basic food needs, the
report says.
Malnutrition among children and pregnant women has a
multiplier effect, accounting for more than one-third of
the disease burden of children under age five and over 20
percent of maternal mortality.
According to World Bank projections, for the period from
2009 to the end of 2015, an estimated 1.2 million
additional deaths may occur among children under five due
to crisis-related causes.
Nahid urges teachers to be more
sincere and responsible
BSS, Habiganj
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid Friday said teachers
will have to be more responsible and sincere in equipping
the new generation with modern education.
"The teachers could play an important role in building a
beautiful country by educating new generation," he said
while exchanging views with teachers' representatives of
the district at local Circuit House.
The education minister said modern education is not
adequate for students, they will also have to be provided
with moral education.
To this end, he said, the government has taken initiatives
to train the teachers. "If needed, they will be trained
abroad as the government is committed to development of
education," he said.
Nahid said the government has a plan to make a separate
pay scale for the teachers keeping consistency with the
national pay scale.
Mentioning distribution of 19 crore textbooks among the
students at the beginning of the current academic year, he
said the country would not advance, if such a big
challenge is not taken.
The education minister also said the government has taken
initiatives to protect girl students from eve-teasing. To
this end, he stressed the need for creating mass awareness
about this social menace.
Nahid further said that a technical subject would be
included in class eight in future and all classes will get
a technical subject gradually. Advocate Abu Zahir, MP,
Abdul Mannan, MP, Zebunnesa Haque, MP, and Additional
Deputy Comm-issioner Md Nurunnnabi were present on the
occasion, among others. Later, the education minister
joined a workers' meeting of district Awami League at the
Circuit House.
1
killed, 15 injured in AL-BNP clash over land dispute
UNB, Keraniganj
A man was killed and 15 others were injured in a clash
between the activists of BNP and Awami League over land
dispute at Bokter Char in south Keraniganj thana on
Friday.
Local sources said the hour long clash ensued at about
11am when AL leader Mokter Hossain along with his 15/20
supporters atta-cked the house of BNP leader JB Member,
leaving 16 injured on both sides.
The injured were admitted to Dhaka Medical College
Hospital and Mitford Hospital. One of the injured, Ainal
Haque, 50, died at DMCH later. Police and RAB were
deployed in the area to fend off further trouble. A
conflict between two leaders of BNP and AL was on since
long over the ownership of a disputed land in the area.
Meanwhile, BNP joint secretary general Goye-shwar Chandra
Roy in a statement condemned the incident and demanded
arrest and punishment of the killers.
Fire
at sweater factory in Gazipur; five injured while
extinguishing blaze
UNB, Gazipur
A devastating fire broke out at Tung Hi knit and sweater
factory at Shibrampur (Jirani) in Sadar upazila on Friday
morning burning down valuable machinery and readymade
garments. At least five people, including a fire worker,
were injured while trying to extinguish the blaze. Garment
workers said the fire broke out at the ground floor of the
seven-storied building at 7am and raged through the first
and second floor of the building when few workers were
working inside it. On information, four fire fighting
units from Gazipur Sadar, Tongi, Savar EPZ and Mirpur
rushed in and brought the blaze under control with the
help of garment workers at 12 noon.
Local people who live in the houses adjacent to the
factory were seen leaving their houses due to huge smoke
emitting from the burning factory. The injured were sent
to hospital. Fire service sources said the fire might have
originated from an elected short circuit.
The extent of loss from the fire could not be known
immediately.
Editorial
Dhaka city and RAJUK
There
are a lot of discussions at different levels on the present
deplorable condition of Dhaka City and the role of Rajdhani
Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK). Even Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina on Wednesday blamed the RAJUK for its past negligence
that led to the unplanned growth of Dhaka city. "RAJUK gave
permission for constructing buildings without any plan putting
Dhaka city into a deplorable state," she said at a function.
The Prime Minister said, in the past RAJUK allowed
construction of multistoried buildings without looking into
the condition of the utility services like water, gas,
sewerage lines and electricity. "A place wherein one family
used to live in the past, now 35 families are living there,
but RAJUK did not consider the capacity of the utility
services while giving the permission for high-rise buildings."
Sheikh Hasina asked the RAJUK and other concerned authorities
to make sure that the utility services are in place before
giving any permission in the future. She noted that it was a
practice in the past to give permission illegally in exchange
of money without considering the future consequences. "This
will no longer be acceptable," she said. She also asked the
authorities concerned to consider environment and climate
aspects before giving any kind of permission for high-rise
buildings and housing plots.
The Prime Minister is very much correct in making these
observations about the bad condition of the capital city and
RAJUK's contribution to this situation. The now-defunct Dhaka
Improvement Trust (DIT) first and RAJUK subsequently worked
under political influence and mysterious interests and allowed
the city to grow and expand in unplanned ways. Even where
plans were passed in papers for the construction of buildings,
there was hardly any supervision to ensure that the plans were
properly implemented. Irregularities and corruption allegedly
worked behind this. It is perhaps due to the inefficiency,
failure and corruption of the RAJUK that Dhaka is now the
worlds most unplanned and problem-ridden mega city.
The people living in Dhaka city are really worried over their
present and future as there is no serious attempt to retrieve
it from the dilapidated condition. The city is terribly
problem-ridden and the dwellers are suffering immensely.
People from all over the country stream to this city in
thousands every day. According to a report: With the increase
of population by one million every three years, the capital
Dhaka will become the fourth populous city of the world by the
year 2015. At present with nearly 15 million city dwellers,
Dhaka ranks as the eleventh populous city in the world, said a
survey report of the UNFPA. With a population growth of 5.5
per cent annually, Dhaka's inhabitants will reach 21.3 million
by the year 2015.
The population of Dhaka was 2 lakh in 1931, 3.61 lakh in 1951,
5 lakh in 1958, 5.57 lakh in 1961, 78 lakh in 1995 and 91 lakh
in 1991. The population here increases at a rate over three
times higher than national population increases rate. In view
of the existing alarming situation here it can be presumed
that Dhaka is going to become a jungle of men, women and
children with manifold problems including acute shortage of
space to live and move. The government will find it very
difficult to arrange educational facilities, health care,
sewerage system, water, and power for them. Most of the big
cities of the world are plunged in manifold problems. But no
where perhaps the problems are as acute as in Dhaka.
In these Circumstances, the government should draw up
comprehensive projects and implement it with utmost sincerity
to make Dhaka a modern city with all facilities and amenities
of the 21st century. To this end the further growth and
expansion of the city should be allowed by RAJUK only on a
planned way.
Living in extreme
poverty
Poverty
is the most serious problem facing the world, according to a
major worldwide poll which put the issue ahead of climate
change, terrorism and war. Overall, 71 per cent of people
named extreme poverty as the number one problem for the
mankind. Meanwile, according to a Xinhua report : Because of
the global financial crisis and global recession, some 64
million more people will be living in extreme poverty by 2010,
the World Bank said in a report released on Tuesday adding
"The effects on human welfare may be costly and long-lasting."
Earlier, a UN report said hunger in South Asia has reached its
highest level in 40 years because of food and fuel price rises
and the global economic downturn. The report by the UNICEF,
said that 100 million more people in the region are going
hungry compared with two years ago. It listed Nepal,
Bangladesh and Pakistan as the worst affected areas. According
to the World Bank, three quarters of the population in South
Asia - almost 1.2 billion people - live on less than $2 (£1.2)
a day. And more than 400m people in the region are now
chronically hungry. Needless to say, many of Bangladesh are
among them.
In Bangladesh, despite continued efforts, the pace of poverty
alleviation is slow. According to the Bureau of Statistics,
country's 40 per cent people are still living below the
poverty line. The UN Human Resource Development Index 2008
shows Bangladesh at the bottom of the list of the South Asian
countries. The massive poverty in Bangladesh is attributed to
erosion by rivers, flood and other natural calamities,
illiteracy, population explosion, landlessness, unemployment
etc. In fact, Bangladesh continues to groan under the pangs of
poverty, hunger and malnutrition and the government must do
everything possible to enable the people to get out of this
painful situation.
Analysis
Shaking hands
India has not yet emerged from the unfortunate
condition that it had worked itself into after Mumbai. And
unless Pakistan does his bidding, Mr Singh will not be
consoled.
Zafar Hilaly
A
man who looks you straight in the eye, particularly if he adds
a firm handshake, is hiding something. And that is what
Manmohan Singh was doing when he grasped Mr Gilani's hand at
the recent Nuclear Summit in Washington. He was
quintessentially 'the smiler with the knife under the cloak'.
Only a little earlier, Mr Singh had regurgitated all the venom
that he had accumulated against Pakistan. He refused Obama's
offer of a trilateral meeting with Mr Gilani or even a
bilateral one. Instead, he expressed apprehension over the end
use of the US military assistance to Pakistan. Imagine,
spending $ 50 billion purchasing weaponry from, among others,
the US, and carping that a mite of that amount was acquired by
Pakistan. For sheer gall, that really takes the cake. And,
lest Obama should miss the point, Mr Singh also insisted that
India would "continue to play its role in Afghanistan". In
other words, proceed apace with attempts to create a two front
threat to Pakistan.
Mr Singh was not quite done; he used the conference podium to
draw attention to AQ Khan's antics, which Pakistan has worked
hard and mostly successfully to atone, as Obama and the rest
of the world conceded. But, of course, not Mr Singh. For him
there is no statute of limitations on the errant scientist's
decades old activities. We are back to India believing that
what echoes in Delhi is actually the voice of the world.
One is reminded of the Indian boast that the Rajasthan nuclear
test conducted in May 1974 was actually "a peaceful nuclear
explosion" meant to show how "tunnelling the earth" could be
made easier. Confronted by such gibberish from an Indian
counterpart in 1975, one recalls being astounded how a
perfectly sane man, till then, could believe what he did.
India has not yet emerged from the unfortunate condition that
it had worked itself into after Mumbai. And unless Pakistan
does his bidding, Mr Singh will not be consoled. Once,
Pakistan used to have a similarly myopic and self-defeating
stance - that unless India obliged over Kashmir, engaging with
India was pointless. While we have discarded this fixation, Mr
Singh remains mired in his.
Arresting scores of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) followers merely
to please India and thereafter being forced to release them by
the courts is a self-defeating tactic. In the case of the
former, the government will be seen as inept and lawless and
the latter, conniving. It would be akin to Pakistan demanding
that India clamp down on the militant wing of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and, at the very least, their leader Modi,
for the Gujarat massacre of Muslims and, when India failed to
do so, refusing to dialogue. True, the Muslims killed in
Gujarat were not Pakistanis, but under the Liaquat-Nehru
Agreement of April 8, 1950, which has not been repudiated by
either India or Pakistan, each government is pledged to
"ensure to the minorities, throughout its territories,
complete equality of citizenship, irrespective of religion, a
full sense of security in respect of life", etc, etc, of which
Modi's roaming around free and his subsequent election as the
chief executive of Gujarat made a mockery.
Had such thoughts crossed Mr Gilani's mind, it may have
deterred him from "scooting over", as one national daily
described it, to shake Singh's hand at a conference function.
Sadly, Mr Gilani's impulses never fail to get the better of
him. He arrived uninvited to the chief justice's function at
the height of the NRO crisis although it did his cause no
good, nor will his gushing handshake stand him in good stead
with Mr Singh.
Mr Gilani has a heart that is too soon made glad and too
easily impressed. Gestures of the kind he sports are
evanescent; they cannot override Indian intransigence. India's
morality, as a 100,000 murdered Kashmiris will testify, is a
far off abstraction, utterly unconnected from its active life.
If India is in no mood to engage purposefully, why not accept
it and let India be? It is not as if our life depends on it.
Mr Gilani will face the same quandary in the forthcoming SAARC
Summit, where bilateral meetings are unavoidable. He will hear
Mr Singh saying: "Whenever you accept our views and demands,
we shall be in full agreement with you." It is an old Indian
refrain. We Foreign Office-wallas have heard it often. Mr
Gilani should not be upset. He should merely stop smiling long
enough to point out to Mr Singh that his boorish stance is
self-defeating.
Unfortunately, the Foreign Office spokesman seems all too
eager for a meeting between Gilani and Singh. The other day,
while briefing the press, he claimed he saw "mutual warmth" in
the Singh-Gilani handshake in Washington, warmth that was
conspicuous by its absence in Mr Singh's remarks to Obama and
the press in Washington. The spokesman also spoke of "a desire
on both sides to end the stalemate in relations". God alone
knows how he formed that impression, considering that Mr Singh
persists in stiff- arming Mr Gilani and exploiting the issue
politically to browbeat Pakistan. Mr Singh's tactics do
nothing but merely raise hackles. "Blow your pipe till you
burst" is the reaction here to his constant carping.
Perhaps Mr Singh should take a leaf out of the US's book when
dealing with Pakistan. Having cried themselves hoarse saying
"do more" and getting nowhere under Bush, the Americans
decided that positive and intensive interaction may prove more
rewarding. And it worked. Relations have smoothed
immeasurably. Mr Singh has yet to make that discovery. Perhaps
it is worth a try because those who live in the past must
yield to people who live in the future or else we will all be
headed backwards, which we seem to be, at a breakneck speed.
That is not to say that Pakistan must not confront LeT and
others of its ilk. A stupid friend is worse than a clever
enemy. Mumbai was inexcusable on every count besides
imperilling our security and sullying our image. Perhaps Mr
Singh would do better if he tried to understand how we
understand ourselves rather than what he takes us for. That
way we may end up talking to, rather than at, each other. But,
about such subtleties India could not care less.
The writer is a former ambassador of Pakistan. He can be
reached at charles123it@hotmail.com
Judicial
review -- why not?
This
government is treating the country like its personal
fiefdom. In its effort to mould the laws of the land to
suit its purposes, it is callously trampling established
codes of conduct and national interests in the process.
Ameer Bhutto
This
government is jinxed. It cannot do the simplest thing
without shooting itself in the foot. Whether this is
because of sheer incompetence, the consequence of acting
on bad advice and misinformation provided by an army of
sycophants, or simply malicious intent coming back to bite
it, this government has stumbled from one self-induced
crisis to another, with no respite. The problem is that
they think that they are more clever than they really are,
and that they can dupe the public. But each time they act
on such misplaced optimism, they fall flat on their faces.
The passage of the 18th Amendment, heralded as a cleansing
of the 1973 Constitution of the mutilations it had been
subjected to by military and civilian dictators, should
have been a feather in the government's cap and cause for
much national celebration. But instead, it promises to
become yet another source of humiliation for Zardari and
his administration.
A great fraud has been perpetrated on the nation in the
guise of the 18th Amendment; we were promised something
sublime, but what we got was something quite unpalatable.
Without going into the details of the changes made in the
Constitution by means of the 18th Amendment, which have
already been highlighted in depth by various legal experts
and analysts, suffice it to say that under the cover of
jettisoning the 17th Amendment and Article 58 (2)(b) from
the Constitution, a great deal of material has been
infused into it, of which that is far from kosher, and the
effect of which is to alter the basic features of the
Constitution; parliament lacks the authority to do that.
