01 March, 2016

SECOND EDITION

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

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Falgun 18, 1422, Jamadiul Awal 20, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 315

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www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

Timely remedy of highway black spots could save lives

Injured Mustafiz out, Tamim available for Asia Cup

n Kamrul Hasan The government is planning measurements to curb highway accidents based on a seven-year-old survey findings, which the surveying agency says is too old for such initiatives because changes may have occurred by this time.

If the relevant department of the government had been more sincere about taking care of these accident-prone places – black spots, as they are called in the survey – chances were high the overwhelming number of highway casualties could have been significantly lowered.

A black spot is a certain section on a highway considered dangerous because it is prone to accidents.

For example, there are several black spots on the busy Dhaka-Aricha Highway – the bus stands at Joypurhat, Savar Bazar and Golora/ Kamta are some of them.

In 2009, at the completion of a two-year study, the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Buet came up with a list of 209 such black spots across the country. The researchers followed two methods – (a) compilation of road accident statistics and news reports, and (b) a few field visits.

However, the project titled “Improvement of Road Safety at Black Spot on National Highways,” under

INSIDE Bookworms bid adieu to Ekushey Boi Mela Curtain fell on the month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2016 with a record-breaking sale of books.  PAGE 5

Finally, Leo. Finally

If you don’t already know and have been dwelling in cave, hiding from that ferocious bear from The Revenant, DiCaprio finally won his Oscar. And the reactions on the internet nearly blew up the whole system.  PAGE 30

n Mazhar Uddin

of the narrow two-lane highways which have now been reformed into wide four-lane highways.

Examples include the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Chittagong Highways – two of the most important highways in the country.

Bangladesh face a major blow after fast bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman suffered a side strain injury during the last game against Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in a press release yesterday said dashing opener Tamim Iqbal will replace the injured fast bowler.

Tamim has just returned to country after being blessed with a baby boy on Sunday in Bangkok.

Mustafiz, the 20-year-old pacer, went through a scan yesterday and the reports confirmed that the pacer is suffering from Grade 1 side strain on the right and will miss the remaining games of the Asia Cup. He will be under observation for the next 48 hours.

Tamim Iqbal went to the Sher-eBangla National Stadium in Mirpur where he batted indoor and spent time with journalists soon after he reached Dhaka.

The Chittagong lad took a paternity leave from his national duty prior to the Asia Cup. He also returned from Pakistan Super League

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The memorial made out of a microbus on Dhaka University campus is a stark reminder of how dearly highway accidents may cost us. Noted filmmaker Tareq Masud and broadcast journalist Mishuk Munir were killed in an accident while returning to Dhaka by this microbus in August 2011 MEHEDI HASAN which ARI conducted the survey, did not get government approval until five years later.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) finally approved the project in November 2014.

According to source from the

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) – the implementing agency – around 30% of those black spots have so far been remedied since the list was placed in 2009.

But this was not done under the project, but rather because those black spots were located on some

ATM swindler attacks 2 local ATM scammers DT court reporter under scanner n Tribune Report The foreign national charged in the ATM forgery scam, Piotr Szczepan Mazurek, attacked the Dhaka Tribune court correspondent Sanaul Islam Tipu around 4pm in the lower court premises yesterday.

The Polish-German national apparently became aggravated as Tipu attempted to photograph him outside the courtroom at the conclusion of the remand hearing.

The accused, with his right hand in handcuffs, hurled abuse at the reporter as he tried to carry out his professional duties, before lunging at him.

Tipu managed to avert a direct blow to the face but his mobile telephone was destroyed in the assault. He sustained minor injuries to the hand.

According to the law, a suspect's hands are supposed to remain free when in the dock before the judge.

At all other times during their transfer between the court and jail, both hands are supposed to be handcuffed.

During the assault yesterday, one of the suspect's hands was free, allowing the attack. Senior lawyers and witnesses alleged that the police had been negligent  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

n Mohammad Jamil Khan Detectives have identified two local men who helped Piotr Szczepan Mazurek withdraw money from ATM machines using cloned cards.

The new suspects are under surveillance, said an investigator close to the case.

Requesting anonymity, the senior Detective Branch official told the Dhaka Tribune that two technology exper ts were present when Piotr, the prime suspect in the scam, withdrew money from a City Bank booth in the capital’s Kalshi area.

The new suspects would be ar-

rested after a few details are verified, the official added.

Three more people have also been detained for interrogation.

They include a money exchange businessman who helped Piotr convert taka to US dollar and send it to Farid Nabir, the suspected mastermind, in London.

Based on information Piotr provided during his remand, detectives are also trying to analyse digital traces to identify two more Eastern Bank employees who reportedly helped the Polish national.

Maruf Hossain Sarder, a deputy commissioner of the DMP, said  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

2 kids die after PM: Conspirators still active allegedly eating Tribune Report n Chinese food n

Aminul Islam Babu

Two children died yesterday after suffering from what their parents alleged was food poisoning caused by leftover restaurant food.

However, the exact cause of their deaths would be determined following an autopsy scheduled for today.

The deceased are 13-year-old Israt Jahan Arani, a class-five student of Viqarunnisa Noon School, and six-year-old Alvi Aman, a nursery student of a local private school.

Their mother Mahfuza Malek Jesmin said the family brought home leftover food after having dinner on Saturday night at a Chinese restaurant near their Banasree home.

Yesterday, the mother served the rest of the Chinese food to her two children for lunch while she and her husband had a home-cooked meal.

Both children were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital after the mother noticed that they were not waking up from an afternoon nap.

Monjirun Mohsinun Mim, an emergency doctor at the DMCH, told the Dhaka Tribune that both children had died before they reached the hospital. An autopsy was suggested as the deaths seemed suspicious, she added. l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the conspiracy against democracy is on and the actors of the 1/11 political changeover of 2007 are still active.

“Their conspiracy is yet to come to an end. They want to come to power at any cost through undemocratic way,” she told the parliament in her valedictory speech of the 9th session of the 10th parliament.

She said army officer Chowdhury Fazlul Bari and ATM Amin tortured politicians, teachers, students and businessmen during the emergency regime of two years from January 2007.

The premier also branded The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam and the Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman as cronies of the actors of 1/11 political changeover.

“The two newspapers published untrue and false news before my arrest based on the information supplied by Amin and Bari. Certainly they were involved in conspiracy. If they had not been involved how would untrue news had been published.”

Either they were involved in deep conspiracy or worked as agents of the DGFI, she said.

Hasina added that those people wanted to come to power, but do not have capacity to be elected.

The Awami League chief, who was behind the bar during the caretaker regime, said following her release from jail, she did not read the two newspapers. “I might have lost my confidence. Why should I read those papers. I know what they will publish,” she added.

Hasina said she was the worst victim of the media criticism. She also said that her government does not control media.

The prime minister said people are rejecting the BNP in the local government elections due to their criminals activities and corruption.

“BNP is a militant organisation.

The BNP-Jamaat is involved in militant activities. Whenever any militant was caught by police, either their roots were found in BNP or in Jamaat,” she said.

She thanked the president for presenting an important document before the nation about the socio-economic development of the country.

Referring to the sudden increase of child killing, the prime minister hoped that the court will give the perpetrators capital punishment so that none can dare to attack children.

In her windup speech, Opposition Leader Rawshan Ershad praised government’s various development projects and asked the government to take some initiatives to mitigate public sufferings. l

CJ warns against negative remarks on judiciary n Tribune Report Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday called upon politicians and ministers to refrain from making comments that could create a lack of trust among the people about the judiciary.

He said politicians term judiciary an organ of the government which is not correct.

“The judiciary is an organ of the state. Everybody should remain cautious about making comments to ensure that the judiciary is not undermined and its dignity is not damaged,” the chief justice said.

The warning came after a Supreme Court bench headed by the chief justice accepted BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s explanation on his recent comments about the judiciary. The BNP leader on February 7 told a meeting in Sylhet that the government was trying to control the judiciary.

On February 18, the court asked Fakhrul to give an explanation for his comments.

His counsels later submitted an affidavit, explaining his comments.

The apex court yesterday said citizens have to abide by the judiciary if they want to abide by the country’s constitution, but lawyers, ministers and politicians have been

found talking against the judiciary.

The court pointed out the tenth paragraph of Fakhrul’s explanation where he said the judiciary was failing to work independently.

His counsel Zainul Abedin claimed that his client did not say that and some newspapers had misquoted the speech.

He said rejoinders had been served to the newspapers and they had already printed that.

But the court said the rejoinder was served on February 27, after the court had sought explanation from Fakhrul, and not before that.

After the hearing, Additional Attorney General Murad Reza told reporters the court had firmly announced that the judiciary was totally independent and impartial, and that there was no pressure from anyone on the judiciary.

He said the court cautioned Fakhrul not to make any controversial, contemptuous and fabricated comment about the judiciary and the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by the chief justice extended Fakhrul’s bail for 15 days in three cases filed over arson and vandalism charges in response to three petitions filed by him seeking extension of bail. l

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Timely remedy of highway black spots could save lives 2 local ATM scammers under scanner Although late, now when the BRTA is thinking about moving ahead with the project, Buet authorities are saying that the available black spot data is too old and needs updating, otherwise the project would not be of much use.

In December last year, after the ARI drew her attention, Buet Vice-Chancellor Prof Khaleda Ekram wrote to the director of the project saying it would be unsuccessful if implemented with data collected seven years ago.

The letter that the Dhaka Tribune has seen, read that some of the black spots have changed over time. This has happened because some of the roads have lost importance and the lower number of accidents shows this.

There are several reasons why a place on a highway becomes a black spot. Sometimes, because of

faulty position of billboards and roadside trees, drivers’ vision gets blocked, especially at sharp or hairpin turnings, leading to accidents.

Remedial of a black spot will differ based on the nature of a road, its surroundings and quality of land.

Black spot treatment varies with the nature of road, surroundings and quality of land. For example, if there is a sharp turn, it could be made sure that there are no billboards and big trees blocking the drivers’ vision.

The ARI found in 2009 that those black spots mainly occurred because road safety audit reports were not properly followed.

As many as 2,349 people were killed in a total of 2,515 accidents at those black spots from 1998 to 2007, the ARI said.

When contacted, Subodh Kumar Saha, executive director (road safe-

ty) of the Roads and Highways Department, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had sought two things – an updated list from the ARI and an extension from the government.

Officials said that in primary investigation, they had found that roughly 30% of the black spots from that ARI list are still prone to accidents. Since another study would take time, they now want to move forward with these common spots and in the meantime ARI could do another study.

For example, two new black spots have emerged on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway since 2009 – the Jagir High School point and the Hemayetpur intersection, officials said.

Although the ARI conducted the previous study free of cost, another study might cost around 0.5% of the total Tk165 crore project expenditure. l

ATM swindler attacks DT court reporter in carrying out their duties.

HM Kamruzzaman, police deputy commissioner for prosecution, said: “We have heard about the incident and have instructed the authorities concerned to take necessary action.”

The Dhaka Tribune court corre-

spondent also contacted Court Prison Officer-in-Charge Md Murad Ali, under whose care the suspect was.

He told the Dhaka Tribune that they were investigating the situation to see why the lapse in security had occurred.

The incident took place after Pi-

otr and the three City Bank officials were placed in the court by the Detective Branch of police seeking a fresh eight-day remand. The court granted five days for further interrogation of the arrestees.

The accused was previously in six day’s remand that ended yesterday. l

they were uncovering many more leads in the case that needed to be analysed.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday granted a fresh five-day remand against Piotr and three more City Bank officials – Moksed Alam Maksud, Rezaul Karim Shahin and Refaz Ahmed Roni. The order came after the police placed them before the court at the end of a six-day remand.

Second phase of the scam

The gang of ATM card forgers were ready to move on to the second phase of their plans that included securing contracts from the banks to set up ATM booths themselves, said a law enforcer involved in the probe process.

The plan was to set up booths that already had skimming devic-

es installed on the automated teller machines (ATM). That way, the gang would easily be able to collect client information and clone their cards.

During interrogation, Piotr said he and Farid Nabir were almost ready to carry out this plan, the law enforcer added.

Meanwhile, Piotr’s wife Rozina Akther Marina continues to be under surveillance. Detectives said Marina might have deleted information from Piotr’s laptop and mobile phone, which were still at the suspect’s home for an entire day after his arrest.

Md Shahjahan, additional deputy commissioner of DB police, said the laptop has been sent to experts to scan and retrieve any deleted data. l

Injured Mustafiz out, Tamim available for Asia Cup early where he played brilliantly for his side Peshawar Zalmi and scored 267 runs in six matches.

It is almost confirmed that Tamim will play against Pakistan in the upcoming clash at the Asia Cup as the

Tigers’ opening pair of Mohammad Mithun and Soumya Sarkar struggled to put up a good show so far.

Hosts Bangladesh have a bright chance to reach the final of the event for the second time. l

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Failure to submit info to make landlords liable for tenants’ crime n Kamrul Hasan Any landlord who fails to submit information about their tenants within March 15 would be held responsible for any crime committed by lodgers inside their house, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah has warned.

“If someone [landlord] does not provide information to the DMP on time, then they will be held responsible if it was later found that criminals were residing at their house without the concerned officials being informed,” the DMP boss told a press conference yesterday.

“Those who did not get a [tenant

database] form will have to contact their respective police stations for it,” he said.

If any tenant left a house, the owners would have to collect a new form for the next tenants and inform the police officials of the respective beat, Asaduzzaman said.

Assuring that neither the information provided in the forms would be disclosed nor the information providers be harassed, the DMP commissioner said the information would be stored as both soft and hard copies in the tenant database.

Depending on the area and its population density, police stations

in Dhaka have set up three to nine units to work in this regard, while the Dhaka Metropolitan Police has also created 287 beats.

DMP sources said local tenant information would be collected and maintained by the city’s respective police stations and shared through a central DMP database. The information would be stored categorised under respective neighbourhoods.

A pilot database is now running at the DMP HQ and would later be introduced to police stations as well, the sources said.

The initiative to create a tenant database was taken by the DMP Headquarters in the past, but the

process did not success then due to several reasons.

The efforts were revived recently after the Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of police raided two houses in Badda and Mohammadpur to recover explosives and arrested Ansarullah Bangla Team members earlier this month.

According to section 42 of the code of criminal procedure, every citizen must help the police for government or investigation work.

Under this section, police can seek information from anyone and citizens must cooperate. If necessary, the police can also take action under this section. l

Minister: Govt has 300,000 vacant posts n Tribune Report The government had over 300,000 jobs vacant as of December 2014, said Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday.

Replying to a query in Parliament, he said there were 302,904 vacant posts and the process of updating the list of vacancies was going on.

He added that among the vacant posts – 39,000 were first class posts, 30,422 second class, 163,417 fourth class and 69,501 were fifth class.

Replying to another query, the minister said currently there are 187 officers on special duty (OSD).

Among the OSD officials are two secretaries, 17 additional secretaries, 72 joint secretaries, 45 deputy secretaries, 35 senior assistant secretaries and 16 assistant secretaries.

The minister also said the government had no plan to increase government job entry age from 30 to 35. l

Hawkers, evicted from footpaths in the capital’s Gulistan, return for business as they even sit in the middle of the road to sell products, disrupting traffic. The photo was taken yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

RAB busts international trafficking gang n Kamrul Hasan

The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested eight suspected human traffickers from different parts of the country, who, according to the elite force, are members of an international human trafficking ring.

They are Milton Molla, 22, Habibur Rahman, 28, Rokon, 21, Abu Samad, 32, Hasan Khondakar, 30, Amir Hossain, 22, Mamun 28, and Ayasha Khatun, 25.

RAB sources said they opened investigations after receiving a complaint from one Rawshan Ara from Tangail on September 28 last year. She said her daughter Sabina

had been missing since August 17, 2015 and on September 25, she received a call from India asking her to pay Tk5 lakh in exchange of her daughter.

During investigation, RAB arrested Rokon when he was allegedly selling one Sohagi, 13, to Ayesha in Gazipur’s Barabari. Their information led to the arrest of Amir and Hasan from Jatrabari. The men were allegedly buying Sohagi to sell her in India. Another suspected trafficker Taher fled during the raid and RAB rescued one Shirin from there based on information provided by the arrestees.

Yesterday, the elite force arrest-

ed Habib, Milton and Samad from Benapole who were said to be responsible for trafficking Sohagi and Shirin to India, RAB sources added.

One Salman, who RAB claimed to be the ring leader, managed to escape. Two girls – Sharmin and Riya – were rescued during the drive.

RAB’s Media and Legal Wing Director Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan yesterday told reporters that they had recovered fake appointment letters, passports and some 16 cellphones from the arrestees.

The gang had made the appointment letters using names of Maldives-based companies.

Mahmud said the gang targeted

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the poor and cajoled them with promises of better jobs or married them before forcing them in flesh trade.

During initial questioning, the arrested persons said the gang had members in various districts and that they usually handed the girls to Chandan and Dukhu who took them to one ‘Didi’. This ‘Didi’ would give them some Tk2 lakh for each girl, the RAB officer added.

About victim Sabina, Mahmud said she was kidnapped when coming to Dhaka to her workplace and was later trafficked to India. He said they had located Sabina through the Interpol and hoped the girl would be brought back home soon. l

UTTARA GAS EXPLOSION

Sumaiya: How are my children and husband? n Mohammad Jamil Khan Sumaiya Akther, injured in last week’s gas explosion, is fighting for her life at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). She rarely gains consciousness and whenever she does, she enquires after her husband and sons, unaware that three of them have already succumbed to their injuries sustained in the fire at Uttara.

“Whenever she gains consciousness, she writhes in pain and asks how her husband and sons are doing,” her brother-in-law Riaz Mollah said. He said the family had not broken the news to Sumaiya, who suffered 95% burns, fearing that doing so could further deteriorate her already critical condition.

“We are trying to give her false hope that her husband and children are okay. When she wants to speak with them, we call her second son Zarif over phone,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Zarif, 9, received 6% burns in Friday’s explosion caused by a gas leak in the kitchen. The fire broke out when Sumaiya tried to lit a gas oven. All five members of the family were injured. The couple’s 14-month-old son Zayan, and Sharleen, 15, died within 12 hours of the incident while their father Shahnewaz succumbed to his injuries a day later.

Riaz said Sumaiya would try to offer prayers through gestures if she heard Azan when she gained consciousness and prayed for her family’s recovery.

Zayan and Sharleen have been buried in Barisal while Shahnewaz’s body has been kept at the Birdem morgue. Shahnewaz’s nephew Nazmus Sakib said they would take the body to their village home. “We are preparing for the worst,” he added, hinting at Sumaiya’s deteriorating condition.

Partha Shankar Pal, residential surgeon of DMCH burn institute, said they were trying their best to save the 38-year-old mother. Zarif is recovering but he is mentally scarred, relatives say. “He is out of danger. Every time he speaks, he says he wants to see his parents,” his cousin Nishat, who is looking after him at the hospital, said.

