Ctg warms up for big festival

Prof Anisuzzaman poses with artists and guests after inaugurating an art camp at the Fine Arts Institute of Chittagong University (CU) yesterday. The camp has been organised as part of upcoming Odommo Chattagram festival, an initiative of The Daily Star to showcase the history, culture and prospects of the port city. The Daily Star editor and publisher Mahfuz Anam was present, among others, during the inauguration.

A two-day art camp titled “Chhobir Haat” kicked off yesterday in the Fine Arts Institute of Chittagong University (CU) with a slogan Chaluk Lagatar Utsab (Let the festivity continue).

The camp has been organised as part of upcoming Odommo Chattagram festival, an initiative of The Daily Star to showcase the history, culture and prospects of the port city. The festival will continue from March 8 to 23 this year.

Professor Emeritus of Dhaka University Anisuzzaman inaugurated the art camp as the chief guest.

Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, Abul Momen, resident editor of Bangla daily Prothom Alo, Prof Abul Mansur of Fine Arts Institute, CU, and its Director Mohammad Jasimuddin also addressed at the opening ceremony.

Teachers of the fine arts institute and noted artists of the port city are taking part in the camp.

In his speech, Prof Anisuzzaman said artists of Chittagong played a significant role in improving the arts and culture of the country and reviving the heritage. He appreciated the Odommo Chattagram effort of The Daily Star.

“People of different cities of our country are secluded from each other in terms of knowing the potential and prospect of our local culture and heritage,” said Anisuzzaman, adding that this trend must not continue.

He hoped that the Odommo Chattagram initiative will bring an end to this trend and inspire people to know about the culture and heritage of other parts of the country.

In his speech, Mahfuz Anam said The Daily Star has taken the initiative to win the hearts of those working in the creative field like art and culture. Terming “art” the light of the society, he said through their works, artists first change a person and then the whole nation.

“A country cannot achieve the holistic prosperity, if parts of it remain undeveloped,” added Mahfuz Anam.

He thanked all the artists participating in the art camp.

Prof Abul Mansur said the art camp has brought an opportunity for artists to highlight the overall features of the port city through their works.

He said works of around 60 noted artists from Chittagong, including those done in the art camp, will be exhibited in the Odommo Chattagram festival.

Chittagong as a city has rich history of over a millenium, a monumental example that many other cities at home and abroad lack, said Abul Momen while addressing the inauguration ceremony.

He hoped that the art camp would be a tremendous success.

Bangladesh needs 1.5m new jobs a yr

From left, Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank; Sadiq Ahmed, vice chairman of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh; Kalpana Kochhar, chief economist for the World Bank's South Asia region, and Ellen Goldstein, country director of World Bank Bangladesh, attend a programme where the Word Bank launched its report on “More and better jobs in South Asia” at BRAC Centre Inn in Dhaka yesterday

Bangladesh needs up to 1.5 million new jobs each year for the next 20 years to accelerate economic growth, says the World Bank.

Bangladesh along with other South Asian nations has seen steady job growth and a substantial decrease in poverty over the past three decades, according to a WB report.

The WB yesterday launched the report styled "More and Better Jobs in South Asia" at Brac Centre in Dhaka.

"Accelerating growth in per capita income has added nearly 1.2 million new jobs every year and improved job quality between 2000 and 2010 in the country," the report says.

But the country could have generated more jobs for the working age population if the top five issues had been addressed properly, the report suggests.

The top five constraints, being faced by the urban firms, are lack of electricity, political instability, corruption, lack of access to land and complicated tax administration, it adds.

It says power outage is estimated to cost Bangladesh about $1 billion a year, reducing GDP growth by about 0.5 percent.

Unreliability of power supply and frequency of power outage cause firms to lose production and incur high costs of self-generation, it observes.

According to the report, political instability is higher in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal than in other countries with similar level of per capita GDP.

Firms in Bangladesh report a very high prevalence of bribe payment in absolute and relative terms, it adds.

More than half of firms in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan are to pay bribe during tax inspections as the tax system in these countries is complicated, the report says, adding, this leads to high costs of compliance and opportunities for corruption.

It further says South Asia will be the largest contributor to the global workforce over the next two decades. Economic growth, which has been second only to East Asia, needs to be sustained to create more and better jobs and reduce poverty.

The demographic transition will result in more than 350 million people entering the working age population over the next two decades.

