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A coach has crashed into the wall of a tunnel in China, killing at least 36 people and injuring 13, state media reports on Friday. The coach had left the city of Chengdu en route to Luoyang when it crashed in Shaanxi province just before midnight (16:00 GMT Thursday). Rescue work was still under way as the injured people were taken to hospital. Possible causes of the crash was not given. Deadly road accidents are common in China. The World Health Organization estimates that a quarter of a million people were killed on Chinese roads in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available.....

Published at: 2017-08-11 05:00:03

Supplementary budgets requesting authorisation of additional spending should be placed in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) before actual spending. The suggestion was made in a study on fiscal transparency in Bangladesh. Currently the ministries, divisions or agencies first spend money in addition to their budgetary allocations, and then take approval of the spent money from the parliament. The local private think-tank Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) presented the research paper styled 'Improving fiscal transparency in Bangladesh' at a programme on Thursday. PRI Executive Director Dr Ahsan H Mansur authored the paper. Finance Minister A M A Muhith was the chief guest of the programme, organised by the PRI at a city hotel. Deputy chief of mission at US Embassy in Dhaka Joel Reifman joined the function as the special guest. Former finance secretaries Zakir Ahmed Khan, Siddiqur Rahman and Dr Mohammad Tareq were also present at the dialogue. Additional Secretary of Finance Division Mohammed Muslim Chowdhury, Executive Director of Institute of Inclusive Finance and Development Dr Mustafa K Mujeri, and former finance secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan were the panellists. PRI Chairman Dr Zaidi Sattar moderated the function. Dr Mansur, however, said the draft budget should be intensively scrutinised and vigorously debated along with justified amendments by the legislature. He suggested such quick interventions for a period of 1-2 years to help Bangladesh improve its fiscal transparency performance. He also noted that there is no fiscal responsibility law, which can dictate the regular publication of long-term effects of budgets and fiscal activities. "Bangladesh does not have a legally defined fiscal responsibility law." Dr Mansur in his paper said the national revenue administration should be legally protected from political directives, ensure tax payment rights, and report regularly to the public on its activities. He said the national statistics agency should be protected by legislation that grants it technical independence in verifying compilation and publication of official statistics. "In Bangladesh politicisation of data has been a known practice," he said. The national statistical agency - Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) - is under Ministry of Planning. "The government may consider making it an independent body, accountable to the parliament," he recommended further. A M A Muhith said he will pursue the issue of making BBS an autonomous organisation. "This is a good idea to make BBS an autonomous body." He, however, said during his eight years as the finance minister he never discussed any report prepared by BBS. As part of transparency in budget execution, the finance minister said the government prepares quarterly reports on budget performances. The first quarterly report is duly discussed in the parliament, but the second quarterly report is not much discussed. The third quarterly report usually comes just before the budget announcement, so there is little chance for discussion on it. He added that removal of poverty will help the country to come out from the middle-income stagnancy. US deputy chief of mission Reifman said greater expertise and fiscal transparency are the most important things for Bangladesh economy. "Fiscal transparency is not only the issue of accounts or technicians, it is a fundamental issue, which has impact on the country's greater economy," he also said. Bangladesh is going through a transition, and it is going to be a middle-income country by 2021. The country will need higher productivity and innovation to attain sustainable growth, he commented. "It is possible through better management, and only fiscal transparency can ensure such management," the US deputy chief said. Mr Reifman, who is the chargé d'affaires, said Bangladesh has made tremendous progress since its independence in 1971. It now has the second largest garment sector in the world. "The US is proud to be a partner of its progress," he added. Speaking at the function, PRI vice chairman Dr Sadiq Ahmed said there is major concern relating to the treasury's contingent liabilities emerging from the operations of the state-owned public non-financial and financial enterprises. "The last time I looked at the accounts, the contingent liability of the non-financial SOEs amounted to Tk 3,254 billion in the fiscal year (FY) 2014, which was 24 per cent of the GDP," he said. Similarly, the value of non-performing loans of public banks in that year was Tk 308 billion, which was another 1.7 per cent of the GDP. "The point is while these contingent liabilities are a huge challenge for the treasury, there is no analysis on this issue in the budget." He further said it is very important to have a proper database and analysis of the financial flows between the treasury and the SOEs covering all financial transactions, including subsidies, equities, loan write-offs, debt servicing, and investment financing etc. Muslim Chowdhury said the government has taken moves to upgrade the existing classification system. "We've reviewed the classification, and there will be application of it from the next FY." He said there are some reforms, initiated for speedy pension payments and other such type of payments, making the government machinery easier and more transparent.  Renowned economist Dr S R Osmani said fiscal transparency is important from two perspectives - for conducting research and for citizens. He said there are pre-budget consultations with different stakeholders, but there is no record of these, and they are unaware of their implications in the budget. The research paper suggested that all mega infrastructure contracts should be made transparent and publicly available. Detailed breakdown of subsidies to public corporations should be explicitly documented with the budget documents, it opined. The production sharing contracts (PSCs), signed between the international corporations in the resources sector and the government are not published for public access, the paper mentioned. jasimharoon@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-08-11 05:00:03