Ali Hossain, officer-in-charge of Uttara west police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had issued letters to Titas and DESCO to learn whether the gas and electricity connections to the house, where the accident took place, were legal. “We are yet to get a reply from them,” he said, adding that they would take actions after receiving replies from the suppliers. l

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

Punishment increased for operating flight at risk n Shohel Mamun

The cabinet yesterday approved in principle the draft of The Civil Aviation Law, 2016 replacing the existing Civil Aviation Ordinance of 1960.

The approval came at a regular cabinet meeting held at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said according to the new law, if any foreign aircraft intentionally violates Bangladesh air space, then the persons responsible for

the offense would have to suffer a maximum of seven years’ imprisonment and minimum two-year imprisonment or Tk2 crore as fine.

He, however, said in case of operating flight in a risky way, the pilots concerned would have to face a maximum of five years’ jail or a fine of Tk1 crore.

According to the existing civil aviation act, the punishment for pilot violating the law is one-year imprisonment with a fine of Tk5 lakh.

The cabinet secretary said: “The draft civil aviation act also contained the security and safety

JS speaker: Be attentive when answering questions n Tribune Report Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury yesterday asked all ministries to be more careful and attentive in answering questions asked by the members of parliament.

She issued the ruling at the beginning of yesterday’s parliament session, saying that the Ministry of Home Ministry had violated the parliament’s rules of procedure by not attending a lawmaker’s question asked in November last year.

The lawmaker in question, Awami League leader and former information minister Abul Kalam Azad, in an unscheduled discussion on February 16 said he placed a question at parliament several times, but the ministry representatives did not answer it.

Shirin said: “The honourable lawmaker raised the question on November 19 last year and the question was moved to another day, but the parliament session expired before that day. The question was placed again on February 2 but was moved again to February 16. On February 16, the question should have been answered, or a request to move to a a later date should have been made. But the Home Ministry did neither.

It’s a violation of the rules of procedure of the parliament.”

In the ninth parliament, the highest numbers of questions were moved to later dates by the Home and Foreign Ministries. Most of those questions were related to killings, abduction, extra-judicial killings and border killings. l

One Billion Coalition looks to build resilience capacity Al-Masum n Mohammad Molla Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS), in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), has launched the “One Billion Coalition for Resilience” programme to scale-up community and civic action to strengthen individual and community capacity to thrive in the face of adversity.

“Resilience may mean different things in different contexts. In some context, it may refer to fighting drought and in another context, it may refer to health issues. Resilience needs to vary from place to place and

from individual to individual,” IFRC Secretary General Elhadj As Sy told reporters yesterday after the launch ceremony at Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Auditorium in Dhaka yesterday.

The initiative aims to engage at least one billion people around the world in taking active steps to become safer, healthier, and more prosperous by 2025, according to the IFRC website.

Asked why Bangladesh was chosen for the launching ceremony, As Sy said the country had displayed excellent indicators in disaster preparedness and response and there had been inclusive leadership in this sector. l

of passenger. If any aircraft crashes the passengers will be awarded compensation.”

He said the cabinet also endorsed in principle the draft of the The Public Procurement (4th amendment) Bill, 2016. The cabinet has also given its approval to the draft of The Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council Law, 2016.

Shafiul said: “The draft of Public Procurement Act was approved keeping the provision for a government to tender float up to Tk3 crore instead of existing Tk2 crore under the Limited Tender Method (LTM). l

BNP announces election to two top positions n Mohammad al masum Molla The BNP yesterday announced the schedule for election to its two top positions – chairperson and senior vice-chairperson.

The election will be held on March 19 as the BNP set the date to hold its national council in Dhaka.

Addressing a press briefing at party’s Nayapaltan headquarters yesterday, party standing committee member Jamir Uddin Sircar told journalists that the nomination papers for the positions would be distributed from March 2.

“The nomination papers will be available at the party headquarters,” he said adding that nomination paper would have to be submitted by March 4.

The Election Commission will scrutinise the nomination papers on March 5 and the last date of nomination papers withdrawal is March 6.

He also said party standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan was made the returning officer.

Jamir Uddin Sircar said a candidate himself can collect the nomination or they can send their nominee to collect it. l

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

BOOK FAIR 2016

AMAR EKUSHEY

Bookworms bid adieu to Ekushey Boi Mela n Nure Alam Durjoy

the overall sale at this year’s book fair amounted to around Tk40.5 crore, almost double of last year’s sale, which was around Tk21.95 crore.

The last day saw 144 new books published at the fair. With those, the total number of new arrivals in 2016 stands at 3,444 – a few hundreds less than last year’s 3,700. <2016 bestsellers> Muhammad Zafar Iqbal’s science fiction “Cranial” topped the bestsellers’ list at Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2016.

Attendants at the stall of Tamralipi, the publishing house that brought out the book, said they were selling the seventh print of the book yesterday.

“We have been getting really good response from the readers with ‘Cranial.’ It has been a top choice since Day 1,” said Tamralipi

Curtain fell on the month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2016 with a record-breaking sale of books.

This year saw thousands of visitors thronging the fair grounds every day last month. Heightened security measures were put in place to ensure safety for the visitors, especially in light of the attack on blogger-writer Avijit Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya last year.

The huge turnout daily made publishers nothing short of ecstatic as it also meant a splendid amount of book sales. “All publishing houses have had impressive sales, much better than the previous fair,” said Shahadat Hossain, publisher of Annesha Prakashan.

According to Bangla Academy,

Visitors throng the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela to buy books yesterday, the last day of the month-long fair MEHEDI HASAN well. “Tituni Ebong Tituni,” another science fiction published by Kakoli Prakashani, went into third reprint, and “Sa tey Sentu,” a novel-

publisher AKM Tariqul Islam Roni.

Besides “Cranial,” two other books of Zafar Iqbal that came out at the book fair were bestsellers as

la published by Somoy Prakashan, went into second reprint.

Other bestsellers include children’s novella “Idiot Unlimited” written by Sumanto Aslam and published by Kakoli Prakashoni, “Ajo Keu Hatey Abiram,” a poetry book written by Gultekin Khan and published by Tamralipi, and “Masrafee,” a biography of Bangladesh national cricket team captain Masrafee Bin Mortaza, written by Debabrata Mukharjee and distributed by Oitijhya.

Besides, “Bangladesh Flooded by Change, written by Bosse Kramsjo and published by Agamee Prakashani, and “General O Narira,” a novel written by Anisul Hoque, and “Hetey Jai Jonombhor,” a novel written by Selina Hossain, published by Prothoma Prakashan, were also popular among readers. l

BD to shop for power in Minister: No new random India’s energy market business outlet in posh areas n Asif Showkat Kallol Bangladesh is preparing to purchase electricity on India’s open energy market in a bid to mitigate the country’s power crisis, ahead of peak demand in the summer.

According to a proposal signed by Power Division Secretary Monowar Hossain, India’s Jaiprakash Power Ventures will supply 40MW of electricity to Bangladesh across the Behrampur–Bheramara grid connection point.

The proposal said some Tk319.78 crore (approximately US$39,972,500) would be paid over to Jaiprakash Power over the next two years for the 40MW of electricity – a per unit cost of 5.704 US cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).

The average price of locally produced electricity is 8.375 US cents.

Local rental power plants charge up to 37.2125 US cents per kWh. “The government has decided to purchase 40MW of electricity on the Indian open market to meet local demand,” State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The bid was selected in a limited tendering process, officials said.

Nigrie Super Thermal Pow-

n Abu Hayat Mahmud

er Station in Madhya Pradesh, owned by Jaypee Group subsidiary Jaiprakash Power Ventures, will supply the electricity.

The open market electricity purchase proposal will be placed before the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase, chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, for approval this week. State Minister for Power Nasrul is expected to attend the meeting.

Power Division insiders said the proposal is likely to be approved.

Other Indian power companies that participated in the tender include private firms GMR Chhattisgarh Energy and Jindal Power as well as state-owned West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited. Their bids, ranging between 5.734 US cents per kWh and 6.125 US cents per kWh, were not as competitive as Jaiprakash Power’s offering, the proposal said.

Bangladesh currently imports around 500MW of electricity from India at the Behrampur – Bheramara grid connection and is scheduled to import a further 500MW from 2017.

The country plans to import another 100MW of electricity from Tripura’s Palatana power project, sources in the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said. l

TEMPERATURE FOREC AST FOR TODAY

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Dhaka

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The authorities of two Dhaka City Corporations have decided that businessmen will no longer be allowed to set up new commercial outlets at random in posh residential areas of the capital.

The decision came from a views-exchange meeting held in the capital’s Gulshan Club yesterday.

During the meeting, Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain said: “No businessman will be allowed to set up any new commercial outlet at random in posh residential areas—Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Dhanmondi, Nikunja and Uttara residential model town.

They (businessmen) must arrange it within the designated areas.

“The decision will take an immediate effect and stern action will be taken if anyone violates it.”

“However, those who already have their commercial enterprises outside the designated areas of residential neighbourhoods, will have to arrange parking spaces within their establishments and improve the garbage removal system on a temporary basis,” added the minister.

Permanent decision in this regard would come later after a joint 21

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DHAKA TODAY SUN SETS 6:00PM

meeting of Dhaka City Corporations authorities, government high-ups, Rajuk authorities and representatives of different business organisations, the minister further said.

The views-exchange was arranged by the authorities of Dhaka North City Corporation.

Among others, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq, Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon, Rajuk Chairman GM Jainul Abedin Bhuiyan and Gulshan Society President ATM Shamsul Huda were present on the occasion.

The minister urged everyone to cooperate with the two Mayors Annisul and Khokon to reform Dhaka.

Mayor Annisul Huq urged the business owners of the residential areas to free their basement for arranging car parking.

“I have discussed about the matter with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who also wants to see Dhaka clean and livable city. I hope everyone will free their basement within next one month. If anyone uses building basement for business purpose, we will demolish that business establishment,” he said.

Mayor Sayeed Khokon said a huge number of offices had been

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YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 6:20AM

32.2ºC Jessore

14.6ºC Dimla

Source: Accuweather/UNB

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PRAYER TIMES

established in residential buildings all over Dhanmondi area causing traffic congestion.

The government has increased the fees for converting land category from residential to non-residential in the more upscale areas of the capital by 750% over the last few years, apparently to discourage commercialisation of the neighbourhoods.

Following recommendations from the parliamentary standing committee on the Housing and Public Works Ministry, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk) increased land conversion fees by almost 7.5 times, or 750%, for converting plots from the category of residential to non-residential or commercial in the residential areas Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Nikunja and Uttara.

The capital development authority in December fixed Tk5m for the conversion of a plot from residential to commercial, and Tk3m for residential to non-residential, in Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara.

For Uttara and Nikunja, except along the Dhaka-Mymensingh road, the conversion fees were fixed at Tk2.5m for residential to commercial and Tk1.5m for residential to non-residential. l Sylhet

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Fajr: 5:06am | Zohr: 12:11am Asr: 4:22pm | Magrib: 6:01pm Esha: 7:17pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

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News

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

Foreign firms hustle for piece SC stays Shakila Farzana’s bail of energy sector action n Ashif Islam Shaon

n Aminur Rahman Rasel Around 20 international firms yesterday submitted expressions of interest (EoI) to implement two new land-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.

The period to submit EoIs to set up LNG terminals at Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar and at Patuakhali’s Payra sea port expired yesterday.

“We got a major response from international firms.

“After scrutinising the EOIs and shortlisting promising firms, requests for proposal (RFP) and other relevant papers will be sought,” Md Quamruzzaman, director (PSC) of the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, widely known as Petrobangla, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The purpose of setting up the terminals is to import LNG so that

the country does not face a sudden supply shortfall.

Plans for the two new LNG terminals come despite the fact that the government has failed to set up a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) – a type of LNG terminal – in the five years since it was proposed.

The FSRU, which will be the first facility of its kind when it is built, was announced amid much fanfare.

Petrobangla, which is under the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) – will implement the projects.

Since assuming office in 2009, the Awami League government has decided on a policy of importing LNG to feed the national grid by 500mmcfd.

The country’s current gas production is about 2,745mmcf per day against a demand of 3,300mmcfd. l

The Appellate Division of Supreme Court has extended the stay on bail for lawyer Shakila Farzana until March 20, in two cases filed over financing militant organisation Shaheed Hamza Brigade.

A five-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the order yesterday moved by two government petitions.

Earlier on February 22, High Court granted bail to Shakila Farzana in the two cases. The next day, the government moved to the chamber judge which stayed the bail and placed it for a full bench hearing on February 29.

Shakila was arrested on August 18 last year from outside her chamber along with two other lawyers – Hasanuzzaman Liton and Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon – from the capital’s Dhanmondi for their alleged

link in funding a Chittagong-based militancy unit.

The trio claimed that they had deposited money to an account to return the advance fees they took for a case.

They also claimed that they were unaware of the owner of the account.

The account is owned by Moniruzzaman Don, who is a top leader of militant group Shahid Hamza Brigade and is now in jail.

RAB said that the Chittagong-based group was formed in November 2013 by former members of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, Hefazat-e-Islam and other militant groups.

Shakila is the incumbent joint general secretary of the Supreme Court wing of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a pro-BNP lawyers’ body.

She is the daughter of Syed Wahidul Alam, a former BNP whip and lawmaker from Chittagong during the 2001-2006 tenure. l

Mintoo gets bail in seven cases n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu BNP leader Abdul Awal Mintoo, adviser to party chairperson Khaleda Zia, was granted bail yesterday in seven violence cases filed with three police stations in the capital.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Maruf Hossain granted him bail in five cases filed with Paltan police after he surrendered before the court and sought bail.

Metropolitan Magistrate Khurshid Alam also granted him bail in two other cases filed with Ramna and Shahbagh police after his surrender.

The seven cases were filed over vandalism, sabotage and obstructing police duty in 2014 and 2015.

Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Sanaullah Miah argued for Mintoo while Additional Public Prosecutor Shah Alam Talukdar of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court, stood on behalf of the state. l

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News

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

HABIGANJ KILLING

Accused on 3-day remand again

n Our Correspondent, Habiganj

Dhaka North City Corporation conducts a drive at Gulshan 1 in the capital yesterday and demolishes a number of shops built in parking space

BAIZID HAQUE JOARDER

A court in Habiganj yesterday remanded Shahed, accused of killing four children in the district’s Bahubal, for another three days.

Judge Kawsar Alam of Habiganj Senior Judicial Magistrate Court gave the order after Investigating Officer Moktadirul Alam produced Shahed before the court with a seven-day remand petition.

Shahed was put on a five-day remand on February 25 in the case.

Defence counsel advocate Trilok Kanti Chowdhury Bijon yesterday said the court remanded Shahed for three days to face police interrogation.

Shahed was accused of killing four minor boys – Zakaria Ahmed Shubho, Tajel Miah, Monir Miah and Ismail Hossain – of Sundratiki village who went missing after they went out to play on February 12. On the morning of February 17, their bodies were recovered from a place two kilometres from the village. l

Restriction on mango plucking worries growers Hossain Chowdhury, n Anwar Chapainawabganj Almost all the mango trees in Chapainawabganj have already bloomed this year due to favourable weather, but growers are not happy as they are apprehending that they would have to incur huge losses this year like the last two years due to restriction on harvesting time.

Growers said wholesalers were not showing interest in buying mango orchards because many traders were not even able to recover the investment let alone make any profit in previous years.

Local sources said cultivators of Chapainawabganj which was considered as the capital of mango in Bangladesh were passing busy time in nourishing orchards of Nengra, Fazli, Gopalbogh, Khirsapat and Mohanbhog, but they are very much worried over pluck-

ing restriction as many traders in last year imported the sweet fruits from India for late harvest in the northern districts.

Major varieties of mangoes – Nengra, Gopalbhog and Khirshapat – matured at the same time due to the heat and had to be harvested quickly causing the supply to be greater than the demand, said many mango growers.

According to Department of Agricultural Extension Department, there are 18,58,770 mango trees on 24,460 hectares land in the five upazilas of the district.

In total, there are about 4.5m fruit-giving mango trees of different ages and varieties on over 35,000 hectares in the northern districts and the number are continuously increasing every year following expansion of commercial mango cultivation in Rajshahi region.

This year, the DAE has set a tar-

get to produce 2.50 lakh tonnes of mangoes from these mango trees.

Last year, the government imposed a ban on harvesting mangoes before June 1 to ensure chemical-free mangoes. Then, mangoes began to ripe early because of the heat spells, but growers could not pluck those due to the ban.

In 2014, farmers of the northern region also counted huge losses due to back-to-back blockades and strike enforced by the BNP-led 20 alliance demanding election under an impartial government.

Different organisations such as Kansat Mango Traders Samity, Bholahat Mango Foundation, Chapainawabganj Chamber of Commerce have already placed their objection over restriction on mango plucking.

Mozammel Haque Chutu, general secretary of Bholahat Mango Foundation, said if the government set

any time for plucking mangoes, they would wage a movement against it.

He said they had already started exchanging views with local Mps, DAE officials and mango traders to find out a way in this regard.

President of Chapainawabganj Chamber of Commerce Abdul Wahed told the Dhaka Tribune that a section of vested quarter was hatching conspiracy to destroy market of mangoes.

“We are keeping contact with different forums such as agriculture ministry and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries so that growers would not have to count losses.”

Monirul Islam, president of Mango Producer Association, told the Dhaka Tribune that last year mobile courts conducted drives at different places of the district but they could not find any formalin-laced mangoes as growers of

the district run their business with honesty.

“Many orchards are yet to be sold as traders are not interest to invest in the sector fearing losses,” Kazi Emdadul Haque, a wholesale mango trader at Kansat Bazar.

Researcher of Fruit Research Centre Dr Sarof Uddin said” “There is no fix time for plucking mangoes, it depends on weather. So the government should not set any time for plucking the juicy fruits.

Deputy Director of the DAE told the Dhaka Tribune that they would take decision over harvesting mangoes after considering situation as mango ripes naturally.

Moreover, Md Jahidul Islam, deputy commissioner, told the Dhaka Tribune that they would take a decision considering mango traders situation. “Loss of mango traders is not expected to anyone,” he added. l

One killed in ‘gunfight’ Bernicat praises Bangladeshis n Tribune Report

A listed criminal was killed in a “gun fight” with the members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) at Kalikapur in Patuakhali early yesterday.

Deputy Director of RAB 8 in Patuakhali Assistant Superintendent of Police Fazlur Rahman said Golam Mawla Mridha, 35, an accused in 16 criminal cases, including murder, was killed in the “gun battle”

between RAB members and his cohorts in Kalikapur area of Patuakhali town in the early hours of yesterday.

The members of law enforcement agencies forced to open fire as the accomplices of Mawla attacked a RAB convoy, he said.