The South Asian region will need to add between 1-1.2 million additional jobs every month for the next 20 years, equivalent to about 40 percent of the increase in the global labour force.

Ellen Goldstein, country director, World Bank Bangladesh, said "The challenge for Bangladesh is to create jobs of higher quality.

"Investing in education, health and nutrition, and infrastructure, along with a renewed thrust to economic reforms would help in creating more and better jobs for Bangladesh," said Goldstein.

"It's not only the quantity of jobs but the quality of the jobs being created in the region that is relevant," said Kalpana Kochhar, chief economist for the WB South Asia Region.

"There has not been much change in the composition of employment, that is between casual labourers, the self-employed and regular and salaried wage earners, but there has been an increase in real wages and poverty reduction within these categories. However, the share of wage employment and high-end self-employment are stagnant," said Kochhar.

Wage workers in Bangladesh have seen their wages adjusted for price increases rise by nearly 2 percent a year. Poverty rates among the self-employed have fallen.

While quality of jobs has improved, little upward mobility has seen across the three broad employment types -- the self-employed, casual labourers, and regular wage or salaried earners.

The report suggests that among other things, sustained attention to electricity, and education, and encashing the demographic dividend can make an important difference.

Education is the key to labour mobility, it adds.

Romney wins pivotal Michigan primary as well as Arizona

Mitt Romney secured an important win Tuesday night over Rick Santorum in Michigan in addition to handily winning Arizona ahead of Super Tuesday.

"We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough and that's all that counts," Romney told a crowd gathered at his state headquarters in Novi, Mich in his victory speech.

In Michigan, Romney held a 4 percent lead-- 41 to 37 percent over former Pennsylvania Sen Santorum-- with 74 percent of precincts reporting. Texas Rep Ron Paul received 12 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich received 7 percent of the vote.

A loss for Romney in Michigan-- the state where he was born and raised and where his father served as governor-- would have been highly problematic for his campaign and would have virtually guaranteed a protracted primary election season.

Despite earlier polls showing Santorum besting Romney in Michigan, Romney and his surrogates had only raised expectations in the state by refusing to express anything but confidence regarding his odds. As of this week, the most recent polls out of Michigan showed Romney edging back up to tie Santorum.

In an optimistic speech after his Michigan loss, Santorum declared, "A month ago they didn't know who we are, but they do now!"

Media outlets reported Santorum called Romney to concede, though Santorum did not address the vote totals or his opponent directly during his address. Santorum used much of his speech, delivered at a primary rally in Grand Rapids, Mich, to reinforce his fiscally conservative platform and to laud his 93-year-old grandmother who received a graduate degree as a nurse, worked full-time and "taught me how to balance family," said Santorum. He segued into making an appeal to women, including working women, particularly working women, perhaps a sign of Santorum's strategy moving into the Super Tuesday contests March 6.

If Santorum had emerged victorious in Michigan, his opponents would have claimed Democrats and independents put him over the top, since Santorum's campaign targeted these groups in the final days of the campaign. All registered voters were permitted to participate in Tuesday's primary in Michigan, where there is not a party registration requirement. One in 10 Republican primary voters in Michigan were Democrats, according to preliminary exit poll data. And more than half of Michigan voters cited the economy as the most important issue driving votes.

Romney was expected to easily carry Arizona, where Mormons make up a percentage of voters. Though there was little excitement in terms of who the winner would be in Arizona, the primary did prove profitable, since its 29 delegates are awarded on a winner-take-all basis, giving Romney a sizeable delegate boost.

Michigan awards its 30 delegates on a mostly proportional basis.

Romney and Santorum spent Tuesday making last-ditch pitches to Michigan voters (Santorum also made one campaign stop in neighboring Ohio-- a Super Tuesday state.) Paul has campaigned in Michigan, but did not hold any events here Tuesday. He held a primary night celebration in Virginia, where he spoke to supporters prior to the poll closings. Gingrich all but ignored Michigan in favor of Super Tuesday contests and additional upcoming voting states. He spent Tuesday night in Georgia.

2 'robbers' beaten dead in Ctg

Two suspected robbers were beaten to death by a mob in Banshkhali upazila of Chittagong early Wednesday.