President Donald Trump has warned North Korea it should be "very, very nervous" if it does anything to the US. He said the regime would be in trouble "like few nations have ever been" if they do not "get their act together". His comments came after Pyongyang announced it had a plan to fire four missiles near the US territory of Guam. US Defence Secretary James Mattis warned that armed conflict with North Korea would be "catastrophic" and said diplomacy was bearing fruit. "The American effort is diplomatically led, it has diplomatic traction, it is gaining diplomatic results," he said. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said his country is fully prepared to join a war against North Korea, were it to launch an attack on the US. "If there's an attack on the US, the Anzus Treaty would be invoked and Australia would come to the aid of the United States," he said in a radio interview, "as America would come to our aid if we were attacked." Tensions have escalated in recent weeks after North Korea tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July. The UN recently approved further economic sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme. President Trump also said he was close to revealing his keenly awaited decision on the number of troops he plans to keep in Afghanistan. He said he had "taken over a mess", but was going to make it "a lot less messy". Speaking on Thursday at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Mr Trump suggested his own statements on North Korea had not been tough enough, despite his threat this week to rain "fire and fury" upon the regime. North Korea has dismissed his dire warnings as "nonsense". Mr Trump railed against previous US administrations for being too weak on North Korea and also chided the North's closest ally, China, saying it could do "a lot more". He said: "I will tell you this, if North Korea does anything in terms of even thinking about attack of anybody that we love or we represent or our allies or us they can be very, very nervous. "I'll tell you why… because things will happen to them like they never thought possible." However, he added that the US would always consider negotiations. He added: "I will tell you this, North Korea better get their act together or they're gonna be in trouble like few nations have ever been." North Korea said on Wednesday it planned to fire medium-to-long-range rockets towards Guam, where US strategic bombers are based. However, there has been no indication that any attack on the Pacific island is imminent. ANALYSIS: JITTERS IN SOUTH KOREA YOGITA LIMAYE, BBC NEWS, SEOUL On the streets of Seoul, barely 50km (30 miles) from the border with North Korea, the latest developments have drawn mixed reactions. Kim Seong-su, 62, said he thought Pyongyang was bluffing to preserve its regime and justify its nuclear programme. But others are more concerned. Yeon Eui-sook says she finds the situation scary. "I hope everyone can live in peace. Kim Jong-un keeps doing this and making us worry," she said. Analysts say the language from Pyongyang always gets more aggressive in August, when the US and South Korea conduct joint military exercises. But this time - with a US president who also uses strong words - the confrontation is getting even fiercer than usual. Mr Trump meanwhile denied there were any mixed messages from his administration. Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson played down the rhetoric between the two sides. But in an interview with the BBC on Thursday, White House Deputy Assistant Sebastian Gorka dismissed the top diplomat's comments. "You should listen to the president," he said. "The idea that Secretary Tillerson is going to discuss military matters is simply nonsensical." Mr Gorka recalled a quote from a Holocaust survivor he often refers to when lecturing on grand strategy, saying: "When a group of people repeatedly says they want to kill you, sooner or later you should take them seriously". "North Korea has said they wish to annihilate the United States and use nuclear weapons. Sooner or later, somebody should take them seriously," he said. THE TINY BUT IMPORTANT ISLAND OF GUAM The 541sq km (209 sq miles) volcanic and coral island lies in the Pacific between the Philippines and Hawaii. It is a "non-incorporated" US territory, with a population of about 163,000. That means people born in Guam are US citizens, have an elected governor and House Representative, but cannot vote for a president in US national elections. US military bases cover about a quarter of the island. About 6,000 personnel are based there and there are plans to move in thousands more. It was a key US base in World War Two, and remains a vital staging post for US operations, giving access to potential flashpoints like the South China Sea, the Koreas and the Taiwan Straits.   ....