“Mawla died on the spot during the gunfight,” he added. One pistol with three bullets, two magazines and 600 pieces of Yaba tablets were recovered from the scene. l

n Our Correspondent, Satkhira

US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat has praised the hardworking Bangladeshis who are helping the country meet its nutrition demands and alleviate poverty.

During a visit to Satkhira yesterday, the diplomat observed that fish production at hatcheries and milks from farms were meeting local demand while many more

become self-employed through the endeavour.

She lauded the efforts, saying Bangladeshis were hardworking, who knew how to turn the wheel of fortune. She said the US had been providing Bangladesh with food security assistance.

Ambassador Bernicat visited several projects of Bangladesh Livestock Production for Improved Nutrition at Dhulihar and Kolaroa

upazila and emphasised private sector’s partnership with USAID. She visited farms and nutrition projects and listened to the stakeholders. USAID Mission Director Paul Sabatin, Office Director Forhad Ghaussy, Deputy Director Mark Tegenfeldt, agricultur development officer Dr Osagie C Aimiuwu, Ahsanuzzaman Khan, and Muhammad Nuruzzaman, among others, accompanied Bernicat. l

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

BAN ON FISHING ILISH FRY

Fishermen to face tough situation n Ibrahim Roni, Chandpur The government has imposed twomonth ban on catching, selling and transportation of Ilis fry from today in the district.

Fishermen said they will have to face a tough situation this two months as they do not get sufficient help from the government.

According to Chandpur fisheries office sources, there are 41,032 registered fishermen in the district. Of them, 13,033 are in Haimchar, 7,726 in north Matlab, 3,592 in south Matlab and 16,691 in Chandpur Sadar.

The fishermen of the areas alleged that they have to lead a life of hand to mouth by catching fish.

But they have not been provided help from the government after it imposed the ban on catching fish.

When asked, Shafiqul Rahman, fisheries officer in the district, said he did not know when the fishermen would get the help from the government fund.

Fihermen Amin Mizir of Haimchar said: “I have to manage a family of six-member. Only 40 kg rice in day, help from the govt is not enough.”

Abdul Kader of Sadar upazila said: “If the help was provided before the ban, we could manage the family.”

Sawpan Akond, another fisherman, said: “The government helps us by giving only rice. But there are many items for a family.”

“I have heard that the govt will provide money with rice this year.

It will be very helpful for us,” said he.

SM Shakhawat, Haimchar upazila nirbahi officer, said: “The fishermen in the area lead a hand to mouth life by catching fish. The

government is concerned about it. We will help them with money soon.”

Shafiqul Rahman said: “The government was supposed to provide an amount of money for the fishermen.”

“But I have not got the money yet,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Abdur Sbur Mondal said: “I have proposed a bill to the government for increasing rice and money.”

“If the proposal is success, the fishermen will be benefited,” he said. l

2 workers die after falling into oil tank Correspondent, n Our Narayanganj Two people died after they fell into a fuel tank at a filling station at Nayapur Haturapara in Sonargaon upazila of the district yesterday.

Manjur Kader, officer-in-charge of Sonargaon police station, saidMasum Mia, 40, a worker of Chand and Surya filling station, slipped into a mobil tank while he was collecting burnt mobil oil there.

Other workers called security guard Hannan Mia to rescue Masum. Hannan went missing when he entered the oil tank. Later, firefighters recovered their bodies. l

Four held with yaba pills in Chittagong n Tribune Report The police arrested four persons with 230 pieces of yaba tablets from Barapool area, Halishahar police station in the port city yesterday.

The arrested were identified as Rabiul Alam, 28, Abdul Mannan alias Enam, 23, Md Salauddin, 34, and Nurul Alam, 30. All of the arrestees are hailed from Chakaria upazila in Cox’s Bazar.

“We arrested the four people after conducting a drive. They used to sell the contraband stimulating tablets in the city after bringing them from Cox’s Bazar,” said Pranab Chowdhury, officer-in-Ccharge of Halishahar police station.

“We seized 230 pieces of yaba pills from their possession. A case was lodged against them,” added the OC. l

Supporters of an Awami League leader block the Dhaka-Mawa Highway at Bhaggokul in Munshiganj yesterday as the leader has not been nominated for chairman candidate in the upcoming union parishad election DHAKA TRIBUNE

Court orders asset confiscation Ctg Wasa signs contract for Karnaphuli Water of 10 accused of Kibria killing n Tribune Report A court in Hobiganj has asked the authorities concerned to confiscate the property of 10 fugitives in a case filed over the murder of former finance minister SAMS Kibria.

Habiganj District and Sessions Judge Atabullah passed the order and fixed March 31 for the next hearing.

Seventeen accused, out of 22, including six people who secured bail in the case, were in the dock during the hearing of the sensational case.

Earlier, police produced 11 ac-

cused before the court amid tight security.

Former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, Habiganj municipality’s suspended mayor GK Gaus and suspended Sylhet City Corporation mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury were not produced before the court.

On September 13, a Sylhet court indicted 32 people, including Babar and Ariful, in the sensational murder case.

Five people, including Kibria, were killed and 70 others injured in a grenade attack on a public rally organised by local Awami League held at Baidder Bazar under Hab-

iganj Sadar upazila on January 27, 2005.

Awami League leader Abdul Mazid Khan filed two cases – one for murder and another under the Explosives Substances Act – with the Habiganj police station the following day.

The Kibria murder case was transferred to the Speedy Trial Tribunal from Habiganj Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on June 11 for its quick disposal.

Earlier, assistant Superintendent of CID Munshi Atique submitted a charge sheet against 10 BNP leaders and activists on March 19, 2005. l

Supply Project n Tribune Report, Chittagong Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority signed a contract with two contractors for implementing Karnaphuli Water Supply Project (phase 2).

The contract signing ceremony was held yesterday at Hotel Radisson Blu Chittagong Bay View.

South Korea-based company Kolon Global Corporation and Japan-based company Kubota Construction Corporation are implementing the mega project.

Chittagong Wasa has undertak-

en the mega project with a view to improving water supply in the premier port city. The city dwellers will get 14 crore liters of water per day upon completion of the project.

The contract signing ceremony was attended by Chittagong Wasa Managing Director Engineer AKM Fazlullah and high officials of the contractors’. Now, Wasa is implementing several mega projects such as Karnaphuli Water Supply Project, Chittagong Water Supply Improvement and Sanitation Project and Bhandarjuri Water Supply Project. l

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Tech

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

Who wins?

We compare and contrast between the LG G5 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

n Mahmood Hossain While Apple continues to take that battle to the FBI, we take a look at something not as serious but significant to the smartphone market.

Who doesn’t like an old fashioned comparison between two leading devices of the Android field? The point to make here is to get a glimpse into the two most interesting smartphones of the year. With slight changes in design and major upgrades under the hood, we take a look how the LG G5 stacks up with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

Samsung Galaxy S7 • • • • • • • • • • • •

5.1-inch; 2,560x1,440 pixels 576ppi 5.6x2.7x0.3 in 5.4 oz; 152 g Android 6.0 Marshmallow 12-megapixel camera; 5-megapixel front-facing camera with 4K video 2.15GHz + 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor 32GB, 64GB (storage varies by region); 4GB of RAM 200GB of expandable storage 3,000mAh (nonremovable) battery Home button fingerprint sensor Water-resistant

Apple news: The new iPhone 7 is rumoured to have the new A10 processor, 2GB of RAM and waterproof protection

LG G5 • • • • • • • • • • • •

5.3-inch; 2,560x1,440 pixels 554ppi 5.8x2.9x0.3-in 5.61oz; 159g Android 6.0 Marshmallow 16-megapixel camera; 8-megapixel front-facing camera with 4K video Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor 32GB of storage; 4GB of RAM 2TB of expandable storage 2,800mAh (nonremovable) battery Home button fingerprint sensor; USB-C Pull-out battery and two rear cameras

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge • • • • • • • • • • • •

5.5-inch; 2,560x1,440 pixels 534ppi 5.9x2.9x0.3-in 5.5oz; 157g Android 6.0 Marshmallow 12-megapixel camera; 5-megapixel front-facing camera with 4K video 2.15GHz + 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor 32GB, 64GB (storage varies by region); 4GB of RAM 200GB of expandable storage 3,600mAh (nonremovable) battery Home button fingerprint sensor Curved screens, water-resistant

The biggest attraction set forth

by LG is the phone’s ability to swap out a certain part. Because it is a modular phone, the G5 can actually let you swap out the battery or insert other necessary accessories. And Samsung has decided to focus more on its enhancements on their second menu bar display. As the Galaxy flagship keep the design changes to a minimum, the G5 is quite far that of its predecessor. There isn’t a clear winner between the two since we haven’t been able to play with either. What we can say is that Samsung took the safe route and hung onto the idea of, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Even though the G5 isn’t as pretty, the inner works continues

to impress, not to mention its excellent use of its camera.

Strangely, given its specs, it falls in between the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge models. So if you actually wanted a device that fell in between the two, the G5 would be perfect.

However, there are a couple of significant differences between the G5 and the Galaxy models.

The first is its camera and pixels, the other would be the huge advantage of having the ability to expand your storage to 2TB. The only real downside of having the G5 is its battery life, taking a hit by both Galaxy devices.

Overall, it might not be a big deal to some, but you would expect the battery life to excel in the modernday market of smartphones. l

DT

10

Tech

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

4 of the hottest smartphones and gadgets at the MWC 2016 The Mobile World Congress (MWC) is perhaps the world’s largest and most influential mobile event.

Thousands from around the world gathered in Barcelona to greet the new batch of trendsetters of the technological world, including leading companies such as Samsung, Sony, HP, LG, HTC. For the people who missed it, fear not!

Here are the 4 gadgets that will take the market by storm this year.

LG G5

Watch how LG took its quest several steps ahead to dominate.

It launched arguably one of the bravest flagship Android smartphones to date. Putting everything aside, let’s just focus on how it’s bottom is removable exposing an expansion port and battery. LG hopes consumers will buy into a modular design that allows them to add more battery, accessories and add-ons by slapping them into the bottom of the phone.

It also has a slender and light virtual reality headset, a robotic ball with cameras, IR blasters. a built-in laser pointer and a 360-degree camera.

And then, of course, there’s

the metal body coming with a 5.3 inch quad HD screen, a finger print scanner on the back. It even runs Android Marshmallow.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

Redesigning its primarily plastic phones to premium metal and glass slabs is probably the best thing Samsung did for these models.

It came back strong and sturdy, with a curvy 5.1 inch Galaxy S7 and a bigger 5.5 inch Galaxy S7 Edge.

It is waterproof, has an expandable storage with a microSD card slot and conveniently comes with larger batteries. Samsung also launched a 360-degree camera and will start bundling its Gear VR headsets with the S7.

HP Elite X3

Though it has made some attempts before, HP’s Elite X3 can be considered a strong contender this year. It is being pitched as the “do-it-all” Windows 10 device.

It is a dual-sim 6 inch phablet that slots into a dock to turn it into

a Windows 10 PC of sorts, allowing users to connect to an external display, keyboard and mouse. The “mobile extender” connects the X3 and allows it to be turned into a laptop.

It’s all powered by the Windows 10’s Continuum feature, which provides a PC-like experience from a smartphone when connected to a keyboard, mouse and screen.

Although the idea is not new, HP

did a fair job executing it.

HTC Vive

The anticipation of the partnership between HTC and Valve has ended at last. The virtual reality (VR) headset, named the “Vive,” has finally announced a price and release date. It comes at a cost of $799.

The Vive went head-on with Facebook’s Oculus Rift VR

headset (which costs $599) and is being pitched as the “complete VR solution.” The Vive also has a camera built-in for enabling augmented reality experiences as well as VR. Moreover, it has a phone built into it for making calls, sending messages and checking calendar invites. Way to go, HTC! l Reprinted from www.sdasia.co

Samsung Galaxy TabPro S launched at the CES 2016 The rumoured 12-inch Windowspowered Samsung tablet is real. At its pre-CES 2016 press conference, Samsung announced the launch of the 2-in-1 Galaxy TabPro S. The device will go on sale in select regions in Wi-Fi and LTE variants from February, and is the first Galaxy device running an OS other than Android. No price information has yet been mentioned.

Taking on Google’s Pixel C, Apple’s iPad Pro, and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4, the South Korean technology conglomerate announced the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S to run on a choice of Windows 10 Home/Pro and offers top-of-the-line hardware specifications.

The hybrid measures 290.3mmx198.8mmx6.3mm and weighs just 693 grams. Moreover, it sports a 12-inch AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 2160 x 1440. It is powered by an Intel Core m3 processor and boasts 4GB of

RAM. The device also comes with 128GB and 256GB SSD for storage.

Other features of the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S include a 5-megapixel rear-camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter, and a 5200mAh battery powering the device.

On the connectivity front, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi is supported, along with Bluetooth 4.1. The LTE version also offers 4G LTE Category 6 connectivity, apart from 3G and 2G. There’s a USB Type-C port at the bottom and a Micro-USB 2.0 port. To cap off the geek talk, it comes equipped with GPS and NFC chips.

The TabPro S flaunts with a detachable keyboard. There’s a digital pen too, however, you will need to purchase it separately.

There’s also an optional adapter for allowing USB Type-A and HDMI devices. l Reprinted from www.sdasia.co

DT

Editorial 11

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

INSIDE

Running between the wickets The inclusion of Twenty20 in the international arena, for me, has to be the final nail in cricket’s coffin. A game, which was all strategy and patience, the subtlety of stroke-play, became replaced by luck and power hitters PAGE 12

Where it all began Paradoxically, Sarajevo prospered under Austrian occupation, in part reflecting the sad state of the administration of the Ottomans. The city was rebuilt, and for me this has given the city a unique charm, blending the remaining Muslim parts of the city with 19th century Western European styles

BIGSTOCK

PAGE 13

Bombay or Mumbai?

The post-1990 new-India elite, that has no significant stake in anything to do with the culture or the soil they benefit from, may yet defeat Mumbai.

Mumbai has to defend against what elite rootless classes have done to Bengaluru, including preliminary initiatives to divide the city to give themselves political clout through their Whitefield enclaves PAGE 14

Be heard Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/ DhakaTribune.

The views expressed in Opinion articles are those of the authors alone. They do not purport to be the official view of Dhaka Tribune or its publisher.

Holding landlords responsible for tenant’s crimes does not provide security

D

haka Metropolitan Police needs to reconsider its initiative asking landlords in the capital to submit personal information including national ID details and photographs, about themselves and their tenants by March 15.

This move to create a tenant database is overly intrusive and lacks justification in principle. Its sudden imposition of a tight deadline on hundreds of thousands of citizens is not realistic in practice.

Of most concern is the commissioner’s statement that landlords will be considered responsible for crimes taking place in their property if they fail to submit information about their tenants by the due date.

This clearly over-reaches the powers and authority the public vests in the police. It is wholly unreasonable to hold landlords responsible for criminal actions by tenants about which they have no knowledge.

The law already requires citizens to help the police in the conduct of their investigations.

Creating a database of tenants will not add anything to the police’s ability to carry out investigations.

Indeed, the task of updating and maintaining such a database, while also ensuring that it is kept secure and only used for legitimate inquiries, will only add to the police’s workload.

The police need to allocate and use resources more carefully. Terrorism should not be used as an excuse to justify the intrusive gathering and holding of data which delivers no practical benefit in stopping crime.

It is not sensible to impose added burdens upon ordinary law abiding landlords and tenants to disclose and register information, when there is no evidence the exercise will actually help in practice in identifying or apprehending criminals.

This database only risks wasting public resources and increasing public concern about private personal data being misused.

It is not sensible to impose added burdens on ordinary citizens when there is no evidence the measure will help investigations

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Opinion

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

Running between the wickets T20 has kept cricket’s popularity alive, but have we lost something essential along the way?

Cricket today is about instant gratification, and sixes on every ball

The inclusion of Twenty20 in the international arena, for me, has to be the final nail in cricket’s coffin. A game, which was all strategy and patience, the subtlety of stroke-play, became replaced by luck and power hitters

n SN Rasul

A

s a kid, I lived and breathed cricket.

Bangladesh’s position in world cricket wasn’t what it is now, and it was common to see people being asked what their “favourite team” was, and to expect a reply that wasn’t Bangladesh.

This phenomenon is perhaps common only to our nation, where, despite having quite a patriotic population, each of us had, on the international level, a team that was dear to us.

For me, that was South Africa. Some may think that my connection to South Africa was tenuous. It was, after all,

attachment to a nation I’d never been to, people who were not my so-called “brothers,” playing sometimes against the very country I was a citizen of.

It was, however, quite the opposite. At the 1999 World Cup, during the semi-finals between South Africa and Australia, I was in Cox’s Bazar. Hotels back then weren’t what they are now, and the place we were living in had no personal television sets, except for one in the lobby, in front of which sat a rather shoddy, two-seater couch.

I sat on that sofa and watched as South Africa went from winning (having restricted Australia to a comfortable 213) to losing all their wickets until the eventual

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Man of the Tournament, Lance Klusener, single-handedly brought them back to life. Klusener, at the time, was quite the sight to see: Pale as a ghost, bat as heavy as the universe, and a stance, with the bat lifted high up and the legs spread half-way across the pitch, that reeked of a subtle overconfidence.

And, with four balls to go and tied with one wicket in hand, Lance Klusener made a blunder that would go down in history as the mistake that changed the very course of cricketing history.

I repeat, with four balls in hand, Klusener went for a run that wasn’t there, with no call, while Allan Donald at the other end, safe and sound, looked on, unaware that his fellow team member was about to throw the World Cup away.

Klusener was, of course, run out. He did not even look back, instead, just heading straight for the pavilion, knowing very well that he had lifted an entire nation up to let it fall crumbling down.

I sat and watched, watching a nightmare unfold in real life. My young heart, heavy with misery and hope, grasped at straws: But they were tied? Why would Klusener go for it? They had four balls to go, no?

Australia would go on to win that World Cup, beating Pakistan

by eight wickets. They would also go on to win the two after that.

Since then, Bangladesh has risen substantially as a side to be feared in the world cricketing stage, and my passion for both South Africa and the gentleman’s game has faded away.

Occasionally, I will look at the scores, or overhear a piece of news and react as if it changes anything, but really, my investment in the world of cricket -- and I suspect I am not the only one -- has faded away.

Much like the game of cricket itself. Though I do not see myself as anything but a product of the present and the future, when it comes to this particular game, a sense of nostalgia cannot help but permeate the air that surrounds me.

As the T20 Asia Cup goes on, I cannot help but compare the gravitas with which cricket used to present itself to us, be it onscreen or live. There was no Bangladesh as it is now, sure, but there was an emotional thread that connected us to the happenstances on screen, much in the way we see some supporters of footballers doing so abroad.

Cricket, as a game, has always been different from other games in its very format: Even ODIs, the shortest version until recently, would require an entire day’s

commitment. But as cricket was changed to incorporate bigger and bigger scorecards (free hits and powerplay fielding restrictions, to name a couple) and shorter formats such as the T20, the sport itself seemed to lose much of its sheen, being replaced by instant gratification, sixes every other ball, and cheerleaders a la America.