The identity of the deceased could not be known immediately, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

Shahjahan Khan, officer-in-charge of Banshkhali Police Station, said a gang of at least 25 robbers swooped on the house of Ansarul Haque, a Middle East expatriate, around 1:00am.

As the neighbours started rushing to the scene hearing hue and cry of the family members, the robbers went out of the house and tried to flee.

But the villagers chased and caught two of the bandits while the others managed to flee the scene, the OC said.

The angry mob gave the robbers a good beating, leaving them dead on the spot, he added.

Most stocks shed after early gains

Most share prices on the country's premier bourse declined on Wednesday undergoing severe ups and downs, despite the general index showing a positive mode.

Though gaining massively in value in early trading, the general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DGEN) dropped near the closing of the market and ended the day with a modest 26-point increase to reach 4,695.

Of the issues traded, 74 gained, 173 declined, while eight remained unchanged.

Total trade was 1,51,345 while total transaction Tk 535.88 crore.

After opening at 11:00am, the country's premier bourse took a sharp plunge and registered a 13-point loss in five minutes after day's trading resumed on Wednesday.

The index however saw a climb in next 10 minutes to add back over 40 points and then fell again. The downtrend continued till 11:25am.

It again took another upward flight that continued for the next 25 minutes to add about 80 points. Then it witnessed a fall till 12:05pm.

After that, the DGEN mounted again to reach the day’s highest value of 4,791 points at 1:15pm.

Since then, the index started to fall and gradually lost all the gains it made in the day to close the day at a modest 4,791 points.

On Tuesday, the DGEN gained 147 points to close at 4,668 points.

Charge framing hearing against Kamaruzzaman deferred

The International Crimes Tribunal on Wednesday differed till March 18 the hearing on charge framing against Jamaat leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

The tribunal passed the order after hearing a time petition submitted by the lawyers of Kamaruzzaman.

Advocate Tajul Islam, one of the defence counsels, told the court that they were not prepared for placing arguments on Wednesday as they could not complete reading the relevant documents and compact disks given by the prosecution.

The defence collected the 5248-page documents and 29 CDs from the tribunal’s registrar office on February 7.

The ICT on January 31 accepted charges against Kamaruzzaman 16 days after the prosecution pressed charges against the Jamaat assistant secretary general on nine counts of crimes against humanity, including conspiracy of genocide.

Kamaruzzaman operated in Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Tangail and Sherpur areas during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, according to the charges.

Kamaruzzaman is among six Jamaat leaders, including its former chief Ghulam Azam and two BNP leaders, facing war crimes charges before the court. All of them have been arrested and one of them is on bail.

Top al-Qaeda commander held in Cairo

Senior al-Qaeda leader, Saif al-Adel, has been arrested at Cairo airport, Egyptian security officials say.

He had arrived in the Egyptian capital on a flight from Pakistan, which had stopped in Dubai, an airport official told the AFP news agency.

The Egyptian, whose real name is Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi, was once Osama Bin Laden's security chief and oversaw its military operations.

He is wanted by the US for the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa.

Following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Saif al-Adel is believed to have fled to Iran with Saad Bin Laden, a son of the late al-Qaeda leader.

They were allegedly then held under house arrest by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran never acknowledged their presence.

Several letters and internet statements bearing Saif al-Adel's name or aliases were released after 2002, leading analysts to believe he was still in contact with al-Qaeda's leaders in the region.

Recent reports said Saif al-Adel might have been released and made his way to northern Pakistan, along with Saad Bin Laden.

Iran offers Pakistan 80,000 barrels of oil per day

Iran has offered 80,000 barrels per day of oil to Pakistan on a three-month deferred payment plan, an official in Islamabad said on Wednesday, in an attempt to soften the impact of Western sanctions and ease some of Pakistan's energy needs.

Tehran's offer comes a week after Pakistani officials revealed that Iran had asked to import a million tonnes of wheat in a barter deal, with the latest Western sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme disrupting critical food imports.

"It is only an initial offer of 80,000 barrels (per day) on deferred payment at the moment," Irfan Qazi, a spokesman for Pakistan's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, told Reuters.

"We don't know about the modalities or how it can be worked out yet. A delegation from the ministry will visit Iran in the middle of March to follow up on this offer."

Pakistan would import Iranian fertiliser and iron ore under that wheat proposal.

Energy-starved Pakistan is looking to increase its fuel imports to reduce power shortages that have crippled industry, prompted riots and shaved percentage points off its GDP growth.

