Bangladesh’s per capita income has risen to $ 1,316

As per the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Bangladesh’s per capita income has risen to $ 1,316.

The figure based on data of 2014-15 fiscal was released on Tuesday, February 09, 2016.
In 2013-14 fiscal, per capita income was $1, 190.An analysis of data from July to March period indicated a GDP growth of 6.51 percent, but a final analysis revealed a 6.55 percent growth during 2014-15 fiscal, he said.
As disclosed, “Per capita income rose as a result of increased growth. As per preliminary analysis of data, per capita income was $1,314. But the final count showed that it was $1,316, two dollars more.”
Bangladesh’s economy ranked 58th for its GDP size, the minister had said last year. It was in 36th place for its Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which amounted to $3,190.

We are waiting to join higher class world.

Shame, Austrlia shame!

Australia's High Court threw out a challenge to offshore immigration detention camps on Wednesday, clearing the way for the deportation of dozens of infants born in Australia to detained asylum seekers. - Reuters

The court rejected a legal test case brought by an unidentified Bangladeshi woman that challenged Australia's right to deport detained asylum seekers to the tiny South Pacific island nation of Nauru.
The detention centre on Nauru houses about 500 people and has been widely criticised by the United Nations and human rights agencies for harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse.
The Bangladeshi woman was on a boat intercepted by Australian authorities in October 2013. She was detained on Australia's remote Christmas Island and later sent to Nauru.
She gave birth to a daughter after she was transferred to Australia for medical treatment in 2014 and has remained there with her child.
Other families with children born in Australia in similar circumstances are now in line to be returned to the camps.
Lawyers from the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) acting for the Bangladeshi woman had argued it was illegal for Australia to operate and pay for offshore detention in a third country.
"I hope that the immigration minister and the prime minister, just like other decent Australians, can see that there is simply no excuse to take 37 babies, to rip children from their classrooms, and warehouse them on a tiny island," HRLC Director of Legal Advocacy Daniel Webb told reporters.
"Now, the legality may be complex. The politics may be complex. But the morality is simple. It is fundamentally wrong."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull defended the ruling.
"Our commitment today is simply this: the people smugglers will not prevail over our sovereignty," he told parliament. "Our borders are secure. The line has to be drawn somewhere and it is drawn at our border."
Children born in Australia to non-citizens or parents without legal residency are not entitled to citizenship until after their 10th birthday, and then only if they have lived most of their lives in Australia.
Under Australia's immigration policy, asylum seekers attempting to reach the country by boat are intercepted and sent to camps on Nauru, about 3,000 km (1,800 miles) northeast of Australia, or on Manus island in Papua New Guinea.
The ruling will allow Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to fulfil his pledge to deport the infants, as well as 54 children brought to Australia from Nauru for medical treatment and more than 150 adult family members.
UNICEF called the decision "unreasonable" in a statement and urged the government not to move ahead with the deportations. - Reuters

Michael Bloomberg may stand for US presidential election

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg may stand for US presidential election

  >>  Reuters

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  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attends a meeting during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, in this December 5, 2015 file photo. Reuters

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has told his aides to draw up plans for an independent campaign for the US presidency, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Bloomberg has advised friends and associates that he would be willing to spend at least $1 billion of his own money on a campaign for the November 2016 election, the Times said, citing sources briefed on the former mayor's thinking.
Bloomberg, 73, has given himself an early March deadline for entering the race, the Times reported, after commissioning a poll in December to see how he would fare against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the Republican and Democratic frontrunners.
No independent has ever won a US presidential election. But Bloomberg, who has close Wall Street ties and liberal social views, sees an opening for his candidacy if Republicans nominate Trump or Texas Senator Ted Cruz and the Democrats nominate Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the Times said.
Bloomberg, who has long privately flirted with the idea of mounting a presidential run, served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. He switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent in 2007 and in recent years has spent millions on national campaigns to tighten US gun laws and reform immigration.
One anonymous Bloomberg adviser told the Times the former mayor believes voters want “a non-ideological, bipartisan, results-oriented vision” that has not been offered in the 2016 election cycle by either political party.
A well-financed presidential run by Bloomberg would likely disrupt the dynamics of the election, but the billionaire would face significant hurdles in a race that has been in full swing for nearly a year.
Though no third-party candidate has ever claimed the White House, several previous bids have affected the overall makeup of the race. In 1992 Texas businessman Ross Perot ran as an independent, a decision that some believe helped Democrat Bill Clinton defeat incumbent Republican George H. W. Bush.
Part of Bloomberg's motivation to enter the race stems from a frustration with Clinton's campaign, the Times reported. Clinton has been dogged by questions about her honesty amid an ongoing investigation into her use of a private email server as secretary of state.
Sanders, Clinton's chief rival, has recently surged in polling in key early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire. That development has made Bloomberg increasingly worried about a general election between Sanders, a self-described socialist, and Trump or Cruz, both of whom have staked out far-right positions on issues like immigration.