The inclusion of Twenty20 in the international arena, for me, has to be the final nail in cricket’s coffin. A game, which was all strategy and patience, the subtlety of stroke-play, became replaced by luck and power hitters.

A target such as 213 in a 50over match, as Australia gave South Africa in 1999, making the match go down to the wire, would be laughed upon now. In the last T20 game between India and Bangladesh on February 24, India posted a target of 167. And the format has seen much higher totals.

It is perhaps a result of the fact that the very way we live our lives has changed. We don’t have the time to sit around, ball after ball, waiting for something to happen, as a Gavaskar or Kallis defends, leaves, and occasionally strokes the ball away for a soft four runs.

A run rate below six an over? You must be joking.

I recognise the fact that the new formats and rules, despite the obvious way in which they were imposed to cater to a certain demographic, can be enjoyable to some. After all, there must have been demand for it.

I also do not fail to recognise that cricket has been dying for a while, and this is perhaps a desperate attempt by its organisers and stake-holders to keep it alive.

As the world picks up pace, so must cricket.

But, sometimes, only sometimes, I go back to that match in 1999. Sitting in a dingy hotel in Cox’s Bazar, I almost wept as my favourite team lost their chance at glory. Perhaps it is not the game I miss so much, as much as the feeling of caring about something so far removed from me, yet so deeply.

Much like Lance Klusener, who, after making that unforgivable fumble running between the wickets, walked away towards the stands, unable to even look back at the shambles in his wake, I, too, cannot look back at the game I loved, as it is now. l SN Rasul is a journalist and academic.

Follow him @snrasul.

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Where it all began The city of Sarajevo changed the history of the world

n William Milam

M

y first stop in Sarajevo was the street corner where, on June 28, 1914, the 20th century began to fall apart. It is in the middle of the town, across from the “Latin” Bridge over the Miljacka River.

On that day over 101 years ago, the 19-year-old Serbian nationalist assassin, Gavrilo Princip, happened to be standing right at the corner when the open car of the visiting Austrian Archduke mistakenly turned right. Princip was not more than five feet away from his target, and didn’t miss.

For a landmark that changed the course of history, the spot is modestly marked. I suppose Bosnians would rather not have Sarajevo be remembered for the assassination that led to the bloodiest century in modern history, although Bosnia suffered more than many other countries.

A simple stone marker set in a wall is all that there is. A small museum holds out in the corner building, overlooking the spot, almost out of sight, with some interesting photos. We were its only visitors, I suspect, on that particular day. Princip was a Bosnian Serb, but perhaps one who wanted a multi-ethnic Slav nation that was independent of the even more multi-ethnic Austrian Empire.

At least that is the inference one can make from his statement at his trial for the murder of the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He said: “I am a Yugoslav nationalist, aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs, and I do not care what form of state, but it must be freed from Austria.”

There is some reason to believe that he might have been of that mind. Sarajevo had a history of inter-ethnic and inter-religious tolerance and harmony for much of its preceding history. (Since ethnicity is closely aligned with religion in the Balkans, inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony are basically the same thing.)

After the Ottoman Empire annexed Bosnia in 1463, the first Ottoman ruler made Sarajevo into the capital, building a mosque, a public bath, a covered market, and some official buildings.

In the next 200 years, Sarajevo became the largest and most important city in Ottoman-controlled Europe. At its height in the mid17th Century, it boasted having 80,000 inhabitants, six times more than Belgrade, and five times more than Zagreb.

There’s plenty of history buried in Sarajevo

Paradoxically, Sarajevo prospered under Austrian occupation, in part reflecting the sad state of the administration of the Ottomans. The city was rebuilt, and for me this has given the city a unique charm, blending the remaining Muslim parts of the city with 19th century Western European styles

These centuries of growth and progress also fostered a tradition of ethnic/religious co-existence that would be the envy of many countries today (including Bosnia).

As the military fortunes of the Ottoman Empire turned sour in the 17th century, Bosnia became a frontier state in the empire, and its fortunes also declined.

At the end of the 17th Century, Sarajevo was attacked by the Austrians and the city was burned down. By the early 19th Century, internal instability was growing (the 1830s revolt against the Ottomans foreshadowed major chang-

es) so that Sarajevo’s population had shrunk to about 60,000.

The second half of the 19th century saw the Ottoman Empire continue to weaken and lose territory to Russia and others. The “sick man of Europe,” as the Ottomans came to be called, was unable, inter alia, to control and administer its European territories, and conditions in Bosnia continued to deteriorate.

In 1878, in an effort to fix the problems that the deteriorating Ottoman power and grasp had created, as almost an afterthought, the “great powers” (UK, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire) gave to Austria-Hungary the responsibility to occupy and administer Bosnia while keeping it under de jure Ottoman sovereignty.

How they expected this to work while recognising in the same conference the independence of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, and an amputated Bulgaria, is a mystery.

Paradoxically, Sarajevo prospered under Austrian occupation, in part reflecting the sad state of the administration of the Ottomans.

The city was rebuilt, and for me this has given the city a unique charm, blending the remaining Muslim parts of the city with 19th century Western European styles.

Austrian investment also brought rapid economic progress.

But in 1908, Austria-Hungary took it one step too far and annexed Bosnia. This action increased the agitation among Bosnians to break away from Austria, and brought Princip to Sarajevo on that fateful day in 1914.

World War I brought the end of both the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman empires. Sarajevo joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the centre of the Bosnian region of the kingdom. World War II brought a quick end to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Sarajevo fell to the Axis Powers in April 1941. The German/Italian occupation authorities created an independent state of Croatia, which was an Axis ally from the very beginning, into which they forced Bosnia. Many heroic myths about the Yugoslavian resistance against the Germans are still current, and some are even true.

But as in all of the occupied countries of WWII, the truth is much more intricate and hard to make out. In the great majority of occupied countries, ideological and/or ethnic groups used the resistance as much to advance their own agendas and fight their domestic enemies as to fight the Germans.

In many of those countries, their domestic enemies were sometimes collaborators with the Germans, sometimes not.

What could account, otherwise, for the fact that there was a Waffen SS regiment of Bosnian Muslims recruited to fight against Tito’s Communist partisans?

And how to explain the famous photo of the celebrated Serbian partisan fighter about to be hung -by soldiers of the collaborationist Serbian government.

And often the Germans were not even involved. Istvan Deak sums it up best: “After the triumphs of 1941, the occupiers effectively controlled less and less territory. More and more, the Balkans were dominated by various guerilla groups -- communists, republicans, monarchists … nationalist Chetniks (whose aim was a greater Serbia, not a restored Yugoslavia) and Josip Broz Tito’s communists in Croatia, Serbia, and other parts of the former Yugoslavia.”

The war ended in Yugoslavia when the Soviet and British Army teamed with Tito’s partisans to establish order. Sarajevo became the capital of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Socialist Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia. And, for a while, life was good.

A sense of the pre-war co-existence returned (religious conflicts were simply not allowed under communism), and the communist federal government invested heavily in building up Sarajevo. It became one of the Balkans’ major cities again. In 1984, it hosted the winter Olympics, and its charms became better known around the world.

The modern history museum in Sarajevo is divided into two parts. The first covers this period of progress and prosperity under Tito’s socialist regime. As I went through it, the positive feelings about that period were clearly on display. This was, for the present generations, their halcyon days.

But around two-thirds of the way through, I began to pick up a subtle change of tone -- well, it was a great period, but Sarajevo wasn’t getting its share of the nation’s resources.

This became more insistent toward the end of this first part of the museum. Of course, Tito, half Croat and half Slovene, had died in 1980, and his successors had been Serbs (Serb nationalists perhaps).

Moreover, after the Soviet Union broke up, other Yugoslav states began to declare independence.

It is a short and slippery step from declaring independence to civil war, as we all know.

Wait a minute! A member of a federation that feels it is being discriminated against by a larger, more powerful, national federal center which sees its parts disappearing -- I have seen this movie before, and the ending is not necessarily a happy one. But that will come in Part 2, after the intermission. l William Milam is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, DC, and former US Ambassador to Pakistan and Bangladesh. This article first appeared in The Friday Times.

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Bombay or Mumbai?

Where people matter, Mumbai wins

Not everybody believes this sign needs to be changed

n Garga Chatterjee

T

here is a section of the Bombay-not-Mumbai crowd that refuses to admit even temporary defeat to Maharashtra or Mumbai.

When Amol Rajan, the Kolkataborn editor of a British newspaper, recently decided to start using the term Bombay in his daily life to refer to what most people in Mumbai have always referred to as Mumbai, the Bombay-not-Mumbai folks felt appreciated.

They felt that at least someone understood them. They felt slightly less beleagured, if only very slightly so. It was a moment of re-affirming their faith.

It felt nice. But few others seemed to care. But I have still chosen to react because the tussle between Mumbai and Bombay is not a Hindu-nationalist versus cosmopolitan-liberal-India divide, as the editor falsely made it out to be.

Elites with hurt egos and those who share their world-view will conjure up any reason to make their point. Bombay still controls the representation of Mumbai -- inside the Indian Union and across the world. They control this representation through their transmetropolitan networks of other sympathetic deracinated elites.

The fact that I am reacting to something that is probably of very marginal interest to Maharashtrians, except for some who want to milk its potency as a powerful symbol of real people,

shows how the Bombay crowd, the Independent editor, and this author are probably closer to each other than each of them is to the Mumbai imagining of the city.

But this mis-representation creates anger. Any injustice does.

Hence, such representations or mis-representations must be contested, for self-respect of the

BIGSTOCK

identity as a speed-breaking hindrance to a cosmopolitan lovefest, most mobilisations based on rootedness draws life-force from exclusion and injustice.

Maharashtra happened.

And then Mumbai happened.

Bombay lost both the battles because, slowly but surely, the numbers of the servants have

always called it Mumbai, is overjoyed that a British newspaper has decided to “change back” to Bombay. This doesn’t mean that Britain controls Mumbai.

This shows, once again, that the minority that uses Bombay (and are likely to have a compatriot in a British newspaper) still controls Mumbai, as they always have.

The post-1990 new-India elite, that has no significant stake in anything to do with the culture or the soil they benefit from, may yet defeat Mumbai. Mumbai has to defend against what elite rootless classes have done to Bengaluru, including preliminary initiatives to divide the city to give themselves political clout through their Whitefield enclaves

salt of the earth is not for sale.

With the breakdown of Congress dominance all over the Indian Union, there was also a slight loosening of the power-grip of the Anglo-Hindi Nehruvian elites.

Their self-declared cosmpolitanism was a poor excuse for their own parasitism. Rooted people of the soil, who lived by their own identities and not borrowed colonial ones, asserted themselves in the political front.

While some pundits portray assertion of rootedness or native

started mattering compared to the numbers of the masters.

These are defeats from which Bombay never recovered.

There is a slow but unmistakable trans-generational shift of their children, assets, and resources towards the NCR, the next metropolis anointed to be the sprawling, glitzy celebration of alienation, of rootlessness, of deracination of the idea of India.

The tiny minority of Mumbai who call it Bombay, as opposed to the rooted majority who have

The basis of that lies in the marginalisation of the rooted majority. Celebrating Bombay over Mumbai is celebrating distributive injustice. No one represents Bombay’s vaunted cosmopolitanism of yore as does Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy. Though he was a migrant to Mumbai, his rootedness is unquestionable.

When he was setting up the JJ School of Art, he brought GW Terry from Britain as a drawing teacher with a lucrative annual salary of Rs300 in 1857.

Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy’s condition to GW Terry was that he must learn Marathi within a year of joining.

That was then. The post-1990 new-India elite, that has no significant stake in anything to do with the culture or the soil they benefit from, may yet defeat Mumbai.

Mumbai has to defend against what elite rootless classes have done to Bengaluru, including preliminary initiatives to divide the city to give themselves political clout through their Whitefield enclaves.

Sobered by defeats, Bombaynot-Mumbai may be smart enough to let the name remain Mumbai and not risk a renaming conflict while continuing to dominate in many other ways.

They may be on the rise again, but the rooted Maharashtrian has not still disappeared. Mumbai, in its de-throner-of-Bombay avatar, can still offer resistance, and has not been defeated. Yet. All great cities have multiple names. When the most commonly-used name isn’t the “internationally” used name, it tells us more about elite-minority clout than anything else.

Bombay gets a reality-check from Mumbai every time the municipal elections are held.

There, where people matter, Mumbai wins. l Garga Chatterjee is a political and cultural commentator. He can be followed on Twitter @gargac.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

INSIDE NBR begins preparatory work for next fiscal year budget The National Board of Revenue has launched the groundwork of budget preparation for the fiscal year 2016-17. PAGE 16

China cuts reserve requirements in bid to boost economy China’s central bank yesterday cut the proportion of funds banks must set aside as reserves, in Beijing’s latest attempt to tackle slowing growth in the world’s second largest economy. PAGE 17

US shale’s message for OPEC: above $40, we are coming back For leading US shale oil producers, $40 is the new $70. Less than a year ago major shale firms were saying they needed oil above $60 a barrel to produce more; now some say they will settle for far less in deciding whether to crank up output after the worst oil price crash in a generation. PAGE 18

Capital market snapshot: Monday DSE Broad Index

4,512.0

-0.5% ▼

Index

1,099.8

-0.8% ▼

30 Index

1,722.9

-0.8% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

4,629.3

9.1% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

130.5

5.0% ▲

All Share Index 13,920.5

-0.5% ▼

30 Index

-0.7% ▼

CSE

Selected Index

12,567.9 8,458.4

-0.5% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

510.3

77.0% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

14.7

47.3% ▲

Anti-smuggling taskforce to reveal statistics on smuggling n Tribune Report The recently reconstituted central anti-smuggling taskforce will prepare a research paper which will disclose a complete statistics for smuggling and depict its real scenario.

It will also formulate a yearlong work plan considering three key issues – security of the state, threat to revenue mobilisation and protection of social system – for carrying out its task.

National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Nojibur Rahman, also head of the newly reconstituted central anti-smuggling taskforce, made the disclosure to reporters on Sunday after its first meeting of the newly formed committee at the NBR headquarters.

The anti-smuggling watchdog will focus on bringing dynamism to the country’s regional anti-smuggling taskforces and also work closely with the deputy commissioners of districts and

upazila nirbahi officers to make its plan a success, he said.

The taskforce will take both preventive and punitive measures and play a proactive role, added Nojibur.

Information sharing with different agencies and the media will also be done in due manner.

‘The taskforce will take both preventive and punitive measures and play a proactive role’ Some 80% of the money laundering incidents are trade-based. The task force has sought cooperation from all agencies to deal with the challenge, officials said.

The meeting discussed 17 core issues including expediting the

cases related to smuggling, construction of Border Outpost on Indo-Bangla border, seeking support from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on expansion of mobile network in the Sundarbans, appointment of lawyers and increasing vigilance to Moitree Express train service, which runs between India and Bangladesh, to combat combat transportation of smuggled goods.

The meeting also discussed how to seek support from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of India to stem the entrance of Yaba in Bangladesh from India.

Earlier, Yaba was transported to Bangladesh from Myanmar, but now the smugglers have changed their route. They are mulling the smuggling of Yaba into Bangladesh from India, said officials.

The meeting also discussed re-structuring duty on entrance of cattle from India and divisional commissioner of Rajshahi was assigned to look into the matter.

Banks lending rate drops to 11.05% in January n Tribune Report The lending rate in Bangladesh’s banking sector dropped to 11.05% in January this year from 12.32% one year ago, said Bangladesh Bank data released recently.

The interest rate on deposit also fell to 6.21% from 7.26% during the same period.

During the period, the lending rate plunged by 1.27 percentage points compared to 1.05 percentage points drop of deposit rate.

‘The downward trend of lending rate had played a role in boosting credit growth to 14.19% in December last year, which was high in three years’ A senior executive of a private bank in the country said the deposit rate fall was slower than that lending rate as the new banks were still struggling to attract deposits.

However, the banking sector moved to reduce lending rate gradually to stimulate credit demand amid economic recovery after a long stagnation, added the executive asking not to be named.

Bangladesh Bank data showed that the gap between lending and deposit rates, known as spread, came down to the “expected level of 4.84%” in January this year from 5.05% a year earlier.

The private bank executive said the downward trend of lending rate had played a role in boosting credit growth to 14.19% in December last year, which was high in three years.

Alhough the average lending rate has come down to 11.05%, the new banks are still lending at high interest rates like 13%-14% in January 2016. The lending rate of nine new banks were between 14% and 15% in January last year.

Of the new banks, Farmers Bank lent at the highest 14.54% rate while its interest rate against deposit was 9.56% in January this year, and Midland Bank, another new bank, offered lowest lending rate of 12.18% against deposit rate of 7.56%.

However, the weighted average lending rate of state-owned banks fell to 10.2% in January this year from 11.28% one year ago. The deposit rate dropped to 6.42% from 7.19% during the same period.

Sonali Bank, the largest state-owned commercial bank, saw 2.66% credit growth year-on-year in December last year. But the bank experienced negative credit growth of 1.95% one year ago.

The lending rate of private commercial banks dropped to 11.45% in January from 12.82% a year earlier while the deposit rate also fell to 6.3% from 7.52%. l

It also talked about tasking Bangladesh Coast Guard with formulating a combined monitoring cell and a joint intelligence cell to combat smuggling in coastal areas, meeting sources said.

The first meeting of the recently reconstituted central anti-smuggling taskforce was attended by NBR members, commissioners of customs houses; customs, excise and VAT commissionerates and members of the taskforce including representatives from different government offices and law enforcement and intelligence agencies including all divisional commissioners, representatives from Rapid Action Battalion, Narcotics Control Department, Police, Border Guard Bangladesh, National Security Intelligence, Bangladesh Coast Guard, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and Bangladesh Bank.

The existing anti-smuggling committee was earlier formed in 1988. l

Sur: Prioritise energy-efficient projects in funding

n UNB

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury urged the bankers to prioritise water- and energy-efficient projects while financing investment.

“Efficiency in terms of water consumption is an investment in future service reliability, environmental stewardship and economic viability,” he said at a workshop on “Water and Energy Efficiency Financing” yesterday, organised

by IFC’s Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT) programme.

“Greater energy efficiency is the key for shifting the country’s development paths toward lower-carbon economic growth,” he said. l

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NBR begins preparatory work for next fiscal year budget Business chambers asked to submit their proposals to FBCCI by March 10 experiences. posals to the NBR appointed chief stakeholders including business n Tribune Report After receiving proposals and budget coordinator directly or via chambers and associations seeking The National Board of Revenue has launched the groundwork of budget preparation for the fiscal year 2016-17.

It already started inviting opinions and proposals from the stakeholders as part of preparation to make the budget participatory, business-friendly and revenue-maximising but pro-people, said officials.

