Newspapers snatched: Critical reports on reckless driving infuriate transport workers loyal to shipping minister

Transport workers in Bogra and Madaripur looted a huge number of newspapers yesterday protesting reports criticising the shipping minister's role in granting licences and violation of traffic rules by drivers.

Quoting newspaper hawkers, our Bogra correspondent reports: transport workers stopped several newspaper-laden vehicles near the central bus terminal and Matidali intersection of the city around 8:30am and snatched bundles of newspapers including The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, Ittefaq, Kaler Kontho, Shomokal, Naya Diganta, Inqilab, Daily Sun and Dinkal.

Abdul Latif Mondol, president of Rajshahi Divisional Workers Union and Bogra Motor Workers Union' told The Daily Star that some transport workers, loyal to Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, looted the newspapers in line of the central committee's decision.

Shajahan is the executive president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation.

The looters believe the media unfairly branded transport workers 'killers' in the light of Sunday's arrest of drivers at Gabtoli in the capital and irregularities in the transport sector, said Shahidul Islam Bakul, president of Bogra Jatiyatabadi Newspaper Hawkers Union.

Police arrested Ripon, 20, while he attempted to sell the stolen newspapers at a market.

Later, police raided Shailenpara and Mandolpara areas in the city, said Atiur Rahman, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Bogra Sadar Police Station.

About 8,500 newspapers, including 125 copies of The Daily Star, were recovered during the raid and handed over to the hawkers for distribution, he added.

A case was filed against 10 to 11 persons, including Ripon, Saiful Islam and Eman with Bogra Sadar Police Station in this connection.

In Madaripur, transport workers looted and set fire to newspapers at Mustafapur bus stand, reports our Madaripur correspondent.

They also asked hawkers not to sell daily Prothom Alo and threatened them of dire consequences if unheeded.

Zakir Hossain, a hawker, told The Daily Star that a group of transport workers stopped the bus carrying newspaper at Mostofapur bus terminal in the early morning and snatched the newspapers.

Omar Ali Sikder, a newspaper trader, said transport workers snatched newspapers because they disagreed with critical reports and caricature of shipping minister published in the dailies.

Source : The Daily Star 

Special trains from Aug 28

Special trains, arranged to facilitate the journey of homebound people on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, will start plying from Aug 28 alongside the scheduled ones.

The sale of advance tickets for the special trains begins today.

Station manager of Kamlapur Railway Station Sitangshu Chakrawarty said they would operate 39 trains on different routes and three special ones on the Dhaka-Khulna, Dhaka-Dewanganj and Dhaka-Parbatipur routes every day from August 28 until a day before Eid.

He said two special trains will run on Chittagong-Chandpur and Chittagong-Comilla routes during the period.

Another two trains on Bhairb Bazar-Kishoreganj and Mymensigh-Kishoregang routes will ply on the Eid day so that devotees can join the Eid congregation at Sholakia, where the country's largest Eid jamaat is held.

About the capacity of Bangladesh Railway (BR), Sitangshu said they have been trying their best to provide better services so that people can go home safely to celebrate the Eid with their family members.

He said BR coaches are currently carrying around 15,730 passengers a day.

Source : The Daily Star 

8 cops sued, arrested for extortion

An assistant commissioner (AC) of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) and seven other police personnel were arrested at the Police Lines here yesterday morning, hours after an extortion case was filed against them.

They arrestees were sent to jail after police produced them in a metropolitan magistrate's court seeking a seven-day remand for them. The court will hear the remand prayer today.

The eight cops are AC Towfiqul Islam, Masud Rana and Matiar Rahman, sub-inspectors of Rajpara Police Station, and constables Atiqur Rahman, Golam Mortuza, Sujan and Islam Ali, and driver Akter Hossain.

Rajpara police recorded the extortion case following a probe into a complaint lodged with the RMP commissioner five days back, the officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station said yesterday.

A three-member probe body interrogated the eight accused, complainant Dr Rafiq Basunia and his family members, and submitted its report on Saturday.

Earlier on August 18, a primary probe report by RMP Special Branch said the police personnel were found involved in an extortion.

In his complaint, Basunia said the AC along with the other policemen went to his house at Laxmipur in the city in the evening of August 17 and told him they would search his house as he illegally stored Indian garlic.

Then they realised Tk 1 lakh from him, promising they would not harass him anymore.

Basunia first informed the matter to the assistant superintendent of police, who reported it to RMP Commissioner M Obaidullah.

Following the primary probe report, Towfiqul was closed at the RMP headquarters and the seven others were suspended.

