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Real wages of the workforce in different sectors either stagnated or declined in recent times largely due to soaring costs of consumption with inflation offsetting nominal pay increments, official statistics show.
   Labour leaders and an economist have pointed their finger at the lack of employment opportunities and absence of bargaining capacity of the workers, apart from the price factor, for dealing severe blows to the living of the workers.
   Things are to go from bad to worse for workers in days to come, as job scopes in the public sector industries have squeezed with jute mills— once the biggest employer in state sector — being shut down one by one, they forecast.
   The rate of increase in real wages was zero in the 2005-06 fiscal, when prices started spiralling out of commoners’ reach. The general nominal wage increase the following year [2006-07] was 7.76 per cent, running almost parallel to the inflation rate at the time, according to data released in Bangladesh Economic Review-2008.
   Data on real wages in 2006-07 and 2007-08 fiscal years are not available with the economic review, a regular annual publication of the finance ministry.
   Shahidullah Chowdhury, a labour leader, said, ‘Since the real wages are determined by cost of living, it has declined in absence of natural increase in worker’s income and also because of no upward revision of salaries by authorities concerned in recent times.’
   As per 2005 Wage Commission recommendations, the minimum pay to a state sector worker is Tk 2,450 while 45 lakh private sector workers of almost 40 sectors other than readymade garment industry are left out of its purview, he pointed out.
   ‘While the official pay structure remains inadequate, how can we expect that workers in other sectors will get living wages?’ questioned Shahidullah.
   ‘Real wages fell precisely because market does not determine them whereas policies are being pursued on the basis of assumptions that it is a free market economy, which is not free practically,’ left-leaning economist Anu Muhammad told New Age.
   Inflation, which was in his view ‘generally anti-labour’, significantly contributed to increasing woes and agonies of the working class in Bangladesh.
   However, real wages rose 20.63 per cent since 1998-99, when per capita expenditure on consumer goods and services at market prices was Tk 13,516 compared to Tk 24,600 required in 2006-07 fiscal year.
   The nominal wage rate index rose 8.52 per cent in construction sector, 7.86 per cent in agriculture, 6.35 per cent in fisheries and 7.99 per cent in manufacturing during the 2006-07 fiscal. The economic review mentioned the food inflation at 8.12 per cent the same year.
   The food inflation is 19.65 per cent for garment workers, 19.81 per cent for rickshaw-pullers and 21.12 per cent for day-labourers, according to figures revealed in ‘Bangladesh Economic Outlook’ by Shamunnay, a research organisation headed by economist Atiur Rahman.
   Furthermore, the distribution patterns of income in Bangladesh [Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2005] show the share of income of the top five per cent households was almost 27 per cent and that of the lowest five per cent was 0.77 per cent.
   General wages declined around four per cent due to higher inflation, propelled by 16 per cent food inflation in December 2007, revealed a recent study by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, the official think tank.
   It found 4.6 per cent decrease in real wage in agriculture, 2.37 per cent in manufacturing sector and 4.4 per cent in construction sector due to soaring inflation.
   ‘The real decline in the income level of the workers will be much higher than 4 per cent at present,’ said Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, a trade union leader in Khulna-Jessore industrial region and also a leader of Workers Party of Bangladesh.
   He mentioned that the real income of the labourers decreased as there were hardly any opportunities of employment and industrial production, particularly in the public sector, had slowed down alarmingly. ‘Unless an atmosphere for productive activities is created by injecting fresh funds, the workers will not get rid of the situation,’ he said.
   They commonly suggested that separate wage commissions should be formed for different sectors for fixing minimum wages and massive job creation schemes be undertaken for raising incomes of the working forces.
   Only the garment sector, which employs about 25 lakh workers, witnessed a review of the wages and other benefits and that again happened following a commotion in the export-earning sector. Still an apparel worker’s minimum wage, revised in 2006, remained below the amount set for a public sector worker a year before.
   Shahidullah, also a Communist Party of Bangladesh leader, said the workers in the private sector industries like jute, steel, textiles, ceramic and tannery had still been ignored in terms of being provided with a living wage.
   Hafiz Bhuiyan criticised the government for not allocating necessary money in the budget for sectors like jute and said it would be difficult to ensure real wages for the workers under the present circumstances.
   Anu Muhammad pointed out that most of the workforce in Bangladesh remained disorganised or unorganised as informal sectors still dominated the economy. Currently, less than 5 per cent of the employed workers are members of trade unions — a reality which lessened bargaining power of the workers, he pointed out.
   Asked if safety-net programmes, especially the minimum employment guarantee scheme, would help create new opportunities, the economics professor of Jahangirnagar University explained that if properly implemented, such programmes could narrow the gap in income opportunities although he had doubts about delivery capacity of the government.
   Bangladesh has a 4.43 crore-strong labour force of above-15 people, including almost one crore women, with agriculture employing the highest 51.69 per cent, according to Bangladesh Labour Force Survey 2002-03.

