Haque Specialized Group's News

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) set its three intelligence wings to detect tax-dodgers and money-launderers in a combat against such financial crimes. As per instructions issued Sunday by the government's revenue authority, the agencies will act in an integrated way at the time of launching drives against tax-evaders. They will also work in liaison with other agencies of the government in monitoring money laundering-an offence which is now under a global combat mandated by the United Nations.     Central Intelligence Cell (CIC), Vat Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (VIID) and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) would launch joint drives, "if necessary", said a press statement carrying the directives. Senior secretary of the Internal Resources Division (IRD) and NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman issued the eight-point instructions to the chiefs of the intelligence wings under the revenue board. The directives were delivered to the Directors-General (DGs) of CIC, VIID and CIID at a meeting held on the NBR premises. Md Belal Uddin, DG of the CIC, Dr Moinul Khan, DG of the CIID, and Md Al Amin Pramanik, DG of the VIID, attended the meeting, chaired by the NBR chief. The NBR chairman also told intelligence officials to work on checking money laundering and keep a close contact with the other agencies of the government in monitoring the offence of money laundering. "Vigilance in the field-level offices should be strengthened to detect money- launders and take necessary steps against them," the NBR chairman said. They will have to deposit the collected income tax, customs duties and VAT within a specific timeframe to the public exchequer. The revenue sleuths have been instructed to closely monitor land, airport and seaports and check movement of smugglers in the major customs ports. The intelligence officials have to check VAT evasion by determining actual production of goods and collecting VAT at the specific rates on its basis, he said.      The NBR also asked for expediting the process of investigation into the allegations against tax-evaders and ensuring security of the honest taxpayers. In his directives the NBR chairman said good governance and modern management framework are being followed by the tax authority to boost revenue and ensure taxpayer-friendly environment. The NBR has adopted a policy under which it will incentivise the compliant taxpayers and take stern action against those who evade paying tax, he told the meet. doulot_akter@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-08-14 05:00:03

Asian stocks bounced on Monday after three losing sessions, tracking a firmer Wall Street, while the dollar was weighed down by tensions on the Korean peninsula and weak US inflation data which dampened prospects of another Federal Reserve interest rate hike later this year. Overall reaction was subdued to Monday's Chinese data which were generally weaker than forecast, and reinforced views that the world's second-largest economy is starting to lose a bit of steam as lending costs rise and the property market cools. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.7 per cent. The index had fallen for three straight days previously, losing a combined 3 per cent, on escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea. Australian stocks rose 0.5 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 climbed 0.4 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI was up 0.8 per cent and Shanghai .SSEC added 0.2 per cent. China's factory output in July grew 6.4 per cent from a year earlier, short of the 7.2 per cent forecast, while fixed-asset investment expanded 8.3 per cent in the first seven months against expectations for growth of 8.6 per cent. Geopolitical risks were expected to remain a key theme for the global markets in the near term, as North Korea celebrates Liberation Day on Tuesday to mark the end of Japanese rule. Investors also braced for tensions ahead of Aug 21, when an annual joint US-South Korean military exercise is due to begin. "Due to caution towards a further escalation in tensions over North Korea, US yields and equities are expected to decline and the yen is likely keep appreciating this week," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief forex strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei .N225 bucked the trend and fell 1 per cent as a stronger yen overshadowed much better-than-expected second quarter economic growth. The three major US stocks indexes snapped three days of losses and ended higher on Friday, as investors bet on slower US rate hikes following weaker-than-expected consumer price data. But gains were muted by increasingly aggressive exchanges between Washington and Pyongyang. US Treasury yields, which already declined on the North Korean concerns, fell further on Friday on the soft US. consumer prices data. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR touched 2.182 per cent on Friday, its lowest since late June, before pulling back a little to 2.204 per cent on Monday. Friday's data showed the US consumer price index edged up just 0.1 per cent last month after it was unchanged in June. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI rising 0.2 per cent in July. The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was flat at 93.076 .DXY after it slipped about 0.4 per cent on Friday. The greenback traded slightly higher at 109.370 yen JPY= after slipping to 108.720 on Friday, its weakest since April 20. The yen tends to gain in times of geopolitical tension on expectations that Japanese investors will repatriate assets. It also showed little reaction to second-quarter gross domestic product data which revealed that the economy expanded for a sixth straight quarter led by private consumption and capital expenditure. While growth was faster than expected, it is not expected to nudge the Bank of Japan into dismantling its massive stimulus program any time soon, as inflation remains stubbornly weak. The euro was 0.1 per cent higher at $1.1824 EUR. Crude oil prices edged down after rising slightly on Friday on lower US crude stocks, instability in major producer Nigeria and strong global demand growth.  US crude CLc1 was down 2 cents at $48.80 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 was 7 cents lower at $52.03 a barrel. Gold hovered near a two-month high, benefiting from the US-North Korean tensions and Friday's weak US inflation data. The dollar's recent weakness was also seen to be helping gold. Spot gold XAU was a shade lower at $1,287.51 an ounce after reaching $1,291.86 on Friday, its highest level since June 7. Other precious metals such as silver XAG and platinum XPT were also buoyant.   ....