The United States imposed the harshest in a series of sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program on December 31, targeting institutions that deal with Iran's central bank or other blacklisted Iranian financial entities.

Countries with significant Iranian oil imports are voluntarily cutting down on such purchases to avoid penalties.

Tehran has dramatically widened its reach on international grain markets in February, using currencies other than dollars and euros as alternative trade finance, with dealers also reporting talk of barter deals involving oil and gold.

Make March 12 rally a success: Fakhrul

BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday urged all the party leaders and activists to make its March 12 rally a success.

The BNP leader made the call at a view exchange meeting with the leaders of pro-BNP organisations at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office in the afternoon.

The party is likely to sit with BNP leaders of Dhaka region in the evening for further decision to successfully hold the party’s "Chalo Chalo, Dhaka Chalo" (Let's go to Dhaka) programme on March 12.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is expected to chair the meeting at her Gulshan office at 8:00pm, party sources said.

Khaleda, from a Chittagong rally on January 9 announced the March 12 rally in an effort to mount pressure on the government to restore the caretaker government system.

ETV talk show: 3 cleared of contempt charge

The High Court exonerated two politicians and a moderator of a talk show on the private television channel ETV from a contempt of court charge on Wednesday.

The court had issued the contempt rule against BNP chairperson's adviser Ahmed Azam Khan, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal leader Razequzzaman Ratan and moderator Anjan Roy for making derogatory remark about it.

A division bench comprising Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim also asked them to be more careful while making comments about the court and the constitution in future.

The trio appeared before the judges Wednesday morning seeking exoneration from the charge.

The talk show titled "Ekusher Raat" aired by ETV on August 9 last year stated that this court wrote an essay on river while writing an essay on cow.

The HC bench of Justice Manik and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore issued the rule on the following day saying that the observations in the ETV programme have seriously tarnished the image of the court before the people. This is not acceptable at all.

Economy on track despite global downtrend: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the country has been able to maintain the desired economic growth despite deepening global financial worries.

“Despite the global economic downtrend, the country has achieved the expected economic growth due to various pragmatic steps taken by our government,” the prime minister told the newly elected office bearers of Officers’ Club.

The office bearers, led by its ex-officio Chairman and Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and General Secretary Abu Alam Mohammad Shahid Khan, met the prime minister at her office.

Hasina said the government is moving ahead foiling all the conspiracies against the country by vested quarters. “Our path towards progress is not smooth, it’s rather bumpy,” the PM said.

She directed the government officials to work with utmost honesty, sincerity and devotion from their respective positions for quick implementation of various development programmes of her government.

The premier said every government takes various development programmes in line with its election manifesto and the role of government officials is very important in implementing those.

“Ahead of elections, we (political parties) declared our election manifestos and after assuming office, we try hard to implement those through various development progarmmes. You (officials) are the main arm to implement those programmes effectively,” she said.

Hasina mentioned that the present government like its previous term has ensured working environment for the government officials for attaining the desired development of the country. “Our aim is just to develop the country for the betterment of people.”

Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters after the meeting.

The PM’s press secretary said Hasina told the officials that the country could not attain the desired development in the last 40 years as the political party that had led the war of independence was out of power for a long time.

She also said the country could not reach its expected position due to frequent disruption of democratic process. “Most of the time either military rulers or military-backed governments ruled the country,” she said adding that without democracy development is impossible.

About women empowerment, Hasina mentioned that the government has recruited a good number of female officials to various top positions and claimed that the process of promoting women officers began during her previous tenure.

Among others, PMO secretary Molla Waheeduzzaman was present.

Aug 21 indictment decision now Mar 5

A Dhaka court on Wednesday shifted the date to March 5 for taking its decision whether it will frame charges against BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman and 51 others accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases.

Judge Shahed Nuruddin of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 re-fixed the date as he could not scrutinise the discharge petitions submitted by the 33 accused, who are now in jail and on bail.

On October 9 last year the accused filed the petitions.

The court was scheduled to take decision on the charge framing on Wednesday.

All the 32 detained accused including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mojaheed were produced before the court prior to the court resumed its day's proceedings.

Former Dhaka City Corporation ward councillor Ariful Islam Arif, now on bail, was also present during the day's hearing.

Of the accused, Tarique and 18 other are absconding.

