Haque Specialized Group's News

Growers, agriculturists and other traders concerned are expecting a bumper production of litchi as most of the trees have sprouted massively by dint of a suitable climatic condition everywhere in Rajshahi region. Visiting some of the litchi-producing areas recently, this correspondent found that the growers were very busy taking care of their trees with hope of getting more yield. Principal Scientific Officer of Fruit Research Center Dr Alim Uddin said massive budding in the litchi trees amid the favorable climatic condition predicts a bumper production of the juiciest fleshy fruit this season. He said the trees have started getting fruit-setting stage after ending the budding phase due to the favorable weather. Litchi cultivation has become very popular as hundreds of farmers have achieved self-reliance through farming the fruits on a commercial basis in recent years. The farmers and commoners have been cultivating high yielding varieties including China-3 and Bedana and early varieties like Bombay and Madrazi litchi on more lands following repeated bumper productions and lucrative prices. Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources said more than 90 per cent litchi trees of all the small, medium and big-sized litchi orchards and homesteads have blossomed. Deb Dulal Dhali, deputy director of the DAE, Rajshahi, said the massive spouting predicts bumper litchi production this season in the region if the climatic condition remains favourable till June next. – source BSS  ....

Published at: 2017-02-24 00:00:05

No NGOs will be allowed to open office in Ashulia and other readymade garment (RMG) industry areas, State Minister for Labour and Employment Md Mujibul Haque Chunnu has said. "Many unregistered trade federations, NGOs have set up offices centring the garment factories in Ashulia and Gazipur, despite having no job here, to mislead the workers in various ways," the state minister said. "We have reached a consensus that such unregistered trade unions, federations and NGOs cannot have any office in Ashulia and other RMG industry areas," he told the media after holding a meeting with the owners and workers’ leaders of RMG factories in the city on Thursday. – source bdnews24.com  ....

Published at: 2017-02-24 00:00:05

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to ensure the US nuclear arsenal is at the "top of the pack," saying the United States has fallen behind in its weapons capacity. In a Reuters interview, Trump also said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea "very easily if they want to," ratcheting up pressure on Beijing to exert more influence to rein in Pyongyang's increasingly bellicose actions. Trump also expressed support for the European Union as a governing body, saying "I'm totally in favour of it," and for the first time as president expressed a preference for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but said he would be satisfied with whatever makes the two sides happy. Trump also predicted his efforts to pressure NATO allies to pay more for their own defense and ease the burden on the US budget would reap dividends. "They owe a lot of money," he said. In his first comments about the US nuclear arsenal since taking office on Jan 20, Trump was asked about a December tweet in which he said the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capacity "until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes." Trump said in the interview he would like to see a world with no nuclear weapons but expressed concern that the United States has "fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity." “I am the first one that would like to see ... nobody have nukes, but we’re never going to fall behind any country even if it’s a friendly country, we’re never going to fall behind on nuclear power. "It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we’re going to be at the top of the pack," Trump said. Russia has 7,000 warheads and the United States, 6,800, according to the Ploughshares Fund, an anti-nuclear group. "Russia and the United States have far more weapons than is necessary to deter nuclear attack by the other or by another nuclear-armed country," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the independent Arms Control Association non-profit group. The new strategic arms limitation treaty, known as New START, between the United States and Russia requires that by February 5, 2018, both countries must limit their arsenals of strategic nuclear weapons to equal levels for 10 years. The treaty permits both countries to have no more than 800 deployed and non-deployed land-based intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers and heavy bombers equipped to carry nuclear weapons, and contains equal limits on other nuclear weapons. Analysts have questioned whether Trump wants to abrogate New START or would begin deploying other warheads. In the interview, Trump called New START "a one-sided deal." "Just another bad deal that the country made, whether it's START, whether it's the Iran deal ... We're going to start making good deals," he said. "WE'RE VERY ANGRY" The United States is in the midst of a $1 trillion, 30-year modernization of its aging ballistic missile submarines, bombers and land-based missiles. Trump also complained that the Russian deployment of a ground-based cruise missile is in violation of a 1987 treaty that bans land-based American and Russian intermediate-range missiles. "To me it's a big deal," said Trump, who has held out the possibility of warmer US relations with Russia. Asked if he would raise the issue with Putin, Trump said he would do so "if and when we meet." He said he had no meetings scheduled as of yet with Putin. Speaking from behind his desk in the Oval Office, Trump expressed concern about North Korea's ballistic missile tests and said accelerating a missile defense system for U.S. allies Japan and South Korea was among many options available. "There's talks of a lot more than that," Trump said, when asked about the missile defense system. "We'll see what happens. But it's a very dangerous situation, and China can end it very quickly in my opinion." China has made clear that it opposes North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and has repeatedly called for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and a return to negotiations between Pyongyang and world powers. But efforts to change Pyongyang's behavior through sanctions have historically failed, largely because of China's fear that severe measures could trigger a collapse of the North Korean state and send refugees streaming across their border. Trump's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month in Florida was interrupted by a ballistic missile launch by North Korea. Trump did not completely rule out possibly meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at some point in the future under certain circumstances but suggested it might be too late. "It's very late. We're very angry at what he's done, and frankly this should have been taken care of during the Obama administration," he said. According to Japanese news reports, the Japanese government plans to start debate over the deployment of a US missile defense system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, and the land-based Aegis Ashore missile defense system to improve its capability to counter North Korean ballistic missiles. The strength of Trump’s remarks in favor of the EU took some Brussels officials by surprise after his support for Britain's vote last summer to exit from the EU. "I'm totally in favor of it," Trump said of the EU. "I think it's wonderful. If they're happy, I'm in favor of it." Statements by him and others in his administration have suggested to Europeans that he sees little value in the Union as such, which Trump last month called a “vehicle for Germany."  ....

