Haque Specialized Group's News

Silicon Valley is fighting for its life on immigration. Over 100 tech firms, including Google, Facebook and Apple, have joined the legal battle against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily barring the entry of nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries. They argue that the restrictions interfere with hiring and business operations. For an industry dependent on immigrants, that truth is self-evident and worth defending. They point out in an amicus brief that immigrants play a disproportionate role in establishing companies, setting up over a quarter of all new U.S. businesses between 2006 and 2010. In medicine, technology and engineering, America remains a beacon for ambitious people from around the world. All six of the United States' 2016 Nobel Prize winners in the sciences and economics are immigrants. Silicon Valley amplifies both trends. It's a machine that mixes talented people, drive, ideas and capital and churns out companies. Over half of unicorns - private companies worth over $1 billion - were founded by immigrants, according to the National Foundation for American policy. This isn't a new trend. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, eBay's Pierre Omidyar and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang were all immigrants. The tech industry also depends on immigrants to keep companies humming. It uses well over half of all H1-B visas, which allow companies to bring specialty workers to this country temporarily. Although some companies undoubtedly use the program to import cheap workers and keep wages low, others rely on it to attract much-needed skills. This all explains why tech companies have come out hard against the order. Their brief cites the ban's arbitrary and discriminatory nature, but the real motivation is to defend Silicon Valley's business model. The travel ban is also a personal affront to many of the executives who now call the United States home. Moreover, the industry worries this is merely the first shot against immigration. After all, the ban could be extended to other countries, Trump has said he is studying changes to the H1-B program, and Republicans in Congress are drafting bills to restrict other forms of legal immigration. For these reasons, Silicon Valley has no choice but to fight.  ....

Published at: 2017-02-08 00:00:04

Luis Suarez scored and was sent off as holders Barcelona reached a fourth successive Copa del Rey final after drawing 1-1 with a resilient Atletico Madrid in an action-packed semi-final second leg on Tuesday, reports Reuters. Suarez was one of three players dismissed and will now miss the final after Barcelona edged through 3-2 on aggregate. The Uruguayan tapped in from close range in the 43rd minute after an inspired run and shot from Lionel Messi to deliver a sucker punch to Atletico, who had dominated beginning of the first half at the Nou Camp but failed to take their chances. Kevin Gameiro blazed a penalty over the bar with 10 minutes remaining but the French striker still made for a tense finale by tapping in an Antoine Griezmann cross moments later. Barca defender Sergi Roberto will also be suspended for the final after being sent off for a second booking in the second half and Atletico winger Yannick Carrasco was dismissed as well for a second yellow card. Suarez was then sent off in the 90th minute for an elbow on Atletico midfielder Koke. Atletico had five minutes of stoppage time to snatch a winner and force extra time, but Barca withstood the pressure. Barca, the 28-times winners, will meet either Alaves or Celta Vigo in the final in May, seeking a third successive Cup triumph under coach Luis Enrique. "We had to suffer, so did our supporters, perhaps we didn't deserve to go through on this display but given what we've done in the Cup I think we're worthy finalists," the Barca coach said. Atletico had not won at the Nou Camp in any competition since 2006 and had to take the initiative if they were to stand any chance of going through. They started the second leg as they had ended the first, putting Barca under intense pressure.....

Published at: 2017-02-08 00:00:04

Dhaka has the second worst quality of life among the world's major cities, according to the latest 'Quality of Life' Index, prepared by Numbeo, one of the world's largest user-contributed databases on living conditions across the globe.   The capital of Bangladesh has obtained a score of 24.13 in the overall 'Quality of Life' Index of Numbeo this year. The city is better only than the Venezuelan capital of Caracas among the 177 cities that were part of the index. Australian capital Canberra has the best quality of life in the world, according to Numbeo 2017 Index, followed by Raleigh of United States, Wellington of New Zealand, and Victoria of Canada.           Founded in April 2009 by Mladen Adamovic, an ex-Google software engineer, Numbeo is a collaborative online database, which enables users to share and compare information about the cost of living among countries and cities. Once in every six months, Numbeo publishes a series of global indexes on quality of life, living cost, perceived crime rates, quality of healthcare and traffic etc. Dhaka's dismal performance in the index can largely be attributed to its extremely low score in the areas of pollution, traffic system and healthcare. The capital's most awful performance came in Numbeo's Traffic Index of 2017, where it has been placed just behind the Indian city of Kolkata for having the worst traffic in the world. In the index Dhaka was followed by another Indian city of Mumbai and Sharjah of United Arab Emirates.   According to the latest pollution Index of Numbeo, Dhaka is the seventh most polluted city in the world and fourth most polluted in Asia, after Kabul of Afghanistan, Faridabad of India and Kathmandu of Nepal.   Dhaka also has the fifth worst healthcare service among the cities that were part of Numbeo Healthcare Index this year, where it was just behind Caracas of Venezuela, Baku of Azerbaijan, Rio De Janeiro of Brazil and Brasov of Romania. When it comes to safety, Dhaka ranked slightly better, placing itself as the 24th most unsafe among the cities that were measured in the Numbeo Crime Index. Dhaka, on the other hand, is relatively less expensive than most of the world's major cities, the survey found. Among the 484 cities throughout the world that was part of Numbeo's Cost of Living Index of 2017, Dhaka was found to be 81st least expensive. Numbeo's Cost of Living Index was measured on the parameters of rent, groceries, restaurant price and local purchasing power. Hamilton of Bermuda was found to be the most expensive city in the world, according to this index, followed by Geneva of Switzerland. Thiruvananthapuram of India, on the other hand, was found to be the least expensive among the world's major cities.    mehdi.finexpress@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-02-07 00:00:05