The commissioner had earlier said since the AC is a class one officer, the local administration cannot take any action against him. So, the probe reports and other relevant papers were sent to Dhaka headquarters for necessary action.

Source : The Daliy Star 

40 graft-confessors in roads targeted: Says anti-corruption body

The Anti-Corruption Commission will soon revive all corruption cases against the Roads and Highways Department officials, who had been exempted from prosecution by the then Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) during the last caretaker government's tenure.

Corruption cases against 270 people, mostly government officials, were stalled midway after the accused made confessions to the Tac and surrendered their ill-gotten wealth. The last caretaker government formed the Tac, which is now defunct, as part of its anti-graft crackdown.

The Supreme Court in May announced the Tac illegal, paving the way for the ACC to revive the cases against them.

Nearly 40 RHD officials, mostly accused in corruption cases filed by the ACC, voluntarily disclosed their ill-gotten wealth before the Tac and got exempted from prosecution on surrender of the wealth.

"The RHD staff will surely be the first target of the commission, as we prepare to resume all graft cases stuck midway after the formation of the Tac," said ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman.

The ACC chief said the latest move is made against the backdrop of rampant corruption in the sector that has left the country's communication system in a shambles.

The ACC now waits for the release of the full text of the SC judgement to proceed with the matter.

Some senior ACC officials said the sorry state of country's road network calls for immediate action against the RHD officials.

Shahab Uddin, who stepped down recently as the RHD chief engineer, is one of them.

He was given clemency by the Tac on confession of amassing ill-gotten wealth and surrender of Tk 3 lakh.

His wife also sought immunity from the Tac depositing a small amount to the state exchequer.

Shahab Uddin resigned on August 18 amid allegations of plundering funds. The condition of countrywide road networks of about 21,000 kilometres continued to worsen since he took office in December 2009.

He came under fire after filmmaker Tareque Masud, chief executive officer of ATN News Ashfaque Munier and three others died in a road crash in Manikganj on August 13.

There have been widespread corruption allegations against another RHD officer, Arifur Rahman Zinnah, former director of Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project. Arifur, who retired about two months ago, had been exempted by Tac from prosecution on confession of graft and surrender of ill-gotten wealth.

The four-lane highway project that has been in discussions for the last one and a half years is yet to start.

Preferring anonymity, a top ACC official said the government is responsible for the sorry state of the country's road network as it reinstated and promoted the self-confessed corrupt RHD officials.

Shahab Uddin retired as additional chief engineer on November 18, 2009. But the present government extended his service by two years under the freedom fighter quota and promoted him to RHD chief engineer ignoring strong opposition from within the RHD.

Rampant corruption in the RHD was exposed during the tenure of the last caretaker government.

RHD officials often misappropriated money by falsely showing that hundreds of day labourers were engaged in maintenance and repair of roads, the ACC found in its probe into institutional corruption.

An enquiry is underway into the approval of 261 Priority Maintenance Projects to prioritise maintenance of roads considering the financial constraint, without floating any tender and advertisement.

A three-member ACC team led by its Deputy Director Benajir Ahmed has been conducting the investigation since July.

The contractors took 20 percent more money than the estimated budget by illegal means after completing the projects during the tenure of the previous BNP-led government.

Graft prosecutors, however, are not that hopeful about bringing the corrupt RHD officials to book, as hardly any case filed against them during the last caretaker government's tenure could bring punishment on them.

The graft suspects rather obtained bail in such cases and some even got promoted immediately after the AL-led government assumed power.

Source : The Daliy Star 

ECB overnight deposits rise as banks remain wary of lending

The amount of cash deposited by commercial banks overnight with the European Central Bank spiked last week, ECB data showed Monday, a sign that they may be increasingly reluctant to lend.

ECB data showed commercial banks parked 107.2 billion euros ($154.4 billion) in the central bank's deposit facility on Friday, up from 90.5 billion euros on Thursday.

While the amount remained well below the year-high of 145.2 billion euros in early August, it is nonetheless a substantial amount for banks to deposit at a rate of 0.75 per cent, which means they forego earnings rather than lend it to other banks at the current going rate of around 0.89 per cent.

According to Lena Kormileva, a strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman quoted by Dow Jones Newswires, the figure shows that 'the ECB's intermediation (in the money markets) remains broken.

Source : New Age

OECD economic growth slows again

Growth in leading world economies slowed for the fourth consecutive quarter, gaining just 0.2 per cent in the three months to June, an OECD indicator showed on Monday.

In the April-June period, output of the 33 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development grew 0.2 per cent after 0.3 per cent in the first quarter.