Essential goods prices increased further in the city in a week which market sources attributed to the impact of fuel price increase.
   Poor supply of commodities because of rain has contributed to the increase in goods prices, the sources said. A looming fear for flood is also putting pressure on supplies.
   Rice, pulses, edible oil, eggs, vegetables and tea were retailed for higher prices in the city markets on Friday.
   The finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, immediately after the fuel prices had been increased, told newsmen the government had studied the impact of fuel price increase on rice and found rice price had increased by Tk 0.2 a kilogram.
   Selim Ahmed, a medicine shop owner at Nakhalpara in Dhaka, said, ‘We heard the advisers arguing that the fuel price increase would not have any impact on essential goods. But the prices of all essential commodities keep rising and the traders say the increase is due to fuel price increase.’
   ‘Increased transport cost after the fuel price increase in pushing up rice prices,’ said Abu Taher, a retailer at the New Market.
   The price of coarse rice, which earlier sold between Tk 32 and Tk 36 a kilogram, increased by Tk 1 or Tk 2 in the week. The prices of fine varieties of rice, which sold for prices between Tk 39 and Tk 44 a kilogram, increased by at least Tk 2 on Friday.
   The prices of rice for pilau increased in a couple of weeks. The Kalijira and Chinigura varieties sold for prices between Tk 96 and Tk 100 on Friday, registering an increase of Tk 10 in a week and by Tk 20 in two weeks.
   Packed soya bean oil price increased by at least Tk 10 a litre. Non-packed soya bean oil price increased to Tk 118 to Tk 120 a kilogram, registering an increase of at least Tk 8 in the week.
   With two rounds of increases in two weeks, tea became dearer. A 400gm pack of Ispahani brand tea sold for Tk 80, marking an increase by 20 per cent in the period.
   Red lentils of different varieties sold between Tk 88 and Tk 110 a kilogram, up by up to Tk 8 in the week.
   Vegetable prices also increased as supplies declined because of rain and inundation of vegetable fields.
   The prices of pointed gourd (patal), teasel gourd (kakrol), okra, bitter gourd (karala) and ridged gourd (jhinga) increased by up to Tk 2 to Tk 4 a kilogram in the week. The vegetables sold for prices between Tk 20 and Tk 24 on Friday.
   Potato price increased by Tk 2 in the week and sold for prices between Tk 18 and Tk 20 a kilogram on Friday.

The Election Commission is making preparation in full gear to hold upazila elections amid the state of emergency despite strong opposition from major political parties.
   The commission issued a circular to field-level officials asking them to send lists of probable polling centres in 482 upazilas. The commission is now preparing draft rules for upazila polls. The commission in June also floated tenders to collection election related material for upazila polls.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Thursday said upazila elections were likely to be held either towards the end of August or at the beginning of October.
   Sources in the commission said the commission might hold 100 upazila polls in the first phase at the end August and the second phase of upazila polls in October.
   The commission secretariat on July 29 directed filed-level officials to submit the list of polling stations in a week to the respective deputy election commissioners.
   The deputy election commissioners will first scrutinise the list and then send it to the commission for publication. Senior
   commission officials estimated that about 50,000 polling stations would be required, the sources said.
   Electoral roll in around 300 upazilas will be readied in the third week of July, facilitating the commission’s plan to announce polls schedule for upazila councils.
   The commission will make a decision in a couple of days on the schedule announcement, Shamsul said on Thursday, adding the commission would hold polls to 250 to 300 upazilas.
   The printing of the final electoral rolls for about 111 upazilas has been completed. The final electoral rolls for
   200 upazilas will have been printed by the end of July as the printing has been expedited after field-level registration is almost completed, said officials engaged in voter registration.
   The officials at the secretariat have started preliminary tasks to draft the electoral rules and the code of conduct. After the final approval of the council of advisers, the Upazila Parishad Ordinance is now lying with the president’s secretariat.
   Once the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, promulgates the ordinance, the commission will complete the promulgation of the electoral rules and the code of conduct for upazila councils, the sources said.
   Shamsul earlier said the commission had preferred holding both upazila elections and the parliamentary polls simultaneously.

The energy and power divisions are at loggerheads over gas supply to power plants as the energy division has ‘reduced’ gas allocation for the plants, rejecting a Power Division request for more gas supply to increase power generation.
   Officials of the divisions at a meeting on Wednesday debated the gas supply issue after the Energy Division said Petrobangla would not supply more than 660 million cubic feet of gas a day to the plants as it wanted to ensure proper supply to fertiliser plants, sources present at the meeting said.
   Power officials, however, protested at the decision of ‘decreasing’ allocation of gas supply to power plants from 679mmcfd, saying power generation shortfall had already increased to about 800MW, resulting in severe power outages, because of gas supply shortage.
   Although there was a consensus among Petrobangla and the Power Development Board that power plants would get 679mmcfd of gas, the board received an average supply of only around 655mmcfd in June, power officials said.
   Power officials demanded gas supply of more than 700mmcfd to increase power generation to keep outages within a tolerable limit. The demand for gas for power plants is around 850mmcfd.
   But energy officials said Petrobangla would not supply more than 660mmcfd to power plants as any increase in gas supply to such plants would result in decrease in gas supply to fertiliser plants.
   Petrobangla now supplies about 1780mmcfd of gas, of which fertiliser plants receive 223mmcfd, industries, dwelling houses and CNG filling stations receive 883mmcfd while power plants receive about 660mmcfd.
   The demand for gas in the country is, however, about 2000mmcfd and with around 200mmcfd shortage, Petrobangla finds it hard to match the expectations of gas consumption in all the sectors.
   ‘If Petrobangla supplies 660mmcfd of gas, power generation will not be more than 3,200MW against the demand for about 5,000MW. As warmer weather is expected in August, after the monsoon, there will be severe power outages because of generation shortage,’ a high official of the division told New Age on Thursday.
   He said during April–May, the power board received gas supply of about 720mmcfd and generated around 3,600MW of power.
   ‘Now many of the board’s power units are generating less electricity because of gas shortage and some of the units have remained switched off. The board cannot generate around 8,00MW of power because of gas shortage,’ he said.
   He said the power sector had to take the blame of not generating more electricity although gas crisis was the major reason for generation shortage in recent times.
   ‘The government should clear its policy regarding gas supply to power plants,’ he said.
   The energy secretary, Mohammad Mohsin, told New Age on Thursday it was ‘not true’ that Petrobangla decreased gas supply to power plants.
    ‘In fact, Petrobangla has been supplying around 660mmcfd of gas for a few weeks. Besides, we said 660mmcfd will be the minimum supply.’
   ‘We do not have any personal interest in reducing or increasing gas supply to power plants. We cannot increase the supply to power plants as it will hamper fertiliser production.
   The government has given priority to food production. So we should not take any move that hampers fertiliser production,’ he said.
   Mohsin said few hours of power outages could be tolerated, but food crisis would bring about severe impact.
   He said if gas production increases, supply to the power plants would be accordingly increased.

