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Power outage in most rural areas have grown more frequent and longer in duration since the beginning of Ramadan as power authorities have reportedly diverted electricity to urban areas, giving rise to indignation in rural consumers.
   Frequent power outages, however, have continued in urban areas as well, despite diversion of electricity from rural areas, because of the huge gap between demand and supply.
   Enraged rural consumers in at least three places vandalised power distribution offices and blocked roads in a week after undergoing 18-20 hours of outages every day, especially during sehri and iftar and tarabi prayers.
   Local people vandalised a Palli Bidyut Samiti office in the Senbagh upazila headquarters in Noakhali on Thursday, expressing their anger at the frequent outages. People of Paglapir in Rangpur Monday night vandalised the local PBS office after undergoing outages at iftar time and during tarabi prayers.
   Power consumers at Chawk Bazar in Rangpur had blocked the Dhaka–Rangpur Highway for two hours on August 28 in protest against frequent outages.
   Rural Electrification Board officials said outages in most of its 70 PBS-powered areas peaked during Ramadan as the Power Development Board diverted electricity to urban areas to meet the additional demand there.
   ‘The demand for electricity usually peaks across the country during Ramadan, especially during sehri and iftar and tarabi prayers. The power authorities have taken steps to supply additional electricity to urban areas to prevent any unrest there, but as a result, the rural areas are suffering,’ said an REB official.
   He said most of the PBS-powered areas of the REB, which buys power from the PDB, are now getting only 20-30 per cent electricity of the total demand. ‘As a result, the consumers are suffering 18 to 20 hours of outages at present. Although the duration of outages was around 15-18 hours earlier, rural consumers have become agitated now because outages hamper religious rituals of Ramadan,’ he said.
   REB officials said the demand for electricity in the 70 PBS-powered areas of the REB that contain more than 70 per cent of the electricity consumers of the country is around 2,300MW, but the REB gets only around 1,000MW–1,200MW.
   They alleged that the six zonal chief engineer’s offices of the PDB who allocate electricity to the PBS and urban areas discriminate in allocating electricity to rural areas.
   The PDB, which generates electricity and sells it to power agencies like the REB, Dhaka Power Distribution Company and West Zone Power Distribution Company, also supplies electricity to consumers in divisional cities and some other urban areas.
   The REB’s chairman Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam told New Age on Friday the power situation in rural areas had worsened considerably in Ramadan as the people there were not getting sufficient electricity from the PDB.
   ‘We buy electricity from the PDB. If it cannot supply us with adequate electricity, what can we do?’ he said when he was asked why the power situation in rural areas had worsened to such an extent.
   ‘For example, a PBS area that needs 12MW of electricity is getting only 2MW–3MW during peak hours. The REB is not getting the amount of electricity that it should,’ he said.
   Shafiqul, however, said consumers should not attack PBS offices as the REB has no hand in allocating electricity for any area. ‘A certain quarter, which wants to embarrass the government, is behind the attacks on the PBS offices. The PBS consumers are actually the owners of each PBS, so they should not vandalise their own property,’ he pointed out.
   The PDB’s chairman Alamgir Kabir told New Age it was not ‘entirely true’ that the PDB diverts electricity meant for the REB to its own areas.
   ‘In some cases, we are forced to divert some amount of electricity to our areas. In divisional headquarters and urban areas, there are many hospitals, universities and other key installations that require uninterrupted supply of electricity and to ensure that we sometimes have to divert electricity from other areas. But the amount of power diverted is not much,’ he claimed.
   Alamgir also blamed inadequacies of the transmission and distribution lines of the REB for outages. ‘We have found that in some areas the REB’s faulty transmission lines cannot supply enough electricity. For example, we have found that in Naogaon the REB faces demand for 106MW of electricity, but it can supply only 65MW. Besides, we have requested them to replace their large feeder lines [10MG] with smaller ones [3MG] so that each area undergoes less outages,’ he said.
   Alamgir, defending his office’s bias towards urban areas, said the cities were also facing outages. ‘One can see that the capital suffers five to six hour of outages. We have a huge gap between demand and supply in every part of the country,’ he said.
   The PDB’s chairman said although they had the capacity to generate around 4,400MW of electricity at present, they were producing around 3,900MW on weekdays because of gas shortage.
   Although the PDB estimates that the demand for electricity in the country is around 4,800MW at present, the actual demand for electricity should be around 5,500MW–6000MW as per the Power System Master Plan.
   Alamgir hoped that the electricity crisis would be eased by next summer as the government plans to install some costly furnace oil-based rental power plants.

The ongoing reform project of the Bangladesh Railway has hit snags because of resistance by officials of the communications ministry who are unwilling to approve the proposed new organogram of the loss-making state-run entity.
   Sources alleged that the communications ministry has kept the approval of the proposed BR organogram and the line of business pending for the last six months, which has slowed down the overall progress of the $740 million reform project taken up in 2007.
   The communications ministry officials are objecting to the proposed organogram on the grounds that a separate division would be created if it was approved.