'This is the fourth consecutive quarter of slower growth,' the OECD said, noting a widespread slowdown in developed economies.

Compared with a year earlier, OECD economies grew 1.6 per cent in the second quarter, down sharply from 2.4 per cent in the first, the organisation said.

'The slowdown was particularly marked in the euro area and the European Union, where growth slowed to 0.2 per cent compared to 0.8 per cent in the (first) quarter,' the OECD said.

According to the OECDE, eurozone powerhouse Germany slowed to 0.3 per cent in the second quarter from 1.3 per cent in the first and France stalled at zero growth after 0.9 per cent.

Britain slowed to 0.2 per cent from 0.5 per cent.

However, the United States picked up to 0.3 per cent from 0.1 per cent in the first previous quarter while Japan contracted 0.3 per cent in the second quarter after a contraction of 0.9 per cent in the three months to March, the OECD said.

Source : New Age

Oil down on anticipation of new Libya oil output

Crude prices tumbled in Asian trade Monday on prospects of Libyan oil production getting fully back on stream, after a rebel advance deep into Tripoli left Moamer Kadhafi's fate in the balance.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery plunged $2.74 to $105.88 a barrel from Friday's close.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, slid 78 cents to $81.48 a barrel. It had risen to more than $83 in early morning trade, but was driven down partly by concerns about the US economy.

'This is really the main news event,' Victor Shum, an analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore, said as veteran strongman Kadhafi's four-decade rule in Libya appeared to unravel.

'Rebels have entered Tripoli... there have also been reports Kadhafi will get out of the country,' Shum told the AFP.

Libya, a key crude-exporting nation that was producing some 1.49 million barrels per day before the rebellion broke out in mid-February, has seen its output slashed significantly since the revolt began.

About 85 per cent of Libyan oil output was exported to Europe until the revolt disrupted the country's production.

Brent crude from the North Sea would be particularly affected by the likelihood of Libya gradually resuming supplies to the European market, analysts said.

'The impact of that on the oil market should be bearish because going forward, Libyan oil production will come back on stream and that should put downward pressure on oil,' said Shum.

'It's really the geopolitical issue in Libya on top of all the other macroeconomic factors.'

Apart from the situation in Libya, New York crude erased earlier gains as traders worried that US demand will be hit after recent data indicated the world's biggest economy is stalling, analysts said.

Source : New Age

Free games boost gaming industry revenue

An increase in the number of people playing free games is providing the gaming industry with an additional source of revenue as gamers shell out millions for virtual goods and add-ons.

Free games, once the bane of the gaming industry, are now proving lucrative for game developers who entice people to pay for virtual costumes or tools which enhance game experience.

According to a survey published by German tech industry association Bitkom earlier this month, 45 per cent of German gamers opt for free-to-play versions only.

Matthias Hellmund, head of mobile development at German game developer Exozet said the target group for $70 console games was gradually shrinking as gamers get used to games on Apple's iPad which are free or cost 99 cents.

'But people don't necessarily spend less, because fans might be willing to invest even hundreds of pounds for a game experience they really like — so some spend more money than they would on a premium-priced game,' he told Reuters at Gamescom, Europe's largest video games trade fair.

Bitkom found that 43 per cent of German gamers splash out on games which require them to pay before they play, spending an average of 15 euros a month.

But some gamers who use free-to-play games spend much more than that on a single micro transaction — up to 1,500 euros ($2,113) for a rare sword or special armour in some cases — Christian Funk, a virus analyst at Russian computer security company Kapersky Lab, told Reuters.

Funk monitored Ebay — one of the most important sales channels for virtual goods — in June found more than 3,641 virtual items for use in Activision Blizzard's 'World of Warcraft' game were sold at an average price of 132.33 euros ($186.4) during a 14-day period.

Based on these figures, Funk estimates that gamers spend around 11.5 million euros on virtual goods for that one game per year, giving a glimpse of what kind of sums the micro transaction industry was handling, he said.

'The value is in the rarity - gamers are prepared to pay real money for virtual goods,' he said, adding some virtual items were status symbols for players.

'Just as in the real world people are willing to spend lots of money on nice glasses, watches or sports cars, this is just a hobby,' he said.

Source : New Age

Australian manufacturing ‘crisis’ as BlueScope axes jobs

Australia's BlueScope Steel said Monday it would close a blast furnace, abandon its export business and axe 1,000 jobs, as unions warned the manufacturing sector was facing its worst crisis in decades.

The company, Australia's largest steelmaker by output, made the announcement as it reported a dire Aus$1.05 billion ($1.09 billion) net loss for the year to June 30, compared to a Aus$126 million profit previously.

