PAGE 21Kandahar airport siege leaves 50 dead

PAGE 7MP versus nominee stando� in Shahjadpur

PAGE 3NBR to dig deep into money laundering

PAGE 32Moja losss? admin arrested

PAGE 4Mental health act still in darkness

SECOND EDITION

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 | Agrahayan 27, 1422, Safar 28, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 235 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages plus 24-page Weekend | Price: Tk10

FACEBOOK BLACKOUT ENDS PAGE 32

FULL COVERAGE OF PARIS COP21 PAGE 5

EC: NO DISCRIMINATORY SYMBOL FOR WOMEN IN FUTURE PAGE 3

Narayanganj mob beats 8 robbers to deathn Tanvir Hossain from Narayanganj and

Arifur Rahman Rabbi in Dhaka

At least eight members of an organised gang of robbers were beaten to death by a mob who caught them red handed when they were trying to steal rice sacks from a store at Purundi Bazar of Araihazar in Narayanganj early yesterday.

Four of them were killed before the police reached the spot near the Dhaka-Sylhet high-way around 6am. Witnesses said two robbers died in presence of police, the body of anoth-er was recovered from a ditch around 7am while another died in a local hospital around 1pm.

Police have identi� ed four of the deceased from the mobile phones found on their bodies. They are truck driver Rony, 35, of Noakhali; Jewel alias Titu, 32; Shawkat, 30; and Rubel, 28, from Mymensingh.

Four other robbers were arrested from the spot. They are Lokman, 28, Sajib, 27, Manik,

25, and Sabbir, 22. Of them, all but Lokman hail from di� erent areas of Mymensingh.

Three of them are currently undergoing treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hos-pital in critical condition.

Law enforcers have also recovered the truck onto which the robbers were loading the sacks stolen from Bhai Bhai Store, owned by one Gafur Bhuiyan.

Two cases were � led over the incident last night – one for robbery and the other for mur-der against several thousand people.

According to local people, there have been

several incidents of robbery and theft in the area in recent times, but law enforcers have not been able to solve any of the cases. One of the robberies took place at Bagbari Bazar around 20 days ago during which robbers snatched around 180 sacks of rice from a store.

National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman expressed con-cerns over the death of the eight robbers in mob beating.

According to the statistics compiled by rights group Ain o Salish Kendra, at least 104 people were reportedly killed in mob beating in di� erent areas between January and Sep-tember this year. Of them, 50 were killed in Dhaka and 17 in Chittagong.

Police said the gang comprised 18-20 members who rented the truck from the cap-ital’s Tejgaon area on Wednesday.

OC (investigation) Arifur Rahman of the Araihazar police said the robbers went to the Purinda Bazar with the truck – numbered PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Thai tra� cking investigator seeks asylum in Australia n Agencies

Thailand’s former chief police investigator into human tra� cking said on Thursday he is seeking political asylum in Australia, saying he fears for his life if he go home.

Former Major General Paween Pongsi-rin arrived in Melbourne a few days ago on a tourist visa and said he planned to seek political refuge, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“There must be some place, some safe place for me,” he said in an interview with the broadcaster. “I came here because Aus-tralia is a safe place.”

Paween quit the police in November say-ing an order to transfer him to Thailand’s south would expose him to revenge by mem-bers of tra� cking syndicates still at large.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

n Meer Saiful Islam, from Paris

The COP21 presidency was struggling hard to bring out a � -nal draft for the much-expected climate agreement in Paris, but could hardly reduce the di� er-ences among the parties until last evening.

The presidency was scheduled to circulate the � nal draft yesterday afternoon, based on which the agreement is expected to be signed.

“Di� erences on few issues among the countries and di� erent groups could not be reduced yet,” a member of the Bangladesh delegation told the Dhaka Tribune asking not to be named. The problem mounted during the overnight deliberations Wednesday night that continued until early yesterday.

“The coordinators of di� erent country groups were working on the gaps in an ef-fort to making a � nal draft to be circulated tonight [yesterday],” he said. The UNFCCC issued a tentative schedule of circulating the � nal draft at 7pm CET (Central European Time), but the observers were highly scepti-cal about the schedule.

The � nal draft, however, will again be PAGE 2 COLUMN 1 Environmental activists demonstrate at Climate Generation Area dedicated for NGOs just outside the COP venue DHAKA TRIBUNE

COP21 negotiation faces stalemate

Two cases were � led over the incident last night – one for robbery and the other for murder against several thousand people

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

News2DTFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Thai tra� cking investigator seeks asylum in AustraliaNational police chief Jakthip Chaijinda said at the time Paween could have asked for pro-tection but chose to resign instead.

“We issued 153 warrants across all areas and that included government o� cials ... I had to do just my duty, not to think of danger or trouble, but now I realise how dangerous it was,” Paween said.

Thailand has indicted 88 people sus-pected of involvement in human tra� cking since launching a nationwide investigation into gangs following the discovery in May of 30 bodies in graves buried near the Thai-land-Malaysian border, which prompted an international outcry.

They were the sites of tra� cking camps where victims -- mainly from Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority and Bangladeshi economic migrants -- were held in appalling conditions, many awaiting ransom payments from relatives for their release.

The kingdom’s pivotal role in the trade emerged in May as people-smugglers aban-doned thousands of migrants at sea or in jun-gle camps after a Thai crackdown.

Thai o� cials are accused of orchestrating smuggling routes through the south of their country to neighbouring Malaysia, raking in huge sums of money over several years.

Dozens of people including Manas Kong-pan, a powerful Thai army general in the south, and other local o� cials appeared in court last month charged with tra� cking.

Manas is accused of being a linchpin, using his local in� uence to funnel migrants through the south, though he denies the charges. l

Narayanganj mob beats 8 robbers to deathDhaka Metro Ta-18 4311 – around 4am and asked the on-duty security guards about the location of Bhai Bhai Store.

The robbers then tied the security guards – Zaman and Motaleb – with ropes, broke into the shop and began loading the sacks onto the truck.

According to Zaman, at one point he man-aged to untie himself by cutting the rope with his teeth and informed the muezzin of the nearby mosque about the ongoing robbery.

The muezzin soon announced news in the mosque loudspeaker, hearing which nearly 200 people, mostly those going to the mosque for saying the morning prayers, came at the spot.

Sensing the presence of the mob, the rob-bers tried to � ee; most of them jumped into the nearby ditches.

But the mob got hold of most of them, beat four to death within an hour, witnesses said. Three others were killed within 7am as several more joined the angry mob.

Witnesses said that compared to the size of the mob, the number of policemen was lit-tle. Moreover, they were reluctant to prevent the mob from beating the robbers to death.

Police, however, claimed that they had tried their best to stop the mob but failed. The situation started becoming calm after 7am.

Additional Superintendent of Narayan-

ganj Police, Mohibul Islam Khan, said they had sent patrol police to the spot around 5:30am and one platoon (20 members), led by the Araihazar OC, an hour later. More force was deployed later on.

However, video clips taken on mobile phones by some witnesses show that the police constables were standing stand idle as the mob went on beating a young robber for around 20 minutes on an open � eld around 7am.

Araihazar OC Arifur refuted the allegation, claiming that nobody was killed in front of police. “Police rushed to the spot and recov-ered several injured robbers.”

About the regular patrol on the highway,

he said they would investigate if there was any negligence in duty.

Police are also scrutinising the informa-tion provided by the four arrested robbers.

Injured robbers Sajib and Sabbir told re-porters that they had gathered at the Tejgaon truck stand on Wednesday night after coming from di� erent areas of Mymensingh. Injured Manik was coordinating the job, they claimed.

Police said they would be able to solve the case after the treatment of the injured was over.

Driver Rony’s wife Nazma Begum said her husband had left home on Wednesday. She learnt about his death from a transport work-er at Tejgaon. l

COP21 negotiation faces stalematecirculated among the Parties to take their feedback before going for an agreement.

As negotiations enter the home stretch, the process has not yet succeeded in dealing with all the crunch issues.

The Paris ambition mechanism, the loss and damage language, and scaling up com-mitments by 2018 – all these issues need to be sorted out.

Asked about the update of the conference at a press conference at the COP21 venue yes-terday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “Well, we’re working away. Today’s obvious-ly getting down to the critical stage, and we had a very constructive meeting. We feel very good about the conversation we’ve just had. We need to work on language, and that what most of today and tonight will be.”

Meanwhile, a coalition of over 100 coun-tries, led by the USA, was formed to steer an ambitious agreement. The USA has formed, but the ambition has not been made clear.

“I am not sure whether it is a tactic to de-lay the negotiation process,” said Dr Mun-jurul Hannan Khan, joint secretary and project director of CASE. “What we say is to ensure the limit of temperature rise by 1.5 de-grees Celsius.”

He added that the LDCs want to see � -nance, technology and capacity building is-sues addressed in the agreement with pref-erential treatment for the LDCs and the SIDS.

On Wednesday evening, Fabius noted that 75% of square brackets, denoting areas of contentions, had been removed and he emphasised that every e� ort had been made to retain balance and avoid prejudging out-comes. He also explained that it was not the � nal version.

A member of the Bangladesh team said

the square brackets had now came down to around 600 from the around 1,500 in the document with which the COP21 started.

The text re� ected the divides that have been evident since the start of COP, but cru-cially, Parties again expressed their faith in the COP president and the process he pro-posed for taking negotiations forward.

Di� erentiation was a common issued raised by developed and developing country groups. A common refrain was that the text on this cross-cutting issue remained “unbal-anced.”

The EU and Australia stressed the need for an agreement that took account of changing circumstances. Interventions from the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) were particu-larly vocal in calling for recognition of their special needs.

Well articulated wording in the statement suggested that there is a su� cient body of countries pushing for an ambitious outcome over the coming 24 hours, but the question still remains whether the Parties could show su� cient � exibility in related areas of � -nance, technology and capacity building to unlock the di� erentiation challenge.

Negotiators worked late into the Wednes-day night and early yesterday as they sought to � nd further convergence on the unre-solved issues.

Despite the mixed reaction from Parties on the night and in the remaining hours, it would be needed to stay strong in seeking an ambitious climate agreement, if the COP21 President Fabius is to ful� l his promise to “leave nothing behind.”

The negotiators must now be willing to � nd common ground on the remaining key issues – the long-term goal, the � ve-year

review mechanism – starting from 2020 on-wards – and climate � nance.

To ensure an e� ective outcome in Par-is, the heads of delegation need to do three things – must secure ambition that is consist-ent with the scale of the climate challenge, secure consensus amongst the 196 govern-ments negotiating an agreement, and secure an agreement that sends a catalytic signal to accelerate the creation of a thriving, clean economy.

“There are still too many red lines on the table. Compromises need to be made, but there are two kinds of compromises: the ones we want and the ones we don’t. There are ones that will threaten ambition, and ones that will work to deliver the kind of deal we need,” said Alix Mazounie of RAC France.

This deal needs three things. It needs loss and damage because without that, the more vulnerable will be left behind; � nance, because without it, the poorest will be left behind; and ambition, because without it everyone would be left behind.

“It is essential that we have a big political moment like this in 2018 to review and scale up our progress. Countries will only act if the eyes of the world are upon them,” Mohamed Adow, Christian Aid.

“Now those leaders need to start pick-ing up the phone and work together to turn those words into action,” Jennifer Morgan, Global Director of WRI’s Climate Program, said yesterday morning

On Wednesday, the French presidency re-leased a revised text, which was explained to parties that the aim of the 29-page draft was to provide an overview of progress made and to focus attention on the outstanding “polit-ical issues.” l

Iskcon temple attackedn Our Correspondent, Dinajpur

At least two people were injured as miscre-ants opened � re on the Hindu devotees gath-ered at a temple for a religious conference in Dinajpur’s Kaharole area.

Locals chased the attackers and held one Shariful Islam, 25, when they were � eeing the scene, said OC Monsur Ali Sarker of Kaharole police. He hails from Polashbari of Gaibandha.

Bullet injured Ranjit Chandra Roy, 45, and Mithun Chandra Roy, 27, were taken to Dina-jpur Medical College Hospital.

The attack took place around 8:30pm out-

side Dohuchi Iskcon Temple, located near Joynanda Bazar of Dabor at Kaharole upazi-la. Locals said three youths had blasted hand bombs and then opened � re on the people.

Dinajpur Superintendent of Police Md Ru-hul Amin con� rmed the incident but could not give any detail about the attackers or the motive.

On December 5, at least 10 people were injured in bomb blasts during Raash Mela at Kantaji temple in Kaharole. Police claimed that it was a result of con� ict between two leaders of the Awami League centring the lease of the festival venue. l

Forest o� cer among 4 arrested in war crimes casen Tribune Report

Law enforcers arrested four war crimes ac-cused including a forest o� cer in separate drives from di� erent areas since Wednesday night.

They are accused in a case � led on April 1 this year for their alleged involvement in crimes against humanity committed in My-mensingh and Jamalpur areas during the 1971 Liberation War. The International Crimes Tri-

bunal issued warrants for their arrest on De-cember 9.

A team of police’s Rapid Action Battalion 8 arrested Sharankhola Station O� cer AKM Yusuf Alam, 58, early yesterday from Dubla area of the East Sundarbans.

On Wednesday night, police also arrest-ed Yusuf’s elder brother ABM Yunus Ali, 65, from Jamalpur. Two others arrested in the case are Omar Faruk, 70, and Rezaul Karim alias Akkas Moulavi, 66, of Muktagachha. l

News 3D

TFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

EC: No discriminatory electoral symbols for women in future n Adil Sakhawat

The Election Commission has assured that the gender discriminatory electoral symbols for women candidates would be removed from the list in the next Union Parishad elec-tions.

EC Secretary Sirajul Islam came up with the statement while addressing a press brief-ing yesterday, a few hours after a delegation of women candidates termed the symbols humiliating and urged the commission for a revised allocation.

The EC secretary said: “The commission will not allocate these types of symbols, which is being considered as discriminatory towards women, in the next Union Parishad polls. Necessary changes will be brought in the election rules in this regard.”

Saying the symbols designated to wom-en candidates for the upcoming munici-

pality polls were not meant to discriminate them, rather it was done hurriedly, he said: “These symbols were picked uncautiously as the commission had to change the munici-pal election rules in a hurry in line with the amendment to the Municipal Act.

“This time the symbols cannot be changed as the schedule of the elections has already been announced and the ballot papers are printed.”

The EC secretary said he also received an instruction from the CEC to take o� such election symbols in the future.

The EC designated di� erent gender dis-criminatory symbols like gas stove, bangles, frocks and dolls as election symbols for the candidates of reserved women’s seats for the December 30 municipality polls.

A six-member delegation of Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal yesterday submitted a written statement to the EC, protesting the symbols.

The delegation led by Shirin Sultana, gen-eral secretary of Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal, went to the EC Secretariat and handed over a memorandum to Sirajul Islam.

The memorandum says: “These types sym-bols are shameful, unfortunate and discrimi-natory. Immediate initiatives should be taken in order to make women feel honoured.”

Earlier, the EC allocated 10 symbols for the reserved women councillor candidates of Dhaka North and South City Corporations; these are kettle, bird cage, tissue box, glass, betel leaf, glass bottle, radish, steel almirah, grinding stone, and cane stool.

The women councillor candidates, in a views exchange meeting, complained of gen-der discrimination and asked Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad why the EC chose these symbols.

However, the CEC then maintained si-lence over the issue. l

HC: Don’t produce arrestees before media prior to court appearance n Tribune Report

The High Court has observed that the inspec-tor general of police (IGP) should instruct the police not to produce any arrested persons before the media prior to producing them be-fore the respective court.

The bench of Justice Enayetur Rahim and Justice M Amir Hossain came up with the ob-servation yesterday while pronouncing a ver-dict over a 2009 bomb explosion at Gazipur

police chief’s o� ce during a press brie� ng. In its verdict, the court commuted JMB

member Md Mamunur Rashid alias Jahid’s death sentence to life-term imprisonment.

The court also observed that the inves-tigation o� cer of the case was careless in conducting his duties and asked the author-ities concerned to take departmental actions against the o� cer. According to the case document, police ar-rested Jahid and three others on February 20,

2009, from Tongi area with � ve locally made grenades and explosive-making elements.

Gazipur police arranged a press brie� ng at the local police superintendent’s o� ce where journalists from di� erent media houses were invited. Jahid was produced before the me-dia wearing handcu� s, while the grenades and the explosive materials were placed on a table in front of him.

As senior police o� cials left the room af-ter the brie� ng was over, Jahid blasted one of

the grenades, injuring 13 people, including policemen and journalists.

Police � led a case under the explosive act against Jahid that night, and on March 13, 2012, a Dhaka speedy trial court awarded him death sentence in the case. Jahid appealed against the death sentence with the High Court.

The High Court in its verdict yesterday de-scribed the police’s act to produce him in the press conference with grenades described as an irresponsible act. l

NBR to dig deep into money launderingn Tribune Report

The National Board of Revenue will dig deep into money laundering issues so that those responsible for capital � ight can be identi� ed, NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman said yesterday.

There are many problems, but the authori-ties will work in their own way without being in� uenced by anyone and will not back o� in the face of the so-called threats, he added.

“As we dig deep, we are seeing many ugly faces,” the chairman told a press brie� ng at the NBR headquarters in the city yesterday.

In a report released Wednesday, US-based think-tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI) put Bangladesh at number 26 in the ranking of “Il-licit Financial Out� ows.” Such out� ows main-ly stem from tax evasion, crime and corrup-tion, with a whopping $5.6bn siphoned out of Bangladesh every year during 2004-2013.

“This information will help us in going forward with the investigation. If there is co-ordinated management among agencies, we can surely prevent illicit � nancial out� ow,” hoped Nojibur.

He also said people are paying VAT to the traders, but in many cases, the revenue is not being deposited in the government’s accounts. So the money is being laundered through tax evasion. “We are working on it ... We are preparing internal strategies to curb money laundering,” he said. l

EC to Home Ministry: Ensure poll security n Adil Sakhawat

The Election Commission has asked the Home Ministry to ensure that the municipal election slated for December 30 is held in a free and fair manner.

The letter signed by EC Secretary Sirajul Is-lam was sent to Senior Secretary of Home Af-fairs Dr Md Mozammel Haque Khan yesterday.

In the letter, the EC has asked the minis-try to ensure security of the candidates and to look after overall security during the polls.

Usually, the EC o� cials sit with law en-forcement agencies after � nalising candidates. The meeting is scheduled for December 19.

But this is the � rst time the EC has sought the Home Ministry’s assistance three days before the deadline for withdrawing nomina-tion. The EC is yet to dispose of the appeals � led against its nomination cancellations.

Earlier, a BNP delegation led by Abdul Moeen Khan met the chief election commis-sioner and alleged that their candidates were facing arrests and threats.

So far, 1,214 candidates � led nominations for mayoral posts, and 9,740 for councillors for general seats and 1,214 for reserved seats. Of them, nominations of 1,057 mayoral as-pirants, 9,740 general councillors and 2,509 candidates for reserved councillor seats have been found valid. l

Marking Human Rights Day 2015, a procession of National Human Rights Commission passes the TSC area in Dhaka University yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

BNP-Jamaat local leaders to decide seat-sharing n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP has decided to let grassroots leaders of the BNP-Jamaat alliance sort out how they would share mayoral seats among them-selves for the December 30 municipal polls.

If they fail to decide themselves, BNP sources said that party Chairperson Khaleda Zia – as a backup – has a list prepared with names of � nalised candidates.

The decisions were made at a BNP Stand-ing Committee meeting at Khaleda's Gulshan o� ce last night.

Taking to reporters following the meeting, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Is-lam Alamgir alleged that the government has been pressuring BNP candidates to withdraw from the municipality polls race. Leaders and activists of the BNP-led alliance were also be-ing arrested indiscriminately, Fakhrul alleged.