The Power Division is poised to overrun its budget. It has already sought Tk 6.79 billion more in the revised annual development recipe for fully funding projects undertaken for this fiscal.     Sources said Monday the Division placed the demand for higher funds as it will require more money for implementing some ongoing power-generation, transmission and distribution projects. The division officials said they would need a total of Tk 167.43 billion in the upcoming Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) for the financial year (FY) 2016-17. The RADP is expected to be finalised within this month. Allocation for this sector in the original ADP is Tk 160.64 billion, which they finally estimate to be short of meeting the needs. "We have already sent our fund requirements to the Planning Commission. Since the project-implementing agencies have demanded higher allocations for some of the projects in the remaining period of the current fiscal, we have sought an additional amount from the Planning Commission," said a senior Power Division official. Meanwhile, the Power Division has sought a reduced allocation of Tk 2.03 billion from the Export Credit Agency (ECA) fund as they are failing to utilise the loan confirmed by the external lenders. The Division had an original allocation of Tk 30 billion from the ECA. The Planning Commission (PC) has started revising the Tk1.107 trillion ADP for the current financial year (FY) 2016-17 by adjusting requirements of all the government ministries and divisions. Power is the top-priority sector of the government as the country struggles to overcome huge electricity-supply shortfall against a constant demand growth. According to the power-sector master plan 2010, Bangladesh's anticipated peak-hour demand would pick up to 17,304 megawatts (MWs) a day in FY2020. A senior PC official said the Power Division sought Tk 6.79 billion higher funds in the upcoming RADP over its Tk 160.64 billion original allocation as it sees increased expenditure in the remaining months of the fiscal. The highest development fund-guzzling sector spent Tk 70.29 billion or 38 per cent of its total allocations in the ADP during July-December period of the current FY2017. During the same period last FY2016, the division had spent 41.50 per cent of its total allocations. Some 88 development projects in the sector are being implemented under the current ADP for improving the electricity-supply situation in the country. Among the total Tk 167.43 billion higher requirements in the proposed RADP, the power division has sought lower funds from the project-aid component while higher from government's own coffers which are easier to spend. The Division had sought Tk 93.69 billion from the government exchequer and Tk 73.74 billion from the allocations confirmed by the multilateral and bilateral donors as project aid, officials said. In the current ADP allocation, the government has provided Tk 67.68 billion worth of funds from the government's own resources and Tk 92.96 billion from the development partners as the project aid. "We are hopeful about utilising the proposed money in the RADP in the current fiscal as we have different power-generation,-transmission and- distribution schemes to boost the country's electricity supply," said the Power Division official. The government is committed to generating 20,000 megawatts of electricity by FY2021 which needs billions of dollars worth of investment. Bangladesh's nearly 40 per cent people are still out of grid power supply as the government could not yet expand its distribution and transmission system across the country. The PC official said they were reviewing the fund proposals of the Power Division. "After scrutiny, we will finalise the new outlay for the revised ADP," he added.     kabirhumayan10@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-02-07 00:00:05

Police recovered the decomposed body of a young man from a pond at Sapmari village in Sherpur sadar upazila on Monday evening, two and half months after he went missing. The victim was identified as Mobarak Miah, 19, son of Ziar Uddin, a resident of Hawra village, reports UNB. Family members said Mobarak went missing from his grandfather's (maternal) house at the village in Bhatshala union two and half months back. Later, his family filed a general diary with Sadar Police Station. Locals spotted his body on last evening at the pond around 7:00pm and informed police. Police recovered the body and sent it to Sadar Hospital for autopsy, said Nazrul Islam, officer-in-charge of Police Station.....

Published at: 2017-02-07 00:00:05