Export sales, which have been hurt by fierce competition from China and elsewhere, delivered a Aus$487 million earnings loss in the period.

'We are experiencing significant economic challenges and structural change in the global steel industry,' chairman Graham Kraehe said, with the company's share price diving 5.7 per cent to close at Aus$5.70.

He pointed to a surging Australian dollar, low steel prices and high materials costs as squeezing margins. This, combined with low demand due to the global financial crisis, meant reform was needed, he added.

'I've been in manufacturing all my life and I've seen a lot, but nothing like what we've got at the moment,' added Kraehe.

The company will shut its number six blast furnace at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, with 800 jobs lost, and close its Western Port hot strip mill, east of Melbourne, at the cost of 200 positions.

Australian Workers' Union national secretary Paul Howes warned that the country's manufacturing industry was facing one of its worst periods ever due to the soaring, commodities-linked Australian dollar.

'Today's tragic job losses send the clear signal that Australian manufacturing is facing the worst crisis it has seen since the Great Depression,' he said.

The Aussie dollar breached parity with the greenback in October and Monday continued to trade near all-time highs at around $1.04.

The BlueScope announcement comes on the heels of another Australian steel giant, OneSteel, last week laying off 400 staff, citing weak demand, with unions expecting more redundancies in the weeks ahead.

The latest cuts illustrate that while Australia's mining sector is booming, driven by demand for its raw materials from Asia, other parts of the economy, such as manufacturing, tourism and education, are hurting.

The nation's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose in July to 5.1 per cent and coming on top of slumping consumer confidence and retail sales, analysts forecast it will rise further.

Howes pinpointed China's 'undervalued' currency as a major problem, with the yuan's weakness blamed for suppressing the cost of Chinese exports and causing rival foreign products, such as BlueScope's, to lose market share.

'Estimates suggest China is undervaluing the yuan by up to 40 per cent, which just drives export industries and jobs to China at the expense of Australian industry,' he said.

Source : New Age

DSE dissatisfied with IPO proposals of 3 companies

The Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited last week turned down the proposals of three companies to float initial public offering as its board of directors found the proposals either faulty or unfit for the current market situation.

The companies that approached the bourse for its opinion on floating IPOs are Unique Hotel and Resort Ltd, Energyprima Limited, and Shurwid Industries Ltd.

'Based on the listing committee's report, the DSE board decided that none of the IPO proposals were sound enough for getting a positive response,' said a DSE director. 

In its proposal submitted to the DSE, the sponsors of Unique Hotel and Resort Ltd, which had floated its IPO earlier under the currently suspended book-building system, said the company would bring down the indicative price of the issue to Tk 135 by refunding Tk 50 to the shareholders. The indicative price of the issue is now Tk 185 with a face value of Tk 10.

'It cited the example of MJL Bangladesh Ltd and said it would also like to go through the same procedure,' the DSE director said.

'The DSE board decided to sit with the Securities and Exchange Commission along with the representatives of the company to discuss the issue,' he added.

The DSE board in its meeting last week decided to reject for the time being a proposal of Energyprima Limited for making an IPO as the board found the proposed price of the issue too high and the proposal lacking sufficient data.

In the proposal, Energyprima, an electricity generating company, stated that it had raised a capital of Tk 103 crore in 2010 by issuing placement shares and Tk 11 crore in 2011. 'In that case, the earning per share of the company should be changed. But, the company did not provide that information,' the DSE director said.

In the latest audited report submitted by the company, as on December 31, 2010, its NAV is Tk 27.16 per share and the earning per share is Tk 6.37. Its authorised capital is Tk 500 crore and the pre-IPO paid-up capital is Tk 118.6 crore.

The Energyprima proposed that it would float 3.14 crore ordinary shares at an issue price of Tk 95, comprising a face value of Tk 10 and a premium of Tk 85.

Energyprima estimated that the aggregate proceeds from the IPO would be approximately Tk 298.30 crore. Of the amount, Tk 204 crore would be used for loan repayment, Tk 84.3 crore for production facility development, and Tk 10 crore would be added to its working capital.

'We asked for the updated financial statement from the company before giving any final decision. The board also found the issue over-priced and decided that the issue price should not be more than Tk 87,' the director said.

The DSE board also rejected another IPO proposal, made by Shurwid Industries Ltd, as it decided that it would be too early for the company to float shares. 

The company proposed to issue 1.40 crore ordinary shares at a face value of Tk 10 each. The authorised capital of the company is Tk 50 crore and the pre-IPO paid-up capital is Tk 28.50 crore.

