The New Nation - Internet Edition

Syful Islam

US textile owners have proposed Bangladesh to join in lobbying the Congress and administration to devise some mechanism to extend the cap on Chinese apparel import in the country beyond 2009, informed sources said.

The proposal came at a recent meeting of officials of Bangladesh Embassy in United States and the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition and the National Council of Textile Organisations in Washington.

In September 2005 US has imposed quota limit on Chinese clothing imports to the country as the US market for brassieres and synthetic fabric is being disrupted by surging Chinese imports.

By imposition of the cap the giant China was allowed to export no more than 7.5 per cent import of those products to the US market.

US is likely to lift the ban before January 2009 which became a big fear factor for both its local textile producers and also for its sourcing countries.

Least developed countries including 'apparel superstar' Bangladesh and Cambodia, whose textile sector grew on depending different factors, are also fearing a big blow once the cap is withdrawn by US from Chinese goods import.

Sources said that Bangladesh embassy officials have replied the US textile bosses saying that they will get back to them after consultation with Dhaka. In the meantime, the officials sought cooperation of the US textile owners to help passage of the NPDA 2007 bill allowing the LDC goods free of duty. U.S. lawmakers and manufacturers are of the opinion that China's currency policies and government subsidies give its exporters an unfair advantage and have led to a huge US trade deficit with China. In 2004 China exported US$15 billion of textiles and apparel to the US and was on pace to surpass that by more than 60 per cent in 2005.

Before the September 2005 restrictions US had imposed another cap in May 2005 that affect about US$2 billion a year in imports of yarn, men's and boys' shirts, man-made trousers, man-made knit shirts, cotton shirts, cotton trousers and underwear. U.S. textile producers said subsidised Chinese products were running them out of business.

BBC Online

Ceremonies have been taking place to mark the third anniversary of the devastating Asian Tsunami.

More than 200,000 people in 13 countries died in the 26 December 2004 disaster, which was triggered by an undersea earthquake. At least 128,000 people died in Indonesia alone.

About 1,000 people attended an open-air prayer ceremony in a village outside Calang town in Indonesia's worst-affected province, Aceh.

Smaller ceremonies were held at mass graves and mosques across Aceh, which was closest to the quake epicentre, and where more than two-thirds of the deaths occurred.

In Banten province, a coastal area in Indonesia's main island of Java, a drill simulating a tsunami strike was held involving some 9,000 residents.

Authorities also tested the response of emergency relief teams to a mock chemical leak in a factory if an 8.5 magnitude quake were to hit the area.

"A tsunami drill in Banten is important as we have industrial complexes and there are chemical factories heret A tsunami could bring big disaster for people here," a local official told AFP news agency.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other government officials attended the drill. In Sri Lanka services were held for the more than 30,000 people who were killed on the island.

President Mahinda Rajapakse led a two-minute silence at a special ceremony and re-opened a six-lane bridge, the widest in the country, in the southern coastal town of Matara.

It was damaged during the tsunami and rebuilt with money donated by South Korea.

Thailand also held ceremonies throughout the day along the stretch of coastline around the resort town of Khao Lak in the south.

BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh needs to create pressure for achieving targets for the mitigation of negative effects of global emissions, environmentalist Dr Ainun Nishat, said yesterday.

A well-known water expert and country representative of IUCN, the world conservation society, Dr Nishat told BSS that Bangladesh should utilise precious time, as not much of it was left, to prepare itself for the conferences due to take place, in quick succession, on climate change issues.

In the post-Bali scenario, he said, Bangladesh, instead of neglecting, must complete its homework in time to be able to create pressure for achieving the targets for the mitigation of effects of global emissions.

Now that the scientists came up, in the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with scientific evidence of harmful impact of greenhouse gases, he said, it was for countries like Bangladesh, its likely worst sufferers, to prepare for the climate change conferences.

There was no doubts any more, he said, on the need to address the issues of climate change requiring "deep cuts" in global emissions.

He suggested for setting up a national taskforce comprising, among others, the experts, so that Bangladesh was not caught unprepared in the coming conferences ultimately leading to adoption of another convention in 1212 to replace the Kyoto Protocol, to address the dangers posed by changing climate.

The national taskforce, he said, ought to formulate Bangladesh's position paper for the Ad-hoc Working Group meeting due in February.

Bangladesh, he said, needs to develop its methodology for vulnerability assessment, articulate its position on each of the issues of Bali Action Plan including risk management, disaster reduction and economic diversification to build resilience.