   They are against creation of a separate division as the proposed onganogram will empower the BR chief to be responsible to the communications minister directly, while according to the existing regulations he has to reach the minister via the communications secretary.
   Officials of Pricewaterhouse Coppers, India, consultant of the BR reform project, told a meeting of the communications ministry last month that further progress of the reform depended on approval of the line of business and the organogram, two of the most vital components of the reform project.
   The officials working for the reform project have been demobilised as there was no further work until approval of these two vital components. The proposals have remained pending since last March, according to the minutes of the meeting.
   When contacted, communications minister Abul Hossain told New Age that he had already directed the ministry’s officials to take necessary steps to implement the suggestions for reform of the BR.
   The proposed organogram and line of business were supposed to be approved by the cabinet by 31 August, 2009.
   The communications minister is, however, optimistic that the obstacle will be crossed without further delay. ‘I hope that the issues will be resolved soon,’ he added.
   Abul Hossain said his government was committed to the global lenders to expedite the ongoing reform project in order to revive the ailing railway sector.
   Turning the BR into a service-oriented entity through reforms was attempted 11 times in the past. Those attempts, however, bore no fruit because of obstacles put up by certain vested interest quarters.
   The global lender-funded ongoing reform project, titled the Bangladesh Railway Reform Project, was taken up to increase the efficiency of the constantly stumbling railway sector. Its contribution to the mass transportation system is essential to achieve the country’s goal of halving the rate of the poverty by 2015.
   The Asian Development Bank has pledged to provide the bulk of the fund with a loan amounting to $420 million. The World Bank with a loan of $200 million and the Japan International Cooperation Agency with $120 million will provide the rest of the fund needed for the five-year project.
   The Manila-based ADB has already disbursed $130 million. The second tranche of the loan is already due, but the ADB is reluctant to disburse it because of the slow progress of the reform project, said sources.
   The fund will be utilised to replace the outdated signalling system, lay new rail tracks, and procure new locomotives and coaches. The popularity and importance of the BR are declining fast because of lack of investment and negligence of the successive governments.
   The BR currently carries 13 per cent of the country’s freight and 7 per cent of the passengers, whereas its share of passengers was 70 per cent and of freight 43 per cent in the seventies, according to an ADB report released in 2005.
   The BR could not make any operational profit in last one decade.
   Moreover, there were 4,478 accidents in seven years between 2000 and 2007 or 640 a year or nearly two a day. One hundred and seventy-two people were killed in these accidents, which comes to 24 a year or two a month. One thousand two hundred and eight people were also injured, which comes to about 14 a month.
   The BR officials claimed that the ongoing reform project has been designed in such a way that its officials are liable for operational losses and flaws in service.
   Restructuring of the sick BR by changing the line of business, evaluating its assets, improving financial governance and the quality of human resources to turn it into a profitable entity are the main aims of the reform project.

Bangladesh will ask India for trade facilitation measures to reduce ballooning trade gap with New Delhi while foreign ministers of two countries will meet in the Indian capital on September 8, foreign ministry officials said.
   Apart from focusing on trade, foreign minister Dipu Moni will request her Indian counterpart SM Krishna to resolve the issue of equitable sharing waters of common rivers, especially that of signing a deal on river Teesta.
   Since the Awami League-led grand alliance assumed office on January 6, this will be the second foreign minister-level meeting between the two next door-neighbours, which have a number of contentious issues unresolved for decades.
   Pranab Mukherjee, the then Indian external affairs minister, visited Bangladesh on February 9, on a single-day trip.
   ‘Dipu Moni’s trip between September 7 and 10 will also do the ground work for prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s planned visit to the Indian capital later this year,’ said an official of the ministry.
   According to the tentative schedule, Bangladesh foreign minister will call on Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on September 8.
   Dipu Moni also has plans to meet Indian Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi and railway minister Mamta Banerjee on September 9.
   Mukta D Tomar, the acting Indian high commissioner in Dhaka on Thursday had a meeting with the concerned foreign ministry official on the preparation of Bangladesh foreign minister’s planned New Delhi trip.
   About Dhaka’s proposal for trade facilitation measures, trade officials said that Bangladesh would once again request India to open its market further and allow more duty-free access of Bangladeshi products in the biggest South Asian market.
   Commerce ministry officials, however, are sceptical of getting any specific outcome from this trip in regards to reduction in trade gap, given the history of previous such talks at various levels.
   India’s previous duty-free market offers for eight million of Bangladeshi garments remained largely unutilised as New Delhi later imposed additional countervailing duty in the name of protecting its domestic producers, an official pointed out.
   Bangladesh would repeat the request for resolving the long-pending issue of water sharing, considering proposals of connectivity with landlocked Bhutan and Nepal through Indian territories.
   Dwelling on the issue of transit and transhipment, a communication ministry official said India had so far given several proposals including the latest two — Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala direct bus service in 2006 and using Bangladesh territory for carrying heavy equipment for a power plant in Tripura in 2007.