The intention appears to have been to metamorphose the
Constitution to fit the requirements of the present regime
behind the smokescreen of restoring genuine parliamentary
democracy.
This government is treating the country like its personal
fiefdom. In its effort to mould the laws of the land to
suit its purposes, it is callously trampling established
codes of conduct and national interests in the process. Is
it any wonder that virtually every measure taken by this
government is challenged in court? The most recent
illustration of this is Zardari's conversion of Rehman
Malik's dismissal from the FIA to "retirement."
Since this government came into power under the shield of
the malodorous NRO, it cannot stomach an independent
judiciary and strong democratic institutions and regards
them as abominations that need to be dealt with and
brought to heel for the government to save its own skin.
Upon assuming power, they first did their best to avoid
restoring the illegally suspended judges and then sought
to control the judiciary by trying to appoint handpicked
judges. Their having failed in both attempts, the 18th
Amendment marks a continuation of their drive to control
the judiciary so that the persistent ghosts of their past
misdeeds may be denied resurrection.
All political parties, indeed the whole nation, stood
united on the issue of repealing the dictatorial changes
made in the Constitution. Such a wide-ranging consensus is
rare in Pakistan and any government sincerely committed to
restoring genuine parliamentary democracy would have
pounced to take advantage of it. The repeal of the 17th
Amendment, Article 58 (2)(b) and all other such draconian
laws that mangled the Constitution should have been
bundled together in the form of the 18th Amendment, which
would have sailed through easily and the whole nation
would have rejoiced and danced in the streets. But, true
to its nature, this government deviously sought to
manipulate the national consensus to insinuate into the
Constitution such highly dubious measures as eliminating
intra-party elections, tampering with the procedure for
the appointment of judges and relaxing the qualifications
for membership of parliament. All of these, apart from
being repugnant on moral grounds, are in conflict with the
basic features of the Constitution. Did they really think
they could get away with it without the matter being
raised before the courts?
What was the need to rush into changing the name of NWFP
to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa without taking the consequences into
consideration? Precious lives have been unnecessarily lost
in Hazara on this issue. Would it not have been far wiser
and more constructive to hold off on the contentious and
obviously illegal provisions of the amendment till more
work could be done on them? But this government was in
such a rush to hamstring the judiciary that it was blinded
to the consequences of its actions.
There was never any doubt that the 18th Amendment would be
brought before the courts for interpretation. The denizens
of Margalla Hills, who have a vested interest at stake,
are already crying foul at the notion of having the
judiciary sift through their handiwork. They are claiming
that if the judiciary were to tamper with the work of
parliament it would give rise to a serious constitutional
crisis. How can the judiciary remain silent and decline to
exercise the powers conferred upon it by the Constitution
if the matter of the legality of certain provisions of the
18th Amendment is brought before it? Besides, why should
there be a crisis if the courts exercise their
constitutional power of judicial review? If there is a
crisis, it was, in fact, initiated by parliament, which
overstepped its bounds by making changes in the
Constitution that would result in the redefinition of its
essence.
Judicial review is a corrective mechanism provided by the
Constitution to protect the Constitution against
subversion. How can establishing the writ of law by legal
methods create a crisis? It may be a crisis for those who
feel threatened by an independent judiciary, but the
nation will welcome it. It is a sign of the times we live
in that perverting the Constitution to suit personal
interests is not considered tampering or subversion, but
applying the law is cause for complaint and produces
hallucinations of a crisis.
Much is being made of the perception promoted by some that
a law passed by the elected representatives of 170 million
people cannot, or should not, be set aside by 17 judges.
But does the supremacy of law mean anything to us anymore?
If it does, then we have to concede that we are bound by
laws and have to act within their constraints. The 18th
Amendment may have been passed by an elected parliament,
but so was the Constitution; it was not imposed by a
military dictator. Once a constitution has been enacted
and holds the field, everyone, including parliament, is
bound by it. That is the essence of written constitutions.
If we wanted parliament to be supreme, then we should have
followed the British model and not bound it under a
written constitution. But as long as a written
constitution exists, parliament has to conform to it and
cannot claim supremacy over the Grundnorm. It is not free
to do as it wills. It cannot, for instance, pass a law
legalising murder or corruption. The Constitution will not
allow it. Only a constituent assembly has the right to
change the fundamental features of the Constitution, which
this assembly is not.
The government is either totally ignorant of the basic
features of the Constitution and the universally
acknowledged and -practiced principle that all
institutions of state, including parliament, are bound by
written constitutions, or their actions are based on mala-fide
intentions aimed at subverting the Constitution, crippling
the judiciary and bringing it to heel and unleashing a
damaging conflict between vital organs of state, only to
escape prosecution for their corrupt and criminal conduct
of the past.
The writer is vice-chairman of Sindh National Front and
a former MPA from Ratodero. He has degrees from the
University of Buckingham and Cambridge University.
Viewpoints
An election driven by people not
politicians
An election
campaign that was poised to become a sterile trench battle
between Labour and Conservative campaign managers has instead
turned into something more inspiring: an election driven by
people, not politicians.
Nick Clegg
For
me, the most exciting moment in the last few days was the news
that thousands of young people have rushed to register to vote
before it was too late. Thousands of young people who
otherwise would have been disenfranchised have asserted their
right to be heard, asserted their right to shape their
futures. The frustration and boredom at the stale old choices
have given way to an enthusiasm and excitement that this time
things could be different.
An election campaign that was poised to become a sterile
trench battle between Labour and Conservative campaign
managers has instead turned into something more inspiring: an
election driven by people, not politicians.
But if this turn of events appears sudden, the reasons stretch
back years. The cracks in the duopoly of British politics have
been growing over a long period of time. Back in the 1950s,
rigid two-choice politics was complete. In the 1951 general
election only 2 per cent of voters voted for anyone other than
Labour and Conservative. It was a world of two halves:
communism versus capitalism; north versus south; left versus
right; working class versus the wealthy; trade unions versus
employers; Labour versus Conservative.
As Britain has hurtled into the 21st century, the political
establishment remains beached in the last. The expenses
scandal was more than a series of revelations about personal
greed - it was an exposure of a political class stuck in a
culture of deference, a political class caught living in a
parallel universe spectacularly out of touch with the modern
Britain it was supposed to represent.
Mass abstention
No wonder, then, that an increasing number of people turned
their backs on their politicians. At the last two elections,
more people didn't vote at all than voted for the winning
party. Mass abstention was a logical response to a political
system in crisis. The legitimacy of governments steadily
weakened as Labour and Conservatives competed for a
diminishing number of swing votes in swing seats, ignoring
everyone else. At the last general election fewer than one in
four eligible voters actually voted for the Labour government.
Up and down the country the old patterns simply broke down.
Perhaps the most dramatic expression of this has been the
transformation of urban Britain from Labour to the Liberal
Democrats. City after city, previously synonymous with the old
Labour party, turned instead to the Liberal Democrats:
Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Sheffield, Bristol, Edinburgh, the
list goes on.
Yet at each step the Labour and Conservative parties continued
as if nothing had changed. Both refused to examine an
electoral system designed to perpetuate duopoly just as
millions of people were demanding pluralism. At the local
elections last year, almost 40 per cent of people voted for
parties other than Labour and the Conservatives. At the last
general election, 6 million people voted for the Liberal
Democrats, more than any liberal party in Europe at the time.
Yet still the Labour and Conservative parties insisted that
nothing needed to change.
And in the most spectacular rejection of public opinion of
recent times, both parties grimly decided to proceed with an
unjustified war in Iraq even as the country was in a state of
near revolt.
Something had to give. A political system so out of step with
the country it is supposed to serve cannot last for long, and
it now feels like its time is truly up. Whatever happens in
the remainder of this campaign, the clock can't be turned
back. Whoever wins the next election no longer has a choice:
we must reform our clapped out political system urgently, or
it will simply wither on the vine.
There is a big choice for progressives of all parties: do we
seek to maintain and conserve an old order on its last legs?
Or do we seek to shape the future by delivering real change,
real reform for good? I believe there is now a unique
opportunity for progressives to rally round a new agenda for
change: political reform; fair taxes; social mobility;
sustainable economic growth.
This is not a pick-and-choose menu of reform. It is a template
for change. Progress in one area does not make sense without
progress in another. Delivering fairer and lower taxes to
millions of families who are struggling to make ends meet only
makes sense if we deliver the best education, with smaller
class sizes and more one-to-one tuition, to children who need
the most help.
Devolving our hopelessly overcentralised political system only
makes sense if we decentralise our economy, too, so that it is
never again taken hostage by a small clique of irresponsible
financiers in the City at the cost of the rest of the country.
Labour and the Conservatives have pledged to put Liberal
Democrat policy under the microscope - I welcome that
scrutiny. And I look forward to another chance to make the
case for real change. For we face a once-in-a-generation
opportunity for lasting fairness and fundamental reform.
Ask yourself: who do you trust to make that really happen?
Labour seems to have given up trying. The Conservatives offer
merely the illusion of change. We have to do something
different this time, and the only party that is different is
the Liberal Democrats. If you share my ambition, join us.
Inside
Sarkozy’s mind
That's why I
brought France back into NATO, to show we are with you, as
we are in Afghanistan. And I tell Barack, as a friend I
have the right to disagree. Even though I'm French, I can
sometimes be right!
Roger Cohen
So,
two-thirds of French people don't think I should stand for
re-election in 2012. Well, what do you expect? They see
the guy with the best job, the prettiest wife, the
loveliest home and you also want them to like me!
I've got news for my countrymen. A president's life is not
fun. All the tedious state dinners, the pomp, I could do
without them. And when I'm no longer president I can
assure you that when I go to conferences, I'll make damn
sure I get paid!
Now, when Carla tells me I shouldn't stand, she's saying
that as a woman who loves her husband and is worried.
C'est normal! Whatever I decide, she'll stand by me. The
real issue is: Do I want it? If you don't do this with
some dream in mind, it's a waste of time. Power addiction?
I can handle the detox any day!
Really, you think this job is fun? Every time Barack gives
Netanyahu a hard time, the phone rings at the Élysée. It's
Netanyahu, of course: "Oh, Nicolas, Barack's on my case
again." And I tell him, "If you expect a single word from
me against Obama, you're wrong! I tell him, you treated
Biden badly, that's not right. I ask him: What's the point
of Israel winning every war and losing the communication
war?
And Iran. Ooh la la! All these advisers telling me
Khamenei is not Ahmadinejad and Ahmadinejad is not
Larijani. C'est du baloney! Du pur baloney! They're all
the same band of liars playing with us like a cat with a
ball of wool.
So I tell Barack to be firm. And he says, Nicolas, we need
the Chinese. The Chinese! I'm a trained lawyer and I tell
him, Barack, I could bill you beaucoup hours while you
wait for the Middle Kingdom!
Barack's a good guy. He's learning. The press portrays us
as two fighting cocks! C'est du twaddle! They need to
write something, I suppose.
They can't write up their dumb opinion polls all the time!
And Michelle, I like her a lot, she runs deep, she knows
our work is frustrating. They brought Gramma with them to
Europe - that's a very European idea. Now, where was I?
You know, when I was president of Europe I thought I'd go
crazy. It's ghastly, the way decisions are made. And it's
worse at the United Nations. Du blah blah blah! When I
become president of the G-20 and the G-8 in 2011, ça va
danser!
I said you need dreams in this job. Well, mine is a new
Bretton Woods, a new international monetary order, an end
to the dollar as the primary reserve currency, taxes on
financial market transactions - and that's just for the
amuse-bouche! Woah, says Barack, that's very interesting
Nicolas, but calm down.
Calm down! Our financial system looks as convincing as the
Maginot Line. Does it make sense to have 50 per cent
gyrations between the dollar and euro?
Does it make sense to ask the Middle Kingdom to appreciate
the yuan when the dollar rules? Sometimes the US reminds
me of the friend who invites you to dinner and then
gobbles the appetizer, main course and dessert!
But I love America. My Dad always told me, go to America,
you've got more chance of being elected there. Maybe I'll
take over from Bloomberg some day!
That's why I brought France back into NATO, to show we are
with you, as we are in Afghanistan. And I tell Barack, as
a friend I have the right to disagree. Even though I'm
French, I can sometimes be right!
On Turkey, for example: Barack tells me Turkey is Europe's
Islamic bridge. And I say, you bring Mexico in as the 51st
state and we'll bring in Turkey as the 28th state of the
European Union. If Turkey's in Europe, Europe no longer
exists.
A country that will one day have 100 million Muslims with
more votes in Europe than any other? Mais non!
Just keeping Europe together in its current state is
tough. I have to deal with Angela's new German
nationalism. Germany's a normal country again. Europe's no
longer an obligation for it. But we find a way and, voilà,
Angela and I have saved Greece!
This job is about doing things - and to heck with opinion
polls! I like Medvedev. People say he's a puppet but I
never saw him lift the phone to Putin. We stopped the war
in Georgia.
Remember, the Russians were 40 kilometers from Tbilisi.
OK., the Russians only respected 90 percent of our
agreement. But, hey, I was more effective than those U.S.
ships in the Black Sea!
Yes, change! Lower taxes, autonomous universities, the end
of the 35-hour week, pension reform coming, 100,000
functionaries gone - this is modernising France! If I'd
done one reform, unions would have focused resistance on
that, but because I'm doing 100, they don't know where to
turn! There's only one opinion poll I'm interested in: the
history books. The rest is piffle. Du piffle pur!
Roger Cohen is Editor at Large of the International
Herald Tribune
Space: US on retreat
In the real world, the United States is giving up on
space, although it is trying hard to conceal its retreat.
Gwynne Dyer
In
the movies, all the spacemen are Americans, but that's
just because Hollywood makes the movies. In the real
world, the United States is giving up on space, although
it is trying hard to conceal its retreat.
For the next decade, at least, the United States will be
an also-ran in space, while the new space powers forge
rapidly ahead. And even if some subsequent administration
should decide it wants to get back in the race, it will
find it almost impossible to catch up. Which is why the
first man on Mars will probably be Chinese or Indian, not
American.
Last week, three Americans with a very special status -
they have all commanded missions to the moon - made their
dismay public. In an open letter Neil Armstrong, the first
human being to walk on the moon, Jim Lovell, commander of
Apollo 13, and Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17,
condemned President Barack Obama's plans for the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) as the
beginning of a "long downhill slide to mediocrity" for the
United States.
The letter was timed to coincide with Obama's visit to
Cape Canaveral to defend his new policy, which abandons
the goal of returning to the moon by 2020, or indeed ever.
Obama insists that this sacrifice will allow the US to
pursue a more ambitious goal, but his plan to send
Americans to Mars by the late 2030s has the distinct
political advantage of not needing really heavy investment
while he is still in office - even if he wins a second
term.
The 'Constellation' programme that he scrapped had two
goals. One was to replace the ageing Shuttle fleet for
delivering people and cargo to near-Earth orbits. The
other was to give the US the big rockets it would need to
meet George W. Bush's target of establishing a permanent
American base on the moon by 2020 where rockets would be
assembled to explore the Solar System.