The BNP will create divisional committees which will work alongside a central moni-toring committee to observe the election, Fakhrul said. l

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015News4DT

Mental health act still in darknessn Abid Azad

It was in 1983 when authorities � rst initiated the process of formulating an updated men-tal health act. But 32 years later, as we enter 2016, even a draft act is yet to get the nod from the ministries concerned.

Mental health specialists say the British era’s Lunacy Act of 1912 has lost its e� ective-ness and appropriateness. A new act is des-perately needed not only to protect people from mental illness but also to ensure com-prehensive mental health services for all.

Prof Golam Rabbani, president of Bang-ladesh Association of Psychiatrists, said the delay was mostly because the proposed act had been at the bottom of the ministry’s pri-ority list for all these years.

However, it was good to see the issue gain some momentum recently when the process was � nally progressed from the Law Com-mission to the Health Ministry this July, he said.

But joint secretary (hospital) of Health Ministry, Zakia Sultana, said the raw draft still requires quite a few changes before it can be okayed.

“Still we have the raw draft in our hands. Although we met twice in this regard, but more meetings will be needed as there are several points to be modi� ed. Soon we will arrange meetings with di� erent stakeholders to make a � nal draft,” Zakia added.

However, she did not clarify about what modi� cations needed to be made.

A 32-year-long processEven before work on the proposed act began, local mental health specialists – with sugges-tions from WHO expert Narendra Narayan – started working on a regulation to protect mental health in 1982, said Prof Rabbani.

The following year, the process of formulat-ing a mental health act began. “We only had the Lunacy Act 1912 and Mental Health Act of England and Wales to follow. So we had to put an extra e� ort to make the Health Min-istry aware about the importance of mental health,” he said.

A law is required to bring mental illness-es under a legal framework as it involves many debatable issues like guardianship and

forced treatment, the psychiatrists associa-tion president said.

“So we are following the most recent and most modern act enacted in India. However, Pakistan has a mental health act which was not properly enacted, while Sri Lanka still has no act regarding mental health” Prof Rab-bani told the Dhaka Tribune.

Monira Rahman, founder and chair of Innovation for Wellbeing Foundation, said Bangladesh still follows the Lunacy Act 1912 which considers a person with mental illness as a “lunatic” and the act tries to save the so-ciety from these “mad” people.

This shows the state’s attitude towards mental health issue, she said.

Monira added that the act was being de-layed because of sensitive matters in the proposed draft, including the perspectives of rights and accountability for the profession-als.

Prof Rabbani, however, said: “It [the act] will not limit their [patients and profession-als] rights, rather it will see mental health from a wider perspective.”

According to Monira, there are only 200 psychiatrists, 50 clinical psychologists and less than 24 educational and counselling psy-chologists o� ering treatment in Bangladesh.

The solution to this crisis can be achieved through an overhauling of the traditional mental healthcare structure, better training for professionals, awareness raising, and bet-ter accountability, health sector specialists said. l

1 killed, 2 burnt in Dhaka mess � ren Kamrul Hasan

A motor parts trader was killed and two of his employees sustained burn injuries after their accommodation was set on � re at Narinda intersection in the capital’s Wari area early yesterday.

The deceased, Sumon, 48, son of late Is-mail Miah of Munshiganj, owned two auto parts stores in Dholaikhal.

The two injured - Shahidul Islam, 18, and Shakib, 35 – are siblings and are the sons of late Sultan Shikdar of Munshiganj.

Sumon’s brother Rajon, who lives nearby, took the three to Dhaka Medical College Hos-pital around 5am.

Partha Shankar Paul, resident surgeon of the hospital’s burn unit, said Sumon and Shahidul received 85% burn while Shakib sustained 32%.

Sumon succumbed to injuries around 3pm.

The room of a mess in which Sumon, Shahidul and Shakib live caught � re around 4:30am, Zahid, another inhabitant of the mess, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We broke the door of the room as it was locked from inside and brought the three out,” he said.

O� cer-in-Charge of Wari police station Zehad Hasan said two of Sumon’s former em-ployees - Sohag and Sajib – were suspected to be responsible for lighting the � re.

“But they � ed from the mess after the in-cident and police are looking for them.” l

Chittagong Jamaat ameer among 56 heldn Our Correspondent, Chittagong

Police in Chittagong arrested 56 people, including the district unit Ameer of Ja-maat-e-Islami Professor Ahsan Ullah and two top Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders, in di� erent parts of the district on various charges yes-terday.

Kotwali police station Inspector (investi-gation) Nur Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune Jamaat Ameer Ahsan Ullah and central Shibir

leaders Enamul Kabir and Golam Mostafa were detained from Chittagong Central Jail gate area.

“They walked out of jail on bail in the morning. But they were detained again in several other cases � led on subversion charges. They were shown arrested in those cases,” he said.

The 53 others were detained from several areas of the port city during overnight raids, and 44 of them face warrants. l

Dhaka North’s Mayor Annisul Huq waves at the crowd in a rally held yesterday to declare that the roads surrounding the Tejgaon industrial area, Mohakhali bus terminal and Tejgaon truck stand have been freed from illegal parking RAJIB DHAR

‘There are only 200 psychiatrists, 50 clinical psychologists and less than 24 educational and counselling psychologists o� ering treatment in Bangladesh’

Cox’s Bazar 27 21Dhaka 28 18 Chittagong 27 19 Rajshahi 28 16 Rangpur 26 16 Khulna 28 16 Barisal 29 17 Sylhet 27 14T E M P E R AT U R E F O R E C A S T F O R TO DAY

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:12PM SUN RISES 6:31AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW29.8ºC 12.0ºCJessore RajarhatFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11

DRY WEATHER

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Fajr: 5:08am | Jumma: 11:51am Asr: 3:36pm | Magrib: 5:12pmEsha: 6:42pm

PRAYERTIMES

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 20155

DTPARIS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

1. Denmark2. UK3. Sweden4. Belgium5. France6. Cyprus7. Morocco8. Italy9. Ireland10. Luxembourg11. Switzerland12. Malta13. Latvia14. Hungary15. Romania16. Portugal17. Lithuania18. Croatia19. Germany20. Finland21. Indonesia22. India23. Slovak Republic24. Iceland25. Mexico26. Czech Republic27. Egypt28. Slovenia29. Poland

CLIMATE CHANGEPERFORMANCE RANKING

30. Greece31. US32. Netherlands33. Norway34. Bulgaria35. SA36. Malaysia37. Algeria38. Spain39. NZ40. Brazil41. Belarus42. Austria43. Ukraine44. China45. Argentina46. Thailand47. Turkey48. Estonia49. Chinese Taipei50. Russia51. Iran52. Singapore53. Canada54. Korea55. Japan56. Australia57. Kazakhstan58. Saudi Arabia

Race to the � nish threatens vulnerable country goalsn Abu Bakar Siddique from Paris

With just a day to go before the global cli-mate summit in Paris comes to a close, a big question mark hangs over whether the � nal agreement will be legally binding or volun-tary.

Wednesday evening’s draft text revealed several disagreements including over wheth-er the global temperature rise target should be below 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius.

Crucial planks such as the � nance mech-anism, loss and damage measures and pref-erential treatment for vulnerable countries were also hotly contested by the representa-tives of the world’s governments.

Temperature goalOn the temperature rise goal, the draft still contained three options – below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Only one option will ultimately make it to the � nal Paris agreement.

Developing countries, climate-vulnera-ble countries, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island and Developing states (SIDS) and the African countries, were push-ing for the 1.5°C target.

The BBC reports that the so called “high ambition coalition” comprising over 100 countries, including the EU, Norway, Mexi-co and Colombia were now backing the 1.5°C target.

Even the US was on board, with lead nego-tiator Todd Stern calling for the 1.5°C target to be recognised in the eventual agreement.

But vulnerable country negotiators said this last minute compromise will likely come at a cost.

There were suggestions that if developed countries agreed to the 1.5°C target, the issue of loss and damage compensations would, in consequence, be struck from the draft.

Speculation ran rife at COP21 that loss and damage negotiations would be subject to hard ball tactics.

Saleemul Huq, director of the Internation-al Centre for Climate Change and Develop-ment (ICCAD), told the Dhaka Tribune that developed country pressure for such a trade-o� , between the temperature goal and loss and damage measures, was likely.

Loss and damage measuresAn earlier draft saw the loss and damage clause, using the phrase “compensation and liabilities,” removed before it was sent to minister-level negotiations.

Developed countries, including many of the world’s major polluters, have traditionally pre-ferred less ambitious temperature rise goals.

Kamal Uddin Ahmed, secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, told the Dhaka Tribune he was not sure whether the demands of high climate risk countries would be met.

Echoing Saleemul Huq’s comments, he said today’s talks would reveal which way the negotiation’s � nal outcome would go.

Observers said it appeared as though the bottom had fallen out of the negotiation on the bottom line.

The � nance negotiation is arguably the most important portion of the talks.

On the eve of the long-awaited � nal agree-ment, there was no clear indication about who would take responsibility for � nancing or how much money would be committed to climate funds.

To get an idea of just where the talks stand, here is an extract of Wednesday’s working draft text:

“Developed country Parties shall provide [new,] [additional,] [adequate,] [predicta-ble,] [accessible,] [sustained] and [scaled-up] � nancial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitiga-tion and adaptation. Other Parties may on a voluntary, complementary basis, provide resources to developing countries, includ-ing through South-South cooperation initia-tives.”

Brackets signify that a word is contested and has not been agreed upon.

Saleemul Huq explained that words in brackets meant that there was still uncertain-ty in the � nancial process.

Moreover, the draft text had removed lan-guage about balancing � nancing between mitigation and adaptation, a crucial demand

of the developing countries.

Preferential treatment for vulnerable countriesThe developing countries are often the most vulnerable to climate change but have limit-ed access to resources to tackle the negative impacts of global warming.

Members of civil society who attended the Paris climate summit that began on Novem-ber 30 expressed frustration that so much remained in the air with just a day left in the negotiations.

They said the draft text failed to address many issues including preferential treatment and � nancial support for developing coun-tries and countries most vulnerable to cli-mate change e� ects.

These principles had previously been secured in the text of the Common but Dif-ferentiated Responsibilities and Respec-tive Capabilities (CBDRRC), a statement of the core principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC).

They said although the volume of the draft text had been reduced, nearly nothing had been agreed upon.

Golam Rabbani, senior research fellow at the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), said: “Preferential treatment is the essence of the UNFCCC, but we do not see references to this in the new draft. So I do not see any special outcome from this con-ference.”

Ziaul Haque Mukta of the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihood said: “If global leaders fail, Bangladesh will become more vulnerable.” l

UN study: Climate change impacting human rightsn Abu Bakar Siddique, from Paris

The impacts of climate change has been largely a� ecting human rights across the world by posing threats to biodiversity, ecol-ogy as well as food security, a new United Na-tions study has said.

“Climate Change and Human Rights,” released on Human Rights Day yesterday ahead of the new climate agreement, pro-vides a comprehensive study of the links be-tween human rights, law and climate change.

It says that anthropogenic climate change is the largest and the most pervasive contem-porary threat to the natural environment and human rights.

The far-reaching environmental impacts of climate change are already being felt, pos-ing a potential threat to human rights across the world, including the rights to health, food and adequate standard of living, it said.

“This new research sheds light on the link between climate change and human rights and can serve as a reference point for cli-mate action beyond the stepping stone of the Paris agreement,” United Nations Environ-ment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner said while addressing the re-port launching ceremony at the COP21 venue in Le Bourget of Paris yesterday.

The report recommended including pro-visions, related to protecting human rights from climate change impacts and responses, in the Paris Agreement. l

202020142013

100

52.261.8

Poorer countries insist rich nations must honour their promise of billions of dollars to �ght the e�ects of climate change

Finance: Crucial to a lasting climate deal

Source: Climate Funds Update

*UN Framework Conventionon Climate Change

by climatefunds

Where does the money come from?

How is it allocated?

What will it be spent on?

Adaptation

By supporting the transition to greener energyBy dealing with loss and damage due to rising seas, droughts, storms, etc

Anticipation and actionExamples: Sea defences,better adapted crops,repairs to infrastructure

Mitigation

Helping countriesswitch to low-carbonenergy sourcesExamples: Solar, windand wave power

REDD

Reducing Emissionsfrom Deforestationand forest DegradationConserving and sustainablymanaging forestsand their carbon stocks

inc.The GreenClimate Fund

(GCF)

Pledged:$10.2 billion

26major funds

Total pledged:$35.7 billion

The GCF

Fund board members:

HQ: Songdo, S. Korea

Established: Nov 2010by the UNFCCC*

Emerging as the mainway of allocating funds

Governments

Banks

Institutionalinvestors

Insuranceindustry

Privatesector

developedcountries

12

12

412

developingcountries

observers

substitutes

How will the money help?

In $ billions

Provided

Promised

In 2014, they were undertwo thirds of the way there

What progresshave they made?

In 2009 rich countriespledged to give $100 billion per year by 2020

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015News6DT

Alleged robber dies falling o� balconyn FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

An 18-year-old teenager died yesterday after allegedly fall-ing from the second � oor of a three-storey building in Mia Khan Nagor area of the port city.

However, mystery sur-rounds the death as police statements over the injury marks on the body contradict.

The dead Md Azad was son of Md Samsul Alam, an inhab-itant of Mia Khan Nagor area of Bakalia, police sources said.

O� cer-in-Charge Abul Man-sur of Bakalia police station said: “The youth had climbed up on to a balcony in the second � oor of the building to commit robbery around 3:30am.”

“When the residents sensed his presence and cried

for help, the youth jumped o� the balcony which left him critically injured,” he added.

The OC said the teenager was declared dead by duty doctors after he was brought to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

However, Assistant Sub-In-spector Pankaj Barua of CMCH police outpost said an injury mark in� icted from a sharp weapon was found on the right side of the youth’s body.

The SI said the body has been sent for autopsy af-ter which the sharp weapon wound can be determined.

When asked, the OC said as the youth fell on a tin-shed house it might have caused the injuries. An unnatural death (UD) case has been � led in this connection, he added. l

Magnito Digital named digital agency of the yearn Tribune Report

Magnito Digital, one of the leading digital marketing agen-cies of Bangladesh, has won the gold award and became the Campaign Asia-Paci� c - Digital Agency of the Year 2015 in the Rest of South Asia category.

The event took place at ITC Grand Central Hotel in Mum-bai on December 7.

Magnito Digital was the only Bangladeshi agency among the winners in the digital agency category. It was also the only independent and non-a� liat-ed agency, shortlisted across

all categories in the region. Riyad SA Husain, CEO of

Magnito Digital, received the award on behalf of the company.

Since 1994, the Agency of the Year Awards is one of the world’s most prestigious awards in the advertising in-dustry. This Award is assessed not only based on successful campaigns, but it also looks at all aspects of an agency. The results are tabulated by Price-waterhouseCoopers (PwC) and it is the only awards pro-gramme that honours agency performance as a whole, at both local and regional level. l

Sylhet Cadet College reunion on Dec 24-26n Tribune Report

The much awaited gala occa-sion for the ex-cadets of Sylhet Cadet College, 7th OCAS reun-ion 2015 will be held at the col-lege campus on December 24, 25 and 26.

President Abdul Hamid would be the chief guest of the closing ceremony of the event on December 26, Old Cadets’ Association of Sylhet issued a press release on Thursday.

The press release said the president would witness the parade of existing and former students of this prestigious in-stitution.

The former students of Sylhet Cadet College will also

take a trip down memory lane by taking part in this reunion, the press release also said.

The three day long reunion will be consisting of various outdoor activities and cultural programs where top of the line musicians of the country will entertain the niche crowd, the press release read.

Interested ex-cadets were asked in the press release to register online via www.ticketchai.com, or visit www.ocas-scc.org for more infor-mation, or contact Md. Shah-noor Alam (01816393058) and Abdullah-al-kawser Sonnet (01712654650), as the registra-tion process for the reunion has already commenced. l

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015News 7

DT

MUNICIPALIT Y POLLS 2015

MUNICIPALIT YPOLLS 2015

M U N I C I P A L I T Y P O L L S 2 0 1 5

M U N I C I P A L I T Y P O L L S 2 0 1 5

Rebel gets AL backing in Shariatpurn Our Correspondent, Shariatpur

Awami League has changed its mind and giv-en its nomination to the party’s rebel candi-date in Shariatpur municipality.

The ruling party extended its support to Farroque Ahmed Talukdar yesterday, after the previously nominated candidate Ra� qul Islam Kotowal’s candidacy was cancelled be-cause he is accused of defaulting loan at Ja-nata Bank’s Karwan Bazar branch.

District AL General Secretary Anol Kumar Dey submitted the party’s � nal nomination form, along with a signed letter from party chief Sheikh Hasina, to the district returning o� cer yesterday.

Sources said even though Kotowal had appealed against the decision and hearing on his appeal is scheduled to be heard today, Awami League decided to switch its support as it was unlikely that the returning o� cer’s decision would be overturned.

Anol said the fresh support comes as per Sheikh Hasina’s directives, adding that all party members would work for the Boat elec-toral symbol in the December 30 election.

Returning O� cer Abullah Al Mamun said legal steps would be taken after discussing the issue with the Election Commission.

The new nominee, Farroque Ahmed Ta-lukdar, urged all local AL activists to not be confused about the change and work togeth-er to ensure a victory for Awami League. l

Sreepur municipality residents long for amenitiesn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Discussions among residents of Sreepur mu-nicipality area in Gazipur in the run-up to the municipal polls are dominated by frustration over the lack of a number of facilities.

They say the area has not seen substantial development and is riddled with problems such as lack of good educational institutions, playgrounds and amusement parks, un-planned housing and industrialisation, and insu� cient supply of gas and water.

Zahirul Islam, a drug trader in Ujilab village, said the municipality has o� cially been given a second-class status but the reality is di� erent.

“The residents do not get the facilities that a municipality of this grade should o� er. Mayor and councillor candidates try to woo us by promising a set of developments dur-ing electioneering, but those turn into hollow promises once the election is over,” he said.

“This time, I am not going to be persuaded by the insincere words of the candidates. I will do my calculations before casting my ballot.”

Advocate Emdadul Haque Masum, who lives in Ward 1, made similar remarks, say-ing: “Presumably, the annual budget of the municipality is not implemented properly. If that was the case, we would have seen at least some development projects being im-plemented every year.”

The municipality, which was founded in November 2000 and has an area of 46.97 square kilometres, was given second-class status in March 2007.

Nazrul Islam, a CNG-run autorickshaw driver, said the condition of roads in the mu-nicipality area is very poor and drivers face di� culties while driving.

“Candidates come to us during campaigns and seek votes but low-income people like us are not making progress. This time, I will

choose a candidate who will think about our miseries and help us,” he added.

The municipality area has a population of more than 150,000 while the number of voters is 57,961 – 29,226 males and 28,735 females. l

MP versus nominee stando� heating up in Shahjadpurn Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

Things have been heating up between the Awami League nominated mayoral candi-date for the Shahjadpur municipality in Sir-ajganj and the local lawmaker, who also be-longs to the ruling party.

On December 5, lawmaker Hasibur Rah-man Swapan joined a reception programme at the playground of a local school. He ar-rived at the venue along with him a motor-bike procession and sought vote for the rul-ing party’s electoral symbol -- boat.

Although he urged the gathering to cast vote for his party’s symbol, Swapan was not very friendly while talking about the candi-date that his party has nominated for the seat – Halimul Haque Miru.

Swapan – who is known to be close with Miru’s rival and independent candidate VP

Abdur Rahim – said former municipality chairman Miru was a political outcast.

Two days before that, Miru complained to the chairman of the district unit Awami League – former minister Abdul Latif Biswas – and the local deputy commissioner that Swapan might break electoral code of con-duct at that programme.

According to the electoral code of con-duct, lawmakers are not allowed to take part in electioneering in any capacity.

However, Miru’s complaint was not en-tertained and Swapan did exactly what he feared.

In a selection poll conducted among the local grassroots Awami League men, VP Rahim beat Miru as the � rst choice candi-date from the Shahjadpur unit of the rulingparty.