According to the IPO prospectus of Shurwid Industries, the proceeds from the IPO would be used for repayment of an outstanding loan of Tk 10.69 crore and Tk 2.29 crore would be added to its working capital.

'The company said it would repay loans from the IPO proceeds but it had raised Tk 24 crore earlier through placement shares, yet it had not paid back the loans at that time,' the DSE director said.  

As per the audited report dated September 30, 2010, the NAV of the company is Tk 12.40 per share and the earning per share is Tk 0.27.

Source : New Age

Spice prices up before Eid

The prices of all spices have shot up in the capital, with clove posting the highest price hike of Tk 1,000 per kilogram over the past one month on both retail and wholesale markets ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Traders attributed the spice price spiral to a rise in their global prices as the country is almost completely dependent on import for meeting its demand for spices.

They also blamed the private clearing report finding companies for the price hike of spices as the CRF companies were citing the prices of imported spices at more than that on the international market.

On Monday, clove was being sold at Tk 2,000 per kg, compared to Tk 1,000 in July.

Mace was being sold on the day at Tk 3,400 per kg, marking a price hike of Tk 400 over the past month and of Tk 800 over the past three months.

On Monday, the price of nutmeg stood at Tk 1,100 per kg, up by around Tk 200 over the past month, that of cumin seed at Tk 480 per kg, marking a rise of Tk 100, and cinnamon at Tk 220 per kg, up by Tk 30.

The price of black pepper stood at Tk 800 per kg, up by Tk 200, and that of cardamom at Tk 2,500 per kg, posting a rise of Tk 300 over the past month.

According to traders, the demand for spices that remains at a nominal level round the year skyrockets in Ramadan, which is one of the reasons for the exorbitant price hike.

They claimed a global crisis of some spices caused by damage of crops by natural calamities in some countries was another key factor that pushed the prices so high.

Importers said they failed to procure the quantity of clove they had wanted to from Madagascar, the top source of clove for Bangladesh, as the clove plantations there were heavily damaged in the heavy rainfall in March-April this year.

They also claimed to have failed to source adequate quantity of clove from Indonesia, another major clove-exporting country, as the crop there had also been damaged by a pest attack.

They said there was a huge supply shortfall of the spice on the international market, forcing many of the importers to cancel the letters of credit opened for importing clove.

A wholesaler at Moulvibazar said the supply dearth of clove was created as many of the importers had suspended its procurement process finding the latest global price of the spice standing at $5,200 per tonne, registering an increase of $1,200 over the past few months.

According to the association of spice wholesalers, the supply of clove on the domestic market has decreased by around 50 per cent against the annual demand for the spice standing at around 1,000 tonnes.

The association's president, Mohammad Enayetullah, admitted that the price of clove had increased because of the global production shortfall.

Sagir Ahmed, an importer at Khatunganj in Chittagong, said the price of spices increased a lot on the global market as the production had decreased in the producing countries due to natural calamities including draught.

The retailers in the capital, however, were found selling spices at around Tk 100 to Tk 200 more than the wholesale prices on Monday.

Abul Kalam, a retailer at Moulvibazar, admitted that they were charging higher prices for spices to compensate for the losses incurred in retailing the spices at very small quantities.

A number of shoppers at Karwan Bazar alleged the traders could increase the spice prices without any reason in the absence of proper market monitoring by the government.

Source : New Age

Change in temperature unlikely

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at a few places over all the seven divisions till 6:00pm today.

Moderately heavy falls are also likely at places, Met Office said.

Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital today at 6:25pm and rises tomorrow at 5:37am.

The country's highest temperature, 34.0 degrees Celsius, was recorded on Monday in Rajshahi and Jessore and the lowest, 24.6 degrees, in Sylhet.

Source : New Age

School with Canadian curriculum opens in Dhaka city

The Canadian Trillinium School will open a Canadian curriculum certified school in Bangladesh, officials of the school said it in a press briefing on Monday.

This will be the first school of its kind in Bangladesh and it will start its admission activities in October, Eric Smith, an educator and manager of the Asia Programme for Atlantic Education International, said at the press

briefing.

He said that the school in Bangladesh will be staffed by a Canadian trained and experienced principal and seven Canadian certified teaching staff.

Under this international programme, grade 11 students will spend one semester studying in a New Brunswick high school in Canada. Canadian Trillinium School students will study side by side with their counterparts.

He said that for this year only, the school will operate grades 6-10 with a maximum of 10 students at each class level to ensure a quality education.

In future, the school will expand to take more students at these levels and at additional grade levels K-12, he added.

Source : New Age