That programme's timetable was slipping and would
undoubtedly have slipped further, as such programmes often
do.
It would have ended up costing a lot: $108bn by 2020, as
much as the Pentagon spends in three months, with the
possibility that it would have ended up costing one or two
more months' worth of the defence budget. But it would
have kept the United States in the game. Obama's plan only
pretends to.
He talked about a manned mission to some asteroid beyond
the moon by around 2025, and another that will orbit Mars
for some months in the mid-2030s -"and a landing on Mars
will follow".
In the meantime, and presumably even for some years after
Obama leaves office in 2016 (should he be re-elected in
2012), the United States will have no vehicle capable of
putting astronauts into orbit. It will be able to buy
passenger space on Russian rockets, or on the rapidly
developing Chinese manned vehicles, or maybe by 2015 even
on Indian rockets.
Obama suggests that this embarrassment will be avoided
because private enterprise will come up with cheap and
efficient 'space taxis' that can at least deliver people
and cargo to the International Space Station once in a
while. And he's going to invest a whole $6bn in these
private companies over the next five years.
These entrepreneurs include Amazon president Jeff Bezos,
John Carmack, programmer of Doom and Quake, Elon Musk,
co-founder of PayPal, and of course Richard Branson of
Virgin Everything. "Our success is vital to the success of
the US space programme," Musk said recently.
International
Re-promulgation
of 13 ordinances criticised
Dawn Online,
Islamabad
An apparent mistake by the law ministry has once again
caused embarrassment for the Presidency which announced on
Wednesday re-promulgation of 13 ordinances, an action the
president was not authorised to take under the 18th
Amendment.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the Leader of the Opposition in
the National Assembly, alleged on Thursday that despite
taking all the credit for correcting the Constitution
through the amendment, the president had been the first
one to violate it. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah
Babar said President Asif Ali Zardari had authorised
re-promulgation of the ordinances much before the
amendment landed in his secretariat for his signature, but
the law ministry sat on them till Wednesday.
"It is simply out of question that the president would do
anything against the Constitution. Re-promulgation of
these ordinances was done under the then prevailing
Constitution of the country."
President Zardari gave his assent to the 18th Amendment on
April 19.
However, talking to journalists at the Parliament House,
Chaudhry Nisar said: "According to Article 89 of the new
amendment, the president has no right to re-promulgate an
ordinance unless it is approved by any one house of
parliament through a resolution."
Referring to the Defence Housing Authority Ordinance which
was among those that had been re-promulgated, he said the
government appeared hell bent upon providing legal cover
to wrongdoings of military dictator Gen (retd) Pervez
Musharraf.
"The government is repeatedly promulgating this highly
controversial ordinance first issued in 2005 which is only
meant to regularise land grabbed by a few former
generals."
He said the Pakistan Muslim League-N had already announced
that it would forcefully oppose the DHA bill if it was
brought to the National Assembly for approval.
The opposition leader said the incumbent military
leadership should stay away from issues like DHA because
it would tarnish forces' image.
Under the 18th Amendment, an ordinance cannot be
re-promulgated until it is approved by the National
Assembly or Senate through a resolution. An ordinance
lapses if it is not brought before either house to be made
an act of parliament 120 days after its promulgation.
Pakistans Army Chief is perhaps the
most powerful figure in the country
Times online
It is the worst-kept secret in Pakistan. When General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's term as military commander comes to
an end in November, there is every likelihood that it will
be extended by up to two more years. The logic is simple.
The general has overseen the difficult transition from
military to civilian rule and rehabilitated the army's
tainted image in the eyes of the Pakistani public.
His forces have launched a prolonged military offensive
against militant forces in the tribal areas along the
Afghan border and the Swat Valley. At great cost in lives
they have taken the initiative and are still fighting the
last pockets of Taleban resistance. Soldiers are also
spearheading reconstruction and development work in areas
previously controlled by the Taleban
It would make perfect sense for General Kayani to see
through this operation rather than risk another commander
coming in halfway through. There are also fears that his
efforts to contain conservative Muslim elements within the
army's ranks could be jeopardised were he to be replaced.
The general is also thought to enjoy good relations with
Washington, London and Islamabad's other key allies.
But there are also dangers in allowing him to stay. The
Pakistani military is not simply an arm of government. It
is by far the most powerful institution in the country.
Defence accounts for 5 per cent of the Government's
budget. The military also receives billions of pounds in
US aid. It controls Pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenal. It
oversees the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, the
country security services. It also influences foreign
policy with countries such as America and China. It holds
veto rights on any peace initiatives with India. For that
reason the Chief of the Army Staff is arguably the most
powerful person in the country and extending his command
is a hugely political decision.
From its creation in 1947 the country has lived under the
shadow of the military. In 1958, 1977 and 1999 the
military seized power. As a result the civilian
institutions remain weak and the political system
immature. The country may need General Kayani, but at what
price?
Pakistan may let Taliban do its dirty
work against India
IANS, Washington
Pakistan may let surrogate Taliban use its nuclear weapons
to do its 'dirty work' against India in the event of
escalation of tension between the two South Asian
neighbours over Kashmir, a top US non-proliferation expert
has suggested.
Bob Graham, head of US Commission on the Prevention of WMD
(Weapons of Mass Destruction) proliferation and terrorism
painted such a scenario at a House Homeland Security
Committee hearing on nuclear terrorism Thursday.
'If something broke out in Kashmir that reignited the
vitriol between India and Pakistan, that could be an
incident that could cause someone to make the decision,'
he warned.'(The Pakistanis may say) We don't want to use
these weapons, but we're going to let our surrogate
Taliban have access to these weapons and they'll do our
dirty work,' he said.
'I think one of our recommendations was to work with India
and Pakistan to develop some fail-safe procedures,' Graham
said responding to questions from lawmakers concerned
about the safety and security of nuclear weapons in
Pakistan.
Although during the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union
were strong adversaries and had the capability of
destroying each other, 'we understood that we didn't want
to allow a mis-step or an accidental event to become the
ignition for such a war', Graham said.
'So we set up the red phone in the Oval Office and a whole
protocol,' he said referring to the report of the
commission released early this year.
Pak CJ takes notice of summons for
Nusrat Bhutto
Dawn Online, Islamabad
Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took a
suo motu notice on Thursday of the issuing of fresh
summons by a Rawalpindi Accountability Court for ageing
PPP chairperson Begum Nusrat Bhutto who is facing
corruption charges in the Cotecna pre-shipment inspection
reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau. The
accountability court had issued the summons after
rejecting NAB's request to exempt the ailing mother of
slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto from personal appearance.
The matter is likely to be taken up by a bench headed by
the chief justice on Friday. While declaring the
controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance as
illegal, the Supreme Court had created a monitoring cell
in the apex court and had asked NAB officials to present
periodical reports about actions taken by them. The action
was taken at the request of the monitoring cell, a source
told Dawn.
Meanwhile, Dr Mohammad Aslam Khaki moved a Shariat
petition before the Supreme Court challenging a judgment
of the Federal Shariat Court that dismissed his petition
seeking the record of information about the trustees of
the "People's Foundation" (Trust), a public benevolent and
charitable trust. Former Prime Minister Zulfifikar Ali
Bhutto had constituted the trust through the Trust Deed of
Aug 9, 1974, with Begum Nusrat Bhutto, late Murtaza Bhutto
and Ms Benazir Bhutto as trustees.
The objective of the trust was to establish a press and
similar ventures for spreading information in Pakistan and
elsewhere, to print and publish journals, magazines,
periodicals and newspapers, to extend aid to institutions
which in the opinion of trustees are engaged in imparting,
spreading and promoting learning and to establish
institutions and contribute to their maintenance and to
give aid to individuals and institutions.
‘Police had inputs about Babri
demolition’
Agencies, India
A senior IPS officer, who was a personal security officer
of BJP leader L K Advani in Ayodhya, on Friday told a
special court that Faizabad Police had intelligence inputs
that an attempt could be made to harm the Babri Masjid on
December 6, 1992.
During cross-examination by the defence in the court of
Chief Judicial Magistrate Gulab Singh here, Anju Gupta, a
1990 batch IPS officer, said she had attended a review
meeting convened by Inspector General of Police, Faizabad,
A K Saran on December 5, the day before the structure was
demolished. To specific queries from the defence, Gupta
said Saran had stated during the 40-45 minute long meeting
that according to the intelligence inputs, the threats
were at two levels. The inputs had suggested that people
who had gathered there could attempt an attack on the
disputed structure and that operatives of Pakistan's ISI
could also disturb the law and order situation in Ayodhya,
she said.
During her deposition before the court on March 26, Gupta
had stated that Advani had given a provocative speech in
Ayodhya moments before the mosque was demolished by Sangh
Parivar activists.
"On December 6, 1992, Advani made a spirited speech from
Ram Katha Kunj manch (dais), barely 150-200 metres from
the disputed site which charged the people. He repeatedly
said that the temple would be constructed at the same
site," Gupta had said.
Gupta, who was the personal security officer of Advani in
Ayodhya on the fateful day on December 6, is appearing as
a prosecution witness in the Special CBI Court in the case
in which Advani and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma
Bharti and other Sangh Parivar leaders have been accused
of inciting violence that led to the demolition.
Indo-US naval wargames begin in
Arabian Sea
ANI, New Delhi
The ten-day long Indo-US wargames began on Friday in the
Arabian Sea, strengthening the relationships between the
two navies to maintain peace and stability.
The thrust of the Malabar CY 10 exercise this year would
be on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Surface Firings,
Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO), Visit Board Search
and Seizure (VBSS) and Submarine Operations.
Malabar CY 10, conducted from April 23 to May 2, is the
fourteenth series of the Malabar round of exercise. The US
Navy"s frontline units of 7th fleet and Indian Navy"s
Western Fleet are participating in the exercise.
The scope of Malabar exercise includes diverse range of
operational activities at sea. During Malabar CY 10, the
US Navy will be represented by ships from CTF 70 of the
USN 7th Fleet which is based at Yokosuka, Japan.
The CTF will include the Cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67),
Destroyers USS Chaffee (DDG 90), USS Lassen (DDG 82) and
Frigate USS Curts (FFG 38). In addition, one Los Angeles
class nuclear powered submarine, USS Annapolis (SSN 760),
two P3C Orion aircraft and a 28-member US Navy Special
Forces team will also participate in the exercise.
INS Mysore, an indigenous Delhi Class guided missile
destroyer and three guided missile frigates, INS Godavari,
INS Brahmaputra and INS Tabar, will represent the Indian
Navy. In addition, one Shishumar class submarine, INS
Shankush, Sea Harrier fighters, other fixed and rotary
wing aircraft are also scheduled to participate in the
bilateral exercise.
"Naval cooperation between India and the US epitomises the
long-term strategic relationship between both countries.
Both navies have, over the years, undertaken diverse
bilateral activities such as training exchanges,
information exchange, and technical cooperation.
"Our nations have significant convergence of interests,
especially in the maintenance of maritime security," said
a statement released by the Indian Navy.
Allies aim to begin handing control
to Afghans
AP, Tallinn, Estonia
NATO agreed Friday to begin handing over control of
Afghanistan to the Afghan government this year, a process
that if successful would enable President Barack Obama to
meet his target date of July 2011 for starting to bring
U.S. troops home.
But the accord appeared short on details and timelines,
and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned
of a rocky road ahead in a country beset with a resilient
insurgency, limited resources and a weak, sometimes
dysfunctional central government.
Clinton said she was pleased with progress toward
eliminating the shortage of allied trainers for the Afghan
army and police. She offered a generally sunny outlook for
Afghanistan and said the government of much-criticized
President Hamid Karzai gets too little credit for progress
in building a viable democracy.
"We believe that with sufficient attention, training and
mentoring, the Afghans themselves are perfectly capable of
defending themselves against insurgents," she told a news
conference. "Does that mean it will be smooth sailing? I
don't think so. Look at Iraq."
NATO is still about 450 short of its target for a training
force to assist the Afghan security forces, and while that
gap apparently was not filled during Friday's session,
Clinton said she was not discouraged.
"We have a relatively small gap that we're still working
to fill. I'm very convinced we'll get that filled," she
said, adding: "For me, the glass is way more than half
full."
Series
of explosions kill at least 58 in Iraq
AP, Baghdad
A series of bomb attacks mainly targeting Shiite
worshippers killed 58 people Friday, including 25 near the
main Baghdad office of an anti-U.S. Shiite cleric,
officials said.
The violence demonstrated insurgents remain a potent force
days after Iraqi authorities announced the killings of the
top two al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in what they described as
a major blow.
Extremists are also seeking to exploit political deadlock
after the inconclusive March 7 parliamentary election and
ignite sectarian warfare as U.S. forces prepare to go
home. The biggest of Friday's bombings took place just a
few hundred yards from the compound of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
in Baghdad's vast slum of Sadr City as worshippers were
gathered for Friday prayers at the compound.
Two car bombs and a roadside bomb exploded around 1:30
p.m., killing 25 people and wounding an estimated 150,
according to hospital and police officials who spoke on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
speak to the media.
The blasts left blood streaming down muddy streets. Men
carried victims away using bed sheets as makeshift
stretchers and loaded them into the backs of trucks and
rushed them to the hospital. One man fled carrying a young
girl whose pink dress was stained with blood. Many who
gathered at the scene pelted Iraqi security officials with
stones when they arrived in the area, frustrated with
their apparent inability to secure the city. Iraqi
security officials fired their guns in the air to disperse
the crowd.
Bombings elsewhere in Iraq - most of them targeting Shiite
worshippers - killed 33 other people in one of the
deadliest days the country has seen in weeks. Targeting
Shiite mosques is a hallmark of the Sunni-dominated
terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq.
The death toll was given by police and hospital officials.
US wants Russia to match future
tactical nuclear cuts
AFP, Tallinn
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Thursday on
NATO allies to press Russia slash its nuclear arsenal to
match any future atomic weapons cuts made in Europe by the
United States.
In a dinner speech to fellow NATO ministers in Tallinn,
the capital of the former Soviet state of Estonia, she
also urged the alliance to embrace missile defence as a
complement to NATO's deterrence against new threats.
In the post Cold War era, these perceived threats from
nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, US
officials say, come no longer from Russia but from states
like Iran and Islamist militant groups like Al-Qaeda.
"In any future reductions, our aim should be to seek
Russian agreement to increase transparency on
non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe, (and) relocate
these weapons away from the territory of NATO members,"
Clinton said.
The chief US diplomat appeared to rule out early
withdrawal of an estimated 240 US nuclear weapons stored
in NATO nations Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands
and Turkey-weapons that would be carried by bomber
aircraft.
Russia is thought to have at least four times as many such
arms.
At a working dinner here, the ministers agreed that no
nuclear weapons would be withdrawn from Europe without the
unanimous agreement of all 28 NATO nations, the military
alliance's chief spokesman said.
As Russia reclaims its sphere of
influence, the U.S. doesn't object
Internet
Five years ago in the former Soviet Union, governments
loyal to Moscow were falling roughly every six months.