Twenty-four people including Awami League leader Ivy Rahman were killed and around 200 others injured in the grisly grenade attack on an AL rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. The then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack.

AUGUST 21 GRENADE ATTACK CASE

After the grisly grenade attack in 2004, two cases were filed in connection with the attack – one under explosive substances act and the other for killing people.

In 2008, the CID submitted charge sheets against 22 people including former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and 21 Huji men including militant kingpin Mufti Hannan.

On July 3 last year, 30 more people including Tarique, Lutfozzaman Babar, Harris Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were made accused in a supplementary charge-sheet.

Both the prosecution and the defence set 25 different dates to carry out the hearing on charge framing against the accused of the cases.

On October 9, 2011, Syed Rezaur Rahman, chief counsel for the two grenade attack cases, proposed the court to frame charges against all 52 accused, alleging that they had meetings at several places, including the Hawa Bhaban, to plot the grisly blasts in 2004.

Following the prosecution proposal, defence counsels submitted discharge petitions to free their clients from all charges of the cases.

Clear Karwan Bazar parking space in 2 months: HC

The High Court on Wednesday directed Dhaka City Corporation to remove all structures from designated car parking spaces at Karwan Bazar within two months.

Dhaka invite Barisal to bat

Dhaka Gladiators won the toss and invited Barisal Burners to bat first in the final of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 in Dhaka Wednesday evening.

Dhaka Gladiators have reached into final stunning Khulna Royal Bengals by 9 runs in the second semifinal at Mirpur on Tuesday.

On the other hand, Barisal Burners sealed their position in the final defeating Duronto Rajshahi by eight wickets in the first semifinal on the same day.

Barisal Burners (Probable): Ahmed Shehzad, Alauddin Babu, Kabir Ali, Al-Amin Hossain, Farhad Hossain, SM Harwood, BJ Hodge (Captain), Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Mithun Ali, Mominul Haque, P Mustard, Nazmul Islam, Rameez Raja (2), Shahriar Nafees, Sohag Gazi, Suhrawadi Shuvo and Yasir Arafat.

Dhaka Gladiators (Probable): Aftab Ahmed, Anamul Haque, Awais Zia, Azhar Mahmood, Dhiman Ghosh, Elias Sunny, Imran Nazir, Mashrafe Mortaza (Captain), Mehrab Hossain jnr, Mohammad Ashraful, Mosharraf Hossain, Naved-ul-Hasan, Nazimuddin, Nazmul Hossain, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, DI Stevens and Tanveer Haider.

HC rejects BPL final match stay plea

The High Court rejected the writ petition hours after it was filed on Wednesday seeking a stay order on holding the final match of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) tournament.

The HC turned down the petition as a civil case involving the matter remains pending with a Dhaka court.

During the hearing of the petition, the HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim said the petition is not acceptable as it was filed against a private company.

Samir Quader Chowdhury, CEO of Chittagong Kings and owner of the team, filed the writ petition on Wednesday just hours before the final match is set to begin in Dhaka.

Chittagong Kings, a team of the BPL tournament, filed the case with a Dhaka court on Wednesday as the BPL authorities in the wee hours on Tuesday taking a U-turn decided to allow Barisal Burners to play in the semifinal match.

Earlier on Monday, the BPL authorities had announced Chittagong Kings as the fourth-qualified semifinalist.

In response to the case, Judge Md Shawkat Hossain of the First Assistant Judge's Court on Wednesday summoned seven officials of the BPL on March 15 to explain their role in allowing Barisal Burners to play against Duronto Rajshahi in the first semifinals.

After filing of the writ petition on Wednesday, the HC bench of Justice Mirza Hossain Haider and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar had felt embarrassed and refused to accept the petition for hearing.

Later, another HC bench comprising Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim held the hearing on the petition.

In the writ petition, Samir sought directive from the HC upon the BPL authorities to cancel the first semifinal match held between Barisal Burners and Duronto Rajshahi on Tuesday and appealed for holding a fresh semifinal match.

The petitioner also prayed to the court to issue a rule upon the authorities concerned to explain why the exclusion of Chittagong Kings from the list of semifinalist and providing Barisal Burners the opportunity to play the match should not be declared illegal.

The petitioner also sought the court directive for an explanation from the authorities concerned why Chittagong Kings should not be declared valid as semifinalist.