   ‘Apart from the above two proposals, India has long been pressing Bangladesh to allow it access to Chittagong port using Ashuganj as port of call as part of a multi-modal transport arrangement and introduce Kolkata-Narayanganj container train service,’ said the official.
   Responding to a query about the port of call, he said at present Indian goods are being carried to Bangladesh thorough river route and India wants to carry goods up to its north-eastern state of Tripura either by rail or road.
   Home ministry officials said New Delhi had so far proposed at least four deals for mutual cooperation in addressing terrorism and signing extradition treaty.
   An Indian external affairs ministry official recently toured Dhaka to do the spadework for Dipu Moni’s Delhi visit.
   As part of their consistent diplomatic manoeuvre, TS Tirumurti, joint secretary (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives) of the Indian external affairs ministry, visited Dhaka on August 22-23 to discuss pending issues with Bangladesh officials.

With the induction of a number of stalwarts in the party’s advisory council, the ruling Awami League is planning to make its ornamental body more effective, senior party leaders told New Age.
   ‘The party is planning to get the advisory council members more involved in the party activities,’ AL presidium member, Matia Chowdhury, said.
   The constitutionally recognised party think-tank is designated to give advice and directions to the party on various issues. But in practice, the 41-member council remained almost inactive for years as none in the party could say when its last meeting was convened.
   This time round the ruling party opts to take the service of a number of AL veterans, who dominated the party for decades and were dropped from the policy-making body and inducted in the advisory council after the party’s national council on July 24.
   AL’s influential leaders, including Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta and Abdul Jalil are now members of the advisory council. In the previous committee, they all were members of the party’s highest policymaking presidium.
   According to the AL constitution, the advisory council will conduct research, evaluative and observational work on political, economic and social issues and, from time to time, provide information, data and statistics to help prepare party statements, comments and publications.
   ‘The party president Sheikh Hasina will sit with the advisory council soon and I hope she will pay attention to their advices,’ Matia, also the agriculture minister, said.
   She, however, said the party had not taken any decision to this effect as no meeting of the party’s central working committee was held at yet.
   AL’s acting general secretary, Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, said that the party had a plan to get the services of the advisory council members, who were not closely involved in its activities and policymaking in the past.
   ‘The party will consider their assessment and observations seriously since the advisory council was formed with experienced leaders,’ he said.
   AL advisory council member, Abdul Jalil, told New Age that he had not yet seen any reflection of the statements of some party leaders in reality.
   Jalil, who stepped down as the AL general secretary on July 21, said, ‘Let us see to what extent they could get involved in the party’s policymaking affairs.’
   The Awami League named 20 persons in its 41-member advisory council and the rest 21 posts are still vacant. The party president is expected to announce the names of the other advisers shortly.
   Party heavyweights, who have been dropped from the party’s presidium, were seen beside the party president, Sheikh Hasina, also the prime minister, at several discussion meetings last month but no formal meeting between the party chief and the advisory council was held after its formation.
   As per party constitution, any member of the advisory council could convene its meeting at the suggestion of the party president who would preside over the meeting.

The World Climate Conference-3 concluded in Geneva Friday with a decision to create a global framework for climate services to help the global community better adapt to the challenges of the climate variability and change.
   The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, Friday chaired the high-level segment of the World Climate Conference.
   The WCC-3 decided to form the Global Framework to strengthen production, availability, delivery and adaptation of science-based climate prediction and services.
   The conference also requested the WMO secretary general to convene within four months of the adoption of the declaration an intergovernmental meeting of member states of the WMO to approve the terms of reference and endorse the composition of a taskforce of high-level, independent advisers to be appointed by the WMO secretary general with due consideration of expertise, geographical and gender balance.
   It further decided that the taskforce will, after wide consultation with governments, partner organisations and relevant stakeholders, prepare a report, including recommendations on proposed elements of the framework, to the WMO secretary general within 12 months of the taskforce being set up.
   The declaration said the report should contain findings and proposed next steps for developing and implementing a framework.
   It said the report of the taskforce shall be circulated by the WMO secretary general to member states of the WMO for consideration at the next WMO Congress in 2011 with a view to the adoption of a framework and a plan for its implementation.
   At the concluding day of the global climate meet, Hasina had bilateral talks with World Meteorological Organization secretary general Michel Jarraud and vice-president of Colombia Francisco Santos Calderon in the CICG meeting room on the sidelines of the conference.
   Prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed newsmen after the meeting.
   The WMO secretary general highly praised Hasina’s speech delivered at the conference Thursday.
   Michel Jarraud said Hasina’s speech would greatly help the international community face the disastrous impacts of global climate change.
   Hasina’s speech played a significant role in the conference in identifying the problem fields and planning solution strategy and plans for combating the challenges of climate change, Jarraud said.
   Both Hasina and Jarraud agreed that Bangladesh and WMO should exchange information on weather situations and developments to take the most effective and timely decisions and measures to protect the people from suffering any damages due to natural calamities.
