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Republican Senator John McCain broke with the reassuring message that US officials visiting Germany have sought to convey on their debut trip to Europe, saying on Friday that the administration of President Donald Trump was in "disarray". McCain, a known Trump critic, told the Munich Security Conference that the resignation of the new president's security adviser Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russia reflected deep problems in Washington. "I think that the Flynn issue obviously is something that shows that in many respects this administration is in disarray and they've got a lot of work to do," said McCain, even as he praised Trump's defense secretary. "The president, I think, makes statements (and) on other occasions contradicts himself. So we've learned to watch what the president does as opposed to what he says," he said. European governments have been unsettled by the signals sent by Trump on a range of foreign policy issues ranging from NATO and Russia to Iran, Israel and European integration. The debut trip to Europe of Trump's Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to a meeting of G20 counterparts in Bonn, went some way to assuaging concerns as they both took a more traditional US position. But Trump is wrestling with a growing controversy at home about potential ties between his aides and Russia, which he dismissed on Thursday as a "ruse" and "scam" perpetrated by a hostile news media. Mattis made clear to allies, both at NATO in Brussels and in Munich, that the United States would not retreat from leadership as the European continent grapples with an assertive Russia, wars in eastern and southern Mediterranean countries and attacks by Islamist militants. US Vice President Mike Pence will address the Munich conference on Saturday with a similar message of reassurance. Pence will say that Europe is an "indispensable partner" for the United States, a senior White House foreign policy adviser told reporters. Mattis told a crowd that included heads of state and more than 70 defense ministers that Trump backed NATO. "President Trump came into office and has thrown now his full support to NATO. He too espouses NATO's need to adapt to today's strategic situation for it to remain credible, capable and relevant," Mattis said. Mattis said the United States and its European allies had a shared understanding of the challenges ahead. Trump has alarmed allies by expressing admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mattis, however, has spoken out strongly against Russia while in Europe. After talks with NATO allies in Brussels on Thursday, he said that he did not believe it would be possible to collaborate militarily with Moscow, at least for now. The Europeans may need more convincing that Washington stands with it on a range of security issues. "There is still a lot of uncertainty," Sebastian Kurz, Austria's foreign minister, told reporters. "The big topic in Munich is looking to the USA to see which developments to expect next." "NO ILLUSIONS" European intelligence agencies have warned that Russia is also seeking to destabilise governments and influence elections across Europe with cyber attacks, fake news and propaganda and by funding far-right political parties. "We should be under no illusions about the step-change in Russian behavior over the last couple of years, even after Crimea," British Defense Minister Michael Fallon said, referring to Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula. "We have seen a step-change in Russian military aggression, but also in propaganda, in misinformation and a succession of persistent attacks on Western democracies, interference in a whole series of elections including ... the United States." NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich, seeing progress on encouraging Moscow to be more open about its military exercises that the alliance says are unpredictable. Russia says it is the Western alliance, not Moscow, that is destabilising Europe by sending troops to its western borders. "We have different views," Stoltenberg said of the crisis in Ukraine, where the West accuses the Kremlin of arming separatist rebels in a conflict that has killed 10,000 people since April 2014. Russia says the conflict is a civil war. In the latest incident, Lithuanian prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into a false report of rape by German soldiers stationed there on a NATO mission to deter Russia. Mattis, without explicitly citing the case, rallied to the defense of German forces as he spoke in the German city of Munich. "I have great respect for Germany's leadership in Europe – and for the ethical performance of your troops on the battlefield," he said. US intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Trump's favor. McCain acknowledged concern in Europe and beyond that America was "laying down the mantle of global leadership" and cited global trends he found disturbing, including hardening resentment toward immigrants and an unwillingness to separate truth from lies. McCain urged the forum not to give up on the United States. "Make no mistake, my friends: These are dangerous times, but you should not count America out, and we should not count each other out," McCain said.  ....

Published at: 2017-02-18 00:00:06

Four Bangladeshi women returned home through Benapole check-post on Friday after languishing for two years in an Indian prison. The returnees were identified as Ferdousi Begum, 23, Rima Sheikh, 15, Asma Khatun, 15, and Dipika Rani, 17, reports UNB. The victims hail from different areas of Comilla, Bagerhat, Narail and Jhenidah districts. Iqbal Ahmed, officer-in-charge of Benapole Checkpost Immigration, said the arrestees had gone to India illegally in search of jobs two years back, and Indian police arrested them from Kolkata town. Afterwards, they were sent to jail by a court to serve a two-year jail term each. On completion of the jail term, they were kept in Songlap Shelter Home. Later, Indian immigration police handed over the four Bangladeshis to Benapole immigration police around 4.00pm.....