Simultaneously, he said, the country needs to call for accelerated technology transfer from developed countries, supportive of action on mitigation and adaptation and financing of projects to offset negative impacts.

Bangladesh, he said, needs to develop a clear understanding on issues relating to bio-fuel.

Bangladesh should, he said, support the demand for accelerated technology transfer and additional resources for financing adaptation projects. Bangladesh, he said, to be able achieve its objectives needs to work closely with the LDCs group, G-77 plus China and the Asian group. Bangladesh, he said, needs to push its agenda on cutting global emissions, and technology transfer, formulate its projects and be ready with its position paper, take all preparation for adaptation.

BBC Online

Photographers are stalking the Egyptian resort of Luxor, after Nicolas Sarkozy arrived there to holiday with his new girlfriend, former model Carla Bruni.

Holding hands with Ms Bruni, the French president waved at onlookers as they arrived at their luxury hotel.

But security is tight with plainclothes guards deployed in the town and two journalists were briefly detained on Monday night after filming the hotel.

Sarkozy, 52, divorced his wife of 11 years, Cecilia, in October.

He was first pictured in the French media with Ms Bruni, 39, in mid-December during a visit to Disneyland Paris.

The former model, who has been previously linked to men including Mick Jagger, Donald Trump and Eric Clapton, began a career as a singer after quitting the world of fashion.

The couple travelled to Egypt in an entourage reportedly including friends and relatives. They arrived on a private jet, courtesy of Sarkozy's friend, the French billionaire Vincent Bollore.

To avoid the photographers' lenses, the pair boarded in a private aircraft hangar in France.

On their touchdown in Luxor, heavy security prevented the media approaching and an official photograph was released by local authorities. It was reported that the couple were to visit archaeological sights around Luxor, which is on the banks of the Nile, on Christmas Day.

They were then to travel to another resort, Sharm el-Sheikh, on Thursday, French media say, although French authorities have refused to confirm the reports, saying it is a private matter.

Mr Sarkozy is then due to make a formal state visit to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo before flying back to France to see in the New Year.

Staff Reporter

Nearly 800 non-resident Bangladeshi citizens will gather in the city today at a three-day conference titled 'Non-Resident Bangladeshi (NRB) Conference 2007' with a view to recognise their contributions to the country.

Research organisation Scholars Bangladesh (SB), in association with the government, will organise the function at Hotel Sheraton. The inaugural ceremony will be held on Thursday afternoon.

The conference will give 'scholars of the year 2007 award' to four resident and four non-resident Bangladeshi experts for their outstanding contributions to the fields of arts and culture, science, technology and innovation, health and medicine and education and research.

Kalim Sharafi, Haripada Kapali, Dr MR Khan, Jamal Nazrul Islam, Monirul Islam, Iqbal Z Quadir, Dr ABM Fazlul Karim and Prof Fazle Hussain have been selected for the award.

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed will be the chief guest at the award giving ceremony of the conference on December 29. Besides, Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury will attend the function as special guest and Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed as NRB guest.

Scholars Bangladesh president ME Chowdhury Shameem said in the conference 18 seminars on different contemporary issues, cultural programmes, photo and painting exhibitions of NRB participants, career fairs and publication ceremony will be held.

Present and former advisers of the caretaker government, secretaries of different ministries, high officials of different disciplines, businessmen, NRB advisers and civil society members including journalists and teachers will attend the functions as chief guests, special guests, moderators and presenters.