Those were the glory days of the "color revolutions" that
brought new leaders to Georgia, Ukraine andKyrgyzstan in
quick succession between 2003 and 2005, all with the
backing of the United States.
The region's political center of gravity was tilting
sharply toward the West. But now that trend has been
reversed. In the past three months, two of those
governments have been ousted. Leaders far friendlier to
Russia have again taken power in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan,
displacing the Orange and Tulip revolutions respectively.
(Indeed, Kiev just agreed to extend Moscow's naval lease
on the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in exchange for
cheaper gas; the previous Ukrainian regime had opposed the
move.)
The region's last standing leader of a color revolution
(the Rose), Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, is
feeling lonelier than ever, and he has a warning for the
Obama administration: Don't give Russia a free hand in the
former Soviet bloc.
In an interview with TIME at his glass-domed presidential
palace, Saakashvili laid out how he sees the situation:
President Barack Obama has been put in an awkward spot by
his drive to invigorate ties with the Kremlin, having to
deal with the legacy of George W. Bush, who had infuriated
Moscow by supporting the color revolutions and building
close ties with the governments they brought to power.
Iran says world powers seeking to
destroy its economy
AFP, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday accused
world powers of trying to destroy the economies of
Zimbabwe and his own nation, which faces the threat of
toughened sanctions.
"Our nations have a bitter experience of intervention by
those big powers. They want to seize the markets of the
countries (Iran and Zimbabwe) and destroy their
economies," Ahmadinejad said, opening an international
trade fair in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo.
"Some of those oppressive and arrogant states don't obey
these rules. They have very bad behaviour. And today, they
are trying to possess world resources. They don't want the
world to achieve peace and prosperity," he said.
"But the world of nations, including Iran and Zimbabwe,
has decided to stand firm. We believe in common
principles."
The trade fair was once a important showcase for
investment in Zimbabwe, but has greatly diminished after a
decade of economic freefall.
Ahmadinejad on Thursday visited two factories in the
capital Harare where Iran wants to invest, one for car
parts and one for carpets. At a dinner with Mugabe late
Thursday, he denounced "satanic pressures" on their
countries, which are both targets of sanctions.
Both Ahmadinejad and Mugabe are known for their
controversial policies and anti-Western rhetoric.
US envoy aims to renew
Israeli-Palestinian talks
AP, Jerusalem
A White House envoy tried Friday to get Israelis and
Palestinians talking again after more than a year of
deadlock, while confronting a second challenge -
navigating the rocky relations between Israel and the U.S.
Senator and veteran negotiator George Mitchell's most
important meeting was Friday afternoon with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected Washington's calls
for a halt to Israeli construction in east Jerusalem and
has seen tensions with Israel's most important ally rise
dramatically on his watch.
"I look forward to working with the Obama administration
to move peace forward," Netanyahu told Mitchell at the
beginning of the meeting. "We are serious about it, we
know you are serious about it and we hope the Palestinians
respond."
The prime minister's office said the meeting went well and
Netanyahu and Mitchell would convene again on Sunday.
Netanyahu said in a televised interview Thursday that
there would be no construction freeze in east Jerusalem,
repeating a position that has brought him into conflict
with President Barack Obama. Israel annexed the
traditionally Arab sector in 1967, which is now home to
around 180,000 Jews and 250,000 Palestinians. Israel sees
the eastern sector of the city as part of its capital,
while Palestinians want it for their own capital.
Nonetheless, Israeli government officials said Friday they
were optimistic that indirect negotiations between the
sides would be announced during Mitchell's visit, allowing
Israelis and Palestinians to begin negotiating again for
the first time since late 2008.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the
government made no formal statement on what the talks with
Mitchell were expected to cover.
Mitchell held talks with Israel's defense minister, Ehud
Barak, earlier Friday and was to meet President Shimon
Peres.
Iran's President Ahmadinejad: war
games ordinary
Agency, Harare, Zimbabwe
Iranian war games being staged at a time of heightened
tension with the U.S. are routine, the Iranian president
told reporters during a state visit to Zimbabwe.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was speaking at a news
conference late Thursday, hours after his
eliteRevolutionary Guard began maneuvers in the strategic
Persian Gulf oil route, the Hormuz Strait. In the past
four years, the maneuvers have always been held in summer.
There was no official explanation of why they were brought
forward this year, but they came as Iranian leaders were
depicting U.S. President Barack Obama's new nuclear policy
as a threat.
Iran has been under harsh criticism from Western nations
for pressing ahead with uranium enrichment programs it
says are to produce nuclear energy. The West fears the
militant Islamic state could developnuclear weapons.
"We are having programs in our home country and the West
are not comfortable with that," Ahmadinejad said in
Harare. "They don't understand why we are doing so. But it
is just an ordinary military exercise that we are
currently undertaking."
Ahmadinejad, who opens a trade fair in southern Zimbabwe
Friday before heading to Uganda to complete his African
trip, said Iran was interested in Africa's markets. He
added Iran could also find like-minded leaders in Africa
who faced similar problems with the West.
At a state dinner Thursday, Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe urged Ahmadinejad to remain resolute in defiance of
the West over the nuclear program. Mugabe said both
Zimbabwe and Iran were being targeted by the West because
of how they wanted to manage their own natural resources.
"We remain resolute in defending Zimbabwe's right to
exercise its sovereignty over its natural resources, we
have equally supported Iran's right to peaceful use of
nuclear energy as enshrined in the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty," Mugabe said.
Poll says Obama, Dalai Lama world's
most popular
Internet
US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama are the
world's two most popular leaders, according to a poll
conducted in six countries and released on Friday.
Obama won 77 percent backing, one percentage point higher
than in November, in the poll conducted by Harris
Interactive for France24 and Radio France-Internationale.
The Tibetan spiritual leader was at second place at 75
percent, followed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
at 62 percent.
Pope Benedict XVI was the seventh most popular leader with
36 percent support.
The survey was carried out on the Internet between March
31 and April 12 and covered 6,135 adults aged between 16
and 64 in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the
United States.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was at fourth position
with 54 percent support. She was followed by French
President Nicolas Sarkozy who tied for fifth place with UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at 37 percent.
The most unpopular leaders according to the survey were
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Libyan strongman
Moamer Kadhafi and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Business/Economy
Govt
accelerates steps to revive jute sector
BSS, Dhaka
On the backdrop of increasing demands for jute and jute
goods on the international market, the government has
accelerated its measures to revive the glory of the jute
sector, once known as the golden fiber of Bangladesh.
Among the initiatives, the Jute Ministry recently planned
a Taka 300 crore fund for importing spare parts to
renovate and modernize the existing jute mills.
Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) and Bangladesh
Jute Spinners Association (BJSA) also signed an agreement
with a non-government organisation for skilled development
in the jute industry by providing jute mills' staff with
necessary trainings.
Earlier, the Jute Ministry undertook a scheme to revive
the jute sector through a refinancing project of Taka
1,300 crore.
Bangladesh Bank source said that the central bank would
finalise the refinancing scheme by this month.
The jute mills authorities would get necessary fund under
this refinancing scheme to pay back their outstanding
loan, which was around Taka 639 crore.
Presently, there are 145 jute mills in the country, of
which 27 are under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC).
According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the country
earned around $110 million during July to January of the
current 2009-10 fiscal year by exporting raw jute. The
export earning was $30 million higher from $80 million
during the same period of the previous 2008-09 fiscal
year.
India's
farmers brace for monsoon forecast after drought
AFP, New Delhi
India's hundreds of millions of farmers braced on Friday
for this year's official monsoon forecast, with the 2010
rains of critical importance after the worst drought in
three decades.
The forecast from the national weather office relies on
data from local and foreign climatologists to make the
best possible prediction for the monsoon, which lasts
nationwide from June to September.
More than 70 percent of Indians depend on farm incomes,
and about 65 percent of the nation's farms are not
irrigated, meaning they depend entirely on the rains that
fall in intense bursts over the wet season.
The drought of 2009, when the rains were 30 percent weaker
than their long-term average, has hit crop yields and farm
incomes, leading to much higher food prices and an
increase in rural hardship.
According to a report in The Indian Express newspaper on
Friday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) will
forecast normal rains this year within the range of 96-104
percent of their long-term average. "Monsoon rainfall
rarely fails for two consecutive years," P.K. Bandopadhyay,
a spokesman for the IMD, told AFP.
Data from the weather office shows that out of the roughly
20 droughts India has suffered since 1901, 17 were
followed by near- normal rainfall. India is the world's
second-biggest producer of rice, wheat and sugarcane.
Global gas
demand to rise by 2 pc per year: Shell
Xinhua, Paris
Global gas demand will witness continuous rise at an
increasing pace of 2 percent a year over the next 20
years, a senior executive of Royal Dutch Shell said on
Thursday at an oil conference here.
Malcom Brinded illustrated the projection of gas demand at
the conference, saying it set to grow "by at least 2
percent a year over some decades," which will be driven by
higher demand from China, several South and Middle Asian
countries and the Europe. Conclusively, by 2030, the world
leading gas exploiters "look at gas demand hitting 4.5
trillion cubic meters of gas per year ... That's 50
percent up from on Friday's level," Brinded said.
Global demand of liquefied natural gas is expected to
double this decade, he said, predicting China's demand to
double or treble by 2020. Based on data from the
International Energy Agency that available gas reserves
allow 250 years of production, Brinded considered the
market was very promising and encouraged more investment
and technology to devote for the sector.
'India,
Brazil call for Yuan rise smacks of protectionism'
PTI, Beijing
Calls by India and Brazil for appreciation of Chinese
currency smacks of protectionism borne out of concerns
over growing trade imbalances with China rather than the
two countries backing US demand for Yuan revaluation,
Chinese analysts said.
Reacting to the comments by Reserve Bank of India Governor
D Subba Rao and his Brazilian counterpart Henrique
Meirelles, official media here quoted local analysts as
saying that the remarks indicate their protectionist
policies rather than their support for the US on this
issue.
"The trade imbalance between China and India indeed
exists. Although the Yuan appreciation might benefit their
Indian economy, it would not be a win-win solution for the
issue as rise of Yuan would hut China's exports," Fu
Xiaopiang, a researcher at the Institute of South and
Southeast Asian Studies of the China Institute of
Contemporary International relations was quoted as saying.
"Some Latin American countries have strengthened anti
dumping measures towards China in recent years in a bid to
protect their national trade and further strengthen the
competitiveness of their domestic products," Jiang Shixue,
Vice Director at the Institute of Latin American Studies
in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Global
Times.
The trade gap between India and China increased to over
USD 16 billion in favour of China last year raising
concerns in India.
Meirelles also said on Wednesday at a Senate hearing that
it was absolutely critical that China rise the value of
its currency to bring about equilibrium in global economy.
United States has been accusing China of profiting out of
under valuation of Yuan which traded about 6.80 to a
dollar.
The issue figured prominently in the recent meeting
between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart
Barrack Obama during which Hu reportedly asserted that
China would allow Yuan to appreciate at its own pace and
time.
Greece
hurtles towards bailout plea
AFP, Athens
Greece faces desperate options on its debt dilemma now
putting the eurozone close to dangerous contagion,
analysts said as borrowing costs for Portugal shot up on
Friday and the euro plunged.
The feeling on financial markets is when, not if, Greece
will appeal for a rescue from a threat of default by
activating promised help from the EU and IMF which have
teams here working on how a bailout would work.
Commentators in Athens are coming round to the view
expressed for some time on international markets where
signs of contagion towards a sovereign debt crisis, as
feared by the IMF on Wednesday, edged up a notch.
At the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOVE),
a private think-tank, general director Yiannis Stournaras,
said: "The government must make an immediate appeal to the
EU and IMF support mechanism."
This followed comments from analysts as bad news bore down
on Greece on Thursday that "Greece will have to bite on
the bullet", "Greece is running out of time" with debt
falling due in May, Greece is caught in "a hellish week."
Lloyds Banking Group economist Kenneth Broux warned:
"Events in Greece are close to spiralling out of control."
The rise in the interest rate demanded on the market to
hold Greek debt reflected delay by the government in
adopting the necessary measures, he said, saying a central
problem was collection of taxes and VAT sales tax.
A shock announcement on Thursday from the EU statistics
office that the Greek public finances are far worse than
estimated, and that Greek data remains suspect, together
with a ratings downgrade for Greece, is shaking the euro,
raising borrowing costs for other weak eurozone countries,
and worrying stock markets.
WB chief aims
for $5b funding hike
AFP, Washington
World Bank president Robert Zoellick said Thursday he
hoped to reach agreement on an exceptional
five-billion-dollar capital increase for his institution
by Sunday.
"Shareholders must decide on whether to support the first
capital increase at the World Bank in more than 20 years,"
Zoellick told a press briefing ahead of a twice-yearly
meeting of the development bank's 186 members.
"This is a once in a generation request to address the
impact of a once in a generation crisis," he stressed.
"Our proposed package foresees an increase in paid capital
of 3.5 billion dollars as a general capital increase and
around 1.5 billion dollars in a selective capital increase
linked to the change in shareholdings," Zoellick said.
The bank is also to discuss an increase in investments
from emerging economies along with a rise in their voting
rights, at the expense of developed countries.
Luxury car makers target China's super-rich
AFP, Beijing
An extra-long Rolls Royce and the fastest ever Ferrari
road car made their debut in Beijing on Friday as dozens
of luxury car makers lined up to woo super-rich consumers
in the world's biggest market.
Rolls Royce sold two models-the more expensive of the two
bearing a price tag of nine million yuan (1.3 million
dollars) -- in the first few hours of the Beijing Auto
Show, where nearly 1,000 vehicles have gone on display.
"Chinese are hard-working and they like to reward
themselves, and the pinnacle product to reward yourself
with is a Rolls Royce," said Paul Harris, the carmaker's
Asian regional director.
But rich Chinese will be disappointed if they had hoped to
get their hands on one of the limited edition 599 GTO
Ferraris at the show.
The legendary Italian sports car maker has made just 599
of the cars, which can reach 335 kilometres per hour (200
miles per hour) -- making it Ferrari's fastest consumer
car.
All of the cars, whose price tag Ferrari will not publicly
divulge, have already been sold, including 20 in China,
said Amedeo Felisa, the company's chief executive.
Luxury car sales in China have soared in recent years to
become one of the fastest-growing segments of a market
that sped past the United States in 2009 to become the
world's biggest.
Automakers sold 13.64 million vehicles last year as
increasingly well-off Chinese consumers continued to snap
up cars, helped by government incentives such as lower
taxes.
"A lot of people are getting rich very, very quickly and
they are willing to spend on the most luxurious goods,
whether that is watches or luxury cars," said Raymond
Tsang of consulting firm Bain & Company.
China has the second-highest number of dollar billionaires
in the world after the United States, according to Forbes
magazine, and luxury carmakers say they expect strong
sales growth in the years ahead.
British sports carmaker Aston Martin entered China in 2007
and said sales were so strong it would become its top
market in Asia in 18 months.
