Home Economics college students continue to agitate for a third day

Students of Dhaka's College of Home Economics have announced a 'grand rally' after blocking a key Dhaka thoroughfare for hours.

On Wednesday, protestors blocked the New Market intersection for a third day and continued agitation for the recognition of their college as an Institute of Dhaka University.

Demonstrators said a grand rally will be held on Thursday at the same venue and that they will hold a media briefing. 

Around 11am on Wednesday, hundreds of students of the college blocked the road and started demonstrating, creating a traffic gridlock in and around the area.

The agitation disrupted vehicular movement on the roads to Azimpur, Mirpur, New Paltan Line and Dhaka University.

The blockade was lifted around 2pm with the demonstrators announcing programmes for Thursday.

"The administration thinks being women, we will give up. But we will agitate in full swing tomorrow," said protester' spokesperson Clothing and Textile Department student Sabrin Sultan Suminur.

Students of the college at Dhaka's Azimpur raised the movement in September last year.
Protesters, who have boycotted classes since Mar 11, said they would not go back to classes until their demand is met.

Sri Lanka take charge after Mushfiqur, Miraz fightback on rain-shortened day

Skipper Mushfiqur Rahman has put up a valiant fight to help Bangladesh avoid follow-on but Sri Lanka achieved a robust 182-run lead on a rain-curtailed third day of the Galle Test.

With wickets tumbling around him, Mushfiqur held his nerves to play a composed knock of 85 and worked up a crucial century stand with Mehedi Hasan Miraz (41) for the seventh wicket at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday.

Dilruwan Perera and Rangana Herath grabbed three wickets each for the hosts.

Mushfiqur and Miraz fashioned a stoic 106-run resistance under immense pressure as the Tigers were staring at follow-on after a middle-order slump in the morning session.

Bangladesh were bowled out for 312 two balls into the third session after hovering dark clouds had forced an early tea break due to poor visibility at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday.

Play was again suspended for drizzle before Sri Lanka openers could get on the field. The rain gradually became heavier and the umpires called off play for the rest of the day.

The fourth day has been scheduled begin 15 minutes ahead of regular time for some compensation.

Chasing Sri Lanka's massive first innings total of 494, Bangladesh resumed on overnight 133 for 2 and had the opportunity to build on a strong base fashioned by a 118-run opening stand between Tamim Iqbal (57) and Soumya Sarkar (71) the previous day.

But they lost wickets in heaps due to some ordinary batting and soon lost their way.

Sri Lanka bowlers put the Tigers to the sword by grabbing four wickets at the expense of 50 runs in the first session, reducing them on 192 for 6 before lunch.

In the third over of the morning, pacer Suranga Lakmal sent Soumya packing when he edged an attempted late pull shot.

Shakib Al Hasan was tasked to lead with responsibility, but he departed after showing unnecessary aggression to make matter worse.

Moments after surviving a top edge that flew for a six, Shakib (23 off 19 balls) was taken out by a poor delivery from chinaman Lakshan Sandakan.

Taking advantage of the batsmen's poor temperament, the somewhat inexperienced Sri Lanka bowling attack grew in confidence. They removed Mahmudullah (8) and Liton Kumar Das (5) in quick succession to leave Bangladesh reeling.

Mushfiqur laboured to 22 off 84 balls before lunch but stepped things up by cracking four boundaries and a six to reach his 16th Test half-century off 107 balls after the break.

Sri Lanka opted for the new ball as soon as it was available. Mushfiqur and young Miraz negotiated the new ball quite well for 10 overs and took the team past the follow-on mark.

But Perera trapped Miraz in front in the next over with a quicker to end the stubborn stand before Mushfiqur also departed. Bangladesh stuttered once again, losing their next three wickets for 10 runs.

Herath and Perera then snuffed out the tail in four runs to put Sri Lanka in charge before rain played spoilsport.

Bangladesh begin tough chase after Tharanga ton

Sri Lanka opener Upul Tharanga struck his third Test century to help his team set Bangladesh a mammoth 457-run victory target on the penultimate day of the first Test on Friday.

Tharanga made 115 and Dinesh Chandimal scored 50 not out before Sri Lanka, who had taken a 182-run first-innings lead, declared their second on 274 for six at the Galle International Stadium.