The seminars listed are titled: "The Success Factors in Arsenic Disaster Prevention and Follow Up Actions", "Maximum Utilisation of Limited Resources and Increasing Agro Productivity in Bangladesh: A Challenge for the Next Decade (2007-2017), and Bio Fuel- A Great Resource for Poverty Reduction and Clean Air", "The Democratic Local Government System in Bangladesh", "The Informal Sector and Urban Environmental Management Legacies in Painting Education: A Personal Perspective", "Investment Opportunity: 2nd Generation Non-Resident Bangladeshis", "How NRB Can Help in Improving Health Care in Bangladesh and Containing Medical Education (CME) and Telemedicine", "Drug Policy in Bangladesh", "Medical Education in Bangladesh", "State of the Art Research Centre in Bangladesh", "Challenges and Opportunities for Medical Education in Bangladesh", "The Benefits of NRBs' Active Participation in the Politics of Their Country of Residence", "Our Political Voice in the USA", "National Leadership in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities", "Transformational Leadership - Bangladesh Bureaucracy and Comparative Leadership in Governments' of Bangladesh and China", "The Government in Bangladesh: The Way Forward", "The Untapped Energy Mine: The Revolutionary Scope of Renewable Energy Technologies for Bangladesh and NRB's Role in Formulating Appropriate Energy Policies", "Effective Utilisation of the Submarine Cable, Improving the IT Sector of Bangladesh, and Impact on Spectrum Optimisation Technologies on Regulatory Policies for Wireless Communication", "Small Business Sector in Bangladesh - How to Build an Infrastructure for Its Growth and Effectiveness as an Important Source of Employment and Contribution to the National GDP", "Tele-radiology, Higher Education Opportunities for Bangladeshi Students in the USA", "How to Improve Bangladesh's Image and Promote its Interests Abroad", "State of Bangladesh Textile Industry", "Role of NRB in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage", "Bangladesh - Its Long-Term Development", "Micro Insurance - A Protection for the Poor", "Employment Opportunities in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Remittance - a Vital Issue for Bangladesh", "Skills Development in Bangladesh for the Global Marketplace: Policy and Practice", "Development of Sustainable Transportation Systems for the Dhaka Metropolitan Area: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities, Improving the Traffic and Drainage Systems, and Privatisation of Roadways", " Scholar of the Year in the Area of Education and Research", "How NRBs Can Improve Education in Bangladesh", "Biotechnology Education in the USA: A Model for Developing Countries such as Bangladesh", "Importance of Excellent English Education in Bangladesh", "Education System in Bangladesh", "NRBs Efforts to Improve Education", "Promoting Biotechnology", "Relevant Topics in Education System", "Domestic Securities Imperatives", "Investment Environment in Bangladesh", "Capital Market Development, and Practical Challenges in Attracting Foreign Investment - a Comparative Perspective".

Kalim Sharafi and Monirul Islam will be awarded for their contributions to the field of arts and culture, Haripada Kapali and Iqbal Z Quadir for science, technology and innovation, Dr MR Khan and Dr ABM Fazlul Karim for health and medicine and Jamal Nazrul Islam and Prof Fazle Hussain for education and research.

UNB, Dhaka

The local currency, Taka (BDT), got stronger appreciating 0.7 percent against the US dollar in 2007, making a turnaround year from a trend of depreciation in the last few years.

"Improved remittance inflows and strong growth in exports have contributed to the strengthening of BDT," Citibank Bangladesh said in its annual financial market update released here on

Wednesday.

The BDT has seen rapid depreciation in the last few years -- 2.76 percent in 2004 and around 9 percent the following year. However, the pace of deprecation slowed down in 2006 when the BDT experienced a 4.4 percent decline in value.

The update said 2007 was a turnaround year for the BDT. Despite a downtrend in the first quarter, the BDT value went up by 0.7 percent against the Greenback.

The update said foreign exchange remittance experienced a 24.5 percent growth in 2006-07 though exports slowed down during the second half of 2007.

In the first five months of FY08, the growth was 21.7 percent. "We have also seen a major growth in the foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh in 2007."

As per the latest report, foreign exchange reserve went up to USD 5.16 Billion from the last year's figure of USD 3.88 billion which indicates a 33 percent rise in national reserve.

The report said compared to the previous three years, USD/BDT rates were fairly stable in 2007. In 2006, USD traded within a 6.75 Taka range (66.20 - 72.95).

It observed similar scenario in 2005 (61.50 - 67.0) and 2004 (59.01 - 62.50). However, this year only a 1.92 taka difference between yearly high (70.40) and low (68.48) of USD/BDT rates, a thin range compared to the last year's.

"A significant trend in 2007 was a shift of volumes from the third currency based cross currency transactions to USD/BDT inter-bank transactions," said the bank's financial market update.

Last year, most of the inter-bank transactions were routed through the third currency trades. But as the USD/BDT exchange rates became relatively stable, market participants increased their trades to simpler and more customary USD/BDT channels.

By the end of December, almost all the trades were done through the USD/BDT inter-bank channels.

The market update said the inter-bank call money market was largely surplus most of the time due to a slowdown in credit growth in 2007.

"Government sector contributed most to the slowdown in credit growth," it said, adding that banks and financial institutions with excess funds were seen investing their funds in the Reverse Repo window of the Bangladesh Bank.

The Reverse Repo rates of Bangladesh Bank stayed at 6.50 percent throughout the year. As the market was mostly liquid, most of the time the call rates traded around the benchmark Reverse Repo rate.

However, the call rates were seen moving upward couple of times in the year. Due to pre-Eid-ul-Fitr cash withdrawals, call rates went up to 8.50% in October. Again in December, the market experienced tightness in liquidity due to pre-Eid-ul-Azha cash withdrawals. This time the call rates were traded as high as 17%.