China vows
economic growth in restive Xinjiang
AFP, Beijing
China's top leadership has decided to ramp up development
in its restive Xinjiang region, state media said Friday,
where ethnic Uighurs have long complained of missing out
on economic growth.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the ruling
Communist Party's powerful nine-member inner circle
presided over by President Hu Jintao, the official Xinhua
news agency said. It said the move was aimed at securing
"long-term social stability in the region", which was torn
by violence between mainly Muslim Uighurs and China's Han
majority last July.
The explosion of unrest in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi left
nearly 200 people dead and 1,700 injured, according to the
government, and was the worst ethnic strife in China in
decades. The meeting marked the latest expression of
Chinese resolve to push economic development in the
northwestern region as a salve for simmering unrest among
Uighurs-while also vowing to maintain tight control.
Xinjiang's roughly eight million Uighurs, a Muslim,
Turkic-speaking people, have seethed under Chinese
control, alleging political, religious and cultural
oppression by Beijing.
Oil lower in
Asian trade
AFP, Singapore
Oil prices were lower in Asian trade Friday as sagging
demand in the United States, the world's largest energy
consuming nation, limited the market's gains, analysts
said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery
in June, dipped 11 cents to 83.59 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for June fell 35 cents to 85.32
dollars. The market was weighed down by a report Wednesday
from the US Department of Energy (DoE) which showed an
unexpected increase in crude and product stocks, analysts
said. The rise indicates weaker demand as the world's
biggest economy struggles to recover from its worst
economic downturn since the 1930s. "It does put some doubt
into the fact that the market won't move back into
balance," Ben Westmore, minerals and energy economist for
the National Australia Bank in Melbourne, told AFP.
"It's arguable whether (oil above 80 dollars a barrel) is
really justified given the very weak fundamentals," he
added.
The DoE announced on Wednesday that US crude reserves
increased 1.9 million barrels in the week ending April 16.
This was against market expectations for a drop of 200,000
barrels.
G24 ministers
call for concerted, cooperative actions to sustain global
recovery
Xinhua, Washington
The Intergovernment Group of 24 developing countries (G24)
on Thursday called for concerted and cooperative actions
to sustain global economic recovery.
In a communique issued after the 83rd Meeting in
Washington, the G24 finance ministers and central bank
governors said the prospects of the global economy has
improved since they met last April.
"It is encouraging that all developing regions have
experienced a significant improvement in growth
performance since the trough of last year, reflecting
strong fundamentals," said the document.
However, they also noted that many challenges still
remain, credit constraints continue to pose a risk to self
sustained recovery, household and commercial sector
indebtedness in advanced countries continues to pose
risks, and sovereign balance sheets in several advanced
countries are a new and significant threat to stability.
Moreover, the communique said, the crisis has left the
fiscal positions of many advanced countries under strain,
circumscribing their ability to deal forcefully with the
legacy of job losses and high unemployment, and to face
potential new shocks. Several emerging markets are faced
with a surge of capital inflows with potential risks of
rising inflationary pressures and asset price bubbles.
The G24 ministers and bank governors reaffirmed that the
overarching mission of the World Bank must remain poverty
reduction, adding that the World Bank had an important
role to play in mitigating the after-effects of the
crisis.
"Ministers urged the Management of the World Bank to
assess and meet the financial and technical assistance
needs of all developing countries solely on the basis of
economic and development merits," the communique said.
The G24 emphasized that the World Bank Group should be
guided by complementarity rather than exclusivity and that
selectivity and the division of labor among Multilateral
Development Banks be ultimately driven by individual
country demands.
The group also underscored the importance of enhancing
World Bank Group support to south-south trade, investment
and cooperation.
The ministers and governors called on the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) to take an "ambitious" realignment in
quota shares toward emerging market and developing
countries.
"Ministers stressed that there should be an ambitious
realignment in quota shares toward emerging market and
developing countries (EMDCs), since the IMF's legitimacy,
relevance, and effectiveness depend centrally on
redressing the imbalance in voice and representation,"
said the communique.
The G24 reiterated its call for a shift of 7 percent in
quota shares from developed to developing countries.
"While such a shift should primarily benefit dynamic EMDCs,
it must not come at the expense of other developing
countries. The voting power of low-income countries, in
particular, should be protected," said the communique.
The G24 also reiterated its appeal that the heads of the
IMF and the World Bank must be chosen "solely on the basis
of an open, transparent, merit-based process without
regard to nationality beginning with the next elections."
The G24 ministers warned that any delay in reforming
financial regulation would jeopardize the global economic
recovery.
"Ministers considered that any delay in reforming
financial regulation to address the weaknesses that have
led to the crisis could jeopardize the recovery, and urged
vigorous implementation of the reform agenda," said the
communique.
"They called on the advanced countries to maintain
policies to support the economic recovery while building
confidence in the sustainability of their public finances
by announcing credible consolidation plans, to be
implemented as soon as the recovery takes hold," said the
communique.
The G24 commended steps taken by the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank to enhance their
responsiveness, but said that the crisis has also
highlighted the need for more fundamental reforms.
Malaysian
govt holds $109b debts at end- 2009
Xinhua, Kuala
Lumpur
The Malaysian government possessed 362.4 billion ringgit
(some 109.8 billion U.S. dollars) of debts at the end of
2009, 53.7 percent of its gross domestic product last
year, said Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister and also the
Finance Minister.
The overall debts included 348.6 billion ringgit (some
105.6 billion U.S. dollars) or 96.2 percent of domestic
debts, and 13.9 billion ringgit (some 4.2 billion U.S.
dollars) of external debts, Najib disclosed at a
Parliament sitting here on Thursday. The small amount of
external debt is in line with the government's current
policy which prioritizes domestic borrowings to finance
the country's development projects as the cost is cheaper
and there is less exposure to foreign exchange risk, he
added.
Thai crisis
gives Malaysia a chance to boost tourist arrivals
Asia News Network
The on-going civil unrest in Thailand presents an
excellent opportunity to market Malaysia as an equally, if
not more attractive, tourist destination than the republic
- minus the political instability and safety issues.
It may sound rather opportunistic or even merciless to
capitalise on the Thai crisis but it is perhaps Malaysia's
best shot to attract more tourists from the republic and
elsewhere in recent years.
The current tourist arrivals to Malaysia was reported to
be about 20 million. But if we want to capture more
foreign tourists, especially those currently staying in
Thailand, then we need to be more creative.
So what are the options and strategies to achieve this
goal? StarBiz talks to some of the players in the tourism
industry for their views.
Malaysian Association of Hotels senior vice-president Ivo
R. Nekvapil said the crisis in Thailand had never been
worst.
"This time around, there was much bloodshed, shooting and
many lives were lost. Foreigners from all over the world
currently staying in Thailand feel very uneasy," he said.
Nekvapil said Malaysia should capitalise on the
opportunity to entice more foreign tourists to come over
by providing value-for-money "packages" and various
incentives.
"We encourage hoteliers to offer more attractive
accomodation packages to various resorts like in Langkawi,
Pulau Redang and Tioman. In the city, there are great
shopping and other educational activities," he said.
Nekvapil said this was an opportune time for Malaysia to
promote many of its great qualities such political
stability, good infrastructure, great food and diverse
culture.
Event organiser and consultant Joanna Chee said to attract
more tourists, especially from Thailand, the country must
offer something special or unique.
"For instance, one of Malaysia's best kept secret is the
variety of food that's available here, which is still very
affordable. We should have regular food festivals,
possibly monthly, in various places," Chee said. She said
another feature was Malaysia's weather, which is conducive
for many outdoor activities, including yachting.
"There can be many activities arranged on the yacht,
including private and corporate functions, and other
get-together activities to various exotic destinations,
such as island hopping and trips to resorts in the
country," Chee said, adding that her company was planning
yatchting trips from Port Klang to Langkawi.
She also said it was important to listen and get feedback
from tourists on their needs and package promotional trips
and events based on their requirements.
Tourist guide Mark Low said there was a need for players
in the tourism industry, including Tourism Board and other
related agencies, to work closely to formulate strategic
and attractive packages to entice more foreign tourists in
Thailand to come to Malaysia for longer stay.
"For instance, hotels here can offer special rates for
foreign tourists arriving from Thailand, if they stay
longer. The local airlines could also offer special rates
for seats unoccupied on their planes," Low said.
He said there was a need to design packages for various
groups of tourists based on their spending power.
"There should be packages designed for the mass tourists
and special packages for the more affluent ones," he said,
adding that customisation of promotional packages was key
to attracting more tourists, including foreign tourists
currently in Thailand.
Low said the "Malaysia Truly Asia" tag was a fantastic and
successful promotional campaign but Malaysia needed to
build on this tagline by widening its products and service
offerings to foreign tourists - be it in food, culture,
healthcare and holiday packages.
"We need to develop some unique selling points that are
purely identifiable as Malaysian features or traits that
can attract tourists," he said.
JAL likely to
miss deadline for plan
Asia News Network
Japan Airlines and the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative
Corporation of Japan (ETIC) are negotiating to delay
submission of the airliner's rehabilitation plan for about
two months, according to sources.
JAL, restructuring under bankruptcy protection, and ETIC
originally aimed to submit the plan to the Tokyo District
Court by the current deadline of June 30. But postponement
is likely because they cannot reach consensus with
creditor banks on cuts to flight routes and personnel.
The airline's plan already includes huge cuts to flights
operating in the red, but creditor banks have asked for
further restructuring, sources said.
JAL's response is to take the necessary time to balance a
profitable reconstruction plan with creditor consent.
But it is possible that any delays will push back the
entire reconstruction schedule and affect cash flow.
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Seiji
Maehara, at the House of Representatives Construction and
Transport Committee on Wednesday, said he agrees with the
envisaged postponement.
"There are many stakeholders, and the [plan submission]
date may change, depending on proceedings," he said.
Developing
nations call for finance reform
AFP, Washington
Delaying financial reform could put the global economic
recovery at risk, a group of 24 developing nations warned
on Thursday as they called for "vigorous" implementation
of reforms.
Ministers from the G24, which includes the emerging
economic powers of Brazil and India, made the call as they
met in Washington on the margins of the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank's annual spring meeting.
"Any delay in reforming financial regulation to address
the weaknesses that have led to the crisis could
jeopardize the recovery," the ministers said in a
communique.
After a collapse in exotic sub-prime assets plunged the
world into the biggest economic meltdown since World War
II, many governments are now moving to rein in the
financial sector.
"Sustaining economy recovery against this backdrop will
require concerted and cooperative actions," the G24 said
urging joint action.
Their call came as President Barack Obama chastised Wall
Street for rampant greed, but urged finance barons not to
block his regulatory reforms, warning of new economic
meltdowns if his overhaul fails.
Visiting Wall Street-the epicenter of the global meltdown
Obama called on company bosses to help pass sweeping
financial reform that many believe will hit their bottom
line.
"I'm here on Friday specifically, when I speak to the
titans of industry here, because I want to urge you to
join us instead of fighting us in this effort," Obama
said.
Lufthansa
invites iPhone 'loser' to Germany
AFP, Berlin
Lufthansa said on Friday that it has invited the Apple
software engineer who left an iPhone prototype in a
German-style beer garden in California a free trip to
"pick up where you last left off." In a letter to Gray
Powell published on the Internet, the German airline said
it had "noted with great interest your passion for German
beer and culture."
"We thought you could use a break soon-and therefore would
like to offer you complimentary business class
transportation to Munich, where you can literally pick up
where you last left off," the letter added.
A Lufthansa spokesman told AFP on Friday the letter was
genuine. Technology blog Gizmodo published this week
photos of the next-generation phone, saying it had bought
the gadget from an unnamed person also at the bar the
night that Powell was celebrating his 27th birthday.
Gizmodo then identified the loser as Powell, saying he had
left the phone on a bar stool when he left the
establishment in Redwood City, about 20 miles (32
kilometers) from Apple headquarters in Cupertino.
It cited his latest Facebook update as saying: "I
underestimated how good German beer is." It was unclear if
he had accepted Lufthansa's invitation to the southern
Germany city of Munich, home to a world-famous annual beer
festival as well as numerous beer halls.
Euro at a
year low, Asian stocks fall as Greek debt weighs
AFP, Hong Kong
Greece's debt crisis weighed on sentiment Friday, with
Asian markets falling and the euro hitting a one-year low
after the European Union raised its estimate for the
country's deficit.
A weak lead from Wall Street was unable to provide any
impetus for dealers after US unemployment data showed
people were still struggling to get back on the jobs
ladder.
Europe's statistics agency said Greece's 2009 public
deficit stood at 13.6 percent of output instead of the
previously forecast 12.9 percent, and added that this
could rise due to poor data reporting from Athens.
The problem was stoked further when risk evaluator Moody's
Investors Service downgraded its rating on Greece's debt.
The rates demanded by Greece's lenders later jumped above
8.5 percent.
The developments hammered the euro, which fell to 1.3202
dollars at 8:02 am (2302 GMT Thursday) in Tokyo, its
lowest since April 30, 2009 before trimming losses to
1.3253 early in London. It had traded at 1.3289 dollars in
New York late Thursday.
Against the yen, the euro fell to 123.84 in London from
124.23 in New York. The dollar traded at 93.40 yen, from
93.46 in New York.
The revision came as Athens tried to broker the terms of a
bailout from the European Union and International Monetary
Fund to avert a possible debt payment default caused by
the soaring interest rates.
"Markets have become more nervous about the negotiations
between Greek, IMF and EU officials and the potential for
contagion if these negotiations fall through," Barclays
Capital said in a note to clients.
"EU and IMF officials are not likely going to agree to a
bailout package without Greece agreeing to significant
fiscal restructuring," the investment bank said. "This
becomes more likely as financial conditions worsen in
Greece."
The deepening crisis has upped pressure on other eurozone
members such as Ireland, Spain and Portugal, who all face
similar problems and whose dangers were highlighted by the
IMF Wednesday. Asian stocks were lower as dealers became
more risk-averse.
Tokyo closed 0.32 percent, or 34.63 points, lower at
10,914.46 as exporters were hurt by the strengthening yen.
Sydney gave up 0.53 percent, or 25.9 points, to close at
4,881.5.
Hong Kong fell 0.98 percent, or 210.45 points, to close at
21.244.49 and Shanghai lost Shanghai lost 0.53 percent, or
15.95 points, to close at 2,983.54.
Both markets were hit by fears that leaders will announce
fresh measures to curb speculation in the real estate
market, dealers said.
"Property and bank stocks will likely remain sluggish with
the overhang of policy tightening concerns," Guosen
Securities analyst Wang Junqing told Dow Jones Newswires.
Shares in New York were flat after the Labor Department on
Thursday reported new claims for unemployment insurance
benefits fell five percent last week after a fortnight of
increases.
"The actual level of claims is still quite high, and
although the trend in claims could support the notion that
the labour market has stabilised, it does not support the
notion that there has been a strong pickup in hiring
activity," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.
Britain grows
0.2 pc in first quarter
AFP, London
Britain's economy grew by a weaker than expected 0.2
percent in the first quarter, slowing from the previous
three months, official data showed Friday as a May 6
general election neared.
"Gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.2 percent in the
first quarter of 2010, compared with an increase of 0.4
percent in the previous quarter," the Office for National
Statistics said in a statement giving its first estimate.
"The decrease in the growth rate was due to weaker growth
in services," it added.
The official reading undershot market expectations for
similar growth of 0.4 percent and came after particularly
harsh winter weather in January hampered economic
activity.
The performance of the economy, which escaped from a
record recession in the final three months of 2009, is the
key issue in the run-up to the general election in 13
days' time.
"On the face of it, the (latest growth) numbers are a blow
to the government," said economist Jonathan Loynes at the
Capital Economics consultancy.
British GDP meanwhile shrank by 0.3 percent in the first
quarter, compared with the equivalent January-March period
in 2009.
The government "will no doubt argue that the weakness of
the recovery undermines the (opposition) Conservatives'
plans to implement an earlier and bigger fiscal
tightening," Loynes said.
"Either way, the figures underline again the fragility of
the economic outlook. With a big fiscal squeeze coming
under any form of government, monetary policy needs to
remain extremely supportive," he added. The data was
somewhat skewed by wintry weather during January which
hampered activity.
"Overall growth in the first quarter was clearly dragged
down appreciably by the very bad weather in January, and
most indicators suggest that there has been a marked pick
up in activity since then," said IHS Global Insight
economist Howard Archer.
Whichever party wins power in the general election,
experts argue that significant tax rises and spending cuts
are required to fix Britain's mountain of public debt.
National
Govt should fix Tk 5000 as
national wage for the workers: SKOP
BSS, Dhaka
The central leaders of the Sramik Karmochari Oikkya
Parishad (SKOP), a platform of 13 trade union federations,
Friday urged the government to implement the national
minimum wage of Taka 5000 for the workers.
The Parishad leaders placed the demand during a roundtable
meeting titled "national minimum wage not under the line
of poverty", held at the auditorium of Dhaka Reporters
Unity (DRU) here Friday morning.
"The government should implement the national minimum wage
at Taka 5,000 considering the country's real situation,
it's economic crisis and the global meltdown situation",
said the general secretary of Jatiyo Sramik League Roy
Ramesh Chandra.
At the same time, Ramesh Chandra also urged the government
for supplying rice, pulse and edible oil under open market
sale immediately for all the formal and non-formal sector
labours including the agricultural workers, garments
workers, day labours, fishermen, construction workers and
rickshaw pullers.
In 2006, Taka 1662.50 has been fixed as the minimum wage
for the garments workers, but the 46 other labour-intensive
sectors remained ignored where need to be fixed minimum
national wage for bringing sustainability and productivity
in the industry, he noted while presenting a keynote paper
in the roundtable.
Now the government has fixed a daily allowance of Taka 150
at the rural area which is not enough for the workers as a
four-member labour family need to spend Taka 7380 as food
cost, he said adding that an estimated living wage for a
four-member labour family need to be fixed at Taka 15,498
considering the present market situation as they have to
spend 44.70 per cent for food and 55.30 per cent for
others cost.
The market price of the daily commodities including
different food items like rice, pulse and edible oil has
been increased exorbitantly for the last one decade that
consequently has drastically reduced the real wage and
purchasing power of the workers community, claimed the
labour leaders.
Besides, the ever-increasing expenditure under different
necessary heads likes house rent, medical treatment,
education and daily travel allowances also become
skyrocketing side by side with the daily essentials.
The labour leaders also said that the government should
incorporate an article related to formulation of wage
recommendation for the workers into the Bangladesh Labour
Law-2006. Before the independence war, the then East
Pakistan had an ordinance like minimum national wage in
1969, but after the independence the ordinance has been
disappeared, said a veteran labour leader Mejbah Uddin.
At present, the national minimum wage in Pakistan has been
fixed at 6,000 rupees while it is 3.500 rupees in Nepal
but we are lagged behind compare to those countries, said
the SKOP leaders. Chaired by the general secretary of
Mukto Sramik Federation Mujibur Rahman Bhuiyan, the
meeting also addressed, among others, by the president of
Jatiyo Sramik League Abdul Matin Master, Khalilur Rahman,
Abdul Kader Hawlader, Jafrul Hasan, Jakir Hossen,
Shahidullah Chowdhury, Lutfur Rahman and Syed Sultan Uddin
Ahmed.
Thousands of poor being benefited as
the special EGP nearing completion
BSS, Rangpur
Thousands of poor are being highly benefited as the
ongoing Taka 113.50 crore second phase 40- day special
employment generation programmes (EGP) have been
successfully nearing completion in Rangpur division.
About 75 to 80 percent of the development works have so
far been completed and the poor people and farm- labourers
including distressed women have been earning Taka 120 as
wage per day to lead a normal life everywhere at the lean
period.
The EGP is expected to complete by this month end and in
some cases, in the first week of the next month when
harvest of Boro paddy will begin to create further job
opportunities for the farm-labourers and poor in all eight
districts of the division. Now, the farm-labourers have
little jobs in the fields as the Boro fields are in full
bloom when the EGP has been helping them a lot in tackling
the situation to lead a normal life, officials said
Friday.
Earlier, the second 40-day phase of the EGP was launched
in these districts from mid-March like the other regions
of the country to assist the poorer section people and
laborers in earning livelihoods through development
activities.
The EGP, as part of the social safety network, has been
helping the targeted group of people, especially in the
poverty- prone and chars areas in the river basins,
assisting them in earning livelihoods.
The Food and Disaster Management Ministry
has allocated Taka 113,49,26,400 for the second phase
under the ongoing second phase of the EGP to create jobs
for over 2.36 lakh people in these poverty- stricken eight
northern districts.
The beneficiary people have been working as per the lists
prepared by the concerned administrations in the districts
of Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Gaibandha,
Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh.
The development work includes repairing of roads, bridges,
culverts, educational and other institutions, water
bodies, ponds, canals, rural infrastructures, earth
filling, cleaning of weeds and waste and other works.
A total of 2,36,343 enlisted beneficiaries including
distressed and working women and labourers are getting
Taka 120 as wage a day for six days in every week under
the EGP to combat seasonal job crisis for a shorter period
now in Rangpur division, officials said.
The second-phase allocations include Taka 28,68,96,000 for
59,770 beneficiaries in Rangpur, Taka 23,01,40,800 for
47,946 in Kurigram, Taka 5,18,88,000 for 10,810 in
Lalmonirhat, Taka 10,90,80,000 for 22,725 in Gaibandha and
Taka 21,55,34,400 for 44,903 beneficiaries in Nilphamari
districts. Besides, Taka 11,89,29,600 has been allocated
for 24,777 beneficiaries in Dinajpur, Taka 5,85,07,000
from 12,189 beneficiaries in Thakurgaon and Taka
6,39,50,400 for 13,223 beneficiaries in Panchagarh
districts.
Customs earn revenue of Taka
619.85 crore in NW-region
BSS, Rajshahi
The Commissionerate of Customs, Excise and Value Added Tax
(VAT) earned revenue worth around Taka 619.85 crore from
the country's northwestern region during the first nine
months of the current 2009- 2010 fiscal.
According to the officials' concerned, the collection from
the internal sources was Taka 339.48 crore against the
target of Taka 365.88 crore till March last while the
earning from the import sources was Taka 280.25 crore
against the target of Taka 370.62 crore.
The sources said, the revenue target fixed by the National
Board of Revenue (NBR) for the commissionerate for earning
from its internal sources like Excise Duty, Supplementary
Duty and VAT and import sources like import tax,
regulatory duty, auction and fine was Taka 736.50 crore
till March last.
The earning from the internal sources was Taka 33.35 crore
higher than that of the corresponding period of the
previous 2008-09 fiscal showing a growth of 10.90 percent.
But, in average in the internal and import sources, the
total collection is remained behind by 2.81 percent to
reach the target during the same period.
Talking to BSS, Customs Commissioner Lutfor Rahman hoped
that the total target of Taka 1010 crore fixed for the
current fiscal could be attained by the next two months as
various effective measures were adopted.
Apart from this, he said automation system is gradually
being promoted in the revenue-collection process. He said
the revenue from the import sources mainly came from the
region's four main land ports- Sona-masjid, Hilli,
Burimari and Banglabandha and 11 cattle corridors.
In this context, he said the revenue earning from the
cattle corridors has been reduced to a greater extent due
to sharp fall of cattle import. He, however, said the land
port charges in all the ports in the region are 50 percent
higher than that of the Benapol discouraging many
importers in using the northern ports.
Besides, in spite of first three-day charge-free in every
week in the Benapol, he mentioned that the northern ports
are being deprived of the facilities.
On the other hand, Lutfor Rahman stated that revenue of
Taka 320.23 crore remained outstanding from various
business institutions and individuals due to pending of
VAT and customs related 222 cases with different lower and
higher courts. For the sake of revenue collection, he
recommended speedy disposal of the cases.
‘Trial of war criminals will
be in fair manner’
BSS, Habiganj
Social Welfare Minister Enamul Haque Mustafa Shahid Friday
said the trial of war criminals will be held in a fair
manner and the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity
must be punished.
He was addressing a function organised to provide
financial assistance to the cancer patients, 'lillah'
boarding students, freedom fighters and elderly people
under the Support Services Programme for Verbal Group (SSPVG)
project as the chief guest at Madhavpur upazila parishad
aditorium in the district. Mustafa Shahid said those who
were involved in anti- liberation activities must be
brought to book. He said the government would bring those,
unable to work because of their disabilities, under the
social safety net. The minister distributed Tk 9.50 lakh
among 19 cancer patients, Tk 2.70 lakh among 300 freedom
fighters, Tk 1.13 lakh among 63 elderly people and Tk 2.39
lakh among 239 'lillah' boarding students.
Chaired by Deputy Commissioner Abul Kashem Talukder, the
function was attended, among others, by SSPVG Project
Director Manindra Kishore Majumder, Habiganj Upazila
Chairman Jakir Hossain Chowdhury Ashim, Upazila
Vice-chairman Sreedham Das Gupta, Captain (retd) Kazi
Kabir Uddin, Habiganj Upazila Awami League General
Secretary Sukamal Roy, UP chairman Atiqur Rahman and
Habiganj Press Club President Sangkar Paul Suman.
Two killed in separate
incidents in Rangpur
BSS, Rangpur
Two youths were killed in separate incidents at different
places in the district on Thursday, police said.
One Rashedul Islam, 19, son of Abdul Mannan, of village
Shahapur under Pirganj upazila here was slaughtered by
unidentified assailants while he was guarding their
shallow machine in their Boro field.
Being informed, Pirganj Thana police rushed there,
recovered the body and later handed it over to his father
after conducting autopsy at Rangpur medical College
Hospital (RMCH).
In another incident, Mithapukur Thana police recovered
hanged body of one youth Hossaine, 16, son of Ansar Ali of
village Roxi Fakirpara in Mithapukur upazila in the
district.
Police recovered the body and handed it over to his father
after conducting autopsy at the RMCH.
Local people and police suspect that the youth might have
committed suicide or some unidentified assailants might
have killed him and hanged his body in the village. A
murder case and
another unnatural death case were field in these
connections with the concerned police stations, the
sources aid.
Resolving conflict in FJMHS
demanded
BSS, Rangpur
Students and teachers of reputed Fulbari Jasimia Model
High School (FJMHS) in Fulbari upazila town of Kurigram
formed a human chain on Thursday for resolving the
conflict that hampers academic atmosphere in the
institution in recent times.
About 500 incumbent and former students and teachers of
the school took part in the human chain programme titled 'Bibek
Aaj Ruddhya' following the prevailing conflict between
President of the School Managing Committee (SMC) and
Acting Headmaster.
The conflict arose following recent appointment of the new
Headmaster of the school through alleged violation of the
prevailing rules and regulations, the participants in the
human china programme including students said. They also
expressed their protests against the 'illegal appointment'
of the Headmaster by the SMC and its President and also
criticized hanging locks twice by the Acting Headmaster at
his office room for his 'own' interest' to becoming the
Headmaster.
The participants urged the government and its concerned
authorities for taking necessary steps in bringing back
the congenial academic atmosphere in the repu-ted
educational institution through proper investigation.
War wounded Halima seeks PM’s
help
BSS, Dhaka
Halima Khatun, a domestic help who lost her one eye to
firing by the Pakistani occupation forces during the War
of Liberation in 1971, has sought help of the Prime
Minister as she has been passing her days in unbearable
miseries for a long time.
Daughter of late Abdul Hekim of Ujan Char village under
Iswarganj upazila in Mymensingh district, Halima was
injured seriously at the age of only five when her father
was fleeing the village taking her on his shoulders
following the barbaric attack of the Pakistani army.
According to Halima, a bullet pierced through her right
eye when the Pakistani occupation forces opened fire on
the fleeing family of Halima. Her grandfather Tofazzal
Moral embraced martyrdom in the incident. Their house was
burnt to ashes as the Pakistani army torched it.
Halima was later treated at Mymensingh Charpara Hospital
but doctors could not save her right eye.
Her father Abdul Hekim died two years after the
independence as he could not bear the excruciation
sufferings of Halima, who is still unmarried as nobody
wanted to marry her due to her losing an eye.
After failing to continue her fight against abject poverty
at Ujan Char, Halima, 44, at last moved to the capital
where she had been trudging through harsh conditions of
life for 15 years.
A tenant of the city's Zigatola area, Halima has been
passing her days working as a domestic help at different
houses in the locality.
"I went door to door including the influential people for
help but nobody responded to my appeal. So, I am now
seeking help of the Prime Minister and it is my belief
that my appeal for ending miseries will not go unheeded,"
said helpless Halima.
India committed to complete
the fencing project along Bangladesh border: Home Minister
BSS, New Delhi
Indian state minister for Home Affairs Mullappally
Ramachandran informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that
Indian government was committed to complete the fencing
project along Bangladesh border.
"The scheduled date for completion of the sanctioned
projects is March 2012," the minister said in reply to a
question from Kumar Deepak Dhar.
Responding to another question whether some construction
work along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam has been
stopped due to objections raised by the Bangladesh border
force, the minister said that on March 29, 2010 some
Bangladesh nationals along with the Bangladesh Rifles
entered into Faksarkutti village of Dhubri district of
Assam along Indo-Bangladesh border.
He said they prevented Indian villagers from undertaking
electrification work in the area on the pretext that no
construction work is permitted within 150 yards from the
zero line.
The Minister stated that a flag meeting was held the next
day between Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh
Rifles to resolve the issue. "It has been clarified to the
Bangladesh Rifles that the routine developmental
activities for the welfare of the border population may be
done within 150 yards as they are not defensive
structure".
BD Ambassador in Washington
receives Torch of World Harmony Run
BSS, Dhaka
Volunteers of World Harmony Run, a New York-based
socio-cultural organization, Thursday formally handed over
a torch to Bangladesh ambassador in Washington Akramul
Qader.