Published at: 2017-08-11 05:00:03

The Access to Information (a2i) Programme of the Prime Minister's office on Wednesday formed a 'Challenge Fund on Use of Surface Water for Irrigation' for providing financial and technical assistances to innovative solutions to use surface water for irrigation, reports UNB. The Challenge Fund will provide Tk 12.5 million to five innovative pilot projects in five different types of locations in the country so that farmers can use surface water for irrigation. The fund was launched at an event at the PMO, which was jointly arranged by the a2i programme, and two agencies under the agricultural ministry --the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA). Presided over by Project Director of the a2i Programme Kabir Bin Anwar, the event was attended by additional secretary of Agriculture Ministry BM Enamul Haque, BADC chairman Md Nasiruzzaman and BMDA superintendent engineer MD Shamsul Huda. The BADC and the BMDA will also extend their support in implementing the five pilot projects in the designated locations. The a2i programme will finance innovative solutions to surface water-based irrigation which are applicable to the distinct soil and geographic conditions in Bangladesh. Individuals and organisations from all across Bangladesh are encouraged to come up with sustainable, implementable and affordable solutions to surface water-based irrigation which can then be applied to either of the following different types of locations drought-prone, char and hilly areas and saline prone areas, and haor locations. But a necessary prerequisite is that the solution does not reduce the crop yield rate, said a press release. In Bangladesh, groundwater level on average drops by more than 5 metres every year as people rely on 5 million tube-wells as source of water. Irrigation alone uses up more than 87 percent of the total extracted water.....

Published at: 2017-08-10 00:00:04

Bangladesh is facing the challenge of achieving sustainable and inclusive growth in the face of rapid urbanisation, especially in the areas of piped water supply, sanitation, proper drainage system and climate change, according to Asian Development Bank (ADB). "Bangladesh's economy has been growing at a healthy pace, averaging 6.6 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2014-2016. But the government faces the challenge of achieving sustainable and inclusive growth in the face of rapid urbanization," said an ADB statement. Citing example, the statement said in 2015 only 32 per cent of the urban population had a piped water supply and 58 per cent had access to improved sanitation. Other challenges included fecal sludge management and underdeveloped or badly maintained drainage. These issues are more acute in municipalities because of inadequate governance, lack of community participation, and capacity constraints, it mentioned. Another critical issue Bangladesh is facing is climate change, as the country faces rising temperatures; more frequent and intense rainfalls, storms, and flooding; and danger to coasts from rising sea levels. In the face of these, the municipalities need to enhance their institutional know-how to maintain infrastructure and services, according to ADB. Keeping these in view, the bank will provide a loan package amounting to US$ 200 million to help strengthen urban infrastructure, service delivery, and governance in Bangladesh's municipalities. The ADB board of directors approved the loan at its headquarters in Manila on Wednesday, said a press release. "The country's municipalities still need significant investment to not only improve service delivery and urban environment but also strengthen resilience to climate change," the statement said, quoting ADB Urban Development Specialist Alexandra Vogl. "This additional ADB financing for the well performing Third Urban Governance and Infrastructure (Sector) Project builds on the work of two previous ADB projects, expanding work in the municipalities where we are already working and into five new ones," Alexandra Vogl was also quoted as saying. ADB provided a $65 million loan for a first performance-based urban project to support governance reforms and infrastructure improvements in 27 municipalities during 2003-2007, it said. A second project followed in 2008-2016 backed by a loan of $87 million widening the support to 51 municipalities. Further supported by an ongoing third project, with an ADB loan of $125 million approved in 2014, urban infrastructure and governance has significantly improved, it mentioned. Examples include increasing local revenue generation, installing computerized tax and accounting systems and establishing town coordination committees supporting citizen participation and installing computerized tax and accounting, while channeling investments to meet infrastructure needs based on phased governance improvement criteria, according to the ADB statement. With particular emphasis on promoting climate resilience and gender equity, the additional ADB financing, approved this week, will enable the continued funding of priority infrastructure and governance improvements in 35 municipalities with a total population of 3.1 million. The project will also allocate funds based on governance performance to the top-performing remaining municipalities in the country. Specifically, the additional financing for the third project, bringing total ADB financing up to $325 million, will contribute to build or improve 600 kilometers (km) of roads and 300 km of drains, and install or upgrade 180 km of pipes for water supply with 60,000 metered household connections. Slum improvement work will be undertaken in all project towns that have slums, while sludge management facilities will be built in 14 project towns, and solid waste sites built or improved in 20 towns, said the ADB statement. This work will focus on drawing up plans to tackle poverty reduction, gender issues, slum improvement, community participation, and improving municipal financial management by completing ongoing work on computerization of tax records and billing systems. The implementation period for the project is August 2017 to June 2021.    smjahangirfe@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-08-10 00:00:04