However, the Awami League central com-

mand nominated Miru instead of VP Rahim as the candidate for the � rst ever partisan municipality polls in history.

Later Miru also alleged that Swapan was campaigning instead of independent can-didate Rahim instead of him. Swapan has also been allegedly threatening the local ruling party workers to not work in favourof Miru.

District Awami League chief Abdul Latif Biswas said party chief and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been informed about the matter.

However, Swapan denied the allegations saying there was no way he could oppose the party chief’s selection because that could re-sult in expulsion.

Reportedly, Miru has also lodged a written o� cial complaint with the local returning of-� cer of the upcoming elections. l

Left, BNP-nominated mayoral candidate in Rajshahi’s Nawhata municipality, Moqbul Hossain, greets a voter near the local market yesterday. Right, Mohonpur municipality’s Awami League-backed candidate Shahiduzzaman Shahid rides on the back of a motorcycle as he campaigns at the area’s Poil village AZAHAR UDDIN

News8DTFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Human Rights Day celebratedn Tribune Report

The 67th International Human Rights Day was celebrated yesterday in many districts of the country with a call to ensure human rights to all.

In KhulnaThe district administration, South Asian Crime Watch and Legal Aid Center (ASK) chalked out elaborate programmes including discussion, rally and human chain, to mark the day, said our correspondent.

In the morning, in front of Legal Aid Center o� ce, a rally was held inaugurated by Additional Superintendent of Police Sha� ul-lah. Among others, Syful Islam of ASK pres-ident, its secretary Shahadat Hossain, Ezaz Khan, Jasim, Murad and Russel were present on the on the occasion.

In his remarks, Syful Islam said human rights violation had gradually been increas-ing in society due to various reasons like cor-ruption, poverty and illiteracy.

He said the country’s institutional system need to be brought under transparency and accountability and emphasis should be given to establishing a non-communal society.

In RajshahiRally, human chain, street-corner meeting and discussion marked the daylong pro-gramme on the occasion.

Light House in association with its ‘Im-proved Justice and Legal Aid Services (IJLAS)’ project organized a post-rally dis-cussion at Paba Upazila complex auditorium with � nancial support of Community Legal Services Programme.

Our Rights Our Freedoms Always was the main theme of the day, reports BSS.

UNO Selim Hossain and Upazila Parish-ad Vice-chairman Khairunnessa Begum ad-dressed the discussion as chief and special guests respectively with Nicholas Biswas, team leader of IJLAS Project, in the chair.

Social Service O� cer Abu Taher, Women A� airs O� cer Hosney Laila, Poverty Allevi-ation O� cer Abu Bakkar Siddique and IJLAS Upazila Coordinator Sanaul Haque also spoke.

Various other organisations like local unit of Human Rights Commission, Barendra Unnayan Forum, Bangladesh Citizens Rights Forum and Diner Alo Hizra Unnayan Mohila Sangstha observed the day through separate programmes like rally and discussion meetings.

In JhenaidahOur correspondent said a colourful proces-sion was brought out from in front of Puraton Court in the morning.

Deputy Commissioner Mahbub Alam Ta-lukder, Awami League leader Sydul Karim Mintu and human rights activist Tuku spoke on the ocassion.

In BagerhatA discussion was held at Jiboner Adhikar Sangha o� ce in the town.

Former ward councilor Kazi Golam Most-ofa presided over the function where among others ward councilor Tania Khatun, advo-cate Luna Siddique, Sheikh Asad and Binoy Krishna Rana spoke on the occasion.

The day was also celebrated in Shariatpur, Magura, Madaripur, Faridpur, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur districts.

The UN General Assembly proclaimed De-cember 10 as Human Rights Day in 1950 with a view to bringing to the attention ‘of the peo-ples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.

The theme of this year’s day is ‘Our Rights, Our Freedom. Always’. l

Bir Shrestha Ruhul Amin’s death anniv observedn Our Correspondent, Khulna

The 44th death anni-versary of Bir Shreshtha Ruhul Amin, one of the seven greatest heroes of the Liberation War, was observed in the district with be� tting manner.

Bangladesh Navy Khal-ishpur headquarter (BNS Titumir) and Rupsha Press Club chalked out daylong programmes which included recitation from the holy Quran, placing wreaths at the martyr’s grave-yard, discussion meeting, milad mah� l, bad-minton tournament and prize distribution.

On December 10, 1071, only six days be-fore the independence, he was killed by col-laborators of Pakistan army, after his warship came under Indian Air Force attack mistak-enly at the River Rupsha in Khulna.

He was posthumously awarded the na-tion’s highest bravery award for his service during the liberation war.

Bangladesh Navy warship BNS Shaheed Ruhul Amin is named after him. l

Interview 9D

T

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

nKhan N Moushumi

Could you describe your collection for the festival?My collection for the Khadi Utshab will be bright and gaudy. Although khadi is very subtle, my line for the festival is not. There will be fuchsia pink, acid green and more. It will feature a very modern and funky line of clothing with traditional motifs and elements on them.

What did you derive inspiration from for this collection?Shokher hari (traditional, painted pottery). It’s very vibrant, very Bengali and looks absolutely beautiful. Although I’m not usually a big fan of bright colours, I was so mesmerised by the patterns and strokes of shokher haris that I wanted to incorporate them in my collection. I have modified and simplified these patterns into funky, geometric lines and designs.

You’re an artist and also a fashion designer. How did the transition happen?In my art school, my favourite subject was drawing the human body. And fashion designing is about dressing the human body. So the transition was natural, and finding the balance between the two was not difficult either.

At the Khadi Utsab, we’ll also have Indian designers showcasing their upcoming line. How do you think fashion has evolved in the South Asian region over the decades?The truth is India and Sri Lanka are way

ahead of us in terms of fashion. There are some great Sri Lankan designers who are doing really well.

In the last couple of years in Bangladesh, we have seen the youth dominating the fashion scene. The young generation has found their footing. They like to dress up and are highly exposed to the global fashion scene because of the media, so they know what’s happening and what’s trending. They are also experimental which gives us the chance to find and work on newer designs for them.

Where do you think fashion is headed in this region?I think fashion evolves slowly but the change will produce some great designers in the country. There’s a trend to buy Bangladeshi designer wear, especially for events such as Pohela Boishakh or Falgun, so that’s promising.

A lot of people are starting to take up fashion designing as their profession. In the future, we’ll have Bangladeshi designers with foreign degrees on fashion designing.

What, according to you, does khadi represent in the fashion world?Khadi is all about bringing back past into the future. Gandhi taught us to wear our own. He used to wear khadi. It represents the essence of freedom, the essence of recognition and symbolises our culture. As Bengalis, we all need certain things to represent ourselves, our traditions and our heritage. We need to be rooted, to be grounded and that’s what khadi is to us.

How do you think khadi could be more popularised?Through great designs! If khadi wear can be designed eloquently and innovatively keeping global trends in mind, it will be very popular.

Buyers also need to understand that there are many weavers who will get their jobs back if they buy a khadi kurti or top, so generating awareness will also help it gain popularity. l

Leading artist and fashion designer Kuhu is renowned for her eloquent painting and distinctive clothing line. Today she talks about the elements that make for her upcoming creations to be showcased at the Khadi Utshab that starts today

7 questions with Kuhu

Gulshan Sharee Museum has currently arranged a bridal fest at their stores in Gulshan’s Pink city, Mirpur’s Benarasi Polli and Bashundhara City. Outfits by Bollywood designer Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and other famous designers will also be on sale. There will also be local sarees such as Benarasi, Katan, Rajshahi silk, Kanjivaram, Tasor, Kota, khadi, South Indian silk, Kashmiri silk, Baluchori, Garad, Chosha, Monipuri and Dhakai Jamdani. For details contact: Shop no: 97-100 and 75-76, Block- C, Level: 4, Bashundhara City, Shop no:9, Block-A, Lane:8, Mirpur Benarashi Polli, Gulshan Pink City Basement 1. Hotline: 01985639330 l

Bridal fest at Gulshan Sharee Museum

news

Writing10DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Things you never knew about the popular author and the Harry Potter series

1. Harry Potter’s birthday is on the same day as J K Rowling’s.

2. J K Rowling once knew a Hell’s Angel Biker in West Country, from whom she revealed her inspiration for the half-giant Hagrid.

3. She never brought up religion in the book. The cause for this was she believed Christian readers would be able to guess what the ending will be.

4. The death of Hedwig was a signal, of Harry Potter losing his sense of chastity and innocence.

5. “The tale of three brothers” referred to in the � nal book of the series was actually inspired from The Canterbury Tales.

6. This may raise few eyebrows, but Rowling actually considered killing o� Ronald Weasley, just because she was in a bad place in her life then. ‘There, now you de� nitely can’t have him anymore.’ But I think in my absolute heart of heart of hearts, although I did seriously consider killing Ron, [I wouldn’t have done it],” she said.

7. She had a � ght with her boyfriend, and

came up with the concept of Quidditch. How, is still a mystery.

“It infuriates me, which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it,” she said at an interview.

8. She � lled up � ve pages of possible names before she was satis� ed with the name Quidditch.

9. At the age of six, she wrote her � rst book named Rabbit.

10. You know the train platform 9¾ quarters? It was where J K Rowling’s parents � rst met.

“For me, King’s Cross Station is a very, very romantic place, probably the most romantic station, purely because my parents met here. So, that’s always been part of my childhood folklore. So, I wanted Harry to go to Hogwarts by train and obviously, therefore, it had to be from King’s Cross,” said Rowling. l

J K Rowling author

verses

While most of us stare at a blank screen for days and � nally give up when writing a basic essay, writers persevere for ingenious introductions for their million-word novels. How do they begin? There are a set of “laws” they follow, if you’re interested in writing one.

Always � nish what you startThe golden rule: don’t ever let your work die in vain. Think of the sleepless nights, the mountains of research, the hours spent in despair trying to come up with words, and use them to your advantage. You owe it to yourself to at least � nish your novel. It might not mean anything to the world but it should mean the world to you.

Write about what you likeStaring at the screen and coming up empty? Yes, that usually happens when you pursue something you have no interest and no knowledge in. Don’t write just because you have a deadline. Write about what appeals to you, what motivates you. Basically, write from the heart.

Be patientPerseverance is key. It’s not humanly

possible to � nish a novel in, say, a month. If it was, we would be writing 12 per year! Take your time. You owe it to yourself and to your readers to come up with the best version of the novel possible. So, write it, edit it, and then re-write it. Who knows, the additional time you take to carefully scrutinize every word and � x them might just drive your novel to the best seller list.

Expect rejectionsRejection is an imperative test of an author’s character. J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter received twelve publication rejections in a

row and yet, the last four books of the series consecutively broke records as the fastest selling books in history. Helpful advice: be prepared. You will get kicked down, and sometimes, that can be a good thing.

Writing is easy, publishing is hardAnybody can jumble words together and call it a ‘novel’ in the end. The true test of one’s character is publishing. If you’re unsure about your novel, you can expect the same from publishers. Bear in mind that if you have plans of publishing, you will probably have doubts. l

tips

The content was provided by SteamPug Writers, a pack of experienced word-smiths and editors well-versed in producing dynamic content.Contact them at steampugged@gmail.com or visit www.facebook.com/SteamPugWriters

Stuck at home

nNabeela Aleena

For months when you are home alone The happiness in you has blownLie is sadness blownTo ask to take you out the courtesy no one has shownYou have sat inside and grunted and moanedYou should get out moreAnd rise from boredom’s shoreSome people remember you no moreSadness is the thought that is the coreThe food delivery man has known you moreYour insides are telling you go out and roarSometimes you have criedThe excitement in you has diedNow you will get up And not feel the thorn of a shrubYou will now become happy And leave all thoughts that are sappyYou will leave those deep sighsAnd your optimism’s increase level will tryIce-cream will be your best friendSleeping has been your new trendNow is the time to leave themAnd be at the world’s hem.

Novel essentialsThings you must know before starting a novel

INSIDE

As we approach the end of the COP21 negotiations, there seem to be indications of a breakthrough. The formation of the High Ambition Coalition of over 100 countries, including 79 African, Caribbean and Paci� c countries, as well as the EU and US, appears to be a positive step

towards reaching an ambitious agreement. India has also formed a solar alliance of 120 countries in an e� ort to increase use of renewable energies.

However, there are still many issues that need resolving. One of the biggest obstacles remains: The di� ering responsibilities between developed and developing countries, mainly over � nances. Brazil, China, South Africa, and India have been strong in their stance of developed nations shouldering the � nancial burden for climate change, but this has not gone down well with industrialised nations.

So far, a near-� nal draft of the accord has failed to make compensation a legally binding issue, and vulnerable countries’ demand for balancing climate � nance between adaptation and mitigation has not been resolved either. Although the accord has called for cuts in carbon emissions from 186 countries, it has failed to say how those commitments will be monitored and veri� ed.

This is worrying for countries like Bangladesh, where a one metre sea level rise could lead to millions of displaced people and a loss of 50% of our rice farming land.

We are unlikely to be able to raise su� cient funds for climate change adaptation and mitigation without external support. Despite having been lauded for our policies of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, we (along with most of Asia) are also continuing to build more coal-powered plants. China does not seem to have any plans of de-carbonising before the 2030s, and India has made no commitments either.

Although it is natural for nations to act in their own self-interest, it is imperative we remember that a universal climate agreement works in all of our interests. Developed countries need to come forward with clear packages for support, and developing countries need to commit to reducing carbon emissions.

At this point, an agreement is not for our bene� t only, but for preserving the world for future generations. Otherwise, we will one day have to answer the di� cult question -- why, when we knew the consequences of inaction, did we continue to do nothing?

Although it is natural for nations to act in their own self-interest, it is imperative we remember that a universal climate agreement works in all of our interests

We all belong to a country of imagination

To bind or not to bind?If the Senate doesn’t ratify, the treaty isn’t legally binding; and if the US -- the world’s largest economy, the largest historical emitter, and the second largest current emitter -- isn’t legally bound by a treaty, then what good is it?

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207

Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com

Send us your Op-Ed articles:opinion.dt@dhakatribune.

com www.dhakatribune.com

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PAGE 13

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Tiger born, Bangla strongI grew up on cricket pitches pretending to be Viv Richards, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev. Today, there is a generation of Bangladeshi kids playing in the streets, in the cleared paddy � elds and calling themselves Shakib, Mushie, Mashrafe, Tamim, and the pantheon of tiger heroes

The fabric of India is woven from many threads. It is that fabric woven from many threads that our dissident voices are determined to preserve

Climate change has no borders

11D

TEditorialFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

BIGSTOCK

n Nayantara Sahgal

This is my � rst visit to Bangladesh, though I have felt an emotional connection with your country ever since its creation. And no occasion

could be a happier one for my � rst visit than for a celebration of literature. So, I want to thank you for your kind invitation to me to be here at this festival.

We need to celebrate literature, and it is especially important to celebrate it in these troubled times when it is under attack in so many parts of the world, certainly in India. Yet, thinking of what I should say to you today, I knew I could not make a pretty speech about literature. Instead, I would like to acquaint you with the situation that we in India are facing, because what happens to writers in India -- or anywhere else in the world -- concerns writers everywhere.

We may belong to di� erent nationalities, but we all belong to the country of imagination, and when an iron curtain comes down on our imagination, then it is time to act, and to act as writers, not as separate nationalities. It is in recognition of this truth that writers from 150 countries have declared their support for us, and that 200 British writers marched in support of us recently in London.

We in India have been waging a battle against an assault on our freedom of speech, and the freedom to think and write as we choose. But since literature cannot be sealed into a compartment shut-o� from the rest of life, our battle for freedom of speech has become a larger one, to defend and preserve the very idea of India as a plural, secular, democratic republic in which our Constitution guarantees every Indian the right to live, eat, and worship as he or she chooses. This is the e� ort we are now engaged in.

I want to explain that the most remarkable fact about this protest is that it is not planned or organised. It is not a movement. It is something much more impressive, because it is a spontaneous upsurge of response, coming from individuals and from di� erent disciplines. It has brought writers together with artists, actors, and � lm-makers, historians, sociologists, and scientists.

Historians and sociologists are protesting against the substitution of mythology

for history, which is taking us back to the Vedas when we are living in the 21st century. Scientists are protesting against the destruction of the scienti� c temper and the spirit of enquiry, without which no nation can call itself modern.

In the general context of these protests we can call this upsurge a � ght for reason against unreason, a demand that the doors to knowledge and creativity remain open, and that the fresh air of di� erent ideas, di� erent viewpoints, and di� erent ways of life and thought will continue to invigorate us as they have invigorated and enriched India for centuries past.

Many of us have returned our literary awards to the Sahitya Akademi, some have resigned from their positions in the Akademi. A few days ago, a renowned scientist returned his high civilian award called the Padma Bhushan to the president, saying: “The direction in which today’s government is driving my beloved country will make the country a Hindu religious autocracy.” He says he � nds the Hindutva ideology to be “divisive, unreasonable, and unscienti� c.” This scientist is a Hindu himself.

Another passionate protest has come from an unusual source, a member of the armed forces, a retired admiral of the Indian Navy, who is also a Hindu, who has rejected the ideology of Hindutva -- which wants to turn India into a Hindu state -- and has asserted

his faith in a plural India.All of us are united in the belief that a

country has no religion. It is people who have religions, and who have the right to practice their di� erent religions as equal citizens of India.

India has been home to several, and we are richer by the in� uences that all these religions and cultures have exerted on our lives, our languages, our literature, our architecture, our music, song and dance, our food, our outlook, and our manners.

Coming from North India, as I do, I consider myself half-Muslim by culture. Ultimately, what we are all � ghting for is the very meaning of India. Actor Saif Ali Khan, son of the Nawab of Pataudi, has said: “We are a blend, this great country of ours. It is our di� erences that make us who we are.

I have prayed in church and attended mass with my wife, Kareena while she has bowed her head at dargahs and prayed in mosques. When we puri� ed our home we had a havan and a Koran-reading and a priest sprinkling holy water. The fabric of India is woven from many threads.”

It is that fabric woven from many threads that our dissident voices are determined to preserve. We will not compromise on India’s historic, multi-religious, multi-cultural identity, and we will not submit to the attempts of Hindu fundamentalists to wipe out our di� erences, and shrink us into a single Hindu identity.

The president himself has raised his voice against the rising tide of hatred, violence, and intolerance of dissent that is threatening to destroy the very meaning of India.

What, you might ask, has all this political-sounding activity to do with literature? Writing is a political activity in the sense that imagination reacts and responds to -- for or against -- the atmosphere of its time. Plays and poems and novels are not about politics, but they are the products of their times, and often of politically conscious imaginations.

Maybe this was not so in earlier times. The Napoleonic Wars, for instance, did not bother the characters in Jane Austen’s novels, but in the 20th century, and now this one, politics has invaded private lives as never before,

and the most powerful � ction worldwide has been written as the result of it. It is the engagement of writers with their times that has made for unforgettable � ction.

I have spoken to you as an Indian, but like you I am also an Asian, and I share with all Asians the triumphs and anxieties that we of this region are going through. I rejoice that Nepal now has a secular democratic constitution, and that a woman is the head of state. I rejoice that Aung San Suu Kyi, who has fought a lonely battle so courageously for democracy, has won her election.

I share the fears we all face in our region, and indeed in the world, from those who will not settle for tolerance and democracy. And above all, I hope that we of Asia will do all we can to ensure that the written word and the creative arts will have the freedom to � ourish in our region.

How can there be any celebration of literature unless the freedom to think and write and create lives, thrives? I also hope that our writers will become familiar through translations with each others’ work, and come to know each other through festivals such as this one.

I am an Indian, and like you I am an Asian, but like us all, I am a citizen of the world. Let me end by illustrating the oneness of our world by a story about my father. He was a Sanskrit scholar and a patriot who gave his entire life to the � ght for independence from British rule led by Mahatma Gandhi.