The ceremony was held at the conclusion of the group's
harmony run in Washington DC, among others, Prakhara
Harter, Project Coordinator of the initiative was present
on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Bangladesh Ambassador
congratulated the group for their mission of peace and
harmony. He expressed his happiness as Bangladesh Embassy
had the opportunity of hosting the group, a press release
received here from Washington Friday.
The ambassador said that Bangladesh shared the group's
aspiration of achieving global peace. Elaborating this,
Qader said that Bangladesh had been a strong advocate for
the culture of peace at global, regional and national
levels which resulted in the first-ever resolution by the
Plenary of the United Nations General Assembly on the
Culture of Peace. In this connection, he also mentioned
about Bangla-desh's role in UN peace- keeping Missions in
which the country consistently remained one of the largest
contributors of troops.
Referring to the commitment from the highest level of
Bangladeshi leadership, the Bangladesh Ambassador said
that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won many international
awards for her contribution to peace including UNESCO's
Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize for 1998 for her remarkable
role to help bring peace through ending the 25 years of
conflict in Chittagong Hill Tracts with political courage
and statesmanship.
Police recovered an injured AL
activist from Hafiz’s house
BSS, Bhola
Lalmohan Thana Police has recovered Abul Khasem Sabbir, an
Awami League (AL) activist, as severely injured Thursday
night from the house of Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin, BNP
candidate in Bhola-3 by polls.
Police said Sabbir was wounded while BNP cadres attacked
him on Thursday at Uttar Phulbagicha area under the
Lalmohan upazila. Then another group of BNP cadres
snatched him beside the Samiti bazaar math while he was on
the way to hospital by the people.
Subsequently, the BNP cadres took him at the house of BNP
candidate Major (retd) Hafizuddin at Lalmohan Sadar and
confined him in a room. While Sabbir was threatened by the
BNP cadres through wrapping a napkin (gamcha) on his neck
and said "you will said to all that you are an activist of
BNP, you are being beaten by the people of Awami League."
After receiving the information, Sabbir's father Jainal
Abedin has informed the RAB, but RAB could not able to
recover his son. Then Jainal Abedin informed it to the
local police station and then the police recovered his son
from the spot.
Sabbir was admitted to the Lalmohan upazila health care
centre.
Major Hafiz, however, has said in a press conference on
Thursday that the AL activists have injured more than 50
of his activists in the last one day.
Speakers call for secular
education
BSS, Dhaka
Speakers at a national education conference on Friday
urged the government to introduce a secular and universal
education programme in the country.
They urged this at a conference titled "Jatyio Sanaton
Shikkha Sommelon" jointly organized by of Sree Chaittanaya
Shikha and Sanskriti Sanga held here at Senate auditorium
of Dhaka University (DU).
Sanga president and former Vice Chancellor of National
University Dr Durga Das Bhattacharya presided over the
meeting. DU Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Harun-or-Rashid,
eminent scientist Dr Ajoy Roy, DU Jagannath Hall Provost
Professor Ajoy Kumer Das, Jagannath University Professor
Dr Narayon Chandra Mandal and Satteyn Ranjan Barai, among
others, also addressed the conference.
Dr Ajoy Roy inaugurated the conference by lighting candles
Friday morning.
The speakers said we should make the learners, especially
the children aware while imparting them religious
education so that no confusion is created among them.
Maximum priority for
adaptation with climate changes stressed for Bangladesh:
Experts
BSS, Rangpur
Renowned scientists and experts have stressed the need for
putting maximum priority on reducing adverse impacts of
the ongoing climate change (CC) and adapting with the
situation in all affected sectors in Bangladesh.
They said that the ongoing CC has already caused grave
concerns to the country's agriculture, irrigation,
navigation, weather, ecology, bio-diversity, weather,
environment, underground water levels, human health,
habitation and civilizations.
As a result, rainfalls, floods, cyclones, droughts, cold
and hot spells, sea and surface warming, water
contamination, water and soil salinity, degradation of
aquatic systems, silting and drying up of rivers and river
erosions have been taking place frequently.
The situation degrades faster because of melting ice due
to temperature rise following huge emissions of the Green
House Gases (GHGs) causing imbalance in the nature that
could lead to unthinkable catastrophes in the future, they
said.
The experts said this while expressing their views to BSS
recently on the adverse impacts of ongoing global CC and
the way forward to cope and adapt with the situations at
the national and global prospects.
The experts and scientists included Liaison Scientist of
IRRI for Bangladesh and Assistant Delivery Coordinator of
CSISA- IRRI project in Bangladesh Dr MA Hamid Miah,
Project Coordinator of Stress Tolerant Rice for Poor
Farmers in Africa & South Asia (STRASA) programme Dr US
Singh and its Consultant Dr MA Bari.
They also included noted agri-scientists including
Dinajpur Hub Manager of Cereal Systems Initiative for
South Asia (CSISA) Dr MA Mazid, Dr Aiyub Ali, Dr Syed
Samsuzzaman, Environmentalist MG Neogi and Abu Yusuf.
They narrated the chronological background that triggered
to the global CC and its huge adverse impacts in the
country, its agriculture and many other sectors as
elsewhere in the globe and gave coordinated suggestions to
overcome the formidable threats.
2-day convention of Lions Club
International begins
BSS, Dhaka
A 2-day 15th annual District convention of Lions Club
International, Zila-315A2 of Bangladesh began here Friday
at a local Hotel.
Prime Minister's Adviser Professor Dr Syed Modasser Ali
inaugurated the convention as the chief guest while former
international directors of the organization Sheikh Kabir
Hossain and Moslem Ali Khan and chairperson of the
convention Principal Mahafuzul Haque attended the function
as special guests.
Dr Modesser Ali lauded the role of the organization which
with its 14 lakh volunteers is dedicated to the cause of
humanity in 204 countries across the globe.
He expressed the hope that this organization in Bangladesh
would dedicate for redressing the sufferings of the
people, especially for treatment of the blind and removal
of illiteracy.
Sports
Bangladesh upbeat about beating
Pakistan in World T20
UNB, Dhaka
Upbeat about beating defending champion and group opponent
Pakistan in the ICC World Twenty20, a-15 member Bangladesh
squad leaves here for West Indies tonight.
The 3rd version of the ICC World Twenty20 will begin on April
30.
Prior to its departure, the entire Bangladesh team was found
optimistic about winning their opening match against Pakistan
to make their way into the second round of the ICC World Cup
Twenty20.
Addressing at a pre-departure press conference at the
Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday, skipper Shakib Al
Hasan said they will focus on winning the first group match
against Pakistan.
He said they have been passing good time over the last six
months and their preparation for the World Cup is
satisfactory.
"Besides, the boys got enough opportunity to overcome their
mistakes in the just concluded domestic National Cricket
League T20 ahead of the World Cup tourney." The presence of
speedster Mashrafe Bin Mortaza in the team after a long time
would boost the morale of the boys, Shakib told a questioner.
Vice-captain Mushfiqur Rahim said he was out of touch with
cricket for the last few days, but "I hope to be accustomed
quickly with the local condition as we'll play two warm-up
matches there (West Indies) before the World Cup."
Mohammad Ashraful, who showed poor performance in the just
concluded NCL T20, told a questioner that the opponents will
be very strong in the World T20, but he hopes to play good
cricket although the matches would be held in different
condition.
Behind their chance of going into the 2nd round in World Cup,
pacer Mashrafe said they would play pressure-free cricket
while both Pakistan and Australia would be under pressure for
getting to the next round.
Spinner Abdur Razaak said his personal target is to keep his
economy rate under six in the World Cup.
He said: "Our first target would be at least a win against
Pakistan."
Injured Tamim Iqbal, who received hand injury, said he has a
bright possibility to play in the 1st match as he feels quite
better now and his wound is showing gradual improvement.
Imrul Kayes, the most valuable player of the just concluded
NCL, was also quite hopeful about doing something good in the
World Cup.
Dashing opener Aftab Ahmed admitted that he failed to show
good performance after a comeback to the national team. "But I
hope to present good cricket to the nation in the World Cup,"
he said.
All-rounder Mahmudullah Riad said their target is to reach the
second round after beating Pakistan. "We are very confident to
achieve our target in the World Cup."
Suhrawardy Shovo, who will for the first time represent
Bangladesh in the Twenty20 World Cup, said his personal target
is to play good cricket and he is determined to give the best.
Pacer Rubel Hossain, who usually bats in lower order, said he
would try to show good batting in the World Cup.
Pacer Syed Rasel said he had a very good memory of the last
West Indies tour and he would try to bring in variations in
his bowling as his pace is comparative less. New face
wicket-keeper Jahurul Islam said besides good keeping, he
would try to make runs in the World Cup.
Shafiul Islam said it is possible for hime to score fifty in
the World Cup.
Coach Jamie Siddons said the boys got enough time to prepare
by playing in the domestic leagues like PCL and NCL T20.
He said it was overall a very good preparation for the team
before the World Cup tourney.
Bangladesh, placed in group A with strong Pakistan and
Australia, will play their group opening match against
Pakistan on May 1 at the Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet in St
Lucia, and the 2nd match against Australia on May 5 at the
Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.
The tigers will also play two warm-up matches before their
World Cup engagement - the 1st warm-up match against Barbados
on April 27 and the 2nd against England on April 28, both at
the Kensington Oval.
Bangladesh squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim
(vice-captain/wk), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful,
Aftab Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur
Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Syed Rasel, Suhrawardi
Shuvo, Jahurul Islam (wk).
T20:
NZ to face Sri Lanka in United States
AFP, Wellington
New Zealand will play a three-match Twenty20 series against
Sri Lanka in the United States next month, officials said
Friday.
The matches in Florida will launch a new strategic partnership
between cricket authorities in New Zealand and the United
States, New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan
said.
"This Twenty20 series is the first of many initiatives between
our two cricket boards and we envisage New Zealand playing in
the USA on an annual basis," Vaughan said in a statement. "We
are looking at ways of helping USA Cricket grow the game both
professionally and at the grassroots."
The series, following the World Twenty20 in the West Indies,
will be played at the only International Cricket
Council-approved cricket stadium in North America, in Fort
Lauderdale.
The three matches will be the first international cricket
matches to be played by full ICC members in the United States.
USA Cricket president Gladstone Dainty said the series would
provide great exposure for cricket in the United States, where
there are an estimated 15 million fans. "We are very excited
about the potential impact of this series for the growth and
development of cricket in the United States," Dainty said.
The first game will be on May 20, followed by matches on May
22 and 23.
Dhaka Abahani
on course to hattrick title
TBT report
Two-time champion Dhaka Abahani edged closer to its
hattrick title when the Dhaka giants defeated Chittagong
Abahani 6-2 in the Bangladesh Football League at
Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on Friday.
Prolific striker Enamul Haque scored a brace to lead the
hosts in the high scoring match. Enamul scored after 18
minutes to open scoring before Munna doubled the advantage
with his 36th-minute strike.
Sheriff Deen Mohamed then scored the third goal for Dhaka
side,while Ibrahim struck just on the stroke of the first
half to bring a 4-0 lead for sky-blues before the
breather.
Chittagong Abahani scored its first goal on 70 minutes
through Roni, who also scored the second goal on 86
minutes. But the defending champions scored two goals more
through Enamul on 85 minutes and shohagh just three
minutes from the finals whistle.
Brazilian Olympic medallist
caught up in custody battle
AFP, Sao
Paulo
A Brazilian volleyball player who won Olympic bronze in
1996 is caught up in an international custody battle with
her estranged US husband over their four-year-old son,
Brazilian sports website Globoesporte reported.
The case pit ting former Brazilian national volleyball
team member Hilma Caldeira, 38, against US chef Kelvin
Birotte, 43, recalled that of Sean Goldman, a US-Brazilian
boy who was returned to his father last December after
protracted legal action.
According to Globoesporte, Birotte is accusing Caldeira of
taking their son, Kelvin Birotte, Junior, then aged eight
months, to her native Brazil three years ago for a
vacation but failed to return to the United States with
him.
Birotte was demanding the return of the boy under the
Hague Convention that requires custody battles to be
worked out in a couple's habitual country of residence.
Globoesporte said Caldeira lives in the southern town of
Gutierrez, but she was not located to give her side of the
story. One of her lawyers, though, said Caldeira decided
to remain in Brazil after her US-based marriage broke
down.
SAfrica, North Korea draw goalless
AFP, Frankfurt
World Cup host South Africa and fellow qualifier North
Korea drew 0-0 here Thursday in a hastily arranged warm-up
match ahead of the global tournament during June and July.
North Korea flew from their Spanish base for the game in
this German city between the lowest ranked teams of the 32
qualifiers for the first World Cup to be hosted by Africa.
The goalless outcome was no surprise as South Africa, who
lacked unavailable Europe-based stars like midfielders
Steven Pienaar of Everton and captain Aaron Mokoena of
Portsmouth, have struggled to score.
Bafana Bafana (The Boys) managed just one goal in a home
draw with minnows Namibia last month and it took a
sizzling Siphiwe Tshabalala drive to force a similar
result away to Paraguay later in March.
South Africa will face Asian opposition again next
Wednesday when they meet China at the home of Offenbach
Kickers in their final international before returning home
from a three-week Germany camp.
Bafana Bafana are set to complete their build-up with
fixtures against Colombia on May 27 and Denmark on June 5
at Soccer City, a 90,000-seat stadium on the outskirts of
Soweto that stages the World Cup opener and final.
Brazil-born coach Carlos Parreira has been angry with the
quality and quantity of opposition and personally
intervened to try and woo a football superpower to
Johannesburg.
But the 67-year-old mastermind behind the 1994 Brazil
World Cup-winning team had to concede defeat with
countries like Brazil and England finalising their
pre-tournament schedule long before South Africa acted.
Parreira wants to avoid becoming the first coach of a
World Cup host nation not to reach the second round since
the tournament was first staged 80 years ago with all the
competing nations arriving in Uruguay by sea.
South Africa are the bookmakers' outsiders behind Group A
favourites France, and Mexico and Uruguay, but home
advantage and passionate backing from fans blowing
vuvuzelas (plastic trumpets) could trigger upsets.
North Korea, given no chance against five-time champions
Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast in Group G, sprung one of
the greatest shocks in World Cup history when they
defeated Italy in England 44 years ago.
They launched their preparations last year in France with
a draw against Congo and they have also played Zambia,
Mali, Qatar, Iran, Venezuela and Mexico with Paraguay and
Greece lined up for friendlies next month.
Forlan leads
Atletico's victory
Independent Online
The good news for Liverpool is that there will be no be
23-hour journey to the return leg; the bad news is that
their punchless attack will still be without Fernando
Torres and Atletico Madrid will have their star striker
Sergio Aguero back on the pitch. Liverpool must overturn a
1-0 scoreline at Anfield next Thursday to make it to the
Europa League final after a goal from former Manchester
United striker Diego Forlan defeated them in the Spanish
capital last night.
The pre-match debate concerned who would miss their star
turn more. Forlan somewhat fortuitously scored the games'
only goal in his strike partner's absence. For all the
running of Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard, a tired Liverpool
side toiled in vain without Torres.