China launches new AIIB development bank as power balance shifts

Despite opposition from Washington, US allies including Australia, Britain, German, Italy, the Philippines and South Korea have agreed to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in recognition of China's growing economic clout.
"Asia's financing needs for basic infrastructure are absolutely enormous," Xi said in a speech at the launch, adding the bank would aim to invest in projects that were "high-quality, low-cost".
In order for Asia to continue to be the most dynamic region for global growth, it needs to invest in infrastructure and connectivity, Premier Li Keqiang said, during the afternoon session of the opening ceremony.
The AIIB is expected to lend $10 billion-$15 billion a year for the first five or six years and will start operations in the second quarter of 2016.
Even so, no specific infrastructure projects would be announced "for the time being", AIIB President Jin Liqun told Reuters on the sidelines of the launch.
Diplomatic coup
Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna said the establishment of the AIIB was "further proof of the rebalancing of the world economy".
A successful AIIB that sets itself apart from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be a diplomatic triumph for China, which opposes a global financial order it says is dominated by the United States and does not adequately represent developing nations.
The AIIB will require projects to be legally transparent and protect social and environmental interests, but it will not force borrowers to adopt the kind of free-market practices favoured by the IMF, sources told Reuters in September.

Jin Liqun, the first president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), bows toward Chinese President Xi Jinping (not shown) after speaking during the opening ceremony of the AIIB in Beijing, China, Jan 16, 2016. Reuters

 

By not insisting on some free market economic policies recommended by the World Bank, the AIIB is likely to avoid the criticism levelled against its rivals, which some say impose unreasonable demands on borrowers.

It could also help Beijing stamp its mark on a bank regarded by some in the government as a political as much as an economic project.
Baikuntha Aryal, joint secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Finance, said the Himalayan country was hoping the AIIB would fund roads, hydropower and urban development projects.
"The AIIB is specifically for infrastructure so we see it as a supplement to projects in Nepal funded by the ADB (Asian Development Bank) and World Bank," he said.
China has an initial subscription of $29.78 billion in authorised capital stock in the AIIB, out of a total of $100 billion. It invested another $50 million on Saturday.
From BDnews24.com

Joy Bangla Artist

From bdnews24.com

"I am a Joy Bangla artist," says internationally-acclaimed painter Shahabuddin, recalling the war cry of the Bengalee nation during the 1971 Liberation War.

The Liberation War, he says, is his creative inspiration.

Speaking at the Bakultala of the Faculty of Fine Arts on Sunday, Shahabuddin asked his countrymen never to betray the spirit of the Liberation War or deviate from it.

"Do that and you go into a free fall," he warned at the function organised to honour Shahbuddin for being bestowed the Knight in the Order of the Arts and Literature by the French government.

An expatriate in France for four decades, Shahabuddin has endeared himself to art lovers in Europe by his unique style that draws on the best art forms of the East and the West. 

"I don’t have a passport other than my Bangladesh passport. Yes I have a French resident card. I am a Bangladeshi and proud of that. And I always knew they (Europeans) will recognise me," Shahabuddin said.

He reminded the audience that none can 'cheat his way up'.

"An artist has no barrier or boundaries wherever he is. Talent counts but effort is more important," he said.

His friend Jamaluddin recalled how Shahabuddin once chased him away during his painting exhibition attended by the French envoy because he was busy chatting with a baby-taxi driver.

"Later I came to know Shahabuddin had stayed in the driver's house with his weapons as a freedom fighter one night and his wife had cooked for him," said Jamaluddin.

Shahabuddin said he was profoundly demoralised by the 1975 coup, referring to the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and much of his family.