Flower cultivation now a profitable venture

Commerce Minister Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan yesterday said commercial flower production is now a profitable venture and that unemployed youths can build their career in this field.

“Now, flower is a symbol of not only purity and beauty but also profitable business. Many unemployed youths can enter the job market through commercial flower cultivation, as flower has a huge demand both at home and abroad,” the minister said while inaugurating the Unesco Club Flower Show and Competition-2009 in the capital.

National Association of Unesco Clubs in Bangladesh organised the flower show at Banbeis Bhaban at Nilkhet in the city where a total of 75 participants exhibited flowers in small bunches into hand-made basket in Japanese Ikebana style and also displayed rare species of flowers.

Appreciating the participants for their interest in gardening, the minister said such initiatives could lead to some economic benefits for both flower growers and sellers.
Referring to the huge demand for flowers at home and abroad, he said every corner of a homestead and rooftops of buildings can be used to grow flowers.

Prof Dr Aminul Islam, Cambrian College Chairman MK Bashar and Unesco Clubs Secretary General Mahbubuddin Chowdhury also spoke at the programme presided over by Adviser to the Unesco Clubs Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron.

The flower growers identified a number of obstacles such as non-availability of seeds and lack of technical knowledge, marketing facilities and preservation facilities.

Flower cultivation can be developed into an industry in the country like in India and Thailand if adequate facilities can be provided for farmers, they added.

Sadia Priyanka won the first prize while Nasreen Chowdhury and Sonia Razzaque obtained the second and the third positions respectively in the competition. Education Secretary Syed Ataur Rahman gave away prizes among the winners.

Source: Internet

Kolkata buys Mashrafee for $6 lakh

Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders has dramatically bought Bangladesh allrounder Mashrafee Bin Mortaza for $ 600000 in an auction, according to crininfo.com.

Mashrafee became the first Bangladeshi player sold from Pool F in the official Indian Twenty20 league.

There were no bids for him initially but just before the hammer went down, Kolkata made a bid at the base price of $50,000. It was the start of the most dramatic sale at the auction.

Kings XI Punjab threw themselves in the fray, locking horns against Kolkata, for Mashrafee. The bids spiralled slowly towards $400,000 and the auctioneer asked Punjab if they want to go $410,000, Priety Zinta nodded.

The raises were slow and the bidding went on and on and on. Kolkata touched the $500,00 mark. Punjab went further at $550,000. The atmosphere in the room grew quieter as the bids rose and the auctioneer attempted to speed up the process.

Kolkata was the first to bid $600,000 for Mashrafee at which point Punjab bowed out of the race. It was the longest lot in the auction, almost as long as a short chess game. A bit similar to Ishant Sharma’s surprise $950,000 tag at fag end of the auction last year.

Bet there are celebrations in Narail, Mashrafee’s hometown. What a moment for Mashrafee, he’s the first Bangladesh player to be bought by the IPL.

Wonder what Shakib Al Hasan is thinking? He’s had such a fabulous year with bat and ball and yet there were no bidders for him. Do the franchises look at ICC rankings?

Mashrafee’s base price was $50,000 and he went for $600,000.

COURTESY: cricinfo.com

Dhaka should be Obama’s first destination among Muslim countries

Dhaka should be Barack Obama’s first destination among Muslim countries.” This was stated by Ms Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at the prestigious think-tank the Heritage Foundation, according to a message received here from Washington DC yesterday.

Ms Curtis was speaking as a panelist at a briefing on “Implications of the recent Bangladesh election for business” at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington DC on Wednesday.

She put forward two main arguments in favour of her proposal. First, according to Ms Curtis, Bangladesh society is least susceptible to extremism as proved in the recently held election. Secondly, progress in women empowerment in Bangladesh has provided a solid check on the growing radicalisation prevalent in some other Muslim countries.

Ms. Curtis also said that economic option seems brighter now than earthier and hoped that there will be more tolerance among the political parties so that they can work together for the people of Bangladesh. She also urged the US government to consider lifting of all tariffs and there by allowing duty free access to products from least developed countries like Bangladesh to USA.

Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Humayun Kabir, who also spoke as a panelist, provided a run down on Bangladesh’s recent election and elaborated on how, compared to other economies in Asia.