Published at: 2017-02-18 00:00:06

The Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) grouping can make regional cooperation a success, something that SAARC failed to achieve. That appears to be the consensus of experts from the four nations who deliberated at a two-day conference (Feb 16-17) in Kolkata, reports bdnews24.com. Former Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman, who wrapped up the deliberations at the conference, said the 2015 Motor Vehicles Agreement was the "first step" towards making BBIN a success. "If the Motor Vehicles Agreement can be operationalised soon, such agreements could be worked out in other forms of transport to achieve high levels of multi-modal connectivity," Atiur Rahman said. Rahman said "existence of political will is crucial to making regional cooperation a success." "That exists in the BBIN, all the four countries are keen to connect and grow together," he added. Rahman was backed by Pradeep Mehta, secretary-general of the Consumer Unity Trust Society (CUTS) International, that organised the Kolkata conference to initiate a study into operationalising the BBIN agreement. The DFID of UK, the Indian government and US Consulate is backing the study, which CUTS is starting with help from NGO partners in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. CUTS International Secretary general Pradeep Mehta (left) addresses the conference with former Bangladesh Bank chief Atiur Rahman (second from left) on the stage. CUTS International Secretary general Pradeep Mehta (left) addresses the conference with former Bangladesh Bank chief Atiur Rahman (second from left) on the stage. "The BBIN will work because all the four nations are determined to make it a success. The Motor Vehicles Agreement is only a start to ensure seamless movement of goods and people," Mehta said. He stressed the need to look at BBIN as a platform to first create a transport corridor for trade facilitation and then slowly developed it into an economic corridor for sub-regional growth. "South Asia is one of the least integrated regions of the world, but it is also one of the fastest growing. It is important to improve trade facilitation and cut down costs and other hurdles for trade within the region as the step towards regional cooperation," Mehta said. But Mehta insisted that India must get her eastern states to back the process. "India will have to handle the states, because if they create hurdles like has been the case with river water sharing, the process may get adversely affected," Mehta said. Abhishek Sharma of Trade Mark East Africa made a presentation on the East African experience in building regional corridors and suggested the BBIN process could benefit by looking at that.  ....

Published at: 2017-02-18 00:00:06

Stocks on major world markets slipped on Friday in the wake of back-to-back sessions of record highs, as investors awaited clarity on US President Donald Trump's tax and trade policies. Despite the decline, the MSCI All-Country World index was higher for a fourth straight week, its longest winning streak in a nearly a year, after rising to a record high on Thursday. Wall Street managed a slight gain. A jump in consumer staples, up 0.7 per cent, offset declines in financial stocks, down 0.03 per cent, and the energy sector, off 0.5 per cent. Banks had provided a boost earlier in the week when US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave testimony that appeared to open the door for a rate hike in March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 4.28 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 20,624.05, the S&P 500 gained 3.94 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 2,351.16 and the Nasdaq Composite added 23.68 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 5,838.58. For the week, the Dow rose 1.7 per cent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.5 per cent and the Nasdaq advanced 1.8 per cent. US markets will be closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. European stocks finished slightly higher as a surge in Unilever shares offset a decline in banking and mining stocks. MSCI's benchmark global equity index lost 0.13 per cent to 443.93 points, retreating from a record high of 444.94 on Thursday. Europe's index of leading 300 stocks .FTEU3 closed 0.04 per cent higher. The dollar rose 0.5 per cent, improved versus most peers with the exception of the yen, leaving it little changed on the week. The yen JPY= rose against major currencies.  Oil edged higher on the session but was lower for the week, as rising US drilling and record stockpiles faced efforts by major producers to cut output to reduce a global glut. Brent crude LCOc1 settled up 0.3 per cent to $55.81 while US crude edged up 0.07 percent to settle at $53.40 a barrel, according to Reuters.....

Published at: 2017-02-18 00:00:06

Voting in the municipality polls in Baghaichhari upazila under Rangamati began on Saturday morning under the newly formed Election Commission (EC). The balloting began at 8am and will continue till 4pm without any break, reports UNB. Thirty-four contestants, including three of chairman post, are in the election race in the municipality that has some 10,177 voters in nine polling stations. A four-tier security measure of Rab, BGB, Ansar and police has been taken in polling centres for holding the elections in a free and fair manner. Meanwhile, Election Commissioner Brig general (retd) Sahadat Hossain Chowdhury visited the upazila and held a meeting with the district election officials and law enforcers at the Baghaichhari upazila auditorium on Friday.....

Published at: 2017-02-18 00:00:06