250MW power deal signed with India

DHAKA  DELHI NEWS

Dhaka, Feb 28  A deal for buying 250MW of power from India was signed on Tuesday at New Delhi.

"Every unit of power would cost Tk 4 according to the agreement," Bangladesh's power secretary Abul Kalam Azad  over phone from New Delhi.

"The work is going on to set up 400KV distribution lines to bring in the power from India. We hope to get this power from June next year."

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the agreement was signed two years back during prime minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in 2010.

Power Development Board member (company affairs) Mohammad Abul Kashem signed the deal on behalf of Bangladesh, while a director of NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd, a subsidiary of NTPC Limited, signed for India.

Even though the prime minister had expressed intent to import 500MW of power from India during the signing of the MoU, India later said that they would be able to provide only 250MW from the government sector. The deal on Tuesday was signed in keeping with the condition, Azad said.

The secretary continued that the Bangladesh government also proposed to buy 250MW more from India, a proposal the Indian government is analysing with seriousness.

The decision to sign the deal was taken at the second meeting of the Bangladesh-India Joint Steering Committee at New Delhi, Azad said. "Various aspects of the agreement will be unveiled at Dhaka next month."

Power secretary Azad and his Indian counterpart P Uma Shankar led their country's delegations during Tuesday's meet. The first meeting of the steering committee was held on March last year.

"The government has signed a deal with India to build a 1320MW coal-based power plant at Bagerhat's Rampal on Jan 29. The attendees of the steering committee meet also discussed speedy implementation of the plant's construction," Azad said.

Ready to fight neighbours for rights: Dipu

DHAKA NEWS

Dhaka, Feb 28 Bangladesh has friendly ties with its neighbours but that would not deter the government from taking legal recourse to claim its due, foreign minister Dipu Moni has said.

"Opposition parties can say many things but we will not stop from taking the legal route to achieve legitimate demands from our neighbours. It is not a weak foreign policy," Dipu Moni said on Tuesday while addressing a seminar on maritime boundary issues between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The event was held at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies auditorium.

The minister said Dhaka wants justice in maritime boundary disputes between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The two countries approached the International Tribunal for Law of the Seas (ITLOS) to settle maritime boundary dispute in 2009; the verdict is expected on Mar 14.

"We have been negotiating with our neighbours for the last 35 years but to get a quick result and ensure people's rights on sea resources, we resorted to (this) alternative route," she said.

"We expect justice from ITLOS and expect verdict in (an) Indian case in 2014," she said. "Bangladesh wants to resolve the disputes on equitable basis and there are many ways to get that."

Bangladesh has already submitted its claim for continental shelf to the UN and it takes five to seven years to get a decision from them, Moni said.

Continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain.

Foreign ministry's additional secretary Khurshid Alam said the government is not only sincere in establishing its rights over marine resources but is also taking the steps to explore it.

"We need to study oceanography is explore natural resources in the sea but unfortunately there is no university in Bangladesh teach that subject," he said.

He said the ministry has touched base with the education ministry in this regard and Dhaka and Chittagong universities have agreed to offer the subject.

US to consider Yunus as WB boss: Mozena

RAJSHAHI NEWS

Rajshahi, Feb 28  The US ambassador to Bangladesh, Dan Mozena, has said that Washington will give its "fullest consideration" to the candidature of Muhammad Yunus for president of the World Bank.

"I am sure if he agrees to this nomination for this position, it would be given the fullest consideration," Mozena told journalists in the northern city of Rajshahi.

The US envoy's remarks came a week after the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, proposed that Yunus be made the chief the Washingon-based bank that has never seen a non-American as its head since its birth after the Second World War.

Hasina floated the idea while meeting a delegation of European MPs in Dhaka on Wednesday.

‘Firearms trader’ killed in ‘gunfight’ with Rab

BOGRA NEWS

A suspected firearms trader was killed in a ‘gunfight’ between his cohorts and Rapid Action Battalion personnel in Bogra Sadar upazila Tuesday morning.

The elite force members also arrested four alleged firearms traders and seized five hand bombs and two firearms during the drive.

Rab identified the deceased as Ranga, 25, reports

Describing the incident, Sumit Chowdhury, commander of Rab-12, in guise of buyers, had contacted with the gang and fixed Fire Service area in the district headquarters’s Thanthania for a meeting.

When the Rab team reached the area Monday midnight according to their schedule, the gang started to flee the scene as they came to know about the ambush, said Sumit Chowdhury.

But the elite forces managed to arrest four of them including Ranga.

Acting on the statements of the arrestees, the team raided the house of one Mostafa at Malgram around 1:00am Tuesday and arrested him along with five hand bombs, Sumit Chowdhury added.

The Rab men conducted another raid in Rabibari area of the upazila, following Ranga's statement, around 8:30am to recover hidden firearms.

As soon as the Rab men along with the arrestees entered a nursery in Rabibari area, the associates of Ranga opened fire on them. In self-defence, the elite force members also fired back, triggering a 'gunfight', the commander said.

Ranga was hit by a bullet when he tried to flee the scene, the commander added.

Critically injured Ranga was admitted to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries after half an hour, hospital sources said.

Rab members recovered a foreign-made revolver, a shooter gun and three sharp weapons from the nursery.

The four arrestees were taken to the local Rab office for interrogation.