   They said it would not be possible to address the climate change challenges by a single country or organisation. Instead, regional and international cooperation and mutual efforts are the only way to cope with the climate change issues.
   Hasina told the WMO secretary general that her government will modernise Bangladesh’s meteorological department introducing the latest technology and systems.
   The WMO secretary general said Bangladesh and its people had already proved their expertise and capacity to adapt to various natural calamities.
   In this context, the Bangladesh prime minister mentioned the last Awami League government’s success in tackling the devastating 1998 flood in the country and the recent attack by cyclone Aila.
   At the meeting, the WMO secretary general also expressed the organization’s willingness to arrange training facilities to Bangladesh for attaining more expertise on weather forecasting and disaster management.
   Later, vice-president of Colombia called on the Bangladesh prime minister on the sidelines of the conference.
   They discussed various bilateral and international issues, including global warming and world peace.
   Hasina told the vice-president of Colombia that Bangladesh always believes in national, regional and global peace.
   Foreign minister Dipu Moni, state minister for forest and environment Hasan Mahmud, ambassador M Ziauddin, principal secretary to the prime minister MA Karim and foreign secretary Mijarul Quayes were present on the occasion.
   On Friday evening, Hasina attended a reception given by the Bangladesh community living in Switzerland and other European countries at her hotel ballroom.
   The prime minister and her entourage are scheduled to leave Geneva for home at 10:30pm (local time) on September 5 and expected to reach Dhaka at 1:00pm (BST) on September 6.

Effects of climate change on the country’s farm sector have not been assesses and mitigation efforts not determined precisely although extreme weather events are taking their toll on Bangladesh’s agriculture, heavily dependent on climate conditions.
   Almost all the sub-sectors of agriculture — crops, fisheries, livestock, water resources bio-diversity and livelihoods — are exposed to climate change effects, say experts on the basis of available research forecasting the impacts in various ways and degrees at different parts of the country.
   Much delayed and less-than-average monsoon rain badly affected rice farming in Bangladesh this year and fears of flash floods either delayed or made uncertain more than one crops. Climate change is likely to reduce agricultural productivity by at least 30 per cent in counties such as Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable to global warming.
   ‘The high incidence of poverty and heavy reliance of poor people on agriculture and natural resources increase their vulnerability to climate change,’ observed the draft Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, now awaiting approval by the cabinet.
   But, Bangladesh is yet to firm up the details of its agenda for the yearend global environment meet in Copenhagen, said sources in the environmental ministry.
   Officials are yet to decide whether the country’s position paper would concentrate on demands for reparation for damage to environment and livelihoods, including agriculture, of its people, or it would raise voice in favour of common causes of vulnerable countries.
   The initiatives taken so far by the agriculture ministry, which deals with farm sector, are limited to literatures that touched on the ideas such as floating vegetable gardens and issues of agricultural research programmes to develop high-yielding crop varieties which are tolerant of salinity, drought and flood.
   Even with the best efforts to mitigate climate change, it is inevitable that poor farmers will be affected, notes a recent paper on ‘Agriculture and Climate Change: An Agenda for Negotiation in Copenhagen’ prepared by International Food Policy Research Institute, which could not predict exactly what would be effects on agriculture.
   ‘Water sources will become more variable, droughts and floods will stress agricultural systems, some coastal food-producing areas will be inundated by the seas, and food production will fall in some places in the interior,’ reads the research paper.
   The IFPRI paper stressed the importance of serious negotiations at the 15th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December in view of the needs of mitigation and adaptation funding to support the people who are dependent on agriculture, especially in poorer countries.
   Economic costs associated with natural disasters, including extreme weather events, have increased 14-fold in agriculture since the 1950s, an expert of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation told the World Climate Conference now being held in Geneva.
   The challenges of chronic and acute weather impacts need greater attention at a time when agriculture has an increased role to play in the supply of food, animal feed, fibre and energy, said Alexander Mueller, an assistant director-general of the global body. Agriculture still is the principal livelihood of 70 per cent of the world’s poor.
   ‘Climate change is likely to deal severe blows to Bangladesh’s agriculture. We don’t know yet exactly what will be adverse effects, especially on livelihoods,’ said Khawaja M Minnatullah, a climate change expert at the World Bank Dhaka office.
   He suggested that national programmes on mitigation and adaptation of climate change targeting agriculture should focus on cropping in coastal areas, protection of Sunderban, salinity intrusion, droughts and fall in underground water level, environment in char and haor areas, and soil erosion in Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, has convened an emergency meeting of its parliamentary party for tonight.
   The meeting has been convened at 10:30pm at the Gulshan office of Khaleda, also leader of the opposition in the parliament, to devise BNP’s strategies for the next session of the parliament beginning on Septem- ber 7.
   The opposition chief whip, Zainul Abdin Farroque, told New Age Friday night that the meeting would decide whether the party would join the session or not.
