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Posts published in September 2017

The Meaning of ‘Xi Jinping Thought’: edit in The Wall St Journal, Sept 29, 2017

The 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, set to open in Beijing on Oct. 18, is worth watching for two reasons. General Secretary Xi Jinping is bidding to become China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, and he may stake his legitimacy on the country’s growing influence abroad. Both suggest an expansion of China’s political oppression at home and assertiveness abroad. Mr. Xi may defy Party tradition at this Congress, which falls halfway through…

Confident Xi reaches out to trusted colleagues

Report in South China Morning Post, Sept 29, 2017 Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will stay on as head of government for another term while President Xi Jinping’s name will be enshrined in the Communist Party’s charter alongside those of late leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, sources familiar with the situation told the South China Morning Post. With three weeks to go before an all-important national party congress that will decide China’s leadership line-up for…

B’desh: 700 security companies run on a mere trade license

by Tarek Mahmud in Dhaka tribune, Sept 29, 2017 Private security service companies are running their businesses without any specific rules and regulations in place amid a growing risk that militants masquerading as security staff may plot acts of sabotage against Bangladesh’s important establishments. Like other businesses, security service providers are operating merely with a trade licence, depriving their owners and staff of certain benefits. The companies are not being properly monitored as well, said…

B’desh: For God’s sake, do not boycott polls: AL to BNP

Report in bdnews24.com Stalwarts of the ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP have engaged in a face-to-face discussion for the first time in a while over an election-time government. The roundtable discussion took place at the closing ceremony of a workshop titled ‘Advancing youth leadership and participation for peaceful elections’ on Thursday. HT Imam, Political Adviser of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has called on the BNP to contest in the next parliamentary polls assuring…

‘Abducted’ mayor found after 2 days: report in The Daily Star, Sept 28, 2017

Jamalpur’s Sharishabari municipality mayor, who went missing from the capital’s Uttara last Monday, was found in a tea estate in Sreemangal yesterday. Gourlal Vumij, a security guard of Kaliaghat union spotted Mayor Rokonuzzaman Rokon, 42, at the estate around noon. Gourlal told The Daily Star that he found Rokon standing under a tree and as he approached, the mayor told him, “Please save me, if you do not save me, they will kill me.” “The…

Four remain missing for over a month: report in The Daily Star, Sept 28, 2017

Shrouded in her son’s memory, Nasrin Akhter is now bed-ridden and anxiously passing her time. The mother can now only hope that her son, Ishrak Ahmed Fahim, a student of Mcgill University in Canada, who went missing from the capital’s Dhanmondi on August 26, will return soon. Ishrak’s father, Jamal Uddin Ahmed, has asked for help from everyone – the police, Rab and DB – to find his son. Yet, Ishrak remains traceless. Like Ishrak,…

Xinjiang installs body scanners at checkpoints

By Zhao Yusha in Global Times, Sept 27, 2017 Tumxuk (Xinjiang): Xinjiang will use a new high-tech body security scanner for road security checks, a move to enhance counter-terrorism work before the forthcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). A division from the People’s Liberation Army in Tumxuk, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, recently introduced 10 units of terahertz security scanners, which were installed at road security checkpoints. “It took…

China’s mortgage debt bubble raises spectre of 2007 US crisis

By He Huifeng in South China Morning Post, Sept 27, 2017 Young Chinese like Eli Mai, a sales manager in Guangzhou, and Wendy Wang, an executive in Shenzhen, are borrowing as much money as possible to buy boomtown flats even though they cannot afford the repayments. Behind the dream of property ownership they share with many like-minded friends lies an uninterrupted housing price rally in major Chinese cities that dates back to former premier Zhu…

‘Conspiracies against Hasina within AL too’: Report

Report in ProthomAlo, Sept 27, 2017 HasinaRuling Awami League organising secretary Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury on Tuesday said conspiracies against prime minister Sheikh Hasina are being hatched not just internationally but inside the party, too. “The real intention of these conspirators is unmasked in times of crisis. We’ve seen this during the emergency government after 1/11 (11 January 2007 takeover),” he said. Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury made the observation at a meeting of Dhaka South Awami League…

China Blocks WhatsApp, Broadening Online Censorship

by Keith Bradher in The NY Times online, SEPT. 25, 2017 SHANGHAI — China has largely blocked the WhatsApp messaging app, the latest move by Beijing to step up surveillance ahead of a big Communist Party gathering next month. The disabling in mainland China of the Facebook-owned app is a setback for the social media giant, whose chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has been pushing to re-enter the Chinese market, and has been studying the Chinese…

Myanmar reinforces barbed wire fence at border with B’desh

by Abdul Aziz in Dhaka Tribune, Sept 26, 2017 Cox’s Bazar: The Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) has been repairing the barbed wire fence at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border for the past three days. On Monday, the BGP members were seen deployed near Ghumdhum, Tumbru and Jolpaitoli border areas in Naikhongchhari upazila. Locals believe that Myanmar is reinforcing the damaged fence to prevent the Rohingya refugees from returning to their country. Since the repair started, camps…