Haque Specialized Group's News

Barcelona made Champions League history on Wednesday by becoming the first team to overturn a first-leg 4-0 deficit and knock out Paris St-Germain to reach the quarter-finals for the 10th successive season, reports BBC. The Spanish champions were 5-3 down on aggregate in the 88th minute, but scored three goals in the final seven minutes in one of the greatest European ties of all time. Neymar's free-kick and penalty followed by Sergi Roberto's 95th-minute winner sealed victory on an incredible night at the Nou Camp. Barcelona had led 2-0 at the break courtesy of Luis Suarez's header after just three minutes and Layvin Kurzawa's own goal. And they added another shortly after half-time when Neymar fell following Thomas Meunier’s foul in the box and Lionel Messi converted the penalty. Edinson Cavani lashed home for PSG on 61 minutes and the quarter-finals looked beyond Barca, but they obviously had not read the script. Neymar curled a sumptuous free-kick into the top corner before Suarez won a penalty and gave it to the Brazilian to convert - which he did comfortably, leaving Barca with one goal to find in injury time. And Neymar, who put in one of his finest ever performances, turned provider for substitute Roberto who poked home his first goal of the season as the Nou Camp exploded.....

Published at: 2017-03-09 00:00:04

Two major business bodies proposed that the government expand tax net instead of imposing heavy tax burden on large taxpayers to meet the revenue-collection targets. Leaders of the chambers lamented that large taxpayers have to face unusual pressure whenever the tax authority faces revenue shortfall against its target.   Leaders of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to address the issue in a pre-budget meeting Wednesday in the run-up to formulation of the next national budget. The NBR opened pre-budget consultation with the stakeholders with Wednesday's meetings with the chambers on its headquarters premises. The parleys are meant for eliciting their proposals to be considered in framing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2017-18.    Responding to the proposals of the chamber leaders, NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman said he had instructed the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) to form a forum to end this type of problem. MCCI vice-president Golam Mainuddin said the highest slab of income tax should not be above 25 per cent, which is currently 30 per cent. He also proposed upward adjustment of tax-free limit for individual taxpayers considering inflation and increased cost of living. Some 80 per cent of the large taxpayers are members of the elite-chamber MCCI. He also proposed stripping taxmen of their discretionary powers, rationalizing customs duty, reducing disparity on duty structure between imported and local goods etc. Taxation sub-committee member of MCCI Adeeb H Khan proposed that the NBR consider bringing reform in group taxation to avoid imposition of tax on same profit of a group of companies that usually discourages investors. He also suggested cut in tax on foreign service providers of new technology, tax waiver on excess perquisite, lower tax on import of raw materials to 3.0 per cent from 5.0 per cent, reintroducing investment rebate, adjustment of tax at higher rate, 20 to 25 per cent, after abolition of current-account system in new VAT regime, considering the assured tax-benefit of government to the foreign contractors, including JICA. The NBR chairman said the revenue board is working positively on tax-benefit issues and communicating with the authorities concerned. BCI president Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu said the next budget would be worth above Tk 4.0 trillion as per government declaration that has made the businesses worried. They are afraid of increased pressure from the government to squeeze out more revenue. He said tax net could be expanded to the upazila level so that existing taxpayers do not feel the pinch. The NBR chairman told his business audience that the government has expanded tax net to union level and would build partnership. "All should develop tax culture. Tax authority's focus is not only on businessmen. It is also providing tax education to the students through organising tax-education forum," he said. NBR member (customs policy) Md Farid Uddin said the NBR expects detailed proposals from the businesses on impact of the upcoming VAT law and its remedy to frame an economy-friendly budget. Challenges and crisis may prevail unless the businesses start coming with the analysis how they would be affected and impacted by the new VAT law, which would come into force on July 01, 2017.  In a written proposal, the BCI asked for raising VAT-free ceiling of annual turnover tax to Tk 50 million from Tk 8.0 million in the new VAT law. Businesses having turnover above Tk 50 million and having capacity to take rebate would pay 15 per cent VAT. In case of those not able to claim rebate, VAT at a rate of 4.0 per cent would be applicable to them estimating 26.64 per cent value addition. The BCI also proposed lowering the corporate-tax rate for publicly listed banks, insurance companies and financial institutions, mobile operators, merchant banks 38 per cent and for non-publicly listed company 40 per cent from existing 38 per cent and 40 per cent. doulot_akter@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-03-09 00:00:04

A Chittagong court on Wednesday sent an employee of Biman Bangladesh Airlines to jail in a case filed for assisting gold smugglers in 2013 after rejecting his bail plea. Judge of Chittagong Metropolitan Session Judge's court M Shahe Nur passed the order after traffic helper of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines AKM Nuruddin surrendered before the court seeking bail, said advocate Qazi Sanwar Ahmed Lavlu, a lawyer of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), reports UNB. Earlier, on Tuesday, the same court sent assistant revenue officer of Chittagong Custom House Anisur Rehman to jail in the same case. The Chittagong custom officials seized a consignment of 25 gold bars at Hazrat Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong searching a luggage after a flight coming from Dubai landed at the airport on November 1, 2013. Assistant director of ACC Chittagong division Rahmatullah filed a case against three people with Potenga police station on December 31, 2014 in this connection. According to the Prosecution, a passenger landed at Hazrat Shah Amanat International Airport by a flight of Air Arabia coming from Dubai via Doha with twenty five gold bars on 1st November, 2013. Assistant director of ACC Chittagong division Akhteruzzaman submitted a charge-sheet against seven people, including Anisur, on January 2 last year after the investigation of the ACC. The ACC launched the investigation as custom official Anisur and Biman traffic helper Nuruddin along with others allegedly tried to make the owner of the luggage cross to the airport escaping the arrest.....