   BNP boycotted the first session of the parliament over a dispute over distribution of seats in the front row and stayed away from the second session
   protesting at the speaker’s ‘biased role’ and his not allowing the opposition members to speak on important national
   issues, ‘indecent remarks’ made by some treasury bench members on the leader of the opposition and non-implementation of two agreement signed by the treasury bench and opposition.

Condemnation of Wednesday’s police attack on anti-gas export protesters continued to pour in with more organisations and platforms of university teachers demanding proper investigation of the incident and punishment to the persons responsible.
   In separate statements they termed barbaric the attack on professor Anu Muhammad and others and called for a judicial enquiry into the incident to find out the culprits.
   Dhaka University Teachers’ Association, the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association, white panel of Dhaka University teachers, Bangladesh Economic Association and Bangladesh Jubo Union issued statements on Friday condemning the attack on the campaigners for protecting national resources.
   Professor Anu Muhammad, who teaches economics at Jahangirnagar University, was among some 50 persons injured in the police attack on demonstrators of National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port in the capital on Wednesday.
   He is the member-secretary of the committee that denounces the government’s decision to award three offshore gas blocks to two international oil companies with a provision for exporting 80 per cent of the gas to be extracted.
   The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association in a press release signed by Khanader Bazlul Haque and ABM Obaidul Islam said, ‘We strongly condemn the barbaric attack on Anu Muhammad and 50 other protesters.’
   They demanded proper investigation into the incident for ensuring exemplary punishment to those involved in the ‘atrocities’.
   The white panel of Dhaka University teachers demanded a judicial enquiry into the barbaric attack on Anu Muhammad and others who were protesting against the government’s ‘wrongdoing’.
   ‘The police attack on the protesters is a manifestation of fascist attitude of the government,’ they said.
   Bangladesh Jubo Union asked the government to revoke immediately its decision to give the three offshore blocks to two companies – ConocoPhillips of the US and the Irish Tullow Oil.
   The organisation also called on the government to take stern action to stop ‘unabated extortion, terrorism and corruption’ without any further delay.

Dhaka will take time for resuming negotiation with Washington for inking Trade and Investment Framework Agreement as some clauses of the draft proposal are considered harmful for Bangladesh.
   Officials of commerce and foreign ministries said before entering into fresh negotiation, they would seek opinion from the prime minister as well as weigh the experiences of other countries which have signed the TIFA.
   ‘We will seek opinion of prime minister Sheikh Hasina whether we should resume next round of negotiation with the United States on TIFA,’ Firoz Ahmed, commerce secretary told New Age on Wednesday.
   The commerce ministry could not give final decision on the next course of action on the latest draft of the deal.
   Foreign ministry officials said that the issue of TIFA would not come up prominently during Bangladesh foreign minister’s planned bilateral talk with her American counterpart on September 16 in Washington.
   ‘We are not in a position to firm up the details of our views before the foreign minister’s meeting with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton,’ said a foreign ministry official.
   The official, however, said that they were yet to receive the latest proposal from Washington on TIFA.
   According to commerce ministry officials, the United States Trade Representative’s office sent a new draft to the commerce ministry incorporating a number of disputed clauses, some drawn straight from the original draft of 2003.
   The last and third round negotiation on TIFA was held in Dhaka in February 2005, preceded by two other rounds in March 2004 and August 2003.
   The United States has concluded TIFA with a number of countries to enhance trade and economic ties with global partners.
   Officials said that the United States agreed to drop those clauses at the insistence of Dhaka during the final negotiation.
   ‘As we feel that some clauses might appear harmful for Bangladesh, particularly in respect of export, we are in dilemma about resumption of further negotiation,’ said an official.
   Washington has incorporated issues of protection of intellectual property rights, workers rights and environment concerns into the fresh draft, which might jeopardize Dhaka’s trade interest in the single biggest export market, officials said.
   The priorities Washington incorporated into the last TIFA draft were not included in the initial draft, which took almost a final shape at the third-round negotiation in February 2005.
   The clause relating to formation of a joint working group under the proposed US-Bangladesh Council on Trade and Investment has been dropped from the new draft which would also undermine Dhaka’s interest in eliminating non-tariff barriers.
   The draft also includes clauses on labour, intellectual property rights and environment issues which on agreement of both the parties were removed from the final draft negotiated in 2005.
   These proposals undermine the urgency of Bangladesh’s interest in eliminating non-tariff barriers, often faced by Bangladeshi exporters to the US market in the name of labour standards, working conditions, wages and labour rights.
   For the setting up of the US-Bangladesh Council on Trade and Investment, the US trade office proposed inclusion of representatives of both the private sector and civil society in the body while they earlier proposed inclusion of the private sector representatives.

NATO launched an air strike on two fuel tankers hijacked by Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan, sparking a huge blast that killed up to 90 people, including 40 civilians, Afghan officials said Friday.