Bangladesh were 67 for no loss when bad light forced an early close with the tourists still needing 390 runs for an improbable win at a ground where no team has scored more than 300 in the fourth innings.

Soumya Sarkar was unbeaten on 53, his second half-century of the match, with Tamim Iqbal on 13 when play was called off.

Sri Lanka scored briskly after lunch, milking 160 runs in the 31-over session despite losing four wickets.

Tharanga took a single off left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan to bring up his century and was eventually bowled by off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz. Tharanga's knock included 11 fours and two sixes.

Sending Mahmudullah back to the country is out of question, says BCB chief

Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan has shrugged off the news of Mahmudullah being sent back to the country from Sri Lanka.

He was completely taken by surprise when he received the news at a press conference on Monday evening.

Mahmudullah has been going through a lean phase, particularly in Tests, and according to team manager Khaled Mahmud, he would be sent back home after being dropped from the second Test.

Leaving Mahmudullah out of the Colombo Test may be justified for his poor form, but the decision to keep him out of the limited-overs games rocked the cricket arena of the country.

BCB chief, however, said there was no way he could be sent back.

“I have heard no such news. As he is not in the next Test if he wants to come to the country now... he can go back with Mashrafe [Bin Mortaza] and the other, that is a different matter,” Hassan said.

“I don’t know this... but sending him back is out of the question. The one-day games are coming; he is supposed to be in them. I would know if there was a change of plans.”

Mahmudullah has been named in the 16-men squad announced by the board later in the evening.

Bangladesh Cricket Board Ismail Haider Mallick then told Hassan that Mahmudullah himself wanted to come back home for three-four days.

The chief then said, “I don’t know. If he wants to come, that’s a separate matter. There is a break of several days [after the Tests], so if he wants to come back and then go again, that’s different. But I did not hear anything about sending him back.”

“They spoke about this in Sri Lanka? I really can’t tell why Sujon [Mahmud] said this before talking to someone. We need to know if it was Riyad [Mahmudullah] who wanted this or it was [team management].

“Because they are not supposed to tell a player to leave before discussing it over with me,” Hassan added.

In the last Bangladesh Premier League, the 31-year-old allrounder won the best player award for his fine allround show. But the slump began late in December last year on Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand.

His ODI scores against the Black Caps were 0, 1 and 3. He hit a half-century in the opening Twenty20 there but followed it up with 19 and 18.

He has been going through an extended rough patch in Tests, scoring a half-century only once, against India in Hyderabad last month, in his last 13 innings.

Mahmudullah had scores of just 8 and 0 to show for his efforts in the first Test against Sri Lanka as Bangladesh suffered a huge 159-run defeat in Galle to be left trailing in the two-Test series.

The ODI series begin on Mar 25 in Dambulla.

Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, second Test: Day 1

Southpaw Taijul Islam has dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva to break Sri Lanka’s fifth-wicket resistance after lunch on the opening day of the second Test.

Taijul skidded one through that stayed low and de Silva (34) missed a pull shot to be bowled after a 66-run stand with Dinesh Chandimal at the P Sara Oval in Colombo on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka slipped to 137 for 5 in 48 overs with Chandimal (52) and Niroshan Dickwella (1) trying to steady the ship.

Pacer Subashis Roy took Asela Gunaratne (13) at the stroke of lunch to seal a dominating morning session for Bangladesh, leaving Sri Lanka tottering on 70 for 4 in their first innings.

The dismissal broke Gunaratne’s 35-run fourth-wicket partnership with Chandimal.

Before that wily young spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz struck twice in quick succession to put Bangladesh on top early in the morning of the first day of their 100th Test.

Miraz’s well-flighted delivery dipped on Kusal Mendis (5) as the batsman lunged a long way forward. Mendis missed the ball, allowing Mushfiqur Rahim to whip the bails off.

After tossing up a flurry of deliveries that simply skidded on, Miraz took out Upul Tharanga (11) with one that did.

Mustafizur Rahman drew first blood for Bangladesh after Sri Lanka were off to a sluggish start.

Dimuth Karunaratne (7 off 32 balls) played a loose drive away from the body and Miraz held on to a stunning catch in the slips.

