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Posts published in May 2017

Gwadar’s water woes: edit in Daily Times, 31-May-17

Balochistan is suffering once more. Water shortages have yet again hit the port city of Gwadar, pushing residents on to the streets to protest the government’s failure in tackling the crisis. Where the civvies failed the big boys of the Pakistan Navy were on hand to save the day, supplying some 1,200 tonnes of drinking water. Gwadar is a port city. By definition it is surrounded by sea. Yet in today’s Pakistan — the poorest…

A peek into a toppled Chinese official’s $62 m worth of ill-gotten gains

by Nectar Gan in South China Morning Post, May 31, 2017 A painting of Hong Kong’s skyline by one of China’s best-known contemporary artists, a green jade bracelet with a price tag of 1.6 million yuan (HK$1.8 million) and at least 45 expensive watches, including five Patek Philippe timepieces, were among a toppled Chinese official’s lavish collection of ill-gotten gains revealed by Chinese media. Worth a combined 426 million yuan, the property, artworks, jewellery and…

Moscow offers Bangladeshi students scholarship to study nuclear tech

Report in in Dhaka Tribune, May30, 2017 at 08:55 PM Russian Parliament’s Upper House Deputy Chief Ilyas Magomed-Salamovich Umakhanov on Tuesday said Moscow intends to offer scholarships to Bangladeshi students to study nuclear technology. Bangladesh’s first nuclear plant is being being built with Russia’s assistance, according to a BSS report. “Russian Government is keen to enhance the number of scholarships to the Bangladeshi students in the disciplines related to nuclear science,” A statement released by…

Two extremists killed in Jhenaidah gunfight

by Nayan Khondoker in Dhaka Tribune, May 31, 2017 Jhenaidah: Two members of banned outfit East Bengal Communist Party have been killed in an alleged gunfight with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Jhenaidah’s Kotchandpur Upazila. The deceased are Maidul Islam Rana, 50 and his associate Alim Uddin, 60. They were accused in several cases including murder. Jhenaidah RAB 6 Company Commander Major Monir Ahmed said the incident took place early Wednesday in Baharampur area under…

Chinese schools prescribe cosplay, yoga to students to deal with exam stress

Report in Global Times, May 30, 2017 at 17:5 As all of China braces for the upcoming annual college entrance examinations, or gaokao, students about to sit one of the most important tests of their life are struggling to stay calm. Businesses near schools and residential communities have been ordered to keep noise to a minimum during the week before the gaokao, and construction sites will halt operation on the days of the tests. As…

No water for Gwadar: edit in the News, May 30, 2017

How will Gwadar become a world-class port city without a fresh water supply? A drought-like situation has hit the Gwadar city for the fourth time in the last six years. The use of a Pakistan Navy tanker to supply the city with 1,200 tonnes of water over the weekend may have served as a reprieve for the residents of the port city, but it has only served to further highlight the precariousness of the situation.…

Taiwan rights activist’s wife demands answers after arrest in China

by Lawrence Chung in South China Morning Post, May 30, 2017 The wife of the detained Taiwanese human rights activist Li Ming-che has voiced protest against the authorities in mainland China for failing to officially notify her of her husband’s arrest. “Until now, we have yet to receive any official notification from the Chinese government about the arrest and the so-called charges against my husband,” Li Ching-yu said in a statement on Monday. The mainland’s…

AL to get tough on spreading fabricated news through fake Facebook accounts

by Senior Correspondent in bdnews24.com, May 30, 2017 The ruling Awami League has asked the ‘administrators’ of some fake Facebook accounts opened after the name of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina or her family members, to either close it or mark the pages “unofficial”. Otherwise, the party on its official Facebook page, said they would take stern actions. The statement followed a false news reported on a Facebook account opened after PM’s sister Sheikh Rehan’s…

Chinese footprint on the Pakistani budget:

by Nasir Jamal in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 29th, 2017 The Nawaz Sharif government’s last budget is more or less an extension of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative. It is an effort by the government to complete the energy and road development projects before going into the 2018 elections to give something to the voters in an election-year. The job of distributing relief and goodies (in the ruling party’s vote base in…

WannaCry hackers ‘were likely from southern China’

by Stephen Chen in South China Morning Post, May 28, 2017 at 11:26pm The authors of the WannaCry malware, which infected computers in 150 countries two weeks ago, are probably from the southern mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore, according to a US intelligence company. Forensic linguistic analysis on the malware suggested it was written by native Chinese-speaking people with southern accents, said Flashpoint. In a report on its website, Flashpoint, which provides global business-risk…

B’desh: 2.6 million jobless despite labour gains

by Senior Correspondent in bdnews24.com, May 28, 2017 at 19:39 BdST As many as 2.6 million people are still jobless despite new job creation, according to a survey by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics or BBS. The labour force participation rate that sheds light on the economic activity of a nation rose to 58.5 percent in 2015-16 from 57.1 percent in 2013 in signs of an improvement in the job market, according to the survey released…