   Militants seized the two trucks, which were delivering fuel to NATO forces, around midnight near the village of Omar Khel in Kunduz province, and the alliance launched an air strike when the Taliban fighters stopped the vehicles at a river crossing, police chief Gulam Mohyuddin said.
   One police official estimated at least 90 people were killed, and that 40 of them were civilians, including some who were receiving fuel being distributed by militants at the crossing. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity over the issue of civilian deaths in the Afghan conflict.
   Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar of Kunduz also reported 90 dead, but gave no breakdown.
   NATO confirmed that there was an air strike in Kunduz overnight but gave no details. A spokesman said the coalition was investigating the incident.
   Omar said the dead included the Taliban commander for several Kunduz districts, Abdur Rahman, several other senior Taliban and four Chechen fighters.
   ‘Abudur Rahman is a very dangerous man,’ the governor said. ‘I hope that the death of Abdur Rahman will have a positive effect on Kunduz city.’
   Officials said that at least 12 people were hospitalised.
   Omar said villagers heard jets before the tankers exploded, but that some of them thought the tankers had been hit by rocket-propelled grenades. He said most of the bodies were badly burned.
   The hijackings are a symptom of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, has assured the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, of continuous UN support for further strengthening democracy in Bangladesh.
   ‘The UN support for strengthening democracy in Bangladesh will continue in future,’ he said when Hasina met Ban Ki Moon at Palais des Nations in Geneva on Thursday.
   During the meeting, the UN secretary general invited the PM to attend a special UN conference of 25 countries to be held on September 22 in New York ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, said press secretary to the prime minister, Abul Kalam Azad, after the meeting.
   Recalling his meeting with Mujibur Rahman in 1972, Ban Ki Moon described Bangabandhu a towering personality and praised his farsighted leadership.
   The UN secretary general also lauded the commendable role of Hasina, specially for the poor and general masses. He said, ‘You would be a world leader from the national leader for your commitment to democracy and for bringing welfare of the people.’
   Besides, Hasina also thanked Ban Ki Moon for his commendable role in restoration of democracy in Bangladesh. In this context, she specially mentioned the UN support for holding a free, fair and credible election in Bangladesh.
   Ban Ki Moon also appreciated different development programmes in Bangladesh in human resources development, women empowerment, health and infrastructure development under the dynamic leadership of Hasina.
   He also lauded Hasina’s role in the climate change issue to ensure a safe world for the next generation.
   The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, state minister for environment, Hasan Mahmud, principal secretary, M A Karim, foreign secretary, Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, and permanent representative, Abdul Hannan, was present on the occasion.
   Later, Ms Helen Clark, administrator of the united nations development programmes, called on Hasina at her Hotel Suit here.
   During the meeting, Ms Helen congratulated Hasina for her assumption of office as the prime minister through a free, fair and credible election.
   Sheikh Hasina, in reply, also thanked the UNDP for its support for restoration of democracy in Bangladesh through holding a peaceful and credible poll in Bangladesh.
   In these connections, the PM said desired development was not taken place in Bangladesh as the military rulers ruled the country for a long time.
   Referring to the climate change issue, the UNDP administrator assured Hasina of its additional support for adaptation and mitigation programmes of the government for facing challenges of climate change.
   Helen also thanked Hasina for successfully tackling the devastating floods of 1998.
   About the CHT issue, Hasina said her previous government had solved the problems politically and peace had been established in Chittagong Hill Tracts following the signing of peace accord.
   She said the present government is relentlessly working for socio-economic development of Bangladesh to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of people.

H1N1 flu has killed at least 2,837 people but is not causing more severe illness than previously and the virus has not mutated, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
   The WHO is carefully monitoring the virus to detect any mutation which might signal that it has become more deadly.
   ‘There is no sense that the virus has mutated or changed in any sense,’ WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing.
   ‘We are continuing to see increased number of deaths because we are seeing many, many more cases.’
   About a quarter of a million cases have been laboratory-confirmed worldwide, but this is far fewer than the true number according to the United Nations agency which has stopped requiring countries to report individual cases.
   A WHO weekly statement on the latest strain, commonly known as swine flu, is expected later on Friday. The agency’s previous update of August 28 showed at least 2,185 deaths.

Bangladesh’s exports to SAARC states and Myanmar have declined by nearly 20 per cent over the year, in spite of much-trumpeted efforts to explore neighbouring markets for local products.
   The latest evaluation report of the Export Promotion Bureau also revealed that only 2.53 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports went to neighbouring markets in the 2008-09 fiscal year.
   Bangladesh’s neighbours’ bought only 3.32 per cent of the country’s exports in the 2008-2009 fiscal year fiscal year.
   Bangladesh’s export revenue stood at $15,565 million, but exports earnings from SAARC and Myanmar totalled only at $393 million n the previous fiscal year, said the EPB’s report.
   Exports to India, which buys almost three-fourth of Bangladesh’s products sold to neighbouring markets, declined over the year by about 23 per cent to $277 million.