The economy of Bangladesh has shown strong resilience and thereby acted as a bulwark for the country’s economy in the face of the current global economic and financial meltdown, he said.

Ambassador Kabir give a detailed sketch on how Bangladesh economy maintained its strong resilience and added that the strong growth in three main areas,—namely internal resource mobilisation, agriculture and manufacturing were attributable for this resilience.

Remittance is also flowing strong and the confidence of the business community is growing, he said adding through all these, Bangladesh has emerged as an attractive destination for foreign investment.

The Ambassador said through the just concluded free, fair and credible election it was eloquently proved that the people of Bangladesh are decisively in favour of democracy and ready to defend it at any cost.

He said that with a new conciliatory political culture emerging, Bangladesh is likely to remain much stable and investor friendly than other countries in the region.
The ambassador highlighted the government’s policy directions with regard to investment and the potential areas for foreign investment in Bangladesh.
Kabir urged the US companies to come forward and take advantage of the investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

Terming present-day Bangladesh as an exciting one, Donal Camp, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, another panelist, narrated on how warmly the government of US welcomed the outcome of the recent parliament election in Bangladesh.

Camp added that this election has upgraded Bangladesh to a new phase and hoped that the new government will assure international businesses and investors through continuity and follow up of earlier contracts and commitments.
He hoped that the opposition would also fulfil their democratic obligations to advance the causes of Bangladesh.

The session was followed by a lively question and answer session, where high officials of leading US companies like chevron, Boeing, Conocophillips took part and wanted to know about the investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

Some participants also cautioned that any departure from earlier commitments may send a wrong signal eroding business confidence in Bangladesh. The briefing was attended by US government officials, business executives, congressional staffs, academics, journalists and Bangladesh Embassy officials, the message added.

Source: BSS

EC sues minister for violating electoral code of conduct

The Election Commission on Thursday filed a case against the fisheries and livestock minister, Abdul Latif Biswas, his daughter and four other local Awami League leaders for intervening in polling and violating the electoral code of conduct in the upazila elections.

The commission in the case alleged Latif had assaulted polling personnel, snatched ballot papers and captured polling centres at Belkuchi in Sirajganj.

Nitish Chandra Dey, district election officer 1 of Sirajganj, lodged the case on the commission’s behalf with the ‘Kha’ region of the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court. The EC secretariat on February 3 sent a letter to Nitish, asking him to lodge the case.

Others accused in the case are the Belkuchi Awami League candidate for upazila chairman Md Fazlul Haque Sarker, candidate for vice-chairman Gazi Abdul Hamid Akand, Bhangabari union parishad chairman Abdul Matin Pramanik and Md Hilton Rahman, assistant personal secretary to the minister.

In accordance with the electoral rules, the accused may be fined or imprisoned for a term of two to seven years, or both, if they are found guilty of the offences, which are considered criminal offences.

Another case was filed earlier against the Awami League lawmaker for the Cox’s Bazar 4 constituency (Teknaf-Ukhia), Abdur Rahman Bodi, for assaulting polling personnel during the upazila polls at Teknaf.

The commission was forced to suspend polling in four upazilas, including Belkuchi and Taknaf, over intimidation, capturing of polling centres and snatching of ballot boxes.

The first information report of the case claimed Soma Biswas, daughter of Latif Biswas, along with a number of thugs stormed into the Sohagpur Natunpara Government Primary School polling centre at about 9:00am, when balloting was going on, beat up the presiding officer M Masud Karim, headmaster of the Brahmangram Government Primary School, and snatched the ballot papers.

According to the FIR, Latif Biswas along with his assistant private secretary, after casting his vote at the Alhaj Latifa Shahjahan Girls’ High School centre, stormed into the Sohagpur Natunpara Government Primary School centre at about 10:30am when others accused had occupied the centre.

Due to the presence of the minister, an anarchic situation was created, disrupting the voting process. At one stage, the assistant returning officer suspended polling at the centre. News of the minister’s presence in the polling centre spread to all the other polling centres and spoilt the electoral environment.

The FIR claimed the minister had violated Section 14 and 15 of the Upazila Parishad (Election Code of Conduct) Rule 2008 by entering the polling centre illegally and influencing the polling process. According to the rule, ministers, state ministers, deputy ministers and persons enjoying similar status cannot participate in electioneering.