Around 3.5 lakh primary schoolteachers do not know what to teach their students as the government has failed to provide them in time with manuals of the newly-introduced textbooks.
   Under the new primary education curriculum, the government has introduced new textbooks for the students from Class I to Class V between 2003 and 2006 academic years.
   The government was supposed to print and supply more than one crore copies of teachers’ manuals much before they started teaching the topics in new textbooks, but slow action and paper shortage have delayed the process, some schoolteachers and officials at the Directorate of Primary Education have told New Age.
   A government primary school teacher in the city’s Farmgate area said they were supposed to get such manuals with the textbooks before the beginning of classes as per the new curriculum. ‘I have been teaching English for 15 years, but am now facing problems with the new type of English [communicative approach],’ he said.
   ‘We are facing problems with new chapter or exercise especially in mathematics and English. Some of our colleagues are frequently locked in altercation over solution to certain exercises of mathematics,’ said another teacher of a school in the district headquarters in Barisal.
   Referring to the government callousness towards the primary education, he said, ‘The contents of textbooks were changed in 1995 and 1996 but we received the teachers’ manuals in 2003 and 2004 when there was no necessity for them.’
   Professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet said, ‘We are astonished to know that the primary education is being hampered due to shortage of papers for printing teachers’ manuals. The government is solely responsible for collecting papers any how and should take steps to print and supply it to the teachers as early as possible.’
   Primary education adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury said, ‘We have to depend on the supply of papers from the state-owned Karnaphuli Paper Mills. I know the shortage of papers and delay in printing teachers’ manuals.’
   ‘We had a plan to print and supply less than 49 lakh copies of manuals for the textbooks of Class III to Class V in 2007 but have yet to collect 1.42 lakh reams of paper from the Karnaphuli Paper Mills,’ said an official of directorate of primary education in the past week. The manuals for Classes I and II are absolutely uncertain.
   According to government statistics, more than 1.62 crore students enrolled at 80,401 primary schools and its equivalent institutions that offer education from Class I to Class V. There are more than 3.5 lakh teachers in these institutions.
   Professor M Masir Uddin, chairman of National Curriculum and Textbook Board, told New Age in the past week that as soon as they get papers they will start printing the manuals.
   ‘Manuals for Class III to Class V have been reviewed by an experts’ committee of the board. One or two copies of the guide for each textbook will be sent to every school,’ the chairman said.
   NCTB renews, modifies, and develops the curricula and produces and distributes the textbooks for the primary, secondary and higher secondary schooling.

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Friday accused the government of being hostile to the party and breach of oath.
   He said the government was filing ‘false’ cases against the party leaders and activists in the style of a ‘serial attack’ and at the same time it was getting ‘friendly’ to the Awami League.
   Delwar reacted sharply to the Anti-Corruption Commission’s filing of the latest case against the party chief Khaleda Zia, her son Tarique Rahman, and four others for embezzling Tk 2.1 crore from Zia Orphanage Trust and labelled the charge as ‘false, baseless and fabricated’.
   ‘All such cases have been filed to malign them, keep them behind bars and convict them to ensure that they are disqualified from contesting polls. They have more such readymade cases’, he said at a briefing at his Sher-e-Bangla Nagar flat.
   ‘This case has no merit. The incidents the first information report refers to took place during 1991-1996, long before this government came to power. The Awami League assumed power in the meantime and found no corruption in it. But this government filed the case under the emergency powers rules’, Delwar said.
   Delwar also criticised the formation of a fresh medical board for Tarique Rahman instead of sending him abroad for better treatment and found in it a ‘conspiracy’ to ‘ruin’ the family of Ziaur Rahman.
   He said his party wanted trial of corrupt people under regular laws so that the accused persons have chance to defend themselves. ‘We do not accept trials which are being staged under the emergency powers rules which deny an accused bail. We would not have protested if the accused persons had been proved guilty by courts after trials under regular laws’, he said.
   Referring to the comments of an adviser that the National Coordination Committee against Serious Crimes and Corruption had no validity, Delwar said, ‘If that is the case, not a single case filed by them is valid.’
   Delwar said the Awami League leaders had been treated as ‘relatives’ by the government and the Election Commission during dialogues.
   ‘The chief election commissioner looked emotional during the talks [with the AL team] and the chief adviser too showed a similar attitude to the party on Thursday.
   I do not criticise such gesture but the question is why they [government and EC] are so hostile to BNP’, Delwar said adding such ‘unfriendly attitude’ to BNP was a breach of the government’s oath.
   Delwar said the government was going beyond its constitutional jurisdiction by preparing to hold the local government polls before parliamentary elections.
   He said the BNP and its allies were opposing the plan for ‘stage-managing’ the local polls as ‘we abide by the constitution and law and respect people’s opinion.’
   The BNP secretary general also denounced the government’s decision to hike the prices of fuel oils by 23 per cent and asked it to revise the prices downwards to ease the people’s sufferings.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain wants the US military to be much larger than current expansion plans envision, an adviser to the Arizona senator said this week.
   The Bush administration has begun expanding the US army and Marine Corps to create a combined strength of around 750,000 active duty troops — a process backed by McCain’s Democratic rival, senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
   But McCain believes an army and Marine Corps with a combined strength of up to 900,000 troops is necessary, said Randy Scheunemann, an adviser to the candidate on foreign policy and national security.
   ‘Senator McCain feels the proposed increases are not sufficient. They need to be more, to fully address the challenges we face in the 21st century,’ Scheunemann told the news agency in a telephone interview.
   The US army and Marines have been severely strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many troops have served multiple tours in the war zones and currently spend only 12 months at home before they deploy again for another year.
   As a member of the US Senate’s armed services committee, McCain has built a reputation for scrutinising the costs of big weapons programmes and he has pledged to pursue that approach in the White House if he wins November’s election.
   McCain led an investigation in 2003 that killed a $23.5 billion air force plan to lease and buy Boeing Co refuelling planes. The probe sent two former Boeing executives to jail and led to the resignation of Boeing’s chief executive and two Air Force officials.
   Scheunemann said McCain wanted exhaustive reforms ‘in the way the Pentagon buys its weapons systems to make sure that we get the best weapons for the men and women in uniform and also get the best value for the taxpayer.’ But he said McCain did not expect to cut overall defence spending.
   ‘There may be cost savings but in terms of the top line (he’s) not anticipating reductions,’ Scheunemann said in the interview, conducted on Tuesday.
   The president, George W Bush, has submitted a budget of more than $500 billion for the Pentagon for the next fiscal year, which begins in October. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost some $160 billion a year on top of that.
   Iraq is the source of one of the biggest disputes between Obama and McCain, who backs the current course of leaving troop cuts generally in the hands of military commanders.
   Obama has said he wants all US combat brigades out of Iraq 16 months after he takes office — although his advisers have indicated some flexibility, saying he will seek the advice of his commanders and leave a ‘residual force’ in place.
   The United States has around 145,000 troops in Iraq and some 32,000 in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon.
   Obama has pledged to send two more combat brigades — between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers — to fight rising insurgent violence in Afghanistan.
   Democrats say Bush has neglected the war in Afghanistan to focus on Iraq while McCain backs Bush’s view that Iraq is the central front in America’s fight against Islamist militants.
   Nevertheless, Scheunemann said McCain also favoured devoting more resources to Afghanistan. But he suggested the United States and NATO needed to address broader difficulties there.
   ‘There are problems in our unity of effort, in our command structures, in the coordination between the civilian and military side as well as some shortcomings on the Afghan government side, particularly corruption and rule of law,’ he said.