   Exports to Pakistan declined by 3 per cent to $187 million, to Bhutan by 55 per cent to $0.7 million, to Myanmar by 4 per cent to $9.2 million and to Sri Lanka by more than 3 per cent to $18.7 million
   Exports to Nepal, however, increased by 7 per cent to $7.6 million, to Afghanistan by 38 per cent to $3.7 million and to the Maldives by 72 per cent to $0.14 million.
   Bangladeshi exporters said they still face para-tariff barriers in India which has great potential for buying local garments.
   A symbolic duty-free access to India given to Bangladeshi garments two years back made many apparel manufacturers excited about the huge market there, recalled Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
   ‘But whimsical delays in giving clearance to garment consignments in Indian ports and 17 per cent Indian internal tax have discouraged local exporters,’ said Parvez.
   Trade and market experts, however, say that Bangladesh’s government and industries need to put in more effort and evolve effective strategies to promote local goods in SAARC countries.
   The latest evaluation report of the Export Promotion Bureau also pointed out that only 2.53 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports were destined for neighbouring markets in fiscal year 2008-2009.
   In the 2007-08 fiscal year, shipments to neighbouring markets earned only 3.32 per cent of the entire export revenue that year, according to the report.
   Though the Indian market for apparels is estimated at more than $30 billion, Bangladesh could only export garments worth a measly sum of $12 million.
   Less than one per cent of Bangladesh’s apparel shipments were destined for India in fiscal year 2008-2009.
   According to the EPB’s report, Bangladesh shipped fertilisers worth $47 million, frozen fish (mainly hilsha) worth $35 million, betel nuts worth $10 million, raw jute worth $29 million and jute goods worth $49 million to India in the last fiscal year. Agro-processed foods and light engineering products are also significant export items to India.
   The major exports to Pakistan are raw jute, tea and betel leaves; to Nepal fertilisers and dry-cell batteries; and to Sri Lanka fertilisers, furnace oil and garments.
   Top exports from Bangladesh to Afghanistan are tea and pharmaceuticals, and to Myanmar fertilisers, furnace oil, spices, cement and stainless steel.
   ‘Bangladesh’s export performance in all the neighbouring markets is really disappointing,’ said Annisul Huq, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s president.
   When it was pointed out that there still remained many non-tariff and infrastructural barriers to gain a foothold in neighbouring markets, especially India, Annis said, ‘Bangladesh’s industries and the government need to work harder to acquire markets in neighbouring countries.’
   ‘A focussed approach is a precondition for gaining a foothold in any market,’ said Debashish Niyogi, managing director of Bangladesh’s subsidiary of the Mumbai-based Marico.
   The top executive of Marico, which has conquered Bangladesh’s coconut oil market in less than a decade, categorically suggested that Bangladeshi companies need sustained effort in developing brands, supply-side capacity and expansions of markets.
   Mustafa Abid Khan, an economist and former deputy chief of the Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute, said that although infrastructural and non-tariff barriers were there, Bangladeshi exporters were yet to launch an effective marketing programme.
   ‘Unlike the situation in the US and UK, it is the small importers in India and Pakistan who import Bangladeshi goods, so our exporters should concentrate on showcasing products which are within their reach,’ he said.

The finance minister, AMA Muhith, on Friday said the apparel exporters’ demand to give the Tk 30 billion from the government’s incentive package to pay workers wages and allowances ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr is ‘unacceptable’.
   Speaking to the news agency on telephone from Sylhet, Muhith said the economic support package has simply nothing to do with payment of wages and bonus to workers.
   ‘In no way, their demand can be accepted,’ he asserted.
   The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association on Thursday asked the government for a Tk 30 billion (3,000 crore) incentive package by Sep 7 even though the readymade garment sector achieved four percent export growth in the last fiscal year
   ‘With the Eid-ul-Fitr approaching, BGMEA has to cater for a 5,000 crore taka (Tk 50 billion) incentive package to give away to the sectoral employees and workers before the festival,’ said BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedi said at a news conference.
   Murshedi also demanded an additional Tk 10 benefit per dollar during exchange on 30 percent of the total export costs, minimum five percent subsidy on the interests accrued on the debts in the RMG sector and Tk 10 per litre of diesel until power and gas supply situations improved.
   Muhith, commenting on the demand for compensation for losses due to power and gas crisis, said, ‘Such a demand from them ahead of the Eid is not all a good sign.’
   ‘The demand that they are making in the name of gas and power crisis is not acceptable. Power and gas crises are not new in this country. We are making all-out effort to tide over the crisis.’
   The BGMEA chief had claimed that there was a 15-20 per cent cut in the first two months’ exports this year compared with last year and that’s why many factory owners cannot pay their workers duly.
   Garment workers staged demonstrations in Dhaka over the BGMEA’s remarks and sought assurance on payment of wages and allowances before Eid.
   ‘It is really scary for workers. From suggestions that pay and bonus might be available before Eid, it is normal to stage demonstrations,’ Muhith said.
