EC GIVES HOPE TO BANGLADESHI EXPORTERS With the expiry of multi-fibre arrangement (MFA) by the end of 2004, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules will be applied in international trading. It means the quota system that ensures a certain level of export for Bangladesh will also go. Bangladesh and other least developed countries (LDCs) have requested the EC to provide them with 30 per cent quota facility for readymade garments, rice, sugar and some other low technology based export items. Bangladesh feels that without the quota system, Bangladeshi...

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MANAGEMENT PROBLEM The onion reports: Bill Tepfer, an associate service-department manager at Shademaster Tent & Awning Supply, was ordered by his supervisor Monday to determine the party responsible for not flushing the second-floor toilet. We had a similar crisis in our office recently when we were even thinking of puting up a notice containing demo "How to use toilet". Seems like this is a global crisis and much efforts and policies are needed to tackle this sensistive iss...

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Wringed and unable to breathe by Wal-Mart There is an article in The Seattle Times, which describes how Wal-Mart is pressing its third world suppliers to supply the shirts and sorts it sells by millions at a lower price. Bangladeshi factory owners say Wal-Mart and other retailers have asked them to cut prices by as much as 50 percent in recent years. One apparel manufacturer described a visit from a Wal-Mart buyer who showed him a European-made garment that retailed for $100 to $130. The buyer asked the Bangladeshi to produce a knockoff for...

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A PRAYER Let us raise our hands and pray to the Almighty for peace, for a world free from hatred and terrorism: O Lord! Keep us alive with the peace And enter us into the Abode of peace Blessed is Thee; O our Lord! Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where, there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sickness, jo...

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EID GREETINGSI take this opportunity to wish every person I can reach with this weblog a happy Eid. Let the festivity touch everybody and let us hope for a peaceful coexistence of people of all color, religion and race in the world without hatred or friction.Eid is a Muslim festival. After the month of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and abstinence, on the first day of the month Shawwal, Muslims celebrate Eid, which means 'festivity' in Arabic. This Eid is called Eid-ul-Fitr (first of the two in a year), which is the celebration of Allah's...

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QUOTES OF THE DAY To live is to war with trolls in heart and soul. To write is to sit in judgement on oneself. - Henrik Ibsen The interest of a writer and the interests of his readers are never the same and if, on occassion, they happen to coincide, this is a lucky accident. - W. H. AUDE...

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DEAR BANGLADESH This is the title of an article in JEWSWEEK written by Richard L. Benkin who portrays the real Bangladesh and its potentials when it is usually wrongly portrayed as a Muslim country where fundamentalists mullahs dominate and religious minorities are oppressed. A few such highlighted incidents are based to judge a country and its nation. Richard starts with: Bangladesh is a tiny country, and not one you hear about very often, but it could teach a host of lessons on pluralism, religious tolerance, and maybe even peacemaking in...

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REVOLUTION

Wake up boys, there's a light at the window,I can hear someone knocking on the door,There are voices in the street,And the sound of running feet,And they whisper the word --"Revolution!"There are men coming down from the valleys,There are tall ships lying off the coast,And they carry the light,In the dark of the night,Like a whisper in the wind --"Revolution!"- Chris De Burgh Another revolution occurred in the world without bloodshed. Nicknamed "the velvet revolution", it forced resignation of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in Tbilisi....

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HOLIDAY BELLS ARE RINGING Eid holidays are starting from Tuesday to Thursday followed by weekly holiday Friday in Bangladesh. Offices, Banks etc. will all be closed except some emergency services. The shops would be open till the Eid day which is Wednesday (most likely but subject to moon sightings). But the good things about living in Dhaka, the capital during the holidays is that the streets are deserted no jams. It is a megacity and almost 8 million people live here. During the Eid holidays almost 5 million people go back to their native villages...

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REACTION I was watching the news coverage of the Istanbul blasts yesterday and was horrified with the scenes. These are the most dreadful images of the recent times that I have scenes. Such destruction, such infliction of wounds, bloody faces, disfigured bodies... really was unbearable to watch. These images kept me haunted for the day. I still can't think of those. The 9/11 images were much of shock and disbelieve. But the scenes of Istanbul blasts and plights of innocent people were simply hurting me. There was also images from the big rally...