Published at: 2017-02-24 00:00:05

Cooperative societies opt for disabusing farm and SME loans by partnering banks in a latest development in lending to these thrust sectors.       Officials said the Department of Cooperatives (DoC) placed a proposal in this regard for approval at a coordination meeting of major watchdog bodies Wednesday. The regulators who sat for the meeting are Bangladesh Bank (BB), the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms, the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), the Micro-credit Regulatory Authority (MRA), the DoC, and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). The stocktaking meeting was held at the central bank headquarters in the capital with BB Governor Fazle Kabir in the chair. The cooperative societies want to disburse such credits using the process to facilitate the ongoing financial inclusion initiatives through bringing more unbanked people into the banking network, according to the officials. Such initiative will also help in boosting their (cooperative societies) financial activities, they quoted the DoC as saying in the proposition. Around 120 cooperative societies are now functioning across the country.    Currently, country's scheduled banks are allowed to disburse their agricultural loans using 'NGOs-Linkage' process to achieve their farm-loan-disbarment targets by the end of each fiscal year. The central bank earlier had asked the commercial banks, particularly private and foreign commercial banks, to link up with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to ensure optimum disbursement of farm credits across the country. "We'll examine the proposal," SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the BB, told reporters after the meeting. He also said the meeting also discussed progress on vacation of writ petitions filed with the High Court by Dhaka Mercantile Cooperative Bank Limited (DMCBL). The DoC had been asked for taking effective measures to vacate writ petitions. A total of nine cases and writ petitions of the DMCBL are now pending with different courts, an official familiar with the coordination meeting told the FE earlier. Two regulators had earlier been asked to prohibit the cooperative societies from using the word 'Bank' in their day-to-day operations. The government had amended the related rules and regulations imposing restrictions on the use of the term bank by any companies and establishments, in order to protect innocent depositors. Under the rules and regulations, no cooperative society will be allowed to collect deposits or extend loans from and to members of the public or organisations other than its members. The meeting also advised the BTRC to develop a data warehouse of subscriber identification module (SIM) to facilitate monitoring and supervision on the mobile financial services. "We've advised the BTRC to develop a data store of SIMs like CIB (Credit Information Bureau) of the central bank," Mr. Sur Chowdhury said in reply to a query. Under the existing provisions, any outstanding loan worth Tk 50,000 or above is included in the CIB reporting system. The CIB was set up on August 18, 1992 in the central bank aiming to improve credit risks and reduce the extent of non-performing loans. siddique.islam@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-02-23 00:00:05

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) seized huge smuggled Indian medicines worth Tk 0.25 million from Putkhali border point at Benapole under Jessore on Wednesday. Tipped off, a team of BGB members conducted a drive in the area and seized the abandoned medicines from Balur Math around 9 am, said BGB Putkhali camp commander Subedar Srikrishna, reports UNB.  ....

Published at: 2017-02-23 00:00:05