He was imprisoned four times during that liberation struggle, and he died of his last imprisonment in 1944. Yet he had wept when Hitler’s bombs fell on the British people, and when Hitler’s armies marched into Paris. If anyone had asked him: “What race do you belong to?” His answer would have been: “I belong to the human race.”

So, we need to remind ourselves, now more than ever, that we sink or swim together, whether it is a question of environment, or climate change, or freedom of speech, or human rights, or human su� ering anywhere on Earth. l

Nayantara Sahgal is an Indian writer. This speech was the keynote address at the Dhaka Lit Fest 2015.

We all belong to a country of imagination

The fabric of India is woven from many threads. It is that fabric woven from many threads that our dissident voices are determined to preserve. We will not compromise on India’s historic, multi-religious, multi-cultural identity, and we will not submit to the attempts of Hindu fundamentalists to wipe out our di� erences, and shrink us into a single Hindu identity

Every Indian is also an Asian, as well as a citizen of the world REUTERS

Whether it is the issue of climate change, or freedom of speech, we sink or swim together

Opinion12DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Opinion 13D

T

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

n Neil Tangri

No, it’s not a bondage thing. For those who follow the climate change negotiations, the current dust-up in the media is about

whether the treaty will be “legally binding” or not.

The US says no; the EU says yes. France just caved -- or did it? As with most things, Shakespeare comes to the rescue: Is this, perhaps Much Ado About Nothing?

The problem, as usual, starts in the US. Ever since the debacle of Kyoto, when the US Senate preemptively voted 95–0 to not ratify the Kyoto Protocol before it was even drafted, we have known that the chances of a climate change treaty surviving the Senate were as good as James Inhofe’s snowball surviving its own Senate hell.

That matters because if the Senate doesn’t ratify, the treaty isn’t legally binding; and if the US -- the world’s largest economy, the largest historical emitter, and the second largest current emitter -- isn’t legally bound by a treaty, then what good is it?And what other country would sign up to be legally bound if the biggest player isn’t playing ball? It risks the whole process falling apart.

The UNFCCC process doesn’t come up with a new treaty (also called a protocol or an agreement) every time it meets; usually it issues “COP Decisions” which are relatively minor and relate to procedural issues.

These aren’t important enough to require rati� cation; but imposing emission limits and requiring countries to deliver � nancing are serious commitments, and would require rati� cation.

In fact, the UNFCCC has only produced one rati� cation-requiring treaty so far: The

ill-fated Kyoto Protocol. Paris is slated to be the second: A legally binding treaty, requiring rati� cation by all parties. It’s right there in the text -- check out Article 16.

The rati� cation text is not in brackets, meaning that this is what all the parties have already agreed to. It clearly spells out that there will be a treaty-level Paris Agreement which will require rati� cation.

So, is John Kerry smoking crack when he says that there won’t be a legally binding agreement?

Well, not exactly. In addition to the treaty text, there will also be a COP decision, which is not legally binding. And so the question is really, which pieces are going to be in the Agreement (legally binding) and which will be in the Decision (not binding)?

Here again, if we look at the current negotiating text, things become much clearer. For example, there is no mention of emissions limits in the text -- it’s not even under discussion.

Instead, each country submits its own pledge (called an INDC); there is controversy about how to review those pledges, but nothing about making them legally binding. So Kerry is correct in saying that there are not going to be legally binding emissions limits.

So why is there a war of words going on going on? And did France really just back down?

I only see two interpretations for this very public disagreement about such a fundamental issue in what has otherwise been a carefully orchestrated process.

One is that the US, as in Kyoto, is sleepwalking into a disaster. The other possibility is that, having thought about this for the last 18 years, they have a clever plan. Maybe even a loophole.

If you read the treaty text carefully, it calls for countries to “ratify, accept, or approve” the treaty.

Acceptance and approval are rarely used; in the international regime, they carry the same legal weight as rati� cation but under US law, a treaty is only legally binding if it is rati� ed. So, could the president “accept” the treaty without submitting it to Congress? And would it be legally binding?

The answer seems to be yes and sort of, respectively.

President Obama has previously “accepted” other environmental treaties, most recently the Minamata Convention (to control mercury pollution), without consulting Congress, arguing that they did not impose any legal obligations on the US that did not already exist in domestic US law.

If the Paris Agreement only requires the US to do what it’s doing anyway -- CAFE standards for cars and the Clean Power Plan -- the administration could make a similar argument and “accept” the treaty, sidestepping Congress.

However, that would leave the Paris Agreement vulnerable to a change of heart

from future US governments: Policy made by one president can be undone by another; or Congress could pass a law that would e� ectively force the US to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

And therein lies the real problem: Politics, not law.

Acceptance by the US sends a much weaker signal than rati� cation, and will undermine the weak con� dence that exists in the process.

A plan to accept rather than ratify relies on other countries not paying much attention to the di� erence under US law; thrusting the issue into the spotlight endangers that strategy.

Already, Canada’s prime minister has echoed Kerry, calling for non-legal binding agreement. If that thinking catches on, the Paris Agreement may become the Paris Disagreement. l

This article was originally published on Medium.com.

Neil Tangri is Campaign Director for Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance.

To bind or not to bind?

If the Senate doesn’t ratify, the treaty isn’t legally binding; and if the US -- the world’s largest economy, the largest historical emitter, and the second largest current emitter -- isn’t legally bound by a treaty, then what good is it?

Did the Paris Agreement become the Paris Disagreement?

A lot of the gridlocks in COP21 come down to politics, not law REUTERS

Opinion14DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

n Shammi Huda

Fortitude (n) -- collective noun for cricketing forward defensive strokes

Recently, the Zimbabweans were the latest meal item for the rampant Tigers’ banquet that has taken in Pakistan, India, and South Africa

since May, with England as a World Cup aperitif. Too bad, we would have enjoyed a “kangaroo Barbie” but for the tragic events of September and October.

However, I was taken aback by some of the distasteful mockery and disrespect shown to the Zimmers in social media after our victory.

During the last World Cup, we were thin-skinned about the nonsense served up by some of the media of a neighbouring country, yet we didn’t hesitate to dish out the same rubbish when the boot was on the other foot.

Let us always honour the Zimmers. They, like us, have continuously had their test status questioned and performances ridiculed by the big boys.

In all of international cricket, they are our closest brothers in understanding both the struggle and the pride.

Again, during the Zimbabwe series, my hackles were raised by aspersions cast on the patriotism of our tiger in chief, Shakib Al Hasan and his family’s decision to have their � rst-born abroad.

This was much less than the vitriol aroused by his clash with the cricketing board 18 months earlier over disciplinary issues.

At that time I was taken aback by the level of self-righteous outrage and vileness that included insulting members of his family.

Again, I’m given to understand this is common practice in neighbouring cricketing countries where every Tomal, Dikantho, and Hari jumps on the bandwagon but was never a feature of our game.

I � nd it interesting that MPs, ministers, and their families regularly opt to go abroad for medical issues and also have their scions born abroad to foreign citizenship.

Yet, no collective outrage or condemnation? These are the very people tasked with improving local private and public medical standards, yet don’t do so, and avail of treatment and citizenship abroad.

However, when SAH chooses to do so, it’s almost as if some sort of hasbara equivalent gets its act together. As Jonathan Swift said: “When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: That all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.”

A common feature of the complaints rained down on SAH 18 months ago, seemed to be that of resentment about the money he earned through endorsements.

This endorsement issue comes up again and again in criticism against Tamim, Mashrafe, and any other cricketer daring to rise above their level, blast their impudence.

I have followed SAH’s career since 2007, and seen him graft, sweat, stretch every sinew, and give his all for the sake of Bangladesh cricket.

Often shouldering the responsibility of

bowling prodigious number of overs, or battling to hold an innings together in trying weather and match conditions. He never shirked, he never complained, and he has inspired his teammates to take it to another level.

Deal with the political machinations that is our cricket board, stand tall, and hold your own against the world’s best, carry the hopes of a nation, and then you can say “boo.”

Till then, don’t you dare denigrate a true hero. As far as I’m concerned, he can pee on the bloody pitch and I’ll support him no less.

Tamim Iqbal in 2007 striding down the track and launching Zaheer Khan into the second tier of the stands was the shot heard around the world. Mashrafe has come back from injuries that would have crippled lesser men with lesser wills.

We have witnessed their contemporaries fall by the wayside and others burst brie� y onto the scene like � reworks, then disappear into darkness. They have fought injuries, personal demons, and life.

They are our golden generation that never quite ful� lled their early promise. But today they are golden, they are part of a team of gladiators all backing each other, when others fail, some will always stand up.

Like many of my generation, I grew up on cricket pitches pretending to be Viv Richards, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev. Today, there is a generation of Bangladeshi kids playing in the streets, in the cleared paddy � elds and calling themselves Shakib, Mushie,

Mashrafe, Tamim, and the pantheon of tiger heroes. I do not begrudge this lot any perk or bene� t they have earned. They are tiger born, they are Bangla strong.

The path to this point has been a tough one for both players and fans: Many false dawns, disappointments and frustrations. The times intoxicated by heady happiness, we were seduced into bed by hope -- yet, in the cold sombre morning found ourselves waking up with despair.

One must be a special type of blessed idiot to love Bangladesh cricket. At end of the day, we do not know why we choose to give our hearts to the beloved, but we do.

For the true lover, there is no expectation, no obligation. So embrace the pain and cheer louder, for that’s what we do. l

Shammi Huda is a businessman.

Tiger born, Bangla strongIt is not easy to give our hearts to Bangladesh cricket. But we do it anyway

I grew up on cricket pitches pretending to be Viv Richards, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev. Today, there is a generation of Bangladeshi kids playing in the streets, in the cleared paddy � elds and calling themselves Shakib, Mushie, Mashrafe, Tamim, and the pantheon of tiger heroes

The ‘golden generation’ of cricket is upon us DHAKA TRIBUNE

15D

TBusinessFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Investors hover as e-tailers boost demand for Indian warehousesOverseas � rms including Dutch pension fund manager APG and US buyout group Warburg Pincus are looking to invest in India’s warehouses, hoping to cash in on demand for modern and e� cient storage space from booming online retailers. PAGE 18

Commodity-linked currencies rise in AsiaThe dollar eased against most rivals in Asian trade yesterday, with commodity-linked units enjoying support from a slight uptick in oil prices, while its Australian counterpart surged on the back of a strong jobs report. PAGE 17

TS Tech to set up automobile interior factory at AEPZFully Japanese owned TS Tech Banglades h Limited, an automobile interior manufac-turing company, is set to invest US$5.51m to establish a Car Seat Trim Cover industry in Adamjee Export Processing Zone (AEPZ). Mentionable that in re� ection of harmony ties between Premiers of Japan and Bangla-desh to enhance investment cooperation in new dimension and in accordance of BEP-ZA-JETRO agreement during Prime Minis-ter’s Sheikh Hasina’s Tokyo visit in last year brings this Japanese investment in EPZ, said a BEPZA statement issued yesterday. PAGE 16

Capital market snapshot: ThursdayDSE

Broad Index 4,583.4 -0.1% ▼

Index 1,105.4 0.1% ▲

30 Index 1,741.1 -0.2% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 3,743.5 -1.9% ▼

Turnover in Mn Volume 92.6 -3.6% ▼

CSEAll Share Index 13,976.9 -0.2% ▼

30 Index 12,354.8 0.1% ▲

Selected Index 8,505.1 -0.2% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 256.8 -5.5% ▼

Turnover in Mn Volume 8.4 -8.6% ▼

INSIDE

China’s shifting textile � rms raise Bangladesh’s value chain sharen Kayes Sohel

Bangladesh’s textile value chain is rising faster than any other Asian countries be-cause of low-cost manufacturing � rms shifting out of China, according to Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Firms from Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, which have traditional-ly relied on low-cost production in China, have had to adjust.

The progress in sector-level value chains’ intraregional production activities within sectors appears to be changing, with shares within industrial exports showing interest-ing shifts between 2000 and 2011, according to the ADB’s Asian Economic Integration Report 2015 released on Wednesday.

The report examines trends in trade, � -nance, migration, foreign direct investment and other economic activities in the region.

“Intraregional trade within the labour-in-tensive Asian textile industry still increas-ingly dominated by the China—which covers about two-thirds of intraregional exports—shows Bangladesh and Vietnam emerging as important players,” said the report.

In the meantime, it said domestic value added shares of three East Asian economies—Japan, Korea and Taipei, China—have declined 6-8 percentage points during this period.

“With rising production costs in other economies in general, setting up operations such as in Bangladesh and Vietnam has been on the rise,” it said.

Apart from rising domestic value added shares, the foreign value added to Bangla-desh and Vietnam exports is also increasing

in a much faster pace than that experienced by the rest of their peers (excluding China).

The report found that trade in Asia has slowed faster than that of world trade in re-cent years.

The region’s trade expansion has wit-nessed low gross-domestic product growth since 2012.

The report also included a study of Spe-cial Economic Zones in the region.

It found that governance gaps and lack of focus undermined performance in some zones, while successful zones managed to build close ties with the domestic economy.

Economies with low incomes and young population (high ratios of 20-34 years old to total population) are generally relied on mi-grant sources —such as India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

Bangladesh has attracted FDI in gar-ments and generated new trade, but has had limited success in upgrading and diversify-ing Special Economic Zone (SEZ) exports.

Overall, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka con-tinue to reap static SEZ bene� ts, in par-ticular employment generation and FDI in� ows—based on orthodox and heterodox approaches. l

BSEC: Capital market su� ers from lack of coordination among regulatorsn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Com-mission Acting Chairman Helal Uddin Nizami said the country’s capital market was su� ering badly from lack of coordina-tion among the regulatory bodies.

He said the BSEC had failed to build co-ordination among the regulators including Bangladesh Bank and Insurance Develop-ment Regulatory Authority even in last � ve years, leading to the creation of negative impression over the capital market.

Nizami came up with the remarks dur-ing his speech at the inaugural function of a three-day Bangladesh Capital Market Expo 2015 in Dhaka yesterday.

Arthosuchak, a business news portal, has organised the event.

Nizami criticised the central bank’s role regarding banks’ investment exposure in the capital market.

He said con� ict of interest, non-imple-mentation of rules and regulations were

also some of the major barriers to the devel-opment of the capital market.

Under the rules, the banks will have to bring down their stock market exposure to 25% of their capital by June next year.

Nizami also � ayed insurance regulator for canceling licence of Standard Insurance without consulting with the BSEC.

Speaking at the event, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed urged the mul-tinational companies to list with the stock exchanges.

“There are many multi-national companies in the country. They are making huge pro� ts but depriving the people.”

He said the government is � rm to do everything and resolve the existing prob-lems for development of the country’s capital market.

Arthosuchak Editor Ziaur Rahman said the

main objective of the fair “is to create awareness among the prospective investors and branding the country’s capital market as many investors have no clear idea about the capital market.”

A total of 65 companies, including stockbro-kers, merchant banks, asset management � rms, credit rating agencies, audit � rms and listed companies took part in the three-day show. l

Bangladesh has attracted FDI in garment industry with generation of new trade, but has had limited success in upgrading and diversifying Special Economic Zone exports DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business16DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

TS Tech to set up automobile interior manufacturing factory at AEPZn Tribune Report

Fully Japanese owned TS Tech Bangladesh Limited, an automobile interior manufac-turing company, is set to invest US$5.51m to establish a Car Seat Trim Cover industry in Adamjee Export Processing Zone (AEPZ).

Mentionable that in re� ection of harmony ties between Premiers of Japan and Bangla-desh to enhance investment cooperation in new dimension and in accordance of BEP-ZA-JETRO agreement during Prime Minis-

ter’s Sheikh Hasina’s Tokyo visit in last year brings this Japanese investment in EPZ, said a BEPZA statement issued yesterday.

A 9012 square meter standard factory building has been allotted to TS Tech Bang-ladesh Limited for producing 0.3 million pcs car’s seat trim cover per annum.

It will be the � rst of this kind of non-tra-ditional product manufacturing plant in EPZs of Bangladesh.

TS Tech factory will create employment opportunity for 508 Bangladeshi nationals.

To this e� ect, Sayed Nurul Islam, member (Investment Promotion) of Bangladesh Ex-port Processing Zones Authority and Yoshia-ki Yui, chairman of TS Tech Bangladesh Lim-ited in Dhaka signed an agreement at BEPZA Complex in the city yesterday.

Among others, Major General Mohd Ha-bibur Rahman Khan, ndc, psc, executive chairman and Kei Kawano, country repre-sentative, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Bangladesh attended the signing ceremony. l

Stocks edge lower in choppy tradingn Tribune Report

Stocks edged lower yesterday amid choppy trading, extending their losing streak for the third day in a row yesterday amid volatility.

The market moved between red and green heavily throughout the session, as investors played both sides of fence.

The benchmark index DSEX inched around 4 points down to 4,583.

The Shariah index DSES witnessed a frac-tional rise of 0.6 points to 1,105. The blue chip comprising index DS30 settled at 1,741, dropping 3 points or 0.2%.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX fell 13 points to 8,505.

Many of the major sectors ended the day, showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster performance by the market.

Volume of trade continued to decline as the DSE turnover stood at Tk374 crore, down nearly 2% over the previous session.

Almost all the sectors, including bank, non-banking � nancial institutions, power, cement and engineering declined marginally.

However, life Insurance, telecommunica-tions and food and allied moved up slightly.

IDLC Investments said the last trading session of the week ended amid surge of vol-atility, with equally powerful buyers and sell-ers implementing their own strategies.

It said while some investors were seen opting for quick gains, others took the ad-vantage of depressed scrip prices to remold their portfolios.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals was the most-traded issue with shares worth near-ly Tk13 crore. It was followed by Delta Life Insurance, Square Pharmaceuticals, Al-haj Textile, Aftab Automobile and BSRM Steel. l

24 � rms honoured for best annual report presentationn Tribune Report

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) yesterday awarded di� er-ent publicly listed companies and non-gov-ernment organisations for their outstanding annual reports presentations.

A total of 24 banks, non-banking � nancial institutions (NBFIs), insurance companies and NGOs won the 15th ICAB National Award for their best presentation of annual reports 2014. Some seven organisations also won the certi� cates of merit.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith handed over the ICAB National Awards to the recip-ients at a ceremony arranged by the ICAB at Bangabandhu International Convention Cen-tre in the capital.

Under the private sector banks category, United Commercial Bank Limited, Bank Asia and Islami Bank came out as winners.

Under NBFIs category, the winners were IDLC Finance Limited and LankaBangla Fi-nance Limited. l

Tofail urges businessmen to invest without fearn Tribune Report

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said Bang-ladesh is a favourable land for investment, urging businessmen “to invest without fear.”

He said the government is committed to facilitating business activities to attain a tar-geted economic growth.

The minister was speaking at a function-titled “Celebrating Business”, organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) on the occasion of its 58th anniversa-ry at a city hotel on Wednesday.

A book “Dhakar Banijjik Itihash” – Bengali translation of “Commercial History of Dha-ka” was unveiled.

Tofail described Bangladesh as a country congenial to investment, and the government is giving importance on shipbuilding, jute, pharmaceuticals, leather, and agro-products.

Some IT companies of UK have shown their interest to invest about $4bn in Bang-ladesh, he said.

DCCI President Hossain Khaled urged the

government to make reforms to pro-business policy, formulate result-oriented action plan and national SDGs committee, plus local and international partnership to foster growth.

Mahbubur Rahman, president of Interna-tional Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICC-B) said over the last six decades, DCCI has been working for the business communi-ty of Bangladesh and putting forward timely and business-friendly policy recommenda-tions to the government.

DCCI has recognised Tas� a Nazreen, the only Bangladeshi who conquered seven summits including the Everest, Ha� z GA Siddiqui, Professor Emeritus of BRAC Uni-versity, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Bangladesh National Cricket team captain, and Sadequa Rahman Sejuty, IT entrepreneur, for out-standing contributions to the society.