Pakistan crushed a hapless Bangladesh by ten wickets in the inconsequential last Super League match in the Asia Cup after paceman Abdur Rauf took a career-best 3-24 at National Stadium here on Friday.
   The 29-year-old rattled Bangladesh’s top order to help Pakistan bowl out the visitors for just 115 in 38.2 overs after the tourists won the toss and elected to bat in overcast conditions.
   Pakistan openers Nasir Jamshed scored 52 not out and Salman Butt made an unbeaten 56 to see the home team through at a canter.
   The paltry target proved no obstacle whatsoever for the home team as Jamshed and Butt thrashed an innocuous looking Bangladesh attack to all corners of the park.
   Butt hit ten boundaries during his 62-ball knock, while Jamshed notched five boundaries and two sixes during his 56 balls.
   With nothing to play for except pride since titleholders Sri Lanka and India have already qualified for the July 6 final, Bangladesh’s batsmen never looked at ease against disciplined Pakistan bowling.
   Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik said it was the ‘complete’ performance by his team.
   ‘It’s disappointing that we could not reach the final but we still gave a complete performance against Bangladesh and ended the tournament on a high. Our bowlers were very good, especially Rauf,’ said Malik.
   Rauf, whose previous best of 3-45 came in his debut match against Zimbabwe earlier this year, had opener Nazimuddin (three), captain Mohammad Ashraful (14) and Tamim Iqbal (26) out in his incisive seven-over spell.
   Iqbal and Ashraful had the only productive stand of 41 for the second wicket. Ashraful hit Rauf for a six before edging the next ball straight to slip.
   In contrast to Malik, Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons admitted his team had rarely performed so badly.
   ‘I think the boys were already thinking of the flight back home and so gave one of their worst performances. We simply couldn’t bat and never seemed on course for a good, respectable total,’ said Siddons, a former Australian player.
   ‘Our batting was miserable and never gave us any chance in the match.’
   Alok Kapali (17) and Mushfiqur Rahim (15) offered little resistance and once Rahim was run out, paceman Rao Iftikhar struck twice with the wickets of Kapali and Mashrafee bin Murtaza (one) to finish with 2-20.
   Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal took 2-19.
   Pakistan dropped out-of-form all-rounder Shahid Afridi from the line-up which beat India on Wednesday. Malik, who missed the last match due to dehydration, returned after regaining full fitness.
   Bangladesh remained unchanged from the line-up which lost to Sri Lanka on Monday but that consistency of selection counting for nothing.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, now in the United States, may need more than eight weeks allowed by the caretaker government to complete treatment of her ears and eyes.
   She is expected to return to the country at the end of August or at the beginning of September, her personal physician, Dr Syed Modasser Ali, informed reporters at his chamber at Dhanmondi in the city on Friday.
   Hasina, also former prime minister, went to the United States for treatment of her damaged hearing after being release for eight weeks by an executive order on June 11.
   Modasser, who talked to Hasina Thursday night over telephone, said her patient needed more than eight weeks granted by the caretaker administration to complete her tests and treatment.
   The AL president was released on June 11 after 11 months in detention at a sub-jail, set up on the parliament complex, following her arrest on July 16 last year on charge of extortion.
   Hasina’s ears were badly damaged by the sound of explosions in a deadly
   grenade attack at an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in the city on August 21, 2004.
   About Hasina’s treatment, he said electronic hearing aid was affixed to her left ear during her current tour of the US but the old hearing aid in her right ear was not functioning properly.
   ‘We suspect that her right ear has been damaged
   permanently’, Modasser said adding that the condition would not have worsened if her treatment had not been delayed.
   He told reporters that the condition of her left eye was not good enough.
   He also said that Hasina’s physical condition was not better due to fluctuation in blood pressure.

Six persons were killed and two injured as a train rammed into a private car in a level crossing at Ghorashal of Palash in Narsingdi on Friday.
   The deceased were Rokeya, 50, and her daughter Sultana Yasmin, 14, Sonaban, 60, Saleha, 55, Samarthaben, 60, and the car, Yunus, 40, all residents of Kamargon at Sringagar in Munshiganj.
   Witnesses and the police said an express train from Chittagong rammed into the car headed for Ghorashal from Munshiganj, killing five on the spot. Sultana Yasmin died on her way to hospital.
   The railway police set the bodies to Narsingdi General Hospital for post-mortem examinations.
   A case was filed with the Bhairab railway police in this connection.