NBR First Secretary and Chief Budget Coordinator Mohammad Akbar Hossain sent letters to all the

proposals and opinions.

The chambers and associations have been asked to submit their proposals to Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI)

by March 10.

They have also been asked to email soft copies of the proposals to the NBR at nbrbudget2016@ gmail.com.

The organisations having no affiliation with any chamber or association would submit their pro-

email at the same address.

Usually, the trade bodies and business organisations forward their proposals to the apex trade body, which submits the proposals to the revenue authorities in a compiled form.

Earlier, the NBR sent letters to its all income tax zones, customs houses and to the customs, excise and VAT commissionerates asking them to send proposals and recommendations on laws and budget measures based on their practical

recommendations, the NBR will hold month-long pre-budget sector-wise discussions with trade bodies and other stakeholders, likely in April.

With an annual budget, the government brings amendments to the existing laws and rules related to customs, VAT and income tax to maximise revenue earnings, provide protection to local industries, facilitate international trade and solve procedural complexities in revenue collection. l

Innovation Xtreme to be held on March 19

SD ASIA, an event management platform for start-ups, announces the country’s biggest start-up event at a press conference yesterday

n Tribune Report Innovation Xtreme, a largest start-up event in Bangladesh, is scheduled to be held in the capital on March 19 this year for fostering creativity among the Bangladeshi youths.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of SD ASIA Mustafizur Rahman Khan came up with the disclosure at a press conference held at Dhanmondi in the city yesterday.

SD ASIA, an event and content making platform for Bangladeshi start-up, is going to organise the event for second time.

Sonia Bashir Kabir, managing director of Microsoft Bangladesh, Fayaz Taher, chief executive officer of Fortuna Bangladesh and Samad Miraly, executive director of Olympic Industries Limited also addressed the press conference.

SD ASIA is bringing back Innovation Xtreme (IX) this year again for the second time.

With the theme of ‘Bangladesh: The Next Tech Frontier’, Innovation Xtreme will be held at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel.

Mustafizur Rahman said: “Innovation Xtreme is bringing more than 25 renowned speakers and investors to meet 22 local startups.

Apart from getting extensive opportunity for networking, all the participants in the event will receive Microsoft’s BizSpark/ YouthSpark packages worth US$10,000.

The organisers informed the press conference that local and international speakers will share their experiences at the main event.

The speakers will include Muhammed Aziz Khan, chairman of Summit Group, Rajeev Sethi, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, Anis Uzzaman from Fenox Venture, Sonia Bashir Kabir, managing director of Microsoft Bangladesh and other industry experts.

Local start-ups are able to showcase their ideas or products in front of renowned investors and speakers.

Grameenphone, country’s largest telecom operator, is the main sponsor for this year’s event. Microsoft, Facebook, Tech In Asia, IPDC, Top-of-Mind are also participating as the event partners.

Sonia Bashir Kabir said: “We believe that more and more Bangladeshi people are going to get involved in online businesses.”

“The tech start-ups are going to play a major role in building Bangladesh’s future,” Microsoft Bangladesh MD added. l

COURTESY

Dhaka stocks end in red n Tribune Report Dhaka stocks ended in red yesterday extending losing steak for the four consecutive sessions as investors were on selling spree to book their profits.

DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), lost 25 points or 0.55% to end at 4,512 points.

The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, registered a 14 points fall to end at 1,723 points, while the DSE Shariah based Index lost 8 points or 0.76% to close at 1,100 points.

“For the fourth consecutive sessions, the market registered losses backed up by heavy sell-off in large cap stocks like Square Pharmaceutical, Beximco Pharmaceutical and Lafarge Surma Cement,” said LankaBangla Securities in its analysis.

Due to persistent sloth in the market and absence of conviction on long-term view, investors opted for profit booking, said IDLC Investments in its regular market commentary.

Daily turnover at the premier bourse stood at Tk460 crore, which was 9.1% higher than the prevision session’s value of Tk424 crore.

Out of 318 issues traded, 97 gain, 173 closed lower and 48 remained unchanged.

In the days trading hours, the large cap sectors showed mixed performances. Engineering sector posted a 1.95% gain, which was the highest gain followed by Telecommunication 0.09%.

Power shed 1.70% followed by Banks 1.60%, Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs) 0.78%, Pharmaceuticals 0.56% and Food and Allied 0.44%. l

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India’s economy: Five things to know about its annual budget n AFP, New Delhi Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the annual budget yesterday with big giveaways for the rural poor. Here are five key questions about India’s economy:

Why has India failed to achieve its huge potential?

India is the world’s biggest democracy and one of its biggest markets, but it has struggled to haul its 1.2 billion people out of poverty.

Millions of people in rural areas live on less than $1.25 a day and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is just $1,540 a year. By some development metrics, India performs worse than poorer neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan.

India has a flourishing services sector, especially in IT, but this only employs a relatively small number of skilled, educated people.

Manufacturing was a key way for China to lift its vast population out of poverty and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to emulate that with his Make in India

campaign.

But India’s slow, bureaucratic business climate and poor infrastructure puts off investors.

And unlike China, where the ruling Communist Party makes decisions without debate, infighting in India’s parliament paralyses many key reforms.

What has Prime Minister Modi offered and has he delivered?

Modi swept to power with a huge mandate in 2014 and promised to bring in sweeping reforms to reduce poverty, revitalise business and attract foreign investment. But many key promises have not materialised.

A land reform plan which would have made it easier for businesses to buy land from farmers is widely considered dead in the water.

And a bill to introduce a Goods and Services Tax (GST), which would simplify a patchwork of existing taxes in India for the first time, is stuck in parliament’s upper house, where the ruling party lacks a majority.

Of 30 key reforms tracked by the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS) on its Modi Government Reforms Scorecard, only six have been completed.

Catchy initiatives such as Make in India have succeeded in raising the profile of India abroad, and foreign direct investment rose in 2015.

But many of the underlying reforms necessary for Modi’s eye-catching initiatives to have a real chance of success have yet to come to fruition.

What has this budget promised?

This budget is aimed squarely at India’s farmers, who are suffering after two bad monsoons and with high inflation.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be hijacking ideological territory more associated with the left-leaning Congress party as it tries to counter accusations it doesn’t do enough to help the poor.

Jaitley has pledged to spend 359bn rupees ($5.2bn) on doubling the income of India’s estimated 120

China cuts reserve requirements to boost economy n AFP, Shanghai China’s central bank yesterday cut the proportion of funds banks must set aside as reserves, in Beijing’s latest attempt to tackle slowing growth in the world’s second largest economy.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement it would trim the so-called “reserve requirement ratio” (RRR) for financial institutions by 0.50 percentage points, freeing up more funds for them to lend.

The move came immediately after a G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Shanghai, which stressed the use of all available policy tools to boost global growth, and with Chinese and world stock markets assailed by worries over the economy.

“The move underscores a message that officials have repeated in recent days, including at the G20 meeting: policymakers still have room to support the economy,” chief China economist at Capital Economics, Mark Williams, said in a research note.

The decision also came ahead of the opening this weekend of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s rubber stamp parliament, which will unveil economic targets for 2016 and a five-year development plan.

China’s economy grew an annual 6.9% last year - the lowest in a quarter of a century - and analysts forecast it to slow further this year.

The RRR cut, which was expected by economists, is the first across-the-board reserve ratio cut since October last year, when the cen-

tral bank also lowered it by the same margin.

The latest move lowers the reserve ratio to 17% for major banks, analysts said.

Analysts anticipate Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will declare a lower growth target at the NPC meeting, likely a range of 6.5 to 7% from the previous target of around 7%.

Liquidity shortage

The PBoC said in a statement on its website the RRR move aimed at maintaining liquidity and guiding the steady growth of money and credit.

“The central bank wants to make up for a shortage of liquidity ... to stabilise the economy,” Chen Ji, a senior analyst at the Bank of Communications in Shanghai, told AFP. On Friday, on the sidelines of the G20 ministers meeting, PBoC chief Zhou Xiaochuan said China could still use monetary tools to help boost its slowing economy.

“China still has some monetary policy space and monetary policy tools to address potential downside risk,” he said.

The central bank has already slashed interest rates six times since late 2014 and lowered the RRR several times, as well as injecting massive amounts of funds through open market operations.

Before the announcement of the RRR cut, the central bank pumped 230bn yuan ($35bn) into the financial system Monday to ease tight liquidity, bringing total fund injections over the past week to more than 1.0 trillion yuan, according to state media. l

million farmers over the next five years through measures including a crop insurance scheme and better access to markets.

The budget also promised massive spending on infrastructure, including for roads, railways and ports.

Will it be enough?

A slowdown in the global economy over the past year has hurt India’s growth, which is expected to flatline in 2016.

India does not sell much abroad given its size and weak demand means it is selling even less, with exports slumping for 14 months.

This means that bolstering domestic consumption, a major engine of India’s economy, is vital to stimulate growth.

This budget should do this measures to hike farmer incomes will put more money in many people’s pockets, with 68% of the 1.25 billion population living in the countryside.

A bumper pay rise for civil servants and a new pension for retired

soldiers will see the government pump in billions of dollars and should encourage people to spend more.

And the promised boost in spending on infrastructure should help to attract private investment.

What are the implications if these initiatives fail?

India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy, consistently outpacing China over the past year, with GDP set to expand by 7.6% in 2015-16.

But economists say it should be growing at about 10% to bring people out of poverty and create the tens of millions of jobs needed each year to cater to its young, growing population.

The measures for rural India will help to ease the crisis in the countryside.

But if Modi’s government cannot pass key reforms such as the GST bill, and if it cannot vastly improve the ease of doing business, it will not attract the investment needed to power its growth. l

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US shale’s message for OPEC: Above $40, we are coming back n Reuters, New York For leading US shale oil producers, $40 is the new $70.

Less than a year ago major shale firms were saying they needed oil above $60 a barrel to produce more; now some say they will settle for far less in deciding whether to crank up output after the worst oil price crash in a generation.

Their latest comments highlight the industry’s remarkable resilience, but also serve as a warning to rivals and traders: a retreat in US oil production that would help ease global oversupply and let prices recover may prove shorter than some may have expected.

Continental Resources Inc, led by billionaire wildcatter Harold Hamm, is prepared to increase capital spending if US crude reaches the low- to mid-$40s range, allowing it to boost 2017 production by more than 10%, chief financial official John Hart said last week.

Rival Whiting Petroleum Corp, the biggest producer in North Dakota’s Bakken formation, will stop fracking new wells by the end of March, but would “consider completing some of these wells” if oil reached $40 to $45 a barrel, Chairman and CEO Jim Volker told analysts. Less than a year ago, when the company was still in spending mode, Volker said it might deploy

Global ambitions

Three oil and gas rigs owned by Transocean Ltd sit idle in the Grand Harbor in Valletta, Malta more rigs if US crude hit $70.

While the comments were couched with caution, they serve as a reminder of how a dramatic decline in costs and rapid efficiency gains have turned US shale, initially seen by rivals as a marginal, high cost sector, into a major player - and a thorn in the side of big OPEC producers.

Nimble shale drillers are now helping mitigate the nearly 70% slide crude price rout by cutting back output, but may also limit any rally by quickly turning up the spigots once prices start recovering from current levels just above $30.

The threat of a shale rebound is “putting a cap on oil prices,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Cap-

REUTERS

ital LLC. “If there’s some bullish outlook for demand or the economy, they will try to get ahead of the curve and increase production even sooner.”

Some producers have already began hedging future production, with prices for 2017 oil trading at near $45 a barrel, which could put a floor under any future production cuts.

While the worst oil downturn since the 1980s sounds the death knell for scores of debt-laden shale producers, it has also hastened the decline in costs of hydraulic fracturing and improvements of the still-developing technology.

For example, Hess Corp, which pumps one of every 15 barrels of North Dakota crude, cut the cost of a new Bakken oil well by 28% last year.

What once helped fatten margins is now key to survival in what Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi described last week as the “harsh” reality of a global market in which the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries is no longer willing to curb its supplies to bolster prices.

While Deloitte auditing and consulting warns that a third of US oil producers may face bankruptcy, leading shale producers say their ambitions go beyond just outrunning domestic rivals.

“It’s no longer enough to be the low cost producer in US horizontal shale,” Bill Thomas, chairman of EOG Resources Inc, said on Friday. “EOG’s goal is to be competitive, low-cost oil producer in the global market.”

Thomas did not say what price would spur EOG to boost output this year, but said it had a “premium inventory” of 3,200 well locations that can yield returns of 30% or more with oil at $40. l

CORPORATE NEWS

Prime Bank has recently held a business conference on commercial banking in Gazipur, said a press release. The bank’s managing director, Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury was present at the conference among others AB Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Nokkhottrobari Resort and Conference Center on providing the bank’s debit and credit cardholders with preferential rates at the resort, said a press release. The bank’s deputy managing director, Sajjad Hussain and managing director of Nokkhottrobari Resort and Conference Center, Tauqir Ahmed have signed the agreement

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Qauder has recently attended factory launching event of Bengal Feed and Fisheries Ltd in Noakhali, said a press release. Chairperson of Bengal Group of Industries, Morshedul Alam was also present at the event

Samsung Mobile Bangladesh has recently announced winner of its Samsung Studio campaign. The design of freelance designer, Lutfun Nahar Moonmoon has been selected as champion design. The company’s managing director, Seungwon Youn was present at the prize distribution ceremony, said a press release

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

| contest |

| banking |

| cuisine |

IUPC 2016

3D secure solutions for NCC Bank clients

Steak Fest at Lime and Thyme

The “SUB Inter-University Programming Contest 2016” was held at the State University of Bangladesh (SUB) premises, on February 27. Organised by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the contest drew many programming enthusiasts to solve complex real-world problems using advanced knowledge of programming within an exhaustive, fivehour session, with a hundred participating teams. The contest was inaugurated by Professor Dr Iftekhar Ghani Chowdhury, vice chancellor, SUB. Professor Dr Mohammad Kaykobad from BUET led a fifteen-member panel of judges. In the concluding session, prizes were handed out

by the chief guest Professor Dr S M A Faiz, advisor, SUB. Champions, first and second runner-up prizes were awarded to teams SUST_ron-O, BUET Rayo and NSU BugLovers, respectively. Dr Kaykobad suggested that such programming contests would develop the intellectual capital of the youth in Bangladesh for a prosperous future. The chief guest expressed his satisfaction and praised the Department of CSE for hosting IUPC successfully for the second time. Finally, the registrar of the university, Professor AYM Ekramud-udDaulah thanked everyone concerned in making the grand assembly of programmers possible. l

NCC Bank Limited, a prominent bank in the country, had signed an agreement with Software Shop Limited (operating under the brand name “SSL Wireless”) to implement 3D secure solutions for their customers. The service has recently been activated.

The cardholders of NCC Bank will be prompted with a numeric password while performing card-not-present or e-commerce transactions.

Golam Hafiz Ahmed, managing director and chief executive officer, Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, additional managing director, Abu Zafore Md Saleh, deputy managing director and Md Fazlur Rahman, deputy managing director of NCC Bank Limited along with Sayeeful Islam,

managing director and Ashish Chakraborty, general manager of SSL Wireless were present during the activation ceremony on behalf of their respective organisations at the head office of NCC Bank.

3DSecure allows cardholders to authenticate themselves while making an online payment. The cardholders shall retain a peace of mind that their card cannot be used without their authorisation.

Merchants are protected from fraud and can provide the product and service without delay or extra costs. Banks are able to see that the transaction has been authenticated and are more likely to approve the transaction as well.l

Lime and thyme presents Steak Festival, where four types of steaks are made available foodies.

Sirloin Steak, T-Bone Steak, Pepper Steak and Fish Steak are all priced reasonably at Tk550. l

| inauguration |

| dining |

| food |

Jadoo Digital to launch

Spend an evening with The Mughal Specials

Mexican bites at Brews & Bites!

A new entrant called Jadoo Digital has joined the revolution of digital cable services. With high-definition, premium TV and Internet-based services, Jadoo Digital is due to launch soon to serve customers across the nation. The service is the consumer-facing brand of Digi Jadoo Broadband Limited which started its operations back in 2007.

A concern of Mohammadi Group, and under the leadership of its chairman, Annisul Huq, Jadoo Digital was conceived to provide consumers with breakthrough and unparalleled entertainment.

Over the past few years, Digi Jadoo Broadband Limited has evolved into one of the largest cable TV distribution houses in Bangladesh, exclusively providing 20+ channels including the STAR TV Network, BBC, Ten Sports, Neo Sports, ABP and Times.

Jadoo Digital was built to be

an advanced, state-of-the-art converged video and Internet service capable of delivering 250+ digital channels, ensuring crisp imagery and crystal clear sound with entertainment content from around the world, all day every day.

Consumers will also be able to experience video recording, video on demand and electronic program guides. Moreover, a range of internet-based services such as high-speed internet, IP telephony, and a 24/7 call center support will be available.

To enable the future potential of such a converged, two-way addressable system, Jadoo Digital has recently partnered with the world’s largest TV software company, TiVo. Jadoo Digital will start its test transmission from next month and plans to launch its onground services for consumers with its very own set top-box from April 2016 onward. l

Inspired by the richness of the historic era, The Mughal Kitchen serves authentic Mughal cuisine with a variety of inventive dishes, desserts and drinks.

Mouthwatering dishes and delectable drinks are prepared using the freshest ingredients, by a team of veteran and highly-

trained chefs.

The Mughal Kitchen recently launched Kala Bhuna, Chicken Tikka, Chicken Boti, Mutton Boti, Chicken Chaap and Beef Sheek, all priced reasonably at Tk180.

All dishes come with luchi, salads, Tzaziki and soft drinks. l

Great news for Mexican food lovers! Brews & Bites is now introducing Mexican bites to their existing cuisine! One can enjoy the exciting flavors of Mexican classics such as nachos, tacos and fajitas in the warm ambiance of Brews & Bites. Visit them at 112 Gulshan Avenue (opposite Agora, above Dhaka Republic).l

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Of various colours (4) 6 Vigour (3) 7 Tibetan priest (4) 9 Cicatrix (4) 10 Wall painting (5) 11 First public appearance(5) 12 Day before (3) 14 Discourage (5) 17 Burdened (5) 20 Anger (3) 21 English port (5) 23 Exclude (5) 25 Labyrinth (4) 26 Minute particle (4) 27 Help (3) 28 Narrate (4)

DOWN 1 Soft colour (6) 2 Dodged (6) 3 Dreadful (4) 4 Distant (3) 5 Close friend (3) 7 Old stringed (4) 8 Manufacturer (5) 10 Wet soft earth (3) 13 Manservant (5) 15 Long angry speech (6) 16 Make known (6) 18 Dutch cheese (4) 19 And not (3) 22 Send out (4) 23 Water storage (3) 24 Container (3)

Downtime CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 9 represents B so fill B every time the figure 9 appears.