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The third force in Bangladesh Politics

A third platform of Bangladesh Politics is emerging from January -reports The Daily Janakantha.Eminent politians like Dr. Kamal Hosain, Dr. AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury (ex president), Sheikh Razzaq Ali (Former Speaker) and some intellectuals of the civic society are said to be organising the platform. This platform is deemed to create some mobilization into the Bangladesh politics which is stagnant due to political acrimonies between the ruling party alliance and the opposition party.This is a good sign and another hint of hope among the Bangladeshi...

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QUOTE OF THE DAY Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud. W. H. Auden 1907-1973, Anglo-American Poet...

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Taslima Nasrin's book now banned in India PTI reports: The Calcutta High on Tuesday passed an interim injunction restraining publication, sale, marketing and circulation of Bangladeshi writer, Taslima Nasreen's latest book 'Dwikhondito -- Aamar Meyebela Tritiya Khando'. The order by Justice Jayanta Kumar Biswas was passed against Nasreen, Shibani Mukherjee and Peoples' Book Society, the publishers, on a defamation suit by Sayed Hasmat Jalal, a poet and brother of litterateur Syed Mustafa Siraj. The petitioner, who has claimed Rs 11 crore as...

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QUOTES OF THE DAY The writer has a grudge against society, which he documents with accounts of unsatisfying sex, unrealized ambition, unmitigated loneliness, and a sense of local and global distress. The square, overpopulation, the bourgeois, the bomb and the cocktail party are variously identified as sources of the grudge. There follows a little obscenity here, a dash of philosophy there, considerable whining overall, and a modern satirical novel is born. - Renata Adler (American writer) I know not, Madam, that you have a right, upon moral...

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Taslima Nasrin Banned again Taslima Nasrin just cannot be ignored by the media. Her recently published book "Ka" (the first consonant of the Bengali alphabet) has created a huge degree of controversy. The exiled Bangladeshi writer has, to use the clich�d phrase poked the hornet�s nest, and the reactions have been extreme. The general readers have also taken to the book in great numbers. Ever since Taslima Nasrin secretly escaped from Bangladesh to seek refuge in Sweden she has been in the news at regular intervals. No writer in contemporary Bengali...

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Mohammed or Jesus? A persian girl in California, a born muslim, has been in churches with her friends. She loves Mohammad and she loves Jesus. Now she poses the interesting question. Does she have to choose between them? Go read the post and some answers in the comments secti...

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Lies & trivia Gina has a great post about Donald Rumsfeld's lies. Go check it out here. She also discoveres that US Presidents entourage for his trip to London will include: � Up to 250 Secret Service agents. � Up to 150 advisers from the National Security department and about 200 representatives of other US departments. � About 50 White House political aides. � A team of 15 sniffer dogs and their handlers. � A personal chef and his team of four cooks. Among the equipment they will bring will be: � Two identical personal Boeing...

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KOREA'S NEW LABOR POLICY CREATES HAVOC AMONG FOREIGN WORKERS Korean industries have been a congenial workplace for the low wages employees from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other foreign countries. I know that many people from Bangladesh have spent more than BD Taka 600,000 (5000 USDs) to get into South Korea, to get a decent job and to accumulate some savings after paying back the loans and come back to country to start a business or something. Recently Korean govt has declared its new labor policy which entails that no foreigners would be allowed...

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OVERCOMING OBSTACLES Wouldn�t life be so wonderful without any obstacles? How nice it would be if each day were smooth and carefree without a trouble or problem to pool us down. And when we are down with loads of obstacles, fearing to go forward, we look for God. Only in time of our needs and despair we want God to help us out. But why not think in the other way? Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. Life without obstacles is very boring. We wouldn�t be strong & solid if we were not put to test. So do not fret and fume....

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ISLAM & DEMOCRACY Hooman brought up an interesting discussion regarding Islam, democracy & compatibility here and there are a lot of discussions going on. Go check it out. Hooman starts another thread he...

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SEATMANThis is amazing. A man benting like a car seat in a desperate attempt to cross U.S. border. He was eventually caught.Read more here.Hat Tip Boing Boi...