President Robert Mugabe said on Friday although he accepted the need for negotiations to end Zimbabwe’s crisis, the opposition must drop their claim to power and accept that he was the country’s leader.
   Returning home after an African Union summit in Egypt that called on Tuesday for him to open negotiations with the opposition of Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe struck an intransigent stance.
   ‘Tsvangirai and his group must disabuse themselves of their claim (to power), he said, adding: ‘We are open to dialogue but reality is reality and it has to be accepted... I am the president of the Republic of Zimbabwe.’
   As Mugabe arrived home, neighbouring Botswana called on the Southern African Development Community, the regional body mediating in Zimbabwe, not to recognise Mugabe’s re-election.
   Botswana was one of the most outspoken critics of Mugabe, 84, at the summit.
   But Mugabe, welcomed by thousands of cheering supporters, seemed unchastened and defiant despite unprecented African criticism of his decision to go ahead with a June 27 vote in which he was re-elected unopposed.
   In a statement apparently aimed at Botswana and Zambia, his chief regional critics, Mugabe warned his neighbours not to pick a fight. ‘If there are some who may want to fight us, they should think twice. We don’t intend to fight any neighbours. We are a peaceful country, but if there is a ...neighbouring country that is itching for a fight, ah, then let them try it.’
   Mugabe, in power since 1980, insisted that Zimbabwe’s crisis, which has ruined the economy and sent millions of refugees into neighbouring states, must be settled internally.
   ‘We are happy that the AU accepted the position that the Zimbabwean problem must be resolved by Zimbabweans through negotiations.’
   The AU summit in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh issued a resolution on Tuesday calling for talks leading to a national unity government.
   Mugabe was re-elected in an election which was condemned both inside and outside Africa after Tsvangirai withdrew because of violence which he said had killed 86 of his supporters.
   Tsvangirai has rejected talks until government-backed violence against his supporters ends. He says Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party must accept him as the rightful election winner, after a first round poll in March in which he defeated the veteran president.
   Mugabe said his land reform program, under which thousands of mostly white-owned were seized and the land redistributed, was irreversible and sanctions against Zimbabwe must be lifted.
   The program was said to be a measure to give the properties to landless blacks but critics say many of the biggest farms ended up in the hands of senior military officers and Mugabe loyalists.
   The critics say the program caused the collapse of Zimbabw’s once-prosperous economy. Mugabe blames Western sanctions.
   Botswana noted that Mugabe had ignored appeals from SADC and the UN Security Council to call off the election.
   ‘As a country that practices democracy and the rule of law, Botswana does not ... recognise the outcome of the presidential run-off election and would expect other SADC member states to do the same,’ Botswana’s foreign minister Phandu Skelemani said in a statement.
   Mugabe said he wanted South African president Thabo Mbeki to continue mediating in the Zimbabwe crisis, as he has done as the official SADC mediator since last year.
   ‘We are happy that president Mbeki continues to be the facilitator. We have said that the facilitator did nothing wrong,’ Mugabe said.
   Mbeki has been widely criticized, including inside South Africa itself, for what is seen as ineffective mediation that favours Mugabe.
   Tsvangirai says he is not satisfied with Mbeki and has called for an AU envoy to lead expanded mediation.

Sri Lankan troops captured a key Tamil Tiger rebel base in the island’s north Friday, a day after a wave of battles in the same region killed 32 rebels and two soldiers, the military said.
   Soldiers took control of Michael Base in the rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu district after three days of fighting, military
   spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
   He said casualty details were not immediately available.
   Fighting has escalated in this Indian Ocean island in recent months, with the military stepping up ground assaults and air strikes on rebels in line with a government pledge to capture rebel-held territory and crush the insurgents by the end of the year.
   Also other clashes took place in the Vavuniya, Mannar and Welioya regions bordering the rebels’ de facto northern state on Thursday, said a defence ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to government policy.
   Several battles in Mannar left 24 guerrillas and two soldiers dead, he said. Twenty-five rebels and 10 soldiers were wounded.

A leading Bangladeshi researcher on climate change has dismissed as an overstatement the doomsday projections that Bangladesh could ‘disappear under the waves by the end of the century.’
   The gloomy prediction, attributed to the US space agency NASA, was made in a recent report in the British daily the Independent.
   Dr Monirul Qader Mirza, a co-author of last year’s reputed Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change reports, suggests that the 25-metre sea level rise, as predicted by the Independent report, could be an exaggeration and had been denied by NASA.
   Writing in the editorial page of today’s issue of New Age, Mirza warns that Bangladesh will nonetheless face widespread devastation for a much smaller rise in sea levels as predicted by the Nobel Peace prize-winning IPCC.
   ‘The 25-metre sea level rise is inappropriately cited in the Independent in the name of NASA and certainly entire Bangladesh is not going to go under water by the end of this century’, writes Mirza in his article.
   A report by Johann Hari published in the Independent newspaper on June 20 observed, ‘Bangladesh, the most crowded nation on earth, is set to disappear under the waves by the end of this century’, and attributed the 25-metre sea level rise projection to reputed NASA scientist Dr James Hansen.
   According to Mirza, the NASA scientist responded to his queries on this projection via email in which he wrote: ‘I have made no such projection…it is hard to say how much would occur by 2100 – it could be a few metres’.
   ‘In my long association with the IPCC, I have not come across any literature that has particularly projected a 25-metre sea level rise by 2100,’ writes Mirza.
   Mirza, who is currently working at the University of Toronto in Canada, however, warns that ‘impacts of sea level rise on land and water, crops, livestock, human health and livelihood would be significant’, even if the extent of such a rise was far less.
   Scientists in Bangladesh have also questioned the veracity of the 25-metre sea level rise projection with many viewing it as ‘too extreme’.
   ‘Although there may be scope for upwardly adjusting the IPCC projections, I think the scientific basis of a 25-metre sea level rise projection would be quite shaky’, said Mozaharul Alam, a research fellow at the Dhaka-based Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies.