The Liverpool manager, Rafa Benitez, again erred on the
side of caution by pairing Javier Mascherano alongside
Lucas Leiva in a midfield that was missing the cup-tied
Maxi Rodriguez. They shielded a defence that would be
spared the threat of the suspended Aguero but included the
former Manchester United striker Forlan and former Arsenal
winger Jose Antonio Reyes.
Kicking toward their most vocal supporters who had
unfurled a giant, "We'll be champions again" banner - a
sentiment shared by Liverpool's visiting fans - Atletico
set a ferocious early pace and after nine minutes they
were ahead.
Jose Jurado broke down the left and crossed. Sotirios
Kyrgiakos missed the centre and it reached Forlan on the
edge of the six-yard box. For a moment the dual Golden
Boot winner must have thought he was back in the Premier
League as he clumsily miscued his header, but the error
served to help him. The ball dropped loose and he reacted
first to sweep it past Pepe Reina and Jamie Carragher on
the goal-line.
Liverpool should have been level on 17 minutes but when
Yossi Benayoun scored from Kuyt's through ball the offside
flag was raised in error to cancel out the equaliser.
Gerrard was having to do the work of two men, playing off
struggling frontman David Ngog and dropping deeper to make
up for the creative deficit in the centre of Liverpool's
midfield. He carried the fight to the home side smashing a
shot into the side-netting, then playing in Ngog, but his
first touch was awful and the chance was gone.
With Kuyt and Benayoun having to track the runs of
Atletico Madrid's attacking full-backs, Liverpool carried
little threat going forward and on 32 minutes there was
almost a repeat of the first goal. A ball over the top of
Glen Johnson sent Jurado away but this time the England
full-back dealt with the danger.
At the other end Ngog continued to struggle, missing an
attempted scissor kick as Gerrard continued to carry the
greatest threat storming through on 35 minutes but running
into a wall of Atletico defenders.
At last there was some assistance a minute later as
Johnson made his first foray down the right. He was found
by Gerrard but failed to deliver a telling cross.
Liverpool's lack of punch up front was summed up just
before the break when Simao Sabrosa sent a free-kick into
the visitors' wall but when they broke away it was
Mascherano who was furthest forward and he was soon
caught, albeit illegally.
Liverpool started the second half brightly with Ngog
holding the ball up for Gerrard. He looked to have gotten
away from the home defence but Luis Perea raced back to
hook the ball away.
On 52 minutes Forlan was back in Premier League mode and
this time there was no second chance. The flag stayed down
as he ran on to a long ball from Reyes but he miskicked
with only Reina to beat.
The pace had slowed somewhat - Liverpool with a 23-hour
journey from Runcorn to Madrid still in their system and
Atletico with 50 games already played in theirs. With the
fatigue gaps appeared in both defences. Benayoun broke
clear and Perea made another crucial tackle and Atletico
broke immediately to so nearly make it two.
Tomas Ujfalusi crossed from the right and Simao connected
at the far post only for Reina to push the ball
brilliantly over his crossbar. Reyes was enjoying the open
spaces and again lost his marker, sending a pass inside
Agger that Jurado did not have the pace to run on to.
Reyes then sprayed a perfect ball out to the left and
Simao ran on to it only to send his cross beyond Forlan in
the box.
Just after the hour Benitez ended a tough night for Ngog
replacing him with Ryan Babel. The Dutchman went out to
the right flank, with Kuyt sent to plough the lonely
furrow left by the Frenchman.
Liverpool's failure to score an away goal would satisfy
the home side and Atletico's inability to add a second
would send Liverpool home feeling the final was still in
their grasp. But that sort of caution had not spread to
Kuyt, who probed down the left drawing another tackle from
Perea. He was then put through by Mascherano but forced
wide and could only hook the ball back towards Gerrard
whose volley did not trouble David de Gea.
South Africa
Academy takes 120 runs innings lead
UNB, Chittagong
Despite Ronny Talukder's polished ton, touring South
Africa National Cricket Academy team took 120-run first
innings lead over GP-BCB National Cricket Academy on the
2nd day of the first four-day match at Zahur Ahmed
Chowdhury Stadium here on Friday.
Resuming the first innings on the second day with
overnight 23 for 1 in 10 overs, the home side experienced
early batting jolt in the face of disciplined bowling by
the visitors and were all out for 251 in 67.1 overs at
stumps on the day.
After the quick departure of openers Nadim Uddin (9) and
Mohammad Mithun (20), and Shuvagoto Hom (12), Ronny
repaired the early damage as he single handedly stretched
the innings to over 200 contributing 104 runs off 114
balls with 17 fours and two sixes. Besides, number eight
Tanvir Haider scored not out 69 off 126 balls with six
fours and a six.
Y. Yallie, O. Pienaar and K. Maharaj claimed three wickets
each for 19, 47 and 48 runs respectively.
Earlier, in their first innings, South Africa National
Cricket Academy team was all out for 371.
Fulham earns
draw in Hamburg
BSS/AFP, Hamburg
Fulham will take a slight advantage into next week's
Europa League semifinal,
second-leg at home to Hamburg having earned a 0-0 draw in
the Hanseatic City in Thursday's first leg.
Hamburg will host the final on May 12 at the HSH Nordbank
Arena, but could not make home advantage count in the
first leg despite several clear chances to take the lead.
With their chances of winning the Bundesliga title
effectively ended by a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Mainz
last weekend, Bruno Labbadia-coached Hamburg are
concentrating on the Europa League, but still have it all
to do in London next Thurday.
The hosts laid seige to the Fulham goal in the second-half
with three clear chances in three minutes with a quarter
of the match left to play, but to no avail.
Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and midfielder Jonathan
Pitroipa both went close, but Hamburg's attack was
constantly frustrated by Fulham's Australian goalkeeper
Mark Schwarzer.
In the end, the stats show Hamburg had five clear chances
on goals, while Fulham failed to create a single
threatening chance and won the corner count 7-1, but the
hosts could not make the numerical advantage count.
Hamburg striker Mladen Petric came off the bench with 20
minutes left having struggled with a groin strain, but
even the presence of the Croatian hot- shot could not
forge the vital goal.
With time running out, Germany winger Piotr Trochowski
earned himself a yellow card which will see him suspended
for next week's second leg.
Hamburg will not fancy going back to Fulham's Craven
Cottage where Roy Hodgson's Fulham have produced one of
the tournament's biggest upsets.
Fulham pulled off one of the most stunning fight backs in
European football history when they turned a 3-1 deficit
from the first leg into a 4-1 win at home to go through
5-4 on aggregate in the last 16 against Juventus.
They then beat defending German league champions Wolfsburg
in the quarter-finals to set up the semi-final clash which
stands between Hamburg and their dream final.
Injury-hit US
challenges Russia in Fed Cup
BSS/AFP, Paris
The absence of the Williams sisters has damaged US hopes
of regaining the Fed Cup with a tough semi-final home tie
against powerful Russia to negotiate in Birmingham,
Alabama this weekend.
The other semi-final being played in Rome sees defending
champions Italy take on the Czech Republic.
With neither Serena or Venus Williams available for the
United States due to injuries, US captain Mary Joe
Fernandez will look to Bethanie Mattek- Sands, who can
play singles and doubles, along with 18-year-old Melanie
Oudin.
Completing the squad is Liezel Huber, who will partner
Mattek-Sands in the doubles. The late decision by Venus
Williams not to play took many by surprise, notably Mattek-Sands.
"It kind of threw everyone for a loop, especially me,
because I have to be ready for singles and doubles," she
said.
"It's better to know in advance. In my mind I was playing
singles (anyway). I joined the Fed Cup team thinking that
would be the case because Venus and Serena have been 50-50
the whole way through."
Still Mattek-Sands believes she and Oudin can upset the
odds and send the Russians crashing out of the
competition.
"Mel's a grinder and makes you work for your points," she
said. "She'll fight for every point and that's an
attribute that helps in Fed Cup."
The Russians, who have won the title four times since
2004, have had their team selection problems too with
Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina and
Nadia Petrova all unavailable for one reason or another.
But such is the strength of depth at the hands of skipper
Shamil Tarpischev that he can still field the vastly
experienced Elena Dementieva along with promising young
bloods Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Ekaterina Makarova and
Alla Kudryavtseva. "Too many of our leading players are
injured," Tarpishchev lamented. "Sharapova, Safina,
Kuznetsova are all injured, while (Vera) Zvonareva and
Kleibanova also have health problems."
The United States and Russia have played each other seven
times before in the Fed Cup and the Americans currently
hold a 4-3 edge. The Russians, however, have won the last
three encounters with all the wins coming since 2005.
Over in Rome, the Italians will once again look to the
reliable Flavia Pennetta and Francesco Schiavone to get
the job done against the Czech Republic who will depend on
Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova.
The Italians, who beat the United States in last year's
final, claimed a 4-1 vicory over Ukraine in the first
round.
The Czechs, who have won the Fed Cup five times previously
with all the victories coming between 1975 and 1988,
clinched a 3-2 win over Germany in the first round in
Brno.
Aussie
Chef-de-Mission looks forward to returning for CGames
BSS, New Delhi
Australian contingent Chef-de-Mission Steve Moneghetti has
said he is really looking forward to returning to Delhi
for the Commonwealth Games in October.
"It's such a cosmopolitan place and a place you really
fall in love with," he told the media on the sidelines of
a ceremony in Melbourne recently to mark the visit of the
Queen's Baton 2010 Delhi, according to a Games press
release.
"I was there a month ago and it was very safe and secure,"
Moneghetti said.
Moneghetti, who won gold in the marathon event in Victoria
in 1994 and was mayor of the Commonwealth Games Village in
Melbourne in 2006, ran the last leg of a short Queen's
Baton Relay 2010 along the Yarra River along with
four-time Commonwealth champion and Sydney 2000 Olympic
400m gold medalist Cathy Freeman, the release added.
Freeman said if she were not retired from track and field
sport, security concerns would not stop her going to Delhi
in October.
"As an athlete I was pretty ruthless and very focused,"
Freeman said. "I was very unfazed by any kind of external
goings-on, once I knew what my target was, I stayed
committed.
Nothing could really take me away from an arena of
competition. My priority was just to compete and compete
against the best there was," she said. Australian
Commonwealth Games Association Chief Executive Mr. Perry
Crosswhite, said their position had not changed and the
country will send a team to the Games.
"Certainly it (the bombing in Bangalore) is not a good
thing, but it doesn't affect our current position," Mr.
Crosswhite said.
"Right now, we're going to the Games and as we said all
along, if athletes (or officials) don't want to go to the
Games, that's their decision and it won't be held against
them. I'm very confident the actual athletes will be
protected, the safest place will be the (Games) Village in
Delhi, the venues and the transport routes there and
from."
Bayern hopes
Ribery shown leniency by UEFA
BSS/AFP, Munich
Bayern Munich is hoping French midfielder Franck Ribery is
shown some leniency by European football's governing body
UEFA over his red card in the 1-0 Champions League win
over Lyon.
Ribery was shown a straight red by referee Roberto Rosetti
in Wednesday night's first-leg, semi-final win after
treading on Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez's ankle on 37
minutes. The punishment looked harsh, especially as it was
Ribery's first foul of the match and there were loud howls
of protest from the 66,000-strong crowd.
Ribery, and Lyon defender Jeremy Toulalan who was also
sent off, will miss Tuesday's second leg in Lyon.
The final length of Ribery's suspension, potentially
covering the final on May 22 in Madrid if Bayern get that
far, will not be decided until the UEFA disciplinary panel
committee meets next Wednesday, the day after the semi-
final return. And Bayern's bosses are hoping for leniency.
"I don't think you can give a red card for something like
that," said Bayern's president Uli Hoeness on the club's
website. "It was a foul from the front, not from behind or
the side. "It's debateable whether you should give
anything at all, but if so, it's a yellow."
Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was also bemused, but
admitted he had some sympathy for Rosetti in what was a
highly-charged atmosphere. "Sending Franck off was
definitely harsh," said Rummenigge.
"I think it was too much, but unfortunately, we have to
accept it. "There's no point criticising the referee. He's
made a decision and we can't change it. "It was anything
but an easy match. It was an emotional game.
"I hope UEFA agree it was a very harsh decision and
moderate the suspension so Franck is available if we reach
the final," said Rummenigge. Ribery, who watched the
second half of the match on TV in the dressing room and
left the Allianz Arena straight after the final whistle,
now faces an anxious wait on UEFA's decision.
It has been a difficult week for the 27-year-old who was
linked to the under- age call-girl scandal which has
rocked the French football team. Bayern's next opponents,
Borussia Moenchengladbach and VfL Bochum, can expect to
face a fired up and fully rested Ribery.
"I reckon he'll be back with a bang on Saturday," confided
goal-scorer Arjen Robben with Bayern set to face 'Gladbach.
Tsonga shifts
tactics on day to forget for Spain
BSS/AFP,
Barcelona
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed a fast change of tactics to
reach the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open as he
defeated Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 on
Thursday.
France's third seed, playing the clay event for the first
time, finds himself in a surprise Friday showdown with
Thiemo de Bakker, who upset 2001 winner and seventh seed
Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4).
There were only two bright spots for Spain, with six of
eight representatives from the country losing.
Monte Carlo runner-up Fernando Verdasco, seeded fifth,
rallied to beat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 7-6 (7/1),
6-3. Two-time losing finalist David Ferrer won in 44
minutes when Simone Bolelli of Italy quit injured trailing
6-0, 3-0.
Swedish second seed Robin Soderling went through after he
defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-2.
Tsonga said he had to shift strategy back to the
fast-paced game he knows best to get out of danger.
"I wasn't sliding well at the start, the clay was quite
heavy," he said.
"I was struggling to adjust myself to the ball. Then I
started to play a bit more how I play on hard court, which
enabled me to get back into the match in the second and
third sets."
Tsonga, now 17-7 for the season and looking for his first
ever title on clay, says he faces a tough task against
Dutchman De Bakker.
"It will be difficult, I played him in Davis Cup on indoor
clay," Tsonga said of the 21-year-old, who is ranked 67th
in the world.
"It was a tough match, very difficult. He's going to go up
in the rankings in the next few months and has a lot of
potential."
Tsonga has now beaten the 15th-seeded Almagro in all three
of their 2010 meetings, earning victories at the
Australian Open after a 9-7 fifth set and a week ago in
straight sets at Monte Carlo.
Tsonga was beaten on a late break of serve in the opening
set by Almagro, one of eight Spanish players who began the
third round in the Catalan capital.
But Tsonga imposed his big game for 5-0 in the second on
the way back to level-pegging at a set apiece.
The seed went up an early break in the third set to seal
the victory, firing eight aces and breaking four times.
The eighth-seeded Ferrer, a former Top 10 player now
standing 17th, will next meet Brazilian 13th seed Thomas
Bellucci, a winner over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
6-4, 6-4.
Ferrer is appearing in a Barcelona quarter-final for the
fourth year in a row.
Argentine Eduardo Schwank defeated another Spaniard, Ivan
Navarro Pastor, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7).
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