DCCI also honoured Late Amzad Khan Chowdhury, founder chairman of PRAN RFL Group. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed handed over the crests of special recogni-tions to former DCCI presidents. l

BGMEA President Md Siddiqur Rahman, Board of Trustees of BUFT Chairman Muza� ar U Siddique and MDF (Netherlands) Project Director Herman Snelder sign an MoU recently. The MoU aims to ensure social responsibility, make aware about sexual and reproductive health and rights, and building innovative leadership in apparel industry

COURTESY

The week’s last session ended amid surge of volatility

Business 17D

TFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Commodity-linked currencies rise in Asian AFP, Tokyo

The dollar eased against most rivals in Asian trade yesterday, with commodity-linked units enjoying support from a slight uptick in oil prices, while its Australian counterpart surged on the back of a strong jobs report.

The retreat in the greenback comes just a week before the Federal Reserve’s next pol-icy meeting where it is widely expected to hike interest rates, with some economists suggesting the move has been priced into the US unit.

Crude prices edged up in Asia after the Department of Energy said US inventories fell 3.6 million barrels in the week ending De-cember 4.

The gains were a small chink of light for oil traders, with the black gold having slumped about nine percent since Friday’s decision by the OPEC oil exporters club not to cut output despite a global oversupply and weakness in the world economy.

That helped currencies reliant on commod-ities, with the Malaysian ringgit up 0.3% and the Australian dollar almost one percent up.

Indonesia’s rupiah added 0.4% and the Singapore dollar added 0.1%.

Adding to the Aussie’s strength were bet-

ter-than-expected jobs � gures - unemploy-ment is now at its lowest since April 2014 - which eased expectations the Australian

central bank will cut interest rates from al-ready record lows.

The New Zealand dollar also rose 0.2% on

hopes a rate cut by Wellington will be the last for some time.

The US currency edged up against the euro, although the single currency continues to hold its gains since last week’s European Central Bank stimulus revision that fell well short of expectations.

The euro bought $1.1009 and 133.89 yen from 1.1026 and 133.86 yen New York.

The single currency also got a boost from comments by an ECB governor who said mar-kets were wrong to count on bolder stimulus measures from the bank last week, calling their expectations “absurd”.

“The ECB cannot and will not be driven by the markets,” Austrian central bank head Ewald Nowotny, who is also a member of the ECB governing council, said in Vienna Wednesday.

The dollar bought 121.61 yen from 121.40 yen Wednesday in New York, where it earlier touched 121.10 yen, its lowest level in more than a month.

“Markets will be faced with heightened volatility going into the Fed’s gathering amid risk aversion and a lack of fresh news,” Yas-uhiro Kaizaki, vice president for global mar-kets at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, told Bloomberg News. l

A pedestrian is re� ected in the window of a foreign currency exchange store, which is displaying a board with Australian dollar currency values, in central Sydney REUTERS

Wall Street falls alongside oil on global growth concernsn Reuters

US stocks closed lower yesterday in a choppy session as oil resumed its decline, fuelling in-vestor worries about global economic growth and causing the S&P 500 index to track the move in the commodity.

After a morning rally for both oil and stocks, the three major US stock indexes fell as oil re-versed course and investors also prepared for a Federal Reserve meeting next week that is expected to result in an interest rate hike.

“Often times investors will look at the commodity complex as a barometer for the global economy. Couple that with the fact that we broke support in the S&P 500,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wun-derlich Securities in New York, citing selling after the S&P hit the 2050 level.

The S&P started its sell-o� when US crude oil CLc1 started its decline around 10.35 am (1535 GMT). Crude futures settled lower on Wednesday after having risen as much as 4% as the market ignored a US crude stockpile draw-down to focus on a build in distillates, includ-ing diesel, that was twice as big as expected.

“We’ve got a heck of a commodity bear market here and the Fed’s about to raise in-terest rates,” said Robert Phipps, a director at Per Stirling Capital Management in Aus-tin, Texas. “People are growing concerned they’re going to raise rates at the worst pos-sible time.”

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 75.7 points, or 0.43%, to 17,492.3, the S&P 500 lost 15.97 points, or 0.77%, to 2,047.62 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 75.38 points, or 1.48%, to 5,022.87.

The energy index .SPNY trimmed earlier gains to close up 1.3% after falling more than 10% since Dec 1. l

Wal-Mart enters mobile payment with launch of Walmart Payn Reuters

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would launch ‘Walmart Pay,’ to become the � rst US retailer to o� er its own payment feature to expand consumer payment options and increase the speed of checkouts.

Walmart Pay will be introduced in select US stores yesterday and in additional stores after the holiday season, Wal-Mart execu-tives said on a video call with reporters on Wednesday.

The free service, integrated into the retail-er’s app, will be available nationwide by the � rst half of 2016, the executives said.

Walmart Pay will be available on devices using Apple’s iOS or Alphabet Inc’s Android operating system and allows payments with any major credit, debit, pre-paid or Walmart gift cards, the company said.

It will also allow for the integration of oth-er payment options such as mobile wallets in the future.

The feature requires customers to choose Walmart Pay within the retailer’s mobile app at a checkout counter, activate their phone cam-era and scan the code displayed at the register after which an e-receipt will be sent to the app.

The company is in talks with mobile wal-let developers, Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart US, said on the call, but did not specify who the compa-nies were.

Wal-Mart has been working with a consor-tium of retailers to develop a mobile wallet, called CurrentC, which was beta-launched in August, in a bid to rival Apple Inc’s Apple Pay.

Wal-Mart said Walmart Pay was developed independently, but it continues to remain as-sociated with CurrentC as a possible mobile wallet addition to Walmart Pay. l

Poll: Fed set for very gradual rate path after expected Dec 16 hiken Reuters

The US Federal Reserve will move very grad-ually after it delivers what is widely expect-ed to be its � rst interest rate hike in nearly a decade next week, according to a Reuters poll that points to a tame in� ation outlook for next year.

Now that Fed o� cials have made clear they are comfortable the employment part of their dual mandate is met, the pace of future rate increases will depend on con� rmation that in� ation, which is set to rise, actually is rising.

The probability the Fed raises rates from near zero on Dec 16 rose to 90% from 70% in the latest Reuters poll of over 90 economists, taken Dec 4-9. What has not risen at all are expectations for in� ation next year.

“To be sure, moving now appears more about getting the � rst hike out of the way and changing the conversation away from lifto� to the shallow path of hikes expected thereafter than it is about the current state of the economy demanding tighter policy,” Ellen Zentner, economist at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note.

“So a period of digestion and watching to be sure in� ation is, in fact, turning up to-wards the Fed’s goal and growth remains on track would make sense.”

Median predictions for core PCE in� ation, which the Fed watches closely, haven’t � uc-tuated much in half a year of monthly Reu-ters polls, now in a 1.5-1.7% range for 2016.

There has also been a drop over the same period in the most aggressive core PCE in� a-tion forecasts, particularly for the � rst quar-ter of 2016, where the highest forecast has tumbled to 1.8 percent from 2.5 percent.

The lowest core PCE forecasts also fell

over the same period, particularly for the third and fourth quarters of next year, to 0.9%and 1%, respectively, from 1.4%in ear-lier polls.

This strongly suggests that while analysts believe the Fed will � nally raise rates on Dec. 16 after taking a pass several times this year, they are not convinced the Fed will have the proof it needs to hike rates more quickly than even the most gentle of scenarios.

How much � nancial conditions tighten and, particularly, how much more the dollar rises will also determine how quickly the Fed will be able to follow up on its � rst hike.

The median projection of the 17 Fed pol-icymakers in September on the projected path of interest rates was 1.375% by end-2016 and 2.625% by end-2017.

The latest Reuters poll medians suggest a much more gradual policy path, with econo-mists forecasting the federal funds rate to be 1-1.25% by end-2016 and 2.25% by end-2017, similar to conclusions from recent polls.

Growth outlookAnother reason for that slow pace is a tame growth outlook. The world’s largest economy is forecast to expand at a steady 2.4-2.5% annualized pace in each quarter over the coming year, little changed from previous polls.

That outlook for steady growth comes de-spite disastrous starts to the year in recent years, due in part to punishingly cold win-ters, as well as a West Coast port strike early this year.

But even among the individual contribu-tions, the most optimistic growth forecasts in a sample of almost 50 was 3.5% in any quar-ter. As recently as October, the highest growth forecast for any quarter in 2016 was 4.2%. l

Business18DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

EXIM Bank has recently donated 25 thousand pieces of blankets to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The bank’s chairperson, Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder handed over one of the sample blankets to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a programme in Ganabhaban

Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) has recently organised a seminar to promote Mongla, Ishwardi and Uttara EPZs located in northern & southern part of the country. General manager of DEPZ, Md Abdus Sobhan was present at the seminar among others

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has recently donated Tk 2 crore to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The bank’s chairperson, Engr Mustafa Anwar handed over a cheque to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in this regard

Jamuna Bank has recently opened its 98th branch at Suagonj Bazar, Suagazi in Comilla. The bank’s director and parliament member, Md Tazul Islam inaugurated the branch

Investors hover as e-tailers boost demand for Indian warehousesn Reuters, New Delhi

Overseas � rms including Dutch pension fund manager APG and US buyout group War-burg Pincus are looking to invest in India’s warehouses, hoping to cash in on demand for modern and e� cient storage space from booming online retailers.

With more Indian consumers shopping online, the country’s $110bn logistics and warehousing sector is stretched.

Existing spaces, known as “godowns” - low-rise sheds with poor ventilation and only a shutter to ward o� heat and dust - are too old and cramped for � rms like retail giant Amazon.com and Indian rival Flipkart.

Goods frequently get soiled, or spoil.By contrast, e-tailers need to move goods

around swiftly with minimal damage. They demand � re sprinkler systems, climate con-trol, levelled loading bays and paved roads to warehouses.

Simply adding this in can lift rents by up to 20%, according to real estate � rm JLL.

“We have got enough people running around with bags of money, and not that many assets,” said Ben Salmon, head of Sin-gapore-based Assetz Property Group that has raised $50mn from Asian investors to buy warehouses in India.

Rekindled demand is good news for In-dia’s property developers, many of whom are saddled with high debt and struggling with sluggish residential sales. O� ce leasing is slower than during the peak years between 2009 and 2011.

E-commerce in India, meanwhile, is booming: the market is expected to grow to $220bn in terms of value of goods sold by 2025, up from an expected $11bn this year, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

To satisfy that, supply of modern ware-

houses in India is set to more than double by 2020 to 200 million square feet, JLL estimates, fuelled by online retailers. They took up over 20% of the space added in the � rst half of 2015.

As demand pushes up rents, which are as low as 156 rupees ($2.34) a square foot a year in some city outskirts, investors can earn total annual returns of 15-20%, analysts estimate.

By comparison, average annual returns on industrial assets in the UK are expected to be 9 percent over the next � ve years, a report from real estate � rm Colliers International shows.

Room to moveIn the dusty wastelands south of New Del-hi, large, steel-framed, modern warehouses with ventilation and 24-hour security are mushrooming on what was once farmland, as logistics � rms and retailers line up to serve the capital.

Amazon is among them, its large, modern, red and white warehouse many times the size of a cluster of nearby godowns, ranging in size from a family garage to a basketball court.

Amazon India has leased 20 ful� lment cen-tres - warehouses where it stores goods and packs and sorts orders - in the last 18 months from multiple landlords. Still, it needs bigger, modern spaces closer to customers; the aver-age size it leases today is 200,000 square feet. l

A worker of Indian e-commerce company Snapdeal.com scans barcode on a box after it was packed at the company’s warehouse in New Delhi, India REUTERS

19D

T

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Fatafati Friday, the biggest sale of the year launched by leading e-commerce platform, Daraz.com.bd, in partnership with Robi, has broken all sale records ever in Bangladesh.

The shopping frenzy started at 12am on December 4 on the Daraz site where there was an in� ux of thousands of people battling to avail the best deals. With a record-breaking one million visits on the website and 80 times more orders than a regular shopping day, Daraz.com.bd is at an all-time high.

Shoppers enjoyed incredible deals on phones, TVs, fashion, appliances and more, availing a total of Taka70 million worth of discounts from the company. 50% of the sales came from smartphones alone. Among � agship phones, the company sold out of the Samsung S6Edge within 20 minutes, which were available at 50% discount, and fashion items including men’s clothing and accessories sold on the day were equivalent to the sale made in three months even

though fashion and beauty are strong categories on a regular day as well. The Doors Flash Sale, which started from 8pm and lasted till midnight was by far the best performer on the fashion � oor, followed closely by the amazing watches from Watches World which sold out within the � rst 12 hours.

Daraz.com.bd also revealed that it sold more fridges, washing machines and gaming consoles on Black Friday than it has in the history of Daraz.

Interestingly, Daraz launched Double Taka Voucher with EasyPayWay where consumers who paid online using credit/debit cards, would get double the value spent which the customers could use during Fatafati Friday. The Double Taka vouchers sold out in just 2 days of the launch and all such vouchers were used within the � rst two hours of the sale. Another interesting observation was the spike in the use of the mobile app – 20% of the total visits were through the Daraz app.

Sumeet Singh, CEO and co-founder of

Daraz Bangladesh Ltd. stated, “the way all our vendors supported us with their unconditional trust and uncontested cooperation goes to show the dedication, hard work and faith everyone has in Daraz’s

ability to create a platform where buyers and sellers both bene� t. We are also grateful to the media for standing by our side throughout the ups and downs of this record-breaking campaign” l

Bangladesh (WPPB) recently arranged a bridal festival at the capital’s Gulshan shooting club. Lifestyle magazine Ice today organised the festival along with Aura beauty lounge which also arranged a fashion show. Choreographed by Azra Mahmud and anchored by Maria Nur the fashion show saw models like Ruma, Emi, Jannatul Piya, Shawon Priyanka, Esha, Kobita, Mashiat and Nahid � re up the runway. Wedding photographers, makeup artists, cinematographers and caterers also participated in the festival. Various stalls also o� ered their special discount o� ers and one to one consultation for wedding arrangement at the venue. l

Daraz makes e-commerce history with Fatafati Friday

Aura Beauty Lounge at bridal festival

The award-giving ceremony of Robi-BUP LitFest-2015 was held at Bijoy Auditorium of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), Mirpur Cantonment in the capital on Sunday. The BUP Literature Club has organised the programme.

Information minister Hasanul Haq Inu was present at the programme as the chief guest while BUP vice chancellor, Maj Gen Sheikh Mamun Khaled attended as the special guest.

Teams from di� erent public and private universities, including Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Jagannath University, Army Institute of Business Administration, North South University, Brac University, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, East West University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, participated in the competition.

M Enamullah Syed, general manager (external a� airs) of Robi Axiata Limited, BUP registrar Abul Kashem Md Ibrahim, NDC, AFWC, PSC, and representatives from di� erent universities, high civil and military o� cials also attended the event. l

ROBI-BUP Literature Fest-2015

Biz Info

Downtime20DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 11 represents T so � ll T every time the � gure 11 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

Across 1 Hourly (5)5 Cripple (4) 8 Laid bare (6)9 Frequently (5)10 Soft sheepskin leather (4) 11 Dye (5)12 Tree (3)15 Diluted colour (4)18 Henhouse (5)21 Female pig (3)22 Sound horn (4)24 Outer covering (4)25 Ladder’s steps (5)28 Traveller’s case (6)29 Look narrowly (4)30 Encouters (5)

Down1 Factory siren (6)2 Decay (3)3 Copies (4)4 Fasting period (4)5 Claim to commendation (5)6 Handsome youth (6) 7 Homo Sapiens (3)13 Behold! (2) 14 Incentive (6)16 Denial (2)17 Intertwines (6)19 Echo sounder (5)20 In the direction of (2)23 Make neat (4)24 Plant juice (3)26 Put into service (3)27 Born (3)

SUDOKU

INSIDE

21D

TWorldFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

N Korean leader Kim’s H-bomb claim draws scepticismNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on Thursday to claim his country has de-veloped a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were sceptical. PAGE 23

Big Tobacco sues UK govt over plain packagingBig Tobacco took the British government to court on Thursday, arguing that the UK’s “plain packaging” law which will take e� ect next May, unlawfully takes away its intellec-tual property. PAGE 23

Climate change: How bad can it get?Ministers in Paris have until Friday to conclude a 195-nation pact to stop Earth’s climate becoming inhospitable to humans and other species. PAGE 24

27-hour Kandahar airport siege leaves 50 deadn AFP, Kandahar

The death toll from a 27-hour Taliban siege of Kandahar airport has jumped to at least 50, o� cials said Thursday, after a confer-ence in Pakistan shored up international support for reviving peace talks.

Eleven suicide attackers on Tuesday breached the high-security complex which also houses a joint Nato-Afghan base, taking families hostage and triggering pitched � re-� ghts with soldiers.

The raid, which saw militants blowing themselves up among civilians before the area was secured, is the most serious attack on the largest military installation in the south of the country during 14 years of war.

“Fifty of our innocent countrymen, in-cluding 10 soldiers, two policemen and 38 civilians, were martyred in the attack,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

The fatalities included women and children and at least 37 others were wounded, it added.

“A group of 11 terrorists attacked a bazaar and a school in the airport complex, took up positions in the area and (some of them) det-onated their suicide vests among civilians.”

Witnesses said the militants had taken families hostage, using them as “human shields” and slowing down the military’s clearance operation.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghani-stan, which put the death toll at 54, said the insurgents opened � re in the bazaar, killing and injuring several civilian shopkeepers and their customers.

Some 27 hours after the siege began, sol-diers late Wednesday killed the last insur-gent who was holed up inside a building and doggedly resisted security forces until the very end. The Taliban posted a picture on their website of the militants it said were in-volved in the attack. It shows 10 young men sporting trimmed beards, Kalashnikovs and

identical military uniforms.An Afghan military commander said

radio intercepts showed some of the Kan-dahar assailants were speaking Urdu, a lan-guage more common in neighbouring Paki-stan, the Taliban’s historic backer.

The raid coincided with Afghan Presi-dent Ghani’s high-pro� le visit to Islamabad on Wednesday for the Heart of Asia confer-ence aimed at promoting regional ties.

Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed commitment to the peace process, with the United States and

China also o� ering support.Pakistan, which wields considerable in-

� uence over the Taliban, hosted a milestone � rst round of peace negotiations in July.