The market had to wait for 19 months to see call rates trading in double digits numbers.

Due to surplus liquidity in the call market, the Repo window of the central bank remained mostly unused throughout. In a few instances, the market saw the central bank providing liquidity to the market at 8.50%.

On stock market, the DSE General Index rallied by over 83.1 percent in 2006-2007 and 90.8 percent in 2007 (year to date). "We have seen almost four-fold increase in daily traded volume in 2007 compared to the previous year," said Citibank Bangladesh.

BSS, Barisal

Women and Children Affairs Adviser Geeti Ara Safiya Chowdhury yesterday stressed strengthening social movement against repression on women.

The women in the country are living hazardous lives because of the dowry system, conjugal problems and decay in moral standards of youths in society, she said while addressing a function to inaugurate one-stop crisis centre (OCC) at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital and Divisional DNA Laboratory here. Repression on women is one of the main social problems in the country, the Adviser said and called for an all-out cooperation of people from all strata and professions to resist the menace.

Project Director Dr Abdul Hossain, Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Principal Prof Dr Aziz Rahim, Barisal Divisional Commissioner Muhammad Harun Chowdhury and Medical College Director M Maniruzzaman also spoke on the occasion, the press release says.

Women and Children Affairs Ministry has adopted a 'Multipurpose Sectoral Programme' aided by Denmark to prevent repression on women in the country, according to the press release.

Under the programme, one-stop crisis centres have been set up in six divisional medical colleges from where the women will get medical treatment, police and legal help, counseling and rehabilitation facilities from the same place.

A total of 4,419 women and children have received services from these centres till November 2007, the release said.

Chittagong Correspondent

Repeated deferment of deadline for fixing fare metere in gas-run auto-rickshaws plying in the port city has not only angered commuters but also caused sharp depletion of confidence in the police department.

The traffic department of public Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) is reluctant to shoulder the responsibility of its failure in streamlining the auto-rickshaw owners and drivers in fixing fare meters. The CMP has now started blaming the commuters and the auto drivers for jeopardising its move.

Suffering of the commuters is growing when the CMP and the auto-rickshaw owners are fighting each other over the issue. None of the CMP's move to make the auto owners and drivers rational has so far been successful.

The New Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), however, recently reassured that the auto-rickshaw would be brought under metering system at any cost.

Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) Mohammad Ali Mia warned cancellation of driver's licence and route permit of the auto-rickshaws for noncompliance of the public order.

The CMP men are likely to go harsh from next month and start confiscating documents of the autos on the street without fare meters.

Earlier, the traffic department set a deadline for fixing tariff meters after a joint meeting between the traffic department, auto owners and drivers. But response to the public order was absolutely poor. Only 10 to 15 per cent autos re-fixed the fare meter within the deadline.

Later, traffic department deployed 42 police sergeants to keep an eye on the autos without meters. Several check posts were also set up at the key points of the city in this connection.

Meanwhile, a number of complain booths have been opened at different key points of the city to receive complains from the commuters.

Putin 'Person of the Year’

WASHINGTON: Time magazine named Russian President Vladimir Putin its "Person of the Year" for 2007 on Wednesday, saying he had returned his country from chaos to "the table of world power" though at a cost to democratic principles. Putin, a former KGB official picked from relative obscurity to be prime minister in 1999 by then-President Boris Yeltsin, will appear on the cover of a special issue of Time as the person the editors believe had the greatest impact on events, for better or worse. "He's not a good guy, but he's done extraordinary things," said Time managing editor Richard Stengel, who announced Putin's selection on NBC's "Today Show." "He's a new tsar of Russia and he's dangerous in the sense that he doesn't care about civil liberties; he doesn't care about free speech; he cares about stability. But stability is what Russia needed and that's why Russians adore him." Time magazine said on its Web site that Putin, the son of a factory worker whose grandfather cooked for Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, had led Russia with persistence, a sharp vision and a sense that he embodied the spirit of "Mother Russia."

Delhi Hindu temple world's largest

NEW DELHI: GUINNESS World Records has recognised a sprawling mock-ancient monument in the Indian capital as the world's largest Hindu temple, the Press Trust of India reported on Wednesday. The ersatz Akshardham temple, which covers 13 hectares and is built to look as if is hundreds of years old, was inaugurated in 2005. 'The majestic, ornately hand-carved Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi stands apart as the largest Hindu temple in the world,' a Guinness certificate given to the temple organising committee said, according to Press Trust. Some 11,000 people built the temple over five years, an earlier Guinness statement said.