Yahoo threatens Facebook as social media patent war looms

WORLD NEWS

San Francisco, Feb  Yahoo has demanded licensing fees from Facebook for use of its technology, the companies said on Monday, potentially engulfing social media in the patent battles and lawsuits raging across much of the tech sector.

Yahoo has asserted claims on patents that include the technical mechanisms in the Facebook's ads, privacy controls, news feed and messaging service, according to a source briefed on the matter.

Representatives from the two companies met on Monday and the talks involved 10 to 20 of Yahoo's patents, said the source, who was not aware of what specific dollar demands Yahoo may have made for licenses.

Yahoo did not elaborate in an emailed statement on details of its discussions with Facebook, but indicated it would not flinch at taking the social networking giant to court over its patents.

Yahoo said other companies have already licensed some of the technologies at issue, and that it would act unilaterally if Facebook refused to pay for a patent license.

"Yahoo has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property," the company said.

The meeting between the two companies was first reported by the New York Times.

A Facebook spokesman said: "Yahoo contacted us at the same time they called the New York Times and so we haven't had the opportunity to fully evaluate their claims."

Should Yahoo wind up suing Facebook, it would mark the first major legal battle among technology giants in the social media sphere and a major escalation of patent litigation that has already swept up the smartphone and tablet sectors and high-tech stalwarts such as Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Motorola Mobility.

Yahoo's patent claims follow Facebook's announcement of plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at about $100 billion (63 billion pounds).

Several social networking companies, including Facebook, have seen an uptick in patent claims asserted against them as they move through the IPO process.

However, most of those lawsuits have been filed by patent aggregators that buy up intellectual property to squeeze value from it via licensing deals, and none by a large tech company such as Yahoo.

Fx reserves back to $10bn-plus

DHAKA NEWS

Dhaka, Feb 27 Foreign exchange reserves of the Bangladesh Bank crossed $10-billion mark once again on Monday.

"It is good news for our economy," central bank governor Atiur Rahman told

"The reserves have reached the level as flow of remittances and export earnings were high," he added and expressed hope that it will increase further.

According to the central bank, its forex reserves stood at $10.05 billion on Monday. It had slipped to $8.8 billion one-and-a-half months ago from over $11-billion mark six months back.

Low import cost was another reason for the boost in the reserves, Atiur said and credited the Bangladesh Bank for this.

"For several steps taken by the central bank, import of unnecessary and luxury products has decreased.

"Besides, the contractionary monetary policy also helped in curbing the import cost."

Flow of remittances into the country grew 12 percent in the first seven months of the current fiscal. Export earnings increased 14 percent during the period.

Expatriates remitted $1.21 billion in January, highest in a single month. From Feb 1 to 20, they have sent in $0.75 billion.

The amount of opening LoCs (letters of credit) to import food, capital machineries and industrial raw materials during Feb 1-20 decreased but that of fuel oil showed a rise.

Farmers turning tobacco growers

NILPHAMARI

Nilphamari, Feb 27  Loans disbursed by tobacco companies and higher profits from tobacco farming are making more and more farmers turn to this sector, ignoring the health hazards of working in fields where these plants are cultivated.

"Even though I am suffering from various physical disorders including chest pain and breathing problems, I have to go to the tobacco field to work," Ghonapara village resident, 32-year old Mariam Begum told bdnews24.com.

She said that working at the tobacco fields earns her only around Tk 100 a day, but she has no other option, as farming of other crops is fast fading.

Haridas Roy, who is a labour for a tobacco mill in Tupamari, suffers similar ailments. "Even though my eyesight is getting weaker day by day and I am suffering from breathing problems, chest pain and insomnia, I have to continue working only to survive."

"Despite its harmful effects, the farmers are turning to tobacco cultivation as it earns them greater profits," Nilphamari's civil surgeon Dr Abdul Majid Sarker reasoned.

"Eventually the number of smokers and tobacco chewers in the area is also rising," the doctor said pointing to the accompanying ills and ailments.

THE ECONOMIC VICE

Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) deputy director A B M Mostafizur attributes the rising trend of tobacco cultivation in the northern district to the failure of the government to ensure proper prices for other crops.

"The farmers' interest has increased as they are not getting proper prices for other crops. Besides, the tobacco companies are providing support…in the form of advance loans."

The resultant boom is amazing. According to official statistics, farmers are cultivating tobacco over 5,000 hectares this year, a 1000-hectare rise from the previous year.

Farmers said that tobacco was sown just after the harvest of the Aman crops. With an initial investment of around Tk 15,000 per acre, cultivation of tobacco leads to a net profit of around Tk 30,000-35,000 per acre when the crops are cashed.

They added that cigarette companies have disbursed advance loans to more than 3,000 of them amounting roughly to Tk 12.8 million.

"Many companies like Akij Bidi Factory [Limited] have loaned farmers Tk 4,000 in advance for per acre of tobacco cultivation. Company officials regularly visit the fields to inspect the production," tobacco farmer Hafizur Rahman, 24, from Tupamari union, said.

"The borrowers are bound in the deal to sell their crop to the lending company. Otherwise, they might face difficulties."

Masud Ali Shah Fakir, 40, said that he took Tk 8,000 as loan from Akij Tobacco Company to cultivate on two acres of land.

Other cigarette and chewing tobacco producing companies like Varosha, Rashida biri, Bengal Tobacco, Abul Tobacco, Akij biri, Khaled Gul, Tarik Gul, Touhid Gul and Sakib Gul also extend advance loans to promote tobacco farming.