The Kandahar raid came after days of fevered speculation about the fate of new Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour fol-lowing reports he was critically wounded in a � re� ght with his own commanders in Pa-kistan. The Taliban released an audio mes-sage Saturday purportedly from Mansour, vehemently rejecting reports of any shoot-out as “enemy propaganda”. l

Source : ISW

Taliban attack

100 km

KABUL

PAKISTAN

IRAN

Kunduz

Ghazni

Militant attack zones

Support zones

Analysis published bythe Institute for the Study of War,April-September2015

JalalabadHerat

Kandahar

Baghlan

Death toll from 27-hour

Taliban siege of Kandahar

airport jumped to 50, Afghan

officials said Thursday

A F G H A N I S T A N

11 suicide attackerson Tuesday breached the high-security complex

CHRONICLEDeadliest insurgent attacks in Afghanistan so farAs the death toll from a Taliban siege of Kanda-har’s airport jumps to at least 50, here is a recap of the worst insurgent attacks in Afghanistan since the Islamist regime was toppled from pow-er by a US invasion in 2001--November 6, 2007 Seventy-nine people killed, including 59 children and six parliamentarians, in a suicide attack in a factory north of Kabul. February 17, 2008 140 people are killed, including more than 50 auxiliary police o� cers, in a suicide attack among a Kandahar crowd gathered for a dog � ght. The Taliban deny responsibility for the attack, which stands as the worst since they were driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001.July 7, 2008 Sixty people killed in a suicide attack against the Indian embassy in Kabul. August 25, 2009

Forty-three civilians killed in Kandahar in a boo-by-trapped car suicide attack. June 9, 2010 Fifty people die when a suicide bomber hits a wedding in the south of Kandahar province. December 6, 2011 An attack in Kabul kills 80 people on the Ashura. April 15-16, 2012 Explosions and gun� re rock Kabul as Taliban sui-cide bombers strike across Afghanistan. Fifty one people die, 36 of them insurgents. August 14, 2012 A series of attacks across the country kills at least 50 people, including 36 of the attackers.October 26, 2012 At least 42 people are killed in a suicide attack on a mosque in the northern Faryab province during the four-day Eid al-Azha festival.April 3, 2013 A total 46 people, including 36 civilians and 10

troops and police, are killed in a Taliban attack against the law court in Farah aimed at freeing insurgents about to go on trial. November 23, 2014 At least 57 people are killed when a suicide blast rips through a crowd watching a volleyball in the Paktika district in eastern Afghanistan.August 6-10, 2015 Kabul is hit by a series of attacks, three of which are claimed by the Taliban, and which kill at least 56 people. It is the heaviest toll in the capital since the end of Nato’s combat mission in December 2014.September 28-October 1, 2015 The Taliban launches strikes against Kunduz and quickly take control of the northern city. They are � nally driven out by Afghan forces backed by US aircraft and Nato soldiers. At least 60 people are killed according to the health ministry. l

Source: AFP

Advertisement22DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

WorldSOUTH ASIANepal police break up anti-India protest over blockade Police in Nepal detained about 50 activists protesting outside the Indian Embassy on Thursday to demand an end to a months-long blockade of supplies from India. The protesters held banners demanding India halt the border block-ade, calling it a “crime against humanity.” India has restricted fuel, medicine and other supplies for Nepal since the ethnic Madhesi group in the country’s south began protesting a new constitution adopted in September. At least 50 people have been killed in the protests since August. -AP

INDIATamil Nadu � oods declared ‘calamity of severe nature’The Indian central government has declared the worsening � ood situations in Tamil Nadu as a “calamity of severe nature”, the state’s chief minister J Jayalalithaa said on Thursday. The chief minister said instructions had been given to the state’s chief secretary asking him to explain to the MLAs the works needed to be undertaken in � ood-a� ected districts. TOI

CHINABeijing lifts smog red alertBeijing’s first ever red alert for smog was lifted Thursday, as blue skies and sun-shine replaced the thick haze that covered the city for days. The Chinese capital put its air pollution emergency plan into action earlier this week, pulling half of all private vehicles off the streets from Tuesday, ordering many factories to close and recommending that some schools allow students to remain home. The red alert, the highest tier of a four-colour warning system, came as heavy smog flooded the city for the second time in as many weeks. -AFP

ASIA PACIFICThai man arrested over Facebook ‘like’ of king’s doctored photoA Thai man has been arrested for “liking” a doctored photo of the king and sharing an infographic on Facebook about a grow-ing corruption scandal, the military said Thursday, as prosecutions burgeon under the country’s draconian royal defamation laws. Auto-parts factory worker Thanakorn Siripaiboon was arrested at his home in Samut Prakan, near Bangkok, and charged with sedition, lese majeste and computer crimes. -AFP

MIDDLE EASTIS recaptures central Syria towns from regimeThe Islamic State jihadist group on Thursday recaptured two areas in central Syria from government forces, just weeks after losing them. The areas--Maheen and Hawareen-- had previously been held by IS, but in late November the army and pro-regime militias were able to recapture them. -AFP

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 201523

DT

Big Tobacco sues UK govt over plain packagingn Reuters, London

Big Tobacco took the British government to court on Thursday, arguing that the UK’s “plain packaging” law which will take e� ect next May, unlawfully takes away its intellec-tual property.

Companies including Philip Morris Inter-national, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Tobacco Group are challenging the legislation be-cause it will prohibit all forms of branding on tobacco packaging, including colours and logos.

The rule, known as “plain packaging,” would also require graphic warnings illus-trating the health problems smoking can cause. It aims to reduce smoking’s death toll by making the packs less attractive.

“Smoking is catastrophic for your health and kills over 100,000 people every year in the UK,” said a spokesman for the Depart-ment of Health. “Standardised packaging is an important public health measure aimed at discouraging children from smoking and helping smokers to quit.”

The case will be heard in a six-day hear-ing at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.

Tobacco companies argue that the law represents the seizure of their property without any compensation.

“Our trademarks have a capital value ... and that value has been e� ectively removed,” said David Anderson of law � rm Fresh� elds, representing Japan Tobacco International in court. He argued that trademarks are an “in-strument of commercial strategy.”

“Since there is no compensation at all .... They must be considered unlawful for that reason alone,” he also said.

In Australia, the only country to have so far implemented plain packaging, the companies say there has been an increase in black market tobacco and sales of low-er-priced cigarettes.

The companies failed in their legal chal-lenge to the Australian law, but have said they are more con� dent about the UK chal-lenge because they only have to prove un-der UK law that their intellectual property was illegally taken.

Aside from Australia and Britain, plain packaging has been approved in Ireland, Hungary and France, while over a dozen oth-er countries -- including Belgium, Canada and Pakistan -- have either proposed or are talking about proposing, similar measures.

“In total we count 20 countries with some level of interest or focus on pursuing some type of plain packaging regulation,” said Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog in a recent note. She said those countries represent 30 percent of global cigarette re-tail sales, excluding China and the United States. l

N Korean leader Kim’s H-bomb claim draws scepticismn Reuters, Seoul

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on Thursday to claim his country has devel-oped a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside ex-perts were sceptical.

Kim made the comments as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which marks the feats of his father who died in 2011 and his grandfather, state founder and eternal president, Kim Il Sung, the o� cial KCNA news agency said.

The work of Kim Il Sung “turned the DPRK into a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation,” KCNA quoted Kim Jong Un as saying.

DPRK are the initials of the isolated North’s o� cial name, the Democratic Peo-ple’s Republic of Korea. A hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermonuclear bomb, uses more advanced technology to produce a signi� cantly more powerful blast than an atomic bomb.

North Korea conducted underground tests to set o� nuclear devices in 2006, 2009 and 2013, for which it has been subject to UN Security Council sanctions banning trade and � nancing activities that aid its weapons programme.

An o� cial at South Korea’s intelligence agency told Yonhap news agency there was no evidence that the North had hydro-gen bomb capacity, and believed Kim was speaking rhetorically.

The Foreign Ministry in China, North Ko-rea’s most important economic and diplomat-ic backer, said China was dedicated to ensuring the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and resolving problems through talks.

“We hope that all sides can do more to ame-liorate the situation and make constructive e� orts to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula,” ministry spokeswoman Hua

Chunying told a daily news brie� ng when asked about Kim’s remarks.

Impoverished North Korea and rich, democratic South Korea remain technically at war after their 1950-53 con� ict ended in a truce, not a treaty. The North has threat-ened to destroy the South and its major ally, the United States, in a sea of � ames.

Despite the underground tests, outside experts suspect the North is short of achiev-ing the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a missile, although it has boasted it had suc-ceeded in the miniaturisation of a weapon.

If the hydrogen bomb claim is true, it would indicate advances in the North’s pur-suit of nuclear weapons.

“I think it’s unlikely that they have an H-bomb at the moment, but I don’t expect them to keep testing basic devices inde� -nitely, either,” said Je� rey Lewis of the Cal-ifornia-based Middlebury Institute of Inter-national Studies at Monterey.

It was possible the North was referring to the technology of boosting the yield of a nuclear device, possibly using fusion fuel, Lewis said.

North Korea claimed in 2010 that it had successfully developed fusion technology.

Assessing progress of the North’s nucle-ar programme is di� cult because no one outside a close circle of leaders and experts knows what advances have been made. l

North Korea conducted underground tests to set o� nuclear devices in 2006, 2009 and 2013, for which it has been subject to UN Security Council sanctions banning trade and � nancing activities that aid its weapons programme

WorldUSAMuhammad Ali hits out at Trump over Muslim banBoxing icon Muhammad Ali rebuked Donald Trump over his call to ban Muslims from entering the US soil. Ali, a Muslim, did not mention the Republican frontrunner by name, but a statement appeared directed squarely at Trump.”I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world,” the statement attributed to Ali said. -AFP

THE AMERICASDeparting Argentina president boycotts new preisdent’s oath-taking ceremonyBusiness-friendly conservative Mauricio Macri takes o� ce as Argentina’s next presi-dent Thursday in a ceremony boycotted by his predecessor Cristina Kirchner, irate over a protocol ti� that escalated into a court battle. It started with a disagreement about where the inauguration ceremony should take place. Macri wanted to take the oath of o� ce at Con-gress, then travel to the presidential palace to receive the presidential sash and scepter from Kirchner. On the other hand, Kirchner insisted the whole thing could be done at Congress -- in line with the constitution and the tradition she and Nestor set out. -AFP

UKUK terror-related arrests hit record highThe number of terror suspects apprehended in Britain has reached a record high, fuelled by a surge in arrests related to international terror, according to o� cial � gures released Thursday. A Home O� ce report said there were 315 terror-related arrests in the year to September -- an increase of a third over the preceding 12 months. There was a 31% increase to 238 in the number of arrests on suspicion of international-related terror o� ences, the � gures showed. The number of women arrested more than doubled from 21 to 50, while the number of under-18s detained jumped from eight to 15. -AFP

EUROPEGermany’s 2015 intake of asylum seekers surpasses 1m The number of people applying for asylum in Germany has exceeded 1m this year, ac-cording to a state minister for social a� airs. The � gure eclipsed the 800,000 asylum seekers previously forecast by German Inte-rior Minister Thomas de Maiziere for 2015. Germany has taken in more asylum seekers than any other EU country. -DPA

AFRICALeading Rwandan genocide suspect arrested in DR CongoOne of nine top fugitive Rwandan genocide suspects has been arrested, the UN said. Ladis-las Ntaganzwa, who had a $5m US bounty on his head and has been indicted by a UN-backed court for genocide and crimes against hu-manity, was captured in Democratic Republic of Congo. Around 800,000 people -- mostly members of the minority Tutsi community -- were slaughtered in the 100-day orgy of violence in 1994, largely by ethnic Hutus. -AFP

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 201524D

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Suleiman the Magni� cent’s tomb found in Hungaryn AFP, Budapest

The long-lost tomb thought to contain the heart of Ottoman Empire sultan Suleiman the Magni� cent has “almost certainly” been discovered in Hungary, a researcher told AFP Wednesday after a presentation of the excavation � ndings.

The sultan, considered by historians as the greatest Ottoman ruler, died in 1566 as his army laid siege to a castle defended by Hungarian forces at Szigetvar, 190km south of Budapest, close to Hungary’s present-day border with Croatia.

“You can bet that this is it, it’s practically certain,” said Norbert Pap, leader of the re-search team which began digging at the site in October.

Excavations, which have been halted for the winter, are expected to con� rm the � nd once they resume in April, he said.

Suleiman’s body was brought for bur-ial to Istanbul -- or Constantinople as it was then called -- but, according to leg-end, his heart and organs were removed for interment at the place of death, Pap explained.

Objects and decorations on wall frag-ments uncovered so far match those on the

Istanbul tomb, while the structure’s loca-tion matches historical drawings.

Pap’s team have been studying the site since 2013 and in October began digging at the exact spot believed to be where he died, aged 71, in early September 1566.

As well as the likely remains of the tomb, the dig has uncovered the remains of a mosque, a monastery, and other buildings, whose relative locations all � t with an Ot-toman town called Turbek depicted on a medieval French map with the inscription: “Here lies Suleyman.”

“The � nd is remarkable as the town is unique for Ottoman Hungary,” said Pap, who works as a geography professor at the University of Pecs in southern Hungary, and who discovered Turbek in 2013.

“The Ottomans tended to occupy exist-ing towns in the territories they conquered instead of building their own,” he said.

After the Austrian Habsburg Empire drove the Turks from Hungary at the end of the 17th century, both town and tomb were destroyed.

Born in 1494, Suleiman, whose reign from 1520 to 1566 was the longest of any sul-tan, greatly expanded the Ottoman Empire, annexing large swathes of the Balkans, the Middle East and northern Africa.

The digs -- which have been supported by both the Hungarian and Turkish govern-ments -- will establish the exact locations of each structure as well as probe a wider area for more buildings. l

Suleiman the Magni� cent WIKIMEDIA

FACTBOX

Climate change: How bad can it get?Ministers in Paris have until Friday to con-clude a 195-nation pact to stop Earth’s cli-mate becoming inhospitable to humans and other species.

If humankind continues to emit green-house gases unabated, the average global temperature by 2100 will be about 5.2°C higher than pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

The goal is not to exceed 2°C. Ever.But even if countries fully honour the

carbon-curbing pledges they submitted to bolster the hoped-for Paris pact, average warming will be 3C (5.4F) by century’s end, scientists say.

What is at stake?

HeatwavesSome 1.5bn people will be exposed to heat-waves every year by 2100 under 2°C, accord-ing to Avoid 2, a British government-funded consortium of climate change research in-stitutes. The number will rise to about 4.5bn under 3°C , and 12bn under 5.2°C.

Flooding An estimated 30m people would be a� ect-ed by � ooding every year by 2100 under 2C, says Avoid 2. This would rise to about 60m under 3°C, and double that number at 5.2°C.

Rising seasAccording to Jouzel, sea levels would be about 40cm higher by 2100 in a 2°C-warm-er world by 2100, some 60cm at 3°C and at 4-5°C, closer to 80cm. “And it won’t stop there.” Driving the rise are ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica shedding mass faster than ever, melting glaciers, and oceans that expand as they warm. Even a 2°C rise as targeted by the UN would sub-merge land currently occupied by 280m

people, according to Climate Central, a US-based research group. The change could take a few hundred years, or up to 2,000 years.

Water dilemmasGlobal warming can lead to long-running droughts and devastating � oods, which means some parts of the world will not have enough water and others too much. In a 2°C world, an estimated 1.5bn people would be exposed to some level of “water stress” in 2100, rising to about 2bn at 5.2°C.

Humanitarian crisesHeatwaves, droughts and heavy rains can spur disease, ravage crops, and destroy homes and livelihoods, pushing millions more people into poverty. Con� ict over wa-ter or other dwindling resources could fuel

mass migration or war. People living on low-lying islands such as the Maldives or the Philippines could become climate refu-gees, forced to � ee their homes due to rising seas.

Treasures of nature, civilisationFrom the glimmering coral of the Great Bar-rier Reef to Mount Fuji and the canal-crossed city of Venice, global warming may spell the ruin of some of the most precious jewels of nature and civilisation, Unesco warns. In Japan, Mount Fuji’s permafrost is already receding up the mountain’s slopes. Venice could sink another 54cm by 2100. And scien-tists say the ice � eld of Tanzania’s dormant volcanic Mount Kilimanjaro could melt away entirely within 15 years. l

Source: AFP

25D

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Players’ payment in place, Sylhet only guilty partyThe majority of the franchises in BPL 3 have ensured regular payment of the cricketers. Irregularities with regards to the payment in the domestic T20 competition have been a huge drawback in the past but this time around, the BCB has left no stones unturned in their bid to make sure that the players are paid in time. PAGE 26

Nadal casts doubt on another Grand Slam winRafael Nadal cast doubt yesterday on whether he could win another Grand Slam after his long reign as French Open champion ended in 2015 and his rankings slid during the worst year of his career. The 29-year-old Spaniard said he was working hard to return to form and was happy with the way the year ended. PAGE 27

Gunners’ great escape, Chelsea through to last 16Olivier Giroud was Arsenal’s hero as the Gunners and Chelsea succeeded on Wednesday where Manchester United failed a day earlier to advance to the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League. The London clubs celebrated on the � nal night of group stage action. PAGE 28

Triple-century stand as Aussies pound WindiesAdam Voges and Shaun Marsh pounded tons in a triple-century unbroken stand to crush the dispirited West Indies and put Australia in immediate command of the � rst Test in Hobart yesterday. Australia cruised to 438 for three at stumps on the opening day with the pair taking the game away from the Windies. PAGE 29

Comilla Victorians’ West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell (L) celebrates dismissing Sylhet Super Stars tail-ender Rubel Hossain (unseen) while a dejected Mominul Haque trudges back to the dressing room during their 2015 BPL T20 tie in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

If it was national team, I wouldn’t have played, says MashrafeInjury-hit Victorians slay Super Starsn Reazur Rahman Rohan

An injury-hit Comilla Victorians continued their march towards the Bangladesh Pre-mier League Twenty20 title as they disman-tled the Sylhet Super Stars in their ultimate league game yesterday to seal the number one spot in the points table.

Riding on contributions from Imrul Kayes, Ahmed Shehzad, Alok Kapali and Ashar Zaidi, Comilla posted a modest 150 for four on what looked like a better batting strip than the initial BPL days. Despite a decent start to their run chase, Sylhet faltered badly and fell like a house of cards. 79-all out in 13.5 overs handed Comilla a 71-run victory, enough to con� rm them a place in Quali� er 1.

The defeat, Sylhet’s seventh, ended the bittersweet journey for the side that started the campaign with Mush� qur Rahim at the helm and � nished with Shahid Afridi ex-pressing disappointment of the Super Stars not being able to win the matches when he wasn’t around.

“I wasn’t there but at the start of the competition, we lost very close games. Too many changes early didn’t make it easy for the combination. I think we didn’t play according to the team plan in batting and bowling. In few games we applied but we had to be consistent. We made lots of mis-takes in every game,” said the 35-year-old Pakistan T20 captain Afridi who replaced Mush� q as Sylhet skipper from the seventh match onwards.

Fourteen points in the bag however, does not re� ect the adjustments Comilla had to

make during the 10 matches. Their team combination had to be altered for each game and the think-tank had to brainstorm the playing XI accordingly.

Mashrafe bin Mortaza, the Bangladesh ODI and T20 captain, can be held as the biggest in-spiration for the franchise as the braveheart cricketer once again put his faith on the line and led the side despite carrying a hamstring injury that can damage his future badly.

According to Mashrafe, a fast sprint at the moment will be enough to put a long halt to his career, but his franchises have that faith in him and they believe the Narail Express’ presence on the � eld is enough to lift the team morale.

“If it was national team, I wouldn’t have played. But franchises here they have ex-pectations and they know my current situ-ation. These small injuries made me su� er a lot in the past. My team owners just want me to stay on and lead within my limitations and that’s what I am doing,” said Mashrafe who bowled just one over in the last match, and hasn’t bowled apart from that in the last four matches.

“[Andre] Russell will play in the semi-� -nals (Quali� er 1), but his availability for the remaining matches is yet to be � nalised. He will send an application to his Big Bash fran-chise, because they have a rule for the players joining seven days before the tournament.