The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, had a meeting with the deputy premier and energy and infrastructure development minister of Ontario province, George Smithman, at his office on Thursday and discussed Bangladesh’s current political and economic perspective as well as Canadian investment in energy and infrastructure sectors.
   During the 45-minute meeting, Hasina mentioned Canadian investment in Bangladesh’s energy and other promising sectors, saying that Canada could make a contribution through its investment to the country’s energy sector.
   Hasina’s special assistant Dr Hasan Mahmud told the news agency over phone that the Awami League chief had said the dream of her party and of herself was to make Bangladesh a developed nation by 2020 by overcoming the challenges of the 21st century.
   Smithman agreed with Hasina’s observation that a scared and hesitant nation could not achieve the desired development. Hasina, a former prime minister, said when the Awami League had been in power, a lot of development works were ensued improving the economic condition of the people.
   Referring to the August 21 grenade attacks on her, Hasina said the Awami League time and again came under grenade and ‘terrorist’ attacks as her party was committed to eliminating terrorism and protecting human rights.
   Smithman inquired about the health condition of Hasina and said the sooner democracy was restored in Bangladesh the better for the country.
   On Thursday evening, Bangladesh caucus chairman of Canadian federal parliament and former immigration and development cooperation minister Maria Minna met Hasina at her daughter Putul’s apartment and discussed democracy and human rights situation in Bangladesh.
   During the hour-long meeting, Hasina and Minna agreed that Bangladesh and Canadian could work together in improving human rights and curbing terrorism in Bangladesh.
   Minna expressed concern over the human rights situation and alleged interference in functioning of courts in Bangladesh. She said the sooner the election was held the better for Bangladesh. She said any detraction from the December’s parliament election on any plea would not be acceptable to them.
   Dr Hasan Mahmud, Tarique Mahmud Siddique, Toronto AL president Sarwar Hossain and Ontario AL leader Faruq Hossain and Hasina’s daughter Saima Wazed Putul were present during the meeting.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants have abducted two Pakistani journalists who the militants accused of snooping on their members and positions near the Afghan border.
   The militants detained freelance reporter Pir Zubair Shah and photographer Akhtar Soomro in Ziarat village in the Mohmand region late on Thursday. ‘We detained them because they were secretly taking pictures of our people and places. Now, our council will meet and decide what to do,’ Asad, a spokesman for Pakistani Taliban, said by telephone on Friday.
   Pakistani Taliban militants linked to al-Qaeda have taken control of swathes of territory in north-western Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun regions along the Afghan border, including parts of Mohmand.
   Intermediaries were trying to get the reporters released, said a senior government officer.
   ‘We’re doing our best. We’ve sent a delegation of tribal elders to the kidnappers to get them released,’ said the official, who declined to be identified.
   The semi-autonomous tribal regions have never come under the full control of any government and security forces rarely entered the area before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
   Since then, under pressure from the United States to root militants out of sanctuaries from where they attack into Afghanistan, the government has been trying to extend its writ along the border.
   But a succession of military offensives and peace pacts has failed to stem the militants’ growing strength.
   Several Pakistani reporters covering the conflict have
   been killed. The government does not let foreign reporters into the tribal areas except on occasional trips with the military.

The 22nd annual gathering of Federation of Bangladeshi Associations in North America began at a New York hotel in the United States on Thursday evening.
   The Dhaka University vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, inaugurated the conference.
   The main three-day conference of FOBANA is set to take place on July 4-6 organised by the America-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
   Conference convener Gias Ahmed and FOBANA member secretary Hasanuzzaman Hasan gave addresses of welcome, describing the annual conference as a bridge between Bangladesh and its cultures with that of mainstream America, with the first day of the main event also marking Independence Day in the US.
   SMA Faiz called on American expatriates to project a positive image of the country: ‘You have a unique scope for spreading Bangladeshi culture throughout the world. Expatriate Bangladeshis must work together in this regard.’
   Hasanuzzaman, who is also a member of the ABCCI, told the news agency: ‘The conference includes seminars on social, economic and political matters.’
   Congressmen and senators, including Congressman Joseph Crawley, will attend the conference, he said.
   ‘The three-day event will also be marked by arts and music shows, exhibitions of Bangladeshi products and commodities, and other activities showcasing Bangladeshi culture and heritage.’
   Artistes from Bangladesh and India will perform in the shows, the FOBANA member secretary added.
   The main programme of seminars will continue till today (July 5) and the cultural functions will be held tomorrow (July 6), the concluding day of the gathering.
   ‘A good number of Bangladeshis from Canada have arrived to attend the conference, in addition to the huge assembly of American Bangladeshis,’ said Hasanuzzaman.
   George Harrison and Ravi Shankar will be awarded citations at this year’s conference for their unique roles in Bangladesh’s fight for independence, organisers said.
   A number of special guests invited from Bangladesh — Workers Party politburo member Haider Akbar Khan Rono, Ittefaq editor Rahat Khan, Naya Diganta editor Alamgir Mohiuddin, New Age editor Nurul Kabir and bdnews24.com editor-in-chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi — were among those present at the inauguration ceremony.
   A separate FOBANA conference is also being held in Dallas, Texas.

The holy Lailatul Mi’raj will be observed on July 30 as the moon of holy month of Rajab was seen in the sky of Bangladesh Friday.
   National Moon Sighting Committee on Friday took the decision. Vice-president of the committee and secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Muhammad Ataur Rahman presided over the meeting held in the conference room of the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh.
   Islamic Foundation director general M Fazlur Rahman, SPARSO chairman M Nazmul Huda Khan, principal information officer Iftekhar Hossain, acting Khatib of Baitul Mokarram National Mosque Muhammad Nuruddin and members of the moon sighting committee were present.