Published at: 2017-08-14 05:00:03

Dozens of elephants and rafts have been deployed to rescue nearly 500 people trapped by floods in a popular resort in southern Nepal, officials said on Sunday. Several hotels in Sauraha, in Chitwan district, have been inundated, trapping the tourists, many of them foreigners. The floods and landslides caused by torrential rains have killed at least 49 people across the country, reports BBC. The Red Cross says 100,000 people have been affected, with communications and electricity cut off in many areas. Pictures showed collapsed bridges and roads submerged or covered by debris from landslides, hampering the rescue efforts. Thousands of residents had been forced out of their houses in the hardest-hit areas, officials said, warning that the death toll could rise as at least 17 people were still missing. A hotel owner in Sauraha, 155km (96 miles) south-west of the capital, Kathmandu, said the elephants had been used to take the tourists to the nearest open road and airport. Narayan Prasad Bhatta, the chief district officer of Chitwan district, said: "We are mobilising all the resources we have to ensure that everyone is safe." Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed his condolences and urged people to remain calm. "I have already instructed authorities concerned to rescue flood victims, move them to safer locations and immediately provide relief to them," he said. The monsoon season, which starts in June and ends in September, causes big floods in Nepal each year. Officials say more rain is expected in the next few days. Meanwhile, in neighbouring India, 45 people were killed when a massive landslide swept two packed passenger buses off a hillside into a deep gorge. Officials in the northern Himachal Pradesh state said the buses had stopped for a break when the landslide, also caused by heavy rains, hit.....

Published at: 2017-08-14 05:00:03

The head of a hospital where dozens of children died in recent days has been suspended, as officials traded blame over cash shortfalls that led to supplies of medical oxygen being cut. The government of Uttar Pradesh state, run by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), suspended the head of the state-run BRD Medical College, Rajeev Misra, late on Saturday and ordered an investigation. Indian media have said the deaths of 60 children, 34 infants among them, were caused in part by oxygen shortages after a private supplier cut the supply over unpaid bills. Hospital officials deny lack of oxygen caused the deaths, saying alternative supplies were found, and blamed many of the deaths instead on encephalitis and unspecified issues related to delivery of the infants. On Sunday, J P Nadda, health minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, visited the hospital in the town of Gorakhpur, 800 km (507 miles) east of New Delhi, accompanied by the state's chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. After the visit, the chief minister urged patience until the investigation was complete. "We will know - whether it was because of an oxygen shortage or due to a lack of proper treatment," Adityanath told reporters. "Those found guilty will not be spared." Nadda said a team of doctors from New Delhi was working with the local authorities and the federal government was ready to send more assistance. He said Modi was also monitoring the developments. The issue of the unpaid bills for oxygen supply has become a flashpoint in relations between the hospital and the state government, after the suspended hospital chief on Saturday accused state officials of not answering his requests for money. "I wrote at least three letters," Misra told television reporters on Saturday, adding that he had flagged the issue in video conference discussions. Reuters was unable to immediately contact Misra for comment. Adityanath, who had visited the hospital on Aug. 9, said no issue of unpaid bills was brought to his attention and all requests for funds were met promptly. PRESSURE ON BJP Opposition parties have stepped up the pressure on the state government, demanding the resignations of Adityanath and the state health minister. "This government is a murderer," said Raj Babbar, head of the opposition Congress party in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous and politically-prized state, where the BJP's thumping victory has strengthened Modi's claim to a second term in 2019. Gorakhpur, a down-at-heel town near the border with Nepal, is Adityanath's political base, which elected him to parliament five times before Modi asked him to lead Uttar Pradesh, after a landslide BJP election victory in March. A study of government data by nonprofit body Brookings India showing the district has a 26 percent shortage of primary health centres. Encephalitis outbreaks kill hundreds in India every year, especially during the monsoon season. India's expenditure on public health is about one percent of GDP, among the world's lowest. In recent years, Modi's government has increased health spending and vowed to make healthcare more affordable.   ....

Published at: 2017-08-14 05:00:03

Suspected jihadists killed at least 17 people and wounded eight during a raid on a restaurant in Burkina Faso's capital on Sunday, the communications' minister said, as security forces at the scene tried to end the attack. A Reuters witness saw customers running out of the Aziz Istanbul restaurant in Ouagadougou as police and paramilitary gendarmerie surrounded it amid gunfire. "This is a terrorist attack," Communications Minister Remi Dandjinou told a news conference. He said the toll was provisional because the security operation was still underway. A woman said she was in the restaurant celebrating her brother's birthday when the shooting started. "I just ran but my brother was left inside," the woman told Reuters TV as she fled the building. Burkina Faso, like other countries in West Africa, has been targeted sporadically by so-called jihadist groups operating across Africa's Sahel. Most attacks have been along its remote northern border region with Mali, which has seen attacks by Islamist militants for more than a decade. Thirty people were killed when gunmen attacked a restaurant and hotel in Ouagadougou in January 2016 in an incident claimed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. A new al Qaeda-linked alliance of Malian jihadist groups claimed an attack in June that killed at least five people at a luxury Mali resort popular with Western expatriates just outside the capital, Bamako. African nations launched a new multinational military force to tackle Islamist militants in the Sahel last month, but it won't be operational until later this year and faces a budget shortfall.....

Published at: 2017-08-14 05:00:03