“[Shoaib] Malik is injured too, he has the permission of taking 10 injections during the tournament. He has already taken eight, if we played him (yesterday) he wouldn’t have been able to play in the semi.” l

COMILLA VICTORIANS INNINGS R BImrul c & b Afridi 27 28Liton c Mush� q b Shahid 4 5Shehzad lbw b Rubel 42 31Kapali not out 32 26Zaidi run out (Mush� q) 31 29Russell not out 1 1Extras (b 1, lb 8, w 4) 13Total (4 wickets; 20 overs) 150FoW: 1-7, 2-75, 3-86, 4-142BowlingTanvir 4-0-33-0, Shahid 3-0-18-1, Rubel 4-0-30-1, Razzak 1-0-12-0, Afridi 4-0-20-1, Bopara 4-0-28-0SYLHET SUPER STARS INNINGS R BCobb c Haider b Naeem 21 18Junaid c Zaidi b Shuvagata 10 11Bopara run out (Shehzad/Russell) 1 1Mush� q c Haider b Shuvagata 2 8Tanvir st Liton b Shuvagata 1 2Afridi b Zaidi 6 6Nurul lbw b Zaidi 2 4Mominul not out 15 17Razzak c Naeem b Haider 2 5Shahid c Shuvagata b Russell 6 9Rubel b Russell 0 2Extras (lb 9, w 4) 13Total (all out; 13.5 overs) 79FoW: 1-16, 2-33, 3-33, 4-36, 5-37, 6-48, 7-50, 8-57, 9-78, 10-79BowlingKulasekara 2-0-7-0, Haider 3-0-19-1, Shuvagata 3-1-8-3, Naeem Jr 2-0-23-1, Russell 2.5-0-9-2, Zaidi 1-0-4-2

Comilla Victorians won by 71 runsMoM: Ahmed Shehzad (COV)

COV v SSS

26DT Sport

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

DHAKA DYNAMITES INNINGS R BHafeez c Mahmudullah b Dutta 25 27Farhad b Gazi 19 10Nasir c Suhrawardi b Dutta 14 14Waller b Dutta 10 9Doeschate c Mahmudullah b Emrit 22 23Mosaddek not out 30 31Saykat b Emrit 13 6Shukkur not out 1 1Extras (w 1, nb 1) 2Total (6 wickets; 20 overs; 91 mins) 136 FoW: 1-42, 2-47, 3-65, 4-72, 5-106, 6-127BowlingGazi 4-0-27-1, Al Amin 4-0-42-0, Suhrawardi 4-0-20-0, Emrit 4-0-29-2, Dutta 4-0-18-3BARISAL BULLS INNINGS R BMehedi st Shukkur b Mosharraf 37 41Rony c Shukkur b Irfan 4 3Taylor lbw b Nabil 3 5Mahmudullah b Nabil 1 10E Lewis c Waller b Mosaddek 9 11Sabbir Rahman lbw b Mosharraf 4 5Sohag Gazi c Hafeez b Nasir 1 4Emrit not out 54 28Shuvo c ten Doeschate b Mosharraf 2 4N Dutta not out 9 7Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 10) 13Total (8 wickets; 19.4 overs; 99 mins) 137 FoW: 1-15, 2-23, 3-25, 4-45, 5-56, 6-59, 7-76, 8-94BowlingIrfan 3.4-0-30-1, Nabil 4-1-23-2, Farhad 3-0-19-0, Nasir 4-1-24-1, Mosaddek 1-0-9-1, Mosharraf 4-0-29-3

Barisal Bulls won by two wicketsMoM: Rayad Emrit (BB)

DD v BB

Players’ payment in place, Sylhet only guilty partyn Minhaz Uddin Khan

The majority of the franchises in the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 has ensured regular payment of the local and foreign cricketers. Irregularities with regards to the payment in the domestic T20 competition have been a huge drawback in the past but this time around, the Bang-ladesh Cricket Board has left no stones un-turned in their bid to make sure that both the locals and foreigners are paid in time.

The players’ payment schedule in BPL 3 was supposed to be paid in three instalments - the � rst 50 percent before the start of the tour-nament, another 25 percent by today and the remaining 25 percent by January 15 next year.

And keeping all the payment rules and regulations in mind, most of the franchises’ e� orts must be praised.

On top are Chittagong Vikings who have paid up hundred percent payment of their o� cials and players despite a poor season. They had the option of paying the last instal-ment next month but the franchise did not want to delay matters. Before the port city out� t left their hotel in Dhaka yesterday, all the members were paid accordingly.

Dhaka Dynamites have paid 50 percent wages till yesterday and are expected to meet the deadline for the second payment today.

Comilla Victorians and Rangpur Riders till yesterday cleared 75 percent of the pay-ment. Comilla skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza

following their win over Sylhet Super Stars yesterday praised his franchise.

“All the players of our team have received 75 percent payment. [Today] was the dead-line but our franchise did not wait for that. As far as our overseas cricketers are concerned, I was told that they have got 100 percent wag-es. We do not have any issues with payment at the moment,” Mashrafe said.

Sylhet however, have attracted the atten-tion for all the wrong reasons. According to team sources, the franchise violated the � rst payment schedule, paying their players only 25 percent instead of 50.

The situation took a turn for the worst when Sylhet captain and icon cricketer Mush-� qur Rahim’s cheque got bounced. But just when the relationship between Mush� q and the franchise started to sour, the owners seem-ingly realised their mistake and paid the Tigers Test captain his � rst 50 percent payment.

Sylhet makeshift skipper Shahid Afri-di informed the media yesterday that not everything is rosy at the Super Stars camp and urged the BCB to look into the issue.

“At the moment some of the players men-tioned they didn’t get paid yet. The BCB this time took responsibility and I must give credit to the BPL and the board. They organised this tournament well, and I personally enjoyed it. If they sort out the problems with the players, money-wise, hopefully each and every play-er will come from anywhere and enjoy BPL,” said the Pakistan hard-hitting batsman. l

n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Rayad Emrit’s blistering unbeaten � fty al-lowed Barisal Bulls to end the � rst round of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 on a winning note as they defeated Dhaka Dynamites by two wickets at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

The game hardly had any signi� cance as far as results are concerned. Both the sides had made it into the � nal four teams and the � nal outcome would not have changed the stand-ings in the table. Barisal had intentions of bet-tering their run rate and move to second spot in the table and push Rangpur Riders down. But for that, Barisal had to meet the impossi-ble task of chasing 137 runs in three overs.

With seven wins each, Comilla Victorians and Rangpur are the top two teams and will face each other in the � rst Quali� er tomorrow while Barisal and Dhaka, the number three and four teams respectively, will face o� in the Eliminator on the same day. This will be fol-lowed by the losing side of the Quali� er facing the winning side of the eliminator this Sunday. The winning side in this game will take the winner of Quali� er 1 in the grand � nale.

The situation had relaxed both Barisal and Dhaka. They had rested their key players in the game. Dhaka benched their captain Ku-mar Sangakkara, pacers Musta� zur Rahman and Abul Hasan while Barisal had Taijul Is-lam, Mohammad Sami and Kevon Copper on the bench. The side’s star batsman Chris Gayle also missed the cut. The West Indies

hard-hitting batsman came to Dhaka for Ba-risal to appear in � ve matches only. Given that Gayle had played three matches in the � rst round, Barisal wanted to save him for the second stage and the � nal match.

Dhaka were sent in to bat � rst after losing the toss. The wicket at Mirpur had behaved better compared to the � rst phase of the tournament and despite regular fall of wick-ets, Dhaka totalled 136 runs in 20 overs los-ing six wickets. The side once again changed

their opening pair but this time, it paid o� as Mohammad Hafeez and Farhad Reza posted 42 runs in 5.2 overs. With the other batters chipping in, Dhaka posted a decent total. Ku-waiti-born Canadian national Nikhil Dutta picked up three scalps on his BPL debut.

Chasing the target, Barisal were in tatters at 94 for eight but Emrit emerged as the sav-iour, hitting an unbeaten 28-ball 54 to guide his side home with two balls left.l

Serbian tennis ace Ana Ivanovic poses by a swimming pool in New Delhi wearing a traditional Indian sari yesterday. Ivanovic, who is representing the UAE Royals during the second season of the professional tennis league, took the opportunity to experience the Indian culture as she was pictured wearing the traditional dress INTERNET

Barisal Bulls’ Kuwaiti-born Canadian international Nikhil Dutta, making his BPL debut, bowls against Dhaka Dynamites MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Emrit inspires Bulls in dead-rubber

POINTS TABLETeams Mat Won Lost Pts

Comilla 10 7 3 14

Rangpur 10 7 3 14

Barisal 10 7 3 14

Dhaka 10 4 6 8

Sylhet 10 3 7 6

Chittagong 10 2 8 4

Sport 27D

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Siddikur joint 84th after � rst round in Thailand Premier Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman began his campaign in the Thailand Golf Championship in a disappointing fashion as he ended the � rst round’s proceedings at 84th position, tied alongside 14 others, at Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, Thailand yesterday. Siddikur hit two-over-par 74 and trails early leader Jamie Donaldson of Wales by 11 shots. The 31-year old Bangladesh golfer traded three bogeys against a solitary birdie in the 12th hole of the $1,000,000 tournament.

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Mercedes engineer in ‘theft’ rowA Mercedes engineer being sued by the world champions after facing accusations of data theft will not be joining rivals Ferrari in the “foreseeable future”, the Italian giants said Wednesday. Mercedes AMG HPP revealed Tuesday they were taking legal action against Benjamin Hoyle, who was reported to be on the verge of joining Ferrari at the start of next year.

–AFP

‘Africa can help save Fifa’FIFA presidential contender Prince Ali bin al Hussein insisted on Wednesday that he can save the corruption-plagued organisation and that Africa will have a crucial role to play in the future. Prince Ali is one of the contenders to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president in February’s election with reform high on the agenda of all candidates in the light of an ava-lanche of bribery allegations and arrests.

–AFP

EU court rejects Barcelona FC badge as trademarkIconic football club Barcelona cannot use the outline of its badge as a trademark because it does not make clear to consumers the link with one of Spain’s top teams, an EU court ruled yesterday. The General Court said it rejected Barcelona FC’s case because the plain black line silhouette did not meet the standards required for a trademark.

–AFP

Pietersen helps Dolphins into Ram Slam T20 � nalKevin Pietersen continued his successful return to his country of birth on Wednesday when he helped the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins reach the � nal of South Africa’s T20 franchise competition. The former England batsman hit 27 o� 10 balls as the Dolphins beat the Cape Cobras by � ve runs in a KO eliminator. 

–AFP

Starc to miss World T20Mitchell Starc will have ankle surgery and is “unlikely” to play in the World Twenty20 tour-nament in India next year, Cricket Australia said yesterday. Starc, who has had trouble with his right ankle stemming back to the Ashes series in England this year, su� ered a stress fracture of the same foot in the day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide late last month.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

Lara urges lowly Windies to start overn AFP, Hobart

West Indies great Brian Lara yesterday urged his country’s cricket board to toss out the current generation and start over again with a new team.

The West Indies are a shadow of their for-mer glories and are now ranked above only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, winning just four of their last 20 Tests.

“I’d check the age of players - anybody under 25, you still have quite a bit of time and you could change their mindset around,” Lara told Fox Sports.

“Above 25 and onwards, they’re looking at the exit door and it’s very di� cult as they’re already set in their way of thinking.”

Lara, 46, who played 131 Tests and scored 11,953 runs, also questioned the passion of some of the current players.

“They don’t know West Indies cricket, they don’t have an understanding of the history, so how could they be passionate? They just want to know where they can get the next cheque to pay their bills - which is understandable. But you’ve got to play a sport because of the passion you develop over the years.” l

EURO 2016 SEEDINGSPOT 1

France (hosts)Spain (holders)

GermanyEnglandPortugalBelgium

POT 2Italy

RussiaSwitzerland

AustriaCroatiaUkraine

POT 3Czech Republic

SwedenPoland

RomaniaSlovakiaHungary

POT 4Turkey

Republic of IrelandIcelandWales

AlbaniaNorthern Ireland

Nadal casts doubt on another Grand Slam winn AFP, New Delhi

Rafael Nadal cast doubt yesterday on wheth-er he could win another Grand Slam after his long reign as French Open champion ended in 2015 and his rankings slid during the worst year of his career.

The 29-year-old Spaniard said he was working hard to return to form and was hap-py with the way the year ended after a resur-gence at the World Tour � nals in London in November.

But asked whether he could clinch anoth-er major title to add to the 14 Grand Slams he has already accumulated, Nadal was un-convinced when speaking to reporters in New Delhi.

“I don’t know when that will happen and I don’t know if that’s going to happen,” he said.

“The only thing I know is I’m working very hard to try to get the opportunities.”

Nadal was speaking after hitting balls with youngsters during a coaching session in the Indian capital where he plans to open an academy for talented players.  

Nadal sunk to world number 10 this year after losing at the French Open quarter-� nal stage, before su� ering early exits from Wim-bledon and the US Open.

But Nadal, who has been plagued with in-juries and last year had surgery to remove his appendix, rallied in the latter part of this year to � nish at world number � ve.

“2015 has been not the best season,” he said. “(But) In the last three months, I � n-ished much better and I’m happy the way I’m playing now. I need to keep going the same way that I � nished the 2015 season.”

Nadal is in Delhi to play in the Interna-tional Premier Tennis League tour, which promotes a shortened, speeded-up version of the game that organisers say is more tele-vision-friendly than the traditional format. l

Spain’s Rafael Nadal autographs the t-shirt of an Indian fan at a promotional event in New Delhi, India yesterday. Nadal is in India to play a leg of the league AP

All eyes on Parisn AFP, Paris

In the same week that Michel Platini � ghts to save his career, the draw for the � nals of the expanded 24-team European Championship that he championed takes place in Paris tomorrow.

The former France star, who propelled his country to glory as a player when they last hosted the Europeans in 1984, was widely criticised in his role as the UEFA president for changing the format of a tournament that had been so compelling with 16 teams, in particular in 2012 when Spain triumphed in Poland and Ukraine.

But the decision to expand led to a much more engaging qualifying competition and

has added intrigue ahead of the draw for the � nals itself where nations like Wales, North-ern Ireland, Iceland and Albania will join the continent’s traditional giants.

Whether Platini will be in attendance at the ceremony in Paris hinges on him win-ning his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a 90-day ban from all football-ing activities while an investigation goes on into a payment he received from FIFA in 2011.

Platini risks being unable to stand in the FIFA presidential election but he is also in danger of having to look on from a distance as the European Championship is played out in his home country.

While UEFA are in a � ux, the � nals draw comes at a delicate time for France.l

28DT Sport

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

TEAMS QUALIFIEDGroup winnersReal Madrid (ESP)Wolfsburg (GER)

Atletico (ESP)Man City (ENG)Barcelona (ESP)

Bayern Munich (GER)Chelsea (ENG)

Zenit (RUS)

Runners-upPSG (FRA)PSV (NED)

Ben� ca (POR)Juventus (ITA)

Roma (ITA)Arsenal (ENG)

Dynamo Kiev (UKR)Gent (BEL)

GROUP ETeam P W D L GD Pts

Barcelona 6 4 2 0 11 14

Roma 6 1 3 2 -5 6

Bayer Leverkusen 6 1 3 2 1 6

BATE Borisov 6 1 2 3 -7 5

GROUP FTeam P W D L GD Pts

Bayern Munich 6 5 0 1 16 15

Arsenal 6 3 0 3 2 9

Olympiakos 6 3 0 3 -7 9

Dinamo Zagreb 6 1 0 5 -11 3

GROUP GTeam P W D L GD Pts

Chelsea 6 4 1 1 10 13

Dynamo Kiev 6 3 2 1 4 11

FC Porto 6 3 1 2 1 10

Maccabi Tel Aviv 6 0 0 6 -15 0

GROUP HTeam P W D L GD Pts

Zenit 6 5 0 1 7 15

Ghent 6 3 1 2 1 10

Valencia 6 2 0 4 -4 6

Lyon 6 1 1 4 -4 4Arsenal’s French hat-trick hero Olivier Giroud (L) and German defender Per Mertesacker celebrate their win over Olympiakos in the Uefa Champions League in Piraeus on Wednesday REUTERS

Gunners’ great escape, Chelsea through to last 16n AFP, Paris

Olivier Giroud was Arsenal’s hero as the Gun-ners and Chelsea succeeded on Wednesday where Manchester United failed a day earlier to advance to the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League.

The London clubs celebrated on the � nal night of group stage action as Roma, Dyna-mo Kiev and the Belgian underdogs Gent also secured their places in the knockout phase.

Arsenal had needed to overturn a 3-2 de-feat at home to Olympiakos earlier in the sea-son when they faced the Greek champions away in a Group F showdown.

Arsene Wenger’s side had lost in Piraeus on three separate occasions in recent seasons but France striker Giroud gave them a � rst-half lead and crucially doubled their advan-tage shortly after the restart following superb play by Joel Campbell.

Giroud then netted a penalty in the 69th minute to seal Arsenal’s place in the last 16 for the 16th season in a row, although � nish-ing second in their group exposes them to

the possibility of being drawn against Real Madrid or Barcelona in the next round.

Group winners Bayern Munich � nished with a 2-0 victory at Dinamo Zagreb thanks to a sec-

ond-half Robert Lewandowski brace as Thom-as Mueller missed a late penalty and coach Pep Guardiola claimed his 100th win in charge.

Enduring a di� cult season domestically, Chelsea progressed to the last 16 as Group G winners with a 2-0 win at home to Jose Mour-inho’s old side Porto as Ivan Marcano’s early own goal put them ahead and Willian scored in the second half.

Porto started the day on top of the group but � nished by tumbling into the Europa League themselves after being overtaken by Dynamo Kiev as the Ukrainian champions beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 through a Denys Garmash goal to reach the last 16 for the � rst time since 1999/2000.

Elsewhere, Roma advanced as runners-up in Group E despite a dreary 0-0 draw at home to BATE Borisov in the Italian capital.

That was because Bayer Leverkusen could only draw 1-1 at home to group winners and defending European champions Barcelona in Germany, unable to � nd the winner they needed after the in-form Javier Hernandez cancelled out Lionel Messi’s opener. l

Leverkusen (GER) 1-1 Barcelona (ESP)Hernandez 23 Messi 20

Roma (ITA) 0-0 BATE Borisov (BLR)Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 0-2 Bayern Munich (GER) Lewandowski 61, 64

Olympiakos (GRE) 0-3 Arsenal (ENG) Giroud 29, 49, 67-P

Dynamo Kiev (UKR) 1-0 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR)Garmash 16

Chelsea (ENG) 2-0 Porto (POR)Marcano 12-o.g., Willian 52

Valencia (ESP) 0-2 Lyon (FRA) Cornet 37, Lacazette 76

Gent (BEL) 2-1 Zenit Saint (RUS)Depoitre 18, Milicevic 78 Dzyuba 65

RESULTS

Mourinho happy to � nd salvationn AFP, London

Jose Mourinho hopes Chelsea’s progress to the Champions League last 16 will restore his side’s shattered con� dence and help save his job. 

Mourinho was on the brink of being sacked until Chelsea avoided elimination from Europe’s elite club competition with a 2-0 win over Porto at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. 

Needing a draw to ensure they made it to the knockout stages, Chelsea got a timely piece of good fortune through Ivan Marca-no’s early own goal before Willian’s second half strike completed a victory that lifted the west Londoners to the top of Group G and eased the pressure on Mourinho. 

The sight of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich grinning and exchanging high-� ves with his entourage afer Willian’s goal suggested Mourinho has bought himself a lit-tle time to get the Premier League champions back on track. 

And the beleaguered Blues boss took heart from the way his players, reportedly mutinous at times during a dismal campaign, responded to the prospect of having to � ght to spare him from Abramovich’s axe. l

Wenger praises ‘perfect’ Giroudn Reuters, Athens

Arsenal manager Arsene  Wenger  hailed Ol-ivier Giroud’s “perfect performance” as the French striker’s hat-trick completed a remarkable escape act in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Arsenal needed an emphatic win to leap-frog Olympiakos into second place in Group F and reach the competition’s last 16 and had Giroud to thank for leading the cavalry charge in a 3-0 romp.

The striker opened the scoring with a superb header in the � rst half, swept home to double the lead early in the second and scored from the penalty spot to complete a resounding win.

Wenger  was quick to pay tribute to Gir-oud, who stepped up manfully to the role of being Arsenal’s go-to man in the absence of the injured Alexis Sanchez.

“Giroud’s performance was per-fect,”  Wenger  told reporters. “He showed skill and character... I always said he has something special.” l

Sport 29D

T

Australia middle-order batsman Adam Voges hits a boundary against the West Indies during the opening day’s play of the � rst Test match in Hobart, Australia yesterday

AP

Guptill breaks ton droughtn AFP, Dunedin

Martin Guptill smashed 156 yesterday as he bounced back from a horror series in Austral-ia to put New Zealand in the driving seat on day one of the � rst Test against Sri Lanka.

On a Dunedin pitch said to be ripe for seam bowlers, Sri Lanka were left to rue put-ting New Zealand in to bat as the Black Caps amassed 409 for eight by stumps.

Opener Guptill fell just before the close, after hitting just his third Test century and his � rst in four years, coming 33 runs short of his highest score of 189 against Bangladesh in 2010.