   ‘But everyone has to make sure that no instability creeps up.’
   BGMEA leaders said they would not take the responsibility of any unrest due to the workers’ anger over not receiving pay and bonus.
   On the stimulus package, Muhith said, ‘The taskforce that was formed to counter the recession will sit in its second meeting in a few days.’
   ‘The meeting will decide which sectors will receive money from Tk 5000 crore [allocated in the budget for the recession-hit sectors] fund.’
   ‘We are always observing the world situation. Many countries are already emerging out of the recession. It is a good sign.’

Michael Jackson was laid to rest on Thursday at a funeral attended by family and celebrities, more than two months after the pop star died at age 50 of a drug overdose that has been ruled a homicide.
   Tight security kept fans, reporters and even aircraft well away from the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, where Jackson will lie in the stellar company of such Hollywood icons as Walt Disney and Humphrey Bogart.
   Jackson’s family arrived at the cemetery more than an hour late, driven in a procession of nearly 30 limousines and cars that passed a small crowd of fans and onlookers.
   The singer — who sold millions of albums worldwide with hits such as ‘Thriller’ and ‘Billie Jean’ — died of a drug overdose on June 25 in what the Los Angeles County Coroner said was a homicide.
   Officials said a cocktail of prescription medication, including the powerful aesthetic propofol and sedative lorazepam were the primary causes of his death.
   The police have investigated several doctors who treated Jackson, focusing on his personal physician, Conrad Murray, who was at his bedside when he suffered a heart attack in a rented Los Angeles mansion.
   Murray was hired by concert promoter AEG Live in the weeks before Jackson’s death to watch over him as he rehearsed for a series of comeback concerts in London, scheduled to start in July. Those concerts were to have helped the singer pay off debts and shore up his finances.
   The police have said they will seek criminal charges in the case but so far officials have not filed any.
   But scandal was likely far from the minds of the Hollywood celebrities who attended the service, including actress Elizabeth Taylor, child star Macaulay Culkin and Jackson’s ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley.
   Jackson’s final resting place is a crypt in the Grand Mausoleum, a vast, mock-Renaissance building on the stately property. His body had been kept at the cemetery since his public memorial service at a basketball arena in downtown Los Angeles on July 6.
   The Jackson estate will reimburse the Glendale Police Department for its expenses, estimated at up to $150,000. The city of Los Angeles absorbed the estimated $1.4 million cost of the memorial service.

Garment workers’ rights bodies on Friday held demonstrations in the capital, demanding payment of all dues and Eid bonus of the workers before Eid-ul-Fitr.
   The owners of the garments factory owners were hatching conspiracy to deprive the workers of their salaries and Eid bonus in the name of incentive package of the government.
   The adviser of the Garments Sramik Trade Union Centre, Montu Ghosh, president Iddris Ali and general secretary KM Ruhul Amin in a press statement said the owners of the garments factory are saying that they would not be able to pay the salary and Eid bonus of the workers before Eid-ul-Fitr if they do not get incentives from the government.
   The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association on Thursday asked the government for a Tk 30 billion (3,000 crore) incentive package by September 7 even though the readymade garment sector achieved four per cent export growth in the last fiscal year.
   The labour leaders demanded payment of the Eid bonus equal to month salary before September 16, otherwise they will announce greater movement, they warned.
   The Bangladesh Garments Workers Unity Council held a rally and brought out a procession in Muktangan, pressing home the demands.
   Chaired by the leader of the combine Mohammad Selim Reza, the rally was addressed, among others, by its coordinator Amirul Haque Amin, Salahuddin Showpan amd Shafia Parvin.
   Another faction of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Unity Council also held a separate rally in Muktangan.
   They also called on the garment factory owners to refrain from any conspiracy to deprive the workers of their salary and bonus before Eid.
   Chaired by Serajul Islam Roni, the rally was addressed, among others, by its leaders Rokeya Sultana Anju, Delwer Hossain and Touhidur Rahman.

The activist of Bangladesh Chattra League vandalised three rooms belonging to activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal at Poet Nazrul Islam Hostel at Government BL College campus in Khulna city Thursday night.
   They also set fire to the belongings including beddings, cloths and books, said sources in the hall of residence. The hostel superintendent, Noor Mohammad, said everything in the three rooms was burnt by a group of students. The resident students of the rooms had managed to flee the scene, sensing attack by the BCL activists, he said.
   According to the hall sources, the JCD activists had left the dormitories and taken shelter in different private student dormitories.
   Eyewitnesses said the BCL activists attacked the rooms with iron rods, ram daos, sticks and machetes. They moved on the roads in front of the hostels between 8:00pm and 11:00pm carrying the weapons while policemen and some teachers were nothing but viewers.
   According to the sources, the incident came as a sequel to an event in Dhaka where two BCL activists of the college were earlier roughed up by a former JCD activist of the College.
   The college principal, Professor Ahmed Reza, told New Age that BCL activists attacked the rooms and he was yet to visit the rooms.