Females contesting for general posts in the elections to the Khulna City Corporation account for 2.14 per cent of the candidates who submitted nomination papers.
   Two hundred and eighty-one candidates have submitted nomination papers for the positions of a mayor and 31 councillors; only six of them are women, contesting the elections in the posts of general councillors, according to Khulna divisional election office.
   The election office said 15 candidates had submitted nomination papers to contest for the mayoral post and 266 candidates for the 31 councillor’s positions for 31 wards of the city.
   The office said 47 females had submitted nomination papers for 10 councillor’s posts reserved for women.
   The six female candidates contesting the polls in the post of general councillors are Jyoysna Akhter for Ward 6, Shamima Sultana Sima for Ward 7, Marufa Begum for Ward 15, Rebeka Rahman for Ward 17, Mamnura Zakir Khukumoni for Ward 19 and Rahima Jalal for Ward 23.
   Sources said Marufa Begum was the commissioner for Ward 15 and Shamimma and Mamnura were commissioners elected in the seats reserved for women.
   Joytsna, Rebeka and Rahima are involved in social welfare activities.

Iran responded on Friday to an incentives package offered by six world powers aimed at resolving a standoff over Tehran’s disputed nuclear ambitions, the official IRNA news agency said.
   The agency quoted a senior source at Iran’s Supreme National Security Council as saying the response was handed to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, but did not give any details about its content.
   The offer of economic and other incentives proposed by the six — the United States, China, Russia, Germany, Britain and France — was presented to Iran by Solana last month to try to persuade Iran to halt work they fear is aimed at making bombs.
   The Islamic Republic has said it is willing to enter talks about the offer but has repeatedly rejected demands to halt uranium enrichment, which can have both civilian and military uses.
   The long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme has sparked fears of a military confrontation and has helped send oil prices to record highs on global markets.
   ‘The Islamic Republic of Iran’s response to Solana and the (six powers’) foreign ministers was submitted to Solana by Iran’s ambassador to Brussels,’ the source told IRNA, adding it was signed by the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki.
   State radio earlier said Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, told Solana by telephone Iran would respond to a letter from the six world powers later on Friday. The two men agreed to hold more talks later this month, the radio said.
   The letter Jalili referred to formed part of the incentives package presented by Solana. His comments did not make clear how detailed Iran’s response would be.
   The incentives package says formal negotiations on the offer can start as soon as Iran suspends uranium enrichment.
   It is a revised version of an offer spurned by Iran in 2006, which included civilian nuclear cooperation as well as wider trade in aircraft, energy, high technology and agriculture.
   Jalili said Iran, which has earlier presented its own package of proposals aimed at resolving the row, had prepared its response by concentrating on common ground between the two sides and with a constructive and creative outlook.
   Analysts and diplomats say they detect a softer tone from Iran towards the nuclear incentives offer, but that this may be a bid to buy time rather than a shift to accept world powers’ key demand of a halt to uranium enrichment.
   Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for power plants but also, if refined much more, provide material for nuclear bombs.
   Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, says its nuclear programme is solely aimed at generating electricity so that it can sell more of its oil and gas.
   An Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters last month, said time was on Iran’s side.
   ‘We will review the package but not the part about enrichment freeze ... We are moving forward with our work and Iran’s nuclear capability is being constantly augmented,’ said the official, who was involved in talks with Solana in Tehran.

Biofuels have caused world food prices to increase by 75 per cent, according to the findings of an unpublished World Bank report published in The Guardian newspaper on Friday.
   The daily said the report was finished in April but was not published to avoid embarrassing the US government, which has claimed plant-derived fuels have pushed up prices by only three per cent.
   Biofuels, which supporters claim are a ‘greener’ alternative to using fossil fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions, and rising food prices will be on the agenda when G8 leaders meet in Japan next week for their annual summit.
   The report’s author, a senior World Bank economist, assessed that contrary to claims by the US president, George W Bush, increased demand from India and China has not been the cause of rising food prices.
   ‘Rapid income growth in developing countries has not led to large increases in global grain consumption and was not a major factor responsible for the large price increases,’ the report said.
   Droughts in Australia have also not had a significant impact, it added. Instead, European and US drives for greater use of biofuels has had the biggest effect.
   The European Union has mooted using biofuels for up to 10 per cent of all transport fuels by 2020 as part of an increase in use of renewable energy.
   All petrol and diesel in Britain has had to include a biofuels component of at least 2.5 per cent since April this year.
   ‘Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate,’ the report said.
   It added that the drive for biofuels has distorted food markets by diverting grain away from food for fuel, encouraging farmers to set aside land for its production, and sparked financial speculation on grains.
   But Brazil’s transformation of sugar cane into fuel has not had such a dramatic impact, the report said.
   ‘The basket of food prices examined in the study rose by 140 per cent between 2002 and this February,’ The Guardian said.
   ‘The report estimates that higher energy and fertiliser prices accounted for an increase of only 15 per cent, while biofuels have been responsible for a 75 per cent jump over that period.’

Some endangered species may face an extinction risk that is up to a hundred times greater than previously thought, according to a study released on Wednesday.
   By overlooking random differences between individuals in a given population, researchers may have badly underestimated the perils confronting threatened wildlife, it said.
   ‘Many larger populations previously considered relatively safe would actually be at risk,’ Brett Melbourne, a professor at the University of Colorado and the study’s lead author, told the news agency.
   There are more than 16,000 species worldwide threatened with extinction, according to the International Union
   for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
   One in four mammals, one in eight birds and one in three amphibians are on the IUCN’s endangered species ‘Red List.’
   In a study released on Wednesday by the journal Nature, Melbourne said the current models used draw up such lists typically look only at two risk factors.
   One is the individual deaths within a small population,
   such as Indian tigers or rare whales.
   When a species dwindles beyond a certain point, even the loss of a handful of individuals can have devastating long-term consequences, Melbourne explained.
   There are less than 400 specimens of several species of whale, for example, and probably no more than 4,000 tigers roaming in the wild.
   The second commonly-used factor is environmental conditions that can influence birth and death rates, such as habitat destruction, or fluctuations in temperature or rainfall, both of which can be linked to climate change.
   Melbourne and co-author Alan Hastings from the University of California at Davis argue that these factors must be widened in order to give a fuller picture of extinction risk.
   They say that two other determinants must be taken into account: male-to-female ratios in a species, and a wider definition of randomness in individual births and deaths.
   These complex variables can determine whether a fragile population can overcome a sudden decline in numbers, such as through habitat loss, or whether it will be wiped out.
   ‘This seems subtle and technical, but it turns out to be important,’ Melbourne said in an email.
   ‘Population sizes might need to be much larger for species to be relatively safe from extinction.’
   The new mathematical
   tool will be most useful for biologists who want to assess the survival prospects of species such as marine
   fish whose numbers can suddenly fluctuate and for which data is limited, the authors
   say.