Bangladesh, who began with three successive maidens after being asked to field, made four changes to the lineup from Galle.

Liton Kumar Das had been ruled out for an injury the previous day while Mahmudullah’s exclusion was announced earlier as well. Mominul Haque and Taskin Ahmed were also dropped.

Imrul Kayes, Sabbir Rahman and Taijul Islam were brought in and Mosaddek Hossain made his debut.

Police break up Left Parties' demonstration against gas price hike

Police in Dhaka have lobbed tear-gas shells to disperse protestors demonstrating against the recent gas prices.

After sponsoring  a shutdown on Feb 28, an alliance of Left parties announced a march on the energy ministry for Wednesday.

Around 11am, activists of several Left parties, including the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BaSoD) gathered at the press club area for the protests.

After holding a brief rally, they took out a procession, which was stopped by police when it was heading to the Secretariat.  

A scuffle broke out between the demonstrators and law-enforcers, when the protestors tried to get past barriers set up by police.

A running battle erupted when police lobbed tear-gas and used water-cannons to disperse the demonstrators.

"This was a peaceful protest, which was attacked by the police," CPB leader Ruhin Hossain Prince told the rally. He announced protests at the same venue for Thursday.

The demonstrators, however, could not say how many of their activists have been injured in police action.

"We can't say an exact figure, but we came to know that a Chhatra Union activist named Shahriar has been taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital," said Ganashanghati Andolon Coordinator Junaid Saki.

Police said the protesters unleashed violence when their procession was stopped.

"They were vandalising vehicles on the street as well as hurling bricks at police," Ramna Division Additional Deputy Commissioner Nabid Kamal told bdnews24.com.

Traffic was suspended in the area for around 45 minutes, when the clash between demonstrators and police erupted around 12pm.

Rubbish heap catches fire at Secretariat

The fire service has managed to extinguish a rubbish heap fire inside the Secretariat.

The fire started at a dustbin by the eastern wall of the Secretariat’s Building 6 around 12:45pm on Tuesday.

At first smoke could be seen rising from the rubbish heap, eye-witness Abul Karamat told bdnews24.com. Later the fire became visible and people began to try and put it out, he said.

A fire unit arrived about five minutes later and two other units joined the effort soon after. The fire was put out within fifteen minutes.

An initial investigation suggests a discarded cigarette started the blaze, Fire Service Brigade Deputy Director Md Abdul Halim told bdnews24.com.

“The fire was not significant, but there were several cars nearby. If the tires caught on fire it could have spread to the oil tanks,” he said.

Tk 1 billion grab attempt is punished with Tk 200 fine

A police officer colluded with an engineer to grab a piece of land in Dhanmondi worth over Tk 1 billion, but they have gone away with only Tk 200 fine after the highest court passed a verdict in favour of the government.

Police Inspector Md Shaheen and Engineer Moazzem Hossain deposited the fine amount to the court immediately after the Supreme Court bench with Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha in the chair passed the verdict declaring their claim is false and the government is the rightful owner of the land.

The duo fought for length legal battle – from the lower court to the highest, to become the owner of House-40 in Road-6 in Dhanmondi which is worth over Tk 1 billion in current market price.

The house was abandoned by its owner in 1971. The Ministry of Public Works first rented out the house on Jan 1, 1971, to Syed Haider Ali, who was an MP from Sirajgang at that time.

In 1975, the ministry took back the house and handed it over to one Nazma Majid who lived in the house until the early 80s.

In 1982, one Hosne Ara Begum filed a case with the Sub-Judge Court in Dhaka claiming the ownership of the house. She also claimed that she inherited the house from its ‘owner’ Hakim SA Ali.

The case got further complicated when Moazzem Hossain issued a power of attorney in favour of his relative Inspector Shaheen and got the lower court verdict in their favour on May 2, 2000.

The High Court upheld the lower court verdict in 2005 and so did the Appellate Division.

The State then petitioned for a review of the Appellate Division verdict and finally the Supreme Court has issued the review verdict in the government's favour.
 

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the State.

1 killed in clash between AL factions in Jhenaidah

One person has been killed and four others injured during a violent clash between Awami League activists in Jhenaidah.