The Election Commission alleged a number of people, led by Fazlul Haque Sarker, Abdul Hamid Akand and Abdul Matin Pramanik, had physically assaulted and injured Mohammad Mosharrof Hossain, upazila election officer of Belkuchi, another officer Touhidul Islam and the upazila education officer at about 2:45pm in the hall of the upazila parishad.

According to the FIR, the witnesses of the case are Sirajganj deputy commissioner Md Humayun Kabir, superintendent of police Md Alamgir Rahman, additional deputy commissioner Md Abdul Qaiyum, Belkuchi UNO Md Nasir Uddin, presiding officer Abul Hashem, assistant presiding officer Md Masud Karim and Bekuchi police officer-in-charge Md Arman Hossain.

The upazila elections, held on January 22, were marked by stuffing of ballot boxes, expulsion of polling agents from polling centres and sporadic violence in which about 200 people were injured.

The commission suspended elections to four, and postponed elections to two, upazila parishads.

Source: The New Nation

Jamaat discusses imminent trial of war criminals

Grassroots-level leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on Friday asked the leaders of the party to ensure ‘legal protection’ against the government’s move to initiate trial of war criminals.
When asked if the members of the central Shura Majlish had discussed the parliament’s decision to hold ‘immediate trial of war criminals’, a central secretary admitted, ‘A number of delegates raised the issue. They advised the concerned Jamaat leaders to go for legal protection.’
An assistant secretary general of the party confirmed the secretary’s remarks. ‘They said the government must bring “genuine war criminals including Pakistani and Indian citizens” to book,’ he said.
They said this on the last day of the two-day meeting of the Shura Majlish at Jamaat’s Al-Falah auditorium in Maghbazar, chaired by Matiur Rahman Nizami, amir of the party.
Most of the members of the 265-strong highest policy-making body attended the meeting.
The Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution, backed by Awami League and its allies, to initiate the ‘immediate’ trial of war criminals.
Jamaat opposed Bangladesh’s War of Independence and many of its leaders, including Matiur Rahman Nizami and secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, were allegedly involved in heinous war crimes.
‘We are observing the situation,’ said Mojahid.
He claimed that there are no war criminals in Jamaat.
The party’s central executive committee held an emergency meeting on Friday evening to assess the situation and frame a strategy, according to Jamaat insiders.
On April 3, 2008, research organisation War Crimes Fact Finding Committee made public a list of 1,597 alleged war criminals responsible for mass killing, rape and other atrocities during the War of Liberation.
On November 5, the Sector Commanders Forum made public its preliminary list of 50 alleged war criminals.
Both the lists include Jamaat leaders Nizami, Mojahid and assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman.

Source: New Age

Rupee falls back by six paise to 48.97/98 Vs dlr

In sync with the weak stock market, the Indian rupee yesterday ended lower by six paise at 48.97/98 against the greenback. Continued capital outflows from the equity markets also affected the rupee sentiment.

In a rangebound trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit resumed lower at 48.95/96 a dollar but improved to a high of 48.88 on the back of initial firmness in equity markets. However, a negative turnaround in local share prices after midsession weighed on the rupee and it fell back to a low of 49.03 before ending the day at 48.97/98 a dollar, still lower from previous close of 48.91/93.

Indian benchmark Sensex Thursday ended lower by over 21 points or 0.23 per cent. Dealers attributed narrow breadth to alternate bouts of buying and selling on the last day of expiry of January contract at the currency futures exchange MCX-SX for the fall in rupee. Some dollar buying by state-run banks on behalf of their clients, mainly oil refiners, to meet their month-end requirements put pressure on the rupee, they added.

Also firm dollar against its major rivals in Asian trade Thursday also led the rupee fall. The euro fell Thursday against the dollar after the Obama administration approved stimulus package to stem the deepening recession.

The Reserve Bank of India, however, fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 48.90 and for the Single European Currency at Rs 64.10.

Source: AFP

Iran hopes for positive US policy change

Iran promised a positive response on Thursday if the United States makes genuine policy changes and held out hopes of a breakthrough in a long-running dispute over its nuclear ambitions.

Tehran’s comments brought international security to the fore on the second day of the World Economic Forum, which has been dominated by fears over financial instability in the worst global economic crisis in 80 years.