You have two letters in the control grid to start you off. 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, fill in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check off the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

A B C DE FG H I J K L MN O P Q RST UVWXYZ

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SUDOKU 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.

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

INSIDE EUROPEAN MIGRANTS CRISIS

Clashes break out in GreeceMacedonia border, France’s Calais India pledges billions for farmers in populist budget India’s federal government promised billions of dollars to help struggling farmers and boost the rural economy as it unveiled its annual budget on Monday, looking to kick-start growth and bolster its flagging popularity.

PAGE 22

Pakistan executes killer of antiblasphemy law activist governor Pakistan on Monday executed a man who killed the governor of Punjab province over his call to reform strict blasphemy laws that carry a death sentence for insulting Islam.

PAGE 23

2016 Super Tuesday to be super nail-bitey Super Tuesday is the big gulp moment for any US presidential candidate who makes it that far.

It’s the biggest day of competition in American democracy except for Election Day itself. It’s super nail-bitey, super expensive and often super-clarifying - the killer and maker of dreams.

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n Agencies Macedonia sent special police reinforcements by helicopter Monday to its border with Greece, after repelling hundreds of frustrated Iraqi and Syrian refugees with tear gas and stun grenades when they tried to force their way across the border, Reports Associated Press.

Meanwhile, in other part of Europe, clashes with police broke out as work got underway to clear part of the shanty town outside Calais in northern France where migrants are trying to reach Britain, reports Reuters.

Thousands of desperate refugees have been stuck for days on the Greek side of the border, overflowing from a packed refugee camp at Idomeni into the surrounding fields as they waited for Macedonian authorities to let them continue their trek through the Balkans. Only a tiny trickle of people from specific countries have been allowed to cross every day.

Chanting “Open the border!” and “We want to go to Serbia!”, the protesting migrants broke down a gate at a nearby rail crossing Monday after pushing their way past Greek police.

Macedonian police repelled the protesters. Several women and children were nearly trampled in the melee and Macedonian authorities said one officer was injured.

Macedonian police opened the crossing to receive about 50 people just before midday Monday but closed it again after the clashes. A police spokeswoman said a train with 450 refugees left the Greek border early Monday and was heading for Serbia.

Macedonia has said it will only allow in as many people as Serbia accepts, and Serbia has been responding to refugee caps set

by Austria further up the migrant trail into Western Europe. This has led to a huge bottleneck in Greece, where authorities say more than 22,000 people are stuck and more are arriving every day.

About 6,500 Syrian and Iraqi refugees are camped out around Idomeni, with another 500 moved to a hastily erected camp on a small concrete landing strip 20km away.

While in Calais, Police lobbed tear gas around midday, about 150200 migrants and activists threw stones, and three makeshift shelters were set ablaze, according to a Reuters photographer at the site.

Earlier, one person was arrested for trying to stop a group of about 20 workers under heavy police protection from clearing the site, where about 3,000 people are staying.

Regional Prefect Fabienne Buccio had said the police presence was needed because “extremists” could try to intimidate migrants into turning down housing offers or buses to reception centres.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said last week that authorities would work with humanitarian organisations to relocate the migrants to a nearby park of converted shipping containers or other reception centres around France.

On Thursday, a judge upheld a government order to evict migrants living in the southern part of the camp, although a few makeshift buildings of social importance such as a school and a theatre are to remain untouched.

Thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty, from Afghanistan to Syria, have converged on the northern port over the past year.

Many attempt to climb illegally onto trains using the Channel Tunnel or into lorries heading to Britain where they hope to settle. Their presence has led to tension with some of the local population and to a permanent police deployment.

In recent weeks Austria — at the north end of the Balkan corridor — has severely restricted the inflow of migrants, causing a domino effect through the Balkans. Many of those countries are now refusing to let Afghan refugees in, although UN authorities say no one has explained to them who made this decision or why.

Diplomatic tensions are rising too, with criticism mounting against Austria. Athens has threatened to block decisions at an upcoming EU-Turkey summit unless the bloc forces members to shoulder more of the refugee burden.

Authorities say over 1,800 people a day have reached Greece’s islands from Turkey in February, slightly down from 2,175 a day in January before the latest border restrictions.

After long delays, Greek authorities have constructed a series of screening centres and transit camps for migrants. But the centers are now all overflowing, forcing hundreds of families to sleep outside in a central Athens square or at a passenger terminal in the port of Piraeus. l

1

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4 1) Stranded refugees and migrants try to bring down part of the border fence during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border 2) Stranded refugees and migrants try to bring down part of the border fence during a protest at the border 3) French riot police face off with migrants and their supporters outside a makeshift school during the partial dismantlement of the camp for migrants called the "jungle" in France's Calais 4) A man carries a fire extinguisher as smoke and flames rise from a burning makeshift shelter set ablaze in Calais camp REUTERS

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India pledges billions for farmers in populist budget n AFP, New Delhi

India’s federal government promised billions of dollars to help struggling farmers and boost the rural economy as it unveiled its annual budget on Monday, looking to kickstart growth and bolster its flagging popularity.

India is now the world’s fastest-growing major economy. But two years of drought and a failure to create jobs for a burgeoning young population has left millions of rural residents struggling and led to deadly protests in recent weeks.

The government came to power nearly two years ago promising to transform India’s economic fortunes. But it has been hampered by the global economic slowdown and a failure to push much-needed reforms through parliament.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley acknowledged the challenges as he presented the budget in parliament, but said he had a “vision to transform India”.

Jaitley pledged to spend Rs359bn ($5.2bn) on doubling the income of India’s estimated 120m farmers over the next five years through measures including a crop insurance scheme and better access to markets.

The vast farming sector is suffering after two years of weak monsoon rains, and from high inflation.

The budget outlined plans to raise credit available to farmers to Rs9tn for 2016-17, and pledged to ensure all the country’s villages have electricity within two years.

The government will increase spending on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,

which guarantees 100 days of employment on public works each year for any household that requests it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously called the scheme a “living monument” to the “failures” of the previous Congress-led government.

Stalled reforms

The BJP performed poorly in elections in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar last year and faces polls in other major farming states this year and next.

The BJP needs to perform well in upcoming state elections in order to push stalled economic reforms through the national parliament’s upper house, where it lacks a majority.

These include Modi’s flagship plan to introduce a national Goods and Services Tax to replace myriad

complex state and national levies seen as deterring much-needed investment.

India is considered a relative bright spot in the world economy, but feeble global demand has caused its exports to shrink for 14 months and investment remains weak.

The opposition Congress party dismissed the budget as “a wasted opportunity”.

The main Sensex index on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed down 0.66% after the budget, which included a hefty 23% pay rise for millions of civil servants and a pension scheme for retired soldiers.

The two schemes will add billions of dollars to the government’s spending bill over the next year, but Jaitley said it would stick to its ambitious target to cut the fiscal deficit to 3.5% of GDP in 2016-17.

The government plans to counter big spending pledges with double-digit increases in tax collection -- with plans to bring more people into the tax net, raise levies on cigarettes and SUVs and increase an income surcharge on the super-rich.

Jaitley also pledged to spend Rs2.21tn rupees on improvements to roads and other infrastructure.

The government will also inject Rs250bn rupees into public-sector banks, which are weighed down by bad loans.

Despite a major push to boost manufacturing, farming remains by far the biggest employer in India.

Earlier in February the Jats, traditionally a farming caste, sparked riots in northern India to press demands for better access to government jobs and education. They say they are struggling to make a living. l

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

Pakistan executes killer of antiblasphemy law activist governor n Reuters, Islamabad Pakistan on Monday executed a man who killed the governor of Punjab province over his call to reform strict blasphemy laws that carry a death sentence for insulting Islam.

Street protests broke out within hours by supporters of the killer, who consider him a hero for defending the faith. The head of the Islamabad Bar Council called for a day-long strike of lawyers in protest against the hanging.

Mumtaz Qadri, a bodyguard for Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab province, shot him dead in the capital, Islamabad, in 2011.

After his arrest, Qadri told police he killed Taseer because the governor had championed the cause of a Christian woman sentenced to death in a blasphemy case that arose out of a personal dispute. Taseer had said the law was being misused and should be reformed.

Qadri’s attorney said his client told him he had no regrets for killing the governor.

His lawyer also predicted larger demonstrations coinciding with Qadri’s funeral, which his

Iranian reformists and relative moderates who support last year’s nuclear deal won the most seats in parliament and a clerical body charged with selecting the next supreme leader in a major setback for hard-liners who opposed the agreement, Associated Press reported on Monday based on official election results.

Final results released by the interior ministry and broadcast on state TV show that reformists, who favour expanded social freedoms and engagement with the West, and other backers of President Hassan Rouhani, won at least 85 seats. Moderate conservatives -- who split with the hard-line camp and support the nuclear deal -- won 73, giving the two camps together a majority over hard-liners in the 290-seat assembly.

Hard-liners won just 68 seats, down from 112 in the current parliament. Five seats will go to religious minorities, and the remaining 59 will be decided in a runoff,

SOUTH ASIA

Myanmar parliament to change presidential elections date Aung San Suu Kyi is likely to speed up elections of the country’s president, in a last-minute change following weeks of talks with the military that bars her from assuming the highest office. Myanmar’s parliament dominated by the National League for Democracy will change the date of presidential elections, previously set for March 17, according to the agenda for Tuesday’s parliamentary session.

-REUTERS

INDIA

India, US closer to share military logistic

Supporters of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan religious party protest against the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri during a demonstration in Peshawar on Monday REUTERS legal group said would be held on Tuesday.

Late in 2011, an anti-terrorism court handed down a double death sentence to Qadri for murder and terrorism. The sentence was appealed and upheld by the Supreme Court late last year.

More than 100 people are charged with blasphemy each

year in predominantly Muslim Pakistan, many of them Christians and other minorities.

Conviction of blasphemy carries a death sentence. No one has yet been hanged, but those convicted languish in prison.

Controversy over the law has exposed the growing gap between religious conservatives and liber-

als in Pakistan, with hard-line religious leaders considering Taseer a blasphemer himself for even criticising the law.

Some lawyers showered Qadri with rose petals when he first arrived in court days after the killing. The judge who first convicted him was forced to flee the country after death threats. l

Iranian reformists win majority in parliament, assembly of experts n Tribune Desk

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likely to be held in April.

While none of the country’s three main political camps will dominate the next parliament, the assembly will be much friendlier to President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate elected in 2013 on pledges to relax restrictions on freedom of expression and improve ties with the West.

Reformists and moderate conservatives are expected to work together — at least on economic issues — and the next parliament will be far friendlier to Rouhani, making it more likely he can also deliver on promises to promote social freedoms.

Moderates also won a 59% majority in the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body which will choose the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been Iran’s top decision-maker since 1989. The 76-year-old underwent prostate surgery in 2014, leading to renewed speculations about the state of his health.

Rouhani and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, both considered moderates, retained

their seats in the assembly.

However, several prominent hard-liners, including Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, were also re-elected. Jannati is the leader of the Guardian Council, an unelected, constitutional watchdog that vets election candidates, and has been a leading opponent of democratic reforms.

He has also led efforts to disqualify reformist candidates. Out of 3,000 reformists who applied to run in this year’s elections, just 200 made it through the vetting process.

The Assembly of Experts is elected every eight years. Moderates previously held around 20 seats in the assembly.

Rouhani and his allies likely benefited from last month’s implementation of the nuclear agreement, which lifted crippling sanctions that have been in place since 2012.

But analysts said the election results were also driven by domestic factors, including lingering anger at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rouhani’s hard-

line predecessor. Ahmadinejad repeatedly clashed with the West over his dramatic expansion of the nuclear programme, his questioning of the scale of the Holocaust and his predictions of Israel’s demise.

His policies led many conservatives to break with hard-liners, and the moderate conservatives’ support for the nuclear talks and subsequent agreement widened the rift.

Reformists last rose to power in 1997 with the election of President Mohammad Khatami and secured a majority in parliament three years later. But the pendulum soon swung back toward hard-liners, who dominated Iranian politics from 2004 until Rouhani’s election nearly three years ago.

Khamenei, who makes all final decisions on major policies, insists he is above the political fray.

But the supreme leader remains deeply suspicious of the West and has warned that too much openness to Western influence could dilute the country’s Islamic values. l

India and the US are closing in on an agreement to share military logistics after 12 years of talks, officials said, a sign of strengthening defence ties between the countries as China becomes increasingly assertive. The progress comes as the countries consider joint maritime patrols that a US official said could include the S China Sea. -REUTERS

CHINA

Ten children stabbed outside Chinese school A knife-wielding attacker stabbed 10 school children in the city of Haikou, on the southern island province of Hainan on Monday, severely injuring 2, state media reported. The assailant was identified as 45-year-old Li Sijun, who later committed suicide, reports said, adding no motive had been determined.

-REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

Mahathir quits ruling party over PM scandals Malaysia’s former premier Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday he is quitting the ruling United Malays National Organisation party, as it is being seen as supporting corruption under Prime Minister Najib Razak’s leadership. Mahathir has for months been a leading voice calling for the ousting of Najib, who is under pressure over allegations that billions of dollars had been pilfered from state firms.

-AFP

MIDDLE EAST

Israeli military braces for battle over beards Israel’s long-running struggle to balance modern standards with Jewish tradition has come to a head in the military, where new orders curtailing beards among soldiers have met protests from some rabbis. Many Orthodox Jewish men go unshaven, a religious observance that Israel’s armed forces accommodates. But in recent years, many secular soldiers have also grown beards, a trend that new orders going into effect on Tuesday aim to combat.

-REUTERS

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USA

Congressional Hispanic Caucus PAC backs Clinton The political arm of the congressional Hispanic Caucus — CHC BOLD PAC — is set to endorse Hillary Clinton at a press conference at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters on Monday morning, in yet another sign of the presidential front-runner’s strength in Washington and among Hispanic leaders. Among the states voting on Tuesday is Texas, which has a large Hispanic population.

-POLITICO

THE AMERICAS

Brazil justice minister to quit as Lula probe tension grows Brazil’s Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardoso plans to resign, fed up with rising attacks from his Workers’ Party over a police probe into the activities of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, two Brazilian newspapers reported Sunday. Cardoso will quit this week, Folha de S Paulo said.

-REUTERS

UK

UK retail sector predicted to cut 900,000 jobs The retail sector, one of the UK’s largest employers, is facing up to 900,000 job losses and the closure of thousands of shops in the next decade, according to a report by an industry body. The British Retail Consortium warns that rising costs due to the national living wage and the apprenticeship levy – both introduced by George Osborne in last year’s budget – could increase the rate of job cuts. -THE GUARDIAN

EUROPE

Austria rejects criticism on migrants policy Austria’s government hit back on Monday at absurd criticism of its tougher migrants policy, after coming under fire from Germany and Greece where a bottleneck is building due to Vienna’s measures.

Germany in particular has criticised the limit on the number allowed to pass through Austria, but Interior Minister Mikl-Leitner said that Germany itself had imposed daily caps in December, leading to huge backlogs in Austria.

-AFP

AFRICA

Al Shabaab kills 30 in twin blasts in Somalia Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist group bombed a busy junction and a nearby restaurant in the town of Baidoa on Sunday, killing at least 30 people, police and the group said.

Police Colonel Abdi Osman said the death toll was 30, with 40 others injured. The al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab jihadists claimed responsiblity for the attacks, saying local officials were targeted.

-REUTERS

FACTBOX

2016 Super Tuesday to be super nail-bitey Super Tuesday is the big gulp moment for any US presidential candidate who makes it that far. It’s the biggest day of competition in American democracy except for Election Day itself. It’s super nail-bitey, super expensive and often super-clarifying - the killer and maker of dreams.

So will it set everything straight in the chaotic presidential race?

Maybe. Quite possibly not.

The lineup Both parties are holding contests Tuesday in these states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. As well, Republicans vote in Alaska and Democrats in Colorado. Democrats also have a contest in American Samoa and for Democrats Abroad.

A transition Until now, it was ephemeral. Who’s doing better and worse than expected? Who’s rising and falling? Who’s got momentum? It’s mainly about the number of delegates now - the inexorable grind of arithmetic. Until now, voters in four states have picked not much more than a sliver of the delegates who are needed to clinch the party nominations. That changes overnight, with each party holding

contests in 11 states. Democrats also vote in American Samoa.Republicans will allocate 595 delegates from the results of Super Tuesday, nearly half of the 1,237 needed for the nomination.

Democrats will allocate 865, more than one-third of the necessary 2,383.

What’s the score?

3-1 for Trump and Clinton. He won New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. She won Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina. Republican Ted Cruz won Iowa. Sanders won New Hampshire.

Momentum still counts As enormous as the prize is on Tuesday, no one candidate can win their party’s nomination on the night. The delegate trove is proportional in each party, and delegates will be divvied up according to how well each contender does. That’s an oversimplification of an arcane process, but the bottom line is that a strong second place in a particular state can be worth almost as many delegates as a victory. So the perception of who’s making headway still matters. A candidate on the move can attract more money, national attention and voter interest.

At least for a few more weeks.

A series of winner-take-all Republican primaries is coming, none bigger than Florida on March 15, where a cache of 99 delegates is at stake and Rubio will be bidding furiously for a

home-state victory against Trump, a part-time resident who got a head start on organising there.

Texas and the south The South bid for more influence in this campaign by adding states to its Super Tuesday roster, naming this subset the SEC primary in a nod to the Southeastern Conference of college sports. Clinton demonstrated her pull with black voters in South Carolina, suggesting she may do well in other Southern states with significant black

populations. The biggest Super Tuesday state overall is Texas, where Senator Cruz has a home-state advantage built on prime endorsements from the governor down the political chain and a veritable army of some 27,000 volunteers. Everything in politics is double-edged, though. If Trump’s rebel yell attracts enough support to make him the winner or even a close second, Cruz will face sharp questions about his viability. l

Source: AP

INSIGHT

Super Tuesday showdown: How the southern states won the spotlight n Reuters, Atlanta Things were not looking too good a year ago for Georgia’s top elections officer as he tried to stitch together a mega-presidential primary in the US South.

Efforts to bring Alabama and Arkansas online had stalled. Tennessee was threatening to defect.

But Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp kept working the phones, arguing that a bloc of Southern states all voting on March 1 was the only way to make US presidential candidates pay attention to the region.

Eventually key state leaders came around and their effort seems to have paid off.

Candidates have campaigned more in the South this election year in an effort to woo a group of states voting early on so-called Super Tuesday than Kemp can re-

call seeing in any contemporary primary. And the seven states holding contests in the region appear poised to play a pivotal role in selecting the Republican and Democratic nominees for the November 8 race.

Elections officials nationally are watching how the concurrent races in the South play out on Tuesday, and are talking about possibly replicating the strategy in other parts of the country to win a greater say in the primaries.

Kemp has dubbed the coordinated Southern races that he’s orchestrated the “SEC primary” - or Southeastern Conference primary - after a regional college athletic conference.