Meanwhile the ever-reliable Kane William-son made 88 and Brendon McCullum 75 as New Zealand exposed the raw Sri Lankan attack.

New Zealand were cruising 229 for two at tea before Sri Lanka fought back in the � nal session when they took six wickets, albeit for an expensive 180 runs.

There were only seven maiden overs bowled and New Zealand cracked 57 fours, of which Guptill contributed 21.

The opener’s position in the side was pre-carious after he averaged just 13 in the recent tour of Australia, and said he “didn’t have a lot to lose” as he took to the Sri Lankan attack.

His third Test century came 41 innings and four years after he last posted three � g-ures against Zimbabwe.

Inconsistent form saw him out of the Test side for two years before the short-form of the game resurrected his career when he played a starring role at this year’s World Cup. l

Triple-century stand as Aussies pound Windiesn AFP, Hobart

Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh pounded tons in a triple-century unbroken stand to crush the dispirited West Indies and put Australia in immediate command of the � rst Test in Hobart yesterday.

In a grim foreboding of what lies ahead for

the Caribbean tourists in the three-Test series, Australia cruised to 438 for three at stumps on the opening day with the West Australian pair taking the game away from the Windies.

It was the most runs scored by Australia on an opening day of a Test in 85 years against the West Indies. At the close, Voges was un-beaten on 174 with Marsh not out 139 in a un-beaten fourth-wicket partnership of 317.

Voges slammed the fastest century for Australia in Hobart, his ton coming o� 100 balls and eclipsing another West Austral-ian Adam Gilchrist’s hundred o� 110 balls against Pakistan in 1999. It was Voges’s third Test century and second against the West In-dies after scoring an unbeaten 130 on his Test debut in Dominica last June.

Marsh, in scoring his third Test century and � rst at home also posed a dilemma for selectors about whether he will make way for the imminent return of Usman Khawaja from a hamstring injury. The West Indies had got themselves into a reasonable position to have Australia at 121 for three at lunch with key batsmen David Warner (64) and skipper Steve Smith (10) back in the dressing room.l

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

NEW ZEALAND 1ST INNINGS R BM Guptill c Chandimal b Mathews 156 234T Latham c & b Lakmal 22 46K Williamson c Karunaratne b Pradeep 88 123R Taylor lbw Pradeep 8 12B McCullum c Vithanage b Siriwardana 75 57M Santner c Chandimal b Chameera 12 12B Watling c Vithanage b Chameera 5 8D Bracewell not out 32 39T Southee c Siriwardana b Lakmal 2 2N Wagner not out 0 8Extras: (b4, lb3, w1, nb1) 9Total (for 8 wickets, 90 overs) 409

Fall of wicket1-56, 2-229 , 3-245 (Taylor), 4-334 (McCullum), 5-359 (Santner), 6-365 (Watling), 7-394 (Gup-till), 8-399 (Southee)BowlingLakmal 16-1-69-2, Pradeep 20-2-101-2, Mathews 9-2-28-1, Chameera 17-1-101-2 (w1), Herath 19-1-46-0, Jayasundera 5-0-33-0 (nb1), Siriwardana 4-0-24-1

NZ v SL, DAY 1

AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS R BJ Burns b Gabriel 33 43D Warner c Ramdin b Warrican 64 61S Smith c Blackwood b Warrican 10 32A Voges not out 174 204S Marsh not out 139 205Extras (b4, lb2, w1, nb11) 18 Total (3 wickets; 89 overs) 438

Fall of wickets1-75, 2-104, 3-121BowlingTaylor 12-0-76-0, Roach 11-1-64-0, Gabriel 10-1-59-1, Holder 15-1-45-0, Warrican 22-1-111-2, Brathwaite 13-0-52-0, Blackwood 6-0-25-0

AUS v WI, DAY 1

Ten Sports 1:45AM Sky Bet Championship Wolverhampton v Nottingham Forest Ten Action2:40PM A-League 2015/16

Adelaide United v Sydney FC 12:50AM French Ligue 1 Stade Rennais FC v SM Caen Sony Six7:30PM Pro Wrestling League Haryana v Bangalore Sony Kix1:30AM Spanish La Liga

Getafe v Real Sociedad Star Sports 15:30AM West Indies Tour of Australia 1st Test, Day 2 Star Sports 27:20PM Indian Super League Semi Final 1 Leg 1: Delhi v Goa 1:00AM Women’s FIH Hockey World League

Quarter� nals Star Sports 48:00PM

International Premier Tennis League

Japan Warriors v Indian Aces

DAY’S WATCH Pakistan’s hopes of India series dashedn AFP, Lahore

Pakistan’s cricket chief said Wednesday his hopes for a bilateral series with arch-rivals India had been dashed after a visit to Islam-abad by India’s external minister failed to yield any breakthrough.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had hoped Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Pakistan for the Heart of Asia regional conference Tues-day and Wednesday would open the way for a limited short over series, agreed between the PCB and the Indian cricket board and due to be played in Sri Lanka. But Pakistan me-dia reported cricket was not discussed dur-ing Swaraj’s talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his foreign a� airs adviser Sartaj Aziz, while she made no reference to the se-ries in a brief statement Wednesday evening.

Any chance of a series is “over”, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan told AFP, adding that the foreign o� ce had conveyed to him that without talks on the cricket it would be “di� cult” to arrange any series.

India had suspended bilateral cricket with Pakistan in the aftermath of the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on mil-itants based across the border.

The two cricket boards agreed to break the deadlock by signing a Memorandum of Un-derstanding last year under which they were due to play six series between 2015-2023, all subject to clearance from their respective governments.

The � rst series, originally due to be played in United Arab Emirates in December-Janu-ary, was comprised of two Tests, � ve one-day and two Twenty20 matches, but it ran into trouble over strained relations between the two countries since the start of 2015.

Accusations of cease� re violations led to the cancellation of a meeting between their security advisers in Delhi in August.l

Showtime30DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

n Showtime Desk

Anil Bagchi’r Ekdin, Morshedul Islam’s latest � lm which is based on a novel by Humayun Ahmed, is set to release today. The � lm will be screened simultaneously at major cinema halls in the capital including Star Cineplex, Blockbuster Cinemas, Madhumita, Balaka and Shaymoli along with the local ones throughout the country.

Premiered on November 13, the � lm portrays how a Muslim man risks his own life while trying to save a Hindu lad from being killed by the Pakistani army during the liberation war.

Set is in the middle of 1971 when the Bangladesh liberation war is at full swing, Anil Bagchi, a Hindu who works in an insurance company in Dhaka which is besieged by the occupation army, recieves a letter from the head master of a high school in his native village where he used to study. The letter carried the news of his father’s death at the hands of Pakistani troops.

On the journey back to his village, he is introduced to a middle-aged Ayub Ali and

his family members. As expected, the army stops the bus and checks the identity of each passenger. Anil reveals his identity as a Hindu, as Ali risks his own life in a bid to save Anil’s but fails. Morshedul Islam, who has 12 feature � lms under his belt since taking the Bangladeshi parallel cinema scene to a di� erent level with a short-� lm, Aagami in 1984, which is what inspired him to make Anil Bagchi’r Ek Din, carries the message of humanitarian appeal and communal harmony emerging from the story of Anil Bagchi.

Islam added that the � ght for liberation of Bangladesh itself is the greatest symbol of secularism and communal amity as Bengalis cutting across religious a� liations were equal victims to the atrocities of the Pakistani army and fought against it in unison. Anil Bagchi’s story is just one of the many examples among.This is the third feature � lm which Islam has made based on the work of Humayun Ahmed after Durotto (2004) and Priyotomeshu (2009). Produced under the banner of Bengal Creations Limited, Anil Bagchir Ek Din features Aref Syed in the eponymous role while Gazi Rakayet, Tou� que Emon, Jyotika Jyoti and Farhana Mithu play other ones.

The cinematography is by L Apu Rozario, editing by Ratan Paul and music has been composed by Sunny Jubaer with two original songs penned by chief assistant director Pantho Prosad. Islam has also used a part of Rabindranath Tagore’s famous song Aaj Jyotsna Raatey Sabai Gechey Boney in the score. l

Anil Bagchi’r Ekdin to hit cinemas today

The Lotr: The Two TowersWB 6:12 pmSauron’s forces increase. His allies grow. The Ringwraiths return in an even more frightening form. Saruman’s army of Uruk Hai is ready to launch an assault against Aragorn and the people of Rohan. Yet, the Fellowship is broken and Boromir is dead. For the little hope that is left, Frodo and Sam march on into Mordor, unprotected. A number of new allies join with Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin and Merry. And they must defend Rohan and attack Isengard. Yet, while all this is going on, Sauron’s troops mass toward the City of Gondor, for the War of the Ring is about to begin.Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Zee Studio 3:20 pmIn the � nal chapter of the Pirates trilogy, Will (Bloom), Elizabeth (Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geo� rey Rush) embark on a desperate quest to save Jack Sparrow (Depp) from a monstrous sea creature controlled by Davy Jones (Nighy). To complete their mission, they must travel to Singapore to confront Chinese pirate Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) and sail into treacherous waters to sink the terrifying ghost ship known as the Flying Dutchman. Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in the � nal battle.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugHBO 4:10 PMA sequel to the � rst part - ’The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’, this � lm too follows

the character Bilbo Baggins as he accompanies ThorinOakenshield and his fellow Dwarves on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and to steal the Arkenstonefrom the dragon Smaug. During the dangerous journey,

they � ght against giant spiders,Orcsand Elves. Meanwhile, Smaug is not easily deceived and � ies to Lake-town to destroy the town and its dwellers. Stay tuned in to catch the excitement.Cast: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage,

Captain America: The First AvengerSony PIX 9:30 pmIt is 1942, America has entered World War II, and sickly but determined Steve Rogers is frustrated at being rejected yet again for military service. Everything changes when Dr. Erskine recruits him for the secret Project Rebirth. Proving his extraordinary courage, wits and conscience, Rogers undergoes the experiment and his weak body is suddenly enhanced into the maximum human potential. When Dr.

Erskine is then immediately assassinated by an agent of Nazi Germany’s secret HYDRA research department (headed by Johann Schmidt, a.k.a. the Red Skull), Rogers is left as a unique man who is initially misused as a propaganda mascot; however, when his comrades need him, Rogers goes on a successful adventure that truly makes him Captain America, and his war against Schmidt begins.Cast: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving

X-Men: The Last StandStar Movies 7:30 pmThe X-Men are back with new recruits, The Beast (Kelsey Grammer) and Angel (Ben Foster). But they have big trouble in the form of their team mate Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) who is possessed by the power of the Dark Phoenix. Now she is a danger to herself, her mutant comrades and the whole planet. A cure is discovered to stop this and to ultimately eliminate genetic mutations completely. Watch the battle between the X-Men led by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and the rogue mutants lead by Magneto (Ian McKellen) forming the malevolent Brotherhood. All this, while the professor tries to deal with Jean Grey.Cast: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen l

WHAT TO WATCH

Showtime 31D

TFRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

n Mosabber Rahman

This year’s European Film Festival, held again at Star Cineplex (December 3 to 11), screened 15 � lms from 14 countries from Europ. Here are snippets of all the � lms, along with my ratings: 5-Stars is Excellent, 4-Stars is Very Good, 3-Stars is Good, 2-Stars is Okay, 1-Star is Bad. The � lms are arranged in the order I have seen them at the festival (each rating is relative to the standard of the other � lms exhibited).

WIN WIN (Switzerland, 2013: Comedy) 3 starsThe misadventures of a shameless but adorable small-time politician as he organises the semi� nals of Miss China in his little Swiss town.

A GUN IN EACH HAND (Spain, 2012: Comedy) 4.5-StarsA collection of � ve short stories, exploring the feminine side of masculinity, in the form of � fteen-minute conversations between two people.

PADDINGTON (UK, 2014: Family) 3.5-StarsA live-action/animation � lm about the adventures of a talking bear, from darkest Peru, in London.

ATTILA MARCEL (France, 2013: Musical-Comedy) 5-StarsA witch-doctor’s memory-rebooting herbal tea might

be a mute pianist’s only chance to discover the true identity of Attila Marcel.

ATMEN (Austria, 2011: Drama) 5-StarsA coming-of-age tale of a 19-year-old orphan who is � nding life unbearably hopeless since the only time he is allowed to step outside his prison cell is to work in the morgue.

100-YEAR-OLD MAN (Sweden, 2013: Comedy) 4-StarsOn his hundredth birthday a man stumbles upon $50 million and goes on a hilarious adventure and we soon learn he is no ordinary centenarian.

FINN (Netherlands, 2013: Family) 2.5-StarsA boy’s violin teacher might hold the key to his father’s mysterious past.

AGREEMENT (Denmark, 2014: Documentary) 4.5-StarsRobert Cooper makes history in diplomacy as he tries to settle Europe’s � nal border dispute: Serbia and Kosovo.

VESNA (Slovenia, 1953: Romantic-Comedy) 4-StarsA classic � lm about 3 idiot brothers who plan to entice their professor’s daughter and steal the exam paper.

LESSONS OF A DREAM (Germany, 2011: Family) 3.5-StarsThe story of the German football pioneer Konrad Koch who began to teach the game to his English class as an exercise in learning the language.

BEFORE FLYING BACK TO EARTH (Lithuania, 2005: Documentary) 3.5-StarsHeartwarming documentary on the day-to-day activities of children, su� ering from cancer, in a hospital.

LEGEND OF THE FLYING CYPRIAN (Slovak Republic, 2010: Biopic) 2-StarsAn outlaw becomes a monk and dedicates himself to serving others.

HOUR OF THE LYNX (Denmark, 2013: Thriller) 4-StarsA priestess is summoned to a high security psychiatric institution to talk to a murderer who claims to have divine abilities.

RAFIKI (Norway, 2009: Family) 4-StarsWhen her best friend disappears, a shy little girl must embark on a mission far beyond her capabilities.

SIMSHAR (Malta, 2014: Drama) 4.5-StarsThe true story of Simshar, a Maltese � shing boat that sank in the Mediterranean, brilliantly juxtaposed with the story of African refugees trying to cross the river and reach Europe.

The averages: Mean 3.8, Median 4, Mode 4.Next time I will reveal my festival-awards in BEST OF THE FEST. l

European Film Festival: An overview of the 15 � lms

Back Page32DT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

Moja losss? admin arrestedn Kamrul Hasan

Within two and a half hours of unblocking Facebook, the Rapid Action Battalion arrest-ed a Facebook page administrator yesterday afternoon.

The arrestee was identi� ed as Refayat Ahmed, 28, administrator of Facebook page Moja losss?

RAB arrested Refayat in Bashundhara res-idential area around 4:30pm, Major Rumman Mahmud, deputy director of the RAB legal and media wing, said.

The RAB o� cer said Refayat was arrested on charges of spreading propaganda against the government and the state, saying such propaganda was published on the Moja losss? page.

The RAB o� cial said the arrestee would be handed over to Vatara police station.

State Minister for Telecommunications Tarana Halim on November 21 said that Face-book users who were accessing the platform by alternative means would be put under scrutiny. l

Tk50 crore child budget lies idlen Shohel Mamun

Half the � scal year has passed since the gov-ernment approved the country’s � rst-ever child budget, but little has been done to im-plement it.

Negligence and a lack of policy have been blamed for the failure to act on the Tk50 crore allocation targeting at-risk children.

“It was a great move to introduce a spe-cial budget for the betterment of children. But there has been no implementation due to a lack of proper management,” said Alison Subrata Baroi, director of Supro, a network of grass roots non-government organisations.

The country’s most vulnerable children – those deprived of breastfeeding, infant nu-trition and primary education – have been prioritised in the child budget.

But the lead implementation agency, the Women and Children A� airs Ministry, has not yet moved to implement the budget.

When it was approved, the government said it planned to take on several welfare programmes that were to be administered by six ministries, headed by the Women and Children A� airs Ministry.

“It is true that we are yet to take any initia-

tive to implement the budget. But the minis-try has been thinking about what it can do for children’s welfare,” said Rahima Akter, senior assistant secretary of the children’s section of the Women and Children A� airs Ministry.

In reply to a query she said: “The govern-ment has decided to establish a separate de-partment just for children’s a� airs. That deci-sion will become a reality very soon and it will then be easier to implement the child budget.”

Alison Subrata Baroi said: “When the gov-ernment moves to implement the budget, I have suggested that they partner with social organisations. The implement of projects must also be transparent.”

A separate gender budget is currently be-ing implemented along three major streams: increasing women’s empowerment and so-cial status, increasing production capacity and participation of women in the labour market and income-generating activities and increasing opportunities for women.

Some 40 ministries are involved in imple-menting the gender budget.

But a study conducted by Supro has found that a lack of supervision in the allocation of the gender budget has meant that funds are being misspent. l

Facebook blackout endsn Tribune Report

After an over three week-long blackout, the government has � nally unblocked popular social networking site Facebook, but a tem-porary ban on mobile messaging services WhatsApp and Viber remains in e� ect.

Users yesterday were able to access the Facebook app around 2 pm and the website around 2:15pm, ending the 22-day block on the poplar social networking site.

State Minister for Post and Telecommuni-cations Tarana Halim announced the with-drawal of the temporary ban on Facebook at the Secretariat around 1:30pm.

“We are unblocking Facebook provision-ally for the sake of people,” Tarana said at a press brie� ng, where she called on the Bang-ladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Com-mission to unblock Facebook.

She said other social networking apps would remain blocked for security reasons.

The temporary ban on the social network-ing platform came shortly after the Supreme Court rejected review petitions by war crim-inals SQ Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Moham-mad Mujahid on November 18. Citing secu-rity reasons, the government also blocked social networking platforms WhatsApp and Viber on the day.

Three ministers of the government met with Facebook o� cials during the blackout to discuss cybersecurity, highlighting vio-

lence against women as a major concern.The block was put into e� ect within a

week of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s statement on November 11 that the govern-ment was considering blocking Viber and WhatsApp temporarily to track down cyber-criminals.

BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood and Mir Masud Kabir, managing director of the country’s lone private sector International In-ternet Gateway (IIG) Mango Teleservices Lim-ited, yesterday con� rmed to the Dhaka Trib-une that Facebook had been unblocked at 2pm following a government instruction to do so.

Various groups requested the government to reconsider its decision during the 22-day Facebook blackout.

Telecoms operators and Facebook-based businesses, known as the f-commerce sector, counted massive losses because of the tem-porary ban.

According to industry insiders, the coun-try’s six mobile operators lost around Tk1.5 crore each day while the f-commerce sector sustained daily losses of Tk2 crore, with sales plummeting by 25% due to the block.

The blocking of social media is not new to Bangladesh. On January 18, the BTRC blocked WhatsApp, Viber, mypeople, Line and Tango across the country for security reasons. The apps were unblocked after four days.

The number of active Facebook users in Bangladesh is over 18 million and rising. l

A � ock of migratory birds makes a surprise appearance at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium yesterday. Birds like these make the long trip to Bangladesh every year during the winter months MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

BPL 2015

2PM, 1ST QUALIFIER, MIRPURComilla Victorians (COV) v Rangpur Riders (RR)

6:30PM, ELIMINATOR, MIRPURBarisal Bulls (BB) v Dhaka Dynamites (DD)

MATCH-1 MATCH-2

VComilla Victorians

Shehzad 42, Kapali 32*, Zaidi 31, Kayes 27, Shahid 1/18

Sylhet Super StarsCobb 21, Shuvagata 3/8, Zaidi 2/4,

Russell 2/9, Rony 1/19

Comilla Victorians won by 71 runs

150/420 overs

79 all out13.5 overs V

Dhaka DynamitesMosaddek 30*, Hafeez 25,

Doeschate 22, Dutta 3/18, Emrit 2/29

Barisal BullsEmrit 54*, Mehedi 37,

Mosharraf 3/29, Nabil 2/23

Barisal Bulls won by two wickets

136/620 overs

137/819.4 overs

FIXTURES(Saturday, Dec 12)

WINTER IS COMING

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