A passenger boat sank in Myanmar’s southwest delta region earlier this week, killing 38 villagers, state media said Friday.
   The boat was travelling on the Yway River in the cyclone-hit Irrawaddy Delta when it was swamped early Tuesday morning, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
   ‘A total of 44 passengers of 82 have been saved and the remaining 38 people died,’ it said.
   The boat had been heading to Myaungmya town, about 100 miles from the country’s largest city, Yangon.
   The incident brings further grief to a region still mourning the 138,000 dead or missing after cyclone Nargis hit in early May.
   The Irrawaddy Delta is the least developed region in Myanmar and most people rely on small boats for transportation around its flooded plains.
   Thousands of people remain homeless and in need of humanitarian aid there as many buildings and rice paddies were washed away during the storm.

A police chief whose inquiry into the alleged rape and murder of a schoolgirl triggered riots in southwest China has been sacked for sparking the unrest, state media reported on Friday.
   County-level police chief Shen Guirong was stripped of his post along with Luo Laiping, a top local political official in Guizhou province, for ‘severe malfeasance’, Xinhua news agency said.
   Riots involving 30,000 people saw government buildings in Guizhou’s Weng’an county torched last weekend after local police declared the apparent drowning death of a 17-year-old girl to be a suicide.
   Protesters alleged the girl, Li Shufen, was raped and murdered by the son of a local official who had been exonerated in a police cover-up, an allegation dismissed by police.
   The firings marked a rare instance in which the government admitted official
   culpability in an outburst of unrest, which China normally blames squarely on ‘criminal’ rioters seeking to upset social stability.
   Xinhua quoted Guizhou Communist Party vice chief Wang Fuyu as saying the riots could have been avoided if Weng’an officials ‘communicated appropriately with the aggrieved people’ at the first sign of public anger.
   Local authorities also had adopted ‘rude and rough-shod solutions’ to various public disputes over demolition of homes for government projects, relocation of residents to make way for reservoirs, and other issues, the report quoted provincial party chief Shi Zongyuan as saying.

Rafael Nadal set up a third successive Wimbledon final with five-time champion Roger Federer on Friday when he defeated Germany’s Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in the semi-finals.
   Federer had earlier defeated Russia’s Marat Safin 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 to move to within one win of a record sixth consecutive Wimbledon title.
   Nadal, who came close to taking the world number one’s All England Club crown in 2007 and destroyed the top seed at Roland Garros just four weeks ago, will be bidding to become only the third man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season.
   Victory would also make the second seed the first Spanish winner of the Wimbledon men’s singles title since Manuel Santana in 1966.
   Schuettler had spent three more hours than Nadal getting to the semi-final, including tying the record for the second longest men’s match in Wimbledon history in getting past Arnaud Clement in the last eight. That was five sets taking five hours and 12 minutes spread over two days.
   On Friday, he was a set down in only 23 minutes with Nadal breaking in the first, third and seventh games to threaten a Centre Court rout. But the 32-year-old German, giving away 10 years to the Spaniard, rallied and broke Nadal to take a 2-1 lead in the second set with a wrong-footing, cross-court forehand on his way to taking a 5-4 lead.
   Nadal, however, broke in the 10th game as Schuettler served for the set and then dominated the tiebreak, taking the second set when the German watched a loose forehand drift wide.
   The four-time French Open champion then illustrated his intimidating, all-court power by unleashing a 100mph forehand in the second game of the third set before breaking the dispirited German to lead 2-1.
   Even a bloodied left knee, which he needed to gingerly ice, failed to disrupt the 22-year-old Mallorcan who comfortably stretched his lead to 5-3.
   Schuettler saved three match points in the next game but Nadal carved out three more on his next service game which he converted to victory after two hours on court when the German went wide with a weak return.

At least seven persons were killed and 20 injured when a bus carrying a bridal party veered off the Dhaka–Sylhet Highway and crashed into a roadside ditch in Brahmanbaria on Friday.
   The deceased were Mondal, 16, Osman, 18, Shamim, 14, Gedu Mia, 15, Saddam, 14, and Ruhul Amin, 15, and a five-year-old boy.
   The police said the accident took place at about 6:15pm at Baisamura under Sarail upazila, as the bus driver lost control over the steering.
   The bus passengers were returning to Satbarg under sadar upazila after attending a wedding ceremony at Shahbazpur in Sarail.
   Both the bride and the bridegroom were unhurt as they were travelling in a microbus.
   The police and fire-fighters recovered the bodies.
   The injured were admitted to different local hospitals.

Four members of Myanmar’s democratic opposition have been imprisoned for a year each for campaigning against constitutional change, party officials said Friday.
   The members of detained Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, all aged between 22 and 40, were sentenced late last month, Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy party, told the news agency.
   They were arrested for urging people to vote ‘no’ in a nationwide constitutional referendum, which was held and passed by the ruling junta in May, their party said.
   ‘We will appeal against the conviction next week. We will try to do whatever we can do for them,’ Than Pe, a senior NLD member, said.
   Nyan Win said another senior NLD member had been arrested on Wednesday without reason.
   It was unclear if the arrest related to a small bomb which exploded at the offices of the pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Association early Tuesday morning.
   A further 14 people arrested on June 19, Suu Kyi’s birthday, were still in detention, Nyan Win added.
   Myanmar has been ruled by the military junta since 1962.
   They claimed May’s referendum, carried out in the wake of a devastating cyclone which left 138,000 dead or missing, had a 98 per cent turnout with more than 92 per cent endorsing their charter.
   Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory in 1990 elections but has never been allowed to govern.