The incident occurred around midnight on Tuesday near Monohorpur village in Kaliganj Upazila, said Kaliganj Police Station OC Aminul Islam.

The deceased has been identified as 22-year old local resident Bipul Mondol.

A turf war between Pukuria village Awami League leader Liton Hossain and Monohorpur village Awami League leader Israil Hossain led to the clash, OC Aminul told bdnews24.com.

“The death was the result of a dispute,” he said.

The four injured have been taken to various local medical facilities for treatment.

The body was recovered and three were detained by police, said OC Aminul. Police have brought the situation under control, he said. A case has yet to be filed over the incident.

Bangladesh: A prospective startup hub!

Bangladesh, with a 48 million strong young population, could be a major growth hub for ICT based Startups. The country has a 6.3 percent GDP growth rate and 145 million population could be a major destination for many multinational companies. Unlike many western countries with a small percentage of youth population, Bangladesh is blessed with the youth energies and spirit. The question is how to use them efficiently, create job opportunities and bring out the richness from their hard work. For Bangladeshis to be able to tap into global job opportunities, a national strategy needs to be crafted, which will identify future job demands globally and build capacities of these young people so that they can come level with other nationals in the international job market.

Here are three humble suggestions:

Focus on Technology– Youth education and capacity building should focus on a technology-driven job market. Many current human centered jobs will be replaced by robots globally. Other Artificial Intelligent technologies are sweeping the market rapidly. Self driving cars, drones, augmented reality are no longer in the Sci-Fiction movies, but will be roaming around in our neighborhood very soon. How prepared are the youth of Bangladesh for such global scenarios? How many Robotics Labs do we have? Do our universities teach Artifical Intelligence?

Promote Entreprenuership/Startup Culture– The government of Bangladesh should create a start-up fund or a Technoprenuers Fund to support and promote a start-up culture in the country. According to Futurestartup, there are not enough serious start-ups in Bangladesh. We have a bunch of eCommerce companies running on hype. Although there is a positive vibe and continuous buzz in the industry, international investors are not showing that much interest in the Bangladesh market. The government needs to intervene in these circumstances, provide funding, ease the bureaucratic hurdles, bring in international mentors and create the positive startup ecosystem.

Non-resident Bangladeshis should step forward– There are many scientists of Bangladeshi origin working in big organizations globally. Many senior executives have been creating value in international tech firms. One would like to urge them to start venturing into the Bangladeshi market, either by investing in startups and/or building local capacity through training and coaching. Sometimes a little inspiration from the experienced, foreign educated can push a lot- changing lives is not always very complicated.

Lets talk and take some action in the interest of our future.

Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005: White House

US President Donald Trump paid $38 million in taxes on more than $150 million in income in 2005, the White House said on Tuesday, responding to an MSNBC report that the network had obtained two pages of the returns.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said she received the documents from journalist David Cay Johnston, who said on her show that he received them in the mail.

The returns, which MSNBC posted on its website, showed Trump paid an effective federal tax rate of 25 percent in 2005 after writing off $100 million in losses.

The White House said in a statement that Trump took into account "large scale depreciation for construction."

Trump has repeatedly refused to release his tax returns, drawing criticism throughout his campaign last year and speculation from his political rivals he was hiding something.

A New York Times report in October said Trump, a New York real estate developer, declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns. The newspaper said the large tax deduction could have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years.

But the returns posted by MSNBC on Tuesday showed that he did pay taxes in 2005. The returns do not indicate whether he paid taxes in other years or how much he might have paid. The Washington Post reported last year that Trump paid no federal income taxes for at least two years in the late 1970s.

The White House said in a statement on Tuesday that Trump, as head of the Trump Organization, had a responsibility "to pay no more tax than legally required."

Presidents and major candidates for the White House have routinely released their income tax returns.

Trump says he has not released his tax returns because they are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service. Experts say an IRS audit does not bar someone from releasing the documents.

During a September presidential debate, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton criticised Trump, a Republican, for paying no federal income taxes.

"That makes me smart," he responded.

Trump has feuded with the media since his inauguration, often accusing it of promoting "fake news" intended to undermine his presidency.

"The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans," the White House said on Tuesday.