Published at: 2017-03-09 00:00:04

A Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leader wanted in connection with the Holey Artisan Bakery attack in Dhaka was arrested from a central Kolkata hideout earlier this week. Mohammad Idris, one of the "most wanted" suspects in the July 1 attack in which 20 people were killed at an upscale eatery, was hiding in the Burra Bazar area, according to information passed on by a special cell of Delhi police to Kolkata police, bdnews24.com reports quoting Indian English daily 'The Telegraph.' The Telegraph report cited a source saying Idris was moving between Hyderabad and Kolkata, trying to recruit and radicalise youth through the Rohingya crisis. Concentrated in Myanmar's western province of Rakhine, the Rohingyas are considered by the UN as the "most persecuted minority group in the world." As the persecution of Rohingyas is an emotional issue in Bangladesh, the JMB, intelligence sources said, is trying to use it to regroup after the government crackdown on extremist elements after the cafe attack. According to the information gathered by Delhi police, Idris was actively involved in the attack on the Gulshan cafe and fled the country immediately thereafter to escape the Bangladeshi security forces, 'The Telegraph' report said. The report quoted an 'intelligence source' saying, "Idris snuck across the border and went into hiding at a place in Colootola near Burra Bazar at least three months ago. He was taking instructions from Salehin, the top JMB leader, for the cause of the Rohingyas." Salehin, according to the central agencies, heads both the Indian and Bangladeshi chapters of the JMB and is said to be hiding somewhere in India. A fortnight ago, a Delhi police team came to Kolkata and conducted a joint operation with the officers of the central Intelligence Bureau to pick up Idris. The operation, about which Kolkata police was not informed, had drawn a blank. After the failed attempt, the central agencies had shared the information about Idris with Kolkata police and sought their assistance. Kolkata police arrested him from Colootola and handed him over to the special cell of the Delhi police earlier this week. Sources said their counterparts in the Bangladeshi counter-terrorism unit have been informed of the catch and, if need be, would be allowed to interrogate Idris.  ....

Published at: 2017-03-09 00:00:04

US President Donald Trump's administration is weighing a deployment of up to 1,000 American soldiers to Kuwait to serve as a reserve force in the fight against Islamic State as US-backed fighters accelerate the offensive in Syria and Iraq, US officials told Reuters. Proponents of the option, which has not been previously reported, said it would provide US commanders on the ground greater flexibility to quickly respond to unforeseen opportunities and challenges on the battlefield. It would also represent a step away from standard practices under President Barack Obama's administration by leaving the ultimate decision on whether to deploy some of those Kuwait-based reserve forces in Syria or Iraq to local commanders. "This is about providing options," said one US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The officials said the deployment would differ from the existing US troop presence in Kuwait. It was unclear whether the proposal had the support of US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who could opt to use other tools to give commanders more agility. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis declined to comment on options being weighed by the Trump administration. Obama's administration was often accused of micromanaging even the smallest tactical details about the fight against Islamic State, weighing in on the use of helicopters or movement of small numbers of US forces. It also set limits on US deployments that would be adjusted incrementally, a strategy meant to avoid mission creep by the military and prevent military moves that might seem good on the battlefield but which could have inadvertent diplomatic or political consequences. Such limits are now under scrutiny. The decision on whether to create a more rapidly deployable Kuwait-based force is part of the ongoing review of the United States' strategy to defeat Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, where around 6,000 US troops are deployed, largely in advisory roles, the officials said. Trump has made defeating Islamic State one of the key goals of his presidency. US officials have acknowledged the review may lead to an increase in American troops in Syria, where US-backed Arab and Kurdish forces are isolating the city of Raqqa - Islamic State's de facto capital - ahead of an assault. But they have so far played down expectations of a major escalation or dramatic shift in a strategy that has focused on training and advising local ground forces, pointing to successes so far in Syria and the steady advance of Iraqi forces in the campaign to retake the city of Mosul. RAQQA BATTLE LOOMS Trump's push against Islamic State in Syria could soon present him with an unenviable decision on whether to risk alienating NATO ally Turkey by relying on the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which, in addition to Arabs, includes Kurdish YPG fighters. Ankara views the YPG as the Syrian extension of the Kurdish PKK militant group, which has fought an insurgency in Turkey's southeast since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by both the United States and the European Union. A senior Turkish official said on Tuesday that the United States had decided to go with the YPG, instead of agreeing to Ankara's call for it to instead back Syrian rebels that Turkey has trained and led against Islamic State for the past year. The comments came on the same day that the top US military officer, Marine General Joseph Dunford, met his Turkish counterpart in the southern Turkish province of Antalya. A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dunford did not inform his Turkish counterpart of any decision about the Raqqa offensive, in remarks that appeared at odds with the Turkish account. In a sign of advancing US preparations for Raqqa, an American official said on Wednesday that a small group of Marines have entered Syria. The Washington Post said the Marines were from an amphibious task force and were establishing an artillery outpost to support the Raqqa offensive. Pentagon spokesman Marine Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said he could not comment on future or ongoing US deployments.   ....

Published at: 2017-03-09 00:00:04