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Whatmore on what Bangladesh Cricket Team needs more to win Andrew Miller, the Wisden journalist had an interview with Bangladesh's Australian coach Dav Whatmore and talked about the challenging yet rewarding task of turning Bangladesh into a competitive Test nation. Dav Thinks: About the skill level of players: The skill level's there. But it's not the skills that are holding them back. It's other attributes, such as fitness, nutrition and general knowledge of the game. But most importantly, it's the tough mental attitude needed to perform...

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SHOPPING RATIONALLY In my view consumption beyond need is always irrational. German Scientists also confirm this: Researchers at the University of Muenster in Germany thinks a woman’s rational thought disappears when she goes shopping. They measured the electrical activity in the part of the brain which deals with common sense and rational thought in female shoppers. They discovered the part of the brain governing the emotions and pleasant feelings was in overdrive during shopping. The scientists also found men experience a similar loss of control...

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Monga � Another kind of famine Bangladesh has been devastated by a famine-like condition in eight districts of its northern region. This year due to untimely rain, the Ropa Amon (a variety of rice) crop has been planted a month and a half earlier. So there is no work for agricultural workers for a couple of months until the harvest season, which starts in December. This year poverty has gripped more seriously than in the previous years as there has been no arrangement of work under food for works or test relief program, which was introduced to...

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THE HIP TRAVELLER A new online travel magazine with about title is all set to be published in December. The great thing about this is that you can send your ideas of stories, articles with photos to them and they will contact you if your's is nominated for publishing. You can become a travellog writer! So don't miss the chance and go the...

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RETURN OF THE MOON IN THE BLOGOSPHERE Diana Moon, who declared to cease blogging with much emotion has started again from October 30, 2003. She cannot believe that she's doing it again. I guess blogging is a addiction like smoking. You cannot quit forev...

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When your Good (bad!) post crashes your website Kim du Toit, a writer and a US citizen since 1989 has posted an essay "The Pussification Of The Western Male" in his weblog. The requests for the essay, have overwhelmed the database, caused his webhost's server to crash. Thats what you can call overwhelming respons. Go read it n...

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Thats what you call information overload Rebcca Blood reports: The quantity and flow of information is exploding at an amazing rate. The amount of new information stored on paper, film, magnetic and optical media has roughly doubled in the last three years. Five exabytes of new information -- roughly five billion gigabytes -- was created in 2002 alone. Each year almost 800 MB of recorded information is produced per person (to have an idea: 5 MB is needed to store the complete works of Shakespeare) . If stored on paper, that would take about 30...

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

Dear Lord, I promise I will never waste my food no matter how bad it can taste and how full I may be. I pray that we will be more sensitive towards the world around us and not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests. AMEN. - Prophet Moham...

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Bangladesh: political crisis and a hint of hope

Everybody knows that there is a political crisis going on in Bangladesh. I think the crisis is not only political but the lives of the nation are in crisis too. The real root of this crisis lies in the tremendous accumulation of wealth of a few quarters. We were always known as a nation with sufficient resources; fields were filled with crops and the ponds with fishes. But our nation accumulated much wealth after the liberation in 1971. We accumulated many times more in thirty years, what we could not achieve in three thousand years. But this achievement...

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Comments cannot be sued The lefty blogger Atrios got a letter from Donald Luskin's (an NRO Online Contributor) attorney, Jeffrey J. Upton. Atrios was accused for linking Mr. Luskin in one of his posts with the label "Diary of a stalker". His readers, in responding to his invitation to comment, have posted numerous libelous statements regarding Mr. Luskin. Mr. Jack M. Balkin, a professor of Yale Law School defends Atrios's chances stating: Despite Mr. Upton's suggestions to the contrary, Atrios is not liable for the postings in the comments section....

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Why George Bush Sr. didn't occupy Iraq I found this in Joi-Itos Blog. Excerpts from George Bush Sr.'s memoir, "A World Transformed" (1998) Trying to eliminate Saddam...would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible.... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq.... there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world....

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BLOG CENSUS Of the 1,457,738 weblogs indexed so far by the The National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITL) BlogCensus, the overwhelming majority are published in the English language. Top 4 languages are English : 802947 Portugese: 61050 Polish : 42265 Farsi : 37172 Only 65% of those are estimated as active. 39.8% of bloggers in the sample were men, and 36.3% were women and others are group blogs or anonymous. In the Personal Diary Category, women reigned with 56% over mens 28%. In other categories,...

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