In new signs of the deepening economic woes, Turkey and the International Monetary Fund failed to break an impasse over a loan deal in talks at Davos, and Russian state bank VEB said Russian companies had asked it for $90 billion in aid.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported U.S. officials were drafting a letter to Tehran from President Barack Obama aimed at unfreezing relations and opening the way to direct talks.

The U.S. State Department has been working on drafts of the letter since Obama was elected in November, the report said. It was a response to a letter of congratulations sent by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after Obama’s victory.

“Most parts of the Islamic world unfortunately have been suffering because of past U.S. administrations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told delegates in Davos.

“If President Obama is determined to change these policies certainly he will face the welcome of the Islamic world.”

He said he hoped the U.S. stance on Iran’s nuclear program would be among Obama’s changes of policy.

Source: Reuters

Turkish PM storms out of Gaza war debate

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a heated debate on the Gaza war with Israel’s President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum on Thursday.

In some of the most dramatic moments seen at the normally restrained Davos meetings, Erdogan marched off in front of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other panel members complaining that his comments on the conflict were cut short.

“I do not think I will be coming back to Davos after this because you do not let me speak,” the prime minister shouted as he left, though he said later he could reconsider.

Erdogan criticised the audience of international officials and corporate chiefs for applauding Peres’s emotional defence of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead.

Erdogan, who leads one of the few Muslim countries to have diplomatic relations with Israel and who has sought a peacemaker’s role in the Middle East conflict, said Israel had carried out “barbarian” actions in Gaza.

“I find it very sad that people applaud what you have said because many people have been killed,” he shouted at Peres before being halted by the moderator, Washington Post journalist David Ignatius.

“We can’t start the debate again we just don’t have time,” Ignatius pleaded as he remonstrated with the Turkish premier.

Peres, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his efforts to reconcile with Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation, had insisted that Israel had been forced into the offensive against Hamas by thousands of rockets and mortars fired into Israel.

“The tragedy of Gaza is not Israel, it is Hamas,” said Peres. “They created a dictatorship. A very dangerous one.”

Pointing a finger at Erdogan he said Turkey would have done the same if rockets had been fired at Istanbul.

Ban, Erdogan, Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa and Peres were sat alongside each other for the debate. All gave long impassioned statements on the conflict.

The UN secretary-general had called on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, for Hamas to end its violence and for renewed Arab efforts to bring together divided Palestinian groups.

He had earlier launched an international appeal for more than 600 million dollars to buy emergency supplies for Gaza.

Source: AFP

N Korea ditches nonaggression pact with South Korea

North Korea said Friday it is ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace agreements with South Korea, in an apparent attempt to use the threat of an armed clash to press Seoul to give up its “confrontational” stance.

The communist nation also said it will no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South, raising the prospect for an armed clash along the Yellow Sea boundary – the scene of deadly skirmishes between the two navies in 1999 and 2002.

South Korea said it regretted the North’s latest move and warned it won’t tolerate any attempt to violate the border. Analysts said Pyongyang’s threats could signal it is preparing for an armed confrontation, but only as a way of ratcheting up the pressure on Seoul to get the neighbor to soften its hard-line stance – and attracting President Barack Obama’s attention.

“This signals that North Korea will stage a provocation” – probably near the maritime border, said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University.

The isolated regime could then use the threat of an armed clash to pressure Seoul to change course with the North, said Yang Moo-jin, an expert at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies.

But Kim added that any skirmish would be limited in scale and intensity because Pyongyang is aware that serious deadly clashes would irreparably harm relations with Seoul – and Obama’s new administration, whose attention the North is seeking, he said.

A Defense Ministry official said the military has stepped up vigilance along the land and sea borders with the North. The official, who declined to give his name citing department policy, said more guard posts have been installed along the land border, but could not offer details about what’s been done on the sea border.

Source: AFP

Offence registered against Adnan Sami for wife abuse

A non-cognisable offence has been registered against singer Adnan Sami for allegedly harassing and abusing his wife, Safa Galadhari at their residence in Lokhandwala, police said on Friday.

“Sami’s wife approached the police last night and complained that her husband had harassed and abused her. A non-cognisable offence was registered against him and she was advised to approach the court,” senior police inspector Kiran Sonone said.

Also, the singer has been warned not to engage in such kind of activities, he said. The offence has been registered at Oshiwara police station in suburban Andheri. – Zeenews