It was not easy.

A year ago, Kemp stood in his statehouse office fretting that bills to set the primary date in Alabama and Arkansas were not going to pass. An Alabama state party chair was worried her state would get lost in a big group, he said, but

Kemp argued that Alabama would still be better off by voting when it was early enough to matter.

In Arkansas, the bill to change the primary date did not pass until it was included in a special legislative session.

Candidates campaigned more in Southern states this year in an effort to woo voters, casting ballots early on Super Tuesday Four other states, from Alaska to Vermont, also hold contests to award delegates on Super Tuesday.

Candidates began showing up once the regional primary was in place. A rally for Republican billionaire businessman Donald Trump

drew as many as 30,000 people to a football stadium in Mobile, Alabama in August, for example.

The primaries in the politically conservative South got a boost in significance this year from the size and unpredictability of the Republican presidential field.

On the Democratic side, the region’s large concentrations of African-American voters are seen as a test of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s and US Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders’ appeal with a key Democratic voting bloc.

While the South has not seen such a coordinated effort in decades, it is not the first time the states have tried to gang up.

Yet in 1988, when the region almost entirely held primaries on March 8, votes were split among Democratic candidates and the contest left the South to be settled elsewhere. A number of states eventually walked away from the plan. l

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SCORECARD

INSIDE

India gear up for Lankan test

UAE INNINGS Rohan c Afridi b Sami Kaleem b Amir Shahzad c Sarfraz b Irfan Shaiman c Sarfraz b Irfan Mushtaq c Nawaz b Afridi Usman b Amir Amjad not out Naveed not out Extras (lb 2, w 7)

R B 1 5 1 11 5 3 46 42 9 19 21 17 27 18 10 5 9

Total (6 wickets; 20 overs)

129

Fall of wickets 1-5, 2-5, 3-12, 4-41, 5-72, 6-118

India will look to continue their dominance when the men in blue lock horns against Sri Lanka in a high voltage Asia Cup T20 2016 encounter at the SBNS today. Dhoni and his troop registered a five wicket win over the arch-rival Pakistan on their second game. PAGE 26

Bowling Amir 4-1-6-2, Sami 4-0-28-1, Irfan 4-0-302, Afridi 4-0-24-1, Nawaz 3-0-26-0, Malik 1-0-13-0 PAKISTAN INNINGS Hafeez c Fahad b Amjad Sharjeel lbw b Amjad Khurram c Patil b Amjad Umar not out Malik not out Extras (w 3)

R B 11 12 4 3 0 2 50 46 63 49 3

Total (3 wickets; 18.4 overs)

131

Fall of wickets 1-11, 2-11, 3-17

Silva admits to post-WC depression Brazil defender Thiago Silva has admitted he suffered from a bout of depression after the host nation’s humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup. In an interview the PSG captainsaid, "Yes. It was a somewhat difficult period." PAGE 27

Pakistan allrounder Shoaib Malik glides a ball during their Asia Cup T20 2016 match against United Arab Emirates at Shere-Bangla national stadium in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Pakistan clinch tensed win against UAE n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Van Gaal apologises for 'diving' Louis Van Gaal blamed high emotions for his bizarre touchline spat with fourth official Mike Dean during United’s 3-2 win over Arsenal. The Dutchman threw himself to the ground under Dean’s nose in an attempt to illustrate his frustration. PAGE 28

Caballero enjoys rare day on City stage As Ivorian Toure wheeled away in celebration, the Argentine, City’s second-choice keeper who played every minute of the League Cup campaign, was wagging his finger and heading back towards goal ready to try and stop another penalty. PAGE 29

Despite an early debacle Pakistan pulled a seven-wicket win with eight balls remaining over minnow Unites Arab Emirates in the sixth game of the Asia Cup Twenty20 2016 at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. A record unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership between Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal ensured Pakistan’s first win in the tournament in two matches.

Chasing 130 runs, Pakistan had a horrific start losing top three wickets with just 17 runs on the board. UAE skipper Ahmed Javed took three wickets to rattle the Pakistan top order. Javed came into attack in the second over and dismissed opener Sharjeel Khan on 4 in the third ball. Two balls later Javed struck again and this time it was Khurram Manzoor. In his next over, Javed removed the experienced Mohammad Hafeez. Hafeez was caught at the covers on 11 runs.

After that Umar Akmal and veteran Shoaib Malik cooled down the situation and with an unbeaten 114 runs stand for the fourth wicket, the duo took their side to the victory. The partnership was recorded as the a highest for the

fourth-wicket in T20Is. For the first six overs of the partnership, Umar and Shoaib went for only singles and never made effort to take the run rate over five. They took real charge of the chase from the fourteenth over when Pakistan required 66 runs from 42 balls. In that over the duo picked 11 runs. The 18th over was the major blow for UAE as it conceded 23 runs.

Malik got the winning runs

POINTS TABLE Teams

M W L Pts NRR

India

2

2

0

4 +1.970

Bangladesh 3

2

1

4 +0.483

Sri Lanka

2

1

1

2 -0.225

Pakistan

2

1

1

2 -0.494

UAE

3

0

3

0 -1.266

with a boundary and remained unbeaten on 63 off 49 balls. The right-handed batsman hammered seven boundaries and three sixes.

Umar on the other end remained not out with 50 off 46.

Earlier, Shaiman Anwar and some late power hitting saw UAE side post a challenging 129 runs in 20 overs for six wickets.

UAE won the toss and opted to bat first on a wicket which looked

moderate to bat on. But the UAE expectation was ruined as the top three batsmen were sent back to the dressing room with only 12 runs on the board.

Mohammad Sami removed opener Rohan Mustafa in the last ball of the second over to start the small debacle. In the next over Mohammad Amir removed the other UAE opener, Muhammad Kaleem and eight balls later Mohammad Irfan struck to dismiss in-form Mohammad Shahzad on five.

Later, Shaiman’s 42-ball 46 with five boundaries and two sixes and a 46 runs partnership for the sixth wicket by Muhammad Usman and skipper Amjad Javed saw UAE post a modest total.

From over 11 to 20 UAE batters scored 89 runs and had lost only three wickets. UAE picked 17 runs fromt the 13th over, bowled by Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi.

Shaiman who batted sensibly on the day hammered three consecutive boundaries. Shoaib Malik bowled a single over in the innings to concede 14 runs and see Usman fire for a six and a boundary.

In-form Amir bowled brilliantly to take two wickets and gave only six runs in his stipulated four overs with one maiden. l

Bowling Naveed 3.4-0-28-0, Amjad 4-0-36-3, Shahzad 4-0-19-0, Raza 3-0-20-0, Rohan 3-0-20-0, Fahad 1-0-8-0 Pakistan won by 7 wickets MoM: Shoaib Malik

WHAT THEY SAID Pakistan captain, Shahid Afridi In this format you can’t relax. We are making some mistakes and we can’t afford that against the big teams. I told my batsmen just play normal cricket, don’t go for big runs. We thought after we took three wickets we thought we would get them out for 90-100 but they played well and some shots went off for them.

UAE captain, Amjad Javed: We wanted about 120 but we got 10 runs extra, we knew it would be difficult to chase, we got some early wickets but we could not capitalise on that. We are still learning, Malik and Akmal took the game away from us. The team is really doing well, I did my best to contribute and try and bring the game back, and make Pakistan work hard. Our coach Aaqib Javed was sure we could give them a fight if we scored 100.

Shoaib Malik, the Man of the Match Tough conditions, we all know the first six overs has been crucial, if you survive then you can play shots and that is what we did. We lost early wickets but then we decided to forget about the run rate and focus on playing out the first six overs. We bowled well in the first six overs but then we were a bit all over the place, hopefully we will talk about it.

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Confident India gear up for Lankan test n Mazhar Uddin Favourites India will look to continue their dominance when the men in blue lock horns against a demoralised Sri Lanka side in a high voltage Asia Cup T20 2016 encounter at the Sher-e-Bangla national stadium today.

MS Dhoni and his troop registered a five wicket win over the arch-rival Pakistan on their second game after a solid performance from the bowlers to bundle out the opposition on just 83/10.

Medium pacer Hardik Pandya bowled superbly to pick up three wickets and will once again look to prove his worth in the side along with Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball.

However the Indian batters struggled at one stage when they were reeling on 8/3 but Virat Kohli played a brilliant knock of 49 runs under pressure to eventually take his side home.

On the other hand, defending champions Sri Lanka will be morally down after their 23 runs defeat to Bangladesh and will surely look to bounce back to stay in hunt for the final spot.

Regular skipper Lasith Malinga, who missed the previous game against the hosts due to an injury, is unlikely to play against India as well which will be a major blow for the holders.

Today's Match 7:30PM at SBNS

India v Sri Lanka Maasranga TV, Gazi TV, Star Sports 1

The Sri Lankan are going through a transition period after the retirement of the legendary pair Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene and this time the young Lankan players will have to step up and perform well under skipper Angelo Matthews.

Batting has been the major area of concern for Sri Lanka after they were able to score just 129/8 and 124/8 against UAE and Bangladesh respectively.

Apart from Dinesh Chandimal at the opening spot, none of the Lankan batters were able to score significantly. Veteran cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan also failed to score in both the games and his team needs him to perform in the vital match against the Indians.

On the other hand Nuwan Kulasekara will lead the fast bowling along with skipper Matthews while experienced left arm spinner Rangana Herath will take care of the spin department. l

Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha congratulates new dad Tamim Iqbal (R) during a practice session in Mirpur yesterday. Tamim, who became father of a baby boy in Bangkok Sunday, returned to Dhaka yesterday to join the squad for the ongoing Asia Cup T20 2016 MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

PLAYERS TO WATCH

WHAT ASHWIN SAID

VIRAT KOHLI

About the Pitch As international teams, we should be able to adapt to whatever conditions we are given.

We have been happy with the way we have come out on top and its given us a dress rehearsal for the batsmen lower down the order, the fast bowlers and its given everyone a good outing ahead of the World T20.

India

Virat Kohli has been in terrific touch as the dashing batsman played a brilliant 49-run innings against the arch-rival Pakistan to clinch a five wicket win. More importantly his knock came under immense pressure after India were reeling on 8/3 chasing the target of 84 courtesy of a fiery spell by Mohammad Amir. But the stylish right hander took the responsibility yet remained aggressive to ensure no more hiccups and guided India home. And the 27 year old will once again play a vital role on their crucial encounter against the defending champion Sri Lanka today.

On Virat Kohli’s innings against Pakistan We needed someone to stick their head out that day as Amir was in the middle of a very good spell. We needed someone to show intent, some who would attack and defend. His innings gave a lot of comfort to the dressing room and we knew if a 20-30 run partnership builds, then the game will be over since we were just chasing 84. From that perspective it was a great knock. Virat showed a lot of courage and it was great to see his knock.

On Sri Lanka Malinga is a champion bowler and it will help any team playing Sri Lanka without him. You are familiar with all the teams in international cricket since there are only about 10 teams. One thing we wary about Sri Lanka is that they will always punch above their weight and in big games –they raise their standard and they are a very good team. l

DINESH CHANDIMAL Sri Lanka

It has been a tough start for the defending champion Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup where batting has been the main area of concern for Angelo Matthews side. But Dinesh Chandimal has been the only exception as the right hander has been scoring consistently in the opening spot for the Lankans. The 26 year old scored a fifty on their opening game against the UAE followed by his 37 runs knock against Bangladesh was promising. And the wicket-keeper batsman would surely utilise his form in greater effect to stay in hunt for the final of the Asia Cup for his team today.

–MAZHAR UDDIN

Indian batsman Virat Kohli grabs a ball during a practice session in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

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LIGUE 1

QUICK BYTES Pioneer Football League starts today

Nantes

0-0

Monaco

Saint-Etienne

1-2

Caen

Eysseric 90+1

Delort 78, Rodelin 82

2-1

Lyon

PSG

Cornet 13, Darder 45+2

The super league matches of the Dhaka South City Corporation and Dhaka North City Corporation Pioneer (Under-16) Football League will get underway in the capital today. A total of 20 teams who qualified from the first round among 60 teams will take part in one of country’s biggest football league in five different venues in Dhaka.

The venues are – Outer stadium in Paltan, East End Club ground, Bashabo, Army Museum field and Gollartek field in Mirpur. Three teams – champions, runners-up and third-placed – will promote to the third division football league.

TRIBUNE REPORT

Lucas 51

TOP FIVE Team

GP W D L GD PTS

Paris SG

28 23 4

1 53

73

Monaco

28 13 11 4 10

50

Lyon

28 12 6 10 10

42

Caen

28 13 3 12 -6

42

Nice

28 11 8 9

41

7

Lyon's French forward Maxwel Cornet (L) vies with Paris Saint-Germain's Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic during their French L1 match at the New Stadium in Decines-Charpieu, central-eastern France on Sunday AFP

Cuevas wins in Brazil again Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas won the Sao Paulo claycourt tournament on Sunday, retaining the title he won last year by beating Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6 (7/4), 6-3. It was a second straight tournament victory in Brazil for Cuevas, the world number 27, after he overcame Rafael Nadal on the way to sealing the Rio de Janeiro event last week.

The two tournaments take the 30-year-old’s career tally to five, all of them won on clay since 2014.

AFP

Sacked Cup captain sues for 1.5 million France’s former Davis Cup captain Arnaud Clement is suing the French tennis federation (FFT) for 1.5 million euros after he was sacked from the job in September, a legal source told AFP on Sunday. “Arnaud Clement has initiated proceedings...to resolve his disagreement with the federation,” the source said without elaborating on the details. Clement had one more year left on his contract when he was dismissed and the FFT proposed a 400,000-euro pay-off.

AFP

Scott wins Honda Classic title Australia’s Adam Scott won his first title in nearly two years on Sunday, firing a level-par 70 to capture the US PGA Honda Classic by one stroke over Sergio Garcia. The 2013 Masters champion had not claimed a trophy since the Colonial in May of 2014, when Scott was ranked number one in the world. “It feels very good,” Scott said. “It was nice to hit some quality shots coming in.

Luckily for me, it was just enough.”

AFP

PSG’s 36-game unbeaten streak shattered n Reuters, Paris

Paris St Germain’s league record 36-game unbeaten streak came to an abrupt halt when they lost 2-1 at Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday.

Maxwell Cornet and Sergi Darder, with an audacious piece of skill, scored the first-half goals that handed PSG their first Ligue 1 defeat since a 3-2 reverse at Girondins Bordeaux in March 2015.

Laurent Blanc’s side are still 23 points clear at the top of the table, after 28 matches, as they sail towards a fourth consecutive title.

“Congratulations to Lyon,” PSG

defender David Luiz told Canal Plus television. “They played well.

“We didn’t play well tonight and the manager told us to wake up a bit at halftime but it was too late.

We played badly and although we scored a goal, we were tired.”

PSG’s chances of beating the record unbeaten run of 32 games in a single league season, set by Nantes in 1994-95, were ended despite a Lucas Moura goal after the break.

Lyon have flattered to deceive this season but started strongly and took the lead in the 13th minute when Cornet brought the ball down inside the box, evaded Greg-

ory van der Wiel and slammed the ball past keeper Kevin Trapp.

Darder doubled the advantage in first-half injury time when he received a cross from Rafael, flicked the ball over the head of PSG captain Thiago Silva and finished emphatically.

The visitors were lucky to go in at halftime with 11 men, midfielder Thiago Motta escaping with a yellow card after punching Jordan Ferri in the face in the 23rd minute.

PSG improved after the break when manager Laurent Blanc introduced Javier Pastore for Benjamin Stambouli.

Thiago Silva admits to post-World Cup depression n AFP, Paris Brazil defender Thiago Silva has admitted he suffered from a bout of depression after the host nation’s humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup. In an interview which aired on Canal+ on Sunday, the Paris Saint-Germain captain was asked whether he was affected by depression following the World Cup, to which he replied: “Yes. It was a somewhat difficult period. “(PSG) president (Nasser Al-Khelaifi) gave me lots of guidance. He told me: ‘You’re the best defender in the world, but you still need to work more’. I told him: ‘President, I always work. But in my head, I don’t know what’s happening, there’s a problem’.”

Silva also spoke about his omission from recent Brazil squads, with the 31-year-old having been overlooked by Dunga since the Selecao’s quarter-final exit to Paraguay at last year’s Copa America.

“I don’t know what exactly is going on. I’m telling the truth. Everyone has forgotten that, even if I think I was responsible, that I didn’t actually play against Germany (due to suspension). Everyone thinks it was my fault...it’s not my fault, that.”

He also thanked PSG coach Laurent Blanc for his

Pastore was quickly influential as his side got back into the game in the 51st minute, the Argentine playmaker tearing into the Lyon box before flicking the ball into the path of Lucas who beat Anthony Lopes with aplomb.

Lyon are third on 42 points, eight behind second-placed Monaco who drew 0-0 at Nantes on Sunday.

Marseille’s match at Ajaccio was postponed due to bad weather while Caen moved above Nice into fourth spot after securing a 2-1 victory at St Etienne whose European aspirations have been dented after going three games without a win. l

Ranieri rolls dice again as Leicester face West Brom n AFP, Leicester Leicester City face the next test in their extraordinary Premier League title challenge with manager Claudio Ranieri prepared to take more risks in search of victory over West Bromwich Albion.

Ranieri’s boldness was rewarded on Saturday as his substitutions paid off with a late 1-0 win against Norwich City.

And the Italian is ready to take the bull by the horns again on Tuesday as Leicester look to claim a second home win in four days and extend their fairytale season. l

EPL FIXTURES

support during those trying times.

“Every day, a journalist asked him if he was going to continue to play me, because I wasn’t playing as well.

He always responded that I was going to carry on, that I was the captain. And that gives you confidence,” said Silva. l

Bournemouth Aston Villa Leicester City Norwich City Sunderland

v v v v v

Southampton Everton West Brom Chelsea Crystal Palace

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Barca records nothing without titles: Enrique n AFP, Barcelona Barcelona boss Luis Enrique insists he will only be satisfied once his side have delivered another La Liga title after equalling a Spanish record by stretching their unbeaten run to 34 games.

Victory restored Barca’s eightpoint lead over Atletico Madrid at the top of the table with Real Madrid now 12 points adrift.

“The record tells me nothing. If we win titles then fine, but if not it doesn’t tell me a thing,” said Enrique.

“We have wanted to retain the title since the first day of the season. That is the primary objective and we are in better position. Now we need to win the points necessary to be champions.”

Barca have been far from their brilliant best in many of their recent league games with fatigue starting to set in from an already gruelling campaign of 46 games across six competitions. l

TOP TEN Team

GP W D L GD PTS

Barcelona

26 21 3 2 48

66

Atletico

26 18 4 4 25

58

Real Madrid

26 16 6 4 46

54

Villarreal

26 15 7 4 15

52

Sevilla

26 11 8 7

9

41

Celta Vigo

26 12 5 9 -5

41

Athletic Bilbao 26 11 Eibar

5 10 3

38

26 10 6 10 5

36

Real Sociedad 26 9

7 10 1

Deportivo

26 6 14 6

Malaga

26 8

34

1

32

8 10 0

32

Barcelona forward Luis Suarez tries to score against Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico during their Spanish La Liga match at Camp Nou stadium on Sunday

Messi, Pique spark Barca comeback victory n Reuters, Barcelona

Defender Gerard Pique grabbed a rare winner and Lionel Messi scored yet another beauty as Barcelona came from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 at the Nou Camp on Sunday and reclaim an eight-point lead at the top of La Liga.

Second-placed Atletico Madrid had narrowed the gap to five points by winning the capital derby 1-0 at the Bernabeu on Saturday, a result that leaves Real Madrid 12 points

adrift of Barca.

Sevilla, who meet Barca in the King’s Cup final on May 22, went in front following a break down the left as full back Benoit Tremoulinas crossed to the far post and Vitolo volleyed the ball past keeper Claudio Bravo after 20 minutes.

Messi equalised just past the half hour with a sublime free kick that dipped over the wall and nestled in the top corner.

Barca’s winner, which extended their unbeaten run to 34 matches in

Van Gaal apologises for 'diving' Louis Van Gaal blamed high emotions for his bizarre touchline spat with fourth official Mike Dean during Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford. The Dutchman threw himself to the ground under Dean’s nose in an attempt to illustrate his frustration at alleged diving by Gunners striker Alexis Sanchez.

REUTERS

With Wenger standing only yards away and trying hard not to react, Van Gaal continued to argue with Dean while he lay momentarily prostrate on the turf.

But Van Gaal later admitted he had gone too far and revealed he had offered his apologies to the officials concerned.

Van Gaal said: “That was too emotional - it is not good for the referee

and the linesman and the fourth official. It doesn’t happen much normally - I have had a lot of criticism because I am sitting on my bench and now I am off my bench and I have lot of criticism because I’m doing that. I have apologised to the referee and the linesman.

I have to control my emotions and I have said that also to my players.” l

all competitions, came three minutes into the second half as Messi cut the ball back to Luis Suarez and his cross was converted from close range by centre half Pique.

Luis Enrique’s men have now drawn level with Real Madrid’s record undefeated sequence set in 1988-89 under Dutchman Leo Beenhakker.

Valencia’s sequence of four wins in La Liga and the Europa League came to an end after a 3-0 defeat at home to Athletic Bilbao. l

LA LIGA Villarreal

3-0

Levante

Baptistao 12, Castillejo 30, Adrian 48

Valencia

0-3

Bilbao

Merino 73, Muniain 77, Aduriz 80

Deportivo

0-1

Granada

El Arabi 24-pen

Barcelona

2-1

Messi 31, Pique 48

Sevilla Vitolo 20

MAN UNITED v ARSENAL TALKING POINTS Rashford in dreamland

Kids come good for Van Gaal

Even Rashford’s most ardent believers could not have imagined such a stunning impact from the 18-year-old.

After a dream double on his debut against Midtjylland on Thursday night, the local lad’s Roy of the Rovers story continued as he marked his first Premier League appearance with two more goals and the assist for Herrera’s deflected third. Rashford brought a sense of anticipation whenever he touched the ball, and his electric pace caused Arsenal problems from the off.

Manchester United are currently without 12 first-team players. The injury crisis has left Van Gaal with few options when it comes to team selection, but Rashford was not the only young player to make his mark on the occasion and ease the pressure on his beleaguered manager. Memphis Depay also produced one of his best performances of the season on the left-hand side of their attack, and the United XI that finished the game only featured two players over the age of 26.

Same old Arsenal?

Walcott worry for Arsenal

After yet another big-game defeat in which they fell well short of their potential, however, Arsenal find themselves in a grimly familiar situation. The Gunners were let down by defensive mistakes by Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny at crucial moments, but they looked vulnerable throughout, with Nacho Monreal’s early miss setting the tone for another afternoon of falling short.

Arsenal were collectively poor at Old Trafford, but what of Theo Walcott’s struggles? The England man has scored just once in his last 14 appearances for the Gunners, and Wenger’s decision to start him ahead of Olivier Giroud was made to look foolish as he drifted through the game without making any impact whatsoever. When Walcott was hauled off just after the hour mark, he had touched only 17 times on the ball. l

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Sport

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

Dortmund leave it late to beat Hoffenheim n Reuters, Berlin

SERIE A Palermo

0-0

Bologna

1-1

Atalanta

Carpi Verdi 75-pen

Kurtic 52

2-0

Udinese

Verona

Agyemang Badu 31, Thereau 56

Chievo

1-0

Genoa

2-0

Frosinone

Castro 51

Sampdoria

Fernando 44, Quagliarella 69

2-0

Juventus

Inter

Bonucci 47, Morata 84-pen

Juventus' Spanish forward Alvaro Morata (L) scores from the spot during their Italian Serie A match against Inter Milan at the "Juventus Stadium" in Turin on Sunday AFP

‘Derby of Italy’ joy as Juve go four clear

TOP TEN Team

GP W D L GD PTS

Juventus

27

19 4 4 33

61

Napoli

26

17 6 3 33

57

Roma

27

15 8 4 27

53

Fiorentina

26

16 4 6 19

52

Inter Milan

27

14 6 7

9

48

AC Milan

27

13 8 6 11

47

Sassuolo

26

9 11 6

1

38

Lazio

26

10 7 9 0

37

Bologna

27

10 5 12 -2

35

Chievo

27

9

34

7 11 -4

DAY’S WATCH CRICKET STAR SPORTS 1 7:30PM Asia Cup 2016 India v Sri Lanka

FOOTBALL STAR SPORTS 2 1:35 AM Barclays Premier League Leicester City v West Bromwich

STAR SPORTS 4 1:35 AM Barclays Premier League Aston Villa v Everton

SONY ESPN 2:00 AM Liga Bbva Atletico Madrid v Real Sociedad

SONY ESPN HD 3:00 AM Liga Bbva Las Palmas v Getafe

KABADDI STAR SPORTS 2 8:20 PM Pro Kabaddi League Kolkata v Bengaluru 9:30 PM Mumbai v Vizag

n Reuters, Turin Leonardo Bonucci and Alvaro Morata were on target as Juventus defeated Inter Milan 2-0 in the ‘derby of Italy’ to open a four-point lead at the top of Serie A on Sunday.

Bonucci scored for the hosts from close range in the 47th minute after Inter’s Danilo D’Ambrosio made a horrid mistake by heading Paulo Dybala’s free kick across his own goal. Substitute Morata added the second goal from the penalty

spot after being tripped by Joao Miranda with six minutes to go.

Juve now have 61 points from 27 matches, four more than second-placed Napoli who travel to Fiorentina on Monday, and remain on course for a record fifth consecutive ‘Scudetto’.

“We absolutely had to win,” Bonucci told Italian television. “Two consecutive draws would have been too many, we had to win to send out a message.

Roberto Mancini’s inconsistent

Inter are fifth on 48 points, four behind fourth-placed Fiorentina and five adrift of AS Roma who are third.

After defeating title rivals Napoli 1-0 on Feb. 13, Juve’s club record 15game winning streak was halted by last weekend’s draw with Bologna.

Massimiliano Allegri’s men dominated the opening stages on Sunday with Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and former Inter midfielder Hernanes going close in the first 45 minutes. l

Jeepers keepers! Caballero enjoys rare day on City stage n Reuters, London For a moment, just after Yaya Toure’s penalty had won the League Cup for Manchester City on Sunday, hero Willy Caballero seemed unaware of what had just transpired in the Wembley final against Liverpool.

As Ivorian Toure wheeled away in celebration, the Argentine, City’s second-choice keeper who played every minute of the League Cup campaign, was wagging his finger and heading back towards goal ready to try and stop another penalty.

The penny dropped when Caballero was mobbed by his team mates following their 3-1 shootout victory. The keeper was a virtual spectator for the first 90 minutes that ended 1-1. He made one crucial stop near the end of the goalless extra-time period and left the best to last with consecutive spot kick saves from Lucas Leiva, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana.

“It’s fantastic for all of the blue people,” an emotional Caballero, Joe Hart’s deputy, said on the pitch.

It was a stark contrast to a week earlier when he was part of a second-string City side thrashed 5-1 by Chelsea in the FA Cup, after which local media demanded that Hart take over between the posts for the Wembley showpiece.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini kept faith with the 34-year-old former Malaga keeper, though, and his decision was vindicated.

Pellegrini even said he was happy to endure a nerve-jangling

shootout so Caballero could grab the spotlight.

“We deserved to win before the penalties but if you ask me I would prefer to win it this way with Willy the great hero,” the manager told reporters.

“There was no chance Willy would not play,” said Pellegrini who will be replaced by Pep Guardiola at the end of the season.

The Manchester Evening News apologised to Caballero after the final, having urged City to pick Hart before the match.

Pellegrini again justified his decision to field a weakened team at Chelsea, saying that move allowed City to win at Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League in midweek and see off Liverpool on Sunday.

The Chilean says they will now set about pursuing the leaders in the Premier League title race, starting at Liverpool on Wednesday.

“We have 36 points to play for,” added Pellegrini. “We have three or four players coming back (from injury) and we are not going to give up on winning the league. l

Borussia Dortmund scored three times in the last 10 minutes to rally from a goal down and beat 10-man Hoffenheim 3-1 on Sunday, allowing them to maintain their lone pursuit of runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.

Goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Adrian Ramos and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang completed the hosts’ dramatic late comeback, lifting them to 54 points, eight points behind champions Bayern who moved to 62 with a 2-0 win at VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.

Schalke 04 missed a chance to climb into the top four after a lacklustre 0-0 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt left them in seventh spot.

Borussia Moenchengladbach are fourth despite their 2-2 draw at Augsburg.

BUNDESLIGA Augsburg

2-2

Finnbogason 50, Caiuby 53

Dortmund

Raffael 33, Johnson 55

3-1

Mkhitaryan 80, Ramos 85, Aubameyang 90+2

Mainz

3-1

Malli 14, 58-pen, Cordoba 32

Frankfurt

M’gladbach

Hoffenheim Rudy 26

Leverkusen Hernandez 65

0-0

Schalke

THINGS WE LEARNT FROM THE CUP FINAL Sterling investment yet to pay dividends Sterling was actually well below his best and the England winger missed two golden chances to double his side’s lead. He must do better on the big stage in future to fulfil his undoubted potential.

Substitution frustrates Sakho Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho had to be consoled by the club’s backroom staff after being forced off with a first half head injury Klopp decided he didn’t look right, provoking a furious reaction from the defender.

Aguero’s class shines through The Argentina forward showed his class in the 49th minute when he seized possession on the edge of the penalty area and held the ball until just the right moment to slide a perfectly-weighted pass for Fernandinho to score.

Kompany key to City success Playing for just the third time in 2016 after recovering from a nagging calf injury, Vincent Kompany underlined his importance to City with a towering display. l

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

Finally, Leo. Finally n Showtime Desk This was no ordinary or even boring year at the Academy Awards. It was politically charged with so many agendas on the plate steered brilliantly by our host comedian Chris Rock.

The opening monologue was smart and funny. In fact, we haven’t seen a opening like that since the Billy Crystal days.

Usually, the show starts with a bang then fizzles down 10 minutes later. Since the whole #OscarsSoWhite controversy, it was unwillingly the theme of the show, and Mr Rock played

his hand quite well. For the most part, you’d do your comedy rant and move onto the next in a stage performance. Rock made sure he wasn’t throwing it down your throat or rubbing your eyes with it to make you cry bloody murder. And even though at times it felt like a stretch, it was appropriate given the evening’s theme.

As the for the winners, well, we’ll save that for the entire list of winners section in a different part of this page. However, we must touch on one little win. It is something that moviegoers and Leonardo DiCaprio have been

waiting for after 25 years. That’s right, if you don’t already know and have been dwelling in cave, hiding from that ferocious bear from The Revenant, DiCaprio finally won his Oscar. And the reactions on the internet nearly blew up the whole system.

From a beautiful, heart-melting reaction by Kate Winslett to pure ruckus and chaos by internet celebrities, it was pure bliss.

And when you thought it wasn’t overwhelming enough, Leo pulled the humble card and addressed something larger than an award show. His acceptance speech won the hearts of many more.

Apart from one or two nominations, majority of the awards were well deserved. There were no shocks or surprises in any of the categories, which left us with a satisfying outcome and a lasting smile on our faces. l

Oscar 2016: the winners v/s our pick n Mosabber Rahman The 88th Academy Awards finally announced this year’s winners and there were hardly any surprises – that’s a good thing. The biggest winner turned out to be Mad Max: Fury Road which won six Oscars out of its 10 nominations, while the most nominated film The Revenant won only three Oscars out of its 12 nominations. However, The Revenant took home two of the big ones: Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio’s first Oscar) and Best Director (Alejandro Iñárritu’s second Oscar in a row and now going for a hat trick). Who is the biggest “loser”? Well that would be my pick for Best Picture, and the third most nominated film of the year, The Martian which won none out of its seven nominations.

Throughout the week we have been doing critical analysis of the films nominated, ranking all the best work in the 10 major categories, according to their merit. Seven out of 10 times our number one pick won the Oscars this year. Two out of three times we got it wrong, the winner was our number two pick. The big surprise (and a happy one) was Spotlight winning Best Picture.

The reason it’s so difficult to choose the winner for this category is because they use preferential voting method with recursive elimination for Best Picture instead of the standard pick-your-favourite voting method used in every other category.

Here’s the list of Oscar winners along with the reasons why we choose them.

The seven deserving winners:

Americans, articulated with incredible clarity.

The three that got away: BEST PICTURE Winner: Spotlight My Pick: The Martian, for giving science fiction the serious treatment it deserves and influencing future space missions.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) My Pick: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant), for enduring extreme conditions to breathe life into a character that does not represent a single person but an entire generation.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Winner: Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies) My Pick: Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies), for giving such an intelligent performance that will be studied by the experts of the craft of acting for years to come.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Winner: Brie Larson (Room) My Pick: Brie Larson (Room), for revealing the inner workings of the sacrificing soul and the nature of the purest form of love, the love between mother and child.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Winner: Spotlight (Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer) My Pick: Spotlight (Tom McCarthy

and Josh Singer), for honouring journalism by creating a screenplay, through extensive research, that is one of the greatest ever written.

CINEMATOGRAPHY Winner: The Revenant (Emmanuel Lubezki) My Pick: The Revenant (Emmanuel Lubezki), for bringing the excitement of hard-hitting realistic photography back into cinema.

ORIGINAL SCORE Winner: The Hateful Eight (Ennio Morricone) My Pick: The Hateful Eight (Ennio Morricone), for the unabashedly glittering music that captures the love of movies as the best form of public entertainment.

DIRECTOR Winner: The Revenant (Alejandro G Iñárritu) My Pick: The Revenant (Alejandro G Iñárritu), for taking the risk of telling an important story of the genocide of the Native

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Winner: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl) My Pick: Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs), for embodying a character not by imitation, but by deep empathy, that compelled us to suspend all disbelief.

FILM EDITING Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road (Margaret Sixel) My Pick: The Big Short (Hank Corwin), for a flamboyant storytelling method using – title cards, famous quotes, still photographs, music videos, and celebrities – to inject the financial gobbledygook of the stock market into pop-culture.

Here are two of the most deserving winners this year that we haven’t covered before: BEST ANIMATED FILM Winner: Inside Out My Pick: Inside Out, for creating an entertainment that is not only a masterpiece but something that will contribute to the mental health of children and parents alike.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM Winner: Amy My Pick: Amy, for creating a new language of documentary filmmaking where a person is brought to life through archival footage like never before. l

Oscars 2016: Winners list in full

Here is a full list of winners at the 88th Academy Awards.

Best picture: Spotlight Best actor: Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant Best actress: Brie Larson Room Best supporting actor: Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies Best supporting actress: Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl Best director: Alejandro Inarritu - The Revenant Best adapted screenplay: The Big Short Best original screenplay: Spotlight Best animated film: Inside Out Best foreign language film: Son of Saul - Hungary Best animated short: Bear Story Best cinematography: The Revenant Best costume design: Mad Max: Fury Road Best documentary feature: Amy Best documentary short: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness Best editing: Mad Max: Fury Road Best live action short: Stutterer Best make-up and hair: Mad Max: Fury Road Best original score: The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone Best original song: Writing’s on the Wall, Sam Smith Spectre Best production design: Mad Max: Fury Road Best sound editing: Mad Max: Fury Road Best sound mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road Best visual effects: Ex Machina l

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Showtime

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

Oscars red carpet 2016 n Mahmood Hossain This year’s lot wasn’t too impressive. It wasn’t bad either.

We have our standouts and near misses, but it still made for a very good show. In other words, you could probably find more stunning looks on the runways

of Milan Fashion Week right now than on the red carpet at the Academy Awards. Again, let’s not take away too much from the ladies that did shine on the red carpet. Here’s our top 10 looks from the Oscars red carpet.

Leonardo DiCaprio in Armani and Kate Winslet in Ralph

Lauren Charlize Theron in Dior Haute Couture dress and $3.7 million worth of Harry Winston diamonds.

Cate Blanchett in Armani Prive, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes and Roger Vivier clutch Rachel McAdams in August

Getty Atelier and Stuart Weitzman heels Julianne Moore in custom Chanel Haute Couture gown and Chopard jewels Tom Hardy in Gucci and Charlotte Riley in Gauri & Nainika Alicia Vikander in Louis

Vuitton Emily Blunt in Prada with Judith Leiber bag Margot Robbie in Tom Ford with Forevermark Diamonds jewellery and The Row bag Priyanka Chopra in Zuhair Murad and Lorraine Schwartz jewellery l

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy wins Best Documentary Short n Showtime Desk Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has won the second Oscar in her career at the star studded Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California this past Sunday.

Her film A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness won in the category of best short documentary.

The film examines the case of an 18-year-old Pakistani girl who survived a brutal attack by her father and uncle bent on “honour killing.”

A Girl in the River is the latest in a series of socially charged investigative films from ObaidChinoy’s Karachi-based film company SOC Film. The film is set to air on HBO Canada on March 7.

“This week, the Pakistani prime minister has said that he would change the law on honour killing after watching this film. That is the power of film,” said the 37-year-old director on stage, after recieveing the award.

A triumphant Obaid-Chinoy said she was grateful to see the Oscar nomination sparked discussion around religiously motivated murders.

“I think that’s a win in itself because it’s such a difficult topic and people shy away from it, normally,” said Obaid-Chinoy, a dual citizen who lived in Toronto from 2004 to 2015.

Her competition included Toronto-based journalist Adam Benzine, up for his short film Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah.

In the year 2012, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy made Pakistan proud after her documentary Saving Face was awarded the Best Documentary Short Subject at the Oscars. l Source: Huffingtonpost

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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016

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